Chapter 9
"The Alliance battleship is launching it's mobile suits, sir." One of the helmsmen said on the bridge of the Crossbone, one of the Drowen-class ships protecting Angel Halo and the PLANT/weapon once called Kesniopolis. Kraum Hardiat, the ship's commander who was trusted by Murdock, smiled to himself at the news. The Earth Alliance ship was going to go down with a fight. It was going to be a perfect battle.
"Alert Commander Murdock immediately!" Kraum ordered. "Prepare to scramble all of our mobile suits and charge all weapons. 'Operation: Rebirth' has begun!" With that, the darkened bridge of the GHOST battleship became a blur of activity as various orders were given to the personnel.
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As the Aegis Mk. II was catapulted into space along with the other GUNDAM-types as well as the Strike Daggers, Athrun reflected on what happened in the hangar between himself and Kira. There was another reason he gave Kira the necklace, one that he wasn't ready to tell his friend yet. It was a gift from Cagalli during the war, something she gave him in hopes that he would survive. Yet somehow, with the present battle looming before them, he felt that he didn't need it anymore.
'I wish it could've been Torii.' Athrun thought, remembering that Kira had left the robotic bird with Lacus before he disappeared. Giving it to his friend would've been more symbolic, yet somehow inappropriate at the time. Suddenly, the COM channel clicked open, snapping the black-haired Coordinator from his thoughts.
"We're getting a lot of mobile suit signals up ahead." Kira told his friend from the cockpit of the Reverse Strike. "It could be the GHOST fleet." Earlier, he asked the Archangel mechanics to disable the PSYCHO system in its computers. The last thing Kira wanted to do was become Heero Shinigami again. In doing so, the mobile suit's Phase Shift armor resembled his original Strike GUNDAM but returned to black once turned off. Athrun smiled to himself, glad to see the brown-haired Coordinator's confidence in his eyes.
"Understood, Kira." Athrun replied, readying the Aegis Mk. II's weapons. "Remeber Captain Ramias's words: come back alive."
"Roger." The COM line snapped closed, severing the signal between the two pilots. Athrun armed the Aegis Mk. II's beam katana, a prototype weapon for close combat, and pushed ahead towards the oncoming enemies. Nine mobile suits, including five GINNs, three GuAIZs, and one new prototype known simply as a ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior, were in his line of fire. Silently hoping all of them would return from this alive, Athrun prepared to give his all. He charged through the enemy mobile suits, using the beam katana to cut through them while evading as much weapons fire as he could. Then he saw it: the prototype ZAKU Warrior with it's beam tomahawk deployed. This was definitely the critical moment.
'Lacus... I'll keep my promise to you.' Athrun thought to himself as he charged ahead, his thoughts suddenly filled with memories of the time he shared with the beautiful pink-haired songstress.
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Akito tried not to enjoy the feeling of the Zaku Warrior's cockpit, moving ahead with the other mobile suits into battle against the Earth Alliance force. The new, green-colored prototype was designed as a next-generation replacement for the now-aging GINNs, a true combat mecha that could hopefully outmatch the GUNDAM-types with ease. At first, he only accepted the mobile suit after remembering a promise he made two years ago to the woman he loved. He fought now in hopes of going back to the PLANTs for her once this conflict was over.
"I will keep my promise to you, Yurina..." he thought to himself. Akito opened a COM channel to all of the other mobile suits, seeing the Aegis Mk. II move away from the other GUNDAM-types and head for them, already cutting into the troops with it's beam weapon.
"All units, prepare to attack." he said over the channel, engaging his Zaku Warrior's beam tomahawk and pushing ahead. He prayed to whomever was listening that he would indeed keep his promise to his beloved. It was all he could do.
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Dearka stood strong in front of the Archangel's path, firing the Buster GUNDAM's prototype rail gun at every enemy mobile suit he saw. The weapon was developed for heavy land mobile suits such as the Buster GUNDAM and Buster Daggers. Now he had a chance to test it in battle while defending the Archangel.
"Dammit!" Dearka cursed to himself. "There's just too many!"
'Gato, can you hear me?!? After losing Unit 2, we now live in disgrace because of you!'
