Brothers In Arms AU

by NukeDawg

Do to the allowance of Solid Shark, I have began to make the Prequel to my Gundam Seed Destiny: A New Saga. Take a look at how Aelan was apart of Kevin's life before anything truly ever happened in A New Saga and how his story will be played out to go w

35. Propaganda

Chapter 34: Propaganda

The beam was gargantuan.

That was the only way Kevin Walker, who had seen some very impressive beams in his time, could describe the flow of coherent gamma rays lancing across space. It defied comprehension, even by a being such as he.

Mobile suits and capital ships were scattering in all directions, trying frantically to evade the light-speed weapon. Some made it; others did not, as the powerful surge of radiation exploded ships, mobile weapons, and human bodies alike.

"No, it can't be." Aelan said to herself as the beam was unbelievable.

"Whoa," Kevin whispered, seeing the aftermath of an event that had taken less than a second. "That madman... he actually went and did it..."

Stormhawk hovered on the periphery of the blast zone, carefully staying clear of any residual radiation; it might not get through the machine's shielding, but Snake was taking no chances. Enough of him had been replaced as it was. He didn't fancy requiring a whole new body.

The Red Queen was floating beside the Sturmfalke still in its meteor unit. "I can't let that hit Earth." Aelan said to herself as the Strike Rouge flew up to beside the both of them.

Cagalli's Strike Rouge was quickly by his side. "Kevin, was that...?" She sounded as shocked as he felt.

Kevin nodded. "No doubt about it. GENESIS... the one weapon I hoped never to face." He tapped his radio controls. "Dominion, can you give me a sitrep?"

"Too early for details, Captain," Natarle answered, "but we can make some rough estimates. I suggest, however, that you wait until you've returned to the ships." She paused, listening. "Captain, the Archangel has sent a general return signal. It's time to pull back, for now."

"For now," he repeated. "Agreed. Yzak, Cagalli, get your teams back to the ships. What's left of them," he added bitterly; the battle had not been kind to the Dominion's complement of Strike Daggers. "I'll follow you in, after I check on the battle zone."

"Roger that," Yzak agreed. He turned, leading his own two remaining subordinates to their mothership.

"We're going," Cagalli said reluctantly. "But you'd better be quick, got it?"

"You don't have to worry Cagalli, I'll make sure he returns." Aelan told her as she and Kevin went off to survey the field.

Kevin waved a hand. "Don't worry I'll be fine." Without further ado, he directed his machine forward.

The Earth Forces were in full retreat by this time. They'd not been expecting anything like GENESIS, and its attack had stunned and terrified the industrialist leading them.

While Muruta Azrael's forces, his Apollyon in the lead, began to withdraw, the ZAFT forces saw only an opportunity to get some of their own back against the accursed Naturals. Seeing them retreating, without any thought of fighting, the ZAFT GuAIZ's charged forward. "Now we've gotcha!" one impetuous pilot shouted, firing into the retreating Daggers.

Kira, seeing this, was incensed. Heedless of his own personal safety, he rushed at the ZAFT machines, releasing his METEOR, computer already locking on. "Don't attack those who aren't fighting back!"

Jason seeing what his old comrades are doing as he joined Kira with his computer targeting the GuAIZ's.

"Kira, Jason, wait!" Athrun called, even as the Freedom opened fire. "Oh, for..." He changed course, joining in with his own weapons.

Aelan saw what Kira, Jason, and Athrun were doing and joined in the Fray using all of her machines weaponry.

"You're all idiots," Kevin muttered; they'd passed him on the way in. "Oh, well." He engaged the Zero System and likewise began opening fire... though unlike his friends, he wasn't going for disarming attacks, and he wasn't very particular about which side he shot. He hated the Earth Forces, because of their connection to Blue Cosmos, almost as much as he hated ZAFT.

ZAFT won out for the sole reason that they had attempted to turn him into a monster, and nearly succeeded. Had Reverend Malchio and Cagalli Yula Athha not gotten his head straightened out, he might well have become the thing he despised, even as he tried to avoid it. And in the end, death might truly have been his only option.

With almost casual ease, the Stormhawk swatted a GuAIZ, which the Freedom had already beheaded, from the heavens with a buster rifle shot, while the other simultaneously engaged a separate target at a completely different angle.

Now completely ignoring the Daggers as beneath his notice, Kevin wove among the ZAFT forces, blasting at everything in sight, until it was clear both sides were falling back. (C'mon, tovarisch,) he said across his link with Kira. (Let's get out of here, before somebody decides to start chucking nukes our way.)

(Right,) Kira agreed, satisfied for the moment. (You should come with us to the Eternal) he added. (We need to figure out what just happened, and how to stop it from happening again.)

(Agreed.)

Within an hour after ZAFT's surprise rout of the Earth Forces, Waltfeld, Lacus, Kira, Aelan, Jason and Athrun were gathered on the Eternal's Bridge; they were joined by Murrue, Kevin, and Cagalli, while Erica Simmons attended via radio.

"That weapon appears to fire a coherent stream of gamma rays," she was saying. "Think of it as a gamma ray laser. Its power, as you saw, was far in excess of any other known weapon, even positron cannons."

"If those were gamma rays, how were we able to see them?" Murrue asked, frowning.

Kevin handled that. "Particulate matter, excited by the energy surge. In other words, space dust."

Erica nodded. "Right. It looks like you were right about what they've done, Baron. Fortunately, they can't seem to fire consecutive shots; from what we can tell, the very mirror used to reflect the energy back into the device is destroyed by the beam, so it has to replaced after every shot. That gives us a window of opportunity to destroy it."

"How long do we have?" Waltfeld said sharply.

She shrugged. "Depends on when they begin replacement. Since they've never used it before, I'd guess the crews aren't yet accustomed to moving in new mirrors, so even if they start now, sheer inexperience should give us till sometime tomorrow."

Lacus sighed, depressed. "Is it weapons that are at fault in this conflict? Or is the real cause within the human soul?"

Her brother looked at her. "I think we know the answer to that, Lacus," he said quietly. "Humans are flawed. War is part of our nature. All we can hope to do is minimize the damage, try to stop weapons like this before they can be used on innocents." Kevin grimaced.

"It can't I wont let it happen." Aelan said clenching her fists.

"If we can't destroy it, we have only one real hope: the MAD Deterrent." Kevin said after Aelan finished.

Kira raised an eyebrow. "The MAD Deterrent?"

"Its acronym is very fitting, believe me," Snake told him grimly. "Back during the A.D., before the Reconstruction War, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were engaged in a so-called 'Cold War'. Perhaps the only thing that kept war at bay long enough for the USSR to collapse was the fact that both sides had large numbers of nuclear weapons. One side might lose the war, but they could certainly assure that nobody else won it, either. It was called the MAD Deterrent, for 'Mutually Assured Destruction'."

"Being afraid of one weapon and the other. But, with the two people in charge, I don't think they are that scared to use the weapons."

"That's crazy!" Athrun protested.

"Isn't it?" the super-soldier agreed. "But the fact is, it works; even the craziest, most megalomaniacal, genocidal leader usually isn't crazy enough to launch an attack when he knows he'll end up just as bad off as his enemy. Of course, MAD was rendered pointless by the N-jammers, but it appears this Cold War just got hot again."

"You got that right, Racher," his mentor concurred. "So, how do we destroy it? Throw rocks?"

"Our best, ideal option would be to simply pound it into scrap," Kevin said, examining the data that Erica had sent over (it was far more current than that which resided in his head). "The problem is, we may not have time for that. ZAFT and the Earth Forces would both be trying to blow us away."

"So what do we do?" Murrue glanced around at the assembled people. "Just send the plans for GENESIS to the Earth Forces? Even if that were a smart idea, they wouldn't possibly have enough time to build it themselves."

"Well..." he said slowly, "there is one other option." He looked up, face carefully composed. "Stormhawk is equipped with a three-kiloton nuclear self-destruct device."

Cagalli instantly protested. "Kevin, you are not going to blow yourself up-"

"Kevin I wont let you die, I am the one to kill you!" Aelan scolded him.

Kevin raised a hand. "Hear me out, please. I'm not proposing to blow myself up. What I have in mind is to fly directly inside GENESIS, via the emitter shaft -hopefully not while they're firing- or possibly an access shaft, jettison the nuke, and Stormhawk's N-jammer canceler with it. It'll mean I'll be reduced to the energy battery on the way out, but with a time delay of, say, three minutes, I should be fine." At that, Kira looked at him sharply, but held his tongue.

Cagalli still looked dubious. "I suppose... but this is a last resort, right?"

He nodded. "Of course. I'm sure we'll find another way; I just thought we should be aware of our options, that's all."

Kira gave him another look, then shrugged. "I guess that's it, then." A thought occurred to him, and he glanced at Waltfeld. "So what's the status of the Earth Forces fleet, anyway?"

The Desert Tiger shrugged. "About forty percent of their ships were wiped out in the blast, along with countless mobile suits and what was left of the Peacemaker Force. Unfortunately, Apollyon was not among the casualties."

"Apollyon?" Kevin said sharply. "Isn't that the new Archangel Class Ship?"

Waltfeld half-smiled. "Yeah,the new Archangel class ship, commanded by one Rear Admiral William Sutherland. I think you can figure out who's really in charge."

"Azrael," the super-soldier hissed. "And he's made his pet captain an admiral, has he? I'll make sure Caligula doesn't survive our next meeting."

"What is Apollyon?" Kira wanted to know. "I've heard the word before, but..."

"Apollyon is another word for Destroyer or Abaddon, Azrael would name his personal ship after such a word." Aelan said with her arms crossed and floating near the ceiling.

"Doesn't surprise me, either" Murrue glanced at her watch. "Well, if we've got a few hours, we should probably get some rest. I'll be heading back to the Archangel."

The group moved toward the elevator in the Bridge's aft bulkhead. "I'll sleep in the Freedom's cockpit," Kira announced. "We may not have much warning when the attack starts again."

"Thats a good Idea little borther." Jason said as Aelan followed silently.

"Me, too," Athrun agreed. "Kevin, what about you and Cagalli?"

"We're returning to the Dominion, of course. Our machines are based there, and remember, it's you guys who had the crazy idea to put me in charge."

"Yes, I suppose it was," Murrue said with a smile. "Seems to have worked out well, though."

"So far, Sis."

With Murrue, Athrun, Cagalli, Jason, Aelan and Kevin already in the elevator, Lacus caught Kira's shoulder. "Kira..."

He blinked, then shrugged, and looked at the others; a knowing smile on his face, Kevin hit the switch, and the doors close. "What's up, Lacus?"

She hesitated a moment. "Well..." Finally gathering her courage, she held up a ring. "Please, take this."

Kira held it, and started. It was the very ring Lacus had worn while engaged to Athrun. "Lacus, I..." He simply looked at it for a time, at a complete loss for words.

Meanwhile Aelan made Athrun and Cagalli go to a viewport to be alone for the first time.

"Athrun, I will be fighting in this battle as well." Cagalli told him as Athrun nodded.

"Yeah I know, hopefully this will be the final battle." Athrun said looking into the endless sky of space. He then took off the amulet she gave him back when the Aegis blew up. And was about to give it to her.

"No, keep it, for luck." She said rejecting it.

"Thanks, this means a lot to me." He told her as she nodded in agreement. "So why do you want to fight in this battle?" He asked her as she looked at him.

"I. . .I There are things I want to do to help. I don't think staying back on the Dominion will be much help." She told him. "I, don't want to see any of you die." She answered as Athrun knew who she was talking about. Kira, Kevin, Jason, and himself. Athrun just hugged her.

Cagalli began to protest but then settled letting him embrace her. "Cagalli, I am glad we met, and I promise for you and Kevin that I will protect you." He told her as he kissed her as she let him kiss her.

A few decks above, in the elevator, Kira finally looked up from the ring and smiled. "This means a lot," he said quietly, unconsciously echoing his friends words. "Thank you."

The doors slid open, and he started to turn away; but Lacus' voice stopped him. "Kira... please come back," she whispered. "Come back to me."

Kira looked briefly taken aback (something which would have greatly amused Kevin, who had seen this coming all the way back on the Archangel, before even the battle of the Eighth Fleet). But he quickly recovered, smiled, and leaned close to kiss her on the cheek. "I'll be fine," he told her. "I will be coming back. That's a promise."

