[At the Gründer industry dry dock]
[Four days after the Aces returned]
…
Murdoch wasn't in a good mood.
Natarle wasn't in a good mood.
Murrue was in a great mood.
And all for the same reasons: The Archangel was (nearly) fully repaired.
…
"I don't understand how those guys can work so quickly." Murdoch said to anyone who would listen.
Given that it was his fifth time posing that question nobody was really listening.
"I don't understand it. This is a prototype ship that doesn't even exist in official records!" Murdoch continued after realizing that nobody was listening. "How can they manufacture things they don't even know so fast?!"
The other mechanics could care less; they got a blessed break after the previous week of trying to perform miracles, and none of them wanted to spend it doing Q and A.
…
"Gründer, huh…Who've thought the South Belka munition plant would've made it here too." Cipher said, after Blaze filled him in on the details.
Gründer (formerly the South Belka munition plant) was a pivotal player in the Circum-Pacific war, which Blaze participated in. While he did not know it (and Talisman felt no need to worry Blaze) Gründer was, in effect, one of the main reasons why the Circum-Pacific war began in the first place. Regardless of their political alignment, the company was a notable producer of arms and equipment in Strangereal, and was often at the forefront of aviation and production technology, facts widely known by a majority of Strangereal.
"I know, right?" Blaze laughed. "It's good luck for us for a change."
Blaze was referring to the new and improved Spearheads that were now sitting in the Archangel's hangars.
Due to the lack of pilots to fly them, an extra set of Spearheads were converted for the Aces to use, so that if there ever will be an extended operation they could switch fighters immediately for the roles as they appear.
As such, the two sets of Spearheads were given different designations to denote their differences in specifications, with the F-7D-C name thrown out since the Gründer's mechanics thought it sounded stupid (further adding to Murdoch's ire).
The new crafts were given the unofficial name of F-8 Super Spearhead, split into two outfits, type A and type B.
F-8 A "Super Spearhead" had every available upgrade possible within the four days to maximize their mobility in the air and their staying power in an air supremacy battle against, as a Gründer employee proudly exclaimed, "any idiot dumb enough to fly against you!"
They also had engines with reinforcements and extra heat sinks (along with emergency coolant) once Murdoch mentioned how often the Aces burn out their engines.
The F-8 B (Also Super Spearhead) was a multirole fighter outfitted for ground assault roles, packing lots of bombs and short range Vulcan guns, as well as one conformal hard point that allows it to carry a Corinthos Anti-Ship Missile, the same kind used by the Archangel. To quote the Gründer crew, "KABOOM! HEH heh heh…"
The Gründer crew also, and somewhat worryingly, restored the Duel to operational condition without anyone asking or having access to the design documents that would make such an operation possible.
For that reason, Natarle was worried.
"Captain, if they could reverse engineer a cockpit for the Duel from nothing" Natarle neglected to mention the fact that the cockpit block was merely mothballed underneath some extra-thick tarp and not actually destroyed "There's no telling what they're capable of; these people are dangerous, captain."
Murrue for one was just happy that her ship no longer looked weather-beaten and derelict. "If they're an issue I'm sure the high command would have addressed it by now."
Natarle grimaced. She had done some independent research on the federation database and found out that Gründer was a contractor for both branches of the EFA, and as such they were, in effect, untouchable.
"But still-!"
Murrue waggled a finger, still in a good mood. "Not another word, Natarle. Let's just enjoy the day off."
Natarle sighed. The two of them had attended the same officer school and she had heard of Murrue's penchant for unorthodoxy, but to imagine it surfacing now of all times!
Murrue looked back at the ship. "I'm sure it's going to happen any time now; we're going to be busy soon, Natarle."
"Captain?"
Murrue turned to face her Executive Officer. "The Rescue operation."
…
…
[Aboard the Lesseps]
…
…
Andrew Waltfield, the Desert Tiger, was having an off day. Even his best coffee brew didn't seem to help matters.
He read and reread the order in his hands, hoping to find some loophole he could exploit, before finally giving up and tossing the memo into a shredder.
"I don't believe this." He muttered.
"Sir?" Martin DaCosta, his second in command, asked.
