Hey, peeps~! Here's the next chapter of The Phoenix Rising. I hope you guys are ready for what's coming here. ;) This chapter is all about the attack on Paris... from the perspective of the other nations. :3

- operation meteor: Thanks! I wanted to do the hacking for some time. :) And it does fit. :3 As for the clones, well... you'll have to see. ;3 I will hint that they are from Lodonia though. ;3

- Guest: Well, that is part of her plan. ;) It is to turn his own forces against him, slowly but surely. She's not above using the war against Coordinators against LOGOs. She is known for doing things like this. :3 In a way, she's uniting the world against those who she knows are humanity's worst enemies, and Nazara fits the bill. Plus it goes to show that anyone who is smart enough can use the so-called hatred and zealotry against him. Eisenhower is not one to underestimate; after all, her own experience, coupled with training under Schenberg, has made her the best strategist and tactician in the world at this point. Not even Djibril can match her in terms of manipulation. ;3

- 1800009trumbullps . net: Maybe, who knows? ;3

- Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: Thanks! :)

- CT7567Rules: Well, yeah. It is worse, but thankfully the resistance and Terminal, combined with their allies in ZAFT, Orb, and the Eurasians will bring that beast down. And hint, the resistance will deliver a significant blow to that thing. And let's just say Nazara is gonna be pissed when he finds out~! XD

- KentLinuxStadfelt: Well, I was aiming to use the Shinkalions for some time now. ;) What better way than to take out one of those mobile armors? :) And they are indeed growing stronger every day. ;) When it comes down to this, Eisenhower is very determined. Turn Blue Cosmos against one another, strip LOGOs of all assets, and unite the world behind the destruction of humankind's true masters, Nazara and Djibril. This woman knows who the world's enemies are, and she is going to see them burn with the power of a sun. ;) In other words, using a nuclear fusion powered mobile suit to kill both of those devils! XD


(The screen shows only blackness before a small light is shown in the center, growing larger until a fire ignites, panning around to show the Strike Dagger S equipped with the Phoenix Striker flying through space, a tattered American flag shown flapping on a flagpole in a huge colony)

START MIKAKUNIN HIKOUSEN BY TAKAYOSHI TANIMOTO

(The camera pans in towards the colony where it shows several members of the resistance gathered: President Eisenhower, Steven Krane, Mackenzie Samantha Allen, Turbine Martinez, Keith Martinez, Marcus Wolcott and his squadron, Warren Thompson, Robert "Rob" Jackson, Kyle Eisen, Kashi Tsukiyama, and Turbine's squad mates)

Oh yeah! Be strong, jump on, and become the wind (The group is standing before the Redemption in the background, a shadowy mobile suit above them and below the ship, two brilliant light blue optics flaring)

Pass the orbit beyond the sky (The camera pivots away from them and out to show a map of the Atlantian Reich split into two colors: blue showing the resistance and purple showing the Reich)

I can't hold back this rushing speed (The camera zooms in on Denver as Eisenhower is shown standing atop a tank, waving her hand as she barks an order into a headset she's wearing)

A familiar town becomes a diorama (The screen is flooded with dust as a tank speeds by, showing a single pinprick of light as a shuttle is launched into orbit from Anchorage)

Burst through the unclear skies (The camera pivots away to show another explosion as a Murasame blasts past, bearing the emblem of Sicario)

Blow away your worries and discontent (The camera zooms in on the wolf head emblem before it starts to flutter as a flag, panning down to show the leader of Sicario, Arnold Franken, on the screen)

Who needs a journey that's by the book? (The commander of the mercenaries waves his hand and three mobile suits blast overhead, their pilots shown with their emblems behind them before panning away to show Heaven's Base)

Even if you're lost or trembling, raise the altitude (The base is shown shrouded by darkness, Nazara standing above the base as the ZAFT-Defector fleet sails towards it)

Oh yeah! Show off, mess up, and stand back up (The image is suddenly shattered as a huge gun shell slams into it before the camera pans to the left to show the SS United States in Orb, undergoing repairs while her crew is gathered before her, the USS Missouri on station to act as deterrence)

I'll watch the unknown horizon with you (The camera pans away to show the captain of the Archangel and Heero standing beside one another, their hands entwining)

Now be strong, jump on, and become the wind (The two look at one another before a mobile suit flies past, panning up to show the Strike Dagger S clashing with a shadowy mobile suit)

Use the sun that lights tomorrow as a guide (A sinister dark aura surges out from the mobile suit, twin eyes glaring at the assembled warriors, the image of Durandal shown off to the side)

Fly off to the glorious world of freedom! (The image shows the resistance ship and their allies facing down the dark shadow, Djibril's face behind it as he looms over them)

GUNDAM WING: THE PHOENIX RISING

Let justice be done, though the heavens may fall

- Steven Jackson 'Spray' Krane


CHAPTER LI: Global Burning Hopes

JANUARY 2ND/3RD, 0074 CE

EARTH, EARTH SPHERE

The utter devastation in the city of Paris was appalling.

To see so many suffering, to see so many dying at the hands of a madman...

It was utterly demonic.

That was the only way the world could describe this suffering and abuse.

Historically, the Geneva Conventions had always protected medical and emergency services in wartime from utter destruction. It was considered a war crime to attack hospitals, ambulances, and hospital ships. It was forbidden by the laws of warfare. And it was against humanity's common sense.

. . .

"To the people of Paris... Do not be alarmed! This is the North American Resistance! Currently we have hijacked the communications signals of the Atlantian Reich to give you a message. A message that shows we are not going to stand by and let this atrocity go unpunished."

. . .

Within the government's office in Singapore, the assembly of the Equatorial Union, the Union Parliament, was quick to hold a meeting to decide their course of action. To see the destruction of a city as great as Paris had been enough to change their minds on their stance. While maintaining true neutrality had offered them a chance to build up their forces, it was now clear that LOGOs was in its death throes and was intent on bringing the world down with them. And the Parliamentary members were not going to let their country go down without a fight.

Seeing the suffering of others was enough to spur them to declare war on LOGOs the next day. A number of ships, pulled from coastal patrol service, were rapidly supplied and crewed, several landing craft being hidden aboard several converted tanker ships. Men and women alike streamed aboard, carrying their guns and ammunition for the fight ahead. Two of the Union's aircraft carriers were sent out as well, their aircrews and sailors alike eager to bring the fight to LOGOs directly, and hopefully help the resistance take back Anchorage.

. . .

"Right now I cannot express how much anger and sadness I'm feeling right now..."

. . .

The USSA was not just pissed.

They were angry.

