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

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


"It's a truism that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Everyone knows that; but unfortunately, not everyone realizes that lesser power will also corrupt, even if only by the same lesser percentage. And when that corruption is left unchecked, it can lead to a desire for more power... which will corrupt absolutely.

"I've known several people now who've turned down that path. Patrick Zala began as a genuine patriot, helping to organize the PLANTs into a unity that could stand up for its own rights. He became the leader of the reorganized Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty following the Mandelbrot Incident, and worked as hard as anyone to achieve a peaceful solution, and he was, as near as I can tell, content with his position, even with the atrocity he authorized, the one called ABADDON. But then his wife was killed, and he began to hunger for more power. He rationalized it, of course, saying that he knew best how to deal with the Earth Forces, but in the end it all came down to vengeance... and power.

"Then there was Commander Jeffrey Harris, codename Oracle. Once an unstable yet merely smalltime scientist, his chance came when Rau Le Creuset gave him the chance to put his theories into practice. Then when those theories began to come to fruition, producing those like me, the ultimate soldiers, he began to hunger for more. He even made a deal with Blue Cosmos, loaning me to them in a mission to the Mendel Colony, in an attempt to provoke a war that could propel him to greater heights of power. Had I not killed him, he might have succeeded.

"And, at the beginning of it all, there was my father. A pity it is that no one, not even I, realized his true intent before it was too late. My mother Irena never had any suspicion, and even Lord Uzumi never guessed at the truth of John Tyler Onishi's treachery. If we had, perhaps we might've understood sooner why I was created, and why a killing virus was left within me as a failsafe. But no, we didn't know, and it was almost too late before we made the breakthrough, found the final, hidden files that unveiled my father's terrible plan.

"Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. Once, a young woman had, in her ignorance, given the key to the door that would end the war in nuclear fire to one of mankind's worst enemies; a man whose hatred, matched by that of his counterpart, nearly destroyed the world. This time, that same woman was the only one who held the keys to the truth that would save my life, and stop the insidious plans of the bastard called my father. Had Flay Allster not passed through the fire and become a soldier, I would not today be alive..."

Excerpt from The Tragic Spiral of War, by Baron Kevin Onishi


Hyperion gazed around the laboratory, and shuddered in revulsion. "I had no idea," the soldier whispered, gazing at the torture rack, the racks of mind-altering chemicals... the blood-soaked floor. Some of it was from the corpse still pinned to the torture device by a sharpened metal fragment, but most of it was older than that... and from Hyperion's cursory scan, it matched Kevin Walker's unique blood type.

All of it looked exactly the way it had when the massacre happened, over six months before. The thermonuclear device had been far smaller than what ZAFT had ordered Oracle to use, but it had sufficed to knock out life support throughout much of the facility. Instantly, this place had frozen, and Erica Hawke looked much as she had the day she died.

"I'm sorry, my friends," Hyperion whispered. "If only we hadn't been so gullible..." The soldier's head shook, and Hyperion stepped back out of the room, where the helm of the spacesuit could be safely removed.

Hyperion had come here for more than one reason. To say goodbye to the past, much as the soldier had said goodbye to Mike... and to prepare for the future. With the team scattered or dead, Hyperion had but one goal left: defend the unit's commander. They had been too blind to see what was wrong before, and paid the price; now one soldier who had renounced all trace of prior identity would make up for that failure.

Moving to a computer terminal in one of the habitable sections of the facility, Hyperion placed a hand against the neural interface, putting the receptor beneath the skin of the palm in contact with the terminal's access. Immediately, data began to stream behind the soldier's eyes; data of weaponry, devices which had been designed before the Project's end but never actually built. The first was a Mark V Destroyer battlesuit, which Hyperion had already constructed with the lab's manufacturing equipment. That would be the soldier's sword against Kevin Walker's enemies, and a shield between the world and Hyperion's true identity. But the next... that would be the soldier's transport, and a sword to be used should the battles be carried to the skies or even to the black of space itself.

ADFX-01 Apollyon. The name was Greek for Destroyer, just as "ABADDON" meant the same thing in Hebrew. During flight simulator training, the Destroyers themselves had called it Excalibur, for its weapons could cut through even ZAFT's GINNs, or the toughest, most maneuverable mobile armors Earth had. Armed with twin twenty-centimeter "Valkyrie" plasma cannons in the roots of the swing wings, a pair of fifteen-millimeter "Charon" laser cannons on either side of the cockpit, a single thirty-millimeter "Garm" multiphase energy cannon in the nose, and eight "Harbinger" anti-mobile weapon missiles in twin internal ordnance bays, the Excalibur strike fighter was a lethal machine; though the energy weapons were of seemingly small size, they were powered by a fusion reactor under optimal conditions, and fission when reactor mass became an issue, rendering them far powerful than any weapon their size had any right to be.

Coupled with laminated armor, radar-absorbing and infrared-damping coating, optical camouflage, and powerful engines capable of reaching Mach 25 in space and Mach 15 in atmosphere, it was fast, maneuverable, and lethal, as well as being almost impossible to destroy with the few weapons that could catch it.

"A fitting weapon with which to protect Kevin," Hyperion murmured. "Fast, invisible... unstoppable..."

Now it was time for the soldier to begin preparations anew; the months with Mike had dusted off the old skills, but more practice would be needed before Hyperion was truly battle-ready. Practice in the old skills... and the new, with the battlesuit and the Excalibur, once it was constructed. And this time, Hyperion swore everything would happen as it should; the mistakes of the past had already cost the lives of too many of the soldier's teammates, the innocence -and, at least briefly, mind- of Kevin Walker, and the sanity of Michael Carnehan.

This time, it would not all be in vain!


Flay worked quickly on the control panel in the security center of Carter's base. So far, she'd accounted for three of the clones that were now roaming the installation, and with each one, the risk of being found by larger numbers grew. I have to get out of here, fast, she thought. But first, I need to find out all I can, so that Kevin can stop whatever's happening...

She was not a hacker, unfortunately -the lessons Kevin had given her mainly concerned combat- but she did have one priceless advantage here: not even Carter had been paranoid enough to imagine that someone might get access to the security nerve center of the base, which meant this one panel could access just about everything in the facility's database. By now, she was midway into a download of genetic research, and had already copied a number of encrypted files onto portable storage.

A beep sounded from the panel, signaling completion of the download, and Flay pulled out the last disc. "Time to go," she whispered, "before something worse happens..."

Tucking the disc into a pocket of her flightsuit, she picked up her stolen pistol and moved to the hatch. Keying it open, she carefully looked to either side, before stepping out into the corridor and running lightly along it. Back in the security center, she'd checked a schematic to refresh her memory of the hangar's location, and now she headed that way as fast as her legs would carry her.

That speed was all that saved Flay's life, when a hail of bullets erupted from a side corridor as she passed. "Halt!" a familiar yet strange voice called. "Throw down your weapon, now!"

Flay slid to a stop against the bulkhead next to the side corridor. "You don't think I'll actually do it, do you?" she shouted back at the clone. "You'll just kill me anyway!"

"Maybe so, but it would've been quicker!" There was the ominous sound of a pin being removed from something, and then a clang as a handle sprang free of the same object, and a grenade came bouncing toward her position.

Her eyes widened at the sight. Are they crazy? Using that in here-! Her foot darted out, connected with the grenade, and sent it flying back the way it had come. "Try that!"

"Oh, sh-!" The expletive cut off as the grenade exploded right on schedule, turning briefly into a scream, and a splattering noise.

Flay took one look around the corner, grimaced, and took off running along her original course. "Yuck," she commented under her breath. "That just wasn't right at all..."

All the same, despite having successfully killed four clones so far, she knew that it was only their inexperience and deliberately-limited intellect which had allowed her to survive this far. Had she been up against the real Kevin Walker, or even Jack Carter, she wouldn't have survived beyond the first attack in her quarters. But against these guys, I have a chance...

Flay could hear booted feet pounding along the corridor in pursuit now, and knew it had become a race. If she reached the mobile suit hangar before they did, she would have a chance of escaping. If they got there first...


The firs of reentry were licking at the remaining half of Junius Seven now, as they also touched the ship chasing it. Wings spread, bow-mounted cannon deployed, Minerva followed the wrecked colony into the atmosphere, determined to complete her mission against all odds.

Heeling over to starboard, the ship dove after the falling ruins, and a column of antimatter blasted out from the Tannhauser's muzzle, reaching out to the colony remains. In the collision of forces, the energy released was titanic, producing an explosion that further chipped away at the target's integrity.

On Minerva's Bridge, Meyrin glanced worriedly at her captain. "I can't confirm the locations of Shinn, Alex, or Baron Onishi, Ma'am," she said, concerned. "That means..."

Gladys nodded sharply, knowing exactly what her subordinate was talking about. "I know, Meyrin," she said quietly, "but we have no choice. That debris must be stopped, no matter what the cost. We have to do something, even if it means taking this risk."

"That idiot," Leona muttered, coming onto the Bridge. "What was he thinking, anyway, staying out there? He should've come back with the rest of us..."

Beside her, Cagalli swallowed. "They'll both be fine, Leona," she said quietly. "They have to be. Alex is too good a pilot, and Kevin... Kevin always comes-"

Near the exact center of the remaining colony half, an enormous red-orange beam blasted all the way through, stretching out into deep space and pushing the rapidly-disintegrating remains of a GINN High Maneuver Mark II ahead of it. Clearly originating from below the colony, it showed something down there was still active.

