(Final Tally of Votes!)

1. Kira/Lacus (9 votes)

2. Kira/Flay (8 votes)

3. Yzak/Shiho (5 Votes)

4. Dearka/Miriallia (5 Votes)

5. Athrun/Lunamaria (3 Votes)

5. Nicol/Meyrin (2 Votes)

5. Natarle/OC (NOT KAZUMA) (2 Votes)

5. Athrun/Lacus (2 Votes)

5. Dearka/ an Astray Girl (1 Votes)

5. Flay/OC (NOT KAZUMA) (1 Votes)

5. Meer/OC (NOT KAZUMA) (1 Votes)

5. Lunamaria/OC (NOT KAZUMA) (1 Votes)

5. Kira/Meer (before her transformation into the fake lacus) (1 Votes)

That's the end of the polls. Lacus is the winner for Kiras heart, with Dearka/Mirin second, Yzak/Shiho in third, and Athrun/Lunamaria in fourth. I will try to get Luna and Shiho into the story sometime but it way require time in how to get them in, however there is a chance they may never get in if I can't think of a way. I would also like to say thank you to all those who have voted.

Well anyways, with the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED or any of their machines that I may include in this story. Sebastian Connor who will appear in this story was created and owned by Storm Wolf77415. The only OCs that I own are members of the Sasaki family and one machine I have created.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Sound

"AI Talking"

Chapter 5: Through The Fire!

Time: : 11:42 AM

Date: 1/25/ 71 C.E.

Location: Outside of the Destroyed Mobile Suit Factory

"AAAHHH!" Miguel yelled in surprise as his ZGMF-1017 GINN was rammed in the torso by the Strike with its right shoulder. The hit sent Miguel flying backwards a few meters before landing flat on his back and skidding across the pavement, leaving a very long ditch from where the suit landed and where it stopped.

"That looked like it hurt," Zack commented over the comm, standing on the sideline behind Miguel's GINN as it strained to stand back up right as some of the rubble that managed to stick on suit slide off. "If you get sent flying again, I'm helping out," he warned as Miguel's GINN was now standing fully and as its pilot gave the Strike a death glare.

"Damn," Miguel cursed under his breath, as his suit went into a crouch, activated its main thrusters, and launched towards the Strike again. Along the way towards the Strike he saw it straighten up, and fired the 'Igelstellungs' vulcan guns mounted on each side of the Gundam's head, peppering his GINN enough to lose momentum and stumble a few steps. "Not this time!" he yelled, starting up the thrusters again and continued towards his target. He let lose a mighty upward slash, trying to cut the Strike from it's left hip up to it's right shoulder. But the Strike leaned back a little bit, making the slash miss it's target. It then curled its right hand into a fist, reeled back, and threw a right hook at the GINN. The punch hit the opposing suit right in the face and had enough force behind it to send Miguel flying again, but this time passing Zack's GINN and slamming right on a building.

"That's It, I'm helping," Zack said, equipping his GINN's MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machine gun to it's back, pulling out a MA-M3 heavy sword from it's left hip, and ran towards the Strike at full speed.

The Strike went into a crouched position and tried to use sweep the incoming GINN's feet off with it's right leg. But the GINN jumped upwards, avoiding the kick, and switched the grip on his sword so now the blade was facing down to the ground. "Gotcha ya now!" he yelled, intent on stabbing the Strike from above, as his suit continued to descend towards the colony's ground.

"Knock, knock!" someone yelled on the comm, as another mobile suit slammed into the left side of Zack's GINN while it was still in mid-air with surprising speed. The amount of force behind the ram sent the GINN right through a ten story building as the other suit landed on the ground in a crouch, using it's feet as anchors to try and stop the speeding machine as it slid to a stop.

(Inside the cockpit of the new suit)

"That seemed rather unpleasant," 'Orion' said, analyzing the damage the flying GINN made.

"You can say that again," Kazuma said, standing the Orion back up from the crouch position and quickly scanned the area. He noticed the Strike behind him was looking towards the Orion as another GINN in front of the Strike was trying to pry itself off of a building it had landed on. However, what got his attention the most was seeing Tolle, Miriallia, Sai, and Kuzzey behind the Strike, running for cover making Kazuma's eyes widen in shock. "Why aren't those guy's in the shelters?" he questioned aloud.

