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

25. Phase 25: Fight For the Future

A/n

Well, he it is at last! The fight that the story has been building up to and the climax of the SEED portion of this story. The standard disclaimer still applies, would love to own Gundam, but I don't just my ideas. Enjoy the Phase!

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Phase 25: Fight for the Future

September 26th 71 C.E.

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-Neutral pov-

Lagrange 5

The arrival of the coalition fleet that had amassed to face the threat of a nuclear holocaust, went unnoticed by the PLANTs and the ZAFT forces present. The soon to be battlefield, had ZAFT ready to fight and still no sign of the Earth Forces fleet that were carrying their nuclear weapons. Going by numbers, the coalition fleet outnumbered ZAFT approximately three to one for ships, and an even bigger difference with mobile suits. The target of the fleet was ZAFT's Jachin Due base, as information indicated that ZAFT's weapon was somewhere around the base. There was still little on what the weapon was or what it was capable of other than its single shot at Ptolemaeus Lunar base had provided.

The situation gained an extra tangent, when it was discovered that a message from the Earth Alliance's leadership was being transmitted to ZAFT. The issue was that the message wasn't being received or really blocked completely, rather than just ignoring it. And when the message was inspected, a shock came with it, for it was the Earth Alliance's leadership giving their message of surrender. Granted, after seeing the Alliance's lunar base be wiped out could have had an effect, but for the leadership of the Alliance to surrender… said that the event had scared them to the core! So, it left a serious question in the minds of those in the fleet when it came to the current chairman of ZAFT. Were Patrick Zala to accept the Alliance's surrender, it would end the war that had been going for years, all that would be left would be to find those who had the nuclear warheads and deal with them. So, why then ignore the message and block it from being received by anyone in the PLANTs?

That still left the information that Halberton had brought back with the Earth Forces vessels. The Alliance personnel were convinced that a group of Alliance vessels were on their way to the PLANTs to fire nukes at the colonies. If that was true and there was little reason to disbelieve the claim, then things were indeed grim! With that separate Earth Forces group that were determined to shoot nukes at the PLANTs, even though their leaders were attempting to surrender, there was still danger.

The Archangel, Kusanagi and Eternal were near the front of the fleet, flying between Federation cruisers. Upon the Eternal, the mobile suits were undergoing final preparations. It was planned, for the Freedom and the Justice would use the METEORs, which would give the two an advantage. The Regenerate had been fully repaired, and it was being equipped again with the spare "Lupus" beam rifle. The Aurora hadn't needed as much repair as the other three, but the maintenance was kept up and so the suit was ready to go.

On the Archangel, Chief Murdoch, his engineers and mechanics, were busting their butt off to finish the work on the mobile suits, which had grown in number by two. Mu had decided to go with the Aile pack equipped to the Strike in this battle, for mobility and power usage would be the two keys in this fight. Krystal chose to go with the Shadow's Kale Artillery set, for one it had an extra battery and it had a good amount of firepower too. For the Buster, Duel and Blitz, since there was not optional equipment, there was only the tuning and repairs to be made and those had been finished already.

And then, with the Kusanagi, the M1 Astrays were being made ready to launch out. Meanwhile, Cagalli had stubbornly made it clear that she would be participating in this skirmish and there was nothing that could be said that would stop her. She wasn't denied, though Kisaka was not fond of the idea, Erica Simmons simply laughed and then guided Cagalli to the hanger. There, the woman showed Cagalli that the Asuka had been refitted with new equipment. The flight system had been removed and then redesigned, before it was put back on the main suit. Yet, now there had been quite some changes to the weapon loadout.

Gone was the shield that the Asuka had before, and now a new one was in its place. The new shield had a gatling machine gun built into the bottom section of the shield and a beam boomerang was stored in a holster in the upper part of the shield itself. There were two anti-ship swords that were based of the Strike's "Schwert Gewehr" 9.1 meters in length instead of 15.78 meters as the Strike's is. Those are stored on rails that acted like sheaths on the underside of the backpack that had been added, when they weren't in use. Finally, there were a pair of 155mm railguns and a pair of 105mm cannons. The railguns were mounted to the backpack to be over the shoulders of the mobile suit and the cannons were mounted over the railguns.

Erica Simmons told Cagalli that she could use the Asuka and its new equipment in the battle. Cagalli couldn't stop herself, lunged forward and hugged the woman, thanking her for providing a way for her to help. Cagalli had been so frustrated lately, just sitting around giving out some orders, and the feeling had increased during the last battle. To see people that she had come to care about, go out to a battlefield and risk their lives to protect everyone else had hurt and frustrated her so much. But now, she could go and assist them on the field and though, she might not be an expert or an ace, but she could hold her own! And so, Cagalli collected herself and then went to get a pilot suit on and get ready to go out in a mobile suit.

As final preparations were being made, Treize felt the need to make one last attempt to reason with Patrick Zala. The man had been a friend for years, and Treize couldn't live with himself if he didn't try to save his friend from the lies he had been believing. He wanted to believe that Patrick would see reason, even in his mind said that the man would not. The blocking of the Alliance's surrender, didn't speak well of Patrick Zala or his intentions and he knew it.

Still, Treize found a communication channel that wasn't being blocked that would get him to Patrick Zala. After a minute, the Salong's forward display came up with Patrick Zala's face, and the man's expression was of anger and frustration. It saddened Lanus to see his friend looking like this, to see how much had changed in the last few years. "Patrick, I wish we were meeting under better circumstances than these my friend," Treize greeted, the hint of sadness in his voice

Chairman Zala grunted at the greeting, "It's quite surprising that a traitor like you would have the courage to show your face around the PLANTs. I'll applaud you for that Treize, and give you the chance to even speak for showing such courage."

Treize sighed, "I'm making this communication in the hope that you might see reason my friend in this late hour, as you haven't been showing any modicum of reason as of late. The path you are on now will not end well for anyone Patrick, nuclear weapons will not solve any of the standing issues or conflicts. Such actions will only make this war worse and in your heart, you know this as you've experienced the pain it came bring personally."

"Your pointless drivel is of no interest to me Treize, get to the point you are trying to make," Zala said coldly.

"This war is no nearer to an end, and your actions are not working towards bringing about a conclusion to this conflict Patrick. Why do this? What changed your view of the bright future you once saw for the PLANTs? You used to say that the PLANTs showed a future that could be free of war, and yet, here you are adding to this war," Treize reasoned.

Patrick Zala snorted, "That's where your wrong Treize, this war will come to an end very soon. The Earth Alliance will fall, humanity will be purged of those who are as an infection to our species. Coordinators will have the future and it shall be a bright one for all of them, for the dangers they have faced will be vanquished. It is you who do not understand Treize, you have become blind to that which has come to pass," he stated.

Treize felt pain at comprehending just how blind and lost his friend Patrick Zala had become. The end that Patrick claimed was coming, was very likely a nuclear strike against Earth itself and that wouldn't end well for anyone. Hypothetically speaking, were Earth to be hit, those who didn't die from the blast, would die from the fallout, no matter what type of human they were. A nuclear attack on Earth, would not only kill all those there, including the Coordinators living and stationed there, but there would be affects beyond that. Any supplies that had come from Earth would vanish and that would affect all in space, including the PLANTs. Treize knew that the PLANTs weren't fully self-sufficient, even if the citizens had no idea, nor were the colonies up for a population boom that was probably planned.

Then for Coordinators, there was the current standing issue of sterilization that was coming up in third generations and beyond. As far as the situation was understood, the altering of genes had brought about this side effect. Third-generation Coordinators had a fifty percent chance at best of reproducing, normally less than that, and the generations beyond that the percentage with the chances of reproduction only gets smaller and at an alarming rate. ZAFT scientist had been doing everything they could to solve the problem, but thus far there was no cure.

The two main reasons that there were the sizable number of Coordinators that they are currently, was the Coordinator Boom and the freedom that the Federation had in place for its citizens. The Coordinator Boom had started in the early 30's of the Cosmic Era and lasted for close to twenty years, thereby increasing the number of Coordinators. Then, the Human Federation had laws in place that prevented discrimination against people that had Coordinator children. That point had kept the percentage of Coordinators steady, even if it wasn't said by those on the Supreme Council or other leaders of the PLANTs. Were Earth to go, so then too, would the Coordinators that came from the Federation.

Then there were the possible responses that would come the PLANTs' way from both what would be left of the Earth Alliance, but also the Federation. From what Treize had seen on the Federation's information network, what remained of the ZAFT Military, wouldn't be enough to stop the Federation were they to throw everything they had at them. Pretty much any variation of this situation didn't end well for any side, which left Treize to wonder how and why things had gotten this point. If Rau Le Creuset was the one that was influencing and blinding Patrick Zala as Treize suspected, then what was his goal. For as far as he could see, the result was most likely the destruction of humanity as a whole, which is possibly what Creuset wanted.

"Is it I who have become blind Patrick, or is it you? Have you lost sight of who you are supposed to represent and their interests so much that you can't see where what you suggest lead? Should you go through with your plan and attack Earth, the PLANTs won't be unaffected, that I can assure. You know the reasons as well as I do, whether you admit them or not Patrick. Nuclear weapons are not the answer to this conflict, resorting to them demines yourself to the same level as those you fight," Treize replied calmly.

Patrick glowered at Treize's reply, "How dare you accuse me of losing sight of what my responsibilities are! Once the next attack is made on the Earth Forces, the war will end, and the PLANTs will be safe for the future. Coordinators are the fittest to survive and will inherit the future, while Naturals will become extinct," growled Zala.

"Has your hatred of Naturals really come to the point that you have become no different than terrorist from anti-Coordinator groups like Blue Cosmos? Have you really lowered yourself below the level of thugs and bullies Patrick?" Treize questioned flatly, before he took a breath and continued, "Is your hatred the reason you are refusing to even receive the Earth Alliance's message of surrender?"

"LIES! A trick to have us lower our guard and allow them an opportunity to fire nuclear warheads at the PLANTs, like they did to Junius Seven!" snapped Zala.

Treize shook his head, "If you would have taken the time to confirm through other sources, then you would come to the conclusion that the message is genuine. You have the chance of ending the war without committing mass genocide Patrick. So, why are you refusing to do so in favor of killing billions of innocent lives, just to kill Naturals?" Treize asked.

Patrick Zala was getting very angry at the questions of the man that wouldn't do what he was told. "Until every Natural is gone, no Coordinator will be safe, there are no innocent Naturals! You say they are trying to surrender, if that was accepted, then how long would it be before they attack Coordinators once again? They have and will always be jealous of how superior we are to them. There can be no peace while Naturals and Hybrids exist, they must all be exterminated, only then can there be peace," Zala stated angrily.

It was after Lanus heard this, he knew and accepted that words could not reach his friend Patrick Zala anymore. All that could be done, was to stop him from making a mistake that would stain him forever. "I see, if that is your view Patrick, then there is only one other thing I can say. I will always see you as a friend and shall treasure the good times we shared," Treize returned, then closed the com-channel.

