A/n

And here is the next phase, they do seem to be coming more regularly, and I hope it can be kept up, but do not promise that. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the Phase.

Phase 7: From One Situation to Another

January 25th, 71C.E.

Morgenröte Docking Area, Heliopolis Interior

Natarle met up with the other surviving non-commissioned officers which had been searching for others like petty officer Neumann had been doing. There was no more point in searching for survivors since there was unlikely any to be found now. Arnold had said that those who had survived had either been on the ship or in the boarding tunnels that they had found. That left them with little military trained personnel and more those who were workers rather than ship crew. Natarle would love to have more of the crew to help them, but that wasn't possible right now. There were more pressing matters looming that needed immediate attention from all of them. The Archangel may appear okay, but that would need to be checked and inspected to assess its actual condition. Should the ship be functional, then more could be done to improve the current circumstances that they all faced. Natarle was willing to go that far before determining what could be done next for those that were still alive of the crew.

When all the non-commissioned officers were with Natarle, she led the way to the nearest boarding tunnel so she and others could get on the Archangel. The sooner they could assess the condition of the Archangel, the sooner she could figure out what their next move should be. Natarle felt that working on the Archangel would provide the best chance for them to piece together what was going on inside the colony. They were still making assumptions about events rather than working with facts. The more they could learn, the better they could respond to the actions of ZAFT. The attack on the dock didn't feel like it had been the main goal of ZAFT in Natarle's mind. Sure, the majority of the crew had been killed by ZAFT's attack, but the ship hadn't been seriously damaged.

Natarle had the nagging feeling that ZAFT's target had been Morgenröte and the G-Weapons. She couldn't say why she had the nagging feeling, but it wouldn't leave her alone. Yet, ZAFT had somehow known OMNI had been working inside the colony when they shouldn't. It strongly suggested that some data on the G-Project had been leaked or stolen. Were that true as Natarle suspected, then the G-Weapons were a more interesting target for ZAFT than the Archangel. If the Archangel was functional, then they could use the communications equipment to see if they could contact any that had been around Morgenröte and the G-Weapons. Natarle knew the chances of getting a radio connection would be slim, more so if ZAFT was still projecting electrical interference.

Natarle's group came onto the Archangel's mid-crew deck from the boarding tunnel. She began heading to the bridge with Arnold following her. The other non-commissioned officers went to check on the mechanics that were already on the ship. Natarle reached the deck lift and entered it with Arnold zooming in before the lift closed and began rising. She turned and faced Arnold, "You said that most of the crew you have come across was dead," she posed to him. Arnold nodded in reply to her question even when he didn't like the answer. Natarle grimaced at the response, "That is unfortunate. Do we know what happened to ZAFT's forces? Their attack was likely not limited to the docking area were I to guess."

Arnold wished he had answers to the questions that Ensign Badgiruel had, for they were valid questions. Most of the ship officers had been confirmed dead by those searching before Natarle had been found. The factory workers that were on the Archangel were under the charge of Chief Murdoch. The man was managing the best he could, though he hadn't been happy from what Arnold had seen. If circumstances around the ship weren't bad enough, they didn't know about anything outside. Ensign Badgiruel had brought up ZAFT, and it reminded Arnold of the thought he had about those around Morgenröte before things had gone bad. Arnold and some of the other non-commissioned officers had tried to access the systems around the dock to figure out what was going on. Yet, none of them had any luck in getting data on what could be happening from what Arnold had been told. "Unfortunately, I can't say," Arnold answered. "Others trying to use the consoles around the dock to try and see if they could learn what was going on. However, none had any luck on gathering viable data to help us know what has happened outside."

Natarle didn't like the answer she got, but she didn't blame Petty Officer Neumann for it. The lift soon reached the ship's command deck and opened. Natarle flew out of the lift and turned to her right and resumed her way to the bridge. The moment she was on the bridge, Natarle moved to the forward stations. She put in a command into the pilot's station which got lights for the bridge to come on. She quickly glanced around and found the bridge appeared to be intact and undamaged. There was wreckage floating outside seen from the forward view port. It made Natarle moderately optimistic that the ship could be functional and perhaps more than that.

N atarle returned her attention to the display in front of her which was loading up the ship's systems check. She watched as systems showed green, yellow and a few red. After a minute, there was mostly green, though there were a few still red, seven to be exact. It was a better result than Natarle had been concerned would be returned from the systems check. The systems that had come back red weren't critical ones, so they could be bypassed for the time being. The display said that the ship should be functional and could be activated and up and running. It was a good thing and Natarle would take what she could get for the moment with circumstances as they were. "The Archangel is quite the ship as her designers stated," Natarle remarked. "She weathered ZAFT's attack against her and didn't flinch or get close to sinking."

Arnold wouldn't disagree with Natarle's assessment of the Archangel. The ship was certainly well designed to have been able to take attacks made against it that ZAFT had thrown at her. However, the ship was stuck in the dock with the wreckage surrounding it. From what a pair had said while they had been searching, the lower dock exit was damaged enough that it wouldn't open. That meant the Archangel couldn't leave the colony through the intended route that had been planned. The only other path that Arnold could think of was forward, but that would lead to the colony interior and would require heavy weapons to manage. "That may be true," Arnold said, "But we are seriously short on personnel right now to effectively run the ship. Also, the way we were going to leave is blocked and the only other way is plugged up with wreckage at the moment."

Natarle shifted to have a hand over a radio control that was nearby. She tapped out a command to have the communication channels scanned. The console went through the scanning process and managed to display it connected to an OMNI channel. Natarle blinked at seeing the "call" said it had connected to the GAT-X105 Strike machine. However, the brief moment of hope that she had faded as static was all that was coming through. "It looks like the airwaves are still jammed," Natarle cursed. It confirmed to her that ZAFT had been aiming for Morgenröte from the beginning rather than the Archangel. "That means the attack on the Archangel was probably a distraction. ZAFT's real target was Morgenröte and the G-Weapons."

Even as Natarle cursed, the static was broken a bit by what sounded like words, "This… 105… rike… respond!" The message was garbled and was hard to comprehend by Natarle and Arnold. Yet, the channel still stated it was connected to the X105 Strike at the moment. It could mean that some around Morgenröte had managed to keep ZAFT from getting it and were reaching out for assistance. However, with the continuing electrical interference likely from ZAFT messing with communications, replying was going to be difficult. It was still something they could work with for the moment and motivate them to do something more. Natarle gritted her teeth, "One of the G-Weapons may still be under our control," she stated. "That is enough motivation to get things going." Natarle turned to Arnold, "Get the other non-commissioned officers up here quickly," she ordered. "We are going to get this ship up and running regardless of what needs to happen for that."

Arnold didn't think arguing with the Ensign would be a good thing right now. It certainly sounded like at least one of the G-Weapons was still under Alliance control. That was better than ZAFT stealing all five of them, for it could mean some around Morgenröte were still alive. So, Arnold moved forward and changed the radio over to the internal communication system the Archangel had. "All non-commissioned officers to the bridge," Arnold announced. "Repeat, all non-commissioned officers to the bridge immediately."

Natarle floated over to the captain's chair and sat down in it. She put in some commands into the controls on the seat. What came back to the small display told her that there was an amount to do to get the ship moving. Some of the normal processes could be bypassed to get the Archangel going, but there were still several things to do. It would take all the remaining non-commissioned crew to get the ship up as efficiently as possible. The ship's computer would assist and be critical to getting the Archangel going even with the crew's help. But complaining about the lack of what had been planned wouldn't help in the current situation, Natarle knew that. It was minutes later that the other three non-commissioned officers came onto the bridge. Natarle twisted around and gazed at the three, "Take what stations you are capable of running," she commanded. "Do what the computer tells you so we can get the Archangel up and functioning. We have potential allies still around Morgenröte. ZAFT could still be attacking and will kill them if we don't act."

Arnold knew the ship may be powerful, but with the less than minimal crew, that power couldn't be used well against enemies. There was barely what could be called a "light skeleton" crew for the bridge right now. The mechanics were working to have the ship ready to move and bypass the damage that had been done. "Ma'am," Arnold started, "While I agree with you about going and assisting allies, we don't have the crew to do that. We barely have what some would call a light skeleton bridge crew. We're in no real position to put up a fight against ZAFT forces."

Natarle was well-aware that Arnold was completely right. The Archangel may be powerful, but the current crew wasn't able to utilize that power effectively. However, they couldn't just sit around in the dock and do nothing with how things stood. "I know that," she snapped. "But there isn't much else we can do at the moment, now is there? Instead of complaining, prepare the assault cannons as we activate the ship. We'll use them to make a path out of the dock and into the colony interior. Now get to it Petty Officer Neumann, there isn't the time to waste!" A moment later, all the crew had taken stations. "Begin the take-off sequence." The others began working to carry out her orders as Natarle continued, "Due to the urgency, we'll omit C-30 to L21 from the process. Bring main power online."

T here was humming as systems began running as the ship started activating. One of those at the stations had systems displaying the status of the ship's primary systems working to come to full operational status. Those primary systems were the main engines power as well as the sub engines power. There was also the fuel flow and levels for the ship's engines. A show of the speed meter for the ship was also in the collection. Then there was a timer for the ship's systems to be at operational status and ready to accept commands. "Output increase stable," the one named Romero Pal stated. "Four-hundred fifty seconds to required energy rating for full activation."

The time for the energy charge for the Archangel's capacitors was too long for Natarle's liking. They had allies in need and ZAFT was possibly still around trying to take them down. If the Archangel could link to the colony's power grid, the charging process could be sped up. However, she couldn't say the state of the conduits that linked the dock to the colony's power grid were. "That time is far too long," Natarle said. "What's the status of the conduits to the colony's power grid. Are they good enough for the ship to connect to and draw power from?"

Jackie Tonomura who was at the co-pilot's station typed in a command to try and get the answer to the Ensign's question. If the Archangel could connect and draw from the colony's power grid that would speed things along. That would be even more true since most of the colony's inhabitants had evacuated by this point so there wasn't much drawing from the grid. To Jackie's relief, the conduits and the links to them appeared to be undamaged from ZAFT's attack on the dock. "They appear to be unharmed," he said. "The link to them also seems to still be responding as well."

Natarle was glad to hear the link to the colony's power grid was still intact and thus usable for the Archangel. Drawing power from the colony's grid would cut the startup time down to something far more reasonable and acceptable. Time was of the essence with every second counting since it could mean life and death for allies. "Then link the ship to those conduits and begin drawing power from the colony's grid," Natarle ordered. "Once the link is established, have the power go to the accumulator."

