Disclaimer: None of us own Gundam SEED. Goddamn Sunrise… Furthermore, any franchises that make cameos here belong to their respective owners.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Radio"
Chapter Twenty Three: Endgame
Earth, Washington D.C., White House
Jason Henderson, the President of the Earth Alliance, sighed as he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes so that he could better focus on the document in his hands, his focus being pulled away by the thoughts of his family, who had been spirited away by O.M.N.I's Intelligence Division commandos to a secure location under false names and identities.
Even he wasn't told where, but, that just told him how serious the commandos were taking their mission to protect his family.
"Red Alert! Eastern Secondary Defensive line is under attack!" A panicked voice shouted over the comm systems as a loud air raid siren sounded. "A massive ground force has appeared being led by a single giant mobile armor has breach our defenses!"
"Mr. President!" the commanding agent of the Secret Service shouted as he barged into the room.
"I heard," Jason assured as he stood up, already pulling on the combat gear he had stowed away in his office for just such an occasion. "Have the First Defensive Line hold their positions, this may just be a diversion to get us to weaken our front lines, have the Third and Fourth Lines reinforced with the Second to Fourth lines from the north and west, activate the Lohengrins on the Fourth Lines and have spotters light up the Enemy armor."
"S… Sir!" one of the agents responded before heading off to relay the orders.
"Sir, we have to get you onto Air Force One and out of the country," the lead agent insisted as Jason picked up and checked over an assault rifle.
"No, I am not leaving this fight," he declined. "This is LOGOS' attempt at retribution for my revealing of them and attack against them, I will not run and hide! Send out a message to the Terminal Forces we hired, I want them on standby at the Fourth Line, their ship is to provide cover."
"Sir, I must protest this action!"
"Your protest is noted Simmons," Jason assured. "Bring the APC around, I want to be at the Pentagon yesterday."
"Y… yes sir," Simmons relented with a sigh.
"Oh buck up Simmons, this is making me feel young again," Jason informed with a wide grin. "After all, when was the last time someone had the balls to challenge me directly like this, I think it's time to remind to world that Uzumi isn't the only soldier in international politics right now."
Aboard the Gungnir, Bridge
"Sir! The EA's Eastern Second Line of defense has been attacked!" Gungnir's sensor officer reported, breaking the peaceful atmosphere of the bridge as the crew leapt into action. "They just completely bypassed the First line of Defense, they came out of nowhere!"
"Calm down!" Odin barked out harshly. "Bring us to Condition Red, all pilots are to standby for launch as soon as we are given our orders!"
"Sir, the President wants Terminal forces to reinforce the Fourth Line!" Linda called out looking over to the ship's captain. "Mobile Suits are to wait to launch and our ships are to provide cover!"
"Helmsman, take us off the ground," Erik calmly commanded as he took the captain's chair. "Take us up to cruising altitude. Comms, have Squadron Leader Falcon briefed on the situation and have all Terminal Ships take up 'Shield' Positions."
"Yessir!" Linda replied turning back to her console to follow through with her orders.
Hangar
"Alright people! This is what we've been sitting around twiddling our thumbs up our asses for!" Yuna roared out over the din of the hanger as everyone dashed for their stations and/or mobile suits. "Second Eastern Line has fallen and the enemy is making tracks for the Third, we are to hold the Fourth line at all costs and stop them in their tracks, any questions?"
"No ma'am!" the MS pilots responded.
"Alright, when we launch, we will be assuming interception formations, that means you'll be working overtime today, Yvon," Yuna continued as she climbed into her white and red-trimmed mobile suit, the TXG-X101 'Ascalon' Gundam, its backpack equipped with several fin like devices.
A dark skinned woman with brown eyes and white hair snorted in response as she gripped the controls to her Brown, black trimmed, mobile suit, the TXG-X102 'Ymir' Gundam, a pair of what seemed to be bladed wings on its back as the pilot rolled her shoulders. "Well at least I won't be letting my ass get fat like Renis or Urvon," Yvon Terran stated mockingly.
"Hey!" dual voices, one male, the other female, shouted in return.
"My ass is not fat!" Renis Tennyson, a rather… well stacked blond woman with bright red eyes continued to protest from the cockpit of her completely dark grey mobile suit that held a pair of large shields on either shoulder. "I'm not allowed to have a fat ass!"
"And I don't just stand around, I just can't move very quickly!" Urvon Incon, a slightly rotund, bald man with silver eyes complained, pounding the console of his massive silver and bronze colored mobile suit that held a bulky backpack and took triple the usual amount of restraints to keep in place. "My mobile suit weighs like… a hundred tonnes! After all, I'm packing the heaviest firepower here, back me up some Takeshi!"
"He is telling the truth," Takeshi remarked. "His machine's designed for heavy artillery - he's not supposed to move fast… the opposite of my machine, to be honest." He smiled. "After all, my focus on melee combat means I need a fast machine."
"See, even Takeshi agrees with me!" Urvon stated proudly, before he sobered up slightly. "But damn, LOGOS certainly has a giant pair of brass ones to launch such a brazen attack on EA's most heavily defended location."
"Yeah, and we're going to chop'em right off," Yuna declared. "'Cause I'm getting sick and tired of their ugly faces bringing down the world for us beautiful people!"
"Agreed," Takeshi remarked. "Taking them down will remove one of the final obstacles for peace, so we can truly unite as one." 'And prepare for the Reapers, whoever, whatever, and wherever they are…' he added mentally.
PLANT Space, Aboard the Archangel
"Captain, we're getting reports on LOGOS launching an attack on the capital!" Natarle called out from her station as the Archangel moved through space in a patrol pattern on the Retribution's flank. "It's a massive ground invasion being led by a large mobile armor."
Murrue bit her lip as she turned to her two bosses who listened to the same report. "What do we do?" she asked the pair. "Do we send reinforcements?"
Kira inhaled a small breath as she closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, we need to focus on the Zala faction," she replied. "As much as I want to, we need to focus on the bigger picture here, Terminal can handle them."
Ryu patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Takeshi will be fine," he assured her. "After all, there's the Gungnir there along with nine other Terminal ships filled to the brim with Patriots, they sent nothing but their elites down there."
"I know…" Kira replied. "I just… he's my brother, even if not directly by blood… I can't help but worry…"
Ryu hummed in understanding. "Yeah, I know the feeling, Jinn is heading into battle today, but… Jade's staying behind because of her pregnancy…"
"I know how she likely feels," Kira remarked. "I remember having to be sidelined while I was pregnant with Shirou… it's frustrating, having to stay behind even when you have the skill to fight…"
Ryu smiled at her. "Well, I'd like to think it was worth it in the end," he admitted. "He is one little bundle of joy after all."
Kira smiled back. "Yeah, and I have the feeling Jade's child or children will be, too," she said. "Still doesn't mean she'll like being sidelined for such an important fight…"
"Not in the least," Ryu agreed. "I feel sorry for Lacus, she's probably getting strained trying to keep her and Flay from trying to get out here."
"Yeah… and I still wouldn't be surprised if she fails, and just manages to delay them long enough to show up late to the fight - and knowing our luck, if that happens it'll be at a crucial moment, having their arrival turn things in our favor."
Ryu stared at his wife for a moment before breaking out into near hysterical laughter at the thought. "Wha… wha… what is… this?" he managed to get out. "An anime?"
Kira laughed, too. "There are times when our life certainly feels like one, to be honest," she replied. "Albeit a mishmash of Humongous Mecha, Slice-of-Life hijinks, and Hentai."
Ryu finally managed to calm down his laughter enough to be able to talk normally. "Well, that was a good laugh, I needed it," he told her, a few mirthful laughs escaping here and there. "Here's hoping we can keep the good mood going after the battle…"
"Agreed," Kira replied. "We're certainly going to need it."
"We're getting Priority Transmission from ZAFT command!" the comms officer, a young woman named Sandra Dosen, called out. "The first and second fleets are attacking the loyalist faction! Zala is making his move!"
"And here we go," Kira remarked. "Condition Red, Level 1 Battle Stations! All pilots, stand by in your machines! Captain Ramius, the ship is yours!"
"Roger that!" Ramius responded. "CIC, coordinate with the Retribution and prepare firing solutions for when we enter the battlefield, I want the Gottfried's and Valiants ready to fire upon our arrival!"
"Yes ma'am!" the bridge crew responded as the leapt into action.
"All the upgrades have been completed and are equipped," Ryu explained as he and Kira jogged towards the hanger. "The Valkyrie Freyr is good to launch."
"Good to hear," Kira replied as they moved. "Time to see just what our machines can do with those new upgrades you came up with."
Ryu grinned. "I think you'll like the upgrades to your own," he assured. "The first Mobile Suit equipped with an Eezo core, with some help from Sentry of course."
"Good to hear," Kira replied. "Will be nice to see what Eezo can do when used in a Mobile Suit - what did you do with the Cold Fusion reactor it originally had?"
"Still has it," Ryu assured. "I suppose the proper term is Cold Fusion Eezo Core, but basically, according to Sentry anyways, it'll be far more maneuverable, than before, faster, and all the while maintaining the same fire output and defenses, even with it's full loadout."
"Nice," Kira replied. "Will definitely be fun to give it a workout in the upcoming battle, just to see what it can do… along with how important this fight is, we can consider it a warm-up for the rest of the galaxy… and the Reapers."
Ryu nodded in agreement. "Let's do this then, shall we?"
"Yeah," Kira replied, as they reached the hangar. "Let's."
Archangel, Pilot Ready Room
"I'm a little worried…" Hanami muttered.
"Hanami?" Jinn questioned from next to his girlfriend, both clad in their pilot suits. "What are you worried about?"
"I mean… t-there's every chance s-something can go wrong during the fight…" she squirmed slightly under her boyfriend's gaze. "It… It's a battlefield after all…"
"I can understand," Jinn commented with a nod. "I… I'm afraid of failing you again," he swallowed tightly at the admission. "Of you getting killed or hurt because of my failure…"
The silverette shuddered at that memory of when she had gotten shot down - or clawed down, rather, clutching her left arm where she still had the scar. "We've both g-gotten better since then… I don't think i-it'll happen again."
Jinn nodded as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "We will survive," he whispered. "All of us will."
Hanami froze for a short moment, before she turned to face him as Kagami, her eyes shifting to a maroon colour. "Of course we will!" she declared.
Before their conversation could continue, the alarm blared throughout the ship. "Level one battle stations!" Sandra called out over the intercom. "Zala faction has made their move, all pilots board your machines and prepare for launch!"
Jinn sighed. "I guess that's us then," he murmured. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," Kagami nodded with a determined expression, standing up and pulling up the zipper on her pilot suit all the way. "Let's make them pay for all the trouble they've caused us."
Jinn nodded as he pulled on his helmet, the other pilots stationed on the ship with them moving for the door as well. "Yeah," he said softly. "Ending it all."
Kagami paused for a moment when she pulled on her helmet, catching the reflection of her own not-exactly-red eyes in the glass. 'Hanami… it's finally happening, huh?'
Hanami was silent for several moments. 'So it is…' she sighed. 'Should we tell Jinn-kun?'
'In time. I don't know if we'll get the chance later on if he doesn't figure it out.'
'We're finally blending together… I didn't think I'd see this happening so fast,' Hanami thought from the recesses of their shared mind.
'It's all because of Jinn-kun,' Kagami smiled softly, sealing her helmet and looking at her partner. 'He's helped us so much…'
"Kagami?" Jinn asked, turning around. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing!" Kagami called out, as she rushed to follow him.
"Alright people, listen up!" the hangar echoed with Kira's commanding shout as she strode in, Ryu one step behind her. "Zala's making his move, and it's our job to break his fucking legs so that he doesn't move any more! Your orders are simple, fuck anyone who get's in our way, and destroy GENESIS! Any questions?"
"One rather big one," Shinn replied over a comm line from the Retribution. "You managed to figure out just what GENESIS actually is yet? Might give us a better idea what we'll need to do to destroy it."
"Nada, but that will actually be Jinn and Kagami's job," Kira explained. "Kagami will be guarding Jinn as he hacks into the battlenet of Zala's group and find GENESIS - once that's done, we'll hit it full force."
"Gotcha," Shinn replied. "Standing by and ready to launch."
"Alright, let's get to it!" Kira shouted as the assembled pilots and Commandos roared in approval. "Jinn, Kagami, you're launching first!"
"Understood," the pair responded as one as they boarded their mobile suits.
"Catapults One and Two are ready," Natarle announced over comms. "We will launch you three minutes prior to entering the battlefield."
"Give me the multipurpose backpack, loaded with a pair of beam gatlings on the two upper hardpoints, the energy leeching harpoon on the lower right and a missile launcher on the lower left! And get me the sniper rifle add-on to my beam multi-rifle too!" Kagami called out, quickly selecting the loadout for her versatile Gundam, even as she slid into the pilot seat and the cockpit hatch closed in front of her. The monitors came to life as a low hum permeated the cockpit indicating the activation of all onboard systems.
"Understood, equipment has been selected and prepared for attachment," Natarle affirmed. "Catapult Two is ready, we have also prepare combat equipment for the Viral should it come down for you to engage in battle, Catapult One is loaded and ready to attach the gear."
"I'll make sure the Viral's combat equipment won't be needed," Kagami grinned as the cockpit shook slightly and the computers registered the docking of the Exodus' backpack along with all its extra equipment.
"I'll be counting on you then," Jinn informed over SQUADCOMM. "I'll focus on hacking."
Kagami smirked and switched to a secure channel before saying, "Yeah. And then after we get back, we're going for another round of fun!"
Jinn was silent for a moment before he responded. "I would most assuredly enjoy that," he told her calmly, although to her ears she could easily pick up what was a tone of excitement for him.
"Alright then, Kagami Yukikaze, Exodus, preparing to lay down heavy fire support!" Kagami called out, pushing her throttle forward and bracing herself as her unit was flung out of the Archangel.
"Jinn Hisanaga, Viral, hacking into the enemy servers," Jinn announced before he launched from the Archangel. ahead of the pair they could see the lights of beam weapons flashing in the distance as the Zala Faction and the Loyalist Faction duked it out. "Setting course for designated coordinates, ETA, three minutes."
Outside of the PLANTs, ZAFT Third Fleet Flagship, Eternal
There was one constant about war, it was hell, it was quick, and it was brutal as fuck.
That was what Andrew Waltfeld had learned during his career as a soldier, MS Pilot, and leader.
He sat in the captain's chair of the newest addition to the ZAFT Fleet, the FFMH-Y101 Eternal, originally supposed to be a support vessel for the Freedom, Justice and Conviction before they were gifted to Fenrir, it now served as a Command and Control vessel for the 'Home Guard' Fleet of ZAFT, in addition to acting as the carrier ship to several GuAIZ Experimental Firearms types, all equipped with Nuclear Reactors and N-Jammer Cancellers.
"The Zala Faction forces are engaging the Second Fleet!" the sensor officer called out. "Numbers are even and the Second Fleet is holding, however the First Fleet is getting hammered hard!"
"Send five ships to support the Second Fleet, the Eternal will take the remaining ships to support the First Fleet," Andy announced calmly, holding a cane before him as he sat calmly.
While many assumed the man to be dead, he was far from it, but, it did cost him, his left arm from the elbow down had to be amputated with a prosthetic replacement along with several large scars across his body, but still, he considered himself lucky to be alive. "Have Aisha and the rest of the Desert Hound Squadron prepare for launch," he continued. "They are to focus on finding and destroying the enemy command vessel."
Aisha, had been a bit luckier than him, having lost her right foot and only a pinky finger from her left hand from the explosion, although she had been in Intensive Care for far longer than he had due to the amount of shrapnel she took in the explosion, cutting into her lungs, she had even died on the operating table for thirty seconds before they could revive her.
Even so, the woman hadn't lost any of her old bashfulness, and had insisted on returning to the battlefield alongside her lover. Practically nothing had changed between them - except they did have a renewed will to return alive from their battles to embrace each other. Only the fact that the fleet needed an experienced commander kept him from joining her in the mobile suit squadron.
"Understood!" The comms officer responded as he started relaying his orders.
Andy grimaced as he wished he was holding a cup of his coffee at the moment, but shoved the thought out of his head to focus on the task at hand and got up from his chair to move to the Tactical Map. "Display the fleet formations," he ordered, and soon enough, red and blue triangles, representing the enemy and allied fleets respectively.
The odd thing about the enemy formation, however, was that they were ignoring a certain sector of space, where the Fourth Fleet was located, almost as if they were avoiding something…
Andy frowned. His instincts were telling him something was wrong about that part of the battlefield, and he hadn't gotten by as a commander this long without reacting when they were practically screaming at him. "Mirage Colloid?" he mused.
"Sir?" one of the officers asked in confusion.
"Bring up the deployment of the enemy fleet," Andy called out, "Highlight areas that they seem to be avoiding."
"Yes, sir!" the officer nodded. On the screen, the markers indicating their friendly forces vanished and the enemy markers reset to before the fight had started, beginning a sped-up timelapse to show how they had deployed.
They had simply never started deploying along that flank in the first place… which was odd, because the Fourth Fleet was right at the very edge of the formation, and were in a very good position to catch the attackers in a pincer attack if they overextended. The First Fleet on the other side of the formation was engaging enemies in similar numbers as the Second Fleet in the middle. Unless they were hoping to break through the First and Second Fleets quickly, the deployment didn't quite make sense, especially when the Zala faction had a smaller army and would lose in a battle of attrition…
"This deployment doesn't make sense," Andy muttered to himself as he took another sip of his coffee. "What's to stop us from moving the Fourth Fleet into their exposed flank?"
The friendly markers reappeared on the map soon afterwards, allowing Andy to reassess the overall situation. He did a quick count of their numbers - his eyes widened when he realized that should the entire Fourth Fleet be wiped out, the Zala faction would gain the numerical advantage… But was it possible? A weapon that could wipe out an entire fleet at once? And if it could, and was fired, the effect on the whole ZAFT forces' morale would be devastating, definitely enough to cinch a victory…
"Fuck," Andy cursed. "Tell the Fourth Fleet to scatter!"
"S-sir?" the comms officer asked in confusion. "But… why? There's nothing targeting them."
"Have you ever seen Mirage Colloid in operation?" Andy fired back. "Tell them now! If I'm right, there's a superweapon aimed right at them this very moment!"
"Yes sir!" the officer replied and immediately relaying the orders to the Fourth Fleet, who showed their impressive discipline with immediate action.
"RADIATION AND ENERGY SURGE DETECTED!" the sensor officer cried out in a panic. "It's off the charts, and heading directly for the Fourth Fleet!"
Moments later, an incredibly wide wave of energy lanced across space off to their side. The hulls of the ships caught in the wave actually… bubbled outwards initially, until whatever it was that hit them got to their ammunition and fuel and they vanished in giant fireballs. The energy only just barely missed the PLANTs behind them…
The bridge of the Eternal was dead silent as the destruction unfolded before them, even as a new contact appear on screen, forming near Jachin Due, a massive satellite looking device with a single pointed mirror panel floating before it, quite noticeably warped and distorted from the blast. It was slowly phasing back into the visual spectrum, a telltale sign of the usage of Mirage Colloid technology.
"Casualty report," Andy broke the silence first.
"The… almost all of Fourth Fleet has been destroyed," the Sensor officer informed shakily. "Only the Denarius, Achilles, and the Vespa are functioning, and that is barely so, I am getting no response on comm signals."
"I… want that thing destroyed before it can get off another shot!" Andy growled. "Launch all remaining mobile suit squadrons! Even the reserves! We can't afford to let it stay intact long enough to charge up again! Have the rest of the Third Fleet open up a path for us, we're taking the Eternal right towards it!"
"Understood!" the comms officer replied, before pausing for a minute. "Sir, we're being hailed by the Fenrir Flagship Archangel!"
"Well, some help certainly would be appreciated," Andy let a small smile show on his face. "Put it on the screen!"
"ZAFT Flagship Eternal, this is Murrue Ramius of the Archangel, can you read me?" the video line opened to show the main bridge of the white ship.
"Loud and clear, Captain Ramius," Andy nodded. "I do hope Fenrir isn't going to chew my other hand off? You guys have already claimed one of mine, like in the myth," he said jokingly.
Ramius blinked in surprise. "Andrew Waltfeld?" she questioned. "We thought you were dead…"
"I thought so too, but it seems I'm not quite ready to join my other fallen comrades yet," Andy chuckled, before turning serious. "But this is hardly the time to joke around. We're going to need help reaching that thing before it fires again, and the Archangel is the only other ship in the vicinity that can keep up with the Eternal."
Ramius quirked her lip. "No… we're not," she informed. "I take it you will be attacking GENESIS then?"
"What do you know about GENESIS?" Andy instantly cottoned on to the fact that they had information on the superweapon.
"Not as much as we wish to," Ramius admitted. "We're still trying to find information on it through Zala's Battlenet, but… so far nothing."
"Well, regardless, we need to destroy GENESIS before it fires again. There's also a very good chance Zala is in or near that thing. If we neutralize him, cut off the chain of command, we should be able to stop the fight," Andy sighed, looking at another screen showing a close-up of the GENESIS.
"We can send in commandos, but we need to disable Jachin Due's outer defenses first, or any shuttle we send over will be shot down," Ramius pointed out. "Our second Ship, the Retribution, can take care of that."
"The Retribution?" Andy blinked. "The one you had under construction in our shipyards? You guys really did a good job keeping all information on it from leaking out."
