Gundam Seed: The Federation

by Blackshadow999

Different telling of Gundam Seed. With the conflict between Naturals and Coordinators getting worse as time passes, some nations have banded together and formed the organization known as the Human Federation. Will the Federation be able to help bring peace or will the hatred between Naturals and Coordinators destroy everything and bring extinction of humanity? Cover by SaddlePatch

24. Phase 24: Entering a Nightmare

A/n

This chapter just came in spurts, I don't know why, but that's how some go. Anyways, here is Phase 24. Standard disclaimer applies so on with the story!

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Phase 24: Entering a Nightmare

July 24th, 71 C.E.

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-Neutral pov-

Classified Location, Atlantic Federation

Weeks after the retaking of Victoria, Azrael had given the plans for the Neutron Jammer Canceller over to Alliance scientists to make them mass producible. The sooner that nuclear weapons could be made at a good fast pace, the better in Azrael's mind. Once the PLANTs were destroyed, the sooner the rest of the dirty Coordinators could be hunted down and exterminated. When all Coordinators were gone, then things would become peaceful and anything that was out of place could be arranged as needed.

Now, Azrael had been called for a meeting of the Earth Alliance's leadership, to decided what was next. Azrael didn't see a reason for this meeting other than it being a formality, but he chose to humor the others in the leadership. It was obvious that the next step for the Earth Forces, was to produce nuclear warheads and then send them at the PLANTs, it was logical. And so, Azrael sat in his chair listening to the boring report of what had been going on here on Earth. The basic message of the report was that the Earth Forces were doing well against ZAFT. The employment of mobile suits had changed the flow of battles with ZAFT, where the enemy pilots might have better skill, they could be overwhelmed numbers.

However, even with the fight against ZAFT going better, especially with the taking of Carpentaria and its mass driver. But, all that progress was overshadowed an amount by the losses against the Federation. Thus far, there hadn't been a single notable victory against the Federation forces, though there had been a sizable number of attempts made. Not one of the three mass drivers they controlled had been obtained and that irked Azrael internally. Oh, he had read some of the reports upon previous encounters with the Federation, but there was nothing that told of why the Earth Forces couldn't beat them.

But finally, the reporting portion finished up and the meeting moved on to the standing business and that was what Azrael want to get to, so he could leave. The discussion started with an admittance of gratitude to Azrael for his contribution of the N-Jammer Canceller. Azrael managed to hold back on the magnitude of the smirk that formed on his face at the compliment, "Please gentleman, it was nothing, just doing my part to the cause we fight for, though the thanks is appreciated," Azrael remarked.

"Yes, well done Azrael, but I disagree with your insistence that the building a nuclear arsenal being what should be done next," said one of the other leaders.

Azrael blinked at the last part of the statement, for he hadn't expected it to be said outright, muttered from some of the weaker willed here sure, but not said. "I see, what then, would you suggest should be done next?" Azrael asked evenly, containing his rising annoyance. It was important that he keep up his appearance right now with this group.

The same man that had spoken about not building a nuclear arsenal, looked Azrael directly in the eyes, "With the ability to cancel out the effects of the N-Jammers, there is now more than just a slim chance to solve the worsening energy crisis that parts of Earth have been suffering through for years to decades and beyond. With nuclear power available, that crisis can be a thing of the past and then quality of life for those who live on Earth overall, would go up by a sizable amount." He said.

There were mutterings of agreement from all around the table, "So then, you would rather solve a crisis that effects a small part of the population on Earth, rather than bringing peace by ending the ongoing war?" Azrael posed.

"That's not what is being suggested," said another man.

Azrael put a hand to his chin, "But, that's what you're saying. We now have nuclear technology again, and that can be used to end this war. All that needs to be done, is to produce nuclear warheads and then fire them at the PLANTs, then the war comes to an end," he stated.

"Muruta Azrael, have you forgotten what came when the nuclear strike was made on Junius Seven? That action is what brought about this war down on us, why nuclear technology has been became unavailable. The N-Jammers were dropped upon Earth because of the destruction of the colony, along with the military sanctions that ended out causing many of the problems faced today," said a different man insistently.

"And then, your "negotiations" with the member nations of the Federation have resulted with nothing other than issues and they are still being felt Azrael. Losses throughout the seaborne fleets and then three full orbital fleets have been wiped out and the majority of a fourth as well. That has been the response of the Federation military to your methods of diplomacy and negotiation, nearly half of the Earth Forces' space force eliminate and an amount of the earthbound fleets, all in the period of just under two months. And yet, you say that fighting both the Federation and ZAFT at the same time isn't enough? We should go and stir up even more trouble by going for the PLANTs themselves, which means that we would be throwing all we have at the majority ZAFT's fighting force," said yet another member of the leadership at the table.

Azrael wasn't happy hearing about the response and interference that the Federation. They had managed to cut down a good portion of the Alliance's fighting force, but had also repelled the Earth Forces from taking any of their territory thus far. The attempts to force them to conform to the rightful leaders of Earth, had yet to succeed in any way other than ending in embarrassing the Alliance. They had turned out to be a bigger issue than he had expected, even Azrael had to admit it. But then an idea came to Azrael, perhaps it could shift attention from what was being suggested back to where things should be. "Your idea to solve the energy crisis is good, my apologies in ever saying that it was not. However, why just use nuclear power in one way ladies and gentlemen? I suggest that we do a test, perhaps one of ZAFT defending bases, either Boaz or Jachin Due. Would that be agreeable?" Azrael suggested.

There was silence around the table for a moment, "A test against one of the ZAFT bases you say, and what purpose would that serve other than satisfying your interests?" Asked an another at the table.

Azrael shrugged, "Why, to show ZAFT that where we stand in protecting those we represent. The phase from the far reaches of history, 'kill one to warn a hundred' and that I would think is still valid. Show where we stand, is that not a good thing to do? Hopefully, that message will sink in and they surrender, then the war can come to an end without an serious incident," posed Azrael.

"Well, yes, showing our standing is good and everything, but," said a woman

But, Azrael cut her off, "A showing a strength is needed now, I can handle the operation and I promise I will do better than the… mistakes that were made with the Federation. Meanwhile, you all can concentrate on the upcoming operation to acquire a third mass driver. I mean, with how far we have come, we can't stop now. The Federation have been proving more difficult than previously expected, so serious preparation will be needed."

The meeting pretty much ended on that note and Azrael took the opportunity to head back up to space before any changed their minds. When he got to the Ptolemaeus Lunar Base, he delivered the orders to start refitting ships there to be able to carry nuclear missiles. While Azrael's plans had experienced some steps back, overall, it was still moving forward and that's what counted to him. He would personally see that at least one nuclear warhead hit one of the PLANTs, he preferred to see much more, but a ZAFT base was a start in the right direction.

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PLANTs, L5

A few days after relieving both the Chief Attorney and Deputy Attorney from their responsibilities within the Justice Department, Patrick Zala used the media and publicly announced that Lanus Treize was a traitor to the PLANTs. He even went into details that painted a picture that were lies about the unofficial leader of the ZAFT military and were contrary to his well-known reputation. The reactions to the accusation of treason against Lanus Treize were mixed, but fell into two different responses overall that became clear in a period of two weeks. Nevertheless, the reactions were just the start, for they set off other events that had been slowly developing. The announcement had more been a more a boiling point for the building tension within the PLANTs. The two sides that formed after the announcement were, on one side shouts of contradiction to the claims that Lanus Treize was guilty of treason. Meanwhile, on the other side of the spectrum, cries for the man to face justice for the crimes that he was being accused of.

Those who believed that Treize was innocent, defended him by shouting of all the good Treize had done for ZAFT and the PLANTs, and Treize's defenders had no shortage of material to use to show that Treize had done much in order to protect the PLANTs. The man's military record was a shining example and had little bad things to say about him. While those believed Lanus Treize was a traitor, countered the facts that defended him with the lies that were fed to them from the government. Overall, the argument brought chaos and turmoil to the PLANTs and was dividing the citizens and made it worse.

