Disclaimer's Note: I do not own Gundam Seed or Gundam X. Superman is copyright to DC Comics. Don't ask.
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Phase 35: The Descending Sword
May 8, C.E. 71, Earth Forces Supreme Headquarters "JOSH-A", Earth
As the two pilots streaked back towards the Earth, it seemed almost hopeless for the defenders down in Alaska. Turret after turret was being demolished by the more agile Dinns, which easily dodged the missiles and bullets shot at them. Not even the Earth Forces' fighter jets, the F-7D Spearheads, could match up to them and were shot down almost as easily. However, ZAFT was also taking its share of casualties, most due to lucky hits because the pilots weren't paying close enough attention to their surroundings. However, the Earth Forces, while having more fighters, were rapidly losing numbers and even still, more and more ZAFT Mobile Suits kept coming. "Mayday! MAYDAY!" one Spearhead pilot shouted, only to be shot down after being double-teamed by a pair of Dinns. By now, the Vosgulov submarines had surfaced to join the battle, using their anti-air missile launchers to shoot at the nearby Earth Alliance ships. The defending fleet could only use their own weapons to shoot down as many missiles as they could but this proved to be costly when the aquatic Mobile Suits, the GOOhNs and ZnOs, surfaced to attack the distracted ships. A few ZnO pilots were even bold enough to jump onto the ships' hulls, where they used their massive claws to smash the bridges and then fired the palm-mounted phonon maser cannons directly through it to effectively render the ship useless.
"Wombats, aim! Fire!" Murrue cried and the Archangel fired another salvo of missiles at the approaching Mobile Suits, managing to destroy a few that were riding Guuls.
"Missiles approaching!" Tonomura warned, being hard-pressed due to the sheer amounts of projectiles being thrown at them.
"Evade!" Murrue ordered and Neumann and Tiffa, now sitting in Tolle's old seat, quickly acted to move the Archangel out of the way. They were only partially successful, though, as one missile managed to hit the hatch of the right linear catapult and blow a hole right into it.
"Direct hit to the starboard linear catapult!" Chandra announced. On the ground, some of the aquatic Mobile Suits were beginning to come up onto land to cause more trouble. The ZnOs had no trouble with the assault vehicles, using their claws to smash them to pieces and their missile launchers when necessary. The GOOhNs, however, presented much larger targets, being slower and clumsier on land, and quite a few were quickly destroyed by the linear tanks. Meanwhile, Spearheads were being launched as quickly as they could in order to provide aerial support but they were under such heavy fire that several were shot down the moment they left the hangar. Down below, the linear tanks and ZuOOTs were locked in a devastating fire-fight, each side trying to wipe out the other first.
"Fire! Keep firing!" the squad leader ordered, "Send those ZuOOTs straight to hell!" At first, the linear tanks were moderately successful against the slower ZuOOTs but the tables soon turned when the more agile BuCUEs came rushing into the scene. The sluggish tanks were no match for the Mobile Suits and quickly fell victim to their missile launchers and railguns, a few were even destroyed by their head-mounted beam sabers. "Concentrate your fire on the BuCUEs!" the squad leader shouted frantically when all of a sudden, his tank, along with several others, was destroyed by the beam rifle of the Duel, which was passing overhead with a few Ginns.
"Tsch, what a boring neighborhood," Yzak sighed, having lost the initial rush of adrenaline a while ago, "Is this all?" Just then, he looked down just in time to see a BuCUE keel over after its leg was disable by a fierce volley of missiles. "Oh brother…" Yzak said with a cluck of his tongue and practically rolled his eyes as he destroyed the offending missile trucks with the Duel's Shiva railgun and missile launchers. Meanwhile, Mu was zipping around on a motorcycle that he had found earlier, speeding through the currently empty streets. Although he was focusing on getting to the nearest hangar as quickly as possible, he still couldn't shake the image of what he had seen on the screen earlier from his mind.
"No way…" he muttered, "Dammit, how could they…" Moments later, he skidded to a stop inside a lift and got off before hurrying over to close it. On the battlefield, two more of the Earth Forces' warships were blown to pieces by either torpedoes or the airborne Mobile Suits.
"The Orate has been sunk!" Tonomura announced.
"Move us over! To port!" Murrue ordered, "We'll fill in the gap left by the Orate!" Neumann and Tiffa quickly got to work and the Archangel lurched over to the left, letting a salvo of missiles to pass by and detonate on the gate behind it. "Gottfrieds! Aim, fire!" Murrue cried and both of the Archangel's main guns fired, destroying a small group of Mobile Suits in their line of fire.
"More Dinns approaching our flank!" Pal warned, "There're six of them!"
"Captain, if this keeps up, we won't be able to maintain the formation!" Neumann told her, "We can't be everywhere at once!"
"Damn, those bastards sure chose a nice time to catch us with our pants down!" Chandra swore as he anxiously scanned his screen.
