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Chapter 7
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"Why did you decide leave us, Kira?" Athrun finally asked, still at a loss for words at seeing his long-time friend. He had once comtemplated what he would do once they saw each other again, his bitterness at his leaving and for hurting Lacus and Cagalli overwhelming his judgement. Yet now, with the brown-haired Coordinator in front of him, nothing came to his mind.
"I... I had no choice." Kira muttered as he looked at the ground, feeling reluctant to explain to his friend and fellow mobile suit pilot his reasons. "There are some things I can't explain to you or anyone else, Athrun. My reasons for leaving is one of them."
"Bullshit, Kira!" Athrun retorted, feeling the sense of bitterness returning after so long of being pushed aside. "We're your friends! Do you have any idea what you put all of us through? What you put Lacus and Cagalli through? How can you justify that?"
"Athrun, stop." Cagalli interrupted, placing her hand on his shoulder and stopping the conversation before something wrong was said. "Kira has gone through enough already. He doesn't need this right now."
"It's all right." Kira looked at them both, gathering his still fragile emotions to say what needed to be said. "Athrun, I know you may never forgive me for running away. But to be honest, I couldn't tell you what was wrong because no one would understand. I had to do this on my own and... and I'm sorry for hurting everyone."
Athrun was silent as he moved closer to Kira, digesting what his friend had told him. His anger slowly began to melt, understanding well his friend's need to resolve his own problems for once instead of burdening everyone else with them. Then, to Kira's surprise, he placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"Just don't do that to us again. All right?"
"...All right." Kira returned the gesture, relieved that his black-haired friend had forgiven him, placing one of his fears at ease. He then remembered his reason for coming to the conference room and turned to Murrue. "Captain, I learned about GHOST's plans while I was Heero Shinigami."
"I'm listening." Murrue replied, all of them moving over to the table.
"Well, Murdock is a history fanatic. He's obsessed with making humanity repeat the tragedies of the Dark History. He plans to repeat one of the most destructive incident ever recorded, his "Final Solution" for the problem between normals and Coordinators."
"...Oh my God." Athrun and Cagalli saw the look of shock that passed over the dark-haired woman's face, unsure of what the two were talking about. Murrue, herself being one of the few who knew about the Dark History after studying them many years before, knew exactly what Kira was saying. "That means that... he wouldn't!"
"Kira, what are you two talking about?" Athrun asked his friend, a sense of dread coming over him for some reason.
"They plan to seize control of one of PLANTS and drop it onto Earth." Kira solemnly told his friend, seeing the same sense of shock flow through him and Cagalli.
"But that's not possible." Cagalli said. "Why would they use something they want to protect so badly as a weapon? It doesn't make any sense."
"It's happened before." Murrue mentioned. "What I'm about to tell you is command-level access only. But since Kira already knows about it, it's the only way to understand what GHOST is trying to do. Many centuries ago, at the close of what used to be called the Universal Century, a dissident group called the Space Revolutionary Army planned to drop several colonies in space onto Earth. Despite the efforts of the Earth forces at the time, the result was a massive nuclear winter and a fifteen-year fallout. By the time it was over, there wasn't much left."
"So you're saying that GHOST is planning to do the same thing?" Athrun asked.
"That's exactly what she's saying." Kira confirmed. "Murdock called it "Operation: Rebirth". If he succeeds, it could wipe out everything on Earth." Suddenly, the emergency klaxon screamed over the COM lines. Murrue went over to a COM channel, signaling a direct line to the bridge.
"Captain, I'm sorry for interrupting but you should get up here." the familiar voice of Miriallia said over the COM system.
"I'm on my way now." Murrue switched the lines off and turned toward the three young pilots. "Kira, if what you said is true, you and your friends may be our best chance at stopping the Dark History from repeating itself."
"I understand." the brown-haired Coordinator replied. All of them then exited the conference room, heading in the direction of the bridge. As they moved down the cooridors, Athrun noticed that Cagalli's look were different, a distant gaze reflecting in her golden eyes.
