A/n
Here is chapter 10 revised. There are extra additions in this chapter, had thought about them for a time and decided to add them in. Hope that you like them, on with the show!
Phase 10: Battle in Orbit
February 19th, 71 C.E.
-Neutral pov-
The Archangel
Kira and Lacus had packed their things and headed down to the hanger where the shuttle which would transfer the refugees to the Menelaos was loading. They both had reservations about leaving the Archangel, the ship had become comfortable and almost homely. But the war between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance wasn't theirs to fight. Kira knew that he had to get Lacus home to the PLANTs and get her out of dangerous situations.
When they got to the hanger itself, both of them looked around and were confused when neither of them saw any of their friends from Heliopolis. They had expected to meet up with them here and then all of them would go to the Menelaos, before descending to Earth. The shuttle operator, once he saw them, called out that the shuttle would be leaving very soon and if they were coming, to get on. Yet, they didn't board the shuttle when told to, both were even more conflicted whether to leave the Archangel now. The decision became more difficult when their friends from Heliopolis did finally appear and they were still in the Earth Alliance uniforms. The meaning of the uniforms was clear, even if it wasn't said, the four were going to stay on the Archangel.
"You're staying?" asked Kira, confused as to why his friends would stay. "Why would you all do that?"
"Well, you see, Flay decided to volunteer… then, if we were to leave, the Archangel would be shorthanded again," began Tolle in answer.
"Huh?!" exclaimed Kira slightly, shocked at the news and Lacus was just as shocked even if she didn't vocalize it.
Sai continued where Tolle left off, "So, with all of that in mind, we thought we'd stay and keep helping in what ways we can."
Miriallia and Kuzzey were nodded in agreement to Tolle's and Sai's combined explanation. As Kira and Lacus were taking this in, Tolle glanced around, "By the way, does anyone know where Tye is, or has anyone seen him lately?" he asked.
Tolle's question acted as a trigger for the others and they all realized that none of them had seen their older friend for a period of time. The six looked between each other, "You know, now that you mention it," said Miriallia, "the last time I recall seeing him was this morning in the mess."
Sai nodded, "That's the last time I remember seeing him too. We were looking over our discharge papers, then that other officer came in with Miss Badgiruel. Tye told off that officer, before leaving… didn't think that Tye would cuss out another just after meeting them though," he reasoned.
"Yeah, that's the last time I remember seeing him too," commented Kuzzey.
"Yes, but since there's been no sight of Tye, maybe that means that he won't be leaving the Archangel, the same as us," spoke up Tolle.
Kira was about to ask what they were all talking about, as Tyler rarely used profanity and Kira didn't think his friend would stay on the Archangel. The conversation would have likely continued a bit longer, but suddenly, an alert sounded, "All hands, level one battle stations!" announced Natarle over the internal ship speaker system. "I repeat, all hands, level one battle stations!"
"You over there, we're leaving! Are you coming or not?!" called one of the Menelaos shuttle operators.
"Uh, please wait one more moment, they're coming!" called Tolle, surprising the former pilots before he turned back to them. "Think of this as destiny," he continued, putting his hands on Kira's shoulders. "So, hope to see you two later, help us by making sure you get to Earth safely," with that, Tolle pushed off from Kira, Miriallia and Kuzzey following him immediately.
"Make sure you stay safe!" called Miriallia.
"Yeah, and don't go joining ZAFT either!" added Tolle jokingly, though for Lacus, the possibility was actually very real, especially with her sister a big figure in it, but Tolle didn't know that.
"Hey, good luck you two," said Sai, putting his hands on their shoulders, "Kira, make sure Lacus gets back home. Lacus, when all of this is over, I'd like it if I could hear you at a concert sometime," he smiled and pushed off. "Just remember, you two will always be heroes in my book and don't worry, we'll tell Tye you said farewell for him as well."
"Listen, if you're getting on, now's the time," said the shuttle operator as Kira and Lacus hesitated further.
The mechanics were scrambling to get things ready for combat, "Will Lieutenant La Flaga and Major McAlester will be launching in their Zeroes?" shouted one of the mechanics in the hangar in question.
"Who knows, but get them ready just in case," said another mechanic, "Thankfully, we've finished the repairs on them both. Nevertheless, how we're supposed to get the Asuka moved in this situation though is beyond me."
"Worry about it later! If need be, then put it in the Shadow's dock for the time being," said a different mechanic.
At hearing that, both Kira and Lacus glanced over to where Tyler's mobile suit, the Shadow would normally stand when it was stored. Yet, they both saw that they had missed that the dock was empty, the Shadow wasn't there as they would've thought it would be. Out of the three of them, Tyler was the only one that could fly that mobile suit effectively. Kira himself has looked at the OS and was hesitant of flying the suit. Sure, Kira could understand how the system worked, even if he wasn't familiar with the structure or design of the OS, but it was different enough that Kira would not wish to fly it without practice. So, Tyler piloted the machine pretty much exclusively and none of them seemed to have any problem with that.
After taking in that the Shadow was gone, likely with Tyler onboard in its cockpit, Kira looked between the discharge papers and the flower in his hand. Thoughts and memories of what had occurred since Heliopolis played in his mind. Lacus looked at him in concern as she almost absentmindedly held her set of discharge papers. Kira closed his eyes… then opened them, a familiar resolve in his expression. Lacus knew what he was going to do as he crushed the discharge papers and looked back at the shuttle operator, "Please, go without me," he said before pushing off towards the exit.
Lacus smiled softly at Kira, absolutely sure that they were making the right decision in this. Whatever should come their way going forward, they would meet it standing firm in their beliefs. She crushed her own discharge papers as Kira had, then following after him, but she turned back to the shocked shuttle operator. "We'll be staying with the Archangel," she said, "Go ahead and launch."
As the two exited the hangar, they shared a look and, with small smiles, nodded to each other and tore up their sets of papers, making their decision final. "I think Tye has the right idea, we can make a difference so let's do so," said Kira.
-Line Break-
The Menelaos
The air aboard the dozens of Alliance warships orbiting above the Earth was tense, as everyone prepared for battle. When the ZAFT force had been detected, things had become a little tenser, but when the knowledge of who would be leading the opposing force came to light, that feel changed to serious dread. The Black Zephyr was one of the most feared of the ZAFT champions, probably second only to the true leader of the ZAFT military, Lanus Treize. The woman's combat history, was nothing short of astounding and even the leaders of the Earth Forces couldn't dispute that. Losses against ZAFT were never easy or helpful, but losses against the Black Zephyr were in the top worst by a sizable margin than other defeats the Alliance had suffered.
Even with one of the Alliance's top tacticians, hopes of a good outcome was low to put it simply. The sight of the ZAFT vessels opening their catapults, had heightened the apprehension felt, but no mobile suits were deployed at that point. However, Halberton suspected he knew why that was the case. If Tyler McGregor was correct in what he had said about the ZAFT fleet, and there was really no reason to doubt him, the Black Zephyr would be leading this force. Halberton and the Sakura had a history with one another, and there was an amount of respect between them.
"All vessels assume a tight formation and prepare to intercept!" ordered Halberton on the com-phone mounted on his seat's arm. "Archangel, do not move from your current position, remain at the rear of the fleet. All other ships, deploy all mobile armor for combat and ready yourselves."
"Valkyrie One and Valkyrie Two, launch now," ordered Hoffman. "Activate N-jammers. Prepare anti-beam depth charges."
As Hoffman gave out his orders, the Menelaos's Moebius mobile armors began to deploy, and more mobile armors launched from each of the other vessels of the 8th Fleet. The only exception of this, was the Archangel. The launch of the Shadow had gone unnoticed by the fleet, so none in the 8th fleet knew that the Shadow was already out on the field. Orders were given for the supply ships to withdraw, as the ship-to-ship shuttle launched from the Archangel docked with the Menelaos, carrying the last group of the Heliopolis refugees and Vice Minister George Allster.
-Line Break-
The Archangel
"Activate Igelstellungs," ordered Murrue. "Load missile launchers with korinthos, activate Gottfrieds and Valiants, prepare Lohengrins for use. We are to remain on standby."
Everyone was tense, even Natarle, they were being drawn into a battle with an insufficient crew to even be considered a "skeleton crew". It was the same situation they had faced back at Heliopolis all over again. The one mobile suit that had a pilot that was still with the Archangel, had already gone out, defying orders in the process. Granted, Tyler McGregor had shown that he didn't always follow orders as they were given, yet he protected the Archangel thus far once he returned. Still that left the Archangel and its crew with only the two mobile armors as defenders. Along with the perfectly clear awareness of the lack of normal necessary crew to properly run the ship.
"Lovely first day on the job," muttered Sophia dryly as she readied all of the electronic counter measure control station, also running the onboard systems monitor programs, which would normally be done by at least two officers.
None said anything in reply as they were somber or just thinking of the difficulty ahead. The usual bridge crew during a combat situation, had gone from the customary ten this ship was supposed to operate with, to six, not including the captain. Natarle and Sofia were in the CIC, on on either side trying to operate two stations at that same time each. Natarle was doing the catapult and mobile suit controller duties, while operating on the sensor detection systems console. Arnold was as he normally was, at the helm of the Archangel. Where Pal Romero, at the weapons controls station, Jackie Tonomura sitting at the copilot controls and Dalida Lolaha Chandra II at the communications station while he was also operating the radar system. Murrue Ramius was worried to say the least about their chances in this skirmish.
Nonetheless, a few seconds after Sofia had stated the obvious, the bridge door suddenly opened. Murrue glanced around and to her shock and astonishment, the four Heliopolis students came onto the bridge. "Sorry we're late," said Sai as he led the other civilian volunteers inside, then they all gave a salute. "It won't happen again."
"What are the four of you doing here?" demanded Murrue.
Her answer, was Tolle going to the copilot chair and waiting for Jackie to vacate the seat, before Tolle took it himself. Miriallia and Kuzzey floated down into the CIC, waiting to take back their old stations to relieve the strain that both Sofia and Natarle had been under.
Sai slipped into the open electronic warfare station after Dalida got out. All the crew were baffled by what they were witnessing, these teens should've been on the shuttle that left for the Menelaos. It was while Kuzzey stood next to a frozen Natarle, waiting for her to recover from her obvious shock so he could retake the sensor detection system station and free her up for the vice captain's chair, that a vocal explanation came. "We decided to stick around," said Tolle. "Couldn't exactly leave all of you behind in the current situation, could we?"
"You'll find that we have 'lost' our discharge papers," said Sai lightly. "So, I do believe we still have a job here."
Recovering from her shock slightly, Natarle blinked and vacated the radar station, letting Kuzzey take it back. While Miriallia took over the mobile suit and catapult console, Natarle pushed herself slightly into the main bridge to look at Murrue.
"Flay Allster enlisted after we gave them the discharge papers," Natarle said. "She requested permission to join as a member of the crew, Captain Hoffman accepted her, and I approved it personally. But I didn't realize these four would decide to stay as well…"
"Are you guys really sure about this?" questioned Arnold.
Miriallia shrugged, "We don't have the discharge papers anymore," she said, "so, we're kind of committed either way."