"Do you believe it? I don't believe it." Waltfield continued to pace around the bridge, as if he didn't hear.
"Is there something wrong, sir?" Martin asked again.
Waltfield stopped his pacing. "High command wants the rebels to be summarily executed."
Martin blinked. "But, they're rebels and Naturals, so isn't it, well, natural?"
He then instinctively backed off a few paces when Waltfield glared at him.
The Desert Tiger leaned against the captain's seat. "Never say that line again, DaCosta; we are ZAFT, we fight for our freedom. We do not take it from others without a good reason."
"But the Bloody Valentine-"
"Is a tragedy and the EFA will pay for it." Waltfield waved the argument away. "What high command is asking me is to commit these rebels to a similar fate. Those idiots."
"Then, maybe we can ask the rebels for help?" Aisha, Waltfield's very pretty blue-haired "lady friend", suggested.
"Ma'am? What do you mean?" Martin was not comfortable around the couple, to say the least.
"Oceania wants the princess of Orb." Aisha said softly. "And I don't think she would want to be separated from her little group, especially if we made her status known to the rest of the group."
Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) was also a holding of ZAFT, and at the moment was pressuring Orb consistently for them to renounce their neutrality and join ZAFT's side.
Andrew smirked at the idea. "If Oceania wants a prisoner, tell them to come fetch her themselves. We're strapped for resources as it is." Oceania was also surrounded by neutral holdings and was relatively safe from any major assault, unlike Africa which was experiencing attacks from the EFA on a near-daily basis.
Aisha giggled. "Aye aye."
…
[Archangel Bridge, three days later]
…
"It's finally happening?"
"It's finally happening."
Blaze and Ribbon filed into the briefing room.
A rebel message arrived a few minutes earlier, detailing the transfer of the captured rebel soldiers (and orb princess) from ZAFT-controlled Africa to Oceania.
"As you might expect, this is a golden opportunity for the rebels to free their comrades." Mu was tasked with the briefing today.
"Our primary enemies will probably be these." A picture of a purple GINN-like unit appeared on the screen. "AMF-101 DINN; it's the air superiority fighter of the ZAFT forces; compared to our Spearheads, they're practically better in every way." The DINN had three pairs of oversized wings on its back, and they deployed out in a fashion rather similar to that of a bug's. Blaze paid special attention to the shotgun weapon one of the video clips demonstrated, as well the pilot's apparent penchant to change altitudes very, very quickly.
"Question." Cipher raised his hand.
"Yeah?"
"Isn't this a trap?" Cipher said. "There's no reason for them to do something this obvious."
"That's what I thought." Mu admitted. "But trap or no this is an opportunity we can't pass up; besides, the rebels are going to free their comrades and we're honor-bound to help."
"Honor." Cipher chuckled. "Right."
"Either way, we're going up. I'm not letting my AWACS sit in a prison cell." Ribbon muttered.
Blaze shot him a glance. "That's that; when's the transfer, Mu?"
"Five hours from now. From our current position we'll reach the intercept point" Mu tapped a map projected behind him with a pointer "here in three hours, assuming we're flying at Strike's cruising speed."
The Strike did not have a very respectable cruising speed.
…
Fortunately, Gründer was able to fix that.
Or rather, they gave Kira an alternative.
The Strike was outfitted with what looked like an oversized ballistic missile taped to its Aile Strike pack.
With it, it would be able to fly into the battlefield without using its internal batteries. Unfortunately it had no internal computer and would need to be purged once Kira enters combat, unless he would rather fly through the battlefield very quickly and have no way to return.
"He would have to walk back." The Gründer employee said with a shrug when the problem of the return trip was brought up.
Once Kira was made known of this little quirk, he merely shrugged. "I just have to not lose the cruise pack, right? Easy enough."
"Man, all those hours in the simulator gave you some balls." Blaze said, surprised.
Kira smiled, and then frowned. "I felt kind of odd afterwards, but a good night's rest made me feel a lot better; I don't quite understand it either."
…
[Lesseps Bridge]
…
"Andrew, are we deploying as well?" Heartbreak One, a certain Captain Bartlett, asked.
"Yeah. We can't leave our ZAFT allies out to dry, either." Waltfield chuckled. "Can you maintain air superiority against the unknowns when they show up?"
