Kido Senshi Gundam SEED: The sixth Gundam.
By: Prayer Reverie
Contact: prayerreverie(at)yahoo(dot)com
Summary: A sixth Gundam was developed at Heliopolis, unbeknownst to the Earth Alliance, Orb or ZAFT. AU for changing the SEED storyline and because of Destiny's confirmation.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED in any which way (although some days I wish).
A/N: Thanks to everyone who read Gundam SEED: The Sixth Gundam, and special thanks to all those who reviewed. Keep an eye out for more works done by me in the near future.
Lipana: ... well ... what can I say ... I suppose I could lie to you.
RVD: It was a close call between Duel and Lightning, maybe I should write an alternate ending for Chapter 9. It's gonna be a long chapter.
Lt.Bradford: Developer Interview? Thanks, I try my best.
Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today
C.E. 71, September 3rd
3 weeks had passed since the fight between Yzak and Ian, and in 3 weeks, the Archangel had returned to space, Orb was overrun and destroyed, the Vesalius was destroyed while engaging the Archangel and a new Earth Alliance ship, the Dominion, same type as the Archangel.
The Buster Gundam was spotted with the Archangel, which infuriated Yzak to no end, knowing that his friend's mobile suit was being used. But perhaps the most troubling thing, at least to Ian, was the fact that the Earth Alliance had not five minutes ago launched a nuclear attack against the space fortress of Boaz.
Ian and Yzak could only guess at how the Earth Alliance managed to obtain plans to the Neutron Jammer Canceller, but this put both sides at virtually the same positions right before the war officially began. The PLANTs were no longer safe, nor were any Coordinators.
Nuclear attacks were not the only stunning revelation to the ZAFT forces, news of the Eternal, a ship designed to carry the Freedom and Justice units into battle, had gone renegade, apparently joining the Archangel and the Orb ship Kusangi. The Eternal also carried two METEOR units, and provided both Freedom and Justice the ability to destroy entire fleets.
"Fellow soldiers, today we have taken a blow, our pride defense force Boaz is no more. The Earth Alliance has regained the use of nuclear missiles, and in a cowardly attack they have destroyed the Boaz asteroid. We believe their next target will be PLANT." Yzak informed the gathered pilots.
"We believe this because the leader of Blue Cosmos, Murata Azrael, is onboard the newest Earth Alliance ship. The entire Jachin Due fleet will sortie in a valiant attempt to stop the next attack and destroy their fleets. I will be leading my squad into battle." He continued.
"We have confirmed intelligence reports that the three newest models of mobile suits will be in the upcoming battle. The Forbidden, Calamity and Raider suits, each a match for our suits and their pilots are somehow on our level, or in some cases, above our level."
"Yet we are not the bad guys, as it is. We fight this war to defend our people, our homes and our way of life. We have had to do things that may seem appalling, but in order to survive, they must be done. Always remember: we will survive, and that is winning in itself."
The pilots cheered as they boarded their suits. Ian caught up to Yzak.
"Nice speech, it really got the blood pumping." Ian said.
"It was necessary. Whatever happens, don't let them touch PLANT." Yzak ordered, and then left to board the Duel.
"Jule Squad launch!"
"Sikorsky Squad launch!"
"Aleong Squad launch!"
"Temk Squad launch!"
"Bohaychuk Squad launch!"
One by one each squad launched from Jachin Due and set a course to intercept the incoming Earth Alliance fleets. The Natural fleet quickly deployed all of their GAT-01 Strike Daggers in response. The fight was on.
Ian was busy wading through the Daggers with his squad when Yzak opened a channel to him.
"Temk! They've launched Moebius' armed with nuclear missiles!" he cried out.
Ian switched to his squad broadcast channel.
"Temk Squad form up! We're joining the Jule Squad and going Mobile Armor hunting!" he ordered. Almost instantly the other 7 members were in position.
"Temk Squad accounted for Commander Yzak. Let's go!"
"Jule Squad, Temk Squad, Aleong Squad, follow me!"
