A/n

This chapter is now more 'average' length for my writing, not as long and beefy as before, but still covering a lot of material. I'd like to thank those who have written reviews as they help me to improve my writing. As always, I don't own nothing but my own characters and inspiration, nothing else. Hope you all enjoy the chapter.

Phase 5: Bailout at Artemis

January 28th, 71 C.E.

-Tyler's pov-

The Donnen

Once the Donnen was within decent range of the Artemis base, that was the cue for me and my teammates to start towards the hanger. In the pilot locker room, we went over the plan for the stunt we were going to attempt to pull. I wasn't that worried about how things would likely work out, the others and I could pull this mission off, that I was confident in! It's just unforeseen circumstances that could come up that worry me in this. Once Lisa, Alan, Luke and I had finished put on our pilot suits, I went over the mission, its objective, possible problems that could come up and the requirements that we would be under. None of the others had an issue with the plan that I had come up with, so we exited the locker room and headed to the hanger.

Now, as much as I would LOVE to use the Shadow on this mission… it's still getting work done on it that I, myself had requested the chief mechanic to do for me. That being said, there were parts and cabling exposed and not in the places they should be, meaning that the mobile suit wasn't usable at this time. So, as I'd said to him, I would be using a Federation fighter… it's not that it's a bad trade. Federation fighters aren't machines to scoff at or underestimate! With the current fighter model that's used and developed by the Federation, it had mobility and weaponry that could match ZAFT mobile suits.

The HFCS-D201 Delta Fighter or just Delta Fighter as it's referred to for short, is as mobile armors are for the Earth Alliance and mobile suits are for ZAFT. It has a length of 18.6 meters from the end of the rear thrusters to the tip of the nose of the machine. The fighter has small thrusters at different places that give the machine the superior mobility that even ZAFT mobile suits have a hard time matching. The fighter is white in overall color and had blue along the wing edges and top of the rear jets. There was also blue color on the center and top of the fighter's middle and the inside of the nose of the craft. The nose and forward section of the fighter, was made up of a shield like shape that was wider at the back than the front. A large blue fin was set in the center, starting about a meter from the nose tip.

The wings system was made up of two different sections; the first was the main wings on either side and was in line with the upper center of the craft. The piece comprised of two wings extended out, the front one was less than a meter long and the back wing has a length of a couple of meters and both were parallel to one another. The second part of the wing system, was above the main wings and was separated by the meter and a half diameter front mount of the rear thrusters. The wing's length was around the same as the back wing of the main wing system, though it was thinner. There were also short fins on either side of the wing, the inside more forward than the outside fin. Plus, there was a booster halfway down the wing, built into a raised section of the upper wing.

The fighter's systems were standard within the Federation, what would be considered standard optics that the Earth Alliance and ZAFT forces use. For power, there is an efficient battery built into the machine that's based on ZAFT mobile suit power plant development. The big difference comes with two systems equipped that both the Alliance and ZAFT would love to have. The first is the Specter Optical Camouflage Field or SOC field, which allows the fighter not to be detected or seen by current sensors. Combine that with the method used in the heat disbursal from the thrusters, even the heat won't give away position. The second system would be the recharge cable, that can be tap into a facility's own power grid… or into a mobile suit's battery, very helpful in tight situations.

For armaments, the Delta Fighter had a pair of "pepper" 60mm vulcan guns that are mounted next to the forward optical array in the upper half of the nose sections, which nose is also made like a shield with something like beam coating. The guns might not penetrate mobile suit armor however, it causes impact, shaking the cockpit of the other machine and that can have an effect. Against mobile armors, it punches neat holes in most models the Alliance uses. Next, is a pair of railguns that attach to the backpack for mid-ranged combat. The final weapon, is located on the underside and rear of the nose section, which can be one of two optional weapons. The first is a Plasma Pulse Cannon or PPC. It causes heavy and explosive damage on the intended target, can make the difference in battle. The other is a rapid assault machine cannon, that had the capabilities of a machine gun and is loaded with high caliber armor piercing rounds. All the armaments could be used and fired while the optical camouflage is active without affecting either in a noticeable way.

My team and I separated and moved to the Delta fighters that we would use. Approaching the fighter that I was going to pilot, an area in the midsection of the craft rose up and aside to allow access to the cockpit. The fighter cockpit wasn't really tight or confined, but it was cozy and left little extra room for the pilot. I slipped into the fighter's cockpit and settled into the seat, feeling and hearing the audible click of my suit's backpack section clipping into the seat. As I was buckling the belt restraints, a mechanic came over the hatch, "Commander, all systems on this fighter should be fine as we checked them a few hours ago," he said.

I glanced up and nodded in thanks and acknowledgement to what the mechanic. "Thank you, it is appreciated," I returned.

The mechanic nodded, "Good luck to you and your team commander," he said before withdrawing from the space the fighter cockpit hatch left when it was open.

I pushed the button on the right control set console that had one of the joystick manipulation control, the hatch for the cockpit closed, throwing the interior of the cockpit into darkness. The darkness lasted only for a moment before two lights from just behind my seat came on and I was now able to see the forward control console, along with the left and right control board sets. The right control set has a vertical joystick and other buttons and switches. The left had a horizontal oriented joystick control and like the right control set had an assortment of buttons and switches including a throttle sliding lever. The forward console had my main sensor and information display in the center with a small touch board connected to the bottom of the display screen. On either side of the information screen were other smaller screens that would show the status of the fighter's primary systems. Under my feet were actuators that could be used for more fine piloting control with the thrusters.

I touched a button and the controls lit up and the screens on the forward console came to life and hummed as the system started up. The forward screen displayed the startup of the OS that the fighter was installed with and went through the system checks. To my left, right and ahead, images of what was outside the fighter's cockpit appeared that were fed by the optical sensors on the outside of the machine. I felt a jerk as my fighter moved towards the rear and center of the hanger for launching out of the ship. By the time that my fighter's OS was finished loading and running checks, my machine connected to the elevator and it shortly began to take me up to the upper linear catapult on the top of the cruiser's length.

Once I reached the top of the elevator, there was a clunk as my fighter was released from the lift. Next, shutters closed over the lift shaft after the elevator went downward, creating an airlock. The air was sucked out of the space I was in and the outer door of the catapult rose up and I got a view of the Donnen's upper hull and the stars outside. I observed the two electron rails on either side of the catapult raise up and lock in for their part in the acceleration the catapult makes possible. A low hum began as power was supplied to the catapult and there was a second clunk from the supply cable was unlocked so that it could come off when I launched. I set my hands on the right joystick and the throttle, looking forward, waiting for the signal to take off.

The signal came shortly and I shot off down the catapult, the electro rails increasing my speed as I left the Donnen. I was followed shortly by my teammates off the lower linear catapult and one off the upper one like I had shot from. When clear of the ship, we engaged our fighters' optic camouflage before turned our fighters towards Artemis. However, before we flew off we got one final message from the Donnen, "Commander, the Donnen will be heading to the other side of Artemis. You'll be on your own from here, all that we can do is wish you and your team luck with your objective," said the voice of Captain Shepard.

That's one of the nicest things I've heard from this female captain, "The information is appreciation captain. We'll meet you on the other side when everything is said and done," I replied.

"Very well, Donnen out," returned Shepard.

Now that we were on our own the major difficulty ahead, was getting through the lightwave umbrella shield WITHOUT being noticed. As long as the shield is up, slipping into the base would be a no go. So, the team and I would have to come up with a method on entering and I have no idea what that would be. It took a margin under ten minutes for the four of us to be in a very short distance from the lightwave umbrella. And being right up close to Artemis's lightwave shield, it's an impressive achievement in the area of defensive technology, but it does have its drawbacks. Anyways, to the issue at hand, "So, anyone got any ideas on a way of slipping into to this Alliance base?" I asked on the encrypted Federation channel.

A discussion ensued, yet none of us could come up with a viable means of entering Artemis. I was listening to the others, getting frustrated at just sitting outside of this shield and not able to get inside it. That's when out of the corner of my eye I spotted an Earth Alliance shuttle of the type that tends to be used for maintenance around colonies or bases… And it was outside the shield. …Hello opportunity, thank you for appearing in our time of need! I cut over Lisa who was currently speaking, "Hey all, listen up, I believe I got a way in… Approaching at our three-o-clock." I remarked.

There was silence for a moment, "You talkin about the Alliance shuttle mate?" asked Luke.

"Indeed I am Luke, the shuttle is outside the lightwave barrier and will need to get in at some point. That requires the umbrella to open sometime for that to be possible, even if it is only a small gap. That should work well to our advantage, would anyone disagree?" I posed.

I heard nothing from anyone, so I took that to say that none disagreed and that the idea I had was what we would go with. Now that we had a plan, we moved our fighters to be in line around the shuttle as it kept skirting Artemis's shield. The plan was to use the Alliance shuttle like historical accounts say those who defeated the Trojans with the trick horse. The craft traveled for five minutes to where the front entry to the port into Artemis was. Once in that area, a section of the umbrella the size that would allow a moderate sized warship through with a little room to spare formed. With that amount of space, my team and I had no issue whatsoever getting inside the umbrella with the shuttle. And there was no sign that any Earth Alliance personnel were any the wiser to our presence in their base.

