A/n

Alright then, here is the next Phase. And I state now, buckle up, for things will be going differently than they did in the original. Enjoy the Phase!

Phase 73: Stopping Catastrophe

October 9th, 73 C.E.

Shira, Republic of East Asia

Tyler would love to use his car to get to the airport so they could snag a heli to use; there wasn't the time to have a staff member bring it around. So, Tyler flashed his military ID to use one of the security vehicles before getting in it. Tyler took the wheel while Sakura was in the passenger seat. As Tyler drove out of the Minister's residence's property, Sakura stripped off the dress she'd been in, revealing she had tight-fitting knee-length shorts and a t-shirt on underneath. Tyler focused on the road but couldn't help but wonder why Sakura would have clothes underneath the dress. Thankfully, Tyler didn't have to follow the posted speed limit with the security vehicle as he would with his car. Thus, the drive wasn't all that long to the airport.

Upon arriving at the airport, Tyler and Sakura jumped out of the car and jogged over to the nearest heli. Tyler got into the pilot's seat while Sakura took the co-pilots before they began the pre-flight checks without a word. Once those were done, Tyler called the air traffic control tower and asked them if they could lift off. Tyler did iterate that they needed to get over to Shen Long quickly due to there being an emergency in progress. The heli was given permission to lift off, and the moment Tyler received that, he had the heli surge into the air. Tyler swung the craft around and moved it forward in the direction of Shen Lóng. Ten minutes later, the heli came over the mountain and down into the valley where Shen Lóng was in. Tyler brought the aircraft in to land close to the mass driver control facility.

Tyler and Sakura exited the heli and began heading for the Normandy, which was already on the mass driver track. Along the way, Tyler overheard those they passed a note of concern. It made him wonder what was going on to have so many worried. The emergency orders, while rare, only made Tyler more suspicious there was something big going down. That the public were being kept in the dark made whatever was ahead even more worrisome. Tyler just hoped that Lisa would have more information as to what was going on to have so many worried. He wanted to know what he and the ship under his command were about to get into as soon as he could. In the back of Tyler's mind, something was telling him whatever was ahead was going to cause issues that would last for a while. There was also the potential of whatever was going on could tip the human race over "the cliff" and descend into another war. Tyler hoped that wouldn't be the case, but with what the Alliance had been doing lately, it was a real possibility. The two boarded the ship, and Tyler locked the airlock behind them. If the crew wasn't already on the Normandy by this point with the emergency orders, they would face consequences that were out of Tyler's hands.

Tyler headed for his quarters to get out of his formal uniform before he intended to head for the Normandy's bridge. Sakura followed him, curious as to what was going on. She hadn't missed the tense air that had been around her beloved. The same air had been around those at the mass driver facility. There was something clearly going on that was worrying many. What that event was, she couldn't say, but she would bet it was something bad if the Federation was scrambling. If this ship went into combat, Sakura would be more than willing to help defend it and complete its mission.

When the two came to the captain's quarters, Tyler went straight to the compartment with his clothes and got out a casual uniform and began striping out of his formal uniform. Sakura snagged knee-length shorts and a slightly heavier t-shirt than she was wearing currently. Tyler didn't pay attention to Sakura changing behind him. He was focusing on what was potentially ahead of him and the Normandy. There wasn't the time to let Sakura tempt him into something she wanted with things as they were. Tyler was done changing first and left his quarters, leaving Sakura back there to finish changing. Tyler made his way briskly to the bridge so he could find out what was really going on. He found the bridge crew were at their station as he'd come to expect. Tyler slid into his seat and looked over at Lisa, "So," he began, "What has us getting emergency orders?"

Lisa glanced at Tyler with his question, for the answer was rather complicated. The orders were somewhat straightforward, with them asking for the Normandy to head up to space. The information that had come with those orders was what made things more complicated. According to Echowas, they had received communication from both autonomous sensors and one of the space fleets. They had said the largest mass that made up the ruins of Junius Seven had left its stable orbit within the debris belt. That was odd since the ruin's orbit was checked regularly and had been recently stabilized within the last year or so. However, now the ruin was now on a course to have it colliding hard with Earth. Were that to happen, it would have catastrophic consequences and repercussions for all on Earth and those in space from the response to the event. "From what Echowas said, the largest mass of Junius Seven's ruins had broken free of its orbit in the Debris Belt," Lisa replied. "That mass is currently heading toward Earth and will collide with it should its course not change."

Tyler blinked at the reply from Lisa. It made no sense to him for the ruin of Junius Seven to have moved outside of the Debris Belt. The Debris Belt was observed and checked regularly by the Federation, even if the other factions didn't pay much mind. The ruins of Junius Seven were one of the things that Tyler knew was checked specifically when inspections were done. And its orbit had been corrected and stabilized at the end of the recovery project. So, the only answer as to how or why the ruins had broken free of its orbit was a group had used means to move it. The odd thing was Tyler figured any attempt to install engines or something of the like would've been noticed by sensors and the inspectors.

The why this would be occurring was even more of a mystery. From what Tyler understood, the recovery project had done wonders in helping the vast majority move on from the Bloody Valentine. Most wouldn't think of sending the ruins to Earth and likely spark another war. Tyler would even say the Alliance wouldn't go that far, mostly due to the damage striking Earth would do to them. None in the Federation would consider such a thing for some of the same reasons but also dishonoring the memories of the victims of the Bloody Valentine. That left one of two possibilities, either some from ZAFT were responsible, or an independent group had really gone off the "deep end." Tyler sighed, "Any hint as to who is behind this," he asked. "This wouldn't just happen, the ruin's orbit was stabilized about a year ago, and nothing had changed that I know of when inspections were done a few weeks ago."

Lisa shrugged, "Unfortunately, not that I've heard. There are investigations going on to try and find out who could be responsible for this." Lisa paused, recalling the other part of the information that Echowas had sent. While there was a pause, Sakura came onto the bridge, glancing around. "There is a ZAFT force en route to the ruins to try and stop the ruins from hitting Earth," Lisa iterated. Sakura's attention shifted to the conversation between Tyler and the woman next to him. Tyler thought for a moment before he spoke, "And they have stuff that can stop a massive space rock from slamming into Earth? I can assure you should Junius Seven's ruins strike Earth, it will have lots of consequences for all."

Sakura quickly processed what implications could be gleaned from what her beloved had said. It sounded like the ruins of Junius Seven had broken its orbit in the Debris Belt and was moving toward Earth. That was odd, as the Debris Belt was good at keeping what ended up in it from escaping the belt. Such would imply a group had managed to move the ruins, probably by attaching propulsion to the masses. There weren't really any outside the main factions that would have access to the needed equipment. Out of the three factions, the Federation wouldn't shift the ruins out of the belt. The Alliance was unlikely either since if they had, it would've been sent at the PLANTs and not Earth. That left ZAFT as the likely faction which had a hand in this event. The weird thing was Sakura couldn't think of many that would commit this kind of action. Lanus had his OZI agents go through most within ZAFT and question them about the effects of the recovery project and its results. OZI would've been proficient and thorough with their investigations and report any that would need watching. There was the chance a rouge group had gotten together and managed this, but it was not likely with what Sakura knew.

The mention of a ZAFT force heading for the ruin wasn't surprising to Sakura. From what she'd been told by contacts of hers, the current chairman, Durandal, wasn't one to ignore potential issues. So, with a massive space mass heading for Earth, the man would have ZAFT head to stop it. They would have Meteor Breakers with them as that equipment was best for breaking down large masses. However, if a rouge group was responsible for this event, they would likely try to hinder the deployment of the units. The Federation would send forces to help and be on-site to provide a backup plan should the meteor breakers fail. Should the ruins impact on Earth, it was extremely likely the Alliance would declare war on ZAFT. "The ZAFT force will have meteor breakers with them to handle the ruins by breaking it down," Sakura remarked. "The Supreme Council wouldn't want the fallout from the ruins hitting Earth."

While Tyler knew Sakura was right, he couldn't help but wonder if someone in ZAFT had started the current mess. It was possible that she knew of some that could've initiated this, but Tyler couldn't say. "I would agree with the Supreme Council not wanting this to happen, but would you know of any that might be willing to commit this kind of action, Sakura," Tyler asked. "I'm not saying that ZAFT has horrible individuals in general, but radicals can appear anywhere." Sakura shook her head, "Not that I'm aware of. Treize had those at his command do investigations into those who would be questionable within ZAFT. They are skilled investigators and came back with nothing of concern with those they questioned. Although, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that some who are or had been with ZAFT could have caused this."

Tyler turned back to Lisa and focused on the Normandy's ascent to space. "What is the Normandy's status, Lisa," Tyler questioned. "The current situation seems to be getting worse as time goes by. The sooner that we get moving to help with the mess, the better I'll feel we can help deter serious problems." Lisa nodded, "I would agree," she turned to her console. "All stations have reported in as ready. Space boosters had been linked to the engines for our ascent. The Normandy is as ready as it can be to head into space." Tyler acknowledged the report, "Then let's get going." He turned to Miss Alloy, "Miss Alloy, if you would reach out to the driver control and tell them we are ready to launch, that would be great."

The Normandy communicated with Shen Lóng's control, saying they were ready to launch up to space. The mass driver was charged and ready for use, and the Normandy was equipped with boosters as well. The ascent vector was clear for the Normandy to head into space. The maintenance crews cleared the track before the rams were drawn back to the launching position. The Normandy surged forward down the track, accelerated by the rams pushing the ship along. As the ship raced down the track, those on the Normandy felt the acceleration forces. A moment later, the Normandy's orientation began shifting from horizontal to near vertical as they shot up the last fourth of the track. The modulus accelerator platforms the rams were pushing disconnected their link to the ship as the wings supported the Normandy's ascent. The Normandy ignited its engines, whose output was amplified by the boosters, shooting off the end of Shen Lóng, heading upward away from Earth's surface. When the Normandy finished its ascent, Tyler ordered Paris to set course towards the coordinates Echowas had been given for the large mass hurtling towards Earth.

At the same time, the ZAFT force sent from the PLANTs were coming into sight of the moving ruins. The group was made up of five Nazca and Laurasia classes. It was thought that number would be enough to get the meteor breakers to the ruins and deploy them before Earth was in imminent danger. The Nazcas were carrying the Meteor Breakers that would be used to break up the ruins, while the Laurasias would act as support. The commander assigned to lead this task force was Nicol Amalfi. Nicol had quickly moved up in the ranks after his demotion, with his commanding skills being recognized by higher-ups that made him stand out with his age group. Yzak Joule had been selected to lead the mobile suits on the field who would deploy the meteor breakers.

Nicol had been apprehensive when he had been told that the ruins of Junius Seven had broken free of the Debris Belt's hold. It was an unnatural thing to occur, for the belt had developed its own orbital track, which was a perfect balance between the pull from Earth and the Moon. That hold was powerful enough to draw in and hold pretty much anything that got close enough to the belt. So, for the ruins to break free of that hold would have to have outside influence to occur. With it moving toward Earth only added to the suspicion that a group was behind this occurrence. What was odder still was since the "recovery project" which had returned the victims of the Bloody Valentine, much of the want for retribution had faded with those from the PLANTs and ZAFT. And the reason Nicol figured some from ZAFT were behind this was the Federation and Alliance would suffer far more should the ruins strike Earth.

Nicol had been assigned to the Vesalius with Ades still its captain for the operation the task force was set with. Nicol was glad to work with someone he knew, like Captain Ades. Ades had said he was pleased to work with Nicol, saying he was extremely hopeful Nicol would be easier to work with than Creuset had been. Nicol knew Commander Creuset had a not-so-nice record with ZAFT, a mix of good and bad. Officially, nothing had been said about him being a traitor to ZAFT though Nicol knew it to be the truth. He assumed it was done to honor the good deeds Creuset had done for the PLANTs. Nicol just hoped he could improve the reputation of the Vesalius as its commander.

Nicol had brought up his thoughts in the meeting of captains and mission leaders. The captains had taken the rundown from Nicol, and most had agreed there would need to be vigilance. Dearka, who was the second team lead, had agreed overall with Nicol's thoughts of a rouge group being the cause of the current mission. As usual, Nicol's logic made simple sense and was hard to argue with. Dearka was convinced Nicol's cool head and logic was one of the factors he was in charge of the mission rather than someone like Yzak. Yzak, on the other hand, disagreed with Nicol's assumption that some from ZAFT were responsible for the ruins moving toward Earth.

He was also somewhat bitter about Nicol getting the position of mission commander for the operation rather than him. Yzak wouldn't deny Nicol had good commanding skills, but he tended to be the cautious type which Yzak didn't like much. He'd been proud of his friend Nicol when he'd been promoted to commander, for he was confident Nicol had deserved it. However, there had been the sting of it happening before his own promotion to commander by a little over a month. Dearka and Miguel Aiman had tried to help solve the issues between the two but hadn't had a great deal of success. Heck, Dearka had even contacted Athrun Zala asking for his help with the problem. Athrun hadn't had much better ideas on how to help, unfortunately. Nonetheless, with time, the two had come to the understanding that they would agree to disagree upon things, and that had helped to smooth things between them.

At seeing the ruins coming closer, Nicol ordered mobile suit teams to head out. Half were to stay with the Nazcas as they would escort the meteor breakers to their destination. The others would do a quick survey of the mass so the best locations could be selected for the breakers. Dearka would be with the breakers' escort, while Yzak would be with the forward team doing the scan. Nicol did open a channel to Yzak as he was organizing the teams he would lead, "Yzak, I know you don't entirely agree with my reasoning for the need of caution. However, I still stand by what I said that it is likely the ones who have caused this will keep around the ruins until it gets to Earth's atmosphere. I highly doubt they will like us deploying meteor breakers to break the mass down. They will move in to disrupt and hinder our mission and will probably shoot to kill. With that in mind, you and those under you are to keep your eyes open and alert. There is still something that feels off about this, and I fear ignoring such will get many killed."

Yzak didn't agree with Nicol that those who were responsible for this could be from ZAFT. However, the point Nicol brought up about the instigators being around the ruins had merit. The mission was time sensitive with the speed at which the ruins were moving toward Earth. Yzak had his own motivation for the mission. There were ZAFT personnel on Earth; none of them deserved to die. Then Athrun lived in Orb the last Yzak had heard, and while he felt Athrun was foolish to leave ZAFT, he was a friend that had watched his back. "Yeah, yeah," Yzak returned, "Don't drop our guard, as those who made our mission necessary are likely around. Just have the meteor breakers ready to move in and deploy when we find locations. Time is not on our side in this task."

