Mayu watched the monitor as the Sword Impulse Gundam rushed forward, slashing outward and forcing the Gaia Gundam to jump back. The Gaia fired its vulcans, but they did nothing to the Impulse, which quickly pulled out its beam rifle and shot a few times, making the foe retreat.
"The Variable Phase Shift armor is holding up well… thank goodness." Mayu breathed out.
"Erm… isn't he being a bit too aggressive?" Meyrin asked, watching as Shinn straight up threw one of the anti-ship swords at the Gaia.
One of the executive officers, Arthur Trine she recalled, tapped his communicator as Shinn's face appeared on a monitor. "Shinn! Your orders are to capture them! You do understand that, right?! Those are our property!"
"I know that! I don't know if I can take them though!" Shinn responded. "How did this happen in the first place?!"
"Big Brother, watch out!" Mayu called.
The Impulse quickly brought up its shield to block a slash from the Gaia, retaliating with its own slash on the enemy's shield.
"How could we let the enemy steal them so easily?!" He shouted with a grunt.
"Now's not the time for chitchat!" Captain Gladys said. "This isn't practice! Concentrate on the battle!"
While both Athrur and Meyrin merely nodded, Mayu's eyes were glued on the monitor, watching her brother fight.
Talia quickly picked up the communicator again. "If they're here on a capture mission, there should be a carrier waiting outside. See anything?"
The PLANT suddenly shaking answered their question.
"What's that?" Talia asked, as the others tried to get a grasp on the situation.
"Are there any cameras, Meyrin?" Mayu asked.
"They're all offline!" Meyrin switched from monitor to monitor, only seeing static.
"Athrun!" Cagalli said, having felt the tremors from inside the ZAKU.
"We're being attacked from the outside." Athrun realized. "The harbor?"
He grit his teeth, remembering the scenario was similar to one he had been in years ago…
The Gaia shifted into its dog-like mobile armor mode, charging at the Impulse. "Bastard!" Shinn quickly brought up his shield to block the beam blades on its back. He grit his teeth from the impact. "Damn! This wasn't in our training!"
While some air support from other mobile suits came in from above, the Abyss Gundam quickly took care of them. Inside, the pilot called down to the pilot of the Chaos Gundam. "Sting! That's our cue!"
"I know! Our ride's here, right?!" Sting asked, checking his mobile suit's specs as the Abyss landed next to him.
"We're late! The bus'll leave without us!"
"Yes, I know, Auel!" Sting said in annoyance.
"What is that thing, even?" Auel asked, watching as the Impulse was blocking the rapid dash attacks from the Gaia. "We were told there were only three new models!"
"How should I know?!" Sting shot back.
"So what do we do? The plan didn't account for this." Auel said. "Tch, Neo messed up!"
The Gaia transformed back into its mobile suit mode, only to get blasted by a shot from the Impulse's beam rifle.
"But we can't exactly ignore it." Sting said. "It'll be a pain if it comes after us!"
His radar beeped, and he quickly shot down a white ZAKU that tried sniping him from above, before speeding forward.
"Heh. Thinking of bringing its head along as a gift?" Auel chuckled, before joining him. "Isn't that the sort of thing lame people do?!"
"Hraaaaaaaah!" The Sword Impulse swung down its anti-ship sword at the Gaia, forcing it to block with both its shield and beam saber.
"Ggh…!" The pilot inside winced at the strength of this unknown mobile suit.
"Stella!" Sting shouted.
Hearing her comrade call for her, she broke the swordlock, jumping back. Shinn realized that she had purposely let herself be pushed back. "Behind me-?!"
He turned, barely dodging a huge blast from the Abyss, before jumping back to avoid getting skewered by the Chaos from above. The Chaos fired a blast from its beam rifle, which Shinn quickly blocked with his shield.
"Behind you!" Mayu shouted.
Heeding his sister's words, Shinn ducked down, avoiding a slash from the Gaia. But another one of the slashes knocked him upwards. "Aaaah!"