Romero did as Natarle instructed and had what cables remained connected to the Archangel link to the dock's conduits to the colony's grid. It didn't take long to establish the needed connection and tap into the colony's power grid. The flow of power from the colony surged into the Archangel's capacitors. "Connection to the colony's grid confirmed," Romero called, "Flow looks stable. Twenty seconds to the needed energy levels for full operational state." Twenty seconds was much better than four-hundred and fifty seconds as it had been before to Natarle. Looking ahead, things would already be difficult without adding wait time to the list of problems.

Primary systems were now coming online with the flow of power from the colony's grid. The systems were undergoing checks to make sure they were operating as they were expected to as the ship was going through its activation process. "Life support systems are coming back as operating satisfactory," Jackie stated, "CIC is coming online."

"Weapon systems coming up," Romero called, "FCS contact. Weapon systems going through operational checks." Romero paused for a moment as he watched the six main weapon systems undergoing their checks. The positron blaster cannons were the first to come back as green followed shortly by the 225cm high-energy beam turrets. The next to come up were the 110cm linear guns and the missile launchers. The last to finish their checks was the 75mm CIWS interception system. "All weapon systems pass their checks and are good to go."

Arnold was working with the Archangel's engines and stabilization systems. The gyrostabilizer came on and began to have the ship reorient itself to be level. The magnetic field which helped the stabilizer formed around the ship as the ship leveled out. "Stabilization systems are up and running," Arnold stated. "The ship's magnetic field has formed properly. The helm looks ready to take commands as are the engines." The final non-commissioned officer by the name of Dailda Lolaha Chandra was the next to speak up. "External shock damper has been deployed and is holding steady.

Arnold watched his display come up with the Archangel's network scan check which was one of the final parts of the activation process. He was glad to see the ship's network appear to be fully intact and undamaged. That was helpful for them as it would help with the ship's operation. "All Archangel systems online," Arnold announced. "The network is fully intact and operational. Preparations for takeoff have been completed."

Natarle was relieved that the Archangel had gotten through its activation process. With the damage to the docking area, it hadn't been a sure thing. And that the Archangel was now operational, it could move out and do something to help surviving allies. "Seal all airtight bulkheads," Natarle ordered. "I can't say what we will encounter once we leave the docking area. So, I want all hands ready for battle." She paused and took a deep breath, "Proceed forward slowly, Archangel taking off!" The ship inched forward, gaining speed as it headed toward the exit to the colony. Natarle ordered that the Archangel's "Lohengrin" Positron Blaster Cannons be brought out to their ready position. She also had the power banks that the cannons used began charging to around half capacity. Natarle didn't want the cannons to punch holes in the colony's outer wall by accident.

At the same time, Mu and Krystal had chased after the CGUE that had flown into the colony's port. They had just caught sight of the mobile suit zooming into the colony's central shaft before it vanished. The two mobile armors flew into the shaft with Mu in the lead. He wanted to take Creuset down or force him to retreat before the mad man managed to enter the colony interior if at all possible. The colony would've already suffered from the attack, it didn't need a mad man going around shooting without regard making the damage worse. ZAFT had already made a serious mess with Heliopolis with them going after the G-Project. Mu believed the colony's citizens didn't in any way deserve what had been done by ZAFT. So, the sooner that Creuset was gone, the better it would be for the colony and those inside it. "Krystal, keep your eyes open," he said. "Creuset is leading us on so is a step or more ahead of us."

Mu then spotted the CGUE a short distance ahead of them. But as Mu surged forward, the suit used the shaft's structure to hide and make lining up a shot much harder. He barrel-rolled out of the way as projectiles came in his direction. Mu couldn't help but wonder what Creuset was after with him coming into the colony. Sure, it got him away temporarily from whoever else was outside the colony that had attacked the mad man. Yet, Mu didn't believe for a moment that was the only reason for Creuset ducking into the colony. The masked man was definitely crazy, Mu wouldn't deny that, but he had reasons for what he did. Mu's attention was snapped back to the present when his upper gunbarrel was shot, forcing him to eject its spar and disconnect the wire.

Krystal witnessed Mu take a hit before she could push the CGUE back a bit and stop attacking Mu. However, that then had the enemy machine turn its focus onto her. That required Krystal to do some acrobatics to avoid getting nailed. The task was harder in the confined space of the colony shaft. Krystal was normally more than willing to draw attention off Mu when he got into a bind. But having to hold Le Creuset's attention on her was not like doing the same with a GINN and average ZAFT pilot. As Krystal was evading, an alarm going off in her cockpit told her that one of her gunbarrels had been hit. She glanced down and found it had been her lower gunbarrel. Krystal ejected it from her armor's spar and had the wire disconnect so the barrel didn't do damage to her armor.

Mu saw Creuset attacking Krystal and gritted his teeth. While he appreciated his friend drawing the mad man's attention away from him, Mu wasn't about to let her get killed for him. So, he brought his linear gun to bear on the CGUE and pulled the trigger. The bolts missed as Creuset moved out of the way and began returning fire at Mu. He had his side gunbarrels detached but stayed close to him and had them open fire on the enemy machine. Mu kept up the barrage as he had his armor fly sideways behind shaft structure to avoid the CGUE's assault rifle shots. He was determined to force Creuset to pull back and leave the colony the best he could. Even if that put his life in danger, he owed this to those who had fallen already his best attempt to get ZAFT to leave the colony alone.

Meanwhile, Tyler considered giving more to get his friends to drop the subject, or rather he wanted the OMNI personnel not ask more questions of him right now. There were more important things to see to than a Q session. Tyler's intuition was telling him things were about to take a bad turn, and it was getting close to screaming the point at him. It would be best for the group to get somewhere else as quickly as they could. If they could find cover so they weren't visible from above, it would be all the better in Tyler's opinion. Things had been too quiet for longer than he liked with ZAFT attacking the colony. The sooner that the Federation patrol arrived the less stressed Tyler would be. But he feared he would be busy before that came to pass as much as Tyler preferred, that wouldn't be the case.

However, before Tyler could say more, a beeping from his pocket drew his attention. He took out his com-device and checked the ID it was displaying. The ID said that Lisa was calling him, which didn't fill Tyler with confidence that his intuition was wrong. He would rather his friends and the rest not overhear whatever he may say to Lisa if that could be helped. So, he glanced up and gave a weak smile, "Um excuse me for a moment if you would," he said. Then he moved a distance away so others wouldn't hear whatever he may say. Tyler had the call connect, "This is Tyler, I'm afraid to ask but I will anyway, whatcha ya got?"

Lisa and their teammates had tried to stop the CGUE from going into the colony. However, their efforts hadn't produced the desired results as much as she had hoped. Whoever the pilot was, they were jumpy and cautious when the shots had been sent their way. And them going into the colony's port tied their hands for the moment with what they could do. Space fighters didn't do the best in colony interior environments even if they could work within them. "Tyler, I'm sorry to have bad news for you, things are about to get worse for you," she replied in a worried tone. "We tried to curtail things out here, but it didn't work out as hoped."

Tyler had expected bad news, there was little reason for the call from Lisa to be anything else with circumstances as they were. He didn't like her saying things were about to get worse for him, though he didn't blame her for the point. Tyler needed things to get worse and harder as much as he needed a splitting headache and high blood pressure right now with his current stress levels. "Is there any other kind of news other than the bad kind right now," Tyler questioned rhetorically. "Just give me the crap and let me deal with it the best I can so we all can get this day over and done with please. My mood is already plummeting like a stone with how things are, I doubt there is much that will have it falling faster. And if there is, it will be motivation to make whoever is responsible suffer for what they caused."

Lisa didn't miss the flat tone Tyler had delivered his reply in. That wasn't encouraging as it said Tyler was under pressure and he wasn't liking what he was having to do because of that. The CGUE that was heading Tyler's way wouldn't do anything to improve that, more the opposite. Lisa doubted the two mobile armors that had followed the ZAFT suit into the colony would be all that helpful in the situation. Mobile armors had less capabilities in colonies than space fighters, so they would be hard pressed. Thus, Lisa sighed, "A CGUE suit flew into the dock a moment ago. We were trying to drive it away, but it managed to slip away instead," Lisa remarked. "Two Moebius Zero armors followed it into the port. I fear they won't be of much help to you when it comes to dealing with the CGUE. Watch yourself in there with them coming your way."

Tyler had figured ZAFT would send forces back to the colony with the last OMNI prototype left, the Shadow, and Asuka beating the GINNs. Yet, he hadn't expected a single CGUE to come without any backing it up. That suggested that the pilot was either arrogantly confident or didn't believe the information Athrun should've delivered to ZAFT, perhaps both. At least Lisa was giving him a bit of warning to work with, he was grateful for that. "The warning is appreciated, Lisa," Tyler returned. "I'm not happy with what's coming my way according to you. But I'll scare the ZAFT pilot good enough to get them to run away at the very least. That will help me vent the stress that has been building for me. Keep an eye on things outside and call me back if something serious changes." Tyler ended the call with Lisa and his head lowered a bit, "Whoever is stupid enough to come back after my attempt to get ZAFT less harsh consequences will be made to regret their choice. I will make them flee with fervor with how ticked off I am right now."

Tyler turned and jogged back toward the Shadow. He was focusing on making the ZAFT pilot regret ever coming to the colony. He didn't care that the CGUE likely had a better than average pilot in it. If anything, it would make humiliating and sending them running all the more satisfying. Heck, if they peed their suit before fleeing, Tyler would cackle with glee as he sent them on their way with a barely functioning mobile suit. The fight would be an absolutely opportune time to vent the stress that had been accumulating in him. The jog that Tyler had been doing morphed into a purposeful stride as he began to become excited with whipping the ZAFT pilot. He didn't get to let lose all that often to vent frustration, Tyler normally kept himself in check to not allow that. But he would make an exception in this instance with how irritated and ticked he was with ZAFT and the mess they had created.

All the teens quickly caught sight of Tyler coming back toward the park. They instantly focused on him with a creepy smile on his face and his purposeful striding toward the Shadow. Those in the gang were confused seeing Tyler like this, for they hadn't seen the exact expression he had set on this face before. However, Rusty and Kira were worried at seeing the expression even if for different reasons. Rusty had seen similar expressions from others just before they lost their temper and let loose on others. Yet, it still seemed somewhat controlled which made the point more frightening than someone just losing it. But Rusty couldn't figure out what could've set Tyler off like this even when he racked his brains. If it was a person that had caused this, Rusty felt a tad sorry for them due to what they would likely be receiving.

