Weapon's Waltz

by Strata-Assassin

(Prelude and Fugue in SEED Minor: Book 1) A unique runaway flees her world of peace to enter the chaos of war. Who knew she'd have to kill friends and forever debate what it means to be "human." Original characters in the events of Gundam SEED. ZAFT POV. (Some mature content: language/violence) (Prequel to Sibling's Serenade) (Rewritten as of January 2022)

57. The New Mankind And Everyone Else

Update: Tweaked/rewritten January 2022.

The New Mankind and Everyone Else

Heine leaned back against the wall as his heart raced. He couldn't believe what the computer screen had said not two minutes ago. Blocked; he had been blocked out of the system.

Red flagged.

Any minute now some military officers would find him and arrest him. It would most likely be nothing more than questioning, but no matter what was involved he just couldn't understand the events that had led up to that moment. Yes, he had taken off for a couple of days to help out Eclipse and then get Stray a fresh start, but he had taken every necessary protocol to make sure he had done nothing wrong. Besides, he was high enough on the food chain that little to no one had questioned his methods. Was that the first sign? People just radioed in what he was doing instead of stopping him from doing it? Did all of those events make him a fugitive?

Shaking his head, he continued down the hallway, trying to look as normal as possible. It was hard to make eye contact as he saluted his fellow officers, but anything less than protocol would put him under suspicion. He even straightened his redcoat as he walked, forcing a smile when someone he knew passed near him, but he hurried on to… where? He had no idea and he swallowed, feeling the spotlight of his court martial inching closer despite his hurrying steps.

He knew he had to message Eclipse mainly because he had promised her, but he had no information to give. As soon as he had tried searching for any indication of a ZAFT weapon, he had been flagged, as if the mere act of snooping would end his military career.

"Excuse me, Commander Westenfluss?"

He swallowed and spun a bit too quickly, throwing on as good of a delightful façade as he could manage. "Yes?" Two males were standing in front of him, at least 20 years his senior and in modified ZAFT greencoats, bearing the unmistakable badge of the ZAFT military police upon their breasts. It had taken them all of 15 minutes to find him and he swallowed down the panic. "Is there something I can do for you, officers?"

"Please, come with us."

The phrase left no room for arguments, a thin line on the lips of the speaking officer and his cap was low across his brow. Why the man even bothered with the "please" was beyond Heine, but it wasn't these men that scared the singer so much as the questioning they were, no doubt, trying to take him to.

"May I ask, what this is all about?"

"Please, you do not want us to discuss this out in the open."

Heine could try and buy himself more time, but he could already feel the other stares in the hallway twisting his way and the panicked heat rushing to his face. Short of pulling a gun and shooting them all, he wasn't leaving that hallway without being escorted in cuffs.

How did it get this far?

"Ah, Commander," a smooth, male voice spoke from further down the hall behind the officers, the clicking of his shoes audible despite the carpet. Heine couldn't see him thanks to his two would-be arresters standing in the way, but the people in the hallway also shifted with the noise, their whispering hushing as soon as they realized who was coming towards them. The only significant person he had ever had the privilege to meet was Chairman Zala and that was almost a year ago. Now he was merely under the command of Hawkins, so anyone else who might know his name and station was news to even him.

"Please, officers, this man is under my protection," the smooth voice continued.

The two men shared a brief, surprised glance with one another before parting ways after that statement, probably wondering much the same thing as Heine himself, What the hell? There stood a man in a button-up, navy-blue shirt with a long, white medical jacket as an overlay. His long black hair swayed down to his shoulders, and the loafers on his feet displayed wealth if not his constant need for comfort. In his hand was a clipboard, one he swung out to his side as he talked. Heine could see some lettering on it, but nothing he could make out.

"Dr. Durandal," they both saluted, and the singer was surprised to see they had recognized him. Heine didn't recognize the name or the face but remained quiet. "I'm sorry but we have received no confirmation this man was under anyone's protection."

"If you'll look further into his file, you'll see he has recently been on loan to me and my department. Even this current," he waved his hand in an effort to find the right word, "mishap was my fault. Please, do not blame an innocent man for my forgetfulness in updating his file."

Heine swallowed but could feel the relief filling his chest the longer he saw the doubt creep onto the officers' faces. This Dr. Durandal was lying through his teeth because the only command Heine had been under was Hawkins and the special mission he had gone on with Eclipse had been authorized by Chairman Zala, even if that authorization had been given to him a year ago. So, who was this man then? And how did he even know what had happened?

Pulling out a small tablet, one officer looked into the matter while the other kept an eye on the two men. His head swiveled back and forth as he tried to keep both in sight, but in the end that effort was wasted when the officer held out the tablet and announced that Durandal had been right all along.

Holy shit.

"Thank you, officers. Clearly, it was just a small misunderstanding and I hold no fault against you. Please, carry on with your duties and be happy to know that I, among many others, value your commitment and fair judgments." They left after a routine salute and Durandal waited until they were around the corner and the rest of the bystanders had returned to current tasks before walking towards Heine with an outstretched hand to shake and a smile. Heine tried to match that smile, but no amount of theatrical training would best that man's physique.

"Please, Commander Westenfluss, follow me to my office."

He shook the offered hand and nodded.

They chatted idly as they walked through the halls, Durandal commenting on little things like the weather in the PLANTs—which was really a fixed thing—or even some of the war effort. He didn't go into much detail on either topic, but Heine didn't offer much stimulating conversation either, his mind still trying to sort through his almost court martial and sudden rescue. Luckily, Durandal's office wasn't that far away, and Heine was lost in his thoughts for a mere five minutes.

Durandal opened the door and motioned him inside first. If anything, the man had good manners, but Heine still didn't like how all of this was coming about. Why would this man take such a risk to cover up his rookie mistake? He didn't even know him. Hell, he had never even seen him before, so why waste so much effort to keeping Heine out of military prison?

"Please, sit." Durandal indicated the chair in front of his desk and Heine acknowledged slowly. It was a moderate room, with nothing more than one bookshelf, a floor plant, and a computer resting on the desk. Either he was in the process of moving, or he had another office because there was not enough in the room to make Heine believe he worked there on a regular basis. Thinking back, he hadn't recalled a name on the door either and Heine's suspicion soared. If he was well-known enough to be recognizable to the military police, how had Heine never heard of him?

"I'm sure you have plenty of questions," Durandal began, walking around the back of his desk one Heine had seated.

"'Plenty' is a bit smaller than I was thinking, but it seems we're on the right page," the singer replied but felt no comfortable sitting. Stiffly, he braced his hands on his knees and sat at the edge of the seat, watching Durandal closely.

The older man smiled and sat. "Fair enough. Here." Twisting, he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a manila folder, dropping it noisily onto the desktop.

Heine hesitated, staring at the nameless folder, but eventually did reach for it. "What's this?"

"What you were looking for; information on GENESIS."

"GENESIS?" Heine asked, but Durandal just did his smiling thing again. It was unnerving and the singer had to look away, shuffling through the first few pages of the folder and feeling his eyes grow wide. These were schematics and data for a large, gamma ray clearly marked for PLANT defenses, if the ZAFT logo in the corner of each page was any indication. Based on the data, the ray could cause irreversible damage to the Earth and further perusing proved ZAFT was seriously considering using it as a deterrent against the Earth Alliance, even if such a weapon was downright overpowered. The Earth Alliance didn't have anything to counter this—Heine knew that much—and his palms began to sweat. He wanted to browse further but he had to stop himself, feeling Durandal's gaze on him as he soaked in the information.

"Why?" Heine finally asked.

"Why what?"

"Why help me?"

"Ah." Durandal rose from his chair and shifted around his desk to lean near Heine. Folding his arms over his chest, he looked down at the younger soldier. "Does a man need a reason to help out a potential friend?"

"Friend? We have never met before today."

"True, but I know you very well, Heine Westenfluss. You're a top pilot and—well, until recently—have been one of the most advent people to the war effort. Your work in intelligence saved thousands of men and your personal skills as a soldier are exceptional if not best. Why wouldn't I want to keep that kind of a person out of prison?"

Frowning, Heine just stared, waiting for him to continue. Durandal shrugged, swinging his arms out to the side. "Well, if you don't buy that, then I'm sure you realize your importance outside the ZAFT military."

He shook his head. "I'm not following."

"Let's just say you have connections I'm very interested in."

"Connections?" Names and faces flashed through his mind, but many were either in the military or had recently been in the military like Athrun Zala and Eclipse. Jaeger crossed his mind and his pace quickened. Did he know he had assisted an ex-SIN-ED member? But how would he even know about that? Given recent events, Durandal seemed to know many things about Heine and even as an intelligence officer he felt himself scowl. No human should have that much intelligence at his fingertips and, apparently, Heine might have connections to quite a few people this Durandal might be interested in.

"What do you want from me then?" Heine continued, swallowing down his panic and keeping his eyes narrowed. "Clearly, you did all of this for something."

Durandal held up a finger and shook it back and forth. "I don't need anything from you at this moment, but let's just say you owe me, Heine Westenfluss. There'll be a time in the future I'll need a man with your skills and if you don't want to be thrown into military confinement, I suggest you take my offer."

Suddenly, his smile became three times more devilish, but the only thing Heine could do was nod despite the string of cursing in the back of his mind. He had gotten himself into the mess and with the devastating information he had in his hands, the long list of people he both owed his life to and was keen to keep safe, there was no way he could just opt out now.

Durandal extended a hand and Heine shook it.

---

"Disperse the information, Addict, please," Eclipse ordered her CA, the others turning to her once she had spoken up. Most were deep in thought on what they had to do next, but seeing as Heine had come through, they were about to have more to think about.

"My contact just came through," Eclipse explained as the techs on each ship readied the new information. "And I'm not sure we'll like what he has to say."

Four pages of schematics flashed up on the main screen, two detailing the blueprint to what looked like a giant disk and two more outlining what each individual part indicated. Erika stood up in a rush as soon as the Kusanagi technician threw the information up for all to see. Eclipse saw Lathan tense in his seat, most likely hearing Erika's intake of breath and the similar sound exiting each Alliance member as they digested the information.

"Heine left a message as well," Coffee Addict said once the file was transferred. "It's in a separate file and highly encrypted. It will be done when you come to read it."

"Roger that," she replied, storing the keyboard back to the side of her cockpit and looking straight into Namarra's screen, noting the Natural was looking at her and not at the new information they had just been handed. Nothing more than a stare was shared between the two, but she was sure the Natural had gotten the message.

Something had gone wrong.

"Did your contact say where this weapon was located?" Kisaka asked, the strain in his voice evident. When Eclipse had said ZAFT hadn't been idle, not even the redhead had expected something to this magnitude.

The redhead shook her head. "From what I can tell, this was all he sent on the weapon itself. There is another message for me, but Addict is riddling it right now. It might say something or it may not. I'll let you know."

Kisaka nodded grimly and turned to address his main technician. "Mrs. Simmons, can you make anything out of it?"

She was silent for a moment, her eyes scanning the text as Eclipse watched Lathan wipe a hand across his mouth, his other hand holding a pair of headphones against his left ear as the system read the information to him. They both gave a long, slow breath at the same time before Erika finally spoke.

"This weapon here," she indicated the large dish and triangular device in front of it, "shoots a gamma ray beam. The rays are generated by a nuclear explosion and immediately focused to produce a coherent beam of energy."

"N-nuclear?" Athrun gasped and Eclipse turned to focus on him. Both ZAFT and the Earth Alliance were using nuclear, it seemed, and no doubt knowing his father had a hand in creating the weapon couldn't have been easy.

