AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so some content from the previous Chapter 1 dealing with Junius 7 has been moved here, but the rest is mostly unchanged. As before, the story picks up with the Junius Seven drop operation and is a little closer to its animated equivalent, paralleling Phases 5-6.

PHASE 02: Those Who Call for War

February 14th
United Orb Emirates
Kaguya Mass Driver/Spaceport

The Kaguya Mass Driver - destroyed in CE 71 - had been painstakingly rebuilt in the years since the war's end. Today, for the first time, the spaceport was operational again, and a shuttle stood poised on the launch ramp, waiting to take off. Although a sizable crowd stood around the ramp, only a few people were boarding.

The first was Johan Lindemann of the Kingdom of Scandinavia, followed by Setiawan Patel of the Equatorial Union. The elderly Lindemann had achieved renown as one of the architects of the Treaty of Junius Seven, which had ended the Bloody Valentine War two and a half years earlier.

The third was Vice-President Brennan Marshall of the Eurasian Federation, a handsome ex-military man in his late thirties. President Baum himself would normally attend, but discussions with President Copeland, his opposite number in the Atlantic Federation, had required his attention.
The Eurasian Federation under the Baum administration had progressed significantly in recent years, both in terms of addressing the damage caused by the war - in particular the massive power crisis that had gripped the nation in the wake of ZAFT's Operation Uroboros, which had dropped the Neutron Jammers, eliminating the use of nuclear power plants that were the primary source of energy at the time - and with regards to freeing itself from the political and ideological grip of Blue Cosmos.

Walking next to Marshall was a young woman wearing a maroon jacket and suit pants over a white blouse. The dark-gold trim around the jacket's collar identified her as the Chief Representative of the United Orb Emirates, and her blonde hair and golden eyes made Cagalli Yula Athha fairly easy to recognize.

Cagalli was speaking with Marshall, a man she got along well with, but she remained preoccupied. The reason for the gathering of so many disparate officials was a simple, if grim one. They were a Memorial Delegation whose intent was to visit the ruins, in orbit in the Debris Belt, of Junius Seven, and pay their respects to the 243,721 innocent civilians who had died there; the Bloody Valentine Tragedy, a massacre that had sparked a bloody, world-wide war when an Atlantic Federation carrier had fired a one-megaton nuclear warhead at the colony, obliterating it and killing its entire population.

Since then, the PLANTs had sent a memorial delegation to the site every year. In CE 73 the newly-elected President Baum, in an unprecedented gesture, had offered to host a joint memorial delegation composed of representatives from all nations of Earth. Unsurprisingly the Atlantic Federation had declined, as had the Republic of East Asia. Both governments remained strongly anti-Coordinator in stance, having not mirrored Eurasia's more tolerant stance and move towards moderation and cooperation with their neighbors in space.

This year, for the first time Orb was hosting the memorial delegation - it had been Cagalli's idea that the PLANTs, Eurasia, and Orb take it in turn year after year to host the delegation. The shuttle would launch and make a short stop at Orb's geosynchronous battle station Ame-no-Mihashira, where it would pick up a small escort of mobile suits led by Alex Dino, Cagalli's bodyguard and a Major in Orb's Defense Forces. Originally designed as part of an orbital elevator, construction had halted at the outbreak of the Bloody Valentine War, and the incomplete station had been converted into a military fortress, which housed Orb's small but efficient space fleet.

Cagalli thought of Alex and almost smiled when she thought of what he'd say about her attire. 'Probably he would say that I should've worn a dress.' she mused.

It occurred to her, as it usually did, that Alex had insisted on accompanying her every year that the memorial delegation went to the site. He never gave a real reason beyond it being his job as a bodyguard, but Cagalli she thought she knew better; beyond concern for her own safety, he had deeply personal reasons for wanting to go, having himself lost family in the Bloody Valentine.

But this was not what preoccupied her at the moment. She was much more concerned about Orb's own fragile political situation; In the wake of the nation's invasion by the Earth Alliance, many of its residents had fled to the PLANTs. Of those immigrants, large numbers had since returned, but many had not and instead had found work in their new home, some of them in technological and military fields.
As a result, the Atlantic Federation was accusing Orb of illegally providing military aid to the PLANTs.

As she thought of this, she glanced back at the final member of the delegation: PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durendal. A tall, darkly handsome man of thirty-five with a background in genetic engineering, Durendal belonged to the same party as the late Siegel Clyne, and had publicly promised to uphold the late Chairman Clyne's ideals.

Nonetheless, he had also spearheaded a recent overhaul of ZAFT, the PLANTs' militia, under the New Millennium Project. She wondered what he would say if she were to raise her concerns.
'Perhaps I'll see about speaking to him after the memorial ceremony' Cagalli thought as she walked up the gangway into her personal shuttle.

She seated herself near the front, and glanced out the window at the people gathered below.
She soon spotted Unato Ema Seiran, who had replaced her uncle Homura as Prime Minister, and his son Yuna Roma, like his father one of the senior members of the Council of Emirs. The Seirans were one of Orb's noble families, and strongly supportive of the Atlantic Federation.

Privately, Cagalli suspected they had ties to Blue Cosmos, but these suspicions were her own and she had no evidence.

The two of them, she was pleased to see, looked uncomfortable next to the taller figure of Rondo Mina Sahaku, who was the leader of Orb's military and had significant influence in the nation's government. While the Sahaku family had been an enemy of her father's, Mina had surprised Cagalli by turning out to be an invaluable ally whose loyalty was without question.

The group left, and soon afterwards the shuttle began its takeoff.

Earth Orbit
Observation satellite Gagarin-II

One of the only facilities maintained by the PLANTs in Earth orbit was an enormous satellite that had once served as a staging point for ZAFT's invasion fleets during Operation Uroboros. Now, its purpose was primarily as a long-range space observation satellite.

