A/n

Here is chapter 10, hope you are enjoying the rewrite, on with the show!

Phase 10: Trudging Onward
January 29th, 71 C.E.

The Archangel

There was not a single sound on the bridge of the Archangel after all had witnessed the destruction of the three Alliance vessels and the accompanying mobile armors. For the OMNI officers and crew members, it was an unreal show of undeniable evidence that the Federation military could still outdo them by a painful margin. And watching the three ships get destroyed as they had, most could only gaze at the screen that had shown them mere moments ago. "What was that," asked Tolle in a quiet voice.

For a short period, there was silence, but then Krystal answered Tolle's question, "What you just saw was an example of how the Federation's military can deal with OMNI forces proficiently."

Natarle popped her head out of the CIC, "You sound like you've seen this kind of scene before Major," she stated.

"Indeed," returned Krystal, "What happened out there is something Mu and I have seen before. First, the type of damage the Nelson-class took is from a weapon that only the Federation has. And second, the Federation are still the only ones that can strike another vessel without being seen."

Mu nodded slowly since Krystal and he had seen much the same scene before them before after encounters with the Federation. It was hard to see just how much OMNI could be outdone but the Federation, but the evidence was irrefutable. "Krystal is right, this looks pretty much like the remains and the visual records of the idea that she's referring to. What happened to the Nelson-class fits what I've seen perfectly though this is the first time I've seen the damage done firsthand." Mu paused for a moment, "It certainly gives a different perspective than just seeing pictures and what's left of a ship, that's for sure."

Murrue turned to Mu and Krystal trying to wrap her head around what she had just seen happen. Sure, it was fact that the Federation's military was stronger in several ways that the ZAFT Forces weren't though the top brass didn't like to admit it. Most of OMNI's personnel were shown at least one record usually more of encounters with the Federation. Those that Murrue had seen were frightening in one way or another. But seeing such in-person with her own eyes made Murrue question if the Earth Alliance could survive what could follow if they even won the war against ZAFT. "Just what kind of weapon can do that then," she asked.

Krystal and Mu looked at each other since the question was a standing one in the OMNI organization. However, the truth was there was no answer yet and likely never would be, so their heads fell. "It's a question that the higher-ups in OMNI want to know, but none have found out. I doubt it's for the lack of putting for the effort of trying to and what is known isn't much to go by," replied Mu.

Krystal sighed, "Yes, all that any have been able to do is make guesses as to what the weapon the Federation uses from the damage it causes and that's not enough. And now that you see the idea and can understand that visuals don't help to figure out how it can be done." Krystal glanced around the room, "Whatever makes a large hole with little if any warning and armor does little to protect from it, and when done around a vital spot, the ship is destroyed. OMNI has very dearly wanted to engineer such a weapon that causes that type of damage we've just seen, but none have succeeded yet."

Mu shook his head not just at the truth of what Krystal was saying, but what was left unsaid. The Federation had never lost against the Alliance, nor had OMNI even had what could be considered a 'draw' with them. The scene those on the Archangel had just seen was unfortunately the normal result of OMNI getting into a fight with the Federation's military. As for the weapon that destroyed the Nelson-class, the Federation had given no information, hints, or anything when pushed. They would always use their no sharing scientific information treaty reasoning as an answer from what Mu had heard. "The Federation won't share anything about the weapon any more than anything else their military uses," Mu remarked.

Natarle glanced at Mu, "While I've heard about the Federation not sharing information with the other factions, I find it hard to believe OMNI has little to nothing on a weapon like you and the Major are describing."

All on the Archangel's bridge waited in silence for either Mu or Krystal to reply to Natarle. And it was Krystal was the first to speak, "I can't say for sure, but I would assume OMNI intelligence has tried to get information," she began.

Mu picked up where Krystal had started, "I would bet they have, but it is my understanding that like with their military operations, the Federation is extremely good at making sure others don't know what they see as unnecessary information."

