With Operation Peacemaker underway, the EAF massed its forces for an assault on Jachin Due, the site where GENESIS was built. As the Earth Alliance prepared their missiles, ZAFT's very own superweapon was entering its final stages and ready to fire. Going into the battle, Blue Cosmos's main objective was destroying the PLANTs; they were strongly determined not only to eliminate all ZAFT forces, but also to completely wipe out the opposing side's civilian population. The Supreme Council agreed to the use of GENESIS should the EAF opt for nuclear annihilation, but they won an important concession: the Chairman himself would not be on Jachin Due as Commander-in-Chief. Eileen Canaver would be his representative. Rau Le Creuset didn't mind the arrangement; he had everything under control, or so he thought for he had secretly rigged GENESIS to fire when Jachin Due self-destructs. But Eileen, with Siegel's reminder, slowly transferred moderate members of ZAFT onto Jachin Due and GENESIS. Although they didn't spot the tampering, they were determined not to fire their superweapon on Earth.
The Three Ships Alliance decided to interfere. They would thwart any attack on either side's civilian population, and end all hostilities if possible. As they prepared for battle, the Hawk joked, "We have nukes on one side, and GENESIS on the other. How are we supposed to stop them without getting ourselves killed?"
"Well, you were the one who said that you could make the impossible possible, right," wisecracked Murrue in return. Natarle had to snigger at the smart rebuttal, but the first mate was worried too. La Flaga was right; would they be able to come out of this battle alive?
The Archangel had previously engaged the Dominion at Mendel; the knowledge of another Archangel-class battleship in the EAF set Natarle thinking. If the Dominion chose to fire her Lohengrin cannons... She alerted Murrue to this observation.
The captain herself was thinking about other matters. She had noted Flay's presence in Mendel, and her "rescue" by the Dominion. Kira and Sai would most certainly not attack the ship because of her. Murrue would have to get the Eternal to direct the Justice for engagement with the EAF vessel. She sighed when she thought of her former crew member. If the Dominion did not surrender, Flay might perish together with the ship. When the captain shared her thoughts with the first mate, Natarle had a resigned look on her face. "Such is the cruelty of war." was her reply.
Once the battle started, there was total chaos.GINNs and Strike Daggers were blowing each other up and the ships from both sides were in the heat of battle. Kira and Athrun had detected something disturbing: a seemingly harmless strike force had managed to bypass all of ZAFT's defenses, which mean...
"They're heading for the PLANTs," exclaimed Athrun. The two MSes quickly went after the force. To both pilots' horror, the Moebiuses launched their nuclear payloads at the PLANTS. Thinking about Junius Seven, the Justice used its METEOR unit to intercept the missiles. With help of the Freedom, all the missiles were destroyed before they reached their targets.
Seething with anger at this deed, Athrun directed his rage at the strike force. After their disposal, he went for the EAF. Kira followed behind his friend.
The Le Creuset team had already clashed with the Extended pilots. Both sides were locked in a stalemate when the Justice and the Freedom came along. Remembering what the Calamity had tried to do on Orb, in addition to his anger, Athrun showed no mercy towards Orga Sabnak; the Calamity soon disappeared in a brilliant flash. Sensing that their opponent was too much for them to handle, Shani and Clotho chose to withdraw. As the Buster and the Duel gave chase, the Blitz hailed the Justice.
"Athrun! Get your guys to target the EAF. Miss Canaver is our Commander-in-Chief," revealed Nicol. He didn't want to fight Athrun or his friends. The teen quickly radioed the information back to the Eternal. With the moderates in charge of ZAFT, Andrew gladly informed the rest of the alliance to focus their efforts on the EAF.
But for Cagalli, the order came too late; Mayura had already been killed by ZAFT forces. She decided to channel her grief into fighting the other side. In SEED mode, she fought her way through the enemy ranks until the Strike Rouge came to the Forbidden and the Raider. Shani Andras took aim at the Rouge. From behind, the Buster combined its guns and fired at the the Forbidden, which caused considerable damage. Yzak then rushed in and was shot at by Shani, but the Duel ejected its Assault Shroud armor and let it got hit to make it seem like the Duel was destroyed; the ZAFT ace then rushed in with both beam sabers and sliced off the Forbidden's arms before cutting into the cockpit. With an explosion, the Forbidden was no more. "Thanks for saving me," said Cagalli. She hadn't noticed the Extended pilot taking aim at her.