Ramius chuckled in response. "And for good reason, as Zala is about to find out," she informed. "It's about to flank the enemy fleet to support your Second Fleet."
"That's going to be a damn lot of help," Andy grinned. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but where are the two kids that chewed off my arm the last time around? Hanami and Jinn?"
"Jinn is hacking into Zala's battlenet while Hanami is guarding them, they are away from the front lines for the moment," Ramius informed. "When Jinn is successful we'll hear from them."
"Just let them know I don't hold the loss of my arm against them, and that I'd be happy to go for kebabs with them again," Andy grinned.
Ramius nodded. "I'll be sure to pass it along," she informed. "What are our offensive options outside of the Archangel, Retribution, and Eternal?"
"Just us and whatever mobile suits we can launch ourselves," Andy sighed, knowing the odds were stacked against them. "Skill-wise our pilots can easily beat the Zala faction's, especially with Le Creuset in the grave already. I'm only worried about what else Zala has up his sleeve that he's not showing yet."
Earth, ORB Representative Council
"Civil war," Uzumi said calmly, mulling the word as he and the rest of the representatives looked over the information before them. "Both factions are now in civil war, do we have word on how the battles are progressing?"
"There are mercenary groups working to defend the PLANTs and Washington, neither the Zala loyalists or LOGOS seem to be making much headway in their respective assaults," one of the aides reported. "However, Zala appears to have deployed a superweapon, and it's nuclear if the readings are anything to go by."
"Then there's the mobile armor LOGOS has deployed, while the EA's and Terminals combined forces have slowed it down… that's all they've managed to do, slow it," another added in.
"This…" words failed Uzumi as he rubbed his eyes with a palms of his hands before standing and moving to a window to look out over the ORB mainland. "We have always upheld our words to never interfere with another country, nor to allow ourselves to be interfered with," he started, keeping his face towards the window. "But let me ask you this, is there a time when we must take up arms and aid our fellow governments when a greater evil appears before us all?"
The other representatives started murmuring amongst each other as they stared at the screens and debated their options. "Representative Athha, what you are proposing will forever tar ORB's reputation as a non-partisan country," someone said, before adding, "But… I suppose we must also consider that both of the extremist factions may very well turn their arms upon us should they assume control…"
"ORB is a nation that shelters both Naturals and Coordinators after all," another representative nodded in agreement. "That very fact will definitely draw the ire of both the Zala faction and LOGOS."
"This will be my decision, and should, when all is said and done, the public wish for me to step down, I will do so willingly," Uzumi declared, turning to the cabinet, his features firm. "ORB is declaring war on the LOGOS and Zala factions."
"We are declaring war on terrorists, not other countries, Representative Athha," another representative let out a small smile. "I do not believe the public will hold that against you."
"I must agree on that. LOGOS and the Zala faction are, at this point, terrorists, and do not represent their nations," yet another agreed. "ORB may not be able to declare war on other nations, but we can declare war on terrorists."
Uzumi closed his eyes, nodding his thankfulness at their support for him before turning to one individual in particular. "Rondo Mina Sahaku," he announced, drawing the black haired noble looking woman's attention to him. "I know of your hidden forces and… unstated projects," he informed sternly, his face grave. "And I am willing to… overlook your transgressions this once, so long as they are brought into ORB military and deployed against Zala's forces near the PLANTs and assist in the destruction of Zala's superweapon, do you understand?"
"Very well, Representative Athha," the woman showed no real surprise at being outed just like that - she had suspected that he had known about everything, after all. "The Sahaku family will abide by your orders."
Uzumi nodded before turning to the Admiral of ORB's Earth based fleets, Admiral Kazuya Todaka. "You are to take as many fleets as you can without leaving ORB vulnerable and strike at the LOGOS forces attacking Washington, deploy every M1 Astray we can in support," he commanded, garnering a salute from Admiral. "Are there any questions?"
"No, sir!" the Admiral saluted, forcing himself not to smile at the direction ORB was taking in the war.
Uzumi nodded. "I expect you both to be en route to enemy positions within two hours," he announced to the pair. "Morgenroete and the Military's stocks are open completely to the both of you to help speed up any preparations you need to make, that is all."
"With your blessing, Representative Athha, I will launch into space aboard the Kusanagi's command module," Mina spoke as she rose from her seat. "I will transfer my flag to the Izumo upon reaching orbit, but I will need the firepower of the Kusanagi as well."
Uzumi nodded. "Very well, I will notify the crew of the change of command," he informed. "Is there any other matter for this Cabinet to discuss?"
The other representatives discussed among themselves for a few moments, before shaking their heads as one.
"Very well, then I call this meeting to a close," Uzumi announced. "If you will excuse me, I need to address the public about our decision."
Jachin Due, Prototype Mobile Suit Hangar
The expression on one Patrick Zala's face could be perfectly described in one word, murderous.
First, the commander of Siegel's fleets somehow managed to figure out what his plan was and managed to save a few ships, the damage was acceptable, but the morale blow was softened by the soldier's belief in their commander's seemingly omnipotence.
Secondly was the Mercenary crew that his son had joined, they tore into the flank of his forces with the new ship that had been built with the three mobile suits that Clyne just handed over to them.
But… not all was lost. "Do you understand your mission?" he growled out to the young blond haired man before him, as a clone of a clone, Ray Za Burrel may not be have been the optimal choice for the mobile suit - that distinction belonged to Rau le Creuset - but he was an acceptable substitute for the time being until he could cultivate a proper pilot.
"Yes, I am to take the ZGMF-X13A Providence with the support of the ZGMF-X11A Regenerate and ZGMF-X12A Testament mobile suits and eliminate all Fenrir operatives while capturing the special interest units," the clone responded dutifully. "I will not fail you in this."
"Hey boss man! Ya sure ya wanna be givin' us these two units just like this?" a Caucasian-looking man with spiky orange hair spoke up cheerfully, his hands in his pockets in a rather laid-back pose.
"I don't see how you get by disrespecting each and every single one of your clients like that…" a calmer-looking guy with Asian features, black crew cut hair and glasses sighed.
"Considering that your opponent is to be Fenrir, it is best to err on the side of caution," Patrick informed. "Capture one of the Units of Interest, and maybe I'll consider allowing you to use one occasionally."
"Well, wha's stoppin' us from just leaving with the Regenerate and Testament?" Orange Hair grinned cheekily. "Those two prototypes are priceless at this point in time - I mean, Neutron Jammer cancelling tech?"
"How about a remote detonation device tied to a 200 mile radius to Jachin Due?" Patrick countered with a hard glare. "Tampering with it will also trigger it."
"Tch, killjoy," the merc grumbled. "Fine, fine, I was just messin' with ya anyway. That kinda shit would ruin mah rep."
"Friedrich Gotthard, your reputation is tarred enough with your lack of professionalism," the other mercenary cynically pointed out.
"And yeh, Bunyan Samson, could be a lot less of a stick in the mud," Friedrich countered right back. "I can't even get yeh damned name right half the time!"
"It's Banyat Sangsorn, you imbecile," the Asian shot back with a tick mark forming on his forehead.
"Enough," Patrick commanded. "I hired you because you are the best mobile suit pilots for hire, so do your job, understood?"
"Tha's high praise coming from THE Patrick Zala!" Freidrich grinned. "Well, I do 'ave a reputation to take care of. Offin' the Black Dragon and the Valkyrie should give me a nice big boost to it!"
"I agree with the imbecile, for once," Banyat nodded, adjusting his glasses as he turned to look up at the Testament. "Let's get this over with."
Rey nodded to Patrick once before moving on to the Providence and began preparations for launch.
Battlefield, Archangel
"Is everyone ready for launch?" Ryu asked as he checked over the upgraded systems of the Vidar, ensuring its Assault Armament was in good condition, the equipment added on was a large, clip fed, Mega Compressed Particle Cannon loaded onto the right shoulder along with a shield mounted on the left shoulder, the shield itself had a six barreled Beam Chaingun mounted on it with several clips for the cannon resting on the underside.
"Ready to go over here," Kira replied from her improved unit, now dubbed the Valkyrie Zero due to the Eezo it was now loaded with.
"I'm ready," Victor confirmed within the upgraded Thor, now featuring a pair of Sword/Rifles that Terminal was beginning to roll out, worked on to Fenrir standards of course, giving the unit more ranged options.
"All set," Tolle announced from the Duel.
"I'm alright… I think," Fubuki muttered from the Ariete's cockpit, the machine itself mounting a large missile pod and a modified Agni on its back hardpoints, as well as a full set of three of its signature Atlas multi-mode guns, two in the shoulder hangers and one handheld. The machine was so bulky that it couldn't be launched upright due to the size restrictions of the Archangel's catapult, and had to be launched face-down instead.
"All systems are green," Yzak responded as he checked over his customized Dagger, now mounting additional armor, with a shoulder mounted railgun and missile missiles. "Looks like the upgrades are fully integrated, nicely done Dearka."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Dearka shouted in return, his own Dagger customized with a grand total of four highly modified Agni cannons, two loaded on the back and another two on the waist, finally it carried one of the Ariete's extra Atlas Multi-Mode guns. "I did awesome work on this, so drop that shocked tone!"
"We're not saying you didn't," Nicol replied, his black, Mirage Colloid equipped Dagger now sporting one of the Blitz's 'Trikeros' offensive/defensive shields. "But you have to admit, before joining Fenrir you were pretty much the skirt-chasing slacker of our group."
"Hey, I was a red coat, I will have you know!" Dearka protested again plaintively. "You can't be one when you're a slacker!"
"You may have been a red coat, but you often did the least effort out of all of us," Athrun remarked from the Justice, over on the Retribution. "Then again, I guess you needed to focus that effort on keeping Yzak's hot head in line… whenever you weren't chasing skirts."
"Haha… you don't seem to do that much more," Fubuki let out a sheepish laugh, roughly knowing that he was part of the reason why.
A dark cloud seemed to emanate from Dearka's Dagger. "My life sucks…" he moaned piteously to himself.
"Maybe having a girlfriend would help completely wean you off skirt-chasing," Fubuki mused.
"Grk."
"Oh, this is amusing," Yzak muttered to himself with a wide grin.
"This is just making me so glad I have Mir," Tolle commented.
"Damn straight you should be!" Mir shouted from the Buster.
"Rub it in, why don't you?" Sai grumbled from the Aegis.
"Well… you guys still have time, right? It's not like you're too old to get started, right?" Fubuki commented.
"Grkrkrk,"
"I'm not too worried to be honest," Sai admitted with a chuckle.
"I mean, we have a lot of outliers in Fenrir, like Onee-chan and Jinn-nii, Shinn-san and Jade-san and Flay-san, but they're kind of exceptions to the norm, right?" Fubuki added. "Most people don't get girlfriends and boyfriends so early."
"Yeah, and most of them don't end up knocked up either," Sai agreed with a sigh. "Especially that last part."
Fubuki was silent for a moment as he stared out the screen at the hangar floor the Ariete was looking at. "Come to think of it, it's really weird that we're talking about romance like this before heading out," he muttered.
"It's fairly normal," Ryu assured. "Mostly to to relax themselves in order not to overstress themselves."
"Yeah," Kira added. "Pre-battle conversations can take all sorts of different tangents - and never the same one each time."
"I once got into an argument over Twinkies surviving nuclear winters," Victor reminisced with a chuckle.
"That's… quite random," Fubuki arched an eyebrow.
"Yup," Victor agreed. "So, do relationships sound a bit more normal in comparison?"
Fubuki nodded.
"Alright, we're closing in on Jachin Due," Ryu announced. "Here are your assignments, Fubuki, Dearka, Mir, you are to target the defenses on Jachin Due and ensure a clear shot for our shuttles to get to their hangars, Yzak, Sai, Tolle, I want you three running interception on any mobile suit that tries to take out the shuttles, Nicol, you and Shinn are to take out as many of Zala's ships as you can, Cagalli and Athrun, take out mobile suits, any questions?"
"Yeah, what will you, Kira, and Victor be doing?" Cagalli asked.
"Interception of elite units," Ryu answered grimly. "In other words, ace hunting. I'm positive Zala has some hiding away somewhere waiting to launch."
"I hope they don't come right after us… I don't have enough confidence in my piloting skills to take on an ace yet," Fubuki muttered.
"Don't worry about it, Fubuki-kun," Kira said assuringly. "That's going to be our job to make sure it doesn't happen."
"Alright boys and girls, launching time," Ryu announced as the Vidar and Valkyrie Zero were moved to the launch catapult. "This is Ryu Hisanaga, Vidar Assault Armament Type launching!"
"Kira Hisanaga, Valkyrie Zero," Kira announced as she made her final checks. "I'm heading out!"
As soon as the two mobile suit were launched out of the catapult, Victor's and Yzak's were loaded in. "Victor Amsel, Thor, smashing through the opposition!"
"Yzak Joule, Dagger Custom, cutting through!"
"Dearka Elsman, Dagger Custom, blasting into the fight!"
"Nicol Amalfi, Dagger Custom, slipping through their lines."
"Tolle Koenig, Duel, tearing them up!"
"F-Fubuki Yukikaze, Ariete, launching!"
"Sai Argyle, Aegis, I'm heading out now!"
"Miriallia Haw, Buster, I'll be taking aim!"
The Archangel's catapult hummed to life, catapulting each individual machine forward into space as they were loaded onto it. The catapult creaked a little under the weight of the Ariete, causing Fubuki to wince, but it launched smoothly in the end.
"Ariete, you need to go on a diet!" Natarle grumbled from the CIC. "That was barely within the catapult's weight limit!"
"S-Sorry!"
"Ah, it just means it's healthy is all," Ryu countered with a laugh. "Although I do think the Archangel can stand with some upgrades in the near future."
"I think the Ariete will be the only unit heavy enough to test the limits of the Archangel's catapults that we'll be launching…" Natarle sighed. "What was ORB thinking building that thing?"
"Bigger is better?" Dearka offered. "And they needed something to mount all those heavy guns onto."
"Guns of that size belong on ships," Natarle fired back. "And he's carrying three of them."
"And that makes him mobile artillery, and an unexpected one at that," Kira inputted smugly.
"I can't fire all three of them at once though, that'd bowl the whole frame over without proper stabilization," Fubuki pointed out. "Best I can do is alternate fire between the three guns…"
"That will work just fine, Fubuki-kun," Kira assured the male silverette, before an alert signalled in her cockpit. "Ryu, Victor, heads up, we have enemy units, inbound, three Gundam-Types!"
"Well, that was fast," Ryu said blandly as he spun his unit to face the oncoming enemy.
"Please keep them away from us…" Fubuki said nervously as the Ariete spun to face Jachin Due, its shoulder hangars rotating to point their Atlases forward, the Agni and missile pod also shifting on reinforced struts to point over its shoulders.
"That's the plan kiddo," Victor assured as he, Ryu and Kira all separated from the group.
"Remember your objectives, and keep your training in mind and you will survive," Ryu called out. "Now, go!"
"Right!" the others chorused as they sped off towards the space fortress.
"Well, this'll be interesting," Victor drawled as they waited for the enemy aces. "I wasn't aware Zala had any special aces on his side."
"He could have hired mercs for it," Kira pointed out. "Haumea knows there's enough assholes interested in wholesale slaughter out there."
"Keep on your toes, these things are bound to have some tricks," Ryu announced as the approaching units fired on them. "Scatter and engage!"
Several flashes of light came from the lead enemy Gundam type. Ryu quickly caught the glint of sunlight reflecting off several small metallic objects racing towards them. It didn't take long for him to figure out that they were DRAGOONs.
Ryu frowned as he deployed his own units in response, the Heat Fang units barreling forward as the longer ranged units opened fire forcing the enemy DRAGOON units to break off their offensive.
"Hey, hey, hey! It's dragon slayin' time!" one of the enemy pilots yelled out. The Gundam-type in the back of the formation boosted out to the front, revealing that… it was at least twice as big as a regular mobile suit upon getting closer to the group. It simply shrugged off anything being fired its way.
"Leave the large unit to me!" Ryu shouted out, separating from the pair as he fired his rifle at the massive mobile suit. "My cannon should be enough to damage it, or hold it off long enough for our ships to bombard it."
"A pleasure to meet you, Valkyrie, Dragon, Warrior," a far more civilized-sounding Asian tone came through the comms as a normal-sized Gundam with a V-fin that seemed more like two horns than anything shot forward. "No hard feelings, this is simply a job that must be done."
"Hard feelings?" Victor drawled back as he charged the 'horned' Gundam. "What are those?"
"That makes things easier, doesn't it?" the man replied as the horned Gundam continued its rush, drawing a very familiar-looking anti-ship sword from a holder on its back with its right hand… "I'm Banyat Sangsorn, the Gentleman of the Battlefield. And this is the Testament Gundam."
"The Gentleman, huh?" Victor drawled. "Well, looks like you may be on your last battlefield, after all, this Gundam of mine is a Fenrir Custom!"
"We'll see whose last battlefield this is," Banyat reached up to adjust his glasses, pausing when he remembered he wasn't wearing them in the cockpit. He sighed as he raised the beam rifle in the Testament's left hand and opened fire on the Thor.
Victor grinned within his mobile suit as he hit the impulse thrusters to his Gundam, launching himself forward at high-speeds, speeds that continued even after the the thrusters cut out, much to the thanks of zero-gravity, allowing him to close in on the Testament with alarming speed.
As soon as he judged the range to be close enough, making sure to factor in his current velocity, he grabbed his unit's anti-ship heat sword and brought it down upon the Testament with brutal force.
The Testament swung its own anti-ship sword, clashing it with the Thor's own. Sparks flew as the two swords grinded against each other, before they broke off from each other. A very familiar gun swung under the former's left shoulder and fired a powerful beam of energy towards Victor at damn near point blank range.
Victor's pupils dilated slightly as adrenaline coursed through his body, upping his reaction time and allowing him to wrench his control stick to the side barely having enough time to dodge the blast of energy. 'This is… like Mu's customized Patriot pack!' Victor thought to himself, even as the Thor continued to spin from the dodge, launching another blow at the Testament.
The Testament simply put its anti-ship sword in the path of Victor's attack, even while raising its beam rifle and continuing to fire.
Victor dodged again, his origin as a super soldier allowing him far superior reflexes than a normal man, and his current unit allowing him to make full use of said reflexes. Hitting the impulse thrusters again, Victor circled the Testament as he threw several of his heat daggers at the ZAFT Gundam, several plans and scenarios running through his head.
Banyat knocked the daggers aside with almost pinpoint precision using his sword without pause, and dove in towards Victor again, this time putting the beam rifle on his back in favour of a beam saber for a dual sword style. "Trying to catch a breath?"
Victor smirked coldly as he put away his own anti-ship sword and pulled out the two heat katana's to match the Testament's weapons. The two units clashed, with the Thor's katana shockingly holding it's own against the Testament's anti-ship sword, the mobile suit not even seemingly struggling to hold the heavy sword back.
"Speed is not all you have I see!" Banyat growled, the gatling gun on the Testament's right shoulder beginning to spin up.
Victor grinned as the Thor's eyes flashed. "That ain't all it's got!" he declared viciously as with a burst of strength, augmented by a thruster blast from the impulse thrusters, he threw the Testament off balance, the gatling gun's shells spraying off into the distance as Victor capitalized on the moment to stab towards the Testament's cockpit.
A sudden burst of mobility had the Testament spinning around, revealing the three Striker Packs docked to its back for a moment before its own thrusters fired, launching it out of harm's way. It was indeed almost the same as Mu's customized Patriot pack, an amalgamation of the Aile, Sword and Launcher packs originally devised for the Strike.
Victor grinned as he felt his blood begin to boil. "Finally," he said, his voice almost hissing in nature. "An actual challenge it seems, you'd best not disappoint me!" he shouted gleefully, his very nature seemingly changed as he charged at the Testament with a quick burst of speed bringing him close to the Testament as he swung the two katana's at the unit.
"I aim to please, and go beyond!" Banyat met the attack with a wide slash from his anti-ship sword, before making a slash in the opposite direction with his beam saber.
Victor blocked the attack using a rather… unorthodox method, he dropped one of his katana's and caught the beam saber. "Anti-beam coated hands!" Victor roared as the Thor reared its head back before slamming it forward against the Testament. "That rookie trick won't work on me!"
"That coating doesn't last forever, I hope you remember!" Banyat didn't let go of the beam saber, and instead cranked the power up to max, overloading it before releasing it and breaking off.
Victor simply laughed in response as he brought the now empty hand up and punched the Testament away. "Who cares if I lose a hand or two?" he asked rhetorically. "So long as I can rip you to shreds!"
"Fighting like a barbarian? Not exactly my style," Banyat countered, following the momentum from the punch and firing his thrusters to gain some distance while bringing out the Agni and his beam rifle to bear.
He was forced to abandon the plan to open fire as he was forced to dodge out of the way of a trio of the Thor's throwing knives as the quick unit came barreling towards him in close quarters once again. "You really think I'm going to let you keep your distance from me?" Victor asked as he slashed at the Testament.
"Gentleman versus barbarian! It seems both of us are going to be enjoying this fight!" Banyat grinned, drawing his sword once again.
