Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Legacy (Updated!)

Your own tale of two mecha.
Antares
Posts: 1546
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:44 am
Location: Finland
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Not bad at all. A switch in focus, certainly. A good fight with more grunt suits smacking each other up is always more interesting. And I also liked how the numbers of the downed were considered statistics as they actually more or less are in engagements like that (though obviously not so for the families).

Forgive my wandering mind, did you have some images or tech specs of the Fortune and Impact? I couldn't remember what they looked like though the battle narration does elaborate on their equipment.
-We will not be caught by surprise!
*Almost everyone I've killed uttered similar last words.
-Then I am glad once again that you are on my side.
*They've often said that too.
Ragormha
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:18 am
Location: Infinite void

Well, the Impact is supposed to be aGP01FV-meets-Force Impulse sort of suit, coloured yellow while the Fortune is, more or less, supposed to be a artillery suit inspired by a mix of the Abyss, Forbidden and Blast Impulse.
I'm afraid words only go so far though...
I have put in a graphics request, as you know which I will try to get done ASAP.
Glad to see you like it though.
Last edited by Ragormha on Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't CARE if the mechanaught can't handle it, I want Wings of Light, the few seconds it'd last and the pilot mortality would be worth it." -me, eXteel closed beta.
Ragormha
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:18 am
Location: Infinite void

Second half of Phase ten is up.

The final battle with the Middle East is at hand for the African forces, but knowing how the Earth Alliance rolls you and I both know it won't be the end of battle, especially with Sepha's need to deprive ZAFT of one of its allies.
"I don't CARE if the mechanaught can't handle it, I want Wings of Light, the few seconds it'd last and the pilot mortality would be worth it." -me, eXteel closed beta.
Ragormha
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:18 am
Location: Infinite void

PHASE 11: HERO OF VICTORIA

********************************************************

"Angle is perfect, re-entry under way, estimated ETA at the beachhead is seven hours. Heat shielding fully deployed. All crew resume normal actions upon atmospheric entry. For the preservation of our blue and pure world."

Roy sat back as his communications officer finished, he was a new guy; kinda scrawny with dark hair and glasses but he did the job well so Roy couldn't complain.

"Indeed. I advise all combat squad members go through preparations and simulations to give themselves the extra edge, clean off a few days of rust. Now when we arrive expect stiff resistance, the enemy has at least one crack team, maybe more. The Seventh will be meeting us at some point, but as they are stationed in Muscat on the Arabian peninsula they might take awhile to mobilise, Cecil was always lazy," Roy ordered, the last part spoken under his breath.
It had only been a short time since Roy was in the African Union, his tan hadn't even began to fade yet, yet he was already heading back there.

*****

"Sir! Orders have just arrived from HQ; we're to go and assist in the African offensive as the standard forces are encountering stiff resistance, several new model and high performance mobile suits have been deployed by the ZAFT defenders," Yullie Trall reported. Yullie was a young woman with long pale blond hair and emerald green eyes combined with her dazzling white uniform she practically lit up the room.

"Hmmm? Is that so? Roy was ordered to assist there as well, wasn't he? He always too hasty...he'll get there before us. This means we have no real need to hurry. How long will it take for us to reach the main EA forces?" Cecil said lazily and stretched. Cecil was of average height, bland faced and slightly chubby these facts combined with natural paleness, unruly dark brown hair and large bushy eyebrows gave him a slob-like appearance, those he didn't know him remarked that he must have become a colonel by luck.

"About ten hours, if we leave soon," Yullie replied.

Cecil brushed back his hair, "hmmm, call the Lucky Sevens together and give them a briefing, after lunch and a nap, we're going to a wonderful party."

Yullie sighed to herself, even if one did know Cecil's abilities, it was hard to deal with his slothful behaviour. He had been one of the best assault commanders in Eurasia, when there was a Eurasia, and even now he was still top-class.

*****

Ourei stretched as he waited for the Impact to be recharged, ZAFT had held its ground...but the cost had been high, they were reduced to something like half their original fighting power if the reports were to be believed. Even once all the repairs were done they'd have around two hundred suits, maybe. The Earth Alliance would still have twice their numbers.if not more. It was a grim prognosis because retreat would mean sacrificing the Victorian mass driver and the mobility that came with it; such a thing was unthinkable to both ZAFT high command and Commander Vultz himself.

The hanger was a big space, the Lesseps was made to carry more than the five suits of Sioun's team and it felt even larger and emptier for the lack of others.

Ourei grinned as Artemis entered. "Wow, bravo Artemis, I'm really proud of you. You weren't shot down...y'know like you always are in the simulations. I am truly amazed and pleasantly surprised," he said mockingly.

"Shut up! It's way too early for this kinda stupidity. If you want to tease people go and tease people who did get shot down," Artemis replied tiredly.

"Gee Artemis I'm just joking around, no need to get all upset. Look if it makes you feel better I'll stop picking on you," Ourei said stepping toward Artemis and reaching out to pat her shoulder.

Artemis swatted his hand away, "I'm not upset! It's because he's here!" she hissed.

Ourei ignored the contradiction, "He? Apollo? What's wrong with him?"

"You don't know him, he's so...I don't know. He always thinks he's right, and he usually is, he's so self sacrificing and dutiful it makes me sick!" Artemis responded.

"Ahhh, I'm not sure that's a bad thing..." Ourei said slowly.

"It is when he's your brother, it's enough to make you crazy."

"But I thought you joined ZAFT because he did," Ourei answered.

"You thought wrong! I joined because I wanted to ensure we all lived in a peaceful world, seeing the Bloody Valentine, later the Requiem attack, it proved to me that I needed to do my part to protect PLANT," Artemis responded angrily.

"My oh my aren't you noble," Ourei responded cynically.

"Hey, you said you'd stop!" Artemis protested.

"Not my fault, it just slipped out," Ourei said closing his crimson eyes and yawning loudly. "Well, if nothing is going on I think I'm going to go to sleep, it's been a few hours and it looks like the EA doesn't want to attack yet, it'll be a while before we can counter-attack too," he continued making for the door.

"Don't run from me Ourei!" Artemis yelled as she pursued Ourei.

*****

"I'll repeat that, who are you and what do you know?" Apollo asked from his seat, opposite him a large dark skinned man sat handcuffed, two men in ZAFT uniforms with automatic rifles stood guard by the door, in his injured state the man was unlikely to be trouble, but it was always wise to take precautions.

"My name is Zera Dromos, I am a Colonel in the military forces that make up the Earth Alliance, my identification number is 1092276. I will say no more."

"Look, I don't car about that. Just tell me why you had such an advanced weapon and which division you are with," Apollo said hoping to get the man talking.

"I have said all I will say," Zera answered and looked the other man in the eyes flatly, his dark blue eyes unflinching.

Apollo shook his head, it would be an easy thing to kill the man, but then they'd lose a potential bargaining chip and any information he might know. Torture was an option too, it was forbidden by law but if valuable information could be gained most people were willing to look the other way. Still, the man was too weak to risk such a thing and a dead man was useless.

Apollo sighed as he got up, "I'm done, send the prisoner back to his cell."

Zera rose and walked out of the room on his own accord, the ZAFT soldiers falling in beside him.

*****

Mars stared our of the bridge of the Pariah, ahead a similar looking dark blue battleship was in port, it had arrived just this morning and the crew were in the process of disembarking.

"It's called the Apogee, only two are currently in existence, or will be, the Vagrant is still being constructed," the captain of the new ship said, he was an Englishman by his accent and appearance.

"Yeah, but why are you even here? ZAFT has withdrawn and we're expected to head down to Earth or to join one of the space fleets, there's no need for you guys to come up here," Mars replied.

"Oh you didn't know? The Apogee class has been specially sent up because your third battalion is being transferred to the Earth. Since the Third has two of Mister Irillion's Knights it wouldn't do to have you slumming around on Earth in a carrier or something," the man said in response.

"Pampered brats, where were MY high-tech new carriers to carry me around when I was out of the academy," Mars said discontentedly under his breath. "Anyway, what are the specs?"

"Ahem. Well it is fundamentally a larger version of a Girty Lue that has been heavily altered and streamlined, it can operate in the atmosphere and cruise on the sea. It has been flattened out a bit and the bottom Gottfired have been removed and placed on widened sections of the main body next to the bridge. Overall the Apogee is both significantly longer at four-hundred and forty metres and at least twenty metres wider than its predecessor. It is also noticeably taller by seven metres. It is supposed to be a multi-role command ship and is thus equipped with a wide array of weapons and technological systems, including Mirage Colloid and some other experimental weapons."

"So are we to transfer over?" Mars asked.

"Yes, it has the extra mobile suits for most, if not all, of your pilots as well, so you should be able to deploy at full strength. I'm also to tell you that you have been instructed to head down to the Middle-East, Doha I believe, to pick up the unit for one Rafor Terodrin."

"Very well then, I'll tell the crew," Mars replied.

The other man nodded, "I will be sure to tell Mister Irillion that everything went well, he sends his apologies but right now communications are being disrupted by some new experimental technology that is currently undergoing testing."

"It is no matter, tell him that we are always pleased and honoured to receive his gifts," Mars replied while looking out at the Apogee.

*****

Roy looked down through the bridge window, lime-and-white Windam were arrayed before him sporting various different packs and formed into different squads, some fresh and others showing the scars of recent combat.

"Sir the communication link has been set up and secured, the Zaft forces should be able to pick this up," the communications officer said and Roy nodded in response.

The view screen switched onto the image of a heavily greying man wearing an Admiral's uniform.

Roy smiled at the man, "I am Colonel Roy Silver of the First Cosmos battlefield battalion, this is my transport the Archangel-class Terminal Penitence,we are here to act as your special reinforcements."

The man nodded, "I am Admiral Tataj Yessal of the First Middle-Eastern Dominion Mobile Assault Corps, it is a pleasure to have such an esteemed ace pilot as yourself. When this business is over I would personally like to extend an offer to join me in a game of poker, maybe we could trade stories and have a brandy or two."

Roy nodded, "I thank you for the offer, I'll see what I can do. Do tell me, how soon will you be requiring our assistance?"

The Admiral thought for a moment, "when the Seventh arrives we'll re-launch our offensive, we'll require your assistance to deal with some of the enemy force. We'll transfer our limited information of their combat capabilities "

"Understood, thank you," Roy said before the image winked off. "Cecil will probably be a few hours, but make sure the pilots stay sharp. Begin equipping the Windam for close-quarters combat."

"Yes sir!" his officers replied.

"Find my good-for-nothing major as well, he should have been here five minutes ago."

***

"All forces to the defensive, the Earth Alliance has renewed the attack. Jehar Team move forward, Reava Team advance to join the Suruishi Team. Hanbard Team, stay back at the defence line. All Lesseps and Petrie class open fire as soon as the enemy is within range," Vultz finished.

More orders were barked as the ZAFT defenders began to swing into action to reinforce their defensive lines and prepare to repel the attack.

"I'll move forward to support the centre as well," Apollo said from the Galahad.

"Confirmed," Vults acknowledged.

Damnit, again? And so soon, ready to attack again...these are quite the determined foe, Vultz thought grimly


*****

"Apollo Harin, Law, heading out." The white and silver mobile suit launched just as the first waves of Windam were with range, instantly the world erupted in light and fire as the Lesseps fired their cannons and the combined ZAFT mobile suits opened fire.

"Sir, positron beam incoming from sector blue seven!" Hayata reported.

"Evasive action! Roll thirty degrees and counter-attack with the Tristan!" Apollo ordered as he hovered a few metres above the ground, in front of him Blaze ZAKU were putting up stiff resistance against the incoming Jet Windam, which rolled and jinked to avoid getting hit, Apollo kept himself steady as he watched the incoming positron beam barely miss the Galahad's left wing, coming close enough to rip some of the paint off.

"Archangel-class dead ahead, launching mobile suits, type unknown, they appear to be Windam with some new pack..." Hayata reported nervously.

"I'll deal with them, launch the DOM Troopers," Apollo ordered hefting his beam rifle and advancing.

Ahead the Archangel-class launched another mobile suit, black and white, "Duel?" Apollo asked himself before firing at the suit, it did look like the famous progenitor of the GAT series, the enemy dodged to one side and returned fire with its own rifle.

*****

"Hmmm, white suit. Major Arnam, take the Knight Windam and open a gap in the ZAFT line, I'll deal with the white one," Roy ordered.

"Confirmed Roy. I'd warn you that there are ten DOM charging us though," Arnam said, his freckled face and brown hair visible behind his visor. He looked young to be a Major, but Roy trusted his skills.

"Okay, we take them out as well," Roy answered simply.

"Okay, just like we planned it, Knight's Charge battle formation, go!" Arnam ordered, his own salmon-pink Windam leading the charge with his large shield held out in front of him and his Mach Cavalier beam lance held ready to lunge, the other nine Windam arrayed themselves forming a wedge. As the Blaze and Gunner ZAKU fired their beams bent away from the Geschmeidig Panzer systems installed in the shields.

