Gundam Seed: The Federation V 2

by Blackshadow999

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

2. Caught In Battle

A/n

Like the first Phase, this became much longer than it was originally or during the first rewrite. Anyways, not much else to say other than what I've already said in the previous Phase. So then, on with the story where I left off.

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Phase 2: Caught in Battle

January 25th, 71 C.E

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Heliopolis, Colony Interior

Max Locke, the man who had been chosen by OMNI top brass to lead the G-Project was worried. He was just under six foot with greying hair and brown eyes. Locke had served in OMNI for over two decades before he had been assigned to the G-Project. This was to be the start of a well-earned retirement, but he was starting to have the feeling that wasn't going to happen as hoped. He had been considering what he could do after getting the G-Project to Lunar HQ. That would be a hard task to do, more so with the ZAFT vessels around the area, but he believed it was still possible. It was the reason he was having final preparations for the Archangel rushed as they could be.

The G-Project was important for the Alliance and its future, Locke wouldn't refute that exactly. But Locke had been starting to have doubts about the war and the reasons that kept it going. The war had been predicted to last a year, maybe up to two at the most originally, it would be starting its fifth year in a month. And Locke had been having a hard time seeing the "noble" reasons the Alliance had started the war. He found himself agreeing with his friend Duane Halberton that OMNI had been losing its way somewhat. Locke had spoken to Halberton weeks ago and that conversation had only reinforced OMNI had been changing in the last year if not for longer. Radical views had been getting more attention than they should, but those like Locke could do little on that.

With things as they were, Locke was reminded of a message that had been sent to him months ago. The message had no sender ID on it, which had caught his attention at the time he'd received it. After reading the message, it seemed to be an offer for him to give service in a "noble" cause. The language made Locke think the message was from some in the Federation. There were rumors that some who used to be with OMNI had gone to work with the Federation, though top brass denied that. But Locke knew there was some truth to the rumors as he'd known some OMNI personnel that had disappeared and then begun working with the Federation in various ways. The offer hadn't sounded so bad when Locke had considered what had been in the message. After getting the G-Project to Lunar HQ, he figured he would do more research into the offer.

L ocke was brought out of his thoughts when one of his junior officers came up to him. He was told that the G-Weapon pilots had arrived and were waiting to meet him. Locke acknowledged his junior officer and turned his thoughts to the matters at hand. He told his junior officer to go and tell the vice-captain to focus on the Archangel's final preparations and getting them done. Locke wasn't betting that ZAFT would be staying away from the colony for much longer. The sooner the Archangel could be loaded and depart, the better things could potentially be. It was hard to believe that ZAFT would attack Heliopolis, but Locke felt they just might at this point. In any case, time was running out and there were still things that needed to be done. Captain Locke made his way to the control booth above the Archangel where he had been told the five G-Weapon pilots were waiting for him. When he entered the control booth, he found five young men there who he assumed were the pilots.

Locke greeted the five and shook their hands as he introduced himself to them. He had read the files on the five and didn't find anything which he saw as a potential issue for him or the Archangel's crew. Locke planned to have an officer give a tour of the ship at a later time as final preparations were being focused on. So, Locke had the five follow one of his junior officers guide the five to get things in order before they would go to board the Archangel. He reached out to his second-in-command to give him instructions of what the priorities were for them. Locke felt ZAFT wouldn't be giving them much more time with the report from the Apitus. The Apitus's captain had specifically mentioned seeing two ZAFT vessels when they had been approaching Heliopolis. That nagged at Locke and had him thinking time was growing shorter by the minute before ZAFT did something.

At the same time, the car with Tyler and Kira's group came to the checkpoint at the entrance of the colony sector which Morgenröte occupied. Kira used his ID with the security checker at the gate and waited as it opened. Tolle was still chattering away about the work Morgenröte could be doing these days with the war going on. Tyler didn't answer any of the questions which Tolle was asking. And it wasn't that Tyler wasn't loosely aware of what work Morgenröte had been focusing on lately. His friends at Teswa R had dropped enough hints for Tyler to make educated guesses with Morgenröte's work. But in this case, Morgenröte had made a bad gamble helping OMNI's project. Tyler only imagined one of the backers or very influential people in Orb had brokered the deal which Heliopolis was hosting now.

The car arriving at the security checkpoint was viewed by Morgenröte's control center. The operators there were using what was being fed by the cameras to get a view of all individuals in the car. The faces were being matched to colony IDs which the teenagers had. All of them were students at the colony's college according to their IDs. Two of them had data on their IDs to say they had special access to help one of the college professors by the name of Kato. Kato was one of the consultants which Morgenröte would bring in on projects from time to time. The IDs of the teens checked out since there were no standing flags on any of them. That was what was important right now with the stress of a standing project. Thus, those working in the security part of the control center had the gate open to allow the car to enter.

The sector gate was lowered after a moment, allowing the car to proceed into the colony sector the college and Morgenröte were located in. The car moved forward and took the group to the entrance of the college Heliopolis had. The group exited the car and headed into the college grounds. The grounds had few people with the school break that had started yesterday. Most of the students and faculty were off enjoying their break. Tyler would prefer not to be around the college as he didn't want work from Kato right now with what was likely ahead. However, being close to Morgenröte would put Tyler in the position to response if ZAFT targeted the complex. The nagging feeling Tyler had when conferring with Lisa earlier in the morning had come back and was insistently haunting him. Something was going to happen even if Tyler couldn't say when, but he feared it wouldn't be all that much longer.

The group made their way through the college buildings to get to the mechanical engineering building where Kato's lab and office were. Kira hoped that Kato wasn't in his office when they swung by, then he could say he tried to see him, but he had been away. If that happened, Kira could spend time with Lacus and his friends until Monday. Also, Kira didn't want Tyler to get into an argument with Professor Kato. The idea may sound interesting to watch, but when Kira thought about it, he didn't want his friend to potentially get into trouble with college staff. Tyler's stubbornness was hard to argue with and had gotten him into trouble before and could do so with Kato too. Yet, Kira didn't voice his thoughts about what could be ahead with Professor Kato and Tyler.

Tyler was loosely listening to Tolle talking with Miriallia as they were heading toward Kato's office. Tolle was saying that he and Miriallia could help him, and Kira not get more work from Kato until the break was over. Tolle was saying how their group would be doing fun things that apparently Tyler would be responsible for. Sure, Tyler had come up with a loose plan which he and his friends could spend the break with, but nothing definite at the moment. And that was before ZAFT coming around and causing chaos had come up this morning. Still, Tyler kept his mouth shut and grumbled to himself about the situation he was in currently. He was considering paths he could use to get to Morgenröte's factory sector. That was where OMNI had their prototype mobile suits stored.

When they got to the door that led to Kato's lab, Kira was the one to open it. The "lab" which Kato worked with wasn't all that large, certainly not the biggest Morgenröte had, but it was filled with things which Kato worked on. In the lab was a work area complete with consoles and drafting area. There was a robotic suit connected to cords and cables just off the center of the lab space. There was a large computer console near the suit which worked as its control and data analysis. The space was familiar enough to Kira and Tyler since this was where Kato handed them their workloads for the given week. The robotic suit was part of the project that Kato was working on, meant according to the man be an exoskeleton intended for work in space. Tyler figured the suit was more to see if the OS Kato was working on could work as he wanted.

T he entry of the group did get a response from the two that were already in the lab. The first was a teen the same age as Kira that was a part of the gang of friend Kira and Tyler had. His name was Sai Argyle and was the "other" smart one in the group. Sai had short straight blonde hair and blue eyes, which were hidden behind his full-moon glasses that had an orange tint to them. He stood at a height of five foot nine almost ten inches, eye to eye with Kira and Tyler. Sai was one of the few that could understand Tyler and Kira on an intellectual level of the gang of friends. Sai was better academically than Tyler was as shown by grades among other things. He also tended to work more work than Kira regularly than Tyler did on school and lab work.

Sai had heard the noise of the door sliding open, so had put down what he had been working on to go and see who had just entered. Tolle and Miriallia had been by earlier to look for Sai and the other in the lab. There had been plans for the break by what Sai had been told for the whole gang. What those plans were Sai hadn't heard much detail, but Tolle had said something to the effect of Tyler being the one planning things. Sai would admit Tyler normally planned fun activities from past experience, so he wasn't inclined to say no when invited to something Tyler had planned. Thus, Sai had been working to finish the work Kato had asked him to look at so he could go to whatever activity had been inferred to. He was also helping his other friend who had been in the lab doing what he could to help.

That friend was named Kuzzey Buskirk. He had a height of five foot three making him the shortest in the group though none held that against him. Kuzzey possessed short black hair and brown eyes but with a face that could be easily forgotten with its lack of distinct features to most. However, Kuzzey made up for the "plain" appearance he had with his personality. Sai knew Kuzzey may be seen as a pushover, but it was more him having an extremely kind heart. Kuzzey was a genuinely good person that would help others when he could. Sai and the others in the gang would always defend Kuzzey when others tried to bully him. Sadly, Kuzzey was a target of bullies from time to time though it had been worse before Tyler had appeared. Tyler had faced off with some bullies and "sent" them on their way. They hadn't been permanently injured by Tyler, but it had gotten the message across that Kuzzey was to be left alone or they would face Tyler.

Sai moved to be able to see the doorway and found Tolle and Miriallia had returned. They weren't alone either, for Kira and Tyler was with them. But they also had another which Sai had met months ago with the rest of the gang, Lacus Christopher. Apparently, Tolle and Miriallia had found Tyler and Kira as Professor Kato had wanted them to. It had been after the two had gone looking for their friends that Kato had come by, and Sai had found out what was going on. The Professor had more "project work" for the two to get done. That was odd to Sai as for the last two months, Kato had only handed work out on Monday. Sai guessed that change had something to do with the "argument" which some including him had overheard between Kato and Tyler.

Sai had remembered Kira saying he had plans for the weekend and the break from school. He had been working hard on the load Kato had given him Monday so he could have the weekend off. With that in mind, Sai had asked the professor if he couldn't give the work to Sai himself to get through instead of Kira. Granted, Sai may not be able to do the work as fast as Kira or Tyler, but Sai could still manage well enough. And Sai wanted Kira to not have to change his plans just because the professor had work, he hadn't given out yet. Kira was his friend and Sai wanted to help him as much as he could since Kira would do the same for him. However, Kato had said Kira and Tyler had to be the ones to get the work done. The professor had said something about the priority of the work and needed it to be done as quickly as possible. So, Sai smiled at the group, "I see you found Kira and Tyler, Tolle," Sai greeted. "Though I feel them being here isn't by choice necessarily."

Tyler knew Sai was fairly good at reading a room and mood, far better than Kira tended to be. It also said that Sai likely knew Kato wanted to dump more work on them. Sai had tried to help lighten the workloads they got from Kato which both Kira and Tyler appreciated. Tyler was aware Sai had been helping the project work shoved onto them as he could. He could do the work, just was a little slower at it than either of them. "Yes, they found us," Tyler admitted with a sigh. "And no, coming here isn't what either of us want to be doing. However, from what I hear, Kato and I need to have another conversation about some things."

Sai couldn't forget the argument he'd overheard two months ago. He'd been in the lab at the time working on some of the work which had been dumped onto Kira by Kato. When shouts had been heard from Kato's office, Sai had paused in the work he'd been doing. It had taken a moment for Sai to recognize Tyler's voice as the one arguing with the professor. It had been hard for Sai to understand everything which was being said, but the few things he did gave him some food for thought. Tyler had been arguing with Kato about dumping work onto Kira and had not minced words with the professor. The two had shouted and yelled at one another for close to thirty minutes before the volume fell to normal. So, Sai gained an expression of slight worry, "I hope the conversation you mention isn't like the one you had two months ago," Sai remarked. "That caused a stir around the building I assure you."

Tyler would be surprised if the debate he and Kato had two months ago hadn't been overheard with how they had been shouting at one another to start with. But apparently, Kato had forgotten or dismissed the agreed upon compromise that had come out of it. With that in mind, Tyler had every right to chew the man out and make him do what he had agreed to. "That will depend upon him, Sai," Tyler returned. "I hope it doesn't end out like it did the last time, but I will be holding my ground and sticking it to him."

Kuzzey stood up from the work top he had been at with hearing the voices of his friends. When he stood up, he found the rest of the gang had appeared. Sai had mentioned something about Professor Kato wanting to see Kira and Tyler when he had swung by. Kuzzey assumed Kato had something for the two to do with the project he was working on currently. The professor had left two data disks should Kira and Tyler came by from what Sai had said. "So, you two have come by," Kuzzey commented. "The professor left data disks with Sai for you when he swung by."

Lacus and Miriallia were looking over to the left side of the room after noticing something off from the rest of the room. That something came in the form of a person in a brown jacket and hat attempting to draw the least attention to themselves. The person's appearance was easily out of place and made them stick out. Their behavior suggested they didn't want attention on them, but the difference of the cloths worked against them. Miriallia assumed the person was around to talk to Professor Kato. What for, Miriallia couldn't begin to guess nor was it her business. Lacus was curious too about the person in the corner of the lab space. The person was keeping to themselves, which wasn't normal behavior for most when around others.

Tyler noticed Lacus and Miriallia looking to the opposite corner of the lab space. He glanced in the same direction and found a person in a brown jacket standing in the corner. The clothing they were wearing made the person stand out from most citizens of Heliopolis. And while Kato may be among the more well-known professors at the college, that didn't mean he was famous or anything. Tyler couldn't think of any viable reason for a stranger to come to Heliopolis to see and talk to Kato. That was the only reason for someone to be around Kato's workspace that Tyler could come up with. For the person to get to the college alone was odd as Morgenröte didn't just let in anyone. One needed an ID which allowed entry to Morgenröte or had a connection which got them access.

Sai went and grabbed the two data disks which Kato had left to give to them. He had glanced over the data before the gang had arrived. The data had been for the control system the robotic frame in the lab from what Sai had been able to tell. If Sai was given around a week, he could make some good progress working on it. But the Professor had said he needed to be done fast, and that Kira and Tyler would be able to get it finished. So, Sai brought over the disks, "I really am sorry about," Sai began then held out one disk to Kira and the other to Tyler. "But the professor was specific about giving these to the two of you when I saw you." Sai's head fell a bit, "I did try hard to get Kato to let me do the work. But he was firm when he said I wouldn't be able to do it fast enough. He was sure the two of you would be able to complete it and return the data to him in a day or two."

Kira took the disk from Sai, staring at it unhappily. The disk represented another day of work he would be required to do. That meant no time with Lacus until it was all done and turned in. And there was no guarantee that Kato wouldn't just give him more work when Kira turned in the disk he was being handed. The school break Kira was supposed to have, like the other students wasn't going to be much of a break. "Thanks, Sai," Kira replied tiredly. "I appreciate that you tried to take the work and do it for me so I could have some time off of it."

Tyler wasn't any happier than Kira was. He still had half a mind to track Kato down and given him a piece of his mind. If not for the stress of what was ahead and not worrying about ZAFT potentially doing something to the colony, Tyler would seriously consider doing that. Heck, the data on the disk was of no concern of Tyler's as he would be busy with other things soon enough. He wanted to chuck the disk at the wall and say screw the man. But he had to put up an act and not worry his friends about what he was dealing with. "Thanks Sai," Tyler returned, "Like Kira, I appreciate that you tried to help us not get work dropped onto us by Kato. I would be shocked if the man would've accepted your offer to help these days. Yet, that is neither here nor there right now, so it isn't worth complaining about it right now."