Erika nodded. "Think of it as a giant gamma ray laser. If that thing were shot at Earth, the extreme radiation would sear the entire surface to a crisp, wiping out all forms of life."

It was a grim statement and everyone paused to digest the information, the only curses sounding from Mu and Waltfeld alike. Both armies had at their disposal weapons that could destroy not only the livelihoods of their enemies, but possibly wipe them out completely.

"Do you think they'd do it?" Murrue asked quietly, her hand slinking down from her armrest to grasp Mu's. It was the first and only time Eclipse had seen her show that much affection around the rest of the crew, but she couldn't blame her. Most of the Coordinators had grown up in space, but many of the Three Ship Alliance had grown up on Earth, Eclipse included. The idea that one shot could wipe away everything they knew and loved was hard to swallow.

"If my father was in his right mind, I'd say no, but—well—we all know he's not," Athrun replied, even more quiet than Murrue's statement. His gaze dropped, his attention slipping to something below his screen and Eclipse frowned.

"I doubt it's him alone," Kira added, his voice much lighter than the others and most likely in an effort to not let his friend spiral. "There are more people on the council than just him."

"And no doubt Le Creuset has his grubby fingers in the mix," Mu said, his face turning sour. "No man with that small amount of sanity could think firing a weapon of that caliber onto Earth was a bad idea."

"No matter who is pulling the trigger, I think we can safely say it'll be pulled."

"And that is a scary matter in itself," Kisaka agreed to Waltfeld's comment, the older men sharing a knowing look. "We might have to go back on our initial plan and just get to the PLANTs as soon as possible."

"But there's still something I don't get," Namarra added, pulling all attention to her. "If the EA has nukes, why would they immediately aim at the Homeland? Destroying a PLANT won't make ZAFT give up. It'd probably piss them off more than anything and they are still superior in strength."

"Attacking the Homeland would deplete the military considerably though," Lathan explained, tapping a finger against the console as he spoke, the headphones now cradled in his lap. "EA has ZAFT on numbers."

"Yes, but ZAFT has space superiority," Athrun countered, seeming to regain some of his confidence. "Even if Strike Daggers are ready for space, they are few and most likely full of technical errors. That leaves mobile armors and we all know how that has panned out in the past."

Waltfeld nodded. "So a base then; that's their next target, or at least a PLANT with one."

"A PLANT in the Aprilias cluster would have the most impact, but I couldn't imagine them going after that group first," Murrue offered. "They'd hit one of the outlying PLANT clusters, maybe even another agricultural one with military ties."

"At this point in the war, all PLANTs have some kind of military tie," Waltfeld said grimly, tapping his fingers against the armrest. "So, we're still back to picking our starting point."

The communication did a communal sigh and slipped into silence. Eclipse wished it was as easy as sending a mobile suit into different directions for recon then reporting back, but no matter where they were sent, the ships had no way of getting to those locations in time to stop nukes or that ZAFT weapon. Their best bet would be to camp out at the closest point possible to all targetable areas and pray their intelligence was good enough to help them get there in time to stop nuclear Armageddon.

It was really the only option, so everyone agreed and hurried off to start the preparations. Eclipse agreed to meet Lathan back on the Kusanagi to begin infiltrating the computer system at the Lunar Base and Namarra said she was going to join them so the mechanics could syphon out the Colloid. Coffee Addict would be doing the bulk of the work with Lathan telling her the exact paths she had to take in order to get past the security systems. Eclipse had basic knowledge of hacking, so she planned on being the attentive student, knowing Lathan was up to date on all the new software and had the keen ability to anticipate every security wall before they had even chopped a path towards it.

They were about an hour in when Lathan laughed, Eclipse happy to see his confidence returning. "Hah, it's because I was on one of the teams that developed this software—well, a very close copy for ZAFT," he admitted. "Pretty good though, huh? I doubt they've had a break in of any kind before this."

The redhead just laughed.

"You still have the message from Heine," Addict reminded her in between orders. "I am nearly done with decoding, but will not even get a chance to finish if we continue with this. If I get sucked in too far, I won't be able to detach myself from the system until everything is finished."

"Is that true?" she asked Lathan after she relayed the message.

He shrugged. "No system's perfect, sis. Remember, this was the very first time I had ever done something like this. I haven't had the time to perfect it either." He shrugged again. "Maybe in a couple months to a year I can teach it to multi-task, but this is pretty intense too. If there's a system out there that can do this and decode a message at the same time, I'd be scared."

"Fair enough. Addict, I need you to save what you have already decoded and make it accessible to me in the Stealth. I'll get through some of it at least."

"Roger that."

"Alright, break over." Lathan cracked his fingers instinctively and cringed, shaking out his right hand afterwards. "Damn, forgot about that."

"The 'still injured' thing?"

"Yeah, that."

Eclipse gave a sad smile and was glad he couldn't see it. Aside from the bandages still on his eyes, he spoke like he always had, the redhead often having to remind herself he was injured. If there was one person who could be happy no matter the circumstances, it would be her brother.

Her dreaming had distracted her for too long, however, a couple of moments later Lathan scolding her for being sluggish when she didn't relay to him what was on the screen fast enough. She apologized and her smile grew, glad she was able to spend some normal time with her brother again. Even if this was a strange version of "normal."

---

Namarra wasn't given any specific job to do so she opted to work on the Stealth and Decay. Both suits still had a large amount of work that needed to be done on them and with the mechanics having to prioritize work, the two mobile suits were functioning, but could do with some tweaks here and there.

The head Kusanagi mechanic was already waiting for her in his off-white, uniform—a variation of the Orb soldiers, but one reserved for the technical staff working in the hangar—when she made it down to the hangar floor, motioning for some other mechanics to pull out the canisters containing the Mirage Colloid. He was an older man like Murdoch, just balding more quickly and with an accent that placed him from somewhere in the Equatorial Union. His skin still held its golden brown, but for some reason, Namarra couldn't help but notice it looked a bit paler. That could have been because of the extensive amount of time they had spent in space—everyone looked a bit pale nowadays—but it was more likely from the stress and lack of rest.

The man, Kuthra by name, was as skilled at tactics as he was at mechanics and had even been offered a job in Orb's military as a commanding officer way back when. Eclipse had mentioned he turned down the job because there was too much pressure, but based on what he was handling at the moment, Namarra would have probably chosen the officer route. Somehow, being responsible for the mechanical error that destroyed a battleship or mobile suit seemed more stressful than mapping out battle plans.

"Give us an hour and the Colloid will be out of both suits," he said in a thick accent, smoothed out over the years, but still a unique addition to his character. "Have you come to supervise or just restless?"

She smiled. "I was hoping to tinker a little with both suits. Lexi on geek duties with her brother and I was just kinda left in the dust. There's a lot that needs to be done to these babies before I can feel comfortable with either of us taking them out. Might as well use the time while we have it."

He nodded and turned to look at the suits once more. "I should be able to spare a few to help," he said thoughtfully, his fingers scratched the back of his head as he stared a moment longer, eventually turning back to Namarra with a less than enthusiastic look on his face. "I'd say that is a great idea, but with us in such hot water, I'd be worried that we'd be ambushed and your suits would be out of commission due to updates. Start with OS on the Decay while we do some adjustments to the Stealth after we get the Colloid."

"Won't you be busy dispersing the Colloid? I was under the indication it was an all-staff job."

"If each ship pitches in some mechanics everything will go smoothly. Athrun and Kira have also offered to use their expertise so it should still be done in ample time. Besides, a mechanic's to-do list is never finished." He winked. "We can't all be focused on one task, or we'd never get anything done."

Nodding, she wished him luck and kicked off towards the Decay. Slipping down in the cockpit, she called up the operating system and cracked her fingers. "Alright, Chicabo, let's get going. Any adjustments you want me to make specifically? Or just stick with the old reliables?"

"Old, but new; put it that way. I'm not ready to get out the rocking chair yet."

Namarra gave a quick chuckle. "Me neither."

---

Eclipse covered a yawn as Namarra started debriefing her on the updates to the Stealth. She had been up nearly 30 hours straight—running on coffee, no less—and was ordered to sleep, but found her new bedroom aboard the Kusanagi strangely quiet. Sleeping in her cockpit seemed like a fantastic idea at first until she realized a small team of mechanics—Namarra included—had banded together to fix it up. She doubted the hangar was going to be quiet anyway, but she still had yet to read Heine's message and wanted a little privacy.

"With the limited resources we do have, I couldn't add any more fancy gadgets, so you're gonna be working with the bare minimum, unfortunately," Namarra explained, pointing to the next item on the list of the clipboard in her hand. "Your Scylla is nonexistent—probably floating off in space somewhere—but at least you still have a bigger buckler and some Gleipnir bolts left to play with." The Natural pointed to the Stealth's left arm and Eclipse nodded. "Both blades on the feet have been replaced as well as the two EARP daggers. Given your past performances, we gave you the last two in stock so use them wisely."

"For whatever reason, you like to take a knife to a gun fight, so we tried to stock you as well as possible," Kushra said, joining the duo. "Beam sabers were recharged and fixed as well as the blades under the arms. We had to replace the blade in your right arm—along with the limb, actually. We pulled it from the Eternal's stock so it's of the GINN model. The Stealth will look as charming as its chimera self."

"Thank you," Eclipse replied, forcing a smile through her exhaustion and shifting her sling across the back of her neck. "Did you manage to save any of the HiMat system? It wasn't terribly damaged in the last battle, but that stuff is as easily torn as rice paper."

Namarra nodded and responded for the older mechanic. "We fixed it as best we could, but I'm leaving the final adjustments to the OS up to you. You know your reflexes better than I do."

"I need to convert it for outer space flight anyway. I did that for the last battle and she flew better than I ever thought she would. Thoroughly impressed."

"Geez, don't pat yourself on the back or anything," Namarra grumbled, but Eclipse could tell it was in good fun. She would give her comrade some compliments after she heard the whole report. Since she was fishing for them, she might as well give her the appreciation she deserved.

"One bad thing I have to mention though," Kuthra went on. "Your HFC-EPR is shot and we have no way of replacing it. Other than that, we could only spare one beam rifle, and half load of CIWS bullets for each of you." Eclipse nodded and reached out to shake his hand. Taking it, he shook it firmly.

"And what about your suit?" Eclipse went on, turning to look at her fellow Berserker. "Anything new that I should be concerned about?"

Namarra did a quick laugh then shook her head. "We don't have that much at our disposal and a lot of the spare parts were welded to the damaged end of the Kusanagi."

"Hey, we made it work," Kuthra said, sounding offended by Namarra's lack of gratefulness. "We're not in an easy position out here and can't afford to waste both time and supplies buffering your mobile suits. Besides, the Meteors took most of the long-ranged weaponry once we shifted them over from close-quarter combat. Since they're going to be the ones we most rely on, we had to make sure they had everything they needed."

"Naturally," Namarra replied, but Eclipse just tipped her head to the side, her new form of a shrug since the other way often irritated her bad shoulder. Not only had she expected that outcome, but she hadn't wanted any more bells and whistles on her suit either. An armor upgrade would have been a plus, but it looked as if there were some mechanics fitting on another larger shield as they were talking. It seemed to dwarf her left hand, but seeing as she was relying on her defensive skills to keep her alive—well—a little assistance wasn't anything to frown at.

"I've got about the same amount of weaponry as you do," Namarra continued, breaking into Eclipse's thinking. "There was enough extra fuel to refill my INFNO-666 flamethrower, but its battery is shot so we had to reroute the whole thing to my main battery. A little less fun in the scorching area, but I guess I'll make do. Good thing is, they managed to fix my beam scythe. It's also connected to my main battery, so I think I'm going to have to rely mainly on the two beam sabers this time around."