The issues that this caused for the Supreme Council, didn't just come with the citizens of the PLANTs being divided on the issue of Lanus Treize. Not when the National Defense Committee began seeing signs that a growing portion of the military forces were no longer listening to those on the committee or any other members of the government. There was even dissension within the government itself and it was growing at an alarming rate. Yet, even with all of this resulting from the public announcement of Lanus Treize being a criminal, Patrick Zala didn't seem to notice this growing problem. Although, the percentage of the ZAFT military that wasn't taking commands from the PLANTs government was increasing with each passing week.

But, there was still more trouble for the PLANTs government, for the growing schism between different parts within ZAFT, made things even harder to run things. When the Justice Department shut down after their leaders were kick out and the employees refused to come into work, it took only a few days for the effects to be felt by many. The work that the Justice Department would normally do, was redirected to the Legislative and Administrative committees and they became quickly swamped. Yet, those leading the Supreme Council kept pushing forwards even as others yelled for them to stop. This in turn, cause alienation among many and that encouraged more to refuse to follow Chairman Zala's leadership.

Nonetheless, there was yet even more bad news, even if it was external rather than internal. The reports coming in from ZAFT military forces stationed on Earth, didn't instill confidence or help morale at all, the opposite really. With the Earth Alliance gaining access to mobile suit, they had been getting bolder as time went on. Their attempts against the Federation hadn't been fruitful, but that wasn't the case with ZAFT. Their most recent action was to attack the Carpentaria base in the Oceanic Union and in the end, the Alliance had pushed back ZAFT forces. As a result, the Earth Alliance had gained a second Mass driver to use. All of this, just caused the war between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, to keep getting more bloody and gruesome each passing day.

-Line Break-

Western Coast of the Euros Coalition

Close to two months since the pacific member nations of the Human Federation had been attacked by the Alliance. The day dawned as the view of the south-western coastline of the Human Federation's Euros Coalition, came to the sight of the large Alliance seaborne fleet drawing closer to the Federation territory. They were moving from the south, up the African coastline towards the Strait of Gibraltar that was the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. The mission of the Earth Alliance's fifth Seaborne fleet, was to assault the facilities around the Federation's mass driver Chronos, and take control of it. A simple task to say, but was unlikely to be an easy objective to fulfill in any way.

Those in command of the fleet, had been studying the three previous attempts made to seize Federation territory, specifically the endeavors to take the other mass drivers that the Federation controlled in both the Republic and Orb. The captain of the fleet, wasn't one that agreed with the members of the current Earth Alliance leadership. The Human Federation and their military were not to be taken lightly, that was a mistake which came with a heavy price. The attacks on the three Federation member nations in the Pacific Ocean was proof of that, and the Euros Coalition was seen as the strong power of the Atlantic Ocean by most.

One of the major issues the Alliance faced, there was little known about what kind of defense the Euros Coalition had set in place. The biggest reason that was the case, was the Federation military's Asgard Base that was on the large island that had been known as Iceland in earlier times prevented it. That base had stood in the way of the Earth Forces doing anything in the area of the Euros Coalition. Every single assault made on that base never got to the island itself and always came with terrible losses. Because of that, the fifth fleet had been forced to come up from the south to avoid the base, and still reach the Strait of Gibraltar. ZAFT's base which they had there, was ignored as that wasn't the Alliance's target, but that didn't stop the commanders in the fleet from watching the base for activity as they passed at a sizable distance.

The fleet moved towards the first collection of islands in the sea and they soon came into view and the tension grew at a faster pace as they did. It wasn't that the leaders of the fleet wondered if there would be a response to their approach, but rather what it would be from the defending forces of the Federation, just little to nothing to say what it would be or when it would come. Mobile suits were now a given and that would make things more difficult, as the Federation mobile suits had proven to be a small margin better than ZAFT's GINN models. They were also equal, if not slightly better with their experienced pilot, to the Alliance's Strike Daggers were now with the acquired battle experience.

And yet, as the Earth Forces fleet closed more distance between them and the mass driver, it didn't go unnoticed by the Federation defense forces. They were getting ready to receive them, and the first thing that was done, was to protect the mass driver itself. Chronos was designed so that the tracks could submerge in sections, to only leave the port and the tracks on land reachable. Even the end of the mass driver could submerge, by first flattening then lowering into the water. And so, Chronos sunk underwater as the Alliance forces drew closer, which was noted by both ZAFT and the Alliance.

The next task to solidify the defenses the Coalition had, was to activate the network of defensive guns, missiles and interception systems. All of that made up what was called the "Sentinel Defense Network", which protected against anything that approached by sea or air from the west or south. The network was managed by a control system that was considered to be a serious step towards artificial intelligence. The system could learn and modify its performance during any given situation and so could improve its tactics and methodology it employed. The guns, missiles and other things that were a part of Sentinel, were built to be hidden when not in use. It was so that neither the Earth Alliance nor ZAFT would have any idea of the network's existence. And thus far, neither side had tested the defenses that surrounded Chronos fully, meaning that the coming Earth Forces fleet would be the first real test of the network.

The defenses were set along the western coastline of the Leeian peninsula, formerly the Italian peninsula, as well as the three islands that were close to the peninsula itself. West of the peninsula, the two islands, the center that had been known as Sardinia while the northern was previously named Corsica, before the Reconstruction War, were where the forward line of defense. The two islands had the majority of the guns and interceptors for stopping any coming from the west. The southern island and large of the two that had been called Sicilia provided the same basic function and setup for the south. The heavier guns were on the sides of the islands facing away from the mass driver, while the interception system equipment was on the nearer side.

The types of guns that were employed were; positron cannons, plasma turrets, beam cannons, railguns and a long-range artillery cannon. There were four positron cannons, two on each of the western islands. The northern island cannons placed in the Gulf of Sagone and the other in the Ajaccio Gulf. On the western island, one positron cannon was on a cape of land that was called the Caccia Cape that was at the northwestern part of the island. The other cannon was set on a small landmass off the southwestern end of the island, which had once been called St. Peter's Island. The single long-range artillery cannon was located in the Gulf of Oristano and it was contained in an underwater complex that would rise up and out of the water to be used. The cannon itself, was made up of the swiveling turret with the fifty-meter-long barrel, and the cannon fired large shells, which varied in type.

Along the rest of the western shoreline of both islands, was a mixture of either caliber twin barreled turrets, plasma turrets, duel railguns, beam cannons and multi-barreled CIWS guns. Each plasma turret, was a double barreled heavy plasma cannon connected to a pivoting platform by the support frame. Then on the east side of the island, was an array of gatling guns and laser interception guns.

There was much the same set along the coastline of the peninsula, minus the positron cannons and artillery. But in addition, there were a number of fields that housed batteries of multi-ranged missiles. And all these weapons were made and developed by the "Koovos" Weapons development Complex that was in the Coalition. That was only the fixed defenses, for there was also the mobile suits the Federation had stationed for the protection of the Euros Coalition. Those were readying to fly out and halt the advance of the Earth Forces towards their land.

With the Earth Forces fleet that was approaching, half the mobile suits were being assigned to take out any that tried to get to land, while the other half would start shooting the Alliance ships from the side along the southern coast. Combined with the military forces doing that, Sentinel would work on cutting down the Alliance fleet's numbers. And as Sentinel was switched to its active mode, the control system of the network linked to Federation satellites that were in orbit, invisible to the human eye and sensors. The satellites were a part of the Federation's information network and also gave access to the network itself. The data from the satellites, were being fed into the targeting sub-systems Sentinel had, for the purpose of tracking targets in real time. This was also being done for increased accuracy for the defensive weapons on their targets. All the cannons and guns were raised from the storage and standby positions below ground to their active positions.

