Sorry for taking so long with this. This was a nasty chapter to write, and I don't think it was my best.

Anyway, please enjoy this late Christmas present. Regular updates will resume again soon.


Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Liberation of Gracemeria

I had never worked with such a large unit of Mobile Suits before. I had worked almost exclusively as part of a duo with Mu La Flaga, and then a trio when Flay became a pilot near the end of the Archangel's journey. There was a brief period of time when we had some Eurasian pilots and Mobile Armors, but Athrun killed them all, leaving it down to just La Flaga and I again.

This was something else. I was part of a specialized team, five people, and we had a clear technological advantage over our foes. It was hard to not feel confident, especially not in a brand-new Mobile Suit, especially a GUNDAM model.

Captain Fredrik Ades was on the radio as soon as the five of us all launched. "All right. Looks like we're going to be intercepting Hikowa's forces in the middle of a raid. It looks like they're trying to destroy or take over Gracemeria Defense Base. We need to scatter them, and then hunt down the remnants before they bug out."

Athrun. "It looks like to be they're using transportation shuttles. I definitely think they're trying to occupy the base."

Ades. "That's worse than them destroying it. Turning Gracemeria against us makes this relatively clear section of the Debris Belt perilous. It must be prevented."

Athrun sounded so confident and calm. "Understood, sir. Cagalli, take point. Let's give Hikowa a wake-up call."

"Got it." I accelerated the Justice's engines and blasted off towards the battle.

It looked like most of Gracemeria's defenses were still operational, as they were shooting a lot of flak at the raiders. But the transportation shuttles weren't like the civilian ones I've seen. These were fast and nimble. They weren't getting shot down.

"Cagalli," Athrun said, "Don't worry about the shuttles. Take out the escort Mobile Armors. Without escorts, the shuttles will have to withdraw."

At least Athrun was trying to take the path of the least amount of life lost. I appreciated that. "On it."

I had studied the operations manual religiously after the briefing, and it was mind-numbing how much the Justice was able to do. It was all based on the FATUM-00 unit attached to the Justice's back, specifically the Fortis double-barreled beam cannon. The M9 Cervus machine-gun, however, was the one that looked most formidable on the Justice.

I told the FATUM-00 to detach itself from me and target the Mobile Armors. With the rapid precision that only a ZAFT computer was capable of, the FATUM-00 detached itself from me and shot forward. It was running on a computer autopilot now.

Suddenly, the M9 Cervus machine-gun and the four supplemental machine-guns attached to it all began firing according to my sensors. And the Mobile Armors were dropping fast.

"All right, the FATUM-00 is plowing the road, let's move in," I said.

I heard Asta scoff. "I could've told a computer to fly in and kill everyone too."

Dearka whistled. "I want one of those."

Athrun put a stop to the chatter. "Cagalli, Dearka, you're with me, we're going to hunt Selena Hikowa down. Nicol, Asta, you assist with defending the base. Let's move.."

I followed Athrun through the battle. One Mobile Armor dared to get in my way and I aimed the Lupus rifle in the Justice's right hand and blasted the Mobile Armor right in the center. It exploded instantly.

The Justice was formidable.

Dearka chuckled as we moved through the battle. I barely had to do anything at all, the FATUM-00 was doing most of the work for us. "Damn, looks like we got them in a panic, Athrun. I don't think they were expecting us."

"In a way, we're lucky. We caught them in the middle of a raid. We don't have to hunt them down and if we do this right, we could wipe out the whole unit," Athrun said.

I called the FATUM-00 to return and it latched onto the Justice's back. It was beginning to run low on power, it had been doing so much shooting. Unlike the Justice itself, the FATUM-00 didn't have nuclear power, it ran on a battery, and all batteries need to be recharged.

I was going to need to remember this later. The FATUM-00 needed to be deployed much more carefully.

Captain Ades got on the coms. "All right, I'm positioning the Vesalius to cut off their escape route. Just keep the pressure up. They've got nowhere to run."