"Well, I'm sure we're all grateful for the assistance," said Pal, "but I hope for your sakes that this really was the right decision. We're in a bit of a bind and that's putting it nicely."
Most of the other crewmen let out a sigh of agreement at that. Sophia glanced around, rather confused by the surprisingly informal air, especially given what she knew of Natarle. Looked back over her shoulder at Miriallia and Kuzzey, "Well, this is an interesting turn," said Sophia. "Guess I'll have the chance to see what the hype about you kids is all about. The name's Sophia Falco, looks like we'll be working here in the CIC together."
"Uh, Miriallia Haw," Miriallia greeted, followed by Kuzzey introducing himself to the newest crew member.
All the stations were being manned, Natarle returned to the CIC and settled into the command seat. Things then continued as they had been before meeting up with the 8th orbital fleet.
At the same time aboard the Menelaos, tensions were building as the unavoidable battle drew ever nearer. "Admiral, the Black Jade is hailing us," announced the communications operator.
"Is that right?" muttered Halberton. For the Black Zephyr to say something before a battle could mean pretty much one of two things. The first possibility was to say some sort farewell, after all Halberton and Sakura had fought one another enough to have mutual respect of each other. The second possibility was for Sakura to wish to make an offer or deal and that had only happened once before "Very well, let's see what the Black Zephyr of ZAFT has to say to us."
"Yes sir," returned the com-officer, opening the channel to the enemy ship.
A few seconds later, Sakura Clyne appeared on the forward display screen, "Duane Halberton… It's been a long time, hasn't it?" said Sakura tonelessly.
"It has Sakura Clyne," replied Halberton firmly. "I seem to recall you having a tad more emotion in your voice last time."
"War changes those involved, I believe you are a person that can understand how that works," replied Sakura. "Still, I didn't call for pleasantries. So, I shall be blunt, you can't win this battle, we both know that as fact Halberton. However, I'm not the heartless monster that the Alliance leadership claims I am. To show that I am not, you, your fleet and that new warship you have at the rear of your fleet, can all walk away from this, if you accept my offer."
"Is that so?" said Halberton, quirking an eyebrow. For this woman to offer something like this, was unexpected. It made Halberton wonder what it was she was after, for there had to be reason for her to be even considering offering her opponents anything. "And what might be the price of this 'generous' offer of yours?"
"A meeting with the three extraordinary pilots from that new Alliance ship… and then you must hand over all those marvelous mobile suits to me," replied Sakura.
"Well, how could I possibly refuse such a generous offer from the great Black Zephyr of ZAFT?" returned Halberton sarcastically.
"I see you've learned how to lay the sarcasm on even thicker than you did previously. I'll take that as a no, but then, I knew you'd refuse. Still, it seemed the courteous thing to do for one that can be considered an old friend. You might not think so Duane, but I'm nowhere near the monster people make me out to be. Farewell… old friend."
The screen blinked out, "Registering mobile suit deployment from the ZAFT warships!" called the sensor operator.
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
After I left the Archangel, I made my way to the right side of the soon to be battlefield, where the two Federation cruisers were sitting. By the time I came into sensor range of the two cruisers, the two teams of Delta fighters had launched. My own teammates from the Donnen fell in behind me and the other team moved to be next to us. I switched over to the Federation com channel, "Okay everyone, listen up, the objective in this is to prevent ZAFT from breaking through the Earth Alliance's 8th orbital fleet. Their target is the prototype vessel, the Archangel, which is located at the rear of the fleet. There will be allied reinforcement some time later, I can't say when they'll be on the field for it is uncertain," I stated to the other pilots, "Now then, time to dive in and put a stop to this!"
Ahead of us, the sight of ZAFT mobile suits launching from their ships and Alliance mobile armors moving ahead of the Alliance fleet, wasn't nice in any way. Time wasn't wasted as the skirmish between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT as those of us intent on stopping it closed the distance. Within the time it took for the Delta fighters and myself to get into striking range of those fighting one another, the battle was already on the path of getting messy. It made me feel a tad sorry for the mobile armor pilots, the whipping that they're getting is harsh even if they outnumber their opponents. While on the ZAFT end, the sizable number of GINNs, led by some CGUEs, one of which was black overall with crimson accenting. I assume that custom CGUE is being flown by Sakura, so the one to watch out for more than the other mobile suits.
And last, but certainly not least, there was the stolen Alliance prototype mobile suits, the G-Weapons. What surprised me somewhat, was all four of them out on this field, which I didn't think would happen with the beating they took in the last battle that had gone down. I mean, I'd -personally done a respectable amount of damage to the Blitz, both to its shield and definitely to that launching claw it has. Taking into account the stress and crap I put that equipment through, I doubt much of it would be usable, if any of it. Although, upon looking at my suit's twin, the Blitz had a beam rifle in its right hand instead of its shield and there was a normal CGUE shield on its left arm and no piercing claw, so I did disable the offensive options of the Blitz.
I know I recall seeing the Aegis missing its legs midway below the hips when it had run away, and the machine now has legs again. Then, my gaze flicked over to the Buster had a high-energy beam rifle besides its gun launcher, since I nailed its beam rifle in the last fight. Lastly, there was the Duel, but with what Kira had done, I would think the pilot would have suffered some amount of injury as a result. Plus, the Duel had new equipment to work with… new toys for the pilot of that machine, that's kind of annoying.
After taking in the lay of the battlefield, all the Delta Fighters and myself dove into the battle.
Yes, it probably won't make enough of a difference to save a lot of lives, but doesn't mean that we shouldn't try! The seven fighters broke into pairs, Lisa stuck with me going forward, while Alan and Luke teamed up together.
As I kept going forward, the Shadow's mirage colloid remained activate and the echo trace transmitter on, to stay undetected. I homed in on the nearest GINN with Lisa on my right. With beam rifle in the Shadow's right hand, I took aim and shot off the right aim of the GINN, then moved to the left, watching Lisa shoot off the shield the GINN had over its left shoulder. After the shield was gone, I blasted off the left arm leaving it with no weapons and really no way of defending itself. Neither Lisa or I destroyed the mobile suit, there was no reason to kill the pilot in this, so we kept flying forward. Once done dealing with the first GINN, Lisa and I went for our target which was the next nearest mobile suit and began the same process.
-Line Break-
-Neutral pov-
The ZAFT mobile suits were in the fray with the Alliance mobile armors, the front led by two CGUEs. One the traditional silver, which was the personal machine of Rau Le Creuset. The other was a distinctive black with crimson accents, the mobile suit of the Black Zephyr, Sakura Clyne. Trailing just behind the two CGUEs, were the four captured G-weapons with their assigned wingmen or for one in particular, namely the Duel, the CGUE wingman as its chaperon.
Yzak had wanted to rush off ahead and go for the enemy ship and get a chance to fight the winged suit. The desire for vengeance against the one that had gave him the scar on his face burned within him. But, he had been forbidden by pretty much everyone and had been told in no uncertain terms the consequences he would face should he not obey orders. Should he disobey, Mindy would under the orders from the Black Zephyr herself, drag him back to one of the ships if he got out of line, which would put him out of the rest of this battle. Yazk may not like the orders, but he knew that if Commander Clyne said that she would personally court marital him if he didn't do what he was told, then she would do just that. And right now, it wasn't worth facing that event, in order to obtain his goal.
While Mindy's CGUE was outmatched by the Duel in matters of power, the woman's skills more than made up for that difference and Yzak knew that. Following only a little further back from the Duel, was the Aegis with Juno's Assault Type GINN next to Athrun. The Blitz with Lori's silver-gray GINN High-Maneuver Type following Nicol. Then finally, the Buster with Ryan's custom-colored blue GINN with wings for speed and mobility on the right.
"Alright Joule, your show of following orders thus far has brought its reward, now you can have a chance to get what you want," said Sakura as they approached engagement range. "All units but the four captured machines are to fall back momentarily. Amalfi, Zala, Elsman, Joule, the four of you will move forward and engage the enemy mobile armors for fifteen seconds. That should be sufficient to break up their formations. You'll then rejoin with your wingmen, understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" came the reply from the four pilots.
Sakura gave a slight nod, before pulling back on the controls, firing reverse thrust along with all the other ZAFT-built machines. The mobile armors, which had been expected those six machines alongside the G-weapons, were caught flat-footed facing an enemy against whom their weapons were virtually worthless. True, they had expected to have to fight the stolen mobile suits, but that didn't make it any easier to actually do the idea.
Yzak, ever the aggressive one, opened fire first, launching a barrage of missiles from the pod of his new assault shroud, followed by several shots from his beam rifle and 'Shiva' railgun. Dearka was only seconds behind, letting loose with a barrage from both of his missile pods, weapons ideally suited to facing down the swarm tactics of the Earth Forces mobile armors. Then, he followed that up with shots from the Buster's gun launcher.
Athrun was a few seconds behind, firing off several quick shots with his beam rifle, and nailing all four mobile armors he targeted, a better accuracy rate than the other two. Nicol only fired off two shots from his new beam rifle before storing it on his machine's waist and drawing a beam saber instead, shooting forward and relying on his greater speed, mobility and armor to close with the mobile armors and slice them apart.
After only a few seconds, the mobile armors broke formation, and then the remaining ZAFT pilots dove in, Mindy, Lori, Ryan and Juno immediately moving back into their wingman positions as they had been instructed to. The opening shots were decidedly in ZAFT's favor, on average, it took five Moebiuses to bring down a single GINN, which could equal an escort ship on its own. But the pilots of the Clyne Team, besides three of them being in more powerful GINNs, were all elite pilots who would probably take seven or more Moebiuses to go down. On top of that, the G-weapons were powerful enough to make even GINNs look frail by comparison. Were this same force to go against Federation Military forces, then that would be different, but that was beside the point. With the work of the G-Weapons, ZAFT quickly broke the mobile armor formations and began the dirty work that this battle would be.
"Alright, the Alliance suits are to go after the fleet's ships now," stated Sakura. "The wingman will cover from mobile armors for you…"
"Ma'am! Federation forces have appeared on the battlefield! They're shooting," Interrupted one of the GINN pilots, being cutoff abruptly and the sight of an explosion acted as an explanation as to why.
Sakura clenched her jaw slightly at hearing that Federation military forces were now on the battlefield, for it changed things. There was always the chance that the Federation Military would show up in a clash between the Earth Forces and ZAFT. And with their stealth capabilities, there was rarely a warning before they interfered, it's what made action of the Federation like this annoying when it did occur.
The other half of the ongoing "issue", was that the Federation Military and those who were a part of the organization weren't to be underestimated as they were skilled and powerful. Sakura knew and had seen how skilled a number of the Federation's pilots were in their fighters. Most had thought that Federation Fighters would be as simple to deal with as Earth Forces mobile armors. Yet, those initial assumptions had been proven very wrong in enough instances that it wasn't a fluke. The Human Federation as a whole had made it clear that they weren't interested in this ongoing war between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance. The reason they interfered in battles like this, was they claimed that they wished to stop senseless killing.
