I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his team, and Sophia DiFalco

Lunar Orbit, Above Ptolemaeus Base, Earth Forces Mobile Assault Ship Dominion, Bridge, July 7th, C.E. 71
Muruta Azrael, occupying a chair on the port side of the Archangel-class warship's Bridge, tapped his armrest in thought. "How long until we're ready to make a final assault on the PLANTs, Admiral?" he asked finally. "The Council is beginning to get a little impatient with the progress of the war."

Admiral James Hamilton, occupying the captain's chair, punched up the latest Intelligence reports on his monitor. "I'm afraid it won't be any time soon, Director," he said finally. "Nuclear weapons are fine against stationary targets, like space colonies and ground installations, but against space fleets they're of limited utility. Right now, ZAFT's forces are still too strong for us to make such an attack."

Azrael nodded unhappily. "I was afraid of that; I suppose we'll just to wait until we contain their planetary forces. Which reminds me: when, exactly, is the next ground offensive scheduled to commence? The sooner we deal with Carpentaria and Gibraltar -not to mention Kaohsiung- the sooner we can get our operations back on track."

"Operation 8.8 is supposed to begin next month," the Admiral replied. "That will focus on Carpentaria; and the assaults on the other two major ZAFT bases will begin shortly after that. As you may expect, our operations will focus on Gibraltar and Kaohsiung. Africa is of little consequence in the grand scheme, and the ZAFT forces there will likely just run out of supplies, if we can deny them access to a spaceport."

"Good. Can't say I'm happy it'll take that long, but, unfortunately, the ignorant masses will crucify us if we keep using nuclear weapons on Earth." The Director sighed. "To make matters worse, I can't even really blame them; we can hardly claim to be fighting for a blue and pure world if we leave radioactive blast craters all over the planet."

"True enough," Hamilton concurred. "Cheer up, Director: it's only a matter of time now. We just need to be patient."

"Hmm..." Patient... Hmph. He's right, but that doesn't make me any happier about the whole affair. We should've been able to deal with those abominations long ago; and if we'd been able to come up with our own mobile suits a little sooner, maybe we could've.

That was one thing the Blue Cosmos leader found particularly vexing. They'd taken nearly a year to produce any mobile suits, and in the end, the only use the original six had been to the Alliance was in the form of battle data; since, by the time the ship designed around them arrived at Alaska, five were destroyed, and one still in the hands of the enemy. And, meanwhile, both Orb -the manufacturers of the G-weapons- and ZAFT had used the data gleaned from the machines to create their own new mobile suits, with formidable results.

If only we could've gotten more data on DiFalco's machine; what was it called over the radio? Preybird? Something like that. That unit's power is amazing; if we had something with those capabilities, we wouldn't need to wait to make our attack on the PLANTs...

Azrael shook himself from his reverie, as another thought intruded. "By the way, Admiral... has there been any more word on the mysterious marauder that's been attacking our convoys?"

Hamilton shook his head. "Nothing concrete, Director. One school of thought in Intelligence is that it's a band of pirates; but there are other ideas, of greater and lesser popularity."

"Hm; and what's the most popular theory?"

The Admiral hesitated. "A number of analysts actually speculate that it's the Odin causing all the ruckus."

Azrael frowned. "The Odin? Wasn't that supposed to be an escort ship for the Archangel? Constructed at Heliopolis, as I recall, by the Fifth Special Division; though as I remember it, the project was kept separate from the Archangel, for security reasons."

"That's right," Hamilton confirmed. "The ship was presumed lost in the collapse of the colony; and we've confirmed that Captain Callahan and his exec, Commander DuMont, were both killed with Captain Mornay, during the bombing attempt on the Archangel. Beyond that, nothing about the ship's status is known." He shrugged. "For all we know, the Odin could indeed be out there somewhere; the only question is why she'd be fighting us."

"Dissent in the ranks seems an all too common problem," the Director sighed. "You never know why someone might betray his race."

"Agreed; after all- Wait." Hamilton broke off, reading a message that had just appeared on his right-hand armrest screen. "Director..." he began, with a slow smile, "there's news that may interest you."

Azrael raised an eyebrow. "What kind of news, Admiral?"

"It seems we've tracked down the 'True ZAFT' forces," the Admiral informed him. "They were seen at the Mendel colony, less than a week ago."

"A confirmed sighting?" The Director's eyes began to gleam.

"Yes, Director. Confirmed."

Azrael smiled broadly. "All right, then, Admiral! It's time to get rid of one of the thorns in our side. Start putting out orders to assemble Second Fleet; I want to be at Mendel as soon as possible."

Mendel Colony, Conference Room, July 8th, C.E. 71
"Well," Murrue murmured, "now that we're more or less settled, I suppose it's time to start planning our next move in more detail, hm?"

"Probably," Ken agreed, gazing thoughtfully at a holo display. "We're finally at the point where we can contemplate direct action..."

The two of them, along with Sparky, Andy Waltfeld, Siegel Clyne, and Alicia Cateau constituted the majority of what Kira termed Ken's "Round Table"; an inner circle that did most of the strategic planning, leaving the rest of the group to focus on day to day management of the True ZAFT organization.

Tom Delaney also sometimes attended, as well as Lacus Clyne, and, occasionally, Kira, but Tom usually preferred dealing with the affairs of his own ship, and the maintenance of Preybird, among other things, Preybird; while Lacus helped manage the Eternal, while catching up with her fiancé, Athrun (neither of them paid any attention to Patrick Zala's assertion that they were no longer engaged).

As for Kira... he preferred to go over a transcript later, and discuss any problems he had with the conclusions privately with Murrue or Waltfeld; he knew as well as anyone that, however much he might disagree with how Ken operated, getting into an argument with him during every meeting would be... counterproductive.

Of course, it was only now that serious planning for their operations could even begin; it had taken them over a week to reach Mendel in the first place, and then several days after that to settle in. Murrue hadn't realized before how much effort would be involved just getting dug into a location, but Ken had apparently factored it into his calculations from the beginning.

Probably, she thought, because this isn't the first time he's done it. He had less resources to worry about when setting up at the Eyrie, on the Grimaldi Front, and not even any official support when his people reactivated the Martius Three base... I suppose it helps to have someone with you who's done it all.

Now Ken glanced over at his old exec. "What's Preybird's status, Sparky? She'll be an integral part of whatever operations we set into motion; her status needs to be determined before we get too far ahead of ourselves."

"Repairs were completed yesterday," the big captain replied. "Sorry it took so long, but we never anticipated having to deal with damage from a nuclear weapon; and if you'd been just a little slower trying to evade it, there wouldn't have been enough left to fix."

