Gundam seed\destiny and all its characters are copyright their respected owners. I'm just having harmless fun.
Takes place about a year after Seed Destiny
[ Ghost of Jachin Due ]
By the end of the second war, Captain Murrue Ramius of the renowned Archangel hoped that her troubles were now a thing of the past. Oh, She didn't expect everything would suddenly return to normal, the long road to peace does not work that way. There would always be small annoyances to deal with, people and factions who refuse to let go of their old hatreds either out of pride or terrible misguidance. No matter how hard they tried the world would not change over night.
But in all her life Murrue would never have expected the surprise she would encounter on a routine trip back home to earth. A ghost from the past that she thought was lost forever to the vastness of space.
It was a space station out in the middle of nowhere. Its location was so obscene that the Zaft patrol came across it by accident. The two patrolling mobile suits discovered that the station was empty as far as they could tell, and sent out a request for an investigation. The closest ship on its long way home to ORB after a diplomatic visit to the Plants, was none other then the famous white ship Archangel.
An investigations team was sent over from the legged ship – The station wasn't very big and there were very little outer defences. The war may have ended, but it still seemed strange that the Alliance would abandon such a place, so extra precaution was ordered.
The EA in itself was in reform, or at least that was the front they put up. They began to distance themselves from any Blue Cosmos or LOGOS related groups. Their stance to pro coordinator – true or not – caused a lot of infighting amongst the Atlantic territories. Small pockets of resistance still resurfaced from time to time, and the captain of the Archangel was not about to let her guard down any time soon.
Captain Murrue Ramius sat quietly in her office as she went over reports. Her expertise was not needed on the station and instead opted to send her skilled tech and engineering crew in her stead.
A message was patched though to her office from the station from her Chief engineer Kojiro Murdoch. A bad feeling shivered through her, if anything Murdoch would have written his findings in a report like any other.
"Captain we've found something you may want to take a look at."
"Oh, what is it?" It better not be another bloody Mobile Suit. Even if that's the only reason her chief mechanic volunteered for this sortie, she's had enough of them to last a lifetime.
"I think the more appropriate question is, who – is it? Ma'am, you need to see this for yourself."
The station was cold and lifeless, the air stale but breathable. The lights flickered and dimmed, a sure sign that this place had been abandoned for some time as the solar generator had begun to wear down without proper maintenance. Murrue hurried along, not liking this environment one bit. Even if the EA was in reform it changed nothing of her opinion on them, and so she would like to see what Murdoch's crew had found and get off this station as soon as possible.
She walked along for a good while until she saw a gathering of engineers ahead.
Mwu was there, standing next to Chief Engineer Murdoch as they waited for their captain. Mwu had an unreadable scowl on his face, while Kojiro looked like something spooked him good. That didn't leave Murrue with a good feeling. It took a lot to rattle her two top men.
"We almost missed it, it looked like it was hidden behind the wall in a hurry." Murdoch explained as he and Mwu escorted her to the place in question. She had no idea what to expect now, some kind of weapon perhaps something else all together?
They cleared everyone away, shooing them out until just the three of them and a few tech crew remained on the nearby computers. Now it was just them, and a strange glass tank that was jutting from the back of the room. It was what was inside the tank that had Murrue white as a ghost.
Unmoving in some sort of liquid a person stood, eyes closed in a deep sleep. It was Lieutenant Badgiruel or at least a version of her since Murrue watched her die when she ordered the Lohengrin to fire on the Dominion, ending the woman's life. And if so, then what the heck was in this pod?
"Where the hell did this come from?" Murrue asked as she turned to her chief engineer.
Murdoch shrugged, and then thumbed towards his tech crew. "These guys said most of the data here has been wiped, but sloppily, as if they were trying to get out of here in a hurry."
"Looks like a clone to me." Mwu added as he stood next to his captain and looked into the tank like structure. "But why her of all people?"
"I may not have been her best friend, but even I knew Badgiruel was good at what she did, very good." Murdoch said as he hovered over one of his crew. "Not to mention her family history. Natarle was quickly rising in the ranks to be one of the EA's star players."