"Do you mean all of the main forces are still in Panama?" Sai asked, voicing a question on all of the student's minds.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Chandra nodded grimly.
"But…they'll make it back in time, won't they?" Miriallia asked worriedly.
"At this rate, I'll be thankful as long as they get here before everyone else has been destroyed," Tonomura grumbled.
"Missiles approaching!" Pal shouted.
"Shoot them down!" Murrue ordered and the Archangel fired both Gottfried cannons into the main cluster. A few managed to get by and past the Igelstellung guns, detonating on the already damaged hull. Meanwhile, off in the distance, Rau had landed his Dinn on a small clump of mountains and was perched on the cockpit hatch, observing the battle with his binoculars.
"So…they're intending to sacrifice the Eurasian fleet as well as 'that thing'," Rau smirked, "They seem to be a fun bunch…the Earth Forces…" He turned and climbed into the cockpit, shutting the hatch and activating the Dinn after repositioning the still unconscious Flay across his lap, "I suppose it is natural for one to be curious about a treasure chest with more locks on it…I do hope that the Legged will be ready for this…" With a final smirk, he stepped on the accelerator and took off in the Dinn. Elsewhere, Mu had finally arrived at an inhabited hangar that was also currently being used as a medical bay. However, he never turned to look at the wounded soldiers being carried about or laid down once, as he was rushing towards the other end of the hangar.
"Dammit! This place is in total chaos!"
"Get some medical units in here right now!"
"Understood!"
"What? What about the 11th Air Force Division?" one soldier practically screamed into a phone, "Annihilated? That's impossible!"
"Hey! You there!" Mu called out to the soldier on the phone, "Where's the officer in charge here?" At that moment, however, an explosion ripped through the air as a lone CGUE entered the hangar bay, firing its rifle as it landed.
"This entrance has been secured!" the pilot reported, "Let's go! There're still plenty of those Natural bastards in here to kill!" Three Dinns quickly followed it in, all four of them ignoring the lone Spearhead to the side and thankfully, the technician who was hiding behind it. After they passed by, the said technician silently dropped to his knees, completely shell-shocked by the occurring events.
"Hey! We're pulling out of here!" Mu shouted as he ran up, "This whole base is going to blow up soon!" When the technician didn't respond, Mu grabbed his shoulders and shook them roughly while shouting, "Dammit, listen to me! Gather up any survivors that you can find and tell them to get the hell out of here!" The technician only seemed to respond when Mu climbed up and into the Spearhead before he added, "Remember, you've got to get at least ten kilometers away, got it? That's an order!" The technician nodded once before running off, screaming. "Dammit…" Mu sighed as he quickly shoved a helmet on, "I'm used to playing the hero and all, but this is just plain nuts!" Moments later, a Ginn landed inside the hangar, only to be greeted by a salvo of missiles that blew it right out of the bay. When the smoke cleared, the Spearhead containing Mu sped out of the hangar, racing towards his destination.
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"The fourth gate has been breached," Sutherland reported, entering a room, "They've started infiltrating the interior of the base as well." Currently, the head officers of the Earth Alliance, mainly of the Atlantic Federation, were quietly slipping away in small submarines to escape from the battle. On the table they were seated around lay two briefcases with wires coming from the backs. "I guess this means that the main gate will collapse soon too," Sutherland added, glancing down at his watch, "But as long as we can lure in about 80 of them, I won't have any regrets." As he looked at the two briefcases, another submarine containing multiple officers who had received transfer orders was also slipping away with them. Amongst them was Natarle, who was currently huddled rather uncomfortably between a crate and a small stack of boxes.
"Huh? You can't be serious!" she heard one officer exclaim on the other side of the crate she was leaning against, "What kind of a plan is that?"
"I'm really not supposed to be telling you this, but…" another officer replied in a quieter tone, "If this really is the situation, then the people who were left behind in Alaska…" Natarle couldn't hear the rest because he whispered it but then the other officer promptly repeated it, giving it away.
"Destroyed?" he gaped, "Without even getting a chance to get away?"
"I know it sounds really harsh," the other sighed as Natarle let out a small gasp, "But headquarters is gonna use it as a last resort. As soon as the ZAFT get into the base, everything is gonna go out with a bang…"
"Hey, what was that?" Natarle frowned stepping out from the crates, "What are you talking about?" As the two officers began to explain, the Archangel was still trying to defend itself against the relentless attacks from the ZAFT forces. However, this was beginning to prove to be a difficult task as more and more kept coming and even the Igelstellung guns, while successful in shooting down most of the incoming missiles, couldn't keep up and let a few slip by, further damaging the ship.
"Valiant cannon number one has been hit!" Chandra announced, "Damage to the ship is exceeding thirty percent! The ship is continuously losing power!"
"The Earmark and the Yugoslavia have both been sunk!" Tonomura added.
