Gundam Wing: Destiny's Call

by operation meteor

Sequel to Journey to a New Battlefield. It's been two years since the Bloody Valentine War and tensions are rising. When a shadowy group attacks the colony of Armory One, a certain Gundam pilot takes to the battlefield once again. However, little to his knowledge, some old friends are on a journey to his new world. M for language and violence (again, it's war. What do you expect?)

21. Chapter 21

Author's Notes: Hello there! Got a nice battle chapter here to ease your quarantine woes. Hope you're all doing okay. 2020 was crazy, and 2021 doesn't look like it'll be letting up anytime soon. Only one song for the chapter: "Battlefield" from Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. Given the context, I thought it was appropriate. You'll see what I mean soon enough.

Enjoy!

Episode Twenty-One: Operation Passport

November 15th, C.E. 73

We finally made it, thought Athrun as he leaned against the railing on the upper deck of the Minerva, Gibraltar… it's beautiful.

It was just after midnight, and Athrun knew that he really should've been resting, but he hadn't wanted to miss the warship's arrival at ZAFT's great Mediterannean fortress. There was little natural light due to the cloudy sky overhead, but between the sprawling base itself and the myriad of warships moored or patrolling around it the facility was very well lit. The mass driver that reached out from the spaceport and up towards the sky was also quite visible even in the dead of night, illuminated with running lights to keep aircraft and ships from crashing into it. Tiny blue trails of thruster fire lit up the sky overhead as AMF-101 DINNs and newer AMA-953 BABIs maintained their vigil over the facility, aided by a multitude of searchlights from the base itself. The great Rock of Gibraltar loomed over it all, with additional searchlights and radar facilities actually constructed atop it by ZAFT in order to enhance their anti-air surveillance. From reports Athrun had skimmed in the past, he knew that the Rock was also bristling with artillery and missile launchers; anyone who tried to seize its commanding heights would be in for a rude welcome to say the least.

The Minerva had entered the base's harbor a few minutes ago and was carefully making its way through the assorted warships and troop transports floating about towards one of the main docks. Athrun briefly recalled reading that both Gibraltar and Carpentaria had undergone significant renovations since the prototype battleship had been greenlit, with each now possessing special drydocks meant for fully servicing both the Minerva and whatever sister ships that came after her. Soon he would get to see one of those drydocks up close and personal, and he was eager to see how the base itself had evolved over the past two years.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" a familiar male voice said from behind him.

Looking over his shoulder, Athrun saw Heine approaching. "It really is. Have you been here before?"

"A couple of times," Heine replied, smiling as he joined Athrun at the railing, "Whether you're seeing it from the air, ground or sea, Gibraltar never fails to inspire. I almost feel sorry for whatever poor troops the Earth Alliance orders to attack it."

Athrun shook his head. "They'd be suicidal to order a strike. Any offensive with even a ghost of a chance would have to come from multiple fronts, and they'd take severe casualties. They already tried to put one such attack together, and we forced them to call it off with our raid on Cagliari."

Heine nodded. "Exactly. They prepared multiple forces for their assault, and all we had to do was knock out one of them to scupper their whole plan. I'm sure our foes would very much like to take another crack at it, but they won't be able to count on the Eurasian Federation's Mediterannean fleet next time. Hopefully, they'll settle for simply glaring at the Rock from their side of the perimeter. Then again, if they did try to attack, I'm sure the Chairman would enjoy the show."

Athrun raised an eyebrow. "I thought the Chairman was at Diocuia."

Heine chuckled. "I suppose I've put my foot in it, haven't I? Well, you're a member of FAITH too, so there's no harm in filling you in. The Chairman was at Diocuia when we departed, but that is no longer the case. As we speak, he is on his way to Gibraltar aboard one of our submarines. If my calculations are correct, I believe he should arrive within the next twenty-four hours or so."

"What prompted the trip?" asked Athrun, "Diocuia might not be as fortified as Gibraltar, but it's also not as big of a target. The Chairman's putting himself at great risk by making the journey out here."

"He wishes to visit the major surface bases and see the war from the ground level," Heine answered, "The Chairman does not wish to become detached from the realities of the conflict, and since the bulk of the fighting is currently taking place down on the surface he wants to inspect our strongholds and find out from the officers commanding them just what we're up against. I believe he also sees it as a way to help improve the morale of the forces that are bearing the brunt of the enemy's efforts. The fact that Miss Clyne will be coming with him most certainly will improve the mood of the troops here."

It was hard for Athrun to avoid wincing. Was he really the only member of FAITH that the Chairman had entrusted with the fact that the 'Lacus' with ZAFT was actually a fake? Also, if Meer was indeed coming to Gibraltar while the Minerva was present, would Athrun be required to put in an appearance with her? Was the Chairman really intent on having them pretend to still be in a relationship for the sake of providing a moving love story to the troops?

The Chairman was up front with you about this when he brought you on board, Athrun reminded himself, You and Meer both have your roles to play. Still… Cagalli…

His mind flashed back to his rendezvous with her and Kira after the clash at the Dardanelles. He hadn't mentioned to her the fact that the Chairman expected him to act as if he and Lacus were still an item. If word got out to Cagalli that he was playing pretend romance with Meer, what would that do to their relationship? Then again, did they even still have a relationship at this point?

Athrun had tried to maintain his poker face as he considered all of this, but apparently it wasn't good enough if Heine's follow-up was any indication. "Is something the matter? You seem a bit troubled. I thought that word of Miss Clyne's impending visit would make you happy. I'm sure she's looking forward to seeing you."

Athrun wasn't sure what to say. Was Heine really in the dark, or was he testing Athrun to see if he was still committed to his part in the Chairman's plan? He wanted to level with him, but he didn't know if it was safe to.

In the end, Athrun settled on playing along for now. "I am, it's just… well, war isn't exactly easy on a relationship. I haven't seen her very much… I'm afraid I might be a stranger to her at this point."

Heine smiled. "I don't think you need to worry about that. Miss Clyne's compassionate and understanding nature is quite well known, after all. Whatever misgivings you may have, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to lend an ear. You're quite lucky to be engaged to a woman as caring and gentle as her. I must confess, I'm actually a bit jealous!"

"Don't you have someone?" asked Athrun, "Handsome ZAFT Red and a member of FAITH? You must have the girls falling all over themselves to go out with you."

Heine chuckled. "If I put my mind to it, perhaps that'd be the case! Truth be told, romance isn't something I've ever given much thought to. It's not that I'm not interested in it, but there always seems to be something that comes up and takes priority. As you said, war is hard on relationships."

Athrun smiled. "Maybe, but still, it's never too late to take a shot at it. The fact that we're at war might give it more urgency; never know if you'll get another chance, right?"

Heine nodded. "That's true. A whirlwind wartime romance… it might be interesting. Not really sure where I'd start, though."

"You could do worse than the Minerva," Athrun pointed out, "Plenty of girls on this ship's crew. There's got to be at least one who'd like to go out with you."

"Perhaps," said Heine, "I'll give it some thought. Depending on how long we stay at Gibraltar, there's always the base's staff to consider as well. Plenty of options, and it's not like ZAFT cracks down too hard on fraternization in the lower ranks as long as you're not blatant about it."

The two of them went quiet for a few seconds as the Minerva carefully worked her way through the harbor, with Athrun in particular rather preoccupied. Would Meer be expecting him to take her out on some kind of date when she got here? Did she still understand that they were only playing out scripted roles here and that this wasn't a real romance? Although Athrun wasn't comfortable with the girl impersonating Lacus, he didn't want to hurt her feelings. She seemed nice enough; he just wished that he could've gotten to know her in a less awkward context.

"Speaking of girls," said Heine after a moment, "I've been thinking about the one that occupied our infirmary not too long ago. This is going to sound strange, but do you think Shinn had romantic feelings for her?"

Athrun raised an eyebrow. "I don't see how he could have. I mean, it's not like they really knew each other, right?"

Heine scratched his chin. "I'm not so sure. Based on the way he acted when we encountered her at Cagliari, it's clear that he'd encountered her at least once in the past. They had some sort of connection, one that must've been quite strong if Shinn was willing to abandon ZAFT for her. You have to admit that his behavior regarding her was certainly unusual. He wouldn't leave her side while she was in the infirmary. That's not the way he would act if he didn't really know her."

Athrun shrugged. "I guess you have a point. We don't really have any way to know for sure, though. It's not like we can ask either of them now, after all."

"Not under the current circumstances, no," Heine agreed, "There may be another way that we can find out, though."

"What do you mean?" asked Athrun.

"Heero was involved in their escape," Heine reminded him, "It's possible that he knows something. Obviously he's no longer aboard the Minerva so we can't just go find him and ask, but I would imagine that you know where he is, don't you?"

Athrun's eyes narrowed. "He probably went back to the Archangel, but I don't know where that ship is. They might have helped us out at the Dardanelles and are probably still operating in the area, but the Mediterranean is pretty big, Heine. Lots of places they could hide, especially since the ship can travel underwater. Besides, even if I could find Heero, I doubt he'd be willing to tell me what's up with Shinn and the girl. He doesn't look too kindly on ZAFT, and I'm very much a part of it again."

"Yes, you are," said Heine, "but does Heero's organization not still consider you to be one of them? You have ways of reaching out to them, don't you?"

Athrun didn't like where this conversation was going. "What are you really after here, Heine?"

"I want to know where you truly stand," Heine answered, "You say that you're with ZAFT again, and the Chairman has made you a member of FAITH as a sign of trust and respect for your abilities, but your situation is not so simple. You're still friends with Heero, just as you are friends with many of those who work with him. However, Heero is no longer an ally of ZAFT. Should we encounter him again, it will be as an enemy. What will you do if such circumstances arise?"

Athrun shook his head. "I think you're overreacting a bit, Heine. If Heero really was an enemy of ZAFT, then his departure from the Minerva would've been much more destructive."

Heine folded his arms. "He attacked members of the ship's crew, assisted Shinn in abducting a valuable prisoner, aided in the theft of one of our most valuable combat units, and attacked not one but two members of FAITH during his escape. Oh, and need I remind you that said members of FAITH were us, Athrun?"

"We're still alive, aren't we?" Athrun countered, "If Heero really saw us as enemies, we'd both would've been killed when he made his escape. He was certainly holding back when he engaged the two of us during the pursuit."

Heine folded his arms. "I highly doubt that the mercy he showed us will matter to the Chairman. In fact, I can guarantee that it does not."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Athrun.

"A new general order has gone out," Heine replied, "There's probably a message containing it waiting for you in the Saviour. Heero Yuy and the Gundam Albion have both been designated as hostile and high value targets. Any local forces that spot them are to immediately request reinforcements, and any units that receive that message are to respond at once, regardless of what their prior tasks might be. Heero Yuy is to be targeted with overwhelming force and eliminated."

Athrun needed a moment to process that. "You… you can't be serious!"

"I assure you that I most certainly am," said Heine, "The Supreme Council Chairman considers Heero Yuy an enemy of ZAFT and wishes him to be taken out as soon as possible. You may not feel that his actions last night were sufficient to earn him such a designation, but the man who commands us both clearly believes otherwise."

Athrun shook his head. "This is a mistake. I'll talk to the Chairman when he arrives; he has to understand that this is a fight ZAFT can't afford!"

Heine shrugged. "By all means, feel free to do so, but I doubt you'll change his mind. The Chairman understands that bringing down a pilot like Heero Yuy is likely to be costly for ZAFT, but it is an order he gave nonetheless. Decisions such as these are made all the time by leaders during war. That is the responsibility of the Chairman, the Supreme Council and the Defense Council. You and I are simply soldiers; our responsibility is to obey our superiors."

Athrun's eyes narrowed. "I thought that our responsibility as members of FAITH was to both execute the Chairman's will on the battlefield and recognize when he's making a mistake so we can help him course correct. We're given greater authority and independence so we can make judgement calls like that and argue our case to the Chairman if we believe he's going too far. Blind obedience wasn't part of the deal."

"And we are not asking for it," Heine replied, "but soldiers have to recognize that they only play a small part in the overall picture. From the lowliest grunt to elites like you and I, part of our responsibility is to trust that those who command us have access to information that we do not and are making calls based on the greater strategic demands of the war. If we start questioning every single order that we're given, then the whole structure falls apart and our enemies will take advantage of the confusion. In this war, we are up against a foe that wishes for nothing less than the complete eradication of our people. Dissension within our ranks is something that we cannot afford."

Heine turned to leave, but not before looking over his shoulder at Athrun one more time. "Take your arguments to the Chairman when he arrives. Make your case, lay out whatever supporting evidence you have. If he listens to you and changes his mind, you'll hear no complaints from me. However, if he stands by his decision, then you will be expected to obey. Remember your place in the big picture, Athrun."

He went back inside the ship, leaving Athrun to stare out across the water as the Gibraltar base grew steadily larger before him. Whatever inspiration he'd taken earlier from the sight of ZAFT's mightiest surface fortification was gone now, replaced with a sense of foreboding.

This was supposed to be the new ZAFT, he thought, so why…

...why does it feel like I'm suddenly back with the old one?

….

In the pilot's ready room of the Archangel, Kira was pacing nervously. Flying into battle was one thing, but having to stay behind and wait as potential backup while Lacus was heading off on a dangerous mission was infinitely worse. His whole body felt like a coiled spring, one that had compressed entirely too tightly.

"Would you cut that out?" said Yzak from one of the benches, "You're starting to make me feel on edge. Get a grip, Kira."

Leaning against the wall, Dearka smiled. "I know you're worried about Lacus, but she'll be all right. She's got the Waltfelds with her, and all of ZAFT's forces are going to be focused on shooting at Heero. They're not even going to know she's there."

Kira shook his head. "We don't know that for sure. Something could go wrong, they could tighten security at the spaceport, realize that Heero's a diversion…"

"It'll be okay," Cagalli reassured him from her perch on another bench, "We've got contingency plans in place, remember?"

"The Wraiths will still be on station in case something does go wrong," Yzak reminded him, "If we have to abort, they'll pick up Lacus and the Waltfelds while Heero rips up ZAFT's forces. Our role at that point will just be to cover their retreat. We've been over this a few times now. Weren't you paying attention during the briefing?"

"Ease up a bit,Yzak," said a female voice from the other side of the ready room, "His girlfriend's flying right into the heart of an enemy base; he's got a right to be worried."

The speaker was the twenty-seven year old Ingrid Richards. A former Atlantic Federation pilot who had defected to the Three Ships Alliance just after the Battle of Elysium, she served as one of the group's reserve pilots and would be flying Aisha's Murasame from here on out. A willowy woman who wouldn't have looked out of place on a professional basketball team, her blonde hair was cut significantly shorter than Kira's, to the point that he'd almost mistaken her for a guy when they'd first met, much to his embarrassment. Her light green eyes had a gentle feel to them, and she had a reputation for playing the role of older sister to new recruits or anyone she felt was a bit too soft for their own good.

Kira nearly jumped when the ship's other reserve pilot gave him a friendly elbow to the chest. "You look like you're about to have a heart attack, kid. Come on, take some deep breaths. Need a drink? Quick snack? Little something to eat preflight always helps me with the jitters."

Kira smiled as he looked up at the smiling face of the other pilot. "Thanks, Dante, but I'll be okay."

Another Atlantic Federation defector like Ingrid, Dante Higgins had defected at the same time as the other pilot; indeed, the two of them had actually been in the same squadron during the last war. Thirty years old, the dark-skinned man was tall and fit, and Kira recalled him mentioning that he'd played both high school and college football back in the Atlantic Federation before joining the armed forces. Friendly and easy-going, he was the kind of guy who always wanted to help people relax when the tension was running high, with his warm brown eyes complementing the gentle giant look that he'd cultivated over the years quite nicely. He would be flying Andrew's Murasame now that the Desert Tiger was heading back into space, with him and Ingrid operating as the escorts of the Archangel while the more powerful mobile suits took the battle to the enemy.

Dante gave him a pat on the back. "If you say so. At least sit down for a bit and take a load off. You're not going to do Lacus any good if you wear yourself out pacing around the room."

Kira sighed and forced himself to do just that. It was harder than it should've been; every fiber of his being was screaming at him to do something, anything, other than just wait. He should've been used to it by now given all he'd been through since becoming a mobile suit pilot, but the fact that Lacus would now be in the line of fire made this mission nerve-wracking in a way that few others could compare.

There's nothing I can do until I get the launch order, he thought reluctantly, Lacus…

…please be careful!

….

Looking at her reflection on the monitor, Lacus took comfort in seeing that the girl looking back certainly didn't look like her. Dressed in a green ZAFT uniform, her disguise consisted of more than just a change of clothing. Her hair had been dyed black and tied up in a bun, and her normally pale cerulean eyes were now dark green thanks to some very nice colored contacts. She even had a sidearm holstered at her hip, and while she wasn't comfortable with it, she had it precisely because Aisha had told her that the very last thing that someone would associate with the image of 'Lacus Clyne' would be a gun.

I suppose it truly is the minor touches that make or break a costume, she mused, I really should've taken that to heart given my previous line of work.

From the pilot's seat, Adaline looked over her shoulder. "You okay back there? I know it's not exactly comfy."

Lacus smiled, determined to not give any outward sign of her discomfort. "Oh, it's all right!"

Adaline returned her focus to the main monitor. "You don't have to put on a front, you know?"