"What?" said one of the satellite's operation managers. "That can't be right!" The operator to whom he was speaking nodded.

-"I thought so too, but I checked it several times; look, this is the latest scan; this is from two hours ago. And this is every scan of the orbit since 73. It's definitely decayed, and it's continuing to do so."

-"But that's impossible; Junius Seven is supposed to be fixed in a stable orbit. If it's decayed...We have to contact the PLANTs, right away."

When the news of Junius Seven's orbit decay reached the PLANTs, the reaction was panic. In Durendal's absence, Louise Leitner and Ali Kasim, the Legislative and Judicial leaders of the PLANT government, took charge. "Something has to be done; This is a serious situation." Said the former.

-"How can we be sure of this information?" asked the more cautious Kasim.

-"The Gagarin-II observatory has verified this information." Said a third voice, its tone terse. "I have asked our own observation facilities at Aprilius, and they have confirmed Gagarin-II's report."

The speaker was Ezalia Joule, once a member of the National Defense Committee and the strongest supporter of the late Patrick Zala. A specialist in aeronautical engineering, she and her son Yzak had both been arrested following the end of the Bloody Valentine War and prosecuted. In a controversial decision, both were pardoned by Gilbert Durendal following his election along with a few others, and Ezalia was subsequently reelected to the Supreme Council as chairwoman of the National Defense Committee.
"We can therefore confirm they are without doubt correct." Ezalia continued. "Which begs the question of how this happened?"

-"Ultimately, we must contact Chairman Durendal. The memorial delegation has to be warned." answered Kasim. "I also think that the people need to be advised." He added.

-"The nations of Earth have to be warned as well." Eileen Canaver, the chairwoman of the Diplomatic Committee, interrupted, with a sidelong glance at Ezalia. The two women, it was well-known, did not like each other, and even after four years Canaver remained suspicious of her colleague's motives. "We need to send messages to their governments advising them of the situation. Inform them that the PLANTs will take every measure possible to avert the worst-case scenario. Of course, we also need to decide what steps should be taken to prevent the fall of Junius Seven to Earth."

-"Destroy it." Ezalia said flatly, causing general consternation. "Unfortunately there is no other option. We can't stop its motion or reverse it, it's far too large."

There were a few moments' silence, then a dull murmur of assent.
"Very well. The Voltaire and Rousseau are currently stationed in Earth orbit," Ezalia continued. "I will make arrangements for them to pick up the necessary equipment and dispatch them to the site along with a couple of additional vessels for support."

-"Aren't those your son's ships, Chairwoman Joule?" Leitner asked pointedly.

-"They are, Chairwoman Leitner." Ezalia acknowledged. "Or rather, they were commanded by Yzak prior to his recent reassignment. More to the point however, they are widely considered to be the best we have. I will also contact the Minerva in the Debris Belt and have them lend their own assistance, as well as take steps to attempt to contact Chairman Durendal."

-"Good." Canaver replied. "For my part, I will draft and send messages to the governments of the Atlantic and Eurasian Federations, as well as the other nations."

Soon afterwards, the Council adjourned. Returning to her offices, Ezalia immediately set about attempting to contact Durendal in Orb, hoping to catch them before the shuttle took off. It took time, and when she finally reached someone at Kaguya's spaceport she was dismayed to learn it was too late: the shuttle had already taken off.

Swearing under her breath, she immediately issued orders to make the appropriate arrangements for the destruction of Junius Seven itself.

She knew that the Minerva, which had recently launched from Armory One for a shakedown cruise before its formal commissioning, was in the Debris Belt. And her next move was to contact them directly and relay the news to them. Predictably, its commander reacted with equal parts anger and shock.

"What the hell?! How is that even possible?" Yzak asked angrily.

-"That, we don't know." Ezalia replied. "All we do know is that it is moving. And not only is it moving quite rapidly, its trajectory represents a worst-case scenario."

-"It's falling to Earth." Yzak replied somberly, and Ezalia nodded.

-"The Hahnenfuss and Hawkins Teams are picking up Meteor Breakers and are en route to Junius Seven with orders to destroy it before it falls." She continued. "I know that the Minerva's own forces are limited, but your orders are two-fold: First, you will link up with them and assist in the operation as much as possible."

"Second, and more important is this: The Junius Seven memorial delegation is en route to the site. You are to intercept them as soon as possible. If need be, you will take the delegation, which includes Supreme Council Chairman Durendal, onboard your ship."

-"Roger that, ma'am." Yzak replied formally. "We'll do our best."

-"I know you will, Yzak." Ezalia replied, her restraint momentarily cracking. Then she cut the link, and instantly Yzak ordered his pilots - all three of them - to the briefing room.

Shinn, Lunamaria and Rey, all three still wearing normal suits, had been seated for only a few minutes when Yzak strode into the room. He looked at them, and began to address them immediately.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that as shakedown cruises go, this one's been unusual." He said. "It's about to get worse. We have just received a communication from the homeland: Junius Seven has begun slipping out of orbit, and is falling towards Earth."

Yzak waited for a few instants, as shocked whispers erupted between the Minerva's pilots. Then he continued.
"Our orders from the homeland, therefore, are as follows, and it goes without saying that this is an urgent and extremely important mission: The recovery of the memorial delegation shuttle, which was to visit the ruins. And the destruction of Junius Seven itself."

"We will rendezvous with the Hawkins Team's Lemaître and Montesquieu, as well as the Hahnenfuss Team's Voltaire and Rousseau; they are carrying Meteor Breakers, which will be used to break apart the debris before it enters the atmosphere. Our job is to support them. Ideally, we would also want to intercept the shuttle before its arrival at the site, but either way our primary objective is to find the damn thing. I want every pilot on standby for immediate take-off at your machines. Dismissed!"

