EPISODE 50: THE ETERNAL FLAME
December 16, U.C. 0100…the perimeter of the Side 3 Zone
A dozen destroyers, three Salamis-class battleships, and three battle carriers from the Earth Federation Space Armada's 2nd Division, 5th Fleet pound at the massed Chivay-advanced, Moussei-kai, and Qwajin-III Zeon Armada war vessels opposing them with heavy beam cannon salvoes and missile barrages. The attack of the Federal Forces' fleet is savage, targeting each opposing Zeon warship with dozens upon dozens of heavy incendiary and plasma rockets and megaparticle beam strikes.
On the bridge of the Qwajin-III class battleship Ram, Captain Buckingham Longfellow perspires profusely as smoke rises on to the bridge from a conflagration burning on the lower decks. His communications officer already lies dead, slumped over his barely functional communications data terminal. Longfellow's helmsman still lives, but has only one good arm with which to muscle the failing controls of the ship…his other arm shattered by the impact of a large section of falling metal debris from the collapsing ceiling of the bridge.
"Fire! Fire!" comes a horrified, distant shout from below decks…Longfellow can't be sure if it's an exhortation to shoot or a warning of the flames making their way closer to the deck. Shipwide internal monitoring systems went down more than ten minutes ago, and the veteran Zeon commander cannot even be certain that any of the Ram's thirty-six gun emplacements or twenty-one missile tubes remains functioning. Longfellow believes that he might have seen the streamer tracks of a beam cannon issuing forth from the port side of his ship two minutes earlier, but in all the crisscrossing fire, it is difficult to be certain.
There is no uncertainty, however, about the missile impacts that slam into the starboard hull of the Ram, causing all but the emergency lighting on the bridge to fail.
"For God's sake, if you hear me, we need support…NOW!" Longfellow screams desperately into an emergency communications line that he cannot be sure is still functional.
"…ndby," comes a crackling, static-distorted reply, "…aser…nnon…wo minu…!"
"WE HAVE NO TIME, GOD DAMN YOU!" Longfellow erupts with a mixture of terror and rage that even twenty years of military experience and training cannot suppress any longer, "YOU HAVE TO…YEAAAGAHHHH!"
That final death cry echoes through a frantic Zeon Central Command back at Cosmic Alexandria, as the Ram and two more Zeon cruisers go down in a hail of Federation Forces ordnance.
At that same moment, aboard the Federation battleship Hanoi, Captain Felipe Marcos witnesses the destruction of the Zeon warships Ram, Berlin, and Dervish, but has no time to take any satisfaction as a swarm of Zeon mobile suits…Nova Dogas and Gellonds…rush forth towards the Federation fleet.
"Incoming enemy mobile suits," Captain Marcos says into his communications link with Captain Roy Kramer, commanding officer of the 11th Mobile Suit Squadron, nicknamed the "Orkin Men" in tribute to their battle tactics.
Kramer's response comes quickly and dryly, "Roger that, Captain. 11-Leader to 11-crew. We've got bugs coming up the pike. Ready the Raid."
"Roger, 11-Leader," comes the reply.
"Acquire targets and let loose when you've got lock-on," Captain Kramer intones calmly.
Lock on achieved in sequence, the muzzles of the GM-IV's beam rifles glow red and the covers of their missile launching tubes slide open to unleash a torrent of ordnance that cuts down the advancing Zeon combat mecha.
"Just like roaches," Kramer enthuses with a wolfish grin.
"Hey, Cap," Sergeant Sung-uk Han pipes up, "What the hell is that?"
"Hell," indeed.
What begins as a faint glow in the distance grows rapidly brighter, seeming to double its incandescence and diameter by the second.
Before any of the "Orkin Men" realize what they are witnessing, they are awash in it…the concentrated and amplified energy of the sun, disintegrating their flesh and the reinforced titanium alloy of their combat mecha with seemingly equal ease.
The blinding, scorching, all-consuming energy continues to rush forth in an inexorable stream…eating away Captain Marcos' Hanoi and its attendant assault fleet as if they had never existed.
"Fall back! Fall back!" come panicked orders from a dozen surviving Federation armada ships.
The Earth Federation Forces withdraw from the Side 3 Zone…back towards the relative safety of Side 6.
The massive maw of the colony laser cannon unit dubbed Chimera is done for the moment spewing its hellfire, and gradually fades from nova intensity brightness as the titanic weapon recharges its solar energy stores for its next firing.
More deaths incurred, even as earlier deaths are mourned…
09:00 hours, December 17, U.C. 0100, Baldur Bay, Riah Republic of Side 6.
Candles light the cavernous Gothic interior of Saint Matthew's Cathedral located in the suburbs of Baldur Bay. A pastor solemnly recites a funereal rosary, bestowing his blessings upon the soul of a departed warrior.
No, not a warrior, although the departed did indeed take up arms in combat and ended his life in battle. He had entered the life of a warrior, so uncharacteristic of and repulsive to him, only because it was the only means by which he could work towards realizing the peace that he so cherished.
Captain Jonah Michaels, commanding officer, Centurion Team, Earth Federation Special Forces, was an artist…a painter who saw the beauty and the horror within humanity and captured both in images with his watercolors and oils. Of all the arts that Jonah mastered during his lifetime, cut short at a mere twenty years, the art of war was the one that came most unnaturally to him. Yet he pursued it well, albeit reluctantly, and in so doing saved countless lives…more than he ever knew.
Above all, however, Jonah is gone because he pursued even to the cost of his own life the salvation of one soul that he cherished more than any other... that of his wife, nineteen-year old 1Lt. Jolie Minh.
Jolie, clad in a black version of the Earth Federation Special Forces officer's dress uniform, issued to officers mourning a fallen fellow officer, stands amidst a congregation of fellow mourners…many of them similarly clad in mourning dress. Their numbers include members of the Centurion Team, most notably 2Lt. Chieming Noah, whose eyes are red and swollen with unabated grief. Also present is Deputy Director Minerva Zabi of the Shambala Republic Movement, who was once Jonah's commanding officer as Lt. Col. Athena Ibaz of the Earth Federation Special Forces – finding comfort in the arms of her fiancé Hathaway Noah, Director of the Shambala Republic Intelligence Bureau. Also present are General Bright Noah, Supreme Commander of the Earth Federation Forces, Lt. Col. Christina McKenzie, Director of the Special Forces, and three dozen other Special Forces officers who had been acquainted with and served alongside Jonah. Rounding out the congregation are Dr. Camille Vidan of Anaheim Enterprises with his wife Fa Yuri, Captain Beecher Olech, commanding officer of the Earth Federation Forces space battle carrier Amuro Ray, and Shangrila heroes Judau Ashta and Lu Luka.
These individuals had been closest to Jonah during the final two years of the young idealist's life, and had become like family to him. Conspicuously, though unspokenly so, none of Jonah's actual family is present…
The pastor concludes his rosary with a series of blessings for the soul of the departed, delivered in the tongue of the Caesars. A choir of young boys then delivers a solemn dirge as an Earth Federation Forces Color Guard neatly folds the Earth Federation Government flag that had been draped over Jonah's casket when it entered the cathedral early that morning, then grimly offers the flag and a Medal of Superlative Valor, to Jonah's widow.
Jolie receives these items numbly. Her youthful, beautiful face is wan and lifeless…her eyes are devoid of the spark of life as twin trails of teardrops roll down her cheeks. She steps forward to Jonah's open casket, kneeling before it as she looks upon the face of the man whom she loved more than any other one last time…a face so immaculately and strikingly handsome, even in death…his expression tranquil…serene…having finally left the war's horrors behind forever.
Jolie touches Jonah's cold, silent lips lovingly with her hand and then leaves two items on his uniform-clad chest…a golden wedding ring, and a customized Federal Forces uniform arm patch…emblazoned with two bounded hearts and the legend, "JoMi, JoMi!" in the form of a cross.
Jolie is pulled away from Jonah's casket by Minerva and Chieming, just before the color guard closes the casket forever with a resounding finality.
In his sprawling private office within the Palace of Alexandria (formerly Zum Palace) at Side 3, Archduke Alexander Miguel buries his head in his hands. A large glass of brandy stands untouched on his desk.
Seated opposite the Archduke across the vast expanse of his desk is his sister, Dr. Nanai Miguel, whose tear-lined cheeks are evidence of her own grief.
"How much…how much did Jonah suffer?" Nanai asks at last, her voice a faint whisper.
A long minute passes before Alexander replies, "There's no way I would know that, Nanai."
"He was our brother…Alex," Nanai says, "He turned against Zeon and became a soldier for the Earth Federation, but he was…is nonetheless our brother."
