(A\N): Thank you to all who reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed or Destiny.

Chapter Seventy One

Tactics

Orb-Headquarters

With preparations ongoing in Orb, it wasn't until it was far too late before they learned about the destruction at Panama. Not that they would have been able to help anyway but this could cause a few problems.

Cagalli was in meetings with the alliance president about all of that, not long after that they got the destruction at Gibraltar.

Cagalli's Office

"Zaft has crippled our ability to head into space, we will have no choice but to use your plan of the ground assault, I was hoping to be able to send something into space for an attempt but now that option is no longer available," The president told her.

Cagalli knew he was skeptical of the plan and she didn't mind them exploring other options but she knew it all along trying to send something into space was the wrong move.

"Do you have the status on the packages?" Cagalli asked.

"I can safely say that all our on the move, luckily the Panama battle was the perfect distraction as we were able to get the first one across however it is now traveling across the coast with the Atlantic, if we move it in any closer Zaft will pick it up so that will delay its arrival," The president added.

"We are fully integrating the stolen technology and from what we see the Doomsday is not moving," Cagalli said as they could break through on long range sensors now.

"We believe it will go down as you say, Zaft forces are already heading up into space, I believe they will send units to the same locations just to make sure we cannot stop them, that ship staying in that position is the perfect chance for them to get forces to the two locations," the president added.

"What will you do about it?" Cagalli asked.

"I will keep the pressure up for as long as possible, I will send teams from the north and south, they cannot be long to start this operation we will keep the pressure up and try to keep forces away from the locations in the Americas," the president added.

"What about the other two locations?" Cagalli asked.

"I have contacted the Eurasian leaders and they promise to send forces to the areas to guard," the president said.

Cagalli wasn't to convinced, "Forgive me for saying but we cannot afford an Atlantic Eurasian rivalry at this time."

"Point is noted and we will not allow that to interfere," the president added.

Cagalli decided she would contact them to make sure later.

"The time limit we have is once they get there forces to space they will begin," Cagalli added.

"We are working towards that now, we will be ready," the president replied.

"There is nothing more we can do until then, I will contact you when it is time," Cagalli added as they could now monitor the Doomsday and she figured when that started moving the operation would begin.

The president signed off as Cagalli sat back. It was really getting down to that critical moment.

"Tough day," Athrun said as he walked in.

Cagalli looked at him, "Give me better news."

"We are working the strongest we can, we are running full diagnostics and making upgrades where we can on the ships and mobile suits," Athrun told her.

"Time?" Cagalli asked.

"A week at most," Athrun replied.

"What if they begin before then?" Cagalli asked quickly.

Athrun smiled, "It will be at least that amount before their forces can be fully evacuated and that is the quickest."

"I just want this over and I want our victory," Cagalli told him.

"It pains me to leave that part up to the alliance however we can do nothing but go after the Doomsday and keep it out of play," Athrun added.

"Four locations is what I am worried about, we don't know from which one the reaction will start, we could destroy three and the fourth could be the one and then…" Cagalli was silenced when Athrun kissed her; she was talking and worrying way too much.

"You can forget about that for a moment," Athrun said as they continued, Cagalli didn't object for now they did all they could do to prepare.

Around the Earth

Five Destroys were on the move, the Zaft presence was gone in a lot of places; however caution still had to be played.

The Destroys were making good time, under full military escort, with the engineers working on them as they went. The upgraded and modifying the two cannons on the back wasn't the hard part. The power source was another problem and that was being delivered by other forces.

The alliance president listened to his advisors and they were going with a power source that wasn't completely experimental but it should work. They had nothing else that could generate the power. They were being delivered however they had to be constructed on sight so that was some work as well.

That was all that they could do.

One Week Later

Orb Onogoro Hanger

Minerva

Mechanics and engineers were making the finishing touches to the ship. The damage Kira did to it the last battle was extensive however they were able to spare the parts and with the help of the Minerva crew the ship was able to be fully repaired. In fact the ship even had a few upgrades installed to it. The ship was now able to submerge underwater without trouble. This was mostly a space warship however they added the necessary equipment to make the machine more land and water base combat machine.

On the bridge Talia and Arthur were doing the final adjustments as well as discussing the orders they were given.

All in all this was the right move to join with Orb, they were never given a choice but still it was the correct move.

"Systems check?" Talia asked.

"Everything is in the green ma'am, the ship is faster as well as more powerful, we should have no trouble in doing what has to be done," Arthur added.

Talia did smile slightly at his attitude, he was still very carefree.

"I still don't feel comfortable with leaving this mostly only to the alliance," Talia added.

"There really is no choice ma'am, our goal is the Doomsday, that ship must not be allowed to interfere, they have to be brought down," Arthur added.