The operators in the control center that was in close proximity to the Chronos mass driver itself, were working at a quick pace. The one in charge there was a Federation captain, he was keeping calm even with the growing tension. "Sentinel, Status," he said.

"Chronos has been lowered to submerged position. Links to the information network have been established. All defenses have been switched to active mode. Fighter squadrons are in the final stages of preparation to launch out. Military command has declared conflict unavoidable and are sending out final orders," said a mechanical baritone masculine voice in response, without any emotional tones in it.

The captain nodded at hearing things were going according to procedure, "And what information is there on the Earth Forces fleet coming our way?" he asked.

There was a pause for a moment, "The Earth Forces fleet is identified as the OMNI Enforcer's fifth seaborne fleet. The fleet consists of thirty-nine vessels; ten Spengler-class Carriers, ten Arkansas-class vessels, nine Des Moines-class vessels, and ten Fraser-class vessels. The flagship of the fleet is designated as the Henry Johnson, according to available information it is under the command of Captain Christopher Robinson. The fleet is currently approaching the outer defense perimeter, estimated time until they come into defensive weapons' range with current speed, is thirty minutes." iterated Sentinel.

All that heard the calculated timeframe that Sentinel had stated, knew those thirty or so minutes needed to count. Not only were they facing the largest of the Earth Alliance's seaborne fleets, which had been added to from what the Alliance had it before, but it was clear they were determined to reach mass driver. There was faith in the fact that Sentinel would take down a portion of the fleet as it came, but with how aggressive the Earth Alliance had increased recently, predicting their behavior was far more complicated than it used to be.

The thirty minutes passed slowly and only allowed the tension to get higher and thicker. But then came the dreaded announcement, "Alliance fleet has come into weapons' firing range, fighter squadrons have been given the order to scramble, awaiting orders," Sentinel stated.

The Federation captain took a deep breath, "Very well then, since the Earth Forces are so determined, then we shall show them that we have no intention to give them satisfaction. The Alliance will not obtain control of Chronos and they will not be taking over the management of the Euros Coalition. Sentinel, commence interception protocol Alpha, no Earth Forces ships are to reach effective firing range of this facility nor inhabited areas," ordered the captain.

"Acknowledged, commencing hostile target interception," Sentinel returned.

The largest display changed from showing the location and status of the defense network to showing the Earth Forces fleet as they approached. Each ship now was identified by its class and even displaying the ship's name. Lines appeared, using satellite data to connect the defensive guns to the ship they were targeting in real time, this got the weapons turning to point at their designated target. Then began the barrage, which was kicked off by the artillery cannon. The cannon aimed at the group of lead Arkansas-class ship and fired the high-yield explosive shell it was loaded with. The shot hit the forward most vessel, and caused an explosion that threw shrapnel in all directions.

After the first few shots from the artillery cannon, the Alliance fleet then came into range of the positron cannons and they were quick to join the assault to get the Alliance to leave the Coalition alone. The barrage didn't stop the Earth Forces fleet in their advance, yet it did slow their movement forward a margin. But, as the Alliance fleet kept pushing forward, losses taken climbed at an increasing rate. However, they were slowed to a crawl when the railguns, plasma turrets and beam cannons added their shots to the barrage.

It was as the Alliance got within firing distance of the islands off of the peninsula and in view of the coastline of the peninsula itself, when the battle became worse. The Alliance were being battered and shot at, but it was being done with a high amount of accuracy. Nevertheless, the advancement of the Alliance fleet had gotten the Spengler-classes close to the longest range they needed to be in to send mobile suits to the mainland. The Strike Daggers began lifting off from their ships, heading for the Coalition's mainland. Should they get there, then they could start disabling the Federation's defense that were ripping into the Earth Forces' fleet.

A percentage of the Alliance mobile suits were destroyed before they reached either of the islands that he defense were placed on. But a number of the Daggers landed on the the southern western island and began shooting the turrets and other defensive guns. More of the Alliance mobile suits flew forward toward the peninsula and the control and command structures. For a moment, the Alliance thought that maybe they could achieve the objectives they were here to do. However, that didn't last long, as the approaching mobile suit started being shot down by Federation machines that came down upon them.

Then there the Alliance fleet came under attack from the southern coast of the Euros Coalition, which came from linear tanks and mobile suits. More Strike Daggers were deployed to counter the attacks, and that hampered the Federation's strike a margin. Yet next, the Federation employed the missile launchers they had hidden. Multiple missile pod batteries were raised up from underground in different places close to the coast, then they all swiveled to point in the direction of the Earth Forces. Each battery, was loaded with three SM7 hawk type missiles. The missile type had a varying range and carried a rather unique payload to their assigned target. The defenders began launching missile from their batteries, and the sight of seven-meter missiles flying towards the intruders quickly became visible to the defenders of the Coalition.

All the missiles shortly reached the top of their launching arc before they turned towards the Alliance fleet. The ships had their CIWS attempt to intercept the missile as they were coming into range and some exploded when they were hit. However, those missile that were not intercepted, went into their second stage. The SM7 Hawk missile or Swarm Missile 7 as its full name is, were designed as two-stage weapons, where the first was used to get the payload in range of the target and the second stage would do the damage. So, when the top sections of the missiles came off, the beholders were wondering what was about to happen. A moment later, seven micro missiles launch out of the remaining missiles. The explosives on each micro missile are positioned in the midsection rather than at the head, because of the other piece of equipment on the forward section of the missile. That equipment was an optic sensor along with an onboard computer, which could home in on a target or changed direction while in flight.

The micro missiles shot forward and zoomed forward towards the ships ahead of them. This turned the remaining missiles into seven times what there had been before. With the increased number of incoming projectiles, the Earth Forces' CIWS systems were extremely hard pressed to keep up. Missile after missile kept rocketed at the ships on the outside of the Alliance fleet and for the Fraser-classes and a few of the Arkansas-classes, it only took five to up to seven missiles being intercepted, the CIWS turrets would be overwhelmed and destroyed. At the end of the missile barrage, more than half the Fraser-class were in serious trouble, either by sinking or was out of commission.

The captain of the Alliance's fifth fleet could see that the chances of them getting much farther was shrinking with alarming speed. Even though, the Alliance forces had gotten to the southwestern of the first island that the Federation used in the Federation's defenses, the resistance from the Federation forces were increasing. The fleet was being attacked from both ahead and to the north, being hard pressed to keep advancing. The Strike Daggers had disabled a portion of Federation's defenses, but a percentage higher than half were being taken out before they reached the mainland of the Coalition. And for those that weren't shot down faced the Federation's own mobile suits, which outnumbered them by a sizable margin. And there seemed to be no end to the Federation mobile suits, each one that was destroyed, two appeared in its place.

The defending Federation forces dug in and halted the progress the Alliance suits, aircraft and vessels attempted to make. Then attacks started coming from behind the Earth Forces fleet, and when they looked back, the sight of Federation sea vessels added to the degenerating situation. The ships and fighters that were flying above them had come from the Federation's Asgard base. This added to the sides that the Alliance forces were being attacked from and increased the odds against any victory for the Earth Alliance.

Back in the control center for Chronos, those there were supplying information to those on the field as the battle kept going. The Earth Forces had been stopped in their advance, the loss of a good portion of the defenses had strained things for those defending, but they had stood firm. The Alliance's mobile suits had not been anything to scoff at and had proved that they were trouble if underestimated. Then there was a secondary force approaching from the Eurasia Federation territory, though fighter squadrons were on their way to intercept them. However, an announcement from Sentinel changed the feel in the room, "Mobile Suit Core special forces groups have begun descent through the atmosphere. Entry vector calculations indicate that one group will land near the border between the Euros Coalition and the Eurasia Federation. The other group will land off the southern coastline in the combat zone."