"What about the Decay's sniper rifle?" Eclipse asked, vaguely remembering her suit had had one in the past. At least she had remembered something of the sort being loaded back in Orb.

"Destroyed when the Reagan went down." She shrugged. "I put my personal one in the cockpit just in case I wanted to get a little creative, but I don't think this battle is going to be as easy to pull something crazy in. A little more chaotic, I'm thinking." Kuthra gave her a sidelong look, not really knowing what she had meant, but Eclipse offered a smirk. It wasn't amusement or excitement for the coming battle, but merely a memory of their capabilities. Both had a repertoire they had yet to fully dive into and it had become a bit of a contest. Just a small competition between friends, but most likely it was going to get one of them killed.

Perhaps that was just the added bonus.

"Well, if we're all finished here, I'm heading over to see if they need an extra set of hands on the Meteors." Kuthra gave a small salute and wave before heading off to the locker room to get changed for the transport.

The girls watched him go before turning back to their suits. "How did the hacking go?" Namarra asked. "You guys were there for a while, weren't you?"

"Haven't slept in over 24 hours if that's what you're implying."

The Natural nodded. "Get any headway?"

"We tapped into the transport registry as well as the loading dock records but have yet to decipher which transports have the nukes. Even if we could figure out those vessels, however, I have a feeling we would never be able to stop the routes coming up from Earth. If we were to interfere, we could cause a lot more damage overall than if we just stayed back and monitored." She sighed and wiped a hand over her face, taking extra time to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes. "Lathan's looking for the ships taking the nukes off the base as we speak. Addict is assisting him." She pointed at her ear. "I still have the earpiece in, but I muted it. Basically, it's in two spots at once, Lathan's computer and my suit, but it can't do more than one function at one time. My brother said that's on the second upgrade."

"So, really, we still have nothing?"

"You can't expect much in 24 hours when it comes to a high security like the Lunar Base. Getting in might have been easy, but they're not about to just put the words 'nuke' and 'target PLANTs' in their military records. Finding those code words are most of the battle."

"Then maybe I'll go give him a hand. An EA-minded set of eyes might see something the CA can't relate back to him."

"That sounds like a good idea. If anything, having ten working fingers would be a huge help." Eclipse smiled as she raised her sling slightly to accent her point. "Thanks."

Turning she was about to head to the exit when she stopped. "How is he doing?"

It took the redhead a moment to figure out what she was talking about, but frowned in the end. "He's doing alright, I think, and taking all of his injuries in stride." She shook her head. "Before we both jumped into this military thing he had wanted to go into biomedical engineering, so making a device to replace his eyesight has been a goal of sorts for him. He joked that now the only difference is he is his very own test subject."

"So, he's going to use himself as a pincushion to repair the sight of all the blind? What a martyr."

Eclipse smiled that time, noting her distress. Namarra had come a long way since they had first met. While she was still her young, rambunctious—on the verge of sadistic—self, there was a bit of kindness in her. She didn't like to display that emotion often, but Eclipse had seen it when they had boarded the Dominion and even in the many fights the Natural had stepped in to coerce her old teammates to stop fighting. A lost cause, maybe, but it still showed she cared.

"What?" Namarra asked, contorting her face into something close to disgusted.

"Nothing," the redhead tipped her head again. "Just noting your humanity."

Scoffing, she left without another word, Eclipse covering a laugh as two soldiers from the Kusanagi bridge stepped to the side when she passed. The looks on their faces showed she was not at all happy with the teasing.

---

Eclipse finally got to the Stealth's cockpit after talking to a couple more mechanics concerning repairs. There wasn't much to talk about—just a lot of mechanical mumbo-jumbo she had come to get used to in the past year—since they seemed to have everything under control.

Opening the cockpit hatch, she slipped herself inside and closed the door. While the noise wasn't completely drowned out, she still enjoyed the muffled silence and found herself sighing in delight. Her eyes closed almost immediately, but she had to bolt upright, remembering Heine's half-decoded message. That was, after all, the real reason she had come to the hangar at all and despite her fatigue, it wasn't like her to fall asleep before finishing the task. Covering up a yawn, she reached to the side and grabbed the keyboard.

Yawning again, she was about to issue an order to Coffee Addict, but stopped. Talking to that system had become so second nature now she had forgotten everything she had been doing for the past 24 hours. Lathan needed that system more than she did and asking for a simple task to be done would only confuse the CA's priorities. Wiggling her fingers, she flipped a few switches then started typing a sequence on the keyboard. She still remembered the old-fashioned way of doing things and after surfing through the OS for about 10 minutes, she felt the rush of old familiarity. Smiling, she decided to leave her sidetracking for another time and found Heine's message.

Lexi, I found as much information as I could for you and, I'm sorry to say, I won't be able to find anything more for a while. I've been red flagged by the military and am under surveillance. I managed to get out of this past scrape, but I don't think I'll be able to do it again. I'm positioned at Jachin Due for the remainder of the war. If we do

And the message stopped. Frowning, she read it once more then put it back in the folder before shutting down the system. Heine had been compromised? Of course he would be, idiot, she thought, grabbing the blanket in the cubby before wrapping it tightly around herself. After everything you were asking him to do, get leave to help you with FS—ask him to smuggle a ZAFT enemy into a PLANT, then look up some highly confidential information… there's a wonder why he hasn't had his head on the chopping block yet. She frowned and curled tighter into a ball. No matter how close of a comrade Heine was, she kept forgetting the restrictions he was under as a soldier. Perhaps being away from the military, no matter how short the amount of time, had made her careless. Then again, the whole war had probably made her careless because she had never been under many restrictions. She had been allowed to chase after SIN-ED unhindered and now she had been pushing those expectations onto Heine.

Grumbling she closed her eyes. It was too much to think about when she was so tired, and all of this self-loathing was pissing her off. Sleep was her best option, especially since she couldn't foresee many other instances she would get another chance.

Sorry, Heine.

---

It took one more day to fully modify the Meteors as well as adjust the Mirage Colloid in each ship. The plan was panning out despite the time restrictions and—after a lengthy discussion on where they wanted to camp out and observe—they were on their way towards the PLANTs as inconspicuous as the stars thanks to the Colloid.

The tag team hackers of Eclipse, Namarra, and Lathan had moved from discovering the nukes whereabouts at the Lunar Base to figuring out where they were going to strike first. They had discovered the squads responsible for launching the nukes had been ironically named the "Peacemaker Force," but either their commands hadn't been issued yet, or it was flowing throughout the base on word-of-mouth only. Lathan had assured everyone there was no indication they had been compromised, but it still wasn't a good sign. He had promised to monitor the communication lines only just in case, but there was still no luck on a first attack.

Everyone was nervous; that really wasn't hard to decipher. The three Astray pilots had taken over personal comfort duties with the cooking staff—since their skills in mechanics were a bit limited—but even if they had been sure to keep everyone on a regular sleeping and eating schedule, no amount of prodding could make a person feel less anxious about the coming battle. Eclipse couldn't help but admire the three pilots, however, each one positioning herself on a ship and planning game nights, birthday parties, and even giving the occasional massage therapy just to keep everyone from going insane.

Cabin fever had set in by that time too, the ships' corridors becoming much smaller than they had felt weeks before and the short fuses on many tempers igniting constantly over the smallest of details. Eclipse and Namarra would readily admit to being among the many to lash out at someone, although their nerves were directly tied to their other halves so they sort of had excuses.

Eclipse had begun some tough rehab for her shoulder and that involved a thesaurus of new curses, but any other steam that needed to be blown off was in simulators, hand-to-hand or mobile suit alike.

Cabin fever also ignited a few unusual relationships throughout the Three Ship Alliance. While Eclipse never found herself in the gossip circle and knew everything that was going on with the crew, she did get whiff of a few in passing. Some she had expected, but others slapped her across the face. Sai had been involved with one of the Astray pilots and the other two were currently fawning over both Kira and Lathan. Kira was too washed up with his drama and Lathan too blind—no pun intended—to any advances while working to notice Asagi's flirting. The expected pairs, Cagalli and Athrun, Kira and Lacus, Dearka and Miriallia, Mu and Murrue; but when Murdoch came up, she had stopped listening. Rumors would be rumors, Eclipse figured.

The Three Ship Alliance was about 20 minutes from their camp point, hoping they had chosen the right side of outer space to wait for the action to begin. The mobile suit pilots were either sitting in their respective suits or pacing in the locker rooms, waiting for the battle announcement to sound. Funny how some moments the alarm can come at the worst time and others were like this.

Waiting.

"I'm reading some curious activity by Boaz," Coffee Addict said, Eclipse seeing Namarra's hand move in the same motion to her ear as they stood waiting in the Kusanagi locker room.

"Activity?" the two girls asked simultaneously, this time making eye contact.

"Chicabo and I are trying to confirm it. Stand by."

"Forward it to the bridge when you know." Eclipse rushed to the communicator on the wall and called to Kisaka. The three Astray girls were startled to their feet and rushed to Namarra. Eclipse heard the Natural try to explain when Kisaka's face appeared on the screen.

"Lexi? What's wrong?"

"Our suits have detected activity near Boaz."

His eyebrows rose in surprise. "What kind of activity?"

She looked back at Namarra for any more information and the Natural shook her head. Eclipse turned back to Kisaka. "That's what we're trying to confirm."

Kisaka leaned back from the screen and stared for a moment. A soldier muttered to his right and finally he nodded. "Let me know when you know. I'll relay it to the other ships and have Commander Waltfeld check his sources."

"Are we changing course then?" Asagi asked, her face a mixture of hope and fear. Eclipse had expected the fear, but the hope might have been from some unknown source because the whole outcome was looking grim.

"No matter when we diverge from this course, Boaz is still a trek," Kisaka explained, having heard the younger pilot in the background. Asagi's face drooped and Eclipse was pulled back to the screen when Kisaka uncharacteristically cursed. "Damn it, they chose power after all." The screen went black and Eclipse looked back at Namarra. The younger Berserker shook her head again and the redhead took a deep breath. Even without the official confirmation they all had the same feeling.

Boaz was under attack and there was no way they could make it in time.

---

"Has the attack already begun on Boaz?" Athrun asked, his face cutting through onto the Strike Rouge's monitor. Cagalli and Eclipse had been standing outside their respective suits when he had called and they both rushed to respond, Cagalli sinking down into the cockpit as Eclipse leaned in.

The Strike Rouge still smelled new and despite the frown that often graced Eclipse's lips at the knowledge Cagalli would be joining them on the battlefield, this frown was entirely for Athrun's question. Eclipse had gone through the entire argument concerning Cagalli's reckless behavior, but—in the end—came up to the conclusion that Eclipse herself was no different. So, instead of talking her out of it, the redhead decided to support her as much as possible and make sure she didn't get killed.

"Cags, you there?"

"Yeah, we're here," Cagalli announced, flipping on the video transmission so he could see.

"And?" he begged. Kira's face patched through on a different line and they all nodded to him.

"Commander Waltfeld tried confirming the information with his contacts, but many have yet to respond," Cagalli began. "One did respond with a negative, but that was before Lexi and Namarra's suits confirmed there was hostile activity."

"If that's the case, why are they waiting for confirmation?" Kira asked.

"'Hostile' can range anywhere from a full-scale attack to a diversion," Eclipse explained.

Athrun finished. "If it's a diversion, we're probably on the right course."

"Besides," Cagalli added, "we're too far from Boaz to do anything helpful."

Athrun cursed loudly as. No doubt he knew many positioned there and if this was a full-scale attack after all, nukes were definitely in the cards.