"What was that?" Trine blurted. "None of our machines-"

"It must've been the Sturm Vogel," Gladys informed him. "I don't know all the details, but I do know it was originally intended to be more capable than its completed form turned out to be. If I had to guess, the Baron figured out how to exploit its potential, probably by directing most of his remaining power into the twin rifle."

Cagalli sighed in audible relief. "Then he's still alive... and if he is, so is Alex." I knew it, Kevin! I knew you'd stay alive!

Gladys nodded absently, but she didn't quite share the Chief Representative's optimism. Yes, that blast showed Kevin was still alive... but she'd omitted in her explanation to Cagalli one crucial fact. He must've almost completely drained his power to pull that off, she thought unhappily. If he has any left at all... Well, I don't expect that man has any worries about surviving reentry, but I highly doubt he has the maneuvering capacity left to make a controlled landing.

"Continue firing on the colony," she said after a moment. "Fire Tannhauser as fast as possible, Chen; not the minimum delay allowed, the minimum possible. I don't care if it overheats, we have to stop that thing from hitting the planet."

"Understood, Captain!"

"There's nothing to worry about," Leona murmured to Cagalli. "Those two are excellent soldiers; and Kevin, at least, has been through independent atmospheric reentry before, remember. They'll be fine."

The younger woman nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right..."


Within the cockpit of ZGMF-X56S Impulse, Shinn Asuka shook his head groggily, focused his eyes on his forward display, and twitched his controls to adjust his angle of descent. The enormous blast that had erupted from the Sturm Vogel had knocked him for a loop, and in the process he'd lost track of the Baron's machine and Athrun's ZAKU.

Now that his own machine was in a position more compatible with not burning up on the way down, he could take the time to look for his comrades. They should still be nearby, he thought, if they managed to survive... whatever it was that Walker did. If I can just find them...

Glancing about, Shinn almost immediately caught sight of the Sturm Vogel's distinctive shape. It had apparently assumed an angle more appropriate to atmospheric reentry, but its thrusters were no longer firing... and chunks of its armor were being ripped away by the friction heat from its descent. "Walker!" he called. "Are you okay over there?"

Kevin's helmeted visage appeared on his display. "Kind of," he responded, wincing. "Used up most of my power firing that last shot, though... and spent the rest of it making sure I didn't instantly die. Now I find out that it wasn't quite ready for a crash descent like this -I'm losing parts like crazy- and if I don't figure out something fast, I'm in for a hard landing."

Shinn winced. "And Alex? Do you see him anywhere?"

"No," the Baron replied grimly. "Last I saw of him, he was going for a loop thanks to my blowing up Sato... Just a second." He closed his eyes -which, Shinn noted, seemed even brighter than usual- and appeared to concentrate for several moments.

What is he doing? the black-haired pilot wondered. Trying to use his "sixth sense" to find him? I'd say that sounds crazy, except... Except that he'd seen him literally block an attack from the Gaia with his eyes closed, and he -and Leona Colde- had been the first to note the appearance of the stolen mobile suits during the battle in orbit.

After a few moments, Kevin opened his eyes, and glanced off to his right. "He's over that way," he said definitively. "See what you can do for him, okay?"

"What about you?"

The Baron half-smiled. "Come on, Shinn, don't tell me you really care what happens to me. Anyway, he's probably in more trouble than I am. Go."

Shinn didn't hesitate further. "Roger that, Walker." Giving the older pilot a brief but sincere salute, he fed energy into his thrusters, slowly slipping past the Sturm Vogel.

Because of that motion, he never noticed the black shape that came down from above.


"This is bad," a brown-haired woman with gray eyes commented softly. "Look at it all..."

"I know," a one-eyed, brown-haired man with a walking stick agreed. "I never thought it would actually come to this, you know; not after GENESIS was thwarted two years ago."

"It may've been inevitable," another woman, just as brown-haired as her companions but with more reddish eyes, said thoughtfully. "I know Kevin looked into this possibility, after taking over Morgenroete. He always predicted the war wasn't over, remember."

"True enough," Andrew Waltfeld agreed with a sigh. "Racher usually is right, in the end."

He, along with Meryl Steiglitz and Murrue Ramius, stood within a sophisticated command center, from which they observed the falling wreckage from Junius Seven as it collided with the Earth. The center itself was buried beneath the massive edifice known as the Onishi Mansion; what most people, even some of its inhabitants, failed to realize was that most of the mansion's bulk was actually underground, in a military base that dwarfed the habitation above it. Originally established during the Reconstruction War, the Onishi family had, generations before, chosen to refurbish it, building their family estate atop it for easy access.

Much of the weapons stockpiled within were decades out of date, but the command and control systems had been regularly updated by each generation of the Onishi family. For that matter, so had much of the weaponry, as the once-empty facilities were filled with hand weapons, explosives, heavy armament, and vehicles of all types. Much of it was antique, recovered from bases of similar -or even greater- antiquity, but some of it was brand new, with certain recent additions being, like the C&C systems, better than anything found on the open market or even in most militaries.

Meryl closed her eyes in sorrow. "Look at it all," she whispered. "ZAFT did their job well, but it wasn't enough. So much is going to reach the surface anyway..."

"It already is," a speaker said, as a face appeared on one of the screens. "I'm linked into the Artemis arrays right now, and I can tell you it's not pretty."

"What's the situation, Max?" Murrue asked of the AI. "What's your estimate of the damage... and where are Kevin and the Minerva?"

"Damage is bad," Max said flatly. "Pieces are still coming down, but Artemis has already confirmed the total loss of Rome and The Vatican, as well as the Parthenon in Athens. A lot of ocean hits, too, which are bound to cause tidal effects -tsunamis, probably lots of them- and, with that much debris entering the upper atmosphere, climatic changes are likely."

Andy nodded somberly. "It's just like Morgenroete's study predicted, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so. It's... oh, man, it's bad." The AI appeared to swallow. "Some of the wreckage is still in the upper atmosphere, being blasted by the Minerva, but the damage that's already been done is terrible. Millions dead now, from Rome and Athens alone; you'll probably see tsunamis heading your way before long. It's a good thing Orb's rugged territory."

"Agreed," Murrue said quietly. "I already had Lacus move the children into the shelter, just in case. What about Kevin?" she went on. "If I know him, there's no way he'd stay out of this."

"He didn't. Neither did Athrun, as it happens, and I think he's a little worse off; Impulse is heading for him right now, though. Anyway, Minerva is somewhere above me right now -I'm deployed in the Morgan at the moment- and I'm descending to Kevin's altitude now. He's flying the Sturm Vogel prototype ZAFT built a couple years back, and it looks like he figured out how to fire a full-power buster rifle shot from its twin beam rifle, or so I judge from a big explosion a few minutes ago and the fact that he's completely out of power right now."

"Is there anything you can do?" Andy asked. "I doubt even Racher could survive the kind of landing you're implying."

"I'm gonna try to give him a jumpstart," Max replied. "Morgan is nuclear-powered; I can spare the juice. Still... is there anything you can do on your end?"

Meryl frowned. "I doubt it," she said slowly. "I could probably fly Nemesis if I had to, but Kevin's the only one who really knows how to keep that thing from blowing up. We don't have any of the mass-produced units down here, either... and I doubt the Captain would authorize their use right now anyway. You know how careful he's being with information right now."

"Yeah." The AI's image grimaced. "Well, I'll do my best. Max, out."

Andy sighed. "I guess there's nothing we can do, then," he said quietly. "This place has more firepower than some countries, but the only thing here that could take that out without making things worse can only be used by Racher, and even if he were here..."

Murrue nodded. "Who knows if he'd use it. I can understand, though, why Cagalli insisted that he retire. He's had too many close calls -as this incident proves- and he really does need the rest. How many years did he spend on the battlefield?"

"Call it three," he replied, "when you leave out his time at Heliopolis. You're right... though not for the reason you're probably thinking."

Meryl raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Andy? I'd think it's just combat fatigue; too much time on the frontlines..."

"Racher doesn't suffer from combat fatigue," Andy said bluntly. "I checked his psych profile after Zala assigned me to Eternal. He's one of those people who can stay on the sharp end indefinitely. No, the problem isn't the battles... it's what he's done off the battlefield."

Murrue's gaze sharpened. "You mean ABADDON's end."

He nodded. "There were a few other things, but yes, that was the biggest issue. You know he was neurotic between ABADDON and Archangel's arrival on Earth, two years ago... but what you don't know -because only Aisha and I ever knew, because it happened while he was staying with us- is that four years ago, Racher nearly blew his own head off."

She gasped. "He... almost suicided? I knew him to be somewhat schizophrenic during those early days on the Archangel, but..."

"I managed to talk him out of it, back then," Andy told her, closing his eye as he reflected on the past. "I didn't know what was going on -that was before I knew he had anything to do with ABADDON- but I knew what I was looking at when I walked into his room late one night, and saw him holding a pistol. He said the name Rachel, then something in Russian, and then said something else in Russian as he put the pistol to his chin; I later found out what he'd said was 'Forgive me'," he explained, "but even then I knew it wasn't good. So I walked in there, and I snapped at him. 'Killing yourself won't solve anything,' I told him. 'Whatever you did, blowing your own brains out won't make it right. If it's redemption you want, you can only achieve it by living on, because you won't have a chance to undo anything if you're dead.'"

Murrue shook her head. "And here I'd thought I saw the worst of his depression when he first came aboard Archangel... So if it weren't for you, he might be dead now?"

