Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY

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Phase 43 - Battlefield of Stardust

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Murrue Ramius watched the screen with interest. To the Megami’s starboard side, there was one ship— the heat signature was that of the Alliance’s new battleship, the Girty Lue. To the port side were three more ships— heat signatures identified them as one Nelson-class battleship and two Drake-class destroyers. There were mobile suits approaching from all four ships.

But the interesting thing was the mobile armor approaching from the Girty Lue.

Murrue studied it closely. It was a sleek, dark-painted machine with two massive cannons. There were a number of Windams clinging to it, as well as two Gundams, and one custom purple-painted Windam. It was heading right towards them.

“They must’ve been expecting us,” grumbled Neumann. “Captain, should we activate the Mirage Colloid?”

Murrue sat back. “The Alliance must want us out of the way,” she posited. “I guess they think we’re going to interfere with their plans this time, like we did last time.”

“We cannot let them turn us back here,” Lacus said confidently. Murrue nodded in agreement.

“We’ll fight them here,” she announced, with a thin smile. “It’s been a while since they last saw Shinn. I’m sure they’ll want to catch up.”

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Gazing down at his new Orb-issue flight suit, Shinn couldn’t help but feel out of place. It was a custom color— black with blood-red highlights. His original ZAFT Red flight suit had been lost aboard the Kasselheim— yet another link to his past that had been severed. He wondered if there was supposed to be any meaning to his flight suit being black, stained in blood.

He clicked the neck seals into place and glanced over at Athrun, in his black and violet suit. Athrun nodded to him, passing through the locker room doors into the hangar, and Shinn blinked in surprise at Stella, once again in pink-highlighted black.

“…are we gonna fight Sting and Auel again…?” she asked quietly.

“I won’t hurt them,” Shinn promised. “They’ll be alright.”

Stella headed off towards the Gaia, looking upset. Shinn shook his head— he was about to enter battle, and couldn’t afford to be distracted. He climbed into the Destiny’s cockpit and strapped himself in; the Gundam came to life with a flash of eyes and Phase Shift, and he stepped forward toward the central catapult.

“Finally,” Dearka said, his bronzed face grinning with delight on the monitor, as the Judicator stepped forward. “We’re getting a chance to see what these new machines can really do.”

“Don’t get to having too much fun,” Andy’s grizzled voice put in, as the crimson Mustang Gundam stepped forward towards the starboard catapult. “You and Yzak are coming with me to attack those three ships to port.”

“Then let’s go,” Yzak snarled impatiently, as the dark Calypso stomped after the Mustang.

The golden Akatsuki, sporting its new Shiranui pack, stepped in after the Calypso. “Murdoch,” Mwu warned, “this thing better work.”

Shinn glanced over his shoulder at the Strike Rouge, as it stepped into the starboard catapult and the Aile Striker was lowered down onto its back.

“Luna,” he said, “will you be alright in that thing?”

Lunamaria turned up her nose in mock indignation. “You doubt my skills that much? I am a ZAFT Red, after all. I’ll be fine.” She allowed herself a tiny smirk. “Lunamaria Hawke, Strike Rouge— I’m going!”

The starboard catapult fired, and the Strike Rouge went flying out into space.

Shinn took a deep breath. He had something to protect.

“You’re clear for takeoff, Shinn,” the operator girl’s voice— Shinn recalled her name as Miriallia— reminded him. Shinn clenched his fists around the Destiny’s controls.

“Shinn Asuka, Destiny, going out!”

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“Ensign Myers,” Neo began sardonically, “intelligence indicates that ZAFT’s new model, the Destiny, has made its way into the arsenal of the Orb Raiders.”

Neo’s warning was met with a condescending sniff. “That’s quite alright, Colonel,” Myers’ tinny voice answered. “It’s only a mobile suit. It can’t possibly match the Euclid for defensive power and mobility.”

Neo smiled knowingly. “It took out the Destroy pretty easily,” he added. “Are you sure you want to get cocky?”

“I’ll be fine, Colonel,” Myers insisted. “You’ll see. The Euclid may lack the Destroy’s firepower, but it more than makes it up in maneuverability.”

