Chapter 2: Sailing the Grimadi Front

Author's Note:

This fanfic is to write upon some of the battles in Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny that are not touched upon or mentioned in-series, but their dates are listed on Gundamofficial and GundamWikia and are thus treated as part of canon. They are therefore based upon actual happenings in the Cosmic Era universe, but the events within them are open to interpretation.

Chapter 2: Sailing the Grimadi Front

CE 70 May 21st, Nazca-class Nox Avis, 200km from the Grimaldi Crater, Luna

13 45 Standard Hours

Captain Miar Reiden set her cap back on her head as she watched her crew at work. Her ship, the Nazca-class ZSFC-L2-P416 Nox Avis, crept along the shadows casted by the Grimaldi Crater. The crater was located near the equator of the moon, but the time was such that for the next hour or two at least, the Grimaldi Crater, where ZAFT and Alliance fleets have been fighting for two weeks on end, would be shrouded in light from the sun.

The only place for the Nox Avis to hide was the far end of the crater located at the ZAFT border of the Grimadi Front, in the shadows casted by the edge of the crater blocking off the light. The Nazca-class crept along quietly, firing its chemical thrusters every now and then to avoid going into the sunlight, or scraping its hull against the lunar surface. A blue flare of light every now and then would be the only telltale sign of the Nox Avis, a ship of the ZAFT 6th Fleet.

"Found them yet?" Miar asked her radar officer. "It's been almost four hours since the last battle. If those downed pilots were compromised in any way, all we'll be bringing back are a few cold corpses." She tightened her grip on the captain's chair. "Lord knows we have no time for that." She turned to the officer manning the communications console. "How about the Falke Team?"

"Falke Leader says negative," the comms officer, Andy Alyson replied.

Earlier, a ZAFT patrol had run into an Alliance fleet trying to make an incursion into the ZAFT side of the crater. The attack was beaten off, but three hours ago when the Nox Avis was about to begin its patrol, it picked up a faint SOS signal, which vanished soon after. While searching for it, the ship had moved into the Alliance side of the Grimadi Crater, and had run into a pair of Alliance warships; with its MS team out searching another part of the crater, the Nox Avis did its best to lose both of them.

"Nothing on-screen either", the radar officer, Nana Sette replied. "Nelson-class contacts B103 and B104, have disappeared from radar range since two hours ago." The comms officer stiffened, and out of the corner of her eye, Miar saw her work the controls hurriedly before turning to face the captain. "New contact from the front at one-one-one. Ultra-heavy tonnage."

Miar sat straighter. "Identify it." Ultra-heavy tonnage? I thought that classification was a hypothetical level only…

"Getting a clearer read," Nana continued, turning back to her console. "Contact has separated into seven pieces, the system is running a clearer check now. One Agamemnon, two Nelsons, and four Drakes, bearing one-one-five from our current position at a 40-degree incline from ship axis." She hurriedly turned back to her controls. "Mobile Armor launch confirmed. They're going straight towards where the Falke Team is."

Miar weighed her choices. Mobile Suits would have no trouble outrunning the ships, but the mobile armours could chase, and it would be a minimum of forty mobile armours against three mobile suits. Mobile suits were powerful, but they were not invincible, if their battles up till now have taught ZAFT anything.

"Lansley," Miar said to her main navigator, "bring the ship up to full power. Dump-heat the engines and prepare for full burn." Turning to her weapons officer, she issued her second set of orders. "Katner, arm the beam cannons and get the CIWS system online. Prepare a targeting solution."

"Yes ma'am," Keith Lansley, the navigator, and Yuria Katner, the weapons officer replied.

"Lead ship has taken notice of us," Nana said. "Two Drake-classes breaking off to engage us, bearing one-one-six from our current position, 45-degree incline." She rapidly keyed in several commands. "Drake-one is accelerating; Drake-two is keeping its distance."

"Targeting solution ready. Synching with shipboard weapons," Yuria said. "CIWS system online."

"Reading missile locks from Drake-one, ma'am." Nana said.