Andy shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I think he would've gone through with it, but I'm not sure... and I'm even less sure that he would've stayed dead. Anyway, Aisha wasn't really surprised when I told her about what he almost did... or the fact that I managed to convince him not to. She said something about him still having a role to play, and called him 'The avenging angel of the skies'." He smiled with an edge of sadness as he remember the woman he'd loved. "She was right about that..."

"That's true," Meryl agreed. "He really is like the Angel of Death; as far as ZAFT and the Earth Forces are concerned, the Captain is the Bogeyman."

"When you can tear apart main battle tanks with your bare hands," Murrue said dryly, "you tend to give that impression. And my brother certainly has never been very interested in hiding his reputation. He may pretend to be someone else, but when he is admitting who he is, he seems to take pride in his history of violence."

"Psych warfare," Andy explained. "Sometimes, a man can be more dangerous than he really is simply because people think he is. Now, Racher is every bit as good as the stories say -the three of us all know that firsthand- but that kind of rep can also prevent a fight from starting, if the other guy thinks he's going to lose no matter what." He motioned toward the door. "Now, we'd better get topside, before Kira starts wondering where we are. Racher still doesn't want him to know about this place, remember?"

Murrue nodded. "Quite; just as he still won't admit to anyone the extent of his weapons research... or the fact that he's dying."


Kevin glanced up at the sky above his plummeting Sturm Vogel, and felt a twinge of relief as he saw the black mobile suit that descended toward him. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Max," he said sincerely. "It was getting a bit lonely out here."

"I'm sure," the AI said dryly from the Morgan's computers. The machine itself was a matte black, made of the same radar-absorbent alloy as the Sturm Falke, and equipped with a mobile armor mode, which it was currently using to keep pace with the Sturm Vogel. Armed only with a heat rod -the design experimental, developed partly by Artemis and partly through stolen ZAFT designs- and a powerful beam sword, it was something that could be flown properly only by those with superb reflexes and fast thinking, in order to close the range to an enemy enough to use the weapons. Since its assigned pilot was a sentient computer program, however, that was hardly an issue.

Another thing about the Morgan was that it had no model number. It had only a codename, because even among Kevin's Artemis forces, it didn't officially exist. It was his hedge against the possibility of the operation becoming common knowledge; if even Prometheus, Icarus, Nemesis, and Foxhound were exposed, Kevin still had a confidential agent who could carry out his orders completely in the black.

Not that he expected his machinations to be accidentally discovered anytime soon. Artemis was officially destroyed -as well as hidden by the best stealth technology he had at his disposal- and the only incriminating evidence within easy reach lay beneath his mansion... and of those who both knew of the base's existence and had access to it, only Cagalli was unaware of the presence of Nemesis, and she hadn't been down there in years. The only real danger was the possibility of Kira stumbling on the base's entrance, which, fortunately, seemed unlikely.

"So," Max went on after a moment, "what can I do for you, Cap'n?"

"You can start by slowing my descent a little," Kevin replied, "and telling me just what's going on. I know we didn't get it all, even with things still going bang up there-" indeed, positron streams continued to bite into the rapidly-vanishing debris "-so I'd like to at least get a start on hearing the bad news."

"Roger that." The AI paused as though to collect her thoughts; a mannerism that was unnecessary, considering her nature, but nonetheless an affection human she interacted with tended to appreciate. "First of all, the Artemis surveillance arrays have seen a lot of hits in coastal areas, and a couple of major cities..."


On Girty Lue's Bridge, in orbit, Neo Roanoke gazed pensively at the display showing the devastation the falling colony wrought upon the world. "So it begins," he murmured. "The seeds of a new war, sown by the Coordinators themselves... How tragic."

"They didn't succeed in stopping the colony drop," Ian Lee remarked, awestruck by the destruction. "Did we go too far, delaying them that way...?"

Neo shook his head. "They may not have succeeded, but they didn't entirely fail, either; otherwise, this would be a lot worse. That means we've succeeded in our mission, Ian; I think our superiors will be pleased. The loss of life is tragic, but it's a means to an end."

Lee nodded reluctantly. "What about the secondary objective? Do you think Walker died there, Captain?"

The masked captain shook his head again. "Not likely, Ian. The Crimson Tiger is tenacious, clever, and durable; and from all reports, he also has an annoying habit of coming back from the dead. No, he'll be back... and this incident may have been counterproductive, as far as our dealings with him are concerned. If this spurs him to reclaim his old position as our worst enemy, I have no doubt he'll be a formidable adversary."

"You sound like you're speaking from personal experience, Captain," the lieutenant commander remarked.

"Partly," Neo acknowledged. "He was still good enough during the chase following Armory One that he fought me to a standstill, and from subsequent research into our admittedly sketchy records of him, I say I got off lucky. If he'd been smart enough to rebuild Stormhawk and have it waiting for him, he could've obliterated me and the ship with a single shot. And on the ground..." He shrugged. "Remember Groom Lake, Ian -where he wiped out a Blue Cosmos unit despite being outnumbered a hundred to one- and Jachin Due, where he finally succeeded in eliminating Azrael. He's an implacable foe, that one."

Lee nodded pensively, and gazed again at the image of Earth. "You really think our orders to intervene here were a mistake, then, Sir?"

"Not entirely," the captain disputed. "Oh, it may've brought back one of our worst enemies, but when you get right down to it, he's only one man. Even Kevin Walker can only be in one place at a time. The overriding concern is that Earth was damaged, but not enough to cripple us, which means that this, along with certain other incidents I'm getting reports of, should be enough to 'justify' the actions I believe our superiors intend to take." He nodded at the display. "As I said, the seeds of the new war have been sown."

And where we go from here, Neo thought to himself, is a choice I leave to you.


As the last remnants of Junius Seven disappeared from their targeting systems, the Minerva's crew began to relax... slightly. The ordeal of fast, violent atmospheric reentry was over, but three of their machines were still unaccounted for...

"Do you think it was enough, Captain?" Cagalli asked quietly. "Did we stop it?"

Gladys sighed. "Not entirely," she replied, voice equally soft. "We undoubtedly lessened its impact, but we know a lot of it got through anyway. All we can hope for is that the damage isn't irreparable." She turned to the sensor station. "Burt, begin scanning for our missing machines. We have to find them before whatever power they have left fails completely."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Trine looked over at her. "Do you really think they survived that, Captain?" he asked quietly. "The way we were firing, along with the rough reentry..."

"All we can do is hope," Gladys replied. "Even with our random firing of the Tannhauser, however, it's my belief that the odds are in their favor. I'm certain the Baron, at least, managed to avoid at least the beginning of it -that shot of his proves that- and I believe he was entirely capable of avoiding the rest. And Shinn and Alex... All we can do is hope, Arthur."

"They'll be alive," Cagalli whispered to herself. "If they survived Jachin, they could survive what just happened..."


Athrun gazed out his forward display, and knew, with absolute certainty, that unless a new factor entered the equation he was going to die.

Or at least be severely injured, he amended to himself. He was heading for a water landing, after all... for all the good it would do him. Unlike the Sturm Vogel, he was not only low on power, but also missing various crucial parts. His ZAKU's verniers were gone, and although they couldn't have stopped his fall, it would've been comforting to at least have a way of slowing it.

He rather suspected that Kevin wasn't having that problem; the Sturm Vogel's wings were allowing it to glide, and he'd caught sight of the black shape that descended toward the falling machine. Athrun had no idea what it was, but he had a shrewd feeling that Kevin himself had somehow arranged it.

I did wonder, Athrun thought, why Kevin gave in so easily when Cagalli had him decommission all that hardware. Now I guess I know. He's been carrying on as before... just without telling anybody about it. Not, his mind insisted on adding dryly, that it helps me any right now.

He was actually reasonably relaxed, but that was mostly because there was absolutely nothing he could do to change his current situation. If death was coming anyway, there was no point fretting about it; he now began to understand one reason Kevin was always so calm before his deaths.

Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't also scared out of his wits.

Then the ZAKU's radio starting talking to him. "Alex, do you read me? Alex, is your radio still working?"

Athrun looked up, and blinked as he saw the Impulse approaching him. "Shinn? Yeah, I'm here; but you should get away. There's nothing you can do."

Shinn snorted. "You think I'm just going to leave it at that? I'm not leaving you behind to die, 'Alex'. I'm getting you back to the Minerva."

Athrun shook his head. "Don't be an idiot," he retorted. "My machine is going to pieces, I have no thrusters, and as powerful as the Force silhouette's thrusters are, there's no way you can keep yourself flying while carrying my extra weight."

"There's a lot less of you than there used to be," the younger pilot pointed out, grabbing hold of the wrecked ZAKU. "Impulse can handle the strain, don't worry."

True to his word -and rather to Athrun's surprise- Impulse carried the weight without much difficulty. They were gradually losing altitude, but for the moment it was at a manageable rate. "Thanks," he told Shinn.

"Don't mention it." The black-haired pilot glanced around. "Next question: where's Walker gotten himself to? After that blast he fired on the way down, he must be about out of power by now, and he can't glide forever."

Athrun looked at him curiously. "What do you care, Shinn? I thought you hated his guts."

"I don't like him," Shinn freely admitted, "but he just helped us out, and nearly got incinerated in the process. I'm not about to let him just die after that. Besides," he quipped, "Luna won't be happy if he crashes before she can decide if she wants to kill him herself or not."

