I don't own anything except Kevin Walker, the Destroyers, and Frank Castile

Leona Colde also does not belong to me; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She


The pain had begun to recede by the time Mike carried the wounded soldier into the shuttle, and took off from what they both knew was a doomed facility. They had minutes at best before a nuclear fusion device went off, and if they didn't hurry they would be as dead as their comrades.

Still... "Why aren't I dead?" the wounded soldier wondered aloud, realizing only then that audible speech was possible again. "Those wounds..."

"My guess," Mike grunted, pouring energy into the shuttle's thrusters, "is that you got exposed to medical nano machines back there; either from Kevin or from some damaged equipment. I guess you got lucky." He cursed under his breath, guiding the shuttle through the exit tunnel. "Man, I wish Tanya was here; flying was never my specialty..."

"We'll make it," his companion asserted, as they burst out into open space. "We have to make it, we may be the only ones lef--close your eyes!" the wounded soldier abruptly warned, and Mike wasted no time complying.

A brilliant flash -which, without the timely warning from their augmentation sensors, would've burned out even their eyes- came from behind, and the shuttle rocked violently in the aftereffects of the blast. "Solkin syn!" Mike blurted, imitating his -former- commander out of habit. "They weren't kidding about that bomb!"

"Seems excessive to just get rid of us if we got out of line," the wounded soldier said bitterly. "Maybe that place is better off destroyed." A pause. "Do you... do you think Kevin survived that? Or any of the others?"

Mike paused for a ling moment, ostensibly making sure their flight path was level. "I don't know," he said at last. "I know Erica bought it, and I saw what I think used to be Charlie, but... Well, I wouldn't count out Kevin just yet. If anybody made it, he did. Probably Delta, too; I think she was on a trip someplace..."

"Yeah." His companion's eyes closed. "But... what happened back there? Why would Kevin turn on us like that...?"

"I think I know," Mike said grimly. "And I'm not liking what I'm thinking. Remember all those scars he had, and his memory problems? We were all told that he'd run into pirates before being rescued by ZAFT, and had traumatic amnesia as a result... but now I'm not so sure. After some of the training we went through, some of the things Oracle said... I thought there was something fishy going on. The Doc practically oozed evil, remember?"

His companion shuddered. "You're saying ZAFT broke him," the soldier whispered. "Tortured him, wiped his memory, brainwashed him... and that was a zoanthrope transformation we saw back there, wasn't it? Chemical brainwashing doesn't work on them for long..."

"Right," Mike agreed. "He must've just come back to himself, and the shock of it made his mind snap." He clenched a fist. "If Kevin hadn't just eaten Oracle, I'd kill him myself..."

The other soldier felt faintly ill. "...Eaten?"

"Looked like it; wasn't much left of the Doc, anyway." Mike shuddered. "I never, ever wanna see a crazed zoanthrope again, my friend. Ever."

"Agreed... but I hope Kevin made it, anyway." The soldier sighed. "Where to from here, Mike? We can't go back to ZAFT, and Earth probably wouldn't be healthy..."

"We go to Mendel," Mike said quietly. "By now, whatever toxin that got loose there will have died to something our augmentation can handle, and it's nice and quiet there. We avoid the inhabited L4 colonies... and regroup. Let's get you back in shape, and then see what we can do to make things right..."


"...All right, Maria, thanks. I'll keep an eye on the situation from here. Thank Kira for me, too, will you? I knew there was something wrong up there, but now I know what to look for, thanks to him. Over and out."

Frank Castile, Orb Intelligence agent, cut the connection and leaned back in his chair with a sigh, wishing idly that he could be certain his own phones weren't tapped. Be nice to call her Murrue for a change, instead of an alias, he thought. Though I suppose I have bigger problems right now. Bloody good thing Kira and Kevin have that psychic link...

It had been a fairly relaxed two years, he reflected, gazing at his office desk without really seeing it. As soon as his wayward cousin had returned to the Orb nobility, Castile had gone to work for him as his personal spy. Kevin was, of course, quite capable of doing the work himself, but he didn't really have the time these days.

"And now," Castile muttered, "we appear to have another war on our hands. Joy. Not to mention Snake Eater..." What a bloody mess it was all turning into in a span of just a few weeks... but it was his job to sort things out.

He was just reaching for the desk's communications panel again to make some inquiries when his door suddenly opened, without any notice from his secretary. The spy stiffened, preparing to take out his frustration on a worthy target... before he stopped, seeing the gun, the blood in his outer office, and the face above the weapon.

"You," Castile whispered, his right hand surreptitiously moving beneath the lip of the desk. "But you're supposed to be dead."

"A mistake your secretary made," the visitor said calmly, walking in. "She's dead, I'm afraid; I couldn't leave witnesses just yet, and besides, she saw my pistol and went for one herself. Not smart."

"Why now?" Castile demanded. "Why show yourself after all this time?" Stall him, he told himself. Kevin has to be warned!

"I was biding my time," the visitor replied casually. "Like many, I knew the peace between Earth and the PLANTs wouldn't last; this turn of events is the best to effect my return. Not that I haven't made my influence known already, of course. By now, you must know about Snake Eater."

"Yes," the spy said tightly, "we do. I should've known you were behind it, you bastard. Of all the geneticists in the world, only you and Hibiki had the ability... and only you had the knowledge of that warped genome. But why?" he demanded. "How can even you be such a monster?"

"It had to be done," the gunman replied simply. "The failsafe always existed within him; Ulen and I knew there was a chance the boy would go bad, and so we made sure the virus was integrated during his creation, in a passive form. It needed only the right event to bring it out of latency."

"Something innocuous, no doubt," Castile growled, as his fingers closed around the grip of the Walther PPK he kept under his desktop. "Explains how it seemingly came out of nowhere. So I suppose you're just going to kill him, and take his place?"

"With luck, this war will do it for me," his visitor said easily. "If not, Snake Eater will finish the job within months, even with the augmentation he received. As I said, we knew there was a chance he'd go bad."

"He's a better man than you ever were," Castile said tightly. "How you hid it all those years... Not that it matters. You're being foolish, old man; you underestimate him. He'll survive, and one day soon, he'll kill you instead. Revenge is something he's very good at, and attacking him -and killing me- will make you his highest-priority target. You have to know that."

"We'll see how good he is," the gunman told him, unconcerned. "But you won't, will you?"

"I know you're going to kill me." Castile didn't flinch at the prospect of his own approaching death; there was no time for fear. "But let me ask you this: what would your wife think of what you're doing?"

"She's dead," his visitor said, showing his first trace of emotion, "and Kevin is the reason for that, too. Maybe Irena wouldn't approve, but that doesn't matter now." His expression didn't change as he raised the pistol. "What matters is that this must be done, and you won't be allowed to warn him."

"We'll see about that!" Castile's hand came up with speed that would've made his cousin proud, and he pulled the trigger at the same moment as his killer.

The killer jerked as a 7.65 millimeter bullet tore through his left biceps, but he had the satisfaction of seeing his own bullet rip into his target's chest. It wasn't instantly fatal, but the spy wouldn't be around much longer, either. "Good shot, Frank," he grunted, putting away his weapon, "but not good enough. Too long at the desk, hmm?" With a grim smile, he turned, and left the office behind.

When guards and medics came in two minutes later in response to reports of gunfire, all they found was Frank Castile, slumped in his chair, breathing weakly. "Hold still, Agent Castile," a medic told him, while the armed guards spread out to find the shooter. "We're going to get you patched up..."

"Too late for me," Castile wheezed, managing a whisper. "Too late... Baron Onishi," he said, mustering the strength to grip the medic's arm. "Baron... Onishi... tell... Kevin..."

His head drooped, his hand went limp, and his breathing stopped. Frank Castile was gone.

"What was that?" one of the guards asked, coming over. "Sounded like he was trying to say something, at the end..."

The medic shook her head, bemused. "I don't know. I think he wanted me to tell Baron Onishi something, but he didn't have time to say what." She swallowed. "I... guess someone's going to have to tell the Baron, once contact is reestablished."

"Yeah." No one there relished that duty. Nobody knew where the Baron had been during his three years away, but according to whisperings about the war, harming his family was not a good idea...


"I can't believe it... Kevin Walker...?" Lunamaria could only stare at the jade-eyed young man who stood before her, a similar look of shock in his own eyes. "But... you're supposed to be dead..."

"A mistake many have made over the years," Leona replied smoothly, giving Kevin a few moments to react. And I wonder what his problem is? "A lot of them aren't around anymore." Surreptitiously, her hand slipped into the jacket she wore, and her fingers touched the grips of the large pistol hidden within. The ZAFT pilot's weapon was still close at hand, and she wanted no accidents...

"You are Kevin Walker, aren't you?" Lunamaria asked shakily, unable to tear her gaze from the distinctive glowing eyes. "Former ZAFT soldier..."

Kevin finally broke out of his own stunned stupor, and slowly shook his head. "Not anymore," he said quietly. "I'm just a man... but yes, I was once the man of whom you speak. It's been a long time, though, since ZAFT claimed my allegiance."