"There wouldn't have been enough left of me, either," the ace said dryly. "As it was, I was taking anti-radiation drugs for a week." He narrowed his eye. "And the modifications?"

"The right-arm light-wave barrier is ready," Sparky assured him. "The secondary emitters in the wings are good to go, too; though you shouldn't use them any more than you have to. Those bubble emitters burn out a lot faster than the buckler-type units... and if they burn out, so do the DRAGOON units; probably take out a good chunk of the power-receptor surfaces, too."

"Which would be bad," Ken mused. "As it is, I'm not sure if I can retain a charge long enough to reach GENESIS' core..." He shook himself. "And the rest?"

"The second PSA layer is installed; though we're not sure how well it'll work, if something manages to burn through the first layer at all." The bigger man hesitated. "And the... special modifications you ordered are complete, as well."

"Good."

Waltfeld raised an eyebrow. "Special modifications? Something you're not telling us about, Commander?"

"Something like that," Ken said quietly. "Something I'd rather keep in reserve, for the moment. No offense, but what you don't know, you can't spill if you're captured. Remember, this mission has to succeed, no matter what. Any one of us is, in the final analysis, expendable; I'd rather it not come to that, but if it does, we need advantages that the enemy can't learn from captured personnel."

"Cheerful though," Murrue remarked dryly. "And what if you're the one captured? Or did you erase the knowledge from your own mind?"

"If I'm captured, we're in a bad way anyway," he stated flatly. "I've got a couple of backup plans for taking out GENESIS, which I'll leave in the computers of all five ships, but the fact remains that Preybird is our best chance of stopping my monstrous creation."

"And if you are captured?" Clyne said quietly. "What do we do then? Launch a rescue operation?"

"No." Ken glanced around, before finally meeting Murrue's gaze. "If I'm captured... forget about me. I keep a cyanide capsule with me at all times; if I'm captured, I'll take it before they can even think of interrogating me."

Murrue raised an eyebrow. "A cyanide capsule? That sounds like something out of an old spy movie." Then she realized that he was being deadly serious. "Now wait a minute, Ken. You wouldn't really..."

"Yes, I would," he told her, almost in a whisper. "Understand me: in the final analysis, even I'm expendable; if it comes to it, I don't want anyone throwing their lives away in an attempt to bring me back. If I'm captured, do not attempt a rescue mission. That's a direct order."

She closed her eyes. The tough young pilot very rarely exercised the authority that was technically his as commander of their group, but when he did... Though obviously, she thought, he doesn't realize this is one of those times where you shouldn't have given an order because you know it won't be obeyed... Forget it, Ken. You mean more to us than just in terms of numbers and battle strategies...

Not that she intended to tell him that. He had enough of a swelled head as it was.

"I don't think you need to worry about being captured," Cateau put in dryly. "If you'll recall, I was assigned to bring in your machine, but I think the good Director probably views Preybird as being more trouble than it's worth. He'll have shoot-on-sight orders out by now, I'm sure."

"What about nuclear weapons?" Waltfeld said sharply. "Would he use those?"

"Possible, but unlikely; True ZAFT is a thorn in his side, to be sure, but I think right now he's stockpiling the Alliance nukes for an assault against the Coordinator homeland. He might well come after us, but more likely with conventional forces."

Ken snorted. "I suppose that's a relief; but I'd still prefer he not show up here with the entire Earth Alliance orbital fleet."

"That, too, is highly unlikely," she informed him. "One: he has no way of knowing exactly what kind of forces we have at our command; the only ships he would be aware of are Archangel and Kusanagi, and they aren't worth that much. Two: he won't risk leaving the rest of the Alliance sphere unguarded. Ptolemaeus' defenses are powerful, but Headquarters prefers to leave a heavy fleet presence at Lagrange point One, as well, and another fleet in lunar orbit." She shook her head. "No, Commander; Azrael views us as a threat, but Zala's forces are even more of one. I'm sure he'd happily head out here to personally see us off to the afterlife, but he won't bring more force than he needs. He's a businessman; overkill is foreign to his nature."

"Good to have someone with us who can read Azrael's mind," Sparky remarked. "You sure you're not a soothsayer, Alicia?"

Cateau shook her head, with an expression of mock horror. "A soothsayer? Heaven forbid, Captain; all that mealy-mouthed double talk. You know what became of the soothsaying profession, don't you?"

He shook his head. "No..."

"They all became attorneys, of course."

Ken winced. "I don't know which hurts more, Alicia: your sense of humor, or the fact that you're probably close to the mark on that one."

Murrue chuckled appreciatively, then cleared her throat. "So, ah... where do we go from here, Ken? We've been sitting idle long enough; isn't it time to make our presence known?"

He nodded sharply. "It is. Sparky, bring up the Intel report."

Sparky nodded, and tapped commands into the holo display's control panel. Instantly, the view shifted from a large-scale space map to a close-up of a small group of ships. "Here's what we have," he announced. "According to one of our recon satellites, this convoy set out from the L1 fortifications two days ago; we believe it's en route to L3, possibly to resupply the small fortress Eurasia constructed there several months ago, to replace the Artemis base. It consists of three armed fleet colliers, escorted by three Drake-class ships, a pair of Nelsons, and a single Agamemnon. It's a small target, but one suitable for a first target."

Waltfeld nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense; though I take it they're the newer, refit classes? The ones with mobile suit launch decks?" At Sparky's nod, he fingered his walking stick, thinking. "Hmm... a few Strike Daggers might make things interesting, but they shouldn't be much of a problem... What about the station itself?" He pointed at the convoy's destination. "Is there anything aboard it that's worth special attention?"

Ken shrugged. "Not really; it's just as much a backwater as Artemis was, so there's just a small garrison of troops, a couple mobile suit squads, and a few fixed defenses. It does have another light-wave barrier, though, so you can forget attacking it, if that's what you were thinking."

"Wait," Cateau interjected. "That's not as wild an idea as you might think." She looked up at the ace. "Commander, I told you I was involved in the Hyperion project; what most people don't realize is that it is possible to breach a light-wave barrier."

His gaze sharpened with interest. "How?"

She shrugged. "Well, theoretically, there's a couple of different ways; but probably the best under the circumstances would be to tune our weapons to fire through it. It's not easy, but that technique allows a Hyperion to fire while still maintaining its defenses. In this case, if we can get a recon satellite close enough, we can observe their barrier, until we get a feel for the shield frequencies involved. If we do, then..."

Ken nodded slowly. "Then we tune our weapons, go in, and take the place away from them... or just blow them up. Murrue?"

Murrue thought about it for a few moments, before smiling. "I like it. But..." She frowned, a new thought occurring to her. "But Kira won't."