To hear that reinforcements were on the way was boosting morale alone, to know that help would be mobile suit core special forces pilots increased the boost. The Mobile Suit Core or the MSC was the Federation Military branch that was over training, use and deployment of mobile suits. Their special forces were made up of veteran pilots and could out do average pilots from both sides. Minutes later, the arrival of the reinforcements was made clear as the Earth Forces were struck from above, both the seaborne fleet and the mobile suits. The work of pushing the Alliance back and out sped up with the MSC special forces on the battlefield. It was by this time, that the Alliance forces fully understood that the Federation had been ready for them, even though they had bypassed the Federation's Asgard base, it hadn't helped enough. And now the Earth Forces fleet couldn't deny that they were being whipped and it was being done better than how ZAFT forced beat them in previous battles during the war.

The captain of the Alliance fleet, made the decision for the fleet to retreat by heading for the Suez Canal and get to Earth Alliance territory. Close to half the 5th fleet had been taken out and more would be lost if they stayed in this fight. He gave the orders to make course for the Suez Canal to the south-east and as many ships that could followed. The attacks on the Alliance vessels let up and the Federation forces focused on those who had made it to the mainland. Yet, the defenders didn't ignore the Earth Forces that were running away, too many times had the Alliance fainted retreat and then would attack. So, their progress was monitor as they headed toward the Suez Canal and Alliance territory.

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The Salong

The Salong was moving within to the side of the debris belt that was closer to the PLANTs and was using the debris to evade those searching for the ship and Treize himself. Treize was still commanding those in the ZAFT military that due to "Protocol 66", stopped listening and taking orders from the Supreme Council, even as he avoided capture. He was positioning forces in the effort to be able to protect the PLANTs and stop possible attacks if the need arose. However, with the actions of Patrick Zala, protecting the PLANTs was becoming harder to do.

Things came to the point that Treize decided it would be better if he would see if the Federation Military would be willing to work together, as he had seen that the Federation didn't have anything against the PLANTs themselves. He knew how to get ahold of the Federation Military leaders when he needed to. So, when he contacted the Federation Admiralty, Treize laid out what had been happening in ZAFT and the PLANTs. He also informed them of what he was doing and that there was a growing split in the ZAFT and the Supreme Council. The condition that Treize had to assist the Federation in their efforts to try to bring peace, was that the PLANTs were kept safe. The leadership of the Federation was more than willing to agree to help Treize and in exchange, Treize was given access to the Federation's information network.

With that source of information, Treize was able to more effectively order movements of the ships and forces listening to him. Honestly, he was impressed just how much and how accurate the network actually was. Sure, he had come to understand that the Federation guarded their information network and relied on it quite a bit and from what he was seeing, he didn't blame them for that, for it was a force to be reckoned with. The number of informants and agents there were, and the places they were positioned and were around to get the information, was amazing! There were people that Treize wouldn't have suspected of giving information to another side, that were supplying the Federation's network. As an example, there were one if not more secretary per committee of the Supreme Council was an agent for the Federation's information network. It gave Treize an amount of understanding of why the network was as good as it was, and rumors implied.

And after Treize had looked over some of the more recent information that the network had, he could see the sense to the recent actions of the Federation military. Their attacks on the Earth Alliance had baffled him when they started, but now with events Treize hadn't known about fully that changed. The attacks on their member nations by the Alliance hadn't been nice, though due to the preparation that had been made beforehand, the amount of damage had been curtailed and minimized. Their response to those attacks were logical and sound, even by Treize's standards, taking away your opponent's ability to fight, was an effective way to protect what you were trying to.

The sighting of both the X09A Justice and the X10A Freedom, did catch Treize attention. There had been reports of the Freedom being stolen, which Treize had investigated, he had even seen the video of the theft itself. Then the Justice had been assigned to Athrun Zala in order to search out and bring the Freedom back. The theft was strange, but there had been clear evidence that it had not gone to the Earth Alliance, so once fact was established, Treize had delegated the ongoing investigation to others and lowered the priority of the investigation. Treize had been made aware that Patrick had been displeased about that and had brought the investigation back to an extremely high priority.

Then, the most recent attack on the Federation's member nation, the Euros Coalition, that the Alliance had made within the last few days. It was obviously done in order to take their mass driver, and had been a failure in the end like the other attacks against the Federation. However, it was interesting to Treize to observe for it was very informative. He had seen the event from two points of view, one from the Federation's end and the other from ZAFT's Gibraltar base. The Earth Forces had ignored the ZAFT base that had guard the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, which showed they were focused on the Human Federation more than ZAFT for the time being.

The defense system that had been in place for the Federation, quite another matter, for there had been no hint before this of it and that wasn't a small feat. The size and scale of the defense network, and then for that it had been kept hidden for so long was impressive. Then the performance and teamwork that the Federation pilots and their mobile suits was refreshing to view for Treize. He had to applaud the Federation military and its leaders, for them to have made all the preparation for the time came that they would be attack, and have none find out about it, amazing work. None of the tasks could have been easy and yet, they had managed to do it.

Next, there were rumors, which the information network confirmed, that the Earth Alliance was now capable of building nuclear weapons and were busy doing just that. This meant that, yet another leak had occurred and this was a serious one! Treize suspected now more than ever, that Rau Le Creuset was the source of the leaks. Because of the leak of the N-Jammer Canceller, the Earth Forces were working at a feverous pace building up an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Treize preferred not to dwell on the potential targets, which he had no doubt would include the PLANTs themselves, but that was part of war. The current leadership of the Alliance, were unlikely to hesitate to send nuclear warheads at colonies, it had happened before with Junius Seven.

The validity of the Earth Forces' willingness to use such destructive weapons, came within a week of the loss the Alliance took from their assault on the Euros Coalition. That was the Alliance's attack on the Boaz base that was one of the defenses that the PLANTs had. A strike from the Earth Forces wasn't unheard of, it happened a few times, and each time the Alliance had lost. In this skirmish, there were a few points of note, the first of which was the Earth Forces mobile suit pilots were getting more skilled, though there was still clearly a gap in skill in piloting. The second point, was there were six custom model mobile suits and they were more effective than the Alliance mass production models. Treize had seen records on the six mobile suits and they had confirmed that they were dangerous. The third point was the harshest of all, the Alliance fired a small number of nuclear missiles at the base. Unfortunately, where Boaz could take a few nuclear missile, the Alliance fired more than the base had been designed to handle.

Treize ordered that the Salong and the other ZAFT ships that were in reasonable close proximity, to head in the direction of Boaz when the battle began. By the time the vessel had come into range to see the battle from a distance it was clear that the ZAFT had the upper hand by a small margin. Yet, that was the time that the nukes were launched and pounded Boaz to its destruction. Any view of the base was gone as a blinding light of the nuclear explosion went off, once the light faded, the view of the damage done, was horrifying to behold. Boaz was now nothing more than chucks of rock and wreckage floating, most of the ZAFT forces were in the same position.

The majority of the Alliance force moved forward, leaving a very small force left to go through what was left to clean up. Treize ordered all those there forward to eliminate what Earth Forces were still in the area and look for any survivors. Even Treize himself went out in his custom mobile suit, which was based on the 1017 GINN, but was blue with the torso and white over the rest. The machine had much more efficient thrusters and his preference of equipment as well. The thrusters gave the mobile suit superior mobility over even most current models suits. It also had heavier armor on several areas of the suit, but the extra mass and weight was compensated by the thrusters' power and so didn't affect the machine's performance. The equipment had changed a bit from what it had been the last time Treize had sortied, the GINN swords being changed to beam sabers, the addition of a beam rifle being the other. That still left the long-range railgun that was mounted on the outside of the left shoulder.

The Earth Forces that were left to clean up, were taken by surprise when GINNs appeared, but they quickly fought back against the ZAFT forces. However, there was serious hesitation when Treize mobile suit was seen on the field. All the Earth Forces soldiers knew the coloration of the mobile suit and who the pilot was, showing that there was still serious fear of Treize. Things became worse, when a number of the 'beaten' GINNs suddenly began moving and attacking the Alliance suits. The Earth Forces machines were deftly dealt with along with the couple of ships that had been there to support the Strike Daggers.