Treize then gave the orders to go to battle stations and for those under his command to ready themselves, before he left the bridge of the Salong and headed for the hanger of the ship. He fully intended to participate in this battle himself personally, that's how important this skirmish was! It had been close to two years since Treize had gone out to a battlefield like this. It was a set of skills he rarely used and did miss piloting a mobile suit, it brought a kind of satisfaction that not much else did. There was just a sense of elegance in the art of battle that you could only find on a battlefield and it was that, which Lanus Treize found fascination in.

It was just after Treize finished his attempt to convince Patrick Zala to back down, that the standing situation changed dramatically. This came when the optical camouflage that had been hiding the coalition fleet was dropped. The fleet was revealed groups of ships at a time and the more than became visible, the more shock the defending ZAFT forces felt.

Ezalia Joule could only stare and gape as the largest fleet that she had ever seen began appearing a short distance from Jachin Due. It was true that estimations of the Federation military's strength weren't small, not after the one instance that major force the Federation showed just after Junius Seven had been destroyed. But that, was less than what was being seen now by a large margin. Not only was there over a hundred Federation vessels of all their ship classes, but there were also Earth Forces ship and even ZAFT ships as well within this fleet's ranks. There had been no sign or warning that any of these ships had been approaching Jachin Due, let alone them being in range to attack until now.

By what Ezalia saw, her rough guess was that ZAFT defense forces were outnumbered three to one, if not more. If that wasn't a bad enough odd to going into battle with, then having Lanus Treize as an opponent certainly made things worse. Ezalia had known that when Patrick had accused Lanus of being a traitor, there would be serious repercussions. And here and now, was some of those repercussions, the ZAFT military was split and in a degree of chaos. Lanus had been an anchor for the military and had drawn a fair percentage of them away with him, around half in fact. The preparations that had been made, were done in the expectation of Earth Alliance forces coming, not this fleet that was here!

Shortly after the whole coalition fleet was visible, orders were given for mobile suits to launch. The difference in numbers quickly was enforced as Federation fighters, ZAFT and Alliance mobile suits came on to the battlefield. And where numbers do not necessarily make or break a battle, none could really claim that numbers didn't help.

During the launching process, the Freedom and the Justice launched first from the Eternal. The METEOR units were released from there docks on the front of the Eternal, floated forward while they adjusted their orientation. Both units were positioned ready to dock with the Freedom and the Justice, which said mobile suits linked up with the equipment shortly after launching. The Aurora followed the Freedom and Justice, shifting into its flight mode just after clearing the linear catapult on the Eternal. The Regenerate came out after the Aurora and flew forward with the rest of the machines of this coalition fleet. Meanwhile, on the Archangel, the Strike and the Blitz were the first to leave the ship. They were followed by the Buster and the Duel, while the Shadow brought up the rear. The Astrays headed out from the Kusanagi, the Asuka with them with Cagalli in the cockpit.

However, the sight of Treize's custom GINN on the side of the Federation and those with them, certainly had a dampening effect on the defending ZAFT forces. Not only had the one who had led ZAFT's military not been out on a battlefield in a mobile suit for a few years, but most soldiers had heard a story or two about the man's skills and had been amazed.

And yet, the first thing that Treize did upon coming on to the field, was to switch over to a specific com-channel. "My brothers and sisters, fellow defenders and protectors of the homeland, a time has once again come that the PLANTs cry out for their Champions to defend them from the threats that hang over them. The homeland faces threats both that have come before and ones that haven't been faced before. And so, those in the homeland turn to those who have protected them before, calling out for their defenders. Who will answer their call?" Treize pose.

Treize waited for the responses that he knew would come, and he didn't wait long, "The Zephyr will answer their call," replied Sakura Clyne firmly.

"The Dragon is ready to protect and serve," came a male voice.

"The Phoenix is here and will do whatever it takes to protect the homeland!" Said a feminine voice.

The responses and the conviction that they were given in, heartened Treize, to know there were still those who remembered what it meant to defend the homeland no matter what, to be a true soldier. The answers kept coming, "The wolf won't allow any to threaten the PLANTs," said a gruff and deep masculine voice.

"The Condor is still committed to defending the homeland," returned a soprano pitched female voice.

That was all of the remaining ZAFT Champions that most knew of, but then came answers that few expected. "The Mocking Jay heeds the call of the Homeland," said a feminine toned voice.

"The Roc will eliminate those who will threaten the homeland no matter who they are," came the voice of Kurt Gream.

Treize was about to continued when there came a voice that even he hadn't expected to hear, "The Comet will defend the people of the homeland as their champion!"

There was silence at hearing a voice of ZAFT's champion of champions being heard for the first time in over three years. Hearing Graham Aker's voice, had the effect of lifting up the drive to protect their homeland higher.

The battle commenced and quickly, ZAFT defending forces found themselves hard press on the defensive, due to the sheer numbers that they were fighting. The defenders' morale was taking hit after hit as just who and how many they were facing sunk in. It fell even more when the fact that ZAFT's champions, their most skilled and talented pilots, were fighting against them.

Shortly after the fighting started, Jachin Due gained an extra defense, a lightwave barrier that had been installed. The barrier was rougher than what was used by the late Alliance's Artemis base, not as intricate, but still provided the same kind of defense. The lightwave barrier created a difficulty for those assaulting the base as it made ships using their weapons less effective.

Treize knew that the barrier had to go do for this battle to progress, Jachin Due's fall would be necessary. Getting into that base would be hard for anyone, for defending force would be watching for any approaching that weren't allies. With that being the case, there was one person that could get in and disable enough emitters to bring down the barrier. So, Treize ordered Mocking Jay to infiltrate the base's defense perimeter and do what it took to bring the barrier down.

Mocking Jay, activated their suit's system and took on the guise of a GINN and headed for Jachin Due. They bypassed the defenders without much trouble, none even noticed them, but that was one of their defining characteristics of Mocking Jay. So, Mocking Jay got passed the defending forces and the barrier without being stopped. Inside, they were able to locate where a number of the emitters for the lightwave barrier without much difficulty. Once the major emitters were found, Mocking Jay began the job of disabling them by destroying them.

The attacks were noticed quickly, but when Mocking Jay was stopped in their activity, the damage had been done. The lightwave barrier had started to develop holes and those were growing at a rapid rate. Those manning the controls inside of Jachin Due, attempted to reroute power to other emitters and maintain the barrier. Yet, it was in vain, the gaps didn't close or go away, they just increased in size and slowed ever so slightly. The barrier's end and collapse kept approaching faster than any of the defenders could prevent. The shield that had protected the ZAFT base for even a short period, collapsed and the assault on Jachin Due from the coalition fleet resumed.

Mobile suits had divided themselves into smaller groups to fight ZAFT's defending forces, the groups were mixes of all the forces in the coalition fleet. Even the machines that came from the Eternal, Kusanagi and Archangel divide themselves into groups. Most of them were with machines they had not been with before now, with only with two exceptions. The Duel stuck with the Buster in their group as did the Justice and the Blitz, though just those pairs.

Athrun and Nicol started the skirmish somewhat close to the fleet, but soon moved away and head for Jachin Due's east side. Neither of the two liked fighting against other ZAFT pilots, for they had been comrades. However, with how the current leadership of ZAFT was keeping the war going, Athrun nor Nicol could just turn the other way anymore. As they worked their way forward toward the base, the fighting got harder as their opponents became more desperate. Yet, assistance arrived in the form of missiles striking defending GINNs.

When Athrun and Nicol looked in the direction that the missiles came, they saw a GINN model mobile suit. Although, the GINN was customize, colored orange and had a crest on it that was a human skull above two long bones. The suit was armed with a heavy blade, 76mm heavy assault machine gun, a custom shield and the two missile launchers. The shield was thicker than a normal shield that a GINN would carry. While the missile launchers were like those that were a part of the "D" equipment GINNs could use. They were M68 "Pardus" 3-barrel Short-range Guided missile launchers. The custom GINN was the one that their teammate Miguel Aiman used when he had the opportunity. And if any other evidence was needed to say who the pilot was, it came over an open com-channel. "You two look like you could use an extra pair of hands, so you get an expert pair," said Miguel, wielding his machine gun.

While the others were going toward Jachin Due, Lacus was taking the Regenerate and heading in the direction of the PLANTs. She had seen Athrun and the Blitz moving towards Jachin Due's eastern side as she had gone her way. Lacus had also seen the Buster, Duel, Strike and Shadow going more directly in the base's direction. The Aurora had disappeared not too long after launching from the Eternal, but she had confidence that Tyler would be okay. Kira had gone off to the field to do what he could to help push back the ZAFT defending forces and was keeping an eye out for the Alliance force that was coming to attack the colonies. Lacus was doing much the same, even though she loathed killing another person, the many innocent lives that were at stake, motivated her now.

That didn't prevent or stop Lacus from trying to convince ZAFT pilots to disarm and cease fighting, very few listened at all to her. Lacus's heart ached at the deaths that were happening for such foolish sediment as the hatred of others for being different. And yet, as she fought three GINNs at the same time, Lacus was forced to focus back on the fight completely. One of the GINNs managed to get behind the Regenerate and had raised its beam rifle, but never pulled the trigger. The mobile suit had the arm holding the rifle sliced off by a heavy blade.

The black CGUE that had appeared spun around from behind the GINN and slash the machine in half. The black suit stored its heavy blade on its left outer wing and then drew a beam rifle, pointing it at one of the other GINNs. The GINNs had little to no time to move out of the way as shots came at them from the CGUE and destroyed them. Lacus knew full well, who it was piloting the CGUE, it was customize and colored to her preference. The mobile suit was always referenced to Lacus's older sister Sakura and none other. And though Lacus was happy to know that her sister was close by, a feeling of guilt also came to her at seeing her again.

Sakura had been kept in the dark about the planning of the actions that their father and Lacus herself had done. She'd been down on Earth during the theft and its planning, but that didn't change the fact that neither their father nor Lacus had told her anything. Their actions had been done with the best interests of the PLANTs and their citizens in mind, but that didn't fully pardon what had done. Both their father and Lacus herself had been prepared to face the consequences of what they had done, but Lacus at least, hadn't considered what her sister would have to deal with.

Once the ZAFT defending mobile suits were dealt with, the CGUE turned and face the Regenerate. "Identify yourself, or face my blade," stated Sakura Clyne, drawing the beam saber again.

"Sakura," said Lacus with tones of sadness, "Please say that you're not siding with the Chairman in this."

"Lacus? I wouldn't have expected to see you on this battlefield. And do you really think that I would side with Patrick Zala over Lanus, I won't do that for any reason! We do need to catch up and you along with father have some serious explaining to do for yourselves," replied Sakura.

Lacus agreed that Sakura had a point, and Lacus was sorry that she even suggested that she would dismiss the best interests of the citizens of the PLANTs as she had worked towards for years now. Her older sister deserved to know the truth of what their father and Lacus did and why the actions were taken. "I'm here on this battlefield to make a difference, I'm here to fight for the best future humanity can have, not just part of it, but all human beings, no matter the type," Lacus said firmly.

