The news had just been broadcast as Kecker’s speech reached the ears of everyone on Earth and those who still inhabited the colonies. Malcolm was reduced to a stupor when he observed, “It… It can’t be…”
The Secretary of State observed, “It has been done…”
Zlata asked for a possible chance, “Can we contact 3 Juno from here?”
Marcel shook his head when he answered regretfully, “Negative Mr. President. The signal is completely blank. There is no one to contact.”
Zlata found herself in the same state of shock as her President when she considered, “An entire colony side wiped out… The main base of the Coalition…”
Elena announced their situation in a depressed tone, “As it seems, we of the human race have taken our first steps into a very bleak period.”
Malcolm clenched his fists when he announced to the members, “One that we cannot see repeated. Only the most soulless of monsters would hope to see this done again.”
Hiram voiced the first concern when he asked, “How can we explain this to anyone however? This conflict has gone on for so long between Coalition and Earth Sphere. Do we accept the responsibility for Kecker’s action?”
Zlata shot down the plan when she evaluated, “Accepting the responsibility will not bring back anyone. Even if we do we will not be blamed any less for permitting things to escalate to this point.”
“It took many years for us to reach this point and the men who proposed this plan are dead with the exception of Kecker.”
“Even worse we do not understand how far this plan reached in order to be achieved.”
One of the representatives denied this when he emphasized, “If we are selected as the ones to blame then the trail will be endless for us all and we will forever be in conflict with one another.”
Relena was the first to point out their issue when she first spoke, “And because of such circumstances we have no one to directly place blame upon other than the events that have led up to this moment.”
One of the representatives voiced her concern, “If we do so then we are not looking at blaming an individual or an organization. We are seeking to place blame on the simple idea of provocation of conflict itself.”
Malcolm lamented the dilemma when he agreed, “It is because of this and the many years of blindness we have been in that we have allowed so many to die today. The fact remains that the Coalition has been all but completely wiped out and we are now the helpless old organization that does not have the means of maintaining peace among the human race.”
Relena brought about her final message pointing out, “Perhaps we do not. But we can still make amends for our unfortunate choices. It is clear now that attempting to bury the past will only see tools of destruction rise from the depths they were cast into. And when they are found they will bring the most disastrous consequences. I am personally able to take solace in the fact that an older member of generation separate from this one was responsible. We may not be able to place association directly on him. But we will have a chance to undo such conflicts before they ever happen.”
Hiram found the motion to be questionable when he asked, “Do you suggest that we enact the peace policies enacted by the Earth Alliance?”
Relena corrected him when she answered, “Peace policies untarnished by corrupt individuals hungry for power. There must be a force willing to maintain the order of peace while the governing body maintains it.”
Marcel was intrigued by the idea but showed signs of concern when he pointed out another wrinkle, “Will we not risk the danger of a military uprising in such a time? That power could go to ones ego quite easily.”
Relena brought the next condition to such a policy when she answered, “Not as long as we have our own military branch to keep them in check. When one side has an individual willing to commit such an atrocity the other must be capable of rising against it to prevent needless destruction.”
Marcel agreed with the position after considering, “Then we will have two sides observing one another and they will be able to see that peace is maintained. But will be capable of standing on their own as well while ensuring the peace is maintained.”
Elena was the next to confirm the situation, “At least a certain kind. We will continue to have conflict. But if it is enough to ensure this day does not repeat itself, then it should be a price worth enforcing.”
Relena reminded them of their effort, “This path to peace will be one requiring considerable adjustment and fixes. But this is possibly the most significant first step we have made in preventing another mad man from holding us under his grip.”
The Secretary of Defense turned to Malcolm when he asked, “Will you be announcing this to the press tomorrow Mr. President?”
Malcolm was in a period of pondering before he requested, “Madame Yuy. I must ask that you present this speech to the people.”
Relena was only lightly surprised when she asked, “Me Mr. President?”
Malcolm nodded when he answered, “Yes. The people require a face that can be easily identified. If they recognize you they will possibly give leeway to the situation that must be confronted.”
Relena recognized her duty when she agreed, “I suppose I might be able to achieve this. I shall do so.”