He sighed. "I know that; which is why I'm not going to ask him to get involved. But this is a part of war, Murrue. When you're unsure of exactly what you're capable of, you go after soft targets -like this- before going after the big fish; and say what you will about their relative helplessness, that station is a legitimate military target."

"I think the problem would be the colliers, actually. Their armament is so minimal..." She bit her lip; little though she might like to admit it, she had her own reservations about the idea.

Ken saw that, and sighed inwardly. "Look, Murrue," he said tiredly, "do you think I enjoy this kind of thing? I'm not more fond of killing than Kira, but we really do need a soft target for our first strike. When it comes to this kind of operation, we're green; even I've never been in the raiding business." He met her gaze. "The fact is, though, that even if they were completely unarmed, I'd still go after them. That's been a legitimate military strategy for as long as man has had ships."

Waltfeld nodded agreement. "Commerce raiding," he remarked. "If you can't defeat the enemy by force, defeat him through starvation. That's why privateers have been so popular from time to time."

"We're not privateers," the ace said sharply. "I don't want anyone to start getting into that mind set; because if we do, there's entirely too good a chance that we'll become exactly what Kira worries about. There have been legitimate privateers throughout history, but most of them are nothing but semi-legitimized pirates. We'll go after shipping, but I will not see any atrocities committed under my command."

There was a brief, surprised silence, before Clyne cleared his throat. "Ahem... Commander, I believe your fears in that regard are misplaced."

"Preaching to the choir here, Boss," Sparky concurred. "Lighten up a little, will you? Just because you're worried about the kid's reaction isn't reason to lecture everybody. We know our job, and none of us is the type to go pirate."

Ken blinked, and rubbed his eyepatch. "Right," he said with a sigh. "Sorry. I've just been a little on edge recently..."

"I don't blame you," Murrue said sympathetically. "Though if it's only been recently that you've been 'on edge', then I really have to question your sanity."

"Point," he acknowledged. "Definitely a point." The ace shook himself. "All right; back to business. Alicia, I need everything you can remember about that orbital base."

"Of course, Commander." Cateau leaned forward, pointing at several locations within the hologram. "Once you get past the light-wave barrier, the fixed defenses are concentrated here, here, and here; the master control, however, is right here. Take it out, and you reduce all defense systems to local control, effectively eliminating the chance of concentrated fire against any one of our units." Her finger moved on, almost without conscious thought. "Entry points here and here..."

Mendel Colony, Harbor Observation Room
Looking up at the conference room on another wall of the harbor, Kira slowly shook his head. "Does he ever get tired of planning?" he wondered aloud.

"It's what he lives for," Cagalli opined, her arm casually tucked through his. "He spent so long near the top of ZAFT that he probably enjoys all that Machiavellian scheming; and he's so fanatical about giving his people the best possible chance that I doubt he begrudges anything that would help achieve that."

Kira chuckled. "He's the only one who enjoys that, then; I hear Captain Delaney says those planning sessions are 'stultifyingly boring'."

She snorted. "He's an engineer, what do you expect? He's like Murdoch; if he can't put his hands on it, it doesn't interest him." She glanced at him sidelong. "So, what do you think they're talking about in there? Planning our next move?"

"Probably." He sighed. "Actually... I heard Ken's planning some kind of raid. I don't know much about it, but Shiho said something about intercepting a supply convoy. Also, she thinks Ken might go after the station those supplies are meant for, if he can figure out how to get through its defenses."

Cagalli squeezed his arm. "I know you don't like Ken's 'Shiva Option', Kira," she said quietly. "But Ken really is the expert; don't you think maybe he knows what he's doing?"

"I know that whatever it is, it'll make perfect sense from a purely military standpoint," Kira admitted unwillingly. "But moral? Maybe there's nothing wrong with the operation they're planning now, but it sets a precedent I don't like. We're supposed to be trying to end the war quickly, with as little bloodshed as possible."

"I know, Kira," she said. "But I think Ken would say that 'quickly' and 'bloodlessly' don't usually go together... and frankly, I think he'd be right. Unless we want to use Azrael's kind of tactics, about our only other option would be to try and go after GENESIS right now, and I don't think that'd be a good idea." She shrugged. "And if it helps any, just about every target he hits will be manned by people totally committed to either destroying the PLANTs, or exterminating all Naturals."

"So what are you saying?" he demanded. "That they deserve what they get?"

"No; just that they know the risks, and if they choose to fight, that's their problem, not ours." Cagalli met his gaze. "Kira... do you have any better ideas?"

Kira sighed. "No. No, I don't. I wish I did, but..." He shrugged helplessly. "At least he isn't asking me to participate in these raids."

She smiled. "See? At least you two still understand each other. You may not agree, but at least you understand. Now, come on," she added, lightly punching his arm. "Let's not worry about battles right now, okay? You know what Ken says about war, don't you? War is one percent terror, two percent depression..."

"...And ninety-seven percept boredom," he finished, and smiled back. "You're right; now's the time to be finding something to do, not worrying about how the next battle's gonna go."

Dominion, Bridge, Outside Mendel Colony, July 12th, C.E. 71
"Well, well, well..." Azrael murmured. "Here we are at last. If our intelligence was right, maybe we can finally repay that bastard DiFalco -and those worthless Orb upstarts- for what happened last month. That nuke didn't do the trick, so I'd really like to get rid of that irritant."

Admiral Hamilton nodded. "Agreed. CIC, have you been able to get any readings from the Mendel colony harbor yet?"

"Affirmative, Admiral," the lieutenant manning ECM replied. "Five ships detected; two Archangel-class, one Izumo, and two unidentified vessels. The computer's working on it, but while they appear to be variations on one class, neither vessel seems to be in our catalogue."

Azrael stroked his chin. "Hm. DiFalco's work, I'm sure; I guess he wasn't idle after leaving ZAFT. But three extra ships... that throws off our force estimate some." He glanced at the Dominion's CO. "Admiral? Is it enough to make a difference?"

Hamilton shrugged. "I can't say with any certainty, Director; without knowing what those two unidentified ships are capable of, any estimate would be just that. Add in another Archangel-class, and whatever mobile suit forces the three brought with them..." He shook his head. "It's difficult to be sure, of course, but I doubt five ships will be enough to completely compensate for our force levels. Dominion, along with Second Fleet, should be up to the task."

"Don't underestimate them, Jim," Rear Admiral Charles Kreitzman warned; he flew his flag from the Second Fleet Agamemnon-class flagship, the Independence. "Murrue Ramius was Lewis Halberton's protégé; and whatever our problems with the man, Lewis was no dummy. Add her -and, for that matter, Mu La Flaga- to DiFalco, and you've got a recipe for trouble."