After that, the search for survivors began and from that, Treize found out that around seventy percent of the forces that had been stationed at Boaz had been destroyed. Knowing that so many good people had been killed pained Treize, for their deaths didn't just affect them, but all those who knew them. He himself, had assigned a number of those who had been at Boaz and so, Treize felt partially responsible for their deaths. The ship captains that were still alive reported the state of their ships, as did the pilot did for their mobile suits. Treize only returned to the Salong when all the surviving pilots were on board ships and all the ships were heading away from what had become a graveyard.

When he was back on the Salong, Treize was informed that those back at the PLANTs believe that there had been no survivors from the attack on Boaz. It proved to Treize that those in control were either doing what they were told or didn't care about the soldiers that were giving their lives to protect the homeland. That thought was painful to accept, for Treize remembered a time that was the opposite. If Treize had his wish, ZAFT would go back to how it used to be, and he would give his all to see that come to pass.

-Line Break-

Near the moon

One of the Federation's fleets was making its way toward the Earth Alliance's Lunar Headquarters, Ptolemaeus. The base was the highest probable target of ZAFT with the super weapon they had been building by the calculation of the Federation. With that in mind, a group was sent in the hope that some if not all could be convinced to leave the base before the attack came. The person changed with this task, was none other than Duane Halberton, the former commander of the Alliance's late Orbital 8th fleet. Federation forces that had been on site of the battle in Earth's orbit had rescued those who were still alive at the time and Halberton had been among them.

Halberton, after hearing the Federation's side of this war, along with the evidence that they had to the actions of those who were keeping the war going. He had asked to give his service to the cause of ending the war for as many people possible. He had been put in command of an Enterprise-class cruiser, that was until this mission to the Ptolemaeus lunar base came up. With the influence that Halberton had previously with many in the Alliance, the chances that he could convince others to leave before ZAFT's attack came were higher than others. And so, Halberton was reassigned to a Voyager-class dreadnought and sent on his way, since time was of the essence.

The surprising thing to Halberton, came with one of the pilots that was assigned to the Dreadnought he was put in command of. The man was name Cormag Swift, a name Halberton had heard during the earlier years of the war with ZAFT. However, the nickname he had was one that Halberton had heard far more, the "Silver Eagle". He was still arguably the most amazing mobile armor pilot in the history of the Earth Alliance. The things he could make a mobile armor do, were crazy to insane! Yes, the man clearly had high spatial awareness along with raw talent, but his awareness was on a different level than other mobile armor pilots. To understand that after he had disappeared, he had joined up with the Federation military, was unexpected.

The approach that Halberton chose, was going through the Procellarum Ocean, south of Copernicus City. That would make it less likely Alliance forces would attack at just the sight of the fleet, since attacks from the west of Ptolemaeus were rare. Halberton might not agree with the ones leading the Earth Alliance, but he didn't believe for a second that fact should then mean many good people should have to die. It was around an hour before the sight of the edge of the crater that the lunar base was in came into view.

Halberton hailed the base, and it took a little time to convince those in charge of his identity. Nonetheless, it wasn't entirely surprising, with the battle in orbit and the results, Halberton himself would have expected most if not all to be dead. But, once he had the commanding officers' attention, Halberton bluntly laid out the coming danger. Some believed what Halberton said, others did not, there was nearly an even division among them. In the end, around sixty-five percent of the total number of Earth Forces at the base agreed to leave with Halberton. All of them launched from Ptolemaeus base in the ships that were there, though their comrades were telling them that what Halberton said was impossible.

So, those who had heeded Halberton's warnings, were making distance from the Ptolemaeus base, when there came a light from the direction of L5. That light turned into a large beam that was a reddish magenta overall and had arcs of magenta energy around the edges, which appear much like what came from a Cyclops system. Seconds after seeing the first light of the beam, it slammed into the base and its top structure at the level of the moon's surface, obscuring the entire base from sight. A concussive force expanded out from the contact point the beam with the moon and the wave dug into the surface of the moon and as it went out from the beam, the crater was being level. Once the beam faded and the blinding light that came from it died down, those who looked back at where Ptolemaeus Lunar Base, saw only melted wreckage and debris. The largest Earth Alliance base had stood as a symbol of the Alliance's influence and presence on the moon and space was gone. Now, the entire Ptolemaeus crater had been flattened from what had struck it, of whatever the beam had been.

Halberton simply stared at the results of the unknown attack with a mix of emotions flowing within him. The first was the sorrow of those who hadn't listened and their deaths that had just happened. The second was anger at those who had contributed to this event coming to pass, for the cost was lives and they thought nothing of it. Then, one of the bridge operators reported that the 'beam', according to the readouts, was made up of dense gamma radiation, having similar effects to what a cyclops system or what came from a nuclear explosion. What worried Halberton, and he knew he wouldn't be the only one, was the possibilities of what such a weapon could do if it were turned upon Earth.

Were this gamma radiation based beam to strike anywhere on Earth, the damage would be catastrophic at a bare minimum! The lives that would be lost would be beyond staggering and horrifying! The odds of Earth being able to continue to support life in a viable way, wouldn't be very high and that was scary! Then, the far-reaching effect that went beyond Earth to the colonies and the moon, were just as bad as those for Earth, the PLANTs included, just would come afterwards.

The bad news kept coming as Halberton was informed by some within the Alliance forces that he had convinced to leave Ptolemaeus, that those who weren't there were heading towards the PLANTs. Their objective, was to deliver their payload they were carrying to the PLANTs, what was more worrisome, was the payload was nuclear warheads. It made the situation worse, as the beam that destroyed the Alliance Lunar base was possibly derived from nuclear energy as well. If that was true, then both the Alliance and ZAFT had nuclear weapons and showed they weren't afraid to use them against each other and would like fire them at one another without hesitation.

Tension was definitely skyrocketing at a dangerous pace, so Halberton gave orders to the remaining Alliance forces to follow those with him. All of them began heading towards the coalition fleet that was heading towards Jachin Due. The Federation vessels flying in a formation to use their optical camouflage to cover the Alliance ships as they moved through space.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

Voyager-class, Roosevelt

The stress had been building with each passing day for me, and every time I looked at the Information Network just made it worse. I had developed bags under my eyes and my health which had only recently gotten back to stable AND kind of normal at the same time to a reasonable extent. Things were going careening downhill, and the war was escalating at an alarming rate and that was putting it mildly. When the Archangel, Kusanagi and Eternal finally joined to the large coalition fleet that had been building, there wasn't many sighs of relief. Granted, attacks on any of the three ships had gone way down now, but that was little comfort with the battle clearly looming ahead. The fleet itself was made up of Federation ships of all classes, numbering over a hundred, a growing number of ZAFT ships and there were even Earth Alliance vessels. The coalition fleet was growing close to two-hundred vessels in total. And the fleet was formed up in such a way that an optic camouflage field covered both the ZAFT and Alliance ships in the fleet. So, neither the PLANTs nor the Earth Forces knew this fleet existed or that it was moving towards Jachin Due.

I was on the dreadnought known as the Roosevelt, had been required to do some reporting on past events. It hadn't been pleasant, but then, that's what it tends to be like around my boss most of the time. …I seriously need a vacation in the near future, for my sanity as much for stress relief. The fight coming wouldn't be an easy one, that was clear to see. Yes, numbers would be on our side, but there will probably be two groups that we will be going against, namely ZAFT and the Earth Forces. ZAFT will be doing ALL they can do to stop anyone getting near the PLANTs, while the Alliance forces will be trying to shoot nuke bearing missiles at the PLANTs. Our job would be to halt both from advancing and preventing them from firing their nuclear weapons at each other or at the colonies or Earth. Neither side would make the task simple and therein lies one of the difficulties.

