Gundam SEED Destiny
Kira
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Phase 8: The Rising Storm

October 31, 73 C.E.
Djibril Manor, 12:10am

To say that the esteemed Lord Djibril was angry would have been an understatement of crippling proportions. He was downright furious! How could this have happened?! His perfect plan for wiping out the beasts had failed…and spectacularly at that!

To vent his rage, he was ruthlessly smashing many of his expensive bottles of rare wine to pieces. Where many other people would've been abhorred by these actions of destroying such priceless treasures, he cared as little about the spilled liquid as he did for the immense amount of life lost to the Alliance in this failed attack. They were just expendable assets, very easily replaced when the situation called for it. But no matter how savagely he crushed the bottles and thrashed the small table that held them, his fury did not wane in the least bit.

Behind him, the various other members of Logos watched as their leader smashed things about. Though they shared his fury, it wasn't over the fact that the attack had failed, it was because they each knew that their 'leader' had grossly overestimated the Alliance's tactics and underestimated the Coordinators' own advancement in technology and strategy. And while they each desired those inhumane creatures to be destroyed, for the moment they understood the reality of the situation much better. This was thanks to the fact that they hadn't followed Djibril's example and jumped in with their hopes all based on one attack.

Lucs Kohler was currently ranting at Djibril's back about the state of the world. Due to Djibril's impatient insistence that they proceed directly to a nuclear attack to wipe out the PLANTs in the first engagement, their forces had been completely caught off-guard when ZAFT had retaliated with an unknown weapon. Now the Earth Alliance's morale had plummeted, the population of Earth was in a state of controlled fear and confusion, and the PLANTs were open to counterattack at any time due to the enormous losses the Alliance sustained in the battle. To make matters worse, the Alliance troops who were stationed around ZAFT's Gibraltar and Carpentaria bases hadn't even received any orders due to the immense disorganization and confusion from their superiors.

"So," Kohler demanded in a snide voice. "What do we do now? Who should we hold responsible for this? Was it your fault, Djibril?"

That statement tore through Djibril's rage-clouded mind like a hot knife through butter. Instantly regaining his composure, the Logos leader turned to the hard-faced trillionaire, "That is simply ridiculous. We are at war! It is now more essential than ever that we win!"

"And just how do you propose that we do that, Djibril?" Kohler demanded harshly. "That weapon they used—"

"It's no longer a concern of ours!" Djibril interrupted hotly, an ugly sneer pulling at his face as he remembered his contingency plan. "Those monsters may possess that weapon, but my men are already in the process of creating a new weapon that will crush them!"

"Just like how your nuclear-strike plan would crush them?!" Lally McWilliams asked, glaring at Djibril. "What makes you think this new scheme of yours will have any more effect on those beasts than the one we'd just used?"

Walking over to his own monitor, he brought some information that he'd been withholding from the members of Logos up to this point. "Once our technicians have deciphered its CPU, we will attack with an army of these!"

An image of a strange mobile suit flashed up on the screen. After a moment, the Logos members recognized the suit: it was the Neo Freedom.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Shady Oaks Apartments – Onogoro City
9:30am

It was all-too-easy to hack into the door's small computer and disable the alarm. Akira entered the apartment without scarcely a sound or the alarm alerting everyone to his intrusion. The apartment was quite clean and tidy, positively shining in wherever the sunlight touched. There was not a single speck of dust, nor a cabinet or drawer left open or exposed, nothing left lying on the floor, or even anything as insignificant as dishes in the sink that needed washing. It was so impeccably clean that it was disgusting, almost enough to cause a person to make a mess so that it seemed more 'natural'.

Treading lightly across the floor, Akira surveyed his surroundings carefully. There didn't seem to be any other alarms or security devices, yet he remained cautious as he approached what looked like the doctor's office. The office, as expected, was filled with an organized mess of countless folders of bills and letters. Paying no attention to the files and folders, Akira went straight for the man's computer.

After deciding that he had waited long enough to steal the Neo Freedom, Akira had also come to a quick realization. Once he stole the Gundam, it would be likely that he'd have to flee Orb entirely so that he could keep it until the time that the Seirans would call off whatever search or mercenaries that they may send after him. Because of that, he probably wouldn't be able to do this investigation of Doctor William Strum. So he decided to start now, while he still had the chance.

To be sure that the 'good doctor' wouldn't discover his intrusion into his home, Akira had been forced to create a disguise. He was now a blond-haired, blue-eyed Coordinator when he had visited the same hospital that he'd escaped from. He'd quickly hacked into one of the employee's computers when they'd left for a short break. That was how Akira discovered that Doctor Strum had been transferred to the Orb Emergency Medical Facility shortly after his tussle with Akira. Whatever the drug was that doctor had intended to give Akira seemed to be having a truly adverse effect on his unprepared body. Even though he didn't understand a lot of the technical terms that the report on the man's condition used, he got the gist of it: he was slowly dying of the massive overdose of whatever the drug was.