Nicol was glad there were some things that he and Yzak could agree on in current circumstances, even if they disagreed on several things. Time was certainly something they hadn't argued about. If the ruins reached Earth's atmosphere, their mission would be a failure. He felt the Federation would be around to help and make the mission as successful as possible. But the ZAFT force wouldn't know anything about that until they appeared and jumped in. Nicol shifted to telling all the ship captains to stay alert as well as the mobile suits got to work. The current setup was far too suggestive of a trap laid for those that came to wave off that as a possibility. The ruins contained structures that could hide attackers. And within minutes, Nicol only became more suspicious as the survey found engines embedded in the rock. He asked if Yzak could inspect one of the engines and see if it could be shut down. Turning off the engines would help prevent the ruins from gaining more momentum and becoming more problematic.

Yzak sent a team of mobile suits with a ZAKU, leading them to inspect the closest engines. The rest continued to search for locations for the breakers to be deployed. From scanning the general area, Yzak was somewhat concerned and irritated. He could see several places an enemy could hide and spring a surprise attack against them. He didn't like enemies that resorted to that tactic, but experience had taught him those types were dangerous if ignored. The mission was supposed to be technical yet straightforward, nothing too complex and complicated to be concerned with. Yet, Yzak was starting to think things wouldn't go as hoped on this mission, but he couldn't say what had him thinking that. However, Yzak focused back on searching for locations for the meteor breakers to be deployed.

Nicol was communicating with Dearka, who was organizing the breakers' escort, when Yzak said he had found spots that met the requirements they needed. Things were proceeding smoothly thus far, and that had Nicol all the more suspicious. Once the meteor breakers were in motion, it would be hard to stop them. If enough of them were lost, then the mission would be seriously jeopardized. It was likely those that had set this in motion knew that point, and so they would be aiming for the breakers. If the breakers could be deployed and sunk down into the ruins, then they would be fine and be able to accomplish their task. However, it would be getting the breakers deployed that would be the difficult task Nicol expected. Still, Nicol told Dearka to begin the escort of the breakers to the given locations.

The meteor breaker launching began from the Nazca classes to the waiting mobile suit teams. The suits arranged themselves and then began moving forward with the first wave of breakers toward the ruins. The survey teams were still scanning around the ruins, keeping an eye for anything suspicious. Yzak did reach out to those he'd sent to look into the engines but heard nothing from them. He moved over to the engine he'd directed them to and found they still appeared to be working on the task. Yzak moved closer and opened a channel and asked them if they'd made any progress and why they hadn't answered.

The reply he got was odd, not because of the little progress made but because of the communication issue. The engines were rigged to keep going regardless of anything done to it. The rigging which would have to be done for that to be the case would be extensive. It would've taken some knowledge and skill with the engines to set them up like that. It implied the group who had set this up fully intended to ram the ruins into Earth. However, the communication issue was more problematic as those Yzak had sent said there was some sort of interference around them. There hadn't been much interference other than what N-jammers put off normally above the ruins. And yet, Yzak looked at his sensors and found they were being scrambled now where they hadn't been before. Something had been definitely set up to lead those who had come here into a trap and then attack them. Yzak ordered those working on the engine to stop and lift off from the ruin's surface. The moment Yzak got up out of the interference, he told those under his command to be on guard and protect the meteor breakers from imminent attack.

It was but a moment later that a group of 'GINNs' appeared from the ruins below and started attacking Yzak's group. Yzak took in the machine assaulting them and found they were a model of GINN newer than most mass-production models. The new High Maneuver Type II GINNs were black and purple in color. It appeared to be armed with the standard sword, shield, and a beam carbine rifle to use. Yzak ordered those with him to defend themselves and counter these enemies. They needed to protect the locations which the breakers would be deployed upon. However, it became quickly apparent the pilots of the GINNs were good and skilled as they had them hard-pressed. It was frustrating to Yzak that whoever the enemies were, they were clearly ZAFT trained. They were fighting against the best interests of ZAFT and the homeland with their actions.

The meteor breaker escort groups spotted the battle starting ahead of them. From what Dearka could see, Yzak's group was fighting mobile suits that had come out of nowhere. It was likely the enemy machines had been hiding within the ruins, as Nicol suggested the "rouge group" could be doing. Dearka wanted to help his comrades, but his group was responsible for protecting the meteor breakers. If the breakers were damaged enough or destroyed, the mission would be a failure. Thus, protecting and deploying the breakers was a priority above stopping those that had appeared around the ruins. However, those attacking Yzak's group would shift their attention when the meteor breakers got closer to the ruins to strike them instead of the others.

Dearka was proven right when half the enemy GINNs broke off from the battle and headed for the breakers. He ordered half the escort group to move forward to defend the meteor breakers. The enemy couldn't be allowed to reach the breakers, nor could the breakers stop their advance to the ruins. Any delay in the breakers' deployment would only make it more likely the ruins would impact into Earth's surface and cause massive destruction and death. Things wouldn't end there if the ruins hit Earth, war would ensue, and the homeland would suffer as well. That was why the meteor breakers had to be placed and used to break apart the ruins, no matter the cost. Dearka knew the mission's success was more important than any lives lost in its accomplishment. Thus, Dearka instructed those still with the meteor breakers to keep them moving forward to their target locations. The rest of the escort would do everything in their power to protect the escort and breakers along the way.

Dearka led the defensive charge against the enemy mobile suits, which were High Maneuver Type II GINNs. And it was clear their opponents were veterans at piloting to Dearka. Their skills made them able to hold their own with mobile suits that should be at a minor disadvantage against ZAKUs. Even Dearka was hard-pressed to fight off the GINNs attacking the escort teams. But that begged the question, what would ZAFT veterans be doing around the ruins and likely set this all in motion? Dearka could only growl his frustration, "These guys are no green pilots, their experts!"

Nicol was hearing both Dearka and Yzak commenting about those who were attacking those working to deliver the meteor breakers. And the observations the two were making were confirmed to Nicol, the group who had initiated this whole event. Those involved were more than likely disgruntled soldiers that wanted revenge or something worse against Naturals. They weren't even considering ZAFT personnel on Earth which would suffer were the ruins to fall. Some of the enemy forces had already moved to assault the meteor breakers and their escorts. The task force only had a spare breaker, so losing more than one would mean the mission would fail. If that wasn't making things hard enough for ZAFT, the appearance of two Nazca and Laurasia classes appeared. They had been hiding close enough to the ruins they hadn't been detected when the task force had approached. Things needed to change quickly if the mission would have a chance to succeed.

If Nicol's wish was a command, the enemy GINNs were attacked from a different direction. A moment later, unknown mobile suits appeared on the battlefield. The machines looked similar to the Federation's current mass-production model though different equipment and coloration. Most of the machines were two shades of blue, but there were some that were tan and orange. Nicol assumed the mobile suits appeared where Federation forces stepped in to help ZAFT protect and deploy the meteor breakers. The Federation suits had a mixture of beam cannons and rifles to work with. The cannons looked to be connected to a backpack unit the machines had, and it reminded Nicol of the Freedom's plasma cannons. Nicol was grateful that the Federation was stepping in to help with the mission. It may be expected in this situation, but that didn't mitigate the help they were giving. The Federation was assisting ZAFT in order to protect Earth from the ruins striking it.

The ZAFT forces that were fighting those who had come from the ruins took notice of the new machines popping up as well. Dearka took in the newcomers, reinforcing the defenses around the meteor breakers. Fighting against the enemy GINNs had become easier with the help of the Federation suits showing up. They were pressing against the enemy GINNs on the defensive with the new models being used. There were two things that caught Dearka's attention with the Federation units. First was when the GINNs used their swords, they would cause sparks but do no more. It was the classic sign of phase shift armor which implied the Federation was equipping their mass-production models with the system. The second thing was the beam rifles the Federation machines had could be used as a long beam saber somehow. That the Federation had developed a means to make a beam rifle to both fire beams and project a saber was impressive.

Yzak also noticed the Federation mobile suits appearing on the field and going against the enemy GINNs. Normally, Yzak wasn't one to want to accept help from others. His honor would have him handle things himself to prove he could if anything else. However, years of service and practical experience had taught Yzak not to be picky with things got extremely tough. So, he held his tongue and accepted the help the Federation was providing the ZAFT task force. Getting the meteor breakers to the selected locations and deploying them was more important than Yzak's pride.

While the battle was going on, the Federation's first and third space fleets were positioning themselves. The third was setting up to be able to blast the ruins and break them down should ZAFT's meteor breakers fail. The first was moving toward the ruins to both search for the rouge group's carriers and inspect the propulsion units which had been moving the mass. If the engines could be disabled, then the ruins would have less momentum and would be simpler to break down in time. It had been clear during the approach that the ZAFT task force was being hindered, likely by the rouge group. Mobile suits had been sent out to assist ZAFT's task of escorting their meteor breakers to the ruins. It was ideal for the meteor breakers to split the ruins into smaller pieces and then break those pieces down further if needed. However, if the rouge group managed to damage enough of the meteor breakers, then the third fleet would be ready to take over the job of breaking down the ruins.

Nonetheless, while Nicol was grateful for the Federation's help in protecting the breakers and making sure they weren't slowed down, it wasn't enough. The ruins of Junius Seven were still moving toward Earth. And the engines attached to the ruins were steadily increasing the speed at which the mass was moving. Yzak had mentioned he'd sent some to look into the engines, but they hadn't been able to do much. The engines were set and couldn't be changed manually, which was likely by the design of the rouge group. Thus, the engines had to be destroyed to disable them and stop the ruins from gaining more momentum. The issue with the task was the rouge group and their ships were preventing any from getting close enough to the engines to try and attack. And with the time-sensitivity of the operation, the rouge group only had to distract those attempting to stop them, and they achieved their goals.

Meanwhile, the Normandy came into the outer range of the ongoing battle around the ruins. Tyler gazed at the tactical display showing the battlefield and didn't like what he saw. The Federation's First and Third Space Fleets were onsite and positioning themselves to be able to counter the group responsible for the ruins moving. One fleet was set up to be ready to blast the ruins should what ZAFT was attempting to do fail. The other fleet was working to help ZAFT fend off a rouge group fighting to stop ZAFT's meteor breakers. Given enough time, Tyler was sure those working against the rouge group would win the battle. The problem was time was on the side of the rouge group rather than those fighting them. The longer the battle took, the closer the ruins got to Earth. The closer it got to Earth, the more likely it would crash into Earth and cause mass devastation.

That event wasn't acceptable in any way for humanity as a whole beyond the factions. The group that had started this would be seen as radicals, regardless of what type they actually were. Tyler couldn't figure out what kind of motivation the group could have to even think about doing something like this. The victims' bodies of the Blood Valentine had been found, identified, and returned to their next of kin. The recovery project had done wonders in relieving the thirst for revenge as far as Tyler knew. And he was inclined to think the Bloody Valentine event had something to do with this group pushing the ruins to ram Earth. Yet, all that would do was put the PLANTs in danger again in the form of a war. Either the members of the group didn't realize that, or they didn't think it would come to that. The two possibilities were ridiculous as neither justified what they were doing. Nor would it change the point that they would cause another war should they succeed. Even if they didn't achieve their goal, the attempt could and likely would push enough to pursue a war that the damage was done.

After a couple of minutes, Tyler's mind was made up of what had to be done. He would launch out with the Normandy's pilots in the Justice. Sakura would no doubt be doing much the same as Tyler, which made Tyler glad Carlos had gotten the Athena onto the ship. That would have Lisa command the Normandy during the battle instead of Tyler. The standing had become a normal thing with them, even if it was unsaid. Tyler was the one who took charge on the field when the opportunity came up, while Lisa ran things on the ship. So, Tyler glanced at Lisa, "Do I need to ask you to take over here while I go out, or is that a given," he asked. "Things are looking dicey out there, and time isn't on our side." Lisa knew Tyler had a point with things being against them in the current circumstances. The ruins had to be dealt with quickly before it could do horrible damage to Earth. "I figured you would be going out to the field," Lisa replied. "Go ahead and head out, I'll handle things here on the Normandy."

Tyler left the bridge and headed for the pilot locker room as a red alert was declared. The Normandy would assist the First Fleet in dealing with the rouge group. There were still several things that could make the situation worse than it already was. Others could come and interfere with the attempt to stop the ruins from striking Earth, among other things. But that was a reason why the group had to be handled as quickly as possible. The Alliance could and likely would misunderstand the event and step in messing with things. That would only help those who started this by giving them more time to get the ruin closer to Earth. The Alliance would be foolish enough to see this as something against them or an opportunity to abuse.

Tyler arrived at the locker room, but before entering, the three other pilots came out and headed for the hangar. Tyler turned into the locker room and went to his locker, and quickly began stripping so he could put on his pilot suit. As Tyler was slipping into his suit the door to the room slid open and Sakura came in. He didn't pause to acknowledge Sakura entering; there wasn't the time to do that. There was so much at stake that wasting time was to be avoided like a plague. Sakura said nothing, instead going to a locker to find a pilot suit for herself. While the serious behavior was unusual to Tyler, he wasn't going to complain about it with circumstances as they were.

Sakura had been checking in with a contact she still had in ZAFT before the red alert had been announced. She'd wanted ZAFT's take on this situation, and what her contact had told her hadn't been encouraging. Sakura had been right that meteor breakers had been sent to break down the ruins. However, some of the information ZAFT had suggested the "rouge group" was likely made up of current or former ZAFT personnel. It did explain how the group could've gotten the propulsion equipment to move the ruins in the direction it was. Sakura had also been told that Nicol Amalfi was the one in charge of the operation. While the boy was young, his commanding skills were fair, better than others she could think of. Amalfi would know what needed to be done and a good way to get it done efficiently.

Sakura paused for a moment as she took off the Federation pilot suit from the locker she'd found to be around her size. Before now, she'd glimpsed Federation spacesuits at a reasonable distance but not handled or inspected one. Sakura expected things that ZAFT nor the Alliance would consider using. Working with the Federation had shown her they used their brains far more than the other two factions tended to. And not only did they think about their options and actions before moving forward, but they also looked ahead far more than others. She assumed the Federation's spacesuits would be no different in that respect than anything else. First glance over the suit showed it was bulkier than OMNI's or ZAFT's, though it wasn't easy to see from a distance. Sakura assumed the reason that was the case was the equipment the suit would have to work with. Sakura began stripping down as Tyler was adjusting his pilot suit.

Tyler adjusted his suit and glanced at Sakura. He ignored the woman who was stripping down to her undergarments. He was focused on what was ahead to do, as that took priority. "When you are suited up," Tyler began, "You will be taking the second Gundam beside the Justice. I doubt I need to say to look over what you will be working with since you will be launching out last." Tyler then left the locker room and headed for the hangar so he could check over the Justice.

