Chapter 87
Heading for the main battle line, Dearka made a quick sideways somersault on the Guul to test its durability, but while it did creak a bit, most likely from all the times Erica had disassembled it, and put it back together. The pilot of the Yami was certain, that it would at the very least be able to handle one last battle, even though Dearka wasn't really sure how much use he would get out of the old Guul, it was after all highly obvious that the Yami was capable of flying a lot faster on its own.
Yet Dearka quickly shook those thoughts out of his head when he spotted four more Murasames joining up with him and Mu, which meant that they had about thirty now. Considering the unbelievable huge number of ZAFT mobile suits they were up against, Dearka felt absolutely certain that they were going to need each and every one of them.
"Are you guys ready?" Dearka suddenly heard Mu ask in a loud commanding tone, that made it clear to him, that if nobody had anything against it, he was going to take charge of things out there, which quite frankly suited the Yami pilot just fine, since he would rather focus all his attention on fighting and not waste time bossing people around.
"Just point me at a target, Mu!" Dearka yelled out as a response, then quickly raised the beam rifle, and fired two rapid shoots at a lonely GOUF down on the ground, hitting first the head and next the upper area of its chest, and as it blew up, Dearka wondered briefly what had possessed the pilot of the GOUF to wander this far inland on his own. Was ZAFT really so confident in their victory, that they didn't even feel the need to be careful, knowing that made it all the more clear, just how little resistance ZAFT had actually met since they began their attack.
'Ahhh damn it all, just what the hell is Unato and Yuna doing?! How can they allow ZAFT to so easily gain access to Orb, don't they realize how difficult it is going to be to force them back out of here!' Dearka thought angrily.
Yet even with all the trouble facing them, Dearka felt a brief smile run across his lips, when he heard their Murasame pilots give Mu a positive response to his question, apparently all of them was willing to take orders from the Hawk Of Eendymion.
"Good, then spread out and do what you can to keep each other covered, and no unnecessary heroisk here! We do not want to give our girl Cagalli anymore reason to cry than she already has, so if you spot anything more powerful than your normal every day ZAFT mass produced mobile suit, like a gundam, then leave them to Dearka and me!" The Akatsuki pilot ordered in a tone that left no room for disagreement.
The Murasame pilots just barely got out the word roger, when Kazuma's loud voice cut them off. "Stay sharp guys, here they come!" He warned before rolling quickly sideways to avoid a couple of incoming red beams. Once out of harms way, Kazuma immediately fired two missiles at one of the BABIs responsible for the attack, and since it was so close to him, it was impossible for the ZAFT pilot to avoid the two warheads, yet even as the purple mobile suit blew up in front of him, Kazuma got his Murasame over into it's mobile suit mode, then after swiftly evading up over a single green beam that came dangerously close to hitting him, he flew head first through the think smoke from explosion, while continuously firing the beam rifle at the remaining BABI, yet as luck would have it this guy clearly had a lot more experience than Kazuma's his first opponent, which meant that he was easily able to avoid the attacks while shooting back.
"Great, this guy is going to be a real challenge" he said under his breath, then frown angrily when a GOUF and a DINN showed up to reinforce his not so friendly opponent, with three against one Kazuma knew that he had a serious disadvantage, and that it was wise for him to keep moving no matter what, to make himself as difficult a target to hit as possible. Yet not satisfied just evading their attacks, Kazuma quickly decide that since the DINN mobile suit was so outdated, it was going to be his first target.
With that decision made Kazuma rolled skillfully in between the many shoots from the GOUF, then once he spotted a brief opening he immediately took the opportunity and fired two shoots after the old ZAFT mobile suit, blowing off it's left leg, yet before Kazuma could get another shot off, he was forced to cease with his attack on the one legged DINN, when the BABI and GOUF came in from the right, shooting at him like there was no tomorrow.
"Ahh to hell with you guys!" Kazuma barely got to finish that sentence, when a large number of smaller beams and machine gun shots rained down from above, hitting and tearing apart both the GOUF and BABI that did everything they could to avoid the onslaught, yet in the end there was nothing they could do, and it was only a brief moment later when both mobile suits blew up.
