Gundam Seed: The Federation ver 2

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 Saddle Patch

80. Phase 80: Neflheim Siege: Tides Turning

A/n

Happy new year everyone, I hope you are all doing well. Alrighty then, buckle up for the final part of the Neflheim Siege! And I assure you, there will be action in this Phase more than the previous two. So, I hope you enjoy it!

---

Phase 80: Neflheim Siege: Turning Tides

October 22nd, 73 C.E

---

Immediately West of Asgard, 1215 hours

Neo had just forced a Federation suit back away from him before it was taken by others around him. He got a slight rest bit after that which he used to take stock of the assault. OMNI's assault had been going for a few hours by this point since it had been initiated this morning. And in that time which the battle had been going on, "minimal" progress had been made. OMNI hadn't made landfall yet, though they had made it closer than others who had come before them. However, that progress hadn't come without a cost being paid in blood. The fleet had taken losses, more than Neo wanted to count. Not to say the Federation hadn't taken losses on their end. Yet, it hadn't dampened their drive to fight and stop OMNI from making it closer to Asgard. From Neo's perspective, as things were going, neither OMNI nor the Federation showed any sign of giving even a meter to the other without it being hard fought and paid for.

The first group of forces dropping from orbit had issues before they had begun descending down toward the base an hour and a half ago. The second group was setting up to do the same in the next fifteen minutes or so. However, since the first group had been shot at by the Federation's orbital cannons, Neo expected the second group would be too. That the Federation had designed and constructed working ground to orbit cannons was impressive. But the two cannons had thrown those in charge and running OMNI's operation for a loop. It hadn't changed the plans for the drop forces to descend to Asgard, even if Neo would've done so. Neo was left to wonder if ZAFT would have any more success getting through the Federation's counter for orbital drops than OMNI was. He doubted it, but now wasn't the time to think about ZAFT and whether they would have better chances against Asgard.

The Federation's resistance and their ground to orbit cannons weren't the only "setbacks" OMNI was facing in their assault. Enemy defense forces were also contributing to the difficulty. OMNI had planned for Asgard's defense forces, but the Federation had been ready as they always seemed to be. The Federation's current two mass-production "aircraft" model mobile suits had shown in the hours of the battle they were not to be taken lightly. Both models had arsenals that were effective against Windams, more so than what ZAFT's mass-production machines had. They all had beam rifles which came in two types, one that had slower firing rate but had more power behind it. The other rifle was more a rapid-fire weapon but had less power seeming to be the tradeoff. And the beam rifles seemed to be more proficient than anything that ZAFT employed with their ZAKUs. Then, around half of the enemy's Neo had seen and encountered had a type of beam saber to work with for close ranged combat. The other half of Federation suits had some sort of "vibrating blade" from what he could guess. At least, should the sound that cut out the audio channels that Neo had observed and been told about was anything to go by. The arsenals alone made the enemy machines tough opponents to face and fight for any Windam pilot, Neo included. And to top off the issues with the Federation's mass-production models, they all appeared to have some variation of phase shift armor to use for their defense.

The other general problem OMNI faced in their assault was the length of it. The longer this battle went on, the harder it would be come to continue it from OMNI's end. If there was one thing Neo could say about the Federation, it was their fighting style served them well. They focused on enduring rather than the chance at a quick victory over those who went against them. Because of that, they won fights far more often since they weren't focused on winning as OMNI and ZAFT were. They took less risks and played to their strengths which made overcoming them much harder and work involved. And because of that mentality, the assault had been planned to be efficient and as quick as possible. OMNI's leadership overall still seemed to not understand the Federation's mentality was one of the keys to their success.

OMNI's assault would end either when supply lines dried up for OMNI, or Asgard fell. And with the direction things were going, Neo's confidence wasn't in OMNI getting to Asgard before the supply lines failed. If they made landfall on Asgard, there was a slim chance for OMNI to make more progress. But the Federation's tactics were set to counter much chance of OMNI accomplishing that anytime soon. It may be above Neo's position and pay-grade to question or state the point, but he could see OMNI's chances were plummeting. However, it was times like this Neo wished some of OMNI's leaders would listen to some of those who worked down in the "trenches." Most OMNI soldiers would have said attacking Asgard was a lost cause, and OMNI was being forced to see why it was. But the top brass was taking instructions from those who didn't have or heed common sense from what Neo was seeing.

The more detailed parts of the assault weren't a great deal better for OMNI than the general issues. The trio which Neo was responsible for were still in the fight as they had been from the beginning. Yet, they had come up against obstacles from the Federation just like the rest of OMNI's mobile suits. With the lack of making landfall so far, Stella was still stuck using ships as platforms to shoot at enemies from. She had tried to move forward using other means, normally in the form of jumping onto debris for a path forward. But each time she'd made attempts, Federation forces would swoop in and focus attacks on her. When Federation forces focused in on the Gaia, it was pushed back to OMNI vessels before they let up in their assault. Stella's grumbling had made it clear to Neo that she was frustrated at the lack of progress she could make. That wasn't to say that Stella wasn't helping OMNI in the battle. She was having more success at taking down enemies than the boys were overall. Neo could sympathize with the girl with the stress she was under to perform and do more in the assault. But as the Gaia specialized in land combat, there was little which could be done until landfall could be made.

On Sting's end, he was on the frontlines with others working to make a way forward for the fleet. At first, Sting had been doing more than okay against enemy mass-production models. But it hadn't taken long for Federation defending forces to adapt and start focusing on him when he was spotted. Neo had expected the Federation to divert resources to deal with Gundam types when they appeared. It was a logical and tactically sound thing to do for any of the factions and the Federation had certainly delivered. If that was all that Sting was facing, Neo felt the kid would manage against enemy forces okay. However, that hadn't been the only thing which Sting had been dealing with. Sting had also reported to Neo the blue and white ZAFT Gundam was fighting with the Federation forces.

Neo had been able to confirm the point shortly after Sting had reported the point seeing the ZAFT Gundam himself. The appearance of the ZAFT Gundam confused Neo as it didn't fit the circumstances. There had been no sign of the persistent ZAFT vessel which the blue and white Gundam had been with around Asgard. There was no reason for any ZAFT vessel to be anywhere near Asgard, let alone one of their Gundams. Thus, Neo couldn't begin to guess how the ZAFT Gundam had ended up around Asgard. But it didn't matter in the end, for it was still on the enemy side. Neo had also sighted the red Gundam that he'd encounter around Armory One going around the battlefield. He'd known the red Gundam would pop back up in his path at some point. Yet, this battle would be as horrible a time as any for it to happen. The red Gundam hadn't been the only "familiar" sight. Neo had also caught glimpses of the Federation frigate from Armory One too. And in this battle, it showed it had the ability to work underwater as well as on Earth.

While Sting and Stella had been having difficulties shortly after the battle began, it was not as bad as what Auel was dealing with. Auel's situation seemed to have the worst of the issues and blockades to work through out of the three. Auel had stated he would cause chaos among the enemy fleet before going out. He'd been working under the water mostly but did come to the surface sometimes with the Abyss's advantages. From the cursing that Neo had been hearing from the blue-haired teen, things had been going badly on his end. Between the curses and Sting "translating" for Auel, Neo had put together a rough picture of what Auel had been going against. That picture made Neo suspect the Federation had likely created aquatic mass-production mobile suits to use and those were working in this battle. And yet, by what Neo had been hearing, there was a Gundam type leading the Federation's forces under the water. Gundam vs. Gundam came more down to piloting skill than the power of the Gundams from Neo's experience. And Neo didn't expect the Federation to assign green pilots to Gundam types they had. So, with Auel facing a Gundam and other enemy machines against him alone, he was being kept from advancing. The curses made it hard for Neo to be sure what was factual and what were snarling excuses.

Overall, Neo had to applaud the efforts of the trio. They were working under not just circumstances which they hadn't been trained for, but also against rather harsh odds. They were doing okay and better than the average Windam and Dagger pilots. And they were helping against the Non-Gundams the Federation used for the bulk of their defending forces. However, every time they or others had to go and resupply, there was a lull. The Federation took advantage of that lull by shoving OMNI back from any gain they had made. That was the main reason OMNI hadn't made much progress toward Asgard itself. Thus, the battle wasn't moving in the desired or even a somewhat good direction for OMNI. And Neo didn't see much of a way to change that standing for the fleet with how the Federation was fighting. They had positioned themselves perfectly to dig in and not be moved by their attackers. They staggered their resupply in such a way that their strength never wavered. This had quickly become a fight of endurance rather than an assault to take a base. And historically, the Federation was better than any of the other factions at such fights.

In the hours the battle had been going, Neo had taken care to avoid the red Gundam. He also hadn't been close to the ZAFT Gundam for long enough to have the chance to fight it. However, Neo wasn't one to jump into a fight without thinking. Plus, he was wary about fighting a Gundam type one on one, that was a foolish idea to act on. Neo wouldn't lie that he would like another go at the red Gundam. The two previous encounters hadn't gone well for Neo. The enemy Gundam had embarrassed him since the Gundam had made a fool of him in different ways. The enemy Gundam had proven it was dangerous and could take advantage of underestimation. His Windam was not a fair match to a Gundam with a good pilot, let alone for one that had an expert. Yes, Neo had come to understand the red Federation Gundam was very likely piloted by an expert even if they didn't act like one was expected to. And yet, such an enemy couldn't be left alone to their own devices. So, Neo began making his way toward the red Gundam who was a distance away fighting a group of Windams currently.

Meanwhile, Shinn found himself in a position he didn't like and didn't see a way out of currently. The battle had been going on for hours so far and there were no signs of it coming close to an end yet. The fighting had moved into an uncomfortable "routine" Shinn had noticed and was kind of sickened by to tell the truth. OMNI was being beyond persistent with this assault they were forcing onto Asgard and its defending forces. They were willing to sacrifice their own forces to keep this going for however long they could insist for it. Shinn had quickly stopped counting how many Windams and Daggers he'd taken down since the start of the battle. Truthfully, he had no desire to know any more just how many lives he'd taken while helping in Asgard's defense. Shinn had been aware enlisting in ZAFT meant he would probably put blood on his hands at some point. But he wanted to do what those who had defended Orb and his family had done during the war. However, Shinn had never imagined he would soak his hands in blood like he was when he'd just wanted to help those who had been nice and kind to him and his family.

The other thing which Shinn had stopped counting was the times he'd to go back to the hangar to resupply the Impulse's battery. It was one of the few things which he could have done to keep in this battle for however long it would go on. The issue for Shinn which he knew he wouldn't be able to ignore for all that much longer was the Impulse's equipment. Without the Minerva around, Shinn had no way to replenish equipment that was damage or lost. It was for that reason Shinn had been fighting smartly and making every action he took count. However, even doing that had only helped so much and it wasn't going to last for much longer. He'd lost one of his beam sabers at the end of the first hour while he had been dancing with three Windam. Shinn had been trying to rely more on his beam weapons and not his limited non-beam weapons which had ammo or stock limitations. But even so, alerts had told Shinn his CIWS guns were low on ammunition by this point.

Then within the last hour, the Chaos had appeared and engaged Shinn along with two of his allies who had been with him at the time. Shinn had taken the appearance of one of the stolen Gundams as all three were around the battle somewhere. And that the Alliance would use the three stolen Gundams they had for the assault said how much they were likely investing into this. The fight with the Chaos had been a hard one for Shinn even with allies helping him. And while the Chaos had been forced back after a bit with the teamwork of Shinn and his allies it hadn't been without a cost. The Chaos had managed to get behind the Impulse at one point and had sliced off one of the lower maneuvering fins. That had cut down on the Impulse finer and tighter movements the suit could make. The Chaos had cut off the other lower fin just before it was forced back. And then, during that fight, while he had been using his shield to block the Chaos's attacks, alarms had alerted him the shield was doing more poorly than Shinn had thought. The main structure was strained to a dangerous degree, and there were parts close to failing.

It left Shinn with a serious conundrum which he would need to find a solution for, the sooner, the better. He had missing equipment or worrisomely damaged parts that were causing him to have difficulty keeping in the fight. All he had left was a beam saber, his beam rifle, the CIWS for a brief period while the remaining ammo lasted, and the anti-armor knives. Shinn needed options to work with if he lost any of those offensive options. His shield was at the brink of failure overall with the abuse it had been taking through the battle. There was the possibility that Shinn could use Federation equipment in place of what the Impulse normally used. However, he didn't know how compatible Federation equipment was with ZAFT mobile suits. But that seemed to be the best available option that Shinn could work with as things stood.

He'd asked those in the hangar he resupplied in if they could help him with any kind of equipment replacement. The answer hadn't been the best but wasn't the one he'd exactly feared he would receive. Those in the hangar had informed Shinn that due to his CIWS guns using a different caliber than Federation mass-production models tended to use, they couldn't resupply them effectively. Replacing the beam sabers was still a question as Federation beam sabers used a slightly different dock than ZAFT did. Shinn had also been told the hangar would try to get a physical shield to the hangar by the time he came back for his next resupply, but they couldn't guarantee that. And the beam rifle was in the same position as the sabers, so the Impulse's equipment was still in doubt and in question for what would happen. But the question would need an answer likely within the next hour or less by what Shinn would estimate.

The battle kept dragging on for close to twenty minutes more when there was another shift for Shinn. The Chaos reappeared again, and Shinn could quickly tell it was clearly gunning for him as it approached him directly. This time Shinn had five from the squad he was with there to help him instead of the two he'd worked with the last encounter. Shinn felt he would need the extra help this time as he was running out of offensive options to work with. The Chaos was a tad simpler to deal with in this encounter than the last with more allies. It still took teamwork to force the Chaos to back off somewhat, but it was managed. However, Shinn did lose his remaining beam saber to the Chaos in this round with it. The Chaos wasn't as far as Shinn would like after being shoved back, but it was being kept busy by others. It gave Shinn a moment to breathe and take stock of his immediate circumstances. When he looked down, he saw his power was at twenty-seven percent. It meant he would need to go and resupply rather soon before the battery reached a problematic point. Hopefully, there would be a shield he could use and other options that Shinn could try with the Impulse and keep in the fight.

Tyler was a short distance from where the Impulse had been fighting around after it and others had pushed back the green enemy Gundam. He'd seen that one a few times during the fight, along with the black and blue one. The three had been causing more trouble than the Daggers and Windams. The blue one was going against the underwater team and wasn't having success against them. The black machine had been on the OMNI vessels from what Tyler had seen. It had tried at times to jump from debris and ships to move forward but was halted and forced back. That made Tyler think the black one didn't have some sort of flight system built in and so couldn't fly under its own power. Even if the black one was limited to not flying, that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous.