The he turned away and pushed off, floating through the air toward the Eternal's hanger. "Kira!" Lacus called after him. Troubled, she turned back to the elevator, wondering deep inside if any of them would get out of this next, last battle alive.

It was to be their final rest before everything was over, one way or the other; so Kevin Walker quickly returned to his quarters on the Dominion once he was back aboard.

They had once belonged to Muruta Azrael; whatever the merely official table of organization might have said, he was the man truly in command of the Dominion. But with his departure, Natarle Badgiruel had insisted that her new captain take them over, and just this once, he was grateful.

Kevin did not expect this night to be very restful. Even after all this time, he was still plagued by the nightmares which had haunted him since the gruesome end to the Project; and tonight, he expected it to be far, far worse. For that day, he had been a witness to the fact that ZAFT truly was in a position to end the war... which meant Oracle's voice would doubtless speak to him again, as he slept. The maniac's conditioning had never truly left him; back in the Libyan desert, before he had awakened to find himself in Cagalli's care, Oracle's long-dead voice had whispered to him, as it always did when times such as this came.

Well, Kevin told himself,look at it this way: tomorrow, one way or the other, it will all be over. Patrick Zala will be dead, or you will be dead. Either way, peace will be mine at last. If it be my fate to enter the eternal darkness, the eternal light one more time, then so be it. Just so long as my murdered comrades haunt me no more.

Soon, Kevin slipped into fitful sleep... and faced his past one last time.

"It's time, Hydra," Oracle's voice whispered to him. "GENESIS has been born; the final victory of the Coordinators is at hand. Awake from your long sleep, Cain, and complete the mission you began at Mendel, so long ago!"

Shut up, Oracle. You're dead. You have no more power over me. I threw off your brainwashing years ago, the very night I killed you. Now return to your grave and trouble me no more!

"Is that any way to speak to the man who made you what you are? Who granted you life long beyond the span of mere mortals? You are a new race, Hydra, an entirely new species! You have surpassed Naturals, you have surpassed even Coordinators. You and yours will be the ones to lead humanity into a new world order, the master race that should have been brought about centuries ago."

You're crazy, Oracle. I have abilities beyond any other, yes; but I am still human. I am not a monster, and I am not part of any "master race"!

"You are wrong, Hydra, very wrong; and now you will be able to fulfill my dream of long ago, the new Reich. Once Earth if gone, only Coordinators will remain-"

Enough!

In the world of his mind, Kevin put a pistol bullet through the head of his former master, leaving the insane scientist dead at his feet. But the worst was yet to come.

"You killed me," Michael Carnehan, the Kraken, hissed. "You and your high-born girlfriend, you murdered me, your own brother, after you killed all the rest. After you killed-"

"After you killed me,"Erica Hawke, the young woman known as Scylla, accused. Her body was mangled, nearly torn in half by the sharp implement that had killed her. "You were one of us, our leader, and yet you turned on us, murdered us, and went on to sabotage our dream of a new world for the Coordinators. You're the monster you accused us of being."

"You proved your inhuman strength, inhuman fury, when you crushed me to bloody dust," the huge Charlie Evans, codename Talos, rumbled. "No human could have destroyed me that way... only a monster could."

"Your cunning, your ruthlessness evaded even my unending vigilance," the upper half of Simon Priest, alias Cerberus, intoned.

Then came the very worst, as Rachel Carver's form, throat ripped out, formed in his mind. "Avenge me, Kevin..." she whispered. "Destroy that which tore us apart... even yourself..."

(Hey, wake up! Kevin, wake up!)

Kevin shot bolt upright in his bunk as another's voice penetrated his mind. "Wha-?"

(Relax, Kevin,) Kira's voice soothed in his head. (It was just a dream... well, nightmare, anyway. It's over.) He sounded vaguely amused for a moment. (So this is why you don't get much sleep, huh?)

(Yeah, something like that,) Kevin replied, using his augmentation to slow down his heart rate to something resembling normal. (Thanks, tovarisch; that was a bad one.)

(I can see that. So, that was Oracle, huh? That guy's crazier than I thought.) Snake had the distinct impression of a shaking head over the link. (He sounded like a Nazi. I mean, "master race"? A "new Reich"?)

Kevin chuckled. (As a matter of fact, the madman truly believed himself to be the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, and he was absolutely determined to prove it. How someone so obviously insane got into such a position of power within ZAFT Special Forces -or anywhere else- I'll never know. The important thing is, he's dead, and you just got his dead voice out of my head... for now, at least. Thanks.)

(No problem.) Kira paused. (Kevin, you were hiding something during the meeting, weren't you?)

The super-soldier attempted innocence. (I don't know what you're talking about.)

(Sure you do. When you talked about using your machine's demolition charge, you were obviously holding something back. I'm surprised Cagalli didn't notice; but then, she can't see inside your head the way I can.)

Kevin sighed. (Okay, Kira. Yeah, I was holding out. Sure, I consider that to be a last resort... but unfortunately, I don't think any other option is likely to work very well. And if it does come down to it, it's very unlikely that I'll survive.)

Denial flooded the link. (No way.)

(Kira, a point everyone seems to have overlooked is that to even reach GENESIS, I'll have to fight my way through the Jachin Due defenses, ZAFT's mobile units, and in all probability, the Earth Forces. Now, with the Zero System, and Stormhawk's neural linkage systems, I have a very good chance of reaching GENESIS alive... but the odds of arriving intactare very slim. I'll be able to deploy the nuke, and maybe even get out of the blast radius, but it's highly unlikely I'll escape the radiation. If it reaches me, I'll be as dead as anyone else, because my radiation shielding isn't that strong, and the possibility also exists that the resulting EMP will overwhelm Stormhawk and my augmentation. If that happens, it's all over... and you know it.)

(No...) Kira was silent for a time, digesting the cold, unpleasant facts. (You haven't told Cagalli, have you? If you had, she'd shoot you again, you know.)

Kevin shook his head. (No, I haven't told her, for that very reason; and shooting me won't change the facts: GENESIS has to be stopped. Isn't one life for billions an equitable trade?)

(Since when have you been altruistic?) Kira demanded. (Since when have you cared what happened to the world? You always say you're loyal to your friends, not any government. So why...?)

(This isprotecting my friends, tovarisch; GENESIS is as indiscriminate as you can get. It'll kill any of you just as easily as it kills anyone else. Better it be me, than any of you.)

(Cagalli won't see it that way,) Kira muttered. (Well, then we'll just have to make sure you don't need to do it, huh?)

(Yeah.) Kevin managed a silent chuckle. (Well, hey; I have been known to be wrong, once in a while. Maybe I am here. Now you, tovarisch, should get some sleep; you need more than I do.)

He felt Kira's agreement. (I know. Are you going to get any more sleep?)

(Maybe; probably not, though. Better to settle for what I got than risk more nightmares.) Kevin's mental voice turned hard. (In any case, tomorrow it'll be over. I'll be dead, or I'll have killed Patrick Zala. It can be no other way.)

(And this is why Captain Waltfeld calls you Racher,) Kira said dryly. (Good night, Kevin.)

On the Eternal, inside the cockpit of the Red Queen Aelan slept with her mask off, having a dream of her own.

Aelan saw the carnage that was left of the facility making the Abaddon project. The Waseland that was once part of her home. She walked the wasteland where he friends once stayed with her. "I can't beleive it, how did I get here?" Aelan asked herself. That was when the man who integrated himself into Kevin's dream appeared.

"Well hello there." The man said as Aelan turned around to see the man that made her the way she is. "My prized creations still live I see." He said as Aelan looked at him.

"What the hell do you want?" She asked him ready to extend her blades.

"Oh just to say that, the final plans are finally coming together, the super weapon known as Genesis has come. The end of the Naturals are at hand." He called as Aelan extended her blades. "Hahaha, those don't scare me, I created you after all." He said as then Aelan lunged at him with her blades exiting his back. Then she retracted them and the man fell dead infront of her.

"Mmhmm, nice work my daughter." came a voice behind her as a man with short blonde hair appeared behind her. Beside him was a woman with long black hair, in other words Aelan's mother.

"Mom dad." she called running to them then their bodies went from full of life then floated in the air as though they were dead in space. Then everything around her turned into the debree belt all around her were the lifeless dead.

"Horrible isn't it?" Came a familiar voice to Aelan as she turned around, a woman stood behind her in a open doorway as behind her was the endless space. Her hair was the color of obsidian black and her eyes were as crimson as an apple. Her bangs were of a green color that floated infront of her face. "Its been a while hasn't it?" She said as Aelan went over and hugged the girl.

"Rachel, I thought I lost you, but what, is this place?" Aelan asked as Rachel moved back a little.

"This is a dream Aelan, but I came to give you a message, you can't let Oracle win, not after the evil he did to us. Genesis must be destroyed, weapons like it are to powerful." She told Aelan with concern on her face. "We may of been made to help the coordinators win, but we can't, we can't let the Naturals be eradicated, no, we have no right to play as gods." Rachel told her almost in tears.

"Rachel, I promise you I wont let that happen." Aelan told her as Rachel nodded.

"Thank you, please help Hydra protect the Naturals, then do as you see fit, just don't die on me, not yet." Rachel said as she began to fade away.

"No Rachel stay please." Aelan pleaded in tears.

"Aelan remember, you promised me to stop that weapon, no matter what!" Rachel called.

Then Aelan awakened inside the cockpit of her machine in tears. "Rachel, I promise you, I will stop that weapon, no matter what." Aelan said to herself as she looked at her monitors.

On the otherside of the hangar, Jason was also having a dream. (Hey OC's need something eh).

A seventeen year old Jason was siting on a beach looking into the artificial ocean of Februarius Three, he watched as the water came in and out again. Until a voice startled him. "Hey" The female voice called as he looked over. He saw a fifteen year old young lady walking over to him. Her light blueish green hair of Turquoise walked over to him. She wore a red tanktop and red skirt and her golden eyes reflected the ocean.

"Hey Tanya." Jason replied as she sat down beside him. Jason knew it was a dream but he loved every second of Tanya Coleson's company, even if she was actually dead. Jason looked grim as he knew of the battle coming.

"Whats wrong?" Tanya asked him as she was siting down seeing the sadness on his face.

"Nothing, just that, just that the final battle of the war is coming." He told her as she put her arm around his. "Tanya?" He wondered.

"Please, come to me Jason, I miss you, my heart yearns for you." She said looking into his eyes as he smiled.

"But, I must do my job, I need to protect my brother and sister." He told her as she hugged his arm.

"Trust me Jason, but Hydra can do that for you, please, I want you back, I know, the dead are supose to say to continue on with your life, but I know you long for me as I do you." She told him as he nodded.

"Tanya, I know what you are saying but please, I need to go, and who knows I may be joining you after this battle, Zala will stop at nothing to destroy the Naturals, and I can't let him. No matter what." He said as she looked at him.

"I understand." She said kissing him as he kissed her back. "Now go and protect your friends, I will be waiting for you." She told him as she fated.

Inside the cockpit a tear formed in the stoic mans eye. "Tanya, I promise to end this war for you." He told himself as he looked at the ring on his finger. "I stake my life that I will stop that weapon."

The General Quarters alarm woke Kevin very suddenly, and nearly caused his finely-honed reflexes to blast an intercom panel to scrap metal before he even realized he was conscious.

When he did so realize, he set aside the gun and activated the intercom. "This is the Captain," he said curtly. "What's the situation?"

"The Earth Forces are beginning to move out, Captain," Natarle answered. "Apparently, their resupply is complete, and they seem to be in a hurry to destroy GENESIS."

"Can't say that I blame them," Kevin murmured. "Well, I canblame them for trying to solve the problem by nuking the PLANTs; so it's time to stop them. Natarle, I'm heading for the hanger. Signal Yzak, Cagalli, and their remaining pilots to join me. You have the Bridge."

"Aye, sir." She paused. "Any specific instructions, Captain?"

"Yeah. If you see the Apollyon, lock on all weapons and contact me. Do not, repeat, do not fire until I give you the signal. Understood?"

"Of course, Captain," Natarle agreed. "But may I ask why?"

"You may." He gave her a feral grin. "I won't be content with merely killing him, you see; first I want to rub his nose in his abject stupidity. I want him to understand how much of a mistake it was to make an enemy of me."

