Chapter 17 Nightfall
The gunfire died down and the members of Phantom Squad that had done so much damange to the Preventer force seamed to melt away into nothingness. There was a brief firefight between a small group of Phantom Squad members in an office building and a large Preventer Force outside. When the Preventers entered the building they found only empty rounds and broken glass, the Phantoms where gone. Soon only the sound of sirens, the crackling of fire and the cries of the wounded could be heard.
"My God." Said Relena as she looked out over the bay, the line of warships, which once showed the power of the force meant to keep peace across all of Earth and Space was now nothing more than burning hulks. "How could Heero have done this?"
"Are you really asking that Relena?" asked Lady Une as she walked up behind the Secretary of State. As head of the Preventers she had already sent every medical and engineering team she could get ahold of toward the base. Relena looked at the older woman and just blinked "You declared war against his nation and he had planned ahead."
"I guess he is really lost to all reason." Stated Relena
"I wonder that about you." admitted Lady Une to herself as she took a breath.
"Relena they didn't strike just here." Reported Lady Une as Relena looked at the head of the Preventers. "From what we can gather they somehow took over our missile ship out by Malta and fired all the weapons on board. The task force is gone."
"What?" asked Relena as Lady Une nodded her head.
"It gets worst, the missile ship had the experimental gundamium rode missiles onboard and they launch them." stated Lady Une
"Where did they hit?" asked Relena fearing that the rods had fallen on major cities around the world. An 8.0 earthquake in a city like New York or Hong Kong, which wasn't used to it could bring down sky scrapers killing millions.
"They hit our two largest bone yards." Stated Lady Une as Relena blinked.
"Bone Yards?" asked Relena confused.
"They are massive storage areas in the desert where we put mobile suits no longer in use but could be called up if needed." explained Lady Une "They just whipped out at least four armies worth of equipment."
"Equipment can be replaced how about lives lost?" asked Relena
"We were lucky in the Mongolia rod strike they got everyone out in time but the one in Arizona wasn't so luckily at least fifty guards are dead," reported Lady Une
"And here?" asked Relena fearing the answer
"Too early to know for sure but it will be high at least 3,000 likely closer to 5,000." reported Lady Une as Relena made fists so tight that her skin was turning white.
Meanwhile just over sixty miles away a shuttle was rolling to a stop on a runway located beside the half-finished mass driver. As the shuttle rolled to a stop the legendary three gundams landed around the runway.
Quickly Kira and Athrun exited their gundams lowering themselves down on the built in cords, both of them where in their flight suits.
"Athrun Zala." snapped Yzak as he stormed up to his former squad captain who was now wearing the white flight uniform of an Orb pilot. "What the hell is wrong with you? I didn't want to believe it when Dearka told me but you really are with the ORB military."
"And hello to you to Yzak." stated Athrun "Yes, I am an Admiral in the Orb military since I am married to the Queen of Orb. By the way the Queen of Orb brother is married to the head Chairwoman."
"And who is that?" demanded Yzak
"Me." confirmed Kira as Yzak turned his gaze on the man in the red Zaft flight suit, the markers on the suit meant he was among the most senior ranking Zaft officer in the field. "Commander Kira Yamato Zaft Special force."
"You…you're the one who gave me this scar." snapped Yzak
"And you're the one who shot down a shuttle full of civilians including women and children." said Kira back in a calm voice as Lacus walked up to him and place a soft hand on his shoulder.
"Let the pass remain in the past," ordered a new voice as Heero lowered himself down from Wing Angel "We have a lot of work to do and we need to prepare."
"I have set up the command center already so all we need is the keys to activate the weapons." Reported Dearka
"What is our tactical situation?" asked Luna as she stood beside her husband.
"We lost four phantoms in the attack with another two captured." reported Heero "However we delivered a massive blow destroying a whole battle fleet. Twenty-five warships of and both of their boneyards suffered heavy damage. They likely lost at least 6,000 lives for our four."
"Sounds like a good deal to me." Said Yzak as Heero glared at the man who's people they were trying to save.
"The Archangel and the Minerva?" asked Luna, she could see that her husband was angry and hurting but knew not to bring it up now; his mind was too focus on the tasks.
"Both have landed and are on their way here, they should arrive around the same time that the Preventer fleets once they leave from the Pillars of Hercules and Alexandria." Reported Heero
"The 7th and 9th fleets would never leave those points." stated Yzak
"They want you gone and beside the 16th fleet to your south they have no strong navy force anywhere nearby. They will have to send those forces if they have any hope of taking this place." rebutted Luna before looking around at the other leaders of Angel Squadron "Operation Nightfall is a go then right?"
Across the straights Zechs was outside of his mobile suit taking direct command of the recue operations but it was quickly becoming a recovery operation as more and more dead bodies where pulled out of the bay.
"Commander!" yelled a voice as Zechs turned to see a two squads of men dragging two men dressed in uniforms which was clearly not Preventer issue. They had sort of urban camouflage outfit with black vests in the front. Harden metal pieces where attached to different parts of their bodies providing them with some sort of protection, the two biggest things that stood out was some sort of metal frame which came out of a large pack on their back and ran down the arms and legs and a sort of helmet over the heads.