"Show off" Kazuma mumbled softly, just as the Yami dropped down beside him, where it raised it's empty right hand and made a gesture for the damage DINN and the half dozen GOUFs who had joined up with the one legged mobile suit not the long ago, to come get him if they dared, that along with their huge number advantage, send the ZAFT pilots into a frenzy, that made them charge full speed straight towards the black gundam, clearly hoping that they would be able to take it out, before it could do anymore damage to their forces.
Yet just when the lead GOUF swung its beam sword downward towards the still gundam, that had yet to move since it got there. Yet just when it seemed like the weapon was about to make contact with the Yami, and do who knew how much damage, Dearka skillfully rolled around the incoming attack, once behind the enemy unit, he swung the left empty left hand out towards the blue mobile suit cutting it in half, with nothing.
Seeing that instantaneously made the remaining ZAFT pilots cease with their overall reckless assault charge towards the spooky black gundam. "What the hell just happe...?" One of them yelled out confused, but was cut off when the head of his blue mobile suit was blown off by a single well aimed beam shot, that was fired from the gundam's empty right hand.
"Be careful guys! There is something weird about this gundam! It's..." That was all the DINN pilot manage to get out, before both wings was destroyed on his mobile suit, sending him hurling towards the sea belove them.
One GOUF immediately took off to try to catch the falling DINN. Not that Dearka paid much attention to that, instead he rushed full speed straight towards the four remaining GOUF Igniteds, who's pilot was still quite a bit confused and bewildered over what in the world the black gundam was doing. Yet seeing it approaching with such high speed, the pilot of the closed GOUF instantly let out a loud panicky shout, for the gundam to stay away, as he began firing the beam gun at the incoming mobile suit, but while the many beams did seem to hit their intended target, they did not do any real damage, it was like they were repealed by an invisible barrier.
Somersaulting sideways up over the Slayer Whip the GOUF pilot threw out after him, in a somewhat desperate at attempt to keep him at bay, Dearka now upside down, immediately execute one quick slash followed by another down at the close-quarters combat machine, that did not even have time to try to defend itself, cutting off the right arm near the shoulder, with a good chunk of its left side being cut off only a brief instant later, then even as the enemy mobile suit blew up below him, Dearka swirled back around in one fluid motion continuing heading towards his last two opponents, who was coming straight at him, clearly hoping that by ganging up on him they could somehow take him out, but while that tactic was not a bad idea and might have work if they at least had enough mobile suits to try to surround him, the two hastily incoming GOUFs did not even slow Dearka down, as he almost effortlessly maneuvor the Yami in and out between the many beams, then quickly fired both gatling guns at the closed GOUF hitting its head, thereby blinding it and making sure that it was out of commission, for the rest of the battle.
With all of her comrades so easily taken out, the last remaining GOUF pitot ceased with her reckless assault, and was now just hanging there staring at the spooky black mobile suit, the woman of course knew that it was her duty to fight this thing and do everything she could to achieve victory. But on the other hand the calm and more reasonable part of her mind realized, that if she tried to challenge this thing on her own, she would get completely trashed in just a few seconds, she did not want to die here in this shitty country, she wanted to go back home, to her son and daughter, it was bad enough that they had already lost their father during this war, yet just when she was about to bite the bullet and charge the black gundam, a deeply serious voice called out to her through the radio.
"If you have no intention to keep on fighting, then take your blinded friend over there and get lost, I am not beating the crap out of you guys to protect a creep like Djibril, I am only fighting to protect the place I call home, and the people I love and cherish, if I can accomplish that without having to kill, than all the better!" Dearka yelled out to the silent ZAFT pilot.
A bit taken aback by the gundam pilot's words, but most of all his willingness to just let her leave, the female ZAFT soldier sallowed nervously. "If you are not fighting to protect Djibril then tell me where he is, the sooner we find him, the sooner this battle can end!" She said back just as loudly.
Moving a bit closer towards to the GOUF, staring straight into it's one pink eye. "I really do wish I could tell you where he is lady, but I seriously do not know, the bastard disappeared from the Seiran mansion shortly before your attack started, we already got people searching all over the place for him. Now that's all the free information you are going to get from me, so scram" Dearka said, just as he fired a single shot at the GOUF, blowing off it's right arm.
Not daring to push her luck any further than she already had, the female ZAFT soldier swirled around, snatching her blinded comrade than began heading back to the Vosgulov class she was station on.