Kira had been working to get the Strike equipped with the stuff in the trailer. However, he'd heard muttering from his friends and popped out to see what they were talking about. Kira had instantly locked his gaze onto Tyler and froze. He'd seen the expression a select few times before this, and none of those times were ones he remembered fondly. Tyler was more than just unhappy, he was thoroughly ticked off about something. It was rare for Tyler to lose his cool, but he still did on rare occasions, and it could be scary from Kira's experience. His friend's-controlled anger was more focused than someone just losing their temper. And with circumstances as they were, Tyler losing his temper was the last thing Kira would expect. But if something had set Tyler off, then things were likely about to go badly, which was the last thing any needed.

Tyler used the zip line to ascend up to the Shadow's entry hatched and climbed into the cockpit. He strapped himself into the seat and had the hatch close. Tyler's irritation had been gaining strength as he had made his way to the mobile suit. And during that time, several potential plans had been going through his mind. Tyler had dismissed several as either not good enough or not achieving what he was going for by making the ZAFT pilot regret their decision. Yet, he had settled on a fair plan that would humiliate the ZAFT pilot as he wanted and get them to flee the colony. By the time the Shadow's operating system had booted up fully and the forward screens had shifted into place, Tyler was ready to get down to business. Sure, the Shadow's battery wasn't full, but it wasn't running on fumes either, so he had space to work with. Tyler didn't switch on the phase shift armor as others would before having the Shadow turn toward the nearby buildings. He had a different idea in mind to go with which would hopefully scare the living daylights out of his opponent.

Murrue and Holland were directing others to get the Launcher set attached to the Strike. However, they were caused to pause at noise behind them. When they turned, they were surprised to see the unknown machine which appeared similar to the Blitz rising up. As the Shadow turned and took its first steps away from the park, Murrue was reminded of the difference between the unknown mobile suits and the G-Weapons. The "smooth" movement alone that the unknown suit showed was a serious shot at those who had worked on the G-Project for the last two or so years. That had been the goal all had been aiming for, but had fallen short thus far and would continue to work on. Granted, if Morgenröte had constructed the two unknown mobile suits as Murrue suspected, it was possible they had a different operating system in them than the G-Weapons possessed. That didn't make the point much easier to swallow as it said Morgenröte had made a working OS and hadn't shared it with any of the OMNI personnel.

Holland had glanced at the two unknown mobile suits after arriving at the park. He'd been curious about them, but he hadn't heard much about them other than their appearance during ZAFT's attack. Murrue had mentioned the two had shown they had smoother movement in general than any of the G-Weapons had been able to achieve. He felt there would be time later to see if he couldn't get more details on them since there were more pressing matters to see to. However, Holland would question why either of the two unknown mobile suits would be up and moving at this time. There had been no sign of ZAFT forces returning yet that he'd seen. Yet, Holland had a nagging feeling that was about to change for the worse in relation to their group. So, Holland twisted back and told those working on equipping the Strike to hurry things along.

Murrue heard Holland telling the workers to hurry the process equipping the Strike along. She was still watching the Shadow walking away from the park toward nearby structures. Murrue quickly scanned the teens a short distance away in the hopes of figuring out who was in the unknown machine. She counted six teenagers when there should be seven saying one of them had boarded the machine. It was a moment later that Murrue realized the one missing was none other than McGregor. She couldn't come up with a reason why McGregor would board the unknown suit at this time. Yet, she was ripped from her thoughts when a sight caught her eye. The unknown machine began putting off sparkles faintly around itself before it appeared to vanish a moment later. The scene was exactly what Murrue had seen when the X207 Blitz had been undergoing testing, specifically one system it possessed that none of the other G-Weapons had.

The system the Blitz had which Murrue was seeing with the unknown suit was the Mirage Colloid Stealth System. Mirage Colloid was a technology developed in the G-Project that the Alliance and its OMNI hoped to use in the future. It was developed with the intent to perhaps get close to matching the Federation's stealth tech their military used to their advantage. The motivation OMNI had was to potentially get a small leg up on the Federation's military with Mirage Colloid along with other things. The system utilized a powerful magnetic field to hold the special particles in place to make the machine invisible. The particles were microscopic prisms that were capable of blocking infrared emissions and bending light along with radio waves around them.

It was concerning one of the unknown mobile suits to have a Mirage Colloid Stealth System equipped. It meant that those working for Morgenröte had taken that technology from the G-Project and put it in their own work. That point could be potentially dangerous for OMNI and the Alliance. If Morgenröte had taken Mirage Colloid and employed it with a machine they built, then it was just as likely they did the same with other developments from the G-Project. There were several new technologies that the G-Project had created that could be used by enemies against OMNI to great effect. And none of those who had been working around Morgenröte had said there were any hint that parts of the G-Project were taken from them. Morgenröte having the fruits of the G-Project was concerning enough, but there was the risk of the Federation getting ahold of them through Orb.

T here was little time to wonder how the Shadow had vanished from sight as there was the sound of an explosion from above. All in the park looked up to the colony's central support shaft where the explosion occurred. Out of the fire and debris came a silver mobile suit and two mobile armors. Murrue and Holland focused on the silver CGUE in the lead of the group that had entered the colony interior. Having any ZAFT mobile suits appear at this time was very bad as there was little that could be used immediately to counter it. The Strike was in the process of being equipped and so couldn't do anything against the CGUE until the equipment was fully attached. Holland shouted at the workers to get the equipment set onto the Strike now before the enemy machine reached them. Murrue yelled at the teens to take cover immediately, so they weren't in harm's way.

Rusty hadn't missed the three newcomers any more than the rest in the park had. The mobile armors were likely from OMNI's defense forces that had been essentially dispatched by his comrades earlier. The CGUE on the other hand, that was rather surprising to see in Rusty's view. There was only one that would be using that mobile suit type that was on site, and that was Commander Le Creuset. For the commander to come into the colony himself with circumstances as they were made what would come for ZAFT worse than they already would be. Athrun would've told the commander about the Federation being involved with all of this by now. Yet, it seemed that Commander Creuset hadn't taken it as seriously as he should have. And if Rusty was seen, it wouldn't go well for him or Athrun with higher-ups since he was supposed to be dead right now.

Nevertheless, Rusty couldn't say how this would go since Tyler had taken the suit, he had already piloted out moments ago. He still couldn't say how skilled Tyler could be when it came to piloting a mobile suit. Rusty had come to assumed Tyler wasn't an average Federation agent/pilot from what he'd seen thus far. But the question was, could that skill level give him an edge over the commander? If Rusty were to place a bet on the idea, honestly, he would have to bet on Tyler rather than the Commander. McGregor had shown his way of doing things and fighting wasn't ordinary and could catch others off-guard. If there were any among the group Rusty was with currently that could stand against the Commander, he would say it was Tyler. He just hoped it would be enough to keep the commander away from Tyler's friends and doing potential harm to them.

At the same time, Mu and Krystal followed Creuset out of the central shaft and into the colony interior. The change of battlefield was both helpful and horrible for the armor pilots. It helped them as there was more room to move around than there had been in the central shaft. However, it wasn't good as now the colony's interior and its citizens and any allies they could be alive were put in the potential line of fire. It was frustrating to Mu that Creuset had led them into the colony's interior. Sure, one glance around told Mu that the colony was pretty much empty, or the inhabitance had probably gotten to the colony's shelters by this point. That was a good thing since Krystal, and he could focus on Creuset without much distraction that the man could use to his advantage. Yet, he still had an advantage since he didn't have to worry about where his shots landed as much as Krystal, and he did. Plus, the mad man seemed to be toying with them rather than fighting and enjoying the activity thoroughly. That didn't change the motivation that Krystal and he had to delay and take down Creuset.

Creuset had enjoyed playing with Mu and his companion inside the colony's central shaft, he would admit that. But now that he was inside the colony, it was the time to wrap things up with the two and turn his attention to what he was actually here to do. With the Federation on its way, time was of the essence for him. Were he to be in the colony when they arrived, that wouldn't go well for him, Rau wasn't fool enough to question that. If the Vesalius and Gamow could leave the area before the Federation arrived, then things could be somewhat better for him and others. And any effort that could improve the situation the Federation was about to stick their noses into was worth trying in his opinion. Thus, he needed to get his task done more than drawing out playing with Mu La Flaga.

With that in mind, Rau used Mu and his companion lagging behind to scope out the area to get an idea of how to be efficient in doing things. He spotted an open area with people around it in the next moment. Two mobile suits were around the same area, one matching one of the images he'd been given for OMNI's project. The other appeared to be one of the two unknowns that Miguel's group had mentioned and shown. The area would be where Rau would have to go after dealing with the two "flies" that were buzzing around him. However, there had been two unknown mobile suits in the colony and Rau was only seeing one of them. For one of them to be missing was concerning whether it had been hidden or was elsewhere. The last enemy prototype was a problem, but not as much as the two unknowns were implied to be. Yet, Rau would track the missing machine down after dealing with the other two.

Mu shoved his throttles forward, having his armor surge forward toward the CGUE. His three remaining gunbarrels were in their active mode even when they were still attached to their spars. The more firepower that Mu could direct at Creuset, the better in his opinion as it would keep the masked man on the defensive. Mu hadn't missed the group in the open area nearby any more than he would bet Creuset had. There were two mobile suits in that same area, one of them seeming to be the last G-Weapon. The other wasn't one that Mu had seen before even in an image. He would wonder where it had come from if he wasn't fighting against Creuset. The goal was still to keep the mad man away from those below that were still alive. Mu wouldn't put it past Creuset to murder those in the open area around the mobile suits if he could destroy the machine in the end.

Creuset veered out of the way of the gunfire that came his way from Mu's armor. He would admit that Mu was persistent. It made encounters interesting as they wouldn't be boring since Mu didn't pull back too quickly. The persistence differed from Mu's father and sire which was certainly an improvement in Rau's mind, minor as it may be. But it was time for him to deal with Mu and his companion and turned to the needed task he was in the colony to do. So, Rau had his CGUE around and used his assault rifle on the armor, aiming for the gunbarrels that Mu was using against him. He struck the lower gunbarrel which forced his opponent to detach it from the armor's main structure. Each gunbarrel that Mu lost, his thrust and maneuverability dropped which would make dealing with him easier. Not only that, Mu lost weapons he could use against him along with the thrust.