Lacus sighed. "Was it really that obvious?"

"You're not used to field operations," Adaline replied, "That's natural given your role in Terminal. You're not supposed to be in this sort of position at all. It's okay to show it if you're not feeling all right."

Lacus shook her head. "I do not wish to complain. With the risks that you and so many others in our organization take every day, it would be petty to gripe about something as minor as being a bit cramped. Besides, this is a mobile suit; it's not meant for passengers, so some discomfort in my position would be completely natural."

"Well, you won't have to put up with it for too much longer," said Adaline as she nodded at the monitor, "We're in position, and the Minerva just pulled into the dock. Heero should be starting his run any minute now. Once the fireworks show starts, we'll drop you guys off and then move to the standby location. If you have to abort, we'll be there to pick you up before you know it."

Lacus nodded as she looked at the monitor nervously. "I understand. I just hope this goes well… especially for Heero. He'll be drawing quite a bit of fire for us."

"It was his idea," Adaline reminded her, "He knows what he's getting himself into here."

"I suppose so," Lacus reluctantly concurred.

She studied the night sky on the monitor for signs of Gundam Wing Zero Albion, but Heero's performance had apparently not started just yet. Lacus felt a moment of pity for the soldiers stationed at Gibraltar. As far as they were concerned, this was just another relatively quiet night. None of them were expecting any sort of excitement beyond the arrival of the Minerva.

None of them suspected that they were about to play host to a visitor straight out of their worst nightmares.

How many people were going to die when the shooting started? Yes, Heero's role in this operation was strictly as a diversion, and his intent was really just to fly around for a bit, cause some chaos and then bug out, but Lacus knew that even diversionary operations were rarely so clean. After all, it wouldn't just be ZAFT that spotted him; the Alliance forces to the north of Gibraltar would also see him, and given the losses that they'd suffered at Heero's hands over the course of the war they would likely be more than willing to take shots at him. Once both sides opened up there was a very good chance of broader skirmishing breaking out along Gibraltar's northern defensive line, perhaps even a full-scale battle. Casualties would be inevitable, regardless of Terminal's intentions for this mission.

All so Mister and Missus Waltfeld and myself can steal a shuttle and get to outer space, she thought grimly, Bloodshed as the price to pay for using the mass driver… war turns human life into mere currency. All I can do is make sure that the toll is well spent.

She was ripped from her dark musings by the blaring of an air raid siren, and seconds later the skies to the north were illuminated by searchlights and tracer rounds. Lacus didn't need Adaline's subsequent announcement to know what was happening.

"He's here," said the former ZAFT pilot, "It's showtime!"

"So it is," Lacus murmured.

Let us begin.

….

"What the hell is going on out there?" asked Talia as she entered the bridge, "Situation report!"

She had literally just sat down in her office to review the latest intelligence reports when the alarms had gone off and Arthur had called her to the bridge. After finally making it to Gibraltar, Talia had hoped that all the drama her crew had gone through since leaving Diocuia would die down and give them a much needed reprieve. They had just pulled into what was probably the most secure ZAFT base on the planet, perhaps only matched by Carpentaria; surely they could breathe a sigh of relief and get some rest, right?

"Gibraltar Control's reporting a hostile contact!" Meyrin replied, "It's at the eastern end of the northern defensive line! Local anti-air emplacements have already engaged, and the base is scrambling mobile suits. Gibraltar Control wants all of our flight-capable units in the air as well while the rest provide ground-based fire support."

Talia raised an eyebrow as she took her seat. "Hold on, it's only one contact? Don't tell me that they're freaking out over a single scout. They surely don't need our help to deal with that."

Meyrin frantically shook her head, and Talia saw both confusion and fear in her eyes. "Captain, the contact is the Gundam Albion!"

It took Talia a second to fully process that. "The contact… is Heero Yuy?"

Meyrin nodded. "Yes. Captain… your orders?"

The gears in her mind spun furiously as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Barely more than a day had passed since Heero had left the Minerva and took Shinn and Stella with him. He couldn't possibly have been trying to come back; regardless of how valuable his skill and firepower had been in the past, the actions he'd taken barely more than twenty-four hours ago had torched that bridge, and Talia was sure that Heero knew that. There was something else going on here.

"Has he taken any aggressive action?" she asked, "What has Gibraltar Control reported about the situation so far?"

"Only that he's at the perimeter," Meyrin replied as she checked her display, "However… Captain, I'm not seeing any indication that he's actually attacked our units. Gibraltar's defenses are opening fire on him, but I don't think he's taken a single shot himself."

No offensive action, yet our forces opened up at first sight of him, thought Talia, I know his actions with regards to the prisoner, Shinn's defection and the pursuit pilots are enough for ZAFT to consider him hostile now, but even so… did Gibraltar Control not even try to hail him?

"Captain, Gibraltar Control is demanding that our mobile suits join the engagement," said Meyrin, "What should we do?"

The apprehension permeating her bridge crew was palpable, and Talia couldn't blame them. They had all been given front row seats to the destructive power of the Gundam Albion since the attack on Armory One; they knew better than most what they'd be getting into by taking up arms against Heero. If Gibraltar Control's reports were correct, then that meant no one had died yet.

Talia was more than just another ZAFT Captain; she was a member of FAITH. She had authority that other officers lacked, and it was about time that she started exercising it… even if she suspected that Durandal would not approve of the particular manner in which she was about to do so.

"Get our pilots to their mobile suits, but do not have them launch yet," Talia ordered, "Try to establish contact with Heero; if he hasn't yet opened fire, then there's a chance that we could avoid bloodshed here."

Meyrin nodded. "Understood."

"Captain," Arthur chimed in, "what about the Gundam pilots? What do we do with them?"

That was the million dollar question. If the situation deteriorated, their abilities and firepower would be critical to confronting the Gundam Albion and driving it back. However, Talia would of course be asking them to fight their friend, and she had no way of knowing if they'd acquiesce to such an order. Hell, there was no small chance that if she made that demand they would pick now to either simply abandon the Minerva or actually turn their guns on ZAFT in general. They were inside Gibraltar now, and the base's defenses were meant to repel external attacks; four Gundams rampaging on the inside could do a lot of damage before a force capable of counterattacking could be mustered.

Talia took a deep breath. "Tell them there's a mobile suit buzzing the Gibraltar perimeter and have them go to standby. Say no more than that."

Arthur nodded. "Understood."

That should buy us a bit of time while we figure out what the game is here, she thought, Heero Yuy, what the devil are you playing at?

"Captain, update from Gibraltar Control!" Meyrin announced, "Multiple airborne contacts approaching from the north, confirmed as Earth Alliance mobile suits! Models are Windams and Dagger Ls, both outfitted with Jet Striker Packs."

Talia's eyes widened. "They're attacking Gibraltar now? They shouldn't have the forces for it after our attack at Cagliari!"

Meyrin shook her head. "Captain, based on what I'm hearing, I don't think it's an attack on the base itself. I think they're going for Heero."

"Has he responded to our hail yet?" asked Talia.

"Negative, Captain," Meyrin replied.

"Try again," she said before turning to her XO, "Arthur, change of plans; get our pilots airborne and tell the Gundam pilots that we have Alliance mobile suits coming in from the north. Request that they intercept them."

"And still say nothing about Heero?" Arthur asked.

Talia nodded. "They'll see him once they're airborne. We'll have no control over what they do regarding him, but if we can at least get them pointed at the Alliance units then it'll give our own forces some breathing room. As for our own pilots, whether they engage Heero or the Alliance units is their call to make. Meyrin, anything?"

"Still no response, Captain," said Meyrin, her growing nervousness impossible to miss, "Shall I try again?"

"Give it one more shot," Talia ordered, "He knows our frequency, so if he doesn't answer after a third hail then he's deliberately ignoring us."

"Yes, ma'am," Meyrin replied.

I don't expect him to tell us what exactly he's doing, she thought, but if we can at least get an idea as to his general intent, it might be enough to avoid a disaster. Heero… please, answer.

She looked at Meyrin, and while it only took a few seconds for the girl to do her job, what should've been just brief moments stretched out entirely too long for her tastes. However, eventually Meyrin turned to meet Talia's gaze, and the downcast look in her eyes gave the Captain her answer before the girl announced it verbally.

"No response again, Captain," said Meyrin, her voice almost a hoarse whisper.

It was the answer that Talia had been fearing. Heero was indeed ignoring them, which meant that they had only one option now; they had to treat him as an enemy. The two of them knew what that meant, as did everyone else on the bridge.

Talia took a deep breath. "In that case, we have no choice. Inform Athrun and Heine that their target is the Albion. Have Rey and Lunamaria move to the perimeter to support the anti-air defenses; whether they engage Heero or the incoming Alliance units is up to them."

"And the Gundam pilots?" asked Meyrin.

Talia shook her head. "Their orders remain the same. We can't count on them to fight Heero, and I doubt they'd listen if we asked them to. I'll settle for them dealing with the Alliance units. Arthur, the Gaia's been offloaded already, yes?"

Her XO nodded. "Yes, ma'am; it was handed over to Gibraltar personnel just before the base's anti-air emplacements went active."

"Good," said Talia, "In that case, get us out of dock and into the harbor after Lunamaria and Rey launch. I don't want us to be a sitting duck if the enemy decides to take a shot at us."

"Aye, Captain," Arthur replied.

Then again, if Heero does decide to target us, being in or out of dock won't make all that much of a difference, Talia thought grimly, I don't know what he's after here… I just hope it isn't us.

….

That was faster than I'd anticipated, Heero mused as he wove his Gundam through tracer rounds, particle beams and surface-to-air missiles, These guys are jumpy. Then again, they've been constantly staring each other down since the war started, so I suppose them being quick on the draw would be natural.

He'd thought that he would have to work a bit harder to coax both ZAFT and the Earth Alliance into engaging him, but they'd opened up almost the instant he'd come into range. With the latter it wasn't exactly surprising, but Heero had thought that the former might hesitate just for a few seconds or so while they waited for confirmation; after all, he had been fighting alongside ZAFT until quite recently. It seemed that Durandal had wasted no time in getting the word out to ZAFT that Heero was now an enemy. Not that Heero minded. In fact, it served his purpose here quite nicely.

Older DINNs had already taken off from Gibraltar and were rushing to intercept him, and the newer BABIs were right behind them. This would be Heero's first time facing ZAFT's latest aerial combat mobile suit in battle, and he wanted to use this opportunity to gauge the extent of their capabilities. As he zigzagged and accelerated to keep one step ahead of the enemy's anti-air emplacements, he zeroed in on one of the BABIs with Wing Zero Albion's Search Eye and let the data scroll in.

Decked out in a primarily purple and black paint job with gold and red highlights, the AMA-953 BABI was an interesting machine. It wasn't as sleek and streamlined as the preceding AMF-101 DINN, instead favoring a somewhat bulkier frame with a single broad pair of wings rather than the six unfolding wings of its ancestor. However, the simpler wing design had the advantage of allowing for weapons hardpoints, and it had plenty of them. The unit was capable of transforming into a mobile armor form for high-speed interceptions, and indeed more than a few of the BABIs that had launched from Gibraltar to catch Heero were in that configuration now. In that form the unit essentially hunched over and folded in on itself, with the wing now on top of the unit which allowed the two QFJ91 12-barrel missile launchers on the outer part of the wings and four MMI-GAU2346 22.5mm 4-barrel machine guns mounted closer to the main fuselage to face forward and spray targets with a surprisingly fierce barrage. The MA-M343 Beam Rifle in its right hand and MMI-M182 Aerial Gun Launcher in its left were slung beneath the mobile armor while in this configuration, while the chest mounted MGX-2237 Ardor Multi-Phase Beam Cannons could only fire at surface targets in this mode.

The airborne mobile suits weren't the only ones that ZAFT was throwing at him. In addition to the fixed and self-propelled anti-air guns and surface-to-air missile launchers, squads of ZAKU Warriors were taking up positions along Gibraltar's northern defense line and drawing a bead on him. They were operating in mixed units, with the typical makeup being two standard ZAKU Warriors, two Gunner ZAKU Warriors, a Slash ZAKU Warrior and a Blaze ZAKU Warrior, although some formations had different balances of machines. Several ZAKU Phantoms with various Wizard Packs were thrown into the mix as well. Together they could all put up quite a formidable anti-air barrage, and Heero found himself quite grateful for Wing Zero Albion's combination of agility and the protection provided by both its Gundanium alloy frame and the DSX-1 Shakō-tai energy shields in its outer two wings.

Luckily for Heero, not all of ZAFT's anti-aircraft firepower was focused on him. Some of it was already beginning to shift as units from the Earth Alliance began to enter the field. While there was some anti-air fire coming in from the Alliance's ground forces to the north, it wasn't nearly as thick as that being put up by ZAFT. Instead, the Alliance was going almost all in on mobile suits, with several squadrons of Jet Windams and Jet Dagger-Ls racing in for interception. Most were aimed squarely at Heero, but some were beginning to fan out in order to engage ZAFT's forces as well.

Looks like I'm going to be the trigger for this war's First Battle of Gibraltar, Heero mused as he shot down a trio of surface-to-air missiles with his Gundam's machine cannons, and the strangest thing about it is that I haven't actually taken out a single unit yet. Hell, I'm not even really here to fight in the first place.

Not that it mattered, of course. Neither side knew his intentions, and it wasn't like he could tell them what his mission was. One side had tried to reach out to him, or at least one ship had; Heero hadn't missed the alert from his console regarding the hails from the Minerva. He could appreciate the fact that Captain Gladys was probably trying to ascertain his motives and figure out if the situation could be deescalated without anyone getting killed, but her concerns did not matter to him anymore. He was here to cause some chaos; de escalation was the very last thing on his mind.

"Off to a good start," he muttered under his breath as he took his Gundam through a wild series of twists and turns to evade the storm of particle beams, missiles and shells flying around him, "I'm the center of attention. Let's up the ante."

Slamming down the throttle, Heero went into a steep dive. Wing Zero Albion was little more than a streak of blue light as it rapidly descended, zigzagging and spinning to keep the gunners and pilots on both sides guessing. He pulled up at the last possible moment and raced over the ground, the combination of wind created by his speed and the backwash from his thrusters actually upending a couple of self-propelled surface-to-air missile launchers on ZAFT's side of the line.

Quickly regaining altitude, Heero adjusted his course to take him closer to the Earth Alliance's defense line. Diving again, he swooped in low and made a run right over the heads of what he imagined to be some quite terrified grunts while their anti-air artillery struggled to track him. Climbing again, Heero then turned sharply to the left, heading back towards ZAFT's side of the border.

"Let's see… perfect," Heero whispered as he checked his sensor display, "They both took the bait."

The aerial units of both ZAFT and the Earth Alliance had gotten mixed up with each other in their efforts to pursue him, and a general melee had broken out. The night sky was filled with particle beams, shells, missiles, and swirling blue-white trails of thruster fire as both sides flung themselves into the chaotic furball, and Heero had a front row seat to the action. Reinforcements were already inbound from both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT; the confused clash was only going to get bigger.

I suppose it's time I started contributing to the fireworks, Heero mused as he climbed and split the Twin Buster Rifle, I'm sure this will turn some heads…

Charging up as he evaded shots from both the surface and airborne mobile suits, Heero opened fire a moment later. Two lances of golden-yellow hellfire illuminated the night and tore through the brawl that had broken out, destroying six Alliance units and seven ZAFT machines. Rejoining the Twin Buster Rifle, Heero then ignited one of the Gundam's emerald beam sabers in its left hand and dived headlong into the furball. Opening up with his machine-cannons and railguns, he shredded a BABI with the former and detonated a Windam with the latter. He'd drawn blood now; if anyone on either side might've been hesitant about engaging him before, Heero was sure that those doubts had just been firmly chucked out the window.

A series of beeps came from his sensors as Heero twisted and turned to evade the hailstorm of fire he was caught up in, and his eyes narrowed as he checked the display and saw what his Gundam had just picked up. "Well, now… this should be interesting."

Additional reinforcements were already en route from Gibraltar. By itself, this wasn't too surprising; this was a major ZAFT frontline base, so it would have plenty of units to throw into the fray. What had gotten Heero's attention was the makeup of two particular elements of the latest reinforcements. The first was a wingpair that he had tangled with barely more than a day ago; an orange GOUF Ignited and the crimson Saviour. Both were racing to join the fray, and they were making a beeline right for him. The second element was made of four mobile suits…

...and they were all very familiar ones.

The God of Death.

The Walking Arsenal.

The Desert Prince.

Nataku.

Of all the pilots on the field, Heero knew that it wouldn't take long for the four of them to figure out his true intentions. He could trust Duo, Trowa, and Quatre to play along, but Wufei? A few months ago, Heero would've had faith in him.

Now, though?

Well, there was only one way to find out what Wufei would do here.

Time to roll the dice…

….

So much for having a peaceful night's worth of sleep, thought Quatre as he and his fellow Gundam pilots rushed towards the engagement, Heero, what the hell are you doing here?

It was a question that Quatre needed to figure out the answer to quickly. When she'd asked them to launch, Captain Gladys had only mentioned that Alliance forces were approaching from the north; she'd conveniently left out the fact that they were doing so in response to Heero's presence. From what Quatre could tell, Heero appeared to have deliberately provoked both sides into going after him.