Yet, why help out the Earth Alliance in this? The Federation had as many issues as ZAFT itself did with the Earth Alliance gaining the ability to produce and use mobile suits. In fact, they would have a few more than ZAFT with their member nations on Earth being put at risk. It was nearly guarantee, that should the Alliance gain the ability to mass produce mobile suits, the would be used at some point against the Federation's member nations. Regardless, the Federation was here now and that had to be taken into account. She looked down at her sensor read outs, and saw there were already GINNs being taken out of commission. "All pilots, watch yourselves out here, remember, Federation fighters are not mobile armors, their close to equal with mobile suits, treat them as such."
-Line Break-
The Archangel
With the decision made for them, Kira and Lacus made their way to the pilot locker room. They entered without thinking, rushing to their respective lockers and snatching their pilot suits out of them. Both were thinking about Tyler, since the Shadow was gone, he was likely out in the fight and that put his life at risk for the Archangel and others. They were both worried about him and neither wanted him to die out there, so perhaps if they launched out, Tyler would be able to make it back.
"Huh? Y-you both stayed?" came a shaky voice suddenly.
Kira and Lacus turned to see Flay in the pink Earth Alliance female cadet uniform, standing at the door of the locker room. As unexpected Flay's presence was, it wasn't unwelcome to either of the two Coordinators. Kira smiled slightly, "Yeah, we stayed. We couldn't leave you all alone after all," he said.
Flay stared at them, wide-eyed, as Lacus worked at the straps of her dress before pausing, "Um, could you come inside or go outside, at least close the door please?" she asked somewhat sheepishly. "The ship's nearly deserted now, but I'd rather not give any passersby something to see like this…"
Blushing slightly, Flay stepped in and hitting the switch to close the door. When that was done, Kira and Lacus resumed stripping out of their civilian clothes, not really looking at each other in a show of good manners, putting on the underclothes they'd be wearing with the pilot suits. Flay quickly turned her back on them, both to avert her eyes and to hide the blush that was forming on her cheeks.
"Kuzzey said you decided to volunteer," said Kira, "so, why did you do that?"
"I… I wanted to make a difference," said Flay, not turning to face them. "I want a peaceful world… one where, just maybe, people can forget the hatred that ends out causing this war. I still don't think someone should have their genes altered just because they can, but I also have come to understand that for Coordinators… most didn't choose to have their genes made the way they are. I'm… not proud of my behavior towards you in the past… or your friends, it was wrong and I see that now."
"It's fine," said Lacus. "What's important is how you behave now."
"Yes, but… it's not just that," said Flay. "In this world… with the war and everything, what about the people caught between the two different sides that aren't willing to back down from each other?"
That gave Kira and Lacus pause as they were starting to pull on their pilot suits, turning to face Flay. Neither Kira or Lacus had expected something like this from Flay, for she had never shown anything like this. It was a question that had come up of often enough during the war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT. And even up to this point, none had been able to give a good or satisfying answer of how to protect and/or defend those who were caught in the fighting. The Federation Military had tried to help, but even their efforts hadn't done enough to stop people not even involved in the war.
"When I was a little girl, I had a friend," Flay went on softly. "Her name was Maria, and she was… she was a Hybrid." The two pilots' eyes widened in shock as they stared at each other, "She ended out being killed just because of her heritage," continued Flay.
One that was classified as a Hybrid type of human, was a child born of a Natural and a Coordinator. The harsh thing was that most Hybrids were considered the black sheep of the human race, since they were caught between the two genetic types and weren't accepted by either. To some Coordinators, the Hybrids were the same as Naturals and so, weren't accepted. Then for Naturals, they were too much like Coordinators and so weren't trusted by those in power and had harsh rumors spread about them. Kira and Lacus knew only one Hybrid, as most would pass themselves off as Naturals or Coordinators in order to get by. Either that, or they sought asylum in the member nations of the Human Federation as they welcomed all who were willing to follow the rules of the nation. The wish to fit in and not to be judge upon how they were born, driving them.
"So… even though I dislike Coordinators… I guess, it was never something specifically against them as I thought it was before. You two helped me see and understand that one's genetics don't determine what someone is like. I'm starting to think… if this ship can really make a difference, then I want to help with that," said Flay. "Because as long as this war goes on… the hatred that exists between all of us can never be forgotten. So that's why…"
"I see," said Lacus softly. She smiled at Flay. "Well then… I guess we'll just have to make sure we succeed in making a difference."
Slowly, Flay turned to face the two, smiling slightly, "Yes… good luck you two," she said. "I'll do whatever I can to help."
"We know," said Kira. "Thank you Flay."
-Line Break-
Upper Orbit
The appearance and assistance of Federation forces didn't go unnoticed by the forces of the 8th orbital fleet, most were grateful for the help. What reason the Federation had to interfere in this, was unknown, but at the moment it didn't matter. Onboard the Menelaos's bridge, Admiral Halberton was watching the change in the flow of the battle. He intended to personally thank Tyler for this, as Halberton had no doubt the teenager had a hand in getting the Federation Military involved somehow. "Well, it would seem having a Federation Military commander on the Archangel has helped in a way that was unforeseen. Wouldn't you agree Hoffman?" Asked Halberton as Federation fighters were helping make a difference in this fight against ZAFT mobile suits.
"For the time being Admiral, yes, the Federation's help is appreciated," returned Hoffman begrudgingly.
Yet, even with the assistance of the Federation military, this battle was still far from over, Halberton knew this and it worried him. Going against Sakura Clyne, was never a simple thing, and thus far, this battle had been simple tactics, not the woman's style. Halberton studied the field as it was being displayed and it bothered him the longer he looked at the image, "And yet, there's something wrong with this," he said. "This isn't like her…"
Hoffman turned to face Halberton, "I hear the Black Zephyr is supposed to be close friends with ZAFT's Admiral Treize, even if he doesn't take the field much anymore. And thank goodness that man doesn't, or this conflict would be far worse than it already is," said Hoffman. "If I recall, his 'lessons of war' include a statement favoring simple plans." He nodded to the battle at the front of the fleet. "With the X-numbers, a frontal assault is doing the job fine."
"I doubt that's all there is, not if her goal is the Archangel," said Halberton, turning to the sensor operator. "Scan the area for evidence of other ZAFT ships! Knowing the Black Zephyr, she's got an ambush or a flanking maneuver setup for us!"
"Yes sir!"
'But…' thought Halberton, 'If this is anything like back during the Grimaldi Conflict… she's probably stay at least one step ahead of me. If not for Tyler's warning, she would be more than one…'
Unfortunately for Halberton, he was right about being one step behind Sakura, ordering the search for additional forces not even a minute before a pair of Laurasia-class frigates suddenly lit up their engines and "descended" on the fleet from the planar north, launching mobile suits as they did so.
Several of the mobile armor squadrons tangling with the mobile suits at the front, as well as the handful that had been held back for fleet defense, rushed to try and intercept. The Drake-class escort ships at the rear of the fleet began to orient themselves upwards as well in order to bring as many missile pods to bear on the new arrivals as possible.
Unfortunately, the Black Zephyr and her Knights weren't about to let that go by without punishment. As the four stolen prototypes rushed at different enemy ships with their wingman flying cover. Sakura, Creuset and the four pilots flying off the Fairchild, Christian Rosen, Rika Sheder, Luna Mosswell and Elliot Sutherland leveled their machine guns and opened up on the scattering mobile armors, shredding them from behind with a storm of bullets.
"Bastards!" cursed a Moebius pilot over an open channel as he fired his missiles on Luna's GINN. She fell back, allowing her wingman to shoot forward and pump the Moebius full of bullets, leaving the missiles unguided and easily evaded.
Meanwhile, the Aegis shifted to mobile armor form as it flew at a Drake-class and latched its claw onto the escort ship's vulcan turret. Athrun pulled the trigger, firing it Multi-phase energy cannon named "Scylla". The Drake-class was completely obliterating it by the shot, the ruins of the turret flew away from what remained of the crippled warship. It was really a miracle that the ship hadn't exploded from the blast.
"Lori, I'm going under with mirage colloid," said Nicol as the two flew at a Drake-class next to a nelson-class vessel, "targeting the Nelson-class."
"Roger that," said Lori, as she watched the Blitz disappear as its mirage colloid activated. Nicol couldn't help but think that her voice sounded far too sweet for a soldier.
When the Blitz disappeared, Lori fired her thrusters in reverse and leveled her machine gun at the Drake-class in front of her, opening fire with full auto. But she wasn't really bothering to aim, instead focusing on her surroundings so that she wouldn't be caught unawares when an enemy attacked her. It was important in this battle, especially since Federation fighters were on the field, for as good as Lori was, a Federation fighter could match a GINN and win half the time. And that was bolstered with the Federation pilots being as skilled as ZAFT's own pilots, and some were better admittedly.
Then, the Blitz suddenly rematerialized in front of the bridge of the Nelson-class cruiser next to the Drake-class it had been charging at earlier, catching the enemy off-guard as he fired off the rifle the suit had at the bridge. Nicol blasted the bridge tower, until it exploded then he focused firing at the cruiser's weapons before quickly pulling back to rejoin Lori.
"Take this!" shouted Dearka. He dodged shots from a Drake-class as he leveled the high-energy beam rifle the Buster was equipped with shot straight at the centerline of the ship several times in rapid succession until he blasted a hole through it. He then shot a barrage of missiles into the hole, causing the entire ship to explode like it had been stuff full of firecrackers.
Yzak, forcing himself to show patience, followed the orders he was given, knowing better than to fly completely off the handle and go for what he really wanted to take on right now. He went for the ship Mindy directed him towards under covering fire from her CGUE. Yzak knew the more that he followed orders, the more likely he would get a shot at the winged suit that he wanted to destroy and succeed. As much as he would wish he could move forward, the less trouble he ended out in while doing so, the better. So, Yzak was biding his time and unusual for him, was being the good soldier. Yet, Yzak used the Alliance forces to vent his frustrations on, which he had lots of. He broke away to get a better firing angle, sidling alongside the Nelson cruiser and began firing repeated shots from his rifle and railgun until the ship was completely and utterly pulverized as its internal munitions stores went off.
"Damn it! I don't like to wait," cursed Yzak angrily to himself as he pulled back, sticking near Mindy as per his orders. "This better be worth it, so that I get a shot at that winged machine."
As the battle continued, the reports of the losses being suffered by the 8th orbital began coming into the Menelaos. "Seleukos is hit, it's out of commission," said one of the bridge operators. "Cassandros, not responding."
"Antigonos and Ptolemaios are down!" said another operator.
"How can that be?" asked Hoffman, gasping in surprise. "Four vessels destroyed only three minutes into the battle?"
"The Seleukos and Cassandros are moving," said a third operator. "They've sustained heavy damage and are withdrawing from the battle."
"Understood," said Halberton, "try to send them a communication to keep an eye out for enemy ambushes as they retreat! I doubt the Black Zephyr would use such underhanded tactics… but I wouldn't put it past her to avoid hitting them either."