"Can't argue with that," she decided."I don't like the bastard, either. He doesn't like soldiers; and worse, he thinks that he, an industrialist, can do a soldier's job better than a professional. You want him gone, give the word."

"Glad to hear it." Already heading for the hatch, Kevin paused. "Oh; and sound Level One Battlestations while you're at it."

"Roger that."

Even as the Dominion's Captain raced for the hanger, alarms began to blare.

On all four ships, pilots were boarding their machines, and crews were rushing to battlestations in preparation for what they all knew would be the last battle. Win or lose, it would all end here.

I suppose Snake would call this the Final Conflict, Mu La Flaga mused, sitting in the Strike's cockpit, powering up Kira's former machine. Of course, he is a pretty downbeat kinda guy. Or at least he was, he corrected himself with a grin, before he and the girl finally stopped fooling themselves.

A chime sounded, and he looked up to see Murrue Ramius' image on one of his monitors, waving at him; curious, he doffed his helmet and popped the hatch.

"I was afraid I wouldn't make it in time," Murrue said breathlessly when he appeared.

Mu grinned. "In time for what, silly?" Irrepressible as ever, the Hawk of Endymion gripped her shoulder reassuringly. "I'll be okay, you know."

"I know, but..." She looked away. "If it were to happen to me again, I..."

He frowned, then caught sight of the locket she wore. He caught it in one gloved hand, and nodded in sudden understanding. "So he was a mobile armor pilot?"

Murrue nodded. "Yes," she whispered. "It was... the first Battle of Jachin Due. He was a rookie; good... but not quite good enough."

"Don't worry," Mu said quietly. "I'll be coming right back... with victory in hand."

To emphasize his point, he pulled her close and kissed her.

Within minutes, all pilots were ready for action, and the launch reports began to ring out, on Archangel, Eternal, Kusanagi, and Dominion.

"Mu La Flaga, Strike, heading out!"

"Go ahead, Strike," Mir replied from Archangel's Bridge.

"Dearka Elsman, Buster, taking off," Dearka reported, saluting.

"Go ahead, Buster."

Tolle's Wraith was next up. "Tolle Koenig here. Wraith, moving out!"

"Roger that." Mir hesitated. "Be careful, Tolle."

"Don't worry, Mir," Max piped up, to Tolle's annoyance. "I'll make sure he doesn't get himself blown up or anything. Or take his machine up against something with ten times his firepower."

While Kusanagi launched her complement of Astrays even Garret's own tricked machine, The Dominion also began deploying mobile suits. "Yzak Joule, launching in Duel!"

"Shiho Hahenfuss, CGUE DEEP Launching!" she called as the two ex-ZAFT (and still loyal to the PLANTs) pilot had a very personal reason to be fighting here. It was, after all, their homeland that the Earth Forces were trying to nuke.

"Cagalli Yula Athha, Strike Rouge launching!"

Then it was their commander's turn. This time, Kevin Walker would be flying to the very best of his ability, even beyond his usual skill. For today, he was to be using his neural interface to connect with his machine in a way no other pilot could.

He placed his hand on the interface, jacked in, and contacted the Bridge. "This is Captain Kevin Walker. Stormhawk launching!"

MBF-M1000 Sturm Falke, the machine specifically built with his unique capabilities in mind, catapulted into what could well be its last sortie... and the nuclear demolition device within sat silently, awaiting its intended task.

Then, at last, it was the Eternal's turn to launch its parasites. From its single launch deck, its pair of mobile suits would go into battle. "This is Athrun Zala," Athrun reported. "Justice launching!"

Right behind the red machine came its highly-advanced brother, ZGMF-X10A Freedom. "Kira Yamato, Freedom, let's do it!" Kira shouted, flashing out of the bay.

Next up was the other red Machine the ZGMF 2314 Red Queen readied itself. "Its time for me to fullfill my promise." Aelan told herself then tuned her frequency. "Aelan, Launching to protect!" She called as the Red Queen launched into space.

Then last up was the Ironwall Gundam. "Jason Hibiki, for our freedom." He called as the defensive Gundam launched into space.

"Deploy METEOR Units," Lacus ordered. "This is our last battle," she added. "We cannot afford to fail!"

"You know, tovarisch," Kevin said to no one in particular, "I'm getting really, really tired of nuclear weapons. Blowing myself to atoms with a fusion bomb three years ago was bad enough; now we've gotta make sure to stop, what, fifty nuclear missiles? Or more?" He shook his head. "I'd better be getting hazard pay for this."

"Your getting payed?" Aelan called as she docked with her meteor unit.

"As if your bank account is in trouble," Athrun retorted. "You're one of the richest people alive, and you're worried about hazard pay?"

The super-soldier did not deign to respond to a comment so obviously beneath his notice; instead, he simply assumed position near the Freedom, Justice, Ironwall, and Red Queen as he flew on with them.

On Archangel's Bridge, Murrue was considering the tactical situation. "Captain Waltfeld," she said finally. "You, Kusanagi, and Dominion, deal with GENESIS; we'll handle the Earth Forces fleet."

"Got it," Waltfeld acknowledged.

"Understood," Kisaka confirmed.

Natarle, however, shook her head. "Sorry, Captain Ramius, but Captain Walker has a different mission in mind for this ship."

Murrue raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"The Captain would like us to go Azrael-hunting," Dominion's XO informed her with a predator's smile. "Having served under that piece of militarily-incompetent human waste, I can sympathize."

Murrue didn't need much time to consider that. "Very well, Natarle. Good hunting."

"Same to you, Captain."

Natarle's image winked out, and Archangel's Captain leaned back in her chair. Dominion, she knew, could well make the difference in this battle; but they owed Kevin Walker a tremendous debt for his actions in this war. The least they could do was aid him in avenging his parents, and completing the private mission he'd begun so long ago. If that was risky, so be it... especially since Murrue had begun to have an inkling of what Kevin had been holding back during the last conference.

I know he won't do it if he has a choice... Murrue thought. He swore to me that if he could achieve victory and survival, he would, and he's never yet broken an oath. She swallowed. Stay safe, Kevin. We may have met mere months ago, but, as you said, we are family. I do not want to lose you anymore than I do Mu.

As before, the true battle began with the launch of the Peacemaker Force (or at least what was left of it), and the majority of the Three Ships Alliance machines went to head them off. But one pilot had a different idea.

For Mu La Flaga had sensed a familiar presence. "There's only one person thatcould be," he muttered; how it was that he could sense his father's clone was an intriguing puzzle, but not exactly relevant just now. "All right, Le Creuset. Today's the day we end this... once and for all."

For his part, Rau Le Creuset was grinning like the maniac he was. He had just launched in ZAFT's newest, most powerful mobile suit: ZGMF-X13A Providence. He, too, thought it time to settle the old score... and he had a lovely little weapon he was greatly looking forward to testing against the great Hawk of Endymion. "It's time, Mu," he whispered. "Today, everything will end... and there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing!"

Angling the machine toward his final encounter with Mu, Le Creuset glanced at his rear imagery and smiled broadly. GENESIS' alignment mirror block had now been replaced; it was only a matter of minutes now before the Earth Alliance base at Ptolemaeus Crater was wiped out. And after that, if he'd read Supreme Chairman Zala right, Earth would be targeted.

It would be a fitting end to the whole useless species, a wonderful way to bring everything down with him when his defective body -or combat- claimed his life at last.

By now, everyone was hunting everyone else. Stormhawk had vanished under cover of its hyper jammers almost from the start and had not been seen since, but the Duel, Strike Rouge, Freedom, Justice, Buster, Red Queen, Ironwall and Wraith were charging after the Moebius units carrying the nukes, and Muruta Azrael and Natarle Badgiruel had begun sniffing after each other.

On Apollyon's Bridge, Azrael glared at his displays. "Still no sign of the Dominion?" he demanded.

Sutherland shook his head. "Unfortunately not, Director. The traitorous captain is crafty, to be sure; and if we're correct about who is truly in command now, she won't be easy to catch."

"We don't need to catch her," Azrael said derisively. "If Kevin Onishi is in command, Dominion will come after us; and when she does, we'll be waiting... and so will our nukes." He paused, thinking. "Send the Calamity and Raider off to find it," he ordered. "Once they have her location, we'll deal with her ourselves."

"The Dominion has the same fire power as we do, so we'll be evenly matched." Sutherland pointed out as Azrael waved a finger at him.

Azrael snorted. "We may be evenly matched, Admiral, but we have a trump card our nuclear weapons. Even that fancy laminated armor won't stand up to a few multi-megaton missiles. We'll be fine... and those treasonous bastards, and their unnatural commander, will be so much drifting space dust."

In Jachin Due's main control center, a crewman glanced up from his console. "Alignment mirror in place, Your Excellency," he reported. "GENESIS is ready to fire."

"Excellent!" Zala was practically rubbing his hands in glee. "Target the lunar surface," he ordered. "Specifically, Ptolemaeus Crater. It's time to destroy the Earth Alliance's last bastion!"

Crewmen worked quietly at their stations, silently obeying their leader's orders. Then, "Target input complete, Your Excellency. GENESIS is locked on target, and the nuclear cartridge is loaded."

On Dominion's Bridge, Invictus sat bolt upright at the fire-control station. "Commander Badgiruel! GENESIS has completed alignment mirror replacement, and its aim point has reoriented!"

"Confirmed," Flay agreed. "Radiation levels within GENESIS are rising rapidly!"

"What's the target?" Natarle snapped.

"Ptolemaeus Crater, Ma'am," Meryl Steiglitz responded. "And- Commander! We're in the line of fire!"

Dominion's XO reacted instantly. "Left roll sixty degrees! Lower bow pitch angle sixty-five, maximum thrust! Get us out of here!"

"Aye, Ma'am-"

Patrick Zala smiled coldly. "Fire!"

Deep within GENESIS' tremendous bulk, the nuclear triggering cartridge detonated, sending a blast of energy up through the emitter bore, where it struck the alignment mirror, rebounded, and redoubled on GENESIS' main surface itself. Intensified by several orders of magnitude, the stream of coherent gamma rays shot across space, directly toward the Earth Forces' most important base... and through the space where the Dominion was frantically trying to escape the incoming blast.

Archangel's sister ship nearly made it, too. Natarle's orders had come just in time to save the ship from total destruction; but the massive energy release caught the carrier's upper starboard section. Incredibly, Lohengrin One survived, but the catapult just above was savagely mauled, Gottfried One was ripped away, Valiant One simply ceased to exist, the starboard fin was literally vaporized, and half of the ship's anti-ship missile tubes vanished with it, along with two engines.

One of Dominion's few surviving pilots, Mark Golanti, had just enough time to scream before the stream of gamma rays reached his Strike Dagger; it ended with sickening suddenness.

Even as the gargantuan beam continued on to wipe away the incoming Earth Forces reinforcements, and the lunar base, alarms blared all over the Dominion. "Damage report!" Natarle shouted, coughing on smoke. "How bad are we hit?"

"We've lost Gottfried One and Valiant One, Ma'am," Invictus managed. "Starboard catapult went with them, and so did a dozen missile tubes and half our radar array. Engines One and Two are gone, too." He coughed. "Lohengrin One's gunnery crew does not respond, Commander; looks like local control took a radiation surge." The assassin looked up, anguished. "I don't think anybody made it out of there alive, Ma'am."

"Can we still fight?" she demanded.

"Yes, Ma'am. We still have a dozen anti-ship tubes, the Helldarts, Lohengrin One and the port armament; but I wouldn't care to put us through an extended engagement, Commander."

"Concur," Steiglitz interjected. "With two engines gone, an arthritic tortoise could outrun us." She shook her head. "Ma'am, if we're going to get Apollyon, we'd better-"

The helmsman broke off so suddenly Natarle looked at her in concern. "What is it, Lieutenant?"

"Commander, there's an Archangel class directly ahead," Steiglitz told her. "Theres only two ships with that clas besides and I don't doubt it's..."

"Incoming transmission, Ma'am," Flay reported. "From the Agamemnon; and there are a number of mobile armors closing."

"Put it through," Natarle ordered. She had a feeling she knew who was calling; especially with the sudden arrival of mobile armors. "And patch Captain Walker into the circuit."