Then the Knight Windam met the ZAKU, meeting the relatively ill-equipped ZAFT suits head on with the full momentum of the suits behind the beam lances, some lances drove straight through the Zaku's shields and into the suit, others hacked off limbs with the force of their charges while other less well aimed attacks slid off target, some pilots lost or discarded their weapons in the resulting confusion and drew beam sabres or Neo Schwert Gewehr anti-shipping swords and continuing the attack, other pilots fell back to regain their stability and come back for another charge. Then the DOM joined the fray and chaos truly overtook the battle.

"I'll send you space monsters to hell!" Arnam yelled as he closed with a DOM, sabre meeting sabre in furious combat.

To Roy's right a Knight Windam buried its Schwert Gewehr in a Dom's torso, the ZAFT pilot having a moment to cry out before he was vaporised, moments later another DOM cut the Windam down from behind.

To Roy's left a DOM moved to slash a Knight Windam in half longways only to have its arms hewn off by two of the Windam's comrades and the ZAFT suit was then brutally hacked apart.

Roy nodded to himself as he began to clear a path to his foe, he charged forward and slashed a DOM's arm off before firing his Serpent's Tongue multi-phase beam cannon into its chest, he booted it back and let it explode on an advancing Blaze ZAKU as he charged through the smoke and haze of the explosion and rammed another Gunner ZAKU with his shield, as it fell back off-balanced he cut it in two longwise.

"Bianca!" the ZAFT pilot cried out as his suit exploded around him.

Then the white suit charged him, its boosters at maximum and beam sabres in both hands, Roy smiled as he took the attack head on with shield and sabre.

*****

Ourei fired his M2012GX high energy beam cannon, the beam tore through a Jet Windam which exploded moments later, to one side of him a GAZuOOT exploded in a brilliant display of neon fire as another Windam charged forward across the scorched earth, firing its beam rifle rapidly. Ourei boosted back and fired again, vaporising the upper torso of the Windam and leaving its remains to simply fall over under their own weight.


*****

The ground was rolling and lightly grassed, it almost avoided looking like the battlefield it was, unlike some of the other areas, with ZAFT defenders on the highest points supported by land battleships and missile emplacements it was well protected. Sioun and Artemis were both standing on a Lesseps class and firing down on the attacking Windam.

"Commander Sioun! Enemy Archangel class approaching," Commander Hanbard said from his bright yellow custom GOUF as his suit kept low, taking cover in the terrain.

"Another one? Thank you Commander," Sioun replied as the Archangel came into view, sure enough it was a new one. The first one was white and dark blue, this one was black and gold, both had been highlighted with red though.

"I can't tell if it has launched mobile suits yet bu-" Hanbard was cut off as his mobile suit toppled to the ground, moments later it detonated in a neon burst, panic began to spread in the ZAFT ranks as suits began to scramble away from the downed suit.

"What the hell?" Sioun yelled.

"Enemy Archangel launching Windam and coming around," Louin reported as her BABI danced through the air dog fighting with the Windam.

Another mobile suit exploded to Ourei's left, he quickly narrowed down the possible options. "A Mirage Colloid system! Mirage Colloid!" Ourei exclaimed as another Slash ZAKU fell down.

"What? How many?" Sioun asked edgily.

"Doesn't matter, throw frag grenades about twelve metres from the last destroyed ZAKU, to the left," Ourei said as he stepped back and opened fire with his CIWS to the right of the ZAKU and swept the bullets left, if he was right he'd catch the enemy in the crossfire.

Soiun lobbed the grenade from her perch, it bounced once before exploding, a moment before a suit phased into view, it was black and red.

"Blitz?" Artemis asked from above.

*****

Yullie Trall grit her teeth, she'd reactivated the phase shift just in time, she had to dodge the yellow suit's bullets lest they give out her position and in doing so she jumped right into the grenade's frag radius, but now she was plain to see.

The Nightmare Blitz was identical to the original Blitz in appearance except it was more prominently red and featured a high-density carbon-crystalline sword and a beam rifle, both normally mounted on the back of the hips and could be mounted on the arm opposite the Trikeros system, it was incomplete as of yet as Angel Industries had decided against its second generation upgrade in favour of faster development on the Windam Plus weapons series.

Yullie panicked and fired up her thrusters to maximum to flee as the ZAFT forces opened up a barrage of beam weaponry, she dodged the beams as best she could, but couldn't help taking a few glancing blows before she could return to the cover of the Archangel class, landing on its hull, below the Windam were beginning to engage the enemy in furious close quarters combat while still more Midle-Eastern mobile suits were coming in behind to reinforce their comrades.

"We're moving in, target the Gottfried on the enemy Lesseps and fire at will. Launch Black Hammer missiles in tubes four to eight!" Cecil ordered.

"Sir, I'm about to sally out again. Sorry I was unable to do more," Yullie apologised in a disappointed tone.

"It's okay, it's your second time in that thing, it takes time to get used to using a stealth suit. Just use it like a normal one for now and take advantage of its weapons, stay back and provide support," Cecil responded coolly.

*****

Apollo grunted as the enemy Duel closed with him and feinted to his right, lashing out with a kick at the last moment sending him reeling back.

As the enemy fired its shoulder mounted beam cannon Apollo fired his thrusters and snapped his shield up to defend the attack, the beam dissipating harmlessly off the anti-beam coating and the Duel followed up with a lunge that Apollo narrowly avoided by spinning to his left.

"Damn, we'll see how you like...THIS!" Apollo said as he ejected his standard shield and powered up both his beam shields then charged at the Duel, both shields held in front of him forming a wall of beam energy.

Apollo growled to himself and launched himself forward as the Duel ducked to one side out of his path and countered his charge with an ascending slash that almost removed the Law's head.

Apollo grit his teeth as he steeled himself for another attack.

*****

Ourei fired the Impact's beam rifle with his left hand and two Windam fell from the sky before he fired his beam cannon at the Archangel-class; firing one-handed meant a loss in accuracy and the multicoloured beam struck the side of the battleship and caused some minor damage but seemed unable to inflict any serious damage, at least from this range.

As Ourei tried to take to the air the enemy Blitz fired a volley at him as it descended from the Archangel-class; he blocked and countered but was forced down to the ground again.

Above, the Archangel let out a volley from it's Valiants and Gottfried that tore through one of the Lesseps which promptly exploded.

"This is insane!" Ourei spat as the Blitz charged him with it's Trikeros' beam sabre and its solid sword.

He drew his own beam sabre and met the Blitz's, using his shield to block the sword. The Blitz jumped back and fired twice with its Trikeros' inbuilt beam rifle and stepped forward, taking a swing at his head with the conventional sword, as he dodged to one side it lunged with its beam sabre, he barely dodged in time, the Blitz's blade sliding across the hip of the Impact and burning a deep grove into the metal.

"Why don't you just go and die!" Ourei yelled as he struck the Blitz with his shield and slashed at it's cockpit, it stumbled back a step but blocked with it's own beam sabre and slashed back with its sword, Ourei expected no damage from a conventional weapon but as the blade struck one of his wings it broke off under the force of the blow.

"What the...?" Ourei asked himself as he boosted back out of the Blitz's reach, he did so in time to hear Artemis scream over the team communications link.

Ourei saw the Fortune staggered back as a blast from the Gottfried removed one of her shoulder-mounted shields before it could deploy, a Jet Windam dived down and fired its beam rifle, destroying the left leg of Sioun's Blaze ZAKU Phantom at the knee and one of her shoulder-mounted missile silos before it was brought down by a volley from an missile emplacement.

To Ourei's mind the battle was quickly turning in the Earth Alliance's favour, the ZAFT defenders were already getting exhausted and with two Archangel-class to back them up and the numerical advantage it did not bode well, nevertheless he threw himself back into the fray.

*****

"Hard to port! Roll and fire the Tristan, fire Parsifal missiles, bring down that Archangel!" Hayata ordered as they dodged another Gottfried volley.

The Archangel's defence systems caught most of the missiles but a few CIWS turrets were destroyed, the Tristan's beam slipped past the body of the Archangel, a glancing blow at best for it failed to cause any noticeable damage.

In response the Archangel class fired another volley of all its conventional weapons and its Lohengrin, one of the Valiant's blasts struck the left Tristan of theGalahad which promptly detonated, killing several crew members and sendign a shock through the ship.

"Retailiate! Fire Isolde! and Tristan! Destroy that Lohengrin!" Hayata yelled the order.

The Archangel class's right Lohengrin exploded as a beam from the Tristan pierced it and moment's later the Isolde's shells struck the remains of the positron weapons shortly after reducing the whole right "leg" to a stump.

*****

"Come around again, that second Lesseps won't take another hit. Aim the Gottfried and Valiant! Launch the third squadron and tell them to target what remains of the mobile suits! Aim Trickplay and Black Hammer missiles. This will finish it!" Cecil ordered, he had a good feeling despite the damage done.

*****

Ourei was knocked back as the Blitz struck him with it's shoulder and stabbed at him again, he could see the beam-blade closing in on his cockpit, like things were in slow motion, on his radar he could see another volley of missiles headed at the Lesseps, with Artemis and Sioun still struggling to return fire or move, five more Windam dropped from the Archangel-class, all firing down on the retreating ZAFT defenders, everyone needed help, it was too much to do in too little time, even if he survived.

Ourei clenched his hands into fists, "I just want you to all go away and die! I can't do this all, it's too much! SOMEBODY HELP ME" Ourei yelled in frustration. (a red crystal shatters.)

Everything changed, the world became clearer, simpler, options opened up and a sense of calmness fell on him, like a fog lifted from his senses. Ourei fired his thrusters to maximum, launching straight up in the air, the Blitz stumbled past where he stood just moments ago. The Impact sheathed its beam sabre and drew its beam cannon as it launched up higher and higher, toward the Archangel-class, a moment later the
ZAFT suit twisted and fired down taking the missiles out with its high energy beam a mere moment before they struck the Lesseps, then Ourei spund and fired a second shot that struck and detonated one of the Archangel-classes Gottfired cannons, causing it to shake and flounder momentarily in the air.

"Sioun, abandon that Lesseps, its done for. Tell the crew to evacuate and head back to base. Artemis, keep those just-launched Windam suppressed, use the Baleena's, don't worry about conserving power, I only need you to keep them under control."

"Okay Ourei but why..." Sioun began

"Hey I'm not a subordinate! I-" Artemis broke in.

"Quiet! Sioun, tell her to do as I say, I have a plan!" Ourei snapped as he raced closer to the Archangel-class, the close in weapons systems began to fire at him but he ignored them, the bullets harmlessly bouncing off his Phase Shift armour as he powered through the air and closed in on the Archangel class.
Then Ourei stopped to hover just in front of the bridge, he raised his M2012GX beam cannon and fired point-blank, it was the fastest and most sure-fire way of dealing with the Archangel class; complete destruction of the bridge. The high-power beam ploughed into the bridge obliterating all inside, a plume of neon flame erupted from the devastated battleship as it lost control and began to lose altitude, but Ourei was already flying full-speed back to the battlefield.

*****

Roy sidestepped and brought his blade slicing through the back of the arm of the white enemy suit, he then booted the suit in the back, sending it stumbling forward and fired his Serpent's Tongue cannon, the suit ducked down and twisted in time to evade the blast and turned to face him.

"Colonel! The Seventh! Cecil, they've been destroyed!" Arnam reported frantically.

"What?" Roy asked astounded as the enemy mobile suit broke-away from combat with him, fleeing back toward the Minerva-class.

"The ninth division has been completely annihilated, it's that yellow suit!" Roy heard another captain scream.

Roy hissed in frustration, "we can still do this! It's only one mobile suit, it can't possibly have any power left!"

*****

Ourei fired another blast from his beam cannon as he hovered in the air, his blast hit three Windam from above, he then discarded the cannon and charged down drawing his Hyper Vajra beam sabre and his rifle, gunning down Windam as he began to close with another squad, some fired back but he was simply too fast to be hit by their clumsy attacks, had he thought about it Ourei would have realised they were probably rookies like him, but he didn't.

"Artemis, fire the Baleena at those four in front of me!" Ourei ordered as two Aile Windam tried to catch him in a pincer, attacking from both sides, he shot the Windam that charged at him from the left, and impaled the one that charged in from the right through its upper torso before pulling his sabre down and through the cockpit, his power metre was falling to dangerously low levels and he was beginning to feel agitated.

"Alright, like this?" Artemis asked as her dual multi-phase beams struck the group, two lost their heads and one lost an arm.

"Good, but improve your aim, it's a bit too high," Ourei said as he cut the leg and head off another Windam that tried to engage him sabre-to-sabre, a beam fired past the Impact's head and he turned.

