Phase 6: Destiny's Might

"They're not doing anything!" Kiran said in distress as everyone on the bridge gritted their teeth waiting for some sign of the groups intentions.

"Keep watching them, I don't think we're going to get off that easily," Andrew Waltfeld replied. All monitors in the ship were silent as the ships sat still in the distance contemplating the things that had just taken place.

"Get the names of the three ships," Lacus said standing up, " and hurry!" Lacus knew that certain members of the military were sympathetic toward her cause, she needed to know if any of those members were on the battlefield now.

"Do not make any moves," Uzumi said through his radio, "As long as we appear to only be defensive Kayla's speech may work on many minds." They all watched and Kiran finally pulled up the data Lacus had wanted.

"The ships we see are The Aquarius, The Versailles, and The Paresia," Kiran said to his mother, "I do believe that The Aquarius is a Clyne faction vessel!"

"No," Lacus said standing up, "they just have a few crew members who were a part of the Clyne faction when it existed. Those members haven't worked for me in years! I don't suppose we have any real chance against them." Suddenly the main general of the forces before them appeared on the screen, Lacus glared when she recognized him as General Steven Howerl, one of the worst men in the military. He was known for his brutal effective tactics when taking out threats to the PLANTs and Lacus would have had him discharged from the military had he not had the support of several council members. So they had sent him after her. She dreaded the encounter to come.

"Since you are so eager to avoid bloodshed I ask you to consider surrendering," he said slyly, "I am sure you are well aware that the chances of you making it out of this situation are impossible but I am not unreasonable. I offer you all your lives if you surrender, except of course the life of Lacus Clyne who will be placed under PLANT jurisdiction. I know your listening Clyne, it is very selfish of you to endanger your children further by not surrendering and continuing this pointless battle." Lacus gritted her teeth and thought of the words he said. If they fought the odds were they would all end up dead but if they surrendered then maybe at least her children would survive. Mother's instinct told her to save her children but then she thought of Yaro, for accuatlly piloting against ZAFT he would be charged regardless of when Howerl said and Uzumi would face the same. Uzumi's trial would lead to ORB taking some of the blame for their sudden disappearance. It seemed both ways there was too much to risk.

"Don't listen to him mother," Yaro said, "even if they keep us alive do you really think they are going to let all of us children of Lacus and Kira live in peace? Do you really think they are honorable?" Lacus looked down at the ground, the choice was too hard. What could she do?

Time has dictated that we live on with the memories that haunt us most. But what of the memories that we have forgotten? Could the mystery in the unknown free us from the hurt of our nightmares?

They were all dead. Hundreds of them, stacked like trash around the trenches. Ashy violet eyes looked into the wreckage with clear pain and fear. What had she done? She Took a step backward as she saw a small girl's head nearby. The horrific sight finally set into her mind and she let out a cry of anguish. She turned to run away from it as her fear reached its highest level but she smacked right into her commanding officer.

"Tragic isn't it," he spoke with cruelty dripping from his voice. The small girl sought comfort not another lesson.

"I killed them?" she asked with tears escaping her eyes. She dropped the gun she was holding and it made a sound as it hit the ground.

"No," the man said putting a hand on her head, "you only shot because they gave you no choice but to shoot. They killed themselves and besides you weren't the only one pulling the trigger. They would have killed you and your friends if you had let them."

"No!" she screamed louder than she had in her life, "I can't kill like this! I can't be a monster anymore."

"Not a monster," he grinned selfishly, "a nightmare for all who cross you."

"NO!"

"No!" Meiko woke up from a deep sleep and glanced around seeing that she was in her room. She had barely been asleep five minutes and this was what had happened. No the dream wasn't an actual event but it was based off the many things she had been forced to see as a child. As a young girl her training had been rough and she had been ruthlessly thrown into battle against rebels in ROW territory. She had been exploited to the max and made to see many horrific things. It had made her the sensitive but strong soul she was today even if it was meant to harden her to not understand the pain of death. She understood it well; she could feel it when she killed someone, there was a pang in her heart and the stars seemed to fall out of the sky. She felt each life leave the universe and each one broke through her mind screaming to her. She heard them all as they died though she tried to block them out; they were all there in that moment screaming in anguish as they were lost to the world. This wasn't something that had been trained into her, it was something she was born with and no one could take it from her, no matter how many things they did to harden her; she was forever soft.

