The moment they launched from the mother ship, they saw the silver, ringed structure that shone in the sunlight, as well as the fleet deployed to protect it. In the cockpit of his newly-received GOUF Ignited, Yzak clicked his tongue in disgust.
"Damn! As reported, there are quite a few of them!"
The mobile suit squadron from that deployed fleet were already on their way toward them. The structure behind the fleet looked to be a modified version of the abandoned O'Neill Colony, a gigantic cylinder with a diameter of six kilometers. Even though current measuring devices such as radar could be unreliable, how could they overlook a fleet carrying something that large!
The frustrated Yzak heard the suspicious voice of Dearka Elthman from the dark grey ZAKU Phantom at his side. < Yeah. But why the hell are they here? >
The reason why ZAFT hadn't been aware of the presence of the enemy fleet was because they were navigating just outside of the reaches of their patrol area. They were too far away to attack PLANT.
Just then, the first wave of fire came from the enemy mobile suits, cutting through space. Yzak shouted back to his friend.
"No idea! But they're definitely not friendly envoys, are they? --So let's move!"
< Yeah! >
As soon as Dearka replied, Yzak's unit sped up and charged toward the enemy troops. Yzak's GOUF Ignited with pale blue coloring cut through the void, as Dearka's Blaze ZAKU Phantom shot its beam assault rifle. It pierced through an enemy mobile suit as it disappeared in a flash of light. Meanwhile, Yzak leapt straight at the Windam out in the lead and quickly swing its beam sword. Without looking back at the machine exploding behind him, he cut through a second aircraft with the sword, then quickly turned around and unleashed a barrage from his beam guns at the colony behind the fleet. A new mobile armor cut him off, to protect the colony, dispatching its shield. The reflector output from it deflected the beam.
"...Shit!"
Apparently, that large structure seemed to be the cornerstone of the fleet. Yzak dove inside the reflector while avoiding gunfire. swinging his long sword down over the aircraft.
The structure that looked like a silver ring from a distance was so huge it was overwhelming, when viewed up close. As expected from an abandoned colony, pieces of buildings still remained on the curved inner walls. Like the illumination that adorned the huge cylinder, the beams flying in the surrounding space and countless explosions bloomed. At the front of the colony where the fleet was protecting it, there was a sudden change. The countless boosters that were attached to the outer walls began to emit gas.
"They're applying a brake?" Yzak spoke, scowling. "In a place like this? Why?"
As he watched, the huge structure slowed down. He didn't think they were going to speed up the structure again and use the wrecked colony to hit PLANT, so that possibility was at least ruled out. But, he didn't understand why they would bring such a thing here and then stop it once it was discovered.
Yzak continued to fight, sensing something suspicious as he kept looking toward the colony. After its deceleration, the booster on its diagonal line activated and started to tilt the cylinder.
Were they switching direction? Yzak was even more confused - no, the boosters thrust was so delicate it was as if it was performing a subtle stabilizing control.
Yzak felt an ominous concern raise with that move.
< What? What are they trying to do!? > Dearka, who appeared to have noticed the same thing he did, called out, puzzled.
Yzak couldn't guess the enemy's intention either, so he ordered on an intuition. "I don't know, but we've got to stop this thing! Go around to the engine!"
< Yeah! >
Dearka and Yzak sped their aircrafts toward the boosters that continued to spray. The ZAKU Phantom's pod opened and dozens of missiles launched into space toward the booster. The men following Yzak as well as the others also focused their fire on the boosters lining the colony wall.
If one side of the booster was destroyed, the axis of rotation would be shaken in the zero gravity of outer space. But being in front of such a huge object, a change like that was nearly invisible to Yzak's eyes. His frustration and anxiety grew, still lacking the understanding of the enemy's intentions.
Then, suddenly, the enemy fleet which was both in front of and behind the colony began to disperse in all direction, like a school of fish sensing danger.
"What...?" Yzak made a puzzled sound. It wasn't just the fleet. The enemy's mobile suit squadron also stopped fighting and moved.
A retreat? ... No, this is...!
"All troops, evade!" As soon as Yzak screamed as loud as he could, a bright light pierced through the darkness. The light spread, and seemed to envelope everything in an instant.
