Chapter 41
It hadn't been long since the crew of the Archangel had received the information about the assault. The Orb force was going to do on the Minerva.
So at this very moment a big part of the crew was gather up on the bridge. "Damn it all! If this actually is happening, then what the hell am I suppose to do about it, I really do want to stop them, but after last time...!" Cagalli said loudly, while she thought about the cold-shoulder. Her forces, had pretty much given her the last time, she had tried to talk some sense in to them.
Yet even with all of those thought flying through her mind, she unintentionally began rubbing her stomach, sincerely wondering if Kira and miss Murrue would even let her head outside should they go up there.
That was when Dearka cut in and gave the people his two cents about the subject. "It's a bit of a shame, that we know so little about what the Orb and Earth Forces are attacking with, if we did that it would be much easier to prepare" the blond man said.
Over from where he was standing next to Miriallia, who was by now occupied with going over the information one more time, incase she had overseen something the first time.
"Even if we did know what they where attacking with Dearka, it doesn't really change the fact. That one way or another, we have to do something about it, don't you agree with me on that sis?" Kira asked, while looking directly over at his sister. Where he of course could not help but notice, the uncertain expression she had on her face. And also the way she kept on rubbing her belly, obviously thinking about what was in there.
And when he was actually starting to think that she wasn't going to give him a reply. She slowly lifted her head, and looked over at him.
"I really want to do something Kira. But you know as well as I, that trying to convince the Orb forces to withdraw, when Yuna is the one leading them. Is pretty much like trying to convince Dearka that he isn't, an idiot" she said, ignoring the loud displeased shout from the blond Coordinator.
Letting out a small laugh at that comparison. Kira moved over and kneel down in front of his sister. "Are you sure that's really what you want to do Cagalli? Don't you at least want to try and stop them? You already know that this isn't the path that Orb should take. And I'm certain that if you just talk with them, more and more of the Orb soldiers would realize that. Truth be told I actually think, you have a lot more support then you think" he said, while taking a hold on the hand, which she had been using to rub her stomach the last few minutes.
Yet it was only when he gave it a gentle squeeze that she looked up at him. "But what if they don't want to listen to me. I really do want to stop them, but I don't have the same diplomatic abilities my father had. I'm not nearly as good at talking to the people, as he was!" She said, as a few tears left her eyes and slowly made their way down her face.
She honestly did feel like she had let her father down. By letting Orb join up with the Earth Forces.
And she truly did wish she could think of a way to put a stop to all of this. But with most of the other politicians, being on the Seiran's side. It would not do much good to try and talk with them again.
"I don't get what the heck you are talking about Kira. If I actually had just half of the support from the other politicians, I don't think it would have been necessary for us to travel all the way here. Yet you know as well as me, that they are all sucking up to the Seiran family" she growl out through her teeth. As she once more began dreaming about how entertaining it would be, to strangle a certain the purple haired Seiran.
Smiling slightly at her Kira slowly reach up and brush away one of the tears. "I'm not talking about any of the other politicians Cagalli. What I am actually referring to is your deep desire for peace, which is truly something pretty much the whole Orb military personnel knows about" he explained. Then thought back to how the Orb fleet had just let them go, when they had left Orb.
He did however not do that for very long, before he once more kept on talking, in the same reasonable tone as before. "And also your experience in piloting the Duel Rouge helps. Neither the Seirans, or any of their supporters, knows what it is like to pilot a mobile suit in real life combat. And the fact that you know how to do it, has definitely won you a great deal of respect, from a lot of the Orb soldiers" the brown haired teen said, then removed yet another tear from her cheek.
Looking a bit at him the blond woman thought hard about her brother's words. They did make a lot of sense to her.
Yet in the end she realized, that having a little respect, would most definitely not be enough, to make the Orb fleet to pull back. There was without a doubt, still a lot of the military that preferred the Seirans way of handling things. And those where the people she seriously needed to speak to.
If she could somehow convince them that attacking Zaft and the Minerva, wasn't going to bring Orb the peace, they where all longing to have. Then she was absolutely certain, that the fleet would withdraw, and return back home to Orb, no matter what Yuna would say to them.