"Shouldn't be too hard." Bartlett grinned.
…
[4 hours later]
[Over the Pacific (Previously Indian) Ocean]
…
"Blaze to Strike."
"Strike here, I can hear you."
"How's the cruise pack?" Blaze grinned.
Kira shuddered. "Terrifying." and loud. He didn't add.
Kira had also found out to his immense displeasure that the "Cruise Pack" had preciously little maneuverability, and noted with disappointment that he will have to ditch the oversized engine once he entered the battle area after all.
Also, the Gründer mechanic had overestimated the Strike's aerodynamic capabilities; the refurbished engine wasn't that much faster than the Aile Strike's engines when weight was accounted for.
"I'm so glad I'm not flying that thing." Mu said, watching the Strike through his Skygrasper cockpit.
"Makes the two of us." Tolle sighed, in his own Spearhead.
"Both of you are spineless." Kira laughed, trying to ignore the panic in his gut after hearing a particularly loud noise from somewhere in the Strike.
…
[Engagement zone]
…
"I got contacts." Cipher looked down at the splotch of dots on the radar. "This was a trap alright."
Blaze flipped a switch, arming his longest range missiles. "Like we didn't see this one coming; Razgriz, check in."
"Two." Cipher armed his missiles as well.
"Three." Mobius One cracked his neck.
"Four." Talisman rechecked his radar.
"We're going to wrestle the skies from the ZAFT." Blaze said, waiting for his missiles to get into range. "Is everyone ready?"
"You got it, chief." Cipher said lightly.
"What should we do?" Tolle asked.
"Tolle flight will enter the engagement after we have entered combat." Blaze heard the tone for the missile lock, and prayed that the Gründer missiles provided would be more effective than the local variant.
"We'll be with you, Tolle." Kira said.
"Right." Tolle gulped; it was going to be an actual battle for him and the three rookies in his flight.
"Razgriz, engage!" Blaze commanded.
"Fox three, fox three!" The four aces released their long range missiles.
…
"Enemy units are coming, looks like the captain's gut was spot on." One of the DINN pilots said as his radar beeped a warning.
"Yeah. All DINN units, scatter and engage! Destroy these rebels!" The DINN captain said.
"These things are going a little too fast." One of the DINN pilots said. "Do you see anything?"
"No, what the hell? Are they cloaked or something?" Another pilot complained.
The Six DINNs tasked to guard the prison ship were suddenly engulfed by explosions.
…
"Did that actually work?" Talisman was surprised.
"Given their armor, no. Close in and engage." Blaze ordered.
…
"Shit, what the hell was that?!" The DINN captain spat as his unit helpfully warned him that one of the arms on the DINN was missing.
"The missiles have duped signatures; first time I've seen a Spearhead use one." One of his squad members mused, before a beep on the radar made him look down. "Would explain why we thought they were fighters and not missiles; heads up, more rolling in."
"All units scatter and evade!"
…
"Ooh, bad move." Blaze grinned, and sighted the DINN that looked like the captain unit. "Razgriz, split up and take them down; watch your backs."
…
"They're the real deal this time." The ZAFT captain said. "All units intercept."
Six shotguns came up in response.
...
The four Aces of Strangereal jinked hard out of the way of a burst of shotgun fire.
"Jeez." Cipher corrected his plane and pointed his nose at the closest DINN and accelerated.
The DINN pointed his shotgun at Cipher in response, and fired.
Cipher jinked out of the way again.
The DINN followed Cipher with his gun.
The DINN then was propelled forward by a missile exploding into its wings.
The DINN turned around to find this new target.
Cipher turned around sharply to face the DINN's back and opened fire with all of his Vulcans, tearing the DINN's wings and causing it to drop to the water while trailing smoke.
"Good shot." Cipher said with a grin.
"As always." Blaze said lightly.
…
Mobius One heard his threat alarm scream at him as the DINN behind him launched a salvo of missiles.
He floored his accelerator and nosed upward to an almost vertical climb.
The DINN pilot smirked and fired a second salvo of missiles, just in case.
"That ammo bank is a little insane." Mobius One murmured, before cutting his speed as hard as he could and then turning around a full 180 degrees with his VTOL engines.
