Disclaimer: Don’t own Gundam Seed, Destiny, Code Geass, or any other elements from various animes and other materials in this fic.

Steven Jordan hated his job.

When he was first forced to join ZAFT, he thought that the service would not be that bad. The war had long been over and the only conflicts had been skirmishes in the outer areas away from the major population centers. However, things truly began to suck for him when he was stationed at an outpost just twenty miles north of what was once Chicago.

Now he was shivering out in the cold and guarding the single hanger which housed a pair of old Zaku Warriors. The two MS were old and outdated compared to the new Zaku IIs and the outpost was not important enough for them to have anything new. The only other military equipment the base had was a group of linear tanks and three infestuses.

It was dark out, the sun just set an hour ago. The sky was clear and the cold wind nipped at Steven; who had to wrap his arms around himself in order to try and stay warm. His assault rifle was slung on his shoulder and was in great condition. In the two years that he had been at the base, Steven had yet to fire a single round.

Looking up at the stars, the ZAFT soldier wondered if he could see Messiah. From what he read from the last report that came through the radio, the space fortress was due to pass over North America within the next few days before moving on to Eurasia. However, the only thing that could be seen was the bright stars in the night sky.

He remembered when the only stars he saw were when he traveled from PLANT to PLANT; seeing them through the window of the shuttles he was on. Steven did not think much of them at the time but had to admit that they looked beautiful here on Earth.

Scanning the base, Steven saw that he was the only one out with the rest of the base’s personnel at the barracks keeping warm. The single runway was clear of activity and not a single thing stirred on the field to the side of the outpost.

The outpost was situated on the side of a small mountain which gave it a good defensible position and great visibility for the surrounding countryside. Housing a single hanger, a couple of buildings, and a runway; it had been once an Atlantic Federation military base until it was taken over by ZAFT and converted to their use.

Though it was dark, Steven could see the outline of the ruins of Chicago just barely. Though the outpost was a great deal ways away, on a clear day the city could be seen. Supposedly, the city was deserted except for a few survivors who managed to escape the carnage of ZAFT bombarding the city when it refused to surrender. Hundreds of thousands died and Chicago was now nothing but ruins.

Yawning, Steven was just about to get something warm to drink when something caught his eye. Looking up, he could see nothing and concluded that it was probably a bird. He knew that it was winter and that all the birds were flying south.

High above the base, a single mobile suit hovered silently. Cloaked, it floated there preparing to strike like a predator to its prey.

“Is this small outpost really worth our time; it’s more dinky than the last base we hit,” asked Kallen to the pilot over the communications line.

“This is my first time out with the completed Twilight Freedom; I want to see what it can do with the new upgrades,” stated the pilot of the Gundam.

“But shouldn’t one of us be out there with you?” asked the red-head with a frown.

“No; I will do this alone,” said the female pilot with a twisted smile which was seen by Kallen.

“No survivors,” said Kallen.

“None; everyone in ZAFT must atone for their sins,” declared Lacus Clyne as she raised her beam rifle and took aim at the aircraft on the runway. Pulling the trigger, red beam fire erupted onto the base and turned the aircraft into smoking wreckage.

Lacus watched as ZAFT soldiers ran from the buildings and that the base’s defenses came online. The two beam cannon turrets came to life and looked for a target to fire on. However, they could find none; the outpost lacked the ability to detect the Infinite Freedom.

Lacus smiled as she deactivated her cloak and watched as the men and women on the ground look up at her in horror. The Twilight Freedom, though equipped with different technologies and weapons, resembled its past incarnations and was easily recognized by the ZAFT soldiers.

Easily dodging fire from the beam turrets, the Gundam fired back and took out both the battlements with no problems. Small arms fire came from the surface as the outpost’s personnel and Lacus just laughed as the enemy shots did nothing to the Gundam. Firing back, the ground burned as enemy soldiers were vaporized.

A beam blast fired past her and Lacus turned to see two antique Zaku Warriors fly at her their weapons blazing. Deciding that this battle did not warrant any of her Gundam’s special attributes after all, Lacus flew at the enemy MS while pulling out her beam saber.

As she kept dodging the enemy fire, the former songstress frowned as it appeared that not only was she fighting a pair of old MS, but pilots which appeared to be from the bottom of the barrel.