Arthur and Talia didn't have all the info yet, they just knew their target was the Doomsday and Kira, the rest was speculation, there were still many questions but that was what they were given for now and that is what they will go on.

Minerva's Hanger

Luna was aboard checking the Impulse out, her sister Meyrin was with her as she was off duty assisting her elder sister with anything she needed.

"We either win or we get destroyed," Meyrin told her.

Luna looked down at her, "All of us were so foolish for so long, all puppets in their game, I never thought anything like this could ever happen."

"What do you think is going on back home?" Meyrin asked.

"Absolutely nothing, most likely," Luna added.

"You sure?" Meyrin asked.

"The chairman controls all media and all reporting, nothing but what he says gets transmitted to the people," Luna added.

"I still can't believe Shinn just left us like that," Luna told her.

"You know how he is, he and Orb would never mix," Meyrin told her.

"Still," Luna said.

"You might see him on the battlefield, then maybe you could talk to him again," Meyrin added to her sister clearly.

None knew the situation or what had happened the day that cannon went off.

Everything was leading to that fateful day when the forces would clash for the final time.

Archangel

Murrue was taking over on her ship as well. They were making sure everything in this ship was working; maintenance was a key issue as they couldn't afford to be less then a hundred percent when facing down Kira.

One thing that was strange to her was she hadn't seen Mu around in awhile. He had been disappearing a lot lately and when he returned he always seemed as if he was in deep thought.

"Captain, we have met all standards," one of her officers told her.

Murrue snapped out of thought as she turned to them, "Understood," Murrue said as she turned back to the window. Looking out it could really hit her, all of what she was looking at would be gone if they didn't succeed.

Murrue still did slightly blame herself, she remembered the first war and if she didn't make Kira fight in that machine none of this would have ever happened. It was strange how one little event could have chained this far.

All would soon be settled.

Archangel Hanger

Inside the hanger was the one and only Atasuki, Mu was still no where to be found but Chief Murdoch was the one working on his machine.

"Chief we are doing the best we can," one mechanic said.

"Well just do it better, the commander still hasn't changed, I don't know why he wants this done either but just do it," Murdoch told him.

"Yes sir," the mechanic said going back to work.

Murdoch was forced back in this as well, as this machine was getting a brand new over hall.

Eternal

The last of the three main ships had upgrades done just like the Minerva. It was a space ship so they had to upgrade it some more to be more effective on land, and like the other two it could now submerge underwater.

Andrew and Dacosta were working on some final touches like the rest.

"You may have to take command when the battle starts Dacosta," Andrew told him.

"Will you be heading out sir?" Dacosta asked.

"If it comes to that, it will take all three ships to bring that monster down anyway," Andrew said as that ship sized them.

"One thing I don't get sir is how that ship expects to get back to space? Nothing could survive blasts like we saw in those plans," Dacosta told him.

Andrew looked at him, "Good point…I don't have a clue, but I am not going to worry about it either, we destroy them before that moment ever comes."

"Whatever you say sir," Dacosta said as it was still on his mind.

Eternal Hanger

You could find mechanics down here working on the Justice. Athrun was here but he left a little while ago to head back to the headquarters.

Athrun decided to take a few upgrades as well, his were different then Mu's as he just designed a way for the machine to go faster and be a little more maneuverable, every little thing could help.

Mechanics worked on that as they stared at the other suit. That machine was left vacant and they didn't have a pilot that could handle the complicated systems. It looked as if that machine was going to be left to waste, it was such a pity, but they didn't have anyone that could operate it.

In the Eternal

Lacus had finally led her children onboard, over the past week she could see progress of them returning to normal, they still didn't want to be around Cagalli, but they did see Athrun a few days ago.

Athrun could see small differences in them, Kira and that chairman did a number on them, but he knew they could break out of this. Both had strong senses and he knew they could get out of whatever hold they still held on Zaft.

Lacus noticed her daughter was practically fully back to normal, with only small revelations left inside her but they were cracking. She held Lacus' strength on emotions, which made it hard to say if she was just putting on fake smile or if she really meant it. Lacus knew her better and knew it was not a fake smile, it was hers.

Her son however was a little different story, the situation had to be rougher on him as she couldn't be father to him. Athrun tried filling that role but after experiencing his real father Lacus feared he was leaning towards that no matter what Kira did.

His wanting to be on this ship might be part of that reason, or like Lacus believed he was just trying to find out the truth.

Lacus was sitting with both of them along with the new addition to the family, their half sister. Sarah's fate was all but unknown to them but Lacus had believed more then likely she was no longer of this world. She committed high treason so she couldn't see Kira sparing her unless he needed her for something so she had to do what she thought was best for this child. Lacus decided unless her mother was still alive and somehow comes back Lacus decided to take her for her own daughter.

