Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY

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Phase 37 - The Four Horsemen

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The casket splashed down into the water, the bouquet of white lilies laid on its top scattering over the surface of the water.

“We will not forget what you fought for,” Murrue said authoritatively, standing before the gathered crew on the deck of the Megami. “All hands, salute!”

Cagalli’s casket sank under the waves as the Megami’s crew stood at attention. On the deck, dutifully saluting with the rest of the crew, Lacus glanced over at Athrun. His eyes were red, his face pale and haggard. He had changed. And somehow, someway, she sensed anger from him.

There was silence as the Megami continued on and the crew slowly returned to its work. Lacus stayed on the deck, staring at Orb as it vanished into the distance. There was still a steady cloud of smoke looming over it. And somehow she could sense death from it.

She wondered if she was a Newtype, to be able to sense these feelings.

At that, she cast a glance over at the Kasselheim, and felt the familiar presence of Shinn Asuka.

——————————————————————————————————————————

It was most discouraging.

The casualty reports were just beginning to come in of the debacle of yesterday’s Operation Fury. But Gilbert brushed them off, knowing that they were likely grossly inaccurate— the surviving ZAFT forces were all trying desperately to get to Antarctica, with the Alliance’s fleet and the unstoppable Destroy Gundam driving at their heels, and were more concerned with getting themselves to Antarctica in one piece than figuring out who wasn’t coming with them.

On the other hand, as Gilbert called up the next file, there was a glimmer of good news. The Vosgulov-class submarine Saint Helens had broken out of Carpentaria and through the Alliance blockade, escaping out to see before the Alliance’s own attack submarines could give chase. Of course, it had immediately set course for Antarctica, so the Alliance seemed to be figuring that they could just destroy it there. The DOM Troopers sent to break open the Alliance lines had performed well— if the reports were to be believed, six DOM Troopers had destroyed eight warships and almost fifty mobile suits before the Windams brought them down.

The important thing, however, was that the Destiny Mobile Weapon Project’s Gundams were safely on their way to Carpentaria. Soon they would be at the PLANTs, safely held on Messiah, away from danger.

Gilbert cast a wary glance at Horatio Vandemant, standing at attention off to the side, hands dutifully behind his back.

“How did the Earth Alliance turn us back at Orb so easily?” he asked. Horatio paused a moment, searching for words.

“The Alliance had secretly assembled a fleet at Yokosuka and moved it to Orb at top speed during the night,” he said. “We had assumed that if they were going to send forces to Orb, they would come from either the Carpentaria siege or the former Oceania Union.”

Gilbert looked back at the screen of his computer terminal, as it displayed the tactical situation that the Antarctica base and what was left of the Fourth Combined Assault Force faced.

“We have resigned ourselves to losing Carpentaria,” Horatio continued, “and are gathering forces at Antarctica, where we expect an Alliance assault within the next few days. Alliance fleets have been confirmed launching from Madagascar, Singapore, and Montevideo. They all seem to be linking up with the Alliance fleet that attacked us at Orb, forming one large fleet group to come crashing down on Antarctica on the heels of the Fourth Assault Force.”

“They had an ulterior motive in protecting Orb after all,” Gilbert mused. “Recall our space forces to the PLANTs and prepare to mobilize the Gondwana and Messiah. We will be needing them soon.” Horatio blinked in surprise. “This war is coming to its end. The victor will be crowned in space,” Gilbert scowled, “as he always is.”

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They had at least allowed her some clothes, and nobody had thus far tried to take advantage of her, so for that Lunamaria was grateful. Nonetheless, she was still handcuffed with two assault rifle-toting guards on either side, led down the halls of the intimidating Megami towards the brig.

Everywhere, there were ubiquitous Orb uniforms, even though the interior of the ship reminded her of a ZAFT design. She recalled little about the Orb Raiders, other than that they were led by the late Uzumi Nala Athha’s daughter Cagalli, and were dedicated to bringing own the Seiran government in Orb. But if that was the case, why would they bother taking her prisoner? Would she be a hostage to them, for bartering with ZAFT?

A loud crash snapped Luna out of her grim reverie, and a door in front of her opened. Her guards took a cautious step back, pulling her with them, as a man with dark skin and blond hair staggered out of the door, staring angrily whoever was in it.

“Calm down!” he shouted. “You have to think rationally! You’re no good to anyone if you keep freaking out like this!”