Tyler had danced with the green one already once around an hour and a half ago if he recalled correctly. The pilot's style of fighting had once again confirmed to Tyler they were part of the Alliance's horrible project that turned kids into "super soldiers." The teen wasn't the same as the Galiena trio Tyler had met but had some very similar qualities. It had gone against the Impulse after Tyler had fought against it, though Shinn had managed against it. However, Tyler did notice the green enemy Gundam had taken an "interest" in Shinn with appearing to be seeking him out. It had tried to get to the Impulse a couple of times which it hadn't managed to reach the kid.

Tyler was about to ask Shinn what his status was and if he needed help but was interrupted before he could. The interruption came in the form of Tyler overhearing Shinn talking with his allies around him. From what Tyler listened to, Shinn was at the point he would need resupply the Impulse's battery rather soon. The kid had been going back to the hangar which the Impulse had been stored in originally by what Tyler understood. However, if Tyler had caught the chatter going about correctly, the Minerva had arrived in range of Asgard recently. Granted, Tyler had prodded those from the ship in the hopes that something would be started to help Shinn. Yet, Tyler hadn't honestly expected the ship to come to Asgard itself to potentially pick up the kid. Tyler was certainly not complaining about the Minerva being around as it would help the Shinn in a way those at Asgard couldn't. But it sounded like Shinn hadn't been told or discovered the Minerva was around.

Tyler took a moment to look at his sensor display so he could hopefully find where the Minerva was so he could direct Shinn there. And it only took a short moment for Tyler to see the Minerva was among the southern defense wing of Asgard's defense forces. In fact, the ship wasn't that far from where Shinn and Tyler were currently. Shinn could get there in around five minutes or less if he didn't get caught up in the fighting. Once he had the information, Tyler connected a channel to the Impulse since it was on Federation comm frequencies from the beginning of OMNI's assault. "Shinn," Tyler began, "I couldn't help but overhear you plan to go and resupply. Yet, before you go back toward Asgard, the chatter I heard says the Minerva recently arrived around Asgard. From what I can see, it is currently helping the southern defense lines to the south of our current position. I believe they can resupply you more effectively and quicker than those at Asgard. Thus, it is in your best interest to head south and get to the Minerva."

Tyler turned to gaze at the green enemy Gundam a short distance away fighting allies at the moment. With its interest in Shinn, Tyler didn't think it would leave him alone as Shinn headed to the Minerva. So, Tyler intended to get and keep its attention on the Aurora so it wouldn't focus on the Impulse. And Tyler was one of those kinds of individuals that could yank another's attention to be on him and keep it. "Rest assured, I will keep the green Gundam busy and away from you while you go resupply. They won't have the time to seek you out, I'll make sure of that by making sure their attention stays on me. That will be so until I feel like letting them run away from me, I promise that."

Shinn blinked at the information Commander McGregor was giving him. The Minerva was supposed to be at Gibraltar the last he'd heard from others, Commander McGregor specifically. The information had made sense to Shinn with what he knew. After descent through the atmosphere, it was logical that the Minerva would head to Gibraltar being the closest ZAFT base. The glance that Shinn had gotten of the Minerva while in the upper atmosphere, it would likely come down around the Mediterranean Sea. Gibraltar would be the closest main ZAFT base in that sea for any ZAFT forces to go to. Shinn expected that after this battle was over, he would get a transport via the Federation to go to Gibraltar. He planned to ask why Gibraltar had told the Federation they wouldn't help Shinn when he could.

As Shinn recalled there was supposed to be some operation soon which would likely have the Minerva involved with them at Gibraltar. But that made its presence around Asgard all the more confusing to Shinn. Commander McGregor had mentioned he would try and get movement from Gibraltar. Yet, the Minerva coming was the last thing Shinn had ever expected to have happen with whatever Commander McGregor had done. It being here would solve his standing resupply and equipment issues he was dealing with in the best way Shinn could think of. Shinn could really use fresh equipment with this fight having no end in sight. He would see it through to the end whatever that would be. Those he'd fought alongside had helped Shinn commit to seeing this through to having OMNI falling back and retreating. Shinn turned and began heading in the direction that Commander McGregor had indicated. Three of his allies followed behind him to cover Shinn as needed from OMNI attacking forces.

Once Shinn was heading in direction the Minerva, Tyler focused back on the green enemy Gundam. It had been harassing Shinn off and on during the battle and Tyler wasn't going to let that stand without consequences being delivered. They had also been killing Federation forces and looking to be doing with relish from what he'd seen. Tyler had resupplied for the second time around thirty minutes ago, so he was good for a while even fighting another Gundam. Tyler had the motivation to make the enemy Gundam's pilot live help for a period and he fully intended to. With that in mind, Tyler began closing the distance between the Chaos and himself with his stealth system up and active. Along the way, Tyler had a thought which rapidly became tempting to look into. He knew the Alliance's "super soldiers" had "attitude quirks" which affected them, and it was a general "issue" with them. From what Tyler had seen, one could hit a trigger and set any of them off if one could find the right "button" to push. And Tyler was definitely one of those kinds of people that was an expert "button pusher" when put to it. He would throw off the enemy Gundam pilot so much they wouldn't think about the Impulse for a while and focus on the Aurora.

Tyler had glanced over the specs of ZAFT's stolen Gundams since the encounter around Lagrange 4. From glancing them over and the bouts he'd had with them, each of the three machines had their faults which could be exploited. For the green one, there were a few things that could be used against it that Tyler had seen. The DRAGOON pods it had could be used on Earth but could only swivel somewhat and not detach as they could in space. In its suit mode, it could fly without needing assistance from extra equipment and had a fair arsenal. However, its most powerful weapon could only be employed in the armor mode. And if ZAFT circuitry and wiring was around the same as it had been at the end of the Alliance-PLANT War, the firing controls could be superseded by a simple energy surge close to the weapon. Thus, in theory, if Tyler used the Aurora's new charge cable and sent a surge to the multi-phase beam cannon, it would fire on his command rather than the pilot's. Tyler would test that theory shortly and hoped to mess with and scare the crap out of the teen pilot in the process. Tyler moved the Aurora to be above the Chaos and shifted into his suit mode before starting the dive at his target.

Meanwhile, the Minerva had moved into its position between two Dolphes classes per Asgard High Command's orders. It started using its Isolde cannon and its Tristan beam cannons against the nearest OMNI ships. Burt was calling out the incoming estimations of OMNI's strength which Talia and Arthur were slightly surprised at hearing. The number of ships alone said OMNI was serious about this attempt to take Asgard from the Federation. They were throwing between what ZAFT had estimated would be a third to half of their seaborne forces at the Federation base. If they were willing to risk that much of their forces against a target which would be hard-pressed to fall to them, then it raised several questions. Talia imagined if this same fleet were to go against Gibraltar or even Carpentaria, the ZAFT bases would be in a hard place to oust them. This fleet could have a decent chance to take either of the main ZAFT bases on Earth.

That only enforced the question as to why the Alliance wasn't going against those bases instead of Asgard. It would've been a more effective use of forces and done a serious blow to ZAFT in the process. And yet, the Alliance was using their military to attack the Federation. It made little to no tactical sense for the Alliance to do this. While the Alliance wasn't known for making tactical sound decisions more than half the time, they weren't known for making obviously reckless ones often either. Talia knew there was no solid answer for why the Alliance was doing something so clearly stupid. It was just as likely they were using this as a kind of revenge on the Federation for them stepping in and foiling the attempted nuclear attack on the PLANTs as anything else. And at this time, the answer whatever it could be didn't affect the ongoing fight.

The Minerva's presence was quickly noticed by OMNI, and it came under assault just as the

Federation defending forces were. Aila and Lunamaria were quickly made busy keeping Windams and Daggers at bay and a distance from the ship. OMNI forces didn't make it easy on either woman with the require interception they made them do. Matt and Rey had gone toward the frontlines where Federation and OMNI mobile suits were clashing. Matt told Rey to try and keep in a moderate distance from the Minerva. Doing that would allow them to jump back in should Aila and Luna need assistance. Yet, the plan didn't last long as enemy machines drew their attention and started drawing them away from the Minerva. All of that put the Minerva in the position of having to be more of the defensive than on the attack. The Minerva's CIWS were swiveling almost constantly to intercept incoming fire as the assault continued. And there was little time to think ahead for those on the Minerva, just the time to react to attacks.

Ten minutes had flown by after the Minerva reached the frontlines with little change for the ZAFT vessel. The Valkyrie cannons began firing at another OMNI group in orbit above Asgard. The bolts stood out against the sky as they zoomed upward. Aila had caught the bolts and watched them for a moment as they surged upward. It took a moment for her to understand the bolts were from some sort of ground to orbit cannon. That the Federation had taken the theory, designed and made it practical was impressive. However, such could be used just as effectively to dispatch and neutralize ZAFT drop forces if Aila were to guess. And while it was better that the Federation had such technology rather than the Alliance, it was still a tad worrisome it now existed. It also showed the Federation's response and counters were quick and precise, which was expected of them.

It was as Aila was shooting at a Windam keeping it from getting too close to the Minerva when something caught her attention. For something to catch Aila's attention with the battle going on all around her was of note. After forcing the Windam she'd been facing back, Aila glanced to her right to see what in her peripheral vision had stuck out enough to register to her. There was smoke and explosions as there was all over the battlefield, so that wouldn't have caught her attention. But a moment after she scanned the view, something did stand out from the rest. Aila had to blink for a moment to make sure she wasn't seeing things she hoped and wanted to be there. However, as she kept staring, the Impulse didn't vanish from the view Aila was getting. It was still in the air a distance away from the Minerva in the fight.

The likelihood of the Impulse appearing around where the Minerva was had been low with all that was going on around the battle. And yet, by what Aila was seeing, the Impulse was on approach to the ship currently. It had others with it, Federation machines if Aila was seeing correctly, and those were fine in her view. What was concerning and problematic to Aila was the Impulse and its allies were still under attack by OMNI forces as they were heading toward the Minerva. Should Shinn have been fighting since OMNI's assault began whenever that was, it was probably in a strained position by this point. The Federation would've figured out a way to charge the Impulse's battery quickly after the fighting had started, Aila had no doubt about that. However, without the Minerva, the Impulse couldn't replace any equipment it may have lost during the battle thus far. The only other option Shinn would have been to use Federation equipment. The issue with that was the potential incompatibility of Federation equipment with ZAFT technology the Impulse had.

That Shinn was still in the fight with however long it had been going on was notable. While Aila had noticed Shinn was capable of fighting, this battle would require smart fighting instead of simple tactics to defeat enemies. Aila had seen Shinn could fight smart to conserve supplies, yet that only went so far for so long. Heck, Aila would applaud Shinn for doing as well as he was under the conditions he'd been working under. Any pilot would have extreme difficulty managing as Shinn clearly had in a battle OMNI was giving Asgard's defense forces. It was yet another good mark in Shinn's favor. However, the point was the Impulse had been spotted and so those from the Minerva could give Shinn assistance. Aila got on a channel with the bridge, "Captain, I have eyes on the Impulse," Aila stated clearly. "It's at Blue 26 Bravo 13. It looks to be with some Federation mobile suits coming our way at the moment." Aila switched over to the frontline pair, "Matt, Rey, I need one of you to move over to Blue 26 Bravo 13 and assist the Impulse the best you can. I think Shinn is trying to get to the Minerva, probably for resupply."

Matt would love nothing more than to be able to go over to help the Impulse as Aila had asked. The kid being spotted was some of the first great news he'd heard in a solid week beyond Aila's continuing recovering health. However, he had two Windams pressing him keeping his attention loosely. If it were just the Windams, Matt would do as Aila requested. But the Windams weren't that hard to deal with even if they worked together. The Abyss had popped up out of the water and had been shooting his way while the Windams fought him. With the Abyss attacking him with the Windams, Matt couldn't pull away for the moment. And the other problem with the Abyss being here implied it was almost a guaranteed that the other two stolen Gundams were around somewhere too. "I would if I could, Aila," Matt said before having to block the Abyss's M68 Dual cannons' projectiles with his shield. "But I'm fighting two enemy suits along with the Abyss trying to use me for target practice from the water's surface. So, I can't pull away to help the Impulse until that changes in some way. Please tell the ship the three stolen Gundams are around here somewhere and to keep an eye for them."

Aila hadn't been able to see the Osiris from where she was on the Minerva, so didn't know of Matt's situation. She was worried for him, though she had faith Matt would manage against the Windams and the Abyss for the time being. Yet, as Matt had said, if the Abyss was with OMNI's assaulting force, it was almost a guarantee that the other two stolen Gundams were in this battle too. That the Alliance willingly sent their stolen Gundams here said how invested they were in their assault. Such was concerning, but there wasn't the time to think of the point further. So, Aila focused on Rey, "Rey are you able to move and help the Impulse?" Rey was using his tomahawk to slice through a Dagger which he'd been fighting when Aila had been asking for help for the Impulse. And now that Rey had just freed himself up, he was more than willing to go and assist Shinn. "Just freed up, ma'am," Rey replied, "Moving to the coordinates you specified now."

Back with Shinn, his group had been making decent progress toward the Minerva. He had gotten the ship in his sites a little while ago giving him hope to turn his situation around for the better. But as he had, OMNI forces had suddenly appeared and worked to slow him and his allies down. Shinn had shot at the two Windams that had been aiming for him and scored a hit on one. However, the other managed to shoot the Impulse's beam rifle, forcing Shinn to drop it before it exploded. That left Shinn with the CIWS guns for as long as the remaining ammo would last and the folding razor anti-armor knives. So, Shinn let the Windam get closer to him so he could use one of the folding razors. The Windam drew its beam saber and raised it to strike the Impulse. Shinn had the right hip compartment open, and the folding razor knife popped out to draw-ready position. He grabbed it before unfolding the knife as he evaded the downward slash of the enemy saber. Shinn then thrust the knife into the underside of the Windam's shoulder joint and buried the blade into the structure.

The Windam's right arm went limp saying Shinn's thrust had been true and hit primary circuits and structure to disable the arm. Shinn had the Impulse swing around to be behind the Windam before he pulled and held the trigger for the CIWS guns. The rounds peppered the Windam's flight system and was doing damage to it. However, after a couple of seconds, the CIWS stopped putting out projectiles. An alarm began going off and Shinn saw that the CIWS ammunition had been completely spent. All he had was the other anti-armor knife and that would unlikely be able to finish the Windam. "Damn, out of ammo already," Shinn cursed to himself. "Asuka," came over the group channel Shinn had been on, "Catch." Shinn looked upward and saw one of his allies dropping their vibrating blade toward him. He caught the weapon and pushed the trigger down which expanded the blade and started it vibrating. Shinn swung the blade horizontally and the blade cut through the Windam with close to the ease that a beam saber would. Shinn stored the blade on the Impulse's back hip skirt as it would be his real offensive option until he got to the Minerva.