Lacus was also taking this time to treasure with her children, with the battle ahead, you can never tell just what was going on and what was going to happen.

Since they were now able to monitor the Doomsday's position they didn't have anything to do until it started moving. Lacus decided this was the time she would spend with them the most.

Around the Earth

Destroys

Since one week passed since the firing on Panama, two of the five Destroys had arrived at their positions, with another machine only hours away from that target.

Two others would still take a few more up to three days to arrive on spot.

The best part about this was there was no Zaft resistance, taking full advantage of the Zaft withdrawal these things were able to move with no attacks yet for now.

The two that arrived were none other then the two in the Americas. They didn't have the distance to travel and they had the most alliance support. The Atlantic Federation was split into two by the Doomsdays assault but they still remained strong and the president was ordering constant attacks from both the North and South, which assisted in allowing them to arrive so fast and without worry.

The third destroy only hours away was the one in Europe, that was closing in on the location. With the fall of Gibraltar they hadn't seen any Zaft presence their at least, not to be surprised as an atomic bomb went off and took out most of the area.

However where they needed to be was unaffected to the least. Zaft may have crippled their space travel but that was never in the alliances plans from the beginning.

When they arrived they were to begin set up. The cannon upgrades were made on route but now they just needed to install them, Zaft could begin at any time but they had to do what they had to do.

The power sources were also on route many not to far out so under their escort many had already arrived and were waiting on the suits to use them on.

Onogoro Island

Headquarters Com Room

"I know your concerns but you must do this, it is necessary," Mu told the person he was on com with.

"I don't see why you want to waste them like that, we should…" the alliance president said.

"I have done a lot for the alliance, I just need you to follow through with this," Mu told him.

"Fine, I will give the order…it will be on your head if it fails because of this," the president said.

"Trust me, its only just in case," Mu added.

The president signed off as Mu turned the com off. Mu knew that president as he did something that was in the best interest of the world. The president was wrong anyway as it made no sense what he said so Mu knew this was the right call.

Mu turned around to leave as he headed down to the hanger.

Hanger

Mu met up with Erica Simmons.

He made another request, "Can you have them loaded, and I want the prototype loaded on to the Archangel."

"This should be cleared with Lady Cagalli," Erica said.

"This is for there own good, she will know if it becomes time for her to know," Mu said seriously.

Erica stared at him.

"You will have to trust me on this," Mu added.

"Very well, I will have them placed and have what you added loaded in the hanger," Erica said.

"You can inform Murdoch, he can have it readied if we need it," Mu told her as she agreed and he left to head to one more place.

Briefing Room

Mu's final stop was this room as he started drawing and copying some sort of paper work. Mu wanted three copies.

This took him a couple of hours but he got it done as he copied them three times, one for each ship.

Mu sealed them in a classified folder as he personally delivered them to each ship.

Minerva and Eternal

The Minerva was first.

Mu handed the packet over to Talia, "What is this for?"

"Something that might come in handy, under no circumstances open it until I personally give the order," Mu said as serious as can be.

On the eternal he did the same as he handed the packet over to Andrew, and gave him the same orders.

Mu was acting a little strange to them but they knew if he said it then it had to be serious so they would do as can be.

Lastly Mu was heading back to the Archangel he did all he could, now he could focus fully on the battle that was coming, he could sense that strongly just as other things but that was the strongest sense he got for right now. Battle was not near off and he knew one way or another this would be the final showdown.

Headquarters-Cagalli's Office

Cagalli was monitoring the action of the ships and everything else, she had people in the command center twenty four seven to monitor the Doomsday.

Athrun stayed with her as much as possible however with time dwindling down these moments were the ones that really counted.

"When you leave I will be with the Eternal," Cagalli told him.

Athrun looked at her, "For what?"

"While you're out there I will be the one monitoring you," Cagalli added.

Athrun was about to say something.

"No objections I am not giving you a choice on the matter," Cagalli told him seriously.

"Very well," Athrun replied.

They finished up all necessary work that week as now all that was left was the battle.

Two Weeks after the Doomsday destroyed Panama

Around the Earth

Zaft presence dwindled even more as all Destroys had arrived and all power sources were with them. One thing that was picked up however was Zaft presence was growing around certain locations and all were the target locations. They weren't attacking yet but they it wouldn't be long.

They had their own alliance escort forces with more on the way; if Zaft attacked they would be ready. However the Destroys were the main reason, they were going to be put in a very vulnerable position just as the satellites were.

Destroys Location

Alliance soldiers, engineers, mechanics and other crew were all on the ground.

