Despite having fallen asleep in Athrun's arms, Cagalli didn't feel any better when she woke up to his absence and the sound of the Minerva's intercoms informing the ship's remaining mobile suit pilots to prepare for combat. Confused and wondering where her boyfriend had gone off to, she made her way to the bridge, hoping to find him there. To her disappointment, however, she only saw that Durandal, Talia, and the bridge crew were present, the former two discussing the unfolding situation, while some of the latter silently turned their gaze to her when they heard the doors slide open.
"I'm not normally one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Chairman, but don't you think it's odd that Bogey One was sent to investigate Junius Seven?" Talia asked Durandal, still taken aback by the battleship's offer of assistance in light of the raid on Armory One. "Assuming they're Earth Alliance, what if the Alliance Council accuses us of supporting the terrorists?"
"Captain, I understand your concerns, but we would be fools to not accept all the help we can get," Durandal argued. "And, as their name indicates, the Earth Alliance needs Earth to exist. Not even the likes of Blue Cosmos would let their 'blue and pure world' be destroyed just because Coordinators are trying to save it."
Talia prepared to counter by bringing up the chairman's own point on the inherent irrationality of fanatics, but her gaze shifted to Cagalli when she noticed the young head of state standing at the entrance. Seeing where the captain's line of sight had gone, Durandal turned his head around, thinly smiling when he saw his guest.
"Ah, princess," he greeted. "Have you come to observe the battle again?"
"Battle? What battle?" Cagalli inquired as she went towards the observer's seat next to Durandal's, still a bit too groggy to fully register the conversation she just heard. "Where's Athrun?"
"What? You don't know?" he asked in genuine surprise after she sat down. "Athrun came to us earlier and asked to assist in the operation, and we accepted. He should have deployed by now."
"Excuse me, ma'am," Meyrin interjected to Talia as Cagalli took in what Durandal said. "The Joule Team is reporting that the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss have launched and are preparing to engage the terrorists."
"Understood. Send a coded message to our forces and the Joule Team telling them to be on their guard in case Bogey One turns against us," she commanded.
"What the hell is going on!?" Cagalli silently thought to herself.
Yzak felt his blood boil as the Duel, equipped with the Assault Shroud, launched out of the Voltaire behind the three capsules of beam rifles to arm his rapidly dwindling team with. Not only were terrorists undermining the vital operation he'd been tasked with, but he had been forced to accept help from the ship that had raided Armory One, with the exact mobile suits they stole. Whether or not they intended it, it was humiliating, and part of him even hoped he could revenge himself upon the pilots of those stolen mobile suits.
"Who the hell are these GINN pilots!? They're frickin' experts!" Dearka roared in frustration over the Joule Team's open comm as one of the terrorists destroyed a meteor breaker, then dodged a shot from the Buster's sniper rifle weapon configuration. Just as it approached another breaker, however, Yzak shot it down with the Duel's Shiva railgun.
"No shit, Dearka, but we have to protect the work crews," Yzak reminded his friend as he warded off another GINN with suppressing fire from his beam rifle, trying to hide his own frustration for the sake of his subordinates. "If we stop, then we're just playing into their hands."
Seeing the GINN returning from another angle, Yzak prepared to repel it again, only to see it destroyed by a shot from a direction Dearka couldn't realistically have been at. Checking his instruments, he saw that it had come from a unit emitting the same signal as Bogey One.
"Took you thieving bastards long enough," Yzak bitterly thought to himself as he realized the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss had arrived to help his team.
"Now that's more like it!" Auel giddily declared as he watched the GINN explode from the Abyss's beam cannon, acting as if he were playing a video game as opposed to operating a mobile suit.
"Feeling better, Auel?" Sting sarcastically asked while destroying another GINN with his weapon pods.
"Cut it out, guys!" Stella interjected in an unusually stern tone, too focused on impressing Neo to enjoy killing enemies right now. To emphasize her intent, she swiftly transformed the Gaia into its mobile armor mode and used one of its wing blades to shear an intercepting GINN in two.
"Jeez, who died and made you queen, Stella?" Auel petulantly replied, but got no response as she transformed back to mobile suit mode and continued charging ahead while he and Sting moved to engage three more GINNs. Assuming it would be easy pickings like the last one, Auel grinned as discharged his beam cannon at them, only to watch as they effortlessly moved apart, evaded the attack, and then began showering him with beam fire.
"No fair! No fair!" he whined as he pulled the Abyss back, no longer smiling, eliciting a condescending chuckle from Sting as he charged forward.