The conversation might have gone on, but Jackie Tonomura looked down at his console and saw a signal that hadn't been there a moment ago. "Ma'am! Unknown appearing ahead of us, at yellow eleven, twenty-five degrees to starboard, distance two-hundred," he called and a moment later he was able to identify the signal, "It's a Federation vessel, likely one of their Enterprise-class cruisers by its size."

The Archangel's crew stood down from level one battle stations, and most onboard were letting out a slight sigh of relief. Those that had been pursuing them were gone and Artemis was now behind them. Although they didn't relax with a Federation vessel close by, it was better than having ZAFT hunting them relentlessly and allies trying to use them.

Down in the hangar, both Kira and Lacus exited their mobile suits and exited the hangar. However, it was clear that Kira was bothered by the events that had taken place at Artemis. In fact, Kira could hear Garcia calling him a traitor over and over in his mind and it was infuriating him as much as it plagued him. Kira didn't look closely at where he was going and Lacus just followed him, worried about his silence and the expressions that were going across his face. After a few minutes, the pair found empty crew quarters which Kira entered followed by Lacus, Kira immediately floated over to the bed and sat down on it.

Lacus had been quiet for the whole trip to the room trying to figure out what could be causing this kind of reaction in Kira. Granted, it was obvious that this had to do with something that happened while the Archangel had been docked at Artemis, but other than that, Lacus couldn't figure out what was wrong. Perhaps Kira would open up and talk if she cheered him up, that always helped her when she was having a hard time. No doubt Kira would perk up when he heard that Tye had been on board and had been helping out. Lacus was certainly happy to know that Tyler was alive and okay, hopefully, it would do the same for her friend that was hurting right now.

"Traitor," Kira muttered to himself.

At hearing that one word, Kira's mood made sense to her even if it surprised her as was evident with her blinking. After processing the fact that explained Kira's mood, Lacus moved over to the bed and sat beside him placing a hand on his arm. "No, Kira," she said reassuringly. "You are no traitor. Remember, your genes aren't what make you who you are."

Kira glanced over to his left at her and saw Lacus smiling gently his way. "You are yourself, Kira. Even if Coordinators have greater mental and physical growth than Naturals, our emotions, heart, and soul make us just as human as any other type of human. Your choices, the people you choose to be your friends, family, and country say who you are. Not the people of the same genetic type. As Tye often says, no matter whether one is a Coordinator or a Natural or any other kind of human, we're all human beings first, regardless of how we are or our heritage."

Kira, looking into Lacus's soft eyes, saw the truth of them and then smiled. He realized just how much of an idiot he was being right now by letting words affect him so much. He was kind of glad that Tyler wasn't around, he would call Kira out on letting what others said about him. "Yeah, you're right, I don't know why being called a traitor affected me so," he said trailing off.

Lacus gained a down casted expression, "Besides, I would be considered more of a traitor than you are," she said. "Unlike you, the place I call home is the PLANTs, I'm the daughter of the Supreme Council Chairman and my sister is one of the foremost commanders and a champion in the ZAFT military. Yet still, I haven't betrayed the ideals of my father or myself. Kira, you and I are fighting for what we believe in, and the friends we must protect. Tye would be saying well done and a good job was he in this room right now and you know it."

"Lacus," said Kira softly in surprise.

Lacus hadn't seemed the type to be this outspoken, her father Siegel Clyne yes, but Lacus, not as much. It impressed Kira to see and hear her talk like this, then he noticed that Lacus was smiling, "Oh, by the way, that person in the Federation space suit that we saw in the hangar before, it was Tye," she continued cheerfully.

That caught Kira off guard as there had been no sight or message from Tyler since Heliopolis's collapse. Not that Kira didn't believe Lacus or anything, he wanted Tyler to be alive and okay.

So, he blinked in surprise, "Wait what? Tye was the one in that pilot suit," he questioned.

Lacus knew that telling Kira about Tyler would help get his mind off what was bothering him. The two had been friends for long enough that hearing about the other always seemed to cheer them up. That in mind, Lacus nodded, "Yes, don't doubt we'll see him soon enough."