The 24 mobile suits took off towards the unopposed mobile armors. Escorting the outdated fighters were the three Earth Alliance Gundam units; Forbidden, Calamity and Raider.
The pilot of Calamity fired all of his many weapons into the heart of the ZAFT formation, nearly obliterating the Aleong Squad.
"Steve report!" Ian demanded.
"Unit ...... can't go ..... luck .... Victory ...." Static ate at the squad leader's words.
Yzak and his squad rushed forward to get in close to the Calamity. The pilot of Forbidden intercepted several beams with his Geschmeidig Panzer shields and fired back, scattering the ZAFT suits.
"Orga you almost hit me!" cried the pilot of the Raider.
"Shut up Crot! It's not my fault you suck as a pilot!" Orga replied.
Despite the obvious internal strife between the three Alliance pilots, they were still more than a match for most of the ZAFT pilots attempting to oppose them. Even Diane was unable to dodge all of Raider's fire.
"Diane, pull back!" Ian ordered.
The heavily damaged GuAIZ Firearms retreated and a CGUE from the Aleong Squad escorted her back. Soon enough the Forbidden switched to close combat mode, its scythe and railguns at the ready.
Two of Yzak's GuAIZ were hit by the Forbidden's arcing plasma induction cannon and exploded. Yzak himself was under a heavy barrage from both Raider and Calamity when Ian engaged.
All three Earth pilots turned to see the Lightning swoop in, wings fully deployed. Ian quickly fired his gatling cannons at the Raider, forcing Crot away from Yzak. Orga fired his dual cannons at Ian, who dodged one beam and blocked the other with his shield. Raising his beam rifle, Ian fired at Shani, forcing the Forbidden to block the beams.
Yzak recovered from the onslaught and starting pressing the attack on Calamity. Seeing that Forbidden had gained a lock on Yzak, Ian barreled forward, twirling through space to avoid the Raider. Shani turned to in time to see Lightning ram into the Forbidden, sending the close combat suit flying.
"Get the missiles!" Yzak yelled.
Ian turned to get a lock but went evasive because Crot sent his hammer flying at Ian.
"Justice? And Freedom? How?" Yzak asked.
Ian was about to ask Yzak to clarify when multiple explosions went off in front of the PLANTs. Both Justice and Freedom equipped with the METEOR support system had avoided the three Earth units and gone after the nuclear missiles. Both pilots managed to down them all.
A second wave of Moebius' came in and launched their missiles, and by now the Strike, Strike Rouge and Buster had arrived to help clean up the missiles. Yzak got several shots off, downing at least two nuclear missiles.
Ian switched his beam rifle for a beam saber when a message popped up on one of his secondary screens.
'GENESIS is about to fire, clear the area of emission' it read.
"Freedom, Justice! Get clear, Genesis is about to fire!" Yzak warned.
Scant 30 seconds later the massive GENESIS cannon let its Mirage Colloid particles disperse and activated its phase shift feature.
Holy crap, that's bigger than the plans suggested it was. Ian thought.
A target lock was gained and the massive array fired.
-
Yzak and Ian sat in the pilots lounge, waiting for the call to launch. Everyone on the battle field had stopped their actions when Genesis fired at the heart of the Earth Alliance fleet, ripping it apart.
Patrick Zala had broadcasted a victory speech seconds after the array had stopped firing. The speech served to infuriate the Naturals and give even more hope to the Coordinator forces. While the ZAFT forces rested, another mirror block was being positioned in front of the main array of Genesis.
The mechanics took used all of the time available to rearm and repair as many suits as possible. The Jule Squad and Temk Squad would be temporarily merged together to make up for losses gained in the last battle.
Yzak was brooding something, so Ian spoke up.
"Yzak, I'm sure that was Dearka piloting the Buster out there, and not some Natural."
Yzak looked up, but didn't respond.
"I'm sure he has a good reason for joining the Clyne Faction, perhaps something he discovered on Earth."
The silver-haired pilot got up and left, probably to walk his anger off. Just as the doors closed, Ian heard Yzak say "Mother!". Ian shrugged and figured at least Ezaria Jule could calm Yzak down.