Hacking into Strum's computer was an exercise in boredom due to how pathetically easy it was. But once he was in, bored he was not. Starting simple, Akira brought up the man's online bank accounts and analyzed his income revenue. What he discovered was something that he'd suspected before; the man was quite rich, surpassing even what Akira had suspected. The money was scattered throughout several accounts that were each under a different name, the final total being near ten million! He was also receiving a lot of extra money from somewhere else as well, but the accounts gave no name or reason for the large deposits that were made into the doctor's different identities. That was suspicious enough, but not enough to warrant any true blame unto the man.

Next, Akira explored the man's personal files. Most of what he found was a lot of technical and scientific dribble that he could make no sense of. However, there were quite a few diagrams and examination pictures of the various 'subjects' he'd used.

Akira was not normally someone who had a weak stomach, but the many pictures he was seeing were enough to churn his gut and give him slightly nauseous head-spins. Pictures of unnatural swelling in various parts of the human body, generally around the arm and leg joints, massive bruising, skin shades that were practically every color of the rainbow except the one that they should've been, adults and children, boy and girl alike, were shown to have been losing or gaining immense hair growth, having glazed or bloodshot eyes, rotting teeth and swelling lips. There were so many repulsive images that Akira was forced to shut down the displays. What kind of man could do that to people?!

Finally, he found something that gave him some much-needed answers. It was clearly the man's journal, dated as far back as May 40 C.E., when the man was only twenty years old. Gazing over the man's documentation of his life and gradually his work, Akira found himself having less and less reason to feel any regret or sympathy towards the old man that now lay dying in a hospital bed. The man was a complete hypocrite of staggering proportions. He was a Coordinator born and raised in the Orb, had a sick fascination with drugs and medical experimentation on the human body, and had no qualms against experimenting on people with his untested products. However, ten years before the Valentine War began, the Atlantic Federation had come to him with the proposition of funding his research should he agree to aid their own top-secret research on creating drug-enhanced soldiers that could compete with his fellow Coordinators.

And he'd agreed!

However, shortly before the war had ended, something had happened and he'd been fired. Ever since then, he'd been working on his own research, attempting to create a new drug for the Alliance that would get him back into their good graces and allow him to continue his research with the proper funds. His own experimentation, probably all those pictures that Akira had seen earlier, had apparently not been going too well due to the poor victims' bodies being completely unable to adapt to whatever he'd forced upon them while using the excuse of giving them 'sedatives' to help them recover more quickly. There were no fatalities yet, but the side-effects had been steadily becoming more and more severe.

And then he'd come across some kind of breakthrough. The drug he'd created had given the victim extremely heightened reflexes and strength, but only for a short amount of time before wearing off, generally three hours at most. Strum had been working on a newer, far more potent version on it that was suppose to last much longer, supposedly for years at a time. Then he'd come across what seemed to be the perfect 'specimen,' a young man who'd been found washed up on the shore…

"ME?!" Akira cried reflexively.

Apparently, blood tests that Strum had done on Akira had shown that his body could and would incorporate the drug into his system, enhancing both his own body and the drug's effect greatly! It took all of Akira's self-control to prevent him from lashing out at something to vent his anger. He was not a lab rat! This man, William Strum, was going to pay for this! Literally!

Opening a link to the Orb bank, Akira quickly created a bank account under a false identity, complete with a fake past that would make the account seem twenty years older. Then he hacked into Strum's numerous accounts and transferred all of the corrupt doctor's money into his new account before erasing his cyber trail. The doctor was dying anyway, with no immediate family still left alive or any children, so his property and affects would be seized by the state upon his death.

Why not put his funds to use doing something much more…noble than torturing his fellow man?

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Minister Seiran's Office
10:00am

Unato Ema Seiran let out a sigh of annoyance. Things were not going very well, certainly not as well as he'd hoped at this point. Due to the brat Athha's stubborn refusals, he was having a hard time convincing the other cabinet members to side with him. Yes, they agreed with him that an alliance with the Atlantic Federation would give them added protection from a repeat of the last war. But they still held a great deal of resentment towards the Alliance. As long as that Athha brat remained firm, so would a fair portion of them. And that was simply unacceptable!

He had never been closer to achieving his plans for turning the illustrious nation of Orb into a perfect and pure society, a society where its citizens would not ever need to fear beasts who could snap their necks in the dark night without even straining. Of course, he was extremely careful to keep his personal feelings hidden on the matter. That perfect mask was what had allowed him to rise through the ranks of society to this prominent and powerful position. All that was needed now was to gradually remove his opposition, chief among them being the Coordinator-loving Athha brat. And the arranged wedding was only the first step towards doing that.

Of course, once he'd finally gotten his nation to be a part of the Alliance, he was going to need some serious military firepower to back up his schemes. And that Coordinator bitch he had serving as Morgenroete's lead designer and mechanic was producing some very good mobile suit models. However, he knew that they would never be able to stand up to the mobile suits that had been dubbed Gundams. Seiran wanted a military force filled with these powerful Gundams to purify his nation. And it was here that he found himself torn. Like his son had constantly been telling him, an army of Freedom Gundams would have been an unstoppable force. But because he had been merely entrusted by Lord Djibril to repair and reprogram the Freedom, he could not follow through on his desires. Unlike his impatient son, Unato knew his own limits far better.

