Seven spaceships hung in orbit above Gaia, their crews boarding dropships in preparation for an ‘intervention’. Their puppets had been defeated and their grand plan was in shambles, but they were more than willing to ignore the ‘New Neighbor Law’ that their nation had begrudgingly signed onto millennia ago. They had already isolated the system from outside observation and were preparing for the ‘Uplifting’ of the inferior and impure beings there.

By ‘intervening’ in the peace talks they hoped to decapitate the leadership of every nation on Gaia, thereby giving the full ‘Ascension Force’ an easier time in ‘purifying the lesser beings of their inadequacies’. Yes, these were not friendly, compassionate and merciful Aliens, but what could be called ‘Fanatical Purifiers’ whose way of expanding their territory was just as twisted as one might expect.

As the galactic community was overwhelmingly against their actions, they had been forced by (slight) military supremacy to sign on to numerous conventions that limited the expansion of not only themselves, but of other nations as well. Thus, they found a loophole in the ‘New Neighbor Law’ and exploited the hell out of it. Simply put, when a species first achieved space flight, the nation they were in would give them a choice, Join or exist separately inside the greater nation or as a kind of ‘island nation’.

Due to the twisted machinations of the Angelus Holy Union, every species they encountered that achieved space flight wanted to join, mostly due to the fact that the AHU had made each primitive species worship them. Thus, with the new species in their nation as ‘citizens’ they were at the mercy of the AHU’s policies and thus ended up being purged from existence.

This was supposed to be what would have befallen Gaia and its people, but thanks to a certain individual the world was now on a different path. This could not be tolerated by the AHU’s leaders, and a strike team was sent to make sure that no one could stand int the way of ‘Purification’. As the last of the soldiers boarded the dropships and the first wave of strike craft and transports exited the seven ships, they did not even think for a moment that there would be anyone capable of stopping their holy duties.

…

Meanwhile, far from visual range, the seven ships of the Angelus Holy Union were being stalked by a group of ships belonging to the Arcadian Commonwealth. Arkhan had stationed several ships in orbit as a precautionary measure due to the warnings of his new wife, Asharia Ophedein Draconis. Just as she had predicted, with the defeat of their puppets the ‘Great Enemy’ had decided to ignore the rules and attempt to ‘clean up the mess’. The only reason that Arkhan’s ships weren’t picked up on the sensors of the AHU’s ships was due to the Minovsky Particles that were used in the engines and weapons of Arkhan’s ships. The fact that Minovsky Particles interfered with communications and sensor equipment meant that if enough of them were spread out an entire armada would only be detectable by visual means.

Arkhan’s ships waited just out of the line-of-sight of the AHU’s ships and began to launch their compliment of Mobile Suit Golems. With the end of the ‘Great War’, Arkhan’s MSGs could now freely transition between their normal 1/10th scale size and their full 1/1 scale ‘Real Mode’. This would normally be a cause for celebration, but the fact of the matter was that with the end of the war came a new type of ‘Era’ of Gundam stuff and any MSG that upgraded into this new ‘Era’ or was created from it directly still had to deal with the strain and time-limit that had once plagued (and in some cases still plagued) the forces of Arkhan.

Still, the vast majority of Arkhan’s forces were still from the ‘Pre-Zeta/Double Zeta Era’ and thus could freely switch forms at their leisure. This meant that they could act both as boarding parties and as strike-craft in their own right, switching from Space Marines to Humanoid Space-Superiority Craft whenever they felt like it. They still had their limits, such as Mobile Armor Golems permanently being stuck in ‘Real Mode’, but these were negligible in the grand scheme of things.

As the only true defense that they possessed began the journey through the atmosphere, the Angelus Holy Union’s seven ships were now hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered. While their technology was indeed better than that used by Arkhan, they lacked the knowledge needed to prepare for what was to come, not to mention the fact that they assumed that the force that had beaten their puppets was incapable of true space combat. As the dropships and strike-craft began their attack runs, the predators that had been stalking them sprung their trap. The first space-battle for the survival of Gaia’s people had begun.

…

As Arkhan watched the strike-craft and dropships exit the alien spaceships and enter the atmosphere, he thought of a way to avoid having Gihren and Revil be executed as War Criminals. It was a plan that may or may not work, but it was worth a shot. He would give them honorable deaths, not the dishonorable ones that they were slated for. He ordered the two of them to prepare for combat and stood up in the middle of the peace-talks.

“I regret to inform everyone here, but we have some unwelcome guests. Guests who mean to kill us all and proceed to destroy everything we have built up.”

As if to show that he was indeed speaking the truth, the domed ceiling of the repurposed Lugusian Church was blown open and beings that looked similar to angels floated in bearing looks of utter contempt. The Lugusian Clergy that was at the talks got on their knees and began to pray, but they were quickly kicked aside and left for later.

“Why? Why would Almighty Lugus harm his flock?” one of the surviving Cardinals asked the million-dollar question.

With a sneer, one of the ‘angels’ spoke up and broke the back of the Lugusian Church.

“Lugus' Faithful? What a joke. You were meant to be disposable puppets, nothing more! Your purpose was to prepare this world for our arrival and willingly walk into the crematoriums we prepared for all the ones that had come before you. Do you know how many worlds we have purified of alien filth like you? You were to be the next in a long line of world purified by our glorious and sacred light, but you failed in the one job you were supposed to do. We never cared for you, or for any of the impure trash that walked, flew and swam anywhere on this backwater world. Go die in service to us, like good little disposable pawns, you mangy inferior beings!”

As the ‘angel’ finished his rant, there could be heard a slow clap from the youngest person in the room.

“Wow. Very eloquently put. Such zeal! Did you spend a week writing that, or was that just off the top of your head? Because, honestly, that sounded like the ravings of a remarkably eloquent 5-year-old child who just had his favorite toy taken away and was told he had to go to bed."

The 'Angel scowled at Arkhan who further mocked the winged humanoid.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did that stike a nerve? Did the 'Superior Species' get his feelings hurt by a 'lowly and inferior race'? Well, if a 'Superior Race' like yourselves can be so wounded by such a 'weak and worthless race', then it speaks volumes about you utter lack of true superiority, now doesn't it? But either way, if it bleeds, you can kill it. If it has vocal chords you can make it beg and if it has a will you can break it. Let's see if your kind bleeds, begs and breaks, shall we?”

Arkhan smiled and sat back down, listening to the sounds of warfare raging around the repurposed church. He watched through the ‘eyes’ of his creations as they laid down mass amounts of fire upon the alien vessels and personnel, knowing full well that they would need more firepower and greater numbers to truly deal with the superior technology that was employed by the Angelus Holy Union. Not exactly happy with the way things were going, he called in a few hundred more MSGs, as well as Gihren and Revil. With the two war criminals appearing behind him, the rest of the attendees were noticeably unnerved, but Arkhan didn’t care. He would give them a glorious death; the question was if the Angelus Soldiers would play ball.

Arkhan sighed and snapped his fingers, and with that the counterattack began.