As Shinn, Lunamaria and Rey left the ready room and headed for the hangar, Yzak made his way up to the bridge, where preparations were likewise under way. Their repairs were far from complete, but they were out of time.

As he sat down, Arthur reported that the repair crews had been ordered to head back inside, and they would be under way within thirty minutes.

'Too damn long...' Yzak thought, but he did not say so. His primary preoccupation right now was the key part of their orders: To locate the memorial delegation shuttle. He turned to Bart, at the ship's sensors.

"Bart, once we're under way I want you to look for the shuttle. Let me know as soon as you've spotted it."

-"Yes, sir." Came the answer from Bart Heim, whose responsibility it was to monitor the ship's extensive array of sensors. Yzak next addressed Abigail Windsor, who operated the ship's communications and coordinated with its mobile suits.

-"Are the mobile suits ready?"

-"Yes, sir." Abby replied. "Resupply of the Impulse and both ZAKUs has been completed, and they're ready to go at any time."

-"Good." He said.

Everyone on board the ship was nervous about this assignment, but none moreso than Yzak himself. While their orders were straightforward enough, he couldn't shake a bad feeling that they were headed for trouble. And the involvement of a civilian shuttle only compounded his trouble; It was too uncomfortably familiar.

The only good thing is that the Hahnenfuss Team - what had, until his reassignment, been the Joule Team - was also en route.

They were the best ZAFT had to offer. And Yzak had a bad feeling that they would need the very best...

The Debris Belt - near Junius Seven

The shuttle had left Ame-no-Mihashira on schedule, and was on its way through the inner edge of the Debris Belt.
Escorting it were five new-model MVF-M11C Murasame variable MS, four of which bore the same color scheme as the venerable M1 Astray, standard colors for nearly all Orb mobile suits. The lead unit was red and black, with yellow trim. Its pilot was Alex Dino, a veteran of the Bloody Valentine War who now served as Cagalli's personal bodyguard.

The journey so far had been uneventful, as usual. The shuttle had to skirt the edge of the Debris Belt to avoid collisions, but they always did so before turning inward towards Junius Seven. He felt a shiver at the thought of the place. Even now, five years later, it seemed like the memory of what had happened haunted the remains. As the convoy progressed Junius Seven came into view, and immediately Alex knew something was wrong.

"We shouldn't be so close to it, not yet." He muttered. He had been here every year, he knew more or less exactly where Junius Seven was positioned, in the center of the Debris Belt, near its outer edge. But now it was along the inner edge, nearly out of the Debris Belt entirely. He caught a barely-perceptible flash of movement, and magnified the image on his monitor.

He swore as he recognized a GINN High-Maneuver Type II. The PLANTs didn't manufacture or deploy those anymore.

"Zulu Team, this is Alpha. There are mobile suits in the colony, and they don't look friendly." Alex said as he contacted the other mobile suits. "Prepare for combat; Delta, Echo, stay with the shuttle. Bravo and Charlie, on me - Engage the enemy and destroy them before they have a chance to target the delegation!"

All five Murasame switched to mobile suit mode and two formed up defensively in front of the shuttle, which had stopped, while the other two took up positions on Alex's flank. At that instant the GINNs spotted the shuttle and moved in to attack. Two of them fired on the mobile suits, one targeted the shuttle.

Alex dropped the targeting reticle on him and fired twice, the first shot blasting off the arm that held the rifle, the second boring a hole in its cockpit block.

Then he moved in and engaged one of the GINNs in close quarters. The enemy machine had a sword, which it swung towards Alex, but he drew his Murasame's beam saber and countered. The saber cut through the GINN's physical blade like a hot knife through butter and continued its course, gutting the mobile suit and incinerating its pilot. However, his teammates were less fortunate.

Within moments, Zulu Bravo was overwhelmed as two of the GINNs engaged him. While the Murasame was leagues beyond the GINN in terms of performance, the pilots of the enemy machines were battle-hardened veterans, and Orb's pilots had far less experience in combat, the nation having fielded mobile suits only in the last few months of the Bloody Valentine War.

That advantage served the GINNs in good stead, as a carbine shot from one of them destroyed the Murasame's rifle.

Drawing the beam saber, the young pilot counterattacked, slicing off his opponent's arm. However while he attempted to followed up with a strike to the cockpit, the other GINN drove its sword through the Murasame from behind, slicing it in half. Zulu Charlie, the second Murasame, fared better. Using the Murasame's speed and its heavy shield to evade or block the enemy attacks, he fired a volley that took two GINNs with shots to the cockpit.

Additional GINNs appeared and were closing in when Alex switched to flight mode and rushed forward, firing off a volley of "Hayate" anti-MS missiles that destroyed two of them. He reverted to mobile suit mode, narrowly avoiding an attack by a third. He counterattacked with his own beam rifle, neatly blasting off its head, then drew the beam saber and sliced off both arms before shoving the GINN into nearby debris, crushing its backpack and rendering it essentially dead in the water.

"Four of us against who knows how many of them? This is bad." Alex commented. Plus they had to protect the shuttle. He wondered who these guys were as he returned into the fray, attacking another GINN that was moving in. He sliced the wing thrusters off its back and the backpack detonated, the explosion destroying its torso.

Meanwhile the Minerva was, after a long trip at essentially flank speed, finally nearing its objective as it crossed through the Debris Belt and approached Junius Seven.

Yzak was nervous; he had hoped to intercept the shuttle long before its arrival, but their course had led them nearly to the colony. He was about to order a course change when Abby suddenly spoke.

"Confirming detection of the delegation shuttle plus three mobile suits. They look like Orb Union MVF-M11C Murasames" She began. Then her tone became alarmed as she continued. "Mobile suits appear to be engaged in combat against unknown enemy units!"