However, where he could not keep the Freedom itself for further research and development, the data they'd acquired on it could provide some vital engineering breakthroughs on any upcoming models they'd build. It was this reason that Seiran wouldn't attempt to put up more of a fight when the time came for him to transfer it to Logos. And he was quite sure that Djibril suspected such foul play from him.

And yet, lately, his best computer hackers had been running into a severe problem. Each time they attempted to hack into the coded data (whether it was the actual CPU or copied versions of it), a virus had begun jumping up and creating a series of cascading programs that would utterly lock up any computer or super computer that was being used. The only way to free the computers was to completely reboot them, erasing all data they contained. Nothing they tried yet had been able crack the virus and allow them a deep view into the schematics of the legendary mobile suit. It was completely frustrating!

A beeping noise on his computer interrupted Unato's thoughts and drew him back into reality. A priority message from an unknown sender? Doing a quick scan for viruses, Unato opened it to see a video screen appear with an all-too-familiar face.

"Prime Minister Seiran, the time has come," Alwin Ritter said bluntly, "Lord Djibril wants to transfer the Neo Freedom to Heaven's Base where his mechanics will finish any remaining repairs that are necessary."

Nodding his head submissively, Unato said, "Of course. However, I'm afraid that to move it now would be most unwise for us. The state of the nation is restless after that attack last night and my engineers claim that they are nearly finished repairing the basic propulsion systems. Another week is all that's needed for them to finish."

Pausing to consider, Ritter stared sternly at the Minister. Exercising his perfect control to hide anything that may hint at deception, Unato stared impassively back at the merchant of death. After carefully considering the proposition, Ritter nodded his head, "That will do. See to it that your men have the Gundam properly prepared for the transfer in five days."

Holding back the urge to scowl, Unato nodded his head again. When he'd returned his gaze to the video screen, the screen had gone blank.

"Why, Father, I'm surprised at you," Yuna's sneering voice spoke up from the open doorway. "And here you are always telling me that we don't own the specimen, and yet I know for a fact that it's nearly finished in its repairs."

"We may not hold any rights to it," Unato pointed out in a calm voice without even gracing his son in looking at him. "But that certainly doesn't mean that we can't acquire some further information into its abilities before we hand it over."

"Oh, I see," Yuna's sneer widened as his father's scheme finally made sense to him. "That's so underhanded, father," he praised. Perhaps his father wasn't as closed-minded as he had thought.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Seaside Mall – Onogoro City
2:00pm

Pushing the cart idly through the aisles, the faux-blond Coordinator surveyed the items on sale with a critical eye. Now that he had money, he was rapidly stocking up on supplies necessary for when he had to live on the run with his Gundam. Currently resting in the cart were a few new pairs of clothes, toiletries, and a large backpack.

The aisle he was standing in was filled with many different types of computers, desktops and laptops alike. The one he was looking at was rather promising. It was a small one, the monitor was barely ten inches, but the memory space on it was acceptable. Combine that with a few other gadgets and gizmos he was about to purchase and this would be his primary weapon for when he began his more active role in the war.

Curious about its performance capabilities, Akira booted it up. Expertly hacking into its system, he easily disabled the safety program that the store had installed on it and began running through a series of special tests on it database. Scrolling through the information, Akira smiled to himself. Yes, this one would do just fine.

Quickly repairing the damage he'd done to the security system before anyone noticed, Akira shut down the computer and selected one of the boxes under it, carefully placing it in his cart. Next, he bought several additional memory blocks that were several times larger than the small laptop's space, as well as a special satellite dish that could attach him to the wireless internet anywhere on the planet with a scrambled signal. Maybe he could modify it to enhance that scrambling signal?

Throwing his various purchases into his new backpack for easier transport, Akira scratched his blond hair as he tried to think up anything else that he'd need. Weapons were something that he'd definitely need, but he wasn't planning on storming into Morgenroete…only on the way out. But still…a pistol, at the very least, would be helpful if things went pear-shaped.

Sighing heavily to himself, Akira stalked over to the small hunting store called Scheels. He'd need ammunition, a carrying case, and maybe he should look into getting a mask while he was there. No need to let the Orb military get a look at his current disguise and force him to create a new one, after all.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

November 1, 73 C.E.
Outside Orb territorial waters, 7:05am

He didn't like what was happening. Not one bit!

It was still very early in the morning, the sun having risen only half an hour ago. The blinding glare on the water was hampering visibility slightly, but he could still clearly see what was happening out there. And he understood why it was happening, too. Somehow, Cagalli had allowed herself to be manipulated into allowing the Orb Union to join the Earth Alliance. Though the treaty still hadn't technically been signed, this decision had made them an instant enemy of ZAFT. Apparently the crew of the Minerva had realized what would've happened if they'd stuck around the port and finished their nearly-complete repairs.

