March 31st, 70 CE 11:55 P.M Colonial Standard. ZAFT Georges Danton. Lagrange 5. Talia Gladys POV
When it came to depictions of warfare in film, focus was usually given to the intense battles that took place, on the brave and titanic struggles of the protagonists as they stood alone with their comrades against the overwhelming might of the enemy. During the last decades of the 21st century, the focus of war films was usually dispersed equally between the horrors of the battlefield, and the temporary peace between engagements. In the Cosmic Era however, the focus towards the latter was dropped in favor of glorious warfare, presenting war to the audience as a heroic act where good shall triumph over evil and victory shall be brought to the nation. This tonal shift was unintentionally due to the peacetime of the Cosmic Era. It had been so long since there had been total war, that most of humanity had completely forgotten its horrors, instead treating the subject as mere fantasy, similar to the Western world during the 19th century.
To those who fought on the front lines of what was coming to be called the "Bloody Valentine War" such as Talia Gladys, she knew this to be far from the case. In her experience of fighting as a soldier for ZAFT in the past six weeks, war was an inconsistent cycle. There were days where she and the crew of the Danton had little to do and maintained an eery, yet relaxed pace. There were some occasions where she would lead the Danton from intense battles, ranging from a skirmish of a couple of minutes, to hours. Then there was the constant repetition of both the wait before the next operation, and the endless training and simulations that she had her crew undergo so that they could be ready for any situation.
As of this moment, all was quiet aboard the Georges Danton. To the uninformed observer, one would think the ship was merely performing peacetime patrol. The truth was far more complicated, while the Danton would not intentionally be involved in any combat scenarios for the next couple of days in the best scenario, she would still have the burden of performing a vigilant duty in protecting the PLANT homeland. This was so another Junius Seven could be prevented, securing the PLANT's while a majority of ZAFT's forces implemented Operation Uroboros, the operation which according Chairman Zala, would bring about a swift end to the war and ensure eternal independence for the PLANTs while delivering Coordinator supremacy over space.
Talia pulled her right wrist up close and pulled down her sleeve a little bit to reveal an antique mechanical wristwatch that her late husband Eric had given to her as an anniversary present the previous year. The timing read 11:57. Meaning that there was only three minutes to go until April Fool's, the day that ZAFT would unleash its fury upon the Earth, an event that will most likely lead to untold destruction and the death of tens of millions at the least.
Talia leaned back in her chair slightly, and let off a slight melancholic sigh. 'How the hell did we get here?', Talia thought to herself, lamenting that ZAFT had chosen to unleash WMD's to counter a WMD.
While Talia wanted nothing more than for justice to be delivered for her beloved Eric, what would occur in a few hours would not be justice, it would be disproportional vengeance. The monsters who were responsible for the death of her family were the bigoted politicians and military establishment in Washington, Moscow, and Beijing; not the billions of citizens of the Earth Alliance. Most of them had no say in Junius Seven, and many of them may be firmly against it. That wasn't even counting the millions of Coordinators left in the Alliance who ZAFT claimed to fight in the name for, especially in the Coordinator-friendly Eurasian Union.
In the end, Talia chose to be a model patriot and follow orders without question. The logical side of her argued that in the aftermath of Uroboros, the Earth Alliance would be too crippled to fight a prolonged war thanks to its lack of energy production, the complete collapse of their economies, and the complete space supremacy that ZAFT would achieve in the coming weeks. All of these conditions would force the Alliance to sue for unconditional surrender, allowing ZAFT to achieve its complete independence and live in peace as Coordinators have always wanted. Any short-term moral crimes would be outweighed by the endless long-term benefits. If not, then there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be another Junius Seven, that millions of her fellow Coordinators would never suffer the same loss that she had.
After Uroboros, there would be no more Erics, and all would be well.
Talia's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the faint woosh of the bridge door opening. Out of the entrance emerged an Hispanic man with lightly tanned skin, black hair cut in a buzzcut, standing at a respectable height of 177 centimeters. It was her CO and fellow Black Coat, Hector Martinez.
Upon entering the bridge, Hector offered a salute to Talia, which she returned in full. Hector was a rather reserved subordinate, he rarely engaged in social interaction outside of performing his duty and the occasional conversation with Talia, and his behavior off-duty was mostly introverted with his usual activities being reading a variety of literature. Despite his social faults, Hector performed excellently as a commanding officer, executing all of her orders without question or error, and occasionally providing input that helped her to better see the overall tactical and strategic field. Talia hoped that after the war was over, Hector would receive his own command, and maybe one day a white coat.
"Captain."
"Commander. How are the N-Jammers holding up?" Talia asked. Over half an hour ago, Hector had asked Talia a small favor to perform a last minute checkup of the ships N-Jammer. While it had so far not produced any issues, no technology, even one that had the power to defy the known laws of physics, worked perfectly 100% of the time. A malfunction on the battlefield led to one of two outcomes, survival by pure luck and skill, or death.
"All green Captain. Barring any external damage from battle, there shouldn't be any potential issues moving forward."
"That's good to hear."
"Yep. Shame we aren't taking part of the operation. Would've loved to send some of those Atlantic bastardos to hell." Hector said in what was a rather uncharacteristically emotional statement, then moving to take his seat in front of Talia. At first Talia was confused, until she remembered that Hector was born in South America, a nation that was currently occupied by the Atlantic Federation in an illegal coup that saw South America's leaders placed on house arrest and replaced with Atlantic puppets, later followed by the invasion of the continent with millions of Atlantic soldiers and marines. Despite the fact that South America was suffering under the boot of the AF, it was still a prime target of Operation Uroboros. After all, what would be the point of knocking out the North American power grid if the Federation could just suck South America dry of its nuclear fission energy to continue its war machine?
"Hector, are you okay with..." Talia struggled to ask the question in a polite way, only to get beaten to the punch by Hector.
