I'm sorry about how long this took, but this was a pretty difficult chapter to write, and if that was not enough I had a few problems with my computer that needed to be fixed.
Fortunately it was still under guarantee so at least it didn't cost me anything.
Hopefully the next chapter one wouldn't take nearly as long.
Chapter 12
It was quite early the next morning.
Cagalli was up on the Minerva's bridge talking with Talia Gladys.
"I'm truly sorry that you have to leave with in such a haste!" The blond haired girl said, while giving the captain of the ship a small bow, trying not to show the woman how depressed she actually was over everything that was going on.
In her eyes, there was just no way the world and Orb could show enough gratitude after everything the Minerva had done.
It did after all save earth from getting hit by Junius Seven, if that ship hadn't stepped in when it did, there was no telling how many innocence people would have died down here.
And that was another thing Cagalli was sad about, she had honestly hoped that the grey Zaft ship could have left Orb in a peaceful way, instead of being forced to leave because of the country's decision to join with the Earth Forces.
Hearing the young woman said that and seeing the depressed look she was trying so hard to hide Talia couldn't help but smile a bit.
The teenager truly was a nice person.
And it was a bit of a shame in Talia's eyes that the rest of the politicians here couldn't follow her example, not that she was going to say anything about that, it wasn't her job to interfere in this country's decisions.
Even true a small part of her really want to tell the young woman how disappointed she was over Orb's decision.
But it was obvious that the girl was already feeling pretty bad about the whole thing.
And there was no way Talia want to rub even more salt in to the wound, the blond princess already had a tough enough job as it was, without her making things worse.
"It's all right miss Cagalli, we have already been here much longer then necessary, and it's about time that we got moving now that all the repairs on the ships hull is finished. And I really do believe that we have exploited Orbs hospitality more then enough!" Talia said, as she moved over and stretched out her hand towards the young woman, who only hesitated a small second before she took a hold of it and shook it back.
After that Talia took a quick look around the bridge, where she could easily tell that everybody up there was just waiting for her to order them to move out.
Seeing that she again turned her eyes back towards the young woman.
"I think it's about that time we got going miss Cagalli, it was a really deep honour for all of us that you came here to see us depart" Talia said, as she saw Cagalli nod a single time in understanding.
"I hope all of you will have a safe trip, and that we can meet again someday under more pleasant circumstances!" Cagalli said, while she gave each crew member up there a small smile.
After doing that she slowly turned around and began walking towards the exit of the bridge, once there she took one last look back at Talia where she immediately wished all of them the best of luck.
Hearing her say that Talia turned and looked back at the blond girl, but she was already gone before she had the chance to say anything back, so in the end she just stood there for a small minute, with a slightly far away expression on her face.
But finally she slowly shook her head a few times, as she mumbled out a small thank you, after that she turned around and walked back over to her chair.
Which she immediately dropped down in to, now just waiting for Cagalli's escort to tell her that the blond girl was no longer on the Minerva, they surely didn't want an extra passenger, once they left this place.
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Elsewhere Cagalli was walking slowly down the ships halls with two guards walking closely behind her, she hadn't gotten very far before she saw Nicol and Shinn coming towards her from the other direction.
She already knew that it was a bad idea to say anything to the pilot of the Impulse, he had already made it very clear that he despised her a lot, and that glare he was giving her right now, was all she need to know that he did not want to talk with her under any circumstance.
Not that Cagalli cared much about that, she would much rather have a nice little talk with the green hair boy, that had a complete opposite expression on his face, then the one Shinn had, he was smiling at her.
"It really was nice seeing you again miss Cagalli!" Nicol said, as he gave the blond girl a respectful bow, which made Shinn let out a small unhappy growl sound.
But that wasn't something Nicol or Cagalli gave all that much attention, Cagalli just took a small glance over at him, before she took a single step forward, where she hurried wrapped both of her arms around Nicol giving him a friendly hug.
"It was nice seeing you too Nicol, I really do hope that you will come visit us from time to time. I know Dearka and everybody else would like the opportunity to talk with you again!" The blond girl whispered in to his ear, just before she gave his cheek a small kiss.
She really was sad that she and Athrun hadn't been able to spend a little more time with Nicol, he really was a good friend and Cagalli knew that she was going to miss him once the Minerva was gone.
But unfortunately there wasn't anything to do about it now, both she and her fiancé had been way to busy the last few weeks, to have any time to hang out with their old friend.
Something that had actually disappointed her a bit, but once she saw the small blush he had on his face right now.
It did not take long before she let out a small giggle, he did look kinda cute right now.
It really wasn't all that strange that Mayura and her two other old friends had enjoyed hanging out with Nicol as much as they did. He truly was a nice guy, and she was certain that someday he would make some girl very happy.
She did however not think about that for long before the former Blitz pilot asked her what she was laughing at, but she just shook her head a few times.
"It's nothing Nicol, I was just think a bit about the past!" She explained, while giving him one more small hug, once she had done that she took one more look over at Shinn, to see his reaction to all of this.
But much to her relief he obviously didn't have anything to say, he was far more busy staring of in to the wall with a somewhat unreadable expression on his face.
Happy to know that she wouldn't have to get in to another argument with the angry boy, she again turned her attention back towards Nicol.
"I hope that it wouldn't be long before we will see you again Nicol" she told him, just before she once again walked off down the hall, still with the two guards behind her.
Watching her disappear around the corner Nicol felt a small smile ran over his lips. "I hope so too miss Cagalli!" The green haired teenager said.
And was just about to continue on his way down to the ships hangar, when Shinn suddenly began talking in a displeased tone, that made it completely clear that he had not been as happy about seeing the blond haired girl, as Nicol had been.
"I don't get why the hell you can be friends with that girl!" The Impulse piloted said, still glaring of in that direction Cagalli had gone in.
Hearing that Nicol slowly turned his eyes over towards his short tempered friend. "Who I'm friends with ain't really any of your business Shinn" he said in a slightly angry tone.