"Big Brother!" Mayu screamed.
Athrun saw the scuffle going on, and pressed a few buttons on the ZAKU's dashboard.
"Athrun?" Cagalli turned to him.
"Hold on!" He shouted.
The Impulse fell backwards, as the Abyss dashed in from behind. "Gotcha!"
"Shit!" Shinn couldn't bring up his saber to defend himself.
"NO!" Mayu screamed.
Before the Abyss could slash at the Impulse, it got shoulder-tackled by the ZAKU.
"What?!" Auel was forced back as Athrun grit his teeth. He tossed the tomahawk, as it got embedded in the Gaia's shield. "Why you! Eat this!"
The Impulse stood up, only to see the ZAKU's shield get blasted by the Abyss, knocking it straight into a wall. Athrun winced, but heard Cagalli cry out as she fell into his arms. "Cagalli!"
He grasped the back of her head, realizing she was bleeding. Thinking quickly, he activated the ZAKU's thrusters to avoid another blast from the Abyss.
"Damn it." Auel cursed, seeing it get away. He blasted several more mobile suits that fired from above.
The Impulse saw this and dashed forward with the anti-ship sword in its hands. "I won't let you!"
Shinn slashed at it, but the Abyss jumped skyward. The Gaia rushed in, and the Impulse had to bring up its shield again.
"Damn you!" Stella shouted.
"Not today!" Shinn roared.
"Big Brother…" Mayu put a hand on her heart, seeing him battle.
"Shinn'll be fine." Meyrin tried to reassure her. "He's one of our best, after all."
Mayu nodded, but was still worried. "What's the situation with Luna and Rey?"
"Their ZAKUs are damaged, but they should be joining Shinn soon. It'll be okay." Meyrin told her.
Mayu let out a breath she had kept in. Lunamaria and Rey were both skilled enough to support her brother and watch his back. Captain Gladys watched the girl continue to oversee the battle. She's a gentle girl with how worried she is… why did she ask to be stationed on a battleship, even if her brother is with us?
"Damn! This new model…" Sting muttered, as the battle had taken to the sky.
"Chaos, Gaia and Abyss…!" Shinn heard an alert on his radar, as he quickly flew upwards to avoid getting slashed by the Gaia.
"God dammit, he just won't go down!" Stella shouted.
"How could something like this be allowed to happen?!" Shinn yelled.
"Big Brother, calm down!" Mayu spoke from the communicator.
Shinn grabbed the beam boomerang from the back of the Sword Impulse, throwing it forward and knocking the Gaia back with the hit.
"Damn it!" Auel cursed. The Abyss opened up its binders to fire an array of beams. The Impulse blocked it with its shield, but all the mobile suits on the ground weren't as lucky. Shinn briefly looked down in shock, before he realized the enemy pilot wasn't finished. "And here's some more-!"
Beam fire knocked the Abyss away. Sting widened his eyes. "Auel!"
Flying in were two ZAKUs, one red, one white.
"How dare you try to trick us!" Luna shouted, firing at the Abyss.
The Abyss dodged the first shot and blocked the second. "Sting! There's no end to this! My machine's running out of power!"
The white ZAKU flew around the Chaos, pressuring it with blaster fire. "Ugh, let's retreat! Stella! Can you lose him?!"
"I'll destroy him in no time!" Stella declared, the shoulder cannons firing at the Impulse, which was retaliating with its vulcans. "This can't be it… I… I…!"
The two slashed at one another, passing their foes.
"Shinn!" Rey called in concern.
"Retreat! Stop it, Stella!" Sting shouted.
"I can't give in to this guy!" She screamed, the Gaia rushing in.
"Stella!" Sting yelled.
Auel smirked. "Then you just have to die here!"
"Ah…!" Stella stiffened up at hearing that word.
"Auel!" Sting shouted.
"I'll give Neo a message on your behalf! I'll tell him you said "Goodbye"!" Auel added.
"Ah… Ah…" Stella's hands trembled on the controls as the Gaia froze in the air.