"Uroboros wiping out South America's energy? I'm fine, there's no conflict of interest on my end." Hector said, mildly surprising Talia. "Don't get me wrong, I love South America, it's a beautiful nation with good people. However, it doesn't take an idiot to know the open secret that until a few years ago, its leaders were nothing more than the Atlantic's putas. Even worse is how much Blue Cosmos is openly trying to convert Central America to their crap, alongside all the success they've had in the cities. Uroboros will wound South America, but it's a necessary injury in order to liberate ourselves from the Federation. When this war ends in a couple of weeks, Clyne and Canaver will get rid of the occupation, then PLANT gets one more friend on Earth. It'll all work out in the end." Hector said with confidence.
"Glad to know." Talia said, not wanting to continue an awkward situation any further with her trusting Hector on his loyalties. She looked at her wrist watch, which showed less than fifteen seconds until April 1st. "All right people, Operation Uroboros is about to begin. We are now in the endgame of this war. Remember to..." Whatever Talia was about to say was cut off when on the main viewscreen, a sudden bright flash of white light appeared before the Danton. The flash was so bright, that Talia and everyone on the bridge had to cover their eyes for what seemed to be like half a minute.
"What's going on? It feels like looking straight into the sun on Earth." Hector commented.
'The sun. No, it couldn't be.' A surge of fear entered Talia, nightmares replaying in her head with the destruction of Junius Seven on a continuous loop. "Helen, search for any nuclear explosions within L5. Hector, check the status of our N-Jammer." Talia ordered. A surge of adrenaline entered the bridge crew at Talia's orders, the captain confirming their worst fears.
Helen Mao, the bridge's communication's officer, responded first, "Captain, I'm not seeing any signs of nuclear radiation or an explosion for the next 25,000 klicks. Whatever it is, it's not happening anywhere near the homeland."
"N-Jammers are fully operational ma'am. This is most likely some sort of light trick, but I have no idea what's causing it. Did command send any word of some sort of secret tactic for Uroboros?" Hector asked.
"No. Everything was laid out plain in the report. Whatever's happening shouldn't be caused by us." Talia affirmed. Fortunately for the bridge of the Danton, the light seemed to be lessening in intensity to the point where it was no more after the next couple of seconds.
While Talia's eyesight was highly advanced through the genetics that all Coordinators were subject to in the womb, they were still only flesh in the end, and it took about five seconds of continuous blinking for her eyesight to return to normal. Talia gazed at the viewscreen, trying to find anything different about the surrounding area, where she saw what appeared to be several distant blips on the visual. Before she could ask for confirmation, Helen would reveal what was going on with a loud and horrified gasp.
"Ma'am, I'm detecting new contacts about 1700 klicks due galactic east. Seven hundred, eight hundred, nine hundred; we're looking at well over a thousand ships plus what appears to be a medium sized asteroid or planetoid deep in the center of the concentration of ships."
Upon hearing Helen's words panic started to inflate within the bridge. At the start of the war, ZAFT had a total number of 1,728 ships in service. 141 of these ships were lost in combat, 93 were currently being repaired, and over 1,000 were currently en route to Earth orbit and the moon to engage in Uroboros. With these numbers in play, it was completely impossible for ZAFT to have mustered the ships that were presently in front of the Danton, not to mention the presence of an asteroid that ZAFT did not have. What this meant was this was most likely an Alliance fleet, one that had somehow gained the drop on ZAFT and would attempt to launch an attack while 2/3rd's of the fleet were positioned outside of L5.
"Ma'am, is it possible that Chairman Zala called off Uroboros and recalled the fleet back home?" Asked the ships conn, Cedrick Parker in a worrying voice.
"Negative. If the Chairman had done so then we would've received some sort of update. Also, unless R&D happened to create some sort of new drive and didn't tell us about or equip us with it, it would be impossible for the fleet to return now, even in maximum acceleration.
"Ma'am, I've finished analyzing the current composition of the unknown fleet. In addition to the asteroid, there are 1,367 ships of varying sizes maintaining a tight formation. None of these ships match any known Alliance or Orb class. They're complete unknowns." Helen said, a statement which presented hardly any relief to those present.
"Could the Alliance have built new models within the past six weeks?" Asked a rather skeptical Hector.
"I'm sure the Alliance didn't think during Bloody Valentine that we had in development a machine to stop nuclear fission." Talia replied with. Wanting to get rid of this hysteria, Talia ordered for a visual on the fleet. "Get me visuals on the fleet, maximum magnification."
Her order was complied with, and in seconds the bridge of the Danton had a zoomed in look of who their new neighbors were. What they were presented with was an intriguing sight. Not only were these ships neither Alliance nor ZAFT, or even Orb, they looked like an almost alien sight. Almost all of the ships that were present appeared to be some sort of green model that was mostly concentrated in a dagger shape, before ascending the third of the ship upwards in what appeared to be half of an arch before reaching what looked to be a bridge. On the arch portion of the ship, were three two-barrel turret emplacements, looking in a similar manner to the battleships of the 20th century. From the end of the ship were two separated compartments that most likely acted as the thrusters.
Scattered among the fleet were smaller ships that most likely took the role of the fleet's frigates, these ships being more compact and whole versus the thin cruisers. Outside of the presence of two large turrets on the front and back of the starship, there was nothing special about the design. Then there were a few giants which were scattered throughout the fleet and most likely represented the dreadnoughts of the fleet. These ships were twice the size of the Laurasia and Nazca class. These ships carried with them an air of power and were clearly built for war, multiple turrets scattered throughout the vessel lending to a strong defense, with its other most noticeable component being the addition of numerous spheres towards the rear, the purpose for which Talia could not understand.