"Prisoners?" asked Zechs
"Yes and no, this is only one we have found alive." reported one of them as he ripped off the helmet of the first man showing a man with bright hot pink hair. "The other one died of his wounds."
"We had another one but when we finally brought him down, he blew himself up." Reported another officer
"He died with honor." stated the Pink haired man
"Coordinator scum you have no sense of honor." snapped a foot soldier as he put his pistol to the back of the Phantom Squad member's head. "I should send you to God so that you can face your rightful judgment."
"First off I am a natural; I just colored my hair after losing a drunken bet." defended the man "And I would have no issue with you killing me."
"Tell me your name?" asked Zechs to this man who had to be around the same age as his sister.
"Private Nate Taylor." Stated the young man "And kill me now, because I will not give you anything of importance."
"Why do you want to die?" inquired Zechs
"I am a member of Phantom Squad," stated Nate
"I see take him away and make sure he is kept under constant guard." ordered Zechs before picking up a small piece of the man's armor, which had fallen off. He felt the black metal in his hands; he did not need anyone to tell him what it was made out of.
"Gundanium plated personal battle armor." cursed Zechs as he put the armor back down "What other tricks do you have Heero?"
While most people where in a state of shock over the destruction of an entire fleet and the lost of countless lives, the Stella native to this version of Earth was on a private jet with a glass of hard whisky in her hand.
"Stella." said her private aid as she looked at the man who spent more time with her then her actual husband "We have a report you may find interesting."
"Go on." ordered Stella
"We have unconfirmed reports that the Preventer military force captured a member of this Phantom Squad as well as at least one dead body." Reported an aid as Stella turned the drink around a bit watching the golden liquid move around.
"Well that is very interesting," stated Stella as she thought about what to do with this information. "We already have the public calling for blood and there is only a small force on Malta we should handle them with ease."
"The prisoner may have information which could be very useful for finding the other members of this squad or technology we could use," explained the aid
"And how hard would it be to get him and his equipment?" inquired Stella
"We have our top researchers in Seoul and they are all better then what the Preventers have." Stated the aid "We can offer aid in understanding the equipment and having the person there would be key in doing that."
"Seoul is where we have our other project." noted Stella as she thought about the risks for a moment "Very well get the prisoner and then get him to our Seoul complex."
"Yes, Madam." confirmed the aid as he moved off to carry out his orders.
While Stella was lifting her glass up to what she though was a massive public relation victory for her group, Dorothy saw something very different as she stood on a balcony beside Mariemaia and her other friends looking out over the smoking remains of the Preventer force.
"This is horrible," said Catherine as she watched a burning ship finally sink below the waves.
"Heero, what did you do." stated Hilde as she thought about how many wives and husbands where watching this not knowing if their other half was alive or dead, at least she had seen the Deathsythe land safely.
"This is Relena's fault not Heero." commented Dorothy as the others looked at her. "Relena was blinded by her love for Heero, she wanted the boy she saw leave in Wing Zero all those years ago when in fact a man returned in Wing Angel, a married man. She was blinded by that and in her vain attempt to bring back the boy she caused this."
"She could never have known this would happen," stated Nion coming to the defense of her sister-in-law.
"If you grab a tiger by the tail you better have a plan for dealing with his teeth," said Dorothy "Angel Squadron has flexed its muscles and unless Relena and the government wake up more people will die needless deaths."
All around the world people were glued to their TV or computer screens watching the news come in from the battlefield. Suddenly the screen flickered for a moment before the image of a Lacus Yamato appeared, all around the world people stopped what they were doing and watched as this strange woman who lead one on the nations which had cost them so many lives prepared to speak.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Earth Unified Nation and the Colonies, in case you don't know who I am. My name if Chairwoman Lacus Yamato of the Plants. We tried to have peaceful talks with your government and we have been rewarded with a nuclear strike and an attempt to imprison the diplomatic envoys."
Lacus closed her eyes for a moment as she prepared herself.
"We do not want war and we would have rather this not to come to pass but you leave us no choice." Stated Lacus "If certain conditions are not met in the next 12 hours we will begin an offensive campaign against you."
"Our conditions are as follows, first the peaceful arrival of shuttles and other transports to carry those who choice to have coordinators away to our universe."
"Second is a promise that anyone in future date who wishes to have coordinators be allowed to leave peacefully."
"Third is the return of any prisoners or remains of any of our forces who died in the battle."
"Fourth is a written treaty that this version of Earth shall never develop universe jump drive or face the ramifications of such actions."
As Lacus read the four demands, she took a deep breath.
"You have all seen what we can when we are trying to escape, believe me you do not want to see what we can do on the offense. Too many people have already died, we don't want to add to it." explained Lacus "Your government has 12 hours from now, so at 11:30 pm Central European time to give us an answer or we strike back."