So knowing what she had to do the blond girl nodded yes a single time. As she slowly got up from the seat, which she had been in sitting in pretty much since they had first gotten Kazuma's message.
"Ok you are right Kira. If I just stay back here it wouldn't accomplish anything. I don't want either the Orb fleet or the Minerva to be destroyed. So I just have to find a way to stop this battle" she said. Then began making her way over to the door, so she could get down to the hangar and the Duel Rouge.
Yet before she could get very far, Murrue hurried reached over and grabbed on to her right arm.
"If you really want to stop them miss Cagalli, then you can definitely count on our support. But I am uncertain if it's wise, to let you go out in a the Duel Rouge in your condition, if anything was to happen the baby, then it would be a disaster, so perhaps you should consider speaking to them from here on the Archangel" the bronw haired woman said in a tone, that left little doubt about how serious she took this matter.
Hearing that Cagalli immediately narrowed her eyes a bit. "Damn, I guess that I forget all about that" she said in a low tone. While the others where frankly wondering just how exactly, somebody could forget that they where pregnant.
Fortunately they where all clever enough not to comment on it.
Yet if one where to take a look at Dearka's face, it was pretty easy to tell. That the former pilot of the Buster had more then a few things to say about it. But thanks to the hard squeeze, Miriallia gave his left arm. The blond Coordinator came to the decision, that it was properly a wise idea to keep his smart alec comments to himself.
It was just about the same time that Kira once more started talking. "You know that miss Murrue is right Cagalli. It's best that you stay here, me and Dearka will take care of things outside! So you just concentrate on talking some sense in to the Orb forces!" He said, in a loud determined voice.
Just as Dearka nodded slowly in agreement, and gave the blond woman a thumbs up sign, and a overly confident smile. Which truth be told did remind Cagalli slightly, about the grin Mu would usually have on his face, whenever he had been about to do something stupid.
But now wasn't really the right time to be thinking about him. So she quickly shook those thoughts away, while she once more turned her attention back towards Kira where she noticed that he too had a pretty confident look on his face.
Seeing the two of them wearing that kind of expression, Cagalli just couldn't stop herself, from letting out a deep sigh. While she slowly reached up and used her hand to rub both her eyes and her forehead.
"Ok I trust the two of you to handle this. Just don't skew the entire thing up in the end" she mumbled displeased, actually making it sound quite a bit like relying on the two of them, where the very last thing she wanted to do.
Yet neither one of the pilots was overly hurt by the girls lack of confident in them.
"Wow feel the deep trust here, I can honestly say that both Kira and I really appreciate all the support, which you are giving us miss Athha" Dearka said, with a great amount of sarcasm in his voice, as he gave the blond girl a bow, that could only be interpreted as an attempt to annoy her.
And it only took a few short seconds before she was glaring angrily at the ship's two mobile suit pilots. In all honesty considering if she should do something mean and painful to them.
But in the end she realized that if she did that, they properly wouldn't be as effective in their mobile suits, as they usually was. And with that in mind she gave her lower lips a hard bite, while squeezing both of her fist together.
"Get out of here you two before I do something that would make both Lacus and Miriallia sad!" She shouted as loud as humanly possible. Before she practically chased the two laughing men out of the bridge. And she was only satisfied, once she saw the metal door fly back shut behind the two fools.
After that she turned around on one foot, and made her way over to the seat beside Arnold, who was also having a bit of trouble keeping his own laugher under control.
But even true Cagalli could easily tell, that he too had found the entire scene completely hilarious. She knew that it was pretty much impossible, for her to kick him out of there too. They kinda needed him to steer the Archangel, once they where ready to leave.
She did however not get very long to think about, how unbelievable childish men could be from time to time.
When Murrue's loud voice, suddenly interrupted her wandering thoughts. As she started yelling out orders left and right. Telling all of the crew members gather up there, exactly what they should do.
Which meant that it did not take very long, before all of the Archangel's extremely powerful engines awoke for the very first time in weeks.