Watching the woman leave, Dearka let out a small breath, things was going pretty well for them right now, but he could not shake the feeling that this was far from over, as long as that idiot Djibril was hiding out here in Orb, ZAFT was not going to give up anytime soon.
"We have to hurry the hell up and find that stupid bastard, otherwise this will never end" Dearka mumbled to himself, having long since decide that if he was the one who found Djibril out there, he was just going to kill the terrorist leader, right then and there. While there was no doubt in Dearka's mind that Gilbert Durandal was the true bad guy in this war, Djibril was to put it mildly far from an angel, he was a demon who deserved to die more than anybody else. Dearka did not even want to try to image, how many lives that guy had on his conscience.
"Damn you Djibril, where the hell are you?!" He growled angrily while taking a thorough look down at the ground, even though he seriously did not expect that he would be able to spot the scumbag from all the way up there, what he could see however, was three M1s in a fire fight against a pair of ZAKUs, but while Dearka did briefly consider rushing down there to give them a helping hand, the Astray pilots seemed to be handling themselves pretty well, two of them was hidden behind a small hill, shooting at the ZAKUs from the front, which was just the distraction the third unit needed to attack the green mobile suits from their exposed left flank.
Then after watching one of the ZAKUs blow up from a well aimed shot into its chest, Dearka slowly raised his gaze and looked around for something else to beat up, not that he had much trouble finding that. About thirty or so ZAFT mobile suits was rapidly approaching from the west. Cursing softly Dearka was just about to rush off to greet them, he spotted a tiny gray spot far behind the incoming mass-produced mobile suits. Quickly zooming in, Dearka even with it still being very far away had little to no trouble telling what it was.
"Ohh greeeat, that's just what we need to make this day even better! But I suppose it ain't really that surprising, Meyrin did mention that it was likely on its way here!...Mu, Archangel do you read me!?" Dearka asked loudly into the radio.
It was only a brief instant later when Mu and the Archangel's bridge appeared on the Yami's monitor. "We read you Dearka, what's wrong?" Miriallia asked with her head tilted slightly to the side, the girl could of course easily tell from her boyfriend's expression, that he was quite a bit anxious about something.
Letting out a small breath before answering her. "The Minerva is here" those four simple words was met with a moment of tense silence. Not one person who had heard Dearka, had forgotten about their previous encounter with the powerful gray ZAFT ship, Murdoch and the rest of their mechanics, was still dealing with the aftermath of that meeting.
It was the smirking Hawk of Endymion who broke the silence. "It's still pretty far away, it's going to take them at least five minutes or so to get here. And as much as I would like to rush off to give them a 'nice friendly greeting and bid them welcome to Orb, in my own special way', I think it's best that we stay put here for now Dearka to thin out the mass-produced mobile suits!. We'll let the Minerva come to us!" The blonde haired man said, just as two BABIs dropped down from above, firing each one of their beam cannons at the Akatsuki, yet as the powerful red beams hit mark they simply bounch off the golden mobile suit and flew back to where they came from, taking out both BABIs in the process.
As impressed as Dearka truly was with the Akatsuki's special ability, he did not believe that this was the best time for him to comment on it. "Just don't underestimate the Minerva when it gets here Mu, according to our buddy Athrun, it now has in three new gundams on board, plus the Impulse".
"Oh goody I can't wait to face off against them. One thing Dearka before we go say hello to our next group of 'tourists', that Guul ain't really helping you out all that much, it's just slowing you down" Mu said glacing over at the Yami, just as it's weapons became visible.
Of course knowing that the Guul served more as a hindrance than anything else, Dearka took a quick look down at the old piece of ZAFT equipment he was ridding on top off. "I get what you are saying Mu, but I am not ready to get rid of it just yet" the Yami pilot said, then quickly activate the beam saber he was holding on to with the left hand, then took off to meet three incoming GOUFs.
"Suit yourself!" Mu said back before charge full speed towards five different types of ZAKU Warriors, targeting the Slash first, since it's beam axe was the biggest threat to the Akatsuki.
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While all of this was going on up in the air, Cagalli had just arrived at Orb's Defense Headquarters, leaping hastily out of the car the pregnant blonde ran full speed towards the large building, followed by Kisaka and two other men armed with machine rifles.