Even now tears rolled down her face as she remembered how many people have died because of her. It was her life and she couldn't escape it; no one had ever tried to rescue her. She knew what her master wanted and to him she was his perfect weapon. If she tried to stray from this she would be punished and because of that she shut all those around her out hoping that if she held no one dear he could not take anything from her. When people were kind to her she ignored them, hoping that they would stay away from her. In the end of it all she always tried to tell herself that none of the actions were her own, that she had no choice but something in her heart told her it wasn't so.

Her thoughts raced back to the Eternal, was it really full of people who desired evil? In all the old stories the appearance of the Eternal marked the age of peace and in this time of fear and anger peace is what the whole world desired. In a way Meiko felt sad for the people of the Eternal for she knew they would not survive against the PLANT warships after the damage she had inflicted upon them. Now more lives would be laid on her conscience; lives she could never erase.

"I will not surrender," Lacus lifted her head from looking at the ground and opening a channel with the other ship, "for I have done nothing wrong! It is as Kayla has spoken, you all have a choice to make; kill innocence or let us go for we will not kill a single one of you if you do attack and we will not make any moves to attack until you do! I have already risked so much for this world and even now, 16 years after the great wars, I am ready to risk it all again for the sake of peace and if you to desire peace make your move!"

Yaro listened to his mother talk with such conviction that it drove everything within him to protect the ship. He felt the pressure of his duty but at the same time he felt the honor of it! They could not loose this fight and he would make sure that they didn't.

"Commander," a crew member on the Zaft ship said, "what should we do?" The general gritted his teeth and considered what had happened, today was the day that Lacus Clyne would be destroyed and he would make sure of it.

"Prepare to launch all mobile suit teams!" he shouted, "I want that ship shot down today! As general of this ship I order all of you to destroy that vessel! Use Tactics G8 and 3H." Every looked at him in shock, a few knew that the PLANT supreme council really wanted Lacus alive. Suddenly before the orders had even been given one mobile suit team launched and shot quickly toward the Eternal.

"Commander they haven't received orders!"

"What are they doing," the general yelled with rage fierce in his eyes, he could not afford to have Clyne Faction members leaving the ships left and right.

"A mobile suit team has been launched from one of the ships!" Kiran yelled in shock.

"One team?" Waltfeld questioned, "They wouldn't underestimate us that much! Keep you eyes open!"

"They are requesting to open a channel with us," Kiran said with a hint of relief in his voice. Everyone sat on the edges of their seat as they looked at Lacus for orders.

"Open it!" Lacus declared.

"This is Lunamaria Hawke of the Attha-Clyne faction," a female voice said as Lunamaria's face appeared on the screen. Everyone looked in shock, Lunamaria had been living in ORB the past few years; how could she have just joined the PLANT military without anyone noticing, "I was given orders by Cagalli Yula Attha to gather any members of the Clyne faction military. Me and my four comrades request to join you against those who would oppress you. For the sake of peace we will fight to protect the White Queen with out lives."

"Lunamaria!" Lacus replied in relief, "thank goodness! We receive your aid gladly as we need it! Please Join our three mobile suits and if you need repairs feel free to enter the eternal at any time! You are very much thanked for your actions."

"No problem!" Lunamaria said, "according to my intelligence there is more help on the way! But be prepared for a swift attack." Just then another three mobile suit teams of the advanced fleet launched and the now eight mobile suit pilots on Lacus's side prepared themselves for the fight.

The battle begun swiftly as both mobile suit groups clashed between the ZAFT ships and the eternal. Lacus gave her group strict orders not to kill anyone which made it much harder for them all.

"Yaro!" Yaro had just disabled a mobile suit when Uzumi has called for him.

"What!" Yaro said desperately fighting off another enemy.

"We need to keep those ships from breaking around the battlefield and getting a clear shot at the Eternal!" Uzumi said, "the middle one is backing up the mobile suit teams but the other two..." Yaro saw the formation on his radar and tracking system, they were going for their true target, Lacus Clyne. He clenched his teeth at the thought of the Eternal being destroyed. Yaro flipped around the mobile suit he was fighting and slashed at its main engines before kicking it away from him.

"You take right!" Yaro said blasting away from the battle toward the ship on the left and ignoring the voices that tried to contact him on his comm system. The move was reckless but he knew what he had to do, the Eternal and everyone on it depended on him! He could not let them down, he wouldn't.