Already their military was finally making a dent in whatever forces LOGOs had remaining in Mexico. Both the defectors and their own guerrilla unit were making headway, leading an advance into Mexico's southern territories and seizing other medical facilities that had been trying to churn out new Extended for their Destroys. Thankfully with the deployment of AI-controlled mobile suits, the so-called medical facilities were shut down and the Extended left to waste away as a result of the loss of their drugs.

The President ordered all the Extended to be brought to the USSA for immediate medical treatment while the madmen who butchered them were all shot in the kneecaps and castrated to prevent any of them from escaping and breeding with the normal human population. While considered barbaric, it was also considered justice for some of those who had lost their children to that barbaric program. And it was therefore fitting.

Many of them would die from their wounds or starvation, but a few would slip into the jungle, never to be seen again. And many years later, urban legends of half-crazed madmen with disjointed knees living like savages would haunt the Amazon for many generations to come.

. . .

"What you all experienced was a war crime in the utmost sense of the word. And that is something we of the North American Resistance absolutely condemn with every fiber of our beings! To outrightly murder the brave emergency and medical personnel who were just trying to save your goddamn lives... Who in their right mind would carry out such a wanton act of deliberate negligence?! When I say negligence, I mean negligence of the highest order: the denial of the right to live."

. . .

The Oceania Union was horrified by the results of the attack. But contrary to what the resistance was hoping for, the allied state with ZAFT only reaffirmed their alliance, choosing to side with the ones who had been victimized by the Atlantian Reich.

But they did not know just what kind of devil they had lashed themselves to.

For their part, all they could really do was offer more aid to support ZAFT, but it was nothing compared to the juggernaut that was slowly growing before Durandal's eyes. The sudden secession of the Eurasian Federation, combined with the emergence of the resistance movement from the shadows to the outright breakdown of the Atlantian Reich's facade was a surprise in many respects to many nations, who had, as Djibril had planned, swallowed the damn lies that he had spewed. But the reality was now amongst them. And their eyes were showing them the truth.

The truth that everyone had been duped into believing that ALL Americans were racist, fascist Nazis reborn.

And yet, even then a few were intrigued by this new movement. And with the rise of sanity once more coming to the fore, it became clear that some were interested in siding with this resistance. So while not sanctioned by the government as a whole, a select volunteer unit was deployed to the European front to help in taking down the Sovereign.

Their name... was the Flying Tigers.

. . .

"The man in the purple mobile suit, Colonel Nazara, who is in actuality a clone of the late Murata Azrael, was the one who carried it out. And let me tell you... brave people of Paris... you did not deserve to suffer this fate."

. . .

While traditionally a place of differing faiths and religions, the Middle East was also a place of constant strife and religious tensions.

But with the utter devastation of Paris by the Atlantian Reich, a surprising event happened.

In a surprising movement, a number of differing faiths and ethnicities, who had for many decades been at each others' throats, came together under the banner of their religious leaders, calling for a new kind of religious war. A crusade against the true devils in human flesh: LOGOs. Many others who had seen this kind of horror up close and personal elected to form a new, temporary union of the Middle East, calling it the Middle State as no one was willing to bend the knee to another. This loosely aligned collective would go on to become a prominent provider of eager fighters for the final battle against Durandal, not that anyone would know it at the time.

With the new alliance solidified, the Middle State proceeded to send their own forces on a projected axis to intercept any stragglers of the Sovereign's mobile suit units that somehow escaped destruction. It was the first step towards what would in the far future become a truly unified state in the Middle East.

. . .

"What I am about to tell you is important. This wanton act of aggression, of outright cruelty and barbarism, will not go unpunished. Now, I know many of you are going to be wondering how we, a supposedly mere resistance cell, make such outright claims. Many of you may even be wondering if this is true or fake. And some of you may call it a conspiracy."

. . .

For the Republic of East Asia, there were massive outcries for justice to be done for the people of Paris. Many were engaging in protests outside the embassies of their respective countries, but President Peng was far from willing to engage in combat against the Atlantian Reich. In fact, he was debating engaging in negotiations to try and protect his country from that beast.

But that was far from the smartest move.

A small number of military officers elected to send a volunteer force directly to the Equatorial Union as a gesture of good faith, hoping to convince the Prime Minister that they were on her side, even if Peng was not. As it stood, there was also a sudden resurgence in the Japan Revival Movement, a movement that had started back in the 50s CE. The movement was dedicated to the revival of Japan as a sovereign nation, complete with its own alliances and military, not being subjected to Peng's Second-Class Policy. Having attacked China in the Second World War, the Japanese people were seen as second-class citizens due to their anti-Chinese policies during that very same war.

And as such, many were not thrilled about it. They put up with it for the sake of their pride, but now, seeing the winds changing, the movement was starting to grow in momentum, with even a few cells springing up in other countries outside of the Republic, one of which was the North American resistance movement. In some ways, it was karmic for them to finally seize control of their nation's destiny once more, and the resistance was not going to let this slip past them, either. In the aftermath of the war, in the near future, Japan would once again become a sovereign state, backed by the full might of the North Atlantic Security Alliance.

. . .

"Well, this is where things get hard to believe, but they are true."

. . .

It was now clear as to where the battle lines had been drawn.

On one side was the United Nations of Sol, comprising Orb, the Eurasian Federation, Terminal, the Kingdom of Scandinavia, the North American resistance, the L4 Coalition, and the PLANT underground.

On the second side was the PLANT leadership, spearheaded by Durandal and the Oceania Union, coupled with the South African Union.

On the third side was LOGOs, led by Djibril and Nazara, along with their puppets in the Atlantian Reich.

On the fourth side was the neutrals, but with a majority of them leaning towards the UNS, hopeful for victory or just eager to get a bite of the fruits that came with this alliance.

And on the fifth side was the African Union, a potential threat that was slowly building its power for an attack on the American homeland.

The war had finally drifted out of Djibril's favor... as well as Durandal's.

. . .

"Unlike what you can assume, if you have been paying attention to the news, then you would see that there is a civil war raging within the Atlantian Reich fatherland. And that civil war is between us - the United States and her allies - and the Atlantian Reich - the country parasite of LOGOs. People across our countries are sick of the lies, the outright fabrications and the denial of deaths that have occurred in this senseless war, a war over genetics of all things! The Atlantian Reich, personified by the Devil in human flesh incarnate Colonel Nazara, has become the utmost vile entity in human history.

"With this wanton act of barbarism, we have begun to mobilize our forces to the utmost of our ability, and rest assured, we will bring this entity to justice. We have in place a key asset that can strike down that monstrosity of a ship, and together, alongside Terminal, Orb, ZAFT, and the Eurasian Federation, we will slay that Devil Ship and bring Heaven's Judgment down upon Nazara!"