Cagalli looked at him in confusion. "Kevin, what's going on? How does she know you, and how do you know her?"

He closed his eyes, tucking his revolver behind his back. "She recognizes me, I expect, because my description is not one that many people fit; likely she heard it in letters from a relative." He sighed. "I served with her sister Erica, you see, five years ago."

She stifled a gasp. "That means..." She couldn't finish the sentence; not in front of Lunamaria Hawke. Cagalli knew perfectly well what it meant: Erica Hawke was dead... at Kevin's own hand.

"Da." Kevin opened his eyes again, and met Lunamaria's gaze. "I must say, Miss Hawke, that this is a meeting I would have preferred to have half a decade ago, before... certain things happened. For what it's worth, I'm sorry about Erica." Not that it's worth much of anything, he thought bitterly. All I can hope for is that it was quick... and I'll never know.

Lunamaria swallowed. "It's an honor to meet you, Comm- er, Baron. My sister... spoke highly of you in her letters." She paused. "Can you tell me what happened that day? How she died?"

He hesitated. "That... ah... might be a tale for a later time, Miss Hawke," he said carefully. "You deserve to know, and it's my place to tell you, but I think now is not the time. We're under attack, by what an... acquaintance of mine claimed to be of the Earth Forces."

"Yes, of course." She mentally scolded herself. You've waited this long to hear the truth, you can wait a little longer. Besides, Meyrin needs to hear it, too.

Cagalli sighed in relief. "I guess that's settled, Athrun," she said to her second bodyguard... and then winced realized what she'd said. "I mean, Alex."

Lunamaria glanced at her oddly; there was something familiar about that name somehow... No way... Could it be...?

"Ahem," Leona put in, hoping to forestall the ZAFT pilot's understanding, "I believe we have a situation here. As Alex said, I'm Leona Colde, formerly of the Next-Generation Special Forces. I'm afraid Lady Cagalli is in need of medical attention, due to wounds received during the battle out there. Also, we'd like to speak with Chairman Dullindal, if possible."

Lunamaria thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "All right. I don't know about talking with the Chairman -I'll have to talk with the Captain about that- but I'll see that you get treatment at once. In the meantime, I should show you to a cabin. I realize, Baron," she said, nodding at Kevin, "that you're good in a fight, but I don't think you can do much right now. I expect both you and Commander Colde to understand that."

Leona nodded amiably, and Kevin smiled; his first since realized whom he was speaking to. "Da, Miss Hawke, we know. We've both been on the sharp end a time or too; even Cagalli's spent her share of time on the battlefield." He gestured with his flesh-and-blood hand. "Lead on."

Lunamaria nodded, and walked out of the hangar ahead of them, still feeling mildly stunned. She'd always wanted to meet Kevin Walker, but to encounter him like this, after military records has shown him dead -at least twice, no less- for the past two years...?

She paused in her steps when she heard a muttered Russian obscenity from behind her. "Baron? Is something wrong?" The Chief Representative and her other bodyguards were also looking at the sandy-haired youth in concern, for he was clutching his right arm, which seemed to be spasming.

"I'll be fine," Kevin grunted. "Just a muscle spasm; I'll catch up with you in a minute."

"Um... all right..." Lunamaria wasn't strictly certain it was a good idea to leave him unescorted for even a couple of minutes... but he was one of the Chief Representative's bodyguards, and they would likely have been shown the Minerva anyway... "Try not to take too long," she said finally.

"Don't worry."

Cagalli shot him a careful glance; she knew perfectly well that Kevin's right arm had no muscles. A lie, obviously, probably because he didn't like people to know the arm was fake. "You sure you'll be okay?" she asked softly.

"Da," he said reassuringly. "I'll take care of this, then catch up with you. Go on, tovarisch, it won't take long."

She finally nodded; Kevin was quite capable of taking care of himself, after all. He'd done it for over a year, on Earth, when he had Blue Cosmos trying very hard to kill him. "Okay. Watch yourself, though."

Lunamaria had to chuckle a little at that. "Please, Lady Cagalli, this is a ZAFT ship; it's not like he's in any danger here."


Outside Armory One, Neo Roanoke smiled to himself as he prepared to strike. Another new ZAFT prototype... and a ZAKU Phantom. Interesting. Well, I'm sure they're good, but they shouldn't be much of a... Huh? This feeling... He frowned; it was like there'd been some kind of flash in his mind. Something similar happened when he used the Exus' gunbarrels -apparently something to do with his heightened spatial awareness- but this felt more like a presence...

"I don't have time to deal with this," he muttered to himself. "Metaphysical claptrap can wait until later." Feeding power to his machine's thrusters, he rocketed away from the colony wall heading straight for the two ZAFT machines. "Chase my pilots, will you? I don't think so." Slashing across space, he deployed the mobile armor's gunbarrels around him.

In the cockpit of the Phantom, Rey froze for an instant as he felt the same flash Neo had. What... what is this...? Is it...? He shook himself, and keyed his radio. "Watch yourself, Shinn," he warned. "I think there's something out here-"

Shinn's head snapped up at the warning, and he threw Impulse into a cartwheel to his right just as the Exus' gunbarrels opened up on him. "Earth Forces mobile armor," he grunted. "So it is them, the bastards!" He raised his shield, splattering several bolts of emerald energy on it. "Gah, can't get a shot..."

Neo smiled to himself. "You're pathetic, kid," he whispered. "Nothing like a fellow I once knew..." He frowned behind his mask, then, as a fragment of a memory went through his mind. A teenager in black, with a cocky grin and the eyes of a killer... "Forget it," he ordered himself. "Just my imagination..."

The momentary distraction wasn't even noticed by his opponents, as the gunbarrels continued their merciless pounding under Neo's direction. "I don't know who he is," Rey told Shinn, "but he's good." He caught another blast on his shield, and cursed inwardly.

"He's not getting away," Shinn said angrily. "The other three already did; I'm not letting him get away with this!" He rushed forward, only to be forced back by another hail of emerald darts against his shield.

"Don't be reckless, Shinn," Rey admonished. "You'll just get killed, understand?"

"I know what I'm doing, Rey," the younger, more impetuous pilot shot back. "I don't need lectures." He cursed then, catching another burst of laser fire on his shield. "The important thing is to just take him down, and then go after those three they stole!"

"That's true," Rey agreed, "but we need to be careful about it." He caught another burst on his own shield, but took note of the direction it had come from. There you are... His rifle snapped up, his eyes narrowed, and he pulled the trigger, spitting an emerald dart across space.

Neo nodded to himself in grudging respect, as his gunbarrel was torn to shrapnel. "You're not bad, kid," he murmured. "This fight looks interesting..."


Once the others -especially the ZAFT pilot- were out of sight, Kevin sighed, reached up his right sleeve, and made several adjustments to his right forearm. Immediately, the arm relaxed, and he sighed again, this time in relief. Must've been Hyperion's particle-beam, he thought to himself. Or something like that. Energy surge overloaded it; need to remember to talk to Erica about that when I switch arms again...

The arm wasn't the only reason he'd hung back, though. He'd opened his empathic sense again, just enough to scout out the ship, and he'd felt something... strange. A presence he found almost, but not quite, familiar... like a memory he could almost recall. But who or what...?

"Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to kill you right now, Kevin?"

Kevin instantly froze, feeling the pistol pressed against his back. It wasn't the gun that got his attention, though... but rather the voice. "I expect it would be pretty easy," he said carefully. "Under the circumstances, anyway." He didn't even think about resisting; without his augmentation online, the man behind him would blow his spine in two if he so much as twitched... and if he tried to bring it online, the man with the gun would know it long before he could finish.

"You're right," the other man agreed. "It would be easy. You can turn around, by the way," he added.

Kevin did so, carefully raising his hands. "It's been a long time," he told the other, recognizing the obsidian hair and crimson eyes. "I had no idea you were still alive, comrade."

"Likewise," the man who went by the name Kyle Alexander informed him. "I knew you survived the lab, but I thought you died at Jachin. Imagine my surprise when I realized you were Baron Onishi. You know what my first impulse was, when I learned that?"

"To come to Orb to kill me, right?" Kevin felt strangely calm, even though he knew the odds were good he was about to die. Of course, if anyone has the right to end my life, it's him... "Why didn't you?"

Alexander hesitated. "Part of it," he said slowly, "was that it didn't seem healthy. Unlike you, I'm still loyal to the PLANTs; killing you might've made our relations with Orb... a little strained."

"Haven't lost your gift for understatement, I see," the Baron remarked. "So, what do you want, after all this time? Now might not be a good time to remember old times, my friend; there seems to be a battle going on."

The "mechanic" swallowed, though his pistol remained steady. "The truth? I want to kill you, Hydra. You killed most of us that night, and tried to kill us all... and most of all, you killed my sister. How could you do it?" he demanded. "She loved you..."

"You think I don't know that?" Kevin whispered, blood running cold at that barb. "I loved her, too... and I didn't want to do what I did, Basilisk," he added, finally using the codename he remembered that face using years before. "You don't know what really happened that night; no one alive does. Not even me, really. So much of that is still a blur... and I hope it stays that way."

