Chatper 29: The first battle of Mendel
It was two days after the Eternal had reached the Mendel colony. The once-mysterious -and still aloof, reticent, and otherwise peculiar- super-soldier known to friends and enemies as Snake wandered the halls of the long-abandoned space station, deep in thought.
Yes, he mused. Yes, I was here. It's still hazy -and I hope it always will be- but I was here. Thank all that is holy that no one actually died of the biohazard. I have enough on my conscience.
"Hey, Snake," a voice called from behind him.
Snake turned, recognizing the voice and face; they were his, after all. The only reason he had not felt the approach of his clone was his lack of attention toward the outside world. "Yeah, John? Something up?" Invictus was the only name the cloned assassin would call his own, but most people called him by his most common alias: John Tyler, taken from "his" father's name.
"Been meaning to talk to you, mate." Invictus was the only clone to have all of Kevin Walker's original memories, but he had been created three years earlier, from samples taken before Kevin's "wilderness years". The result was that his personality was subtly different, having been shaped by different events, and his mannerisms had been altered somewhat by a stay in Australia. "Got a minute?"
"Sure, why not." Kevin stopped and leaned against the wall, already idly twirling his Colt revolver. "What's on your mind, oh stealth assassin?"
"A mutual friend of ours." Invictus tilted his head. "Or perhaps I should say, of mine."
"Care to be more specific?" Snake had his poetic, long-winded side, but he usually preferred to get to the point. "Or am I going to have blow open your brainpan and dig it out myself?"
The assassin winced. "No, no, no. You don't want to do that. Believe me, brother, killing yourself feels reallycreepy. I should know; I've killed twenty-one of us. Anyway," he said hastily, seeing the Colt stop spinning, "I'm talking about Cagalli."
"Ah. Of course." Cagalli had already met the clone, and despite Invictus' fears, she'd accepted him easily enough. She regarded him more like Kevin's brother than his clone, so the two got along just fine... though not as well as she got along with the original. "I thought things were going smoothly."
"They are. It's not me I'm talking about, mate." Invictus' eyes narrowed. "It's you. Now, I 'remember' pretty well how you two were back in Orb, before ABADON. You were always close, very close, despite Lord Uzumi's disapproval. The thing is, I also bloody well know how you really feel about her, mate. So why-"
"Who do you think you are, a dating service?" Kevin snapped irritably. First my best friends, then a battle computer, then Andy, and now him! Give me a break.
"No," the clone said calmly. "I'm your other half. I know your head better than anybody, so why don't you listen to what I have to say?"
"Because you'll just say the same things everybody else has, and I'll just say the same things I said to them, and it'll all have been pointless. So why don't we skip to the part where I threaten to blow your head off if you don't drop it?"
Anyone overhearing the argument would have been convinced they were dealing with someone with multiple personality disorder. Nor would they be far off, for Kevin was, in essence, arguing with himself. And his "other half" wasn't backing down.
"Look," Invictus persisted. "I know what you're afraid of; by now, I know all about the final minutes at the lab, and the number of friends you've lost along the way. But let me ask you something: how many people have died in your vicinity in the last few months?"
Snake tilted his head back, suspicious. "Well, let's see," he said, curious nonetheless. "A few ZAFT pilots on the way out of the PLANTs; several Justice Ministry flunkies I converted to ash in Aprilius One; a few hundred Earth Forces soldiers when I blitzed the fleet on my way out of Orb; several hundred Earth Forces and ZAFT soldiers at Alaska; and Nicol Amalfi, back in the Pacific Ocean. Why?"
"How many of those people were friends of yours?"
His eyes narrowed. "Just Nicol, and I hadn't seen him in years, anyway. What's your point? Kira nearly got vaporized in the Aegis Incident, and the whole ship's been in danger often enough."
Invictus smirked. "But they didn't die, now did they? Don't you get it, Snake? The Grim Reaper's either given up or has fallen so far behind that it'll take him a hundred years to catch up. Mate, it's about time you realize Fate has taken a different path now. You can try living like a real human being now, a human being with real feelings."
Snake rolled his eyes. Gotta be the Australian trip. I know I was never that much of a philosopher!"I think I know where you're going with this," he said aloud. "But there's one thing: Cagalli and I are friends, nothing more. How do I know she feels the same way?"