Sakura was taken by surprise, she hadn't expected for her little sister to go this far. Oh, Sakura had seen that she had some of the same qualities as their father and those had been developing. But, where Lacus did have the pacifistic nature and the drive that their father did, Lacus was more idealistic. Yes, Sakura had given her baby sister lessons on how to pilot a mobile suit herself, but it wasn't for her to fight on a battlefield like this. And yet, Sakura also felt pride that Lacus was willing to take such a firm stance as she was right now.

-Line Break-

The Earth Forces' Peacemaker task group and its escort were in route to the PLANTs, though still a distance away. The fleet's mission was to deliver the nuclear payload to the colonies at L5. Hence, the name given to the group, "Peacemaker" in the thought that after the PLANTs were destroyed, the war would come to an end. The escort was to help get the nuclear weapons to be in range of their intended targets. There was the full expectation of ZAFT forces slowing them down, but the determination to end the war was strong within the Alliance.

The destruction of Ptolemaeus Lunar base, had hit those in the group in different ways. It had been a blow to the Earth Forces, to lose their headquarters on the moon and for space. The way it had happened had a number scared, for it had been confirmed that it had been done a nuclear based weapon that caused effects similar to the Cyclops system. There had been no word from Earth Alliance or Earth Forces leaders on Earth, which was somewhat odd.

Among the fleet, was the second Archangel-class Dominion, towards the front of the fleet formation. And it was as they came into the view of L5, that the views of the task they were assigned to do became the clearest it had been before. The battle that was visible from a respectable distance away, was unlike any skirmishes that had occurred in the war thus far. Many Alliance officers gaped at the battle that was already in full swing between ZAFT forces defending their Jachin Due base and another force that was larger than them by a sizable amount.

Natarle herself was shocked into awe more than she had been ever before, for what she was seeing, she simply never thought would happen. The fleet that ZAFT was fighting currently, appeared to be made up of a vast number of Federation vessels, which made up the core of the group and there were more Federation vessels than had been estimated before. But, there weren't just Federation military ships of all known classes, but there was also ZAFT Nazca and Laurasia-class ships and even all classes of Earth Alliance vessels of every class with them too.

Natarle had always heard that such a force as this one would never come together, not with the relationships that existed between the three factions as they were. And yet, here at Lagrange 5, was the largest fleet that history, made up vessels from all three factions, united in their purpose. That purpose which had brought them together was to prevent the use of nuclear weapons against the PLANTs and Earth. Which caused Natarle to feel guilt of the task the group she was with was here to do, to assist in the use of nuclear weapons to destroy the PLANTs.

Azrael himself, was having difficulty hiding his emotions, the sight of the battle and who it involved made him very angry. Granted, he had at some point had expected that the Federation military would meddle in the plan of shooting nuclear warheads at the PLANTs. Yet, if Azrael was honest with himself, he'd been expecting for it to happen before now and certainly not in this way. For them to have gathered this sized fighting force, was completely beyond even the most ludicrous predictions or imaginations. And even if ZAFT was occupying the Federation's force for the time being, there was no way to accurately say how long that would remain the case. The situation would definitely make the current plan of destroying the PLANTs harder in more ways than just interference.

That was what was taken in before the preliminary recon report was received, and when it came, the mood among the Alliance Peacemaker force fell further. The reason that happened, was the report stated the confirmation of the sighting of the blue and white custom GINN that belonged to ZAFT's Admiral Treize. The man Lanus Treize, the leader of the ZAFT military, brilliant tactician and the bane of the Earth Forces in space. The majority of Earth Forces officers feared Treize and for good reason. The man had always beaten the Alliance whether on Earth or in space even if ZAFT took losses in the process, for they were always less than the Earth Forces. For him to be on the battlefield himself, it said how momentous this skirmish could end out being!

Orders were given for mobile suits to launch out and hopefully, keep attention off the main task force. If the task force could attract the least amount of notice from either side for long enough to get into range to deploy the mobile armors, then this mission had a fair chance of success. The stakes had been made clear, failure of this mission could easily spell out the end of the war with the Earth Alliance being defeated. There were those who didn't really agree with using nuclear weapons as was planned. But, their voices were drowned out by those who shouted that destroying the PLANTs was the only way to end the war.

It wasn't long after the Alliance mobile suits, which consisted of the six GAT series custom suits, the Strike Daggers and their other variations, got caught up in the ongoing battle after they launched. However, even that being the case, the presence of the Earth Alliance task force was quickly noticed. A number of ships from the allied coalition fleet moved to intercept the task force, much to the displeasure of those in command of the task force. The Earth Forces fleet was slowed to a crawl and what irked some, some of those ships slowing them down were Alliance vessels. Azrael in particular was enraged that there were any Earth Forces' vessels working with the Federation Military attempting to prevent what should have occurred years ago.

Natarle saw rapidly that as things were going, two outcomes were likely to happen. Either they would get through, many paying a heavy cost, or those carrying nuclear missiles would be neutralized before they got into range to deploy. Even if the task force got through somehow, there was no guarantee that the mission would succeed. And honestly, in Natarle's opinion, the focus shouldn't be on destroying the PLANTs, but the weapon that had obliterated the Ptolemaeus Lunar base. It didn't take long into the fight, that Natarle became fed up and couldn't hold in her opinion any longer. "This is ridiculous! We should be focusing our efforts in finding what destroyed Ptolemaeus base, it's more a threat to Earth than anything else."

Azrael's anger came to a head at hearing the opinion of Natarle, for he was very unhappy with this female captain. Natarle Badgiruel was supposed to be doing what he told her to do and not question him or state her opinions! Azrael grimaced, "Give me a break! I've been more than tolerant, letting you state your opinion," Azrael snapped. He then went over to Natarle and slapped hard across the face, "Now for the last time Bi**h, your only job is to do what I tell you! Not to lecture me on what you think needs to be done!"

The feel on the bridge of the Dominion had was uneasy with the tension that was present. Natarle was glaring back at the man that she had been tolerating, held down the urge to punch Muruta Azrael in the face hard, in response to the slap. The tension was thick, but things moved forward, the task force was slowly making progress towards their target.

Once, the Alliance task force got into range, mobile armors began to launch from their ships, each equipped with a nuclear warhead atop a missile. The custom Alliance mobile suits were stopping any from approaching the crafts and attacking them. The mobile armors began making their way towards the hourglass shaped colonies.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

I was going around the battlefield, messy as it was, attempting to make a difference in the outcome of this battle. However, when I caught sight of the Calamity shooting at a Federation cruiser, I was brought to a halt. The Calamity blasted the ship and destroyed it, but what irritated the hell out of me, was that the pilot of that suit was laughing manically about it over an open channel! It made my blood boil beyond what this dumb war had done for a long while and something in me just snapped. The feeling of the onset of SEED mode registered to me, and the one clear thought set itself in the forefront of my mind, that mobile suit had to go away for good! Then to make that prince of scumbags' day the worse that he's ever had, by making sure none of the nukes they're brought strike the PLANTs. Azrael getting caught, arrested and then tried would be even better, but one thing and/or step at a time I say!

I took in that there were still a number of mobile suits, mostly the mass production models the Alliance had been using between the Calamity and myself. I took a beam saber in the Aurora's left hand and kept the beam rifle in the right and moved forward. Slashing and blasting a pathway forward towards the Calamity, I made decent progress closer towards my goal. I even spotted an anti-ship sword in the grasp of one of the Strike Daggers, which gave me an idea. I shot the suit, before storing my beam saber and grabbed the hilt of the anti-ship sword as it spun pass. Then, I began slicing through one suit after another that were still coming at me along with using my beam rifle to do the job.

But, once I got through the group of Alliance mobile suits, I'd an open and clear path to the Calamity for a strike on it and that's what I wanted. As I began my approach, the Calamity noticed me and it began shooting in my direction. I evaded shot after shot, not slowing down my approach, I kept rocketing forward towards the mobile suit, gaining speed and forward momentum behind the thrust I was aiming to make. I stored my beam rifle and grasped the anti-ship sword with both hands as I flew closer towards the Calamity. Just as I was about to reach the mobile suit, I activated the beam dagger point that this sword had at the end and aimed the point for just about center of the torso where the multi-phase beam emitter was. I put on a final burst of speed and plunged that sword where I wanted to put it hard, yet the Calamity managed to nick one of the Aurora's leg vents as I charged. But I didn't let that stop me, I slammed the anti-ship sword into the Calamity's emitter and used the momentum I'd built up to push the weapon deeper. I got to the point that I had the sword all the way through the suit and the hilt in contact the former beam emitter. "Let's see you laugh now punk," I muttered over the radio.

I shoved away the Calamity, making distance between us and shortly after I did, the mobile suit exploded, and the Calamity was no more. With part one of the plan done, it was time to move on to the second phase of it, dealing with the nuke carrying Alliance forces before they get in range of the PLANTs. It wasn't hard to find where the group that was carrying the nukes were. I mean, a large number of Moebius type mobile armors moving in the direction of the PLANTs, all of them carrying a sizable missile with them, sticks out. That's what I was seeing at least, I thought, they were good candidates of being the carriers of the nuclear warheads.

Without further ado, I drew my beam rifle back out and began shooting down the mobile armors as fast I could, the less of them that got close to the PLANTs, the better. The problem was that there was still the Forbidden and the Raider making my task of taking on the nuke carrying mobile armors difficult. One of the few good things right now, if you can consider much about this situation good, the other three custom Alliance suits were helping the Raider or the Forbidden. The task of stopping the nuke strike force would be harder if they were in the mix.

Then, there came weapons' fire from my left and struck the Raider and brought the mobile suit to a halt. When I glanced to my left, I spotted a custom Delta fighter, which had four gunbarrel pods or modules attached to on the diagonal spars at the rear of the machine, kind of like a Moebius Zero armor's gunbarrels. The pods detached and then zoomed forward at the Raider, and while the mobile suit dodged each incoming pod at first, but that didn't last long. Once the pods began to fire their beams at the suit, evading became harder for the Raider to do. And while three of the pods distracted and kept assaulting the machine, the fourth shot forward. Just before the pod reached the mobile suit, the front section split apart becoming a pincer claw. That claw was then used to have the pod to latch on to the Raider around the hips from behind and gripped tightly.

The Raider took notice of the attached pod, but then paid much less attention to the other three pods. Because of that, the Raider's pilot didn't move out of the way when two of the pods took hold at either shoulder joint. The final pod latched on to the mobile suit's head from the back, covering the main optical cameras of the suit. The combined work of the four pods took away the Raider's movement, though the machine still struggled against the restraint imposed upon it. As the struggling continued, the pods that held on to the shoulder joints fired off their beam rifles at the joints. As a result, the Raider's arms were blasted off at the joints, cutting down the weapons available for the mobile suit. The Raider was still being held in place by the two other pods latched on the head and at the hips.

The Delta fighter suit then, drew one of its beam sabers, ignited it and flew forward towards the Raider. I turned away, as the mobile suit thrust its beam saber forward and plunged the weapon into the torso of the mobile suit. The two pods still holding the Raider, lit up their thrusters and threw the suit away and sending the Raider flying from us, the machine had arcs of energy randomly going off from multiple places around the suit. Just under ten seconds later, the Raider exploded and disappeared and only fragments and debris remained.