"We're aware of that, Charles," Hamilton said patiently. "But we do have the three new G-weapons we used at Orb, remember; and the results of that battle also prompted us to replace Dominion's Strike Dagger complement with the 105 variant, if you'll remember. I think we can hold our own against any mass-produced they may've brought with them from Orb, or even the PLANTs."

"You may be right," Kreitzman conceded. "But remember something else: we're not the only ones who want DiFalco's organization taken out. If ZAFT should decide to attack at the same time we do..."

The senior admiral raised an eyebrow. "Worried about your son turning up, Charles?"

Kreitzman colored; and not with embarrassment. "Don't call that abomination my son," he hissed. "I have no son."

"I'm glad to hear that," Azrael interjected smoothly. "Now, if we can get back to the matter at hand, gentlemen?"

Hamilton nodded amiably, oblivious -apparently- to Kreitzman visibly reigning in his temper. "Very well, Director. Lieutenant Carlson, target Lohengrin on the harbor's outer wall; let them know they've been spotted." He waited a beat. "Fire."

Archangel, Bridge
By the time Murrue arrived on the Bridge, as stunned as any by the sudden tremor that had shaken the entire colony, the right-hand armrest screen on her chair had already lit up. "What's going on?" Ken demanded, already wearing his flightsuit, in the hangar. "What just happened out there?"

"I don't know yet," she replied honestly. "I just got here myself. Natarle?"

"Positron hit to the harbor's outer wall, Captain," Natarle replied from CIC, looking over Sai's shoulder. "We seem to be under attack; and the weapon's signature reads as..." She straightened, and looked up out of CIC. "That was a Lohengrin, Ma'am."

Murrue closed her eyes. A Lohengrin. To the best of her knowledge -and that of Alicia Cateau, who was more intimately familiar with Earth Alliance policies- only the Archangel-class ships had yet been equipped with Lohengrins; no lesser ship could handle the massive weapons. Except for the Odins, she reminded herself. But the only ship of that class was lost at Heliopolis... and no Odin skipper in her right mind would attack us; not after seeing our force levels.

"Force assessment?" she asked, opening her eyes. "What are we dealing with here?"

"Still checking, Captain."

Her left-hand screen lit up abruptly. "It's an Archangel-class, all right," Andy Waltfeld informed her. "From what we can see out the harbor's exit, there's a single Archangel-class mobile assault ship... and the entire Second Orbital Fleet."

A quiet curse came from Ken's screen. "The entire Second Fleet," he whispered harshly. "Azrael really wants us dead, doesn't he? Hmph; makes me wish I'd taken Gai Murakumo up on his offer, and hired Serpent Tail to help us out."

"No use berating yourself for it now," Waltfeld pointed out. "Before we can start assigning blame or worrying about what we didn't do that we should've, we need to figure out what to do about this situation."

"Agreed," Natarle put in. "Especially considering the fact that, if the Earth Forces could find us, ZAFT can undoubtedly do the same."

"That, Natarle, is a truly ugly thought," Ken said, voice now growing detached. "Especially since, unlike Azrael, ZAFT knows precisely how many ships we have, and what type. They may not know exactly what we've got for mobile suits, but they do have complete schematics for Arkbird -I'm fairly sure I missed at least one copy when I started purging records, back when I deserted- and, after all the encounters they've had with her, they've got a good idea of what Archangel herself can do. Probably the same for the Kusanagi, and of course they built the Eternal in the first place."

Murrue sighed. "So our only potential wildcards are some of our G-weapons and the Asmodeus."

"I wouldn't even count on the Asmodeus," he warned. "She's not that much different from the Archangel. No, Murrue, if ZAFT shows up, they'll be far more ready than Azrael could ever dream of being."

"Right..." She shook herself. "Well, for the moment, our first priority is to get out of the harbor. Which of our ships can launch immediately?"

The main display hanging from the deckhead in front of her chair lit up, splitting into four sections. "We're ready," Kisaka reported, from Kusanagi. "Perhaps not as ready as I'd like, but we can move out at any time."

Waltfeld grimaced. "We still need a little more time, I'm afraid."

"Still got a couple of bugs in the METEOR units," Aisha confirmed from behind him; she was checking displays even as she spoke. "I don't know how much good we'll be in this battle, I'm afraid."

"Understood," Murrue said, with a nod. "But try to expedite."

From her own chair, Lacus nodded. "We will, Captain Ramius."

Sparky had an oddly pinched look on his face, and the tic in his cheek had picked up speed. "We can launch immediately," he said slowly, "but I think perhaps we shouldn't join you right away."

"Sparky's right," Tom concurred. "I think Natarle's correct about ZAFT's chances of finding us, so we should keep a lookout. I know about the odds already facing us," he added, holding up a hand to forestall her protest. "But if we allow ZAFT forces to blind-side us, we could conceivably be in even worse shape."

"I think they're right, Captain," Natarle said unwillingly. "As Falcon said, ZAFT knows our ship strength; at absolute minimum, they'll send an equal number; and I can only think of one person they'd put in command of an operation like that."

"Le Creuset," Murrue murmured. "Very well. Kusanagi, you'll launch right behind us, and stay in formation; Arkbird, Asmodeus, take up picketing positions beyond the immediate battle area, and try to stay out of harm's way as long as possible. Fire only in self-defense, or if it's critical to the survival of one of the other ships."

"Understood, Captain Ramius," Sparky acknowledged, recognizing that right now, Archangel's captain spoke with Ken's authority. As in any fleet, the flag captain was the CO's tactical alter ego.

"Will do," Tom concurred.

Their images winked out, and Murrue looked back to Waltfeld. "Captain Waltfeld, we'll buy you as much time as we can; try and get ready for launch in the meantime. Your weapons could make the difference out there."

"Acknowledged, Captain; and thank you."

His image, too, vanished, and she looked toward the bow of the Bridge. "Take us out, Arnold, maximum thrust. Sai, sound Battlestations."

"Aye aye." Sai hit a control, switching to an all-hands band. "All hands to Level One Battlestations," he called. "All hands to Level One Battlestations. All hands to Level one Battlestations."

General Quarters alarms began to blare... and then Flay spoke up, almost hesitantly. "Captain... the lead enemy ship is hailing us."

Lips grimly pressed together in a thin line, Murrue nodded. "Put it on," she ordered. "Let's see what they have to say."

She was not at all surprised when Muruta Azrael appeared on the main monitor a moment later. "Well, well," the Director murmured. "Lieutenant Commander Murrue Ramius, isn't it? Or I guess that would be Captain, now; that's usually what pirates call themselves, when they're in charge."