The Blitz had caught up with him, it charged forward lunging its beam-blade at his torso.

"I've got you Blitz!" Ourei yelled and launched back bringing his rifle up and fired at close range; right into the left shoulder-joint of the Blitz, destroying it and detaching the arm, then he leapt forward brought his beam sabre down through the elbow of the right arm and kicked the Blitz in the torso sending it flying through the air to land in a motionless heap.

Ourei spun the Impact around and opened fire on another squad of advancing Windam, "come on! Wy don't you all die!" Ourei yelled as he closed with them.

*****

Apollo walked back onto the bridge of the Galahad, he had dropped his Law in the hanger and left the crew to deal with it, both the Galahad and the enemy Archangel class were quite damaged, but the Galahad had come out the less-so.

"Excellent job Hayata," Apollo complimented.

"Thank you sir," Hayata responded as the Archangel-class launched another missile volley.

"Fire Isolde! Stabilise and keep the firing on the CIWS tight, fire the Tristan at my mark...fire!" Hayata ordered, the missiles were destroyed and the beams from the Tristan struck the Archangel's remaining Gottfried and a Valiant, which exploded and were torn off respectively by the heavy fire of the Galahad

"Fire the Tannhauser at the Windam below," Hayata ordered and the Galahad aimed its nose down, the positron cannon began to charge.
The Windam continued to engage in combat with their ZAFT counterparts below, blissfully unaware of the threat, until the cannon fired, then they desperately tried to evade but the positron beam slammed into the ranks of Windam, obliterating some outright, damaging others with the shock wave of it's impact. Regardless of the degree of damage the Windam remaining began to fall back.


*****

"This is an order from Admiral Tataj Yessal, all forces are to retreat, we're abandoning this offensive in light of the current situation, all forces are to retreat to the beach for immediate evacuation."

"Damn it!" Roy swore, "we were so close! A few more minutes and we could have broken them!"

Arnam nodded, "Yeah but as you yourself say, sometimes the deciding factor is less than the flash of a moment, we have had considerably more than that, if we stay here we'll be destroyed."

"All right, all first battalion forces are to withdraw." Roy ordered turning his Duel around.

*****

"Arrrggghh!" Ourei yelled as he ran a fleeing Windam through the cockpit, as he did so his Phase Shift Armour died and his suit turned back to grey, his beam sabre dying away as it did so, the distant squads of Earth Alliance Windam were all retreating, the only Windam that remained were scrap.

For long moments Ourei sat panting, his eyes wide and his mouth dry with sweat running down his cheeks.

***

"We beat them back, but the ZAFT African army is virtually destroyed, no team remains at even ten fighting men. Together, only once all mobile suits are repaired, we might have a hundred mobile suits and a few Lesseps," Vultz said with a sigh.

The Glorious Khan itself was heavily damaged and undergoing repairs.

"About that, I lost virtually all my DOM too. Since it is likely an entirely new force will have to be assembled, what do you say to letting me recruit a team or two?" Apollo asked.

"I have no objections, who do you want?" Vultz asked.

"The Reava Team. They seem to have talent and it would do well to boost my strength," Apollo answered.

"Sounds fine to me, so long as they agree, if there was a chance we could still be a combat effective army I might object, but as it is they're probably better off with you anyway," Vultz answered. "Just take care of them."

"I will," Apollo said earnestly.

*****

"We're going to be under the direct command of a member of FAITH?" Ourei asked both surprised and pleased by the latest revelation.

"Yes, as of tomorrow," Sioun answered cooly.

"Artemis won't be happy," Ourei commented.

"She'll deal with it," Zella said blandly.

*****

It is my deepest regret to inform you that we were unable to achieve victory, it seemed like we were indeed on the verge of triumph but...somehow...I was unable to grasp the victory.
I also report to you the death of the Colonel of the Seventh, Cecil Tastona, along with all members aside from one Yullie Trall who has requested to join my first battalion.
Once again I express my deepest apologies. I think that if more resources were shifted to this campaign we could indeed still triumph as the ZAFT defenders are now considerably depleted and the African army is severely lacking in experience, however such an action would have to be carried out immediately and since all nations are not fully mobilised such a move might open up a vulnerable position on another front...Whatever you deem fit will surely be the correct choice.
Sincerely, Roy Silver


Sepha read the transmission and stood up slowly and deliberately.

"This is a very annoying setback...most annoying indeed. However I'm not going to give up that easily, we will see how my other Knights perform before I change my plans, they will not fail me," Sepha said stiffly as he stared out into the darkness through his window at the night sky.

*****

"Apogee fully loaded, crew transferred, all personal are on board. Powering up main thrusters, are we clear for launch?" Silvia asked.

"Confirmed Apogee you are go for launch," The Methusa base officer responded.

"Alright then. Samuel, if you would be so kind as to take us out? Apogee launch!" Mars ordered and the ship did so, gliding out of its dock and into the vast sea of stars, it moved gracefully but powerfully as it headed for the Earth.


END OF PHASE 11

Authors note: Longest post yet, woo! Well anyway, they should get mildly shorter after the next one. This little Arc has had a few battles but phase 13 will be mainly politics and character development, probably without much or any fighting.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Ragormha
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:18 am
Location: Infinite void

PHASE-12 MAELSTROM OF COMBAT

************************************

"Only a little more and we'll be at Doha, Silvia said an hour," Mars said, taking a seat with a grin. "We'll be able to pick up Rafor's unit then as well. You'd like that wouldn't you Blondie? Finally get a chance to do something?"

Rafor grimaced and shrugged, "Hmph. I had hoped to see action sooner. I get...bored...with this lack of combat."

"Well hey, you can have my combat hours Extended," another pilot said, a short man with with freckles and pale brown colouring.

Rafor didn't reply, he just crossed his arms and looked out the window, his black eyes became faraway as he stared into space.

"So what unit do you think Rafor will be piloting?" Jin asked rubbing his nose. "Estell got herself a Vamp just because she was an extended, I wonder what Rafor will get."

"I wasn't told, we'll just have to wait and see," Mars replied as he slouched on a dark blue couch.

"It sure is good to have all this extra room on board, you can really feel the difference between this and the Pariah? You checked out your rooms Serrim?" Jin asked.

"Not yet. I couldn't find my luggage," Serrim replied flatly and shrugged.

"Well find it later, you should check the rooms out, here I'll come with you," Jin said taking Serrim's hand and began dragging him across the room.

"I'll do it later. Later I said!" Serrim protested as Jin succeeded in pulling him out the door.

"Hurry on back for tea children! That means you Snowy." Mars yelled after them jovially.

"If Serrim is Snowy what would that make Jin? Nicknames I mean," the same pale man asked.

"Well good that you asked Roderick...because I don't know," Mars replied dryly.

*****

"I'm telling you man, the quarters are awesome! They don't have that weird burnt plastic smell either," Jin said as he walked. "So you're in number one right?"

"That's right," Serrim replied as they came to the door, Jin pressed down a button on the front of the door and it slid open smoothly.

The room inside was large and carpeted, with two doors located to one side and a bed on the other, an open wardrobe sat next to the bed with clothes neatly folded and coats hanged in rows. The table in the middle of the room was set for two and covered with a white tablecloth and four tall red candles.

"Wow, Serrim, am I interrupting something or something? I mean if you'd organised a dinner-date or something you coulda just told me," Jin said in an apologetic tone.

"I didn't make plans for tea. This is the first time I've been to my rooms...I guess I know where my luggage went though," Serrim replied thoughtfully looking at the full closet, the door hissed shut behind him a moment later.

"Look, Serrim, if you're embarrassed or something it's okay. I remember how antisocial and awkward you used to be, so I just assumed you'd be free to lounge around," Jin said taking a step toward the door.

"Stop playing around, I'd tell you if I made plans," Serrim replied, becoming frustrated with Jin's attitude.

The door slid open and Silvia stepped gracefully through the door, despite a large lidded tray held in her hands, Jin looked between the two suspiciously and shot an accusatory look at Serrim, a moment later his face changed to one of wonder and surprise.

"Oh I see! I get it! If you two don't want the others to know you're together I won't tell. But keep me in on the details, kay Serrim?" Jin said with a sly look.

Serrim stood dumbfounded for a moment, "what? I mean, it's not like that! I can expl-"

"Whatever you say Serrim, I'll leave you two love-birds alone, maybe I'll follow your example," Jin interrupted and gave a chuckle, he gave Serrim a wink and walked out the door.

Silvia placed the tray down on the table and turned to face Serrim again, pouting as she did so, "my surprise is ruined...I was going to make everything nice and get Azalier to come and get you."

Serrim smiled back at Silva, "I'm not disappointed, it was really nice of you, but why go to all the effort?"

Silvia looked puzzled at his question, "why? Well as soon as you came back we had to transfer from the Pariah and then Mars had to brief you, so I thought I'd set everything up and get us some tea and we could eat and talk together."

Serrim nodded in understanding, "I see... well thank you very much.
So what did you bring us to eat?"

Silvia smiled happily and skipped the few short steps to the table, lifted the lid daintily off the tray, underneath was a loaf of crusty bread and two bowls of thick orange soup. "It's nothing special, just a pumpkin soup with bread and a bottle of mineral water, if I ever have time I could cook something much better for you. You should be eating better than this stuff anyway," Silvia said with a twist to her mouth.

"It looks fine, but...I like the idea of your cooking more," Serrim replied taking a seat hurriedly.

"Really? Okay then, as soon as I'm free next, it's a date! " Silvia replied enthusiastically and took her seat opposite him.

I do perhaps wonder what exactly I have gotten myself into. It can't be anything that bad though, Serrim thought to himself as he looked at the honey-haired woman fold a napkin and place it under her glass.

*****

Ourei sat back in the cockpit of the Impact, the internal systems check was complete and everything was functioning normally, nothing had been damaged during transport to Apollo's Galahad.

"Hey watch your hands on my BABI, yeah you!" Louin yelled at the workmen below.

"Refreshing to see someone so...expressive. Disturbing, but somehow refreshing," Apollo said stepping onto the walkway in front of Ourei.

Ourei saluted the dark haired man, "Sir!"

Apollo shrugged, "don't worry about that Ourei, it's not a formal situation or anything. I'm just coming up to tell you to stay ready, you'll never know when we may be called out to duty, this isn't like being an average mobile suit pilot. It's been a couple of days since the last attack, and we could be asked to go anywhere at any time. "

Ourei dropped his hand, "I know that sir, I am here with full knowledge of what is expected of me."

"Really? Are you ready to die for ZAFT?" Apollo asked suddenly.

"I am," Ourei replied without hesitation.

"Why?" Apollo asked flatly.

"What do you mean 'why' sir?" Ourei asked as he climbed out of the cockpit.

"Why are you ready to die for ZAFT?" Apollo asked again.

"Because...I love my homeland and it is my duty to protect it, no matter the cost," Ourei responded after a moment.

"I see, that simple is it?" Apollo asked.

"Yes it is," Ourei said defensively.

"Remember that then Ourei. War can get very confusing at times, sometimes you can't even be sure that you're fighting for the right side. But remember what you just told me, because if you abandon ZAFT you are abandoning the PLANTs to our enemies and that means our homeland would be left just that bit more vulnerable, if enough people betray us we'll lose no matter how strong we are," Apollo replied gravely and turned away.

"Sir!" Ourei protested.

"What is it Ourei?"

"I won't abandon ZAFT," Ourei said honestly.

"Good to hear, very good to hear," Apollo said in a satisfied tone as he walked away.

Although, I'd rather not die at all, Ourei thought, suddenly feeling melancholy as he left the hanger.

*****

"So you are sure there is no way to make you reconsider?" Chairman Alerik asked.

The room was wide and almost empty, save for one other. Evidence 01 stood clearly in front of the two men, its whale-like form clearly visible. Alerik's companion was a man of average height with dark hair and red eyes, somewhere in his mid twenties by his look.

"I already told you, I won't do it. I'm not going to rejoin. Don't look so grim Chairman, I'm not going to the Earth either. I'll fight if I need to, but I'm only going to fight to create peace, no other reasons. There was another time when I used my power to fight for something more...but that was a long time ago," Alerik's companion replied.

"So you say. Well I won't force you, doing so would be pointless, but I'll be honest, ZAFT could really use your expertise. I could reinstate your rank in FAITH and organise a new mobile suit," Alerik offered.

"I don't think so Chairman, I don't need a new mobile suit and I already said I won't join ZAFT, even if it is FAITH."

Alerik simply nodded sadly, "the door is always open, mister Asuka, should you change your mind you need only ask."

The dark haired man merely inclined his head and turned away, his footsteps echoed in the chamber as he left.

Silently Alerik swore to himself.

*****

Shinn Asuka sat in the shuttle and sighed to himself as the small ship smoothly sailed out into space, memories flashed through his minds eye.