"Yes sir," was the reply
Le Creuset was flying around the battlefield, watching the fighting. He observed Athrun and Nicol doing damage, but doing their best to not kill their opponents. "Athrun and Nicol are too soft for my taste," said Creuset. "Show the enemy mercy, you only encourage them to come at you with a new weapon in hand. Are you sure we shouldn't finish those vessels off Zephyr?"
"Le Creuset, would you shut up while you're ahead," growled Sakura. "In war, the best thing is not to shatter and destroy the enemy, but to take them whole and intact. When the enemy can no longer do battle, their deaths can only be murder. Is that clear, Le Creuset?"
"Yes, of course, crystal clear," said Le Creuset, gunning down a Moebius. "I was merely wondering as to your thoughts."
"Then my opinion is established with what I just said. Now, do yourself a favor and cover me," she said.
A trio of mobile armors charged at the black CGUE, but Creuset quickly picked all of them off as the Sakura charged at a Nelson-class, dodging under its fire as she opened up on the hull. When she was close, she swung her sword though the area she'd hit, cutting a hole in the armor through which she proceeded to crash her CGUE. Creuset winced slightly in a brief flash of sympathy for the crew, he knew what them Black Zephyr was doing as she proceeded to fly her machine through deck after deck of the soft interior… and then suddenly blasted back out behind the bridge tower. Detonations chained along the length of the hull, and by the time Sakura and Creuset had regrouped, the cruiser exploded.
"That's a suicidal tactic, that the sort of move I would expect from the Roc, not from you Zephyr," said Le Creuset.
"It will work better if I can get my hands on a beam saber and that phase shift armor," she replied. "As for the Roc, Kurt had a large, heavy scythe as his weapon of choice and would use it in that manner to cut open ships like tin cans. I would think you would recall that correctly, now let's go!"
-Line Break-
The Archangel
To say the crew was frustrated would've been an understatement, they were still under orders not to join the battle at large and it was easy to see that none were happy about the orders. That was despite the fact that their ship had more firepower than any other ship of the fleet and was at least five times as maneuverable as any of them. It wasn't until a sound came from Murrue's right, that her attention was shifted from the battle in anyway.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!
"Huh?" muttered Murrue, looking to her right and seeing that the phone mounted on her right armrest, intended for various quick communications purposes for the Archangel's captain was ringing. She picked it up, curious as to whom it was calling to the bridge, "Yes?"
"Hey, why the hell am I still on standby?" demanded Mu irritated. "Those four stolen prototypes are at it again, and now they're backed by the Black Zephyr's pilots! The 8th fleet is in deep trouble and we're just sitting here! How can you not see the problem with this damn it?!"
"Lieutenant La Flaga," said Murrue.
"Mu is absolutely right, the 8th fleet is taking that beating for us here on the Archangel! It's just wrong for us to sit here and do nothing but watch!" shot Krystal.
"It's not as if my mobile armor or Krystal's alone will make much of a difference," admitted Mu in frustration, "but still!"
"Our ship hasn't been signaled to join in yet," said Murrue. "We are to remain on standby."
"You've got to be kidding, that's bull-!" shouted Krystal.
"I agree with Krystal wholeheartedly, this is ridiculous for us not to get our a**es out there," started Mu cutting over Krystal, but Murrue turned off the link.
She sighed lightly, feeling much the same as Mu and Krystal. Coming to a quick decision, Murrue looked over her shoulder at Miriallia, "Connect me to the Menelaos!" she ordered.
Miriallia quickly did as she had been ordered.
Meanwhile, on the Menelaos, reports of how bad things were kept coming, "Xerxes and Paris, moving out front," announced a Menelaos operator.
"X numbers approaching!" warned a second officer.
"Use the main guns! Shoot them down!" ordered Hoffman.
"Admiral, we're receiving a communication from the Archangel, connecting real time with them," informed a communications officer. Halberton, frustrated by the battle, opened the link, "What do you want?" he asked.
"We wish to pull away from the fleet," said Murrue. "It's imperative that we begin our descent sequence now, Admiral. Please authorize it!"
"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Halberton.
"Are you people trying to flee this battle to save yourselves?" asked Hoffman. On the screen, Murrue scowled.
"This ship is the enemy's target!" she said. "We must move away from you! If not, the whole fleet will be destroyed! Alaska is out of the question, but from here, we could still reach Earth Forces territory, even Human Federation territory would be okay right now! We can shake off the GINNs and ZAFT vessels in the Earth's atmospheric interface, Admiral!"
Halberton sighed, as he knew that his subordinate was quite right that the Archangel was the target and the reason that ZAFT was still pushing forward. He looked at one of the sensor boards as another escort ship had been destroyed, "Murrue Ramius, you haven't changed a bit," said Halberton with a slight smile, looking back at the display screen, "still as reckless as ever."
"As you well know, a subordinate learns from their superior," retorted Murrue.
"Very well," said Halberton. "Commence preparations for the Archangel's descent on the double. We'll provide cover for you up to the entry interface. We won't allow one single enemy to get past us."
"Yes sir!" said Murrue as the communication cut.
Back on the Archangel, the com-channel closed and Murrue knew what had to be done now, "Everyone, prepare to descend and go through atmospheric interface immediately!" Murrue ordered.
"Atmospheric Interface" the term for the process of a ship which is large than a shuttle, would descend into Earth's atmosphere and go through it. Historical records state that early manned space craft had special equipment such as parachutes, air breaks and material that shielded them from the heat. Thrusters were the current way to 'slow down' a ship, but that only helped so much. And then, heat shielding was handled by various heat resistant gels that were produced now. Even with the improvements, the process of entering and then descending through Earth's atmosphere is still a risky action and so can be difficult and can have horrible consequences if done incorrectly.
Down in the hanger, Mu was fuming at just sitting around and doing nothing while the battle with ZAFT was going on outside. Krystal was doing much the same, but wasn't showing the feeling as much as Mu was.
"All hands, prepare for atmospheric entry interface!" announced Miriallia over the internal speaker system.
"Descending?" questioned Mu loudly and incredulously in the hangar, looking over to Krystal.
She was looking just as dumbfounded, "With the situation we're in?" she asked.
"What good's it gonna do you to argue or question about it?" asked Murdoch. "But I guess it's better than sitting around not doing anything. Honestly, I don't blame that McGregor kid at all, launching out when he did, he's out there working to make a difference, while we just get to standby."
"Even if we lose the ZAFT ships and GINNs, there are still those four machines," came another voice suddenly, and everyone in the hangar turned in shock to see Kira and Lacus in pilot suits floating towards the Asuka and Strike.
"What the, you two kids are still here?!" called Murdoch in surprise.
"We'll stand by in our machines," said Lacus, smiling.
"We're still at level one battle stations, right?" asked Kira.
With that, the two teens turned their attention fully to their respective machines. Murdoch stopped by the red zero armor, "I thought they got off this ship," he said, frowning with Mu and Krystal.
"They're still at such a young age," commented Mu, "and already, they've been exposed to their share of war and battlefields. It's going to make their lives tougher."
"You have to give them credit for their commitment," commented Krystal.
-Line Break-
The Menelaos
As the Archangel began pulling away, Halberton turned to the Menelaos chief communications officer, and nodded. The com-officer immediately opened a fleet-wide communications channel, "This is Halberton, this message is to all ships!" Called Halberton, "From here on, the focus of our energies will be to protect the Archangel until it reaches the atmosphere's entry interface's final phase! We expect this to be a harsh battle, but if we are to win the conflicts that lie ahead, we cannot afford to lose that ship! Reassemble the formation! With the will and determination of the 8th Fleet, we'll make certain that not one single enemy gets through! We'll show them what the Earth Forces are made of!"
As Halberton's speech/orders were heard, the soldiers of the 8th Fleet, with renewed determination, regrouped their formation around the Menelaos, determined to make their commanding officer proud.
Meanwhile, ZAFT forces were struggling to keep up the pressure that they had been putting on the Alliance forces, mostly due to the work of the Federation fighters that were picking off the GINNs one by one at a fair pace. The number of fighters was unknown, but the results were something none could deny. Yet, the Earth Forces had also rallied and regrouped, fighting harder than before and making it harder for ZAFT pilots to gain ground. Sakura felt some respect for the renewed effort the opposing forces were making against them. It wouldn't change any things with the outcome of this battle, Sakura would see to that, but still.
In the fight with the Alliance's mobile armor squadrons and ZAFT mobile suits, a Moebius shot down a GINN, only to be taken out by the shoulder-mounted gatling guns of a GINN Assault Type from the Clyne Team. Three more mobile armors fired off all their missiles at the Blitz, and although Nicol managed to shoot two down, he was forced to simply take on the role of a tank and take the rest with his Phase Shift armor. As he did so, Lori took advantage of their distraction to gun down all three Moebiuses with precision burst-fire from her 76mm heavy assault machine gun that was loaded with armor-piercing rounds.
Four Moebiuses clustered up in a rotating formation, firing their linear guns in rapid succession on Christian and Rika of the Clyne Team. The two dodged and returned fire with their machine guns, only for the Moebiuses to break apart. One fired off its missiles, vulcans and linear gun at Rika all at once while the other three each let loose with a different weapon on Christian. Both ZAFT pilots were about to counter the Alliance armors, when out of nowhere, Christian's high energy cannon was hit and exploded, clearly not from weapons that the mobile armors had.
The two GINNs, CGUE and the Blitz were scanning around for the source of the shot. Nicol became on edge after seeing the shot, the GINN's cannon had been hit by a shot from a beam rifle. Mobile Armors didn't carry beam rifles yet, so that left a mobile suit as the culprit. Out of the enemy forces, there are only three mobile suits to work with. Of those three, this style of hitting and seeing nothing of the source, fit one of the three machines perfectly and really none other. That was the 'twin' of the Blitz itself and that meant nothing but trouble in Nicol's mind.
The Federation had the capabilities to be invisible while striking their target and that fact was proof of the stealth abilities they had. However, it was the third enemy mobile suit that fit this more in Nicol's mind. That black suit with its pilot was still in Nicol's opinion, even if it wasn't shared by others, the most dangerous of the three enemy mobile suit and pilot combinations. In fact, that machine and pilot scared Nicol in a couple of ways and more with the possibility they could do than any had before.
The two pilots from the Clyne team were getting frustrated at not finding whomever it was that had attacked. Yet, while that was going on, Nicol opened a com-line to his 'wingman', "Lori, I think we're going against the black enemy mobile suit. In the previous encounter, it was clear to me, that its mirage colloid had been improved compared to what the Blitz has equipped. The pilot somehow overcame the flaw in the mirage colloid system and that allows it to move around undetected," remarked Nicol.
The tension was mounting quickly as nothing occurred, that's until one of the two GINNs suffered three slashes from a beam saber. The evidence of the action, the suit's arms and head were cleanly separated from the rest of the machine in quick succession. Rika spun around gazing at where her comrade's suit was now armless and headless and growled in frustration. "Whoever you are, come out and fight us!" She shouted in challenge over an open com-line.
