Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime

by lyokoMARVELanime

While searching the Debris Belts, Kira finds something else along with the life pod Lacus was in. How will the presence of a familiar Autobot Scout and his allies affect the lives aboard the Archangel? And what terrors will the Cosmic Era face when the war that began on a distant metal planet comes to Earth in the midst of the Bloody Valentine War?

26. 26: Prelude to the Final Battle

AN: CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!

[The sounds of a party ring out around the room]

Cagalli: Hey what's going on here?

Kira: Oh hey Cagalli where ya been?

Miriallia: Yeah we were beginning to wonder if you were ever going to show up for this.

Cagalli: Uh what are you talking about what is this?!

Arcee: We're all celebrating how close we are to making this lyokoMARVELanime's first completed fanfiction.

AN: Oh hey readers are here. That's right everybody, like Arcee said, this story is almost done, because with this chapter there are only three chapters remaining. The next two, and an epilogue to be exact.

Cagalli: Well why wasn't I invited to this.

Ironhide: I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that every time you're in here you try to kill the author.

Cagalli: That's not true!

AN: Oh really? Roll the file footage! [Plays a clip show of all the times Cagalli has tried to kill me]

Cagalli: Hey you were asking for it!

AN: Yeah sure. Oh by the way Cagalli, one of my reviewers sent this in to you, said you might want to use it the next time you try to give away a spoiler.

Cagalli: [reads off of tag] "To Cagalli, from Firem78910"? [opens package] A small umbrella? What's this going to do for me if I try to give away something like how Bumblebee will-

AN: DAH! SPOILER! [Hits a control that starts a loud rumbling sound]

Optimus: Run for cover!

[Cagalli looks to see large boulders falling towards her and futility tries to use the umbrella to save herself]

AN: Okay so while Cagalli's caught in that rock shower, and while the rest of us are continuing the festivities, let's get you guys on with the story.

Everyone but Cagalli: lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

---

Chapter 26: Prelude to the Final Battle

Rau Le Creuset was not going to lie; he was exhausted. The masked soldier had just returned to his quarters from a meeting with Yzak and the rest of the pilots and crew of the Vesalius on the matters involving the escape of Athrun and the Clyne Faction along with the Eternal. Needless to say, it came as a shock to a lot of them that Andrew Waltfeld was a member of the Clyne Faction, but it was not all that surprising to consider after one thought about what the famed Desert Tiger's character was like. At any rate, the Vesalius had been ordered to pursue them and do whatever it takes to end this little problem of Chairman Zala's.

"You look exhausted," Flay commented as she floated over to stand next to him. The red haired girl had also been part of the meeting with the others and she herself was constantly wondering why these people of the Clyne Faction would do something like what they had done. After spending time among Z.A.F.T. Flay found that she was questioning her beliefs about these people, but it was not by all that much.

Rau turned to Flay as he replied, "Even I am only human my dear. I've lived a life from battlefield to battlefield, and I can't really disagree if you say it's my fault for being a soldier and choosing this life, but nobody is ever born into this world as a soldier."

Flay only hummed in understanding at that as she thought back to how her life was before she was dragged into the war herself, silently wishing that she good go back to those times now. "I'd like nothing more than to put an end to that forever," Rau continued on. "You agree with me don't you?"

Flay's look of hope and wonder was all that Le Creuset needed to confirm that she did agree, and the masked man then pulled out a small computer disc from his drawer that he held up before him. "I have the final key in my hands, but if the key stays here then that final door will never open. I wish I could open that door as soon as possible," Rau then told Flay, and that statement was all the prompting Flay needed to gaze in awe at the small disc that the man held in his hands.

"Where…where does this key need to go in order to work," Flay stuttered.

Le Creuset mentally smirked seeing that the girl had bought what he was telling her completely. "If the key is to truly work then it must reach the Earth Forces because it may very well end this war," Rau replied. "Why do you ask?"

Flay then knew what she wanted to say and do then. "Let me take it to them. I…I want to end this war as quickly as possible. If this can do that then there's no reason why I shouldn't try and get it there," Flay begged.

Le Creuset visibly smirked this time as he stood up and patted the girl's shoulder as he said, "Thank you my dear, and I will be sure to take you up on that offer, but not because you asked for this. It's because you are the only one who can get this key to that final door, but don't think that you can take it there just yet. There are some things that must happen first before then, so are you willing to wait until that time?"

Flay hesitated only for a minute before she nodded with a half scared, half determined look on her face and Le Creuset then dismissed her from the room saying he needed a moment to himself. Once Flay had gone, Le Creuset pulled out a device from his desk and activated it. A moment later, a secret communication line was opened to Megatron. "Everything is ready. The one who will take the final key to its door has agreed to help us get it there Lord Megatron," the masked man reported.

"Excellent Le Creuset," Megatron's voice replied. "Now we need only wait for the correct time to send her on her way. I trust you are about to head for the Mendel Colony now?"

"Indeed we are," Le Creuset replied. "And soon enough these wars shall be on the threshold of their ends."

The two then began to cackle like maniacs at this thought and any who heard them would think that it could only mean that something terrible was about to happen which would affect the entire universe.

---

At the Mendel Colony itself, the members of the Four Ships Alliance were meeting aboard the Omega II to discuss the recent developments and intel that Lacus and the rest of the crewmembers of the Eternal had discovered before they had left Z.A.F.T. Everyone who was a major part of the group was present save for Athrun who was still reeling from what had happened during his encounter with his father and Megatron.

"Our immediate concern is most likely the moon," Lacus revealed, taking the lead on the meeting. "I hear that now that they've recaptured Victoria the Earth Forces have been continuously sending up troops."

"Do you think they're planning to launch an all-out attack on the PLANTs," Murrue then asked.

"Their military is full of people who've always wanted to pull off that kind of stunt 'for the preservation of our blue and pure world'," Waltfeld reminded them all, saying that last quote in a mocking tone.

"What's the human expression I'm thinking of again? Barf me," Wheeljack asked.

"Nah Jackie, it's gag me," Jazz corrected.

"Oh yeah that's the one. Seriously though, that is a major load of scrap," the sword wielding wrecker scowled.

"Hey they're the ones saying it not me," Waltfeld shrugged. "I can't see how getting rid of all the Coordinators would lead to a pure world though. I don't even know what a pure world is. Hey Mister Prime, any of that wisdom of your predecessors give you some kind of clue on that?"

"Sadly I cannot say that it truly does, for we Autobots do not know what a pure world truly is since all many of today's Cybertronians only know of our home world," Optimus answered. "Though I suppose that the golden age of Cybertron from many eons ago would be close to such a thing, I doubt that would be true, for our world had never felt the wrath of war, nor had it ever faced extermination until now. In my opinion, the greatest of hardships is what brings about a true peaceful, pure world and without those hardships, we would only live in a false dream."

"Wise words indeed Optimus Prime," Lacus complimented. She then nodded for Waltfeld to continue what he was saying before, seeing that he had something else to say on the matter.

"Well even if we don't know the true answer to what a pure world is, I can understand how the people on the PLANTs must feel about being attacked for such an incomprehensible reason," Waltfeld continued from where he left off. "On the other hand, the guys who are running the PLANTs look at Naturals as nothing more than vermin. Of course they have every right to fight back and defend themselves, if only to ensure that history never repeats, but the question is how long will the cycle continue?"

Murrue looked down as she stated a fact that everyone had to agree with. "We live in such a cruel era."

"Whatever human beings have begun other human beings can then put a stop to, and I'm sure that the same can be said for the people of Cybertron," Lacus then stated. "In any era of history, of any world, there were always many people who felt as we are feeling now." Lacus then turned to smile at Kira as she finished. "Don't you want to try and bring about an era where that isn't necessary?"

Kira returned Lacus's smile as he replied, "You bet."

Bumblebee then beeped and whirred something that seemed to get all the Autobots to chuckle a bit, even Optimus surprisingly. "What's so funny? What'd he say," Miriallia asked.

Kira smirked a bit as he translated, "And I thought Optimus gave really moving, inspirational speeches. Bee's words, not mine."

At that everyone else began to let out a light chuckle as the meeting came to a close, with the only other thing to be mentioned would be the transfer of the Freedom and the Justice to the Eternal, since the former Z.A.F.T. ship was designed for the exclusive use of those two mobile suits. None of them ever noticing that Cagalli had left. Well none of them other than Arcee, who smirked knowing where the blonde girl had gone to, or rather who the girl had gone to find.