Yet they did not get very far when a loud ear-shattering sound could be heard behind them, making all of them turn and as the jeep they had had arrive in was flung to the side like it was nothing they saw a GOOhN drilling up from inside the ground, and as the two cannons near it head started glowing Cagalli quickly closed her eyes and place a hand on her round belly.
"Athrun, I love you" she whispered softly. Yet before the amphibious mobile suit could end hers and her children's life before they could even begin, a M1 Astray leaped over, barely regain its footing before treating the GOOhN like a football by kicking its right side hard, sending it tumbling over just as it fires its two high-energy cannons, both shots hitting the ground.
"Lady Cagalli hurry the hell up and get inside already! I'll deal with this stupid thing!" A loud female voice yelled, just as the M1 grab onto and pull its beam sabers, then start moving swiftly towards the tipped over GOOhN that quickly straighten itself up now ready to fight the incoming Astray.
As utterly impressed as Cagalli was with the female pilot's skills in her mobile suit, and would have liked to play spectator a bit longer to see what else the woman could do, the young blonde of course realized, that if she stayed out there, she would just get in the way, and with that in mind Cagalli continued the rest of the way towards the Defense building.
Once inside, Cagalli leaned against the nearest wall gasping for air, thanks to her two extra passengers she was quick to run out of breath, she hadn't been able to exercise as much as she used too. She was really starting to miss that.
Yet as she stood there trying to regain her breath, one of the two soldiers that was with her and Kisaka start talking loudly. "Man what a woman, I wonder if she will go out with me, once she is done kicking ass out there!" He said with a small grin.
It was then his friend chime in. "You just saw her fight in a mobile suit for a few seconds".
"Yeah well what can I say old friend, you know I have always found strong woman attractive, and the one out there in that Astray seemed very strong" he said back, then grab onto the door handle to keep his balance, as an explosion outside send a tremor through the huge building.
Pushing herself away from the wall once the tremor subside, Cagalli looked at the two men who was still eagerly discussing the female Astray pilot and how strong she was. The one to the left seemed absolutely certain, that he had just met the love of his life, while his friend kept on insisting that he should at least have a real conversation with the woman first, before falling head over heels in-love with her.
"I am sorry to interrupt guys, I understand that finding your one true love is important. But we really don't have time for this right now, we need to hurry and get to the main control room, before that idiot Yuna can cause anymore problems like shuting down all of our defense" the girl said, clearly more than ready beat the living daylights out of Yuna Roma Seiran for everything he had done.
"You just lead the way Lady Cagalli we'll be right behind you, and don't you worry too much about this guy finding his one true love, he does that every second or third month" the more rational of the two soldiers said.
Looking silently at the love struck soldier for a few short seconds, Cagalli was really tempted to say something to him about how it could not be true love if he could fall in-love that easily, with so many different women. Yet since they were short on time and it wasn't really any of her business, she settled for just rolling her eyes a single time, before running off down the hallway.
Quickly going after the young woman, the love struck soldier send his friend a angry displeased glare. "Did you really have to tell Lady Cagalli that? You are making it sound like I am a total womanizer, who goes after every woman he comes across"
"Sara, Jennifer, Mitsuru, Maki, Nisa, Hitomi and let's not forg..." those where all the names the smirking soldier could bring up before his frowning friend loudly cut him off.
"All right already I get it! I have date a lot of women, so can we please for the love of God change the subject?!" He half begged, not wanting Lady Cagalli a woman he honestly respected quite a bit, to know everything there was to know about his troubled love life.
"As much as I love a good bit of gossip about other peoples love life, and would like to hear more about how you could possibly date so many women, now really isn't the best time for it, we are almost there so stay focused guys in case the moron tries to resist" the blond haired girl said, even though a part of her was kinda hoping that Yuna would do something stupid once she got there, not that she really need another excuse to beat him up.
It was only a brief instant later when they ran through a large open doorway, where the first thing Cagalli saw was Yuna Roma Seiran standing in the center of the room, beside Colonel Soga, the purple haired moron had a panicky expression on his face, that made it completely clear to Cagalli, that he was just about ready to run off to go find someplace to hide like the coward he was, until all of this was over.
"YUNA!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.