"Hey! How about you fight someone actually worth your time!?" he confidently boasted to the GINN's pilot as he launched the Chaos's weapon pods and opened fire in an effort to separate them. To his surprise, however, the enemy machine smoothly evaded the beam fire with one of them even destroying one of the pods with a well-placed shot before unsheathing its sword and charging him.
"What the hell!?" Sting exclaimed in confusion, his confidence giving way to panic, as he tried to bring the remaining weapon pod back to defend him, but one of GINNs fighting Auel shot it down, forcing him to quickly raise his shield to block the enemy's blade. Before Sting could draw his beam saber, the attacking GINN began bashing the Chaos with the edge of its shield in an effort to wear down the prototype's phase shift armor, much to Auel's own surprise and confusion as he fought the other two terrorists.
"Sting!" he cried out, breaking off from his current opponents and charging downward with his beam lance. Seeing the incoming Abyss, the GINN broke off from the Chaos just in time to avoid being skewered by the stolen prototype. Taking advantage of the gap his friend provided for him, Sting forced his opponent back with his vulcans, giving him and Auel some breathing room.
"I don't get it, Sting," Auel complained in frustration as he approached the Chaos. "We wiped the floor with gazillions of these grunts back at the colony. Why are they kicking our asses now!?"
"What makes you think I know, Auel!?" Sting snapped back, beyond angry at having lost his machine's weapon pods. Scanning the battlefield, he realized he lost track of the Gaia, which involuntarily calmed him down a bit. "Come on, we need to find Stella. Neo will have our heads if we lose her or her machine."
"Assuming any of us even have heads by the time this is over!" Auel childishly remarked before gunning the Abyss's thrusters and following the Chaos back into the heat of battle.
"I can't believe those guys have the gall to attack us, steal our mobile suits, then swoop in to help us fight these terrorists," Shinn indignantly remarked as he, Athrun, Luna, and Rey flew towards Junius Seven, still unable to believe what he heard over the intercom. "What if they're just using this as an opportunity to attack us?"
"I get what you mean, Shinn, but don't you think they'd already be attacking us if that was their plan?" Luna asked in response, which he couldn't think of a good response to. "Besides, if they do get any ideas, we have veterans like Athrun and the Joule Team on our side this time."
"Don't tempt fate, Luna," Rey calmly interjected. "What matters is breaking up Junius Seven before it enters Earth's gravitational pull."
"Rey's right," Athrun opined as he gunned his ZAKU's thrusters, having unconsciously slipped into a leadership role since taking off from the Minerva. "We can worry about the stolen prototypes later. Right now, if they want to help us stop Junius Seven, then let them."
Despite the present situation and his earlier conversation with Luna, Shinn couldn't help but snort with irritation at being ordered around by Athrun. Even if the man had been a ZAFT ace during the war, he now was just the bodyguard of the Chief Representative of Orb, neither of whom had any business telling him and his friends what to do.
Seeing the four new incoming mobile suits, a group of GINNs broke off to intercept them, prompting the former group to split up and divide their attention, letting them chase them closer to the colony.
"Damnit! Get out of our way!" Athrun growled in frustration as he maneuvered his machine away from two GINNs' beam shots before returning fire, blowing one's head and right arm off while the other drew its sword and charged at him.
Thinking fast, he fired several missiles from both of his Blaze Wizard's missile pods at the attacker, whose efforts to avoid them allowed him to line up a direct shot through its torso. Having dealt with his opponents, Athrun resumed his course to the meteor breakers, leaving Shinn, Luna, and Rey to deal with their own attackers.
"Why the hell are you doing this!?" Luna roared at the GINN pursuing her before turning around and firing her beam cannon at it, unable to keep from grinning as she watched the terrorist mobile suit disintegrate from the blast, the first actual kill she ever had using the cannon. The satisfaction she felt quickly gave way to a shriek of anger, however, when a shot from her flank blew the cannon's barrel off at the folding joint.
"Son of a bitch!" she screamed as she turned her ZAKU to face the GINN that ruined her moment. Casting the destroyed weapon aside, she unholstered the beam rifle from her machine's rear and shot at the attacker, only for it fluidly weave through the beam spray as it came closer and returned fire, forcing her to fall back. Just as the GINN closed in for the kill, though, it suddenly found itself being run through by the Gaia's beam saber.
"Pathetic," Stella contemptuously remarked to the GINN she had impaled, not even enjoying watching it explode after she withdrew her blade from its melted torso.