"What about contact with headquarters?" Murrue asked, "Any word from them yet?"
"I can't get through to them!" Kuzzey replied frantically, "All I get is the same message being repeated on all channels! It says all units are to maintain their formation and return fire as the situation calls for!"
"The communications line has been lost!" Neumann warned, "Captain, if this continues, then-" He was cut off when another missile hit the ship and rocked the bridge violently.
"What about the reinforcements from Panama?" Sai asked, "Where are they now?"
"Hold your horses!" Tonomura said irritably, stressed out by the sheer amount of work he had to do, "I haven't even detected them yet!"
"Incoming missiles!" Chandra warned.
"Who…" Tiffa gasped and looked around, having felt a tugging in her head, "The Commander!"
"Huh?" Neumann blinked and looked at her, "What are you talking about?" As he said this, a lone Spearhead flew over the Archangel before circling over it.
"Ah, good!" Mu said, heaving a sigh of relief when he saw the ship, "You're still intact!" At that moment, his radar reacted to something and he looked to see a CGUE firing at him. Knowing that he stood little chance against it with such a weak craft, Mu resorted to dodging, but one shot managed to strike the bottom of his Spearhead, damaging it. "This is Flaga! Archangel, do you copy?" Mu called out into his radio, "Archangel, answer me! Dammit…" With that, he steered the Spearhead towards the ship, leaving a trail of smoke behind him as he did. Tiffa felt another tugging and looked up to see the craft approaching.
"Captain!" she suddenly exclaimed, "Tell the people in the hangar to move!"
"What?" Murrue blinked, "Crewman Adil, this really isn't the time for fooling around…"
"Incoming aircraft!" Miriallia announced, having detected the Spearhead, "It looks like it's damaged!"
"Huh?" Murrue gasped and looked just in time to see the craft coming towards them, "Is that guy trying to board us?"
"It's impossible!" Neumann exclaimed, "Even with the hole in the hatch…"
"Deck crew! Some nut in an aircraft is trying to make a landing!" Murrue called out through the speakers using the phone on her arm rest, "Take shelter now!"
"Everybody get out of my way! Aaaaahhhh!" Mu cried as he guided the Spearhead directly into the gaping hole left by a missile in hatch of the linear catapult. Several technicians quickly scrambled and dove for cover as the craft skidded across the floor and then eventually crashed into the safety rigging, stretching it to its full extent. Without taking a moment to celebrate his feat, Mu opened the Spearhead's cockpit and tossed his helmet aside as he jumped out, hurrying off to the bridge.
"Commander Flaga?" one of the technicians blinked as he rushed out of the hangar, "What's he doing back here?" A few minutes later, Mu reached the bridge and squeezed through the door as it opened.
"Captain!"
"W-What the hell are you doing here, Commander?" Murrue gaped when she turned to see the speaker, "What about your transfer?"
"That doesn't matter now!" Mu replied hurriedly as he rushed to her side, "We need to get out of here right now!" As everyone on the bridge turned to look at him, he added, "This whole battle is rigged! What kind of orders did the defenders receive?" As Murrue hastily explained, more and more Mobile Suits began pouring into the interior of the base, destroying artillery vehicles left and right as they flew over head. At that moment, a missile struck the ship right under the bridge and everyone had to grab onto something to avoid being thrown about. "Alright, now listen up!" Mu told them, "There's a large Cyclops System hidden beneath head quarters! That thing is powerful enough to turn anything and everything within ten kilometers of the base into a blast furnace!" At this, the entire crew cringed with shock.
Even the students knew what a Cyclops System was, and that such a weapon had been used only once before. The weapon was essentially a large array of giant dishes that vibrated to create powerful microwaves. Thanks to the Neutron Jammers that restricted their movement, the microwaves intensified to the point where they evaporated any liquids that they touched, including the water in the human body to point where the body would simply explode from the pressure. Eventually, the weapon itself would self-destruct and consume the battlefield an a huge radioactive fireball that would finish off whatever the microwaves didn't destroy already. The last use of the weapon was at the Endymion Crater on the moon, the same place where Mu received his prestigious title. It had been a gruesome outcome with nearly all of the forces, Earth Alliance and ZAFT alike, being destroyed.
"It's impossible to defend the base with what's left, and reinforcements from Panama won't arrive in time!" Mu explained, "Soon, the defenders will all be gone and the main gate will come down. That's when headquarters will make the decision to activate the Cyclops and destroy the base! And in the process, they'll take out nearly all of ZAFT's fighting strength! That's the whole scenario for this battle as imagined by the top brass!" At that moment, the crew of the Archangel paid for their lapse in attention when another missile hit them but they quickly focused back on what he had just said.
"It can't be!" Murrue exclaimed, "This has to be some kind of trick!"