Tolle had been awakened at five in the morning due to an emergency scrambling of the military. That was a good hour earlier than what he usually woke up at, so he was quite irritable when he arrived at the station. It was then that he was given the news; the Minerva was leaving port without having consulted anyone for permission. And since they were about to become allies with the Alliance, the Orb government had temporarily renewed its old policy of neutrality.

Now a considerable portion of the Orb Navy and mobile suit forces were stationed at the borders of the Orb Union's territorial waters. Their job was to not allow either the Earth Alliance or the Minerva back into their territory. If that were the only thing that they were here for, Tolle wouldn't have given the job much thought or concern. But the fact that the Earth Alliance had sent a large fleet out to destroy the Minerva as soon as it left Orb's territory was another matter all together!

And now he was expected to just sit back and watch as the Alliance sunk the ship?!

Closing his eyes, Tolle couldn't help but think one thing: What would you do, Kira? He knew the answer to that question, almost without needing to ask. But…if he did it, he'd most assuredly get into deep trouble when he came back. However…

It was the right to do.

Eyes snapping open, Tolle's hands flew over the controls, initiating the start-up sequence. As he brought the Fortitude out of its standby mode, he surveyed the battlefield ahead of him. The Impulse was flying around destroying the Alliance's new Windam mobile suits, and the Minerva's other two ZAKU Warriors were standing on opposing sides of the ship blasting at Windams that came too close. The Minerva itself was doing an admirable job protecting itself, so that left just getting rid of the fleet and the Windams with Shinn for him.

Powering up the Fortitude's boosters, Tolle opened a channel to the CIC of the carrier he was stationed on. "This is Tolle Koenig. I'm launching to aid the Minerva's escape." He quickly shut down the radio frequency as he blasted off the carrier. Behind him, multiple Murasame and Astrays were scrambling to power up and launch, most likely to bring him back.

If he were in an ordinary mobile suit like the Murasame, they probably could've caught up to him. However, the Fortitude had a special little system installed in it that he rarely utilized. Smirking to himself, Tolle turned and quickly brought the Voiture Lumiere propulsion system online. Immediately, he could hear a comforting hum starting to sound through his cockpit. Once it'd sufficiently charged itself, he punched the throttle.

To the Murasame and Astrays trying to intercept him, all they saw was a sudden bright flare of the Fortitude's engines. What immediately followed was not only a slightly disorienting afterimage effect that Voiture Lumiere system yielded, but the recklessly attacking mobile suit seemed to vanish in a burst of speed that none of them could hope to keep up with.

Pressed back heavily into his seat, Tolle fought against the massive G-forces to keep the Fortitude flying in the direction he wanted. It was these incredible G-forces that always prevented the young Lieutenant from using the special engine systems as often as he'd have liked. If he wasn't extremely careful, he could pass out from the immense power that was emitted. Of course, that usually happened more often when he pushed the power output to over sixty percent its total thrust capabilities. That was why he only used it as a desperate, last resort when he needed to cover a lot of distance in a hurry.

Letting out a loud whoop of exhilaration, Tolle came streaking into the mass of fighting mobile suits in a blinding blaze of light and speed. "Let's party, boys!"

Dashing forward with a beam saber in each hand, Tolle sliced three Windams to pieces before they even knew was there. Swooping down, he brought the sabers down in a chop and slashed the Jet Striker's wings off of a fourth Windam, sending the mobile suit plummeting towards the ocean below. A sudden impact on his left side had Tolle rapidly dodge away, clearly evading any more sucker-shots the Windam pilots were going to take. Exchanging one of his sabers in favor of his rifle, Tolle sent his own shots back at his attacker, destroying its headpiece.

"The Fortitude?" a semi-familiar voice said over the radio. "Lieutenant Koenig, is that you?"

"Hey there, Miss ZAFT Red!" Tolle called out as he shot down two more Windams with one shot. "How's it going?"

"I thought I told you not to call me that!" Lunamaria snapped, venting her impulsive anger by destroying another attacking enemy with her heavy cannon.

"Oh sorry, Miss Red ZAKU," Tolle teased as he spun around and swung his saber at the Windam that was trying to sneak up on him.

"What are you doing here?!" Shinn growled hatefully as he opened visual communications so he could properly express his anger. "Orb's allied with the Earth Alliance now!"

"Well, technically, Orb hasn't signed the treaty yet, so we're still neutral," Tolle pointed out, grinning widely. "And do I really seem like the perfect soldier who obeys every order without question?" As if to punctuate his question, he turned and destroyed a Windam that was about to shoot the Impulse in the back. "Besides, I hate the Atlantic Federation!"

"We don't need your help!" Shinn yelled. The Impulse spun around and destroyed three more Windams in rapid succession.

"That's not my opinion," Tolle countered easily.

A sudden blast by the Minerva's Tannhauser positron cannon, followed quickly by a massive explosion, quickly drew the attention of all combatants on the battlefield. When the fire, smoke, and mist died down, they were treated to a horrifying sight. A strange new mobile armor was floating protectively in front of the Earth Alliance fleet, a large glowing shield of light shining proudly in the morning light.

"It deflected the Tannhauser?" Shinn gawked. "What the hell is that thing?!"