And knowing what was in wait for them, Cagalli slowly closed her eyes, as she tried her best to figure out, what precisely she should say to the Orb forces once they arrived at Crete.
One thing she especially would love to have in her future speech, was something that would really drag the Seiran name through the mud. Yet she quickly realized that doing something like that, would be kinda unprofessional.
And knowing quite a bit about how the purple haired moron thought, he would properly find someway to use it against her. So she simply had to behave like a grown up mature adult. Not like an eighteen-year-old girl, who knew nothing about how dreadful war could truly be, and how serious politic really was.
She could always try and come up with a way to get even with Yuna and the rest of the Seirans once all of this was over. Yet now that she actually gave it a little thought. The young woman came to the realization, that just her being there, should be more then enough to get under Yuna's skin.
And just thinking about what kind of expression, he would have on his face, when she started talking to the Orb forces. Was pretty much all that was needed to make a small yet wicked grin, ran over her pink lips.
Yet after smirking about that for a moment or two, her face once more turned deeply serious. Ss she slowly moved her seat a bit to the side, so she was now looking back at Miriallia, who was presently busy typing away on the controls in front of her.
But when Cagalli saw her friend take a brief break, she instantly opened her mouth and asked the one question she had on her mind right now.
"So just how long is it going to take before we get there Mir? It frankly would be a total letdown, if the only thing we can do there, is see a whole bunch of destroyed ships and mobile suits!" She said, not doing anything to keep the deep concern out of her voice.
Not wanting to waste anytime, the youngish of the two female brunettes up there, instantly began moving her figures over the keyboard, making absolutely certain to press just the right buttons. As she tried her best to estimate precisely when they where going to arrive at the battlefield.
And finally after using an unknown number of seconds on that task. Miriallia slowly lift her head and looked down at her friend.
"If we get there without any kind of delay, then we should arrive there in about half hour or so!" She said.
Just before taking another glance down at her controls, to make completely certain that everything was function, as it was suppose to. And that she hadn't made any kind of mistake in her calculations. Yet as far as she could tell, everything truly did seem to be in perfect order.
And even true the news about how long the trip there was going to take, obviously didn't make Cagalli any happier. There wasn't really a whole lot Miriallia could do about it right now.
So she just turned around and continued working on what else that needed some of her attention. Before they would practically leap straight in to the fight they where now heading directly towards.
Yet as displeased as Cagalli was at the moment. She could not help but be a bit in awe, when the Archangel broke through the ocean surface, and they where all finally able to see the blue sky, above them once more.
It wasn't really a big secret that being stuck down on the bottom of the ocean for such a long time, could be kinda tiresome and frustrating. So it truly was nice with a new changes of scenery.
Unfortunately they didn't really have long to enjoy it. Before Arnold turned the front of the Archangel, in the direction which they needed to go, and get the enormous white space ship up to full speed.
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Meanwhile down in the hangar.
Kira enter the hangar dressed in his usual blue and grey space suit, and after taking a small glance over at the Freedom to make sure that his mobile suit was ready to head out at a moment's notice.
He immediately made his way over to Dearka and Murdoch who was standing over by the ships two Murasames. Yet as he got closer to them it became pretty clear that both of them where feeling a bit nervous at the moment. Seeing as they where quite busy discoursing which one of the two Orb mobile suits, had the most unique and awesome colour scheme.
But knowing the two of them as well as he did, Kira realized that the only reason why, they where actually wasting time arguing about something so trivial, was simply because they where concerned about what they where heading in to.
Apparently both the pilot and the mechanic, felt a little better about the situation. If they had the time to joke around a bit first.
"Well if you ask me Elsman, Waltfeld's Murasame is much cooler then yours. I just don't like the idea, that your machine have almost the exact same colour as a Zaft GOUF!" Murdoch said, while looking a few times between the two transformed mobile suits.
Feeling a angry frown ran over his forehead Dearka began speaking in a serious tone. "That's actually the reason why, I choose that colour in the first place. I wanted to make certain that if I ever had to go up against a GOUF, that it would be kinda hard for it's friends to tell, which machine was which. I kinda felt like that little idea would give me a small edge, when fighting a GOUF!" Dearka explained in a thoughtful tone.