---

Athrun had come to the Omega II with everyone else, but as soon as he got the chance, he had slipped away to another part of the ship to gaze off into space. Ever since his return from the PLANTs and his talk with his father, Athrun could barely get a moments rest as the memory kept coming back to him. He was even having nightmares where his father had gone so horrible that he literally turned into another version of Megatron, except with armor that was the same color as his Z.A.F.T. uniform. Dreadwing had tried to do what he could for the poor boy, but sadly there was only so much that he could do, and the former Decepticon was now just hoping that someone could help Athrun.

Thankfully for Dreadwing, his prayers were about to be answered as Cagalli came around the corner calling out, "So here's where you've been hiding."

Athrun then turned to see Cagalli coming over to him, barely noticing anything else at the moment as the blonde said, "I bet your head's like a hamster running in its wheel right now. Your mind's getting nowhere just going around and around in circles. That's why you need to talk to everyone, so when we have a meeting you should be there too."

Athrun found that Cagalli was right in what she was saying, and simply replied saying, "Thanks Cagalli."

Cagalli then glance at Athrun's arm that was still bandaged up in a sling before asking, "Does it hurt?"

Athrun gave her a small smile, trying to hide the true answer to her question, as he replied, "No."

"Of course it does," Cagalli argued. "You were shot by your own father."

Athrun looked away sadly, seeing that Cagalli had hit the nail right on the head without even trying. "I tried, but I just couldn't stop my father," Athrun told the blonde. "That was when I finally knew that there was nothing I could do, and that I didn't understand a thing."

Cagalli sympathized with Athrun for a minute, knowing that his statement applied to a lot more than just his father before she went on to say, "We're all like that. Nobody understands, and the people who think they do are only kidding themselves. Besides, it's still too soon to give up on your father. I know that it seems like he has fallen to Megatron's level but I'm sure that there's still a chance for you to get through to him, and you've got lots of time to have a real talk with him. So stop standing around and looking so down in the mouth and…"

Cagalli found that she could not finish what she was saying, as she was suddenly caught off guard by Athrun wrapping her in a warm, thankful hug which made her face start to heat up instantly. "I'm sorry," Athrun whispered to her.

"What are you," Cagalli tired to ask.

"Well just that. I'm sorry," Athrun replied. At that point, Cagalli just melted and returned Athrun's hug, both feeling that they needed this right now.

---

A few hours later, the Four Ships Alliance members were hard at work preparing the ships and themselves for action. Mu and three of Cagalli's mobile suit pilot friends were hard at work loading supplies onto the ships, with Mu stating that he thought of this as part of his mobile suit pilot training, the Autobots were checking over their weapons and supplies along with making sure that the Omega II was ready for action, and Kira and Athrun were preparing to transfer their mobile suits over to the Eternal while the Archangel decided to keep the Perfect Strike, the Buster, and the Blitz. Everything seemed to be going rather smoothly for them, but that could only mean that something was about to happen that would get everyone on edge.

That something happened much sooner than most of them would have liked. Just when Kira and Athrun had climbed into the cockpits of their machines, the Archangel's sensors went off. "Large heat sources approaching ma'am," Sai reported to Murrue, the shock evident in his voice. "Looks like a warship class and a Decepticon ship. Distance seven hundred, orange eleven, mark eighteen alpha. Checking library…not listed."

"Archangel to Omega II," Murrue called out. "We've just detected a pair of possible enemy ships. Can you confirm?"

"Done and done," Hound reported. "One of them is of the same class as the Havoc, the ship that had pursued us on Earth, but the markings aren't the same as one of Megatron's usual ships. It might be Starscream."

"Roger that," Murrue replied as she then switched over to the general call. "All hands to level one battle stations!"

"Autobots, prepare to roll out," Optimus ordered. "Wreckers, ready weapons and prepare for combat on the upper deck. Dreadwing, Aerialbots, prepare to launch from all launch tubes. All other hands are to report to either weapons stations or the bridge."

Just as everyone was at their stations, an explosion shook the colony. "Prime, that blast had an energy signature that matched that of the Archangel's positron cannon," Ironhide reported.

"Archangel, taking off! We've gotta get outside," Murrue then announced. "What's the Kusanagi's status?"

"We're ready to launch," Kisaka reported.

"We're still making a few final adjustments to the Eternal," Waltfeld then reported.

"And the Omega II," Murrue then asked.

"We are ready to roll," Jazz replied.

"Very well," Murrue answered. "The Eternal will be better off inside the harbor for now. We'll know what they're after once we find out if they're Z.A.F.T. and Megatron or Earth Forces and Starscream."

"Understood," the other three ship commanders replied.

"Omega II, roll out," Optimus then ordered. "We'll cover the Archangel until the Kusanagi has launched."

With that said, the two ships launched out of the harbor of the Mendel Colony and off into battle once more. Once they were outside, they were certain that they were within the enemy's communications and sensor range, and the two ships had all their weapons primed. Kira, Athrun, Mu, Dearka, and Nicol were all waiting to launch from the Archangel, while the Aerialbots and Dreadwing were waiting to do the same from the Omega II just as Hound, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack arrived on the upper deck of the ship. Jazz and Bumblebee had taken up positions at the Omega II's helm, with Ironhide and Arcee manning the main weapons controls, and Optimus and Elita taking the captain's and first officer's positions on the bridge. Before any of them could make another move, one of the enemy ships opened a communication line to them, and they all heard an all-too familiar voice calling out.

"This is the Earth Alliance Forces mobile assault ship, Dominion. Archangel, Omega II, do you read me," Natarle Badgiruel's voice called out to them, shocking everyone who recognized her voice. "The military has classified you as renegade ships. We therefore demand your immediate surrender. Your ships will be destroyed if you fail to comply."

Everyone could only sit there in shock at the realization that the Earth Forces had sunk so low that they were sending out their former crewmate and friend after them like this, but they were in for another shock given what Miriallia was about to report. "Captain, we have a visual image of the enemy ship."

"Same here," Ironhide reported to Optimus. A moment later, both ships had brought up an image of the Dominion on both of their monitors.

"By the AllSpark," Optimus gasped.

"It's…a black Archangel," Bumblebee buzzed.

"The same class as ours," Sai exclaimed.

A moment afterwards, the familiar face of Natarle herself appeared on the main monitors of the Archangel and the Omega II. "Captain Ramius, Optimus Prime. It's been sometime," Natarle commented, hoping to keep things as friendly as possible.

"Yes it has," Murrue replied, while Optimus kept silent, letting the situation between the two women play out first before he said anything.

"I regret having to meet you two again under these circumstances."

"So do I," Murrue told her former second in command sadly.

"I heard about what happened at Alaska. Nevertheless I strongly urge you both to surrender so you can discuss the matter with the authorities. I don't have much influence, but I'll do everything I can to help you, and you're well aware of this ship's capabilities."

"Natarle, thanks for your concern," Murrue began. "But we cannot do as you ask. This isn't only about what happened at Alaska. We have serious doubts about the Earth Forces in their entirety. No surrender, no return to the military!"

"But Captain Ramius," Natarle began, but she was then interrupted by a smug voice from off-screen.

"That exchange was fascinating. Oh captain, you should be embarrassed. There would be no conflict in this world if everything could be solved through discussion. Misunderstandings create enemies, and when you have enemies you shoot them."

"Director Azrael," Natarle tried to protest, but she did not get any farther than that on either end of the communication line.

"Natarle Badgiruel," Optimus then called out, speaking for the first time in this communication. "Though we were once allies, if you side with a force that allies with the Decepticons, whether they be Starscream's or Megatron's, then you will have made yourself just as much our enemy as they are. I honestly do not wish to fight against another friend Natarle, but circumstances have forced my kind to fight against friends and even brothers far too often in our own war. I know not how Starscream had secured an alliance with the Earth Forces nor how they are truly connected to Blue Cosmos beyond Azrael, but I do know this, so long as one sides with any Decepticon force such as Starscream's or Megatron's, they will always risk facing their own destruction. I doubt I really need to remind you of this, but I will say this once again. The Autobots and their allies will never surrender!"

"Now, now Prime," Starscream's voice now sounded. "Just because she's playing for a winning team now doesn't mean you can just write her off so easily or accuse her superiors of having any part of some terrorist group."

"I must agree," Azrael then commented, but before either of them could say anymore, Optimus interrupted them both. Not even the last Prime wants to hear a pair of egomaniacs rant on all day like their plan was to talk people to death.

"And as for the two of you," Optimus warned, his tone reaching dangerous levels that sent shivers down both Azrael's and Starscream's spines. "Starscream and Azrael, be gone!"