Alarms blared as the lead Drake-class emptied its torpedo tubes and missile pods at the Nox Avis. "Missiles and torpedoes incoming," Nana continued said. "Entering range of our CIWS defence net in 3… 2… 1…"

Explosions dotted the space in-between as the CIWS units on the Nox Avis opened fire. The guns spat out 58mm rounds at eighty rounds per second, the tracers flashing a path through space to destroy the missiles and guided torpedoes threatening the ship.

"Missiles and torpedoes all destroyed," Yuria said. "Firing solution realigning… done." She turned to look at Miar. "Beam cannons are running hot."

"Target lead ship. Fire." Miar said.

"Yes ma'am, firing," Yuria turned back to her console and tapped a single button.

A low rumble filled the ship as its beam cannons concentrated its energy and fired, twin lances of brilliant green reaching out towards the lead Drake-class vessel. Flashes appeared across the Nox Avis' frame as tiny chemical thrusters fired to counteract the recoil of the beam cannons. The Drake-class tried to turn and roll, thrusters firing, but it did not make it in time and the Nox Avis' shots boiled through its thin armour.

Miar watched for a moment as the Drake-class' inertia caused it to drift to starboard even as the beam cannons continued their fire, the beams cutting through the side of the ship. The Nox Avis' frontal view screen polarized automatically as the Drake-class exploded, filling the screen with harsh light.

"Second vessel still incoming," Nana said. "Two Nelson-class warships have broken off from the main fleet and are en route to our position, bearing one-two-one at an incline of thirty degrees from ship axis."

"Message from Falke Leader," Andy said. "He says that his team has retrieved four ZAFT pilots and the wreckage of a Mobius Zero unit."

Miar turned to face the communications officer in surprise. "He what a Mobius Zero unit?"

"He retrieved it, ma'am, along with four surviving ZAFT pilots," Andy said. "Should I have his team drop the wreckage?"

"No, definitely not," Miar said, turning to face Nana. That certainly solves the mystery of the high numbers of Alliance troops in the area… for now, at least. "Alyson, send a message requesting for reinforcements to the Lorenz Base. Sette, tell me the number of mobile armours pursuing Falke's team."

"Yes ma'am, message sent," Andy said.

"Twenty-three… no, twenty-two." Nana peered at the radar screen. "Falke Three is covering Falke Two and Falke Leader as they approach. More mobile armours are joining in."

"A reply from Lorenz HQ. Reinforcements en route in twenty minutes, Captain," Andy replied.

"Lansley, increase speed to maximum," Miar said, facing the screen. "We're going to speed by and pick up the Falke Team; synchronize our route with theirs." With these numbers it would be suicide to fight it out with them. "Alyson, notify Falke Leader."

"Roger," Keith said. "Engine output maximum… speed increasing." Nox Avis rumbled as its engines increased to maximum power, and the ship leapt forward, scattering lunar dust behind its wake. Nazca-class destroyers were well-armed with superior mobility to their Nelson-class counterparts and speed on par with Drake-class vessels, and the Nox Avis, the newest, and the fourth hundred and sixteenth ship of the second production line was no exception to that rule.

"Falke Team has suffered a casualty!" Alyson said, a slight tone of worry in his voice. "Falke Three is out of commission and has lost control of his unit. Falke Two still has the Mobius wreckage and Falke Leader still has the four survivors."

Miar bit her lower lip as Nox Avis continued to speed towards the Falke Team, the ship speeding over the uneven moonscape as fast as it could; not too high to avoid being fully exposed to the Alliance fleet, and not too low that they'll hit the surface before they could evade any obstacles either. "Show me his projected path."

"Falke Three will drift off-course roughly 40 degrees from our projected path," Andy said, bringing up the data from Keith's station. "Commander Falke has told us to continue on our current trajectory; he will re-launch later to pick up Falke Three."

"Missiles!" Nana said. "Approaching from vector six-two-eight from the Drake-class vessel." She continued scanning the radar screen. "Incoming vessels splitting up; Nelson-one is approaching us from a level vector of nine-one-six; Nelson-two is approaching from vector two-six-seven."

Catching us in the middle from three ways… Miar thought. "Lansley, cut engines, but keep the capacitators hot. Katner, arm beams cannons again. A half-charge will do."