The assassin shook his head. "I think you know better than that, mate. You know her well enough. If it hadn't been for ABADON, you'd have gotten together long since. And if you hadn't been a schizophrenic wreck when you reunited in the desert, it would have happened then. Everything since has just been rationalizations."
Kevin sighed. How do you argue with someone who knows your head as well as you do? "Maybe that's true," he said finally. "But if it is, why haven't you made a move?"
"Don't be an idiot, Snake," Invictus said quietly. "I know bloody well that I'm not the same as you. I could never replace you. And besides, you've got a prior claim. I know, I know," he added hastily, "Cagalli isn't anybody's to be 'claimed'. But the fact is, you two should be together. There. I said it. Now you can blow my head off."
Snake simply looked at him for a moment, expression unreadable, "You Know Invictus, Athrun is getting closer to her, and I would rather him with her then anyone, even me. And I know he will protect her with his life. They have my blessing." Kevin then abruptly left, heading deeper into the abandoned colony's labyrinthine corridors.
Later, Invictus was once again wandering the colony, when he found Athrun at an observation window, looking out at the three ships.
Through his own empathic sense, the assassin sensed his friend's turmoil, and sighed inwardly. Great, someone else whose head needs to be straightened out.
"Thinking about your father?" Invictus asked softly.
Athrun jerked; he hadn't realized anyone else was there. "John? Where'd you come from?" The clone merely smiled, and Athrun sighed. "Yeah, I'm thinking about him."
"That's what I thought. I gather your meeting was... less than amicable."
"You could say that." He laughed humorlessly. "He shot me; I wouldn't exactly call that amicable, sure."
"That's what I thought," Invictus said again. "But I think there's more to it than that... isn't there, mate."
Athrun looked at him in surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't bother denying it; or I'll call you an idiot more than once." Good thing Kevin isn't here; he has trouble being objective where Patrick Zala is concerned. "You finally found out he wants to wipe out all Naturals, right?"
The blue-haired pilot blinked, then nodded slowly. "Yeah. You... already knew, huh?"
"Kevin did, and he told me; not that it needed a rocket scientist." Invictus tilted his head. "You're wondering how you could have failed to notice; and you're wondering if you could have done something about it." The assassin gripped his friend's shoulder. "Listen to me, Athrun: there was nothing you could have done."
"And how am I supposed to know that?" Athrun demanded. "How do I know I couldn't have changed his mind somehow? How do I know my desertion wasn't part of it?"
Invictus sighed. "Athrun, you are not your father. You can't see into his head, you can't know what put him on this road. But it happened long before you could have affected it."
"How do I know for sure?" Athrun wondered. "How do I know... I'm not the same as he is?"
"Because we know," the assassin said simply. "Your friends... including a couple who can look inside your head, your emotions."
Can it be that simple? Athrun thought. Maybe so...
He began to accept the truth, and before long would prove it in battle.
"The colony was abandoned because of some kind of biohazard threat, right?" Waltfeld was saying to La Flaga, as they made their way to the Archangel's Bridge. "That might be why this is more intact than the rest of the colonies."
"Yeah, I remember the Mendel Incident pretty well," La Flaga agreed. "Though it seems our friend with the many copies was actually responsible for it."
The Tiger raised an eyebrow. "Racher did it? Seems a little strange, since he was with ZAFT back then."
The Hawk shrugged. "From what we can tell, Oracle was crazy enough and determined enough to start a war that he made a deal with Blue Cosmos; Snake was apparently working for Muruta Azrael himself for that mission. Beyond that, we don't know a thing, since his memory is still pretty fuzzy in places."
"Doesn't matter," Waltfeld pronounced. "Oracle is dead, and so is Hydra." He smiled. "We ought to be grateful, when you think about it."
"Yeah; makes it a perfect place to pitch our tents."
The two dropped the subject the instant the Bridge doors opened; Kevin was there, floating unobtrusively behind Cagalli, and he hated to be reminded of certain parts of his past... such as the incident they'd just been discussing. It was bad enough for him to even be there.
"Our primary concern should be probably be the Moon," Lacus began without preamble; she was, as usual, near Kira. "Since they recaptured Victoria, the Earth Forces have been continuously launching troops into space."
La Flaga, having drifted over to Ramius, nodded thoughtfully. "Think they're preparing to attack the PLANTs directly?"