Neo tried not to chuckle and cut the line, opening one instead to the Girty Lue. “Lee,” he said, still smirking, “make sure to keep track of the file on Myers and the address he wants his effects and letter of condolences sent to.”

Lee arched an eyebrow. “You certainly have a lot of faith,” he remarked.

“Anyone who goes up against a machine like that with an attitude like that is coming home in a body bag,” Neo answered, cutting the line. He looked up ahead, smiling at a familiar presence.

Mwu, he thought amusedly. It’s been quite a long time.

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Shinn blinked in surprise at the sight of a mobile armor, carrying several Windams and the Chaos and Abyss Gundams, charging towards the Megami from the Girty Lue.

“What the hell is that thing?” Mwu asked, as the Akatsuki floated next to the Strike Rouge. He blinked as a familiar sensation pricked his senses. “Wait a minute…”

“It’s Neo,” Shinn said flatly. Mwu looked at him in surprise.

“You know— ”

“Watch out!” Athrun shouted, as the Infinite Justice deployed its beam shield. Shinn deployed his own as well, and the Akatsuki threw its own shield to the defense, as a pair of thick powerful beam blasts slammed into them from the approaching mobile armor.

Across the way, inside the Euclid, Myers smiled ominously.

“I’ll take on the Destiny,” he said. “The Euclid can handle this!”

The mobile suits clinging to the Euclid’s hull released themselves, and the Euclid boosted towards the Megami.

“It’s coming right at us!” Luna exclaimed. Shinn scowled— he would have to earn his keep somehow.

“I’ll take care of it!” he shouted, taking off before anyone could stop him. The charging Euclid fired off a swarm of anti-ship missiles; Shinn put himself between the Euclid and the Megami, and each missile targeted him, arcing towards the Destiny. Shinn took off over the Megami— the missiles and the Euclid following, with the mobile armor showering the Destiny with beam shots.

Shinn scowled, thinking back to his battle with the Destroy— the Destiny had been able to turn the Destroy’s missiles back on it. He jetted away from the Megami, streaking across space, with a set of anti-ship missiles on his heels and a mobile armor not far behind. At last, he whipped around, glowering at the approaching missiles— the seed burst before him, the beam wings opened with a flash, and the air was filled with crackling white energy—

The Euclid’s missiles veered up and came shrieking down towards the Euclid itself. Myers’ eyes widened in disbelief as the missiles pummeled the Euclid’s positron reflector.

“What the hell was that?!” he snapped. The Euclid burst up out of the smoke, firing its beam cannons— Shinn darted away in a blur of afterimages. “Are my missiles not calibrated right?” Myers snarled angrily and gave chase. “You damned mosquito! You can’t beat me!”

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“Fancy seeing you here!” Neo cackled gleefully, as his Windam swept down with a blaze of beam shots towards the Akatsuki. Mwu scowled, letting the beams bounce harmlessly off the Akatsuki’s golden armor, and fired back with his own rifle.

“You died at Endiymon!” Mwu shouted back. “How the hell did you con your way back to life, you son of a bitch?!”

“Still so much bad blood, after all this time?” Neo laughed, as the Windam charged, drawing its beam saber. The two machines came together with a crash, the Akatsuki deflecting the Windam’s saber strike with its shield.

“You knew about that Cyclops System!” Mwu roared. The Akatsuki fired its engines, pushing the Windam back. “You knew we were walking into a deathtrap! You deserved to die in that inferno, with the rest of us!”

“Having some survivor’s guilt, are we?” Neo chuckled, as the Windam somersaulted over the Akatsuki’s head. Mwu whipped around, drawing his double saber and swinging back wildly at the Windam’s waist. It darted backward, firing its CIWS— Mwu took cover behind his shield, rocketing up above the Windam. “You act as if I paid no price of my own! Why do you think I wear this mask?”

“I don’t care!” Mwu shouted back. “Take that goddamn bucket off your head and look at me with your own eyes, you coward!” The Akatsuki showered the Windam with beam shots— Neo jetted aside behind the cover his shield.

