Gundam Seed: The Federation

by Blackshadow999

Different telling of Gundam Seed. With the conflict between Naturals and Coordinators getting worse as time passes, some nations have banded together and formed the organization known as the Human Federation. Will the Federation be able to help bring peace or will the hatred between Naturals and Coordinators destroy everything and bring extinction of humanity? Cover by SaddlePatch

23. Phase 23: The Sins of the Past

A/n

Here's phase 23! Turned out an amount longer than I had originally though it would when I started, but that happens. Now, nothing has changed in the fact that I own nothing in the Gundam universe, as much as I would love to, I don't. I just got my characters, ideas and musing, that be all I have to call mine in this. On with the Phase!

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Phase 23: The Sins of the Past

July 13th, 71 C.E.

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-Neutral pov-

The Dominion

The retreat from battle hadn't been pleasant, but having to run from a fight is never easy to do, yet the Dominion and all on board were alive because of the action. Overall, the damage to the Dominion was not all that bad if one just went by physical damage. However, there was enough done during the battle that was now causing problems that need to be seen to before fighting came again. Natarle had left the damage report and the responses to them to her second in command, who had been proving to be a competent man and officer. She went to her quarters, the one place she was finding she could have peace and could be away from Muruta Azrael.

The previous battle hadn't been anything like Natarle had thought her first battle would be, but there had been a number of valuable lessons taken away from it. First, she hadn't expected that she would be ordered to fight the vessel her first assignment was with. And if she could've spoken more with Murrue Ramius, then she was fairly confident that she could have convinced her to stand down, but Director Azrael had cut over before she could. Then, there had been the appearance of Tyler McGregor, and he brought issues all of his own to the table that she hadn't imagined thought of at all. Things had just changed so much from information that had been supplied to her before arriving on site, that the situation had just gone careening down hill quickly.

In fact, there were three standing problems as Natarle saw it; the ships, the mobile suits and their pilots, then Tyler McGregor himself. For ships, the information she had received, was that the Archangel was considered rouge and was to be hunted down. There had been nothing about there being two other ships, which there was little on records about the orb vessel, one had been seen visually by Earth Forces a couple time and was considered to be from the Orb Union, but that was all. The other ship there was nothing at all on, it was the first time anything like it had been encountered, just assumed that ZAFT was responsible for its construction. Both of those ships had made things more difficult to handle the Archangel. Yes, it was an instance that you adapted, but there were limits to how much that could help. Then, the Archangel herself, was a good, well-built and well-armed ship and Natarle knew that from the start. After all, she had been around the ship somewhat before she was halfway through the construction process. Still, the Dominion was of the same class, even if Natarle believed the crew needed more training. That was the one thing the Archangel had in her favor, the crew knew what they were doing and could adapt as the need arose. That made her a strong opponent and that made fighting her a challenge, Natarle knew.

The second problem, the mobile suits on the battlefield had been something else, but that was an understatement for most of them. There was two out of the four remaining G-weapons, the Strike and the Buster, along with the Shadow, the Strike with new equipment. The addition of the two mobile suits that director Azrael was interested in, were armed well and seemed to have a power supply that didn't run out added to the difficulty they presented. Then, the other unknown purple machine that had appeared a little bit into the battle, had only added to the difficulty on the Alliance's end as it had similar qualities to the two Azrael was after. And of course, there was the mobile suit that Natarle suspected Tyler had been piloting, and like the other unknown, was powerful and had an endless power supply.

Who was piloting what mobile suit, Natarle couldn't guess with what she knew at this time. However, assuming that the crew was relatively unchanged, Kira would be in one, and Tyler was clearly of the red machine. But, with there being seven suits, they made up only two of the pilots, leaving five unknowns. Perhaps if someone had come up with a Natural-use OS, then maybe Mu and Krystal could be two out of those five. Yet, even if that was true, there was three pilots unknown and Natarle couldn't begin to guess who the pilots could possibly be.

Then the final problem of the battle was Tyler McGregor, the teenager that had bugged and frustrated Natarle to no end while on board the Archangel. The male teenager had from the moment of coming onto the Archangel, irritated Natarle in a way that no one had before with his actions of disrespect and his attitude. More than once, Natarle had entertained thoughts of throttling Tyler McGregor around the neck out of sheer frustration that he caused her from time to time. Whether the teen did such things to goad her on purpose or just did what he did without regard to those around him, she couldn't decide. He had possible done things to the Archangel, but even she had to admit, there had been no proof of an act of betrayal by him. Natarle may not appreciate the things he did to seemingly to annoy her to no end, but Tyler had been a good kid over all, she had to admit.

But, for him to appear on the battlefield, after going through the injuries that being in an explosion no doubt gave him, it was a miracle in its own way. Nevertheless, Tyler hadn't only shown that his regard towards authority and attitude were unchanged, but that his sense of humor that Natarle had gotten to unfortunately see, could be much more troublesome that she'd surmised before. Not only had he had fun at her expense, insulted a high position holding person, being ruder than he had ever been to Natarle and done so sounding like there was nothing wrong with his actions, he had done so much more.

Tyler then had flown in front of the Dominion and had flaunted being there, asking to be shot at and then taunted and literally dared her to shoot him. Honestly, Natarle wished to know who his parents were, then she would have a talk with them on how their parenting had produced Tyler McGregor! But unfortunately, there was no information on the identity of his parents, Natarle had looked more than once, normally when she was thoroughly irritated by the teen. Anyways, next came Tyler's 'gift', which he had claimed she would appreciate. Natarle hadn't been amused with it at all, the teen had probably causing the most serious damage to the Dominion in the battle, specifically the onboard systems!

She had known that the second Tyler had mentioned a 'gift', there was more than a little worried about in what he could mean. Yet, when the Gottfrieds' aim had gone off what they were being programed, Natarle had another of those moments that she wanted to strangle Tyler and shake him hard while yelling obscenities at him while telling him exactly what he did wrong. The desire had increased as the bridge operators discovered more details of Tyler had put on the Dominion they faced. Tyler had managed to create something that caused target designators systems to change its horizontal angle and vertical pitch, so the weapons couldn't fire straight. Things hadn't stopped there, oh no, the issue had spread beyond just targeting systems. At first, Natarle had thought that just resetting the weapon systems would solve the issue.

Yet apparently, Tyler had planned ahead for most of her responses ahead of time. The teen had clearly had made whatever he did, difficult to be rid of, but Natarle wouldn't let herself or her ship be beaten by this joke created by the rebellious teenager! However, after the weapons systems had been reset, problems had spread to other systems and hadn't gone away from the targeting at all, it had only gotten worse. The image of Tyler laughing at what was happening, had been clear in her head at the time and it fed her fury and stubbornness to not be beaten by Tyler.

There came a point, when there were so many issues appearing, that Natarle could see no other option and ordered the Dominion to initiate a full system reset. It was the only way that Natarle could come up with to get rid of Tyler's work, which she now believed was some kind of program embedded somewhere in the ship's systems. Once done the Dominion had gotten back to working as it was supposed to and not a moment too soon in Natarle's opinion. The ship wasn't working perfectly, but it was far better than it had been doing before the reset.

The problem had been solved enough to work with, but she hadn't expected that Tyler's program to have done the damage it had before being rid of. When the initial damage reports had begun coming in… oh, how she wanted hunt Tyler McGregor down, throttle him for a while and then toss him into a brig cell and rip off the key pad, then throw it out the nearest airlock and leave the teen in there for a long while. The program, or whatever it was that Tyler had made, had done far more than just mess with the targeting. It had been doing damage in the background by messing with most other systems and the number it had affected wasn't small, life-support was the only system untouched. The repairs were already under way, but it would take some time to undo the work that Tyler had done to the Dominion, it would far better to go back to Lunar HQ, but that wasn't possible right now.

The loss of the battle against the Archangel and her allies, wasn't completely unexpected, but had not been nice. Two of the Strike Daggers had been lost, damage had been sustained to the others. Then the three machines that had come with director Azrael hadn't done that much better. Although, their pilots were half the problem in Natarle's view, as they had been fighting each other, weren't using teamwork at all and they'd paid for their actions. Then, by what she had been told, once the pilots had been brought back on board, they had been taken to the sickbay. Something about medication running out and that they need time to recover was said to her.

The three custom machines had still taken some harsh damage. The X370 Raider had lost its shield and the spherical breaker "Mijoinir", destroyed by the Tyler's mobile suit by its plasma cannons. The X252 Forbidden had put a lot of strain on the scythe it wielded, and it would need work to fix. The Calamity hadn't taken any major or serious damage, but there were still repairs made on it. The Forbidden's Geschmedig Panzers had been used to bounce beams to hit the Raider and Calamity by the red suit and the system needed more adjustments in hopes to prevent that.

The abilities of the suit Tyler piloted as well as the purple unknown mobile suit had been impossible to predict. Tyler's machine especially been unpredictable, from its weapons to its defenses. It even had some kind of device that did a near identical job as the Forbidden's Geschmedig Panzers, along with the two plasma cannons it possessed which had more power behind them than other weapons like them. The purple machine had a few points of worry for Natarle, even if others didn't agree with her. First, it could transform like the X303 Aegis could, even had beam sabers in the forward joints like the GAT prototype had. The other real problem with the suit, by what she viewed, its body parts could change, exposing hidden weaponry. So, who knows what arsenal that suit had to work with.

Nevertheless, none of the clear facts she iterated made any difference, she might as well not had said anything at all. No, all she'd had to listen to, was director Azrael saying how disappointing it was to have lost the battle. Never mind they had been clearly outgunned, outmatched and outdone, in a way that even a rookie could see, apparently none of that mattered. Then, the information they were given on their outset was incomplete and from the PLANTs by Azrael's own words, therefore they hadn't been able to prepare adequately. No, none of that mattered at all to Director Azrael, the man hadn't any idea how things worked on the battlefield. Still, he kept reminding her that she was supposed to follow his orders and not deviate. Natarle had gotten close to telling the blonde to shove his opinion up his rear and screw him, she hadn't felt like that about another, not even Tyler McGregor.

Natarle, knowing that sitting around and leaving her mind to go off on tangents that were ridiculous, was a bad thing to do, headed back to the bridge. Her ongoing conundrum didn't go away, for element of it were on the bridge, namely Muruta Azrael. She ignored the man as she sat down in her chair, "What's our status?" she asked.

"Major repairs are mostly done on both for the ship and the mobile suits, though the suit would do better with more adjusting. Then the ship's onboard systems are okay, but still not in full working order, whatever did the damage, did more than we estimated originally," reported the vice-captain.

"There's still the three Nazca-class vessels at a distance of 122, captain, they haven't changed their position," the sensor operator added.

Natarle thought for a moment, with the ZAFT ships staying where they were, and likely the three ships in the colony that they were supposed to defeat, but the Dominion's position wasn't good right now. "Taking on all three at once would put us at a disadvantage, especially if we were to go against the three ships that we were before at the same time. With us not being at full strength, the chances of success are slim," Natarle muttered.

"The goal is still the same, the acquisition of one of those two, or I suppose I can say four of those unique mobile suits. I would prefer more than one, but one would do if it's enough intact, then that's fine. The destruction of the Archangel would be nice, but as long as we get one of those machines, then the mission is accomplished," remarked Azrael.

Natarle turned and faced Azrael, "Director, while I can understand your interest, with what is available with just the Dominion on site, what you 'suggest' we do is pretty much suicidal," Natarle replied.

"It is so easy for someone to say that something is impossible, whether it is such or not Miss Captain. But, it's quite another matter to make things that seem or are impossible, possible, is it not?" Azrael posed.

Frustration flared up in Natarle at hearing the justification that the one she was supposed to be taking orders and suggestions from. He wasn't looking at the facts or the odds they were facing, he was just waving them off as a 'challenge' to be overcome and not using common sense at all. "That's easy for you to say, but this is the battlefield, failure here means death," reasoned Natarle.

"Oh, it is no different in the business world Natarle Badgiruel, to lose in business is death as well. So, are you one of those people that fights battles that you know you'll win only?" Azrael asked.

The answer was not helpful to Natarle, to say that the business world and the war were the same, was ridiculous. As far as Natarle could tell, Muruta Azrael was far more intent on fulfilling some vendetta which she couldn't see, than anything else. With him being a member of Blue Cosmos, the vendetta had something to do with killing Coordinators. Azrael was looking at her, waiting for an answer, "No director, but I fight all battles with survival being the first priority in mind, even if that means the objectives I'm working to achieve have to be delayed," Natarle said carefully.

"Not that I can't understand doing that, after all, you've got to do what you've got to do to be victorious. Still, we can't sit here and do nothing forever, now can we? That being said, give it your best shot and remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained." Azrael returned.