He really was getting tired of Shinn's attitude towards Cagalli and the rest of Orb.
He had pretty much been complaining none stop, ever since they arrived there. And Nicol seriously didn't feel like listening to that much longer, it was getting more and more annoying every time.
Which was something that had really been putting Nicol's otherwise deep patience on trail.
He had caught himself more then a few times wanting to tell Shinn to stop his complaining, the only reason he hadn't done that was simply because he did understand why he was doing it, he did after all lose all of his family down here.
And if it really did make Shinn feel better doing all of this complaining.
Nicol truly didn't want to be the one to tell him to stop it.
But that did not mean he wasn't happy about leaving Orb, he was quite certain that once they got out of there, the Impulse pilot would go back to his usually good mood, or at the very least the mood he use to be in before they got to Orb.
"You really should try and restrain you hatred Shinn, if you continue like this, you are going to get yourself killed someday" Nicol warned, as he turned around and once again began making his way down to the hangar.
With Shinn looking after him until he was completely out of sight. "Ok that was a bit strange, the last few times I have been badmouthing that girl, he has always tells me to stop doing that, but now he just gives me a few advice" Shinn quietly said to himself, feeling a somewhat confused about Nicol's calm reaction about everything he had just said about the stupid blond hair bitch.
He really didn't understand why Nicol was letting him of easy this time, the few last time he had made a rude commented about Cagalli the green hair boy had always end up with getting angry at him.
But this time much to Shinn's amazement, Nicol had just looked at him with a disappointed expression on his face, then told him that he should try and get his hatred under control.
But as he was standing there thinking about that he slowly shook his head a few times.
"There is no way anybody could kill me for hating that girl!" He muttered out in a loud tone, while thinking about what kind of people would be sad to see that girl die.
In his eyes there wasn't a single person out there anywhere that would be sad to see that girl die.
So if he ever did get the opportunity to kill her, he would surely take it, that was definitely a promise.
And with that in mind, it did not take long before he was slowly making his way down to the hangar where the Core Splendor was located, still thinking about how much he truly hated the blond girl and the rest of her damn family.
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It wasn't long after that before the Minerva was slowly making it's way out of the port, with Cagalli standing by the side watching the grey space ship leave.
Once gone it did not take long before she turned around and began walking slowly back towards the big building next to the harbour, for some reason she felt like both of her feet was weighing a few kilos right now.
She just couldn't help but fear, that the next time she would see the grey Zaft ship, it was going to be an enemy of Orb.
Not something she want, but she had pretty much done everything in her power trying to talk the other Orb politicians out of the whole idea about joining force with the Earth Forces.
But up until now only a few of them had agreed on, that it was a stupid idea for Orb, to get involved with the Earth Alliance, unfortunately the few who had done that where not enough to change the decision.
But perhaps if she would try talking with Yuna about it one more time, she could get the purple haired moron to change his mind.
"Yeah right, who are you trying to fool Cagalli Yula Athha!" She muttered out in a angry tone.
She already knew that getting Yuna to agree with her on this was pretty much impossible, he had already made it completely clear what his opinion was on all of this.
And once that fool had made up his mind about something, it had to take some kind of miracle to get him to change it.
"Damn him!" She muttered angrily while still thinking about what she should say to the man once she found him, but there was just no telling where he could be right now, but she was determined to at least try one more time to talk the stubborn idiot out of this.
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And while Cagalli was of searching for the person that had brought Orb in to so much trouble, the Minerva was getting closer and closer to the countries border.
Up until now everything seem pretty peaceful even with the Orb fleet that was following closely behind them, but unfortunately none of them got the time to really enjoy the ocean view before they saw a fleet of Earth Forces ships directly in front of them.
And just one small look at them, made it obvious that they where just waiting for them to show up.
"Wh...what's going on?!" Arthur asked in a somewhat concerned tone, while he slowly ran his eyes over all the ships out there, which was more then enough to make a small shiver ran down his spine.
For some reason he found the whole scenery very frightening, it did after all not take that much imagination to figure out what those ships was there for.
"It looks like we are being offered to them, as some kind of sign of loyalty, but from what I know Orb hasn't joined up yet!" The captain said, while trying to find a way around the ships to avoid getting in to a battle with them.
But the only other way they could go, was back to Orb and all those war ships that had escorted them this far, clearly wasn't going to let them slip back in.
All of the Orb ships looked just as ready for combat, as the Earth Forces fleet did, so in the end Talia couldn't help but let out a big sigh.
She truly wished there was a way to escape from there without going in to battle. But they really didn't have any other options, the only way they could get continue on, was to fight their way through every single opponent out there.
"Go to condition red, we have to fight them, they clearly don't want us to leave this place alive!" Talia yelled loudly, while the ships bridge was slowly lowed down in to it's more safe position, once that was done Talia order all the mobile suits on board to be made ready for combat.
After that she quickly explained to all of them her plans for them to escape this little trap, they would try and pounce their way through the left flank, where it seemed like there wasn't nearly as many ships, as there was directly in front of them.
And while Talia was saying that it did not take much time before the Minerva was slowly change direction, now traveling just outside of Orbs border.
Unfortunately they didn't get very far before Bart called out a few more bad news.
"Captain we got about twelve Windams coming right at us, and that ship to the right of us is firing missiles!" The man shouted loudly, just as Talia yelled out for them to evade the first attack, while at the same time for them to get the mobile suits out there.
Hearing the woman give that order Meyrin immediately began telling her sister and the other pilots on the ship that they could leave.
"Do make sure to tell Shinn and Nicol not to go too far away from the ship!" Talia said in a serious tone, she wasn't really all that worried that Nicol would run of to fight all the enemies out there on his own.
But Shinn might get the idea that he could handle everybody out there on his own.
Sometimes his ego did get the better of him, that was actually one of the reasons why, she from time to time couldn't help but wonder, why Gilbert had permitted the short tempered teenager to be the pilot of the Impulse.