< Yzak! >
Dearka's cry hit his ears. But that next moment, the huge light slipped past them and was sucked into the colony. The vortex of light that illuminated their surroundings changed its trajectory significantly from behind the colony. Yzak couldn't believe his eyes.
The beam is bending!?
A beam, like light, should always go straight ahead. And yet, the vortex of light that just rushed past them had indeed changed direction.
And the destination of the beam that had just changed direction was--
"Aaah...!"
Yzak could only gasp as he watched the light bursting through space. In that direction, faintly visible beyond that was their homeland - PLANT.
"Wh-what...? What in the hell is..." Even as the light that burned through his eyed faded away, Yzak still felt like he was in a nightmare. He was able to see PLANT being shot from where he was as well. As if it were a lie, the beam cut through the rotating hourglasses. Millions of lives were just lost in that moment. In the blink of an eye, everything that lived on that man-made land, old and young, mothers and children, were sucked into a vacuum of darkness and died before they realized what had happened. It was like the Junius Seven tragedy all over again.
But, how could this have happened?
A message from their mother ship arrived, detailing the specifics of the damage.
< Januarius ... and December...!? > He heard Dearka's trembling voice as he received the same message.
"Tch...!" Yzak clenched his fist tightly, slamming it into his console. Why was this happening again? Didn't they keep wearing their uniforms to prevent this!? "Shiiiit!"
As he trembled with rage, Dearka's voice continued. < From the other side of the moon..? No way...! >
It was true that nobody could have predicted that the enemy would target PLANT in such a way. But they were the only ones who could have stopped this!
Yzak snapped his eyes back up and glared at the relay colony, which was still charged and surrounded by sparking.
"Dearka! We're taking this thing down!"
As soon as those words left his mouth, his hand was pulling the lever and stepping on the pedal.
When Yzak saw the broadcast with the two Lacuses, doubts began to creep into his heart. That everything they had believed in so far may have been wrong. However in that moment, in the face of the one-sided slaughter that had just taken place, even the slightest hesitations he held were blown away.
"If it fires a second shot, it's all over for PLANT! We're going to do whatever it takes to bring it down!" Yzak cried loudly as he headed toward the colony.
< Yeah! > Dearka and the others, coming back to their senses, responded vigorously and followed him.
What is true and what is false - Yzak no longer knew that. But there was only one thing he did know.
PLANT, they had to protect their own people! That was undoubtedly their duty.
Yzak let out a battle cry and leapt at the Alliance fleet, which was re-establishing to protect the colony. The Slayer Whip on his arm smashed through the bridge of an enemy's ship, immediately followed by cutting through a Windam with his long sword. The rest of the ZAFT fleet that was advancing from the rear unleashed a volley of fire, and countless missiles struck at the colony's hull.
< Aim for a single point! > Dearka quickly ordered, and the team of Gunner ZAKU Warriors set up their Orthos. The heat rays from those weapons all converged to cut through the outer wall of the colony.
Eventually, the battle was over. The wreckage of ships, mobile suits, and the colony itself now drifted, scattered. However, Yzak looked at the result of the battle with a heavy heart.
They took out one of the waypoints for the time being. However, that action would not bring back any of the lives that were lost.
The Nasca-class Voltaire of the ZAFT army was racing through space to attack the lunar orbital fleet. At the first waypoint of the beam cannon, the battle between ZAFT and the Alliance had already begun with the aircraft Gondwana as the flagship. Just before the rendezvous, Yzak and his mobile suit team were already boarding their machines.
< Damn! The Alliance using such cowardly tactics... >
Hearing the impatient Yzak yell, Dearka chuckled in his cockpit. "There's no such thing as cowardice in a shitty war, is there?"
< What! Dearka, you bastard, are you taking their side!? > Yzak became immediately irritated. It was a good thing the two of them were on a private channel, so the rest of the crew couldn't see or hear them.
"No, of course not! Really..." Dearka was of course, outraged at the way the Alliance shot at their homeland of PLANT all of a sudden. But there was a very small amount of hesitation in that thought. "Is it really okay? Us, here..." He suddenly let his hesitation spill out to his companion. Yzak ruefully raised his eyebrows in the monitor.