Sai was aware that Tyler had a job he did outside of school, and that was before the project work that Kato gave him. From what Sai understood, Tyler worked for a journalist that was around the colony. Sai had never met the journalist Tyler worked with, nor had any in the gang that he was aware of. But apparently, the journalist kept Tyler busy enough, so he didn't have a lot of breaks. The breaks Tyler did get, he spent with the gang as he could. And Tyler had been especially busy in the last month from what Sai had seen with his job. Sai had thought to ask Tyler about the extra work he had been doing but hadn't had the chance. "The professor said the work's priority rose, but didn't mention why that was," Sai remarked. "I know you two have other things to do, sorry I couldn't do more to help."

Tyler felt that Sai was wrongfully blaming himself for the crap Kato was shoving onto others. Kato should be the one apologizing if any did. He would've corrected Sai if there was the time properly, but with ZAFT likely poised to do something stupid, Tyler didn't have the luxury. Tyler would've said something, but a vibration in his pocket drew his attention. He took out the com-unit from his pocket and looked at the ID to find it was Lisa. It was best that his friends do not listen in on anything he may say to his friend. So, Tyler glanced at his friends, "Uh sorry all, I need to take this call," he said. "It's the journalist I work for, and work business isn't to be spread around unnecessarily. Give me a moment please."

All in the lab space watched as Tyler left the room after taking out his com-device and looking at it. He said it was the journalist calling him which was believable. Tyler did get called from his job and told to do tasks for them from time to time. Yet, Tyler normally would expect the call to come to him from what those there understood. The expression he'd shown for a brief moment said he hadn't been expecting the call from his friends. It was Sai that spoke up first after Tyler had left the room, "I thought his job has been picking up, but I'm starting to wonder if there isn't more to it."

Tyler got into the hallway and moved down the corridor. He found an empty room and ducked in so he could have some privacy. If Lisa was calling him, Tyler expected things had begun heading south from where they were this morning. Should ZAFT be making their move, things were going to become harsher inside and outside the colony. Tyler put the com-device to his ear and connected the call. "Hey, Lisa," Tyler started, "Can I assume things have taken a turn for the worst as we feared they would before the patrol gets here?"

Tyler couldn't know how right he was, though he would likely be able to guess somewhat. ZAFT had begun making their move with two vessels approaching the colony now. If that wasn't enough of a hint to things racing south, then the maintenance bulkhead being found open by Alan certainly stated the point. It meant that ZAFT likely had gotten a team inside the colony. They could be doing almost anything and get just about anywhere through the maintenance access ways. Lisa had been working with the colony's administration to try and change the policies with the access ways to secure them better. Yet, that had been in process but hadn't gotten far enough to make a difference in this instance. "Oh, they have," Lisa replied. "And they are going south quickly I assure you. From what Alan found, there likely is a ZAFT group inside the colony using the maintenance access ways. And now two ZAFT vessels are on approach to the colony from the Earth-facing said."

Tyler had figured things would take a bad turn when ZAFT did whatever they planned to, but this was not exactly what Tyler had figured would be the most likely. But for ZAFT to get a team into the colony was within some of the worst-case scenarios. And for them to be in the maintenance access ways meant they had access to essentially anywhere they wanted to go in the colony. Their target would no doubt be Morgenröte for OMNI's ship and their mobile suits. The issue with that was there were more than just the OMNI personnel around Morgenröte. There were the Morgenröte employees and those around the college that could be affected by whatever ZAFT would do. "Great, that complicates things more than I was hoping for," Tyler grumbled to himself. "Do what you can to slow what ZAFT's going to send the colony's way, tell Alan to do the same as well. Also, if you would get in touch with Luke and tell him to get to the last fighter and help the two of you out, that would be great. I'll see what I can do inside to mitigate the crap that is about to go down."

Tyler ended the call with Lisa and took a moment to recompose himself after getting the news he'd been expecting. He had thought he had been ready for the bad news, but to get close to the worst-case scenario certainly wasn't helpful. But he didn't want his friends to panic and delay him from going and doing what he could to mitigate damages. Tyler made his way back to Kato's lab space so he could tell his friends he had to go and get to work. He found himself facing his friends as they were all looking at him with expressions of confusion. Tyler smiled a bit more in an apologetic gesture, "Um, sorry everyone, I just got a call from the secretary of the journalist I work for," he iterated. "Apparently, there's an urgent task that's come up that I'm needed for, so I'm being voluntold to get my butt moving and working. It comes with being an assistant in a news organization, on-call all hours of the day and night." Tyler spun to face the door but didn't get through it before Tolle called out to him, "What about the stuff that Professor Kato has for you to do?"

Tyler paused for a moment since if things went anything like he now suspected they would, then the work he was being given wouldn't be of any consequence at all. Even if that wasn't the case, Tyler would be going to Kato to have a conversation anyways instead of doing the work. So, Tyler waved a hand in a dismissive gesture, "I'll be tracking the man down and we will be having a serious conversation about the work he is dumping on us. But I'll get to that after I get done what I have been handed. This is what it is to hold a job, Tolle," Tyler stated. "You have to do things when you're asked even when it's not convenient. Kato doesn't get that there's more to life than his work and it is time he receives a lesson that no means no whether he likes it or not."

Tyler wasn't exactly lying but nor was he telling the full truth as he was doing his job. It is just Tyler wasn't working for a news organization like he had told them he did. Tyler said no more, instead grabbing his backpack and racing out of the building. Tyler aim was to get inside the main Morgenröte complex and get to the OMNI used areas as quickly as possible. If he could get to those areas before things took another serious turn, he might be able to make a difference. In the best-case scenario, Tyler might be able to stop things from becoming a horrible incident by at least minimizing the damage and casualties, perhaps more.

Meanwhile, the ZAFT mission team came into the colony interior maintenance access ways. Athrun was the in the lead as he was the "leader" of the ZAFT red part of the mission team. He directed the group down the corridor that the colony blueprints said would lead to the district Morgenröte was located. The mission as planned had two basic parts to it. Capturing the enemy prototypes was only half of the goal, disabling the new enemy ship was the other half. The mission team had explosive with them to accomplish the disablement with. And if things went as planned, the OMNI personnel assigned to the ship would also get caught up in the blasts. Athrun hoped that should those people get caught in the blasts, that their deaths would be quick, it was the best kindness they could be extended in this.

A thrun spotted a huge grate system in the tunnel ahead of the team. He gave the signal to slow down so they could see if they were where they were supposed to be. The ZAFT team slowed and came to a stop over the grates so they could see below. What met Athrun's gaze was a large warship unlike any Alliance ship class that he'd seen images of. It appeared to have two "leg-like" sections at the front which Athrun assumed were the mobile weapon catapults. The central second was the where the majority of the ship's area where the crew would likely be. From what Athrun could see, the ship would be a problem if it wasn't dealt with before it left the colony. Commander Creuset had been right about what OMNI was working on could be dangerous and a price would be paid if ignored.

Athrun did spot people going around the dock appearing to be doing work to the ship in the dock. There was noise floating up to the grates, but none of it was understandable by the mission team. However, by what Athrun and others saw, the work had an air of stress and being rushed. That suggested the OMNI personnel knew something was going on that they couldn't see just yet. Athrun knew that meant the mission team needed to get down to business with setting up the explosives and getting to Morgenröte's factory sector. So, Athrun gave the signal with his hand to have the team split up into pairs to efficiently set the explosives around the docking area. Each team member had two explosive devices to place along their way and set their timers. The timers were to be set for ten minutes per Commander Creuset's plan, which should give the team enough time to get to a great position to steal OMNI's work. They would meet back up and the intersection which would lead to the factory sector.

After Athrun had signaled the team to separate to place the explosives, they all divided themselves down the three corridors. They went different ways that branched off of their chosen corridors. Every member made sure to keep out of sight of those in the docking area as they zoomed around. They took advantage of the zero-g environment to be efficient at placing the explosives strategically. The plan the commander was to try and not have too many civilian casualties from this operation. The colony's inhabitance unlikely knew anything about what OMNI personnel had been doing here, so why should they have to pay the price was the mentality. Plus, with Orb being neutral, there would be serious consequences for those involved that injured the colony's civilians.

Athrun arrived at the meeting point and found he was the first one of the team to get there. He had set the two explosives he had been carrying and hadn't been seen by any he had been nearby. Athrun had overheard some of those close to where he had been placing the explosives as he was programming the timer. From what he'd heard, work was being rushed at the orders of OMNI officers. The words "final preparations" had been said which had concerned Athrun even when he had kept working on his task. The term strongly suggested OMNI was working to make the battleship ready to leave the colony. If the vessel was made ready, then all OMNI would need to do was get the other part of their project to the ship before leaving. Honestly, it would essentially match what Commander Creuset had predicted with his mission plan.

Athrun was brought out of his thoughts went a few others popped up. Nicol and Rusty were among the first few that showed up at the meeting point shortly after Athrun. The brief expressions he saw on his two friends' faces told Athrun they felt much like him. They had likely heard about the final preparations that OMNI personnel were working on right now. It had just made the mission they were on was all the more critical than it had been before. Should OMNI get their warship they had in the dock along with the prototype weapons they had built, then the war would become worse than it already was. Thus, OMNI had to be stopped so the blood spilled, and the number of lives lost didn't sharply increase in the months to come.

It was a minute later all members of the mission team arrived at the meeting point. Athrun took the lead of the team again and had them move forward down the maintenance corridor. With the explosives placed, the team needed to turn their attention toward the second and more important part of the mission, the enemy prototype weapons. From the data Commander Creuset had "acquired," OMNI had their prototype mobile suits in Morgenröte's less actively used factory sector. OMNI having them there made logical sense as the vast majority of the colony's inhabitants wouldn't come around and see what they were working on. Only those that were in the know would be aware of the OMNI military project they were getting Morgenröte was assisting with. Athrun couldn't see Orb being willingly onboard with help OMNI develop mobile suits, even if it was at their colony. He suspected there had been some sort of "backroom" deal that had been kept secret from the public and Orb's leadership in general. That was the best explanation Athrun could come up with to explain how OMNI had been developing and building mobile suits with Morgenröte.

A thrun focused back ahead as the target access hatch came into his view. He signaled two to move forward and get the hatch open so the team could enter the colony interior. The two got the hatch opened quickly and the whole team moved through the hatch. Athrun and the rest used their thrusters as they entered the colony's gravitational influence. He then had the team head for the hilltop a short distance ahead of them which should serve as a good overlook spot to assess where things stood. The team came to a stop at the hilltop and crouched down to not be seen by any that may be glancing in that direction. Athrun had Rusty hand him a range scouting device which was like binoculars.

Athrun scanned the factory area below the hilltop to see what he could to know what they would be dealing with. He could see workers rushing around down below. From what Athrun could tell, the workers appeared to be working desperately and hurrying their work along. That could mean OMNI suspected something could be going against them, and they weren't wrong. Athrun zoomed in on the nearest factory building to see if he could tell anything about the targets the mission team was here to acquire. He could spot two large trailers that looked to be in the process of loading. Acquiring the targets would be best done when they were moving with how exposed they would be in transit. So, Athrun felt it was best to wait for a bit until OMNI started moving their prototypes out of the factory. He lowered the range viewer, "The targets appear to be in the process of being loaded right now," he stated. "We will wait until they start moving before going in and capturing them."

Yzak had to admit that Commander Creuset had a heck of a knack for predicting enemy reactions. Everything had gone according to the plan the commander had explained to them during the mission briefing. Normally, Yzak wasn't one to like waiting, but with this plan it was required. And taking OMNI's project would be worth it just to deny them a desperate poly to gain a potential means to try to equal ZAFT. It just showed that Naturals were fools that could only try to match Coordinators but never would. The explosive would take OMNI by surprise, and they would take a serious blow giving the mission team the perfect opportunity. Yzak ended out chuckling and smirking, "Can you imagine the looks of shock on the Alliance personnel's faces when they get caught by complete surprise," he posed. "They thought that hiding inside this colony would protect them, but they will be shown how wrong they are."

Most of the team chuckled at Yzak's remark, though Athrun, Rusty, and Nicol did not. The point of the mission was to take away dangerous weapons from OMNI so they wouldn't be able to mass-produce them. Athrun still didn't like infiltrating the colony as it made it possible they could do harm to the innocent bystanders that were the colony's citizens. This situation was one of the things which he disliked that the war brought about. This could turn out to be similar to the Bloody Valentine which was the last thing he wanted to help bring about. It felt so wrong to Athrun, and it brought to mind what his two best friends Kira and Tyler would think of him now. Especially, when the last time he had seen the two, they had parted ways with smiles and words of good luck to one another.

Meanwhile, inside the colony control center, two ZAFT vessels had been detected on a direct approach path to the colony. Treaties with Orb and the Federation that were in place with ZAFT should have them not doing such. Were ZAFT to do anything to the colony, it would be a serious incident. That was more turn now that Orb was a part of the Human Federation which fact had come to light in recent messages from Orb itself. It was assumed that with the news of Orb joining the Federation coming to the colony, then ZAFT would be aware of the fact too. As aggressive as ZAFT could be at times, even they were cautious when it came to the Federation and its military. Thus, a direction approach to a colony that belonged to a Federation member nation was a reckless and foolish thing to even consider.

T he communications operation tried to contact the lead ZAFT vessel to ask them what they were doing. Their approach could just be a mistake though it was extremely unlikely that was so. When the communication operator got no response from the vessel, they checked the colony sensors and saw ZAFT was getting the message, they just weren't replying. The operator called over the one on duty and showed them what they were seeing. The ZAFT vessels coming directly at the colony was more than worrisome. Thus, the one in charge had the alarms go off to get the chief controller into the center to determine what should be done.

It wasn't more than a minute later that the chief controller came into the control center with the alarms going off. "What is going on," the chief controller asked.

The one in charge turned to the man, "We got two ZAFT vessels on a direct approach path. They aren't responding to any communications from us."

The chief controller floated over to the communications station, "Everyone calm down and shut off those alarms. We don't panic at the sight of ZAFT," he snapped. Then he took the headset that the communications operator had been using. The chief then tapped commands on the console to make sure they were on a channel ZAFT would be listening to. "Attention approaching ZAFT vessels, respond! Do you copy! Your current actions are violating standing treaties with our nation, change your course immediately! Respond that you copy!"

One of the sensor operators began seeing electric interference being projected from the ZAFT vessels. They would only do that to disrupt communications and sensors the colony used. So, the operator turned to the chief controller, "Chief, we're detecting electrical interference coming from the ZAFT vessels. They appear to be trying to block outbound communications and the sensors for the colony!"

The report from the sensor operator had the chief controller beyond worried now. It really did seem ZAFT intended to do something to the colony and unlikely anything good. The colony didn't have much in the way of defense since it was a resource colony, not a military complex. Sure, the mining pods could be equipped with machine guns to use, but they weren't designed to fight in combat. Heliopolis wasn't ready for ZAFT mobile suits invading, they had never had to be before this. None in the control center had much in the way of military training, they were civilians just like the inhabitants of the colony.