We quickly stopped following the shuttle and began cruising around the docking area, avoiding being in the path of any Alliance craft. As we moved around the open area, we spotted Alliance ships and mobile armor docked and smaller craft floating around. I did note that those here looked bored and therefore were being lazy… I'm betting that will change soon enough. Anyways, it didn't take long for me to catch site of the Archangel as it was the only white ship here. I slowly made my way over to where the vessel was docked and flew over it to see what had been done to her. After I took a moment to look over the vessel, there wasn't any obvious evidence that anything had been done to the outside of the Archangel, other than locking her into the dock she was in. The moorings would make leaving more difficult while they were in place, but a good aimed shot would handle that. Yet, that would draw serious attention, and that's not what we want at this point.

I knew the best course of action to take next would be get in the Archangel, but there is still a need to know what was happening out here. Two pairs were required and as nice as it would be for Lisa and I to be a pair, it ain't going to happen as our leadership skills would be need for both pairs. So, I decided that Lisa and Alan would keep an eye on the activity around the docks and warn us if something comes up. And that left Luke and myself to slip inside the Archangel and see what the situation was and do what we could to make it better. I honestly can't see those who made up the crew of this vessel being interested in letting those here at Artemis have the way. It was more likely that they had been herded somewhere or, possible just killed. I hope it's not the latter, that would be very bad.

I gave out assignments before I maneuvered my Delta fighter to be on the left side of the ship, heading for a unobtrusive airlock that I knew about. The airlock was located between wing at the bottom of the bridge tower and curved wing that went towards the rear of the ship. I brought my fighter to a halt behind the upper wing, before I opened my cockpit and popped my head out of the fighter. I glanced around to make sure that none of the Alliance personnel were looking in my direction. Once I felt that I hadn't been seen, I hauled the rest of my body out of the machine.

After exiting the Delta fighter, I activated my pilot suit's thrusters, which are attached to the backpack section, they flipped out and extended for use, moving forward. The distance that separated me from where I had parked my fighter and the airlock that I would use to enter the Archangel, was around twenty meters. I looked back to see the hatch to the cockpit of the Delta fighter close and the fighter stay where I had brought it to be. I moved over to the airlock and when I came to touch the hull of the Archangel, I pressed a small plate which revealed a keypad. I inputted the default code which I had found out during the investigation mission and it still worked as it happens, to access the airlock. A moment later, the sound of the airlock cycling, depressurizing the space on the other side of the lock. Then the airlock clunked and opened, revealing a small space that allowed access to the Archangel's internal components from the inside of the ship.

I grabbed the edge of the airlock and pulled myself inside and pressed the control that shut the airlock behind me. The room went through the process of filling the room back up with oxygen and pressurized the space. The process completed as signaled by the green light above the door that would open onto the Archangel itself. I pressed the switch by the door and it slid open, granting me access to the inside of the ship. I sailed 'forward' and 'upward' in my view, through the doorway and found myself gazing at the deck. I reorienting myself to be perpendicular to the deck of the ship before looking around to take in my surroundings.

I identify that I was in a corridor that was on one of the middle decks and there was no one here but me. Before going forward, I took the time to check over my equipment, making sure I'd quick and easy access to the sonic concussion grenades. The grenades were wonderful tools that use heavy shockwaves that have high pitched sonic tones that are loud and powerful, even if they were short with the emission. They can pretty much knock out anyone that doesn't have protection against sonic or pressure waves, especially in a closed space. Then I had my trusty S13 "Hornet" sub-machine gun sitting on my right thigh, ready to be whipped out and be good for use. The firearm can fire a nice one-hundred-fifty rounds a minute, with fifty round per clip... A nice gun and one that I have a liking for. With everything in order, I started off, activating my visor's plate blocker so none would see my face, in case I should come across someone. I would try to avoid being seen, but best to be prepared!

Making my way forward down the corridor, I set my route to take me to the navigation bridge. That's where Luke and I had agreed to meet up, for we could check on the ship's status there better than anywhere else. I made my way through the Archangel, using the emergency access ways to go up to the decks above where I'd entered at, since using the lifts could attract suspicion. It wasn't until I reached the upper deck and was looking carefully out of the side corridor I was in, which branched off the central one that led to the lift that went to the bridge of the Archangel, that I stopped. For when I looked towards the lift, I spotted Alliance soldiers floating as 'guards'. I noticed Luke in the corridor on the opposite side of the hallway that we were looking into. We had both peeked into the main hallway and saw the four soldiers and they looked bored with what they were doing.

"So mate, how do we get past this lot?" Asked Luke over the com-line that connected to the Federation pilot helmets.

"Luke… Do you not remember some of your basic training?" I inquired, putting my left hand into the pouch that held the grenades I was carrying, "Disable problems, which would be those who are standing there. Watch and learn," I said in reply. I pressed the button on the grenade, priming and arming the explosive and then I chucked it into the hallway. The grenade sailed through the air and three seconds later, there was an air vibrating boom combined with a thud. Both Luke and I glance into the corridor and saw four bodies floating, unmoving as the small amount of smoke cleared. "And that, is one what to take care of an issue," I said with a bit of satisfaction.

Luke stared at me, "See your tact is effective as always mate," he commented.

We both made our way forward, pushing the four bodies aside, then boarded the lift and rode it up to the bridge. When we reached the top, we were greeted by nothing, for there was no one. I found it odd for the Alliance personnel here at Artemis, not to have anyone on the command deck of a ship that they have no registration for. Yes, I get that the Eurasian soldiers here are extremely lax, but… this goes beyond that, it's plain obliviousness! Luke flew over to one of the forward consoles and began to tap in some commands, "Mate, looks like the ship's systems are fine, just shutdown… Cricky, the Alliance people here aven't even lock down the ship's controls or main systems… These blokes are downright sloppy!"

I snorted audibly, "Sloppy is a loose way of putting it, I would say more like stupidly self-assured that their defense umbrella can't be beat and so, are lax with a capitol 'L'." I retorted, "The team getting into Artemis is just one form of proof that this base's shield isn't impenetrable or infallible."

Luke turned to face me, "So then, what do we do from here mate?" he asked.

I took a moment to think, my head lowering a bit as I did. We still have not seen any who had been on board before and information said there were also refugees from Heliopolis on the Archangel. None of us has seen any sign of that being true at all, Luke had said that the way he came was deserted and it had been the same for me. The ones in charge here would be interested in the mobile suits on the Archangel, so it didn't make much sense for them to harm the crew. After a minute my head came back up, "We make our way to the hanger using different routes, first searching to the rear of the ship. The ones in charge here will be interested in the mobile suits onboard, so they're a good place to start in finding out what's going on. Also try not to be seen by the soldiers on the ship, but if they do see you, then disable them. You take the upper decks of the center line of this ship Luke. I'll take the lower road doing the same, we'll meet up in the hanger, got it?" I said.

Luke nodded, "Too right mate, sounds like a plan," he replied.

Both of us reentered the elevator and at the first deck stop, Luke got off and I continued down a few more decks before I got off. And I move down the corridor, glancing in the rooms that I passed, searching for any of the crew of the Archangel. I hope with everything I got, that I didn't find bodies, especially of anyone that I recognized. If that does come up, then those responsible will be made to regret that, I'll personally make sure of it!

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

The Gamow, Lagrange 3

"Distance from Artemis, twenty-five hundred, still no change in the protective lightwave barrier," said the Gamow's sensor officer.

Meanwhile, down in the hangar, Nicol was doing the final preparations with the Blitz, "Mirage Colloid voltage check," said Nicol to himself. "System all green, ready to launch," he paused and the sighed, "To do trial and error with an untested system… well, guess I'll be counting on Lesson 31… 'If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid completely'."

While Nicol was doing his preparation, up above the hanger in the pilot lounge, Dearka and Yzak were looking down through the viewing ports down in the main hanger. "The Earth Forces sure come up with some bizarre stuff," commented Yzak to Dearka.

"Yeah, obviously an attempt to compete with the Federation's stealth capabilities, though it seems appropriate for Nicol," said Dearka, smiling condescendingly. "It's an ability fit for a coward."

Yzak agreed with Dearka, but then Nicol had shown that he could be quite the tactician when he tried. Plus, the comment before had brought up a point, the Human Federation's military had proven just how effective stealth could be used. So perhaps, their fellow pilot had more in mind than they were giving him credit for, "Perhaps Dearka, but then, Nicol is resourceful and can surprise others, so we'll see how this goes," returned Yzak.

The Blitz meanwhile, left its dock and headed to position itself for using the catapult, to launch its attack against the "undefeatable Artemis base".

-Line Break-

The Archangel

Garcia stepped into the mess hall with other Artemis personnel. He looked over all the remaining crew of the Archangel that had been herded here, "Who among you are the pilots and mechanics of the mobile suits onboard this ship?" asked Garcia, to which he received silence as a response.

"Apparently, none of you heard the Admiral, the pilots and mechanics of the mobile suits," repeated his lieutenant a tad irritated, "They're here in this room, aren't they?" Kira almost spoke up, but stopped when he got a quick glance from Murdoch that silently told Lacus and himself to remain quiet.

"Why are you asking us this?" asked Arnold Neumann, standing up and approaching the officers. He was the highest ranking non-commissioned officers with the rank of chief petty officer second class, so with the commanding officers absent, chain of command then fell to him, to lead and protect the crew and those on board. Arnold had never thought it would come to him to do this, but with what had gone down so far here at Artemis, he wasn't going to shrink under the gaze of these idiots!

"You think you can talk back to us?!" demanded the lieutenant, grabbing the front of Arnold's uniform.