< What is that!? PLANT, we have to-- >
"I know we have to protect it, and I know we have to fight, but..."
The other day, right after the appearance of the two Lacuses, Dearka talked with Yzak. About if what they've believed in so far was right, and what they should do now. Just like that, PLANT was shot at. He knew that this wasn't the time to start thinking about that, but he still couldn't help but feel a discomfort.
PLANT, which was torn by the appearance of the two Lacuses, became united once again in the face of tragedy. The pain of having your people killed was both what brought people together and also united them in driving a hatred of the enemy. He felt that they shouldn't be riding that wave. That was what Dearka learned from the last war.
"And about Athrun..."
The news of Athrun's escape also upset them greatly. Hearing him mutter that, Yzak spit back.
< Don't talk about him! >
"But..."
Athrun was a sincere, yet inflexible guy. He must have had a lot of reasons to betray ZAFT yet again. Even Yzak, who always complains about and yells at him, knew this.
Yzak stared intently at Dearka through the monitor.
< There is evidence of him being a traitor, as well as reports. So what do you think is going to happen if we make any kind of fuss about that here? >
Dearka was silent. Yzak's very words spoke volumes about Athrun's escape as well as [Yzak's] doubts of the top brass who handled it. If they made any kind of wrong move or spoke their real doubts outloud now, it would not only attract attention from headquarters, but hurt the morale of their troops. Even knowing that, [Dearka] still couldn't help the empty helplessness he felt passing through his heart.
Are we going down the wrong path again...?
The lost Dearka was spurred back by Yzak's scoldling.
< You idiot! For now, just think about protecting PLANT! >
Dearka stared at his friend's face, then laughed as he gave a shrug of his shoulders.
"Yes, yes, Understood, Lord Commander." (reference)
< You bastard! Are you making fun of me!? >
"I'm just showing my respect, jeez."
With his typical retort, Dearka started to pull himself together. Even if they were on the wrong path, they'd never be able to correct it if they didn't protect PLANT here. Yzak was right. This wasn't the time to get lost in his thoughts.
At that time, a communication came from the bridge.
< Distance to the first relay port, 3000! The main force is already engaged in battle. >
The monitors transmitted video of the front lines. The colony structure that looked like a piece cut off from a pipe floated in the center of the video, and countless rays and twinkling dots of light flashed in front of it. Any tiny spark that shone and disappeared was a sign that a life had just been lost. The lunar fleet was trying to advance with fierce fire, but the enemy was desperately pushing back, so the battle situation was going back and forth.
Yzak, noting this, impatiently called out, < Damn! We still haven't reached it!? Let's go! >
"Yeah!" Dearka called back, departing the mothership to follow right after the commander's craft.
Immediately, the battlefield spread out in all directions. Dearka quickly took out an enemy mobile suit that had thrown itself straight into the front lines. The Earth Forced deployed a specially equipped ship with a positron reflector on the bow to the front of the colony, to counter the ZAFT ships that were trying to push through with a barrage of fire.
"Shit!" Dearka unleashed a series of beams from his assault rifle on the huge mobile armor equipped with the reflector. While the mobile armor caught it with its reflector, Yzak's GOUF slipped into the gap. The GOUF snapped its wrist, and its Slayer Whip struck the mobile armor. The long whip precisely crushed the reflector's generator. In the next moment, two great shouts overlapped one another, as Dearka's ZAKU and Yzak's GOUF hurriedly attacked the giant from both sides with their Beam Tomahawk and Beam Sword. The mobile armor spewed out flames from is armor, and then exploded, as the two rushed ahead.
Although one machine went down, another would come to stand in their path. Dearka moved his machine in all direction, taking out one enemy after the next.
Yzak leapt toward the enemy battleship. < Eeeh! > The GOUF's Beam Gun pierced countless holes into the flank of the enemy ship.
Dearka also opened the pod on his machine's back, aiming for another battleship. The missiles fired in an arc that enveloped the battleship. As the battleship erupted into flames, the reflector that had spread from the bow disappeared. A hole in the enemy's seemingly ironclad defense. From there, the line of fire from the ZAFT ships made it through, hitting the colony's outer wall for the first time.