As impressive as these ships were, they were nothing compared to the shocking revelation of what these ships were escorted by. Scattered throughout the fleet and usually huddled close to the ships, were several green (along with some models of different colors) humanoid machines that were made from a bulky chasis along with sporting a single monoeye camera on its head. While these machines shared some similarities to the GINN, these were only in the aesthetic. For while the DINN could be said to represent a figure of a bird, these seemed to follow that of a mechanized spartan. Whatever the design philosophy, one thing was clear. These were mobile suits.
Someone other than ZAFT had mobile suits. If there was even a handful for each ship, then this meant that some unknown force had appeared outside of PLANT space with over twice the ships guarding the homeland, and thousands of mobile suits.
Panic then swept the bridge.
"Mobile suits! Someone else has mobile suits!"
"Is this the Alliance? Are they going to repeat Bloody Valentine?!"
"Where the hell did that asteroid come from? What kind of stealth technology could make this possible?!"
"Do they have N-Jammers?!"
"WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"
Needing to install order on her bridge quickly, Talia Gladys did something that she rarely did, and raised her voice in a strong yell.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" The whole bridge then became quiet, all of them looking to their captain for guidance, eyes pleading for answers. "Now I have no idea who that is, or how the hell they came here. But I know one thing for certain. Those ships are NOT ZAFT. If we had the resources to double our fleet and turn an asteroid into a fortress, then we would've won the war by now. At the same time, I highly doubt it's the Alliance. They had the perfect chance to take out the PLANTs with whatever technology they're using, and yet they're sitting out there thousands of klicks away from the nearest colony. Those ships do not follow Earth designs, and Natural mobile suits are years away from the GINN. At this point we must retreat towards the homeland and regroup with any nearby vessels, standing by until we receive orders from the Defense Council. We're just one warship against that armada, and if we try to pick a fight all of us will die. For now let's report on what we found, and make sure that the homeland remains safe. Those are my orders. Am I understood?"
Silence greeted Talia in the next couple of seconds. "Let me repeat what I said only once. AM I UNDERSTOOD?!"
"YES MA'AM!" Came a returning roar by the bridge crew. Within an instant, confidence was now refilled into everyone present. Talia felt a sudden shift in force, as the Danton changed its position to head back towards the plants. "Helen, try to contact any ships within a 1,000 klick range on laser comms, try to figure out their course of actions."
"Yes ma'am."
Hector looked back towards Talia. "Should I have the mobile suits escort us back home?" He asked.
Talia shock her head. "Negative. We don't want whoever's out there to think we're picking a fight. I want us to get back to the homeland as soon as possible and not slow our speed to worry about the GINNs. Tell all pilots though to make sure they're in their cockpits on standby."
"Understood." Hector replied. Talia then leaned back in her chair, mentally preparing herself for any potential engagements on the way back home.
In the proceeding years, Talia Gladys would forever regret the fateful decision that she made that day, to retreat back to the PLANTs and wait for new orders as the Home Fleet reorganized to meet the unknown threat. While it was the logical decision at the time, one that any competent officer would've agreed was the correct course of action, it was entirely pointless for what was to follow. Had Talia ordered the Danton to investigate the sudden appearance of the mystery fleet, and made contact with Dozle Zabi, maybe she could've averted the chaos and despair that was to follow.
Two roads diverged into the future, and Talia Gladys took the road most taken. The events that would follow this decision in the coming days would shape the future of the Cosmic Era into a reality that would be entirely unrecognizable to humanity before April Fools. A future warped by the Principality of Zeon and the Zabi dynasty.
April 1st, 70 CE. 1:00 A.M Colonial Standard. PLANT Capitol. Aprilius One. PLANT.
"In this quiet night, I'm waiting for you. Forgetting the past, and dreaming of you."
Within his personal office, Siegel Clyne despaired. While no great personal tragedy had fallen upon the PLANT Chairman, from his current look you would think that the man had just received news of his family being murdered. Had Siegel been a man of vice, then he would've devoured liters of alcohol, or filled his office with endless clouds of tobacco, all in an effort to drown away the immense guilt, shame, and disgust over what was about to occur. However, Siegel had never been been fond of the strong taste of liquor, and like most of humanity in the Cosmic Era, he didn't dare to touch a hand on smoking products that would only lead to an early grave, courtesy of cancer. Instead, all Siegel had to comfort himself was a recording of the soothing melody of his daughter, Lacus Clyne. A daughter, who after the events of today, may not dare to speak to her father again in Siegel Clyne's worst fears. The worst part was, in Siegel's point of view, Lacus would be entirely justified if she decided to hate her father. It was the least he deserved after what would come in a few hours, a military operation that at its most minimum, would ensure the death of millions of Terrans on Earth.
Operation Uroboros.
When the concept for the N-Jammer was first proposed, it was meant as a purely defensive weapon that would be the savior of the PLANTS should the sponsor nations, especially the Blue Cosmos infested Atlantic Federation, would do the unthinkable and launch nuclear weapons. Even Patrick Zala, the man who Siegel would like to think was his best friend, was fully supportive of the usage of N-Jammer's as defensive only weapons, even when he was advocating a conquest of the moon at the same time.
After several months of development, the N-Jammers were near completion and upon said day, the PLANTs would forever be safe from Alliance aggression. Unfortunately, the Atlantic Federation chose to unilaterally act and nuke Junius Seven on Valentine's day, a week before the N-Jammers were supposed to be completed. Morale had fallen hard on those who had worked on the project, Siegel had heard that one of the researchers had tried to commit suicide, some sort of sick and twisted way to repent for his failure to complete the N-Jammer on time.
After Junius Seven, tensions within the PLANTs had been at an all-time high and many who had once called for peaceful coexistence with Earth now cried for natural blood. By far the worst affected was Patrick. Before Junius Seven, Patrick had simply been a pragmatist who had only wanted to do what was necessary for the protection of the PLANTs. Afterword the death of his wife Lenore, Patrick cried for a hard retaliation, becoming the most vocal member on the council to initiate a nuclear counterstrike against the moon.