Shinn shook hands with a lighter haired man while tears streamed down his cheeks,
he had promised then that he would join Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala, to 'protect the flowers from people who would sweep them away' as they put it.

Still, Shinn found it hard to like Kira Yamato, well Yamato-Clyne now, the man had caused the death of several comrades and the woman he'd loved and the years had only softened the ill-will, not destroyed it.

Who does he think he is trying to interfere with the conflict? Running off to fight the world like some comic-book hero,
Shinn thought. He had to find where and who was behind everything before he made a move, or the situation would deteriorate and become confused. Besides, the Earth was Athrun and Kira's duty, Shinn just had to worry about keeping space peaceful. ZAFT had been the ones who started the war so joining them wasn't an option, as useful as it may have been.

"Are you going to go and fight, Shinn?" a woman asked from the cockpit.

"Not yet Luna, I'm still not sure who our real enemies are," Shinn responded absent-mindedly.

"Alright Shinn, take as long as you need to get things sorted out. You sure you want to do this?" the woman asked again.

"I'm sure, I don't know who I'm up against yet, but I need to be ready to act soon," Shinn replied as the PLANTs began to fade into the distance.

***

Doha; Qatar; industrial district.

"That is Rafor's new toy?" Jin asked incredulously.

"It is," Mars responded.

"GFAS-X1 Destroy," Aran commented looking at the large mobile suit.

"Not quite, actually," the lead technician said as they walked across the factory grounds, Rafor was already inside and checking the suit out.

Aran raised an eyebrow, "what is it then?"

The technician looked nervous, "I understand it is an upgrade. It's the X2, nuclear power plant and anti-beam coating around the torso, as well as beam-resistant covers for the Super Scylla multiphase beam cannons."

"Hey, lo and behold command has a brain," Mars said cynically.

"Yeah, it was an upgrade that came too late for the Second War though," Aran pointed out as the Destroy slowly began to hover over to the Apogee.

"Once the Destroy has reached its carrier we'll head off and join Roy off the African coast. We'll have a lot less support though, maybe twenty units or so, whatever Roy has left, so we'll need to be careful with our attack," Mars stated.

Jin made a spitting sound, "I tell ya, it's not fair, when are we going to get our new models, even as it is ZAFT will outnumber us, my Windam can't move for crap on Earth, what happened to all our allies?"

"They got defeated and ran home to put it plainly. We're here to show the Earth that we can defeat ZAFT, to set an example if you will," Aran replied.

"Nobody asked you Rich Boy," Jin replied.

"But Aran's right," Mars commented and Jin merely grunted to himself.

***

Serrim sat on his bed and brushed his hair, one even stroke after another.
Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Serrim thought of Silvia. She has made it clear she wants some sort of relationship with me, but what sort and why? I don't mind her, but do I really feel anything for her? Serrim couldn't find the answer no matter how long or hard he thought, there was something about her that stirred some protective instinct inside him. Serrim had sent her back to her quarters some time late at night, she had been reluctant to leave until he promised her they'd meet again..

Jin walked in without knocking, "yo, in case you want to know we just left port, we'll be off the African coast soon. You have to give the designers of this ship credit, it sure is fast."

"Yes it is, any changes to the plan?" Serrim asked.

Jin shook his head, "A major for two weeks and already neglecting his duties. No changes to the plan, we're going to rendezvous with Roy's unit and wait for Rafor to catch up with us then launch the attack, if all goes well we should beat those space monsters right into the dust. It'd be easy if those middle-easterners hadn't turned-tail, but we'll manage. Say, you know what? Rafor landed himself a Destroy! To think, I'm stuck with a lousy Windam and freaky boy gets a Destroy."

"Uh, Jin, aren't you getting that new unit from Sepha Irillion sometime soon? A custom-made unit at that." Serrim pointed out.

Jin grumbled a bit before answering, "yeah, but, his suit is bigger."

Serrim placed his palm on his forehead and sighed before carefully laying down his brush,, "I'm going out for some fresh air."

"Wait! You didn't even tell me how far you got with Silvia!" Jin yelled as Serrim left the room, "tell me damn you! It's a guy thing!"

Aran popped his head out of the opposing doorway, "do you mind Jin? I have a headache and you are not helping."

Jin narrowed his green eyes, "sorry Aran, I'll try to keep my voice down, while I'm at it would you like me to go and make you some tea? Hell, while I'm at why don't I bake you some biscuits, a cake even? What about a nice bubble-bath?"

Aran shot Jin his coldest look before closing the door.

Jin turned to find Serrim long gone, he shrugged to himself and walked off.

*****

Serrim opened one of the doors and stepped out onto the outside of the Apogee, a blast of fresh ocean air hit him and sent his hair flailing away from his face. Unlike the Girty Lue class which the Apogee was based on, the Apogee was a lot longer and had flatter areas around the bridge and between the two forward cannons, this was done so while on Earth crew members could enjoy being in the outside world. Serrim was on the larger area around the bridge, slightly ahead of him and to both sides were the third set of Gottfired high energy beam cannons, the sky-blue colour scheme of the ship shone brightly in the sun's rays.

Ahead and to one side Estell sat and hummed to herself, her shoulder-length hair danced in the brisk breeze as she sat and stared down at the ocean.

For a moment Serrim thought of interrupting her, but he reconsidered and turned away again. The girl was an Extended and everyone knew Extended didn't live very long, for one reason or another, there wasn't much point trying to become friends with someone who'd die so quickly.

*****

Jin jumped into the simulator, there were two to a room and each was an enclosed pod made to look like a mobile suit's cockpit.

"Latest technology, second best thing to actually combat practice," Jin said to himself as he entered the data on his unit and typed in a scenario.

"Base assault, five allies, thirty enemies, difficulty 8/10, do you accept?" Jin read aloud and clicked the 'yes' option and the screen changed to an operating system check, it read...

Generation
Unmatched
Network
Dynamic
Annihilator
Model

Jin smiled as the operation began.

Outside, the Apogee continued to power across the sea.

***

African Coast, task force staging point.

Mars sat in the commander's chair in the bridge as Darwin barked orders, "we're going in right behind the First, make sure we hold tight and stay to their right. Tell Rafor to suit up and get in the Destroy, signal the stage one alert, the operation will begin immediately."

Mars didn't mind, Darwin was a much more experienced captain than he was.

"Will you be launching too, sir?" Darwin asked.

"Yes, shortly, as soon as we make contact with the enemy," Mars replied.

"As you wish sir," Darwin said with a nod.

*****

"Another Earth Alliance attack?" Apollo asked.

"Yes, it's here, Vultz says he can only spare a few teams to back us up and a Lesseps, everything else has been recalled to the major facilities at Victoria for repairs, or has been destroyed," Hayata responded.

"Very well then, we'll have to meet them full-force and finish them swiftly. Go to stage one alert and get all the pilots to attend to their units. I will also be launching shortly," Apollo ordered.

"Yes sir!" Hayata responded.

*****

"We're going into battle again?" Ourei asked half-way through eating.

"Looks like it," Artemis answered.

"Well let's kick some Natty butt, we'll show them the power of ZAFT," Louin said standing up and grinning.

*****

"Enemy forces confirmed, ten GAZuOOT, fifteen ZAKU, a GOUF and four BuCUE, one Lesseps and one Minerva-class present," a dark-haired officer reported, Mars looked up at the display but didn't speak.

"Confirmed Tangu, load Black Hammers in pods one to thirty, load Devil Lances in pods thirty to forty, target the enemy Minerva class, fire all the Gottfired on my mark," Darwin ordered.

"Enemy mobile suits launching, DOM, and three previously recorded mobile suits from the last battle, the computer database recognises them as Law, Impact and Fortune, " Tangu relayed.

"Alright then, so at least we know they aren't planning an ambush, Gottfired...Fire!" Darwin responded.

*****

Aran zipped up his flight suit and stepped forward, only have his legs shiver and lose strength, he stumbled and hit the floor with a grunt, a moment later he regained his feet and stood shakily. Aran gasped and swayed a few steps before sitting down, his vision blurred and his head swam, his hand came up to his face in time to smoother a cough but came away bloody.

Not now! Gah! Aran's thoughts whirled as his vision shimmered.

*****

"Sir, colonel Roy Silver has launched his mobile suits, Rafor is launching from his carrier," Tangu updated as he clicked away on a keyboard.

"I will be heading out then," Mars said and exited the room.

"Sir, a message from Aran, he says he is unable to launch and is returning to his quarters."

Darwin looked on surprised, "Aran? What is wrong I wonder."

"He gave no reason sir, could just be cold feet..." Tangu suggested.

"We'll have to talk to him about it later, I don't think it could be something that minor, he fought the Freedom without a second thought, I don't see why ZAFT regulars would be an issue."

*****

Archangel-class battleship, Archangel, two hundred metres below sea surface, African Coast.

"I am grateful for Orb's help, but you guys didn't have to do this," Kira said from the cockpit of the Strike Freedom.

"Nonsense sir, until the original crew can be found and invited on-board you'll need somewhere as a home base. We'll make sure to stay hidden till then, as we've said before; Orb is always willing to help the Freedom, you saved our country twice and these Earth Alliance fiends are the ones who trashed our space fleet," the Orb officer said, a lieutenant by his uniform.

"All I'm trying to do is stop this senseless bloodshed, if I keep the two sides from fighting until we figure out who's behind this then no one else has to die," Kira answered.

"Good luck sir!" the Orb officer said.

"Thanks. Kira Yamato, Freedom, lets go!" Kira said as the Strike Freedom was launched and powerfully boosted its way up through the water, as he launched he felt the familiar feeling, everything became clearer and new options opened themselves to his mind, (blue crystal shatters).

*****

Serrim finished zipping up his white and silver flight suit and quickly darted down the corridor, all around pilots in blue fight suits were rushing off to their units, for the first time the Third had enough units for all the pilots, albeit there were only ten from the original battalion.

"Serrim," Jin said tapping Serrim on the shoulder, like the other pilots he was suited up, but his suit was black and green.

"What is it Jin?" Serrim asked as he slowed to a walk.

"The Freedom is around, I think, if it shows up let me handle it ok?" Jin asked.

"That again? You've got to be crazy Jin, there's no way a single Windam like yours could deal with the Freedom. If you really want it, I won't interfere," Serrim said plainly.

"Thanks," Jin responded looking over his shoulder. "Well I better shoot off, your girlfriends here to wish you a safe journey or something."

Serrim gritted his teeth as Jin ran past him chuckling to himself, sure enough Silvia was raced up the corridor as face as she could, her long hair bouncing vigorously as she did so, he patiently waited as the girl reached and stopped, him panting heavily.

"I...It's...impolite to make a girl run y'know?" Silvia said breathlessly brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"I kind of expected you'd be at the bridge, in fact how did you get away? Isn't your job kind of necessary?" Serrim asked.

"Honestly...ho...how irresponsible do you think...I am? I got Seres to cover for me," Silvia replied crossing her arms.

"Isn't Seres a mobile suit technician?" Serrim asked.

"Yeah, but she's good at it," Silvia said defensively.

Serrim blinked a few times, "right. Well anyway, is something the matter? Some reason you wanted to see me?"

Silvia diverted her gaze, "I just wanted to say good luck and take care and...umm..." Silvia stepped up and kissed him on the cheek nervously before averting her eyes again and blushing.

Serrim placed one hand to his cheek in surprise before smiling, "thank you. Don't worry Silvia, I promise I will be fine, after all I can't die now; I have to give you your kiss back," Serrim said slightly awkwardly and and turned away.

*****

"Jin Garuda, Windam, lets go!" Jin said as his mobile suit was launched out of the catapult, before hitting the ground he fired his boosters to give him a light landing, all around he could hear pilots signing off as they launched.

"Estell Savler, Vamp, launching!"

"Mars Lu Yeddin, Aegis, here I go!"

Both the suits took to the air in mobile armour mode.

Jin gritted his teeth, it was the same as in space, he could feel someone, they were getting closer, like an insect buzzing close to his ear.

"Strike...Freedom...Kira...Yamato" he hissed and turned back toward the cost.


Apollo launched and examined the area, "Hayata, make sure you take down that unknown ship quickly. Zella, Louin, Ourei, you three are with me. Sioun and Artemis are going to stay back on the ground and provide support while my DOM deal with the enemy mobile suits, I recognise that blue Archangel, and I'm almost certain we'll soon detect a Duel getting launched. I'll deal with that, the rest are yours," Apollo ordered.

"Yes sir!" Ourei responded and fired up the thrusters on the Impact.

"Sir, looks like you're right, Windam, Duel and Blitz all launching," Zella reported.

"Blitz? Hmmm, deal with them fast," Apollo said before launching forward and drawing his beam sabres.

*****

Roy smiled, "Oh hey white suit, Law was it? Looks like you missed me," he said firing his shoulder-mounted Serpent's Tongue multiphase beam cannon, his opponent blocked and kept charging.