"Yes, Ma'am."

As expected, Muruta Azrael's face appeared on the monitor. "Well, well, Ms. Captain," he said contemptuously. "Went and got your ship all shot up by that thing, did you?"

"What's it to you, Director Azrael?" she snapped. "Unless you're intending to try to destroy us while we're vulnerable."

The terrorist leader shook his head. "Not necessarily, Ms. Captain. I thought I'd off you a deal: you help us blow up GENESIS, or the Peacemaker Force blows you into radioactive dust. What'll it be?"

Natarle grimaced. "You realize I have to discuss this with the Captain before I can give you an answer," she said, stalling.

"Oh, of course; mustn't keep the great, unnatural Kevin Walker out of the loop, eh?" Azrael ostentatiously checked his watch."You have... five minutes, Commander, in which to discuss it. If I don't have an answer by then, or if it's negative, I'll blow you out of space. Fair enough?"

She gestured sharply at Flay, who muted Azrael's line; then turned to a secondary screen. "Captain...?"

Kevin did not bother replying verbally. Instead, Stormhawk suddenly shimmered into view, buster rifles in hand; and its intent was clearly malevolent. Through his neural link, he aimed the powerful weapons at the oncoming so-called "Peacemaker Force", and opened fire.

Azrael watched, stunned and furious, as the force he'd intended to finally end that uppity woman's life was itself annihilated by the Coordinator he hated most. "You-!"

Kevin Walker's helmeted visage appeared on the screens of both the Dominion and the Caligula."Muruta Azrael," he began in a voice like frozen helium. "I've waited a long time for this day. Three and a half years ago, you ordered my parents murdered; and your pet intelligence agent Alex Jackson was only too happy to comply. I've already killed CARDINAL, Director; that just leaves you to deal with." He paused. "Dominion, lock all remaining weapons on Apollyon," he ordered. Then the super-soldier directed his attention back to the morbidly fascinated, absolutely terrified Azrael. "I wish, more than anything else, that I could be aboard to kill you personally, Azrael, but unfortunately I have a job to do. So I'll settle for allowing other people you used and betrayed to do the deed."

Behind Azrael, Sutherland roared. "Fire Lohengrin!" That was when the red Archangel ship fired its positron cannons wiping out the remaining Gotfried and Valiant.

"Damn, Damage report!" Natarle yelled as Flay relayed the damage.

"Our entire Port side is badly damaged, all weapon systems are offline, we are defencless!" Flay called worried like. Kevin barely dodged the attack himself and was interupted by the Forbidden Gundam as a Plasma blast scorched one of his buster cannons.

"Damn, Dominion, you are helpless, get in the escape ships and flee to the Kusanagi, Archangel, or Eternal, get going." Walker commanded as Natarle relayed the message. Everyone left besides Natarle who stayed on the bridge and jumped into the seat Meryl stayed in.

When the Strike came into the Providence's view, Le Creuset laughed. "Ah, there you are, Mu! I wondered when you were going to get here. Shall we battle one last time?"

"Is this what you were hoping for, you jackal?" Mu demanded. His beam rifle was out, and opened fire on the new ZAFT machine. "Is GENESIS what you had in mind all along?"

"You shouldn't blame me!" The madman deployed the Providence's most interesting feature: the DRAGOON System, a large number of mobile laser emitters inspired by the Moebius Zero's wired gunbarrels. "This is mankind's dream!" Le Creuset went on as his weapons opened fire on the Strike. "Mankind's desire! Mankind's destiny! To be the strongest, to go the farthest, to climb the highest!"

"All of this is a result of your twisted logic!" Mu snarled, frantically weaving in and out of multitude of lasers being fired upon his relatively outdated machine. "I won't let you make things worse!"

"But you're too late, Mu," Le Creuset replied, adding fire from his rifle and the multifunction apparatus on his left arm. "You see, I'm the product of all this; that's how I know. I know that humanity will become extinct, swallowed by the darkness it's created."

"Not if I can help it!" With the same extraordinary powers of spatial awareness that had enabled him to use wired gunbarrels to such lethal effect, Mu managed to dodge every shot so far fired at him. But even he knew that if this kept up, it was only a matter of time before the law of averages caught up with him.

Dominion's three remaining Dagger pilots were grouped together, hoping that numbers would help keep them alive; they were also staying well away from GENESIS' line of fire, lest their friend Mark Golanti's fate befall them, as well.

"This is nuts," Zack Malone muttered to his comrades. "This has gotta be the craziest battle in this whole freakin' war."

"At least we're not fighting the Archangeland company this time," Ron Bishop reminded him. "Commander La Flaga just missed blasting me back at Mendel; if Bob hadn't gotten in the way, I wouldn't be here."

"This time, though, we've got the Captain on our side," Karen Sarnac commented. She paused, blasting at a GINN with her beam rifle; the machine exploded in a most satisfactory manner. "One down. Anyway, even if we die, Captain Walker will make sure our deaths aren't in vain."

Her fellows agreed. Some of their friends had taken Walker up on his offer of transport out, but theytrusted their Captain. He hadn't killed anyone unnecessarily, during his takeover, and the honesty of the Fencing Prince was questioned only by the terminally paranoid. They believed his tale of horror, and fought now for a peace without superweapons.

But to fight for peace does not always mean to live for it.

"Wha? Guys, look out! Incoming GuAIZ's-" Zack's voice died as a powerful beam blasted through his lightly-armored Dagger like it didn't exist.

"Zack!" Karen charged after her friend's killer, and managed to get her beam saber into its cockpit before another GuAIZ slashed its beam claws through her back, and she, too, exploded.

"No!" Ron Bishop fired one shot, then tried to retreat; but the ZAFT forces showed no mercy. A claw ripped through his Dagger's torso, and he was gone.

Kevin Walker, though he had spent most of the battle under cloak, watching and waiting for several opportunities which had not yet arrived, had kept a facet of his attention on his own troops, and his eyes froze with utter fury as he saw the last of his mass-produced units wiped out. "You devils!"

Behind his eyes, a jade seed burst.

Stormhawk burst out from hiding, buster rifles in hand. "I'll kill you," Kevin whispered (when he kept control at all in the Berserker state, it was in a very calm way), and opened fire on the first GuAIZ.

The azure blast caught it in the chest, causing the machine to go up like a moth caught in the flame, and his partner died a moment later in the same manner.

The GuAIZ's attempted to fight back against this impossible machine, but its pilot seemed to know what they were going to do before they did (the Zero System gave him a good idea of the next attack, and his empathic sense told him their intent to fire), and avoided their attacks with contemptuous ease. And then he was among them, using a buster rifle in his left hand and a beam saber in his right.

One was sliced in half, while his fellow was shredded by shoulder-mounted machine cannons; then came the coup de grace: saber sheathed, both buster rifles came together and locked, and the azure column blazed out like the fiery sword of an avenging angel.

With one mighty blow, Stormhawk smote its enemies from the heavens, and vanished into cloak once again.

Soon... Kevin Walker thought. Soon, this will be over, and no more will be killed by ZAFT!

Several other GuAIZ units were attacking he M1's. One got a lucky shot off at Juri's M1 blasting it throught the chest. All that was heard was Juri yelling as the M1 exploded. "Juri!" Asagi yelled as then a beam blasted her into oblivion.

"No guys!" Mayura yelled but was blasted in the back by another GuAIZ ending her wonderful life.

This made Cagalli and Garret very, very angry. The Astray pilots off the Kusanagi -friends, who had survived the battles of Orb and Mendel- were being slaughtered by the three insane pilots and the GuAIZ units. And this triggered, at last, their latent powers of the Berserker that lay within them.

"Ragh!" Garret yelled combining his two Anti Ship swords and slicing the murderers of the three girls to pieces.

"Athrun," Cagalli called, voice very steady, "you and Kira keep on those nukes. I've got to take care of something."

"Right," Athrun acknowledged; he had no idea at all what was going on, or that Cagalli had undergone the change he himself -and, he suspected, Kevin and Kira- had, but he understood her objective.

Kira and Kevin, on the other hand, knew precisely what had occurred; Kira, through the bond all twins seemed to share, and Kevin, resonating along their own link. Kira merely nodded to himself in understanding, but the Snake smiled coldly. It seemed that his oldest friend, too, was quite capable of vengeance when the situation called for it.

"Murderers!" Cagalli snarled. She did not have the mobile suit experience of her brother or Kevin, but she wasbetter than the Astray pilots, who themselves had a pronounced talent for dealing with the Earth Alliance's puny Strike Daggers. As a result, she blew right through them like they weren't even there, intent upon reaching the first real target in range; which just happened to be the Forbidden, with the crazed Shani Andras in the cockpit.

Crazed or not, he apparently wasn't expecting the sudden attack, and just barely managed to get his deflectors positioned in time to defeat the first beams that came at him. "What the- You... your gonna... you're gonna die!" he called obvious beginning to feel the side effects of the drug.

Twitching uncontrollably, the maniac was still able to control his machine, and he powered up his plasma cannon, simultaneously charging the electromagnetic field used to guide it. When all was ready, he opened fire, spewing plasma as fast as the weapon was capable of.

Startled in turn, her suddenly-revealed Berserker talents enabled Cagalli to boost out of the paths of the first few barrages, but with the tracking capabilities, it was only a matter of time. Indeed, the next shot was clearly going to connect...

But it was intercepted short of its target by the Duel's shield. "I don't think so!" Yzak snarled, bringing his own beam rifle to bear. "It's time to end this!"

"You got it!" Dearka's Buster joined the blasting at the Forbidden's deflectors, along side Shiho's shoulder cannons helping out. Which still could not reflect projectile weapons, with Dearka's anti-armor shotgun. As Shiho kept him distracted. "Cagalli, Yzak! Go for it!" Shiho then threw her large beam sword to Yzak who grabbed the weapon.

They complied, the Strike Rouge providing covering fire while the Duel charged in. "I've got you this time!" the white-haired pilot yelled, reading the large beam sword provided by Shiho.

"No way!" Shani triggered his plasma cannon again, this time getting in a clean shot, which swallowed up the incoming machine. "Take that, you- What the?"

"Raaaarghhhh!" The Duel emerged from the energy cloud, shield and assault shroud gone but otherwise intact... and now it had the sword and a beam sabre in hand.

With its left, Yzak sliced up the Forbidden's scythe, and with its right, he stabbed deep into the machine's torso. Right into its cockpit, in fact.

Shani never even had a chance to scream as the blade of pure energy stabbed through him. The lifeless, powerless hulk drifted backwards for a moment, then exploded spectacularly.

"Thanks for the backup, Yzak," Cagalli said evenly, still unfazed. "I'll handle Calamity."

"Go for it," Yzak acknowledged. "Dearka, let's go find the Raider. As long as those guys are still around, they'll make killing the nukes a lot harder."

"Roger that."

While the pair of G-weapons pealed off, Cagalli was already searching for her next target, and speaking with the Dominion's deck crew. "Dominion, send me the Launcher Striker," she ordered. "I need some heavier firepower out here."

"Understood, Ma'am. We've taken some bad hits, but the port catapult is still operational. It'll be right there."

"Good." Her cold amber eyes narrowed. "You'll pay for this," Cagalli promised. "All of you."

Mu was becoming increasingly annoyed with Le Creuset; annoyed, and more than a little nervous. The madman's new machine was simply too good, especially with that accursed DRAGOON system.

It had been only a matter of time before one of the multitude of lasers connected, and one finally did, taking the Strike's beam rifle into oblivion. "You can't win, Mu," Le Creuset taunted. "After all, the child can never hope to outshine the parent!"

"You're notmy father!" Mu snarled. "You're just a jackal, a defective creation that shouldn't have been allowed to exist!" He snatched out a beam saber, and rushed straight in. "Now you'll pay for what you've unleashed!"

Le Creuset laughed insanely, igniting a saber of his own. "There's nothing that can be done to stop the world's destruction now, Mu! I have seen to that! GENESIS will wipe out all!"

The sabers collided, and then the Providence's blade drew back, pivoted, and sliced through the Strike's right arm. Forced into retreat, Mu limped away, chased by a scattering of fire from the remote laser emitters. "I'll get you next time, Le Creuset!" he promised.