"Next time, little miss, be sure to watch your back in battle," reminded Dearka as the Buster took on the last MS. The Duel and the Strike Rouge also pounced on the Raider. Clotho Buer, who was now going berserk, tried to fight all three at once; he was quickly taken down, permanently.
On board the Dominion, Azrael was getting desperate. GENESIS had already been fired twice, destroying a large part of his force. Also, his three top MS pilots were dead. He decided to fire the Lohengrins; that would buy them some time, he thought. The captain of the Dominion dutifully obeyed every command; he didn't want to stand up to the Blue Cosmos leader.
After the second firing, a member of the crew discovered some strange coding within GENESIS's interface. After tracing its source, he reported the problem to Canaver. The representative of the Chairman ordered the weapon to be shut down. It had served its purpose in the battle...
On the Archangel, Murrue Ramius had already asked for the Justice to attack the Dominion. On his way to the ship, he saw a ZAFT MS which he had never seen before. Then, a silky smooth voice which he had not heard in ages sounded over the radio.
"It's been a while, Athrun."
The Justice chose to ignore Le Creuset. To Athrun's surprise, his former commander did not give chase. His real target was Kira and the Freedom. Le Creuset smiled after recalling what he had done to the Aegis. His "brother" would be out of action for the rest of this battle, although it would be better if he had perished. Oh well, sometimes, one do have to settle for imperfections, mused Le Creuset as he hailed the Freedom...
The Archangel had tried its best to avoid the Dominion, but as the sister ship prepared to fire her Lohengrins (after a recharge following their first shots at other targets), the Justice arrived. In the nick of time, the Justice blasted the cannons to pieces. Azrael was furious. Then, he remembered something. Grabbing Flay, the leader pulled out a pistol and pointed it to her temple. He then demanded to speak with the captain of the Archangel.
Over the video intercom, the crew was shocked to see Flay being held as a hostage. Murrue and Natarle were outraged by Azrael's actions.
"As you can see, I have a friend of yours here. If the Archangel and her MSes do not surrender to the EAF at once, I'll kill her!"
The captain knew that this demand was unacceptable, but Kira needed to be told about this. She ordered the broadcast to be patched through to the Freedom.
Kira was facing off against Le Creuset when the video intercom came to life. After the initial shock, the Freedom bolted for the Dominion. The Providence was hot on its heels.
"What's the matter? Having other stuff to worry about," mocked the masked commander.
Flay was terrified by the whole thing. The Archangel couldn't possibly agree to the terms put forth by Azrael. When she remembered Kira's words, her fear dissipated a little. With a timid voice, she called out to the Archangel.
"Don't listen to him, Captain. The Archangel must never rejoin the EAF with him still in charge."
With that, Murrue Ramius decided to reject Azrael's call for the Archangel to surrender. Although all parties had expected it, Kira wanted to object to it. He knew that Azrael would harm Flay, especially since she had said those words. Azrael decided to do something drastic, but he certainly wasn't in control of his body when the trigger of the gun was pulled...
Kira tried to take in what had just happened. He heard a bang, then the red haired girl whom he loved slumped to the floor, with blood oozing from the gunshot wound. The teen gave a yell of anguish. As for the crew of the Archangel, the Dominion was now an enemy which must be destroyed.
"By taking her life, Muruta Azrael, you have forfeited your own, along with those on board the ship," said Murrue with a chilling voice. "Prepare the Lohengrins!"
With that, the crew of the Dominion scrambled for the escape pods. In the confusion, Azrael fired at them. He, too, was panicking. After emptying the gun of its bullets, he sat on the ground, and laughed madly. This was it, he thought.
The cannons were now charged up. After seeing the launch of the pods, the captain looked at her first mate. Both ladies nodded their agreement.
"Fire," ordered both of them. After an explosion, the Dominion was sunk.
With the Dominion destroyed, the Justice decided to help the Freedom in dealing with the Providence. Clouded by his grief, Kira's attacks were not finding their target. "This would be an easy one." thought Rau Le Creuset. He was interrupted by the Justice.
"So, you came back. Are you ready to face your own commander in battle?"
"I've never been more ready in my life. Your schemes end here today, Rau Le Creuset!"
