Well, this is the longest chapter to date. It's also the one with the most action and drama in it. Enjoy!
Phase 8 -"Cosmic Dust"
"WOW! I get to go into SPACE! Yahoo!" Kesu yelled, a huge grin on his face. He had never been to space before; the teen had been born on Earth and had lived there all his life. Turing around, he called out to the Professor:
"When do I leave?"
"As soon as we reach the Equator. Then we'll launch you through the atmosphere and into space using our catapult." The Junk Guild had modified the ZAFT submarine's catapult to be able to launch objects into space. Although it took a lot of energy, it was possible to launch Mobile Suits.
Sighing, the Professor leaned against the wall, waiting. Suddenly the communications panel beeped. Walking over to it, the woman pressed a button and Senkai's face appeared on the screen.
"I have just received a report that the Chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council has been assassinated." the eighteen-year-old said calmly.
"What! When did it happen?"
"Several days ago, in the evening." came the reply. Kesu, who had been admiring his GM Blue Destiny Unit 1, looked over at the Professor, wondering what all the commotion was about.
"Oh dear…this won't be good for the war….Do you know who is the new Chairman?" said the Professor, a frown on her face. Chairman Cline was well known for trying to negotiate peace talks between the two sides; with him gone, those meetings would probably end.
"Yes. It is Patrick Zala."
Several hours later, Kesu was sitting inside the cockpit of the GM Blue Destiny. The GM was loaded onto the catapult, and the teenager was waiting for the signal to launch. He now had two reasons for going into space: to contact the other GM pilots that were up there, and try and stop Patrick Zala from launching a full-out attack against the Earth Alliance. Normally, he didn't concern himself with politics, but this time was different. This time, his entire family was in danger. Originally from South America, his family had moved to Panama to escape the war in the south. Years later, the Earth Alliance declared Panama their base; and set up troops there. If the rumors were true, then ZAFT was going to attack Panama. He couldn't let that happen.
"I'll stop them…even if I die doing so." Kesu remembered that he had said those words when he left home in the GM Cold Climate Type to go fight against ZAFT.
"Kesu, we're ready to launch. How are things on your end?" Senkai's question jerked the boy out of his thoughts. Taking a final look around the cockpit, he replied, "I'm ready!"
The submarine slowly rose to the surface and readied the modified catapult. The bars along each side flashed from red to orange to green, and the GM Blue Destiny Unit 1 shot upwards in a cloud of stream, quickly becoming a blue speck in the bright blue sky. The GM rose rapidly, it's shield raised to deflect the heat of going through the atmosphere. Inside the cockpit, Kesu held on as the GM lurched and shook, his head cameras obscured by the shield and slowly turning red from the friction. After a long five minutes, Kesu felt himself light slightly from his seat. Letting out a yell, he slowed the GM Blue Destiny down and lowered the blue shield, taking his first look at outer space.
"Wow…It's so big! This is going to be great! I can't wait to have a battle in no gravity!" Grinning broadly, the teen flicked on his sensors and powered up his Mobile Suit. Scanning the surrounding area, he noted two heat sources approaching from the left. Swinging the machine around, he zoomed in on the heat sources and saw that they were two GM's. The Professor had told him that he would be meeting up with two other pilots to go and battle ZAFT near the asteroid Artemis.
"Hey there, glad you could join us. I'm Meimei, and I pilot the GM Sniper." Kesu focused on the tan GM with a long beam rifle slung over it's back. It looked powerful, and probably could take care of most enemies.
"Hello. I'm Shireikan, but you can just call me Shi. I pilot the GM Command." The voice came from the other GM, this one white with a deep purple torso. Blinking, Kesu looked closely at the new Mobile Suit. It reminded him of his old GM Cold Climate Type, except the torso was a darker shade of purple and had a slightly different design.