'What the hell...' Dearka thought, shaking the eerie feeling from his mind, dismissing it as a sign that he's been in battle too long. Suddenly, a shot of beam energy ripped through Buster's arm, destroying it and the prototype rail gun. Dearka fought to keep control of his mobile suit, checking his scan readouts to see what could have done it. With the mobile suit's Phase-Shift armor on, there was no way something like that would've happened. Suddenly, it came at him like a shadow out of nowhere. A lone GuDOM, equipped with Phase-cancellation beam weapons. This was their real power, no doubt.
"Oh no, you don't!" Dearka shouted, using his other good arm to draw his standard launcher. Before he could use it, the GuDOM fired it's beam cannons rapidly, each blast ripping into Buster's armor and driving Dearka farther back.
"Shit! I don't even have time to react!" Dearka looked at his readouts, seeing that the Buster's armor and energy supplies were both down to 27 percent, already forced into Phase Shift Down mode. He wouldn't survive any more hits from this mobile suit. The proximity sensors beeped wildly, giving him a glimpse of the armored mobiled suit aiming it's beam cannons at the cockpit.
'Miri... I'm sorry...' Dearka thought to himself, letting his mind be filled with thoughts of the Archangel's COM officer. Suddenly, the GuDOM was hit with multiple missle barrages, forcing it to turn and see the Assault Shroud-equipped Duel GUNDAM. It launched it's missiles at the heavily-armored GuDOM before drawing it's beam sabers, slicing through the cockpit and destroying it.
"Dearka!" Yzak's voice shouted over the COM circuit. "Can you hear me? Is everything all right?"
"...Yzak... Thanks for helping me."
"Save it. We've got to head back to the ship." The Duel mobile suit turned toward the Archangel, all of it's weapons alive as it forced back more of the enemy mobile suits and weapons from the Stardust, another of the Drowen-class cruisers.
'I'm fighting on behalf of people who are used as weapons. I'm fighting on behalf of all soldiers, including yourself!'
Where the hell did...? Yzak thought to himself, ignoring the familiar sensation of deja vu as he pushed Duel forward back into battle, Dearka behind him in his heavily-damaged Buster.
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Sparks flew everywhere as the Archangel's bridge shook violently, throwing the crew around as they struggled to keep their ship intact. The ship was giving everything it had in this battle, despite that the odds were against them from the beginning. The damage was taking an extremely heavy toll on both the wounded battleship and it's crew.
Murrue gripped her command chair tightly, frustrated at the battle's outcome. Already, most of their weapons systems had been destroyed in the battle, despite the fact that the Archangel was more than living up to it's name of 'angel of warfare', as the crew fondly called it sometimes.
"Hard to starboard!" she shouted, almost thrown from her chair as the ship shook again. "Tell the GUNDAMs to keep the enemy mobile suits back!"
"Roger!" Miriallia replied, desperately stuggling to keep the COM chanels from going down across the ship. Suddenly, another of the many alert signals sounded across the bridge.
"Incoming fire from one of the enemy battleships!" Ssigh reported.
"All hands, brace for impact!" Murrue ordered. The bridge then exploded in a shower of white light, sparks, and smoke as everyone was thrown around. The emergency light flickered as they struggled to draw power from sources that didn't exist any longer. Murrue soon found herself slammed against a nearby console, a pounding sensation in her head and a sharp pain told her that she had several injuries. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lighting, she saw that her crew was in the same shape. Most of them had been killed, others were busy both attending to the wounded or feircly trying to keep the ship going.
So this is the power of GENESIS. Murrue thought as she returned to her command chair. "Damage report." she ordered, hoping at least there was someone able to give it.
"...Main power is gone, captain." Miriallia replied, grateful that her station was partially intact. "Auxiliary reserves are 87 percent destroyed. 56 percent of the ship is exposed to space now. There are 96 casualties on all decks."
"Understood." Murrue looked at the bloody battle in space, knowing that there was no way the Archangel would survive if they were hit again. She prepared to do something that no captain should have had to do. She clutched the armrests of her chair as she stood to address her remaining crew.