"There are a lot of people in their forces who've always wanted to do it," Waltfeld concurred. "'For the preservation of our blue and pure world'."
"That's enough," the pilot said sharply.
The Desert Tiger shrugged. "Hey, they're the ones saying it, not me."
La Flaga looked slightly sheepish. "I know, but... you're right."
"I don't see how eradicating all Coordinators would lead to a pure world." Waltfeld snorted. "I don't even know what a 'pure world' is. But I can't blame the PLANTs for fighting back, after being attacked for such a ludicrous reason."
"But my father... Chairman Zala is taking it way too far," Athrun put in, between Kira and Kevin. "He's going for the opposite extreme."
"We can still fight back," Ramius said, taking La Flaga's arm. "We must at least try to put an end to it, even if it costs us our lives."
"Yeah," Kevin agreed darkly, speaking for the first time. "Blue Cosmos, Patrick Zala..." He shook his head. "Does thinking you're the last sane man in the world make you crazy? If it does, then maybe I am."
Cagalli nodded and grabbed Athrun's shoulder. "If he's crazy, then so are the rest of us."
Lacus looked first at her, then at Kira. "In every era, there are those like us, who seek to put an end to such meaningless strife. Don't you want to bring about an era where that isn't necessary?"
Kira smiled. "You bet."
"You are right again Lacus." Jason said rotating his soldier.
Snake slowly shook his head. "That would be great, but-"
"I don't believe it's possible," Invictus finished, from the front of the Bridge. "I-"
"-don't believe in world peace." Kevin glared briefly at his clone. "And if you don't stop finishing my sentences, I'll make you rest in 'piece'. More than one."
La Flaga grinned at the byplay; he'd heard rumors of Le Creuset's private assassin, before Heliopolis. Actually meeting the feared killer had been... interesting, especially when seeing him argue with the original.
Lacus, however, looked sternly at the pair. "Don't you believe in giving peace a chance? One day, we can end war. Forever."
"Sorry, Cousin," Snake said quietly. "But the fact is, as long as there are people there will always be war. Look at World War I, back in the twentieth A.D. They called it the 'War to End All Wars', but it was but the first of many wars that century. There will always be those who wish to take what others have by force, or want to destroy others because they're different."
"In war, each side strives for justice," Invictus concurred, "but they each have a different idea of what 'justice' is, and how it should be obtained."
"And so all those who strike at the enemy, do so for their just cause," Kevin finished.
La Flaga glanced from one Walker to the other. "That sounded like a speech."
"Kevin has an argument for all occasions, Commander," Athrun advised him. "You never know what might be lurking in his -or their- head, just waiting for an unsuspecting speaker to say something."
"Not much use arguing with him, either," Cagalli agreed. "He'll talk your ears off; worse, he's usually right."
No one argued with that. Jason just put his hand on his head at the conversations.
The next several days were largely uneventful, for the members of the Three Ships Alliance, as the group had come to be called. Their time was spent offloading supplies the Eternal had brought along, setting up facilities, and generally planning their next move.
Waltfeld, Hibiki and Snake, the greatest strategist's united and on the same side at last, were in the thick of the strategy meetings, teacher and pupil exercising their tactical muscles along side the defence spectacular. Plans and contingency plans were made; much coffee was drunk.
The whole time, Kevin was slightly on edge; while he was slowly becoming accustomed to Mendel, it still bothered him, and he had the distinct feeling that something would be happening soon. Either the Earth Forces or ZAFT would find them soon; probably both, since ZAFT had no doubt computed the Eternal's vector, and Muruta Azrael had fiendishly good intelligence sources in the PLANTs.
Snake also had his clone's words to consider. But, he told himself, who can afford to love in a situation like this? Besides, Athrun will take care of her, like I could never do.
Kira and Lacus, another part of his mind replied. And Murrue and Mu.
Worry about it later, he decided.
Meanwhile, Murrue was working out organizational details with Kira, Athrun, and Lacus. "If the Eternal was specifically designed to support the Justice and the Freedom," she was saying to Lacus, "then we'll transfer them over to you." The pink-haired girl nodded. "We'll keep... the Strike, Buster, and Wraith." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "But what about the Stormhawk?"