Before Kira could inquire further a knock came at the door. "Hey kids, you alright," came Mu's voice. The two looked over at the door before it opened revealing Lieutenant La Flaga with Flay standing right behind him. "The majority of us on the ship have been worried about you two after you were forced to go to the hangar." Mu fully stepped into the room, "I mean, by what Flay here said, the Earth Alliance officers from Artemis said some harsh things to you and called you horrible names," he continued.

"It is fine," said Kira, straightening up a little and waving a hand to have the subject dropped. "They're only words and they're untrue so it doesn't matter really, thanks, Lieutenant."

Kira then looked over to Flay, who was looking embarrassed and ashamed, "Flay, are you alright? Things got bad back in the hangar and I lost sight of you during the scuffle."

"Yes, I'm fine thank you," she said. "Listen, I just wanted to apologize," she hesitated, "for doubting you. I hadn't realized how hard this must be for you and that you aren't as different as I thought before."

"It's okay," said Lacus reassuringly.

Shaking his head slightly, Mu turned and left the three teenagers to fix the relationship between them. Yet, he hadn't gotten more than a couple of steps down the corridor, when a thought occurred to him. Once that thought had popped up in his head, a small smirk formed on his features. The idea was amusing, but at the same time a fitting thing as well. Hell, the two weren't real soldiers anyway, so why not give them a reward? They have done enough to deserve it and the journey was going to be a long one if recent events were anything to go by. With the thought firmly set in mind, Mu set off to find the captain and talk to her.

Meanwhile, Murrue had left running the ship to Natarle and left the bridge for some time to think. She was exiting the lift heading towards her quarters to prepare herself for the Federation officers that would likely come on board the ship. During her officer training, Murrue had been told and heard accounts about the times that Federation forces had disabled ships, both ZAFT and OMNI before boarding them. Even with the stance of neutrality that the Federation stuck to during this war that didn't mean they didn't intercede when they saw a reason. In some situations apparently, armed soldiers would come and take control of a ship. The worst story she had been told about, there had been an armed force of Federation soldiers and they had been able to cease control of an Agamemnon-class in under ten minutes, no losses to them, plenty of crew injured in exchange. The story was scary to imagine for it just lent credence to the efficiency the Federation's military had.

Then, Murrue was aware that the state of the relationship between the Human Federation and the Earth Alliance wasn't the best to begin with really and had been worsening as of late. In fact, it was only slightly better than the relationship between the Alliance and ZAFT. Murrue couldn't say everything that had caused the relationship to go the way it had, but over the last two years, it had gotten steadily worse from what she had understood. Yet, there was the real fear among OMNI that the Federation could ally with ZAFT or just go against the Alliance themselves. Murrue could comprehend that fear more now seeing firsthand what the Federation could do.

The few displays of military might from the Federation had shown that OMNI had better chances against ZAFT. The footage that Murrue had seen of the fighters that the Federation's military employed along with the recent battle clearly showed that OMNI mobile armors were outmatched, both in equipment and pilot skill. There were also the rumors that the Federation had mobile suits of their own and those had never been proven or shown as false. Many suspected the Federation had them and if it turned out to be true, then the OMNI organization was doomed even more.

In all honesty, from the facts that Murrue knew, it wasn't a question of if the Federation would join up with ZAFT, it was becoming more a question of when with how things were going with the war. Politics were souring the relations between the two sides and OMNI was preparing the best possible. With the lack of creditable information on the Federation's military, guesses were the best that could be used for planning. But the more work and prep done, the worse the battles to come looked and it wasn't joked about. When the two sides did work together, the Alliance and its OMNI would be defeated completely, there was little question about that. Best estimations put the campaign lasting less than a year as things stood. Even if the higher-ups didn't want to admit the point, it was clear that the Human Federation was more tolerating the actions of the Alliance rather than accepting its actions for years now. Murrue was in her thoughts so much that she didn't notice Mu coming up to her, "Yo, captain."

Murrue jumped a bit as she looked at Mu, "Oh yes, lieutenant, what is it," asked Murrue.