At the sound of her loud booming voice, just about everybody in there stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. But while there was a few familiar people present, like Colonel Soga that she need to have a serious talk with later. Right now the only person Cagalli was paying any attention to, was the totally freaked out Yuna, who seemed ready to collapse in a heap on the floor, at the mere sight of her, but as much as Cagalli relished the fact that the moron was actually scared of her, and would under other circumstances have enjoyed it immensely, now wasn't really the best time for that.
Only able to swallow nervously a single time, as the blond girl stepped over in front of him, glaring at him with an unbelievable amount of contempt in her amber colored eyes, which served to send a long freezing cold shiver down Yuna's spine.
"Cagalli you...you are here, and...and you are..." those few words was all Yuna got out, as he glanced down at her round stomach.
Of course noticing what the gaping moron was staring so intensely at, Cagalli smirked wickedly at him. "It's Athrun's" she said, having no other reason for telling Yuna who the father was, then to piss him off. She knew that Yuna had always despised Athrun for his close relationship with her. So being given the opportunity to rub some salt in that wound, was too good to pass up.
"Athrun...Athrun Zala?" The dumbfounded man asked, like he was uncertain which Athrun she was referring too.
Not answering that question, Cagalli instead took a step closer and placed her hands on Yuna's shoulders, kinda looking like she was about to hug him. Yet that was only until she slammed her right knee, into that one spot on a man's body that hurt more than anything else, making the man howl loudly in pain, the only reason why he did not collapse, was because of Cagalli's tight hold on his collar.
"I am only asking you this once Yuna, ONCE! And if dare you lie to me, I'll tear off what's left of your little buddy and force-feed it to you! WHERE IS DJIBRIL!?"
Barely able to think straight over the almost unbearable pain going through his groin, Yuna hardly understood anything Cagalli had just said to him, yet as he forced his clenched eyes back open to look at the unfaithful bitch, one look at the devilish expression on her face made it clear to him, that if he did NOT tell her what she wanted to know, she was going to do something even worse to him. 'What did she ask me?...Djibril!... She wants to know about Djibril!" He realized through the pain.
"I...I don't know where he is Cagaalli...he was at our house before...then just before the attack start...he used our secret exit and disappeared...Mayb emmm...maybe my father knows where he is..." Yuna gasped, barely able to speak properly, it just hurt so damn much, women truly had no idea how much it hurt getting hit in that area.
Shaking the whimpering fool violently. "And just where the hell is your father during all of this?!" Cagalli yelled into Yuna's face, seriously tempted to knee him in that certain spot one more time. Yet before the short tempered blonde could give into her temptation and make sure that the dumb bastard would never be able to reproduce, a female voice called out to her.
"I am sorry to interrupt your 'fun' Lady Cagalli, but I think I'll better be able to answer your question, than that purple haired scumbag. Unato Ema Seiran was hiding out in one of the nearby shelters. Unfortunately that shelter just so happened to have collapse a little while, because of a ZAFT GOOhN, so Unato is most likely dead!" The girl explained.
"D...Dead" Yuna said in a low tone. His father was dead, the man he respected most in this world was dead, that was not suppose to happen, both of them where supposed to live through this war, then rule Orb together as the main family after the Athhas, that's why it had been so important that he got married to Cagalli, but the bitch had ran off before that could happen.
Looking away from the girl who had just told her about Unato's demise and back at Yuna, Cagalli saw the hint of tears in his eyes, and she knew that if it had been anybody else she would have felt deeply sorry for them losing their father like that, which briefly made her remember that moment on board Jachin Due where Athrun had lost his father. Yet since Unato and Yuna was responsible for this whole mess by choosing to help out Djibril, what little sympathy Cagalli felt for the weeping man, quickly disappeared again.
"Guess our only choice is to search the whole island for any signs of Djibril, he has to be somewhere. Now one last thing before you leave Yuna, the Seiran's entire fortune will be confiscated by the Orb government, and used to pay for damages and as compensation to all the families that has lost somebody because of your stupidity!" The girl told him in a low yet serious tone.
Hearing that today wasn't just going to be the day when he would lose both his father but also all of their money, which was a lot since the Seirans was one of the wealthiest families in Orb, Yuna glare hatefully at the unfaithful bitch.