I was sitting it the mess hall, mulling over whether I should go back to the Eternal and get some sleep, or stay here for the first preemptive tactical planning meetings. It was only me in the room, everyone else was busy and it wasn't the time meals were served. Yet, the sound of the door opening got me to look up and see who it was coming around and to my surprise, I saw it was Lisa. I hadn't seen her in person for weeks, the suit she's piloting yes, but not her and a friend's company, is never a bad thing. She came to sit next to me, "So then Tyler, should I ask how things are going for you, or just take the distinct bags under eyes as you've gotten little sleep and you're not at your best." Lisa posed.

I let a heavy exhale, "I'm doing terrible, thanks for asking," I replied, letting my head sink to the table. "As for the sleep aspect, over the last few days, I've an average of three to four hours of sleep per day."

Lisa put a hand on my shoulder and rubbed gently, "There are days like that unfortunately, but they pass, I promise," she assured.

We were quiet for a bit, before I asked a question that had been coming to my mind with increasingly as of late. "Lisa, what even started this war? And why does it keep going when all it brings is horrible feelings and regret?"

Lisa didn't answer me right away, but she did give a reply, "I can't say for sure however, there are a few things that I believed contribute to it. The Coordinators were introduced to the rest of the human race was done in a way that many took offense to. After all, I would doubt that anyone wants to be told that a person can be 'made' and made to be better than all Natural born humans."

My friend continued, by saying that the idea of what Coordinators could do and compared to what others could had been focused on instead of noting what was the same, which was rarely if ever mentioned. So as gossip and rumor have a talent of doing, stories were told that were ridiculous and even some ludicrous. Those fueled the terrorist actions that came in increasing frequency and the death toll just kept climbing and didn't stop. The chain of events that had occurred did keep the revenge philosophy alive and healthy, which is if I'm attacked, then I have to attack the attackers back. And revenge is not only a vicious cycle, but also the most dangerous poison that exists. It's slow, it's guarantees more deaths than any other venom and spreads quicker than any plague known. The only cure, is to forgive the one that did whatever to you and let go of the grudge.

The other point that I hadn't come to my mind that Lisa brought up, was human potential and all that comes with that. Humans have always had the urge to fulfill their potential, whether they heed it or not is a different matter. More than half the time, people work towards seeing where their potential can take them unknowingly. The ability to adapt is a part of this and often comes into play while someone is exploring their potential. There are several ways to move in the direction of one's potential, but most people don't have the patience or are willing to put forth the effort required. And yet, as horrible as it is, both historically and from current evidence available, there is one idea that seems to be effective at pushing people towards their full potential at a much smaller amount of time. That idea of course, is war, fighting one another and trying to kill the other and at the same time staying alive.

What was said made sense, but it didn't make it easy to swallow or to accept. It was horrible, that some are so convinced that killing another is the only way to move forward! Junius Seven was a good example, the actions of a few steal everything from many and much from even more. And yet, there are still others that are unmoving in their position that one part of humanity has to be exterminated!

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

The Eternal

Kira had been helping in any way he could, and yet, even after talking with Tyler about what had happened in the Mendel colony, it still wouldn't leave his mind. He did his best not to let it show outwardly, and Kira didn't think anyone on the Eternal noticed. However, he was proved wrong when Lacus managed to get Kira himself aside and alone in an empty room.

Once Lacus had gotten Kira alone, she faced him her mind firmly set on getting an explanation on what had gone on inside the L4 colony Mendel. "Kira, what did you talk to Tye about when I left the room back at Mendel? And don't just say that what happened inside the colony was nothing, I can tell it was something that's been bothering you," Lacus demanded.

Kira hesitated at what Lacus was not asking by demanding of him. The things that Kira had learned inside Mendel had shaken Kira, more than he had thought originally. Granted, talking with Tyler had helped, still some of it bothered Kira. And it wasn't that he didn't trust Lacus, for he did trust her, but he was having trouble accepting what he learned at Mendel himself. He couldn't look at Lacus, "It's nothing to worry about," Kira muttered unconvincingly.

Lacus closed the distance between the two of them, grabbed Kira's shoulders and forced him to face her, "I don't believe that Kira! Whatever happened there is important and it's still affecting you even now, now tell me please," Lacus stated firmly, not letting Kira back away from her.

Kira was stuck and he knew it, the only thing for him to do was tell Lacus what had happened inside Mendel. So, he began with the encounter had occurred with the man Rau Le Creuset and what had he and Mu had learned. The key points that caused Kira issues, were that his male sire, Ulen Hibiki and his work that involved Kira himself. It was embarrassing as well as disgusting, to have to explain what the man had done, even if Kira hadn't known about it until recently.

For Lacus, to hear Kira tell her about how he had chased after Mu and then was led by Le Creuset further into the laboratory was painful. It became more painful the longer Lacus listened to Kira tell her the facts that came to light. It was clear to see that being this "Ultimate Coordinator" and "Perfect Human" hurt him, Lacus saw that clearly. But then, to have to understand that someone did horrible things to unborn and young children to make you the way you are was terrible. And yet, it wasn't Kira's fault that he was made as this "Ultimate Coordinator" or this "Perfect Human", he didn't choose any of that. But, with how Rau Le Creuset had put the ideas, it was hard to see being the "Ultimate Coordinator" and "Perfect Human" as anything by horrible.

Nonetheless, Kira wasn't a bad person at all, if anything, he was one of the nicest people she had met. He always thought of others before himself, didn't wish to hurt anyone and though he was pretty clueless, he was a good person. Still it was obvious to her, that Kira was beating himself up for the bad things that were done to give him the abilities he had. The urge to hug Kira came to Lacus and she couldn't stop herself, she just moved forward and embraced Kira.

When Lacus hugged Kira, he stopped talking and looked down at Lacus, wondering why she had suddenly hugged him. "Lacus?" he questioned

"Kira, you are not evil, nor was your birth a mistake. No one gets to choose how they come into the world, all we get to decide is what we do with ourselves," Lacus said soothingly.

Kira felt the disgust and the other terrible feelings fade away with Lacus telling him what she had as she embraced him. He didn't have the words to say how glad he was to have Lacus as a friend right now. Kira didn't know how Lacus somehow knew just the right thing to say to help, but this certainly wasn't the first time that she had done this. So, Kira simply wrapped his arms around Lacus to return her gesture.

Lacus smiled as she felt Kira's arms circle around her back, she was happy that she could help comfort him. And yet… the mood between them had become really good by what she could tell. She had tried to tell Kira without words what she felt when it came to him before now, but he hadn't gotten any of the messages she had sent him. There was no one else around, so only Kira would hear her. It wasn't that she was embarrassed that she felt what she did for Kira, but it wasn't something she wanted to say in front of a large number of people. Then with the battle that loomed ahead of them, the future was uncertain and Lacus didn't want to have the regret of not telling Kira that she loved him. So, she released Kira and locked her gaze on him, "Kira… there is one thing I've wanted to tell you and now is as good a time as any before we go into this upcoming battle," Lacus said evenly.

Kira looked at Lacus, and became a tad worried, at the sudden change without any warning that he could figure. She was trembling a tiny bit and yet, was also giving off an air of being totally serious. "Um Lacus, are you okay?" asked Kira.

Lacus wished with all of her heart, at times like this, that Kira wasn't as clueless and naïve as he was. It made what she was trying to do and say so much harder, and it was already hard enough for her. Yes, Lacus could stand in front of crowds of people and give speeches, feel no nervousness or stage fright. However, it was for some reason an entirely a different thing to say how she felt about Kira. Still, Lacus gathered all the courage she could muster, looked Kira directly in the eyes, before she took a deep breath and said what she considered to be very hard to put into words. "Kira, I… I…"

Kira putting his hands on her shoulders, in an effort to steady and comfort her as her head lowered. At the same time, he was trying to figure out what was making Lacus be like this. She trailed off into mumbling so that Kira couldn't understand what she was saying, "Lacus, whatever it is that's bothering you, tell me. You always are there for me, so now I can be here for you, just tell me and I'll help however I can," Kira assured.