What little color there was in Yzak's pale, handsome face drained at those words. "What did you say? What mobile suits?"

-"Thermal pattern indicates GINN HMT-2s. Nothing on the IFF."

-"Order the pilots to launch immediately! Get every machine we have out there and for God's sake PROTECT THAT FUCKING SHUTTLE!" Yzak ordered, a panicked edge to his voice.

With the Chairman of the Supreme Council onboard, everyone knew they had to do everything they could, but Yzak's reaction was strange to some of the ship's junior crew members.

However, his reaction had little to do with the Chairman himself; The current situation reminded him far too much of to one of the darkest chapters of his military career, an incident that had gotten him court-martialed and nearly executed - only Durendal's unexpected intervention had saved Yzak from the firing squad.

It had been in CE 71, in their battle against the Archangel and Lewis Halberton's Eighth Fleet.

The enemy flagship had launched a shuttle, which had passed between Yzak's stolen GAT-X102 Duel and its target - Kira Yamato's GAT-X105 Strike. Angry and frustrated, Yzak had assumed that the crew was fleeing and gunned the shuttle down.

Only afterwards did he find out that over a hundred civilian refugees had been on that shuttle. He was determined to prevent something like that from happening again.

"I'm going out too! Arthur, you have the bridge."

Meanwhile, Abby executed her orders immediately. "Impulse, beginning launch sequence. ZAKU Unit 2 standby for launch with Gunner Wizard. All systems online." The red ZAKU slid into place in the port-side catapult. On the starboard catapult, the same was done for the Impulse. A compartment in the side of the catapult opened, and the Gunner Wizard was mounted into place on the ZAKU's back. "Hatch open, linear catapult active; ZAKU is clear for launch."

-"Roger. Lunamaria Hawke, Gunner ZAKU. I'm taking off!" Luna announced, and her machine shot out the catapult.

From her console, Abby switched her attention to Shinn's Impulse.

"Stand by to launch Impulse; Force Silhouette selected - opening Silhouette Hangar 3." In the ship's central catapult, one of three dedicated compartments opened and the relevant equipment was loaded into launch position. "All systems online, cleared for launch. Force Silhouette standing by."

-"Shinn Asuka, Impulse, launching!"

The Impulse Gundam shot out of the catapult. At the same instant, the high-mobility Force Silhouette Flyer launched from the narrow central catapult and, guided by its laser tracking system, homed in on and docked with the Impulse. Shinn flipped the switch that activated the Impulse's VPS, which flared to life, turning his machine from dull-grey to blue and white.

Rey's white Blaze ZAKU soon followed, along with Yzak's own. He'd equipped a high-mobility Tempest Wizard, armed with two high-velocity beam gatling guns, this particular equipment was designed for high-mobility anti-MS combat. Additionally, it allowed the ZAKU to fly in Earth's atmosphere. Yzak took the head of the formation as all four mobile suits began heading towards their objective.

"Is there any sign of a mothership those GINNs could be using?" Arthur asked as he sat at the bridge while his CO led the Minerva's mobile suit team.

-"No, sir."

-"What's going on here? Are these guys the ones who altered Junius Seven's orbit? But why...?"

At Junius Seven meanwhile, the battle was not going well, as the Murasames continued to fight the enemy GINNs.

"You're nothing but pests." Sato commented as he took aim at one of the Murasames and killed its pilot with a shot through its cockpit; the interfering team may have had superior mobile suits, he reflected, but his own pilots had far greater skill. "And you will not stop us...Not now!"

There were now only two mobile suits left to protect the shuttle. Alex took a shot at Sato, but the veteran pilot narrowly blocked the attack with his GINN's shield. He aimed his beam carbine to counterattack, but Alex's follow-up shot destroyed the weapon, which Sato tossed aside.

Onboard the shuttle, the memorial delegation was panicking; none of them had ever seen combat except Marshall and Cagalli, and in any case they had never expected to find themselves in a battle. Cagalli looked around, she saw that Durendal alone apparently remained calm, although to her eye he seemed worried as well.

'Who wouldn't be, in a situation like this?' She thought.

The pilots meanwhile started preparing to put some distance between the shuttle and these machines that were so intent on destroying them. Then one of the enemy units slipped a shot past them and hit the shuttle's engine. They were dead in the water.

Angered, one of the remaining escort Murasames' pilot aimed at the shooter and fired, blasting off its head, then charged in and used its beam saber to stab it in its cockpit block.

"Echo, don't abandon the shuttle!" Alex yelled, but it was too late.

Before the Murasame could return to its position, one of the GINNs took advantage of the situation to move in between Echo and the shuttle. Turning on the Murasame, it struck from behind, slicing it in half with its heavy sword. Then it turned towards the shuttle and raised its beam carbine. Alex turned and accelerated to close in, but he knew he wouldn't make it...

The carbine exploded as a single shot, fired from long range, obliterated the weapon. Without giving the pilot time to recover, Alex hacked it in half from shoulder to hip, then turned towards the four incoming machines.

He did a double-take when he saw that the first looked strikingly like a sleeker version of the Aile Strike. It had a beam rifle out, and it was apparently this machine which had fired on the GINN.

The other three were also new models, two apparently fitted for high-mobility combat, the last for long-range artillery. Alex saw the rifle that had belonged to one of the fallen Murasame, and with a muttered apology reached for the weapon.

Behind them, Alex saw a huge dark-gray warship, which began to approach the shuttle. Weirdly, he thought its shape reminded him of Evidence 01, the fossil brought back from Jupiter by George Glenn's Tsiolkovsky decades earlier.

Then the rapidly approaching team engaged the attacking GINNs.