The man yelped in surprise and ducked as a coffee mug went sailing into the wall behind him and shattered. “I’ll kill him myself if I have to!” a voice, vaguely familiar, screamed back from inside. “I’ll take him down next time! No matter what!”

“Athrun!” the blond man shouted.

Luna’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Athrun?” she echoed.

The blond man glanced at her and ducked under another flying coffee mug, shutting the door. “Who is she?” he asked one of the guards.

“ZAFT pilot we took prisoner yesterday,” the guard answered. “That red ZAKU in the hangar is hers. We’re taking her in for questioning.”

“Questioning?” the blond man repeated. “What, ZAFT knows something we want to know?”

“Well, she surrendered to us,” the other guard put in awkwardly. The blond man sighed.

“Eh, whatever— ” the blond man began.

The door opened again; another uniformed man stormed out, and Luna found herself face to face with Athrun Zala.

“Who’s this?” he asked brusquely, glancing at the blond man.

“She’s a ZAFT pilot they took prisoner— ” the blond man began.

“You’re Athrun Zala!” Luna exclaimed. Athrun glanced back at her.

“What are you doing with her?” he asked the guards.

“Taking her to the captain for questioning,” one of them answered.

As they spoke, Luna stared in disbelief at Athrun. He was there, right in front of her; Athrun Zala, the hero of the PLANTs, the man who destroyed the -X105 Strike…and yet his eyes were bloodshot and cold, his face pale and lined, his entire demeanor burning with anger. He glanced at the blond man and grabbed him by the arm.

“Come on,” he said, “we’ve still got simulator work to do.”

“What?” the blond man cried. “Athrun, we’ve been in that damn thing all day!”

“And we’ll keep doing it until we’re all perfect!” Athrun snapped. “You remember when Kira killed Nicol?”

“Yeah, well, I’m older and smarter than that now!” the blond man protested. “I’m not going to go running into my death just because Kira killed Cagalli!”

Luna blinked in disbelief. Cagalli had been killed? The leader of the Orb Raiders?

Athrun dragged the blond man back into the room they had come out of, and the door slammed shut behind them.

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“Captain Meredith,” Rau said with a condescending smile, sitting back in his office chair, “I see you managed to escape from Carpentaria.”

“The six DOMs they sent with me weren’t so lucky,” the thin, aging man answered in a creaky voice. “My ship’s engines are damaged and we cannot submerge. What is the nature of this message, commander?”

Rau smiled back. “We were following an Earth Alliance unit that used Mirage Colloid to elude us,” he said. “They are heading in your direction. I suggest you take a detour to the south and round your course out to evade them. We’re sending you the coordinates now.”

Captain Meredith paused, reading a screen on his end. “This course will add another day to our travel time,” he protested.

“Would you rather spend an extra day going to Antarctica, or die?” Rau asked. “Your cargo, after all, is quite valuable.”

Meredith sighed. “Very well, commander,” he acquiesced. “Will any friendly units be nearby to provide escort?”

“Well,” Rau answered, sitting back, “there’s the Minerva.”

Meredith blinked in surprise. “The Minerva?”

“Rendezvous with the Minerva and transfer your cargo,” Rau instructed. “It is too important to leave on your ship, if your ship is too damaged to submerge and run at full power.”

The line went out, and Rau sat back, chuckling. Across the room, Valentine stared suspiciously at him.

“Dare I ask why you did that?” she asked dubiously. “That course will put them right into contact with the Megami and the Kasselheim in the middle of the transfer operation.”

“Exactly,” Rau chuckled. “Shinn doesn’t fit well into our plans as he is now. He needs a new toy to play with.”

“You’re going to let him steal the Destiny Mobile Weapons?!” Valentine exclaimed, standing upright. “What the hell is wrong with you? We need those!”

“ZAFT needs those,” Rau corrected. “But no, I’m not going to let them steal those Gundams. At least, not now. The Saint Helens is carrying twelve GOUF Igniteds along with those four Gundams. They won’t be so easy to take down, even for our vaunted little Newtype Shinn. And that‘s assuming they even launch an attack— I‘m sure the Orb Raiders are still reeling from the loss of their princess.”

“Then what are you pulling this little venture for?” Valentine snapped.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Rau said with a smile. “Have the Strike Freedom transferred to the Deliverance as soon as the Minerva reaches Antarctica. Kira’s sword is getting rusty. It’s time he got a new one.”

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It was getting colder. Shinn wrapped his long blue coat even tighter around himself as he wandered out onto the deck of the Kasselheim. It was cold as hell out here, but it was still calming, and even so, as he stepped onto the deck, he noted that Stella didn’t seem to mind. The ocean was always the ocean, he guessed, regardless of how cold it was getting.