Mu smiled having expected that Murrue Ramius would be stressing with the current situation as it was. The prospect of having Federation personnel on the ship made most OMNI officers uncomfortable at the very least. Mu found it wasn't worth worrying about as it didn't change things much. Plus, those with the Federation's military he'd met were good people and were willing to listen to explanations. Their reputation didn't say that unfortunately which was kind of sad, but the Federation didn't do much to correct the mistake either. "Calm down, you look rather stressed and there is less reason to be so right now," he said.

Murrue looked away since he should be aware of the situation they were all in right now. "Well, it's likely that we will have Federation officers on board the Archangel at some point soon. I know this ship isn't exactly a secret anymore, but still, it's weighing on me, that's all. What did you need Lieutenant," she asked.

"Don't worry about Federation officers, they're not as intimidating as reports and some people make them out to be," Mu replied waving a hand, "I've met a few of them, and those I have, are decent people, all you have to do is keep calm and explain our situation. I'm pretty sure even they can understand our situation, and there are the refugees on board as well. As to what I'm here to ask you, it's just a little favor I'd like to ask of you."

Murrue blinked in confusion as she couldn't think of anything she could do for Mu La Flaga. The man had shown himself as one that didn't ask for privilege or to be treated special that she had seen. So, that got her a tad curious, "Favor," she asked.

"Yeah," Mu began, "Now that the kid and the pink princess are officially volunteers crew members, I figure, with what they've done, we should give them some better quarters to work with. We've got plenty to spare with less than a full crew aboard so might as well put the space to good use. They are the star mobile suit pilots here after all, which we depend on to defend the ship. I think they deserve to be a tad more comfortable with the job they do, don't you?"

"Yes actually, I do," said Murrue, with a smile of her own. She wondered if Mu really think she was born yesterday with the 'stunt' he was trying to pull over on her. What Mu was going for was fairly obvious and she could tell where he was going with this. And that's what made taking him down a peg or two more enjoyable. "Well, I believe I know just where to put them, Lieutenant," Murrue started, "They're college level educated pilots like them are generally assigned the rank of ensign. So, I think I'll put them in two of the ensign-rank quarters."

Mu was taken aback a bit with how the woman had flipped the tables on him as that didn't happen often. Normally, Krystal was one of the few that could do that to Mu and so he wasn't used to it. However, Mu recovered quickly, "What, you think they'll need that kind of space," he asked wanting to prod her slightly in his own direction and to show that he wouldn't be outdone so easily.

"Actually, I was thinking I'd rather not have them uncomfortable getting undressed in their own quarters and not worry about others looking in." Murrue gave him a pointed stare knowing that she had got him to an extent.

Mu with a wince as that wasn't what he was implying, but he took the point. And he had to admit that Murrue Ramius was not an ordinary average woman as she may have seemed at the first meeting. "We can put them right next to each other," continued Murrue. "They'll doubtless need one another's support during this journey, so keeping them close by is probably a good idea. Besides, we might as well keep both of those annoying little robots in one area."

Now it was Mu's turn to blink as he tried to figure out what she was referring to, "Annoying little," he began then it came to him what Murrue was talking about. "Oh right, those things," said Mu. "They have names, what were they," he paused to think, "Oh yes, Haro and Tori as I recall."

Murrue chuckled at his reaction as it showed she had gotten the better of the man. But then the question of where the robots came from came to her mind. They looked custom made and programmed from what they could do. "Although, I wonder who made them," she muttered, "they certainly do a good job at producing annoying little appliances, I'll give them that."

Meanwhile, on the Gamow, Nicol was cursing himself at the results that came from the assault on Artemis. It had started fine, good in fact, and had looked like the mission would be accomplished by the end. Artemis had essentially fallen which was an achievement in itself, but the legged ship had still escaped. So, the battle was a victory yet also a loss at the same time which with all of the teachers that Nicol had in the past meant the mission was a fail. "Damn it," Nicol shouted in anger to himself banging a fist against the locker in front of him. "I can't believe we let them get away a second time."

It was a rare thing for Nicol displaying emotions like this, and it put off his comrades a bit. Both Yzak and Dearka were watching Nicol as he beat himself up for what happened at Artemis. Truthfully, both were mildly impressed at how well the plan Nicol had come up with had worked against the Alliance base. "It's not your fault Nicol," said Dearka with a small sigh. "Unexpected circumstances came up that we couldn't predict. The enemy ship has better speed than the Gamow, so once they got a head start we were out of luck."