It wasn't really a big secret around the ship, that both Rey and Nicol had much better control over their emotions then Shinn had.
But now wasn't really the time for her to try and figure out why Gilbert had thought it was a good idea for Shinn to be the pilot of that gundam, she could always ask him about that, once they where safely away from this damn place.
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Meanwhile down in the hangar Nicol's GOUF was slowly being moved over to the catapult, while he listen closely to everything Meyrin was telling them.
From what he could understand this wasn't going to be an easy task, with the great numbers opponents out there.
It was at times such as this that it was a real shame that they didn't have any other gundams on board other then the Impulse. But he knew just as well as everybody else on the ship, what had happened to the three other gundams that had been made for the Minerva.
He just hoped that they wouldn't run in to them other there, after everything Meyrin had just told them, the Earth Forces had brought more then enough mobile suits and weapons to start a minor war.
And if they had to fight the Chaos, Gaia and Abyss too, then there was no doubt in Nicol's mind that all of them where in for a very serious beating.
Something he was sure that none of them would enjoy, especially now that everything on the ship had just been repaired after the small trip they had taken through the atmosphere.
He did however not give that much thought, before he got a completely determined look in both of his eyes, there was just no way he would allow the Earth Forces to do that much damage to the ship.
Not after spending so much time in Orb getting it fixed up again.
And with that in mind it didn't take long before his yellow mobile suit left the Minerva, followed shortly by the white ZAKU and then the red one.
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Once out there it did not take long before Luna yelled out her opinion about all of this.
"Damn it, why are there so many of those guys!" She yelled while shooting of her ZAKU's giant beam cannon, hitting one of the Windams straight in it's chest area, making it blow up not all that far away from the ship.
It was about that time she heard Rey tell her that she should try and take out those who was still far away from them, while he took out those guys that got to close to them.
Hearing that she immediately took a small glance over at the white mobile suit, and even true she didn't like being bossed around with.
She could see the logic in what Rey had just said, her weapon did have a much longer distances, then the beam rifle Rey was using right now, so without taking the time to argue with him.
She quickly turned and aimed out at three Windams that was obviously trying to find someway to get around the ship so they could take out the engines.
Not that Luna was going to let them do that, she seriously didn't feel like being stranded out there.
Just waiting for the Earth Forces to destroy them, so after giving her low lips a small hard bite, she fired of the cannon, hitting one of the Windams and getting the two others to change direction.
But they didn't really get all that far, before they where taken out by a certain yellow GOUF.
Truly happy to see that Luna hurried looked around for a new target and it only took a small minute, before she found something else that in her mind would look much better with a few holes through them, something she was determined to make no matter what it took.
"Eat this you damn bastards!" She yelled loudly, while taking down two more of the Earth Forces mobile suits, before they could even try and attack the ship.
But even true both she and Rey was doing everything in their power to take down as many of the Windams as possible, there was just no way for them to prevent the ship from getting hit by the next attack, more then a few of the missiles got through the Minerva's tight defense, and made a great deal of damage to the newly repaired hull.
And once the ship stopped shaking from that attack, both Rey and Luna once again began taking down one Windam after another.
But even as they where doing that, it really didn't seem like there was going to be an end to them anytime soon, there was just so damn many of them out there right now.
Luckily they where a bit more cautious about attacking the ship head on, after seeing how easily the first wave had been taken out.
Something both Lunamaria and Rey was quick to take advantage of by shooting even more of them down, before they had the opportunity to get of even more of the missiles they where most likely carrying.
"Luna there is five more coming this way, and from what I can tell from here, those guys a going to try and take the two of us out!" Rey said, in a serious voice.
As he fired of his own missiles at the Windams, that hurried tried to evade the attack.
Only to be destroyed by a few red shoots from Lunamaria's giant weapon, but that didn't really slow the wave of incoming enemy mobile suits down much, they just kept coming.
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Meanwhile far above them Shinn was in the Impulse, flying full speed in and out between the many beams a small group of Windams was firing at him.
But even true he did not have the time to count how many there was attacking him right now, he still used ever single opportunity to shoot back, he had already taken out a great deal of them, by fighting this way.
But it was getting somewhat obvious to him that he couldn't take them all down like this, he had to fine someway to put an end to this, before even more Windams showed up to interfere.
And with that in mind he hurried turned his mobile suit around and took of towards the closed war ship, still with about seven of the Earth Forces mobile suits behind him.
And once he got in ranger of the Danilov class he immediately began opening fire on it, which proved to be more then enough to make it shoot back at him.
But just before the attack could hit him, he hurried evade out of the way, so the only thing the ship end up hitting, was three of it's own Windams, that had been crazy enough to follow him, the whole way down to the ship.
Seeing that there was still four of them left Shinn quickly took aim at the nears Windam and fired a single green beam directly through the cockpit of the white mobile suit, killing whoever was inside it before he even had the time to realize what was happening.
But once he did that, the last three immediately began attacking him, with the same eagerness as before, but this time he had next to no trouble getting rid of them.
Satisfied that there was nobody else around that was attacking him, he once again turned his attention back towards the Danilov class, that was obviously trying to get away from him.
Seeing those damn cowards run away like that, he hurried fire of two shoots at the stern of the retreating ship, making sure to take out the engine, before it could get too far away from him.
And once he was sure that the ship couldn't go anywhere.
The boy immediately took of towards the place where he could see Nicol flying around, with about four Windams on his tail, something that made a deep anger feeling slowly swell up inside of Shinn.
He and Nicol might not agree on every single thing, but there was no way in hell he would just stay put out there, while one of his friends where in trouble.
So without wasting anymore time, he hurried began making his way over towards the smaller battle.
Determined to tear every damn Windam over there completely apart.
And what made him even more angry, was when he saw two more of the Earth Forces mobile suit join the others in their attack on his friend, which of course served to make the strange hateful swelling inside him, build up even more.
"Damn you all, I'm going to make sure that you are going to regret doing this!" He muttered in a small deep tone.