The one in the custom Delta fighter, was Cormag Swift a former Earth Forces mobile armor pilot, now a Federation pilot. A colleague and somewhat a friend as well, it was Cormag that had 'given me' some lessons on how to fly a mobile armor. His skills were good, no denying that and certainly not after what he just showed. And though I wish battles like this didn't happen and the deaths that come with it could be prevented, I know that some of these events are unavoidable. Killing another still sickens me, even if I've lost count of the number of people that I myself have killed for whatever reasons I had.

Anyways, with the Raider gone, that left only the Forbidden, and that machine was busy with multiple mobile suits trying to get to the mobile armors that were attempting to deliver nukes to the PLANTs. Cormag had his suit's gunbarrel pods dock back to their hard points, before the two of us moved forward towards the Alliance mobile armors. The two of us resumed shooting the mobile armors down, Cormag detaching the pods, though now they had wires connected to them like armor gunbarrels.

It wasn't long, when the Forbidden broke away and came at Cormag and me. I was forced to barrel roll out of the way as the Forbidden's scythe making an arc through where I had been. I fired a few shots from my beam rifle, but those were blocked by the Forbidden's deflection system. Cormag fired the rockets in the pods fired and struck the Forbidden's left side and shook the suit. Then, I saw the Justice coming up from behind a beam sword ignited, clearly aiming for the Forbidden. Athrun blindsided the Forbidden and for a second, the image of the Alliance mobile suit was silhouetted with a thick magenta line behind it. Next moment, the beam sword cut through the suit, essentially cutting the machine in half at the torso. The two halves then exploded and the last of that trio of Alliance mobile suits was destroyed.

With the mobile suits that were hindering those of us that were trying to take out the nuclear payload to the PLANTs, we redoubled our efforts. Athrun used the METEOR's collection of anti-ship missiles to help speed along the process, while Cormag and I were shooting down armor after mobile armor. The three of us intercepted any missiles that were fired off from the Alliance forces, making sure that none got close to striking a colony. As the number of mobile armors decreased, the desperation of the Alliance forces increased. While Athrun, Cormag and others that had joined us were dealing with the mobile armors, I was looking towards the Earth Forces vessels that had come with them.

I brought out both the Aurora's plasma cannons and aimed at the Alliance ships. The destruction of the nuke bearing mobile armors is good, taking care of the ships that likely carry more nuclear weapons is better! It's best to be thorough and make one of the scumbags that brought things to this point have one of the worst days they ever had! I charged the plasma cannons to half power and then started to shoot the ship I was aiming at. I kept firing my cannons and my plasma beams punched through vessel after vessel, destroying the ships and the horrible thing they were carrying.

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

Agamemnon-class Damocles

The battle between ZAFT and the combined forces that the Federation had brought together was quite something to watch, Mina had to admit it. But, she couldn't help the eye roll that came when the Captain Sutherland was surprised when Federation, ZAFT and Alliance ship moved to stop the Earth Forces' progress towards the PLANTs. However, then things took a turn for the worst as the Federation came down on the Earth Forces. The first problem, Azrael 'panicked' in Mina's view and ordered the mobile armors that were equipped with nuclear warheads, to make their attempt on the colonies. The second problem, was the response from both ZAFT and the Federation forces that moved to intercepted, for it got them to put aside their reason for fighting one another.

Her girls were resupplying their mobile suits currently, and then things became even more volatile just after the Calamity took down a Federation Cruiser. The red mobile suit that her candidates had gone against before, appeared using one of the Strike Daggers' anti-ship sword, and put it through the Calamity's torso. The mobile suit had exploded shortly after that, Mina had considered calling the other two back with that event. But, before she could the Raider was overwhelmed and destroyed, the Forbidden shortly followed the other two to its own demise.

Mina left the bridge at that point, weighing the risks of continuing to assist Azrael, for they were growing far faster than any benefit was and most were diminishing! Then, there came a call for Mina, which was Lori telling her that she had done as Mina had asked and taken their case to others. Lori had managed to make a deal with the Human Federation, and though there were some things that would have to stop, the way Lori put it, the deal was beneficial overall. Mina thanked Lori and then ended the call, before she headed down to the ship's hanger. Along the way, Mina put on a space suit of her own as she fully intended now to leave the ship with the girls. She had begun to realize that all three of the girls had started becoming more than just candidates to her, for she didn't want them to die and it wasn't just because of the work that had gone into them.

Yes, Mina Moss, the cold, unchanging, unyielding and terrifying head of Lodonia, had started opening up to the three girls that she had found in a small town that had been destroyed by the war. Mina couldn't say when the change had began but, the affects were apparent, more so now. And the other reason that she intended to leave, was to get away from Azrael. The man was irritating, intolerable and just plain got on Mina's nerves. Plus, the man had gotten to be seriously hazardous to work for or with, it wasn't worth the funding Blue Cosmos provided any longer.

After Mina finished getting into the space suit, she headed for the hanger and when she got there, she saw that all three of her girls' suits were still here. Deborah was the first to spot Mina making her way towards them and was in a space suit, "Mother? Why have you come down here and in a space suit?" she asked.

Mina stopped in front of Deborah, "I will be leaving with the three of you. Things have changed, and so, there is no reason for any of us to remain on this ship," she answered.

The girls boarded their assigned machine, and Mina entered the Bandit with Deborah, moving behind the pilot seat. The Raptor, the Sinister and the Bandit headed out, heading towards the coalition fleet. But, as they passed the area that the Dominion was in, Mina decided to make things official. She had Deborah open a com-channel to the Dominion, "Muruta Azrael," Mina stated clearly.

"Mina?" Came the response from Azrael.

"Consider our transactions and business officially ended. I, Lodonia Lab and those from it are no longer employed by you or required to provide services to the Earth Forces." Mina said, took a breath before continuing, "And this couldn't come about fast enough in my view. You've always been annoying, frustrating and ridiculous, you're so blind to the real world that it's more than sad. So, I say good riddance to you," Mina finished.

Mina smiled a bit at the image that came to her mind of how Azrael was reacting to her informing him she would have nothing to do with him anymore. With how that man had gotten under her skin and the damage he had done to the work, it felt very satisfying to imagine. Mina and the girls flew over to the Federation fleet, where upon contacting the one in charge of the Alliance forces, Duane Halberton. She informed the man, of the changes and gave simple explanation, and said that her girls were at his disposal.

And as the skirmish continued, there went a shuttle unseen by those on the battlefield, traveling towards the Dominion. On board the shuttle was a full team of SOLAS commandos and their objective was to apprehend Muruta Azrael who was confirmed to be onboard the second Archangel-class. Ever since Tyler McGregor's report on the second Archangel-class put the man on it, several mission plans had been made. The war criminal Muruta Azrael, had evaded capture for years, the two instances that SOLAS teams had been sent to apprehend the man, they had failed like the other attempts. It had become a form of embarrassment to a number within the Federation military. With the opportunity presented during this battle, the motivation that the SOLAS team had in this was high.

Each member of the team had a special type of pilot suit on, similar to what the MSC special forces pilots wore. The differences were the optical camouflage network system built into the suit instead of being a separate piece of equipment, along with the tool set they came with standard. That tool set came with a gun and other offensive equipment of course, but also a small exterior emergency air tank, along with a system hacking tool. The pilot of the shuttle, flew above the Dominion, looking for a airlock to provide a way for the team a way inside. He spotted one and maneuvered the craft to be above the airlock, then gave the signal to the SOLAS team leader a thumbs up for the soldiers to go.

The team moved to the center of the shuttle, opened the hatch and with the team leader in front, floated out and to the airlock. The codes that kept the airlock shut and others from accessing it, were quickly superseded and the outside hatch of the Dominion opened. The SOLAS team moved on to the Alliance vessel, activating their suits' camouflage as they went. The outside airlock closed and the room went through the process of pressurizing to match the rest of the ship. Opening the door, the team moved into the corridor from the maintenance room that the team had come into the ship. They split into two teams, one went right, heading for the engine compartment to take control as needed. The other with the overall SOLAS team leader, began to make their way towards the Dominion's bridge.

Both teams met little resistance and for those soldiers who managed to see something and raise their guns, they were shot without hesitation. Those who were just unknowingly in the way were either directed or pushed into rooms off the corridors. When the team that was heading for the bridge reached the elevator to their intended destination, the lift was sent up without any of them being inside. The doors to the elevator shaft were forced open and the SOLAS team entered the shaft, before using their suits' thrusters to go upward, following the elevator.

Meanwhile, Azrael was livid at the turn of recent events. So close, they had been within freaking spitting distance of destroying the PLANTs and winning the war! But, when victory was in the Alliance's grasp, it was snatched from them by the cursed Human Federation's military! So much panning had come to not, just because a group of fools who thought themselves so high and mighty, believed it was their calling to interfere with a war when they claimed neutrality in, to save abominable Coordinators they wrongfully claimed were human when they weren't. The three male candidates that Mina had supplied had failed and gotten themselves killed. Then Mina herself had the gall to dare tell him that their business was over right in the middle. This day couldn't get worse in Muruta Azrael's mind. All that helped even a little, was the thoughts of what would be done to those in the Federation to make them pay for this.

His rage was boiling when the lift to the bridge reached the bridge level and Azrael flew off his handle. The ship had been at battle stations for a while now, if there was someone that wasn't at them, this would be their unlucky last day! Azrael commanded the soldiers on the bridge that had come to keep order, to shoot their guns at the elevator. Natarle was about to tell the blonde he was crazy and do whatever it took to restrain him, but the soldiers turned and began firing their guns before she could. After ten seconds, the Alliance soldiers stopped using their guns, Natarle twisted back to face Azrael and glared at the man. "What the hell are you think Azrael?! You are not an officer or crew member of this ship, you will stop threaten the crew of this ship, or so help me, I will shove you into one of the brig cells and keep you there until further notice, director of the National Defense Industry Association or not!" Natarle nearly bellowed at Azrael.

Azrael's mood was bad and Natarle's actions weren't helping, "You care to repeat that bi**h," he growled.

The elevator doors opened to show no one inside the lift, but there were lots of new bullet sized holes. After seeing that Natarle refocused back on giving Muruta Azrael a piece of her mind. She had enough of this man, Natarle no longer cared if she would get court marshaled, then she would go to the court martial session like it was the greatest honor!

In the elevator shaft, the SOLAS team had followed the lift up to the top of the shaft and then they waited for a moment. There was the sound of gunshots echoed along with metal being punctured by the bullets being fired. Two team members readied a sonic grenades while two others prepared smoke bombs. The peppering of bullets ceased, then shortly after that, came the swooshing of the elevator doors opening. The SOLAS team leader signaled two with sonic grenades to toss them, and they lifted up one of the floor plates of the elevator and lobbed their grenades into the bridge area. The SOLAS commandos dropped back down into the elevator shaft, letting the floor plates move back into place quietly. Both sonic grenades went tumbling through the air and moved out of the elevator before the doors slid shut. One of the Alliance soldiers stationed on the bridge spotted both objects, "Gren-" the soldier started to call.