For an entire week debate had raged on how to respond, the bickering only being allowed to exist due to the Alliance's inaction after Junius Seven, most likely caused by the severe backlash that the Atlantic Federation received from Eurasia and East Asia for its action. Then came news that the N-Jammer had been completed. With it came new opportunities. On February 22nd, Patrick had called an emergency meeting of the council. There he presented a brilliant yet horrific plan, to repurpose the N-Jammers to be inserted deep into the Earth's surface, and wipe out most of the planet's energy grid.
At first Siegel had rightly opposed such an extreme course of action. What good would responding to the destruction of Junius Seven be if they caused the deaths of millions of innocent civilians? Unfortunately Siegel soon found himself isolated. Most of his former allies had defected to Patrick and agreed that his plan was the best course of action for ending the war. Everyone wanted blood, some form of a great equalizer to not only avenge Junius Seven, but to get a greater payback at the same time. In the end, Siegel had turned against his values and voted for the conversion of the N-Jammers and for the foundations of Operation Uroboros to be laid, allowing for the vote to be a unanimous one. Had Siegel not chosen to do so, then he most likely would've been voted out of power as the Supreme Chairmen, and there would be no doubt that Patrick would've leaked his vote after a successful Uroboros, turning the public against him and killing his political career. At least in this way, Siegel would have the final say in all matters and could prevent extremism from taking control of the conflict. There was also the very real possibility, that Uroboros could be an instant knockout weapon to end the war. Hopefully then peace could resume in the Earth sphere.
Lost in melancholy, Siegel's eyesight drifted towards a picture frame that was positioned to the right of his computer. It was a photo of Siegel and Lacus together at Lacus' first singing competition, one that she had entered at the age of four. Despite her inexperience and age, Lacus had sang with the voice of an angel and had completely stunned the attending audience. She had easily won the competition, and in the photo that had been taken was Lacus holding her first trophy with pure joy, confetti scattered throughout her and baby blue dress, which did absolutely nothing to ruin her beauty that day. Siegel had been crouching right next to her, left arm wrapped around his pride and joy with the look of an incredibly proud father. That competition had opened doors for Lacus, eventually leading to her being the dominant pop singer of the PLANTs. It was one of their happiest memories together, one that Siegel would cherish for the rest of his life.
Siegel carefully picked up the photo, tears welling in his eyes at the sight.
"Lacus, will you ever find it in your heart to forgive your monster of a father?" There were times that Siegel wished he had never gone down the path of a politician. The main forces that kept him going was the fact that he was one of the few who had successfully lead his people out of the oppression of the sponsor nations, the knowledge that if he stepped aside then he would only be an enabler of the discrimination against Coordinators, and his desire to have his daughter grow up in a peaceful world where she would never experience hatred or prejudice.
Siegel's lamentations were interrupted when he heard a loud beep from his intercom.
Siegel wiped his eyes and set the photo down, then taking a few seconds to calmy breathe and get control of his emotions. "Yes?"
"Chairmen, Chairwoman Canaver is requesting to enter your office. She says its urgent." Siegel's secretary said.
"Let her in." He responded. About ten seconds later, a brunette with striking features walked through his door. Eileen Canaver, Diplomatic Chairwoman, Siegel's premier political ally (after Patrick's drifting) and someone who he considered to be a good friend.
"Hello Eileen." Siegel greeted warmly. Instead of returning the greeting, Eileen Canaver was silent, her face full of what seemed to be a mixture of anguish and confusion. Stress was highly visible upon the Coordinator diplomat, something that seemed to be even worse than Siegel's current condition.
"Is everything alright? What's the status of Uroboros? Did the Alliance launch some kind of attack?" Siegel asked eerily. He knew that if something of said magnitude were to take place then he would be notified immediately, yet he had never seen Eileen in this state since Junius Seven.
"Patrick's called an emergency session of the council. Something big has happened Sieg. I was the only other member of the council who he alerted beforehand and it...I've never...it's something that you need to see for yourself. This war just got very complicated very fast." Eileen said cryptically. This vagueness did absolutely nothing to calm Siegel's nerves.
"Can't you just tell me what is happening?"
"Like I said, you need to see with your own eyes to believe it. Patrick will reveal everything during the meeting." Giving up the struggle, Siegel relented and followed Eileen out of his office and towards the Supreme Council chambers, all the while they were flocked by guards in purple ZAFT uniforms.
After five minutes of a quick walk, they had entered the chambers. It seemed that Siegel was the last one, with all the other seats sans Eileeen's being filled. Among the rest of the council, there was an uneasy air of apprehension filling the room, the rest of them being just as in the dark as Siegel. Siegel looked to Patrick Zala, who was sitting in his usual spot to Siegel's left. What struck Siegel was how Patrick was just as, if not at more unease than the rest of the council, a rarity for the leader of ZAFT. Though he kept himself well-guarded, Siegel had known Patrick long enough to know that his face was full of fear, something he had only shown on a few occasions of his life, the nuking of Junius Seven being the last.
"Sorry I am late everyone." Siegel offered, to break the ice.
"Don't be Chairman, we have only been waiting for a few minutes." Patrick responded.
Siegel took his chair, then began his role as moderator. "The PLANT Supreme Council shall now begin its emergency session called forth by Defense Chairman Zala. Would anyone like to offer a motion to proceed?"
Patrick raised his hand first, "Motion to begin the emergency session."
Siegel nodded his head in return. "Recognized. All those in favor?" All members of the council rose their hands unanimously. "All opposed? Then without further ado this emergency session has begun. Since Chairman Zala has called forth this meeting, then I shall give the floor to him."