Turning her attention to the red ZAKU she fought earlier, she briefly pondered if Neo might forgive her for "accidentally" destroying it in the confusion of battle, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, she nodded the Gaia's head at it before flying off, much to Luna's irritation.
"Hey! Don't think this makes us friends or anything, thief!" she shouted as she followed the stolen mobile suit, fighting off her own temptation to engage in some friendly fire.
Shinn grunted in frustration as the GINN he was fighting kept dodging his beam fire while returning well-placed shots that were wearing down the Impulse's shield. Knowing that the High Maneuver Type II's only melee weapon was a sword that couldn't penetrate his machine's phase shift armor, he ignited a beam saber and flew towards the terrorist mobile suit. Instead of falling back, however, the GINN drew its sword and met the Impulse head on, using the katana's laminated blade to parry the beam saber. Trying to overpower the opponent in front of him, Shinn failed to notice that a second GINN had moved to his right until it was lining its beam rifle up for a killshot.
"Crap."
Before the GINN could fire, though, it exploded from a beam shot to the torso from its rear. Seeing that its ally was gone, the first GINN attempted to pull back, only to provide an opening that allowed the Impulse to bisect it.
Tracing the trajectory of the beam shot, Shinn quickly found that it originated from Rey, who had used his ZAKU's left shield to hold off a third GINN's attacks so he could aim and fire at the terrorist trying to kill him. Gunning his thrusters, Shinn ascended towards Rey and his opponent, prompting the latter to break off and retreat. Just before it could escape, however, the Chaos, accompanied by the Abyss flew in front of it and blasted it apart with a point-blank shot from its beam rifle.
"What the hell?" Shinn remarked as he and Rey approached the two stolen mobile suits, both of them noticing the absence of the Chaos's weapon pods.
"Hey, Sting, they're right in front of us," Auel commented over a closed channel, seeing an opportunity to have some fun. "You think we could-"
"Don't even think about it, Auel," Sting nonchalantly interrupted as he saw the Gaia ping on the Chaos's radar. "As much as I'd like to take those bastards down, Neo would be so pissed if we tried right now."
"Killjoy," Auel defeatedly complained.
"Shut up and follow me. I found Stella," Sting ordered as he flew off, quickly noticing that a ZAKU was following the Gaia. "And don't get any ideas about the red mobile suit she picked up along the way."
"Yes, dad," Auel mockingly complied as he followed the Chaos, leaving Shinn and Rey behind.
Shinn, still angry at having to work with the terrorists who attacked Armory One, half-raised his beam rifle as he pondered whether to shoot them while their backs were turned, only for Rey to fly in front of him.
"Shinn, don't. We need all the help we can get," Rey chided, not wanting his friend to get in trouble with Durandal. "Besides, Luna seems to be getting along with whoever stole the Gaia."
To emphasize his point, Rey pointed with his mobile suit to where the Chaos and Abyss were flying to. Initially confused, Shinn then followed the ZAKU's finger to see that the two stolen mobile suits were moving to join the Gaia, which was being followed by Luna's ZAKU as it moved towards Junius Seven.
"Well, at least they're more team players than Athrun is," Shinn dismissively remarked as he flew off, annoyed that the supposed war hero had left them to fend for themselves in a mad dash to protect the meteor breakers. "Come on, Rey. The terrorists we're currently fighting aren't going to stop themselves, and I don't want to leave Luna alone with the terrorists we were fighting."
"Yeah, I'm coming," Rey replied, almost certain that his adopted father was sharing his amusement at the coincidences that occurred today.
As the battle around Junius Seven raged, the remaining work crews desperately continued their efforts to break the colony up before it entered Earth's atmosphere, setting and activating their meteor breakers as quickly as they could. Seeing this, Sato, the leader of the terrorists, charged the nearest crew, only for Dearka to intervene and fire his beam cannon at him, disintegrating his GINN's right leg as he tried to dodge. Having observed the fight, Yzak flew in to support his friend, firing half of the Assault Shroud's missiles at Sato to force him back.
"Hurry it up!" Yzak ordered over an open channel as he flew past Dearka and continued his observation of the work crews. "Pick up the pace before it's too late!"
Hearing this, the remnants of the Joule Team, along with the mobile suits from the Minerva and the Girty Lue, assumed a loose defensive formation around as many meteor breakers as they could, fighting off any GINNs that tried to approach as the repurposed mining equipment bored into Junius Seven.