Rika moved forward and slashed at nothing, then the arm of her GINN gripping the beam saber, was blasted off of the suit by a beam from below. That was followed quickly by the sight of a magenta line that was a beam saber, flying towards her. She thought she was about to die by whatever this invisible enemy was, but at the last moment, her wingman, Christian pushed her GINN out of the way by ramming her with his. Rika, then had to watch as her comrade's GINN get cut in half by the magenta blade that didn't appear to be attached to anything, cutting from the bottom upward to the top.
"CHRISTIAN!" cried Rika as she saw her wingman's suit explode.
Nicol faced forward again, just in time to see the fragments from the destroyed suit. Then he caught a glimpse of the mentioned enemy black mobile suit reappearing and activating its phase shift armor. The other thing that Nicol took note of, was that the Blitz's twin had difference equipment again from the last battle. That proved that it could, like the X105 Strike was supposed to be able to do, yet another contribution to the danger of this mobile suit and its pilot.
Lori and he moved forward, but the black machine had already changed its direction of flight and was now diving down at Rika's GINN. Its beam saber on the underside of its shield still ignited, coming down to slash at the GINN.
Rika screamed as the saber came at her, yet, just before the enemy suit struck, it hit by projectiles, which forced it to break off its attack and start dodging bolts and bullets from behind Nicol. He turned to see that the Black Zephyr and Commander Le Creuset were shooting at the enemy mobile suit. "Rika, withdraw," said Sakura calmly as Commander Le Creuset and she fired on the enemy mobile suit. "You can't do anymore good with your machine in its current state."
"Y-yes ma'am!" replied Rika.
As Rika retreated, Sakura and Creuset kept shooting at the black suit to prevent it from attacking during Rika's withdraw. The enemy suit kept dodging as it backed away, powering down its beam saber. Then it turned from black to grey, before it vanished as its mirage colloid spread over it, hiding the machine from view.
"So, even your knights can be taken down," commented Creuset as he and Sakura watched the black enemy mobile suit disappear.
"Anyone can be shot down," replied Sakura. "The Battle of Endymion proved that… the Mocking Jay fell there, or have you forgotten that. However, that black mobile suit has proven far more dangerous in two battles than most ever do. Whoever the pilot is, they clearly are experienced at piloting a mobile suit and fighting with one."
"Yes, that machine is quite the wild card… hmm?" A message popped up on one of Creuset's screens. "The legged ship…"
The message detailed that the movements of the target ship had changed and showed that it was breaking away from the fleet. "So, Halberton's going to use the 8th fleet as a shield to let that ship begin its descent to Earth," commented Sakura. There was a brief pause as she assessed the situation. "Amalfi, Zala, Elsman, Joule, we're breaking from the main engagement. We'll pursue the legged ship as far as we can, your firepower will be necessary to break through the final enemy defense line in the time there is before our target gets beyond our reach up here."
"Yes ma'am!" replied the four pilots.
In total, eight GINNs had been lost including Christian's Assault Type, and both Rika's GINN and Commander Porto's CGUE had been forced to retreat back to their motherships. The Federation had been helping the Earth Forces gain ground against ZAFT, showing once again that Federation fighters were able to take on mobile suits.
The Ziegler and Galvani, still bearing down from the planar north, let loose another barrage into the 8th Fleet, sending two more ships up in flames, just as they'd been doing since first launching mobile suits. The whole battle was tipped in ZAFT's favor, thanks to the surprise flanking maneuver and the tremendous power of the stolen Alliance prototypes, leaving only a handful of mobile armors. But the Federation forces were making things much harder, especially the black mobile suit that was fighting against ZAFT alongside the Federation. However, Sakura and the two left of the Clyne team, along with Le Creuset team had been able to break off and punch through the 8th Fleet formation.
That was added to when one of the two Laurasia-class vessels were struck on their port side. This was quickly followed by two Federation cruisers appearing and began baring down on the ZAFT warship. The appearance of the Federation vessels, also added more of their fighters on the battlefield, which didn't help ZAFT at all. Sakura knew that if the fresh Federation pilots reached them, ZAFT forces would likely need to fall back and withdraw. So, the group she led forward towards the Archangel picked up their pace, while the rest of those that were fighting the Alliance, made a desperate attempt to delay the Federation Military forces.
As the ten mobile suits heading towards the Archangel approached the 8th Fleet's final defensive line, all of the Alliance warships opened up with everything they had. The CGUEs and GINNs were all forced back, with the exception of Ryan on Dearka's wing. Ryan was dodging the shots expertly and so stayed with his assigned machine. But, the four stolen Alliance's prototypes opened with everything they had, successfully obliterating a pair of escort ships. Yzak didn't wait for Mindy to take back her position on his wing, charging through the hole.
"Yzak you're disobeying orders!" shouted Dearka as he gave chase, Ryan still on his wing.
"Shut up!" Yzak shot back angrily.
Athrun and Nicol didn't disobey orders, instead they waited for their wingmen to regain position, but unfortunately, the 8th fleet used the opportunity to close up the hole behind the Duel, Buster and GINN.
"Yzak Joule, mark my words, you will face consequences for your actions. And don't think your mother's position will get you out of trouble with me for even a moment. If you survive this battle, I will not only personally court martial l you, it will be in front of Lanus Treize, Joule," came Sakura's cold voice.
The prospect of a personal court martial by the Black Zephyr herself was terrifying. But, for her to state it would be done in front of the leader of the ZAFT military made it far worse! However, Yzak ignored the threat as he didn't care at the moment. All that he wanted was his chance to get a shot at the enemy mobile suits that had caused such problems in his view. So, he ignored the orders and continued, gunning for the legged ship, where he believed he would find the other two enemy mobile suits, which hadn't appeared.
-Line Break-
The Archangel
"The Duel, the Buster and a GINN have broken through the 8th fleet," announced Miriallia over the PA.
Murdoch and the other mechanics gasped, "The Menelaos is engaged in combat!" added Kuzzey, though his voice was only heard over the intercom of the mobile weapons.
"Lieutenant La Flaga!" said Kira.
"Yeah, I know kid," said Mu. He called the bridge once more, "Captain! Let us fight to the last second! There's still time before the ship starts reentry, as long as we get back before that, we're good!"
"Don't be ridiculous," said Murrue sternly. "You want us too…"
"According to the catalogue specs for all of the Alliance prototypes," came Lacus's voice suddenly, "They are able to undergo reentry on their own, that includes the Strike, the Asuka and the Shadow should all be able to survive the atmospheric reentry process… in theory at least."
"Lacus, what are you…?" asked Murrue, surprised to see pink-haired teen again, much less in the cockpit of the Strike where she was. The bridge crew gasped in surprise at what the young teen was suggesting as much as seeing the young teenager in the mobile suits "What are you doing there? I thought you…?"
"Captain," came Kira's voice, just as suddenly as Lacus's. "If this keeps up, the Menelaos will be in great danger of being in destroyed. Come on captain, let us launch and do something while there's still time!"
Murrue hesitated, uncertain on what to do in this situation, which was difficult as it is. Tyler had already gone out to the battlefield… without permission, but he did what he saw was right and has said so a few times, regardless of any orders given from anyone else. If the other four pilots launched, the chances of them getting back before the Archangel started atmospheric interface, were fairly slim at best. Although, their chances were better than Tyler's chances of getting back to the ship before the third phase of reentry, since none knew where he was. Murrue knew the importance of getting the Strike to Earth HQ, so letting it launch at this point was crazy! Phase three of entry interface was the most dangerous as it was when a craft came into the Earth's Thermosphere. That was the point where burning up tended to happen the most for the instances that it had occurred.
Natarle sighed slightly in her own well-concealed worry with the current situation, yet someone needed to make a decision and Murrue was hesitating. So, it fell to Natarle as the acting vice captain to make the choice and she could swallow her pride enough to agree the pilots were right. She hit a button of the unoccupied mobile weapon control station, "Alright then, permission granted," she said. "But, you must return before we reach phase three. The specs may say it's possible to survive the full reentry process, but none of the G-Weapons were tested in the conditions that Earth's atmospheric interface possesses. We don't know what will happen to you in the cockpit, so keep a constant eye on the altitude and time, all of you. Do not, I repeat, do not drop below 850 kilometers."
"Yes ma'am," said Kira and Lacus as the com-line cut out.
Murrue stood up, glaring down at Natarle, "Ensign Badgiruel!" she snapped.
Natarle glared right back at Murrue, "If this ship is destroyed, the sacrifices of the 8th fleet will have been in vain!" reasoned Natarle. Murrue's eyes narrowed as the two women began a glaring match that made the rest of the bridge crew feel nervous, with one exception. Sofia was watching with interest, 'I wonder who will crack first and show their claws,' thought Sophia.
Down on the hangar deck, the Strike and Asuka were moved to the catapults. Murdoch watched this with a worried expression on his face, one mirrored by Mu and Krystal in their Zeroes waiting for their turn to launch out. "Even I have never made a sortie in this kind of situation. I done a few simulations of atmospheric combat, but" muttered Mu.
The air tight shutters closed behind the mobile suits, "Yes, it's nuts yet, it's better than sitting around doing nothing Mu. Yet, I know about the simulations you're talking about, let's hope those were exaggerating what the idea is like," commented Krystal.
As the mobile suits were receiving equipment, Mu keyed the radio. "Hey you two, be careful when you get out there, okay? Tyler may already be out on the field, but there is no signal from the Shadow. So he may not be in a position to help us, meaning we're on our own. We'll also have to take account the effects of gravity while we're out there, for it will pull you down and deeper into Earth's atmosphere."
Once the Strike equipped with the Aile striker pack, the catapults open on both legs of the Archangel. "Yeah, we will be," said Kira as the he looked out at the Earth below them. "The view is beautiful… it's a shame that we have to see it in a situation like this."
"Yes," agreed Lacus. "But when this is all over… I think we should try to see it, when we can take the time to truly enjoy it later." She paused, "Kira… I've got a bad feeling about this…"
"Yeah, so do I," said Kira, "But there isn't much we can do but go ahead and launch so," He paused, shaking his head. "Well, let's go. Kira Yamato, Asuka launching!"
"Lacus Don, Strike launching!" called Lacus.
The two Coordinators felt the catapults launching them forward and away from the ship at high speed. As they cleared the catapults, they activated their Phase Shift armor, and both Zeroes were quickly to follow the two mobile suits.
"Alright, let's see what we can pull off," muttered Mu.
"Have some faith Mu, it's what we got to work with," returned Krystal.
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
As a group of ZAFT mobile suits broke through the 8th fleet's defense line, I got a picture that I DIDN'T want to see. The Duel and Buster along with a GINN were close to getting into range of striking the Archangel. Then both the Asuka and the Strike launched out, followed by both Zero armors and the shortly began clashing with the Duel, Buster and GINN. My friends and fellow pilots were currently holding their own for the time being, but if the six other ZAFT mobile suits that had broken through the Alliance defenses to join the fight, that would be bad! In other words, my friends were in trouble already as atmospheric conditions aren't helpful in combat at all and were about to be in even more trouble. If the defender of the Archangel fall, then the ship would follow… and though that would technically fulfill the objective of the current mission I was assigned, it was definitely not the way I wanted it to be done!
