{ === + === }
[EFA Territory of North America, Nevada region]
.
Cipher climbed out of his Spearhead and looked around, squinting against the harsh sunlight and the shimmering desert landscape, taking in the view that is this dust-covered excuse for an airbase. His gaze eventually settled on the man greeting him.
Cipher walked up to the man. "I take you're Canopus?"
The man shook his head. "That's my superior; my name is Eugene Solano, callsign Crux." He offered a hand anyways. "Welcome to the base."
Cipher shook the offered hand. "What kind of base is this, anyways? You guys don't seem like a Federation outfit." Cipher glanced at the outline of a GINN being outfitted in one of the farther hangars.
Crux nodded. "We're a mercenary group; the EFA lets us operate as we wish because we mainly stick to protecting the civilian areas from attack." He then saw Cipher grimace just a little. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, not at all." Cipher sighed, and Crux decided to avoid pursuing the matter.
"Hey Crux, who's the new guy?" A grinning young man asked, yelling from the front of the main building. "Also, get your butts over here! It's hot outside."
…
"This is…" Crux started to introduce as the three of them met and shook hands in the reception area.
Cipher figured he had nothing to lose. "Cipher, pleased to meet you." He saw the man's eyes widen for a moment.
"Cipher, huh? Pleased to meet ya, man." The man grinned, clapping Cipher on the back. "I'm Chopper, the best pilot in this dump."
Crux rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that."
Chopper grinned. "What? It's true."
Cipher looked around the rather run-down looking reception area. "So how many of you are there?"
"Before that, what do you plan to do, Cipher?" A black man with a military beret asked. "I'm Canopus, the leader of this little outfit." He extends a friendly hand. "Glad to have you with us."
Cipher takes the offered handshake. "Well," He said after a moment. "I'm looking for a job; got anything in mind?"
…
…
[Giga Float]
…
"Mister Ribbon! I'm honored by your presence." A man wearing a Gründer uniform and a slightly-pink jacket bowed. "It's certainly not every day we get a guest of your caliber."
Ribbon's smile was a bit sheepish. "The honor is mine, I suppose." He then glanced at Bartlett. "I take it Captain Bartlett let you know I was coming?"
The man nodded. "Indeed. Now," He clasps his hands together. "As you are aware the Federation has just lost their only way into space from the America territories, due to…whatever that thing was." The man made a disgusted face. "Given how the Federation is acting recently, we here on the Giga Float believe that they will attempt to… 'obtain', our Mass Driver for their purposes."
Ribbon nodded, letting the man continue.
"Knowing your reputation both here and at home," The man looked solemn. "It would be a great boon to us if you were to lend us your skills in defense of the Giga Float." He then snapped his fingers. "Of course, we have your data from the Archangel and the prototype model in development, thus if you could continue to lend your support for our development process…"
"I'd be happy to help." Ribbon said. "Given the current state of affairs…the world is too strange."
Bartlett chuckled. "That's putting it a bit lightly, Ribbon."
"You can take a look at our databases if you'd like." The man said. "There definitely is something wrong with this war."
"I'll let you get to it in a little bit, but let's go over our squad setup right now." Bartlett said with a yawn. "How do you feel about acting as a squadron leader?"
"How many pilots do you have?" Ribbon asked. Good ones. He added silently.
Bartlett ticked off some names. "Let's see…we have me, Yellow 13, you, the Junk Guild guys, and Antares—this Antares guy is pretty good, by the way—and roughly thirty rookies." Bartlett chuckled. "Of course, as long as they can fly straight and shoot at the same time the X-02 compensates for their lack of skill just fine."
The Gründer representative made an 'hmm' sound. "Since we're mass producing them it might be a good idea to change their numbering…Ah, yes, let me show you the prototype we're working on with the data you're gathered for us already…it's not ready to fly yet, of course, but…"
…
…
[Archangel, 3 days later]
…
Kira Yamato stumbled into the officer's lounge and collapsed face-first into the sofa.
"You ok over there, Kira?" Sai asked as Tolle poked Kira's brown messy hair.
Kira mumbled something into the sofa's armrest.
"This is harder than actually fighting." Tolle laughed bitterly. "I want a pay raise and a few days off."
Kira, by virtue of being the pilot of the only large-scale unit in JOSH-A that has opposable thumbs, had spent the past three days taking the bulk of the reconstruction efforts.
Tolle, by virtue of being a pilot that nobody really cared about, helped Kira by using the second Skygrasper as an air-capable tug with the Sword Strike pack. The fact that he was low-key compared to Kira let him do as he pleases with the Skygrasper's equipment (to Murdoch's consternation).
The Duel was shipped off to god knows where.
"At least you're not in Mr. Flaga's shoes." Sai consoled.
Tolle faked crying. "May god rest his sole."
Mu La Flaga was still in the air, doing patrols…very long, very boring patrols justified by the top brass as an "unfortunate necessity", which meant that Mu was spending a lot of time either flying or sleeping.
Blaze and Talisman were kept under watch, which prevented them from taking the load off of Mu's shoulders; due to two of their flight deserting, Murrue decided to pre-emptively place the two on watch just so that the top brass didn't get any unnecessary ideas.
"Where did you think they carted off the Duel to?" Sai wondered. "Having it would help us a lot."
"According to some of the other fighter guys, the EFA is developing a mobile suit based on the Strike's data; I guess they wanted something more concrete?" Tolle said. "Kira, here."