Roy cut his boosters and landed on the ground, the Fatal Duel wasn't made for aerial combat and he had no intention of giving his enemy the home-turf advantage.

*****

Yullie Trall clenched her fist as she fired her Lancer Darts, "You monster! You're the one who killed Cecil and my comrades!" Yullie spat as she charged the Yellow suit, the Impact.

On the ground Windam and ZAFT suits fought bitterly, a GAZuOOT was destroyed by a Knight Windam's Mach Cavalier beam lance, the Windam was in turn coiled by the GOUF's Slayer Whip, moments later the coils melted through the Windam's torso and the suit fell apart.

The Nightmare Blitz was little better than it's original counterpart at aerial combat, it was the major weakness of both G-series', the Impact blocked her charge and kicked her back before firing its beam rifle.

Yullie thrust heavily to one side and and returned fire, the enemy beam barely grazed her shoulder as she did so.

*****

"Dawn," Mars said and Estell felt the familiar sense of her senses heightening, at the same time it was like she was drenched in icy water, involuntarily she gasped for a moment.

Estell drew her Neo Schwert Gewehr as she transformed her Vamp to mobile suit mode, she dived down and slashed through a BuCUE as it leapt through the air and then she landed and spun hewing into the cockpit of a Blaze ZAKU Warrior and leaving the weapon embedded there. Estell drew her M9805L beam rifle and fired twice, taking the head and arm of a Slash ZAKU that was running to intercept her.

*****

Mars launched toward the yellow mobile suit, the Impact according to the latest intelligence, and fired his Scylla before transforming and throwing a Midas Messer beam boomerang finally he drew his Dragon beam rifle and fired a few shots at the Impact for good measure.

The Impact reacted amazingly well, it dodged swiftly to one side to avoid the Scylla beam and fired its large beam cannon to destroy the Midas Messer and then proceeded to block the incoming beams from Mars, all while it dodged blasts from below.

*****

Ourei dodged another shot and fired his own beam rifle, taking the barrel off the enemy Aegis' rifle.

"All units be careful, a Destroy unit has arrived," Hayata reported.

"A Destroy? I'm kind of busy right now!" Ourei responded firing at the Blitz to keep it away as it made for another charge.

*****

Jin had sensed the Freedom before his Windam's sensors did, he opened fire with his recoilless cannon and both carbines as the white and blue mobile suit entered firing range, it advanced swiftly toward him heedless of his attacks.

"You! I don't know what is with you, or why I feel you, but I'm going to kill you!" Jin yelled as the Freedom blocked his beams with its energy shields and drew both its beam sabres.

Jin boosted back and opened fire with his Rapid Star beam machine gun, a few stray blasts hit the Freedom as it danced through the torrent of beam fire, those that hit caused minor damage but didn't slow the white suit. .

Jin thrust back with all the force his Windam could muster, but the configuration he used was not one that enabled a lot of mobility, the Freedom was in striking distance within a moment and Jin had only a fraction of a second to swear before it raised both its arms and cut both his pack-mounted weapons off in a double stroke with its beam sabres.

Jin dropped both his carbines and jumped forward catching the opposing suit in a bear-hug and holding its arms by its sides.

"We'll see who' laughs last, all I can say is this; screw you!" Jin shouted before typing in a code and slamming the eject button, there was the sensation of great speed as he was launched out of the Windam, below him he saw his mobile suit explode in a brilliant neon coloured burst of light.

Jin activated his inbuilt jet pack to slow his descent as he turned on his emergency transmitter.

*****
"Serrim Gospal, Windam, proceeding to launch," Serrim reported in.

"Attention everyone, Jin Garuda's Windam has self-detonated, his signal was just activated so we know he is alive, exercise extreme caution," Darwin ordered.

"Hmm, about that Darwin, I believe it is safe to say it was the Freedom, Jin said he could feel it was around and he was right last time, he probably self destructed in some half-brained kamikaze move," Serrim said as he flew up past the Apogee.

"I see, well then, all units beware, the Freedom is in the area, do not attempt to defeat it alone," Darwin ordered again.

*****

"Louin, take care of that Windam, I've got this Blitz under control," Zella ordered as he dodged easily and fired his gunlauncher, the high-speed slug struck the Blitz with great force and knocked it back but was unable to penetrate the Phase Shift.

"It's a good thing the BABI is a dogfighting suit and the Blitz isn't," Zella commented as he circled around the black suit and fired his beam rifle as the Blitz struggled to keep up with him.

*****

"Alright then, we're just at the right point. Missile tubes one to seven fire Black Hammers at BABI one, tubes eight to twelve fire at the second BABI, twelve to twenty target ZAKU, aim all Devil Lances at the enemy Minerva class and fire on my mark, aim all Gottfried at the enemy Lesseps. Fire!" Darwin ordered and the Apogee launched its attack.

The Lesseps shuddered as it was unable to dodge the incoming fire and the Gottfired high-energy blasts tore it apart, moments later it exploded brilliantly in a neon detonation, two Gunner ZAKU were brought down by Black Hammer missiles. The Minerva class activated it's close in weapons systems but was unable to stop all the missiles, two made it through the barrage; with one striking harmlessly on the outer armour and the other hitting the Isolde dead on.

"Minerva, two hits confirmed, Isolde cannon destroyed. The BABI made it out though," the dark-haired Tangu reported.

"Damn, reload tube one to ten with Trickplay missiles and re-target the Gottfired to the Minerva class, bring us around for another go," Darwin ordered.

*****

"Sir! the Isolde has been hit!," an officer reported and Hayata grit his teeth.

"That's it, aim the Tannhäuser at the enemy Archangel class and fire on my mark, aim the Tristan at the new enemy battleship, load Parsifal and Dispar missiles in all tubes, and prepare to fire," Hayata ordered.

*****

Rafor's Destroy floated toward the battlefield in mobile suit mode, his palms were sweaty and he was shaking from excitement.

A ping told him he was in range, "here we go, here I go, lets go now!" Rafor yelled as he opened up with all three Super Scylla's, the massive beams tore through the ZAFT ranks.

"Damnit, watch where you're shooting!" Mars ordered as his Aegis ducked out of the way of the resulting blast. .

Rafor grinned, "take this!" The Destroy launched its Sturm Faust arms and let them rain down beams on the remaining handful of ZAFT units, two beams and a cluster of rockets struck the torso of his unit and he laughed them off.

"Come on little ones! I'll kill you all!" Rafor exclaimed as his Sturm Faust arms reattached themselves and he used their inbuilt finger-mounted beam cannons and his Super Scylla to fire down on the ZAFT units, a the ZAKU was destroyed with ease but the new mobile suit, the Fortune, stood it's ground and the beams bent around it.

*****

"Well, here we are again Law," Roy said as he detected the suit and quickly advanced on it.

*****

Artemis grunted as the Destroy's attack was deflected and the GOUF to her right was destroyed.

"Come on you big bastard," Zella swore as he flew past the Destroy and fired at it, the beams and projectiles alike breaking harmlessly on it.

Artemis fired both her Balaena II and Callidus II but the Destroy blocked with its positron deflector shields.

"Here I go, Artemis keep firing!" Sioun ordered as she charged and put her thrusters to maximum while drawing her beam tomahawk and then striking the cockpit with the weapon, to her surprise the weapon failed to make a dent, she used both legs to kick off the Destroy and fired her rifle several times but all the blasts failed to do any damage, even at point-blank range, instead they harmlessly dissipated off the Destroy's massive frame.

*****

Yullie hissed as the dark green BABI she was fighting fired again and destroyed her right arm, as it boosted back and fired its Ardour cannon she let out a cry and thrust back again. The first BABI had gone to engage the Destroy from the Third under Mars Lu Yeddin, but this one was just as good but a good deal more aggressive.

To her surprise the beam didn't hit her, a purple and white Windam blocked the shot and returned fire, the BABI dodged and retreated a few steps.

"Now is your chance, fall back, I'll deal with this one," a young man with white hair said over the comm link.

"C..Confirmed," Yullie responded and retreated.

*****

"Getting fresh with me? I'll kill you!" Louin exclaimed as the Windam charged at her and struck her BABI with its shield before kicked her back, she powered up her thrusters and launched higher while firing her gunlauncher and beam rifle.

The Windam dodged darted side-to-side and returned fire, the beam cleanly cut her BABI's right arm off at the shoulder and she fired her Ardour beam cannon in response.

Behind her the Galahad let off a blast from its positron cannon, but missed whichever of its enemies it was aiming for.

*****

Serrim powered up his boosters and launched up to avoid the powerful Ardour beam before firing again and destroying one of the BABI's wings, he fired twice more and severely damaged the Ardour and the right leg of the BABI.

"And this will finish you," Serrim said calmly as he aimed and fired his Viper beam rifle directly at the BABI's cockpit.

Serrim raised his eyebrows in surprise as a yellow mobile suit jumped in the way and blocked his beam with it's shield it returned fire and he dodged again.

"Impulse? No...ah AMF Impact, I see," Serrim said as he checked the database, little was known as of yet, Military Intelligence was groggy lately.

"Alright then, Impact, forgive me for my abruptness, but let us conclude this battle," Serrim said and fired, his beam hit the large long-range beam cannon on the Impact's hip, the weapon's detonation partially damaged the Impact and sent it flying to one side, Serrim had predicted this and fired again shooting one of its thruster units, which also exploded. The two explosions sent the Impact tumbling through the air without control.

"An undisciplined pilot to fail to dodge such an obvious attack, well no matter," Serrim said to himself as he dived after the Impact, the BABI must have taken its chance to fall back because he couldn't see it.

Serrim heard the sensors ping and looked up in time to see a beam take his gun out of his hands, "Freedom?"

Above, coming out of the light of the sun the Strike Freedom descended.

*****

Apollo attacked vigorously he fired his rifle and destroyed the Duel's shoulder-mounted cannon, almost losing one of his Law's arms in the process.

Now the fight was as he liked it, beam sabre to beam sabre, he ducked the enemy Duel's stroke and lunged forward, his blade sliding across its shoulder but failing to cause serious damage.

*****

"Damn it! The entire support has been taken out, how many DOM do we have left?" Hayata asked.

"Two sir, also a BABI and the Impact are returning sir," a blond haired officer replied.

"Thank you Salasin, alright fire the Tannhäuser again and make sure this one hits!" Hayata ordered.

*****

Serrim narrowed his eyes as the Freedom flew past him, he drew his beam sabres and followed, but it outdistanced, "Serrim Gospal here, Freedom spotted, use my coordinates to determine the location, I'm going to pursue."

*****

Roy looked up to see his Terminal Penitence have it's left side opened up by a positron beam, the explosion ripped through the ship and smoke billowed out of the damaged section, the already damaged ship simply fell out of the sky.

"Damn," he swore as the Law struck him with its shield and and slashed one of the Fatal Duel's hands off, he ducked to one side and hacked a leg off in response.

*****

"Right, now hit that Archangel class with everything!" Hayata ordered.

"Yes sir!" the blond Salasin responded.

As the Tristan were about to open fire they were each hit by a beam and detonated, killing several crewmen as the corridors nearby were flooded with the explosion.

"What the hell?" Hayata asked.

"ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom," Salasin responded in awe.

*****

"Sir, Strike Freedom approaching!" Tangu reported.

"What? Fire all Trickplay missiles and re-target the Gottfired, all weapons fire!" Darwin ordered.

*****

The Freedom boosted back and activated it's CIWS to destroy the incoming missiles, one managed to strike and damage a wing but otherwise it was unharmed.

Mars transformed to mobile armour mode and fired his Scylla before charging, Estell followed with her Schwer Gewehr ready.

The Freedom easily dodged the beam and flew down to meet him in combat, to his surprise it flew past him and spun, slashing off his limbs as he transformed.

Estell slashed with her Schwert Gewehr but the Freedom blocked by grabbing the blade and pulling it out of her grip, she boosted back and began to draw both her beam sabres but it fired both Xiphias 3 rail cannons and destroyed her arms before she was able to complete the movements, headless of her the suit rushed past and toward the Destroy.

*****

Rafor took the arm off the Blaze ZAKU Phantom and blasted the legs off the BABI with his hand-mounted beam cannons.

His sensors pinged and he turned to see the Freedom flying in, he fired his Super Scylla only to have the speedy suit dodge his attacks, it responded by firing everything it had at him, he blocked the attack with ease and narrowed his eyes before firing his Zorn mark 2, the Strike Freedom dodged again and he hissed.

"Come on you insect!" he spat launching his detachable arms and firing his Scylla beam cannons again, the Freedom ducked in and slashed across his chest with its beam sabre but he merely flipped the Scylla shield switch, the Super Scylla beam cannons were quickly covered by retractable shields, Rafor let the sabre meet the beam coating with little effect.