But as much sense those words made to the chief engineer. He honestly didn't feel like this discussion was done just yet.
"Well that strategy frankly does work against you on some level. It will also make it that much harder for your allies to tell you apart, if you are fighting a whole bunch of GOUFs on your own" Murdoch said, while thinking shortly about how both machines looked, when they where over in mobile suit mode.
And even true there was simply no way he was going to tell Dearka at least not right now. He honestly had to admit, that the colours the former Zaft pilot had chosen for the Murasame, did look pretty sweet.
He did however not get very long to think about that, before Dearka cut in and interrupted his thoughts, by sharing his next argument about the two somewhat unique coloured Orb mobile suits. "Then I guess, that I'm kinda lucky that my only ally right now, is a guy who prefers to just destroy the heads and arms, of the mobile suits that gets in his way!" Dearka said back. As he took a glance over at Kira to see his opinion about their little discussion.
Noticing his friend do that, Kira instantly turned his back towards the two arguing men, doing his best to pretend, he hadn't heard a single thing, they had been saying to each other.
He frankly didn't want to get caught in the middle, when the two of them where arguing like this. Unfortunately even with his minor attempt to stay out of it, Dearka was quite determined to get him mixed up in the fight no matter what.
"So Kira buddy, which one of the Murasames do you think looks coolest?" Dearka asked, making sure that his voice was so loud, that there was no way Kira could just ignore it.
And realizing that the entire hangar had properly heard Dearka just now.
Kira slowly turned around and looked back at his fellow pilot, where one small look at his face, made it pretty obvious, that it would be kinda hard for him to get out of there, without first giving them some sort of reply.
And seeing as he had never really bother taking the time to think about this before now, he slowly turned his gaze and looked over at the blue Murasame then over at the yellow one, trying his best to decide which one of them where the most awesome looking one.
But even while doing that, he could not help but wonder why exactly he had been mix up in this.
He should just have played it safe, and kept his distance from them. When he realized what was going on, yet knowing that now didn't really do him much good, there was simply no way, these guys would permit him leave, without him first sharing his opinion, on the two mobile suits appearance.
So after standing there looking between the two machine, for who knew how many minutes. He finally looked back at the mechanic and the other pilot.
"I have to say that Dearka's machine is the best. Seeing as the Murasame is foremost design to fight and fly around down here in the atmosphere, the blue colours do camouflages the mobile suit pretty well, unlike the bright yellow once on Mr Waltfeld's Murasame" Kira said, while thinking briefly about, how easy the yellow patten on Waltfeld's mobile suit, was to spot in the middle of a battle.
But before he could really give it all that much thought, the argument he had been so unwillingly pull in to continued.
"Hah! Take that Murdoch I win! There is no way you can disagree with both of us!" Dearka cheer loudly, behaving almost like he had just won the most important fight ever.
That however was not enough to get the Murdoch to keep his mouth shut. "Hmm it's obvious that you kids, don't know anything about mobile suits!" The blue haired man said. Even true he knew that statement was so far from the truth, as it could possibly be.
If anybody asked him, the two teenages in front of him frankly was some of the best mobile suit pilots, he had ever meet.
And he couldn't even describe, how much respect he had for both of them. And how deeply honour he felt being able to help fix up their mobile suits, whenever there was a need for it.
But no matter how much he cared about both of the pilots, he was still more then willing, to keep this minor quarrel going. At least until it was time for the two boys to head out. Beside it also gave them something to do while heading for the battlefield.
Hearing the man say that, both pilots took a small glance over at each other.
Before they once more looked back at the engineer. And not really all that unexpected and surprising, Dearka was of course, more then ready to continue on with the somewhat mindless debate.
Yet what was a surprise was that Kira actually seemed a bit insult by Murdoch's last statement, and now looked ready to fight back to show the few people listening in how much knowledge he had about mobile suits in general.