"You may be right about that," Athrun said with a wince, remembering the... history between Kevin and the Hawke sisters. He still didn't know much about the actual event -he rather suspected, though, that Kevin remembered more about it than he was prepared to admit- but he knew it had been bad. "Well, in that case, I think he's over that way," he said, turning the ZAKU's head toward where he'd seen the Sturm Vogel earlier.

Shinn nodded. "Okay, let's go."

"... and that's how it looks so far, Captain," Max was saying to Kevin. "The world took a nasty- Wait a second, Boss; Impulse is heading this way."

Kevin's head snapped to his right, and his eyes narrowed fractionally. "I see him; looks like he found Athrun, too. Okay, Max, go stealth for now, get clear, and head for the mansion. Remember, as far as Kira's concerned, you arrived via datalink from Morgenroete, got it?"

The AI nodded, smiling. "Got it." Kira, like Cagalli, was unaware of the activities at the Artemis base, and Kevin preferred to keep it that way. Therefore, to explain Max's frequent absences, the usual story was that she was involved in design work at Morgenroete... which was at least partly true, since most of Kevin's construction people at Artemis were drawn from Morgenroete in the first place.

The Morgan vanished, as per instructions, and by the time Impulse arrived, Kevin was quite alone... and interested in seeing exactly what Shinn intended to do about the situation. He can't lift me and what's left of the ZAKU, he reasoned, so perhaps he's decided to come kill me. He shrugged inwardly. Not, I suppose, that I'd entirely blame him. After what I did, however it transpired, he'd simply be doing the same thing I've done so many times over the years. Of course, the Baron amended to himself, I never avenged accidents. Only deliberate acts...

"You still alive over there, Walker?" Shinn called, coming alongside the Sturm Vogel.

"For now," Kevin replied dryly. "Why? You want to finish the job? Not much I can do about it right now if you do... though I warn you, it's not easy to keep me in the grave."

Shinn snorted. "If I wanted to kill you, I could've done it earlier," he pointed out. "You haven't exactly been at the top of your form lately. I'm here to try and get you out of this mess."

"Good luck," the Baron retorted. "You can't lift me out of here and you know it... and unless Impulse has jumper cables, you can't give me a boost, either, even assuming you had enough power left to make the attempt in the first place."

"He's right, Shinn," Athrun put in, worried now. "But..."

"Forget it," Kevin said, an idea forming. "Can't save the Sturm Vogel, but I think that's a small price to pay, under the circumstances. So, we'll have to do this the unconventional way."

"What are you suggesting, Walker?" Shinn asked warily. "If the machine's a writeoff, how are you intending to get out of there?"

"Genetics, kid," the older pilot replied. "Genetics, and cybernetics. Listen, I need you to fly beneath Sturm Vogel's torso, got it?"

The black-haired pilot stared at him in disbelief. "Under the Sturm Vogel? Are you insane? If that thing falls apart..."

"It'll only be a few seconds," Kevin told him, cutting through his protest. "Just long enough for me to open the hatch... and jump onto Impulse's shoulder."

Shinn paused a beat. "Okay, I was just kidding before, but that really is crazy. You'll be falling at least five meters -unless I want to do something stupid like get too close to a machine that'll crash within seconds of you bailing out- onto a hard metal surface. That's crazy."

"No, it isn't," Athrun said slowly. "Is it, Kevin?"

"No," the Baron confirmed. "Asuka, whatever my problems with my own genesis and the experiments ZAFT performed on me, the fact is that I'm a very durable individual. I've dropped sixteen meters from the shoulder of a mobile suit before, and made three-meter leaps when my cybernetics were fully active. A simple five-meter fall isn't going to hurt me much."

Simple. Right. Shinn wasn't sure whether to believe the older pilot or not; the ABADDON team members, Walker in particular, had acquired a reputation on par with the mythical monsters they were named for in ZAFT, but he couldn't help but feel that reputation had to be exaggerated.

On the other hand, he wasn't inclined to bet on it... and it wouldn't be that bad if the Baron happened to splatter himself on Impulse's shoulder. Except for cleaning up the mess, Shinn thought with a mental snort. "All right, Walker," he said at last. "Here I come. Just don't drop the machine on me, okay?"

"Wouldn't help either of us," Kevin agreed, as Impulse maneuvered carefully into position. Watching it approach, he carefully released his safety straps, patted the arm of the seat as though in farewell, and opened the hatch.

Athrun looked up, nervous, as the Sturm Vogel's cockpit opened. I do not like the looks of this, he thought to himself. I know he can pull it off... but will he?

The question was answered a moment later, as Kevin leapt from the doomed machine into open air, somersaulting repeatedly as he dropped toward Impulse. With the precise timing that had typified him during the war, his feet came into position at the exact moment he made contact with Impulse's shoulder, giving him a hard but intact landing.

Shinn couldn't feel the impact through Impulse's bulk, but he could hear it with his external pickups. "You aboard, Walker?"

"Safe and sound," Kevin confirmed, "and about as attached as I'm going to get. Now let's find Minerva before I do something stupid, like fall off."

"For once I agree with you," Shinn remarked dryly. "What about the Sturm Vogel?"

Kevin turned to look behind them, and cranked up the magnification on his cybernetic eye. The Sturm Vogel had maintained course for several moments, but, deprived of a guiding intelligence making constant changes to the flight profile, it slowly heeled over to the left, drifted... and turned all the way over, plummeting to the ocean below. There was no explosion, but the uncontrolled impact with the water from an altitude of several hundred meters tore even the armored mobile suit apart.

"...It's gone," he said after a few moments. "Lost to Davy Jones' locker. A pity, but at least we didn't suffer that fate."

"Agreed," Athrun said wholeheartedly. "Besides... I really didn't want to have to explain to Cagalli what happened to you. If I was lucky, she'd just tear my head off and hand it to me."

Shinn shook his head. I don't even want to know. "I think we've got another problem, you two," he said aloud. "Where are we, and where is Minerva?"


Still monitoring communications for telemetry from the missing mobile suits, Meyrin noticed the resumption of data transmission at the same moment Burt Heim stiffened in his chair. "I have contact with the Impulse, Captain!" she called. "It also appears to be carrying the remains of Alex's ZAKU."

Cagalli's stomach clenched. Remains? she thought, tension redoubled. And what about the Sturm Vogel? Kevin, you have to be okay!

Gladys nodded in relief. "I'm glad to hear it. But what about the Sturm Vogel? Are you getting anything from Baron Onishi?"

Meyrin shook her head. "No, Ma'am; I'm only receiving data from Impulse and the ZAKU. It... could just be that the Sturm Vogel's transmitter is down..."

"Negative," Heim said, before Gladys could reply. "No sign of Sturm Vogel, but I'm reading a man-sized magnetic anomaly on Impulse's shoulder; the only time I've ever seen anything like it was the first time I had the Baron on scanners."

Gladys nodded, as Cagalli sighed in relief. "That would be his skeleton you're reading, Burt; I remember from my brief time with the Project that a Destroyer's armor-reinforced skeleton made them vulnerable to detection by magnetometers and gradiometers. That's him, all right." She turned to Meyrin. "Fire signal flares, Meyrin; guide them in."

"Yes, Ma'am!" the young woman answered promptly, and swiftly entered the commands into her console. The bright recall flares launched from Minerva's tubes, and very shortly Impulse turned their way, heading in with the remains of Athrun's ZAKU in tow.


Still clad in a black flightsuit, minus his helmet, Jack Carter stood on the Bridge of the Nazca-class destroyer D'Artangan, facing the display that carried the transmission from ZAFT's Voltaire. "I'm afraid that's all we can do here, Commander," he told Yzak Joule, with genuine regret in his voice. "I thought about chasing the colony into the atmosphere, but I'm afraid Justice just doesn't have the firepower to make it worth it."

Yzak nodded. "Understood, Carter. ZAFT will handle things from here." He hesitated. "I never thought I'd say this, especially after everything Captain Walker said about you, but I'm glad you were here. That was one rough battle."

Carter snorted. "Look, Commander Joule, I'll freely admit I want Kevin Walker dead. However, he's the only person I'm out to get... besides Blue Cosmos, of course. And I'm usually none too happy with the notion of cooperating with ZAFT, either; don't think I've forgotten that it was you people who created me in the first place. Still, I no more want the Earth destroyed than you do."

"I'm sure," Gilbert Durandal put in from behind Yzak. "I assure you, Captain Carter, your assistance was appreciated... and I think you can assume ZAFT will forget about the matter of your ship having once belonged to us. It's fair enough, after the help you've given us today."

Out of range of the camera, Jonathon Sarnac rolled his eyes, and Carter couldn't help but at least partly agree with his exec. Thank heavens for small favors, he thought dryly, recalling the manner in which he'd "acquired" the Nazca in the first place. He'd actually been assigned to her at one time, when she was still known as the Tesla; then he'd staged a mutiny, using his genetically-engineered, cybernetically-augmented body to take control of the ship, even as some dissatisfied members of the crew came over to his side. After that -and ejecting the loyalists in the ship's lifepods- he'd set out on his own, going on to recruit several ex-Earth Forces officers...

"I appreciate that, Chairman," he said aloud. "I won't guarantee that our interests will never come into conflict -not only do we have different goals, but as I said, I'm not likely to forget Project Serpent Head- but this should go a long way toward defusing potential tensions. Being able to travel without worrying about being shot on sight will be something of a relief."