"Aye ma'am," Yuria said. "Beam cannons charging."

"Engines down, ma'am," Keith said. "Closing valves. Capacitators at thirty percent and charging at five percent per second."

"Falke Team inbound from vector zero-zero-zero at zero incline from ship axis," Andy said. "Hangar crews have emergency landing equipment ready." From the front screen, Miar saw a green and orange blur speed into the middle of the ship. A pause, then Miar heard Andy's voice again. "Falke Two is in, crash cage operation successful. Falke Leader is decelerating now."

Miar turned to Keith. "Lansley, stabilize the ship, and give me the readings for the capacitators."

"Capacitators at one-hundred-ten percent." Keith replied, keying in controls. "Engines are still at full operation value."

"CIWS system is functioning normally," Yuria said, keying in controls. "Additional missile locks and beam charging signatures detected from the two Nelson-class battleships."

Miar looked as twin specks of green light appeared in the distance. Moments later twin beams lanced out, barely missing the Nox Avis. "Alyson! Is Commander Falke ready yet?"

"Falke Leader has just landed," Andy replied.

"He's going to have to perform an unassisted launch," Miar told Andy. To Yuria, she said "Ignore the Nelson-class; target the swarm of mobile armours and fire the beam cannons. Arm VLS system with anti-beam chaff missiles and launch them as soon as it's ready. Lansley," Miar said. "Prepare for full burn."

"Aye ma'am, firing main guns, missiles armed," Yuria said, as twin spears of light shot out. In the distance, Miar could see explosions and flickers of light as the approaching Mobius mobile armours scrambled to dodge the beam shots; some didn't make it. Regardless, the path in front cleared. Miar saw from the corner of her eye a CGUE speeding out of the Nox Avis' hangar.

"Torpedo tracking signals from the Nelson-class warships!" Nana said.

"Ignore them. Full burn. They won't be able to get their torpedoes to launch in time."

"Yes ma'am," Keith said. "Engines at full burn."

The Nox Avis rumbled and shot forward almost instantaneously, rapidly closing the distance between the two Nelson-class warships and the mobile armours. Chaff missiles streamed out of the Nox Avis' VLS ports, rapidly dispersing their beam-diffusing particles everywhere in short order. Ignoring the beam shots from the Nelson-class warships, which rapidly dissipated in the anti-beam particle cloud, she turned to Andy. "Has Falke Leader found his missing man yet?"

Andy shook his head. "No information… wait… new transmission from Commander Falke. He's found Falke Three and retrieved his unit." He turned to face Miar, and the captain could see the hope in the younger officer's eyes. "ETA nine minutes… but he won't have enough fuel to stop in our flight vector."

"Get Falke Two out there and catch him," Miar said. "We'll do the same flyby catch again once that's done. Tell the hangar crew to do whatever they can to prepare for it."

"Aye ma'am," Andy said, turning back to his controls.

The Nox Avis, still on full burn with its engines, passed by the two warships and the swarm of mobile armours that just caught up with them. Damage alarms sounded out as the Nazca-class smashed whatever mobile armour was unlucky enough to get in the way, scarring the ship's hull with small dents and other minor damage. A louder rumble caused Miar to turn to her right; the Nelson-class warship was dangerously close to her ship, close enough that she could actually see the figures on the bridge of the ship they just scraped past. The screen polarized again to filter out bright flashes of light one of the Nelson-class warship's CIWS turret tracked the Nox Avis while firing, its bullets sparking and bouncing harmlessly off the Nazca-class' hull armour. "Damage to starboard prong from scraping impact," Andy replied. "Minor hull breach. No crewmembers in danger."

"Ignore it," Miar said. To Keith, she gave new orders. "Cut main engine power and slow the ship down to one-quarter speed. Turn it one-hundred eighty degrees."

"Aye ma'am," Keith said. He keyed in a few commands and turned the steering control. "Ship turning."

"Katner, arm railguns and beam cannons. Prioritize the railguns' charging. Tell the crew to load anti-ship missiles into the VLS."

"Yes ma'am," Katner replied, her voice and tone both calm. "Railguns charging… beam cannons charging… VLS armed."