The World Government who was already in overdrive dealing with the blows delivered by Angel Squadron now went into hyper drive. It was clear within an hour that while the President was calling for calm, a large majority of people were not acting calmly. Multiple reports where coming in of people rushing to the nearest store and loading up on supplies. Others made a run on banks and quickly ATM machines where out of cash. While others ran for the hills, the roads where bumper-to-bumper as people left the cities. On top of it all stock markets located around the world who were already in a free fall from the attacks started to do a death spiral until finally they triggered the automatic freeze that stopped all trading, the freeze dated back to right after the great depression.
"This is crazy." Grumbled Wufei as he looked up at the TV located in the small pilot's ready room "Why would Heero announce their attack, it gives away all element of surprise.
"No it is brilliant move." countered Trowa as he and his fellow gundam pilots waited in a small ready room built into the small hanger. They had been ordered to stay out of the recovery efforts and remain on standby in case of another attack even though no one expected. "Take a look at how people are reacting to the news of a possible attack. It is another form of attack without having to actually do anything to carry it out."
"It is a rather well planned move if you think about it that way." confirmed Duo as he took a drink from a bottle of water. "I called Hilde and told her to get some things together in case of the worst."
"She is with Dorothy so she should be safe." reassured Quatre
"And why didn't you draw your sword during the battle Quatre?" inquired Wufie as he glared at his fellow Gundam Pilot.
"It can be very hard to pull the trigger when you know who is on the receiving end of the bullet." defended Trowa as Duo nodded his head in agreement.
"I had some trouble myself with it but Heero was the one who picked the path," noted Duo
"Did he?" inquired Quatre "Who was it that started this war?"
"Did you see all those ships burning in the harbor?" asked Wufie
"And why are they burning? Maybe because we tried to imprision him." Defended Quatre
"And they had to have all the charges and forces in place in order to do all the damage, they had this all planned out." stated Trowa "Sorry Quatre but you can't hold talks while your hand is on a detonator."
It was nearing six in the evening as President Barker finally stepped out in front of the cameras flanking him on either side was Relena and Zechs in his preventer uniform.
"I want to address the people of the Earth and Space about what happened this morning and what the government is going to do." started Barker as he gripped the edges of the podium so hard that his hands where turning white. "This morning we moved to arrest those who were behind an attack on our defense system, these people one of whom used to be a hero to us then escaped by slaughtering those brave men who arrested them. Once they where free they stabbed us in the back and launched attacks on three coninetes."
"We are still learning the death toll from the major barbaric attack on our men and women of the Preventers however I can tell you now that as of last report 3,614 lives have been lost with another 2,917 unaccounted for." reported President Barker as he took off his glasses and placed them on the podium. "These lives will be avenged and we will make the world safe for all children born in the light of God."
"To this so called Peace Maker Lacus Yamato and the false hero Heero Yuy, you will face our rightness judgment and once we are done with both of you. Nothing you can do will stop us from getting our revenge" Finished the President as he finished his statements and left the room. Once he was gone, the news feed changed back to images of massive protests in cities across the world calling for all-out war against the coordinators.
Night had fallen as Heero and his comrades in arms all gathered around a long table located in the makeshift command center of the Neo Plants rebels. Wires ran around all over the floor but the most important things in the room was the five small squares located in front of Heero, Lacus, Luna, Kira and Athrun.
"Any word?" asked Lacus as she looked at Heero who had a laptop on the table beside him. "Have they changed their minds?"
"No." confirmed Heero as he looked around the room, Dearka was in the corner watching as his wife took photos of the moment. Yzak and other Neo Plant Rebels where also in the room wondering what was going on, they had an idea that something was going to happen but wasn't sure. "The deadline passes in 90 seconds."
"It will take 180 seconds for the broadcast to go out." explained Luna as she looked around the room just like her husband. "I recommend we launch operation Nightfall."
"As the Representative of Orb Union military I agree." Confirmed Athrun, they all knew that part of the condition for deploying the mini N-Jammers was a multiple steps and safe guards needed to activate it.
"As the Representative of the Zaft military agree." Stated Kira as he reached into his pocket and pulled a key "It is the best option we have."
"As the Representative of Angel Squadron I agree as well." confirmed Luna as she lifted the key out from a chain around her neck.
"This option is the only one left to us that don't involve a full blown invasion," stated Lacus as she placed her key into the devices in front of her "As the representative of a civilian government I agree."
The four of them turned to look at Heero who had not pulled out his key or placed it into the holder. As the only natural member of the Legendary Three, he had to be onboard to use the weapon. Heero said nothing as he slowly pulled his key out and placed it into its holder.
"Operation Nightfall will begin on my count….three…two…one…execute." ordered Heero as all five of them turned the keys at the same time. At once the order was executed and a radio broadcast was sent out using the Preventers own satellite network. It was a simple code phase, Nightfall was sent out to all the Phantom Squad members and the mini N-jammers they had placed.
Some luckily few in the Preventer mobile suit space force got a front row seat as in a single moment all the lights of mainland Europe from the Polish border to Spain, the Middle East and North Africa went almost totally black. Great cities like Paris, Berlin, Alexandria and Madrid went totally black as all the power died, a few key places had backup power but those had a limited life.
Well I hope you all had a good Christmas and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Now I hope you keep reviewing and I will likely post next in 2015 so have a Happy New Years as well. Thanks Wilkins75.