Nicol knew his comrades were trying to help which was a tad unusual for them, but he did appreciate it. "I guess you're right," he said. However, Nicol was thinking about how a few particular higher-ups would see the assault on Artemis as. He was sure that the Black Zephyr would see this as a failure as the enemy target they were after had escaped. "Even still, after all of that, the Zephyr is going to be disappointed in how the mission was handled."

Yzak snorted at Nicol's worry, "I doubt that," he said. "We may have missed the objective, but we still managed to blow half of Artemis to dust, and you made it all possible. If anything, you've probably scored brownie points with the Zephyr, which isn't an easy thing to do."

Despite what he was saying, Yzak was still mad their target got away, but there was nothing that could be done about the situation, and even he couldn't deny that it wasn't really anyone's fault. Plus, they would catch up to the legged ship given some time and the enemy could be dealt with then. And the way Nicol had disabled the Alliance base's supposedly impenetrable defenses were impressive. Yzak had to say that for of the many things Nicol may be, such as a coward and a fool sometimes, he'd a talent for tactics which was rare. What happened at Artemis was a prime example of that said talent and it made Yzak a bit proud to work with someone that could find ways to do what many considered impossible.

"Did you forget about the Zephyr's reputation or how she earned it," asked Nicol soberly.

Dearka and Yzak winced at the question and its implications as every ZAFT soldier knew how the Black Zephyr got the reputation they had. They had indeed forgotten for a moment that the Black Zephyr in addition to being one of ZAFT's most brilliant strategists, and the feared champion was also one that you don't want to disappoint for fear of what she would do in response. She could scare others with a simple glare or a couple of words with the way she came off as. But the biggest thing, the Zephyr loved a good fight and challenge, and to take such an opportunity from her was something you WILL regret a lot! With what had gone down at Artemis, Nicol could have just taken away a good opportunity for a battle for the Black Zephyr.

"Yeah," Yzak muttered, "forget what I said."

Back on the Archangel, close to an hour had gone by since leaving Artemis and the ship had been traveling forward. "Reconfirming status," announced Pal. "No enemies within a five-thousand-kilometer radius, just the one Federation cruiser. It appears ZAFT forces lost sight of us for the time being."

Murrue sighed in relief as that was at least one good thing going for them and there wasn't much lately. She really wasn't up to more fighting after the events of the past twenty-four hours, give or take a margin either way. Then the Archangel was no closer to getting to OMNI HQ either on the moon or on Earth. And the journey ahead wasn't looking to be any easier than what had already happened. "All that pandemonium at Artemis must've covered our escape from others," said Mu from the copilot's seat. He turned the chair to face Murrue, "So, we should be thankful to the Federation, if only for that."

Natarle wouldn't exactly disagree with Mu, but there were now other things to worry about that there weren't before. The biggest of which was directly ahead that being Federation space and trying to travel through that. It was fact to both OMNI and ZAFT that you didn't go into Federation territory without permission or because you were beyond foolish. The Federation had the habit of firing on intruders to have them either run or destroy them. And the Federation kept a close watch on their territory and defended it just as much against the other factions. Artemis had been at the end of Alliance space and Eurasia had tried a few times to claim some of the Federation's territory but always ended out losing forces in those attempts. "True, however," started Natarle, "Ahead of us is Federation controlled space. They have and earned the reputation of not taking it nicely when those who don't have permission traveling through their territory."

"Yes," said Murrue in agreement, "I share both of your points of view. But we're fortunate that the Laurasia-class is no longer able to track us and we should be thankful for that. I know we still have many problems as we did before, and not one of them has been resolved other than losing the ZAFT vessel for the time being."

The others on the bridge all heaved a unanimous sigh that said it all. Their problems were still with them and there was still no viable way to solve them yet. Murrue was speaking the truth, after all, immediately needed supplies were short, especially water. "So anyway, what happened to all the Eurasian soldiers on the ship," asked Mu glancing around in hopes of an answer as well to change the subject.