However, the warning came too late, both sonic grenades set off the concussive sonic blasts midway through the word. The blast wave threw all but those in the CIC away from the grenades location and stunned the majority of the bridge crew to varying degrees. Natarle was shoved forward and the blast itself, it felt like something had slammed into the back of her head. The world around her blurred, but she could tell things were still happening around her, just not what. Seconds after the sonic grenades went off, smoke bombs were chucked in and added to the maelstrom happening. Smoke filled the bridge, obscuring the vision that any on the Dominion's bridge had before. With the smoke thick and heavy, the SOLAS team came up through the bottom of the elevator and moved into the bridge area. As the SOLAS team's visors had multiple settings to help them see the best in any given situation, their visors switched to inferred. The Alliance soldiers were promptly shot when the team came on to the bridge, ending any problems they could create.

Azrael cleared his head and upon hearing the commotion and the gunfire from behind him, he pulled out the pistol he had. Natarle was floating, trying to regain her bearings, Azrael pointed his gun at the female captain that had annoyed him so. Then, he pulled the trigger, yet to his shock the vise captain of the Dominion had gotten between Natarle and Azrael himself. Azrael gritted his teeth, and intended to shoot at the woman again, but never had the chance to do so. He found his right arm grabbed and wrenched backward, the gun yanked from his grip. The smoke was beginning to settle and so, when Azrael looked to his right, he saw someone in a non-standard Federation space suit. He was quickly surrounded by a small number of these Federation suited people. Azrael struggled against their restraining holds, but the Federation personnel didn't let go at all. The SOLAS team brought out restraints and put Azrael's hands and forearms into them, making the man unable to effectively use his arms.

Natarle began to come back to the world around her and took in what was going on. The first thing that she saw that that her second in command was close by, but he now appeared to be seriously injured. Second, there were people on the bridge that were in Federation space suits that were similar to their pilot suits, but that she'd never seen before. Third, Azrael was being restrained by said Federation personnel. Natarle watched as one of the Federation suited people move to be in front of the blonde man, "Muruta Azrael. For the crimes that you have been involved in and committed that fall under the United Nations Charter, Chapter 4, Article 7, you are hereby placed under arrest. As per Article 7, Clause C, subsection 2, in regard to your involvement in the Bloody Valentine, you no longer have any rights or privileges other than the most basic. You will appear in front of the Ecumenical Humanity Court of Law, where your sentence and punishment will be decided," stated a female voice.

Natarle was processing what had just been said by the Federation soldier, for there were some very significant points to it. First, the Federation had evidence, a great deal by the sound of it, that Muruta Azrael had committed multiple crimes! Second, if Natarle recalled the referenced material right, some of those crimes were considered "war crimes" and those wrongs are much more serious than others. Finally, Azrael had been involved in the Bloody Valentine Incident itself, was apparently fact, meaning Tyler had known what he had been talking about before. And one other fact became clear to Natarle, Muruta Azrael no longer could be covered by any from the Alliance or Blue Cosmos. It was something she had heard rumors about before now, the way the Human Federation could prosecute someone and no others could interfere with them, old standing laws were on their side.

Azrael was tugged upward and then dragged to the elevator, with an escort of six Federation uniformed people around him. That left a few still on the bridge of the Dominion, and the one that Natarle guessed was the leader, turned towards her. "You are the captain of this vessel, are you not?" they posed in the same feminine voice as they had spoken to Azrael.

Natarle nodded, "Then, it would be in the best interest of this ship and its crew, for you to disengage you attempted assault on the PLANTs," the person said simply.

The other Federation people headed for the lift and left the bridge as if nothing had happened. Natarle was now left to decide what to do in the current situation as it stood. She wasn't inclined to keep fighting with the task force the Dominion had come with. Natarle did order that the Dominion's vise captain be taken to the infirmary right away. After that, the best thing she could think to do with all on the bridge looking to her for orders, was to give instructions that would have the Dominion assisting the Archangel.

-Line Break-

Kira was fighting against the ZAFT forces defending Jachin Due, alongside by some ZAFT GINNs, Federations mobile suits and even a few Alliance Strike Daggers. Progress forward was slow, but steady, any distance gained was hard earned. Kira had seen the Regenerate some time ago, but with how intense the skirmish was, he had lost sight of Lacus and hadn't spotted her for a while. Cagalli had also started with Kira at the beginning, but had also gotten separated to somewhere else on the battlefield.

However, Kira's attention was jerked back to the present when some of his allies got shot down. Upon looking in the directions that the shots came from, and quickly spotted the mobile suit responsible. The suit was grey overall, the torso was blue, except for the sides around the lower torso. The vents which were yellow, then area around the neck and collar that was also yellow. There was a circular backpack that had five protuberances coming off of it; two small, three larger ones. On the sides of the hips of the suit, were smaller "pods" attached to docks of some sort. There was a shield on the left arm of the machine that was half the size of the Freedom's shield from top to bottom. It also appeared to have beam guns emitters, two of them, built into the shield along with a beam saber emitter as well. The other visible weapon that this mobile suit had, was a large beam rifle or cannon. The "handheld" weapon was substantially large than the one the Freedom had and looked to need to be supported by the shoulder when used. If the size was anything to judge by, then the power output was higher than the "Lupus" rifle the Freedom and the Justice were equipped with.

The mobile suit looked dangerous and after Kira looked at the power readouts, he felt the danger more so. The information showed that the machine had lots of power to work with, the same kind of levels that the Freedom itself had. That implied that the machine that Kira was facing could and probably had a nuclear reactor as well. If that was true, then this machine could have other similar abilities as the Freedom and the Justice. Kira took up a defensive stance with the Freedom, preparing for whatever was coming. However, Kira did expect to hear the voice he did, "Is fate not ironic Kira Yamato," said the voice of Rau Le Creuset, "That we should meet on this battlefield to fight for the futures we wish to see for Humanity?"

The protuberances or pods detached from Creuset's mobile suit and moved forward, shooting at Kira and his allies. Kira dodged and evaded the beams that came from the pods that came off of Creuset's mobile suit, but those with him weren't able to. The explosions of his allies' suits being destroyed angered Kira, for none of them deserved to die. And what made this even more frustrating, Rau Le Creuset was cackling like a mad man the whole time he was doing this! "This is what humankind has worked so hard for Kira Yamato!" shouted Creuset.

Creuset leveled his beam rifle on the Freedom and fired. Kira dodged and fired a barrage of missiles at the enemy mobile suit. However, the pods intercepted the projectiles from hitting Creuset's mobile suit. "You are quite the persistent pest Kira Yamato," Creuset said over an open com-line. "But then, you are the culmination of mankind's desires and dreams, so of course you would be a serious obstacle to its end."

Kira saw the pods turn towards him, knowing that in this situation was going to get harder, he made the decision to undock from the METEOR unit. The Freedom's wings snapped open, the suit's HiMAT mode activating and increasing its mobility. Kira gritted his teeth at Creuset's claims, and now could see what Tyler meant when he said not to take what the masked man said as he said it. Whether what he said was true or not, he was chatting to throw Kira off and Kira wouldn't let it happen again! Not after all those who had sacrificed their lives in this battle thus far! "You may be right but, your view of what Humankind's dream is right now, is only in the negative Creuset! That's your fault, focusing on only the negative, ignoring and dismissing the positive!" Kira challenged.

Creuset had a double take at what the boy had said in reply, for it wasn't what he had expected to get from him. He had shaken this teen at Mendel and Creuset had hoped to do so again yet, the child had countered him in a way that was the last Creuset would have thought. Creuset refocused on the battle, and the two mobile suits had barely gotten off their initial attacks when a beam came from above them. "See you have a new suit Creuset, but your style hasn't changed in the slightest," came a male voice that Creuset never imagined he would hear again.

Creuset looked up and witnessed a blue mobile suit coming down at him at break neck speeds, he barely had time to dodge the suit. Kira was just staring at the blue mobile suit, for he had seen it before. It had been at the second battle outside Mendel, the machine had come with the Federation forces. "Aker! How are you still alive?!" Creuset snarled.

"Why, you almost sound like you missed me Le Creuset. Still I, Graham Aker, the defender of the people and the one people call the Comet, have arrived and we have a score to settle," replied the voice of Graham Aker.

Le Creuset clenched his jaw at hearing the reply. This man, Graham Aker had been a serious thorn in Creuset's side! Creuset had gone through a lot to get rid of him, to be rid of his bravado and his 'more humble and righteous than thou' air about him as much as everything else. He had even let slip that Aker was a Natural, so that Aker would disappear. The desired result had come and Graham Aker had vanished, Creuset believed that it was the end of the man's interference. And yet, once again, here the pilot called the "Comet" was, interfering with Creuset's goals, it was so frustrating! But, Creuset wasn't an idiot, Aker was no novice pilot, more the opposite, arguably one of the best pilots in history thus far.

Graham drew a beam saber, then shot forward at the Providence, clashing against one another. The two mobile suits quickly became involved fighting with each other, being oblivious to most else. Kira watched the two for a moment, before he headed off to help in this battle elsewhere on the field. As Kira moved to a different area of the field, a sight caught his attention. Out of seemingly nowhere, two objects appeared a short distance from the Jachin Due base, the Mirage Colloid that had hid it deactivating. One of the objects was larger than the other, but they were in line with one in front of the other. The larger object was made up of a huge dark grey ring that appeared to be some kind of emission dish array. That was connected to a cylindrical structure behind the dish. Then the other smaller object looked to be a cone or funnel shape with eight veins that formed the funnel.

The next thing any saw, the color of the ring structure began to change, as phase shift armor was enabled, making the ring a lighter grey and the mirrors that it encircled turn an ocean blue and showing their reflective qualities. There was a small hole in the center of the array of mirrors as well, but the purpose to the coalition fleet was unknown. What was clear, was that this structure was almost certainly the nuclear weapon that ZAFT had. The defending ZAFT forces moved out of the path that the weapon pointed. Then a beam fired from the center of the dish of mirrors, hit the funnel's bottom, then reflected back to the array of mirrors. All were spellbound, as a large magenta beam or wave came from the structure and zoomed towards the opposing forces.

Everything that was engulfed by the wave, quickly vanished in an explosion, ships and mobile suits alike. Once the beam stopped, there was a moment that all remaining on the battlefield took in what had just happened. A portion of the coalition fleet had been destroyed, as well as the majority of what had been left of the Alliance's task force that had been supporting the nuclear carrying force. ZAFT's weapon had taken damage to itself through firing what it had, some of the mirrors had melted and couldn't reflect well anymore. The funnel that was used for aiming and reflecting the initial beam had melted and warped to a twisted metal glop.

Orders were sent to all in the coalition fleet to regroup, then a number were sent to try and destroy the weapon that had just caused the massive destruction. Meanwhile, ZAFT was starting the work of replacing the mirrors and the exterior funnel as quickly as they possibly could. The Kusanagi joined the force moving to attack ZAFT's weapon. However, ZAFT defending forces desperately fought against them and managed to repel the attackers with what they had still. Yet, those opposing ZAFT defending forces, did do some damage to the array of mirrors within the dish structure. So, their efforts did buy time for more action to be taken before GENESIS could fire once more, much to the frustration of Patrick Zala.