"Nice to meet both of you. I'm Kesu, and this is my GM Blue Destiny Unit 1." The three teens chatted for several more minutes before Shi said, "Come on, let's get moving. We have a lot of area to cover between here and Artemis." Turning as one, the three GM's sped off in the direction of the asteroid.
- - -
Rei sat calmly in the cockpit of her GM Cannon, waiting for the order to launch. Besides her, Athrun, Rusty, Miguel, Yzak and Dearka were also preparing for the attack on the asteroid Artemis. Nicol was deployed in the Blitz Gundam to destroy the umbrella that acted as a barrier when enemy ships where nearby. Since the Vesalius was out of sensor range, the Earth Alliance base had dropped it's shield, allowing the Blitz to go in and destroy the barrier.
Using it's Mirage Colloid, the Blitz drew within range of the support beams for the shield. Raising it's right arm, the Mobile Suit fired two shots at the nearest pillar, destroying it. The Mirage Colloid faded, revealing the Gundam. Inside, the Earth Alliance forces scrambled to deploy some of their own Mobile Armors. Nicol kept destroying the support beams and sent a message back to the Vesalius.
"Alright, I'm in. Send everyone out."
In the hanger, everyone did a final check of their machines' systems before walking to the catapult.
"Athrun Zala, Aegis Gundam. Launching!"
"Rusty Mackensie, Launcher Strike Gundam. Let's go!"
"Yzak Joule, Duel Gundam. Launching!"
"Dearka Elsman, Buster Gundam. Let's do this!"
"Miguel Aiman, GINN. Magic Bullet of Dusk!"
"Rei Valaki, GM Cannon. Destroy all Naturals!"
When the GM Cannon cleared the catapult, Rei saw that the Aegis and Strike had taken the lead, with the Buster right behind. Miguel's orange GINN had moved to the side and was to the left of the Buster Gundam. The Duel was last, and Rei pulled up alongside it. In the distance floated the asteroid, buzzing with activity. Flashes of light could be seen; as well as massive explosions when a pillar collapsed.
Besides the fixed cannon on the GM's right shoulder, it also carried a beam rifle in it's left hand. All the Mobile Suits had their weapons ready, each pilot was waiting to get within range before attacking. Several fleets of Mobile Armour had been launched from the base, but Athrun and Rusty ignored them, sweeping right past them to head into the Earth Forces' base. Meanwhile, two warships that had been inside the asteroid emerged and began firing on the ZAFT troops.
"Me and Miguel was take on the ships, you two destroy those Mobile Armors." This came from Dearka as the Buster and the brightly-colored GINN headed off to meet the ships.
"Will do." Rei paused for a moment to survey the battlefield. Two more ZAFT ships where arriving, and numerous GINNs were being sent into the battle. On the Earth Alliance side, there were many Moebius Mobile Armors, some Mistral Mobile Pods, and two escort ships. Taking a closer look at the Mobile Armors, Rei saw one that was shaped differently and had four large pods on it's back.
"So that's the mighty "Hawk of Endymion", eh? I wonder if the Commander will join us…" Rei had heard of the legendary battles between these two; no doubt Le Creuset wouldn't pass this opportunity to try and destroy his nemesis. Coming back to the battle, the pilot activated the thrusters and shot forward, locking on to the nearest opponent.
"Take this, you scum!" she yelled as she fired a rocket at the Mobile Armor. The missile hit the Earth Forces vessel in the centre, destroying it. The Duel Gundam was ahead of the GM, using it's beam saber to make short work of the Earth Alliance's defences. Rei continued to blast away at the remaining Mobile Armors, but paused when Commander Le Creuset's white CGUE shot past, already firing on his enemy's Mobile Armor.
Suddenly, two massive explosions rocked the GM Cannon. Swinging the GM around to look for the source, Rei saw a large cloud of dust and debris where the two Earth Alliance escort ships had been.
"What was that?" Yzak growled over the comm. "Those two ships couldn't have been that big."
"No idea…should we check it out?" Nicol asked, sounding slightly worried.