Neo’s grin flashed feral. “You want to see the price I paid?” he asked sardonically. He pulled his mask off— Mwu blinked in disbelief—

A hideous array of scars crisscrossed Neo’s face, over his nose, around his eyes, over his forehead, over his temples. His eyes were different colors, the left blue, the right gray, both horribly discolored. He laughed hysterically.

“You’re still the same man you always were, Mwu La Fllaga!” he cackled. “You have the power of a Newtype, but you fail to appreciate it! Now I have your power, power beyond your own, and I can use it for what Newtypes are truly supposed to use it for!” The Windam dashed towards the Akatsuki. “I can use this power to change the world!”

“You’re just going to destroy it!” Mwu cried back, swinging back with his saber and deflecting the Windam’s incoming strike. The two mobile suits rocketed apart, peppering the sky with CIWS rounds.

Neo donned his mask again. “You will see!” he laughed. “I will not waste the gifts I have been given!”

Mwu scowled. “Like hell you will!” he shouted, as the Akatsuki ignited its booster and took off after the Windam.

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The first Drake-class destroyer was peeling away from the other Drake and the Nelson-class battleship. Yzak narrowed his eyes at it, taking off and arming his weapons. A squadron of Dagger Ls, led by a squad of Windams, came storming towards him.

“Yzak,” Andy said, “you handle the Drake on the right. I’ll handle the one on the left. Dearka, you handle the Nelson.”

Yzak scowled. “Roger,” he answered. The Calypso Gundam took off with a roar.

Beam fire came streaking down around the Calypso— Yzak effortlessly slalomed between the beam shots, spiraling down towards the attackers. The crosshairs passed over a Dagger— Yzak opened fire with the beam rifle, cutting down the first Dagger, and took off as another swarm of beam shots flashed towards him.

“It’s faster,” Yzak noted, scowling at the Alliance mobile suits. “You’re too slow!”

A pair of Daggers swept in behind him; Yzak backflipped over the two Daggers and deployed the two hyper impulse cannons, firing and wiping out the Daggers in a pair of crimson blasts. He whipped around again, drawing a beam saber and swinging it effortlessly through another charging Dagger, and with a blast of exhaust, he took off over the remaining Daggers’ heads. They came charging up towards him, firing— Yzak deployed his beam shields, deflecting their shots harmlessly, and vaulted over their heads, seizing the Calypso’s two blue beam boomerangs off its shoulder racks and hurling them down at the Daggers. As they veered aside to avoid the twirling blades, Yzak picked off four more Daggers at his leisure with his beam rifle before they could return their attention to the Calypso— and as they came blazing back up towards him, the boomerangs arced back, slicing through two more Daggers. Yzak snorted in disgust as he retrieved them and lunged down into their ranks with a scream, drawing both beam sabers and cleaving through another pair of Daggers before they could react. Without bothering to turn, he activated the hyper impulse cannons again and cut down another four Daggers— the remaining six pulled back.

Yzak glanced over his shoulder as the four Windams, two sporting Doppelhorn Strikers and the other two toting bazookas, came towards him.

“The Windams,” he snarled, turning to face them. “You’re no match for me now!”

The Windams opened fire; Yzak charged back with a scream.

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“Dammit!” Luna grunted as another volley of shells slammed into the Strike Rouge’s shield, sending it hurtling back. She looked up ahead angrily as the Abyss came raging down towards her, twirling its lance over its head. She rocketed backward, avoiding the Abyss’s lance swing, and rocketed upward to dodge its follow-up beam cannon blast. The sensors went off with a shrill alarm— Luna pulled up and jetted aside as the Chaos’s gunbarrels lined up for a killing blow. “They’re fencing me in!” she cried. The Abyss stormed forward with a beam cannon blast— Luna lunged aside, firing back with her beam rifle, but the Chaos’s gunbarrels swept in around her, forcing her back. The Chaos itself slipped in behind her, squeezing off a killing beam rifle shot—

Luna watched in disbelief as the shot bounced harmlessly off the shield of the Gaia Gundam. The Gaia swung its rifle up and opened fire, forcing the Chaos back.

