January 15th, 0079
1500 hours
The Great Degwin
Dogwood's Note: The following excerpt is based on the testimony of the event's survivors. Those who survived the attack on the Great Degwin spoke on the event later, and I have attempted to compile their testimonies into a single narrative. Keep in mind that I have my own biases against some of the Zabis, and that might have affected my retelling of this story.
Garma Zabi flew into his father's personal office as fire burned all around him. The room was decorated ostentatiously with carved marble from the deepest mines on Earth and gold filigree from the furthest reaches of the asteroid belt. These decorations did little to protect Degwin Zabi when a nuclear warhead crumpled his section of the flagship.
The Sovereign of Zeon, Degwin Zabi, had been fatally wounded. He sat in a resplendent golden throne, and an ugly gray support beam from the internal superstructure of his flagship had pierced his stomach, impaling him through completely. Blood flowed from the wound in his abdomen as it aspirated from out of his mouth. By all accounts, a man of his advanced age should have succumbed to the wound already, but the will to impart his last dying words kept his lungs breathing and his heart pumping.
"Father!" Garma shouted as he launched himself to Degwin's side.
"This is my just reward, isn't it, my son?" Degwin wheezed as blood stained his teeth and the sclera of his eyes turned bright red. "It is truly fitting that the man who unleashed this cataclysm upon mankind should himself be claimed by it."
"Don't talk like that, Father!" Garma screamed as heavy tears filled his eyes.
"Listen now, Garma," Degwin said quickly. "Listen to the final words of history's greatest villain. My greatest weakness has always been my children, and that weakness has been my fatal undoing. I was never able to control the darkness of Gihren or the naked ambition of Kycilia. Know this: it was your brother, Gihren Zabi, who orchestrated my downfall. He was the one who placed the Great Degwin in such a dangerous position."
"No! That's impossible!" Garma said.
"Silence, boy!" Degwin retorted with an energy that should have been impossible for him to muster with his wounds. "I am not yet done. 'When the fall is all that's left, it matters a great deal.' Garma, you're the only hope that the Zabis can ever be redeemed. You must lead this country and our family back to a state of peace. You must end this foolish war and bring Gihren back into the light."
Garma wanted to reject those words and argue with his father, but he saw the light beginning to fade from Degwin's eyes, so he said, "Yes, Father. I will do it. You have my word as a Zabi!"
"Thank you, my boy," Degwin said at a slowly diminishing volume. "Now go. Save yourself, and save Zenna Zabi. The future of our family…"
At that moment, the unnatural energy motivating Degwin Zabi's body faded, and he fell still.
To editorialize a bit, I highly doubt that Degwin Zabi's last words were quite that impactful, but the only source available on the matter is Garma Zabi's own testimony. Let's just say that altering someone's last words for his own benefit runs in Garma's family. Heh. Anyway, I suspect that the Shakespeare quote was actually spoken by Degwin Zabi. This world's understanding of history has proven itself to be astoundingly bad, and I highly doubt that Garma Zabi has read any Shakespeare.
With tears flowing out of his eyes, Garma Zabi dutifully began to carry out his father's final command. He began floating through the VIP area of the flagship where any Zabis stayed when aboard the Great Degwin. As he moved, he shouted, "Zenna! Where are you, Zenna!?"
The first person Garma ran into was not Zenna, but a young pilot covered in duct tape where he had sealed the holes in his flight suit. He had taped his own arm to his chest in a poor attempt to stop his broken arm from moving around too much.
"Commander Garma!" the young pilot said as he saluted with his one working arm. "I am Ensign Heinrich Vultee. Please follow me to the escape pods."
"I can't! Not yet!" Garma said with tears still in his eyes. "I have been tasked by my father to find my sister-in-law, Zenna Zabi."
"Where is the Sovereign?" Vultee asked.
"He's dead," Garma said with a quivering voice. "Help me find Zenna!"
"Aye, Commander," Vultee said as he began following Commander Garma Zabi further into the VIP deck.
They didn't have to look for long, as the giant form of Dozle Zabi clad in a flight suit screamed through the hallway with Zenna Zabi held in one arm. As Dozle saw Garma, he arrested his own momentum and said, "Brother, thank God you're still alive! Where is Father?"
"He's dead, Dozle," Garma said as his emotion tightened his face.
"No, that's impossible," Dozle said with wide eyes.
Another explosion shook the flagship, and Vultee gestured for the Zabis to move quickly. "We don't have much time! We need to get you to the escape pods!"
It took the party of four several excruciating minutes to find the nearest escape pods. The units set aside for the Zabis had been destroyed, and most other units had already been used.
Eventually, Vultee spotted a small escape pod built into one of the flagship's hallways. With an outstretched finger, he shouted, "There! Come on!"
When the group got closer to the escape pod, they saw that it could only hold two people, and Dozle was much too large to fit.
With a tightening expression, Dozle said, "Garma, Zenna, get in."
"No, brother. We'll find another escape pod together!" Garma shouted, but Dozle had grabbed him by the collar before he was even finished speaking.
Dozle shoved his wife and brother into the escape pod as Vultee closed its doors with his one good arm. Vultee slammed on the emergency release button, and the escape pod shot off into the cold blackness of space.
As Garma looked back at the Great Degwin, he witnessed one of the flagship's armories detonate, and the deck they had just escaped from was torn to shreds.
AN: The alternate title for this chapter is v3c1 - [The Last Words of Degwin Zabi].