The chief was yanked from his thoughts when his personal com-device began going off. The man took out his com-device and the ID showed it was the woman that had come several months ago. The chief wouldn't deny the woman had been good with filling the needed liaison between colony administration and the resource miners. She had smoothed over several issues that had been standing ones within a month of her taking the job. That had made the colony administration much easier, which none had complained about. The man couldn't say why the woman was calling at this moment, but things were bad, so other issues were unnecessary to bring up. He waited for the call to stop, but after a minute it didn't. So, the chief controller figured he would take the call and get the woman to call back later. The chief connected the call, "Miss Malto, if you are calling about a problem with the miners, we're kind of busy right now."

Lisa wasn't calling about disputes between the resource miners and the colony administration. Heck she was in a space fighter instead of her office currently. But with ZAFT beginning to deploy GINNs, there wasn't the time to correct things. "Chief Largo don't hang up on me," Lisa stated clearly. "Get all of your people out of the colony control center as fast as you can. If you hadn't noticed, ZAFT is about to cause serious problems for the colony! Send out a colony wide warning to citizens can get to shelters and then get out of the port control or you will die. Don't argue with me, I'm watching this happening right now. We don't need to add to the casualties that are going to happen."

Chief Largo knew that Miss Malto was right, even if he couldn't say how she knew what she was talking about. The colony's citizens needed to be warned so they could get to safety. "Thank you, for the information, Miss Malto," he replied before ending the call. Chief Largo then turned back to his operators, "Send out a colony-wide warning of the emergency so people head to shelters. Make sure the paths to the shelters are as open as possible!"

The sensor operator looked at his console and found mining pods were coming into the port heading for the outside. "Chief," called the operator, "Mining pods are heading out, they look to have machine guns attached to them."

The chief was somewhat stunned that the miners were doing what they were. He'd had disagreements with them on terms of the resource mining before this. But Chief Largo hadn't thought the miners would show the courage of going out against ZAFT mobile suits to protect the colony when they likely knew they would die. And yet, those miners could buy time for others to get to safety and the chief wouldn't let their sacrifice go to waste. "Then let's hurry and make those miners' sacrifices count," Chief Largo stated. "Sound the alarm and make the citizens aware of the emergency and get them going to shelters now!"

Back with Lisa, she hoped that Chief Largo had listened to what she had told him. Time was of the essence now as ZAFT would be aiming for the port first. She linked her fighter to the colony's communication equipment and sent a message to Federation High Command. They needed to know ZAFT was attacking the colony. Hopefully that would get the patrol to hurry here and help save all the lives possible. After the message was away, she detached her fighter from the colony. As she did so, she reached out to her teammate Alan Knight. "Alan, I believe it is best we go and delay ZAFT. If they aren't slowed down, things are going to be much messier and deadlier for those inside the colony."

Alan acknowledged what Lisa said before she looked forward toward the ZAFT vessels. Between the two, four GINNs had been launched from the ships. Those weren't good odds to be going against, but it wasn't the worst-case scenario since the ships could carry six machines each. But as Lisa moved forward, she saw mining pods coming out of the colony port. She blinked at seeing the pods, not quite believing some of the miners were doing what they were. She knew many of the miners saw Heliopolis as their home and were committed to the colony's future. But for that to have them going out in craft that weren't designed for combat with likely jury-rigged weapons showed they were more than willing to die protecting the colony. That sort of commitment was to be respected even if it could be foolish.

Meanwhile, on the Apitus within Heliopolis's main docking area, the crew of the ship was scrambling to their battle stations. That included the four mobile armor pilots as well, putting on their pilot suits. OMNI's pilot suits were like the other factions as they were airtight spacesuits that had backpack units and thin chest units with equipment. Three of the pilots headed for their machines while Lieutenant La Flaga headed for the bridge. When he got to the ship's navigation bridge, he approached the captain, "Enemies," was his short question.

T he captain kept calm, "Two vessels, the Nazca-class and Laurasia-class we spotted earlier. We already have confirmations of mobile suits launching and making their way towards the colony," he replied seriously. "Some mining pods passed us a moment ago heading out of the port as well."

Mu was kind of shocked to hear mining pods had headed out to fight ZAFT mobile suits. It would take serious guts to do that knowing you would likely die fighting. "Some brave if not crazy miners if they're willing to do that for the colony," Mu remarked. "The odds certainly aren't nice or helpful for us," he muttered. Mu then activated his com-link in the neck of his pilot suit, "Krystal, have Luke and Gale board their Moebius units and standby for launch. Do not, I repeat do not let them go out just yet. We're going against enough problems without making more for ourselves. Some colony miners look to be going out to distract ZAFT, so best to prepare as we can with them willing to sacrifice themselves for the colony. Let that be motivation for us to do what we can against ZAFT."

Krystal down in the hangar glanced at her two younger colleagues, "Luke, Gale, board your machine but don't head out just yet, you got that," she shouted. She got acknowledgement before she activated her com-device, "They're already heading for them now, and they understand they are not to go out until you get down here. So, I would recommend you get here quick, we'll be waiting for you down here." Mu would've said more, but didn't get the chance as Alarms began going which filtered into the Apitus's audio channels. He turned toward where the port control was wondering what they were doing.

"A STATE OF EMERENCY IS BEING DECLARED. ALL HELIOPOLIS CITIZENS ARE TO HEAD TO THE NEAREST SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. REPEAT, A STATE OF EMERGENCY IS BEING DECLARED. ALL CITIZENS ARE TO PROCEED TO THE NEAREST SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, THE COLONY IS COMING UNDER ATTACK, PROCEED TO THE NEAREST SHELTER IMMEDIATELY."

Mu hummed, "Sounds like the colony controllers will be focused on getting the citizen to safety." He then saluted the captain, "Once my team is out, I think it would be best for the Apitus head out from the dock. I don't doubt ZAFT will try and take the port over as soon as they can to control what they can."

The captain knew that La Flaga had a point in this situation as it was currently going. It was clear ZAFT didn't care about what trouble they could get into right now. For the Apitus, they needed to buy what time they could for the G-Project personnel to get the ship and G-Weapons out of the colony. ZAFT's target was more than likely the G-project with them willing to attack a neutral colony. They would be well aware of the political consequences they would be facing for this action. "Indeed," the captain replied, "I'm more surprised they are taking the plunge knowing the consequences they will face for it." The captain waved a hand at Mu, "Go Lieutenant, get to your team and do what you can."

Mu nodded and left the bridge heading for the small hangar to where his three teammates were waiting. He agreed with the Apitus's captain that ZAFT was really taking a serious risk in attacking the colony. Heliopolis belonged to the Orb Union, a neutral power of humanity right now. From Mu knew of Orb, they wouldn't stay quiet about this incident when they became aware of it. Heck, they may even go to the Federation to assist in handling this in the end, it wasn't unheard of. Mu hoped Orb wouldn't necessarily go to the Federation as that could and likely would complicate things for the G-Project. But he wouldn't blame Orb for doing that with what ZAFT was probably going to do to the colony. Frankly, Mu wouldn't exactly be against or say no were the Federation's military to appear now or in the near future to bring ZAFT to task. Yet, he nor his team could count on that potentially happening to help in this unpleasant situation as it was.

Mu arrived down in the hangar and found the rest of his team waiting there. Luke and Gale who were the juniors of the team, were in their Moebius model mobile armors, their heads popping out of the cockpit hatch. The TS-MA2 Moebius was OMNI's current mass-production mobile armor employed in the war these days. The model had the main linear gun which was its primary weapon to use against opponents. The secondary weapons the Moebius had were 40 mm vulcans, which were used mostly to restrict enemy movements to line up the linear gun. Both the Moebius units in the hangar had four missiles that could be used during combat that could either be used against ships or ZAFT mobile suits. As fairly armed as the Moebius was, they weren't an equal match to ZAFT's GINNs suits and Mu knew that. Pilots had to get lucky or use teamwork to take down ZAFT machines.

To his right, Mu saw Krystal getting into her mobile armor which was a different model of the Moebius series which few could use effectively. The model was the TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero. It was the older Moebius Zero which was longer and a tad thinner than the Moebius model armor. It was like the Moebius had a linear gun as its primary weapon to use against its opponents. However, unlike the Moebius, the zero had wired gunbarrels which were weapon systems in themselves. Each gunbarrel had autocannons with a radar to assist aiming when the barrels were away from the main armor. Yet, much like the Moebius's Vulcans, the autocannons could hold and push an opponent into the sites of the linear gun. Just as Krystal, Mu used a Moebius Zero armor since they were some of the few pilots that could use them that OMNI still had. Mu sailed over to his Zero, "We're going to be outnumbered in this, honest truth and no way to really dance around that," he stated. "That means keeping the dumb stunts to a minimum, understood?"

Krystal felt Mu should take his own advice as much as he was giving it to their juniors. Mu did have an inclination to do as he put it "dumb stunts" when things got tough. He was right they would likely be outnumbered going against ZAFT in this. But they had to work with what they had since they couldn't change the circumstances. Yet, if they worked as a team, they should be able to come back alive. So, Krystal sighed, "Good advice Mu, make sure you keep it in your own mind," she said as she had her Zero's cockpit close and seal. "Because you tend to pull dumb stunts when things get hard as I recall."

Mu knew Krystal did have a point even if he didn't like to admit it. He did some "questionable" stunts at times when a fight became rather difficult. Mu did try not to do crazy moves when he could avoid them, but that wasn't possible sometimes. He heard some snickers from Luke and Gale at Krystal's remark since this was a normal thing for Mu and Krystal. They had worked together more than a lot of OMNI pilots tend to, especially after the events that went down at the Grimaldi Front on the moon. Mu sent a look at Luke and Gale to get into the armors and get ready to head out. The two got the message and did as they were being told to do with sealing their armor cockpits. Mu floated over to his own Zero armor and got inside, buckling himself into the pilot seat and seeing his cockpit. The four mobile armors launched out to the battlefield that the area around the colony had become.

A t Morgenröte, the OMNI personnel sped up what they were doing with the final preparations for the Archangel when the announcement sounded. Captain Locke's nagging feeling about something happening that would cause issues told him that ZAFT was making a move. It was possible that ZAFT could have slipped some in to set trap or try to slow down the preparations. The fact of the matter was that things had taken a turn for the worse for them. Locke turned to those in Morgenröte's control room, "Start getting the crew onto the ship," he ordered. "Once Ramius and Corts get the G-weapons here we head out from the colony." Locke got to a console and told much the same thing to his second in command who was at the dock control booth the Archangel was below.

Locke had the control room start emptying and crew members start heading for the boarding tunnel. However, something caught his eye through the viewing glass in the control room. He homed in on what had caught his eye. Locke saw something attached to equipment that hadn't been there earlier. It took him to realize that what he was seeing was an explosive charge with a timer connected to it. That said ZAFT had been around and had almost certainly placed more explosives than the one he was seeing. ZAFT had likely turned most if not all around the Archangel and the paths to it into a death trap. Locke zoomed forward and shouted at his crew to hurry to the boarding tunnel, saying traps had been set to kill them if they didn't get to the ship before they went off. That got all to speed up their pace they were going toward the Archangel at.

A s crew members were trying to get to the boarding tunnel, the vice-captain was giving out orders to those around the docking area. He also got on the line with Ramius and Corts who were with the G-Weapons and told them to get them to the ship quickly. A minute later Captain Locke came into the control booth. He told his second in command to get to the Archangel and coordinate from there now. The vice-captain was about to question the captain why the control booth wasn't okay. Locke cut over him and said there were explosives around the docking area that ZAFT likely placed. It was unknow how much of their time was left before they would detonate. Thus, time was of the essence and so arguments weren't needed. Adjustments the Archangel still needed could be done after the ship was outside the colony. That would mean the crew would be alive and able which was more important to Locke.

Meanwhile, Tyler was sprinting out of the Mechanical Engineering building at the college. He had a general idea of how to get to the factory sector of Morgenröte from where he was. The issue was if ZAFT had set traps around Morgenröte along the way to their targets. That would make Tyler's journey harder if he had to deal with that and it was likely going to be the case. But Tyler couldn't do much about the traps that were probably ahead of him besides work his way around them. ZAFT didn't see an issue with doing horrible things to OMNI personnel, the war had made that pretty clear. The problem with that in this instance was, there were innocent bystanders around Morgenröte that could also get hurt or killed. That was the issue that Irked Tyler so much was innocent people were getting hurt or killed by the crap the war was doing.

As Tyler was running along, he took out the pistol he had in his backpack in case he would need to use it. Right now, neither ZAFT nor OMNI were allies or even non-threats to Tyler. Both sides were putting the colony in danger and didn't show much if any signs of caring about that point. He also put an earpiece which connected to his com-device in his ear so he could talk to his teammates without holding his com-device to his ear. He was ignoring the odd looks people he was passing were giving him. Time was of the essence and there was none to waste right now. ZAFT mobile suits would be inside the colony soon Tyler had no doubt. Then came the colony-wide announcement of a state of emergency. The announcement would help in mitigating things from being potentially worse than they were going to be. It would get people going toward shelters and they would be safe inside those shelters.

Nevertheless, as much as the announcement helped in mitigation, it also made things harsher for the crap between OMNI and ZAFT. It would tell OMNI that ZAFT was moving into attacking Morgenröte and their "precious project" they had been working on. That in turn, would cause OMNI to panic to some degree and start doing more reckless things. Reckless actions were the last thing needed right now around the colony. It would certainly make Tyler's job harder and require more effort on his part and things were already going to be difficult. Frankly, Tyler felt that ZAFT only had to distract OMNI to get a chance to get to the prototype mobile suits. And it unfortunately it wouldn't take a great deal to prod and force OMNI to do something stupid with how things were.

Tyler had gotten out of the college area and into the Morgenröte complex. But before he got much farther than that, the ground shook and rocked hard. Tyler had to grab the nearest structure to prevent himself from collapsing to the ground. The rocking didn't bode well in Tyler's mind, more a sign of things going south faster than before. Tyler felt that whatever "traps" ZAFT could have set had started going off if the shaking was anything to go by. He was more worried about what kind of traps were causing the shaking. Tyler knew depending on what ZAFT had placed, things would be much harder for him to mitigate. And he was essentially going to be around Morgenröte on his own. Lisa and Alan were outside in space fighters, and Luke was heading for the last fighter. Tyler would manage as he normally did when working on his own on missions, dangerous ones included.

Once the rocking stopped, Tyler scanned around to find the people within his view had either grabbed onto something like he had or fallen to the ground. Those he did see were looking around and appeared to be questioning what was going on. Tyler ignored others and kept making his way toward the factory sector of Morgenröte. However, he came to a halt at the gate to the factory sector collapsed and unpassable. The gate wasn't the only way to the factory sector, merely the most direct and shortest path to the area. With the gate blocked, Tyler required a detour as he still needed to reach the factory sector somehow. So, Tyler ducked into the nearest building doorway and scanned around to see where he was.

He found he was in the main laboratory area that Morgenröte had at Heliopolis. Tyler knew enough of Morgenröte's general layout that he could make his way from the labs to the factory sector. He would need to go through the labs and enter the lower levels where the dock Morgenröte had that OMNI had been working with. There was the possibility the docking area was a mess with whatever ZAFT had placed which had rocked things, yet it was the best route that Tyler could think of at the moment. If needed, Tyler could see if he could use the maintenance access ways to get around debris. He may have to find a space suit should it come to that, but Tyler would face that point if he came up.