Mu had been following the CGUE with his weapons' firing line, but then Creuset managed to nail his lower gunbarrel. "Damn it," he cursed before he ejected the damaged gunbarrel and its wire. The gunbarrel detonated shortly after it was ejected but it was far enough away from the armor that shrapnel didn't strike it. Mu's frustration was growing with Creuset reducing his capability to fight him. The mad man was pushing Krystal and him back even as they tried to fight against him. The issue with that was Mu had no doubt Creuset was trying to get them out of the way so he could go for those on the ground. Krystal and he couldn't let the masked man attempt to kill any potential allies while they could do anything to stop it.

Krystal zoomed forward to help Mu with Creuset attacking him. Her friend had already lost half of his gunbarrels and had been forced to eject them to prevent them sending shrapnel from hitting the armor's body. She did what she could to draw attention off Mu by putting herself in the spotlight with the masked man. While Krystal achieved what she had been aiming for, that had the CGUE rushing at her. She used her gunbarrels and linear gun to shoot at the mobile suit as it close the distance. The CGUE evaded and weaved out of the line of fire from Krystal as it got up close. Krystal pulled her flight controls back to avoid the suit's attack, but it was too late for her to manage it. She gritted her teeth as the Creuset used his heavy blade and sliced a line down the body of her zero armor. Krystal had to grip her controls hard as alarms began blaring at her about the damage to her main thruster. She quickly realized that the slice had taken out her engine and she had entered a glide toward the ground below.

Mu had appreciated Krystal stepping forward and trying to take the heat off of him. Yet, he was unhappy when Creuset had not just attacked Krystal but had almost casually cut a line down the blue zero armor. Seeing smoke begin pouring out of Krystal's armor angered Mu. Granted, it was better than her armor blowing up, but it was still clear her armor was essentially out of commission. He got on the radio to the blue armor, "Krystal, what's your status," he questioned. "Your armor isn't looking good at all. You going to be able to land without crashing into the ground and hurting yourself?"

Krystal was working hard to get her armor into as stable a glide as she could get. The gunbarrel thrusters were only responding somewhat but were giving her a little thrust to work with. She hadn't missed the billows of smoke coming out of the rear of her armor that had started after the CGUE had struck her machine. Krystal appreciated Mu being worried about her and the situation she had been shoved into now. However, he would now have to face Creuset by himself without any help from her. He needed to focus on that more than her plight. Krystal would manage getting to the ground and stopping without killing herself. "I'll be fine, Mu," Krystal shot back. "Focus on fighting Creuset rather than me. I'll manage well enough, so the rest is up to you for this fight."

Mu turned his attention to the CGUE which had shifted to face him by this point. Mu surged forward firing his linear gun since it had the most punch out of his arsenal. At point-blank range, one shot to the torso should do serious if not lethal damage to the opposing machine. The CGUE dodged the shots as it closed the distance between it and Mu. He pulled back his flight controls, but saw it was too late to avoid what was coming. Mu watched as the Creuset used his blade to slash off the front half of his linear gun. Then the masked man jabbed his blade at the armor's main thruster. Mu was forced to focus his attention on flying his armor as the main engine shut down. As much as Mu didn't want to admit it, Creuset had won the fight and whipped Krystal and him.

Back with Tyler, he had moved the Shadow to be among the nearest buildings to the park. Once hidden, he kept the "mirage colloid" system up to keep him invisible and waited. He'd watched the fight between the mobile armors and the CGUE as it had played out. Tyler would applaud the efforts of the armor pilots, they were commendable. It took guts not to just go into a fight knowing the odds of you coming out of it were stacked high against you, but to keep going till the end too. The pilots were likely all that were left of the OMNI force that had jumped in to defend the colony. And they had put up a more than decent fight from what Tyler had seen before they had been disabled. If Tyler did meet the two armor pilots, he would thank them for their efforts and pay them a modicum of respect.

On the other hand, the ZAFT pilot in the CGUE had only made things worse for themselves. Their "flaunting" and "toying" with the armor pilots was motivating Tyler to make the enemy pilot suffer harshly as he could manage. He had considered using the Shadow's beam rifle and taking one of the CGUE's legs off while it had been fighting the mobile armors. Yet, Tyler had chosen not to do that as he had something that would shake the ZAFT pilot better already in mind. He'd positioned the Shadow in the most direct path the CGUE would take to get to the others. Thus, it would have to pass over him to get to its target which he would use as an opportunity. Tyler intended to jump up and crash into the CGUE, grab it and drag it down before slamming it into the ground hard. With that in mind, Tyler waited patiently for the CGUE to head his way and fly right in, blissfully ignorant of his trap.

Rau smirked a bit as he watched the red zero armor start falling toward the ground. It was satisfying to not just watch Mu be forced into hardship, but to know he had been the one to shove him to it. And with the two "flies" that had been buzzing around demanding attention dealt with, Rau could turn to the task he should see to. He set his sights on the open area ahead where the two mobile suits and the people were. While the goal was to "handle" the remaining enemy prototype and the unknown machine, the people around them couldn't be ignored. Whether one wanted to call it bad luck or some sort of twisted fate, the people were in a place that would cost them their lives. Rau didn't intend to leave any alive to potentially help OMNI's resistance or provide information to the Federation when they arrived. Rau had the CGUE began a dive toward his targets with the slight smirk still set on his face.

Nevertheless, Rau's attention was disrupted when his mobile suit struck something and had his restraints hold him in the seat. Alarms started blaring at him and Rau was still being shaken even after striking whatever he had. Rau forced himself to look forward so he could figure out what was going on. There was nothing he'd seen that his CGUE should've hit to cause what he was experiencing. He saw the forward display showing that his suit was rapidly dropping toward the ground. Rau grabbed his controls and attempted to have the CGUE pull up, so it didn't hit the ground. Yet, nothing he did changed these current circumstances in any notable way. The point sent a panicked thought through Rau's mind that perhaps the Federation had arrived around the colony and sent forces inside. That would be seriously bad for him and would only make things more difficult for the near future.

Rau kept calm as the CGUE was dragged down toward the ground, knowing he would need to respond as quickly as he could when the opportunity came up. The moment after the CGUE struck the ground, Rau pulled back his flight controls to have his machine leap back. The impact had shaken Rau, but he had shifted to reacting rather than trying to guess what was going on and why. It took a moment, but he managed to stabilize the CGUE as it slid to a stop a short distance away from the impact zone. He gazed forward, searching for whatever it was that had crashed into him and dragged the CGUE down. The impact had thrown up a thick dust cloud which limited visibility for him. However, within seconds, a vague figure was visible for Rau, and he focused on that with it being the likely culprit for the sudden change.

As Rau kept staring and the dust settled, the vague figure became a mobile suit. His opponent's appearance fit the description and images Miguel's group brought back on the unknown machine which had been missing when Rau had glanced things over earlier. Its sudden appearance was more than concerning to him. There had been no sign or hint of the mobile suit's presence before this. That point alone made the machine Rau was facing more dangerous than the other two suits he was here to deal with. And it would clearly be standing in his way on getting to his original targets. Rau couldn't say much about the pilot he would be facing as of yet, but they had caught him off-guard and brought him to a halt. That was notable and so, Rau knew it would be unwise to ignore this one and wave them off.

Tyler was smiling with how smoothly his plan was going at this point. He had grabbed the CGUE and stopped them in their tracks. Tyler would admit that he had thoroughly enjoyed dragging the ZAFT machine down and slamming it into the ground. They had separated just after the hard impact with the ground sending the Shadow back a short distance. Sure, the opposing mobile suit hadn't sustained serious damage from the impact, but Tyler would be getting to pushing the ZAFT pilot onto the defensive and "quaking in their boots," as the phase went. Just after the Shadow touched the ground and slid to a stop, Tyler pushed the button to have the Shadow activate its phase shift armor.

He was confident that he could and would get the ZAFT pilot to back off given a little time. While having them back off was the goal, Tyler still intended to shake them as much as he could. In the previous battle, Tyler hadn't really used much of the Shadow's arsenal against the Aegis and GINN. He had glanced over what offensive and defensive options to work with during combat. However, he was looking forward to exploring and utilizing more of the Shadow's equipment in this confrontation. And while Tyler was venting his stress and irritation in this, he was still motivated by protecting his friends and Rusty period. So, scaring the ZAFT pilot may be something Tyler would work toward, it was more a secondary goal to him. Thus, Tyler prepared himself to charge forward at the CGUE so he could get in close and get down to business.

Rau observed his opponent's machine changed from grey to black with red and blue highlights. It matched the videos of Athrun's machine activating its armor system it had to work with, so Rau assumed this opponent had the same system. That complicated the fight he was about to be in since supposedly the armor system nullified projectiles and physical blades while it was active. It meant that Rau would have to rely on skill more than just shooting and slashing. That didn't change the task he was inside the colony to do. It merely added a winkle that would need to be addressed first before he handled the remaining machines in the area. So instead of surging forward toward his opponent, Rau shifted into a more defensive stance and waited for his enemy to make the next move.

Tyler chuckled at seeing the ZAFT pilot move into a defensive stance. It meant that the next move would be his to choose which worked out in his favor. Heck, he wasn't one to decline the opportunity that he was being offered. If his opponent wanted him to move first and get things going, Tyler was more than willing to oblige. He had the Shadow take a step forward before breaking into a sprint toward the CGUE. The enemy suit raised its assault rifle and began firing at Tyler as he was moving forward. He veered to the right and had the Shadow's Igelstellung CWIS guns pop up on either side of the suit's collar area and light up. The guns sent a stream of projectiles at the CGUE, both forcing his opponent to raise its shield and distracting them. So, Tyler kept up the CWIS barrage so his opponent wouldn't have much of a chance to counter.

With his opponent's shield up, Tyler saw a golden opportunity to get in a solid attack on the CGUE. He wasn't about to refuse that kind of chance and scared the ZAFT pilot good already. So, Tyler had the Shadow's thrusters burn giving him more speed and having the suit surge forward. Tyler brought up his shield to have it level just below the Shadow's central torso section. His opponent did shift their shield to use its Gatling gun against him. However, the Shadow's armor blocked the rounds as Tyler continued his approach. When he was two steps away from the CGUE, he ignited the shield's beam saber and thrust forward. Tyler grinned as the saber hit the shield and kept going piercing it as it went. Stabbing the enemy's shield was neat, but it also perfectly positioned his shield's railgun to get a point-blank shot at the CGUE's left shoulder joint. So, when Tyler got the saber in almost to the emitter, Tyler pulled the trigger for the railgun. His grin widened slightly as he watched the CGUE's shoulder explode as the railgun round blew it apart.