"Ha! Stalemate my annoying little friend!" Rafor laughed as he opened fire again, the Freedom danced back and fired again, the Xiphias 3 rail guns made his suit shake from the impact but didn't manage to cause any damage.

*****

Serrim boosted forward and activated a beam sabre as he lunged at the Freedom with his shield, the Freedom dodged to one side and slashed at his head but he spun and blocked with his own sabre, he boosted back a few steps and narrowed his eyes at the other mobile suit, waiting to see what it would do next.

*****

Kira stared at the Windam, he recognised it just like he recognised the one earlier, purple and white with Jet Windam pack.

Kira launched the Freedom forward and attacked with both sabres, the Windam blocked with shield and sword and lunged forward trying to impale his cockpit, in reply he boosting back and fired his Xiphias 3 rail cannons and his Callidus, the Windam was unable to dodged due to it's momentum but had time to raise it's shield, the combined force of the attack destroyed the shield and the entire arm of the Windam, one of the rail projectiles continued and struck the Windam's torso and left a deep rent in the upper armour.

*****

Serrim clenched his fists as his shield arm was destroyed, it was becoming painfully obvious the Strike Freedom was too advanced for a Windam to defeat, it was faster, more powerful and had a greater reaction time. The last attack had damaged the ultra-compact battery and his power was bleeding out fast.

"Twenty seconds, maybe," Serrim said to himself. "Right, I'll have to finish this fast, I might not be able to beat you, but I can still avoid losing!"

Serrim charged forward and lunged for the cockpit, the Freedom sidestepped and he changed the motion of his attack to a slash and fired his boosters to add extra speed, the tip of the beam blade bit into the armour of the Strike Freedom's cockpit and opened up a rent, but failed to penetrate deep enough to kill or injure the pilot, Serrim fired his boosters sending him above the Freedom.

Serrim hit cockpit hatch button and drew his pistol as the power meter hit zero, there would only be a tiny window of opportunity.

As his Windam fell back powerless he jumped forward and let himself free-fall, as he reached the rent in the Strike Freedom's cockpit he fired his jetpack and hovered, the rent in the Freedom's armour was smaller than he had thought; barely wider than his chest. Serrim pointed his gun, for a moment the two pilots eyes met, blue, tinted faintly with purple and wide in surprise, to amethyst purple, cold and full of purpose, Serrim pulled the trigger three times and the moment was gone, Kira Yamato's head snapped back and his visor spider-webbed with cracks and Serrim fell past the Freedom, the entire thing had lasted less than a second.

Staring up Serrim twisted his mouth, "I don't think I got him," he said to himself, he only saw where his first shot landed, but it was his best and it was at the wrong angle to kill.

*****

Kira still stared forward in surprise as blood trickled down his cheek, his visor was so heavily cracked he pulled his helmet off, and felt his head, a long gash ran across his left temple, but the bullet had merely glanced him, then he winced in pain and his vision began to shiver, his left arm felt numb and he could see the wound on his shoulder.

The moment replayed itself, Windam boosted away and the pilot jumped out, he fell past the opening and as he did their eyes met and the man fired his pistol three times, Kira placed a hand on his chest, the third bullet had ricocheted and struck there, he turned away and put his thrusters to full, time was running short.

*****
Silvia felt her eyes widen as the the reading changed to

GAT-04+-WINDAM. S.CUSTOM SIGNAL TERMINATED

Her breathing began to run short and she fell to her knees, He said he wouldn't die! Silvia screamed to herself mentally as she started to shake.

*****

"Fire retreat flares, we're pulling back!" Apollo ordered, the Destroy was still standing and his own Galahad was taking a beating from the newer battleship, as he spoke a missile struck and destroyed one of the CIWS turrets.

"Sorry friend we'll have to finish this some other time," Apollo said mockingly to the Duel and turned away as the Galahad began to withdraw

*****

"Retreat flares?" Artemis said.

"Yeah, lets get outa here," Sioun responded, her Zaku was in no shape to deal with the Destroy, already missing one arm and lacking any weapons capable of damaging the monstrous suit.

*****

Serrim saw the flares as he fired his jetpack and lightly landed on the ground and activated his suit's inbuilt transmitter, Windam from the Apogee were carrying back parts of the Aegis to one side and Estell's Vamp to the other, he was glad they seemed to have avoided too many losses, moreover the pilots were alive from the look of the torsos.

The sun behind him was setting as he began to walk back to the Apogee, "Strike Freedom, ZAFT, all my enemies, we'll meet again," Serrim said to himself and smiled.

*****

The Freedom fell onto the landing hanger rather than landed, Kira emerged on shaky feet and the ships medical officers picked him up with haste.

"It's okay Mr. Yamato, you'll be okay," the medical officers said to him, he nodded his head in agreement, This isn't working...I'll need more power, Athrun...what are you doing now I wonder? Kira thought as his consciousness faded.

*****

The news crew packed up, "well done everyone, that was an excellent battle to report, a resounding Earth alliance victory!"

Roy snickered as he watched the small convey of trucks, they should have told him they were there before the battle had started, they only did after trying to press the bill for a destroyed surveillance van onto him. It reality the result was inconclusive at best, both sides had been hurt, admittedly ZAFT more so, but it was still too close a thing to call a victory.

*****

"DAMNIT!" Ourei swore and punched his locker, "DAMN DAMN DAMN!"

Zella raised an eyebrow, "What's the matter? Upset you got shot down, by a Windam"

Ourei shot him a murderous look, "damn right...and that Bastard Freedom, what was he doing? Why did he come and attack us too?"

Zella shrugged as he changed from his flightsuit to his uniform, "I couldn't say, nevertheless it is the Earth Alliance that is our enemy, and that Destroy, how are we going to bring that down?"

Ourei continued to fume as he changed.

*****

Serrim gracefully stepped off the palm of the Windam that had retrieved him. It was piloted by a young man with bright green hair and yellow eyes by the name of Toltala "Tolt" Grimman.

"Serrim!" he heard a woman's cry and saw Silvia race up to him, she flung herself against and him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I thought you were dead! You said you wouldn't die!" Silvia half cried, half yelled against his chest.

Carefully Serrim placed one arm around her and one on the back of her head, "I am sorry, it was a necessary action and I didn't think about it, but I keep my word," Serrim said softly.

Silvia stepped back and looked up at his eyes, Serrim leaned down slowly and lightly kisses her on the lips, just for a moment and very softly, before stepping back and placing an arm around her.


*****

Jin grumbled to himself as he walked back, in books and movies the hero never had to walk back, "This is so not cool!" Jin yelled to himself as he trudged on, the Apogee was landed a few kilometres ahead.

"Oh come on, give me a break, this just isn't fair," Jin said again as he tripped and landed face-first in the rocky soil.

"Do you always whine like that?" a man's voice said and Jin turned to see a big man with dark skin and red hair.

"Who might you be?" Jin asked.

"I might be anyone, up to and including Lacus Clyne or Edward Harrelson, but I'm not. I am Colonel Roy Silver, First Battalion, I saw you're transmitter signal and decided to lend a hand, my suit's missing one hand but I should be able to carry you back," the man replied.

"Well it's better than nothing," Jin said and stepped forward.

*****

It is my supreme and ultra-super honour to report to you that we, the magnificent Third Battalion, helped in part by the First, have succeeded in re-establishing a beachhead in Africa. Not only that but we engaged and destroyed several ZAFT units and also inflicted heavy damage on the enemy flagship. There were times when the situation was grim but through cunning, guts and good old fashion kick-butt style we were able to defeat the ZAFT forces and force a retreat, unfortunately at a great cost in material. We will have to stop for repairs before we continue our glorious advance, also my second-in-command Serrim Gospal, also a Knight of yours, engaged and repelled the Strike Freedom, once again unfortunately at the cost of his Windam. I suggest an immediate re-supply with mobile suit parts and weapons.
Yours sincerely, the future conqueror of ZAFT, Mars Lu Yeddin.
P.S: Take that Roy! I beat the enemy you couldn't Bwahahahahah!


Sepha felt his eye twitch as he read the letter, "Dear me, what have I done, I've put a madman in charge of the Third. At least he's a madman who does his job. I'll have to organise to have the Clarity and Wrath to be express delivered to the Third," Sepha said to himself.
It looks as though my forces gather momentum, how will you reply Alerik Cuale? Sepha thought as he stared out his window.

Authors note: ...Well that was long and I thank you for staying with me so far! Remember I love all types of feedback. I'll get on Phase thirteen soon, which will mainly be political events and character development.
Anything to say?
"I don't CARE if the mechanaught can't handle it, I want Wings of Light, the few seconds it'd last and the pilot mortality would be worth it." -me, eXteel closed beta.
Ragormha
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:18 am
Location: Infinite void

PHASE 13: THE CHANGING WORLD

***********************************************

France, thirty kilometres outside Paris.
Armellio Ruel's estate.


Sepha sat by the roaring fire and let out a sigh.

"It is good to relax for a change isn't it...wine?" Armellio asked offering a delicate blue glass bottle, in his large hands it seemed small and fragile.

"What is it?"

"Champagne, what else?" Armellio said filling a fluted glass.

"I prefer my wine red," Arnold Colomdril interrupted brusquely, lighting a cigar and placing his feet on a small table.

"Why must I always tolerate you bantering like women!" Tsubaya spat in annoyance, his suit was green and black pinstripe today.

"It is called socialising Tsubaya, try it one day," Arnold replied dismissively and took a deep drag from his cigar before blowing a smoke ring.

Sepha sniffed in disapproval, "really though, show some consideration."

Arnold grumbled but snubbed the cigar out on an ash tray.

"It appears Rhamon isn't here," Armellio commented as he took a delicate sip from his glass.

"It makes sense, he had to talk fast after his defeat at Victoria. A pity, he talked up the campaign so much that when it looked like it was going to get troublesome he abandoned the whole thing, and his approval rating among the citizenry is down ten percent," Sepha replied and paused a long moment before continuing. "There is nothing to worry about, each of us have our styles and Rhamon has the gift of a silver tongue. The man could lie his way out of any sinking ship. Give him some time to come up with some excuses and rally the populace and he will behind us again."

"Yes, quite right. Now onto business, the first order, how did things go with Scandinavia?" Arnold asked straightening his suit.

Armellio smiled, "Bjorn is on-board, he'll give the announcement tonight."

"Well done, and what of Orb and Equatorial Union?" Arnold asked.

"Actually my informants have told me that those two are planning something big, they've been meeting a lot behind closed doors, but I couldn't find out details," Sepha added.

"And South America? I've seen some rather disturbing images of ZAFT and South American forces massing to attack Panama, which I may want to remind you is the primary Alliance space-port," Arnold stated bluntly.

"We know, chances are that they are responding to your own build-up. I have a plan to deal with them, don't worry, it isn't quite ready to be implemented yet though,' Sepha answered.

"Right, but I have a more important issue to discuss, and that being how many times are we going to meet like this? It is disrupting my governing schedule, damn southern states are trying to secede and join the Equatorial Union," Tsubaya interjected, angrily rubbing his moustache.

"Which is what brings us to our next order of business. I think that a supreme leader should be elected, a president of the Earth Alliance or something of the sort. It would enable faster decisions to be made and give us more united authority," Sepha said.

"Which will be you, no doubt," Tsubaya answered flatly.

"I did intend that."

"Figures," Tsubaya replied dismissively.

"Oh my, is there something you want to bring up?" Sepha said with faux concern.

"It seems we're dancing to your wishes a little too readily, you expect us to just say 'gee, lets let Sepha rule the world,' I don't buy it. I'm not Blue Cosmos, I'm a part of this alliance to make my nation stronger and nothing else," Tsubaya growled.

Sepha raised his eyebrows, "do you know of someone who would make a more qualified leader then I? I took over the shattered remnant of Blue Cosmos and chnaged its image; restored its influence. I developed the line for the next generation of Earth Forces mobile suits, I improved the existing ones, I was the one who originally arranged for we national leaders to meet again after your nations grew apart, or fought their way apart in some cases," Sepha responded haughtily, Tsubaya opened his mouth and Sepha continued. "Moreover a supreme leader makes sense, ZAFT beat us twice, why? Because they have a single Chairman who has absolute authority. If we have a unified leader then that one leader can go to any nation and that nation will know what he says has weight because he leads the Earth, there's no possibility of one leader making a promise and another one double-crossing it. Plus these meetings get in the way of the running of our individual nations and businesses, decisions can be make that much faster if only one man has to make the decision. I'm not saying I should be crowned 'King of the World', we'll still have meetings to make sure everything is going to meet our combined goals, albeit less frequently than now, and if you are really that unhappy with me you could just un-elect me."

Tsubaya shrugged, "fine, fine."

Armellio gave a nod and filled a glass, "it's a non-issue. Sepha couldn't be elected because he isn't a national leader."