The battle started again, the reinforced Natural fleets collided with the Jachin Due Defense Fleet in a hectic clash. Yzak stood by a window, watching as the battle resumed. He turned as he heard Ian approaching.
"Somewhere out there," he started "are a bunch of Naturals ready to wipe out all of the PLANTs."
"And somewhere out there are the people ready and willing to die to protect their loved ones and friends." Ian replied.
"Including traitors and deserters."
"We've been over this time and again Yzak, I'm sure that"
Yzak cut Ian off quickly.
"Yes they have their reasons, just as I have my reasons. Justice and Freedom are considered enemies of ZAFT."
Whatever Yzak was going to say next was cut off by an announcement
"Standby for Genesis, all units clear the area of emission."
"That's our cue Commander Jule." Ian said before turning and walking off towards the hangar.
Ian and Yzak were prepping their suits when the Genesis cannon fired again, this time at the Ptolemaeus lunar base, wiping it off the moon and destroying the reinforcements heading for the Natural fleet.
The Peacemaker Mobile Armor squad launched as the rest of the Jachin Due Defense Force sortied.
"Jule Squad Launch! Yzak Jule, Duel, Launching!"
"Ian Temk, Lightning, Launching!"
"Diane Madu, GuAIZ, Launching!"
"Shiho, GuAIZ, Launching!"
All of the mobile suits in the newly combined squad launched in quick succession. They had barely gone beyond 400 mark when they picked up the incoming Moebius units.
"They're here! Spread out and take them, and don't let any of them touch PLANT!" Yzak ordered.
The rest of the squad acknowledged as they spread out and increased their speed to meet their adversaries. The Freedom and Justice, both equipped with the METEOR system, sped towards the nuclear-equipped Peacemaker units.
"How can you fire these things with no objections!?" the pilot of Freedom cried out.
Odd, he sounds a lot like the pilot of the Strike Gundam we faced. Ian mused.
A seed exploded in Kira's mind, sending him into seed mode. The nuclear missiles were released, but Freedom targeted at least half of the missiles and fired all of his many weapons, taking them out in staccato of explosions.
Yzak turned to see the explosions as a seed exploded in Athrun's mind, allowing the Justice to destroy the remaining missiles. The Raider flew past Yzak, firing as he went. Quickly turning again, Crot fired again until his shots connected with the back of Duel.
"I've got you!" Crot yelled as he charged his Scylla cannon.
Something hit the back of the Raider, sending him flying. Yzak turned to see Dearka in the Buster floating there, his cannons pointing at the space the Raider had recently vacated.
"Dearka ..." Yzak said, surprised.
The Moebius' fired more nuclear missiles. Athrun turned to destroy them, but Shani in the Forbidden had other plans. Charging forward, Shani blocked a beam saber attack from Athrun. The pair of Mobile Suits twisted and turned, with Athrun attempting to get past Shani's defenses as the nuclear missiles sped past them towards the PLANTs.
Ian took up the slack, destroying several of the missiles with pinpoint accuracy as the Strike Rouge, equipped with the IWSP started destroying the rest of them.
"Is that the Strike Rouge? Then that must be the same pilot ..." Ian said quietly.
"Thanks for the assist Red. I didn't think there was anything stopping them now." Ian transmitted.
"There's always me." She replied as something was dredged up from her memories.
That IS her! Ian realized.
"Slayer! You'll pay for all that you've done in the past!" she suddenly said.
"Oh shit, she remembered." Ian breathed.
Ian attached his beam rifle to his shield and pulled out a beam saber as the Strike Rouge started to fire on him again. Quickly dodging all of the shots, Ian turned and raced towards the Strike Rouge, hoping to disable her.
"I'm not your enemy!" he said to her, slashing down at her.
"You're a Coordinator, fighting with other Coordinators. That makes you the enemy." She replied, dodging his attack and throwing her beam boomerang at him.
"Damn it! Kira, Athrun, Dearka and Lacus are all Coordinators! And they're your allies and shipmates!" he said, blocking the boomerang with his shield and destroying it with his head vulcans.