That's when my sensors beeped. I looked at my screen, and my heart began pounding against my chest. She was already here.

"Athrun, I have a Moebius Zero incoming."

"I see her. Dearka, keep your distance. Harass her with sniper fire. Cagalli, you and me will fight her directly. Watch yourself."

"I'll be careful," I promised, but I wasn't sure if I could. If Mu La Flaga could fight GUNDAMs so effectively with his Moebius Zero, who's to say this 'Selena Hikowa' couldn't?

I aimed my new toy, the Fortis, right at the Zero. I knew she was going to split the Zero up and have the four automated gun turrets fly around and make life hell. Might as well start it now.

"Firing the Fortis! We're starting this, guys!" I shouted, and then positioned the Justice horizontally . . . or whatever passed for that in space.

I guess this was the true test of the Justice, right here and now.

I fired the Fortis, and two bright beams of light blasted from the top of the Justice. As I expected, the Moebius Zero split up, and the beams missed all five resulting pieces.

This is what made the Moebius Zero so deadly. It could be anywhere at once, attacking you with precision. And now I was up against that.

Considering how much trouble Mu had given Athrun's team with his Moebius Zero, I couldn't let that happen here. I needed to even the odds and quick.

The turrets quickly fired on both Athrun and I, and I made evasive maneuvers, forcing the Justice to fly through several scraps of debris to avoid getting hit by the turret. I spun the Justice to the left and forced my way through the debris, and aimed at the turret that had been chasing me.

On target.

I fired the Lupus, and a beam went right through the turret. It sparked for a second, with a great big hole in the center, and then exploded.

All right. I could do this. The Justice was proving to be better than even I expected.

The remaining turrets returned to the enemy Moebius Zero, and she blasted off, heading towards the main battle. Nicol and Asta were trying to help the remaining GINNs hold the line, and clearly Selena Hikowa was thinking she could still stand a chance if she eliminated them.

"Athrun, I'm pursuing!" I shouted.

"I'm with you! Dearka, cover us!" Athrun yelled.

"You guys don't need to yell so friggin' loud," Dearka sighed.

I chased the Moebius Zero through the battle, firing at it, but the woman was a good pilot. I wasn't hitting her, not like the way I had easily wiped out one of her automated turrets.

Suddenly, my com beeped. I was being hailed . . . by that Moebius Zero.

What the hell?

"What is it?" I asked.

I suddenly saw what had to be Selena Hikowa. She looked to be about Mu's age, and had almond-shaped, dark eyes. I couldn't make out much more, though, her helmet covered the rest of her face like Mu's did. Which made me wonder why she had bothered to turn on the video portion to begin with.

"Ah. I'm being chased by a girl. How interesting."

"Why did you hail me?" I asked.

Hikowa chuckled. "I'm being chased by a Mobile Suit not in my files. I wanted to know what the pilot they were entrusting a new Mobile Suit looked like. I guess ZAFT likes entrusting expensive things to children."

I was not going to listen to this. "Both sides have been sending children to the front lines! You're not one to talk!"

"Perhaps I'm not, but I don't entrust my best equipment to children like yourself! That will be ZAFT's downfall!"

She was going to attack. I could hear it in the tone of her voice.

The Moebius Zero did a spinning maneuver, taking it to the top of the Gracemeria station. I pulled up and followed it, to see the Moebius Zero spin around and face me.

Crap.

I immediately repositioned the Justice's position to allow the Cervus machine-gun to fire. The Cervus did so, but the Moebius Zero split apart again, its turrets and main body shooting everywhere. I tried to have the Cervus rotate to chase at least one of the pieces but I hit nothing.

And then, they all hit me.

The Justice rocked and I couldn't help but cry out.

For a second, I thought I was going to die.

It took me a moment to realize that I wasn't.

"Cagalli!" Athrun cried. I spun the Justice around, which didn't feel like it was damaged much at all, and saw the Aegis fire at the main Moebius Zero body as it reformed and tried to blast away.

"Athrun, I'm fine! The Justice seems to be pretty tough! Let's keep after her!" I yelled.