"Big Brother, it's open!" Mayu called.
"Got it!" Shinn pulled out another one of the beam boomerangs and threw it, but the Chaos flew in to deflect it with its shield. Shinn caught the boomerang again, before flying back to avoid the beam rifle shots from the Chaos.
"Die…?" Stella started to tear up, hugging at herself as her breathing became sharper. "I… Goodbye…?"
"Auel!" Sting shouted. "Why did you-"
"She wouldn't stop! I had no choice!" Auel argued.
"Shut up, you fool! That was uncalled for!" Sting reprimanded.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Stella screamed as the Gaia shot away from the battle. Sting grit his teeth as the Chaos followed after her, the Abyss giving them covering fire.
"We got what we came for, right?" Auel asked.
"You're not getting away!" Shinn shouted, flying towards them, the two ZAKUs right behind him. Unfortunately, Luna's ZAKU finally gave out from earlier damages, as she was forced to make a landing, leaving Rey as Shinn's only backup.
Athrun landed the borrowed ZAKU, looking around and observing the situation. He tapped the camera, zooming in to see Chairman Durandal being escorted via jeep. Cagalli stirred, opening her eyes. "Athrun…?"
"How are you feeling?" He asked, seeing that the bleeding had stopped.
"I… feel fine." Cagalli said, though putting a hand on her head said otherwise.
"I'm sorry. I just…" He looked around. "We'll find a safe place to disembark right away."
"I'll be fine." Cagalli insisted, as the ZAKU slowly walked, trying not to shake the cockpit much. "However…"
She looked around at all the destruction around them.
The Chaos detached the two pods on its back, while the Abyss fired beam after beam. Shinn and Rey maneuvered around them, but the two pods were remotely flying and firing at them.
"These guys are incredible. How can they operate stolen machines so well?!" Shinn said, half-impressed, half-concerned.
"If they escape, that's it!" Rey shouted. "We've gotta stop them from getting away!"
"I know that, but…!" Shinn grit his teeth.
Rey's eyes briefly lit up, as he felt something was off. What was that…?
"It's no use! I'm getting nothing from the control room!" One of the officers said.
"Gasses have been released from within the factory." Meyrin reported. "There's a level four evacuation warning for all districts from Espace to Ronal."
"So this was all completely planned… they caught us off guard." Mayu realized.
"Captain. The situation's critical." Arthur said. "Should they end up getting away…"
"We won't allow that to happen." Captain Gladys said. "In any case, I wonder which unit of theirs executed this daring plan..."
Mayu heard the door open and wondered who had come in during a time like this. But to her utter surprise, as well as everyone else, Chairman Durandal and his escorts had just arrived.
"Mr. Chairman!" Talia turned in her chair to face him.
"What's the situation?" He asked. "What's going on?!"
While some of the others tried explaining, Mayu found herself tongue-tied. This was her first time meeting the man, and he had a very commandeering presence about him.
Chairman Durandal… She said in awe, watching him ask more questions.
Stella screamed and fired the beam weapons of the Gaia, blasting the sky of the PLANT.
"Damn it!" Shinn cursed.
The Impulse flew around, dodging the Chaos' remote weaponry. Frustrated, Shinn drew out the Sword Impulse's beam boomerangs and threw them at the Gaia. However, the Abyss intercepted and blasted them out of the sky, before it and the Chaos flew in to defend the Gaia.
"Rrgh. Minerva!" Shinn shouted, calling back to base. "Send out the Force Silhouette!"
"Captain!" Arthur said.
"I approve! Send it out!" Talia shouted.
"Captain, are you sure?" Mayu asked.
"There's no longer any reason to keep it a secret, is there?" Talia turned to Chairman Durandal.
He stared back at her briefly, before agreeing. "No."
The other bridge members turned back to their stations.
"Force Silhouette! Standby for takeoff!" Meyrin announced.