Hearing Kira say that, caused Lacus to become frustrated to an extreme. The guy that she more than just liked and wanted to be more than 'just friends' with, still didn't understand! There were limits to how clueless and naïve one can or should be able to be, and Kira was pushing beyond those limits! All the fear and doubts that Lacus had, vanished from her mind, her head shot back up and she glared at Kira. "I love you! I love you! Do you hear me Kira Yamato, I love you! You're such a clueless idiot sometimes, I've been trying to tell you without words, but you never took in or understood any of the hints I've been giving!" Lacus got out, the volume of her voice rising to a near shout by the end. She had also clenched her hands into fists and used them to beat against Kira's chest.

Kira was stunned at hearing Lacus say what she did, so much so that he couldn't think of what to say. Nor did he do anything to stop her "assault" she was doing with her fist, for it wasn't exactly gentle. Granted, what she said did kind of explain some of her actions that she had been doing lately, even some that had started showing when visiting Heliopolis. But, Kira never thought that those things Lacus had been doing, was her telling Kira she more than liked him. Sure, Kira considered Lacus a friend, a great friend and he valued her friendship. Sure, he admitted to himself that he'd had a thought or two about perhaps going further with Lacus. Yet, he valued her friendship far too much to make a stupid mistake and do something that might make her hate him. However, for Lacus to say she loved him, Kira didn't know what to say to that.

Lacus had tears coming from her eyes, "Your naiveté can be a strength sometime, but during others, it's more a hindrance and holds you back Kira." Lacus ceased pounding her fists against Kira and moved forward, hugging Kira, "But with the battle coming, I wanted to tell you… as well as admit it out loud, since there is a chance that one or both of us might not come back from the skirmish."

Her statements… were something that Kira couldn't exactly deny, not with how many time Tyler and Athrun had reminded him of the idea. Kira's 'naiveté' or 'innocence from ignorance' as both of his best friends had put it, had provided confusion on more than one occasion. He didn't think it was as bad as Tye and Athrun said it was, for they had more than once said that he had a lot to learn. Athrun had put the point nicer than Tyler, by saying stuff like 'Kira, you need to interact with others more' or 'Kira, take more time to think about the situation'. Then there was Tyler's way of informing Kira of his "naiveté", 'Kira, come on, even a kid would be able to understand this' or 'Kira, you really need to find the marbles you're missing'.

Of course, Kira knew Tyler never meant what he said to be an insult to Kira, but there were some lines that went too far in Kira's opinion. Still, no matter Kira's answer or retort, it didn't ever stop them from calling him out on his 'lack of understanding' and teasing Kira about it. Both of them kept getting frustrated that Kira didn't see things, that they say should be obvious, to which Kira disagreed. Why Athrun and Tyler had such issues with this so-called naiveté, Kira had never been able to figure it out.

Kira was happy that Lacus had said that she… loved him, he hadn't thought it would happen. Honestly, he had thought that if it wasn't Lacus moving on to someone else, it would've likely been her older sister scaring him off that would get them apart. Sakura wasn't known for being nice or polite to those who tried to get close to Lacus and she had proven that more than once! Kira was more surprised that Sakura hadn't done something to him already, he doubted it had anything to do with her being busy. Such a thing as being busy with military duty hadn't stopped the woman from being protective of Lacus before.

So, the question that Kira was left to answer for himself, what did he feel when it came to Lacus? He liked her, no question about that, but was that love? It wasn't the same feeling that he felt towards his parents, but nor was it what he felt towards their friends from Heliopolis. And at times like this, talking out loud had always helped, "Well Lacus, I'm happy that you feel that way, but I don't know what I exactly feel. Being with you feels different than anyone else and I always enjoy the time we spend together, yet, I don't know if that's the same as love," Kira began.

Kira kept going and quickly began to unknowingly ramble on. As Lacus listened, she had to put forth effort not to laugh. Kira was once again, being as clueless as he normally was, it was kind of cute to her, even if it frustrated her so. He was describing the feelings and other things that were a part of what it is to love someone else, yet, Kira didn't know that. Lacus nuzzled Kira's cheek, which got him to stop talking, and once that was the case, Lacus moved her face to be in front of Kira's. She smiled at him and spoke, "Kira, what you've been describing is what it is to love someone, you silly boy."

Then, Lacus leaned forward and pressed her lips to Kira's, like she had wanted to do for a while. Kira was taken by surprise by her action, but then his arms of their own accord wrapped around Lacus and pulled her to him. The gesture felt good and Kira didn't see a reason to stop it, so he went with it. Lacus smiled a little more as the kiss continued, as Kira embracing her and then pulling her to him, meant that he wasn't against this. So, Lacus kept her lips pressed to Kira's, for she wanted this moment to last for as long as possible. The two began pushing forward against each other, going further into their own world.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

After the planning meeting had ended, I had returned to the Eternal. I went looking for Kira, as I wanted to ask him if he was ready for the battle that was ahead of us all, before I have time with the bed in the quarters I had been assigned. I doubt I would get much sleep or good quality sleep either, but it's better than none at all! Concerning Kira, after the talk we'd had, let's just say that I was still concerned for my friend. Kira, being the way that he is, that being naïve and innocent, which is to his credit most of the time, but it isn't always helpful.

Over the years, both Athrun and I, have many times pointed out what Kira keeps missing, but our friend is a slow learner in this. At least, I know that I'd lost count of the amount of times I've tried to help Kira see things. Sadder still, Kira is a speedster in the learning department when it comes to the academic stage, it's just the social area that he has problems. Back to my point, Athrun tended to be nicer when calling Kira out than I am, but that's Athrun for you, the nice guy, it's the personality he has, not mean in the slightest or doesn't mean to be when he appears to be mean. As for me, I'm up front and just say it like I see it, which sometimes embarrasses Kira, but hey, it's good for him I would think in the long run.

Anyways, after I asked around to get some clues as to where I could find Kira, I learned he had gone off wandering while I had been away. It helped a little on narrowing down where my friend could be, but not as much as I'd hoped it would. So, I started peeking into rooms that weren't crew quarters, because Kira going off wandering means he wants to be by himself. It would likely take time to find Kira, but who knows, I might just get lucky and come across the room he chose to use to think. And as it happens, I did get lucky and found Kira within ten minutes or so.

And yet… for the life of me, I never imagined that I would walk in on the scene that I did! I admit, that while I had been gathering information for my search for Kira, I discovered that Lacus was also 'wandering'. Let's say that the thought that they were together had crossed my mind and I was right. However, walking in and seeing them with their arms wrapped around each other AND their lips locked to one another's… got me to have a serious double take and close to me kissing the floor hard, either from me fainting or me face planting! I literally blinked and rubbed my eyes hard to clear them, before looking again to see if what I thought I saw was accurate. To my dumbifying surprise, the sight of Kira and Lacus as they had been, was still clearly there. I couldn't stop my mouth from falling open at this scene, for I just had not thought it would happen anytime soon.

I mean, for these two to have reached this stage is a great thing, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't have thought it to occur already! Yes, I hadn't missed the non-verbal hints that Lacus had been giving and sending Kira regularly over the last close to two years, even if my friend hadn't noticed a single one of them. But then, Kira's naiveté is to blame for his blindness, and it makes you feel kind of sorry for the guy, at least it does me. It also causes me an amount of frustration, that he learns so little from the assistance that Athrun and I provide, it's like we didn't do anything a good portion of the time.

Now, like I said before, Kira is smart, no disputing that point, more so than me in the academic world, yet when it comes to the social side of things, that's a different matter entirely. The way I would put it, well… Kira is a special kind of stupid when it comes to the social aspect of most given situations. And I mean no insult when I say that my friend's the special kind of stupid, he's just freaking clueless. Kira is just a guy that's the special kind of stupid in some things that he shouldn't be however, you can't help but like the guy nonetheless.

