Gundam Fire Still

Archangel, hangar.

The smell of oil and ozone permeated the long unchanged air, and the always empty deck, except for the two MS and one MA that were still under repair and maintenance, came to a steady stop with the traffic boat from the flagship.

"Gee, when I received the news of the destruction of 'Heliopolis', I thought it was over! I never thought I'd see you here..."

A tall, loud-voiced general stepped down from the transport boat and calmly approached Marius and the others. His physique was sturdy and lean, and he didn't look old except for his white hair, his lips had a yellow-brown shaggy beard, and the eyes under his cap were glowing like mischief.

He was Governor Halbarton, commander of the Eighth Fleet stationed on the moon. Marius led the crew in a salute to him.

"Thank you, Your Excellency. It's been a long time."

Marius greeted him happily, and Halbadon raised his hand in return. It looked like the two were by no means meeting for the first time, probably confirming the rumors that the former was the latter's protégé.

"Natal. Bucky Lulu." The temporary vice captain stepped forward

"Carl S. Black."

"Mu. La. Frada, attached to the Seventh Mobile Fleet." The two pilots maintained basic politeness, but it always gave the illusion that they were paying oblique attention to the docked aircraft.

"Ooooh, it's a blessing to have you here." Halbadon said as he shook hands with Mu, who just smiled sadly.

"Intelligence Unity, Roy. Gale."

"Same affiliation, Fred. Young." The two men from the Intelligence Integration Department were equally moderate, knowing full well that Halbarton would not like these sneaky guys who worked on intelligence, whether as a colonel who used to sit in the office all the time or as the new fleet commander.

"Uh-oh, that report from Artemis was a real help."

It seemed that Halbadon didn't want to get into too much trouble with the Intelligence Unity either.

"So, they are ...." The Commodore immediately changed the subject when he saw people standing a little farther away, wearing uniforms with no rank markings of the Combine.

"Those are the ORB students who came aboard to help." The older man, also in a uniform with no rank insignia, greeted him, "Rick. Eisenhorn, former Equipment Committee...."

"Oh, I remember you, you were one of the few who didn't hate MS so much at the time..."

"Perhaps now is not the time for pleasantries, Commodore." The old man interrupted Halbarton's tirade.

"Oh, yes," Halbarton turned to the students, "my army has also confirmed news of your families, and they are all safe."

The good news, along with the Brigadier General's genial expression, made the students' faces instantly brighter

"-for working so hard in such a bad situation. I'd like to thank you guys as well. ...I hope to talk to you guys more in the future."

This was largely true, and without Colonel Hoffman's advances behind the Brigadier General's back indicating that time was limited, the latter did seem to be eager to stay longer.

Kira, along with the rest of the students, watched Halbarton, the highest ranking Union soldier they'd seen in days, and the other officers leave the hangar with an apparently thoughtful look on their backs.

----. --- divider--... ------.

Captain's quarters, Archangel.

"First of all, we have to borrow the Eighth Fleet's.... Civilians," Marius began, somewhat less bluntly, tossing out a request for help, "because of the problems with those students, we need some help with administrative tasks."

And Halbarton, obviously prepared for this, gave a slight nod of approval. But he was completely unprepared for the next thing.

Then, Marius hesitated slightly, while Natal and the lieutenant of the Intelligence Unity, standing at the back of the side, kept giving the former a look.

"As a matter of fact, we have one more classified matter to report.... , that is...." Marius handed forward a thin mobile terminal, the contents of which were completely invisible from the side - indicating that it was a piece of information that had been treated with a certain degree of secrecy. Halbarton was first surprised, then amazed at the contents on it, and while reading it, his face kept changing like a flip book.

After a long moment of silence, the Commodore scratched his head helplessly, "You guys have really picked up something amazing."

"This is also something we never expected."

"Fortunately, because of what we were informed earlier about taking in ORB refugees, the flagship had George . Alsta's Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs was accompanying it, and regarding the taking in of . ...PLANT civilians, I guess we can also ask him about it."

It might also be necessary to inform the Washington side through him, and Halbarton felt himself shedding a cold sweat, realizing for the first time that the trouble he was now facing was far beyond what an offending MS development program could cause.