Which meant that it did not take many seconds. Before the three of them continued on with their friendly little discussion, about who of them knew most about mobile suits.
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So while that small fight was going on down in the Archangel's hangar.
A far more serious and deadly one, was happening at the very destination, the white space ship was heading full speed towards.
"Once I'm through with you buddy, there is only going to be one green mobile suit left out here!" Sting Oakley yelled loudly over from the Chaos, while firing of every single missile the mobile suit had, after the Impulse. That was still flying around just above the ocean surface.
Seriously pissed that this guy thought he would go down that easy. Shinn narrowed eyes slightly. Just as he immediately took aim, and fired off the two long-range cannons, at the hastily approaching warheads, taking out most of them before they could even come close to hitting him.
But even as he doing that, the short tempered boy hurried got the Impulse moving again, just as the last two missiles flew in, and hit the exact spot where he had been only a few seconds ago.
And seeing all the water that flew up, thanks to the explosion. Shinn instantaneously moved forward to hid himself in the Chaos' homemade geysir. But even as he did that, he quickly fired both of the rail cannons at the Chaos, forcing the other gundam to back away from him and use it's shield to defend itself. As he pulled out the javelin, and slammed it out after the Chaos' head. Only to hit the shield instead.
Yet as they where struggling to overpower each other like that, for a short moment or two. Shinn yelled out his thoughts about the enemy pilots last comment.
"That's a laugh you stupid bastard. You wouldn't even be able to pilot that mobile suit, if it wasn't because of all the damn drugs. The Earth Forces keeps on pouring in to you guys!" The dark haired boy yelled. Seriously believing that this guy had undergone the exact same treatment as Stella.
Hearing brat he was fighting against say something like that. Was more then enough to hurt the green haired man's pride quite a bit. And as he sat there staring straight at Impulse's face, he could feel a deep angry vein make it's way over his forehead.
"It would seem that you learnt a few things, from you visit to Lodonia. Unfortunately you are not going to get much use out of the knowledge!" He yelled angrily, while pulling out the Chaos' own close combat weapon. Which he instantly tried to thrust through the Impulse's cockpit.
Seeing what the bastard was about to do, Shinn instantly slammed the Impulse's knee in to the stomach area of the green mobile suit, which was more then enough to make the two machines, break away from one another.
Yet before they could get very far from each other. Shinn let the two rail cannons jump over the shoulders and fired them in the direction of the Chaos, doing his best the make at least one of the shoots hit the cockpit.
Unfortunately the minor assault was unsuccessful, as the enemy pilot immediately flew up over the attack. Then pull out the beam rifle, which he didn't waste anytime in firing back at him.
So after countering that attack with the shield, Shinn placed the javelin back to where it belong on the Impulse, then swiftly got his own rifle out and began firing back at the Chaos.
Which pretty much meant that it did not take long, before their highly deadly duel turned in to a long range competition, about who of them where best at aiming their beam rifles, and what other weapons they had, made for long distance combat.
Yet with all the extra cannons and guns on the Blast Impulse. It soon became obvious, that Shinn had the upper hand in this battle, something which he of course was very quick to use to his advantage, by continuously firing at the other mobile suit. That simply did not have the time to shoot back.
But after using a few minutes, to try and blow a few holes in the Chaos, it wasn't long before the pilot of the stolen gundam had something new to say to him. "To hell with you, you bastard!" He yelled while firing a few beams back, which Shinn quickly rolled to the side to avoid.
And once he got the Impulse to a hold he again fired of the two long-range beam cannons, while saying a few words back.
"I think a damn thief like you, would properly be invited down there first!" He yelled, before participially tearing the javelin out again, and without one bit of hesitation he charged with full speed at the other machine. Which meant that it was only about a half second later, when the two powerful mobile suits, meet not far above ocean surface, where they slammed their close combat weapons together once more, each of them snuggling hard for control.
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At the same time not that far away, Athrun quickly evade away from the double attack, the Abyss fired at him from the dual beam cannons, which it had when it was in it's mobile armor mode.