Rau had seen his opponent coming at him. Its use of light machine gun like weapons wasn't counter-able, but annoying. He'd used his shield to block the projectiles for a moment before employing his shield's 28mm Vulcan gun. While the gun wouldn't do damage to his opponent because of its armor, it could get them to stop their approach and move back, which he hoped it would. However, his enemy's armor took the shots from the Vulcan gun as they continued their approach to him. As the opposing suit was getting closer than Rau liked, it suddenly rushed forward and closed the remaining distance before he could do anything. From the front part of its shield appeared some sort of energy blade which was thrust forward at him. Rau didn't have the time to pull back as the energy blade contacted his shield and then pierced it and the Vulcan gun. The CGUE shook as Rau reacted and pulled back on his controls and had his machine leap into the air and make some distance from his opponent. An alarm was going off a moment later when his suit landed away from his enemy. When Rau checked his displays, he found that the entire left arm was gone and what was left of the shoulder joint was in tatters.

What the enemy mobile suit had done forced Rau to reassess his previous expectations. He could've just been killed by his opponent had they aimed for the torso of the CGUE. And looking back, he had to admit even if begrudgingly, he'd underestimated his opponent a great deal. Rau wasn't facing some nobody or even a novice, that was becoming obvious. The one he had been going against had laid a trap for him and Rau had flown right into it, completely oblivious to its presence. From that point till now, Rau had been playing right into the hands of his opponent and had been blind to that entirely. The fight as it was right now unlikely would change and be one that Rau couldn't really win in the end.

Rau may be seen as a real risk taker by others that had seen and knew of his work. He wouldn't exactly deny the point, though those risks he took tended to pay off and provide good rewards. However, in this situation Rau was facing, the risk was certainly looking to be one that he wouldn't come out on the winning end or even in a draw. The best option he still had was to pull out of the fight and do what he could to get away if pursued. Rau would like to take down the other two machines or at least one of them before leaving the colony if that could be managed. Yet, the one he'd been fighting may not permit that without a serious price that he wasn't very willing to pay if he didn't have to. Rau couldn't die because of a miscalculation or a risky bet he foolishly made, he knew better than to do that. It was time to cut the potential loss and see if he could take out one of the other two before finding a way out of the colony.

Tyler watched as the CGUE took to the air after it had made some distance from the Shadow. If the ZAFT pilot was going to leave, he would consider allowing them to do that. But the pilot had shown they were determined to get what they had come for. Due to that, Tyler didn't believe the ZAFT machine was going to turn and leave just yet. Thus, Tyler wasn't going to drop his guard or even let the CGUE attempt to move forward. The ZAFT machine would be "encouraged" to turn and leave the colony whether Tyler had to take off pieces of the CGUE to accomplish it. So, Tyler had the machine rifles come out and flip to active position before he oriented the Shadow to have the rifles pointing at his opponent. The rifles' ammo levels were just above half of their maximum, so Tyler still had enough to get done what he saw needed.

Rau had his mobile suit lift off into the air so he could draw back. If he could make it appear that he was going to retreat, then perhaps he could fool his opponent. It was by no means a guarantee, Rau's opponent had hinted they were rather smart and not naïve. Yet, since he couldn't fight the unknown suit on fair grounds and win, Rau had to try something else. However, it was shortly after the CGUE was in the air that his opponent had two thin sections on either side of the torso flipped upward and what appeared to be two rifles come out. Rau quickly threw his controls to his right as the enemy's rifles began firing, proving the rifles were machine guns of some kind. He kept slightly ahead of the projectile streams, moving higher to try and escape the enemy's weapons.

As the battle between the two mobile suits resumed, those in the park had been watching the fight playing out continued to observe it. The gang had moved away from where they had been shortly after the battle had started. It had been the suggestion of Mr. Mackenzie more for them to be able to get to shelter if it became necessary. But all the teens couldn't stop themselves from watching the Shadow fighting the CGUE. Tyler was putting his own life on the line to protect them from the ZAFT mobile suit. None of them were okay with running away while Tyler risked his life to prevent them from getting hurt. They didn't want to potentially lose Tyler while he was fighting to protect them. The gang couldn't live with themselves if they ran away while Tyler was fighting for them.

Holland was doing what he could to help those equipping the Strike with the Launcher set, and they were just about done. While he was, Murrue had been watching the fight between the Shadow and the CGUE. The fight had been unreal for her to witness even when she had seen it with her own eyes. It had given her confidence that the G-Weapons, when developed further could really have good chances of changing the direction of the war against ZAFT. ZAFT had shown how effective mobile suits could be in the years the war had been going on. Mobile suits easily out did mobile armors in combat, Murrue had seen enough videos to know that fact. The G-Weapons had been designed and constructed so that OMNI could use mobile suits in the war, that was the official statement for them anyway.

However, Murrue felt the G-Weapons were built for something more than that. ZAFT had used mobile suits to silently prove a point which those in the Alliance didn't want to admit. That point/fact was Coordinators could and normally did outperform Naturals in most given instances. The war had made the point beyond clear, and little seemed capable of changing the established fact of Coordinators being better than Naturals. The G-Project had aimed to develop ways things could be leveled out on the battlefields the war had been creating. The G-Weapons were to be a means to make mobile suits that Naturals could pilot just as ZAFT could theirs. From what Captain Locke had mentioned, OMNI top brass was counting on the G-Project's success to help the Alliance prove humanity as it had been wasn't a relic of the past or obsolete.

Nevertheless, while the mobile suit's potential was amazing to see with her own eyes, that was dampened by something else. Murrue suspected that Mr. Yamato and McGregor were Coordinators. Their abilities with piloting the unknowns and Strike along with the work on their operating systems had strongly implied they were. Kira Yamato may have called it "tweaking" but with the better performance said the work was more than that. With them piloting the mobile suits created by Morgenröte and the G-Project, it once again showed that Coordinators could do more than Naturals. It was sort of like a slap to the face reminding what the war had made clear with how ZAFT was winning. Murrue doubted OMNI top brass would be pleased to learn that as impressive as the G-Weapons were, Coordinators made them into what was akin to super weapons.

At the same time, Kira was typing away furiously on the Strike's keyboard. He hadn't missed the sounds of battle going on outside the suit. He'd seen Tyler heading for the mobile suit he had been using with that seriously irritated expression on his face. So, he assumed that Tyler was going to use the mobile suit to do what he could to fight and protect their friends. Kira wasn't okay with letting his best friend out fighting alone and putting is life at risk. While Kira may not like fighting, he wanted to help Tyler remain alive more so he was willing to do what he could. If the Strike could be equipped and the OS updated to work with said equipment, then Kira could use the suit to get the ZAFT machine to go away. ZAFT leaving would help their situation right now the most, Kira could see that.

It was a moment later that Kira finished the adjustments needed to the Strike's operating system for the equipment set. He then felt and heard a bang a second later as the equipment in the trailer was fully attacked to the suit. Kira had the Strike lock the equipment in place and have the OS update to allow use of the new weapon systems. The moment the systems updated, Kira had the cockpit hatch close and activated the suit's armor system. He took the controls and had the mobile suit rise to its full height. Kira saw that Tyler was using his machine's hidden rifles to shoot at the ZAFT machine. The CGUE was climbing up higher but was still appearing to work its way around Tyler and closer to the park from what Kira could see. Whether ZAFT was trying to get to the remaining OMNI machine or something else didn't matter. Kira wouldn't let the ZAFT machine get to those in the park and potentially kill those there. Kira had the Strike's "Agni" hyper impulse cannon shift into its active use position. The Strike took the cannon's handles and adjusted the weapon's aim to have it be slightly ahead of where the CGUE was flying.

Yet before Kira could fire the cannon, and large explosion from where the Morgenröte complex was. Out of the explosion came a ship which surged into the air. The ship had a central structure which had wings on the back and two legs on either side of the center section. Just below and connected to the central section of the ship were wings that could extend out for stability and better flight on Earth. The navigation bridge for the ship was located just being the center of the ship in a tower section. Only those on the ground involved with the G-Project knew the ship on sight. Murrue was relieved the Archangel was intact and flying. It gave hope that there could be more survivors than just those in the park. They needed whatever kind of help they could get for the moment to stay alive with the CGUE in the air.

Natarle was relieved that the Lohengrin blaster cannons hadn't done more than make a way into the colony. With the power of the positron blaster cannons, it was possible to shoot into a colony and other the other side from what the specs said. Charging them to about half capacity had worked out with clearing the way for the Archangel to leave the docking area. Now that the Archangel had gotten into the colony interior, it could do things to help all the allies that were still alive. The airwaves still filled with electrical interference, that told Natarle ZAFT wasn't finished their goals here. With the ship in the colony, they should be able to determine better what was going on. And the moment the Archangel emerged from the smoke created from the path made for the ship, it was clear things weren't going well.

Arnold was glad the Archangel was out of the docking area as it gave the ship more room to move around. The exit had been somewhat difficult, but Arnold had managed to get around the debris that had remained after the Lohengrins had discharged. It didn't improve the standing circumstances a great deal, but it was still at least something that wasn't horrible. With not finding any of the crew other than Natarle alive, those on the ship needed any good thing no matter how small it may be to work with. "We're through the wreckage and have now entered the colony interior," he announced. "Doesn't seem the blaster cannons did any damage beyond making a path for us."

Jackie was working on using the ship's sensors to see what he could find out now the Archangel was free from the dock. What the sensors were showing him wasn't very encouraging at all. The colony may be "empty" with the citizens having evacuated when they were told to, but things were still bad. The majority of the damage to the colony's interior centered around the sector Morgenröte occupied, but it wasn't entirely limited to there. Morgenröte itself had half of its complex somewhat damage and the other half in ruins. The ruined half was the factory district and the work area where the G-Project had been. The scale of the destruction and ruin ZAFT had done in the period of time since the dock had been attacked was frightening.

If what had befallen Morgenröte wasn't bad enough, the bad turns didn't stop there from what Jackie was seeing. Erratic signals were coming in from all over, some of which were from supply groups that had been heading toward the dock earlier. Sensors were also detecting two mobile armors, zero-types by what was coming back. However, they were falling toward the ground and seemed to be damaged already. There was a ZAFT CGUE in the air who was likely the one who had beaten the mobile armors. It was odd there was only one ZAFT machine, even if it was a more dangerous one. ZAFT didn't tend to send in one mobile suit to do a task according to OMNI records. So that there was only one didn't make sense to Jackie with the available information.