Kira reached up without looking and caught the drink Tolle tossed at him.
"Can't help but feel like it's a bit too little, too late though." Sai muttered.
Tolle nodded. "Yeah."
…
…
A week passed with no other major events.
Following the JOSH-A operation, ZAFT forces deployed on Earth withdrew to their bases and spent a majority of their time protecting their territory, and the Federation forces spent their time doing the same.
The Equatorial Union, on the other hand…
…
[Federation territory of North America]
…
"Deployment order?"
Cipher looked up from the ZAFT pilot training manual.
"Deployment order to where, sir?" Crux continued to ask.
"Where else? The Equatorial Union." Canopus replied. "It's flaring up again."
"Again?" Crux sighed. "It seems like the war in this world is never ending."
Pretty sure we don't have any room to talk. Cipher thought idly as he flipped a page.
"Well, regardless of the politics, we have a job to do." Canopus said. "Cipher, do you think you can handle it?"
Cipher didn't need to ask what he was handling. "Beats sitting around and reading all day." He jumped up to his feet and pocketed the instructions manual.
Canopus nodded. "Good; meet in the briefing room in ten minutes."
…
[Giga Float]
…
"I think a good old fashioned 'oh shit' is in order." The pink-coated Gründer mechanic said, raising a glass to the television screen.
Ribbon shook his head. "Damn straight. The EFA can't seem to do anything nowadays." He glared at the news headline heralding the increase of hostilities.
"Good thing we're far away from them, eh?" The mechanic laughed. "Otherwise this would've gotten amazingly bad amazingly quickly."
"Sir." An aide caught their attention. "We have an incoming communication from the army."
The man and Ribbon shared a worried glance. "Let's hear it." The man commanded.
…
[PLANT]
…
"Looks like the situation on the ground is getting worse, princess."
Lacus Clyne nodded solemnly. "Is there anything we can do to help?" She looked toward the speaker, the same mercenary pilot from the little incident in Junius Seven.
"Given the way Zala Senior is acting, I doubt it." The pilot sighed. "The way the war is going on Earth is letting him consolidate his power far too quickly." This is definitely a side effect. He thought. An unfortunate one.
"Hmm?" Lacus looked confused. "But my father…"
"Is royally screwed, if you'll pardon my expression." The pilot grimaced. "Zala's trying to set PLANT up as some kind of messiah, as if winning this war will solve all of Earth's problems. The fact that it's actually working is quite telling about how the PLANT citizens see the situation on Earth."
"Plus, he's using the fear of the new Federation weapon as his sledgehammer." Siegel Clyne, Lacus's father, said as he walked into the room.
Lacus stood up to give her father a hug. "I've seen the videos. It looks…as dangerous as their nuclear warheads."
I'm just glad it wasn't the V2. The pilot thought. "If that weapon is capable of being mass produced, then the Feds are…well, as dangerous as Zala says it is. If that's the case, his fearmongering would actually be correct." He looked up to meet Siegel's gaze. "What?"
"It feels like you know more than you're telling us." Siegel said.
"Sorry." The man shrugged. "I know exactly as much as I'm telling you." His phone rings. "Ah, excuse me."
Siegel nods as the pilot leaves to take the call in a less intrusive place than the Clyne household living room.
"Father, what do you plan to do?" Lacus asked.
"I'm not quite sure." Siegel chuckled. "Although an extended vacation to Orb sounds very inviting at this time of year."
The pilot then returned to the room in a hurry, slamming the door against a wall. "Siegel, we have a problem; Zala's making a move."
Siegel Clyne gritted his teeth. "Of all the mistakes he could ever hope to make…"
"Please, this way." The pilot said hurriedly. "Miss Clyne as well."
"What? What's going on?" Lacus asked a little desperately, not really moving.
The pilot gave her a friendly nudge. "Someone's trying to put a bullet into your dad's brain, now hurry it up."
"What? Why is Athrun's father doing this?" Lacus inquired again as the pilot pushed her along.
…
…
[Giga Float]
…
" 'Emergency Requisition of Earth Sphere Resources', they're calling it." Ribbon grumbles to himself. "What a joke."
"Something fun going on?"
Ribbon turned to see Lowe Guele make his entrance. "Who are you?" Ribbon asks.
"Lowe Guele, Junk Guild. Pleased to meet you." Lowe extended his hand, which Ribbon shook.
"Lowe, huh…sounds familiar." Ribbon mused. "I take it you're responsible for putting this thing together?" He gestured all around him.
"The Giga Float? Yeah." Lowe nodded. "The pay is good and I get to see a lot of cool new things, not a thing to complain about. So what's this about Resources?"
Ribbon rolled his eyes and shook his head. "The Federation is asking for Giga Float."
Lowe's eyes went wide. "Seriously?"
Ribbon smiled thinly. "Yeah, and they're backing it up with a threat, too."
Lowe's eyes expressed his confusion and distaste. "What do they plan to do, attack and destroy their only way into space?"
Ribbon shrugged. "You got me; as far as I can see the EFA is doing a fine job of shooting themselves in the foot." He then stared at the computer screen he was working on. "That being said, if they do attack I'm sure it's not going to be an annihilation type attack."
"They have the troops for an occupation, in other words." Lowe grumbles. "Well, that sucks. What are you working on?"
"Data for the Gründer fighter." Ribbon said tersely, and Lowe caught the implication.