Arnold however, kept his cool and simply gazed back at the Lieutenant acting badly, "By your question apparently, you haven't asked either the captain or our officers? Wasn't that one of the reasons they were escorted away for briefing others," posed Arnold. "Or are you not permitted to ask about the information and so just are going to others in an attempt to get around not having permission?"

The question reminded Kira and Lacus of Mu and Krystal's words to both of them just before entering Artemis. Telling them to lock their machines OS's so that only Lacus and Kira could activate the two mobile suits. Now, after seeing how these Alliance officers here were acting and what they were asking, it all made sense. For whatever reason, those here knew about the Atlantic Federation developing mobile suits, and wanted them for themselves. But, with the locking program that Kira put on both mobile suits' OSs, they weren't able to see any of the systems of the machines.

"Enough Lieutenant, calm yourself, there's no need of violence in this," said Garcia calmly. The lieutenant released Arnold, who took the time to straighten his uniform as Garcia stepped forward. "That's right. We're well aware that you're elite personnel of the Atlantic Federation, who've been specifically selected for this top secret military project."

There was silence at the statement, it was clear what this was about, "You're referring to the mobile suits on the Archangel," stated Arnold, but there was part of this that didn't make sense. "Why would you see the need to come here? With all of us being kept here, you can go look at both mobile suits all you want and we can't do anything really about it."

Arnold had a feeling that it would be best not to mention that the Asuka was actually an Orb machine that happened to be at Heliopolis. "You are right, and impressive mobile suits they are," said Garcia in a nice tone. "The fact of the matter is we feel privileged to have the opportunity to see them before they're officially announced. We're merely curious about them; now, who are the pilots of the two mobile suits?"

'What a load of crap,' thought Arnold, along with several other crewmen. Nevertheless, with the question posed, put the crew into a bind. There was a chance that they could pass of Mu and Krystal as the pilots. But, with being as shorthanded as the crew was, it would be unlikely believed to be true. To run the ship, they needed at least one of the two on the bridge for the time being, even with the students from Heliopolis volunteering, they just didn't have the skill for ship operation yet.

"We're shorthanded," said Arnold, gesturing behind himself. "Some have volunteered, which has let us manage. None of us are pilots, the only two who are pilots in any way, is Lieutenant La Flaga and Major McAlester."

"Now, don't lie," said Garcia. "But a good effort I'll admit, yet it's unlikely as their experience would be needed on the ship. Volunteers could very well help, but with what you'd faced that wouldn't be enough. Both of the mobile armor pilots are good at what they do, but with looking at the previous battles you fought… That level of skill is unusual and while I might have believed one of the suits could be piloted by one of them, yet for them to be both out is foolish as they would be needed on the ship. Gut instinct says that given your other lies, all of it is a lie." Garcia walked over to the nearest of the volunteers, who was Miriallia, and grabbed her arm hard and tugged her to her feet.

"Miriallia!" exclaimed Tolle, rising from his seat as she cried out slightly in pain. Kuzzey and Sai quickly moved forward and held Tolle back from lashing out at the soldiers and possible getting killed.

"But who would have thought that one of the pilots could be a woman," continued Garcia, "But, it occurs to me the captain of this ship is a woman as well."

"Ow!" cried Mir as Garcia tightened his grip.

There was visible upheaval with the actions from Admiral Garcia, "Hey, cut it out, you're just being a bully!" said Kira, stepping forward.

"Kid, don't," started Murdoch, but Kira ignored him. Lacus was right behind him, completely in agreement with Kira.

"You want to know who was piloting them?" asked Kira.

"We were," said Lacus, her hand on Kira's shoulder, an uncharacteristic glare on her features.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

I worked my way towards the rear of the Archangel, searching for signs of anyone, whether it was a crew member or refugee. Each room I glanced in was empty, every corridor I went down was devoid of signs of life. Nonetheless, the worst thing to me as I went along, was the silence, it was deafening and complete. It wasn't just odder than hell, but it was eerie in a way that didn't feel right at all, much like the silence that had been around the ruins of Junius Seven.

The silence caused me to wonder two things; since I've found nothing thus far, is there anyone on the ship anymore? Then, the lack of security was irritating the hell out of me! I'd expected lax manners and laziness from the Alliance soldiers here at Artemis, but this is getting freaking ridiculous! I mean, come on... seriously, I could probably waltz on over to the control booth, access the lightwave barrier controls and turn them off, before almost anyone here would notice! Their confidence and unwavering faith in the lightwave umbrella, it's going to bite them in the butt at some point in the very near future and HARD. Just seeing the behavior of the Alliance personnel here, helps me understand the interest Sakura has in successfully assaulting Artemis, if anything to show them their mistake and idiocy, they're asking for it!

The crew and the refugees could've been taken off of the ship and be somewhere in the interior of Artemis itself, it was a possibility. However, I want to be sure no one is on the Archangel, before having to go into the inside of this Alliance base. It's just as likely that everyone has been gathered in to one area so they can be watched by the soldiers here at Artemis… the extremely lazy way to do this if you ask me and so the one I expect. I'd looked through a full deck and started the second, without resistance, could do anything I felt like I bet. The four soldiers I'd come across by the bridge, were the only other people I'd come across and they weren't going to be of any help to anyone for a while.

I'd thought about accessing the Archangel's systems while I have such free reign of the ship, this isn't an opportunity I believe I'll get often if ever again. Then, there had been evidence that had been acquired during the time at Heliopolis, which inferred that the Alliance might have stored specs and plans for their prototype mobile suits onboard if something unforeseen happened. This was literally, a pure golden opportunity to look and take care of the problem if it did really exist. But, the safety of my friends and the refugees… and even the majority of the Archangel's crew take priority.

It was as I came into the corridor that as I recall the mess hall is off of, that I received the first bit of solid evidence of there being anyone on the Archangel. That came when I heard voices ahead of me picked up my audio filters in my helmet. Upon hearing that, I stopped and listened hard to figure out what I was hearing, " Apparently, none of you heard the Admiral, the pilots and mechanics of the mobile suits," said an arrogant male voice, "They're here in this room, aren't they?"

I plastered myself to the wall and inched closer to the doorway into the mess to better understand the situation. I heard silence in response to the demand from the Alliance officer for a minute, "Why are you asking us this?" asked one of the Earth Forces officers that was on board the Archangel, I think his name had been Arnold… Something. He was the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer that I remember and noticed during the short time I was with the Archangel… As brief as it was.

"You think you can talk back to us?!" demanded the Artemis officer that had made the demand when I started hearing this conversation. This makes me wonder what's going on within the Earth Alliance lately, I've been out of the loop for a while. Since I've been on the investigation at Heliopolis, the information I have been able to get is mostly through the news feeds and those aren't reliable. As far as I know, Artemis was an Earth Forces military base, even if it belongs to Eurasia Federation technically so, wouldn't they all be on the same team? Or perhaps, there's a schism developing among the members of the Earth Alliance? I can't say that it would exactly surprises me if that's the case, with members of Blue Cosmos dominating the leadership of the Earth Alliance, mainly the Atlantic Federation.

Blue Cosmos was originally an environmental group, how that became the organization that is hell bent on exterminating every Coordinator they can, I don't know. They're terrorists, as they kill for no viable reason other than their hatred of Coordinators, no matter what else they claim. It's clear that they are good at manipulating people and sees no problem with doing dirty business. Should Eurasia leadership somehow be taken out… it's a scary thought as then Blue Cosmos political leaders would have close to full power of the Earth Alliance.

"By your question apparently, you haven't asked either the captain or our officers? Wasn't that one of the reasons they were escorted away for briefing others," posed 'Arnold'. "Or are you not permitted to ask about the information and so just are going to others in an attempt to get around not having permission?"

I'm definitely missing something in this conversation I was overhearing. It had something to do with the Strike and the Asuka, but what this demand is about, is a mystery to me. But, there was a piece of information that I heard that said something of interest, the officers of the Archangel weren't on the ship. Could it be that those in charge of Artemis are wary of them stirring up resistance? "Enough Lieutenant, calm yourself, there's no need of violence in this," said a different voice than either Arnold or the other officer that had made the demand, though it was calmer than the demander. Heard rustling followed by a short period of quiet, broken by the newer voice. "That's right, we're well aware that you're elite personnel of the Atlantic Federation, who've been specifically selected for this top secret military project."

There was silence at the statement, and during that time, I got to within a couple meters of the mess hall doorway. None had noticed me at all thus far and I'll take that, "You're referring to the mobile suits on the Archangel," stated Arnold. "Why would you see the need to come here? With all of us being kept here, you can go look at both mobile suits all you want and we can't do anything really about it."

This conversation keeps getting more intriguing the longer it goes on, informative in ways that most wouldn't know. "You are right, and impressive mobile suits they are," said the one I'm guessing is in charge of the group from Artemis, in a nice sounding tone. "The fact of the matter is we feel privileged to have the opportunity to see them before they're officially announced. We're merely curious about them; now, who are the pilots of the two mobile suits?"

That's the best excuse that the man comes up with? That's just sad! It's clear those here at Artemis want the specs to build mobile suits themselves so they can use them."We're shorthanded," said Arnold "Some have volunteered, which has let us manage. None of us are pilots, the only two who are pilots in any way, is Lieutenant La Flaga and Major McAlester."

A nice attempt at hiding who the pilots are. I'm guess Kira and Lacus have been earning the trust of the crew of the Archangel. "Now, don't lie," said head honcho.