"There won't bea next time, Mu!" Two more lasers fired, one the Strike was battered yet again. Its left leg spun off into the eternal emptiness, and something exploded in the cockpit as a blast sliced across the machine's torso.

"Urgh!" The explosion had wounded Mu, but his nemesis had evidently decided he was out of the fight, and let him retreat. "Archangel," he rasped. "Get... get ready for me. I need a clear deck, now."

"Understood," Murrue replied instantly. "And Le Creuset?"

"He got away," the pilot hissed. "But I'll get him next time. How are you doing?"

"We seem to be under attack," she said, voice far more calm than she felt; and an explosion in the background punctuated her words. "We've got the Archangel class Apollyon closing along side, flanked by a couple of 130-meters and at least one nuclear-equipped mobile armor." Another boom in the background. "We just lost starboard weapons and our starboard fin; must have been secondary explosions. And the Dominion is out of the fight and launched its pods."

Mu cursed, seeing for himself the fire being spewed in the Archangel's direction. But even were he in range, he could nothing; not in the shape he and his machine were in. "Is anyone in a position to help?"

"No but. . ." Murrue began.

"Mam, their charging their Lohengrin, mam, it just fired, we can't get out of the way in time." Sai called as the positron energy blast came closer and closer to the bridge of the Archangel. Time seemed to slow down inside the Archangel, but then the black ship known as the Dominion flew into the path of the blast.

"No Natarle!" Murrue called as the Dominion then exploded in several areas as it was just hit on the bridge by the Lohengrin.

On the bridge, Murrue was in tears for losing such a close friend and comrade. And floating not to far away was not to far from them. He saw his own ship explode infront of the Archangel. "No Damn YOU!" Kevin called combining his two buster rifles in pure vengence.

Murrue and Kevin then had the same Plan in mind. "Fire Lohengrin!" Murrue called as Kevin aimed his Twin Buster Rifle at the Apollyon. The 300 meter Azure beam and the positron cannon fired on the Apollyon, blowing away both Azrael, and Sutherland into the Plasma Oblivion.

With the Apollyon out of the way, Mu keyed his radio. "Kira," he called, keying his radio, "I'm out of the fight, but Le Creuset is still out there. Can you do anything about that lunatic?"

"I can try," Kira replied instantly. "We've just about gotten all the nukes; I'm on my way."

"Thanks."

By this time, the Launcher Striker pack had caught up with the Strike Rouge, and Cagalli was now hunting the Calamity, death in her heart. You've killed so many of my friends, you conquered my homeland... today I'll end it all!

She didn't find it, though; it found her. "I'm gonna get you!" Orga shrieked. "I'm gonna get allof you!" As crazed as his fellows by gamma glipheptin-withdrawal, he began firing all over the place, catching ZAFT and Earth Alliance units alike in his aimless barrage.

Cagalli dodged easily to one side, then under, as the fire turned toward her. "I won't let you!" She lifted the Agni hyper-impulse cannon. "You've hurt so many people, done so much wrong... you're dead!"

Orga Sabnak, one of the biological CPUs with abilities supposedly equal to Coordinators, had easily defeated almost every enemy he'd faced, and had even come close to taking out the Freedom itself. But today, gripped by drug withdrawal and faced with the full fury of a Berserker Coordinator, he didn't stand a chance.

Cagalli fired exactly twice, first blowing off his Schlag beam cannons, Then from behind a pair of Schlag cannons fired throught the cockpit and then a large beam sabre sliced it from above. As the space blast disappeared. Aelan was floating their still in her Meteor unit. "Thanks Aelan."

"No problem m'lady, but this battle isn't over yet."

"Good work, tovarisch," Kevin congratulated, his Stormhawk appearing from nowhere. "Now the only effective Earth Forces machine left is Raider, and he can wait. Right now, we've got a little job to do."

"GENESIS, right?"

"Yeah," Athrun broke in. "And our best bet is to enter Jachin Due itself; either we stop my father before he can even begin the next firing sequence, or we wreck the computers afterward."

"Agreed," Kevin concurred. "But you two stay out of this; I can handle it on my own."

"Absolutely not," Cagalli instantly flared. "You're not going into there without me, Kevin. After all that's happened, I'm not letting you out of my sight." You've gotten yourself killed too many times.

"And don't even think of excluding me, either," the Justice's pilot agreed. "Like it or not, that's my father in there; whatever happens, I'll be there to see it."

"I'm going to." Jason called as he floated by. "Aelan go help Kira, your step father is coming near. And I'll back up these three." Jason told her as Aelan went off to go help the Freedom.

Kevin sighed, and muttered something impolite in Russian. "All right, if you're both that crazy, follow me in; but I'm taking point, understand?" Without waiting for a reply, he switched to a general frequency. "Murrue, Jason, we're going in. Cover us."

"Roger that, Snake," Murrue answered.

"Thats the Plan Snake." Jason told him.

"Good luck Kevin." Murrue called.

"Thanks; we'll probably need it."

We can still do this, Kevin thought, watching Jachin Due approach through the Stormhawk's eyes. There's still a chance I'll make it through this... I hope. Either way, Patrick Zala is a dead man.

The four machines were powering toward the massive asteroid fortress at their best speed. Stormhawk's wings were fully spread, and the Strike Rouge rode atop the Justice's subflight unit (Athrun and Jason had already disengaged their METEOR Unit, to facilitate entry into Jachin).

"We're almost there," Athrun commented. "Kevin, I don't suppose you've got any access codes buried in your head, do you?"

Kevin shook his head. "Not to my knowledge, and even if I did, it'd be hopelessly out of date. No, we'll just-" He broke off suddenly, as his empathic sense detected a familiar presence. Familiar... and not welcome. "Scatter!" he shouted, following his own advice by wrenching around in a drastic course change.

A change which came a moment too late; the remote lasers mostly missed, but a pair blew away his shield, and a third bit at his left leg. "I won't allow you to interfere," Le Creuset said, firing away at the super-soldier's machine. "We have come this far, this close to the end, and nothing can be allowed to disrupt it!"

"Back off, Le Creuset!" Replacing the shield with one buster rifle, Kevin turned his -and, by extension, Stormhawk's- head to look at his comrades. "Cagalli, Jason, Athrun, keep going! I'll keep this maniac busy!"

"No!" Cagalli instantly replied. "I'm not letting you take him on by yourself-"

"He's right," Athrun interrupted. "This mission has to succeed, Cagalli. You know that."

"But-"

He ended the discussion by physically grabbing the Strike Rouge and dragging it along with him. "Be careful, Kevin!"

Jason then tuned his radio to the Red Queen. "Aelan, Kevin is in trouble, Creuset has a new machine and is fighting him." He called seeing Kevin dodge another attack from the Dragoon units.

"I'm on my way." She called as the Meteor unit blasted her towards the Providence.

"Impressive," Le Creuset acknowledged, watching the evasive maneuvers even as he tried to negate them. "You've learned much since your early battles, Kevin Walker. At the start of this war, you never would have been able to survive this long."

"I'm just full of surprises," Snake said through gritted teeth. "You won't stop me now, Le Creuset. I can't allow it!" He twisted away from yet another laser blast, and this time managed to get a bead on its emitter; with a single shot from his right-hand rifle, he blew it to dust bunnies.

"You're truly the product of Doctor Hibiki and your mad uncle," Rau taunted. "All the skills of the monster they sought to create. You are someone who should not have been allowed to exist, boy!" He laughed insanely as another of his weapons succeeded in blowing away one of his adversary's powerful rifles.

"Yeah, well, tough luck." Kevin flipped sideways, continuing the engagement with his left-hand weapon. "I'm here, and there's no way to undo it, now is there?"

"Perhaps not. But surely you understand the perverse nature of your cursed abilities? Of how your already superhuman skill was enhanced still further by that madman Oracle?" Le Creuset grinned maniacally, gleefully watching his many, many lasers pound away at the Stormhawk; the next hit shot away the machine's right leg. "I thought you desired your own death! I thought you knew that other people would never accept your existence!"

"Wrong tactic," the younger, saner pilot replied tightly, eyes jade ice. "The only person who matters changed my mind, you lunatic; all that matters now is how I use my power!"

"Nonsense! In your heart, you too desire this, don't you? An end to this meaningless existence?"

"In your dreams, bastard! And I won't forget, or forgive, what your 'casual suggestion' produced, three years ago!" The defiant tone turned to quiet cursing as Kevin realized just how badly outmatched he was. He was Le Creuset's equal or superior in terms of skill, but like Mu, the web of remotely-deployed lasers was eating away at him. Even as he tried to dodge, his left arm was blow away, and his right wing. He was slowly being dismembered, and he couldn't afford it.

"This is the end for you, Cain!" Le Creuset raised his beam rifle and began to squeeze the trigger ever so slowly. "The product of the world's greatest madmen will finally be-"

That was when a hyper-impulse sniper shot hit him in the back. "I don't think so!" Dearka snarled. "You'll have to get past me, first!"

"Dearka, no," Kevin protested. "He can't get here in time, anyway. Don't..."

"Forget it, Kevin," the Buster's pilot replied, using the super-soldier's given name for the first time. "You're doing your part; now shut up and let me do mine!" You've given more than anyone else in this war; the least we can do is make your final sacrifice mean something!

"Fine," the doomed pilot relented, even as the Providence began its attack. "Just make sure you stay out of the blast radius, or you'll glow in the dark."

"So you, too, have joined them, Dearka Elsman?" Le Creuset seemed to find the whole idea amusing. "Not that it matters. It is too late for GENESIS to be stopped!"

"We'll see about that," Dearka replied. Dodging as rapidly as the relatively-cumbersome Buster was capable of, he fired his hyper-impulse sniper rifle and his missiles, trying to overwhelm the enemy machine.

Providence, however, was the machine which had knocked Mu La Flaga's Strike out of the fight, and nearly destroyed Kevin Walker's Stormhawk. The Buster was nowhere near as maneuverable as either of them, and, good as he was, Dearka was not the equal of Kevin or Mu... or Rau Le Creuset.

Providence did not even bother with its beam rifle. In this case, the DRAGOON System was quite sufficient, and GAT-X103 Buster proceeded to be hammered.

"This isn't good," Dearka muttered, beams flashing all around him; to add insult to injury, Le Creuset evidently thought so little of him that he wasn't even sticking around to watch. "Come back here, you bastard!"

Chunks of armor were blown into space; both missile pods were slagged. His left foot turned to superheated steam, and another blast blew off the Buster's head. His Phase-shift went down, leaving him a sitting duck.

Something exploded in the cockpit, and Dearka cursed, feeling shards of his visor break off and cut him, reopening the scar Mir had given him months earlier. "This really isn't my day"

A beam struck the Providence squarely in the back. "Diiiieeee!" Kira shouted, rushing in with his Freedom. "It's time for this to end!"

Kevin shook his head like a punch-drunk fighter. "Kira? What are you..."

"Get going, Kevin," Kira told him. "You can still move, right? So hurry and stop GENESIS before it's too late!"

Stormhawk's remaining hand flipped him a salute. "On it, tovarisch. Be careful; this guy's good, and his new machine is murder."

His friend didn't take the time to reply. "Now we'll finish this, Le Creuset,"

"Ahh Mr Yamato. You shouldn't even exist!" Rau ranted. "If people knew of your existance, they would want to be a coordinator just like You!" Rau called to him as one of his Dragoons made one of the Meteors beam sabre useless.

Through his crippled displays, he saw the last enemy G-weapon, the Raider, approaching; Dearka had a pretty good idea that its pilot had gone just as nuts as his fellows.

Then Dearka saw it, the Raider heading his way, as Clotho laughed crazily inside it. "I'm gonna... I'm gonna...!"

"Guess this is it..." Dearka whispered, preparing himself for death as the Raider's head-mounted hyper-impulse cannon began to charge. "Well, it was fun..." Sorry, Mir, Max, everybody... The glow reached a blinding height, and the beam lanced out...

...but never connected. "Dearka!" Yzak shouted, shoving the Buster out of the way with his own machine. "You bastard! I'm not gonna let you do this!"

Clotho couldn't care less; he was beyond caring about anything except the pain. "Time... time to... time to die!"

"No way!" Yzak raised his beam rifle, and cursed when it was blown away before he could get off so much as a single shot.