Checking his sensors before and and the others got into the thick of it, Quatre was able to at least narrow down the likely scenarios for what Heero was up to. For starters, although ZAFT might believe otherwise, Quatre felt reasonably confident that this wasn't an attack on Gibraltar. If Heero had wanted to make such a strike, he wouldn't have done so like this. He would've either come in low from the sea and started demolishing the warships in the harbor, or he would've gone with a high altitude opening shot on the base itself with the Twin Buster Rifle. Either way, he definitely wouldn't have attacked in such a way as to have both ZAFT and the Alliance shooting at him; he would've tried to avoid a two-front fight, or at least put it off for as long as possible.

Second, there was his course. From what Quatre could tell, it looked like Heero was working his way along the northern defensive line from east to west. Wing Zero Albion was zigzagging back and forth between the ZAFT and Alliance sides of the front, but its general heading remained more or less consistent. He was making no attempt to go further south to strike the base itself; he seemed quite content with buzzing the outer defenses and skirmishing with the first units to respond.

"So, it's not an all out assault," Quatre muttered under his breath, "What does that leave, then?"

Intelligence gathering? No; Terminal had better units for that kind of mission, particularly the three Wraiths. Probing Gibraltar's defenses and testing their response? Possible, but there were better ways of doing it. A provocation aimed at Durandal himself to let him know that their cold war had gone hot? If Heero wanted to do that, then there were more effective means by which to send the message rather than just messing around with Gibraltar's perimeter.

Right now, all Heero really appeared to be doing was engaging in a pointless skirmish, and Quatre knew his friend better than that. Every action had a purpose, even if it wasn't readily discernible at first glance. There had to be something that Quatre was missing.

He got his answer, rather accidentally at that, from Duo. "Man, Heero's really putting on a show here! What got him in the mood for stunt flying at this time of night?"

Putting on a show… that's it!

Quatre wanted to smack himself for not figuring it out sooner. This was a diversion. Heero wasn't after anything here except to raise some hell and get everyone to focus on him. That could only mean that he was acting as part of a larger Terminal operation. What the overall objective of that was, Quatre couldn't say, but he could get the details from Heero later.

He was about to inform his fellow Gundam pilots when he realized that the current tactical channel they had set up between them included Wufei. Quatre hesitated for a moment before setting up a separate channel for himself, Duo and Trowa. He didn't like leaving Wufei out, but Heero's warning about their friend from L5 couldn't be ignored. Besides, Wufei was smart enough to suss out Heero's intentions on his own. So were Duo and Trowa, but Quatre at least wanted to make sure that the three of them were properly coordinating.

"It's a distraction," he said once he had the channel established and properly encrypted, "Heero's drawing ZAFT's attention to him and away from… well, everything else."

"Thought as much," Trowa answered.

Duo chuckled. "Figures. He does love using himself as bait, doesn't he? How should we play this?"

"Now might be a good time to jump ship," Trowa suggested, "The chaos of a fight like this would offer the perfect chance."

Was Trowa right? None of them had left anything important aboard the Minerva; everything they needed was packed in their bags aboard their Gundams. Quatre had hoped to stick with ZAFT just a bit longer to gain additional intelligence, but after tonight he had to wonder if that approach would still be viable. They were already under suspicion purely by dint of their association with Heero, after all, and him turning around to attack ZAFT at Gibraltar barely more than a day after abducting a prisoner and convincing one of their pilots to defect wouldn't help matters. Making things even worse was the fact that the attack had come just after the Minerva pulled into the base; ZAFT could very easily jump to the conclusion that the Gundam pilots who had remained behind were feeding Heero intelligence to aid in his strike, even if that wasn't true in this case.

All that being said, staying with the Minerva just a bit longer still had potential benefits. They were now in the heart of one of ZAFT's key surface bases; if ever there was a place for some prime intelligence gathering, a massive facility like Gibraltar was certainly it. It would also give them another chance to take the measure of ZAFT's current surface forces, at least in the European theater of war. Taking the time to study supply shipments and what kind of reinforcements the base was receiving from orbit would no doubt yield useful information, and there was always the chance of potentially eavesdropping on senior ZAFT commanders or visiting PLANT political leaders. Sticking around after tonight would definitely be risky, but the rewards couldn't be dismissed so easily.

Thinking quickly, Quatre formulated a rough plan for the engagement. "Focus on taking out the Alliance mobile suits for now. If ZAFT's pressure on Heero gets too heavy, we'll intervene. Otherwise, refrain from engaging ZAFT forces for now. Let's see if we can stay in their good graces for a little while longer."

"What about Wufei?" asked Duo.

"I think he's going to be a problem," said Trowa, "He's heading right for Heero. So are Heine and Athrun."

Checking his display, Quatre saw that Trowa was correct. Wufei had already adjusted his course and was breaking off from the rest of the Gundam pilots and was setting up to face Heero head-on, while Athrun and Heine were out ahead of them and likewise angling to intercept the Wing Zero Albion. There was no way that Heero would miss them even in this chaos, though, and from the way he was maneuvering it was clear that he was trying to avoid prolonged engagements.

Wufei probably wants a one-on-one fight, thought Quatre, but I doubt Heero's interested in that tonight. Altron Custom might be fast enough to keep pace with Wing Zero Albion, but Heero should still be able to keep just far enough ahead to deny Wufei a duel. At least I hope he can…

Quatre shook his head. Heero could take care of himself, and he'd surely realized that there was a chance that this mission could result in him clashing with Wufei. That would be Heero's problem to deal with. Quatre had his own targets to go after, as did Duo and Trowa. Sighting in on the closest Windam, he gunned his engines and dived headlong into the fray.

….

Athrun grimaced in frustration as his third hail went unanswered. "Damn it, Heero! What the hell are you doing here?"

The very last thing he wanted was for ZAFT to engage his friend in combat, but the situation was rapidly spiralling out of control. The night sky was once again illuminated by the brilliant flash of the Twin Buster Rifle, with three ZAFT and two Alliance mobile suits blown apart by the blast. More and more mobile suits from both sides were entering the combat zone with each passing minute, and an already chaotic brawl was rapidly expanding.

This doesn't make any sense, he thought, I know Heero doesn't like ZAFT, but not even he would be crazy enough to solo Gibraltar's defenses! What's he trying to accomplish?

He'd been hoping that his friend would answer that himself, but Heero clearly wasn't in the mood to talk. If Athrun wanted to get to the bottom of this, his only option now was to meet Heero head-on and force him to come clean. Checking his sensors to try and calculate Heero's current course, Athrun then shifted the Saviour to its mobile armor form.

"Heine, I'll try to get out ahead of him!" he shouted, "If I can stall him, you should be able to catch him from behind."

"Copy that," Heine replied.

"Both of you, back off," came a third voice, "He's mine."

Athrun's eyes widened. "Wufei? Hold on! We should work together here!"

"Go play with the Alliance," Altron Custom's pilot dismissively retorted, "You'll just get in my way otherwise. Besides, I've waited too long for this; you're not going to ruin it for me."

"Wufei, wait!" Athrun yelled as the green Gundam rocketed forward, making a beeline for Heero.

"What do you want to do, Athrun?" asked Heine.

Athhrun shook his head. "Stick to the plan. If Wufei distracts Heero, we can take advantage of that. Just watch out for crossfire; it's getting messy out there."

"Roger," said Heine.

Adjusting his course and gunning his engines, Athrun angled for interception. Even the Saviour in its mobile armor form wasn't as fast as the Wing Zero Albion, but with the way that Heero was twisting and juking through the blizzard of shells, missiles and particle beams both sides were throwing at him it actually gave Athrun time to arc around the fray and get out ahead of his friend. Checking his display for the other three Gundam pilots, Athrun saw that they were taking the fight to the Earth Alliance mobile suits rather than Heero. Athrun supposed that this was probably the most help he could expect from them under the circumstances.

At least they're not fighting us, he thought, otherwise we'd really be in trouble.

Although he was trying to go for Heero, the Earth Alliance pilots were under no obligation to go along with Athrun's plan. He wasn't drawing nearly as much fire as Heero, but at least a few Windams and Dagger-Ls took shots at him, forcing Athrun to weave and roll the Saviour through volleys of particle beams. His response was a salvo of two crimson energy blasts from his Amfortas Plasma Beam Cannons, which cut down two Windams and caused the others to scatter.

"Get out of my way," he hissed, "I don't have time for this!"

Alarms went off on his console as additional Alliance units tried to get a lock on him. Rolling, diving and climbing as the situation called for it, Athrun let fly with another pair of plasma beams. This time the salvo blew apart a Dagger-L and another Windam, but the enemy's return fire was getting more accurate. Athrun was able to avoid taking any particle beam hits, but the Saviour was noticeably buffeted by anti-air shells and more than one nearby detonation of a surface-to-air missile.

Further back and to the right there was a burst of tiny emerald bolts as Heine shredded a Windam with one of his GOUF Ignited's Draupnir 4-barrel Beam Guns. A Dagger-L tried to close in to melee range as Heine was taking down its comrade, but the ZAFT Red and FAITH operative was quickly able to bring his Tempest Beam Sword up to block the machine's saber strike. Heine's counterattack was brutally efficient as he unleashed one of the GOUF Ignited's Slayer Whip Heat Rods and ripped the Dagger-L in half. Athrun was sure that Heine wanted payback for his earlier defeat at Heero's hands, and he could only hope that his comrade wouldn't make any hasty decisions. Heine didn't strike Athrun as a particularly vengeful type, but all mobile suit pilots had their pride whether they admitted it or not.

We need to be extremely careful here, he thought, Heero's already killed ZAFT pilots tonight; just because he was on the Minerva with Heine for a bit means nothing here. He held back before, but he might not this time. If he decides someone's a genuine threat, he'll take them down…

...even if they were once a friend.

….

"Come on, Lunamaria," said Rey, "We need to hurry up and get into position."

"I'm working on it," Lunamaria grumbled, "You try lugging this big-ass gun around down here! I miss outer space..."

While she loved her Gunner ZAKU Warrior, Lunamaria would freely admit that the mobile suit wasn't perfect. It was great for anti-ship combat and artillery support, but moving anywhere quickly while on the surface wasn't one of its strong points. Rey could at least get a boost from the Blaze Wizard Pack on his ZAKU Phantom; Lunamaria didn't get anything like that with the Gunner Wizard Pack. In space, the ZAKU was just fine, but down on Earth it definitely had its limitations.

It felt pointless, really. Sure, she could understand why she'd be assigned to reinforce Gibraltar's defenses, but by the time she got to the position they wanted her to be in the target would almost certainly be long gone. Maybe she'd get to snap a few potshots at the Earth Alliance mobile suits before they withdraw, but the opponent that she knew her superiors really wanted her to shoot at would be all but impossible for her to actually hit.

I still can't believe it's actually him, she thought as she glanced at her sensors, I don't understand it… why's he doing this?

She wasn't looking forward to the prospect of firing on Heero. While she hadn't gotten particularly close to him during his time on the Minerva, he didn't seem like a bad guy and had helped the ship and crew through more than a few tough spots since the war had begun. The fact that he had been their ally barely more than a day ago and was now their enemy was disorienting to say the least, and that wasn't even getting into Lunamaria's personal fears about what his actions here meant.

Sure enough, there was the Altron Custom, charging through the fray and going straight for Heero. The other three Gundam pilots looked like they planned to focus on the Earth Alliance mobile suits, but not Wufei; he clearly only had one target on his mind. Lunamaria didn't get it. Sure, Wufei and Heero clearly disagreed on a few things; the duel she'd spied on before was proof enough of that. Still, for Wufei to seek him out as an enemy without so much as batting an eye was something else entirely.

"Wufei, please be careful," she muttered under her breath, "Oh, who the hell am I kidding here?"

This was Wufei she was talking about; when there was someone he wanted to fight, caution went right out the window. The only real question now was whether or not Heero would oblige him with a duel. Lunamaria doubted that Wufei would give him much of a choice in the matter, but based on the way that Wing Zero Albion was currently maneuvering it didn't seem like was looking for a prolonged one-on-one fight. He was zipping back and forth between the defensive lines of ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, darting about and taking potshots at his pursuers but doing little more than that. It was incredibly odd; Lunamaria didn't know what to make of it.

Let the officers figure out what's actually going on here, she told herself, You have a job to do.

Lumbering across the base, she checked her current position and compared it to that of her erstwhile target. Lunamaria shook her head; how the hell did the Captain think that she was supposed to come anywhere close to landing a hit on a machine as fast as the Gundam Albion? She liked to think that she was a reasonably good shot, but Lunamaria wasn't about to kid herself here.

"At least Shinn's not here," she whispered as she studied her sensor display, "I hope he's not here…"

There was no sign of him yet, and Lunamaria hoped it stayed that way. Her head was still a mess from trying to figure out just what had convinced him to jump ship; she was in no mental state to start taking shots at him. She was angry and confused, but at the same time she still very much considered Shinn a friend. The thought of him actually betraying ZAFT just didn't make any sense to her. There had to be something that she was missing, and she couldn't bear the thought of possibly having to open fire on him only to realize later on that his actions had been justified. Unfortunately, her chances of getting any more information on the subject than what she already had were slim to none; both the Captain and Arthur had been extremely tight-lipped on the matter, and Lunamaria doubted that would change anytime soon.

"Heads up," said Rey, snapping her out of her thoughts, "They're changing our destination."

Fresh coordinates flashed across Lunamaria's screen a moment later. Checking the small map of the base that was on the bottom-left corner of her monitor, Lunamaria saw that the new position they were being ordered to occupy was further to the west than their original destination. At least with where she was now it was easy enough for Lunamaria to alter course. She didn't know if she'd get to the new position in time to do any good, but orders were orders.

"Copy that," she replied, "Let's go."

And hope our target decides to bug out before we get there...

….

I should've expected as much, thought Heero as he nailed a Windam with his railguns before shredding a DINN with his machine cannons, Wufei, you really don't waste time, do you?

Although his focus remained on causing confusion with the Alliance and ZAFT forces, Heero wasn't blind to what was going on around him. Duo, Trowa and Quatre clearly understood his intentions and had already moved to indirectly support him by intercepting the most recent batch of Alliance reinforcements. Between Deathscythe Omega's flashing emerald beam scythe, Heavyarms Arsenal's withering barrage and furious slashes from Sandrock Saladin's giant curved blades, the three of them were ripping apart the Dagger-Ls and Windams that posed the most direct threat to Heero. They couldn't intercept all of the Alliance reinforcements, but they didn't need to. Their efforts were forcing the Alliance to spread their squadrons across a wider front, which meant that ZAFT likewise was spreading out their forces in an effort to keep them back while at the same time still trying to shoot down Heero. It served the Gundam pilot's purpose quite well; the larger the engagement, the more eyes would be on it.

However, Heero was all too aware that things could turn against him on a moment's notice, and they certainly would if Wufei engaged him. If he got bogged down in a duel with the L5 native, then that would make it easy for both ZAFT and Alliance forces to swarm and overwhelm him. It wouldn't matter to them that Wufei doubtlessly wanted a one-on-one match; all that they would care about was taking him out once and for all. Heero would have to thread a careful needle here, staying just one step ahead of Wufei while still distracting both the Alliance and ZAFT forces. He was also aware of both Athrun and Heine setting up to pincer him, but he could outrun them. They weren't the real threat; Wufei was.

Heero grimaced as he realized what he needed to do. He'd hoped to avoid calling in reinforcements so early, but he was going to need some help if he wanted to keep up his role as a diversion until he got the away signal from Lacus and the Waltfelds. As he cut down a BABI with his beam saber and nailed a DINN with his railguns, he sent a brief coded transmission to the Archangel and Dominion, a contingency signal that they'd developed ahead of the operation for just this kind of situation.

Looks like I'm going to need help sooner than we'd planned, he thought as he stabbed a Windam through the cockpit before whirling around and shredding a BABI with his machine cannons, I can't say I'm happy about it, but my hand's been forced.

You know what to do, Murrue.

….

"Transmission from Heero, Captain!" Flay called out, "Contingency signal Charlie Five!"

So soon, thought Murrue with a furrowed brow, I knew there would be a fierce response, but Heero believed that he could wait longer for backup, if he would need it at all. ZAFT and the Alliance aren't playing around if he's sending this signal so early...

"Ma'am, I've got Captain Badgiruel on the line!" Flay continued, "Shall I put her through?"

"Yes," Murrue replied, already having a pretty good idea as to what her fellow Captain would have to report.

Natarle's face appeared on the main monitor a moment later. "We just got the signal from Heero. I'm guessing you did, too?"

Murrue nodded. "Yes. Are your response pilots prepared?"

"Affirmative," Natarle answered, "I can launch Mu and Shemei at any time."

"Surface and get them airborne," Murrue ordered, "I'll do the same with my response team."

"Copy that," said Natarle before vanishing from the monitor.

Murrue wasted no time in issuing new commands to her crew. "Helm, take us up. Miriallia, have Kira and Yzak go to the catapults first and launch them as soon as you can, then follow up with Dearka!"

Miriallia nodded. "Understood, Captain!"

That'll leave the Strike Rouge and Murasames to defend the Archangel, thought Murrue as her ship began to ascend, and the GuAIZ Werewolf for the Dominion. A rather thin defense, but it can't be helped. We'll submerge as soon as we launch the backup teams, so hopefully the enemy won't detect us.