Murrue's eyes flashed. "It's Captain," she confirmed flatly. "But we're no pirates, Director Azrael."

"Oh, so you know who I am? I'm impressed, Captain; and that should simplify things a little." He nodded respectfully. "Just as in the business world, on the battlefield it's important to know who and what you're dealing with."

"Just get to the point, Azrael," she snapped, patience already exhausted. "Why both contacting us in the first place? Don't tell me there's any chance you won't kill us all."

"Actually," Azrael demurred, "there is one circumstance under which I won't order these ships to reduce your little fleet to space dust. All you have to do is surrender Commander DiFalco and his machine to us; obviously, we still won't let you go, but at least a prison sentence is better than execution, wouldn't you say?"

Murrue glared at him. "If you think we're going to betray him just to satisfy scum like you, Director, you're wrong. And quite frankly, I'll take pleasure in making sure you don't get out of this alive."

The Director shook his head sadly. "Well, I did give you your chance to live, Captain; don't say I never tried negotiation. But now you leave me no choice... and if you think your five ships can win against both Dominion and the entire Second Fleet, along with our mobile suits, you're dead wrong." He chuckled. "I think you just don't appreciate the odds you're facing, Captain."

"You're the one in the weaker position here, Director," Alicia Cateau commented, entering the camera's view, "whether you know it or not. Numbers aren't the only thing that matters... unless you actually were stupid enough to bring nuclear weapons with you?"

Azrael's expression darkened; first at the sight of the traitorous pilot, then at her words. "I don't need nukes to deal with you rabble," he said harshly. "Admiral Hamilton, launch mobile suits immediately! Our target is the so-called True ZAFT fleet!"

"Yes, Director," another voice acknowledged from off-screen. "Launch Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider; then deploy the 105 Daggers. Commence operations immediately."

The signal abruptly cut off, and Cateau sucked in a breath. "105 Daggers," she breathed. "That's not good, not good at all."

Natarle looked up from CIC. "What is it? What are '105 Daggers'?"

"They're what the Strike Daggers were supposed to be," Cateau replied. "Mass-produced versions of the Strike. The original Daggers were rush-jobs, inferior models built simply because they could be produced faster. A 105 Dagger is something else: equipped with more powerful weapons, Striker pack capability, and laminated armor, they're very durable, and very dangerous. I hadn't realized they'd even produced any yet."

"That does not strike me as a good thing," Ken remarked; Murrue had forgotten his link was still open. "Any other nasty surprises, Alicia?"

"Unfortunately, yes; I've heard rumors they were going to equip some of the models with Trans-phase armor, for use by ace pilots. On the bright side, though," she added, "Morgan Chevalier seems to have vanished, so at least we won't have to worry about him."

"What's so special about the Moonlight Mad Dog?"

"He's like you and Commander La Flaga," Cateau replied. "He can use wired gunbarrels."

There was a brief pause. "Oh. Yes, I can see why that would be a problem." On Murrue's screen, the ace shrugged. "Well, that's not our concern right now. I'm about to launch. DiFalco, out."

Archangel, Hangar
"Here we go, Kira," Ken called, moving to Archangel's port catapult. "I guess it's time to show Azrael the error of his ways."

"Yeah," Kira agreed quietly, as Freedom moved to the starboard flight deck. "No matter where we go, there's always another battle..."

"I know, Kira," the ace said, not unsympathetically. "Look, I know you don't like the idea... but I'm afraid there's no doubt that we're going to have to destroy virtually the entire Second Fleet. I know how you're going to react to that, but-"

"No, you don't," the younger pilot interrupted. "You're right, Ken; I don't like it. But this isn't like your vengeance attack on the Fourth Naval Fleet. This isn't something like those raids you keep talking about. This is about survival, and even I'll agree that in a situation like this, it's them or us."

"And personally," Athrun put in from the Justice, "I choose us."

"Agreed," Sophia muttered, activating her Hyperion. "But I gotta say," she went on, "that acting on that choice will be easier than it might be; Azrael's being an idiot, and he doesn't even realize it. Does he have any idea what he's dealing with?"

Yzak, bringing up Duel's systems, snorted. "What do you expect? He's just a Natural, after all."

"Yzak," Dearka warned, "watch your mouth."

Another snort. "Oh, right, I forget; your new girlfriend's a Natural. Forget I said anything."

"Yzak-!"

Ken closed his eyes. Oh, for the days when I flew with a team that didn't squabble this much... Even as the thought struck him, Preybird's feet made solid contact with the catapult launch system, cutting off his introspective. "Bridge, this is DiFalco," he called. "Connected to catapult."

"Roger that, Preybird," Mir responded. "Ready when you are."

"Grimaldi Falcon, Preybird, launching."

Hot on the heels of the sleek, lethal machine's launch, Kira's Freedom got into position. "Kira Yamato, Freedom, let's do it!"

"Hyper," Dearka muttered to himself. "Way too hyper..." His heavily-modified Buster, now with the large zweihander sword connected to one side of the salvaged Raptor weapon/thruster pack, took Preybird's place in the launch queue. "Bridge, this is Buster. I'm ready to go."

"Roger that, Buster." Mir hesitated a moment. "And... be careful out there, Dearka, okay? Don't get yourself killed. I..." Another, longer hesitation. "I don't want you to try and be a hero, like Tolle did..."

He blinked in surprise at her words, and suppressed his urge to make a flippant reply. "Don't worry," he said instead. "I'm coming back... I promise."

In the starboard catapult, Yzak snorted in disgust. Ugh! Those two are even worse than the Captain and Commander DiFalco. Just what is it with this crew these days, anyway? Too irritable to bother with formalities, he simply triggered his own launch sequence, and departed the ship.

His actions didn't go unnoticed by Mir. "Um... I don't think he was supposed to do that..."

Dearka laughed. "Well, that's Yzak for you. Anyway, do I have clearance to launch?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Go ahead, Buster."

After the departure of the last two original G-weapons to have made it this far without even major rebuilding, Justice and Strike Rouge took their places in the launch decks. "Well," Athrun said, almost to himself, "at least everybody seems comfortable with each other now."

"If that was comfortable, I don't want to see Yzak being uncomfortable with someone," Cagalli retorted, and then sobered. "But you're right; and it's a good thing, too. The situation we're in... We just can't afford personality conflicts now. If we start to squabble..."

"We must hang together, or surely we shall all hang separately," Athrun said dryly. "That's what the Commander said, when I mentioned it." He shook his head. "Either he's a big fan of Ben Franklin, or he's a really gloomy guy. I haven't decided which yet."