She seems so confused now, as if a Pandora's Box was opened all of a sudden. Athrun thought to himself, feeling a twinge of concern for his girlfriend. Kira's eyes were the same way back there, when he told me how much he was sorry for leaving us. Whatever happened out there changed them both. I just hope it wasn't for the worst.
They arrived on the bridge of the Archangel, still under repair after the last battle with the GHOST armada. Several consoles were open, their inner workings exposed by the work crews. However, most of the bridge crew were still with shock as they looked out at the viewscreen. As Murrue and the three pilots entered, a similar look of shock came over them.
"My God..." Kira overheard Murrue mutter, feeling both Athrun and Cagalli stiffen at what they saw, his own body frozen in recognition at what he saw on the viewscreen. It was an object he could only remember from the records he saw as Heero Shinigami. It was a massive satellite inlaid with several giant rings, seeming to shimmer with an azure-blue light as it came into view. The object bristled with an ungodly power, the power of pure thought.
A weapon that could only be used by the most powerful minds of the old Universal Century...
"Angel Halo..." Kira whispered to himself, horrified that Murdock would have gone that far. The war that was to reaffirm a fragile peace just became a war for their own survival...
================
Murdock floated down the cooridors of the now empty PLANT's control facility, pleased with himself how well his final preparations were going. Angel Halo, at one time the most dangerous weapon ever to exist, was now under his command. Using the mental potential of a certian candidate, it could broadcast it's waves across the entire Earth, if necessary, reducing the populace to nothing more than the level of babbling infants. Now, he would use the once-dangerous power to complete his mission.
It's almost tragic, in a way. Murdock thought to himself as he came to the control panels for the PLANT's thrusters. This act will mean the final close of the old era and the birth of a new future for humanity. And yet... yet I know this is the correct path. I can't stop now, not when things have gone this far. Once known as Kesniopolis, the PLANT was used as a recreational habitat for the Earth elite until being abandoned at the start of the war. Now, it would find a new use as a weapon of mass destruction.
Setting an automatic countdown timer on a nearby panel to one hour, Murdock floated back to the empty exit port, where his newly-completed Turn-X-Custom lay in wait. Another relic of the pre-Cosmic Era, the mobile suit was reconstructed from the remains of the original Turn-X, ruined after centuries of rotting in a cocoon on the far side of Earth's moon. ALthough it was missing a few details, some of which were lost in the original Dark History records, it was still a terrible instrument of destruction in the correct hands. It seemed to beckon to Murdock, echoing a need to complete it's own objectives. He felt a strange kinship to the ancient mecha, as if it was meant for him to weild it's destructive power alone, to force humanity to remember it's past.
"Char, this shall be your finest moment." Murdock thought to himself as he reached the prone mobile suit. "Together, we shall echo the voice of a past long since forgotten." He touched the COM system inside the cockpit, signaling his battleship nearby.
"Yes, Commander Murdock?" The voice of his first officer, Kraum Hardiat, spoke over the COM reciever. A capable officer, Murdock knew that he could trust the GHOST officer with his ship.
"Prepare to launch immediately." Murdock spoke as he closed the Turn-X-Custom's cockpit, strapping himself in. "It's time for "Operation: Rebirth" to begin."
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"I can't believe he would go this far..." Kira muttered to himself, bitter over how Murdock had manipulated him as Heero Shinigami from the first day. He used the brown-haired pilot as a decoy, making sure the Earth Alliance wouldn't interfere with this, his ultimate plan. Cagalli, sensing his growing bitterness, placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Kira, what's wrong?" the blond-haired Strike Rouge pilot asked her friend. He turned toward her and Athrun, who also looked concerned over his friend.
"Murdock must have used me, when I was Heero Shinigami, as a decoy." Kira explained to them. "He wanted me as a distraction for the Earth Alliance forces, to prevent those who knew about the Dark History from stopping this from happening."