Mobius One then floored his accelerator along with the VTOL engines.
The DINN watched with some satisfaction as the missiles exploded…before raising his machine gun as the Spearhead he was supposed to have destroyed flew down at him, spewing fire from its oddly numerous front gun ports.
The DINN pilot fortunately had an intact sense of self preservation and raised his shotgun arm (the DINN's right) to protect his cockpit block, moments before his main engine cut out from damage.
Mobius One dove by the DINN and levelled out near the water surface. "Ribbon to all units: DINNs have weak front armor. Repeat, strike them in the head."
Talisman was flying over a DINN, matching its speed, when he heard this announcement.
He shrugged and then dove at the DINN with his guns blaring.
The DINN pilot heard his threat alarm go off, and dropped like a stone in response.
Talisman sighed and shook his head as the DINN delayed the perforation of its head by a mere few seconds before he pulled out of the dive and looked around for another target.
…
"Is it just me, or are these guys really bad at their jobs?" Blaze wondered as he rolled to dodge a shotgun blast aimed in his general direction.
"I don't think it's just you." Mobius One said as he charged at a DINN while banking side to side. "These guys are…" Mobius One fired a burst from his Vulcans, destroying the missiles the DINN had fired almost immediately. "…very, very by the book."
"Guess they don't get out much." Talisman braked and rolled behind the DINN that was trying to chase him, dodging a volley of machine gun fire in the process. "Fox two." His missile happily went after the DINN's engine and blew it to pieces.
Blaze scanned the field: All the DINNs had suffered some level of damage, but only two were actually out of commission. "These DINNs are pretty sturdy, all things considered. Second wave, you're cleared to engage."
"About time." Mu grumbled. "Mu La Flaga, engaging!"
…
The DINN pilots, confused and a bit cowed by the Spearheads that destroyed their cameras, responded to the second wave of lock warnings with confusion and indecisiveness.
"Run or you'll die." Blaze sighed.
Sure enough, the DINNs that didn't collect themselves in time were hit by the second volley of missiles, and fell from the skies.
"I count two ejects." Cipher stared at his camera as he flew by the DINNs that freshly hit the water. "Make that three." He said as he flew inverted over a DINN with its cockpit block open.
"Copy that. Rebel units, begin your approach." Blaze said, finally getting reception with the rebellion boats.
"Got it; thanks for your help, aces." A grateful voice on the line said.
"Alright, all units." Blaze turned and saw Kira shoot out the wings on the last DINN with pinpoint precision from a terrifyingly far distance. "Hit the enemy escort ships; neutralize their combat power."
"Blaze, enemy choppers taking off." Talisman said, watching the blocky ZAFT helicopters take off from the enemy's escort ships.
"They must be pretty desperate; Razgriz, take them out; Tolle flight, hit the ships."
…
"Captain! The Spearheads are…"
"Swat them from the sky!" The captain of the ZAFT escort flagship said, shouting over his operator. "We can't lose to some goddamned Spearheads! What will the rest of the forces think?!"
The demons from space are real. Most of the operators thought in unison.
…
The ZAFT helicopter pilots were not having a good day.
First they were told that their mission was going to be an easy one; provide backup support in case the enemy was able to somehow throw off the squad of DINNs and attack the ship.
Then they were told to deploy because all the DINNs were wiped out.
And now they're watching two Spearheads fly straight into their ranks at a worrying speed.
…
Blaze pulled up after his attack run through the ZAFT helicopters. "Is that all of them?" He asked, looking at his radar.
"I think so." Mobius One said. "Talisman?"
Talisman and Cipher were told to circle around the helicopters and mop up if the first attack didn't get all of the helicopters.
"I don't see anything else in the air besides us." Talisman said.
"How's Tolle flight doing?" Cipher asked, training a camera onto the prison escort ships.
"Considering the circumstances, pretty good." Blaze laughed.
Tolle and the three rookies were able to safely bomb the escort ships with no regard to any potential threats, since the Aces had taken out the enemy air cover, and the ships were too reliant on said air cover to pack anti-aircraft artillery.
In a matter of minutes the prison escort fleet was disabled and the rebels moved to capture the main ship.
