Chapter 16

-Hangar, Gamow-

It was time for his revenge. Yzak Joule thought of nothing else but ending the Strike for humiliation it had done to him. He didn't even bother to listening the briefing, all he remembered was to remove the Strike as soon as possible.

"Yzak Joule, Duel! Launching!" He announced, and immediately felt the rush as the catapult launched his stolen mobile suit from his ship. He was quickly followed by Dearka Elsman, and Nicol Amalfi. He stared ahead as he drew closer to the fleet, his machine easily outpacing the GINNs that were rushing to battle.

Detecting an incoming communication over a private channel, Yzak was a little surprised to see Athrun appear on his screen.

"Zala, about time you showed up," Yzak said in a snark tone, giving Athrun a feral grin. "Was thinking we were going to win this without you."

"Good to see you too, Yzak," Athrun said, small grin on his face. "Yzak, you…. en … u…"

Yzak blinked and looked to Athrun's image, watching it fizzle out into static. "Athrun?" He leaned over and adjusted the signal, but found he still couldn't contact his fellow pilot. He tried contacting the others but again found himself unable to connect, even though he could clearly see them on his viewing screen. "The hell is going on?" Even his radar was showing a blank. He narrowed his eyes as he examined the area around him, looking for anything that seemed out of place.

"Something's not right." Yzak said as he look into his surroundings

Flash from a rear camera caught his attention and Yzak shifted a screen to view it. To his horror, one of their cruisers was drifting, an obvious hole blown right through the bridge and out the bottom of the ship. A second later, the ship erupted in ball of fire that near instantly disappeared in the cold of space. Nearly all of the GINNs that were launched had stopped to look at what had happened, only to pay witness to a second ship taking a shot from a beam of red energy. The bridge sunk inward from the energy beam before bursting into fire.

"How did those damn Naturals get past us!" Yzak shouted, turning to find the source of the attack. His fingers danced across his console in order to find a way to get through the static that plagued his machine, and from what he could see, was affecting the other as well. They hadn't budged since the first ship had sunk.

A sudden sparkle of green light caught his eye and he looked to see it trail through space, before descending down onto another ship. CIWS were firing like mad, but not a single one landed a hit before the unknown object slammed into the hull of the ship. Zooming in, he took in the sight of the Beast, the assumed of sixth G-weapon, the one that trashing them all without much efforts. It turned, right arm raised the sword and slice directly at the bridge. Yzak eyes widened as the machine then unpacked one of the High-Energy Long Range Beam Cannon, the beast then fired it, punching a hole directly through the bridge and then down at the ship itself, before pushing back into the void, letting the ship explode behind it.

The Strike was forgotten in that instant as Yzak charged forward with a roar. Seeing his charge, Dearka in the Buster along with a compliment of GINNs gave chase, only needing to follow the trail of particles, but no matter how hard they pushed their machines, they weren't keeping up.

-Bridge,Archangel-

"Three massive heat sources detected, ma'am! I believe it to be a ship being destroyed."

Murrue blinked. "Bring it on visual."

Looking ahead, the bridge crew watched as they got a zoomed in view of the ZAFT fleet, and in the center they could see three wrecks floating about, with half of the fleet paused while the rest continued to move forward. Murrue noticed a few trails of light that obviously belonged to mobile suits, but she couldn't help but wonder what they were doing.

"It looks like they're chasing something," Kuzzey said answering her unspoken question, blinking in confusion.

"They look confused too," Miriallia said. A bright flash got her attention as the battle truly began.

"Captain! Contact from Admiral Halberton!"

"Put him through." Her back instantly straightened as she took in the image of Halberton once again. "Admiral?"

"Something you need to tell me, Lieutenant Commander?" he asked, sounding a little amused. "I thought I gave you an order not to interfere."

"I don't understand sir." Murrue said clearly confused with the Admiral statement

"One of my forward ships noticed something odd when their radar and communications went out for a few minutes, along with sightings of strange glowing particles." His head tilted to the side slightly, smirk forming on his lips. "Sound familiar?"

Murrue gasped. "Zero…"

Admiral arched a brow. "So you launched the mercenary mobile suit to act as a decoy?"

"N-no sir. Actually Zero launched without orders." She dropped her head slightly. "We had actually begun to think he had abandoned us." When she looked up, Halberton had a smile on his face. "Sir."

"Regardless, he's given us an edge." His face took on a solemn look. "Though he's fighting alone out there."

-Bridge, Versalius-

Suddenly a cry rang out from the radar station. "We have a new contact launching from the legged ship. It's… The Beast" The man was unable to keep a hint of fear from his voice. "The Beast has launched!"

Le Creuset had the opposite reaction. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Finally!

He stood up and made his way towards the bridge exit. "Captain Ades," he said, "the fleet is yours. I'm taking the field."

The captain nodded. "Understood, sir. Good hunting."

As he left the bridge, he couldn't help but smile. It was no ordinary smile though, but that of a beast revealing its fangs in anticipation of the hunt. Le Creuset laughed. "Last time you caught me by surprised, but now...Come on, my mysterious new friend show me what you've got!"

-Pilot Quarter, Archangel-

Entering the ready room, Kira was surprised to find someone already there. Standing in front of his locker, looking at the pilot suit he was supposed to wear, was none other than Flay Allster.

She turned around as she heard him enter. "Kira!" she said, looking surprised.

"Flay! What are you doing here?"

"Well," she began, looking a bit unsure of herself, "you ran away… or at least I thought you did. I wanted to help out on the ship, but wasn't sure what I should do. I thought of you, and so… I…"

She thought she could pilot the Strike? Kira wasn't sure whether to laugh or just stare dumbstruck. Not wanting to insult her though, especially after she had just started being nice to him again after the death of her father, he opted for a simple smile.

"Flay," he said, "don't be ridiculous. Someone like you in a mobile suit? Sorry, but you wouldn't last five minutes in the Strike."

She sighed. "I know that… but… I wanted so much to help, so I…"

He moved towards the locker. "It's alright. I'll pilot the Strike, so don't worry about it."

"Really?" she said.

He nodded. "Yes, I'll protect everyone on this ship. Leave it to me."

Suddenly she moved towards him, until her face was mere inches from his. "Well then," she said, "allow me… to thank you."

She pulled him in for a kiss.

What? His body stiffened in shock, and a million thoughts went through his mind. He should have questioned why she had suddenly come onto him like this, but…

I've wanted this for so long… who am I to refuse? Besides, this must mean that she really does care about me. So he took her in his arms and lost himself in her soft, moist lips.

After Kira left the ready room and made his way towards the hangar, Flay smiled. "Yes Kira," she said, "you have to fight to protect us." Her voice became cold, and the smile twisted into a snarl. "Fight against your own kind… kill them all. Fight and fight and fight until you die!" She laughed, a sick, twisted laugh, the song of a siren succumbed to hatred. "Then I'll forgive you…" she added softly, "… for my father's death." As the trails of tears was clearly seen on her cheeks.