It would seem that they know better than to believe that the two mobile armor pilots were piloting the suits. "But a good effort I'll admit, yet it's unlikely as their experience would be needed on the ship. Volunteers could very well help, but with what you'd faced that wouldn't be enough. Both of the mobile armor pilots are good at what they do, but with looking at the previous battles you fought… That level of skill is unusual and while I might have believed one of the suits could be piloted by one of them, yet for them to be both out is foolish as they would be needed on the ship. Gut instinct says that given your other lies, all of it is a lie," said the leader.

I'll give the man marks for deduction, it was sound and thought out, but then what will he do now that he has determined La Flaga and McAlester aren't the pilots? I heard a yelp from a female… No, it was Miriallia that was yelping to be specific. You have got to be kidding me! "Miriallia!" exclaimed Tolle, likely in response to her cry of pain. There was a scuffling after Tolle's exclamation, my assumption is some are holding Tolle back.

"But who would have thought that one of the pilots could be a woman," said the one that I was thinking was the head honcho of this bunch, "But, it occurs to me the captain of this ship is a woman."

"Ow!" exclaimed Miriallia as Garcia tightened his grip.

My hand went down to my SMG gun and I drew it out of the holster at hearing Miriallia's outcry. My left hand went to the pouch on my left thigh and grabbed one of the sonic concussion grenades and withdrew a grenade. I was about to move closer to the mess hall and chuck the grenade in, when another voice stopped me. "Hey, cut it out, you're just being a bully!" said the voice of Kira, my friend.

Uh oh, I've a bad feeling about this, suspect things will soon get more complicated, "Kid, don't," began chief Murdoch's voice. "You want to know who was piloting them?" asked Kira.

Oh please no Kira… don't tell them you're one of the pilots! That will make problems for you and me trying to save you! "We were," said Lacus.

CRAP… That complicates things! I deciding to air on the side of caution for the time being, I backed off. I can't go in gun blazing, it would likely get others killed and that's to be avoided if at all possible. The probability of me getting a second shot of making a difference is very low, so I have to get this right the first time. So, with that in mind, I moved away from the mess hall and concealed myself in the nearest room, leaving the door open a bit so that I could keep listening.

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

Artemis Base

"Regular patrol sweep," announced one of the Artemis control officers. "No sign of enemies within defensive perimeter."

"Okay, it's fine now," said the officer in charge. "Switch lightwave barrier facilities to level two alert status."

Outside the defense perimeter, the Gamow detected the closing of the umbrella, and opened the catapult for the Blitz to launch out. As Nicol left the ship in his machine immediately after the shield when down, he activated the suit's mirage colloid. From the Gamow's point of view, the Blitz suddenly vanished into nothingness as it set out on its mission.

"Mirage Colloid formation looks good," the green-haired pilot said to himself. "Dispersion loss rate, thirty-seven percent. Its usage is limited to a maximum of eighty minutes… this'll be cutting it close."

That in mind, Nicol set the Blitz's thrusters to the maximum safe speed and made his way towards Artemis.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

The Archangel

There was total silence after my two friends blew the current situation to hell from where I was standing. I would bet that everyone in the mess hall was staring at them now… Perfect. I activated my com-unit, "Luke, I've found were the crew is being held. However, things have become … complicated, so you continue to the Hanger ahead of me, I'll meet you there after I'm done doing damage control here."

"Copy that mate," replied Luke.

I returned my attention back to listening to what was going on back in the mess hall, "Well young man," said the leader, "I admire your sense of duty in protecting the girl."

No, that's not what Kira is doing, I wish it was, but it would be expected a great deal from Kira and I don't when it comes to reading the mood. Although, I wouldn't doubt Kira is protecting Miriallia along with everyone else, his response is more due to his naïveté and that's driving him to do what he is. My friend believes that all people can be reasoned with, when that's not how the world we live in works. There are people that won't listen to reason, full stop, end of discussion and I wish Kira would understand that. Athrun and I have been trying to help Kira understand this point, but alas, we haven't had success yet.

There was a moment of silence after the one in charge gave the 'compliment', then he spoke again. "But those machines weren't made for mere children like you to operate! Get serious, you twerps," continued head honcho, snapping the last bit.

The sound of motion came, which I'm guessing is someone trying to hit another, can't say for sure from just what I'm hearing. Then there was a thump of a body hitting the floor, "I haven't done anything to deserve you getting angry and hitting me," said Kira.

I feel sorry for my friend, I really do, since his view of the world is more a dream… one that I personally wish was real, but alas, it isn't. Yet, I don't know how I can get the point across to Kira about this kind of thing and it's not for a lack of trying on my part as best I could to help him understand. "Commandant!" exclaimed the demander from before.

"What is it with you people?" questioned Kira.

Kira is digging himself a hole and a deep one, that will be hard to get out of! It pains me to hold myself where I was and not rush in the mess hall and teach those Alliance officers a lesson. However, that wouldn't be the best option if I want the least amount of injury to happen to those here. …The needs of the many, outweigh the urges from the loyalty to the few. Why do I end out having to fix situations like this?!

"Don't do it!" said Sai.

At least Sai is trying to help, can always count of him to keep a good working head connected to his shoulder. Hopefully Kira will listen to him… but I fear that's wishful thinking at this point, "Is this how Eurasia treats its allies?" questioned Lacus.

Lacus should spend time around her father, she'd learn about some of the politics of the Earth Alliance, for by what I've seen, there's major issues developing. Really, I'm more surprised that it hasn't fallen apart already or gotten into a civil war, likely some under the table deals done to keep things from crumbling with the Earth Alliance. My attention was snapped back at the sound of guns being positioned came to me. I came out of the room I was in, which was a supply closet I believe and started creeping along the wall, getting closer to the mess hall, "No, stop!" said a different feminine voice. "What they're saying is the truth! They're the pilots!"

… Isn't that the voice of the redhead from Heliopolis… Flay, I think it was? Didn't expect she was among the refugees from Heliopolis. I'm hoping that the Alliance officers don't take what she says seriously. It's better if they buy that Kira and Lacus aren't the pilots, even though they are.

"Flay!" hissed Tolle, trying to stop her no doubt.

This is getting volatile real fast! I was halfway down the hallway, around six meters away from the doorway to the mess hall, "That's enough," said the demander, "Will you kids give it a rest?"

That's what I was wanting, the officers of the Alliance are ignoring the claims, that would work out for the better in this. Yes, technically Kira and Lacus are Coordinators and did pilot the two mobile suits on board, but the Alliance needn't know that. There still was a risk if someone was insistent, but if all kept their mouths shut, then all should be fine in the end.

"Are you really that stupid?" demanded Flay, which brought about silence.

And the redhead doesn't keep her mouth shut… Does the redhead dislike Coordinators or something? She had shown a few signs that she didn't like us, but this is a tad harsh, she could also not see the consequences of situations like this. However, it didn't stop there, "Open your eyes and look at Lacus! Do you think that sort of hair color occurs in Naturals? I realize that you're a bunch of morons taking your own allies prisoner to try and advance your own positions without having to go out there and get involved in the war, but I'd expect reaching your position to require at least enough intelligence to recognize a clear sign of a Coordinator when you see her and be able to extrapolate the truth from that!"

…Wow, I know I've wanted to say how stupid some of those who are in positions of power and command in the Earth Alliance can be and are normally, but I've never said it to their faces! Either Flay is very brave or very dim, saying what she did. Not that the fact of Lacus's hair is an unnatural color isn't true, but… oh this is going back towards bad situation again. "They're Coordinators?" asked head honcho.

'Warning, idiot in charge!' was the thought that came to my mind and I doubt that I was the only one thinking that. Nevertheless, things changed when I heard movement behind me. When I turned around… I saw two Alliance soldiers at the end of the corridor that I was in. For a moment, the three of us looked at each other in silence, the two soldiers were staring at me unable to process that I was standing there. They couldn't see my face, yet that didn't matter in this, I was there and to them, wasn't supposed to be. I then shot forward arming the grenade I still had in hand by pressing a button on the top of it to prime the electric fuse and lobbed it forward.

The two didn't have the time to react, as within three seconds, the grenade went off and a boom thundered down the corridor. The boom was felt more than heard, I kept flying forward unaffected by the blast, with my helmet and suit protecting me from concussive blast. I grabbed the two bodies and dragged them down the corridor and around the corner, where I threw them into a random room. But, I caught the sound of others, likely Alliance personnel popping out of the mess hall asking themselves what was going on.

After dropping off the two idiots that just happened to come across me, I popped into a different room down the intersecting passageway. I floated up to the ceiling and made myself as conspicuous as possible and waited. I expected soldiers to search for the source of the disturbance and so I bided my time. With having used a grenade in the corridor, I might as well have announced my presence over the internal ship com-system. Yet, there still may be a way to salvage the situation in my favor, if I play my cards right that is.

Listening for the Alliance personnel getting closer, the room I was in was dark as the lights were off, still I was above the door. I fetched another Sonic concussion grenade, a finger ready to press in the primer button. The door to the room slid opened and to my surprise and good fortune, four Alliance soldiers came in without noticing me at all. I oriented myself to have my head pointing towards the floor and be within arm's reach of the door control panel. Then I pushed the primer in and softly tossed the grenade towards the center of the room. The scene was comical, one of the Alliance soldiers caught sight of the grenade just as I hit the control to close the door. The concussive blast reverberated around the room, contained with the door closed and the four guys were flung against the walls hard.