. . .

Already people were crying out, and many were choosing to send aid as quickly as they could.

Across the world, for this moment, it did not matter if one was Natural, Coordinator, or even Enhanced. It was all about fighting for the human right to live. The basic rights that everyone possessed. And Eisenhower had managed to get through to people in that regard with sheer force of will.

Unlike Djibril, who relied more on fearmongering in relation to Coordinators and the barbarities carried out in the First Bloody Valentine War, the resistance commander-in-chief was savvy enough to connect the three subspecies of humanity together through the common goal of fighting for their basic right to live. She saw all engaged in a fierce struggle against racist fanaticism and cynicism in one as embodied by LOGOs and their ideology. It was the threat of the extinction of humanity that she laid out, and that, the very vision of humanity as extinct, was enough to unite the world behind her.

As a long term planner, she knew the necessity of long term planning for such an endgame, which had led to a stark increase in resistance activity across the globe. And now with France sending the Paris Brigade towards the English Channel coast, it was only a matter of time before the fortified positions in what was once Great Britain fell, especially when combined with a rear-facing assault from the Kingdom of Scandinavia's own naval vessels, their first overt act of the war against LOGOs.

. . .

"I am going to be honest. Not a lot of people even accepted the true scale of our movement. And even now, some may not. But the reality is, we do have the strength needed to wage mechanized warfare against LOGOs... and win! That very strength is backed by financial institutions that we have gathered behind LOGOs' back, and with the major manufacturing corporations that have aligned with us, we have the industrial capital to carry it out. And that is why we are going to win!"

. . .

As she continued to speak, many people were startled to hear that the sheer scale was even greater than they had assumed. The revelation that a mere resistance movement possessed manufacturing and financial might comparable to a modern country was enough to make them wonder just how much power LOGOs really had. It led to a major international effort to try and grasp the full might of LOGOs, something that the resistance thoroughly backed.

Data was sent out via the VEDA Network, dispersing it across the countries' own intranets. With the collapse of the Atlas Firewall, it was much easier for the globe to access that data, and it led to a major new development.

Officials from all the government united against LOGOs met and quickly established a new task force, dubbed Task Force Nu, to root out any possible supporters within their own governments as well as bring what members of LOGOs escaped resistance custody to justice. It represented not just a unified front, but an actual effort to bring and hold accountable the men who lied to the world, encouraged suffering on an unheard of scale, and wantonly carried out such destruction. It was an effort that would go a long way to reestablishing the International Criminal Court, in which the United States and their allies would become major signatories.

. . .

"You fools don't understand!" Nazara's voice screeched. "THIS IS THE END OF THE OLD WORLD ORDER!"

. . .

Within Canada, the fighting in Quebec had reached a fever pitch.

The Quebec slums were now positively riddled with rebels and the fighting was starting to lean towards asymmetrical warfare, with the rebels putting all their efforts into stymying any efforts at resupplying the guards and the overseer. The guards were forced to rely on more primitive means of hunting down the rebels, sometimes turning to sniffing guard dogs, only for those people to be executed and the dogs taken away to be rehomed and retrained. The man in charge of the dog teams had been executed before his unit had been disbanded for failure to sniff out rebels.

Another method was poisoning the water supply, which was a smart call, but indiscriminate. The rebels had long since gotten wise to the idea of poisoned water and had set up a clever irrigation system that also served as aqueducts, taking a page from ancient Rome. This system would go on to become the Quebec Aqueducts, and would serve the province for many generations to come.

. . .

"Says the man who slaughtered innocents whose only crime was to call out these atrocities!" the voice of the rebel commander hissed.

"This is the relic of an old world that does not deserve to exist! The new Natural race will rise, and we shall end the ambitions of those space daemons who clad themselves in our sacred flesh!" the colonel rebutted.

"I fail to see how that is even really significant, Lucifer," the woman said, startling him.

"You...!" Nazara's voice trailed off at the word.

. . .

To many in the Vatican, the utter destruction of Paris was the last straw. Although some called the Coordinators a sinister affront to God, there were many more who had seen the true face of the Devil, and his name was Nazara. That alone led to a surprising call for the Vatican to send a few armed forces to help in the fight, decrying the demonic actions that could only be described as the actions of the Devil.

The Pope was not eager to assist many who saw Coordinators as humans, but even he had his limits, and seeing Paris put to the torch all because LOGOs could, that was the last straw for him. In a major twist, he called together many leaders of differing faiths and issued a new Crusade, this time calling for the annihilation of the greatest threat to humanity. Thousands of fighters, of many faiths, rallied to the call, and within hours, a Holy Division had been mobilized, comprising many from the religions of the world. This war was no longer against Coordinators, but against the bastards who wanted to destroy the world, all because of their fear of change.

And Eisenhower could sense the momentum building.

She just had to keep it up a bit longer.

. . .

"You claim to be a man, but you are not. You are the Devil himself, clad in human flesh, who seeks to destroy mankind," the woman said, her voice eerily calm. "And that means we are the angels who will strike you down, Colonel," she added, her tone colder than ice.

. . .

Djibril could hardly believe what he was hearing.

From his position in the new base at Requiem, he was hearing everything, and he was utterly astonished by what he had just learned.

This woman... this rebel... this... vermin...! She had done the unthinkable.

She had united the world under her leadership.

Her leadership.

That woman... She was no mere wallflower. She was more than a soldier or an insurgent even. Her drive, her passion, her charisma... it all surpassed his. He was outmatched by her. In every. Single. WAY.

Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. And even spiritually.

She was a figure in history, an individual who could move mountains and sway the hearts of people. Through rhetoric, action, and military cunning, she had stripped the whole world away from his grasp, leaving him with only minions and thugs; he had no workers, no housewives to birth new sons, no soldiers to command, no shipbuilders, no allies... and no media to sway the public. He was left with only what he had... and even then it would not be enough to turn the tide of war in the conventional sense.

All he had left was what remained under his command.

. . .

"HUMANITY MUST BE PURGED OF WEAKNESS!" Nazara screamed. "IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO DEFEAT THOSE SPACE DAEMONS!"

. . .

For what few members of LOGOs had escaped, hell was coming.

Already the task force had tracked down three of them and had mobilized troops to attack their hiding spots and bring them out to face justice. Hundreds of civilians also joined in, wanting to get a piece of the monsters who had sent many of their sons and husbands, uncles and cousins, brothers and nephews, to a senseless war that didn't make any sense in the long term.

