Chapter XIV: Endgame, Part II

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Earth Orbit,
April 4, UC 0088

Armus whipped his Z Plus to attack the S Gundam. He knew that his mobile suit was not a match against this EFF monstrosity, but staying alive was not his priority. Ryu Root's death was. Armus hoisted his gun and fired off. It was a hasty attack, and it didn't take a whole lot for the S Gundam to pitch down and dodge the beam. It came back and its vulcan cannons flashed. Armus stood his ground and raised his shield. His mobile suit shook and trembled sustaining volleys after volleys of vulcan rounds. Fire burgeoned from the impact, tossing chipped Gundarium into the cold, dark void. The S Gundam proceeded with his beam rifle, but Armus kicked his jets, eluding the murderous streaks. He showered the S Gundam with his own beams. The EFF mobile suit crisscrossed its path, missing the streaks by millimeters. Armus fired again, more furious, more bloodthirsty, but the S Gundam pushed its superior agility to the edge. It twitched left and right, rolled back and forth, dodging each and every strike. The S Gundam returned fire, and Armus flinched as the beam streaks swished only a finger away from his shoulder. The S Gundam kept on firing in circular pattern, drawing himself closer to Armus with each shot.

When they were 50 meters apart, the S Gundam emptied his gun, then busted forward with his vulcan flashing madly. Armus shielded his body and dashed forward with his nozzle square at the S Gundam's cockpit. He heard the locking system rang, then thumbed the trigger in quick succession. His last shot speared the S Gundam's shoulder guard. A fireball inflated the balloon-like shoulder guard in a red-hot hue. Thebulky mobile suit staggered as it's shoulder guard erupted, sending fragmented Gundarium into the space. Armus pressed the attack with more shots, but S Gundam recovered quicker than Armus thought. It cringed and lobbed a disc from its head. Armus was caught off guard, and reflexively brought his shield to bear. The disc ravaged Armus' serrated shield and gnawed at his left hand. Sparks jetted from the hand when a splinter lodged into the manipulator and cut the main power cord. The sparks ignited the coolant, and within seconds Armus's left manipulator burst into flames.

"I'll give you a chance to have mercy on your own soul," Ryu Roots crackled. "Surrender and your life will be spared."

"I need no mercy," Armus hissed while fastened his grips on the joysticks.

"Look at yourself," Ryu Roots continued bidding. "Look at your force. Bull Run and Seikyou had already conceded. My comrade was within striking distance with your attacking force. You've lost, and you are surrounded. There's no shame in giving it up!"

"Never!" Armus gritted his teeth. "Not until you die!"

Armus pumped his beam rifle several times with no avail, and his console screamed and blinked, pronouncing that his energy pack was 20 effective. Armus knew that he had only several shots left. He pumped his rifle, spreading reddish strands whose gleam illuminated the dark void. The S Gundam took this lightly; it changed the energy pack on his rifle, and readied another grenade. He charged forward and hurled anything in his inventory. Traces of light from its vulcan and beam rifle raced toward the Z Plus. Armus blasted his jets, bringing his mobile suit away from the deadly volley, but S Gundam burst its vulcan at Armus's head. At point blank range, the vulcan's punching power was enough to grind half of Z Plus' head into scrap metal.

As the head of the Z Plus blasted into flames, the panoramic monitor flickered incessantly, alternating between distorted images of the battleground and total static. Armus groaned in frustration and whipped his beam saber wildly, but the S Gundam drew its beam saber. It thrust the beam blade into the Z Plus' torso, and only Armus's quick reflex saved him from total destruction. The beam saber, however, sank into the Z Plus' right shoulder and walloped the internal structures. A brilliant explosion ensued, breaching one-third of the Z Plus' torso along with its right arm. Armus was flung to every direction, hitting charred console and splintered panoramic monitor. The drab mobile suit turned gray from the internal fire and smoke from broiled machinery, and floated haplessly.

The S Gundam hoisted its beam saber for the final blow, but at the same time the C1 Z Plus duo called for its aid. The Zodiac, with the help of the Xeku Zwei, proved to be too much for the C1 Z Plus. As much as Ryu Roots wanted to finish the fight, ALICE decided to deal with the Zodiac and Xeku Zwei, so the S Gundam took off, leaving Armus drifting in a semi-catatonic mobile suit.