"Damn you Cagalli, you have no idea how much I hate you! You ruined everything, you were NOT supposed to stand against me! You were supposed to marry me and do everything I said, and that child...that child was supposed to be mine!" He yelled loudly.
Just the mere thought of actually carrying Yuna's child was almost enough to make Cagalli feel like throwing up. "Yeah well I did stand against you Yuna, I just couldn't follow you and your father's insane politics. As for the marriage crap, and this being your child, I would rather join a convent and become a nun, than have intimate relationship with you" she said back, which made a few amused chuckles run through the busy room.
Considering everything else Cagalli had done since she arrived there, being made a fool of was the last straw, he was so going to make the bitch pay, yet just as Yuna raised his hand and was about to hit the girl, she quickly swirled around and threw him into the arms of a couple of soldiers.
"Take him away! I want to see him rot in jail for the crime treason, for the rest of his miserable life!" She ordered in a bossy tone.
Then as Yuna yelled and screamed about how much he hated Cagalli and that he was going to make her pay, the dishonorable politician was dragged out of room.
Not paying the least bit attention to Yuna's words, Cagalli stepped hastily over next to Colonel Soga and Kisaka. "Have our troops search every nook and cranny for Djibril, especially those places affiliated with the Seirans, I want that son of a bitch found before he has a chance escape. If he wouldn't surrender to them, they are allowed to kill him, just as long as that man is stopped, that's what's important. I am certain that ZAFT will at least agree with us on that!" The blonde said, even though she wasn't completely sure, that ZAFT would cease with their attack even if they handed a dead Djibril over to them, Cagalli could still clearly remember Athrun saying something about Djibril just being a convenient excuse to attack Orb.
The girl was still thinking about that, when Colonel Soga's voice interrupted her thoughts, with a loud yes Ma'am.
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At the exact same time on board the approaching Minerva, Talia was having a serious chat with the Captain of the Vosgulov class, St Helens. "How is that battle proceeding? Have you been able to locate, Djibril?" The brown haired woman asked, sincerely hoping that if they did not already have the terrorist leader in custody, it would not take too much time for them to locate him, so they could keep the destruction and deaths to a minimum.
Looking up at the screen showing Talia's serious looking face, the St Helens Captain glared angrily at the female FAITH member, like she was the one to blame for how shitty things was going.
"We still have no clue where the hell Djibril is! And thanks to Orb pushing us back with a huge number of Murasames and two unknown gundams, searching for him is getting more and more difficult" the Commander said with a deep frown. Considering their overwhelming number advantages, and the fact that Orb had lost their flagship the Takemikazuchi in a previous battle, he figured that when he was given this mission, it was going to be an easy victory for ZAFT. Yet that assumption had very quickly been proven to be an error in judgment on his part.
Of course noticing the Commander's deep-seated anger and frustration with the whole situation. But even though Talia thought that the man's behaviour was quite a bit unprofessional, she chose not to comment on it. Instead, she leaned slowly back in her seat, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "New gundams you say? I did not expect Orb to have something like that stashed away".
Forcing himself to remain calm. "You can say that again Gladys, I don't think any of us expect to go up against something like that when we got here, and what makes it even worse is that they are powerful, very powerful, even with all the machines we have sent against them, we have been unable to damage either one of them" the Commander said.
"Abbey show me a live feed of those two gundams!" That order had barely left Talia's mouth, when the blond haired girl did what she was told, making the two gundams appear up on one of the Minerva's monitors.
One look at each one of the gundams, instantly made it clear to the Minerva Captain, that neither one of those mobile suits should be underestimated under any circumstance. The golden one was currently being chased by five GOUFs that was shooting after it, like crazy, yet judging from the downright negligent way the gundam pilot was flying, he did not really consider the blue mobile suits to be much of a threat, and might very well be luring them into some sort of trap.
"Get those GOUFs to pull back immediately before the enemy pilot can pull off whatever move he has up his sleev..." Yet as luck would have it Talia did not get to finish that sentence, when the last two GOUFs was blown out of the sky by a couple of well aimed shots from a green Murasame, that suddenly show up behind them, the remaining GOUF pilots likely did not even have time to grasp what had just happened to comrades, the gundam spun around pulled out one of its beam saber and cut the lead GOUF in half before Talia even had time to blink, the second GOUF did not fair much better, it start shooting rapidly at the golden mobile suit, yet every single beam that hit their mark simply bounce off the gundam and flew off in a random direction, it was only one brief instant later when that GOUF too was cut in half, that left one GOUF remaining that was quickly blown to bits by a single shot from the gundam's beam rifle.