"DIE NATURAL!" Kazuma heard over the comm, making him look towards the GINN he had sent through a building. It now in the air again with it's sword ready to deliver a death blow via downward slash. Kazuma tried to dodge right from the attack but the sword hit it's mark on the Orion's left shoulder, making sparks fly in almost every direction, however it didn't cut through the suit. Kazuma heard cracking noise coming from the hit. He looked towards the hit, thinking it was the Armor cracking; only to find out it was the sword that was making the noise as cracks.

"What the-?" Kazuma stopped mid-sentence as he saw the GINN's sword break into two pieces, making Kazuma's and Zack's mind go blank from shock as the GINN landed in a crouch position right beside the Orion.

"It seems the Teridium armor has passed the live combat test," 'Orion' said, making Kazuma snap out of his confusion and raise an eyebrow.

"'Teridium'?" Kazuma asked curiously, making the Orion knee the GINN in the jaw with it's right knee, sending it upwards a bit before he switched the grip on the Orion's shield in it's left hand, using the end of the shield as brass knuckles, reeled back and hit the GINN in the stomach sending the suit flying into the same building it had landed before hand, making it collapse on top of it.

"I shall explain when we are no longer in combat. Beginning threat analyses," 'Orion' replied as the GINN rose up from the rubble. A grid appeared on the on the screen covering the GINN's picture, while a lined crosshair went over key locations on the suit before the suit's stats appeared on the right said of the suit's image. "Type: ZGMF-1017 GINN, Phase Shift Armor: none, Armaments: MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machine gun and MA-M3 Heavy Sword (destroyed), Threat level: None," the AI finished, as the grid and the crosshair on the GINN picture disappeared, while he turned off the stat.

"Doesn't surprise me, those things are almost obsolete by now," Kazuma said, pressing several buttons on the main console in front of him, searching for what kind of weapons the X025 has. "What kind of weapons does the Orion have?" he asked, switching the Orion's grip on it's shield back to the way it was.

"The X025 has two "Igelstellung" 75mm multi-barrel CIWS mounted on the head, with a H.E.M.P.A.C. offensive system mounted on it's right arm," 'Orion' started, as the GINN in front of the X025 finally stood up, threw the ruined sword away, pulled out its assault machine gun from behind its hip, and aimed at the Orion. "Optional armaments is the 'Omicron' offensive/defensive anti-beam shield," he finished, as Kazuma activated the suit's hover system and started to strafe left, avoiding the incoming fire from the GINN. The Orion went around a building that was close to the Orion and stopped behind it, using it as some cover as the hover system deactivated.

"What does H.E.M.P.A.C. stand for?" Kazuma questioned, noticing the GINN in front of the Strike had finally pried it self off of the building, placed it's sword back on it's hip, and pulled out it's assault machine gun. The GINN fired several shots at the Strike, two of which hit the suit's left hip and right shoulder before it activated its main thrusters, making it shoot up while the GINN gave chase by firing it's main thrusters and shot upwards after the Strike.

"H.E.M.P.A.C. stands for 'High-Energy Multi-Phase Assault Cannon'," 'Orion answered, pulling up the 'Omicron' Anti-beam shield's weapons on to panoramic screen as well, just in case Kazuma wanted to see it. "The H.E.M.P.A.C has three phases each with different functions. Which one would you like to use?" he asked, as Kazuma looked at the 'Omicron's weapons and taking notice of its armaments. There was a Type-80 Beam Spear, 'Draco' Grappling Anchor, and a 'Gemini' 76mm Armor Piercing Pile Bunker installed at the bottom of the shield.

"Set it for medium if there is one," Kazuma ordered, noticing the opposing GINN had stopped firing. He quickly activated the hover system again, moved out of his cover, and moved forward, towards the GINN at top speed. The enemy suit was reloading it assault machine gun when it noticed the Orion was heading straight for it, once the gun was reloaded, it aimed at the incoming suit and started to fire sporadically on fully automatic at the Orion. Kazuma made the X025 duck under the incoming fire and brought the 'Omicron' offensive/defensive anti-beam shield across the Orion's torso, the face of the shield facing upward. When the Orion was close enough to the GINN he activated the 'Omicron's beam spear, making the bottom of the shield release a long wide blade of energy and quickly sliced the GINN right at the waist. However due to the weight of the torso, the top half didn't fly off but stayed connected to it's lower half.