Just before he flew in between the Windams where he hurried used the beam saber to cut one of them in half, making it blow up just behind him.
And before any of the others, had the chance to try and counterattack, he grabbed on to the beam rifle and fired of one single well placed shoot, directly in to the head of the closed enemy machine.
Seeing Shinn do that, Nicol immediately pulled out the beam sword and slammed it with full force in to the back of one of the Windams.
Just as it was about to attack the Impulse, then he began shooting of the beam gun at another one of them, taking it down just as it tried to figure out where the attacks was coming from.
But even as the green haired teenager was doing that, he couldn't help but keep an eye on Shinn.
For some reason the Impulse piloted was fighting even more violently then usual, which wasn't really all that strange.
If they didn't give everything they got in this battle, there was no way they could escape from this mess, without getting killed.
"I'm grateful for you help Shinn, but we have to get back to the Minerva, we are too far away from it!" Nicol yelled, just before he wrapped the heat rod around the right leg of one of the enemy machines.
But as he was doing that, the enemy machine pulled out a strange looking weapon Nicol had never before seen on a mobile suit.
"A kunai!" The green haired boy called out in surprise.
And before he even had the time to get over the minor shock, over seeing a mobile suit armed with something like that, the Windam quickly pulled it's hand back and throw the small weapon at him.
But just before it could get in contact with the GOUF.
Nicol quickly maneuver his yellow mobile suit up over the small throwing weapon, while at the same time shooting of the beam gun at the Windam.
Making two of the beams fly straight in to the Windams cockpit, while the next few tore the white mobile suit completely apart, before it had any time to try and pull out yet another one of those weapons.
Seeing that the Windam was no longer a threat to him or any of his other friends out there, Nicol hurried called out and told Shinn one more time, that they had to get back to the Minerva.
There was just no way, the two of them could ever hope to defeat all of those Windams by them self, they surely where going to need the others help, if they truly desired to survive this battle unharmed.
Hearing Nicol say that, Shinn took a quick look over at the GOUF, before he cut one of the Windams in half, killing whoever was inside the white machine.
But he didn't stop there, he hurried used the shield to defend himself from another attacking Windam, while at the same time charging full speed forward where he slammed the beam saber straight in to the Windams cockpit, making the enemy mobile suit blow up directly in front of him.
After that he hurried pulled out the beam rifle again and fired of a few shoots at a new group of the truly annoying mobile suits, hitting the lead one of them in it's chest area, while making the others evade quickly to the sides.
But that of course did not stop Shinn's relentless assault on them, he kept on shooting after them no matter what they did to avoid his attacks.
"You just hurry up and go Nicol, I will cover you!" Shinn yelled out, as he fired a beam in to the back of one of the Windams making it smash full speed in to the ocean where it immediately blow up in a smaller explosion.
Not that Shinn gave that much of his attention, he was already trying to take down another one of the Windams. But while he was busy doing that, he was suddenly attacked from below, which forced him to get out of the way in a hurry.
"What the hell was that?" He asked.
Just as he gave the closed Windam a hard kick in the back, only to use the beam rifle to shoot it down a few seconds later, while trying to spot what had attacked him before.
But it didn't take long before he saw two grey coloured GOOhNs came up from the water, where they immediately fired of a few beams up at him before they disappeared again.
Seeing that Shinn couldn't help but narrow his eyes a bit, this was really begin to piss him off.
"How the HELL did those bastards manage to get their damn hands on something like that?!" The boy asked loudly.
Now being force to keep a close eye out on all the Windams out there, and the water incase the GOOhNs would attack again, but much to his small relief he did not have to worry about them for long.
"I have no idea where they got them from Shinn, they much likely capture them in the last war. But never mind that I'll go take care of them, if you make sure to keep the Windams busy!" Nicol said, as he flew full speed down towards the clear blue water, still with a single one of the Windams on his tail.
But that one didn't even get the chance to attack him, before Shinn shoot it down.
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Meanwhile back on land.
Cagalli had finally manage to locate the person she had been searching for since the Minerva had left. She was just about to call out to him, when she noticed what he and everybody else in the room was busy looking at.
"What?! The Minerva?!" She called out in shock, as she saw the grey space ship evade another attack from the Earth Forces ships out there.
"What's going on Yuna, why ain't we helping them?!" She asked in a loud tone, not bothering at all to hide how concerned she was about the ship, she and Athrun did after all spend sometime on that ship.
She might not like it nearly as much as the Archangel, but there was no way she wished to see the ship being destroyed, if they could do something to help.
Hearing the blond girl ask him that, Yuna slowly turned and looked over at his fiancée, where he immediately gave her a small smile, as he began explaining the whole situation to her.
"We can't help them Cagalli, this battle has nothing to do with us, seeing as it's happening outside of Orb's territory!" Yuna said, while taking another look up at the screen, where the smile on his face got a little bigger when he saw the Minerva take yet another big hit from the attacking Earth Forces.
He did however not get much time to really enjoye it before Cagalli interrupted his thoughts again. "You can't be serious Yuna this is going on just outside of Orb, are you really planing to just stand around here while the Minerva is getting attacked like this?" She asked, while she walked the rest of the way over to the purple haired man, where she immediately noticed the slightly wicked glimmer in both of his eyes.
Which that was more then enough to make her realize that this attack on the Minerva, was something he and his father had arranged.
And once she heard his next few words, she had to fight hard not to slammed her fist straight in to his face.
"There is no way we can help them Cagalli, we are after all joining force with the Earth Forces, and this is a great way for us to show that we are serious about fighting together with them!" Yuna said, as he took one more small glance up at the screen.
Hearing him say that Cagalli took one more step over towards him, where she slowly reached up and placed her right hand on his shoulder.
Which was enough to make Yuna turn and look back at her, where she slowly leaned in and whispered something to him.
"I swear Yuna that someday I'm going to make you regret doing this, I don't know when and I don't know how, but you are going to be very sorry about all of this!" She promised in a tone that nobody else in there could hear.
