Brothers in Arms: A Call to Arms Chapter 12: The Nemesis Revealed, a gundam seed fanfic

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

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

"War is full of senseless tragedies; that's the world we live in, whether we like it or not. Actually, the whole world is full of pointless death, whether it be in war or not... but war does seem to bring them about even more than anything else.

"What's worse, in my case, is that my very existence seems to attract violence. Maybe that's inevitable, considering the life I lead, but all too often innocents are caught in the crossfire. Unfortunately, Joseph Stalin wasn't completely wrong when he said, 'One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.' That's overly simplistic, of course, and the sense he meant was morally bankrupt, but there is a kernel of truth in it. After you've seen as much death as I have, taken as many lives... death is something you get used to. The more you see it, the easier it is to bear... and the more you kill, the easier it is to kill.

"Yet even for me, there are some who stand out... some deaths which I cannot be allowed to forget. My late, lamented comrades at ABADDON... Nicol Amalfi... and three other people. A family, whose deaths I did not realize I had any part in until recently. But because of them, I have a new, implacable foe.

"I've had my share of enemies in the past; more than my share, really. Most of them are dead; and most of them became my enemies by actions or prejudices of their own. Another, Dearka Elsman, had hated me ever since I tossed him through a wall; but when he found out why I'd done it, he got over it, and we became good friends.

"But this one... he is my enemy because of something I did, however unwittingly, in the heat of battle. Most of a family, killed by means of a shot that somehow failed to find its mark... a shot I cannot recall firing, but know that I did, for no one else could have fired it.

"And because of that, Shinn Asuka, though his skills are lacking compared to some I know, has become, in some ways, my most implacable foe. He fights for the same reason I have, more than once. He fights to avenge his family uncaring that I had never known I'd done it, and so he has become my enemy. My... nemesis..."

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

The battle for JOSHUA was still raging.

The beleaguered Earth Forces were still mounting a desperate defense despite their staggering casualties in the opening minutes of the battle and through it all. Leona watched it all with a cool façade which hid all of the tension and stress that was just simmering under the surface, although it was slowly bleeding out as the battle was clearly in their favor despite the presence of the legendary 'legged ship'.

"Her captain has to know that they can't win this fight," Leona said to herself out loud. She had maneuvered her CGUE on top of a ZAFT submarine carrier to re-arm after they, her and the rest of the NGSF, had broken through the outer defense perimeter of JOSHUA with no casualties at all.

Leona and a few other NGSF members had opted to stay behind and help the remaining of the ZAFT invasion forces clear the outside for reinforcement, while the rest went into to help break the inner gates.

The commander of the NGSF just sat in her open cockpit, patiently waiting for the crew to finish re-arming her mobile suit, unmindful of the explosions overhead. That is, until an azure beam destroyed two submarine carriers and about a dozen mobile suits that were adjacent to them up front.

She nearly jumped in surprise at what had transpired in front of her. She looked around for the shooter and saw an unknown mobile with wings spread dealing death to any nearby ZAFT forces. Despite the threat of instant of death, Leona calmly contacted the head mechanic overseeing and asked them to speed up her re-armament. The supply crew was more than happy to comply.

Still, by the time Leona was able to take off, the unknown mobile had vanished inside the Archangel through a hole in the ship's starboard flight deck. Leona had just ordered the few NGSF fighting outside to engage the Archangel when she received a message from her second in command that they had taken the main gate with minimal casualties.

Leona then noticed that the Archangel took some missile fire and was going down; but the ship's retaliatory fire -courtesy of its Lohengrins- took out two of her people, in a pair of DINNS, as they were preparing to re-supply.

"You're going down." Leona said as she moved towards the legged ship, but a GINN riding a GUUL beat her to it and was about to blow the Archangel's bridge to kingdom come when the ZGMF-X10A Freedom finally made its presence known.

Another one? she thought in disbelief. Yet another unknown mobile suit had arrived to save the Archangel as she made her CGUE strafe around some weapons fire from a nearby EA ship. After taking care of the unwanted distraction, Leona's mobile suit was hit hard when the unknown mobile suit unleashed its own weaponry against the ZAFT forces.

"Not good," Leona said calmly as her suit's right arm was destroyed, anything below the suit's shoulder was gone.

Seconds later, Leona heard the pilot of the unknown mobile suit make an announcement of there being a Cyclops system inside JOSHUA, and it was ready to activate at any moment. Her heart froze, and she raced to the base, ignoring the subsequent fight that happened between the Freedom and the Duel, all the while ordering her teammates to evacuate who were confused at the sudden order and the strange behavior of the commander.

All of a sudden her sensors picked up a HUGE spike in radiation, and then she heard the screams of her teammates as they were consumed in a radioactive fire, and Leona's world abruptly turned white…

Morning was coming... and it would be a red-soaked dawn that greeted those waking from their rest. Operation Spear of Twilight had been launched, and fighting raged around Carpentaria in Australia and Gibraltar in Europe. And soon, more blood would be spilled as a nation betrayed those who had helped it.

Kevin Walker was not among those only just waking; he had not slept that night, for he had preparations to make... because he knew only too well what his "colleagues" in the Seiran family were likely to try. So he'd spent the night training himself, working hard to get back into battle-ready shape... and planning exactly how he was going to help spoil Yuna Roma Seiran's fun.

Unsurprisingly, Andy, Murrue, Kira, and Lacus were in the living room when he arrived. "I see you're all awake," Kevin noted. "Anything going on?"

"Minerva is launching even now," Murrue replied. "There's still no sign of any opposition, but... Well, I doubt the Earth Alliance would pass up a chance like this."

He nodded sharply. "Then it's time. Murrue, Andy, we'd better get moving; I'll need a little help down there, and with Leona on her way to space, Max taking care of official business at Morgenroete, and Meryl taking care of the unofficial business there..."

Andy nodded. "Right. Let's go, Racher."

The three of them headed for one of the walls, and Kira glanced around in confusion. "Wait a minute. Go where? What are you talking about?"

Kevin flicked a command into the mansion's systems through his neural linkages, and one oak panel slid aside to reveal an elevator. "This entire building is actually something of a facade, Kira. Not long after the Reconstruction War, my family -the Onishi family- located on this island an abandoned base from the war, and chose to place their home over it. The base, you see, is huge; extends down into the bedrock beneath the island, and a little ways out under the ocean. There's a lot of abandoned weapons and material down there, including small arms, anti-aircraft and anti-armor weapons, ground vehicles, aircraft, and even a fully-functional mass driver. There are also numerous additions the family has made over the years... including something of my own, just recently arrived." He lifted an eyebrow. "You coming?"

With a wordless nod, Kira and Lacus followed the other three into the elevator, which promptly began to descend, carrying them deep into the cliff upon which Onishi Mansion stood. The journey was mostly silent -Kira was still more than a little surprised by Kevin's facility for intrigue and weapons research- and was soon over, arriving at the main hangar level of the underground base.

"Welcome to Avalon," Kevin told Kira, stepping out of the elevator. "The hidden base, whose facilities keep me informed about all kinds of things... and grant me the strength to fend off almost anything."

Glancing around at the high-ceilinged corridors -the height of them being a clear sign to him that mobile suits were stored somewhere ahead- Kira shook his head. "I'm amazed the Seirans don't know all about this..."

"They do," Kevin told him with a thin smile. "It's why they don't dare try anything against me. They're well aware that my home ground is effectively inviolable." He waved a hand at the hatches they passed along the way, all of which were marked in precise military lettering... and most of which appeared to be armories of one sort or another. Clearly, more than just mobile weapons were stored on the hangar level. "Yes, they know that if they tried anything I'd obliterate them all. Unfortunately, that only really applies to the mansion and base; most of this stuff if woefully outdated compared to mobile suits, after all, so in an open field battle..."

"I can see," Kira acknowledged. "No wonder you never worried much about them here. Hey," he added, moving closer to one of the doors, "what's in here?"

"Don't open that," his friend said sharply, and pointed at a skull and crossbones symbol on it. "That horrid stuff is the last shipment my father moved down here; where he found it, I don't know, and I wish I could figure out how to get rid of the stuff. Unfortunately, it would require something on the order of a plasma bomb, which would be a little conspicuous here."

Kira swallowed, and resumed walking. "What is in there?"

"VX nerve agent," Andy informed him, grimacing. "I'd never heard of the stuff before, but Racher here is, as you know, a student of old military technology. Turns out it's a relic from the late twentieth century A.D., a really nasty chemical weapon that causes your diaphragm to freeze up. In other words, you suffocate."

"Two hundred micrograms is enough to kill you," Kevin added grimly. "And there's about four tons of it beyond that door. Near as I can tell, Father found just about all the remaining VX on the planet and collected it, for reasons I don't think I want to know. It certainly wasn't for defense; you use this stuff too close to your own ground, and you're liable to kill yourself as well as the enemy."

"So you see," Murrue said, injecting a lighter tone into the conversation, "there actually is a weapon Kevin hates more than nuclear missiles."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Nukes, for all their power, are targeted weapons; nerve agents are just indiscriminate death." The super-soldier shook his head. "I'm immune to the stuff, of course; Destroyers were all given treatments and cybernetic systems to nullify all chemical weapons. My own genetic structure plays a part in that, too. Still, I hate having any of it here. The chances of an accidental release are almost nonexistent, but you never know..."

He trailed off, as they came to the end of the corridor. A massive, armored hatch barred the way, but it slid instantly aside at a silent command from Kevin's augmentation. And beyond it...

Murrue and Andy took it in stride, having spent much time within the base since hostilities heated up again, but Kira was startled, and even Lacus -who had known of the hangar's contents but never actually seen them- gazed at the chamber with a certain degree of surprise.

To either side were two dozen units of a type Kira didn't recognize; they were squat, with reverse-jointed legs, old-fashioned radomes, railguns, and an angular fuselage with a missile module on its back. Clearly an old design, predating mobile armors and mobile suits alike, they were nonetheless impressive, and looked very capable... yet they weren't what really caught his attention.