"I'm sure," Durandal agreed. "And, of course, you need not worry about any... repercussions over your departure from that project. That was something else that happened on my predecessor's watch, and yet another of the projects that was instigated without authorization from the Supreme Council. For the time being, at least, we have no conflict, Captain."

"Glad to hear it." Carter glanced at the watch built into his flightsuit's left sleeve, and nodded courteously to the Chairman. "And now, I'm afraid I need to be moving on, Mister Chairman; we've left our base unattended longer than I'd hoped, and I want to make sure nothing... untoward has happened."

Durandal tilted his head. "'Untoward'? Do you require assistance, Captain?"

"No," the clone said; but his tone was less firm than it might've been. "I've just been... concerned lately, about a new development. None of it, however, concerns the PLANTs, as far as I know, so we'll handle this ourselves."

"As you wish. Good luck, Captain."

"We'll probably need it," Carter said under his breath, as the transmission cut. "Okay, Jonathon, let's go home. I hadn't intended to leave Miss Allster unattended this long, and I'm concerned. The way Baron Onishi was talking the last time we spoke..."

Sarnac's eyes narrowed. "You're regretting ever contacting him," he stated.

"It wasn't as if I had much of a choice," Carter reminded him. "He found us, if you'll recall. And I had no intention of getting into any deal with him of all people, so I kept our discussions as brief as possible. Now, though... he did create my genotype, Jonathon, in the form of Walker. He also brought Walker up as his own son, and is probably at least partly the reason Walker's so good. Which means that he might well have gotten more information about our operations than I wanted him to... which also means I'm wishing I shot him in the head when I had the chance. Saved Walker and us the trouble he may yet cause."

"So we return at full speed?"

"Flank," the clone corrected. "We reverse course at flank speed, no matter how much wear it puts on the engines or how much reactor mass it takes. I don't like the smell of things right now, Jonathon, and like Walker, I trust my instincts."


I really, really wish ESP could be taught! Flay thought, charging headlong down one of the base's central corridors. Kevin would've seen this coming... Kevin would've been ready for it before it even started, and had an escape plan two minutes after he got here!

Of course, exactly what the origin of Kevin's preternatural sense of imminent danger was something she'd never been certain of. It had long been obvious that he had mental abilities far beyond that of a normal human, but the full extent of them was unknown, apparently even to himself. His stance on the matter was simply that his brain noticed more and reacted faster, occasionally giving his reactions the appearance of precognition.

Whatever the truth was, Flay didn't know... and even if she did, the knowledge wouldn't have helped her at this particular moment. That became evident as a burst of automatic rifle first careened down the corridor from behind, missing her by no more than a meter. Turning to fire back, she noticed with a wince that they were using a far more advanced weapon than she'd originally assumed. She didn't know the specifics, having not been very interested in the matter before her abduction, but she recognized it as a weapon that used electrical pulses instead of a firing pin to trigger the bullet, resulting in, among other things, a far higher firing rate than conventional weapons. She'd seen examples of the technology at Artemis, before her departure from Dominion's crew, but this was the first time she'd seen it used.

It didn't help that particular clone any, though; for all that they had the basic physical capabilities of Kevin Walker, as dictated by their genetics, they still lacked his tremendous store of combat experience... which meant that the clone's clumsy attempt at dodging Flay's bullet was only partly successful. It didn't kill him, but the nine-millimeter hollowpoint still ripped into his right arm, damaging his biceps muscles and forcing him to drop the high-tech rifle.

That left her rear secure, at least for now; she'd already sealed one hatch behind her via a purloined hand grenade, and fried the controls of two others with pistol fire. Unfortunately, she was also running dangerously low on ammunition. She'd started out with a standard fifteen-round magazine, and was down to only three, after the running gunfight through the base.

But Flay was finally nearing her destination at last, and she skidded to a stop just outside the large double-door hatch that led into the base's hangar itself. Here we go, she thought, taking a deep breath. Let's hope they haven't thought to fortify the hangar... She lifted a hand to the control keypad, hesitated, and then typed in the code she'd gleaned from the security center.

The hatch split down the middle, and slid noiselessly aside... and no gunfire emerged.

Casting a wary gaze about the large, darkened, mobile suit-filled chamber, Flay cautiously stepped through the hatch, wondering what awaited her. It seemed too good to be true to think that the rogue clones had completely overlooked this place. After all, it was the only escape route that didn't involve a long, doubtless fatal EVA...

"I thought you'd come here eventually," a voice said out of the dimness. "You shouldn't have been so predictable, Miss Allster."

Flay froze in her tracks, near a mobile suit whose drab colors indicated it possessed phase-shift armor. "Who are you?" she asked, distantly surprised that her voice was so level.

The voice laughed quietly, and the gray-haired man from the surveillance imagery stepped out of the shadow of a stolen ZAKU. "You don't know me," he told her, aiming the pistol in his right hand directly at the bridge of her nose. "But you know my son quite well, I believe. You spent some two months on his ship, didn't you?"

Flay swallowed, and lifted her own pistol... cautiously. "You're Baron Onishi," she stated. "Kevin's father. Except... he told me you weren't his real father."

"Perhaps not," Onishi agreed. "But make no mistake, the boy does possess a small measure of my DNA. Most of that which did not come from Siegel Clyne and his wife was, indeed, written from scratch, in the most ambitious genetic engineering program ever conceived. But some of it did come from me... just so that he would have some of the Onishi blood in him."

"Why are you killing him?" she demanded bluntly. "How can you kill your own flesh and-"

"If he hadn't existed, Irena would still be alive," Onishi interrupted. "If he hadn't insisted on spending so much time in Copernicus, it would never have occurred to Blue Cosmos to sabotage that shuttle launch. The boy always was strong-willed, though, and it was hard to say no... And for that reason, my wife perished." His eyes -jade, like his son's, though not as bright- narrowed. "But that's not the only reason I want him removed from the equation. He was made for one purpose, and he's failed at it."

"What purpose?" Flay asked, trying to keep him talking.

The Baron shook his head with a smile. "Clever, Miss Allster. I see my son gave you some lessons in the art of intelligence gathering. However, I'm afraid I'm not quite that stupid. Oh, I intend to kill you, yes... but it's a bad habit of schemers to reveal all to enemies they know will shortly be dead, only to have those same enemies promptly escape, and use that knowledge to foil the plans of, in many cases, a number of years. No, Miss Allster, I think I'll leave you with the explanation I've already given you." His shoulders twitched in a shrug. "There's really nothing you can do about what's going to happen, even if I let you live. But, like my son, I prefer not to leave any loose ends. Goodbye, Miss Allster." He pulled the trigger...

...Just as Flay triggered the zip line she'd grabbed hold during the conversation, and shot up toward the mobile suit's cockpit. On the way up, she fired a shot of her own, and had the satisfaction of seeing Onishi's left arm begin dripping blood onto the deck. "Maybe I can't do anything about what's going to happen," she called down to the surprised Baron, "but that doesn't mean I can't try!"

She ducked into the cockpit, leaving Onishi to stare after her in disbelief. "She's the daughter of George Allster," he muttered incredulously. "A spoiled brat... she should never have been capable of that." He moved quickly to an intercom panel, as the mobile suit's power began to come up. "Benedict, dispatch clones to the hangar immediately; Allster is getting away in a mobile suit."

"Understood," the clone replied calmly. "Dispatching three pilots to the hangar. What's she using?"

Onishi glanced back, seeing the mobile suit's phase-shift come online. "The Impulse unit Carter stole from ZAFT; it's already equipped with a silhouette pack, and she's also figured out how to activate the PSA."

Benedict quietly cursed. "I was afraid of that. I don't know how Carter got hold of the thing in the first place, but I do know that nothing we have here can match it one on one. Of all his machines, only Justice could outmatch it... So I'll have them take out a trio of the ZAKUs. Best we can do, Baron."

"Hmph." Onishi turned to gaze at the Impulse -this one had PSA set in shades of deep blue and black- as it entered the massive airlock leading to the base's launch tunnels. "Hurry, then; she could get away otherwise."

"Don't try to tell me my business, Baron," the clone said coolly. "I know what I'm doing, even if most of my fellows don't. I'll warn you now, though, that our chances of stopping that thing, even with an inexperienced pilot at the controls, are not as good as I'd prefer. The phase-shift won't be much of an issue, but its maneuverability and firepower will, particularly if it's using the Force pack Carter had as its default configuration."

"Do your best," the Baron told him. "I'm well aware my son will realize I'm behind this eventually, but the longer the delay the better. I'm not yet ready to openly reveal myself, and certainly not ready to resume the plans his failure interrupted fifteen years ago."


ZGMF-X56S Impulse finally made touchdown on Minerva's flightdeck, carrying with it the remains of a ZAKU and one highly unusual young man on its shoulder. This must look ridiculous, Shinn thought privately. But at least we're alive.

Impulse powered down, while the ZAKU's remnants were laid on the deck, and their hatches opened within moments of each other, allowing their pilots to debark to greet those waiting for them. Athrun came down first, vastly relieved at being out of the cockpit at last. Been a rough few days, he thought, reflecting on the battles. Two years since I spent much time in the cockpit, but I guess I'm still good enough to survive...

He saw Cagalli coming then, and waved to her. "Don't worry," he called, "the Sturm Vogel wasn't recoverable, but Kevin's just fine."

She smiled in relief; a smile that widened as she saw Kevin leap lightly down from the Impulse's shoulder, landing as though light as a feather despite the five-meter fall. "Kevin!"