"I'm sure," the man called Basilisk said bitterly. "For me, though, I'd dearly love to know why Rachel had to die..." He shook his head. "But if you don't remember, who does?"

Kevin didn't know how to answer that; so he turned his attention to Basilisk's name tag. "Kyle Alexander, eh? I see you're going by a different name these days... but I'm frankly surprised you can show your face on a ZAFT ship at all."

Basilisk snorted. "As far as ZAFT is concerned, we never happened, remember? You made sure of that after the war, when you and Canaver destroyed all the records." There might've been a sting in those words; Basilisk's former commander honestly wasn't sure.

"I didn't have much choice," the Orb baron who had once been called Hydra pointed out quietly. "Too many people wanted Kevin Walker dead as it was; it seemed safer to leave that persona officially dead, and bury all traces of what made him so dangerous. Besides," he added, "two years ago I was pretty sure I was the only one left. Mike died in Banadiya -after attacking me, in case you're wondering- and I had every reason to believe you and all the others died at the lab. And... there are some things in the past that should remain there. ABADDON is something the world should be allowed to forget... Alec."

Alec King flinched at the use of his true name. "Maybe you're right," he said in a low voice. "I can't argue that Oracle was dangerous; my research over the past five years has told me that much. In any case, I'm at least able to keep fighting for the PLANTs."

"So I see." Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Have to say, though, that I'm surprised to see a mechanic carrying a pistol aboard ship; is Talia really that casual about weapons on the Minerva? My last captain made allowances for me, but that was a... special circumstance."

"Actually," Alec informed him with a slight smile, "I'm not really a mechanic. That's the job I usually perform -you know I'm good at it- but in reality, I'm with the Fast-Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters these days... something Talia -Captain Gladys, I should say- isn't aware of."

Kevin looked at him sharply. "FAITH? That explains things... but only the Chairman has the authority to appoint FAITH agents. Does he know your true name? He knew us all by sight, once, just like Talia did."

Basilisk shrugged. "If he does know, he hasn't shown it. Come on, Hydra, it's been five years, and the unit only lasted six months. It'd be a lot to expect him to remember twelve faces after all this time. I mean, Captain Gladys didn't recognize you... and neither did the Chairman."

"I was wearing a mask until just before I landed," Hydra informed him. "I wouldn't count on anonymity here, Alec; Lunamaria Hawke had never even seen me before, and she still figured out who I was."

Alec smiled thinly. "So you met Erica's sister, huh? Well, the younger one, Meyrin, is aboard, too. Watch yourself, Kevin, or someone might just decide to take you out."

"Like you, you mean?" Kevin tilted his head. "So, why didn't you pull that trigger, Alec? I'd have been dead in an instant, if you had."

"One: because it wouldn't be good for our relations with Orb if Baron Onishi got shot dead on a ZAFT warship. And two..." Basilisk swallowed. "She wouldn't want me to..."

Kevin flinched, remembering himself the girl with features so similar to Alec's. A girl I killed myself, the sin that I can never forget... or atone for. Only one person alive knew how close he'd once come to a final solution to that guilt...

His flinch quickly turned into something else, as he broke into a sudden, violent coughing fit. No! Not now! he thought, left hand darting for his metallic right forearm.

"What's wrong?" Alec demanded in sudden alarm. "Kevin, what is it?" Five years of bitter resentment and grief vanished for the moment as older imperatives kicked in. "What's happening?"

Kevin didn't answer immediately, instead tapping a code into the concealed panel on his arm. Instantly, a pressure injector dropped out of a compartment within the arm itself, and he brought it to his neck. Still coughing, he placed the injector against his carotid artery and jammed it home, releasing the contents directly into his bloodstream.

In moments, the physical reaction subsided, and he leaned back against a bulkhead. "Solkin syn," he said fervently, breathing heavily. "Bloody good thing nobody saw that..." Slipping the injector back into his arm, he closed his eyes, willing himself to relax.

"Mind explaining what just happened, Kevin?" Alec asked, crimson eyes narrow. "And don't try to tell me you've just got a cold or something. You've got the strongest immune system I've ever seen; and I never saw you react like that to anything before."

"You only knew me for six months," Kevin pointed out, and then sighed. "But fine... you might as well know that you might get your revenge anyway."

"No simple disease could be doing that," Basilisk said cautiously. "Coordinators don't get seriously ill, least of all you."

"It's a disease," Kevin disputed, "but it's not exactly natural. We know that, because its name is literally coded into its structure, like a signature: Snake Eater. An engineered virus, specifically designed to attack my genetic code. It turned up a month ago, and we're still not sure how or why... but if we don't find either a counter-virus or a way to bring my medical nanomachines back online, I'll be dead in about eight months."

Alec frowned, and brought up his augmentation sensors. "It's attacking your central nervous system," he murmured, "where your augmentation is giving you some protection. Causing gradual cellular apoptosis... It's first trying to get through your cybernetics, so you're using mechanical nanites to keep it in check."

"Exactly," his former boss agreed. "Unfortunately, my people -experts in their fields; I effectively control Morgenroete these days- they think this is one smart virus. Eventually, according to their computer models, it'll either learn to break right through the augmentation barrier... or attack another part of my body with less protection, like my heart. When that happens, I'm a dead man. Not that I've given up; we're working on a way to cure it... and if I ever find out who did it to me, he's a dead man."

"I thought you didn't do that kind of thing anymore," Alec said with some amusement.

"That's just for public consumption," Kevin said grimly, straightening. "Nevertheless, whoever is trying to kill me will die for it." He flexed his arm, making sure it was functioning properly. "Now if you'll excuse me, Alec, I need to get moving. I've taken too long here as it is, and I frankly don't want anyone to know that I know you, at least for now."

"Likewise." Basilisk's gaze was, for a moment, worthy of the mythical creature form which he took his codename. "I've worked hard to obtain this position, humble though it may be, and I don't really want to lose it simply because I was part of one of ZAFT's dirty little secrets, five years ago."

"We think alike." But then... we always did, didn't we, Alec? It's interesting... the Kevin Walker you knew was nothing more than a personality overlay, yet here we are, still talking to each other as we might've in the old days. Our circumstances and emotions have changed, but deep down, I truly am the same man I was back then...

Kevin turned, and began to walk away, but his old comrade's voice made him pause. "Wait, Kevin," Alec called. "There's something... you should have." Having tucked away his pistol, he now reached up, and removed the pendant from around his neck. "Here," he said, tossing it.

The Baron's metal hand closed around it... and his breath caught as he recognized it. Twin winged serpents, coiling around a sword... "This... this is..." He looked at Basilisk in shock. "This was Rachel's... how did you...?"

Alec looked away. "When I... realized what was happening, I ducked into the personnel section, and took a few things out of there before escaping." He paused. "She... would've wanted you to have it, I think." The super-soldier paused again, clearly thinking of saying more, but then turned and quickly walked away, disappearing into the depths of the ship.

Kevin Onishi, once known by the codename Hydra, didn't watch him go. He could only stand there, staring at the pendant he had last seen five years before, around the neck of a woman whose life he had taken... whose death had once brought him almost to the point of suicide.


On the Bridge, Gladys frowned. They'd finally emerged out into open space, and Minerva had spread her wings, but there was something else out here, too. "An enemy warship," she murmured, unsurprised. "We should've known; they'd need someplace to land those machines if they intended the theft to be successful. Designate that ship Bogey One," she ordered. "Prepare for battle."

"Understood, Captain," Trine acknowledged.

"What about Shinn and Rey?" Gladys said next. "What's their status?"

"They're engaged in battle with a mobile armor of some kind, Captain," Meyrin answered, consulting her displays. "We can't contact them; radio interference from N-jammers is too strong in this area, probably due to that enemy ship." She frowned, noticing something odd. "Also... I'm reading something else out there, Captain, very faint, almost like a radar ghost. The computer can't decide if it's there or not; if it is, it's somewhere on the periphery of the battle area."

"Then ignore it," the Captain told her. "If it's there, and it's hostile, we'll worry about it when we can do something about it. For now..." She looked forward. "Lower the Bridge into battle position, and prepare to pursue Bogey One."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

Behind her, Gilbert Dullindal stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Are you planning to recover the stolen mobile suits first, then?"

Gladys nodded. "Shinn and Rey can take care of themselves, Chairman. For now, we're going to fire on Bogey One, and try to lure it closer. Sooner or later, they'll try to use those three machines against us, and we can retake them that way, or we'll simply disable the ship itself and retrieve them directly. Prepare to fire Tristan cannons and launch Neidhardt missiles," she added to her crew.

Dullindal nodded to himself as Minerva's weapons deployed, and surreptitiously touched a throat microphone linked to the radio he'd used earlier, at Armory One. "Do you read, Delta?" he sub vocalized.

"Da," Arkanian replied laconically. "Wonderful things, quantum radios; they bypass even N-jammers. Pity I can't thank Minotaur. So what is it, Chairman? I'm a little busy cleaning up in Armory One right now; I'm the only one who can get through the gas those vnyebrachnyi left behind without a protective suit."