"Captain," Nana said, a sense of urgency in her voice. "The remaining Alliance ships are changing vectors. Two Agamemnon-class carriers and two Drake-class vessels approaching us from vector three-one-six, incline zero. I'm reading beam weaponry charging signals from them. The remaining Drake-class warship is approaching as well."

"Falke Two away," Andy said, as a GINN launched from the Nox Avis' launch catapult and turned to the side, speeding off. "ETA to Falke Leader's path in thirty-five seconds."

Miar gritted her teeth as she watched the warship and mobile armour contacts creep closer on the radar display. So they finally figured out where the main prize is. "Katner," she said. "Target Nelson-one with railguns and missiles. Sink it."

"Yes ma'am," Katner said. "Firing."

Miar watched as smoke trails etched their way to the nearest Nelson-class warship, and the Nox Avis shuddered as the ship fired its railguns. The ship listed to one side as the thrusters tried to counteract the recoil of the guns combined with the inertia of the ship still moving in the opposite direction from the Alliance fleet.

"Contact," Andy said. "Falke Three is returning with Falke Two and Falke Leader now."

The targeted Nelson-class performed an emergency atmosphere vent from its port side, the ship's docking port opening up and misty air billowing from its side, while its port thrusters fired. The twin railgun shots missed their target as the Nelson-class lurched to starboard, and the missiles were forced to change direction abruptly to compensate. The Nelson-class' CIWS guns fired, and tracers slashed through space as explosion after explosion appeared beside the heavy warship. A few missiles impacted, but the Nelson-class was a battleship, and its armour in ship-to-ship combat was formidable. Even beam weapons were not a guaranteed one-hit-kill unless they hit dead-on, and Miar did not have the luxury to wait around while her ship's most powerful weapon charged up to maximum.

"Thirty-six Mobius mobile armours approaching, ETA thirty seconds." Nana said.

"Charge railguns again, but load VLS with anti-air missiles. Continue firing at targets, giving priority to the closest targets," Miar said. That ship has one hell of an aggressive captain…

"Falke Three ETA for return in five… four… three… two… one." Andy sat back into his seat, wiping sweat from his brow. "Falke Three and Falke Leader onboard."

"Railguns charged. Firing. Missiles loading ninety percent complete." The Nox Avis shuddered as its railguns fired again, this time grazing the lead Nelson-class warship; the heavy battleship reeled from the impact, turning to its starboard side as the impact from the railgun round caused it to turn to port. Thrusters fired desperately to turn the ship back on course. Yuria turned to look at Miar. "Anti-beam particles are down to twenty percent."

Miar sat back into her chair. "Our objective is done here. Lansley, turn the Nox Avis around and execute a full burn."

"Aye ma'am." Keith started to type on his console, when a sudden blast rocked the ship. Miar gripped hard on the armrests of the captain's chair as the vibrations slowly ceased, looking up in time to see the shredded remains of a Mobius mobile armour drift past the bridge. CIWS rounds continued chasing after the drifting wreckage, and the mobile armour exploded. "Alyson, damage report!"

"Port main engine has suffered critical damaged from Mobius linear cannon round!" Andy shouted. He pressed his headset closer to his ear. "We're losing coolant and fuel through a hull breach!"

"More mobile armours catching up," Yuria said. "Changing CIWS sweep pattern to prevent them from entering striking range."

"Captain!" Nana said. "The Agamemnon-class carriers are firing at us!"

"Shut the section, Alyson." Miar said to Andy. "And flush the materials in the damaged tanks!" Turning to Keith, she said "Give us as much power as possible. Take the Nox Avis away from here."

"Missiles!" Nana said, scanning her screen frantically. "The Drake-class has caught up and added its payload to that from the two Nelson-classes!"

Miar picked up her captain's cap from where it fell, before seating back into the captain's seat. A separate window on the display screen showed the torpedoes and missiles tracing white paths through space towards the Nox Avis. To Yuria, she said "Empty the VLS missiles at the Mobius swarm. Load the next batch with anti-beam chaff missiles. Change CIWS attack pattern to prioritize missiles instead."