The bridge crew was silent for a moment as the truth had surprised them and they were still trying to figure it out. Tyler popping back up was amazing in itself, that he had Federation equipment was something else. But that he had taken care of the Artemis soldiers and hadn't drawn attention to himself was the most shocking point. So, Arnold shrugged and spoke first, "Well, as unbelievable as it sounds, Mr. McGregor appeared and took care of the majority of them. After that," he said not finishing the line.

"Mister Murdoch said he'd take care of it," piped up Tolle, "something about tossing them out the airlock."

Murrue and Natarle shared an uncertain glance at that, neither were sure they wanted to know the whole story of what happened while they were locked up. That the missing teen Tyler McGregor had appeared was hard to swallow, that the teen had somehow handled Artemis soldiers was even more so. Mu took what was said as more proof that the kid had some kind of military training, but just hid it well. Even if it sounded outlandish with the facts they had just heard, there was still more than enough to worry about.

The shift change came, and positions were switched out and others replaced. Sai, once he was relieved of duty went searching for Flay as he hadn't seen her since she had been used as a hostage. He found her when he glanced into the mess hall finding it deserted with one exception, "Flay, are you alright," asked Sai.

"Yeah," she said, "Kira and Lacus made sure I was safe after we were dragged away," Flay hesitated, "and then, in the hangar, there was a Federation suited person that helped me and made sure that I was okay before that in the hangar. I just talked with Kira and Lacus a bit, I wanted to apologize for what I started," she replied.

"That's good to hear," said Sai, sitting down next to her. "This has to be a lot harder on them than they really show. That goes for Tye as he's also fighting to protect us as well. Not only are they fighting other Coordinators, but all three of them have friends who are living in the PLANTs."

To hear that those that were protecting the Archangel had friends in the PLANTs made Flay's mind spin. It was hard to imagine that some were fighting in this war against those they cared about to her. "I can't imagine," Flay remarked quietly.

"No, I don't know if any of us really can," Sai said. He knew that their friends didn't want to fight in mobile suits, but as they were the only ones that could they did. Tyler made the idea look doable somehow, he rarely let the pressure and stress get to him from what Sai had seen. Kira and Lacus however, were having a hard time and it wasn't that hard to see that for those that knew them. So, Sai looked at Flay smiling slightly. "So, uh, try not to trouble them, okay?"

"Yeah," Flay returned, "I understand."

Sai glanced down thinking of how hard this must really be for Lacus out of the three. Kira had trusted Sai with the whole truth of who Lacus was, and it was a secret Sai had kept even from his own parents. He suspected that Tye knew who Lacus really was since Tye always seemed to be informed somehow about things. If the Federation pilot suit he had been wearing was anything to judge by, then the way he got a lot of that info was through the Federation who could somehow find out almost anything from what Sai had heard. But that would also potentially mean that Tyler was a Federation soldier and he had not come off that way at all.

The truth was, Lacus came from the PLANTs, and her fiancée had lost his mother in the Bloody Valentine, and her father was the leader of the Supreme Council. She was a morale-boosting idol singer, and to top all of that, she had a close connection one of the foremost and feared commanders and champions ZAFT has ever had. Given all of that, calling what she was doing hard for her, may have been an understatement.

At the same time on the Donnen, Tyler was left looking for something do occupy his time waiting for things to happen. Before he left the hangar, he'd checked up on the progress on the adjustments to the Shadow. The work wasn't done quite yet and Tyler didn't think Chief Montoya was appreciating him hovering over him and his team as they worked. So, when the man sent Tyler a serious look, he took the hint and left the hangar and let the mechanics work in peace. And Tyler could take a hint even when some people would disagree with that, so he was left to decide what to do.

That had Tyler thinking about the dilemma of the Archangel, which was made up of a series of problems that hadn't been solved at all. Currently, the OMNI vessel was on the very edge of different territories. On one side that was behind was the Earth Alliance was in control and ahead was where the Human Federation calls the shots. And from what Tyler had learned back on Heliopolis, the Archangel's destination was Alliance's Lunar HQ, their Ptolemaeus Lunar Base. The alternative option for the ship would be on Earth specifically OMNI's JOSH-A base in Alaska were Tyler to guess. Tyler knew that traveling through Federation territory would get the Archangel into serious trouble as things stood.