Growing tired of playing around, the Freedom maneuvered past the right side of the two Zakus in order to get behind them. Before they could react, the Gundam slashed one of the mobile suits in half through the torso. The two pieces fell to the ground and exploded, taking some ZAFT soldiers with it.

“Die you monster!” screamed the pilot of the other ZAFT mobile suit as he brought his own beam saber down in order to slice through the Gundam’s shoulder.

Lacus smirked and simply grabbed the Zaku’s arm with her free hand. There was a sudden jerking and the Infinite Freedom ripped the arm right off. Then it swung the limb like a club which smashed off the head of the Zaku Warrior, blinding it. Sparks sputtered from where the limbs used to be. As the Zaku began to fall to the ground, she fired her beam rifle which ripped right through the chest and the Zaku exploded before it hit the ground.

As ZAFT personnel ran for their lives in an attempt to escape the base on foot, Lacus would not let them get far and fired on them. She would not grant them any mercy and even took pleasure in what she was doing as enemy soldiers were incinerated under the hail of beam fire. All she could do was smile at the burnt corpses of her enemies.

“Normally, I would just think she is just venting but this is starting to get ridiculous,” commented Kallen as she watched the battle on the main display of the bridge.

“Better them than us,” said Shams as he sat in a chair off to the woman’s right.

“What are you talking about? Lacus has never taken her anger out on us; maybe one of the tech guys, but not us,” protested Meyrin, defending their leader.

“Are we done after this or are we proceeding to take out another minor ZAFT base?” Sven asked, his face in its usual expressionless feature.

“We’re done after this; we need to reach the base by the next three days if we want to maintain our schedule,” answered Martin DaCosta from the captains seat.

The Eternal II was moving slowly over the ruins of Chicago, cloaked with the use of its Mirage Colloid. Though identical to the original vessel in appearance, the newest version was equipped with different technologies as well as a new color scheme.

“You know, every time I have a little doubt about what I am doing, I look at something like this and remember what ZAFT has done in the name of peace,” said Kaname Chidori, looking at the bombed out buildings. In contrast to Kallen, the young woman had long blue hair and whose personality was a little more open.

“I always found it funny that ZAFT claimed to be more benign than the EA; they’re just the opposite end of the same coin if not worse,” said Kallen angrily. Those who knew the girl would be surprised by the comment slightly due to the fact that Kallen’s father had been a ZAFT Commander.

“Looks like she is done,” stated Shams as the Twilight Freedom had stopped firing and began to head back to the ship. The ZAFT base was engulfed in flames that could be seen for miles.

“Well if there are any people inhabiting those ruins, we’ve given them a good show,” said Meyrin. There were nods of agreement.

As Lacus landed her Gundam, she took a minute to calm down. Breathing heavily, the former songstress took off her helmet and put her hand through her short pink hair. She hand cut her hair shortly after Kira had died.

“Are you okay?” asked Meyrin though the comm. channel, concerned for her friend.

“Just tired,” answered the young woman, leaning back in her seat.

“Seeing how you’ve been pummeling every ZAFT outpost we come across, that’s understandable,” stated the red-head.

“I’ve been frustrated lately and need to let off some steam,” said Lacus as she just sat there to take a moment. Meyrin just raised an eyebrow at that.

“Just tell Martin to head for the base; I am done now,” ordered Lacus in annoyance. Meyrin nodded and the screen went black.

The young woman closed her eyes and hummed to herself. It was one of the ways she calmed herself down after battle. Lacus never sang out loud, not since the day she lost just about everyone that was precious to her. Singing was a part of her old life; now gone because of the fires of war.

Opening the cockpit of her mobile suit, Lacus exited the mech and headed to her quarters while technicians tended the Twilight. There wasn’t much to be worked on since the Gundam received virtually no battle damage.

She knew that would change though, especially when she would encounter Legend on the battlefield. It would take all her learned skills to vanquish the pilot. However, Lacus felt that she was ready and was willing to die in order to bring him down.

And once and for all Al Da Flaga’s cursed lineage would vanish from the world.

“My Lady Mina, this report just came in,” said the secretary as she handed the young woman a file.