"There is very little chance that this ship will survive further conflict. As such, I am giving the order to abandon the Archangel." Seeing the startled but understanding looks of her crew, Murrue continued. "If any of us survive this, I want it known that this ship and crew performed above and beyond the call of duty. Good luck... to all of you." With that, she returned to her command chair as the bridge crew began leaving, helping the wounded to get to escape shuttles. As Ssigh and Miriallia started to leave, they noticed that Murrue was still in her command chair.
"Captain, aren't you coming?" Ssigh asked her.
"No, Mr. Argyle, I'm not." Murrue turned to them with a sad smile on her face. "There are some actions a commanding officer must take on her own. Therefore, I'm remaining here to verify the escape shuttles' safety."
"But ma'am, you can't stay here!" Miriallia protested. "You'll be killed!"
"You have your orders. Now get going, you two!" Murrue activated the emergency bulkhead control on a neighboring console, shutting the two teenagers out from the ruined bridge. She arose, taking off her uniform jacket and laying it on her chair. The ship shook as it took more fire from the enemy mobile suits, sparks erupting from several still-working consoles.
'If Amuro hadn't called out to us, all of the crew onboard the White Base would've been finished.'
Ignoring the unknown voice and sensation of deja vu, Murrue touched the navigational station, checking first to see if the escape shuttles had indeed launched. When she saw that they were, she set a course for the main GHOST ship, the Crossbone.
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"Commander Kraum, escape capsules have launched from the Earth Alliance ship." one of the crewman said to the Crossbone's captain.
"Ignore them." Kraum ordered, pleased that the mission was going so well for Murdock's fleet. "Prepare the main cannon for it's second shot."
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"Mwu... please forgive me..." Murrue said softly as she clutched her necklace to her chest. She then sat at the navigation console, a steel look in her eyes. She was going to end this now. No more death was going to be on her hands.
"WARNING! ENGINE CAPACITY REACHING 90 PERCENT ABOVE TOLERANCE!" the voice of the recently-installed computer systems, alerted over the COM. "CORE DESTRUCTION IN ONE MINUTE!"
Ignoring the voice, Murrue pushed the overworked engines of her dying ship ahead as it trembled from the enemy weapons. One blast ripped through the hangar section, almost forcing her out of the navigation station. More determined than ever, Murrue cursed as she grit her teeth and maintained the kamikaze course.
"DANGER! CORE DESTRUCTION IN 36 SECONDS!"
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"Commander, the Alliance ship is heading for us!"
"That's impossible!" Kraum looked at the Crossbone's viewscreen, not believing that the ship's capain would be so foolish or desperate. Nevertheless, the looming form of the devestated Archangel was on a direct collision course for them. "Hard to port! Avoid it!"
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"DANGER! CORE DESTRUCTION IN TEN SECONDS... NINE... EIGHT... SEVEN... SIX... FIVE..."
Murrue had long since stopped listening to the computer drone it's countdown, instead feeling a sense of redemption wash over her. This was her penance for failing her ship and crew, for failing the man she loved those years ago. Now, she was more than ready to join him and end this war. She prayed silently that whatever deity was watching would forgive her for this.
"This ends now!" Murrue muttered, feeling the deck give way under her feet as the dying Archangel forced itself ahead. The last thing she saw as the bridge exploded around her was a familiar face smiling at her, welcoming her to a place of pure light where the living seldomed traveled. She embraced him, giving herself to this fate as her soul found it's peace within the light of her love's forgiveness.
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Kira moved the Reverse Strike through the rapidly growing battlefield around him, dodging and twisting through scattered pieces of debris. He never thought that it would come to this again, placing his life and the lives of those he cared about on the frontlines of warfare. Still, it was worth the risk if it meant forever ending the vicious cycles of death, to end the continuous chains of history's mistakes. He would not let a madman like Murdock rip away the sacrifice people had made to stop battles like this from happening.
As Kira moved his mobile suit closer to Angel Halo, he could already feel the waves of psychic energies growing, pulsing inside his mind like a maddening itch. He could barely think straight as his mind throbbed from the inhuman energy. This was familiar to him somehow, like a half-buried memory long since forgotten.