Sakura returned to the pilot suit after her beloved left the room. She slipped into the suit and found there was, as she expected, more inside the suit than was seen from without. There was an internal framework inside that hugged her body snuggly. It adjusted to her womanly figure in seconds which was a tad surprising to her. The framework wasn't an odd thing to Sakura; most pilot suits had some to keep portions ridged. However, the Federation's suit framework dynamically adjusted with the wearer, which was unheard of as far as Sakura knew. Shifting frames would offer advantages that Sakura could see, protecting the wearer better than set frames. The equipment that was built into the suit only added to the suit's functionality. It made her wonder if the Federation was looking toward hostile environments, such as different planets.

It wouldn't be all that much of a surprise if the Federation were aiming to have their spacesuits usable for space exploration. If any of the factions were to travel to another planet, then Sakura would bet on the Federation. It was nothing against ZAFT; it was just that they were too focused on the present to think about a long-term goal such as space exploration. Sakura would like to think ZAFT would join in with the Federation's space exploration when that began, but she couldn't be sure at this time. Durandal seemed open to work with the Federation from his policies, but Sakura didn't put faith in that alone. Patrick Zala had started that way before he went down a dark path. So, she felt it was better to wait and see if Durandal was genuine in wanting the best for the homeland. He could be like others who said they wanted the best but were working for their own agenda.

Sakura adjusted her suit before zipping and fastening it shut and leaving the room. She headed for the Normandy's hangar and came into it and saw the first of the mass-production models being moved to the catapult airlocks. She glanced over to the two Gundams on the opposite side where the mass-production models were in docks. One of the Gundams was the X09A Justice, though she suspected the Federation had made some changes to it from what the design bureau had created. Sakura's attention shifted to the other Gundam type in the dock next to the Justice. It was around the same height as the Justice and appeared to have been somewhat influenced by OMNI's Gundam project. The machine was gray like essentially all Gundams were when their phase shift armor was not up. The unit did have a backpack section that wrapped around the shoulders of the Gundam. Parts on the backpack over the shoulders appeared to be some kind of targeting scopes from what Sakura could see. Also on the backpack were four cannons placed in pairs above and behind the head of the suit. Sakura assumed the Gundam she would be using would have some sort of flight mode to work with. Federation mobile suits pretty much always had an alternative mode to employ and hide the fact the machine was a mobile suit.

She moved forward toward the Gundam and took the pilot seat and pulled herself into it. The backpack of her pilot suit locked into the seat a moment after it touched. Sakura had the seat descend into the cockpit and then glanced around. The cockpit was not all that different than what a CGUE had. Most controls and displays were in the area she expected them to be. Sakura activated the OS and watched it come up with the "Gundam" startup message that was common. Once the system was up, she put in some commands to look things over. Sakura found the machine was called the HFS-Z151 Athena. The Gundam had a nuclear reactor for power, though it had several safety features for the reactor to make accidental detonation extremely unlikely. The machine did have phase shift armor and a stealth system to work with. There was also a system which gave an advantage in combat called the HiMAN.

Sakura moved onto the armaments she would get to work with for the Athena. Glancing over the weapons, Sakura could see this machine was good for swarming a group and hazardous against an individual enemy unit. With the combination of projectile guns, railguns, and beam weaponry, the Athena was a versatile Gundam. It had CIWS guns on both sides of the head, which had rounds effective against other Gundams. There were 75mm machine guns built into the underside of the forearms. And from what Sakura could see, the guns could match the assault rifles the GINNs would use normally. On the backpack, the cannon pairs had one 90mm railgun, and the other was a high-energy beam cannon. With the part that became the nose section for the flight mode, there was a pair of Vulcan guns to utilize. Lastly, of the fixed armaments, there were two missile pods on the wing sections that had eight projectiles each.

The other two offensive options the Athena had was a beam lance that was stored on the back hip skirt. The second was the two rifles it had to work with. One rifle was essentially a railgun that could fire rapid-fire shots. A rapid-fire railgun was a new idea to see practically employed. ZAFT had been trying to make something like it for a while but hadn't succeeded in making a rapid-fire rail gun for mobile suits or ships. For the Federation to have come up with a working idea was impressive. The other rifle was a high-energy beam rifle, much as OMNI's prototypes had used though it was a more efficient model rifle. Both rifles were usable while the Athena was in its suit mode and while flying. The Gundam would work well for Sakura; she would put it through its paces. She'd been amazing with a CGUE; all in ZAFT had said that many times. Sakura was confident she would do even better with the Gundam type.

At the same time, Tyler had entered the Justice's cockpit and strapped into the pilot chair. He then turned the operating system so he could glance it over. Tyler suspected Teswa could've done some minor upgrades to the Justice before putting it in storage. When the system booted up fully, Tyler did a general inspection, he found his assumption about changes had been correct. The Justice had been refitted to have phase shift type sigma, which was an advantage over the previous version. The turret and CIWS guns had been changed to use anti-phase shift rounds now as a standard. The final thing that had been "upgraded," from what Tyler could see, was the additional safety features that had been installed with the nuclear reactor. The reactor was now as safe as the Aurora's, which Tyler was grateful for.

Tyler finished up looking over the changes to the Justice when he was told it was the Justice's turn to head out. He acknowledged the message and felt himself begin moving to the airlock system. Tyler was focusing on the battle ahead of him. What he'd seen hadn't been good, and Tyler didn't expect a closer look would make the event look any better. Tyler was betting the standing goals were clear enough, yet achieving said goals would be anything but easy. Even knowing that wouldn't deter Tyler from going out and doing what he could to make a difference. Earth was at risk, and that wasn't okay with Tyler. He had friends and family on Earth that he wouldn't lose if there was anything he could do to prevent it. Should that require killing fools who were hell-bent on revenge, then Tyler would bring them down with little hesitation.

The Justice zoomed out from the Normandy, giving Tyler the first personal view of the battle ahead. There were two groups of ZAFT mobile suits locked in combat with one another. One side of that was larger, yet the other side appeared to be fighting harder. The larger ZAFT force was fighting around the ruins but also protecting objects they were moving toward the ruins. Tyler assumed the objects were the meteor breakers that Sakura had mentioned. From what Tyler had read, meteor breakers were designed to break up space rocks. They were essentially a drilling apparatus with a heavy explosive charge behind it. The device would drill down enough, and then the explosives would go off, ripping rock apart. The ripping force would cause fissures to form and "crack" the mass so it could break up more.

The breakers were almost over the ruins but had been slowed down in their progress. However, the smaller ZAFT group was using new model mobile suits to harass and hinder the meteor breakers. Federation forces were already working to help the breakers keep moving forward, but the smaller group was fighting desperately. The Federation mobile suits were a newer model, which Tyler had glimpsed specs for but hadn't seen himself. The new suits were kind of similar to the Excel Fighter, but he wouldn't doubt they can outperform them in a few ways. Plus, the majority of them had different equipment than the others, in the form of two high-energy beam cannons mounted on the backpack section. The machines were supposed to be mostly for special forces use within the Mobile Suit Core. They were designated as ZEL Defenders, as Tyler recalled from the specs he'd seen.

As Tyler began closing the distance between himself and the others from the Normandy, the Athena launched out. Sakura got her own view of the fighting going on around the ruins. ZAFT forces were fighting hard to protect the meteor breakers. Others were around the ruins, looking to be guarding specific spots, likely deployment sites for the breakers. The Federation was working to assist in the advancement of the breakers to their target sites. Yet, those fighting against them were battling hard and were showing some desperation. That told Sakura that those who wanted the ruins of Junius Seven to hit Earth understood what was being attempted by others. She pushed the throttle forward so she could catch up with the group from the Normandy that was heading for the battle.

At the same time, the Minerva was coming closer and closer to where a "serious incident" was unfolding. The Minerva had been pursuing Bogey One before the orders to head for the incident. The enemy vessel had taken the Minerva on an extended chase through the L4 colony cluster. It had lasted for close to two days before the enemy vessel reached the moon and headed for the Alliance's new lunar base. The Minerva had waited a short distance from the moon, communicating with ZAFT command for advice on proceeding forward. However, after a day, ZAFT's higher-ups had said an incident which had come up was to be given top priority and needed immediate attention. Shortly after receiving the new orders, Talia had gotten details about the incident, and she was horrified. The information said the ruins of Junius Seven had started moving toward Earth. At current travel speed, it would reach Earth in less than twenty-four hours. If it wasn't stopped, then the ruins would collide with Earth, and that wouldn't end well for anyone. The Alliance could and likely would use this event as an excuse to fuel hatred toward Coordinators and the PLANTs.

Talia had told Arthur about the information that came after the orders, and he was equally shocked and horrified by the event going on. Humanity was still recovering from the Alliance-PLANT War even after two years had passed since it was officially ended. And the note that potentially former or enlisted ZAFT soldiers could've been involved, and the instigators made the incident worse. If that were true, then it would give far more ammunition for the Alliance to blame ZAFT for this whole issue. All that ZAFT had been doing to help on Earth would be ignored, with the Alliance twisting things to wave that off as something other than help. The Minerva was resupplied along the way by other ZAFT vessels. Aves had been doing the needed repairs and said he and his teams would be done by the time the Minerva reached its destination.

When the Minerva came into view of the ruins, Talia could only gaze in serious concern at the battle going on ahead. ZAFT forces looked to be fighting one another, implying the information about those causing this being ZAFT personnel was true. Talia ordered Heim to see where the meteor breakers were and their status. The meteor breakers would be the best way to break the ruins down and stop them from striking Earth. The Federation was already onsite and helping those around the breakers. Their presence was understandable; they had as much, if not more, interest in this event's outcome. And the Federation's help would be invaluable in preventing disaster from happening to Earth.

Talia ordered all the Minerva's pilots to suit up and ready themselves to sortie out and help allied forces. They were to protect the meteor breakers and get them in place for deployment so this incident could be handled safely. Before Talia could focus back on the battle at hand, a message came to the bridge for her from Dems. When she got on her captain's phone, Dems told her he could go out and help along with the other three pilots. Talia was hesitant to let the man go out in a mobile suit with how he'd been injured inside Armory One. But Dems was insistent that he was up to going out and letting him head out in a mobile suit. With the situation as it was, Talia figured it was better to let Dems do as he wanted. She would apologize to Aila later if that was necessary. Talia was confident Aila would understand the stakes were high, and the Minerva needed what help it could get to work with.

Meanwhile, The Girty Lue had headed out from Arzachel after escaping its ZAFT pursuer. The resupply had been quick, but the repairs had taken a little longer. The ZAFT vessel had been annoyingly persistent with the chase; Neo would give them that. They had chased the Girty Lue for close to two straight days before the ship tore out of Lagrange 4, racing toward the moon. The ZAFT vessel had chased them until the Girty Lue reached the moon and headed straight for Arzachel. Only when the Girty Lue had gotten to the moon had the enemy ship stopped its close pursuit. Neo assumed the Girty Lue would be assigned a different mission after the repairs and resupply. Neo was fine with that as long as it didn't directly involve the Federation, for he wanted a break from dealing with them. Yet, the mission the Girty Lue had been given was a "priority investigation" to be started immediately. Apparently, a large mass had begun moving toward Earth recently. OMNI higher-ups were concerned about the mass getting closer to Earth and potentially striking it. There was also some "activity" building around the mass. Hence, the Girty Lue was being sent out with its speed to reach the area and see what was going on.

Along the way, Neo was reading over the information that OMNI had on the mass. He was caused pause when he realized the evidence said the mass was the ruins of Junius Seven. The last thing Neo had heard about the place was some sort of project had taken place around it a year or two ago. The project was to recover and identify the bodies around there. The idea was to help those who had lost loved ones have closure, which Neo could understand. The effort seemed a waste to him, but to each, their own was Neo's motto in things like that. However, for the ruins to be moving toward Earth made no sense logically that Neo could think of. The Debris Belt has its own version of gravity, or rather, its position gave it the perfect storm of conditions to hold what ended out there from leaving. Thus, something had to have pushed the ruins out of the Debris Belt and set it on its current course. That logic didn't explain the "activity" being reported building around the ruins.

Upon arriving at the place that the Girty Lue had been told to investigate, Neo and the crew viewed a most curious scene playing out in front of them. Neo found himself looking at what appeared to be ZAFT forces fighting one another. That point alone was confusing since ZAFT hadn't been inclined to fight amongst themselves lately. Federation forces also were fighting some of the ZAFT forces. Neo couldn't see much of a difference with the ZAFT forces in what they were doing. There were large objects that Neo didn't recognize around some of the ZAFT forces. Some even seemed to be defending the objects and moving them toward the ruins. The scene didn't make sense to Neo in a way to explain what exactly was going on. The big takeaway was a massive object that was heading toward Earth and would crash into it were it not stopped. Neo ordered the three mobile suits the Girty Lue still carried to launch out and shoot down ZAFT forces. As far as Neo could see, ZAFT was threatening Earth, and the Federation wasn't stopping them. Such was unacceptable to allow the Girty Lue to step up and do what they could to stop this event.

Things became more complicated with the bridge operator said the ZAFT vessel, which had been pursuing them around Lagrange 4 was a short distance away from the ship. The vessel had done much to bug and hinder the Girty Lue, not just with the mission it had originally been assigned, but it had dogmatically chased them afterward. A third chance to take down that ship was interesting and would be a plus which OMNI would applaud the ship and its crew for doing. There would be little to no debris that could be used to hide or shield themselves. The Gaia, the Chaos, and the Abyss headed out from the Girty Lue and zoomed towards the fighting that was lighting up space. While they did, the Girty Lue pointed its bow towards the Minerva and began firing its weapons at the ZAFT warship. This was an opportunity where the Girty Lue had a shot at sinking the Minerva, and the Federation wasn't around to interfere at the moment. The Federation seemed busy enough to not pay attention to the Girty Lue doing what it was.

Back with the lead ZAFT vessel, Nicol watched as some progress was made in the task ZAFT was here to do. With things moving as they were, the meteor breakers should be able to deploy in time to split the ruin before it gets to Earth. However, it would be closer than Nicol, and he wouldn't doubt others liked it. Nicol was then informed the Minerva had come into range of the battle. He'd heard of the new ship class that had been created at Armory One and seen a general spec file on it. The vessel was quite a battleship, definitely more powerful than the Nazca or Laurasia classes. Nicol suspected the ship was designed to match the Alliance's Archangel-class, but he couldn't be sure with the file he'd seen. Nicol wouldn't be against the Minerva helping with the current operation with the rouge group fighting as it was.

Nicol was about to tell his com-officer to open a channel to the Minerva, but the sensor operator spoke up again, saying there was another ship approaching. Nicol has the image brought up and enlarged so he could get a better look at the vessel. The ship looked to be longer in length than a Nazca-class but shorter than the Alliance's former "Archangel-class" by what Nicol could figure. Yet, there were several features that reminded Nicol of the Archangel the longer he took in the ship. From its linear catapults to the basic overall structure, it appeared quite similar to the Alliance's star ship from the war. Granted, it had four linear launching catapults, two on the top and two on the bottom, and more beam cannons than the Archangel, but that was among the few differences. Its bridge tower was around the same place, and Nicol knew that fact as he had gone for the Archangel's bridge tower a few times.