Nevertheless, Jackie focused on trying to see if he could find any of the signals which would match the G-Weapons. Those machines were critical to the G-Project's success and any potential loss would be horrendous. The electrical interference wasn't helping in the search, but Jackie managed to pin down one signal that did appear to match one of the units. As he worked on cleaning up the signal, it became identified as the X105 Strike. And from what Jackie could tell, the Strike was activated and worrisomely close to where the ZAFT CGUE was. "Ma'am," Jackie began, "Morgenröte and the general area look to have been destroyed by what sensors show. However, the Strike has been detected and is showing as activated currently. It appeared to be rather close to where the ZAFT mobile suit is. It is likely in combat with it!"

Rau hadn't missed the ship coming out of the explosion. It matched the images he'd gotten from his contact well enough. The weird thing about its sudden appearance was it shouldn't be flying or even intact. The infiltration team set explosives around the docking area the ship had been stored in. Those explosives should've either destroyed it and its crew or at the very least killed the vast majority of the crew and trapped the vessel. It was yet another sign that things hadn't been going completely according to plans. First, it had been signs that the Federation had become involved in this, that was bad enough in Rau's mind. Now, the enemy vessel was flying saying at least enough of its crew had survived to get her moving. The ship could have been in trouble if he didn't do something about it. The black machine had already seriously complicated things, Rau couldn't afford to have another come up. So, he changed his target to the ship and flew forward with his assault rifle at the ready.

Natarle spotted the enemy mobile suit heading their way. The ship wasn't operating well enough to do a precise response. The Archangel lacked the necessary crew and was still not operating at full capacity. Thus, the best option for them in this was to evade the attack and counter after that. "Evade," Natarle ordered, "Hard to starboard!" Arnold wrenched his helm control to the right and had the ship begin spinning in that direction. The motion did have the rounds from the CGUE miss as Natarle hoped they would. However, the ZAFT suit went past the Archangel and turned around aiming for where the Strike was below.

Rau had gotten the ship to turn away for the moment and he would take that. He could focus on the machines below and handle them with the brief period he'd bought for himself. When he gazed at the OMNI machine, he found it had gained color meaning its armor system was up and running. It made his assault rifle even with its armor piercing rounds essentially useless for the time being. However, there were other ways to get an enemy to open themselves up to attack that Rau knew. If the suit was protected, then he just had to shift what he targeted to make the pilot put themselves in the path of his attacks. So, Rau had his CGUE dive, aiming for the people near the last OMNI prototype.

Rusty could see clearly Commander Creuset was going to aim for those on the ground. He'd likely been told the armor system the mobile suits had would make projectiles not work on them. Thus, the commander was going to use those around them to force Tyler and Kira to have to be on the defensive. Rusty didn't like that ploy at all but there was not much he could do to change the point. He shouted for all to get to cover before pushing trying to lead the other teens away from the open. With how fast the CGUE was diving, they wouldn't get far, but perhaps if they separated, they could not be on the firing path. Rusty heard the sound of the suit's assault rifle firing and pulled Sai and Kuzzey down to the ground, shielding their bodies with his own.

Tyler hadn't missed the ship appearing any more than anyone else did. It was the vessel that had been in the docking area he'd passed through to get to the factories. According to the reports he'd read and what he had found out about the new Alliance warship, it could make the current situation worse. With its arsenal supposedly including some beam and linear cannons along with a collection of missiles, it could no doubt do damage. Tyler may not have a lot of specifics about the weapons, but any damage to the colony was a serious concern. Thus, he didn't feel a great deal of comfort or any really with the warship entering the colony. More volatile complications were the last thing Tyler and Kira needed to work with. And OMNI had an unhealthy tendency to be reckless and cause more issues than they solved.

Tyler focused on the CGUE which had started its dive toward the park. He shoved his controls to have the Shadow sprint toward the park. Yet, he could see that he wouldn't make it in time to block for all of those there. He did manage to get between his friends as the rounds began flying towards them. Tyler had the Shadow kneel to provide the most cover for his friends possible a split second before the projectiles came into contact with the Shadow's armor. A shower of sparks became visible as the shots were blocked by the suit's armor system to those behind the Shadow. He swore that the ZAFT pilot would suffer for what they were doing. Whether that would happen in this encounter or a later one wasn't the issue for Tyler. He wasn't going to let whoever was in the CGUE let things end as they were with threatening his friends and not facing consequences.

Kira had the Strike stay with those by the trailer with the Shadow sprinting towards the others. With the two of them there, they could defend all the people in the park from the ZAFT machine. Kira had the Strike kneeled in front of those by the trailer as the rounds came. The first few struck the Shadow but were blocked with sparks flying by its phase shift armor. The next collection came in Kira's direction, but the Strike much like the Shadow took the projectiles with its armor system. Kira's frustration was morphing into anger with the ZAFT suit attacking the people to get to the suits. While the war may have made things harder for those not involved, it was horrible to see the point firsthand.

Rau pulled up from his dive and climbed back into the air. He was a tad surprised that armor piercing rounds had no effect on OMNI's armor system. It showed that the system was quite a development in mobile suit technology. The point had Rau realize that any chance he could have had to deal with the enemy mobile suits was gone. He'd spent what time was wise for him without seriously risking getting caught in a very compromising situation for himself. However, the two suits below would be unlikely to just let him leave the colony after what had happened so easily. Rau had his CGUE start climbing toward the central shaft while keeping an eye on the two mobile suits on the ground.

On the Archangel, Natarle ordered the stern missile tubes loaded with anti-ship "Sledgehammer" missiles. She knew there was too much of a chance of hitting the colony's outer wall or central shaft with the beam or linear cannons. The missiles were the best option to use inside the colony. The surface-to-air missile launchers in the rear of the bridge tower wouldn't have enough power to do damage to the CGUE. Thus, the stern missile launchers were the most viable option in the situation. The mechanics were quick to load the tubes with the requested missiles and make them ready. As the tubes coverings were opened, Natarle twisted in her chair to the stations behind her, "Laser targeting, listen up," she started. "You are to focus and make sure missiles do not strike the shaft. Should the colony's central shaft fail, then the whole colony collapses, and our people are as good as dead."

The Archangel fired four missiles from its stern launchers, and they zoomed toward the CGUE. Rau pulled back on his controls as the missiles were racing toward him, gritting his teeth in frustration since this was just sucking up time. The CGUE flew back and upward but the missiles followed after it. He decided to use the colony's central shaft as a shield to stop the missiles from getting to him. Rau smiled as shaft's support junctions blocked the missiles with them detonating there. Honestly, he didn't much care about what happened to the colony in the end, whether it was intact or not was immaterial. The Federation would more care about the citizens and whether they were alive more than the colony's state when all was said and done.

Tyler cursed as the vessel fired missiles at the CGUE. It was a stupid action to take while inside the colony. There was too high a risk the central shaft could be struck and damaged to the point of failure. Should the colony undergo collapse due to the shaft being seriously compromised, then all but Kira and Tyler would be dead in a matter of minutes. And Tyler highly doubted the ZAFT pilot would care that much to draw the missiles away from the shaft. He was proven right when the CGUE used the shaft as a means to block and detonate the missiles. While the shaft didn't take serious direct damage from the point, there was still damage done. Tyler quickly spotted that the two of the missiles had compromised one of the shaft's support junctions which the cables that held the colony together and helped in its rotation looked to be burning. The cables were designed for high stress and compression, not for fires and the like.

Tyler rapidly calculated where the cables would fall if or rather when they broke from their moorings. One cable would likely hit the residential sector which would be okay as there was no one there to be hurt. The other, however, would very likely come down right around the park where their group was. The sheer weight of the support cables would crush any it fell on in a second. Tyler wasn't about to let that happen to his friends if there was absolutely anything he could do about it. He positioned the Shadow in the likely path as the two cables disconnected from the moorings. One of the cables fell hard toward the park, specifically toward the group of teens as he'd predicted it would. Tyler had the Shadow catch the cable with its forearms rather than its hands. The forearms had more surface area and would distribute the load better which he would need. The cable came down hard, which Tyler fully expected. Yet, the Shadow didn't budge even if it was pushed into the ground somewhat as it caught the large cable.

The gang and Rusty had seen the support cable falling in their direction, but there had been no time to move out of the way. Yet, they gazed in shock as the Shadow managed to catch and prevent the cable from crushing them. There had been a shower of sparks when the cable had struck the mobile suit, much like when projectiles hit it before. The gang knew Tyler had said and shown he would do what he could to help them several times before this. However, this was the clearest showing of their friend willing to put his life on the line to protect them from harm and the like. They were all grateful that Tyler had done what he had to save them. None of them could think of words that could express how thankful they were for Tyler being their friend at that moment.

On the other hand, Rusty was dumbfounded at what he'd just witnessed the Shadow just do. Sure, he knew mobile suits could lift a lot of weight and take serious stress coming down on them. But this was one of the most extreme cases that put such to the test that Rusty had seen with his own eyes. Colony support cables tended to weigh anywhere between just over a hundred to slightly over two-hundred tons depending on the size of the colony they were used in. However, the machine Tyler used, which likely weighed under a hundred tons, had taken the falling cable and not been crushed or moved much than the foot or so into the ground it had sunk. Granted, Rusty suspected the suit's armor system had played a critical role in the machine being capable of doing what it just had. If that was true, then OMNI had created something that would revolutionize mobile suits.

In the Shadow's cockpit, there were some alarms going off with the cable coming down on the suit. The sheer weight of the cable was heavily straining the hydraulic systems the Shadow had built into it. But should Tyler move the Shadow to either side or back, his friends would probably die, and he wouldn't accept that. Then he had a burst of inspiration about what he could do to move the cable out of the way to save his friends. While the hydraulics didn't have the needed power to push the cable by themselves, they may if the Shadow's thrusters worked with them. It would be risky as if the Shadow's power got too low, the phase shift armor would go down along with other systems cutting back on operational tasks, including the hydraulic systems. But Tyler couldn't see another way he could pull off right now that would save his friends from being crushed.

Tyler shoved the throttles forward almost all the way which got all eight thrusters to ignite and burn. He glanced down at his displays and found as he hoped the thrusters were taking the pressure off the Shadow's hydraulics. However, the battery power consumption had sped up, meaning Tyler needed to hurry and get the cable to come down elsewhere. He had the Shadow raise its right foot and take a solid step forward, then did the same with the left foot. Step by heavy step, Tyler made distance away from where his friends were taking the cable with him. Within a few minutes, he managed to get the cable to fall to his left and miss the gang which was good enough for Tyler. He pulled back the throttles and found the Shadow's power supply was hovering around nineteen percent.