Shinn's group was able to resume going toward the Minerva again less than a minute later. He lowered his altitude to be closer to the water to try and avoid enemy encounters better for the time being. It would unlikely save Shinn for all enemy attacks, but it should cut them down somewhat and he would take that. Shinn was running out of options, both offensive and defensive to work with in this fight. His allies matched their altitude to the Impulse's which got them out of the main area the explosions and smoke was. The Minerva was getting closer when the proximity alarm began blaring, which got Shinn to snap his gaze to the right. He saw one of OMNI's smaller ships aiming their main guns at him and tracking his travel path. Shinn brought the Impulse to a halt and twist around to face the ship.

The OMNI vessel fired, giving Shinn just enough time to shift his shield in front of the Impulse to defend himself. The shells slammed into the Impulse's shield hard forcing the Impulse back a short distance shaking Shinn in the cockpit. Shinn swore he saw pieces of something flying past his side displays right after the shot landed. And an alarm confirmed to Shinn the shield hadn't taken the OMNI shells well. He looked down and found the shield had been partly shattered from blocking the incoming fire which explained some of the fragments he'd seen. The lower third of the shield was gone, broken off by one of the shells hitting it. The rest of the shield was warping and had cracks intermittently. With the shield compromised to a worrisome degree, Shinn was extremely concerned about the shield being able to block another shot like the one he'd just taken.

As Shinn returned his gaze forward, he found the same vessel was still aiming at him. Shinn was sure enough that the Impulse's shield wouldn't take another shot without shattering further and more. The cracks and warping would cause the shattering to be worse from the next shot and could potentially breach the shield completely. However, before it fired off more shells at him, the turret was shot by a beam and was taken out of commission. Shinn glanced in the direction the beam had come from and saw Rey's white ZAKU Phantom heading toward his group riding a Guul. He was glad to see a friend he'd not been around for two weeks or more now. And with Rey's help, Shinn hoped the Impulse could get to the Minerva quicker and with less trouble. Shinn needed help the Minerva could give or he would have to try and use Federation equipment instead with how things were.

Rey had reached the general area that Aila had specified and spotted the Impulse. Its condition was bad to say the least and that was being nice. It appeared to have lost most of its weapons and its shield was looking to be in horrible shape. Rey noticed one of the OMNI ships was aiming at the Impulse with its main turret. And before Rey could do anything, the ship fired upon the Impulse. The shells shattered the Impulse's shield and broke down its structure, leaving cracks and warping to the shield's main structure. Rey had moved and shot the turret the OMNI vessel to prevent it shooting at the Impulse a second time. After the Impulse was out of immediate danger, Rey moved his Phantom to fly with the three Federation machines with Shinn. Rey joined the others who were protecting Shinn while he closed the distance toward the Minerva.

While the Impulse got closer to the Minerva, especially once it dropped to be close to the water, some on the ship began getting the real view of the Impulse's current condition. Aila was horrified to see the Impulse in its damaged condition. The Force Silhouette backpack was missing both lower maneuvering fins. From what Aila could see, it appeared that both of them looked to have been sliced off. The two beam sabers that came with the Force Silhouette were missing from the storage holsters. The shield had lost a third of its structure, had pieces missing, and looked to have cracks and warping in what remained. Honestly, it appeared to be barely holding together with the punishment it had endured. The beam rifle was nowhere to be found. Aila could only guess it had been destroyed during the fighting at some point. There were other signs of wear and damage over the Impulse, though mostly on the upper half and the backpack. For Shinn to have kept fighting while the Impulse had sunk to its current condition was nothing short of impressive. And Aila made a mental note to herself to tell Shinn he had done beyond any expectation which any could have of him.

Aila was brought out of her thoughts when Meyrin reached out to her. "What is it Meyrin," Alia asked. Meyrin had been trying everything she could think of the moment the Impulse had been located to link a communication channel to it. Yet, nothing she'd attempted hadn't been successful. She'd gone through every standard ZAFT com-channel and the Impulse had responded to none of those. Meyrin had even tried the ZAFT non-standard channels which were normally reserved for emergencies and had consequences if used for anything else. The only other thing Meyrin had been able to think of which could work was the Impulse's direct com-channel. However, that was normally only known by the pilot and a select few others. And Meyrin hadn't had the chance to memorize the Impulse's code yet even though she had been meaning to do that. "Aila, I've been trying to reach the Impulse, but haven't had any luck," Meyrin began. "I've run out of ideas other than the Impulse's direct com-code. Yet, I can't remember what it is and haven't memorized it. Can you give it to me so I can try that to reach Shinn?"

Aila could hear the desperation in Meyrin's voice. She would applaud Meyrin for trying so hard to establish communications with Shinn. With the battle going on, it couldn't be easy to reach a specific mobile suit Aila would imagine. She assumed the reason that Meyrin hadn't been able to get ahold of the Impulse with standard ZAFT channels was the machine wasn't using them. With the Impulse fighting alongside the Federation, Aila figured he was probably on encrypted Federation channels. That made logical sense as he was working with Federation forces, and he would be communicating with him. The Federation admiral had said Shinn had volunteered to fight, and Aila felt with an acceptance, he would be treated as any Federation soldier in this. "I would bet that the Impulse is likely using Federation com-channels were I to guess," Aila returned. "I'll send you the com-code, but I ask you don't pass it around. Direct com codes are supposed to be for emergencies only." Meyrin received the encrypted message from Aila and put in the com-code, hoping it would get Shinn to respond.

Shinn fended off a Dagger from a group that had come at his before using the vibrating blade he had been lent to slice through the enemy machine. A beeping shifted his attention and Shinn found he had an incoming communication from outside the group channel he'd been on. The weird thing was it used the Impulse's confidential com-code which wasn't given out to just anyone. Shinn had the call connect, "Impulse, do you copy," Meyrin's voice was saying, "This is the Minerva, please respond." The girl's voice had clear strained tones in it, even Shinn couldn't miss that. Then Shinn realized with the Impulse being on the squadron group channel, the Minerva wouldn't be able to use the normal means to reach him right now. His ID stick had switched the Impulse's communications equipment over to using Federation encryption at the start of the battle. Shinn hadn't considered changing that as he hadn't expected the Minerva to appear during the assault. And he'd been busy with enemy forces when he'd found out the Minerva had arrived. So, he hadn't had the chance to switch the Impulse to be off encrypted Federation com-frequencies. Shinn switched the radio so he could reply to Meyrin, "I read you Meyrin."

Words could not express how relieved Meyrin was to hear Shinn's voice. It had been around two weeks since Shinn had been separated from the Minerva. There had been no information given about Shinn to the general crew until they had woken up and go on duty today. Many had been worried about him since he had been lost in the upper atmosphere, Meyrin among them. When Aila had said she had spotted the Impulse, hope that Shinn would be okay had risen. Thus, hearing his voice lifted a weight off Meyrin's shoulders as he was alive. Meyrin also knew her older sister Luna would be even more relieved Shinn was alive. Luna wouldn't admit it yet, but she "liked" Shinn more than a friend, Meyrin had seen that. Meyrin twisted in her seat, "Captain, I have gotten a channel connected to the Impulse," she stated. "Do you want me to put it on the bridge speaker?"

Talia turned to glance at Meyrin with what she had said. The girl had proven she was more than adept at her station. Meyrin was one of those rare finds for ship station operators that were amazing at their jobs but tended to go unnoticed. The girl had a drive and determination that Talia could certainly appreciate. Getting a channel to the Impulse in the mess going on outside was to be applauded as it couldn't have been easy. "Yes, Meyrin," Talia replied, "put it on the bridge speaker." Meyrin transferred her call to the bridge speaker system. "Impulse, what is your status," Talia questioned. Arthur put the live images of the Impulse as it was approaching the ship on the forward display for all on the bridge to see. Some gasped while others just stared in horror at the mobile suit with the damage it had taken was visible for all of them to see. It was clear the Impulse had taken a beating while fighting alongside the Federation in Asgard's defense.

Shinn felt a little relief to hear Captain Gladys even if it was just asking him what his status was. All he'd been told had been the Minerva had descended and arrived at Gibraltar, but nothing beyond that. He'd been worried about friends and comrades while he'd been around Asgard. Shinn was still committed to seeing this assault to its conclusion even with the Minerva here. If all he could get was resupply and fresh equipment, he would thank Captain Gladys and keep going as he had since mid-morning. "I've certainly been in better standing, Captain," Shinn answered honestly. He didn't want to say how desperate he was, so he could show he was up to any kind of challenge that came his way. But in this instance, it was difficult to not say he was at the end of his rope of options. He either had to get fresh equipment from the Minerva or go to the Federation and ask them for equipment to work with and hope it would be compatible enough with the Impulse. "I am in need of a serious resupply," Shinn continued. "The Impulse's battery is low to put it mildly. I'm just about out of offensive options to work with and my shield is at the brink of complete failure."

Meyrin had been working on getting any readings for the Impulse since she had transferred the call to the bridge speakers. All the n-jammer interference and radio chatter were making it difficult for her to sync her console up to get status on the Impulse. As Shinn was iterating his situation, Meyrin finally got data on the Impulse. It took effort to hold in the gasp in horror at the data coming in about the Impulse. The battery was below twenty percent, currently at nineteen percent and falling steadily. Should the power level fall to fifteen or less, the Impulse's phase shift armor would shut down to conserve energy by default, making it more vulnerable. Its arsenal was just about gone from what it was supposed to have at its disposal. The beam rifle and sabers were missing with no hint as to what had happened to them. The Force Silhouette pack was operating below fifty-percent efficiency. The majority of the two larger maneuvering fins had been severed. Because of that, the silhouette backpack was drawing more energy than normal to keep the Impulse in the air. The shield was in serious danger of being breached from what readings Meyrin was getting. That Shinn had been fighting against OMNI with the Impulse in this type of state was frightening. "He isn't exaggerating captain," Meyrin remarked in a worried tone, "The Impulse is not doing good at all from what I'm getting from it."

Talia knew the Impulse's power issue could be solved simply enough. The Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System could use its beam to refill the Impulse's battery. It was one of the innovations that the Minerva had to work with the second stage Gundams. It provided an advantage of resupplying power without needing them to come into the ship's hangar. The system had been tested during one of Aila's test flights and had proven to work well. But it had never been employed in the field for its intended purpose during active combat. So, this would be the first "field" test of the Deuterion system and how efficient and effective it could really be. The lack of equipment could be changed with flyers being sent out and Shinn switching out the damaged parts. But again, that came with its difficulties during an active combat situation. "Shinn," Talia started, "Bring the Impulse closer to the ship. We will use the Deuterion beam to resupply the battery."

Shinn had been told about the Minerva's Deuterion system which the Minerva was testing for ZAFT. He had understood the general principles the system used, and what it could do in theory. Shinn had also watched the test that had been done at Armory One during one of Aila's test flights. She had explained how the process worked and Shinn believed he could do what Aila had iterated. And it would save on resupply time for the Impulse if the Deuterion beam was used. If flyers could be loaded and sent out, then Shinn could get fresh equipment to work with going forward.

It was ideal except there was one point which came to Shinn's mind that made the idea somewhat risky. While the Deuterion beam was going, the Impulse had less ability to do anything to defend itself. If there had been one thing Shinn had picked up on during this assault, it was OMNI was more than willing to take any opportunity to get the upper hand. They hadn't given any of Asgard's defending forces time to do much besides fight them. Those with him who were his allies would have to defend him while the Impulse recharged. And Shinn had confidence they would do just that for him. But if the Chaos or one of the other two happened to pop up while he was resupplying, that was where the real risk came up in Shinn's mind. Once the Deuterion beam connected to the Impulse, Shinn would be committed until the beam shut off. However, going into the Minerva's hangar to do the resupply would take longer and time was of the essence.

Nevertheless, even with the risks, Shinn decided to go with the Deuterion beam option for resupply to get it over with. "Understood, captain," Shinn replied. Meyrin switched the call back to her console, "You will need to be under four-hundred meters to be in effective range of the Deuterion beam," Meyrin instructed. "And you will need to remain facing the beam's emitter while it is transferring energy to the Impulse." Shinn figured the range of the Deuterion beam wouldn't be a long distance. But there were the flyers which could be set to launch while he resupplied so they could be ready to send out when it was done. "Got it Meyrin," Shinn returned. "Have a chest flyer and a force silhouette flyer on the catapult ready to send out." The Impulse kept closing the distance so Shinn could get it into range for the Deuterion beam.

As the Impulse was getting closer, Meyrin did as Shinn had asked. She switched over to the channel she used as mobile suit controller to the hangar. "All personnel, standby for launching Impulse flyers," Meyrin announced. "A chest flyer and silhouette flyer will be sent to the catapult. Opening silhouette hangar 1, preparing to load silhouette flyer, standby." Inside the central elevator system, a chest flyer was moved to link to the lift. The mentioned storage hangar split horizontally open, and a force silhouette flyer was loaded to the elevator. Once the two platforms were linked to the lift, the airtight shutters began rose up to enclose the elevator. "Platform setup complete, central catapult online, opening airtight shutters," Meyrin stated over the speaker system. "Emergency crews, standby at launching positions. Raising central catapult to launch position."

The chest flyer rose into launching position on the catapult before Meyrin saw the Impulse was now in the outer range for the Deuterion beam. "Captain, the Impulse is now in range for use of the Deuterion beam." Talia knew using the Deuterion beam during active combat would be risky, but it would be the quickest means to resupply power to the Impulse. However, the closer it was the faster the beam would do its job, so the outer range wasn't ideal. With Meyrin loading flyers to send out to the Impulse after recharge, the machine would be freshly equipped. Thus, Talia nodded, "Tell the Impulse to come to two-hundred meters," she ordered. "Once it is at that distance, activate the Deuterion's tracking system to lock in on the Impulse's receiver."

Shinn acknowledged the order from Meyrin about the distance he was to be before the Deuterion beam was used. When he was at two-hundred meters, Shinn brought the Impulse to a stop and faced the Deuterion emitter on the port-side of the Minerva. "Minerva," Shinn stated, "I'm in position and ready for Deuterion beam." Talia looked to Meyrin, "Activate tracking system and lock in the Impulse's receiver." Meyrin did as she was told and had the Deuterion's tracking system work on acquiring the Impulse as the Deuterion system's target. It was a moment later that Meyrin's console said the tracking systems had locked onto the Impulse's Deuterion receiver. "Captain, the Deuterion's tracking system has locked in the Impulse," Meyrin announced. "Ready for Deuterion beam to fire and begin energy transfer." Talia's gaze shifted to Arthur, "Fire Deuterion Beam." The Deuterion beam fired from the Minerva and connected with the receiver in the Impulse's head. Shinn watched as his battery's level began climbing at a steady rate. At the speed it was going, the Impulse would be recharged in a little over a minute.