…
Mobius One suddenly felt his stomach twist.
Shit. "All units dive; don't go above two thousand feet!" He shouted.
The Rookies wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, but dove along with the Aces all the same and only levelled out their planes once the Aces had done so as well.
The skies above them lit up with explosions, and it was a moment before radio contact among the fighters could be re-established.
"They have Stonehenge alright." Mobius One snarled.
"All units, keep your heads down. Rebs, get a move on, we don't have a lot of time left." Blaze warned, using his VTOL engines to float near the prison ship.
"We're working on it." The Rebel in charge of the radio had fear in his voice. "Just give us a little more time."
Blaze circled around the ship and found the Rebels fighting hard to obtain control of the bridge.
Blaze then flew right over the bridge and oriented his Spearhead's nose to the window.
The ZAFT troops took one look at the Spearhead nearly touching the bridge glass with its multitude of infantry-decimating Vulcan guns and surrendered almost immediately.
"There's your time, now get to it." Blaze said gruffly. Stonehenge was getting on his nerves.
…
"Ok, we have control. All air units follow us and let's get out of here." The rebel said. "Deploying jammers."
A few men had placed themselves all around the ship, and deployed their jamming mechanisms on cue.
Between the roar of a second wave of Stonehenge fire and the jammers, the fighters and the prison ship (and the Strike) were able to slip away easily in broad daylight.
…
"Heartbreak one to Tiger's Den, cease fire, the enemy has left the combat area."
"Understood; are you sure this was a good idea, Captain Bartlett?" Martin DaCosta asked.
"They stole a prison ship. You'll get plenty of chances to hit the enemy base this way." Bartlett replied with a gruff laugh. Tell me this wasn't your idea of a good strategy, kid. He thought inwardly.
By virtue of being a lightly armed but heavily armored ship built to contain all sorts of people unsavory to the owner of said ship, all prison ships were equipped with an extremely robust GPS system.
The Rebel Jamming system was able to jam this system for as long as the Jammers are running.
Said Jammers were deployed for the purposes of "getting away", not "hiding the ship".
…
…
…
An hour later, the Prison ship pulled into a sheltered dock, with their EFA allies landing nearby in a similarly sheltered VTOL base.
"How'd you guys build something like this?" Blaze wondered, looking at the oddly well-built surroundings of the underground landing pads.
"This place was an EFA supply depot before ZAFT took over." One of the rebels replied. "The EFA abandoned it, and we found it."
Blaze had a feeling it wasn't exactly abandoned when the rebels took over.
"You think ZAFT had this place?" Cipher muttered.
"Horrible place for a hideout if they did." Blaze muttered back.
"ZAFT never found this one, don't worry." The rebel in front of them laughed. "You can rest easy, aces."
…
…
"Thanks for busting us out, Ribbon." Neil said with a small laugh.
"I wasn't about to let my AWACS rot in jail." Ribbon grinned. "Did ZAFT do anything?"
"The Desert Tiger is pretty civil. We were expecting a trial before the other guys showed up." Neil replied with a shrug.
"Other guys?" Blaze frowned.
"Oceania." Cagalli's tall, dark guardian replied. "ZAFT's secure foothold on the surface."
Cipher clicked his tongue. "I see. So those were the guys we flew against?" The man nodded. "No wonder."
"They haven't seen much action after they secured the area, I take it?" Talisman asked.
The man shrugged. "I heard Oceania is making some kind of move into Eurasia, but that's all I know."
"Interesting. I'm Blaze, nice to meet you." Blaze said suddenly, extending out a friendly hand. "I realized that I still have no idea who you are."
The man shook the offered hand. "Ledonir Kisaka." He said with a small smile.
"You form around here?" Cipher asked lightly.
Kisaka looked at Cipher, both of them keenly aware of Cipher's sharp intuition (and attention to the news). "Yes, I was born in Tassil."
Not far from the Desert Dawn's base of operations, if I remember right. Cipher thought. He then wondered idly if the people they've been dealing with so far are the Desert Dawn. "This rebellion has special meaning for you then, I take it?"
Kisaka nods, but only after a moment's hesitation.
So he's certainly not EFA-friendly. Wonder why that is? Cipher thought.