"Might as well. The other GINNs can handle the rest of the Mobile Armors." Rei replied, hitting the thrusters and charging off in the direction of the dust cloud.
The red-and-white GM approached the debris field, scanning the area with it's scanners. The Duel and Blitz Gundams followed closely, ready to attack anything that moved. Ignoring the battle behind them, Rei opening the comm. system and called out,
"Dearka, Miguel? Are you guys ok?" Receiving no response, Rei paused, unsure of what to do next. The explosions had been large enough to be caused by Mobile Suits being destroyed, but the two escort vessels didn't have that kind of power on them. So what had happened?
"Those damn Naturals! They'll pay for this!" Yzak snarled, speeding into the debris field. Sighing, Rei followed the hotheaded Coordinator after telling Nicol to say where he was and alert them if Miguel and Dearka appeared.
"Sure. Be careful, though." the green-haired boy replied, looking concerned.
Rei continued to move through the thick dust, keeping a close eye out for any sign of the Buster Gundam or Miguel's custom GINN. Hearing her radar beep, the female Coordinator looked down and saw something on the edge of the screen. Turing in that direction, she followed the signal and came upon what was left of an orange GINN. The left side of it had been utterly destroyed, gaping holes made sure of that. The head had been slashed off, it floated a few feet away from the body. The right side of the torso looked intact, little damage had been done to the cockpit.
"Miguel! Can you hear me?" Rei called, simultaneously sending her position coordinates to Yzak. Within a few seconds of her message, the Duel Gundam appeared out of the dust across from her. With him was the Buster Gundam. Both the high-energy rifle and the gun launcher had been destroyed, as well and most of the shoulders.
"We were attacked by a group of GM's that was with the escort ships. A blue one got Miguel, and a purple-and-white one attacked me. There might also have been a sniper farther out." Dearka said softly. From what Rei could see on the screen, he looked shaken, and a blood dripped from a small cut on his forehead.
"Alright, I'll go after them. Yzak, you take Dearka and Miguel back to the Vesalius, Rei ordered. The silver-haired boy looked like he was going to object taking orders from a younger officer, but he only glared at her and nodded.
Grabbing the wreckage of the orange GINN, the Duel Gundam vanished into the thinning dust cloud, Dearka right behind him. Re-loading the cannon and checking the energy left in her beam rifle, Rei took off in the direction Yzak and Dearka had come from.
Several minutes later, Rei had found nothing to indicate that there were more GM's in the area. Now in open space, she could see nothing except the distant stars. Unless the mystery machines were still in the remains or the ships' wreckage….A storm of bullets rammed into the GM Cannon's thruster pack, and beam shots went flying past the head.
Rapidly turning the GM around, the Coordinator found that the energy beams were coming from a tan GM floating on the edge of the debris field. Another GM, this on blue, was heading right towards her, followed closely by a purple-and-white GM. Both lead machines carried machine guns, while the sniper had what appeared to be a long-range beam rifle. Smirking, Rei noticed that they were piloted by Naturals. She could tell because the GM's were responding slower that her GM Cannon's controls.
"Fools…You stupid Naturals think you can beat me, a Coordinator? I'll show you who the superior species is!" Rei yelled over the comm. system, pulling her machine out of the line of fire. Getting no response to her threat, she pulled the GM into a barrel roll and fired two rockets at the blue GM and three shots from her beam rifle at the other one. The tan GM was too far away for her to attack, but not for long. Both rockets hit the opposing GM, damaging the upper torso and shoulders. One shot missed the other one, and the second was blocked by it's shield.