Whether it was out of fear or anger, one could only guess when Azrael gave his next order, "Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider, launch! Today we destroy the indestructible Archangel!"

Starscream's tone was much more clearly anger. "Combaticons and Insecticon swarms, attack! Today we of the Armageddon will destroy the mighty Omega II and accomplish the one thing that Megatron never could. The destruction of the invincible Optimus Prime!"

"Captain, mobile suits are launching from the Dominion," Miriallia then reported.

"Prime, I've got id matches on the boogies launching from Starscream's vessel," Ironhide reported.

"All mobile suits launch," Murrue ordered.

"Roger," Kira replied. "Kira Yamato, Freedom, let's do it!"

"Mu La Flaga, Perfect Strike, here I go!"

"Athrun Zala, launching Justice!"

"Dearka Elsman, Buster. I'm ready!"

"Nicol Amalfi, Blitz. Heading out!"

Shortly following each of these declarations, the pilots had blasted out of the Archangel and into action in their mobile suits. Not a moment later, Optimus then ordered, "Dreadwing, Aerialbots, launch now!"

"Roger that," Silverbolt replied. "Aerialbots taking off!" And just as the silver, space shuttle Autobot flyer had declared, the five Aerialbots had taken off and flown into action once more.

"This is Dreadwing, I'm moving to engage the enemy," Dreadwing then shouted as he too blasted off after the Aerialbots, and thus the unsung signal for the battle to begin was sent.

The effect was almost instantaneous, as the two ships and their forces had soon engaged in battle. While the Insecticons tired to make a run for the Omega II, the Combaticons occupied the Aerialbots, but these efforts were all for not, as the Wreckers were quick to blow the bugs into space dust before most of them could land on the ship and the ones who did had the pleasure of meeting the business end of Wheeljack's swords or one of Bulkhead's wrecking balls. Meanwhile, the Buster, the Blitz, and the Perfect Strike were quick to get to work covering the Archangel while Kira and Athrun engaged the three machines from the Earth Forces once more.

"They want these guys intact," the Raider's pilot, Clotho, stated.

"How about just one of them," the Forbidden's pilot, Shani, asked.

"I don't think they'll mind that much so long if they get just one," the Calamity's pilot, Orga, replied as he let loose a volley from his machine's cannons.

It was not long into the fighting that the Kusanagi had finally joined the battle, and from where she was on the bridge, Cagalli could see Silverbolt engaging Onslaught in hand to hand combat, which showed just how much a zero gravity environment could even the playing field for Cybertronians whether they were ground or air based. The Kusanagi then maneuvered to try and cover the Archangel's port side, seeing that the Omega II was covering their starboard side, when suddenly the ship lurched to a stop.

"What happened," Kisaka demanded.

"The ship's caught in some kind of cable," the Kusanagi's helmsman reported. "We can't move!"

"Asagi, whatever that is I want you to cut if off this ship now," Kisaka ordered.

"Roger," the Astray pilot replied as she headed out to do just as she was asked, but she was not going to be doing so alone or without cover, as Optimus had noticed the Orb ship's problem as well.

"Wing Saber, Wheeljack," Optimus began.

"Way ahead of ya Optimus," Wheeljack replied as he ran to jump off the Omega II. "Hey Saber, I could use a lift to get me there faster."

"Let me know when you're ready," Wing Saber replied as he flew over.

"I just did!" A moment after he had said that, Wheeljack jumped off of the ship, landing on Wing Saber minutes afterwards, and the two flew over to the Kusanagi at the Aerialbot's top speed. Just before they could reach the Astray cutting the Kusanagi free though, the Forbidden had flown up to try and tear the poor girl apart. Thankfully that was avoided thanks to a last minute save by the Justice.

"What are you guys doing? Hurry," Athrun urged them.

"Not to worry Athrun, after all I'm the best Wrecker there is at what I do, and what I do isn't pretty," Wheeljack stated.

"Hey Jackie, I think you've been watching one too many of a particular brand of Earth movies," Bulkhead commented when he heard that over his comm.

"Well can you blame me? Those movies are good, for the most part. Besides doesn't make it any less true," Wheeljack called out as he leaped from Wing Saber's back and whipped out his swords, telling Asagi to stand clear as he did. The Astray pilot had moved away just before the Wrecker let loose a double slash on the cable holding the Kusanagi where it was before he leaped aside to let Wing Saber finish the job.

It was a job that Wing Saber was quick to finish as he transformed to his robot mode, and flicked his right arm outward, extending one of his wrist blades as he charged in. Once he was close enough, Wing Saber let loose a mighty diagonal slash on the cable, severing it cleanly in two and freeing the Kusanagi up to continue in the battle.

Things seemed to look up for the three ships for a moment, until the Archangel found herself under fire from the Dominion after the black ship had maneuvered around to try and blindside them without anyone noticing. Though the Archangel was quick to avoid the initial attack, they were then instantly assaulted by a missile bombardment that Natarle had sent out in advance. The Omega II and the Freedom tried to intercept the missiles but they were not fast enough and the white ship was hit, a fact that was made no easier by the fact that the Armageddon had pulled a similar trick on the Omega II that the Dominion had on the Archangel.

Before anyone could react any further, both the Dominion and the Raider and Calamity had opened fire on the Freedom, and the Autobots were kept pinned down to prevent them from helping Kira. That was not going to stop the young Coordinator though. Thinking quickly, Kira entered SEED Burst mode and blasted apart all the missiles with the Freedom's guns before they could hit. He then noticed the Raider launching its mace at him, but he was not quick enough to dodge it in time. Kira then found himself having to do everything he could just stay ahead of the Calamity's guns, but at the same time he was still taking hits from the Raider whenever it came around to attack him.

Seeing his friend in trouble, Athrun quickly dealt with the Forbidden by damaging its shields with one of the Justice's beam boomerangs and then slicing apart the Forbidden's scythe with his duel beam saber. Athrun then gunned the Justice over at top speed as he too entered SEED Burst mode and blocked what would have been a devastating blast on the Freedom from the Calamity with the Justice's shield, which he then pushed back until the beam ended up damaging the Calamity more than it did anything else. Though the Justice's shield did take some damage from doing this, it was well worth the effort to have disabled one of the Calamity's cannons. Suddenly, both Athrun and Kira were being fired upon from three direction. At one side was the Raider, at the other was the Combaticon known as Brawl, and from the final direction was Hardshell.

"Tear ugly mobile zuitzzz apart," Hardshell buzzed.

"Normally I'd be a bit sad about blasting apart something with such fire power, but I'll make an exception in this case," Brawl stated as he fired his cannons at the two mobile suits.

"Just get them," Clotho hollered as he charged in.

Kira and Athrun quickly took evasive action as they did their best to avoid the multi-sided assault until Brawl was suddenly hit by a missile barrage courtesy of Air Raid and Hardshell was knocked back by Wing Saber's wrist blade, forcing the Insecticon to engage him in close combat. With the two Decepticons now occupied, Kira and Athrun now found themselves freed up to deal with the Raider and the other two enemy mobile suits should they attempt to rejoin the fight.

Amidst all this action and chaos though, Wheeljack was the first to notice something was off about their side of the fight. "Hey did you guys see what happened to the Perfect Strike and the Buster," the sword wielding Wrecker asked as he blasted apart an Insecticon drone with his Path Blaster.

The question was a well deserved one, because the two mentioned suits had seemed to have vanished from the battlefield. "I think that Mister Mu said something about Z.A.F.T. being nearby and headed back towards the colony. Dearka went to go give him some backup because he was concerned about it," Nicol replied.

"How the Pits does Mu know that Z.A.F.T. is even near here," Wheeljack asked.

"I'm not sure, but he said something like 'It's that guy'," Nicol replied. At this response, Wheeljack's optics narrowed as he suddenly remembered something Mu had once told him back during the mission in which he and the others had first encountered the Decimators on Earth. Namely how Mu had told him about an archenemy he had.

"I'm going to go after them," Wheeljack stated. "They might need the help."

"Whoa Jackie you can't go alone, at least take some backup," Bulkhead stated.

"Have you forgotten Bulk? Wreckers don't call for backup," Wheeljack began with a smirk.

"THEY CALL FOR CLEAN UP," the three Wreckers all shouted together as Bulkhead and Hound blasted apart enough Insecticons to clear a path for Wheeljack back to the colony. A path that Dreadwing had quickly flown through as well.

"Hey weren't you listening to what we were just saying," Wheeljack asked the former follower of Megatron.

"I was and I'm not coming as backup. I'm coming as support, that is unless the Wreckers suddenly don't call for that either," Dreadwing remarked.

