Choices
Banadiya... and ZAFT
Written by Izzu
o
o
"You...", gasped the Chairman as the lad stopped in his track. "Kira Yamato!—?", he cried as Kira looked at him grimly...
XXX
Gilbert Durandal eyed the lad carefully as Kira looked at him distastefully, especially since the impostor was standing right next to him. Kira shrugged off his irritation as he went straight on to his intention.
"I... we from Archangel had no intention in antagonizing either PLANT or the Earth Alliance. This war had been increasingly intense as the day passes. That's why... I have come here to see you in person."
Durandal eyed him closely as Kira looked up. "I wanted to get the explanations straight from the source. In order to prevent anymore loss of lives and destruction."
"Really? But even ORB has joined the EA. How could I trust you or the Archangel? Ever since all this time all you guys have done is create more chaos..."
Kira frowned at him as he remembered the attack on Lacus, his sudden act of kidnapping Cagalli from ORB, the battle at Suez and several more after that. He thought of all the people that were lost, be it from ORB, ZAFT or Alliance. And he started having flashbacks from the battle of Jachin Due.
"That may be what was happening right now...", he said as he glanced at him. "But not all of the people of ORB agrees with Seiran's decision. And even now, Archangel have not sided with anyone and only fight to prevent unnecessary damage. Although, even in our case, we cannot save everyone. We've tried our best to prevent that and even tried to help out Minerva in the last few battles. But it seemed that although you have stated clearly that you wanted no conflict, it looks like ZAFT did not care if there were any casualties on the other side...'
Durandal frowned at this as Kira continued. "Why was that ship even constructed? And why was that ominous gundam assigned to that ship? To allow such dangerous party to be walking free, what was your true intention?", asked Kira.
Durandal spoke. "I have no obligations to tell you. But the role of Minerva and Impulse should be similar to what Archangel and Strike used to play."
Kira laughed mockingly at him. "Don't be so arrogant. Minerva is nothing like Archangel! Do not assume just because you created that ship and the people on it to mirror Archangel that they were similar to us! And what was your purpose on doing that?" Kira sneered at him. "You even go as far as creating that impostor!"
Meer shied away behind Durandal as the man shrugged. "It cannot be helped. Miss Clyne's influence was greater than mine and we needed someone to calm the people of PLANT. You wouldn't understand that—"
"I do!", Durandal stopped abruptly as Kira snapped. "Lacus and I would have agreed to help if PLANT needed our support. We would have—"
Durandal smirked. "Then, do you have knowledge of the girl's whereabouts?"
Kira bit his lips as he remained silent. "I have no intention of telling you that. I will not allow you to manipulate Lacus the way you used that girl!"
"What did you mean by that? Take that back!" Meer suddenly exclaimed as Durandal stopped her.
Durandal turned towards her. "Don't be rude... Lacus", scolded the chairman as Kira frowned at him. "So, Kira... if you have not trusted me, then why did you come here?"
"I wanted to see by my own eyes about your own sincerity to ending this war."
The chairman shrugged. "Then why don't you see it by yourself? Go to Minerva, I believe your friend Athrun is already there."
Kira remained silent as to not alert the man that he had met Athrun before.
"What are you planning... Chairman Durandal!"
The man smirked.
"About that... why don't you decide for yourself. Kira... Yamato."
xxx
"You're flying this aircraft with just that?", cried Meer as Kira tried his best to ignore her.
"I'm not going to fly to space. No reason to get my pilot suit on...", he snapped as he threw his briefcase at the second pilot compartment. He started to mind himself with the aircraft as Meer pouted at him.
Meer groaned under her breath. "How rude... and I was trying to be nice too!"
"I am fine. Instead of concerning yourself with me... you should be concerned about yourself," said Kira as he boarded Neo Skygrasper.
"I'm not being used! I only wanted to help out in place of Miss Lacus! I wanted this war to end as well!"
Kira turned towards her as he smiled weakly.
"Lacus would not have done this. She would not be encouraging people to fight, even if it was only to stop the war. That person... would not want to see any more lives being lost."
Meer gasped as she hastily walk away. With that, Kira immediately launched Skygrasper...
xxx
Kira turned to look at the controls as he received a signal from his communicator. He gasped as Lacus's face appeared in the viewscreen.
"Kira!"
"Lacus!" he gasped as Andrew appeared by her side.
"What're you doing? We heard about you seeing the chairman."
Kira sighed. "Sorry to make you worry, but I just have to do it. I had a bad feeling about this. I fear for Athrun's safety."
Lacus blinked. "Kira? You don't mean... you're heading to Minerva?"
Kira nodded. "Even if it was a trap, I'll take the risk. There was something suspicious about that chairman. I'm not sure why... but I don't like it."
"Be careful, Kira!" said Lacus worriedly as Kira smiled at her.
"Don't worry about me," he said as a thought crossed his mind. "Lacus, perhaps we should investigate more about that man. For some reason I felt there was something more about him that is bad."