While that was going on, Tyler was diving toward the Chaos. He could see that the enemy Gundam had glanced toward the Impulse which was by the Minerva. The Impulse had a beam hitting it, likely recharging its battery somehow. Tyler figured while Shinn was recharging, he wouldn't be able to do much to defend himself. He would make sure the Chaos was too distracted by him to even think about the Impulse. The enemy pilot was about to enter a horrible experience that they wouldn't soon forget. Tyler rammed/crashed into the Chaos sending it flying down toward the water. He followed the enemy Gundam intending to use it to distract others, as many as he could get away with. It was also an opportunity for Tyler to test the ZAFT Gundams and if ZAFT had changed their designs notably.

Sting had been fighting the Federation forces, trying to work his way back to the enemy ZAFT Gundam. He wanted to take down the pest once and for all after the effort he'd put into the task. The trio had failed to defeat the machine with the multiple chances they'd had. It became a standing embarrassment for them the longer it took to take the enemy unit down. And from what Sting had seen in the last clash, his opponent was running out of options to work with to fight. If Sting could get to it before it got equipment to replace what it had lost, Sting felt he could take it down. That became an issue when Sting saw the enemy Gundam closing in on the ship it had been with before now. What the ZAFT ship was doing here wasn't Sting's problem, but its ability to resupply the blue and white Gundam was a serious problem.

Sting had intended to go for his opponent once he finished with the Federation machines. He'd been on his way when something had crashed into him and sent him flying downward. Sting had to work to regain control of the Chaos and get it out of the tumbling spiral he'd been knocked into. He was forced to shift the Chaos into its armor mode which had better flying capabilities to regain control. Sting pulled back hard on his control sticks and made the Chaos pull out of the forced dive before he hit the water. Once out of the dive, Sting glanced at his sensor readings to find who it was that had sent him tumbling toward the water. But there was no sign of any nearby that could've shoved the Chaos into the spiral he'd just gotten out of. Then the next moment, Sting was rocked as something hit the Chaos. When he glanced up, he found the red Gundam from before on top of the Chaos. The enemy machine had been nicknamed the "red meddler" by Auel, Stella, and him.

Tyler had gotten the Aurora to land right on top of the Chaos just behind where the flight array was with the pod fins easily in reach. He grabbed the weapon pods and gave them a test swivel to see if using them would be enough to steer. Tyler was pleased to see the weapon pods did get the desired result and were a means to steer the Chaos. He intended to use the Chaos as a vehicle and its weapon against OMNI as he pleased. The Chaos did try rolling to dislodge the Aurora, yet Tyler wasn't moved. This enemy pilot would have to do so much more to have a chance to get him off. After the rolls, Tyler used one of the Aurora's hands to push the sensor and camera bank down to make the multi-phase beam cannon usable. There were sparks as Tyler pushed the camera bank down which he took to mean it was stuck where it was. That worked in his favor as then the pilot couldn't hide the cannon while Tyler used it.

Tyler had the new recharge cable which the Aurora now had and connected it to the Chaos. He found his cable had connected to circuits which just happened to control the firing mechanism for the multi-phase cannon. That worked out great for Tyler as it gave him exactly what he had wanted, which was a means to potentially fire off the Chaos's cannon as he liked. To test his theory, Tyler sent a surge through the cable to the circuits and a moment later the multi-phase cannon fired. A smile came to Tyler's face as his plan would now work as he envisioned, and it would be such fun. He would toy with his opponent before doing something to send them into something to mess with them. The kid was in for an unforgettable ride which they wouldn't be able to get out of their mind anytime soon.

Sting hadn't liked the red meddler on the Chaos's "back," but his rolls hadn't gotten his opponent off at all. And that wasn't the only issue, the red meddler also could use the weapon pods to force the Chaos to go the way it directed. In other words, the red meddler had complete control of where the Chaos would fly and there was little that Sting could do about it right now. That was bad enough, but the red meddler did more than just use the Chaos as a personal flying machine. It forced the camera and sensor back down to reveal the Calidus Kai multi-phase beam cannon. Sting had a mere moment to wonder what his opponent was doing before his forward display showed the cannon was initiating a firing sequence. Sting blinked as the beam fired without any input from him since that shouldn't happen or be possible. And yet, his multi-phase cannon had gone off without him pulling the trigger which Sting couldn't wrap his head around.

Tyler directed the Chaos to head toward the area the Minerva was in. From what Tyler had last heard, the blue enemy Gundam was around there after evading the aqua team for a bit. He didn't doubt that team would get to the Abyss and pull it back to them. However, Tyler didn't know what OMNI had going underwater specifically that the aqua team had to deal with, so he wasn't going to blame them for losing one enemy for a bit. And as Tyler glanced forward and spotted the blue Gundam ahead fighting a gold Gundam and Federation machines. There was a clear line Tyler could fire down without allies in the way to hit accidentally. It was as if fate was begging Tyler to teach the misbehaving teen a much-needed lesson. Tyler wasn't going to deny fate's clear request. Thus, Tyler had the Chaos point its cannon at its ally before he had the cannon fire.

Sting had been trying to see what he could do to stop and remove the red meddler. However, he hadn't come up with anything which would likely work against his opponent. Yet, as Sting looked forward, he saw the Abyss had come into his cross hairs for his multi-phase cannon.
Sting got on the radio as quickly as he could, "Auel," Sting exclaimed as Auel's face appeared on one of the com-screens, "Move, get out of the way!" Auel's face frowned with anger, "What are you talking about," Auel snapped. "I'm busy with the gold enemy. Buzz off and mind your own business." Sting glanced down at his forward display and found the cannon had just charged and was in the process of firing. "A beam is coming your way," Sting stated, "evade!"

Auel would've snapped back at Sting, but an alarm blared and when he looked up, he saw a beam zooming at him. He threw his controls to the right and managed to avoid the beam. When Auel looked in the direction the beam had come from, he found the Chaos there with something red on it. Auel was angry that Sting had fired in his direction. Trios were to avoid friendly fire the best they could. That annoying point had been drilled into Auel by those at the lab to the point he couldn't faint not knowing it. "What the hell, man," Auel snarled. "What are you doing attacking me, damn it!" Sting hadn't pulled or even touched the trigger for his multi-phase beam cannon. The red meddler had somehow made the cannon fire without any input from him. "I didn't, I swear," Sting insisted, "The red meddler is on me and somehow is able to fire my multi-phase cannon without me doing anything." Auel looked again and saw the red Gundam which they had nicknamed the red meddler riding the Chaos. He didn't know whether to quite believe Sting saying the meddler could somehow fire off Sting's cannon. Yet the red meddler had shown it could do weird things that weren't normal for others to do.

At the same time, Matt had just finished off the Windam he'd been fighting when a beam zoomed through the edge of his vision. When Matt glanced down, he saw the Abyss forced to evade the said beam. Matt's gaze shifted back to where the beam had come from and paused seeing the Chaos flying over the water. The Chaos was in its armor mode, but the strangest thing was that a red Gundam-type was on its back. Matt swore he'd seen the red machine before but couldn't place where he would've seen it. The Chaos's multi-phase beam cannon was out and seemed to be what had been used against the Abyss. However, that made little sense as the Chaos and Abyss were supposed to be allies. The red Gundam brought out two cannons and appeared to keep the Chaos going towards the Abyss.

Tyler had brought out the Aurora's plasma cannons intending to use them with the next attack. He already had seen the signal of the Y142 Leviathan heading for the Abyss. Tyler intended to set the Abyss up to be captured by the Leviathan and dragged back down underwater. The Chaos was closing the distance between it and the Abyss as Tyler waited for the right time to pull the trigger. The Abyss faced the Chaos again and Tyler had the Chaos fire its cannon and a second later he fired his plasma cannons. Tyler watched as his target avoided the shots sent their way as he expected. Yet the point wasn't to hit the Abyss, it was to force them down toward the water so the Leviathan could drag it under.

Auel had to have the Abyss lean back and drop closer to the water to avoid the shot from the Chaos. The other two beams had forced Auel to not move to either side or take potential damage. He wasn't happy the red meddler was messing his and others' mellow as they seemed to do every time they popped up. Auel fully intended to make the red meddler pay for their actions and get payback on them. Then he could focus back on the gold Gundam, take it down and get back to work. However, Auel barely caught something going on below him before something hit the Abyss. Auel was processing what was going on as a chain wrapped around the Abyss. He got a glimpse of what looked like an arrow or anchor hook over his left arm. Then the Abyss jerked downward toward the water. Auel realized the pests he'd fought against underwater had caught up with him.

Auel shouted curses as the Abyss was pulled downward and used his thrusters to fight the pull. He wasn't going to let the pests pull him back down underwater so they could gang up on him and force him back into the environment they could beat him. Auel continued to curse as he fought against the chain wrapped around the Abyss pulling downward. He managed to stop the Abyss from dipping into the water, but it was much closer than Auel wanted to be. Auel knew the closer to the water he came, the more likely the pests would pull him under the surface. And it was the Abyss's thrusters that was keeping Auel above water. But he knew the thrusters wouldn't be able to keep him above the water forever. Yet, the chain had trapped the Abyss's arms so Auel couldn't free himself immediately. The choice was made for Auel when two of the pests popped out of the water on either side of the Abyss. They used their chain weapons to wrap around the Abyss's legs before they dived below the water again. The drag force increased on Auel as the two other chains added to the first. Auel cursed harder as he found his suit's thrusters were overcome and the Abyss began sinking into the water.

Tyler smirked as the Abyss was dragged down underwater by the Leviathan and two allies. The disturbed teen had fallen for the trick Tyler had set up for them. That had one of the ZAFT Gundams busy for a time thanks to the aqua team. That left two of OMNI's stolen Gundams to deal with and get out of the assault. Tyler had control of the green one and the final one was stuck on OMNI ships the last Tyler had seen. So, Tyler had the recharge cable retract before he stomped down on the Chaos and sent it into the water. He didn't expect the enemy Gundams to stay under water for long before coming back up. And when that machine resurfaced, Tyler had no doubt they would be gunning for him as intended. Tyler was still attracting attention of the green Gundam so it wouldn't seek out the Impulse. So, he shifted the Aurora into its flight mode after sending his opponent into the water before swinging around in a tight arc.

Matt was trying to take in what he'd just witnessed as it was so beyond expectations that it didn't seem like it was real. The red Federation Gundam had just been using the Chaos like a Guul of sorts and made it look easy. Then it had been able to have the multi-phase cannon go off on command somehow. Those two points were definitely odd, and Matt would say such should be looked into to find whatever flaw had been exploited to get the cannon to go off without the pilot pulling the trigger. The Federation Gundam also had fought the Abyss using its own weapons and the Chaos's cannon and forced them into some type of trap. The Abyss had been caught by something and had started fighting from being dragged under the water after evading the attacks. Two other machines had popped out of the water and had added to the force which was dragging the Abyss down. In the end, the Federation Gundam whipped the two better than any from the Minerva had before. They had used methods that were not just unorthodox but bordered on almost crazy and ridiculous. If Matt hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would question whoever told him about what he'd seen.

Matt looked back to where the Impulse was charging with the Deuterion beam. Rey and Federation suits were keeping Windams from getting to the Impulse. To be honest, Matt was still impressed that Shinn had been managing to hold his own alongside the Federation up till the Minerva had arrived. It couldn't have been easy for the kid, especially with the Impulse unable to switch out or replace equipment. Matt would challenge any to go through what Shinn had and do anywhere near as well as him in his situation. And if him making it back to the Minerva after being separated and fighting against OMNI didn't endorse him for being a Gundam pilot, Matt would question what else could. Shinn had shown talent and potential before, he'd displayed even more in the last two weeks. The National Defense Committee would have to have something against the kid to not see the potential in him as a Gundam pilot after this.

The Impulse's battery reached full after around a minute for Shinn. It had been far quicker than the ten minutes than those in the Asgard hangar had been able to do. Not that Shinn blamed those that had been resupplying the Impulse, they had been doing the best they could with what they had. His allies had kept OMNI forces off him while the Impulse had recharged, to which he was grateful. Yet now that the Impulse's battery was full, Shinn just needed to switch out equipment and be ready to get back into the fight.

OMNI needed to be ousted from Asgard, Shinn firmly believed it was necessary, more so now than earlier in the assault. If OMNI had any kind of victory, whether real or something they cooked up, terrible things would follow. They would use what happened here to push for further conflict which could become a war. Thus, Shinn wanted to see this through to the end and do what he could to help stop the Alliance from plunging humanity into darkness. The moment the Deuterion beam was cut off, Shinn had the Impulse move to line up with the launch path of the flyers. "Minerva," Shinn said, "send out the flyers. Do it one after the other as quickly as you can."

Meyrin hesitated at Shinn's request. It wasn't him telling her to launch the flyers that had her pausing. It was the second part which had Meyrin hesitating since there was a standard launching speed for the Impulse flyers. Shinn was telling her to disregard the standard and send out the flyers faster. Meyrin glanced at the captain in hopes she would give her an answer to whether she should do as Shinn says or not. She told the captain of what Shinn was asking her to do. Talia was a tad surprised Shinn was wanting flyers sent out quicker than the standard speeds. Shinn had done beyond any expectation of him thus far and had done just fine with what he had to work with. It sounded like Shinn was aware of what he was doing and was in control of himself and not doing reckless things. Thus, Talia told Meyrin to do what Shinn said and give whatever he needed. Meyrin nodded and put in the command to open the catapult to start sending out the flyers.

Shinn came into the launching path when the catapult opened, and the track lit up to show it was activated. The chest flyer shot out from the catapult focusing Shinn's attention to what he needed to do. Shinn had the Force Silhouette eject from the hardpoint and it fell to the ocean below. A second after the backpack was free, Shinn had the chest section disconnect and follow the Silhouette's path toward the water. Keeping the Impulse in the air became more difficult with just the legs left, but Shinn managed it. He lined up to connect to the chest flyer when his sensors told him the silhouette flyer had launched out. The docking with the chest flyer was rougher than normal, but Shinn didn't mind that. He quickly locked the chest flyer, and the cockpit updated his controls to include the chest section.

Shinn then pulled back hard on his controls to have the Impulse suddenly climb and orient it to have its hardpoint facing the path of the Silhouette flyer. The Silhouette flyer detached its DRAGOON flyer and had the silhouette have just enough time to activate its docking laser. Shinn didn't need the laser as the silhouette was in line with the hardpoint. It did bang when it connected with the hardpoint before Shinn locked the backpack on. Shinn now had all the offensive options he'd started with at the start of the battle and a fresh shield to work with. Shinn spotted the Chaos coming out of the water and quickly seeking out Commander McGregor's Gundam. The Commander's machine was in its armor form and was coming out of a tight arc to face the Chaos. Shinn headed for the two Gundams fighting intending to assist Commander McGregor and send the Chaos running.