Stella glanced over at him and smiled as he came up next to her.

“It’s getting cold out here,” Shinn warned. “Don’t stay out here too long or you’ll get sick.”

Stella nodded happily and returned to staring at the sea. Shinn looked over at the Megami— hatred and anger were radiating out from some point inside, some point that had to be Athrun Zala. Shinn had heard that Cagalli had been killed during the battle at Onogoro, but the hatred that was coming from Athrun’s presence made it all too clear who had done it.

“Are we going to go back to space, Shinn?” Stella asked suddenly, looking over at him. Shinn shrugged, looking out into the distance. He wasn’t quite sure where the Kasselheim was going, nor was he sure where the Megami was going. The Orb Raiders had just lost their leader— chances were good they were floundering in a daze as someone was forced to step up and take command through their grief.

Of course, ZAFT wasn’t going to last much longer on Earth, and an Earth controlled effectively by the Atlantic Federation wasn‘t one that looked enticing.

“There’s no sea in space,” Stella murmured. “Stella doesn’t like it.”

Shinn smiled. There were a lot of reasons why Stella didn’t like space. The PLANTs were up there, and she was afraid of them.

He glanced back at the Megami. Athrun was in there, burning with hatred for Kira Yamato. Shinn wondered if he should be sad that Cagalli had died— he couldn’t find it in himself to mourn her death. She had been a fool and gone rushing out onto the battlefield— it had only been a matter of time before that foolhardiness caught up with her. But that didn’t change the pain he felt from Athrun. Whether Cagalli had been a fool or not, she had meant a lot to Athrun, and now his rage was spilling over into Shinn’s senses.

He cast his gaze over the ship, reaching out and feeling the presences of everyone aboard it. He felt an odd tinge of pressure at one point— underneath it was the familiar soothing aura of Lacus Clyne. He wondered if she was a Newtype too. He scanned the presences emanating from the Megami, but recognized no others…

…except for one.

Shinn blinked in surprise, as, for a fleeting moment, his mind touched something familiar. He realized with a gasp of disbelief that Lunamaria was somewhere on the Megami.

The feeling was gone an instant later, but Shinn stared wide-eyed at the Megami. He had felt Luna’s presence on that ship. She was there.

“Shinn?” Stella asked softly. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Shinn answered quickly. He looked back at the Megami.

Luna…what are you doing here…?

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Shiho had an idea of what she was walking into when she opened the door to Aoma’s room. She had been left alone in her room on Talia’s orders, to, as Talia had put it, “cry until there’s nothing left.” But as Shiho stepped gingerly into the darkened room, she had to admit that Aoma had taken those orders awfully seriously.

It immediately occurred to Shiho that she could not call this shrunken, trembling girl sitting on her bed a woman. She was too vulnerable and broken— Ruumari’s death had snapped something in her, and finally all her suffering at his expense was coming out. But she wasn’t crying— Shiho found that odd. Perhaps she had already cried until there was nothing left.

She looked up at last, and Shiho drew back in surprise at the burning hatred in her red eyes. She remembered where she had seen it before, and it sent a chill down her spine.

“Aoma,” Shiho said quietly, kneeling next to her and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Aoma nodded wordlessly. She blinked away a ring of tears at the edges of her eyes. “Are we going to attack the pirates again?” she asked, her voice calm.

“Not that I know of,” Shiho answered. “The last thing I heard is that we’re going to meet up with a Vosgulov to receive some important cargo to take to Antarctica.”

Aoma paused a moment. “When will we attack them again?” she asked again.

“I don’t know,” Shiho admitted.

Aoma’s eyes narrowed. “The next time we fight,” she said, the tremble in her voice vanishing, “I’ll find the traitor and destroy him.”

Shiho blinked in surprise. “Don’t make the same mistake he made,” she put in quickly. “Just because Shinn destroyed Ruumari doesn’t mean you should go rushing headlong into disaster to avenge him.”

Aoma paused again. She looked slowly at Shiho. “Then,” she said, “can I have all the data we have on Shinn and his Impulse unit?”

Shiho frowned. “What for?”

“To find a weakness,” Aoma answered.

Shiho paused, studying Aoma carefully. She stared back, her eyes wide and angry, her face pale and drawn. There was no stopping her anyway— it was best to at least supervise her.

“I’ll see what I can pull together,” she said.