"Does Dearka know?" Eclipse asked and Kira shrugged a response.

"We've been in our suits since Colonel Kisaka explained the situation two hours ago. Lacus is currently speaking to Miss Murrue."

"I'll tell him," Eclipse started, but Athrun cut in.

"No, I'll talk to him." And the connection broke on his end.

"We should all head to the Eternal, I think," Cagalli suggested, much to Eclipse's surprise. "If any decisions are made, that's where it'll be."

"I think Athrun and I will go up there anyway. He's gonna want a more updated report." Kira nodded at Cagalli's suggestion, but Eclipse was already shaking her head.

"Namarra and I will stay here. We need a couple of pilots ready just in case something happens during the meeting. Besides," she continued with a shrug, happy she was able to do that again painlessly, "with so many mobile suits in one hangar we'd lose valuable time launching all of them."

"Fair enough," Kira said and ended the link.

"You sure?" Cagalli asked as she stepped out first.

"You'll forward me any important information. And I did well working behind the scenes before so why change a good thing?" The blonde didn't see convinced and Eclipse sighed. "Fine, I'll listen in. Trust me, Cags, you don't need my input on this one. Hell, I don't even know why all these officers listen to us teenagers anyway. Seriously, what does our two years' experience have against decades?"

"They value our input. I think that's why we're doing so well as an alliance."

"If you're saying everyone deserves to voice an opinion, I agree. Just remember that some opinions aren't meant to be acted upon." She thought of Le Creuset and FS as she spoke. While Le Creuset was still a bit of a mystery, FS had way too many unhealthy opinions and—unfortunately—had the authoritative charisma to pull them all off.

Cagalli left with a small salute and boarded her mobile suit, announcing her exit and receiving the confirmation soon after. Instead of launching, she stepped out the open hatch, not even bothering to initiate her Phase Shift Armor as she glided over to the Eternal nearby. A wise decision seeing as it would have been a waste of battery.

Erika had explained some other specs to her, but Eclipse had found it to be a hair better than the Astrays. The color wasn't a personal favorite, but since the pieces had been designed at the same time as the Astrays, the color scheme wasn't debatable.

"Where's she going?" Namarra asked having been near the Decay. She grabbed onto the railing to stop her momentum and pull herself down onto the lift, staring up into the cockpit.

"The Eternal for a meeting."

"And we weren't invited? Pity." Sticking out her tongue childishly, the Natural gathered herself to push off to her suit. "I'm sick of all those things anyway. I almost miss the days I did whatever, whenever I wanted."

Eclipse cocked an eyebrow. "I didn't know those days were gone."

They laughed.

---

"Nukes."

That was all the transmission had said. No matter who had sent the message, the word spoke volumes, almost flattering the Earth Alliance with the importance of the word.

They had used nukes.

Boaz was dust.

"Nukes." Eclipse rolled the word around on her tongue as she played the footage on the screen. Now that she had a visual to go with the diction, she found herself fascinated by the sheer power in that one syllable. "Nukes."

Cagalli had made it to the Eternal just in time to see the final outcome of Boaz and relayed the information to everyone, her voice grave as she spoke briefly with Eclipse.

"Nukes. They really used the nukes," Namarra breathed, her face on the adjoining monitor mirroring the same look as the redhead's. "Even with knowing Azrael's in charge I can't believe it. It's just—" She couldn't finish.

Waltfeld's grim face popped up next to Namarra's transmission, bringing the girls into the conversation on the bridge. "I guarantee you the PLANTs aren't going to take this lying down," he said gravely and the others joined in, much the same dire expression on their faces. Cagalli, Athrun, and Kira were all on the bridge along with Lacus, Waltfeld, and some of the Eternal crewmembers. The Archangel was calling in as well as the Kusanagi and everyone's thoughts were in the same place. Dark and nervous.

"Yes, I doubt holding back is in their repertoire," Lacus replied quietly, sitting in her seat above the commander's.

"And the PLANTs already have the N-Jammer Canceller technology," Athrun continued.

Kira put a hand on Lacus's chair. "Do you think the PLANTs will use nuclear weapons?"

"Normally, I'd say no if my father were himself." Eclipse saw Cagalli turn toward Athrun, no doubt matching the sympathy in everyone else's eyes. "But right now, I'm not sure."

"Why do things like that exist in the first place?" Kira wondered, his tone sharp. "Nuclear weapons. Well, for that matter, why are there even mobile suits and guns?"

I know a very capable pilot who wouldn't mind having his suit returned, Eclipse thought bitterly, but instead voiced a less damaging response. "We all know mankind's making mass murderers look like innocent babes, but right now those weapons are our only hope at bringing this insanity to a close."

"After we'll worry about locking things away," Namarra finished even though Eclipse was sure they were both on the same page. Kira was leaning toward total pacifism and while it was and attractive world government, it was nearly impossible to accomplish, at least not without a little bloodshed. Looking at the people on the Eternal bridge, Eclipse knew the world was about to come as close to that total pacifism as it possibly could. Glancing then at her Berserker teammate, the redhead could also tell there might actually be quite a bit of bloodshed to get there.

"Agreed," Waltfeld said, his eyes shifting to see the girls. He cocked an eyebrow and Eclipse felt like he was looking at her, probably noticing the contemplative look on her face. She must have been displaying too much since he paused, but she held up a hand and shook her head. "So," the commander continued, "are we in agreement that they will most likely be unleashing a full attack on the PLANTs next?" There was little hesitation before everyone nodded. "Mrs. Simmons, did you get a chance to configure another possible target?"

Erika looked up from her keyboard on the Kusanagi, all eyes centering on the Orb ship. "Yes and no. We all know the area is large, so we might as well continue on our same course and be prepared to launch the Meteors to play catch up. Splitting up is still not an option," she stressed and the others could only agree. "We'll have to do our best this time. Athrun."

He jumped slightly when she spoke, his face just as surprised as the rest were to hear him picked out.

"I have to ask you because you would know him better than the rest of us." Athrun's face fell at the mention of "him," the pronoun speaking volumes despite its vague properties. "Where would he place a massive weapon like GENESIS?"

The former ZAFT soldier thought on it, his breathing slow as he sorted through places in his mind. The concentration was evident on his face, but there was just no telling how successful he was going to be and thankfully everyone knew that as well. The pressure he was putting on himself was from him alone and finally, he let out a deep breath. "Jachin Due is the next biggest ZAFT base that would have any kind of technology and resources able to pull off that kind of weapon."

"You're confident?"

"In that? Not really, but that's where I'd put it," he finished, his voice gaining confidence towards the end despite the sensitive subject.

"That's good enough for me," Waltfeld and Erika said at the same time.

Erika proceeded, however. "Lexi, can you loan Lathan your CA again? I need him to hack Jachin Due's system to try and find any indication of GENESIS."

Eclipse hesitated at losing her mechanical earworm once more, but ended up shrugging in the end. "As long as I get Addict back for the next battle I have no problem with the two of them working together. Really, it's his creation anyway; I don't have any rights to it."

"With a name like Coffee Addict, you have all the rights in the world," Waltfeld commented and the meeting came to a close.

Eclipse sent the CA over to Lathan as discussed, but not without having it decode the rest of Heine's message.

If we do meet on the battlefield—I have the ugly suspicion we will—a low profile may be best, but I can't guarantee anything. After all, when have I been one for low profiles? I'm just worried about what nonsense I've gotten myself into this time and hope my association with you hasn't dragged you into any unnecessary drama.

Seeing as she was the one to call him from his team, she wasn't sure where he had gotten the idea it was all his fault. Frowning, the message made her more upset than content and it sounded as if he was in some really hot water to say anything like that. Not to mention, the message was encoded.

We'll discuss this later, she told herself, making a mental note to corner Heine on the matter at another time. At that moment, however, she had to start focusing on what was coming next. Soon she was about to be smack dab between nukes and a high-powered gamma ray and that thought coursed a shiver up and down her spine. Either way, it was two very dangerous evils and she had to pick the lesser of the two.

Or just destroy them both and that sounded nearly as impossible as picking.

---

"All ships prepare to move out. All personnel to emergency posts."

Eclipse was already ready and sitting cross legged in the Stealth when the announcement sounded. Opening one eye, she stared through the open cockpit. Unlike her physique, she hadn't been dozing. In fact, she had been listening to Lathan and Coffee Addict bickering back and forth concerning GENESIS. As of that moment, there was no exact location for the weapon, but they had run across a couple curious codenames that might have hinted at it. If they could narrow down where it was located, they could get there first and possibly stop it.

"Pfft, wishful thinking," Eclipse muttered.

"I repeat. All ships prepare to move out. All personnel to emergency posts."

Namarra had been down in the locker room for one last bathroom break and she gave a mock salute to the redhead as she crossed in front of the cockpit on the way to the Decay. Eclipse returned the gesture and shut the hatch.

"Coffee Addict, you coming with me now?"

"Affirmative, Lathan can handle things on his own."

Eclipse nodded and put both feet on the pedals, reaching around her back to grab the seatbelts and buckle herself in. Shifting her shoulders, she found a comfortable spot and stretched out her arms, shaking them a couple of times, before grabbing her helmet and locking it in place. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes.

"Stealth, you're clear to launch," the Kusanagi communications officer announced.

"Roger that. All systems green; approaching catapult."

Even with the limited amount of adjustments, the Stealth still moved as fluidly as it had the moment the machine had been given to her. Well, even a little better seeing as the first test run with the Stealth had resulted in a nosedive straight into the water. She had to alter her adjustments in order to accommodate her injured shoulder, no amount of rehab and strengthening about to get it back to 100 percent for the battle, but it was usable and she was more than thankful for that. Making one last check with oxygen and power levels, she fitted the machine's feet into the launchers.

"Go for Stealth."

"This is the Stealth. Heading out."

They had gotten reports of the EA amassing their forces nearby and the battle had already begun by the time the Three Ship Alliance had even reached their final destination. There had been a debate on whether or not just to launch all the mobile suits and hope they got there before all the real action started, but, in the end, the decision was made to have the ships go full speed and wait to launch the suits in order to conserve battery life. That meant a lot of nervous sitting and—in Namarra's case, among others—a couple trips to the bathroom.

Eclipse stared out at a mass of mobile suits and battleships alike, the intermingled chaos on the verge of mind numbing, but she shook off the feeling and took another deep breath before flipping the switch to ignite the thrusters and deciding to join the fray.

Namarra, her, and Dearka had been ordered to help secure the flanks since their suits were equipped with the best amount of power for the furthest distance. The Meteors—along with Athrun and Kira—were ordered to the front not only because that was where the main attack of the Earth Alliance had been taking place, but there was an obvious canal created and no doubt that meant the nukes were on the way next. With the Meteors' capabilities, the Justice and Freedom should not only get there in time, but also be able to take out the nukes from a long distance away.

Mu, the Astray pilots, the Strike Rouge, and the ships were to come in at the closest flank and make their way to the middle. Neither Athrun nor Eclipse were too happy about Cagalli's placement in relation to theirs, but at least she was next to the ships if anything was to go wrong. They had to live with that.

In the end, their main targets were to stop any kind of nuclear attack, whether it be from the Earth Alliance or ZAFT and keep from anyone else killing them in the process. While they might have sounded spread out at first, looking at the digital image of the whole battlefield, Eclipse realized the battle area wasn't that large. In reality, the Justice and Freedom could give her support as often as she could give them hers and that was a relief in and of itself. It would take a while for the Stealth to reach the Strike Rouge at the beginning of the fight, but if they all bottle necked like originally planned, they would all have each other's backs soon enough.