Off to the side, the giant was engaging Ryu's Vidar and doing quite a good job of it despite the latter's advantage in mobility. At range, the former was simply spraying powerful beams from what was apparently a hyper impulse beam cannon in a seemingly haphazard pattern. It didn't seem like the gun had any issues with power consumption or heat buildup…
Ryu's eyes narrowed as he moved around another blast. "You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with aiming skills like that," he said with complete and utter honesty. "Seriously, go do some target practice then come back and fight me seriously."
"Heheh, but it's just so excitin' bein' able to spam beams like this!" the pilot of the giant mobile suit roared in laughter. "Most other suits can't handle this kind of power consumption, but this Regenerate breezes through it!"
"Well, unfortunately for you, not only can I match it, I can actually aim!" Ryu announced as the cannon on his shoulder unfolded, allowing the hand of the arm it was mounted onto grip the handle for aiming before launching a massive blast directly at the Regenerate.
"Don't think I can't aim either!" the Regenerate's pilot fired a beam to meet Ryu's own with pinpoint accuracy. The two beams met in the center and built up a sphere of energy that exploded a moment later, sending the Vidar flying away while the much heavier Regenerate stayed its ground. "Hahahaha! This is fun!"
Ryu quickly recovered his unit and faced off against the massive mobile suit. 'Doesn't help that I only have a limited number of shots for the mega compressed particle cannon,' he thought to himself as he analyzed the situation, reloading the cannon while he was at it. 'Going to have to conserve the shots until I can be sure I will hit.'
Ryu narrowed his eyes as he took hold of his beam sniper rifle and began moving again, taking extremely accurate pot shots despite his rapid movement and sudden course changes.
Most of the beams were either batted away by beam sabers that had suddenly flared to life from the Regenerate's hands and feet, or just plain ignored and allowed to splash against its armour uselessly. "Oh, by the way, y'all are up against Friedrich Gotthard, the Joker!" its pilot grinned, aiming ahead of the Vidar and firing off several beams.
Ryu simply remained silent as he moved around the beams as his DRAGOON units were launched from his backpack and darted towards the massive MS, continuing to take potshots towards the unit's joints as the small remote weapons closed in.
"I know about tha' trick thanks to our ZAFT buddy! He uses the same shit!" Friedrich fired several beams at the DRAGOONs, usually coming uncomfortably close to hitting them with the backwash from his powerful beams alone.
The ranged DRAGOONs began to fire in response to the detection, beams lancing out from several directions at once, acting as a distraction for the Heat DRAGOONs to close in, their pointed tips superheated in anticipation to penetrate the armor of the MS.
Instead, they just bounced off the Regenerate's armour with no effect at all. "Phase Shift Armour, suckah!" Friedrich taunted, completely ignoring the Heat DRAGOONs as he resumed firing on the ranged ones.
Ryu frowned as he manipulated the DRAGOONs into random flight patterns to prevent them from getting shot down as he considered his options. 'Armor's too strong for a straight on heat DRAGOON… accurate enough to stop my cannon…' he sighed at the mental list. 'Going to have to get in close then it looks like.'
"Hahahaha! This is da shit!" his opponent cackled. Suddenly his rifle began spewing out smaller, less powerful beams, but at an even faster rate than before. "How d'ya like these!?"
Ryu let out tsking sound as he began to weave around the beams at a fast rate before returning fire with the beam gatling cannon as he tried to move in closer to the giant mobile suit.
"Hey, didja know I had an interesting feature added to dis mobile suit!?" Friedrich grinned as the Regenerate's legs disconnected from its body and floated away, the feet turning into hands as thrusters blared to life from what had used to be the hip joint and the limbs launched themselves towards the Vidar. "ROCKET PUNCH, SUCKAH! Or is it ROCKET KIIIIICK!? Ah, whatever! ROCKET PUNCHKICK!"
Ryu scowled in annoyance as he moved around the limbs as he moved to close the distance between himself and the Regenerate, sending the two Cannon DRAGOONs to attack the detached limbs in an attempt to destroy them. "You talk too much," he said in irritation.
"Hahahaha! It's one of mah appealin' character traits!" the boisterous pilot shouted as the detached limbs dove under the beams on their way back to the Regenerate.
Ryu banked out of the way of several beam blasts as he kept trying to close the distance between himself and the massive mobile armor. "This is getting ridiculous," he muttered to himself. "It really shouldn't be this hard to close the distance with him…"
The Regenerate returned to beam spamming with its massive rifle, quite obviously unhindered by the power requirements. Almost as soon as the legs docked with it again, they launched back off, this time with the hands opened and the beam saber emitters at full power.
Ryu narrowed his eyes. "I guess I just gotta do the crazy thing," he told himself, shaking his eyes before focusing. "Here it goes!"
Instead of jerking off to the side or around the two limbs, Ryu instead dived right between them, making a direct beeline towards the Regenerate Gundam as he pushed all the power he could into the thrusters.
"Oh no, ya don't!" Friedrich roared as all of a sudden, an extra two limbs flew out of nowhere with their beam sabers activated to cut Ryu off.
Ryu didn't pause or flinch in the slightest as he slipped past the two arms, the beam sabers leaving scorch marks as he passed by them, continuing his beeline for the oversized Gundam. 'Going to have to time this right…'
Friedrich growled and activated the beam saber in the hand that wasn't holding his rifle, and flew forward at Ryu. "I like gettin' close and personal too!"
Ryu didn't reply as he was completely focused on his task, hurdling towards the large Gundam in a seemingly suicide charge. 'Now!' he commanded himself as he fired his afterburners for added thrust… directly to the side as he brought his cannon to bear on the massive mobile suit.
"Wha-" Friedrich's eyes widened.
The beam of energy crossed the negligible distance between the two mobile suits in an instant, smashing against the larger mobile suit's armour and an explosion blossomed to life. Both mobile suits were sent flying from the point-blank attack, although Ryu was prepared for it and quickly rolled back into a ready position. The Regenerate didn't come out unscathed - ground zero of the hit had torn away a large chunk of armour to reveal the frame inside.
"That… hurt," Friedrich groaned.
"That's the point," Ryu grunted, quickly assessing the damage done to the Vidar from the explosion - mostly negligible, save for a couple of damaged stabilizers.
"Well, at least yeh're makin' it fun fer me!" Friedrich recovered quickly, turning the Regenerate upright relative to the Vidar and pointing his rifle at his opponent. "Not a lotta people can do tha'!"
Ryu narrowed his eyes as he gripped his control stick, considering his options. 'There is a weak point now…' he thought to himself, recalling his DRAGOON units back to the charging stations as he studied his opponents. 'It's going to take some careful timing to exploit it.'
Resolving himself Ryu unslung the sniper rifle resting on his unit before taking aim. "Huzzah for you." he said dryly. "Sit real still if you want fun, I'm sure hell will be plenty fun for you."
"Eh, not where I'm plannin' ta bite tha space dust," the Joker grinned. "I plan on livin' through this!"
Jachin Due Battlelines
Fubuki gritted his teeth in the Ariete's cockpit as he trained his guns on the massive space fortress, mentally wondering how many shots it would take to penetrate the thick asteroid base. Considering it had been built to withstand anything and everything short of a nuclear strike, he didn't doubt that his Ariete wouldn't be able to do it alone. Not that he was - he had a whole team with him.
"Firing!" he squeezed the trigger.
Three concentrated red and white beams tore into the rock layer of the asteroid fortress from his triple Atlas rifles in quick succession, leaving giant craters behind but not much more than that.
"Get clear!" Dearka shouted, lining up shots of his own with all four Agni's and the borrowed rifle as rocket anchors held him steady on a Nazca-class. "Firing!"
Four blue and red - and one red and white - beams rocketed out towards the asteroid, carving chunks out of the rocky exterior as Dearka sustained the blast for several seconds before it was forcibly cut off due to a heating overload, the attached cooling system. "Cover me! One minute!" Dearka shouted as his was forced into a cooldown state.
"Right!" Mir shifted her own cannons to cover Dearka, shooting down a GINN that was getting uncomfortably close to the trio with a high-powered shotgun blast.
"Careful with the power consumption and overheating, Dearka-kun," Fubuki advised. "You shouldn't leave yourself too vulnerable like that."
"Don't worry about me!" Dearka called out, steam ejecting from the cannons. "My Dagger has got a lot of power under the trunk."
Fubuki swung a rifle to point behind Dearka and tore a chunk out of a GINN that had tried to sneak up on him. "It's not helping when you're down and vulnerable," he pointed out as his other cannons continued firing on Jachin Due without any apparent disruptions in power supply or cooling.
"You should watch your own ammo and power supply." Yzak pointed out as he duelled with a pair of GiNNs. "Don't fire so recklessly."
"What ammo?" Fubuki asked blankly. "I'm firing in beam cannon mode, and the new reactor Ryu-san fitted in the Ariete has no problem keeping up with the drain even when I'm firing all my cannons repeatedly while drawing power from it."
"Damn, I need one of those," Nicol commented as several GiNNs were cut apart by seemingly nothing before his black colored Dagger faded into view. "It gets hard maintaining Mirage Colloid with a limited power supply. "
"There's so much power I'm not even sure what to do with all of it to be honest…" Fubuki scratched his head. "It'd easily overload even my Atlas rifles."
"We may need to do that," Yzak grunted before realizing something. "Wait… Fubuki, can you link your reactor to Dearka's unit?"
"If you can find a cable, sure," Fubuki nodded, having had the same idea.
"I've got a couple attached to my Dagger," Dearka informed, his unit reaching around to pull one out. "Let's do this."
The Ariete let go of one of its rifles and took the cable, plugging it into a socket on its back before it took the rifle back up. "Here we go…" Fubuki opened up the OS and began sending power over to Dearka's Dagger.
"Right, I'm going to overclock the cooling system," Dearka informed as he took aim. "Let's hope this doesn't cause a feedback explosion."
"Don't explode next to me, please," Fubuki pleaded as he resumed firing.
"I would like it less than you would," Dearka commented as he took aim. "I'm going to try and shoot straight into it's core, cover me!"
"Not going to work with how much armour I'm sensing around it," Fubuki pointed out. "Best way to blow it up would probably be from the inside."
Dearka let out a tsking sound as he adjusted his aim. "Nicol, get ready, I'll open a hole for you!"
"Understood!" Nicol confirmed as he prepared to infiltrate the base.
"Firing all Agni's!" Dearka announced as he pulled the trigger, firing all of his cannons at once.
The Ariete reached out with an arm and caught Dearka's Dagger as the recoil hit it and overwhelmed its thrusters.
"Damn, talk about kickback!" the blonde playboy cursed as he struggled to maintain his footing. "Overheating kicking in now!"
Nicol vanished as the beams cut off, heading into Jachin Due to complete his mission.
"That's why I stagger my fire…" Fubuki muttered. "Even the Ariete's frame can't handle the recoil from three Atlas rifles firing at once."
"Yeah, these are Agni's," Dearka retorted. "Besides needed to make a clearing for Nicol."
"My rifles pack as much punch as the Agni, you know…" Fubuki muttered as he turned his guns on several of the gun batteries on the space fortress itself. "I think we need to defang them a bit more."
"Agreed," Dearka commented as he brought up another addition he had made to his unit, the multi-targeting system. "Alright, let's see how well a sustained barrage works…"
"Just don't hit us!" Sai called out as the Aegis streaked past in its mobile armour mode. "Or the shuttles behind us!"
"Yeah, I don't think we're planning on that," Yzak informed dryly. "Clear a path for them, once Nicole takes out the generator Jachin Due will be vulnerable!"
"You think the others are doing okay?" Fubuki frowned as he checked the Ariete's sensor readout and picked up several dancing dots where he knew their bosses were fighting.
"Well, Kagami and Jinn aren't fighting," Mir commented as she scanned the area. "Cagalli, Shinn and Athrun will be fine, as will the bosses."
"I'm still worried about Hanami-nee," Fubuki frowned.
"She'll be fine," Dearka assured. "We've reinforced her cockpit several times over during the rebuild."
"I guess, but I'm still worried," the silver-haired trap admitted.
"We'll meet up with them soon enough," Tolle assured, shooting down a stray missile. "If all is going according to plan, then they should be finishing their part soon."
With Jinn and Hanami/Kagami
"Oooh, we've got a feisty one here!" Kagami giggled as she dove under a GINN's attempted melee rush. Her backpack gatlings tore into it furiously, making sure the pilot wouldn't be trying anything like that again. She then snapped off a series of beams at some more approaching GINNs to scatter them, before opening up with her missile launcher.
"Five minutes remaining," Jinn announced as the Viral drifted through space, cloaked by the Mirage Colloid. "I'm almost through to the secured server."
"Could you make it three minutes please, dear?" Kagami smiled at her lover as she took several better-aimed shots at another GINN, scoring a hit on its thrusters and causing it to tumble off into space before being rescued by its squadmate. "I don't quite appreciate these bumbling amateurs trying to turn me into a beehive."
"I am doing my best, however, whoever Zala got to do his security for the server is actually pretty good," Jinn admitted reluctantly. "It's difficult to break through… but not impossible."
"Well, not impossible means you can get it done fast, right?" Kagami encouraged, kicking another GINN in the face when it tried to close in range for a slash.
"I am getting it done fast," Jinn countered dryly. "It would take most people ten more minutes."
"Make it three minutes and I'll happily let you try and fuck me in the butt," Kagami smirked.
'KAGAMI!' came the indignant yell from the passenger in her mind.
"Are… are you trying to bribe me?" Jinn asked incredulously.
"Maaaybe," Kagami sang, narrowly dodging out of the way of a salvo of shells before spraying her beam gatling at the perp that had tried to kill her, shooting out its rifle. "Hey, there's something in it for both of us."
"Something tells me it would have happened even if you weren't trying to bribe me," Jinn deadpanned. "Oh, and I'm in."
"See, it worked!" Kagami crowed, boosting towards a GINN and kneeing it right in the groin, causing all nearby male pilots to cringe sympathetically before she let go of her beam rifle to draw her beam saber. One slash later, the GINN was missing the lower half of its body and retreating in a hurry.
"Actually, my program completed its runtime while we were having our conversation," Jinn rebutted as he turned his attention away from the hacking, setting a program to sort through and download the data, and started using the Viral's beam submachine gun while under cloak.. "But I will be holding you to your word."
"So you tricked me!" Kagami squawked as she retrieved her rifle and shot off another approaching GINN's arms and legs. "Oh well, nothing lost besides a bit of my pride anyway."
Jinn hummed in response, watching Kagami carefully. "You have been avoiding killing for a while now," he remarked. "Any particular reason why?"
"Eh? Have I?" Kagami blinked, before she glanced over the battlefield and saw her handiwork - several crippled GINNs escaping the battlefield missing various limbs. In comparison there weren't as many completely destroyed wrecks as she was used to. "I have… I wonder why…?"
"It may be in response to you near death experience," Jinn mused. "But, we don't need to worry about it right now, I have access to GENESIS."
'Kagami… I think it's because of our merging…' Hanami thought. 'That's more my style…'
Kagami sucked in a breath as she watched the GINNs retreat. On instinct, she aimed her beam gatlings backwards and disabled yet another one by literally disarming it. "J-Jinn-koi, I think we owe you a bit of an explanation," she said somewhat shakily, taking advantage of the lull in combat as all remaining GINNs in their area fell back.
The Viral faded into view as Jinn deactivated the Mirage Colloid. "What's wrong, Kagami-chan?" he voice filled with concern for her.
Kagami pulled off her helmet, revealing her almost purple eyes. She then looked directly at the cockpit camera. "We're m-merging," she said nervously. "It's been happening gradually over the past few days…"
"I… I don't know what to say," Jinn replied, shell shocked as he slumped back into his seat, removing his own helmet. "I… I don't want to lose either of you…"
This time, when Hanami took over, there was barely a change in demeanor or pose. Only Jinn could tell as the shyer personality took over. "Don't worry, Jinn-koi…" Hanami whispered. "You won't lose either of us. You'll have both of us, always."
"I'm… I… it just feels… so heavy," Jinn whispered in return, his eyes watering slightly. "I… I love both of you."
"We know, Jinn-koi," Hanami smiled softly. "Think of it this way, now you can make love to both of us at once instead of just one at a time."
Jinn reached out and placed his fingers in the screen, right where her lips were at. "How much longer?" he asked quietly.
Hanami was silent for a moment as she tried to estimate the time needed. "Within the day," she said. "If you want, we can probably hold it off until tonight."
"Please..." Jin requested pleadingly. "I… I want to be able to be with both of you at least once more before you're gone."
"Silly Jinn-koi, we won't be gone," Hanami giggled. "We'll just be together. A package deal. I'd still have Kagami's cheekiness and Hanami's gentleness. But alright, we'll hold it off until then."
"Thank you," Jinn said gratefully. "I want to be able to hold you while it happens…"
"This has to be the weirdest place for a sappy talk ever," Kagami took over with a cheeky grin. "Right in the middle of a battlefield."
"Well… we never have been a textbook definition of a 'normal' couple," Jinn returned, pulling his helmet back on. "Come on, we need to link up with the others and get ready to attack GENESIS."
"Right!" Kagami agreed as she put her helmet back on as well and headed over to join the Viral.
Washington, Secondary Defensive Line
"GYAHAHAHA!" A psychotic laugh boomed out of the external speakers of the massive mobile armor that was currently laying waste to the EA defenders. High powered blasts of energy vaporising tracks of land along with any unfortunate soul in its way. "THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH FUN!"
On the bridge of the Gungnir, Odin glared at the machine with a deep frown etched onto his face. "Have we managed to pick out a weak point at all?" he demanded severely, looking over to his staff.
"Sir, the only thing we can think of… is to charge it with melee weapons," his Lieutenant informed with a knowing look. "It's shields are too powerful for any ranged attack, even our Mega Rail Cannons can't break past its armor."
Odin closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Get Pilot Yamato on the line," he ordered, his voice deep with resignation.
"At once sir!" the comms officer confirmed.
A moment later, Takeshi asked, "What do you need, Boss?"
Odin looked over to the viewscreen that displayed Takeshi in his cockpit and glanced over to Linda. "Pilot Yamato, what I am about to say is not an order," he explained firmly. "You have a right to refuse this, the only foreseeable way we can see to defeating that… monster, is by attacking in melee range, behind its shield."
Takeshi grinned. "Meaning I need to weave through that thing's attacks and get close enough to get behind that shield, huh?" he asked. "Well, you know how I love a challenge - and this is one heck of a challenge!"
"Pilot Yamato, you do realize that this will include fighting your way past the defensive screen of mobile suits they have deployed right now?" Odin questioned.
"As I said, I love a challenge," Takeshi replied. "Don't think I've ever taken down so many forces in one go before… but hey, first time for everything!"
"LIKE HELL YOU ARE TAKESHI!" Yuna roared over the comm system. "You are not going out there half-cocked and dying!"
"It's the only option we've got, Yuna!" Takeshi replied. "Sure, if you guys were to give me some covering fire, I'd make it there easier, but either way, I still need to get there, and I'll take down anything that gets in my way!"
"I know that you fucking idiot, that's why Falcon Squad and any other operational mobile suit will clear the path for you!" Yuna shouted. "Next time before you go off half-cocked and ready to die, ASK FOR FUCKING HELP!"
Takeshi sighed. He was an Adrenaline Junkie - challenges like this were what he lived for. And only Linda seemed at least partially capable of understanding that. "Understood," he said. "Beginning my run now."
"Order all operation mobile suits to form up around the Tempest and shoot down anything that gets in their way!" Odin shouted to the command crew. "The Gungnir is to join the formation and blast any son of a bitch who dares to fly into our sights!"
"YESSIR!" the crew shouted in response as they leapt to carry out his orders.
In the cockpit of the Tempest, Takeshi sighed again as everything seemed to form up around him. Really, they weren't going to make this much of a challenge if they all gave him help. Regardless, he charged into the fray, his Sword/Rifle flipping into Sword mode as they approached the enemy formation.
"Takeshi, I know you like a challenge," Yuna started, forcing the commlink to open. "Think about this, if you die because of no support, who will protect Linda, who will protect your child?"
Takeshi realized she had a point, but a counter-point soon rose up in his mind. "And what if the enemy manage to get their regular forces through because everyone's focusing on helping me?" he asked. "I see your point, and appreciate the help, but the other fronts could use us there, too!
"Like it or not Takeshi, this is do or die!" Yuna argued in return, her mobile suit, the Ascalon Gundam, launching several of it's remote weapons to blast a trio of mobile suits.. "If we don't beat this thing here and now, it doesn't matter if the other lines hold!"
"Right," Takeshi replied, cleaving through an enemy machine that got in his path. "Still, that doesn't mean we ignore the other lines - if they don't hold, even beating this thing won't matter!"
"Then beat him quickly, Takeshi!" Yuna ordered as Falcon squad formed up closer around him as more and more of the allied forces either fell away or were shot down by the enemy. "That's an order!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" Takeshi ordered, opening the throttle more to increase his speed, slicing through any enemy machine that got in his way.
"Watch your back, Takeshi!" Yvon Terran, the pilot of the TXG-X102 Ymir, currently in its reversed winged mobile armor mode sweeping past, destroying an Aile '105' Dagger with its eight fire-linked 75mm GGI-XUI Triple Barrel 'Scorchers' Anti-Missile Vulcans.
Takeshi didn't really have anything to say in reply, as he kept hacking and slashing, occasionally turning around to slash at a machine trying to get the drop on him from behind, but always moving forward at high speed.