"Sorry, trade secrets, right?" Lowe said quickly, and then grinned. "But I caught a glimpse of the prototype; I never thought I'd see the day when people attach feet onto a fighter and call it an 'innovation'."
Ribbon grinned despite himself. "We have Orb tech to thank for that."
"Does the new baby have a name?"
…
…
[EFA Fleet near Giga Float]
[Archangel Bridge]
…
…
"Are we…are we really doing this?" Miriallia asked.
"Orders are orders." Murrue gritted her teeth. "Do we have a reply yet?"
"Uh…no, Giga Float hasn't sent a reply." Miriallia said.
"I don't think we can stall for much more, captain." Natarle said quietly. "Let's just fight a mock battle and get it over with."
Murrue stole a glance at the Des Moines class Cruiser barely within the Archangel's sight range, unable to shake off the feeling of dread that emanated from the two missiles strapped to the ship's hull.
They can't be. She told herself again. It's far too quickly for them to have mass produced those things, they just can't be.
"Incoming message from Tolle." Miriallia said, patching him through.
"Oy, captain, I'm seeing Giga Float roll out some of its weapons; it's probably not going to just lie down and roll over." Tolle said sadly.
"I see…" Murrue sighed. "Let's wait until the last possible moment."
…
"Blaze."
"Yeah?"
"This sucks."
"I know."
Talisman stared at the Archangel's catapult. "It's…very weird, to be on the side of the aggressors. I never thought I'd be attacking a defenseless civilian center."
"Makes the two of us." Blaze muttered, thinking about the time when the Wardogs were accused of attacking a college. "As long as we put up a good fireworks show it'll work out just fine."
"I can't get rid of that feeling though." Talisman admitted.
"Me neither. Those missiles outside were probably those things." Blaze snarled.
"Then it's our job to make sure the missiles don't hit their mark." A third voice said.
Blaze looked around, seeing a bomber Spearhead that used to belong to Ribbon. "That's…William Bishop, right?"
"Yeah; Warwolf One will join the Razgriz squadron for this operation." Bishop said.
"Thank you, Sir." Blaze said, remembering that Bishop was still a colonel.
Bishop chuckled. "I don't think my rank has any meaning now. Bishop is fine."
Talisman stared at the Strike. "More importantly…are we going to use the Strike?"
Blaze glanced at the Strike as well. "I don't think so. Murrue doesn't want to, and Kira sure as hell isn't going to."
"Using it would damage our morale a lot more than it'd help." Bishop added.
"Great, so it's just us against the civilians." Talisman said dryly.
Blaze heard a click on his radio, and sighed heavily. "Well, here goes nothing. Razgriz, sortie."
…
[Giga Float]
…
"This sucks." Lowe said plainly.
"Yeah." Ribbon agreed. "But a fight is a fight, and since our opponent is the Archangel then we can get away with faking the battle a little…it's a lot better than just rolling over for an attacker just because you used to be friends with them."
"I know, but it still sucks." Lowe grumbled. "Astray, deploying!"
"Mobius One, taking off." Ribbon said, taking to the skies in his Spearhead Revision Two (The Gründer mechanics upgraded it again).
…
[Archangel]
…
"The enemy has deployed fighters." Miriallia groaned. "IFF matches for Captain Bartlett, Ribbon, and Yellow 13. We're really fighting friends?"
"Yesterday's friends become today's enemies." Natarle said calmly as her training overruled her emotions. "At the end of the day, this is business."
"She's right." Murrue said softly. "All units commence attack; our objective is to secure the airspace over Mega Float so the invasion fleet can land safely." She then gets a bright idea. "Send a message to the invasion fleet, tell them to hold position until we have achieved total air superiority; we're up against Ribbon, after all."
"Yes ma'am." Miriallia's reply was a little bit happier.
…
"We're really doing it." Blaze sighed. "Roger that. Razgriz One engaging."
"Razgriz Two, engaging!" Talisman yelled, trying to rouse himself for this unpleasant fight.
"Razgriz Three, engage." Bishop said calmly, not having the same level of attachment to the other pilots as his squad mates.
The three Razgriz Spearheads quickly climb up and join the rest of the Federation Spearheads in a small fighter cloud, bearing down upon the artificial island that is the Giga Float.
…
"Here they come." Bartlett growled. "This is just like before. Pah! Even if they used to be our friends, don't let your guard down; if the Fed is really trying to take over Mega Float they'll be coming in with invasion ships, so keep your eyes peeled." He looked around at the X-02s flying in formation behind them. "You rookies, stay with your captains and listen to what they tell you! You'll live longer that way."
"Copy, Yellow 13, Engaging. Yellow Squadron, engage as a formation; don't fight them single ship." Yellow 13's X-02 with its yellow wing tips led a squadron of X-02s colored in the same way.
"Dammit. Lowe, I understand." Lowe, being the only mobile suit pilot, had no squadron to look after. His Red Astray and its Gerbera Straight Katana lagged a little behind the rest of the fighters (as a reserve against the Strike if it deployed late).
"Antares One, roger. Antares flight, stay close to me; those guys are the real deal, fly defensively and watch each other's backs."
"Mobius Squadron, the same." Ribbon said, and then took a deep breath. "Mobius One, engage, squadron, fire XLAAs on my signal." Mobius One waited until he heard the radar lock tone from the eXperimental Long-range Anti Air missiles, and depressed the trigger. "Fox Three!"