To emphasize my point, I charged off after Hikowa before Athrun could protest.

Hikowa chuckled again. "Well now. You have a pretty resilient machine there. But can you take another attack like that? Or a third?"

"I'm not going to let you try!"

I knew that both times I had fired at her when she was about to split her Moebius Zero apart, I had missed completely. I needed to time this so I would hit one of the pieces during the sequence. Instead of aiming dead-center, I needed to hit the Moebius Zero at an angle. Even though I would only blow one piece up, that would substantially weaken Hikowa. And maybe I would get lucky and destroy the main body, but considering how things were going so far I wasn't going to count on luck.

So I aimed at the upper left corner and fired just as the Moebius Zero split apart again.

I was rewarded with an explosion.

I saw the main body and two turrets escape the explosion and fly at me, but I saw Athrun and Dearka both lay down suppressive fire that forced Hikowa to pull back and reform the Zero, but she was down to just two turrets.

"Very good! You're showcasing an admirable amount of talent, child!" Hikowa said.

"Do yourself a favor and surrender. Our flagship and the Gracemeria base have your forces surrounded. They're going to be cut apart," I replied.

"I already got two of my shuttles to successfully land inside the Gracemeria base. I'm not going to surrenderjust yet."

Athrun's voice came on my ear. "Stop talking to her, Cagalli! She's trying to distract us!"

Before I could answer, I heard Hikowa again. "Cagalli? Are you the Cagalli? Cagalli Yamato?"

How the hell did she hear of me? "Yes, that's my name. Why?"

"I thought you were serving in the Earth Forces."

"I defected." A loaded statement, but I wasn't going to go into a long philosophical discussion with her. Not in the middle of a battle.

"Tsk. A shame. The Earth Forces badly needed you. I suppose it was expected, though."

"You have no idea what motivated me to make my decision, and you'll never understand. Now surrender or you will die here!" I replied.

Despite their forces being surrounded by the Gracemeria fortress and the Vesalius, the raiders were still giving a good account of themselves. It didn't help we were outnumbered, or that three of us, instead of shooting raiders down, were chasing their ringleader all over the place.

Hikowa laughed. "Like I said, I have no plans to surrender. I have a job left to do. Also, once I have your fortress, that little ship of yours won't stand a chance in hell."

"That's assuming you'll take it." At that moment, I locked on.

I aimed the Lupus rifle and fired several shots with it, and Hikowa dodged my attacks as I continued to chase her through the battle. A couple of Mobile Armors tried to get in my way, but Athrun quickly shot those down. The woman was a good pilot, and in spite of having inferior equipment, was managing to evade me, Athrun, and Dearka.

She wasn't on Mu La Flaga's level. He had been able to fight Athrun's squad off without his Moebius Zero taking heavy damage most of the time. She had already lost two turrets in this one and there was no conceivable escape for her.

Hikowa split her Moebius Zero up again, and Athrun this time nailed one of the turrets, making it explode. Hikowa zipped past Athrun and I, though, along with her one remaining turret, heading right for Dearka.

"Damn it," Dearka growled as he realized what was happening.

I spun the Justice around. "Stop it!"

I shot at the Moebius Zero, but none of my shots got close to connecting. The Buster launched its own barrage, but Hikowa dodged all of those too.

Athrun zipped past me, the Aegis in Mobile Armor form. Before I could ask what Athrun was doing, the Aegis caught up to the lone remaining turret and rammed it. The turret spun out of control and crashed into the wreckage of a dead ship, exploding.

Hikowa, down to just the main part of the Moebius Zero, broke off her attack on Dearka, and shot off towards the base again. "Not a bad strategy, children. I'm impressed."

"Stop mouthing off at us and just die already!" Dearka yelled.

Hikowa laughed as she dodged another Buster barrage. "My time for death will come soon, probably in this battle. But not yet."

It took me a moment to realize that the Moebius Zero was angling for one of the Gracemeria base's hangar bays.