Once the sonic barrage the grenade caused had ceased, I reoriented my body with the floor and left the room, leaving the four soldiers behind and headed back to the mess hall. Once at the doorway, I covertly looked in from the outside and took stock of how things had changed within the last few minutes. I saw that the members of the Archangel crew along with a number of other people, who I would guess are refugees from Heliopolis, both divided into two groups. There were still two guards inside watching both groups on either side of the room and they did have assault rifles.

I tried to come up with a way to disable those guards at the same time as then the risk of injury to anyone else would go down. Then Lady Luck smiled on me once again in a most unexpected way! The sound of crying from the refugees was heard and one of the guards went over to the kid that was sobbing while her mother was trying to comfort her scared daughter. You have to feel sorry for the young girl, she had to be less than ten years old and has soldiers scaring her along with pointing guns at her and her mother… it's just wrong in so many ways! "Keep your girl quiet," the soldier ordered.

That was a signal to me to act, I grabbed the edge of the door frame and launch myself forward. I managed to get on the right side of the soldier, one leg in front of him and a hand on the back of his head. Then, I pulled my leg back, thereby sweeping his legs out from under him, while I shoved his head forward and slammed it into the nearby table. There was a horrible sounding crack as the guy's head made hard contact with the metal table. Next, I shifted myself to face the other soldier, drawing my SMG as I did so and pointed it in his direction. Yet, I saw that members of the crew had taken action and had subdued the other soldier.

Once the scuffle settled, Chief Murdock stared at me with shock and confusion, "What the?! What is a Federation pilot doing here?"

Huh? Oh right, my helmet is still on and with my helmet's visor plate blocker active, none of the people here would be able to see my face. Normally, I keep it on to prevent trouble that being identified could bring however, I need cooperation from the people here to get the Archangel out of here in one working piece. I stored my SMG, raised my hands to show I had nothing in them, before I went through the process of releasing the seal between my helmet and the rest of my suit. That was done by a switch on the right side of my neck and then, disconnected the clasps that held my helmet in place. After all that was done, I lifted my helmet up and off my head. the second my face was clearly visible, much of the crew gaping at me as they no doubt recognized me. It was Sai that spoke first once he saw my face, "Tye?! How did you get here?!"

I stored my helmet under my left arm, "Well, hello to you too Sai. You're welcome for getting you all out of a jam," I said with a slight amused tone.

"Well, now that guards aren't watching us, we can regain control of the ship," said one of the bridge officers.

"What about Kira and Lacus?" asked Miriallia.

"Yeah, thanks to Flay and her mouth, they're with those Alliance officers heading towards the Hanger. Why'd she have to go and say that stuff about Kira and Lacus?" muttered Tolle.

Sai frowned at Tolle, "She didn't know that this would happen Tolle," he said.

I sighed, "Perhaps Sai, but this is an example of why it's unwise to run one's mouth without thinking," I remarked.

Miriallia glared at me, "Tye, that's rude!"

I shrugged, "What, I doubt that I'm the only one that is thinking along those lines," I returned, then glanced around the room. "Anyone wish to deny that?"

No one said anything, until Arnold spoke up, "We were all thinking something like that," said Arnold quietly. "Even if she has a point though, there's no doubt anymore about what the Eurasians are up to."

Arnold looked around the room, "Was there ever a doubt what they were after?" I asked to the group at large.

"Does anyone have a plan to get out of this?" asked Sai.

"Not yet, but I'm working on it," replied Arnold.

I exhaled heavily, "Well, luckily for you, I've doing clean up along my way here and so, have removed obstacles. You should have a clear shot to the bridge for the moment, so recommend that you don't waste the opportunity." I slid my helmet back onto my head, "As for Kira and Co., leave helping them to me."

I didn't wait for any to reply, just left the room and began my journey forward towards the hanger. I took care to pop into one of the maintenance spaces and kept going, choosing the route I was taking to avoid notice. And let me tell you, going through the small maintenance shafts that go throughout the ship was not easy. Thankfully I'm not claustrophobic in any way or taking the route I was would SUCK! I had around half a foot in front and in back, separating me and the other stuff in the tube I was moving through. The ones I went through were some that were large enough for me to move through and then there was those that were thinner but, eventually, I got to be under the floor of the hanger at the front of the ship where the hanger was located. All I can say to justify being able to get through the spaces I did, is thank goodness for Zero G, this would kill parts of my body if not for that!

Anyways, after lifting the vent plate up slowly so that it didn't make noise and came out of the maintenance tube. The sound of voices came from above me and I became still, "You want us to remove the locks on the OSs, correct?" asked Kira.

Oh goodie, I got here around the time they did… again, worming through small spaces is best done in zero gravity. I got to where I needed to go and in a very timely manner and that's what counts.

"For starters," said the leader from the mess hall. He said it in a way that sounded as if he was anticipating much more than just the OS lock on the mobile suit. Now the previous conversation makes sense, the Alliance forces here want access to the mobile suits on the Archangel. Kira must have put a lock on them that the techs here can't crack. Why Kira put that in place, I haven't the faintest, but I think it's a very wise idea and it's paid off. Head honcho kept going, "But I imagine you're capable of doing many other things."

I was still in the shadows of the edges of the hanger specifically, under the platform where the door to the hanger came onto. When I looked up, I saw Kira Lacus and Flay… yes, technically I could see up things, I had no wish to. I wish the redhead hadn't been wearing a dress, it's kind of distracting in a non-good way. Ignoring the view which I didn't ask for, nor wanted, and I could tell that none of the officers had taken notice of me or were looking around the hanger. They were looking at the two mobile suits alone, "What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kira, eyes narrowing.

"Luke, you in the hanger yet?" I asked with my com-line.

"Yeah mate, keeping out of sight, specially with the Earth Alliance officers that just came in." replied Luke.

"Good, stay that way until I say so, we'll see how this plays out." I returned.

"Got it," my teammate replied.

I turned my attention back to the conversation that was going, "For example," said head honcho. "You could analyze this machine's design and build more like it. Or perhaps you could even come up with a weapon that's effective against this type of mobile suit."

Oh, I had to hold in the anger I felt at the implications that the man in charge was making. He was one type of example which gives me reason not to like being around Alliance officers much, they don't see Coordinators as people… as human beings like they would see fellow Naturals. They see us as tools to advance their interests whatever they be! "Look, we're nothing more than civilian students," replied Kira, "We're not soldiers, and we're not some military contractors. There's no reason why we have to do any of those things."

Ah, I see Kira is protecting Lacus by saying she's a student like he is, but he's still naïve to think that he'll be given the fair choice to refuse what the man was saying. "But you're already traitors to your fellow Coordinators, are you not?" said the leader.

How black and white this officer going to paint this to favor what he wants! Kira and Lacus have been defending themselves like any human being would. "Us? Traitors?" said Kira incredulously.

"I don't know what your reasons were," said head honcho, "But regardless, you did betray your own people, and so by rights…"

This leader is not much different than those who are members of Blue Cosmos. Granted, he isn't out to kill Coordinators out of principle, but using us isn't all that much different.

"You're wrong!" said Kira. "We did it cause…"

"Being Coordinators siding with the Earth Alliance makes you two very valuable," interrupted Garcia. "There's nothing to worry about, I assure you that someone like yourselves could be made welcome, even in Eurasia. But if you still don't want to cooperate…" He looked pointedly at Flay.

The group moved over towards the mobile suits. "Luke, you got eyes on the redhead that's being used as a hostage?" I asked.

"Yeah, I see her mate, why?" said Luke.

"You think you could separate the soldier from her and get the redhead out of the potential line of fire before she gets hurt? I'll take care of the two other soldiers, you up for that?" I posed.

"Mate, I live for missions like this! Just give the signal and we do this," answered Luke.

I looked back at the group that was in front of the Strike now, Kira and Lacus's body language said that they were unwillingly being forced to concede.

"Kira's the one who put the locks on the OS's," said Lacus. "I'm afraid I won't be able to remove the lock from either machine."

That doesn't sound true at all, Kira would have made sure Lacus could unlock either machine; so, mitigating risk maybe? "Very well then, start with this one," said the leader, motioning towards the Strike.

Kira climbed up to the Strike and clambered into the cockpit, while two soldiers stood just outside, rifles trained on both Lacus and Flay. I took out my SMG gun and deployed the thrusters on the backpack of my pilot suit, "Luke, go go go," I said, before moving forward.

The bang of a gun firing resounded throughout the hanger, causing chaos and confusion.

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

Outside Artemis

The Blitz had made its way and had now arrived in range of being able to hit the Alliance base. Nicol hefted the Trikeros offensive shield, which had a beam rifle, beam saber, and three lancer darts built in, and took aim at the asteroid. The point of an attack, for the Alliance to show where the lightwave emitters were since they're hidden when not in use. Nicol pulled the trigger and fired the Blitz's beam rifle and saw Artemis shake in a satisfying manner. The question is, how long will it take the Alliance officer in charge to react and bring out the barrier system. After firing off over a dozen more shots, Nicol spotted one of the umbrella emitters rise into position. "There is one," he said softly. "Strike at what is weak!"

He deactivated the mirage colloid and switched over to using phase shift armor and continued has assault. Nicol ignited the beam saber in the Blitz's shield and pierced the emitter, causing it to explode. Nicol then, began to actively scan around for more of the emitters, with enough of them destroyed, the lightwave shield would fail. That was the goal as then reinforcements could then move in and Artemis would fall. Plus, there would be a fair chance to catch the white Alliance vessel, that was also an objective in this too.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

The Archangel

Luke shot at the soldier that was holding Flay hostage and forcing him to back away and separate from the redhead. Then, my comrade floated down quickly and grabbed a very scared and confused Flay, before moving both of them backward into the shadows. While Luke did his movement, I shot forward with a boost from my thrusters, shooting the soldiers and disarmed one and landed a shot in the arm that was holding the guns.