Patrick nodded towards Siegel in respect, "Thank you Chairman. My fellow councilmen, at approximately 0000 hours, or Midnight colonial standard, a...extraordinary event has happened across the Earth sphere. Multiple ships of the Home Fleet patrolling the Eastern Quadrant of L5 reported what appears to be the sudden arrival of over 1300 ships along with a medium-sized military asteroid." Patrick said, then inputting several commands on his console to display the information to the rest of the council. When the images appeared, the whole council burst into fearful chatting, with the exception of Patrick and Eileen. Patrick had only shared the information with Eileen Canaver due to the Diplomatic committee also having jurisdiction over PLANT Intelligence, something that Patrick soon intended to correct with a potential absorption into ZAFT.
"What's worse is that among the images we've gathered of this new fleet parked outside of the PLANTs, we've picked up a rather disturbing development. Escorting these green ships and the red dreadnoughts are these." Patrick typed some more commands in his console, bringing up pictures of a bulky green humanoid machine. It was a mobile suit.
Upon seeing the MS, panic swept the council chambers. "How the hell did the Naturals steal from our designs?! The GINN has only been out for a few months." Said a rather bewildered Ezalia Joule, stating the obvious of what everyone was thinking.
"Sadly, this is not even the worse part." Patrick stated solemnly.
"This isn't?! What do they have that could possibly be worse? Nuclear weapons that bypass the N-Jammers?" Asked Yuri Amalfi.
"With what we have seen right now, maybe." Patrick said ominously. "At the exact same time as this unknown fleet entered our space, our men at the Lorentz crater picked up a HUGE spike in communications coming from the far side of the moon." What Patrick had just said sent even more confusion into the minds of the council. Why would there be communications on the far side? In the carefully managed Space Cold War between the Alliance nations, they had neatly divided the moon into several zones of influence, and no nation had claimed the far side as part of their territories. "While the Lorentz base itself wasn't able to obtain any visuals of what was happening behind the moon due to its activation of the base's N-Jammers as well as the Natural's destruction of all of our lunar satellites up until this point, the amount of communications that we've picked up is one that is numerous times greater than the daily communications across the PLANTs, both civilian and ZAFT.
My guess is the presence of another fleet stationed in L2, due to visuals transmitted to us by the Uroboros Fleet, that of over 1000 ships and a large asteroid in L4, almost mirroring the formation which has parked itself in L5." Patrick said, bringing up more images on the central monitors of a different fleet with the same ships and mobile suits, though not as clearly as detail due to the distance compared to the fleet in L5.
"Based on the size and resources of these two fleets, as well as the unknown formation in L2, it is my understanding that this is most likely a Natural fleet with new stealth technology and mobile suits, one that is now parked right outside of the PLANTs and prepared to attack, while at the same time most of our fleet is scattered across the Earth sphere for Uroboros." As Patrick's last words left his lips, the council exploded into panic and uncertainty.
"HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?!"
"THIS IS IT, THE END OF THE PLANTS!"
"DAMN THOSE NATURALS TO HELL! WE WERE SO CLOSE TO VICTORY!"
As this shouting was going on, Siegel was silent, deep in thought and trying to comprehend just what was going on. While it wouldn't be too surprising for the Alliance to develop mobile suits or a new stealth technology without ZAFT's knowing, which was plausible since ZAFT's intelligence reach was only in Eurasia due to the difficulty of getting a spy planted in East Asia and the Atlantic Federation due to their intense anti-Coordinator bias, there were so many factors about it that didn't make sense. Why would they reveal themselves so early and ruin the element of surprise? Why didn't they cease their stealth operations when they were right on top of the Uroboros fleet, or the PLANTs? Why was there a fleet of a thousand ships at L4? There was nothing there but the East Asian ghettos, unless this was a purely East Asian operation. What was going on in L2? A secret shipyard? A military base that one of the sponsor nations hid from the others? Some kind of superweapon?
Wanting to get productive work and answers over senseless babble, Siegel did something that he rarely ever did and raised his voice. "ORDER! Order to the council!" The sound of Siegel yelling was enough to shake the council members out of their bickering, all eyes turning attention to the Supreme Chairmen. "While this information could most certainly present a danger to the PLANTs, it is still far too early to determine just what is going on. All we know is that at midnight, two unknown fleets appeared in L5 and L4 with a possible third formation in L2. There is nothing at this point to suggest that this could be a prelude to an Alliance attack."
"And just what exactly do you propose is really going on?" Asked Patrick. Siegel turned his head to face his former best friend, whose eyes stared back in disbelief. "There are only two Natural factions that have the capabilities for space projection, the Alliance and Orb. Unless Uzumi Nara Attha suddenly became a warmonger overnight and somehow had the resources to build at minimum two fleets of over 2,000 ships, well beyond our own capacity and an impossibility from Orb considered its huge debt from Heliopolis, then I highly doubt that speck of a nation could do this. Then there's the Alliance, a group of nations who have the exact industrial capacity needed to produce these kinds of numbers, nations who we have barely any intelligence in besides Eurasia, and have up until this point have done nothing but engage in a phony war after obliterating Junius Seven. Last year if somebody had told us that there was a machine that could stop nuclear fission, we would've called them lunatics. Yet what do we have installed on our ships at this very moment? It's extremely possible that the Alliance could build a new stealth technology, after all it wasn't too long ago that Artemis was created along with the lightwave barrier, something that was then thought to be equally impossible. As such, it must be the Earth forces."
While Patrick did have a strong amount of logic behind his reasoning, Siegel, along with a growing number of the council were becoming unconvinced. "Patrick, I may not be a martially-inclined like you are, but I know enough basic strategy to know that it is incredibly stupid to reveal your position to the enemy before you have the perfect ambush set up in place. Why would the Alliance, having the most prime opportunity to launch an attack while most of our forces are away, reveal themselves when they are on the other side of the Lagrange." Siegel reasoned.