Missiles streamed out one after another from the Nox Avis as the Mobius mobile armours ducked and weaved to avoid the tracking missiles. Explosions begun to appear across space as the missiles found their mark, and the remaining mobile armours pulled away from the warship to regroup. The CIWS on the Nox Avis sprayed as much fire as they could at the approaching missiles, and dozens of explosions obscured the Nazca-class' back view.

The ship rocked again as a torpedo burst out of the explosion cloud and smashed into the damaged portside engine, its blast blowing the Nox Avis off-course. The ship tumbled, smashed against the lunar surface and bounced off, smoke billowing from the mangled remains of her port engine. Anti-beam chaff particles billowed out of its breached portside VLS as the damaged missiles continued to leak their payload; the Nelson-class and Agamemnon-class fired their main cannons, but the beams splashed harmlessly against the rapidly thickening cloud of anti-beam particles.

"Portside hull breach along the main body." Andy said. "We lost the starboard beam cannon from that impact with the lunar surface!"

"Doesn't matter," Miar said, blowing hair out of her face. "Katner! Empty the portside VLS of their chaff missiles as well. Keith! Can you get any more speed out of the engines? Anything is fine as long as it takes us out of range!" Good thing the anti-air missiles weren't in the VLS this time.

A low groan echoed from the superstructure of the Nox Avis as the wounded ship accelerated again. The Nazca-class destroyer slowly righted itself and begun to move away; even when damaged, the ship lived up well to its reputation.

Unfortunately, the Nox Avis was no longer as fast as it was supposed to be; the Nelson-class warships accelerated as well, followed by the rest of the fleet, and slowly but surely the distance between ZAFT destroyer and the Alliance warships closed.

"Missile locks from the Drake-class ships," Nana said, fatigue tingeing the edge of her voice.

Can we really not outrun them? Miar thought.

"New contacts," Nana sat up a bit straighter. "They're ZAFT warships. Two Nazca-classes and three Laurasia-class ships!"

Miar leaned back into her seat and breathed out as the ZAFT reinforcements rapidly closed the distance and took up position around her vessel, firing at the Alliance fleet that dared to chase her so far into the side of the moon owed by ZAFT. "Transmission from the Galvani, ma'am," Andy said. "Putting her through."

"This is Captain Rau le Creuset of the Galvani. Is the Nox Avis still operational?"

"You arrived in the nick of time, Captain," Miar managed a thin smile. "They're relentless."

"I can imagine. With the Nox Avis having one of their precious Mobius Zero mobile armours onboard, they were very afraid of losing the only trump card that remains uniquely theirs. Unfortunately for them, their nightmare has become reality." Rau replied. Turning to the Commander seated beside him, he gave him a light tap on the shoulder. "It's your role now, Ades. I'm going out."

"Yes sir!" Fredrick Ades said.

Miar continued watching the battle as the ZAFT reinforcements and their mobile suits ran the Alliance fleet ragged. As the last Agamemnon carrier took a lethal hit to its midsection and hit the lunar surface, unable to take to space ever again, she took off her captain's hat and walked up to the front of the bridge. "Good job, everyone. We pulled through today as well." Miar Reiden looked in the direction of the Lorenz crater. "Let's go back home."

Afterword:

The Grimaldi Front was a term to describe the battle lines drawn on the lunar surface, with the Grimaldi crater the middle ground in between ZAFT and OMNI forces on this side of the moon. The battle lasted for about a month and is infamous amongst the Alliance for the first successful deployment of the Cyclops System, and the resulting Pyrrhic victory for both sides.

The Cyclops System would later be seen in the SEED series during the JOSH-A battle and when Kira Yamato reappears in the Freedom.

The Grimaldi Front is also the place where the Alliance's 3rd Fleet and their Mobius Zero mobile armour corps made their last stand, with Mu la Flaga being the sole survivor. His feats are mentioned briefly in the series, of which one of them includes shooting down 5 GINNs in the Endymion Crater, earning him his name of the "Hawk of Endymion".

Rau le Cruset also had comparable achievements even though they remain unknown, as he was later put in command of the Vesalius for them.

In this, I've wrote that both Rau and his trusted Commander, Ades, were already on the Galvani, Rau's previous command, and that both would transfer over to the Vesalius.