"We'll see about that." The DRAGOON system hummed to life as it fired at the Justice. Athrun knew that this would be a tough fight.
Seeing the Justice coming under attack was a wake-up call for Kira. He would mourn for Flay another time, but now, his friend was threatened by one of ZAFT's top commanders. It was time to end this, he thought as he activated his SEED powers.
Athrun too went into SEED mode. But it was going to take more than that to stop Le Creuset. The three MSes were soon locked in battle...
After learning of the Dominion's demise, Andrew Waltfeld proposed a cease-fire to the Alliance. ZAFT was withdrawing its troops (at least, what's left of them). As Le Creuset fought on, he noticed that the battlefield was emptying. Why hadn't GENESIS fired? Eileen Canaver's voice came on the intercom.
"Commander Le Crueset, you may retreat now. ZAFT have won this day," she said with a plain voice.
"No, it hasn't," shouted Le Creuset. He was getting impatient.
"What's wrong, Commander? Feeling that something's not going according to your wishes," asked Athrun. By now, ZAFT's withdrawal was almost complete.
"Not that it concerns you, Zala," sneered Rau.
"Oh, but it does. Do you wish to know why I hijack the Eternal and the Freedom?"
"I don't think that mind of yours is capable of any good plans."
"Well, it seems that you forgot who is at GENESIS today."
After some thinking at Athrun's reminders, it hit Le Creuset like a ton of bricks. Although everything had seemed so perfect, he had forgotten that Canaver, not Zala, was at GENESIS today. Azrael had used his nukes and ZAFT had fired GENESIS but in the end, neither side was completely destroyed. In this crucial step, he had miscalculated. He cursed Azrael, Clyne and Canaver. He also cursed Athrun and Lacus. That was enough, thought the two young pilots.
"It's time to send you on your way," said Kira softly.
"I will never lose to the likes of you two," declared Le Creuset, but Athrun knew that his former commander was losing his cool. When that happened to people, they become vulnerable. Soon, Kira found an opening. He impaled the cockpit of the Providence with a double-sided beam saber. To finish Le Creuset off, the Justice used its beam saber to cut the Providence into two. The Providence was gone just like that, without so much as a whimper.
"Good bye, and good riddance," said Athrun. Kira nodded his agreement. The two friends returned to their respective ships.
On board the Archangel, La Flaga was fuming over Le Creuset's damage to the Aegis. Kojiro Murdoch declared that the Aegis would not be repaired after he had evaluated the extent of the damages; it would have to be replaced. Jokes aside, his expression turned grim when he thought about Skinny. Although Kira had helped to bring an end to the battle, he had paid a price for it. The Hawk waited in the hangar of the Archangel. He wanted to make sure that Kira did something before he could feel safe.
When Kira descended from the Freedom's cockpit, he was greeted by the cheers of the crew. Even Murrue and Natarle were there. Kira smiled for them, but as soon as he walked away from the crowd, La Flaga caught up with him.
"You've better let it all out, Skinny. You'll feel better that way."
Without further prompting, the boy's tears began to flow. The older man patted him on the head. No matter what he was capable of, he was still a 16-year-old teenager who had lost a girlfriend to war. La Flaga stood where he was, waving people away in case they disturbed the boy. When the captain and the first mate saw the weeping teen, they bowed their heads as they walked past him. His sobs almost prompted Murrue to cry herself. With Natarle's soft reminder ("Such is the cruelty of war."), the captain blinked back her tears.
On board the Kusanagi, Cagalli too was crying. None of the Astray pilots had made it back: Mayura, Julie, Asagi... Kisaka tried to comfort the girl, but he didn't know how. All he could do was watch over her as she grieved for their loss.
On board the Eternal, the crew congratulated their ace on his triumphant return. As he thanked them, he looked at his fiancee. "I wonder..." he thought. He whispered to Lacus, "Will you marry me?"
The Pink Princess replied, "I will, but we would have to discuss this some other time. Not everyone was as fortunate as you."
"What's going on with you two," teased Andrew.
"Nothing. I was just reminding him that the alliance had lost some brave solders today." The place went silent. Although the Eternal's casualties were minimal, people had been killed.Lacus called for the crew to pray for all who had paid the ultimate price in the war...
Afterthoughts
-Please RnR!
-Sorry if the writing seemed rushed. I must admit to one thing: I have NEVER seen this part of the GS anime ever.