'It isn't over yet, Char! You only destroyed the main camera, that's it!'
'Where did that come from?' Kira thought to himself. Must be hearing things or something. Ignoring the sensation, he pushed ahead towards the giant satellite weapon. He then heard a low-sounding voice come over the COM channel, taunting him with it's condescending undertone.
"SHINING FINGER!!!" Suddenly, a stray flash of energy shot from out of nowhere, barely missing Kira's mobile suit. He checked the sensors, trying to focus on whatever shot at him. Suddenly, all of his proximity alarms blared at once. Appearing in front of him was a large white mobile suit, almost twice as big as the Reverse Strike, seeming to cast a shadow in the light of Angel Halo. It's right arm was glowing a pulsating green as the mobile suit's sensors seemed to "glare" at Kira, the rest of it almost floating separate from it's core.
"So, Kira Yamato, you have finally come." Murdock's voice smugly echoed over the COM. "I was hoping you would bear witness to mankind's ultimate destiny."
"Stop this, Murdock!" Kira told the leader of GHOST over the COM channel. "There's no need to force mankind to repeat these terrible mistakes!"
"On the contrary. There couldn't be a more perfect time than now." Murdock smiled calmly from the giant mobile suit's cockpit, amused at how cliche his former protogee sounded. "Ever since the dawn of human history, mankind had always been driven to fight amongst themselves foolishly. They even went as far as to bomb whole factions of their own kind out of existence. I intend to end all of that with the ReTurn-X and Angel Halo."
"By killing billions of innocent people?!?" Kira retorted, drawing his beam saber from it's recharge rack as it's azure flare glowed angrily. "Didn't we have enough suffering after the first war? Why escalate it further?"
"Because humanity refused to change!" Murdock charged at the Reverse Strike, it's right arm glowing a bright green. Kira barely had any time to move as another "Shining Finger" hit his mobile suit. He screamed as he charged at Murdock, his beam saber colliding with the ReTurn-X's arm over and over. He had had enough of the bloodshed, of the echoes of warfare that haunted him and the people he loved. It was going to end now.
"Do you truly believe, Kira Yamato, I would have let you get this close without it being part of a grander design?"
"What did you say?" The Reverse Strike's saber met the ReTurn-X's charged arm again, the blue energy building against the green.
"For years I had planned, calculated every possible variable imaginable to unlease this ultimate goal. I told myself that Char's ambition would be realized, even if it cost me my death." The Return-X's backpack separated from the main core, splitting into several separate pieces as it hovered over the combatants. "The the war erupted between Naturals and Coordinators, echoing the same pathetic outcry that had been spawned centuries before. It made me sick."
Kira glanced at his cameras, spotting the backpack's many pieces hovering over them, a green glow eminating from each bit. "He has a DRAGOON system?!?" Before he could counter, the "bits" fired ramdomly at the Reverse Strike, driving him back from Murdock as he continued.
"I decided to fulfill the goal George Glenn had intended for his 'children': to create a new future for humanity by 'coordinating' the past with the present. You, however, were the only variable unforseen. However, through the PSYCHO system in your mobile suit, you became more than the perfect pawn."
"How dare you?" The Reverse Strike's shield took most of the damage, since the Phase Shift armor was useless due to the backpack's Phase-cancellation effect. Kira then shifted his mobile suit into HiMAC mode and fired at the ReTurn-X, startled to see that the backpack "bits" had formed a makeshift beam shield.
"You, out of all of the other GUNDAM-type contemporaries, demonstrated that no matter how advanced humanity would become, it would be doomed to repeat the same cycle over and over. Coordinators, Newtypes, it doesn't matter. All of them would never achieve their potential with Earth looming before them." The "bits" fired again, this time ripping through the Reverse Strike's shield and destroying one of the cannons. Murdock them slammed into Kira's mobile suit, pounding it with it's super-charged arm.
"You're wrong, Murdock!" Kira said as he sliced through the ReTurn-X's leg with his beam saber, firing his vulcans at the core of the giant mobile suit. The "bits" barraged him with more beam energy, destroying what was left of his shield and right arm. Kira shifted the thrusters, trying to stay ahead of the "bits" while Murdock laughed. "What the hell are you laughing about, you lunatic?"