That was reserved for the imposing mobile suit at the center of the formation. Tall, with a head of the "Gundam" style -like GAT-X105 Strike and its fellows, as well as the later ZAFT models- it also possessed long, tapering wings, clawed forearms, what appeared to be concealed machine cannons to either side of its head... and what was unmistakably a twin buster rifle was held in one hand.

Despite its overall black color scheme with crimson trim, and various other differences, the head, machine cannons, and primary weapon marked it unmistakably as being of the same series as a machine once called Sturm Falke.

"What is that?" Kira breathed. "It looks like..."

Kevin nodded. "MBF-M1000 Beta Nemesis. It began as the pitiful remains of Stormhawk; and after eighteen months in a tank of liquid nitrogen, being worked on by nanomachines, this is the result. Its raw power exceeds even Stormhawk, and if its weapons are less precise than your Freedom's, it makes up for it in several other ways." He nodded up at the imposing machine. "And today it's going to fly the skies again at last, for the first time in two years, to protect the Minerva."

"You're going to use it at full capacity, then?" Murrue asked, face carefully neutral.

"I am." He met her gaze unflinchingly. "I'm likely to be greatly outnumbered, Sis, even with the assistance of Asuka, Za Burrel, and Lunamaria Hawke. I need to fight at full capacity; I'm not quite up to Kira's level, remember."

She sighed. "Just be careful then, all right? Remember, you made a dozen test units before the final prototype, and all of them blew up. If it happens here, it could destroy most of the country."

Kira glanced between the two, confused. "What a minute. What are you two talking about? Is that thing nuclear powered?"

"It is," Andy acknowledged. "Same old fission plant, with a new N-jammer canceler to replace the one used at GENESIS."

"But that's a violation of the Junius Treaty," the younger man protested. "All nuclear reactors were banned from military use-"

"This isn't military," Kevin reminded him, "and I didn't sign the Junius Treaty. Nor did any member of Project Prometheus Unchained. At worst, it's a gray area. In any case," he went on, "that's not what Murrue was talking about. The fission plant is only there to provide enough power to start the reaction in the true power source." He smiled; it was not a pleasant expression. A hungry smile, like a tiger before a hunt... "You see, it has the first practical antimatter reactor."

Kira inhaled sharply. "Antimatter? But... no one has any idea how to use that kind of thing for power yet. You know as well as I do how difficult it is to control the reaction from that kind of massive energy release! The whole system should blow up the instant you generate the first gram of antimatter. I mean, sure, we use it in things like positron cannons, but there the antimatter is fired through a tubular electromagnetic field, sent away from the emitter, not contained in one place."

"Very good, Kira," the super-soldier said approvingly. "I guess you really were paying attention at the college on Heliopolis; nice change from when we were kids." Kira looked pained, but Kevin quickly went on, "You're right as far as it goes, but you were never into the same kind of research my people have been doing; and you also don't know as much as I do about all the technology that was lost thanks to the Reconstruction War. Fact is, there were two primary problems with the notion of antimatter power: the amount of energy needed to synthesize the antimatter in the first place, and lack of any form of containment. As you say, antimatter tends to blow itself up the instant it comes into contact with regular matter, which means you need an absolute vacuum for it to exist, and one not made from matter, at that. Well, those two problems were effectively solved when practical fusion power was finally developed in the twenty-first century. Fusion provided enough energy to generate antimatter -as does the new-model fission reactor Nemesis has- and since fusion required containment itself, the basic principle -the same kind of magnetic containment used for positron beams- could be applied to antimatter reactors, as well."

"I can see that," Kira said slowly, "but it still should've taken years to make all the adjustments. Years, and a lot of experiments."

"It did," Murrue said dryly. "Prometheus built over a dozen prototypes prior to the model installed in Nemesis, and all of them exploded the moment they were activated. In fact, they wouldn't have gotten even that far had ABADDON not been researching the idea, five years ago."

"That's right," Kevin confirmed. "Remember, ABADDON had some of the most brilliant scientists of the era working for them, and not all of them were cyberneticists or geneticists. After all, things like the Excalibur strike fighter were completely beyond Oracle's knowledge. In fact, the Excalibur's final design was supposed to incorporate an antimatter reactor, though I'll confess even I'm skeptical that they could've fit one inside something that small, even if they omitted a fission reactor and went with external activation."

Kira nodded thoughtfully, head buzzing with the technical aspects of the matter. As Kevin had noted, he had paid attention in college, so he knew perfectly well that the process must've been more difficult than his friend was implying... and that it must also have been extremely hazardous. "Okay, I can get how you managed to do it so quickly... but, Kevin, don't you realize how dangerous that thing is? If you let even a milligram of that stuff escape, you'll blow up this entire island! And if you've got an entire reactor full of it..."

"It could potentially obliterate pretty much the entire island chain," Kevin acknowledged. "I'm aware of the risks, Kira, and I assure you, I wouldn't be doing this at all if I wasn't confident in my safety systems. I may take more chances with my own life than some people would consider smart, but there's no way I'd do that when Cagalli and a whole bunch of orphans are in range."

"He's right, Kira," Lacus said quietly. "I admit that I have misgivings of my own about this, but you know Kevin wouldn't do this if he wasn't sure it was safe."

"I have to agree there," Murrue concurred, "though I have some concerns as far as its performance on the battlefield is concerned."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Murrue, I have no intention of annihilating myself, okay? If I ever have to self-destruct, I'm not crazy enough to hang around." He shook his head. "Look, we don't have time for this. If I know the Earth Forces and Yuna Seiran, Minerva is going to be under fire soon, and that means I have to get moving now."

"...I understand," Kira said reluctantly. "So, you really are going back to the battlefield, then?"

"It's where I belong," Kevin said simply, and turned away. Bending his knees, he catapulted himself off the floor in a mighty leap, caught hold of Nemesis's knee, and vaulted up to the cockpit. The hatch in the center of the machine's chest dropped open at his silent command, and he swung into the waiting seat.

The cockpit was, at first glance, very similar to that of the machine's original form... but appearances were misleading. The controls were fully functional, as were the displays, but Kevin ignored them entirely, instead placing his left hand on a circular device on the arm of the seat. Contact was made between the mobile suit's systems and the neural receptor embedded in his left palm, and Nemesis' systems began to come to life... and even now, the displays remained dark.

Instead, Kevin's view of the cockpit vanished, replaced by the data relayed from Nemesis' own jade eyes to his brain. Two years before, he had -with great reluctance- experimented with vehicular neural linkages, something even ABADDON had never been able to test; now, after two years of research, he made contact with his machine's control systems and sensors with ease, and the signals his brain would normally have used to control his limbs were instead directed into Nemesis.

"Initializing antimatter reaction," he said over the machine's external speakers, even as he carried out the action. Within Nemesis' fuselage, beneath the cockpit, the majority of the fission reactor's output was redirected into another chamber... and from within, antimatter began to form. Magnetic containment fields went up at the same time, and the reaction began.

Murrue watched anxiously, though she knew well that if anything happened, none of them would have time to notice. "Is it stable?" she said at last.

"Affirmative," Kevin answered, diagnostics running through his mind. "Power flow is nominal, all systems ready. Stand back; I'm converting to mobile armor mode."

The four did as instructed; none of them knew exactly what would happen now, so it was best to stand well back in case Nemesis took up more space than expected. I'll say this for Kevin, Kira thought distantly. He doesn't do anything by halves...

Nemesis' thrusters flared then, providing just enough power to lift it off the ground, and then it doubled over, legs folding beneath the torso, arms moving inward, the buster rifle splitting in half and moving to flank the head as a shield-like piece of armor slid into place to protect it. Now fully horizontal, smaller thrusters came to life in the folded legs, keeping it in a hover as it swivelled toward the huge hatch at one end of the hangar.

"All right," Kevin said then. "Kevin Walker... Nemesis, launching!"

The hatch slid aside, revealing the sky beyond the cliff Onishi Mansion stood upon, and Nemesis' main thrusters woke, blue light flaring from them as they propelled the machine out into the blue.

"So, he's off," Lacus sighed. "I don't know whether to be glad that he's going out to help the Minerva... or sad that he's going back to the battlefield."

"He'll be fine," a new voice said from behind them. "And I pity his father, if the bastard tries to get in his way."

Kira turned in surprise. "Leona? I thought you left for space already; what are you doing here?"

Leona Colde shrugged. "We're a little behind schedule; Cagalli's meeting yesterday prevented me from handing in my resignation, so I'll be heading out later today." She smiled suddenly. "Besides, I didn't want to miss the fun. I only saw him from a distance at JOSHUA and Jachin Due, you know; it'll be fun to see what he's like in a real battle."

Andy laughed. "You are two of a kind, young lady," he told her. "I can tell you've got some of Racher's genes in you; you're both possessed of gallows humor."

"I could also kill you twenty-six different ways without making a sound," she observed. "And that's only with my bare hands."

Kira covered his face with one hand. "...Just when I thought only one of Kevin could exist in this world, another one comes around... I'm just glad not everyone is like that. Kevin's like a brother, but... he enjoys war a little too much."

(I heard that.)

"My Lord? According to radar returns, the Minerva will soon be leaving our territorial waters."

At Orb's military headquarters, Yuna Roma Seiran nodded appreciatively. "Excellent... So, are all preparations in place?"

"Yes, My Lord," the soldier replied, and then hesitated. "But, ah... there's something you should probably know, Sir. Just now we caught an anomalous thermal return, from the direction of Izanagi. It looked almost like some kind of aircraft or flying mobile armor, but it disappeared within moments. It might've been just a sensor ghost, but I thought you should be informed, My Lord."

"Hm..." Yuna frowned. Izanagi... that's where Onishi's mansion is located. And with that blasted military base his family's been refurbishing for years, who knows what he might've found... just what are you up to, Onishi? You have to know there's nothing you can do, even with those nuclear-equipped walking tanks your father imported ten years ago.