Rushing forward, he sliced through her six-barreled shield mounted gatling gun and opened fire with his gatling cannons. He barely paid attention to the two Archangel-class battleships fighting each other in the distance.
"Flay, pull back to support the Archangel"
Flay huh? Sounds almost familiar.
"Damnit Yamato, I'm busy right now with Slayer!" she said in anger.
"Miss Allster, pull back to the Archangel, Ian isn't a bad guy!" Athrun cut in.
Flay ignored both pilots, and started her attacks anew, opening fire with her rail cannons and gun cannons.
Even my new Trans-Phase wouldn't be able to withstand the punishment she's dishing out! Ian dodged a few more shots, then turned and flew towards the Genesis array at full speed.
"Don't think you can escape me in the middle of your defense force Slayer!" she yelled, throttling up to follow him.
-
Kira destroyed more of the nuclear missiles while Athrun kept Crot off Freedom's back. Dearka nailed the last two nuclear missiles and started his way back to the fight when Forbidden fired his arcing plasma induction cannon. Lacking a shield to block the beam, Dearka couldn't dodge in time.
Yzak slid between Buster and the incoming beam, blocking it and firing twice on Forbidden, to no effect. Dearka was stunned, but docked his gun launcher with his beam rifle and fired at Shani. The anti-armor shotgun rounds impacted on Shani's shield, blinding him momentarily.
Duel drew a beam saber and charged forward. Unfortunately Shani recovered and fired his plasma cannon again, hitting Yzak. An explosion rocked Dearka and Shani, and left Dearka shocked again. Yzak charged out of the remains of his assault shroud and shield, both beam sabers drawn.
Screaming in rage, Yzak sliced through both of Forbidden's arms before stabbing the other beam saber straight through the cockpit, killing Shani instantly.
"Shani!" Orga cried out.
Ian was able to dodge all of the pitiful shots Flay sent out, and both of them passed the Providence and its funnels firing at Strike, inflicting some major damage.
"Major La Flaga!" Flay cried out.
I wonder who's in Providence? I think Le Creuset was slated for piloting it, but no news was heard about it.
"Go Flay! I can handle Le Creuset alone!" Mu replied, dodging several more beams before losing his beam rifle in an explosion.
-
Freedom ignited both of his massive beam sabers, swiping downwards at the Calamity. Orga blasted his thrusters, propelling him backwards, and right into Justice's beam sabers. The massive beam sliced through the cockpit area, separating the upper and lower torso.
Dearka fired his docked gun launcher, destroying one of the Agamemnon-class ships that carried the nuclear missiles. Yzak flew up to the bridge of another, firing his rifle-mounted grenade at the bridge, destroying it completely. Kira fired all of his weapons again; taking down a 250meter class ship as Justice ignited his beam sabers again, taking down a third Agamemnon.
Kira ignited his own beam sabers and sliced through the last Agamemnon, ending the threat of more nuclear attacks. Freedom and Justice were sent off to support the Eternal and Kusangi, while Duel and Buster stayed behind.
Both the Archangel and the Dominion were damaged, missing Gottfried cannons, Lohengrin positron blaster cannons, and Valiant linear guns. The Strike retreated from the fight with Providence and Le Creuset, heading for the Archangel.
Azrael started charging the starboard side Lohengrin on the Dominion, targeting the bridge of the Archangel, despite Captain Natarle Badgiruel's attempts to stop the racist man. The fully charged positron blaster cannon fired, and the Archangel was too close to dodge.
Everyone on the bridge backed into their seats at the powerful beam approached. A mere meter from the bridge the beam was intercepted by the damaged Strike.
"I knew that I could make ... the impossible ... possible." Mu stammered out, as the damaged mounted. Finally the powerful beam was too much for the shield and Strike to handle. The Strike exploded, taking the Lohengrin beam with it.
"MU!!!"
The explosion cleared and there was very little left of the first-generation suit. The Archangel charged its own Lohengrin and fired at the Dominion, exacting revenge for the loss of Strike and Mu La Flaga.