"Maybe it's because their stealth technology failed before they could get the drop on us. All forces were to have their N-Jammers operational at 0000, maybe their stealth technology was reliant on a nuclear reactor." Patrick reasoned.
"Yet the same event occurred in L4 and L2, and we don't have any presence there." Siegel countered.
"What I want to know is who built these ships and what kind of design philosophy they were using. The ships represent an entirely complete departure in design philosophy from the Alliance, and none of them seem to match the carrier doctrine that has been in play for the last two centuries. I can see the mobile suits, but where are the carriers? Not to mention if the Alliance had mobile suits, why haven't they used them up until this point? I highly doubt they were invented in the past six weeks, and the Alliance would not have seen any need to as despite the GINN's individual superiority, battle results have shown Mobile Armors to be equal with numbers." Eileen stated.
"Just where the hell could these ships have been made? It would be impossible to cover up the amount of resources and financial capitol needed for a grand project like this, not to mention the two asteroids." Herman Gould asked.
"If the Alliance has new stealth technology that is able to cover up entire fleets, then it could've been used to cover up some secret shipyard. With the spike in communications from the far side and L2, that could easily be where a new shipyard is located. We all know the Alliance has been siphoning funds for an expansion of their Space Forces in the past decade. Just these last five years alone their total forces have expanded by 20%. Some of those funds and materials could've been easily directed towards this secret fleet. As for the Asteroids, you're guess is good as mine. Maybe the Martians are involved." Ezalia Joule deducted.
"The Martians? Now we're just delving into mindless speculation. The Martians are just as wary of Earth as we are, there's no way they'd cooperate with the Alliance. What I'm wondering about is which individual nation created this fleet. Outside of different classes they all follow the same design philosophy. While the Alliance may be united against us, it's one of temporary convenience. This phony war has most likely been caused by a political deadlock after Junius Seven. While some members refuse to believe it, there were mass protests on Earth, even in the Atlantic Federation, after Bloody Valentine. I highly doubt that they'd happily partner up for such a huge undertaking. Only the Atlantic Federation and Eurasia would have enough funds and materials for such a massive operation." Suggested Yuri.
"It's gotta be East Asia. It's strategically pointless to post those ships in L4 and a waste not to have them combine with the fleet at L5. East Asia is the only nation with a presence in L4, even if it is their ghettos. The ghettos may contribute nothing to East Asia's presence in space, but they've always been paranoid about maintaining Chinese supremacy within their nation. I can't see the Atlantic or Eurasia doing so unless they're stabbing East Asia in the back. And we all know that South Africa has no capacity for such an operation." Said Tad Elsman.
The discussion went on for the next twenty minutes, each council member adding their own theories on what was happening. More than half the council agreed that this was an Alliance fleet, yet no one could agree on how the Alliance could possibly have pulled this off. The rest of the council was either at a loss for who was responsible, or was pulling random theories to try to provide an explanation. Some suggested Orb, others the Equatorial Union, and Orson White in an offhand comment suggested aliens, which then sparked a fierce debate for the last five minutes if this was an alien or human foe.
In the middle of all this was a silent Patrick Zala, who was infuriated for the discussion having veered so off course. "THAT IS ENOUGH!" Patrick yelled, slamming his right fist on the console, which got the council to go silent. "We have no concrete information on how this has happened, and the rest of you are uselessly wasting time tying to play detective while the fate of the nation is at stake. We should cease talking about the who and why, and instead discuss how we deal with this threat to our homeland." Patrick stated, something that the rest of the council could agree with in shame.
"What actions have they taken at this time?" Siegel asked.
"So far, nothing. That's the only reason why I let all of you jabber for so long, if they were about to attack then I would've left this meeting and lead our nation's defense. At this current time, our ships and satellites have detected no movements beyond minor changes of position between the ships and mobile suits. We have detected radio waves between the asteroid and the far side, and as much as I want to block them with the N-Jammers, I can't risk sending ships there until we have a sizable force, not with those mobile suits in play as a wild card. For now I've ordered the entirety of the Home Fleet to guard the PLANTs in a 100 kilometer radius. All other ships engaged in Uroboros are to proceed on schedule.
"Should we really concern ourselves with Uroboros when the homeland is at risk?" Eileen asked.
"It is for the safety of the homeland that Uroboros must proceed on schedule. Whatever the hell the Naturals are plotting, they have wasted precious time parking their ships and separating their forces. If the new fleets head to Earth at full speed, they will still be unable to reach Earth orbit before our ships are. We'll still have several hours to complete the operation, and that's if their ships leave now instead of uselessly parking. Now matter the scheme, if we knock out the Earth's power grid, then they have to surrender and the war will be over. It'll be the worst strategic defeat if we abandon Uroboros now." Patrick argued.
While Siegel would like to agree that Patrick had the right mindset, there were still too many unknowns from the new fleet to be assured that the Home Fleet could take care of it on its own. Maybe if the ships parked at the edge of L5 were regular Nelsons, Drakes, and mobile armors. But the addition of mobile suits and new classes left him worried. "Uroboros shall proceed, but we need to recall the 200 ships set to patrol the moon and L1. As useful as they would be in culling the Alliance's fleet numbers, we need every ship to spare to protect the homeland."
Patrick looked horrified at Siegel's suggestion, "If we do that, then we will lose a prime opportunity to destroy hundreds, thousands of Alliance ships. We could very well eliminate a third or half of their combined Space Force by the end of the day. If we launched a strike with even a fraction of the Home Fleet, then victory will be assured. After all, their ships will still run on nuclear fission, and as such they will be powerless and without propulsion. No Natural mobile suit, especially with their inferior piloting, could ever hope to turn the tide, even in greater numbers."