"Having problems, My Lord?"

He turned, startled, and frowned when he saw who'd spoken. "I didn't know you were cleared to be here, Miss Walker," he said cautiously, wanting to eject the young woman from the building but uncertain of whether or not she actually did have such clearance. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Max shook her head, eyes narrow. "No, thank you; I'm just checking things out for my boss. And yes, I am cleared to be here. If you don't believe me, check the records. As I said before, I'm acting as Baron Onishi's representative, as he has pressing business... and is likely to for some time to come."

"Hm." Yuna merely grunted, unhappy about the young woman's presence but unable to do anything about it. "All right, then... just stay out of the way. We don't have time for any interference."

"Don't worry, My Lord," she assured him. "I don't intend to get in the way." Because I don't have to...

"Now exiting Orb's territorial waters, Captain," Malik Yardbirds announced on Minerva's Bridge. "On course for Carpentaria Base."

Talia Gladys nodded. "Thank you, Malik. Carry on." Looks like we made it out in time; good thing Walker doesn't hate ZAFT quite so much anymore...

She was fairly sure that Kevin Walker had been correct in warning them to clear out. He was certainly in the best position to know; whatever his current standing in Orb's government might be, he was the head of one of the Five Noble Families, which meant he had access to just about everything the Orb government did.

Besides which, Talia had a shrewd notion that the solider would soon be evacuating himself. Leaving aside his apparent estrangement from the Chief Representative, the mere fact that Orb had signed the treaty with the Earth Alliance indicated that it wouldn't be a healthy place for Coordinators to be for the foreseeable future. Admittedly, Walker himself was resourceful enough to remain alive through it all, but from what he'd said, he was more likely to try everything in his power to break the Alliance. After all, however implacable his hate for ZAFT might once have been, that organization had at least learned from its mistakes, and purged most of its corrupt elements. The Earth Alliance had done nothing of the sort... and Kevin Walker would never forgive Blue Cosmos for killing his family.

Her reverie was interrupted by a sudden, tense report from Burt Heim. "Reading new radar and thermal signatures, Captain," he said tautly. "Ships appearing directly in our path."

Talia's gaze sharpened, for now the ships were appearing within visual range outside the viewport. "Can you identify them?" she asked, though she already had a good idea of who they had to be. They're not friendlies... which means...

"Affirmative, Captain. They're an Earth Forces naval fleet, composed mostly of Danilov and Tarawa-class ships." Heim's jaw tightened. "Also detecting thermal signatures consistent with the new Earth Forces machines encountered during the recent attack on the PLANTs: GAT-04 Windams."

She nodded slowly. "I see. They're determined to take us down here and now..."

"Has Orb betrayed us?" Trine wondered. "The only way the Earth Forces could even know to come here..."

"New contacts on radar!" Heim barked. "Detecting a fleet directly to our rear, Captain; Orb Aegis ships and carriers, as well as several flight-equipped M1 Astrays."

Talia closed her eyes. "They're preventing us from retreating into their waters," she murmured. "Walker was right... they did intend to trap us."

"I can't believe this," Trine said incredulously. "They help repair our ship, and then they try to destroy us?"

"We can worry about their thought processes later, Arthur," Talia reminded him. "Sometime when we're not about to engage in battle." She hit a button on the arm of her chair, activating her intercom panel. "All hands to battle stations," she announced, with a calm she didn't truly feel. "Repeat, all hands to battle stations. An Earth Alliance fleet has appeared to block our path, and Orb forces are now blocking our retreat. Therefore, we have no choice but to engage the enemy ahead of us and break through their blockade." She paused for a moment. "I won't lie to you. We're heavily outnumbered, even if the Orb fleet does nothing but block our retreat; the Earth Forces alone have several times our firepower. This will undoubtedly be our most difficult battle yet, even surpassing our struggle to stop the fall of Junius Seven... but I have faith in you all. Good luck."

"What now, Captain?" Trine asked quietly.

"Now we prepare to fight for our lives... and trust our pilots," she said simply. "It's all we can do, now."

Soaring high above, at the very edge of space, Kevin Walker looked down on the Pacific Ocean with cold anger in his eyes. He could easily see the events unfolding below; Nemesis' optics were more than sufficient even from dozens of kilometers up to distinguish the two fleets flanking Minerva. "Seiran, you bastard," he whispered. "You truly have no honor at all, do you?"

Not that it was unexpected. That was why he was up here in the first place, bringing his formidable mobile suit along the Minerva's course. He'd known what was going to happen... and he knew how to at least make sure Orb left the ship alone. And as for the Earth Forces... Well, it wouldn't be the first time he performed a blitzkrieg attack on one of their fleets.

Mental commands flashed through Nemesis' circuits, and the machine wavered into existence as the hyper jammers were deactivated. Then the whole unit unfolded, reverting to its mobile suit mode high above the Earth. Configuration change complete, he thought, communing with his systems. Activate twin buster rifle magnetic containment systems. Divert antimatter flow into TBR reaction chamber. Prepare to fire Level Three shot.

Poised in the sky like the Angel of Death, Nemesis' finger tightened on the trigger...

In Minerva's hangar, Shinn raced toward the Impulse's Core Splendor, still tugging on his helmet as he ran. "What's with the battle alert?" he wondered aloud to his companion.

"I don't know," Lunamaria Hawke replied with a shrug, heading for her own ZAKU. "I guess the Earth Forces are attacking us. We'll make it, though. I'm sure of it."

I hope you're right, Shinn thought, vaulting into the Core Splendor's cockpit. Just as long as that bastard Walker doesn't get involved, friend or foe. Of course, he thought with a thin smile, at least if he's an enemy, I can get rid of him. All of Orb's like that, and he's one of the worst of the lot.

The super-soldier's parting words to him hadn't helped things, either. His implication that Shinn was overconfident... Yeah, sure, like I need to worry about him. He was never in the same league as the Freedom's pilot; I'm certainly not scared of him.

Shaking off those thoughts -after all, there was no sign Walker even could intervene directly- he activated his radio. "Shinn Asuka," he announced. "Core Splendor, launching!"

On the bridge of the Earth Forces flagship, Captain Lyle Tucker watched with interest as the ZAFT mobile suits launched from the Minerva's catapults. Two of them were standard ZAKUs, a red Warrior and a white Phantom, which immediately took their places on the ship's deck... but one was the sole remaining prototype from Armory One, the unit identified as "Impulse".

So, it really does have four separate modules, he noted, as the pieces came together with the Force Silhouette to form the complete mobile suit. I can see how versatile it makes the design... but there must be severe structural integrity issues, as well. Can they really be as dangerous as Captain Roanoke's reports suggest?

"Is that their entire force?" he asked aloud.

"It appears so, Captain," his radar operator replied. "Three mobile suits and one ship. Our forces outnumber them greatly... and it appears the Orb fleet is holding up their end of the bargain."

Tucker nodded. "Anything unexpected?"

The officer hesitated. "I don't think so, Sir. We're getting a faint thermal source from somewhere at the extreme edge of our detection range... straight up. I don't think it's anything more than a sensor ghost, but we're keeping an eye on it."

"Don't let it distract you," Tucker warned. "We're dealing with a ZAFT ship, not sensor ghosts. We can't afford any surprises here."

"Understood, Sir."

Here they come, Shinn thought, scanning the area for the threats... of which there were many. A number of ships, and numerous Windams, all equipped with flight units of some kind... This wasn't going to be easy. But if it was easy, they wouldn't need us, would they?

"Luna, Rey," he radioed, "you two sit tight and take anything that gets close, okay? I've got the others."

"Understood," Rey replied calmly, his beam rifle already tracking the incoming hostiles. "We've got the ship covered."

"Got it, Shinn," Luna agreed. "Go get 'em."

Time to show them what ZAFT pilots are made of! Feeding power to his thrusters, Shinn propelled Impulse into the sky, heading straight for the nearest cluster of Windams. "Come and get me!"

The Windams seemed happy to oblige, firing their own beam rifles as they moved to engage the ZAFT machine, but Impulse was too swift. Driven by Coordinator reflexes, it wove a dangerous path through the streaks of emerald energy, spinning in the air to avoid one blast, before yanking out a beam saber and closing to melee range.

It seemed insane. One mobile suit, however capable, should not have been a match for six... but Impulse was no ordinary mobile suit, and Shinn Asuka no ordinary pilot. Beams flashed all around him, and his intended target thrust at him with a saber of its own, but he ducked the fire and smashed the saber aside with his shield, then lashed out with his own blade of frozen fire.

The first quick slash caught his target in the upper torso, well above the cockpit, and seemed to stick for a moment; the hesitation gave another Windam a chance to try a bisecting chop, aimed at ending the battle in an instant.

I don't think so. Ripping his blade through a diagonal cut to free it from the first Windam, Shinn also lashed out with Impulse's foot, catching the ambushing Windam in the arm, knocking its attack off by merely two meters... just enough for it to instead plunge deep into a third Windam's torso.

Shinn's target and the one caught in "friendly fire" tore themselves apart at almost the same instant, spewing shrapnel and debris everywhere, and spurting lubricants in all directions... a red rain of hydraulic fluid, to substitute for the blood of the pilots, vaporized in the explosions.

Shinn whipped around, smashed his shield into the face of the Windam that had destroyed its fellow, and stabbed his saber deep into its cockpit, plunging all the way into the thrusters on its back. Pilot, metal, and plastics melted under the attack, lubricants and hydraulic fluid turned to steam, and a cataclysmic reaction ran through the machine as power attempted to flow through shattered systems. It held for one second, two... and detonated, sending another barrage of shrapnel and debris out into the sky.

The surviving three pilots of the unit stared in disbelief. "This can't be," one of them muttered incredulously, frantically bringing his beam rifle up to firing position. "There's no way one machine can-"

He was interrupted... but not by Shinn Asuka's blade. No, it was the titanic column of synthetic lightning that speared down from the heavens that stunned the pilot into silence.