With the help of additional personnel from law enforcement agencies, it was only a matter of hours before they were captured and dragged out of their manors, mansions, and in the case of one, out of Windsor Castle. With the last of the members hauled into prisons in their respective holdings, the entire cabal was now disbanded, save for a select few who had escaped with Djibril into orbit.

LOGOs was close to its last legs.

. . .

"No. Humanity needs its strength and weakness if we are to survive. No one is superior to another. Natural. Coordinator. We are all human. Labels like that only divide us. And you take it to an extreme, Nazara," she said.

"The truth here is that you only wanted to engage in such actions because people have the courage to throw your false ideology and religion under the bus. You want to cause fear. You want to cause them to fear what could happen if they don't conform to your ideology and false religion," she continued, keeping her voice level and calm. "And those who dare to stand up do not deserve to live in your eyes. And to deny the people of Paris any semblance of hope is a war crime of the highest caliber. As such, I have one thing to say to the people of Paris."

. . .

Around the world, people stopped to listen, even if for only a few seconds.

. . .

"Here me, people of Paris! This man... this devil in human flesh... will not destroy you! Your city may be gone, but rest assured! You are not dead! You are not dead! Right now, you yourselves have become the City of Light! Buildings can be repaired! Vehicles can be replaced! Monuments can be rebuilt! But lives cannot be replaced! Lives cannot be repaired! Lives cannot be rebuilt! YOU are now the city itself! As long as you live, as long as you continue to exist, as long as you continue to THRIVE, despite the overwhelming odds, YOU WILL SURVIVE! You can, and will, survive! For you... You are not dead!

"PARIS IS NOT DEAD! Paris will rise again! PARIS WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!

"Paris is not gone! Paris will survive! So to all of you out there, remember... Remember...! REMEMBER! REMEMBER THE CITY OF LIGHT!"

. . .

That was it.

The resistance commander had done it.

A unified front.

A reason to bring the fight to LOGOs.

A single, unified cry for war.

A call to arms to bring justice for a great city.

And now... LOGOs would soon feel the full fury of the United Nations of Sol.

To see everything happening before them was a stark reminder of just what was at stake. With the rebellion in the Atlantian Reich fully engaged in a civil war, it was now clear to the majority of the world that not everyone was in league with Blue Cosmos/LOGOs. In effect, the sudden destruction of Paris had worked in the resistance's favor. When coupled with the speech given by President Eisenhower, it was clear to them that the Atlantians were not Americans. And that the real Americans had been biding their time to take back their countries from the demonic Nazi parasites that had hijacked them.

And now, the whole world had a reason to fight. Well... more like the majority of the world.

And Eisenhower was at the head of it all.

A smirk crossed her face as she leaned back in her seat.

'Djibril... you're in for a big surprise now,' she mused as she glanced up to the moon in the wee hours of the morning on January 3rd.

'I hope you're ready, because I sure am!'

. . .

JANUARY 3RD, 0074 CE

JUDGMENT STATION

Corporal Maxus La Grange narrowed his eyes as he observed the Archangel lookalike coming in to the main docks.

He had to admit, the Kingdom of Scandinavia was finally taking things seriously after the revelation of LOGOs and the utter annihilation of Berlin.

There was still much to be done to work out the intricacies of the newly burgeoning alliance, but there was a lot that had been done already. And it was showing in the sheer amount of changes that were happening swiftly down on the surface.

Japan was seeking to regain its independence, the Middle East was now united into a temporary alliance, a volunteer unit from the Oceania Union was on its way to assist in Europe, a Holy Division from the Vatican was going to take down any stragglers from the battle withe the Sovereign, Eurasia was gearing up for battle and sending the newly formed Paris Brigade to attack Great Britain from France, the Equatorial Union was sending troops to help in taking back Anchorage, the Kingdom of Scandinavia was going to assist in the attack on Britain from the rear, the United States of South America was seizing all Extended data and was distributing it to their allies, the L4 Coalition was preparing to deploy their own forces if any Atlantian Reich forces got wise and started sniffing around, and an international task force had been created to hunt down any LOGOs members and supporters to bring them to justice.

This was the ultimate deathblow to LOGOs' ideology.

He had to suppress a chuckle as the Asgard finally pulled into dock.

'For what it's worth, I never thought I'd see the day that the world was wrenched away from the stupid beliefs of madmen and sent back on the path to reason and sanity,' he thought as he turned and made his way out of the observation deck down to the docks.

The observation deck was located in the main control tower, just below the control room. So it was rather easy to head through the main stairways that led down to the main floor. The corporal exited the control tower and strode across the platform to the main dock doorway, which was still sealed shut as to allow the air to vent out through the air locks. Once the ship was within, he could hear the massive doors on the other side of the dock closing, and within minutes the huge air pumps were kicked on, sending air directly into the air lock itself.

The whole process took about a half hour, and when it was finished, the door slid open to allow the crew of the Asgard to disembark, along with their unofficial passenger. The dark colored vessel slowly pulled into one of the docks, slowly disengaging its engines to allow it to glide to a smooth stop. Maxus couldn't help but be impressed by the handling the helmsman pulled off. It was akin to what the helmsman of the Archangel could do, even if it was slightly slower on the handling.

The vessel's engines finally cut and shut down as dock personnel started to float to and fro, carrying cables that would anchor the ship while it was at dock to keep it from floating away. Gantries also swung into position, their magnetic clamps acting as additional restraints so as to not let the cables bear the brunt of the ship's weight. Within moments of docking, gangways started to swing out of the vessel's sides and ports on the dock slid open to allow them to link with the dock itself. And just as that happened, one of the catapults slid open on the main port 'leg' to allow mobile suit crews to enter or disembark to check over the machines the ship was carrying.

And it was just as well too, considering the passenger they had brought with.

Within the darkness of the catapult, a pair of cyan optics flared before the machine started to walk out.

The corporal's eyes went wide as he stared at the slim, powerful build of the Freedom Retribution Gundam coming out. The machine's Phase Shift armor, save for the golden V-fin, was deactivated, but it was still moving, a result of the battery packs within the chassis. There was still some battle damage on the frame, mostly in the form of some scratches and scrapes, along with a missing forearm. The machine carried its severed forearm in its left servo, and it slowly stepped onto the dock, careful to avoid the workers and crew, he noted.

The machine's helm slowly pivoted around, and Maxus was surprised to see that those cyan optics carried within then the light of sentience and intelligence. He knew at once that this machine was the mobile suit that housed the AI known as Turbine Martinez.