Inside the Z Plus cockpit, Armus writhed in pain, feeling his muscles were leaving his body. Acrid smoke invaded his lung, and salty fluid dripped into his mouth. It was his own blood, streaming from a gash on his temple. He took several deep breaths to clear his view, and when he succeeded, he couldn't see anything because he lost the primary camera on the Z Plus head. Half of his console was destroyed, and the power line was long cut off.

But Armus hadn't given up just yet. Defying the stinging pain in his arm, he reached under his command couch to activate back up power. His mobile suit jerked and writhed, coughed and sneered, but the alternate power source gave it a much-needed 'adrenaline' into the dying battlewagon. Sparks burst from the console, but seconds later it flickered to life. Armus punched the secondary camera, and his panoramic monitor glittered, sending reports from the battlefield.

It seemed that Task Force Alpha looked down on Zodiac too much. Tosh Cray managed to destroy the S Gundam escorts, the C1 Z Plus, and now he faced off with the S Gundam with the help of Josh Offshore. The Zodiac split into 2 parts, one joined hands with Josh Offshore in beating the S Gundam, the other proceeded to enter Earth's atmosphere. Overwhelmed and carrying battle scars from the previous fight with Armus, the S Gundam took a severe beating, loosing armor plating in an alarming rate. But the combination of Ryu Roots' reckless piloting with ALICE's calculated move saved the S Gundam from attacks that would destroyed most experienced pilots.

Then the other part of Zodiac started to glow. Tosh Cray successfully made an entry, and started his descend. Josh Offshore, in his desire to live through the bitter end, left the battlefield and fired his jets to dock with Tosh Cray. But the S Gundam found a second wind and quickly diced the other half of the Zodiac. Free from the pressure, ALICE took full control of the S Gundam and ejected Ryu Roots, against his wish. While Ryu moaned and whined, the artificial intelligent whipped the S Gundam to line up behind the Xeku Zwei.

"Josh, bogeys on your six!" Armus tried to warn him. "Josh... JOSH!! Get out of there!!"

Armus conjured up every bit of energy he could muster and directed it to the engines. But his Z Plus was all but functional. Only one out of the verniers was working. So Armus could only watch helplessly as the S Gundam sneaked up behind the Xeku Zwei as it tried to dock with the Zodiac. By the time Josh flinched, the S Gundam brought its beam cannons on its back to bear. The pure energy blasts sent the Xeku Zwei reeling, burning, spinning out of control into Earth's atmosphere, swallowed by the extreme heat. He watched as the S Gundam trained all weapons at the engine port of the Zodiac, then threw everything it had. He watched as the mighty mobile armor erupted, shooting fragments in various size and shape. And he could only watched as the S Gundam burst into flame, sucked by the gravity, chastised by the atmosphere. The last flickers of the S Gundam marked the end of the conflict.

"Separatist scum, surrender and exit your mobile suit at once!"

Armus exhaled sharply. Four Wyvern fighters loomed over his head, with Pegasus III on their back, guns aimed squarely on his cockpit. He knew it was the end of the road. His Z Plus was so screwed even a .22 caliber shot would destroy it. Continue fighting to the death was pointless. Even if he managed to kill these Wyverns, he wouldn't possibly change anything. The spirit to reform the Earth Federation had died, buried along the doomed New Desides.

But he couldn't do it to Jack, Lynn, Josh Offshore, Brave Cod, Tosh Cray, and the slain members of his GraveWalkers that gave up their lives for him. He was not Brian Aeno, and he would not step in his path. Besides, giving up now would only delay the court martial verdict that he already knew. The wage for treason is death. And death in front of a firing row was far worse than death on the battle.

I, Feddie, and this is my last stand.

So Armus steadied his hand on the joystick and brought his targeting reticule to the square superstructure of Pegasus III. Ultimatums burst into his comlink, but he simply yanked the cable off his console. When the locking sound blasted, he pressed the trigger, sending hot, pure energy from his rifle toward the big ship. A blinding fireball swelled from the superstructure, bleeding fire and titanium chunks. Two more clicks on the trigger and Pegasus III roared in hellish fire. The big ship started to roll to its starboard, gushing smoke and fire from 3 different wounds. But it still had a fight in it. It trained its cannons toward Armus, while the Wverns regrouped in an attack formation with all guns square at the Z Plus midst.

Then Armus saw a great, white ball of light.

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THE END