"Alright!" Dearka shouted with triumph as he rushed to another enemy ship.
"Those guys...!" Yzak clenched his fists when he received the call. The message from headquarters instructed them to head out and defend Station One, which was under attack. And, it was the Eternal and the Archangel who were attacking it.
Dearka shrugged his shoulders and spoke in a calming manner. "It's natural that they didn't contact us, isn't it? We're in ZAFT, after all."
"I know that!" Yzak spoke back roughly. The fact that Dearka so easily knew the cause of his anger only added to his frustration. Of course he wasn't angry about the fact that they were attacking.
Jeez! It's always these guys!
Once upon a time, Yzak would have found it despicable that the Archangel and the Eternal were attacking the organization he belonged to. But he didn't find it surprising that they were trying to take down Station One. Because he, too, had witnessed Arzachel being shot. The Chairman had to be insane to bring out the Requiem at this time. Where was the need for it? There was barely any strength left in the Earth Force to fight ZAFT any more.
Minimal sacrifice for allies, and maximum damage to the enemy. That was the right thing to do, strategically. However, Yzak knew what waited at the end of that road, having seen the quagmire at the end of the last war. He had believed in the Chairman, and fought for his declaration that something like this would never happen again. But the Chairman was now trying to repaint the world in his own colors. And anything that would contradict it would be erased. It was the same, stupid hope of those who started the previous war.
Athrun must have noticed that earlier and broke away. Perhaps he was with the Eternal and the Archangel. He wasn't the kind of guy who would live so long only to get shot down so easily.
That's good. But why didn't he talk to us about such an important thing!?
In his irritation, Yzak yelled out to the ship's Captain. "Anyway, let's move out! Get the ship out there, now!"
"Y-yes!" The Captain, who was the target of the blunt order, replied quickly and began to give out instructions. Dearka sighed and gave him a sympathetic look.
"So what's the plan, Commander? What are we going to do?" Dearka, who was already boarded and waiting in his cockpit, prompted Yzak on the bridge of the Voltaire.
Taking down the Eternal and the Archangel who were attacking Station One. Those were the orders given from HQ. Those who are wearing a ZAFT military uniform have no choice but to obey them. But honestly, he was fine with letting the Requiem fall.
"Shall we head out and get immediately killed?"
That way they'd still be doing the military a favor. Glaring at Dearka through the monitor, Yzak thundered.
< Idiot! If that's your attitude, don't even bother going out at all! >
"No, I mean..." Dearka sighed. Even if they went out there with full intentions, it felt like a punch line to be killed instantly considering who their opponents would be. They had already spotted the Freedom and the Justice in space. And Dearka, who had fought alongside them in the previous war, knew the skill and the performance of those two machines. He was sorry to say it himself, but they were no match for them.
Irritated, Yzak shouted, < I'm heading out! >
"Hah?" Dearka replied, but Yzak's figure had already disappeared toward the elevator. Only his instructions to the Captain could be heard over the line.
< Have the Voltaire support from behind! Got it? Don't pull ahead! Or you'll be killed! >
Hearing that, Dearka secretly suppressed a laugh. Even he acknowledged their power. Athrun and Kira - neither of them were someone one wanted to make an enemy of. But not because they can't fight or win.
Dearka was once again having thoughts about the powers he belonged to. There was no doubt that the real Lacus Clyne was with the Eternal. And with Athrun and Kira there, how could that Lacus be a fake? From that alone, they could tell that the Chairman was lying. And from Dearka's point of view, it was unlikely that a person who would tell such a big lie would only tell one lie.
Even with the Destiny Plan, Dearka couldn't accept it. The only thing that could be told from one's genes is the innate ability of a person. Human value could not be measured with such things. He had been taught that by a Natural girl who was inferior in abilities to him. Was she out there with them, too? In the midst of the anxiety that was filling [Dearka's] heart, Yzak's face appeared in the monitor.
< Let's go! > It was the first thing out of his mouth as the pale blue GOUF launched out of the Voltaire.