Wheeljack just smirked as he told Dreadwing, "Heh, I think we're going to get along better and better everyday Dread." With that said, Dreadwing allowed Wheeljack to hitch a ride as the two raced to catch up with Mu and Dearka.

---

Dreadwing and Wheeljack caught up with Mu and Dearka in no time at all, and the four then raced into the colony, passing the Eternal as they did. "Hey what is it," Waltfeld called out over the pink ship's communicator.

"He says Z.A.F.T. is here," Dearka answered.

"Yeah, it's that guy," Mu finished, the hostility in his voice not going unnoticed by Wheeljack, which confirmed his suspicions on who it was that Mu was talking about.

"In any case, we're gonna go over to check. This might be trouble if he's right, and I doubt my usual signature would be all that good to use inside of this place," Wheeljack told them.

"We'll make do either way," Dreadwing stated as he increased his thruster velocity. "We can only hope that it is only Z.A.F.T. and not Megatron's forces, but I highly doubt that is the case."

With that said, the communication line went dead and Waltfeld set down the phone like device that he was using to call the team that was going in that direction. "Aisha," Waltfeld asked.

"There is a harbor on the other side, so it only makes sense that Z.A.F.T. might try to get in through there in order to try and attack us, or at least send out a scouting team," Aisha replied.

"While they're doing that then, please hurry with the launch of the Eternal," Lacus requested. "As long as we're stuck in here, we have no choice but to leave everything in the hands of others."

"You're right," Waltfeld agreed. "DaCosta! Hurry it up."

With that said, everyone began to redouble their efforts to complete the final adjustments on the Eternal.

---

Back outside with the main battle, the Freedom and the Justice were giving their three opponents a real run for their money now, but the Forbidden had become especially fixated on the Justice after what Athrun's attack had done to him. As they fought against them, Kira and Athrun noticed that the Aerialbots had now gone into a full on brawl with the Combaticon while Bulkhead and Hound were engaged in battle against the three Insecticon leaders, not that the two were having problems with the three against two odds, if anything Bulkhead thought that if the Insecticon leaders got about six or nine more guys then it would be close to an even fight.

As for the four battling ships, the Archangel and the Omega II were quickly beginning to outmaneuver and push back the Dominion and the Armageddon respectively, and with the Kusanagi closing in to turn the odds in their favor, it seemed that the two ships of the Four Ships Alliance were about to become victorious in this battle. This fact was proven to be true even more so when the Dominion was forced to evade a blast from the Kusanagi's two Gottfried cannons. At the rate things were going, it was only a matter of time before one of the two sides' ships were sunk, but that was a chance that some were not willing to take.

Just as the battle was nearing the moment of heating up to the point of one side being completely devastated, a flash of three signal flares lit up the skies from the direction of the Dominion, showing that the dark ship was preparing to make a temporary withdrawal. This action was then mirrored by an order from the Armageddon to retreat as well. Though not everyone was going to listen to this order.

Shani was still raving in anger as he tried to take down the Justice, so it seemed that he would not be listening to his orders to withdraw. It was not until Clotho and Orga snapped enough sense into him to get him to see reason, and the three immediately retreated back to the Dominion as fast as they could.

As the victors of this battle watched their foes retreat, Murrue could not help but sadly comment, "Even her retreats are well executed."

Everyone stared after their enemies for another moment before Bulkhead shook himself out of it enough to contact Kira and Athrun asking, "Hey Kira, Athrun, you guys doing okay?"

"As much as I can be expected to be," Kira stated somewhat sadly, still thinking about how he just had to fight Natarle.

"Yeah I'm okay too," Athrun replied. "But those three pilots are really…"

"Yeah we know Athrun," Jazz stated from the bridge. "They're something else if they could keep up with you guys as well as they could. Almost hard to believe that they're regular military for the Earth Forces."

"Yeah but there's something else," Kira implied, getting everyone's attention. "I don't think those three are Naturals."

"Are you saying that they're Coordinators," Arcee asked.

"No not exactly. They're definitely not Coordinators either," Kira replied. "I don't know what they are, but they're definitely not normal."

Everyone let that hang for a minute as their own forces began to return to their respective ships in silence and exhaustion until Waltfeld spoke up over everyone's comms. "Hey anyone heard from La Flaga, Elsman, Wheeljack, or Dreadwing?"

That got everyone worried instantly, some people more so than others. "We haven't heard anything since they went into the colony to investigate La Flaga's hunch," Ironhide replied from his station on the Omega II.

"Wheeljack, this is Elita on the Omega II, do you read," Elita asked. When she received no response she tried again this time calling out, "Omega II to Dreadwing, please respond."

"We're not getting through to the colony interior," Jazz stated as he ran scans to see what was wrong. "This can't be right…according to our scans there's some kind of energy signal blocking our transmissions, but that shouldn't be possible unless there was some kind of energon supply springing up inside the colony."

"Didn't Dreadwing mention that the 'Cons thought it was possible for these colonies to start artificially creating energon on their own given time," Arcee asked.

"If that is the case, then it seems we are seeing the results and confirmations of those theories now," Optimus stated.

"Dearka? Dearka," they all then heard Miriallia call out, hoping to get better results. "Commander…It's no use. Our signals just aren't reaching the colonies interior any better than the Omega II's."

"I'll go find them," Kira then volunteered. "Meanwhile you can resupply and make repairs."

"Nothing's wrong with the Justice, so I'll go as well," Athrun then offered.

"No," Kira declined. "I think the Dominion and the Armageddon may not have made complete withdrawal just yet. You'd better stay here for now Athrun."

"You sure?"

"I'll be fine. I'll stay out of trouble," Kira answered in a reassuring tone.

"All the same Kira Yamato, it would still be unwise for you to go alone. For that reason, I shall accompany you as well," Optimus then told the young man, his own tone saying that there was no room for arguments.

"Thanks Optimus," Kira told his the Autobot leader, and in no time at all, the two were blasting off into the colony to see what was keeping Mu, Dearka, Wheeljack, and Dreadwing. What they would find though would not be a welcoming sight for any of them.

---

Sometime before Natarle and the rest of her forces had withdrawn from the battle outside, Mu and the three had entered the colony's interior at long last to discover whether or not Z.A.F.T. really was coming at them from behind. As soon as they were inside, Mu did not need to see the enemy units to know that Rau Le Creuset was here, the visual confirmation only served two purposes. One purpose was to see that Le Creuset was in a new model mobile suit and the other was that he was not alone, because the Duel and a team of five Decepticons were with him as well, but there was also one other Decepticon there as well, and this one had a vehicle form of a silver Cybertronian fighter jet with a large cannon on top.

At the sight of the jet, Dreadwing snarled in recognition as he prepared to blast forward with an angered shout of, "MEGATRON!"

"Dreadwing wait," Wheeljack shouted, but it was too late as they were already caught up in a fire fight against the six Decepticons while Dearka and Mu had quickly engaged the enemy mobile suits.

Dreadwing was immediately caught up in a dog fight against his former master, as Megatron half cackled, half snarled, "I did not originally believe Slipstream's report of your treachery Dreadwing, but now I see that it is true. Whatever would Skyquake say to this?"

"Don't you dare talk about Skyquake, especially after what you had done to him," Dreadwing shouted as he let loose a volley. Megatron expertly dodged all of Dreadwing's shots easily as he continued to cackle in realization.

"So that's it," Megatron shouted. "You discovered of what happened to Skyquake. You should feel honored that your brother played such a pivotal role in furthering the Decepticons' efforts for victory."

"Don't talk like you know anything about honor!"

Megatron was quick to swerve aside from the volley of missiles that Dreadwing shot before he proclaimed, "While I would love to continue to debate this matter Dreadwing, I'm afraid I have other things to attend to, but do not worry I won't let you become bored. Scrapper, you and the Constructicons deal with the traitor and his little friends."

"Yes sir Lord Megatron," the Constructicon leader replied. "Constructicons, combine into Devastator!"

A moment later, the five green colored Decepticons had all merged together to form a large powerful warrior of their own, much in a way similar to how the Aerialbots and the Combaticons combined to form Superion and Bruticus respectively. Seeing this, Dearka took a moment to blast Yzak enough to get some information on this new foe. "Hey one of you guys mind filling me in on who these guys are," the blonde asked Dreadwing and Wheeljack.

"They're called the Constructicons, the first team of Decepticon combiners," Wheeljack explained as he began firing shots at Devastator from his blaster. "Separately, they're known as Scavenger, Mixmaster, Long Haul, Hook, and their leader Scrapper. Normally they handle most of the Decepticons' major construction, repair, or demolition projects, but when they do go into battle they fight with the same kind of ferocity that they have when they're on a demolition project."