Alex keyed his radio to an open frequency and hailed the approaching mobile suits.

"This is Zulu Alpha - Alex Dino of the Orb Defense Force First Mobile Group," he hailed over the radio. "ZAFT Units, please respond."

At the controls of his custom-colored blue Tempest ZAKU Warrior, Yzak recognized the voice instantly, and retorted angrily.

-"Don't bullshit me Athrun, I know goddamn well it's you. Now what the hell are you doing here?"

-"Yzak?" Alex Dino, a.k.a. Athrun Zala, replied, surprised.

He had been in Orb since CE 72, having decided to move there under an assumed name at the behest of then-acting-Chairwoman Canaver to avoid any possible retaliation for his role in the war's end and the death of Patrick Zala.

-"That's Commander Joule to you, Athrun. Commanding Officer, LHM-BB01 Minerva. Now again, what's going on here?"

-"The shuttle's been damaged by enemy attack; Those guys in the GINNs have attached flare motors to the remains of Junius Seven - they're deliberately dropping it."

-"We'll ensure the safe recovery of the memorial delegation; Additional ships are inbound to attempt to destroy the colony before it can fall." Yzak replied, and accelerated into the fray. The other mobile suits followed.

Meanwhile in the Debris Belt, a Laurasia-class and three Nazca-class ships were also inbound, nearing Junius Seven from the other side; The Voltaire and Rousseau of the Hahnenfuss Team, and the Hawkins Team's Montesquieu and Lemaître. On the Voltaire's bridge, Dearka Elsman looked out at the falling ruins.

"Man, look at the size of that thing...it's huge." He commented.

-"No shit, Dearka. Remember, we live on one of those." Shiho Hahnenfuss replied, deadpan. She wore a dark-red uniform, albeit with men's slacks rather than the knee-length skirt typically issued to female soldiers. Next to her, Dearka wore green; though originally an Academy graduate in the same class as Shiho and a Red Coat himself, he had been required to reenlist following his desertion during the Bloody Valentine War, almost three years ago.

-"The mission we're on right now is extremely important." He replied. "I commented on its size because it reminded me of just how important."

-"Listen, we don't have a lot of time." Shiho replied. "Yzak is already here with the Minerva; let's get this right."

-"Roger that." Dearka said with an amused smile as he entered the lift down to the hangar. In the hangar, preparations were under way to deploy. Dearka would lead the mobile suits, his Gunner ZAKU providing cover fire for the other machines, principally GuAIZ-Rs.

They were primarily tasked with installing Meteor Breakers, heavy drilling units that carried a powerful, high-explosive warhead used for breaking apart asteroids, usually for transportation and eventual use in colony construction.

Ironically, this time their purpose would be a colony's destruction.

Shiho would stand by with the rest of their forces, for now - all the same, she ordered her midnight-blue GuAIZ prepped and placed on standby for immediate takeoff. As she did so, the CIC suddenly reported contact.

"Confirming the Minerva near Junius Seven; it looks like they're nearing the delegation shuttle. They also appear to be engaging in combat against unknown enemy MS."

-"Slow us down and make a silent approach; Get the Breaker and escort teams out ASAP." Shiho replied.

The order was soon followed as the mobile suit teams began to launch.

However, as they were beginning to place the Breakers, Sato spotted them and split his forces - some remained to engage the Minerva's machines, most turned to target the newcomers. Closing fast, the beam carbine-equipped GINNs attacked, destroying one of the Breakers and the two mobile suits installing it.

"What the...GINNs? Where the hell did they come from?" Dearka swore as he prepared to attack, deploying the Gunner ZAKU's big "Orthros" high-energy long-range beam cannon. He targeted one of the GINNs with the cannon as he fired a volley of "Firebee" missiles from the launcher on the ZAKU's back. Occupied with avoiding the missiles, the GINN failed to account for the ZAKU itself, and Dearka took advantage of the opportunity to fire a shot from the powerful cannon that obliterated the GINN's entire torso.

Unnoticed by anyone however, the Nana Buluku, once again cloaked by its Mirage Colloid Stealth System, neared the colony as well, having been ordered to investigate Junius Seven's unexpected movement.

"What do you think those ZAFT mobile suits are doing here?" Ian asked slowly.

-"I haven't any more idea than you. But perhaps this wasn't some act of God after all. Send out our mobile suits - I want a better grasp of the situation. And record as much data as possible from this end." Lukas replied.

-"Activate Gottfrieds One and Two." ordered Ian Lee. "Load launchers one through eight with Korinthos. Target the Laurasia-class on our port side. Disengage Mirage Colloid upon firing and take us to maximum thrust. All mobile suits, stand by for launch."

Lukas left the bridge and headed to the hangar, mulling over what he'd seen. There were five ZAFT ships, including the new one they'd encountered previously.

That one was near what looked to be a damaged and possibly abandoned civilian shuttle. And there were several groups of ZAFT mobile suits - GINNs, GuAIZ, and several new models. Lukas shrugged - they would know soon enough, one way or another.

The ship fired, critically damaging the Lemaître's engine block, then unleashed its missiles at the other ships as its cloak dissipated and it moved forward. Then it launched the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss, followed by the ship's remaining Daggers.

One team of GuAIZ-Rs, led by an orange Blaze ZAKU, was able to leave the crippled Lemaître. They were promptly engaged by the Daggers, which destroyed most of the GuAIZ-Rs. The survivors - including their leader - were able to rally and attack the newly-arrived enemy. Meanwhile the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss continued towards Junius Seven.

"Where the hell did that ship come from?" Shiho yelled when they detected the ship and its attack, as well as its mobile suits. "To get that close undetected, it had to have been using Mirage Colloid. Contact the Minerva! Captain Kendall, take command for now - I'm going out too."