Ian entered one of the supply tunnels of the Genesis array as Flay called out.
"Major La Flaga!"
-
A series of explosions caught Ian's eyes right before the Strike Rouge entered, chasing after him. Ian quickly figured out that either the Archangel or the Dominion had been destroyed, and perhaps another mobile suit also. Near misses from the Strike Rouge pinged against the walls.
Ian turned around and reversed thrust, flying backwards as fast as he would forwards and opened fire with his gatling cannons. The damage Flay received was negligible and she returned fire with her gun cannons and rail cannons.
The service tunnel ended and Ian jetted upwards to avoid her shots, and opened fire again as she exited the tunnel. Blocking the shots with her almost useless shield, Flay drew one of her swords and charged upwards, body checking Lightning through a wall and into another corridor.
Ian batted Flay away with his shield, and then fired his thrusters up to max. Flay pushed off the wall she hit and pushed her thrusters to full as well.
"Flay! Stop it!" Ian yelled.
"Die Ian!" she yelled back.
The two suits collided and an arm was sliced off and went flying. Flay opened her eyes and dropped the suit into a kneeling stance as Ian turned around.
"Why did you spare me? I'm your enemy!" Flay demanded.
"That's what created this war in the first place. You are not my enemy, Flay Allster." Ian replied, sheathing his beam saber and flying out.
Flay started to cry as she was left alone, just her and the Strike Rouge, minus the right arm.
-
Justice and Freedom flew onwards towards the Genesis array, the Eternal and Kusangi. Rau Le Creuset, having found the remains of the Strike, chose the Archangel as his target instead. Kira caught something familiar, and quickly veered off course, heading back to the Archangel.
"Kira!" Athrun said, surprised at his friend's decision.
"Something's come up. Continue on course." Kira replied, flying as fast as he could towards the Archangel.
Flay exited the Genesis array, also plotting a course for the Archangel.
Rau came upon Dearka, who raised his hyper rifle and fired at the Providence.
"Is that a friendly unit? I've never seen that kind of frame." Yzak said.
Rau easily dodged the shot and deployed his funnels, just as Kira came into firing range. Kira fired his dual plasma cannons, and Rau dodged again. Freedom ignited one of its beam sabers and swiped at Providence, which again, easily dodged.
The funnels seemed like they were acting on their own, firing at Dearka.
"What the?" he said in shock.
Dearka fired his missiles, but the rapid fire beams shot them down and blew off Buster's head and right arm. Kira avoided the shots aimed at him, twisting and turning.
"Dearka!" Yzak said, flying up to Dearka.
Kira dodged more shots as the Strike Rouge came into range.
"Kira!" Flay said.
More funnels came after Kira, who rolled and dodged, then fired most of his missiles at the Providence. The funnels fired, creating a web of beam fire that caught and destroyed most of the missiles. Rau pulled back as a second web was formed, destroying the rest of the missiles. Almost jumping out of the explosion, Rau fired, hitting one of Kira's beam sabers on the METEOR.
Ejecting the damaged part, Kira ignited his other beam saber and sliced at Rau, who again dodged. This time Rau ignited his own beam saber and sliced through Kira's second, forcing the young pilot to eject the other part.
The funnels resumed their assault, forcing Kira into a temporary retreat.
-
With his new knowledge, Ian avoided most of the fighting. Anything he couldn't avoid, he took the more pacifistic approach, aiming for the arms and heads of mobile suits, seeking only to disable them rather than destroy.
Ian was trying to support Yzak, wherever he was, but with all of the battles he was waging, it was going to take a while to get there. Several explosions occurred behind him, and he turned to see what had happened. There was a shimmer in space, and the Slayer uncloaked.
"What the?"
"Ian? Is that you?" asked a female voice.
"Leah! How did you get Slayer?"
-
Rau continued to fire at Kira with his beam rifle. Freedom avoided the shots and launched its remaining missiles. The funnels set up another web, catching most of the missiles again. Rau pulled back again, and ignited his own beam saber, slicing through the remaining missiles.