Natarle saw that there was no reasoning with this man as things stood. Perhaps looking death in the eyes would make the man understand, but it wasn't the time for that. And though, it went against her better judgement right now, she ordered her crew to make themselves ready for combat. The engines were fired up and the Dominion moved out from its hiding spot behind a nearby colony in the cluster by Mendel.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

It had been over an hour since the retreat of the Dominion and its mobile suits. However, I doubt that Natarle will stay away for long. And yet, with what my gremlin probably did, it will be a bit of time before that ship is in decent working order. Admittedly, I may have gone a tad far with the program I whipped up, I mean, yeah it messed with targeting for weapons at first. But, the gremlin I let lose was a freaking nasty devil, I made sure of that, so would it wreak havoc with as many ship systems as it could get to in the background. Still, with the particular scumbag onboard that ship, Muruta Azrael, it was hard to not give my best efforts in the sabotaging done. I hated the man that was the current leader of Blue Cosmos and with a passion so, I designed my gremlin with vigor! It's because of that guy and others like him that Bloody Valentine came to pass in the first place. Yes, I know there were many involved, but Azrael was one of the main people that planned and helped carried out the event. So, I couldn't help it that my program did all it had to Natarle's ship, I wanted that punk she's being forced to listen to get a lesson that he can't always have his way!

I was back on the Eternal, the Aurora was resupplied, and I was just sitting in the cockpit, waiting for whatever should happen next. There was still no word from those inside the colony, neither the Dominion or the ZAFT vessels had moved yet. In other words, we were in a kind of stalemate, waiting to see who would make the next move. I was getting a tad worried as time moved forward, since neither Kira, Mu or Krystal were the type to fool around to kill time. Nor had the ZAFT pilot Dearka Elsman come off as someone that wasted time when the chips were down on the table. And I wasn't the only one that was showing signs of apprehension as to what was going on or rather the lack of things happening most were.

"The Dominion is approaching, distance 50, Green, Bravo, steadily closing. Three enemy mobile suits out in front," announced the voice of Miriallia.

The tension shifted at that word from the Archangel that the Dominion was coming our way once more. Yet this time, those three custom Alliance machines were already launched while the Dominion was a fair distance away. I wouldn't doubt those pilots want some payback on those of us who beat them recently, I'm guessing that is serving as their motivation. Since I was already in my mobile suit and ready to go, I was the first to head out, Lacus followed not too long after me and Athrun came out after her. We noted the eight M1-Astrays that had launched from the Kusanagi and Athrun told them to say and defend the ships, which I agreed with. The fight that was about to be started, wouldn't be small or pretty in any way, that was clear to me.

"It's those three again," Lacus commented over the radio, catching Athrun's and my own attention and refocusing it back on the battle looming.

Looking ahead, I saw the three machines in question; the Calamity, Raider and Forbidden. They appeared to have been repaired from the damage that they had received from us last time. At least I saw that the Raider had been supplied with another shield and mace, that I'd destroyed in the last skirmish. "It is them indeed Lacus, and I've a hunch they're going to be doing what they can to get payback on us for the results of the last fight," I replied.

"Three of us verse three of them, is it?" Athrun posed.

I sighed, "For the moment, so it would seem my friend. However, this is the Earth Alliance we're talking about here. They have a reputation they've gained recently of not playing fair if they don't have to so, who can say how long it will stay fair odds? Great, this is going to be interesting in a non-good way to say the least," I mused flatly.

"Yeah, but that's how it goes. Keep eyes peeled for any movement from the Nazca-class ships." Athrun warned.

"Yeah, right then, let's get this over and done with shall we," I said, not really looking forward to this skirmish.

The Archangel moved out of the dock, followed by the Kusanagi and the Eternal, still no sign of any of those who went off into the colony. I began to weigh the option of going directly for the Dominion, put her out of commission and then hope Natarle would be smart and surrenders, or whether it would be faster to destroy the mobile suits and let the ships deal with the Dominion. Like I told Natarle before, I know the weaknesses of the Archangel-class, so I can disable one quicker than another who doesn't know where to shoot the ship to get the best results.

The Eternal started the battle by firing a swarm of missiles at the black ship, but the missiles were intercepted. And as the ships got started shooting at each other, Lacus, Athrun and I got into range of the Alliance machines and our brawl began once again.

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

Mendel Interior

Inside the colony, the four pilots were still standing, facing each other down. Nicol was quite shocked by the information that Dearka gave. And yet, it did explain some of the standing questions with the legged ship and their pilots he had. If they were Coordinators, then there the radical improvement was easier to understand. There was still the pilot of the Blitz's twin and Nicol would be interested in an opportunity to meet and speak with them or him as Dearka had implied they were male. However, before more questions could be asked, the colony shook them all and the change in situation became apparent.

Dearka, and Krystal who had remained on the sidelines, moved towards their mobile suits, Yzak made one last entreaty. "Dearka, you're being deceived!"

Dearka stopped, "Am I? I wonder which one of us is really being deceived," Dearka replied. Then he looked Yzak straight in the eye, "I don't know for sure what I'm doing is right, but I've made up my mind in this. With the things I've seen, I can't turn a blind eye anymore and live with myself. I cannot agree that all Natural-types are inherently evil, because I've seen that they are not, so I can't just blame all Naturals are to blame anymore."

Nicol stepped forward, a thought and resolve set in his mind, "Then perhaps you could use some help?" he asked.

Dearka came to a halt at hearing Nicol's offer, for it was nuts! Dearka knew what consequences he would most likely face when he returned to the PLANTs and wasn't looking forward to them. But, if Nicol helped him, he was put in the same boat as Dearka was in pretty much. Not to say that Dearka was against the help, and he appreciated Nicol offering to do so, but still. "Nicol, why would you," Dearka started to ask, but Nicol cut him off.

"We're friends, and I want to hear Athrun's side of this story of what has happened before I judge whether he did right or wrong. Besides, we're going against the Alliance, so I see nothing wrong with that, do you?" posed Nicol.

Dearka stared for a moment longer, before he let out a laugh. Nicol was using his usual, simplistic logic that was not worth arguing with, "No, no I can't say I do. See your normal logic can still confound the foolish and shut up us idiots Nicol," he replied.

Nicol smiled before he jogged back to the Blitz and boarded the suit, at the same time Dearka ascended the zip-line to the Buster's cockpit. Krystal gazed at Yzak, "So convinced that your comrade is being deceived? Then ask yourself who is the greater fool in this? The one that goes forward with their eyes open, the one that follows them, or the one who just does what they're told by others with their eyes shut?" she asked rhetorically.

Krystal then turned and left Yzak standing where he was as she ran to the Shadow and boarded the machine. The Blitz, Buster and Shadow lifted off the ground and turned in the direction of the main docking facility in the south side of the colony. Yzak stood where he was, an internal battle with his sense of honor and duty versing his conscience and loyalty. On the one hand, Dearka had came in with an enemy mobile suit, so therefore, that would mean he would be a traitor and enemy. However, the way Dearka had told it, he hadn't done anything technically wrong yet and Yazk couldn't deny that. The whole situation was confusing and it frustrated Yzak a great deal, in the end, he went for the Duel. If anything helped him vent his frustration, it was fighting the Earth Forces, and by the sound of it, if he followed the rest, then he would get to do just that.

Once in the Duel, Yzak lifted off and shot off after the others and shortly caught up with them. Nicol smiled when he spotted the Duel falling in with them, "Decided to join us then Yzak?" he asked.

"Don't even start with that Nicol, I going to fight the Earth Forces group on the south side of the colony and you all happen to be going in the same direction," Yzak replied hotly.

Dearka smiled and held in the snicker that he felt, hearing Yzak blatantly deny why he was doing what he was just so that he didn't have to tell the truth was still funny. As the four made it halfway to the airlock tunnel, the Strike and the Freedom flew in from bellow and got slightly ahead of their group, heading for the dock too.

-Line Break-

Outside of the colony, the initial clash broke up and the six suits separated, getting into pairs to fight one on one. The Forbidden went for the Aurora, since Shani wanted to get the red suit's pilot back for using his machine like it had during the last skirmish. Both Clotho and Orga had gotten on his case for what had happened, and it had infuriated him to be blamed for things. The Raider when for the Regenerate, since he hadn't had the chance in the last battle and he wanted a go at the purple machine. That left the Calamity to take on the Justice and Orga didn't have an issue with that, it was one of the mobile suits that had embarrassed them before.

For around a minute, the fighting between the six mobile suits continued and the conflict with the ships kept going as well. Then, those that had been in the colony interior came out of the dock and there were two extra suits that hadn't gone in initially. The extras were the Duel and the Blitz, which none had expected, but no one brought up a complaint about them being with the others. As the phrase goes, beggars can't really be choosers in situations that people can find themselves in.

The fighters weren't the only ones who noticed the new arrivals to the battlefield, the ships on both sides saw the new comers to skirmish. Natarle's eyes widened a bit at the sight of five mobile suits coming out from the Mendel colony's dock. Although, the Strike did land inside the Archangel, but that still left the other four who didn't. There was the white and black one from the last battle, yet also, the Shadow and the Buster were approaching the battle as well. However, the mobile suits that Natarle hadn't expected, were the X209 Blitz and the X102 Duel. The two prototypes hadn't been seen since the glimpse around the Marshall Islands as far as Natarle could remember.

Nonetheless, with one side receiving four more mobile suits as reinforcement, the odds shifted to the Archangel and her allies favor. That quickly became apparent, as the Raider, Forbidden and Calamity were forced onto the defensive by their opponents. In fact, the battle morphed into a two against one, with one exception, with the Calamity having three opponents. Yet, just after giving orders to move the Dominion into a better position, Natarle only saw seven suits fighting, not the eight there had just been. It took her under ten seconds to comprehend that the mobile suit that was missing was the red mobile suit that Tyler was using. And that fact alone, not knowing where the older teen was, more than worrisome to Natarle, it scared her!

There were a few reasons why Natarle was scared not knowing where Tyler was at this time. He had proven that what he said and what he intended, could differ greatly depending on who he spoke to. Tyler was also a very good pilot, how good a caliber a pilot was still undetermined thus far, but an experienced one nonetheless. Then, the teen had proven that his knowledge of the Archangel-class ship, was extremely dangerous and could be used to do great to the Dominion. So, for Tyler to vanish, that wasn't a good thing at all, more a standing threat really! He could strike the Dominion with little to no warning beforehand and the defenses wouldn't be able to intercept or slow him down.

Natarle kept the worry in the back of her mind and focused on the skirmish as it continued, but the fact nagged at her. It was more than a minute later, when the Dominion was rocked and there was a flash from close by in front. Natarle focused forward and to her horror, one of the Gottfrieds had taken a shot and was now unusable. One of the bridge officers, reported that fires had broken out along maintenance corridors near the turret that was not out of commission. "Guess who Mon Capitan," greeted the voice of Tyler, and it had a different tone to it than the last time, a far more serious and emotionless tone. But, he continued before Natarle could decide as to why there was a difference, "Hey Natarle, did you ever question why some of the clear design flaws and screw ups that the Archangel-class possesses from the designing and construction stages, are still in the architectural blueprints for the ship class? I would be quite shocked if you hadn't spotted a number them and brought them to the attention of the builders to address and/or fix. Although, if it hasn't become obvious by this point, the majority of them were either ignored or dismissed as nothing to worry about and so, are still present," posed Tyler over the speakers on the Dominion's bridge in something of a mix of a sing-song voice and someone that was leading one on into something non-nice.

Hearing the older teen's voice, not only confirmed to Natarle, that Tyler was most likely responsible for the damaged Gottfried the Dominion had now, but that there was more to come. The question and its subject matter didn't sit well with Natarle at all as it inferred, a weakness that Tyler knew about and could use against the Dominion. Still, Tyler wasn't exactly wrong, she had seen issues with the ships design that were hazardous if they failed. A few of those she had told the original captain and vice-captain, were returning to her mind at this time.

Azrael grumbled audibly, "What is the point you are getting at boy?" He said flatly.

"I wasn't talking to you prince scumbag, so pipe down would you, we adults are talking about things that don't concern you. So shut up, you're bothering everyone else with you clucking," Tyler replied, in an cold emotionless tone.

Natarle barely managed to keep her eyes from rolling at the worsening behavior Tyler was showing towards Azrael. She was about to ask what Tyler was referring to, but the teen beat her to the punch, "Back to what I was saying Natarle, did you know that as this ship is designed, all the Igelstellungs control systems are wired to run through conduits, which all pass through a specific junction?" There was a pause and what Tyler was saying started to sink into Natarle's mind."So, if that said junction were to be damaged in some way, then logically speaking, that would result in every single Igelstellung ceasing to function correctly, if they work at all that is. At least that's the theory, shall we find out whether that is true or not in practice?"

Natarle quickly realized what Tyler was talking about, and an expression of horror formed on her face. She knew that what the teen was not only implying would be very bad if it were to happen, but also what he was more than likely in the position to do right now. The thought made her go pale, "Tyler wait, don't," Natarle started, but it was too late.