Nicol brought up ZAFT's ship registry to see if there was any record of this apparent Alliance vessel. The thermal pattern from the sensors quickly got the registry to return a file on the ship. The ship was identified as "Bogey One," which had attacked Armory One around a week ago. Nicol had read the general report written about what occurred at Armory One. What had happened had been nasty; he wouldn't deny that nor blame the officers who had been in charge of the response ZAFT made to it. The enemy group had blindsided ZAFT and had taken advantage of surprising the defenders. The incident could've been worse, many more dead than was already recorded. As a fellow officer, Nicol could sympathize with Talia Gladys for what she had been over; she'd done the best possible with the circumstances as they were during the attack.

The issue with Bogey One being here was it would more than likely interfere than assist in this operation. The Alliance wouldn't see ZAFT trying to stop the ruins from striking Earth. They would see ZAFT forces around the ruins and assume ZAFT was trying to send the ruins to slam into Earth. The rouge group's interference was making the operation hard enough to complete before Earth was in imminent danger. It would only make it more probable for the operation to fail if the Alliance stepped in and attacked everyone else. The Minerva was closer to Bogey One than the ships on-site right now, so they would be the best to stop the ship and its mobile weapons. Nicol told his comm officer to get the Minerva on the line immediately.

Talia had caught sight of Bogey One approaching the battle and wasn't happy seeing the vessel. It had likely been resupplied and repaired at the Alliance's lunar base, so it would be ready to go again. However, the Federation's beacon was still transmitting, so Alliance personnel hadn't discovered it while at the base. She doubted they were around the area to help ZAFT forces break down the ruins. The Alliance wasn't known for asking questions or listening to answers from others. They tended to make their own assumptions and run with those, even if they were completely wrong. Yet, her attention was diverted by Meyrin saying she was receiving a communication from the lead ZAFT Nazca. Talia told Meyrin to connect to the ship so she could see what they could tell her. Talia looked up to the comm screen and found the image of a young man coming up. She'd seen images of the young man since they were among those that had served with distinction in the war. The young man was also one of the youngest ZAFT mission commanders had ever had. Talia saluted, "Commander Amalfi, I hear you want to speak with me."

Nicol nodded, "Indeed, Captain Gladys," he replied. "While I don't doubt you have been given the general facts of the current operation and are here to help, I ask you to handle Bogey One first." Nicol paused for a moment, "We are managing the deployment of the meteor breakers with the Federation's help right now. But I fear should Bogey One get into range to interfere, they will hinder enough that the operation could fail. You have had experience against the enemy ship, so I hope you will have more success against it than we would." Nicol stopped again, considering sending help to assist the Minerva with fighting Bogey One. Doing so would take away from the meteor breaker's protectors and hinder the progress being made. And yet, if Nicol didn't, the Minerva could be overwhelmed, and then the ZAFT task force would be forced to deal with Bogey One instead. However, Nicol made his decision, "I will have two ships and some mobile suits try to move and help you deal with the enemy vessel. I can't promise it will be immediately, but they will do so as quickly as they are able."

Talia appreciated Commander Amalfi's candor with the operation. She couldn't imagine the burden he was under with the operation he was overseeing. Should it fail, Earth would go through a calamity that would be felt for years, if not decades. The Alliance would be quick to blame ZAFT and declare war upon the PLANTs. The attack on Armory One had been a horrible experience. Talia had learned lessons and had been forcibly humbled by being in charge of what had gone down. This operation would have harsher consequences if it went wrong. The offer of help to the Minerva was appreciated, more so as Talia understood it took away from those working on the operation. The only reason she imagined Commander Amalfi was offering it was the Federation was helping ZAFT break down the ruins. "The offer of help is kind of you, commander," Talia returned, "But focus on deploying the meteor breakers. The need to stop the ruins from hitting Earth is the priority in this operation. The PLANTs will suffer if we fail in this operation, so we must succeed whatever the cost."

Nicol would acknowledge one working toward the greater good, for it was a good quality which wasn't seen all that often. He would still try to find a way to get help to the Minerva, but he couldn't say how at the moment. If he could find a means to communicate with the Federation forces on-site, Nicol would ask them to help the Minerva. However, there wasn't a means to talk to them right now until they initiated the communication. "I know it is the priority, but II would rather the Minerva be potentially lost if it could be prevented, captain. I will still see if help can't be sent your way. For the moment, I will wish you the best of luck again with the enemy vessel since I hear it has our newly developed Gundams to use." Talia nodded, "Thank you for the thought, commander," she remarked. "We will do our best to stop them from interfering with the operation, I assure you."

The communication ended, and Nicol focused back on the battle going on. A single glance told him he couldn't really spare any ships or mobile suits right now. The rouge group's GINNs were keeping the task force and the Federation busy. It made Nicol think the rouge pilots were either former elite or special forces pilots in ZAFT. The enemy ships were also hindering the operation by blocking any ships set up to attack the engines effectively. It took all of the task force and the Federation to progress at the rate the operation was. Thus, Nicol's hands were tied at the moment, so he couldn't send help for the Minerva. He was even considering going out in a mobile suit himself and doing what he could to help. But he was needed on the lead Nazca to strategize and hand out orders to others.

Nonetheless, as Nicol was racking his brain, he spotted a small group of mobile suits approaching. Three were the current mass-production models the Federation used, but the other two were Gundams. One of them, Nicol recognized as a Federation Gundam employed during the war. The other was the Justice, though Nicol didn't think it was Athrun in the pilot seat. Athrun had messaged him a little over a day ago with his frustrations of not doing much. So, Nicol didn't think that had suddenly changed to have him back in the Justice, which according to Athrun had been put away in storage by the Federation. However, Nicol did know the comm code of the Justice since Athrun had told him what it was. The pilot could get a request to the Federation to help the Minerva. Nicol floated over to the comm station and input the Justice's comm code. "Justice, this is Commander Amalfi on the Vesalius," Nicol began, "Do you read me?"

Tyler had heard the beeping of his comm going off. But when he glanced down, he was kind of surprised that the Justice's unique comm code had been reached out to. He was curious who would have that code. As Athrun mentioned, he hadn't given it out to many. He opened the channel and listened to the greeting and was shocked to see Athrun's friend Nicol speaking. Nicol was a good person and had skills from what Tyler had seen but was also reasonable, which was not as common with officers as Tyler wished it was. "This is Captain McGregor, I read you, commander," Tyler replied. "I would hope you have a reason for reaching out to me with what is going on right now. There isn't time to waste, as I wouldn't doubt you are well aware of. So, forgive me for being blunt, but what do you want? Please, be quick about it as there is work needing to be done."

Nicol was both surprised and glad to hear the voice of Athrun's friend Tyler McGregor. The guy was extremely skilled and always seemed well-informed. If any knew of any in the Federation's forces here that could help the Minerva, it would be Tyler. Heck, he could help the Minerva well enough if he went with some with his piloting skills. "Indeed, things are not the best right now," Nicol acknowledged. "However, we have an Alliance vessel approaching, likely intending to interfere with the meteor breakers being deployed. I have a ship moving to intercept, but I fear they may not be able to stop them with what is on record for the enemy vessel. I was hoping that you could find someone in the Federation that could go and assist them. We in the ZAFT task force are all occupied with the operation and can't free ourselves to assist. If we slow the progress of the meteor breakers anymore, the chance of the ruin hitting Earth increases."

Tyler glanced to his left and saw things he wasn't pleased with the scene that met him. The Minerva was there, which Tyler could understand. The ship was fast, so ZAFT would've ordered them to come and help those working on stopping the ruins from colliding with Earth. However, along with the Minerva was the Alliance vessel which had attacked ZAFT's Armory One and the Milos outpost. Of all the ships the Alliance could send to investigate, Tyler cursed they had decided to choose to send that one. Granted, Tyler wasn't against another chance to take on the ship and make them quake in their boots/shoes. But the group was annoying, and Tyler had hoped he wouldn't have to deal with them for a time. Tyler could understand the request to assist the Minerva against the Girty Lue. Phantom Pain had an advantage with three Gundams compared with the one or two the Minerva could have to work with.

Tyler took a moment to consider the best thing to do to fulfill the request and came to a conclusion. Most should still go help around the ruins and get that mass to slow and stop it possible. So, the few that went to assist the Minerva had to make up for the lack of numbers with better skills to work with. Thus, Tyler felt if he and Sakura went to help the Minerva, they could push the Girty Lue and its machines back. "Yeah, I believe something could be arranged to help the Minerva," Tyler returned. "Just focus on getting your meteor breakers where they need to go and deployed." Tyler closed the channel with Nicol and connected one with his team, "Luke, you and the other two head to the ruins and help around there. Sakura and will be preventing Alliance interference from hindering this operation and screwing all on Earth over." Luke didn't question what Tyler was telling him. Tyler had always had a knack for knowing the best way to do things, including distributing work. So, his two comrades and he headed forward toward the ruins to assist their allies.

Tyler turned to Sakura so he could explain what they would be doing before they followed the others and helped around the ruins. "We have an Alliance vessel approaching to cause trouble, Sakura," Tyler began. "A ZAFT vessel is facing off with them, but we are being asked by ZAFT's mission commander to help that vessel out. I felt that you and I would be able to send the Alliance running and forgetting about what is going on here. If it motivates you, then the Alliance vessel is the same one that attacked a ZAFT colony and apparently killed quite a number of people in the process. But we will be fighting three Gundams, and I'm confident that we can whip them. Any other questions before we dive into the fight?" Sakura wasn't against helping a ZAFT vessel, even when she was technically working with the Federation now. That the opponents would be Gundams meant it wouldn't be boring, which she wouldn't say no to. She didn't have questions about the fight ahead; she would judge the enemy pilots while fighting them. "No questions let's get to the fight," Sakura replied. The Justice and Athena turned toward the Minerva and Girty Lue. They activated their stealth systems disappearing from sight as they began closing the distance.

At the same time, the Minerva began sending out its mobile suits. Shinn had chosen to go with the Force Silhouette for the Impulse in this battle. Rey was out in his ZAKU Phantom while Luna had her ZAKU equipped with its gunner wizard. The three began moving forward before the Osiris shot out of the Minerva. Luna glanced back and wondered who was in the Osiris since Aila was still in the infirmary as far as she knew. Yes, there was Dems, but he was supposed to be recovering, according to rumor. Her question was answered when a voice came over the comm, "Hope you kids are up to this fight," Matt opened, "Cause I highly doubt they will be taking it easy on us. Not after the lengths we went to pursue them." Luna wasn't pleased to hear Dems voice; she hadn't liked the guy but had kept her peace. "And what are you doing giving out what sounds like orders?"

Matt had noticed the redhead had taken issue with him for some reason. He had made an attempt to settle whatever the problem was, but the girl hadn't taken that approach well at all. Yet now wasn't the time to let personal arguments take the forefront. There was a battle with the stolen Gundam coming at them at breakneck speeds. Matt was the team lead as the lead Gundam pilot. He had more combat experience than the three he was working with. They needed to work together to have a chance at beating the enemy Gundams. "This isn't the time to argue over authority, Hawke," Matt replied. "As the senior Gundam pilot, the position of team lead falls to me. Put aside any disagreement you may have right now and focus on the fight ahead. We need to work together to succeed against the enemy Gundams. If we are arguing with one another, they will be able to divide and defeat us."

Luna knew Dems had a point on needing to work together against the stolen machines. She may not like him and would be asking Aila more about him later, but that had to wait. So, she acknowledged the point and said nothing else, focusing forward on the approaching Gundams.

The clash of the mobile suits came quickly. The Osiris went after the Chaos while the Impulse chased after the Abyss. That left Rey and Luna the Gaia, which they tried to get on either side of so they could attack. It didn't take long for the Alliance-controlled Gundams to begin pushing for an advantage over their opponents.

As Tyler and Sakura came into range of the fight that had started, they were taking it in. Tyler saw the Alliance was slowly gaining the advantage in the fight. It was two versus three Gundams, and the three were winning. There was no sign of the mobile armor yet, which was a tad disappointing to Tyler. He wanted to mess with a tin can pilot again, but he would resist the urge to draw them out. If the armor pilot appeared, then Tyler could have some fun with them, but if not, it wouldn't be a chip off Tyler's shoulder. The enemy Gundams would be a "simple" thing to deal with. It was due to a flaw that Tyler had noticed with the Alliance's Enhanced Human Project candidates. They were trained to have a narrow and unbreakable focus on the goal they were given to achieve. The issue with that mentality was if they went against someone that knew how to take advantage of that narrow focus, they were thrown off and their performance fell. Tyler happened to be one of those kinds of people that knew how to get around and use that narrow focus against them.

Tyler picked his target, which was the black and red machine which was supposed to be designated as the "Gaia." Tyler shifted the Justice's shield to be in front so he could ram the enemy suit. And Tyler was satisfied when he slammed into the Gaia, sending it flying a distance away from him. He also switched off the Justice's stealth system after ramming the enemy Gundam as he saw no more reason to hide. Tyler did spot the Athena appearing after shooting the Abyss with its railguns. He was confident that he and Sakura could whip these enemy Gundams efficiently before going and helping with the ruins.

Rey and Luna were caught off guard and were shocked that the Gaia seemed to be hit by something and went flying. There had been nothing seen approaching or detected by sensors to say a machine was coming at them. Then for a crimson Gundam to appear out of nowhere got them to move back slightly. Shinn was similarly shocked when the Abyss was struck and a blue and while Gundam became visible a moment later. He figured it was a Federation Gundam as they were the only ones that had the Federation's stealth technology which could mask a machine from all forms of detection. With Federation forces here to help, Shinn felt those from the Minerva had a much better chance of fending off Bogey One and the stolen Gundams without losing people in exchange.

On the Minerva's bridge, the appearance of other mobile suits which were helping was a welcome sight. Talia didn't know if Commander Amalfi was somehow responsible for the backup, but if he was, she would be personally thanking him after this operation. She hadn't been happy with the odds the Minerva and its mobile suits were facing. It was four mobile suits, two of them being Gundams facing off against three Gundams. Those odds weren't good as it would have an advantage leaning toward the three enemy Gundams. However, with two other Gundams popping up to reinforce the Minerva, that advantage changed back to their side rather than the enemy's. Their sudden appearance made Talia suspect they were Federation machines, but at this point, Talia wasn't going to complain about where help came from. What was shocking, though, was when Meyrin reported that one of the two machines that had appeared was the X09A Justice. The prototype nuclear-powered Gundam had vanished after the war, as far as Talia knew. There had been attempts to find it, but there had been no success that she'd heard. For it to suddenly pop up now was odd, with no investigation coming back with even a hint of the Gundam. That it hadn't been detected earlier suggested it could have a Federation stealth system equipped now. The idea only made Talia wonder if the Federation had added more to the Gundam. If they had, there was little chance ZAFT would get the Gundam back.