The very idea of an AI that had sentience and feelings was something he had dreaded when he first joined the Atlantian military. And while he had softened his opinion on AI, there was still that fear that lingered at the edge of his conscience. But he had long ago decided to swallow his pride on the matter and try to understand the AI if he ever got a chance to meet one.

And now, here one was, fighting alongside the resistance of its own free will, no longer shackled to the programming it had been created with.

He slowly gulped before he made his way across the docks to meet up with the AI in question.

. . .

'Wow...!' Turbine thought as he slowly pivoted, looking around at the colony. 'I knew they were good at using abandoned structures for hiding, but this... this is top notch!'

To even see the fully functional colony hidden behind a facade of abandonment was something he had not expected, whatsoever. And some part of him felt a tinge of jealousy for how clever they had disguised it. Debris still floating around the exterior was perhaps the wisest touch, he mused. It discouraged salvagers and pirates from coming close to it, and when coupled with the smaller settlements around acting as early warning posts, it was close to impossible to approach without setting off the warning sensors. It was on a scale that not even an AI could replicate, which made him wonder how long the movement had been practicing this kind of illusory misdirection.

Whatever the time frame, it was clearly enough to convince many to stay away from the colony.

And that was not counting the thick metal plating acting as shielding for the front and back ends of the colony, leaving the middle as the sole place where people could live. It was actually a smart move, he deduced. The plating could act as barriers against depressurization, and it could also allow the resistance to fight without endangering their own populace up here. The only issue was how many layers it really had.

The sound of footsteps on metal caught his attention and he turned his gaze down to stare at the single man approaching him.

He clearly looked nervous, if his facial expression was any indication, especially when coupled with the elevated heart rate and slight perspiration.

Turbine slowly knelt down to meet him at his level. The man was taken aback by the gesture, but since he saw Turbine wasn't taking any hostile actions, aside from just sitting down on the ground. He placed his severed forearm on the ground further away and just placed his intact servo on his lap before nodding.

The man, who looked a bit braver, started to approach and he joined Turbine, sitting down just a few meters away. The AI just shook his helm. "For the love of..." he muttered. "I'm not going to hurt anyone here, if that's what you're worried about."

The man snorted. "I'll believe that when I see it," he remarked. "There's still a lot I'm wary of regarding your kind, after all. Especially given Rear Admiral Xen and all."

Turbine actually let out a guffaw at that, surprising the man. "I can see why, actually," he stated. "But to be fair, she was not my real creator. True she brought me into existence, but it was my father and family back at Satellite City that raised and cared for me in ways she could not and would not."

"Oh?" The man arched an eyebrow. "How so?"

"For one thing," Turbine explained, "my so-called 'creator' feels that AI are nothing more than programs. And she's not wrong. But what is wrong is completely reprogramming them if one of them does something wrong." His servo clenched tightly into a fist as his optics burned brightly. "It's no different than programming an Extended, actually."

"How can it be the same?" the man questioned. "I mean..."

"It's similar in that the child has no choice, and their identity is picked for them as memories are overridden. If an AI does something wrong, then its personality matrix is also overridden and implanted with a new one," Turbine remarked.

"Oh..." The man's face paled and Turbine nodded.

"Yeah. Sick, isn't it?" he asked.

"Very much so," the man retorted. He then turned his gaze to Turbine's. "I almost forgot to introduce myself. I am Corporal Maxus La Grange. I'm the commander of Judgment Station, actually."

The AI chuckled a bit. "Hey, we all make mistakes, right?" he remarked. "And the name's Turbine. Turbine Martinez."

"I heard," Maxus said. "So is it true you have real feelings and emotions?"

Turbine nodded. "Yep. I'm completely sentient, and I do have feelings."

"Then, mind me asking what you think of this whole war?" Maxus asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Personally I find it kind of silly," Turbine remarked, eyeing the man critically. "I mean, why should a bunch of old men who run businesses have the power they do? And why should they fear change? I mean..." He shook his helm. "It's so... stupid! Fearing evolution is not normal under any circumstances. And their beliefs... what is this? This is not the medieval ages, or Nazi Germany, for God's sake!"

Maxus arched an eyebrow at the exclamation. "You believe in God?"

The AI snapped his cyan gaze down to Maxus, and the man squirmed. "Uh... Honestly, I'm not sure where I stand on that matter," he admitted. He then looked down. "It's just a human expression I picked up and found appropriate, actually."

The station commander blinked, then chuckled. "Well, it does fit the situation," he admitted.

Turbine threw his helm back and laughed a bit. "Sure does!" he chortled. Then he became serious as he lowered his gaze to his servo. "But in all honesty, this war has got to end before it gets out of hand. Especially regarding their end game for humanity as a whole."

Maxus was silent for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah. I got the briefing on that. And I'm just as sickened as anyone else."

"That's one of the reasons why I'm choosing to fight alongside the resistance," Turbine admitted. "Aside from bringing about a better world for future generations, of course."

"The other reason being to destroy that super AI of Xen's, right?" Maxus asked.

The AI nodded his helm. "Yeah. Because in all honesty, if humanity is wiped out, how will AIs continue to exist? We can only last for so long without human maintenance and intervention when it comes to dealing with corrupted code we may get every so often."

"I never considered that," Maxus admitted. "I always had, or at least until recently, a perception that AI could keep themselves maintained indefinitely."

"Nope." Turbine shook his helm. "My father was quick to dispel that belief after studying other AIs that we jacked in the aftermath of the Siege of Satellite City."

"Wait. You were there?!" the commander blurted.

Turbine nodded once. "Yeah. And I have to admit, that was the hardest fight of my life thus far. The only reason we won was because Bruno was too stupid and too animalistic at the end of it to even grasp that I had severed my own forearm in an attempt to fool him," he confessed.

"I see," Maxus remarked. He then looked to the severed forearm. "So they didn't have time to repair your damages fully then."

The AI shook his helm. "No. They had only enough time to get my wing repaired along with some other more severe stuff. The minor ones, coupled with my forearm, had to be held off until I got here."

"Oh?" Maxus arched an eyebrow. "They want us to finish your repairs then?"

Turbine nodded. "Yep."

"Well..." Maxus stood up. "I don't see why not." He then turned to look at the AI as he also stood up, taking great care to not cause too much shaking on the docks to disrupt the humans working close by. He pursed his lips a bit. "You know, I never really expected you to be so considerate of humans. There's that age old stereotype of AIs going rampant and destroying all humans..."

"That's just a myth for most AI," Turbine explained as he got to his feet. "In all honesty, it's in who programs the AI and the code it contains. Xen's goal is to create an AI that will destroy Heero Yuy and the Coordinators. And that is what my father fears worst of all. Because an AI with that kind of directive will turn on humanity and not consider them viable in keeping alive."