There was a dull thud and shaking, then shortly afterward, an operator from the CIC announced that all CIWS Igelstellungs stopped responding and were either not taking commands or were shutting down. Now, the Dominion had lost most of its interception system. Meaning as Tyler had inferred, the junction he had just done in, was necessary for the CIWS systems to work right and so had taken them out of working order. The older teen had just crippled the interception capabilities of the Dominion with one precise strike, more effectively than shooting each Igelstellungs from a distance. Natarle didn't see how this situation could become much worse than it was now.

Nonetheless, Natarle was proven just how wrong she was less than a minute later. That came in the form of the red mobile suit that had put things the way they currently were, appearing in front of the Dominion's bridge's forward viewing ports. The suit pointed its beam rifle directly at the bridge, which froze the crew where they were, even Muruta Azrael stiffened from the sight of a gun barrel being pointed in his direction. "This would be checkmate Mon Capitan, now you have a serious decision to make. Either call off your mobile suits and give me your unconditional surrender, or else I'll pull the trigger of my rifle. I doubt I need to state what would happen if I do, pointing the gun in the direction I am. So then, which will it be Captain Badgiruel, I don't got all day for you to think about it," posed Tyler flatly.

Natarle swallowed harder than she had done in a very long while, for this was a bind that she hadn't thought she'd be in any time soon. She could tell just from the tone, Tyler was being completely serious, he would shoot his beam rifle at the bridge of the Dominion… should she not do as he said and surrender. This teenager, Tyler McGregor had just shown skills that pretty much beat many pilots, both within ZAFT and the Alliance, and had outdone Natarle completely! Should she wish to live and save her crew, then surrender was the only option she had. Yet, before the situation progress further, and all find out what would happen, things changed a sizable margin.

Three Earth Alliance vessels came into sensor range, one Agamemnon-class and two Nelson-classes. Attention shifted to the three new comers to the battle, Tyler cursed the timing of these new arrivals and the potential complications that came with them. There had been some changes and refitting done to both ship classes from what they had been before. The changes were mostly for the purpose of working with mobile suits. As such, both classes had mobile suit catapults built into them. The Agamemnon-class, now had a catapult down its forward center line of the ship itself. Whereas, the Nelson-class has two smaller suit catapults, one on either side of the vessels.

Once the three Alliance vessels came into view of the battle, they began to send out their own mobile suits. Among those machines, were three more custom suits namely, the Raptor, the Sinister and the Bandit. Tyler could see that the tables would quickly turn on them, in favor of the Earth Forces with these reinforcements they were getting. The three mobile suits that had been a part of the attack on the Republic would make things harder for the defenders. Plus, odds were now a reversed three to one if not almost four to one and those were good right now.

Tyler decided that it was the better part of valor and loyalty, to help his friends, so he backed away from the Dominion's bridge. Natarle was about to breathe a sigh of relief but then, Tyler took the opportunity and shot the working Gottfried, taking it out of commission. Next, he made two shots, on at each leg of the Dominion, disabling both Lohengrins as well. That left only the Valiant linear cannons and some of the partially working stern missile tubes to work with. Tyler had effectively almost disarmed the Dominion of both defensive and offensive options single handedly.

Tyler after that, shot off back to the skirmish of mobile suits, giving up the chance to take down the Dominion and cripple the fight for the Alliance. Tyler flew back and dove in, supporting all the mobile suits defending the Archangel, Kusanagi and Eternal, even the Duel and the Blitz. The defenders were being pushed up to a metaphorical wall, which they couldn't give any more ground for.

Things started looking grim for the non-Alliance ships and their mobile suits as the Earth Forces kept pressing forward. Then, another shift came, yet this time, it wasn't in favor of the Alliance. The initial sign of this, was some of the Alliance suits were shot from behind and either damaged or destroyed. This was followed by the appearance of Federation Delta fighters, which shifted into mobile suits as they came baring down on the Earth Forces machines and ships. The sight of several Federation ships popping up, discarding their optical camouflage, boosted the morale of the defenders of the Archangel, Kusanagi and Eternal. It wasn't the same for the Alliance forces, when they saw the sudden appearance of Federation forces, it was more the opposite.

In fact, when Natarle saw that the Federation force was made up of six of their cruisers class vessels and not one, but three Federation dreadnoughts, she seriously wondered if the Dominion would survive this battle alive for the second time in this battle. Federation cruisers were strong in their groups they traveled in, the same could be said of the Federation's frigates that accompanied them normally. Federation dreadnoughts however, were a different matter entirely from other Federation ship classes. They were more powerful than the Agamemnon-class vessel, by a decent margin and Earth Forces top brass couldn't deny the fact without lying. The largest vessel the Federation used, had heavy armaments and cared upwards of eight or more of the Federation mobile fighters, more than any cruiser had. Honestly, Natarle knew that any chance that there had been for the Alliance forces, including the reinforcements, had all but disappeared now. They were outgunned, outnumbered now and outclassed in a way ZAFT could do so rarely. In short, the Earth Forces present, were screwed! Then with the Federation force also came two other unique, custom mobile fighters, didn't help the falling morale of the Alliance fighting force. One of the two machines, was a neutral over all blue and had one long gun and two shorter cannons. The other fighter, was a darker blue and white mixture, also had one long gun and two shorter ones. And if the other Federation fighters were anything to go by, the two custom machines could also could become mobile suits as well.

The defenders were in much higher spirits at seeing the reinforcements that had come to the battlefield to assist them. The speed and efficiency of which the Federation forces were pushing back the Earth Forces, was quite impressive. Tyler himself was quite pleased to see the Thanatos and the Athena again, even if he didn't look forward to time around Graham, due to the man's tendency to show off. Especially, watching him send Alliance mobile suits running… and made it look easy, showing off how skilled a pilot he was, that annoyed Tyler a bit. But, he was concentrating on the fight as he, along with Kira, Athrun and Lacus were popular with the custom Alliance machines.

It didn't take long for the Alliance forces to be not only put on the defensive standing, but being pushed back. That didn't deter any of the pilots of the custom models, yet it was clear, there was a difference of fighting style between the two trios. As they had shown, the Bandit, Sinister and Raptor worked together as a team and did so respectably. The other trio did not work as a team and were a hindrance to their allies around as much as their enemies.

The fact of the style differences was making Deborah increasingly ticked off. She and her younger sisters, were doing what they were assigned to do by their mother and doing their best. And yet, those boys were causing issues by fighting among themselves and just being general idiots like they normally were. The problem was, their actions didn't just affect themselves, but it also affected those around them. The three boys had always been reckless, even if they got good results more than half the time. Deborah told her sisters to pick a suit and focus on that one, but to watch out for the three male idiots as they weren't helping much.

The longer the battle kept going, the further downhill it went, Federation pilots were showing the difference that experience in operating a mobile suit makes and the Alliance forces couldn't contradict it. The six Alliance custom machines were targeting the suit of their choosing. The Forbidden went for the Freedom, while the Calamity fought the Athena, and the Raider shot at the Aurora. The Sinister began going after the Justice, the Raptor faced off against the Regenerate and the Bandit fought against the Shadow. The Blitz and the Duel were battling the other Alliance suits which the Federation were pushing back.

Clotho fighting the Aurora, was trying whatever he could think of to score a solid hit on the red mobile suit. He wanted payback on this enemy machine for what it did in the last encounter. Not only had it interrupted the good fair fight he and the others had been having with the other three odd suits, but he had also done things that were unfair! Because of this red machine, he had gotten a lecture and gone through lots of pain while the Raider had undergone repairs. Clotho's anger had festered, and he would vent it and shoot down the red mobile suit no matter what!

Shani was slashing at the Freedom, laughing manically as he did, though his laughter changed into angry snarling as the Freedom danced out of the way of the Forbidden's scythe. The punishment that had been endured by Shani, Clotho and Orga, hadn't been nice or pleasant in any way. He knew like the others, that if they achieved nothing in this skirmish that the punishments would be worse than the last experience. That was motivation for all three of them not to fail and at least get something out of this fight. Damaging one or more of the suits, destroying one or more, bringing one of them back, if they could do one of those things, then they wouldn't fail, therefore, they wouldn't be punished like before.

Orga remembered the objectives that he, Clotho and Shani had been told they needed to achieve on this outing. But, as he fought one of the new blue machines, he began to enjoy himself a bit. When his opponent's machine shifted into a mobile suit, the fight got even more fun for him for the difficulty increased. Orga had always liked a challenge, even if the other two hadn't, to him a challenge made things less dull.

Lafter was swinging her long anti-ship sword at the Justice, yet her opponent kept weaving out of the path of her blade. She remembered this crimson machine, back from the battle around all the weird planes that would change into mobile suits. Her mama had called the place the Republic of East Asia, and said the people there hadn't listened to the ones that gave her mama money to work. Granted, it frustrated her that she didn't get another chance to cleave the red mobile suit she had faced against before in two. But, the crimson machine would do fine as well, she would impress her mama and then mama would praise her for her efforts.

Rossweisse, chose to go against the purple mobile suit, mostly to say that she had made the choice. All she had to do was shoot the machine down and then she could move on to doing other things. She used the Raptor's six cannons and the bazooka she had been given for this assignment, which was a 337mm plasma-sabot. Yet, the enemy wasn't getting trapped so Rossweisse could blast them and be done with this. Rossweisse redoubled her efforts, but the result didn't change as they had before, and it frustrated her for this machine to not be shot down like other enemies before. She quickly lost her temper and began to attack the Regenerate more aggressively.

Deborah had let her sister and the foolish boys choose which of the custom machines they wanted to fight. Honestly, she herself hadn't really cared who she fought against, the sooner this job was done the better. So, in the end, she had gone for one of the black mobile suits, the one that had a shield on the left arm. It took Deborah less than a minute to figure out that the pilot of the suit was fairly skilled and that Deborah herself would've to be careful. But then, Deborah had always been the more aware and smartest among her and her sisters.

After a few minutes, Clotho's frustration and rage at the machine he faced and its pilot, were coming to boiling point. Not one hit, Clotho hadn't managed to get in a good successful strike against the red mobile suit. Hell, not even a nick or glancing blow had Clotho made. Enraged as he was becoming, Clotho ended out sending the Raider's Mjolnir at the enemy mobile suit, to which the red suit evaded like the attacks before. Clotho just wanted to land one hit on this red suit that was a growing pain in the neck, he would accept that for now. However, he gave the command for the Mjolnir to retract, he received a jerk in response. When Clotho looked forward, he was shocked to see that the red suit had grabbed the cable that was attached the Mjolnir to its launcher.

Tyler after dodging the mace weapon that the Raider had, didn't feel inclined to be nice right now, so he took the opportunity presented. The Aurora took the cable the mace was connected to and held it firmly, and once the cable started pulling the sphere back towards the Raider, Tyler jerked it and stopped the cable's retraction. Once Tyler had gotten the Raider's attention, he tugged the cable hard and pulled the other mobile suit into a spinning arc. Tyler did what he had done to the Blitz earlier this year when Le Creuset's team had been hunting down the Archangel. That being using the cabled weapon to swing the connected machine around in a circle, therefore confusing the pilot and getting them to panic.

Half a minute later, the Aurora let go of the cable and the Raider went sailing away, tumbling as it went. The Raider began the process of righting itself and get out of the sailing tumble it was in, at the same time, the Aurora brought out both its plasma cannons. Tyler aimed at the Raider and fired red beams at the suit. One beam hit one of the Raider's legs, which quickly warped from the heat and power of the plasma beam and was ripped apart. The other beam struck the Raider's shield and pushed the suit back a bit. The Raider detached the shield and moved to the to the left of the shield. The shield for a moment, appeared to block the beam, but then the plasma beam then melted past the anti-beam coating and ripped through the rest of the shield, destroying it.

The Raider finished righting itself, and looked back at where the shield had been moments ago and then down at the missing leg section. Clotho was breathing hard, his eyes wide as kept staring at where parts of his mobile suit were now missing. Clotho began to realize just how close he got to dying from that last attack. The red mobile suit had been the most aggravating out of these mobile suits they were fighting. But, with the two cannons that it had, forced Clotho to lose most of one of the Raider's legs and the shield, he had been forced to sacrifice it to not take the other beam directly.

Then as Clotho looked down at the display screens for his suit's vital systems, only made matters worse. For, upon looking down at the screens, Clotho saw that they were low, and he would need to go and resupply soon or he would die. He was trying to think of what to do to get away from this machine, Clotho would come back to finish the job, that was a promise. But then, there came a voice that scared Clotho more than any other, "Clotho Buer, Shani Andras, Orga Sabnak."

Clotho stiffened at hearing the cold voice of Mina Moss calling out his and the other two by name, "Doctor Moss," he whispered, tones of fear clear.

Yes, with the appearance of the Raptor, the Sinister and the Bandit, Clotho knew that there was a good chance that Dr. Moss was around, since she traveled with those girls. Still, he had hoped that she hadn't been here, that's how scared Clotho was of the woman and he wasn't the only one that felt that way about her. Both Shani and Orga feared the head of Lodonia labs as much as he did, it was one of the things they had in common. Most, if not all candidates feared the head of Lodonia labs, because they all understood that she could make life beyond miserable and the worst kind of living hell possible and not kill you!