Looking at the captain's quarters, which appeared silent for the moment, Colonel Hoffman decided to restart the conversation

"But, alas, for this ship and a 'G' to have 'Heliopolis' destroyed and even 'Artemis' badly damaged is..."

But unfortunately, the long-planned first strike was interrupted by some sort of unexpected circumstance.

"All fleets, emergency announcements, GREEN-ALPHA, enemy ships sighted, far away, approaching!"

------this was the divider a few minutes ago ------.

Voret had tried several different filters and processing software to focus that fuzzy spot of light clearer, but none of the algorithms could accomplish what he wanted; in fact, the fuzzy clusters of light seemed to divide even further apart.

Divided even further apart.

It was more divided than when he had just observed those things.

That meant one thing in large part, and Worret felt his heart start to beat faster, but he had to distinguish more carefully, and he called up several programs, then watched as the blurred mass of light on the screen became several clear, separated points of light that were still slowly growing in size.

"Bow telescope, ship spotted." A report was passed to the CIC, then the CIC whose face also changed dramatically projected the moving dots of light onto the main screen of the bridge.

"Urgent report, Meneravos received please respond, this is Captain Mark Cassandro of the USS Cassandra. Compton.

Unidentified ship sighted in the GREEN-ALPHA area, visual contact, approaching, target out of radar range, distance unknown, over."

"Menelaus copy, all, level two combat readiness!" The captain of the Menelaus lowered his communicator, then turned back and whispered "Hell, where's Commander Halbarton?"

------This is the author's divider ------.

Ahhh, low orbit is up next, what a test of the writing.

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23. Approaching

Early warning of the enemy's presence before getting within fighting distance was no doubt a good thing - provided the Eighth Fleet could make the most of this hard-won time of preparation. However, at this point their commander, Halbarton, a Commodore who spent years sitting in his office rather than on the bridge, was not only not at the post he was supposed to be at, but his mind was being filled with other troublesome matters, such as that pink hot potato, which, while it was at stake, did not seem to be something a fleet commander needed to consider.

What really needed to concern him was perhaps something else. The Eighth Fleet was not a tried and true force, and it seemed as if the fear and tension that came with it became physical when it was learned that a plurality of ZAFT ships were approaching; there seemed to be a slight wobble in the otherwise neat and solid box array, and presumably a few ships had senselessly activated the posture-adjustment jets on their sides; the 130m and 250m classes were raising their barrels upwards, even though that The target remained well out of effective range, giving the impression that an imperceptible panic and sway had swept through the otherwise solemn array.

If all that had been a mere illusion, at least for Halbarton himself, the panic had been a fact. According to the memories he possessed of the Fleet Code of Warfare, he should have had the fleet light up, start maneuvering and finding positions, ships stationary in low orbit were nothing more than valuable targets; but he was still on this ship, this Archangel, and the MS on it, the last legacy of Project X. They should have been given to the Joint Headquarters in Alaska intact, and should have been given the attention they deserved; here. There are also those ORB students who are forced by circumstances to wear uniforms that will probably cause trouble in their lives at ORB, after all, they didn't tell them about the current, not-so-stable situation at ORB, but in any case, they should be sent home safely with emergency enlistments and discharges that no one can find fault with, to go on with their lives; and that **annoyance*. , the princess of PLANT, who has no idea why she's drifting in the gravel belt, but someone has to solve the mystery and get this important person to safety; the Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Alsta is on the shuttle coming here, and he's probably anxious to see his daughter who's studying at ORB, but he must not have thought before he left that there would be something here that he would really need to put to good use.

Damn, he opened the door to the transport boat hard then sat down, he had to get back to his flagship and lead this fleet, at least he knew that very well, and then there was no way this ship, this Archangel, was going to sink.

The aging Commodore had no idea what a heavy price he would have to pay to do this.

In the meantime - ZAFT

bridge of the Vesalius (ship)

"'Ziegler' and 'Gamov' have joined up." Ardis reported, "and the Lani High team is following."

"Surely you're still more interested in the battle, compared to finding the missing missus." The masked man who had been staring at the star map on the screen lifted the corner of his mouth slightly, "It wasn't found, was it."