If there's any chance for Tyler to help the ship or more his friends, he would need the help of Captain Shepard. With that in mind, Tyler headed to the bridge where he found out from commander Sulu that the captain was off duty and in her quarters. Not being deterred, Tyler made his way to the captain's quarters and knocked. After being told to enter, he did so, and once again Tyler found himself in the Donnen's captain's cabin. Captain Shepard was still in her uniform, but the coat was partly open, the top half of the fastenings undone.

Shepard had been going over things when the knock had come and she'd been surprised to see Commander McGregor. The young man was still a bit of a mystery to her with how he did things. He and his team had managed to get into Artemis and not be found which was a tad impressive. So, she glanced up at McGregor, "Commander, to what do I owe the visitation?" she asked tiredly.

"Well, Captain," Tyler began, "I was thinking since both our current assignments involve the Archangel in some way, it might be a wise idea to get the ship's crew to cooperate. It would make things easier for most in this and I would imagine much better in the long run."

Tyler knew that if he could sell this, it would make things much easier for the time being and that was better than nothing. With that logic, he went into detail about the plan he had in mind and though it may have sounded simple, it wasn't in the long run. The mission of preventing mobile suits or data of them falling into the hands of OMNI when they have been desperate to get either or both for years was no easy task and Tyler knew that. So, to get the cooperation of the Archangel and her crew would be a good first step. Then appearing to help them would gain their trust and that would be required for success in the standing objectives.

That being said, if the Archangel could go through Federation territory, then Tyler was hoping that ZAFT would be a little harder pressing in attacking the ship. Did he believe it would stop Rau Le Creuset from pursuing the ship? Not in the slightest if his reputation is accurate, and with the encounters Tyler had with him thus far, he was inclined to believe he'd earned his reputation well. So, Tyler didn't expect him to really care that the Archangel would be going through Federation controlled territory. The ZAFT commander had been dogmatic about this pursuit of his query thus far, he didn't figure it being in an area that he shouldn't be in to stop him or even slow him down much, if at all.

Tyler was also aware that the man is one ZAFT commander that several leaders of the Federation military would have no complaints should he be discharged or go away in some shape or form. Those in the admiralty of the Federation military may not say out loud, but some signs say that they don't like Le Creuset or his actions. Tyler didn't blame them from what he'd seen, he didn't like the guy either nor did he believe he'd ever be fond of the man for he only brought chaos. Meaning, if the Archangel could be 'escorted' through the area, they would be a little safer and if ZAFT forces do strike or rather 'when', then there's help on hand, Tyler called that a bonus and good preparation.

Captain Shepard could see the logic that McGregor was putting out, though she believed he had more of a motive. What that motive was didn't concern her as she agreed that having the cooperation of the Alliance officers aboard the Archangel would be helpful. Most OMNI officers that Shepard had met rarely cooperated even when it was obvious that it would help the situation. She hoped that those on the Archangel would be reasonable since things were already hard enough. "You do have a point commander, I'll give you that," she remarked, "And I don't disagree that having the cooperation of the Archangel would be more helpful."

Tyler was kind of relieved that the Donnen's captain was on board with his plan. True, it would require her to talk with Murrue Ramius and Natarle Badgiruel and honestly, Tyler felt it better that Shepard does the job than Tyler himself. He had the hunch that he'd have less credibility with the ship officers when they figure out that Tyler was not just a pilot of the Federation, but also been working to stop them at Heliopolis. That was among the other things Tyler haven't told them and he felt the reaction would be rather bad with some when it comes.

Phase End!

A/n

That's chapter 10. Wish for all of you are enjoying the revision so far. I state, not for the last time I feel, and it may fall on deaf ears, but, as an author of this fanfiction, I have the right to change what I want and see fit to from the original storyline, period! Please, some of you take the time to write a review or PM me and say what you think.