"The three of you are to return to the ship you are assigned to immediately, this fight is decided and is done, now go," Dr. Moss ordered.

Clotho pulled back and then headed towards the Dominion, not wanting the wrath of the woman he feared the most. Shani did the same as Clotho, for the same basic reasons. Orga also began heading back towards the Dominion as well. However, before any of them got back to the black ship, there appeared a ZAFT shuttle on the field. "Kira, please help me," announced the voice of Flay Allster, which surprised everyone on the battle field.

The call caught Kira's attention, he hadn't seen or heard anything about Flay since the events around Alaska. Lacus was also paying attention to what was happening as she had only heard that the redhead had been separated from the Archangel shortly after reaching the JOSH-A base. Then her voice came over an open com-channel again, "I have something that can end this war for good."

Tyler became very interested at hearing that, for both good and bad reasons, it really depended upon what the 'something' was. Kira shot towards the shuttle, but he was stopped by the Forbidden. The Regenerate also tried to get to the shuttle, but the Raider blocked it. The other mobile suits were kept busy, by the desperate Alliance mobile suits that still remained. And while they were stopped, the Calamity retrieved the ZAFT shuttle and then continued towards the Dominion. The Raider, Forbidden and Calamity got away while what remained of the Alliance forces kept those who tried to stop them busy.

Shortly after that, a signal was fired from the Agamemnon-class, to say that all Alliance forces were to retreat and that they wouldn't make aggressive actions against the Federation. In other words, the Alliance surrendered this territory. And that meant that the hands of the defenders and their allies were tied for the time being, due to an agreement between all three factions. That was that if a non-aggression signal was displayed, it was seen as an acceptance of defeat by the senders. Thus, they didn't have to suffer heavier losses, though it did mean that 'winners' gained the territory or place that the battle was taking place. There was no argument of fairness or that giving territory can't be taken from their previous owner.

So, by launching the non-aggression signal, the Alliance had given up any claim they had to the L4 colony cluster. And unless they gave a sign that they were going to violate that agreement, that would have to be accepted by both the defender and the Alliance. Still, a serious feeling of unease and restlessness remained over all there.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

The battle hadn't gone as well as could been hoped, though it hadn't gone badly either. In the end, we, the defending forces had won, but it had been questionable for a time and the victory hadn't come without a price. The three ships that the pilots, including myself had been defending had taken some damage from the skirmish. The Eternal had lost the functionality with four out of its six small beam cannons. Also, two of the Eternal's engines had taken enough damage that they would need repair. The Kusanagi had come out of the fight with the least damaged taken overall. Yet still, a number of its missile launchers and Igelstellungs had been taken out of commission and would need to be fixed or replaced.

The Archangel on the other hand, had gotten the worse from the battle. Three of the eight small engines and one of the large engines the Archangel possessed, had gone through a forced shutdown, to prevent them from exploding after taking some 'lucky shots'. One Gottfried had been damaged and wasn't working, and would need work done to have it operational again. Four of the Igelstellungs had taken hits and would need serious repair before they could be counted on again. Then, the port side missile launchers had taken a beating and had gone offline as a result of the damage.

As for us pilots and our mobile suits, the Freedom and the Aurora had only incurred minor damage, nothing that mechanics couldn't handle. The Justice would need work on its shield, since Athrun had used it to block the Calamity's multi-phased beam cannon. The shield had warped a good amount, but other than that, there was little damage with the Justice to note. The Regenerate would need some beam guns replaced as it had lost one of its extra limbs. But apparently, there were spare parts onboard the Eternal, so the missing parts could be replaced.

The Shadow, my original mobile suits, had performed well with Krystal piloting. I believe that her choice in equipping the flight system as she had used it to great effect, so the mobile suit was fine overall. There was still minor damage and the shield's railgun would an overhaul, but other than that, nothing major that couldn't be undone by mechanics on the Archangel. The Blitz and the Duel needed more minor repairs than the Shadow, but nothing major. I hadn't expected that those two would not only pop up, but help us out and return to the Archangel. Not after the work and effort they had made to take the ship down, but none of us are really in a position to complain about the extra help. The Strike was the most undamaged as it hadn't been in the second skirmish as Mu had been shot multiple times by Le Creuset inside the colony by what I'm told.

The blonde man had been wrapped up in bandages and was being kept from doing any strenuous activities, assigned to bedrest for recovery instead. I felt for the man, he's experiencing what the last few months have been for me. However, I have to say, it was funny to watch Murrue lecture Mu about how foolish he had been and for that lecture to shift into a reprimand. Yet, after taking in what the situation was, I went looking for Kira, since I wouldn't doubt he's not doing so good. I had caught sight of my friend walking off somewhere, Lacus not too far behind him. With Lacus on his tail, I was less worried about Kira, still am worried about him though.

I was left to ponder the mentioning from Mu and Kira that they had encountered the rat-I mean, Rau Le Creuset. His appearance wasn't completely unexpected to me, but it certainly wasn't welcome and never has been. But, with him around, I'm more suspicious of what the rat is up to. It was unlikely that he was around L4 at the same time Alliance forces are just by coincidence, it's as likely as the hatred between both Coordinators and Naturals these day going way completely.

I had wandered to the into the port facilities as I had been deep in thought, considering the standing we were in. Since we had solved or rid ourselves of some issues, there were still those that hadn't been dealt with fully and those that had been gained. Yet, my attention was caught by something coming into the dock, and upon looking up, I saw that the 'something' was one of the Federation Voyager-class dreadnoughts.

Decided that I might as well go check in with the one in charge, get that point over and done with, do my due diligence. So, I headed to the Federation vessel and waited for the ship to connect to a tunnel to get on board from the port itself. Once a tunnel was linked and pressurized, I made my way over to the Voyager-class. Floated to the lift that led to the command bridge and rode it up, yet the second the door opened, I came to regret my decision of coming to report to the one in charge.

Why might one ask? It's because one who was clearly in control, was someone that I knew, due to the fact that I wasn't fond of the woman and… honestly, she scares me an amount. The woman was about the same height as me and was also a Coordinator. She had long, mid-back length golden blonde hair, which looked silky in its texture, not that I've been willing to get close enough to see if it was as it looked. The upper right third of her face was covered by her hair, the rest of her face would be seen by most as pretty, if not for the serious expression that I swear is permanently affixed. The single eye that was visible was light blue in color and her figure showed that she was active and not one you mess with if you want to have a peaceful life.

The woman's name was Angela Raine, she was an Admiral in the Federation military and a member of the Admiralty that led it. She was in her mid-forties I believe, but I've never asked her, how old she is, I know better than to do something that stupid. Like Admiral Moses, Admiral Raine hailed from the Euros Coalition. And the biggest reason that I knew this lady… is she's the head of SOLAS. Yep, Angela Raine is my boss, the one I tend to report to, and her personality makes my mom, appear quite flamboyant comparably when it comes to seriousness. My question is what is she doing out here? She is normally around the Federation's military's central command that's up here in space, named Echowas.

Echowas is not only the biggest Federation base, with the forces it houses, but also just in sheer size. ZAFT's Jachin Due base is smaller and that base is not what one would call small really. Its location was a secret from the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, not for a lack of trying on their part, for both have been looking for it to have leverage on the Federation. Thus far, neither side has collected any creditable information on the location or strength that the base has.

Really, only those who have been to Echowas know where it actually is, for like the vessels of the Federation military, the base is invisible due to the optical camouflage that's deployed over the whole base's surface. Then, its location isn't where the Alliance or ZAFT have thought to look, though by what I understand, there have been some ships from both factions that have passed the base and not even known it. All sides accept that there are officially five Lagrange points, but unofficially, the Federation came up with two other Lagrange points, L6 and L7. Both Lagrange points are along Earth's orbit halfway between the moon and L3. But, while L6 is on the east side of Earth's orbit, a short distance from the PLANTs at L5, L7 is on the west, a moderate distance from the L4 colony cluster.

Echowas is positioned at L7, and stays in geosynchronous orbit with the Earth. The base itself, is made from what was believed to be an asteroid as sometime in the past, oblong in overall shape. The main mass of the asteroid had been hollowed out, but maintained the structural strength and integrity to be able to withstand a heavy assault. There was also an array of defensive guns and laser interceptors to defend the base itself. The docking facilities were large and took up a third of the base's area. And then, there were still docking points on the outside of the east side of the base's structure of which, didn't just exist inside the space rock. No, there were metal structures that came out of the asteroid itself as well on the sides and the back side of the rock.

The Admiralty that led the Federation military, tended to be at Echowas and their orders were distributed from there, at least, most of the Admiralty spent their time there as far as I knew. The Admiralty was made up of fourteen individuals, two to represent each branch of the Federation military and their subsidiaries plus, two who were the head of the Admiralty as a group. The branches of the Federation military are; the Space Forces, the Earthbound Defense Forces, the Intelligence Agency, Mobile Suit Core, SOLAS and Research and Development association.

Admiral Raine, was one of the two who represented SOLAS and was the one that pretty much called the shots for the organization. The other does more the day to day background things and is good at it by what I hear, I've never actually Admiral Frederick Algreus personally. So, I was kind of nervous, and I don't think any can blame me, and if there are some that do, they don't know the woman that I was seeing! Said nervousness shot up when Admiral Raine's gaze came to land on me, "McGregor, your appearance is unexpected, but with you here you can report what is going on," the woman said in a midrange alto with a serious voice.

I flinched a bit and stiffened at being addressed by my 'boss', "I could certainly do that ma'am, I'm here as I thought I should check in with the one in charge, being a good thing as well as the right thing to do ma'am." My voice was slightly shaky as I gave my answer, I knew that I would need to choose my words carefully with this woman.

I received a stern look, which said to get on with my report among other things it was saying. So, I went into what had gone on for the last month or so, since quite a lot of things had occurred during the timeframe. Plus, I ended out going earlier and giving an account and justification for my actions from the time I had been next to an explosion outside of Orb months ago. The report… well, I told the truth as I knew it and hoped that Admiral Raine didn't find a reason to do something to me for something I did. I was chastised for 'goofing off' during the first battle with the Dominion as my boss put it. Let's just say that I was covering sensitive parts of my body while being told how foolish I'd been. And I did note that there were a few commanding officers that gave me looks of pity, meaning they didn't blame me for what I was defending. For the record, I like my family jewels where they are and working as they do, I don't want that to change! Yes, I wouldn't put it past Admiral Raine to nail me between my nuts and do damage to them, and I don't want to know how that would feel first hand!

Anyways, once I was done, I was released from the interrogation session with the woman and I left quickly. When I had gotten away from Admiral Raine, I decided to resume my search for Kira and find out how he was doing with recent events. Even though we had won the last skirmish, it didn't exactly feel like we had entirely, not with the redhead Flay Allster being taken to the Dominion. It hadn't been the fault of any one of us, circumstances hadn't allowed us to get to the girl before our opponents did.

It took me a little while to find Kira, off in the upper observation lounge the port facilities. I found both Kira and Lacus there with him, clearly trying to comfort our friend, which I would expect from Lacus. I waited for a short period of time, taking in the feel in the room, but after a bit, I made my presence known by clearing my throat. "Um, hope I'm not interrupting, but I did have a question for you Kira," I said.

Kira looked up at me and I could see he had been crying, meaning that he was doing worse than I'd expected him to be. I rubbed the back of my head with a hand and said nothing more, not knowing what I could say to help in this. Kira had always been the one that had been good with comforting another, he had done it with Athrun and me before now. Kira managed to calm himself down a margin and nodded towards me to ask the question I had, "What happened inside the Mendel colony Kira?" I inquired.

There had been nothing said by him or Mu, other than an encounter with Rau Le Creuset and I feel there was more to the story. Kira glanced over at Lacus, she nodded and then left the room, leaving Kira and me alone. Once Lacus had left the room, Kira looked back to me, and I asked the question that had come to my mind, "So then Kira, I take it that this talk will be a more private one then?"

Kira nodded in reply, and so, I waited for my friend to start saying what he wanted to say. My friend went into his encounter with the masked man, Rau Le Creuset and what had been said during the event. The description of the complex Kira and Mu had been in within Mendel, sounded like one of the medical facilities. Specifically, one of the rooms Kira talked about, was a genetic laboratory, used to create and improve the artificial womb. The reason I knew that, was that I had read some of the reports that concerned the work done at Mendel, and what I'd read hadn't been nice to imagine at all. A lot of the research and experiments done at Mendel were wrong, both morally and ethical, though the morale points were often ignored.

Mu and Kira had been strung along by Creuset further into the complex, asking questions of both of them to imply things. However, when Kira had mentioned seeing the name plate of one of the most famous scientist at Mendel, "Ulen Hibiki", my attention sharpened. The said man was considered the one who had advanced genetic engineering and DNA manipulation to where it is today. Not to say that Ulen Hibiki wasn't brilliant, for he was, he created the artificial womb after all and that wasn't a simple device in the slightest. Yet, Kira seemed to be familiar with the name, though didn't know a great deal about the man himself. My dad had known the man as I understand it, but dad did say something along the lines of Ulen Hibiki losing himself in his obsession, I don't know what that exactly meant.