A wave of sixteen XLAAs dropped from the X-02's underbelly, and sixteen missile trails flew towards the incoming Spearhead cloud.
"That's bad for us. Break!" Blaze ordered as soon as he heard the threat alert, and some of the Spearheads broke off from the pack in response, leaving the rest of soak the hits from the missiles. "What the hell, you guys are actually shooting at us?" He asked over a common frequency.
"Kid, know your loyalties." Bartlett responded, his squadron flying high above the EFA Spearheads. "If you choose to fly for the Federation, then we're on opposite sides here. The only thing that matters is if your flying can keep up with your mouth."
Blaze grinned. "I think I'll keep up just fine." He pulled up and accelerated.
Bartlett grinned as well. "Let's do this, Blaze." He inverted and descended.
"God you two are battle hungry." Talisman remarked with a shake of his head. "Ribbon, I think you know why we're here."
"Orders are orders, right?" Mobius One laughed sadly. "Well…I'll try to pull my punches, make sure to bail out before you go down in flames."
Talisman laughed. "Took the words right out of my mouth." He said as the two turned to face each other in midair, accelerating and charging towards each other as if jousting like knights.
"Why are they doing this again?" Sai asked nobody in particular.
"For all their talk about not wanting to do this they seem pretty gung-ho about it." Natarle agreed.
"It's because they are the Legendary Aces." Sky Eye chuckled. "And no Ace can go without testing his skill against another…Besides," He watched as Yellow 13 and Colonel Bishop fight tooth and nail for the more advantageous position while the unknown scorpion craft (Antares) laid waste to the other Federation fighters. "I imagine all of them wanted a fight like this since the day they met."
Sai rolled his eyes. "And the simulators aren't enough?"
Sky Eye openly laughed at that. "As with most things in life, nothing beats the real thing!"
…
[ZAFT Submarine]
…
Yzak whistled softly under his breath. "They really are going at it." He said as he stares transfixed at the display screen of the air battle currently raging over the Giga Float.
"Ex-friends, fighting each other over the dumbest things." Dearka's smile was just a bit too playful.
"Well, hey, if things go well we'll be rid of two really pesky enemies in one day." Yzak laughs. "I root for whichever god made this fight happen."
Dearka and Yzak continued to trade lighthearted jabs at the Federation's expense.
Athrun, on the other hand, was sitting in the corner fuming.
Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore.
"Why are we just sitting here?" Athrun's question was full of agitation.
Dearka looked at Athrun, and then looked at Yzak. "Did you two switch places when I wasn't looking?"
Yzak jabbed Dearka with his elbow. "Funny." He then looked at Athrun. "What do you mean?"
"People are dying." Athrun said simply. "Civilians are dying and all we are doing is sitting around."
"They're not our civilians." Dearka shrugged. "I feel for them, but this is a war…and besides, why did those civilians build something like that to begin with?" He gestured toward the Giga Float.
"They are still civilians." Of the three of them, Athrun had the most mental baggage from Junius Seven, and it was rearing its head now. "I'm going."
"Eh?!" Dearka exclaimed as Athrun headed out of the officer lounge. "Oy! Athrun! What the hell?" He gestured towards the empty doorway to Yzak.
"As much as I hate the Naturals…I think if they kill each other here then we should all throw a party. The hell is wrong with him?" Yzak grumbled. "Let's go, Dearka."
Dearka jumped up after Yzak. "What? Why can't we just sit here and watch it on TV?"
"Because the captain of the ship will have our head, now let's go."
…
…
"This is easy." One of the rookies on Giga Float's side said, reveling in the fact that he hasn't been hit yet. "Especially when they're not using their guns."
We're not using our guns either. "Don't get complacent; keep your eye out for the invasion fleet ships." Mobius One chided.
"Sure thing, boss." The rookie said dismissively, before his threat receiver chirped loudly. "What the…lead, ZAFT units closing in." Credit where it's due: the instant a threat appeared against the rookie pilot he immediately searched a wingman to fly with.
ZAFT? Mobius One thought quickly. "Keep your eyes open, we don't know what their intentions are." He changed his radio channel. "Mobius One to Giga Float."
"Giga Float here, Ribbon, what do you need?" Lowe's employer (the woman known only as Professor) asked.
"Hail the ZAFT units and see what their intentions are." She said, bemused.
Ribbon didn't need to have bothered; the lead DINN opened a general channel for everyone to hear.
Athrun's wrath-filled voice came over the radio. "EFA fleet, you are conducting an attack on a civilian installation. Ceasefire and withdraw immediately!"
There was a brief moment of stunned silence before Natarle facepalmed. "He's right and we want to get out of here, but we can't just leave because the enemy said so!"
"Repeat! Ceasefire and withdraw immediately!" Athrun demanded again.
The EFA warships (sans the Archangel) responded by opening fire in his general direction.
"Oy! Athrun! Did you really think that would work?!" Yzak demanded, finally catching up to Athrun in his own DINN.
Athrun simply gritted his teeth and dove towards the sea, levelling out near the ocean surface to zoom straight towards the EFA warships while dodging their retaliatory anti-air fire.
"Christ, the boy's gone insane." Mu La Flaga growled, spooling up the Skygrasper's engines. "I'm heading out!" He says as he prepared to taxi toward the nearest catapult.