"I say he's gloomy," she said after a moment's thought, and keyed her link with the Bridge. "Cagalli Yula Athha here. Strike Rouge, launching!"

Muttering to himself in agreement, Athrun departed the ship as well. Gloomy, yeah... but if that keeps us alive, I guess I can't complain...

Strike and Hyperion were the last into the catapults. "Just you and me now, huh?" Mu remarked. "It's about time we launched."

"Yeah," Sophia agreed. "You know, I'm beginning to think that the Archangel's biggest weakness is only having two catapults. By the time we deploy, Falcon and the others will probably already be engaged with the enemy."

"Well, then, let's hurry up," the Hawk suggested. "Can't let them have all the fun!"

Dominion, Bridge
"Well, well," Azrael murmured. "It looks like this could be more interesting than I'd anticipated. I guess Commander DiFalco managed to pick up some more mobile suits, as well. Well, at least we won't be bored, eh, Admiral?"

"So it appears," Hamilton agreed, watched the Archangel disgorge eight X-model machines, while Kusanagi deployed a dozen Astrays. "On the other hand, they only seem to be sending out two ships; where are the other three? CIC?"

"We've picked up two of the others, Admiral," came the reply. "They appear to be on the periphery of the combat area; it looks like they're acting as pickets, Sir."

"Probably worried about ZAFT intervention," the admiral murmured. "The one silver lining to dealing with DiFalco is the knowledge that ZAFT wants him dead every bit as much as we do... All right, put me through to Admiral Kreitzman."

"Yes, Sir."

"You called, Jim?" Kreitzman said a moment later.

"Yes, Charles. Begin deployment of the mobile suits at once; all of them." Hamilton smiled thinly. "It seems we underestimated the forces DiFalco had at his command, so we'll need all the firepower we can muster ourselves."

"Understood. What about the ships themselves?"

"We'll ignore the two more distant vessels for now," the admiral said thoughtfully. "If they're so worried about ZAFT, we might as well let the space monsters have them, if they show up; that will mean less trouble for us. We can also leave the fifth ship alone for now. If it's still in the harbor, we can deal with it at our leisure. As for the two currently approaching... Dominion will have to handle the Archangel; no other ship in the Fleet has the firepower to deal with it. You and the rest of Second Fleet can take the Izumo."

Kreitzman nodded. "All right, Jim; we'll take the Orb ship. But I hope you don't mind my saying I wish we'd brought Castor along!"

"Believe me, Admiral Kreitzman," Azrael interjected dryly, "if I'd realized how large DiFalco's private fleet had become, Vice Admiral Truman wouldn't be the only reinforcements we'd have. Frankly, I think we should've brought Sixth Fleet with us, too; but there's no time for regrets now."

"Agreed. That can wait until after we've dealt with the situation. Kreitzman, out."

Outside Mendel Colony
"For what it's worth, we now have an ID on that Archangel-class," Sai informed Ken. "According to IFF data, she's the Dominion; and she's launching mobile suits. The three from Orb, as well as five 105 Daggers."

"Understood," the ace acknowledged, directing his Preybird toward the enemy fleet. "What about Second Fleet? What's their status?"

"They're launching mobile suits as well; basic Strike Daggers only, though."

"Good." Ken switched to an all-hands frequency. "All pilots, this is DiFalco. Astray team, focus your attacks on the Strike Daggers; Mu, you, Sophia, Yzak, and Dearka go after the 105 Daggers, and the Second Fleet. Kusanagi, I want you to hang back as much as possible, providing fire support when needed. When you do have to fight, concentrate your fire on the Dominion. Sink her, and the rest will be a cakewalk." He smiled slightly. "Murrue, I'm guessing I don't need to tell you who to go after."

"No," Murrue replied dryly, "you don't; I can read you like a book, Ken. We'll keep Dominion off you as long as we can."

"Gracias." He glanced at the Freedom and Justice; the two units stuck close, flaking his own Preybird. "Kira, Athrun, let's find those GAT-series machines, and let them know they're not welcome here."

"Roger that," Kira answered with a nod.

"Understood, Commander," Athrun agreed.

The deployment of enemy units was already evident long before they reached the rapidly-advancing Earth Forces fleet. Literally dozens of Strike Daggers streaked toward them, accompanied by a small number of 105 Daggers... and behind them, Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider.

Ken cursed to himself, seeing the incoming forces. He knew he could survive it, but not even Preybird would allow him to blaze right through them. "Kira, Athrun, get those three; I'll stick around to handle the rabble."

"Got it, Ken," Kira replied. "Take care of yourself; we can't afford to lose you now... not with GENESIS out there somewhere."

Freedom streaked on ahead, Justice at its side, and left a confused Ken behind it. Well, at least he agrees we me about GENESIS... but he didn't even try and tell me not to kill anyone. That's... odd. On the other hand, even he admitted we're going to have to kill people today...

Further thoughts were chopped off by the arrival of the first Strike Daggers. There were five of them, in tight formation, and all of them spitting emerald death... but they were mere mass-produced, rush-job cannon fodder, as far as Ken DiFalco was concerned.

Both Preybird's beam rifles came up, and they fired as one, sending two bright green streaks into the first Dagger. Though slightly ablated by the machine's shield, the beams were only nicked by the anti-beam defense, with the main energy discharge continuing on, shattering armor as though it were tissue paper. First the head disappeared into molten metal, and then the cockpit followed, hatch melted and blown to splinters, pilot vaporized before he knew he was dead.

Even as the Alliance pilot died, Ken was spinning to engage the next target... only to see it ripped apart by rapid-fire beams. "Hey there, brother," Sophia called. "Need some help?"

"Need? ..No. Appreciate?" Ken smiled slightly. "Yes."

"Good, 'cause there's no way I'm letting you have all the fun." Hyperion flipped upside-down relative to Preybird, and ripped off another burst from its beam submachine gun, tearing a Dagger to pieces.

"Well, so much for that," the ace muttered, and flung Preybird back into motion. Without taking the time to analyze his next target, he opened fire... and was surprised to see the emerald darts splash harmlessly against the enemy machine's armor, achieving absolutely nothing. "What the-"

"105 Dagger," Sophia said through gritted teeth; as she spoke, Hyperion's free hand drew a beam knife, and jabbed it into a Strike Dagger's cockpit. "Laminated armor, remember?"

Ken cursed; at himself, this time. "Right, I knew that. Leave this one to me, Sophia; you don't have the weapons to take it on."

"I could always tear it limb from limb," she offered.

He smiled; again, slightly. "Maybe you could; but I feel like exercising my blade anyway. Just keep those pipsqueak Strike Daggers off me." Without waiting for a reply, he stowed both rifles... and drew his Gerbera Straight. "En garde!"