Tyler began making his way through the lab area. He blended in so none of Morgenröte's employees even took notice of him slipping by them. It was one of those times when Tyler's infiltration skills were quite handy. Yet, those Tyler pasts were panicking with the shaking and rocking that had occurred moments ago. The things he heard only confirmed that none at Morgenröte knew any more than the citizens did about the current situation. It would be best for the employees of Morgenröte to leave and go to shelters. And as if his thought was a signal of some kind, alarms went off and a message for all to get to shelters was announced to the colony. Morgenröte's employees leaving would help Tyler get to his destination more efficiently. Tyler ducked into a room as those in the lab area began quickly filing out. He didn't want any to see him moving around Morgenröte as they may try and slow him down, which was the last thing he needed right now.

After a long minute, Tyler continued his journey through the Morgenröte complex toward the factory sector. It wasn't too long before Tyler came up against another debris blocked path which brought him to a stop. With the damage that he was seeing, Tyler figured that he would have to use the maintenance access ways to get to his destination, so he didn't have to backtrack. He searched for something that would make sure he had some sort of air supply in case the accessway he used didn't have an atmosphere in it. He found an emergency breathing apparatus before he moved to the access way bulkhead. Tyler had to hack the controls for the bulkhead to get it open, but he managed it.

Tyler put on the mask for the emergency oxygen supply and then jumped into the access way. With the access way having a zero-g environment, Tyler floated over to the opposite wall. He flipped around so his feet faced the wall. Then he kicked with his feet against the wall and propelled himself down to the right corridor. Tyler flew down the maintenance access way, traveling toward where the bulkhead to the docking area was. Should he have a path through the docking area, that should give him a fair shot to the factory sector. The chance of there being a simple and clear path through the docking wasn't great by Tyler's figuring. But it was the best option he had without some serious backtracking and taking more time getting to the factory sector.

Tyler spotted the bulkhead ahead of him, so he stuck his free hand out and caught pipes and swung himself to the bulkhead's controls. He then grabbed protrusions to stop himself right by the control panel. Tyler had to hack into the system to have the bulkhead open for him as it seemed most of Morgenröte was either locked down or in the process of being so. However, with his skills, getting through Morgenröte's security wasn't all that hard for him. When the bulkhead opened for him, Tyler floated into the docking area and stopped. There were many bodies and carnage floating within his vision of the area. It was clear that whatever ZAFT had used had gotten most if not all in the docking area. Tyler may not like OMNI or the Alliance in general due to their mentality but seeing so much death wasn't nice.

Tyler glanced to his left and found the corridor blocked that would lead to the short way around the docking area. That left through the dock itself or through the control booth as potential paths he could use. What he'd seen through the viewing windows had him not wanting to use the dock as a path if he could help it. That left going through the control booth and then the dock control area. There would likely still be dead bodies no matter which path he took. So, Tyler decided to go with the control booth path and hope that was clear enough for him. He took a deep breath and removed the mask he had been using to test to see if there was air in the area. The emergency equipment was helpful but wouldn't last if he used it the whole way to the factory sector. He was relieved to find there was an atmosphere in the area he could use thus he could save the emergency equipment if he needed it later.

Tyler pushed on the nearest surface to continue forward toward the control booth. He forced himself to ignore the dead he would pass. He didn't want to see the faces of the people that had been killed because of the war. Tyler knew the war had gotten beyond terrible but seeing that first-hand made it worse. Sure, those he was passing had been OMNI personnel, but not all in OMNI were horrible individuals, Tyler knew that. And with the dead everywhere, it made the dock feel like some horrible nightmare that Tyler had walked into. He'd been around the results of battlefields before, but being alone doing it intensified the sick feeling. Tyler had to remind himself to focus on getting through the docking area so he could get to the factory sector several times as he moved forward.

Tyler came to the outside of the control booth and got the door to open. He floated inside and scanned around the room and found it wasn't much different than what he'd seen already. Tyler silently cursed ZAFT bringing about this much death and likely not thinking much about it. The war had descended to the point where people were no longer seen as such, just enemies, allies, or bystanders. The spilling of blood and killing had become common place when it shouldn't be. Tyler was left to wonder if the war could end with the Alliance member states and the PLANTs intact. Those leading the sides were pushing to destroy the other side more and more lately. Peace seemed a nigh impossible thing these days with this kind of incident occurring.

Locke had opened his eyes a moment ago, or it could've been minutes ago, he couldn't tell the difference anymore. He had been clearing out the remnants of the crew in the control booth when the explosives had started going off. The blast had sent him slamming against a wall. Locke had felt things stab him just after he hit the wall, and he lost consciousness. He could only hope that some of the crew had reached the Archangel before the explosives had started going off. ZAFT had caught them all off-guard, and they had paid a price for it with lives. ZAFT couldn't be allowed to get their hands on the Archangel, or the G-Weapons. The G-Project may be meant to help OMNI equal things in the war, but if ZAFT took them, it would make things far worse for all.

Locke's thoughts were interrupted when the sound of the door to the control booth opening was heard. He shifted his body even when it was painful and only brought him closer to his end. Locke spotted a young man coming into the room. The teen looked to be carrying an emergency air supply with him. That meant he could've come from the maintenance access ways the colony had to get here. That path was likely one of the few ways out without using heavy weapons to cut through damaged structure. The young man looked sort of familiar to Locke, like he had seen him before. It was a moment later that Locke recalled the teen had been with a journalist that had been around Morgenröte weeks ago.

What the teen was doing around the docking area didn't much matter anymore. ZAFT knew of the ship by placing the explosives they had. ZAFT probably knew of the G-Weapons too and were trying to steal them by now or soon would. It was important that both the surviving crew escape with the Archangel and with any of the G-Weapons they could. If neither of those were possible, the Archangel had to be destroyed. That could be done with its self-destruct system, though that would need his key along with the one his second-in-command had too. Locke had confidence that the Federation's military could deal with the G-Weapons if ZAFT took them. The Federation wouldn't let ZAFT get away from Heliopolis with the G-Weapons, that wasn't logical for them. Thus, the teen could help with the Archangel if none of the crew survived. "You there," Locke said in a pained tone, "I want to ask a favor of you."

Tyler's head snapped over to where the voice came from and found there was a man who was still alive. A quick glance over the man said he wasn't doing well, he had extensive injuries and was bleeding. If he could get serious medical treatment, there was a chance he could live, but getting him that was nigh impossible at this point. And Tyler recognized the man as the leader of the OMNI personnel, which made him the captain of the ship in the dock. But with there likely little if any crew still alive at this point with what Tyler had seen, a captain was just a person. While he may be pressed for time, the man knew things which could make a difference in what Tyler could do to help the colony. Thus, Tyler felt taking a moment would be worth it for the information he could get from the man. So, he floated over to the man, "I'm not one of your crew," Tyler remarked. "But I'll try to do what I can."

Locke may be injured and bleeding out right now, but he wasn't blind. He could see the young man wasn't any of his crew. But that didn't matter right now, with ZAFT attacking the colony, stopping them was more important than keeping the G-Project secret. Locke coughed, "If you are worried about this OMNI project, don't be. It is not secret anymore with ZAFT attacking. No, it is putting the people in the colony in danger. We never meant for that to happen, and I apologize for it happening."

Tyler felt the man was being genuine when he was apologizing for what was happening to the colony right now. It made the fact the man was going to die worse as OMNI didn't have a lot of good officers that had good hearts and a concision. He had a point that OMNI's project wasn't secret anymore. Not that it would've mattered to Tyler as he was a part of the Federation's military and its investigation team. But it did make Tyler curious what kind of favor the man could wish to ask of him. "What was the favor you wanted to ask," Tyler posed. "Honestly, I will do what I can." Tyler paused for a moment and decided to just tell the truth of what he was doing around the colony since the man wouldn't be able to talk about it with his death near. "However, I am not a colony citizen, rather I'm a Federation soldier that was here looking into your project. Thus, I'm not working toward OMNI's or the Alliance's interests as you were."

The young man admitting he was a Federation soldier was a tad surprising for a moment. Yet, if he was a soldier of the Federation's military, him getting here would make sense. And to be frank, if any could do what had to be done, then a Federation soldier was the most dependable choice to go with. Those who had put work into the Archangel and the G-Weapons would hesitate in destroying them. ZAFT would take advantage of that hesitation and make things much worse for the war. A Federation soldier would have no such hesitation in the task, so that the young man worked out better than another. "Actually, you being from the Federation works out for the best," Locke replied. He then reached into his uniform and took out his ship key. Locke then held it out to the young man, "Take this key. The ship in the dock can't fall into ZAFT's hands. You will need to go to the dock control room and get my vice-captain's key as well. With both, you can activate the ship's self-destruct system if none of the crew are still alive. Should you find any of them, please, help them stay alive."

Locke coughed again and blood came up this time, "I know we are responsible for the colony being attacked, but we are trying to help end the war quickly, so more lives aren't lost. You may think badly of OMNI, and I wouldn't blame you for that. But not all of us think Coordinators are the enemies of Naturals as those like Blue Cosmos does. Some of us are just trying to protect the places we call home from those that would attack those places. I don't doubt there are many in ZAFT fighting in this war for the same reasons. I truly believe if we could all talk and understand there is more in common between us than different, then the war could end in peace."

Tyler took the key that had been held out, thinking about what the man had said. What the man just said reminded Tyler of another OMNI officer he had met and gotten to know. The man had been Duane Halberton who was a Fleet Admiral for OMNI. Halberton also believed peace was possible if talks could happen and the commonalities seen. The issue with that belief was most in OMNI and the Alliance that Tyler had encountered didn't believe that. So, for another to be lost because of the war made the potential future where peace was possible dimmer even if slightly. "You remind me of another I have met from OMNI," Tyler remarked, "His name is Halberton, he said something very similar to believing peace is still possible."

It was surprising that the young man knew Duane Halberton. The man was a fleet admiral so wouldn't necessarily have the chance to cross paths with a random Federation soldier. But if the teen knew Halberton, maybe he could get a last message to him for Locke. He dug around his uniform and took out a keepsake Locke had from his time being part of the same crew as Halberton had been in. They had been under one of the finest captains that Locke had ever seen, which had been Captain Badgiruel. Locke had tried to be the same kind of captain for his crew as Badgiruel had been for his. He had been glad to have the captain's daughter under his command. The woman had many of the same qualities the captain had and would make a fine officer someday. "So, you know Halberton then," Locke questioned. "Then perhaps you can give him a message for me."

Tyler saw no reason to deny the personal request from the dying man. That he knew Halberton wasn't entirely shocking with how similar they were. And Tyler had been thinking about sending a message to Halberton when he got some time. So, it would work out for Tyler to deliver the message too. "I don't see why I can't do that for you," Tyler returned. "What is the message you want Halberton to get?"

Locke held out the dog tag he had when under captain Badgiruel's command, "Give him this and tell him to not give up on his fight. He and Maes are the last ones now, but the captain would want them to keep pushing forward and fight for their beliefs as the rest of us would too."

Tyler took the dog tags and nodded, "I will tell him that, though it makes no sense to me. I assume that he will understand it."

Locke laughed which transitioned into him coughing, "He will," he said. Locke felt himself fading, but he had gotten out what he felt was needed. "Thank you for listening, young man," Locke said. His voice was fading as he continued, "I am counting on you to stop ZAFT in this."

Tyler watched as the man's eyes closed. He put two fingers to Locke's neck to feel for a pulse and felt it slowing down and then stop. The man had succumbed to his injuries from whatever ZAFT had set it seemed. It was a sad thing to Tyler, for the kind of man that Humanity really needed if the war was to end with potential peace. But there was nothing Tyler could've done for the man with how his injuries had been when he had reached the area. However, the man's request did provide a means for handling the ship should that be needed in the future. He would just need to find the one who was the vice-captain and get the key they had to be able to do that. The man had said the one with the other key should be in the dock control room which Tyler would have to go through anyway.

Tyler left the control booth on the other door that was opposite the one he had entered. The view around Tyler didn't get any better as he resumed his journey toward the factory sector. There were dead bodies floating in most directions that Tyler would glance in. He couldn't help but wonder about the placement of whatever ZAFT had used to bring this about. From the debris spread and the general injuries that Tyler was seeing, he guessed that ZAFT had used some sort of explosive device, but he couldn't say much beyond that. Should explosives be placed strategically, and none in the docking area know, the carnage he was seeing would make sense. And from a professional standpoint, explosives would have been the best way to limit the damage done to the area beyond Morgenröte to the rest of the colony. Granted, it still could've and may have hurt Morgenröte employees, Tyler couldn't say yet. But ZAFT had done an admittedly precision strike at OMNI even if Tyler didn't appreciate that they had done so.

It took a minute or two to get to the docking control room through the corridors around the docking area. The control room was just as messy as the control booth had been with the dead bodies floating within shook his head while ignoring the bodies and focused on the rank markings around the necks of the uniforms. Tyler's scan got him after a moment to home in on the one that had the markings he was looking for. One in the room had the rank markings of commander which would fit a vice-captain position. Tyler moved forward and searched the body and found the key that looked very similar to the one the captain had given him. He turned to the entry to the room and floated in that direction. Tyler would come back to the docking area if required and handle the ship after he took care of the crap around the factory sector.

At the same time, the GINNs from the two ZAFT vessels split into two groups. Three of them headed for the colony port entrance. The rest moved to fight OMNI forces that had come out of the port and launched mobile armors. Miguel Aiman was in the lead of the three that headed for the colony port entrance. His group would get in and help the mission team capture the enemy weapons. They hopefully had found the general location of them by the time they got into the colony interior. Miguel had one of his comrades attack the port control of the colony so they wouldn't have the chance to delay them. While the colony was of a neutral nation, some had put them into the position they were in. Miguel didn't like that bystanders were paying the price of fools. But with the commander's plan, bystanders getting hurt and killed should be minimized the best possible.

Fox managed to nail the port control a moment later. He did mention to Miguel that from what he had seen, the port control had appeared empty. Miguel hoped that meant the operators had evacuated, it was in their best interests to do so. Fox said he would go and help the others deal with the mobile armors instead of rejoining Miguel and Lester. Miguel acknowledged and zoomed into the port with Lester right behind him. Miguel didn't hesitate but piloted his GINN to the entry for the colony's central support shaft. That path would lead to the colony interior without having to blast their way to it. From what data the Commander had during the briefing, it was suspected that OMNI would have their prototype weapons around the Morgenröte Inc. area of the colony. So, his group would head in that direction unless the mission team reached out to them with different information.

With the ZAFT mission team, Athrun spotted large trailers were beginning to move out from the factories. He knew the time had come for them to move in and do what they had come to do. Some of their allies would already be on the way to the colony interior according to the plan by this point. Athrun got on his com-device and reached out to Miguel and told him they had spotted OMNI moving their prototype weapons out. He gave their allies the location so they could get there and help them capture the machines. Then Athrun directed the team to move forward and begin the descent to where the OMNI force was. The ten members of the team began heading down, using their thrusters to help their descent from the hilltop.

As the team was making their way down, Athrun spotted the two GINNs flying out of the colony's central shaft. They quickly homed in on the OMNI force and rushed at them, firing their machine guns at them as they flew over. It served as a distraction for OMNI, so they didn't seem to take notice of the mission team coming down from the hilltop. Miguel and Lester appeared to be working on taking out what they could of OMNI's escort from what Athrun could see. That should make things easier for capturing three out of the five machines. It would leave Athrun and Rusty to go into the factory and get the other two. But with OMNI in chaos outside, hopefully that would translate to much the same inside the factory as well. This mission was already messy and Athrun would prefer it to not get far more so with things going badly.