“Stella!” Luna exclaimed. “You…you saved me!”

Stella stared forlornly at the Chaos and Abyss— Sting and Auel were inside.

“Shinn…would be sad,” she said quietly.

The Chaos and Abyss did not move. Stella closed her eyes, shaking her head to squeeze tears away, and took off towards the Chaos and Abyss.

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The Euclid rattled as another volley of its own missiles slammed into it. Myers snarled a curse under his breath as his next salvo of beam shots passed through a blur of afterimages.

“How many of these damn things are there?!” he screamed, rocketing aside and firing again. The Destiny glided effortlessly over the beam shots, hurling both its beam boomerangs down towards the Euclid’s armor. Both boomerangs sliced along the surface, leaving long black scars— Myers fired back at the Destiny, but again caught only blurry afterimages.

“That thing won’t beat me!” Shinn growled, catching his boomerangs and firing back with his long cannon. The shot landed harmlessly against the Euclid’s positron reflector. “Dammit…”

“Don’t make me laugh!” Myers shouted, swinging around to fire again at the Destiny. Shinn dodged the shots easily, blazing towards the Euclid and drawing his anti-ship sword with a flash.

“If I can’t shoot you,” Shinn snarled, “then I’ll find another way to beat you!”

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“This thing rocks!” Dearka laughed, as the Judicator Gundam stormed towards the Nelson-class battleship. A battalion of Dagger Ls came raging towards him, beam carbines blazing— Dearka smirked, skirting their wave of firepower, and slammed on the brakes. “Time to see if you can take it as well as you dish it out!”

Dual beam cannons on the shoulders and legs swiveled up; dual beam cannons in the forearms extended as the Judicator brought up its twin beam carbines; a pair of railguns swung up on the hips. Energy gathered in the mouth and chest cannons. With a scream, Dearka fired the Judicator’s full arsenal, and up ahead, a dozen Daggers went spiraling backward, trailing smoke and exploding.

Dearka’s eyes lit up. “Awesome!” he laughed. The Daggers split up, returning fire— Dearka charged forward with a grin, smacking shots away with his beam shields and roaring up into the first Dagger’s face, ripping it apart with a point-blank barrage from the beam Gatlings on the Judicator’s shoulders. Another Dagger swept in overhead, beam saber drawn— Dearka tilted the Judicator’s head up towards it and picked it off with a mouth cannon shot.

The Daggers began to pull back as the Nelson rumbled forward, guns blazing. Dearka snorted in amusement.

“They can’t be serious,” he chuckled. “But if that’s how they want to die, they asked for it!”

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The Windam shook as the Akatsuki delivered a punishing kick to its stomach, sending it spiraling backward. Neo growled angrily, deploying a Stiletto and hurling it up at the Akatsuki. Inside, Mwu narrowed his eyes, skirting aside as it exploded in mid-flight, and fired back with his beam rifle.

“You don’t understand our power!” Neo shouted. “You don’t even know how to use it!” The Windam charged, drawing its beam rifle— Mwu seized his chance, firing his own rifle to blow the Windam’s rifle out of its hand. Neo scowled, switching back to his saber. “You can change the world if you so chose! You have the power and the weapons to destroy armies! You can make entire nations bow to your whims! But you don’t! So I will show you how to use our power!”

Mwu’s eyes flashed. “Our power is not for killing!” he shouted back. The Windam sliced down with its saber— the Akatsuki batted the saber aside with its shield and kicked the Windam in the stomach again. “I won’t let you have the chance to destroy us all!”

The Akatsuki’s Shiranui pack came to life, and the remote turrets took off with a flash of exhaust. Neo blinked in disbelief, as the golden turrets darted around the Windam.

“DRAGOONs?!” he exclaimed. “I thought they were maneuvering vanes!”

The turrets opened fire— in a flash, the Windam’s right arm, left leg, head, and left shoulder armor were blown off. Neo grunted as the Windam quaked, and pulled back behind his shield as the turrets followed him with a wave of beam fire.