"We're engaging the enemy right now," he told her. "But that's not my area. I wanted to ask you if you had any idea which of your students that was out there."

Delta hesitated. "Is this an urgent question, Sir?" she asked carefully.

"He's aboard right now."

That gave the woman pause. "I'd call that urgent," Arkanian said at last. "Be very careful, Chairman; if you say the wrong thing about our mutual past, the Baron will kill you, and I won't even blame him in the slightest. His temper is uncertain where we are concerned, and it's probably fortunate I didn't come aboard with you."

"Then you have identified him," Dullindal stated. "Or is it her?"

"It's him," she said unhappily. "Mind you, I'm delighted that he's still alive; ZAFT owes him a great deal for Oracle's mad deeds." She sighed. "Shine some ultraviolet on his left hand if you want proof: you'll see three snake heads set at one-hundred-twenty degrees apart. One of the twin serpents of the ABADDON program, and without a doubt the more dangerous of the two."

Gladys interrupted momentarily, with her own command. "Open fire!"

Beams and missiles streaked across space, and Gilbert Dullindal nodded to himself in understanding. "The Hydra is back."

"Da. Remember why he received that codename, Chairman: cut off one head, and two more take its place. He won't die as long as he has a reason to live."

"Poetic, but not exactly helpful, Natalya Ivanova."

"Don't be so sure," Kevin Walker's teacher warned her leader. "I know that man. Playing games with him is playing with fire. Keep it up too long, and you burn. Put all your cards on the table when you see him, Chairman, or you may well die."


Even as Minerva opened fire on Neo Roanoke's Girty Lue, an armored figure watched from the edge of the battlezone. Safely hidden by optic camouflage, inactive engines -which thus had no thermal signature; and even if they had been active, they were shielded- and a radar-absorbent outer skin, a small fighter craft hovered well outside range of the two combatants... and the mobile weapons that fought another battle not far from there.

In the cramped cockpit of the one-man craft, the armored soldier known as Hyperion watched with interest. Do I intervene? Hyperion wondered. Or just sit back, and watch for a while longer... Several moments were spent contemplating that question, and then the armored head shook. No. Not yet. The ABADDON survivor had decided years before that he would intervene immediately if Kevin's life were directly threatened, but independent action would require direct orders from Hydra himself.

If such orders were received, however, Hyperion would obey. Even after five years and a lot of spilled blood, Hyperion would obey Kevin Walker's orders without question. As, the super-soldier suspected, would any other survivor.

Even Alec, Hyperion thought with a slight grimace. He might not realize it himself, but if Kevin gives the word, we will come to his aid...

If that word were to come now -which it wouldn't, of course; Hyperion had noticed Kevin's augmentation, and thus also his radio implant, was offline- the small fighter could react swiftly and decisively. A simple mental command would bring the craft's powerful weaponry online, and another command would send it screeching across space at accelerations that would kill a normal man.

But for now, Hyperion merely waited, for the order that might or might not one day come...


Completely unaware of the presence of the super-soldier's fighter, Shinn continued his assault on the enemy mobile armor. "You blasted Earth Forces bastards!" he shouted, pulling out one of his beam sabers. "Why do you have to keep this up, huh?"

Neo watched him come, and nimbly twisted his Exus away. "Not bad," he granted, "but not good enough, either, kid." His finger tightened on his trigger, and the pair of linear cannons mounted on the mobile armor's nose spat hypervelocity shells at the ZAFT machine.

Impulse boosted to the right to avoid one, and slapped the other aside with his shield. "You're not taking me that easy!"

""He's right about that," Rey commented more sedately. Another emerald dart splattered harmlessly against his shield, and he leveled his own rifle. He waited a beat, as the factors came together, and slowly squeezed the trigger...

As with a properly-fired sniper bullet, the burst of light came as a surprise, and the laser blast flickered across space to intersect with the same location as a gunbarrel, punching in one side and out the other, leaving shattered and melted metal in its wake. The punctured gunbarrel hung there for a moment, and then blew itself apart, spewing debris through space.

Neo noted the loss of his remote weapon, and shrugged. Hm. This could be going better... His remaining pair spiraling around each other, spitting emerald death at Rey's ZAKU.

"I don't think so!" Shinn shouted, rushing forward. "You're not getting away!" He swung out with his beam saber, feeling a rush of adrenaline as he realized he was in range to hit the mobile armor. Now I've gotcha! he exalted in his mind.

"I don't think so!" With a burst of speed, the Exus shot past the Impulse, leaving the beam saber to cleave nothing but engine exhaust, and pulled around in a classic Immelman turn. "I think it's time I got out of here," Neo muttered to himself, recalling his gunbarrels just before another beam from Rey could immolate a third. "I've done my job; no need to get greedy... and not smart, either."

"Come back here!" Shinn called after the retreating mobile armor. "I'm not finished with you!"

"Let him go, Shinn," Rey told him calmly. "This isn't over yet; we'll get him next time. For now, let's get back to the Minerva. Besides, we're almost out of power."

"...You're right," the hotheaded pilot grudgingly admitted. "Let's go."

The two machines retreated from what had just been a battlefield... and as they did, a relic of ZAFT's dark past -a relic of Kevin Walker's past- lit off its engines, and quietly faded away.


On Girty Lue's Bridge, Ian Lee watched Minerva's fire come on with the detached calm of a combat veteran. "Hard to port," he ordered. "Thirty degrees left ascension, thirty percent acceleration. Set Igelstellungs to missile defense."

The hard maneuver brought the Earth Forces ship up and out of the firing line of the Minerva's Tristans, and the Girty Lue's CIWS tracked around, spitting a stream of gunfire at the Neidhardt missiles, shattering them well short of the ship herself. That should hold them for a little while, Neo's exec thought to himself. Now we just need to retrieve Captain Roanoke, and get out of here... The three infiltrator-pilots had already landed, so there was no reason to remain in the battle area any longer than was necessary to recover Girty Lue's captain.

"Captain Roanoke's mobile armor has landed, Sir," an officer reported. "He's taken damage, but is unhurt."

Lee nodded. "Good. Prepare to get us out of here. We probably shouldn't remain here any longer than we have to, with that new ZAFT ship out there."

"Incoming fire! ZAFT ship is targeting our engines!"

"Twenty degrees to starboard," he ordered. "Ready cannons for return fire."

"Negative," Neo countermanded, entering the Bridge. "We've done our job. One hundred and eighty degrees about, maximum thrust; we're withdrawing."

"Aye, aye, Sir." The helmsman quickly moved to obey the order, bringing Girty Lue hard about in space, even as the Minerva spat another burst of emerald energy at them. "Withdrawing."

"Prepare to jettison propellant tanks one and two," the masked captain went on. "We'll use them as a diversion while we escape. And put visual records from those three units on my screen; I want to see how that battle went inside Armory One."

Lee glanced at him. "Something up, Sir?"

"I don't know," Neo said honestly. "But I have a hunch, Ian. There's something about this situation that I don't like; I don't think the two I fought out there were enough to account for the delay those three experienced getting out of there. I want to see exactly what they were facing."

"Understood." Actually, Lee wasn't sure he had the faintest idea what his superior was talking about, but Neo Roanoke did tend to know what he was doing. If he thought it was important, it very probably was. "Jettisoning propellant tanks now, Sir."

"Now," the masked captain murmured, "will they react as I think they will? Whoever's in command of that ship is a sharp customer..."

On the main screen, showing a view aft, the twin tanks spun silently out into space... directly into the path of the Minerva and her guns. The ZAFT ship instantly ceased fire and began to turn away... but not before the propellant tanks erupted in silent fire, vomiting flames and debris out into space.

"And that's that," Neo said in satisfaction. "Get us out of here."

"Aye, aye."

With his ship now retreating safely from the battlezone, Neo turned his attention to the battle records that now played on his screen. Hm... he thought, watching as first a ZAKU, then the Impulse, and eventually some strange machine he wasn't familiar with engaged the units his pilots had stolen. That third machine... it looks like the records from the last war, of the Stormhawk... piloted by the assassin Kevin Walker...

That was one thing that the Earth Forces were sure about from the war: the identity of the pilot of a certain mobile suit capable of destruction on an unprecedented scale. He wasn't the best pilot out there, but records showed he'd been pretty good, and his mobile suit had been nothing short of exceptional. And, according to rumor, it had once briefly been in ZAFT's possession, which explained the unit the Girty Lue's pilots had fought.

The only question is... who is that pilot? One of the Next-Generation Special Forces, or something else...? He frowned, wondering about it. Not only did the machine seem absurdly familiar -as if he'd seen the original Sturm Falke in person somehow, which was preposterous- but the flying style was hauntingly familiar, like a ghost returned to the battlefield.

Maybe it's someone who flew in the last war, he reasoned. I'll have to check the records when I have the time. This is important, I can feel it...


"Well, that was a mess," Shinn groused, pulling himself out of Impulse's cockpit. "We failed to stop those thieves, and almost got shot up by a mobile armor of all things! They'll pay for this, I swear..."

"It wasn't entirely one-sided," Rey reminded him, exiting his own cockpit. "The mobile armor was damaged during the engagement, and the stolen units fled, remember? They were frightened off, not just escaping. I'd call this one a draw."