"Can we take 'em," Dearka then asked as he kept firing the Buster's rifles in an attempt to just keep the Duel away for a moment while they finished the conversation.

"You probably can't, but we can, so please leave them to Wheeljack and myself Dearka Elsman," Dreadwing requested. As soon as Dearka replied to say he understood, the three split off to face their separate opponents, with Wheeljack making a strong leap for Devastator with his swords drawn and ready for battle. This was an action that Dreadwing was quick to follow with his own swords.

While the two swordsmen were engaged with Devastator, Yzak had rushed the Buster crying out, "Bastard! How dare you use Dearka's machine!"

Said blonde could only growl at his friend's stubbornness and apparent idiocy, but at the same time he felt sorry for Yzak and himself, because it was obvious that they were now facing the same situation that Kira and Athrun had to face ever since Heliopolis. Finally, Dearka felt he had enough and opened a channel to the Duel calling out, "Yzak!"

That brought the silver haired man to a hard halt as soon as he recognized his friend's voice. "D-Dearka? Is it really you in there?"

"Yeah it's me," Dearka calmly replied to his friend as his face appeared on Yzak's monitor.

Yzak could not believe what he was hearing or seeing, and then his shock became anger as he demanded, "Why the hell are you fighting alongside the Strike? What happened to Nicol? What the hell is going on here?! I mean I'm really glad that you're alive, but man, I can't forgive you if this is what it looks like!"

Before either of them could say anymore, their attention was drawn by Devastator slamming Wheeljack into the ground. Dearka panicked for a moment, until a blast suddenly hit Devastator in the side of his head as a voice called out to the blonde and his friends. "Dearka, Wheeljack, Dreadwing!"

"Kira," Dearka exclaimed when he saw the blue winged mobile suit flying in with Optimus not far behind him.

"Optimus you're a sight for sore optics," Wheeljack commented as he got to his feet.

"Never mind that now. Megatron's here! He headed off in that direction just before you arrived," Dreadwing shouted as he indicated a large building a short ways away from where Mu and Le Creuset were fighting.

"Understood Dreadwing, can you and Wheeljack handle Devastator," Optimus asked as he fired some rounds at the large green combiner from his blaster.

"Hey we've lasted this long haven't we? I think we'll be fine so long as Mu and Dearka can handle their opponents," Wheeljack replied.

"Understood. Good luck then," Optimus told the two as he transformed and raced off in the direction that Dreadwing had indicated.

Kira was about to engage the Duel himself when Dearka suddenly got in both of their ways. "Kira please just let me handle this," Dearka requested.

"Are you sure," Kira asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright then, but please be careful. Remember what happened between Athrun and me," Kira then requested of Dearka, a request that Yzak heard and was then shocked by as he wondered what Athrun's connection to the Freedom pilot was.

With that dealt with, Kira took off in the Freedom to help Mu and Optimus, leaving Dearka to deal with Yzak. Seeing Kira had gone, Dearka opened his cockpit so that Yzak could see him from the Duel's and then asked, "Let's lower our weapons and talk okay Yzak?"

After a moment, Yzak agreed to do ask Dearka had asked and the two soon landed their machines. Once they had both climbed out, Dearka was ready to try and talk to his friend, but before he could so much as greet the silver haired man, Yzak raised a gun to the blonde.

"Did you think I was naïve enough to believe the words of an enemy," Yzak asked.

"Have I become your enemy now," Dearka sighed.

"You're the one who went off and joined the enemy," Yzak stated.

"…I don't remember making the decision to become your enemy," Dearka then said after a moment.

"Don't give me that, and you're a traitor as well," Yzak retorted.

"I don't remember betraying the PLANTs either."

"What are you saying," Yzak demanded.

Dearka looked to the side for a moment as he thought about all he had been through since he was taken prisoner aboard the Archangel, though most of those thoughts revolved around Miriallia, before he replied. "Listen I just can't quietly follow orders when it looks like all we're trying to do is wipe out every last Natural alive."

That gave Yzak reason to pause for a moment, as he thought back to what he had seen since Alaska and he began to wonder, was Dearka right?

---

Back with the battle between Mu and Le Creuset, the masked man had just used his machine's beam claws to slice Mu's Agni gun apart, and then began grabbling against Mu as he pulled out the Strike's anti-ship sword. "If it's my fate to be shot down by you, I thought this place would be appropriate," Le Creuset then revealed to Mu, catching the Hawk of Endymion of guard long enough for Le Creuset to kick him away. "However, it doesn't look like there's any chance of that happening. After all, how could the child ever hope to defeat the parent?!"

"What," Mu exclaimed, now thoroughly confused. What was this psychopath ranting on about now? It did not matter at the moment, as Mu quickly discarded the Launcher Striker portion of the Perfect Striker pack and charged. Before he could get close enough though, Le Creuset hit him with a pair of beam anchors, causing the Strike to lose an arm, and Mu's cockpit to explode a bit, before a piece of shrapnel cut his side.

"It appears destiny is as firmly on my side as Lord Megatron is," Le Creuset boasted. Before he could continue though, Le Creuset sensed someone else approaching, something that he did not think was possible with anyone other than La Flaga. The next thing he knew, the GuAIZ's rifle was blasted apart by a beam blast, and the Freedom had blasted onto their battlefield a moment after. A pair of beam shots, and a powerful slice from the Freedom's beam saber later, and Rau Le Creuset was sent crashing down.

The masked man was determined to not let this stop him though, so he quickly climbed out of his mobile suit and raced into one of the nearby facilities. As soon as he saw his old enemy trying to make a run for it, Mu was quick to start climbing out of the cockpit and start shooting at the other blonde. "How about we do it today? Let's end this," Le Creuset called out to Mu. "Come with me, and I myself will deliver your requiem."

"What's he up to now," Mu asked himself as he gave chase to the masked man. Seeing this, Kira quickly landed the Freedom and pulled out a side arm of his own, that being an energon pistol, and ran to catch up with the former Earth Forces commander as soon as Optimus had arrived on the scene and assumed robot mode.

Kira paused behind cover for a moment with Optimus, trying to listen for any sort of sound that would lead them to wherever Mu had disappeared to after entering the facility, until they heard the sound of gunshots and Le Creuset yelling out, "Do you have any idea what this place is Mu?"

"Why would I psycho," Mu yelled back in retort, prompting Kira and Optimus to begin racing over in the direction of his voice.

"It's such a crime for you not to know," Le Creuset called back once more.

Kira and Optimus then slowed their pace for a moment, never relaxing their guard at the seemingly endless silence that followed before they figured it was worth the risk and tried calling out to Mu themselves. "Hey Mu," Kira called out.

"Mu La Flaga, can you hear us," Optimus then shouted.

"No Kira, Optimus," Mu called back in fear for the two.

"How delightful it is that you could both join us Kira Yamato and Optimus Prime," Le Creuset then cackled. "Ah now I see. You're the Freedom's pilot Kira."

Kira and Optimus continued moving until they finally spotted Mu and ran over to him as quickly as possible. "Why did you two follow me," Mu demanded in a heated whisper.

"We weren't just going to wait around outside for you. Dreadwing said that Megatron was here," Kira explained, before adopting a slightly teasing tone. "Besides if anything happened to you what would I tell Murrue?"

"Heh, nosy kid," Mu jabbed back in reply with a small grin.

"Mu La Flaga, you are wounded," Optimus stated. Kira then looked to see that Optimus was right, as there was blood coming from one side of Mu's stomach.

"Don't worry it's nothing," Mu reassured them. "But Kira, there's something you should know. If you want to use that thing you should release the safety first."

Kira then glanced to his gun and saw that Mu was corrected. "I was wondering if you would notice that on your own," Optimus stated, showing a rare moment of jest for the last Prime.

"Don't be shy. Come along with me to the place where it all began," Le Creuset called out. "Kira, this is where you were born too, now wasn't it? Oh and don't think you'll be left out Optimus Prime, there's someone here that is especially eager to see you."

"Don't fall for his tricks," Mu quickly told Kira when he noticed Kira's eyes grow wide with shock for a moment. "No matter what he says don't believe a word of it."

"Oh I assure you mighty Hawk of Endymion, not everything my loyal prophet says is a trick," a deep, dark voice called out soon after, eliciting a growl from Optimus that Kira had only heard the last Prime give one time.