That left him without much in the way of options; without the assault shroud, Duel was very lightly armed. While the Raider prepared another hyper-impulse shot, he had only his beam sabers and Igelstellungs left. Unless...

"Give me that gun!" Yzak demanded, snatching the Buster's hyper-impulse sniper rifle. He leveled the enormous weapon, and fired at the same instant as Clotho. "You're not beating me!" That was when the DEEP Arms appeared beside the duel and opened fired alongside the Duel.

Clotho's beam did nothing more than take a chunk out of the Duel's shoulder and knock down its Phase-shift. Yzak's and Shiho's, on the other hand, triggered a massive chain reaction within the Raider, causing it to expand very rapidly, and catastrophically, into many, many pieces, mere moments after being hit.

Kira and Rau continued to fight as the Draggon systems fired destroying another part of the Meteor unit's sabre. Because of that, Kira takes out both of his beam sabres and used the Meteor's speed bonus to fight Rau "I am what I am Rau, There is nothing else to me besides my own strengths." He yelled but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the shuttle Flay was in. "Flay" Kira said to himself as Rau came in and slice off the engine of his Meteor. Kira quickly ejects it before it is destroyed and then rushes to the shuttle.

"This is the inevitable end." He said aiming his high energy rifle at the Escape pod. The Freedom and the beam of green death raced for the shuttle. The Freedom had its shield get there before the beam. Kira looked at the girl he cared for so much on his journey. He saw her smile one last time, as one of the Emitters arrived behind the shuttle firing on the backside. Flay was put through a firey hell as her life ended from the internal explosions.

The battle for the Archangel, Kusanagi, Eternal, Sturm, Ironwall, Justice, Strike Rouge, the M1's, and the now arriveing Red Queen, seen the destruction of the shuttle, as they all knew a very important person for Kira just died. Aelan instantly had the memories of so many people she cared about die as she ejected her Meteor unit.

"Father, this is the last straw." She said to herself as the dormant powers of the Seed, shattered behind her eyes as she peeled the mask off, as blank violet eyes looked at her father's Machine which went after the Eternal and Kusanagi.

Kevin caught up with Athrun and Cagalli and Jason inside Jachin Due, after leaving his badly battered machine in a nearby hanger.

"Kevin!" Cagalli caught his arm the instant she realized he'd arrived. "Are you okay?"

Snake shrugged it off. "I'm fine, really; Kira's handling Le Creuset now. And trust me, you don't want to get in his path right now" At Athrun's look of concern, he managed a quick smile. "Don't worry so much, tovarisch; I strongly suspect Kira is to pilots what I am to ground troops: the deadliest in history. He'll be fine." He gripped the plasma rifle he had, as always, brought with him.

"And with the pain of the lost he just had will be the fuel for his machine, not the Nuclear power" Jason said thinking of Tanya.

"So how far to the control room?" Kevin asked.

Athrun thought for a moment. "It should be just beyond that next hatch," he said momentarily. "But it's locked, so it'll take a minute to get through."

"Forget that," Kevin said calmly. "I don't think we have time to try the civilized method. Instead..."

He slung his rifle and reached out to grip the heavy door in both powerful arms; one cybernetically-augmented flesh and bone, the other perfectly-designed, powerful metal.

On the other side of the door, Patrick Zala sensed total victory was imminent. "What's the status of GENESIS?" he demanded. "Is it ready to fire again?"

"Yes, sir. New alignment mirror is in place; entering firing range soon. What target, Your Excellency?"

"Earth, North American continent, the Atlantic Federation capitol, Washington," Zala answered, savoring every word. "Fire as soon as it's in range; our final victory over the Naturals is-"

He never completed the sentence, for the utter shock of seeing the heavy alloy hatch to the control room ripped aside caught everyone off-guard. The massive piece of metal was being torn aside like it was made of aluminum foil, and Zala's brain worked furiously. That shouldn't be possible. No human being can do that... except for one... and he's sworn to kill me... if he's still alive...

His racing thoughts came to a stop when the black-suited figure stepped into the room, trailed by one pilot in an Orb flight suit and another in ZAFT top gun red. "Supreme Council Chairman Patrick Zala," the avatar of the Grim Reaper said coldly.

"Baron Kevin Onishi," Zala replied, voice equally cold. "Come to complete your treason, have you? Well, it's too late!" He pointed gloatingly at a control console which now had a countdown displayed on it. "When Jachin self-destructs, GENESIS will fire, and this war will be over at last!"

Snake gave it a cursory glance. "I see," he said softly, then turned his attention back to his target. "Well, then, Chairman, I believe we have some unfinished business to discuss." The rifle came up. "As they say, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth... life for a life."

"Kevin, wait..." Athrun began.

"Quiet, Athrun," he said simply. "You knew this day would come. You yourself said 'good hunting'; and I would have done it anyway."

"So now you'll kill me?" Zala snorted. "It won't be that easy, traitor!" Without warning, he pulled out a machine pistol and opened fire on the cybernetic soldier, emptying the entire magazine... to exactly no effect.

The super-soldier's EM field had actually worked this time, and none of the bullets came anywhere near him. "That was foolish, Chairman," he said coolly. "But it doesn't matter anymore." Kevin leveled the plasma rifle at the man who was responsible for so much of his misery. "I have a date with a nuclear bomb, Chairman, which I probably won't survive," he went on, ignoring Cagalli's sharp intake of breath. "But I wanted to make sure you died first." His finger tightened on the trigger. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Jason then raised a gun.

"For all the pain you put us through." Jason called as he fired putting a bullet in Zala's shoulder while he let Kevin have the savor of the Kill.

Before another word could be said, a bolt with the power of the sun itself lashed out and touched its target, leaving him not even enough time to scream.

Before Athrun's horrified, yet understanding eyes, a cloud of ash once called Supreme Council Chairman Patrick Zala drifted apart.

Outside, the Eternal and the Kusanagi open fire on genesis to no avail. That was when out of nowhere, the Providence began to shoot and destroy several M1's and damaging the Eternal and Kusanagi. "Its a shame, I always like her songs." Rau said talking about Lacus. "But reality is nothing like the world in pop songs!" He called but was confronted by the tricked out M1.

That was when Tolle came into the picture, but Rau knew he was coming. "Damn you!" Tolle yelled as he mistaked a Emitter as a beam rifle shot and turned around. It was to late for him as Rau came from behind with his beam sabre extended and sliced through the torso of the Wraith.

"Damn, Tolle. Leave them alone!" Garret came yelling as from behind the Providence, Aelan came in as well.

"You've gone to far Father!" Aelan called as she activated her shield to protect herself from the surrounding DRAGOON pods.

She and Garret both engaged the Providence dodging and attacking the machine both at the same time, but Rau was too good, he dodged and attacked disableing the tricked M1. Aelan saw the trouble Garret was in and went to surround the shield around him and her.

Athrun Zala, oblivious to Cagalli, Jason and Kevin rushing over to the computers, stared at the cloud that had been his father. F-father...? It... it can't be...

Ever since a dark, lonely night on a deserted island in the Indian Ocean, Athrun had known his then-enemy Kevin had every intention of killing his father. At the time, he hadn't believed that Patrick Zala was truly responsible for the horrific transformation Snake had undergone, but it had struck a chord, somehow, and when next he met his father, he'd confronted him about it... carefully.

That was when he knew for sure that it wastrue, and when his trust in his father slowly began to die. And the next time they spoke of it, Athrun had actually told Kevin "good hunting", and thought he was prepared, especially after his own father shot him.

But now he looked at the drifting ash and realized nothing could truly have prepared him for what had just occurred. For all that they had become enemies, Patrick Zala was still Athrun Zala's father. Blood truly was thicker than water, and now, facing his father's scorched remains, Athrun wanted to scream at Kevin, demand why he had just done this thing... but he couldn't.

Like Kevin had said long before, Patrick Zala's life was forfeit; forfeit from the day he authorized Project ABADON, from the day he ordered the kidnapping of Kevin Onishi. Whether he knew of the brainwashing and torture or not, in the end it was still his responsibility, the debt he owed to the Destroyers.

And it was Kevin Walker, alias Hydra, alias Cain, who had the right to collect on that debt.

Athrun gradually became aware of the tense conversation going on at the computers. "Isn't there any way we can stop it?" Cagalli was asking.

Kevin hit keys at a pace no Natural, and few Coordinators, could have comprehended. "I don't think so," he replied, still typing. "I think the process is too far along to be canceled."

"What about neural interfacing? I'm sure it isn't designed to counter that..."

"No, its to far along, the process can't be stopped." Jason called.

Kevin brought up the subroutine, "This system must have been designed after they learned of my survival; it's got countermeasures that could literally fry my brain. Besides, my equipment is woefully outdated. The Archangel was one thing; I helped design the ship. But this stuff... No, it's no good."

"So we'll have to destroy GENESIS itself," Athrun put in; he'd pushed the matter of his father's death out of his mind for the time being. Later there would be time to grieve, but not now. "But how do we do that?"

Kevin was already heading back the way they'd come. "Only one option, really. I think Eternal and Kusanagi already tried shooting it, and it didn't work; so we'll have to take it out from the inside."

Athrun thought furiously. "If we bring the Justice in, abandon it, and detonate the nuclear engine-"

"Physically impossible," Snake cut him off. "I don't know how much you know about nuclear fission powerplants, Athrun, but trust me: trying to make a fission plant go supercritical would violate the laws of physics."

They were nearly at the hanger now. "But what does that leave?" Cagalli demanded. "If we can't use a nuke, then..."

Kevin stopped inside the hanger, near the Stormhawk. "You're not thinking, tovarisch," he said gently. "Or maybe you just don't wantto see it. I didn't say we couldn't use a nuke, I just said that the nuclear plants can't go supercritical. That means we need a genuine nuclear weapon... and we just happen to have one."

"No, Kevin, don't," Athrun pleaded, seeing where this was going. "You can't just..."

"Yes, I can." He climbed into the cockpit of his battered machine, and switched over to radio communication. "If GENESIS fires, most of humanity will be wiped out. Whereas if it's destroyed, the war will be effectively over. So tell me something, Athrun: isn't that worth fighting for? Isn't that worth dying for?"

The Quad group of mobile suits began to power up and move again this time heading out of the doomed fortress. "Maybe it is," Athrun conceded. "But why does it have to be you? Haven't you given enough in this war? You've been tortured, brainwashed, memory-wiped, cybernetically enhanced, and even partially dismembered. How much more do you have to give?"

"Whatever it takes, tovarisch." Kevin began thinking then of how to stop his friend -and his girlfriend- from following him to his death. He had to block their way somehow... and he remembered he still had one plasma cannon left.

"But why you?" Cagalli burst out. "You always told me you didn't care about the rest of the world, that only your friends mattered to you. So why-?"

"That's true," Kevin acknowledged. "But what kind of a world will you live in if GENESIS isn't stopped? Let's face it, Cagalli, right now my machine has the only weapon that can stop that abomination from firing. That means that I'm the only one who can do a thing about it, and I will, even if it means my death."

"But-" There were tears in her eyes as she contemplated what the young man she had known literally all her life proposed to do. "I already lost you once. You can't do this to me!"

"I'm sorry, tovarisch. But I have no choice." Now they were out of Jachin, and the plasma cannon deployed. It fired a blast into one of the access hatches leading into GENESIS, and Stormhawk slipped neatly into the tunnel. Now he had another problem, since it occurred to him that blocking their way would also block off his own only possible avenue of escape. He owed it to Cagalli to at least try, after all. "Athrun," he said finally, "get her out of here."

"Kevin-" Athrun protested.

"Now, Athrun," Kevin snapped. "That is a direct order."

From anyone else, or in even a slightly different tone, Athrun would have disregarded the command. But Kevin Walker was who he was, the former leader of the Walker team, and he had apparently rediscovered the "command voice" which would make a corpse get up and do his bidding.

More, he realized that there was no longer any chance of stopping the super-soldier; all they could do now was die with him, and Athrun somehow thought Kira would react very badly to losing his sister and both surrogate brothers. "Okay, Kevin," he said finally, a lump in his throat. "But you be careful, okay? At least try to get out alive."

"You got it, tovarisch." Kevin smiled oddly, the look of a man knowing he is going to his grave. "Just get her out."

"No!" Cagalli redoubled her efforts to catch up, pouring every once of power she could into her engines. I can't let you go! I can't!