After that she gave his shoulder a very hard squeeze, making sure not to hold back, she truly wanted for this to hurt him. And one small look in to his eyes was all she need to know, that she had carry out her objective.
Then she hurried turned around and left the room without saying anything else, the only thing she did before the door flew shut behind her, was to send everybody in there a disappointed glare.
Once done with that, it did not take long before the blond girl was gone once again, a few of them there feeling a tiny bit uncomfortable because of her angry look.
But it did not take long before Yuna called out, and told them that there was still a lot of things they need to do, they had to make sure that the Minerva didn't enter Orb's territory again.
But even as Yuna was saying all of that he couldn't help but feel a small shiver ran through his entire body. The cold way Cagalli had been talking to him just before she had left again, was more then enough to make him feel like his blood was going to freeze over.
And just the idea of her using that kind of tone, when she was talking with him was something that really made him want to yell out a few curses towards the damn girl.
Luckily for him he knew that doing something like that was not the best idea, if all those people gather around the room, where to hear him do something like that, there was little doubt in his mind that it would ruined the loyalty he and his father had worked so hard to get.
And if that where to happened, he knew that there was no way in hell his father would ever forgive him.
And with that in mind he slowly turned his eyes back towards the battle the Minerva and the Earth Forces.
But even as he was standing there watching them fight like that. He couldn't help but wonder what in the world Cagalli was going to do to make him regret this, it did however not take long, before he slowly shook his head a few times.
"There is nothing she can do on her own, she is just a spoiled little brat" he whispered quietly to himself, still feeling somewhat unsure about everything Cagalli had said to him, for some reason he couldn't help but feel like she was still close by, just watching everything he did.
And that feeling alone almost made him wish that his father was there, so he could talk with him about what they should do about Cagalli.
It was becoming more and more obvious that the damn girl where not going to surrender to their will, and she had already showed more then a few times that she did not want to marry him.
And that ring he had seen her walk around with the last few days, was all he needed to know, that she was hoping to have a nice married life together with that damn Zala kid.
They really should have gotten rid of that boy along time ago, but now that he was no longer in the country, there might be a way for him to convince Cagalli that it was better for her to marry him.
And if he couldn't do that, they might have to arrange for her to have some kind of creative accident that would remove her from Orb permanently.
But as he stood there thinking about, what they could do about the blond haired brat, he again looked back a the giant monitor, where he watched the battle for a few short minutes, deeply hoping that it wouldn't take long now before the Minerva would be rusting away at the bottom of the sea.
But even true Yuna was far from the greatest strategist in the world, he could easily tell that the Earth Forces had to do something drastic if they where to take that ship out.
And unfortunately there was nothing Orb could do to help get rid of those damn Coordinators on the grey vessel.
If they where to do something now, he was completely sure that Cagalli would use that to her advantage and get even more people over on her side.
Which was certainly not something he could allow to occur, the Earth Forces had to do this on their own. "Damn it take it out!" He muttered quietly still keeping both of his eyes turned towards the intense battle on the screen.
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Back on the battlefield Nicol had just finished taking out the first of the GOOhNs and was now looking around after the last one.
But as luck would have it the guy in the other GOOhN was clearly a much better piloted then the first one.
He kept coming back up to the ocean surface every time there was an opportunity to attack him from behind. It was only luck and pure skill that saved Nicol from being killed by the captured mobile suit.
"I can't continue going on like this, soon or later he is going to hit me!" Nicol yelled out in a angry tone while shooting of the beam gun down in to the water trying his best to stop the GOOhN from moving around to much.
But seeing as he had no idea, where the submarine type mobile suit was hiding down in the deep blue water.
It was kinda hard for him to slow the thing down, much least take it out before it would end up killing him.
And there was no way ,he could go down in to the water, his GOUF wasn't really made for deep sea combat like the GOOhN was. But if he didn't come up with a strategy very soon, he knew that there was no way he was going to survive this battle.
But even as he was thinking about what he should do, the GOOhN once again came up to the surface and fired of two green beams right up at him.
Fortunately Nicol was already prepared for the attack, so he really didn't have much trouble evading the attack, but while he was doing that the GOOhN once again disappear back in to the ocean.
Seeing the enemy mobile suit do that, Nicol hurried took a quick look around for anything he could use to fight the GOOhN.
But there was not a single thing around this place he could use to his advantage or so he thought. Suddenly he noticed a small blurry shape moving around not that far below him.
And it was then he realized that the sun was giving so much light right now, that he could now see the GOOhN swiming around down in the clear blue water.
And it was only a spilt second later before the GOOhN resurfaced one more time.
But before it could attack him again, Nicol slammed the beam sword full speed down in to the grey machine, making sure to hit some of the more important things on the mobile suit.
And as it tried to escape from him, he hurried fired of the beam gun down in to the GOOhN making it blow up before it could get to far away.
Happy to know that he didn't have to do battle with any more under water mobile suits he quickly turned around and took of towards the Minerva, determined to give Rey and Luna a hand against the small army of Windams, that was still swarming around all over the place, like a bunch of annoying insects.
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At the same time on the biggest of the Earth Forces ships out there.
"Captain over half of our Windams have already been destroyed and those two GOOhNs have also been taken out!" A man yelled in a slightly worried tone, he just could believe, that four mobile suit alone had been enough to take out so many of their own.
If he hadn't been there to see it, there knew that there was no way he would ever have believed it.
Yet the two ZAKUs that was standing on the Zaft ship deck had been powerful enough to keep their Windams at bay.
And what they hadn't destroyed, was taken out by the gundam and that yellow mobile suit, for some reason he couldn't help but think that they had to destroy those two first, before they went after the Minerva.
But the commander of ship kept on insisting that they took out the grey space ship first.
Before they would remove the gundam from this world, but it was becoming more and more obvious that even with so many Windams there was no way they could win this fight.
And even true the commander truly hated to admit something like that with all of his being.
He knew that he had to come up with another idea, before the Zaft ship got through the rest of them, if it did that he knew for sure that it would escape, and that was not something, he could allow to happen.