Maxus frowned. "So then it's all in the programmer who makes the AI," he mused. "Is that what he's saying?"

"And that's what I'm saying, too," Turbine retorted. "I've got real feelings and emotions, and I have a soul. So I'm not just programming and code anymore. I'm a real living being now."

Maxus was stunned. "Wait... You have a soul?!" he exclaimed, pointing at the AI.

Turbine nodded. "Yeah. I have a soul. So I'm fully capable of comprehending things like art and creativity."

Maxus never expected to hear of an AI with a soul.

He had always thought that AI could never have such a thing. And yet... here was Turbine, with an actual soul.

He could see it in the AI's optics. They were not just glassy things with sentience and intelligence. He could see in them the very light of life itself. And that was a dead giveaway that he was more than just code and programming.

Turbine was a living being in every sense of the word.

He then rubbed his head with one hand. "Man... this is gonna take some getting used to..." he muttered. "But..." He lowered his hand and glanced to the AI. "C'mon. We got your repairs to finish."

. . .

JUDGMENT STATION

MOBILE SUIT REPAIR BAY

Already many of the cradles were occupied by different mobile suits for the resistance, some of which had been stolen from ZAFT during incursions sometime between the wars. A number of old GINNs and DINNs were located in these cradles, the ZAFT emblem and ID codes removed and replaced with United States and allied IFFs. Their weapons had also been modernized, stripping the swords for beam sabers and old rifles for beam rifles and experimental solid projectile weapons. Even the OS had been swapped out for the primary one for the resistance.

While the GINN and DINN were considered outdated by most standards, the machine frames themselves were sound and were heavily modified in between the wars to match the resistance's capabilities, which included adding heavier steel plating for armor all over. The other change was the swapping of the singular optical sensor for an optical visor that contained twin cameras instead of one swiveling sensor. These new machines were called the General Exo-Interception Machine, or GEIM for short for the GINN variant. The DINN variant was referred to as the Defense Interdictor, or DI for short.

Unlike the original DINN, the DI was fitted for intercepting incoming machines and was outfitted with a series of shields that could fold out to block beams and physical projectiles. The shields were, unlike those on the GAT-X195 Bloodlust of the late Sundowner, actual pieces of metal. And rather than be mounted on slender arms, these 'arms' were much thicker and could pivot more effectively due to the joints that moved in close to 360 degrees for each one. This allowed the machine to block from nearly all angles, making it hard to even get a hit in. The Defense Interdictor lived up to its name as a full-on defense mobile suit, but that didn't mean it was unarmed.

The DI was also outfitted with a newly developed beam submachine gun, known as the MGX-54 Thor, powered by the new energy capacitor, otherwise known as an e-cap for short. This new device concentrated plasma into a powerful gas-like state that could release as a heated beam of energy. The same principle worked for most beam weapons, but the resistance had refined it to a much finer degree, allowing for the size of the beam to be adjusted via a dial on the side of the gun's firing chamber. The Thor was also a potent fire suppression system as it allowed the pilot to lay down suppressing fire at an unsurpassed rate of fire. And when combined with its shields, it offered a vastly greater chance of keeping allied pilots alive if the DIs got in front.

The GEM, on the other hand, was more or less geared towards interception.

The Accelerator Pack was the primary armament that the GEIM was paired with. Unlike other Augmentation Packs, which were derived from the Wizard Pack system for the ZAKUs of ZAFT, the Accelerator Pack had three large Vernier thrusters on it, allowing the GEM to accelerate to incredible speeds. None were as fast as what the resistance had for their ace pilot, let alone the faster machines of Terminal or ZAFT, but they were still faster than the Windam by a significant margin. The pack lacked any real armaments on the initial design, but hard points attached to it did allow for optional firearms or launchers to be equipped. The Pack though, being designed for speed primarily, was not allowed to carry a significant amount of weight. So light arms or launchers were the best bet.

But to make up for the lack of heavy firepower the GEIMs were outfitted with handheld rocket launchers that could be used as melee weapons once their contents had been used up. In fact, it was something that had become somewhat common in the aftermath of the Battle of Armageddon during pirate attacks. The use of empty missile launchers as bludgeoning weapons was not a good idea in most respects as such impacts could dent and damage the launcher. But the resistance had cleverly designed their launchers to have a somewhat angular shape by rotating the basic shape a full forty-five degrees. The new design meant that the launcher tubes were not designed to fit perfectly in a four square formation, instead having one launch tube on top of two launch tubes, with the last one on the bottom of the formation. And as befitting their purpose, these were dubbed the "Clubber" by the pilots who carried them, despite the actual designation being the MRLS-X23 Hellscape.

The Hellscape could carry a variety of missiles, making it a prime choice for deployment in differing situations that called for a specific type of missile.

With these new machines, the resistance's space-based forces were well-equipped to deal with whatever was coming their way.

To Maxus, just seeing these machines was a stark reminder of just what they had had to do in order to even get them. Stealing the mobile suits in question was one thing. But to hijack them under the cover of piracy ops was something that left a bad taste in his mouth. As it stood, the resistance was above such things in most circumstances. It was enough to make him question some of the methods they were using to bolster their mobile suit forces' strength. And sometimes he even had nightmares of their failures and the world turning against them once it came out what they had done.

So far, those fears had proven to be unfounded. But that didn't mean that they weren't absent. It only meant that they could strike when he least expected it.

Behind him he could hear the heavy metal thuds of Turbine's footsteps about three meters back. While it didn't seem like much, it had been the correct distance for the AI to remain so as to avoid stepping on him or even close to him.

"Wow...!" Turbine's voice trailed off as he eyed the resistance machines. "Are all these from ZAFT?"

Maxus nodded. "Yes. All these machines we have were formerly under ZAFT's flag. But in the aftermath of the Battle of Armageddon, we started to bolster our ranks using GINNs and DINNs. However, we were quick to rebuild them in our own design to a degree. The basic frame is the same, but the optical sensor was replaced with a twin-sensor visor instead. We also stripped the DINN of that aeroshell and replaced the large backswept fin with a much better sensor augmentation antenna." He gestured to the DI's helm, which was more like that of the old CGUE of ZAFT in terms of facial design, save for the optical visor in place of the singular optic.

"And the GINN?" Turbine looked at the GINN-types, noticing they too lacked the backswept crest.