"What?!" cried head honcho in surprise.

I came to a stop a few feet from the two Alliance officers and two soldiers, keeping my SMG trained on them. Lacus move to be a short distance behind me as she had been separated from Kira, whether she recognized me or not, which she probably didn't. I would assume that it was to get away from the Alliance officers. However, I held my focus and weapon trained on the members of the Alliance. The leader of the bunch glared at me, "What is this?! What would a Federation pilot be doing here and how did you even get in?!" he growled at me.

The nice thing about the com-system built into Federation pilot's helmets, it can change the sound and tone of your voice so that you aren't recognized. "I'm preventing a fiasco from occurring. As to how I got into your so called impenetrable defense, it wasn't very hard, security was more than just lax," I said. The sound of my voice was lower and had a more mechanical tone to it so that it didn't sound like my own voice.

Suddenly, the ship trembled, the head honcho seemed genuinely surprised at the shaking. That gave me a feeling of impending trouble, yet the sound that came from the radio that the leader of this base had with him, answered the question of what was going on. "Sir, a mobile suit is in our defense perimeter!" came the report over the radio. "Our Lightwave reflectors are being destroyed!"

"How can that be?!" questioned head honcho angrily to the room at large.

So, ZAFT starts their attack on Artemis, I get the feeling that stealth was involved and that infers that the X207 Blitz was used. For those of us near the man, which was Kira, Lacus and myself as we were all by the Strike, but everyone else would've only likely gotten this end's part of the conversation. The shaking continued at a fairly consistent basis, the radio crackled again, "We've already lost a number of emitters, if we lose too many more, then the umbrella will fail!"

"They're cutting through the umbrella? That's impossible!" shouted Garcia as the tremors grew worse.

Stealth is an effective concept, and this proves it once again. It makes me interested to take a closer study of the mirage colloid feature that the Shadow has.

"Commandant!" said the lieutenant, his worry obvious.

Everyone appeared to have expressions of worry, Kira shared a quick look with Lacus, and the two gave slight nods. Kira flew over to the Asuka and kicked the engineer out of the suit's cockpit, then quickly closed the cockpit hatch. Lacus was still behind me as the Alliance officers were in disarray, she began to move towards the Strike. I however, spun around and grabbed Lacus, then moving forward with my suit's thrusters. The two of us got over to the Strike faster than if Lacus had floated there herself and saw there were two engineers still in the cockpit. Although, once I pointed my SMG at them, they were quick to vacate the machine and when they had, I gestured at the cockpit, silently telling Lacus to board the mobile suit. She looked at me, confused, I sighed… not that Lacus heard me doing so and left my com inactive so that my own voice would be heard. "Lacus, it would be safer if you got in the Strike and closed the hatch. Don't worry, I got this," I assured.

Lacus's eyes widened at hearing my voice, "Tye?" she breathed with the tone of hope evident.

I switched off the visor blocker that prevents someone looking in from the outside of the helmet being unable to see my face at all. Once my face was visible to Lacus I inclined my head, "Were you expecting someone else milady? I'm one that can really make a very timely entrance when I put forth the effort," I returned to my pink haired friend with a bit of a cocky grin.

Suddenly, Lacus lunged forward and hugged me, to which I just patted her on the head, "We can catch up later, now get into that cockpit. I'll handle things here in the hanger, don't worry about the redhead. A colleague of mine saw to her safety," I said.

My friend pushed away from me and entered the cockpit through the open hatch, caught sight of Lacus waving at me as the cockpit closed. …Sweet girl Lacus, very different from her older sister Sakura, Lacus shouldn't be in a situation like this.

"You traitors!" shouted the idiotic leader of the lax Alliance soldiers here up at us as the shaking continued.

I aimed my SMG at them as they filed out of the hanger and I just shook my head at them. I got on the com-line and told Luke to drop off Flay and get back to his fighter. Meanwhile I would go out one of the linear catapults to get to mine. The goal in this hasn't changed in the slightest, we were to get the Archangel out of Artemis in one piece. With ZAFT "banging" on the front door, time was now a much bigger factor. It didn't take a genius to assume that this force from ZAFT had those who had been under Le Creuset command and they were still after the Archangel. I glanced over at the Strike and the Asuka, noting that both had their cockpits close, which worked out well for me.

I sailed over to the nearest console, and input the command to depressurize the whole hanger. An alarm sounded in the room and the door to the hanger slid shut and a few red lights began flashing, signaling that the room's atmosphere was being sucked out. While that was happening, I brought up my right arm and tapped some buttons that was on my forearm control set that was standard to Federation pilot suits, used to control one's fighter. Yes, Federation fighters can be operated remotely, simple commands mind you, but they still can be remote controlled to a respectable degree. I was telling it to be positioned close by the exit of the Archangel's left linear catapult.

A different alarm sounded, saying that the hanger was now a vacuum. Next, I typed in the command for the airtight shutter that closed when a mobile suit launch out. The shutters opened, and before going through them, I set a timer for the to close after I went passed. I pushed off the console and flew through the hanger, passed the airtight shutters and into the main catapult area. The shutters closed behind me shortly after I was inside and the other catapult door rose up as I had programed it to. I used my suit's thrusters to move forward, down the catapult's length and towards Artemis's docking area.

Once outside the Archangel, I turned and looked to my left and saw the vague outline of the Delta fighter. If you didn't know what to look for, you wouldn't see it, that's how good the Federation stealth system are use, it's not perfect, but still very good. The machine still has the faintest outline even if what's seen over where the rest of the fighter is, happens to be what's behind the fighter, no matter what direction your looking at it from. That's the principle employed with the optical camouflage, makes you see what is behind and glance over what is really there. Thus far, both those in ZAFT and the Earth Alliance haven't found a way to cut through the methods that the Federation military uses for stealth.

I transmitted the command for the entry hatch to open and it did revealing the cockpit. Closing the short distance, I grabbed the edge of the entryway of the cockpit and swung myself into it, settling myself into the seat. Felt my body locking myself into the restraints as I buckled in and activated the fighter's systems. I closed the cockpit and took in the situation around me and began to come up with a plan to get my team, the Archangel with those on board along with myself out of this fast-growing chaotic mess.

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

The Archangel

Arnold and the other members of the bridge crew and other than the commissioned officers. The four Heliopolis student volunteers brought up the rear of the group, as they had left the mess hall. They all saw the bodies of some Alliance soldiers floating along the way in the corridor with the main elevator, all four of them knocked out cold. The unsaid thought was that they were probably involved in the "clean up" which Tyler had mentioned. Most if not all in the group were a bit curious how Tyler had knocked the soldiers cold and yet, appear to do no damage to the surrounding area or a lot of visible injury to the soldiers themselves. They all recalled hearing a dull boom before those from Artemis had gone their separate ways however, none of them had known what had caused that... now it was clear that Tyler had done something.

They all crowded into the lift up to the bridge, when it opened and the group came out, the bridge was dark until Pal hit the switch for the lights. Arnold headed for the helm while everyone else went to their customary stations. Everyone glanced out of the front viewing port, to find that space suited Eurasian soldiers moving away from the ship along with the mobile armors caused slight confusion.

Arnold refocused on the task at hand and gave out orders, "Start up the engines and bring all main systems online." Some small part of Arnold wondered how they would get out of the dock with the moorings still in place, but what else could they do.

"What about the captain and the other officers?" asked Pal as they began working.

"Unfortunately, we can't stay here or we'd be sitting ducks! We need to get the ship moving… and, let's hope that they can get back to the ship soon," said Arnold.

There was silence at the reply, but all those there did their best to get the Archangel up and running.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

Artemis Base, Interior Docking Area

Once in my Delta fighter, I switched the com-line on, "Lisa, Alan, we need to act quick if we want to get the Archangel out of this base operational and in one piece. The first thing that needs to happen, is those dock moorings that keep the ship in place have got to go! So, do whatever it takes to get rid of them or disengage. I don't care which happens, start blasting them if that's what it takes. Just get things so the Archangel to be able to leave the dock. Time is really short with ZAFT banging hard on the front door!" I ordered.

"Understood… Alan, start on the forward right mooring, I'll take the back left," said Lisa.

"Got it," replied Alan.

Maneuvering my fighter away from the Archangel and turning towards the forward entry to Artemis. I saw that the lightwave umbrella was developing holes… and those holes were slowly becoming bigger. ZAFT wasn't wasting time peppering the base's outside, they invited themselves in and they didn't care if the owners were against that. And unfortunately, they were getting very impatient at being distracted by mobile armors.

Two explosions got me to glance back over to the Archangel and noted that the explosions were two of the mooring clamps being blasted apart. Shortly after that, the third mooring was destroyed and so, everything was going as smoothly as they possibly go with the current situation. Lisa set up for destroying the last clamp keeping the Archangel in the dock, when I caught sight of the first few ZAFT mobile suits getting past the mobile armors that were defending the entrance to the docking area.