“Dammit,” he grunted, “the Windam can’t keep up…”

Neo took off, his maimed Windam throwing sparks. Mwu took off after him— a blaze of beam shots barred his path, as a squadron of standard Windams came sweeping in to his left. Mwu shot one last glare at Neo’s crippled retreating Windam and took off towards the attackers.

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With the flash of another explosion, Athrun glanced to his right as another Windam came streaking in. He swung his left leg up, using the Infinite Justice’s left leg beam blade to knock aside the Windam’s saber, and with a point-blank beam rifle blast, it died in a fiery explosion. He glared over his shoulder as a second Windam swept in from behind, rifle raised— in a flash, Athrun whipped around, firing his Grapple Stinger and lodging it in the Windam’s torso. He quickly retracted it, igniting his boomerang blade, and impaled the trapped Windam on the blade, blowing it apart in a blaze.

“Megami!” he exclaimed. “What’s the situation?”

“Yzak, Andy, and Dearka are keeping the three ships to port tied up,” Miriallia said, “and the ship to starboard isn’t going anywhere!”

Athrun narrowed his eyes, ducking underneath a salvo of beam fire and slashing a Windam in two with his boomerang blade. “What about Shinn and Luna?”

Shells whizzed by as a Doppelhorn Windam opened fire— Athrun whirled around, cutting it down with a rifle shot to the cockpit. “Shinn is still fighting the mobile armor,” Miriallia said, “and Luna and Stella are fighting the Chaos and Abyss!”

“Luna and Stella?” Athrun repeated. Another Windam took the opportunity to come roaring up behind him, saber raised for a killing stab— Athrun fired the Infinite Justice’s subflight lifter thrusters, sending the Windam careening back, and whipped around to gun it down with his rifle. “Do they need help?”

“We’re fine!” Luna’s voice cut in. “I’m coming to help you!”

“I don’t need— ” Athrun began, cut off a moment later by a storm of beam shots. He growled and slapped the shots aside with his beam shield. Two Windams came streaking in with their beam rifles drawn— Athrun fired back, missing the first but sniping down the second, when another beam shot pierced the Windam from above, blowing it apart in a thunderous blaze.

Athrun glanced at the Strike Rouge in frustration.

“You’re going to get yourself killed doing that,” he said, deflecting another beam with his beam shield and firing back.

“I’m not gonna be totally useless,” Luna shot back.

As the Windams charged, the Infinite Justice and Strike Rouge took off together, charging back.

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“Damn you all!” Yzak screamed. “Die already!”

The Calypso spiraled through the sky, dodging fire from a quartet of Windams. They arced around again, the Doppelhorn Windams opening fire with their cannons, and shells went streaking past as Yzak jetted aside. The other two skirted around him, leveling off their bazookas— Yzak glowered over his shoulder, and with a flash, two beam-tipped rocket anchors swung up from the Calypso’s hip armor, jetting forward and slamming into the Windams’ cockpits. Yzak rocketed forward towards the Doppelhorn Windams with a scream, swinging the captured Windams towards their comrades, and before the opponents could react, he slammed on the brakes and sent the crippled Windams hurtling towards their comrades. As the Doppelhorn Windams took cover behind their shields, Yzak wiped them all out with a hyper impulse cannon blast.

“This is too easy,” Yzak snarled. The six remaining Daggers pulled back around the Drake— Yzak whirled around, taking off towards them with a scream. “There you are!”

The Daggers opened fire— one of them hurled a Stiletto down towards him. Yzak smacked it aside with his beam shield, firing back with his rifle and gunning down the Dagger that had thrown the Stiletto. As it died, he rocketed up into the Daggers’ ranks, drawing a beam saber in his left hand and tearing down two more Daggers. He whipped around with a final beam salvo, shooting down the last three Daggers.

A wave of machinegun fire pelted the Calypso’s Phase Shift armor— Yzak turned to face the Drake with a scowl.

“Don’t make me laugh!” he snapped, firing back at the Drake’s anti-air Vulcan with his rifle. He charged towards the bridge, screaming, and with a shriek of torn metal, crushed the Drake’s bridge with his beam saber. The Calypso rocketed aside, angling for another shot, and fired its hyper impulse cannons into the Drake’s open portside hangar.