As he approached the ship he was met by many shots and a mobile suit that had stayed behind to defend the ship. He played it safe only defending against the mobile suits attack hoping that he could find the pilots weaknesses. He realized the mobile suit was equipped for a distance battle and that in a close battle it wouldn't last long. He then drew his beam sword and deflected some beams from the ship behind the mobile suit before going in for a close attack on the suit. He clopped at the legs of the unit and then shot its head off with the built in cannons on the booster pack. The unit was left flying blind and Yaro used that advantage to attack the ship. His family had to survive.

"Uzumi, a close attack on the ship without full power is too risky," Kiran pleaded with his cousin.

"I'm almost there," Uumzi cried pushing his Gundam to move faster, "there's no turning back. We have to make it through this and we can't let anyone get near the eternal." As Uzumi neared the large vessel he vowed only to take out the guns and engines. He would not allow blood to stain his hands. He began a quick formation and swung around the ship taking out some of it's main guns. After a second swing he shot down a wave of missiles while dodging more beams from the ship. He took a beam to his sheild which destroyed it. He would have to be more careful now. He swung around the back of the ship this time and tore at it's engines. He took out one of the five engines and a few more towers on the ship

He dodged another close shot and cursed himself for not watching all angles. He looked and saw that his power was almost near the yellow zone. Three direct hits and he would loose his armor, not to mention those cannons were strong enough to take him out now with three direct hits. He shot away from the ship realizing he had done all he could, he just hoped that Yaro fared better.

Lunamaria fought desperately in the strange unit she had stolen. She watched as two of her comrades fell in the battle and now only four units defended the Eternal as Uzumi and Yaro shot off toward the ships. Dearka couldn't do much sitting by the bridge and firing warning shots at anyone who dared to get near to the ship. She worked hard to only disarm the mobile suits though it would have been much easier to completely destroy them.

Another wave of suits was launched from the middle ship as Lunamaria and her two comrades cleaned up most of the previous wave. They wouldn't last if the ship didn't stop launching waves.

"Lunamaria," she heard Lacus's voice, "how many mobile suits is that middle ship carrying?"

"That one was filled past capacity," Lunamaria declared, "they wanted to overwhelm us!" Lunamaria looked at her timer, they had to hold out for a little longer. Where was the help they were promised?

Yaro attacked the ship's many cannons with full force searching for a way to stop the large craft. Could he really bring it down?

"Go for the engines Yaro!" he heard Dearka's voice. "that way you'll bring stop it without killing anyone. Be careful."

"Got it!" Yaro said. He tried hard to make it to the engines but the cannons were firing double what they had before. This was getting desperate. Suddenly one of the cannons that Yaro thought he had crippled unexpectedly shot, he made a move to dodge at the last minute but it hit him severing off the leg of us unit. He cried out as his Gundam was thrown away from the ship. He wasn't going to die, he couldn't! The people on the Eternal were depending on him. His breathing increased as he reached out with his mind and suddenly gained control of something. The G4 booster pack erupted as he shot the heavy missiles stored in it. The effort it took to control the pack from his unit drained all the power left in the Visage. He watched in horror as the missiles planted themselves all around the ship exploding and destroying the ship and every life in it.

"NOO!" he yelled.

"General we have completely lost The Paresia!" A bridge member declared, "and The Aquarius is badly damaged. It's those two Clyne faction suits!"

"Continue to concentrate all attacks on the Eternal," the General yelled with fire in his eyes, "we can't let them get away!"

"Yaro has lost all power!" Kiran yelled with worry.

"What happened?" Lacus yelled. Without power Yaro would be a sitting duck.

"The Paresia has been completely destroyed!" Kiran declared earning a shocked and saddened looks from everyone. Tears came to Lacus's eyes, Yaro had now been stained by the blood of the people on the ship and he would likely carry the scar of it the rest of his life just like Kira had done. Every person Kira had killed in the first war still haunted him. Lacus did not want Yaro to feel that pain and neither did Kira; that's why they had fought so hard for peace.

"A mobile suit has broken through!" Watlfeld yelled from his seat.

"It's coming straight for us!" Kiran said, "and there's another one heading for Yaro!"

"We can't die!" Lacus cried, "We have to make it."