She ran down to the hangar, boarded her GuAIZ without bothering to put on a normal suit, and launched.

As she headed into combat she was engaged by one of the Daggers, firing a short-range beam carbine. Blocking the attack, she accelerated and closed in, dodging a second shot before counterattacking with her GuAIZ's extensional arrestors. The two beam-edged claws tore into the Dagger's body and ripped it apart.

With the Hawkins Team able to fend off the remaining Daggers, she shot off towards Junius Seven to help cover the demolition teams, forcing one of the enemy GINNs to break off with a rifle shot just as he prepared to target one of the Meteor Breakers.

-"The work crews have to continue demolition!" She commanded her forces, then as the GINN attacked her she neatly slid past his attack, moving inside its reach and cutting him apart from shoulder to hip with the twin beam blades mounted to her shield.

As this was happening, the Minerva's own MS team was also engaged in combat with the enemy units.

Dearka had joined up with them, and they were doing their best to keep the enemy engaged and unable to target the Meteor Breakers.

Despite their best efforts a total of three Breakers had already been destroyed. As a pair of enemy GINNs started another attack run on one of the Breakers, Dearka fired the Orthros beam cannon; the GINNs scattered, dodging the shot, then resumed their attack.

"What's with these guys? They're fucking experts!" He exclaimed angrily.

Yzak saw the incoming attack and moved in, firing a surprise attack with the Tempest ZAKU's "Hydra" beam gatlings that tore to shreds one of the two GINNs. The other broke off and turned to attack the ZAKU with its sword, a mistake that sealed his fate.

Yzak held in hand the ZAKU's optional "Falx" beam axe, a long-shafted weapon that took the place of the default beam tomahawk normally stored in a compartment in its shield.

Its long reach served him in good stead as he sliced off the GINN's sword arm before the enemy unit had a chance to close in, and followed up with a second strike that bisected its cockpit vertically, killing the pilot instantly. Then he heard Dearka on the radio.

"Yzak! We're in trouble, man. These guys have reinforcements - I just got a message from Shiho that a new ship trashed the Lemaître."

-"DAMN IT." Yzak swore loudly. "As if we didn't have enough trouble keeping these pricks off the work crews already!" Then they saw on their displays three new machines.

-"The hell? Where did these guys come from?" Dearka wondered as the Chaos destroyed one of the GINNs, while the Gaia and Abyss destroyed one of the Breakers and the mobile suits operating it.

Yzak, however, had recognized the Alliance units that had attacked the Minerva in the Debris Belt, and swore angrily.

-"Our objective is to protect the Breaker teams," he told Dearka. "If those clowns are attacking them, that makes them our enemy."

The red Murasame, the sole remaining Orb mobile suit, pulled up as well.

-"They must have come from that ship - I guess it wasn't reinforcements for these guys after all."

-"Wait a minute, I know that voice." Dearka exclaimed. "ATHRUN? What're you doing here?"

-"Later. Right now, we have a job to do!" Athrun replied seriously, though he was glad to see Dearka again.

-"No shit! And where do you get off giving me orders?" Yzak snapped. "I'm the one in charge here. Come with me - we're focusing on the GINNs. The rest of you, keep those three pricks off us!"

It was Shinn who made the first move, firing at the Abyss. The shot rebounded off its anti-beam-coated outer shoulder armor, and it retaliated with the paired linear cannons on its back. Shinn evaded the attack easily.

Lunamaria found herself once again exchanging fire with the Gaia while the Chaos targeted Rey, launching two of its Gunbarrels, which Rey had to avoid before counterattacking.

He fired a salvo from the ZAKU's beam rifle at the mobile armor itself, then targeted the Gunbarrels and fired a volley from the Blaze ZAKU's high-capacity "Firebee" missile launchers, using his maneuverability to evade the enemy attacks. His gamble paid off; the Gunbarrels were Phase Shift-armored, so the few missiles that did hit had no effect. However, the attack opened a gap in the enemy's defense and Rey fired the beam rifle again, destroying one of its two linear cannons.

Taking aim at the charging Gaia Gundam with the Gunner ZAKU's heavy "Orthros" beam cannon Luna fired, but the nimble machine dodged the attack. Luna followed up with a volley from her back-mounted missile launcher, which hit. Unfortunately, the Gaia's PS armor protected it, and the attack did no damage, though it allowed Lunamaria to move farther back, preventing the Gaia from moving into mêlée range.

Meanwhile, Athrun spotted two GINNs closing in to attack and pivoted his Murasame, firing his beam rifle at one of them. The attack destroyed its carbine, and when it attempted to attack with a sword he blew off its arm.

Having shaken off Rey, the Chaos returned its attention to the Breaker teams, and Athrun intervened, dodging an attack from its gunbarrels and destroying one of them with a well-placed rifle shot. He stowed the rifle and drew the Murasame's single beam saber, then accelerated towards the enemy mobile armor.

"Back off and let us work!" He yelled as he attacked the Chaos, forcing the mobile armor to veer away. The enemy continued the attack, firing its linear cannon and deploying its two remaining Gunbarrels. Blocking the attack with the Murasame's shield, Athrun closed in and sliced one of the pods in half with his machine's beam saber. Then Rey moved in, targeting the remaining pod with the ZAKU's rifle.

Unfortunately his attack narrowly missed and the Chaos counterattacked with a "Zorn" multiphase beam cannon mounted along the top of its main body. Rey blocked the attack but the cannon overwhelmed his ZAKU's shield, destroying it and blasting off the ZAKU's left arm, taking with it the rifle.

Rey deployed the ZAKU's last-ditch weapon - a short-barreled railgun mounted to its shoulder, which flipped up and fired, hitting the last Gunbarrel just as it opened and fired a volley of missiles, which detonated explosively and obliterated the pod.