The Archduke of Zeon sucks in his breath painfully, and on the exhale says darkly, "Assemble the Imperial Staff. We will begin making plans for our final assault on the enemy."
Through her grief, Nanai shows enough reserve of sensibility to be alarmed, "Final assault? Alex…"
"Nothing else matters," Alexander exhales without tone or inflection.
Throughout many of the heavily populated colonies of Side 3, multitudes of terrified and confused civilians are herded by armed Zeon authorities into forced evacuations…taken from their homes, schools, businesses, and places of worship en masse for reasons that Archduke Miguel's troops, their supposed protectors, do not explain.
"Into the carriers, all of you!" a Zeon officer bellows as his troops prod and push the civilians towards the spaceport, "If you're slow, you'll be left behind! Trust me: you DON'T want to be here when we blast those Federation swine to atoms!"
"Don't want to leave…!" one civilian protests.
"…our homes!" another civilian's voice complains over the din.
"…no right to do this!" a third civilian's voice is heard briefly before being lost amidst the clamor.
"QUIET!" the officer thunders, "The Archduke was right: the future belongs to those unafraid to make sacrifices! You cowardly, selfish degenerates have no place in it! We should leave you to the Federation's guns!"
There is pushing, shoving, blows exchanged, and debris thrown. Finally, there is gunfire, and scores of corpses felled by bullets. There is the rage of masses weary of being oppressed by uniforms of all cuts and colors, and contrary to the Zeon officer's judgment, are not so cowardly as to continue to accept it without a struggle.
"…reports of mass rioting at over a dozen colonies," General Davenport finishes telling Archduke Miguel, "They don't understand that we're trying to help them…to spare them the humiliation of becoming subjects of the Earth Federation again."
"Then Zeon does not need them," the Archduke replies coldly, meticulously cleaning out the barrel of his sidearm, "Zeon is a fortress of the strong – not a refuge for the weak."
Davenport hedges, "Extermination?"
"No," Miguel replies, peering across the top of the barrel of his pistol, "Waste of ordnance. Just let them burn."
The order is received, conveyed, and carried out within the hour. Zeon troops begin to abandon the colonies, not neglecting to destroy or disable the life support systems before they leave. The Archduke has determined that the disloyal are to be left to die, but he has also made it understood that they are not necessarily to die quickly…
The La-Kaelum-II, December 20, U.C. 0100, 16:00
Appropriately, the Centurion Team's temporary billeting aboard the La Kaelum-II is as dark and silent as a tomb. With their commanding officer, Captain Jonah Michaels, slain, the team is rudderless and has temporarily been taken off the active duty roster, although combat needs assure that such will not be the situation for long.
The central issue concerning the immediate future of the Centurion Special Operations Team, by far the most accomplished and capable combat unit in the Earth Federation Forces, is chain-of-command. With the loss of Captain Michaels, protocol and procedure dictate that his second-in-command, 1Lt. Jolie Minh, should succeed him as the commanding officer of the team.
Based on the ship's surgeon's and ship's psychologist's reports, as well as plain observation, however, that plan does not seem tenable, because 1Lt. Minh is not only Captain Michaels' second-in-command, but now also his widow. After appearing unresponsive after three days of observation, Jolie has been taken off the active duty roster by Lt. Col. Christina McKenzie, Director of the Special Forces, who has also appointed 2Lt. Chieming Noah as acting commander of the Centurion Team until either 1Lt. Minh is able again or a new permanent commanding officer is assigned to the team.
Paralyzed with grief and guilt, however, the White Phoenix of the Earth Federation Forces might never spread her wings again…
"C'mon, Jolie, snap out of it!" 2Lt. Chieming Noah implores, "You're going to dry up if you don't at least drink something!"
Maybe that's her intent, Chieming reflects sadly as she determinedly pushes a spoonful of broth in the direction of Jolie's face.
Chieming could not have gotten less of a response if she'd offered that spoonful to a corpse. Jolie lies on her infirmary bed, as she has for three consecutive days, silent and unmoving, her black eyes fixed upon nothing. If not for the barely perceptible shallow chest motions indicating the drawing of exhalation of breath, Chieming would doubt that Jolie is still alive at all.
"Jolie…" Chieming pleads for the umpteenth time that day, perhaps the hundredth time in the past three days, "Jolie: the team needs you. The war isn't over yet. Alexander Miguel is still out there and he's still dangerous. If we don't finish him off now, who knows how many more he'll kill?"
No response. No sound. No movement.
"Jolie, I know you hear me," Chieming persists, "Answer me, damn it!"
Nothing…nothing except the wretched mask of unfathomable grief that, to Chieming's eyes, appears as if it has burned itself onto Jolie's visage forever.
In a moment of uncharacteristic anger born of frustration, Chieming snaps, "Enough is enough! You're not the only person who's ever lost someone she loved to war! Billions of people have known that kind of heartbreak since the wars broke out twenty years ago! There's only going to be more unless we put an end to it! We need you, Jolie!"
Silence. Stillness. Indifference.
Chieming withdraws the spoon, setting it back in the bowl that lies on the nearby bed table. She takes a seat on Jolie's bed and sits silently for a long moment, emotionally spent.
"I loved Jonah too," Chieming says at last in a low, choked whisper, "I loved him too…"
Jolie turns her head towards Chieming; it's as much of a response that Jolie has given to any stimulus in as many days.
"I know that I couldn't love him more or better than you did," Chieming says through tears she can no longer fight back, "but God help me, Jolie, I sometimes dreamed…I sometimes wished…"
Chieming feels Jolie's hand as it reaches out and takes Chieming's own. Jolie says nothing, but in her mind, Chieming hears Jolie's voice, I understand.
Chieming and Jolie embrace, sobbing quietly…pouring out their shared grief. If they had ever been rivals for Jonah's affection, their rivalry was never stronger than their friendship. The loss of Jonah has laid things bare between them, and the two young women know that whatever might happen from here onwards, the bond between them has only grown stronger.
Two hours later, Chieming waits patiently on the flight deck of the La Kaelum-II as a space shuttle registered to the Shambala Republic arrives. A few minutes pass as the deck operations crew properly moors the spacecraft and the airlock fills with atmospheric pressure and oxygen.
The hatch of the space shuttle opens and two passengers disembark…one is Chieming's older brother, Hathaway Noah, and the other is the Deputy Director of the Shambala Republic, Minerva Zabi, once known as Lt. Col. Athena Ibaz, commanding officer of the Centurion Team.
Minerva gets to the point before Chieming can even offer her a greeting, "How is she?"
"Alive, but not living," Chieming replies, "Jolie's a wreck, Minerva. What can we do?"
"I'll talk to her," Minerva says, "but it's not up to us. It's up to Jolie. She must be willing to continue living."
Minerva enters Jolie's darkened room alone, leaving Chieming and Hathaway behind. The former Centurion Team commander lingers at the door for a moment, quietly watching her friend as she languishes upon her sickbed.
Minerva then approaches slowly, the only sound in the darkness being the subdued click of her boot heels upon the tiled floor.
Minerva notes that Jolie's eyes are open, but Jolie does not turn to face her. Even so, Minerva knows that Jolie is aware of her presence, even if she is indifferent to it.
Minerva crouches before Jolie, gazing penetratingly into large, dark eyes that seem to have died.
Minerva breathes deeply before whispering, "Do you still remember…the promise I made to you the day I asked you to join the Federation Forces?"
Silence.
Minerva continues, "I remember promising you that if you joined me, we'd create a world in which we'd never need to see any of our loved ones die in war…ever again."
Jolie's eyes moisten; her cheeks are already streaked red.
"We haven't succeeded…yet," Minerva says quietly, "I don't want to fail…neither do you, I know."
Silence.
Minerva persists, "You can lie in that bed and cry forever. That's your right if you want to claim it. But the death and suffering that sickens you will continue. I made a promise long ago. So did you that day. So did Jonah. Do you remember?"
"Jolie," Jonah says, his eyelids beginning to flutter as his consciousness continues to fade,"I…failed…to keep my promise to you. Will you…make one for me…and keep it?"
"Anything," Jolie vows, "Just tell me."
Jonah whispers painfully, "Jolie…you have a power…greater than anyone…even you…can understand it. You must not…use it for hate, Jolie. That power…must be used…to protect the innocent. To save lives…you have to promise…me…even after I'm gone…"
Jolie nod in understanding, "I will, Jonah. I promise: I'll finish the work we started. I'll do anything…damn it, Jonah…STAY WITH ME, please!"
Jonah shakes his head, and continues, "Alexander…Jolie, stop him. Save him!"