Murrue Ramius had been working with those under her command to get the convoy the first half of the G-Weapons were in to move out. They needed to get to the Archangel as quickly as possible. The warning that had been broadcast colony-wide had said to Murrue that ZAFT was making their move. They would likely aim for the ship and the G-Weapons if given the opportunity. The orders from Captain Locke had only solidified the point. Lieutenant Corts was getting others to load the last two of the G-Weapons so they could move with the other convoy to the docking area. The convoys didn't have that far to go to reach the dock entrance. But if ZAFT was attacking the colony, that distance would be a harsh gauntlet. It just meant they all needed to hurry and get moving or they would be in serious trouble.

Then the shaking had happened which concerned Murrue. When it had stopped, she had tried to reach Captain Locke but had been unable to do so. That only increased her worry that something very bad had just occurred. She had contacted Corts and told him she felt something had just gone terribly wrong. Corts had agreed and said they needed to get the G-Weapons moving as quickly as they could. She agreed with that sentiment and had those around her get the three G-Weapons she had been working on loaded on the trailers. Murrue and those under her command had gotten the first three machines loaded with their equipment. She just hoped that getting them to the docks would go smoothly enough so they could figure out what the shaking had been about. If contingencies were needed, then it was best for her and Corts to know as soon as possible.

Murrue had been about to give the order to have the convoy to move out when she caught sight of something coming in their direction. It took a second for her to identify the objects as ZAFT mobile suits before she ran out of the approach path of the enemy machines. She dived to the ground as the GINNs fired their machine guns at the convoy. Some had shouted incoming which had gotten others to dive for cover as well. When the smoke cleared somewhat, Murrue looked up the GINNs appeared to be swinging around for another pass. She gritted her teeth, "ZAFT mobile suits, now of all times," Murrue cursed. She looked at the one beside her and motioned for them to hand her the radio they had. Murrue dialed her fellow officer, "Corts, ZAFT mobile suits are attacking the convoy. Prep the X105 and the X303 for combat. You and I will have to use them to do what we can to get ZAFT to send them running."

Miguel and Lester brought their GINNs around and landed in front of OMNI's convoy. They used their machine guns to begin taking out the convoy's missile, gatling trucks, and linear tanks. That would help the mission team have less resistance to go against to reach their targets. Even with the risks going into the mission, none that participated wanted to be killed during it if it could be helped. Catching OMNI by surprise had assisted thus far in the mission, but that could fade or disappear at a moment's notice. The more that Lester and Miguel could do to cut down OMNI's convoy, the better for their comrades. But they had to leave the large trailers intact so their comrades could reach their targets. So, Miguel took one side of the convoy and Lester took the other to work on cutting down the resistance.

The mission team was hovering down toward the convoy as the two GINNs landed and were taking out the convoy. As they were closing the distance between them and their targets, Yzak noticed there were only three trailers with the weapon trucks. The briefing said there would be five OMNI prototypes they were to try and capture. "The Commander's briefing stated there would be five machines," Yzak stated over the team channel. "I only spot three down below."

Athrun was seeing what Yzak was that there were only three out of five out in the open. That could mean the other two were still in one of the factories. Out of those on the team, Athrun and Rusty were the best choices to venture into the factories and go looking for the other two targets. "OMNI must still have the other two in one of the factories," Athrun replied. "Rusty and I will go search for the two missing ones with two others to cover us. You take the rest and get to your targets and capture them." Six of the mission team moved forward and down toward the convoy, shooting at those still up and moving. As they did, two of Athrun and Rusty's comrades followed them as they kept slowly coming down aiming at the nearest factory structures.

The larger part of the team landed on the road shooting at the OMNI personnel that weren't dead already. From what Nicol could tell, the majority of the OMNI personnel that were still alive and up weren't trained soldiers. It seemed they were more workers that had put on body armor and were using guns they didn't have much experience with in real combat. It made mowing them down less fair to Nicol. Not to say the mission was less important, it just didn't feel great to kill people that weren't soldiers but just got pulled into something they unlikely understood when it had started. The team moved forward through the convoy killing all they came past. Grenades were thrown into the trailers that some tried to hide in.

Y zak was the first to reach the first large trailer with one of the targets the team was to capture. He went into the trailer and found the prototype mobile suit there with the cockpit hatch open. Yzak used his thrusters to get up to the hatch and dropped inside the cockpit. He glanced around to take in the layout of the cockpit and the position of the pilot controls. Where the controls were didn't differ a great deal in general from a GINN's cockpit. The forward display screen flipping into position was new, but not a deal breaker. After taking in the cockpit layout, Yzak activated the operating system. The system was messy as the practice simulations, if not more so than those. Yzak had to take time to get the OS to work even halfway as good as what got installed in GINNs.

Dearka ducked into the second trailer in the convoy after Yzak had taken the first. He found the hatch on the torso was open, to which Dearka took as an opportunity for himself. Once inside the cockpit, Dearka took a minute to familiarize himself with the layout. Then he pulled down the forward screen and turned on the OS. The system that came up was a tad messier than the simulations that had been given for them to practice with. Because of that, Dearka had to take more time than he had expected to get the system usable for him. The things he saw while he was working on the system told Dearka that the machine was better than GINNs when it was not just usable but streamlined.

A s Dearka was working, Nicol reached the third trailer and entered it to find the prototype mobile suit that OMNI had created. Nicol used his thrusters to get up to the hatch which led to the cockpit for the machine. The control layout wasn't that different from what a GINN or CGUE cockpit would have. Nicol activated the operating system to see if the system was as bad as the data the practice simulations had said they may be. What came up and Nicol scanned over was in fact worse than the data the simulations used. To say that the OS was messy would be a serious understatement if Nicol was being honest. The systems appeared to be pieces that barely related to one another that had been slammed together and hoped it would all work. It would take time to get this to work and more to streamline it to something that could be seen as fair.

By the time Nicol had started working on the OS, Yzak had finished getting the machine he was in functional. Once Yzak had the OS usable, he had the suit fully activate and took ahold of the controls. The mobile suit Yzak was in grabbed the rifle and shield which were in the trailer with it before it rose to its feet. The machine was grey overall, though the unit was moderately armored over its entire framework nothing protected more than another place. The head of the mobile suit unlike the GINN model looked more humanist. There were also two antennae-like fins one on either side of the center of the head going up and back just above the face itself.

Dearka had just wrapped up the system updates he had done. He had been required to reconstruct some things to make the OS work enough to get the job done. Dearka knew he would have to do work later to get the suit he was in to a decant level to work with. But he got the mobile suit to get to its feet after the OS came back up. The unit's left arm was covered in bulkier plating with two long cannon barrels connected to the rear of the suit for its main offensive options. There were also the missile pods on the shoulders from what Dearka had seen. If not for the crappy operating system, the mobile suit would be quite an opponent to go against Dearka had no doubt. Dearka would have to make time to get the OS going better once the stuff in the colony was done.

Yzak got his machine to move forward a step to make sure the mobile suit was working as it should. The machine was capable and sleek by what Yzak could tell from the system work he had done. OMNI and the Alliance may be idiots and fools most of the time, but they did seem to have the extremely rare moments of ingenious ingenuity. One of the qualities that Humanity could show sometimes historically speaking Yzak would admit. "Well," Yzak muttered, "Are you quite the beauty." He then cursed a bit with the next step being more jerky which was caused by the barely functioning OS. "Dearka, how about yours, other than the OS causing crap?"

"It's great, other than what you mentioned about the OS the Naturals put in it," Dearka replied, as the Buster took its first step forward. "I updated the nerve links after reconstructing them. I'll admit, the simulations were tedious, but getting this OS to work makes those look easy."

"Nicol, what's your status," Yzak asked.

Nicol could think of several non-nice things to say about his "status" at the moment. The operating system was horrid and that was putting it mildly. Dearka hadn't been joking about having to reconstruct pieces of the OS to get it functioning. Compared to the simulations they had been required to do before the mission and getting the OMNI OS to work, Nicol would take the simulations any day. "Like you said, the OS is crap," Nicol returned. "I can't wrap my head around how OMNI could believe this would ever work for anyone, even Coordinators. I'm really close to building this from scratch truthfully." Nicol managed to get the OS to update half a minute after replying and got the suit to stand at its full height.

"So, have we heard from Athrun and Rusty," asked Dearka. "They should've reached the factory by this point and gotten in I would think."

"They know that as well as we do," said Yzak. "Stick with the plan, we leave with these three. Let's get them to Commander Creuset before they get damaged, and the sacrifices made are done in vain."

With that said, Yzak activated the thrusters on his captured machine and lifted off, Dearka doing the same seconds later. Nicol frowned wondering if maybe they should go support Athrun and Rusty. It had been a bit since there was anything heard from them after they split up from the rest of the team. However, he decided that they probably didn't need it as time was short. Nicol lifted off as well, following the other two as they headed for the harbor exit with comrades. He wished his comrades luck and that they would come back soon with the other two OMNI prototypes.

M eanwhile, Athrun and Rusty with their two comrades had made their way to the closest factory building. The main entrance had been locked and hacking the locking system hadn't worked when it was attempted. So, when the other green suited comrades joined them, Athrun led them to a side entrance he found. The remaining team led by Athrun went into the factory only to find OMNI personnel inside working on the two remaining prototype suits. OMNI had set up some barricades close by the cages the suits were in. It certainly seemed the remaining OMNI personnel would make their last stand inside the factory. They were willing to fall defending their mobile working to prevent them from reaching the last two. The issue with that was the longer it took to get to the last two, the more likely things would go wrong for the mission team.

Rusty managed to get an idea while the team was shooting back at the OMNI personnel. The way OMNI had set up barricades would make any direct approach more than risky. It would essentially be facing a firing squad, and the odds of being mowed down were high. However, if some acted as decoys, then that could give a chance for one to reach a prototype machine. Once either Athrun or Rusty reached one of the machines, they could get it working and help the other to the second machine. When Rusty considered the odds, he felt Athrun would have the best shot to get to one of the prototypes. Rusty and the others could cover him and keep OMNI's attention on them rather than Athrun. Rusty looked over at his friend, "Athrun."

Athrun ducked down and looked at Rusty who had called his name. Things weren't good for them right now. Two of their comrades were trying to move around to try and get the jump on OMNI, but they had been slowed. One had already fallen shooting back at OMNI leaving two with Rusty and Athrun now. Thus, Athrun was kind of hoping Rusty may have an idea for them to be able to gain some forward movement. But the expression on Rusty's face didn't give Athrun much confidence. Rusty continued, "When I tell you, make a break for the one on the right. The rest of us will cover you as you go." Athrun shook his head at the suggested action. Rusty was saying what remained of the team would act as decoys to draw attention from being on him. They would put their lives on the line to give him a chance to reach one of the targets. "That is crazy," Athrun snapped back. Rusty shot back at OMNI, before ducking down again and gazing at Athrun. "That's the best that can be done in the current situation. once you get to the mobile suit, get the OS fixed and then you can cover me to reach the other."

At the same time, Tyler got the bulkhead from the maintenance access way open into the factory sector. He had come up against another blockage after getting through the docking area which had required him to go back into the access way. It had been closer than Tyler liked with the emergency oxygen supply. The access way he had moved through after the dock didn't have an atmosphere. The air in the tank had been in the red when he had reached the bulkhead, but it had gotten him through. Yet, from Tyler's surroundings and the sounds of gunfire ahead, he was sure he was in the factory sector as he had been aiming for. So, even if he had been forced to detour twice to get where he wanted, Tyler had still managed to get where he was aiming for.

Currently, Tyler was in a corridor that had a door on his left a distance ahead. Ahead of that was more debris blocking the way, so the door on his left was the only option Tyler had to work with. With the gunfire being heard ahead, Tyler took back out his pistol before moving forward toward the door. He found the door didn't have power to it so would open automatically. Tyler found the manual release and pushed the door into its sleeve to allow him entry. Tyler found the large room he came into was rather dark. The only source of light came from some ventilation which Tyler assumed was from the main factory floor to his right on the other side of the wall. At least the gunfire sounds coming from that direction would strongly imply that was where the main factory floor was.

To his left were two large objects that Tyler couldn't identify with the dark room. Tyler dug around in his backpack and found his flashlight and turned it on so he could see what was in the room. Turning the light to the large objects, Tyler found the objects were in fact, mobile suits in construction docks. The two were machines that Tyler had never seen before, nor did they match anything Alan had mentioned. Tyler moved to the center of the room to get to the second level catwalks the room had so he could get a better look at the mobile suits. They were potential options for him to use if things went further south than they had already.

Once Tyler reached the catwalks, he shined his flashlight down at the construction docks to see the machines below. The one on the right appeared moderately armored like one of OMNI's prototypes which Tyler had seen the specs for. If he recalled right, the prototype had been the X102 Duel. Yet, the mobile suit on the right was more reminding Tyler of specs he'd seen from a friend in Federation R . The specs had been something Orb's Morgenröte Inc had been working on within the last year. The machine below also appeared to have a flight system in the form of a heavy backpack. There was a shield on the left arm and a rifle close by the machine. Tyler swept his flashlight around the mobile suits on the right and didn't see any other equipment that could go with the machine.

Tyler moved his flashlight to the mobile suit in the neighboring dock on the left. It was also moderately armored overall and had some similarities with the framework to one of the other prototypes. As Tyler remembered what he had seen with the specs, it was similar to the X207 Blitz. The general frame seemed to be close to identical in fact from what Tyler could tell. The real difference came with the equipment. Rather than the weapon system that the Blitz was supposed to have, the one below had a shield attached to the left forearm. The shield looked like historical depictions of a tower shield with an opening at the bottom. When Tyler swept his flashlight around, he found a rifle nearby much like the other mobile suit had.

After taking in the two mobile suits, Tyler made his way back down to the ground level of the room. He moved toward the door that led to the main factory floor. Tyler slid the door open before he rushed to the nearest structure that could provide cover for him. From the short view he got as Tyler rushed for cover didn't inspire a great deal of confidence in things not ending horribly. OMNI personnel had set up barricades and were in a firefight with some ZAFT soldiers. What little Tyler had seen during his run said ZAFT was making forward progress though they were paying in blood for that. OMNI was being slowly but surely being taken down as they were fighting back. There were only two of OMNI's prototypes in the factory. He assumed that the other three had been moved from the factory. And if ZAFT was here, it was likely that ZAFT had or were in the process of capturing the other three. Tyler began shooting at those near him as he moved from object to object for cover from gunfire aimed at him. He was working on getting closer to where the ZAFT group looked to be. Ending the fighting without more lives being lost may be impossible, but Tyler could attempt to remove some of one side from this battle.

Rusty had told the other team members about the plan to draw attention to them in order to give Athrun a chance to make a break for one of the OMNI prototypes. The rest of the team agreed on the idea Rusty brought up. Before the plan could be started the two who had been working their way to get on the sides of OMNI were shot by the remaining enemy. That wouldn't change the decoy plan to give Athrun a chance to get to one of the mobile suits. Rusty had the two comrades with him begin laying down cover fire before he signaled Athrun to go. He then rose up and fired his submachine gun at the OMNI personnel to draw attention to himself and away from Athrun. Athrun took off running toward the suit on the left as Rusty and the rest were being the decoys. Rusty glanced over and saw Athrun reach the enemy machine taking out an enemy along the way. That was all Rusty saw before he felt a burning pain in his right leg.