Grinning, Rei hit the thrusters as four missiles from the blue GM came toward her, overshooting her machine and exploding as she shot past them. Locking her head guns onto the purple-and-white GM she fired again at the blue one, successfully disabling both chest missile launchers. Using her superior skills, Rei fired the GM's vulcan guns at the other one, managing to distract it long enough to slip past it. Al the while, the tan GM had been firing at her, but Rei easily evaded all shots. Raising her beam rifle, the GM Cannon fired a volley of shots at the sniper, causing several explosions when they hit floating debris. Unlike the other shots, Rei aimed directly at the long beam rifle, hoping to disable it. Luckily, most of the shots did hit the gun, causing the GM's pilot to toss it away before it exploded.
Satisfied that the sniper wouldn't dare to attack her again, the white-haired Coordinator turned her attention back to the two GM's behind her. Suddenly, Yzak's voice came over the comm.
"Are you alright? I thought I saw something going on over here…need a hand?" Rei blinked in shock and stared at the speaker. Not only did Yzak ask to assist her, his voice sounded like it was filled with concern. Shaking off the strange feeling that came over her, the pilot replied, "Alright, if you could take care of that tan GM behind me, I'll work on the other two."
"Fine with me. I always enjoy beating up on Naturals…"
"Whatever." she muttered as she once again locked onto the blue GM, determined to destroy it. It was such an odd colour, the pilot had to be good…or he just liked blue. He had to be the leader of this little group. Firing shot after shot from her beam rifle, she was pleased to see that the once-mighty GM looked like it had been through a meat grinder. Completely focused on the blue GM, Rei realized that the other one was nowhere to be seen.
"Uh-oh…"
"Rei, behind you!" Hearing Yzak's warning yell, Rei spun the GM Cannon around to come face-to-face with the barrel of it's beam rifle. And it was aimed at the cockpit on the GM's chest.
- - -
Busy battling the tan GM with his beam sabers, Yzak didn't notice that Rei was in trouble until he slashed the head and left shoulder off the opposing machine. Kicking the headless GM out of the way and into a piece of space junk, The Duel Gundam turned around just in time to see the purple-and-white GM level it's beam rife at Rei's GM Cannon and fire. In the resulting explosion, the enemy GM sped off to a safer distance and turned to watch. The main body had been obliterated along with the cockpit area.
"No….not her.." Yzak muttered, stunned, as the fusion reactor exploded in a short-lived fireball.
"DAMN YOU!" Yzak screamed, his voice breaking with emotion. Something inside seemed to snap, and his blue eyes widened as the pupils disappeared. Gritting his teeth in anger, the teen charged the Duel Gundam forward towards the GM that had destroyed Rei. Beam sabers drawn, he slashed at the cockpit, determined to utterly destroy this Natural. An eye for an eye, Yzak thought as he attacked relentlessly, chopping the already-damaged shield in two. Raising the twin sabers for the final blow, Yzak swore loudly when the beam disappeared and his Phase Shift Armor went to a dull gray. Finally having enough, the Earth Alliance's GM took off, heading back into the debris field. Too tired to follow it, Yzak turned and saw the heavily damaged blue GM grab onto the tan one, dragging it away.
His gaze finally settled on the remains of the GM Cannon. Drifting closer, she saw a flash of green and black. Putting the Gundam's cameras on 'zoom' Yzak saw a body floating amidst the bits of metal. Hope blossomed in him as he moved next to the still form, opened his cockpit, and grabbed a hold of the body. Pulling it closer, Yzak saw that it was ripped in many places and the faceplate was cracked, Sticking out of it was a large piece of shrapnel. But it was Rei, and she was still alive, although badly injured. Lifting her form into the cockpit, Yzak set her across his knees and shut the cockpit. Turning the Duel around, he sent a message back to the rest of the ZAFT troops in the area.
"This is Yzak Joule of the Le Creuset team. An injured ZAFT soldier…."
- - -
A little note: Yzak does go into SEED(Beserker) Mode in this Phase. I wasn't really sure how to descripe the effects of it, so I did the best I could. gat-x127, Rau is a failed clone, and I think I'll touch on that in one of the later chapters. Also, Muu made a short apperance, you'll learn the outcome of the battle later.