After what felt like an eternity, the pilots on both sides heard a loud grinding noise emanating from the colony. Turning around, they saw it breaking in two, with one half remaining in an unstable orbit around Earth while the other continued its descent. While it seemed like this would be enough to prevent a total extinction event, Athrun remained unconvinced.
"It's not enough!" he said on the open channel as he flew closer to the descending half, meeting up with Yzak and Dearka, who, apparently having the same idea, were already moving a meteor breaker to a suitable spot. "We need to break it into smaller pieces!"
"Athrun!?" Dearka exclaimed at the unexpected presence of his former squadmate.
"What the hell are you doing here, bastard!?" Yzak demanded to know, refusing to let Athrun figure out he was pleasantly surprised to hear him.
"That doesn't matter! Right now, we have a mission to complete!" Athrun replied as he flew his ZAKU into formation with Yzak and Dearka, involuntarily smiling at the fleeting sense of nostalgia he felt. "You haven't changed a bit, Yzak."
"Yeah, well neither have you!" Yzak countered, prompting Dearka to pop his neck in exasperation.
"There they go," he commented, realizing the only thing that kept this moment from being like the good old days was Nicol, a thought he shook from his mind as he focused on the mission.
While the three veterans continued their approach, a pair of GINNs moved to intercept them, firing their beam rifles in an attempt to destroy the meteor breaker, prompting Athrun and Yzak to fly ahead. Evading one terrorist's beam fire, Athrun returned fire with a precise shot that destroyed the enemy's beam rifle, followed by Yzak flying in and slicing its left limbs off with his left hand beam saber. As Yzak attempted to use his remaining missiles to shoot the last GINN down, Dearka briefly released the meteor breaker and used his gun launcher to blast through its cockpit before grabbing the breaker, setting it down, and activating it. Shinn, having moved in to help the three veterans of Jachin Due, instead found himself awestruck by their skills and teamwork, even Athrun's.
Neo couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as he watched Junius Seven break apart from the Girty Lue's bridge, though he still believed more needed to be done.
"Helmsman, fire the return flares," Ian ordered, clearly having the opposite thought, much to Neo's chagrin. "Once the Extendeds are aboard, plot a course to Arzachel. This truce is over, and I refuse to be caught by surprise!"
"Belay that second order!" Neo immediately countermanded, enraging Ian and confusing everyone else. "Junius Seven is still too big, but this ship's Gottfrieds might be able to break it down further."
"Are you insane, Roanoke!" Ian indignantly snapped back, having had enough of tolerating the masked officer's whims. "The Girty Lue is not built for atmospheric operation or reentry! If we get caught in Earth's gravitational pull, this ship, and the prototypes we painstakingly stole, will be destroyed!"
"THAT'S A RISK WE HAVE TO TAKE, LEE!" Neo furiously argued, slamming his fist on the arm of his chair in frustration, but the Girty Lue's commanding officer refused to yield.
"Sir, you may outrank me, but this is MY ship! If you insist on continuing this suicidal course of action, I will have no choice but to relieve you of command and throw you and the Extendeds in the brig," Ian firmly warned, using Neo's very obvious regard for the children under his command against him. "Now what will it be?"
"Cancel the countermand," Neo reluctantly conceded as he slumped into his chair, realizing he couldn't get his way this time. "Fire the signal flares, then plot a course to Arzachel once the Extendeds return."
"I'm pleased you decided to see reason, captain," Ian smugly commented as the helmsman launched the flares, his tone making Neo want to punch him in the face, but he resisted that urge. Instead, he simply continued staring at Junius Seven, his thoughts occupied by concerns of how much would be lost when it hit Earth.
"Captain, the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss are returning to Bogey One," the Minerva's helmsman reported after everyone on the bridge saw the return flares exploding in space. "Now that Junius Seven has been broken in two, should we give pursuit?"
"Negative," Talia replied, to the surprise of Durandal, Cagalli, and Arthur, deciding that the colony was the greater concern, even though she knew she would come to regret such a decision. "Very soon, half of the colony will enter Earth's atmosphere. We have to make a decision about who we can save, and who we can not."
"Captain…" Durandal began to say, genuinely caught off guard by Talia's course of action, only to stop talking as she turned to face him.
"I'm sorry it has to be under these circumstances, Chairman, but would you please transfer to the Voltaire?" she requested, further surprising him and Cagalli. "The Minerva will descend into the atmosphere and attempt to break up the main target with the Tannhauser for as long as possible."