While wondering how the golden one was able to reflect the beams the way it had, Talia slowly turned her attention towards the mostly black gundam, that was riding around on a Guul of all things, and judging from the effortless way the pilot rolled up over a couple of beams fired by two BABIs, he had some experience in using that thing, which lead Talia to believe that he might very well be a defect ZAFT soldier, and seeing him take out the two BABIs made the woman wonder where Orb had gotten that Guul from in the first place.
"It's definitely imperative that we get rid of those two gundams, and I believe that the mobile suits station here on the Minerva are best suited to deal with them, so if you would Commander could you please get the rest of our mobile suit forces to focus their attention on the M1s and Murasames?" Talia requested calmly.
Not at all happy about having to rely on Gladys and her forces, the stubborn Commader had wanted to win this with his forces alone, he had hoped that by doing that, he might very well be chosen to be the Captain of ZAFT's second Minerva class ship, the Athena, which had begun construction back at the Plants a little over a month ago.
"Just hurry the hell up and get your pilots out there Gladys! We don't have all day!" The man said in a not so friendly tone, then cut off the communication between his ship and the Minerva, before Talia even had a chance to give him a response.
"Man what a charming fellow, I bet he is a real hit with the ladies" Talia heard Abbey mumble sarcastically over from her seat, which made a hint of a smile run across the Captain's red lips. The Commander's ill-mannered behavior and inability to barely control his temper, simply because things was not going his way, was not something that would earn him overly much of her respect, yet the expression on Talia's face instantly turned serious again, as she reached out and pressed one of the buttons on her chair, thereby enabling her to talk with the ship's pilots, that were all waiting down on the observation deck.
Yet as Talia saw the observation deck and her ship's four pilots dressed up in their spacesuit ready for combat, she was just about to tell them what their mission was going to be, when an impatient Shinn start asking questions with an almost childlike glee.
"Have they found him Captain? Have they found, Djibril!?" The red eyed man asked with an excited look in his eyes, truth be told Shinn wasn't really sure if he hoped that their forces who had arrived before them, had already captured Djibril, Shinn knew that if they were still searching for the bastard, he would have a much better opportunity to destroy his old home country, for what it had done to him.
Of course noticing the excited expression plastered across Shinn's face, Talia could not help but find it quite a bit creepy. 'Is it really that important for him to destroy his old home?' The woman mentally asked herself. There had been a time when Talia had cared about Shinn Asuka, and had felt deeply sorry for him for losing his family the way he had. But that felt like such a long time ago, these days Talia sincerely wished, she had the option to ask Gilbert or somebody else in the ZAFT high command, if the boy could be transferred to a different ship, but she knew that was impossible, they need him here, it was just that his downright murderous attitude freaked her out more than she was willing to admit.
"No they haven't found him, Shinn. And as things are going now I don't think we are going to anytime soon, Orb's defense are a lot stronger than any of us anticipate, they have a couple of new gundams causing trouble for our forces all over the place, so those two machines are going to be you guys primary targe..." Talia did not get to finish that sentence when Bart loudly voice called out to her.
"Captain that black gundam are coming right at us!" The blonde man yelled in a bit of a panic, as he quickly made it so that Talia and the four pilots could see the spooky looking black gundam, that to their astonishment raised its right hand and send them a small playful greeting, then instantly made all of them recoil in pure shock and horror, when it in one fluid motion leaped away from the Guul, sending the subflighter flying straight at them.
"AIM TRISTANS, SHOT IT DOWN!" Talia ordered, but with the Tristans still hidden away in their compartment, it took about a minute to get them out and ready to fire, yet because of how fast the Guul was moving they simply did not have the time necessary to aim properly. So while close neither of the beams hit their intent target, and it was only a brief instant later when the runaway Guul crashed into the Minerva's starboard side, sending an earthquake like tremor through the entire ship, making just about everybody on board scream loudly, and grab onto whatever they were close to.
Talia too had a tight grip on the armrest on her chair, as she heard Arthur curse loudly and yell out for somebody to give them a damage report, which Bart did once the shaking subside.