If his force succeed in taking that monstrosity of a ship out, he was certain that a new promotion he had been wishing for was not far away, the only thing he needed to do, was to reach out and claim it before it would slipped out of his grasp.
But for some reason this was much harder then he had first expected, how the hell could one single ship and four mobile suits handle them self against his entire fleet.
In his eyes it really should be an impossible task, yet the damn Zaft ship continued holding them back with everything it got, and that was more then enough to make his blood boil, they where not going to win this, that was for sure.
"Ok hurry up and get the Zamza-Zah out there we are taking the Minerva out right now, before it can get any further away from us!" The man yelled, already looking forward to see the big mobile armor, tear the Zaft ship apart.
Hearing the commander give that order everybody up there turned and looked over at him.
"But....but sir we are not done testing that thing out, we don't know if it's entirely stable yet, it might end up being destroyed if it goes out there!" The man said deeply worried.
For some reason he did not like the idea of using that mobile armor, the three pilots of that machine where pretty much insane and there was no telling what they would do, if they joined the fight.
Unfortunately all of his worries didn't have any effect on the stubborn commander.
"We are sending the Zamza-Zah out no matter what, that mobile armor may just be the right weapon we need to sink that damn ship!" The commander yelled, while taking a short glance around the bridge.
Before he once again turned his two angry eyes back towards the battle, that was still going on not that far away from them. "Get to work!" He said in a angry tone.
Which made it clear for everybody up there, who was feeling unsure about following that order, that they might find them self in some very serious trouble, if they did not do what he said.
And with that in mind, it did not take long, before the giant mobile armor the ship was carrying was being made ready for combat.
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And while the Zamza-Zah being made ready to leave.
Shinn was flying full speed towards a lonely Windam that did everything it could to try and escape from him.
But the Impulse was just that much faster then the Earth Forces machine, and it did not take very long before he slammed the beam saber straight through the mobile suit, after doing that he took a quick look around for anymore enemy machines.
And it did not take him long to find three new targets that was obviously trying to get behind the Minerva.
"Ok you bastards that's far enough!" He yelled and was just about to take of after them, when he noticed a big green scary looking mobile armor leaving one of the Earth Forces ships.
Just the sight of the armor was enough to make his eyes widen a bit, as he tried his best to figure out what kind of machine that was suppose to be, and what the heck they where planing to do with it.
He did however not give it much thought, before he saw that it was heading directly towards the Minerva. "I have to stop that thing no matter what!" The boy yelled out in a determined tone.
While he hurried got the Impulse moving and was now flying full speed after the green mobile armor, that by now was already busy playing tag with Nicol's GOUF.
Yet just one small glance at the battle between his friends mobile suit and the huge mobile armor, was all Shinn need to tell, that there was no way the GOUF had the require strength, to beat that monster.
Which made Shinn fly even faster towards the fight, where he hurried took aim with the beam rifle and fired two shoots down at the armor, truly hoping that this was all that was need to get the damn Earth Forces machines attention away from Nicol.
But unfortunately the positron reflector shield that was installed on the mobile armor, was more then enough to defend it from his minor attack.
He did on the other hand succeed in getting the mobile armors attention, which meant that it was now heading directly towards him.
And it didnøt even take a second before the Earth Forces machines began shooting after him with every single weapon it had, seeing that Shinn hurried ducked down under the first rain of beams, then fire a few times up in to the bottom of the armor.
Unfortunately he had no more luck in damaging the machines this time, then the first time he tried to attack. And the mobile armor was not up for giving him anytime to come up with a way to beat it.
"Damn you to HELL!" Shinn cried out loudly, while slowly backing away and shooting of the beam rifle at the armor, that of course flew straight at him where it tried to wrap one of it's claws around the Impulse.
But much to Shinn's luck the gundam was just so much faster then the other more slowly moving machine. But even as he was doing that, a new rain of beams left the hideous thing, which forced him to used the shield to save himself from the attack.
That however did not stop him from throwing the rifle away and charge full speed at the green armor, now holding on to the right beam saber.
And just as the armor fired of it's next heavy attack after him, he hurried evade down under the beams so they flew straight over him, only missing the head by a few short centimeters.
And just before any of the pilots inside the mobile armor could do anything to get the positron reflector shield up.
Shinn slammed the beam saber with as much force as possible down in to the armor, removing one of it's claws on the machine before the pilots had enough time to realize what was happening.
But when Shinn pulled the weapon back and was about to do even more damage on the armor, one of it's claws reach out and grabbed on to the Impulses right arm.
And just one look at the armor was enough to show, that it was about to try and shoot him down, while it was still holding on to him like this. And just the whole idea that they where crazy enough to try something like that.
Was all Shinn needed to see some kind of seed fly through his mind.
And once that happened the dark haired boy hurried throw the shield away and pulled out the left beam saber, and just as the armor was about to attack him again.
He slammed the saber down cutting the right arm straight of the Impulse, now free to move around as much as he want he didn't hesitate a second in slamming the saber down in to the armor, now cutting away one of it's many cannons.
But even while he was doing that, he saw one of it's claws heading right for him, it was obvious that those bastards, was trying to get a hold on him one more time.
And there was no way in hell he would allow them to do that. So before the claw even came near him, he hurried back away leaving the left beam saber still embedded in the mobile armors hull.
That however did not slow the damn thing down at all, it actually looked even more ready to do battle with him now, then it had when it first had entered the fight.
And that alone was more then enough, to make the boy even more angry.
He truly want to demolish this damn thing, he need to make sure, that this thing could never be used again. And with that in mind he called out for Meyrin to send out the Sword Silhouette and fire the Deuterion beam.
Which meant that it did not take long before the Impulse was once again fully armed with a new bunch of deadly weapons, that the mobile suit was more then ready to try out on the mobile armor.
And with a small grin on his face, Shinn pulled out the two beam boomerangs and throw them with as much force as the Impulse could muster towards the mobile armor, that of course tried it's best to defend itself, with that damn positron shield.