There was no way I'll let that happen! And with the resolution, I felt the onset of my own SEED mode. For me when this happens, I of course get the having eyes in the back of my head along with increased speed with my reaction time. Those two qualities are common with those with SEED factor, Kira and Lacus had shown that during the battle before the Archangel linked up with the fleet. However, I have another more individualist quality that comes into play when I go into SEED mode. I can also somehow predict with extremely uncanny accuracy where my opponents WILL be when I shoot or strike. It's this ability that others have nicknamed 'target forecasting' which puts me in the top ranks of Federation pilots.
Before seeing the sight of the Archangel's plight, I'd been taking on two GINNs with Lisa helping me still, yet that changed in a moment. Now, I was going much harder… and I stopped being so nice by just disabling my opponent. I was visible as I'd the phase shift armor active rather than the mirage colloid, so my opponents could see me. One of the GINNs rushed me and instead of blocking, I leveled my shield at the level of the suit's head and pulled the trigger for the railgun. My shot nailed the GINN's head and destroyed the head's cameras and the pilot fell back. I sensed the other GINN coming up from behind me to strike me however, I spun the Shadow around, igniting my shield's beam saber. My beam saber sliced through the torso of the GINN like a hot knife through butter, the suit exploded shortly after being cut in half. The Shadow's phase shift prevented damage from the explosion and shrapnel, though the battery power went down for it.
With both GINNs dealt with, I turned until I'd the Archangel in my view in front of me and had my thrusters give a healthy burn. I dodged the bolts that were sent my way from ZAFT mobile suits. Along the way towards the Archangel, I crossed paths with a GINN sporting a high-energy beam rifle.
After storing my beam rifle, I activated my shield's beam saber and quickly sliced off the backpack and the left arm of the GINN, then kicked it away. I 'disarmed' the suit in the way I did to make sure that the rifle and its battery pack were in working order. I took the rifle and attached the battery pack to the rifle's main structure, since oddly, the standard high-energy rifle that ZAFT makes, can have battery attached to the rifle itself.
I proceeded to use the rifle on the GINN that I'd kicked and shot just below the cockpit of the machine, to test the rifle to make sure it was working. The GINN wasn't destroyed and the pilot did run away, but I got my conformation of the state of the rifle. After that, I swung the rifle to the right and fired away at the GINNs that were still attacking me, which they stopped doing right fast with me shooting back at them and hitting them more than they were me.
I continued on my way towards my intended destination, the Archangel and as I drew closer to the Archangel, other ZAFT suits made attempts to stop my progress. I evade and dodged the attacks with seemingly the greatest of ease. In fact, I also destroyed three of the GINNs that had made the bad choice of attacking me, two with bolts from the high-energy rifle, the other I cut in half with my shield's beam saber. I finished off by nearly puncturing the battery of the rifle, then chucked the weapon at other GINNs. Then I watched for a little bit as the rifle flew over near the ZAFT units, then the battery ruptured, and the rifle made a very nice explosion. The bang did minor damage to the ZAFT machines, but it scared them good, that's for sure.
Within minutes, I caught up with the group mobile suits that were making their way towards the Archangel. I spotted the Aegis in its cruise mode and the Blitz among the group of mobile suits and it was the Aegis that noticed me coming up from behind. Athrun reacted by spinning around and shooting his suit's beam rifle in my direction… he missed, but I'll applaud the effort later. I did a tight barrel roll and avoided the shot that came at me and kept moving forward. The Blitz did the same as the Aegis… you would think that one would learn from the non-success of their comrade, but apparently, that's not the case. I Ignored the group in pretty much every way, except evading what attacks came my way, which were becoming more erratic the more I dodged. Without hesitation, I dove into Earth's upper atmosphere, the sooner I go to the Archangel, the better.
This would also be the second time I would be in upper atmospheric conditions, and I wasn't looking forward to the experience. But, it was necessary to protect friends of mine and so, I'll do things that I'm not fond of. The feel of gravity affecting my mobile suit registered to me and I adjusted the Shadow's flight to compensate if the extra force as I kept going towards the fighting where my friends were. By what I could see, three mobile suits had got into range to attack the Archangel, the Buster and Duel being two of the three, the last was a GINN.
-Line break-
-Neutral pov-
"So, they've launched off their two other mobile suits," muttered Sakura as she shot down a missile barrage aimed at her. She smirked suddenly as two more objects emerged from the legged ship, "Well… if it isn't the Hawk and the Peregrine… it's been awhile since I've had a challenge, hopefully those two can provide."
Creuset could practically feel Sakura's the cold Black Zephyr spirit merging with the blood princess's own with the prospect of fighting an opponent that could be worthy of giving her a challenge. A part of him hoped that she'd lose all rational thought in her desire for a good battle, but most of him knew better. If Sakura hadn't known it before, she'd definitely learned her lesson about that at Endymion when she had come close to being defeated by a mobile armor pilot known as the 'Sliver Eagle'.
At that moment though, Creuset spotted something on sensors. "The Gamow?" he questioned. The second ship of his team was moving forward, all guns blazing and its path a direct intercept course with the legged ship. "Has Zelman gone suicidal?!"
If the Gamow were to hold its course, it would break up in the atmosphere and none of the crew would survive that. Creuset wasn't the only one to notice the Gamow's change in course and where it would put the Laurasia-class. "Captain Zelman, this is an order," said Sakura coolly after noticing the Gamow's course. "Pull back your ship immediately."
"But we can't let them escape!" reasoned Zelman.
Sakura knew the view that Zelman was using, but that was how good people died and there had been more than enough of those. "What you're doing isn't going to ensure the destruction of the legged ship, only the loss of a good crew and their captain," stated Sakura, voice still calm, but lost the cold tone. "So, I repeat, you are ordered to withdraw."
Even as Sakura ordered the Gamow back, she and the others took advantage of the distraction the Laurasia-class's approach had caused. That was done by blasting their way through the 8th fleet's formation and heading for the engagement with the legged ship's mobile weapons. There were several of the Alliance vessels turning in order to continue engaging them, even at the risk of plunging into the atmosphere themselves.
"Yes, understood ma'am," said Zelman at last. The Gamow fired reverse thrusters and began to turn around to withdraw, its cannons rotating so as to continue firing on the 8th Fleet. Even as it did so, numerous blasts from the 8th Fleet vessels smashed into the frigate's hull, though not destroying the vessel.
The attention of the mobile suit group was gained by something else. The Aegis was the first to notice that something was off, and when Athrun turned the Aegis to look behind. The sight of the Shadow not only coming towards their group, but closing the distance between itself and the mobile suits ahead of it with worrying speed. Athrun instantly shifted the Aegis from its mobile armor mode to suit mode and spun the Aegis fully around to face rearwards while still going forward, and fired his beam rifle at the Shadow. Of course, Athrun didn't aim at the cockpit, after all, he didn't want to kill Tyler, they were friends. However, the Shadow went into a tight barrel roll to the left and managed to avoid the beam. The shot didn't even brake its stride or course forward and the effort of avoidance was miniscule. That caught Athrun off-guard a bit, for this brought on a feeling of déjà vu, for this was how things morphed into in the last encounter with the Legged Ship.
Nicol had seen the Aegis shifting into its mobile suit mode, and then turn to face behind their group and fire off its beam rifle. Nicol glanced in the same direction, and spotted the Blitz's odd twin fast approaching. That was all Nicol had to see, to know that suit coming their way was something he didn't want to see or experience again. So, Nicol did the same as Athrun and spun around and fired the beam rifle he had at the oncoming mobile suit. But, the black machine spun into a barrel roll to evade the bolts, like it had known what had been coming. Nicol swallowed hard at seeing that, for it was near identical to what he had viewed from the records of the previous battle. The only difference, was that the other two enemy mobile suits had shown this… "change", and that had been scary to view. To see that this machine and its pilot could do close to the same thing was not nice to witness at all.
The enemy mobile suit oddly, ignored the whole group, the Aegis, the Blitz the CGUEs and the GINNs. It flew over them all and kept going forward toward the Legged ship and was using the improved thrusters. Of course, the ZAFT group shot their weapons at the Shadow as and after it passed them. However, every shot missed, the black mobile suit did acrobatics to maneuver out of the way of what was sent its way. It was truly as if the pilot had eyes in the back of their head! The suit dove into the atmosphere and went straight for the Buster and Ryan's GINN.
-Line Break-
Kira and Lacus blazed out to aid the 8th fleet when suddenly the mobile suits began to slow and shake. "Must be gravity, pulling me down," muttered Kira. He pressed a button and had the Asuka's thrusters blaze away harder. Gravity would be a dangerous thing to be kept in mind in this battle, for to ignore it, meant you would fall and burn up if one went too deep into Earth's atmosphere. The Strike at his side, obviously having done the same, compensating for the pull of gravity.
In the Duel, Yzak smirked as he caught sight of the two mobile suits, "There you are, you damn Natural… finally got the courage to show your face again. You're not just going let that black suit come out and fight while it's invisible like a coward," growled Yzak, his voice dangerously calm with a distinctly sinister undertone. He reached up and grabbed a saber as he closed the distance between the Duel and the Asuka. "This is for the nasty wound!" Yzak growled over an open-channel. The Duel rushed forward at the Asuka and quickly met in a clash of beam saber on shield.
"The Duel, with upgraded equipment?" muttered Kira as the Duel fired two rounds from its new shoulder mounted railgun at him.
The railgun wasn't the same as the one the Shadow had in its shield, but it still was something that Kira didn't want to be hit by. He dodged the second swing and took a leaf out of Tyler's playbook, using the Asuka's shield and rammed the Duel. Kira backed off a bit and began to weave out of the barrage from the Duel's Igelstellungs and then countering with the Asuka's own Igelstellungs.
Meanwhile, Lacus narrowed her eyes as both the Buster and the blue GINN with it, closed in on her. "You won't win!" she said as she fired four shots in rapid succession, forcing the two opposing suits to separate.
Both opposing machines fired on her, but Lacus evaded the high-energy beam cannon shot from the Buster. Lacus then blocked most of the bullets from the GINN with her shield, and for those that she didn't block, the Strike's phase shift armor absorbed the precision shots from the GINN. The Buster fired missiles at her, but she gunned most of the projectiles down with her Igelstellungs, and blocked the remainder with her shield. Then, both of the Moebius Zeroes arrived to join the battle, deploying gunbarrels and using them to put on the pressure on the enemy mobile suits. Yet, Mu and Krystal were not letting the gunbarrels go out to the farthest extent with the environment as it was.
The Buster was still fighting the Strike, but the wingman that he had been assigned, was taking on the two mobile armors. Dearka dodged a shot from the Strike, returning fire with the beam rifle and kept switching between that and the gun launcher. Dearka would have liked to go against the black suit wherever it was right now, so he could get them back for destroying the Buster's beam rifle, thereby making the combined rifle entirely. But, with the orders received from the Black Zephyr… well, he wasn't as crazy as Yzak was being. Dearka certainly didn't wish to face a court martial from her, definitely not in the presence of Admiral Treize.