At the same time, Lunamaria's Gunner ZAKU Warrior fired a shot from its own railgun, followed by another from her beam cannon.

Much to Lunamaria's annoyance, the Gaia dodged the attack easily.

"All right...you're finished!" Stella cried in the cockpit of the Gaia, drawing its beam saber and accelerating towards the red ZAKU.

-"Not so fast!" Luna yelled as she stowed her cannon and then kicked the charging Gaia, literally tossing it back. Stella stabilized the Gaia, stowed the beam saber, and drew her beam rifle, taking aim at the offending ZAKU.

Lunamaria drew a beam tomahawk from its compartment in the ZAKU's shoulder shield and threw it as the Gaia fired. The weapon hit and damaged the Gaia's right wing, throwing off its aim, and an attack that had been aimed for the ZAKU's cockpit instead blew off its right leg. Firing a volley of missiles at the Gaia to cover herself, Luna fell back.

With the number of mobile suits now in combat, the work crews were able to continue positioning the Meteor Breakers, which burrowed deep into Junius Seven with their explosive cargo. Seeing this, Sato targeted one of the Breakers. Dearka, who was defending it, spotted him and fired his beam cannon, obliterating his GINN's leg.

"Hurry it up!" Dearka heard Yzak ordering. "Or else it won't matter even if we split it!"

Meanwhile the remaining ships were engaging the Nana Buluku while covering the retreat of the critically damaged Lemaître.

The Minerva itself had pulled alongside the damaged shuttle, and took advantage of a lull in the combat to send an escape craft over to retrieve the memorial delegation. Once all of them were safely aboard the Minerva, the ship began to pull away and move back towards Junius Seven.

At the same time, Arthur ordered a message sent to the Alliance ship on an open channel clarifying that the ZAFT ships were attempting to destroy Junius Seven, and that the GINNs alone belonged to the enemy that had started the colony's deadly descent.

Despite the destruction of its Gunbarrels, the Chaos pressed the attack, engaging Athrun's Murasame at close range, while Shinn continued to fend off the Abyss.

Completely disregarding the loss of his ZAKU's arm, Rey remained in combat, using his Blaze Wizard's missile launchers in conjunction with the railgun to defend the Breaker Teams.

One GINN closed in to attack and Rey fired twice, blasting off its legs before taking it out with a third shot to the cockpit. Behind him, the Meteor Breaker he'd been defending was at last deployed, and the first set of the devices detonated.

The explosion split Junius Seven in half, with one half slowing down its descent, while the other, larger half continued falling.

"Come on! We're not done yet!" Athrun exclaimed as he linked up with Yzak and Dearka's machine, the latter moving one of the remaining Meteor Breakers. Suddenly, two enemy GINNs appeared, moving to attack the Breaker.

-"Let's go!" Yzak exclaimed, targeting one with his beam rifle as Athrun targeted the other. In short order, both were destroyed.

-"There's more of them!" Auel in the Abyss Gundam exclaimed when he spotted them, incorrectly identifying the two ZAKUs and the Murasame as enemies. He fired a volley from the Abyss's dual shell-firing cannons.

His attack missed, and Yzak and Athrun both counterattacked immediately, simultaneously moving into close range combat.

Athrun switched back to his Murasame's beam rifle and fired a volley at the Abyss, which blocked it. Taking advantage of Auel's distraction, Yzak moved in and attacked with the "Falx" beam axe, slicing off its leg. Pinned between the two, the Abyss fired its torso-mounted "Scylla" beam cannon at the Murasame, then turned to the ZAKU and attacked with its linear cannons. Both Yzak and Athrun dodged the attacks.

At that moment, the Chaos also moved in and fired, so Yzak immediately turned his attention to it, leaving the Abyss to Athrun. Dodging the attack, he moved into close range and sliced its remaining linear cannon down the entire length of its barrel, splitting it in two.

The Chaos attempted to retaliate, igniting the beam claw on its leg and attempting to hack the ZAKU in half. Yzak slipped sideways and severed the limb, then unleashed a withering hail of beam cannon-fire from the Tempest Wizard's beam gatling guns that forced the now nearly-weaponless Chaos to fall back.

-"Awesome..." Shinn, who'd been closing in, suddenly slowed as he saw the two of them, awed by their skill. "So this is the skill of veterans of Jachin Due..."

Meanwhile, Dearka positioned and deployed the Breaker, as did another of their remaining work crew mobile suits. Suddenly, the Alliance ship sent out a retreat signal flare. Seeing it, the Gaia and Abyss withdrew, following the Chaos back towards their ship.

"Finally, they're backing off." Dearka commented.

-"Maybe, but there's a good reason for that." Yzak replied, "Altitude. If this keeps up we won't be able to escape Earth's gravity." Then he opened up a line to the Minerva. "Have we recovered the memorial delegation?"

-"Yes, sir. The delegation is safe aboard the ship."

-"Excellent. Recall our mobile suits. The Minerva will descend with the remaining fragment and attempt to destroy it with the Tannhäuser." Yzak ordered.

-"Right."

Dearka meanwhile had already broken off and was headed back towards the Voltaire.

-"We're out of time. Shiho! We have to get back to the ship!" Both the ZAKU and the GuAIZ began their retreat. At the same time, Rey and Luna began to head back up towards the Minerva.

But one mobile suit had not retreated, Shinn noticed, and he turned back to look for it.

"Where is he...there!" Shinn spotted the red Murasame, still working to position one of the Meteor Breakers. He hesitated briefly, remembering that he had overheard Captain Joule on the radio identify its pilot as "Athrun."

The name of Athrun Zala was legendary among ZAFT's younger recruits, but he didn't really know what to expect.