…
…
…
The Tiger of the Desert was in a decent mood.
On one hand, they had pinpointed the position of the rebellion's base, and its summary destruction would ensure that ZAFT would secure its control over the region.
On the other hand, simply destroying a rebel cell wouldn't pacify the region, no matter how influential the cell is. Rebellion would just spring up again as long as the people feel oppressed.
It all comes back to manpower. Waltfield sighed.
"Something wrong, sir?" Martin DaCosta asked.
"Just a little deep in thought." Waltfield chuckled, taking a sip from his coffee mug. Well, let's see how this goes.
…
[Next day, 10:00 AM, 1000 hours]
…
"Report!"
The rebel leaders (plus Blaze and Mu) looked up at the man gasping for air at the door to the room they deemed the headquarters.
"The Tiger of the Desert just sent us a message! They know about this place and they're attacking in two hours!"
Blaze and Mu traded a glance while the rebel leader stared at the messenger, thunderstruck.
The leader then graduated from dumb silence to sputtering while Blaze and Mu rushed out of the meeting room.
Blaze and Mu made it into the lounge before the rebel leader nearly screamed for all units to prepare for the inevitable ZAFT attack.
"How'd they find out?" Cipher asked, not sounding very surprised.
"Who knows? Either way we're looking at an attack in two hours. Any suggestions?" Mu said.
"Load up on missiles, wait until they show up, and then punch their face in." Cipher said with a wide yawn. "Nothing to it."
…
…
The two hours were spent getting ready for the inevitable fight, and passed all too quickly.
"Kira, are you going to be ok?" Blaze asked.
The young man was staring blankly at nothing from the cockpit of the Strike.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Kira sighed. "It's just…what will happen if we win?"
Blaze scratched his head. "If we win? ZAFT will take the rebels seriously, and the EFA might consider an operation to retake Africa."
Kira blinked. "So the ZAFT hold on the area will be stronger in the long term?"
Blaze shrugged. "Probably."
Cipher clicked his radio, signaling his entrance into the conversation. "The EFA's been losing ground since the start of the war; it's hard to believe they'll have the manpower to take back anything."
"So this battle is ultimately meaningless." Kira sighed.
Cipher laughed at that. "Thought you figured that out ages ago."
"But if we know this is meaningless, then why are we fighting?" Kira sounded offended.
Talisman chipped in. "This battle is only meaningless for us because we have no investment in it. Look around the base; for them, this battle is far from meaningless."
"It would be better if we could talk it out." Kira said after a moment.
"It would, but talking is only effective if they want to listen." Talisman agreed.
"Love the chatter, but we're about to go into a battle right now." Mobius One interrupted. "Kid, don't fly with your head in the clouds; it'll get you killed."
Cipher laughed. "What he said. For now, focus on the enemy in front of you."
"But how…nevermind." Kira sighed again. Even though he had decided to fight, he was ultimately a civilian at heart.
…
…
Aboard the Lesseps, DaCosta sat in the captain's chair with no small amount of discomfort.
"Oy, DaCosta. Don't mess this up for us." Waltfield said cheerily from within his unit's cockpit.
"Sir, I still think we should ask for reinforcements before we attack." Martin said halfheartedly.
Waltfield waved it off with as much cheer. "You know they're not going to do that." They being the ZAFT high command. "Just do what you usually do, and it'll be fine."
"Yes, sir." DaCosta sighed.
"Worried about your boss?" Yellow 13 asked him.
DaCosta flinched; he still wasn't used to the mercenary pilots showing up seemingly at random, nor was he used to being addressed so casually by a Natural.
"Isn't it obvious?" He responded after a pause.
Yellow 13 had a barest hint of a laugh. "I suppose it would be; focus on your job, and he'll survive."
"Like I needed you to tell me that." DaCosta muttered.
…
"Razgriz is in the air." Blaze said after counting off his flight.
"Tolle flight, we're ready." Tolle said shakily, with his three rookies.
"Mu La Flaga, I'm up." Mu cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
"Kira Yamato, Strike, I'm ready." Kira's voice held the hint of a forced determination.