Rondo Mina Sahaku took the file and dismissed the older secretary, who then left the office in haste. After reading the document, she tossed the file and its contents onto the desk and leaned back in her chair with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Well?” asked the voice of her brother and Mina turned to look at the life-size hologram of Rondo Ghina Suhaku that stood a few feet away.

“There’s been another attack; a ZAFT outpost near Chicago was wiped out,” stated Mina with a smirk.

The hologram smirked in return and Mina momentarily forgot that her brother was long dead.

When Mina first took up her position as head of Orb’s Government, she immediately installed a holographic generator in her office and loaded the program of her brother. The AI was a perfect representation of the deceased sibling, who Mina counted on for advice. It was one of many backup plans the two shared in a worse case scenario. There were days that it felt that Ghina was still among the living.

“What do you think out pink princess will do next?” asked Mina, giving her “brother” her full attention.

“Something big which will hopefully benefit Orb,” stated Ghina.

“I agree; her forces are continuing their buildup right under Durandal’s nose. Once she strikes, out former Lioness might make her own move and return,” the Sister said with a smile. The brother nodded, silently agreeing with the young woman.

There was a time that Mina had very little respect for Cagalli Yula Athha. Both Mina and her brother had contempt for the Athha family and long thought that they were unworthy to have the mantle of being Leaders of Orb. However, seizing power was out of the question since the Seirans would have fought for power as well and would have lead Orb into a disastrous civil war.

During and after the 2nd war, those feelings changed when Cagalli, in order to protect Orb’s sovereignty, went into voluntary exile and imprisonment. Though Orb’s military was disbanded and the nation held a small size ZAFT occupation force, it was freer than other nations that suffered under the full weight of the PLANT’s rule. The Destiny Plan was only partially adopted here as well as enforced.

Since then, Mina had held the highest respect of the exiled leader. If the hologram was indeed perfect, then Mina believed that Ghina would be in full agreement with her as well. As much as they both disagreed with how the blond ran things, they respected Cagalli’s love and dedication to Orb.

Every now and then, Mina would go and visit the young leader at Saint Helena. Though Cagalli was imprisoned, she was treated well on the island and allowed to roam about and do what she wanted. ZAFT let her do this since she was closely monitored and any chance of escape was doubtful; at least not without a lot of help.

“What should we do about you know who? I have no doubt that he will tighten his grip on our nation’s military infrastructure once he learns of the attack,” stated the young woman with a frown, referring to the Commander who controlled all ZAFT Forces in Orb.

“When the time is right, we should have the traitor killed and his corpse burned as an example to all those who would betray Orb,” said the hologram angrily. It was indeed a perfect representation.

“Perhaps; if we are lucky, one of our own people will deal with Shinn Asuka. The last attempt was almost successful,” observed Mina, wishing that the culprit had managed to accomplish the deed.

When Shinn Asuka first took command of ZAFT’s forces in Orb, he was met with nothing but scorn and hatred from the Orb population. The people loved Cagalli and the Athha family, something that Shinn could not understand, and there were a great many that still mourned for the exiled princess. In frustration, the people did what ever they could to take their anger out on the young man; even resorting to attack him if he went out in public. Since the last attempt on his life, Shinn was heavily escorted everywhere in Orb.

“We’ll have to step up our own buildup; our princess will need everything she can if and when she returns,” said Ghina.

“I’ll contact Erica; she will though will probably be already at work,” Mina said. The hologram smiled at that.

Orb would rise again.

Author’s Note: When this fic was first contrived, it was part of a response to a ZAFT Fanboy who emailed me directly in order to bash my fics. It was originally going to be a dark Kira fic and a major anti-ZAFT story where they are complete bastards.

Then I realized that the Dark Kira thing was already used so I opted for another idea instead; a Dark Lacus Fic. So expect her to quite the badass in this fic; though I will say that it will be explained how she got this dark.

I was also inspired by recent episodes of Code Geass R2 and placed several elements of than Anime into my story. Thus why Kallen is in it; I do admit that she is slightly OOC and will do my best to fix her character according to the series.

As for updates, they will happen though not as much as I want. It will happen though since my frustration towards ZAFT Fanboys will be acted out in this fic. ZAFT will be evil in this story people, so don’t expect the ZAFT you have all come to know and love.

The next chapter will feature some of what Lacus is planning as well as who is still alive in the post 2nd War era. Also some more evil Lacus will be shown.

Please R&R!