Lacus defended herself from the counter attack with her shield. At the same time, Mu took advantage of the Buster being thrown off by the Strike's response and Krystal having the full attention of the GINN, brought all of his weapons to bear on the Buster and opened fire, directing everything right at the center of the Buster's torso. The phase shift armor managed to hold up just fine, but the sheer force of the impacts sent it tumbling lower and closer to the atmosphere of the Earth and into the influence of its gravity. "Ugh, this machine is getting heavy!" muttered Dearka, firing thrusters to try and get back up to a more stable position, yet Mu kept up the barrage on the Buster.
However, the GINN broke away from Krystal and attacked the red Zero and forcing Mu onto the defensive and stopping him from peppering the Buster. Lacus tried to helped Mu, but the GINN countered and sent the Strike flying back a ways. Mu, the Hawk of Endymion redirected all of his firepower at the GINN, but Ryan evaded the shots and pumped two of the gunbarrels full of bullets in rapid succession. "Oh crap," muttered Mu as the GINN quickly closed the distance between Mu and the mobile suit that was swinging its sword at him.
Mu pulled the Zero around to dodge, but the sword cut off the barrel of the linear gun. Ryan would have then, proceeded to open up full auto on the mobile armor, but the blue Zero came up from behind and spat weapon's fire at the GINN. Ryan evade most of the shots, but some landed, didn't cause much damage. However, if given time, things would get worse for Ryan himself, he would've took a few shots at the red Zero, but things changed. His assault rifle was raised up, but before he could fire at the mobile armor, a beam pierced the rifle, forcing Ryan to let it go as it exploded.
Upon glancing in the direction of the shots had come from, Ryan spotted the black mobile suit that had been mentioned. The things that had been said and reported, were very troublesome to put it mildly and now that suit was come straight at him from above. Ryan pulled back, yet the Shadow came passed and cut of a portion of Ryan's GINN's right arm off. The Shadow put itself between Ryan and the Alliance mobile armor and since Ryan wasn't interested in finding out the accuracy of the reports of the enemy unit, he pulled away and upward. He was getting dangerously close to the no point of no escape from Earth's gravity well after all. The Shadow descended lower into the atmosphere as the blue GINN rose higher and higher to leave Earth's gravity field.
Mu was completely surprised to see the Shadow come out of nowhere, by what chief Murdoch had said, Tyler had left just before the battles start. But, as Mu saw his Zero wasn't taken the heat of the atmosphere well with two lost gunbarrels and damaged linear gun, things didn't look good for him. With two of the four gunbarrels missing, his thrusting power had taken a hit and with gravity pulling down, that loss was magnified.
"Archangel, this is La Flaga," said Mu of the radio. "I've been hit and am returning to the ship."
"Roger that," acknowledged Miriallia.
Meanwhile, Kira continued to tangle with the Duel, his beam saber locked with the Duel's own. That shifted between a shooting matched between the two machines, their phase shift armor protecting them from the other's attacks well enough. Yet, after a bit, Kira moved forward and kicked the Duel, sending it tumbling downward, "DAMN YOU!" roared Yzak over an open channel.
Kira was just considering whether or not to finish the Duel off with his beam rifle when he suddenly sensed a familiar presence and tossed himself back, dodging an attack by Le Creuset's CGUE.
Ryan joined the rest of the group of mobile suits after his ascent and began helping,
"Juno, Lori, Ryan, Mindy, deal with the pursuit ships," ordered Sakura.
"Ma'am." The four replied and broke off in the fights they had been in and did as they were ordered to do.
Sakura observed as the Duel which had been sent tumbling downward, recover and fly up to a more stable level. With only the Duel, the Aegis and Le Creuset's CGUE engaging the enemy mobile suits, Sakura zoomed down at the last Alliance mobile suit, sword in hand and ready. Even in the short observation, Sakura had seen enough to know who the pilot of this final Alliance prototypes was. The CGUE's sword hit the Strike's shield, which Lacus just managed to block the incoming blow in time. That single hit and the custom colored CGUE, made Lacus realize who was in the opposing suit's pilot was, "No way," gasped Lacus, freezing in shock. "Sis…"
The CGUE forced the Strike back and then fired a shot off, piercing the Strike's rifle. Lacus instinctively tossed it away, bringing her shield up to defend against the explosion of the rifle. "Amalfi, change of plans," announced Sakura as the Strike took out one of its beam sabers and swung it at the CGUE, in a manner virtually identical to the style Sakura had taught her sister several months back. "Go assist taking out the 8th fleet ships pursuing us."
"Ah, yes of course ma'am, but didn't you say…?" questioned Nicol.
"I know what I said about flying solo, now go deal with the pursuit ships anyway!" Sakura commanded leaving no room for argument.
"Y-yes ma'am, right away!" said Nicol, slightly scared by the way she'd barked the order at him.
The Blitz pulled away and Nicol went to do what he was told, not wanting to be on the bad side of the Black Zephyr, like Yzak already had. Shaking her head slightly, Sakura proceeded to make three quick slashes that Lacus only barely parried. Then twisted her sword around to knock the beam saber out of the Strike's hand. Then Sakura reached out the CGUE's hand and grabbing the Strike's shoulder, establishing a direct contact link that would let her communicate with her sister undetected.
"Hello Lacus," she said a softer and a little warmer tone in her voice for one of the rare times that she showed emotions… other than around their father and one other. "I'm glad to hear you're safe." Even as she spoke, she continued to perform mock attacks, like kneeing the Strike's hip to make it look like Sakura was still being serious in the fight.
"Sakura, I," Lacus tried to say.
"It's fine… I trust you Lacus," said Sakura. "I know you wouldn't do this without good reason, so let me just say this: be careful of the Atlantic Federation higher-ups. A lot of them are Blue Cosmos and they'll only do what they see is needed to advance their own interests and destroy what doesn't."
"Sis," Lacus uttered.
Suddenly, something black moved over to where the Strike and the CGUE were and smashed into the black CGUE suit, forcing it to have to work to right itself. Lacus then found herself, looking at the back of the Shadow, which had put itself between the Strike and where the black CGUE ended out. Next over an open channel, Tyler's voice was heard, "Time for you to back off and go Sakura."
Sakura's heartbeat sped up at the sound of that voice, which she hadn't expected to hear on the battlefield. The one she liked so much, for it belonged to the one that made her feel at ease. The last time she had seen him and had been able to have him in her embrace had been around the PLANTs and that had felt wonderful! But, Sakura had been interrupted in showing her affections to him by her father saying those on the National Defense Committee wanted to speak with her. Then, she'd been forced to endure the old fools on said committee, trying to tell her how to do what she should do. As if they had any idea what she does best or had any right to tell her what she, Sakura Clyne should do. Only Lanus Treize, who had earned her loyalty could give her orders of any sort and expect her to follow them like they expect a normal soldier would.
Sakura hadn't even for a moment, considered for even a moment that her beloved Tyler would be here on this battlefield. And what's more, she'd never imagined that he could be in the pilot of enemy's black mobile suit she'd seen as a potential problem. Even the sound of Tyler's voice made her feel like a 'normal' person, like Lacus and their father… but there was more to it than that, which Sakura couldn't explain. Just hearing his voice made her feel happy in a way that not even Lacus or their father did. Perhaps it was that feeling he caused her to have, which drove Sakura Clyne to chase the young man as much as she did whenever their paths crossed. Sakura couldn't say for sure, all she could determine was she liked the young man a great deal. "Tyler! Oh my, you should've said you'd be around here, for you to dance with me in this kind of place… how bold of you!" Sakura said in a happy tone, mixed with giggles and a broad smile coming to her face. "Why didn't you tell me before now that you were into this kind of thing? I would have made arrangements for us to end out like this much sooner."
Lacus's jaw, if it could've dropped, it would have, but it went slack and was open in shock at hearing her sister talk to Tyler like she was… and she was… even giggling! She could barely remember the last time Sakura had giggled like this, it had been years at the very least. Sakura tended to be cold and calculating around everyone but their father and Lacus herself and even with the family, Sakura didn't show much emotions and none of it strong simply put. However, her sister was talking like she did years ago, before the war. She was acting almost like her old self, and Lacus had begun to think she would never see her older sister like she used to be ever again.
Oh yes, Tyler had mentioned that Sakura had a 'thing' for him as he put it several times. He had even supplied a few spares details about his experiences with Lacus's older sister, but other than that, there was nothing to suggest what was happening right now. Lacus herself, after hearing some of the things that Tyler had said, had a hard time believing what was described by him. For the things, he had said Sakura did around himself, she wouldn't do any more, it had been so outlandish. Yet, not only was there clear evidence being provided, that what Tyler had been saying where true, but Lacus hadn't thought or imagined that it was to this degree!
The CGUE backed off a bit, but didn't climb back up, out of the atmosphere and the pull of gravity. This left the Strike and Shadow where they were, the Shadow shot off towards where the Asuka was fighting another CGUE and the Duel was still around the area as it had recovered from tumbling. Lacus then spotted a shuttle that had been let go from the Menelaos, followed by a second shuttle being released from the Alliance vessel.
-Line Break-
The Archangel
"Captain, we have two minutes before reaching phase three of entry interface!" said Arnold Neumann. "Preparing to release ablative gel now!"
"Order the Strike, Asuka and the Shadow to return at once!" ordered Murrue.
"Kira, Lacus, return to the ship immediately! Tyler if you can hear me, then get back to the Archangel," said Miriallia in a tone of worry. "We have only two minutes left before starting phase three!"
A few moments later, Krystal's voice was heard, "Crap… wish I could stay out longer, but can't if I don't want to not burn up."
The blue Zero fell in to the path that the red mobile armor had been taking, while Mu was close enough that he fired an anchor that shot towards the ship and once it had attached, pulled the mobile armor to the upper deck. The blue zero did the same when it got close enough and came to be next to Mu's armor once it was reeled down to the upper deck as the temperature kept climbing higher. Once Mu had attached his mobile armor to the Archangel, he looked around to see where the mobile suits were as they needed to get back here pronto as well! "Where are you kids?! Get back to the Archangel now! Our times has run out!" said Mu in frustration.
Mu had been growing fond of both Kira and Lacus… even Tyler, sure none of them are perfect, but they were good kids. There was no reply other than the radio crackling with static.
-Line Break-
Upper Atmosphere
Kira and Le Creuset clashed, CGUE blade against beam saber both mobile suits pressing against the other to make their opponent back down. However, this battle wasn't a one vs one, but a two against one with the CGUE and the Aegis fighting the Asuka. Athrun wasn't actively trying to shoot down the winged mobile suit, for the pilot was supposedly Kira Yamato, his other best friend. The last thing Athrun wished to do was to shoot down and kill one of his two best friends. And by the information he'd been told by Tyler, Kira was inside that mobile suit due to the Alliance taking advantage of Kira's naiveté and kind heart. The good and kind nature that Kira had, was one of his best qualities and had been proven multiple times. It was also why seeing him be fooled and tricked to assist the Earth Alliance caused such a conflict with Athrun himself, it was hard to watch and not help Kira understand what was being done to him.