He docked back down behind the crate he had been using for cover and looked to his leg. Rusty found he had been shot in the leg, though the bullet seemed to have passed through cleanly. The shot to the leg would make him getting to the other suit more difficult even if Athrun used the other to help cover him. A cry to Rusty's left had him glance in that direction to see one of his comrades falling back after being hit by OMNI gunfire. A moment later the one next to him was shot and forced to move back into cover. Rusty could see that things were going bad for what was left of the mission team. The chances of any of them who remained getting back to the ships alive was dimming rapidly, Rusty could see that. While all of them knew the risks of the mission going in, it was a heavier thing to see it when you were in the situation itself.

Back with Tyler, he had closed a good portion of the distance between the door he had come out of and where ZAFT had appeared to be. From what Tyler had been able to gleam from the glances he had managed, the ZAFT soldiers had been stopped from moving forward. One had made a break for one of the OMNI prototypes, though Tyler couldn't say if they had made it or not. He had ducked behind a crate when he heard cries from where ZAFT had appeared to be. That said some had fallen, whether they were dead or not was of little consequence at the moment. Tyler slid to the closer side of the crate and saw evidence that at least one ZAFT soldier was behind the neighboring crate. Whether that soldier was dead or not, Tyler couldn't say with what he could see or hear. The best way for Tyler to check would be to go and check with his own eyes. Yet, that would put his life at direct risk and Tyler wasn't inclined to do that if he could avoid it. However, with things as they were, Tyler went with his instincts and rushed around the crate to where the ZAFT soldier was.

Rusty was trying to think about what he could potentially do to get to the last machine without being killed. Nothing he had come to mind was giving Rusty confidence as most would be essentially suicidal. Yet, should he do nothing, OMNI would end out killing him. But before Rusty could do anything, he felt something grab his right shoulder and pull. The next split second, there was the sound of metal clattering close by where Rusty was. He blinked as he recognized a grenade bouncing close by. Then Rusty was jerked around a corner and a split second later there was a loud bang of the grenade going off. Rusty breathed hard as he realized just how close he'd just come to being killed. If he hadn't been pulled away and jerked around another object, then he would have been killed by the grenade's shrapnel.

Rusty glanced to his right and found there was someone right beside him. The guy looked to be a tad older than Rusty was himself. His body was lean to the point that he was close to lanky overall. He had green eyes and spiky tan locks of hair that stuck out in random directions. Tyler was wearing a sand-colored T-shirt with a white vest over the shirt with casual black pants. The guy's face looked dirty which stood out with him breathing just as hard as Rusty was. Rusty had never seen the guy before this and had no idea who they were. Yet, they had saved his life just now, which just confused Rusty as it didn't make sense. "What the," Rusty muttered, "Who are you and why did you just save me?"

Tyler was breathing hard with dragging the ZAFT soldier away from where they had been to behind the crate they were using for cover now. The bang that had been heard a moment ago said the metal bouncing sound had been a grenade landing in that area. Had Tyler not pulled the ZAFT soldier hard, he and Tyler would be injured if not dead as well. With how close Tyler had just been to being killed, the ZAFT soldier better be fudging grateful for his life being saved. If they weren't, Tyler would be tempted to toss them out to OMNI and let them work the fight out on their own. The whole attack on the colony shouldn't be happening and was making Tyler's day and joy a real nightmare. And it was feeding the irritation that was growing and heading toward a boiling point. Tyler glanced over at the ZAFT soldier, managing to keep himself from glaring at the guy. "You know, a thanks for saving you would be nice," Tyler began in an even tone. "I did just put my life on the line to save yours."

Rusty hadn't meant to seem ungrateful to believe or say to the one who had just saved him shouldn't have done that. But those in the factory had all been OMNI or ZAFT, and Rusty didn't recognize the guy. So, Rusty was left to wonder if the guy was working with OMNI in some way. Those who worked for Morgenröte had all likely run away. The few non-OMNI personnel that Rusty had glimpsed when coming in had run for shelters. Thus, the person next to Rusty now was either crazy or working with OMNI, those were the two explanations that he could come up with. Rusty was grateful that he was alive right now, but he couldn't say if his savior had done so with good intentions. "I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but who are you? And are you working with OMNI? If you aren't then you crazy with what is going on around here."

Tyler wasn't much in the mood for answering a lot of questions with OMNI shooting in their direction. He was reminded of that as bullets began striking the crate they were using for cover right now. Time could be made for answers later when they were not under attack by idiots that were panicking and desperate. "My name is Tyler McGregor," Tyler began. "And no, I'm not with OMNI, that's more an insult at the moment with them shooting at us. I'm a Federation agent if you must know." Tyler had to hold back the glare that wanted to come to his face at the circumstances he was being forced to work in. "And frankly, OMNI was already making my job difficult but you from ZAFT have made it into a freaking nightmare."

Rusty blinked at this Mr. McGregor saying he was an agent of the Federation, likely its military. The chances of an agent or soldier from the Federation's Military being around the colony at this point was supposed to be low. Commander Creuset had assured those involved the Federation was unlikely to interfere if the team was efficient with using their time. But apparently, the "low chance" had come up even when the commander had said it wouldn't. The last line also made Rusty wonder several things. For a Federation agent to be around Heliopolis strongly suggested that the Federation at least had an idea what OMNI was doing within the colony. It was just as likely that the Federation had been working on curtailing/stopping OMNI with them producing working mobile suits. The mission could've made things worse and helped OMNI for all Rusty knew.

Tyler frowned angrily as bullets continued to strike the crate. His pistol wasn't going to be enough in this to get OMNI to back off for a long enough moment to move. He glanced over at the ZAFT pilot and saw they still had their submachine gun. That would be more helpful against the OMNI personnel that weren't reasonable anymore. The ZAFT pilot also seemed to have been hit in one of their legs which needed to be wrapped up before moving. "It is in both our interests to cooperate with each other to give us the best chance to live to see another day." Tyler pinned Rusty with his gaze, "Wouldn't you agree?"

Rusty wasn't going to argue the point that cooperation would be a good idea. Current circumstances were really bad for Rusty as he had no allies to help him right now since his comrades had been killed. There was crashing in the space which got Tyler and Rusty to glance around the crate. The final two OMNI machines were getting up from the docks they had been in. With that being the case, Rusty was truly on his own as Athrun wouldn't be able to do much to help him at this point. Plus, Rusty couldn't get to his target anymore since it was likely under the control of an OMNI soldier now. What remained of OMNI would keep pushing until Rusty was killed. Even if Rusty managed to dispatch all the enemies, he had no way back to either the Gamow or the Vesalius. Thus, cooperating with this Federation agent was literally the only option that Rusty had which would give him a chance to live through this mission. So, Rusty nodded, "Yes, cooperation sounds like a very good idea to me. My name is Rusty Mackenzie."

Now that Tyler had the agreement for cooperation from the ZAFT pilot Rusty, that did help if only slightly. Tyler could give out suggestions and Rusty would unlikely argue about it. There wasn't the time to debate what was the best option to go with to survive. So, Tyler dug around in his backpack and brought out bandaging material and held it out. "Give me your gun and an extra clip so I can use it to get the OMNI idiots to back off," Tyler ordered. "While I push them back, wrap up your leg so you don't bleed out. We'll move once I get some breathing room for us to work with." Rusty handed his submachine gun over and took the roll of bandages from Tyler. He also grabbed one of the two remaining clips he had for his gun and also gave them to Tyler. Then Rusty turned his attention to wrapping up the bullet wound in his right leg.

Tyler took the sub machine gun and checked the current clip in the gun to see what he had to work with. The clip was full, so he had two full clips to work with to get those OMNI personnel that were still alive. Tyler stood up and glanced around the corner of the crate to get a general idea where his targets were. He whipped back around a second later as the rain of bullets came at the crate again. Tyler waited for the storm of bullets to lessen if not end for a moment so he could return fire. That opportunity came a long moment later and Tyler didn't let it go to waste. He came out of cover and took aim and began tactically taken out the remaining OMNI soldiers left in the factory. It took two lulls of bullets from OMNI for Tyler to take out those left that had been shooting in his and Rusty's direction, but he had managed it with one clip off the submachine gun.

Rusty had wrapped up the wound from the shot to his leg. The bandages would stem the bleeding and would let Rusty use the leg enough to move wherever McGregor had in mind. Rusty had then watched the guy use his gun to take out the remaining OMNI soldiers. He couldn't help but be impressed at how efficient this Tyler McGregor was. He only needed one clip to take out all those shooting at them. Rusty doubted he could've done that with the same opportunity unless he had gotten really lucky. It was clear that McGregor was no stranger or even an amateur with using a submachine gun in combat. The accuracy he had was as impressive as it was frightening to Rusty. The guy may have said he was an agent of the Federation, but Rusty was starting to suspect they were more a non-average soldier if not some special type of soldier.

Tyler was going to turn back to Rusty, but before he did there was crashing sounds accompanied with shaking of the immediate area. Tyler glanced at the far factory wall and wasn't pleased to see it had collapsed after the OMNI machines had left. The collapsed wall would complicate any exit from the factory interior for Tyler and Rusty. It essentially left the one option of using one of the two if not both of the mobile suits that Tyler had seen before jumping into the messy the factory interior had been. But with Rusty having an injury with his leg, piloting for him would be harder and things were already bad enough right now. Tyler turned to Rusty slowly, "Well with the wall now collapsed, that makes exiting this place more complicated," Tyler remarked. "I do have one idea of how we can leave, though I had hoped to avoid resorting to it. But with things as they are right now, we can't complain much on the options we have right now." Tyler held out a hand to Rusty, "So, let's get going before things somehow get worse."

Rusty took the hand offered and was pulled up from the floor. Tyler led the way from the crate they had been using for cover along the back wall of the factory. Rusty was glancing around and saw what Tyler had been referring to with the wall collapsed. There was plenty of debris that was now piled up where the wall had been. And it sounded like there wasn't another way out of the factory anymore. The way that ZAFT had used to get in had been blocked by catwalks coming down. Rusty didn't know if there was any other way out of the factory. However, apparently, McGregor knew of a means to get out though it sounded like it would probably be messy. The factory structure was already compromised enough that it could all come down if more damage was done to it. Rusty was led to what appeared to be a door to a further room from the factory floor. He couldn't say what was potentially back there, but hopefully it could get them out of the place.

Meanwhile, Kira and Lacus had been following the girl that had been inside Professor Kato's office. They had been doing so just before the warning had been broadcasted from the Colony operators about the colony being under attack. Of course, they had wondered where Tyler had disappeared to, but after the alarms had started going off and the shaking, their worries about Tyler had been pushed to the back burner. Following the girl had led them to what appeared to be some sort of factory within the Morgenröte complex. The sound of fighting going on had put the two on edge but, the girl seemed somewhat oblivious to what was going on down below. All the girl had been doing was looking down at the floor below at the mobile suits that were in docks. By the time Kira and Lacus reached the girl she had sunk to her knees, "I knew it, the Alliance's prototype mobile suits." The girl began crying, "Father, you've condemned us all!"

Lacus went up and put a hand on the girl's shoulder while Kira went to the railing. Kira scanned the floor below and saw the fighting he had been hearing was bad. There seemed to be two sides, one around the mobile suits and the other pushing against them from Kira's left. He didn't want Lacus to be in danger from whatever was going on. Thus, he spun back to the girls and sprinted to them, grabbing both. "Crying won't help you! Come on now, run," he shouted. "We need to get to a shelter as fast as we can! If we don't, we will get hurt or killed!"

Kira was pulling both girls toward the elevators which led down to the shelter on this side of the district. If they could get to the shelters, they should be okay and get through whatever was going on. Kira was starting to have some home when he saw the elevators ahead of him. The group came to a stop at the three lifts before Kira tapped the button for the lift. A voice spoke up asking if there was someone out there. Kira replied there was three of them trying to get into a shelter and to safety. He was a tad disappointed when he was told the shelter was essentially full. Kira then asked if there was at least room for one person as that would be better than nothing. Kira and Lacus could keep searching for a shelter they could get to after getting the girl to safety. He was happy to hear that the shelter could take on one more person. Kira then shoved the girl into the lift and assured her that Lacus and he would go to the other side of the district to the shelter there.

Kira and Lacus turned and began heading back the way they had come. However, when Kira glanced to his left, something caught his attention and brought him to a stop. Lacus slowed down when she noticed that Kira wasn't with her. She glanced back and saw him looking at something below them. Lacus went over to where Kira was and glanced in the same direction. She was somewhat shocked to see Tyler at a door on the left wall. Finding Tyler around here was odd since Tyler had disappeared from the professor's lab without a trace. Lacus quickly followed Kira as he headed for the nearby stairwell to the floor below. She hoped that whatever they were about to get into would end out okay. Things hadn't gone according to the plan she had been hoping for coming to Heliopolis.

Back with Tyler, he had gotten Rusty to enter the back work floor, making sure to cover him if Tyler had missed any OMNI soldiers. Once Rusty was inside, Tyler followed and hit the controls for the main set of lights to come on. Tyler didn't like that they would have to resort to using one of the mobile suits. Yet, there was no other viable option that Tyler could think of to get out of the factory alive right now. And with Rusty working with a wound in his leg, it was best for Tyler to take the driver seat in the suit. He didn't doubt that Rusty was a fair pilot, but things were bad enough that mitigating any risks possible was beyond wise. Out of the two machines, Tyler was leaning toward using the non-Orb looking one.

Rusty blinked when the lights came on for the room. It appeared to be a work floor much like the one they had just left, merely smaller. What drew his attention were the two mobile suits at the back of the room. The data from the mission brief had stated OMNI had created five prototypes, and so far the data had been close to one-hundred percent right. Yet, in front of him now, was two more mobile suits that there had been nothing in the data about. That could mean there could've been more off with the data the commander had given. It was even more possible with the Federation having agents at the colony. It was making the doubts that Rusty had which he'd shared with Athrun and Nicol come back to his mind. "OMNI had two more prototypes the data didn't mention," he questioned. "If they did, why weren't they getting them ready?"

Tyler was more sure now that OMNI wasn't responsible for the design and construction of the two mobile suits in front of him. He felt that Morgenröte were the ones that had been working on these two and keeping them secret from OMNI. However, the mention of "data" from Rusty had Tyler extremely curious where ZAFT could've gotten information on what OMNI had been doing. Tyler may not appreciate or like what OMNI had been doing around the colony, but he had to admit they had been keeping things very tight so there was little to no leaks of information. And ZAFT observing Alliance ships coming to the colony regularly wouldn't be enough to have any to approve a mission like had been done. "Honestly, I don't believe those two are OMNI's, more Morgenröte's work if I were to make an educated guess," Tyler replied. "But what data are you referring to? Where did it come from if I could ask? And I don't care what specific part of a department could've gotten the data you are talking about. I just want to know what the data was and where your mission commander said it came from."

Rusty was starting to wonder if the commander had said was the truth with how things were going. Commander Creuset had said the data the team had seen had come from ZAFT intelligence. Yet, Rusty was starting to think that wasn't the truth. He had a friend in the intelligence department, and Rusty intended to inquire about what the commander had shown to the team and if agents had really acquired it. With what OMNI had in the colony, it seemed that they had been keeping a tight handle on things so leaks would be much less likely. That also fed the doubts Rusty had about the mission into the colony. Thus, he hesitated, "The data was images of some of OMNI's prototypes and that there were five of them. Our mission commander said the data was acquired by ZAFT intelligence agents. But I'm starting to think that isn't true with some of what I've seen while inside the colony."