"Athrun!" I shouted.

"I see what she's doing! Nicol, Asta, break off from what you're doing and stop her!" Athrun ordered.

"We can't!" Nicol replied.

"Damn it!" Athrun growled. The Aegis shot past me, and I followed him.

"Athrun, what do we do if she docks inside the Gracemeria base?" I asked.

"We have to stop her one way or another, Cagalli," Athrun replied. "Even if we have to climb out of our Mobile Suits and shoot her personally."

My heart skipped a beat at that thought. I already spent one harrowing night in ground combat. The thought of me having to do more hand-to-hand fighting brought back terrifying memories of Tassil. Not something I wanted to relive again.

The Moebius Zero sped into the hangar bay, and I watched Athrun. He wasn't pulling up, he had every attention of landing in there.

"The hangar bay is not pressurized," Athrun said. "Leave your helmets and suits on. Something tells me we'll have to do this the hard way."

I felt more terrified of trying to kill Selena Hikowa with a gun than I did of trying to shoot her down in the Justice. My hands were already shaking as I piloted the Justice to follow the Aegis inside the Gracemeria base, setting the Justice down right beside the Aegis.

I prepared to open the hatch, but I heard Athrun shout "Cagalli! Wait!"

"What? What am I waiting for?" I asked.

Silence.

"Athrun?" I asked.

Still silence.

My heart began slamming against my chest. I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't.

"Athrun, what's wrong? Answer me!"

"She was aiming for you, Cagalli," Athrun finally said. "I got her to back off and change positions. You and Dearka can both open your hatches."

I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Of course Athrun wouldn't die. Not on our first mission together. After all of those months fighting each other, and now that we were together, it would have been too cruel for words if Athrun had died in this battle. "Thank you. Just don't scare me like that."

I opened the hatch and grabbed the assault rifle beside my cockpit. I only had two clips for it, I was going to need to use the ammunition wisely. The advantage of zero gravity would be that there wouldn't be much of a recoil, since the gun was weightless just like I was. I would be an elite shot, like I had been a soldier my whole life.

However, so would anyone else. Zero gravity was the great equalizer.

Dearka and I floated to Athrun, who had taken cover behind a half-wrecked GINN. "What's the plan?" Dearka asked.

"We track her down and kill her," Athrun said. "Watch yourselves. We're in a vacuum. We can't hearanything, and our bullets' ranges are gonna be reduced. Also, one hit and you're basically dead, no matter where you get hit."

Coming in here after her seemed more and more like a stupid decision to me.

I leaned out, and suddenly saw a bullet immediately head straight for me. I ducked back to let it pass by.

My heart slammed against my chest and I felt like collapsing. If it weren't for the vacuum I would have had my head blown off right then and there.

"Cagalli?" Athrun asked.

"S-She already took a shot at me. She's . . . she's somewhere up ahead," I managed. I didn't want to imply how close of a call I just had.

"Damn it, we're pinned down," Dearka growled.

"No, we're not," Athrun replied. "Cagalli, blind-fire in her general direction. Dearka and I will sneak up on her and kill her."

"All right," I managed. I peeked my rifle out and did exactly what Athrun told me to do, blind-fire. I used up five three-round bursts, and then ducked back, to see Athrun and Dearka had both vanished. I was alone.

I wanted to throw up.

I couldn't hear a single damn thing in this vacuum and it was scaring me. She could come from anywhere, at any time, and I had no clue where Athrun and Dearka could be.

I kept looking back and forth, up and down, waiting for Selena Hikowa to appear and try to kill me. I thought about changing out my half-empty clip, but my hands were shaking so much that I wasn't sure if I could pull it off without screwing up.

All I could hear were the sounds of my own short, ragged, fearful breaths, waiting for death to come from any possible direction.

Then I heard Athrun. "Cagalli! We found her! She went into a pressurization chamber, she's going to head inside the base!"

I almost breathed a sigh of relief. That meant that Selena wasn't going to kill me the moment I left my cover.