Athrun fired his beam rifle at the Asuka, aiming for a leg, but Kira managed to break away before the bolt hit him. For all of the machines, the increasing influence of gravity was taking a higher and higher toll the long the battle continued and the further into the atmosphere they fell. At least, it was becoming increasingly evident that the Asuka's greater thrusters were giving Kira the advantage in the fight, even with him being outnumbered two-to-one by Creuset and the Aegis. The Aegis was also compensating for the force of gravity, but even Athrun has being hard pressed to keep up with the winged suit.
However, things became direr as the Federation forces pressed forward and ZAFT was being forced to fallback. That didn't mean that ZAFT was giving up without a fight and attempting to take down the Archangel. For a few of their mobile suits did get shots fired off in the Archangel's direction, yet due to the anti-beam depth charges and Earth's atmosphere, the beams didn't reach the ship. Yet, ZAFT didn't keep their struggle long as two out of the four Nazca-classes and both Laurasia-classes had been disabled and had to crawl away from the combined fighting force of the Alliance and the Federation.
Back in the upper atmosphere, Kira kept fighting both the CGUE and the Aegis, his worry about the Archangel grew, but he couldn't make his way over to the vessel as the two machines wouldn't let him get far before attacking him again. But, that changed when the something black rammed into the Aegis and when Kira glanced over, he identified the black object as the Shadow. The black mobile suit held the full attention of the Aegis, making Kira able to focus on the CGUE, making this and even fight of two against two. Kira himself, was happy to see Tyler was okay, even during the heat of battle and the atmosphere.
After another minute, the dull glow of orange that had formed around the mobile suits, became brighter as they passed the halfway point of the exosphere, the outer most layer of Earth's atmosphere. The glow around the Archangel also brightened as they continued descending, but also, the time before the ship began phase three of atmospheric entry interface was very short. Phase three of atmospheric interface started just before a ship reached the thermosphere, which was not only the biggest layer that made up the atmosphere, but also the roughest and had the most heat. The problem with this situation, the Archangel would need to release the ablative gel that would cut down the affects from the heat and accompanying friction of the atmosphere. Doing so would make it impossible to open the catapults and allow the Strike, Asuka and the Shadow to come back onboard and it would slow the Archangel down relative to the descent speed of the mobile suits.
The ZAFT forces at last let up on their attack, no longer able to keep up their attempts to divert the ship's course and fend off the opposing forces. With the assistance of the Federation forces, the Alliance's 8th fleet wasn't completely wiped out, but more than half of them had been destroyed. Then most of the Alliance vessels had taken damage of some sort and to varying degrees and so wouldn't be able to go into battle for a time.
For those in the atmosphere, they were beginning to realize that they were getting to the point of no escape from one of the things that gave Earth the abilities to support life. Rau Le Creuset, was trying to get his CGUE to climb out of the atmosphere, but his mobile suit's power wasn't enough. "Athrun, we're at the limit," said Le Creuset as he struggled to move. "My CGUE can no longer fight under these conditions. I'm not even confident that I can break free of Earth's gravity at this point."
"The Aegis can do it," said Athrun, before breaking away from the engagement it had been in with the Shadow. Then the red mobile suit shifted into its mobile armor mode, before zooming forward and grabbed the CGUE in his machine's claws. After that, Athrun shot upward and away from the Earth, leaving the Asuka and the Shadow where they were.
For the ZAFT forces, Sakura gave the order to withdraw, even if she was still very close to the atmosphere and so still under the pull of gravity. "All forces are to withdraw," Sakura ordered. "The battle is over."
"But ma'am we can at least finish off the 8th fleet despite the Federation's interference!"
"No," said Sakura sternly. "To continue fighting now would be meaningless. There's no reason to get ourselves killed."
Somewhat reluctantly, all the ZAFT forces obeyed her command, pulling back from the 8th fleet engagement. On the other hand, Halberton let out a sigh of relief that ZAFT forces were pulling back. He had been worried before, but was grateful that the Federation had stepped in and helped the 8th fleet out. The losses they'd sustained were harsh, but they could have been so much worse than they were. Halberton then turned to the whole reason that the 8th fleet had done what they had, the safety of the Archangel. "What's the status of the Archangel?" he asked, yet when the answer came from the sensor officer, his blood ran cold.
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
After saving Mu from being killed and forcing the custom GINN to retreat, I took in what the circumstance around were like right now. My concern about the things that could possibly go wrong in this present crapshoot this battle was quickly becoming, had been growing the longer this battle went on. They increased sharply when I saw not one, but both civilian shuttles being released from the Menelaos in order to descend down to Earth. I understand the reasons why Halberton would do so, but both shuttles were still coming onto the battlefield and that's dangerous! They could be seen as a target by some idiot who think there are soldiers onboard trying to escape the battle or something stupid like that. True, I'd help Kira out in his fight with the Aegis and the CGUE and they shortly gave up the fight and had gone back up into space. So, the one that I could expect to do such a thing as shoot a civilian shuttle, Rau Le Creuset was gone. Yet, the worry that I was feeling didn't leave me really at all, it stuck with me more than ever.
It shot up further when I saw the Duel turn to face the shuttles and point's its rifle at them, likely the pilot doing exactly what I feared an idiot would. I put on a burst of speed in the direction of the shuttles and Kira went for the Duel. I managed to reach the first shuttle even as the Duel fired on the craft before Kira could reach the machine. I blocked the bolt with my shield preventing the destruction of the shuttle and the death of the refugees, I stayed where I was. "What the?! Damn you, Natural pilot!" Yelled the pilot of the Duel over an open channel.
"Back off," I said in a cold voice, "Leave these shuttles alone, or else I'll personally use you as a shield to block the heat and ride you through reentry, taking the steepest entry angle I can!"
The Duel's pilot didn't listen to me, no, they rushed forward at me, his rifle raised. Kira got caught up in a thermal draft, making it plain that this clash would be the Shadow and me verses the Duel and its pilot. I didn't move out of the way as behind me were the two refugee shuttles and moving would put them at risk. As the shots came flying at me, I intercepted each one of them with the Shadow's shield and for a couple of shots. The others I didn't take with my shield, the mobile suit's physical armor took those, draining my suit's battery a little faster. I had to balance my suit's forward thrust and the momentum from the incoming weapon attacks and most of all, the pull of gravity, which was pulling stronger every passing minute. You know, as much as it pains me, the Shadow would need major repairs after this outing and I don't look forward to seeing how much will be needed. However, I managed to keep even one attack from hitting either of the shuttles descending behind me and that's what I was working for in this right now!
Once both shuttles had gotten far enough away to vanish from the attention of this pilot of the Duel. I refocused on the idiot, who needs SERIOUS anger management from what observations I've made thus far, more than Natarle Badgiruel did. I glanced down at system readout screen and saw that the secondary battery was at below a fourth of its power capacity left. The Shadow's main battery was still fully charged and ready to go as I'd been using the secondary battery for this battle. Even though I wasn't happy about what would result from it, I made the executive decision, I switched over to the Shadow's main battery for power. The thought of how I would miss this set of equipment for the Shadow was currently using passed through my mind. The amount of effort that would be involved in replacing the stuff wouldn't be small, and it hurt to think about it, but too late for the aching now. I'll beg to my friend that works at Teswa R&D the next time I get around home.
Oh well… I sent the command for the attached equipment to be ejected, the parts that amplified the thrusters output, that weren't a part of the suit normally, came off and quickly broke up or melted in the atmospheric heat. The battery compartment stayed intact as it was shielded more than the rest and I grabbed that, before moving forward towards the Duel. The opposing mobile suit took out its beam saber and swung it at me, yet I evaded and swung around to end out behind the Duel before the pilot knew what was going on. I attached the secondary battery on the top of the main thruster of the Duel, "Okay then you punk, enjoy doing reentry without the main part of your propulsion system." I said as a farewell.
Once I gave my farewell, I moved back and pounded the battery I stuck on, with the Shadow's right hand. The now damaged battery, shorted due to the impact and then exploded, which did heavy damage to the Duel's main thrusters, making them inoperable overall. The result, the Duel started falling a good deal faster from the pull of gravity. Nonetheless, this guy had ticked me off enough, that I willingly helped him along his non-merry way by giving him a good kick to the Duel, sending the mobile suit downward.
I took the time to gage my current position and found that the Archangel was a LONG distance away from where I was. That's not the best position or even a good position to be in with the current circumstances and my location. I noticed the Strike was the closest to the Archangel and the Asuka was closer to where I was. … the phrase that comes to mind at a time like this, 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' …and how! Know that I had thought it possible that I might have to do reentry in the Shadow, but I didn't think I would actually have to do the process! So much for slim chances not coming into play for me, this really sucks!
With the Duel dealt with, along with the two shuttles filled with refugees on there way, I flew over to the Asuka. I'm no fool, I can see that as things stood, that it was pretty much a given that Kira and I would be doing the reentry process on our own. My issue was that I don't like depending on systems that haven't been fully tested for what their specs say they can do. The Alliance prototypes, and in this, I would include the Asuka and the Shadow, are 'supposed to' be able to go through the atmospheric reentry process on their own. However, that particular ability is one that I know wasn't only never tested, but no attempt was made to even put any of the units under any of the conditions they would encounter in Earth's atmosphere or close to them.
The mobile suits had been doing okay under the conditions they had been under thus far in this battle. Nonetheless, the process of reentry is another beast from the battlefield and it's not something that you go into with questionable equipment if you want peace of mind or cut down on stress. Once I got over to where Kira was, I use the Shadow's short-wave radio, "Kira, you okay?" I asked.
The com-channel wasn't stable and there wasn't any picture or video of Kira, but with the interference from being in the atmosphere, this is the best I get. "Yes, I good for the moment." Kira replied.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement and when I looked in that direction, the view of the Archangel coming closer to our position. Yet, at its current speed, it wouldn't get close enough for Kira or myself to be able to land on the ship before we're forced to begin reentry if we don't want to possibly burnup. But, there may be a way for at least one of us to make it back, "Kira, with the distance we both are from the Archangel, the two of us can't get to the ship as things stand, yet one of us should be able to reach the Archangel… and it's best that it's you," I said. I backed the Shadow off a short way, "So, don't take this personally, this isn't a goodbye, merely a parting of ways for a short time. I catch up with the Archangel when I can, most likely before it reaches Alaska," I said. Then I put the petal to the metal and rushed forward at the Asuka, with my shield in front. I slammed into Kira and sent him flying towards the Archangel, "See you later my friend."
Phase End!
A/n
That's chapter 10. Wish for all of you are enjoying the revision so far. I state, not for the last time I feel, and it may fall on deaf ears, but, as an author of this fanfiction, I have the right to change what I want and see fit to from the original storyline, period! Please, some of you take the time to write a review or PM me and say what you think.
X209 Shadow
Flight Pack
The optional piece of equipment has a central part that the rest of the equipment is built on or around. That central 'hub', was kind of a teardrop shape, which sits and is attached to the upper back of my mobile suit and settled between the two topmost thrusters the Shadow has. On the bottom of the hub, parts that were positioned to go over the four back central thrusters, allowing their performance to be improved. So, this equipment was for more power supply and better maneuverability.