Coming at almost the same moment that Minerva's Tristan beam turrets laid into a pair of Earth Forces cruisers, the blast seemed at first almost like an extension of that fury... but only almost, and only at first. Nothing Minerva had short of its Tannhauser positron cannon could produce an effect that mammoth... and Talia Gladys wouldn't have ordered it to fire at a point between Minerva and the Orb fleet.

Not to mention that it came from several kilometers above the action.

The azure blast swept across the ocean's surface, vaporizing water in a long line etched across the path of the Orb fleet for several moments, before fading away. Then, and only then, did a voice come over the radio. "Attention, all Orb forces in this area," a voice said coldly. "This is Captain Kevin Walker, formerly a Colonel in the Orb Ground Forces Reserve. I no longer have the authority to give you direct orders, but understand this: any Orb unit that attempts to further this treacherous action by engaging Minerva's forces will be fired upon and disabled. This is your only warning."

Shinn's gaze snapped up to the black and crimson mobile suit that descended from the sky, and his lips drew back in a snarl. "Walker! Just what do you think you're doing here?"

"Exactly what I said I would," Kevin replied. "Stopping my country from committing a monstrous betrayal. Understand something, Asuka: I don't like you, and I don't like ZAFT... but I like betrayal even less, particularly when it's perpetuated by a family I hate." He switched frequencies. "Minerva, this is Walker. I'm coming to your assistance."

"Roger that, Captain Walker," Talia replied. "Thanks for the assistance... though you do realize, don't you, the amount of trouble you'll be in from your own country?"

"Doesn't matter; I don't intend to stay in Orb any longer anyway." His expression was more that of a cold serpent than a hungry tiger, but that very chill communicated his feelings to the ZAFT captain better than anything else could've.

Talia had heard why Kevin Walker's anger was so dangerous: because it did not burn, but chilled...

"I suppose I can understand that," Talia went on after a moment. "Certainly I've heard enough about your... difficulties with the Orb government of late. Still, you are -or were- a soldier in Orb's military, as well. I'd have thought duty-"

"I follow my own path, Talia," he cut in. "I'm a trained soldier, but I refuse to fight for a cause in which I do not believe. If that means fighting against my own country... then so be it." He turned his attention back to the battle then, separated his buster rifle into its component halves, and reached back to attach them to Nemesis' wings.

"I don't need your help, Walker," Shinn said in a low voice, glaring briefly at Nemesis. "More than that, I don't want it. This isn't your fight; not since you betrayed ZAFT."

"I was never truly a part of ZAFT, Asuka," Kevin replied, opening a shoulder panel and pulling out the hilt of a beam saber. "I still use the codename Hydra from time to time, but the fact is that the person ZAFT called Hydra was nothing more than a personality overlay, a false persona used to keep my body under their control. Either way," he finished, as an azure blade came to life in his hand, "this is my fight... because it's my country that's betraying Minerva's trust." Besides which, I hate Yuna Seiran's guts...

Shinn glared a moment longer, then sighed. "...Fine. Just stay out of my way, Walker, or I'll take you down, too." Not bothering to wait for a reply, he lifted his rifle and charged at the Earth Forces machines once again.

It did not yet occur to him to connect the azure weapons used by Nemesis with the fateful blast he had witnessed and hated two years before...

The ZAFT and Earth Alliance forces weren't the only ones startled by the sudden intervention of the so-called "Black Asp"; if anything, the personnel aboard the ships of the Orb fleet were even more surprised, since Nemesis' pilot was one of their own.

"That... was Baron Onishi," the fleet flagship's exec said slowly, staring at the steam still rising from the momentary "trench" the beam had carved in the water. "Captain... what are our orders?"

"Hm..." Captain Todaka, the man commanding both the ship and the fleet itself stood silent for several moments, considering the matter. To begin with, he was far from sanguine about the entire affair; repairing the ship that had saved their nation from almost certain destruction and then trying to blow it out of the water didn't sit well with him at all.

Then there was the unexpected intervention of the Baron. Though he might've resigned his military commission, the fact remained that he was the head of one of the Five Noble Families, which gave him a great deal of authority. Much of it might've been mere power of prestige, but that made it no less real... particularly in the face of his threat.

Todaka had no doubt the rogue nobleman would do exactly what he said if any Orb soldier so much as sneezed in Minerva's direction; he might limit himself to disabling attacks, but he would fire. His extremely pointed warning shot was proof enough of that, as was his reputation for meaning what he said.

Yes, when one puts all the facts of the matter together...

"We hold our fire," he said finally. "We've been given orders from one of our great nobles... and I will not risk our forces in a fruitless assault. Is that clear?"

"Very, Captain," his exec answered, nodding crisply.

After all, Todaka wasn't the only Orb soldier who felt this entire affair was disgusting, to say the least.

Minerva rocked perceptibly in the wake of a near miss; Heim's report a moment later merely served to confirm what they all already knew. "We're coming under fire from the Earth Alliance ships," he said unnecessarily. "They've begun bombardment with shipboard guns."

Talia nodded. "Understood. Return fire with Tristans; but inform our mobile suits to concentrate on the opposing mobile units, Meyrin. They're the greater threat."

"Yes, Captain," Meyrin acknowledged, and relayed the orders through her headset.

While her crew carried out the engagement around her, Talia gazed with narrowed eyes at the battle itself. So far, their pilots were doing a stellar job of protecting the ship; Luna and Rey were providing excellent close-in defense from the Minerva's deck -indeed, even as she watched, Luna's beam cannon spat red-orange fire and speared a Windam, blasting it apart from the inside out- while Shinn continued to engage the airborne machines at a distance from the ship.

He was also in unwilling partnership with the interloper, Nemesis; the two pilots clearly had no use for each other, yet they efficiently split the enemy forces between them with a skill that would've been exhilarating to watch had this been a historical record, rather than a current life-or-death struggle. Kevin Walker's years of experience and superior mobile suit design were very much in evidence, yet Shinn Asuka and his Impulse were fighting on a level far closer to the super-soldier's than Talia would've expected.

Their reluctant teamwork was clearly evident as they took on the three remaining machines from the first squad Shinn had attacked. Nemesis -moving with a fluidity that suggested to the Captain that neural interfacing was involved- engaged two of them simultaneously, allowing Impulse to blaze past and attack the third.

Nemesis raised its left arm, and a shield formed of pure energy lit upon it just in time to harmlessly spatter a bolt of emerald energy from the Windam that had snuck around behind it. At the same time, the azure saber in its right hand twirled through a blazing blue circle, beheading its other target in a shower of sparks before snapping downward and slicing effortlessly through the Windam's torso. Then, even as the smoldering halves fell from the sky, Nemesis spun around, panels to either side of its head popped open, and a hail of machine cannon fire shredded the second Windam's armor. The Earth Forces unit flew on for several moments, carried along by its Jet Striker pack, before keeling over and flying full-power into the ocean.

Shinn, by contrast, didn't bother the flashy maneuvers the Hydra evidently preferred. Instead, he simply rushed right for the third Windam, smashed aside its gun arm with his shield, and leveled his rifle at its cockpit from a distance of no more than three meters. Emerald light flashed, in the front and out the back, and the mobile suit blew apart.

Talia found the whole thing... strange. On the matter of Walker himself, it seemed peculiar that he had so far refrained from using his twin buster rifle, aside from his initial warning shot; according to battle records from the previous war, his current emphasis on melee combat was unusual, to say the least. I'm also surprised he's willing to work with Shinn at all; it's clear they don't like each other, and Walker's never exactly had a reputation for putting up with people he dislikes... and nor does Shinn usually tolerate Walker this easily. Hm; perhaps it's just the exigencies of this battle.

More interesting, perhaps, was what Lunamaria Hawke must have felt when Nemesis dropped from the sky to assist; Talia was well aware that neither of the Hawke siblings had been exactly comfortable around the Orb soldier since learning of the exact circumstances of their older sister's death. At best, she had to be feeling ambivalent; at worst, it might well be that only the fact that her captain clearly had no problems with Walker's intervention kept her from opening fire on Nemesis...

"Not bad," Kevin remarked to Shinn, powering through the sky toward the next batch of Earth Forces dogs. "Better than I might've expected from a rookie."

"Don't underestimate me, Walker," Shinn grunted back, distantly resentful of the way Nemesis -born from the remains of a machine of a more powerful generation than his own unit- easily outstripped Impulse's speed. "You're not the only one who can fight; and the way I heard it, you were never properly trained as a mobile suit pilot to begin with."

"Not quite correct," Kevin disputed. "Tanya was helping me through a GINN training program near the end of the Project. I'll admit, though, that most of my training was on the job... and facing off against four enemies a sight more difficult than anything you've ever fought, kid. Compared to the old Le Creuset team, those Earth Forces pilots who stole your new prototypes were less than nothing. In fact-"

"Onishi, just what do you think you're doing?"

The super-soldier sighed inwardly. "One moment, Asuka; a certain insect has decided to rant at me." Not waiting for a reply, he switched his transmitter to the frequency of the incoming transmission. "Hello, Yuna. You know, I really don't have time to chat; I'm a little busy right now, with these Earth Forces fleas."

"You're also in violation of the new treaty, Onishi!" Yuna snapped. "Just what do you think you're doing out there, helping Coordinators? You know that won't endear you to our new allies-"

"Your new allies," Kevin corrected coldly. "I've no intention of observing any such 'alliance'; I have standards, unlike you. And incase you've forgotten, I happen to be a Coordinator... as is our Chief Representative. Still, I'm not exactly doing this because I think of them as 'my people' or anything; I nearly killed a good friend of mine two years ago because he did fight for such a reason." He glared at the image that had appeared in his vision -as he was still tied into Nemesis' own perceptions- and his eyes were jade ice. "Now, I have better things to do than listen to a traitorous, infantile insect. Get off this channel, or I'll drop by and obliterate the building you're standing in. Walker out."