"A draw... Well, next time it'll be decisive," the black-haired pilot muttered. "I won't let them get away with this..."

"Hey, Shinn!" Vino called. "You okay?"

"Yeah," his fellow mechanic, Yolant Kent, chimed in. "That looked like a nasty fight out there; you still in one piece?"

"I'm fine," Shinn said dismissively. "It'll take more than that to hurt me." He glanced around the hangar, and frowned briefly when he noticed a black-haired mechanic beginning work on the Sturm Vogel. "Hey, Alexander," he called. "What are you doing?"

"Starting repairs, Mister Asuka," Alec King replied, not bothering to turn away from his work. "This unit took some bad hits out there; better get started now, while I have the chance."

"Why bother?" Shinn demanded. "It was piloted by that worthless baron; and how'd it get here in the first place? Last I saw, he was running like a coward."

Alec stiffened almost imperceptibly. "He wasn't running," he said carefully, "he was making a strategic withdrawal in the face of overwhelming odds... in order to do his job, which happened to be protecting the Chief Representative of Orb. That led them here, which is how it came to be here. And I'm repairing it, Mister Asuka, because from what I've heard we'll need all the help we can get."

The pilot frowned at the sharp reply; he wasn't used to hearing the usually quiet mechanic talk like that. "...Whatever," he finally said. "Just don't waste too much time on that thing. We don't even have anyone that can fly it assigned to this ship, and relying on somebody like that baron would be a big mistake. They're all the same, those aristocrats..."

Shinn continued on his way, still muttering imprecations about Orb and its nobility, and Alec went back to his work, shaking his head. Idiot, he thought to himself. He most definitely had his problems with his own former commander, but he was objective enough to consider what Kevin himself had likely gone through... and more importantly, he was devoted to the ship he served aboard. Alec knew the best chance for Minerva to stay in one piece was for every machine to be up and flying, and he knew better than most that Kevin would be a valuable addition to the ship's defenses.

I don't know if I can trust you, Kevin, but I know I can trust you to protect this ship as long as Chief Representative Athha is aboard. And I'd rather see you out there than Shinn Asuka any day. That punk would never have made it through our training...

The notion actually amused the super-soldier. If Shinn had served under Kevin Walker's command, being trained by him and -especially- Delta Arkanian, he'd have either gotten discipline or gotten spaced. Either one would've been an improvement, as far as he was concerned.


The propellant tanks exploded, covering Bogey One as she fled the battlezone, and Talia Gladys leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "That might've gone better," she said quietly. "But it could've been worse. At least we took no casualties." She turned to look at Dullindal. "I'm sorry, Chairman, but I'm afraid we won't be able to let you off anywhere; we're going to have to hurry if we want to catch them."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Captain. The recovery or destruction of those mobile suits must take priority; allowing them to remain in the hands of the enemy would be far too great a risk. As it is, we approach a renewed war far too swiftly."

"Agreed; and with no Four Ships Alliance to try to head it off this time." Gladys closed her eyes. "Many of them don't even exist anymore; Archangel vanished after the war, Dominion was reported scrapped, and Kevin Walker has been dead for two years..."

Dullindal frowned slightly. Don't be so sure, he thought to himself. I haven't yet seen him... but if Arkanian believes it was Hydra flying the Sturm Vogel, then I believe her. However, Kevin Walker, I think I'll let you reveal your secret in your own time. If I know you, you won't be content to remain in the shadows for long; that's not your style, and there are too many people who know you anyway...

"Stand down from battle stations and return to normal operations," Gladys commanded her crew. "Light up the engines, three-quarter thrust. We're going after that ship"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Is everything all right?" Rey asked, entering the Bridge. "I thought there was an explosion..."

"A diversion," Dullindal said dryly. "The enemy vessel ejected some kind of propellant tanks into our path, and used the subsequent detonation as cover to escape. We're undamaged, though; they won't get far."

"Exactly," Gladys concurred. "And now... Rey, please escort the Chairman to a cabin. I have a feeling this isn't going to be a short journey."

"Of course, Captain," Rey agreed at once. "Your Excellency?"

The Chairman nodded, and moved to follow the blonde pilot; but he paused, hearing Gladys' intercom chime."Captain?" Lunamaria said from the speaker. "We have four additional passengers; they claim to be the Chief Representative and her bodyguards." She forbore to mention -over the intercom, at least- the stunning revelation of the Baron's identity. "They requested medical treatment and an audience with the Chairman, so I had them treated and escorted them to a cabin. What do I do with them now?"

"Let them rest, for now," Gladys told her. "They are who they say they are; I spoke with Baron Onishi myself, during the battle. Under the circumstances, I expect they need the rest."

"Understood, Ma'am."

"It's as well that they're aboard, Captain," Dullindal pointed out. "The situation at Armory One is still chaotic; if they'd stayed behind, they might well have been dead by now. Except, perhaps," he added thoughtfully, "for Miss Colde. I don't think anyone entirely understands the results of the treatments they underwent, but it may be that she's immune to the nerve agent used there."

"She has some of his genes, Chairman," she said quietly, too low for most on the Bridge to hear. "And I know he was immune to all known chemical weapons. How much of that was genetic and how much cybernetic is impossible to know at this point, though."

"True." Dullindal shrugged. "I suppose I should be getting out of your way now; planning a battle isn't my place."


"What happened back there?" Cagalli demanded, when the four of them were safely behind a closed cabin door. Ever sensitive to her bodyguard's -and boyfriend's- moods, she knew something had occurred before he rejoined them.

The pendant he cradled in his hand was proof enough of that.

"I haven't seen you this shell-shocked in a while, Kevin," Athrun agreed. "Not since... I don't know. Kira may've seen you like this within the past few years, but I haven't."

"I met a ghost back there," Kevin said at last, almost inaudibly. "Another ghost of my past, but this one more tangible than the mysterious Hyperion." He looked up, meeting Cagalli's worried eyes. "The second of ABADDON's serpents... Basilisk. That was Alec King's codename, five years ago, and so it's somehow fitting that he survived, as well."

Her eyes went wide. "Alec King? Another of the Destroyers? But... I thought they were all dead. I mean, I know about Hyperion, but the rest of them... Mike Carnehan died in Banadiya two years ago, and I thought the rest died at the lab..."

"So did I," Kevin murmured. "But you know... I only killed four of them personally, that day. Only Erica, Simon, Charlie... and Rachel were killed by my teeth and claws. The others I presumed were killed in the nuclear explosion, but I never actually checked. Hard to, really, since a fusion blast doesn't leave much behind... and since none of them ever resurfaced anywhere else, except for Mike..."

"It's been five years, Kevin," Leona noted. "That was a fairly reasonable assumption in my opinion, erroneous, apparently but reasonable. On the other hand, it stands to reason that any survivors would try to distance themselves from the project; even you only revealed yourself when your hand was forced."

He shook his head. "I could've hidden it longer, Leona; the real reason I dropped the charade was because vengeance became more important to me than stealth. And besides... it was a tale that needed to be told. My comrades deserved better than to be forgotten by history... even if only a few of us remember them."

"So what's this Alec King doing now?" Athrun asked. "And where'd you get that pendant?"

"He's acting as a mechanic at the moment," Kevin answered. "It's what he does, besides fighting; he was the team engineering specialist. However, that's just a cover. He's actually a member of the Fast-Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters unit, though what a FAITH agent is doing here, I honestly don't know. He didn't tell me, and I didn't ask. As for this pendant..." He swallowed. "A long time ago, it belonged to someone very close to me. Alec took it out with him when he escaped, and gave it to me a few minutes ago because, he said... she would've wanted me to have it."

"That was Rachel Carver's, wasn't it," Cagalli said softly; it wasn't a question. "I'm sorry, Kevin... It must hurt, having all this brought back after so long..."

"It's not easy, I'll admit," he agreed. "That night, five years ago... it's not something I like to remember. On the other hand, I'm glad to have something of hers... and I shouldn't forget them. Whatever might've come between us in the end, those men and women were my friends." He clenched his metal fist suddenly. "But what I want to know is... why are these ghosts of the past coming back now? Two years it's been since I killed the last man responsible for what happened to me, and now relics of that dark past are suddenly coming out of the shadows." He consciously loosened the cybernetic appendage, forcing himself to relax. "I guess... that the hand of Fate is upon us once again."

"Figures you'd say that," Athrun muttered uneasily; the last time "Fate" had taken a hand, it had been in a series of conflicts between Kevin and himself, one of which would have resulted in Athrun's death had Cagalli not intervened. "Speaking of hands," he went on, glancing at Kevin's, "what happened to yours? I hadn't noticed before, but your right hand..."

Kevin shrugged. "Close encounter with a hand grenade; blew off the synthetic flesh to just above the wrist. I'll probably get the rest off later, too, easier to replace it all than just a part." He smiled slightly. "Don't worry about it; you should see the other guy. I'm pretty sure the grenadier was the first guy Hyperion blasted with that PBW." He sighed. "This metal hand of mine... another symbol of the war. I think we're about to be involved in something big, tovarisch; this won't end just with three stolen mobile suits."