"What are you talking about, Kira?" Athrun asked.
"Angel Halo, that giant satellite out there, was one of the most terrible weapons ever built. In the old Universal Century, it was designed to broadcast brainwaves out toward Earth and degenerate the human mind. A force from the colonies tried to use it and it almost worked. Instead another force from Earth stopped them and sent it away. Now GHOST has their hands on it."
"If I understand you correctly, Kira, you're saying that Murdock's plan all along was to use that weapon along with the colony drop?" Murrue asked the Reverse Strike pilot.
"Yes ma'am... and he used me to distract you all so you won't interfere." Kira said, a look of guilt beginning to grow on his face. Cagalli looked into his eyes, forcing him to look up.
"Don't you dare start feeling sorry for yourself, Kira." Cagalli told him. "Just because that lunatic used you for his plans doesn't mean you can't make a difference now. You're NOT Heero Shinigami anymore. You're Kira Yamato, and you can stop this. Understand?"
"..." Suddenly the shipwide alert klaxon rang out, the emergency lighting darkening the bridge to a dull red.
"I'm picking up three Drowen-class battleships on an intercept course." Ssigh reported. Drowen-class ships, prototypes used by ZAFT shortly after the war, were massive assault carriers designed to be the equal or superior of the Archangel-class cruisers. Able to carry as many as six mobile suits and armed with a Lowegrien-cannon, it would have provided easy victory during the war.
Murrue gritted her teeth in anger at GHOST's overkill. One ship was hard enough to fight, but three... "Dammit!" she cursed to herself, angry that the odds were so stacked against them. She turned towards Miriallia, a determination beginning to burn in her eyes. "Miri, order all stations at full combat status. We're going in." She then turned to Kira and the others, praying to whomever was listening that this wouldn't their final time together as a group. "...Get going... and come back alive." With that, she turned back towards the viewscreen as the three Gundam-type pilots left for the hangar, the prospect of a hopeless battle looming in front of them.
Chapter 7
================
"Why did you decide leave us, Kira?" Athrun finally asked, still at a loss for words at seeing his long-time friend. He had once comtemplated what he would do once they saw each other again, his bitterness at his leaving and for hurting Lacus and Cagalli overwhelming his judgement. Yet now, with the brown-haired Coordinator in front of him, nothing came to his mind.
"I... I had no choice." Kira muttered as he looked at the ground, feeling reluctant to explain to his friend and fellow mobile suit pilot his reasons. "There are some things I can't explain to you or anyone else, Athrun. My reasons for leaving is one of them."
"Bullshit, Kira!" Athrun retorted, feeling the sense of bitterness returning after so long of being pushed aside. "We're your friends! Do you have any idea what you put all of us through? What you put Lacus and Cagalli through? How can you justify that?"
"Athrun, stop." Cagalli interrupted, placing her hand on his shoulder and stopping the conversation before something wrong was said. "Kira has gone through enough already. He doesn't need this right now."
"It's all right." Kira looked at them both, gathering his still fragile emotions to say what needed to be said. "Athrun, I know you may never forgive me for running away. But to be honest, I couldn't tell you what was wrong because no one would understand. I had to do this on my own and... and I'm sorry for hurting everyone."
Athrun was silent as he moved closer to Kira, digesting what his friend had told him. His anger slowly began to melt, understanding well his friend's need to resolve his own problems for once instead of burdening everyone else with them. Then, to Kira's surprise, he placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"Just don't do that to us again. All right?"
"...All right." Kira returned the gesture, relieved that his black-haired friend had forgiven him, placing one of his fears at ease. He then remembered his reason for coming to the conference room and turned to Murrue. "Captain, I learned about GHOST's plans while I was Heero Shinigami."
"I'm listening." Murrue replied, all of them moving over to the table.
"Well, Murdock is a history fanatic. He's obsessed with making humanity repeat the tragedies of the Dark History. He plans to repeat one of the most destructive incident ever recorded, his "Final Solution" for the problem between normals and Coordinators."