Four beams arced past over his shoulders, spearing four mobile suits in the cockpit. "I got your back," Renis Tennyson called out in a lazy drawl as he reloaded the XP-00281 'Recon' High Powered, Concentrated Beam Sniper for his TXG-104 Hunter. "So keep your eye on the prize kiddo."
"On it!" Takeshi replied, as he could see the behemoth getting closer…
"Taste my boom-stick!" Urvan Incon shouted as his mobile suit, the TXG-X105 Paladin fired its XP-00213 'Undine' Large Hyper Beam Cannon at the Proto-Destroy, although it only just bounced off its barrier. It did, however, get the behemoth turning towards him. "Yeah, c'mon, hit me with your best shot!"
Taking advantage of the distraction, Takeshi flew in low, throwing himself off to the side to evade several beams from a few Daggers. He jinked left, then right again and shot one out with his rifle before maxing out the thrusters to shoot up inches from the behemoth, roughly where he guessed its cockpit would be in its chest and raised his sword.
"Buzz off, you pest!" the pilot shouted - the maneuver hadn't gone unnoticed and he brought his remote hands' finger beam cannons to bear on the Paladin.
"Dammit!" Takeshi swore and cut power to his thrusters as the beam cannons fired, carving through the space his mobile suit had just vacated and hitting the behemoth's own chest. Its own armour was still nothing to laugh at, even without its Positron Reflector intercepting the hit, and all the beams did was scorch the surface black.
"Give up already, annoying bug!" the Proto-Destroy's pilot yelled, backing up to put some distance between him and Takeshi before locking onto the Tempest and launching missiles from the disc on its back. At the same time its remote hands reacquired their target and began launching beam after beam in the smaller mobile suit's direction.
"This guy's relentless!" Takeshi groaned out, lashing out with his sword and cutting a missile in half as it flew past him, before immediately shifting to rifle mode and intercepting another two while he bent backwards to narrowly dodge a beam aimed for his mobile suit's head. CIWS fire took down another three, but by then he had lost count of all the missiles flying at him and ended up taking one to the leg. "Oh crap!"
Seeing a chance, the Proto-Destroy converged all its beams on the Tempest again, forcing Takeshi to drop everything in favour of playing don't-get-hit-by-the-green-beams-of-death as he dove and jinked, trying to find an opening to return fire.
Right at that moment, the Paladin let loose another high-powered beam that scored a hit on one of the remote hands, knocking it off course.
"Thanks, Urvan!" Takeshi called out as he raced for the behemoth again, deciding to return the favour - he'd have to target a weak point in the armour to get through, and he needed to immobilize it somehow. The obvious choice… was the back of the exposed knee joint.
"Oh no you don't!" the Proto-Destroy's pilot responded with an awkward kick from the much larger machine, accompanied by more beams from the recovered remote hand that had taken the hit from the Paladin earlier to corral the more agile mobile suit into the kick.
Takeshi was barely fazed by the attack and simply flew over and around the beams, feinting for the still swinging leg before abruptly shifting to drive a beam saber into the joint of the other one still on the ground.
"Fuck!" The behemoth immediately brought its leg back down and shifted its weight over to it, while its remote arms pulled back and began covering its intact leg with more relentless beam fire, forcing Takeshi to back off and reevaluate his tactics.
"I don't have enough energy to keep this barrage up, Takeshi!" Urvan hollered from the Paladin as it continued to fire at the Proto-Destroy, flanking around in an attempt to get at its rear.
"I know! I'll end it soon!" Takeshi called back as the remote hands docked back with their parent gigantic mobile suit for a recharge. "Keep those flying hands of his busy!"
"I'm done over here, need a hand?" Renis drawled out as the Hunter lazily flew over, its sniper rifle shouldered.
Just as the remote hands detached again, the sniper saw his chance and a shot lanced out towards the exposed docking point on the arm only to get deflected by the Positron Deflector.
"Tch. I'll cover you from the flying hands then," Renis reloaded with an annoyed click of her tongue.
"Urvan, let's pincer this thing!" Takeshi quickly called out as he flew off to the Proto-Destroy's right side.
"On it!" Urvan replied, the Paladin shooting off to the other direction.
"I'll crush you like the insects you are!" the Proto-Destroy's pilot was clearly getting more than a little annoyed and frustrated as the remote hands clenched into fists and went flying off in pursuit of both mobile suits attempting to flank him.
"Oh cool, a double rocket punch," Renis rolled her eyes, casually levelled her rifle at the rocket punch headed for the Paladin and snapped off a shot right into the thruster port. "That barrier only covers the top and bottom of the hand, dumbass."
"This can't be happening!" the behemoth's pilot wailed as the disabled arm crashed into the ground and exploded.
Takeshi waited until the arm following him was close enough, before pointing his thrusters in the other direction to stop his forward momentum and shoot upwards, causing the remote hand to sail past him. Taking a leaf out of Renis' book, he aimed his rifle at the hand's thruster port and pulled the trigger. The resulting beam cored the hand, destroying it completely. "Now it's just the main body left!" he roared triumphantly as he turned to face the decapitated behemoth.
Urvan had completed his flanking maneuver in the meantime and was unloading beam after beam into its undamaged knee joint at near point-blank range. Within moments the Proto-Destroy was tipping over backwards perilously, its arms flailing as the pilot attempted to wrestle back control.
Takeshi flew in towards the other knee joint with his beam saber still stuck in it. Grabbing hold of it again, he yanked it out forcefully and began slashing with reckless abandon at the joint. That was the breaking point as the Proto-Destroy crashed onto the ground on its back, the Positron Deflector finally failing under all the mechanical stress as Renis' shots began impacting against its armour.
"You gonna finish him?" Renis asked Takeshi.
"Of course!" Takeshi burned his thrusters and flew high up into the air before brandishing his beam saber like a rapier together with his sword/rifle in sword mode, pointing both downwards right at the fallen giant.
"No!" the Proto-Destroy's pilot cried out.
"This is… the end for you!" Takeshi roared, thrusters burning at full power once again to send the Tempest hurtling downwards assisted by gravity, aiming for the behemoth's chest area. The pilot's shriek was cut off as both weapons jammed into the armour, a clean hit. Unfortunately the Tempest's arms simply weren't made to handle that kind of impact force head-on and shattered from the hit, causing the mobile suit to slam into the behemoth's armour and bounce off to land on the ground.
"Ow," Takeshi groaned after the impact. "OK, that wasn't the best of ideas…" He tried to get his machine moving, but with no arms and only one leg, the Tempest wasn't going anywhere on its own. "Umm… can someone give me a lift back to the Gungnir?"
"I think I can manage that," Yuna called out as a slightly damaged Ascalon drifted down to him. "Nice work, flyboy."
"Thanks," Takeshi groaned again, before wincing. "And let the medbay know I might have busted a rib in that impact."
"Alright, you just get better, we'll take care of the rest," Linda told him, not mentioning the massive amount of troops that had followed in the wake of the monster Mobile Armor.
"Thanks," Takeshi said, even as he looked over the readouts in his cockpit. Along with the loss of the machine's arms and a leg, the rest of the Tempest's frame was covered in microfractures, a clear sign that the frame had suffered plenty of stress. The remaining leg was in danger of shearing completely off. "You did good, Tempest," he said, patting the display in front of him. He was pretty sure that the Tempest was beyond economical repair, especially if something happened during transit - and as if that were a cue, a small shudder went through the cockpit as the remaining leg disappeared from the monitor. "Gonna have to talk to Aeolia later, see about figuring out a replacement machine."
"The old man will be annoyed, but, no one can argue with the results," Yuna assured as they came up to the Gungnir. "Stay out of trouble, alright?"
"I'll do my best," Takeshi replied.
"Secondary Eastern defenses have sustained critical damage, they're going to fall any second!" One of the soldiers shouted out to the President as he unloaded his rifle into an approaching wave of enemies, the number of soldiers that were killed during the battle was uncountable, so much so that some piles of bodies had even been shifted into makeshift cover to provide a defensive position for the living.
"All allied artillery is silent, we have no fire support!" Another shouted in a near panic.
"Have all forced pull back to the third defensive line!" Jason shouted out over the battle as he through a wounded soldier of his shoulder, the soldier keeping a firm grip on his gun to cover his back as drugs kept his awareness sharp. "Any ships still airborne as to hold position above the third line and provide aerial support."
A whistling sound was heard overhead a second before an artillery shell landed nearby, showering them with debris and shrapnel as it exploded.
"Sunnovabitch!" Jason cursed as his right leg gave out on him, a massive chunk of shrapnel sticking out of the joint, leading to even more curses.
"Station three, station three, respond!" The radio echoed to a dead operator whose mangled body was mercifully silent as the stomping of boots was heard.
"Looks like I die in the line of duty," Jason muttered to himself as he put his back against the concrete wall between him and the approaching soldiers.
Grunting, he managed to move himself into a better position to start shooting at the enemy, regretfully positioning the dead man he had been carrying into a sort of sandbag for himself as he took aim down the sights of his FN F2000 assault rifle and began firing in short bursts dropping several soldiers as they fanned out and began to return fire.
"This… is bad," the President grunted as he threw out a grenade at an entrenched position to force them out of cover, picking off a pair of them as they ran from the grenade. "What I wouldn't give for a miracle right now."
At that precise moment, gunfire rang out from a completely different direction. Jason ducked for cover out of sheer instinct, but the new salvo of bullets came nowhere near him.
"Fuck! Where did the-" a loud yell from the direction of the LOGOS army was silenced a moment later at the same time the sickening sound of a bullet meeting hard skull was heard.
Taking the chance, Jason looked out past his cover and gasped as he saw more uniformed men, bearing the symbol of ORB on their chests as they secured the area. "ORB?" He called out in surprise.
"We're here to help, Mr. President!" one of them called out, searching the area for the beleaguered leader even as a grenade flew into the LOGOS ranks and detonated, sending several men flying.
"Over here!" He called out, revealing his position by waving his arm. "A medic would be really handy right about now!"
"Affirmative!" a soldier with a white armband with a red cross emblazoned on it sprinted over towards Jason as the other soldiers gave him covering fire. He vaulted the pile of bodies being used as cover, wincing in the process and dropped into cover beside him. "Wow, nice choice of cover," he remarked as he opened his medikit.
"Son, been on as many battlefields as I have, you learn to not argue with survival," Jason countered gruffly. "I think it mighta nicked an artery, can't be sure though."
"I'm not questioning your sense of survival, Mr. President," the medic muttered as he began tending to the wounded leader. "Desperation does that to people. Here, bite on this," he pulled on a pair of surgical gloves and retrieved a cloth-wrapped handle. "I'm going to extract the debris."
Jason nodded as he bit down on the handle and braced himself for the pain that followed a few seconds later, low growls of pain coming from his throat as the medic began to pull the debris from his wound.
"It's a nicked artery," the medic confirmed as he began applying pressure to attempt to stop the blood spurting. "Give me a few minutes to stop the bleeding, then I can tape it shut."
Grant nodded as he spat the handle out. "Get me a radio!" He shouted out to the soldiers, one of them running over to him with a radio set.
"The channel is patched to the command ship Takemikazuchi," the operator informed quickly, getting a nod from the president.
"This is President Jason Henderson to the Takemikazuchi," he half-shouted in the radio to be heard of the gun battle. "Do you copy!"
"This is the ORB flagship Takemikazuchi, reading you loud and clear!" the reply came. "We're glad you're safe, Mr. President! A VTOL is inbound to extract you now!"
"Give me a situation update, what's the status of our defensive line!" Jason questioned. "Have they broken through the final line?"
"They almost did, but we arrived in the nick of time," the ORB operator reported. "ORB's 31st Combined Mechanized Battalion is reinforcing them now."
Jason let out a relieved sigh as he leaned back a bit. "Thank god, I have to ask, why did you show up?" he panted. "Not that I'm complaining."
"ORB decided to take a stand against these… terrorists," he could almost see the operator on the other end smirking. "ORB is still neutral, but we stand for peace and a war on terror hardly violates our core philosophy now."
"You have my thanks," Jason said in relief. "What is the status of the enemy forces?"
"They're still holding strong, but thanks to your men's previous efforts they were already quite weak when we dropped in on them. I give credit where it's due, President, your men are damn good fighters. We're starting to push them back slowly already," the operator replied.
"Just as much credit goes to Terminal, they're the ones that took out that monstrous mobile armor," Jason commented as the Medic finished patching his leg as the EVAC chopper came into view. "Pass on my thanks, I need to get back to my men."
"Sir, it would be better if you evacuated to the Takemikazuchi…" the operator insisted.
"So long as my men are fighting, I am not leaving the field of battle," Jason informed sternly as he managed to get himself to his feet and began to limp towards the chopper as it came in for a landing. "I'll be heading for Main Command and direct OMNI forces from there."
"You can still direct OMNI forces from the Takemikazuchi, sir!" the ORB operator was getting a little more worried.
"Sir, we need to keep you off your leg!" The medic shouted, trying to keep the President from moving on his own. "If you keep that up, we may need to amputate!"
"Then cut it off!" Jason barked out stubbornly. "I ain't leaving the people who elected me into my current job because of a little scratch like this! And no offense, but I am not leaving my territory to direct the battle for my territory on a foreign vessel."
"That's not what most people would call a little scratch…" the medic groaned, smacking his forehead. "Fine, I'll go with you but I'm pulling doctor's authority and confining you to a wheelchair so your people don't come yapping at me for losing your leg."
"Pass me a crutch," he countered, quickly accepting the crutch that one of the medic passed to him and used it to take the pressure off of his injured leg and levered himself into the helicopter. "Take me to the main OMNI HQ!"
"Yessir!" The pilot shouted as the helicopter began to rise from the ground once the medic was onboard and pointed itself to the president's destination before beginning its journey.
Outside of PLANT Space
"Are you done yet, Jinn-koi?" Kagami asked from the cockpit of the Exodus as she drifted past the Viral during a lull in the combat.
"Just finishing now," Jinn confirmed as he completed his work. "Sabotaged the powerflux for the GENESIS, it should buy us another half-hour before it begins its firing sequence, all I could do unfortunately."
"Well, half an hour's plenty for the others to take it out," Kagami mused as she checked the sensor readout. "They look like they need help though."
"Agreed," Jinn stated as the Viral faded into view, Jinn holding the Viral's new Beam Assault Rifle at the ready. "Shall we go help them, dear?"
"Mmmm, I like how that sounds," Kagami murmured. "You calling me 'dear'. I could get used to that."
"Then I'll be sure to keep it up for a long time," Jinn assured, his voice amused as they began to make their way to their friends. "But first, we should deal with those mobile suits in our way… and did they paint them… gold?"
"Isn't that just asking to get spotted in space?" Kagami raised an eyebrow, turning to face the newcomers - vaguely familiar mono-eyed mobile suits with large fins on top of their head, and familiar looking… "Hey, Jinn-koi, those weapons and backpacks, aren't they…?"
"The same as the Freedom and Justice," Jinn agreed, his eyes roaming over the units carefully. "This… is going to be difficult, you are very lucky to have the C.F.R installed."
"Yeah," Kagami agreed as she purged her empty missile container and spun all her weapons to point at the newcomers. "GuAIZ base frames are obvious, but probably upgraded."
"I think they're the test units for the Freedom and Justice's weapons," Jinn agreed as he slowed to a halt next to the Exodus. "So, which one do you want?"
"The left one," Kagami said, purging her sniper rifle attachments from her rifle - she'd come back for them later but for now they were useless in close combat and she needed the additional rate of fire more.
"Alright then," Jinn replied with a calming breath as the two custom GuAIZ's moved to combat speed towards the couple. "Let's do this!"
To accompany his shout he opened fire with the Viral's rifle, spraying out green beams towards the right GuAIZ who singled him out as it weaved around the deadly blasts, its partner moving to attack Kagami.
Kagami followed suit with a burst from her backpack-mounted beam gatlings, tracking green trails of energy across space towards her opponent. Of course her opponent simply ducked and weaved out of the way, jinking around to throw off her aim until her barrels overheated. Then it ejected its backpack and jumped on it, riding it towards her while firing off beams itself.
"Tch," Kagami muttered, spraying at the incoming GuAIZ with her rifle. "These guys aren't your run-of-the-mill pilots."
"Tell me about it," Jinn agreed as he moved out of the way of his opponent's shockingly accurate return fire, catching a few beams on his shield before returning fire. "I think these guys are aces."
"Well, you wouldn't get gear that good if you're not at least an ace," Kagami muttered, pressing a button on her stick to launch her energy leeching harpoon. Her opponent dodged off to the side, drew a beam saber and severed the cable connecting it to the Exodus. "Dammit, there goes the harpoon," Kagami swore, flying towards it while unleashing a volley of beams, none of which hit the subflight lifter-riding GuAIZ.
Jinn cursed as he quickly backed out of the way of the GuAIZ that closed in on him with a beam sword in hand and quickly activated his Mirage Colloid to reposition himself behind his opponent, who managed to dodge out of the way of his stab. "Dammit!" he cursed again as his opponent scored a hit on his unit's left arm, cutting a jagged line on it. "That was too close."
Kagami quickly trained a beam gatling on Jinn's opponent and forced him to back off with a spray of beams, even as she dodged a beam by a hair's breadth from the Exodus' arm. Her own rifle snapped out a shot, missing by a country mile in her haste.
"I'm fine, Kagami, focus on your own opponent!" Jinn called out as he resumed firing. "We can't leave ourselves open against them!"
"Tch, my shooting skills aren't as good…" Kagami muttered as she searched inwards. "Hanami! Switch!"
"Right!" Hanami called out, switching in as her better spatial awareness kicked in, allowing her to predict her opponent's movements better. Even so she still barely grazed the GuAIZ's subflight lifter with her next shot.
Jinn let out a rare growl of frustration as he blocked several more shots from his enemy as they tried to close in on him, the golden GuAIZ being a surprisingly fast and nimble opponent as it moved around his attacks as if predicting each move he made.
"Could they be… like Ryu-nii and Kira-san?" He muttered to himself as he kept his unit moving, randomly changing directions in an attempt to throw off the GuAIZ's pursuit.
Unfortunately for him, the GuAIZ seemed to thrive off of his attempts and scored several more glancing blows on the Viral, jagged lines marking his unit as he brought his shield between him and the GuAIZ. His opponent quickly took advantage of that moment to close in on him with it beam saber and slashed at Jinn who barely managed to moved out of the way, losing both his rifle and shield as he backed away.
"Goddamit, think Jinn, think!" He muttered to himself as he kept moving, activating his Mirage Colloid as he did so, trying to use it to lose his pursuer as they moved to a group of wrecked ships. A shot from the GuAIZ forced him to abandon the stealth cloak in the favor of additional defense as an idea suddenly hit him.
Quickly accessed his own systems, Jinn quickly began working on them, even as he duelled with his opponent, dodging around his attacks and sending out a few beams of his own. 'This will be costly… but…' he thought to himself as he set in the final configuration and activated his Mirage Colloid, only this time, he flickered back into view a few seconds later, the process repeated itself as he moved around randomly. 'Try to predict this.'
Apparently caught off guard by the afterimages, his opponent wasted a few precious seconds deliberating where to shoot, pointing his rifle at him each time but failing to pull the trigger in the precious second he was visible for. After a while his subflight lifter swung up over his shoulders and he barraged the area of space Jinn was in with randomly-fired beams.
Jinn threw his unit into a dive, continuing his random erratic movement as he counted the seconds mentally, maneuvering around to a floating ship husk that had been gutted out by a random beam in the battle and put it between him and his opponent as he mentally hit zero and completely faded from view.
His opponent continued barraging the husk for several seconds before moving in with a beam saber drawn.
Jinn stilled his breathing as he watched the GuAIZ fly into view, the Viral drifting through space, completely invisible and its battery powered down to nearly undetectable levels. He slowly moved towards the GuAIZ with an unactivated beam dagger in his hand ready to be used. 'Closer… closer… come on now,' he mentally chanted as he unconsciously held his breath.
The GuAIZ drew its other beam saber as its head began to scan around cautiously.
Jinn closed his eyes and forced himself to breath as he drifted along, trying to keep himself relaxed as the GuAIZ came closer and closer to him. 'Focus, Jinn, don't act to quickly… just like Ryu-nii taught you about hunting,' he recited to himself. 'Tension builds nervousness, nervousness builds stress, stress causes mistakes, and mistakes catch attention.'
The GuAIZ turned to look right at him for a brief moment although it actually hadn't seen him yet.
Jinn froze, his entire body going still, it felt like his very heart stopped beating as that brief moment seemed to have lasted for an eternity before finally, the GuAIZ turned around, putting its back to the cloaked unit.
Jinn acted and moved the hand holding the inactive dagger forward and placed the emitter against the GuAIZ's back, directly where the central power supply line that sent power to the critical systems of the GuAIZ lay. "Checkmate," Jinn declared before activating the dagger, cutting through the armor and the powerline.
The GuAIZ tried to struggle for a moment before it went dead, abruptly lighting up in a nuclear glow.
"Oh… shit!" Jinn cursed before dumping all available power into his thrusters and cracked the throttle to the maximum, nearly breaking his back from the acceleration as he rocketed away from the exploding GuAIZ.
Hanami's own battle with the other GuAIZ was interrupted by nuclear fire - her eyes widened as her sensors briefly overloaded from the radiation, though they quickly rebooted. Her opponent had also frozen in shock.
"Jinn-koi!" Hanami screamed into her comms, watching the fireball slowly dissipate even as she struggled to reboot all her systems.