Kira had watched as the missiles from the vessels which had appeared from the explosion detonating around the colony's central shaft. His eyes had widened as the two support cables had detached from their moorings and began falling toward ground, one toward his friends. Kira had started moving but the falling cable had accelerated during its fall making it impossible for him to be able to do anything for his friends. He cursed the point even as Tyler's machine moved into position to receive the falling cable. The move was extremely risky as the cable with its weight and momentum could quite possibly crush Tyler's suit rather than being caught and stopped. Kira was slightly relieved when the cable was halted by the Shadow even if it sunk into the ground a bit in response to the falling cable. A moment later, the mobile suit ignited its thrusters and slowly shifted the cable forward away from their friends.

Kira was grateful that Tyler was managing to save their friends from being potentially killed by the support cable crushing them. He had put himself at risk doing what he was to protect and rescue their friends from the effects of the fighting going on. The vessel and CGUE battled with one another were doing further damage to the colony and putting those not in shelters in serious danger. Kira would no longer stand by and just watch while doing nothing to stop the fighting and its results keep happening. "Dang it," Kira growled to himself, "this is a neutral colony, not a battlefield." He focused back on the CGUE and adjusted the Agni cannon's aim through the targeting scope that had moved forward for Kira to use. It was a few seconds later that the computer managed to lock onto the CGUE. Kira pulled the trigger for the cannon and a sizable red beam shot from the cannon toward the ZAFT suit.

Tyler had managed to move the support cable forward and drop it down to the ground and not have it potentially crush his friends. With the task done, Tyler had turned his attention to the CGUE and OMNI vessel that had caused the circumstances for the cable to fall. However, he barely locked his gaze on the enemy machine when a beam zoomed at it from the ground. Tyler glanced at the OMNI suit and saw it had a large cannon out and pointed at the CGUE saying it was the source of the beam. The bolt that he'd just seen was nothing to scoff at and would be devastating if it struck directly, he wouldn't doubt. The issue with the cannon's beam was not that it didn't hit the CGUE, it grazed it and took part of the remaining arm it had. No, the issue was the beam didn't stop after grazing the CGUE but kept going and blew a sizable hole in the colony's outer wall.

Tyler didn't blame Kira for using the cannon against the ZAFT machine, he couldn't have known what it could do. If his friend had known, he would've made a different choice, Tyler was confident about that. However, the damage was done for the time being for the colony and would need to be addressed. The hole provided immediate complications for all of those in the colony which couldn't be ignored for long. The breach in the colony's wall was bad, but it wasn't big enough for the colony's atmosphere to thin and go away too quickly to be a critical problem. So, there was some time to work with to get the gang out of the colony interior and to safety left to work with. It wouldn't allow a great deal of time to fool around or have lengthy conversations, but it was better than having little to no time.

Kira was horrified with what he'd just done with the Strike's beam cannon. He'd only been aiming at the ZAFT machine to get it to leave the colony and go away. Kira hadn't meant or intended to do more damage to the colony, let alone rip a big hole in its wall. The data on the cannon hadn't implied it could blast through structures as thick as colony walls tended to be. Such weapons would be terrifying if used whether around colonies or on Earth. Because of that fact, none of the factions should be developing such weapons without thinking the effects through. "Wh-what kind of power is this," Kira uttered with a tone of horror in his voice. "I never meant or wanted to blow a hole in the colony's wall."

Tyler and Kira weren't the only ones that were processing what the Strike's Agni cannon had brought about. The teenagers were horrified with a mobile suit weapon capable of puncturing a colony's wall. The walls were supposed to be able to take a beating in order to protect the people inside. But a single beam had punched a hole in the wall and was now slowly letting out the colony's atmosphere. That created a secondary set of problematic circumstances they would have to worry about. It had made their standing circumstances which had already been strained and dangerous even more so.

Rusty had been shocked with what he'd seen the cannon do both to the CGUE and the colony wall, though for different reasons than others likely were. The beam cannon proved a few assumptions that the Commander had brought up during the mission briefing but also brought up several questions. OMNI had made beam weaponry potentially a practical idea for mobile suits to use. That alone would make the ongoing war worse than it already was and it was still going downhill. ZAFT would have such once the stolen prototypes were inspected and reverse engineered. The beam cannon itself had a power output that was frightening from what Rusty had witnessed. It hadn't hit the CGUE directly, but the mere graze had destroyed a portion of its arm. That meant it could damage without direct contact and if it did hit straight on, it would likely rip through a mobile suit without an issue.

Both Murrue and Holland were shaken to varying degrees after seeing the actual discharge of one of the Strike's "Agni" cannon. The two had been in the meetings with the developers when they had talked about what the beam weaponry would be capable of. Specifically, the Agni had been stated to be able to punch through armor without much difficulty. It would also be capable of melting resistant materials if put to it. The bolt from the Agni had "grazed" the CGUE's arm and had taken a good portion of it off. That was impressive to see, but was superseded by the hole the beam had ripped in the colony's outer wall. Murrue was concerned that some after seeing something like this may have the idea to do such intentionally to threaten the PLANTs. While the Alliance was at war with ZAFT, the people that lived in the PLANTs weren't soldiers so didn't deserved to be slaughtered by ripping open the colonies.

Tyler's gaze morphed into a glare as he spotted the CGUE was heading for the hole that had just been made. While he didn't want to go through the work of killing the ZAFT pilot, Tyler didn't want them to escape without a clear message being sent to them. He glanced down at his power display and saw he still had enough for one shot from the Shadow's beam rifle that could reach the target. With that in mind, Tyler grabbed the beam rifle and had the "unique" targeting scope that the suit had come out of its storage position. The targeting computer moved forward and into position for Tyler to use as he had the Shadow raise the beam rifle and start training it on the CGUE. The scope zoomed in quickly and made aiming properly much easier for Tyler. He locked in the leg he intended to take off from the CGUE and pulled the trigger.

Rau was heading for the hole which had been made by the last OMNI machine. His suit was damaged to the point it couldn't effectively fight against those still in the colony. He'd lost the assault rifle with the beam grazing him and the shield with Vulcan gun to the black mobile suit. The data he had on the last prototype and the unknown black machine was valuable, but it had gotten close to costing him everything. It was time for him to leave and cut his losses then come up with a different plan to deal with this situation. However, his attention was wrenched out of his thoughts when his suit shook. An alarm went off and Rau looked over his displays and found the CGUE had just lost the lower half of its right leg.

Rau had his CGUE keep heading for the hole but had the suit's optical camera swing around to track down where the attack had come from. He found his attacker was none other than the black mobile suit who he had such trouble with before. The enemy suit had a rifle in its right-hand which Rau had spotted attached to its right hip during the short fight they had. That the enemy pilot had not only successfully shot his mobile suit but had clearly aimed for the leg was beyond concerning. It proved the pilot was no novice in any way, they were skilled and knew exactly what they had been doing. They had shot the CGUE's leg, but they could've nailed the torso and killed him. The message being sent was clear to Rau, he was being allowed to leave with his life. He could've been killed instead but hadn't been.

A s the CGUE left the colony interior, an alarm went off in the Shadow's cockpit drawing Tyler's attention. When he glanced around, his gaze stopped on the power level display which had turned red for the most part. The main meter which showed what power there was to work with displayed the level had gone down to twelve percent. He'd known the shot from the beam rifle would suck down power, the distant required had needed more energy to pull off. That the meter was flashing "emergency" on all three areas said the Shadow was about to lose all but essential primary systems. Even as Tyler took that in, the Shadow's phase shift armor went fuzzy before fading, turning the suit grey. He knew that the Shadow was now running on fumes which meant he would have to get it charged somehow rather soon.

It was a moment later that Tyler remembered his teammates who were outside the colony. The sudden blasting of a hole in the outer wall would cause them to jump and react. He wanted to make sure they were all okay and had a general idea of what was going on. They were still among those Tyler had to rely upon in this situation and he didn't have many of those right now. So, Tyler took out his com-unit and connected to the team channel, "Everyone okay," he asked. "Sorry about the hole that was made, but it happened before I could do anything to prevent it from occurring. Report in with your status one at a time please."

Lisa was working to get her heart rate to slow down as it had spiked when there had been an explosion a moment ago with a hole ripping in the colony's wall. That had been completely unexpected as Tyler was supposed to be working to prevent serious damage to the colony. She didn't blame Tyler if he hadn't managed to do the point with the CGUE getting into the colony. ZAFT had been making their work incredibly hard since they had infiltrated the colony. And until the Federation patrol arrived on site, things would be dicey. "I'm okay," Lisa stated, "But what happened in there to rip a hole in the colony's wall? My heart is beating hard right now with that happening rather close by where I was a moment ago."

Alan Knight had been listening to what was being said on the team channel. Lisa had snapped something about there being a breach in the colony's wall a moment ago. She had mentioned that Tyler was inside the colony doing what he could to mitigate any issues he could. Tyler had proven himself resourceful when pressed to get tasks done, Alan had seen that during the mission thus far. Even if he was young, Alan had been impressed with what Tyler had managed to accomplish with the data he'd acquired. The stories about the kid may exaggerate about what he was capable of, but not as much as most would think. "No need to worry about me chaps," Alan said. "It'll take more than what ZAFT forces or the Alliance's Enforcers can throw our way to take this gentleman down."

Luke Lacsy had gotten out in the space fighter and had been keeping alert which was a tad odd for him. He had shot at the CGUE while it had been outside the colony while it had been leading the mobile armors on. Luke was somewhat surprised to have heard Lisa saying a hole was ripped into the colony wall. Tyler wasn't the type to let a mess stop him from working to prevent more serious things from happening. And he'd seen Tyler as the type to go above and beyond to try and accomplish what he did. "I'm alive mates even with that CGUE passing a little while ago," Luke remarked. "What's goin on in there Tyler? Certainly not like ya to make a hole like Lisa is describing."

Tyler was relieved that his teammates were alive and okay after ZAFT came in and caused trouble a second time. His frustration and stress levels had been reaching heights that Tyler really didn't like them to get close to. Those levels had gone down slightly with whipping the CGUE as he had, but not anywhere near as much as Tyler had hoped. He didn't blame Kira for the hole in the colony's wall that had been made, it wasn't his friend's fault. And in the end, the hole was there and couldn't be undone so would have to be dealt with. Thus, Tyler couldn't stop the sigh that escaped him, "Trust me when I say it's complicated," Tyler replied. "I will save you the details for the moment as I would be seriously cursing doing that right now. However, simply put, OMNI developed something they really should've done a lot more consideration with before building what they did."