The Justice moved forward after the Gaia, not intending to let up on the machine. Sting hadn't missed the sudden appearance of two more enemy Gundams. And the two newcomers were clearly different than the four they had been fighting against already. Sting managed to fend off the Osiris before he went after the crimson Gundam that was going against Stella. Tyler noticed the movement, and when he glanced back, he found the Chaos coming his way. Tyler had the Fatum-00 detached from the Justice and flew at the Chaos with its Cervus and Volucris guns blazing. Sting was forced to come to a halt and put his shield in front to block the incoming weapon fire. The "glider" or whatever the flight system the enemy unit had deployed fired off its beam cannons at the Chaos which Sting intercepted with his shield. Sting did note that the projectiles were sapping the Chaos's power more than they should, much as the red Gundam from before had. That meant the enemy had the "magic bullets," as Auel and Stella had termed the idea which made the phase shift armor drain the suit's power faster.

With the Chaos busy, Tyler focused on the Gaia but having his CIWS guns pepper the enemy unit. At the same time, he took out the beam boomerangs and threw them in an arc that would pass the Gaia and hit it on the return journey. With the narrow focus the teen pilot would have, they wouldn't notice the boomerangs until it was far too late. Shortly after the boomerangs were sent on their way, Tyler grabbed his beam rifle and began firing at the Gaia. It was more a distraction than an attack on the machine. However, it would keep focus on him, and that's what Tyler wanted from the pilot. If or when the pilot panicked, they would begin to make mistakes, and that was what Tyler would take advantage of.

Neo hadn't liked the appearance of the two unknown Gundams, not one bit. That canceled out the advantage they had going into this fight. So, he decided to head out in his mobile armor and see what he could do to flip the tables for them. By the time he got out to the battlefield, things weren't looking good. The Gaia was facing off against the crimson Gundam which was holding its attention. The Chaos was being kept busy by a piece the crimson machine had detached and the gold Gundam. The Abyss was dealing with the ZAFT Gundam and the other unknown. The other two ZAFT suits were working on the Windams that had been sent out with the teens. The five vs four the Girty Lue had started with had changed to six vs five, with the enemy having the advantage. Thus, Neo zoomed toward the fighting so he could get things back on track.

Nevertheless, when he got into range, he could see Stella was doing poorly. The crimson Gundam had thrown her off-kilter and was keeping her attention on them. Yet, the enemy Gundam had deployed weapons that looked to be some sort of beam boomerangs from what Neo could see. The issue was Stella was so focused on the enemy unit that she hadn't noticed the boomerangs circling around and coming back toward her. But before he could say anything to Stella, there was a beeping which drew his attention. A message had appeared in his display which stated as follows:

"Well, well, our paths cross again, tin can pilot. Fate seems to have something against you if it keeps pitting us against one another, wouldn't you agree? I hope you don't think things will be all that different than the last time, for they won't be. The pilots you have to work with are so focused on the goal they're given that they can't see when another can take advantage of that. But don't take my word for it; just watch the black one prove it."

Neo glanced up at the crimson Gundam and found it was glancing his way. The message told Neo he was going against the same pilot of the red Gundam from Armory One. He'd underestimated them and had paid a high price for it back then. Neo had fallen for their toying with him, but he wouldn't this time. With the Federation pilot here, the chances of winning this battle went down significantly. So, Neo got on a channel with the Gaia, "Stella, look out behind you," he shouted as the boomerangs zoomed toward her. Stella heard Neo's voice which snapped her out of the focus she had on the crimson Gundam. She turned and saw two objects flying at her, and Stella started moving the Gaia to evade. The first boomerang missed by a thin margin. However, the other boomerang clipped the Gaia's left shoulder and the left back beam assault cannon.

Neo moved into position to attack the Justice, but the Fatum-00 had come back around and fired its beam cannons at the armor. Tyler took the time, when the enemy was off balance, to have the Fatum reconnect to the Justice and face the mobile armor. He wouldn't say no to the opportunity to toy with the Phantom Pain pilot. Neo managed to point his armor at the Justice and fire his twin linear guns at the machine. The Justice dodged the bolts and engaged its stealth system. Neo cursed the enemy using their stealth system, which made fighting them so unfair and hazardous. A moment later, Neo's armor shook, and when he glanced up, he found the crimson suit had gotten on top of him. There was another beeping, and yet another message popped up on Neo's display.

"Now that I've proven my point to you, let us get down to business, shall we? It would be wise of you to have your ship fire off a retreat signal and call back the three Gundams and the other mobile suits. You have no doubt figured your chances to be low when it comes to winning. So, cut your losses and leave, or else things will not go well for you. I would elaborate on what that means, but if you can't guess, I'll let things play out, and you'll just find out for yourself."

Neo didn't like the implications implied in the message. True, he had already calculated the chances of winning the battle as waning with the two new Gundams. However, with the enemy on him, they had better control of the situation than Neo had, and he didn't like that at all. It could and likely would make him a target for the teens. That was what Neo took from the message; his opponent could use him as a shield for incoming attacks. And there was little he could do about the point with the Justice on top of him. That didn't stop Neo from rolling in the attempt to get the enemy Gundam off. But his barrel roll did nothing as the Justice didn't let go and maintained its contact with the Exus.

At the same time, Sakura was playing around with the Abyss. The machine itself wasn't that bad for a Gundam, it was interesting and had merit for its design and construction. However, the pilot using it was wasting its potential and squandering its abilities. It wasn't a new thing for Sakura to see pilots not fully utilizing the mobile suit they used. Such annoyed Sakura when she saw it, for it reflected badly on the pilot and those who chose them for the machine. They were no match for Sakura, even if she were using a non-Gundam machine to fight. She didn't have to use the Athena's full capabilities to go against the Abyss. It was disappointing as she'd hoped the Alliance pilot would be able to hold their own for a little bit. Yet, Sakura's attention was shifted when the Chaos zoomed over and began attacking. The Chaos put up more of a fight than the Abyss, in Sakura's opinion. At least the pilot used more of the Gundam's offensive options than the Abyss's pilot had been.

Stella managed to right the Gaia after a minute and began to search for the crimson suit. She was angry that it had made a fool of her. To get a hit in on her was embarrassing, and she wouldn't let that stand without getting back at them more. Stella soon spotted the enemy machine around Neo's armor. That further infuriated her as it was doing who knew what to Neo, and she wouldn't let him get hurt. She aimed her beam rifle at the Justice and fired off a bolt. Tyler saw the bolt and forced the mobile armor to be moved into the receiving position. Neo realized what the enemy pilot was doing and had one of his gunbarrels ignite its thruster and shoot off from its spar. The gunbarrel ended out being pierced by the bolt and exploded. Tyler would applaud the desperate move made by the tin can pilot. The sacrifice of the gunbarrel was a good move as it saved the pilot's life. However, that trick could only be pulled three more times before they ran out of gunbarrels to sacrifice. So, Tyler got down to sending a more pointed message to the tin can pilot so they understood they were not being wise in what they were doing.

Neo was taking calming breaths with the near miss he'd just had. If he hadn't sacrificed the gunbarrel, he'd likely be dead right now. It made it clear that the Federation pilot meant to use him as a means to end the fight. If he didn't tell the teens to stop and fall back, his life would be on the line. And yet, before he could come up with a way to tell the teens to fall back, there was another beeping signaling a message.

"I believe we have established what will happen should you not do as I suggested, tin can pilot. You managed to get out of the first shot sent in our direction, and I'll applaud the tactic. But it won't work for much longer and you know that with the three gunbarrels you have left. So, put aside your pride and be smart for once. Have your Gundams retreat, or I will start making sure you take shots aimed at me. What will it be, tin can pilot?"

Neo didn't doubt this Federation pilot would resort to holding him in place to receive the shots aimed at them. They had proven they would do what they said in the last encounter. The issue was Stella and Auel might not listen to a retreat order. The two were out to prove themselves and get a chance to fight. Sting would try to get them to retreat, but that would still take time which Neo may not have. Thus, Neo reached out to Ian and told him to fire the retreat signal as the battle had been decided enough.

Stella had stopped for a moment when she saw the enemy Gundam move Neo's armor into the line of her rifle's bolt. If the enemy machine was willing to use Neo as a shield, just shooting them wouldn't work. Yet, before she could come up with a different strategy, she spotted the signal flares. Stella wasn't the only one to see the flares, Sting and Auel saw them too. Sting knew it meant the battle was effectively over and they needed to head back to the ship. The appearance of the two other Gundams had sealed the outcome, and it hadn't been in their favor, simple as that. Auel, on the other hand, wasn't going to let this end with them not achieve something. He focused on the crimson Gundam as it seemed to have caused the change. The blue and white one had gone after Sting leaving the ZAFT Gundam fighting the Abyss. Auel used his beam cannons to force the Impulse back and then faced the Justice. He wouldn't let this battle end with nothing to show for it. He could take out one of the enemies before returning to the Girty Lue.

Tyler notices the Abyss facing in his direction in a non-friendly way. He assumed the pilot wasn't willing to let the battle go without being forced to. Tyler evaded the beams sent his way and began closing the distance between himself and the enemy Gundam. He set the Justice's shield in front to block beams as they kept coming. When the Abyss fired its multi-phase cannon, Tyler intercepted it with his shield. He had the Justice put on a burst of speed to close the rest of the distance. At point-blank range, Tyler thrusted the Justice's shield forward against the Abyss's torso. He did this to disable the enemy's beam emitter as the heat and energy would more than likely fuse circuits the cannon needed. The effect was near immediate, the weapon gave off a short but hard bang and ceased firing. Auel had thought he'd nailed the enemy Gundam with his multi-phase cannon. But the enemy had used their shield to intercept. And yet, they shot forward and shoved their shield against the Abyss's torso. There had been a bang and then an alarm had started going off inside the Abyss's cockpit. Auel looked around angrily and found the multi-phase beam cannon had taken damage. It was now shorting out and would not be able to fire the beam until repairs were done. His enemy had managed to disable a weapon of his which was an embarrassment for Auel.

The Justice pulled back a bit and Tyler noticed the shield had taken damage from the maneuver. Forcing the beam back to its emitter had warped the shield somewhat. The anti-beam coating had lost some of its effectiveness Tyler didn't doubt. The shield would still block beams but each it did would further compromise the shield's integrity. However, upon looking ahead, Tyler noticed the Abyss had not only taken moderate damage to the multi-phase beam cannon emitter, but a portion of the torso had taken a beating in the exchange. Then the energy arcing around the beam cannon said that the multi-phase beam cannon was out of commission for the time being and Tyler would take that. Plus, he could only assume him being targeted and in danger would set Sakura off. Thus, this teen pilot was in for a world of hurt and it would be as harsh as anything Tyler could do to them. And Tyler wasn't disappointed in his expectations with Sakura as the Athena shot forward slammed its left foot into the Abyss's left side.

Sakura wasn't going to let an enemy machine attack her beloved and not face serious consequences. She would make this pilot fear for their life before the lesson she would give them was done. Tyler had already disabled its most powerful beam weapon with the Justice's shield. The tactic was one Sakura would applaud as a smart one since it was unorthodox and yet very effective. That didn't change the point of Sakura making the enemy Gundam pay for their attempt to kill her beloved. So, Sakura followed up the kick she gave the Abyss by swinging around and bang her railgun rifle against the Abyss's back and pulled the trigger.

Auel was whipped forward as the Abyss was hit with the round from the other enemy Gundam's rifle. He hadn't seen the white and blue Gundam coming at him, he'd been focused on the Justice. Auel was even angrier than before with the other interfering with his attempt to achieve something from this battle. So, he whipped around and brought his 3-barreled beam cannons to bear and fired at the Athena. Sakura evaded the beams sent her way and moved forward to make the fight a close-quarters one. Most of the Abyss's weapons would be far less effective at close range. There was only its lance and CIWS guns would be all that effective against the Athena that wouldn't potentially cause damage to the Abyss. The Athena on the other hand, had a beam saber, a lance, and machine guns to work with in close range.

Auel found the enemy Gundam had closed the distance between them by the time he was facing forward. That would make most of the Abyss's weapons useless unless he wanted to do harm to himself. It wasn't worth doing damage to the Abyss in order to do damage to the enemy Gundam. Instead, Auel took out his lance so he could slash up the enemy Gundam and be done with its annoying interference. However, his swing was stopped by the Athena catching the lance's pole. Auel tried to push forward but to no avail, he even tried to move the lance to the left and right, yet no differing result. He fired his CIWS guns, but they didn't do any notable damage with the Athena's phase shift armor up.

Sakura wasn't going to give an inch to this foolish pilot the Alliance had found who knows where. The CIWS guns did nothing to help the enemy as the Athena's phase shift blocked the incoming fire. She intended to take the enemy Gundam's lance and use it against them. It was part of her "style" she was known for, taking an enemy's weapon and using it against them. Sakura saw no reason to change the tactic with Gundams. If anything, it was a more valid strategy with them as Gundams had better weapons to work with than mass-production models did. Her opponent attempted to push forward with the intent to overpower her, but that wouldn't work. The Athena was more powerful than the ZAFT Gundam and so wouldn't be overcome by sheer force. Sakura let her opponent struggle for a moment before she shook the lance hard. She then grasped it with both hands and began shaking and spinning the enemy Gundam. Sakura was going to get the pilot to let go of the lance, regardless of how they fought her motions.

Auel was hanging on to his lance as his enemy was shaking and spinning. They wanted him to give up his lance, but he wouldn't do that. He would use the lance to stab and slash them up to beat them before returning to the Girty Lue. However, it was quickly becoming harder to keep a firm grip on the Abyss's lance. That frustrated Auel as his enemy was slowly but surely overcoming him with their power. He was determined to achieve something to prove he could do a task given to him.

At the same time, Sting was heading back toward the Girty Lue after the retreat signal had been seen. He had caught sight of the Gaia making its way back to the ship as well. However, it was a long moment before Sting noticed the Abyss wasn't close by them heading for the Girty Lue. When he glanced back, Sting was not pleased to see Auel was fighting the two who had popped up. The crimson Gundam had blocked and disabled the Abyss's multi-phase beam cannon with its shield. That alone was impressive as Sting wouldn't have thought of using a shield in that manner. The enemy Gundam had likely paid a price for the move, but not as much as Auel had. Then the other enemy Gundam rushed the Abyss and within a moment taken control of the fight. Sting had the Chaos come to a stop and turn as the Abyss was swinging its lance at their opponent. He headed toward Auel as the blue and white machine began shaking and spinning the Abyss around. While Sting would admit Auel could be a pain to work with, he didn't deserve to die.