Then the Justice grabbed hold of the Strike Rouge, its superior thrust succeeding in halting her headlong plunge and even, slowly, pulling her back. "No, Cagalli," Athrun said quietly. "We can't do anything more for him now."

"But-"

That was when the Ironwall Gundam blasted by them. "Jason!" Athrun called after him.

"Athrun, take care of my brother and sister, and sis, I promise you, I wont let Kevin die that easily." Jason called as he shut them out from his radio. As unkown to Snake, he also had a huge Nuclear engine inside his machine. About 2 times the power the Sturmfalke's engine had.

"I'm sorry, tovarisch," Kevin said gently. "Please, live long and prosper."

He switched frequencies, noticing at the same time that he was nearly at the target point. "Hey, Kira?"

"Yeah?" Kira managed from his verge of tears; he was in a difficult spot, fighting the Providence while simultaneously listening in on the argument taking place. "What is it?" He said as Aelan took the M1 back to the Kusanagi.

Kevin hit controls on his instrument panel, releasing the N-jammer canceler from his machine and arming the nuclear demolition device. "Promise me something, Kira." He ejected the charge, noting idly that the five minute-count (which was the maximum time delay the charge would accept) had begun. "I don't think I'm gonna be around much longer, so you'll have to take care of your sister for me, okay? That means you need to survive this. Don't let that bastard kill you, got it?"

"I got it, Kevin," Kira acknowledged, swallowing hard. "I'll take care of her, Kevin; and Lacus and Murrue, too." The close relationship between Kevin and Murrue was hardly secret. "I promise."

"Thanks."

"Oh no you don't Kevin!" Jason called as his machine stopped infront of the Sturmfalke. "You wont be dieing today." He said as Kevin looked on in shock.

"Jason what are you doing. . ." Kevin began.

"Here, easy fullfilling a promise." He said as the arms of his machine detached and reattached to Kevin's machine. "Easy, you have a life outside the battlefield, I don't. Besides I have someone waiting for me on the other side." He then took a breathe. "Kevin you have someone wanting you to live, I am nothing in a sense. Please, just go, I lost my family and I want you to protect what is left." he said turning away. "Now Kevin, I will protect that Nuke with what is left of my life, and besides, I told Aelan before the battle, I wont let you die, she wants to kill you herself." Jason told him as he activated the DRAGOON shields. "Now you fool get out of here!" Jason yelled.

"Jason, you are the bravest man I have ever met, and it was an honor to have known you." Kevin said as Jason nodded.

"And to you as well Kevin."

"Jason one more thing, in the afterlife tell the others I am sorry." Kevin said as Jason nodded giving Kevin a ZAFT salute.

"How touching," Le Creuset mocked. "Now the abomination goes to his doom, and yet you still try so hard to dissuade him? Cain has courage, I'll grant him that. But he cannot be allowed to interfere!" Providence broke off its attack on the Freedom and boosted off toward GENESIS, intent on stopping the nuclear attack.

That was when two energy beams just passed from up ahead of the Providence. "Oh no you don't!" Aelan called as she placed her machine between Rau and Genesis. "You will have to get by me first." She told him as he nodded inside his machine.

"Then you to will die Aelan." He said releasing the DRAGOONs. Aelan knew the best defence against the attack by deploying her shield. She opened the spot to allow her cannons to fire, but Rau took that chance. He fired his rifle right in the whole destroying the cannon and the shield system. Rau was coming in as then all of a sudden out of nowhere a red Azure beam that was four hundred meters in diameter nearly blowing away the Red Queen and Providence.

"What the hell was that?" Aelan called as she turned to the origin of the blast. Kira then came in and continued his fight with Rau.

"Aelan, go and find out what that was, I'll handle Rau." Kira called as Aelan obliged and went after the beam creator.

By now, most of the now three Ships Alliance personnel had retreated; the only machines that remained actively engaged were the Freedom, Justice, Strike Rouge, Irownwall, Red Queen... and Stormhawk.

The clock was ticking, and Kira knew he had very little time remaining in which to defeat Le Creuset. Their battle had taken them so close to GENESIS that the odds were very good they'd both be immolated when Kevin's nuke went off. Le Creuset himself did not care, but Kira had a distinct preference for staying alive.

Kevin, however... He was on his way out of GENESIS, but his machine was badly maimed. He had a fraction of the speed ordinarily available to him, and ejecting would be worse than useless. In less than five minutes, he knew, he would be a corpse.

That fact gave added fuel to the fire in Kira's heart as he battled Le Creuset. "You're the one responsible for this!" he shouted. "It's all your fault!" Using the beam sabres of the Freedom.

he tried repeatedly to slice the Providence in half. "You're crazy! And so's your logic!"

Kira was by no means helpless. He drew a beam saber with one hand, holding his shield in the other, and began using both to deflect laser beams; in one case, the deflected shot destroyed its own emitter.

It was nearing a fair fight now, with nearly half of the DRAGOON System's remote laser units blown to dust bunnies. But Providence was still a lethal threat, with its powerful rifle and multifunction left arm unit. "Why do you seek to extend your suffering?" Le Creuset questioned, sounding sincerely puzzled. "How much time have you spent in battle after meaningless battle? Why not simply let it all end?"

The reply came from an unexpected source. "Because," Kevin said dryly (particularly interesting, given the fact that he was already the walking dead; the radiation count was already lethal), "there are several billion people who have something of a difference of opinion with you, Le Creuset."

"What does it matter? One day, they too will realize the futility of it all!" Rau laughed yet again. "And what does it matter to you, Cain? You're already dead, and you know it!"

"Maybe so," he conceded. "But some things never change." He switched frequencies, broadcasting to every receiver within range. "Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice..."

Freedom and Providence clashed, blade to blade; Freedom lost its left leg, Providence one of its last remaining laser emitters.

"From what I've tasted of desire..."

"People never change, do they, Kira?" Le Creuset proclaimed. "This is their destiny! They led us to the inevitable end!"

"You don't understand anything, Le Creuset!" Kira shot back, lopping off the last DRAGOON emitter. "People aren't like that at all!"

"...I hold with those who favor fire..."

"Of course I don't understand," the lunatic agreed. "After all, you can only understand what you've experienced!"

"But if it had to perish twice..."

Another clash, and Freedom lost its head; the attack cost Providence its left arm.

"...I think I know enough of hate to know that for destruction..."

Freedom lost its right arm and was blown backwards, but Kira was by no means done. "This is still a world that's worth protecting!" With Freedom's remaining arm, he connected his sabers, forming the beam staff Athrun was so fond of.

Le Creuset finally began to realize the true power of Kira Yamato, but it was too late; the first strike lopped off his own remaining arm, and then Kira stabbed straight through the Providence's cockpit. "Diiiieeee!"

"...ice is also great and would suffice."

"Good by everyone, may you all live happily." Jason called, "Here I come Tanya!" as his Machine self destructed inside the chamber alongside Kevin's three kiloton blast. GENESIS finally fired The explosion was blowing the gizzards out of the giant weapon before it could do more than vaporize what was left of Providence and batter the fleeing Freedom.

The remaining two arms of the Ironwall ejected from the Sturmfalke and exploded losing their main base. That was when one last line came over the radio. One last transmission came out of the inferno. "Fire this time..."

On one of the Dominions escape vehicles Invictus gasped and fell to the deck as he felt the man whose cells had made him die; and in the Freedom, the sudden severance of the link between the two pilots knocked Kira unconscious.

Far, far away, a man called Jack Carter fell to the floor in his office, stunned.

Aelan turned around as she just barely finished putting a Red Mobile suit on a Meteor unit a CGUE, and a Black Machine with no left arm but a cannon on the machine. "Damn you Kevin, you weren't supose to die on me!" Aelan yelled as he machine floated there as the Meteor unit guided the three mobile suits to Earth. As to her, she had just found her sister and the man she loved Chris. Inside those machines.

Murrue Ramius, Mu La Flaga, Garret Nexus, Lacus Clyne, Athrun Zala, and Cagalli Yula Athha stared at the blinding light in horror, knowing that at the very least, Baron Kevin Walker, and Jason Ironwall Hibiki had just perished at its heart... and perhaps Kira Yamato with them.

At last, the incredible flare of energy faded, and Athrun and Cagalli, trailed by the Archangel, Kusanagi, and Eternal cautiously began to search for possible survivors of the cataclysmic explosion.

Of those present at Ground Zero, they knew for a fact that Rau Le Creuset and Kevin Walker were dead. Providence had been caught in the very center of GENESIS' final, abortive shot, and, judging from Invictus' condition, there was no chance at all that Kevin could have survived.

But Kira Yamato was still a distinct possibility; that hope was all that kept Cagalli from breaking down during the search... a search that seemed hopeless. A mobile suit was huge, but space, even the space of planetary orbit, was unimaginably vast; finding the Freedom would make looking for a needle in a haystack look easy.

In the end, it was Birdy, Kira's robotic pet, that led them to its master. After having left the Archangel through a hull breach, it had gone searching, and it succeeded where humans had failed.

Cagalli and Athrun saw it from aboard the Strike Rouge. Neither it nor the Justice had been able to get completely clear of the explosion, so they were both badly damaged; the Justice all the more so, which was why Athrun had joined Cagalli and sent his machine back to the ships.

Not without a brief discussion, however. Despite the damage to his mobile suit, Athrun had offered to go after Kira himself, so that Cagalli could go after the Stormhawk (or what was left of it). But she'd refused. "No, Athrun," she'd said, struggling to keep her voice steady. "There's nothing I'd like better, but Kevin's... Kevin's gone. We can't do anything for him. I'm sure he'd want it this way." She swallowed hard. "He always said... that it was the living we should worry about first. The dead should be remembered, but the living are more important. Besides... Kira is my brother. I already just lost one, I have to find him."

Now, they followed a mechanical bird through space, trusting that it could find its master. Come on, Kira... Cagalli thought. Be safe, please...

Kira Yamato drifted in space, near the battered and broken ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam, out of which the explosion had spat him. He was only now regaining consciousness, with a sense that all was not right in the universe. There was an empty feeling in his mind, unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

Lacking anything else to do (he was, after all, drifting through vacuum with no propulsion of any kind), Kira puzzled over the enigma, trying to force his still-groggy mind to understand. It was almost as if he could no longer feel emotion, yet that very fact made him confused, belying the feeling.

Then words came to the forefront of his mind, words from recent memory. "Fire this time..."

And Kira understood what had happened. The link he had grown accustomed to, between his mind and that of his surrogate brother Kevin, had been severed. That could only mean that his close friend was gone, swallowed -as Kira now realized he must have known he would be, even before his machine had been so savagely mauled- by the very weapon that had saved the world.

The realization saddened Kira, but he was not surprised. They'd both known, from the moment Stormhawk entered GENESIS, that the super-soldier was a dead man. He would grieve, but here was not the place, now not the time. And, as he'd promised Kevin, he'd take care of Cagalli and Kevin's sisters, blood and adopted; part of that meant being with her now. Goodbye, Kevin... I'll keep my promise, don't worry...

The only problem being that he could not move, and he suspected he was running out of air.

Then Kira saw something. First, the ring he wore around his neck, Lacus' gift; and Birdy, zeroing in on him as if radar-guided. And behind, following it, was the Strike Rouge.

The cockpit opened. "Kira!" Cagalli shouted.

"Are you okay?" Athrun added.

Kira smiled, feeling a vast sense of relief, tempered by sadness. "Cagalli, Athrun... I'm okay, really. How are you guys?"

Athrun waved a hand. "Justice got a little more beat up than this, but we're both okay." The red machine pulled closer, and he pushed off to retrieve his friend. "Kira..." he began hesitantly. "Kevin's... He's..."

"I know," Kira replied, swallowing hard. "I... I felt it. Have you... found him?"

"Not yet," Athrun said quietly. "We're gonna look for him as soon as we get you aboard." He took a ragged breath, aware of Cagalli's quiet crying within the cockpit. "That idiot... There must have been another way..."

"There wasn't," Kira told him, pulling himself into the Strike Rouge with Athrun's help. "I... think he knew, even before the battle, that he wasn't going to make it. He always seemed to have a sense for that kind of thing."

"Yeah," Athrun agreed. "Well, he did have mental abilities he didn't even understand, let alone us. But if he knew, why...?"