Then again, if the action at Gibraltar was so heavy that Heero was already calling for support, both ZAFT and the Alliance probably had more important things to worry about than what was lurking out at sea tonight.

….

"Damn it," Lan hissed under her breath as she watched the battle unfold in the distance, "I want to get in there!"

She couldn't, of course; doing so would involve revealing that her Wraith was inside Gibraltar's perimeter, and that would almost certainly clue ZAFT into the fact that this fight wasn't what it seemed. She, Adaline and Priscilla had dropped off their passengers a little while ago and were now on standby at the eastern edge of the spaceport, their Mirage Colloid systems still activated. Their role at this point in the operation was to hold position until either the shuttle carrying Lacus, Andrew and Aisha Waltfeld had launched or they got the abort signal and picked up their passengers. Once it was clear, they could fire off a couple volleys of missiles to help cover Heero's departure, but that would be their only offensive involvement in the operation if everything went according to plan. Until either event came to pass, all they could do was wait.

Lan hated waiting. She had her strengths, but patience had never been one of them. It was always the anticipation that got to her and drove her crazy, whether it be the runup to a date or a battle. She was the kind of woman who just wanted to dive on in and roll the dice; being forced to sit back and watch as her friends took all the risks was not her idea of a good time.

I don't get how Adaline and Pris do it, she thought, I'd ask them, but I can't break radio silence. Ugh, missions like this are the worst! That's what I get for piloting a machine designed for stealth…

With nothing better to do, she adjusted her mobile suit's cameras until she found the machine she wanted to track. From her current position she couldn't get a particularly good view, but even a grainy and distant picture was good enough for now. Despite her frustration, Lan couldn't help but smile as she saw Sandrock Saladin slice a Windam clean in half before whirling around and ripping apart a Dagger-L.

"Give 'em hell, loverboy," she murmured, sighing wistfully, "Ah… so close, and yet so far…"

What I wouldn't give to jump into the fray with you, Quatre…

The Desert Prince was on a roll, and he wasn't the only one. There was a green blur as she caught sight of Deathscythe Hell cut down two Windams with a broad swing in the distance. Meanwhile, an absolute blizzard of shells and missiles ripped apart five more Alliance mobile suits as they made the lethal mistake of trying to attack Heavyarms Arsenal head-on. The three Gundams worked well together, with Quatre and Duo handling the foes that tried to close the distance while Trowa provided heavy fire support. It was a deadly combination, one that Lan knew ZAFT would rue being on the wrong end of once the formidable trio finally turned against them. That probably wasn't going to happen in this battle, of course, but Lan was sure that the long-awaited confrontation with Durandal would come sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, a much more interesting confrontation was about to take place. Although so far Heero had limited himself mostly to shooting on the run rather than stopping for a serious dogfight, Lan saw the Altron Custom racing towards him on her sensors. She didn't know if the machine was as fast as the Wing Zero Albion, but it was definitely faster than the other three Gundams thanks to the incredibly powerful boosters mounted on its back. Heero had to be aware of Wufei's approach, and based on the way he was maneuvering Lan could tell that he was trying to avoid a clash with his fellow Gundam pilot, but it didn't look like he was going to have much of a choice in the matter. Whether it realized it or not, the Cosmic Era was about to witness its first duel between Gundams from the After Colony world. It was history in the making.

Lan could only hope that it didn't turn fatal for the pilots involved.

….

Swooping low over the Alliance front line, Heero blasted a surface-to-air missile battery with his railguns before shredding a self-propelled anti-air artillery piece with his machine cannons. Making a hard left, he then swung his Gundam back towards ZAFT's side of the engagement zone, making a run over their defensive positions that was so low he was actually able to slice apart a missile truck with his beam saber. Jerking his Gundam sharply to the right, he once again placed himself firmly between both the Alliance and ZAFT's forces, zigzagging through a storm of shells, missiles and particle beams. Going into a steep climb and gunning the throttle, he rapidly shot above the fray, with one mobile suit stubbornly sticking to his tail.

The Altron Custom.

His fingers dancing across the console, Heero established a private channel with his former ally. "I know what you want, Wufei, but I'm not here to tango with you."

"I know that!" Wufei shot back, "It's what you're getting whether you like it or not!"

As he zipped across the sky, Heero silently cursed Howard as Wufei hounded his footsteps. The old Sweeper and former Tallgeese designer had given Wufei's Gundam the quality upgrades that Heero had come to expect from the man; Altron Custom was insanely quick, with the output from its boosters damn near rivaling that which was provided to the Wing Zero Albion through its combination of conventional thrusters and the Voiture Lumiere electromagnetic-light-wave propulsion system in the machine's outer wings. Heero might not have been here for a duel with Wufei, but at the rate things were going he was about to find himself in one.

Glancing at his sensors, he looked for Athrun and Heine. He'd spotted them earlier, and a quick check confirmed his earlier suspicions; they were trying to pincer him. The Saviour was in its mobile armor form and moving west to get out ahead of him, while the GOUF Ignited was trying to come at Heero from behind. That had been part of the reason why Heero had climbed above the fray; if he could keep both FAITH operatives below him while battling Wufei, it'd be easier to evade when they inevitably tried to flank him.

Beyond that, all I can do now is hope that backup gets here soon, he thought as he stowed away the Twin Buster Rifle on the Gundam's back before drawing and igniting his second beam saber, Lacus, you'd better be making the most of this.

Start "Battlefield"

A moment later, Altron Custom burst through the clouds, its double-ended beam trident ignited and whirling like an emerald cyclone. Raising his right beam saber while keeping the left low in case Wufei swung the back half of his weapon around, Heero locked blades with his fellow Gundam pilot; the duel had begun.

"Is this what you really came out here for?" asked Heero as the sparks between their energy weapons illuminated the night sky around them, "You crossed the boundaries of time and space just to fight me?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Wufei replied as he broke off before letting fly with both Dragon Fangs, which Heero blocked with his outer wings, "I wanted to leave our old world since the moment I realized what the 'peace' so many fought and died for actually meant! The chance to fight you was just a bonus."

Heero shook his head as he charged forward to counterattack, his twin beam sabers leaving green streaks of light in their wake as they lashed out at his opponent. "I know you don't agree with Relena's ideals or the disarmament, but you're grossly mischaracterizing what she's trying to build. Once the war was over, it was time for soldiers like you and I to step aside so people like her could give birth to a better world."

"Easy for you to say when you left that world barely a month after it had begun!" Wufei shouted as he deflected both of Heero's strikes before returning the favor, forcing Heero onto the defensive, "Back then, you knew the truth; soldiers like us had been cast aside because we were no longer useful. We gave everything so the rest of the world could know peace, and how did they repay us? By conveniently forgetting all about us as we struggled to find a new purpose. When the world needed us, we rose to the occasion, but when we needed them? They abandoned us, Heero!"

"That's bullshit, and you know it," Heero growled as he parried the thrusts and slashes from Wufei before going back on the defensive with a series of swift diagonal strikes, "The new government spent considerable resources in setting up programs for those who needed something new after the disarmament. Positions in the new security services, new career training, counseling and medical care; the soldiers weren't abandoned, Wufei!"

"Yet none of that was good enough for you," Wufei pointed out as he whirled his double-ended beam trident in front of him to block Heero's attacks, "Did you settle for a role in Preventers or try to find a different career path? No; you needed something more! That's why you kept taking dangerous jobs, and when the Barge reactor explosion brought you here, you found what you really needed. You found a world that remembers what soldiers are meant for!"

"What I found was a world suffering from a war that was just as horrific as ours!" Heero shot back as he dived beneath Wufei's left Dragon Fang while blocking the right one with his outer wings, "The First Bloody Valentine War was hell on earth and ended with a battle that nearly wiped out humanity. Soldiers fought both to save this world and also to end it, Wufei, even if they didn't realize it at the time."

"And you fought because it gave you purpose!" Wufei pressed as he charged forward, driving Heero back across the sky with a series of thrusts, "You may have weakened over time and decided that fighting for a woman was better, but I know the truth, Heero. When you first came here, you were the same as I am now! We both only feel alive when we're in battle. Those who built their 'peace' on the backs of our struggles could never understand that!"

"And so the world should suffer through war just so you and I can indulge in that sensation?" Heero asked incredulously as he parried Wufei's strikes before countering with a flurry of swift slashes and stabs from his twin beam sabers, "Do you have any idea how incredibly selfish you sound right now?"

"Don't try taking the high road!" Wufei shouted while deflecting Heero's attacks, "Years ago, you knew the truth; as long as mankind exists, there will always be battles! Do you really think that the 'true peace' that Relena Peacecraft and her ilk seek in our old world will actually last? Mankind might take a shot at it for a few years, but eventually there will be those who seek to challenge it. Whether out of ambition, greed, or any of the other countless reasons why humanity has gone to war in the past, eventually that peace will end. Not even the Preventers will be able to stop it, and what will happen then? Do you think the soldiers that were so casually cast aside by the new regime will stand up to fight for it? If anything, they'd be first in line to overthrow it, and they'd be completely justified in doing so!"

Heero shook his head as he fell back under Wufei's counterattack. "So, you would have us go back to our old ways? Constantly fighting, wasting countless lives for the same petty struggles as before? How many people died in the final battle of our old war to give humanity a chance to move beyond that? You were there, Wufei; you can't have forgotten what we fought for that day! You killed one of the two men that set the whole thing up to begin with!"

"And what do you think he would say if he saw the world that arose from the ashes of his death?" Wufei asked as he whirled his double-ended beam trident around him like a cyclone, "A world that forgot the beauty that could be found in struggle, that willfully ignored those who passed through the crucible of battle so that the ungrateful masses could enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice? Relena Peacecraft and her foolish supporters are always harping on about how humanity learned its lesson about the true costs of war and will never repeat the mistakes of the past, but I say that they've learned nothing! Pilots like you and me were the ones who shouldered the burden of those lessons, who suffered the most for them, and for what? To be thrown out like garbage once we'd served our purpose. That's why I can't let go, why I continue to dive headfirst into battle. I'm fighting for all soldiers who were used as weapons and then cast aside, including yourself!"

"And you think that ZAFT will give you the purpose that you lost when our war ended?" Heero shot back as he hammered at Wufei's defenses with a rain of powerful blows, "You think that Chairman Durandal will give you the world you want? You don't know what he's really after in this war; none of us do!"

"No, we don't," Wufei agreed as he fended off Heero's attacks before countering with a thrust from his double-ended beam trident, "but look at the state of this world, Heero. Do you really think the people here are foolish enough to believe that they can just lay down all their arms when this war is over? Look at how the last one nearly ended; humanity came closer to unleashing Armageddon upon itself than it ever had before. The First Bloody Valentine War was worse than our own, yet did they throw away their weapons and toss their soldiers aside afterwards? No, because they understood the value of warriors like us! If the PLANTs had disarmed, the Alliance would've wiped them out at the start of this new war. ZAFT was preserved, its forces remained at the ready, and look at them now. I might not know what Durandal's real goal is, but at least he's shown that he'll give soldiers their proper place in this world!"

Heero sighed as he crossed his blades to block a downward strike from Wufei. "Are you really so far gone… no, that's not it. Out of all five of us… you never moved on, did you? Duo, Trowa, Quatre and myself; we all tried to move past the war that defined us. I took longer than them, but I still found my new path in the end. You're the only that hasn't. You're still trapped in that final battle at the Libra."

"I'm fighting for the memory of those who gave everything in that final battle!" Wufei snapped as he pushed Heero back with a storm of blows, "I'm fighting because the only man who truly understood people like us is no longer here to do it himself!"

Heero's eyes narrowed while he deflected Wufei's attacks; he'd wondered when they'd reach this point. "Wufei, Treize and Zechs set up that final battle so people like Relena could build the new world that would come after them. He was willing to entrust the world to those who weren't soldiers because he knew that our time needed to end. Even without that, the battle he helped set the stage for put the entire world in danger, and before that he led OZ in dominating the world with an iron fist and oppressing the colonies. His order was what you and I fought against at the start of our war, and was why you sought him out in that final battle. You went after him for more than just to settle a score; you knew that he had to be brought to account for all that he had done."

"That was because I didn't understand him until the very end!" Wufei shouted, "Not until the moment I struck him down… the moment that he won."

Heero shook his head as he blocked a slash from Wufei with his right beam saber before counterattacking with his left, forcing his opponent to fall back. "It doesn't matter anymore. Treize is dead, Wufei. You defeated him in a fair fight; whether or not you understood him is beside the point."

"You're wrong!" Wufei protested as Heero pressed his assault, striking from high and low with his twin beam sabers to keep his fellow Gundam pilot off balance, "I'm still fighting him, even now! Even an entire world away from our own…"

Heero grit his teeth as he slammed his thrusters in reverse to avoid Wufei's counterattack; he wasn't getting anywhere here. "Enough of this. I didn't come here to indulge your desperate search for purpose. Fight for whoever you see fit. Just don't expect me to play by your rules."

Gunning the engines, he dived back towards the brawl raging below, with Wufei hot on his heels.

End "Battlefield"

….

His eyes widening as he saw Heero break off from his clash with Wufei, Athrun quickly shifted the Saviour back to its mobile suit form and drew his beam saber. Whether intentionally or not, Heero had timed his dive perfectly. Athrun had been setting up for his attack, and Heine had carefully moved into position as well. Now it was all disrupted; with Heero rushing back into the chaotic battle between ZAFT and the Alliance, Athrun and Heine would have to follow him down into the fray.

"Damn it," Heine growled, "How did he know?"

"He's got sharp instincts," Athrun reminded his fellow FAITH operative, "He wouldn't have survived this long otherwise."

He probably had some help from the ZERO System too, he thought, but ZAFT doesn't need to know about that.

Even though he was on the opposite side from Heero now, Athrun wasn't about to reveal the secrets of Wing Zero to ZAFT. The ZERO System in particular was simply too dangerous; after seeing Heero's rampage during the Alliance's invasion of Orb in the last war, not to mention hearing stories from Eric and Shemei about how gruelling the training to master the Epyon Revenant had been, Athrun knew that the strange operating system from Heero's old world was every bit as deadly as the Gundam's Twin Buster Rifle. While Athrun believed in what ZAFT was fighting for this time, he knew that they would definitely try to recreate the ZERO System if he told them about it. From there it would only be a matter of time before pilots began going on rampages against friend and foe alike; the resulting carnage would be staggering.

Still, despite having very good reasons to keep the ZERO System a secret, Athrun did feel bad about hiding its existence from Heine. Having a full understanding of the man and machine that they were up against would go a long way towards helping them counter their foe. All Athrun could do at this point was use every ounce of experience and skill in his arsenal and try to think one step ahead of his opponent. That was definitely a case of easier said than done; he still didn't even know what Heero was trying to accomplish here.

As Athrun and Heine adjusted course to try and form up for another pincer attack on Heero, Wufei's voice came over his cockpit speakers. "I told you two to stay out of this!"

"Since when have we ever taken orders from you?" asked Heine.

"He's right, Wufei," said Athrun, "You're not our superior officer. We need to work together here if we want to win this fight!"

Wufei scoffed. "Win? Idiots. He didn't come here to fight any of us in the first place."

Athrun's eyes widened. "What are you talking about? He started this entire battle! He's definitely here for a fight!"

"If you can't figure it out, then there's no point in me working with either of you," Wufei replied, "Stall him if you can, but then get out of my way; I'm the only one here that knows how to take him on."

"Wufei!" Athrun shouted, but it was no good; the Gundam pilot was chasing after Heero with a single minded determination that would allow nothing to dissuade him.

Athrun didn't have time to argue with Wufei anyway. Heero's dive had taken him back into the thick of the fighting, and that was where Athrun and Heine found themselves now. Zigzagging to evade enemy fire, Athrun destroyed a Windam with a precise shot from his beam rifle before impaling a Dagger-L with his saber. Meanwhile, Heine was ripping apart another Dagger-L with his Heat Rod while dodging fire from a pair of Windams that were coming at him from the flank. Athrun was about to move to help him when one of the machines was destroyed by a crimson lance of energy while the other was shot down by an emerald particle beam. Both shots had come from the ground, and as Athrun followed their trajectory he saw two familiar mobile suits standing at the source.

"Sorry we took so long to get here!" yelled Lunamaria.

"What's your status?" asked Rey.

Athrun smiled; their timing had been perfect. "We're fine. Watch yourselves down there; this fight's a crazy one!"

"Thanks for the help," added Heine, "Keep up the supporting fire."

"Understood," said Lunamaria.

With a bit of breathing room provided by his comrades, Athrun took a moment to survey the broader battlefield. Reinforcements were steadily trickling in from both sides, although their focus was shifting; while both ZAFT and the Alliance were still trying to shoot down Heero, they were gradually devoting more and more mobile suits to fighting each other. What had started as Gibraltar's anti-air defenses trying to shoot down a single Gundam had morphed into a conflagration that was now blazing along the entire northern line. Neither side was gaining any real headway, although with the forces they'd currently mustered the Alliance had no chance of actually breaching the defenses and taking Gibraltar. Thanks to the fighting taking place at a major frontline base, ZAFT had the advantage in firepower, hardened defensive positions, and logistics. They could move reinforcements to the front line more efficiently than the Alliance could, and it was clear that the enemy had been just as surprised at how quickly the situation had escalated as ZAFT was.