Kevin's image stepped up behind Kira. "Andy tells me the plans were modified to accommodate the Stormhawk while it was in their hands; I'll go with Kira and Athrun."
Ramius looked at Kira. "Is that alright?"
Kira nodded. "That's fine; we'll transfer over to the Eternal, then." Athrun also concurred, removing his sling at the same time.
Their time of rest was vanishing faster than they knew, as the Earth Alliance Forces Mobile Assault Ship Dominion cruised toward the Mendel colony. Twin to the Archangel, her captain was someone the rogue ship's crew knew very well.
Captain Natarle Badgiruel watched Mendel grow larger on the screen, studiously ignoring the presence of Muruta Azrael, who sat a couple of meters to her left.
"Three warship silhouettes detected inside the colony's harbor," her fire-control officer reported. "One of them is confirmed to be the Archangel."
Badgiruel grimaced; she'd follow orders, but she had hoped she wouldn't have to fight her old comrades. Azrael, on the other hand, had no such difficulty.
"You can destroy the ships if you want," he said with a smile. "All I care about are those two mobile suits." That was the reason Blue Cosmos' leader had come in person: he had deduced the existence of N-jammer cancellers, and he wanted the powerful machines that carried them. What he was unaware of, of course, was that there was four... one whose pilot had every reason to hate him personally.
Badgiruel didn't look at him. "Ready Valiants and Lohengrin. Load missile tubes with Sledgehammer missiles; target the first ship of the Archangel-class: the Archangel."
On the Archangel's Bridge, Sai was suddenly very alert. "Captain! Large heat source detected, probably warship-type!"
"I knew it couldn't last," Ramius said grimly. "Prepare the ship for launch!"
Sai immediately put out the alert over the intercom. "All hands to Level One Battlestations! All hands to Level One Battlestations! All hands to Level One Battlestations!" As the alert rang out, the colony shook under a powerful blast.
All over the three ships, personnel rushed about, readying themselves and the ships for battle. Pilots hurried to their machines, and orders rang out.
"Launch Archangel," Ramius ordered. "Load all aft missile tubes; arm Valiants and Gottfrieds. Activate Igelstellungs."
"Captain Ramius," Kisaka called from her left-hand intercom screen; he was on his own Bridge.
"What's the Kusanagi's status?"
"We're ready," he assured her.
"Good. Follow us out."
"We're still making a few last-minute adjustments," Waltfeld said from the other screen; he was aboard Eternal. "It'll be a few more minutes. But Jason is ready to fight."
"Roger that," Ramius acknowledged. "You'll be safer here in the harbor; we'll have a better idea of what they're after once we determine if they're ZAFT or Earth Forces."
"Thanks; we appreciate it."
The Archangel flew swiftly out of the Mendel harbor, followed by the Kusanagi, and for the first time in two months, Natarle Badgiruel came face-to-face with her old ship.
On the Dominion's Bridge, crew were still making reports. "The Archangel has launched, followed by an unidentified ship."
Badgiruel sat still for a few moments, warring with herself, then suddenly stood and lifted the handset on her armrest. "This is Earth Forces Mobile Assault Ship Dominion," she called. "Archangel, do you read me?"
On Archangel's Bridge, people gasped. "Natarle?" Ramius whispered.
"Lieutenant Badgiruel," Neumann echoed.
"Captain!" Mir called. "We have a visual image of the enemy ship!"
Heads turned toward the starboard view screen, which showed them another shock: the Dominion, despite its ominous color scheme, looked eerily familiar...
"The Archangel," Sai whispered.
"The same class," Neumann concurred.
Badgiruel's image appeared on the main screen. "Captain Ramius," she said. "It's been... some time."
"It has," Murrue agreed.
"The military has designated you as a renegade ship," their former crewmate advised them."Therefore, I have no choice but to demand your immediate surrender. If you do not comply, I will be forced to destroy you. You're well aware of this ship's capabilities," Badgiruel added.
In his cockpit, Snake's feelings were torn between dismay at having to face his former comrade, and satisfaction as he realized they had one trump card Badgiruel knew nothing about: not only were they well aware of the Dominion's capabilities, but they also had the person who had written the software for the Archangel-class with them.
Snake had buried many, many trapdoors in the programming...