Yzak snorted in disgust as the Drake exploded, and took off.

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The Chaos dove backward, as the Gaia persistently gave chase, beam saber drawn.

“This isn’t the way it was supposed to go!” Sting growled. “Auel! Can you open a line with her?!”

“She’s blocking communication!” Auel snapped, as the Abyss tried to bring the blunt end of its lance down. The Gaia jetted back, letting the Abyss’s lance swing past, and then delivered a staggering kick to the Abyss’s face, sending it reeling back. Inside the Gaia, Stella returned her attention to the Chaos.

“I will protect,” she murmured, taking off towards the Chaos. Sting grunted in frustration, deploying his gunbarrels to fire in front of the Gaia and ward it off. Stella expertly snaked through the beam shots, bringing her saber down on the Chaos’s shield. “I will protect my home!”

“At least try to disable her!” Sting exclaimed, backing away and firing with his shield’s machineguns.

“Go away!” Stella screamed. “Leave them alone!”

“I can’t get a clear shot!” Auel protested. He opened fire with the Abyss’s shoulder cannons— the Gaia spiraled down underneath the shots, and Sting yelped in surprise as the Abyss’s shells slammed into the Chaos.

“Auel! What the hell are you doing?!” Sting shouted.

“I told you I couldn’t get a clear shot!” Auel shot back. The Abyss dove backwards as the Gaia showered it with beam cannon fire; Stella whirled around, charging toward the Chaos.

“I don’t wanna hurt you,” Stella growled, “so go away!”

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As another Dagger exploded violently, Andy smirked, turning the Mustang Gundam’s beam rifle on a second Dagger and blowing it apart effortlessly.

“Gotta hand it to the Alliance,” he grunted, pausing to fling a beam boomerang down at another foe, slicing it half before it could react. “They sure do know how to build mobile suits.”

A Doppelhorn Dagger came streaking in, cannons blazing— Andy skirted its shots effortlessly, firing the rocket anchors mounted on the Mustang’s hip armor and smashing the Dagger’s cockpit. Andy whirled around, catching his boomerang on the rebound, and swinging the Dagger with him, putting it in the path of another trio of Daggers as they opened fire, accidentally destroying their comrade. Andy fired the Mustang’s beam rifle, cutting the Daggers down.

He glanced over his shoulder; another Dagger, toting a bazooka, swept in behind him, lining up for a killing shot— Andy smirked, whipping around, igniting a beam blade on the Mustang’s foot and wiping the Dagger out with a lightning-fast roundhouse kick that sent the beam blade tearing through the Dagger’s waist.

“I wonder how Yzak and Dearka are doing,” Andy muttered to himself, as he effortlessly turned and shot down another charging Dagger. “Ah well, they’re probably having plenty of fun of their own!”

He looked up ahead at the Drake-class destroyer looming ahead, and with a smirk, went charging towards it.

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The Judicator plowed through a wave of machinegun fire, storming towards the furiously firing Nelson as it desperately tried to hold him off. The Daggers came streaking up towards him— Dearka laughed contemptuously, boosting aside as their shots sailed by harmlessly. The first brazen foe charged into his face, beam sabers upraised in both hands.

“You must have a death wish!” Dearka shouted, stashing his beam carbines on the Judicator’s hip armor and catching the Dagger’s arms with his machine’s bare hands. He smirked with satisfaction as he cut the Dagger to ribbons with a point-blank burst from the 45mm machineguns installed in the Judicator’s chest.

As the first Dagger exploded, Dearka rocketed up over the plume of fire, and fired another mouth cannon shot to pick off another Dagger. He swept aside, charging towards the Nelson’s prow and peppering it with beam Gatling bolts. A Dagger came sweeping in from behind— Dearka whirled around with a laugh, drawing a beam saber from the Judicator’s hip armor and slashing the Dagger in two. He whipped around again, firing a blaze of beam cannon volleys into the Nelson’s prow and blowing it apart. The rest of the ship went reeling back violently— Dearka charged up towards the bridge, blowing it out with a shot from his chest cannon, and forced open the buckling hull with another beam cannon volley. A Dagger came streaking in, beam carbine blazing— Dearka deflected its shots with his beam shield and sent a final cannon volley into the Nelson’s innards.