With Rau and his funnels distracted, Yzak closed the gap between him and Dearka, just as the Raider started firing its dual 52mm hyper velocity shield cannon. Yzak turned to face the menace and took aim with his beam rifle. With the sheer amount of bullets Crot was pumping out, it was inevitable that the beam rifle was hit and destroyed.
"Yzak ..." Dearka said.
Duel fired its head vulcans at Raider in a pathetic attempt to slow the insane pilot down.
The funnels kept up their endless barrage on Kira, who was sliding in and out of gaps to avoid the fire. Kira fired his Hi-MAT attack at Rau several times, but to no avail, the older pilot effortlessly dodged all of the beams.
Finally Kira drew both of his hip-mounted beam sabers and started deflecting beams away. There were too many to block, and one hit the starboard cannon on the METEOR, destroying it. Another funnel flew behind the Freedom and fired at one of the METEOR engines, damaging it and rocking Kira.
"I am ... I am!" Crot cried out, still firing his shield cannon.
"Leave him to me!" Yzak told Dearka.
"Yzak!" Dearka said alarmingly as Duel grabbed the hyper cannon from Buster.
Crot finally stopped his bullet assault and charged his mouth-mounted Scylla cannon as Yzak brought the borrowed energy cannon into play.
"This kind of bastard!" Yzak yelled, firing the cannon, just as Crot fired his Scylla cannon.
Raider's beam hit Duel's shoulder, damaging the armor, but mostly deflecting off. Duel's beam on the other hand, shot straight through Raider's torso, penetrating the reactor.
The Raider flew past Duel and Buster, pulling up sharply before exploding. Yzak and Dearka let out a sigh as Duel's phase shift shut down.
The funnels kept up their furious rate of fire, barely giving Kira enough to fire, if ineffectually, at Rau. Rau finally descended upon Freedom, avoiding another Hi-MAT attack and slicing through half of the starboard engine on the METEOR.
Kira caught notice of the damaged Strike Rouge heading back to the Archangel.
"Kira!" Flay called out.
"Flay!" Kira ejected the remains of the METEOR, grabbing his shield and rifle, and took off to help Flay.
Rau smiled and aimed at Strike Rouge and fired. Kira barely managed to block the shot, saving Flay. Unfortunately a funnel appeared behind Strike Rouge and fired through the cockpit, killing Flay and destroying the Strike Rouge in a large explosion.
"FLAY!" Kira screamed as Freedom was engulfed in the explosion.
Rau smiled and sighed contently, gathered his funnels and flew off towards the Archangel again.
The Freedom fell out of the explosion, falling rapidly before righting itself. Kira looked up, his eyes crystallized once again in seed mode. Wings expanded, Freedom took off towards the battle at Jachin Due.
-
The Eternal and Kusangi closed in on the Jachin Due asteroid and the Genesis array. The defensive cannons aimed at the Orb battleship Kusangi.
"Fire!" ordered Patrick Zala.
All of the cannons and any mobile suits in the immediate vicinity fired at the Kusangi. Cagalli recoiled in horror as the beams were intercepted by the Justice, which was engulfed in a large explosion.
"Athrun!" she cried out.
The explosion cleared, and among the debris was a legless and armless Justice, floating towards the Genesis array.
"Even if Genesis has a phase shift, it's not invulnerable!" Bartfelt said.
"Lohengrin, fire!" Cagalli ordered.
Four positron blaster cannon beams and several Gottfried beams lanced out to hit the Genesis array, only to do no damage.
Lightning and Slayer opened a transmission to the Eternal.
"We're going to destroy the command center at Jachin." Ian said determinedly.
"Ian, Leah!" Lacus said worriedly.
"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine." Leah said and winked before ending the transmission.
They flew off just as the sensor officer reported an incoming mobile suit. Somehow Lacus knew that Rau Le Creuset was piloting it. Rau's funnels deployed and started attacking the M1 Astray mobile suits, destroying them, and damaging both the Eternal and Kusangi.
His attack was stopped due to Kira's reappearance. The brunette Coordinator fired several times at Le Creuset, who managed to dodge in time. Rau sent his funnels after Kira, but Kira was doing a much better job of dodging without the METEOR.