Jolie begins sobbing…the first sound that has issued forth from her in many, many days.
"Jolie," Minerva says gently, placing a hand lightly on her younger sister-at-arms' shoulder.
"I understand…," Jolie says at long last between sobs, "But 'Thena…there's so much I don't understand…that I'll never understand!
Jolie buries herself in Minerva…in Athena's embrace and releases her grief with sobs that seem like they will tear through her chest. Minerva holds Jolie gently, and sobs with her.
And they remain in that state for long, long moments…in the silent, still darkness.
Athena Ibaz and Jolie Minh.
Sisters.
Half an hour later, Minerva emerges alone from Jolie's still darkened sickroom. Chieming sees Minerva's somber expression and her hopes sink.
"Any change?" Chieming asks.
"We'll see," Minerva says cryptically.
Hathaway Noah puts a comforting hand on his younger sister's shoulder, "Jolie will be all right, Chibi. She's tough. Minerva…got word from Da…from General Noah and Dr. Daikun. They want us to meet with them at Baldur Bay right away."
Minerva begins striding towards the space shuttle awaiting on the La Kaelum-II's deck, "Let's go then. Chieming: watch over Jolie."
"Affirmative, ma'am," Chieming responds instinctively.
Minerva and Hathaway are about to leave, but the couple has not taken two steps towards the awaiting shuttle when Minerva turns back towards Chieming and says, "Actually, Chieming, why don't you come with us? Jolie needs some time alone to work things out, and as it's likely that you'll be assigned to command the Centurion Team, at least for the time being, you're going to need to hear this."
The trio is at Baldur Bay an hour later, gathered in a reinforced bunker that is the United Forces' temporary headquarters. In a conference room are gathered General Bright Noah and Lt. Col. Christina McKenzie of the Earth Federation Forces (as well as a few assorted other Federal Forces flag-ranking officers), Director Artasia Daikun of the Shambala Republic, Governor Cameron Bloom of the Riah Republic, Chief Executive Meitzer Ronah of the Buch Concern, and a young Earth Federation Forces Intelligence Corps officer (in the Intelligence Corps' distinctive grey-hued uniform) who has the attention of the gathering.
Minerva, Hathaway, and Chieming promptly step into the conference room. Within an instant, the Intelligence Corps officer, a tall, handsome, dark-haired young man of about twenty-five years of age, locks eyes with 2Lt. Chieming Noah.
"Sorry we're late," Minerva says, "If you're all ready, let's begin."
General Noah begins the proceedings by indicating the Intelligence Corps officer, who stands near the projection screen wall at the front of the conference room, "This is Captain Eric Gardner of the Intelligence Corps."
Minerva smiles in recognition, "It's been a long time, Captain Gardner."
Gardner salutes smartly, "Yes, ma'am. It's good to see you again, Lt. Col. Ibaz."
"It's 'Miss Zabi,' now, Captain," Minerva responds.
General Noah cuts in, "Let's get down to business: Captain Gardner has brought us vital new intelligence that we need to act upon immediately. We're facing a grave, imminent threat. Captain…?"
Gardner darkens the room and projects an image onto the screen wall, "These are images that we captured from Side 3 about ten hours ago: we noted the abrupt movement of five space colonies towards the perimeter of the Side 3 Zone. Thermal scans indicate much higher energy levels coming from within those colonies than required for standard colony operations."
"Colony lasers," Minerva says.
Gardner nods, "Yes, ma'am. They're being maneuvered via nuclear pulse thrust in the direction of our forces. At current speed, they will breach the Side 3 perimeter in about three hours and will arrive within firing range of our position within nineteen hours."
"We don't have any time to waste," General Noah declares, "If we do not liquidate Miguel now, he'll liquidate us. All forces will mobilize immediately."
"What's our battle plan?" Minerva asks after a moment's thought.
"We don't have time for finesse," the supreme commander of the Earth Federation Forces confesses, "Our armada will launch a frontal assault."
"We can't afford to concentrate our resources and give the enemy an opportunity to wipe us out in just a few strikes," Minerva says, "It would be more prudent for us to use a multi-pronged approach: the Federation armada should deploy to disperse the advancing colony lasers and Zeon fleets – draw their fire and drain their energy – and then our Shambala forces can strike at them with our nuclear stockpile."
Meitzer Ronah nods in agreement, "I concur. We already have nuclear armaments armed on a dozen Shambala and Crossbones Vanguard ships. We can blow those colony lasers to stardust."
Minerva adds, "Repairs are almost completed on the Charybdis – the colony laser we captured from the enemy. I'm planning to put that into lunar orbit…let it just drift like space debris towards the dark side of the moon. After we hit the Zeon Forces with the armada and the nukes, we can use Charybdis for a knockout punch. I need to warn you, however, General Noah, that the casualties to the Federal Forces will be extraordinarily high. We'll be counting on the Federation armada to take the brunt of the enemy assault while we ready the nuclear and colony laser options."
General Noah closes his eyes for a long moment, then sighs, "I understand. The Shambala fleet simply isn't large enough to hold the colony lasers and the Zeon Armada at bay, and your chances of deploying the nuclear warheads successfully while under fire is minimal. Very well, then – drawing the fire of the enemy falls to the Federation Forces."
The flag-ranking Federal Forces officers in the conference room raise their voices in protest, but General Noah overrules and silences them, "I understand your concerns, but I concur with Miss Zabi's judgment: it's the best option available to us under the circumstances. We knew the day that we became soldiers that sacrifice is essential to winning a war. So many of our comrades-at-arms have already made that sacrifice."
Jonah…
"All prepare to move out," General Noah orders.
As the personnel begin to file out of the room…with a series of looks that go unnoticed.
Minerva Zabi looks towards the back of the departing General Noah, her father-in-law to be, with a knowing gleam in her eye.
Meitzer Ronah looks towards Minerva Zabi with a self-satisfied smirk.
Director Artasia Daikun looks towards both Minerva and Ronah with distrustful reproach.
Soon, the conference room is empty except for two pairs of eyes…2Lt. Chieming Noah's and Captain Eric Gardner's.
Gardner packs up his gear and prepares to depart, but before he leaves, he turns to Chieming, "You're with the Special Forces, aren't you?"
"Yes, sir," Chieming replies with a salute, "2Lt. Chieming Noah, Centurion Special Operations Team, sir."
"General Noah's daughter?" Gardner ventures.
"Yes, sir," Chieming answers.
"Wow," Gardner says with a smile, "Hey, Lieutenant…after this is over, I'd like to meet up with you again."
"I'd…enjoy that, Captain," Chieming replies, her heart pounding.
"Good luck out there," Gardner says, "because I do really want to see you again."
Chieming smiles, "I'll bear that in mind, sir."
"Nobody's here right now," Gardner replies mischievously, "Call me Eric, Chieming."
"Right, Eric," Chieming answers with a smile.
"The enemy is likely to attack on three fronts," Archduke Miguel informs his high command staff, "their fleet will advance upon Side 3 from L4, L5, and will likely also overrun Grenada for use as a beachhead in a direct invasion of Zeon. Before they can do so, however, they will be incinerated by the fire of the TARTARUS INITIATIVE."
The Tartarus Initiative: the top echelon officers of the Zeon High Command have been privy to that name for weeks now, and most of them even have a general idea of what it entails, but the Archduke's present discussion is the first time they have gained any extensive knowledge about the plan.
"Discounting the colony lasers Scylla and Charybdis, which were previously disabled by the enemy and abandoned by our forces at L5, we now have five colony lasers online: Polyphemus, Cerebus, Antaeus, Argus, and Chimera, the last of which we have already deployed to successfully repel an enemy attempt to pierce our perimeter. When the enemy attempts to invade Side 3 with the bulk of their forces, we will burn them in the crossfire of five colony lasers."
The Zeon High Command staff exchange worried looks, knowing that the Archduke's gambit is high-reward, but also high-risk. Success, they know, will depend on how effectively they can corral the attacking United Forces armada into the crossfire of the colony lasers.
As if reading their thoughts, the Archduke says, "Gentlemen: Zeon is depending on you. This is the time when heroic legacies are set forever."
Back at Baldur Bay, Minerva Zabi fixedly contemplates the data provided to her by Captain Eric Gardner detailing the locations and dispositions of the Zeons' five newly deployed colony lasers.
In Minerva's hand is a titanium Earth Federation Forces ink pen, one of the few possessions she's managed to hang on to from her days as an Earth Federation Forces officer. She twirls it nervously in her cybernetic left hand as she ponders the battle to come…a battle that Minerva knows will be decisive.