"I saw it with my own eyes!" Mu replied, "Head quarters must've somehow known beforehand that ZAFT was going to come after Alaska instead! The entire Join Operations Room has been completely abandoned, that proves it! They're using us, the Archangel and the Eurasia Federation, as bait to lure in the ZAFT forces so that they can blow the whole place up!"
"So they left us here to die?" Neumann snarled as anger started to set in, "Is that what you're saying?"
"But only after a desperate battle…" Mu frowned, "So that no one would realize that the place was abandoned…" Murmurs of shock and anger went up on the bridge while Murrue finally began to realize just what was going on.
"W-What kind of strategy is this?" Miriallia stammered and a few heads turned to look at her, "Because this is a war…and because we're all supposed to be good soldiers…" She turned her head to reveal that tears were welling up in her eyes, "If they tell us to…I guess we've got no choice…but to just throw away our lives…"
"This is the 13th Naval Squadron!" a voice crackled over the speakers, "Requesting…need assist-" All of a sudden, the line was cut off and the sound of static filled the room as fury built in Murrue's heart. As she realized that everyone had been deceived, the ZAFT army was slowly pressing in on the center, leaving a trail of the bodies of soldiers who fought bravely to defend their territory.
"If the object of the whole battle was the lure the ZAFT forces closer to the base," Murrue snarled, "Then in my opinion, the this ship has already completed is assigned task!" As the crew looked to her, she added, "Also…I hereby confirm that this decision was made by myself, Captain Murrue Ramius of the Archangel, and that no other crew members were involved in this decision!"
"No need to be so bold…" Mu blinked as Murrue stood.
"This ship will now make a formal retreat and withdraw from the combat area!" Murrue declared before sitting down and issuing orders, "Crewman Buskirk, signal the other ships and tell them to follow us! Chief Petty Officer Neumann and Crewman Adil! Engines at full speed, to port! We'll break through the left side of the bay!" Replies of assent echoed throughout the bridge and as everyone got to work preparing for their escape, Mu bent down so that he was level with Murrue.
"Getting out of here will be a tough job, but don't give up just yet," Mu said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'll go out and make sure no one gets in the way."
"Commander!" Murrue exclaimed, "You just got back!"
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Mu replied assuredly with a smile as he stood up, "Have you forgotten already? I'm the man who makes the impossible, possible!" As the ship began its desperate move, Rau's Dinn had returned to the Vosgulov submarine that it had been stored in, as Rau was leaving the field for now.
"Maintenance teams report to the hangar! Begin re-supply procedure at once!"
"Commander!" a voice called out as Rau stepped out onto the cockpit hatch and he turned to see Yzak on a nearby platform.
"Ah, Yzak," Rau nodded, "Are you here to re-supply?"
"I've just broken through two gates," Yzak boasted, "When I get back out there, I'm really gonna let them have it in their interior!" Rau nodded at this and thought for a bit.
"Well, I don't know if it's the Legged Ship that's been preventing the main gate from being broken through…" Rau said, "Yzak, why don't I leave that task to you?"
"Really?" Yzak asked, positively delighted, "I mean…thank you, sir! I'll do my best!" With that, the fair-head turned and hurried off, eager to carry out his task.
"Heh, well then…" Rau smirked and turned to look back into the cockpit of his Dinn, "Are you finally awake in there, little lady?" Flay, who had just regained consciousness, had become frightened from waking up in an unfamiliar place but was even more terrified when she saw Rau standing right outside of the doorway. With a slight squeal, she turned and burrowed back into the cockpit, trying to find a place to hide. "Well now…" Rau chuckled, rather amused by the sigh and walked back into the cockpit.
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Meanwhile, the Archangel and a few of the surviving ships were desperately trying to fight their way out of the battlefield. With Mu in the completely repaired Skygrasper equipped with a Launcher pack, they were making relatively moderate progress so far. While the ship's Igelstellung guns handled the incoming missiles, Mu veered about and shot down several Dinns with the Launcher pack's Agni impulse cannon. However, without the protection of the Archangel and the other ships, all it took was one last barrage of torpedoes and missiles and the main gate came crashing down in flames.
"The main gate has been broken through!" a frantic soldier exclaimed as airborne Mobile Suits streamed into breached gate like hornets attacking a bee-hive.
"Sheesh, can't you just let us be now that you've broken through the gate?" Mu asked sarcastically as he faced off against a group of four Mobile Suits. Using the machine guns mounted on the Skygrasper, Mu reacted quickly and managed to shoot them down before they could case more trouble. Eventually, they approached a line of Vosgulov submarines, which fired a salvo of missiles at them.
"Evade!" Murrue shouted and the Archangel lurched to the side. Some of the others, however, that were unable to leave the water, were hit and went up in balls of fire and smoke. "Fire Gottfrieds!" Murrue ordered and the Archangel's main guns shot at the submarines, sinking two of them.
"There's a Mobile Suit hitting us with heavy fire from behind!" Tonomura warned, "It…X102! The Duel!" True to his word, the Duel came rushing in on the ship on its Guul, with a very determined Yzak at the controls.