Lisa fired her fighter's Plasma pulse cannon, which the shot shattered the final clamp. ZAFT suits came into view, including the Buster among them and they were finishing up dispatching the half a dozen of Moebius armors that had been defending the base's entrance. The Buster and a GINN broke off from the other suits and came into Artemis's interior. A few more mobile armors launched from further inside the Alliance base to intercept the two invading machines. But honestly, it was pointless for the Alliance by this point, the armor pilots here were like the soldiers…. Lax and have forgotten what a real fight against those who were going to try hard to kill you is like. It was kind of hard to watch as the Buster and the GINN effortlessly blew apart the mobile armors. One of the mobile armors went crashing into the command booth after taking a missile hit from the Buster, throwing whatever organization the base had, if it had any to begin with, out the window as they fell into complete chaos.

Thankfully, events began moving in a slightly better direction as the Archangel lifted out of the dock now that it was unbound and slowly moved forward. Out of the corner of my vision, I caught sight of a shuttle heading towards the ship. However, the need to focus on the ZAFT mobile suits that were now bringing chaos fast became much harder to ignore. Just hope those on the ship could handle things if that shuttle held problems.

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

Artemis Interior, Command Sector

The moment that the first tremor was felt; Murrue, Natarle, Mu and Krystal agreed that waiting was pointless and they all left the room they had been escorted to. Mu and Krystal disabled any who even tried to slow their progress of getting back to the Archangel. But, most were rushing around in panic and it didn't take long for that to sink in to the officers of the Archangel. "What in the hell is going on?" muttered Murrue.

Mu glanced over at Krystal, who nodded, "My guess is that ZAFT found a way to successfully assault Artemis. They proved that this place isn't impenetrable as they claimed it was and now their being caught off-guard," Mu said to the group at large.

"Then, that's all the more reason to get back to the ship as quickly as possible," stated Natarle.

The four picked up their pace, though they stop for a moment when they reached a viewing longue. The sight of multiple mobile armors moving towards the entrance of Artemis and the glimpse of ZAFT mobile suits didn't give comfort in anyway. The four continued forward towards the dock where the Archangel was, hoping to get to her before ZAFT forces got too far inside Artemis.

Mu and Krystal were the first to come into the shuttle bay to find it was in the same chaos they had been seeing along their way. Mu led his companions over to a shuttle and got onboard, Mu moved to the pilot chair, while Krystal took the copilot seat. Murrue and Natarle buckled into two of the other seats on the shuttle as Mu turned it on. The shuttle lifted upward and then headed out into the massive docking area.

The shuttle was maneuvered and began making its way towards the dock that the Archangel was stuck in. As it approached, the moorings were blasted apart by seemingly nothing and quickly the ship became free from the restraints. Krystal was looking at the sensors as the shuttle got closer to the Archangel, "Mu, I would hurry, it looks like ZAFT is getting inside the docking area as we speak," she said.

Mu looked to the Archangel and noticed that the left linear catapult was open for whatever the reason. Right now, he didn't care much as it worked out for the better, so Mu flew the craft into the catapult. Krystal communicated with those inside the hanger so that they would close the catapult and bring in the shuttle.

-Line Break-

The Archangel, Navigation Bridge

With the ship now fully operating, those on the bridge were taking orders from Arnold as he had taken charge with the other commanding officers absent. Everything was going okay… other than still being locked into the dock, and how that would be undone none on the bridge could guess. Still none of them brought that particular point up as they were trying to look at the bright side of things as there wasn't much going for them.

Actually, Arnold had to admit, the teens saying that their friend Tyler McGregor reappearing was one of the few good things that had ever since the Archangel had arrived at Artemis, was very true. Hell, none of them had expected to see the teen again after he vanished during the collapse of Heliopolis. Yet, not only had Tyler popped up out of nowhere, but he had taken care of the Artemis soldiers and had, of all things been wearing a Federation pilot suit. Whether that mean the teen had connections or work for the Human Federation, was anyone's guess.

Suddenly the Archangel shook as two explosions that were close rocked the ship, the tremors didn't last all that long, when Sai spoke. "Sir, incoming communication, source unknown, but it's heavily encrypted."

Arnold didn't know what was best to do in this, he wasn't a commanding officer, just the pilot in the driver seat of this ship. "Then let's hear it." He said.

"Archangel, do you read me?" said a voice.

Everyone was a tad shocked to hear Tyler McGregor's voice coming out of the speakers on the bridge. Sai was the one that found use of his vocal cords first, "Yes, we read you Tye, what is it?" he asked.

"Well, I was going to warn you about the explosions that probably rocked the ship… but the attempt came a little late. Just so that you all know there will be two more blasts soon, don't panic, it's the clamps holding the Archangel in the dock being remove… actually blown to hell would be more accurate, but same idea in the end." Said Tyler.

Arnold cleared his throat, "Understood, thanks for the warning." He remarked.

"Don't mention it. Once you're free start moving towards the back entrance of Artemis, the front is rather crowded right now as ZAFT is taking down the front door and that door is not holding well at all. McGregor out," finished Tyler and then there was silence.

Shortly after Tyler had given his warning the Archangel was rocked hard from first the right side and then the left. Pal was staring at the console in front of him, "The docking clamps are gone, we're free!" he said loudly.

"Right," said Arnold as he moved the Archangel up out of the docking space and began to crawl forward slowly.

The ship hadn't been going forward long when the door to the elevator opened. Out of the lift came Murrue, Mu, Krystal and Natarle to all on the navigation bridge's surprise, as none had heard anything about the four officers and so hadn't expected to see them. "Hey all, excellent work everyone, you kids included, definitely better than was expected from any of you!" said Mu, putting a hand on Kuzzey's heads.

While Mu did that, Murrue and Natarle took their seats and Krystal looked ahead out of the front view ports. "Hope you had less trouble than we did," remarked Sai in a frustrated tone as Natarle settled into the command chair in the CIC.

Murrue didn't reply to the comment, just ignored it and focused on the current predicament, "We can't maneuver while we're in here, launch the Archangel and get us out of port."

"Let's hope leaving here will be as easy as that, what happened with the soldiers anyway?" Natarle asked to the bridge at large down from the CIC.

"Well ma'am, we got assistance from a source we certainly didn't expect and it was very helpful indeed," answered Arnold.

Murrue cut over Arnold, "We can catch up later, swing us around and point us towards the entrance so that we can get out of here," she ordered.

Tolle spoke up right after Murrue finished her order, "We can't, ZAFT forces are coming in that way!" he shot back, "We need to go out the back of Artemis."

Mu stared at Tolle, "And how do you know that?" Mu asked.

"It's true Lieutenant, we'll catch you up after this is done, but the front entrance won't work," agreed Arnold.

Murrue nodded, "Very well then, engines to half and get us to the back entrance to the dock."

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

My heart slowed down a small margin once I saw the Archangel moving forward out of the dock and began to make its way towards the back of Artemis. However, my pulse shot back up to high speed when the Blitz appeared and moved towards the Archangel. The mobile suit raised its shield and as I recall, that's where its beam rifle is… OH NO YOU DON'T!

I moved the throttle to its forward stop and maneuvered myself to be between the Archangel and the attacking machine. Leveled my vulcan guns and held down the trigger and let loose rounds towards the Blitz. My aim was true and simply dead on, hitting the torso of the mobile suit. But with its phase shift armor active, I might as well have been shooting at a heavy armored wall for my guns had little effect. Not to say I was doing nothing, the Blitz came to a halt and it shifted its shield to protect its cockpit. Yet, there's no way that I would allow the ZAFT pilot attack the Archangel successfully while I'm around! Since my Vulcans were doing little, I decided to use something that has more oomph in it, a.k.a. my PPC, it should get some better results on the point of the Blitz leaving!

I flew to put myself between the Archangel and the mobile suit, then locked the Blitz in, before shooting off a round from the PPC. And oh boy, was it satisfying to see it hit the Blitz and push that machine back! My fighter's weapon didn't do major damage, thanks to phase shift armor absorbing the majority of the heat. However, I'm merely getting the ZAFT pilot to back off and leave the Alliance vessel that he was chasing alone. The black mobile suit quickly got distracted by a couple of mobile armors and so, lost sight of the Archangel and those of us defending it. I followed the Archangel as she flew to the back of the dock, the white Alliance ship didn't see any of the Federation fighters following and it's probably better for the time being that they don't know that we are.

By now, the lightwave umbrella behind and in front of us, was collapsing and failing from the number of emitters that ZAFT has likely destroyed. Well, Sakura should be beaming with whomever came up with the plan that defeated Artemis… either that, or she'll be miffed that she hadn't gotten to do it personally. If it's the latter of the two… my condolences to whomever will face her wrath, it'll suck!

The Archangel sailed out of the rear of Artemis and away from the chaos within. For the moment, I would say that ZAFT is none the wiser of the fact of the Archangel's exit. I was about to consider the mission accomplished when the Archangel flew out of Artemis, until I spotted a two Drake-classes ships and a Nelson-class ship coming out of the back of Artemis not too long after we had, following the Archangel. A few mobile armors were flying alongside the Alliance ship… I don't like this development at all!

I used my com-line and connected to the Donnen, "Captain Shepard, I think we might need an assist soon enough. Two Drake-classes and a Nelson-class are following the Archangel and us in a rather menacing way. So, I assume that some Artemis officers are out to get some payback on the Archangel."

"Understood, we'll take care of the ships, while your team manage the mobile armors," was the answer from Captain Shepard.