Before he could, however, he saw the Strike run full speed out of the Archangel's catapult.
"Athrun! Stop! You're not making things any better!" Kira yelled as his Strike barely avoided crashing into the ocean on takeoff.
"Kira! Are these the people you're trying to protect?!" Athrun yelled in response, still on the open channel.
They know each other? People from both sides thought simultaneously.
"Barging onto the battlefield like this won't solve a thing!" Kira yelled, before blocking a shotgun spray from Athrun's DINN. "Stop! I don't want to fight you!"
"Then get lost!" Athrun snarled. "You pilot that suit to protect your friends, right?! So don't shield the people that attack the innocent with that suit of yours!" That's right…just like Junius Seven…!
His emotions reached a zenith, and Athrun felt his senses crystallize into one thought, one desire: vengeance.
"Whoa!" Kira couldn't react in time as Athrun's DINN suddenly charged into the Strike shoulder-first, and only barely registered the DINN stealing one of the Strike's beam sabers as it grappled onto the Strike and tossed it towards the ocean.
"This is what you get for copying ZAFT engineering." Athrun said coldly, reprogramming the link-up code for the DINN and the saber (letting the saber use energy from the DINN's batteries) at a breakneck pace as he flew towards the EFA warships again.
"Athrun! Dammit!" Kira pointed his rifle at the back of Athrun's unit, and pulled the trigger.
Athrun, by virtue of being something other than a total novice, dodged the shots without any real difficulty. Kira still regaining control of his suit probably didn't help his aim any.
"Dammit. All units! Break off the attack on Giga Float and focus on the incoming DINN!" Murrue ordered.
"Blaze, copy!" Blaze took a high-g turn and dove towards Athrun's DINN. Bartlett saw no reason to chase after him and instead pulled high along with his squadron to sit and wait.
Athrun paid no attention to Blaze bearing down on him from above, and instead skimmed along the ocean surface and fired his machinegun towards the nearest EFA destroyer.
After a few rounds breached the bridge, the destroyer's ammo dump took a critical hit, and the ship's body was torn clean in half by the resulting explosion.
"That kid got real good all of a sudden." Blaze snarled, diving down to the same altitude to chase Athrun down. "Strike you alright? I could use some help."
The Strike by now has impacted the water and gave Kira a slight headache. "Yeah, I'm good." He says as he pools all of the Strike's energy into its engine, taking it into the air. "I don't think I can assist you from here though." Kira growled as two more DINNs flew in to bar his path.
"Maybe we should help Athrun?" Dearka asked as he flew around the Strike.
"We are. Keep the Strike occupied. Crazy-ass over there can handle the rest." Yzak ordered.
"Aye aye." Dearka fired a few missiles at the Strike and then closed in for melee combat.
…
As Yzak predicted, Athrun was indeed able to handle the rest. The EFA fleet of the Archangel plus escorts (totaling eight ships) was soon whittled down to only one functional ship, the Archangel.
"What are you doing?!" Natarle demanded as the Archangel suffered another hit. "It's just a DINN! Kill it!"
"We're trying!" Talisman snapped. "He hasn't stopped kissing the damn ships!"
Talisman's description was apt; even as the EFA destroyers were being killed, Athrun only flew the shortest distances possible and he flew as closely to the burning wrecks of the ships as possible, bouncing between the burning wrecks with impossible precision and making the heat seeking missiles from the Spearheads useless, all to force the Aces to fly closer for a gun kill…a gun kill that didn't happen because the DINN could fly around obstacles in a way that would force the Spearhead to either slow down to follow…or to fly at it in an insanely predictable approach.
As Blaze found out to the cost of one VTOL engine, Athrun is perfectly willing to take the shot the instant anyone showed an opening.
That being said, it wasn't as if Athrun was totally untouched. His distance to the EFA ships was only achievable by taking an absurd amount of fire, and the once beetle-like shape of the DINN is now missing almost all of its wings as well as its right arm. Were it not for the assistance of his vengeance-induced SEED mode his suit would certainly not have survived.
Either way, the Archangel is having a pretty bad day right now.
"Portside guns hit! We've lost almost all port side AAs!" Sai reported. "Jesus Christ Kira, your friend is insane!"
"Athrun!" Kira dodged a burst of shotgun pellets from Yzak's DINN. "Guh…out of my way!" Kira's hasty deployment and the subsequent damage it sustained smacking into the water caused an error in his electronics, forcing him to target via his eyes.
Kira's eyes, as it turns out, were pretty good.
"Damn!" Dearka tossed his shotgun away as a shot from the Strike hit it square on the barrel. "You're still a tenacious bastard, I see!" He pulled out his machine gun, spraying the Strike with fire.
"Athrun!" Yzak yelled as he pressed in on the Strike with a flying kick. "You're in too deep! Get outta there!" The Strike blocked the kick with its shield and returned fire with its Vulcans. The kick did force it back down to the ocean surface, however.
Athrun, still in his SEED mode, didn't answer.
Kira glanced down at his energy gauge, noting that he was very close to being dry. The self-launch out of the Archangel and the constant use of afterburners to reduce any kind of distance between him and Athrun's DINN took its toll. "Dammit!" Kira cut all excess power and dove into the Ocean.
"What the…" Yzak responded by firing at the Ocean surface. "That Strike can maneuver underwater? Athrun! He's coming towards you!" He warned.
Athrun didn't seem to care.