"This is the end, Legged Ship!" Yzak snarled, "I'll make sure to make this place your grave!" Saying this, he fired the Duel's beam rifle and then the Shiva railgun and its missile launchers, one after the other. The Archangel, with no way to defend itself from the rear, took most of the hits until Mu came flying in on the scene in the Skygrasper.
"Dammit, at a time like this!" Mu frowned and charged the Duel, firing the Agni as it went.
"Tsch, don't underestimate me, you idiot!" Yzak shouted, "I'm not like the Buster!" Yzak quickly dodged the shots from the Agni and returned fire with the Duel's beam rifle, managing to successfully shoot off the Launcher pack from the Skygrasper.
"Captain!" Neumann called out after another missile hit them, "Where to?"
"Twenty to port!" Murrue replied, "Dig into their flank!"
"Incoming Mobile Suits at 10 o'clock!" Chandra warned, "They're Ginns!"
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"Alright, Kira!" Ryo said over the comm.., "Shields up!" The two were now high above the battle field, almost ready to enter the atmosphere, in fact.
"Right," Kira nodded and positioned the Freedom so that it was crouching on the transformed Double X with its shield in front of it. Unlike last time, cockpit remained moderately cool as the two descended through the atmosphere and the Freedom's shield showed no signs of heating up. Just then, Kira heard an oddly familiar tune coming from Ryo's line and when he strained to hear it over the roar of the two Mobile Suits speeding through the atmosphere, he couldn't help but sweat-drop when he recognized it. "…Ryo?"
"Yeah?"
"…Why am I hearing the Superman theme coming from your line?"
"…Internet…"
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"Engine 3 has been damaged!" Chandra announced, "The Douro has been sunk!" Another missile rocked the bridge even more violently then usual, scaring most of the students.
"Blocks 64 through 79 have been sealed off!" Sai reported, "The ship has lost nearly 43 of its power!" One of the incoming Ginns fired a bazooka round that hit the Archangel square below the bridge, shaking it again.
"Oh man!" Kuzzey wailed, his already low morale all but completely shot, "We're finished!"
"Shut up and get a hold of yourself!" Pal said irritably, "This isn't over yet!"
"Wombats, fire!" Murrue cried, "Engines, to maximum! We've got to break through!" Even as the Archangel emptied its rear-missile tubes, another one hit them and damaged it even more.
"Archangel!" Mu exclaimed before noticing the Duel charging him, "Dammit!" Even as the two fought, the Archangel was starting to slow down at a dangerous rate as her engines slowly died down.
"Our thrust is decreasing way too much!" Neumann grunted as he and Tiffa struggled to keep the ship upright, "I don't know how much longer I can keep her steady!" Just then, another wave of Mobile Suits came charging down. One Ginn was destroyed by an Igelstellung gun while the squad's CGUE was blown in half by one of the Gottfrieds. As the smoke cleared, however, one of the Ginns made it through and ended up right in front of the window of the Archangel's bridge, its mono-lens glaring at the crew before it aimed its assault rifle at them. Time seemed to slow down as the Mobile Suit brought its weapon up at level. As Murrue gasped in shock, Miriallia cringed and turned away, unable to look death in the face. Sai's face was frozen in terror as Kuzzey let out a cry and got up from his seat to run.
"NO!" Mu exclaimed when he saw this.
"Damn…" Murrue swore beneath her breath as the Ginn's finger slowly tightened around the trigger. Then, there was a bright flash of light that forced the crew to turn away, the faint sound of a beam rifle, and the sound of an explosion. But…the bridge was still intact.
"What the…" the pilot of the Ginn blinked as he backed his Mobile Suit up as he looked to the sky, "What just happened?" At that moment, Tiffa felt an immense tug at the back of her skull and Mu had a slightly similar reaction, causing both of them to look up.
"They're here!" Tiffa exclaimed and as she spoke, a brilliant streak of light came soaring down from the sky. Suddenly, it split in two and as one veered off, the other continued on, revealing itself to be a strange white Mobile Suit. The Mobile Suit reached for its side and a flash of hot pink extended from its hand and the pilot only had time to gasp before it passed in front of the Ginn in a blur of white and blue. As soon as it passed, the Ginn's head separated from its body and exploded while the crippled Ginn quickly flew off. The sound of the second explosion caused the crew of the Archangel to open their eyes to a wondrous sight. Hovering in front of the bridge was another Mobile Suit, its blue wings facing them as it positioned itself in front of them as a shield. Suddenly, if moved aside and they saw an odd looking air-craft separate into to reveal a second Mobile Suit before the two halves combined to make a smaller one, which the Mobile Suit landed on and used as a platform. As the second Mobile Suit moved in next to the first, steam issued from the vents on their torsos as light gleamed from the polished surfaces. The crew watched in awe as light flashed from their eyepieces, as if daring anyone to approach them. All over the battle field, everyone stopped fighting for a moment to get a look at the new comers.