The desire to punch Creuset came to me, when I was told he made Kira question who his parents were and therefore, his own identity. Nevertheless, I recalled reading about someone of interest to those who had things against Coordinators and that they wanted them dead in the reports about Mendel. It's also assumed to be the reason that what had brought about the end of the colony had been introduced. Still, Creuset mentioning of a crazy and mad dream worried me and that man is insane enough already.

When Kira said the term "Ultimate Coordinator" and "Perfect Human", that struck something in me, for I had read something on the terms in the reports. In the said records, there had been data that had been decrypted that had been written by Ulen Hibiki himself. The experiments he did aside from those that created the artificial womb, were even more sick and wrong than what some of the other scientist there said. The man had shown a clear workaholic attitude and an unhealthy obsession to which I believe my father was referring to, was creating someone that could achieve the highest potential humanity can, or at least what he view as such. There had been many bodies found at Mendel when the Federation team that had inspected the place after the "plague" had stormed through the colony. There had been scientist and other inhabitance of Mendel, but there was also a number that had clearly not belonged. Those were later believed to have been 'attempts' at making a different type of Coordinator that Hibiki wanted, according to the data acquired.

From what I know, I was inclined to believe that Ulen Hibiki was indeed Kira's male sire as Creuset said. My mother told me once about the man's wife Via Hibiki, as they had met a few times. The difference between her and her spouse, Via had a conscience unlike her husband. The records found at Mendel, which the rest that exist have since the finding of the originals been destroyed, tell of the fact. I mean, Ulen Hibiki had extracted, one of his unborn child, a.k.a. Kira, from his wife, putting not only Kira at serious risk, but also his wife and other child, and all for his obsession. The man was clearly beyond feeling emotion like most human beings do, and his work was the likely cause.

The fact of Creuset admitting that he is a clone among the types of human he could be, was interesting. The reason that's the case, is the process and work of cloning is not just illegal, but seen as seriously criminal by pretty much all three factions. The punishments that are attached to the crime aren't light, even if they vary a bit depending which faction is doing the judging. The odd thing though, is Doctor Hibiki would have been very well aware of the dangers and foolishness of even getting into cloning someone. That being said, for the one to be the clone of, be Mu's father… that complicates the matter. First, the price couldn't have been cheap for Mr. Flaga, not with what he wanted. And so, Hibiki had to have been extremely desperate for funding for his work, so would have charged a high price for cloning. Those are the only reason I can come up with for what happened.

I clenched my jaw, when Kira told me the rat had not only said that no one could change the war or stop it, but also took a shot at my mom and her heart felt message. My mother had put her heart and soul into that speech and pretty much anyone could see that! To call her a fool, let's just say when next time Creuset crosses my path, I'll make him squirm, I'll make sure of that! Kira summed up the finish of the encounter, with Creuset running and Kira helping Mu get back to his mobile suit.

Kira was silent after that, just staring at the floor, while I let out long sigh, "Well, first Kira, don't let Creuset get to you my friend. The 'masked man' is more a dirty rat than a man and is a horrible trouble maker that needs a permanent leash attached to him that can't be removed in my opinion," I remarked. I paused, gathering my thought and getting them into order, "The things that Creuset said, I can't say that all of it are lies, for an amount of it is true, but again, don't take what Creuset says as he says it. He was clearly trying to get a reaction out of you Kira," I reasoned.

My friend didn't really respond to me, so I kept going, "The Mendel colony… well, a lot happened there, and because of that, many have skewed what historical records say about the place and what those there did. So, let me cover the salient points that concern the place for you, to help set you straight. Mendel was a medical research facility overall, specifically genetic engineering and DNA manipulation. There has been debate whether the work and the experiments involved were morally and/or ethically right. Arguments for both sides of the work being right or wrong are heated and are really stupid."

After laying down the foundation, I continued in telling what I knew of Mendel, "The name plate you saw that said 'Ulen Hibiki' refers to the most well-known scientist at Mendel. He is regarded as the man who has advanced genetic engineering to what it is now, the artificial womb being the biggest contribution from him. I never met the man personally, that I can recall at least, supposedly, he and his wife visited the Republic when I was really young. Apparently, he knew my dad and was on decent terms with him or something like that," I shrugged. "But, like I said, I was young and don't remember the encounter, the man was a serious workaholic by what I'm told."

I gained a serious expression on my face and that got Kira's attention, "However Kira, I'm appalled and shocked that you let that rat Creuset, shake you into questioning who your parents are." Kira looked to the floor, but I grabbed his shoulders and made him look at me, "You listen to me Kira Yamato, your parents are Haruma and Caridad Yamato. Those two raised you and they care about you period, don't let anything that anyone else says to you, make you doubt that fact! We don't get to choose our sires, but we can decide who we consider our parents to be, you got that?" I stated firmly.

Kira smile a bit at what I said, "As usual Tye, your reasoning is blunt and right, I shouldn't have let what was said hit me like it did," Kira admitted. "So then, clearly you have knowledge on what happened at Mendel, what is meant by 'Ultimate Coordinator' and 'Perfect Human' that Creuset mentioned?"

I brought a hand to my chin, "To be honest, I can't say for sure. As far as I know, it's a reference that came up a number of times in records that Ulen Hibiki kept, which were decrypted by Federation personnel after they were acquired. The man was brilliant, no denying that, but," I iterated, yet I paused with the thoughts of what the man had done and thought nothing of it. I shook my head and continued. "Ulen Hibiki did things that are wrong, even if he claims that it was necessary for progress, he's a scientist that went wrong to achieve his goals. There was evidence found, indicating he did human experimentation, and not just on unborn children, but also on living children too."

Kira gasped at my last sentence, most didn't know that doctor Hibiki had done such work, for he did it behind closed doors and the records had been well hidden. Then the record… written and video of him taking out one of the developing fetuses from his wife, had angered many, myself included. I took the time to calm myself and kept going, "Whether Ulen Hibiki is your sire or not shouldn't matter, the man showed he cares nothing about anyone but himself in any way. Obsessions such as his, are unhealthy and never end well for those who have them or for those around them."

Kira nodded at my statement, "Creuset being a clone is kind of surprising, but with that man, I say there ain't nothing that I would put past him. It's more surprising that his DNA donator insisted for a clone, since cloning isn't just illegal, but also a serious crime in the eyes of all three factions," I muse. Then I thought for a moment, "I mean, the consequence of doing the idea aren't small, just depends who catches you. The odd thing is Dr. Hibiki would have known that, so either he had to have been really desperate or thought he wouldn't have been caught. Who knows which explanation it is?"

"But, how did the colony end up being like it is now? As I understand it, some sort of plague came around, yet it didn't look like that inside," asked Kira.

"Ah that, yes, history does denote that plague was the downfall of Mendel, and I suppose it's a believable enough story. However, plague wasn't what swept through the colony, killing most there, that would be the biological concoction someone else came up with. Samples of the stuff, showed that the synthetic agent was one seriously nasty customer. I don't want to imagine the agony that those in the colony had to be in when the stuff was introduced to the colony interior, it can't have been pretty at all," I said.

Kira seemed to be down about from the subject matter of our chat, so I pulled Kira into a hug, "Kira, I've said it before and I'll say it again, you are who you choose to be and act. No one else can change that, nor can what kind of human you are, it is our choices that determine who we are," I stated.

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

Creuset exited the Mendel colony, heading back towards the Vesalius. Yzak wasn't with him, where the young pilot had gone, he didn't know and wasn't that interested in knowing. After what had gone on inside the colony, progress in Creuset's plans, were going along fine. They could be going better, but things were moving along at a respectable pace.

When he had felt Mu La Flaga's presence, it instilled a feeling of amusement, especially with where they were. It gave a change for Le Creuset to make an attempt to deal a serious blow to Mu and Creuset certainly wouldn't refuse a chance to do that. But, never had Creuset imagined that he would encounter "the child", Kira Yamato, there had been mixed feelings with that meeting. Hatred had come of course, but the boy himself wasn't exactly, more the man that had brought him into existence. Ulen Hibiki, the man that had created Rau Le Creuset at the behest of Al Da Flaga and began his miserable life. The hatred of those two men was beyond dislike, they were part of the reason that Rau Le Creuset wanted the world, the colonies and all of humanity to end.

Kira Yamato was more a reminder of Creuset's motivation to see his plans through to the end. And yet, the irony of it all, the boy that was the Ultimate Coordinator and the Perfect Human, wasn't aware of what he was or what his existence represented. No, the boy was so naïve and clueless, that his innocence was so ridiculous that it was hysterical. Creuset would've like to just get rid of Kira Yamato, but circumstances hadn't allowed it, the same with Mu La Flaga. But, there was still future opportunity to destroy the both of them, so Creuset was willing to be patient.

Even with those results, the designs for the N-jammer canceller was likely in the hands of the Alliance through Muruta Azrael. The way that Azrael did things, there was no way that the man wouldn't use the device in order to send nuclear weapons at the PLANTs. And with Patrick Zala building his nuclear gamma beam, or "GENESIS" as it was being called, the ending result would be destruction aplenty! It would be an amazing show to say the least and Creuset was looking forward to seeing it all play out.

Not to say that there hadn't been delays for Creuset's plans to this point. The Human Federation had provided many of the delays with their interference in the war. Then, there were people like the Prime Minister of the Republic, Ellen Blass, who didn't know how to keep their mouths shut. When Creuset had viewed the woman's "speech", he had been irritated and somewhat worried. The subject matter had been ridiculous and yet, the way it had been presented, as a plea and call to the masses had been dangerous. Creuset knew that such could influence the masses, those from the Clyne family had the same gift of rousing the masses to action.

That was the reason the Creuset had made it look like Siegel Clyne was the one to leak the information to the Alliance about Operation Spitbreak. The man's disappearance along with his youngest daughter, had been problematic to Creuset. If there was no body, then don't assume that the person is dead, a lesson that Creuset knew personally. So, there was a chance that both Siegel Clyne and his daughter were alive, a rather high chance in fact. That meant there were some things to do to account for the event that either or both would appear.

The sight of the three Nazca-classes brought a smile to Creuset's face, since overall, things were going well enough for him. There was a GINN in front of the ships, but that isn't unexpected. With the battle on the opposite side of the colony, a mobile suit was probably sent out to keep an eye and give warning if things took a turn. So, Creuset didn't think anything of the GINN and kept going towards the Vesalius.

When Creuset was halfway to the Vesalius, he heard an alarm and then was shaken as his mobile suit was struck from behind. Creuset looked around, searching for the source of the attack, yet he saw nothing behind him. But then, one of the newly seen Federation mobile suits appear out of nowhere and ram the GuAIZ Creuset was piloting. Creuset took a defensive stance, but then he was forced to evade as weapon's fire came from behind. When Creuset turned, he saw that the attack had come from the GINN, who was pointing their rifle at Creuset.

Then, before Creuset's eyes, the "GINN's" appearance began changing, it turned grey over all with white outlining along the shoulders and its shield. In fact, the shape of the mobile suit was very similar to Creuset's GuAIZ prototype. But, what was disturbing Creuset, was that he had seen the mobile suit before now, for it was a custom model for a particular ZAFT pilot. However, that pilot had gone down at Endymion, at least that's what Creuset and thought… and planned for that to be the case. To see the ZGMF-575 InTREY again, Creuset was starting to think there was something going on he didn't know about. The InTREY was designed for infiltration and avoiding detection, mostly as the one who had been piloting it, specialized in.

The reason that Creuset had been tricked by the "GINN" was unique equipment, which he had tried hard to get his hands on, but never had. There was whatever made the mobile suit look like another and was seamless at doing so, then also had something that could make it undetectable or even register as an enemy unit. The arsenal was nothing to laugh at either, for the masked man had seen some of it and even had been somewhat impressed. Although a portion of the performance was due to the pilot and he knew that.

Next thing that Creuset registered, the InTREY brought out the four hidden machine guns and aimed at Creuset himself. Two of the guns were MMI-M7S 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Gun and the other two were MMI-M7B4 60mm Assault Vulcans, which either set could be loaded with different types of ammunition. The InTREY began firing its guns at Creuset, which were evaded, but then the Federation suit brought out a pole with a weapon built into the back end of it. The suit ignited the beam weapon at the top of the pole and a long scythe shaped blade came into being.

Creuset avoided the few swings made by the "beam scythe" however, then attacks from the InTREY hit him and forced Creuset to stop. Before Creuset could move out of the line of fire, his mobile suit was restrained as the Federation suit latched on to Creuset's machine. It was clear to Creuset, he was being out done and there was nothing he could do about it right now. The two mobile suits held Creuset's suit and began dragging it forward. Creuset glanced forward and noticed two more Nazca-class vessels had come into view and his mood fell further. One of them, was the Black Jade, meaning that he would have to deal with Sakura Clyne. The other was known as the Osprey, another ship that wouldn't help Creuset as the crew of that ship were, like the Black Jade, loyal to the commander they worked with.