Minerva reasons that Miguel's forces will likely attempt to concentrate the United Forces attack fleet at a vector from which they can eliminate the United Forces in a single strike…perhaps catching the bulk of the United Forces into the crossfire of the five colony lasers.
To avoid such a fiery demise, the United Forces would need to disperse their forces so that the Zeon cannot bring the five colony lasers to bear on the entire United Forces armada at the same time, but that would greatly hamper the United Forces' ability to contend with the Zeon Forces at Side 3, to say nothing of taking control of the colony.
Which means that the five colony lasers must go…
I have one colony laser at my disposal, Minerva considers, Miguel and his officers might or might not be aware of that. What they definitely are unaware of, however, is the nuclear stockpile that we've got. If we get in a good first strike with the colony laser and the nukes, we might throw them off just enough for the Federation fleet to penetrate the Side 3 perimeter with minimal casualties.
The question is…do I want it to?
Minerva squeezes the titanium pen in her hand, shattering its shell with the power of her bionic fingers and palm. The red ink within the implement oozes out, spilling upon the stainless steel of Minerva's hand.
A pair of warm hands comes to rest gently upon Minerva's shoulders, startling her momentarily until she recognizes the handsome, familiar face of Hathaway Noah.
He looks so much like his father, Minerva reflects, removing a handkerchief from the breast pocket of her jacket to wipe the red ink from the fingers of her artificial limb.
"I brought you some coffee," Hathaway says with a tender smile, "I figured you wouldn't be sleeping tonight."
"Thank you," Minerva responds, taking the tin cup from him, "Are…how's your relationship with your father these days?"
Hathaway takes a sip from his own mug of coffee before giving Minerva a quizzical look, "That's an odd question to suddenly ask…especially right now."
Minerva smiles, "I wanted to think about something else besides the war for a moment."
"Considering where we were for years," Hathaway says, "it's been one hell of an improvement. I think both of us now have a better understanding what had happened all those years ago…with Quess and with Lt. Agi. I think there was once a great military leader who said that war doesn't allow us to be our better selves."
"I know which one," Minerva says cryptically, repocketing the handkerchief, "and he was right. Damn him: he was right."
Is it the inescapable destiny that we Zabis will always betray those who trust us? Minerva wonders bitterly.
Two hours later, the captured and repaired colony laser cannon nicknamed Charybdis is maneuvered into lunar orbit by a fleet of Shambala Republic ships, including the Mapother.
Debris accumulated from recent skirmishes against the Zeon forces is strewn about the Charybdis, whose internal mechanisms have been restored to working order, but whose outward appearance has deliberately been left battered and scarred. For all practical purposes, Charybdis appears to be just a massive derelict colony, like so many hundreds of others created by these twenty years of war.
Charybdis begins its slow orbit around the moon, drifting almost prosaically from Luna's light side to its dark side…
December 22, U.C. 0100, 21:54 hours
On the La Kaelum-II's MS deck, the Centurion Team is on standby alert…prepared to deploy at a moment's notice. They have inspected their combat mobile suits' systems in triplicate, and have complete confidence in the readiness of their machines.
What they are much less certain about is their own readiness.
The Centurions are still reeling from the loss of Jonah, who was not only their commanding officer…their leader, but also the best friend any of them have ever had. Jonah never had the combat instincts or tactical acumen of his predecessor, Athena Ibaz, but no other commanding officer was ever so empathetic…so humane.
Such a characteristic perhaps was not ideal for a combat unit leader, but Jonah's spirit has nonetheless bound the Centurions together during these long months of intense combat. His passing has left them rudderless, feeding their fears and anxieties because they know that in combat, a unit disunified is a unit doomed.
Holding them together has fallen upon the shoulders of 2Lt. Chieming Noah, who prays that she doesn't buckle under the strain. While it is true that she commanded the team on an interim basis for several months on Earth while Jonah and Jolie were MIA, the team did not see much heavy combat during that period. Now, however, they are about to enter perhaps the decisive battle of the war…one that entails much more than the team's survival.
Their failure could turn the course of history in favor of Alexander Miguel and the Archduchy of Zeon.
Chieming would do her best…give her life if need be, as she vowed to do the day she became a soldier, but she has no illusions that she can be the difference-maker…
The door from the ship's interior cabin decks to the MS launch deck slides open, and the Centurions collectively turn their heads; their eyes widen and their jaws drop in disbelief as they take in the sight.
1Lt. Jolie Minh stands before them, clad in her silver and red-trimmed normalsuit, her helmet carried in the crook of her elbow, sidearm strapped to her side. She looks the same as ever…girlishly beautiful…but there is a solemnity to her expression and a focus that they haven't seen in her before.
"Jolie…?" Chieming ventures uncertainly.
"Ship's surgeon has given me a clean bill of health," Jolie says flatly, "I'm taking command. I want all of you ready to deploy…not just physically, but mentally…emotionally, at an instant's notice. Of all the battles we've fought, this one will be the most important…and one way or another, maybe the last…at least with this enemy. We're not going to fail!"
"Ma'am!" the Centurions salute in unison, their morale meters having gone from nearly zero to one-hundred and ten during the past two minutes.
Another familiar figure appears in the mobile suit deck, Lt. Col. Christina McKenzie, Director of the Special Forces. The Centurions turn to salute their Director.
Christina returns the salute crisply and says, "I've come to make it official: as of now, 1Lt. Jolie Minh is the commanding officer of the Centurion Special Operations Team."
The Centurions restrain their urges to cheer, knowing that under the circumstances, it would not be appropriate.
Christina continues, "The Centurion Team and other remaining Special Forces units will be deploying to support the United Forces' assault on the Zeon Armada at Side 3. Our objective is to destroy the Zeon war machine and liberate Side 3. Details of the operation will be uploaded directly into your MS combat computers shortly, but I'll tell you all this much: the Zeon Forces have five operational colony lasers waiting for you near the Side 3 Zone."
The Centurion Team has already known about this for a few hours, having been informed by Chieming after she learned the information from her new friend, Captain Eric Gardner of the Intelligence Corps. Still, having it affirmed by Lt. Col. McKenzie causes them to draw in their breaths in apprehension.
"We'll be relying on the Special Forces to help us neutralize the colony lasers and break through the Zeon perimeter," Lt. Col. McKenzie says, "your MS will be armed with extra payloads of heavy ordnance for that purpose. 1Lt. Minh…I need a private word with you."
"Yes, ma'am," Jolie replies with a salute, with subsequent orders for her team to assist the technicians in arming the extra weapons payloads onto their MS.
Christina takes Jolie into a private conference room, and says to her grimly, "Minerva gave us one of Shambala's nuclear warheads; she asked me to have it installed onto your White Phoenix Gundam."
"To hell with the Antarctic Treaty, eh?" Jolie says sarcastically.
"To hell with that since Miguel dropped those colonies on Earth," Christina affirms, "We have a plan to eliminate the enemy's colony lasers, but if somehow, our plan comes up short…Jolie, we need you to be our ace in the hole. Literally."
"I'm ready," Jolie says, staring out of the conference room's view port towards the direction of Side 3.
01:38 hours, December 23, U.C. 0100
Across dozens of warships and aboard hundreds of mobile suits among the United Forces and Archduchy of Zeon Forces, soldiers deploy for combat. Farewells have been said, prayers offered, combat preparations made ready, and fears set aside.
1Lt. Jolie Minh's silver-gloved finger plays across, then presses the "Startup Initiator Sequence 1" button on the console, then drifts lightly over to the right to press "Startup Initiator Sequence 2." The powerful hum of her mobile suit's engine confirms critical mass.
The NCX-01 White Phoenix Gundam is raised onto the launch deck of the La-Kaelum-II, and swung out onto the launch catapult. Launch crew technicians clear the deck as the datum lights of the La Kaelum-II's OLS sequence from red to yellow.
Jolie draws in an audible breath and closes her eyes for a moment, offering a silent prayer.
Jonah…help me fulfill the promise I made to you, my love.
Jolie opens her eyes as the datum lights glow green.
Jolie exhales her breath and says into the communications link in her helmet, "This is Centurion Leader to all units…move out!"
The White Phoenix Gundam tears forth from the launch deck at 110 knots. Within moments, the rest of her squad follows behind her.
Aboard the Cassius, almost simultaneously, Archduke Alexander Miguel seals the collar and wrist links of his black and red normalsuit as an aide hands him his helmet.
General Ross Davenport says, "Alex, surely you don't need to go into MS combat personally. We need you to command."
"I'll command from the front," the Archduke says dryly, "the way a true Zeon warrior does."
Perhaps sensing the sting of those words, Alexander turns to his loyal subordinate with a smile and a pat on the shoulder, "But of all the Zeon warriors I've served with during these many years, none have been truer than you, old friend."