Two days passed as a portion of Quebec City’s civilian population gathered along with the news press prepared to hear from their government. “We turn now live to the speech from Interim Vice President Relena Yuy at Quebec City.” A reporter announced. With that Relena appeared on camera before everyone who watched the news hoping to hear for an answer on the recent events.
Relena was unshaken when she began her speech, “I send this message to all members of the human race regardless of their loyalty. Calling the events of a few days ago a tragedy would not do justice to the situation. What we have witnessed was as Kecker himself admitted was nothing more than the act of one man. But what does this one man show us? This one man shows that the choice and action of a decades long war can be matched if we do not dedicate ourselves to seeking conflict be prevented.
“I had believed that ridding ourselves of the means to cause such devastation would be enough to end wars and humanity could see progress march forward. As me and my compatriots have learned very dearly, we now see the consequences of trying to deny that such raw emotions still exist in the hearts of men and women everywhere. For that I cannot apologize enough.
“What are we to do in preventing this tragedy from happening again? If we are hopeful to see an era where humans to not allow wars to tear itself asunder, we must begin by preventing the cause of a conflict from occurring. Kecker has all but in a final announcement claimed his seat as an individual faction. He believes that using the Sol Invictus as his fortress will be enough to challenge the future of humanity.
“I ask all of you, even those who will not take my word to truth, will we seek to only destroy one another continuously while the instrument of our mutual destruction lies beyond? We cannot afford to desperately seek those responsible for permitting the destruction of humanity to continue. We must take action and see that Kecker does not have the chance to fire it again.
"I beg all of humanity who hears this message today. Rally against the factors that have brought about this day to occur. Uniting under a banner to prevent such tragedies from ever being repeated. 
"It is a harsh and demanding time when we are forced to agree to such a unity with such circumstances, but it will be the only chance we have to stand against further needless death. We must be willing to unite against the very idea of war from this day forward and prevent the causes of war before they ever happen. If we as a race are to prevent future conflicts of any kind then we must be willing to looks at ourselves as a common people seeking only the best for ourselves on a mutual level.”
Heero and his daughters were observing the speech as they listened to every word she hoped to unite humanity under. The television continued with her announcement, "Perhaps this day cannot be achieved in our lifetime. But if we continue to make these steps through the ages, we will one day send a message to all who deny progress towards peace. The human race is not intimidated and will not back away from what must be done. For the sake of our future as a species we must rise against the station and see it destroyed. Our forces are headed to its location and the future will be decided once they arrive. Regardless of the outcome, we must send every ounce of will to them in hopes that we one day see the peace we had strived for. Not just for veterans of the Eve Wars but for the whole of the human race who wished to see an end to conflict.
"I only now pray that it is enough to see that this message and this hope finds way towards the fleet headed for the Sol Invictus. I hope that they understand that the fate of human peace is within their hands." Her speech ended to a light applause among the civilians who observed while the news reporters continued their jobs. She turned away towards the new Parliamentary Building while she remembered the old days of such speeches. It might not make a difference now, but one day it might be enough to show what an older generation had truly intended among the chaos that had been sewn.

|

One of the operators on the Executor Rising announced to the ships of the Coalition fleet, “Attention all hands. Report from Admiral Miles is coming through.”
As soon as the voice made its way to all available ears the Admiral began, “I will not lie to anyone when I give this report. It has taken days to confirm the status of the beam’s direction but it has been confirmed… The entire colony cluster of Lagrange Point 2 has been completely wiped out without any survivors… 3 Juno has been spotted by a number of Mars evacuees as crumbling remains of what it once was…” She cut off the transmission when she gritted her teeth against such figures. The serving men and women already knew she was among those mourning the loss of such a sum of human lives and overemphasizing it would only hinder her speech’s effect.
There was a hesitation in the air before she continued, “This has put the death toll well into two billion. For anyone who has called 3 Juno or Lagrange Point 2 home, I can do nothing but apologize for such a hard time to befall you. War comes to demand the most of us when we participate, but such costs as this one are never even conceived let alone asked for.”
The sympathizing was quickly over when she began to “But what do we say in the face of such a danger? Do we gaze upon it and cower in fear? Do we permit pure chaos to undo every bit of human progress? Because those of you who choose to have lost sight of what waging this war has been intended for so long to achieve. Our purpose as soldiers is to look down the face of adversity and prevent it from ever happening to anyone who does not choose to pay such a price.
“The final question I must see answered today, will we permit this slaughter to occur a second time? Those among you who say that it will not are the ones I am pleased to lead. This is not a question of loyalty to what faction we have hoped to preserve, this is a question of being able to maintain what makes us human!”
Norma heard preparations of rally throughout her own ship and knew that across the others there must have been varying degrees of such enthusiasm. She waited for the noise to die down before she gave a final rally, “Report to your mobile suits and prepare for the break. We will launch towards the Sol Invictus with our battle plan in hand. If we have any desire to see villainy pay for such devastation then we will ensure this weapon has been reduced to nothing by the time the day ends. We will move in to see that no one has to pay for a war they did not want to see occur. Our action will prevent another tragedy such as this one to ever occur again. Today the Himalayas may rise, but we will not cower to scale them!” With the speech finished the pilots and crew made way to their respective stations and waited for the break in the jump to occur.