I don't know what the woman plans to use to 'take care' of the Earth Alliance vessel pursuing us, but I'm interested in finding out. My attention was snapped back as the Drake-classes fired on the Archangel followed up by the Nelson-class. The mobile armors moved forward in the clear intention of attacking the white ship. I switched my com-line over to talk to the rest of my team, "Listen up everyone, none of those mobile armors are to be allowed to attack the Archangel. The two Drake-classes and Nelson-class will be handled by the Donnen. It's time we stop being nice and take those armors down, pick your target and nail them!" I ordered.

I chose the lead mobile armors and adjusted my course to head towards it. I locked it in my sites on the armor furthest ahead, and lined up my railguns. I fired off a shot from one then the other but, the mobile armor dodged it mostly due to luck. It had been evading the defensive gun turrets on the Archangels that were shooting at it. However, the armor pilot didn't miss the projectiles zooming through where they had been.

As there was no further point in staying invisible, I shut off my fighter's optical camouflage rushed forward. With the camouflage down, the fighter had a much better top speed and acceleration and I would use it. My third shot from my railgun, found its mark and destroyed the lead mobile armor, yet their fellows then turned to face me. The two mobile armors got behind me, one directly behind and the other to the left side. Nonetheless, I was ready for them and let them position where they were.

If there was one thing that could be said about my style in piloting, it would be, there's no place around me that you can be, which I can't counter and attack you. In other words, I don't have any blind spots for an opponent to hide in, so sucks to be them! As the armor pilot behind me began to lock in a shot at me, I smirked and jerked back my throttle, tilted the nose up and hit the brakes.

My Delta fighter shot back, flipping over the mobile armor, nose first in a clockwise directional arc. At the point that my fighter's nose was moving over the machine, not perfectly vertical, but to have my crosshairs have the rear of the armor in them, I had the Alliance pilot exactly where I wanted. So, I lit up my vulcan guns and unloaded round after round from them at the Alliance machine. Made a very clean and neat double line down the center of the armor as I continued to rotate over the mobile armor. I finished my fighter's flip to end out behind the armor and quickly swung my pulse cannon's barrel to point at the other mobile armor and fired. The first mobile armor shortly exploded after I'd ended out behind them and had peppered it with holes from back to front. His partner followed suit just after the plasma pulse cannon nailed them square in the rear end. Long story short, my team and I made short work of the mobile armors that outnumbered us more than three to one and showed how Federation fighters can whip Alliance mobile armors.

That left the three ships to be handled and I'm very curious how Captain Shepard intends to handle the opposing ship, there are several options that one could go with. I've worked with a couple of different Federation captains, but Captain Shepard is the first female captain I've worked with directly. Not saying anything against women, been on ships that have female commanders who are second in command, but not in the captain's position.

My point is every captain has their way of doing things and Shepard has been a tad different than captains previous to her I've worked with. There came a loud boom and a second later, I saw the Nelson-class gain a good size hole punched through its central ship structure. That ship shortly exploded and became debris after being shot at and that was quickly followed by two shots from beam turrets, one at each of the Drake-classes. I sat in my cockpit in a state of mild shock, for I knew what had just happened. But, I'm surprised that of all weapons the Donnen has to use, Captain Shepard had chosen to use the one she did.

The weapon employed in the destruction of the Alliance vessel, was one that the ones that the Federation exclusively had and wasn't willing to share… for a couple of reasons. What had just fired was known as the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon or a MAC gun for short. The cannon fires a massive metal projectile, that can either be explosive or nonexplosive, using a linear system of magnetic fields coils down a long shaft. The idea is with utilizing the coils, the projectile's velocity increases, until it carries an incredible amount of kinetic energy.

The energy is dependent on the length of the barrel and how many coils were involved in the acceleration. But basically, with the average length of the barrel that the Federation builds the MAC guns with, which is the forward forth of the Donnen's length. Well, you might as well say that armor is pointless… would be the same results were paper to be used for defense with the speeds that projectiles get chucked from the guns. The drawback is the MAC gun takes a decent amount of time to warm up and you have to point the ship in the direction you want to fire in. You can't fire consecutively due to the need of a cool-down time. I had known it was there, I just didn't think Captain Shepard would use it against the Nelson-class!

Well, I suppose that since the mobile armors and the Alliance ships are no longer chasing us, as they are no more, the situation is settled. The Archangel was safe and that's what counted right now no matter what anyone else said. Yes, there's still it the fact that my team and I would've to somehow stop the Alliance from getting their hands on the Strike and the Asuka, nor data pertaining to mobile suits. Yet, I would think about how that would be done later.

Phase End!

A/n

Again thus ends the events at Artemis! I do admit two pieces of this chapter were influenced by different ideas other than things in Gundam Seed; those being the MAC gun and the Delta fighter. For those who have played first person shooter games, they will probably know the Magnetic Acceleration Cannon from the Halo games and that's where the idea came from. The Delta fighter, is actually a Gundam from the Universal Century, specifically the 'Gundam Delta Kai'. Now as always, I appreciate if some would take the time and say what they think of the story development. Below are specs for the Federation fighter and the cruiser, until the next time!

Machine Specs

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Classification: Mass Production Transformable Mobile Suit

Model number: HFCS-D201

Official name: Delta Fighter

Overall Height: head height 18.6 meters (Mobile suit mode)

Base Weight: 68.6 metric tons

Powerplant: Ultracompact Energy Battery

Armor Material: unknown

Crew: Pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso

GENERAL DATA

Manufacturer: Teswa laboratories, Human Federation

Developed into: HFS-E100 Excel

Variants: HFCS-D201E Delta Fighter Eagle Custom; HFCS-D201R Delta Fighter Roc Custom

First deployment: July 23 65 C.E.

Operator: Human Federation

Known Pilots: Tyler McGregor, Lisa Malto, Alan Knight, Luke Lascy, Kurt Gream, Cormag Swift

Equipment and design features:

Long Range Targeting (L.R.T.) scope

The optical camera has a huge zoom ability which acts like a scope on a long-range rifle and is hidden in the right side of the head. In the cockpit, a small screen comes out from behind the pilot seat and sits right in front of the pilot's helmet on the right side.

Specter Optical Camouflage Field system (SOC field)

The system allows the fighter not to be detected or seen. It does so by projecting real time images of what's behind the field with the method used in the heat disbursal from the thrusters, even the heat won't give away position

Recharge cable system

The equipment is attached to the underside of the machine, is made of three parts, a line that connects to the battery of the Delta Fighter, a junction that the line connects to and a combination of hydralic launcher and cable that can connect to other connectors. The system can be used to tap into a facility's own power grid or into a mobile suit's battery, simply when what's connected to the other end of the cable is in contact with either cables or other means power is transferred by

Fixed armaments:

"Kai" 120mm Railgun

The two cannons are mounted on the backpack, one on the left and one on the right, like all railguns, they use electromagnetic forces to launch the projectile they carry.

Shield

A standard defensive feature the Delta Fighter, it's arm-mounted shield which goes over the left arm in mobile suit mode. Originally a thick piece of extra armor designed to stop physical rounds, shield technology has been forced to adapt to the development of beam weapons by incorporating an anti-beam coating. The Delta Fighter's shield also has the function of serving as the unit's forward section in flight mode. Beside the Beam Sabers/Beam Cannons and it can mount a large variety of weapons.

"Pepper" 60mm Vulcan

The 60mm vulcan gun while not very powerful and typically unable to penetrate mobile suit heavy armor, the vulcan gun is useful in intercepting missiles/rockets, destroying mobile suit sensors, and engaging lightly-armored targets such as tanks and small aircraft.

Beam Saber

The Delta fighter's close combat armaments, they are stored in the rechargeable racks on the shield. The beam saber is capable of cutting through any metal that has not been treated with anti-beam coating. They are also dubbed as beam cannons while mounted in the shield and could be utilized in flight mode

Optional armaments

Plasma Pulse Cannon

An optional weapon that can be mounted on the underside and rear of the nose. It causes heavy and explosive damage on the intended target, and is the default heavy weapon the Delta Fighter has at its disposal. The secondary effect, comes from the highly-heated plasma that can remain after the impact and corrode a machine's armor.

Rapid Assault Machine Cannon

An optional weapon that can be mounted on the front side of the shield. Developed by Koovos Weapons Development Institute, it fires heavy-caliber armor-piercing rounds.

Federation Enterprise-class

Technical Specs

Classification: Space Cruiser

Overall Length: 250m

MS Capacity: 5

MS Catapult: 2

General Data

Manufacturer: Human Federation

Operator: Human Federation

Machines carried: Delta Fighter, Shadow Gundam

Crew Compliment: 200

Standard Equipment

Optical Camouflage Field System

Similar to the Delta fighter's optical camouflage system, but on a much larger scale.

Phased-Array Sensor Detection System

Works much like ZAFT or Alliance sensor detection systems, but can also see through fields or systems like 'mirage colloid'

Standard Armaments

3 x "Lancer" high-energy beam turrets

There's a double-barreled turret on either side just forward of halfway point of the ship and the last one is ahead and below the navigation bridge.

20 x Missile Launchers

Missile tubes are in the wings towards the back of the ship on both sides.

Magnetic Accelerator Cannon Gun

The operation principle of a MAC is that of a coilgun. The cannon fires a massive metal projectile and often explosive projectiles, using a linear system of magnetic fields coils down a long shaft, increasing the projectile's velocity until it carries an incredible amount of kinetic energy. Mounted in the front fourth of the ship.

12 x "Falcogun" 75mm Multi-Barreled CIWS

8 in the front, 4 on top and 4 on the bottom, 4 in the back.

Basic description: see chapter 3