Then the factor that I don't think either of the two in front of me would've considered yet, namely Sakura, Lacus's big over-freaking-protective older sister. Yes, Sakura is way too protective of Lacus, that's a fact and there's a LONG track record documenting what I'm talking about! The things she's done to 'defend' Lacus, would shock and terrify many, but that's Sakura for you, hard to predict and doesn't follow the rules unless she has to, usually by force and under supervision. I can say that Kira certainly hasn't been the first that Lacus would attempt to get closer to or that would try to get closer to her. Still Sakura, with the personality she has, she just scares them away. I've unfortunately seen a couple of instances that she scared another away from Lacus. Sakura has terrorized, scared and outright broken a few people mentally… yes, she's done this to both males and females! It makes me wonder if it was some sort of practice for how she is now, it would certainly explain a few quirks of hers. And yet, I can't deny that Kira is the first that Sakura hadn't done anything to, which to me says that Sakura has no issue with Kira being with Lacus. A vote for the couple from her, and hers isn't the only vote going for them…

So, back to the scene in front of me then. From my perspective, I was having an internal argument on whether I should cheer loudly and egg on one of my best friends, or be the responsible adult and separate the two before things go too far. I could go either way with this, and so is the internal conundrum I'm having right now. Quite honestly, I would've expected that I would sooner walk in on Athrun and Cagalli in this type of position, rather than Kira and Lacus. …My other best friend might be 'trying' to hide his growing relationship from others, but neither of the two are doing very well at it. Yet, here I find Kira and Lacus going at each other, completely oblivious to the world around them, ironic in a way isn't? Or at least, I think so.

So, I closed my mouth, folded my arms and waited for the two to take notice that I had come into the room. But, even after a minute, the two didn't separated any distance from one another and I was starting to feel awkward. They parted a small margin, both were panting and simply kept staring at each other, still unaware of me being in the room, watching them. It was as another minute and a half passed by, that I needed to make my presence known to them. That was until I cleared my throat audibly, "Hey kids, dad's home," I announced flatly.

Lacus and Kira snapped around to face towards the door and both locked their gazes on me, the blushes they already had then deepened. "Tye, how long have you been there?" Kira asked in an embarrassed tone.

Really Kira? That's the question I get after what I saw… OHHHH HO HO, HO Kira ain't getting off easy this time, not with the opportunity he provided for me, it is freaking solid twenty-four karat GOLD! I started by merely stared back at the two for a moment, before I spoke, "How long you ask my good friend, long enough to watch you two smooching with a fair amount of vigor, that's for sure," I stated with a slight smirk, enjoying their expressions that said so much more than words could. So, I continued the momentum, "I wasn't expecting you to have it in you Kira, Lacus sure, but you not so much. Maybe Athrun and I have been wrong that you haven't learn much if anything from the times that we pointed out what you miss. It's nice to feel that all that assistance provided wasn't wasted my dear friend."

Oh, I wonder if Kira's cheeks could get any redder, they were pretty much tomato red now… and yet, the thought encourages me that I must try to get them even redder! Lacus glanced away from me, "Tye, what are you doing here? You're not one for spying on others," she said quietly.

Spying she says, I had some professional training in the area, but really haven't used it much. "Nope, don't see a reason to spy, there are much easier ways of finding out information, besides if I was spying, you won't know it, I've received training for that kind of thing! As for what I'm doing here, I was looking for Kira to ask him a question, and I was told that he disappeared a little while ago. So, I went looking," I replied, before I gave a shrug. "Not to say that you two getting together is a bad thing, just earlier than I would've predicted. Although, I say it's about freaking time, but, don't go too far just yet you two."

I was snickering softly, as Kira replied to me, "What is that supposed to mean Tye?" He questioned.

I stopped snickering and stared at Kira for a long moment, before I let out a sigh, "Alas, it would appear that your naiveté is still hard at work Kira, it's just is good at stunting your growth as ever. I wonder if you'll ever move on from being the special kind of stupid that you are with social stuff," I said in an exhausted tone.

Kira's face became even redder, and I internally patted myself on the back at finishing the challenge of getting Kira redder! Meanwhile, Lacus glared at me, "Kira isn't stupid!" She snapped at me.

I flinched a bit at Lacus's scathing retort to me, since it was showing she didn't understand that I wasn't actually calling Kira 'stupid' per say. It's my way of telling my friend that he still has much to improve on and he knows I'm not saying what I do to be mean. "Lacus, Tye wasn't," Kira started, but he snapped his mouth shut as Lacus glared at him, before she returned back to locking her gaze on me while she clutched Kira to herself defensively.

I swallowed hard, "Um… look Lacus, I would never say things to or about Kira to intentionally be mean, I would hope you would know that by now. So, when I say Kira is a special kind of stupid, it's not implying that he's dumb or unintelligent. It's just… well, when it comes to social things, Kira is clueless, it can be said in several ways, you doubtless know to what I refer. So, me saying to Kira that he's a special kind of stupid is my way of telling him that he's missing things and to try harder to see them, that's all," I justified.

"Tyler's telling the truth Lacus, Athrun does the same thing, just in a different way. They've been doing it for years, so I'm used to it by now," Kira said.

Lacus seemed to calm down after Kira vouched for me, to which I'm grateful, don't want an angry girl around that could stab me in the back. Doubt that Lacus would do that to me, but, I've learned to not tempt a female to try to get back at me. So, to change the subject, I cleared my throat again and spoke up, "Right then, Kira, you and Lacus are still teenagers, and so, you are both too young to be taking your relationship to being completely intimate." I paused, as I thought about the words I had just said, and the realization that I was talking like my mother would, hit me. Without thinking, I slapped myself in the face with a hand, "Good golly, I'm starting to sound like my mother!"

It was the dread of a person, sounding almost exactly like one of their parents, at least that's one way to see it. I respect my mother as a person and for what she does, but for much of my childhood, I was determined to not be like the strict adult my mother was back at the time and still is to a degree. So, it's ironic that I'm speaking like my mother would in this. In response to my outburst, Lacus snickered and she was followed by Kira joining in. I glared at them, "Yeah, go ahead, laugh it up… never thought I would one day sound like my mother used to," I admitted.

After they had settled down I gazed at both Kira and Lacus, "Although I was being quite serious when I said the both of you are too young to be taking thing to being extremely intimate." I said, like a responsible adult would.

Kira looked away, whereas Lacus just looked back at me, "We wouldn't go too far Tye, do give us some credit," she replied.

"You say that now Lacus, but can you really say where the line is drawn and that passion won't blow right past? All I'm saying it to exercise restraint and moderation for the time being. You two aren't to the point that either of you could handle the responsibility of a child, so no doing that," I stated firmly.

Of course… things didn't end there, nope, the next fifteen minutes I got to tease the two nicely and get some laughs. I do it because I care, and I've already done this type of thing to Athrun and Cagalli. Athrun's reaction was fairly similar to Kira's, just no effect of naivete. Oh but, Cagalli's reaction had been neat! She stuttered at first, then she had gone off screeching at me while she chased me around the room we had been in, it was fun! And I'm well-aware that Kira and Athrun will have every right to do the same to me when I find the right girl for myself… I just pray to God it doesn't end out being Sakura!

Phase end

A/n

And that's where I'll leave off for this Phase. Yes, I know it's just before the good part coming, but this was the best pausing point and not make it another 20,000 words or more in added length. Anyways, hope that you all liked the setup I laid out for the board that the battlefield will start with. As I seem to always say at the end of pretty much every phase or chapter I write, some of you please take the time to write a review and tell me your thoughts about the story, the phase. Comments help more than most would think, else I take it that there's nothing wrong and no questions at all.