Creuset stopped struggling and began to think about how he could talk his way out of whatever had brought the Black Zephyr and the ship of the Mocking Jay here. It solidified the fact that the InTREY appearing, said that the pilot, was likely still the ZAFT Champion "Mocking Jay". The Federation suit, used a fighting style that was reminiscent of the ZAFT Champion the "Roc" used. Creuset couldn't say if the pilot of that machine was the man that was the Roc, but like the Mocking Jay, he hoped not. During the battle of Endymion, Creuset had made arrangements for the two champions to go down and be killed. Yet, another lesson of not assuming someone was dead without seeing physical evidence.

The mobile suits approached the Black Jade's hanger, which opened for them as they got close. The Federation mobile suit stopped and stayed a short distance from the ship as the InTREY pulled Creuset's machine inside the Black Jade. Once the hanger was pressurized, Creuset exited his mobile suit and looked around the hanger. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he saw the Black Zephyr herself come into the hanger. The man knew there was something going on when out of the cockpit of the InTREY came a person in a Federation pilot suit.

No details could be gleamed from the appearance of the pilot, but if it was who Creuset thought they were, that was a given. The ZAFT Champion called the "Mocking Jay", was well known for not letting any detail about themselves be truthfully known. They had a device that could change their voice, so few if any knew what the Mocking Jay's real voice sounded like, they didn't say anything. They could appear as anyone anywhere and you wouldn't know it was the Mocking Jay, it was why they were so good and infiltrating and spying. The few records that might give any details about the Mocking Jay, were encrypted to the point that it would take far too long to reveal the information.

"It's a displeasure to have you on board my ship again Le Creuset," Sakura stated coldly.

Creuset smiled a bit, "You wound me ma'am," he replied.

His smile disappeared with the cold glare he received from Sakura, "I'm not interested to hear any flattery from you Rau Le Creuset. If not for the orders I have, I wouldn't be here, but Lanus requested that I be on hand and now I'm starting to see a bit as to why," she returned.

"Oh, and why might Admiral Treize ask you to be on hand?" asked Creuset evenly with effort as he was not liking what he heard.

"Your presence is required for an inquiry Rau Le Creuset," said the Federation pilot, though their voice modulated changed in tone and pitch continuously. "Lanus felt that you might not come if you were asked or told to, so a number of us came to make sure you attend the inquiry."

The Federation pilot then turned to Sakura, "Also, he is to have no use of any kind of communication methods while traveling back to the homeland," the changing voice stated.

Sakura nodded once, and then had a sinister smile that made Creuset fear that he was about to face something VERY unpleasant. The woman turned to the masked man, "You couldn't know how long I've wanted to give the order I'm about to Creuset," Sakura said maliciously, then she turned to those beside her, "Take Le Creuset and lock him in the brig! He is not to have any contact with anyone until we arrive back at the homeland. Now take him away!"

Crew members moved forward and grabbed Creuset and began to pull him towards the brig on the Black Jade. Creuset knew that there was no point to argue, none of the crew here would go against Sakura Clyne. He could only use the time to figure out how he could get through the inquiry, that was planned.

-Line Break-

The Dominion

The small group of Alliance vessels were moving away from the Mendel colony after they had "surrendered" and gave up the territory to the Federation. Natarle had left the bridge of the Dominion and headed down the hanger where the pod would be. Hearing Flay Allster's voice had been a shock, but what worried Natarle was what she had said. 'I have something that can end this war for good' could mean anything or nothing, there simply was not enough information from that one line.

Then, there was apparently, someone coming from one of the other ships that had something to do with the custom mobile suit pilots. Natarle would like to have a few words with them, for the three young pilots that the Dominion had didn't act well at all. Anyways, when Natarle got to the Dominion's hanger, she saw that mechanics were working on opening the ZAFT pod. It was a few more minutes for the pod to be unlocked, and then, out came the redhead, Flay Allster.

Flay looked around and for a moment, she believed she was on board the Archangel, which gave her a warm feeling. However, as she kept scanning the hanger area, taking in the unknown mobile suit models, she knew that this wasn't the Archangel. A few of the mechanics did ask if she was okay, and she told them she was fine. However, Flay was getting the feeling that whatever ship she was on now, wasn't an ally of the Archangel. She got a shock though, when she saw Natarle Badgiruel. That last Flay knew, Natarle was going to board a submarine like she Flay herself was originally supposed to.

Natarle approached Flay, "Are you alright Flay?" she asked.

Flay nodded slowly, "Um… yes, I am. Please, where am I?" she inquired.

"You are on board the Archangel-class vessel Dominion, I'm the captain of this ship, so you can be at ease," replied Natarle.

Flay took out the disk she had been given by Rau Le Creuset, "This disk has information that can end the war. I don't know what it is, but I think it's important," she got out.

Natarle took the disk, looked at it curiously, before she pocketed it and then guided Flay out of the hanger, having one of her crew show the girl to quarters. Natarle was about to go and look at the disk, when the airtight shutters to both catapults opened and two of the other custom mobile suits came into the hanger. The two suits were those other than the model that was like the X370 Raider. Out of the one that sort of looked like the Duel, came a woman that Natarle had never seen before. She was dressed in a white doctor or scientist coat with a black shirt under the coat. The expression on the woman's face was one of irritation and shattered any appearance of beauty, of which this woman had a fair amount, Natarle had to admit.

Natarle came face to face with the woman, even as the two pilots of the new machines came out of their suits. The two pilots, Natarle noticed that they were both female and seemed to be around the same age as the three young men who were the pilots for the Dominion. "You are the captain of this vessel, are you not?" posed the woman that came with the two suits.

There was a moment of incredulity and apprehension of this woman with Natarle, but she got ahold of herself and gave her answer. "Yes, I am, Natarle Badgiruel, welcome on board the Dominion ma'am."

"My name is Mina Moss," Mina replied.

The name did ring a bell for Natarle, for director Azrael had mentioned it a few times, but not much more than the name itself. So, to understand that this was to whom Azrael had been referring to, gave a swirl of emotions to Natarle. The feel that came from this woman wasn't very nice at all, it was cold more than anything else.

"Should you wish for a short tour," Natarle began.

However, Mina cut her off, "That will not be necessary, I will be seeing to the three candidates you have on this ship. Then, once that is done to my satisfaction, I'll be having some words with director Azrael. You needn't concern yourself about attempting to impress me."

After stating that, Mina floated past Natarle, "Girls, come with me, there is work to be done," Mina called.

The two pilots, who had taken off their helmets off, revealing that they were indeed young women, and by the resemblance, they were related, began following this woman, Mina Moss.

"Coming mama," said the light brown-haired girl.

"Understood mom," the other black-haired girl replied.

Natarle didn't know what to think of the three that had come on board her ship, they were very different than most she'd encountered before now. Mina, followed by Lafter and Rossweisse, headed to the infirmary and found as she suspected, the three candidates on this ship. They were being inspected at the time Mina and the girls entered the room. And the second that they came in, it felt like the temperature dipped in the room. All the people in the room looked at Mina and all showed visible signs of fear at seeing the woman.

Mina quickly took charge of the activities in the infirmary and had the medical personnel organized at doing the tasks she was assigning them. When it was mentioned that Azrael had told them to do what Mina considered 'sloppy work', her expression stopped that excuse from being uttered a second time. And the longer Mina heard Muruta Azrael said for these 'doctors' to do with her candidates, the more bad tempted she was to make the man suffer. Yet another reason that Lori Kall usually did the go between, with those who funded the lab and not Mina herself. She watched as the medication was administered to the three male candidates, more to make sure the least amount of problems would come later.

Once the work was done, Mina told the three boys to return to their quarters, which they did so without arguing. But, Clotho, Shani and Orga knew, it was stupid to argue with Dr. Moss, and it only ended with a punishment and they didn't want to face that!

Meanwhile, Natarle had returned to the bridge, and found that things were pretty much unchanged, other than director Azrael was there when he wasn't before. In fact, the man turned to Natarle, "So, what did you find in the pod that was picked up?" he asked.

Natarle took out the disk, "The occupant had this with them," she replied.

Azrael took the disk and looked at it, "And did they say anything as to what data might be on this disk?" he questioned.

Natarle shook her head, Azrael looked at the disk again, before he put it in a pocket, "Well, let us hope that it was worth not only tucking tail and running, but also giving up territory," Azrael said evenly.

Azrael then quickly left the bridge, likely to look at the disk and the data that was on it. Once again, Natarle was left to wonder why she didn't toss the man out of an airlock. Dealing with the man wasn't the same as it had been handling Tyler McGregor's attitude and antics, but it certainly brought many of the same feelings to her. After an hour, Natarle's shift came to a close and she returned to her quarters. Sleep wouldn't embrace her, Natarle's mind wouldn't stop working. Natarle's thought processes were interrupted with a knock at the door, and when she answered it, Natarle found the odd woman from before, Mina Moss.

"My apologies for being brisk before, I had my reasons for doing so. But, perhaps now, we can have a word between one another, without others listening in," Mina greeted.

Natarle nodded and stepped aside to let Mina in, closing the door to her quarters after Mina entered. Mina took the only other chair in the room, while Natarle took the seat at the desk, "You said you had reason for acting the way you did before, what did you mean?" Natarle asked.

Mina rolled her eyes, which Natarle hadn't expected to see, "Yes, let's just say that I have some past experience with Muruta Azrael, and that experience tells me that I should never assume that he will keep out of things that don't concern him. So, I felt the need to check on the condition of the candidates and do so as soon as possible," Mina iterated.

Two things caught Natarle's interest, those were that this woman had past experience of some kind with director Azrael and the term 'candidates'. "When you say candidates, who are you referring to?" Natarle questioned.

Mina sighed, "The pilots for the Calamity, Forbidden and Raider, they are candidates that are being lent to Azrael, even if he says otherwise."

This confused Natarle a bit, the personnel files inferred that the three young men were more equipment, yet this woman didn't treat them like equipment, but nor did she see them as people either. "Okay, what kind of experience do you have with director Azrael?" asked Natarle.

Mina shuddered a bit, "That depends what you mean, if you're asking on a professional level, I know who he is and the kind of things he does, even some that aren't publicly known," Mina said.

Natarle understood this woman less and less the more she talked. It was clear that Mina Moss wasn't much of a people person, if at all that is. Then the even some that aren't 'publicly known' referring to Muruta Azrael's actions, left Natarle to wonder what she meant. Tyler, when he had talked about this recent, had said that Tyler believed that Muruta Azrael had done serious things before now, but not what said actions could have been. The teen had even called the director a war criminal and that wasn't something that was applied to another lightly.

Mina kept going, "On a personally level… let's just say that I don't like him much and it's the same with him. I'm here not because I wish to be, but for the reason that Azrael 'requested' for me to be. I wouldn't doubt that you have noticed, that Muruta Azrael doesn't exactly see the world as it really is. He comes off as someone that can't be wrong and that if he says something can be done, it's not a matter of whether it is wise to do, but if he says to do it, you do it, no matter how much is lost doing so. That sound like the man you've been around?"

Natarle couldn't deny the way that Mina had described Muruta Azrael was fairly accurate, but she wouldn't say that to his face. But Natarle's frown, seemed to answer Mina more than the silence did, "So, I'm right then. My recommendation, just ignore the man when he's in his bouts of stupidity," Mina said.

"What's your part in this Mina Moss?" Asked Natarle.

Mina shrugged, "I'm not a member of the Earth Alliance Captain, the work of my candidates and contribution to the construction of the six custom mobile suits that are being used, is more a paid service. As such, it is grounds for testing that normally is difficult to replicate in a lab, you don't say no to such an opportunity when it comes. For me, the three candidates on your ship as well as the three with me, represent an invested interest that have had years of work put in. Azrael couldn't care less about that, as long as they can get him what he wants, they're 'expendable'. I would bet that most are like that to Muruta Azrael, either you help him, or you are against him," Mina finished.

That was all Natarle got, the conversation ended and Mina left, to where, Natarle couldn't say. But the chat, had left Natarle even more to think about than before and she didn't know what to do going forward.

While that was going on, Azrael had been going through the data on the disk that Natarle had and he was elated with the more of the data he went through. The disk contained specs on the two odd machines that had caused problems and Azrael say that his assumption of them being nuclear powered was indeed correct. Not only that, the device that allowed them to have a nuclear reactor had blueprints as well. That meant that they could be mass produced in no time and then the nuclear arsenal could be made.

Azrael had never given up on making a nuclear strike on the PLANTs. What had happened with Junius Seven had shown him just how effective the method was. But, before that plan could be carried out, ZAFT had dropped the Neutron Jammers on Earth. Azrael suspected that the Federation military had been involved with the operation, it was the only way that ZAFT could had dropped their devices in every spot that made building a nuclear arsenal possible. But, with the technology on the disk, N-jammers were a fear and frustration of the past.

Azrael got up and was going to tell Miss Captain to head back to Lunar HQ, but when he opened the door to his quarters, there was someone already there. "Mina, quite a surprise to see you here," Azrael said.