"It amazes me how much history has been on my side thus far, Kira Yamato." Murdock grabbed the Reverse Strike's head with his other arm, slowly squeezing until the main cameras shattered. "Amuro Ray and Char Aznable fought a similar battle in the Dark History yet the outcome was completely different. Because of that, we were doomed to face over two millennia of repeating the same desperate cycle of hopelessness."
"So you think you can just play God and judge who lives and dies based on that?" Kira retorted defiantly, unwilling to give the advantage to a madman like Murdock. Raww Le Cruset was the same way and was defeated two years before by him. He won't let history repeat itself this time.
"I'm not playing God, as you think. I'm merely correcting a mistake." Before Murdock could fire another "Shining Finger", the sensors detected more incoming fire from elsewhere. The ReTurn-X was hit by a multitude of barrages from the IWSP-equipped Strike GUNDAM Rouge, piloted by Cagalli. The new backpack gave it the power of all four of the original Strike GUNDAM's modes into a compact design with twice the firepower.
"Kira, are you all right?" Cagalli asked him, manuvering closer to the heavily-damaged Reverse Strike. The mobile suit had gone into Phase Shift Down, it's head half ruined and parts of it's armor plating cracked. The cockpit, fortunately, was undamaged but the COM system was half-destroyed.
"...Cagalli?" Kira muttered as he glimpsed the red mobile suit and it's improvements. He had never been more glad to see his friend in his life. Suddenly, the proximity sensors flared up, signaling a fast approaching mobile suit or weapon. The ReTurn-X, it's legs and backpack jettisoned from damage, slammed into the Strike Rouge and forced it back.
"The infamous ruler of the Orb Kingdom coming to aid an ally." Murdock said smugly, again seeing this as a sign of the Dark History being duplicated. "In an ironic way, I do feel sorry for you." He formed a massive beam sword out of his energized arm, charging forward at the red mobile suit. Cagalli ejected a sword form the IWSP backpack, bringing it up just in time to stall Murdock's assault.
"Take this, you psycho!" Cagalli shouted as she brought the gatling-equipped shield up and barraged the ReTurn-X's core. The green energy sword sliced through her own as Murdock grinned sadisically. He refocused his thoughts, forcing it to slam through the shield and slice into the Strike Rouge. He brought it up again, destroying the mobile suit's antennaes and it's right arm, almost decapitating it. Cagalli knew she was obviously being outmatched but didn't care, not when Kira's life was on the line. She had to help him this time. She had to be the one protecting him now.
'You've made a mistake, and the GUNDAM pilots are going to rectify your mistakes!'
'I can't give up now, not on Kira!' The blond girl thought to herself, her body being thrown around in the damaged cockpit. 'I can't, not before...' Her thoughts were cut off when one of the panels exploded, a feelings of vertigo amid the blinding pain in her scalp.
Kira could only watch in horror as the ReTurn-X continued it's merciless assault, hearing Cagalli's screams of pain and frustration over the open COM. He couldn't stand back and let Murdock continue his assault. The Reverse Strike could barely move but he still had to fight. Doing nothing meant Cagalli would be killed. He glanced at a side panel, seeing the readout display mentioning a "WING Mode" being on standby. Kira, knowing that most of his weapons were gone, had very few options left if he wanted to save someone still precious to him.
"I expected so much more from someone like you." Murdock mused as he channeled his arm's green energy into a long blade, rearing back as he prepared to slice into the cockpit and end this nusiance to his ideals. "SHINING FINGER SWORD!" he shouted as he brought the sword down on the heavily-damaged Strike Rouge. Before he could finish, he was stopped by a white blade of energy. It was the Reverse Strike GUNDAM, it's frame glowing a brilliant white. It's backpack was completely gone, replaced by "beam wings" that stretched out from the mobile suit's back. The shield was made of the same beam energy and the optic sensors glowed with the same energy.
"Leave her alone." Kira said in a threatening tone over the COM, his eyes also a brilliant white. The reprogrammed PSYCHO system had unlocked his full SEED potential, shifting the mobile suit into a "WING Mode" using the same psycommu technology as the ReTurn-X now employed.