"...Oh my God." Athrun and Cagalli saw the look of shock that passed over the dark-haired woman's face, unsure of what the two were talking about. Murrue, herself being one of the few who knew about the Dark History after studying them many years before, knew exactly what Kira was saying. "That means that... he wouldn't!"
"Kira, what are you two talking about?" Athrun asked his friend, a sense of dread coming over him for some reason.
"They plan to seize control of one of PLANTS and drop it onto Earth." Kira solemnly told his friend, seeing the same sense of shock flow through him and Cagalli.
"But that's not possible." Cagalli said. "Why would they use something they want to protect so badly as a weapon? It doesn't make any sense."
"It's happened before." Murrue mentioned. "What I'm about to tell you is command-level access only. But since Kira already knows about it, it's the only way to understand what GHOST is trying to do. Many centuries ago, at the close of what used to be called the Universal Century, a dissident group called the Space Revolutionary Army planned to drop several colonies in space onto Earth. Despite the efforts of the Earth forces at the time, the result was a massive nuclear winter and a fifteen-year fallout. By the time it was over, there wasn't much left."
"So you're saying that GHOST is planning to do the same thing?" Athrun asked.
"That's exactly what she's saying." Kira confirmed. "Murdock called it "Operation: Rebirth". If he succeeds, it could wipe out everything on Earth." Suddenly, the emergency klaxon screamed over the COM lines. Murrue went over to a COM channel, signaling a direct line to the bridge.
"Captain, I'm sorry for interrupting but you should get up here." the familiar voice of Miriallia said over the COM system.
"I'm on my way now." Murrue switched the lines off and turned toward the three young pilots. "Kira, if what you said is true, you and your friends may be our best chance at stopping the Dark History from repeating itself."
"I understand." the brown-haired Coordinator replied. All of them then exited the conference room, heading in the direction of the bridge. As they moved down the cooridors, Athrun noticed that Cagalli's look were different, a distant gaze reflecting in her golden eyes.
She seems so confused now, as if a Pandora's Box was opened all of a sudden. Athrun thought to himself, feeling a twinge of concern for his girlfriend. Kira's eyes were the same way back there, when he told me how much he was sorry for leaving us. Whatever happened out there changed them both. I just hope it wasn't for the worst.
They arrived on the bridge of the Archangel, still under repair after the last battle with the GHOST armada. Several consoles were open, their inner workings exposed by the work crews. However, most of the bridge crew were still with shock as they looked out at the viewscreen. As Murrue and the three pilots entered, a similar look of shock came over them.
"My God..." Kira overheard Murrue mutter, feeling both Athrun and Cagalli stiffen at what they saw, his own body frozen in recognition at what he saw on the viewscreen. It was an object he could only remember from the records he saw as Heero Shinigami. It was a massive satellite inlaid with several giant rings, seeming to shimmer with an azure-blue light as it came into view. The object bristled with an ungodly power, the power of pure thought.
A weapon that could only be used by the most powerful minds of the old Universal Century...
"Angel Halo..." Kira whispered to himself, horrified that Murdock would have gone that far. The war that was to reaffirm a fragile peace just became a war for their own survival...
================
Murdock floated down the cooridors of the now empty PLANT's control facility, pleased with himself how well his final preparations were going. Angel Halo, at one time the most dangerous weapon ever to exist, was now under his command. Using the mental potential of a certian candidate, it could broadcast it's waves across the entire Earth, if necessary, reducing the populace to nothing more than the level of babbling infants. Now, he would use the once-dangerous power to complete his mission.
It's almost tragic, in a way. Murdock thought to himself as he came to the control panels for the PLANT's thrusters. This act will mean the final close of the old era and the birth of a new future for humanity. And yet... yet I know this is the correct path. I can't stop now, not when things have gone this far. Once known as Kesniopolis, the PLANT was used as a recreational habitat for the Earth elite until being abandoned at the start of the war. Now, it would find a new use as a weapon of mass destruction.