Tyler came out of his arc facing the Chaos who had come out of the water by that point. He shifted the Aurora out of its flight mode without changing his speed. That put Tyler under increased G-force, but Tyler was more than up to handle such things. He planned to fight up close and personal now for as long as the green Gundam pilot could take the punishment. The Chaos aimed its beam rifle at the Aurora and began firing bolts in Tyler's direction. The Aurora weaved out of the path of the bolts, doing barrel rolls and other acrobatics. Tyler could see the pilot was letting their emotions get the better of them and be an unintended influence. Because of that, the teen was not in control as they had been somewhat before. They were making small mistakes which they hadn't been before.

Sting was getting more frustrated as the red meddler was evading his attack, and making it look irritatingly easy. The enemy machine had been humiliating Sting for the last five minutes or more and Sting hadn't been able to turn that around. Not only had the red meddler used him to attack Auel with the Chaos's multi-phase beam cannon, but there had also been more to the point. The Abyss had been forced into an enemy trap which got the Abyss pulled under the water by an enemy team. Then they had sent him into the water further embarrassing Sting, adding insult to injury. Thus, Sting wanted payback on the red meddler for the humiliation it had forced down his throat. However, Sting was forced to lower his rifle and raise his shield as the meddler got right up in front of him.

Tyler had the Aurora use its right hand in the form of a fist and slammed it into the Chaos's shield hard. Sting was caught off-guard slightly that the red meddler had not used any of its weapons, but its fist to "punch" his shield. He'd never had an opponent not use a weapon against him during a fight. But it didn't end there, Sting's opponent whipped around to get behind the Chaos a second after punching the shield. Sting was jerked forward as the Aurora kicked the back of the Chaos as hard if not harder than it had punched. Tyler kept up his "fisticuffs" assault on the Chaos, not giving the teen the chance to effectively counter. It was to throw off the teen as those from the project were easily distracted by completely unexpected actions. And the last thing most pilots would expect in a mobile suit fight was a fisticuff type attack strategy being used against them.

Shinn had began his dive toward the Aurora and Chaos after he'd been reequipped. However, as he got closer, he was taken aback at seeing Commander McGregor not using weapons against the Chaos, but his suits hands and legs as a martial artist would. Employing that kind of fighting style with a mobile suit was unheard of as far as Shinn knew of. And while Commander McGregor had come off as the kind of person who didn't go "by the book" or the "normal expectation," Shinn hadn't thought it could be to this extent. Yet, Shinn witnessed the Chaos manage to get a beam saber out and swing it at the Aurora. He zoomed downward drawing his own saber and slashed at the Chaos.

Sting had managed to get a beam saber out and swung it at the red meddler to get it to back off from him. He needed space to counter his opponent and the meddler hadn't been giving him that space at all with its actions. And the saber swing did get his opponent to back up somewhat and give Sting a little breathing room for the moment. However, an alarm snapped Sting's attention to his right and saw the blue and white ZAFT Gundam coming down at him. Sting had just enough time to shift his shield to block the enemy's beam saber slashing down at him. He had the Chaos back away from the ZAFT machine, but the red meddler swooped in and sliced with its own beam saber. While Sting caught the saber with his shield, the force of the swing was pushing the Chaos back slowly. Sting pushed his throttle forward to counter the force, which worked momentarily.

Yet, Sting knew his position had gone south and was getting worse by the second. He was now facing two Gundams at the same time which put him at a disadvantage. Fighting against the red meddler one on one was difficult enough to begin with. It seemed to have more power than the Chaos did even with a full battery. Sting assumed that as the red meddler appear not to have to resupply as often as he and the others of his trio did. The previous encounter had shown that even if Sting had Auel and Stella helping him, they would be in for a hard fight. And now the ZAFT Gundam was teaming up with the red meddler which added difficulty and complexity to the fight which Sting didn't need. His chances of getting away from this fight without paying a harsh price was plummeting and Sting knew it.

Tyler could see his opponent was using their thrusters to attempt to stand against the Aurora. He would applaud the effort as it was admirable for them to do that with what had already had happened in the skirmish between them. However, the ZAFT Gundam's thrusting power was not a match for the Aurora's, not by a long shot. And Tyler would prove that to the teen pilot and hopefully scare them enough for them to go away and leave Shinn alone for a time. So, Tyler pushed his throttles forward to their first stops. The Aurora's thrusters' output increased to what it would have a top cruising speed under supersonic speeds. That got the Chaos to resume being pushed back and downward slowly but surely.

Sting could feel the increased shaking of the cockpit as the Chaos fought against the enemy's pushing force. They had began pushing harder which told Sting the Chaos would lose out in the end with the pushing match. The red meddler had more thrusting power than the Chaos could put out for an extended period of time. And he was getting closer and closer to the ocean's surface the longer Sting fought. He didn't want to go under as those Auel was going against would then gang up on him too. Sting glanced down at his displays and found his battery power was sinking to a worrisome level. He needed to resupply and that was enough of a reason to cut his losses and give up for the moment on getting payback with the red meddler. He'd lost against the red meddler in this instance and there was no way to deny that. So, Sting had the Chaos roll away from the Aurora and retreated back toward the OMNI fleet so he could resupply.

Tyler let the Chaos run away after getting out from under pushing him down to the water. He didn't think that would be the last he'd see of the green enemy Gundam during OMNI's assault on Asgard. But that should give Shinn some time not having to deal with at least two of the stolen ZAFT Gundams. Tyler considered that a small victory for the time it would last. And Tyler would applaud Shinn jumping in against an enemy. The kid certainly had the drive to follow through on something he started. Tyler turned toward the Impulse, "Good to see you managed to resupply and change out your equipment Shinn," Tyler remarked. "You certainly seemed to need the opportunity to do that if you could get it. And it was a pleasure to make sure it was uninterrupted by the enemy Gundams, I assure you." Shinn was grateful that Commander McGregor had kept the Chaos busy while he'd been resupplying and equipping the Impulse. Not only that, but the Commander had also thrown off the Abyss as well, distracting it from assaulting the Minerva. "Thank you for the help, sir," Shinn replied. He would see the battle through to its conclusion, there was nothing that would dissuade him from doing so. "I'll use the opportunity to make a difference on this battlefield."

Tyler didn't doubt that Shinn would make a difference no matter how small it may be in this fight. So, Tyler said no more, merely headed to a different area of the field as the Impulse rejoined the squadron it had been working with. There were still no signs that the assault was close to an end yet from what Tyler could see. OMNI was still surging forward trying to push toward Asgard itself. Being halted hadn't dampened OMNI's efforts if Tyler were to give his opinion. There had been a second try at dropping forces in if the orbital cannons going off was anything to go by. But Tyler heard nothing to the effect that OMNI's drop forces had gotten to the ground anymore than the first group had. This fight had already been going on for more than three hours and would likely continue for hours more. Tyler had feared this would be a long day, but not this bad when he'd heard about OMNI coming.

Tyler was going along taking down OMNI machines as he went, almost bored with the routine which had quickly resumed. He wanted something to break the boredom which had quickly come on after taking on the two enemy Gundams. One couldn't really call Tyler fighting the Windams dancing since it almost felt like he was being a bully with the difference in skills and experience. That didn't mean Tyler was unwilling to do what he was, but it just didn't have much satisfaction. It was fulfilling duty and even that was a loose way of looking at the idea to Tyler. And yet, Tyler didn't see much of a chance of the routine changing. There weren't many Windam pilots which could fight Tyler and make him have to draw on his skills.

At the same time, Neo had just gotten back out to the field after resupplying still looking got the red Gundam. Neo had tried to fight the red Gundam several times over the last hour. But each time he'd begun his approach, Federation forces would attack him and stop his pursuit. Neo had got glimpses of Sting fighting the ZAFT Gundam during the hour of pursuit. He applauded Sting for working to take down the ZAFT Gundam. The enemy unit had been a challenge and a danger since it had been first spotted inside Armory One. The sooner it was defeated and preferably destroyed, the better for OMNI and the Alliance. And without its carrier around, the chances of being successful at taking it down rose as it couldn't replenish equipment.

Nevertheless, from what Neo had heard with the chatter of the trio, things had taken a non-nice turn. While Sting had made an attempt against the ZAFT Gundam, the enemy and its allies had pushed the Chaos back. And when Sting had tried again, the "red meddler" which was the red Federation Gundam had appeared and jerked Sting's attention to it instead. Auel had mentioned the "annoying" ZAFT ship had appeared and that he would be the one to take it down. Neo had made his way toward where Auel had been and saw the teen had been right. The vessel that had chased the Girty Lue had appeared in this battle. What the Minerva was doing around Asgard, Neo could only guess it wanted to get the blue and white Gundam back. The issue was that the ship was a powerful one, and it gave the opportunity to resupply the blue and white Gundam. OMNI hadn't gotten as close as they had to taking down a ZAFT Gundam as they had during the assault. The blue and white Gundam had been running low on offensive equipment by what Sting had said. That put it at a disadvantage which made the chance to destroy it better. If to be proven right, the enemy gundam had reached the ZAFT ship and gotten resupplied and switched out for fresh equipment.

That had been frustrating enough, but the red Gundam had stepped in and made things worse. Neo had seen the pilot of the Federation Gundam could use unorthodox methods to achieve results. And they had proven they had a knack for the idea again in this battle a few times and in this instance, had done something that both concerned and impressed Neo. First, they had used a similar trick of riding the Chaos that Neo had experienced with his armor. However, they had then proceeded to use the Chaos's multi-phase beam cannon. How they could have fired it thereby superseding Sting was beyond Neo's ability to explain. Granted, it was impressive they had found such a flaw and then exploited it. The enemy Gundam had used the Chaos against the Abyss along with its own cannons. And with that action, they had led Auel unknowingly into a trap which had the Abyss dragged beneath the water. Sting had shortly followed when the red Gundam had stomped the Chaos into the water. Neo wouldn't deny the two had been cleanly whipped by their opponent. Nor did he fault them for their responses as their opponent had been anything but average or predictable.

Neo had followed the red Gundam as it left the area where the ZAFT ship was. He would leave the new enemy ship to the fleet and others. Neo would focus on hampering the work of the enemy Gundam the best he could. It was too dangerous to leave alone and not do something to slow it down. And as he approached, it seemed that Neo would catch the enemy Gundam by surprise. It was fighting a Windam and had its back to Neo which he wouldn't say no to. It was a rare thing to take a Gundam-type unaware, but it was one of the more effective ways to fight them and overcome their advantage. Neo would love nothing more than to take the red machine down for the embarrassments it had put him through.

Tyler sliced a Windam in half when an alarm went off for something coming from behind. He whipped to the right and saw a beam saber going through where he'd been. The view Tyler got was of a Windam, but it was sporting different colors than the vast majority. It was purple and green rather than the white and blue others were. Tyler blocked the next saber swing with her shield, figuring the custom colors meant he was facing a special group leader or the Alliance equivalent of a licensed pilot. Perhaps, whoever this was might actually draw Tyler out of his boredom even if briefly. Thus, Tyler drew one of his own beam sabers and deflected the next attack done against him.

However, when the Windam took out its beam rifle and was using it in tandem with its saber, Tyler began to study his opponent more. Most OMNI pilots wouldn't use a close range and non-close ranged weapon at the same time. And if they did, their performance ranged from bad to abysmal. Yet, the pilot Tyler was going against was doing decently. After a little over ten seconds, Tyler started to recognize the general fighting style he was dealing with. At the revelation, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself, "Well, well," Tyler mused, "Isn't this an unexpected coincidence. Who would've thought tin can pilot would pop up around here of all places. And face off against me who has whipped them thrice before now. Man, someone has to have something against them if they keep pitting us against each other. But hey, I'm not going to complain about toying with tin can pilot with this opportunity."

Neo was shoved back as he had been getting closer to this opponent. The use of his beam rifle and saber had gained him some distance but not enough to get a good strike. The bolts had been either missing or hitting and disbursing on the enemy's shield so far. Yet, as Neo surged forward again shooting his rifle, his enemy's shield changed, seeming to expand. His bolts suddenly changed from hitting and disbursing to changing direction a split second before hitting the shield. After seeing two incidents, it appeared to be much like the recordings of the Alliance's Geschmeidig Panzer Neo had seen. It wouldn't be shocking if the Federation had developed general deflection technology to an annoyingly credible standard by this point. It could explain why the bombing attempts OMNI had managed to do hadn't done anything. Neo had thought the bombing craft had just been intercepted before being able to drop their payload. But maybe there had been more to the failure than he'd thought there was.

Nevertheless, a beeping inside Neo's cockpit drew his attention out of his thoughts. Upon looking down to find a message on the main system display. And an all too familiar irritation came to Neo. The enemy Gundam pilot had taunted him before beating him, and apparently, they had no intention to change that behavior. The message was as follows:

"My oh my, our paths cross once again tin can pilot. How funny or perhaps for you irritating it must be for us to keep bumping into one another. I have to question if someone has a grudge or the like against you for this to keep happening. I say that because your chances against me haven't increased or really changed from our previous encounters. Thus far, you've only proven to me that while you have more tailored options with a mobile suit, it doesn't help you against me. And yet, unlike most of you in OMNI and the Earth Alliance, I ain't so stingy to thumb my nose at you and refuse an opportunity. With how generous I can be, I give you the privilege of an attempt to best me. However, with what you've shown me, your chances of doing that said besting are slim to none and really closer to none. So, I doubt I have anything to worry about from you anymore than I did the last few times. But don't let me giving you the statistical truth stop you from trying and likely failing spectacularly. By all means, dance with me the best you can and help me come out of my boredom briefly, ya tin can pilot."

The message was exactly along the same lines as those that had come before. It was meant to set off Neo and make him mad, likely to blind him into making reckless mistakes. The enemy Gundam pilot was insulting him in multiple ways as they had before. The shots were a tad more pointed than before, but not too different in what they aimed for. Yet, Neo wouldn't give this crazy enemy pilot the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him. Not only was that the aim of Neo's opponent, but they clearly felt enjoyment from the poor reactions they drew out, and they used it to their advantage. Neo wouldn't be caught off-guard as he had been before. For all their prodding and insulting, Neo had seen the enemy pilot was skilled. It was an expectation a Gundam pilot would be above average, but this one was a level or more above that.

Neo knew if he was to have any chance of doing anything effective against the enemy Gundam, he would have to fight extremely smartly. The Gundam pilot had shown themselves to be dangerous if underestimated, so Neo would not make that mistake. He couldn't be emotional and would need to be clearly focused on the goal rather than the steps to get to it. Anything less than that and Neo would likely be whipped as he had been before by this guy. So, Neo calmed himself, clearing his mind of distractions from the battle going on around him. The insults being hurled at him were nothing more than words. This enemy could only be beaten by fighting hard and taking opportunities when they popped up to get in an effective attack.