"Megatron," Optimus snarled. With that bit of recognition given, Optimus quickly armed his left blaster and pulled out the Star Saber from where it was being held, and then the three ran off to chase after the two madmen. A moment later, they found themselves in a strange laboratory with enormous vats surrounding the walkway that was above it. Kira then noticed that there were several strange containment units with what looked like growing babies inside of them, a sight that Optimus also noticed as well and that made even the last Prime slightly sick. So caught up in this was Kira, that he did not realize that he was being shot at until Mu pushed him down just before any of the shots could hit.

"Does it bring back memories Kira? You should know this place," Le Creuset continued to call out mockingly. Mu simply shot off a few more rounds as he ran in the direction of the door they came from, barely avoiding the blast from Megatron's fusion cannon as Optimus returned fire with his own blaster.

"Now Optimus, we mustn't deny the boy a chance to know of his true origins should we," Megatron mocked. "After all he has a right to know."

Optimus and Mu both snarled as the latter reloaded his gun while the former readied his blade for action. Mu then quickly opened fire on the direction Le Creuset had started to shoot him from as he ducked for cover in the next room, but he was not quick enough and ended up getting shot in his shoulder. Seeing this, Kira quickly raced over to Mu, avoiding Le Creuset's shots as he did to check to make sure that the former commander was okay.

Optimus was about to charge in as well when an eerie purple glow caught his attention. Reacting quickly, Optimus swung the Star Saber upwards as the blade began to glow blue as well, only to find himself locking the blade with one that was held by Megatron. The sight of the sword shocked Optimus greatly as it seemed to be a dark version of his own. "What have you done Megatron," Optimus demanded.

"I did nothing more than give the blade life," Megatron stated. "This mighty weapon is the result of when we were fighting to secure your precious Star Saber, and now thanks to the power of the dark energon that flows through me which resonated with your sword's energy, I have a weapon that is the equal to yours. The Dark Star Saber!"

Megatron then pushed Optimus back, leading the last Prime to bring up his blaster as he crouched next to Kira and Mu's position, just as Le Creuset stepped out of the shadows. "I'm not going to kill you," the masked man revealed. "After all I made you go through the trouble of coming all this way, so I'll let you live long enough to hear the whole story."

As he said that, Le Creuset tossed a framed picture over to where Kira was along with a book of pictures. When Kira and Mu looked they were shocked to see that the images were ones they both recognized. The framed photo was identical to the one that Lord Uzumi had given Cagalli, and one of the pictures that fell out of the book was one of Mu and his father. "Aren't you the least bit curious about the extent of humanity's insatiable desires," Le Creuset asked. "About the fools who pursued their insane dream in the name of progress, because after all Kira you're a child of this too!"

Optimus was about to charge again when Megatron readied his Fusion Cannon to fire. "I'd think carefully about staying put where you are Optimus," Megatron warned. "I must insist that you listen to this story, as it explains why Rau Le Creuset is the only one I could entrust to be my prophet of humanity's end."

Now Optimus was concerned, because if Megatron was referring to the masked soldier in this way, then there had to be a good reason. Whatever that reason was, it seemed that they were about to find out first hand. "This place is a forbidden temple," Le Creuset began. "The remnants of the dream of fools who thought they could play god. Did you ever suspect that the people you've called mother and father your whole life weren't your real parents Kira?"

Kira gasped for a moment, and found his hands shaking as he held the gun, wanting to shoot this man so badly but at the same time still wanting to hear just what he was implying. "Of course not. If you were aware you wouldn't have turned out the way you did. You wouldn't have turned out so normal, free of any sign of a tainted past. You know it never occurred to me, even when Athrun first brought up your name, you might be that child. I'd always thought that the twins had died, especially you. After all, along with your father Doctor Hibiki, you were the highest priority target of Blue Cosmos."

"What, but…," Kira gasped, barely able to comprehend all this.

"But you survived, grew and threw yourself into the war, and you survived that as well. Why do you think that is," Le Creuset continued to rant. "Your story is so unlikely that even I'm starting to become convinced that they were onto something. Maybe their crazy dream had some validity."

"I'm what?! What're you trying to say about me," Kira demanded.

"You are the dream of humanity, the ultimate Coordinator," Le Creuset finally revealed. "It was in pursuit of that dream that Doctor Hibiki created the artificial womb, and you were the only viable child that it ever produced. For that result, a very large number of your siblings were sacrificed."

At this revelation, Kira was beyond simply shocked, and Mu had to push him out of the way before Rau Le Creuset had a chance to shoot him. Megatron was quick to bring up his sword to strike down the two humans, but he was instantly blocked by Optimus's own sword and then pushed back along with Le Creuset as Mu and Optimus both opened fire on the two of them.

"Get a grip Kira," Mu shouted as he dragged Kira down a nearby flight of stairs. "You're not taking his nonsense seriously are you?"

"I am not certain how much of it is truly nonsense Mu La Flaga," Optimus revealed as he continued firing at his former brother. "You must admit that the evidence of this is quite hard to argue."

Mu had to nod in consent at that as they finally made it to an underground lab and took cover, all the while hearing Le Creuset and Megatron getting closer with every step that the two took. "Today my secret shall be revealed," Le Creuset then announced as he continued on his rant from earlier. "I did not come into this world through natural birth. My genes were altered artificially, early in the embryonic state of my development. George Glen was the first Coordinator that humanity knew, so do you how much darkness spread across the world because of the chaos he unleashed? I wonder if anyone on Earth truly comprehends the full extent of what that man set into motion."

As he continued to rant, Le Creuset began turning on the lights of the room one by one, revealing more of the lab in a better light. "People paid a great price for this dream, so of course they wanted it to come true. No one ever wants to see their dreams shattered. Is that what drove them onward, because people demanded that their hopes and dreams come true no matter what?! And what did people gain from this, what did they get, what was the result of their dreams?!"

As Le Creuset continued to rant on, Optimus could practically hear Megatron's smirk at just how horrible and dark this man's soul was, and Kira found himself so in shock that he could not help but think of the things that the masked man said had occurred. "They thirsted for knowledge, they sought to fulfill their desires, and ultimately they forgot why they were doing it! Even as they proclaimed their reverence for human life, they began toying with it, and then they began destroying it," Le Creuset ranted on.

"SHUT UP," Mu roared as he fired on the masked man. The two were quickly engaged in a shoot out, but even so Le Creuset continued to rant on.

"No matter what we learn, no matter what we manage to obtain, nothing ever changes! People are amazing that way! They become envious, hate each other, and destroy each other! If that's what they truly desire, why don't they simply exterminate each other?!" As Le Creuset continued to shoot, it began to seem more like he was shooting at the objects in the lab more than he was anything else.

"What gives you the right to sound so superior," Mu demanded as he fired off some more shots at his old rival.

"You are a fool La Flaga," Megatron cackled as he fired at the last piece of equipment in the lab, causing Mu to seek cover from the debris and giving Le Creuset a chance to reload his gun. "Rau Le Creuset is the only one who has earned that right, for in the entire universe, he alone has the right to judge humanity!"

"Cut the crap you crackpot," Mu retorted.

"I agree with Mu La Flaga, Megatron," Optimus shouted as he too began firing his blaster again. "No one has the right to determine anyone's fate nor judge an entire race in such a way as either of you are suggesting, not even us!"

"As always Optimus, you are far too naïve," Megatron snarled.

"And I'm surprised you don't remember we met once before Mu," Le Creuset commented. "Long, long ago before we ever met on the battlefield."

As Le Creuset laughed madly, Mu was suddenly finding himself remembering of when he met a young man his age one day, and of how his parents' home was burned to the ground with them inside. "I am he, that arrogant fool," Le Creuset then revealed. "Who thought he could thwart death itself with his money. Al Da Flaga, your father, but I am merely that man's defective clone!"

"What," Mu cried out.

"By the AllSpark," Optimus added.

"Do you expect anyone to believe that fairy tale," Mu demanded, still trying to deal with the shock himself.

"I don't want to believe it either," Le Creuset replied. "But unfortunately, it's true! The final door is about to open, and I'm the one opening with aid from the mighty warriors who will purge humanity from the universe, the Decepticons! Then the world that we know will come to an end. This world of insatiable desires will end, and then the conceited fools who struggled with it will finally have their wish come true!"

"It won't happen! I won't let you," Kira shouted as he ran out, drawing Le Creuset's and Megatron's fire, giving Mu and Optimus the chance they needed to hit the two. The moment they did, Kira tossed a piece of shrapnel at Le Creuset, knocking his mask off of his face. The moment the mask fell, Kira and Mu both gasped in shock at the sight of Le Creuset's face, for it was indeed a face that greatly resembled Mu's enough to look like it could be the face of his father.