The acrobatic -and highly dangerous- Baron yanked off his helmet, tossed it with his cybernetic hand clear across the deck to Leona who caught the thrown helmet without batting an eye much to the surprise of several people on the flightdeck, and grinned at Cagalli. "See?" he said, walking quickly toward her. "I made it out, just like I said I would." His tone turned serious, and the grin faded. "I'm sorry. I know you must've been worried, but Alex and I..."

Cagalli took his flesh and blood hand in hers, and shook her head. "You did what you had to do," she told him. "You couldn't have stayed out of this any more than Kira could've stayed out of the last war. What happened today..."

A shockwave cut off whatever it was that she'd been about to say, and she -and Athrun- looked about in alarm. Whatever it had been, it was strong, and it felt like their very bones were vibrating. "What's going on?" Athrun demanded. "An explosion?"

Rey Za Burrel, entering the compartment, shook his head (noting with interest that neither Kevin nor Leona appeared concerned). "That was an aftershock from the colony drop," he explained. "The impact was powerful enough to send a shockwave all the way around the world, and it's coming full circle now."

Kevin nodded, absently tucking an arm around Cagalli. "Earth has never suffered a hit of this magnitude," he said quietly. "It's no surprise that we're still feeling the effects."

"They'll probably last even beyond the shockwaves," Leona speculated. "There must be more to the aftermath than just this..."

The Baron nodded. "There will be. According to research my colleagues in Morgenroete and I conducted, the least we're looking at is a rough winter for the northern hemisphere. More likely... Well, let's just say you should get used to seeing a different color in the sky for a few years. With all the dust and debris in the atmosphere, the climate change is probably going to result in some interesting colors for a while." He closed his bright jade eyes. "I wish I could've done more..."

Cagalli gripped his arm. "There's nothing else you could have done, Kevin. Even that one shot you took at the end used all the power you had."

He didn't reply, but inwardly he knew she was wrong. I could've done more, all right, he thought bitterly. If I'd been smart enough to have Nemesis on standby -or expedited Foxhound's completion- I could've produced enough firepower to reduce Junius Seven to dust bunnies. Instead...

But there was no sense second-guessing himself now. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty, and what was done was done. What mattered was that they'd done their best, and survived the experience.

Unfortunately, Kevin suspected the incident would have... unpleasant ramifications in Orb. Some of the government he trusted -the Sahaku family, for example, with Rondo Ghina long since removed from the equation- but he'd always distrusted Cagalli's prime minister, Unato Ema Seiran. Leaving aside the long-standing feud between their families, and even Kevin's lifelong antipathy toward Unato's son, there was the matter of Unato's policies. The older man had recently begun advocating a closer relationship between Orb and the Earth Alliance, and that was something Kevin could never condone.

And if it came down to it, he had any number of tools at his disposal to make his displeasure known.


Murrue was somehow not surprised, when walking into the hidden room that served as Kevin's sanctum sanctorum, to see a black-haired, crimson-eyed woman sprawled on a couch. Outside of those for whom the door would open -herself, Kira, Athrun, Cagalli, and Kevin- there was one person who had access, by virtue of a mastery of computers that rivaled Kevin's own.

"Hello, Max," she greeted. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?"

The other woman stood, smiled, and walked right through a table. "Probably because you already knew I was in the area," Max's holographic manifestation replied. "I'm guessing you already knew Morgan was in flight, so I'm guessing you also expected me to turn up here. You knew Kevin had me deploy?"

Murrue shrugged. "He didn't have the chance to tell us -even Kira hasn't gotten much from him over the last few days, probably because of how busy he's been- but I expected as much. I knew it was the only machine he could deploy just now, though. So, what's up? We know it was bad; bad enough that Lacus took the children down to the shelter. I gather Reverend Malchio's old orphanage was also destroyed. Fortunate that Kevin chose to take them in here."

"Yeah." Max shrugged in turn. "Well, I can tell you Kevin's safe. I had to go stealth and break off when Impulse got close, but I kept an eye on things. The Sturm Vogel is a total write-off, but Kevin took the opportunity to show off, jumping onto the Impulse's shoulder. They subsequently made rendezvous with the Minerva, along with what was left of the mobile suit Athrun was flying."

Murrue nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I'm sure Kevin's hardly displeased by the destruction of the Sturm Vogel; from what I gather about it from the data you sent us earlier. It looks to me like it was just a little too close to some of what Prometheus Unchained is working on. I know he authorized technology transfers to ZAFT, but I doubt he wanted them that advanced."

"The Cap'n does prefer to keep the good stuff to himself," the AI agreed. "Not that I blame him. I don't think he'll ever get over his bone-deep distrust of both sides... not that I blame him."

"Neither do I." Murrue sighed. "Of course, I can't exactly say that I'm entirely displeased with what happened to him. He might well be dead now otherwise... and even if he wasn't, we never would've met, and Archangel's journey would've been that much harder." She raised an eyebrow. "So, do you have any idea where Minerva intends to go now?"

"Probably here, to Orb," Max answered. "They're closer to here than to Carpentaria, and I'm sure Morgenroete has better facilities for repairing something as advanced as Minerva... and under the circumstances, I'm pretty sure Kevin will be willing to foot the bill. He can afford it, after all."

"That's true." Indeed, even with the massive amount of money he'd sunk into Prometheus Unchained, Kevin remained richer than some countries... and his wealth was increasing, through methods Murrue wasn't sure she wanted to know about. She did know that he had an arrangement with at least one mercenary group... and that, during the years since ABADDON, his respect for the law was... variable. He was not at all afraid to step on the other side if he thought the reason was good enough, though there were some lines even he wouldn't cross.

"So," Murrue continued, changing the subject, "what's the status of your own little project? I hope it's going well, considering the potential it has."

Max grinned. "It's going very well, Murrue. It's growing at a steady rate, and should be ready within a week or two, at this rate. And Kevin still has no idea what's going on... yet. Not surprising, I guess, since he still doesn't realize what all we managed to get out of the escape pod after we recovered it."

Archangel's old captain shook her head fondly. She'd come to like the AI a lot in the past two years, and found that she had quite the sense of humor. She also had a very high regard for Kevin, probably because of his role in her creation. The thought of the surprise she was going to spring on him clearly amused the AI. "So you're planning on giving him heart failure, are you? You do know that no one has ever done anything like this."

Max's grin widened. "That's why it's going to work." Then she sobered. "On a more immediate note, Kevin had me get in touch with old Scarface; I spoke with him a few minutes ago."

Murrue's eyes widened. "Him? Kevin doesn't bring him into things unless he's really expecting trouble... trouble of the kind he himself won't stay out of. In fact, isn't this the first time Kevin's actually turned to him for help?"

"Not quite," the AI said quietly. "Kevin hired him once before, in an operation I coordinated. You wouldn't have heard of it -something cloak and dagger he restricted to Prometheus personnel only- but he's done it before, when he needed muscle but didn't dare involve his own forces. Matter of fact, we still can't be involved in anything, because we're not ready."

Murrue closed her eyes. "I thought all he'd done so far was preparation," she murmured. "I had no idea he'd actually involved himself, however indirectly, in world affairs."

"He's been doing that ever since he resumed the name Onishi," Max pointed out. "He may technically be only a bodyguard and the de facto head of Morgenroete, but he is the leader of one of the Five Noble Families. That gives him a lot of clout, and he's used political pressure more than once, often with the Chief Representative's knowledge. He only turned to a military solution that time because there was simply no way to use politics on the situation. It was right in the middle of the War in South America, last January."

The older woman blinked. "South America? I never thought Kevin would concern himself with something like that. He doesn't care about nations or governments; he only cares about Orb because Cagalli's the head of state. Why would he intervene there?"

"My guess," the AI said wryly, "was because it was an opportunity for him to give the Earth Alliance a black eye, without ever being personally involved; you know how much he still hates them. More to the point, though, I believe he knows Ed 'The Ripper' Harrelson."

"Somehow," Murrue remarked, "that doesn't surprise me. Probably ran into him four or five years ago; Kevin does seem to know just about everyone in the world. So," she went on more seriously, "he's really concerned enough about the aftermath of Armory One and this attempt to 'break the world' that he's putting Pars on retainer?"

"That's about the size of it," Max confirmed. "We didn't have much time to talk before Impulse showed up, but he's pretty convinced this is last incident isn't going to be the end of it. You want my opinion, I say the only reason he's hiring only Pars' group is because it's the only one he fully trusts."

"A trust that's rather ironic," Murrue pointed out dryly. "The first time they met, Pars wanted to kill Kira, and Kevin responded by just about doubling the number of bones in his body."

"And leaving that scar," Max agreed. "If Pars had been a tiny bit slower, it would've been his head that got split, instead of just his face. I think Kevin respects that."

"He would." Murrue shrugged. "Well, I guess this is something we need to take seriously, then." Her eyes narrowed as another thought occurred to her. "Max... you don't think the situation is series enough for him to...?"

"I think he believes it be," the AI informed her. "Before the colony drop, he instructed me to place Artemis on standby for Himmelkrieg."

Archangel's captain winced. "I don't even want to know how Cagalli is going to react to that," she murmured. "When she finds out that Kevin's been doing extensive weapons research during time of peace, even going so far as to resurrect some Destroyer technology..."

"If the balloon does go up," Max said seriously, "I don't think it's going to matter much. By then, she'll just be grateful that someone was getting ready for it."