The fight or rather dance between the purple Windam and Aurora began with the two exchanging simple attacks. The flow of the fight shifted from one range to another from one second to another. It would shift at one moment to close quarters with beam sabers and shield bashing. Then the next the two facing each other at a distance using projectile and beam weapons. Neo used his beam sabers when close and had matched his opponent with shield bashing when the Aurora started doing so. When at a distance, Neo switched to his beam rifle and "Würger" missile and Mk1323 rocket pods against the Aurora. The projectiles didn't do visible damage to Neo's opponent other than the sight of "sparks" due to their phase shift armor. However, even if the shots wouldn't do visible damage, they would drain the Gundam's power levels and Neo would take that for the moment.

On Tyler's end, he matched the purple Windam at the varying ranges their fight would change to. He considered combining his beam sabers into the dual corseque but decided against that. It would take more time to combine and then separate the sabers than the advantage it could give Tyler. At the non-close ranges, Tyler relied on his beam rifle and shield. He did use his plasma cannons every once and a while, but Tyler didn't see a reason to use them against the Windam. His shield's deflection system was quite effective when employed. That was so since Tyler would deflect beams in the direction the Windam would move in. That in turn required tin can pilot to have to evade the deflected beams.

Nevertheless, there was something about this fight which was nagging Tyler which he couldn't dismiss. The tin can pilot's fighting style stuck out not just because it was different than the average OMNI pilot, there was more to it than that. But Tyler couldn't exactly put his finger on what about the fighting style was nagging at him so. It seemed kind of familiar, like Tyler had seen something like it before. And Tyler didn't tend to remember specific fighting styles unless they were used by certain individuals, or it was extremely unusual. However, Tyler for the life of him couldn't place where he'd seen anything like the style the tin can pilot used. Still, Tyler's intuition wouldn't allow the oddity to be waved off as something which wasn't somehow important, little as it may be. It kind of annoyed Tyler that the point nagged at him since he couldn't figure out why.

On the other hand, Neo was doing his best to stay in the fight against the red Gundam which was no small task. He was drawing on every skill and tactic he knew or had in his "box of tricks" to stay in the fight and not fall behind. Neo had come to the conclusion that the Federation pilot he was going against was more than good before this encounter. However, he was forced to reassess his conclusion about the enemy pilot. They were far more than good, they were at least an expert and perhaps beyond even that. In fact, Neo was confident that his opponent could give any in SWORD a real run for their money in a fight if not beat them. Within minutes, Neo couldn't say how long he would be able to keep up in this fight, let alone stay in it. He was close to going all out currently and that was putting a great deal of pressure on him.

Time seemed to rush by for Neo with how involved he was in the fight while it was steady for Tyler. Tyler would admit that tin can pilot wasn't half bad in a fight and that was a type of compliment. Against other Federation pilots, his opponent would have a better chance to win a fight than other OMNI pilots. Granted, Tyler was not an average or close to ordinary pilot compared to others. He was quite the opposite really, being a top/ace pilot within the Federation. But Tyler would acknowledge when another showed notable skills and used them against him. That fed the nagging feeling Tyler kept having, but he didn't pay that much attention with the fight going on. However, Tyler was slowly but surely pushing his opponent toward the end with them on the losing side.

It was within a little over five minutes that Tyler saw an opportunity to finish this fight and he took it. Neo saw the shield bash coming at him but spotted it a little too late to avoid the strike. He was knocked back by the shield slamming into the torso of his Windam. Neo was flying back for a moment before he regained control of his suit and stabilized his flight into a hover. Yet, a single glance at this sensor display told Neo he was in an extremely bad position. His Windam was exposed and in a clear firing line for his opponent. And there was little reason for the enemy Gundam not to take the "perfect" shot which Neo's position provided. Neo had been beaten cleanly and he couldn't deny that by the Federation Gundam pilot.

At the same time, Stella was still jumping from ship to ship, shooting at the planes which were attacking those Neo and her trio had come with. She had been frustrated being "bounded" or "chained" to the ships. Sting and Auel had been able to go out, Sting in the air and Auel in the water, leaving her behind. That hadn't stopped Stella from firing at the Federation's defending forces while on the OMNI vessels. However, the enemies would focus on her when she tried to make her way forward and gain traction. Thus, she had been unable to advance forward and make progress in this fight. She had been doing her best so Neo would praise her efforts. Maybe if she shot down enough enemy machines or took down an extremely strong enemy, Neo would say how impressed he was of her. Stella would make Neo proud of her by the end of this fight.

Nonetheless, Stella was brought out of her concentrated mindset to earn praise from Neo at an unexpected sight. She spotted Neo's Windam over a Spengler class carrier looking to be in a fight with someone else. As Stella studied Neo's attacker for a moment and found it was none other than the red meddler. She hated the red meddler as it had embarrassed her badly before with Sting and especially Auel not letting her live it down. Stella would love nothing more than to get payback against the red meddler. She began making her way closer to the pair so she could take on the red meddler. But as Stella was getting closer, she saw Neo get knocked back from the red meddler. What infuriated her was the red meddler had the gall to point its rifle at Neo. She wouldn't let the red meddler do anything to hurt Neo and get away with it. Stella took a leap off the closest ship and used her thrusters to surge upward toward the two.

Neo glanced back at the Aurora which was bringing its beam rifle to point directly at him. Time seemed to slow down to a slow-motion crawl for Neo as he watched the rifle come into prime firing position. Neo wouldn't have the time to shift his shield to block before his opponent could pull the trigger and the bolt reach him. His opponent had bested him once again and this time the results wouldn't be nice to him by providing another day to fight. However, as Neo was accepting his fate, a blur came from his left heading toward the enemy Gundam. The blur crashed into the Federation Gundam and dragged them down toward the Spengler class directly below. It was a moment later Neo recognized the blur was the Gaia. Simply put, Stella had just saved him from potential death by his Windam being destroyed.

Tyler had intended to shoot tin can pilot in a non-vital area since he didn't want to kill the guy. Tin can pilot was annoying, but not disgusting enough to deserve to die in Tyler's opinion. The guy may be scum for what he and others did at the Milos Outpost, but something in Tyler told him the guy wasn't a lost cause. However, before Tyler could disable the purple Windam, something had shot toward him. Tyler hadn't had the time to react more than to start to move out of the way. But the "blur" or whatever it had been had slammed into the Aurora and dragged it downward. Tyler had quickly began having the Aurora struggle against whatever was dragging him down toward the Spengler class carrier. He managed to kick the weight dragging him down off but still had to landed on the deck of the OMNI vessel. Tyler came down hard to the ship deck, buckling the metal somewhat.

Tyler looked forward and found the black enemy Gundam facing him at the other end of the vessel's launch deck. He'd seen the enemy Gundam before during the battle off and on. It had tried to move forward but was quickly countered and pushed back by Asgard defending forces. Mostly, it had been stuck on OMNI vessels shooting at Tyler's allies while jumping from ship to ship. Tyler was kind of impressed the teen pilot had managed to get to where he and tin can pilot had been dancing. Then for them to get to that height without flight equipment was kind of neat as it would've been somewhat difficult. Yet, it was clear the black Gundam pilot wanted to have a go at Tyler for one reason or another. In previous encounters, the black Gundam had been the more "naïve" reckless of the three Gundams. So, Tyler wasn't too concerned with the enemy pilot he was about to face off with.

Stella had gotten ahold of the red meddler and dragged them down toward the Spengler class thereby saving Neo. The red meddler had managed to break Stella's hold on it, yet she had pulled it down enough to get it away from Neo. She oriented the Gaia to land on the Spengler after she used her thrusters to soften the landing. The red meddler hit the ship's deck harder than Stella had, causing the deck to bow downward somewhat. Stella fully intended to make the enemy pilot pay for attacking Neo and potentially trying to kill him. She also wanted payback for the embarrassment the red meddler had caused her. Sting had already lost against the red meddler twice in this fight alone. Auel had been beaten by them as well and pulled back under the water by other enemies. Stella wouldn't be beaten as easily as the other members of her trio. The red meddler wouldn't have the element of surprise to work with nor catch her off-guard as they had before.

Tyler had decided to let his new opponent have the first move in this fight. There were no other OMNI suits on the ship's deck, and none seemed to be moving to help the black Gundam that Tyler could see. Not that he blamed OMNI's forces for not helping their Gundams. The pilots could be as dangerous to them as to their enemies, those from the project had proven that. The black Gundam's pilot was the one Tyler knew the least about. They were the only female and had aggressive tendencies, but that was the extent of what Tyler had gleamed about them. So, Tyler would gage them by how they fought and the general style they chose to employ. With that in mind, Tyler shifted his shield to be in front of him and drew a beam saber but didn't ignite it. He wouldn't attack for the moment, just defend and counter as needed to observe the girl's fighting style.

Stella took out a beam saber before she surged forward toward the red meddler. She would slice them up good and make them suffer before she finished them for the embarrassment and trying to hurt Neo. Stella charged the Aurora bringing her saber down at it, but her opponent used their shield to block her swing. She expected the red meddler to counter her, but to her slight surprise they only shoved her back a bit. They had what appeared to be a beam saber hilt in their right hand, but it hadn't been ignited. That confused Stella as her opponent wasn't fighting back against her, merely seemed to be defending against her. Such made no sense to Stella as none had done that before nor had any at the lab stated enemies would do that. That wouldn't stop her from doing what she could to defeat the red meddler, but it threw her off a bit.

The Gaia pressed forward to which Tyler used his shield to block and after the first two strikes he ignited his saber using it to parry blows. The fighting style was aggressive, but the pilot seemed to be kind of confused. Tyler's opponent did change things up a bit when they jumped back and used their high-energy beam cannons. He evaded the first two shots and disbursed the third on his shield, but still didn't move forward to attack the Gaia. Tyler could've whipped his opponent without a great deal of problems, but he was curious about the trio tin can pilot had been using. They seemed different than those from the Enhanced Human Project Tyler had met thus far. The differences were subtle but still there and it had him wonder what could've changed with the project for that to be the case. They were aggressive and prone to violent tendencies like the others. However, there seemed to be a modicum of control which hadn't been present in those who had come before.

After a few minutes, Tyler made the decision to capture this machine so he might talk with the pilot. It wouldn't be easy, but if he used common ZAFT design flaws, it would be quite feasible. As far as Tyler understood, ZAFT hadn't improved one of the standing flaws their mobile suits tended to have. The joints like with the arms and legs weren't made with taking a serious physical beating in mind. ZAFT seemed to think that the joints wouldn't be targeted as much as other parts of their mobile suits. He didn't see a reason that thought would be any different with ZAFT's Gundams. Tyler could exploit that shortsightedness and disable the Gaia's arms from being used. From there, Tyler would shake the Gundam's cockpit around to get things moving in the desired direction. Phase shift armor as good of a defense as it was, could be circumvented through an opponent using attacks that delivered impact rather than piercing armor. That may do some minor injuries to the pilot, but it wouldn't do serious ones that could kill them. So, Tyler moved forward toward the Gaia to employ his plan.

Stella had been trying all sorts of things to take down the red meddler. She had gone through the majority of the Gaia's arsenal and had no luck. Her opponent had blocked, parried, or dodged all of her attacks. They had been doing that for minutes and making it appear frustratingly easy. Stella had made sure the frustration she felt wouldn't get the better of her. Auel always let his emotions sway him and that made him more reckless than he normally was. Stella wouldn't do the same as him, she would be better than he was during a fight. She would prove she could do something that Auel and even Sting hadn't managed to do. Neo would definitely praise her after she took down the red meddler. That thought was solidified as the red Gundam surged forward toward Stella.

Tyler weaved from side to side as he closed the distance between him and his opponent to dodge the beams sent his way. The girl's fighting style wasn't bad with it being aggressive and didn't give much of an opportunity to counter. However, it didn't do well against those like Tyler who could predict its flow well enough to deal with. The girl had just been put up against a bad match-up even when she hadn't been aware of it. Tyler could almost feel sorry for her if she wasn't causing trouble with OMNI. He got up close to which Gaia drew one of its beam sabers, raising it up in preparation for a downward strike. Tyler twisted to the left and sent the Aurora's left hand in the fist and slammed into the Gaia's right "elbow" joint. Tyler jumped back as the Gaia swung its beam saber horizontal sweep. However, Tyler noticed the movement of the elbow joint was sluggish, meaning his blow had done what he'd intended. If Tyler could hit the Gaia's elbow and shoulder joints a few times, then his opponent's arms would be essentially disabled.

Stella had missed with the vertical swing on the red meddler and the following horizontal sweep was no different. Her opponent had gotten a blow in on her right arm which had been a "punch" and that was odd. But the blow hadn't seemed to do anything to the Gaia, so Stella ignored the action. And yet, the odd attack didn't make sense for the red meddler. They didn't waste strikes and attacks against those it fought that Stella had seen. It was a nagging feeling that wouldn't leave her alone as she kept trying to slash the red meddler into pieces. Her opponent kept punching the Gaia and seemed to be focusing on the arm and shoulder joints for some reason. It was as the red meddler lept back that Stella was reaching for her beam rifle that she realized what her opponent had been doing.

Stella had the Gaia reach for its beam rifle that an alarm began going off and when she glanced down, she saw what the red meddler had been doing. The Gaia's right arm wasn't responding properly anymore. The arm joint had been damaged enough to be stuck and not move right. Stella tried the left arm and found it was in the same problematic position. Her opponent had disabled both the Gaia's arms with its "odd" blow without her even suspecting their actions intention. And with her arms not working, beam sabers, the rifle, and the shield weren't usable in this fight. Even if she could shift the Gaia into its armor mode, the issue would be much the same. The next thing Stella registered, the cockpit shook, catching her off-guard. She looked up and found her cameras were being blocked by what appeared to be a hand.

Tyler had noticed his opponent had begun understanding their suit's arms were disabled. So, Tyler had shot forward and grabbed the Gaia's head and lifted the suit by its head. Tyler then started punching the Gaia's torso over and over. The blows should be whipping around the pilot and drive them toward losing consciousness. This was the best method that Tyler could come up with to capture the black Gundam. The pilot had to be unable to control the machine and them being unconscious was ideal. Thus, Tyler continued to strike the Gaia's torso to shake and rattle around the pilot to knock them out.