Tyler was getting seriously suspicious that there was more going on than before. The data being on OMNI's mobile suit prototypes was beyond odd as that part of their project had been a "better" kept secret on their part. That then suggested the possibility there was a double agent between OMNI and ZAFT. There had been rumors that could be the case, but no evidence that was a real possibility that Tyler knew of. None of the information Rusty had given Tyler made a difference with the current circumstances, but he would be passing it along to Federation High Command. "That certainly is concerning, but not relevant for our current circumstances," Tyler stated. Tyler then pointed to the machine on the left, "So, let's get into that machine's cockpit and go on from there, shall we?"

Rusty paused for a moment at the suggestion. There were two mobile suits in the room, and two of them. They could each take a mobile suit to work with to leave the factory. It was logically a better idea to have two working on a task than one most of the time. "There are two mobile suits," Rusty commented. "Wouldn't it be smarter for us to each take one to leave the factory? We don't know what we will potentially face when outside of the factory."

Tyler knew the logic and normally wouldn't disagree with the point. However, with things as unstable as they were, it was better to have less variables to work with. Rusty was injured and that could hamper his responses while piloting. That could in turn get him killed making Tyler's efforts to save him wasted. So, he shook his head, "No, not in this case," Tyler answered. "I would normally agree with you, but with things as crazy as they are right now, we need less variables rather than more. Your injury could slow you down or hamper you while piloting. That could in turn get you killed. I would rather my efforts to save you wasted and I would rather that not happen thanks. I will be doing the piloting for the two of us and do my damnest to make sure we both live to see another day."

It sounded like McGregor wasn't going to entertain argument to his plan to Rusty. If he was as good a pilot as he was with shooting, then Rusty wasn't against him doing the point. Rusty knew he should keep strenuous activity to a minimum with his wound not stitched shut. Thus, it was better that Rusty does not pilot a mobile suit for the time being. He had trusted McGregor with his life so far, and Rusty was still alive because of that. There was no reason to believe that would change in the immediate future. So, Rusty nodded and moved forward toward the mobile suit that Tyler had pointed at. Tyler followed Rusty to the mobile suit and did what he could to help him up the dock framework to reach the cockpit entry. The two found the cockpit was open which was helpful for the two of them. Tyler helped Rusty lower himself into the cockpit before Rusty moved behind the pilot seat.

O nce inside, Tyler took the time to adjust himself into the pilot seat. He glanced back at Rusty with an expression asking if he was good where he was currently. Rusty gave him a nod before Tyler faced forward and buckled the seat restraints and tightened them. Tyler wasn't kidding himself that what was ahead would be anything but smooth. Then Tyler took a moment to scan around the cockpit to take in the controls and their positions. He noticed that the layout wasn't terrible different than a Federation space fighter. Throttle controls and movement joysticks were about where Tyler was used to having them. The switch to close the hatch was in the same position as it would be in a Federation space fighter to his slight surprise. OMNI had never seen the inside of a Federation cockpit as far as Tyler was aware, so it had to be a fluke they made something similar.

Tyler flicked the switch for the hatch, and it closed and sealed shut before a light above him came on and gave some visibility to work by. Yet, Tyler and Rusty were caught by surprise when two screens moved from the left and right to cover the space forward of where the pilot seat was. The two screens came together and became one display screen and were the forward optical display. The idea was different than what OMNI had used by what Tyler understood. They had the forward screen fold up out of the way when not being used and so he'd expected that with this machine. Rusty was also surprised with the screens shifting and making the forward display. That wasn't what the data the mission depended on had said about the OMNI prototypes. Honestly, what Rusty just saw seemed more efficient in his mind to have than folding up a screen up or down.

Tyler focused back on getting the mobile suit up and running so they could leave the factory. The place was still standing, but with the beating it had taken thus far, it was questionable if it would stay standing for a great deal longer. So, the sooner they got out of the factory the better Tyler would feel about their chances of living longer. With that in mind, Tyler pushed a couple of buttons to have the OS begin to boot up run through a system check. The process had a message come up on the screen as well:

MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM

/Version NV8 - N099/

General

Unilateral

Neuro - Link

Dispersive Autonomic

Maneuver

G.U.N.D.A.M Synthesis System

O.M.N.I. Enforcer

Looking over the screens in the cockpit, Tyler spotted the designation for this suit which was "OIS-X209 Shadow." Rusty didn't miss the boot up message any more than Tyler had. It was the first look he had gotten at the operating system that the practice simulations was supposed to emulate. The message was similar, but not the exact same as the simulations had worked with. McGregor had said that Morgenröte was responsible for this machine and the one in the neighboring dock, and Rusty was inclined to believe that. But the boot up message did say Morgenröte had either copied the OS or OMNI may have had something to do with the suit.

A fter the boot-up process finished, the overall system functions and tasks list came up on the front display for Tyler and Rusty to see. For a moment, all both could do was stare at what was on the display, Tyler with growing incredulity at what he was seeing, Rusty with a somewhat sick feeling. The system in the simulations had been bad, Rusty wouldn't deny that, more a real pain to fix to any extent. However, what Rusty was seeing was worse than what the simulations had given, which he hadn't thought possible. It just showed that desperation didn't always pay off and in this case OMNI was really pinning their hopes on something that was not going to work very well without serious work. It would take five minutes likely more for Rusty to sort out the mess the operating system was in and make it functional at all.

On the other hand, Tyler was going between anger and sheer exasperation with what he was seeing. The operating system was a piece of garbage and that was putting it extremely nicely. That it booted up in the first place was sort of impressive with just how disjointed and messy the system was. Yet, Tyler was angry if not furious with seeing pieces of his own work in this system. Sure, it confirmed that Kato had been working on OMNI's natural-use OS as Tyler expected. However, if Tyler had been fully aware of what Kato was having Tyler and Kira doing, Tyler would've put his foot down and made the man stop bothering them months ago. What was worse, the system as far as Tyler could tell was a jumble mess of pieces smashed together. So, irked was Tyler that he couldn't' stop himself from vocalizing his thoughts, "What the hell is this?! I knew OMNI would be working with junk, but this is beyond ridiculous! And should I ever see that man again, I will be slapping him so hard that he will have headaches for weeks!"

Rusty wouldn't disagree with Tyler's exclamation about the system being muck and beyond ridiculous for it was. Yet, the last line implied there was more to the point than the system just being junk. Tyler seemed familiar with at least parts of the system with his angry tones. Rusty couldn't say how Tyler could possibly know any of the system. He didn't seem the type that would know about operating systems from what Rusty had seen thus far. "What are you talking about," Rusty asked. "You appear somewhat familiar with the operating system, correct me should I be wrong."

Tyler didn't want to get into what he'd dealt with when it came to Kato, there wasn't the time for that conversation. Also, there was no reason to get into the matter as it was more a personnel one foot Tyler. Tyler had seen the signs that Kato had been getting desperate with his project. Yet that was no excuse for the man to use Tyler and Kira's work for something they weren't aware of and definitely not a contribution to the war without their permission. Even if Tyler recognized some of the pieces of the system, it was a mess that Tyler now needed to do something with. "Forgive my outburst," Tyler remarked. "I am familiar with some pieces of this operating system. It is work a friend and I were essentially forced to help with as the man wouldn't take no for an answer. I didn't know this was the real project the man was working on since he never mentioned the point." Tyler glanced around to see what he could work with to get the operating system into something that would function and make the suit usable. He spotted a keyboard to his right stored by Rusty which would be a tool that Tyler could use. "If you would shift the keyboard forward Rusty and give me a few minutes, I'll see what I can do with this mess."

Rusty didn't question what Tyler said but did as he said and shifted the keyboard forward to active position. He was curious just what Tyler could do with the mess that was the suit's operating system. While the simulations that had been used for practice before the mission made the general mess that Rusty was seeing doable, it would still be a time-consuming task. Rusty watched as Tyler brought up several parts of the system and glanced them over. And what Rusty viewed only showed the system's state was horrendous and that was still putting it mildly. It really appeared that random pieces of different operating systems had been slapped together hoping it would run. If Rusty was required to make the system work to a minimal extent, then he would need more than five minutes to make good progress.

Tyler exhaled heavily before returning to the main system menu. He had figured things would be a nasty mess at seeing some of his work in the operating system. Sadly, Kira and his work were the more sensible and clean pieces of the system. The rest of the garbage system was a mix of OMNI and Morgenröte programming from what Tyler could tell. While Tyler should be able to get the system going towards something that would work, it would take his system skills that had gotten him into SOLAS. Getting OMNI stuff to cooperate and work with other systems was a serious chore from Tyler's experience. This system was a good example of OMNI work. It was supposed to be to operate a complex machine. However, in reality, the OS the suit had would more screw the pilot inside than help them.

Instead, Tyler went to the command input section as that seemed the best place to do what he could to get this mess usable. Tyler began typing and muttering to himself as he got down to work. "As tempting as it would be to rip this all out and rewrite it from the ground up, there isn't the time. We need to get moving asap and this mess is hindering us from doing that. I guess I can start with the targeting calibrations and work on connecting things from there. Reset calibrations to the zero moment point and CPG and make it so they'll dynamically adjust from there in sync with the OCL."

Rusty could only stare as Tyler was typing on the keyboard and was modifying the operating system. The speed he was typing was higher than average and faster than Rusty had seen most be able to do and be accurate with what they were typing. Tyler continued to type furiously and kept muttering as he did so, "Connect the control interface unit to the magna-ion pump to help streamline controls input to system command execution." Rusty was having to work to keep up with what Tyler was doing with his modifications. He was changing the system so quickly, essentially cleaning up and correcting what OMNI or whoever had created it had put together. "Now, let me reconstruct the neural linkage network and update the meta-active field for stabilization and feed forward controls to convey functions."

Rusty had watched the others while they had done the practice simulations which had been neat to view. But what he was observing right now out did any of the interest or respect Rusty had back at those times. Tyler was not just showing up the ZAFT reds that had been assigned to the mission team, himself included, he was doing more than that. Rusty had thought Nicol's simulation times were impressive and had been the best of the team's members. Yet, Tyler was really beating those times and making Nicol look sluggish and not that good. Rusty couldn't help but be impressed with what he was seeing with Tyler working on the system as he continued to mutter. "With the neural network decent, let's adjust the Coriolis deviation and connect to the motion routines to maintain smooth movement response. Set energy output to a flow rate starting at 45 to 50% to adjust from there."

The speed that Tyler was modifying the system and bringing it together was sort of blowing Rusty's mind. Watching the idea was making the practice simulations look like child's play in comparison. If some said Tyler McGregor was some sort of system wiz, Rusty wouldn't question it in the slightest and fully agree with the point. Rusty didn't think he could do as good as Tyler nor do the changes as fast as he was. Should Federation agents all be this skilled, Rusty didn't know if ZAFT could afford to potentially take on the Federation's Military and hope to win against them. "That should do it for the moment," Tyler stated with finality. "Applying system updates and restarting the main system so we can get moving."

It took a moment for the OS to fully reboot with the work Tyler had done. Tyler was relieved to see the operating system running better and smoother when it came back up. Now the system should make using the mobile suit a viable option to get Tyler and Rusty out of the factory and live for another day. Tyler shifted the keyboard back and Rusty moved it back to its stored position. Tyler then grabbed the right control stick, the left throttle and put his feet on the actuator plates. He felt that while using a mobile suit would get Rusty and him out of the mess the factory had been, things were far from being finished in this crapshoot.

Meanwhile, Kira and Lacus had reached the factory floor with the stairwell from the catwalks. The two had followed Tyler to the door he had gone through when they had seen him from the upper level. The door had been opened and the room ahead was lit to a degree though not brightly. When the two entered the room, they found it was a smaller workspace which contained two mobile suits on the other side. Kira quickly spotted Tyler at the top of the dock for the mobile suit on the left. Kira and Lacus moved forward, but both saw Tyler drop into the cockpit of the machine he was over. The two reached the docks when they heard the sound of the cockpit closing on the left mobile suit.

Kira glanced to his right at the other mobile suit that was in the neighboring dock. He and Lacus should be heading for a shelter to get away from the danger going on. But the path to an open shelter was unlikely unavailable if Kira was honest. He didn't like the implications of a mobile suit being in front of Lacus and him. It felt like he was being pushed to get into the machine and use it for what was ahead. Kira didn't want Lacus to be in danger if it could be avoided. So, he was hesitating about what to do in this. Kira was no soldier any more than Tyler was, they were college students for goodness sakes. ZAFT shouldn't be doing what they were to begin with, and yet here they were in the current circumstances.

Lacus could see the signs of Kira hesitating with the situation as it was. He wanted to protect her, which was sweet of him to wish to do. But with the factory structure as it was, staying around it wasn't a wise option for them to go with. Getting to a colony shelter was all but an impossibility by this point and Lacus knew it. The second mobile suit in front of them was unfortunately the most viable option to work with. Lacus knew Kira's good heart wouldn't have him wanting to kill others, nor should he be expected to do so. But to get to safety, the mobile suit would do that for them. So, Lacus came up by Kira and grabbed an arm, "Kira," she whispered, "We can't stay here."

Kira glanced at Lacus before looking back at the gray machine in front of them. She had a point, they couldn't stay around the factory with the state it was in. They were out of other options other than to use the mobile suit to leave the factory safely. As much as Kira disliked violence, he didn't want to see Lacus hurt more than his aversion. With that in mind, Kira came to the decision of getting Lacus into the mobile suit and using it to get them out. However, before Kira could tell Lacus that, there was a hum from their left. The two turned to their left and saw the other mobile suit's eyes flash before it began to move. Kira sighed and looked back at Lacus, "We don't have much of a choice at this point," he said softly as much to himself as to her. "Come on Lacus, we need to get out of here quickly before either of us get hurt."

Lacus could see that Kira had come to his decision and would see it through regardless of where it would lead. Yet, she was also worried that Tyler may go out and end out in a dangerous position that could get him hurt or killed. Tyler was the kind of individual who would do what he could to help even when it put his life at risk. Lacus didn't like and wasn't comfortable with Tyler potentially putting his life on the line alone. Kira and she could help Tyler and make sure he came back to them and the rest of their friends. Lacus nodded, "And Tye may need help," she agreed. "He is trying to help stop the fighting to prevent people from getting hurt, that's how he is." Kira knew Lacus was right about Tyler. He was the type of person that would go out of his way to help others. And with the colony in the situation it was, Tyler wouldn't be idle, he wouldn't be able to do that and live with himself. So, Kira pulled Lacus toward the dock scaffolding and began assisting her getting up to where the cockpit entrance should be.

Back in the Shadow's cockpit, the surrounding displays came up with the operating system up and running. That gave Tyler a panoramic view of the outside of the machine. The unit's hydraulics hummed into life before Tyler began pushing the controls forward waiting for the expected response. There came a screeching of metal being twisted and forced out of position as the dock scaffolding was pushed out of the way. The machine began rising and the orientation of the cockpit began to change to keep Rusty and him facing forward as the machine moved to a sitting position. Power cables ejected from the port on the back of the suit and got of the way as Tyler kept the Shadow shifting its position. The Shadow shortly got to its feet and stepped clear of the dock.