Seeing that happening, Shinn reached up and get a hold on the two beam swords, and once again charged with high speed towards the armor.
This time feeling all the more determined to make scrap metal out of the stupid thing.
"YOU ARE GOING DOWN!" He shouted loudly. Just before he let out a big angry scream and trusted both weapons down at the green armor. That of course did everything possible, to keep him away.
But that just served to make Shinn increase the powers on the gundams thrusts as he began forcing his way through the shield.
"I already told you, that you are going DOWN you bastard!" He yelled, just before the shield broke down under the presser, and it didn't even take a second before both beam swords disappeared in to the hull on the mobile armor.
It did however only take a short minute before Shinn pulled them out again, only to once again slam them back in to the machine.
Which was all that was need to make the armor glow up in a bight light. Seeing that he hurried pulled the swords out again and rapidity backed away from the mobile armor, just as it explode a few meters away from him.
That however didn't damage the Impulse at all.
So once he was sure that there was nothing else nearby that could threaten the Minerva, he took of full speed down towards the closed war ship, still holding on to both of the beam swords.
"You guys are going to pay for using something like that!" Shinn yelled, as he land on the ships deck where he immediately thrust the two deadly weapons down in to the bridge of the ship, tearing the whole thing completely apart.
Once done with that, it did not take long before he was making his way to the next ship, which he of course gave the same kind of treatment, cutting it up without showing the panicking crew any signs of mercy, everything on it the grey warship was destroyed as Shinn used the two assembled beam swords to slice the giant ship in half.
After that he took of for the next Earth Forces vessel again using the two swords to take it out.
He continued like that almost five whole minutes jumping from one ship to another, cutting and tearing them up like they where nothing. It was only when he heard Meyrin tell him that they where leaving the area, that he began making his way back to the Minerva.
Leaving an entire fleet of destroyed Earth Forces ships in his wake, not showing any signs of regret or remorse about killing so many people.
If anything he couldn't help but feel proud about what he had done. They where after all the once who had attacked them, so in his eyes they pretty much got what they deserved.
And the idea, that he have been the one to give to them, where enough to make a small grin ran over his lips.
He was already looking forward to hear what everybody else on the Minerva, had to say about his newest performers in the Impulse. It wasn't like it was everyday occasion that so many enemy ships got destroyed.
And now that he was really thinking about it, he could not help but feel like his skills in the gundam, had been much better then the last time, he had been in his mobile suit.
But as he was slowly making his way back to the ship, he didn't noticed Nicol's machine hanging far above him looking down at all the mess and destruction Shinn had made.
For some reason he could not help but close his eyes and mumbled out a small pray for all the people his friend had just killed. He just couldn't deny, that the sight of the many slowly sinking ships, was enough to make him feel somewhat depressed.
They might have been trying to kill them, but he was sure that some of them on board was most likely just following orders.
"Rest in peace all of you" the teenage said in a truly sadden tone, then turned around and began making his way back to the Minerva, not feeling nearly as happy and proud about all of this, as Shinn had.
The only thing the green haired boy want to do right now, was to get out of this almost boiling hot mobile suit and get something cold to drink, he was sweating so much right now, that if he told anybody that he had been running marathon through a desert, they would most likely believe him.
Truth be told, it really did feel like his mouth was as dry as sandpaper.
Which wasn't really much of a surprise, they had after all been fighting for a very long time now, so it was no wonder that he was thirsty.
He just hoped that he didn't get dragged in to a long conversation once he got back to the ship.
The only thing he truly desired at this very moment, was to be by himself for a while so he could get some liquid down his throat, and thinking about everything that had happened in this battle.
And it did not take long before the yellow GOUF slowly enter the Minerva's hangar, where Nicol immediately began making his way over to his mobile suits usual spot.
Once there he quickly powered the machine down, then opened the cockpit, and slowly lowed himself down to the ground, where the first thing he saw was Shinn surround by most of the mechanics on the ship, and the two other pilots.
It was obvious that they where giving him a heroes welcome, pretty much everybody over there was praising him and telling him how good a job he had done taking out that green mobile armor.
And just the sight of that big smirk that was covering most all of Shinn's face at the moment, was all Nicol need to tell that the dark hair boy was truly enjoying getting all of this attention.
And even true Nicol also thought that the pilot of the Impulse had done a good job, there was just something that was bothering him about the whole thing.
Why in the world had he suddenly began fighting so much more violently, it kind remind Nicol about how Kira and Athrun had sometimes been fighting in the past, and that one time he had asked them about it.
They had just told him that it had something to do with some kind of seed they would see once the battle began getting really serious. And the sight of how Shinn had tore his way through that mobile armor, was more then enough to make Nicol wonder if Shinn too possessed that ability.
But before he could decide if he should ask the other teenager about it, Lunamaria did the job for him.
"How in the world did you fight so well Shinn, I have never seen anything like that before?!" The girl said in a loud exciting tone, that could be heard through pretty much the whole hangar.
For some reason when she had seen Shinn take on that mobile armor she couldn't help but be amazed, it truly had been and incredible sight.
And it really made her wonder why he hadn't been fighting like that before.
If he had done that, she was almost completely certain that he could have easily defeated the three stolen gundams. But his next words did put a small damper on her excitement.
"I....I....really don't know what happened Luna, the only thing I remember was a strange feeling that kept yelling out for me to beat the crap out of that mobile armor, after that I felt some kind of powerful rush ran through me" the boy explained, as he tried his best to figure out what had been going on, when he was fighting with the green mobile armor.
He did however not get long to think about that before somebody placed a hand on his left shoulder, which of course immediately made him turn around to see Rey standing behind him, giving him a friendly smile.
"You did are good job Shinn, you should be very proud about what you did out there, you really did pull through for all of us here on the Minerva" the blond haired boy said, seriously delighted to know that Shinn had finally been able to go in to seed mode.