"I'm… I'm alright, but… I'm out of the fight now," Jinn announced with a slight cough and a pained groan.
"D-Did that GuAIZ just go nuclear!?" Kagami took over for a brief moment in shock. "We're fighting NJC-equipped suits!?"
"Yup, got out of the way, and my suit protected me from the radiation, but… well," Jinn coughed again. "The explosion took out half of my suit with it, sorry, I won't be able to help you."
"Thank goodness, at least you won't be glowing green or anything like that," Kagami heaved a sigh of relief before Hanami took back over. "I'll finish up here and get us both back," she promised as her weapons came back online and she trained them back on the GuAIZ.
The GuAIZ came back online at the same time it seemed as its subflight lifter pack reactivated, propelling the unit through space as it zeroed in on the Exodus. "Go get 'em," Jinn said with a small chuckle.
Her opponent seemed a bit more desperate now, it was clear that the nuke had shaken him up a little. Hanami noted that his aiming and dodging skills had taken a hit, and noticed that one of his leg thrusters hadn't reactivated. With a grim look on her face, she took careful aim with her rifle and let a beam loose, searing through the knee joint on the other leg. She knew she had to be careful if she didn't want to trigger another nuclear explosion…
The unit tumbled for a bit as the loss of its leg destabilized his flight until his subflier managed to correct for the imbalance as he fired at Hanami again, adding in the firepower of his subflier as well in a desperate attempt to destroy the Exodus.
Hanami blocked with her shield while returning fire with her rifle, while her beam gatlings slung around the Exodus' side and took aim. Unlike Kagami though, who used the weapons to chase her opponents into her more accurate rifle fire, Hanami was able to repeatedly connect with the normally inaccurate weapon and quickly chewed up the GuAIZ's right arm and its rifle along with it.
The GuAIZ tumbled through space again as the pilot fought to restore his proper flight path before charging back towards Hanami, launching the subflier at her in a kamikaze attack as he charged in behind it, intent on tackling her.
"Switch!" Hanami called out as her other persona dove back into the fray. The Exodus switched tactics once more, discarding its rifle as it kicked the subflier away only for the GuAIZ to connect in a ram that sent it drifting off into space. Kagami quickly recovered only to find out that the impact had damaged the backpack thrusters and let out a growl as she drew her beam saber and closed back in on the GuAIZ.
The GuAIZ quickly managed to throw itself into a roll in an attempt to dodge Kagami's attack and lashed out with its own beam saber, the remaining thruster flaring wildly in an attempt to correct his wild attacks.
"I almost feel sorry for you," Kagami sighed, blocking the saber with her shield before lashing out with a kick that slammed right into its remaining elbow, disabling the arm. After that, her beam saber perforated the GuAIZ's head, completely disabling it.
"You get him, Kagami?" Jinn asked as he struggled to get his unit into a more usable state.
"Yeah," Kagami confirmed as she flew over to the Viral and wrapped an arm around it. "Let's just get back to the Archangel and get some emergency repairs done before rejoining the fight."
"Agreed," Jinn said with a sigh as he collapsed back into his chair. "Damn… the Viral got really beat up though… missing an arm and a leg."
"Can't blame you for that, we had no way of knowing these GuAIZs were nuclear," Kagami muttered, propelling the two of them back towards their mothership with her leg thrusters slowly.
"I'm just glad they never mass produced those models," Jinn said in relief as he pulled off his helmet - making sure the cockpit was completely sealed first - and began rubbing his eyes. "Thank god we're alive."
"And because we're both alive, we get to have a lot of fun tonight!" Kagami giggled.
Jinn chuckled slightly, wincing slightly as his body ached in protest. "You are incorrigible," he told her. "You know that, right?"
"Of course I do!" Kagami laughed, flashing her almost completely purple eyes at Jinn. "And I'll stay that way even after tonight!"
Jinn stilled as he took in the color of her eyes. "I hope so," he whispered.
"So do we," Hanami took over, her eyes seamlessly shifting to a slightly bluer shade without her even blinking as she used to do while switching personas. "Best of both worlds, Jinn-koi. We won't disappear."
Jinn nodded, giving her a small smile. "That's good, you both are important to me," he said softly. "I wouldn't be who I am without either of you."
"We wouldn't be who we are either without you, Jinn-koi," Hanami smiled softly as she closed her eyes, the Exodus leaning its head against the Viral's awkwardly. "This is awkward in mobile suits," she let out a sheepish laugh.
Jinn chuckled himself in response. "Kinda, let's wait till we get to the Archangel," he commented. "It would be more enjoyable to be able to actually hold you."
"Or I could just put the Exodus on autopilot and join you in your cockpit," Hanami giggled. "I don't think we've… christened our cockpits yet."
Jinn blinked several times. "Wow, Hanami, from Kagami, that I'd expect," he commented off handedly before chuckling. "But… I suppose I can't find an argument against it."
"That a yes?" Hanami reached for the button to pop her hatch. "Or do you want to save it for after the fight?"
"Why not? After all it'll be a while until we reach the Archangel," Jinn replied with a nod. "Plus… I want to hold you right now."
The Exodus' hatch popped and Hanami drifted out and began knocking on the Viral's hatch.
Jinn chuckled in amusement before pulling on his helmet and sealing it and popped the hatch open, allowing Hanami access. "Sorry everything's a mess, kinda had to run from a nuke," he said in an attempt at a joke.
Hanami rolled her eyes and punched Jinn lightly. "I… want to hold you too," she whispered.
Jinn let out a relieved sigh as he pulled off his helmet once more and pulled Hanami into his lap, pressing his head against hers. "Thank you, for surviving," he whispered to her.
Hanami wrapped her arms around Jinn as well, just relaxing in his warmth. "You too," she said softly before she initiated a kiss and slipped her tongue into his mouth.
Jinn moaned into the kiss as he pulled her closer, forgetting for the time being about the battle and simply focused on the women he loved in a moment of peace and happiness.
With Kira
Kira frowned as she skillfully dodged around a massive number of beams being sprayed at her by the grey mobile suit. 'What is with this feeling of familiarity?' She thought to herself as she fired back at the enemy Gundam. 'It almost feels like I'm fighting… him.'
The fighting style was exactly the same, down to the DRAGOON beam spamming from all directions, to his tendency to swoop in with his beam saber to attempt to catch her off guard during said beam spam… "Valkyrie… your turn ends here," the pilot said.
Kira met his beam saber with her own 'Amor Lumiere' Beam saber that actually clashed with the other Gundam's beam saber. "My turn?" she questioned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Chess turns, are you not familiar with the term?" the pilot responded with a slightly haughty tone that was all too familiar. "I will end you here!"
Kira felt a flash of rare irritation as his words got under her skin, something that she could really only say one other person could. "It can't be," she whispered in realization. "He's dead."
"He is…" the pilot confirmed, tagging the Valkyrie Zero's shoulder with a glancing shot from his beam rifle. "He was… my brother in a sense."
"Your brother?" Kira asked.
"Yes, my brother," the enemy pilot nodded, not relenting at all with his DRAGOONs.
Kira continued to weave her way through the relentless attacks. "I did my research, there was no one like that!" She protested angrily. "The only person he was close to was Durandal and he was dealt with before Rau!"
"You forgot to look into the projects he was involved in," the enemy pilot revealed. "I… am a product of the same project that produced Rau le Creuset."
Kira's blood froze as her eyes widened in shock. "A… clone," she whispered in realization.
"Yes, a clone," the pilot nodded. "I am Rey Za Burrel, and I will finish what my other self started!"
"Other self? Then you're as crazy as he was!" Kira shouted as she unslung the 'Surtr' triple barreled high density particle cannon and began firing on the clone's Gundam. "You make your own path, and you've obviously chosen the path of an idiot!"
Rey was silent for several moments, though he dodged the beam and returned fire himself. "Durandal was a man I held great respect for. My fight isn't just to continue my other self's fight, but also to avenge him," he said after a while.
"Your so called 'other self' was a delusional lunatic who wanted to kill everyone," Kira snarled back. "Regardless of their origin, regardless if they were innocent or criminal."
"Then let us agree to disagree on this matter, Valkyrie," Rey replied coldly, his DRAGOONs docking back with his mobile suit to recharge for a moment, allowing Kira some reprieve.
"Fine then," Kira retorted as she holstered her cannon and pulled out her beam submachine gun and open fired on Rey, her thrusters flaring as she moved to close the distance between them.
Rey let out a battle cry and rushed forward with his beam saber drawn. That was when he did something even Kira didn't expect - he used his beam saber and clashed it against all the beams that Kira had fired at him, causing them to dissipate harmlessly.
'What the hell, what does he think he is, a Jedi?' Kira questioned in surprise as she pulled out the 'Vigilant' anti ship sword and clashed it against the beam saber. 'Although… make a note of it for the future.'
Wordlessly, Rey pointed his DRAGOONs, still attached to his backpack at the Valkyrie.
"Well, fuck you too," Kira grunted as she kicked the mobile suit away, twisting the Valkyrie Zero away to dodge all of the beams.
"Talking too much in combat tends to give away too much information after all," Rey said grimly, launching his DRAGOONs once more and beginning to fence Kira in with a barrage of beam fire.
Kira was once more impressed by the Valkyrie Zero's maneuverability as it managed to deftly slide out of the way of each of the attacks without harm as she returned fire on the grey Gundam. 'Still though, if the younger clone is this good, how good was Rau in a mobile suit?' She questioned herself mentally as she moved around in a series of random directional changes.
"At least at this point I can claim to be more sane than my other self was. Therefore I won't lose!" Rey growled, firing off several shots from his beam saber as the larger DRAGOONs broke off their attack and began emitting short beam spikes as they flew towards the Valkyrie.
"Yeah? If you were truly sane, then you'd realize that Zala was a fucking lunatic for trying to wipe out the human race!" Kira retorted in irritation. "One cannot survive without the other, there is more out there that we cannot face alone!"
"What proof do you have?" Rey asked coolly, the larger DRAGOONs using their superior mobility compared to a mobile suit to harass the Valkyrie. One came close enough to leave a scorch mark on the back of the right leg, even. "Coordinators were designed from the very beginning to be the ones to lead the human race, as Zala has maintained for so long… as George Glenn intended from the very start!"
"This isn't what he intended and you know it!" Kira growled out as she throttled the thrusters to launch herself at her opponent the anti-ship sword swinging for the cockpit as she came in.. "Lead the way, not kill all of Humanity! And do you really think Zala will stop at just Naturals? Do you really think he won't be looking for some other target to start killing? Because look at him now, who is he trying to kill?"
"He is trying to rid the world of the scum that is Blue Cosmos!" Rey shouted, blocking the sword with a beam shield projecting from the back of his Gundam's hands while his DRAGOONs repositioned for another salvo at Kira. "You people are just standing in the way!"
"If he really felt that way, then why isn't he helping the EA fight LOGOS, the originators of Blue Cosmos!" Kira shouted angrily as she flared her thrusters, using the Eezo core to reduce her weight as she propelled herself back and away from the salvo.
"The corruption is too deep to excise! To create the new world Zala desires, we must destroy the whole of the EA before we can recreate it!" Rey spouted, forming up the DRAGOONs once more and alternating their fire in a flurry of beams to force some distance between the two of them while he flanked around and tried to catch Kira from a different angle.
"Let me ask you this then. When Zala has kill all of his enemies, who will be left?" Kira asked in a low tone as she weaved her way through the beam fire, scores appearing on her armor as they glanced across her mobile suit. "Because Zala sees anyone who disagrees with him as his enemy, and anyone who sees anything differently is to be killed, how many people does that leave?"
"He won't kill everyone," Rey declared, docking his DRAGOONs again to recharge although he didn't let up on the attack as even docked they continued to fire. "Humanity is resilient. We will survive, and Zala will lead us into a new era of prosperity for the whole of the Earth! Enough talking!"
"I'm not done," Kira announced as she hurdled through space, banking so that she circled around the less mobile Gundam. "And what would happen should Zala encounter a new species, one that is not human, try and conquer them? Wipe them from existence? Continue the cycle of destruction until no one is left standing? He is only a murderer, he is so wrapped up in his delusions, he can't even see the reality before him, humanity is not alone in the universe."
"I ask, what proof do you have?" Rey spun around and sneakily released a pair of the smaller DRAGOONs while the rest continued firing, leaving them powered down drifting in space to avoid registering on sensors.
"Because, I've seen the proof kid," Kira revealed, training her beam fire on the backpack as she began to try and limit his firepower. "And the threat that is coming from beyond it all, it is too much for humanity to face alone."
"I ask, what proof do you have?" Rey repeated, waiting for Kira to pass the inactive DRAGOONs as his other ones launched once more and spread out around him. "Words alone aren't proof enough!"
"Consider what's happening right now, you aren't ready for the proof," Kira returned as she managed to shoot down a pair of the mobile weapons. "And honestly, I don't think you ever will be."
"Then I'm afraid we have nothing more to talk about," Rey said in a tone of finality, as the inactive DRAGOONs now behind Kira came to life and struck without warning. The Valkyrie Zero took a beam each to the right arm and the left leg, blowing both clean off.
"Dammit," Kira growled as she hurriedly programmed in compensations for the lost limbs. As the Valkyrie tumbled through space, she managed to bring her rifle to bear and shoot down another two DRAGOONs of the larger variety that tried to spear her tumbling machine through her cockpit. 'I have to end this, but… how?'
Rey charged in with his beam saber for the finishing blow, only for Kira to recover at the last moment and spin kick his unit off to the side with her remaining leg. He growled and quickly sent his DRAGOONs after her again to prevent her from pressing her advantage.
Kira's breath quickened as she felt adrenaline course through her body as she felt a pressure build up within her. The duel between the two pilots intensified as the pressure built. "Fall already!" She called out as she fired with her cannon and shoulder mounted missiles.
Rey said nothing, returning fire with his DRAGOONs to intercept the missiles even as he dodged the beam cannon. Seizing the chance while being more mindful of Kira's melee proficiency, he wielded his beam saber like a rapier, aiming to drive its point right into her cockpit…
Kira inhaled sharply as the beam saber closed in, a sudden wave of calm overcoming her as her pupils dilated, the world almost seeming to slow down around her as she reacted. Yanking her control stick back the Valkyrie pulled away from the stab with scant inches to spare before its hand snapped out to grab her opponent's arm and yanked hard, the Gundam's foot coming up to kick the enemy mobile suit right in the cockpit region.
"What!?" a dazed Rey cried out as he was thrown about in his own cockpit by the impact. His Gundam was thrown back by the impact missing an arm - it had been ripped right out of its socket by the sheer force behind Kira's kick and was still in the Valkyrie's hand.
Kira ditched said arm as she moved in to continue her attack she quickly manipulated the Mass Effect field surrounding her mobile suit to increase its mass as she slammed her remaining hand into the cockpit again to send it tumbling once more.
This time, Rey was struggling to blink the stars out of his vision as he struggled to right his Gundam again. His remaining DRAGOONs quickly returned to his backpack as he tried to aim them at the three Valkyries he was seeing.
Kira, seeing his disorientation, quickly began an erratic flight path as she closed in, her beam submachine gun snapping up to start spraying beams in his direction, more to keep him disoriented than to damage him as she closed in.
"Ugh! Stay away!" Rey cried out as one of the beams came uncomfortably close to his cockpit. His DRAGOONs began firing in random directions in his panic.
"What's wrong?" Kira questioned as she continued to close in, easily dodging the attacks as she fired back. "Scared now that death is a possibility?"
"This can't be!" the clone snarled, his remaining arm coming up to project its beam shield in front of his cockpit while his DRAGOONs launched to encircle Kira once more.
Kira quickly shot down two more of the remote weapons, easily predicting their flight path as she finally closed in. She increased the mass in her leg as she kicked the shield, overloading the shield generator in one kick. "It is," she replied with a tone of finality as she fired on the backpack, ripping through it and rendering it useless.
"Tch, I can still-" Rey growled out, raising his beam rifle only to take a beam right through its barrel. His eyes widened in shock.
"Surrender," Kira ordered as she placed the barrel of her weapon against his cockpit. "This will be your one and only opportunity to surrender, I suggest you prove yourself to be smarter than your 'brother'."
Rey's mobile suit slowly, hesitantly brought its remaining hand up.
"Smart," Kira said as she panted slightly, the world seemingly returning to its normal flow of time as she slid down her keyboard. "Open access to your unit's systems to me and I will lock your unit down and send you to one of my ships."
"Damn you, Valkyrie…" Rey growled, doing as he was told just as a red light beeped in his cockpit and a timer started counting down. "... What!? I didn't activate this!"
"Self destruct timer?" Kira whispered as she paled, slamming the cockpit release, opening herself to the void. "Jump over, quickly!"
Rey reacted on instinct, popping the hatch and revealing himself to Kira in person before jumping over to the Valkyrie Zero's hatch. "Z-Zala… he tried to kill me…" he began hyperventilating.
"He tends to do that," Kira replied as she resealed the hatch and began to fly away from the mobile suit.
"T-The Providence is nuclear!" Rey shouted in a panic. "Get as far away from it as you can, or we'll get caught in the blast!"
"Oh son of a bitch! Hang tight!" Kira shouted as she throttled the thrusters and quickly dialed back the mass of her mobile suit causing the pair in the cockpit to lurch back as the Valkyrie Zero suddenly shot forward, clearing the blast zone of the exploding mobile suit in the nick of time as Kira aimed for the Archangel. "That… was too close."
"Zala… he tried to kill me… he tried to kill both of us at the same time…" Rey whispered, shaking in shock.
"Yeah, now do you believe me when I said Zala is a fucking psycho with no thoughts of the future?" She asked as she leaned back in her seat, panting for breath.
"Did… I really mean that little to him?" Rey paled, struggling to control his nerves.
"Nobody means anything to him I'd guess," Kira replied as she skirted around the edge of a battle. "Not even his own son means anything to him."
"His own… son?" the clone's eyes widened.
"Yup, didn't even care that his own son was on the station that he sent Rau to destroy," Kira replied with a scowl. "Not even once did he even attempt to contact him or anything."
"But… he's trying to build a new world free of conflict…" Rey's reasoning was failing him and he knew it - the look of disgust on his face stood in stark contrast to what he was saying.
"With his reasoning, the only way there would be no conflict would be by crippling humanity and sentencing it to a slow death," Kira replied heavily. "After all, Naturals need Coordinators, and Coordinators need Naturals."
"I… I need to think," Rey muttered and fell silent.
"Go right ahead," Kira agreed as she spotted the Archangel and opened her comms. "Archangel, This is Valkyrie, do you copy?"
"Archangel, reading you loud and clear, Valkyrie," Natarle's voice came over the comms in her usual professional tone.
"Archangel I am on approach, I need to repair, rearm and dropping off a temporary guest," Kira announced as she lined herself up with the winged ship.
"Definitely looks like you need to rearm and releg," another female voice joined in the comms. "This is the Exodus and Viral, on approach vector too. What happened, Kira-san? It's not like you to come back missing two limbs."
"Encountered a competent opponent," Kira replied glancing back at the distracted Rey behind her. "What happened to you two?"
"Viral got caught in a nuke and barely made it out," Kagami's face popped up on the video comms. "And the Exodus has a busted backpack. That's the competent opponent that blew off your limbs?"
Kira nodded in agreement as she raised her eyebrow. "Any reason you and Jinn are sharing a cockpit?" She replied with a small smirk.
"Ah… well," Jinn stammered out with a small blush as he tried to think of an excuse. "We… wanted to be in each other's arms?"
"Dear, she's already seen the hickey on your neck," Kagami giggled.
"Yeah, I'm sure you were enjoying one another's company," Kira teased as the Archangel's hangers opened to admit the three mobile suits.
"Keep private discussions off the Archangel's channel please," Natarle grumbled.
"She's just annoyed she's not getting any right now," Kira commented over said channel with a wide grin as the Valkyrie hovered over the hanger floor, waiting for the support struts to be put into place so the unit didn't crash.
"Clearly you don't need my landing guidance anymore," the officer groaned irritably, leaving the channel.
Kira chuckled as the clamps locked into place and began to power down her unit as she opened her cockpit. "We'll set you up in one of the spare rooms for now," she told the cloned pilot. "Just be on good behavior and we'll have you back in the PLANTs when this is over."
"I… understand," Rey nodded, still mostly lost in thought.
"He's pretty obedient for a PoW," Hanami observed - Kira barely felt the change in personalities this time other than a slight change of tone.
"Well, Zala rigged his nuclear unit to self-destruct in an attempt to get me with it," Kira revealed with a grimace. "Tends to throw a person out of whack when that happens."
"What an asshole," Kagami switched in, again almost imperceptibly. "I think we've had enough of nukes for one day… but I don't think we've seen the last of them from that bastard yet."
"Well, as soon as we're fixed up, we'll be able to put an end to him once and for all," Kira stated firmly, her eyes flashing.
"Agreed," Jinn pitched in calmly.
With Ryu
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! DIS IS THA MOS' FUN I'VE HAD IN YEARS! ENTERTAIN ME MORE, DRAGON!" Friedrich roared as the Regenerate's limbs all detached at once and began a seemingly random attack pattern on the Vidar either by using their ability to form beam sabers or just simply flying at him with the fist clenched One of them stood off at range squeezing off shots from the rifle, changing positions randomly. "SEEMS OUR FRIENDS MIGHT'VE GOTTEN OFF'D BY THA' NUKE THOUGH!"