"The Alliance built this new stealth technology without our knowledge, they could easily have some other new toys that could harm our fleet. I'm already being gracious enough by allowing Uroboros to continue, not to mention keeping the Lorenz ships on the moon. 200 ships could very well mean the difference between the life or death of the PLANTs. Would you really risk that over the chance just to needlessly kill ships in a pointless strategic engagement?!" Siegel asked with an immense amount of passion.
Patrick looked visibly taken aback at his words, and in an event that Siegel had rarely seen in these past months he relented. "I concede to your point Supreme Chairman." Patrick said, though in a highly bitter tone. "For now I'd like to ask leave of the council to head to ZAFT command to organize the defense of our homeland. I'll have a battle plan ready by the end of the day, if the unknowns have not moved to attack us yet."
Siegel nodded his head in approval. "Your leave is granted. For now I'd like the rest of us to monitor the situation, as well as the overall greater scope of the war around the Earth sphere. No matter the cost, the beginning of the end of this war must begin today."
March 31st, 70 CE. 11:50 P.M Colonial Standard. ZAFT Jin Yuelin. Rau Le Creuscet POV
Within the pilots changing room of the Jin Yuelin, Creuset MS Team leader Rau Le Creuset was slowly and methodically putting on his red pilot suit. Compared to the other five pilots, Le Creuset was dressing incredibly slow. To the point that he was barely halfway done while the rest were already finished.
"Sir, is it okay if we head towards the hangar right now?" Asked one of Rau's subordinates.
Rau looked towards his men and offered a small smile. "Go ahead, you shouldn't stay behind because of me. I'll head there in a few minutes." Rau said in a rather soothing and polite tone.
Relieved that they had gotten permission from their squad leader, the five pilots walked out of the room and headed towards the hangar. Seconds later, when he was sure that he would be alone, Rau let down his guard, with his rather monotone face slowly warping into a smile of pure glee. In truth, Rau had been deliberately dressing slowly so that he could savor every moment of what was to come. For while Rau's body language before had been cool and guarded, inside Rau felt as if he was on pure ecstasy. For in a few hours Operation Uroboros would begin, and with it, the beginning of the end for this disgusting race called humanity.
'I've been blessed for the conflict to proceed this far. Once I come back home a war hero, and with Zala further in my pocket, I shall have real power for the first time and be able to proceed with my plans.' Rau thought to himself joyfully.
Rau's only hope was that ZAFT would not inflict too many grievous losses on the Alliance and they would surrender from pure shock and grief. In Rau's most optimistic estimates, tens of millions at the upmost would die within Alliance territories 24 hours after the completion of Uroboros. In Rau's best case scenario, these massive and unprecedented casualties since the end of the Reconstruction War would fuel the flames of hatred. Billions would cry out for vengeance, and the war would continue with gradual escalation until the PLANTS were wiped out and the Earth and Luna were rendered uninhabitable. This would not be achieved if peace was settled within the coming weeks. Though in that scenario Rau hoped that the PLANTs would suffer from victory disease and their growing superiority complex over the Naturals would soar to new heights, in the meanwhile the Alliance would slowly rearm and find a way to bypass the N-Jammers to unleash new WMD's that would wipe out the PLANTs.
In that scenario Rau would do his best to add fuel to the flames of war and grant every equal advantage to both sides until mutual destruction was the only outcome. Any other scenario would be a complete and total failure. This festering cancer called humanity would spread throughout the cosmos, and leaving a disgusting stain among the stars until the end of time.
'I am the supreme being. I shall overcome all and deliver judgement upon the cockroaches that lay beneath my feet. Humanity's destiny shall be a glorious holocaust, and I shall enforce it.'
After a few minutes of slow dressing, Rau was completely suited up, and headed out of the room to move towards the hangar. A few minutes later, Rau reached the mobile suit hangar, and headed towards an olive-green GINN in the center.
"Sir, your GINN is armed and cleared to launch." Said a mechanic in a green jumpsuit who was to unimportant for Rau to bother remembering.
"My thanks. Thanks to your talented hands, I shall lead the Yuelin's squad to victory and the war shall end soon." Rau said in a false compliment. It always tired Rau to give out these niceties and platitudes to insignificant creatures who were far below him. Unfortunately in this chaotic world called human society, one needed to be polite and corteous to those around them in order to be well-liked. Soldiers who were popular with their subordinates and superiors tended to rise high and quickly within the ranks. If being nice was needed in order for Rau to rise higher in his quest for total power over humanity's fate, then he would be the most well-liked Coordinator in all of the ZAFT.
Rau jumped forward, his body floating towards the cockpit in low gravity. As Rau was about to open the cockpit, he felt a burning sensation akin to a bolt of lightning. While Rau had similar experiences before, this was on a whole new level. Whereas before Rau's flashes of enhanced spacial awareness and mental prowess were fleeting and temporary, usually in moments of high adrenaline, this one was continuous and extreme, bringing him immense pain and agony.
"Auuaghaugagh!" Rau screamed from the torture and suffering of his soul, unleashing wild shrieks that sounded more akin to those of a beast than man. In seconds, Rau's consciousness shifted from his present surroundings, to multiple flashing environments of different times and places, all centered around himself. Rau would've liked to say that he saw his life flash before his eyes, however, this was not of events that had happened prior, but of those yet to come.
Most of what Rau had seen appeared to be revolving around the war, one that was to his temporary satisfaction, far prolonged than that of Uroboros. Rau saw himself above Earth's orbit, wiping out dozens of mobile armors and scores of Alliance ships with relative ease. Then he was flying over the lunar surface, engaged in an intense duel with an orange mobile armor that fought as his equal, a brief flash revealed a blonde man in a purple pilot suit whose features were near identical to his own. La Flaga! Rau then saw himself being briefed for an important reconnaissance mission by the council, a quarter of whom worrying about the safety of their brats, while Zala was silently ordaining him with free reign.