This truly did bring them a step closer, in killing that one person that would no doubt, do everything possible to stand in their way.
But with a little more training, Rey was certain that it would only be a matter of time, before Shinn had all the power he need to take down the person that had taken away one of the few people in this world.
Rey had truly respected with all of his being. But now it wouldn't be much longer before they could remove the Ultimate Coordinator from this world.
Just a bit more time and Shinn would have improved so much that he could end Kira Yamato's miserable existence. And that was in Rey's eyes, something that was worth celebrating.
He was already looking forward to tell Gilbert about this. He was certain that he too would be very, very pleased about getting such good news, this was after all the reason why, they had chosen to have Shinn piloted the Impulse.
Both Rey and Gilbert had know for a very long time now, that the short temper boy had the capability to activated the seed. And that really did make him the perfect told to get rid of everything that was standing in the way of Gilbert's plans for this world.
But even as Rey was still thinking about that, with a small slightly wicked grin on his face, he once again began talking to everybody in a cheerful tone.
"Well anyway now that we are finally out of danger, I think it would be a wise for all of us to get some rest" he said, while taking a glance away from Shinn and over at the two other pilots.
Nicol had a somewhat unreadable expression covering his face, which made Rey wonder slightly what the young man could be thinking so hard about.
But once he turned his eyes away from Nicol and over towards Lunamaria. Where he instantly noticed, that she had a more exhausted look in her eyes. It was pretty obvious, that she was just about ready to run off.
But as he stood there looking at her, it did not take long before the red hair girl told all of them her opinion about what Rey had just said.
"That's a great idea Rey, I could really use a good long nap just about now" she said in a loud tone, while thinking a few seconds about how totally exhausting it had been keeping all of those Windams away from the Minerva.
She couldn't even remember how many of them she had shoot down, but no matter how great a number it had been, it had certainly taken a lot out of her.
And with that in mind, she slowly turned around and began making her way out of the hangar. "I'll see you all later!" She called back to them.
Just as she disappeared out in to the hall, that would take her back to her own room, where a nice long shower and her soft bed was waiting for her. She just hoped that it would take some time now, before anything else would happen.
Seeing the red hair girl go like that. It did not take long, before the rest of the people down there, began making their way back to their own quarters. All of them just as determined to get some rest, as Lunamaria had been.
Each of them, really had been having a very tough time, beating back those Earth Forces bastards that they had been fighting not long ago. And it didn't really take all that much time, before most of the hangar was pretty much empty for people.
The only once left down there, was a few mechanics that was busy checking out the four mobile suits for any kind of damage.
But both the Impulse gundam and the three mass-produced mobile suits, all looked just as ready for combat now, as they had been before the Earth Forces had shown up, which meant that none of the mechanics truly had any reason to be down there.
So it wasn't long after before the light was turned off, as the rest of the ships mechanics left the room too.
Each of them heading of for other places on the ship, where their expertise was surely needed. They might have won this battle, but there was still a lot of things on the ship that had taken some serious damage, and was once again in need of repairs.
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At the same time back in Orb Yuna was watching with big eyes, as the Minerva began steadily sailing away from the area.
How the heck could that damn ship survive all of that.
Why the hell didn't the Earth Forces destroy it, when he and his father had gone through so much trouble making sure that the Minerva had been an easy target, that the Earth Forces should have taken down in the start of the battle.
Yet the only thing left of the big Alliance fleet was a few slowly sinking ships, that was on their way down to the ocean floor.
"Damn it, how could they have lost?!" He muttered, while taking one last look at the Minerva that by now, had almost disappeared completely in the horizon.
But even true the only thing he could see of the ship now was it's big stern, he continued watching the ship as it got further and further away from Orb's territory.
It was only when the damn Zaft ship was completely out of sight that he finally looked away from the screen. "Keep are close eye out for any survives, it would be very inhuman of us to let those soldiers that made it safely through that battle drown out there!" He said in a loud tone, that almost made it seem like he had nothing to do with the gruesome battle they had just witness.
And it was only when he was sure that everybody there had understood his last order that he turned around and left the room.
Now however not bothering to do one single thing to hide, how disappointed he was over the fact that the Minerva had escaped their little trap, almost completely intact.
And even as he continued down the hall, heading towards his father's office.
He could still clearly see the pictures of how the grey Zaft ship had fought it's way through the giant Earth Forces fleet that had been out there.
"Damn it all, I need to hurry and tell my father about this" he muttered, already trying to come up with another plan to destroy the Minerva, once Orb officially joined forces with the Earth Forces.
This was surely going to be the one and only time that ship would ever escape from one of his traps, that much was certain. "You just wait Minerva, the next time we meet the Orb fleet will destroy you" Yuna said in a determined tone, as he changed direction and began heading down another hall that would take him directly to his father's room.
Unfortunately he was so far away in his complaining about the Minerva's escape.
That he did not even realize that a somebody was following him not all that far behind him, and that the person could hear every single thing, he kept on saying about the Minerva.
It was only when he got to his moron of a father's office, that Cagalli turned away and softly tiptoed off before Yuna would notice her presence. But as Cagalli slowly kept getting further away from the stupid idiot.
She had a very difficult time keeping her anger in check, how dared those two bastards do something like that, they where not even a part of the Earth Forces yet.
That however hadn't stopped the two Seiran's from preparing such a dangerous trap for the very ship she had personally invited to Orb, as a way to thank them for saving the earth, and every single person on it.
"You are going to pay for this Yuna and you too Unato" Cagalli said, making sure that there was nobody around to hear her.
It wasn't like she had all that much loyalty right now, and what little she did have, she certainly didn't want to lose, because she was busy talking with herself about giving the two Seiran's the punishment they truly deserved.
"I better make sure to tell the others about this" the blond girl said while she began walking even faster, determined to get to her own office as quickly as possible so she could call the married couple. To tell them about what the two Seiran's attempted to do today.
No matter what she was certain, that all of them out in that house, would be very interested in hearing what she had to say.
To be continued.