Shinn intercepted an emerald dart with his shield, and glanced briefly at Nemesis. "I'll say this for you, Walker," he remarked. "We've got one thing in common: we both hate the Orb government."

"I hate them for different reasons, Asuka," Kevin replied, "and I don't hate all of them. But yes... I think we're in agreement about that vnyebrachnyi." Cutting power to his thrusters momentarily, Nemesis dropped into freefall, allowing a Windam which had been heading straight for it to simply fly right past, its pilot firing several shots from his rifle before he realized what had happened.

The last thing he saw, as Nemesis' verniers kicked in again, was an azure flash...

"Well, that's a surprise," Leona remarked, gazing at the control center's displays. "Kevin and Shinn actually fighting together.. Under other circumstances, I doubt that would be possible."

Kira glanced at her. "They don't get along?"

She smirked. "The first time they met, Shinn made the mistake of accusing Kevin of murdering his comrades in ABADDON; Kevin responded by nearly taking Shinn's head off with that arm blade of his. Generally, they exchange insults and rants... except in battle. Perhaps they simply figure they have better things to expend their anger on than each other."

"Huh; sounds like how Kevin was with Dearka, before the Buster was captured. Except the two of them were shooting at each other..." Kira shook himself. "But what did he do when he first got there? That beam wasn't as large as some that I saw the old Stormhawk fire, but the intensity..."

"He channeled some of his reactor mass through the twin buster rifle," Murrue explained. "One of the more unique aspects of Nemesis' design, and also somewhat risky. When he does that, narrow conduits from the reactor all the way through the arms are opened, with a magnetic containment field keeping it all stable. Antimatter flows along the conduits to the power plugs in the machine's hands, and from there into the weapon." She shook her head. "Erica and some of his other engineers tried to convince him to use antimatter 'power packs' instead, because that would remove the risk of containment failure along the way, but he said that he prefers the flexibility of the direct feed from the reactor."

"It does give him better control over the power flow," Andy pointed out. "And Foxhound's version has more redundant safety systems, remember; he won't be dealing with this for long. Besides, he's not one to be that flashy very much, anyway."

"Foxhound?" Kira repeated, frowning. "What's that?"

"MBF-X15A/M Foxhound," Murrue supplied. "A/M stands for antimatter. It's Kevin's next-generation mobile suit, recently completed at Artemis Base. It incorporates even more advanced technology than Nemesis... though both machines use the same operating system. 'Generation: Unsubdued Nuclear-Driven Anti-Matter reactor system'."

That much Kira actually found mildly amusing. Does every mobile suit operating system have the "Gundam" acronym? he wondered.

"Well," he heard Leona murmur, "the game's afoot... I just hope this battle doesn't get as 'interesting' as it has the potential to."

Lacus looked at her curiously. "What do you mean, Leona?"

The older woman sighed. "Let's just say, mon ami, that Shinn has an older connection to Kevin Walker than he realizes... one Kevin wishes did not exist. And if Shinn does realize it, we may be getting an even more impressive demonstration of Nemesis' capabilities today."

"I don't believe this," Lunamaria Hawke muttered, firing yet another shot into the sky against yet another Windam... even as more of the new Earth Forces machines approached. "I just don't see how they can have this many mobile suits!"

"That is a sizable fleet over there," Rey Za Burrel reminded her, taking careful aim with his own rifle. "And we don't exactly have time to complain about it; their reinforcements will be here any moment." His finger tightened on the trigger then, and an emerald bolt streaked skyward.

The pilot of the Windam he'd targeted had time for a brief cry... and his machine, pierced through the pelvis, blew apart in the air.

Luna shook her head. She was far from a bad shot herself, but sometimes the abilities of her comrades surprised even her. Rey fought with cool precision and Shinn with a certain fire which usually proved just as effective. And in this battle, there was also the Hydra...

She had very mixed feelings as far as that man was concerned, but even she had to admit that he was quite a pilot. He might be right in his claim to being an inferior pilot compared to the man who'd flown the Freedom during the last war, but he was obviously no slouch himself. The way he manipulated his menacing mobile suit and its peculiar azure beam saber was proof enough of that...

I just don't understand, Luna thought, watching as Nemesis pirouetted around a Windam, lashed out with its azure blade, and cut a blazing slash down its center. He's a hero, a legend... and yet he was the one who killed Erica. He fights to defend a ZAFT ship, despite his own hatred for ZAFT... yet he was also the one who killed his own comrades, people as close to him as family...

She knew the story he'd told, that his mind had been broken by the torture and inhuman experiments that had been performed on him, and she wanted to believe it... but she couldn't quite, and she was honest enough to admit that a part of her wanted nothing more than the vengeance he himself often meted out upon his enemies.

But Erica wouldn't have wanted us to "avenge" her... would she?

Shaking her head, trying to clear her thoughts, Luna raised her cannon to the sky and speared a Windam with another streak of red-orange fire. Whatever the future might hold, however her history with Walker might finally resolve itself, she had a job to do, here and now... and she would do it. My duty right now... is to the living aboard Minerva... to Meyrin and the others...

Cagalli came bursting into Orb's military headquarters at a dead run, and paused in the doorway, panting for breath.

She'd come in a great hurry when she realized a battle was underway; after all, her first clue of the battle had been a rather blatant one... considering that an azure beam ninety meters in diameter, coming from several kilometers in the sky, can be seen from quite a distance.

Up until that very moment, Cagalli had been unsure of how much of what Kevin had told her the day they'd last parted had been true; in his anger, she'd felt he might have been exaggerating. That beam, though... it could have come from only one thing, which meant -particularly given its intensity; far greater than she remembered- that he had indeed rebuilt and refitted Stormhawk. So far as she knew, only that machine had ever fired azure beams; it had been his trademark, during the war.

But what could he possibly be fighting? she'd wondered, which was why she was here. In all honesty, she wouldn't have put it past him for him to attack an Earth Alliance fleet that had simply been stopping by a new member of the Alliance... but had he done so, he wouldn't have fired what was clearly a warning shot.

He'd have fired to kill, and begun the attack without any warning at all.

"Good morning, Lady Cagalli," Max said softly, near one of the battle displays. "Come to watch the fun?"

"You call this fun?" Cagalli retorted, moving to stand next to the "older" woman. "What's going on out there? I know Kevin's involved somehow, but..."

"The Earth Forces ambushed Minerva the instant she was out of Orb's territory," Max explained, nodding at the display. "Seiran promptly ordered Home Fleet to move into position to block any attempt by the Minerva to reenter our waters. Unfortunately for the best laid plans of mouse and men, Kevin anticipated the whole thing, and took off in Nemesis to lend Minerva a hand; that blast you saw was him warning Home Fleet to stay out of the fight, or else."

Cagalli closed her eyes. "I knew this was going to happen... or at least I should've." She looked over at the former AI. "So... how is Kevin doing. Is... is he safe?"

Max raised an eyebrow. "Is he safe? Lady Cagalli, there's not a machine in the Earth Alliance's inventory that could so much as scratch Nemesis' paint. Believe me, the only people in real danger out there are the Earth Forces Windams."

Recalling Kevin's virulent hatred for the Earth Forces, Cagalli shuddered. She had no doubt the sandy-haired soldier was doing his very best to destroy anything of theirs that got within his reach... and that he would almost certainly continue his new self-assigned mission even after assuring Minerva's safety.

"Still," she said after a moment, "what's Yuna doing here personally?"

Max shrugged. "Making sure the Fleet does what its told, I'd guess. The military's not real happy with him over this one, I think, so he's here to keep an eye on them." She grinned suddenly. "Let me tell you, he was not happy when Nemesis turned up. I just don't think those two get along..."

Captain Tucker watched the battle with a slow nod of grudging appreciation. "They're good," he murmured, seeing Minerva intercept salvo after salvo of missiles, while the mobile suits dueled with each other from afar. "Better than I expected... and the intervention of that interloper is making things interesting, as well." He turned his head slightly. "Sensors, have you identified that black machine yet?"

"Negative, Captain," his detection officer replied, typing furiously at his console. "It's not in the catalogue... but it does seem to have used a weapon of the type classified as 'buster' weaponry in the first war."

Tucker twitched in his chair. "That shot was from a buster rifle? Then... that must be..."

"Confirmed, Captain," his radio operator called, anticipating his next question. "Radio intercepts on Orb frequencies indicate the interloper's pilot is Kevin Walker., also known as Baron Onishi."

Tucker cursed. "Baron Onishi and the Crimson Tiger are one and the same? I see... that explains much. Communications, make a note of that for our after-action report. The desk jockeys at Heaven's Base will be interested in that information."

"Noted, Sir."

"In the meantime..." He smiled slowly. "I believe it's time to test the Zamza-Zah, while they've still got some fight in them... and before the Tiger ruins everything. Let them see the fruits of our latest R&D efforts."

Talia frowned, as the fire from the Earth Forces fleet began to slacken. Something isn't right here, she thought, eyes narrow. "They're trying something new," she murmured. "But what...? What can they have up their sleeve that they haven't used already?"

Burt Heim was already attempting to answer that very question, and he bent all his attention on his own displays... and tilted his head in puzzlement when the data came in. "They've launched something else, Captain," he called. "It's not in our catalogue, but it appears to be a mobile armor of some kind."

"Show me," she ordered. A moment later, the image appeared on the main monitor, and her frown deepened. There was something about that crab-like mobile armor that she didn't like... if only because it was odd for the Earth Forces to be using mobile armors at all at this point. The first war had demonstrated rather conclusively that mobile armors simply weren't a match for mobile suits, except for units like the Moebius Zero and the new Exus design.

Still... if they're bothering to use it at all, even knowing that, then there must be something different about this model...

"I don't like the looks of that thing," Talia said at last. "Chen... charge the Tannhauser. I don't want that mobile armor anywhere near this ship."