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They were covered in blood. He could see it now— his hands were covered in blood. Cagalli’s blood. He had killed her.

Kira sat up in his bed, staring with wide eyes at the wall before him, covered in icy sweat. He had shot her, right through the heart, right in front of Athrun. He could still Athrun’s screams, ringing in his ears, as the Justice Gundam stormed towards him, looking for blood.

Valentine sat up next to him, arching an eyebrow at him as he stared down at his hands.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Kira tried to clench his fists, trembling.

“I…I killed her,” he murmured. “I…I killed Cagalli…”

“Why is it bothering you?” Valentine asked. “You had to do it.”

Kira looked slowly at her, eyes wide and trembling.

“She was trying to rebuild Orb,” Valentine went on, “She was going to make the same mistakes in this war that she made in the last one. And she was trying to pull you pack into that mess, and make you suffer the same things you suffered then.” She put her arms around him, pulling him close. “You’ve moved beyond that, Kira. You have a higher purpose now. We’ve shown you the true path to a peaceful world.”

“I know,” Kira stammered. “But…” He looked back down at his hands.

“Just fight for a little while longer,” Valentine whispered. “And then you’ll never have to fight again.”

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Far ahead, magnified on the monitor, were two ships— ZAFT’s famous Minerva, and a battered-looking Vosgulov submarine. They were in the middle of some kind of operation— on the deck, Murrue could count four gray, elaborate-looking mobile suits, but the magnification was not high enough to make out any details. They looked vaguely like Gundams, and there were ZAFT mobile suits standing guard all over both ships. There was one that looked like the Justice, one resembling the Freedom, a Gundam similar to the Providence, and one that Murrue couldn’t identify at all.

“Looks like ZAFT’s got a few new models,” Andy commented, from his haunt next to Sai’s seat. “What should we do?”

“Our machines are getting way too old these days,” Mwu put in, standing next to Murrue’s chair and crossing his arms. “We could stand for an upgrade.”

“But we’d have to take those things intact,” Murrue replied, peering at them again. “I’m not even sure what they’re for.”

“We’ll take them,” a voice said, low and furious. All eyes reluctantly turned to Athrun Zala as he stepped onto the bridge. “We’ll take them and find Kira.”

“Athrun, that’s— ” Murrue began.

“We have to,” Athrun said. “Kira killed Cagalli. I’m not going to stop until I’ve made him pay.”

“Hold on a minute, Athrun,” Mwu interjected, “right now we’re trying to figure out what’s going on with Orb, and we’re in need of supplies— ”

“Kira is dangerous,” a second voice added.

Lacus Clyne stepped onto the bridge, silencing everyone with the calm, firm tone in her voice.

“Lacus,” Andy began, “we don’t even know what he’s up to.”

“Which is why we need to find out,” she said. “Kira has changed, and is now willing to kill even his sister in pursuit of some goal. He still has power and he still wants to use it, but if he is willing to fight us and kill us, then we need to know more about what he’s trying to do. And as Commander La Fllaga said, we need to capture supplies and new machinery to replace our aging weapons. Dullindal has an agenda of his own with this war, as do the forces pulling the strings of the Earth Alliance. We need to find out what that agenda is, and stop it, before this war spirals out of control.”

“Lacus…” Murrue murmured, staring at her in disbelief. The sorrow and regret were gone, replaced by firmness of purpose. Lacus had made up her mind— there was no doubt who the leader was now. “We will follow the Minerva and attempt to capture those Gundams,” Murrue said, turning around to face the screen again. “Neumann, wait for the Minerva and the Vosgulov to get going. We’ll follow at a cautious distance. Inform the Kasselheim.”

Lacus turned and left as quickly as she had entered.

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The Chrysalis was the flagship of the Earth Alliance’s fleet. It was over 350 meters long, sporting two enhanced positron cannons as its main weapons and a wealth of beam cannons and CIWS turrets for defense. And if the twenty gleaming Windams in the ship’s considerable mobile suit bay were any indication, it was hardly an anachronistic throwback to the days where gigantic battleships had actual military worth. The Chrysalis had been designed for the modern age.

Which meant it made sense for a man like Grand Admiral James MacIntyre, commander of the surface fleets of the Atlantic Federation— and by extension, the Earth Alliance— and foremost naval advisor to President Copland, to be standing on its bridge. He had not reached this lofty position by ignoring the winds of change— instead of sticking to his aircraft carriers and destroyers, he advocated an immediate embracing of the Alliance’s new mobile suit technology, ensuring that within two years, the Atlantic Federation’s entire fleet of Spengler-class aircraft carriers had been outfitted to carry mobile suits, and the rest of the Navy had been properly equipped to deal with enemy mobile suits.