"He didn't have a choice," Cagalli broke in, voice rough. "Or he thought he didn't, anyway. You know Kevin... if he thought it had to be done, he'd do it, no matter what the cost."

"Yeah." Kira held her in a comforting embrace. "Now... let's go find him."

Even as the few pilots who had successfully ended the most brutal battle of the war short of the Bloody Valentine itself began to regroup, things were happening in the PLANTs. Patrick Zala was dead, leaving Ezalia Joule in charge; but she, too, was quickly removed, supplanted, at least temporarily, by Eileen Canaver, senior survivor of the Clyne Faction.

Soon enough, she was broadcasting to all forces within the area. "Attention, all ZAFT and Earth Alliance forces within this region. At this moment, the PLANTs are preparing to conduct negotiations between the Earth Alliance and the PLANT sponsor nations. Before long, a directive will be issued for both sides to cease combat operations within restricted areas. As of this moment, the war is effectively at an end."

Finding the remains of MBF-M1000 Sturm Falke was considerably easier than finding the Freedom. It appeared that it had not actually suffered much more damage during the explosion; merely ripped off its remaining wing and limbs with the remains of Ironwalls arms not far from it. The cockpit itself was intact, which suggested that Kevin had died of a massive radiation surge, one which overwhelmed even his cybernetic augmentation.

In the end, his body and the remnants of his machine were taken aboard the Archangel, where the Stormhawk was laid carefully in the hanger and Kevin was taken to the Infirmary. There he was placed on one of the sickbeds, to await his final return to his native ground.

Cagalli was not there; she had seen to the body, then joined the group on the Bridge, where she would not be alone. Only the ship's doctor, a man by the name of Lester Devlin -who, like the rest of the surviving crew, had become almost fanatically loyal to the charismatic Baron during his time as captain- remained, watching the still corpse.

He looked much as he had in life. The bright jade eyes, now closed forever; the jagged scar across his face, marking the boundary between flesh and machine; the light sandy hair, raggedly cut by his own enormous knife. All that had really changed was the nasty burns on his exposed skin, and the clearly-visible metal of his right arm. Unlike his face, whose synthetic skin had been protected by his helmet, his bionic arm had been laid bare by the powerful radiation surge. The synthetics had reacted badly, and so bare metal lay where once a flesh-and-blood arm had been.

The doctor looked up, hearing the hatch open. After a moment's glance, he came to his feet and instinctively saluted. "Ms. Canaver, isn't it?" he said in surprise.

Eileen Canaver nodded. "At ease, Doctor. Even if I were military, you're part of a very different chain of command." She looked at Kevin's still body. "I wanted to pay my respects to a brave man. So this is Siegel's unknowing son? The man who helped destroy GENESIS?"

"Yes, Ma'am, it is. And," Devlin added forcefully, "perhaps the bravest man I ever knew. A better man by far than that worthless scum Azrael." The vitriol in his tone could have destroyed GENESIS all by itself.

Canaver nodded agreement. "I knew him, once. When he still lived under his own name, Siegel introduced him to me. Of course, neither of them then knew their true relation. I was impressed by him, and saddened when I learned of his death, two years ago." She looked over at the doctor. "I'm told the princess of Orb was... very close to him, by the end. How is she taking it?"

"Not well, Ma'am," Devlin said regretfully. "It's only been two months since they came aboard, but we -the crew, I mean- heard things. Miss Cagalli lost him once, two years ago, and got him back just a few months ago. Losing him again is... hard. Nobody should have to go through that, Ma'am. Least of all our wing commander." He shook his head. "They've given enough. Both of 'em. I just wish the Captain hadn't had to sacrifice himself."

"Somehow," Canaver said softly, "I imagine he has no regrets, if he still exists somehow, somewhere. He died for the world, yes, a world he couldn't care less about. But he did so on his terms, for the more immediate goal of saving his friends." She lightly touched the burned, lifeless face. "A brave man, indeed."

And that was when Kevin's body started changing, with a perceptible flowing effect over his exposed skin.

Both Devlin and Canaver jerked back at the sight... especially since that "flow" appeared to be healing the burns on the dead soldier's face. "What in the world...?" The doctor trailed off into muttered curses and snatched at his instruments.

"What's going on?" Canaver demanded, unable to comprehend what was occurring. "What is this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Devlin replied, equally confused and more than a little unnerved. "Radiation count decreasing, red blood cell count increasing... What the?Heart beat?"

They stared as the peculiar effect faded, and Kevin Walker's chest began to rise and fall.

He was leaving the world of eternal light once more, that place he could never remember when returned to life. He did not know how long he had been absent, but he sensed it was time to return to the world of the living, to the radiation-savaged body he had left behind.

Already, his ears had begun to function once again. "...he did so on his terms, for the more immediate goal of saving his friends. A brave man, indeed."

He could feel his face now, in a distant sort of way. "What in the world...?"

"What's going on?" the first voice demanded. "What is this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Radiation count decreasing, red blood cell count increasing... What the? Heart beat?"

Blood pumped through his veins once more, and breath flowed into his lungs. It was time to awaken from his time of rest.

Before the disbelieving eyes of Doctor Lester Devlin and Representative Eileen Canaver, Kevin Walker's "dead" body sat bolt upright in the bed, gasping. "What- What- Where?" He looked around wildly, right eye flickering red and green for a few moments. "Oh," he said after a moment. "I'm alive again."

About then, Kevin felt something he could only describe as a re-connection in his head, and sudden, shocked disbelief filled the link. (What the?)

Ignoring for a moment the other occupants of the room, the super-soldier grinned to himself. (Hey, Kira. Long -or maybe not so long- time no see. You okay, tovarisch?)

(But... but you're...)

(Wouldn't be the first time I came back from the dead, remember?) A thought struck him. (How's Cagalli? Is she okay?)

(She's fine,) Kira managed to reply. (Except for...)

(Yeah, I know.) Another, less altruistic thought entered Kevin's head. (Hey, Kira, I'd appreciate it if you let me tell her myself, okay?)

(Why- Oh.) Through his sense of shock, Kira was suddenly amused. (Sure, Kevin. You got it. But hurry, okay? She's... not feeling too great.)

(Be right there, tovarisch.)

Aloud, Kevin muttered to himself, "What is it with me and nuclear bombs?" Note to self: be more careful with nuclear weapons.

Canaver stared at him. "But... how...? You... you were... dead..."

"Just about as dead as a guy can be without being completely vaporized," Devlin concurred. "Captain, you weren't only merely dead, you were really quite sincerely dead, if you'll pardon the expression."

"Don't worry about it, Doc." Kevin grinned. "Hey, it's not exactly the first time I've been dead, you know? Though I would like to get out of the habit." His gaze turned to the other. "Eileen Canaver, isn't it? It's been a long time."

"Several years," Canaver confirmed, "besides your brief stay with Siegel a few months ago." She was still shaken, but the mind can adjust to remarkable things. "But... how are you alive? Was it the nanotechnology I'm told you have?"

He shook his head. "Not nanotech; most of that got shorted out by a close encounter with an antique antitank gun. No, Ms. Canaver, I simply seem to have a very hard time staying dead." Kevin stood, testing his newly-regenerated body. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to get to the Bridge. There are some people who I think will be glad to see me."

"Of course, Captain," Devlin replied dazedly.

As the resurrected super-soldier left the room, Canaver looked at the doctor. "Did we really just see that?"

"Apparently." The man rubbed his head in confusion. "Well, they do say Captain Walker is famous for making the unsurvivable survivable; they just never got around to mentioning he sometimes has to come back from the dead to do it."

The Archangel's Bridge was a quiet place. Meryl Steiglitz was with Invictus through his pains from when they arrived from the shuttle, Aelan stood in silence no able to avenge her friends herself. Athrun Zala stared at bulkheads, along with Yzak Joule and Lacus Clyne, John Tyler shook his head groggily, unaware of why his head no longer hurt so badly as Meryl kept him company... and Kira Yamato, an odd, unnoticed smile on his face, comforted his sister Cagalli, who was quietly weeping.

Murrue Ramius, Mu La Flaga at her side, realized someone needed to say something. "This is a great day, and a sad day," she began, broadcasting to her fellow ships. "We have ended the war, but we have lost so many doing it, even those who, perhaps, should not have been our enemies. Thousands of PLANT soldiers and civilians, who fought only for their homes, untainted by Zala's madness; perhaps millions in the Earth Forces' fleets and bases. Many M1 pilots, valiant crew members on all our ships, the Dominion and its entire Strike Dagger unit. And, last but by no means least, we have lost the heroes Jason Hibiki and Kevin Walker."

She had to pause for a moment to collect herself. Murrue had gotten to know the super-soldier well, ever since they first met, and by the end they were like brother and sister; and he'd demonstrated his inhuman skills on the battlefield... and off it, when he casually blew away her sidearm. "It may seem cold and heartless to speak of him above all the others," she went on, "yet in doing so, we do not lessen their sacrifices. Instead, we merely recognize the courage and valor of one of our own, a comrade, a friend... a family member. Kevin Walker began his epic and, he would say, cursed journey as a brainwashed super-soldier, created by a madman, authorized by a madman. When I first met him, he was still troubled by this terrible past, yet he still became a trusted ally, and a good friend. And as he traveled with us, became one of us, he cast aside the demons of his past, lived the life he wanted to live. Soon after capturing the Dominion, he swore an interesting oath, one that gave me the honor of being his... his sister, and however it may have come about, siblings we were. Kevin was... a hero, however much he might despise the label. He never broke on oath, even to the last, when victory and survival became mutually-exclusive choices. And in the end, he died as he had lived, the way he would have wanted to die: capable of subtlety, but prejudiced toward the biggest explosions he could possibly create."

It was about then those looking to the rear of the Archangel's Bridge, including Murrue who turned at the door sound, began to gape in utter astonishment.

"I know I got a little banged up, but isn't it a little early for the eulogy, Sis?"

Those eyes that hadn't already been staring whipped around to the elevator, from which a certain sandy-haired, jade-eyed young man in a black flight suit with a mechanical arm, had just emerged.

Especially Cagalli's eyes. "Kevin?" she whispered, eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Hey, tovarisch," Kevin said with an easy smile.

The next thing he knew, he'd been slammed into the bulkhead by the blond-haired girl, who cared not how he had returned; just that he had. "You idiot!" she shouted, pounding her fists on his chest. "How could you do that to me? If you ever, ever do something like that again, I'll...!"

"I promise I'll never blow myself up again," Kevin said gently. "Hey, I came back, didn't I?"

"Yes you did, and Lacus" Aelan said turning to her. "I am now leaving you guys, it was fun, but I have my own life and vengence to do." She said turning to Kevin. "But now is not the time, I will see you all agains someday, and who knows, you may blow me up this time." Aelan said leaving the bridge to her machine.

"Good bye, Miss Aelan, it was a pleasure of working with you." Lacus called as she smiled and left, even after all the deaths everyone had just gone through.

Kevin Walker never knew how he came back from the dead. Though GENESIS would not be his last "suicide" mission, he was never to understand what kept restoring his body.

Only a long-dead scientist called Oracle ever knew the truth, and he died before he could see the triumph of his work.

For Kevin was wrong; notall of his nanotechnology was shorted out. A backup system of which he had no knowledge still existed: an experimental nanorepair system that became active only when all heart and brainwave activity ceased.

Highly resilient, these nanites were capable of rebuilding Kevin Walker's body almost from nothing, as after the fusion explosion years before. When active, the tiny machines reconstructed his body to the form it held when he was last healthy; hence the retention of his scars and prosthetics (though where, exactly, his mind went when his body ceased to function no one knew; all that was certain was that it was the same mind every time, not a copy).

They were not infallible; under bombard by electromagnetic pulse, these nanites, like the rest of his augmentation, would fail. But as soon as -or if- the systems were rebooted, automatic repair functions restored them to full capacity.

And Kevin Walker would live again...

(A/N) In loving memory of my fav characters that had died and those that meant something to Aelan

The Destroyers, Rusty, Miguel, Aisha, Nicol, Natarle, The M1 pilots, Flay, Tolle and Jason.

And now to my sisters favourites. Aisha, Nicol, Shani, Clotho, Tolle.

May they all rest in piece in the Gundam Universe.