As their mobile suits lined up together, Dearka asked, "But what are you going to do, Yzak? There's no way you..."
Yzak was an irresistibly stubborn and loyal man. This was a good thing, but since he was heading out like this, was he really going to obey the orders given to him and attack Athrun and the others?
Yzak's reply was completely out-of-the-box. < There's only one guy I want to punch right now! >
"Huh?"
< Showing up again! In such a place! >
Dearka involuntarily sighed. 'One guy' was definitely Athrun. After all, what Yzak had been upset about was that Athrun had disappeared, and then just reappeared as if nothing had happened.
"... Jeez, you're pretty straightforward."
Yzak replied with < What did you say!? > when he overheard Dearka.
"Nothing at all!" Because they were always like this, he was always the one in the middle of it all. With that fond thought, Dearka followed his friend's machine as it sped into the battlefield.
A bunch of missiles came showering down.
--Not Kira. Who..?
Athrun turned his gaze in surprise at the pale blue GOUF that headed toward him.
< BASTARD! What are you doing in a place like this again!? >
An all too familiar, angry voice burst from the speaker. In the monitor appeared the face of a former comrade, whose usually fair face was flushed with anger. A voice of surprise escaped from Athrun's mouth.
"Yzak!"
Before he could say any more, a transmission from the dark grey ZAKU that was following the GOUF interrupted.
< What do you mean... he's just trying to take the station down. >
"Dearka...!?"
The face that appeared next to Yzak's was also familiar to Athrun. But he was still briefly confused. It was no mystery that Yzak and the others were there. But he had no doubt that they they must have been given orders to take them down. And yet, he had just saved him and opened up communications to speak to him. It seemed that the two of them were acting for their own reasons.
< That's not what I'm saying! >
As Yzak ranted and raved, nearly steaming from the head, Dearka parsed the situation plainly.
< Forget about that. Let's just get this done! >
"Huh...?" Athrun, who could hardly keep up with their conversion, simply opened his mouth.
< Dearka, you bastard! >
< What? You don't want to? >
< Ch ... you're wrong! But you've got the wrong order of things! >
< So~ You'll have to deal with that later! >
Athurn, who had dumbfoundedly watched the two of them argue from the sidelines, was turned to by Dearka who gave him a cheeky smile.
< Let's go! We've gotta take this thing down! >
Yzak quickly bit back, < That's right! So what are you waiting for! >
Yzak and Dearka sped toward the relay station with the maximum momentum their own aircrafts could take. Athrun hurried to follow and line his machine up with them. A feeling rose from within him, as if he had just gained a million allies. Yzak destroyed a group of missiles firing at him as is simply brushing them aside, while Dearka fired a warning shot to the garrison approaching them from behind. Supported by his comrades-in-arms, Athrun tirelessly controlled his machine.
After watching the Justice and the Archangel fly off, Dearka asked his friend, "What are we going to do, Yzak?"
They had helped take Station One down for the time being. Which was nothing less than an act of betrayal to ZAFT, but that sort of thing was unnecessary, as they had acted from the bottom of their hearts. But where did they go from here? Personally, Dearka wanted to help Athrun and the others. However, that was also a path that would mean having to fight head-to-head against his own army.
He knew that, emotionally, Yzak felt the same way. But could he betray ZAFT? How would Yzak, who was even more stubborn than Athrun, make a decision?
Yzak, who had been silent for a couple of moments, finally spoke out, somewhat strained.
< ... We'll cover the Eternal! >
"Eeh?" Dearka replied back, teasing.
Then Yzak replied, firmly, < It's a ZAFT ship! >
Dearka nearly burst into laughter. "That makes sense!"
Originally, the Eternal was a ZAFT-registered ship. He guessed that was Yzak's excuse for himself. But it was funny how clumsy his friend was for insisting on that.
In either case, he had received his order. So Dearka happily moved his aircraft toward the Eternal, which was struggling alone.
No matter what decision Yzak made, Dearka would follow him. But even much more so when it lined up with his own wishes.
They couldn't let them fire the Requiem. If they had made any sort of mistake, they'd do everything in their power to correct it.