While that was happening, the Archangel was fighting the ZAFT defending forces. The Archangel was repelling most of the ZAFT vessels with difficulty, until another ship came onto the scene, the Dominion. Murrue could only stare at the black Archangel as it began attacking the ZAFT forces. However, Murrue wasn't about to complain about help coming, no matter the source. In fact, the Dominion contacted the Archangel, "Murrue, I know that recent past actions don't speak well for the Dominion or myself, but in this, Humanity's dark hour, let us fight side by side once more," Natarle said over the com-line.

Murrue agreed to that plus, she didn't want to go against Natarle if there wasn't a need to do so. The battle around them was going okay, then, there appeared a ZAFT machine with a heavy plasma cannon, pointing it at the Archangel. The suit fired its weapon, and though Murrue ordered for the Archangel to evade, but it was too late. However, at the last moment, the Strike came out of nowhere and stopped the beam with its shield. There was a moment that time seemed to stand still as the beam was halted by the Strike's shield. "Like I said, do I not have a knack for making the impossible possible," Mu said over the radio.

But then, the high-powered plasma beam moved forward, first warping the shield, then going through it. The explosion that engulfed the Strike was hard to watch for those on the Archangel. Murrue felt the worst pain that she had ever felt in her life, seeing the Strike vanish in smoke and then see nothing but debris. She couldn't stop the cry of horror, the howl that came out of her that was he screaming the name of the man that she loved, "MUUUUUUUUU!"

Murrue certainly wasn't the only one that felt pain at seeing the Strike destroyed, Krystal felt it as well, even if it wasn't in the same way. The relationship that had developed between Krystal and Mu was a strong friendship. They had been watching one another's back for much of this war and had saved each other multiple times. Of course, neither kept count of how many times one saved the other, there was no real reason to keep score. So, to see Mu go down… it enraged Krystal as much as it hurt her.

Krystal switched the beam rifle over to the Shadow's left hand and brought out its positron cannon. She nailed the GINN with the positron cannon, destroyed the two that were close by with the Shadow's beam rifle. The Nazca-class vessel that had been supporting the mobile suits was what Krystal aimed at next. But, before she got to take a shot, the ship was pierced by two plasma beams that came from the side. Then Krystal caught a glimpse of the Aurora in its flight mode, flying away, making Krystal believe that the mobile suit had shot at the ZAFT vessel.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

With the nukes the Alliance had been trying to use neutralize, I was heading towards the ZAFT nuclear "gamma radiation beam" device. Once that weapon was taken care of, this battle could be settled and brought to a close. However, a sight I saw along the way changed my optimism that I had growing, dropped an amount. That sight, was a high-powered plasma beam being shot at the Archangel's bridge. The Strike suddenly appeared in front of the Bridge, using its shield to block the incoming plasma beam.

"Like I said, do I not have a knack for making the impossible possible," came the voice of Mu.

Then, the next thing that occurred, was the plasma beam puncturing the Strike's shield and the explosion that engulfed the mobile suit. It took my brain a moment to process what I had seen. The Strike being destroying meant that Mu La Flaga was gone and I had been getting to kind of like the guy. There were so many good people dying in this and it was getting ridiculous! I flew over where the two ZAFT ships, a Nazca and a Laurasia-class, bought out both my plasma cannons and aimed at the bridges of the respective vessels. I caught a glimpse of the Shadow destroying several GINNs and other ZAFT mobile suits. Then, once I locked in my targets, I fired my plasma cannons, making a neat hole through each of them. They exploded shortly after I shot them, but I was already back on course for ZAFT's nuclear weapon.

By what that last shot had shown, the forward funnel was key to getting the weapon to fire off as designed. So, that in mind, if that funnel was out of line with the initial laser path, then the weapon can't fire effectively. By the time I was within close range of the structure, I saw that the "alignment mirror" had been replaced. I stored my beam rifle as kept going towards the mirror funnel and slammed into it with force. Then throwing the throttle forward hard, I had the Aurora's thrusters burn hard, so I was pushing the funnel out of where it was positioned.

It wasn't long after I started shoving the aiming mirror away from where it started, ZAFT mobile suits began coming towards me. Yet, before I had come up with a way to keep going with what I was doing and defend myself, allies appeared between myself and those approaching to stop me. Fighting was initiated between ZAFT forces and those defending me as I continued to move the alignment mirror further out of the laser's firing line. The clash got messy quite quick for both sides when I had the funnel almost out of reach of the laser's barrel.

Yet, moments before I had the aiming mirror out of the way, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Upon looking to the left, my eyes widened at seeing a GINN pointing a high-energy beam cannon directly at the Aurora's torso. The cannon fired, and a green beam was coming at me and time seemed to slow down. But, before the beam hit, a Delta fighter suit appeared between me and the beam's path. There was a period of time that the scene felt frozen, the Delta fighter blocking the beam with its own torso. "It's up to you now old boy, do not let this weapon fire at Earth. Make it worth a gentleman performing a hero's duty Tyler," said the voice of Alan.

The Delta suit vanished in a fireball and shrapnel. A painful feeling exploded within me at seeing a teammate, a friend sacrifice himself to save me. Tears began coming from my eyes, but at the same time, I was gritting my teeth hard. The pain of loss and sorrow was only matched by the rage that was blazing in me. I slammed the throttle passed where their stops were, and forced them beyond and into the highest speed the Aurora could reach. My mobile suit's thrusters were now putting out more power, what would have the Aurora's flight mode going at Mach four bare minimum, or higher. Also, I had both of the Aurora's plasma cannons start charging up to their FULL capacity while I pushed the alignment mirror.

When the mirror was fully out of line, I pushed myself away a short distance and brought out the plasma cannons. The lower third of the cannon barrels, split open, widening the barrel. Particles of light began gathering at the end of the cannons, much like the effect that the Archangel's Lohengrin blaster cannon did. I brought both cannons to bare on the funnel I had moved, glaring at it with anger, loathing and the utmost hatred. As I pulled the trigger for both cannons, I couldn't stop the roar of pain and rage that came from me. Two beams, that were around the same size as the positron beams that came from the Archangel's Lohengrins, came from the cannons' barrels. The alignment mirror was struck by both plasma beams and the metal that made its structure, quickly began to melt and distort its shape. My shots lasted for nearly five seconds, before the beams died down and faded. All that was left in their wake, was globs of twisted metal and some shards of misshapen glass that had melted like the metal.

I was breathing hard, trying to calm down and ignore the pain of watching Alan take a shot meant for me. The plasma cannons' barrels closed, before they swung back to the stored positions alongside the Aurora's backpack. As beams and other projectiles started coming my way, I was brought back to the present. I shifted the Aurora into its flight mode and activate the optical camouflage, disappearing from sight and headed off to the rear of the ZAFT's nuclear weapon structure.

Behind the mirror dish, where I believe the control section of this weapon, I began searching for a way inside. Once I found the entrance that I was looking for, in the form of an airlock, I positioned the Aurora just above it. I exited the cockpit and floated over to the airlock, and after I managed to get it to open, I entered a tunnel. As I went down the tunnel, I kept glancing down at my left forearm where readouts were being displayed. The specific reading that I was keeping an eye on was the radiation levels, this was a nuclear weapon after all. At the end of the tunnel, there was another airlock, and after cycling, it opened onto a small control center.

I floated over to the closest collection of consoles and scanned them to see what was being done from here. The first point that I saw, this place was being control remotely now, so there was no need of anyone to be here. Second, there was currently being another mirror moved into position to interact with the laser. I quickly began typing out commands, to see what could be done to stop this weapon so it could be broken down, or just destroyed outright. It was as I was looking at the power source of this weapon, a "nuclear cartridge" that an idea came to me. The cartridge was pretty much a contained nuclear explosive, with only one way to go, so eliminate that one way to go, and you have a hell of a pipe bomb! That being stated, I got down to changing the instructions that this system used, to activate the cartridge, but not transfer the energy to the laser and the mirrors.

The second task was to rig a misfire of the rest of this weapon, which the system said was named GENESIS. That proved to be a more work involved task than setting up the ammunition to work incorrectly. One of the reasons that was the case, was someone had already gone through this system and done work. And when I say someone, I mean a no good, rotten dirty rat had tailored the instructions of this weapon! Yep, it was clear to me that Rau Le Creuset had gone through the trouble of making a contingency plan if those in control of ZAFT lost this battle. In essence, by what I was seeing, the rat had setup some real nasty things to occur should a particular person be killed or die. That person was Patrick Zala, and were he to die, whether it be by the heart stopping or some other means that his body stop functioning, that would trigger the 'trap'. Said trap, was for this weapon to fire at Earth, why Creuset set this up, I don't know. Maybe this was some sort of revenge, who can really say with that mad man?

Well, since I wanted GENESIS to vanish forever, and it looked like the nuclear cartridge triggered the be by a firing sequence, I say why change what the rat did. The rat had been kind enough to make sure that this weapon would fire after all and I could use the idea. Yet instead, I created the circumstances that would guarantee a misfire, which would set off the cartridge. Hopefully, that would in turn cause this place to be destroyed entirely. Once I finished arranging the demise that would end this weapon, I then made sure that nothing I'd done would be noticed by any at Jachin Due. After that was finished, I headed back down the tunnel I had entered by, waited for the airlocks to cycle, before floating back to my mobile suit.

-Line Break-

-Neutral pov-

Within Jachin Due's main control center, Patrick Zala was enraged and fuming as he watched the Federation's Military forces and their allies keep pushing forward against defending forces. For Treize to have appeared had been infuriating enough without his foolish and blind views, those had caused more problems before this. It had cause chaos throughout true loyal ZAFT soldiers, and then the Champions had foolishly sided with Treize which had made things even more ridiculous. After the one shot from GENESIS should've ended the battle, but it had only spurred the enemy onward.

The enemy had begun an assault on GENESIS directly shortly after the first shot, yet they failed to do serious damage to it, but had destroyed enough of the mirrors to need to fix them. However, mirrors could be replaced, so that was more an annoyance than a hindrance. Nonetheless, when events had started to look up a bit, things went backwards again with the interference of a red mobile suit. The machine had gone for the exterior alignment mirror and started to move it out of position. Patrick Zala had ordered the mobile suit to be shot down, for it quickly became the focus of his fury. But, enemy forces began defending the red suit and allowed it to keep moving the aiming mirror out of firing position.

Just as headway was being made, the red machine had put on a burst of speed and gotten the mirror out of line. And where it would have been simple to tow the mirror back into line, that didn't happen. Instead, the red mobile suit had brought out the two cannons it had and aimed at the exterior alignment mirror, then before anyone could stop it, the cannons were fired at the mirror and it was engulfed. When the light from the beams faded, the alignment mirror was distorted and less than half the original structure remained. Before any could eliminate the troublesome machine, it disappeared from sight and sensors, which served to infuriate Patrick Zala more. Still, he ordered another exterior aiming mirror moved into place so that GENESIS could fire another volley.