"Oh sh-Portside Valiant is gone!" Sai bit his tongue. "Ow! That DINN ripped it off! God that hurt!"
Athrun tossed the barrel of the Valiant rail gun into the ocean and fired several shotgun blasts into the base structure, causing it to explode outwards.
"God dammit!" Blaze snarled as his infrared scanners warned him of a friendly fire hit should he launch missiles now. He switched to the Vulcans and peppered the DINN in the few seconds he had in his window of attack before he had to break off to avoid the counter fire.
Athrun barely registered the damage alert among the other alerts and warning alarms blaring in the cockpit of the DINN. He did, however, realize that he was almost out of energy.
"Yzak, Dearka, we're leaving." Athrun said emotionlessly as he dropped to the ocean surface, skimming it with his engine exhaust to create a screen of obscuring mist.
Dearka couldn't believe his ears. "What? What the hell? Athrun! God!" He fired wildly at the Spearheads chasing Athrun's DINN. "You owe us big for this crap!"
Yzak, on the other hand, was grinning. "It's about time you stopped acting so emotionless all the time, Captain Athrun."
Athrun didn't respond, instead simply choosing to disengage from the battlefield and return to his submarine carrier.
…
…
Owing to the interference of the ZAFT forces (namely just Athrun) and the destruction of the entire fleet, Murrue decided to call it a day and sail home to a nearby EFA dock on the coastline of Asia.
The Giga Float, not really interested in prolonging a fight, had no issues letting them go.
The EFA Invasion fleet took Murrue's advice and stayed the hell away from the battlefield, and returned to the docks as well once Murrue informed them of a (potential) ZAFT submarine in the area.
…
…
"Well, that was a surprise." Bartlett remarked.
The aces of Giga Float were gathered with the Junk Guild crew in a bar somewhere on the Giga Float.
"So Kira knew that kid?" Bartlett said, looking at Mobius One.
Ribbon shrugged. "I guess so…probably a pretty close friend, if they're perfectly ok with calling each other out over a general band."
"Huh." Bartlett scratched his chin. "The kid took out seven and a half warships, but if all the yelling told us anything it's that his behavior was abnormal…is ZAFT making their pilots do drugs?"
Everyone fell silent as they turned the implications of that little assumption in their heads.
"I think I saw something similar before." Ribbon mused. "Kira had a similar condition sometimes where he would drastically change in battle."
"Kind of like a super mode?" Lowe grinned. "His hand is burning red, and all that."
Ribbon smiled and shook his head. "I don't think they know how to achieve that kind of…state. If this Athrun showed us anything today…I guess their mental condition has something to do with it."
"Well…that aside." Yellow 13 grimaced. "ZAFT now has a leg up on the Giga Float thanks to the EFA…talk about strange."
Thanks to ZAFT's interference against the Archangel, they were now able to place a submarine around the Giga Float under the reasoning of "further protection against unwanted EFA aggression against Neutral assets." Of course, both sides have tried placing assets near neutral territories before, but it has always failed due to the Neutral country (in many cases, Orb) citing a lack of reason to patrol around their waters.
As far as the Giga Float is concerned, they now no longer have the shield of neutrality to hide behind, and thus must rely on ZAFT for defense…if only because any attempt to deny ZAFT aid might cause ZAFT to attack them as well, or worse, cause an EFA versus ZAFT fight right over their heads.
Bartlett's scowl told everyone present what he thought about this situation. "Yeah."
…
[Archangel]
…
Kira heard a knock on his door. "Kira, can I come in?" It was Murrue's voice.
"Yeah." Kira stood up to attention as Murrue and Natarle walked into his quarters. "Um…what's this about?"
"About that ZAFT pilot." Natarle said tersely. "How do you know him? Are you in contact with him?"
Kira didn't like the implication. "You think betraying you?"
Murrue cut across Natarle. "No, Kira, we don't. But at the same time…we lost seven ships…and seven ships worth of crew today."
Kira grimaced, and nodded. "Athrun…is a good friend of mine. I'm not sure what made him snap like that…no, no, I think I do." He glared at Natarle. "The EFA attacking a neutral place like the Giga Float probably set him off."
"So he lost someone on Junius Seven?" Murrue frowned. Her frown deepened when Kira nodded in response. "Small wonder he would go off the deep end then." She scratched her head. "Well, it's not like the Archangel is in a combat capable state, with so many of our guns killed. I wonder if the top brass will just let us walk away like this?"
"Given how utterly insane the top brass has been behaving nowadays, I severely doubt it." Natarle grunted. "It is my personal opinion that the Federation has sunk far since my father's days."
Sai's voice came over the intercom, with a measure of calmness that seemed otherworldly. "Captain Murrue, we have an incoming message from Copernicus City."
Copernicus City is located on the moon, and is a part of the EFA military infrastructure. "Why?" Murrue muttered.
Sai audibly took a deep breath. "JOSH-A has been annihilated."
…
…
[Shortly after he was shot down]
…
…
Rau Le Cruset surveyed his situation: It didn't look too good.
While he was able to crash-land his DINN in a way that preserved his own life, the DINN was certainly dead in all ways, shape, and form.
Rau climbed out of the DINN's cockpit and sat on the DINN for a while, simply observing and taking in the forest around him with a single thought rolling around in his head: What do I do now…?