But Kazuma wasn't done yet, he moved the Orion a little to the right so he would go passed the severely damaged GINN. He then turned off the Hover system on the Orion's right foot, making it hit the concert, making the Orion turn on a dime. When Kazuma turned off the Hover system on the left foot, he was now facing the GINN's back, the H.E.M.P.A.C. aimed directly at its back. He fired at point-blank range, making a green beam of high-energy explode out from the GINN's chest, taking out a lot of vital systems as the top half and bottom half became to separate pieces as they both fell to the ground before erupting into a great big ball of flame.

"That's that," Kazuma said, deactivating the 'Omicron's beam spear and lowering the large gun down to the Orion's side.

"No, don't do it here!" Kazuma heard over the comm, making him look towards the Strike's fight as it was running horizontally from the GINN with it's one 'Armor Schneider' combat knife in each hand.

"Kira?" Kazuma questioned, as the Strike turned 90 degrees and shot towards his opponent at full speed.

"Stop it!" Kira yelled, quickly turning right and then stopping Strike in front of the GINN as it tried to hit it with it's assault machine gun. The GINN tried to shoot the X105 at point-blank, but it ducked just time to let the shots pass harmlessly over the Strike's left shoulder. Kira used the combat knife in it's left hand, stabbed the GINN's rifle arm right in the shoulder joint, then used the knife in the right hand and also stabbed the GINN's neck, rendering the suit useless as the right arm became limp.

Kazuma noticed the GINN's cockpit hatch pop open, allowing the pilot of the GINN to escape with it's jetpack. 'That's not good!' he thought knowing what would happened next as the suit self-destructed in front of the Strike, making it lose its balance and start to fall backwards from the blast.

Thinking quickly, Kazuma turned the Orion to the Strike, raised the end of the Shield so it was pointing towards the falling suit. The long spike at the end of the shield retracted completely so that it was now fully inside the shield as claws at the side of the shield's butt opened up wide allowing the main two pronged claw of an anchor to come out come completely . The anchor flew out of the shield at high-speeds as two thick cables connecting to the anchor to the shield followed the grappler towards the Strike. The grappling Anchor hit the X105 on the upper torso, making it clap around the suit as the wires grew taunt as Kazuma dug the Orion's heels into the ground so now it was holding the Strike firmly, stopping it's fall. "Kira, is that you?" Kazuma asked over the comm. as he reeled in the Strike slowly so it could get back to it's feet from it's leaning position.

"Kazuma?" Kira asked, as the Strike was now back on it's two feet, making Kazuma release the Strike from the grappling anchor and reeled it in completely so the shield was now back to it's original state.

"You were expecting Optimus Prime?" Kazuma joked as he lowered the shield to the Orion's side and made the suit start walking towards the Strike.

"Why are you in a mobile suit?" Kira asked when the Orion stopped in front of the Strike with the confused Kira inside. "I thought you went to an abandon hanger to get a shuttle," he finished, linking a video to the Orion.

"That's what I thought as well," Kazuma said, making Kira blink in even more confusion. "I was just as surprised as you are when I found this suit," he finished.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation with the pilot of the Strike," 'Orion' apologies, as Kira look over the comm and sensors for another suit. "But I suggest we move to a safer location before reinforcements come," he finished, making Kira look at Kazuma questioningly.

"I'll explain later," Kazuma said, before Kira had a chance to ask the question on his mind. "Let's get Tolle, Mir, Kuzzey, and Sai out of danger first."

Outside The Space Colony

"Ugh… can't we do something about this difference in battle strength!" said the pilot known as Mu La Flaga as he detached the wired guided gunbarrels and fired at the GINN, destroying its gun.

Once the GINN's gun was destroyed, it pulled out a GINN sword and started to fly to Mu's Moebius Zero, but Mu let loose a fury of bullets from his linear gun and gunbarrels, blowing the GINN's right arm off. Once its arm was blow off it made a hasty retreat back to the Vesalius.

On Board the Vesalius

"Olor's suit's been heavily damaged. He's making an emergency return," said one of the officers on the Vesalius's bridge.

"Firefighting unit to B-Deck," said another officer, manning the fire-control center.

"Olor's been hit?" Fredrik said wondering if Olor is loosing his touch. "In a simple battle like this?" he finished, looking towards the fight between Mu's Mobius Zero and another GINN.

"From the looks of it, there appears to be a rather annoying fly buzzing around," Rau said making out the situation in his usual calm demeanor.

"Laser beacon from both Miguel Alman and Zack Barbossa received. It's an emergency!" some one said over the inter comm. "Wait, Zack's GINN has been destroyed!" the voice finished almost in shock that a GINN was destroyed.