"What!?" Arthur exclaimed in shock, unable to believe what he just heard. "Captain, you can't be serious!"
"I don't know if this will work, but even still, I don't think I could live with myself if I just stood by and did nothing," Talia calmly admitted, her words and resolve reminding Cagalli of things Kira and Mu had said two years ago. Durandal, on the other hand, could not believe what he was hearing.
"Talia, but even still," he tried to persuade her, his almost impenetrable demeanor being slowly undermined by a fear that he might never see her again, but she refused to be dissuaded.
"I'm a woman with more than her fair share of luck. You can trust me," she assured him, though it did little to assuage his regret.
"Very well then," he reluctantly conceded, for once genuinely emotionally compromised. "Thank you, Talia. We'll meet again."
"Mr. Chairman, please, you must hurry," she replied, her professional tone and the salute she gave him was belied by the warm smile on her lips, before turning to address her crew. "Notify the Voltaire that the chairman is on his way and send out the return signal for the mobile suits."
As Talia gave her orders, Durandal rose from his chair and went to Cagalli, extending his hand for her to take.
"Well, Chief Representative, are you coming?" he asked her, once again being taken by surprise when she shook her head in the negative.
"I'm staying right here," she sternly answered, prompting Talia, who also hadn't expected this answer, to turn back to face her. "Athrun hasn't come back yet, and if the Minerva is going through all this effort to save Earth, then I'm going with it."
"Yes, but people who hold office have other duties," Talia reminded Cagalli, who searched for an explanation other than admitting she didn't want to abandon the man she loved, but Durandal cut her off with his own reply.
"If you insist, Ms. Representative, I shall respect your decision," he honestly told her before departing, leaving her alone with the bridge crew as they prepared to move towards Junius Seven.
"Please don't leave me, Athrun," Cagalli thought to herself as the Minerva fired its own flares, silently praying to Haumea that they and Earth would survive.
"We've reached the limit," Dearka told Yzak as he saw the ignition of the Minerva's return flares, which were quickly followed by the Voltaire and Rousseau, prompting the remaining mobile suits to pull away from Junius Seven. Before Yzak could reply, he noticed a text transmission on his console, notifying him that the Minerva was going to follow the colony into Earth's atmosphere and attempt to continue breaking it up with its cannons.
"Damnit!" he exclaimed in angered surprise, frustrated that he couldn't do anything else but salute the battleship as it descended.
For his part, Shinn prepared to return to his ship, but was stopped in his tracks when he saw that Athrun's ZAKU wasn't leaving, instead trying to activate one more meteor breaker.
"What are you doing?" he inquired as he flew the Impulse closer. "We've been given the order to return. You should've received it by now."
"Yeah, I received it," Athrun replied, unwilling to leave until he was certain he had done everything he could. "You better get back to the ship."
"YOU'RE GONNA GET BLOWN UP AS WELL, DAMNIT!" Shinn angrily yelled in response, his newfound respect for Athrun now being tempered by irritation. "You know that, right!?"
"Even if the Minerva uses its main gun, attacking Junius Seven from the outside won't be as effective as using a meteor breaker," Athrun countered, prompting Shinn to latch onto the breaker's other handle to directly face him.
"Why would someone like you want to be on Orb's side?" he asked in genuine confusion, his ignorant question reminding Athrun of the almost identical question he had asked Kira two years ago. Before he could think of an answer, he was interrupted by beam fire impacting around them and the meteor breaker. Looking up, he and Shinn saw three GINNs, one of them missing its right leg and another its left arm, flying towards them as fast as they could.
"Those guys haven't left either!" Shinn exclaimed as he ignited one of the Impulse's beam sabers and rose to meet the GINN without a left arm, while Athrun withdrew his beam axe from his ZAKU's shield and moved to fight the other two.
"My daughter's tombstone must fall! It's the only way the world will ever change!" the terrorist piloting the machine roared right before Shinn bisected it, his words outliving him.
"His daughter!?" Shinn asked aloud as he left the machine's debris in his wake, confused by the motivations of the terrorists.
"Who are these guys?" Athrun wondered right as he engaged Sato, the blades of their weapons clashing against the other's shield.
"Have you forgotten the innocent lives thrown away here!?" Sato hatefully screamed. "You're living in a damn dream world, laughing with the butchers who did this, YOU BASTARDS! THE COWARDLY SUCCESSORS OF CLYNE HAVE DECEIVED US! THEY'VE CORRUPTED AND WEAKENED ZAFT!"