Shinn fired the vulcans of the Sword Impulse, shooting down the missiles fired by the Chaos. Rey's ZAKU fired at the Abyss, but the blue mobile suit proved too agile to be hit.
"You annoying little…!" Auel flew around.
"You pest!" Sting shouted.
"Big Brother! The Force Silhouette has been sent out!" Mayu reported.
"Thanks for letting me know, Mayu!" Shinn grinned. "Rey! I need you to keep em busy for a sec!"
"I'm on it!" Rey shouted, drawing out his ZAKU's beam tomahawk. He slashed down at the Abyss, which blocked with its lance. It kicked back Rey's ZAKU back, but the ZAFT soldier was determined.
"This'll do it!" Stella screamed, firing several more times at the sky, damaging the inner wall of the PLANT.
Shinn pulled up the Impulse's camera system, picking up the Gaia's actions. "I can't let that happen!"
His radar beeped, and he dodged several shots from the Chaos. "I won't let you!"
Its two remote weapons blasted at the Impulse, before the Chaos itself swung. Shinn slashed his sword down, but the strength of the chaos snapped the blade in half. The Chaos took the opportunity to fire at Shinn, but Rey came in to cover from above as the Force Silhouette flew by.
"Shinn!" He called.
Nodding, the Impulse flew up, detaching what was left of the Sword Silhouette. It attached the new Force Silhouette to its back, turning the color of his from red to blue. This new form of his shocked the enemy pilots, seeing it back in action.
"Haaaaaaaaah!" Shinn drew out the beam saber of the Force Impulse Gundam, swiftly dodging the beams from the Chaos. Sting barely moved it out of the way to avoid getting slashed.
"This guy…!" He grit his teeth.
"He can change his equipment?!" Auel said in frustration.
The Abyss fired its beams at the Force Impulse, but its new shield blocked all of them. Auel widened his eyes, before the Impulse rammed its shield straight at him, knocking him back with incredible force. With the Abyss now out of the way, Shinn flew the Impulse up towards the rapidly firing Gaia. Stella panicked, pulling the Gaia out of the way of the Impulse's slashes.
The Chaos and Abyss flew towards the two, as Rey's ZAKU fired at them. "But just because of that…"
The Abyss fired its beams at the wall, damaging it further.
"Stop it! Go away!" Stella screamed, shooting at the Force Impulse.
The Impulse dodged the blasts, speeding forward. "Fall!"
The Chaos fired, and Shinn was ready to dodge, but to his shock, they aimed straight at the wall of the PLANT. He and Rey widened their eyes, seeing that the attack had broken through the outer wall of the PLANT and was letting oxygen out into space. The Impulse and ZAKU fought against the suction, but the three stolen mobile suits flew out of the gaping hole.
"Damn it!" Shinn cursed, turning to the opening and chasing after them.
"Shinn!" Rey shouted, following his friend.
"Captain!" Arthur turned to her, seeing the camera feed. "They're heading out on their own! The enemy vessel is still outside…!"
"The Impulse's power is getting critically low!" Meyrin announced. "300 left at the most!"
"What?!" Mayu shouted. "We need to go out there!"
Talia nodded, standing. "We can't afford to lose the Impulse as well. Launch the Minerva!"
While the others seemed unsure, Chairman Durandal turned to the captain. "Please, Talia."
The others started to prepare, but Mayu saw an alert on the dashboard, saying a ZAKU had landed in the Minerva's hanger. Seeing as she wasn't needed here, she decided to go see what was going on.
"Wait a moment, Mayu." Talia looked back.
"Yes ma'am?" Mayu said.
"Once you wrap up routine checks, I'd like to request your continued presence in the bridge for the time being. Your knowledge on mobile suit repair should help us in battle." Talia said.
"Ah, yes, ma'am." Mayu said with a salute before leaving. Huh. Is this a promotion?
"Quite a gifted young woman." Durandal commented, watching her leave.
"The ship is now switching over to combat status!" Meyrin announced, typing away.
"Mr. Chairman, please prepare to disembark." Talia turned to Durandal.