"I know what it is…" Tolle growled, deathly serious at the sight of what was clearly a powerful enemy. After his near-death in a Skygrasper, Tolle had developed a very powerful hatred of mobile armors due to their tendency of being underpowered, underequipped, and slower than a snail in regards to the maneuverability that a mobile suit provided. "Mine!" Blasting the Fortitude towards the mobile armor in a blinding streak of light, Tolle fired his rifle at it relentlessly.

The pilot of the armor easily spotted the bright white light trail that was shining from the backside of the Fortitude racing towards it. With a surprising amount of agility for something so massive, the armor dodged to the side as it sent a shower of beams towards the Gundam. It was only thanks to the fact that Tolle didn't have time to shut down the Voiture Lumiere, the Fortitude reacting and traveling at speeds that he normally couldn't sustain, that he managed to evade.

With a loud battle cry, the Impulse came rushing forward at its own best possible speed, firing just as relentlessly as Tolle had been. However, the strange armor merely rolled slightly and the Impulse's shots were deflected by the shield that it was still using. Dodging to the side as it angled its forward cannons, Shinn growled in anger as he evaded the energy blasts. Rushing forward in hopes of being able to use his beam saber on it directly, he glared as his enemy brought out a pair of heat claws in preparation for close quarters combat.

Swooping down along the ocean surface in his own mobile armor mode, Tolle let loose a volley of his Hayate missiles at the Alliance armor's underbelly. In response, the two rear energy cannons shifted and a spray of Igelstellungs shot forth and destroyed the four missiles. Deftly evading the twin high-power energy blasts that followed, the Fortitude changed back into a mobile suit and peppered the thing's belly with rifle-fire as the Impulse dodged and fired upon it from above.

The result of this battle between the three of them might have been very different had Captain Todaka not chosen that moment to issue a warning to Minerva about reentering Orb's waters, followed shortly by warning shots at the water near the ZAFT warship. Distracted by Orb's deliberate attack on his ship, Shinn was easily captured in one of the claws of the armor. Before he could react, the armor swung him around and sent him crashing down upon the Fortitude, knocking both Gundams down towards the ocean.

In his cockpit, Tolle had been violently knocked around by the impact of the Impulse, his head slamming painfully into his starboard monitor. Various alarms sounded throughout the cockpit as damage reports flooded through the display monitor at his knees. But he wasn't able to even consider looking at them as the G-forces of the plummet began pulling at his body. He found himself unable to fight against the blackness that was rapidly consuming his vision.

He was a technical college student, running for his life as ZAFT mobile suits began attacking his home. Then a large white and blue mobile suit appeared over him, moving awkwardly as the attacking GINN made vicious moves against it. As the GINN was about to impale the white suit, a single thought had gone through his mind. He couldn't prevent the white suit from falling… because he was a useless bystander…

He was a volunteer navigator onboard the Archangel, watching the bloody battle between the three Earth Alliance ships and the numerous ZAFT mobile suits. With a massive explosion, the largest and last remaining of the Alliance ships was destroyed. A loud, horrified cry filled the bridge behind him as Flay Allster degraded into a convulsing mass of grief and despair. Her father had just been killed… and he hadn't been able to prevent it… because he was a useless navigator…

He was the pilot of the mobile armor FX-550 Skygrasper, watching the vicious battle between the three remaining stolen Gundams and Kira. The pilots were attacking with a new level of ruthlessness, likely caused by the death of their comrade in the previous encounter. Kira was being hard-pressed to fight them off by himself. He had needed help; help that Tolle was all too glad to give. But as the shield closed in on his fighter with frightening speed, he knew he wouldn't be able to entirely dodge it, despite his frantic attempts. He was going to die… because he was a useless mobile armor pilot…

He was the pilot of an M1 Astray, and the ferocious battle that was raging around him was rapidly coming to a head. He didn't know how he knew; just that something was telling him that it was almost over. From his position near the massive GENESIS superweapon, he watched in awe as Kira battled the bulky ZAFT Gundam with agility and precision that was deceiving in how easy Kira was making it seem. But when Kira's luck took a turn for the worst, Tolle launched his Astray into the battle without even the faintest hesitation. Despite his good intentions, he was helpless against the ZAFT Gundam's DRAGOONs. It took a selfless act from Kira to save his life, leading up to them being unable to find Kira after the GENESIS superweapon exploded… because he was a useless Astray pilot…

I'M NOT USELESS ANYMORE!!!

Something exploded in the back of Tolle's mind as time and reality righted themselves. Reacting with newfound reflexes, Tolle boosted the Voiture Lumiere system, using the incredible thrusting capabilities to slow his descent and launch him into a controlled flight along the ocean's surface. Above him, the Impulse mimicked his maneuver. Both Gundams suddenly were flying side by side across the ocean in perfect synchronization. The sudden change of flight saved both Gundams from being blown to pieces by the armor's follow-up attack with all four energy cannons on its legs.