"Agreed," Leona said, almost casually. "Seems we can't escape our own natures, eh, mon ami? War begins again, and we just happen to be on hand for it..."

Cagalli closed her eyes. "I thought it was over," she whispered. "I thought... the Junius Treaty meant an end to all this. Both sides were moving toward peace, you know? And now this... now war is a possibility again, after only two years of peace..."

"It was always a possibility, love," Kevin said gently. "As long as there are people, there will always be war. I agree, though, that there's something odd about this action. Hyperion told me they were Earth Forces, and I believe that, but why? The timing..."

"The timing could've been worse," Athrun pointed out. "It doesn't make much sense, but at least they struck at a time when we could survive being involved. A few minutes one way or the other, and..."

"Yeah. But..." The Baron's jade eyes narrowed, and he looked down at his hand again. "Do I have any right to be involved again? After everything that's happened, is it my place to take part in this war, as well? Two years ago, my war ended..."

"This is our war as much as ZAFT's," Leona informed him, understanding better than the others, through their shared background, how the youth felt. "In the first place, it's our war because we're aboard the ship that's chasing the stolen units; if she's destroyed, so are we, which makes things rather personal. Besides... perhaps I should remind you of something you said once, that Colonel Kisaka told me about: this is Orb's war, because Orb's citizens and holdings have been attacked. Well, just citizens in this case, I suppose, but your old point stands." Her own jade eyes sharpened. "And remember this, mon ami: neither of us can escape our own genetic legacy. As your father gave unto you the seeds of your future in your creation, so did ZAFT instill them into me. We are the same, you and I, and we are both bound up in the Fate our genetics have given rise to."

"Now wait a minute," Cagalli protested, "your genes don't determine your future; and is this philosophy, or something that will actually do us some good here?"

"Genetics gave rise to the situations that determine our future," Kevin told her. "Were it not for the warped genetic code the late Baron engineered into me, I would never have become part of ABADDON, and Leona would never have been with the Next-Generation Special Forces. For that matter, the NGSF would never have existed. No, our genetics have had a major impact on our futures, Cagalli."

She sighed. "I knew you'd say something like that... So what do you intend to do?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "That depends in part on Chairman Dullindal. But I refuse to just sit by and die."


Ian Lee sighed, leaning back in his chair. "We seem to have escaped, Sir," he said quietly. "Do you think they'll pursue us, though? We may have fooled them for now, but..."

"I don't know for sure," Neo said pensively. "But we'll proceed on the assumption that they will. We stole three of their new prototypes, and they'd be fools not to try and get them back or destroy them before we can analyze them. Also..." He paused, frowning behind his mask. "There's something else going on here, Ian. Another factor in this battle. None of our commandos returned from the attempt to assassinate Baron Onishi, and that bothers me."

"They might've run into ZAFT Special Forces," Lee suggested.

"No, I think there's more to it than that. The commando leader got off one last transmission before going off the air, and the last things he reported were that the Baron was fighting with surprising skill for a nobleman... and that they were under attack by what seemed to be particle beam weaponry."

His exec frowned. "Obviously Baron Onishi has had more extensive training than Orb admits to. But what's so odd about particle beams? They're not as destructive as more common beam weapons, but it's entirely possible ZAFT equipped some of their mobile suits with them."

Neo shook his head. "You're not getting it, Ian. According to the message, no mobile suit was in the area. Apparently, they were being fired upon by man-portable energy weapons."

Lee started. "But no one's ever perfected a particle beam weapon of that size... unless..."

The masked captain nodded. "There were rumors, remember, of ZAFT's so-called 'super-soldier' program, ABADDON; some reports claimed they were working with highly-advanced technology, beyond that of regular ZAFT or the Earth Forces. The loss of the commando unit, as well as peculiar readings I was getting during my battle outside Armory One, tell me that there's a third faction involved here. I don't know exactly who -for all I know, it might be the so-called 'Black Asp' himself- but something about this situation makes me uneasy."

"Hm." Lee thought about that, then shrugged; if his superior thought it worth worrying about, it probably was, but he himself didn't have enough of the facts. "So, what about our pilots?" he asked, changing the subject. "Are they all right?"

"They're fine," Neo assured him. "Sleeping it off in their regeneration chambers. The only problem came when Auel was forced to use Stellar's block word; we might have to make some judicious changes to her memory. Other than that, they're all in perfect health."

"Huh." Girty Lue's exec shook his head. "I don't like relying on people like them," he said quietly. "Putting soldiers like them on the battlefield..."

"They do their jobs," Neo reminded him. "In case you didn't notice, they succeeded in their mission against greater odds than a full platoon of commandos faced, and the none of the commandos survived going up against just one or two people. Besides, they're better than the last batch; at least these three can follow orders and not shoot each other when they get mad." From what he'd read of the records, the first three had shot at each other almost as much as the enemy, and were undisciplined in the extreme.

"I guess you've got a point, Sir." But I still doubt their usefulness...


In the hours following the surprise attack on Armory One, the atmosphere aboard Minerva had finally begun to relax from the turmoil of combat to the more familiar tension of the chase, and now Dullindal finally had the time to speak with the ship's accidental passengers.

He was waiting for them when they arrived, as was Captain Gladys. Before he could say a word, however, Gladys frowned, looking at Kevin. "You've lost your mask, Baron," she remarked. "Did something happen? I'd heard you needed medical treatment..."

Kevin shook his head, and glanced at Cagalli. "Not me, just the Chief Representative here. My mask was, unfortunately, destroyed during the battle, but all I ended up with was a bad headache. Believe me, Captain, I've endured far worse than headaches."

Behind him, Cagalli tensed, realizing what this encounter might well lead to; and Dullindal smiled inwardly. And now we come to the crux of the matter, he thought to himself. Hm... will she recognize him herself, or will the good "Baron" seize control of the situation and reveal it first? Knowing Hydra... Hmm.

Gladys now tilted her head, looking at the Baron more closely. "You... look familiar somehow," she said carefully. "Had we met before today, Baron...?"

Kevin smiled faintly, and took his time answering. Instead, he first reached into a pocket under his cloak, and withdrew a pack of, of all things, cigarettes, which earned him an odd look from Cagalli. Pulling one out with his left hand, he struck it against his right, lighting it against the metal, and stuck it between his teeth; he was, after all, immune to both addiction and lung cancer. "Hello, Talia," he said finally, still with that faint smile. "Long time no see, hm?"

The captain stared in shock. Now she began to recognize the voice... and the way he held the cigarette... and even the brand. The subtly altered accent combined with the mannerisms to call to her mind memories from years before, of another sandy-haired, jade-eyed young man... or was it the same one? An image formed before her mind's eye of a youth in a white uniform, with sandy hair, jade eyes, a cocky grin... and the same brand of cigarette, held in exactly the same manner.

"It... can't be..." Gladys whispered. "You... you died, over five years ago! And... again, two years ago, in the destruction of GENESIS... You can't still be alive! Not after all that. Not even Kevin Walker!"

Cagalli winced, and even Athrun looked pained; though Leona remained as relaxed as ever. Hm; knew it would happen something like this. Kevin must be having fun... Didn't know he smoked, though. Old habit he never mentioned?

Kevin, for his part, was utterly unperturbed. "Amazing what a change in accent and a simple face mask can do to disguise one's identity," he remarked. "Not to mention being dead a time or four, just to make things confusing. Yes, it's me. I won't die, Talia," he told her, echoing words he'd spoken to Natarle Badgiruel, two years before. "Not until that time arrives." He chuckled softly at her expression. "You don't need to fear me, Talia; I'm not a ghost, and your involvement in the Project was too brief for me to seek vengeance against you." He shrugged, and blew smoke, before putting out the cigarette with his metal hand and stuffing it into a pocket. "Most of those people are already dead."

The captain felt more than a little shell-shocked. She'd long believed every relic of that Project to be long dead; to see their leader, the strongest of them all, standing before her now, was something of a shock. "No one ever guessed you were Baron Onishi," she managed at last. "Half a decade, and no one realized you were from Orb at all, let alone the head of one of the Five Noble Families... Hiding in plain sight..."

"It seemed prudent to let my wartime identity remain officially dead," he told her. "Too many enemies. Unfortunately, one of your pilots, Miss Lunamaria Hawke, still recognized me with letters that her sister Erica sent, so my cover's blown anyway. Yes, the Hydra is still alive... though I'd appreciate it if you not call me that. I shed that skin long ago."

"For which I can't blame you," Dullindal assured him, speaking at last. "I doubt anyone still living knows exactly what happened to you, but if the rumors were true..."

"They were." The smile was gone, and Kevin's jade eyes had gone cold and pitiless. "But those directly responsible for what happened are all dead now."

"So I gather." The Chairman nodded at the former ZAFT soldier. "I'm sorry you and your companions were dragged into this, Commander... I suppose I should make that 'Baron', under the circumstances. At any rate, I'm afraid we're all in this for the duration; there isn't time to let even me off."

Cagalli nodded. "I understand, Chairman. But... do you have any idea who the attackers were, or how they knew about the new machines?"