Caught off guard by Sato's words, Athrun and Shinn both found themselves reminded of the family they lost during the war, all while he continued ranting.
"CAN'T YOU SEE THAT!?" he roared at the top of his lungs as he slammed his sword against Athrun's shield. "Patrick Zala knew this all along! HIS IS THE ONLY PATH COORDINATORS CAN TAKE!"
While Sato couldn't possibly have known who he was talking to, his words still cut deep into Athrun, deeper than anything his sword was capable of. Remembering the genocidal madness his father descended into, and his inability to prevent it, Athrun dropped his guard just long enough for his opponent to force him back and slice off his ZAKU's right arm, depriving him of his beam axe.
Seeing Athrun in danger, Shinn attempted to help him, only to find himself flanked by the other remaining GINN. Barely dodging its pilot's sword, the Impulse flew behind the enemy machine and removed its arms. To Shinn's surprise, the GINN then latched onto the Impulse with its legs and self-destructed, knocking his machine back and slamming his head against the bulkhead of his cockpit, temporarily disorienting him. Before Athrun could react, debris from the destroyed GINN slammed against the meteor breaker, causing the drill to drop into Junius Seven as it began its final entry into Earth's atmosphere, the Minerva following close behind.
"They'll suffer for it this time! The Naturals will feel our wrath!" Sato triumphantly declared as he grabbed onto the right leg of Athrun's ZAKU, intending to make him join in his fiery death as Junius Seven ravaged Earth. A moment later, however, the Impulse flew in and severed the leg, sending Sato crashing into the colony's surface.
Grabbing Athrun's machine, Shinn attempted to fly both of them out of Earth's gravitational pull as Junius Seven began to break apart, but it was too late. Unable to keep the ZAKU from slipping out of the Impulse's hand, Shinn screamed as he fell into the planet along with him.
The Minerva folded its wings as it entered Earth's atmosphere and moved within firing range of Junius Seven, avoiding smaller pieces of the colony that broke off and burned up in reentry.
"We're approaching Phase 3, ma'am!" the helmsman alerted Talia. "But we still don't know where the Impulse and ZAKU are!"
"Any longer and we won't be able to use the cannon!" Arthur warned, leaving Talia to mentally debate whether or not to go through with her idea. All the while, Cagalli shifted nervously in her seat, trying and failing to ignore her fears over Athrun's safety.
"Activate Tannhauser," Talia calmly ordered, forcing herself to see the bigger picture. "Our mission is to prevent Junius Seven from falling intact, and we will complete it! Tannhauser, target the structure to starboard!"
"Tannhauser targeting object's starboard side, ma'am!" the helmsman dutifully affirmed as he opened and armed the beam cannon, while a second helmsman maneuvered the Minerva to face the colony.
"FIRE!" she commanded. As if her words directly controlled the Tannhauser, the cannon then shot out a powerful positron beam at Junius Seven, disintegrating a sizable chunk of the colony into smaller debris.
In the meantime, Shinn recovered enough to recalibrate the Impulse's systems for atmospheric reentry, after which he began searching for Athrun's ZAKU, using his shield to mitigate some of the rising temperatures.
"Where are you, Athrun?" Shinn asked himself as he checked his machine's panoramic camera, quickly noticing the falling mobile suit, its Blaze Wizard falling off and exploding, and flying after it. As he did so, the Minerva fired a second positronic beam blast at Junius Seven, completely breaking it apart, right before atmospheric reentry rendered the Tannhauser unusable. As the now smaller fragments entered terminal velocity, all the crew could do now was hope they did enough.
"Do we have to stay down here forever?" one of the children asked Lacus as they, her, Kira, Malchio, and the robots waited in the emergency bunker beneath the Reverend's house.
"Everything will be fine," Lacus assured the boy in a motherly tone, her past experiences making her adept at putting on a brave face. "This will all be over very soon."
As if her words tempted fate, the first impacts of Junius Seven boomed nearby, causing the bunker's lights to flicker, panicking the children.
"Everything's alright. There's nothing to be afraid of," she promised, calmly holding two of the children before singing one of her songs to comfort the rest of them. As she hoped, the children stopped crying and listened to her voice, while Malchio approvingly smiled, his closed eyes and serene demeanor masking his fear.
On the other hand, as much as Kira wanted to be soothed by his partner's song, his distress proved insurmountable. Even though he had nothing to prove it, his instincts told him that Junius Seven hitting Earth was of human design, and that if even if the world survived, there would be another war.