Vesalius, Bridge
Behind his mask, Rau Le Creuset raised an eyebrow, viewing the battle unfolding at Mendel. "Well," he murmured, "it appears we're not the only ones interested in Falcon's group today."

"Indeed," Fredrik Ades agreed. "It looks like the Earth Forces got here first, Commander."

Vesalius and her consorts had arrived at Mendel from a different vector, overtaking the colony from behind instead of assaulting the front, as the Earth Forces were doing. Intended as a way of sneaking up on DiFalco's people, it also served to keep them out of detection range of the distracted Earth Forces fleet, while they observed the unfolding drama.

"Well," Le Creuset said presently, "this certainly changes things. It does confirm that Falcon is indeed here, but it also changes the tactical situation some. I'd anticipated that the Eternal and her consorts would end up rendezvousing with the legged ship, but this attack by the Earth Forces was... unanticipated." He glanced at his flag captain. "I don't know about you, Ades, but I think this turn of events has removed the notion of a frontal assault from the equation."

"Agreed." Ades frowned. "So now what, Commander? Do we wait until they've chewed each other up, then attack the survivors?"

The masked commander frowned, deep in thought. "No," he said at last, "I don't think so. We'll leave the ships here, certainly, but I think Commander Huckebein and I will launch on a recon sortie into Mendel itself. If we can find our primary objective before the attack, then so much the better..."

"But, Sir," the other man protested, "should you be risking yourself like that?"

Le Creuset waved a hand. "Oh, don't worry, Ades; I'll be fine. Besides, we need to know exactly what we're up against, and where to find it." He chuckled softly. "The Mendel colony... if all goes well, we should be able to bring a number of matters to a close..." He steepled his fingers in thought. "Get me the Nacht Jaeger."

Within moments, the similarly-masked face of his young colleague appeared on his screen. "You called, Commander Le Creuset?"

"Yes, Commander Huckebein. I take it you've noticed the battle currently taking place here?"

Victor Tempest snorted. "Hard to miss. What of it? Surely you're not suggesting we try to get in the middle of that; or do you have a death wish?"

You're one to talk, Le Creuset thought idly. "No," he said aloud, "I see no reason to attempt something so rash. Actually, what I have in mind is a reconnaissance mission into Mendel itself, perhaps via the unused harbor on our side of the colony."

Huckebein cocked his head. "Just the two of us?"

"I see no reason to involve anyone else at this point," Rau explained. "So, what say you?"

The younger man nodded sharply. "Agreed. I'll prep my machine at once, and meet you outside."

"Be careful," Le Creuset cautioned. "We're likely to run into Falcon's Preybird before this mission is done; and you know there's evidence his people tampered the with Freedom's design, making certain it couldn't become a threat to his unit."

"That didn't escape my notice," Huckebein said dryly. "But it doesn't matter; my machine isn't quite the same as the original, anyway... and the weapons loadout is much more suitable for fighting Falcon. I'll be fine."

"Very well, then. I'll meet you outside the Mendel colony in a few minutes."

Nacht Jaeger, Hangar
Within the cockpit of the mobile suit he'd dubbed ZGMF-X10A Freedom Mk. II, Victor Tempest smiled to himself. The Mendel colony... the place where everything began, for me, for Le Creuset... even for Falcon and his protégé. How much does Rau know, I wonder? Does he realize that Freedom's pilot is that Kira Yamato? Does he understand how many destinies began here? Does even he realize the whole truth of that which created him?

He chuckled to himself. Well, it doesn't really matter. I don't care what Rau Le Creuset does or doesn't know; all I care about it making sure Falcon knows the truth. He has to know what's really going on, and why... he has to know why I betrayed him, at the Grimaldi Front.

Of course, it was entirely possible his old commander already knew some of it; Huckebein wasn't absolutely certain, but he thought Sophia DiFalco had recovered Metzinger's files. Whether or not she'd managed to decrypt all of them, even after all this time, was open to question... as was whether or not she'd ever chosen to share her knowledge with her brother.

Probabilities, possibilities... where Fate takes us from here is anyone's guess... A twinge of pain struck him, and he quickly downed a pair of pills from a container he carried; like his old boss, he had his weaknesses... But what really matters, he thought, as the pain began to subside, is that soon, one way or another, it will all be over. Soon... Falcon will kill me. I'll make sure he sees to it that no one can bring me back this time... and from then on, they won't be able to use my madness as a tool against my friend.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Tempest pulled his helmet on, and keyed his radio. "Bridge, this is Huckebein; I'm heading out."

Outside Mendel Colony
The first 105 Dagger was completely unprepared for the massive, incredibly-keen sword that swung at it. Before the pilot could react, Preybird's Gerbera Straight bit into the Dagger's right shoulder, ripping through armor, hydraulics, and power distribution systems, resulting in the explosive loss of the entire limb.

To the Dagger pilot's surprise, though, Preybird immediately broke off its attack, whirling away with unprecedented smoothness to attack the next target. "What... but... why?"

Ken didn't bother to look back. "I won't kill the helpless," he said coldly. "Even if they're the sort of scum who would willingly work for the Earth Forces. Go back to your ship, and you don't have to die."

The Dagger pilot would've loved to disagree with the notion that he was helpless, but with his right arm -and beam rifle- gone, all he had left was his CIWS and a single beam saber... neither of which would do him any good at all against that demonic machine.

So, reluctantly, he did the sensible thing: he turned, and jetted back to the Dominion.

Kira, glancing back, watched in astonishment as the crippled but intact machine limped back to the fleet. It was the first time he'd ever seen his mentor deliberately leave an Earth Forces pilot alive; and it seemed to out of character he almost wondered if someone else was flying Preybird. I guess there are some lines even he doesn't cross, he thought to himself. Now, if only he'd give up the idea of blowing up fleets in job lots...

Then a plasma blast streaked toward him, and there was no more time for such musings. "There you are," Shani Andras murmured. "I've got you now!"

"Yeah!" Orga Sabnak agreed, bringing the full might of his Calamity's firepower to bear. "Let's get him!"

"I think we've got a problem, Kira," Athrun called, drawing his beam sabers and connecting the hilts. "It's them again."

"I know," Kira acknowledged. "And there's another problem: I don't see the Raider anywhere. Who knows what it's doing." He raised his rifle. "But we can still do this. Ken?"

"I'm a little busy right now," the ace answered, dodging to the right of a hyper-impulse blast. "The other 105 Daggers have Striker packs; I'm gonna be occupied for a few minutes."

"Roger that." Kira looked over at the Justice. "I guess it's up to us right now, Athrun."