"It's still under investigation," Dullindal replied. "It's only been a few hours, remember; we don't yet have any data on the identity of the raiders."

"Garbage," Kevin said flatly. "I know exactly who they were, and so, I suspect, do you."

The older man looked at him curiously. "Oh? Do you have information I don't, Baron?"

"I ran into someone from the old days," Kevin informed him bluntly. "I don't know which one -with that battlesuit, it was impossible to tell- but he was one of us, and he informed me that the attackers were Earth Forces. Given the platoon of commandos that attacked me directly, I'm inclined to believe him. The Earth Forces always were cozy with Blue Cosmos, and Blue Cosmos has long wanted both my personas dead. ZAFT, by contrast, only had problems with their own wayward soldier... and besides, you had every reason to believe Kevin Walker to be dead. No, only the Earth Forces had a motive for attacking me, and only the Earth Forces would have a motive -and the ability- to steal your new prototypes. If the Impulse had been kept with the rest, it would almost certainly be in their hands now, as well."

"Probably true," Dullindal conceded, with a slight frown. "You were told this by another survivor of ABADDON? Hm... perhaps that part of the past isn't as dead as we all thought."

"It will never be truly dead," the Baron said quietly. "Not as long as its legacy lives on in my body, and the other products of that twisted experiment."

"True enough." The Chairman sighed. "At any rate, we don't have the time to ponder the matter, I'm afraid. We have to stay on top of this problem, or else it'll become much worse. We can't afford to let them escape." He turned to Cagalli. "In the meantime, Representative Athha, would you and your bodyguards care for a tour of the ship? I'm sure you'd find it most enlightening."

Gladys frowned. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Chairman? This is a warship, with classified technology..."

Dullindal smiled ruefully. "I don't think that's going to be an issue much longer anyway, Captain. Whether we deprive them of those mobile suits or not, some of the technological data is going to get out. Think of it as a gesture of good will between two friendly nations. And besides... the Baron here could extract any data he wanted from the computers, if he so chose."

Kevin blinked. "What? Patrick Zala had countermeasures made against neural interfacing in Jachin Due's computers; don't you have those here, as well?"

Gladys coughed lightly. "Actually, I believe the designers decided that, since the last known survivor of ABADDON perished two years ago, there was no need for such countermeasures. Premature, perhaps, but a reasonable assumption..."

He snorted. "They obviously didn't reckon with a certain assassin friend of mine. In any case, you can put your mind at ease, Talia; my augmentation has been offline since the end of the war, and I have no intention of reactivating now. Too many bad memories."

"Quite," Dullindal agreed. "Shall we?"


"I never thought we'd have passengers like this aboard," Lunamaria remarked to Shinn, as she watched mechanics work on her ZAKU in the hangar. "I mean, wow..."

"What's so special about them?" Shinn asked, in a friendlier tone than he used with others. "I'd heard someone was aboard, but all I know is that the good-for-nothing Baron Onishi is here, and I don't see anything special about him."

"The Chief Representative of Orb is here, Shinn," she told him, lowering her voice. "So are her bodyguards One of them's a known ZAFT defector, Leona Colde, and that Alex Dino... Shinn, I think... that he's really Athrun Zala."

He looked at her sharply. "Athrun Zala? The Athrun Zala? Son of the former Supreme Council Chairman? But he hasn't been seen since..."

"Think about it, Shinn. He came here with the heads of two of the Five Noble Families; if anyone could get him a new identity, those two could. And..." Lunamaria lowered her voice even more. "All of Representative Athha's bodyguards are ex-ZAFT, Shinn. Leona Colde, Athrun Zala... and Baron Onishi used to be with the Special Forces. Shinn, he's really Kevin Walker!"

Shinn's eyes went wide. "Him? The guy your sister served with? But... he's dead..." His voice hardened abruptly. "And he's a traitor."

She blinked. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you heard the stories? About ABADDON's end..."

He trailed off, for at that moment the four Orb visitors, Dullindal, and Rey entered the hangar. Kevin Walker, Shinn thought in disgust. To think you dare to show your face on a ZAFT ship...

Kevin glanced around the hangar, and nodded approvingly at what he saw. ZAKUs, the Impulse, the Sturm Vogel... and a GuAIZ R? Odd to see something like that aboard a cutting-edge ship. Not much more than cannon fodder these days... "Impressive," he said aloud. "You've obviously been looking ahead, Chairman; I take it Minerva was to be ready for action as soon as she was launched?"

"That was the idea, Baron," Dullindal acknowledged. "Fortunate, as it turned out."

Cagalli's gaze was more baleful, seeing all the weapons. "Are you enjoying this, Chairman?" she demanded. "You said that if you want peace, you have to be prepared to defend yourself from people who would break that peace. But both sides were working toward peace; why would you even need to develop new weapons in the first place?"

Kevin winced; this was one matter they didn't agree on. Could be worse, though, he consoled himself. If she found out what you're doing at Artemis, she'd have your head on a platter, O Hydra. What I've been doing makes Impulse look like an action figure...

"Look, Cagalli," he said at last, "I think what happened today proved that the Chairman's fears were well-founded; and remember, Orb did much the same thing, two years ago. We built mobile suits in order to defend ourselves from any potential enemy, even when both sides were ignoring us."

"Yes, but... that was different," she said stubbornly. "Whether we were involved in it at the time or not, there was a war going on..."

"Excuses," another voice sneered. "The Athha family always was good at making excuses for their own actions!"

Cagalli stiffened; but her reaction was nothing compared to Kevin's. Outwardly, he appeared calm, but his head tracked to the side like a tank turret, turning to look at the speaker with chilling precision. "Do you have something to say, kid?" he asked quietly, pushing off toward Shinn. "Because if you do have something more to say, Shinn Asuka, you might want to reconsider."

"I'm not afraid of you, Baron," Shinn said contemptuously, not flinching when the young noble landed on the deck less than two meters away. "You Orb nobles are all the same. It was the arrogance of the Athha family that led to Orb's downfall two years ago, and I see they haven't changed a bit."

Cagalli flinched, and Kevin's eyes froze. "No one talks about her like that," he said in a quiet, dangerous voice. "You can insult me all you want. You can insult Orb all you want. But you keep a civil tongue in your head when talking about her. In fact, I suggest you not say another word, or I might do something drastic, like break your spine."

The pilot snorted. "You're all talk, 'Baron'. You wouldn't dare; not on a ZAFT ship. Not after you murdered your comrades five years ago-"

With blinding speed, Kevin's right arm shot forward, fingers wrapping around Shinn's neck, slamming him into the bulkhead with almost bone-shattered force. "Shut your mouth!" he snarled, oblivious to Lunamaria's gasp at Shinn's accusation. "You know nothing about what happened five years ago! You have no conception of the living hell that was ABADDON!"

"So you... do have some bite..." Shinn ground out through the merciless grip on his throat. "But... you're still a... Huh...?" He trailed off, realizing that the fingers gripping his neck felt cold... like metal... No, they were metal!

Kevin smiled humorlessly. "Yes, Shinn Asuka, that's right: this hand of mine isn't human. It's a masterwork of alloy and circuitry, an arm made from metal to replace the one made of flesh that was lost two years ago." Releasing the younger pilot's throat, he took a step backward, rubbing his right shoulder. "Now you see what happens when Man tries to play God... when you try to step beyond the bounds of what humans are meant to be. This arm is symbol of the pain you people have caused me... of the pain and suffering my genes have caused."

"Your genes...?" Lunamaria whispered, speaking for the first time.

The ex-ZAFT super-soldier jerked his head at Leona, who stood watching with an amused smile. "Look at her. She was part of it. I wasn't the only dirty little secret Patrick Zala had, you see. There's also people like her, hybrids of Coordinators and my kind, soldiers with the blood of the Hydra. In them the strength is diluted, a fraction of what the original is capable of, but still superior to an ordinary Coordinator."

"I don't understand," Lunamaria said, confused. "She was just part of the NGSF..."

Leona chuckled. "Let me tell you about the Next-Generation Special Forces," she said casually, ignoring Dullindal's wince. "We were ZAFT's last gasp at getting some use out of ABADDON. You see, there were three projects Patrick Zala authorized, not just one. First was ABADDON, which failed after six months thanks to the barbaric actions of Oracle, and then there was the Serpent Head program, which produced clones of Hydra to be used as the next best thing. They're almost all dead, however, thanks to a certain unauthorized clone; the only one of the group who survives is a very cunning individual, who has kept a low profile. But the third? Oh, yes, Miss Hawke, even the Next-Generation Special Forces were a relic of ABADDON. Using the few remaining samples of Kevin Walker's DNA, we all submitted to gene therapy, taking his genome unto our own. A less than pleasant experience, let me tell you; Coordinators were never meant to have their genome altered by that of Homo Sapiens Modifica Extremis. But we survived it, and we all bore many of Kevin Walker's unique traits. We are stronger, faster, tougher than any normal Coordinator. We are all, to a limited extent, empathic, just as the original is. We may not be augmented, but I assure you, Shinn Asuka, we are the next best thing. In short we, the NGSF, were the children of the Black Asp himself."