As the ship exploded into a thunderous fireball, Dearka gleefully blew apart the last remaining Daggers.

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Metal shrieked as the Destiny’s beam boomerangs carved another pair of ugly black scars over the sloping armor of the Euclid. Myers growled angrily as sparks flew in the cockpit, and fired back with his beam cannons. The Destiny effortlessly somersaulted over them, storming down with a long cannon shot that slammed against the Euclid’s positron reflector.

“Dammit!” Myers screamed. “You can’t beat me, you goddamned ZAFT machine!”

The Euclid boosted backward to avoid a killing stab from the Destiny’s anti-ship sword, firing its beam cannons again. Shinn scowled, smacking the shots aside with his beam shield and charging after the retreating Euclid.

“Come back here!” Shinn shouted, racing after the Euclid with a scream.

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Charging past the explosions of the Drake’s last mobile suits, Andy smirked as the Mustang streaked through the Drake’s desperate anti-aircraft fire, drawing his two anti-ship swords and igniting their blades. He slammed them down into the Drake’s hull, drawing out plumes of fire as he struck magazines. The Drake’s missile launchers opened fire— Andy rocketed forward along the hull, letting the ship’s missiles slam into its hull and tear the ship apart.

At last he came down before the bridge, close enough to see the incredulous faces of the Alliance officers.

“Sorry, guys,” he chuckled. “But you should’ve left us alone.”

The Mustang fired the Scylla cannon in its forehead, smashing through the bridge and the engines. As the Drake was torn apart by a massive fireball, Andy took off, still smirking.

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Myers glanced to his left angrily as a flash of light caught his attention— the Girty Lue was launching retreat flares. Already the ship’s two stolen ZAFT Gundams and remaining Windams were clawing for distance, heading back.

“Ensign Myers,” the gruff voice of the captain began. “The retreat signal has been fired. Why are you not pulling away from that enemy?”

“I can take him down!” Myers screamed, charging around the Destiny with a beam cannon volley. “I can beat him!”

“Retreat, Myers!” Neo’s voice shouted angrily. “That’s an— ”

Myers cut the line angrily. “No one will care if I can kill him!” he snarled. “Die already, Coordinator! DIE ALREADY!”

Inside the Destiny, Shinn narrowed his eyes, storming forward. The Euclid fired again as Shinn charged— it rocketed aside, and Shinn whirled around before it could fire again. With a final long cannon shot, he speared the Euclid’s engine block on a crimson beam. The Euclid’s engines died with a violent explosion— Myers yelped in surprise as the Euclid’s forward section rocked under the blow. He tugged at the controls.

“The controls won’t respond!” he shouted. “What’s going— ”

He looked up, and screamed as the Destiny drove its sword into the Euclid’s cockpit.

Shinn scowled, wincing at the familiar feeling of death. He yanked the sword out and fired a long cannon shot through the wound, and with a thunderous explosion, the Euclid was gone.

“Shinn,” he heard Miriallia’s voice say. “The Alliance forces are retreating. You can return now.”

Shinn looked out towards the Girty Lue, and headed back to the Megami.

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The Minerva’s repairs were finally complete. Rey strapped himself into a seat in the Minerva’s crew lounge, sitting back as the countdown began. He thought back to his last encounter with Shinn, in the South Shetland Islands, protecting Athrun Zala…and Lunamaria Hawke.

Rey closed his eyes, reaching out and feeling the familiar presence of Rau Le Creuset, as the Deliverance ascended into space ahead of them.

“Engines activated!” Meyrin’s voice announced over the loudspeaker. The Minerva’s engines came to life with a roar, the ship shook, and the Minerva turned toward the stars.

Rey scowled. Shinn was up there, and this time they would finish their battle.

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To be continued…