"Ha, so Kira Yamato, do you truly believe that you can change what is going to happen just as Optimus no doubt believes," Megatron demanded. "Nobody can do anything about it, for your world full of hatred will engulf the universe, and Le Creuset has now all but assured that does not happen, along with the Decepticons' victory in our war at last Optimus!"

Having said that, Megatron and Le Creuset quickly fled before Mu, Kira, or Optimus could do anything. At that moment, Mu finally collapsed from his injuries. Kira then walked over and said, "We've gotta go. Can you stand?"

"Yeah," Mu replied.

"There will be no need," Optimus stated as he scooped the both of them up into his hands and began to run back outside to reach the two's mobile suits so that they could meet up with the others. As he ran, Optimus prayed to Primus that the others in the harbor were alright.

---

It turned out that Wheeljack and Dreadwing were able to hold Devastator back long enough for Dearka to finish his talk with Yzak and for Optimus to return with Kira and a wounded Mu. As soon as Megatron had left with Le Creuset, Devastator was ordered to retreat to the Havoc, which was waiting outside the opposite harbor with three Nazca class ships. As he climbed back into the Buster, Dearka left his friend with a lot to think about, and the words, "I'd rather not fight you if I have the choice."

With that said and done, they all quickly raced back outside, only to find their allies engaged in battle against the Dominion and the Armageddon once more. Another quick look saw that the Justice was already engaged with the three enemy mobile suits of the Dominion, and from the way the red mobile suit was fighting, there was no doubt that Athrun had already entered the SEED Burst. Also out on the battlefield, were nearly all of the Autobots save for Elita One, Bumblebee, and Jazz, and they were already off fighting against the Combaticons and Insecticons as well.

Kira quickly brought Mu and the damaged Perfect Strike to the Archangel so that Mu could get his wounds treated as quickly as possible and then charged back out onto the battlefield with Optimus close behind him. Dreadwing and Wheeljack had wanted to join the fight as well, but Optimus had ordered them to report to the Omega II instead since they had already had such a rough battle with Devastator.

Kira and Dearka rushed directly over to Athrun and provided what assistance that they could, as the former entered SEED Burst himself, and the battle began heating up to a whole new level. As Kira fought though, deflecting enemy fire with his beam saber like a Jedi would deflect enemy fire with their light saber, and blasting his opponents and the enemy missiles with his beam rifle, the words of Rau Le Creuset echoed in his head. He gave himself a mental shake to bring his focus onto the battle as his moment of distraction nearly caused him to be hit by Kickback were it not for a quick intervention on Ironhide's part.

Just then, the six ships detected the Nazca class ships moving towards their position, and thinking that Z.A.F.T. and Megatron were about to attack they all began to prepare for the worst. At least they were until a communication from the Vesalius caught their attention. "Attention, the Archangel class Earth Forces vessel," Le Creuset's voice called out. "Before we commence battle I'd like to return a captive to you."

Now everyone was confused. What captive was Le Creuset talking about, and what did any of that have to do with the current battle? These questions would have to wait as the Z.A.F.T. vessels launched their forces of GINNs, a CGUE, and the Duel, and a moment after the CGUE had launched, a small life pod was ejected from one of the ships. A few seconds later, the Seeker siblings, Breakdown, and the Decimators had launched from the Havoc to join the battle as well.

"The Eternal and the Kusanagi will intercept the Z.A.F.T. forces and Megatron's guys. Archangel and Omega II, you deal with the Dominion and the Armageddon," Waltfeld then ordered.

"Understood," Murrue replied.

"Elita, have Bumblebee, Jazz, and Arcee deploy to assist Commander Waltfeld and the others," Optimus then ordered as he slashed apart a large amount of Insecticons with an energy blast from the Star Saber.

"Roger Optimus," Elita replied, and a moment later, the three were blasting off to help the two ships that were engaging the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon forces.

As the battle continued to rage on, Waltfeld announced that Lacus had a plan to escape, but it was one that was really risky. "Overrun the Vesalius," Murrue shouted when she heard the idea.

"Yeah, if we're caught between two enemies we're finished. It'll be tough but we'll take our chances," Waltfeld explained.

"Very well then," Murrue agreed, and she then asked Sai and Miriallia to inform Kira and the others of the plan

The whole time this was happening the life pod that the Vesalius had ejected simply floated in space for a moment, and it seemed that everyone was cautious about approaching it for fear of it being a trap of some kind. This mindset was quickly shattered as a female voice suddenly called out of the international distress channel, "ARCHANGEL, OMEGA II HELP ME!"

Everyone instantly froze at the sound of the girl's voice calling out for help, but only a majority of the Omega II's crew of Autobots, Natarle Badgiruel, and the Archangel crew recognized the voice of Flay Allster. It went so far as to cause Kira to pause for a moment and leave himself wide open for an attack from the Raider, which hit home hard. Before the Calamity could capitalize on this, Flay suddenly called out again, "Please stop it! I have something with me. A key. The key that's supposed to end this war!"

Now that had everyone's attention, and the Calamity was ordered to retrieve the pod. Kira was not about to let the Dominion get their hands on Flay though. Hey he may not have left her on the best of terms, but he was still hoping they could patch up their friendship, so with that in mind the Freedom charged after the Calamity, leading himself to be attacked from all sides by Insecticons and the Forbidden and Raider simultaneously. While the Freedom was not seriously damaged, it was rattled enough to throw Kira off long enough for the Calamity to grab the life pod Flay was in.

Everyone on the Archangel and from the Omega II that knew Flay was now worried for the girl's safety, but an announcement from Waltfeld that the Eternal and the Kusanagi were going through the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon forces brought them back to their senses. The Archangel quickly sent up a signal flare for their forces to withdraw while Optimus ordered the same for everyone but himself and the Aerialbots, who quickly went after Kira, as the young man was still chasing the Calamity in an attempt to rescue Flay.

That was when Kira's voice suddenly called out over the same channel that Flay had used a moment ago, "Flay!"

That startled both Flay and everyone of the Earth Forces-Decepticons side that recognized his voice. "Kira Yamato…he's still alive," Natarle quietly exclaimed, feeling the joy of this knowledge starting to well up inside her.

"Kira," Flay gasped, and then she adopted a happy look on her face at the knowledge that Kira was still alive as well. Unfortunately, Kira's voice would be all that Natarle and Flay would hear as confirmation, as the Aerialbots, the Justice, the Blitz, and Optimus quickly fought off his remaining attackers and pulled Kira back to the Eternal while the Calamity brought Flay aboard the Dominion.

At long last, the Four Ships Alliance had begun to make a successful retreat, with Athrun, Dearka, and Nicol all saluting the Vesalius as the ship went down. Shortly after this, both Decepticon allied forces began to retreat as well, since there was no longer any point in continuing the battle any further.

---

A few minutes after Kira was brought aboard the Eternal, the poor boy passed out from exhaustion, and no one could really blame him after hearing about what he, Mu, and Optimus had found out that day from Le Creuset and Megatron. It was now obvious that the Decepticons were playing a much bigger game than any of them had ever realized when it came to their supposed alliances with either Z.A.F.T. or the Earth Forces, but as to what exactly the endgame to it all was, none of them could even begin to imagine, not because they had no clue what it might be, but because they did not even want to imagine the ideas that had began coming to all their minds.

After a few hours, Kira had finally woke up to find Lacus, Cagalli, and Athrun all watching over him worriedly, and Cagalli was holding her picture that her father gave her along with one that Kira had found with Mu and Optimus. Seeing this, Athrun quickly grabbed Cagalli and exited the room, allowing Kira and Lacus a moment to themselves. "Hey Kira," Lacus asked, gently.

Kira shuttered for a moment before he finally found his voice. "I'll be alright, because I swore I'd never cry again."

Lacus then just smiled as she ran one of her hands through Kira's hair as she reassured him, "You know, it's okay to cry. We should cry while we're still able to."

Kira just glanced at the girl smiling at him, and upon realizing she had a point, Kira could no longer hold it back and broke down sobbing. Lacus simply smiled and held him so that he could at least have a shoulder to cry on.

---

"Hey what's the big idea," Cagalli demanded of Athrun as soon as the boy had pulled her out of the room Kira and Lacus were in.

Athrun just smiled as he gently told her, "This isn't the best time to ask him. He's in pretty rough shape for now anyway."

Cagalli finally nodded, conceding Athrun's point on the matter before the two just began to float in the hallway in silence. After that silence began to get a bit awkward, Athrun finally broke the silence and asked, "Do you know who's voice that was?"