Yet not wanting to give this guy the chance to get of another attack. The blue haired man instantly pointed the rifle downwards and fired a couple of beams back after the Abyss, that not surprisingly disappeared back down in to the ocean.
And knowing that this guy could attack him from just about everywhere right now. Athrun made sure to keep his eyes open no matter what, and he was actually a bit tempted to follow the guy down there. But he knew that by doing that, he would be giving the Abyss an enormous advantage. The Saviour wasn't really made for fighting down in water, like the Abyss was.
So his best bet right now was to keep moving in an attempt to make himself a difficult target. But as he got the Saviour over in to it's mobile armor mode, the Abyss jumped out of the water where it immediately spread out it's two fins and fired all the weapons it had in there after him.
But as that was happening, he got the Saviour moving and flew full speed forward, thereby making the beams fly right over him. And making him end up below the other mobile suit where he instantly transformed again and fired the two plasma cannons upwards after the Abyss.
Yet seeing as he didn't have the necessary time to really aim properly, the first of the red beams did not even come close to the Abyss, while the second one blow off the right leg on the water type mobile suit.
Which was not really something that was worth celebrating. It wasn't like the Abyss had a hold lot of use for that part, when it was messing around down in the deep blue water.
But the minor damage was apparently still more then enough to piss the guy inside the Abyss of greatly. "You stupid already dead bastard! I'll show you who you are messing with!" The guy over in the Abyss yelled loudly. As he swiftly got the lance ready to fight.
Seeing him do that Athrun narrowed his eyes slightly, as he hurried pull out one of the beam sabers, and just as the blue mobile suit, began falling downwards straight towards him. It wasn't even a split second, before they each of the gundam swung their weapons out after each other.
And for pretty much everybody that was watching them fight from the far distances. The lightning fast strike each of the war machine did, looked extremely vicious and very deadly.
Yet for all who where to take a closer look at them, it was pretty obvious, that neither of the gundams, had received any damage from the attacks. Seeing as the only thing they had succeeded in hitting, was each others weapons.
After that the Abyss continued onward down towards the water, where thanks to it's enormous weight and size gave quite the splash when it landed.
And with so much water flying around, it was a bit of a challenge for both pilots to see each other. Yet that small hindrance did not slow the fight down much, as each of them immediately fired a few shots, at the very places where they believed the other was located.
Yet not all that surprisingly, neither pilot had been foolish enough to stay completely still, once the blue gundam had made it's descend back in to the deep blue ocean water.
So with no idea about where the Abyss had disappeared to, the young Zala made sure to keep moving about in a small attempt to make himself a much harder target to hit.
But as he was doing that he slowly let both of his eyes glide over the stolen mobile suit's almost endless hiding place.
There was however not sign of it right now, but from what he had seen of the Abyss pilot's fighting style. He was certain, that this guy would most likely try and approach him from behind. He seemed to like the whole surprise attack thing a great deal, and Athrun did actually wonder slightly if this was what the people that had been facing Nicol and the Blitz had felt like, two years ago.
It really wasn't what he would consider fun not being able to find the enemy, you where going up against, and the Blitz had the ability to disappeared completely from sight, thanks to it's Mirage Colloid. So that truly had to be much worths then this.
He did however not get the opportunity to give it much through, before he saw a shadow move around down in the water. Which instantly made him turn around and fire both plasma cannons, down after the object.
Yet when he did that the shadow disappeared once more, so in the end he had no other choice then to wait, until the crackpot reappeared again.
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Meanwhile over on the Takemikazuchi.
Todaka was silently watching the battle that was going on outside, while his best friend Amagi, was standing just a few feet behind him, also with most of his attention turned outwards.
They did however only get a few short moments, to watch all those terrible things, that was going on outside, when their so call leader's voice suddenly cut in to both of their rummaging thoughts.
"What are you standing around there for Todaka? Hurry up and get the rest of the Murasames and Astrays in the air. If we sic all of our mobile suits at them. I'm sure not even the Minerva, would be able to handle them all. This will truly show the world what Orb is made of!" The purple haired man said, in a tone that made it pretty clear for everybody that was listening to him. That he was quite pleased with what was happening right now.