They're not prepared to actually storm Gibraltar, thought Athrun as he cut down a Windam with his beam saber, Hell, they weren't prepared for any kind of major fight tonight by the look of things. They're making it up as they go here, just like us. This'll probably go down as just another pointless skirmish…

Athrun shook his head; pointless skirmishing wasn't Heero's style. There had to be a reason for him to come out to Gibraltar and spark a confrontation like this, but for the life of him, Athrun couldn't figure out what it might be. He couldn't have been expecting to take on the base's defenders by himself and win; even a pilot like Heero had his limits.

"Win? Idiots. He didn't come here to fight any of us in the first place."

Wufei's words echoed in Athrun's head as he dodged a volley of particle beams from an incoming group of Windams. The Gundam pilot was right; with the way Heero was flying, Athrun knew that this wasn't really an attack on Gibraltar. He had another objective… but what was it?

Athrun needed to find the answer quickly; he had a feeling that the outcome of this battle was riding on it.

….

Compared to the northern part of the base, Gibraltar's spaceport was downright quiet. The alert sirens had ceased a little bit ago; there was no point in keeping them going when everyone already knew that they were under attack. There were still members of the base's internal security force on duty, but they were all distracted by the ongoing engagement. The threat was obviously to the north, and the defenses were holding; there was no way an enemy could be down here.

Oh, how wrong they were.

The forged documents Eric had set up for them had proven to be entirely unnecessary so far as Andrew, Aisha, and Lacus made their way to the cargo shuttle that the Gaia was soon to be loaded onto. None of the guards had tried to stop them so far, and most didn't even acknowledge their presence. As far as Gibraltar's security contingent were concerned, the three of them were just a trio of ZAFT soldiers on their way to carry out whatever orders they had been assigned. The green uniforms were the perfect camouflage; no one paid attention to grunts going about their business, after all.

One of the basic rules of infiltration, thought the Desert Tiger as he strolled forward like he belonged there, Keep your disguise as low-profile as possible. Go as far down the chain of command as you can manage. Don't go for anything with actual authority unless your mission demands it.

"So, that's the Gaia, huh?" whispered Aisha as they approached the shuttle, "I wonder what it's like under the hood, so to speak."

The large heavy lifter that was hauling the prototype machine was slowly moving into position behind the shuttle. Mechanics were looking the craft over, making the final maintenance checks required to certify that it was ready to fly with its precious cargo. Both the main entryway and the cargo doors were open, with base staff and crew moving in and out at will. They would be the perfect cover for the Desert Tiger and his two companions to slip on board.

"Remember the plan," he muttered, "Let me do the talking. Eric's contact in the logistics hub slipped our cover identities into the system; we're on the crew manifest. Anyone asks why we're late, just say we had to hit the can one last time before launch."

"I do get so nervous before takeoff," Aisha moaned with a wink, "Fortunately, that's what the ladies' room is for!"

"Oh, yes," Lacus concurred, slipping perfectly into character, "I've never liked launch sequences, so a little last minute freshening up always helps!"

Andrew smiled. "Keep up the charm, and we'll be just fine."

Carefully working their way around the loader carrying the Gaia, the three of them walked right up the cargo ramp. It was only when they were inside the hold that a soldier even noticed them and went to intercept.

"Excuse me," said the ZAFT Green, a brown-haired young man that was probably in his early twenties at the most, "Can I help you? We're launching soon, so unless you're helping with the loading then you really should leave."

Time to put those documents and hacking to the test.

Reaching into his pocket, Andrew pulled out some papers and handed them to the soldier. "Last minute personnel change; we're the new reserve crew."

The young man gave a weary sigh that the Desert Tiger was all too familiar with; that of a grunt tired of his superiors not giving him a heads up about stuff impacting his duties. "I see… could've done with a little more warning. Sorry, nothing against you, it's just…"

Andrew gave him a knowing smile. "Hey, trust me, I get it. We barely had time to get our crap together and book it on over here. I don't know what personnel management is thinking with pulling stuff like this."

The soldier gave a bitter laugh, although his demeanor did soften a bit; the Desert Tiger was already winning him over. "If we win this war, it won't be because of those morons. Uhm… don't tell anyone I said that."

Andrew made a zipping motion over his mouth. "My lips are sealed."

The soldier smiled. "Appreciated. Anyway, once the Gaia's secured and the shuttle's sealed, we're going to suit up and taxi over to the mass driver. We've got plenty of spare suits in the lockers behind the cockpit, so go grab yours now. After that, strap in. I'll fill you in on the shift change schedule once we've cleared the atmosphere."

"Understood," said Andrew as he motioned for Aisha and Lacus to follow him, "We'll get ready."

Moving forward, the three of them left the cargo hold and ducked into a small break room. They would only have a minute or so at the most, and they had to make it count.

Andrew looked at Aisha first. "You ready?"

His wife smirked as she reached into one of the pockets of her uniform and pulled out what at first glance appeared to be a lipstick container; it actually disguised a small injector. "Darling, do you really have to ask?"

Andrew smirked. "I guess not. "Wait until the shuttle's sealed up. We'll strike just before the shuttle begins moving towards the mass driver. Once we've knocked out the crew, we'll strap them in so they're not injured during takeoff. If the medics were right, they shouldn't regain consciousness for a good five to six hours."

Lacus sighed. "I still feel bad about this. We'll have no choice but to hold them as prisoners until the end of the war. Their families will be worried sick about them."

Aisha smiled. "If you turn on your charm once they regain consciousness, they might go from prisoners to recruits pretty quickly! If that happens, then we can find a way to covertly contact their families and assure them that they're all right."

"One thing at a time, ladies," said Andrew with a grin, "Now, let's steal ourselves a shuttle!"

….

Quite the sticky situation I'm in here, Heero mused as he sliced a Windam in half, I knew it'd get dicey, but even so… this might be a bit too much.

Between Wufei being hot on his heels, Athrun and Heine trying to box him in, and the general furball that was whirling around him, Heero was running out of room to maneuver. This wasn't like previous engagements where he had plenty of space to operate in and could take the fight where he pleased; he had to make sure the enemy's attention was focused in a specific direction. He was essentially flying back and forth between the Alliance and ZAFT's defensive lines, trolling both sides while ripping apart any mobile suit unfortunate enough to get in his way.

It was a wild ride to be sure, but Heero wasn't sure how much longer he could sustain it. He appreciated that Duo, Trowa and Quatre had recognized his intentions and were focusing on taking down as many Earth Alliance mobile suits as they could, but it wasn't enough. Sure, between the whirling crescent blade of Duo's scythe, the storm of shells and missiles being unleashed by Trowa, and the flashing Heat Shotels of Quatre, the three of them were utterly mauling any Windam or Dagger-L unlucky enough to wind up in their sights. They'd blunted a significant chunk of the Alliance forces by themselves, but there was only so much sky that the trio could cover. Besides, they couldn't make it too obvious that they were trying to cover Heero specifically, otherwise whatever suspicions ZAFT already held for them would only intensify. They had to strike a balance in this fight, just like Heero did.

He pulled his Gundam into a hard right as Wufei's Dragon Fangs shot forward, missing his machine by mere meters. The L5 native had always been persistent whenever he set his mind to something, and he was more than living up to his reputation in this fight. Altron Custom was by far the biggest threat on the field, although Heero wasn't about to discount the Saviour and the orange GOUF Ignited. Athrun and Heine had both survived the final battle of the last war, after all; this skirmish was nothing to them.

There's been no launch from the mass driver yet, he thought as he shredded a BABI with his machine cannons, but also no abort signal, either. The infiltration team must at least be aboard the shuttle by now. If they don't launch soon, then we're going to be in trouble…

Adjusting his course again, Heero angled westward. Checking his sensors as he weaved through a storm of fire, he saw that Wufei was still hot on his heels. Athrun had shifted the Saviour back over to its mobile armor form and was trying to get out ahead of him again, while Heine had changed course and was trying to get above Heero. Between the three ace pilots jockeying for position around him and the grunts mixing it up at will, Heero felt like a fish trying to survive a feeding frenzy.

Additional contacts were moving in from both the north and south; more Alliance and ZAFT mobile suits entering the fray. Not all of them were aiming for Heero, but more than enough were taking shots at him. Between Wing Zero Albion's maneuverability and wing shields, Heero was able to avoid taking any serious damage, but the sheer weight of fire being thrown at him now was starting to become a concern. Anti-air shells pinged off his mobile suit's Gundanium alloy armor, and several surface-to-air missiles were only barely intercepted at the last minute by bursts of fire from his machine cannons. The enemy was trying to close the net around him, and while Heero could get out that would mean abandoning his role as a decoy, something he was quite reluctant to do until he got the away signal from the infiltration team.

"Come on, Murrue," he whispered as he nailed a DINN with his railguns, "I could really use an assist right now…"

That was when a volley of emerald particle beams, crimson lances of plasma, and yellow railgun slugs ripped through the night sky from the west. Four BABIs and two DINNs suddenly found their rifles destroyed, and a follow-up salvo blasted the heads clean off of each machine. Heero smiled; he didn't even need to look at his sensors to know who had fired those shots.

The cavalry had arrived.

….

"Nice shooting," said Yzak.

"Thanks," Kira replied, already sighting in on his next batch of targets, "Move in; Dearka and I will provide covering fire!"

"Copy that," Yzak acknowledged, and Kira saw the Mercurius Kai accelerate forward.

A blast of golden-yellow energy ripped across the night sky as Dearka cut loose with the Vayeate Kai's heavy Beam Cannon, ripping apart two DINNs and a BABI. Kira joined him with another salvo, this time taking out the heads and rifles of three BABIs. Meanwhile, Yzak was already starting to mix it up in melee combat, spearing a DINN with his yellow beam saber before blasting a Windam through the cockpit with his rifle.

After launching from the Archangel, the three of them had first vectored south, their course taking them around Gibraltar's naval perimeter before bringing them back up so they could strike from the western end of the enemy's northern defensive line. The team that had launched from the Dominion would be coming in from the east, and while their course was actually shorter than that of Kira's team Shemei and La Flaga had agreed to delay their attack long enough for both teams to get into striking position.

Now, on the opposite end of ZAFT's defensive line, Kira saw a streak of crimson light charging headlong into the fray; Epyon Revenant had come. The Gundam's emerald beam sword flashed in the night, striking down a BABI and a DINN before their pilots even knew what hit them. Then it was the Heat Rod's turn, with the Gundam lashing out with its whip and shredding two Windams in the blink of an eye.

Zipping in behind the Epyon Revenant was a blue and white machine; the Tallgeese Kai. The Hawk of Endymion wasted no time in making his presence known with a precise volley from his unit's beam rifle, taking down a Dagger-L and a Windam in quick succession. The mobile suit then ignited its violet beam saber, and two BABIs swiftly became Mu La Flaga's next victims, with the veteran ace impaling both in short order.

Although it was only five more Terminal mobile suits joining the fight, the effect was immediate. Both sides were completely caught off guard, with many mobile suits slowing down as their pilots struggled to figure out exactly which targets they should be prioritizing. That, of course, only made them more vulnerable, and Terminal's pilots ruthlessly exploited their disarray. Between Kira's team striking from the west and Shemei and La Flaga attacking from the east, the end result was that Heero suddenly had a lot more room to maneuver, and he was already taking advantage of it.

The bottom right corner of Kira's monitor flashed as Wing Zero Albion's pilot appeared. "Perfect timing. Thanks for the help."

Kira smiled. "Of course! Any word from our mutual friends?"

Heero shook his head. "Not yet, but they should be on schedule. We just need to hold out until we get the signal."

Kira nodded. "Understood."

Hurry up, Lacus, he thought as he lined up shots on his next group of targets, The sooner you and the others have launched, the better!

….

As he blocked enemy fire with the Tallgeese Kai's four Planet Defensors, Mu La Flaga couldn't help but shake his head as he observed the chaos around him. "What a mess…"

It was hard to remember that this was still a diversionary mission. As he shot down a Dagger-L with his beam rifle before thrusting his saber through a DINN's cockpit, the Hawk of Endymion wondered just how high the body count would go before the battle was over. All this destruction, just to sneak three people up into outer space…

Stay focused, he told himself as he weaved through enemy fire, Natarle would chew you out for letting your mind wander in the middle of a fight.

He was trying to keep pace with Shemei, but even the Tallgeese Kai's tremendous speed fell short of what the Gundam Epyon Revenant could achieve. The Valkyrie's demonic machine was barely more than a crimson blur up ahead, a streak of blood red light with a glowing green sword that was cutting down Alliance and ZAFT mobile suits alike with brutal efficiency. La Flaga was running the Tallgeese Kai hard just to stay close enough to provide supporting fire, and even that was proving to be tricky. He was a good shot even in the middle of such a confused brawl, but the best he could do was pick off the few enemy machines that were suicidally brave enough to try nipping at Shemei's heels.

It was almost insulting, really; the enemy was barely paying attention to him compared to his comrades. Naturally, Heero was still at the center of the brawl, but both the Alliance and ZAFT pilots were now also frantically trying to concentrate fire on the Epyon Revenant and Kira's team. Compared to the Gundams, Tallgeese Kai was barely a blip on their radar. La Flaga would make them pay for believing that they could ignore him.

Racing through the storm of anti-air shells, surface-to-air missiles, particle beams and more, the Hawk of Endymion was more than willing to demonstrate to both sides how he'd earned that moniker. Nailing a BABI in the back with his beam rifle, he then charged a Windam and cut it down before the pilot inside knew what hit him. Diving and twisting his machine around to confront another Windam that had slipped behind him, La Flaga deployed his Planet Defensors to block a volley of particle beams before returning fire and blowing the Alliance mobile suit out of the sky.

As he zigzagged across the night sky, though, La Flaga's eyes widened as he felt a familiar prickling sensation in the back of his mind. One that he hadn't felt for quite some time…

Scanning the battlefield for the source, La Flaga quickly contacted Wing Zero Albion. "Heero, do you read me?"

"Affirmative," Heero replied, "What's up?"

"I'm sensing it," La Flaga answered, "That same feeling I always had when Creuset was on the field."

"Must be from Rey," said Heero, "Keep an eye out for a white Blaze ZAKU Phantom. He's probably on the ground providing anti-air fire support."

It only took Laf Flaga a moment to find the mobile suit in question. "Think I've got it. Any advice?"

"Do what you want," Heero replied, "He's not as good as you, but don't take him lightly if you decide to pick a fight. His current machine limits his options in this battle, though, and we've got bigger fish to fry."

La Flaga nodded as he evaded enemy fire. "Understood. I'll just keep an eye on him for now."

"Roger that," said Heero.

Glancing at the unit that was the source of the prickling sensation in the back of his mind as he zigzagged to throw off his adversaries' aim, La Flaga couldn't help but feel slightly let down. Creuset had always picked a high-mobility machine and had given him some damn good fights, and while the Blaze ZAKU Phantom that Rey was piloting now could've at least provided something of a contest up in space, down here on the surface it was simply out of its element. If Heero's warning was any indication, the Hawk of Endymion was sure that the ZAFT pilot would've at least put up a halfway decent struggle if he made a run at him, but the Tallgeese Kai outclassed the Blaze ZAKU Phantom in every way that counted down here.

Creuset was a maniac, he thought as he plugged a DINN right through the torso with his rifle, but he more than had the skills and machines to back up his insanity. Maybe this 'Rey' is good, but his mobile suit doesn't do him any favors here. Shame.

La Flaga shook his head. He had more important things to worry about right now than trying to relive some of the most intense dogfights of his career. The mission was to distract ZAFT, not indulge his ego. He was here to back up Heero and put on a show, and he would do both with gusto.

….

"What the hell?" Rey muttered under his breath as he scanned the sky overhead, "This feeling… where's it coming from?"

It couldn't have been a coincidence that the strange prickling sensation in the back of his mind had started once Heero's reinforcements had taken the field. What made it even more confusing for Rey, though, was that it felt like the sensation this time was coming from two distinct sources.

This doesn't make any sense, he thought as he tried to narrow down the possible sources for what he was feeling, I don't get it… which ones are causing this… and why?

Firing off another volley of particle beams to discourage a trio of Alliance mobile suits, Rey's gaze settled on the Freedom after a few moments. One of the sources of what he was feeling almost certainly was the pilot of that machine, and if the reports were right about the true identity of its pilot, then what he sensed could be logically explained. The other one, though, was harder to pin down. After a few seconds of searching, Rey settled on the white and blue machine that was covering the rear of the demonic red mobile suit. That machine had shown up before during the last war, making its debut when Orb had fought against an Earth Alliance invasion force, and its presence had been noted in multiple other engagements since then, always on the side of the Three Ships Alliance.

Was its pilot still who the rumors said it was? If so, that would go a long way towards explaining what Rey felt when he concentrated on that particular machine. He wanted to test himself against it in order to prove his theory, but he knew that his current mobile suit would be a poor match for it under these conditions. The prudent course of action would be to bide his time and wait for a more favorable encounter.

I'll have my answer eventually, he thought as he returned his focus to the enemies that he actually stood a chance at hitting tonight, one way or the other…

….