Yaro fought to gain some control of his powerless suit as he saw another unit moving away from the battle toward him! He screamed out as he heard the voices of his loved ones screaming his name into his intercom. Tears filled his eyes as the deaths of the people in the ship he destroyed hit his mind. The unit bore down on him, he braced himself for the blow of the beam sword and closed his eyes.

Is this the end? The world has begun to fall into unrest and I still have so much left to do. I can't leave them all. Lacus and Kira have been better parents to me than anyone ever could be and my siblings Leyas, Kiran and Kayla look up to me as their brother. There are so many people in this world who care about me even though I am just an orphan... So why? Why do people insist on fighting? Why was ROW created and why did I have to be born in this time?

Violet eyes and Red bangs. A tear. A heart. Something he couldn't see. A hidden path.

What?

The blow that he expected to feel never came as he heard the sound of something fast swing in front of him followed by mini explosions waking him from his trance. He opened his tightly shut eyes and saw something. A unit hovered in front of him defending him and The Visage. He looked toward the machine as a few tears escaped his eyes. He was alive.

"A Gundam," he said.

"This is Destiny pilot Shinn Auska," a transmission said, "please respond Yaro Yamato."

"Shinn?" Yaro said shocked. He hadn't seen Shinn in four years since his last visit to ORB, he was a friend of the family and according to Uzumi one of the best mobile suit pilots in Cagalli's secret military. What was he doing here.

"Looks like we made it just in time," Shinn said with a grin scooping up the downed Mobile Suit.

Lacus and the rest of the bridge watched in awe as the Minerva came into sight blasting a few mobile suits out of its path. Dearka had successfully shot down the mobile suit that was coming at the Eternal thanks to the Minerva distracting it. Now the giant warship bore down on the two remaining ZAFT vessels.

"This is Captain Meyrin Hawke of the Clyne-Attha Faction," Meyrins voice rang through the bridge of the Eternal, "Lacus Yamato do you read me." Kiran smirked as he heard his mothers real last name spoken, people forgot it all the time but her closest friends never did.

"Meyrin!" Lacus declared with joy.

"Hello Lacus, how fare the Yamato clan?" Meyrin said with a smile.

"We made it!" Kiran yelled before Lacus could answer.

"As he said," Lacus laughed.

"It seems Yaro was rescued by the Destiny?" Kiran said with a puzzled look at his monitor, "does that mean Uncle Shinn is here?"

"Sure does," Waltfeld said, "They couldn't have come a moment too late."

Shinn jumped into the middle of the battlefield just in time as he saw only two Clyne faction units remained. He tore through mobile suit after mobile suit, disabling all and not killing any with a power much greater than that of any other unit on the feild. He had first secured the Visage on The Minerva because it was much closer than the Eternal. He looked toward the Clyne faction unit with curiosity, he recognized that fighting style but he didn't know where from. He saw a unit moving toward the suit and took it out before the suit could.

"I can take care of myself you know," an angry voice that he instantly recognized said.

"Lunamaria!" he said shocked, "what are you doing here?"

"You don't think your the only one who cares about what happens in this world?" She snapped, "At least I didn't arrive late!"

"Whatever Luna," he stated. She hadn't changed one bit, still angry at him. Shinn shot away from the small mobile suit battle toward the middle ship which was completely undamaged. He beat the Minerva to it and began taking out the heavy altileray that decorated the warship. He would not let them get a step closer to the Eternal or Lacus, not in this life.

"Commander, The Destiny is right beside us!" A bridge member yelled.

"Impossible!" General Howerl exclaimed, "the Minerva was destroyed in the war sixteen years ago as was the Destiny! Where have they been hiding all these years?"

"The situation is getting out of our control," another member said, "sir without the Parisea and with these new developments we're sitting ducks out here. The Destiny is tearing apart our weapons! We have to order a retreat." Howerl glared at the battlefeild, he would never live this down when he returned to the PLANTs.

"The ZAFT forces are retreating," a bridge member on the Minerva said.

"Good thing to," Meyrin said, "we wouldn't want to be forced to turn them into space dust."

"The Eternal has been crippled beyond belief," Arthur Trine, a long time Minerva crew member spoke up, "its a wonder she made it through that."

"It seems the Eternal got away from the ZAFT forces," Trey said to Mieko. She and him sat in the ships dining hall and she had barely spoken two words through the entire meal. Her head shot up at the words but she didn't say anything, her heart calmed telling her that there would be no more lives added to her hands for now. She looked back down to her plate.