Todaka on the other hand was far from happy about what was going on, in his eyes this whole battle was just so pointless. Which made it even more horrifying every single time an Orb soldier out there lost his life.
Just why in the world did it have to come to this, it wasn't really hard to tell that Zaft had no hostile intentions towards them. So why exactly was this battle necessary, none of the people that was getting killed at this very moment, had in anyway deserved it.
So after seeing yet another Murasame blow up outside he turned and looked back at the Seiran. Trying his best to hide the deep anger and hate, he was feeling towards the young Seiranu. It was after all his fault that they where here in the first place.
"It would be stupid sending all of our mobile suits out at once. If we did that, there is a high possibility that they might collide with each other, so lets just keep on using the same strategy we have been using since the start of the battle!" Todaka said, frankly hoping that the Seiran would buy this story. He really didn't want to send any more people to their death, then he had to.
But one look at the expression on Yuna's face, was enough to tell Todaka, that the purple moron was thinking quite hard, about what he had just told him. And finally after a few seconds, he nodded slowly in understanding. "Ok that does make sense Todaka, just make sure to keep the pressure on them, no matter what. We do not want to give them anytime to recover now!" Yuna said loudly.
As he continued watching the battle with big eyes, This was almost like playing those strategy video games he liked so much. Which was the reason why, he was pretty confident that this battle against the Minerva would end with an staggering victory to Orb. There wasn't one of those games, he hadn't beaten at some point in time.
And that simple fact alone, was more then enough for him to consider himself, the almost perfect strategist, there was just no way, they where going to lost this battle with him in charge.
Realizing that Yuna wasn't paying any attention to them, because he was so occupied with dreaming about the victory. Which he obviously fully believed, was going to be theirs, in just a little while.
Yet like any true commander Todaka knew better then celebrate victory before hand. Not that he was going to do that anyway, even if they did win this battle. He was just so much against this, that he was seriously considering knocking the Seiran out and order all of their forces to retreat.
But the grey haired man knew that if he did something like that. There was a very big chance, that the bastard with the mask would once more start treating to attack Orb.
And that was most definitely not something that could be allowed. It was with no doubt better, that they fought out here then back home it Orb, that however did not in anyway mean, that he actually approved of what they where doing out here. There was just no way, any of this could be right.
It was just about the same time that Amagi asked him something in a very low tone. "Do you think that lady Cagalli and the Archangel will show up again? I just can't help but feel, that the things we are doing here is wrong" the grey haired man said, while taking a glance out at the Minerva that could be seen fighting desperately in the far distance.
Hearing him ask that. Todaka turned and took a short glance back at his long time best friend. And after making sure that Yuna wasn't listening in on their conversation, he gave him a response.
"Hopefully my friend, hopefully. I just hope that lady Cagalli can stop all of this, before even more lives can be satisfied in this completely meaningless battle!" He said back in a sad tone.
Just as he again continued watching the fight outside, sincerely hoping that lady Cagalli and the Archangel, would get here in time, before it was to late. There was after all some Orb soldiers out there. That was that was utterly determined to follow through with Yuna's orders, to destroy the Minerva. Even if it cost them their own lives in the process.
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Yet as the two men was waiting and hoping that the Archangel would show up sometime soon.
Rey was sitting in his white ZAKU watching as about twelve or thirteenth Murasames was coming straight towards them. "Are you ready Luna?" He called out, while he carefully took aim at the leading Orb mobile suit, And once he was certain that it was close enough, he instantly fired a few shots up after it. Hitting the front of the transformed mobile suit.
That however was far from enough to take it out.
Yet when his second shot hit the left wing the Murasame rolled around a few times, as the pilot inside the mobile suit was desperately trying to regain some control of the craft.
But in the end it didn't really do him much good, as he ended up crashing full speed down in to the ocean, where the Orb war machine blow up, not that Rey or Luna paid much attention to that. They where far more occupied with keeping and eye on the rest of the Murasames. That was pretty much swarming around the Minerva, like a bunch of irritating flies.