Setting an automatic countdown timer on a nearby panel to one hour, Murdock floated back to the empty exit port, where his newly-completed Turn-X-Custom lay in wait. Another relic of the pre-Cosmic Era, the mobile suit was reconstructed from the remains of the original Turn-X, ruined after centuries of rotting in a cocoon on the far side of Earth's moon. ALthough it was missing a few details, some of which were lost in the original Dark History records, it was still a terrible instrument of destruction in the correct hands. It seemed to beckon to Murdock, echoing a need to complete it's own objectives. He felt a strange kinship to the ancient mecha, as if it was meant for him to weild it's destructive power alone, to force humanity to remember it's past.
"Char, this shall be your finest moment." Murdock thought to himself as he reached the prone mobile suit. "Together, we shall echo the voice of a past long since forgotten." He touched the COM system inside the cockpit, signaling his battleship nearby.
"Yes, Commander Murdock?" The voice of his first officer, Kraum Hardiat, spoke over the COM reciever. A capable officer, Murdock knew that he could trust the GHOST officer with his ship.
"Prepare to launch immediately." Murdock spoke as he closed the Turn-X-Custom's cockpit, strapping himself in. "It's time for "Operation: Rebirth" to begin."
================
"I can't believe he would go this far..." Kira muttered to himself, bitter over how Murdock had manipulated him as Heero Shinigami from the first day. He used the brown-haired pilot as a decoy, making sure the Earth Alliance wouldn't interfere with this, his ultimate plan. Cagalli, sensing his growing bitterness, placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Kira, what's wrong?" the blond-haired Strike Rouge pilot asked her friend. He turned toward her and Athrun, who also looked concerned over his friend.
"Murdock must have used me, when I was Heero Shinigami, as a decoy." Kira explained to them. "He wanted me as a distraction for the Earth Alliance forces, to prevent those who knew about the Dark History from stopping this from happening."
"What are you talking about, Kira?" Athrun asked.
"Angel Halo, that giant satellite out there, was one of the most terrible weapons ever built. In the old Universal Century, it was designed to broadcast brainwaves out toward Earth and degenerate the human mind. A force from the colonies tried to use it and it almost worked. Instead another force from Earth stopped them and sent it away. Now GHOST has their hands on it."
"If I understand you correctly, Kira, you're saying that Murdock's plan all along was to use that weapon along with the colony drop?" Murrue asked the Reverse Strike pilot.
"Yes ma'am... and he used me to distract you all so you won't interfere." Kira said, a look of guilt beginning to grow on his face. Cagalli looked into his eyes, forcing him to look up.
"Don't you dare start feeling sorry for yourself, Kira." Cagalli told him. "Just because that lunatic used you for his plans doesn't mean you can't make a difference now. You're NOT Heero Shinigami anymore. You're Kira Yamato, and you can stop this. Understand?"
"..." Suddenly the shipwide alert klaxon rang out, the emergency lighting darkening the bridge to a dull red.
"I'm picking up three Drowen-class battleships on an intercept course." Ssigh reported. Drowen-class ships, prototypes used by ZAFT shortly after the war, were massive assault carriers designed to be the equal or superior of the Archangel-class cruisers. Able to carry as many as six mobile suits and armed with a Lowegrien-cannon, it would have provided easy victory during the war.
Murrue gritted her teeth in anger at GHOST's overkill. One ship was hard enough to fight, but three... "Dammit!" she cursed to herself, angry that the odds were so stacked against them. She turned towards Miriallia, a determination beginning to burn in her eyes. "Miri, order all stations at full combat status. We're going in." She then turned to Kira and the others, praying to whomever was listening that this wouldn't their final time together as a group. "...Get going... and come back alive." With that, she turned back towards the viewscreen as the three Gundam-type pilots left for the hangar, the prospect of a hopeless battle looming in front of them.