They just had to stay alive until then.

"Everyone, please," Lacus announced once the pilots had all gathered in their respective teams. "We cannot let even one nuclear weapon hit the PLANTs! If the blade of light strikes down on those who are innocent, it can only lead to never-ending tears and hatred."

Eclipse nodded and established her com links, Dearka, Namarra, and her sharing a nod before being the first ones to enter the battle fray.

Knowing they couldn't get caught up in the fighting before they reached their station, Eclipse unsheathed two beam sabers and urged her suit forward. She passed a couple of fatal duels and turned away, knowing she couldn't do anything for those particular soldiers. One faceoff she did intervene, chopping off a GINN's arm before it could fire its beam rifle at a Strike Dagger. The mobile suit, however, moved the wrong way at the last moment and she cut the arm off too high, the damage most likely sinking down into the cockpit and causing some injury to the pilot. Eclipse cursed, but was already arching away, her good intentions tainted by the Dagger who was eager to take advantage of the situation. Spinning, Eclipse cursed and brought the Stealth around to slice through both legs of the EA suit. The Dagger spun with the force, dropping its beam saber in an attempt to right itself. Eclipse sped off before seeing the final outcome, but no matter how hard she had tried to save the pilots, they were now sitting ducks.

Existentially, she liked the idea of saving every person she could. Sure, that might go against her Berserker code, but she wanted to hold onto any trace of humanity she could. In moments like this, however, even if she had saved a pilot—much like she had just done—there was no guarantee that pilot was going to live for the next minute or two. And that would be a scary couple of minutes as well. Not only was that person stuck in an unmovable piece of metal, but Eclipse had no way of telling if their communication lines weren't damaged, or if they had any way of getting help.

Her philosophy differed from many on her team whose goal it was to save any and every person he or she could. Noble, yes, but probable? Not really.

To prove her point, the Strike Dagger self-destructed behind her, taking the GINN with it.

"Lexi, the guys are here," Namarra announced, and Eclipse pulled them up onto her screen as she dodged a couple shots from a beam rifle. She lowered her beam saber for a direct shot at the GINN's cockpit, but dropped it completely as she passed, searing off a leg instead.

"You know our orders, Nam. Have a little faith in them."

"But against the Meteors? The Justice and Freedom were already on the verge of overkill and now you add those monstrosities? Lexi, if they die—"

"Hey!" she shouted, taking off the head of another Strike Dagger only to see a GINN slice a beam through the cockpit. "I can't promise you anything at this point, but you have got to trust them. Whatever happens will most likely be in their best interests. At least believe in that."

They had had a similar conversation before boarding their mobile suits before the fight, Eclipse certain the guys were wishing for death at some point in their cycle and no doubt rooting for Namarra to have some sense of a normal life. Why else would Orga have contacted her about the nukes? He had wanted them to have an upper hand and at least know what they were up against. Eclipse didn't think Orga expected to get out of the battle alive and while Namarra was struggling with that fact, Eclipse had at least convinced her to just let life take its course.

"I won't just sit here and let them die if I can do something about it!"

"But sacrificing yourself for their sake is a waste, Nam, I'll admit it. The withdrawal would be a far longer and more painful death than here. Please, just think about them."

"I am thinking about them!"

Eclipse sighed and evaded a stab by a Strike Dagger, countering with a slash across its body, taking off the left arm and leg. Spinning, she managed to bring up a buckler in time to block two shots from a beam rifle, but her suit was already alerting her to the mobile armor coming up on her rear. Cursing, she thrusted upwards and let the GINN's shots hit the mobile armor. The Earth Alliance machine exploded, and Eclipse brought her buckler back around just in time to have a piece ricochet off the metal. The GINN, however, had not been so lucky, another Earth Alliance machine coming up behind the destroyed mobile armor and stabbing a beam saber through the cockpit. Eclipse sliced off the Dagger's head and main arm after that.

They were just too few to account for every life on the battlefield and even though Dearka and Namarra were having the same upward battle, the armies weren't depleting. The PLANTs were unleashing two mobile suits to one downed machine and the Earth Alliance was releasing three. Taking a quick glance at her battery level, she sheathed one beam saber. It was going to be a long fight and even if she felt more comfortable with a weapon in both hands, she had to think of the long run.

She was in the middle of dueling with one of the newer GINN models, a GuIAZ, about to flank Dearka when a blinding light shown through the sky. More accurately, it was a series of bright lights that were nothing more than nuclear explosions. The whole battlefield was stunned for a couple minutes, the ZAFT military more so than the Earth Alliance because the Naturals had recovered first, taking advantage of the immobile suits and battleships by attacking as quickly as possible.

Eclipse looked immediately to the PLANT Homeland, unsure where the lights had come from and whether or not the Homeland had been hit, but the relief was instantaneous when she say the source was actually the Justice and the Freedom having shot down the nukes in time.

The Three Ship Alliance battleships had come into range by that time, and Lacus's voice came in strong over the communal, emergency channel. "Soldiers of the Earth Forces, please cease your attack at once!" Surprisingly, the fighting did stop and any still moving, the Three Ship Alliance suits crippled with a couple well-aimed shots. "Are you truly aware of the consequences of what you're about to do? I repeat, soldiers of the Earth Forces, please cease your attack at once!"

The reaction wasn't what the Three Ship Alliance had expected, however, the entirety of the Earth Alliance now focusing their force at them as well as ZAFT. More nukes from the Peacemaker Force were launched at the Archangel, Eternal, and Kusanagi, the Alliance members all shouting a string of curses before shooting each missile down.

Eclipse watched the scene unfold as best she could and listened keenly for any instruction to return to the ships. The Earth Alliance forces had been enraged by Lacus's statement and were turning their superior numbers against the smaller TSA with as much force as it was against ZAFT. They were no longer the third party left buzzing around stinging both armies, but now a clear enemy of the EA and Eclipse hissed when she was forced to make a hard dodge and the force rattled her tender shoulder. The dodge took her straight into the crosshairs of another EA suit, however, forcing to roll into a diving maneuver to dodge three well-placed stabs by a Dagger. She got one in the left leg and screamed a curse that time, her alarms flaring to life at the damage, but the Stealth had been lucky. The beam was a clean through and through, but she had to do some quick work on the Operating System to properly reduce the damage done.

That had to wait, however, her alarms still blaring when two more Strike Daggers descended upon her position. One led with shots from its beam rifle and Eclipse brought her buckler up to block it, retreating and eyeing his comrade warily to her left. She assumed he was going to dive in while she was occupied and he did just that, beam saber pulled back and ready to either chop off the Stealth's legs or worse.

"Cocky bastard," she muttered and spun, keeping the buckler out in front to block the shots, but she circled around with her right hand and saber, the blade swiping behind her and then up through the Dagger diving at her, cutting the suit from its right hip up through the left shoulder. The remaining Dagger had stopped firing then and she returned to him, barely avoiding his attack as the beam sliced through the upper layer of armor on the Stealth's left shoulder. His momentum sped the suit past the Stealth and she turned quickly, sheathing the saber and unholstering her beam rifle with her left hand, managing to disarm the Dagger as it righted itself in preparation for a return attack.

The blood was rushing in her ears after the sequence, her adrenaline high, but before she could find the next enemy to engage, Yzak's unmistakable voice shouted through the emergency line. "Get out! Freedom, Justice, they're gonna fire GENESIS!"

Her breathing stopped as the giant, dome-like object appeared to her right, just behind the ZAFT base, Jachin Due. It looked exactly like the pictures in the file, just the sheer size of it was alarming and she paled as the Stealth seemingly dwarfed beneath it. Numbers on a page were one thing but to see the massive weapon in front of her—the dome turning red with power—and to even feel space vibrate with energy was daunting. The worse feeling, however, was to realize she and her team were in the line of fire.

And Namarra was nowhere in sight.

---

"Nam, do you copy? Namarra!" Eclipse had just seen her moments ago and even with the various nukes getting destroyed and chopping down the mobile suits, there was no way she wouldn't be able to see where the Decay had gone.

"Lexi, we have to go now," Dearka hissed over the communication line.

"I can't find Namarra."

"She's a big girl and can take care of herself. Have a little faith!"

Ironic that he should use that phrase since she had just used it on Namarra minutes ago, but he was right and she swallowed. The ZAFT forces had retreated quickly, many already back near the PLANT Homeland. There were stragglers picking off the Earth Forces following, but there was a definite line of fire they were creating.

"Lexi!"

"Fine!" she shouted, and the two machines darted off towards the closest ship, the Archangel.

GENESIS fired.

Eclipse saw the monstrous beam of light out of the corner of her right eye, the radiance breathtaking despite its destructive power. Combinations of reds, blues, and yellows were all mixed together to form a rainbow that was anything but friendly. The ray frayed out at the sides as it expanded from the weapon, light particles sparkling to the sides, but Eclipse knew better than to think those were harmless accessories and her theory was proven correct as her cameras found such an example. One of those particles touched an EA machine nearby and the reaction was immediate. The metal twisted as it melted; contorted into something unrecognizable before the heat connected with the oxygen inside and caused a chain reaction.

That, however, held no contest to those in the line of fire.

Eclipse stopped breathing the moment she saw the beam connect. It took no more than milliseconds, the beam searing through the battleships, a small explosion and then the whole thing was just gone; vaporized along with everyone inside. Machines popped like popcorn and were gone, leaving no trace that they had even stood there. Even the mobile armors holding the nukes contorted then popped like ants under a magnifying glass, the nukes not even making a flash compared to the pure beauty of the gamma ray. Fleet after fleet of Earth Forces personnel were disappearing in seconds and the ones standing watch could only stare on breathlessly, grasping their controls as if the harder they held on, the less likely they would get sucked away.

The beam was nothing more than a quick blast, but there was nothing left in its wake; a pure version of space the universe hadn't seen in centuries. Outside of that firing lane littered mobile suit and battleship debris, some half-destroyed, but still on the verge of death from being so close to the tragedy. Eclipse watched a couple waver and willed her hands to move the controls over to help, but by the time her brain even registered what she was looking at, the metal contorted inwards and they exploded in a series of lights.

"Holy Helmaya," Eclipse breathed, her ears deaf to the screaming across the emergency channel, the cries of help and suffering piercing even the most hardened soldier. "Helmaya, no—please, Helmaya!" Her mind only had one task, a mixture of awe and utter horror clouding her from both Coffee Addict and the Eternal's transmission. She had to find Namarra. She had to.

"Namarra!" Eclipse screamed, but not even her suit would let her remain deaf for long, a short pop resounding in her right ear and a quick shudder as a small shock coursed through her system.

"Lexi Rymyr!" Waltfeld shouted, Coffee Addict's shock forcing her to focus on her commander's words. "Fall back. Regroup at the Eternal."

"But Nam—"

"We have her en route."

"R-roger," she replied, hearing Dearka announce his own retreat. While she had expected a large-scale attack, she could never have anticipated something of this magnitude. Even with Erika's description of the weapon, Eclipse didn't doubt even a highly skilled engineer like her was rendered speechless.

Out of all the appropriate stunned reactions, however, there was one man more proud of the destruction than any army combined: Chairman Zala.

"Courageous soldiers of the ZAFT forces, we can no longer tolerate the aggression of the arrogant Naturals," he announced proudly over the communal channel, his words commanding even among the lingering cries of help. "Once more, the PLANTs have come under nuclear attack. This is no longer a war; it is a campaign of extermination! We can no longer forgive the Naturals who made these terrible acts without remorse!"