"I heard about Alaska," Badgiruel went on in a softer voice."Nevertheless, I ask you to turn yourselves in and discuss the matter with the authorities. I don't have much influence, but I'll do what I can."
Ramius met Badgiruel's eyes on the screen, eyes sad but determined. "I appreciate your concern, Natarle, but I'm afraid you don't understand our position. This isn't just about Alaska; we have serious doubts about the Earth Forces in their entirety." Her eyes hardened. "No surrender, no return to the military!"
"But, Captain Ramius-"
"Bravo, Captain," Azrael interrupted from off-screen. When Badgiruel turned to glare at him, he smiled. "That was quite impressive. You should be embarrassed, Captain," he added almost as an afterthought."We wouldn't be in this situation if all problems could be resolved simply through negotiation. The fact of the matter is, when you have misunderstandings, you have enemies; and when you have enemies, you shoot them."
"Director Azrael-!"
Heads turned on the Archangel and aboard her mobile suits as the name registered; but before anyone could give voice to it, they heard the man giving orders. "Calamity, Forbidden, Raider: launch!"
"So Kevin was right," Mir murmured.
"The leader of Blue Cosmos is here personally," Neumann growled. "Bastard!"
On the Dominion's Bridge, Badgiruel was quite irritated with Azrael's presumptive orders. But she could do nothing about it, so she began snapping out her own. "I want missile tubes one to six loaded; set the Korinthos/ Valiant systems to auto-control pattern B, target Orange Alpha seventeen through forty-two. Set firing angles five points apart; meanwhile, change our course to Indigo Thirteen mark twenty Charlie, maximum thrust!"
Azrael looked at her curiously. "That's not their location, so why bother firing your missiles there?"
She spared him a glance. "Please keep quiet if you don't understand the plan."
Aboard the Archangel, Mir called out a report. "Mobile suits launching from enemy ship!"
"Roger." Ramius keyed her intercom. "Kira, Mu!"
"Roger! Let's do it!" Kira replied, and the Freedom soared out the starboard catapult.
The Strike settled into the port. "Course is clear," Mir told La Flaga, as the recreated Launcher Striker pack was equipped. "You're clear to launch."
"Roger that. Mu La Flaga, launching!"
Athrun was next up, following immediately behind the Strike. "Athrun Zala, launching Justice!"
Tolle's Wraith followed the Freedom's path, onto the starboard catapult. "Tolle here. I'm ready."
"Be careful, Tolle," Mir called. As always, she worried; especially after the Aegis Incident. "Max, take care of him for me, okay?"
"Don't worry, Mir," the battle computer told her over her pilot's aggrieved sigh. "I'll make sure he doesn't blow himself up. For the both of us."
As the bat-winged, demon-like machine launched, Dearka smiled to himself. Glad Idon't have that machine to deal with. Must be awkward, when your mobile suit's in love with you. Snake's right, it's a good thing Max isn't flesh-and-blood, or she and Mir would kill each other.
The ex-ZAFT pilot raised his hand in a salute as Mir's image appeared on his monitor. "Buster here. I'm ready."
"Roger, Buster. You're clear for launch."
Then, at last, it was Snake's turn to launch, in his unique, powerful machine. "Snake to Bridge, I'm ready to go. Just give the word."
"Go ahead, Stormhawk," Mir replied. "Good luck out there."
The Ironwall was helping move crates around as it went into space as well for combat.
With the last mobile suit away, Ramius issued orders. "Strike, Buster, Wraith, Ironwall; you four protect the ships. Kira, Athrun, try to keep those mobile suits busy. Kevin..." She hesitated, then smiled. "Do you have any tricks you can use to slow them down?"
Snake smiled back from the monitor. "Indeed I do, Murrue. Give me a few minutes, though; I'd prefer to be closer, and it'll take me that long to remember them all. This was over three years ago, remember."
"Do what you can."
"Do what you can", she says, Kevin thought to himself, smile widening.Oh, we'll do some damage, to be sure. Time to remind Natarle of one of Sturm Falke's more interesting features. Or several of them.
Before long, the battle was joined. The Strike and Buster engaged the numerous Strike Daggers that the Dominion had deployed, Kira and Athrun confronted the three enemy Gundams, and Tolle flickered in and out of cloak, using his hyper jammers and beam scythe to lethal effect. The Ironwall sending out its two arms to slice Daggers to pieces and defending stray beam sabre attacks.