Stella was being whipped around as the hits kept coming. The cameras remained covered for the most part which had her realize her opponent had the Gaia by the head. She tried struggling as she could when she had her hands on the controls. But her hands kept slipping off the controls as she was whipped around with each impact. Her seat's restraint belts were keeping her from flying around the cockpit, but each impact had the belts cutting into her pilot suit. Stella tried to keep calm, but that attempt quickly failed as fear and panic washed over her. She still did all she could to struggle in her opponent's grip, but nothing changed. Each hit made it harder for Stella to concentrate properly. The jerking up and down of her head was causing increasing pain, fear, and panic she was feeling.

Tyler kept slamming punch after punch against the Gaia. His opponent did struggle in the Aurora's hold, but Tyler kept his firm hold on the black Gundam's head. It was clear that the female teen was panicking and was desperately trying to get out of what she was in. Tyler would do what he could to help the girl later on, God only knew what she'd been through. That was the kindness he could provide, but that would come after the battle. And the quicker Tyler got this bout done, the better for the girl it would be. Thus far, there had been none interrupting the fight between the two Gundams, and it was better it wrapped up that way. The girl was being used by the Alliance whether she knew that or not and she unlikely did if the Enhanced Human Project was as Tyler had been told. If she could be freed of that and away from those who had been controlling her, she could have a chance at a better life.

Tyler was about to send another blow into the opposing Gundam by he stopped for a moment at seeing its arms and legs had gone limp. Tyler studied his opponent and saw no response from them. He shook the Gaia by its head for a moment before stopping and found there was no counter response to his action. Tyler took that as the pilot was out cold, which had been his goal in this fight. Tyler let go of the Gaia before he flipped it around and hugged it to the Aurora. He then lept off the Spengler and pointed the Gaia downward and activated his stealth system to hide the two of them. Tyler intended to take the black Gundam back to the Normandy. The soldiers on the ship could make sure the girl didn't cause issues. Plus, Dr. Noll could help the girl with her knowing about the cursed project that had changed the girl to how she was.

The Aurora with the Gaia hit the water and dived under it and escaped the battle temporarily. Tyler headed in the direction the Normandy was in so he could drop off the black Gundam. He did see the skirmish going on with the blue enemy Gundam was having with the aqua team. The Leviathan and the machines based on it were swarming the blue Gundam. The teen piloting the enemy Gundam wasn't doing so well, likely letting their emotions get the better of them. Tyler could only shake his head at seeing the blue Gundam struggling against those fighting it. What the Alliance had done to the teens they used as soldiers was horrifying as well as ridiculous. That was why Tyler would hope for the kids and teens to go through whatever the treatment was that helped them get the chance back to choose a normal life where they made their own decisions.

It took a few minutes, but Tyler approached his ship and contacted the Normandy, "Hey Lisa, I have a favor to ask," Tyler opened. He knew that what he wanted was potentially dangerous to the Normandy and its crew should the girl become violent. So, it would be a smart idea to have some soldiers on hand to handle things should it be necessary. "I'm sending a Gundam-type mobile suit down the catapult to be taken into the hangar. Have Marks get a few down there before Volyon opens up the Gundam I'm sending him. The machine was a ZAFT Gundam before Phantom Pain stole. I'm sure the pilot is from an Alliance project which isn't to be taken lightly."

Lisa knew Tyler would sometimes do things that were "risky" and "questionable." Yet, he normally had good reason and could reason why the risk was worth taking. She didn't doubt Tyler had a reason for this even if he hadn't said it. And that was more so with the mention of an "Alliance" project being mentioned. She assumed it was the one he'd talked about before when the Alliance turned kids into nasty soldiers. Evidence said the Alliance hadn't stopped the idea as of yet, just didn't admit to it nor let the public see it. For such an individual to come onto the Normandy was concerning for the crew. "Are you sure about this, Tyler," Lisa asked. "I know you have reasons why you do risky things, but this would put the crew in potential danger. I need a reason to work with to agree with this."

Tyler didn't blame Lisa for asking for a reason for his intended action. If their positions were reversed, he would be doing the exact same thing. Tyler was putting a lot of faith in Dr. Noll and her experience with the "candidates" from the Enhanced Human Project. The woman had appeared to know how to handle them when Tyler had been on the mission to the Siberia hell hole the Alliance had created. He hoped and was fairly sure Noll knew the triggers and tricks that worked with such candidates. "While I admit the pilot in the enemy Gundam can be dangerous, I think the information they could provide is too valuable to not attempt to get," Tyler stated. "Dr, Noll knows how to deal with those like this teen and I'm putting faith in her to make sure they don't respond violently right away. She should also be unconscious at this point and the girl can be moved and restrained while in that state. Marks and his team will be able to handle things should they race in an unwanted direction."

Lisa was still a tad hesitant about what Tyler wanted to be taken onto the Normandy. But his reasoning was logical, and he had thought this idea out to a degree. At least he had a plan and a contingency ready for things to be dealt with and that was something Lisa could get behind. He also already seemed to know the enemy pilot was a female so he had some inkling about what they could do. "Very well," Lisa replied. She then ordered the linear catapult to be lowered so the suit the Aurora had could be sent down it and slowed. Lisa faced forward seeing the Aurora on approach, "Will you be coming in too?"

Tyler hadn't intended to come into the Normandy's hangar originally. But he glanced over the Aurora's status readouts and saw it wouldn't be a terrible idea for him to resupply given the chance. His battery was above half, but with the assault still going strong, it was wise not to refuse a chance to top off. "Yes, I think a resupply wouldn't be a bad thing for me to do with the assault going as it is," Tyler returned. "OMNI isn't giving up their foolishness yet and it doesn't look like they will in the next hour or two. So, better to top off while I can before heading back out, I supposed." Tyler tossed the Gaia forward and it sailed right into the catapult and was slowed down by the repulsors. The black Gundam hit the magnetic plate and stuck to it before it was taken into the airlock. Tyler waited his turn which would be signaled by the magnetic plate being lowered again to receiving position.

At the same time, Chief Volyon was barking orders to his mechanics around the hangar. The vice-captain had said there was an enemy Gundam-type coming into the hangar. It would be stored in the spare dock until some of the soldiers got to the hangar. Volyon didn't want any of his people put at unnecessary risk if he didn't have to put them in harm's way. When the airlock opened and the black suit rose into the hangar, Volyon directed his mechanics to move it to the unassigned dock. One of his boys shouted that the Aurora was also going to be coming into the hangar. In response, Volyon ordered the airlock closed and the second magnetic plate lowered to receive the captain's machine.

Tyler spotted the plate come back down to the receiving position. So, he oriented the Aurora and came down the catapult. The Aurora hit the plate and linked to it before Tyler signaled the hangar, he was secure and ready to come in. Tyler rose into the airlock where the water was drained before the upper door was opened and the Aurora rose into the hangar. As Tyler glanced around, he saw the black Gundam was being locked into the dock next to where the Aurora was stored when he wasn't using it. The Aurora was moved to its dock where mechanics quickly hooked it into cables and began the resupply process. Tyler had his pilot seat rise and exited the cockpit. He didn't see a reason to sit around while the resupply process was going on. He might get a glimpse of the female pilot if he was lucky.

A moment after Tyler had exited his cockpit the entrance to the hangar opened and Marks and half of his team entered. Tyler was glad his suggestion of security had been taken seriously. The three Galiena girls had proven they were strong and capable of doing harm if they weren't taken seriously and so, Tyler just expected that with all like them. Tyler nodded at Marks and gestured at the black Gundam. Marks inclined his head in understanding and had his men surround the mobile suit. Once soldiers were positioned around the torso, Volyon had two of his mechanics get to work on opening the cockpit. Tyler moved to be by the soldiers and waited to see the individual inside the black Gundam.

It was a minute later, the Gaia's cockpit hatch opened after a hiss of the locks retracting. The mechanics drew back in case the one inside would lash out. Two soldiers moved forward slowly and pointed their weapons into the cockpit. They found a girl appearing to be limp against the pilot's seat restraints. One called to Marks and told him what they had found. Marks told them to extract the pilot and bring them out of the Gundam. Tyler watched as the girl was brought out of the Gundam whose color was starting to fade as the phase shift shut off. The girl was in an OMNI pilot suit that was pink while black as the secondary color. Tyler could see nothing of the girl's face so couldn't get much about her with what he was seeing thus far.

The door to the hangar opened again revealing Dr Noll and two of her assistants coming in with her. The woman came directly over, beckoning her assistants to bring the stretcher they had with them. Tyler observed as the girl was put on the stretcher, still curious about the girl. When the girl's helmet was removed, Tyler spotted golden blonde hair. A long look at the face reminded him of the girl from the Siberian hell hole that had been leading the other kids. However, the girl was taken away by Dr. Noll before Tyler could get more of a look. Marks and his team followed the Doctor which Tyler would thank them for later. Tyler turned back to the Aurora, watching the mechanics doing the resupply on his Gundam. Once the Aurora's resupply was completed, Tyler headed back out to the battlefield. OMNI's assault was still going strong and there were no signs of it close to ending yet.

Meanwhile, the Minerva was still working with the southern defense wing of Asgard's defense forces. It had been a solid hour since the ship had arrived and joined with the defense of Asgard. The mobile suit pilots took turns to resupply when the need came up, staggering the process so only one was off the field at a time. Lunamaria would switch Rey for the Guul while the ZAKU Phantom would go in for resupply. Matt would pull back when Aila had to go in for resupply and she would take charge while Matt went in.

Talia was glancing over the tactical display as the assault kept going, holding in the tired and irritated sigh. OMNI wasn't letting up with their attacks at all against Asgard, not even a hint of them weakening. For every enemy suit that fell, another seemed to take its place quickly enough. The enemy vessels didn't seem to lessen in number, much like mobile suits, when one fell another moved forward to take its position. However, for all of OMNI's efforts, they hadn't managed to make landfall on the island Asgard occupied. It wasn't for the lack of trying from what Talia could see. Over the last hour, OMNI had been trying various ways to advance forward to make landfall, but all of those had failed thus far. The Federation defending forces had been holding OMNI's assault at bay through their attempts.

Talia could see the tactical value which OMNI had been working toward with being able to make landfall. Assaulting the Federation base from a distance had never worked before. And helping in Asgard's defense showed Talia why that was likely the case. First, the Federation's mobile suits had more of an advantage in aerial battles than the other factions. Their machines had flight systems built in. They had weapons that appeared to be effective against the laminated armor which OMNI machines employed. Federation technology likely played a part in that advantage were Talia to guess. And yet, OMNI either didn't seem to comprehend the advantage the Federation had, or they refused to acknowledge it. Second, Asgard had defenses along the shorelines which could bombard at a distance. Seeing that from the defending end was an eye-opening experience to Talia. Whatever kind of guns the Federation had to use, they were accurate and did harsh damage to their targets.

If there was any need for an example of Federation having superiority with their defenses, this battle was a great one. At the end of the first hour the Minerva had begun participating in Asgard's defense, there had been an incredible yet concerning sight. Heavy "beam" bolts had been seen zooming upward from deep with Asgard. The sight suggested the Federation had come up with some kind of orbital cannons. Orbital-striking weapons was an idea that the Alliance and OMNI had been working feverishly to create without success. And yet, the Federation as they always seemed had invented and made practical technology which others had desired to use.

With those points against OMNI, it wasn't a surprise that they were pushing hard for a land battle rather than an aerial fight. It would at least make the Federation's shoreline guns less effective than at range. Plus, OMNI wanted to disable the Federation's ground-to-orbit cannons which had been hampering OMNI's landing forces. Talia couldn't exactly blame OMNI for wanting to take out the Federation's countermeasure to drops from orbit. She would bet those cannons would be just as problematic to a ZAFT attempt against Asgard were that ever to happen. The Federation's military had always had superiority over the other factions with their technological advantage. However, Federation tactics and mentality were different than OMNI's and even ZAFT's which gave them victory far more often than not. Talia had known the Federation had gone about things differently than others, but this assault really drove their mentality and tactics home. Not just that, but how effective those tactics were when it came to fighting against a force trying to overwhelm them.

It made a point which had been brought up by some more evident to Talia. The Federation's focus when in battle wasn't on "winning" over an enemy as OMNI did and ZAFT used to be. Yet, nor was it just "protecting" the homeland as ZAFT did now since Gilbert had taken charge of the Supreme Council. When it came to the Federation, they focused on enduring the storms any sent their way. It wasn't just their focus, it was the key to Federation's "strength" and "undefeatability" from what Talia was seeing. Because of that, the Federation showed coming out on top wasn't important or necessary for them as it was for others. Instead, the Federation was more about surviving and focusing on priorities like their citizens and territories. That was part of the foundation the Federation was built and stood upon. And Talia wondered if that fountain the Federation had built itself on could be shaken by anyone. It was something she could respect looking at it after taking a step back and not letting any kind of politics cloud judgment. The Federation was founded on what a was a noble ideal which was hard to stick to with the world of today radicals attempting to rip such down.

The Minerva had been performing well in Talia's opinion for the last hour. The assault may not be ZAFT business, but the Minerva had ended out in their current position while retrieving the Impulse. The Impulse had been located and was now working with Federation forces since resupplying. Talia knew there had been the option to take the Impulse and leave when the mobile suit had appeared. However, Talia doubted that Shinn would've agreed with that idea with how the Impulse had been fighting alongside the Federation. He'd likely been working with the Federation's defending forces since the battle had started from the implication from him volunteering. And from what Talia had seen Shinn was determined to see this battle through to the end. She could respect that in another, especially with one of her pilots for it was a valuable quality.

Nevertheless, Talia was still left to wonder how long OMNI's assault would last. They had left no doubt they were committed to this attack of theirs. She could only imagine it would keep going with OMNI could manage to keep it up. And with the size of the Alliance's fleet, it would be a while before OMNI would have to be forced to consider pulling back due to resupply. If one took into account the Alliance's normal and expected stubbornness, they wouldn't give up and slink away by choice. They would drag this out as long as they could, apparently regardless of how many losses they took as the price. It left the question if a war came to the human race again as it was starting to look like, just how bad the Alliance intended to make it.

OMNI did manage to gain some during the next two hours which was mid-afternoon local time. But those gains were hard earned with the losses that were taken in exchange. Nor had the gains gotten OMNI to Asgard's island as they had been aiming and hoping for. The fleet was still under the barrage of the Federation's defensive guns. The mobile suit forces had been trying their hardest to push Federation defending forces back and make a path for the fleet. However, while they'd had minor success, it hadn't been as effective as was hoped. Then the three attempted orbital drops hadn't gotten forces inside the enemy base. And those that had made it through the enemy's counterattack, had been taken down by enemy defending forces within the base. Thus, the Federation had been holding their positions much to OMNI's ire and frustration throughout the fight since its beginning.