Davenport is tightlipped as he replies, "I dedicated my life to service to the Archduchy long ago, Alex…even when you were just a boy and I served under the command of your father during the One Year War."
Alexander says, "That's why I need you to stay behind and command our forces from the rear, Ross. I will be depending on you. All of Zeon is depending on you. I can think of no better man to take command."
Davenport salutes, "I will not fail you or Zeon, my lord."
"Thank you, Ross," the Archduke says, pulling on his helmet, "For today…for everything."
The Archduchy of Zeon Space Armada, deployed in full force, forms a protective perimeter around the Side 3 Zone, flanked by five massive colony laser cannon - Antaeus, Argus, Cerebus, Chimaera, and Polyphemus. More than 600 mobile suits have been deployed as well, amassed for a final showdown with the approaching United Forces.
At the front of the Zeon Forces is Archduke Alexander Miguel, aboard his ebony Azrael mounted with the Ravenwing Psychomm Weapons System.
"Have all colony laser weapons systems on standby," Miguel orders, "but do not fire until the enemy is concentrated in position where we can eliminate the bulk of them in crossfire."
The cosmos is naturally silent…at least to the hearing of the living beings that originated from the Earth. Sound, as human beings perceive it, is caused by the vibrations that travel through the air to reach their eardrums. Airless space accommodates no sound, although scientists as far back as the 21st Century of the old calendar had built instruments that reinterpreted the infrared energy wavelengths given off from the dawn of the universe as "background noise" that human ears could discern…
Whatever the disposition of the universe to sound might be, a preternatural silence has fallen upon the relatively (in cosmic terms) miniscule space between the surface of Earth's moon and the space colonies of Side 3, where two great armies are arrayed against one another, prepared for their decisive clash.
In terms of numbers, the Archduchy of Zeon Forces hold a nearly two-to-one advantage in capital warships and a three-to-two advantage in mobile suits, to say nothing of the five colony laser cannon that the Zeon have proverbially hidden in plain sight amidst the heavily-populated space colonies of the Zeon homeland.
Under Archduke Miguel's direction, the Zeon Forces have organized themselves into assault forces of five warships attended by twenty mobile suits, spread fairly thin, each assigned to hunt down a corresponding United Forces combat unit and herd it towards a pre-determined set of coordinates at a pre-determined time.
As per Minerva Zabi's recommendations, the United Forces have dispersed themselves widely across the combat theater, making them a difficult target for the Zeon Forces to pinpoint; this maneuver will spare them the fury of the Zeon's colony lasers, but will leave them vulnerable to the Zeon Armada.
The long prelude to this final battle has finally passed; for the children of the First Universal Century, the day of Ragnarök has finally come.
"I want an opening salvo directed towards the greatest concentration of their warships!" General Bright Noah bellows from the bridge of his command ship, "All ships: fire at will with all missiles and mega particle beam cannon!"
And so, with what would certainly be a thunderous cadence if sound could travel through the emptiness of space, scores of missiles disgorge themselves from the launch tubes of the massed Earth Federation Space Armada's ships…and mega particle beam cannon flash an angry red.
Some of the missiles and beams strike home on Zeon warships and mobile suits, causing them to collapse inward like aluminum cans stricken with sledgehammers. Many more Zeon combat craft, however, survive the salvo, and answer with hellfire of their own…sinking one Federation frigate and damaging at least three others.
Even the Federation command ship captained by General Noah takes a hit from a stray missile, though damage is localized to nonessential decks and the ship remains combat-worthy.
Bright sends a general order down the chain of command throughout the entire Federation Armada, "Remember that no matter how the enemy pushes you, do NOT concentrate forces! We don't know exactly where their colony lasers are stationed at this point, and the enemy will get us all if they catch us in the cannon's crossfire!"
The order is received and adhered to as much as possible, but with the Federal Forces units outnumbered by the enemy nearly two-to-one, the Federation commanders know that it is only a matter of time before the enemy forces them to close ranks.
Archduke Miguel reduces another Jegan unit to scrap with a searing burst of beam fire from the Azrael's beam rifle as he surveys the situation. His forces are pushing the Federation fleet away from the Side 3 perimeter, but have not yet corralled them to a location from which the colony lasers can take out majority of them.
Maybe they need some more aggressive coaxing, the Archduke decides.
"This is the Leader," Miguel instructs, "Ready the Cerebus for firing."
"Yes, m'lord," comes the prompt reply, "Target, m'lord?"
"Anywhere there are Earthist scum to incinerate," Miguel says coldly.
Colony Laser Cerebus, Colony 57 of Bunch 19 of Side 3, was known as "Sunnydale" in its previous incarnation. It had been a lush residential colony, and also included a light industrial section that housed the corporate headquarters of many of Side 3's consumer electronic firms.
Severely damaged by fighting between the Federation and Zeon forces in U.C. 0079, the colony was abandoned for a number of years until it was reincarnated into its current configuration as a weapon of mass destruction.
Yesterday's placid Sunnydale is today's terrible Cerebus, and instead of casting the warm, life-affirming rays of the sun upon the people who lived within it, Cerebus now converts that same solar energy into an irresistible destructive stream of heat energy that sears flesh, bone, and alloy alike.
The Cerebus' massive, maw-like barrel begins to glow with the telltale signs of imminent catastrophe.
From his command ship, General Noah sees it, and his eyes widen in alarm, "ALL SHIPS AT COORDINATES G-6! CLEAR THE AREA NOW!"
Bright's orders barely escape his lips before the blinding light surges forward, passing a kilometer above the bridge of his command ship, and rushing forth to consume no fewer than seven Federation warships and as many as twenty-eight mobile suits. The destructive energy does not stop until it burns a new crater six kilometers wide and two kilometers deep into the lunar surface, a mere twelve kilometers from the perimeter of Anman City.
"That madman!" snarls Bright.
"General," comes Minerva Zabi's voice through Bright's headset, "We're preparing the second phase of the attack."
"You'd better hurry," Bright advises.
Minerva replies, "I saw what just happened. We're going to respond."
On the Crossbones Vanguard destroyer Corleone, a single missile, its armored shell painted bone white, is lifted out of its protective chamber and sent through a system of automated chutes into a high-pressure barrel.
"Missile armed," a tech intones, "Target acquired. Ready to fire on your command."
The captain of the Corleone, having received the command signal from Meitzer Ronah and Minerva Zabi, gives the order, "Fire at will, Lieutenant."
The missile is raised into firing position, aimed with the assistance of targeting computers, and launched…straight into the midst of the Zeon Armada. Then, responding to a microwave signal from the Corleone, the warheads unleash 50 kilotons of force, engulfing a dozen Zeon warships and three times as many mobile suits.
Mere instants after the pile-driving impact of the detonation of the nuclear warhead from the Corleone, Minerva Zabi issues a new order, "Charybdis, standby…make sure to line up both target objectives before opening fire."
"Roger, ma'am," comes the reply from the tech.
The Charybdis' maneuvering thrusters come to life, directing the barrel of the massive weapon at an angle in line of sight of two high-heat signatures.
"Targets acquired," another tech says flatly, "energy buildup at 80%. T-minus fifteen seconds to firing."
During those fifteen seconds, a dozen more Federation and Zeon mobile suit pilots die in exchanges of beam rifle fire and missile salvoes. Who is to say whether or not they were fortunate to miss what comes next?
Charybdis' six-kilometer wide, thirty-kilometer long barrel churns with concentrated and hyper-accelerated starlight, which belches forth a burning stream of plasma energy that lances forth from the shadow of the moon towards Side 3.
The beam smashes through a squadron of Zeon warships before immolating Charybdis' two brothers Antaeus and Polyphemus.
Fratricide, just like Cain and Abel and Romulus and Remus.
"DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!" Archduke Miguel rages through clenched teeth as he strikes the control console of the Azrael with his fist, causing the combat computer to flicker momentarily after he witnesses the destruction of the Antaeus and the Polyphemus.
Through his helmet monitors, Miguel receives reports from a dozen fronts indicating chaos and disorientation among his forces in the wake of the enemy's one-two punch of the nuclear missile detonation and the colony laser attack.
"Argus standby to fire," Miguel orders darkly, "Target the source of that last colony laser strike: let's see how effective they are after being defanged."
Within moments, the Argus has achieved critical mass…its energy stores at 100%. For the third time in thirty minutes' time, a colony laser unleashes the sun's energy in a concentrated beam across the expanse of space between Side 3 and Luna.
The Argus' beam strikes the Charybdis head-on, completely destroying its counterpart before boring yet another circular scar upon the face of the moon's dark side.