The Destroy mobile suit was set up in the normal position. However all weapons were stripped, the armor was off and all necessary power was only running to the two back cannons. The Destroys were also weighted and clamped at the bottom so no matter what these things couldn't move only barely anymore, they could turn with the modifications done but if they tried to walk they would fall apart and be useless.

The two upgraded High Energy Beam cannons that were located on the back were twice as large in length and newly modified for a higher energy output, these things were able to move side to side but that was it.

According to the plans the two critical satellites were each around this location so with them able to move they would be able to strike both; however there were a few restrictions.

One cannon could fire one shot and then it would be useless, the other cannon could fire a shot as well however then that would be useless and the power would tear the Destroy apart, so all they had was two shots one from each cannon.

Next came the power source which two engineers were looking at now. Next to the Destroys were two large generators as they were called. Each one was as large as a mobile suits body.

Each one had large power cables coming out of each as they connected into one and then they were hooked into the back of the Destroys. The Destroy was the only suit large enough to take the kind of beating it was going to get when all that energy started flowing into it not to be immediately destroyed but it wouldn't be long so they had to act fast after they started these things up.

"Are you sure this will work?" one engineer asked.

The head engineer looked at him, "No, but we have no choice…I looked at the specs it is possible but the main thing is if the suit is strong enough to take the power it will receive."

That wasn't to reassuring, "I have never seen these things before," the first engineer said looking at the so called generators.

The head one smiled slightly, "They were classified but we were going to use them to power our new state of the art ships we were designing, they work well in theory."

Again that was not to reassuring.

"Don't worry, you heard of our Cyclops systems correct?" the head one said.

"Yes sir," the other replied as who couldn't forget those.

"Basically these things in theory can produce nearly as much power as those, but they are still in testing," the engineer said.

Basically these power reactors were somewhat a version of what Kira had designed for the Doomsday but not as powerful, they were experimenting Fusion as well.

Kira didn't give naturals as much credit as he should, after all during the first war they designed five top mobile suits that were highly superior to the Ginn and Cgue, it always seemed as if the naturals could develop weapons and equipment faster for some reason.

"What shall happen when it works sir?" the first engineer said.

"When the power reaction is started by the pilot inside whom I will feel sorry for, the energy is transmitted through the titanium cables and into the mobile suit," the head engineer said.

"What is that thing on the back of the Destroy again sir?" the first engineer said.

"You are putting me to shame here, those are the coolant generators, both reactors have them as well, once the shot is fired the beam will keep firing, we have to use the coolant to keep the heat down or the machine will blow up," the head engineer said.

"That will only keep it down for a few minutes at most sir," the first one added.

"Correct so this will have to be done quickly, once the first shot is fired the cannon can be ejected and if need be we can turn off one reactor, after the second shot is fired the machine will give out and that will be all she wrote, one miss and were screwed," the head said as they went back to overlooking the machine.

Mechanics were doing the final touches on these machines as reactor operators, the pilot and all else were running drills on the events, like the head engineer said they only had one shot for each so they better make it count.

Surrounding were the alliances escorts, mobile suits after mobile suits however they weren't getting as many as they wanted for some reason, something had to be going on there.

All five Destroys were armed and ready to go at any time. Each one was set up like the rest.

However in Asia there were two Destroys, they had a feeling this would be the spot to get the most resistance so they wanted a spare just in case.

Things were ready here as time did run out.

Onogoro

With Cagalli

With two weeks now gone by the Orb people were more on the edge of what was going on. They knew it wouldn't be much longer.

Cagalli had been in daily contact with the alliance president at least three times a day as they were making sure when that Doomsday moved they were ready to go. Discussions were made as right now the Doomsday had to be the key.

Cagalli received word that Zaft presence on the surface was just about all gone and she and the president shared reports of what was happening around the earth and Cagalli knew it would be soon.

It did look like Ryu was going to use his forces still on the surface for sacrificial pawns, but they still didn't know about the Doomsday, they knew they couldn't be on the surface for when this began so that ship was the key.

Docks

All personal were now on alert status as they remained on their ships all ready to go when need be.

Mu got that sense that it was almost time, and he was right.

Headquarters

Cagalli was finishing up her briefing with the president when she got the alert.

"Lady Cagalli, we have movement on the Doomsday," an officer quickly reported.

The president and Cagalli turned to look.

"It's time," the president said.

"Direction?" Cagalli asked.

"Southwest ma'am, they are heading…"

Cagalli didn't need for them to say it.

Athrun was with her as he turned to her.

"Here we go," Athrun replied.

"Alert the ships, its time," Cagalli said as both rushed out and down to the ships.

Word was passed as they were getting ready to move out.

The Doomsday looked to be heading straight for them.

To be continued...

(A\N): This was a set up chapter, the next chapter final orders are given as this paths final battle begins. Bye for now.