"Shit! I've had enough of this!" Yzak yelled to the troops of the army that he belonged to. "You all! Didn't you hear what Lacus Clyne said!? Get out of here!"
There were a small number of people who listened to him and turned around. But many of the soldiers didn't listen to his words and still tried to head toward the pale red ship. Dearka's ZAKU Phantom quickly moved into their path and fired a missile.
(some stuff with the Dom Trooper Trio)
Yzak was also in the midst of a melee. His Slayer Whip cut through the void and stole a GuAIZ's rifle, while his beam gun blew a ZAKU's head away. He looked behind him, and shouted out in frustration.
"Where's the Freedom!? What the hell is it doing!?"
Even though it was a state-of-the-art machine, it was taking this long to take on a single unit!?
At his anxiety, Dearka teased, < What? Do you want his help? >
Yzak immediately lost his temper and shouted back, "No! You idiot!"
On the periphery, a pale blue GOUF and a dark grey ZAKU could be seen defending the Eternal against their own brethren. A moment later, a transmission came in from the GOUF.
< Eternal! >
The boy's sharp face and voice were familiar to Kira.
< Yzak Jule? > Waltfeld started to respond, but Yzak interrupted him quickly with a remark.
< The Messiah is about to fire! Call back those in the line of fire! Hurry! >
"... Damn! They're such hard-headed idiots!"
Dearka Elthman lightly shrugged his shoulders in response to the angry voice that echoed through the still air. "You ... think about where we are right now!"
They were in an area lined with neat, white graves. Yzak Jule, remembering where they had come to, kept his mouth shut for a moment. However, he was still unhappy, and continued on while keeping his voice down.
"Do they have any idea what kind of time this is? We need to work together to bring stability back to the world as soon as possible! And yet, there's still such petty stubbornness and taking digs at one another...!"
"That can't really be helped, since that's just what politicians do."
"Idiot!"
Hearing Dearka's words, Yzak shouted again in a voice that echoed through the cemetery. They had returned home together to protect Lacus Clyne, but today they were visiting this site on Aprilius together.
"A politician should be looking at the bigger picture to make their decisions! It shouldn't be about those guys who are obsessed with immediate profit and prestige at a time like this!"
"I know, I get that, so you don't have to yell about it." Dearka sighed inwardly while trying to soothe his partner.
Looking at Yzak who had a very straight-talk personality, as well as the council's proceedings which tended to be redundant, of course he'd find it rather frustrating. While that was understandable, he still needed to discern where they were at the moment. Just the other day, [Yzak] had yelled at a congressman in the chamber.
"The same thing happened after the last war." Whether or not Yzak heard Dearka's suggestion, he continued ranting on. "Both PLANT and the Earth, neither of them wanted to give up their own terms, so were unable to reach a peace. Even though we signed the Junius Treaty, it didn't even last a year! We can't let that happen again! We should know this!"
As he walked shoulder to shoulder with his friend, Dearka couldn't help but smile. Not letting it happen again - Yzak's passion was clearly conveyed. And that feeling was the same for him.
"But ... this time, Lacus Clyne is there."
When Dearka spoke, Yzak's anger softened.
"... Yeah."
This time, they wouldn't go down the same path again. Surely even the congressman Yzak cursed at must have had the same desire for peace that they did.
The two of them stopped walking. There was a tombstone waiting for them. Dearka placed down the bouquet of flowers he had brought.
"Yo ... Nicol." Dearka softly spoke in a slightly more formal tone. "There's a ceasefire for the time being, so we're reporting it to you."
That report was the purpose for them to come here today. Yzak also spoke proudly to the gravestone.
"So you can rest easy! This time, there's no stopping this current!"
For a moment, the two of them prayed to the souls to their comrades who were put to rest on this land. Nicol, Miguel, Rusty - boys whose futures were cut short by the war. They didn't want any more sacrifices like theirs to be made again...
That sort of feeling from each and every one of them could surely save their hearts and the world. For some reason, the words of Chairman Durandal came back to them in that moment. To make those words a true reality this time...
"Shall we go?"
"Yeah."
The two decisively turned on their heels.