The Stealth steadied herself on one of the Meteor docks on the Eternal as the Justice came into view. She could only imagine the pain on Athrun's face and no amount of comforting from anyone was going to make that go away. His own father had just declared an attack on the Naturals as a race and that meant every one of them. The war had no longer become a few skirmishes over territory, or minor beliefs. No, it had become a war over genetics; the very fabric of every human being.

"Our new future, for the light of creation, is with us!" the Chairman continued. "This is a day of history marking the advent of a bright new world of Coordinators! The new mankind!"

One man believing in such heresy was hard enough, but when Eclipse heard the whole bulk of the ZAFT army chanting, "Victory!" after the speech she felt herself grow ill. How were they supposed to stop this? The Earth Forces were most likely on the verge of utter panic and what chance did they have against a weapon like GENESIS? Their nukes were limited, exploding upon impact and not searing through objects like the gamma ray. And all GENESIS had to do was power up in order to fire again. There was no need to wait for more shipments or for the missiles to even be made.

"How are we supposed to stop that?" Athrun asked, his voice a mere whisper over the transmission.

"We never said it was going to be easy," Eclipse replied, but she had no force behind it, the velocity of the statement barely audible amid their communications. Neither of them saying nothing more, he hooked up the Meteor then headed to the hangar while Eclipse followed. Her suit didn't need many major repairs, but her battery could use a little charging. Since most of the suits had gone to the Kusanagi, she had a minor moment of panic thinking the Archangel had been severely damaged, but all seemed well and she ushered herself inside to hook up the Stealth.

"Lexi, I can't find the guys," Namarra said, her transmission coming in amid static.

"Nam? Helmaya's balls, Nam, where are you?"

There was a pause. "I'm heading back as ordered. Mu's following."

She gave a long sigh. Even though Waltfeld had said she was returning, no doubt she had needed a little prodding, but Mu was always the parental sort and knew what he was up against. "I'm at the Eternal."

"Heading to the Archangel."

"I'm sure we'll all be able to communicate with each other somehow."

"But, the guys—"

"Leave it with Addict and I; we're working on it right now," Eclipse said, remaining in the Stealth as the mechanics hooked it up for charging. She pulled the keyboard down in front of her and she winced when her screens blinked blue before turning black once more. "I'll infiltrate the Dominion's database and see if I can get any information. If anything, they'll have an updated listing of personnel."

She half expected Namarra to help her, but she was still shaken. A lot of it could have been from her proximity. While Eclipse hadn't seen where she had ended up, the direction she had been heading couldn't have been towards an absolute safe haven. And with Mu escorting her, she could have been anywhere in the battle zone. And probably damaged.

"Nam, how's the Decay?"

"My machine's fine for the most part. She's missing an arm, but we'll replace it here. The Archangel has promised to let me use one in their storage."

"Good."

Their transmission ended and Eclipse sat down to work, making sure to let the Eternal bridge know she was staying in the Stealth and kept a comm line open to listen in.

Cagalli had started talking first, Eclipse noting the Strike Rouge had docked in the Eternal instead of the Kusanagi. "Mrs. Simmons, did we know that weapon could to that much damage?"

"Given the schematics, we had expected a large blast, but I didn't even think it would get to be over four hundred miles wide," Erika began, her face popping up from the Kusanagi bridge. "Looking back at the information, it calls for three hundred miles and doesn't even factor in, what I like to call, the 'mesh on the dress.' Basically, it's the particles projecting off the main beam, causing the destruction area to almost double. Seeing as it's a nuclear explosion," she went on, as Addict finally managed to break through the first wall of security on the Dominion's files, "I had expected the original specs to be off a little bit because that kind of a reaction is hard to control. However, double the destruction zone wasn't what I had predicted."

"Do you think their next target will be Earth?" Murrue asked, her voice coming in from the Archangel bridge.

"Essentially," Waltfeld began, "the role of any long-distance weapon of mass destruction is to serve as a deterrent, but that doesn't matter anymore because they've both been used at this point. Nukes and that thing. Somehow, I don't think either side is going to hold back now, especially after the Chairman's declaration."

There was another pause and this time even Eclipse felt it. She had gotten past the second and third wall of security, but she was losing focus. Trying not to get too drawn into the conversation, she quickly went through the soldier roster and came across Namarra's three brothers. Giving a sigh of relief, she had Coffee Addict send Chicabo the okay just in time to hear Waltfeld break the silence.

"It seems evident that neither side will hesitate to use those weapons again." He sighed and she looked up to see his war-wearied face. "The first time that I actually had to shoot someone, it churned my stomach."

Eclipse's heart skipped a beat. Her own first experience with murder had been just as unpleasant and her hands felt heavy as they pushed the keyboard off to the side. The memory of her vomiting over MR's death was vivid in her mind, and even the taste of bile had returned as she recalled.

"They told me that I'd get used to it in time, and after a while, that's what happened."

The taste of bile seemed to grow even more intense and Eclipse unbuckled herself, bringing one knee up to rest near her lips as the other had steadied her in the seat. She had come a long way from that moment, from abhorring that feeling of killing, to tolerating it, even enjoying it as she went berserk, and finally to a vague acceptance. It was just something that happened in her life now. Even on the battlefield, she had seen people die—even had been the cause of most of them—but had reserved herself to thinking it was a fact of life. Did that make her a bad person? Was the commander speaking as if that way of thinking was inhuman? Or was he just commenting on the way that the militaries were thinking?

Murrue seemed just as confused although, her tone of voice indicated she was coming to much the same conclusion. "Are you saying it's the same way with nukes and that weapon?"

"Isn't it the same thing? People can get used to anything, even fighting and killing each other." There was another pause before Waltfeld continued. "Is it weapons that are the cause of all this fighting? Or does the real cause lie within the human heart?"

Then how do we fight that? Eclipse thought sadly.

Kira spoke up, "Whether it's the nuclear weapons or that light, we can't let them use those things on each other. If that happens again, it'll be too late for anything."

It was distant, but Eclipse heard Athrun agree and that made her smile a little. She was happy to hear he had joined them on the bridge despite his personal drama. And being there seemed to have an affect on his confidence, because no matter how far he had sounded, there was authority in that answer. He had remembered why he had chosen this path in the first place even if his own father was declaring war on humanity.

Lathan was next to speak, eager to bring the Alliance back to the severity of the situation, no doubt. "The only thing in our favor is it can't fire consecutive shots," he began, indicating GENESIS. "My guess is that they need to change the mirror every time they fire it."

"But the main section is made of Phase Shift armor," Waltfeld said, "and we have to get past Jachin Due and all of the defensive lines they placed around it first. The Earth Forces will be coming with a full-scale attack, but it'll still be hard to get past those defenses."

"How much time does it take to replace that mirror?" Murrue asked.

"About an hour, maybe a little more," Lathan replied and Erika added in her agreement. "With the Earth Forces taking that amount of damage, the mirror would be aligned and ready before they could even mount another attack."

"Is the second target going to be the moon? Or are they actually going to attack the Earth?" Waltfeld's question held a lot of weight and the communication line quieted at the words. They were in much the same predicament earlier when they weren't sure where the Earth Alliance was going to fire the nukes. GENESIS—as compared to the nukes—seemed like such a bigger threat, however, and Eclipse took a long breath. Somehow, it just felt like they had gone full circle.

Kira broke the silence that time. "The Earth Forces are going to be attacking with nukes, aren't they?"

"Yes," Murrue said.

"So, we'll have to stop both of them," Eclipse heard Cagalli say, probably sounding a bit more confident on the bridge than it did through the transmission because that statement needed confidence. It sounded crazy, but they had reached the point of crazy ideas.

"So, how much time until the mirror is replaced?" Murrue asked, her voice quivering for only a moment.

"According to our notes, we have about 32 more minutes," Lathan announced.

"Then my next question is, are we to go look for survivors?" Eclipse asked, her chin on top of her knee and staring graving into the communication. "I'm sure we've all heard it," she continued, pointing to her ear and referencing the emergency channel that had just been deafened by calls for help.

The adults seemed to think about it, and—surprisingly—Murrue was the one to give an answer. "As we were coming here to meet up, ZAFT had already released some teams to either grab the ZAFT stragglers or take care of the Earth Forces leftovers." Her lips were thin and Eclipse matched her stare with a calm one of her own. "After the Chairman's speech, however, I doubt they'd go easy on them."

"They were attacking the retreating Earth Forces mobile suits," Athrun mentioned. "I agree with Captain Ramius and there won't be any left no matter how much we'd like to save them."

Eclipse listened for Kira, expecting him to argue the comment, but he said nothing. Surprised, she opened her mouth to make a remark, but the announcement from Miriallia startled them all.

"Attention, the Earth Forces fleet has begun its assault."

"What?" Murrue shrieked, twisting to look at her CIC officer. "Already? There's no possible way—"

"Probably trying to attack before GENESIS fires again. Rash, but not unwise." Waltfeld paused. "We should move out ourselves then."

"Yes, sir," everyone replied and the commander gave the official announcement as soon as the call ended, his voice cutting through her communication line.

"All vessels, prepare to move out!" Waltfeld announced. "I repeat, all vessels, move out!"

Eclipse didn't need further prompting. Lowering her leg back to the pedals, she thanked the mechanics then began releasing the Stealth from its stand.

"Stealth heading to the catapult."

"Roger that, Stealth. You're clear for launch."

"Copy. Heading out."

Eclipse wasn't quite sure what to make of the battlefield this time. ZAFT had its army surrounding Jachin Due, facing the oncoming Earth Forces. It was like an old-town brawl, waiting for the clock to chime noon and the redhead took a breath.

"Lexi, you're going to stay by the ships. Our main target is going to be GENESIS, but we're gonna have to get through both armies to get there," Waltfeld said, for the first time sounding exhausted. "The Justice and Freedom will keep an eye on the EA's three machines as well as the nukes. We'll make a path for them through the ZAFT military."

Eclipse nodded. "With that Phase Shift armor, it's gonna take every beam weapon we have to even scratch the thing."

"I know. Unfortunately, our best bet may be to wait until they fire the next shot."

"It might be the best moment, but if they fire on Earth, we're done for anyway."

"Tight spot, isn't it?" Waltfeld gave a wry chuckle and a similar smile tugged at the redhead's lips.

"Y'know," Eclipse started, "ever since I met you, this whole war thing has become terribly complicated."

His wry laugh turned more genuine and her smile did the same. "Funny, I could have said the same thing, except about Miss Lacus." Eclipse heard him twist in his chair to look at his younger companion, but she either didn't hear him or wasn't in the mood to reply. No doubt some nervous goodbyes were being shared, the magnitude of the battle weighing on all of them and Eclipse basked in the silence of that pre-battle breath.

"Keep sharp, kid," Waltfeld said suddenly and Eclipse snorted, but still appreciated the sentiment.

"I'll watch your back and you watch mine. We'll be sipping coffee together again soon, don't worry."

The Strike, Decay, Buster, and the three Astrays launched seconds later, mobilizing near each other while waiting for the final three suits: Justice, Freedom, and the Strike Rouge. From one mobile suit to the other, they shared a few words, wishing each other luck, among other things, Eclipse taking an extra moment to send some parting thoughts to Lathan. Looking at the vast armies ahead of them, each had some feeling or another this was going to be the final battle. Or, at least by this time, they had to make it the last fight. With the two armies wanting to attack each other with nukes, mankind couldn't afford any more large-scale attacks like this one.

Finishing up on last remarks, they all silenced. Eclipse felt the weight of the unsaid conversations, but bit her tongue and waited for the Justice and Freedom to get attached to the Meteors.

And so, the battle began.