"Slash, slash, slash!" Tolle shouted, appearing from nowhere and cutting a Dagger in half, an instant later, when the fallen machine's partner attempted to retaliate, Wraith was gone.
"Athrun!" Kira called. "It's those guys!"
"I know!" Athrun looked over at the Stormhawk. "Kevin, are you ready?"
"Nearly," the super-soldier replied. "I'm still trying to remember the codes, but it won't be much longer. In the meantime..." His buster rifles snapped together, and he aimed at a formation of Strike Daggers.
When the three-hundred-meter-diameter azure column flashed out across space, Natarle Badgiruel shot to her feet so fast she began to drift toward the ceiling. "Get me a closeup visual of that mobile suit!" she ordered.
Azrael looked at her curiously. "What's wrong, Captain? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I have, Director." Badgiruel stared at the image. "That doesn't exist anymore," she whispered.
He frowned. "You're familiar with it?"
"I ought to be! That's the MBF-M1000 Sturm Falke," Badgiruel informed him. "Orb's secret weapon. That machine flew off the Archangel briefly, making two sorties before being destroyed when the Aegis self-destructed."
Azrael's frown deepened. "There's no record of any such machine being present aboard the Archangel."
"Of course there isn't," she replied harshly. "The pilot has hacking skills you wouldn't believe; as near as we could tell afterwards, he left a worm in the ship's computer, which erased all trace of his presence and that of his machine. And yes, Director, we deliberately avoided mentioning him at the board of inquiry; one pilot had already been raked over the coals. There was no reason to add Snake to the equation." She was quite unapologetic about the whole thing; she and Snake had begun to patch things up by the time of his... disappearance, and to her surprise she'd actually begun to like him, especially after his character was vouched for by the revelation of his noble birth. "But as I said, it was destroyed in April."
"How can you be sure it's the same machine?" Azrael (seemingly) sensibly inquired. "Orb might have built another."
Badgiruel shook her head firmly. "No, Director, they couldn't. It's made of a rare, radar-absorbing alloy... and there's only one man who can use that OS without losing his mind. No, that's the original Stormhawk, without a doubt." She lifted her handset. "Dominion calling Stormhawk. Lieutenant Kevin Walker, is that you?"
The distinctive black flight suit with opaque visor appeared on the monitor. "Lieutenant- Excuse me, Captain Badgiruel. The one Earth Forces officer I'd hoped never to fight."
"The feeling's mutual, Snake," Badgiruel said truthfully. "Though I didn't expect it to come to pass. You're supposed to be dead; and I thought you took oaths seriously."
"I cannot die," he said quietly, depolarizing his visor. "Not until that time arrives. And yes, Natarle, I dotake my oaths seriously. But I haven't betrayed any. I held rank, true; but you know as well as I that was a courtesy from Admiral Halberton. All I did was return to my homeland when it became clear just how corrupt the Earth Alliance had become." Snake paused, expression turning uncharacteristically pained. "Natarle," he said softly,"I ask you this: Consider very carefully what you're doing. Ask yourself if you truly want to be tarred with the same brush as Muruta Azrael, the man who killed my parents. Ask yourself if you want to side with those who tried to incinerate us as bait!"
She shook her head. "I'm doing what duty demands, Snake. Same as you."
"All those who strike at the enemy do so for their just cause," the super-soldier said with a sigh."Very well, Natarle. If that's what you think is right, I respect that. But I have every intention of turning that piece of human waste next to you into charcoal, and the only way to do that, and protect my friends, is to blow you out of space." His image winked out.
Badgiruel immediately looked back at her fire control officer. "Designate MBF-M1000 Stormhawk as a priority target! Don't let him anywhere near."
Azrael looked at her. "Captain, that machine is obviously equipped with a Neutron-jammer canceler. If we can capture it-"
"You don't want to do that," she said evenly. "Not unless you want to die."
He looked taken aback. "Pardon me?"
"Director, the Stormhawk is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device," she explained flatly. "Kevin Walker is someone who happens to have absolutely no fear of death -hard to blame him, since he's been dead at least three times- so he wouldn't hesitate to blow us all to pieces. But what's worse is the possibility that he wouldn'tself-destruct." Badgiruel looked very grim. "We don't want him loose aboard this ship, Director. In all probability, he'd kill every single one of us. We'd have no chance of stopping him."