Natarle was slightly relieved at seeing the CGUE leaving the colony's interior. Granted, circumstances weren't a great deal better than they were before the ship came into the colony, but there was little that could be done about that right now. The Strike was still in the hands of allies after ZAFT had attempted to take it and that was something to work with. She hadn't missed the actions of the "other" mobile suit which had gone against the CGUE. Natarle hadn't gotten the best look at the machine, but it had kind of looked like one of the other G-Weapons. However, without getting a better look, she wouldn't assume the machine she had spotted was one of the G-Weapons. Yet, the priority was to help their allies so that was to be the focus and not seek answers to other questions. "The enemy has withdrawn, so began landing procedures," she ordered. "Adjust ship speed to match the ground rotation of the colony and prepare for the effects of gravity that will come in during landing."

The Archangel leveled out and began its descent toward the ground around where the park was. As it was doing so, Murrue and Holland were getting those in the park gathered together so they could head for the ship. With the colony's atmosphere thinning, there was work to be done and not a lot of time to do it. That list of tasks would likely change after information was exchanged with the crew and officers. Murrue would welcome the help and guidance from the superior officers from the G-Project. She was a mere lieutenant that was assigned to mobile suit controller bridge station, not an officer to command forces on battlefields. Sure, she had some training to lead groups during combat situations, but little more experience beyond that and what had happened today.

As the vessel began heading for the ground, those in the park made themselves busy. Holland had those under his command go and get the two vehicles so they could use them to get to the Archangel. Kira had the Agni cannon swing back to its stored position before he had the Strike turn to Miss Ramius. He then shifted the suit into a kneeling position so he could give some a ride to the ship that was coming down. Instead, Murrue climbed up the Strike and banged the cockpit hatch. Kira got the message and flipped the switch to have the cockpit hatches open. Murrue swung herself into the cockpit and moved to be behind the seat. Yet, she also grabbed the headset Kira had and put it on her own ear before putting in a command to open a channel to the Archangel. She told the one at the communications station to have the Archangel open its right linear catapult so those outside could come on board. While Miss Ramius was talking to those on the ship, Kira shifted the Strike's right hand over to be by Lacus and Miriallia. The two climbed onto the hand before he had the mobile suit stand up and slowly turned toward where the ship was coming down.

Tyler saw Miss Ramius board the Strike rather than get on the "hand" Kira had offered her. He assumed that the woman wanted to contact those on the Archangel which she could best do from the suit's cockpit. Tyler couldn't help the smile that came to him when the Strike moved its hand to the girls to offer them a ride to the ship. It was so like Kira to be nice to others whether they were friends or not. It was one of the few good things that came from his friend's naïveté that Tyler didn't have an issue with. He would offer the idea to the boys so they could get to the ship and not have to walk the whole way there. They were friends and Rusty was a friend of one of Tyler's best friends, so he would do what he could to help them. And he felt it would be best if his group stayed together the best they could for what could be ahead of them.

The OMNI vessel coming into the colony was not ideal in Tyler's mind. They hadn't helped, rather they had made things worse than they had been before they had stepped in. However, those on the ship could hopefully charge the mobile suits that had fought against ZAFT forces. Tyler didn't kid himself, ZAFT would keep coming back until the Federation patrol arrived and made them stop. And without knowing how long it would be until the Federation patrol came into range, there was no telling how many more times ZAFT would try. They had made it clear they were determined to capture the mobile suit and if they couldn't do that, destroy them instead. That would endanger the colony and its citizens as long as they were working toward that goal.

The Archangel was about to land when the Strike began making its way toward it with its right-hand level for its passengers. Tyler had the Shadow take a few steps to where the rest of the gang were and had the suit move into a kneeling posture. The Shadow's right touched the ground next to the four boys left before Tyler opened the cockpit hatch. Tyler undid the restraints and moved forward to the cockpit hatches. He glanced over at his friends and Rusty before he smiled, "How lucky it is for you lot that I'm such a nice guy no," Tyler posed. "Not only do I make sure you don't get hurt, but I offer a ride to the ship just like Kira is doing for the ladies. The things I'm willing to do for those in need."

The four had been discussing how they could get to the ship that was landing a distance away. Those that had come back with Tyler and Rusty were already bringing vehicles to get them over to the vessel. Tolle had been suggesting they do the same before the Shadow had come over to where they were. Tyler offering them a ride to the ship was really nice of him to do. He had protected them from multiple dangers in the last hour seemingly without hesitation. The gang didn't know what was ahead with the OMNI ship, so Tyler being with them was a must in their views. So, the four climbed up onto the suit's hand that Tyler had offered them. Sai was the first to reach the palm of the hand and he glanced at Tyler, "Thank you Tyler," replied Sai. "It is very nice of you to offer us a ride to the ship." Tolle was the second one to get to the hand after Sai helped pull him up. Tyler was really an awesome friend and had proven that time and time again to them. "Yeah, you're awesome," added Tolle. "It beats walking the whole way there."

Tyler appreciated the gratitude his friends were showing, it was nice to receive. There had been little of that in the last hour for his efforts when it came to the OMNI personnel. And he felt there wouldn't be much in the way of that changing with them in the near future unfortunately. Thus, Tyler would take what gratitude he could get even if it was just from his friends. So, he chuckled in response to Tolle's comment, "I'm well-aware of that Tolle though it's nice to be reminded of it every now and again with showing of gratitude." Tyler crawled back into the cockpit and swung himself back into the pilot seat, though he didn't put the restraint belts back on. "Now, you four hold on tight. I'll get you to the ship safe and sound before we see what to do next." Tyler had the cockpit hatches close before he had the Shadow rise keeping the hand level for his friends. He had the hand slightly curled, so they could hold on if they felt that need and then had the suit start moving forward towards the OMNI ship.

A/n

That's where I'll leave off for this Phase. This Phase was more action involved than the previous ones. It also ended up going differently than the original and even as I planned it to be when I started writing it. There are some things to discuss in this Phase so let's get to that shall we? Let's start with the first two scenes.

Okay, Natarle survived as in canon, as does some of the non-commission crew we have to work with. The first scene is similar to what canon has, so let's move to the fight Mu and Kyrstal are in against Le Creuset. If this scene doesn't show the friendship that Krystal has with Mu and he with her, then it will be hard to show it differently other than them knowing about the other which comes later. The battle was more involved than canon was and it wasn't just because there were the two armor pilots. Yes, we know that Rau Le Creuset is no novice pilot. As much as we may not like him for what he does, he has piloting skills and experience that gives him an advantage over those like Mu and Krystal. Thus, it isn't surprising that Mu and Krystal lost to him in the end, but they do put up quite the fight.

Moving onto Tyler, when he receives the news from Lisa is it a surprise that he is unhappy with what is coming his way. I can't really blame him for his reaction with the day he's been having, can any of you readers? But this is one of the ways that Tyler deals with his emotions, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Plus, I think it makes Tyler more relatable to you readers, you can write a review and tell me should you disagree with that idea. I mean, Tyler did try to help mitigate things to be less problematic with Athrun's help, and so Creuset coming is like a slap in the face figuratively speaking. Granted, Tyler has a mischievous side which plays a part in this scene, but he does have his breaking point too.

Now let's discuss two of the reactions to Tyler's change in mood which came up in this Phase. I am of course referring to Rusty's and Kira's responses rather than those from the gang since they are more notable in this. Rusty may not know Tyler as well as Kira, but even he noticed there was a change in Tyler which shows he has good observation skills. Yet, he also recognizes the type of expression Tyler has. I will neither confirm nor deny that such may have come somewhat from Rusty's time around a certain someone who has a short temper that shall remain nameless for now, but some of you readers can guess to whom I refer. The point for Rusty is that he can see Tyler is close to losing his cool. Now with Kira, one who knows Tyler far better than any other there, he knows the signs far more. Put simply, Kira has seen Tyler lose his temper more than just a little, and he doesn't remember any of those times fondly as mentioned. But Kira also figures that Tyler's mood means things are about to get worse and of course, he isn't wrong.

Shifting to Murrue and Holland's reaction to the Shadow moving out from the park. Murrue may have guessed the Shadow and Asuka could have elements from the G-Project, but she didn't have proof of the point until this other than the Phase shift armor. The better performance of the Shadow and Asuka may have been harsh to see for Murrue as it was figuratively a slap in the face to those who worked on the G-Project. However, when the Shadow activates its Mirage Colloid is the definitive proof that the two had elements of the G-Project. This did serve as an explanation for Mirage Colloid for those that don't want to look up the page from the Gundam Wikia.

Let's move back to the fighting that Creuset brings into the colony interior. So, once again, Creuset "whips" Mu and Krystal or rather he finishes the job he had been working on within the shaft. Yet, then we go into the "fun" part where Tyler jumps in, quite literally in this case. To say Tyler works hard to whip and scare Creuset would be an understatement. But I will say that I enjoyed writing this scene. This does show Tyler's fighting style to some extent which is clearly different than what most would expect. I did choose to change the CWIS guns popping up around the neck of the Shadow. The Unicorn Gundam was the inspiration for the idea and with hidden weapons being the Shadow's theme, it fit to me. The further damage that Tyler does is to prove a point that Creuset seriously underestimated him. Kira does jump in once the Strike is equipped with the Launcher Set. That of course ends not so nicely with the Agni cannon making a hole in the colony, but it is what it is.

I did change the cables falling slightly or rather went into more detail on Tyler's end which makes it a bit more interesting. The cables are not light, they weigh a lot when under the influence of gravity, more than a mobile suit would way in general. But that doesn't mean that a mobile suit can't take that kind of weight, it just is a lot to handle which drains power as you may have figured out. Tyler's method of moving the cables away in this version seemed more believable to me than just shifting them off. Then Tyler does get one last shot at Creuset before he runs off. One could see it as a "parting gift" that Tyler gives Creuset and the masked man does deserve it if we are all being honest.

In conclusion, this Phase took a little longer than I thought it would, but it is done. The next few phases will likely be less action packed than this one was. I hope that you readers are enjoying this new version. As always, please some of you take some time to write a review to tell me what you think of this story and phase. I take questions, critic, and comments though I ask you keep them polite or rather not just complain or burn this story that you may not like. If you wish to make non-nice or private comments, you can PM me and express what you like. Peace out until the next Phase!