"Talia. Under the circumstances, I can't exactly stay behind and wait for a report." He said.
"However-"
"I have a duty, and I also have the authority." He said. "I will go with you. Please permit it."
Meyrin tapped the communicator to make the announcement. "This ship is about to take off. All units, please proceed to your stations. I repeat. The ship is about to take off."
Mayu didn't know what she was expecting when she went in, but Luna and a few other ZAFT soldiers holding Cagalli Yula Athha and her bodyguard at gunpoint was not one of them.
"Luna?" Mayu went up to her. "What's going on?"
"These two flew in with the ZAKU Warrior." Luna told her, before turning back to them. "What were you doing in that machine?!"
Does Luna not realize who that is? Mayu thought. I guess she didn't really get a good look at Representative Athha's face earlier.
Cagalli widened her eyes at seeing Mayu. She was shocked to see a girl so young on a battleship, with a rather scarred face. She thought she saw Mayu's left arm tremble for a moment, but she quickly grasped it with other hand.
"Lower your rifles." Athrun said. "This is Miss Cagalli Yula Athha, Chief Representative of the Orb Union. I am her attendant, Alex Dino."
Luna was surprised by his words, though she briefly glanced at Mayu and saw the girl looked a bit uncomfortable. Seeing this, she realized what this Alex was telling her was likely true.
"We got caught up in the commotion while meeting with Chairman Durandal, and unable to escape, had no choice but to borrow the machine to defend ourselves." Athrun explained.
"Why have you chosen to land on this ship?" Luna asked, slightly lowering her gun.
"The Representative has been injured." Athrun said. "I understand that the Chairman has also boarded this ship. I'd like to see him!"
The Force Impulse flew through space, looking around for the stolen mobile suits.
"Damn! Where'd they go?!" He looked around.
"Shinn! Retreat for now. This is just reckless!" Rey called.
Out of their radar, a ship allowed the three stolens to dock. Stella hugged herself in the Gaia's cockpit.
"I'm not dead. I'm all right." Tears started to leak from her eyes. "I'm all right, aren't I, Stella?"
"Message for all hands at system control. As of this moment, LHM-BB01 Minerva's classification code has been validated. The Minerva is currently going through the emergency launch sequence. A55M6 warning alarm activated. All dock damage control teams, remain on standby."
Mayu walked down the hall with Luna, escorting Cagalli and Athrun as the announcement went on. Cagalli had heard it and looked around. "Is this ship escaping? Is the damage to the PLANT that horrendous?"
Luna chose to ignore Cagalli, instead quietly talking to Mayu. "Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah." Mayu nodded.
"If you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you." She told the younger girl, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
Mayu smiled. "Thanks, Luna."
"Condition Red announced. Pilots are to gather in the briefing room at once." Meyrin's voice came over the intercom.
"Is this ship taking off into battle?!" Athrun demanded.
"Athrun-!" Cagalli started, before she and her bodyguard realized they made a slip-up.
Luna turned to face them. "Athrun?"
Athrun… Mayu remembered the name from her time at the academy. Is this Athrun Zala?
Rey's eyes widened as he sensed an incoming presence. "Shinn! Heads up!"
Instinctively, Shinn brought up his shield to block a sudden beam rifle shot. He looked around as more fired upon him. "Where did-?!"
A magenta aircraft flew into view, nearly ramming into the Impulse if Shinn didn't fly it upwards. Inside, his masked assailant grinned.
"Now… I think I'll have that machine as well!" Neo Roanoke declared.
The ship flew back around towards the Impulse. Rey flew his ZAKU towards them. "Shinn!"
His alert changed to dread as he looked back, seeing an Earth Alliance ship come into view behind him.
Back on the Minerva, so many thoughts were running through Mayu's head at the moment before the realization finally hit her.
The Minerva's going to launch… there's going to be so much more fighting now…
A/N: Not too much of a change here. But here we see more from Mayu's perspective as we launch into battle proper.
Feel free to leave a review. See you all next time.