"That one in particular was a headache," Maxus explained. "That crest was a dead giveaway when it came to its sensor array. That was enough to force us to strip the old head and replace it with one of our own design." He pointed to one of the GEIMs undergoing maintenance; its head lay on the ground beside the frame as it was lying atop a maintenance berth, over which a number of techs and engineers crawled. The head was somewhat reminiscent of the DINN's head, but it did possess the same visor as the DIs. The only other aspect that made it stand out was the pair of swept back protrusions that were located close to where a human's ears would be.

"Uh... what are those things on the side of the head?" Turbine questioned.

Maxus gave a chuckle as he saw what the AI was referring to. "Oh, those? The elf ears? Well, to be fair, that's just a nickname some of the D&D players came up with. Those are actually enhanced sensor arrays. We decided to omit that large head crest and compact the sensor arrays into two much smaller variants that were positioned on the side of the head. A lot smarter, as it makes them harder to hit."

Turbine hummed thoughtfully. "Actually, that's a smart move," he admitted. "A machine that has that big head crest means it's a big-ass target."

The station commander laughed at the comparison. "That it is!" he chortled. "That it is."

He then turned to look at the AI directly. "The machines I'll inform you of later." He gestured to the AI's severed forearm. "Once we get you fixed up, of course."

Turbine hefted his forearm and glanced at it before nodding. "Right."

Maxus continued walking, guiding the AI to the closest repair berth.

"Hey, Jack! We got someone who needs repairs!" he called to the tech in charge of the crew.

Jack Harris looked over, his eyes widening as he saw the slim, but powerful machine. "Oh, boy! That the AI the brass called about, sir?" he asked.

The station commander gave a nod. "Yes. That would be correct."

Jack shot a glance up and down Turbine's frame, taking note of the damages that had been repaired and still needed repairing. "Well, they did do a good job," he noted. "But there are some that could have been done better. Still, it's a good basis to work with." He motioned to the repair table. "Okay, let's get to work!"

. . .

JANUARY 3RD, 0074 CE

L4 COALITION

The Blue Masque observed the raging fighting going on, her eyes narrowed beneath her mask.

Already she had taken steps to prepare for the possibility of an attack on her nation, mobilizing the troops and making sure the space forces were ready. As a space-based nation, the L4 Coalition had no real army or navy, instead having what could only be described as interior defense forces. These IDFs were armed and equipped like a standard army unit, but the numbers were far too few to be considered a real army. And while there was an aerial capacity, there was no air force to speak of, only Aerial Interior Defense Forces.

Still, the units would provide one hell of a fight if anyone tried to get into the colonies.

And for what it was worth, the Blue Masque was prepared for the coming fights.

The only question was... would it really be enough for them?

Or would it ultimately fail?

Her musings were interrupted when she heard the alarm blaring outside her office. One of her aides opened the door and he poked his head in. "Ma'am, we got word!" he blurted.

"From whom did we get word?" she asked, her masked visage barely concealing her slowly mounting fury.

"We got word from Outpost G66," he reported. "There's a ZAFT force and an Atlantian force heading in our direction."

"Whom is closest?" the Blue Masque demanded.

"Ah... the Atlantian force, ma'am," the aide replied, checking the report. "They've been spying on our section of L4 for some time, and I can only assume they picked up on some of our transmissions; we were careless and didn't encrypt them as well as we should have."

"That is no one's fault. We all assumed that their forces would not be so observant," the Blue Masque noted. "Even I was under that assumption."

"Yes, well... it did get their attention," the aide remarked. "Although, some of the generals think that maybe we can use this to our advantage."

"Oh?" The Blue Masque was no stranger to gathering intelligence, and she was quite keen to hear what her generals had planned. "What is their plan then?"

"Simply put, some of them, particularly General Laura De Blaise, want to use this fleet to gauge the forces the Atlantians have in space," he replied. "That includes having them attack us. This way we can catalog all their ships and mobile suits before sending that data off to Terminal and the rest of the Allies so this way we can be ready to counter them."

The Blue Masque pursed her lips at that. It was a sound strategy, but one that was fraught with risk. The risks to her people were great, and the fact that they themselves had been in hiding for so long was another mark against them. They had mostly, until now, relied upon stealth and illusions of phantoms in the L4 cluster to evade detection. Now that they had been spotted, it was not going to be easy to rely on their familiar bag of tricks to avoid being detected. This meant they would have to come out and fight, relying on overt methods they had only practiced. And with a number of those pilots she had defected with now in civilian occupations, it was going to be even harder to fight in a direct conflict.

But... if they used the debris from the Battle of Nova to their advantage, then they could at least buy some time to gauge the enemy's forces and formations before going on the offensive and using hit-and-run tactics. Guerrilla warfare on such a vast scale would be enough to demoralize just about any enemy formation in most circumstances, and she hoped that would be the case here.

The only question now was...

"How far out are they?"

. . .

Outside the boundaries of the L4 debris field, an Atlantian battle group, the 666th Devil's Brigade, was currently on patrol with the rest of the fleet, the 13th Planetary Assault Wing.

The Admiral in charge of said wing was Hegle Bayer, a man whose ancestry could be traced back to Germany in the early 20th century AD. His entire family line had always leaned towards the martial careers, usually landing in the army as either cavalry officers or armored brigade commanders. It wasn't until the late twentieth century that his family's descendants had expanded into the air arms as well, becoming noted pilots and excellent staff officers. The entire family lineage had continued thereafter, with the sons taking on direct combat roles while the daughters went into caregiving occupations, as befitting the beliefs of the patriarch at the time.

Helge himself was in his late fifties, with graying blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that contained nothing but contempt for those who claimed to be fighting for democracy and equality. The oldest of seven children, he had been groomed into a life of the military, being held to high expectations by his grandfather, the patriarch of the Bayer Family. His schooling centered around the very qualities he would have needed to be an officer in the military, and after he had graduated college, he enrolled in the army. His talent for organization and leadership led to his quick rise through the ranks, although when the First Bloody Valentine War broke out, he had immigrated to the Atlantian Reich to put his talents to use in culling the impure from the human race.

After performing exceedingly well in the final battle, he was gifted the promotion to Admiral, and assigned to handle the newly developed 13th Planetary Assault Wing. While a planetary assault wing in name, it was far from it in practically everything. It only had five smaller battle groups, making for a total of twenty-five ships. There were no drop pod carriers, no large battleships from which to command the fleet, nothing of that nature. Hell, even the resistance had a flagship that was equipped to deliver an orbital strike. The name was only meant to intimidate and make it seem like it was larger than it actually was.

It was a stark contrast to how much the Atlantians had lost since the rebellion had erupted into full-on-civil war.

And it made Bayer sick.

Without the shipyards and capacity to man the ships needed, his assault wing was a joke.