Shinn was undeterred. "You can talk all you want about the 'suffering' ZAFT caused," he sneered, "but it doesn't change what happened. You killed your teammates, 'Baron'; you were the one who murdered them!"

Kevin's response was, if anything, even less restrained than the last time. His right armed snapped up again, and a sixty-centimeter blade flickered into existence, bursting out of his sleeve and coming to a rest right against Shinn's throat. "Shut up," he whispered, fury evident in his cold jade eyes. "You don't know what happened there. You weren't there, and no records survive. Only I know the truth." With his free hand, he reached around, gripped the right shoulder of his cloak, and tore it off, along with the right sleeve of his t-shirt.

Lunamaria's eyes went even wider at the sight. His entire right arm, from shoulder to fingertips and the blade extending from his wrist, was gleaming metal, resembling the gauntlet of a suit of armor. And his left arm... It was covered in scars, from his hand all the way up, disappearing into his shirt. The same was true of his neck... and every mark looked like the result of something terrible.

Even Shinn was speechless, though the blade at his throat might've had something to do with it. "Let me tell you the truth of ABADDON," Kevin whispered. "Of how I was kidnapped only days after my parents died, of how I was tortured for weeks on end while Jeffrey 'Oracle' Harris and his twisted scientists tried to break me. Of how, in the end, my memory was wiped, and chemicals were applied to brainwash me. Oh, I was a loyal soldier, alright, but only because they'd broken me, molded me into what they wanted... and the bastards didn't even think to check my genome for signs of zoanthrope genes." He smiled thinly, without the slightest trace of humor. "Chemical brainwashing doesn't work on us, you see. Not for very long. And when it wore off, when the full import of what had been done to me registered, my mind snapped. Yes, it was I who killed them. It was my fangs and claws that massacred my friends. But it was Oracle who broke me, ZAFT who destroyed my mind. And I have to live with that every day of my life." His jade gaze bored into Shinn's crimson eyes, and there was no trace of compassion there. "I know all about your sad past, Shinn Asuka; I remember the records from those days. But don't think for an instant that what you went through is anywhere near as bad as my life. Try to remember that, punk."

Cagalli finally decided things had gone far enough. "Stand down, Kevin," she ordered, inwardly as shocked as any of them... especially by the disturbing implications of that arm. That blade wasn't there on the original model... and that looked like nanotechnology...

Kevin simply nodded in response to her command. "As ordered." The blade vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, and he turned away... to see Lunamaria staring at him.

"You... you killed her," she whispered. "Erica died... by your hand... She trusted you..."

"This isn't exactly how I planned to tell you," he said quietly. "But yes... it was my hand that did the deed. I don't expect you to believe me, but... I'm sorry. Sorrier than you can ever know..." He pushed off from the deck, heading for a hatch.

Athrun watched him go, and swallowed hard. I am so glad I didn't tick him off that badly in the war, he thought soberly. It's so easy to forget there's a killer in there...

"I apologize for what Shinn said," Rey said to Cagalli, giving the other -and apparently unrepentant- pilot a sharp glance. "He had no right to say those things. I'll deal with him later, I promise." His eyes indicated Lunamaria, who was looking more than a little stunned. "I'd warn the Baron to steer clear of her for awhile, if I were you; that could've been handled better."

Cagalli nodded. "Agreed." That was the first time in years she'd heard Kevin rip into someone like that over ABADDON, and she had the unpleasant feeling it might've gotten bloody if she hadn't ordered him off. There weren't many words that could provoke Kevin to violence, but bringing up the ABADDON program at all was a risky proposition.

Dullindal touched Kevin's human arm on his way by. "I'd rather you not make a habit of nearing killing our pilots," he said quietly, "but I can understand why you did it. You have my apologies, Baron, for everything that was done to you."

"I don't need your sympathy," Kevin told him, eyes chilly but not as cold as before. "It's a little late for apologies. All I can do now is try to honor my fallen comrades, and try to move on. But understand this, Chairman: the past is not dead."

Almost as though to emphasize his point, alarms started blaring. "Battle stations!" the intercom announced. "All hands to battlestations! This is not a drill!"

Dullindal closed his eyes. "So much for our respite. The four of you, please, come with me. I have a feeling you should see this." He glanced sidelong at Kevin. "And I suspect your input could be valuable, Baron. Few people alive have combat experience as extensive as yours. I know, you still aren't fond of ZAFT, but I would suggest that this is in your own self-interest."

The Baron nodded. "I'm not an idiot, Chairman, and I am a pragmatist. Let's go."


"We've spotted Bogey One, Ma'am!" Meyrin called. "Directly ahead, distance five hundred. They're approaching an asteroid."

"Probably searching for cover," Gladys mused. "Sound battlestations, and prepare for battle. All pilots to mobile suits; arm Tristans and load Neidhardt missiles."

The alarms began to ring out throughout the ship, and activity went from normal duty to something resembling a beehive; down in the hangar, a certain black-haired mechanic heard the announcement, and hurriedly went back to work on the Sturm Vogel, while on the ship's outer hull, weapons rose into firing position.

"Any sign they've noticed us yet?" the captain asked.

"Readings consistent with armed beam weapons," Meyrin answered. "They're also deploying Dagger L mobile suits, and moving closer to the asteroid... They're firing a grappler of some kind, Captain. Putting it on screen."

On the monitor, Bogey One could be seen firing what appeared to be a ship-sized rocket anchor into the asteroid, using it essentially as a piton gun to pull herself into a cavity, presumably for cover. From that position, Minerva couldn't hit the mysterious vessel without first blasting through several layers of rock... which would result in chunks of asteroid flying at them. Possibly large chunks.

The Bridge hatch slid open, admitting Dullindal, Cagalli, and her bodyguards. "Sorry to intrude," the Chairman said as they entered, "but I felt that Representative Athha should observe, as a combat veteran. Also, Baron Onishi's input might be valuable, under the circumstances."

Gladys nodded absently. "Very well." She punched buttons on her armrest. "Pilots, launch immediately."

"Lunamaria Hawke, Gunner ZAKU Warrior, launching!" Though still deeply disturbed by Kevin's revelations, she refused to allow it to effect her performance in this battle.

"Shinn Asuka, launching!"

Kevin watched the launch of the Impulse with great interest. He'd hard of this particular machine's capabilities, and was interested in seeing just how it came together. So, the legs, torso, and cockpit all launch separately, he thought, as well as the weapons. It reminds me of the Strike... versatile, certainly -being able to replace large portions of the machine must mid-battle must be handy- but there are weaknesses inherent in that. Jack of all trades is master of none, and something designed to separate into that many pieces must have structural integrity issues. He smiled to himself. What a pity the Nemesis is still on Earth; that would certainly give those Earth Forces dogs pause.

As he watched, Impulse pulled itself together, using a laser-guidance system, and Dullindal nodded to himself. "Once more unto the breach, hm, Baron?" he remarked.

"Yes," Kevin agreed. "The game's afoot. Fell deeds await..."

Beside him, Cagalli couldn't help thinking about the first thing Shinn had shouted at them, in the hangar.Excuses...? Is that really... all it is? Maybe... Kevin's right. Will war really continue as long as there are people? And if that's true, then do we always need this kind of strength?

"Don't second-guess yourself now, Cagalli," Kevin murmured, gripping her shoulder. "Shinn Asuka, from what I've seen, is little more than our old friend Yzak's vices with none of his virtues; I wouldn't put much stock in what he says."

She smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Kevin..."

"I wonder what that ship's real name is?" Dullindal wondered aloud, sounding pensive.

Leona glanced at him. "Does it matter? When I was in the NGSF, I rarely cared anything about the name of an enemy ship, you know. The important thing was to reduce it to space dust."

He smiled faintly. "Ph, I would say a name is important, Miss Colde. A name is what defines something, and if the name is false... well, then, does that make the thing which it defines false, as well? That's an interesting question, wouldn't you say, Alex Dino?" he said nodding at Athrun, before correcting himself with that same smile. "Or should I say... Athrun Zala?"

Heads turned on the Bridge, for they all knew the name Zala. A very prominent name, in the war, and before that, when the PLANTs first began to move toward independence. First known as a patriot... and then as a madman, for attempting to use the weapon of mass destruction known as GENESIS on Earth.

Athrun Zala, soldier of ZAFT... son of Patrick Zala, one of the two most notorious figures of the Earth/ZAFT War.


Author's note: Frank Castile has been murdered, Kevin Onishi is exposed as Kevin Walker, and tensions mount aboard Minerva as secrets are revealed and the battle begins. Why did Castile die... and what role will the Hydra play in the coming conflict?

Okay, I know, it's been a couple of months since the last time this was updated, and around two weeks since I last posted anything. Well, I'm back, and barring heat stroke, the next update should come a little faster. At any rate, I expect this chapter was rather interesting, given all the things going on; and I think you can safely assume there will be a lot of these twists happening in this story. It is a Brothers in Arms story, after all, and I can't write one of them without the odd mystery or three thrown in.

Anyway, let me know what you thought of it. -Solid Shark