Rau saw himself in combat above the airspace of some O'Neil colony, himself once again engaged in combat with La Flaga, both men having faced each other off at several times at this point. He witnessed the destruction of said colony, done by his own hands. The next several scenes seemed to be of close combat with a strange legged ship, its guardian knights being La Flaga once more, along with a strange red, white, and blue mobile suit. Upon seeing the alien mobile suit, Rau felt a surge of raw hatred and loathing, something he had never felt in his life, his opinions on the La Flaga family not even coming close.
He foresaw an Alaskan battlefield, where he had successfully played the role of a puppeteer and created a grand slaughter between the forces of ZAFT and Eurasia. Unfortunately, his master plan would not be a total success thanks to the interference of the legged ship and that...that..abomination, who rode into battle in a new mobile suit, an unholy chariot that acted as the successor to his previous weapon. He remembered a young girl with flames for hair, someone who he had used to escalate the war into the perfect climax.
At last his mind drifted to what felt to be the final battle of the war, and what a glorious battle it was. He soared through the conflict in what was the perfect mobile suit, a living titan with unmatched firepower that he used to obliterate all those who dared stand in his way. It was going so well, so perfect. ZAFT would destroy the Earth, the Alliance was to nuke the PLANTs. He had even felt La Flaga die, La Flaga! All was to end well, until that wretched...thing, got in his way for the last time. After he had killed the thing's whore, the thing had unleashed some sort of hidden power, one that had tipped the scales of what was supposed to be his final victory.
"This is our destiny! People knew where they were heading when they choose this path."
"Shut up!"
"Justice and Faith. Ignorance and Escapism. They never learn, they never listen! We have reached the end of that path, there is no way to end that now! Mankind vanquished, at last! Just as they deserve."
Though he had finally managed to mortally wound the suit, it came at a high cost. The abomination had managed to overcome him, destroying all of his weapons, crippling his movement, and delivering a finished blow with the thrust of a beam saber. Rau's last thoughts would be of his failure, how he had come so close, yet achieved virtually nothing, mankind still alive and ready to spread and infest the cosmos. A great light engulfed him, and Rau knew no more.
Throughout all of this, one person kept coming to mind, one who filled Rau with infinite fury. A Coordinator who had betrayed his own kind and fought for fools and ideals. The harbinger of life, Lacus Clyne's dog, the Ultimate Coordinator.
"Kira Yamato." Rau weakly whispered in pure venom, before then blacking out into unconscious, the last image he saw being the movement of several crewmen surrounding his body in heightened concern.
Unknown to Rau at the moment, what he was experiencing was an awakening of the soul, an event of forced evolution caused by a miracle that had transported a nation across space and time. Across the Earth sphere in the Cosmic Era, tens of millions would be experiencing a similar pain to Rau, their souls crying out in anguish as these humans were either reborn with psychic prowess, or had their existing abilities enhanced. March 31st CE 70 would be what many historians considered to be the end of the Coordinator Age. From April 1st CE 70 onward, the Age of the Newtype would begin.
A/N: With this chapter over, ZAFT is now aware of Zeon's presence and is moving to deal with them as Operation Uroboros is underway. Whether it shall be a peaceful first contact, or a bloody one, remains to be seen. For this chapter I wanted to mainly show the mindset of ZAFT and the PLANTs pre-Uroboros, and how the war is affecting them. While the war hasn't gone to the extremes of GENESIS, to many within ZAFT it's a war of survival where they must use the N-Jammers or else another Junius Seven begins. Uroboros was supposed to end the war, but with the entry of Zeon the tides of war have entered unknown waters.
In regards to the characters present, my favorite parts were writing the debate in the council and Rau's twisted mind. Unlike most SEED fics, I will not completely ignore Destiny's characters during the First Bloody Valentine War, and Talia and others like Durandal and LOGOS will make more appearances in the future. For the Council, I wanted to show a more multi-layered and nuanced portrayals than Clyne's righteous hippies versus Zala's genocidal warhawks. We have to remember in the end that Siegel signed off on Uroboros and that Zala was only pushed to where he went because his wife was nuked and he had the stress of running a total war against the majority of the Earth and humanity, with a good portion of his enemies wanting the Coordinators to be wiped out. As of now, Zala hasn't gone full genocidal, but he's still falling towards that route and his opportunities to rise up are closing. Then we have everyone's favorite nihilist at the end. Let's just say that Le Creuscet is not going to be in the same position that he was in canon.
Now I think there will be some questions to plot points raised in this chapter, mainly Talia's family and the aforementioned "East Asian Ghettos". On the wiki it states that Talia has a son and was previously married. While she had some form of past relationship with Durandal and they had a sexual relationship in Destiny, the show never addresses what happens to Talia's spouse. Therefore I came up with the idea that her husband died in Junius Seven, leaving her widowed and a single mother. Here is where Durandal came in and gave her comfort after the war, though it never worked out because Talia wanted more children. Talia having lost a husband at Junius Seven is to present her with a strong contrast to Patrick Zala. Whereas Patrick became genocidal, Talia stuck with a moral compass and simply became a loyal soldier of ZAFT.
As
for the East Asian "Ghetto colonies", they are an original creation that was conceived by my fellow author Jaenera Targareyan in her drafts for SEED works. I'll explore them later on as they'll be important plot points, but basically they are colonies for East Asia to deport most of its Korean and Japanese populations. In the Cosmic Era, most nations are highly imperialistic and have a huge moral downgrade compared to our world, East Asia here is essentially a reverse Co-Prosperity sphere with China at its head. Like I said, I'll delve into this later along with the rest of the Earth nations.
Next chapter will be a couple of Alliance POV's, then we'll head back to the Zabis to see how they react in being a part of this new world. Because Orb was doing nothing at the moment, they won't show up for a while, but they'll make their proper appearance soon. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more.