Minerva Zabi witnesses the Charybdis' demise without surprise or trepidation; the weapon has fulfilled its function.
Minerva contacts General Noah, "General…move in now."
The Earth Federation Space Armada begins to congregate upon the Side 3 perimeter from numerous directions, finding the resistance of the Zeon armada suddenly porous and feeble…still reeling from the double-blow of the nuke strike and the sudden loss of two of its colony lasers from the firing of the Charybdis.
But the Archduchy of Zeon did not become one of the greatest military powers in the history of human warfare by lacking in resilience. As the shock of the double-strike by the United Forces fades, the Zeon Forces regroup and reassert themselves, fighting with renewed intensity as the United Forces press them back into the Side 3 Perimeter.
"Hold them outside the perimeter!" General Ross Davenport orders from the Zeon High Command's reinforced bunker at Cosmic Alexandria, "We still have the Argus, Cerebus, and Chimera, but we won't be able to bring them to bear on the enemy if they penetrate into Side 3!"
Aboard the Azrael, Archduke Alexander overhears his trusted subordinate's commands and dark inspiration alights upon him…
"With all due respect to General Davenport," Alexander says across the Zeon Forces' tactical network, "I'm overriding that last order: all forces withdraw into the Side 3 perimeter…"
"Your Majesty?" Davenport says, "Why…?"
"Those Earthists won't concentrate their forces so long as they fear that we'll strike at them with our colony lasers," Miguel replies, "They'll lose that fear after they enter the Side 3 Zone because they believe that we can't fire the colony lasers into Side 3."
"Your Majesty," Davenport responds with alarm, "Then you mean…?"
"We'll draw them into Side 3," Miguel affirms, "Into the heart of Zeon. There, they will concentrate their forces, believing that they have us. And then…"
"Your Majesty," Davenport says a third time, "Our people…"
"…will understand," Miguel finishes for him, "The Zeon people are strong. They understand the value of sacrifice for a greater cause. My brother…my brother Jonah understood. The Archduchy of Zeon is more than a cluster of space colonies. Zeon is greater than any and all of us. They will understand."
"Yes, m'lord," Davenport responds at last, "The Earthists will perish: I vow it, my lord!"
En masse, the Zeon fleets and mobile suit squadrons begin to withdraw into the Side 3 perimeter…fighting fiercely as they go, but clearly falling back.
General Noah's many years of combat experience and soldier's instincts sense something wrong about that. The Zeon Forces are heavily battered, but no more so than the United Forces. They put up a resilient resistance only minutes ago; why would they suddenly withdraw?
Nonetheless, the path to Side 3 has opened up for the United Forces, and as their strength has already been nearly halved by the battle up to this point, Bright knows that his forces must take Side 3 now because they will not have another, better opportunity.
"All forces," General Noah says decisively, "Advance into Side 3 Zone, but exercise caution."
Amidst all this activity, the Centurion Special Operations Team has been struggling through its own small niche of the war, pitting its mettle against that of the best of the Archduchy of Zeon's MS pilots…the Archduke's Guard – Alexander Miguel's handpicked elite, normally assigned to his own personal security detail, but now deployed to the front lines to meet the demands of this decisive battle.
The pilots of the Archduke's Guard have certainly proven their mettle to the Centurions and the other MS pilots of the Federation's own elite Special Operations Forces. The Archduchy of Zeon originated MS warfare, and these daughters and sons of Spacenoids have demonstrated that space is their domain, and they are well-versed in how to wage war in the airless void.
1Lt. Jolie Minh, the newly christened commanding officer of the Centurion Team, jukes and twists her White Phoenix Gundam to dodge the incoming beam and missile fire from three Gellond-S types at her five, six, and seven o'clock positions.
The pursuit has gone on for approximately seventy seconds. Jolie's teammates are each engaged in his or her own struggle with enemy units and cannot come to her relief.
What's the matter with me? Jolie berates herself. I'm the leader of this squad now. It's my responsibility to make sure they all survive.
Jolie reconfigures the WPG to mobile suit configuration and turns the WPG around, opening fire with the beam rifle while thrusting out the WPG's left knee and simultaneously drawing out the WPG's beam saber.
During the two years of her career as a combat MS pilot to date, Jolie has been known as a quick-killer pilot…invariably targeting and always striking at the enemy unit's cockpit or nuclear fusion engine, guaranteeing fatality.
Her approach today, however, is one that seemingly seeks to avoid death: her beam rifle shot strikes at an essential command relay conduit in the Gellond's upper torso, the destruction of which severs the connection between the control cockpit and the weapons and maneuvering systems of the mobile suit, but leaves the mecha intact and its life-support systems functional. The knee to the second Gellond's thoracic area breaks several key gears that immobilize the MS, but spares its pilot anything worse than a concussion. The beam saber drag, rather artistically, cuts the reinforced cockpit out of the Zeon war machine with surgical precision.
A PSI-spark emanates from Jolie's helmet, as she senses a mounting danger at the coordinates where the Federation Armada is bearing down.
"Damn!" Jolie curses, General Noah and the armada are sailing into a trap!
"This is Centurion Leader to armada command ship: General Noah! Get out of there, now!" Jolie calls out desperately.
Nothing. Too much Minovsky Particle interference.
"Jolie, what is it?" 2Lt. Chieming Noah, having monitored the tactical network, asks.
Not wanting to alarm Chieming, Jolie says, "Just mind that bandit at your four o'clock position, Lt. Noah."
Jolie's eyes flash as her PSI-energy cuts through the Minovsky Particle field.
On the bridge of his command ship, General Bright Noah hears…no, doesn't quite hear…at least not with his ears, but he's had this sensation before…during the One Year War…with Amuro Ray…during the Gryps Conflict with Camille Vidan and during the First Neo Zeon War with Judau Ashta…
He detects the thoughts of Jolie Minh in his own mind.
General Noah! The enemy is about to fire its colony lasers at the Federation Armada! Get out of there, now!
Bright's eyes widen in alarm. His intuition had proved correct, and his experience tells him to always heed the warnings of an allied Newtype.
Bright looks out the viewport of his command ship; to his horror, a large part of the Federation fleet is already deeply engaged in fever-pitched broadside combat against the Zeon armada amidst the colonies of Side 3.
"This is General Noah! All ships disengage and withdraw imme…"
General Noah has not even finished getting the orders out when the hellacious light of three colony laser cannon rip forth simultaneously, immolating Federation and Zeon warships alike, and not sparing even the still-populated Side 3 colonies in their path.
That insane bastard! Bright realizes, even as he shields his eyes from the horrible glare, He's willing to sacrifice his own troops…even his own citizens, just to destroy us!
The glare passes, and Bright's techs confirm what his slowly returning vision begin to tell him.
More than two-thirds of the Earth Federation Space Armada has been atomized.
Aboard the Shambala Republic ships Mapother, Cruz, and Mitchell, a trio of missiles, each tipped with 50-megaton nuclear warheads, are armed and loaded into launch tubes. The colony laser units Argus, Cerebus, and Chimera having been fired fewer than three minutes earlier, still glow with residual heat…making them obvious targets.
"Targets acquired and locked: colony lasers Argus, Cerebus, and Chimera within firing range," a tech announces.
"Open fire," Minerva Zabi rasps harshly.
The missiles sail forth at multiple Mach velocity. Within minutes, dual ballooning conflagrations spanning dozens of kilometers mark the destruction of the Argus and the Cerebus as the warheads hit home, rendering the two colony lasers into debris.
The third missile, however, is sent careening off course by a well-placed shot by a pursuing Zeon mobile suit; the missile veers into deep space…far, far off-target.
"Two hits, one miss. Argus and Cerebus confirmed destroyed," the same tech intones, "Chimera remains intact and functional."
"Damn it!" Minerva curses. The United Forces Armada has only one more nuclear missile.
Minerva raises Jolie on the tactical network, "Minerva Zabi to Centurion Leader."
Jolie replies immediately, "Here, 'Thena."
"Jolie, listen," Minerva says grimly, "We're out of options. It's up to you. Down the Chimera before Miguel can do any more damage with it."
"Roger, ma'am," Jolie responds.
Jolie hits maximum thrust on the WPG, jetting through the Side 3 perimeter, fighting her way through screens of Zeon MS obstructing her path.
2Lt. Chieming Noah gives the order to the rest of the Special Forces, "You heard Minerva: we'll back Jolie up! Go! Go! Go! GO!"
Heeding Chieming's spirited command, the Special Forces MS tear through the Side 3 perimeter.
Archduke Miguel's visage has taken on a decidedly demonic mien in response to the destruction of the Argus and the Cerebus.