"True." Murrue sighed. "Well, I guess all we can do now is wait..."


A couple of hundred kilometers to the west, a hatch opened atop the Minerva, and several of her crew and passengers gratefully climbed onto the deck. After days of breathing the ship's air, fair away from even the PLANTs' artificial environment; it felt good to breath fresh air again at last.

"Wow," Vino Dupre breathed, gazing out across the vast expanse of blue water. "I never realized how big it was out here..."

"Yeah," Yolant agreed. "Earth really is a big place..."

"Something on the order of sixteen thousand kilometers in diameter," Kevin remarked, coming up behind them with Cagalli at his side, and Athrun and Leona bringing up the rear. "Of course," he added, "a lot of it isn't nearly as nice as the Pacific Ocean. Sometime maybe I'll tell you about the time a good friend of mine spent in Siberia, chasing after an old... acquaintance of mine. He told me, years later, that if he hadn't been wearing a powered exoskeleton, he'd have found the climate most uncomfortable."

The two mechanics glanced at each other, puzzled. "...Powered exoskeleton?" Vino questioned.

The Baron waved a hand. "Nothing you need to worry about, kid. If Chairman Durandal hasn't seen fit to disseminate that particular bit of history throughout ZAFT, then far be it for me to question it. Let's just say that there are still a few unsung heroes from the last war whose tales have yet to be told... and some of them prefer it that way."

Leona glanced at Athrun. "He's talking about Invictus, right?" she whispered.

Athrun nodded. "Right; I guess you didn't get to know him very well, did you? Anyway, yeah, John was chasing Michael Carnehan in Siberia, apparently, around the time the war started."

"Hm; a miracle Carnehan survived." She hadn't known the assassin very long -he'd simply vanished, along with Natarle Badgiruel, within weeks of the truce at Jachin- but she had heard of his reputation. Rau le Creuset hadn't kept the man on retainer for so long for nothing... "So whatever happened to him, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Who knows? Not even Kevin can figure out where they went. We've gotten Christmas cards, and the occasional letter, but aside from that... All I know is that John and Commander Badgiruel went to the same place, at the same time."

"Hm..." That didn't exactly surprise her; she'd heard rumors of the relationship the two had forged, toward the end of the war. In that respect, it was clear that the clone differed from the original... although anyone who'd ever heard the assassin's accent would've known that. There was silence for a few moments as everyone tried to take in the enormity of what had transpired, and then Kevin noticed Leona deep in thought.

"Something wrong, Leona?" Kevin asked.

"I'm just thinking about what the likely outcome of this situation is," came the monotone calm response to which Kevin just snorted.

"That isn't hard to figure out: the EA is going to have a field day with this, and they'll place all the blame on ZAFT." This disturbed Cagalli greatly, though Athrun remained silent, and she looked at Kevin with distress clear on her face.

"You don't think…"

"The worst case scenario is a second war breaking out, which makes the peace treaty between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance a total failure." said Leona.

"But at least it wasn't a total failure out there," Kevin murmured, looking out to sea... and remembering another time, on another sea, two years before, when his worries had been vastly smaller. "It may've scorched the skies, but Earth still survives..."

Cagalli squeezed his shoulder. "You did good out there, Kevin," she said quietly. "You, and Athrun and Leona. I knew you were good enough, and I'm glad you did go out there. You minimized the damage, stopped it from-"

"Give me a break," a familiar, unwelcome, disgusted voice interrupted. "Are you really that stupid? Maybe it was 'minimized', but that wasn't exactly a 'natural' disaster. The fall of Junius Seven was caused by human hands, sent crashing down by Coordinators who wanted revenge for the Bloody Valentine, and still think that Naturals have to be exterminated. It's not going to end just with that, you know."

Cagalli stiffened, remembering earlier accusations that voice had made, accusations which had hurt her, and Kevin felt his expression try to turn thunderous. He had a great deal of patience, but not for people like Shinn. Not for people who say things like that... especially to Cagalli. "Suggest you hold your tongue, Asuka," he said, very quietly. "I'd really prefer that you keep a civil tongue in your head when you speak to her. You're being rude, to say the least."

The way he flexed his right hand, the one hidden again by a glove, reminded Shinn that it was metal, not flesh and blood, and that the Baron was fully capable of smashing anyone who annoyed him to paste... but he also understood something else. Kevin Walker was bound only by his own conscience, with little respect for the rule of law when it interfered with his own, personal objectives.

But Kevin Onishi was bound by rather different constraints. Unless he wanted to get his own nation -and, by extension, Cagalli- in a great deal of diplomatic trouble, he wouldn't dare try anything. He might threaten, but he knew as well as anyone that he couldn't follow through.

"I'm not afraid of you, Walker," Shinn said bluntly. "I respected you for how you went out and fought back there, and you were good, but if you're believing the same blind optimism she is, then I don't have much respect for your brains... and the way you fought shows you're not as good as they say you are."

Kevin's right eyebrow quirked. "You know," he said, sounding almost amused, "quite a few people have told me that they weren't afraid of me, over the years. Most of them aren't around anymore... and some of them were a sight better than you on the field of battle."

Leona merely looked amused at the exchange -as usual- but Athrun decided it was time to step in before anything else happened. I wouldn't put it past Shinn to try to deck Kevin right now, he thought with a hidden wince. Not when Kevin likes to mock people who don't like him. And I don't think Captain Gladys would be happy if Shinn broke his hand finding out half of Kevin's face is made of metal...

"Shinn does have something of a point," he said quietly, ignoring the look Kevin shot him. "Minimized or not, the fragments still did great damage, all over the world... I don't know if the Naturals will ever forgive us."

Cagalli sighed. "It shouldn't be about Naturals forgiving Coordinators," she said quietly. "We're all human, more or less-" the "less" was clearly a reference to Kevin's drastically-mutated genetic structure "- no matter how we were born. That kind of prejudice just doesn't make any sense..."

Shinn snorted. "You don't know anything, do you?" he asked caustically. "If you really don't have a clue, even about that..." He glanced at Athrun and Leona, and shook his head. "I feel sorry for you two, having to deal with someone like that all the time."

"Don't feel sorry for me." Leona calmly replied, "I have already chosen to walk this path." Before Shinn could say anything else, Kevin cut him off before the words could leave his mouth.

"Not... another... word," Kevin said quietly, jade eyes narrow. "It's true, I can't do anything drastic, without provoking a diplomatic disaster... but that doesn't mean that'll always be the case. I remember people like you, Asuka; I remember idiots with no respect for authority. And if you ever hurt Cagalli..."

The younger pilot smiled humorlessly. "Is that a threat, Walker?"

"No." The Baron's eyes went even brighter then, and the pupils turned to slits, as he allowed his tiger form to make its presence known for a brief moment. "It's a warning. A warning that I haven't always been the upstanding noble I am now... and I may not always be in the future, either."

Shinn stared at him a moment longer. This is the guy everybody talks about like he's the bogeyman? he thought, unimpressed. He's all talk. Like I'm scared of a stray cat... With a final snort, he turned and left... completely unaware that he might as well have shouted his contempt at the top of his lungs.


"It's confirmed," Djibril told his associates, gazing at the video conference display in his office. "We have pictures now of GINNs planting flare motors on the remains of Junius Seven."

"So they did do it?" one man asked, viewing the images with interest. "I never would've thought the PLANTs would play into our hands so conveniently."

Blue Cosmos' leader shook his head. "No, the PLANTs themselves weren't behind it; that much is clear from the start, simply because of the units involved. Even the Mark II High Maneuver models were retired with the advent of the ZAKU, so it makes little sense for them to be using them in an operation of this magnitude. More significantly, Girty Lue confirmed that ZAFT's newest ship, along with the new mobile suit we didn't capture, and the Tiger's unit, all fought against the forces behind the colony drop."

"But it was the Coordinators behind the incident?" another member pressed. "There's no doubt of that?"

Djibril shrugged. "I suppose it's theoretically possible someone like the Junk Guild bought up surplus mobile suits and did this, but they'd have no motive... as the public is well aware. They're also likely to be very skeptical of the notion that the PLANTs tried to stop the event... particularly if we omit the fact that Minerva was involved in the first place." He smiled. "We can never forgive them for this, and the average man on the street will agree. Attempting to strike with the wreckage of Junius Seven in the name of vengeance was unjustifiable... and we now have all the justification we need to wipe out the Coordinators at last."

"What about the Crimson Tiger himself?" the first man asked. "Did Girty Lue succeed in eliminating him this time, or has he managed to pull another one?"

Djibril sighed. "Unfortunately, that's currently unknown. We know he fell into the atmosphere, and a powerful energy surge indicates that he probably used up his mobile suit's entire power supply with a single shot, but we haven't actually confirmed his fate after reaching the surface. If he crashed, we might not find out for a day or so yet, and much the same if he didn't. Fortunately, however..." He smiled; and it wasn't a pleasant expression. "We've finally discovered his true identity."

The varied individuals on the display all had the same reaction: tense, yet also eager, interest. "Really? After all this time?"

"Indeed. It seems that my predecessor already knew, but chose not to mention it; given what I recently found in his files, I'm not surprised." Djibril grimaced. "His files weren't very specific on the matter, but it wasn't hard to correlate the information after we realized who Walker really is. It seems that, five years ago, Azrael was running a secret operation, unknown to most of us. Its one true success is known to us -the Mendel operation- but what he never got around to informing us was that he used a Coordinator for the job: Kevin Walker, when he was still ZAFT's Hydra."