"If that machine is working well enough to take out Miguel and Zack's unit…," Rau said getting out of his chair heading for the back of the bridge. "All the more reason why we can't ignore the last one," he finished going through the door and towards the hanger.

With the X105 Strike and X025 Orion

Murrue Ramius was regaining consciousness from the explosion after the brief fight with a GINN. She slowly opened her eye and looked to her right to see a girl with light brown hair and light blue green eyes and wearing an orange dress. The girl was busy patching up the bullet wound Murrue had received just before she had knocked the teen civilian that was near her into the Strike's cockpit.

Miriallia saw her Ramius's eyes open and looking at her curiously. "I see you're awake now," she said putting on a warm smile before looking up to where Kira was, standing next to Sai, while Kazuma was to his left. Kuzzey was looking inside the cockpit of the Orion as Tolle was inside the cockpit. "Hey Kira, she's up," she said making the coordinator look towards her and start walking towards her and Murrue.

Ramius turned her head to the left but got instantly dizzy. She instinctively placed her right hand on her forehead; forgetting it was wounded before she felt a sharp sting in her right arm.

"You better stay still just in case," Kira said a bit worried as he saw Murrue move around and kneeled to her side. "I also want to apologize; I got carried away in there," he said looking a bit guilty, as Miriallia returned to the two with a bottle of water in her hand.

"Care for some water?" Miriallia asked, sitting next to Murrue and holding out the bottle to her.

Ramius looked at Miriallia. "Thank you," she said as Kira helped her up to a sitting position, taking the bottle Miriallia offered her in her left hand, and took several gulps.

"These so called 'Gundams' are awesome!!" Tolle shouted excitedly from inside the cockpit of the Strike, making Mir, Murrue, and Kira look towards the Strike and Orion.

Ramius stop drinking and turned to her left again to see both the Strike and the Orion kneeling side by side while the Orion's shield was laying down next to the suit to it's left. She was very surprised to see the Orion wasn't in its hanger to say the least. Murrue had seen one or two of the Orion's research files, but most of it was incomplete because someone tried to hide it. So seeing it was a shock.

"Guys, stop playing around with them," Sai pleaded to his friends near the suits.

"Let them play with them Sai," Kazuma said, crossing his arms, looking up at the Strike. "Besides, Kira and I locked the systems, so he can't move them if he wanted to," he finished, making Sai sigh.

"So why did the other mobile suit turned grey while this one still has it's color?" Kuzzey asked, climbing off the Orion and walking towards the Strike, curious about both of them, as Tolle climbed out of the Strike's cockpit.

"Maybe this one is out of power," Tolle said, looking down at his friends.

"Step away from those machines!" Murrue shouted making everyone look towards her as she pulling out her pistol and fired a warning shot at the Strike's cockpit. The bullet pinged off of the suit's armor, making Tolle instinctively duck. Ramius still had her pistol leveled at the teen when she stood up and started to walk towards the mobile suits.

"What do you think you are doing? Please stop." Kira said, running up to Murrue side and stopped next to her. "That guy help carried you out of the suit when you were unconscious!" he pleaded to her, only to be staring down Murrue's pistol barrel.

"I'm grateful that you saved me, but those things are a top military secret! It's not something civilians should be allowed to touch thoughtlessly!" Murrue explained, while Kazuma, Sai, Kuzzey, and Tolle walked towards her, stopping near Murrue as Kira was giving her an 'I can't believe you look'.

"Give me a break!" Tolle said under his breath to the three guys next to him. "You had Kira piloting it only a moment ago," he finished, making Murrue level her pistol towards the four guys and Tolle raising his hands up in front of himself defensively.

"All of you over there," Murrue ordered, motioning with her gun towards Kira and Miriallia as the four followed the order, walked towards Kira, and stopped next to him. "Your names, one at a time," she said, holding the pistol towards the teens.

"My name is Sai Argyle."

"I'm Kuzzey Buskirk."

"M-My name is Tolle Koenig."

"I'm Miriallia Haw."

Kira just stood there not saying anything, same as Kazuma, who was glaring at Murrue, debating on something. "Kira Yamato," he replied before noticing the serious look on his face. 'Is he going to do what I think he's going to do?' Kira thought to himself before taking a quick glance towards the suits behind Murrue. He blinked in curiosity as he saw the Orion's eyes flash, changing from a light blue to a dark red-orange color. 'That's weird,' he thought, returning his gaze to Murrue.