"What the…?" Mu blinked as he flew past the Duel, which had also stopped firing momentarily.
"Where did those Mobile Suits come from?" Yzak frowned but even as he spoke, the first arched its back and then spread its blue wings out into five pairs, emanating an aura of light from them.
"Those Mobile Suits…" Murrue muttered, "Why are they…?"
"Hey, what's with those Mobile Suits?"
"They must be the Earth Forces' new models…"
"This is Kira Yamato!" a familiar voice suddenly crackled through their speakers, "Do you read me, Archangel?"
"Archangel, come in!" a second voice, equally familiar, added, "This is Ryo Mouri! Come in, Archangel!"
"Archangel, Ryo and I will cover you!" Kira said, "Meanwhile, please use this time to escape!"
"Kira?" Miriallia blinked as murmurs of confusion and hope went up in the bridge, "Ryo?"
"It is them!" Sai exclaimed happily, "It's Kira and Ryo! I knew they weren't dead!"
"Our…Kira and Ryo…?" Murrue gaped as she stared at the two Mobile Suits in front of them.
"That's right!" Ryo grinned, "We're back and we've got the goodies!"
"Ryo…" Tiffa smiled, "I knew you would make it…"
"Come on, Kira!" Ryo said, "Time to see what these bad boys can do!" Kira smiled a bit and then turned his attention back to the battle. Already, several Ginns were moving in to attack and the two pilots both nodded to each other. The Freedom ascended as the Double X jumped off of the G-Falcon to let it separate while its wings folded down and the Twin Satellite Cannons rotated forward. As the two halves of the G-Falcon attached to the front and back of the Double X, the two focused and a SEED appeared in their mind, spinning once before bursting in a vertical nova of colors. Their eyes quickly shifted to a dulled state and at the same time, the center screen on their dash-boards, which usually displayed their position on a certain terrain, popped up and changed to black covered with dots. Red circles appeared around a few of them with slight beeping sounds as the combat computer locked onto the targets. As soon as they had locked onto as many as they could, Kira deployed the Freedom's Xiphias railguns and Balaena plasma beam cannons as Ryo set the G-Falcon's beam cannons on the optional "scatter" mode. "Now!" Ryo shouted and both the Freedom and Double X unleashed the full firepower of their weapons by firing all of them at once. Brilliant streaks of colored light filled the sky as the beams tore through head pieces and severed arms from the bodies of a multitude of Mobile Suits, leaving everyone in shock of what they just saw.
"W-What the hell was that?" Yzak exclaimed, completely dumbfounded by the display.
"Amazing!" Mu blinked, "I've never seen such accuracy!"
"Please, stop wasting time!" Kira called out after the two Mobile Suits had resumed fighting normally, "Ms. Murrue, you've got to get out of here!"
"Well, yes, but…" Murrue stammered as the Freedom disabled a Dinn that had decided to engage it, "There's…a Cyclops…beneath headquarters! We're all just bait!" As Kira and Ryo thought about this, she added, "They planned, this! We had no idea! That's why we can't get away! We need to get further away from the base!"
"Understood!" Ryo nodded as he cut off a Ginn's arms using the Double X's hyper beam swords, "Leave it to us! We'll get you out of this!" With that, the G-Falcon reconnected to the Double X as the Freedom deployed its guns again. "Kira!" Ryo called out, "These guys don't know what's going on! We'd better warn them too!"
"Right!" Kira replied and as the two units flew forward, he called out through his speakers, "Attention to all ZAFT and Earth Alliance forces!"
"What's this?" one of the Vosgulov submarine captains wondered as the message was spread.
"Any moment now, a Cyclops System will activate and the Alaska base will self-destruct!" Kira announced to the shock of most of the combatants, "I ask that both sides cease fire immediately and withdraw from the combat area! I repeat, a Cyclops System is about to activate and the Alaska base will self-destruct!" As he said this, both the Freedom and Double X fired off volley after volley of gunfire, disabling even more Mobile Suits. Back on the Archangel, the crew had calmed down by now and even Kuzzey was sitting in his seat again after the frightening encounter.
"Those two…" Mu sighed as Kira and Ryo broadcasted the warnings across the battlefield.
"Come on, you guys…" Murrue muttered, "Hurry…"
"Who the hell is that guy?"
"Isn't he on the Earth Forces' side?"
"I'm not falling for that stupid bluff!" Yzak suddenly shouted, rushing at the two Mobile Suits while firing its beam rifle. Hearing it coming, Kira wheeled around and blocked the shots with the Freedom's shield.
"The Duel…" Kira frowned, remembering how it had shot down the civilian shuttle and felt his temper flare for a moment. However, Kira was a changed person now. No matter how angry he was at the Duel for what it had done, he had vowed never to kill again. This time would be no different.