Eclipse and Dearka formed a team while Namarra went to accompany Mu who was sticking close to the Archangel. With Eclipse's preference for close-quarters combat, Dearka was a good foil, his long range shooting keeping many stragglers from picking her off. Mu and Namarra worked much the same way and since the Archangel was the prime target of the Dominion, Namarra's team change made sense.

It was a matter of not having enough time to gather what the Earth Alliance was going to do, but as soon as Coffee Addict announced GENESIS readying itself for another attack, the battleplan for the Earth Alliance was quite clear. With no solid plan of how to destroy the gamma ray, it was easier for the Three Ship Alliance mobile suits to just linger before jumping right into the line of fire.

The familiar glowing red from the weapon shone through Eclipse's cameras to her right, the growing intensity the sure sign that ZAFT had chosen its target and was already about to make that next step. While the Three Ship Alliance had been afraid ZAFT was going to aim and fire on Earth, the trajectory had changed, Erika announcing the target as the EA Ptolemaeus Base on the moon. Eclipse winced when GENESIS fired, her eyes closing to the intensity of the beam as it seared into the surface of the moon. The devastation was as expected, however, the magnitude of the attack nearly putting a crack in the orbiting rock and securely demolishing the base underneath. This time, ZAFT must have had more control over the blast because the aim was dead on, even moving up the crater to capture the whole base in the destruction.

Eclipse felt ill once more after seeing the final demolition.

"Damn it, that had to have taken out half of the remaining Earth Forces at least," Dearka hissed, adding in his own versions of cursing.

"We must never allow them to fire that device again," Lacus said, more emotion behind that statement then Eclipse had heard from her in the past couple of meetings. The sheer magnitude of the battle sinking into all of them and not only that, but some parting words with loved ones puts everything into perspective. Who was going to come out alive this time? Would any of them?

"The EA's not going to take that sitting down. There must be a separate force carrying the nukes. Find it!" Waltfeld ordered and Eclipse had no more time to digest her morbid thoughts.

She sped off with Dearka nearby, dodging a puny mobile armor as it veered towards her. It flew past and to the Stealth's right, Eclipse drawing an EARP dagger and stabbing it into the missile launchers on the side, scraping over both of them as it went past. She released the dagger and didn't know where it finally rested thanks to another mobile armor speeding her way. Using her beam saber this time, she sliced off the right missile tube and watched it spin away from her.

"Well, wait a minute," she heard Dearka stutter and her attention was immediately drawn to him and a Strike Dagger. "We're trying to stop GENESIS too!" Aiming, he tried to disable the suit, but—in the end—had no choice but to put an expert shot through the cockpit. "This is nuts! Is anyone on our side?"

"Nope, not even optimism," she replied, cutting a beam rifle in half before slicing the legs from the GINN trying to converge on the Buster as he was distracted with the Dagger. "Apparently, you're not recognized as a ZAFT mobile suit anymore either." Spinning, she clipped the arm of one Dagger before searing off the head and arm of its partner. One Dagger managed to get a good strike in, however, the beam scraping against the Stealth's left leg. It wasn't a deep enough wound to cause major damage, but her alarms blared nonetheless.

Dearka shot through the head and crotch of another Dagger as Eclipse kicked one away and into its comrade. When the two suits collided, the beam saber slipped through the cockpit of the one on top and it exploded, leaving Eclipse behind to frown about the unfortunate event.

"Nazca, nine o'clock," Coffee Addict announced and she spun, her cameras zeroing in on the blue battleships. There were actually two ZAFT ships coming in their direction, one already letting loose a string of missiles.

"Dearka!" she shouted, sheathing the saber and grabbing her beam rifle in one motion. Aiming, she managed to snipe two missiles out of the air cleanly, giving her comrade enough time to turn and dodge the next two, only to have the missiles target and ignite on two Daggers behind him.

Two GuIAZs came at her next, one distracting her with some shots from its upgraded rifle as the other pulled out a beam-edged sword. The redhead had seen such a model on earlier mobile suits, but had no idea they were still being produced. Last she had heard, the weapon had drained too much of the battery and usually left the mobile suit vulnerable since the metal was unable to deflect beams. Everything was thrown into the mix for this battle, it seemed, both armies desperate to be the winning side. Dodging the blade's downward strike, the Stealth pulled upwards, bringing up the buckler on her left arm just in time to skim one shot away from the rifle on the other GuIAZ.

Recovering quickly, the GuIAZ with the beam-edged sword thrust upwards as she was defending, trying to cut her legs out from under her. Anticipating the danger, she reversed her momentum and scooted backwards, avoiding the attack from below and forcing the GuIAZ with the rifle to stop firing to avoid hitting his comrade as he rose up in the gap between them.

Eclipse smirked. Pressing the button down on top of one joystick, she spitfired her CIWS at the GuIAZ with the sword in front of her, forcing him back. A couple bullets chipped his armor before he brought up the shield, but she knew one had managed to take out his camera. The memorable red eye at the top of the suit was black and the glass cracked. For a second, the suit just floated, Eclipse wondering if he had even had the reflexes to close off the area before the oxygen had leaked out, but didn't have much time to wonder as one of the Nazcas let loose four missiles in her direction.

"Seriously?" she hissed, spinning to send Gleipnir bullets at two of them—accepting the loss of two grapples—and twisting to unleash CIWS at the other two. All four exploded with a hiss and a pop before a beam clipped the back of her suit just under the HiMAT wings.

The momentum from the attack shoved the redhead forward in the cockpit, stunning for a second, but nearly a second too long. A second beam shot had gone wide and since she had recovered before the third one, she dodged it just in time. Her HiMAT wings screamed in anger after the movement, the damage close enough to rattle the system, but not enough to put it out of commission just yet. Cursing, she squared up to the ship and decided to try a different approach.

Twisting, she dove down towards the Nazca below her, bringing her left buckler up to ricochet the CIWS up and away as her right arm contorted to slice the barrel of the other machine gun next to her. Knowing battleship makers didn't want to make the turrets so mobile on the nose of ships that they could turn and fire on each other, Eclipse stood on the ship's nose and stared at the remaining GuIAZ she had just been fighting. He was rushing in her direction but doubted her reasoning for standing there. Pointing her beam saber at the bridge window, she waited for them to come closer.

And right into Dearka's line of fire.

The Buster fired a shot that took off the legs of the machine, the momentum sending it spinning away from the ship. Offering a thanks, Eclipse turned to the bridge just in time to see many soldiers scrambling away from their positions in some desperate attempt to get away from her point-blank shot.

Grumbling a word close to "cowards," Eclipse holstered her beam rifle, drew her second beam saber again, spread her arms out wide, and crouched low. Thrusting forward, she seared through the remaining turrets and twisted down under the ship to disable the missile launchers. Done with that, she flew back up towards Dearka and cut the arms off two Strike Daggers before they could get in an attack against the Buster.

"Show off," Dearka said with a small laugh and let loose another shot to take out three Daggers.

"Me?" she asked innocently and fired a barrage of CIWS down at a coming GINN. It blocked her shots easily. Eclipse was bracing herself for the close quarters combat when the Buster's cannon appeared over her shoulder, Dearka taking off the GINN's head.

Eclipse frowned. "Clearly, you're the showoff."

They shared a moment before the Buster's left foot was cut off. The blond cursed loudly while Eclipse spun to find the culprit. Apparently, a Dagger had thrown something similar to an EARP dagger and it had landed with deadly precision.

"Hey—" she began, but was cut short when the suit exploded. It was anticlimactic, in a way, mainly because no mobile suit stepped up to claim the kill. Most likely, the Dagger had had its moment of glory before it was taken out by a different suit.

Ah, the chaos of war.

"There's the nukes!" Kira announced, bringing up his visual for everyone to see. He was right, there was a squad of mobile armors with nukes strapped to their missile launchers followed closely by the Dominion and about four other Agamemnon-class battleships. And the kicker was, Namarra's three brothers had fallen back to join them as well.

"We can't let them get to the PLANTs!" Athrun shouted, following Kira over to the Peacemaker Force.

Murrue came up on the communication. "The Archangel is going after the Dominion and giving support to the Justice and Freedom."

"Roger that," Waltfeld agreed. "The Kusanagi and the Eternal are going after GENESIS."

Dearka, Cagalli, and Namarra chased after the Archangel while Eclipse had decided to stay with the Eternal and Kusanagi. She watched them all go with a small amount of remorse, but knew she couldn't just leave the two ships to go alone to face the entirety of the ZAFT military. Yes, there were a small number of M-1s and two of the three Astrays left to make a little dent, but Eclipse wasn't naïve enough to think that would be enough power to break through to Jachin Due.

Two GINNs came after her in particular as they neared. Even the other suits seemed to be aiming at the mobile suits instead of the battleships right off the bat and Eclipse understood why once the remaining Astrays were outmatched and destroyed.

Cursing loudly, Eclipse went into a frenzy after seeing her comrades killed. The first GINN she dodged, thrusting quickly under the attack and slicing upwards from crotch to throat. Spinning, she kicked it into a coming GINN and threw an EARP dagger at the one behind, blinding its cameras just in time for the top GINN's battery to explode. Eclipse knew they were dead long before she saw the debris and went to get the two GINNs that had killed the Astray pilots.

The first one she forced low and into the Eternal's line of fire. A few quick and damaging slices to the mobile suit's exterior forced it to spiral out of control and into a barrage of the Eternal's CIWS.

"Hah!" she laughed and dodged a GuIAZ attempting to come up from behind and it wasn't until it had sped past that she had noticed the grapples under each arm. They hadn't been the same as her Gleipnir bolts, however, because they launched and exploded upon impact, more like small grenades with guiding wires.

It let loose three of them, the Stealth's HiMAT system stable enough to dodge and allow her to get in a downward slice, dislodging the grenades from the wire. Before they got too far, however, Eclipse grabbed the straggling grenades and threw them back at the GuIAZ who shot them. The ZAFT pilot must not have been expecting that turn of events because it froze despite the ample amount of time to get out of the way. Two grenades hit the head and right shoulder while the other hit the crotch, the combination of all three explosions leaving GuIAZ lifeless.

"Stealth, you're out too far," Waltfeld relayed.

"Copy," she replied and rerouted herself towards the Kusanagi, noting more M-1s were falling to the sheer amount of enemies.

---

While Namarra had faith in her Berserker counterpart, she knew the Eternal and Kusanagi couldn't hold on against that large amount of ZAFT mobile suits for long. Letting loose two precise bursts from her CIWS she took out two launching nukes, speeding away just in time to avoid the attack from another and giving a quick thanks to Dearka when he took out the missile as it moved past her. She had no other long-distance weaponry than her CIWS and that was supposed to be for close range anyway. Why she had chosen to join the Archangel was beyond her, but as soon as she saw the Justice and Freedom dueling with her brothers, she knew better than to second guess her instincts.

Taking a breath, she had an internal debate. Should she go over there and help? Watching the two mobile suits with the Meteors sway and dance through the sky made her feel inferior for a moment and not only inferior, but made her feel like a mere sprinkle on the grand scheme of a wedding cake. She didn't want to just go over there and cause someone to die, Kira and Athrun included. So, she swallowed her pride and went over to help the Archangel, aiming for the Earth Forces ships flanking the Dominion.

The first battleship must not have been expecting to see such a small mobile suit attempt to destroy it because it rarely even targeted her. The mobile armors surrounding the ship were a little smarter, as they saw her as a threat immediately, but the problem was, they had nowhere near the strength and ability they needed to take Namarra down.