Nevertheless, the OMNI fleet wasn't willing to give up after coming as far as they had. This assault was to punish the Federation for sticking their nose in things that weren't their business. If the fleet retreated too quickly without doing something, it would make the Alliance look even weaker than they already did. The failure against the PLANTs had already done serious damage to the Alliance's position. If it was said OMNI retreated with their tail between their legs from assaulting Asgard, it would make things worse. So, even with the losses the fleet had taken thus far, they couldn't just turn and run away. The Alliance was counting on them to help make the standing of it be made better. The sacrifices which would being made would be honored when the war was won. The Alliance would end up being the dominant faction after the coming war. The current Alliance leadership had promised the faction would come out on top regardless of what it took.

The assault dragged on through the afternoon without letting up in the slightest. The OMNI fleet kept pushing against Asgard's defending forces. Asgard High Command was redirecting defending forces as needed to keep OMNI from making landfall. If they made it to the island, the ground battle was expected to be even harsher than the sea/aerial fight was. The defensive guns were wearing OMNI's fleet down slowly but surely. If OMNI reached the island, they could potentially disable the shoreline guns and the enemy fleet could make gains. The goal was to keep OMNI from reaching the island as they were more manageable in the long run. It had become clear after the first hour of this assault that OMNI wouldn't take denial until they couldn't refuse. Their fleet would have to be worn down enough they couldn't effectively continue the fight.

As the sun was starting to touch the horizon, those in charge of OMNI's fleet had to make the decision they had been avoiding. The assault had been maintained as long as possible while the slimmest chance existed. Yet, it had come to the point that things had turned in a way that OMNI couldn't effectively counter. Should the fleet keep going, they would be wiped out, likely within the next hour or two. More than half of the mobile suit force had been destroyed by the Federation's defenders. And the Federation hadn't taken the same number of losses as OMNI had during this assault. As much as it pained those leading the fleet, the Federation had endured against the assault and there was no real way to deny it. The time had come to pull back what remained of the OMNI fleet and come up with different plans. Thus, retreat signals were launched to tell the fleet to retreat from the assault.

The retreat signals from the OMNI fleet were spotted by Asgard's defending forces and reported to Asgard High Command. The assault had lasted for a little over eight hours in total from beginning to end. The enemy fleet had thrown much of what they had brought against Asgard and lost more than half of it. They had gotten closer than any had wanted them to, but OMNI hadn't made landfall. Enemy drop forces had come likely to compromise Asgard defenses during the battle intermittently. Yet, they had been halted and dispatched when they had come from above. Asgard's defenses had not been compromised as the enemy assault had attempted doing. And in the end, Asgard's defense forces had held the line and stopped OMNI's assault from taking the base.

While the results were what Asgard had been aiming for, they had come at a cost. Many of Asgard's defending forces had given their lives to stop OMNI's assault. The presence of Gundam-types had caused complications and that had cost lives. All the pilots and ship crews in Asgard's defending forces had volunteered to fight to protect Asgard. They had known the possibility of not making it through to the end of the battle. However, the losses still hurt for those around Asgard even if they had been for the defense of the base. The assault made it clear that the Alliance wouldn't be nice going forward. The Federation would be watching them closely to see what they may do in the near future. War was obviously looming ahead, the assault implied that. Yet, the Federation would not yield nor fold to the Alliance in the coming conflict.

A/n

And that is the end of the Neflheim Siege itself. I'll pick up with the aftermath of it in the next Phase. Now, there is stuff to highlight and point out in this Phase. I would like to first say that I apologize for the length of these ending notes. I just try to point things out which I believe are of interest and/or need some further clarification. So, I hope you readers appreciate the work on these notes for it takes time to write them.

Starting with the first scene with Neo, there is a bit to unpack. So, Neo is giving us OMNI's side of the battle. I know that those who are aware of canon know Neo or who he used to be had a bit of a tactical mind. I wanted to show that is still there even if he isn't the man who he once was. Neo Roanoke is not evil, as much as he can come off that way, at his core he has good within and is redeemable. I make that clear for (spoiler alert) when he will become much better than he is now. I am aware that some don't like that I have Neo Roanoke like canon does, but he does serve a purpose in my story. I'll leave it at that for the moment and move on to the next point.

Neo's view of the assault does have some points of interest which I want to highlight, three specifically. We knew before the assault started the Federation wouldn't let OMNI take Asgard. Because of that the fight wouldn't be easy in the least. I'm not saying the Federation are undefeatable as it is implied sometimes. The Federation's tactics have a different focus which is enduring rather than winning like OMNI does. Neo does point out something rather obvious for you reader, which is an example of the Federation's technological advantage. Understand, ground to orbit cannons didn't exist in the Cosmic Era even in my story until this point. As mentioned and implied, the Alliance has been trying to create the idea to counter ZAFT but haven't managed to do that. There were also implications later in the phase that the Federation could use the same cannons against ZAFT with their landing forces.

The second is Neo's view upon the Federation's mobile suits. Now remember, the Federation doesn't talk about what their military uses for what they do. Thus, this is the first real look OMNI is getting of the Federation's mobile suit technology. I not saying that the transformation capabilities the Federation uses, which is their advantage still. ZAFT's second stage series is and example of an attempt to "copy" the Federation's transformation capability. However, back to Neo's observations of Federation's mobile suits. Neo mentioned it seems the Federation's beam rifle model appear to be more powerful than those that ZAFT uses with their ZAKUs. That is inference that the Federation's beam weapon tech is better than the other two factions. He also notes the "vibrating blade" which is used by the Federation. That is my counter to laminated armor which is used. It is more effective against such than beams. I based the idea off of the Sonic Blade (Plasma Sword) which is in Gundam 00 used by the AEU-09 Enact.

The last point which Neo goes over is what had been going on with the Extended Trio. I did go off the general area of advantages which each stolen suit has, but I want to focus on the trio more. Stella is doing what she can, but the Gaia doesn't have its own flight system or a means to travel across the water. And the Federation focuses on Gundams when they pop up which in Stella's case means she can't advance. Sting had similar problems mostly due to the Federation's teamwork tactics. And the other thing is whenever the Chaos has to go into resupply, the Federation works to reverse any gain which Sting might have gotten.

While those two have it rough, I would say Auel had it the worst. The other two may get focused upon when the Federation noticed them. Auel on the other hand, he has to go against a Gundam and new limited production models. The Leviathan Gundam has a better pilot than Auel is, so in the end, he has to run away from it and those with it. And Auel doesn't escape those underwater for long, thanks to Tyler, but I'll get to that later. Auel was supposed to disable or figure out a way past the Federation's underwater defenses. His failure shows something which isn't exactly mentioned. Extendeds aren't perfect, each of them have their own set of quirks, some of which are more noticeable than others. Auel is the perfect example of this, his aggressive tendencies get him into trouble off and on. The subject of quirks with Extendeds will come up later on, so keep this in mind.

Let me shift to the next scene which we follow Shinn. Remember that Shinn has been in this battle since the beginning, which was around 9:45 or so local time. He was fighting without a means to switch out or resupply equipment at all. I would ask if any pilot could do as good or better as Shinn. I use this as an example of the difference between the Shinn in my story and canon. If canon Shinn would be in the position of my Shinn, I would doubt he would have lasted the whole fight. Also, my Shinn doesn't kill as readily as canon's does which is another notable difference. This does go back to a difference in a specific event for Shinn, which is the evacuation from Orb. In canon, Shinn lost his family and that started him down the road which anger and hatred influence him. In my story, Shinn's family survived and is alive, so he never sought revenge, instead, wishing to show the same kindness as he received and agreeing with the beliefs of the Federation.

Now by the time we get back to Shinn since his situation wasn't the best. He is running low on options to work with in the battle. Shinn has been thinking ahead and throwing potential ideas he might be able to use. The issue which I imply but don't state outright is Federation equipment doesn't necessarily work with ZAFT machines. Of course, physical stuff like shields and self-contained weapons would as they don't have to be compatible to work, but anything that depends on something specific like power or caliber has no guarantee. I make this point to establish the factions may use similar weapon types, but the construction and design can vary enough to not work outside the said faction that built it. The example of this is the Impulse was able to use the vibrating blade the Federation uses. The equipment problem doesn't stop Shinn fighting of course, but he does try to think ahead to try and improve his situation. I wanted to show that quality as canon Shinn doesn't really have that much if at all.

The battle hasn't been easy for Shinn as you readers may imagine. Not only has he had to fight smartly, but with the Impulse being a Gundam, he is popular with enemy forces. That popularity and what it brings does include in Shinn's case, dancing with the Chaos. Thankfully for Shinn, he does have help with the squadron he was assigned to work with. That point is key to why Shinn managed in the assault up to when the Minerva is around and he reached the ship. I also do want to point out the improvisation Shinn was forced to do, which was in the form of using the anti-armor knife and CIWS guns. While most would say the weapons such as those are not really worth the space they take or are not offensive weapons, Shinn's use proves that wrong. The last thing with Shinn's scene I want to highlight is what happened with the Impulse's shield. Shields with anti-beam coding came with the Alliance's G-Project, but they have their limitations. That is implied more than stated, but I wanted to show that while they can take a beating, they aren't indestructible.

The next scene I want to discuss, is as some of you may have guessed, the Aurora whipping the Chaos and Abyss. Now, I'm not saying Tyler's skills don't make the outcome of the "fight" fairly obvious. However, Tyler is an opponent that is extremely hard to go against and that's before taking into account his "unorthodox" methods he does use sometimes. One had to almost feel sorry for those that Tyler whips his opponents and they be unable to do much if anything about it. Yet, Tyler also does prep work which not everyone does, so he earns the advantage that he normally gets. Back to the point, I felt in this Phase why not let Tyler not just whip the trio, even if somewhat separately, but "toy" with them too. For whom else would think to use "flaws" which the designers didn't think much about but our guy Tyler, I ask you? Those from the Enhanced Human Project, while trained to fight Coordinators, they were never prepared to go against someone like Tyler. I would question if there is an effective way to prepare to fight Tyler. So, Sting, while his attempts to get the Aurora off are to be applauded, they wouldn't be enough. Out of the trio though, Sting is the most I would say aware that the "red meddler" isn't like anything he, Auel, and Stella were trained to deal with.

Nevertheless, I would like to take a moment to explain something about the Enhanced Human Project. There is a reason which the candidates were placed into trios, whether Boosted Man or Extended. While Mina's people skills are horrid, she does understand that humans do better when working together to accomplish tasks. In the earlier days of the project, she had experiments done to see what the ideal number for a group would be, which ended out being three. The other thing about the trios is the rules which they are to follow. Every trio is instructed they are to look out and help one another. This is done in the form of the trio either succeeds together or they fail together, there is no middle ground. Thus, if one member of a trio fails or pulls the other two down, they all fail. And as mentioned before, if a trio fails for whatever reason, they are punished. That established trios managing themselves to an extent so they could avoid punishment. Let me point this back to the Phase in relation to what Sting does for Auel. Should Auel fall or die, then Sting and Stella would be punished for not trying to prevent it. Remember, the candidates don't fear those from the Alliance as much as they are afraid of the punishment system Dr. Moss put in place which the Alliance still uses to a degree.

Shifting to Auel and what happens to him, he does avoid the shots which come his way from the Chaos and the Aurora. However, Tyler set him up to get caught by the Federation's group working underwater. The Leviathan, which you readers should remember from the latter part of the Alliance-PLANT War was around Asgard at the time. And its rocket anchor has a chain which is better than the cable other similar devices used. I thought this was a good show of a weapon which the Leviathan had which didn't get screen time before. Plus, I think it is funny that Auel fights against being pulled back into the water. The Abyss should be better under the water, and it is against ZAFT aquatic machines. However, that advantage isn't present when it comes to the newer aquatic mass-production models employed during the assault. Those are based on the Leviathan and the Cancer that Teswa constructed. I would mention that Auel's cursing is more due to him not dominating the underwater environment as the Abyss is supposed to.

I would like to move onto the fight and then capture of Stella which Tyler does. I know there is more that happens between that, but I want to focus on other things. Now, for those who may not have read the original, I don't think the candidates from the Enhanced Human Project are evil. They had no say in their situation and what they were forced into. I state that because I think most of them can be redeemable. That is why Tyler doesn't kill Stella or the other boys outright, they are not entirely at fault for what they do. So, Tyler captures the Gaia after Stella is knocked unconscious and takes it to the Normandy. What comes from that will come more in the next Phase, but I wanted to say that I don't have Stella killed in this situation. In the coming phases, you readers will see I have a plan for those like Stella and it will be much better than what canon does.

The final part of this Phase I want to highlight is the last scene with the Minerva. Before this the Minerva hadn't been in a "long" battle such as the Alliance's assault ends out being. There is a difference in long battles and non-long battles. The tactics which go into a long battle are far different than one where the point is to win against an enemy force. One has to plan in resupplies and fighting with long-term goals in mind and not short-term victories. This instance shows one of the reasons why I have Matt with the Minerva where I didn't in the original version. He helps Aila not stretch herself too far and get through hard situations when they come up. That isn't the only reason, but it's the one I wanted to point out for the moment.

Turning to Talia, this is her first real experience in battles like the Alliance's assault. Sieges are not like what most battles in the Alliance-PLANT War, though there were a few, like ZAFT's taking of Victoria. Yet, I wanted to show Talia does have an understanding of tactics which not all ZAFT captains do. Talia can see what the Federation is working to do with the Alliance and the value of avoiding a ground battle on Asgard's island. She does make observations which ZAFT wasn't aware of before the assault. Remember, ZAFT and the Alliance have attacked Asgard before, but none have gotten very close to the base before having to turn away. She also notes that Federation mass-production models have changed and improved in ways ZAFT didn't know about. Talia I would say shows the general reaction which ZAFT would have to the ground-to-orbit cannons Asgard has.

It gives a view as to why OMNI wants a ground battle rather than one over the ocean. They would get past the shoreline guns and a chance to disable the ground-to-orbit cannons. It is yet another example of the Federation's superiority over the other two factions in tactics and technology. The point is often underestimated by the Alliance and even ZAFT. The Federation doesn't focus on winning as much as they do enduring. It is one of the biggest differences between the Federation and the other factions, they don't want to be dominate over others. They just want to survive and prosper the best possible, unlike the Alliance or ZAFT later on. This is also the first instance which someone outside the Federation question if the Federation's foundation they stand upon can be shaken.

In conclusion, I know this Phase was a long one, but it had a lot of stuff to cover, and I did go into detail with some scenes. But this ends the Nelfheim Siege of the Alliance against Asgard. The next Phase will be on the aftermath of the siege and moving forward. I assure you readers, you will be surprised to some degree with what is up next. It isn't like the original version that I promise. Yet, as always, please some of you take the time to write a review and tell me what you think of this Phase and/or the store as a whole thus far. I do read the reviews even if I don't reply to them. The next Phase is on track so far, so hopefully will be done in around two weeks. It is titled, "Coming Full Circle." Peace out until the next phase!