"Earth will burn! And the ensuing cries of the victims will trigger battle anew!" Rau had told him at Jachin Due, his words seeming painfully prophetic now.
Feeling tears welling in his eyes, Kira silently cried, guiltily wondering if Lacus's song would be a requiem for the world, or the prelude to a new cycle of hatred and destruction.
The Girty Lue's bridge crew looked on in stunned silence as Junius Seven broke apart and impacted across Earth's surface. Despite their training and indoctrination as members of Phantom Pain, they weren't inhuman, and the realization that millions of people were dying weighed heavily on them.
"I'm going to report this to Djibril," Neo solemnly told Ian, who simply nodded in response as he rose from his seat and left the bridge, after which he floated aimlessly through the hall.
While Neo intended to eventually file a report, in truth, he felt his donor railing against his mind, his anger and horror more than he could ignore, and he didn't want anyone to see him breaking down. Fumbling his way to the observation deck, Neo balled his fists as he thought about the crew the source of his conscience served with two years ago, all of whom who were still alive probably on Earth. The officers who were promoted because everyone else was dead, the children who picked up the slack, the runaway princess, the boy who piloted a mobile suit to protect them, the stern but well-intentioned executive officer, and the captain, the beautiful and brave captain his gene donor loved, who he had been born loving despite having never met her.
"Murrue…" he regretfully whispered as he slammed his fist against the window, knowing from intelligence reports she was probably on Earth and berating himself from not doing more to protect her.
"Neo?" a young girl's voice asked him, shaking him out of his tunnel vision. Looking to his right, he saw Stella approaching him, a sorrowful look on her face, while Sting and Auel were seemingly too stunned by the debris shower to notice him.
Taken off guard by someone having noticed him while he was thinking, Neo found himself at a loss for words, concerned that Stella had heard the name he whispered. What she said next surprised him in a different way.
"Are they going to die, Neo?" she fearfully asked, able to hear her trigger word without panicking so long as she was the one who said it.
Unsure of what he could say to comfort Stella, Neo instead took a note from his donor and hugged her, her initial surprise giving way to acceptance as she embraced the closest thing to a father she could remember having. Not caring who might see them, Neo stroked her hair as he continued watching pieces of Junius Seven hit Earth, silently praying for them to spare Murrue.
To Athrun's surprise, his ZAKU had survived atmospheric reentry, but that was where the good news ended. Without a means to keep his machine from entering terminal velocity, he would inevitably die when he hit the ground or water, assuming it didn't break apart beforehand, and he knew there was no way to stop it.
"I guess you can't go through reentry without a booster," he said to himself in resignation, wishing he at least had a way to contact the Minerva and apologize to Cagalli for not coming back.
Before he could dwell too long on what he believed were to be his final moments, however, his comms picked up a garbled transmission.
"...Athrun!? ATHRUN!?" Shinn said to him through the comm interference. "I can see you! Hang on, I'm on my way!"
"No, don't!" Athrun warned. "Even the Impulse doesn't have enough thrust to keep two machines from falling!"
Just as finished his response, Athrun felt something roughly grab onto his ZAKU and stabilize his fall. Hearing his video screen come to life, he looked down and saw Shinn's face, the boy too angry to feel satisfaction over proving him wrong.
"Why do you have to be so noble and say things like that!?" he admonished, making Athrun smile despite the situation they were in.
"Okay, what would rather you have me say?" he teasingly asked, slowly feeling relief wash over him.
"Something like 'help me, you bastard!'" Shinn sharply replied, himself calming down enough to find amusement in their mutual survival.
"Fine, if that's what you want," Athrun said after giving a small chuckle, which Shinn reciprocated.
"No, that's just an example," he assured the older man as he adjusted the Impulse's thrusters to account for the added weight and continued their descent.
"Sensors have picked something up, ma'am," a helmsman alerted Talia, prompting Cagalli to rise from her chair in the hope Athrun might still be alive. "Distance five hundred kilometers. I think it's… the Impulse!?"
"Can you get a visual!?" Talia asked Meyrin, to which the latter answered in the affirmative.
Turning to face the viewscreen, she and everyone else were amazed to see the Impulse, still intact, carrying Athrun's damaged ZAKU.
"Athrun…" Cagalli quietly exclaimed in relief, her prayers answered. Talia shared her relief, but knew they had to move fast before the two mobile suits hit the surface.