Of course, as Ian Lee noted, this impressive résumé had taken its toll on the Grand Admiral. He was a stout, muscular man with a drawn, bronzed face half-obscured by a bushy gray beard. He met Lee’s gaze with piercing onyx eyes, and granted him a curt nod— Lee, remembering where he was, replied with a sharp salute.

“Admiral,” Neo said, saluting himself. “To what do we owe your message to meet you here?”

“I was told to relay orders to you in person,” MacIntyre answered in a gravelly, agitated voice. “I suppose this has something to do with the Phantom Pain. Your orders are to protect the William McKinley at Antarctica. They will be combat-testing the new GAT-X machines— High Command wants your unit there to make sure that they have a mothership to come back to.”

“I understand, sir,” Neo said. “Is our battle plan completed yet?”

MacIntyre gestured to the massive screen behind him. “There are fleets launching from Montevideo, Singapore, and Madagascar. We’ll rendezvous just north of Berkner Island, where the ZAFT base is located. From there we’ll trap them between the ice shelves and our fleet. They won’t have anywhere to go but across the ice shelf and into the Antarctic wasteland, which is suicide. They have nowhere to run— it’s the perfect place to launch an attack.” He paused. “Of course, they’ll be fully aware of this and will fight us tooth and nail, so don’t expect an easy battle. We’re going to have to pay our pound of flesh for every inch we take.” He paused again, glancing at the screen. “Our intelligence suggests that if they fall here, they’re prepared to move operations to the Falkland Islands, but we are confident that we can destroy most of their forces here and pick off the rest before they can return to space.”

“This war is coming to an end,” Neo said, with a hint of a smile. “Soon we’ll be able to bring all our space forces down onto the PLANTs and finish the Valentine War.”

“It’s not over yet,” MacIntyre said, turning away. “The difficult part is just beginning.”

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Mev sat back in his office, reading the slip of paper again. The Megami was going to try and steal ZAFT’s new machines from the Minerva, and had asked the Kasselheim to come along and play backup. The crew didn’t appear to mind— a job was a job, after all, and they appeared to have resigned themselves to having been sucked into the war anyway— but Mev wondered what the Orb Raiders were trying to do now. Orb had been all but destroyed. Cagalli was dead. What was left?

Mev returned his gaze to the slip of paper. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“You were a bodyguard to Uzumi Nala Athha,” Viima said, “and you left Orb because you were disgusted with his arrogant policies. Isn’t that so?”

“It is,” Mev said. “What is your point?”

“My point is that we have been helping the very group whose leader was advocating a return to those same policies that drove you away,” Viima continued. “Why?”

Mev looked back at the paper and crumpled it in his hand. “My story is far more complicated than that,” he said. “It stretches back farther than Uzumi Nala Athha. I was embroiled in this play back in days of the Mendel colony.”

“The Mendel colony?” Viima echoed. “You— ”

“Worked there,” Mev finished. “Security. However, I was involved in deep internal security, so I was in frequent contact with the researchers and their cloning and artificial womb projects.” He paused, tossing the crumpled paper on his desk. “Dr Hibiki was a researcher involved in the artificial womb project, which was supposed to eliminate the mother’s womb as a variable towards a Coordinator’s genetics. With his wife, he conceived two children from this project. The first was a boy whose fetus was used to create the perfect Coordinator that Hibiki had been trying to create; the second was a girl who was born as a Natural. However, Hibiki’s wife could not stand by and let her husband continue this project, as it was leading to the deaths of countless fetuses, and spirited the children away after their births, and put the two children under the protection of separate foster parents. The boy came to be known as Kira Yamato, and the girl as Cagalli Yula Athha.”

Viima’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You mean she was a foster child?”

“I left Mendel shortly before Cagalli was put in Uzumi’s protection,” Mev continued. “Uzumi hired me as a bodyguard and a connection to what was going on in Mendel. And you know the rest.” He paused for a moment. “I knew Cagalli. I knew she was the same fool as her father. But those under her command were not, and it is in them that I have faith. They would have corrected Cagalli and given her the guidance she needed to keep Orb from getting burned down again, if she had managed to take the country. Now it is not Cagalli, but those who stood behind her, who are asking for our help. Cagalli was a fool who wanted to continue her father’s arrogant policies. Her followers are fools all the same, but they are war-weary and are smart enough to keep whatever paradise they construct from being destroyed. It is them I am helping. Because we are all trying to create a haven of our own in some way— we have this ship. They have asked us and paid us to help them create a haven of their own. Now Cagalli can no longer interfere. I see no reason why not to continue helping them.”