"You! Only you!" he said angrily at Rau.
The assault continued but Kira destroyed a few funnels, reducing the amount of incoming fire.
As the fighting continued anew, Athrun regained consciousness and clutched his left arm in pain. Grabbing a bandage, he stopped the bleeding, at least for now, as he looked at the damage to the Justice.
"I've still got some thrusters, and the Fission reactor is still in one piece." He said. The N-Jammer Canceller and the Fission reactor gave him an idea.
Athrun entered the Genesis array through the firing opening, and managed to get inside of the massive array. He stopped just past the actual firing device, figuring that this was as good a place as any and set a timer for the self-destruct.
Ian and Leah landed inside Jachin Due, near the control center. They exited their suits and armed themselves with rifles and a few grenades. Using their thruster packs, they made their way to the control center.
Kira and Rau continued to clash, with Kira destroying funnel after funnel. Freedom got a lucky shot off, destroying Providence's left arm, which contained the shield, beam saber and a dual beam rifle. Rau quickly fired his beam rifle, destroying Freedom's right arm at the elbow and taking the Kira's beam rifle with it.
Providence fired again, destroying one of the plasma cannon mounts. Kira ejected his shield and grabbed a beam saber to combat Rau. Flipping past a funnel, Kira rotated and fire one of his railguns to destroy the funnel.
Rau fired, this time hitting Freedom on the left knee, offsetting the thruster balance. Kira destroyed one more funnel before charging towards Rau. Providence dodged and Kira combined both of his beam sabers to form a beam staff.
"I have a world I want to protect!" Kira yelled as he sliced off Providence's other arm.
Rau retreated, sending his remaining funnels after Kira. Kira didn't even bother to dodge, taking shot after shot to get to Rau. Freedom lost its head and one of the forward thrusters just adjacent to the cockpit before Kira rushed past the funnels and stabbed the beam staff into the torso of Providence.
"Genesis, FIRE!"
The words echoed just as the elevator doors opened to admit Ian and Leah onto the floor of the control center.
"Zala!" Ian yelled.
The senior Zala grabbed a gun, turned and fired at Ian, hitting him twice in the chest. Ian coughed up blood, but took aim at Patrick and fired three times, hitting Athrun's father in the heart.
The Genesis cannon started its firing sequence a few minutes before Justice was to self destruct. By the time Athrun overrode the timer and blew the fission reactor, the beam had already engulfed the Providence and Freedom.
Lacus dropped to her knees clutching her heart in pain as the tears flowed. The beam stopped short of reflecting off the mirror block thanks to the valiant efforts of Athrun. Leah set Ian gently down onto the floor, but it was too late, Ian was dead.
A general broadcast was sent out by Eileen Canaver, signaling an end to the war, and PLANTs wish to begin peace talks with the Earth Alliance and the Clyne Faction. The war was finally over, with a greater cost than anyone expected.
A/N: And that's it! Sure it seems like Tomino took over and started writing (if he got a time machine to come from his depression when he was making Zeta Gundam), but this was hybrid of the original planned ending (Gunota Headlines), the anime version (SEED tv) and an alternate Manga ending (... Tangowr posted it for me somewhere ... go ask AmuroNT1 where it is). Reviews are still welcome, and if there are any questions I'll e-mail answers to you.
Death list throughout the story:
-Earth Alliance:
1. Tolle Koening (Chapter 7: Crimson Skies)
2. Natarle Badgiruel (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
3. Murata Azrael (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
4. Shani Andras (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
5. Orga Sabnak (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
6. Crot Buer (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
- ZAFT Forces:
1. Patrick Zala (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
2. Rau Le Creuset (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
-Clyne Faction:
1. Flay Allster (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
2. Athrun Zala (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
3. Kira Yamato (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
4. Ian Temk (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
5. Mu La Flaga (Chapter 10: Apocalyptic Light Today)
I think that's all of them .... Damn you Tomino and your influential Zeta Gundam!
I didn't include the three Astray girls because they were never mentioned at all.