After the Aegis exploded, even though Athrun escaped from the cockpit early and flew out using the combat suit's jet pack, he was still affected by the shock waves and was tossed unconscious. As for Kira, he also quickly got out of the Strike because of the hole in the cockpit's entrance, even though the Aegis locked the Strike in its MA form claws, which block the cockpit hatch.
Alex watched as Kira was also affected by the explosion and blasted far, and was also being rescued by Lowe, and was left at the residence of Reverend Malchio.
When Alex returned to the transport plane, he found Nicol being restrained and kept shouting that he had to go save Athrun. Alex, who had descended from the MS and had people remove Tolle from the cockpit of the Skygrasper, went to Nicol and told him to calm down, as Athrun was safe and didn't need their rescue, and Orb would be there soon.
Alex also told him that he had intercepted the Archangel's signal for Orb and informed him that the ZAFT submarine, which housed the MS, was nearby, so Nicol didn't need to worry.
On the other side, after the Archangel loaded the incapacitated Buster and took Dearka to the med bay under armed supervision. It immediately started its engine, which had been stopped to prevent greater damage during the battle when the Archangel crashed. The Archangel also started its thrusters despite the heavy damage to the ship they left here to enter EA airspace as soon as possible.
Alex also took his team of people to leave this place while also telling Tolle about how he will be staying with the Ashford group for a few months and will be able to meet Miriallia. Tolle, though, wanted to go back now. He knew he couldn't leave here when armed people were watching over him, and since it's only a few months, he could wait and apologize to Miriallia later. Alex then left with Tolle and Nicol for Ashford Group's headquarters.
17th April C.E 71
Alex spent another day at the Ashford headquarters in Eurasia because of the need to arrange for the transfer of Nicol and Tolle discreetly to space.
As the rocket and space shuttle used for private launch of special items and sending members discretely is prepared, Alex asked the secretary where his father was, as he didn't meet the whole day he was here and only then did he find out his father had gone to space colony being constructed for the final testing and first ignition of the newly constructed Archangel class Battleships. He realized that the expected assembly and final testing for the Battleships is actually two days later than predicted before, and he didn't notice these details as he was busy with his rescue plan.
Alex decided to ask his father the reason directly later, when he meets him at the space colony tomorrow, as he will join Iron Maiden in space after launch and travel in it with its modified thrusters to keep his journey fast and less exhausting. Once the rocket launch vehicle was ready for launch, he boarded it with Tolle, Nicol, along with Steve, and Eric. As for Aisha, after her scars were treated with help medical nanobots, she was sent to the Orb villa to stay with Emma.
After 15 mins of launch, the shuttle was able to dock with Iron Maiden in space. Alex found out that the ship is currently crewed by the vice captain and a new crew meant for the second ship, which will be Alex's exclusive ship from now on for the next 3-4 years.
After a day of journey Alex and the others reached the space colony which is near completion after entering the docks which are completed they were greeted by the site of 35 Gat-X103 Buster Gundam and 2 new Strike Gundam which are equipped with all three back packs which most people will call as prefect Strike Gundam and on the other side of the docks are the newest additions to the Ashford groups latest Battleships two of the brand new Archangel class ships. Tolle, who saw this, was so shocked he had his mouth open for a while without knowing what to say.
Alex told Steve to take them to the working facilities in the dock for temporary rest. As he entered the Indomitable, which is his father's ship for the coming years, its paint scheme is a mix of yellow, grey, and red, with yellow being the primary color of the ship in place of the original Archangel white. He had already decided the names for both his and his father's ship long before. The second ship, which was named Crimson Moon, features the color scheme of Red grey, and white, where the Red and White of the Original are interchanged, causing the ship's primary color to be red.
Once inside the Indomitable, Alex went to the bridge and found James and Edward there, along with the original crew of the Iron Maiden, checking the ship before its initial launch. As the crew was going through all the final checks, Alex came to his father and asked about the cause of the delay in the assembly of the ships.
James told Alex that the delay was because of a lucky accident before the manufacturing of the laminated armor for the ships and explained to Alex how one of the materials researchers in the EA lab, when stripping the Astrays of their original alloy to replace them with the PS armor. The alloys with the waste E-Carbon alloys, which were left from initial experiments, and the experimental laminated armors were made for the first time to test their parameters. After which, when the disposal team took all three, another one of the researchers, just on a whim, took them to see if they could be synthesized into new alloys.
After the researcher tried many combinations when he was about to give up by pure luck of his the metals smelted into a new alloy as for why it was called pure luck is because the smelting temperature was not the standard which is used for the alloys it was raised to a higher temperatures by mistake because of his exhaustion after long work but it resulted in a better Laminated E-Carbon alloy. This is not only very effective against beam weapons because of the higher temperature fluctuation resistance of E-Carbon, but it also retains the E-Carbon alloy's high resistance to physical damage, making it more durable than the original laminated armor. And the two new ships, which are both made of this material, are even more durable than the original Archangel and have a higher damage resistance in battles.
Alex was also surprised by this situation, as he had only thought that GN particles made E-Carbon more powerful and never expected such a surprise. As for the Astray being fitted with the PS armors, it is because they will be piloted by Aisha and Tolle later for the battle of Orb.
James also told Alex their MS made of E-Carbon alloys was ready and also told him that the shield for Steve's MS was also replaced with the new Laminated E-Carbon alloy shield for better protection, and they are also thinking of producing them for the mass production model so that there will be less danger for the pilots of the new mass production MS during their battles. Also showed Alex the new prototypes made for him, Eric, and Steve by calling up the data in the ship when Alex saw the Blue color painted MS of his, along with its golden stripes, Alex knew he couldn't escape from being targeted by the ZAFT. Although the E-Carbon alloys provide better protection than the PS armor while saving energy significantly, it is a problem to change their color once painted. It would be even more embarrassing for him to ask them to change the paint simply because he wanted to avoid the ZAFT. The only sad person in this situation is Juri, as even though the MS armor of Juri and Alex are different because of the same model and color scheme, the chance of her being focused on by many in the battle will be inevitable. As for the colors of the MS, Eric and Steve are White, Gold, and Black, Gold respectively.
Alex stayed there for some time to see the successful launch of the Indomitable and the Crimson Moon. After which, he boarded the Iron Maiden with Nicol, Eric, and Steve to go to the plants, while Arthur, who was here for a long time, stayed here to watch over the Crimson Moon while also going through Battleship command course and simulation training for himself. Alex had already contacted Patrick through a special channel and told him of Nicol's situation, and asked him to meet with Nicol's parents and arrange for a private meeting outside the plants so that Nicol's situation could be hidden from the others in the plants.
Author's Notes: The five chapters missed during the past few days will be released between the regular chapters or with them. Thank you all for your support.