The Impulse flew off towards the Minerva, with Shinn demanding that Meyrin prepare something called the 'Deuterion Beam' and some replacement parts for the ones that had been damaged. Without much regard to the G-forces pulling at his body, Tolle pushed the Fortitude's Voiture Lumiere engines up to seventy percent as the armor soared after the fleeing Gundams. The assortment of afterimages greatly confused the crew of the armor as the gunners attempted to get a lock on the Gundam as it came rushing towards them, beam rifle raised and ready. With pinpoint precision that outshone his usual performance capabilities, Tolle's shots hit the vulnerable joints of the energy cannons near the main body, rendering it useless.

It was at this point that the newly-recharged Impulse dropped down from the sky, impaling the cockpit of the armor with its beam saber. Without any sense of pity for the crew, Tolle and Shinn watched the armor fall into the ocean, where it exploded. Turning their attentions towards the fleet, the two frenzied pilots didn't even need to communicate with one another: Shinn would take the left, Tolle would take the right.

As the Impulse quickly exchanged Silhouettes, Tolle blasted the Fortitude towards the Alliance fleet. Drawing both his beam sabers, he was easily able to dodge the ships' missiles thanks to the afterimage effect. It was with cold precision that he sank his sabers into the hulls of the ships he landed on, resulting in either the explosion of its supply of weaponry or rapid sinking due to the massive hull damage they sustained. With the combined efforts of the Fortitude and Impulse, the entire fleet was completely destroyed in less than two minutes.

As the last of his enemies were rendered powerless under his strength, Tolle's glazed eyes finally cleared and he came back to himself, panting heavily from the immense strain that he'd just endured. As he and Shinn hovered over the wreckage of the fleet they'd destroyed, a familiar alarm began to sound in his cockpit. The Fortitude had finally reached critical levels of power. He needed to land immediately.

Turning to face Shinn, Tolle opened visual communications with him. "Shinn, great work out here." Smiling in a bitter way, he nodded in acknowledgement of his fellow pilot's skills. "I hope we don't ever have to meet on the battlefield, you'll probably win."

Snorting loudly at the compliment, Shinn resolutely looked away from the monitor as he launched his Impulse flying towards the Minerva. Though he didn't want to admit it, even to himself, a compliment from a war veteran such as Tolle made him feel a little awkward. Shaking his head powerfully to get the feeling out his head, Shinn forced himself to remember his hatred of Orb and all its corrupt citizens. "I didn't need your help, Koenig!"

Transforming the Fortitude into its plane form, Tolle flew past Shinn with a wide sneer. As he past the Minerva and Lunamaria's red ZAKU, he called out, "Safe sailing, Minerva! And don't let the Impulsive idiot's head swell too much, Miss Red ZAKU."

"One of these days I'm going to slap you silly, Lieutenant!" Lunamaria yelled, anger and embarrassment clear in her voice.

"I'll be looking forward to it!" he sneered, sending the Fortitude into a spin to show off his giddiness at the future prospect.

On the bridge of the Minerva, Captain Gladys could only silently shake her head in amusement at the antics of the Orb Lieutenant. She knew that he wasn't going to be getting a hero's welcome when he returned to his ship as Shinn likely would, but he had certainly earned her respect and gratitude. She could now more easily understand why he, with all the odd quirks she heard about and his brash attitude, was considered among one of the heroes of the Bloody Valentine War.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Asanagi, Aegis-class Orb sea battleship
Orb territorial waters, 7:50am

As soon as Tolle had landed the Fortitude onto the deck of the ship he'd been temporarily assigned to and exited his beloved Gundam, he'd been arrested by the soldiers aboard. Since he had intentionally and knowingly disobeyed a direct order to not interfere in the battle that was taking place, Tolle made no excuse and no move to fight back as he was taken straight to the commander of the fleet, Captain Todaka.

The elder captain stared down at the rebellious pilot with a gaze of carefully concealed pride. What this boy had done, even if it was against orders, was exactly what he himself had wished to do. The ZAFT warship had been responsible for not only aiding in the destruction of Junius 7, but it had also safeguarded Representative Athha during the skirmishes that it had been forcefully involved in. That ship and its crew, more than any other, deserved their aid and cooperation. And yet he and his fleet had been ordered to stand by and guard their borders against its return? If it were up to Captain Todaka, he would've given the young pilot a medal for valor and honor.

But as it was, he had to keep his persona cool and professional as he looked down upon a soldier who had disobeyed orders.

"Do you have an explanation for your actions, Lieutenant?" he asked, his voice strictly neutral. "Our nation is about to sign a treaty that will ally us to the nations of the ships and mobile suits that you'd just destroyed. Your actions here this morning may have just cost us the treaty and pushed the Alliance to attack us."

The scarred Lieutenant's expression of resolute determination did not falter in the least. Though his eyes did take on a more subtly firm gaze as Todaka mentioned the treaty.

"Is that what you were intending, Lieutenant?" Todaka demanded. "To make enemies of our soon-to-be allies?"

"Not at all, sir," Lieutenant Koenig answered with crisp military precision. "Nor was it my intention to endanger our nation in any way. However, to allow the Earth Alliance to sink the Minerva would've been dishonorable. Thus, I was merely doing what I felt was right."