Trine started in surprise. "Captain, that's-"

"I'm aware of the potential dangers of contamination," she said, cutting him off. "But under the circumstances, I'm willing to risk it."

"Probably a good idea, Talia," Kevin said over the radio; he had been listening in even as he fought. "I've got good intelligence people, but I never even heard a whisper of this thing, and that makes me nervous. Besides," he added, a faint smile detectable even in his voice, "I've done that kind of thing myself. I was in charge of Archangel's CIC during the Battle of Alaska, and I ended up ordering a Lohengrin strike myself when I got annoyed enough."

"I've heard," Talia replied dryly. "In this case, however, it's survival I'm concerned with, not vengeance. I don't have the luxury of indulging in that, given my position."

"Obviously not. The only reason I can is because I'm a free agent, not someone with a position of responsibility."

"Indeed." She glanced over her shoulder. "Chen?"

"Tannhauser charged," the fire control officer responded, tapping at his console. "Ready to fire on your command, Captain."

"Good." Talia hesitated a moment longer, watching as the mobile armor came closer... and then gave the order. "Target the unknown mobile armor, and fire Tannhauser."

In the moment before the Tannhauser fired, Kevin put away his azure blade and combined his buster rifle into its complete form again, targeted the Zamza-Zah, and pulled his own trigger in one smooth motion. He liked the looks of it no better than Talia, and preferred to make absolutely certain of the kill. He didn't use full power this time, or even two thirds (itself equivalent to a full-powered blast from an older model TBR), but he expected even a standard shot from his rifle would prove sufficient.

So it was that a red-orange stream burst forth from Minerva's bow, while at the same time a bolt of azure light was spat from Nemesis' buster rifle, with both shots aimed at the same target. Minerva's crew and pilots, and for that matter Kevin himself, believed the assault would leave less than ashes behind it, and so it would've been... under normal circumstances.

But these were far from normal.

An instant before the beams struck it, the Zamza-Zah generated a strange, multifaceted shield several meters out from its hull, neatly intercepting the incoming energy barrage. There was a titanic flash of light from it... but when it faded, the mobile armor was fully intact.

"What in the world just happened?" Shinn demanded, staring in shock at what had occurred. "That should've-"

"Positron reflector," Kevin seethed, eyes frigid. "My people have experimented in the area, and one of our early machines, Wraith, used an early experimental model during the last war. We've been refining it since... but I never expected the Earth Forces to come up with their own version."

"Wonderful," the black-haired pilot grunted, rushing toward the mobile armor to try his own luck. "So how do you stop it?"

"Not sure," the super-soldier admitted, casting his gaze around for other targets. "Defense mechanisms aren't my area; and since I wasn't expecting to face an enemy equipped with one of those things, I haven't been paying as much attention to the technical details of our models as I should've been. Doesn't help that our own version is only just now ready for field testing... and with the original model, a weapon with the raw power of a Tannhauser ought to have broken through. It could stop positron beams, but not with that much power behind it."

"You're a help," Shinn said sarcastically, firing at the Zamza-Zah... which, to his frustration, dodged every shot he fired. It was far more maneuverable that it should be... and that wasn't the only thing bothering him. Something about those shots Walker fired, he thought. What is it they remind me of...?

A moment later, as Nemesis zeroed in on several more Windams and began spitting bolts of synthetic lightning from its buster rifle, it hit him. That day, two years ago, he thought, eyes suddenly wide. That blue beam... that bolt of manmade lightning that killed my family...!

Kevin was concentrating solely on his targets at that point, starting to pick them off with carefully allocated bursts of azure light, and so was totally unprepared for the shout of pure rage and hatred that came over his speakers. "Murderer!" Shinn shouted, turning his rifle toward Nemesis.

"What the-" The super-soldier reacted faster than any normal human could've, thrusting Nemesis to one side in time to avoid the first streaks of emerald light, but Impulse kept coming despite the demonstration of speed. "What do you think you're doing, Asuka?" he demanded; over the radio, he could hear Talia demanding the same thing. "I've been called that before, and with some justification, but I can assure you it's been years since I did any such thing."

"You murderer," Shinn repeated, pursuing Nemesis with enraged persistence. "Two years ago, it was you... it was you who killed my family!"

Uh oh...

In the cockpit of her ZAKU, Luna jerked in surprise. "What...? What is he talking about? Weren't they killed by..." The whole notion struck an unpleasant chord, given her own family's history with the Black Asp. Could he have done that to Shinn, too...?

"I'd heard it was stray fire from the Earth Forces," Rey murmured. "Apparently not..."

"Asuka," Kevin said now, using his enhanced reactions to narrowly dodge every shot fired toward him, "I'm going to tell you this once, and only once: stop shooting at me, or I'll bring you down. I told you death awaits the overconfident, and if you think you can take me, that's exactly what you are. It also makes you stupid, since in case you didn't notice, we're in the middle of a battle with the real enemy right now!" Indeed, with Shinn suddenly intent on killing him, he was forced to split his attention between dodging the Impulse's fire and sending enough azure bolts toward the Zamza-Zah to keep it busy.

"I told you I didn't need or want your help in this battle," Shinn shot back, "and I refuse to fight alongside a murderer like you! You'll pay for what you did!"

"It was war, Asuka," the super-soldier told him, energizing his left beam shield briefly to spatter another shot. "Civilian casualties happen in war no matter how hard we try to prevent them... and the fact is that I have no idea how your family could've died from one of my shots."

"Liar!" Impulse's rifle stopped firing, and was withdrawn to the machine itself; a moment later, the now free hand yanked out a beam saber, and a blade of frozen fire flickered to life. "Don't you dare try to tell me that!"

Fire met lightning in a clash of brilliant light, as Kevin intercepted the first, rage-fueled slash with his own blade, held in Nemesis' left hand. "Listen to me, kid, I'm not trying to deny it happened; the only way you could've known to connect my shots with what happened in Orb was if you'd seen some of my fire yourself; and my 'sixth sense' tells me you're telling the truth. But I don't know how it happened, because I don't remember ever firing a shot in that direction... so it's not as if I did it on purpose."

"I don't care!" Shinn withdrew his blade from the clash, and lashed out again, ignoring the azure beam that flashed from Nemesis' right hand to a point over his shoulder; he knew it was aimed for the mobile armor, not him, so he concentrated all his attention on getting one good slice -just one- through his enemy's defenses. "And don't try to tell me you wouldn't do the same! You've taken revenge too many times yourself for you to lecture me, you bastard!"

"Only for deliberate acts," Kevin shot back, slapping the scarlet blade aside with his own. "Even in my wilder days, I never killed over accidents or mistakes. I did things I regret, sure; in those days, I would go to terrible lengths to get information from my enemies. But not like what you're doing, Asuka. Never like this." His voice and eyes turned even colder. "I'll let you in on another little secret: I don't enjoy killing. In fact, I'm sick of all the blood I have on my hands. But if you don't stop acting like a vengeance crazed brat, I'll gladly make an exception for you!"

"Just shut up... and die!" Shinn thrust forward one more time, ignoring the commands from higher authority to stop... and his opponent finally tired of the game.

Enough of this. Kevin Walker had not been feared on the battlefields of the First Earth/ZAFT War for nothing; though he was not as good a pilot as his friend Kira, he also wasn't horrible, and he had far more experience than the fresh-trained rookie who confronted him. You've been in a half-dozen skirmishes, kid; I've been through a couple of dozen skirmishes and several pitched battles, including Alaska, Orb, and Second Jachin. If you think a pup like you can best me... think again.

Those thoughts flashed through his stimulant-accelerated mind in less than two seconds, so even as Shinn's blade darted in for a killing thrust at Nemesis' cockpit, his own azure blade flashed out like the lightning it resembled, slashing slightly under the path of the incoming blade... and curving just slightly upwards...

Shinn stared in utter shock as the blade of synthetic lightning arced upward, slashed precisely between Impulse's hand and the fiery blade that sprouted from it... and cut the top of his saber. "What the-!"

"A little trick I learned from a friend, Asuka," Kevin said coldly, as the scarlet sword flickered out. "I told you that you were overconfident; looks like you needed an object lesson to realize that. Now if you'll just return your attention to the battle at hand, I'll ask Talia to forget about it, and you won't even get in any official trouble. Persist, and I'll do what I have to in order to defend myself, and explain things to Durandal later. Am I understood, rookie?"

Impulse's pilot glared at Nemesis' menacing, obsidian form, feeling the bitter taste of failure. One thing was certain: if he were ever to defeat that demonic machine and its murderous pilot, it would not be today... not until he knew how to compensate its fearsome power, and its pilot's inhuman reflexes. "You bastard..."

"I didn't hear you, Asuka," Kevin said quietly, his buster rifle snapping up to point directly at Impulse's head. "I said, am I understood?"

Shinn simply glared a moment longer, then finally glanced away. ":Just stay away from me," he hissed. "I'll leave it be for now, if you'll just stay away from me." His gaze came back up defiantly. "But don't think this is over, Walker!"

"Don't worry," the super-soldier said softly, recalling things from his own past he'd have preferred to keep buried. "I know it's not..."

"What on earth is going on out there?" Cagalli wondered, seeing the brief, violent confrontation between Impulse and Nemesis. "Why did Impulse attack Kevin like that? Aren't they on the same side in this battle?"

"They are," Max confirmed. "Unfortunately, Kevin found out from some of Asuka's ranting on the Minerva, before we hit atmosphere, that he was the one who killed Asuka's family. Still not sure exactly how that happened -haven't yet had time to check through battle records from the attack two years ago- but Asuka's reference to a blue beam was a clear indication. You know as well as any of us that only Stormhawk used blue beams in the first war."

Cagalli nodded in dawning comprehension. "And when he recognized the shots Kevin was firing at that mobile armor, he tried to take revenge..."