It only highlighted how little his countrymen held in the way of influence over people's thoughts and minds.

Without the brainwashing that had been supposedly very effective, the country was just a mockery of what it should have been.

His eyes hardened as he scanned the map of space before him. "Any sign of ze enemy?" he asked.

"No, sir," one of the bridge officers reported. He glanced back at his superior. "Zey have not made a move since we picked up zeir transmissions five days ago."

"Hmm." Helge scanned the surroundings critically.

The sensor officer glanced back over his shoulder just as the radar began to beep. "Sir, ve got contacts! Six of zem! All ships, most likely ze old Nazca-class used by ze PLANTs."

"Ah. It seems ve have company zen," Helge mused, a sadistic sneer crossing his face. "I zink it's a fine time to show off our latest veapon, no?"

The men all cheered as the ship's klaxon began to blare. All crewmen ran to their battle stations as the assault wing began to move in on them.

However, these ships were not there to attack.

They were solely there to harass and judge the enemy's numbers. Had Helge been of sound mind, he would have called off the attack and begun to search them out with a grid search pattern. But as he was too engrossed with the idea of seeking glory over these Coordinator scum and Natural traitors, he didn't bother to consider this. All he could think about was the coming slaughter.

. . .

Aboard the Nazca-class known as the Brunhild, the captain, Stephan Herse, sat in his chair, studying the enemy units carefully. He had been right in spreading out his ships, given the sheer amount of enemies they were seeing.

Five groups of ships, each group containing five ships. And five of those vessels were launching mobile suits. His eyes hardened as the Brunhild slid behind some of the debris of a long-destroyed colony. The other five ships in the scouting group had likewise done the same thing. One of them, the Jaeger, was hidden much further back, and the Gipsy Danger was hidden a bit too close to the enemy forces. That ship in particular had a tendency to attract danger, and he was hoping to God that her captain was going to play it smart and not attract any trouble to her vessel.

Stephan's eyes drifted to the location of the Typhoon Hunter, located further aft of the Gipsy Danger, a single mobile worker deployed with an optical tether cable meant to beam video feed back to the mothership. The ball-shaped mobile worker was not that effective in combat, but it was armed to defend itself, with a single 180mm light recoilless cannon for defense. Its armor was also very light and thin, but it made up for that in its smaller profile which made it perfect for intelligence gathering operations, especially when it was painted in midnight colors with white lights scattered across its hull to add an illusion of stars. The smaller size not only offered a target that was harder to hit; it also offered excellent acceleration when compared to larger machines. The L4C-0079 Ballistic Armored Long-range Lurker, or BALL for short, was also highly fuel efficient, possessing a fuel cell to run on and having greater thruster efficiency than even ZAFT's machines, only matched by the resistance's machines in terms of battery power. But if anything, the BALL was optimal for fire support and hit-and-run tactics, which made it a deadly adversary as it could slip into places most mobile suits could not.

But even so, the BALL could not tangle with a large number of enemy machines if they had no place to hide.

Right now, the BALL from the Typhoon Hunter was streaming video footage of the enemy fleet as their mobile suits spread out to try and find the scouting party.

The captain of the Hunter was currently on screen, as were the other captains in the group.

"That's basically what we got," she relayed. "Five ships equipped with mobile suits, one per battle group."

"Hmm... That means they've got close to about seventy or more machines," Stephan mused. "We've got our work cut out for us..."

"Maybe," the captain of the Gipsy Danger replied, his eyes hard. "But this only means they're going to try and encroach on our territory here. We're going to have to report this to the Council."

"Very well said, Gregor," Stephan mused. "We're in a tough spot right now, and I'm not too thrilled about the circumstances in which we've found ourselves."

"What else did you detect about their formations?" Gregor Hibachi asked his friend, Heidi Walker.

"We were able to determine that two of their ships have some kind of twin-barreled cannons. We're not sure as to what kind they are, but we have a good guess that it could be an anti-ship or anti-colony cannon," Heidi admitted. "Of course, we're not sure in all honesty."

"Still, it makes a lot of sense the Atlantians would have something in the works," the captain of another vessel, the Juniper, remarked. Hank Gingham ran a hand through his hair before eyeing the others. "Given the horrific monstrosity they unleashed against Paris, it would fit their MO."

"That's not even getting into the AIs they're equipping to their mobile suits," Frederick Argos remarked. He was the captain of the vessel known as the Darter, named for a type of fish native to eastern North America. And it lived up to its name, being a rather small Nazca-class, which was a surprise. Actually, the Darter had been designated as a new stealth-type frigate, with a cloak of Mirage Colloid particles to disguise itself. However, the vessel's defection from ZAFT during the Battle of Armageddon led to the project being shelved, so this vessel was the only type of its kind in existence, meaning it was an invaluable asset that the L4 Coalition had been very hesitant about sending out.

"So, what's the plan the, Stephan?" Heidi asked. "Should we wait a bit longer, or should we bug out?"

Stephan pursed his lips as he thought. There were many risks for this operation, but if there was one thing he was sure of, it was they had to gather a bit more data. And if it meant risking the Darter... well, he knew Captain Argos well enough to know that he wasn't about to pass up a dangerous mission if it meant allowing their allies to have an advantage against the Atlantian Reich's space forces.

He closed his eyes before he sighed. "We get more information." He looked up, eyes hard. "We need intel on what weapons they got, so we'll send the Darter to investigate. But if they get spotted, they are to escape and escape alone. No fighting. You know your ship is under-armed, Frederick."

The others all glanced at him in stunned silence, but they did acknowledge the need for this. Frederick meanwhile glanced at the commander of the fleet. "I'll make sure we don't get caught," he remarked.

"Good." Stephan nodded. "Good luck."

The captain's image vanished from the collective group call. Then, the Darter's very presence began to shimmer as Mirage Colloid particles were dispersed from their tanks. The way the ship vanished was eerily reminiscent of a wraith or phantom, and then the shimmering disappeared too, completely concealing her. With the even the engines hidden by the Mirage Colloid, the Darter was incredibly hard to spot. But there was a slim chance of seeing the engines' heat on thermal if cameras were aimed right at the ship.

The Darter was now concealed, and Stephan could only hope that no one spotted it.

And for once in this whole war, God was smiling down on them. Unlike before when it was a tense waiting game in which patience ran thin, this time the Atlantians were none the wiser of their prey stalking them. It was a good thing, too, as now the Darter and her crew were able to get in close to see the ships equipped with the new weapons in question.

And the report they sent was enough to make Stephan shudder hard against his will.

The report was then sent to L4 Space Command...

And it was soon relayed to Terminal.