Lacus nodded as she ended the call. Kira let out a sigh as he continued flying towards Minerva's location.
xxx
The lone coordinator stared blankly towards the windows as his thoughts wandered towards his friends, who were at the moment; leagues away from him. Wondering if his actions were right, whether or not... if he should have gone to PLANT that day. Then maybe... he could have stopped Cagalli from making that foolish decision. And furthermore... he would have been on Archangel, instead of here.
Then maybe Kira wouldn't be so mad at him.
Athrun gazed softly towards the flying seagulls. Kira... did I do wrong? What must I do now to regain your trust once more?
Lunamaria entered the room and gasped as she found Athrun inside. Athrun glanced at her in surprise as the whole ship suddenly flashed red.
CONDITION RED, ALERT! CONDITION RED, ALERT! UNKNOWN SHIP APPROACHING!
Both of them gasped as they rushed towards the bridge...
xxx
Athrun and Lunamaria entered the bridge to find Shinn and Rey already present. He barely acknowledged their presence as he quickly addressed the Minerva captain.
"Captain Gladys, what was wrong?", he asked as Talia turned to Meyrin.
"Yes. Receiving the visuals of the unknown ship—", said Meyrin as the screen was replaced by the image of the newcomer. Athrun's eyes grew wide as Lunamaria and Rey noticed his strange reaction.
That can't be! It looked almost exactly the same except for the blue—white colour. But... why?
Athrun was confused as suddenly Meyrin cried aloud. "Captain... that ship was hailing us!", said the pink—haired girl as Talia allowed her to receive the transmission. An image popped on screen giving Athrun the horror at realizing that his instinct were correct. Though he had not expected the pilot to be him!
/This is Neo Skygrasper from Archangel. Requesting permission to land on your ship. I repeat—/
Lunamaria gasped involuntarily as she recognized at the pilot. Besides the fact he was wearing an ORB officer uniform instead of a pilot suit, she remembered this person resembled the guy that came with Miss Cagalli to meet Athrun before! Could it be? Freedom's pilot?
She turned towards Athrun to find that her assumptions were correct. Athrun looked as if he was seeing a ghost.
Talia sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "What are those guys planning to do now—? How should we react to this?", she muttered aloud as Arthur glanced at her, not knowing what to do either. Seeing that no immediate action was done, Shinn growled in discontent and glared at the aircraft. He immediately stomped away and left the bridge. Athrun started to call out to him but his effort was ignored.
His attention was taken back to the bridge as Kira grew impatient and spoke again. /What are you guys doing? I'm requesting permission to land!/
"Should we attack it? Captain?", asked one of the crew as Talia contemplated her decision.
"No! Don't attack it!", cried Athrun suddenly as Talia and the rest of the crew turned towards him. Talia stared at him.
"Athrun! What are you saying—"
"Captain! There's something happening at the hangar! Impulse was—", cried Meyrin as Talia turned around in surprise.
"What?—!"
xxx
Shinn watched as the system cleared him and launched Core Splendor as he sped out of Minerva. The other silhouettes followed on tow as they combined to form Force Impulse. Shinn glared towards the incoming craft as his rage returned.
"Damn you... ORB!", he cried as his SEED was activated...
xxx
"Shinn! What're you doing?—", cried Talia as Shinn ignored her orders. To their horrors, they watched Force Impulse aimed its beam rifle towards Skygrasper...
xxx
Kira stared in disbelief as he heard the alarm sounding on his pad and seeing the one gundam that he had grown to dislike. He immediately realized foul play as he saw the beam rifle aimed at him.
xxx
Minerva.
The whole crew stood in awe as Force Impulse fired and the aircraft swerved almost lazily. The pilot contacted the ship again demanding them to cease attacking him as he barely swerved the aircraft around, having been attacked with another torrent of laser beams.
xxx
Kira hissed as he watched the gundam flying straight at him again. Skillfully, Kira turned the ship 270 degree and fired his own missile towards Impulse. The missile hit home as Kira turned the aircraft away of harm's way. He hastily sent them the message Durandal gave him as he evaded Impulse again.
xxx
The Minerva crew watched in surprise as the aircraft manage to evade Impulse attack easily. The panels on Meyrin's controls suddenly light up as the ship received another message.
"Captain! The pilot sent a message! It seemed to be a coded message from Chairman Durandal!", she cried as Talia frowned.
"Then... he was telling the truth?", gasped Talia as Athrun grew more anxious, watching Kira fend for himself out there. Lunamaria looked at him with concern as she understood his predicament. It's not like she already forgotten what she saw before...
/What's taking you so long? Call off your forces!/, said Kira again as Talia rushed to Meyrin's side and took the mic.
"We can't do that! Impulse is not obeying us! And we cannot deploy Saviour to stop him!—", she cried as Athrun glanced at the captain in wonder...
/Wha—t?/
xxx
Kira could not believe what he was hearing as he thought of the past battles. Guess his plan was a bit more risky than he first thought. His thought were cut short as one of the laser beams hit Neo Skygrasper's right wing. Kira flinched as he tried to stabilized the aircraft.