"What're you doing?" He asked, closing in on him. "We've got orders to withdraw."

-"Yeah, I know. You should head back...I'm going to at least get this thing going." Shaking his head, Shinn moved around, taking up a position on the Breaker's other side.

-"What is someone like you doing in Orb, anyway?" Shinn asked. Athrun heard a condescending edge in the tone of the question, and was about to reply when they came under attack from three GINNs - the last ones, apparently. One was missing an arm, another a leg. The third was apparently undamaged.

-"I won't let you cause any more damage!" One of the GINN pilots screamed as they charged.

-"They're still here too!" Shinn exclaimed as he drew his beam saber, then moved in to attack.

One of the GINNs fired at the Meteor Breaker and Athrun blocked it, countering with the Murasame's rifle. As Shinn sliced in half the GINN that was attacking the Breaker, a transmission sounded from one of the remaining two.

-"No! My daughter's tombstone must fall! It's the only way this world will ever change!"

-"What? his daughter..." Shinn muttered. The leader shot past the Impulse and attacked the Murasame, while Shinn engaged the other.

-"Have you forgotten the innocent lives so mercilessly ended here? You're living in a damned dream world, laughing with the butchers who caused all this!" Sato screamed as he attacked the Murasame again, and Athrun blocked the shot, countering again with the rifle.

He destroyed the carbine, but Sato drew his GINN's sword again and charged in. Reflexively, Athrun used the Murasame's shield to block the attack. "Why can't you see...The only true path for Coordinators was the one that Patrick Zala had chosen for us!"

For an instant, Athrun faltered at the sound of his father's name, as memories flashed past him; his mother, murdered in the Bloody Valentine; GENESIS; Patrick Zala, his father, dying in his arms still desperate to accomplish his genocidal ambitions.

-"Never..." He said coldly, as a newfound determination steeled his resolve. "NEVER AGAIN SAY MY FATHER'S NAME!" He kicked away the GINN.

Suddenly, he seemed preternaturally aware of his surroundings, the GINN's movements, and even the exact location of the Impulse and its opponent as well as Junius Seven itself. He once more stowed the beam rifle and drew the beam saber instead.

Thrown off balance by the sudden attack, Sato hesitated for a split second as he heard Athrun's yell, momentarily stunned by the implication of his words.

Could his enemy really be the son of Patrick Zala? He wondered as he righted himself and prepared to attack again.

"My name is Athrun Zala," Athrun said on an open frequency, confirming Sato's suspicion as he discarded the mask of "Alex Dino" behind which he had hidden for so long, "and I will not allow you to cower behind my father's name as an excuse for your crimes!"

It didn't matter, Sato decided. he moved in and attempted to slash at the Murasame, the attack aimed for the torso. But to Athrun it was almost like it was moving in slow motion. He could almost tell what its move was going to be before it made it, and he dodged the strike easily, slipping to the side and slashing off the GINN's blade mere inches above its hilt.

The second GINN attempted to charge the Murasame from behind, but Shinn intercepted it, slicing off its remaining arm. With a scream, the pilot wrapped his machine's legs around the Impulse and self-detonated, rocking the Impulse and stunning Shinn, but doing no real damage: Equipped with Variable Phase-Shift Armor, the Impulse was protected from conventional attacks. His power supply took a hit as a result, but he still had enough energy left to continue.

The remnants of the GINN's torso struck the Breaker and triggered it, allowing it to bore deep into Junius Seven.

Athrun attempted to fall back, but Sato's GINN latched onto his Murasame's leg. Left with no other options, he adjusted the beam saber and sliced off the limb, then increased output through his remaining thrusters. Pulled down by gravity, the GINN slammed into Junius Seven and exploded just as the sole breaker detonated, breaking the remnant into two pieces as the Impulse and Murasame, firmly caught by Earth's gravity, began to fall through the atmosphere.

In the Impulse's cockpit, well clear of the falling debris, Shinn frantically altered his machine's settings so he could make the descent.

-"Adjusting angle of entry; cooling systems all green, attitude control and BCS are good. Okay, now where is he?" As he turned forward, he spotted the damaged Murasame. He adjusted his trajectory as inside his own cockpit, Athrun reviewed his own machine's status.

-"Maybe it's because of the damage, but that right leg is really heating up..." He muttered as the intense heat began taking its toll.

Athrun knew the Murasame was not designed to be able to reenter the atmosphere on its own. He ejected its weapons, which detonated far behind him. If he'd been able to switch to flight mode he might have had a slim chance of survival, but like this...

Just then the Impulse intercepted the Murasame, deploying its own shield in front to protect both machines.

On the Minerva, Yzak had returned to the bridge. Cagalli had also come up to the bridge, but he had not spoken to her - he had more important things on his mind.

"Descent sequence, stage two." Arthur announced as the ship's wings began to close.

-"Any sign of the Impulse and that other idiot?" Yzak asked.

-"No, sir. I can't get a fix on them." Abby replied, sounding stressed.

-"Captain, we're approaching stage 3! Any longer and we won't be able to fire!" Arthur exclaimed.

-"Activate the Tannhäuser." Yzak ordered, somewhat reluctant. "We have to destroy that thing, no matter the consequences."

To himself, he added 'I just hope those two were able to get clear.'

The ship rotated to face towards the falling colony fragment as the bow opened and the cannon deployed.
"FIRE!" Yzak ordered. The cannon fired, breaking away a large chunk of the flare, which began to shatter.

They fired a second time, and the massive chunk of debris shattered into small pieces. Many of them burned away in the atmosphere. Most did not.

-"Entering descent sequence stage 3!" came the cry from the bridge as the screens went blank and the cannon automatically retracted, the armored bow closing over it.
It was over; they had done everything in their power to stop Junius Seven from falling...

...and they had failed.