Ryu spared a brief moment of worry for his wife before focusing back on his opponent as he weaved around the limbs of the Regenerate. "Well, you should be worried about your own reactor then," he commented dryly. "The timer Zala put on it might be running out at any time now."
"Wha' timer?" Friedrich grinned, holding up a small device. "Ya mean dis?"
Ryu raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. "I was just trying to throw you off with that one," he admitted. "Huh, he's gone over the deep end then."
"I'm not as shtoopid as Zala thin's I am…" Freidrich crushed the device in his hand. "When ya put that big hole in the Regenerate jus' now, ah ripped the damned thin' out with one of da arms!"
Ryu hummed as his eyes narrowed in on said hole, a plan forming in his head. "You don't say," he murmured as he scanned the area, making note of the assorted limbs and their roles. "I take it you ain't going to stop though, are you?"
"Naaaaaaah, this is too fun to stahp!" the Joker grinned. "I fight coz' I love fightin'!"
Ryu sighed before shaking his head. "On your head the consequences then," he announced as he suddenly fired his sniper rifle, aiming for the Regenerate's own rifle.
The detached limb holding the rifle simply moved out of the way with its superior mobility.
"Tha' frien' of mine tha' probably just got blown to shit tried tha' shit on me before!" Friedrich crowed, sending another flying limb on a collision course with the Vidar. "Dance, Dragon, dance!"
Ryu spun around the limb as a pair of DRAGOON Fangs dropped from their charging station and began to drift through space unnoticed as he began to fire on the rifle, trying to take out the Regenerate's main source of firepower.
"MACHINE GUN MODE!" Friedrich roared, apparently programming a new mode into said rifle as it began spewing low-powered beams at a simply ridiculous rate like a machine gun.
'Really!?' Ryu screamed mentally as the thrusters on his shield powered up and increased his speed as he danced around the attacks. 'But… not even a nuclear engine can power that for very long.'
Sure enough, the rifle stopped firing after a while… and the limb holding it promptly darted back to the Regenerate's main body and hid behind it.
Taking advantage in the faltering of fire Ryu made his move as he drew out a beam saber and as he moved around one of the attacking limbs he cut the thruster from the limb and left it to drift harmlessly through space and moved to attack another limb.
"Oi!" Freidrich hollered as the remaining limbs darted back towards the Regenerate, docking back with it. The limb holding the rifle handed it back to the limb serving as the right arm, before it began circling around the Regenerate while projecting a beam shield.
Ryu frowned at the sight of the shield before he began to move around the battlefield, scanning the area for possible ways to take the advantage. Testing the beam shield's power he fired off a few shots at it.
Of course, it absorbed all of them without a problem.
Grimacing Ryu holstered the rifle and drew out his beam saber. 'Into the breach I go,' he thought to himself as he noted the position of his two fang units before flaring his thrusters and charging the Regenerate.
Instantly Freidrich launched his legs and used them to harass Ryu from the sides. As they did, they also formed beam shields to prevent him from destroying them. "Yes, tha's more like it!" he howled, charging towards Ryu himself while the arm holding the rifle launched again and he formed a beam saber from the remaining arm.
Ryu ignored attack the weapons as he moved his way through, trying to get closer to the Regenerate, his remaining DRAGOON units launching themselves to draw attention as he closed in thrusting his beam saber at the Regenerate's cockpit.
"You unimaginative people always aim for da cockpit!" Friedrich called in one of the arms to deflect the beam saber while he himself swung his oversized one at the Vidar, aiming to cut it in half at the waist.
Ryu frowned as he moved his mobile suit out of the way, being forced to detach the central shield as the beam saber managed to penetrate to the thruster, using the ensuing explosion as cover as he put some distance between them.
Instead, a closed fist came flying through the explosion and began chasing after him. "ROCKET KICKPUUUUUNCH!"
Ryu quickly swung one of the shields around to absorb the impact as the Vidar was sent tumbling from the impact, causing him to smack his head against the console before him. "Son of a bitch!" He cursed as he quickly directed a DRAGOON behind the offending limb and shot its thruster directly.
The thruster immediately failed and the detached limb detonated, while the Regenerate flew out of the cloud in its four-legged assault mobile armour form and took off the Vidar's head while it was still tumbling with a well-placed beam. "Headshot, suckah!" Friedrich crowed.
"Goddammit," Ryu cursed as the secondary cameras came online, allowing him to dodge another blast as he returned fire with his own beam rifle. "This is getting annoying now."
"Make dis hunt more fun for me, Dragon!" Friedrich laughed maniacally as his beam rifle began to light up again. "Half machine gun mode! Ratatatatatatatataaaa!"
Ryu began to move around the blasts once more, making a quick check of his shoulder cannon, patiently waiting for the moment that the ensuring energy blasts stopped.
Instead of letting his beam rifle run out of energy though, Friedrich pulled back and began charging up a single, apparently more powerful shot. At the same time his legs launched and began harassing the headless Vidar once more.
Ryu didn't miss a beat as he moved around the flank of one of the arms and aimed his cannon at the Regenerate and snapping off a quick shot before the rifle could fully charge.
"OH NO YA DON'T!" Friedrich let the shot fly… too late. The beams intersected and created an explosion that sent the Regenerate tumbling away, the end of its rifle vaporized by the fireball. "GAH!"
Ryu grinned, from two things, first the rifle's damage ensured that it wouldn't be used again unless the pilot wanted a faceful of explosion, second, the explosion sent him tumbling right beside his dormant fangs. 'Now!' He mentally commanded himself as the fangs came online and darted towards the recovering mobile suit, sliding right into the gaping hole in its armor. "Surrender," he demanded.
"Well, fuckity fuck," Friedrich sucked in a breath as the tips of the fangs stuck into his cockpit, almost taking off his arm.
"So, what's it going to be?" Ryu asked as the remote arms around them stilled. "Life or death?"
"Fuck, I wanna live to fight you again some otha' time, Dragon," Friedrich grinned, all of the Regenerate's remote arms switching to hand mode and raising themselves. "You're fun."
Ryu took in a calming breath as he assessed the full damage of the Vidar and winced at the readout, it would require a complete overhaul of the entire unit from the damage he took. "Then please shut down your unit," he requested. "I'm going to need to take you prisoner until this is all over."
"Alrigh', alrigh'," Friedrich shrugged as the Regenerate's energy signature died down. "Do ah get a lawyer?" he grinned. "Or some nice female company? Preferably a nice female lawyer…"
"No," Ryu replied flatly. "But if you want, instead of letting you run off to wherever the fuck you want after the battle I could just hand you over to ZAFT."
"Yer no fun," the Joker groaned.
With Victor
"Come on, what's wrong, too scared to get up close and personal?" Victor shouted as he charged at the retreating Gundam, his swords at the ready. "All you've been doing is trying to stay away from me!"
The vulcan gun on the Testament's shoulder spun to life, even as Banyat levelled the Agni and fired a sustained beam. Both weapons tracked Victor across the battlefield as he floored his thrusters and sent the Thor into a series of random movements to make it harder for his opponent to hit him. Banyat, however, was clearly a very good shot as he managed to vaporize just the right foot of the Thor with the beam.
Victor grinned as he stabilized his unit, glancing over the status screens. "I haven't had this much fun in a while," he commented eagerly as he threw a trio of heated throwing knives at the Testament. "So come on, drop the pussy act, pull out your balls and let's make this interesting!"
"Taunting me won't work," Banyat raised his left arm and caught the throwing knives on the shield. "It'll take much more than that to make me lose my composure."
"Who said I was taunting?" Victor questioned as he began to move again, zig-zagging towards his opponent as he pointed his shield at his enemy. "But fine, you don't want to come to me, that's just fine!" The shield shifted as a pair of triple-barreled gatling cannons slid out and began firing beams at the Testament.
The Testament threw itself aside even as it returned fire with a pair of missiles that exploded in the air between the two of them to release clouds of particles. Victor quickly found that his beams began dissipating in the cloud, while Banyat returned fire with the shell-firing vulcan and more normal missiles from the combo weapons pod on his Gundam's right shoulder. The physical weaponry moved through the anti-beam cloud with no problems at all.
Victor threw his unit into a series of dodges as a pair of rail cannons unfolded under his arms and fired off a pair of blasts at the Testament with shocking accuracy through the cloud of anti-beam particles.
Banyat took the blasts on his shield once again, angled to deflect the tungsten spikes instead of stop them outright. The Phase Shift Armour helped with it, otherwise the cannons would've probably outright punched through the shield. Moving into the anti-beam cloud, he poked just the tip of the Agni out of it and fired a short burst at Victor.
Victor growled as he skilfully maneuvered around the blast, sending out another blast from his rail-cannons as he moved to close in on his opponent. "Come on! Fight me like a man!" He shouted as he dove into the cloud of anti-beam particles.
"A man I may be, but I ensure I have every possible advantage before moving in," Banyat mused, putting away the Agni and drawing the Schwert Gehwehr anti-ship sword again. Mostly unaffected by the anti-beam cloud, he dove for Victor.
Victor grinned as he pulled out his own anti-ship sword and clashed it against the Testament's. "Now this is more like it!" he shouted eagerly as a series of thrusters along the back of the sword ignited, causing it to press against the enemy Gundam's.
"Every possible advantage," Banyat smiled and closed his eyes. A cover slid down over the Testament's eyes as a single projectile launched from one of the combo weapons pod's gun launchers and exploded in a bright flash right between the two of them.
"Sunnavabitch!" Victor cursed as he tried to blink the spots out of his eyes as he brought up the shield and sword in a defensive posture.
The Testament spun around the blind defense and liberated the Thor of one of its arms with a single slash.
"Damn, talk about costing you an arm!" Victor jested as he regained his sight and kicked the Testament in the cockpit. "Now this will make things interesting!"
"Interesting indeed," Banyat agreed as his backpack thrusters flared to balance himself again. "I had to put in a special request to Chairman Zala to make these extra ammunition types available for my usage. The gun launchers are useful for launching just about anything…"
Victor and the Thor were hot on his heels as he came in swinging his anti-ship sword one handed. "Who cares!" Victor shouted gleefully. "I just want to enjoy this more!"
"You are almost just like my other fellow mercenary, with the same bloodthirsty, uncouth attitude," Banyat remarked, raising his own anti-ship sword and giving it one hard downwards swing once the Thor was in range.
"Bloodthirsty? Not really, I just love a good fight," Victor replied as their swords clashed, the thrusters on the sword kicked in. "Besides, I ain't fightin' for personal glory or money here, what I'm fighting for, is the survival of humanity, so tell me, who's really the bloodthirsty one?"
"That… gorilla over there that just got beaten," the Testament jerked its sword in the direction of the fight between Ryu and Friedrich.
"Yeah, Ryu's always capable of takin' on anyone given his tools," Victor commented, the anti-ship sword coming to a rest on his shoulder.. "You sure you want to continue? After all, it won't be long for them to rearm and repair and get back out here, and I am quite sure I can at the very least hold you off until they do get here."
"Actually… I just needed to make it convincing for Zala while I removed this," Banyat shrugged as he held up a small, beeping device.
Victor blinked before howling in laughter. "Oh that is rich!" he managed to get out. "Y'know, I think we have a position available for you if you're interested."
"I may just take you up on that offer," Banyat grinned, the Testament placing its sword on its back and relaxing its pose. "Unfortunately for him, I do have family back on Earth and I am not too keen on him killing them off myself. The offer of getting my hands on a prototype nuclear mobile suit was too tempting, however, if only to thumb the loss of it in the face of that genocidal maniac."
"Well, either way, enjoy the prototype unit that probably costs and arm and a leg to maintain while making sure not to crack its thermonuclear reactor shielding," Victor commented with a chuckle. "I'm bugging out to get an new arm."
"Am I invited?" Banyat laughed as the Testament floated over to the Thor. "Zala might very well attempt to have me shot should I attempt to land on Jachin Due - no doubt he saw the outcome of our battle and is attempting to selfdestruct my reactor, and cursing up a storm at being unable to do so."
"Sure, why not," Victor agreed with a wide grin. "I'm sure the others will be there as well."
"Then I thank you for having me aboard," Banyat nodded at Victor over the screen.
"Ah, it's all good, you gave a me a good fight," Victor replied as he rolled his neck. "But… we best hurry, just to be sure that Zala doesn't try and shoot us with his big 'fuck you cannon' he has there."
"I… may have hidden a bomb in one of the energy condensers," the pilot of the Testament grinned, holding up a separate little device. "They're separated from each other by blastproof shielding so it won't do much damage, but it should still set them back a little bit. Would you like to do the honours once we land?"
Victor laughed loudly in response. "Oh hell yes I do!" he crowed out. "I think I may have just made a new friend with you!"
"Every possible advantage," Banyat adjusted his helmet, somehow getting it to reflect light just over his eyes as he beamed. "And yes, you are at least far more civilized than that gorilla fellow mercenary of mine in the Regenerate."
"Ah, how uncivilized could he be?" Victor commented dismissively. "It's not like he wanted Zala to go through with his plan, right?"
"He's fighting for the sake of fighting," the Thai gentleman shrugged as they approached the Archangel. "Quite barbaric in my honest opinion. All he likes is the thrill. By the way, your vessel is pointing a lot of guns in my direction."
"Well, they know you're with me, but… well… we are a paranoid bunch," Victor commented idly. "We do have several secrets we don't want getting out after all."
"Well then, I submit myself to your care," Banyat bowed as the catapults opened up to receive the two of them. "I hope you're not holding too much of a grudge over that flashbang I used just now."
"Why? It was a fight, besides, a little tinnitus never hurt anyone," Victor dismissed.
"You're welcome to reverse engineer my rounds, may they serve you well," Banyat laughed, settling the Testament down into the hangar in front of a large, armed security team with its hands held up in a gesture of peace.
"Relax boys," Victor called out as he powered down the Thor and climbed out of the cockpit. "Potential recruit."
"You really sure about him?" one of the security team asked without lowering his gun. "He was using so many dirty tricks on you just now…"
"Your point?" Victor questioned. "So does Ryu whenever he gets the chance."
"Fine," the man replied as the Testament's cockpit hatch opened and the Thai pilot emerged, still holding up his hands.
"The detonator, as promised," Banyat held up the detonator, prompting the security team to point their guns at him again. He simply shrugged it off and let go of it.
Victor snatched the detonator out of the air and sighed. "Stand down, this is a detonator to some bombs in GENESIS," he explained before pressing the button.
Off in the distance, an explosion blew out part of the GENESIS' hull, causing the fighting around there to stop for several seconds as the combatants assessed the hole in the superweapon.
"See? I'm no suicide bomber or anything," Banyat chuckled, lowering his hands.
"C'mon, I'll introduce you to the bosses," Victor said as he drifted towards the hangar exit.
"I look forward to it," Banyat removed his helmet and put on his glasses again.
In the Battlefield - with Shinn, Cagalli and Athrun
"Give it up already!" Shinn roared as he bisected a mobile suit that was charging at him before quickly spinning to shoot another one that attempted to attack him from behind. "Why are these guys so relentless?"
"They're fanatics, most likely," Cagalli replied as she fired her plasma cannons at another group of Zala machines. "They've subscribed to Patrick Zala's beliefs, and will follow him no matter what, even if it means going to their deaths!"
Athrun gritted his teeth at the further evidence of his father's degeneration into insanity. "I… I have to stop him," he stated resolutely. "He's my father…"
"Don't think you have to do it alone, Athrun!" Cagalli scolded. "Remember, I'm here for you, no matter what!"
"I know," Athrun assured, sending her a smile over the vid comm. "I don't plan on doing it alone."
"Just so long as we're clear on that, Athrun!" Cagalli said. She then smirked slightly. "And don't' go dying on me - I want to start a family with you in a few years!"
Shinn chuckled as he witnessed Athrun choke and sputter in response to her statement. "I sincerely wish you luck with that," he commented dryly as he used his 'Divider' Beam boomerangs to bisect a pair of CGUEs. "Just be thankful you don't have two of them."
Athrun shuddered in response to that image. "Everyday, Cagalli is more than enough for me," he swore.
"And what is that supposed to mean?!" Cagalli snapped, even as she unloaded her entire arsenal into the enemy forces.
"Nothing bad!" Athrun replied quickly, his sub flier firing its machine guns over his shoulder as he started shoot down several units. "It just means I can't see myself being with anyone but you!"
Cagalli smiled. "Good," she said. "Now let's finish these guys already!"
Athrun let out a breath of relief as he turned and focused on a new squad of CGUEs. "Yeah, let's try and clear a path to Jachin Due," he agreed as he began to close the distance.
With the Recruits
"Just how many people are following Zala!?" Tolle questioned incredulously. "Because with the number of people that we killed, they just don't seem to be stopping!"
Fubuki winced at the reminder of what they were doing blowing up the enemy mobile suits entirely, and his next shot missed a GINN by a country mile. He frowned, adjusted his aim and took its legs off with the shot after that.
"You alright, Fubuki?" Yzak questioned as he held off a pair of GINNs with his dual heat swords. "Your shots are normally shot on."
"Just… got reminded we're actually killing people out there when we hit them in the cockpits…" Fubuki confessed.
"Ah," Yzak replied in understanding. "I keep forgetting some of you were never trained in the military."
"And this is my first real battle too," Fubuki nodded, blowing the arm off another GINN. "I don't think I'll get used to the killing bit…"
"Get Dearka to do the killing for you," Mir laughed as she parked the Buster beside the two of them and continued blasting away.
Dearka responded with a shot from his modified Agni to disintegrate the disabled GINN. "Leave it to me," he informed calmly.
"T-Thanks, Dearka-kun…" a relieved Fubuki sighed.
"Don't worry about it," Dearka assured as he fired two low powered blasts to destroy an approaching CGUE. "It's hard in the beginning."
"I thought Dearka would have a more… heated response," Mir sighed. "After the trap laid for him…"
"Dearka might be a playboy out of combat, but in combat he gets more focused," Nicol commented from inside Jachin Due, his stealthed Dagger stabbing a CGUE in a cockpit. "And considering what's on the line…"
"Ahahahahah…" Fubuki, unsure what to say, laughed hesitantly, beam fire from his triple heavy rifles lancing out across the surface of Jachin Due during the lull in the heavy anti-mobile suit combat.
"Looks like they're thinning out," Sai commented as he looked over the field of battle. "The number of units being launched from the base is dropping."
"Well, he had to run out of cannon fodder sooner or later…" Tolle shrugged, the Duel tearing apart another GINN with judicious application of its beam saber.
"Looks like Shinn, Cagalli and Athrun are on their way to Jachin Due," Yzak commented. "Form up around the entrance, Athrun's probably wanting to confront his father himself."
"Right!" the others still outside Jachin Due chorused.
Shinn broke away from the pair as he joined the others in their protection of the exterior of the base entrance. "Athrun and Cagalli are going to try and end GENESIS from within," he explained as he began tearing into the surrounding units. "The Retribution and Eternal are sending over some shuttles with marines to help them out."
"Then the battle shouldn't last for much longer," Fubuki nodded.
"I hope not," Tolle said with a sigh. "Although… my battery level is beginning to start to run low."
The Ariete flew over to the Duel before offering an energy transfer cable.
"Are you sure?" Tolle asked. "What about your levels?"
"The new reactor is generating way more power than the Ariete can use properly," Fubuki explained. "I haven't gone under 80% charge once this whole battle despite spamming beams straight from the reactor's output."
"Really? Wow that's something else," Tolle commented as he hooked up the power transfer cable, beginning the transfer. "Thanks Fubuki."
"Suddenly I feel like an energizer bunny," Fubuki scratched his head sheepishly.
Chuckles were shared among the pilots from that image. "Careful, Kagami's liable to put you in a bunny outfit if she hears that," Mir informed teasingly.
"Please tell me this channel is secured for us only," Fubuki's eyes widened in horror.
"It's not," Kira informed with an amused tone. "And yes, Kagami heard."
"Dammit."
"Don't worry, Fubuki-chan, you'll look really good in a bunny outfit!" Kagami chirped. "We can even add fake boobs!"
Dearka and Fubuki groaned in unison, for different… and similar reasons. "Save it until after clean up Kagami," Kira ordered. "Alright guys, everyone's making their way towards your position, GENESIS isn't going to be firing anytime soon from Jinn's hacking and a turncoat's sabotage."
"A turncoat's sabotage?" Mir blinked.
"A mercenary Zala hired decided he didn't like the whole' destroy humanity plan," Kira informed. "In related news, we have a few new recruits."
"A very fine evening to you young ones," Banyat sounded in as a resupplied Testament launched from the Archangel. "Need an extra hand?"
"I WANNA LAUNCH DAMMIT! LET ME FIGHT!" Friedrich yelled.
"Shut up, your unit's too busted up to fight!" Ryu was heard shouting back.
"Our units are just about finished repair, we'll be out helping you clean up in just a minute," Kira informed. "Archangel out."
"Things are going to get pretty crazy around here, huh…" Fubuki blinked a few times in surprise.
"Yeah, looks like it," Tolle agreed as he scanned the area around here. "Something tells me Zala's already told anyone alive to retake Jachin Due's entrance."
"Troublesome dictator," Banyat remarked. "Likely he has also ordered his people to protect GENESIS until it can charge up again."
"That's why we're supposed to take Jachin Due," Ryu informed over the radio, even as he was working on fixing the mobile suits in the hanger. "It's the control center, we take that, then we have GENSIS."