"Indeed; and it tells me that he's someone who does not belong in the cockpit." The former AI shook her head. "You don't let someone with that much emotional baggage into the military. The only reason I consider Kevin an exception to that rule is that his sheer discipline keeps it all in check. Doesn't look like that holds true for Asuka."

"I guess not..."

Several steps away, a detection officer stiffened in his chair. "My Lord," he called, "Minerva is beginning to turn back toward Orb waters."

Yuna nodded slightly. "Very well. Communications, inform Captain Todaka that he's to begin firing warning shots... and that if Minerva persists in trying to reenter our territory, he's to fire for effect."

The radio operator hesitated. "Understood, My Lord... but what about Baron Onishi's warning? He gave strict orders not to fire on Minerva's forces, and also said that if we tried-"

"He wouldn't dare," Yuna interrupted. "Moreover, he no longer has any authority over the military; his resignation is on record." He glared at the radio operator. "Send the message, Lieutenant."

"Yes, My Lord. At once."

Cagalli started toward him. "What are you doing, Yuna?" she demanded. "They're the only reason Orb even still exists! Now you'd-"

Yuna shook his head. "Please, Cagalli, this is no time to be motivated by sentimentalism. That ship is now officially our enemy, and therefore cannot be allowed back into our waters. We're merely abiding by the provisions of the treaty."

"The treaty you and your father forced down all our throats," a new voice said derisively. "You disgust me even more than my brother's plans now do, Seiran."

Both nobles turned in surprise, and even Max looked surprised as the presence registered to her own empathic sense. "Rondo Mina Sahaku?" she breathed. "What is she...?"

"What are you doing here, Sahaku?" Yuna asked, barely holding his temper in check.

"Keeping an eye on things," she replied, nodding at the battle. "Perhaps you've forgotten, since he and I were enemies for most of the last war, but Kevin and I were actually close friends when we were children... and our operations have since intermingled to some extent. His orbital personnel informed mine of what was taking place, so I thought I should drop by and see what was happening."

Yuna's fist clenched. "And what, may I ask, are you going to do now that you are here?"

"At the moment, nothing," Mina said simply. "But that's only because I don't see what even AMATU could do that Nemesis isn't already. I'll be keeping on eye on things, though. Count on it."

"We're receiving orders to open fire on the Minerva, Captain," the flagship's radio operator reported. "Warning shots at first, but we're to target the ship directly if she continues on course."

More than one officer looked uneasy at that; the Baron's message had been pretty unambiguous... considering that it had begun with a very large blast of antimatter. They were all wondering if it was really a good idea to, first of all, defy the head of one of the Five Noble Families... and second, if it was even safe to.

Todaka considered that for several moments, then smiled slowly. "Reply that... our fire control systems are currently malfunctioning, and we are unable to achieve weapons lock; therefore, it is currently impossible to carry out those orders." He paused. "And... Lieutenant?"

The radio operator, looking considerably relieved -and perhaps a touch smug; the Seirans weren't exactly the most popular family, as far as the military was concerned- paused as he reached for the radio controls. "Yes, Sir?"

"Tell Engineering to get on the matter at once. I'm sure they'll find the problem soon enough."

Translation: create one so that Yuna wouldn't suspect they were more interested in avoiding being blasted than carrying out such dishonorable orders, even if he had people check for a problem.

"Yes, Sir," the radio operator agreed cheerfully, and relayed the appropriate orders.

A pity Baron Onishi looks to be leaving, Todaka thought, turning back to the battle. I'd much rather see him directing military affairs than Yuna Seiran... and I'd certainly much rather see him be the one to marry Lady Cagalli. I hope he knows what he's doing...

Bolts of emerald energy flashed across the sky, missiles arced and exploded, bullets screamed through the air, and lances of synthetic lightning crisscrossed through it all, as forces from the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, as well as a single third party, tried to obliterate each other.

Of all the fighters on either side, from the crew of the Minerva -still trying to reach Orb waters despite orders from Yuna Seiran to the contrary- and the men and women aboard the Earth Forces ships, to the pilots on both sides, only the pilot of the Zamza-Zah and Kevin Walker were having any enjoyment at all.

The Earth Forces pilot was pleased at how the Impulse's pilot was unable to harm him; Kevin was having a moment of inner amusement at the bit of knowledge he hadn't shared with Shinn, when the black-haired pilot tried to kill him.

The knowledge that even victory would've brought him nothing but death.

Pathetic idiot, Kevin thought, snapping off yet another shot from his buster rifle, its synthetic lightning ripping a Windam apart. Even if he'd done something catastrophic, only by killing me directly without hitting anything vital would've saved his life. Damaging the reactor systems... the failsafes would've protected most of the surrounding area, but the bang would still be big enough to reduce Impulse to its constituent atoms. Or more likely, simply convert the entire mobile suit to energy...

On the other hand, he was not at all certain Shinn would've cared even if he had known. Once upon a time, even the Crimson Tiger had cared more for vengeance than for the preservation of his own life...

Shinn, for his part, was no longer even thinking of the altercation, except inasmuch as it was a smoldering fire in the back of his mind, spurring him on as he continued to fire upon the Zamza-Zah, hoping to find some kind of weak spot, something that would allow him to break through its seemingly impenetrable positron reflector. At the same time, he was having to dance around everything it threw at him, and even with the Force Silhouette's maneuverability, that wasn't easy.

Besides which, he was beginning to run dangerously low on power.

In the middle of his stream of vile silent curses, the Zamza-Zah made another leap for the Impulse, and Shinn had to quickly dash to his right to avoid it, sideslipping in the air, while he triggered another emerald dart of his own.

The bright streak spattered against the positron reflector... and the Earth Forces pilot saw his chance.

The next attack came faster than Shinn expected, and he cried out in surprise as one of the mobile armor's claws fastened on Impulse's left leg. "No!"

Nemesis' head snapped around, obeying the instinctive command Kevin's brain tried to send his own neck, and the super-soldier cursed inwardly at what he saw. Solkin syn! The kid's trapped; and if I try to fire now, I'll just blow him up along with it! Under other circumstances that might not have concerned him; unfortunately, he was well aware Minerva would take a dim view of it... and he had become aware that Lunamaria Hawke was as close as anyone to Shinn. If that was so... I've hurt that family too much already. I can't take a friend away from her, too... not when he isn't even trying to kill me right now.

Helplessness. It was not a feeling Kevin Walker was accustomed to; but then, it was rare that he ran into anything he couldn't shoot his way out of, when he was operating under his true persona. But helplessness was exactly what he felt now, for he could think of only two ways he could possibly defeat the Zamza-Zah. One was to try his twin buster rifle's third setting again, and hope -probably in vain- that its colony-killing power would break through the positron reflector. The other was to attempt to enter melee range, and carve it up. He was privately certain he could manage the latter... but even with the Nemesis' hyper jammers, the mobile armor would still have enough warning to destroy Impulse before he got there.

For the first -and possibly last- time, Kevin found himself praying that Shinn Asuka would pull a rabbit out of his hat and find a way to survive.

Shinn Asuka was trapped, and he knew it... and railed at himself in helpless anger, for he also could think of nothing he could possibly do about it. The Zamza-Zah, which had taken everything he'd thrown at it without breaking a sweat, had his Impulse caught like a mouse in a trap.

This isn't right, he thought in frustration. There has to be something I can do! Every struggle came to no avail, and his power was beginning to fail...

"Too bad, Coordinator," the Zamza-Zah's pilot transmitted, just as Impulse's phase-shift armor finally ran out of power. "Guess you just don't have what it takes." The mobile armor's claw clenched tighter... and Impulse's left leg was torn away from its body.

Impulse fell.

Only distantly aware of the calls over the radio, frantically asking him if he was all right, of the Nemesis suddenly vanishing from sight behind the cloak of its hyper jammers, Shinn fell within his own mind, even as his machine fell around him.

Is this the end? Everything I've done so far... does it all end here, defeated by this Earth Forces machine before I can defend my friends? Despair called out to him; oblivion called, as well, and Shinn rather thought it wouldn't be so bad, after the magnitude of his failure. Mom, Dad, Mayu... I'll see you soon...

That though drew him up short. Wait a second... they've already died, but their killer still lives... and they wouldn't want me to just give up and die. Not until I've killed Walker, and not until I've defeated the enemy!

"I'm not going to be killed by this thing!"

Within Shinn Asuka's mind, a crimson seed burst...

"Meyrin," he radioed, suddenly acutely aware of his surroundings again, with a rage similar to that which he'd directed against Kevin roaring in the back of his mind, "activate the Deuterion Recharge System, and send me the Sword Silhouette and a new leg flyer, fast."

"Got it!" Meyrin responded instantly, startled but relieved. "Activating power transmission now!"

Watching through Nemesis' optical and electromagnetic sensors, Kevin was surprised and impressed by Shinn's sudden recovery. He's no Kira Yamato, he thought, and with that temper, he'll never be a match for me... but he's quick, I'll give him that.

The beam of transmitted energy from Minerva reached out to Impulse, and its thrusters flared in a fast fall recovery as its energy reserves quickly recharged. Rifle in one hand, shield in the other, even with one leg gone the mobile suit looked impressive as it hung in the air. Suddenly alive and ready for battle once again.

Without even waiting for the new equipment to arrive, Shinn tossed aside his rifle, yanked out a saber, and brought the scarlet blade to life as he rushed for the Zamza-Zah. Twitching from side to side to avoid the last-ditch shots from the mobile armor -whose pilot had gone from smugly satisfied to terrified- he lashed out with the blade of frozen fire, dragging it down through the air, past the supposedly impenetrable positron reflector, down into the mobile armor's hull.

Armor melted, circuitry fried, hydraulic fluid turned to vapor... and displays exploded within the Zamza-Zah's cockpit. The pilot had only enough time to see a flash of scarlet, and open his mouth to scream...

Nichevo! Kevin thought, seeing the mobile armor fall away, then blow itself apart in a sower of sparks and shrapnel. That kid's a Berserker!

