Gundam Seed- Alternate Plot twist

The funeral bell tolls twice

Nichol Amalfi heard them coming a mile away. The impromptu war chant of "TEAM DEATHMATCH!" echoed up and down the corridors of the Vesalius and into the hangar bay, causing Nichol to shudder as he heard it getting louder. This was a tradition for Dearka and Yzak, one that went back to their academy days.

And it was still as annoying as the first day he'd heard it, back when it was an actual Team Deathmatch between the two of them and the team of Nichol and Rusty.

Damn it, he missed the guy. As stupid as he was, the boundless energy that surrounded Rusty just made horrible situations a lot more fun. Sometimes.

Turning up towards the GAT-X 207 Blitz before him, Nichol sighed. The Blitz had unceremoniously been stuffed into a corner since the debacle at Artemis. That was when the Strike and its pilot had, as Dearka and Yzak had recounted it, nearly picked up the Blitz's arm and beaten Nichol to death with it before Nichol ran off like "a little girl." And completely ignored the fact that Nichol's sneak attack had brought an 'invincible' Earth Forces stronghold to its knees.

It was then that Nichol had decided that he wouldn't miss Dearka or Yzak, should what happened to Rusty befall either of them.

As of right now, though, repairs on the Blitz were nearly complete. Captain Ades, in place of Commander le Cruiset, had given Nichol permission to make use of the spare parts available to replace the missing arm of his Blitz. It was slim pickings, but Nichol had found a spare right arm for Commander le Cruiset's CGUE. A spare Vulcan Shield System, capable of spraying 28mm rounds at the enemy with ridiculous speed, and the 500mm recoilless bazooka would help make up for the Blitz's newfound lack of ranged weaponry. The heavy sword sheath bolted onto the side-skirt armor would make up for a lack of melee ability, although it would be useless against the Phase Shift Armor of other mobile suits in the GAT-X series. Like the Strike.

Watching the technicians bolt the remaining pieces of armor onto the Blitz's new right arm from inside the cockpit, Nichol ran a few preliminary checks on the connections between the arm and the suit. A few flicks of his fingers across the keyboard had the computer simulating the movements of the arm in battle. While it wasn't the mad genius of the Trikeros System, it would do. The fact that the arm was compatible with the Phase Shift Armor caused Nichol some degree of relief, although it wasn't like that armor could protect the Blitz against that horrific pilot and his Strike.

Nichol frowned as he looked over the armaments of his Blitz again, muttering to himself, "It's a damned good thing the cloak still works. I don't think I'd last a minute against that pilot again without it..."

"TEAM DEATHMATCH!"

Nichol looked up on the monitors and saw Yzak and Dearka dive into the hangar bay, spinning around one another while fistbumping and chanting. It was a familiar sight, and not a good one.

"Attention all pilots!" Yzak cried out at the top of his lungs as he stopped his spin on one of the walkways leading up to the mobile suits, "The Zadkiel is moving in to meet with four Earth Federation ships. They will have many Moebius units on them, and the Strike is likely going to be involved in any battles as well."

Nichol looked up from his work and noticed several of the new pilots were paying attention to Yzak attentively. One even rubbed his hands together like he was a kid expecting a fresh, hot meal. While Nichol was wary of the five new pilots, and GINNs, that had joined up with the Vesalius from the very ship that had taken Athrun and Commander le Crusiet back to ZAFT Headquarters, he was at least glad for the extra bodies. After all, three on an unknown amount of enemy units, even inferior ones, was decidedly suicidal. Eight, on the other hand, put more bodies between him and the enemy.

"However!" Yzak continued, as if silencing any dissenting voices that may have existed with a booming voice that echoed over the men below, "This is a perfect chance for us to catch those Naturals with their pants down, and make them pay for Junius Seven!"