"Lieutenant, until further notice, you are hereby removed as the pilot of the Fortitude Gundam," Captain Todaka stated, noticing a violent twitch over Tolle's eye as he passed judgment on him. He knew the boy loved the mobile suit; he had frequently spent quite a bit of time bragging to the other mobile suit pilots about the Fortitude's capabilities in the lounge. "You will report to the military headquarters to explain your actions and they will decide your punishment for disobeying orders."

Recognizing the dismissal, the Lieutenant and his guards threw crisp salutes to the captain before exiting the bridge without comment. As he was turning his gaze back towards the shrinking form the ZAFT warship, Todaka was far from surprised to hear a very loud scream of rage and frustration coming from just outside the bridge. Sighing quietly to himself, Todaka began issuing orders to return the Asanagi to port.

Outside, Tolle was gripping the railing with an iron grip to keep himself from doing anything he knew he would further regret later. He understood that Captain Todaka was only being a professional, he understood… But to take Fortitude away?! It was with a newfound level of self-discipline that Tolle forced himself to walk away.

As he was walking back to the deck to guard his…former Gundam, a stray thought reached him. That Seiran bastard is going to love this!

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

November 2, 73 C.E.
Near Waltfield/Ramius Manor, 5:00am

With the silence of a professional assassin, the team of ten ZAFT Special Forces reached the shore of the island that their target had relocated to. After using their ASH mobile suits to sneak into the borders of the Orb Union and to arrive at their target's new residence, they had brought out the scuba equipment and swam ashore.

If at all possible, they were going to strike fast and silently, eliminating the target in her sleep. Then they were to vanish, leaving no trace either that she had died or that they had ever been there. Of course, if by some chance things didn't go according to plan, the ASHs' would be perfect for causing a lot of damage in a hurry, likely killing the target as she attempted to flee.

However, regardless of what happened, they weren't leaving this island until they'd completed their mission. Or they wouldn't be leaving at all. So it was with deadly precision and near-perfect stealth that the team of ten Coordinators rushed towards the large manor, eager to complete their objective.

Unknown to the Coordinators, a certain pink Haro had just detected their trespass and alerted the people inside of their presence.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Morgenroete – Orb Facility
5:00am

If he had never been one to believe in coincidences or fate before, Akira certainly found himself beginning to now. Despite the extremely early hour in the morning, it had been pathetically easy to infiltrate the facility a second time. The staff were undermanned due to the early hour, security was at its all-time low, and there was an eerie silence that hung heavily through the halls like a velvet blanket. It was almost enough to make him believe that no one else was here and that he didn't need to worry about running into anyone and having them recognize that they didn't recognize him.

But that ever-present sixth sense of danger had been steadily rising ever since he'd reached Level Four. Upon reaching the elevator that he knew would take him to the secret part of the facility, that danger sense finally flared to life and he now understood why it had been tingling up to this point. Without even needing to open the secret door, he knew that there were still personnel working on the Neo Freedom.

Backing away from the secret entrance, he carefully considered his options. It would be easiest for him if the mechanics and computer hackers would just leave so he could at least get to the Neo Freedom without any opposition. However, according to the report that Seiran had filed into his journal last night, that wasn't likely to happen. They were getting extremely desperate to finally hack the CPU and discover what the secret was that was being so passionately shielded by that virus. So, unless he went charging with a squad of soldiers and guns blazing, there was no chance that he safely recover his Gundam.

But what if… he created an emergency?

Smirking to himself, he quickly doubled back to where he had seen a set of alarms. Upon reaching it, he smashed the glass casing and triggered the 'biohazard' button. Almost instantly, a near-deafening alarm blared to life with spinning red lights shining to life throughout the entire facility.

Ducking into a nearby lab, he listened and waited patiently. And just as he'd hoped, the elevator suddenly let out a gentle ding as it began to ascend. Closing his eyes and trying to 'reach out' with his danger sense, he could still feel several others waiting just beyond the elevator for it to return. Smiling broadly, Akira was fast to jump out of his hiding place and make his way towards the secret hangar as the elevator quickly returned and then left once again, carrying the remaining people up to the surface.

Pulling open the doors, he jumped over the large hole that was usually occupied by the elevator. Balancing on his toes on the extremely narrow landing he had available, he pried open the secret doorway and rolled through the small space provided.

Dashing to his feet, Akira sprinted down the long hallway and burst into the hangar. As he'd hoped, there seemed to be no lingering mechanics. Sprinting forward, he jumped onto the lift and raised it up to the repaired Gundam's cockpit. Even in his hurry to get inside, Akira couldn't help but notice several things were different about the Neo Freedom's figure. The wings were no longer were the faded orange of the Early Harvest, but the proud blue that they had originally been. And the shield-rifle that had originally been used by the Calamity Gundam was missing, replaced by what seemed to be an exact replica of the Freedom's original shield.

Akira couldn't help but scowl slightly. If they'd taken the liberties to make those changes, what else had they done to his Gundam?! Stowing his backpack with its supplies into a hidden compartment behind the pilot's seat, he rapidly strapped himself in and booted up the CPU.