"Take this!" Yzak shouted and drew one of the Duel's beam sabers and slashed forward. Freedom brought its shield up and blocked the strike before catching a punch thrown by the Duel with its other hand.
"I told you to stop!" Kira shouted, "Do you want to die here?"
"What are you talking about?" Yzak snarled and then shot at the Freedom with its Shiva railgun. Seeing this, Kira moved the Freedom's head aside, only to get hit by a vicious head butt from the Duel. As he moved back, the Duel swung down but the Freedom suddenly flipped over, dodged the blow, and drew its own saber, charging at the vulnerable Duel. Yzak cried aloud when he saw the blade coming at him but at the last moment, Kira altered the angel of the attack and instead of slicing through the cockpit, he simply relieved the Duel of both its legs, surprising Yzak.
"Forget about fighting and get the hell out of here!" Kira told him and then had the Freedom kick the Duel down towards the ocean, where it was caught by a friendly Dinn.
"He didn't…but why…?" Yzak blinked as he watched the Freedom grow smaller on his screen, "There's something familiar about that guy…" Meanwhile, the Earth Alliance's top officers had finally deemed the time right to carry out the last part of their plan. While Sutherland sat inside the conference room, another officer stepped inside. "It's about time…" Sutherland remarked, looking up, "Shall we finish this off?" The officer, the head of the Eurasia Federation, gritted his teeth as he nodded and sat down next to him. The two briefcases in front of them were now open, revealing a complex looking mechanism inside. The two removed a set of keys from around their necks and nodded to each other before inserting them into the mechanisms.
"It is my sincerest wish that this terrible sacrifice will bring a quick end to the war," the Eurasian officer sighed, a bit reluctant to go through with this.
"For the preservation of our blue and pure world," Sutherland nodded, "Three…two…one…" At the same instant that the two turned the keys simultaneously, the dishes that made up the Cyclops System beneath the JOSH-A base began to vibrate violently. Soon, they began to spark and then started emitting a reddish hue of energy. Up on the ground, the invading ZAFT pilots soon noticed that the ground had begun to shake violently and were rather confused as to what was happening.
"Hey, what's going on out there?" one of them wondered out loud, "What with that shaking?" All of a sudden, a reddish glow burst from the ground and began spreading outward. To his shock, the Dinn in front of him exploded moments after it was touched by it before it began to fill his cockpit. He immediately began to feel odd, and then he screamed as the water that made up seventy percent of his body evaporated so quickly that he literally exploded inside his own cockpit as his Ginn exploded around him. All around, other Mobile Suits and their pilots who were too curious to run met a similar fate as the lethal microwaves tore them apart. Down on the ground, fleeing Earth Forces soldiers were also consumed by the microwaves and soon, the presence of the weapon was detected by everyone.
"A huge wave of thermal energy has been detected within the Alaska base!" an officer on board a Vosgulov submarine announced, "This…this is…!"
"The Cyclops has been activated!" Sai warned aboard the Archangel, "It's spreading! Fast!"
"Full speed ahead! Give her full power!" Murrue ordered frantically, "We've got to escape!" As the Archangel's thrusters roared to life, more and more Mobile Suits and soldiers fell victim to the devastating effects of the Cyclops. Even the ships weren't safe, as the microwaves spread out on to the water and began evaporating whatever it touched there. The remaining ZAFT forces were now in full retreat, hastily pulling away from the base to escape the microwaves. One pilot was unlucky enough to have his Guul's engines short out beneath him and explode, damaging his Ginn and the cockpit. Even as the now headless Ginn began to fall, the Freedom suddenly appeared from no where and grabbed onto it.
"I've gotcha!" Kira assured him and then pushed the Freedom's thrusters to their limit. However, even he was starting to doubt their speed. The Cyclops had already devoured the dead bodies of the Earth Forces' soldiers and was still spreading out.
"It's no good…we'll never get out of this in time!" Ryo frowned and then flew off towards the rear of the ship, where the engines were, "I sure hope this works." With that, he detached the G-Falcon and landed it on the Archangel's hull having the Double X touch down just above the engines. He hit a switch on the control stick, which immediately caused a change in the Double X's appearance. Its wings folded into three pairs, revealing a gold interior while the arm-guards folded out to reveal two gold energy grids beneath each. A similar mechanism was on the sides of the lower legs and the Twin Satellite Cannons folded up and over the Double X's shoulders while a scope-like object clamped down over each. "Attention! All retreating units!" Ryo called out, "Anyone in need of a faster transport, please land on the Archangel's hull!"
"Ryo?" Kira blinked, "What are you…?"