"Alright." Blaze took a deep breath. "All units, we will now commence the operation. Our target is the enemy flagship, Lesseps. Per our briefing, Razgriz will fly cover and Tolle flight will attack the ship."
"Fly hard, shoot straight." Tolle muttered repeatedly.
Blaze frowned a little. "Don't get too excited, Tolle, or you'll make mistakes. The Strike and Skygrasper are free to engage any target they see fit. Don't get killed out there."
"You're the boss." Mu said lightly.
"Understood." Kira took a deep, calming breath.
"The enemy may have Stonehenge rounds, so keep your heads down." Blaze finished. "Mobius One, how's everything looking?"
In the two hours of preparation, Mobius One had the bright idea of strapping discarded Radome units the rebels found to every Spearhead, with his craft acting as a "master" controller between him and the ground.
"Data feed seems to be ok." Mobius One replied. "How does it look on the ground?"
"Sky Eye here, it looks usable at least." Neil said, fiddling with his display. "It's no AWACS, that's for sure."
"An extra pair of eyes can't hurt." Blaze laughed.
…
…
…
The ZAFT advanced ground forces consisting of four BaCues heard a roar overhead as four Spearheads streaked by them.
"This is the scout unit. The enemy has launched a preemptive attack." The captain of the lead BaCue said to his microphone.
"As expected; don't get killed out there." Waltfield said.
The BaCues opened fire on the Spearheads as they banked and turned.
...
"Sir, all recon unit signals have been lost." An operator on the Lesseps said.
Martin blinked; that was way too fast.
…
"Nice shot, Kira." Tolle surveyed the now smoking BaCue corpses with surprise.
When the scout forces had turned around to fire at the Razgriz, the Strike had charged forward with a volley of beam rifle fire.
Two BaCues fell to the barrage, and the other two died from thrown beam rifles landing in their body.
"Best way to end the fight is to stop them from fighting." Kira muttered to himself.
...
"I'm a little worried about the kid." Cipher said to Blaze on a private line. "He's getting really good, but I don't think his mentality is keeping up."
"Sooner or later he's gonna snap and kill a lot of people, I take it?" Blaze said lightly.
"Yeah."
"We'll rope him in if that happens." Blaze said confidently.
"I hope we're up to it if that happens." Cipher muttered.
...
"There it is." Mobius One breathed, looking at the large signature on his radar.
Talisman squinted and tried to find it with his eyes. "It's either still too far or it blends with the sand really damn well."
Blaze was about to agree, before he felt a tug to his stomach. He checked his altitude…
…still below Stonehenge's limit.
"All units break off! Evade!" He said as he turned sharply.
A veritable wave of missiles, bullets, and anti-air fire filled the skies.
"Flight ceiling restriction removed! Get moving!" Blaze roared, climbing to avoid the blanket of death behind him.
He then heard his threat alarm blare and dove sharply, avoiding a missile coming from his left.
Blaze spared a glance: it was the X-02 Wyvern with the Heartbreak emblem.
…
Mobius One's dodge took him close to the ground, where his VTOL engines kicked up a sand cloud behind him as he regained altitude, jinking all the while just in case someone decided to try and shoot him in the back.
His intuition proved to be correct, as his threat alarm immediately blared a warning from multiple missile locks.
Mobius One turned sharply to throw off the missiles, firing off a flare just in case.
He then inverted and used his VTOLs to push himself toward the ground.
A streak of bullets flew into the flight path he would've taken had he flown upward.
…
Kira stopped flying to hide behind a sand dune.
…
Mu relied on his Skygrasper's powerful thrusters and forcibly pushed himself above the Lesseps, outrunning the streams of fire chasing after him.
…
Tolle's flight was nowhere to be seen.
…
"That's one hell of a greeting." Cipher said, looking down from his vantage point high in the sky.
Cipher and Talisman were left alone after the ZAFT's initial attack, and were able to escape to get a better grasp of the situation.
"The Tiger's smart. Let's finish this as quickly as we can." Talisman said, focusing on the Wyvern chasing after Mobius One.
"Yeah; let's do this."
Cipher and Talisman inverted and dove into the ensuing battle.
.
.
.
{ === + === }
For some reason this chapter felt very wrong to write.
Might just be a quality thing.