Certainly, he had no way of signaling for help: any normal signal he could send can and will be received by the EFA first, and going by how the battle above his head was going the EFA will probably win it…and win it easily.
He could, however, use his ZAFT emergency signal, but…
That would take away too many options for no gain. Rau thought, and then heard something that sounded like engine noise. That sounds like it's getting closer. He ducked back into the cockpit and pulled a pistol from an emergency supply bay.
Whatever the engine belonged to, it pulled up pretty close to the DINN before the noise stopped.
"Looks like this DINN belonged to someone important." A voice said.
"Ayup…it came down pretty solid too." A second voice drawled. "You think he's still alive in there?"
Sounds like RR crew. Rau thought. Rescue and Recovery crews were vital for ZAFT, as a dead mobile suit in the vacuum of space means the death of its pilot in all but the best situations. It made sense to him that the Federation Headquarters (one of them) on Earth would employ specialized recovery crew as well.
"The hatch is popped…" The first voice mused. "Cover me, I'm going in."
"It ain't that big of a deal." The second voice chuckled, and then looked down. "Oy!"
Rau Le Cruset is a coordinator, engineered to have superior abilities over your average human. As such, before the first voice had started talking or was aware of what was happening, Rau took the advantage of height to carefully crawl out of the cockpit block and slid down to the side opposite of the EFA recovery crew.
Thus, the second recovery crewmember was blindsided by a white blur rushing at him from behind the DINN's leg stump. Before he could yell for help, Rau had charged the man and tackled him into the ground.
"Shit!" The other crewmember climbing up the DINN turned around and raised his gun, giving Rau just enough time to put a bullet squarely into his head.
…
"Well, that was a little tougher than I expected." Rau said breezily, leaving the two now uniform-less corpses behind as he drove their car towards Josh-A. "I suppose I should thank the lucky stars one of them has my hair color." He laughed.
…
…
"Welcome back…what the hell happened to you?"
Rau consciously touched his face, where a rough bandage substituted his usual mask. "Unlucky with ammunition."
The officer made a face. "Yikes, sorry to hear that." Since all Rescue and Recovery crews deployed in crews of two and only one returned, it wasn't hard to guess what happened to the other guy. "Good work; get yourself to the infirmary and some rest later."
Rau, who had purposely looked for and approached the most conscientious looking officer, saluted. "Yes sir." Good officers are hard to find…fortunately the militaries are all full of officers who misconstrue naivety as good. He thought with a mental eyeroll.
…
…
As expected, Rau went nowhere close to the infirmary, instead taking his time wandering around the oddly empty halls of Josh-A until he found an interestingly deserted room.
This must be a control station…so the high command already left? Rau thought. No…judging by the defenses arrayed against us some form of command must still be here. So only a select faction left, huh...I wonder who it was?
His thoughts were entirely different by the time he saw what the control room was for.
"Cyclops…" Rau said with a slight grin. "Must be nice, having land that will selflessly support life even if you blow it up sky-high." His grin turned sour. "Now let's what happens when your Cyclops no longer listens to you."
…
Unfortunately, it took him a while (much longer than he'd like to admit) to put the Cyclops system under his command, and during those days he secured his stay by hacking into the Josh-A's intranet and installed himself as a reasonably average-ranked officer under the EFA command with several interesting connections. Those 'connections' gave him an interesting veil of secrecy generally reserved for the highest EFA commanders, and also allowed him to give several commands to Federation assets, including the most current command given to the Archangel, telling it to attack the Giga Float. It also had the pleasant side effect of marking him as safe from investigation, which was certainly nice.
Eventually, he was able to gain access to the Cyclops system and rigged it to detonate…but only detonate after he was as far away from this place as possible.
Now, he sits comfortably inside an officer quarters back on a ZAFT submarine, immensely pleased at himself (but not showing it) as he watched the crater that used to be Josh-A bellow forth fire and smoke while listening in on the intercepted panicked radio communications from the EFA forces.
…
[Archangel, now]
Upon hearing the news that Josh-A had been annihilated, Natarle and Murrue looked at each other.
Kira observed them for a moment. "I thought you two would be more panicked." He said at last.
"Well…" Murrue made a motion that looked almost like a shrug.
The implication was pretty clear: both women regarded the loss of Josh-A with apathy at best, glee at worst.
"Aren't you two supposed to be…I don't know, responsible adults?" Kira asked with narrowed eyes.
"Oh, we're entirely responsible." Murrue assured him. "That's why we haven't celebrated yet."
Kira sighed and shook his head.
…
[ZAFT Carrier Submarine]
…
"So this was the gift he was talking about." Yzak laughed. "Commander Cruset knows his stuff, alright."
"I wondered where he was; I heard he was shot down over Josh-A and uh…I was really surprised that Zala Dad wasn't going out to get him." Dearka said.
Yzak raised an eyebrow. "Zala Dad?"
Dearka grinned. "Athrun Zala's father, Zala Dad. Dad Zala?"
Yzak shook his head. "Sure, whatever." He turned to Athrun. "How are you feeling, Mister Berserker? Guess that red coloring wasn't just for show, huh?"
Athrun wasn't all too happy with himself. Only after he came back to the ZAFT Submarine did he realize how many people he just killed by sinking those ships. While they were soldiers, and certainly they did obey an order to be on those ships…his conscience certainly wasn't keeping quiet about any of this.
Dearka frowned. "Oy…you ok, Athrun? Your face doesn't look too good."