Having shifted the Saviour back to its mobile suit form, Athrun braced himself for an unpleasant confrontation. Facing off with Heero would've been bad enough, but Terminal had sent backup, so things were about to get so much worse.

"Kira," Athrun whispered as he cut down a Dagger-L with his violet blade, "Yzak, Dearka…"

They weren't the only old friends on the field, of course; he was well aware of Shemei and La Flaga tearing through both Alliance and ZAFT machines from the eastern end of the engagement. However, the pilots of the Freedom, Mercurius Kai and Vayeate Kai were the ones that he had the most history with, and any fight with them was going to be ugly.

He would have his first taste of that fight sooner rather than later. Yzak was taking point, with Kira following behind to provide mid-range fire support while Dearka hung back to act as long-range artillery cover. There was a bitter irony to the confrontation; how often had Athrun and Yzak butted heads back when the two of them had fought for ZAFT? Yzak had made no effort to hide the fact that he'd considered Athrun his rival and wanted to claim leadership of their team for himself. Now they'd be clashing in open combat, and it was a fight that neither of them wanted.

It doesn't have to be this way, he thought as he set up a channel with his old friend while shooting down a Windam, I might still be able to talk them down if I can figure out what they're really after here…

"Yzak, it's Athrun," he said as he weaved through enemy fire, "That's you, right?"

"Yeah, it is," Yzak replied, with the resigned tone of his voice instantly raising a red flag for Athrun, "Go dance with the Alliance mobile suits, Athrun. I'm not here for you. None of us are."

"Then what are you guys here for?" Athrun asked while blocking a beam saber strike from a Windam before counterattacking with a diagonal slash that ripped the machine apart, "Why did Heero start attacking Gibraltar? What is Terminal after here?"

"You can't really believe we'll tell you," Yzak shot back as he deployed the Mercurius Kai's Planet Defensors to block enemy fire, "You've proven yourself eager to defend the man who ordered an attack on our home and tried to kill Lacus Clyne; you're not about to get the benefit of the doubt here."

Athrun shook his head, growing steadily more uncomfortable as Yzak's machine drew near. "Yzak, it's not that simple! I'll confront the Chairman about that and get answers from him, but ZAFT itself isn't our enemy. The Alliance is the one that started this war, remember?"

"Trust me, none of us have forgotten that," Yzak countered as he shot down a Dagger-L with his beam rifle, "but ZAFT's hardly as innocent as you're making them out to be. The Alliance kicked this war off, but Durandal's regime is taking advantage of it. They're not out just to defend the PLANTs, Athrun."

Athrun's eyes narrowed as he thrust his violet blade through a Windam's torso. "Do you have proof?"

"Aside from the footage of ZAFT machines attacking Home One and a black ops team engaging in a firefight inside the estate?" Yzak pointedly asked, "Aside from the testimony of a recent ZAFT defector that the leader of the PLANTs wanted to vivisect a certain prisoner before Heero sprung her loose?"

Athrun's blood chilled as his thoughts immediately went to Shinn and the Gaia's pilot. "No… that can't be true…"

Yzak sighed heavily. "See? This is why you're not going to learn from any of us as to why we're really here. You're no longer a friend that we can trust, Athrun. I don't know how Durandal got his hooks so deep inside you, and I'm not here to figure it out. Do yourself a favor and stay away from Heero and the rest of us."

"I can't do that," Athrun firmly argued, "Regardless of your true purpose here, ZAFT pilots have died as a result of your actions. Heero's already shot down plenty tonight, and the rest of you are adding to the body count. I can't just stand aside."

"I thought you'd say that," Yzak replied, "I didn't want it to come to this. None of us did."

The Mercurius Kai closed the remainder of the gap, and Athrun barely had time to raise his violet blade to intercept Yzak's yellow one. Sparks flew as their beam sabers met, and the two old friends began their duel.

….

"Not good," Heine muttered as he saw Athrun get mixed up with the strange red mobile suit, "So much for our plan…"

He recognized the unusual machine from both the clash at the Dardanelles and combat footage gathered and analyzed from Operation Redemption, but even that prior study wasn't enough to all Heine to fully comprehend that unit's unique capabilities. Its offensive armaments were fairly basic, although the beam saber integrated with the small shield was a little unusual. The real kicker was the machine's shield drones. While the strange devices had been seen before on another mobile suit belonging to the Three Ships Alliance, that one had only utilized four of them; the one that Athrun was fighting now had no less than ten of the buggers. They offered a much wider field of coverage, and the enemy pilot was taking full advantage of that by using them to cover his flanks while he focused on engaging Athrun directly.

Heine had to figure out his next move, and he had to do that quickly. He could try to back up Athrun, but with the shield drones of his foe expertly deployed to ward off sneak attacks, the only opening was from the front, and Heine couldn't attack from that angle without risking the possibility of friendly fire. Going after Heero would be even more difficult; without Athrun to act as a potential anvil to slow him down, Heine would make a very ineffective hammer. The safest option would be to focus on engaging the Alliance forces, but ZAFT's squadrons along with Duo, Trowa and Quatre seemed to have that end covered quite nicely.

One of the other machines from Heero's faction, then, he thought as he twisted and weaved through the chaotic brawl, but which one?

He could immediately rule out the two that had come from the east. The lead unit was clearly designed in a similar manner to the Gundam Albion, and it was far too fast for Heine to have a hope of catching. More to the point, he'd seen that crimson devil in combat before; rumor had it that none other than the Valkyrie was at the controls of that machine, and Heine was inclined to believe it. As for the second machine, while it did appear to be slower than the crimson demon it was covering, it wasn't by all that much. It still appeared more than capable of outrunning and outmaneuvering the GOUF Ignited, and if Heine did try to take it head on the machine also had those damn shield drones to block his fire and give the enemy pilot a perfect window to counter. Up close, the GOUF Ignited's unique weapons might give Heine an edge, but the blue and white machine's sheer speed meant that all his opponent would have to do was catch him in a few good hit-and-run attacks and Heine would be toast.

That left the Freedom and the strange blue mobile suit behind it. The latter was clearly a dedicated long-range support unit, so if Heine could close the distance he'd have the upper hand against it. However, he'd still have to get past the Freedom in order to do it. Could he manage that? In a fight as confusing as this one, possibly.

He took one last glance at the Gundam Albion, which had whirled around to deflect a thrust from Altron Custom's double-ended beam trident. Wufei had finally caught up to Heero and was in a position to trade blows with him again, but it was clear that the Demon Lord of Avalon wasn't interested in a duel. After blocking Wufei's attack, Heero's only counter was to plug a salvo from his railguns into Altron Custom's torso, a move which did no damage other than maybe scratch the paint a bit but did rattle the Gundam just enough to give him a chance to break off again. Wufei immediately accelerated and was hot on Heero's heels in short order, but Heine fully expected the pattern to repeat again in short order; a brief exchange, and then back to the chase.

He's baiting him, Heine thought, or something similar to it. He knows he has Wufei's undivided attention, but he isn't trying to eliminate him as a threat. Instead, he seems content to lead him on a merry chase. To what end, though?

Heine shook his head. It didn't matter; Wufei had made it quite clear earlier that he was in no mood to cooperate with either Heine or Athrun in taking on Heero. The Gundam pilot would continue his single-minded pursuit of the Albion, and both units were far too fast for the GOUF Ignited to keep pace with. Heine's move was quite clear, and he adjusted his course accordingly. Still ducking and weaving through a blizzard of shells, missiles and particle beams, he made his way west.

Shredding a Dagger-L with a hail of emerald bolts from one of his machine's Draupnir 4-barrel Beam Guns, his eyes narrowed as target lock alarms started going off. Bringing the GOUF Ignited's shield forward, Heine grit his teeth as his mobile suit shook around him. He'd taken both a particle beam and a railgun slug on the shield, but he'd gotten lucky; a nearby BABI and a DINN had been the other targets of this particular salvo, and both had lost their heads and primary weapons. Taking a deep breath, Heine knew that he had no choice now. He gunned his engines and made sure to keep his shield in front of him.

If he wanted the blue machine, he'd have to go through the Freedom.

….

"This guy can't be serious…" Kira muttered as he saw the orange mobile suit charging straight at him.

It was hard to believe, but Kira's eyes didn't deceive him; the GOUF Ignited was beelining at him head-on. Thanks to the information that Heero had provided Terminal regarding the mobile suits and pilots aboard the Minerva, Kira knew the identity of the FAITH operative that he was about to fight and what his machine was capable of, so he at least had vital foreknowledge in his corner. Still, Heero hadn't said all that much about who Heine was as a person, so Kira couldn't take anything for granted here. The ZAFT pilot had already proven himself skilled enough to protect himself from the Freedom's salvo without getting his machine disabled; Kira would have to take this opponent seriously, regardless of the gap between their respective mobile suits.

Igniting one of his beam sabers, Heero gunned his engines, determined to meet the GOUF half-way and disrupt its charge. The orange machine had its sword at the ready, but that wasn't the weapon Kira needed to worry about. He saw a whip unfurl from the unit's left forearm, and Kira knew that there was another tucked away in the right. Kira would have to be wary of the Heat Rods; he knew from watching the Epyon Revenant just how deadly that kind of weapon could be.

Sure enough, the orange mobile suit met Kira's countercharge with a sudden swing of its left arm and the Slayer Whip Heat Rod attached to it. The Freedom's pilot was ready for it, though, instantly diving to avoid the swing before immediately pulling back up and closing the rest of the distance. The GOUF was forced to block Kira's saber strike with its sword, but before he could press his attack he saw the machine raise its left arm. This time, it wasn't the whip that Kira had to watch out for, and he was only barely able to pull back and raise the Freedom's shield in order to block a volley of small emerald particle beams from the GOUF's 4-barrel cannon mounted on that arm.

He has good instincts, thought Kira as he pushed his mobile suit forward, slamming into the GOUF with the Freedom's shield, and his mobile suit is higher spec than ZAFT's mainline units. If that thing goes into mass production, it's going to cause problems for us down the road.

Snapping off a quick salvo with his plasma cannons and beam rifle, Kira saw the GOUF dodge the crimson lances of energy while taking the particle beam on its shield. Kira took a follow-up shot with his railguns, but the GOUF blocked those with its shield as well while simultaneously charging him. Realizing that the ZAFT pilot meant to copy Kira's early move, he hit the Freedom's maneuvering thrusters and juked his machine to the right, neatly sliding past the GOUF. Kira then counterattacked with a slash aimed at taking out the orange machine's left arm, but the FAITH operative was able to block the strike with his beam sword.

A voice came over his cockpit speakers, and Kira knew that it was his opponent. "My machine might not be as powerful as yours, but ZAFT has plenty of combat data stored up showing how you fight. You won't be able to disable me so easily, Kira Yamato."

Kira's eyes narrowed as he deflected a strike from the GOUF's sword. "It's Heine, right? ZAFT Red and FAITH operative?"

"Ah, I see Heero wasted no time in sharing intel on us with his curious group of friends," Heine replied as he lashed out with one of his Heat Rods, forcing Kira to back off and block the whip with his shield, "Then again, that was to be expected. He was at least honest with regards to the nature of his temporary partnership with ZAFT. I suppose I should thank him; most spies aren't so straightforward."

"Heero wasn't a spy," Kira argued as he attempted to snipe the GOUF's head with his rifle, only for the orange machine to block the shot with its shield, "As you said, he was up front about only working with ZAFT temporarily. Even so, he still helped you out against the Alliance, and the Minerva would've been destroyed without him. Doesn't he deserve a bit better than crude labels?"

"He hardly strikes me as the type to care about what others call him," Heine countered as he returned fire with a hail of small green bolts of energy which Kira narrowly evaded, "It's all irrelevant in any case. I'm just surprised he stuck with us for as long as he did, and that he managed to take both our prisoner and a promising pilot with him when he finally fled. Tell me, how are Shinn and Stella doing? Is the girl even still alive?"

"She is," Kira answered firmly as he charged forward and hammered at his foe with his beam saber, "and we're going to keep her safe from the Alliance and ZAFT!"

"Bold words," Heine shot back as he blocked Kira's strikes before lashing out with his whip again, forcing Kira to gun his engines and ascend to avoid the attack, "You do understand that, as of tonight, you and your friends are now at war with both of the world's major powers, yes? The odds aren't exactly in your favor."

"We did just fine against worse odds in the last war," Kira pointed out as he unleashed a rain of fire on the orange mobile suit, "and we'll do it again in this one!"

With the entirety of the Freedom's artillery concentrated against a single target, Heine wasn't able to come out unscathed this time. While he managed to weather the worst of the barrage thanks to the GOUF's maneuverability and shield, one of the crimson plasma beams hit the machine's right wing at the mounting and blew it clean off. The mobile suit was still able to stay airborne, but its stability was compromised, which was all the advantage that Kira needed.

"Back down," Kira warned.

Heine all but spat out his retort. "Or what, you'll kill me? Given your reputation, that's a rather poor bluff."

"Maybe," said Kira as he put his rifle away and drew a second saber, "but I can still make this hurt!"

He let fly with a salvo from his railguns and plasma cannons before charging in. With its maneuverability hampered by the loss of one of its wings, the GOUF wasn't able to completely avoid the barrage. While Heine managed to block one of the plasma beams on his mobile suit's shield and dodge the other, the two railgun slugs struck home, with one blowing off the orange machine's left leg at the knee while the other went through the unit's right arm just below the shoulder and destroyed it. Now lacking its sword and having only its shield to protect it at close range, the GOUF was an easy target, and Kira wasted no time in ripping it apart. Both beam sabers flashed, with the right one cleaving the mobile suit's head right off while the other cut through the left wing and shoulder, severing both wing and limb. Defenseless and now no longer able to fly, the machine plummeted to the ground. Much to Heine's credit, the mobile suit actually managed to briefly land on its right leg upright, but without the other leg to balance it the machine swiftly fell onto its side.

"If you know what's good for you, stay down," said Kira.

Gunning his engines and putting the left saber away, he drew his beam rifle again and dived right back into the fray.

….

Zigzagging mere meters over the ground, Heero shredded a battery of surface-to-air missile launchers on ZAFT's side of the battlefield with his machine cannons before banking right and angling for the Alliance's defensive line. Lining up a shot with his railguns, he let loose with a salvo that destroyed an anti-air gun emplacement. Rather than head back towards ZAFT's defensive line, Heero instead took Wing Zero Albion into a steep climb. As ever, Wufei remained glued to his tail, and he was getting close enough that Heero knew another clash was inevitable.

Breaching the clouds, he whirled his mobile suit around and crossed his two emerald blades in front of him as Wufei thrust his beam trident forward. The L5 native then swung the other end of the weapon around, forcing Heero to fall back as he deflected the follow-up attack. Heero then had to dive in order to avoid Altron Custom's Dragon Fang, and as the green Gundam's unusual weapons were pulled back to their source he charged in for his counterattack. Angling high with one saber and low with another, he forced Wufei to pull his double-ended beam trident in close and hold it diagonal across his Gundam's front in order to block both strikes. With his opponent momentarily on the defensive, Heero pressed his attack, driving Wufei back with a series of quick and powerful slashes.

"I thought you weren't going to play by my rules," Wufei taunted as he countered with a broad swing that forced Heero to back off and cede the initiative.

You're not leaving me much of a choice, Heero thought through gritted teeth, but at least I shouldn't have to put up with this for too much longer.

All the while he'd been wreaking havoc across the battlefield and trying to stay one step ahead of Wufei, Heero had kept a careful eye on the spaceport. Sure enough, a cargo shuttle had taxied over to the mass driver and was undergoing final launch preparations; Lacus, Andrew and Aisha were on schedule. All Heero and the others had to do was stall for a little bit longer and their mission would be complete.

Deflecting the swirling cyclone that Wufei's double-ended beam trident had become, Heero took a quick glance at his sensors to assess the overall situation. Duo, Trowa and Quatre were still focusing exclusively on the Earth Alliance forces, keeping them away from Heero and giving him some much-needed breathing room while at the same time fighting in a manner that preserved their ability to return to the Minerva while claiming that they were still upholding their partnership with ZAFT. Heero knew that the events of tonight would surely make it more difficult for them to continue operating with ZAFT; even if the three of them hadn't shot down any ZAFT mobile suits, the fact that they'd only engaged Alliance machines while conspicuously ignoring Heero and the other Terminal pilots would certainly be noted. In all likelihood, the temporary alliance between them and ZAFT would be on its last legs or close to it after this fight. Heero would have to trust that his friends could figure out when it was time to cut bait and run.

If nothing else, the trio was certainly putting on an impressive show. Duo and Quatre were up front, and between broad sweeps from the God of Death's beam scythe and swift slashes from the Desert Prince's Heat Shotels, there was a near constant rain of Windam and Dagger-L parts falling to the ground beneath them. Meanwhile, a veritable storm of shells, missiles and particle beams coming from Heavyarms Arsenal was shredding any Alliance machines that attempted to flank Deathscythe Omega and Sandrock Saladin. It was frankly amazing that any Alliance pilots were brave enough to go near them at this point, and it was testament to just how desperate the enemy had become over the course of the war to eliminate even a single Gundam. They'd had no luck so far, and tonight's clash was proving to be no different.