Slicing through the first mobile armor, she had a little trouble dodging the minor attacks of a second one before stabbing a wrist blade in its cockpit and kicking it down at a turret on the Earth Forces ship just in time for it to explode. The maneuvers made the other armors wary, but Namarra was far from calling it quits. Touching down on the nose just after the explosion, she stared at the bridge. What she would give to have her flamethrower be connected to another battery. To conserve energy and save the flamethrower for a last-ditch effort, she would just have to make do with her second favorite, her beam scythe.

The curved beam grew from the rod as she brought it back around her back and swung out in an arc. First, she took out the remaining turrets then twisted her grip and slashed the weapon down into the nose of the ship. The explosions started immediately and Namarra jumped up from her handy work as the vibrations even shook her suit, but there was no time to admire it since two Strike Daggers raced in her direction after she jumped ship.

Ducking under one's lazy stab, she reversed her suit and swung upwards, her scythe cutting the mobile suit in two and she moved the Decay with the momentum, spinning in time to swipe the remaining Dagger across the chest.

"Namarra?" she heard a male voice spit through an open transmission and she blinked. There was nothing more to the message, but that one word was familiar enough. Turning, she saw the Dominion closing in and knew Azrael had been watching her closely. Smirking, the Decay made a mock salute and curled the same palm together to leave one, middle finger sticking upright.

The Archangel called her back after her pleasant conversation and took over as main target for the Dominion, the Natural finding herself besides Dearka again as the took on more mobile armors. Deciding to not put as much strain on her battery life, she attached the scythe to the Decay's back once more and pulled out her two beam sabers.

Three mobile armors managed to get a short barrage on her, but she dodged and blocked, slowly forcing her way closer. One mobile armor actually ran out of ammo and she made quick work of him first, ducking under the flimsy grappling arm and cutting the machine in two. The other mobile armors became cautious after that, driving the Decay back towards their battleship to gain support, but Namarra caught onto their game and reversed directions, spinning and twisting through the two mobile armors. The machines panicked and started firing rapidly, following her path through the two of them and ending up riddling themselves with bullets.

Turning, she noticed Dearka just in time to see him put two expert shots through the hull of the ship they had been trying to lure her towards.

"Nice shot," she complemented, her breath coming out in short rasps.

"Not too shabby yourself," he replied, a smile sounding through the statement.

Their chat was short lived, however, the unmistakable silhouette of the Duel passing between them both and followed quickly by the Raider.

"Clotho!" Namarra shrieked, but there was nothing she could do at that distance. Without getting up close and personal, she was practically useless. Glancing over at the Buster, Dearka was already two steps ahead of her, but instead of targeting the Duel, he had his sights set on the Raider. Really, she shouldn't have been surprised, but her heart leapt into her throat, all words gone as she saw him fire.

A Strike Dagger at Dearka's back thankfully pulled her attention away from the destruction of the shot, the Decay speeding down to catch the Dagger before it could do any damage to the Buster. Sheathing a saber quickly, she grabbed her one EARP dagger and threw it at the suit, but despite the throw going wide, it had been enough to distract the one-track soldier. It saw her immediately and charged towards her instead, shield and beam saber outright. Gripping both beam sabers once more, she waited for it to cross the distance and blocked its first attack.

The sabers hit in a series of sparks as the beams struggled against each other. Namarra's initial plan was to slip her other saber through a leg as they grappled, but the pilot was good, placing his shield in a way that kept her from doing just that. Cursing, she let loose her CIWS bullets and blinded her opponent, indenting its face and hearing Chicabo's complaints as some of them bounced back onto the Decay.

Namarra debated making some kind of inappropriate comment, but bit her tongue and felt the Dagger's attack lessen as the barrage continued. The sabers slipped enough for Namarra to push their duel close to its left shoulder, the heat from the beam searing through the wiring and causing the arm to lose both strength and mobility.

"Hah, checkmate," she spat after a couple more seconds and kicked the suit back, slicing through its middle as it floated in front of her.

It was a shallow victory, however, one of the Earth Forces ships having gained ground during her skirmish and already aiming in her direction.

---

Eclipse cut down one more GINN on her way to the Kusanagi. The second one she came across gave her more difficulty, his fierce attacks wildly unexpected but terribly dangerous all the same. He shot at her once with his rifle then continued to chop down at her with that same weapon, and at first, she didn't know what to make of it, but eventually blocked the rifle with the hilt of a beam saber and used her CIWS to damage both the weapon and the mobile suit wielding it. Her puny bullets did little damage and his advance never slowed. Swinging out wide with his arm, he tried grasping the Stealth, but she was the faster of the two.

What are you doing? she asked herself, trying to avoid another couple stray shots from the Nazca-class battleships as they grappled. You can't hope to beat me without a weapon.

She heard Kisaka call her back to the ships for support and brought up the Eternal and Kusanagi on the screen, the Stealth groaning around her as she tried to both keep the enemy at bay and check on her allies. Most of the M-1s were either destroyed or too damaged to do much of anything to the ZAFT forces and she cursed, turning back to her adversary as he tried to get a better hold.

"Know when you've been beaten!" she shouted and pushed him back far enough to bring her saber in close and slice off his right arm. His left hand spun around to finish attempt a grapple again, but he got an unfriendly blade through his forearm. The hidden sword under Eclipse's right wrist swung out, cutting through the metal and wiring as she held him steady for her beam saber to cross her body and sear off the remaining arm at the shoulder.

"Go save yourself!" she yelled through an open transmission, but there was no immediate reply from the pilot inside. Thrusting forward, she cut off both legs before circling back around, but didn't get far, surprise making her pull the Stealth short. The cockpit was open on the GINN and the pilot was firing a handgun in her direction. The bullets did nothing more than tickle her armor, but the sheer determination mixed with desperation in that bold move alone made her frown. Sheathing both beam sabers and the sword at her wrist, she aimed her beam rifle at the unfortunate Coordinator and fired. The shot wiped him out completely and straight to the GINN's battery, the machine exploding and adding its metal to the debris.

Frowning, she made her way back to the Eternal and Kusanagi. What was that pilot fighting for anyway? Some sense of honor? GENESIS was built to wipe out the whole Natural race and he thought he was fighting for something noble? Suddenly, she understood how the others felt when they were trying to explain her own captivity. Had she really looked that pathetic?

"Lexi, new plan," Waltfeld began, a grunt slipping through his lips as the Eternal got nicked from the side. "We need you out of the line of fire."

"On the contrary," she began, dodging and destroying a string of missiles as they came at the Eternal. "You need me out here to keep these missiles off your back."

"You're wasting too much energy. Stabilize yourself on the bow and have the CA link with our power source." He grunted again and shouted a firing order to one of his soldiers. "Snipe from there."

"I'm gonna need a bigger gun than my beam rifle."

"Then get one."

She shrugged. "Roger that. Stay alive till I come back."

Leaving the immediate battlefield, she did a little pillaging. Searching for and eventually finding an intact—and functioning—GuIAZ rifle. She brought that back along with three other shields she had found from some Strike Daggers. The shields might not have been of the best quality, but she needed something at her back if she was just going to be a standing target.

Returning, she wove her way down onto the Eternal's nose, away from the turret fire and far enough out of the way that the enemies wouldn't hit the bridge when aiming at her. The first thing she did was wedged the three shields into the gap where a turret used to be and lined them up, two in front of her and placed one behind her.

"Cover me," she said and crouched down to pull up the Eternal's outer paneling so she could reach the same battery line that turret had been using. Instead of connecting the GuIAZ rifle to the Stealth's battery, she linked it into the Eternal's and let Coffee Addict handle the specifics as she watched for any coming enemies.

The Kusanagi fired its Lohingrin cannons as she lifted the rifle and watched the ZAFT ships shift away from the blast. Many dodged the attack, but the heat alone had caused some major damage to the armor and she smiled. The weapon was ready so she lifted it up to the Stealth's shoulder and aimed.

"I get why Namarra loves her sniper rifle so much."

---

Namarra dodged the ship's attack as quickly as she could, but not even her advanced reflexes could keep the Decay from coming out unscratched. Two beams went through the right leg, the one at the knee taking the bottom half off completely. Given what the damage report was going to be if it had stayed on, she was thankful for the amputation, but was still not happy about the outcome. Drifting to the side, she managed to open a lane and dove towards the Earth Forces battleship, grasping her scythe once more as she descended. Dodging one barrage, then two, she managed to sideswipe the ship and take off two turrets, but was forced away when three Daggers aimed in her direction.

Flying away, she nearly ran into Mu in the Strike. At first she thought he was caught in some kind of mess, but his suit displayed purpose and direction.

"Hey, where you going?" she asked just as Chicabo brought up three battles onto the screen. It was Shani fighting three suits, the Strike Rouge, Buster, and the other Chicabo named Duel.

"It's him," the older pilot hissed, Mu's tone focusing Namarra back on him. "He's finally shown his face."

"Le Creuset?" she asked, but barely got the words out in time to see a bright flash monopolize one of her screens. Turning to that one immediately, she felt her chest tighten and the whole battlefield went mute as the blood rushed to her ears.

That wasn't him, she told herself, her hands shaking as she clicked through other angles, but there was no sign of the Forbidden and her mouth grew dry.

"Sh-Shani?" she stammered, her voice a mere whisper as she continued flicking through angles, Chicabo already trying to tell her the truth she was denying. The Forbidden's beacon was gone, and one more swipe through the angles had Namarra sitting in horror as she finally got a shot of the destroyed parts of Shani's mobile suit.

Her hands slipped from the controls, shaking backwards towards her chest as her fingers dug hard into the fabric. "Shani!"

"Namarra!" a familiar voice yelled and after an abrupt jerk, she realized the Strike had just pulled her away from an attacking Dagger. "Pay attention!"

The numbness quickly vanished with that one move, her emotion skipping from shock to rage. "You son of a bitch!" she screamed and flew at the Earth Forces' machine.

Hacking once, she took off the machine's head with her scythe.

Hacking twice, she took off its right shoulder and side near the cockpit.

Sliced through its waist.

Skimmed the front of the cockpit.

Skimmed the back near the battery, but still not destroying the suit.

Her last attack she screamed, cutting the scrap metal from neck to stomach and even twisting to make a slash from side to side.

"Namarra!" Mu shouted again, but she was past listening.

Looking up at the screen, she saw Kira slash down at Orga's suit, but miss.

"Namarra, stop it!" Mu shouted again, this time pulling the Strike in front of her. A bit gutsy considering what she had just done to the puny Strike Dagger, but her emotions turned on a dime again, another bright flash returning her attention to her cameras.

Orga's suit exploded.

She screamed.

---

A/N: So, this is another chapter long overdue. Between work and getting ready for school, editing has been a bit slow. I've already started on the next bunch and am debating whether or not to just put it out all at once. Hm, you'll have to see next chapter, I guess.

Also, I'm no sure whether or not I want Heine showing up in the final Jachin Due battle. Thoughts? Coincidences concerning Heine are getting a bit old so I'm on edge. Let me know!

Special thanks to my Betas who brave a lot of odds to get these chapters back to me. Death-Scimitar, CSSStravag, and Maderfole, I couldn't ask for a better crew! Also, a thank you should go out to the many others who both keep me writing/editing and are always willing to help.

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Corrections to the Narrative:

More info on GENESIS earlier in the battle. Made more sense given the many contacts these people have.

I tried to keep the major moments in order, but I also did my best to keep the story my own too. So, if anything's off, please don't hound me too bad.

There might be some technical things people are going to have issues with, but this is easily the biggest MS battle I've written. Give me a little credit maybe? :P

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Questions/Gripes:

Yes, Waltz is finished and if there are any fun moments or stories you want to have me write, let me know.

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Alright, a small note this time, but I'll see you all next chapter!

Strata