"Or we could also target GENESIS' nuclear reactor at the rear of the hull," the Testament's pilot suggested. "Phase Shift Armour isn't effective against beams, which your group seems to have in surplus. And the laminated armour plating beneath can only dissipate so much energy at a time."
"We want to keep it intact if possible," Ryu admitted. "After all, its original purpose is for interplanetary transport within this solar system."
"… Very well," Banyat nodded. "Then we eliminate Zala and repurpose the weapon. I can send you the internal plans for Jachin Due and guide you to him."
"Thank you," Ryu replied. "I'll send it to our away teams, how are things outside of Jachin Due?"
"A little… chaotic right now," Yzak commented as he moved through beam fire from a group of CGUEs. "Zala is definitely calling in the reinforcements."
"We're three minutes out so hang tight," Ryu encouraged. "ZAFT Loyalists are just about at your position now so check your fire."
"I'll launch first, I don't think I can wait for the Viral to be fixed before rejoining the fight," Kagami said as the Archangel's other catapult opened up. "Sorry, Jinn-koi…"
"Stay safe," Jinn returned encouragingly. "I'll do what I can from here to help the away team on Jachin Due either until the Viral can be launch, or the battle is finished."
"I will, we still have to christen my cockpit…" Kagami smirked.
"Not on open channels," Kira, Ryu and Natarle said as one.
"Aw, but I'm sure you've thought of doing it before, Kira-san, Ryu-san…?" Kagami's smirk widened.
"We've never talked about it over an open channel you exhibitionist," Kira retorted sharply.
"… you have a very interesting group here," Banyat commented.
Ryu sighed as he shook his head. "You… have no idea," he told the mercenary. "You have yet to even scratch it."
"HAHA! SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE'S GETTIN' SOME PUSSY TONIGH'!" Friedrich had no such inhibitions.
"Someone, hit him, hard," Kira ordered, an order that was shortly followed by a smacking sound. "Thank you."
"What!? Ain't no problem wif someone havin' some good fun of tha' sexy variety!" Friedrich objected.
Kira growled audibly over the radio in response to his objection. "How do you even work with this man?" Ryu questioned Banyat in confusion.
"I didn't, this is the first time we fought on the same side of the battlefield," the Thai gentleman shrugged.
"I should have just left him there," Ryu sighed in depression.
"No need to be so heartless!" the uncouth German laughed heartily. "Tha' more tha' merrier! And you guys seem a lo' more fun to work with than tha' stick-in-the-mud Zala! All tha' pussy gettin' around on da ship jus' proves it! I can smell da sexiness in da air!"
Several groans were heard over the radio. "Hit him harder," Kira ordered again, resulting in another 'thwack'. "Ladies, you have my permission to slap him if he annoys you."
"Hahahahaha!" Friedrich seemed completely unfazed by the impact.
"Alright, Valkyrie is good to go!" Ryu shouted out over the radio. "It's a quick fix, so don't push it too hard."
"Understood," Kira replied. "Valkyrie Zero, launching!"
Jachin Due Command Center
Zala angrily growled as his subordinates panicked around him, first two of the nuclear powered units never exploded, their pilots turning against him. Then a hacker managed to put the GENESIS weapon into some kind of diagnostic loop for several minutes before they finally managed to get it out and recharging from zero percent once again. But once that had been cleared up, an explosion in the array had set everything back even further.
And to top everything off, Jachin Due was slowly being taken over by the Loyalist and Fenrir Marines being led by his own son.
Needless to say, he was having a bad day.
"Where are our mobile suits!" he demanded loudly. "Why haven't they broken through to us yet?"
"S-Sir! They're being held back by the enemy outside Jachin Due!"
"Well then they should break through them!" Patrick roared in response. "All that are out there are two-bit mercenaries and natural loving sycophants!"
"Sir… their mobile suits far outclass our own!"
Patrick growled louder as he slammed his console in a fit of rage. "That shouldn't matter!" he roared out angrily. "They are weak,we are the strong, we are the chosen to lead humanity into its perfection!"
A low murmuring broke out throughout the control center as the men began to see their leader unravel before their very eyes.
"S-Sir, with the Providence, Testament and Regenerate lost… we may not be able to keep fighting…"
The sound of a pistol's hammer being pull echoed through the room as Patrick leveled his side arm at the subordinate. "They were weaklings and traitors," he growled angrily. "They failed at even taking their enemy with them, now do your job!"
The man backed away slowly, fearfully staring at the gun barrel. "Yes, sir…" he murmured reluctantly, returning to his station.
Patrick turned to the shocked security personnel. "I want those intruders pushed back!" he snapped at them. "And if anyone retreats, then they're traitors and shall be shot accordingly!"
"S-Sir!" they saluted and headed off, though most of them were starting to seriously contemplate the idea of deserting their clearly-deranged leader.
"I will be victorious," Patrick muttered to himself as he glared at the screen that showed an image of his son fighting against his soldiers. "One way or another…"
Elsewhere in Jachin Due
Cagalli had an assault rifle in hand as she followed Athrun through the fortress. And it wasn't any easier than a Mobile Suit battle, unlike what some would think.
Athrun just about rounded the corner before throwing himself back in time to avoid a barrage of bullets that ate away at the corner they were around. "They're really dug in," Athrun commented in annoyance as he blind fired around the corner.
"Well, we'll have to go through them anyway," Cagalli replied. "Get behind me really quick." She holstered her assault rifle, drawing a cylindrical object from her belt before pressing a button and throwing it around the corner.
Athrun made sure he was completely on their side of the corner before an explosions ripped through silencing the gun and shouts, peaking back around he confirmed that they were clear to advance and took point. "Why are so many following him?" he muttered as they advanced deeper into the military base. "This is all just… madness."
"I'm not sure," Cagalli replied after a moment. "Could be charisma, could be dogmatic zealotry… or possibly even fear."
Athrun gritted his teeth as he fired a burst into a soldier that tried to take them by surprise and kept moving. "Whatever the reason, I can't let my father continue," he said resolutely. "I don't want this to be the legacy of Coordinators."
"Agreed," Cagalli replied. "I'm sorry to say it, but he's gone off the deep end… part of me thinks it'd be more merciful to just end him, to be honest…"
Athrun swallowed tightly in response before gripping his rifle tightly. "If it comes down to it, I'll pull the trigger," he swore. "It's the least I can do… for mother."
Cagalli nodded, as they approached another position.
"Wait! Don't shoot!" one of the soldiers called out, raising his hands…
…only to be shot by one of his so-called comrades from behind in the back of the head.
Athrun's jaw dropped at the outright execution of the enemy soldier by his own comrade. "Why?" he demanded angrily.
"He was a traitor, that's why!" the soldier spat out… and the other traitors in the group turned around and shot him as one.
"We're traitors too, damn you," one of the shooters spat on the corpse as he lowered his weapon and raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "And better off for it."
"I guess even his soldiers have realized Patrick Zala's gone off the deep end at this point," Cagalli mused.
"He's gone bonkers, I tell you!" one of the traitorous ZAFT soldiers shouted out. "Damn near shot Johnny for talking back to him just now in the command center!"
"…Okay, that is completely 100% mental," Cagalli said after a moment. "You don't kill a subordinate just for arguing with you!"
"So… do we get asylum or anything like that?" one of the other soldiers asked.
"We'll see what we can do," Cagalli replied. "You can either stay put, or help us reach him."
"Anything to help put down the rabid dog," the soldiers lifted up their weapons again and moved forward ahead of the couple.
"At least not everyone is blindly following my father," Athrun whispered quietly as they moved. "Maybe there's hope yet."
"Yeah…" Cagalli whispered back. "But… honestly, if your father's this far gone, there's no capturing him to stand trial…"
Athrun closed his eyes but nodded. "You're right," he agreed softly. "It has to be done."
Cagalli took one of Athrun's hands in her own and squeezed it comfortingly. "I'm here for you, Athrun," she said quietly.
Athrun look at her gratefully as he squeezed her hand in thanks. "Alright, what should we expect inside the control center?" he called out in question.
"Patrick Zala and some of his loyalists," one of the soldiers replied. "Most of the people there should be quite fed up with him already, you just need to give them a reason to do so."
Athrun took a calming breath and nodded his understanding. "Okay, Fenrir Marines should be meeting us there, they're on approach from the opposite side," he informed. "Standard Breach and Clear protocols."
"It's your show," the soldier nodded. "At least you're way better than that older Zala."
Cagalli went along right beside Athrun as they advanced, her presence showing her support for him as they moved towards the control center.
A twin-tone whistle brought their attention to a squad of Fenrir Marines as they rounded a corner, waving them over to the door to the command center, a breaching charge already set up and primed. "Got yourself some tagalongs, I see," Maes commented, his eyes glancing over the two ZAFT soldiers. "Well, so long as they don't shoot my back I don't mind the extra guns."
"If you're that worried you can take our guns," the soldiers offered their weapons. "Are you still hiring, by the way?"
Maes waved off the offered guns. "We're always hiring," he affirmed with a grin. "But, even if you had prior training, you'll be going through our boot camp."
"Anything to get away from that son of a bitch," the second soldier said grimly.
Cagalli nodded. "Let's get in there and take him down," she said.
"Alright, stack up," Maes ordered, his face settling into a grim expression as the group pressed themselves against the wall on either side of the door, the two closest pulling out flash bangs and pulling the pins.
Counting down from three, Maes held up a detonator and upon hitting zero pressed the trigger, blowing the charge and ripping the door apart, the flashbangs being thrown in before the dust even settled with a pair of flashes and loud banging sounds following in. "Go go go!"
Cagalli and Athrun were the first ones in, Cagalli aiming her gun at any visible threats, and searching for not-so-noticeable ones.
"On the ground! Hand on your head!" Maes barked out as he and the Marines followed them in, several of the personnel following the order as Zala regained his senses.
"Kill them!" he barked out himself, lifting his side arm to shoot, aiming for Cagalli.
A single shot rang out, causing the room to pause for a moment as Patrick's eyes widened, a blooming pain in his chest drawing his attention downwards where blood pumped out directly where his heart was, before looking back up to Athrun, whose rifle was still smoking, before finally collapsing to the ground.
Cagalli smiled gratefully at Athrun. She'd just barely noticed Patrick taking aim at her, and knew she wouldn't have had time to react before he could fire, which would have left her badly injured at the least.
Athrun nodded, looking slightly shaken as he scanned the room, Zala's loyalists looking too shaken to resist as the Marines went about disarming them and using zip ties to cuff them. "I think it's secure," he called out, right before alarms started to wail.
His eyes widened as he moved to the command console. "A deadman's switch!" he called out. "GENESIS is going to try to fire!"
"What?!" Cagalli cried out in shock.
Athrun quickly looked over the computer, trying to cancel the order. "It isn't fully charged, but it's aimed directly at the PLANTs," he said in a panic. "There's no time to try and destroy it from the outside…"
Cagalli's eyes widened at the potential devastation that would happen if it fired at the PLANTs. "Is there some way we can blow it up from the inside?" she asked.
Athrun pressed his lips together as a thought came to him. "Yes… I'm going to detonate the Justice's nuclear reactor inside of GENESIS," he told her as he moved to the door. "It's the only sure-fire way to stop it."
"You're not going alone!" she told him vehemently. "Once you've set the Justice's self-destruct, you can ride out with me in the Freedom!"
Athrun gave her a grateful smile as he nodded and began to make his way to the hangar where the Justice and Freedom were and keyed the general radio for Fenrir units. "This is Zala to all units, GENESIS is going to attempt to fire, I need a clear line to GENESIS to detonate the Justice's nuclear reactor from within!" he reported. "I repeat, I need a clear path to GENESIS!"
"You'll get that path, Athrun!" Kira replied over the comms.
"You heard her!" Murrue shouted. "Retribution, link up with us and help us clear a path!"
"You got it!" Joker called out in return. "WOO! This baby handles like a dream!"
"Do what you have to do, Athrun," Kira told him. "We'll make sure you have your opportunity - just don't die, alright?"
"I'll make sure he won't," Cagalli said over the radio. "I'm going with him in the Freedom, to make sure he has a way out."
Athrun shot her a smile as they entered the hangar and moved to the Justice and Freedom, and quickly started them up. "Alright, we're heading out now!" he informed as the pair blasted out of the hangar and into the battlefield, a large running battle ensuing between Jachin Due and GENESIS.
All the Fenrir and Clyne Loyalist ZAFT machines were making sure to keep a small corridor clear of the fighting, which Athrun and Cagalli flew through to get to GENESIS.
"Watch the left flanks, they're trying to break through!" Dearka shouted as he unloaded with the Agni's anchored on top of a Loyalist Nazca-class.
"Not on my watch!" Kira yelled, unloading all of the Valkyrie Zero's firepower into the enemy ranks.
"Or mine!" Kagami roared from somewhere in the thick of the fighting, her beam gatlings and rifles blazing.
"The doors are open," Jinn informed the pair as they flew through the corridor to GENESIS. "I give it… five minutes before GENESIS fires, don't stop for anything."
"We're on it!" Cagalli replied as the two machines entered GENESIS through a maintenance hatch.
Athrun led them through the maintenance pathways with ease as they made their way through the superweapon. "Here we are," he announced as they came into the main power core of GENESIS. "Setting timer… t-minus three minutes, I'm switching over, Cagalli."
"Understood," Cagalli replied. "I'm popping my hatch open now - hurry up and get over here!"
Athrun smiled as he popped the hatch of the Justice as he used his suit's maneuvering thrusters to get to the Freedom's hatch, slipping in as the hatch closed behind him. "Go, quickly," he said urgently as he slipped behind the pilot's chair.
"On it," Cagalli replied, turning the Freedom around and pushing her thrusters to the max as the pair made their exit from GENESIS.
"Thirty seconds, everyone, get clear!" Athrun shouted out in warning as they cleared the hatch they used to enter. "GENESIS is going to blow up!"
"You heard him, all units, get clear!" Ryu commanded over the line. "You don't want to be eating radiation and fire for dinner do you?"
Everyone made to get away from GENESIS as fast as their engines could take them, though they still had to blast through a few Zala Loyalists in their path.
For a few seconds there was nothing but noise as panicked orders were shouted, mobile suits dragging anyone alive, be they friend or foe, away from the explosions, desperate recovery of a few life pods and then a white light was seen as GENESIS exploded blinding all sensors and view screens as the unlucky few close enough were killed by the explosion.
Silence reigned even as the explosion died down, the slowly dawning realization of what just happened filtering through everyone's mind. No cheers were heard, no shouts of victory, just a solemn silence, as minds drifted off to what had been lost for this victory to be achieved.
"Is it… finally over?" Kagami whispered from the cockpit of the Exodus.
"Yeah… I think it is," Kira confirmed quietly. "Zala loyalists are standing down as we speak, I think we won."
"I WANTED TO SEE SOME ACTION!" a loud cry blared out from the Archangel's comms.
"JUST FREAKIN' TRANQUILIZE HIM!" Ryu shouted to someone over the radio, frustration clear in his voice.
"I'M IMMUNE! HAHAHAHA! I TRAIN'D MAHSELF AGAINST IT!"
"Fuck it," Ryu groaned before a loud smack was heard. "And stay down."
"Ow."
"Finally some peace and quiet," Mir remarked.
"So… what now?" Tolle questioned as he looked around. "I mean, we were so focused on just surviving…"
"Do you really want me to answer that question?" Kagami giggled.
"We rebuild," Kira said, cutting off that line of conversation. "We rebuild and prepare for the future."
"All this fighting is making me hungry," Tolle groaned. "Hanami, we need a feast when we get back to the ship…"
"A feast by Hanami… that sounds perfect," Sai groaned in agreement, his mouth salivating at the thought of the meal. "Just what we'd need to relax."
"U-Umm… can you guys wait until tomorrow?" Hanami switched in with Kagami practically seamlessly again. "I think we'd all like some good sleep first…"
"I think that's a good idea," Ryu said in agreement. "For now, come back in and get some sleep."
"Yeah," Cagalli agreed, looking back to share a smile with Athrun. "Sounds good, coming back in now."
"Jinn-koi… should I tell them?" Hanami asked her lover, her voice shaking somewhat.
"If you wish to," Jinn replied. "But… they will find out eventually."
"Yeah…" Hanami nodded, closing her eyes and exhaling slowly in an attempt to calm herself. "This… is my last night as Hanami and Kagami."
"What do you mean?" Kira questioned in confusion, a frown forming on her face.
"That… makes no sense whatsoever," Tolle said, scratching his head as he tried to process what she said.
"Yeah… mind shedding some light on that?" Mir asked in concern.
"It means… after tonight there's only going to be Hanami," Hanami explained, tapping her head before taking off her helmet and pointing at her eyes. Her indigo-coloured eyes.
Cagalli realized what was going on. "You're merging into one personality?" she asked.
Hanami nodded and switched to Kagami - her eye colour shifted to a magenta colour closer to purple to those who could tell, but it was a much more subtler change than they were used to. "Best of both worlds, guys," she grinned. "Don't worry, I'll still be able to cook up a right feast."
"We'll miss you all the same, Kagami," Kira told her honestly. "As… perverted you were, you'll still be missed."
"Ah, you won't be missing me, I'll be the best of both worlds," Kagami laughed. "Meaning my perversion's still gonna carry over…"
"Oi!" Hanami switched in seamlessly with a blush. "Bad influence."
"Well, she is the reason you began to open up," Ryu commented. "And got into a relationship with Jinn as well."
Cagalli nodded. "Still, might be a little less confusing," she admitted. "It was a little difficult at first, figuring out just which of you was in control at any given moment without directly talking to you."
"Eh, you couldn't figure it out from my body language?" Hanami blinked. "I thought it was quite obvious…"
"I mean, Kagami takes every opportunity to bounce, flounce, skip and jump she can get," Tolle commented blandly.
Hanami's blush intensified with every description of her other persona's actions.
"She was also rather forward," Jinn inputted. "Especially when it came to burying my head."
"Y-You didn't like it?" Hanami pouted.
"I never said I didn't," Jinn replied. "It was a statement of fact, also, you used to flush and stammer when I made comments like that."
Hanami stuck out her tongue.
"See what I mean?" Jinn commented with a grin.
"Wow, Hanami's doing stuff normally only Kagami does," Mir remarked.
"That would be the influence of their personas fusing," Jinn pointed out. "As she said, the best of both worlds."
"Yup, best of both worlds," Hanami nodded. "So don't miss me."
"I will always miss the quirks of both of you," Jinn informed her, his voice warm with his feelings. "From your stutters to Kagami's flounces."
"I-I-I could always do both," Hanami chuckled, sticking her chest out proudly.
Jinn smiled at her. "You don't have to force yourself," he assured her. "I still love you and will love your little quirks and all."
"I'm not forcing myself," Hanami insisted. "That stutter's always been a part of me that I can bring back anytime. Same with my flouncing around… ugh, I can barely even think of Kagami and I as separate anymore."
"Like I said, I'm happy with whoever you choose to be," Jinn told her. "Now and always."
"As heartwarming that is you two, why don't you all come in and get some sleep," Ryu cut in, chuckling lightly. "We have a long day tomorrow, so rest while you can."
"We have a long… night ahead of us too," Hanami giggled.
"And with that, I am cutting off comms before Mir gets angry at me," Tolle said resolutely.
"When are you two going to do… it?" Kagami probed, switching in seamlessly again.
"Hey, we're not shameless enough to go flaunting it like you did when you and Jinn finally did it!" Mir called out defensively.
"I blame Jinn-koi," Kagami blushed at the reminder of that particular event, the one that had led to both herself and Hanami passing out.
"Alright, dude, you are freaking awesome," Dearka said over the radio. "To make Kagami blush? You must be freaking awesome."
"No… it's that particular event…" Kagami groaned. "I'm not saying a word about it."
"Wow, Kagami's actually being tightlipped about something," Athrun commented from behind Cagalli, making her chuckle. "That's a first."
"Oh right… the revelation that you lactate," Mir mentioned slyly.
Kagami went white.
"Wait, she whats?" Cagalli questioned in shock.
"I heard nothing," Banyat clapped his hands over the sides of his helmet.
"DAMN YOU MIR!" Kagami squawked. "Jinn-koi, jam the comms!"
"Too late for that," Jinn replied with a sigh. "Anyone on this channel heard it."
"Uuuuuuuu…" Kagami whimpered, covering her face. "M-M-M-Mir, I hereby declare war on you! Y-You didn't need to tell everyone!"
"HAHAHAHAHA! A LITTLE LEAKIN' UP TOP MAKES THINGS MORE EXCITIN'!"
A thwacking sound was heard. "Keep speaking, I dare you, I will aim for your goddamn temple next time!" Ryu shouted over the line.
Kagami started banging her head on her console. "Great… now everyone knows and those who don't will…" she moaned pitifully. "Jinn-koi… it's all your fault!"
"I'll make it up to you tonight," Jinn assured her. "I promise."
"Y-Y-You'd better…" Kagami sniffed. "Now, I'm going to dock with the Archangel, and I'm going to crawl into a dark corner somewhere and hide…"
"You're clear to dock," a strained Natarle informed. "Just… all of you… please shut up."
Cagalli just blinked, looking at Athrun. "Umm…" she said.
"It's probably a good thing this is a Fenrir only line," Athrun commented as he shook his head, face in palm. "Or we'd lose all credibility."