Sepha smiled, "Armellio, your forgetting I'm the head-of-state of the states of Svalbard, Iceland, Luxembourg and Greenland."

Armellio blinked, "so you are. Well, whatever way it goes is fine by me. Personally I wouldn't mind. My citizens are quite vengeful after my failed assault on Gibraltar, so I'll have my hands full processing the military papers. Luckily my populace isn't so squeamish as Rhamon's."

"I'll make the election announcement shortly, but aren't you worried it'll make your role a little bit more...obvious?" Arnold asked Sepha.

"Yes it will, but the time for me to play behind the scenes is over, I still have operatives who could do that, but if I waste my time playing in the shadows this war will get bogged down in Africa and South America," Sepha replied.

Armellio began to fill more glasses,"well then I say the night is almost done. Cheers, to the rebirth of the world."

Tsubaya grinned, "not quite yet, we can toast that later. I would like to discuss a lowering of trade tariffs between our nations, twenty percent or so."

Armellio spluttered, "twenty percent? You have got to be kidding me Tsubaya..."

Sepha smiled as he stared at the bubbles in his champagne, they reflected the light of the fire magnificently. Things were falling into place, more or less at least.

*****

Serrim let out a breath as he slumped in his chair; Silvia was on duty and Jin was waiting for his new unit, so he had a relatively easy run on things, without much thought he flicked the TV onto the news channel.

"...Both alliance commanders declined interviews. Now on to our next report, the Kingdom of Scandinavia has just released a surprise announcement that they are joining the Earth Alliance, their current head-of-state Bjorn Wyntar has just been recorded giving this speech."

The screen changed and a black-haired man with hazel eyes appeared, he was grim-faced and dressed in a black formal suit with a lavender tie, "Ladies and Gentlemen, all citizens of Earth," Bjorn began, his voice was surprisingly both solemn and alto. "I come to you not only as the leader of a nation, but as a citizen of our troubled world. Still the memory of ZAFT's actions can not be forgotten, both those that are recent and those that are partially buried in the past. Who here can honestly say they do not have doubts about the stability, the safety, of letting PLANT and ZAFT remain autonomous? My daughter, Josephine, died in the recent ZAFT attacks. My daughter was just an innocent girl of sixteen visiting her uncle in Orb and yet for some reason the fates decided that ZAFT attacked then, both she and my brother are now dead. However, for the sake of remaining level-headed, for the sake of our ideals, I did not declare war on ZAFT. Now, a mere few weeks down the line and after much thought I feel it is necessary we change our path. The sacrifices are worth it, the impact on our nation is worth it, if only we can stop more of our loved ones from dying. If we can defeat ZAFT, God send it happens quickly, if by doing this I can stop more of my beloved family and the families of all of Earth's citizens from dying then the sacrifice is worth it. I now announce that the Kingdom of Scandinavia is officially at a state of war with the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty and is now in the process of mobilising our military to achieve the aim of disarming ZAFT. Once again I will repeat the statements we have made in the past, may this war end quickly and as bloodlessly as possible."

*****

Jin sat in the hangers staring into empty space, express transport meant that the units were going to arrive on the day, but it could still be hours yet, it had already been hours. To one side Estell's Vamp was being repaired, on another side a group of mechanics were busy talking about how to fix the Aegis' damages. Jin sighed in frustration.

"Hey pilot!" Jin broke out of his reverie and looked around, befuddled,"yes you!"

Jin located the woman, a pretty girl of about average height with dark red hair and gold-rimmed glasses in a orange uniform, "what?" Jin asked.

"You're the pilot of that new green unit, the Wrath?" the girl asked.

"What if I am?" Jin responded.

"No need to use that tone, Mr. Bigshot pilot, I just thought you'd wanna know it's arriving now," the girl said as the hanger doors opened and the suit was flown in. Jin watched the suit land and move into position, the metal walkway lowered down in front of the new suit, a moment later Jin raced down the metal walkways, the red-haired girl following him closely.

The suit changed from dark green and black to grey, the cockpit opened and a pilot stepped out, his dark blue flight suit picked him out as a regular pilot.

Jin jumped past him and into the cockpit without waiting for him to introduce himself, "ah yes, this is what I wanted," Jin said brushing back his black hair and running through the weapons systems. "Four tactical mobile combat pods, mounted on the back, one beam gun and two railguns each. A "Licht Lanze" beam lance, made of two combining beam sabres stored in the hips, a beam rifle with under-barrel railgun, rapid-fire beam rifle. Pity it doesn't have any shoulder mounted weapons...Oh, what's this? Forearm mounted beam shields? It's just like the simulation!" Jin continued to run checks on the weapons, propulsion and power plant like a kid in a candy store.

Jin looked up and saw the red-haired girl standing in front of him, arms crossed and tapping her foot, "what? I'm busy here! A man's mobile suit is like his woman, he has to pay close attention to her from the get-go or thing just won't work out!"

"That's nice to know," the woman said holding out her hand, " I'm Seres Michelle, I was instructed to take a look at your machine before it goes out into the field..."

Jin ignored her hand and sat forward defensively, "I'm Jin Garuda, and sure you can check my machine so long as you don't need me to leave."

Seres clenched her fist before replying, "I'm sorry, Jin, but I really don't have time for this. Azalier ordered me to check all the incoming suits so I've got you, the Clarity, and four more Windam in just today, so please, if you don't want me to throw you out, get out of the mobile suit."

Jin shrugged and grinned slyly, "can't you check it while I'm in here? I don't mind, really."

Seres closed her eyes and shivered, "look, maybe I'm not getting through to you, maybe it is true what they say, 'all pilots are airheads', but I certainly don't have time for some pervert pilot trying to cop a feel while I do my work."

Jin waved his hand at her comments, "can't blame me can you? I know, I know, I'm going."

Seres sighed thankfully as he stood up and stepped out of the cockpit, Jin took his time deliberately standing up, straightening his clothes and walking the few steps past her before he snaked his arm back.

"Thank you, I'll get someone to tell you when I'm done so y-hey!"

Jin felt his head twist under the force of her slap, a hard one right across his left cheek, a moment later second one landed on his right cheek. Still, he his grin only widened when the smaller woman grabbed him by the collar and pressed him up against the side of his own mobile suit, clear green eyes met sea-foam blue, "do that again and I'll report you for sexual harassment, after I throw you off this walkway," Seres said angrily before stepping into the cockpit of the Wrath, rubbing her bottom and muttering to herself.

Jin walked away and shrugged to himself, maybe the pinch was a little too hard.

*****

Ourei sat and ran another simulation, an hour earlier he had the Impact's response time increased, he would have run simulations with that Windam that brought him down, but all his Windam simulations had been walkovers, even at the maximum level of difficulty, so instead he opted for matches against the Freedom and Justice GUNDAMs.

"Ah, there you are," Sioun said from the door, the tall dark-haired woman stepped inside before sitting down next to Ourei. "I understand you must be upset, I mean we all are, but you're not taking very good care of yourself. Hell, even Louin is worrying about you, its only been a day but you haven't left the simulation except to go and make adjustments to the Impact."

Ourei grit his teeth, "I can't protect PLANT if I can be beaten by a simple Windam, besides that my pride is hurt. I'm a Coordinator, I'm a Red, yet some jumped-up Natural in a second-rate mass produced piece of crap can bring me down with two shots?"

"No one likes hear that we can be beaten, but think about it, he could have been a professional soldier. The guy who beat you might have been top of his class in military academy and he could be a veteran of both Bloody Valentine wars and a bunch of other conflicts, and you're barely out of the academy compared to an average soldier, let alone a veteran. See? It doesn't make sense to beat yourself up about it. Just take it easy, this sort of training is a good thing, but don't go over-the-top with it, you'll get better naturally, you just need some more experience, but if you try too hard you'll burn yourself out," Sioun said soothingly.

"What are we going to do?" Ourei demanded. "As long as they have that Destroy the more men we use the more that are going to die. Unless we can counter that we'll be in for a short and bloody battle."

Sioun thought for a moment, "You tell me Red, prove to me those skills and fine a way to bring down that Destroy," Sioun ordered, hoping to appeal to his military nature.

"Okay Ma'am, I won't let you down," Ourei replied in a determined tone, his scarlet eyes narrowing.

"Good to hear Ourei, but first go and get yourself a meal, then take a shower, then get some sleep, then get to work on finding a strategy. The last thing we need is for you to starve yourself to death or faint halfway through battle."

Ourei nodded before leaving. Sioun stared after the blond man, he's a good pilot, he follows his orders, but he needs to relax and realise his limits.

*****

Mars stood in front of the mirror, his blue colonel's uniform fit him well but he didn't feel comfortable, he had always been confident in his ability to be a soldier, but despite the fact that Zera had appointed him his second-in-command he never really felt that he was anything more than a common grunt, a talented one maybe, but not commander material.

Mars looked again, his bright red hair was almost shoulder length by now, combed into submission for the time being, he was already beginning to get lines under his eyes. It was something Zera had told him, being a commander was one of the easiest and hardest jobs, if something went wrong it was the commanders job to set it straight if he could and take the blame if he couldn't, the commander had to be the most inventive and intelligent sort of man because everyone relied on him.

The image splintered, one reflection became a hundred, Mars felt his hand began to bleed as he removed it from the mirror. "I can't do this, it's just too much for me, but I have to, Zera, Sepha, they believed in me...they thought I could handle this...I...need help," Mars half-sobbed to himself despairingly before gathering himself up, sighing deeply, and turning away.

PHASE-13 INTERMSSION
"I don't CARE if the mechanaught can't handle it, I want Wings of Light, the few seconds it'd last and the pilot mortality would be worth it." -me, eXteel closed beta.
Ragormha
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:18 am
Location: Infinite void

PHASE-13 THE CHANGING WORLD
Resumption

"I don't care what you have to, no matter how imperfect our son will be, make him live!" a tall, narrow-faced man said, grabbing a doctor by the coat and lifting him off his feet, an impressive feat for a man who was so slim.

"But sir! Your wife can't carry him to term, we know that it'd be pointless to try, the odds were one-in-a-million that the child would be conceived," the doctor replied.

"And he has! I don't care, do what you have to do!" the dark haired man replied.

"There will be no guarantee he'll even survive, much less keep his enhanced genes, we'll have to work fast..." The doctor began.

"Do it!" the dark haired man ordered.

"Very well then, Mr. Szittas," the doctor responded.


Aran stared up out of the bed, the last thing he remembered was collapsing, somewhere, sweat beaded on his forehead and a metallic taste remained in his mouth.

"Where..."Aran croaked.

"Sorry Aran, Darwin found you and called a medical team, we decided it would be best to bring you in. I didn't know..." the dark-haired woman replied sadly, Ruth Hari looked much like she always did, her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore her pristine white coat.

"It is okay...but don't tell anyone who doesn't need to know," Aran replied as he sat up, his body seemed quite fine, the lapse was gone for the moment.

"All right then, I'd usually proscribe some form of medication but doctors more well versed in this sort of thing than me have examined you, I guess I can't really help much..." Ruth said with a sigh.

Aran closed his yellow eyes for a long moment before getting up and beginning to dress.

*****

Serrim stood on one of the observation decks, it was beautiful day, the sky was a bright blue and clouds were white and fluffy and rolling slowly across the vast expanse of open blue.

"There you are," Jin said stepping through the door.

"Jin, how are things?" Serrim asked.

"Good thanks Serrim, our new mobile suits have arrived, in case you want to check," Jin pointed out.

"I don't see the need for it right now, I'd rather just watch the sky and quietly think. I already know all the weapons and specifications anyway, it's not like there's much point going straight away," Serrim responded.

"I guess that's fair, gee I was hoping those ZAFT soldiers would have run away by now."

Serrim looked surprised for a moment, "you were the one who decided to go off and fight the Freedom in a duel."

"Yeah, pity my Windam didn't have the manoeuvrability to keep away from him. I could have got him if I had something better..." Jin said regretfully.

"What is with that Jin, why do you keep going off to fight him? I don't think you have met Kira Yamato or even seen the Strike Freedom before we fought him, so why do you have this drive to fight him?" Serrim asked.

Jin frowned and thought for a moment, "I can't say, he's our enemy, but...it's different, I have this feeling, it's like having an insect buzzing in your ear, that's what it is like for me, or like realising someone else is just behind you, it...scares me. I'm sure if I kill him it will go away."

"I see...well take it easy Jin, don't get shot down and make sure you don't lose your focus," Serrim responded.

"Easy for you to say, you succeeded," Jin responded wryly.

"No, Kira Yamato is still alive, unless he is even weaker than a normal Natural, the damage I managed to inflict was glancing at best, not life threatening, I was lucky enough to think of a way to make use of my limited options," Serrim replied.

"Have you seen that mobile suit mechanic, her name was Seres, God she is bossy but I don't mind telling you she's alright, maybe a little pale, but I think I can work with it," Jin said grinning.