"I have no freakin' clue," Ryo sighed as the main screen changed to reveal a power meter in the same shape of the Double X's spread wings; a single "X" with a line running horizontally through it. After a few coordinates showed up on the screen, a bright beam of light shot down from the sky, striking the Double X's energy collector on its torso as a few Ginns and Dinns landed on the Archangel with the Freedom as well. "Everyone brace yourselves!" Ryo called out as the power meter filled and he took a deep breath before clicking the trigger. All at once, two bursts of white light erupted from the nozzles of the cannons and Ryo was pushed back into his seat by the recoil. "Holy crap!" he exclaimed as the screen dimmed automatically, "I'd better be careful when using this thing!"
"Ensign Mouri's unit has just had a tremendous increase in power output!" Tonomura announced on the bridge as they began to lurch forward.
"Hey, what's this?" Neumann blinked, "We're moving faster!" As the crew of the Archangel puzzled over their sudden increase in speed, Mu was watching from his Skygrasper and couldn't help but whistle at the sight.
"That's one hell of a shot…" he remarked and then turned to look back. By now, even buildings were starting to collapse as the ground shook worse then ever before beginning to split open. Eventually, the falling debris combined with the out of control vibrations caused the entire weapon to go up in flames, the sheer forces of the shockwave pushing out the ground above it.
"Holy…." the Vosgulov commander gaped as he watched a massive fireball erupt from the ground, "Is that….?"
"Well…" Rau said, hiding his smirk in the darkness, "Looks like we've been had by the Naturals…" Half an hour later, far away from the ruins of the base, the Archangel, Mu's Skygrasper, and the Freedom and Double X had landed on a rocky terrain. Even then, they could still see the ominous mushroom shaped cloud in the distance while a brilliant aurora hovered above it; a beauty over a disaster. Everyone was still in shock over what had just happened and those who weren't were completely furious at their superiors. "Tsch…sacrificing their own soldiers…" Mu growled as he tossed his helmet to the ground, "Is that how the Earth Forces does things these days?"
"I…I can't believe…." Tiffa muttered, holding her sides as she shivered, "So many people lost…" Meanwhile, near the Freedom and Double X, Kira and Ryo were tending to the injuries of the Ginn pilot that Kira had rescued; the said Ginn kneeling nearby.
"This doesn't look good," Ryo sighed, "I don't think he's gonna make."
"Well, we can hope, can't we?" Kira frowned and then gently shook the pilot, "Hey, you alright? Say something…" The pilot stirred and blearily looked at the two, surprised to see how young they were.
"Were you…" he blinked, "In those…Mobile Suits…?"
"Yeah," Kira nodded and Ryo did the same.
"Why…" the pilot asked, "Did you save me?"
"You guys weren't our enemies…or allies," Ryo told him, "There's more to war than just killing whoever you're fighting against."
"Well…" the pilot smiled, "Killing me…would have been….easier…." With that, he closed his eyes and Kira grimaced as he exhaled his last breath.
"Damn!" Kira swore, pounding his fist into the ground, "They'd…they'd do anything to win…"
"We'll worry about that later," Ryo said, standing up, "Come on…I'm sure the others will be waiting to see us…"
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"Annihilated? What do you mean annihilated?"
"I've never heard of such a thing!"
"What about Carpentaria? What's the word from them?"
"Listen, I want confirmation on this!"
"Hey…?" Athrun blinked, "What's going on here?" Having just arrived from Earth, Athrun had never expected for the National Defense Center to be in such a state. All around him, people were running about and clamoring about something that Athrun couldn't identify. Just then, he saw a familiar face in the crowd and went toward it while calling out, "Commander Yuki!"
"Athrun Zala!" the said officer blinked, surprised, as the two approached each other, "What are you doing in the PLANTs?"
"I'll tell you later, but first…" Athrun replied, looking around, "What's going on here?"
"Operation Spit Break appears to have failed," his former mentor frowned, "We don't know the exact details but apparently, the entire invading force was annihilated."
"You're kidding…"
"I'm afraid that I have one last piece of bad news," Yuki continued, leaning closer so that only Athrun could hear, "Someone, and we don't know who, stole two of our top-secret Mobile Suits, one of which was one of the new ones we were building." As Athrun nodded, Yuki added, "But apparently, the person who helped them attain them was Lacus Clyne." At this, the shock was so great that Athrun dropped his briefcase, which tipped over and landed flat on the floor as Yuki continued, "The entire National Defense Committee is in a state of panic now. No one knows what's going on any more. First there was the sudden change in the target of Spit Break…and now this…"
"It can't be…not her…" Athrun frowned, "I know Lacus…she wouldn't do something like this!" With that, he bent down, picked up his briefcase, and set off at a brisk walk towards Chairman Zala's office. If he was going to get the full details, he was going to have to have a talk with his father about it.
Phase 35: End
To the reviewers:
Light of the Demons- No, Tiffa will not pilot a Mobile Suit
Warp Ligia Obscura- He was. Remember, he was friends with both Siegel Clyne and Patrick Zala before the kids were born.
seedsofwar- Yes, he has, hasn't he?