Welcome to Gaia! ::

Bella blinked, "Wow, that sounds really good!" She looked from one boy to another. "That is a good thing, right?" Bella wasn't the best at all the mobile suit talk, but she could follow a little of it.

Iquel smiled and nodded. "I'll have to try them out first, but the ORB one sounds like it should work better than the one I've been using." He said to her. The car accelerated a bit more as it was making its way to its destination.

Ryan reached the bridge and stood at the camera viewer. "What's out distance from the Magellan?" He asked one of the officers.

"Currently 325 meters to the rendezvous point." Said the officer. "Earth Forces aren't pursuing us and we have no radar or heat signatures suggesting anything otherwise. Sonar is clear. We're ready to surface. They just scent us a laser-line comm channel and their awaiting the person in charge." He said, handing his headset to Ryan.

Ryan sighed and placed it on his ear. "Alright then. This is Iquel Flickerbat of the Flickerbat provisional team." He said over the line. A reply came through and he turned off looking into the dim light of the windowless room. "Yes, I've had to detain the former captain of the ship. We need to transfer him and report to the proper channels." More talk came over and he raised an eyebrow in surprise. "A supply sub from Gibraltar? Looking for us specifically?" He asked. There was an ascent. "Well, that will leave get us the supplies and manpower that we need for a little while. What is this unrecorded base you found, anyways? We'll discuss that face to face then, and I'll look over the data en route. We'll see you shortly." The line closed and he handed the headset back. "We'll it looks like we'll be executing a joint operation and have some fresh supplies. This is the calm before the storm boys." He said narrowing his eyes.

Jan withdrew a small portable storage stick from his shirt pocket. "How will I get it? I have them all now!" He said with grin. Jan replaced the object in his pocket and leaned back. "And I'm good back here! No worries." He said with a grin.

Iquel chuckled as they went around a bend on a cliff side. "We'll be there soon guys. If what I was told was right." He said.

~Aboard a large carrier~

Wearing a custom tailored suit, of a quality worn by top businessmen, the man who was known as Renault Ford or Alphonse Schneider sat in seat at the bridge looking out at the ocean ahead. Aboard the ship was a large collection of mobile suits, both appropriated from ZAFT or given to them by Earth Alliance benefactors. He smiled as he looked on his datapad the spoils of the latest operations of his unit. Suddenly he heard a beep from his pocket and retrieved the phone. A message had been sent relying support requests from an Alliance Facility. He immediately turned and looked to his bridge crew. "All right, we've got orders. Switch all i.d. codes to the Earth Alliance registered ones and open a communications line to channel turn-delta 4." He grinned as the other mercenaries set forth to their duties and he picked up the ear-piece set on the armchair of his seat. This day would turn out to be.... exhilarating.

Iquel grinned. "Thanks. It is a nice drive, isn't it?" He commented as he took a look to the side that faced away from the cliff. The light from late morning gleamed brightly off the ocean that could be seen over the tropical treetops. Iquel turned his attention back to the road. But he did wonder if things were as peaceful in the water as it looked from the distance they were from the ocean.

The Armand surfaced at the rendezvous point and set to docking procedures with the two other submarines awaiting them. Ryan waited with a few of the other officers with him on the wet surface of the ship as a bridge between the Armand and the Magellan was set up. Soon a crew from the adjoining ship was stepping across the bridge onto the Armand. Ryan saluted to the incoming group, as he recognized the captain of the other vessel, but noticed another who he did not recognize. This wouldn't have caught his attention, with the exception of the fact that the man wore a FAITH crest on his collar. "Glad to see some friendly faces." Ryan said, "Please follow us to the briefing room. We'll discuss what this is about there." He told them.

The captain of the other submarine nodded and said. "Send a live link to our ship. We should all the mobile suit pilots of our vessels in the briefing room and have both crews on standby, and should everyone in planning with this. The nature of the base that was found, we suspect, is of crucial importance to Earth Forces. Otherwise, intel would have tipped us off about it."

Ryan nodded and led them into the ship, and directed the slew of officers to the tactical room on the Armand. As they did so, a call came through the ship's intercome. "Ship status has been raised to condition Yellow. I repeat this ships status has been raised to condition yellow. All pilots report to the briefing room."

Bella smiled and lay back in her seat, completely relaxed. She looked out at the ocean. The gleaming water warmed her heart. "Iquel." She said softly looking out at the beautiful tropical scenery. "Do you think that nothing bad will happen today? Do you think that for one day we can find true peace?" She stared out at the water. It really was beautiful, and so peaceful.

Bella nodded. She was fascinated by the passing buildings. She was so use to the military offices that this was like a completely new world to her. "I can't wait Iquel." She told him. Her eyes gleamed with joy.

"We won't be splitting up will be Iquel?" She asked. They were still on earth. She wondered now many other coordinators were out in this part of the town. Bella glanced at Iquel and up at Jan. She hoped that at least some part of the day she would be able to talk with Iquel alone. She held the albums of photos tightly in her arms. She was not about to let them go. She and Iquel had some things to go over today. But they would still have fun, right?

Bella blushes slightly and nodded. She smiled happily. Bella lay back against her seat also. "Where would you like to go Iquel?" She asked. "I think we will have time to do both activities today." She laughed softly. Bella looked up at Jan and laughed. "Perhaps we should start by walking around, that way we could lose Jan in a shop and continue on by ourselves." She joked.

Iquel grinned and nodded to Bella. "Lets get going then. If you get lost, just call my phone and I'll find you. We'll walk around today." He said to the others, getting out of the car and waiting for the others. The sky was so clear, it would have been uplifting, if the events of the earlier crises didn't have so much gravity.

The Magellan's commander listed the easy to keep up with details of deployment and strategic planning. There would be three ground/aerial mobile suit squads, one team equipped with assault gear for taking down bases, while the other two would focus on handling the enemy mobile suits, and making sure that the assault team. Another squad of aerial/ground mobile suits would be held in reserve to make sure that the ships were protected, or if reinforcements were needed. The rest of the mobile suits, all aquatic types, would also be concentrating on assaulting the enemy base, and defending to ships. A lot of pressure was going to be placed on the teams that were assigned to occupying enemy mobile units. "This will be a difficult task," the man explained. "But the key to taking down this base, will be taking down the enemy mobile suit corps."

The man stepped back, and Ryan knew that it was his turn to take the spotlight once more. He took a breath and stepped forward, facing the camera. "The operation will begin in one hour. All pilots should report to the mobile suit decks and prep for combat. Your team assignments are being sent to you now." The data-pads, that were set at each seat in the briefing room beeped, and the assignment update appeared. Loki would be a part of one the squads focusing on the enemy mobile suits. Ryan gave the soldiers and pilots a few moments to memorize their assignments. He coughed and looked toward all the soldiers who were hopefully watching the screen. "Like we have said, this will be a difficult battle. But I have that in all of you lies the strength to succeed. May this fight assist us in the protection of the PLANTs. Report to your stations and prep for battle. Good luck to you all out there." He saluted to the soldiers and the screen soon went blank.