Meanwhile, Athrun had been all over the battlefield, even after taking care of the Alliance task force that had been carrying nuclear weapons towards the PLANTs. But, his mind returned to the one of ZAFT's side that kept this insanity going, Patrick Zala. Athrun hadn't forgotten how the last confrontation with his father had gone but, Athrun wanted one more chance to reason with his father. Granted, Athrun didn't kid himself, his father would unlikely listen to him, yet he felt the need to still try one more time deep from within the depths of his soul. And so, he headed to Jachin Due, Nicol and Miguel reuniting with him, fighting along the way.

During the journey, the three got into the thick of things, and Athrun had to undock from the METEOR as more than half its weapons were either gone or didn't respond anymore. That action didn't halt the advancement towards Jachin Due for Athrun or his comrades, other damage was incurred. When they got close to the station, Athrun broke off from both Nicol and Miguel and continued on alone. Athrun found an open dock and headed inside of Jachin Due and landed the Justice. After he popped out of his cockpit, Athrun carefully began making his way towards the main control center of the station. There were none that stopped Athrun along his way, the station appeared mostly deserted and those that he did come across were going the other way.

Around ten minutes later, Athrun came into the central control room, which like the rest of the station, was empty or in the process of becoming so. However, Athrun still saw that his father was present in the room and Athrun brought up his pistol up. "This has gone on long enough chairman," stated Athrun, pointing the pistol he had at Patrick Zala.

Patrick Zala straighten up slowly and turned to face his biological son, "Hmm, in that we can agree," he replied.

Athrun's grip on his gun tightened, the man sounded so calm, like there was little, if anything wrong with the current situation. This man had brought about this battle, the deaths that had happened so far in it and it was still going! "Tell me why, what does the fighting and the goals of this battle accomplish? Killing all Naturals won't solve this conflict, destroying Earth won't end this war, it will only make things worse, it will bring destruction on all! How can you not see that?!" Athrun challenged in growing anger.

"You are still a disappointment, so blind and you haven't learned anything," Chairman Zala. "The extermination of all Non-Coordinators is the only way to end this war and bring about lasting peace. Sacrifices are necessary to achieve this, and they will be honored and never forgotten." Patrick Zala then raised a gun and pointed a gun at Athrun, "Yet, you have lost sight of such a simple fact."

At the same time the standoff happening, the Aurora flew into the largest of Jachin Due's hangers, taking care of the mobile suits that were there. Tyler landed his suit and then exited his suit's cockpit, leaving his helmet in the Aurora's cockpit. When he glanced around the hanger, Tyler felt a bit of surprise when he spotted the Justice at the other end of the hanger. However, from the last time Tyler had seen it, half of the right leg was gone and the METEOR equipment was missing. Of course, fighting here would be difficult, but still, Tyler knew that Athrun was a good pilot, so to see this amount of damage made him wonder about Athrun's condition.

Tyler focused back on the task he had come to do, get to Patrick Zala and either arrest the man, or shoot him, whichever came first. The insanity had gone on for too long and it needed to come to an end, the sooner the better! Azrael had been captured, so the one spurring the Earth Forces on was off the stage, that just left ZAFT's end, Patrick Zala.

Tyler had his SMG in hand and ready to use, before he moved forward into the bowels of Jachin Due. Tyler made his way towards the control room of this base, but those he came across ran passed him, not confronting him. Once outside of the door to the main control room, Tyler stopped and took a deep breath. He had acquired a machine gun from one he had disabled with an extra clip for it. Blasting the controls for the door, Tyler disabled the hydraulics, which caused the door to be forcibly opened. Tyler then, came face to face with some of the console operators that were still alive and were trying to leave. As Tyler tried to be nice to other people, he escorted the small group towards the hanger, until he met a few soldiers. He left the group with the soldiers and headed back to the control room and slipped inside without being noticed.

Tyler listened as there was conversation going on, "The extermination of all Non-Coordinators is the way to end this war and bring about lasting peace. Sacrifices are necessary to achieve this, and they will be honored and never forgotten. Yet, you have lost sight of such a simple fact," said the voice of Patrick Zala.

At the sound of a gun clicking, Tyler rose out of his hiding place and took in the scene he was seeing. Patrick Zala was pointing a gun at his son while Athrun was also aiming a gun at the current Chairman of the PLANTs. Tyler figured that it was time he entered the picture and put in his two-cents, "And who is it that has lost sight of simple fact, Because it is you that has become blind," posed Tyler, coming out from behind equipment he had been hiding from behind.

Patrick Zala twisted around and pointed his gun at Tyler, while the teen raised and then trained his SMG on chairman Zala. The man glared at Tyler, rage evident, "And who are you?!" Zala demanded.

Tyler kept making his way closer, until he was a few meters away from the man, "I surprised that you've forgotten me already. We've met more than once, which makes seeing you as you are now even more a shame," Tyler replied.

Patrick Zala became even more angry, "And why is that?"

"Because, I used to respect and admire what you stood for and believed. I don't anymore with the change in your rhetoric. Still, my name is Tyler McGregor, and if you need another hint," Tyler said, before he raised his left hand, with only the middle finger pointing up and displayed it to Patrick Zala. "Then I would bet that this should give you inspiration."

Chairman Zala's eyes widened at seeing this, "YOU! YOU'RE THE THIEF THAT STOLE THE FREEDOM!" he shouted in rage.

Tyler smiled, "Yes indeed, I'm the one and only, that I wouldn't doubt you want horrible things done to for flipping you off in view of the security cameras during my theft of the X10A Freedom." Tyler's expression became totally serious, "And my view of how you run things hasn't changed in the slightest, other than getting worse than before. Where I can understand the anger you feel with some within the Earth Alliance trying to launch nukes at the PLANTs, for I feel some of the same. Heck, I can even comprehend wanting those responsible for the Bloody Valentine Incident to pay for what they did. But, for you to use a nuclear weapon on the moon and then point it at Earth, it makes you no better or any different than those you hate."

"How dare you compare me to those filthy Naturals!" roared Zala.

"And just how are you different?! They use nuclear weapons against us, you use nuclear weapons against them. They cry for the needs of the deaths of Coordinators, you shout the necessity for Naturals to be exterminated. So again, how are you so different from them chairman?!" Athrun shot back.

"I don't think I could have said it better myself," Tyler added. "How far you have fallen Patrick Zala? Your wife, Lenore Zala would be ashamed and horrified of what kind of man you've become, and who could blame her. You intend to use your nuclear weapon on Earth and you claim that killing innocent people will solve the standing problems when it is more likely to bring about the extinction of the whole human race. And you still question who is blind and/or insane," Tyler reasoned logically.

Patrick Zala gazed murderously at Tyler, then turned back to look at Athrun, "The two of you are fools, and as for you," the man snarled at Athrun. "You are a complete disappointment and failure." Patrick Zala swung back to face Tyler, "Then you… you have the gall to use my late wife against me! I will make you pay!"

Tyler began moving, yet it was already too late, the sound of the gun going off echoed around the room. Tyler felt a stinging in his left shoulder as he aimed his SMG at Patrick Zala. Then, a second gunshot resounded through the room and the face of Patrick Zala contorted from pain and anger. The man looked over to his flesh and blood who had shot him on the left side of his chest, that now blood was slowly leaking out of.

Athrun's hands were shaking a bit, after shooting the man that looked exactly like the one he had known as father, but wasn't the same man as Athrun remembered. Athrun hadn't thought about pulling the trigger of the gun he held, but he had just reacted. He had done so in order to defend his best friend Tyler, as the chairman of the PLANTs had just shot Tyler, attempting to kill him. Patrick Zala growled and brought up his gun to point at Athrun.

Another gunshot sounded and chairman Zala was forced to let go of his gun as his right hand took a bullet. Smoke came from the SMG Tyler was holding, his face was impassive and showed little emotion, "Patrick Zala, under the United Nations Charter, Chapter 4, Article 7, I hereby place you under arrest for the committing of war crimes, and as a war criminal as per Clause C's subsection 1's definition. You have the right to remain silent as anything can be used against you in the Ecumenical Humanity Court of Law," Tyler stated evenly.

Patrick Zala grabbed the pistol he had been using in his left hand and was swinging it up to point at Tyler. "You think you can judge me?!" screeched Patrick Zala.

However, Tyler had adjusted the barrel of his gun and fired another round, which struck the man in the right side of the chest. Chairman Zala, even with blood flowing from multiple wounds, he pointed his gun at the older teen. The man never got off a shot, for Tyler pulled the trigger of his SMG once more, putting a bullet hole in Patrick Zala's forehead.

Tyler lowered his gun, before flicking on his gun's safety back on and stored the gun in its holster along his right thigh. Tyler grabbed his left shoulder as the stinging pain from the bullet that had punched a small neat hole through his shoulder. Blood was trickling out of the wound, but Tyler still had the full range of motion in his left arm as far as he could tell. Then, he made his way over to Athrun, who was just staring at the body of Patrick Zala floating. Just as Tyler reached Athrun, the door behind Athrun slid open and Cagalli came into the room, gun at the ready. She was accompanied by another in an Orb pilot suit who had an assault rifle in their hands.

Cagalli lowered her gun when she realized that Tyler and Athrun were the only ones in the room. She noted that Tyler was developing a red patch on his left shoulder, "What happened here?" she asked.

Athrun didn't respond to her, he was still in shock at having to seeing his father killed to protect Tyler and himself. So, Tyler ended out answering Cagalli, "A mess honestly, but Athrun and I are still alive and that's what counts."

Cagalli moved forward and squeezed Tyler's shoulder, blood staining her pilot suit's glove and making Tyler wince. "And your shoulder?" she posed.

"A bullet found my shoulder and didn't slow down at contact, it happens sometimes. I'm as human as anyone else is and so, am mortal," Tyler replied.

Cagalli reached into the supplies she had with her, took out two bandages, putting one on the front hole torn in Tyler's pilot suit and covering the wound and then did the same on the exit wound. Tyler thanked Cagalli for her action, before he turned towards Athrun, "I'm sorry Athrun, you should've never been put in this position. I just should've taken the shot and kill him so that you wouldn't have to be put in the position of shooting the man," Tyler said with regret.

Athrun shook his head, "No… no, he wouldn't listen anymore… he didn't give either of us any other choice," Athrun choked on his words.

Tyler put his right arm around Athrun's shoulders, "True, but still, you shouldn't have to pull the trigger and shoot that man, it should've just been me. Nevertheless, what's done is done, there's nothing that either of us can do about the event other than put it behind ourselves," Tyler stated.

Cagalli gave her agreement with Tyler's statement and the three headed back towards the station's main hanger. The three launched out, the Asuka assisting the Justice, while the Aurora was starting to run lower on power. They began heading towards the coalition fleet, hoping the battle would come to a swift end.

-Line Break-

-Tyler's pov-

Cagalli, Athrun and I had left the ZAFT station Jachin Due, Cagalli was supporting the Justice, though it wasn't really needed for flight on Athrun's part. Not saying that the Justice won't need an overhaul with repairs, but the mobile suit wasn't crippled. The Aurora was doing okay, oh, it would need repairs and parts replaced plus, a fresh paint job. My machine was not in serious trouble like others, my biggest issue was low power levels, so I require a recharge sometime soon. I'm not sure about what Cagalli's situation is currently, but I'm assuming that she's okay for the time being.