"That kid" now proceeded to jettison his backpack and damaged legs, recombine with the replacement parts from Minerva, and pour power into his thrusters on a course directly for the Earth Alliance fleet. "Walker!" Shinn barked. "If you want to make yourself useful, keep those Windams off me!"

Mildly irritated at being addressed in such a manner, Kevin was nonetheless happy to comply with that particular request. "Roger that... rookie."

Commands flashed through Nemesis' computers at the speed of thought, reaching into the twin buster rifle's power settings. Other commands flickered further on from there, and power from the antimatter reactor was allocated to the rifle.

Nemesis' finger squeezed on the trigger, and an azure beam ninety meters in diameter -just under a third the maximum size of a Level Two discharge- flashed across the sky, right into the middle of the last concentration of Windams.

"Does anyone have any idea what happened out there?" Murrue wondered aloud, gazing at the battle display in Avalon Base's control center. "What just happened with Impulse... and why he attacked Kevin a few minutes ago?"

"I can't say for sure about the first question," Leona told her, her own eyes locked on the image, "though I have my suspicions. As to the second... well, that's why I said we might be getting a more impressive display of Nemesis' capabilities today. It seems that, two years ago, an errant shot from MBF-M1000 Stormhawk somehow struck solid ground... and wiped most of a family off the face of the earth."

Lacus closed her eyes. "Shinn Asuka's family."

"Exactly. Kevin tells me he has no idea how it happened, but from Asuka's reference to a blue beam, there's not much doubt that it was indeed a shot from Stormhawk." The genetically-enhanced soldier shrugged. "We'd hoped to keep the whole thing under wraps until we had a chance to check the old visual records from the battle, since we figured Asuka's reaction would be... well, essentially what it was. Unfortunately, that appears to have been impossible."

"With all those azure beams flying around, I'd call that impossible," Andy agreed. "So, what about Impulse's performance now? Is that what I think it is?"

"Probably." It was Kira who answered the question, though, not Leona. "It reminds me of the battle just before we rendezvoused with the Eighth Fleet, two years ago... and the last time I fought Athrun." He turned to Leona. "You never mentioned this Shinn Asuka also has the SEED."

She shrugged. "I didn't know. Never even suspected until just now; and neither did Kevin, I can tell you that much. He and I may be empaths, but we can't sense what's going on in a person's subconscious. We're not telepaths." She raised an eyebrow. "Still, speaking of battle performance... I would've expected you to be more concerned about Kevin shooting everything in sight."

Kira shook his head. "Not really. I don't like it... but I understand why he's doing it."

He chose not to say anything more on the matter; he honestly wasn't sure how much of it Kevin wanted known to anyone else. For that matter, he suspected the super-soldier wouldn't have told even Kira had he not felt the need to clear up the issue.

"I know you don't like the way I fight, Kira," Kevin had said once, during the last war. "Believe it or not, I don't like killing much more than you do. Fact is, though, that I wasn't trained to take prisoners, except under very specific circumstances... like what happened with Garcia, at Artemis. I was a member of a covert special ops group, and we were trained to shoot to kill, not disable. More than that... it's the experience of over a year on the run at work. I had to kill in those days, just to stay alive. That doesn't go away, Kira. You only killed a few times, compared to me; you changed your own course before it became genuine force of habit. Me, it's settled into me now, and I don't see it changing. Certainly not for a long, long time. You don't throw off the habits that have kept you alive so easily, Kira, not when they've done so for as long as they have me."

And that was why, though he was saddened by it, Kira knew better than to protest. It wasn't Kevin's fault that he was what he was.

It wasn't his fault that his own father and a group of mad cyberneticists had made him into the Angel of Death.

The personnel of the Earth Forces naval fleet began to suspect something was wrong when the Impulse unexpectedly recovered from its long fall toward the ocean. They began to be truly nervous when it destroyed the Zamza-Zah... and now that fear turned to utter terror at the realization of what was coming for them.

The Earth Forces had long feared the color red, in the form of the Crimson Tiger; now they had a new fear, in the form of the red-chested Impulse in close-combat configuration. Unable to truly fly in atmosphere without the Force Silhouette that it had just dropped, it was still more than capable of making mighty leaps... and the pair of antiship swords on its back, much like the Schwerht Gewehr blades used by the old Strike and Sword Calamity, merely sealed the premonition of doom.

The way the two blades combined to form a double-ended sword was merely another piece of confirmation.

As soon as Shinn Asuka's intention became clear, the ships of the fleet began firing desperately, but his mind, though full of anger, was also allowing him to push his body to its very limits, granting him perception and reaction far greater than that normally available to him. The Superior Evolutionary Element Destined-factor might not have allowed him to exceed his body's limits... but it certainly pushed him to the very brink.

Impulse's first victim was a Danilov-class cruiser, which Shinn literally landed on top of. His double-ended Excalibur spun down, its crimson blade eating through armor, hull, and internal compartments, slicing almost effortlessly through to the keel.

The hapless ship split in half even as Shinn leapt away; its bow blew apart, while the stern sank swiftly beneath the waves.

The next ship, a Tarawa-class carrier, he didn't even bother to land on; he just slashed through its superstructure on his way by, triggering a massive chain reaction which soon turned the entire ship into a raging inferno. A third ship swiftly met the same fate as the first, lopped in half, and a trail of explosions followed in Impulse's wake, for Shinn's mind was full of fire...

Hovering above it all, his machine in mobile armor mode, Kevin Walker mentally shook his head. You're a hot pilot, Asuka, I'll give you that... but you still fail to see your own greatest weakness. If you don't reign in that temper of yours, someone, someday, is going to take advantage of it and kill you. It might even be me, if you ever make the mistake of attacking me again... or if you ever try to hurt Cagalli.

That last was a guaranteed death sentence as far as he was concerned. Estranged though they might now be, Cagalli Yula Athha still meant a great deal to him... and he would kill anyone who threatened her.

Kevin had sworn that long ago, to himself and to Cagalli's fallen father.

A click sounded within his skull, and his attention returned to the present as the quantum radio in his left mastoid process came to life. "I think the fighting's over now, Kevin," Murrue told him. "Impulse certainly seems to be finishing them off... so you can probably return to base now."

"Agreed. Returning to Avalon Base."

The last embers of the Earth Alliance naval fleet began to die out, quenched by the all-consuming sea,, as Impulse returned to Minerva's deck.

Above it all, MBF-M1000B Nemesis came about in the air, fired its main thrusters, and quietly faded from view.

For the first time in over two years, Athrun Zala sat in the cockpit of a ZAFT mobile suit, wearing a ZAFT flightsuit, as an official member of ZAFT. Well, FAITH, technically, he amended to himself, beginning ZGMF-X23S Savior's startup procedures. Still, FAITH members are drawn from ZAFT, so technically...

He thought back to earlier that morning, when he'd met with Durandal again. By then, he'd already donned a ZAFT uniform again...

Athrun stood before Chairman Durandal, came to attention, and saluted; something he'd not done in years, but still came to him as naturally as breathing.

Durandal nodded in response, stood, and reached out to pin a wing-like emblem on Athrun's uniform. "Welcome back, Athrun Zala," he said solemnly. "You are now a member of the Fast-Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters, our special unit. Now you may fight for what you believe, and remain loyal to what you believe in." He stepped back a pace. "I grant you this position not for the sake of ZAFT, or even for the PLANTs themselves, but for the sake of the entire world."

"For the sake of a peaceful world," the woman to Durandal's right put in. Brown-haired, with silver eyes, she wore a coal-black uniform, with a peculiar emblem of crossed scythes in the same place where Athrun wore the FAITH insignia. "My name is Arkanian, Athrun Zala. Commander Natalya Ivanova Arkanian... but you may call me Delta." She smiled. "We may end up working together in the future, tovarisch; I, too, am part of a special unit."

Athrun's glance at her was wary -he remembered Kevin mentioning the name Arkanian- but despite Kevin's warning, he detected no malice in the woman expression. Maybe Kevin was just being paranoid, he reasoned. Where ZAFT is concerned, that's not exactly unusual for him... "A pleasure to meet you, Commander."

Arkanian laughed lightly. "Obviously a certain mutual friend of yours has not said much about me, else you'd be more concerned. No matter; we've plenty of time."

Durandal cleared his throat, bringing attention back to the matter at hand. "Athrun, I'd like you to rendezvous with the Minerva, once you've returned to Earth. Like the Archangel and Dominion before her, I believe she and her crew can make a great difference in this war... perhaps even bring it to an end before it can reach the hideous heights of the last war."

"I'll do that, Sir. And I'll do my best to see to it that the war does end soon," Athrun promised.

"Savior to launch in thirty seconds," his speakers said, and Athrun forced his mind back to the present. "Are you ready?"

He thought back for a moment, on all that had brought him to this point... and what he might soon see, on the battlefield. He somehow doubted Kevin, for one, would stay out of the conflict... and he feared that, with his seeming concern over Commander Arkanian's very existence, they might not always be on the same side this time.

But Kevin fights for himself, and for Cagalli, above all else, Athrun reminds himself. Idealism is usually foreign to him. He may well disagree with my actions... but I believe this is the right course for me to take.

He took a deep breath. "Athrun Zala, launching!"

Author's note: Minerva has departed Orb, and been betrayed; and in the battle to escape, Shinn Asuka has revealed an unsuspected capability of his own... while Kevin Walker has made his return to the battlefield at last.

Meanwhile, Athrun Zala has rejoined the organization his father's madness once drove him from... and has, unknowingly, met the one person Kevin Walker acknowledges to be his superior in the art of war...

Hm... not sure if this chapter is early or late, but if it's late, I say only that it takes time to write a chapter of this length. I was not slacking off, I assure you all; the battle merely turned out to be much longer than I expected. At any rate, I'll soon enough be working on Chapter 13, wherein even more ominous -and, I trust, unexpected- things will occur. In the meantime, however, let me know how this chapter was. -Solid Shark