Meanwhile, Heero hadn't failed to notice that Kira had removed Heine from the equation. Of course, it was only temporary; true to form, the Freedom's pilot had disabled his opponent rather than go for a lethal blow. Still, with how badly the GOUF Ignited had been mauled by the Freedom, the FAITH operative was definitely out of the fight, and it was always good when an enemy ace left the field. Kira had gone back to unleashing salvos from the Freedom's formidable array of artillery against both Alliance and ZAFT machines, and he seemed particularly focused on clearing out the space around the duel between Athrun and Yzak. Periodic blasts of yellow energy from the Vayeate Kai would join Kira's barrages in ripping through the assorted hostile mobile suits, although in Dearka's case his shots were far more lethal. That was to be expected, of course; his machine's primary weapon was very powerful, but it wasn't meant for the incredibly precise shooting that could be performed by the Freedom.

The combined firepower of the Freedom and the Vayeate Kai was proving invaluable for Yzak as he kept Athrun busy. While Heero knew that the former ZAFT Red was a skilled pilot, in terms of ability and technique he did consider Athrun to be the superior soldier, although the margin had grown thin since the end of the last war. After joining Terminal, Yzak had redoubled his training, and when combined with the unique armaments and equipment of the Mercurius Kai those efforts were allowing him to go toe-to-toe with one of the world's deadliest pilots. The defensive nature of his mobile suit was well-suited to playing for time, and that was all the current mission required. Between the streaks of yellow from his beam saber strikes, precise fire from his rifle, and the cover provided by the Planet Defensors orbiting his Gundam, Yzak was proving himself to be a tenacious opponent for Athrun. Of course, Heero didn't think that either pilot was truly fighting with the intent to kill, and Athrun clearly hadn't entered what Terminal had colloquially termed 'Seed Mode' based on how he was currently flying. It would be best if the mission ended before something happened to change that.

At least Heero wouldn't have to worry about any further threats to his rear; the Valkyrie and the Hawk of Endymion were seeing to that. The Gundam Epyon Revenant ripped through the night sky like the crimson devil it was, its broad beam sword and curling Heat Rod leaving a trail of shattered and shredded mobile suits in its wake, Alliance and ZAFT alike. Right behind it was the Tallgeese Kai, letting loose with volleys of precise particle beams that punctured the torso of any machine unfortunate enough to find itself on the wrong end of its rifle and occasionally cutting down the few mobile suits that dared try to challenge it in close-quarters-combat. Between Shemei and La Flaga's support, Heero could take comfort in knowing that his back was secure; the only reason they hadn't knocked Wufei off of his tail earlier was because they'd been too busy tearing through the ranks of the Alliance and ZAFT squadrons to take a shot at the L5 native before Altron Custom could close the distance with Wing Zero Albion.

As he continued to block swings and thrusts from Wufei, Heero wondered what Durandal would make of it all when he inevitably learned of the battle. Their cold war had unmistakably gone hot now, and a reprisal would surely be in the offing. What resources would the Supreme Council Chairman devote to hunting down Terminal once the dust settled? ZAFT's recent victories in the Mediteranean and North Africa had given it momentum, but opening a second front through confronting Terminal would divert key ships and troops from the main front. That could give the Alliance an opening for a counteroffensive, and ZAFT only had two major frontline bases in Europe. If Eric Bristow's reports about the incoming Atlantic Federation divisions were accurate, any losses suffered by the Alliance in the European theater would soon be replenished and then some. By contrast, ZAFT had much more significant logistical hurdles to overcome when it came to moving reinforcements from their home turf to the front lines, which meant that any casualties they suffered here would hurt them much more than any that had been inflicted upon the Alliance. Would tonight's diversionary battle unwittingly serve as a tipping point in the current balance of power?

Heero shook his head as he parried a thrust from Wufei with his left beam saber before counterattacking with the right. Thoughts of grand strategy had their place, but a duel with an old friend wasn't it. Distraction was deadly in any battle, and that was doubly so when said battle was against a fellow Gundam pilot.

The others are contending with the bulk of the enemy forces now, he told himself as he unleashed a ferocious series of slashes with his twin blades and drove Wufei back, Your purpose for the time being is to keep Wufei's attention on you. He already knows that you have another purpose here, but he's contenting himself with fighting you rather than thwarting your true objective. Might as well play along. After all…

...it'll only be for a little while longer.

….

You've gotten better since the last time we faced off in the simulators, thought Athrun as he deflected a slash from the Mercurius Kai's yellow beam saber, I wish this was just another training match rather than the real thing. Yzak…

The duel between them was a stalemate, and Athrun was pretty sure that Yzak wanted exactly that. ZAFT's engineers and scientists had done a remarkable job with the Saviour, but the Mercurius Kai's unique capabilities played well against the strengths of the prototype that had been given to Athrun. The Saviour had been designed as a fast attack mobile suit, and it was suitably both faster and more heavily armed than Yzak's machine. However, the ten Planet Defensors of the Mercurius Kai allowed Yzak to expertly reduce the amount of vectors that Athrun could attack from, and the former ZAFT pilot was employing them in a manner that basically forced the FAITH operative to fight him head-on. He had certainly tried to outmaneuver his old friend, but each time he set himself up for a flanking shot his volley of particle beams would be stopped cold by the crackling energy shield generated by the Gundam's Planet Defensors. Then Yzak would counterattack, letting fly with a burst of fire from his rifle before charging in and driving Athrun back with his beam saber.

For all intents and purposes, they were evenly matched. As yellow and violet beam sabers clashed, Athrun felt a strange mixture of both pride and regret. While he hadn't exactly gone out of his way in the past to encourage Yzak's sense of rivalry with him, at the same time he had learned to accept it if it meant that Yzak's skills would continue to improve as a result. The duel between them now was certainly demonstrating that, and under other circumstances Athrun might've smiled and complimented his friend. Of course, given that they were now clashing in very real and deadly combat, such sentiments were hardly appropriate for the situation.

There had been no further communication between the two of them; it was their mobile suits and piloting skills that would do the talking from here on out. Beam sabers clashed again and again as the two crimson machines came together, and bursts of emerald flashed between them whenever they broke off. The battle unfolding around them was all but an afterthought to Athrun, although he was still keeping an eye out just in case anyone tried to sneak in a shot at him.

Gunning his engines, he took the Saviour into a sharp dive. Moving below the Mercurius Kai, Athrun snapped off a quick volley with his rifle, only for Yzak to casually block the shots with his shield drones. As the Planet Defensors protected him, he was able to get Athrun back into his crosshairs and returned fire, but the Saviour was already on the move. The pattern would continue, with Athrun getting into a position where he could attack from what appeared to be an exposed flank, only for his opponent to maneuver his shield drones into position in time to block his shots before reorienting his machine for the inevitable counterattack. It was a dance that favored Yzak over Athrun; the Mercurius Kai was powered by a nuclear reactor, after all, while the Saviour was still very much running off of more conventional batteries. Athrun's energy reserves were not seriously depleted just yet, but a prolonged battle against a single opponent like this was still burning through power that he could've been using elsewhere. If need be, he could always break off for a Deuterion beam recharge from the Minerva, and he was pretty sure that Yzak would let him do so. Of course, any nearby Alliance pilots likely wouldn't be so accommodating.

He suddenly heard Rey's voice come over his cockpit speakers. "Athrun, break right on my mark. I'll get you an opening."

Checking his sensors, he saw the white Blaze ZAKU Phantom on the ground not too far from his current position. Athrun didn't know what Rey had planned, but seeing as he didn't really have a plan of his own, he would play along with the ZAFT Red.

Rey spoke again just a moment later. "Mark."

Athrun banked the Saviour sharply to the right as Rey had requested, and a flurry of warheads ripped forth from the Blaze ZAKU Phantom's AGM138 Firebee Missile Launchers. Yzak was able to shoot one down with his rifle and a couple more with the Mercurius Kai's head-mounted Igelstellung 75mm CIWS, but he had to block the rest by shifting the deployment of his mobile suit's Planet Defensors. For a moment, Athrun wondered what the point of Rey's barrage had been, but then his eyes caught a glimpse of a gap in the coverage of Yzak's shield drones; the back of his machine was exposed. As Rey followed up the missile salvo with a volley of particle beams from his rifle to keep Yzak focused on him, Athrun darted around the flank and set himself up behind his old friend. He had a clear shot at the back of the Mercurius Kai's torso…

...one that could potentially kill Yzak.

Athrun hesitated. With most mobile suits of the Cosmic Era, a particle beam hit in the dead-center of the unit would be fatal. The Mercurius Kai, however, was a possible exception in that it was a 'true' Gundam as defined by the world that Heero was from: its frame was made of Gundanium alloy. The incredible material was highly heat-resistant, but even it wasn't completely impervious to beam weaponry. Athrun had the back of Yzak's Gundam at point-blank-range; there was no guarantee that a shot from the Saviour's rifle wouldn't be fatal.

What were the odds? The numbers raced through Athrun's mind in that split second, and he had no satisfactory answer. Could he risk the shot? Should he risk it?

He had to make a choice.

A choice straight out of his worst nightmares.

And that was when a railgun slug made the choice for Athrun by piercing the Saviour's beam rifle and destroying the weapon in the mobile suit's hand. Athrun whirled his machine around to face the source, but at the same time, there was no real need for him to do so. There was only one pilot in all of the Cosmic Era who shot like that, after all, and Athrun knew full well just who it was. Sure enough, he was the one racing towards him.

Kira Yamato.

….

I can't believe it, thought Kira as he rushed towards the Saviour, the scene from just a moment ago playing out in his mind again, Athrun… were you really going to do it? Were you actually going to take that shot?

There was a time when Kira would've firmly believed that his old friend wouldn't, but much had changed since the start of the Second Bloody Valentine War. While it was true that Athrun had hesitated and that moment of indecision had given Kira the chance he'd needed to destroy the Saviour's rifle, what if he hadn't been able to intervene? If Kira had been just a second slower on the draw, would Athrun have pulled the trigger then? If he had, would the shot have only damaged the Mercurius Kai, or would it have actually killed Yzak? Had Athrun seriously been about to make that throw of the dice, knowing full well that it might mean killing a friend?

What disturbed Kira more than anything else was that he couldn't answer those questions. It was as if the Athrun he and his friends in Terminal had once known was slipping away. A strange mental image flashed through Kira's mind; that of Athrun standing between him and Chairman Durandal, with a series of chains wrapped around the Saviour's pilot and slowly pulling him towards the leader of the PLANTs. The longer Athrun remained with ZAFT, the stronger that pull would become…

...until he lost his friend forever.

Was there a way to stop it? Kira didn't know, but he had to try. At the very least, he had to make sure that Athrun didn't get the chance to turn the Saviour against anyone else from Terminal. So, with a heavy heart, he set his sights on the crimson mobile suit and opened fire.

Crimson streams of plasma, yellow railgun slugs, and emerald particle beams raced through the air, all aimed at a single mobile suit. A normal pilot would've found their machine's arms, legs and head blown clean off by the barrage, but Athrun was far from a normal pilot. The Saviour might not have been the Justice, but it was still fast enough for Athrun to dodge most of Kira's barrage and block what he couldn't evade with the mobile suit's shield.

As Kira closed the distance with Athrun, he contacted the Mercurius Kai. "Yzak, I'll deal with Athrun. Cover me!"

"Understood," Yzak replied.

The Mercurius Kai was still angled towards the white Blaze ZAKU Phantom that had unleashed the missile barrage at it earlier, and that machine had since been joined by a crimson Gunner ZAKU Warrior. Yzak was trading fire with the two mobile suits, and while neither ZAFT machine could pierce the shield formed by the Mercurius Kai's Planet Defensors, the Terminal pilot wasn't having much luck in landing hits on either ZAFT unit with his return fire. While both ZAFT machines weren't capable of atmospheric flight and therefore couldn't match Yzak's unit for speed or maneuverability, their pilots were still skilled enough to stay on the move as much as they could. They'd take shots at Yzak before immediately rushing for a new position, blocking any return fire from the Mercurius Kai's beam rifle with their shields. Kira recognized the paintjobs from both machines; they were units from the Minerva according to the intel provided by Heero. He would have to trust that Yzak could keep them both occupied while he took on Athrun.

Meanwhile, another blast of golden-yellow light tore through the sky, ripping apart two Windams and a BABI. Kira didn't have to look to know that the shot had come from the Vayeate Kai. While Yzak was keeping the machines on the ground busy, Dearka was still blasting away at any airborne mobile suits that tried to get close to Kira. A few ZAFT and Alliance machines were attempting to stop him, but none of them could close the distance, instead only managing to get themselves picked off by the two railguns mounted on the blue Gundam's hips. Between Dearka and Yzak, Kira's back was secure, and he could fully concentrate on challenging Athrun.

Although he wasn't holding out hope of changing his friend's mind, Kira still opened a channel with the Saviour. "Athrun, we don't have to do this."

"Then retreat, Kira," Athrun shot back as the Saviour held its beam saber across its torso in a guard position, "This entire battle is pointless, anyway. I thought Terminal didn't pick unnecessary fights. What are you all hoping to accomplish here?"

Kira shook his head. "If you had stayed with us, then you'd already know. This battle's far from pointless, Athrun, though it's also turning out to be far more destructive than we'd wanted."

"Then withdraw!" Athrun shouted, "Enough people have already died tonight, haven't they? If destruction and death isn't what you're here for, then leave before even more soldiers lose their lives! Isn't that why Terminal's supposed to be fighting in this war; to save people? How does this battle further your cause?"

"Someday, you might find out," Kira replied calmly as he charged his old friend, his eyes narrowing in grim resolve, "Someday…"

"...but not today."

….

Despite fully expecting the impact and bracing for, Athrun still found himself jarred by the sheer power behind the Freedom's opening beam saber strike. While he was able to block the blow with his own violet blade, he still felt the Saviour shudder around him. The Freedom might have been a couple of years older than the Saviour, but having the newer mobile suit most certainly did not give Athrun the advantage here. His machine had been designed to adhere to the limitations of the Treaty of Junius severn, after all, while Kira's had been built before the treaty had even been conceived.

Of course, the shudder wasn't just coming from his mobile suit; there were chills going down Athrun's spine as he fell back under Kira's opening assault, and these were completely unrelated to the powerful strikes of the mobile suit attacking him. Athrun had trained against Kira in simulator matches over the past two years, but the last time the two of them had fought against each other using actual mobile suits was during the First Bloody Valentine War…

...and they'd fully intended to kill each other back then.

This isn't like back then, Athrun silently told himself as he blocked an overhead strike from the Freedom, I'm not trying to kill Kira here, and he's not trying to kill me.

That didn't mean much, though. Intent only went so far, and anything could happen in the heat of combat. Both pilots were skilled enough to duel each other without aiming for a lethal blow, but there was still the larger battle raging around them; the other ZAFT pilots or those flying for the Alliance weren't going by the same playbook as Athrun and Kira. Grimacing as he parried another slash from Kira before counterattacking, Athrun could only hope that they'd be able to fight without outside interference.

His beam rifle might've been destroyed, but Athrun wasn't without options for ranged combat. As he fell back after deflecting a slash from Kira's violet blade, he let fly with a salvo from the two Super Fortis beam cannons that were mounted in the Saviour's 'backpack' above the heavier plasma cannons. Kira took both beams on the Freedom's shield before returning fire with his mobile suit's much more impressive array of artillery. Athrun focused on evading the twin crimson plasma lances outright while either blocking the railgun rounds with his shield or tanking them on his Variable Phase Shift Armor. The heavy kinetic impacts of the slugs drained valuable energy, though, and Athrun knew that he couldn't rely on the Saviour's advanced protection forever.

The two mobile suits charged each other, and once again their violet beam sabers clashed. Close-quarters-combat had always been Athrun's game, and keeping himself right up in Kira's face as much as he could would be the best way to negate the firepower advantage held by his opponent. Of course, just because Kira favored the Freedom's artillery didn't mean that he was a slouch when it came to melee combat, and he certainly wasn't making things easy for Athrun now. Each pilot exchanged strike and counterattack in rapid succession, with the almost constant flaring of sparks from their beam sabers meeting becoming so intense as to nearly blind the cameras of their mobile suits.

For the moment, the two combatants appeared almost evenly matched. Kira hadn't landed a single meaningful hit on Athrun apart from destroying the Saviour's rifle earlier, and the FAITH operative was more than holding his own. However, there was an uncomfortable thought gnawing at the back of Athrun's mind. Neither pilot had yet to call upon their trump card.

Seed Mode.

Both could do it, and in fact they'd trained since the end of the last war in order to call upon that heightened state of mind and reflex at will. The clarity and focus that came with the sheer rush of adrenaline and berserker fury was more potent than any mobile suit weapon, but if Athrun or Kira took that step then they'd be taking the gloves off and giving themselves over to an instinct that might override their current caution. Perhaps Kira could still fight and avoid lethal blows when he was in that heightened state, but could Athrun?

He didn't know.

Would tonight be the night he found out? What if he tried it and went too far? What if he did the unthinkable, what he'd thought he'd done during the First Bloody Valentine War? Could he live with himself if he accidentally took his best friend's life?

Was he willing to take that risk?

Athrun didn't know.

And he didn't want to find out.

….

Lunamaria groaned in frustration as she saw yet another one of her shots dissipate against the barrier surrounding her target. "That's it, I'm calling hacks here! This guy's shield is bullshit!"