Dana saw the buster rifle loaded in the bird mode of her Artemis “Looks like this is it. It’s time for us to end this thing.”
“You go anyone to avenge while you’re out there blasting Sol Theros?”
Dana managed to hide her displeasure when she prepared her suit, “Yeah. Two billion people at least. Me and Ramos didn’t survive our missions together just to find that our actions were used to further some kook’s idea of peace.”
“Well at least it will give you a chance to find some keywords for future speeches.”
She answered with a determined tone, “I don’t think we have the timeframe for another one. It’s time we just head in there and cut off Kecker’s ambitions.”
Gawel shrugged when he heard the determination in her voice, “I guess I should be used to that sort of confidence from you by now huh Cap?”
“You’ve caught on if you can guess that Majewski.” She said offering a smack to his bottom when she turned announcing to the other pilots, “Time to move out.”

Cao and her squadron were leaving the locker room once the order had been relayed through the Executor Rising. She saw Oleg line with her squad when he announced, “If that thing ever manages to hit Earth I’m going to take it down with me in the process.”
Cao pointed out to him, “Will McNeil be happy with that kind of attitude though?”
Oleg shrugged when he answered, “Maybe not. But I don’t think he signed up for this war expecting to be treated like the modern day Michelangelo.”
“Is his work at least worth the salt he gave for it?”
“Sims don’t tell us everything. But I’ll make sure there’s enough Sol Theros out there to see why we’re unhappy with their commander’s recent decisions.”
“Then be sure to provide as much effort as we are. We have a planet to one day return to.”
“Yeah. I hope it’s there for all of us after all this.” Oleg agreed as he made his way towards the Golem’s hangar bay.
Cao was preparing her suit and following the other mobile suit pilots when she saw Tano make his way down the halls. She found a moment next to him when she offered, “Lieutenant. I hope for the best for you out there. I want to see Kecker pay as much as anyone else. Most of all I want to see us return from this with a future to look forward to.”

Mercurio followed Naina as soon as she prepared her flight suit and asked her, “You’ll be leading the forces out there right?”
She confirmed the reminder when she answered, “That is my position in the plan. These mobile suits may not be able to handle their shields but at least provide a distraction while the Invictus is raided.”
He observed the dedication in her eyes when he told her, “You’re prepared to accomplish this mission as much as we all are. Just don’t lose sight of what our goal is.”
Naina crossed her arms when she admitted to herself, “As unrealistic it may be, I hope it be possible. If we hadn’t covered this topic prior it would be worth confirming. Right now I simply have a mission to carry out. It will be for the better of all humanity once we accomplish it.”
He offered a final parting, “Just good luck out there then.”
“I hope for the same to you Mercurio.” Naina agreed as she made her way to the Tallgeese.
The Uriel stood before him when he prepared for what he imagined would be the final mission for this war. It was a few moments before he saw Donna nearby preparing to make her way to the Sandesgeist. “Donna…” He said to get her attention. He held her shoulders when he gave a brief gaze into her eyes. I probably won’t have to live this down… He thought to himself. He placed a light kiss on her left cheek before he let go of her and made his way to the Uriel offering, “Good luck out there.” He entered the cockpit of the Uriel when he waited for the next few hours to pass. He watched the bay doors intently while he waited for the final launch.