He has only one functioning colony laser remaining, and although he has succeeded in eliminating seventy percent of the Earth Federation Forces Space Armada, he has not touched the Shambala Republic's forces, which have only now started to enter the Side 3 Zone en masse and, fresh and undamaged in any significant manner, and are routing the already badly mauled Zeon forces.
Archduke Miguel's forces fight valiantly and relentlessly, as he expects them to, but the Federation Armada's initial assault has whittled them down too much for them to resist the onslaught of the second wave of the United Forces' attack, led by the Shambala Republic Forces.
Miguel knows that his forces will struggle down to the last man, mobile suit, and ship, but will only delay the inevitable.
These degenerates and their traitorous confederates will not defile the heartland of Zeon again, the Archduke resolves.
The Archduke issues the order to the command crew of the last remaining colony laser, the Chimera, "This is the Leader: you will target and open fire upon Cosmic Alexandria immediately."
There is a moment of terrible, utter silence across the Zeon tactical network as the implications of Miguel's order sinks in: the Zeon homeland, where Zeon Daikun founded the Zeon Republic a half century ago, where the Zabis came to power and ruled over the Archduchy of Zeon for a decade, and had long been the ultimate refuge of Contolist ideology, has been targeted for destruction by the Archduke of Zeon.
The question is in every man's mind: Has the Leader gone mad?
General Davenport, however, lends the necessary perspective, "Your Majesty, we understand and agree with your objective. We are the people of Zeon: we will never submit to those Earthist swine and their collaborators. We will perish proudly, like true Zeon men and women, before we allow that filth to profane us with their touch. Our people are ready and waiting, Your Majesty: send us to the eternal cosmos!"
"Thank you, Ross," Miguel says with uncharacteristic warmth, "It is decided. This will be the final testament of our people. We are Zeon, and we are indomitable!"
"SIEG, ZEON! SIEG, ZEON! SIEG, ZEON!" comes the thunderous response.
"Power at sixty-five percent," a tech in the command center of the Chimera announces, "Seven minutes, fifty-two seconds to firing."
From the cockpit of the Kizi Aslan, Minerva sees the telltale glow of the Chimera charging up, ready to fire another salvo. Minerva's heart begins pounding in horror as the Aslan's combat computer confirms what her eyes have already told her.
Minerva raises Jolie on the tactical network again, "Jolie! You have to hurry! Miguel is going to fire the Chimera at Zum City!"
The capital of Side 3, one of the most heavily populated space colonies in orbit, home to fifteen million citizens.
In the cockpit of the White Phoenix Gundam, Jolie responds by shifting her Wavediver configuration mobile suit into overdrive thrust…pushing the thrusters into near meltdown conditions.
"Danger!" the AI of the WPG's combat computer warns, "Power output to thrusters surpassing design limits! Unit integrity threatened!"
Jolie tunes out the warning, diverting energy from non-essential systems further to the thrusters.
Ahead of her lies the Chimera, but it remains still more than a dozen kilometers out of range, every meter of which, it seems, is obstructed by enemy mobile suits and warships.
Jolie screams with rage as she dives among them, weapons blazing from the WPG; she no longer has the luxury of finesse or mercy.
The timing indicator on the WPG's cockpit monitor indicates that she has precisely six minutes, thirty-seven seconds to reach her target objective.
Jolie is within two minutes of coming into range of the Chimera and already arming the single nuclear missile with which Minerva equipped her, when she sees the final obstacle in her path, and her heart runs cold.
Confronting her is Archduke Miguel's signature mobile suit, the Azrael, with its Ravenwing Psychomm device armed and primed.
"All forces, move in!" Minerva orders, "Relieve the remains of the Earth Federation Forces Armada! Take down as many enemy units as you can and beat a path straight to the Chimera! We must disable it before it fires!"
The Shambala Forces respond with a devastating show of force that further decimates the already gutted Zeon Forces, but Chimera still remains tantalizingly out of reach of their weapons. Even if they reach the Chimera in time, their weapons systems might not do enough damage quickly enough to save Zum City…
Jolie…Minerva prays.
The Azrael and the White Phoenix Gundam exchange beam cannon fire. Miguel chops viciously at the WPG with the multiple weapon systems of his WPG, the Federation mobile suit barely avoiding his strikes.
Inside the cockpit of the WPG, Jolie has retracted the nuclear warhead within the WPG's armored shell and concentrates on avoiding the Azrael's strikes. Alexander Miguel is a formidable foe, and coupled with the advanced technology of the Ravenwing, is proving nearly as dangerous as Kyoko Yamaguchi had been.
A shot from the Azrael's beam rifle following a dynamic spin maneuver comes perilously close to striking the nacelle that houses the nuclear warhead.
Jolie counterfires, but hits nothing other than empty space. Before Jolie can regroup for a second shot, Psychomm Funnels from the Ravenwing attack from behind, buffeting her off course and ensnaring the WPG in a web of electron energy.
"NO!" Jolie snarls, a PSI-spark from her helmet expanding into an energy beam that radiates from the armor of the WPG and neutralizes the energy bubble in which the Psychomm Funnels had trapped her mecha, also immolating the offending funnels in the process.
"Two minutes to firing," the combat A.I. indicates, referring to the firing of the Chimera. Jolie's eyes confirm the computer's assessment.
"You!" Alexander Miguel snarls across the tactical net, "You are the one who murdered Kyoko and Jonah! Degenerate Earthist bitch: even if all of Zeon must be destroyed as the price, YOU WILL DIE TODAY!"
"Stop it, Miguel!" Jolie snarls back, "Don't make me break my word to Jonah!"
"Don't you dare speak his name!" Miguel spits back, slashing at the WPG with the Azrael's beam saber, "You ruined my brother, and then you murdered him!"
Jolie answers with a parry from her WPG's own beam saber, and these words, "Jonah gave his life to redeem all the evil you've done! If there's any human decency in you at all, stop this attack NOW!"
Miguel responds to Jolie's demand by simultaneously deploying ALL of the Azrael's weapons systems at the WPG.
Jolie twists, jukes, and thrusts away from the incoming hail of fire…missiles and Psychom Funnel beam strikes by the dozen…all pushing her farther away from the nuke's range of the Chimera.
"One minute to firing," the A.I. announces.
Jolie lets out a grunting scream and directs the WPG to reverse directions, nearly snapping the mecha in two in the process. She fires the weapons of the WPG to counter the incoming firestorm, allowing the mecha's armor and the energy shield created by her own PSI-powers to deflect the rest.
The WPG soars back within range of the Chimera.
Jolie fingers the controls to re-arm the nuclear missile. A reinforced hatch opens in the WPG's armor and the nuclear-armed rocket emerges from an interior nacelle.
"Missile armed. Acquiring target," the A.I. intones coldly.
Jolie has the Chimera, once a space colony that housed three million souls, bracketed in the targeting scopes of the WPG's cockpit.
Jolie's mind sparks; the Azrael dives upon the WPG with its beam saber extended.
Jolie strikes with a counter thrust of the WPG's own beam saber.
The golden beam of the Zeon mobile suit's weapon passes three meters to the left of the departing nuclear warhead, slicing off the WPG's right arm.
The red beam of the WPG's beam saber, carried in the Federation mobile suit's left hand, sinks directly into cockpit of the Azrael.
As his body begins melting away, Alexander Miguel, the Archduke of Zeon, has time for one final thought…
Kyoko…
"Five seconds to firing," the A.I. announces as the nuclear missile hits home on the Chimera.
A hellish glow emanates from within the Chimera as violent energies intermingle for a moment before the colony laser explodes with nova intensity.
The exploding remains of the Azrael and the heavily damaged, but still mostly intact WPG are thrown apart by the resulting catastrophic explosion…the WPG's computers transform the MS into Wavediver configuration and expends the last of its thrust to stay barely ahead of the destructive shockwave.
In the cockpit of the WPG, Jolie holds her helmeted head and screams with frustration and rage…she has destroyed the Chimera and saved countless lives at Zum City, but has failed to keep her promise to Jonah.
Jonah…Jolie sobs bitterly…Jonah, I'm so sorry…I failed…I couldn't save your brother…
The battle continues to rage across Side 3, but over the course of the next thirty-six hours, the direction of the tide is clear as ship after Zeon ship broadcasts its surrender message or is destroyed by United Forces warships. Federation and Shambala Republic mobile suits begin flushing the remaining occupying Zeon Forces from the Side 3 colonies.