Kira muttered a blessing as this new prototype aircraft was a bit sturdier than the ones in the past. Another beam passes as it barely missed him. "That does it!", cried Kira angrily as something snapped inside of him.
xxx
Neo Skygrasper suddenly turned off its thrusters and it changed its alignment. Without warning, the thruster was reactivated again but instead of speeding forward, the aircraft flew backward towards Impulse in high speed. Shinn gasped as he was taken aback. Without thinking, Impulse swerved to the right... barely evading it. Just he thought the pilot was losing it, the aircraft turned sharply into an attack position.
When he barely caught what the pilot was telling Minerva, all was too late. That guy want to ram Impulse with his ship!
XXX
"I gave them enough time already... here goes...", muttered Kira to himself as he prepared for the final lunge. Neo Skygrasper powered up suddenly and sped directly on towards collision with Force Impulse.
Neo Skygrasper lunged speedily like a homing missile as it aimed straight for Impulse's torso. Kira fired torrents of bullets as to render Impulse helpless to his barrage of assault. And the two machines impacted. Everyone on Minerva watched them in horror. The force of impact threw the gundam and aircraft straight towards Minerva's hangar.
Impulse crashed immediately soon after but at this speed, there was no way he could pull out in time. Kira cursed as he prepared for the impending crash...
xxx
Talia rose towards the communication panel as soon as the explosion occur. "Status report!", cried Talia as the reply came, saying that no casualties fell on the support crews. Talia gave a sigh of relief as she turned around, just to catch Athrun rushing out from the bridge... followed by Lunamaria and Rey.
"Arthur... assume command", ordered Talia as she too followed suit...
xxx
Kira shook his head as he opened the hatch. To his surprise, one of the Minerva crew helped him out and he shakily climbed out of Skygrasper.
"Are you alright, mister?", asked that young lad as Kira looked up towards him. The lad had orange coloured hair and had a kind look on his face. Kira looked at him puzzled as the lad gasped to his attention. "Oh! Your head's bleeding!", cried the lad as Kira barely registered it and hastily pushed the lad aside.
Vino cried in surprise as he glared at the stranger. But that was before he saw the look on that guy and turned around to see Shinn, aiming his gun at the newcomer.
Shinn fired at him some more as Kira lithely evaded each shot, regardless of his injuries as he lurched towards him. He threw the briefcase towards Shinn's gun hand, causing Shinn to let go of his weapon. Taking the chance while the kid was open, Kira sent out several kicks and punches in order to restrain the lad.
Athrun and Lunamaria finally came to the scene as they saw the fight between the two. Running towards them, Athrun immediately called out to Kira just as he managed to disarm Shinn completely.
"Kira!", cried Athrun as Kira looked up at him.
Sensing his chances, Shinn pushed Kira away as he dashed for his gun. Kira looked at the kid in daze as he watched Shinn about to shoot him point blank. But Athrun was quicker as he pulled his best friend away, just as the trigger was pulled. Both fell to the floor as Athrun asked Lunamaria to watch over Kira. He pulled our his small knife as he proceeded to tackle Shinn.
Lunamaria watched him go as she noticed Kira's injury. "Athrun?", muttered Kira as he tried to get up but stopped by Lunamaria. Kira eyed the girl in confusion as Rey rushed passed them. The two looked back towards Athrun's direction to see that he had already detained Shinn and Rey took over his charge as Shinn cried in protest.
Lunamaria helped Kira up as Athrun came to his side. "Oh man... Kira! You alright? No... you're bleeding!", cried Athrun as Kira tried to push him away, not so eagerly accepting his attempt to support him. Lunamaria looked at him in confusion. Athrun eyed her cautiously before turning towards Kira, who suddenly wore a sad look.
"Kira...?", he asked as Kira whispered softly. "I've met him before... with Lacus", he said as he eyes started to regain life. He turned around as he realized Kira was referring to Shinn.
Talia entered the hangar to find it in chaos with the crew hurriedly struggling to put out the fires that spreaded from the crash. She walked further to find Athrun and Lunamaria with the ORB pilot while Rey was holding Shinn aback. She dashed towards their direction as Kira pulled away from Athrun and walked towards Shinn.
"Kira... what—", said Athrun again as Talia reached them.
"Let me go! Rey!", shouted Shinn almost deranged, as Kira paused before them with Rey looking dumbfounded. And all of them were taken aback as Kira lifted his hand and slapped Shinn flat on the face. Athrun gasped as Shinn appeared to have calmed a little.
The lad looked up as Kira continued giving him a sad look. "Can you finally think clearly now?", said Kira gently as Shinn stared at him with shock. Kira just smiled weakly at him as he turned around towards Athrun and Luna. His eyes fluttered as he finally noticed Talia's presence. Kira bowed lightly towards her as he smiled apologetically at her. "Sorry if I caused you a lot of trouble—", muttered Kira as Talia stuttered for answer.
He tried to move a few steps but it seemed his body can't take it anymore as he collapsed to the floor. Athrun caught him as he saw that Kira has passed out.
"Kira?", cried Athrun as he lifted Kira up. "Please excuse me...", muttered Athrun as he secured Kira on his arm. With one last look at his companions, he immediately left towards the infirmary as Luna followed him.
Talia sighed as she turned her glance towards Shinn and Rey. And it seemed that Shinn had received a hard hit as he looked extremely troubled...
/TBC/