"I'm on my way!" I replied, and floated out from my cover and went straight for Athrun and Dearka. They were floating by a door, and Dearka was clearly trying to force his way inside.

Finally, Dearka punched the door in frustration. "I can't override the security protocols! She's gonna get inside!"

"No, she's not," Athrun said grimly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, and then I saw it.

A satchel charge.

"You're gonna blow her up," I said.

"We have no choice," Athrun replied.

I heard a click as Athrun moved us onto the general channel. "Selena Hikowa, I know you're in there! It's going to take thirty more seconds for the chamber to fully pressurize so you can head inside the base! However, I have a satchel charge set to five seconds! You can either surrender, or die when I blow this charge and suck you back out here!"

Hikowa sighed. "You really think this is over, do you, child?"

"Is that a 'no', then?" Athrun asked.

A pause. "I suppose so."

"So be it." Athrun slammed the charge on the door and activated the timer. "Everyone, back off!'

Hikowa laughed. "You think you're doing the right thing, children? Let me tell you this, at the rate this is going, we're all going to die, all because we thought we were doing-"

The door blew open, and I heard Hikowa cry out as she was sucked back out into the same chamber we were. She was scrambling to get her weapon in position to fire, but both Athrun and Dearka aimed at her and fired first.

Blood gushed from multiple holes in her spacesuit and I saw Hikowa's visor shatter, and I looked away. I did not want to see this woman's horrible death.

Athrun took a long, deep breath, and exhaled. "All right. We got her. I'm going to inform Captain Ades, and then we're going to head back out and clean up the remaining resistance."

It amazed me how distant Athrun was. But I didn't say anything. I wasn't a rookie anymore, and I knew why Athrun was being distant.

He needed to disconnect himself from the people he killed in order to move on.

I couldn't help but wonder how long he could do that without losing what made him . . . Athrun.


Captain Fredrick Ades greeted us all personally on the bridge after that mission. "Excellent job, all of you. We wiped out Hikowa's entire group, either by taking them prisoner or otherwise eliminating their resistance."

I didn't feel like I had done anything worth congratulating over. I just felt like I had killed people. And for what?

Ades, as if sensing what I was thinking, continued on. "With our victory, Gracemeria will continue to hold this position and serve as an outpost in the debris belt to assist our fleet as we assemble for Spit Break. We all saved a lot of lives today. You are all dismissed."

"Yes, sir!" the other four pilots beside me all said, followed by the odd ZAFT salute. I barely remembered in time to mimic them, though I felt like I was still a second or so behind them.

"What's next for us?" Dearka asked as we left the bridge.

"Probably Spit Break itself," Nicol said. "Which means we're dropping into Panama."

"The Naturals have to have fortified Panama. They're stupid but not that stupid," Asta replied. "They'll be waiting for us."

"Yeah, but it's pretty damn clear to me they've got nothing that can match these Mobile Suits of ours. Especially the Justice. You saw that FATUM-00 thing Cagalli's got? That takes care of a ton of the work for us!"

"Not if it gets shot down," I replied.

"Well, it didn't, so why worry?" Dearka asked, presumably rhetorically.

"We can't get overconfident. Spit Break is going to be the largest offensive we've mustered in this war, and I am sure the Earth Alliance knows we'll be coming. Panama's too obvious of a target," Athrun said. "So yeah, we should worry. Even with us there, a lot of people are gonna die."

"Geez, what made you the wet blanket today?" Dearka sighed, but he didn't say anything more.

Athrun looked at all of us. "We should take as restful of a sleep as possible before tomorrow. Spit Break is due to begin any day now."

Oh sure, Athrun. Tell us to get a restful sleep and that Spit Break was due to begin? Counter-productive.

But everyone set off on their own, and I stayed in the hall by myself, left behind.

I thought about Hikowa, how she had built up that whole operation from scratch, and we just destroyed it all in a single battle.

Who's to say that couldn't happen to us, too?

That comforting thought followed me for the rest of the day . . . and into the night.


Operation Spit Break begins next chapter!