And then, at precisely 14:59, December 25, U.C. 0100, the message is received from Cosmic Alexandria from General Ross Davenport of the Archduchy of Zeon, "The Archduchy of Zeon hereby accepts the terms of surrender issued by the United Forces Armada…"
At long, long last…the war is over.
In Zum City, no longer called Cosmic Alexandria by its inhabitants, there is mass celebration and rejoicing in the colony's wide boulevards and open plazas as the flag of the Archduchy of Zeon is lowered and subsequently replaced by the flag of the Shambala Republic…a white field surrounding a cluster of pristine space colonies lit by the warmth of a gently radiant yellow sun….
By that evening, Director Artasia Daikun of the Shambala Republic is received by the people of Side 3 with warmth and affection. The people chant triumphantly…not "Sieg, Zeon" or even the director's name, but a word that has taken a paramount value to these people besieged by a generation of war, "PEACE! PEACE! PEACE!"
Minerva Zabi steps reluctantly into the dark, abandoned halls of Zum Palace, the residence once occupied by the Zabi Royal Family and, more recently, by elements of Archduke Miguel's regime. The population is still reveling in their newfound peace and independence, and the looters and vandals have not found their way to the palace yet.
Minerva is in the Hall of Portraits, where massive oil paintings of her grandfather, Archduke Degin Zabi, and her uncles and aunt Giren, Garma, and Kishiria…and her father, Dozle, hang on the walls. Their portraits are the embodiment of disdain for life and all that they could not subjugate or crush under their iron heels.
But Minerva spares no attention for those portraits, looking instead at a much smaller portrait hung in that same chamber…a portrait of a family…her own. Prince Dozle, his wife Princess Zenna, and their infant daughter Princess Minerva…oblivious to the terrible future that awaited.
Minerva sinks to her knees before her parents' portrait and begins to sob uncontrollably, "Father…Mother…forgive me. I betrayed and destroyed all that you built so that there might be hope for a better world than the one you left behind…"
Another figure, Hathaway Noah, enters the chamber. He steps quietly towards his fiancée and takes her into his arms, kissing her on the cheek and holding her gently as she unleashes her sobs.
Minerva and Hathaway linger in the chamber for a quarter hour longer, and then, Minerva removes the portrait of her family, clutching it lovingly in her arms. She then reaches into the breast pocket of her jacket with her cybernetic hand and extracts a flame pistol, aiming it at the portrait of Archduke Degin Zabi.
Minerva pulls the trigger and sets the portrait of her late grandfather on fire. Soon, the flame spreads…igniting the portraits of Giren, Dozle, Kishiria, and Garma. The ghastly images of the Zabis burn as if demons in the fires of Hell…
Minerva and Hathaway depart the Palace of the Zabis forever, not looking back as the room burns…
12:00, January 1, U.C. 0101
Shambala City, Side 3, The Republic of Shambala
The sound of musical chanting is heard in the streets of the newly liberated and renamed capital city...a song...not quite a national anthem...but a folk song in the truest sense...a song of the people.....
Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala.
Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind
On the road to Shambala
Everyone is lucky, everyone is so kind
On the road to Shambala.
How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala?
I can tell my sister by the flowers in her eyes
On the road to Shambala
I can tell my brother by the flowers in his eyes
On the road to Shambala.
How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala?
The joyous chanting subsides as Prime Minister Artasia Daikun, elected almost unanimously by the Congress of the People of the Shambala Republic as the new republic's first head of state, takes the dais in the central plaza of the city as an audience of billions prepares to listen to her first address as Prime Minster. The Prime Minister is greeted with joyous applause and cheers that echo throughout the space colonies.
Artasia waits for the applause and cheers to fade before she begins, "Fellow citizens of Shambala: the long, dark night that threatened to engulf us for a generation has finally passed. The dawn of a new sun has appeared on the horizon, and at long last, the light of peace and freedom will shine upon humankind. A generation ago, my father stood before you at this very spot and proclaimed the dawn of a shining new era, but ominous clouds of war soon darkened his bright dreams. But as is the case with each new morning, the light returns. This is a new day, and a new century. In this Second Universal Century, we the people will set right the wrongs of yesterday, and we will bring fresh hope for peace and justice for tomorrow…not only for the people of space, but for our brothers and sister of the Earth."
Artasia's speech is greeted with a multitude of cheers…and a few knowing smiles, particularly on the lips of Meizuar Ronah, now Defense Minister Meitzer Ronah, who sits behind Artasia on dais.
Not far from the central plaza where Prime Minister Artasia gives her speech, Deputy Prime Minister Minerva Zabi shares some time with her best friend, Captain Jolie Minh-Miguel of the Earth Federation Special Operations Forces, before she takes the dais to deliver an address of her own. Minerva is characteristically dressed in the refined, respectable pantsuit of a state diplomat, and Jolie, in her Earth Federation Forces' dress uniform, an overcoat draped over her shoulders in the style that Minerva herself once favored when she called herself Athena Ibaz.
Jolie is somber as she listens attentively to Prime Minister Artasia's speech until Minerva puts a comforting hand…her right, flesh hand, on Jolie's shoulder.
Jolie smiles wanly at her sister-at-arms, "Mission accomplished?"
Minerva replies, "This mission, at least. My parents' war is over, but a new, different kind of struggle is just beginning."
Jolie nods, "We'll support each other. Just as we always have."
"Thank you, Jolie," Minerva says, "How are you holding up?"
Jolie replies grimly, "I'll be fine. I vowed to Jonah to continue what we started…to secure the peace that we've won. There's a great amount of work to be done to keep that vow."
Minerva answers, "Take care, Jolie. There's still a great amount of evil in this universe, some of it hidden in plain sight. Always be vigilant."
The two friends exchange a warm embrace as they bid each other farewell to pursue their separate paths.
Deputy Prime Minister Minerva Zabi takes to the dais to address the republic at 13:13, the response to her presence muted and polite compared to the wild enthusiasm that had greeted Prime Minister Artasia Daikun. Minerva understands and the people's reluctance to fully embrace her. She is a Zabi, after all, and she has accepted that she must earn the people's trust.
Beginning now…
"Fellow citizens of Shambala. Forty years ago, my grandfather Degin Zabi committed a horrible crime against Prime Minister Daikun's father that precipitated a tragedy that has claimed more than half of humanity over the course of the past three decades. As such, many of you rightfully believe that I have no place speaking before you today. Prime Minister Daikun has set aside our familial vendettas to work with me so that we could rectify the crimes and errors of the past…to make the Second Universal Century a more peaceful, just, and secure time than the First. Once before, a Daikun and a Zabi led the Spacenoids in a quest for freedom to embrace humanity's destiny, but all too human flaws such as greed, envy, selfishness, and lust for power twisted that noble dream. But I vow to you that in the Second Century, we will succeed where our forefathers failed. In this Second Century, we will realize that dream. In this Second Century, we will fulfill the promise of a better tomorrow."
The speech is overheard by the members of the Centurion Team on their communications band…MSgt. Anna Horowitz, FSgt. Geoff Sutcliffe, Chief Warrant Officer Tomo Higashi, Chief Warrant Officer Karim Abdul Al-Said, 1Lt. Chieming Noah, and Captain Jolie Minh-Miguel, aboard their mobile suits on the deck of the La Kaelum-II as the ship prepares to depart Side 3 for its home dock at Garrison Noah in Side 7.
Jolie extracts from the pocket of her normalsuit the "JoMi/JoMi" patch that she and Jonah had made seemingly a lifetime ago. She holds the patch close to her heart.
Jonah, my love…I'll always remember all that we shared, and I'll continue the work that we started.
A disembodied voice that Jolie recognizes at Jonah's responds within her soul.
Jolie…I'll always love you, and I'll be waiting for you.
The crescent of the emerging sun rises brightly over the rim of the moon, shining brilliant rays of life-affirming light upon the La-Kaelum-II, the mobile suits of the Centurion Special Operations Team, and the space colonies of Side 3…the eternal flame of life and hope.
Jolie grips the controls of the WPG in her normalsuit-gloved hands, and announces to her squad, "This is Captain Minh-Miguel to all Centurions: let's move out."
"Mission objective, Captain?" Chieming Noah asks.
"To protect all of our tomorrows, Lieutenant," Jolie replies.
Thrust controls are set to maximum, and the Centurion Team's mobile suits swing forward on catapult launches…soaring into the light of a new day.
FINIS
This concludes the narrative of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE SECOND CENTURY, PART 2: THE SECOND CENTURY.
The author would like to thank Nicholaus Abarr, Eric Gardner, Gary Wagers, and others who have supported this story.
The adventures of Jolie Minh and Athena Ibaz conclude in MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE SECOND CENTURY PART 3: THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, in 2010!