"Does that mean we're going after them again?" she asked.

"No," Trey responded, "it has been rumored that the Minerva rescued them."

"The Minerva?" Meiko asked loudly with shock. Everyone in the hall looked toward them. She looked back down at her plate, the Minerva was a famed warship from the Second Bloody Valentine. It had been defeated by the Archangel and it hadn't been seen since, how now was it fighting alongside the Eternal?

"That's the story," Trey whispered, "and it seems the higher up's aren't really pleased. I've heard that they have started production on a new mobile suit system to defeat the Clyne units."

"I certainly don't want to fight them again," Meiko said crossing her arms. She hoped beyond hope that she would soon be free of the battlefield

After the Eternal and the Minerva had made it a distance away from the battlefield Meyrin made arrangements for Lacus and a few others to be brought onto the Minerva to discuss the matters at hand. One thing was for certain they wouldn't be going back to the PLANTs any time soon.

"Welcome Lacus," Meyrin said as the White Queen came onto the bridge with Andrew Waltfeld, Lunamaria Hawke, Dearka Elsman and Uzumi Zala. Yaro walked up to greet his mother whom was overjoyed that he was alive.

"We have our lives to thank you for," Lacus said, "we would have all been history had you not come along when you did. But I do have one question, who was it that sent you." Just them someone walked from out of the shadows into the light and everyone's eyes widened at the sight of the war veteran.

"My dear wife did," Athrun spoke, "she couldn't bear to sit around and wait for news without taking action." Uzumi's eyes widened and the 15 year old couldn't contain himself he ran and hugged his father. Lacus smiled at the family reunion and Yaro looked on in complete shock. Athrun had come for them as well. Just then Shinn came onto the bridge and floated over to Meyrin with a flash drive and put it in her hands and then turned to Lunamaria who was glaring at him.

"So I saved you earlier Miss Hawke," he said, "glad I could be of assistance." She ignored him and turned to her sister.

"I am glad all the operations went smoothly in the PLANTs," Meyrin said to Luna, "It's good to see you're still alive."

"Thanks sis," Lunamaria said.

"Now to the matter at hand," Athrun said, "ZAFT is clearly after you and you alone Lacus, they don't care about your children in this process as long as your brought to what they call 'justice.'"

"I don't think they'll be coming at again us just yet," Lacus said.

"No," Athrun reasoned, "but if we did, we now have the Impluse 2, Destiny and Infinite Justice to protect the Eternal. Plus there is the power of the Minerva. We do need to decide where we are going from here."

"We need to continue our course to the Clyne faction base before we decide anything," Waltfeld said, "with the Eternal in such bad shape it can not enter the atmosphere and we can not send it ahead on its own without any protection."

"Then we will discuss the matter of the children later," Athrun said, "for now lets just be glad we all made it through."

"Sir we are approaching the Mars base," a bridge member stated.

"Very good," the Captain said looking out of the window at the vastness of space. It had taken them much longer to get here than he had anticipated and at this moment he wondered what was going on in the PLANTs. Perhaps it had been foolish for him to leave so suddenly, but the leads they had gotten were very important to unraveling the mystery that had been plaguing the world for so long.

Kira Yamato had been in many battles but nothing could prepare him for the one that was coming. An alert sounded through the ship.

"Captain! Mobile suits are launching from the abandoned site!" a bridge member yelled.

"Then it obviously wasn't abandoned!" Kira responded. "Load all missile launchers and tell the pilots to standby." Suddenly the units made lunges for the docks of the ship blowing holes into the mobile suit bays in a suicide attack. Kira yelled for the missile teams to fire but none of the missiles hit the targets. Suddenly two shuttles flew right into the hangar of the ship.

Many things happened and in seemingly no time men with guns had filled the bridge and the crew of the Liberty had no choice but to surrender.

I am glad I finally finished this chapter. It took awhile as I was discouraged with the lack of reviews I have been getting on this story. I had planned to put it on hold for awhile but I got a little excided and inspired yesterday so I finished the chapter and edited it this morning. I hope it doesn't seem too rushed as I was really excited while writing it. Final Kira has come into the picture.

Now I want Feedback. Please Review and tell me what you think of the Plot so far, of my OC's and I really want to know what you think of Meiko as she is very important to the central arc of the story. so PLEASE PLEASE review!

-WintersChill