"Arthur, use the signal flares to give them a sign," she commanded her executive officer before turning to a helmsman. "Malik, move the ship closer immediately. We have to catch them before they hit the ocean."
As the bridge crew executed Talia's orders, Cagalli ran out of the room and towards the hangar, needing to see for herself that Athrun was okay.
Anger and relief simultaneously swirled through Luna's head as she saw Shinn and Athrun's machines dock in the Minerva's hangar before the two pilots descended from their cockpits, attracting the attention of several awe-struck mechanics. Seeing that Rey was already heading towards them, she followed him, pushing her way past him and anyone else in her way to get to Shinn, who, basking in the praise he was getting, turned to face her with a giddy grin on his lips. Whatever he was expecting from her, it certainly wasn't her clenching her fist and punching his left arm as hard as she could, making him yelp in painful surprise.
"Ow! What the hell, Luna!?" he exclaimed, wincing as he grasped his arm where she punched him.
Rey and the mechanics regarded her and what she did with shock, while Athrun, having been in somewhat similar situations before, simply stayed quiet and observed.
"What are you doing!?" Rey sharply asked her, but she ignored him as she began tearing into their friend.
"You goddamn dumbass, Shinn!" Luna admonished. "What the hell were you thinking, not returning to the Minerva with the rest of us!? You could've gotten yourself killed!"
Taken off guard by Luna's forceful conveyance of concern, Shinn helplessly stammered as he tried and failed to explain himself, only for Rey to intervene.
"Luna, Athrun would've died had Shinn not stayed behind to help him," Rey calmly explained, which Shinn vigorously nodded in agreement with, but Luna wouldn't be convinced.
"You don't know that, Rey!" she stubbornly insisted. "What if the Impulse burned up on reentry, huh!?"
Before Shinn or Rey could respond, they were interrupted by someone calling Athrun's name. Turning towards the door, everyone saw Cagalli running towards them as fast as she could.
"Athrun!" she excitedly called out again at the sight of him alive and well, which he could only respond to by smiling and reflexively holding his arms out to embrace her.
Too happy to care about decorum, she wrapped her arms around him and passionately kissed him, their display of affection making everyone awkwardly blush and try to look away, while Shinn and Luna unconsciously stole glances at each other. Even after Athrun and Cagalli finished kissing, they contentedly stared at each other, uncaring of what anyone else thought, until several tremors forced them back into reality.
"What was that?" Shinn asked aloud, confused that something was powerful enough to make the Minerva shake while still airborne.
"Shockwaves from Junius Seven's fragments," Rey solemnly explained. "My guess is that they've just gone around the world."
Even if no one could be certain, Rey's answer darkened the mood of everyone in the room, particularly Athrun. Holding Cagalli close, he couldn't help but think about how the men who weaponized his mother's resting place had done so in his father's name. How could Patrick Zala's ideology be overcome if Coordinators were willing to die just to take Naturals with them?
Having returned to his office on Aprilius One aboard the Voltaire, Durandal had expected to receive reports of Junius Seven's impact, but even he was somewhat disturbed by there already being casualty numbers and a preliminary list of cities destroyed. Rome, Quebec, Ulaanbaatar, Hong Kong, New York, Athens, along with their citizens, monuments, and cultural legacies, among others, wiped off the face of the Earth.
"And now comes the true challenge," Durandal said to himself as he set the reports aside and began drafting plans for a relief mission to Earth. "What do you think, Rau?"
"Do you truly believe she will come to see things your way, Gilbert?" the masked man asked in response. "We both know her youthful idealism is formidable."
"Perhaps, but even if she can't be convinced, it's better to keep her close, where she can be watched," he argued, prompting Rau to mockingly laugh at him. Ignoring his dead friend, Durandal finished working on the draft, after which he dispatched a coded missive to his spies in Orb, instructing them to find Lacus Clyne.
Author's Notes
The plot thickens. Why does Durandal want to find Lacus? Stay tuned, dear readers. You don't know how fun it was to write that small exchange. I could hear Mark Oliver's voice as I wrote Rau's dialogue.
Initially, I was going to give Yzak and Dearka the ZAKUs they piloted in canon, but after seeing that ZAFT kept the Duel and Buster around in SEED Freedom, I decided to just use those. They don't have the nuclear reactors or new weapons they had in the movie, but they were refitted with the ZAKU Warrior's cockpit and given the GUNDAM OS that the Impulse, Saviour, and the three stolen Gundams have, which I think gives them enough of an edge.
Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and, as always, feedback is appreciated. Until next time.