“But what does stealing ZAFT mobile suits have to do with that?” Viima asked.

“They have bigger plans than that,” Mev answered. “They want to stop this war. And I think that is in everyone’s best interest. If nobody stands between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, they will destroy each other in their hatred, and take the world with them. And then,” he cast a glance and a strange smirk at Viima, “what will we have to steal?”

Viima nodded slowly. “Captain,” she said. “I never pictured you as someone to fight for ideals.”

“War does strange things to those involved in it,” Mev said with a shrug, “whether they wanted to be involved or not.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

The crew lounge was unusually silent. The transfer operation was complete and the Minerva was speeding to the Antarctic base, with four new mobile suits slumbering in the hangar. Now there was nothing to distract anyone.

Meyrin sat on an empty couch, staring down at her feet, tears still at the edges of her eyes. Her sister was gone. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around it. She could still remember Lunamaria waking up on the morning of the battle, rubbing sleep from her eyes and stumbling into her uniform, heading off to do battle and protect the ship, to protect her. She had always been there. She had always been the strong one, making the decisions, speaking for them both, protecting her. But now she was dead.

She looked up at the sound of footsteps, and found Vino looking down solemnly at her, a soda in hand.

“Um,” he began awkwardly, “you alright?”

Meyrin nodded slowly, wiping the tears from her eyes. Vino slowly handed her the soda, watching her carefully.

“I’ll be okay,” she added quietly. Vino smiled at her.

“Just take it easy for a couple of days,” he said. “We know how you’re feeling. If you need to talk…”

“I’m fine,” she said, a hint of a blush on her cheeks. “I just…need a little more time.”

Vino paused, crestfallen. “Okay,” he said, smiling back at her anyway. “I’ll see you later, then.”

He made his way around the couch and disappeared out the door. Meyrin looked down at the soda can in her hands. She wondered what Luna would think of her now— sitting here, moping, still crying two days later.

Luna had been the strong one, but now Luna was gone.

She looked up again, and caught a glimpse of Rey as he passed by. He slowly glanced at her, sending a chill down her spine with his cold eyes. She blinked in surprise— Rey! He had threatened her, and he had threatened Luna. And it had been him who had reported her in as dead. Had he— could he have really shot Luna down during the battle?

Meyrin watched Rey disappear behind a corner. The thought turned itself over in her head, and with a hint of a scowl, she crushed the soda can in her hand.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The delighted cackle of Lord Djibril filled the air in his screening room as he watched the footage of the Battle of Onogoro on the array of monitors before him. On an adjacent monitor, Joseph Copland watched in a mix of disgust and unease.

“ZAFT could not bring down even one Destroy!” Djibril laughed. “They will be crushed when we unleash five of them from Daedalus!” He clenched his fists dramatically. “We have only to crush them at Antarctica, and our Earth will be blue and clean once again!” He turned to face Copland. “Mr. President! You and I will have to travel to Daedalus soon! We have an army to lead to victory!”

“No, Djibril,” Copland said flatly. “We will not pursue a war in space.”

Djibril was silent for a moment. “We what?” he asked.

“We have nothing to gain by pushing ZAFT up against the wall,” Copland continued, leveling a glare at Djibril. “I will not grind my country into dust fighting ZAFT on their home turf, when we would gain nothing from their destruction. This war has gone on long enough. I will not force anyone to make anymore unnecessary sacrifices. This war ends once we have pushed ZAFT off the Earth.”

A wicked smile spread over Djibril’s face. Copland paused in surprise.

“Mr. President,” Djibril chuckled, “you assume that you are in control here. I could destroy you in an instant.” He snapped his fingers. “Do not make the mistake, Mr. President, of assuming that you are indispensable. I do not need you— I keep you where you are because you are yet useful. But you are not so useful that no one else can fill your function. Do not forget that— you can be destroyed, and if you get in my way, you will be.” He made a grand, sweeping gesture. “We shall march to the doorstep of the PLANTs, and this time, we will not stop until they are destroyed!”

He swung around, ignoring Copland’s disbelieving stare, and looking back up at the Destroy Gundam.

“With this,” he cackled, “we will finally have a blue and clean world!”

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To be continued…