"What are you going to do?" Rey asked dryly, "Message the admins and report him for cheating?"

"I wish," Lunamaria grumbled as she blocked return fire from the strange red machine on her ZAKU's shield.

She could appreciate a challenging target, but there was a difference between that and one that could simply shrug off her attacks without any noticeable impact, and her current foe was definitely the latter. The Gunner ZAKU Warrior's Orthos beam cannon had been designed as anti-ship artillery, yet the mobile suit that she and Rey were trying to take out was tanking blasts from it as if the weapon was little more than a paintball gun. What pissed Lunamaria off even more was that whoever was piloting that machine clearly considered her and Rey to be secondary threats at the most since the bulk of the mystery mobile suit's fire was actually focused on airborne opponents. The enemy would only occasionally snap off a few shots at them just to keep them honest, but for the most part they seemed content to let their shields deal with Lunamaria and Rey's attacks.

"Nuclear powered mobile suits are OP," she muttered, "Please nerf."

"I don't think Gibraltar Control would appreciate gamer-style chat on the tactical channel," Rey noted.

Lunamaria rolled her eyes as she took another shot at the strange red mobile suit, only for it to dodge this time instead of blocking the attack. "Fine. I swear, did you go out of your way to memorize the regulatory books from the academy? You must've been the only recruit to even bother reading them!"

"They have their uses," Rey replied as he fired off a volley with his beam rifle before immediately hitting his thrusters to evade return fire from their opponent, "although not many that would apply to this particular scenario."

"I don't know," said Lunamaria with a smirk as she tried to get a lock on her target, "Those things were so thick that they'd probably qualify as anti-vehicle shells. We could try loading a bunch of those into a cannon and yeeting them at the enemy. There've been stranger weapons ideas, right?"

"I'm sure," Rey quipped.

Taking another shot, Lunamaria gritted her teeth as she saw the crimson beam splash against the barrier created by the red mobile suit's drones and did no damage whatsoever. At this point, she was half-serious about attempting to shoot the thick tomes that contained ZAFT's regulations at the enemy; if a gun designed to take out entire warships wasn't doing the job, she was open to trying something new. If nothing else, she could at least have the satisfaction of seeing those dull books fly through the air and getting torn to pieces, and she could definitely use a good laugh right about now.

The truth of the matter was that Lunamaria's frustration was only partially rooted in her lack of success against the strange crimson mobile suit in front of her. Whenever she got the chance, she'd glance at her sensors and adjust her mobile suit's cameras so she could catch a glimpse of the duel between the Gundam Albion and the Altron Custom. Heero had broken off from Wufei earlier, but he'd apparently grown tired of having his fellow Gundam pilot nipping at his heels. Now the two powerful mobile suits were going at it head-to-head again, and it was a clash unlike anything Lunamaria had ever seen before.

From her position down on the ground, the two Gundams were barely more than trails of blue-white light with a little bit of green thrown in; they were moving so fast that she could only really catch the flare from their engines and the glow of their respective melee weapons. The two machines would meet for a brief but furious exchange of blows, then break off and reposition for another go. Between his twin Dragon Fangs and double-ended beam trident, Wufei had the advantage in reach, but Heero's pair of beam sabers were more versatile once he was able to close the gap. Brilliant pulses of light would flare up as their weapons met, and Lunamaria could only marvel at the fact that both Gundam pilots still appeared to be going at it with no less ferocity than they had earlier. Did they ever tire? She wished she had even half the stamina that they did.

The ground around her shuddered from the impact of several rockets, jolting Lunamaria back to her particular part of the battle. The warheads hadn't come from the red mobile suit she and Rey were trying to take down; a trio of Windams with Jet Striker Packs equipped were the source. The two ZAFT pilots immediately shifted their focus, with Lunamaria blasting apart the lead machine with her cannon while Rey picked off the other two with a quick volley from his rifle.

"Heads up," said Rey, "We've got another flight coming in from two o'clock."

Lunamaria nodded, already adjusting her aim. "I see them. Still got a few seconds left before I can shoot again, though."

"I'll lead, then," Rey replied.

He let fly with another volley from his rifle, piercing a Dagger-L through the cockpit with one shot and clipping the left wing of a Jet Striker Windam with another. Checking her gauge, Lunamaria saw that her weapon was ready for another shot, and she cut loose. The blast of energy that she unleashed destroyed the Windam Rey had damaged earlier, and another particle beam from her comrade destroyed a second Dagger-L. A volley of anti-air missiles from a nearby surface emplacement was enough to make the survivors break ranks and gave Lunamaria and Rey a bit of breathing room.

Checking her sensors, she saw that the red machine from earlier was moving on. It seemed to be focused primarily on keeping anyone from interfering in the ongoing duel between the Freedom and the Saviour. The sky lit up with a blast of yellow energy, and Lunamaria saw that the source was the blue mobile suit with the very large gun hanging back at the western edge of the fray. A DINN and a BABI were destroyed outright by the shot, while a Dagger-L caught the edge of the blast and had its right arm destroyed.

"What do you want to do, Rey?" she asked, "Try our luck with the red machine again, or switch gears and go after the blue one?"

"Neither," Rey replied wearily, "Both are beyond our current capabilities, so we shouldn't waste our time with them. Let's just focus on fending off any further reinforcements from the Alliance. Those, at least, we know we can take."

Lunamaria sighed; she didn't like throwing in the towel just because one target was particularly challenging, but Rey had a valid point. "Okay, then. Get their attention, and I'll smack them down."

She watched as Rey hit his thrusters and his white Blaze ZAKU Phantom leaped into the air. It would only be able to stay afloat for a few seconds before gravity forced it to descend, but it would be enough to draw in some Windams tempted by the prospect of an easy kill. Lunamaria would be waiting for them, and would make them pay for their greed.

"I never really got into fishing," she muttered as she sighted in on an approaching flight of hostile mobile suits, "but then again, I never got to bait my line with a mobile suit before. First time for everything, right?"

"I'm not exactly a helpless worm on your hook," Rey quipped as he fired off a couple shots with his rifle, hitting one Windam in the right knee and another on the left shoulder.

"I know," said Lunamaria as she locked onto her target, "By the way, you might want to duck."

Rey killed his thrusters and let his mobile suit fall, and as soon as it dropped Lunamaria opened fire. A crimson lance of energy blasted forth from her cannon, outright destroying the lead Windam and forcing its companions to scatter. Rey immediately hit his thrusters again to stall his descent, and a few well-placed rifle shots took down two more Alliance machines.

"Not bad," she said as Rey resumed his descent, "Want to do it again?"

"Let's change position first," Rey replied, "Otherwise, the enemy's going to catch on."

Lunamaria nodded. "All right, you lead. I've got your back."

….

"All right," Andrew muttered as he checked the shuttle's console, "We're locked in."

"Got our passengers strapped in nice and tight," said Aisha as she settled into the copilot's seat, "The Gaia's firmly secured, too. I'll take care of the tracking beacons once we hit orbit; it'd tip them off if we disabled them while we're still on the ground. How'd things go with Gibraltar Control?"

The Desert Tiger grinned. "Eric's contact did their job perfectly. They bought the alias and cover story without hesitation."

"How soon until we're away?" asked Lacus as she strapped herself into the sensor and communications officer's seat behind Andrew.

"Gibraltar's crews are making final adjustments to the mass driver," Andrew replied, "We should be getting confirmation from Control any…"

A chime on the console beat him to the punch, and a male voice came over the cockpit speaker. "Shuttle Sierra-55, this is Gibraltar Control. Final mass driver calibrations complete. T-minus thirty to launch. Safe travels."

"Copy that, Control," said Andrew as a countdown timer appeared on one of the small screens built into the console, "Sierra-55, out."

"Show time, then," said Aisha.

"Looks like it," Andrew confirmed as he checked the engine status display, "Hold on to your dinners, people!"

"No concerns there," said Lacus with a smile, "I was so nervous that I couldn't eat before the mission."

Aisha rolled her eyes. "I told you to eat something!"

"Sorry," Lacus sheepishly muttered.

"You're grabbing a snack once we hit orbit," Andrew ordered, "No meal skipping on my watch."

Lacus gave him a cheeky mock salute. "Yes, sir!"

"In the meantime, brace yourself," said Aisha as she nodded at the console, "We're T-minus ten… nine…"

Andrew's grip tightened on the controls as they entered the final stage of the countdown. Taking one last glance out the window, he could catch just a glimpse of the crazy firefight raging along Gibraltar's northern defensive line. They'd needed a big distraction to pull off this heist, and Heero had delivered in spades. Of course, the reinforcements from the Archangel and Dominion hadn't hurt, either.

Surface operations are in their hands, now, he thought, Eric, Murrue, Natarle; command's yours. Good luck, my friends. We'll meet again soon enough.

There was just five seconds left until launch.

Four...

Three...

Two...

One…

Then all three of them found themselves slammed back into their seats as the shuttle rocketed down the mass driver. As they accelerated at blinding speed, an oddly childish thought went through the Desert Tiger's mind.

Roller coasters have nothing on this!

As the shuttle blasted off into the night sky, Andrew Waltfeld was grinning from ear to ear.

….

As soon as she saw the shuttle clear the mass driver, Adaline began a countdown of her own. The timing here would be crucial; act too quickly, and ZAFT would likely realize just what the whole battle had really been about. Act too late, and the diversionary team might get swarmed as they tried to retreat. It was a delicate tightrope to walk, but Adaline hadn't come this far to fail now.

"Come on, you piece of junk," she hissed at the rapidly shrinking shuttle, "Haul ass like your life depends on it so we can go home!"

Her Wraith was still cloaked, as were those piloted by Lan and Priscilla. It was times like these that she was thankful for the combination of nuclear power and the Mirage Colloid system; stealth for as long as she needed it was a very nice thing to have. Hitting her thrusters, she took her machine airborne. There was no signal from Lan or Priscilla, but Adaline trusted them to follow the plan without actively communicating with them. That was why the three of them had continued to use the Wraiths ever since the First Bloody Valentine War. Operating in stealth required more than just cunning, patience, and incredibly advanced technology. One had to have faith in their comrades and believe with all of their heart that they would act according to the mission plan, and one had to understand their comrades well enough to recognize when a situation had changed to the point that they might take different actions.

The only thing that had changed from the original plan had been Heero calling for reinforcements, and even that had been anticipated and a proper contingency scheme was appropriately developed for it. Apart from that deviation, they were still on script, which meant that Lan and Priscilla were certainly moving with Adaline into the pre-designated positions required for an optimal spread of fire.

Just a little bit more, she thought as she glanced back and forth between the main monitor and the sensor display, and we can end this. Come on, Waltfeld, move it!

She gently touched her wraith down. There had been anti-air emplacements nearby earlier, but they'd been destroyed by a rocket barrage from a Jet Striker Windam. ZAFT's defenses had taken a beating in this engagement, although it was nothing that couldn't be patched up or made good on with fresh reinforcements from orbit. Terminal's operation had done damage to Gibraltar, but not enough to render it truly vulnerable to an all-out attack from the Alliance. That was evidenced enough by the fact that the Windams and Dagger-Ls still in the combat zone hadn't even tried to break through Gibraltar's northern defenses and were instead contenting themselves with skirmishing with the defenders or trying to take potshots at Heero. The latter were finding little success in that endeavor thanks to the deadly trio of Deathscythe Omega, Heavyarms Arsenal, and Sandrock Saladin.

"Sucks to be you guys," she muttered as she watched a squadron of Windams get utterly annihilated by the three Gundams, "You picked a fight with the worst possible opponents."

Checking her sensors one more time, she saw that the shuttle was long gone. If her estimate was correct, the craft would be breaking through the upper atmosphere any second now. Her mental timer had almost hit zero, and she was sure that the same went for those of Lan and Priscilla.

Closing time, she thought as she started locking onto targets, and we're serving up the last round.

Bottoms up!

….

They're clear, thought Heero as he deflected a broad swing from Wufei's double-ended beam trident, Should be any second now…

As if on cue, eighteen Lancer Dart missiles materialized seemingly out of thin air and flew into the fray. The salvo tore into both sides, taking down eight ZAFT mobile suits and ten from the Alliance. That was the signal; it was time to bug out.

Unfortunately for Heero, Wufei wasn't playing by Terminal's game plan. The L5 native was still hammering away at Heero, his beam trident a whirlwind of destruction. Both of Heero's beam sabers flashed through the air in front of him as he fended off the cyclone of slashes, but Wufei wasn't letting up. Breaking off from this engagement was going to be tricky.

That was when the second salvo of Lancer Dart missiles flew forth from the hidden Wraiths. While the first volley had been aimed at causing confusion within the ranks of the Alliance and ZAFT grunts, the next one was more specifically targeted. Six of the warheads raced towards Athrun, who was still dueling Kira. The missiles themselves wouldn't be able to punch through the Saviour's Variable Phase Shift Armor, but they'd still serve just fine as a distraction. Meanwhile, the remaining twelve warheads were rushing right at Wufei.

"Cowards!" Wufei snarled as he was forced to turn around, unleashing the flamethrowers mounted within Altron Custom's Dragon Fangs to melt the incoming missiles.

"I told you, Wufei," said Heero as he gunned his engines to open up the distance between himself and the green Gundam. "I'm not going to play by your rules. See you next time."

Checking his sensors, he saw the Epyon Revenant and Tallgeese Kai carving a path for him through the ZAFT and Alliance squadrons. Meanwhile, Kira had used the distraction of the second Lancer Dart volley to strike the Saviour with his beam saber, cleaving off the mobile suit's left arm at the shoulder along with its wing and one of its heavy plasma cannons. With his unit's stability now compromised, Athrun had no choice but to pull back. Another blast from Dearka and a volley of precise fire from Yzak's rifle opened up a window for Kira to withdraw, and he took it. The Freedom, Mercurius Kai and Vayeate Kai headed west; according to the plan, they'd eventually swing south and then east, taking the long way back to the Archangel in order to confuse any potential pursuers. Meanwhile, the Wraiths would remain cloaked and quietly withdraw to the south first before changing course and heading east.

Shemei's face appeared in the bottom right corner of Heero's main monitor. "Time to bail, Heero. The Hawk and I will form up on you."

Heero nodded, already angling east to link up with them. "Roger that."

The wider battle was still raging around the, but with Terminal's pilots quitting the field the fighting was already losing some of its intensity. Taking a quick look around, Heero saw Duo, Trowa and Quatre subtly shift their position. They were still focusing their efforts exclusively against units belonging to the Earth Alliance, but now they were doing so in an effort to discourage any Dagger-Ls and Windams from trying to follow Heero's retreat. Deathscythe Omega and Sandrock Saladin remained up front, carving up any Alliance pilot who got too close with ruthless efficiency. Between the wide swings from Duo's primary weapon and the flashing twin Heat Shotels wielded by Quatre, the two of them were nothing less than a buzzsaw ripping through the Alliance squadrons. Trowa was still hanging back, but he was no less deadly for it, letting fly with any missiles and shells he had left to provide cover fire, while blasts from the Double Assault Beam Cannon on his Gundam's left arm blew apart any mobile suit unfortunate enough to wind up in his sights with deadly accuracy and power.

Good luck, guys, he thought, Quatre, I can understand why you might want to stick around ZAFT a bit longer, but be careful. If you guys weren't on thin ice before, you'll definitely be so after tonight. Watch your backs.

Turning his attention closer to home, he saw that the Valkyrie and the Hawk of Endymion were already moving into position. Tallgeese Kai was on Heero's left, while the Gundam Epyon Revenant was on his right. The three of them opened up the throttle together, and they raced off into the night.

Preview for next time!

As the sun rises on Gibraltar, Chairman Durandal arrives with Meer Campbell in tow. Both find a base in disarray, and Durandal puts his songstress to work in boosting morale. With Lacus Clyne and her companions now in outer space, Terminal's surface forces take shelter beneath the waves and try to figure out their next move. Shinn Asuka continues to watch over Stella, but is momentarily distracted by a long-awaited confrontation with Cagalli and Kira. Meanwhile, with unrest in the Eurasian Federation reaching a boiling point, Lord Djibril makes the final preparations to bring his erstwhile ally to heel. Next time, on "Destiny's Call", Episode Twenty-Two: The Deep Breath Before the Plunge.

It's always the quietest before all hell breaks loose…

Author's Notes: Been awhile since I've last posted a big battle chapter, so it felt good to get this one out! The next one's going to be a bit quieter, focusing on character interaction, a bit of romance, and just generally a lull before the shooting starts up again. Trust me, there will be plenty of action to go around in the following chapters!

Also, believe it or not, we're almost at the ten year anniversary from when I started posting this series! Man, time flies, doesn't it? Shit, now I feel old. Well, I was 21 when I started writing Journey to a New Battlefield, and I'm 31 now. I'd like to hope that my writing's at least improved a little along the way. Should I do something special for the next chapter's end notes to mark the occasion? Q&A or anything like that? Let me know what you guys think. Thanks to all those who have stuck with me from the beginning and those who joined up along the way. Here's to many more years of writing to come!

Not much else to really say this time, save that I hope you're all taking care of yourselves. I know they're finally rolling out a vaccine for Covid-19, but still, don't let your guard down. We're not out of the woods yet, and the world is still a crazy place.

Hope you all liked the new chapter. Please review, stay safe, and I'll see you next time!