"If I'm not ready now Rey, I don't think I'll ever be!" Lunamaria said back, while aiming the giant beam cannon, upwards towards the still hastily approaching mobile suits.
And when they where in ranger, she didn't hesitate even a second, about pressing down on the trigger, which immediately made the extremely deadly red beam leave the weapon.
But just when it seemed like, it was about to hit the first one of the Orb mass-produced mobile suit straight on. The Murasame roll to the side, and just barely avoided the beam.
Yet before the red haired pilot, could get out even one word of dissatisfaction, the next Murasame literally dump what missiles it had left down towards her.
And with the limited space she had to move around on. The only thing she could do to defend herself, was try and cover up her machine's cockpit, with the shield and arms.
But even true that tiny action properly save her life. She could of course still feel the explosion from the missiles all the way around her, as they send her ZAKU falling backwards on to the deck with a loud crashing sound.
And the very last thing she heard, before she lost consciousness was Rey calling out her name, only to be followed shortly after by Meyrin.
Hearing all of the worried shorts for Luna, Nicol turned and looked down at the Minerva, where he immediately took notice of the completely wrecked up condition the red mobile suit was now in.
"Get her inside now! Rey and I will keep them away while you do that, if she stays out here, she is as good as DEAD!" The green haired man yelled, doing nothing to hide how angry this truly made him.
And before anybody had the time to give him a response. He pulled out the beam sword, and took of to meet the next group of incoming Murasames.
Yet even as he was jamming the sword in to the side of the Orb mobile suit. He could not help but think back to the small moment, he and Luna had shared, just before the battle had started.
He might still be greatly puzzled about what they had discoursed. But that didn't in anyway mean, that he wanted anything to happen to the red haired girl. And he was determined, to make these bastards paid for hurting her like this.
But even with their combined effort. the many Murasames out there was slowly yet steadily starting to get the upper hand, there was simply to many of them for Rey and Nicol to handle on their own. And with more and more of the Minerva's weapons out of commission. It was beginning to seem quite a bit like they where actually fighting a losing battle.
Especially the one Murasame that had hurt Lunamaria seemed very determined to destroy the Minerva.
Even if it had to do it all on it's own, it just didn't seem to matter how many times they would try to shoot it down, the pilot would always find someway to get around their attacks.
"Damn it, whoever this bastard is he is definitely good!" Nicol yelled loudly. Just as he throw the heat rod out after the Murasame with the intention of piercing the red and white mobile suit's cockpit, and kill the pilot inside the machine.
But the result he got was far from what he had wanted as the Murasame pretty much just bash the weapon away with it's shield, and before Nicol could even try and aim the beam gun at the machine. He was attacked by three other Murasames. which pretty much forced him to turn his attention away from the lead craft and over at them.
"Yeah tell me about it, but we have to stop him before he can get any closer!" Rey yelled, while glaring hatefully up at the lead machine. It was kinda obvious that shooting this guy down was not an option. So after dropping the beam rifle on the deck and making a small dent in the process, he swiftly pull out both beam tomahawks. Then turned, and looked up after the lead Murasame.
And once he saw it evade up over a few shots, from the Minerva's machine cannons. He instantly throw first the left close range weapon, and then the right one up after it.
But whoever was inside Murasame, immediately got the mobile suit moving and got out of the first tomahawk's path, then hurried fired a few beams down at the next one, all of them flying right past the weapon.
So in the end the bastard apparently decided that the right leg on the Murasame wasn't very important, as he moved slightly to the side, where he gave the tomahawk an extremely hard kick, which cut up the leg quite a bit. And making both it, and the weapon blow up.
And before either Rey or Nicol, could curse this guys abilities in the mobile suit.
He swiftly evaded another attack from the Minerva, then dropped down and aimed the rifle directly at the grey space ship's bridge, clear planing on killing everybody in there.
And with Nicol still being caught up fighting with the three Murasames from before. And with Rey not having any weapons ready to use. The two young men could do nothing else but watch, as the beam rifle began glowing more and more.
To be continued.