Mina glowered at the man, "The feeling isn't mutual Azrael."

Mina closed the rest of the distance and got up in Azrael's face, "Listen up Muruta Azrael, I don't care that you're the leader of Blue Cosmos, you are to not interfere in my work! Don't make 'suggestions' that are threats to those doing the maintenance on my candidates. They know what they're doing, while you don't have a clue about the work that goes into such. Don't you dare forget, that Lodonia Lab is NOT an Earth Alliance facility, which you can use and abuse as you see fit. As a business man, you can understand that our transactions can be ended at any time, regardless of your thoughts about it. So, back off from my lab's personnel, give them room to do their job and don't blame them if things don't go as you imagine," Mina snapped, then she turned and stalked off.

Azrael glowered at what had just happened, it had been clear that Mina had an attitude, it had been somewhat refreshing for Azrael. But, it was getting out of hand, still Azrael had to admit, that the woman's candidates were incredible pilots. The problem for Azrael, was that those candidates, followed Mina before anyone else and that was annoying. Still, Mina could be dealt with at a later point, there was work to be done. Azrael headed for the bridge and told Miss Captain to head for the Ptolemaeus base as quickly as was possible.

-Line Break-

The Black Jade

It was a week in the brig for Le Creuset on the Black Jade, with no privileges given to him or allowed. When he had been told that he was going to be facing an inquiry, it had worried him. The feeling grew when he learned that said inquiry would be done in front of Admiral Lanus Treize and likely with others of his choosing, though Creuset didn't show it outwardly. He knew that an inquiry meant that some of his actions had likely been discovered and that wasn't good for Creuset himself. His plans were at a crucial stage and it would be best if he were seeing to events, though things would likely happen the way he wanted even if he wasn't overseeing things.

When they arrived at Aprilius One, Creuset was met by soldiers that were clearly loyal to Treize and they took him directly to the place that the inquiry was going to be held. Upon entering the large room, Creuset saw that it had the setting of a legal courtroom, with a raised level that had a stand where the witnesses/questioners would sit. There was a seat in the center of the square room with a desk in front of it, the position of the accused. Le Creuset glanced from left to right on the stand and didn't like the five he saw up behind the stand as the questioners. The man that was on the far left, Creuset didn't know, but by the clothes he wore, was a member of the PLANT's Legislative committee.

The next in line, to the right of the first man, was someone that Creuset had a few run ins with, and was certainly not one he wanted to be around. The woman was around five foot seven and was dressed in a crisp business suit and had a no nonsense expression on her face. Her neutral brown hair went just below her neck and was straight. Her eyes, which were gazing at him coldly, were a lighter brown than her hair. The woman's name was Maria Lotoths and she was the director and Chief Attorney of the Justice Department and ran things in the said department. The woman had been trying for a while now to charge Creuset with crimes, but she hadn't managed to do it yet, mostly as others would block her.

In the center of the five, was the man that Creuset was worried about when it came to his current plan he was working on. Lanus Treize, the unofficial leader of the ZAFT military, called by most 'Admiral' or that's how he was treated. He was a man that followed his views and beliefs rather than take orders from the National Defense Committee. He was close to six feet tall and had an average figure overall. His short ginger colored hair was combed back as it normally was, which brought attention to his ice blue eyes. Treize was handsome for being in his early forties and had the respect of many within the PLANTs, which Le Creuset wasn't pleased about. He was wearing his custom blue ZAFT commander's uniform and was looking at Creuset as he was brought into the room.

To Treize left, was the silver haired Ezalia Joule, the current chair of the National Defense Committee, a position she had since Patrick Zala had taken over as Supreme Council Chairman. Where she would normally be at the command of Patrick Zala, for her to be here when the Chairman wasn't, it didn't bode well for Creuset. The last on the stand was a man Creuset didn't know, but like the first one, by the clothing he wore, was clear to which part of the government the PLANTs had. The man was a member of the Administration committee, which meant that representatives from four out of the five committees that made up the Supreme Council were present. And it was unlikely that any here would be taking answer that Creuset might give to asked questions and move on.

Where Rau Le Creuset would have gotten Chairman Zala to get him out of something like this, with Treize, that wouldn't be an option. It was clear, the leader of the ZAFT military, had gone through the trouble to exclude the Supreme Council Chairman from this, so Creuset wouldn't be getting any favors. It more meant that Treize could expect that Creuset had been manipulating Patrick Zala and that was troublesome.

Rau Le Creuset was sat down in the center chair/desk, then the soldiers walked back to the door and left the room, closing the door behind them. Creuset looked to the stand, "Admiral Treize, it's always a pleasure to see you sir," Creuset greeted evenly.

"Indeed Rau Le Creuset, let us hope that you hold the same view by the end of this inquiry," Treize replied.

Creuset took a moment to think carefully what he said in this room, "Your right and privilege to hold an inquiry is of course, fine sir. However, if I might ask what the reason is for you to be holding such a thing at this time with the war against the Earth Alliance escalating."

"I assume, that you have noticed Creuset, there have been leaks of information recently," posed Treize.

Ezalia Joule looked to Treize, "Lanus, I would hardly call the serious breaches of security and the Earth Forces acquiring sensitive and critical information, merely leaks of information," she insisted.

Treize nodded, "I agree Ezalia, it is why I've been holding these Inquiries, to track down the source of these leaks as quickly as possible. The Council and its members have been busy as of late with recent events, so those of us that are able should take up the slack, would you not agree?"

All on the stand turned and focused back on Creuset, who was internal sweating. For truth be told, he Creuset had been the one who had been supplying information to the Alliance, even if none knew that as fact right now. Chairman Zala had thus far, prevented any investigation on him, but now, that was in jeopardy. Treize brought his hand up and set his chin on them, "Surely Creuset, you can understand the necessity to find the one who is responsible to the leak as soon as possible so that the leaks stop. If you are not responsible for the leaks, then you have nothing to worry about with this inquiry. We are here to discover the truth, so that we can better uphold the interest of the PLANTs and its citizens," Treize reasoned.

"Since you are among the individuals that had access to all of the information that has been leaked so far, you are here to account for how you handled the information that you had. You can see this as part of the process of elimination if you want, and now it's your turn to be either eliminated or remain a suspect, Rau Le Creuset," Maria Lotoths spoke up flatly.

"Let us begin the inquiry then," stated Treize.

There was the sound of shuffling papers for a moment, then Treize spoke first, "Rau Le Creuset, your service record within the ZAFT military is good overall however, you also have a history of questionable judgement and actions. Still, your performance speaks well of you."

"But," said Attorney Lotoths, "You are also one of the few that was entrusted with all the information that has been leaked to the Alliance. And you Rau Le Creuset, are one of those that haven't been cleared of suspicion."

Ezalia Joule focused her gaze on the masked man, "You're held in high regard Creuset, but there is history with you that you use unorthodox methods to accomplish your goals. I would hope that with all that you've done for ZAFT and the PLANTs, it doesn't turn out that you gave the Alliance information."

"I can assure you ma'am, my loyalty is to ZAFT and the PLANTs," Creuset answered firmly.

"So then Creuset," said Treize, regaining the masked man's attention. "A point I would ask you to clarify, within the last year, you've made several trips to Earth, both on and off duty. During those trips, you did not spend it in ZAFT control territory, nor Human Federation nations, but Earth Alliance territory, why might that be?"

Le Creuset had expected this particular question to come up, one of those that he had considered while he had been in the brig on the Black Jade. "A fair question Admiral, for several of those trips, I was making contact with trusted informants that gave me intel on the Alliance's activities, which I reported afterwards. Others, I was visiting acquaintances that happen to live in Earth Alliance areas," Creuset replied.

There was muttering between the all but Treize, he was staring at Creuset, "Was that also the case with your trip in December of last year?" asked Treize.

Creuset hesitated for a moment, "Of course Admiral, as I stated, my visits to Earth were for seeing acquaintances and gathering intel," the masked man answered, seriously hoping for that to be the end of this tangent of questioning.

The inferred trip, was one that Creuset REALLY didn't want to go into detail about, for it could easily incriminate him. And this setting wasn't one to appear incriminated in, not with those present! The only one here that might bail him out, was Ezalia Joule and Creuset wasn't very confident that the woman would. The two men here… well, Creuset just assumed that they would go with the majority in this. Treize and Lotoths, if they learned the truth, then Creuset knew he would likely be branded a traitor and never see the light of day again. There within, laid the issue with this "Inquiry", two out of the five were already set against him.

Lanus Treize had said Creuset's service record was good, but the times he had "questionable judgement and actions" as he had put it, had put Creuset at odds with the unofficial head of the ZAFT military. Maria Lotoths had never been fond of Creuset and he knew that, with the number of times he had gotten out of the consequences of breaking the rules and not get charged for it. The woman was the kind of person who saw that the rules applied to everyone, no exception and tried to enforce that. So, the woman had issues with Creuset, but had been silent, mostly because Chairman Zala had said to drop the issue.

"Then tell me Creuset, after landing in Victoria, your destination was supposed to be Carpentaria, yet you arrived there more than a week after you were scheduled to. Instead, you traveled to Alaska, specifically to the area that Earth Alliance's headquarters JOSH-A is. Why would lie about your intended destination and then go to such a place Creuset?" Posed Treize.

Creuset began doing some quick thinking, for the question was dangerous for him! That trip had been to meet with Muruta Azrael and give him the information Creuset had been told about Operation Spitbreak. He had done a great deal of effort to hide the truth of the trip, even appearing in Carpentaria and just saying he had been delayed. But apparently, somehow Treize had found or figured out there was more to what had gone on. Yet, there was still a chance he could get this waved off. Creuset bowed to those on the stand, "I apologize for my conduct during that time. An informant that had contacted me, said they had critical information, but needed to meet me in person. The person was posing as a double agent within the Alliance, and so, was at JOSH-A at the time. I thought it best I go and see what data they had acquired as soon as possible, so I made the detour," Creuset explained.

Treize hummed, "I see, moving on then."

Creuset let out a quiet sigh of relief at the subject begin dropped. The excuse he had come up with had worked better than he'd hoped. Treize continued, "During Operation Spitbreak, the final reports say you discovered the Cyclops system setup under the base before it was activated. Yet, after learning of this, you mentioned nothing to any of the field commanders Creuset. I can understand that one might not get along with fellow officers, but to not mention such a critical fact… it's as if you wanted for a good portion of the brave men and women in our forces to die."

If there was ever a strike against Rau Le Creuset, then this was a big one right now. Treize wasn't wrong, but that's one of the reason that it made Creuset look guilty in this right now. Ezalia Joule was gazing at Creuset in growing horror, "Is this true Creuset? Did you discover the Cyclops and say nothing about it to anyone else, knowing what it would do when activated?" she uttered.

Lotoths huffed, "Yet another example of one of your biggest shortcomings Creuset," she said coldly, drawing Creuset's attention. "Your loyalty as you've claimed is to ZAFT, is in reality, to yourself first and foremost. Another point to add to the growing list of things I want answer from you about."

Treize calmed the others, and that worried Creuset more than the veiled threats from the director of the Justice department. "Creuset, during that December visit, did you happen to make any reference in any way to Operation Spitbreak to this informant you were seeing even if indirectly? For the target was originally meant to be Panama and it was believed that the Earth Forces were convinced it. However, for them to have installed a Cyclops system of the size there, implies that they found out that JOSH-A was the real target and had known for a number of months."

Creuset felt the first real drops of sweat forming as the question was being asked by Treize. He was cornered, trapped and Creuset could see little way out of this! It would take a miracle for him to have any chance to not be found out for what he'd done. Suddenly, there came the sounds of muffled voices on the other side of the doors Creuset had entered through. Then, the doors burst opened and in came Patrick Zala, the current Chairman of the Supreme Council. Creuset smiled internally, for fate appeared to be on his side right now, for a miracle had come in his time of great need.

"What is the meaning of this?!" demanded Zala.

Treize stood and bowed slightly, "Patrick, what a nice surprise for you to take the time to visit, with all the responsibilities you have taken on as of late my friend, it has to be hard to make the time," Treize said in a friendly tone.

Zala gazed to the man, "Lanus, what is going on here?!" he growled.

Treize smiled, "With you being so busy, I thought it would be nice of me to look into the leaks that have been happening and handle the issue for you. Tis what a friend does, eases the burden of his companion, is it not?"

Patrick Zala's expression became one of growing irritation, "That won't be necessary, I'm having others looking into the issue Treize, so it would be appreciated if you stay out of it."

Maria Lotoths stood up then, "On the contrary Chairman, this inquiry thus far, has brought facts to light that need more investigation. Should you breakup this inquiry, then the action can be considered an obstruction of justice. By this time, I would hope that you understand how serious an offense that such is, more so for one in an influential position, such as yourself," she stated clearly.

Zala didn't even seem to hear Maria at all, "This farce is to end and all of you are to return to your duties immediately," he ordered.