"D-D-D-Don't say a word," Kagami whimpered.
"It's going to be a gag order," Ryu assured, a distant gurgling heard over the line as he spoke. "Why right now I'm strangling a certain someone who can't keep his mouth shut."
"Thanks…" the silverette sighed as the Exodus landed in the Archangel's hangar. "But I'll still feel really, really conscious about people staring at my boobs for the wrong reasons…"
"You're not the only one," Cagalli groused as she landed the Freedom on the runway. "It makes me want to punch people."
"Yours aren't as attention-grabbing as mine." Kagami pointed out.
"No one's are as attention grabbing as yours," Kira pointed out, the Valkyrie landing as she spoke. "Seriously, what did your mom feed you when growing up?"
"I blame the milk cravings I get during my monthlies," the silverette muttered.
"Well, at least I don't have to worry about snapping my back whenever I turn quickly," Cagalli commented as she locked the Freedom in place and opened the hatch.
"Not in space!" Kagami called out as she left the Exodus' cockpit, blushing as the maintenance crew began staring at her. "C-Cya!" she hurriedly snapped out as she ran for the hangar exit.
"That's enough," Kira called out to the maintenance crews. "Unless you want me assigning the work orders for the next year."
The maintenance crew immediately went pale and got back to work.
"Looks like many of the mobile suits will be down for repairs for a while," Ryu reported as he drifted up next to Kira. "The Vidar actually has microfractures all along its inner frame."
"HAHAHAHA! Yah were a fine opponent, Dragon!" Friedrich walked up to the two with a wide feral grin. There were several conspicuous welts on the back of his head…
"I swear to god, if you don't start making yourself useful I will start using my wrench!" Ryu shouted at the man, waving a large wrench for working on mobile suits.
"Ah, fine, I'll go regenerate da Regenerate…" Friedrich waved jovially, but before he left he whispered in Ryu's ear, "Keep her, she's a looker!"
A thunk echoed through the hangar as Ryu smacked him offhandedly with the wrench full on in the chest.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" the man laughed heartily, completely unfazed by the attack even as he drifted off towards his wrecked mobile suit.
Ryu grumbled under his breath as he glared at the man. "I just may kill him," he declared. "No holds barred, outright first degree murder."
Kira giggled as she patted his shoulder and tugged him towards the pilot changing room. "Come on, hun," she whispered. "Let's get out of our suits and go to bed, I think we deserve it after today."
Ryu sighed but nodded all the same as he smiled at Kira before kissing her tenderly. "Sounds good," he agreed warmly, the two of them drifting towards the hangar exit. "I love you."
"I love you too," Kira returned as she pressed against his side, a content smile on her face.
One month later - Junius Seven Memorial Site
"Today… is a monumental day," Siegel Clyne announced as he stood at a podium, looking over a crowd of hushed dignitaries and reporters, muted flashes of camera going off as the crowd gathered in the new biome created on the ruins of Junius Seven. "For today, we take the first steps towards attaining peace within our lifetime. We have gone through war, we have experienced tragedies the likes I would never wish upon another, we have face the hatred of those who would see anyone who disagreed with them destroyed, and yet, here we stand, united in a single wish, a wish that our children will never have to witness war, nor experience the same tragedies as we have.
"Nearly two years ago, the war started when Blue Cosmos ordered the destruction of this very PLANT we now stand upon, an attack that was launched using nuclear weapons," Siegel paused for a moment in remembrance before continuing. "And not even a month later, we of ZAFT retaliated by dropping Neutron Jammers into the Earth, disrupting hundreds of nuclear power stations, indirecting killing an untold number of people due to the loss of power. Hospitals, high-density cities, people who required power to live, had their lives shattered."
The chairman heaved a heavy sigh of regret as he looked back up, his eyes firm with resolve. "And one month ago, we put an end to the war," he declared firmly. "Blue Cosmos and their founding organization of LOGOS were shattered, by the combined efforts of the O.M.N.I Enforcers, the EA regular military and the mercenary force, Terminal, led by my opposite, President Henderson."
Siegel nodded to the man who was leaning against a cane heavily as he stood nearby, bowing his head in return. "And the ZAFT extremist faction being led by Patrick Zala was put down by loyal ZAFT forces and the mercenary group Fenrir," he continued. "The sacrifices made by all sides of that conflict was… catastrophic. But, this did not stop us, no, in our time of need, we reached out for each other, and aided one another, we assisted the EA with getting their power stations back online, and they aided us with rebuilding the homes destroyed in the conflict, they provided us with desperately needed supplies, and we replied with disaster relief forces.
"In our respective times of need, we finally put down our swords, and joined hands," Siegel paused as he gathered his thoughts. "Which is why, it is my honor to announce on this day, the proof of this newfound unity, the Earth Sphere Alliance, where the voice of every nation shall be heard, where we do our best to meet the needs of our citizens as a unified force! To face those who would see us torn asunder with the flames of war, and refusing to bow to fear!"
He took in a deep breath. "And the leaders of the nations have all spoken, and we all have come to a unified conclusion on who should be the first to lead this new government, may I introduce the first leader of the Earth Sphere Alliance, Uzumi Nara Attha."
Thunderous applause rang throughout the auditorium as the former leader for ORB stepped up to the podium, clasping hands with Siegel as the chairman stepped aside to allow Uzumi to speak. "I thank the leaders of the nations of the Earth Sphere for granting me this position," he called out as the applause settled. "And I swear I shall do everything I can to live up to these expectations that have been placed upon me, and I thank Cabinet Minister Sahaku for stepping up as Chief Representative until someone can be elected into the position," he looked over to the woman who bowed her head in recognition.
"We all have much healing, and rebuilding to do," he said calmly, looking over the crowd once more, his eyes warm with a calm confidence as he spoke. "But, we must also look to the future, beyond ourselves, and even our own planet, and solar system, for humanity may not be alone in this galaxy," he raised a hand to stall the rising murmurs of the crowd. "We, in a joint venture with Fenrir and the colonists of Mars, have discovered alien ruins under the surface of Mars, proof, of alien life, studies have already begun and technologies are already being uncovered.
"While we still have much rebuilding to do, we also have a bright future ahead of us!" Uzumi declared passionately. "For as one, the voice of humanity shall be heard! And we shall stand united against whatever we find in the unknown, Coordinators and Naturals alike!"
"It's finally happening isn't it?" Kira murmured quietly as she listened to Uzumi's speech, standing next to Ryu and Lacus with the members of Fenrir, the organization having been given a place of honor for their part in the efforts to disband LOGOS and the Zala Faction. "Humanity is unifying and preparing to face the Galaxy."
Ryu nodded in agreement. "Yeah, never actually thought I'd see it in my lifetime," he replied, a grin on his his face. "It's… inspiring."
"Peace in our time, Ryu-san," a purple-eyed Hanami smiled, leaning against Jinn.
"Definitely something to celebrate," Jinn nodded, wrapping his arm around the silverette. "And you can see the hope building in everyone here."
"Mmm hmm…" Hanami agreed, closing her eyes and running a hand over her belly.
"Kagami… are you?" Lacus murmured, seeing her motion.
Hanami held up a pregnancy tester… with two pink stripes on it.
Lacus smiled warmly at her. "Congratulations," she told her happily, patting her own swollen stomach, skillfully hidden by her ornamental dress.
"Otou-san's going to try and kill you, Jinn-koi," Hanami giggled, pulling Jinn's arm into her bosom. "But I doubt he'll object that much once okaa-san steps in - I mean, you can definitely provide for any kids we have."
"Well, I don't think I would want him to kill me," Jinn said dryly. "Although I am slightly worried about your mood swings… I remember Kira's."
Kira sent a light glare over her shoulder at the couple. "I wasn't that bad," she protested.
"You nearly castrated someone," he countered primly.
"To be fair, he tried to get between Kira and her chocolate," Ryu inputted.
"I'd probably pull the mask out on anyone getting between me and my milk," Hanami mused. "That'll at least be better than castrating people, right?"
"I'll tell the medical bay to prep for heart attacks," Lacus told the other two leaders of Fenrir in a stage whisper.
"I'm not that bad…" Hanami pouted. "Yzak took it like a man the last time…"
"He spasms whenever the words 'meat' and 'underwear' are uttered," Jade whispered, cutting into the conversation, leaning up against Shinn, Flay leaning on his other side, the two of them very obviously pregnant.
"But he didn't get a heart attack," the silverette pointed out with her tongue stuck out.
"And that was when you were on hormonal mood swings," Mir teased, grinning.
"Well, I still have yet to see how mine are going to be like…" Hanami sighed. "It might not be as bad as what we're thinking about…"
"Hmm, don't forget about the swollen ankles," Lacus commented, shifting uncomfortably on her own.
"The odd cravings," Kira added.
"All that extra weight," Jade pitched.
"The kicking," Flay groaned as her own baby began to do just that.
"Jinn-koi, I blame you for getting me knocked up," Hanami turned to face her partner.
"You were just as much as a participant as I was," Jinn countered. "If not more so because of your insistence."
"I was kidding," Hanami laughed. "It'll be worth it, I'm sure."
Jinn nodded in agreement, kissing Hanami's temple affectionately.
"And so. I ask you all, Naturals and Coordinators," Uzumi called out, drawing their attention back to him. "Stand together, and reach for our future as one!"
A roaring applause broke through the room as everyone cheered their assent, the leader of the Earth Sphere Alliance bowing his head in thanks as throughout Earth, the PLANTS and even on Mars, humanity cheered, and saw hope for a brighter future.
END CHAPTER
Author's Note
DragonKnightRyu: Well… it's been two and a half years since we started this fic… and we're here…
AstralXYZ: It took years, but we're finally wrapping this fanfic up… Wow, it's actually been that long...
Takeshi Yamato: Yep. And for our next installment, Humanity advances into the stars, to face the galaxy and prepare for the Reapers. Time to enter the Galaxy of the Mass Effect.
DKR: Thank you everyone for sticking through with us for all these years, it has been a long ride.
AstralXYZ: Yep, we're really sorry about how long it took to finish this final chapter - it's a really long one, and we all had various real-life issues to deal with along the way, not to mention plot bunny invasions...
Takeshi Yamato: Yeah, definitely on the Plot Bunnies. But, we're finally done, and hopefully we can start churning that sequel out a bit more quickly.
DKR: Well, we will take a brief break before starting the sequel, but rest assured it will come! Until then, thanks for reading!
Custom Mobile Suit Specs
Model Number: TXG-X101 'Ascalon'
Unit Type: Prototype Newtype-Use Assault Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Ultracompact Energy Battery
Manufacture: Terminal
Operator(s): Terminal
Equipment and Design Features:
Phase Shift Armor
Funnel Control Unit
Sensors, range unknown
Fixed Armament:
2x 75mm GGI-XUI Triple Barrel 'Scorchers' Anti-Missile Vulcans, mounted in head, uses High Explosive Rounds
2x XM-87-32 'Scorn' Beam Saber, Mounted on waist
Optional Armaments:
4x XM-22-18 'Savant' DRAGOON Funnels, mounted over left shoulder
XM-34-P9 Hyper Ion Cannon Shield
XM-12-56 'Hyleen' 75mm Beam Rifle
XM-32-55 'Tovon' Hyper Bazooka
Pilot(s): Yuna Falcon
Appearance: Looks like the Nu Gundam with the head of the Strike and the chest of the Freedom
Colours: White with red trim
Info: One of the five Prototype 'Gundam' units developed by Terminal using the Alien Mobile Suit as a base, it was developed to use the prototype DRAGOON system, dubbed 'Funnels' that would allow for a strong beam to be charged and fired, it does have a drawback of limited operational time when deployed, however.
Model Number: TXG-X102 'Ymir'
Unit Type: Prototype Transformable Interception-Use Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Ultracompact Energy Battery
Manufacture: Terminal
Operator(s): Terminal
Equipment and Design Features:
Phase Shift Armor
Hyper Impulse Lightwave Thrusters (H.I.L.T)
Predictive Flight Path Learning Computer (P.F.P.L.C)
Fixed Armament:
8x 75mm GGI-XUI Triple Barrel 'Scorchers' Anti-Missile Vulcans, two mounted in head, four mounted on wings, usable in MA mode, two mounted on chest, usable in both mode, uses High Explosive Rounds
2x XM-98-22 'Gram' Beam Wing Blades, mounted on back, used as wings in MA mode, usable as melee weapons in MS mode
Optional Armaments:
2x XP-00215 'Pixie' 50mm Beam Sub-machine guns, hand carried in use, mounted near the nose in MA mode
Ramming Shield
Pilot(s): Yvon Terran
Appearance:
MS mode: Looks like the Delta Plus with the head of the Kyrios Gundam and the chest of Gundam Blossom
MA Mode: Same as the Delta Plus' with reversed wings
Info: One of the five Prototype 'Gundam' units developed by Terminal using the Alien Mobile Suit as a base, the H.I.L.T System is a prototype thruster developed by Terminal in the use of interception missions and crafts.
Model Number: TXG-X104 'Hunter'
Unit Type: Prototype Stealth Sniper-Use Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Ultracompact Energy Battery
Manufacture: Terminal
Operator(s): Terminal
Equipment and Design Features:
Phase Shift Armor
Mirage Colloid
Sniper Control Unit
High Powered Sniping Camera
Fixed Armament:
2x 75mm GGI-XUI Triple Barrel 'Scorchers' Anti-Missile Vulcans, mounted in chest, uses High Explosive Rounds
2x XM-K8-I7 'Medusa' Beam Daggers
Optional Armaments:
Shoulder Mounted Shields, both have extra clips for the Beam Sniper
XP-00281 'Recon' High Powered, Concentrated Beam Sniper, four shots per clip
Pilot(s): Renis Tennyson
Appearance: Has the base of the Dynames Gundam with the chest of the Justice and the head of the Cherudim.
Info: One of the five Prototype 'Gundam' units developed by Terminal using the Alien Mobile Suit as a base, the Hunter utilizes a unique compressed energy clip to create powerful, and highly accurate, beams, however, in order to do this, the clip system is required.
Model Number: TXG-X105 'Paladin'
Unit Type: Prototype Heavy Weapons Defensive-Use Mobile Suit
Powerplant: 3x Ultracompact Energy Battery
Manufacture: Terminal
Operator(s): Terminal
Equipment and Design Features:
Laminated Pot Metal Plated Phase Shift Armor
Armor Lumiere Emitter System
Fixed Armament:
6x 75mm GGI-XUI Triple Barrel 'Scorchers' Anti-Missile Vulcans, two mounted in head, two mounted on each wrist, uses High Explosive Rounds
Optional Armaments:
XP-00213 'Undine' Large Hyper Beam Cannon, Clip fed, one shot per clip
Large Shield, loaded extra Clips
XP-00121 'Ifrit' Assault Beam Rifle,
Pilot(s): Urvan Incon
Appearance: Looks like the FAZZ with the backpack of the Hyperion Gundam and the head of the Virtue.
Info: One of the five Prototype 'Gundam' units developed by Terminal using the Alien Mobile Suit as a base, the Paladin was integrated with data stolen from Artemis on the Armor Lumiere and utilized three different energy batteries due to the energy consumption from the system, one powers the Armor Lumiere, the second one powers the Phase Shift Armor while the last one powers the 'Ifrit' Beam Rifle and Thrusters.
Model Number: GFAS-X0 Proto-Destroy
Unit Type: Heavy Assault Mobile Armor
Powerplant: Ultracompact Nuclear Reactor
Manufacture: Adukurf Mechano-Industries
Operator(s):
LOGOS
Equipment and Design Features:
Phase Shift Armor
N-Jammer Canceller
Fixed Armament:
2x 'Aufprall Dreizehn' High Energy Beam Cannons
20x 'Nefertem 500' Thermal Plasma Composite Cannons
4x Mk 50 6-tube multi purpose Missile launchers
Prototype Positron Reflector Shield
Pilot(s): Heinz Gunderson
Appearance: Looks like the MA form for the Destroy Gundam
Info: The Proto-Destroy is LOGOS' ultimate mobile weapon, designed to crush entire cities under its heel as it marched through enemy territory. While not a complete mobile weapon, the Proto-Destroy is still a force to be reckoned with as it's equipped with the latest weaponry and armor produced by LOGOS' primary weapons manufacturer, Adukurf Mechano-Industries, including a Prototype Positron Reflector Shield that can block even a straight-on blast from a Positron Cannon, making it nearly invulnerable to any attack when combined with its phase shift armor.
Model Number: FXS-X001AA 'Vidar Assault Armament Type'
Unit Type: Experimental Long Ranged Assault DRAGOON Use Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Cold Fusion Reactor
Manufacture: Fenrir
Operator(s): Ryu Hisanaga
Equipment and Design Features:
High Powered Sniper Camera, hidden behind V crest
DRAGOON Control System
Phase Shift Armor
Panoramic Cockpit
Aerial and Space Maneuvering Pack (A.S.M.P)
Fixed Armament:
6x 75mm GGI-XUI Triple Barrel 'Scorchers' Anti-Missile Vulcans, two mounted in head, two mounted on each wrist, uses High Explosive Rounds
2 x Armor Lumiere Beam Sabers, mounted in thigh compartments
4x Assault Beam DRAGOON units, mounted in A.S.M.P
2x Beam Cannon DRAGOON units, mounted in A.S.M.P
6x Heat Fang DRAGOON units; Mounted in A.S.M.P
Left Shoulder mounted Shield with 75mm 6-barreled Beam Gatling Cannon integrated
Mega Compressed Particle Cannon, Clip Fed, two shots per clip, mounted on Right Shoulder, five extra clips carried on shield
Optional Armaments:
Extreme Long Ranged Compressed Particle Beam Rifle (Maximum Range: 250 km), clip Fed, extra Clips stored in forearm compartments
Pilot(s): Ryu Hisanaga
Appearance: Looks like the Cherudim with scaled down low tech versions of the Freedom's HiMAT wings, colored black with dark red trim. Has the symbol of a howling wolf head on the right shoulder.
Info: the Vidar Assault Armament Type is the upgraded version of the Vidar Gundam, knowing that his Vidar Gundam was limited in for it's combat field with long range combat, Ryu equipped it with several new weapons allowing it to fight within all ranges, it's most powerful weapon, the Mega Compressed Particle Cannon, uses clip fed, compressed particles to unleash destructive bursts of energy that are capable of consuming an entire battleship.
Model Number: FXS-002Z 'Valkyrie Zero'
Unit Type: Prototype All-Range Multi-Purpose Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Cold Fusion Eezo Reactor
Manufacture: Morgenroete
Operator(s): Fenrir Mercenary Guild
Equipment and Design Features:
Phase Shift Armor
Tactical Maneuvering Pack(T.M.P)
Panoramic Cockpit
EMD Radar and Tracking Disruptor
Fixed Armament:
2x Anti-missile Vulcans, mounted in head
1x Armor Lumiere Beam Sabers, mounted in right thigh compartment
1x 50mm Beam Gatling Cannon Shield
1x 'Surtr' triple barreled 250mm Extreme Density Particle Cannon
Shoulder Mounted four barreled anti mobile suit missile launcher
1x 'Vigilant' Anti-ship beam saber
1x Beam Submachine gun
Pilot(s): Kira Yamato
Appearance: Looks like the RX-78XX Gundam Pixie with four, instead of all six, of the wing thrusters of the Freedom, it's colored dark green with crimson red secondary colors and silver highlights
Info: The Valkyrie Zero is the upgraded Valkyrie Gundam and the first human created unit to feature Eezo in any form, in this case, using with the Cold Fusion Eezo Reactor to drastically reduce it's weight and making its maneuverability far surpass anything deployed at the time, it also had the majority of the optional weapons mounted onto it, thanks to the weight reducing effects of Eezo loading all the weapons had no effect on the unit itself.
Model Number: FXS-X003AR 'Thor' All Ranged Combat Type
Unit Type: Experimental High Performance All-Ranged Combat Mobile Suit
Powerplant: *Classified*
Manufacture: Morgenroete
Operator(s): Fenrir Mercenary Corps
Equipment and Design Features:
Phase Shift Armor
Panoramic Cockpit
Burst Thruster System (B.T.S) (Pronounced Bits)
Fixed Armament:
2x Anti-missile Vulcans, mounted in head
2x Beam Sabers, mounted in thigh compartments
Optional Armaments:
2x Heat Katanas, mounted on waist
High Density Vibrating Ramming Shield (H.D.V.R.S)
2x fire-linked 3-barreled beam gatling-cannons, retracted within shield when not in use
15x Heat Throwing Knives, mounted across body;
1x 20 meter Anti-Ship Heat Sword - mounted with a series of thrusters along the back of the blade, increasing its swinging power
2x High Impact Rail Cannons, mounted on back, deployed under arms in use.
Pilot(s): Victor Amsel
Appearance: Looks like the GNY-002 Sadalsuud with the thrusters of the GiNN HM Type, colored red with a Black chest
Info: Third of Three of the Fenrir Corps mobile suit; the Odin is a close quarters based mobile suit with minimal amounts of ranged options, it's H.D.V.R.S (Pronounced Hadvurs) not only functions as a basic ramming shield, but when it starts to vibrate, the supersonic speeds at which it does vibrate are capable of tearing the armor of a Destroyer to shreds making it extremely dangerous. The B.T.S is mostly used to close the distance to an enemy making up for the lack of ranged weapons as it will temporarily boost the unit's speed to five times normal capabilities.