"Two of the starboard side's machine cannons was completely destroyed, plus a third one was heavily damage, and will likely over heat pretty fast if we use it too much in this battle!".
Angrily narrowing his deep brown eyes, Arthur was just about to curse yet again, when Abbey's loud voice informed them all that she had just received a written message from the enemy pilot.
A bit astound by that, Talia looked over at the blonde loudly ordering her to read the message.
"Welcome to Orb Minerva. Since that Guul originally belonged to ZAFT, I figured that it was only right for me to give it back to you, once I was done using it, I hope you choke on it. By the way tell Nicol Amalfi that he is an asshole!".
Upon hearing those words, Talia immediately turned her attention back towards the pilots, or to be more specific the green haired one of them. "Nicol do you know that gundam? Or who might be piloting it?" She asked him in a relatively calm tone.
Taking a step closer towards the screen in an attempt to get a better look at the black and purple mobile suit. Yet as luck would have it, Nicol did not get much time to study the enemy machine, when it suddenly got over into its mobile armor mode, then raced off to do battle against five incoming BABIs, that could be seen in the far distance. Knowing that his fellow ZAFT soldiers was about to get slaughter by the black gundam, Nicol slowly shook his head.
"I have never seen that mobile suit before in my life Captain, as for who could be piloting it, I can only think of one person who would find it funny to send a message like that after causing so much damage to the Minerva, but he should already be dead" the Adamant pilot said, then start getting a deep nagging suspicion in the pit of his stomach, if Dearka Elsman really was the one who was piloting that black gundam, did that mean...did that MEAN? That the Archangel had somehow survived their last encounter, the former pilot of the Buster gundam had after all been on board the Archangel, when it was hit by the Minerva's Tannhauser.
Nicol did however not get a chance to share his suspicion when Talia's loud displeased voice start bossing them around. "You guys hurry and get down to the hangar, I want you in the air in less than five minutes! Those two gundams needs to be dealt with fast, so get moving!".
"ROGER!" They all yelled out before quickly leaving the observation deck.
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Feeling a light tremor run through the Destiny as it was dropped down onto the catapult, the smirking Shinn reached out and took a hold on the controls. "Dips on the black one!" He called out to his friends and fellow pilots.
"I believe Shinn that all of us are pretty eager to get even with that machine" Nicol said over from the Adamant, not sure if he should share his theory with the others about who might just be piloting that black gundam.
"Just as long as they are both destroyed that's what's important, but if you are really that keen on doing battle with the black unit Shinn and since it's pilot apparently knows you Nicol, we will leave that unit to you two. Lunamaria and I will take care of the golden one!" Rey said.
"I have no objection to that plan of attack" Lunamaria said from her location in the Core Splendor, the young female pilot did not want to admit it out loud, but the prospect of going up against the nutcase in the creepy looking black gundam, did make her feel slightly on edge. After the stunt he just pulled with that Guul, Lunamaria seriously believed that the enemy pilot was completely insane, and might just pull some other crazy move she wasn't prepared to deal with, so she figured that her boyfriend and Shinn would be the best choice to fight that guy, even though she kinda wanted to get even with him for insulting Nicol, she definitely wasn't going to forgive him for that anytime soon.
Yet before the redhead could give it much thought, she heard Shinn call out his own name, informing them all that the Destiny was heading out, which it did follow shortly by Rey in the Legend, then her Core Splendor, and last but definitely least the Adamant and it's special Guul.
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At the exact same time outside, Dearka moved over beside Mu, as they both watched the four gundams being launched from the Minerva. "Guess the main event of this party is about to begin" the Yami pilot said.
Glancing over at the Murasame like mobile suit beside him. "Some party! No booze, no girls! All people are doing is beating each other up, that ain't really all that much fun, if you ask me!" Mu said back, as he changed his hold on the Akatsuki's beam rifle, he knew that beating these four machines was going to be quite a challenge, but he was sure they could do it, he was after all the one who could make the impossible possible.
To be continued.
Hey guys, of the mass-produced mobile suits in Gundam Seed, which one do you think is the most awesome one, I myself like the Murasame, Dom Trooper, and last the GOUF. I would also like to know what you guys think about Cagalli's encounter with Yuna.