One of the senior members stiffened. "That was uncommonly stupid of Azrael," he said quietly. "No wonder he never mentioned it; though it certainly helps to explain why the Tiger was so intent on killing him. So who is he?"

"That's the other reason Walker wanted Azrael dead: his birth name is actually Onishi."

"Onishi? As in the Onishi who currently serves as bodyguard to the Chief Representative of Orb? The one whom Azrael attempted to assassinate five years ago? No wonder that man wants us all dead."

"Indeed," Djibril agreed. "It may also cause us problems down the line; there's no way he'll countenance Orb joining the Earth Alliance... and, as the man who effectively owns Morgenroete these days, he most certainly has the clout to make his displeasure known." He paused. "It's my opinion, gentlemen, that one of our highest priorities should be the neutralization of the current Baron. As both Baron and Crimson Tiger, he poses a threat greater to us than either of his selves could've been separately."


"We'll be heading for Orb," Gladys told Cagalli, on Minerva's Bridge, "as soon as we've made sufficient repairs to avoid sinking on the way there. I know it's a week or so late," she added apologetically, "but at least you'll soon be home."

"I appreciate it, Captain," Cagalli said sincerely. "And so will Orb... even if all too many of them will never admit it. I really would like to express that appreciation publicly, but under the circumstances..."

Gladys nodded. She, too, had spent considerable time brooding on the public relations repercussions of the "Break the World" incident that had just occurred. She was unhappily certain that the Earth Alliance was going to blame it on the PLANTs... and she wasn't so ignorant of Orb internal politics to be unaware of the disturbing trend the Chief Representative referred to. "I understand, Lady Cagalli," she said quietly. "As does, I believe, your rather... formidable bodyguard. I somehow think he's none too pleased with the situation."

"Yeah," the younger woman agreed. "And the scary thing is, Kevin has the ability to do something about it. I don't know what, but... well, for one thing, his family's been feuding with my prime minister's family for about as long as Orb has existed, and Kevin in particular has some kind of long-running dispute with the prime minister's son. When you put that together with the political situation..." She winced. "I've known him all my life, and there's no one in the world who's closer to me than he is, but sometimes I get a little nervous about what he might do. He's... not exactly fond of the indirect approach."

"He wasn't when I knew him, either," Gladys agreed. "If something irritates him, he's more likely to smash it than to try to reason with it. But... what could he do, in this situation?"

"He's the current Baron of Onishi," Cagalli pointed out. "Just being the head of one of the Five Noble Families gives him a lot power. And while it's true he refuses to have any official role in the government, it's also true that, since he took over from his father, he's quietly bought up the majority of Morgenroete's stock, making him its de facto head. What he might do with that influence..."

Minerva's Captain smiled faintly. "Sounds like he's still hard to predict... at least within his area of expertise."

"That's true enough," the younger woman agreed ruefully. "I had no idea he intended to blow himself up inside GENESIS two years ago; what he might do against domestic enemies... Well, it probably won't be violent, but I'm not exactly looking forward to it, either. On the other hand," she went on thoughtfully, "my prime minister will probably like it even less."


Gunfire cracked out on the deck of the Minerva; multiple shots fired in quick, thunderous succession... but not in anger, as mere inanimate targets were the ones being filled with holes, not people, as Minerva's crew engaged in harmless gunnery training.

Behind the standard-issue pistols were Lunamaria, Rey, and Meyrin, with Athrun, Kevin, and Leona standing by, watching with interest. Kevin, in particular, was interested in seeing how well they did, considering his own choice of weaponry.

So far, he was quite impressed with Rey's shooting, and Meyrin seemed not too bad, either... though Lunamaria appeared to be having difficulties. Lack of confidence, he diagnosed, as the sharp barks of the pistols continued to fill the air. Been there, done that... a long time ago.

Luna finally stepped back, and glanced over at Athrun. "I'm not very good at this," she confessed, ejecting the empty magazine from her pistol. "Maybe it's because I'm a pilot; this just isn't the sort of thing a pilot usually has to deal with. But you never know..."

"All it takes is practice," Athrun told her. "You've already got the right mind set, with your mobile suit gunnery; you just need to learn to apply that to small arms."

"I guess..." She gave him a small smile. "You know... you're a hero in ZAFT. To those who don't hate you because of your name, I mean." She nodded toward the firing range. "Care to try it?"

Athrun blinked. "Well..."

Kevin flashed a brief grin. "Go on, Alex," he urged. "Show these rookies how it's really done. It ain't all for show, after all." At the same time, Leona gave Athrun a thumbs up gesture to show that she was urging him also.

The blue-haired bodyguard thought about it some more, then shrugged. "Okay, then," he agreed, taking Luna's pistol. "I'll give it a try." He reloaded, pulled back the slide, and, as Rey stood back to watch, opened up on the targets.

They were all moving around, making them difficult for an inexperienced marksman to hit, but Athrun was by no means inexperienced. He merely closed one eye, concentrated on his sight picture, and smoothly pulled the trigger, exactly as he'd been taught in small arms training years before.

With steady, metronomic precision, he walked his fire along the line of targets, striking each one with unerring accuracy... earning himself a look of respect from Rey as he did so. That kind of marksmanship was uncommon in a pilot, to say the least.

When each one had been hit, Athrun lowered the pistol, ejected the empty magazine, and flipped on the safety. "I'm not exactly bad at it," he admitted. "But I'm not as good as Kevin... and such a skill is really a secondary concern for me, anyway. I'm a pilot, by training."

"You never know when you might have to protect yourself or your charge from enemies," Luna pointed out. "It's good to know how to defend yourself."

"I guess, but..." He raised an eyebrow. "Who is the enemy?"

"That depends," Shinn said from behind him; he'd come up in time to watch Athrun's remarkable shooting. "For one thing... why do you want to go back to Orb in the first place?"

Athrun looked at him for several moments. That's a good question, he thought to himself. But the answer... I've got nowhere else to go, and my friends are there... It's...very complicated.

Seeing that Athrun wasn't going to say anything, Shinn shrugged and asked the same question to Leona whose calm reply of "It's home," somewhat irritated him because he somehow knew that Leona was thinking that he was an idiot for asking that question, which she did.

Finally turned to look at Kevin. "What about you?" he challenged, a gleam in his eye. "They say you're a legend. Why don't you show us how you shoot, Walker?"

"...Yeah," Luna agreed hesitantly. "I'd like to see it, too."

"Might be interesting," Rey remarked. "I've heard the stories, but..."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Legend? A legend is nothing but fiction. One person tells it; someone else remembers. Everybody passes it on. But if you want to see it that badly..."

Athrun had been about to leave, but now he turned back, curious to see how well Kevin would do. He hadn't been present when his friend took on the commandos who'd attacked him at Armory One, and it had been years since he'd seen the Baron do any shooting at all. Leona, on the other hand, took this as a chance to leave, since she knew firsthand how good Kevin was with his dual revolvers.

While it would be amusing to see Kevin show Shinn how stupid he is, I'm exhausted, that fight must've left me more tired than I thought. With that thought Leona made her way inside, nodding her goodbye to both her comrades, while giving a short curt bow to both Luna and Rey and completely ignoring Shinn and the quick glare he shot her as she was passing by.

Shinn watch the ex-NGSF woman leave, before looking at Kevin with a smirk. "Go ahead, show us." He was going to enjoy seeing the 'Legend' make a fool of himself. Too bad for him.

"Fine, then." Kevin nodded to Rey. "Get the targets set up, then, please. I'll show you how it's really done."

Luna stepped forward, as Rey attended to the targets. "You can use this," she offered, holding out the pistol Athrun had used.

He shook his head. "No, thanks. I prefer my own revolvers; more accurate, and they're what I've been using for the past four years." The ex-ZAFT super-soldier turned toward the now-set targets, took a deep breath, unfocused his eyes... and moved.

Had Kevin's augmentation been online, Shinn wouldn't have even seen him move. He knew that, because even relying on mere genetically-engineered reflexes, the twin revolvers concealed under his cloak veritably materialized in his hands, twirling around his index fingers even as he brought them around to firing position.

Twelve shots cracked out from the antique weapons, six from each cylinder. The air quickly filled with clouds of smoke from the equally-antique black powder Kevin used in his ammunition, briefly veiling the firing line itself from view. Then the revolvers came back around, smoothly dropped into their holsters... and the targets were revealed.

Every one of them had been hit dead center, with a precision that even exceeded Athrun's.

"I may not be a legend," Kevin said pleasantly to a very surprised Shinn, "but I suggest you never, ever forget why I was chosen to lead the Destroyers... and why, out of over three hundred people who have tried to kill me, only those I've chosen to spare are still alive."

Drawing his revolvers again, he blew smoke from the barrels, twirled them around his fingers, and walked back into the ship.


Author's note: Minerva has safely made its way down to Earth, after facing not merely the Earth Forces, but also rogue elements of their own. Their efforts have spared the planet from destruction, but the results are nonetheless catastrophic... and behind it all, two men with the name Onishi plot against each other, while a single young woman may hold the key to the hidden conflict...

Another chapter done; and a few more of my patented mysteries tossed out. Hopefully, I've been suitably cryptic about it all; more importantly, I hope the chapter was satisfactory. The next should bring us into things hinted at in the end of the previous story, particularly Kevin's antipathy toward the Seiran family in general and Yuna Roma in particular. Till then, feedback is appreciated. -Solid Shark