"Radiation levels are optimal," he muttered to himself. "Mirage Colloid, inoperable. Weapons systems, restored, calibrations not set. Phase Shift Armor, online. Damage assessment, marginal. Neo Freedom is capable of eighty-three percent of potential combat ability."

Bringing up the OS, he attacked it viciously to calibrate the many weapons and survey the status what the hackers had been attempting to accomplish. In their desperation to crack the Neo Freedom's database, they'd all by torn the OS to pieces, forcing Akira to now completely rewrite it. The entire process took approximately five minutes, which was four minutes and thirty seconds too long for Akira.

Finally regaining at least a margin of the fine-tuned control that his Gundam had formerly had, Akira raised its arms and pushed the several catwalks away to allow it free movement. Taking a few experimental steps forward, Akira was fast to add even more specified details to the OS. Once satisfied that he had gotten it to work as closely as it had previously been in such a short time, Akira turned to face the large hangar doors. They were multi-layered, steel-reinforced and currently sealed shut tight. Only some heavy duty firepower would be able to break through those.

Smirking, Akira swung the Balaena plasma cannons and the Xiphias rail cannons forward. It took only three full power blasts before the doors finally gave way and were blasted open in a violent shower of debris and smoke. Gunning the Neo Freedom's thrusters, he launched himself out of the opening into the darkness of the world beyond.

Upon clearing the smoke below, the Neo Freedom swung its wings open and put on a powerful display of reincarnation as Akira surveyed the scene. The entire Morgenroete facility was alight with emergency floodlights, crews of personnel running about in random directions. Several large vehicles had been pulled up to the many hangars and people wearing thick biohazard suits were preparing to enter the numerous buildings. With the sudden explosion and flight of the Neo Freedom, all eyes were locked solely upon the legendary Gundam.

Closing its wings, the Neo Freedom turned and flew off in a random direction at high speeds, flying close to the ground to help hide its presence. He let out a sigh of relief that he'd been holding as he safely exited Onogoro City with no resistance. Apparently, the little 'biohazard emergency' he'd created hadn't been enough to warrant any attention by the military. If they hadn't sent any of their own mobile suits upon it by the time that he'd left Onogoro City, they wouldn't be able to catch up to him at all. This sense of relief accompanied Akira as he flew his Gundam over the hills and down towards the beach on the far side of the island.

As he was in the process of flying out to sea and towards the Asian continent, he felt…something. It was hard to explain, only that he felt…another. Another presence, one that he was almost certain could feel him. And it felt…young, very young…and very scared. Scared of what?

Almost without a conscious decision on his part, Akira slowed the speeding Gundam and turned it to fly towards where he sensed the other's fearful presence. He didn't even question why he felt this strong compulsion to follow and seek out the presence, only that he wanted to.

Swinging around a cliff, he discovered in an instant just why the presence he was feeling was so scared. There was a group of seven ASH mobile suits firing relentlessly into the burning debris of what had clearly been a very nice mansion or manor of some sort. Scowling deeply, Akira readied for battle, snatching up a pair of beam sabers.

He struck fast and without warning. Coming up behind the two who were the farthest in the back, he slashed their mobile suits' legs out from under them, causing the pair to collapse lopsidedly on the ground. Landing in the midst of the five remaining ASHs, he threw the beam sabers he was using to the sides, the sabers burying themselves into his targets' headpieces with pinpoint precision, utterly removing them from battle. Next, he cast both the Neo Freedom's shields out. The large shield smashed into one ASH, knocking it off balance and crippling its starboard missile launcher pack. The smaller shield, with its beam claws active, shot straight through the other ASH unit's head piece and then circled around and destroyed its missile launcher packs before returning to the Neo Freedom's arm.

Jumping forward itself, the Neo Freedom drew its two shoulder beam sabers and slashed downward. The ASH units in front of it were cut cleanly into two pieces. Sheathing the sabers, it brought up its beam rifle as it turned to face the last remaining undamaged ASH. This one had finally reacted to the appearance of an unexpected enemy by launching a series of missiles. With reflexes far superior to an ordinary pilot, Akira dodged the missiles by launching himself into the air. With only three shots, he brought the attacking ASH down.

Settling down onto the ground, he watched as the one ASH that hadn't been too severely damaged climbed back onto its feet and attempted to blast him with its maser cannons. Glaring coldly at the aggressive ASH, Akira took great pleasure in destroying its weapons and then its legs, forcing it to collapse onto the ground along with its fellow comrades. They were defeated, he knew it and they knew it.

Then, catching him by surprise, all seven ASH mobile suits self-destructed without any hesitation at all.

(Author's Note) Big time thanks to Paintball Gamer for the beta-review! I know you're very busy, and having to contend with at least one other story. This chapter is dedicated to you for your efforts.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. There is mystery for you conspiracy-theorist-lovers, action for you bloodthirsty battle-lovers (myself included)...and is that a hint of romance? And that's right, Kira was still somehow able to save Lacus...or did he? Hm... I guess you won't find out for sure until the next chapter! ;P

Asanagi—morning calm (over the ocean)