"Oh you mean Flay," Cagalli asked. At Athrun's nod Cagalli explained, "She used to be on the Archangel. She was a friend of Kira and those other guys."

"Is that so," Athrun asked. Almost instantly after he said that, a familiar buzzing and whirring came through a nearby comm. link device as Bumblebee's face appeared on the screen.

"Come on, she wasn't that bad," Cagalli told Bumblebee. The scout just let out another series of beeps that caused Cagalli to widen her eyes in shock at what he said, before she eventually had to nod in agreement with him on that.

"What did he say," Athrun asked.

"Well the first thing was that Bee thought that friend might be too strong a word to describe Flay's relationship with Kira and most of the others," Cagalli replied, quickly shutting off the comm. device so that she could hopefully avoid anymore teasing from Arcee about a "relationship" between her and Athrun.

"Okay, so what was the second thing then," Athrun asked, still confused about what Bumblebee had said after.

"You don't want to know," Cagalli told him in a tone of finality. Athrun figured that if Cagalli was saying that then she was probably right, so he just left it at that and turned his gaze out the window for a moment.

After a few seconds, Athrun stated softly, "It seems like everyone is crying for some reason."

Cagalli looked at Athrun for a minute before she hummed in agreement and then found herself resting her head on Athrun's shoulder. Athrun was stunned by this, but he was quick to relax and just simply put his arm around Cagalli as the two stared out into space, this time in comfortable silence.

---

Nicol and Dearka had been sitting in the mess hall of the Archangel after the blonde had returned from the ship and gotten out of his pilot suit, and Dearka had taken this time to tell Nicol about his encounter with Yzak. In his recounting of the event, Dearka told Nicol how he had revealed to Yzak that the both of them were still alive and fighting with the Four Ships Alliance, of what had happened between Kira and Athrun, and everything else that he felt Yzak needed to hear. As he listened, Nicol's heart went out to his friend a great deal, but he found he could not say or do anything for the blonde other than smile and tell him that everything would work out in the end.

Dearka gave Nicol a grateful smile for trying anyways, but it still did nothing to help make him feel any better. Just when the two were about to just sit there in contemplation, the sound of approaching footsteps reached their ears. They both turned to see Miriallia was approaching them with a concerned look on her face, and Nicol then said, "I'll give you guys a minute. I've gotta go do some work on the Blitz anyways."

With that, the green haired boy left, knowing that Dearka was throwing Nicol a glare that stated he knew what Nicol was doing. As soon as Nicol was gone, Miriallia looked down for a moment before shyly saying, "Hey."

"Hey," Dearka replied, not really feeling like saying anything he would normally say to the girl.

"I uh…heard about what happened between you and your friend," Miriallia then commented, trying to get a conversation going. At Dearka's confused glance, Miriallia then gathered up her courage and stated, "I just want you to know that…well if you ever wanted to talk…I might be willing to listen provided you don't say anything stupid."

Dearka then gave Miriallia a truly grateful smile at that as he nodded in thanks. Seeing that she had finished what she came to do, Miriallia turned to leave, but just as she was at the door Dearka called out, "Wait."

Miriallia then turned back to see Dearka had a surprisingly nervous look on his face as he asked, "You want to…I don't know. Join me for lunch or something?"

Miriallia smiled and turned back around as she said, "I'd like that."

The two then just went over to claim a pair of food trays and settled down to enjoy their meal, but really they were actually enjoying each other's company much more and the conversations that soon followed between the two of them.

---

After Flay had been brought aboard the Dominion she was immediately greeted by Natarle and Azrael, the latter of which she handed the computer disc that Le Creuset had given her to. After the blonde man had left, it gave the two women a chance to talk for a minute until Flay ended up crying into Natarle's arms, an action that Natarle was more than happy to let the girl do as she was sure she needed it.

While that was going on, Azrael had taken the computer disc to his office to look over what was on it, and he was not disappointed. There on the disc, were the full specs of the Freedom and the Justice. All of their weapons, their capabilities, and most important of all their power sources. We he saw the information on the Energon Reactor Cores, Azrael let out a laugh that would be befitting of a madman and cried out, "Perfect!"

"What is it Azrael," Starscream huffed from the communicator on Azrael's desk.

"This information will change the war," Azrael explained. "The Energon Reactor Core can allow machines like the Freedom and the Justice to have the same destructive capabilities as a nuclear powered machine and at the same time, they use as little energon as possible, and as for what energon they do use, the reactor is able to recycle so that the need to resupply with fresh energon is minimized so greatly that you would barely ever need to resupply the energon levels with the fresh stuff again!"

"Well now that is fascinating," Starscream admitted. "No doubt the work of either Knockout or even Shockwave, assuming Megatron had found a way to contact Cybertron. How soon do you plan to weaponized the first prototypes?"

Azrael smirked with glee as he replied, "Immediately. With this, we won't ever need to bother with the nuclear technology and weapons ever again, and not only that, but those damn Coordinators will finally meet their end!"

Starscream then joined Azrael in his mad cackling, but not because it was in excitement for what this promised, but rather because of how much of a fool Azrael continued to seem to be.

---

Aboard the Omega II, Optimus was conferencing with the commanders of the other three vessels and Chief Erica on what they had learned and what their next move should be. "The knowledge that Megatron seems to be deceiving Z.A.F.T. to further some ulterior final plan while Le Creuset acts as the only insider he has is not an unexpected move on his part," Optimus stated. "But the question now is how deep does it truly go?"

"So are you saying that there's a chance that Starscream is some kind of deep cover agent for him or something, cause I can assure you that when he shot me it was plenty real," Waltfeld then argued.

"Whether or not Starscream is involved somehow is irrelevant at this point," Murrue stated. "What I'm more concerned about is what Flay said before she was brought to the Earth Forces-Decepticons."

"I agree," Kisaka commented. "She said that she had a key that would end the war, but that could mean many things, especially given what Optimus has told us about his, Mu's, and Kira's encounter with Megatron and Le Creuset."

"Either way, we must be certain that we are ready for whatever Megatron has planned," Optimus stated. "Chief Erica, how goes the project you are currently working on?"

Erica then took that moment to show an image of what looked like a pink version of the Strike with an Orb crest on one shoulder as she reported, "The Strike Rouge is almost completed, and thanks to Ironhide's help it'll be able to fight on the same level as the Perfect Strike. I'm certain you are all aware of this by now, but I will say again anyway that this machine was designed for Cagalli at her father's request."

"I still have reservations about sending young Cagalli out in a mobile suit," Optimus stated. "But given the circumstances, it would seem that we cannot afford to be shy even one warrior if we have any way available for them to join the fight."

Having said that, everyone decided that it would be best to continue the following day once everyone had rested up, and the communication line closed. Optimus then turned command of the Bridge over to Jazz while he left to go rest in his quarters. As he made his way through the Omega II's hallways, Optimus could feel in his spark that humanity was about to face their darkest hour.

---

AN: Wow she is really buried under there huh?

Kira: Are you sure it's not going to be a problem since we need her for like, the rest of the trilogy?

AN: How many times do I have to say this? These parts of the chapter are like Looney Toon world, we can't get hurt so long as we are in these notes and in this room.

Kira: Just making sure. By the way, what was with the monologue of Azrael's on the Energon Reactor Core?

AN: Well long story short, I figured that I needed to give a bit more detail about the mechanics of the Energon Reactor Core since I hadn't done so yet, so I figured what better way or time to do so than here?

Wheeljack: Makes sense to me, and I loved what you did with me at that one point earlier on the chapter when me and Wing Saber went to help the Kusanagi.

AN: Yeah I figured you would Jackie, and for those of you who can figure out the reference, give yourselves a pat on the back, and I just want to go on record and say that I did not say that all those movies were good, because I won't deny that some of them could've been better, and you know which ones I'm talking about, but the number of good ones among them was still pretty decent. Anyways, Onto the preview!...

The Earth Forces-Decepticons have weaponized the Energon Reactor Core and are preparing a final operation to bring down Z.A.F.T. and the PLANTs. Upon learning of this information, the Four Ships Alliance quickly races into the battlefield once more, only to find that Z.A.F.T. has now completed GENESIS thanks to the efforts of a long lost Autobot. The final battle is about to begin, and one can only begin to wonder just who will be left alive when the fighting finally ends and the dust settles. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…Chapter 27: The Final Nightmare Begins. Brave the approaching storm of chaos Autobots and Gundam!

Please read and review, and we'll see you next time for the beginning of this story's end!