Tyler felt that what was ahead would be difficult for him to deal with, so it would be best to have what options he could to utilize. So, he the Shadow bent down and grabbed the rifle that had been nearby. One of the displays showed the rifle could be attached to the right hip skirt of the suit for storage purposes. Tyler wouldn't say no to that, so he had the holster part of the hip skirt expand to ready itself to hold the rifle. He put the rifle in the holster and the locking mechanism activated holding the rifle to the hip skirt. Tyler took a quick moment to glance over his offensive options he could very well depend on outside. There was the rifle of course, but there were other weapons Tyler could use if needed. The railgun in the shield would be just about perfect to make a path through the debris in the factory wall.

Tyler had the Shadow move forward toward the bay door that was closed. The shield also had a "beam saber" which if it worked as OMNI said the weapon should, would get through the door without an issue. He approached the door and activated the shield's beam saber, swinging upward to cut a line in the left side. The next swing was a horizontal one higher up on the door. The final slice was on the right door to complete the "mobile suit" sized hole in the door for the Shadow to move to the main factory floor. Tyler had the Shadow's right hand punch the door where he had cut it. There was a whine as the metal fell away leaving the desired space for the Shadow to move through.

The Shadow stepped out to the mess that was the factory's main work floor. Tyler had the suit face the pile of debris that blocked the way out of the structure. Tyler smirked a bit, "As the old adage goes, when you don't have a door, make your own." He brought up the Shadow's shield and aimed the railgun at the pile of debris. Tyler pulled the trigger and there was notable recoil from the railgun's discharge. The shot from the railgun surged out and slammed into the pile of debris. The debris was sent forward from the railgun round revealing daylight and making a path for the Shadow to leave the factory. Tyler had the Shadow quickly move forward to the path in case it would collapse soon.

Back with Kira, he had gotten Lacus into the cockpit of the other mobile suit. He had view the suit Tyler was in rise from its dock before he had lowered himself into the other suit's cockpit. Kira adjusted himself in the pilot seat of the machine and buckled himself into it with the restraints. He then had the suit activate its operating system to see what he had to work with. What came up on the closest display wasn't encouraging to Kira. Honestly, he was flabbergasted at what he was glancing over to be frank. He quickly recognizes portions of it to be Tyler and his own work on Kato's special project. Sure, he and Tyler had suggested Kato could be working on an operating system. But Kira hadn't imagined that system could be intended for a mobile suit or any machine that complex.

While parts of the system were familiar, the overall problem with what Kira was seeing happened to be the system was essentially in fragments and messy ones at that. The system had little to no system of organization that Kira could see other than general functions the suit should have. The system overall wouldn't work smoothly or efficiently as it was right now, that much was obvious to Kira. If he was to have any real chance to use this mobile suit to get him and Lacus out of the factory, he would need to do work on it to make it functional. That would take time which was in short supply right now. Yet, there was nothing else which could be done that Kira could think of. Kira glanced around the cockpit and found a keyboard to his right. He shifted it down for him to use and went to the command input the operating system had since that would be the easiest place to get the needed work done.

Lacus watched as Kira began working on the machine's operating system. She had been working on learning basic programming skills in her spare time with her singing career. So, she understood some of what Kira was doing with the operating system. However, she couldn't keep up with the changes he was making at the speed he was typing. She was left to wonder if Kira had seen any of the operating system before as he seemed a little familiar with it. Lacus made a note to herself to ask Kira later about that. She didn't want to bother him while he was working to get the mobile suit working so they could leave the factory.

It took a few minutes but Kira to make the needed changes to get the OS usable. The mess the system had been had given Kira a slight headache with how dumb it had been. Kira had the operating system reboot and applied the updates he had made. When the system came back up, it was running better and good enough for Kira to work with for the time being. The machine was designated as the MBF-SA01 Asuka from what he had seen. Kira stored the keyboard and gripped the controls before having the mobile suit get to its feet. The surrounding displays came on showing the room around them. Kira noted the large door ahead of them now had a hole in it looked to have been cut by some sort of blade.

Kira understood the methodology of moving and piloting a mobile suit, for he had been taught the basics years ago. He had even done a simulation or two of the idea and had done very well at it. But knowing how something is supposed to work and actually doing the idea is different. However, Kira had the Asuka step forward toward the hole in the door ahead. The steps of the mobile suit were measured as Kira got a feel for the controls responses. When the Asuka reached the door, there was a boom from the next room over. Kira had the Asuka move forward and caught a glimpse of Tyler's machine running forward toward a path that had daylight on it. Kira had the Asuka quickly follow the Shadow making sure the machine didn't fall forward as it moved. He couldn't say what was ahead, but whatever it would be, he would make sure Lacus was safe to the best of his abilities.

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A/n

Okay, I'll leave off there to pick up in the next phase. Oh boy, there is plenty to talk about with this phase as there are new scenes and a major change that you readers got to see. I know that some readers wanted more details on things with the earlier stuff, so I hope you are liking what I've been putting in. Other than the extended length, let's get to the highlights and explanations that the closing notes are really for with my stories.

Starting with the first scene which is a completely new one from the get-go. In canon, we see little of the Archangel's original crew that don't survive which those who have watched the series know. And if any of you readers haven't watched Gundam Seed, it should be available on Netflix these days if you are interested. Anyways, I wanted to give the original Archangel captain a name and a little screen time when I didn't before. The man will be mentioned in future, just so you know. But the man is similar to Duane Halberton if you want a comparison. While OMNI and the Archangel don't get more crew, I have the captain see one of the explosives for a reason. I wanted there to be some attempt to have people be saved. Sure, most of the crew of the Archangel still died, but that isn't the point right now.

Let's shift to the scene where ZAFT is doing their thing like setting explosives and such. I know in canon, Yzak is the one given the orders and calling the shots. But frankly, he isn't commander material at this point. Honestly, Athrun does a better job in the position if you ask me. I also want to point out that not all on the ZAFT mission team believe the job they are doing is the best idea. Three specifically still have doubts about the mission and its implications.

Next, I want to talk about the scene with the colony controllers. In canon they are killed, and I see that as unnecessary. And Lisa's "story" for being at Heliopolis will be talked about more later, but she interacts with the controllers on a regular basis, so they know her. The warning to the colony does give people more time to get to safety than happens in canon. And with Lisa sending data about what ZAFT is doing to Heliopolis will play a part soon enough and it would go well for them.

Moving to Tyler's part, his path to the factory is quite different than it was before. I figured it would be more interesting for him to see and talk to Locke before his death. Thus, Tyler moves through the docking area to get to the factory sector. The acquisition of the captain's and vice-captain's keys will come into play at a later time. The same can be said with what was said between Tyler and Locke. Locke understood unlike others with ZAFT in the colony, the G-Project was no longer a secret. I also wanted to show there is more than Halberton within OMNI that are genuinely good people.

Now, moving to the biggest change in this Phase and version thus far, Rusty Mackenize not being killed. I have been considering this much in the same way I did with Nicol. And I think this could have the same potential as Nicol has in the store. You will see the plans I will have for Rusty in this version. I think Rusty has so much potential that is missed with canon. I intended to work with that, but I won't spoil the fun that comes later.

In conclusion, I hope you are enjoying the changes. This Gundam series has a special place in my heart as it was my first one. So, I would appreciate some of you to take the time to write a review and tell me what you think of the story or have questions of me.

These are my official custom mobile suit specs that I'll be sticking to throughout the story. I'll try to stay with the same consistent specs, so you can refer to these or my reference material. There is also the poll of whether I should write phases of what comes before this story and the series for you readers to vote in. Peace out until the next Phase!

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Classification:Prototype Stealth and Infiltration Mobile Suit

Model Number:OIS-X209
Official Name: Shadow Gundam - ブリッツガンダム
Head Height:18.63 meters
Weight: 73.5 tons
Power-plant: Ultracompact Energy Battery

Armor Material: Phase Shift armor
Crew:Pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso

GENERAL DATA

Manufacturer:Morgenröte Inc., Teswa Research & Development
First Deployment: January 25, 71 C.E.

Operators:Human Federation
Known Pilots: Tyler McGregor, Lisa Malto, Krystal McAlester, Lacus Clyne

Equipment and Features:

Mirage Colloid stealth system

The Blitz is the first mobile weapon to use the Mirage Colloid stealth system. In this system, a powerful magnetic field is utilized to hold in place microscopic prisms capable of blocking infra-red emission as well as bend visible light and radio waves around an object (e.g.a mobile suit). With the improvements done by the Donnen mechanics, altered heat disbursal from the thrusters and fixing the high consumption rate of energy. Like the Blitz, the Shadow is more vulnerable while the colloid is activated.

Long Range Targeting (L.R.T.) scope

The optical camera has a huge zoom ability which acts like a scope on a long range rifle and is hidden in the right side of the head. In the cockpit, a small screen comes out from behind the pilot seat and sits right in front of the pilot's helmet on the right side.

Phase Shift armor

As with all of the G Project mobile suits, the GAT-X207 Blitz is equipped with Phase Shift armor. When activated, the Blitz's color is changed from a light gray to a bright black scheme with red highlights. Phase Shift armor, when activated, renders the Blitz immune to physical attacks such as bullets, the GINN sword, or against missiles. However, Phase Shift armor continually drains the battery of energy, shortening the mobile suit's combat endurance, and uses up additional energy when it is hit.

Echo Trace Emitter

This system is designed to make the machine equipped disappear from sensors and not show up. As such long-range targeting sensors have a nigh impossible time locking in a unit with the system

Armaments:

"Igelstellung" 75mm Multi-Barreled Anti-Air CIWS

Mounted in the Shadow's upper chest, there are two "Igelstellung" 75mm multi-barrel CIWS guns. These light projectile weapons are used to intercept missiles and to destroy lightly armored vehicles, although it is classified as Anti Air.

Beam Saber

Stored in a compartment that sits over the right hip joint. It is a close-range combat weapon and can slice through any armor that does not have an anti-beam coating.

"Oscillator" 70mm Dual-Barrel Anti-Armor Machine Rifles

Hidden in sleeves on the outsides of the torso, which can flip out to reveal two "Oscillator" 70mm Dual-Barrel Anti-Armor Machine Rifles that are loaded with armor-piercing rounds. These projectile weapons are used to pepper an enemy unit with rapid-fire attacks.

Optional Armaments:

Barrier Shield

An optional piece of equipment designed to increase the Shadow's defensive and offensive capabilities, it is mounted on the left forearm. The shield does not have phase shift armor, so it is not as durable as the Strike's armor, however it also does not drain energy each time it is hit. The shield's major advantage is that it's heavy anti-beam coated and can block or deflect beam weapon attacks, against which phase shift armor is ineffective.

Beam Saber

It is a close-range combat weapon and can slice through any armor that does not have an anti-beam coating. The beam saber is built into the front section of the shield structure and when activated, extends 5' starting at the split at the bottom of the shield.

"Saruan" 80mm railgun

Mounted and built into the barrier shield, this weapon uses electromagnetic forces to launch projectiles at targets.

65mm High-energy Beam Rifle

Shadow's primary ranged combat weapon, it can be stored on the side skirt armor. The beam rifle can easily destroy a ZGMF-1017 GINNwith one shot, but is mostly ineffective against suits with anti-beam coating. It has an additional handle that can shift to the side and is often used for extra stability when the Shadow is firing its rifle rapidly.

"Hallon" Beam Rifle

Attaches onto the back-left side of the Shadow's frame. It's 15 meters in length and made up of two sections. The front one being two thirds of the length, and was the main barrel with side handle and lower handle and trigger. The back third of the cannon, which was the 'butt' of the weapon, has a battery built into it that was used to power the rifle rather than the mobile suit's own battery.

"Titus" Compact Positron Blaster Rifle

One of the two weapons that are build into the "Kale pack", it is similar to the Launcher Strike's powerful "Agni" 320mm hyper impulse beam cannon but uses positron energy like the Archangel's Lohengrin cannon. It is mounted on the right side of the Kale backpack via an arm unit, and held under the right shoulder when in use.

Linear Accelerator Shot Cannon

One of the two weapons that are build into the "Kale pack", it is similar to the Federation's "MAC gun" which Enterprise-class curisers. It is mounted on the left side of the Kale backpack via an arm unit, and held under the left shoulder when in use.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Classification:Prototype General-Purpose Mobile Suit

Model Number:MBF-SA01
Official Name: Asuka Gundam "Astray Frame"
Head Height:17.91 meters
Weight: 83.64 tons
Power-plant: Ultracompact Energy Battery

Armor Material: Phase Shift armor
Crew:Pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso

GENERAL DATA

Manufacturer:Morgenroete Inc.

Developed Into: MBF-M1 M1 Astray
First Deployment: January 25, 71 C.E.

Operators:Human Federation, Orb Union
Known Pilots: Kira Yamato, Cagalli Yula Athha

Equipment and Design Features:

Phase Shift Armor

As with all of theG Projectmobile suits, the GAT-X105 Strike is equipped with phase shift armor. When activated the Strike's color is changed from a light grey to a white scheme with a bit of blue and red mixed in. Phase Shift armor, when activated, renders the Strike immune to physical attacks such as bullets, the GINN sword, or against missiles. However Phase Shift armor continually drains the battery of energy, shortening the mobile suit's combat endurance, and uses up additional energy when it is hit.

Astray Flight System

To increase mobility, the Asuka is fitted with a fixed "flight pack" derived from theGAT-X105 Strike'sAile Striker pack. The flight pack did not provide true flight, but it did increase the suit's overall mobility, and allows it to fly for a short period. A second battery will be installed later in the flight system that also extends the phase shift armor to the flight system

Hardpoint (added later)

Fixed Armament:

"Igelstellung" 75mm Multi-Barrel CIWS

The Igelstellung 75mm multi-barrel Close In Weapon System is a pair of head mounted Vulcan guns. These guns are small-caliber shell firing weapons that are designed to shoot down missiles and lightly armored vehicles but are ineffective against the heavier armor of a mobile suit.

Type 70 Beam Saber

The type 70 beam saber is the standard close quarter weapon for the Asuka, and its equipped with two of them, which are stored on the flight backpack.

Handheld Armament:

Type 71 Beam Rifle

A prototype beam rifle, the type 71 beam rifle is a ranged beam weapon and fires an energy beam that is effective against most targets, such as mobile suits or mobile armor. However, it is less effective against craft that have anti-beam coating.

Shield

As an Astray frame, a physical shield is equipped for defense, it is mounted on the left forearm and/or handheld. This is the same type of shield as used by Strike and Duel suit, so is coded with a layer of anti-beam coating
Anti-ship Sword.

Developed based on the Sword Striker's "Schwert Gewehr" 15.78 meter anti-ship. These swords are shorter and do not possess a beam or laser blade emitter so as reduce energy usage. In the event that a beam blade is needed, the pilot can easily switch to the beam boomerang. When not in used, the swords are stored in sheaths mounted on the bottom of the OE150X IWSP Pack.

155mm Railgun

A pair of 115mm railguns is mounted on the IWSP pack, above the 105mm cannons. Railguns are powerful weapons that use electromagnetism and sliding bars to rapidly accelerate projectiles. Sensors are mounted on each barrel for high precision shooting.

105mm cannons

The IWSP pack includes two 105mm cannons at the front for long range bombardment.

Combined Shield

Although the Combined Shield has defense, range (Gatling machine gun) and melee attack ability (beam boomerang), it also causes the suit's center of gravity to tilt to the left when it is equipped.