Sakura continued to shake and spin the Abyss with its lance, and she kind of respected the tenacity the pilot was showing. Most would've let go of the weapon and backed off by this point with what Sakura had been doing. That didn't change Sakura fully intent on taking the lance and using against the Gundam. As she was still working to get the Abyss to release its lance, Tyler noticed the Chaos approaching. He felt Sakura would be able to handle two Gundams at once, but there was no need for her to do that. Tyler could intercept and delay the Chaos from trying to help its companion. He moved to be in the path of the Chaos taking out his beam rifle and pointed at his opponent. Sting saw the crimson Gundam moving to be in the way between him and the Abyss. He was forced to dodge as the enemy machine shot off a bolt at him. The longer that the enemy Gundam could keep Sting from getting to Abyss, the worse things would be for the Auel. Sting deployed his weapon pods to try and get the enemy Gundam to move out of the way.

Sakura did a hard spin and managed to get the Abyss to let go of its lance. It had taken a minute or two, but now she had the lance to work with and she intended to use it. Sakura took out the Athena's beam lance and spun around both weapons before igniting them. Auel came to a stop and glared at the blue and white Gundam who now had his lance. He surged forward to get his lance back using his 3-barreled beam cannons. Sakura evaded the beam and thrusted the lances forward and stabbed the Abyss's shoulder binders. Auel cursed his opponent using his own lance against him.

Sting witnessed the Abyss lose its lance and then it be used against it a moment later. The enemy Gundam was clearly skilled and would kill Auel if he didn't fall back and retreat. So, Sting fired his multi-phase beam cannon to get the Justice to back off before surging forward. He recalled the weapon pods along the way and shifted the Chaos into its mobile armor mode. Sting would drag the Abyss back to the Girty Lue regardless of what complaints and curses came from Auel. Sting would explain to him later how he was saving his life from an opponent that was going to kill him. He fired his beam rifle to force the Athena to dodge and back up a bit. Sting then rushed forward and used his beam claws to clutch the Abyss before swinging around to head back toward the Girty Lue.

Auel twisted around and found the Chaos had him in his grasp and that they were heading back toward the ship. He wasn't happy that Sting had come and was dragging him back to the Girty Lue. His "teammate" had interrupted Auel's fight as he was about to turn it around. "Sting," Auel snarled, "Why did you butt in?! I was about to flip things around and own that blue and white machine and you ruined it." Sting knew Auel wouldn't be in the mood to see things logically. He'd saved Auel from being killed by his opponent. The blue and white Gundam was stronger and had a more skilled pilot, that had been obvious. It wouldn't be until Auel calmed down that he would be willing to listen to reason. So, Sting exhaled in response, "You can claim you were about to turn the tables all you want, Auel. But the truth is you were getting owned and would've been killed if I hadn't stepped in and bailed you out. The retreat signal was deployed, so we needed to return to the ship. We will get another chance later to show we can take down opponents." Auel wouldn't accept Sting's response, but there was nothing he could do to get the Abyss out of the Chaos's hold.

Tyler watched as the two final Gundams headed back toward the Alliance vessel. While the teen pilots had the expected quirks of being focused on the task they had been given, the three had individual problems. The Abyss's pilot was beyond dogmatically persistent, and it was to their detriment. The Chaos's pilot was clearly the leader of the trio as they seemed the best at seeing what needed to happen. Sakura had whipped the Abyss in wonderful fashion, Tyler wouldn't deny that. She had even gained a lance weapon in the process and had used it against its original owner. It was somewhat the style Sakura was known for, using her opponent's weapons against them. The lance could be inspected later by Federation scientists to see ZAFT's development path, but that wasn't Tyler decision to make. Tyler turned his attention to the battle still going on around the ruins. It looked to be the same as he'd seen with a glance before. There was still work to be done to prevent the ruin crashing into Earth. So, Tyler had the Justice begin to head in the direction of the ruins. Sakura noticed Tyler moving back toward the ruins, and she stored his beam lance and kept ahold of the new lance she had acquired and followed the Justice.

For the pilots from the Minerva, having seen the two "whip" the three stolen Gundams had been unreal. They had been having some trouble with the three Gundams and the two Windams that were with them. While the Minerva's pilots had handled the Windams, the three Gundams had been mostly dealt with by the two unknown Gundams that had popped up. The Impulse and Osiris had done some of the work of distracting the enemy Gundams, but they hadn't forced them back. Shinn had recognized the crimson Gundam as the Justice which had fought the Alliance around Orb during the war. Matt had been impressed by the performance of the two new Gundams that had appeared. The two had been powerful, but their pilots were clearly skilled and made the Gundams even more effective in combat. However, the blue and white one had concerned him after some observation. It had reminded Matt of a pilot he'd seen before and had scared the crap out of him.

Matt hoped he was wrong in thinking the Gundam could've been piloted by the Black Zephyr. The woman was supposed to have retired a year or two ago by what rumors he'd heard. He didn't quite believe one of the best pilots ZAFT had would just suddenly "retire" and then vanish just for the hell of it. But if the blue and white Gundam was being piloted by the Black Zephyr as Matt suspected, he couldn't begin to guess what the woman would be doing around here. The fighting style had been a near match for what the Black Zephyr was known for. Stealing another's weapon was a classic expectation of the Zephyr before using it against them. If the woman was around for the ongoing operation, then one could almost feel sorry for those that caused the issue. The Zephyr would show them no mercy, nor even hear their pleas/justification they may say.

Matt shook his head and focused on the task at hand, which was to assist with the operation to break down the ruins before it got into the range of Earth. Bogey One was no longer an immediate issue, so the Minerva and its mobile suits should help their allies. Time wasn't on the side of those trying to stop the ruins of Junius Seven, but rather on those who instigated it. Thus, Matt opened a channel to the other three on the team, "Bogey One is not the immediate concern now," he stated, "Let's head to help our allies around the ruins."

Luna didn't like being told what to do by Dems. Besides, Bogey One was running, the Minerva could push forward and take care of the ship and the stolen machines once and for all. They had spent close to two days working toward that goal before Bogey One reached the moon. The enemy vessel had caused a great deal of trouble and should be handled before it did potentially more. "Bogey One is running," Luna started, "We can take them down once and for all. Those working to deploy the meteor breakers are supposed to be making fair progress with their task. They'll manage to break down the ruins in time and so don't need our help to finish the job. We shouldn't miss the chance to take care of Bogey One."

Shinn listened to Luna and what she was saying. He didn't disagree that Bogey One was a threat that should be handled as soon as possible. However, the ruins moving toward Earth couldn't be waved off. If the ruins did strike Earth without being broken down by a good margin, the consequences would be catastrophic. Not only would those on Earth suffer from something like the ruins slamming into the planet, but the PLANTs would also be blamed for it by the Alliance. They would use the event to declare war and cry for retribution and the cycle of war would resume like it had been during the Alliance-PLANT War. Breaking down the ruins of Junius Seven was a priority that had to be done above all else right now. "Lunamaria," Shinn began, "handling the ruins is more important than any else right now. If that gets close enough to Earth, then even breaking it down won't be enough to prevent harmful effects done to Earth."

Luna was going to wave off what Shinn was saying since those working on breaking down the ruins was already in progress. Their allies would manage to break down the mass before it got to Earth in time. The Minerva assisting would do little to speed that along. Instead, they could handle Bogey One and have that issue finished. However, the argument was cut short when Dems spoke again, "The operation is classified as top priority by higher-ups, Hawke," Matt stated firmly. "That should be enough of a reason for you to do as you're ordered." Luna couldn't argue with what Dems had stated. Priority orders were expected to be seen to before other things per ZAFT protocol. She may disagree with the priority the operation was being given, but the orders still stood. So, she muttered she understood and wouldn't argue any more about the operation. The four suits from the Minerva took up formation a short distance behind the Justice and the Athena.

Talia had the Minerva begin making its way closer to the ruins and the battle going on around it. And the closer the ship and its mobile suits got, the worse the battle appeared. Seeing things close up, Talia could see there was some confusion with the flow of the battle. It appeared that new model GINNs were attacking the members of the ZAFT task force. Parts of the report from ZAFT intelligence had mentioned disaffected ZAFT soldiers could be responsible. She hadn't wanted to believe the possibility that had been suggested. ZAFT soldiers initiating the event which had the ruins of Junius Seven heading for Earth was horrible. It would lend credence to the claims of some within the Alliance and OMNI.

The odd thing about this whole event was it being done after the "Junius Seven recovery project." The project had been a momentous undertaking from what Talia had heard. Finding and identifying all the victims left floating among the ruins had been thought of as a waste of time and nigh impossible. And yet, a coalition of the Federation, ZAFT, and a group from the Alliance had made the project possible. The results of the project had relieved much of the anger and hatred the Bloody Valentine had produced. Because of that, Talia would've thought soldiers wouldn't be "disaffected" as their lost family had been returned to them. However, it seemed with things as they stood, that wasn't the case. What was sadder still, those causing this didn't seem to understand they were on the path to cause something worse than the Bloody Valentine. Or else they didn't care about what suffering they would cause, blinded by their hatred of others.

Tyler was focusing ahead on the battle that was still going on. Devices that Tyler assumed were ZAFT's meteor breakers were being moved to the ruins. The GINNs which were causing trouble were trying to stop the devices moving to the ruins. However, other ZAFT mobile suits and Federation machines were keeping the GINNs away from the breakers. Yet, the GINNs were slowing down the movement of the breakers to the ruins. Tyler did spot one of the devices reach the surface of the ruins. One of the suits did something with controls on the device before the core section drilled down into the rock, burying it beneath the surface. There were also some of the Federation forces working on the large engine buried in the ruins. A few of the GINNs were working to stop those working on disabling the engines.

Overall, the GINNs were clearly the instigators of the ruins moving into a collision course with Earth. There were two Nazca and Laurasia classes looking to be assisting the GINNs. But it was clear to Tyler the pilots of the GINNs were experts. They likely were veterans or elites former or active within ZAFT. With them being skilled would complicate things and explain why they hadn't been dispatched already by those around the ruins. In the end it didn't matter if they were in ZAFT or not, it just meant Tyler would have to be serious when fighting them. If he could find the leader of the rouge group, then things could end quicker. A group without a leader tended to fall into chaos and were less effective in combat.

Tyler hadn't missed the four mobile suits behind Sakura and him. There were the two Gundams which Tyler figured belonged to the Minerva that was a distance behind them. One of the Gundams was the blue and white one Tyler had seen before around ZAFT's colony that Phantom Pain attacked. From the glances Tyler had gotten back at the time, the pilot was kind of a newbie by his observations. The other Gundam was a gold one which Athrun had described to him during their last catchup session. The two plus the three stolen Gundams Phantom Pain was using gave Tyler a view into ZAFT's development. From Athrun's account, it sounded like ZAFT was trying to copy the Federation's transformation capabilities. Not that Tyler was surprised about that, the idea had been an advantage for the Federation.

Tyler returned his attention back to the battle and locked in the nearest GINN as he targeted it. He took out his beam rifle and aimed for one of the thrusters. If the GINN lost its thrusters, it would lose its mobility advantage. Tyler would show these rouge pilots they were over their heads. Their GINNs would lose to a Gundam especially one piloted by one like Tyler. Sakura would be a harsher opponent to the GINN pilots, she would show no mercy and turn their attacks against them. However, Tyler figured the rouge group knew their goal was in serious jeopardy by this point. He also suspected they were willing to sacrifice their lives to get the ruins to slam into Earth. An enemy with nothing to lose was a dangerous opponent indeed. They would be inclined to do things that were reckless or worse. Tyler pulled the trigger and the rifle's bolt pierced the target thruster which exploded a moment later. As expected, the GINN's flight was affected which separated it slightly from its fellows. Tyler used the opportunity to close the distance between him and the GINN.

The rouge GINN pilot had been working with their allies to stop those who were working on deploying meteor breakers. Things had been going okay since the ambush with the meteor breaker task force. But then the Federation had shown up and complicated things going forward. The Federation had quickly reinforced the task force speeding the progress of the meteor breakers. They were using new mobile suit models which had proven to be superior to other mass-production models. They had also started trying to disable the engines which were moving the ruins toward Earth. The engines had gotten the mass moving enough for the ruins to reach Earth without further influence from them. Yet, if the engines kept up their output, then the ruins would hit Earth harder. The more force the ruins struck Earth with, the more the Naturals would have the same kind of horror they unleased on Coordinators.

However, some of the Federation forces had begun going after the engines. The engine blocks had been treated with anti-beam coating before they were deployed. With it they would be resistant to ships' beam attacks. The enemy ZAFT vessels had proven the anti-beam coating had been a good choice to go with. The engines had kept operating with how they had been set up upon deployment. Even the enemy ZAFT forces that had inspected the engine blocks had not been able to shut them down or damage them yet. However, the Federation forces had figured out a way to affect the engines. They had used missiles to strip enough of the anti-beam coating so ships' weapons could damage the engines. There had also been rumors an Alliance vessel had come recently which would be a great distraction. But from what some in the group said, that Alliance force was quickly sent running by some.

Nonetheless, the pilot was snapped away from their focus on stopping meteor breakers when one of their thruster engines was destroyed. Upon looking back, the pilot saw six machines coming from the left. The issue was four of them were Gundam-types which was far more than GINNs could usually handle. The only way was if a pilot was extremely lucky and the Gundam pilot was unlucky and unskilled. That kind of luck was extremely rare, if not ridiculously improbable for such to occur. Gundams weren't assigned to unskilled pilots, they were given to those that could use them well, and that tended to be true regardless of the faction. What made the situation for the pilot worse was the Gundam in the lead was none other than ZAFT's Justice.

Tyler stored his beam rifle as he moved forward the GINN and drew out a beam saber. The GINN managed to take its sword out just before Tyler brought down his. However, as the GINN pilot was working as hard as he could to defend against the Justice, it was clear to them it would be a losing battle. Tyler used the Fatum-00's engines to push forward which outdid the GINN's remaining thrusters. Tyler used his beam saber to shove his opponent back from him to create an opening to use. He then rushed forward rolling out of the way of the blade swung at him by the GINN. Tyler got close and used his beam saber, slicing through the mobile suit's torso like a hot knife through butter. He then quickly moved away from the machine to not be caught up with the explosion that would come. As the GINN Tyler defeated exploded, Tyler moved on to the next closest GINN and fired the Justice's Fortis cannons in their direction.