Murrue gestured with her gun towards Kazuma to continue as she narrowed her eyes at him. She remembered seeing him in the research facility working on the G-weapons OS programming. 'I'll have to have a talk with him when I get the chance,' she thought, making a mental note.

'There is no turning back,' Kazuma thought as he straighten his back and held his head up high before taking a deep breath and sighed. "Kazuma Kurokawa Sasaki," he said, making his friends and Murrue, besides Kira, look at him like he was crazy.

"Sasaki?" Murrue asked out of instinct, a bit surprised.

"What are you talking about Takashi?" Sai said, not believing what Kazuma said.

"It's true guys," Kira said unphased by Kazuma's declaration while, the group besides Kazuma looked at him for an explanation. "We did a DNA and Brain wave test when my family found him on the colony. The test came out positive," he finished, making the group look at Kazuma in disbelief.

Murrue was the first to regain from the shock. "And my name is Murrue Ramius, an Earth Alliance officer," Murrue started, regaining the teens attention. "It is my unfortunate duty that I can not allow any of you to leave," she finished, making the teens in front of her gasp in disbelief.

"What?" they asked in unison, besides Kazuma.

"Regardless of how it happened…" Murrue started, "the fact is that you have seen a top military project. Until I can reach the appropriate authorities, who will then determine how the situation is to be handled, you have no choice but to stay with me at all times," she finished hoping the teens would comply with what she said.

"Your kidding!" Kuzzey said surprised.

"Are you out of your mind?" Tolle asked her surprised and outraged. "That's the biggest joke of all!"

"You'll do as I say!" Murrue demanded.

"In case you haven't noticed were citizens of Heliopolis!" Sai said forgetting that Oabobiti isn't a citizen. "So were neutral. We have nothing to do with the military!" he finished his short speech, not wanting to get involved in the war.

"He's right!" Kuzzey agreed, supporting his friend declaration.

"Yeah, I mean, what are the Earth Forces doing in Heliopolis in the first place? It doesn't make any sense," Tolle asked a bit furious, trying to make sense of the situation.

Any further conversations were cut off when Murrue fired off three rounds into the air gaining everyone's attention again and stopping their out bursts in their tracks. "Quiet down! None of you understand anything!" she ordered again as she leveled her pistol back at the teens.

"You keep insisting you're neutral and have nothing to do with me, but can you really distance yourselves from what's happening! You don't really believe that, do you?" Murrue continued in a harsh tone. "The Earth Forces' most valued secrets were here and you people have seen them." She paused letting the information sink in before continuing, "That is the reality, so you just have to deal with it."

"A little harsh wouldn't you say?" Sai asked.

"That's just how war is Sai," Kazuma said, not taking his eyes off of Murrue, noticing the Orion started to move on it's own by straightening its back up.

Murrue heard the sound of machinery moving from behind her, making her look out of the corner of her eyes towards the mobile suits. Her eyes widen as she saw the head of the Orion turned so it was now looking directly at her before she gasped; now looking down the Orion's H.E.M.P.A.C. 'Did someone…?' she thought before noticing the Cockpit doors were opened, revealing no one was inside the suit.

"Please discontinue your actions and drop your weapon," 'Orion' said over the suit's outer speaker, surprising not only Murrue, but the rest of the group except Kazuma. "If you should continue your actions towards my pilot, meatbag, then I will have no choice but to execute combat protocols," the AI finished in a serious tone, leaving most of the teens speechless.

"D-did that Mobile Suit just talk?" Kuzzey asked the question on almost everyone's mind, looking right at the Orion, eyes wide in shock.

'Nice bluff,' Kazuma thought putting his hands into his coat pockets, narrowing his eyes at his suit's antics. "Better do as 'he' says, he's not one to kid from what I can tell," he said, fuelling the fire that 'Orion' started.

Murrue did what 'Orion' said to do; she dropped her gun to the ground, and raised her hands up into the air in defeat.

"Nice job 'Orion'," Kazuma said, walking up to Murrue, picking up the pistol from the ground, and removed the cartridge as well as the bullet in the chamber of the gun. "However, no matter how much I dislike it, we have to work together in order to get out of here alive," he finished, holding out the pistols hand grip towards Murrue, who took it in her right hand.

That was a long chapter, I hope you guys liked the fight scene because I had fun writing it.

So until next time, This is SPARTAN-251, sighning off...(Click)