Creuset walked out of the room behind Patrick Zala and the doors closed behind them. Treize exhaled, "That is unfortunate, I fear that Creuset is manipulating Patrick and leading him on, to what I can't guess yet," he said.

Maria turned to Treize as did the rest on the stand, "What do you mean Lanus?" Maria asked.

"Creuset was lying about his activities in Alaska, he was not seeing an informant as he claims," Treize remarked.

"Do you have proof of that?" inquired Ezalia seriously.

Treize input a command and a display screen lit up on the right side of the room. A video began playing, showing Creuset in the JOSH-A base. Creuset was seen going up to a man in a business suit, before Treize paused the recording, "The man that Creuset is talking to, is named Muruta Azrael. He is the director of the Alliance National Defense Industry Association, as well as the current leader of the anti-Coordinator Organization Blue Cosmos. For Creuset to be in contact with a man like Azrael, is very troubling and I come to conclude that Creuset is not acting in the best interest of the PLANTs."

Having such facts revealed about Rau Le Creuset, had made the silence somber, but Maria broke it. "I've seen enough, there is enough evidence to arrest and prosecute the man on several charges, the foremost being treason. I didn't wish to believe that he had gone so far when you came to me Lanus, but the evidence presents a far more telling accounting of events than what comes out of Creuset's mouth. So, forgive me if I seem abrupt, but there is work to do, good day," Maria said before she left the room.

The other three bid farewell to Treize and left the room as well, while Treize stayed in his seat, contemplating facts as they stood. The change that had occurred in Patrick Zala had been worrisome. Patrick had been a friend for many years, even before the war with the Earth Alliance, so this change had been hard to watch for Lanus. He could still recall the kind of man Patrick Zala had once been, and it made the difference starker. Patrick use to have a view of a bright future for himself, his family and for the PLANTs. But, the Bloody Valentine had hit Patrick hard, he had been unable to let go of the pain that the loss of his wife had brought.

However, recent event showed in Treize's mind, that Rau Le Creuset was manipulating his friend Patrick Zala. The man had gained the 'unwavering' faith of the current Chairman and that was far more dangerous that just ignorance of what a subordinate is doing when you send them out. The way things were being decided, the path forward was looking bleak and dark than at the beginning of this war and it had looked harsh then. Patrick was hell bent on doing harm of some sort to Earth and that would come back to do harm to the PLANTs. Treize couldn't in good conscience sit and do nothing while the man he still saw as a friend, one who had lost his way, do something worse that the event that took his wife from him.

So, with that in mind, Treize made his way out of the court room and began making arrangements and preparations for what he believed would come. Treize knew that when it came to authority, Patrick could trump Lanus himself, officially at least, but when it came to influence in the ZAFT military, Treize could do better. So, before things became too much more volatile, best to delegate and make the least force available to try to carry out whatever was planned. Treize covertly sent out orders to those he trusted, and from them, the distribution of the orders would keep going and not reach any that were a part of the National Defense Committee or any other's that reported to the Supreme Council.

The orders that Treize sent, was one that he had come up with and gave a name that would only make sense to a select few. That name was "Protocol 66", and it was the initiation command for a plan that would separate the ZAFT military command structure from the Supreme Council's control and influence. Any that wouldn't be a part of it, wouldn't have access to the command structure or any benefits that came with it.

-Line Break-

Days passed by since Patrick Zala broke up the inquiry on Rau Le Creuset, the event never mentioned to the media, more it was kept quiet. Ezalia Joule didn't speak of what had happened, even if some of the facts mentioned and shown nagged at the back of her mind. There were other things to attend to and so she focused on her work, much like the other participants of the inquiry.

Only Maria Lotoths wouldn't let what facts she had learned about Rau Le Creuset go. With all her years working in the Justice Department, she had put away a number of criminals, but Creuset was one that had consistently wormed his way out of facing the consequences of his actions. Maria would nail the masked man this time and she would make sure that none could bail the man out of facing Justice! She openly admitted that she had a problem with Rau Le Creuset, but it was people like him that got her into the legal stage to begin with. Maria disliked those who did whatever the hell they felt like and then didn't face ANY of the repercussions that anyone else would.

The only difficultly at the moment that face Maria, was that the Justice Department's work load had gotten heavier than was normal. With the actions of the current council and its leader, things had picked up for everyone, especially for the Justice Department. Maria wasn't one to let personal feuds blind her to the duties she had to fill. Ever since she took over as the head of the Justice Department, things had been much more efficient in the processing of cases and other things that came to them. And she along with those who worked within the department were proud with the efficiency that they had achieved.

Maria had been going through the current list of standing cases that the Justice Department had, when the door to her office opened. Looking up, Maria was slightly surprised to see none other than the man who was in one of the standing cases. "Chairman Zala, this is a rare sight, usually you send someone else to deliver instructions from you," Maria greeted.

"Well, yes, but I'm here to have you do something rather specific," Chairman Zala replied.

Patrick Zala came forward and placed a small pile of papers in front of Maria, she picked up the top page and scanned it over. The page Maria found was a form to accuse someone of the crime of treason officially. For a split second, Maria thought that perhaps the Chairman had seen the light and was charging Creuset with the crime she intended to pin to him. But, when Maria got to the bottom and saw the name of the one that Patrick Zala wanted to arrest and imprisoned, her hope disappeared. She was incredulous as well as irritated as she read the name a second time, for the name was Lanus Treize. Maria put the page down and stared at chairman Zala, "If I wasn't aware that you have little to no sense of humor, I would think you were trying to pull some sort of joke with this form. So, what are you trying to do with this action chairman?" she posed.

"As the form states, you are to arrest Lanus Treize for the crime of treason," Chairman Zala said.

Maria, quickly scanned the other pages in the stack and found ridiculous lies and clear false accusations that could be disproved in less than a minute with a look into records kept of military service. For this to be done to one of the most decorated and exonerated, military officers that ZAFT had, made this feel like some sort of sick joke! Lanus Treize had made the ZAFT military into what it was now and that was extremely difficult to argue. For anyone to accuse that man of a crime with the kind of record Treize had, was crazy, few would accept or believe such claims. And of all crimes that was chosen to try to sully the amazing reputation of Lanus Treize, it was the one that was the most ridiculous to suspect him of, the crime of treason. The "evidence" that was provided, was clearly made up and Maria could pick out a few points that she knew for a fact were wrong without checking any facts.

Maria was reining in her anger as she put down the rest of the pages, "Tell me chairman, what do you think the purpose of the Justice Department is?" she asked evenly, containing the feelings of disgust that accompanied the anger she felt.

"The Justice Department is to arrest criminals and so you have one, these forms show you that the job needs to be done," returned Zala.

Maria picked up the pile of papers, "If you truly believe that bring criminals to justice is our job, then you wouldn't bring such garbage here! This form is beyond a poorly written insult chairman!" she snapped. "Yet, claiming you know the purpose of this department, you come here and tell me to charge Lanus Treize, a man that has a record that few can say something bad about, with treason. Not only that, you supply 'evidence' that is ridiculous and for the majority of it, clearly false!"

Maria took a breath to calm down before she continued, "Let me state this so that you understand, the Justice Department are not the Supreme Council's attack dogs for you to sick on whoever disagrees with your view or intentions. The department upholds the laws the PLANTs have and oversee legal matters when the need comes up. We are autonomous from the council, since we also make sure that members of the council don't violate the laws. So, I cannot and will not accuse Lanus Treize of treason as I know he has committed nothing of the sort. You will have to provide me solid evidence and not this drivel written on this form to even have me think about accusing someone of treason. If you don't chairman, then I will charge you with both obstruction of justice and abuse of authority before the end of the day. Then I'll see you removed from you position as by these kinds of actions like this show you are clearly unfit for it!"

Chairman Zala wasn't happy with what Maria told or threatened him with, and left in a huff. Maria noted the reaction Zala had, and knew that it wasn't the end of the issues that she had with Patrick Zala. And it wasn't more than a few minutes later, that Maria's deputy attorney, Charles Manning came into her office. Charles smiled, "I assume whatever the Chairman came to have the department do, wasn't something that we would normally do then chief? He certainly appeared displeased as he was leaving," he said.

Maria sighed, "That's putting it mildly Charles. Honestly, I'll be amazed and shocked if by tomorrow, I'm not relieved of my position as Director and Chief Attorney of the Justice Department," she replied.

Charles Manning gawked a bit as he saw that the woman he respected and was glad he worked with, wasn't joking. "Chief, are you really serious?" he questioned without being able to stop himself.

"With the reaction the chairman gave when I told him that the Justice Department isn't his attack dog that he can send after those he commands, yes Charles, I'm serious. I wouldn't doubt I'll be removed from being Chief Attorney soon," Maria returned.

Charles brought up his hands and rubbed his temples, "That won't change things, I'm of the same mind when it comes to the purpose of the Justice Department. That means that Chairman Zala will do the same for me as well. Without either of us, I doubt that any of the others would come in to work at all," he answered.

Maria was about to agree, but then at the thought of the stated situation, she chuckled, "Well, perhaps it would do the current chairman and the other members of the council good, to understand just how much that we in the Justice Department do to help in the governing of the PLANTs. And I can think of little better way than for the department to shut down to get that across. Plus, I'm a tad curious as to how much of the laws the chairman actually knows. For if he knows as little as I believe he does, then the chaos that he's dealing with now, will become much worse rather fast," she said.

The next day, as had been predicted, a group of soldiers came into the Justice Department and relieve Maria Lotoths of her position of Chief Attorney. A day later, Charles Manning went through the same experience as he also refused to accuse Treize of the crime of treason. The result of these actions, the rest of those who worked in the Justice Department refused to go into work. This cause the Justice Department as a whole, to come to a standstill and stop functioning.

-Line Break-

Unused Dock, Aprilius One

"Protocol 66" was in full swing and moving along at a good pace and hadn't drawn any notice of those who reported to the Council. Treize had vanished from those who had tried to look for him, and he had kept himself from being found. Soldiers that kept to the original ideals that the ZAFT military stood for, to serve and protect the PLANTs and their citizens, were taking commands from Treize himself. They were also keeping him informed on what was happening while the military was shifting away from the control of Chairman Zala.

Information that came to Treize that several people had been working within the PLANT's government had been "relieved" of duty. Maria Lotoths was the most notable one of the group of individuals, for with the relieving of her and her deputy attorney, the Justice Department had effectively shut down. That event had a cascading effect, by the work the Justice Department did being shoved upon the Legislative Committee and the Administration Committee.

Among the chaos that had been created, Treize saw signs that showed that Patrick was taking care of any who either disagreed or didn't think Patrick was going about dealing with the Alliance the right way. Lanus Treize knew that should he be found, he would be incarcerated by his friend at this point. And so, Treize knew that it best that he leaves the PLANTs for the time being and do what he could. He discreetly took a shuttle and silently vanished from the colonies, traveling to some random space rocks and debris. Hidden among the rock and metal was a ship, waiting for Treize and it was the ship that he would commanded exclusively when he took the battlefield. The Salong-class ZAFT command battleship, the only one of its kind currently, was three-hundred-fifty meters in length and was red overall. Its shape was similar to the FFMH-Y101 Eternal, with the central ship length being connected to a wing structure at the back section.

The armaments included three duel barrel high-energy beam turrets, a 150mm cannon, two plasma cannons, twenty missile launchers, and a total of fifteen CIWS 60 mm turrets, which were spread over the ship for defense. The 150mm cannon was below the bridge in the center of the ship, the bridge being in the upper central section that was above where the engines were located. The missile launchers were set in the wings, ten on each side of center. Two of the three high-energy beam turrets were on the top of the center section, one towards the front of the ship, while the other was above the 150mm cannon. The third beam turret was on the underside of the center of the ship towards the nose of the vessel. The two plasma cannons were mounted in the pontoon on either end of the wings.

The Salong could carry up to eight mobile suits and had two catapults that were on either side of the center on the underside of the ship. With the system and equipment onboard, this vessel was a self-contained command center. It had been some time since Treize had been onboard to command the Salong and he had missed the faithful vessel that was seen as his.

Phase End

A/n

And that's where I'll leave off for the time being. Now I'm aware, that this is kind of a filler chapter, and I don't deny that. But, I'm setting up for the battle climax that we all know comes soon enough! I'm planning for there to be two more phases before I shift over to Seed Destiny's material, don't hold me to just two, for that could change. I just don't know until I actually write the phases how they go exactly. Anyways don't expect me to be able keep up the pace of writing that I've been doing as of late. School is going to be starting for me soon and that takes priority, as much as I wish I could just write this and my other stories, life doesn't work that way. Now, like always, some of you please write a review and tell me your thoughts. Reviews help those who write more than most would know. Peace out all!

Davycrockett100

Glad you are enjoying the story!

KakeruPB

If my PM didn't answer any questions, then tell me. And sorry, in this Phase not much with Kira and Lacus's relationship, but I promise you, next Phase, I got a scene planned that will have you laughing hard, as well as being fluffy. That's the hope at least, we'll see how it goes.