"I've seen her, but it isn't exactly like I voice my opinion, I am spoken for it seems, you kn-" Serrim cut off as the door hissed open, a slim man with black hair and yellow eyes stepped through.

"Ensign Tangu?" Serrim asked.

"Ah yes there you are Serrim, I've been looking for you. Mars says he has orders for you, please come with me," the dark-haired man responded briskly and turned away again.

"Only Serrim, this time at least," Tangu added as Jin made to follow, he stopped and gave Serrim a 'thumbs up' gesture.

"What is this about?" Serrim asked as they walked down the corridors to Mars' quarters.

"Don't look at me, I'm pretty green myself, Mars just said new orders had come in for you," Tangu responded with a chuckle.

*****

Jin sat down and let the sun strike him, he unbuttoned his uniform and lay back with a yawn, enjoying the warmth.

"I'm sorry Lieutenant Garuda, I didn't realise you were here," a voice said behind him and he looked up to see a young man standing in the door.

"I haven't seen you around here before," Jin responded.

"I'm Kei Sisha, it doesn't surprise me that you don't recognise me, I just keep things in order, make sure the computer systems are functioning properly and so-forth. I am trained to operate as a gunner or a mobile armour pilot though, I just haven't had to do such yet."

Jin nodded, "You're from the lot that arrived earlier, before us, I suppose you and Tangu must have arrived together."

"Yeah, Tangu, Garn, Tomas, Jaselle and Roderick, that was us," the young man responded, he was darker skinned than Jin with light brown hair and dark hazel eyes.

"Well feel free to have a seat, we're all comrades here," Jin responded cheerily.

*****

"These are...my orders?" Serrim asked taking the red folder from Mars.

"Yes, even I don't know what they contain; they came with the pilot who delivered your unit. Sepha said you may be gone for a few days though," Mars responded, Serrim noted that his right hand was heavily bandaged.

Serrim saluted, "Mars, I'll do my best, if I'm not back in time for the next battle...good luck sir."

Mars paused for a moment before nodding, "Thank you Serrim, don't get shot down."

"I'll try not too," Serrim said wryly before leaving.

Mars scratched his chin for a moment, Sepha...What on Earth are you going to do with him?

*****

Nasuma Aman stood dressed all in his purple Orb Union political outfit, as the chief representative it was his duty to announce the steps they were taking. Two years ago he had taken over ruling Orb from Cagalli Yula Atha, he still remembered the look of hope and optimism in her eyes when she told him she was convinced the world was safe enough to allow such a move, such a pity she was so wrong.

Unfortunately, unlike Cagalli, Nasuma knew the sad truth;Orb could never hope to have a lot of power or influence. Militarily, economically and politically they were simply not powerful enough, the first war had proven that if a larger nation wanted to conquer Orb it was indeed possible, the second war and the ZAFT attack would have been a repeat but it was luckily stopped before they had the chance to truly commit large amounts of forces to an Orb invasion.

Nasuma did one last check, his blond hair was cut short, his orange eyes darted over his appearance, he straighten his purple suit one more time before sitting down at his desk.

"Representative, we're going live in five, four, three..." The crew counted down. Nasuma nodded back to them.

"Good day everyone. I am Orb's current Chief Representative Nasuma Kija Aman," Nasuma began, his deep voice echoed across the room. "I give this announcement to provide an alternative to my counterpart in Scandinavia, while the reasons for war are valid we must cool our heads and hearts and consider what we are really getting involved in. Are the days of the Earth Alliance and OMNI really the sort of memories we want to resurrect? So I present an alternative, as of today Orb in conjunction with the Equatorial Union is founding the Alliance of Neutral Nations, any nation or country may join and gain the protection we offer. If any nations, states or territories across the world wish to join us in the path of peace, of neutrality, then please raise your voices and we will come."

Nasuma paused to take a sip from a glass of water as the broadcast went to a break, it was done but yet much still had to be said.

*****

Serrim stepped onto the bridge, even while not in a battlefield situation there was still work being done, the bridge was set up in a simple configuration, the centre of the room had the Captains seat, the front had the sensors and drivers seating, both sides had gunners, the right side had the communications and the left side had the internal monitoring systems.

Serrim made his way over to the right side, as he expected Silvia sat, typing away at a message, probably a transmission to HQ confirming the resupply.

"Am I interrupting?" Serrim asked as gently as he could.

Silvia gave a start before coming to her senses, "No..no, it's nothing important, is something the matter?" Silvia asked worriedly.

"I have been given a special mission, so I won't be back for a few days, I just thought you'd want to know in case you were planning something," Serrim replied.

"Oh... only few days though right? I think I can deal with that. Say what's your favourite colour Serrim?" Silvia asked.

Serrim paused in confusion for a minute, "purple, why?"

Silvia shook her head before smiling back at him innocently, "no reason."

"I see...Well I had better get ready for launch, I'll see you soon Silvia," Serrim said turning away.

"Take care Serrim."

"I will Silvia, I will."

***

Serrim stared up at his new mobile suit, the Clarity, he knew all the specifications.

It was primarily white with dark purple and lavender decoration, it was one of a kind with a graceful and somewhat regal look to it. It bore a resemblance to the GAT-X370 Raider, except with much smoother, more rounded features and other structural modifications.

Because it couldn't transform all the weapons and attachments associated with that had been removed or altered, its shoulders were shorter as they no longer need to fold down over the arms and its wings were much larger and slightly triangular, but still vertically orientated, mounted with three boosters each, they could be flicked out to add horizontal manoeuvrability in air combat or flicked back for normal operations, like the Wrath it had beam shields mounted on its forearms.
On its back a large solid bladed carbon-crystalline anti-shipping sword was attached slightly to the left behind the head.
The Clarity kept the mouth-mounted beam cannon of the Raider, but used a faster-charging and more accurate "Afrit" beam cannon, it's crest was a single large scarlet V shape instead of the double-pronged golden crest of the Raider.
It had one long-barrelled beam rifle on the left hip, the "Hell Viper," it had higher power and accuracy than the Viper, on the right hip there was a significantly larger rifle, long and elegantly simple it was the the "Dei Oculus" long range hyper velocity high power beam rifle, unlike a normal rifle the Dei Oculus' butt would reach back almost to the elbow of the Clairity when wielded and was still twenty percent longer than a normal beam rifle. It was highly accurate and very powerful, but not an easy weapon to use.
Then there were the two "Fenrir' rocket-launched maces, anti-beam coated and made of hyper dense material, much like the spherical breaker of the original Raider, except mounted to the underside of the forearms of the Clarity and completely round without spikes. The Clarity was armed with "Imp's Lancet" 13 mm CIWS mounted on the chest and had two "Licht Schwert" beam sabres, mounted in compartments in the outer thigh armour which could be opened, ejecting the beam sabres so they could be wielded.

Serrim looked up at it dressed in his white and silver flight suit before climbing down into the cockpit and powering it up. "This is Serrim Gospal, I am ready for launch, do I have clearance?" Serrim asked as the MOS displayed in black letters against a sky-blue background and read:
Generation
Unmatched
Network
Dynamic
Annihilator
Model

"You have permission Serrim, hurry back soon," Silvia responded anxiously.

"I'll try my best, Silvia," Serrim responded as he moved the mobile suit out onto the launching catapult.

"Serrim Gospal, Clarity, launching," the catapult activated and sent his suit flying out into the bright sunshine, he deployed his wings and angled his suit for extra speed and powered up his boosters, in moments the Clarity was flying swiftly east

*****

Sepha sat in one of the tall wooden chairs, it was his own mansion this time, in Iceland, he had barely been back an hour, but it was okay, he could rest later. Across the table from him Svell put down a white go piece. The tanned, bald man in the pale blue suit made a stark contrast to Sepha, pale and wearing dark crimson.

"Something that always troubled me Sepha, why did you take over Blue Cosmos, without you it would have fallen into a sprinkling of gangs and hate-groups, but it would never have been the organisation you made it," Svell asked.

"There is where you are wrong. Never underestimate the power of hatred, nor what people will do for it. In some cases it is so strong it turns into a kind of love. It is a sad thing to see people in love with their own hate, but it is becoming more common, take Lucy Astara, she's an ace pilot with few peers and yet she is so obsessed with her hatred of Coordinators she'd kill innocent Naturals for it. Blue Cosmos feeds off this to grow stronger; the hatred that people have for others who have been rendered superior," Sepha replied placing a clear blue piece.

"All men are equal, except Coordinators who are just better, is that it?" Svell asked cynically as he placed another cloudy white piece.

"No. People are not, never will be and never have been equal. They have an equal potential at birth, perhaps, but consider that some men are gifted in almost every way whereas others lack the natural talent for anything. In any and every competition, music, memory, physical abilities, spatial coordination, the first person is superior, this might be through virtue of upbringing, or personality or genetics, who knows? But what annoys people is that Coordinators are all naturally like this, in general they are simply superior in every way, unlike other people though, the cause is obvious for all and so it is more easy to rationalise hatred for them," Sepha said with a half smile and placed his clear piece.

"I guess that makes sense, is it because of envy then, do you think? I personally know many people who have wished to be stronger, faster, smarter or some other trait, and they know that their parents could have given them those abilities, but they didn't, you understand," Svell said placing another piece.

"Envy is not the only reason, religion, personal ideals, there are other factors. The number of Naturals who hate Coordinators is growing, and it is not without foundation. The April Fools Crisis, Genesis, Break the World, innumerable other battles and events combined with decades of silent superiority, it all adds up," Sepha said placing his next piece and sitting back.

"We are dealing with the generations of people who suffered from all these Coordinator-made tragedies at a young age, a generation of people who hate everything the Coordinator represents, the dreaded 'space monster.' Have you ever realised how many people joined Blue Cosmos simply to get revenge? How many people signed up for armies around the world, including the Blue Cosmos mobile battalions, in the hope to fight and kill Coordinators? A vast number of them are people who saw friends and family taken from them, the same happened with ZAFT, people who saw the Bloody Valentine and Requiem and joined up to get revenge or to stop it from happening again. The PLANTs would never admit it, but the number of Zala faction members is very large, maybe even twenty percent of the population of PLANT. It's why they could never outlaw the Zala Faction as a terrorist organisation. The exact same reason Blue Cosmos couldn't be outlawed."

Svell placed his next piece with a sly smile, "I suppose that is fine with you, Sepha, isn't it? People like that have the motivation to be good soldiers."

Sepha had a faraway look in his eyes for a moment, "perhaps, remember the goal one presents is not always the goal one is actually aiming for," Sepha answered and placed another piece.

Svell let out an annoyed hiss, "you still haven't answered my question, why did you do it?"

Sepha smiled, "I did it because that when you know what people want you can control them, when you know what people hate it is easy to find what they want. Two world leaders are members of Blue Cosmos, they'll listen to me so long as it looks like it'll achieve their goals. Basically I did it because it would have been pointless to take over a weak organisation and doing this has made me richer and more powerful than I otherwise could have been. It is the people like Tsubaya that annoy me, those that are in it for the Realpolitik, so they are harder to manipulate."

Svell placed another piece, "I see. What do you intend to do about Orb and the Equatorial Union?"

"Hmm, that is my secret for the moment," Sepha answered in an amused tone and placed his piece.

Svell grit his teeth, "I give up, this game is over, in a few turns you'll have me trapped."

Sepha nodded, "It was over five turns ago, shall we play again? You're getting better."

Svell shook his head, "I have work to be doing."

"All right then Svell, deal with your business," Sepha said packing up the go board.

***

Serrim examined the report again as he flew on, over the Indian ocean, Orb was still far ahead. Four mobile suits expected to be on guard, three DOM and a Gaia, two targets for assassination, it should be simple enough, Serrim thought, piecing together a strategy as he flew on.

Authors note: So how was that? This chapter took me a while to write, mainly because I have a minimum length I aim for and this chapter had no battles to fill up much of that, but I still think it was pretty good.
I also introduced a couple of minor characters to make things seem a little more realistic..
Hope you're liking it.
"I don't CARE if the mechanaught can't handle it, I want Wings of Light, the few seconds it'd last and the pilot mortality would be worth it." -me, eXteel closed beta.
Antares
Posts: 1546
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:44 am
Location: Finland
Contact:

The Phase was in two parts, right?
It was interesting as always. Setting up the situation and the context again for the next rush forward, I imagine. Fairly good political intrigue, especially good to compare shades of gray (Blue Cosmos and Zala Faction). I was moderately surprised to see KoS go for EA and Orb still being stubbornly neutral. Hope they won't regret that call again (likely that they will, though). :P And obviously the introduction of new GUNDAMs is always interesting (acronym included!).
-We will not be caught by surprise!
*Almost everyone I've killed uttered similar last words.
-Then I am glad once again that you are on my side.
*They've often said that too.
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