Meanwhile, with Yzak and those under his command, they were working on protecting the sites where the meteor breakers were to be deployed. Dearka's team was escorting the meteor breakers a few at a time to where they would drill down. It had been the strategy Nicol had come up with for the circumstances as they were with the rouge group. Yzak was already frustrated for two main reasons. The first was the rouge group were likely former ZAFT who should be allies to them and be helping in such an operation, not causing it. The second was he'd already lost some good soldiers to the rouge GINN pilots. The operation was encroaching into seriously dangerous territory with how much time it had taken already. Although Yzak didn't know the exact time frame, he knew in between ten and fifteen minutes the ruins would begin their descent into the atmosphere. If the meteor breakers didn't go off before that, then breaking down the space rock would be nigh impossible before they struck Earth's surface.

Those fighting the rouge group had been wearing them down, but not as quickly as would be preferred. The help of the Federation had helped the operation progress along at a steady pace. They were also working on disabling the engine blocks the rouge group had placed on the ruin's surface. The Federation was bombarding the engines with missiles before ships blasted the engine blocks one by one. The engines being taken down was slowing the momentum the ruins had, but that was only slightly extending the time window for the operation. Dearka's group was managing to keep the rouge GINNs off the meteor breakers as they escorted them. A little more than half of the meteor breakers had been deployed successfully, but they needed to deploy faster. The other issue came with the few meteor breakers that were destroyed while being escorted by the GINNs. That was slowing down the operation which was the last thing needed right now.

Dearka had set out on another escort of a meteor break with some of the GuAIZs and ZAKUs. He had lost count of the number of meteor breakers he and his team had escorted to the ruins during the operation. The supply was going to run thin if too many more were destroyed by the rouge GINNs. The Federation forces had helped cut down on losses, which Dearka was thankful for even if those like Yzak would not show any sign of that. The Federation assistance was making the difference and increasing the chances of success of the operation. Not only were they keeping the rouge GINNs pretty busy, but they were also working on dealing with the engine blocks attached to the colony. If the escorts could be maintained at the rate they were, the operation should be complete in time before the ruins reached the danger zone.

Tyler was fighting off the GINNs as they passed by, damaging some and forcing others to evade his attacks. The new GINN models were faster and more agile than the general one, but they still weren't a match for the Justice with its HiMAT active. He noted that there appeared to be less of the new model GINNs than he'd seen before after launching from the Normandy. It said those fighting had been taking down the enemy suits slowly but surely. It showed that those working on this operation were dedicated to its success. For the Federation forces, working for the goal was a given as it threatened Earth. However, for the ZAFT task force, they were doing it to both protect the homeland AND Earth. Tyler was once again humbled by humanity's will to survive as it had brought this group together to protect Earth. It was a force that had saved humanity time and time again throughout its history.

The rouge pilots were getting frantic in their fight by this point. The ruins were still heading toward Earth, but around half the engine blocks had been taken down by the Federation forces. Many meteor breakers had been deployed into the ruin's surface by the task force. If they got more into the surface, they could be detonated, the ruins would be broken up. Should the ruins be broken up, then the goal of dropping the colony onto Earth would be snatched away from them. The Federation's appearance had been expected, but they had complicated things more than calculation had predicted. Another engine being engulfed by explosions of its destruction only served as more motivation to have the colony fall to Earth. It had to be done so the Naturals would know the pain they had caused with the Bloody Valentine.

Tyler was switching between his beam rifle combined with the Fatum-00's beam cannons and the beam sabers and boomerangs. His method of attack was either so different or so unexpected that the GINN pilots were caught off-guard. Several of the Federation's ZEL Defenders began pressing harder against the rouge group. The meteor breakers were being moved at a quicker pace as the rouge group was pressed against. Tyler was fighting hard as the Earth was coming closer and closer.

Nicol was starting to become a tad nervous as the ruins were rapidly approaching the danger zone. Yet, the deployment of the meteor breakers was almost done to split the ruins into small enough pieces. If the breakup could be done enough, then the threat of rocks striking Earth would go down. Should the breakers detonate before the ruins reach the middle of the danger zone, then the debris would fly past Earth without descending to its surface. The Federation forces and some of the task force were keeping the rouge group at bay. The deployment of the breakers had sped up somewhat and that could make a difference. Yet, Nicol wouldn't feel relief until the ruins were dealt with and Earth was safe.

Tyler was searching for the leader of the rouge group. He was still confident that if the rouge leader could be taken out, the group would be thrown into chaos. The leader would be the one directing and likely the best fighter among the rouge group. Sakura was close by Tyler as was the blue and white ZAFT Gundam. The three of them were weaving through the enemy GINNs taking some of them down along the way. After a minute or two, Tyler did manage to narrow down the potential rouge leader. Tyler moved forward and engaged the GINN in combat without delay.

The rouge leader had been quietly cursing the turn of events. Things had been going smoothly before they had gotten the ruins of Junius Seven halfway to Earth. The engine blocks embedded in the ruin's surface had broken the mass free from the Debris Belt's hold. The engines had built up momentum for the ruins as they had traveled towards Earth. That would increase the force of impact when the ruins struck Earth causing mass devastation. It would burn the pain and terror similar to what the Bloody Valentine had produced and that was one of the major goals. The ruins were aimed to descend around the Atlantic Federation but would affect the western hemisphere overall. It would teach the Naturals that their superiority complex would be their downfall and come with a price. The event would be remembered as Justice coming upon the fools that used nukes and bringing about Bloody Valentine.

Chairman Zala had been right and seen the truth before his assassination. He'd understood the Naturals wouldn't allow true peace to exist with Coordinators. Their jealousy of what Coordinators would bring about would continue to blind them. Coordinators would be and bring about the future of humanity while Naturals would be relegated to history. And yet, those in control of the PLANTs and ZAFT refused to see the truth. They wouldn't do what needed to be done to safeguard and preserve Coordinators. The Supreme Council would not deal with the Naturals and exterminate them as should be done to save humanity. Any that had told them the truth had been "waved off" or quietly "taken care of." It was why the bringers of justice had started what they had. It was the only way to show the truth that Coordinators would listen to. If lives being sacrificed was required to ensure the event happened and the Naturals faced justice, then they were willing.

However, things changed when a ZAFT task force had come into range of the ruins. The instigators had hidden before the task force had come to be above the ruins and waited for their opportunity. The task force had come to thwart the justice those who would see the ruins fall to Earth would see done. If it had only been the task force to deal with and hinder, the bringers of justice would have managed to keep things on track. The meteor breakers had been expected, for they were the most effective tools ZAFT had to break down large masses. The GINN pilots had known the breakers had to be stopped, at least enough of them to keep the ruins as large as possible. As long as a large enough mass struck Earth, the goal would be achieved, and the sacrifices made would be worth the price paid.

Nevertheless, the Federation jumping in had complicated things far more than the ZAFT task force coming did. Calculations had been made for the real possibility of Federation forces appearing when it was noticed the ruins were moving toward Earth. But the calculations hadn't predicted the new model mobile suits or a full space fleet arriving around sixty-five percent of the way to Earth. Their early arrival had slowed progress at a rather critical stage of the "Break the World" operation. Then the new mobile suits outperformed the newer High Maneuver Type II GINNs by a painful margin. If not for the skills of the pilots, many would've been lost earlier, and the ruins potentially stopped. The Federation had also targeted the engine blocks with an effective means to get past the anti-beam coating they had been treated with.

By this point an extremely worrisome amount of meteor breakers had drilled down below the ruins' surface. They were essentially unreachable by those trying to stop them and get the ruins to Earth. The leader could already tell the deployment of the breakers was to split the ruins into several pieces. There was no way to know with surety which task force ship was the one with the detonator control for the breakers. And without that knowledge, stopping the breakers from going off was nigh impossible. He gazed at another meteor breaker drilling down into the ruins and couldn't stop the angry frown coming to his face.

At the same time, Nicol was working to keep calm with things going the way they were. The operation was cutting it close as the ruins had just entered the danger zone. Some debris would likely descend through Earth's atmosphere and strike the surface. However, if the meteor breakers could detonate soon, that could be mitigated a good amount. Then, Nicol was informed that the final meteor breaker had been deployed and was ready for detonation. There was no time to waste with the ruins getting ever closer to Earth. Nicol turned to the Vesalius's comm officer, "Tell all our pilots to fall back," he stated, "They will have fifteen seconds to do so. We will be detonating the breakers in fifteen seconds, regardless of position of our forces." Those in the ZAFT task force were still fighting against the rouge group to keep them busy. The meteor breakers had drilled down and now wouldn't be reachable by the enemy force. Then came the orders to fall back and that the breakers would be detonated in mere moments. Yzak ordered all those under his command to pull back immediately and Dearka did the same. The Federation seemed to know something was about to happen as they were pulling back as well.

Back with the GINN leader, he was trying to come up with a way to turn things around when his attention was drawn away. Explosions began appearing over the surface of the ruins in a cascading motion. It was the sure sign the breakers were being set off, much to the frustration of the justice bringers. The mass was breaking up and there was little they could do about it. However, one of the larger masses had kept some of the engine blocks. The leader had the engines keep burning to drive the mass toward Earth. He then ordered those that remained to protect that mass so they could get it to fall. And yet, some of the mobile suits came after them shortly after they were gathering around their last hope to accomplish their goal. Among them were three Gundam-types which would make things difficult. One of his fellow pilots started screeching over an open comm channel, "How dare you attempt to deny us bringing Justice!" The GINN leader turned to the one speaking and found it going against one of the three Gundam-types. But it wasn't just any Gundam, it was none other than the X09A Justice. "We are doing what's right! The Naturals need to face justice for their crimes. The Naturals must experience the same that they did to us!"

Tyler didn't know if he should be disgusted by what nonsense was being spouted or wonder how delusional an individual had to be to state it with the conviction he heard. For someone to believe mass-murder could somehow be seen as an act of justice went beyond boggling Tyler's mind. It reminded Tyler of the history lesson on "fascism" he had when he was younger. The lesson used the instigator of the Reconstruction War, Musade Muhlan. The man had led what had been defined as a "cult" which was a part of fascism historically speaking. Those that followed the monster Muhlan had been had taken the man's word as the ultimate truth and would hear nothing that counteracted it. What the enemy GINN pilot said very much fit the definition Tyler understood of fascism. The very idea of dropping the ruins of a colony down onto Earth was ludicrous. Their "justice" wouldn't help things, it would bring about another war and bring back the cycle of killing that came with it.

A few other GINNs were closing in on the Justice as Tyler moved forward against the one that had screeched at him. Tyler kicked the GINN as he passed it, taking out a beam saber as he went and stabbed the enemy machine in the back. He took out a beam boomerang and sent it in the direction of the supposed leader of the rouge group. Tyler then combined his beam sabers as another GINN came at him. He weaved out of the attack of the GINN sword and made two slashes cutting the GINN into three pieces. After dispatching the two enemy GINNs, Tyler faced off against the suspected enemy leader.

The leader of the justice bringers was angry seeing his comrades taken out. He'd evaded the boomerang as it had shot past him without it touching him. Those sending the ruins to Earth were bringing and upholding justice regardless of any that tried to stop them. And yet what had been intended as a symbol of the justice Coordinators deserved was standing against them in opposition. "Justice is on our side," the leader shouted. "The Naturals would exterminate us if given the chance and time. Justice would demand we punish the wicked for the innocent that suffer at their hands."

Tyler hadn't thought the rhetoric could get more insane from justice being a viable reason to drop colony ruins and killing millions of innocent people. But he'd been wrong with what he'd just heard. The wicked which were being referred to could just as easily be applied to those trying to drop the ruins by their own logic and reasoning. Innocent people would suffer should they succeed, there was no question in that. Yet it was likely those intent on doing horrible harm to Earth didn't see those on it as innocent people. It was the cycle of hatred which had fueled the Alliance-PLANT War. Naturals should hate Coordinators because they flaunted their superior genes. Coordinators should hate Naturals as they would be inferior because they didn't have their genes altered. The cycle was so ridiculous that Tyler was angered by what it inferred. Radicals had always used such foolish views to influence the masses and it was maddening it worked.

Tyler moved forward with swords in hand and shield at the ready to engage the enemy GINN. He hadn't forgotten his boomerang, even if his opponent had clearly done so. With how the beam boomerang was designed, it would return much like a normal boomerang would. Thus, Tyler just blocked the attacks made against him and waited for his boomerang to do the job of moving this fight along. A moment later, Tyler shoved his opponent back and moved out of the way as the beam boomerang zoomed back. The boomerang sliced right through the GINN's right leg, cutting it cleanly off. Tyler caught the boomerang and stored it back to its rack on the shoulder and waited for his opponent to make the next move. The Athena was fighting another enemy GINNs a short distance away from where Tyler was. The blue and white ZAFT Gundam was going against another GINN to Tyler's right. Yet, Tyler was focused on the enemy leader as their downfall would cause chaos among their ranks.

While that was going on, Shinn had been fighting a GINN nearby. He had gone forward after some of the enemy GINNs without much thought. Thus, he had been separated from the others assigned to the Minerva. Shinn couldn't exactly complain about the situation he was in currently though. Since the battle around Orb which his family had escaped, he'd dreamed piloting a Gundam. Seeing the Freedom and Justice fight against the Alliance back then had inspired Shinn to enlist and apply to be a Gundam pilot. The chances of Shinn ending out assigned to a Gundam at his age was unlikely. Technically he wasn't assigned to one right now, but it was a possibility in the future. And never would Shinn have thought he would end up in circumstances that would have him fighting next to other Gundam in battle. And yet, here he was fighting alongside two other Gundams with genuine Gundam pilots. More amazing still was one of the Gundams was one of the very Gundams that had inspired him to be on the path he was right now.

Back with Tyler, he didn't have to wait long for the enemy GINN to point its beam carbine and fire off a few bolts. Tyler dodged them, blocking two with his shield as he moved forward toward his opponent. While the enemy pilot may be skilled, they weren't at the same level Tyler was and he could see that. And he didn't doubt the enemy pilot was quickly realizing they were outmatched in the fight. However, when they came to a standoff again, Tyler was forced to listen to another rant, "Curse you," yelled the enemy pilot. "This event must happen both for the crimes that had been committed and for the genuine human race to move forward."

Tyler wouldn't allow such a disgusting view to stand as a truth for humanity. While the Bloody Valentine was a horrible event with the lives that had been lost, that shouldn't translate to causing a similar event if not a worse one. Were the ruins of Junius Seven to slam into Earth, it would cause devastation and terror for countless. That wouldn't move humanity forward, it would drag it back for years if not for generations. Tyler couldn't help but shake his head in response, "You really believe that committing the same kind of crime if not a worse one," Tyler began, "will solve what was done by another?" Tyler paused but got nothing to his question, "That is a textbook example of the cycle of revenge and not justice, and it never ends well for any involved." Tyler didn't have to wait even a moment for the response to his logic. "It is for justice," the GINN leader snarled, "Naturals must pay the price for the deaths they brought about. For the crimes committed in the past, my daughter's tombstone must fall. It's the only way the human race will ever change and get on the path to a better future, can't you see that?"