However, as we were going towards our destination avoiding the still ongoing battle, we came across a faceoff of two locked in battle. Kira in the Freedom fighting a mobile suit that I hadn't seen before. The Freedom had seen much better days, for it was missing some of the wings, both its plasma cannons just to start. The machine also didn't have its right arm, beam rifle, had only half of its right leg still connected and the shield as well as its head were gone. The unknown suit had a round backpack, which was oddly nearly empty, except for four protuberances, kind of like Cormag's mobile suit. It was also missing an arm, yet had a beam rifle in its remaining arm, but other than that, it had some wear and tear and that's it.

I aimed my beam rifle at the unknown mobile suit, "Kira, you okay? You need a hand, or do you got this?" I asked.

The sound of laughter was heard over an open channel, "Well well, what an amusing thing to hear your voice again McGregor," said the voice of Rau Le Creuset.

So… this mobile suit is being piloted by the rat himself, now I kind of want to destroy this machine slowly, for all the crap the rat's pulled. I want to see him squirm good before he dies! "Your logic is twisted as it is insane Creuset!" shouted Kira.

Huh? I must be missing something, it's the problem with coming in on the middle of a conversation I suppose. Kira is quite right though, Creuset is twisted and insane, that's a dangerous combination. "That's how humans think Kira Yamato, deny it as you wish, but that's the truth! This is our destiny! People knew where they were heading when they chose to forge this path," Creuset shot back.

Okay… I don't know what this is about, but as the rat twists not only truth, but lies as well, I'm going with Creuset is spouting crap again. However, the ludicrous rhetoric didn't cease only got worse, "Humanity will never change. Justice and Faith, ignorance and escapism, they never learn, and they never listen! The fighting and this war prove that beyond any shred of reasonable doubt! We've reach the end of that path already, and there is no way to prevent the fall of Humanity now," Creuset continued.

I could only shake my head from side to side, hard not to with Rau Le Creuset displaying how much a nutcase he is. The issue I think all of us here have to some degree, we are left to be forced to listen to the idiot, who was still going. "Mankind will be vanquished at last with the looming event, just as they deserve for what they've done!"

The 'event' that I think he's referring to, is the trap he set up with GENESIS, which I had already changed to do something else. But, the rat doesn't know of the changes I made to cause a misfire and explosive detonation. I had the Aurora move forward, "I'm sick and tired of listening to a rat go on about his crappy views about what he's obviously not taken the time to understand at all!" I growled at Creuset.

"And what you know McGregor, people have faith in justice and hide from the problems they don't understand! They never learn, and never bother to ask," Creuset stated like a religious preacher. "This is the path that Humanity forged for itself, there is no longer any way to stop its conclusion! All forms of humanity will become extinct, as they should be!" he claimed.

I fired my beam rifle at Creuset, but he dodged. The pods on his machine detached and flew towards me. I evaded the first two, but the third nailed the Aurora's beam rifle and the fourth scored a shot on my suit's head, taking out the main cameras. The rat then cackled manically, "Face it, no matter what you do now, it's all for not! Earth will burn, and the ensuing tears and screams will make sure the destruction of the rest of humanity will happen! This will be the day of reckoning for all!"

I shifted the Aurora over to its flight mode and the second my display screens switched to the flight array, I had the view of the outside again. Kira attacked Creuset and the rat backed off a bit. The man was insane, no question about that now, so why not see if I can throw him a serious curve ball? "Hey Le Creuset, your plan to have GENESIS fire its beam at Earth, isn't going to happen, I personally saw to that myself," I replied.

Kira was forced back by Creuset and then, there was a pause, but I received my answer, "McGregor, I was almost convinced that you were being serious about GENESIS not firing, but no amount of lying change things," Creuset returned.

I was lining up my sites on Creuset's mobile suit as I snorted, "You should take your own advice, you dirty rat. I saw what you did and how you hid it from everyone else. Rigging GENESIS to fire when Jachin Due is damaged to a certain point or is destroyed. Well guess what, I've rearranged things so that it won't go as you want it to. But, things will certainly go out with a bang though," I shot back.

Creuset didn't answer me after that, which makes me think he's serious considering what I said. Then, the mad man drew a beam saber, spun around and sped towards me. I registered that attack coming at me, I fired the 90mm Vulcans at Creuset as he rushed at me, but he got in close enough to make my Vulcans ineffective. Creuset had raised up and shouted my name, as he was about to kill me. But then out of nowhere, the Freedom rushed at Creuset with both its beam sabers combined into one, and rammed the weapon into Creuset's suit's torso.

Suddenly, energy readout skyrocketed, I reacted by zooming forward, shifting the Aurora into its mobile suit mode and grabbing the Freedom and putting my foot down. I turned my mobile suit towards the mobile suit that was about to explode and hoped that Kira and I would make enough distance to not be forced to take the brunt of the blast. The explosion began, and I was pushed and pounded as the force of the detonation shoved both Kira and I away. The shaking lasted for fifteen seconds before it stopped. I scanned my displays and saw that the nuclear explosion had taken a serious toll on the Aurora. The phase shift had taken the brunt of the blast, but it hadn't been enough. Both plasma cannons were gone, their mounts in shreds, the wings were like swiss cheese now. The back of my mobile suit was in bad shape, yet somehow the nuclear reactor I had wasn't damaged enough for it to explode or have a serious dip in power output, it still was low and wasn't running at 100%. How that was possible or even feasible, I haven't a clue, but I'll take it! I attempted to shift the Aurora back into its flight mode to get a view of what was going outside, but my suit didn't respond to the command. It was really a miracle that my mobile suit had survived at all!

"Tye," came Kira's voice, filled with concern.

"I'm alive Kira… somehow still alive. Don't ask me how that is possible anymore, I don't know how I'm able to dodge death like this," I replied. "My suit's optics aren't working well or much at all now, even if I have an amount of my thrusters responding, so I'm driving blind. But, perhaps if you can see, then I can provide the thrust for us to make it back to everyone else."

Kira began giving me instructions, and we flew hopefully in the direction of a ship that we could broad and this event could finally come to an end. Yet, Kira stopped for a moment, gasping at something, "Kira, what's going on out there?" I asked.

"There's an explosion from ZAFT's weapon, it doesn't seem to be going off like it did before," Kira answered.

I felt a smirk form on my face at hearing that, "Like I said to the rat, I personally rearranged things so that ZAFT's nuclear beam would not hit Earth. Instead, as you can see, it went out with a bang after misfiring," I said satisfied at the results that Kira described to me.

We continued along our way towards I would guess either the Kusanagi, the Archangel or the Eternal. I assume that Cagalli was doing the same for Athrun as the Justice hadn't been in the best shape last seen it. After going for a little while, there came a voice over the radio that I wasn't expecting to hear. "Must say Tyler, you and your friend are looking much worse for ware, do you need some help?" asked the voice of Graham Aker.

I may not much like Graham's mannerisms or personality, but there are times when help is offered, that you would be dumb to refuse it no matter who it's coming from. "Yes Graham, we could use some help. One of us has almost no thrusters, I'm flying pretty much blind, so an assist would be appreciated right now," I returned.

There came a jerk from behind, "Any particular ship you're wanting to be dropped off to?", Graham posed.

"The Eternal would probably be best for the time being Graham," I said.

I kept ahold of the Freedom as we moved forward at a faster pace towards hopefully the Eternal. In a few minutes, Graham announced that he would be sending Kira and me soaring down the catapult the Eternal and into the hanger. A moment later, there was another jerk as we came to a stop, likely from deceleration cables. Kira and I moved into the hanger and there were sounds of scrambling outside the Aurora. I flicked the switch to open the cockpit and was happy to see it still worked.

Once the cockpit was open, I unbuckled my restraints and popped out to find that I was indeed in the Eternal's hanger. The next thing I did, was float over to what was left of the Freedom and bang on the torso, since Kira hadn't come out yet. A long half-a-minute passed, then Kira came up and out of the cockpit and first looks said he was physically okay. I moved closer and found Kira was breathing in a manner that said he was relieved. He opened his eyes and saw me, "We both made it back Tye, right?"

I smiled and nodded, "You better believe we made it back alive my friend," I assured.

And so, the battle for the future of Humanity, Earth and the colonies came to a close, though it didn't feel like there was a side that won exactly. A lot of people had lost their lives in this battle, on all sides of this conflict. I found out that the Justice had been taken back the Kusanagi and that for the most part, only one person that I know well had died. Heck, the Dominion had apparently switched sides and had helped the Archangel, wisest decision that Natarle has made in a while I say.

Of course, Lacus found Kira and they had a teary reunion, the pair was actually pretty cute, and it gives me hope that those two can make progress. As for me, unfortunately, for whatever reason, Sakura was onboard the Eternal and quickly found me. I was too tired to fight the woman for the time being. So, she got to sleep in my quarters as she wouldn't leave me alone. In the end, we pilots were given time to rest and it was sorely needed for each one of us. None of us were looking forward to what would follow later as results of this battle.

Phase end!

A/n

That's where I'll leave off to transition to the next Phase! Now, I've spent time, effort and stressed myself to write this chapter, if that isn't obvious with its content. So, I hope you readers liked it and appreciate the work that's gone into this one, it felt like more than the majority of the Phases before this one. Some have asked and told me that I should continue this story into the Destiny part of the Gundam Seed series. I state for the record, that I intended to do that not too long after starting this story. There will be a Phase for transition and setup for going into Destiny from this point, for there is some things I wish to define and setup. BUT, if this story hasn't shown already, don't expect that I will follow the series closely. There will be events that I will keep and have happen, but other than that, I make no promises on what I keep or change. That goes for characters as much as it does for events, that is the warning I give and I'll leave it at that.

Finally, on another note, my story "Sekirei: Battle of the Gods" is currently going through a serious revision. I've been going between this story and that one, it's how I get over writer's block. Anyways, my sekirei story is an idea I like, but I feel in needs major polishing up before I write more for it.

Then as always, some of you please take the time to write a review, they help and are appreciated. It gives me the feeling that I'm not just writing this stuff to keep myself from going looney, and feel welcome to laugh at that. Peace out until next time!

KakeruPB

Let me say, that I love long reviews, so much can come for those and the thoughts that go into them. Anyways, down to my response! Yes, I thought that a situation like the one in the last Phase would do for the two new love birds, plus, got some comedy out of it too. As for Kira's naivete, it's his best and worst quality, it's hard not to like him. I've not thought about how Siegel would take Lacus getting together with Kira. Sakura on the other hand, I've inferred what she thinks a bit, which came with Tyler noticing Sakura NOT scaring Kira off like she has those that came before.

The Euros Coalition's defenses, well I admit it was somewhat overboard, but in my defense, I've hinted that the Human Federation had been preparing for a long time, like decades for either ZAFT or the Earth Alliance attacking and trying to take the mass driver. That doesn't exactly excuse what I described, but yeah. For the Fleet in this Phase that fought both the Alliance and ZAFT, honestly, I just couldn't see that all those in the Alliance agreed with opinions like Muruta Azrael had, nor all in ZAFT blindly following Patrick Zala. So, with two influential leader figures, Halberton from the Earth Forces side and Treize from ZAFT, it made sense to me when I was writing this Phase.