"I'm fine." Athrun mumbled.
"If how you acted back there was you being 'fine' then I'm worried about what you'll do when you're not fine." Dearka clapped Athrun on the back. "We're buddies here, right? So don't hold out on us."
Athrun simply looked glum and scowled some more at the floor.
Yzak sneered. "What'd you expect, Dearka? Athrun is a little bag of quiet whenever we're not talking about combat nowadays." He got a glare from Athrun. "See?"
Athrun sighed. "I'm reflecting on my actions."
"So he says." Dearka chuckled. Athrun, due to his actions of killing seven EFA warships and disobeying every order in the ZAFT rulebook, was given a field promotion and ordered to stay inside the sub until they returned to Carpentaria.
As expected not even the sub captain (who had de-facto control while the submarine was in transit) knew what to do in this situation.
"What did you do back there?" Yzak asked Athrun. "It looked as if you suddenly lost control of your senses."
"That…might be accurate." Athrun nodded. "I just felt incredibly angry and then…nothing."
Dearka stared at Yzak. "Maybe you need to get angrier more often."
Yzak rolled his eyes. "I'm past that, you know." Which is true: Yzak is much calmer and far more controlled than he would've been had the Aces not shown up. "Still…do you think you can do it again?"
Athrun stared at the floor.
…
[Archangel, Hangar bay]
…
Blaze stared at his Spearhead as the mechanics crew finalized repairs on its craft.
"Hey! I heard you got your ass kicked by a brat!" Someone yelled loudly right before Blaze felt a large hand come down onto his shoulder.
"Hey to you too, Murdoch." Blaze smiled; Murdoch was responsible for rush-fixing the Spearhead. "How does it look?"
Murdoch scratched his head. "Not too good; much as I hate to admit it, we can't compete with the Gründer mechanics, and now that they've left…well, to cut to the chase, your VTOL engine is shot, we're going to need to replace it with a new one, so in the meantime you should avoid trying to use the other one."
Blaze made a mental note to try maneuvering with only one VTOL engine in the near future.
"We also needed to replace some of the armor on the wings, so it's a bit heavier than before." Murdoch continued. "But that shouldn't pose too much of an issue…how did that kid outfly you of all people?"
Because I wasn't about to risk my life for a ship trying to kill civilians? Blaze thought. "There was something strange about his flying…it was very…measuredly suicidal."
Murdoch stared at him. "Really." He said after a while. "Well, thanks to him we lost a Valiant…I still can't believe he just tore it off with his hands."
There was now a running bet among the mechanics to see which gun would be torn off next. Everyone's money seems to be on a Gottfried Cannon barrel, for some reason.
"So what's the plan?" Blaze asked.
Murdoch shrugged. "No idea. Josh-A got bombed or something, so we're holding our ground for the time being."
" 'Got bombed' is putting it lightly." Talisman said from the second floor. "Did you see it on the news? There's a massive crater where the base used to be."
"Any idea on what caused it?" Blaze called up towards him.
"Beats me." Talisman calls back. "But I think it's similar to what we saw in our first battle." The first battle being the conflict in Endymion, where the Four Aces of Strangereal fled the scene when they felt the EFA unleash something powerful on the battlefield.
Blaze thought about it a little more and then turned towards the head mechanic. "Murdoch, did the Feds ever say what they used on Endymion?"
Murdoch shook his head. "We know it's called a Cyclops system, but nothing more than that."
"So that means the Feds installed something like that under their own base?!" Talisman exclaimed. "Can we call Giga Float right now? Can we just call them and just leave this damned army?"
…
[Elsewhere]
…
Two men in very formal business suits were busy celebrating with very, very expensive champagne upon seeing the crater that used to be Josh-A.
"I don't believe this!" The first man said after calming down some. "They actually went and did it!"
"Here they come to save the day!" The second man sang. "If everything goes this well we're going to be done by next week!"
Neither of them knew exactly what happened, but they didn't care; Josh-A was destroyed, and it was destroyed in a way that clearly framed the EFA themselves as the culprits, and that was good enough for their purposes.
"Actually, we might as well hurry the plan up. It would make sense right now…" The second man wondered aloud. "It would make sense if the EFA looked like they were panicking…and hurrying towards space."
The first man smirked. "Oh, we're finally unleashing that, huh? The Ultra Special Stonehenge Extreme?"
The Second man stared at him. "Your naming sense never went past middle school, did it?"
"No." The first man laughed.
…
…
…
A few days later, the world received a shock.
A civilian airliner, inbound to the Giga Float from Orb, was shot down by a long-range strike from the Equatorial Union.
ZAFT, predictably, blamed the Federation for smuggling equipment into the EU for the rebels to use, in order to use the bodies of the neutral nations for their own purposes.
The EFA steadfastly denied that they knew what was going on, which was actually true; nobody in the EFA knew what was going on, although by now some of the more insidious members have caught on to the fact that there was a secondary organization manipulating the Federation commanders to their own ends.
Unfortunately, the realization came far, far too late.
…
Everywhere across the world, both on PLANT and Earth, simultaneously saw one message, being delivered by one man, one...slightly unkempt man.
He opened his mouth, and the world listened.
"Greetings, all peace-loving people of the world; I am Kacper (Casper) Cohen, and I have a message for all of you."
.
.
{ === + === }
Author Notes:
This chapter and the next two are technically one section, but...y'know, padding and stuff.