"You aren't letting the system dominate you this time, Kira Yamato." Murdock muttered in a amused tone. "Finally, you've accepted the truth about your destiny. Very good."
"Shut up!" Kira told the leader of GHOST over the COM. "No more people are going to suffer because of people like you." He forced the ReTurn-X's beam sword away from the damaged Strike Rouge, his own beam saber now made with the same energy. "We're ending it now!"
"As you wish!" The two mobile suits collided over and over again, each trying to overpower the other in a raw display of power and prowess. As Kira brought the beam saber to Murdock's sword, in his mind he could see all of the people he allowed to die in the past...
Tolle, killed because he was blinded by war's ugly shadows...
Mwu, who gave his life to save the Archangel from death...
...and Flay, the girl he once loved and nerely died for...
'Their deaths will have been in vain if Murdock gets his way.' Kira thought to himself. Suddenly, the PSYCHO system kicked in, flooding his mind with images of the people now counting on him to succeed...
Athrun, his best friend...
Lacus, the girl he left behind...
Ssigh and Miriallia, two people he respected as a part of his past before the war...
...and Cagalli... the young woman he now loved with his very soul.
With those thoughts firmly etched in his mind's eye, Kira ducked under the ReTurn-X's "Shining Finger Sword", screaming fiercely as he brought his beam saber through the core of the giant mobile suit. The ancient mecha began to explode, ejecting the damaged head cockpit as it detonated.
"...How... how could he beat me?" Murdock muttered to himself, his face covered in blood from the destroyed consoles and interfaces. "I was... supposed to usher in a new age... Char... was this your vision after all...?"
...In the end, this kind of tragedy would only repeat itself...
"Char... at last... I un...der...stand..." Murdock coughed his last, blood spitting from his mouth as his vision faded to a never-ending darkness. Though he would be defeated here, his ambition would continue in the form of Angel Halo.
Kira watched on one of the Reverse Strike's working monitors as the ReTurn-X's head exploded, taking Alexander Murdock with it. He sighed with relief as his conflict was finally over.
"Kira!" he heard Cagalli call over the half-working COM system, the ruined Strike Rouge coming over to him. "Kira, can you hear me?"
"Cagalli!" Kira said, placing his helmet on before opening the cockpit doors. Cagalli leapt from the open Strike Rouge, embracing the boy with relief and joy. In that one defining moment, all of the confusion and hurt of the last few days had been washed away with this one act. She, at last, could face the growing feelings within her as their eyes met.
"I-I thought I was going to lose you..." Cagalli said quietly, unwilling to break the moment between them now.
"You'd never lose me, not when I have a promise to keep." Kira replied, letting the blond girl relax in the embrace. Suddenly, the moment was shattered with a bright glow in the distance. Kira reluctantly released Cagalli as they both looked ahead to the giant sattelite called Angel Halo, whose rings had started to glow even brighter than before.
"Dammit. Angel Halo's starting up anyway." Kira started to head back inside the cockpit when Cagalli touched his shoulder, a look of concern on her face.
"You're going to stop it, aren't you?"
"There's no other option." Kira told her. He hated himself for leaving her now, knowing that he was the only one capable of stopping the massive satellite. But there was no other way. "If Angel Halo's ten rings align themselves, it'll start broadcasting the psychic wavefront. No one in the solar system will survive after that."
"Kira, I can't let you go alone! You'll be killed by that thing!"
"I have no choice!" Kira then grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look into his azure-colored eyes. "Listen... I have to do this, Cagalli. If I don't millions of innocent people are going to suffer. I won't go through that again, not when this is something I can prevent." He hugged her tightly, struggling to keep himself from crying again. He may never get another chance like this, to make amends for the innocents killed in the last war by his own hands or because of him.
"I've got to go..."
"But you'll come back... right?" Cagalli found herself pushed back as the Reverse Strike GUNDAM's cockpit closed, it's "beam wings" arcing up to move the mobile suit towards Angel Halo. She allowed the tears to fall from her eyes, feeling as if Kira was trying to tell her goodbye.