"We haven't yet faced anything we couldn't handle," his friend told him. "We won't be defeated today, either. Not by these guys, anyway!" Shield in one hand, beam staff in the other, Justice streaked forward, straight at Forbidden.

Freedom's pilot nodded agreement, and charged Calamity. His beam rifle spat emerald darts, several of which missed; but one scored on the blue machine's right arm, melting a gash where a human's biceps would be.

Orga cursed, noting immediately the degradation in the arm's performance as control runs were vaporized and hydraulic lines damaged. "You little bastard!" he shouted in rage. "You'll pay for that!" His own primary weapon, the plasma-sabot bazooka, fired off a three-round burst, forcing Kira to interpose his shield.

Nearby, Athrun parried a slash from Forbidden's scythe; and saw, out of the corner of his eye, Preybird slash a 105 Dagger in half... and then pause uncertainly, before dashing away, back toward the Mendel colony. "Hey, Commander!" he called. "Where are you going?"

"I have urgent business elsewhere," Ken replied, increasing speed. "The Earth Forces are not the only threat here today. You two continue without me."

"Roger that, Ken," Kira responded, before Athrun could. He didn't know what was going on, but he trusted his mentor's judgment enough to know that if he said it was urgent, it was.

Even as Kira and Athrun fought against Calamity and Forbidden, Mu and Dearka tangled with the Strike Daggers, while firing the occasional potshot at Second Fleet warships. "Well, isn't this just great," Dearka muttered, swinging Buster's enormous zweihander. "We're outnumbered by, what, ten to one?" The weapon encountered a moment's resistance within the Dagger, then tore out the other side, leaving two sparking, lifeless halves to drift through space. "Just once I'd like to face the enemy on even terms."

"Yeah," Mu agreed, using the multiple wired gunbarrels of his Striker pack to target a Drake-class escort ship. "Can't say I like the odds, either; and I've been dealing with long odds even longer than you have. At least when you were chasing us you had numerical superiority." The four remote energy weapons zeroed in on the Drake's Bridge, fired four precisely-targeted beams, and retreated... while the unlucky ship's Bridge vanished, and the entire vessel vanished in a ball of fire, jagged metals fragments spewing everywhere.

Yzak flashed past then, firing all his assault shroud's weapons at once and turning a Strike Dagger from an efficient weapon of war into jagged fragments. "They're still no match for us," he asserted, boosting away again. "They're just Earth Forces garbage."

"Don't underestimate them just because they're Naturals," Mu warned him. "If Morgan Chevalier or Ed Harrelson were here, we'd be in bigger trouble."

"Ahh, forget it," Duel's pilot grumbled. "They aren't here, so we've got nothing to worry about."

Dearka shook his head. "Same old Yzak..."

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of..." Mu cartwheeled the Strike to one side, and put an emerald beam through another Strike Dagger. "The kid's- Wait; what, the..." An unpleasantly-familiar feeling grew in his mind, and he cursed inwardly, realizing now why the Preybird had suddenly taken off for the colony itself. "That feeling... is he here?"

Dearka blinked in surprise, seeing the Strike suddenly reel in its gunbarrels, and rush off toward Mendel. "Hey, pops! Where do you think you're going?"

"Don't call me pops!" Mu snapped back. "We've got ZAFT forces here!"

The younger pilot winced. He'd had to fight ZAFT only once since joining the Archangel's crew, and that was at Alaska, where shooting them down was the best thing he could do for them. I'd rather not do it again, he thought, but... I made my choice, and I'm sticking with it to the end...

"Wait up," he called. "I'll go with-"

A burst of machine gun fire cut him, and maniacal laughter came over the radio. "Now I've gotcha!" Clotho Buer shouted. "Terminate!"

Dearka cursed. "Go," he told Mu. "I'll hold this guy off."

"Thanks," the Hawk acknowledged, not even bothering to look back. "I owe you."

"I'll be sure to collect," Dearka muttered, and raised his guns. "Come and get me!"

Archangel, Bridge
"Target Gottfrieds on the Drake at fifteen mark twenty-two," Natarle ordered. "Fire!"

At her command, Romero Pal triggered the ship's massive energy cannons, shattering the target's side armor like an egg shell, triggering a chain reaction that ripped it apart. Flying debris and the sheer explosive power also had an unexpected result, tearing a neighboring Nelson to shreds.

"What about the Dominion?" Murrue asked. "Where is she?"

"She seems to be hanging back for now, Ma'am," Sai answered. "The Second Fleet is acting as screen for both Dominion and the Agamemnon-class flagship, the Independence."

"Azrael must not want to risk his own hide just yet," Cateau said in disgust. "Commander DiFalco's final attack back at Orb must've scared the man out of his wits." She snorted. "Coward."

"Yes..." Murrue frowned. "Speaking of Ken, where is he? I haven't seen the sort of violence that usually accompanies his attacks against the Earth Forces..."

As if on cue, the main screen lit up with Waltfeld and Lacus. "Hey," the Desert Tiger called, "what's going on? The Strike and Preybird just shot through here; where are they going? Commander La Flaga said something about ZAFT forces..."

She felt a chill. "It's Le Creuset," she murmured, almost to herself. "Ken and Mu... they can feel him, when he's nearby. They don't know how... but that must be how they knew there were ZAFT forces here. They've gone to intercept Le Creuset."

Lacus winced. "That's not good," she said in a low voice. "If Le Creuset is here, after us, Victor Tempest is probably here as well... and that man is one of the few who can make Commander DiFalco lose his temper. If that happens..."

Murrue nodded unhappily. "I know. But... there's nothing we can do for them right now."

"Concur, Captain," Natarle said tightly. "If ZAFT is here, they're clear on the other side of the colony, and I don't think we can spare anything from fighting the Earth Forces."

"Yes..." The captain shook herself. "Continue the mission; we have no other choice. The only way we can help them is to first drive off the Second Fleet." Be careful out there, Ken, she added silently. Don't let them get the better of you; we still need you...

Author's note: Briefly a sanctuary, the Mendel colony has become a battleground. Now ZAFT forces have drawn away two of True ZAFT's units, and the are about to learn the truth of the past...

My sincerest apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I attempted to update Saturday night -yes, it was going to be a day late anyway, but that's because of sheer length- but for the past two nights, I've been unable to upload anything. Now that everything seems to be working properly again, though, it shouldn't happen again.

I hope this is better than the last chapter; in retrospect, I realize it was a little dull. Necessary for set-up, but dull. I suppose the beginning of this chapter may be, as well, but I hope the battle makes up for it. And the next chapter will be anything but dull, I assure you. -Solid Shark