Tyler disagreed with the "logic" being used to justify having the ruins of Junius Seven dropped to Earth. The cycle of revenge was well-established and had deep historical roots. And in every instance that Tyler had heard or read about, the cycle would only end in death and suffering. The single way the cycle could be broken was for one side to forgive the other and they both let go of the hate that had fueled it. Having the ruins fall to Earth would only keep the cycle of revenge going and lead to war which would push the cycle onward. Thus, the logic being used by the GINN pilot was nothing more than hatred-filled rhetoric driving a lost person. "You call killing in mass justice," Tyler posed, "Do you really not hear what you're saying and the reflection it shows?"

Shinn had just shot down the GINN he'd been going against when he heard the exchange going on between the two. The enemy GINN pilot's side was crazy to insane from Shinn's point of view. For the ruin's fall to Earth to be seen as necessary by any was beyond ridiculous. It would cause far more problems for the entire human race, both those on Earth that managed to survive and those who lived on the PLANTs. How that could even potentially move humanity forward didn't make any sense to him. The Justice's pilot mentioning revenge did explain the motivation of the rouge group somewhat. However, with the "Junius Seven Recovery Project," having been done a year and a half ago, the revenge made far less sense. The bodies of the victims had been found, identified, and most importantly, returned to their families. The results of that project had helped many move on from what the Bloody Valentine had done to Humanity. So, the dropping of Junius Seven would achieve little to nothing for those who had lost loved ones in the Bloody Valentine.

For the enemy pilot to have lost their daughter in the Bloody Valentine, it made Shinn wonder if all in the rouge group had lost family in the event. While Shinn and his family were Coordinators, he'd never had a bias against Naturals as some he'd encountered did. It could be due to the fact that his family had lived in the Federation member nations while he was growing up. Thus, he had taken on a similar view to the Federation had when it came to genetic orientation not being held against an individual. There had been some around the PLANTs which had said Naturals couldn't be trusted and other such things. Shinn had ignored the rhetoric since it had made no sense to him. The Federation had proven to him that genetic orientation wasn't the end all be all as the old phrase went of how a person should be judged. So, Shinn was in agreement with the Justice's pilot asking the question about justice being the complete wrong term for the motivation of the ruins slamming into Earth. Shinn was going to move over and help the Justice, but another rouge GINN appeared, forcing him to fight them instead.

The GINN pilot would not let another talk him out of what needed to be done with little white lies they could come up with. They had been blinded by the Naturals and couldn't see clearly what had to be done for survival. Those on Earth had to suffer and know the pain of losing everything as they had caused with the Bloody Valentine. The extermination of Naturals would need to follow and only after that was done could Coordinators know true peace. "Patrick Zala figured it out and tried to tell us the truth," the pilot stated. "The only true path for Coordinators is to be the future of the human race. Chairman Zala laid out the path we need to follow to have a bright future. The Naturals must die for Coordinators to survive and flourish."

Tyler couldn't stop himself from grinding his teeth at the fool using Patrick Zala to further justify their actions. Chairman Zala wasn't the same man as Patrick Zala had been. The chairman had been a monster while Patrick had been a good man that wanted a good and peaceful future for all. Tyler would defend Athrun's father for the real good he gave much effort to bring about. He still remembered the smiling man that had talked with his mother. The man who had thanked Ellen for the advice he'd gotten from her, saying he would use it to help create a wonderful place among the colonies. And Tyler knew he wasn't the only one that would defend Patrick Zala for the work he'd done before the Bloody Valentine. "Is that what you think," Tyler questioned in a flat voice. "Tell me then, if your daughter was here right now, what do you think she would say to you?" The GINN leader was caused to pause at the question. Yet, Tyler kept going, "I'm confident in saying she wouldn't be telling you how proud she is of what you're doing. No, I believe she would be questioning where her father is and why a monster is using his face to commit horrible atrocities."

Tyler surged forward, dodging the weapon fire from the GINN's beam carbine. He swung around to be behind the enemy machine and used his beam sabers to cut off the GINN's engines. Tyler then moved to be on the right of the GINN which had taken out its sword by this point putting away his beam sabers along the way. Tyler grabbed the right forearm and had the Justice squeeze the arm so the GINN would either let go of the sword or become unable to keep ahold of it due to damage to the arm. It was a moment later the circuits and cables in the GINN's arm started snapping and it was unable to keep a grip on its sword. Tyler grabbed the sword and jabbed at the beam carbine, destroying it. Then he swept the sword down then upward to slash at the shield and dividing it in two. Tyler didn't want the shield to get in the way of what he now intended to do to the GINN. "And to honor the memory of that little girl along with many others," Tyler began, "I will make sure you don't succeed. You would become no different than those that caused the Bloody Valentine if you managed to drop the ruins on Earth. It wouldn't bring any back that were taken, it would only take many more."

Tyler thrust the sword forward and stabbed the blade into the left upper torso of the GINN and buried the sword up to the hilt. He'd purposely avoided hitting the cockpit directly since he wanted the pilot to die knowing he and his colleagues would fail. Tyler put his foot down and pushed the GINN toward the surface of the nearest section of ruins. He slammed the GINN into the ground and shoved the sword into the rock to pin the enemy machine to the ruins. "Your twisted view of justice that is revenge will now be what brings your death," Tyler stated. "You will not escape this mass as it will be further broken down before coming into Earth's atmosphere and burning up for the most part. I can only wish that when you see your daughter again, she can forgive you for your attempt to do horrible things."

Shinn had just finished up with the GINN that had popped up when he'd been trying to move and help the Justice. When he glanced around, he found the GINN the Justice had been fighting which had seemed to be the leader had been sent crashing into the ruins. Not only crashed into the ruin's surface but appeared to be pinned by its own sword to the ground. Shinn also realized that he was a sizable distance away from the Minerva. The distance had come with Shinn following the Justice and Federation Gundam off during the fight. And the ruins, even while being broken into smaller pieces, still had enough mass to be problematic. Yet, Shinn's attention was shifted as explosions began to appear around the bottom of the ruins. As he took a longer look, Shinn realized the explosions were weapons being used to break down the ruins further. A Federation fleet had appeared a short distance away and were firing upon the ruins to make them smaller.

Tyler had lifted off from the largest mass left of the ruins and glanced toward the second Federation fleet. It was there as a safety net put in place when the realization that someone had made Junius Seven start to travel towards Earth. Federation vessels were unloading what they had at the chunks, breaking them down further before they entered the atmosphere. The smaller the rock masses that fell to Earth would either burn up in the atmosphere or would be hopefully doing less damage than they would do if they hadn't been broken down. And at the rate of breakdown that Tyler was seeing, the other pieces of the ruins would be broken down small enough they wouldn't cause mass devastation. However, the largest mass was not shrinking fast enough for the atmosphere to finish the job and have it fall into the sea and not cause worrisome amounts of damage.

Tyler scanned around looking for options that could help the process along and make the mass less dangerous. He spotted the Normandy already heading for the mass with its positron cannon out. It began shooting at the mass, making a hole with cracks forming going away from it. Tyler began moving toward the Normandy, seeing he was going to be entering atmospheric conditions. The Justice would handle the conditions without a great deal of trouble. It was designed to be able to do atmospheric reentry and Athrun had proven it could do the idea. The Athena wasn't far behind Tyler and like the Justice would be able to do reentry on its own with little issue. What surprised Tyler was that the blue and white ZAFT Gundam was also nearby. It was quite a distance from its own ship and with them about to go into atmospheric conditions, it was unlikely to be able to return to the Minerva in the time there was.

The Normandy was firing its positron cannon breaking off pieces of the ruins as the descent went on. Lisa was keeping an eye on the dropping altitude as that would be an important factor which would have to be taken into account. There was a window where the Normandy could use Thor to break the ruins down further and potentially make a difference for the results. And while it may not make much of a difference in the disaster caused down on Earth, it might be enough to help with survival. The Normandy would descend to Earth, so Lisa had declared "blue alert" which was used for landing and environmental hazards. Feldt had informed Lisa that ZAFT's Minerva was doing much the same as the Normandy with shooting ruin chunks with its positron cannon. Lisa would applaud the Minerva, wanting and willing to help break down the dangerous debris hurdling toward Earth. The Justice and Athena were a distance behind the Normandy heading toward the ship by what sensors could tell. The two could do reentry on their own since they were designed to be able to, so she wasn't that worried about them.

The Minerva had headed down from high orbit and dove down into the atmosphere chasing after the largest mass from the ruins. It had been using its Tannhäuser to break what chunks they could off the large mass of the ruins. The operation's priority was still to prevent large space rocks from striking Earth. The meteor breakers had done a good amount of the work of breaking the ruins into smaller pieces. They had split the ruins into six major pieces with several smaller chunks that would burn up in the atmosphere. Five out of those six had been broken down more by the second Federation space fleet blasting away at them. The last piece had been the largest of them and had not shrunk enough to be considered handled. Thus, why the Minerva had gone after the rock to blast it further so it would shrink before getting to Earth's surface.

Tyler and Sakura aimed their suits' arsenals and were firing at the rock to help with the breakdown the ships were doing. Tyler activated the Justice's HiMAT system which would make reentry more manageable. Sakura did much the same for the Athena as they came into the upper atmosphere. Shinn had to shift the Impulse's shield to have it block some of the atmospheric heat that he was coming into. He used his beam rifle to help with the shrinking rock that was falling toward Earth. And after some work, the rock split into smaller pieces, though they would still cause issues for the surface. However, it wouldn't be anywhere near what it could've been if it was the size it had been. Yet, even that fact brought little comfort to Tyler as he continued its descent through the atmosphere with debris zooming downward towards the planet's surface. The debris would still cause devastation and would cause ripples that would reverberate throughout the world and the colonies.

A/n

Okay, after that long Phase, I'll leave it off there and continue it in the next Phase. Now, there is stuff to highlight and go over with all that happened in this Phase. Now the first difference some of you readers may have noticed is Sakura is involved in this. I have reasons for changing that from the original. First, I think Sakura deserves some screen time that doesn't involve her pursuit of Tyler. Yes, I've got a few complaints about that, so I figure it was time she gets to do something else. But I'll get back to this in a minute as there is something else, I want to talk about.

Now, I know that canon doesn't define anything about the debris belt other than it is filled with all sorts of junk. The wiki will say the belt has gravity which will have large debris spiral inwards toward Earth. Well, I made use of my privileges as an author and changed things when it came to the debris belt thank you. In my version, the debris belt has its own gravity of sorts which is created by both the Moon's and Earth's gravity "clashing." Because of this, the debris belt has a "stable" gravity as the gravity of the two masses essentially balance each other out. The reason I made it that way is to explain how all the junk of varying size stays generally in that orbital path. Thus, something "breaking free" of the belts gravitation "field" or area is something that is unlikely to occur without an outside influence. This was to set the stage for the colony drop event which this Phase includes.

Back with Sakura, she gives us a glance into ZAFTs background work done after the war. Canon implies a lot of things about this time between the conflict, but never says what actually goes on. Remember the recovery project which took place back in Phase 59 didn't happen in canon. That event made a difference as there was less hatred to start out with when radicals come back out into the open as there could've been. And Sakura mentions Lanus had his intel team look into any that might potentially go rouge. So again, the numbers of those that could've been among those that were using the colony were fewer than they potentially could have been.

Moving on to the next scene in this Phase. This is one of those points that I saved Nicol for since canon had him dead a while back. Instead, Nicol is a notable mission commander, much to Yzak's ire. For those who are fans of Nicol, he does have parts to play so this won't be the last of him you see. I originally had a flash back scene but Phase length had me take it out, so it may come back later. However, much like canon, the ZAFT teams go out with meteor breakers to break down the mass. I wanted to have Yzak a tad more "mature" at this stage, but still the short fused individual that we know. The Federation forces come in to help ZAFT. And as you may guess, it wasn't necessarily out of the kindness of heart, but to protect Earth. This was a good opportunity to introduce the ZEL Defenders. Their specs will be at the end of these notes for you to view.

I want to point out that while the Federation has done some upgrades to the Gundams they control, none of that violates the Treaty of Junius Seven. Why might that be? The provisions don't say anything about existing machines that have nuclear reactors or had been intended to possess nuclear reactors. And the upgrades are more minor things rather than notable stuff. For instance, the Justice got better phase shift armor and its reactor's safety features updated. The Justice also gets anti-phase shift rounds for its CIWS guns. While the Athena has a nuclear reactor in it that it didn't before. One of its rifles is now a beam rifle and a railgun instead of two railgun rifles as it had before.

Shifting to the fight with the stolen Gundams and their opponents as they change. First, we have the Osiris out with Matt Dems in the cockpit. As a team lead, Matt doesn't do a bad job, though Lunamaria doesn't make it easy for him. I thought it would be interesting to have Lunamaria be the rebel in the group from the Minerva. Now the Minerva's pilots aren't novices in fighting, but the odds weren't in their favor, that is until Tyler and Sakura arrived. Don't get me wrong, Tyler owning the teen trio is neat and all, but I would say what happens in this Phase is better. Tyler gets to show off his skills and play with Neo, which we all do enjoy the prodding. And Sakura gets to show us why her in a Gundam is a scary idea for those she goes against. I understand that Tyler is showing up Athrun's use of the Justice, but Tyler is a more experienced and crazier pilot, I'm just saying. And when it comes to Sakura, she earned her reputation, no one can deny that for the woman. I mean, one almost has to feel sorry for the three teens for the fight they were drawn into. They really didn't have a chance to win it even if they got lucky. Going against Tyler is harsh enough with him being an ace pilot. Combine that with Sakura being their opponent, they would have better chances against the rouge group. A good picture of the point is how Sakura whips the Abyss and takes its lance before using it against Auel.

Anyways, moving onto the rouge group and dealing with them. While much of this is as it was in the original version, there is a difference that is important. Shinn does get separated from the Minerva which will continue in the next phase. However, before that occurs, Shinn does get screen time on the battlefield. I want to show that Shinn is skilled with piloting a Gundam. Yes, he is pretty good in canon, I won't deny that point. Yet, I want to show that him being inspired to develop his skills after the Alliance's attack on Orb. It is the other difference with Shinn along with his family surviving. His skills will be better going forward than they were in canon. Plus, no anger driven teen that seeks revenge, never had liked that part of Shinn.

In conclusion, I hope you readers liked this Phase. There was action and story progression which is always a good thing. As always, please some of you take the time to write a review and tell me what you think. I take comments, criticism, and questions and reply to them the best I can. I am working on the next Phase, which is currently titled: "Descent and Aftermath." I say again, this will not be like the original version of this story. I'm already planning for difference in this, which I believe most of you will appreciate. Until next the next Phase, peace out!