"Come now, Captain," Azrael said condescendingly. "He's only one man, and we have plenty of armed guards-"
"Fine," she snapped, "youtry and shoot him. Aim for his head, and he'll ignore it. Aim anywhere else, and the bullet won't even reach his body. That's the final product of Project ABADON, Director. One of the last two Destroyers."
"Oh," he said simply. "Oh,"he added a moment later. Muruta Azrael was many things, but a fool was not one of them. He knew of the Destroyers; more importantly, he'd had occasion to make a very secret deal with them, one which the rest of Blue Cosmos was unaware of. Naturally, he'd never intended to keep his end of the bargain, but that did not mean he didn't respect the abilities of the cybernetically-enhanced warriors. "Well, then, Captain, how about I order my people to take care of him?"
"I wouldn't recommend it," Badgiruel said curtly. "That beam cannon of his can vaporize entire mobile suits, and the OS gives the pilot precognitive capabilities. Hardly infallible, but if your pilots' earlier performance is any indication, it doesn't have to be."
Azrael would have loved to cut the captain off at the knees for that remark, but unfortunately she was quite correct.
Out beyond the Dominion, several small engagements were going on at once. Snake perceived most of these as snapshots of strife as portrayed to him via the Zero System; though even he had to concentrate to properly interpret the data. Even for him, it could at times be difficult to tell if he was seeing the present or the predicted future.
Kevin caught a glimpse of the Freedom, dodging a concerted a attack by both the Calamity and the Raider; then the Justice, exchanging fire with the Forbidden. But his attention was suddenly riveted on the Kusanagi, as it halted in space with sickening suddenness.
On the Orb carrier's Bridge, Ledonir Kisaka and Cagalli were nearly thrown across the compartment. "What was that?" the captain demanded.
"We're caught on some kind of... some kind of cable!" the helmsman reported.
"Well, break free of it!"
"We can't, sir! Whatever it is, it's tough."
Kisaka looked frustrated. "Asagi, whatever that is, I want it off this ship now!"
"Right, sir!"
"Garret Cover her you got that!" Kisaka ordered as Garret's face appeared.
"Roger that."
Behind them, Invictus (who had flatly refused to be left behind, even if he knew next to nothing about space combat) cursed to himself. "Metapolymer tethering string," he said, irritated with himself for not thinking of it. "That concussion earlier must have been a shot from the Dominion's Lohengrin; probably blasted free some debris."
Cagalli looked back at him. "John, you were created after Kevin wrote the Archangel-class software, right? Isn't there anything you can do?"
The assassin was frustrated. "I don't know. I can't think of anything useful that Snake isn't already getting ready to do... Wait a minute!" He pulled himself over to Erica Simmons' station. "Bring me up the blueprints for the Archangel-class, stat."
Bemused, the engineer complied. "You got some kind of plan, Ninja?"
"I'm thinking about it, yeah." Invictus idly stroked his chin. "There should be some backdoor programs related to the various entry points..."
The furball was well underway; but the Archangel had completely lost track of the enemy ship. "Where's the Dominion?" Ramius demanded.
"There's too much debris-" Sai began, then cut himself off. "Blue fourteen, Orange Alpha! It's the Dominion!"
She whipped her head around to the starboard screen. "When did they-?"
On the Dominion's Bridge, Badgiruel called out the order. "Gottfrieds, fire!"
"Evade!"
The Archangelswooped over to starboard, avoiding the lethal beams... only to fall right into Natarle Badgiruel's trap. The missile's she'd ordered launched at the beginning of the engagement came to life, speeding directly at the beleaguered battleship. The range was close; they could not miss.
"Intercept them!" Ramius ordered.
"There's no time!" Sai answered, trying anyway.
It was then that Kira noticed their predicament. "The Archangel!"Instantly, he dropped his attack against the Calamity and armed his plasma cannons, firing a volley directly at the missile salvo.
A few were hit, a few more were taken out by the Archangel's desperate point-defense... but two got through, pulverizing the starboard Gottfried and Valiant, leaving the ship with a massive gap in its offensive capabilities. Another such hit they might not survive.
"I've had enough," Kevin Walker muttered darkly. "Try this, Natarle!" He activated his hyper jammers to give himself space, then opened a covert radio link with the Dominion. Fingers flying, he tapped out a series of commands, then transmitted them to the enemy battleship. But then he felt it, he felt the presence of a Zoanthrope on the Dominion.
Badgiruel swung around in her chair as the fire control system suddenly died. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," her flustered fire control officer said. "It's like the system just shut itself off; I can't figure out what it is."
"Well, find out!"
It would take only seconds for the system to reboot... but the man called Snake only needed seconds. Before fire control could be reestablished, he was on the Dominion like a fox after a rabbit. His powerful buster rifles blew three Igelstellungs into scrap before they could retarget him, and then he was in motion again, flying an evasive pattern as suggested by the Zero System.
Badgiruel suddenly remembered something she'd overheard Erica Simmons tell the young super-solider in Orb, months earlier. "Your father. He was the most brilliant design engineer Morgenroete ever had."
Morgenroete, she thought. Snake's father was an engineer there. What if he followed in his father's footsteps?
Badgiruel opened a radio channel. "Snake! You're the one doing this, aren't you?" As she spoke, the Bridge lighting died.
There was low laughter on the other end. "Yes, Natarle, you're right. Years ago, I wrote the software for the Archangel-class carriers. Not a thing you can do about it, either; the backdoor programs I buried cannot be altered without causing a catastrophic computer failure."
"He's right, Captain," the fire-control officer reported. "But," he added, as Badgiruel muted the microphone, "he can't pull the same trick twice; we can counteract those we actually know about. He can't take down our fire-control again."
"Of course, the only way to find out about them is for him to use them," she muttered. "But it's better than nothing." Badgiruel unmuted the radio. "So what will it be, Snake? These tricks aside, we can still destroy you; even your computer can't predict everything."
"True," he acknowledged. "But you know, there are some things worth fighting for; some things worth dying for." Snake's image appeared once more on the screen. "Some say the world will end in fire," he quoted, blasting a passing Strike Dagger to pieces, "some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire."Stormhawk pirouetted, dodging a plasma blast from the Forbidden and replying with a blast from his own wing-mounted plasma cannons. "But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate to know that for destruction," and he lopped another Dagger in half with a Lacerta, "ice is also great and would suffice."
He winked out again, and Azrael frowned. "'Fire and Ice'. Huh. So this Neanderthal pilot's read Robert Frost."
"He's hardly a 'Neanderthal', Director," Natarle said frostily. "In addition to being a Destroyer, he was known as the Fencing Prince. You should know the name."
Blue Cosmos' leader nodded slowly. "Oh; so that's why he wants to kill me."
Badgiruel proceeded to ignore him. "Target the Archangel and prepare to fire!"
Kira very quickly saw the Dominion's intent. "Natarle!" he shouted, swooping in on the big ship. Ignoring all else, he was determined to stop his former shipmate's attack on his friends.
La Flaga was oblivious to Kira's action; as the young man made his attack, the Hawk of Endymion was just vaporizing a Strike Dagger with his Agni. But then he felt a strange sensation... and a familiar one. This feeling... is it him?
The Strike turned and boosted back toward Mendel, swooping past the Buster in the process. "Hey, Pops!" Dearka protested. "Where ya goin'?"
"Don't call me Pops!" La Flaga said succinctly. "ZAFT forces are close!"
Though puzzled, the ex-ZAFT pilot didn't hesitate or question. He set off after La Flaga.
Athrun, engaged in a running duel with the Forbidden, caught sight then of the Freedom's headlong rush. "Kira, wait!"
"No, Kira!" Ramius called from the Archangel.
Kira ignored them both, ignored even the glancing blows the Calamity and Raider inflicted upon him. "Stop it!"
"That's the one you wanted to capture, right?" Badgiruel asked of Azrael.
"Yes, that's correct," he answered with a smile.
"Then I suggest you get the Calamity and the Raider ready." She looked straight ahead at the advancing machine, unaware that she knew its pilot. "Aim Sledgehammer missiles. Target: enemy mobile suit." A pause. "Fire!"
Kira, beam saber in hand, flinched as the storm of missiles reached out across space for him. Kilometers away, Snake watched helplessly, knowing he was out of range and could never make it in time, even at Stormhawk's incredibly high speeds.
The missiles came on...