Murrue was barely listening as she approached the tank. She placed her hand on the clear glass and looked in. 'Natarle, that can't be you in there.' the occupant inside was obviously in some sort of suspended animation. 'I'm the one that ended your life, I have to know.'
"Drain it."
Murdoch blinked at the sudden order. "Captain, are you sure? My guys are still pulling up info on this thing, whoever that is has been asleep for over a year." He asked wondering if this was a good idea.
Mwu was quick to agree. He was no stranger to clones and his gut was telling him that this was a very bad idea. "I'm with Murdoch, we don't know what this thing is capable of."
Murrue's curiosity and a personal need for the truth got the better of her. "I said drain it. Wake her up." She commanded.
"Aye ma'am." Murdoch obeyed hesitantly, and relayed the order to his computer team. They typed away as they hacked through the security systems, and with one final push of a button the liquid within the pod noisily began to drain away.
It finally emptied leaving the sleeping clone inside. Murrue now stepped forward and placed her hand on a switch, pulling it down to release the tanks seals. She backed away as a gust of air was sucked into the pod, beginning a chain reaction with whatever chemicals were inside.
The doppelganger's eyes shot open, coughing up the tanks liquid substance as it took its first breath of air in who knows how long. It looked disoriented at first as its eyes scanned the room and all its occupants. Its steely violet gaze locked with Murrue's own.
It happened within a blink of an eye. The door burst forward as the occupant flew into action. Murrue felt powerful hands gripping her coat, a brief moment as her feet left the ground and then the wind being knocked out of her as the hard steel wall slammed against her back.
"You are not my operator, where is doctor Sheene?" The clone- as Mwu called her- asked, its piercing gaze cutting Murrue to her soul.
Murrue grasped at the iron hard grip holding her up. "There was no one here when we found this place." She gasped. " According to the computers, it's been abandoned for over a year. You've been asleep ever since." Murrue said, and watched as the expression on the clone's face changed as it soaked in this information.
A gun clicked just behind the clone's head. The clone turned to see Mwu right behind her, his finger on the trigger ready to fire. "Put her down, now."
The clone spun quickly, grabbing Mwu's weapon hand and pulled him towards her. In the same movement she brought her left fist up and slammed it into Mwu's extended arm, bending it the wrong way with a horrendous crack. He was then thrown to the ground and left to his injury.
One of the closest techs rushed her from behind after seeing Mwu get taken down. She didn't even turn around and elbowed him right in the face knocking him out cold. She then turned and raised her stolen weapon at Murdoch and the remaining Tech. Both of them raised their hands in surrender, clearly not wanting to engage this thing in a fight.
"STOP!" Murrue shouted as loud as she could, trying to put an end to this before someone was killed.
Everyone in the room froze, including the clone who after realizing they were no longer a threat lowered her weapon.
"We mean no harm, please put the weapon down." Murrue begged as she fixed her collar and slowly took a few steps towards the other woman. She got a good look at it – her – the clone. The resemblance to Natarle was uncanny. She was tall, with short jet-black hair that was slick with whatever was in the tank. The only difference was that this version sported a powerful athletic musculature, toned and lean.
The clone looked to the two men on the ground, and the two men around her, then to the gun in her hand. She then walked over to Mwu and hauled him to his feet. He moaned in pain as his arm dangled at an awkward angle. The clone grabbed it suddenly, ignoring the protest from the man and snapped it back into place. She then handed back the firearm and continued towards the Archangel Captain.
She stopped in front of her, and stared. Piercing violet eyes hard and unreadable, Murrue felt like she was staring at a wild animal, its nature unpredictable.
"I know your face." The clone spoke, sending a shiver down the captain's spine. Even the voice was identical.
Murrue was about to ask how, when she noticed the clone's breathing became labored. Those cold violet eyes blinking as the clone tried to stay focused. It failed however as it passed out and fell to the floor in a heap.
"Get her secured on the Archangel and a med team on her immediately. I want to know what the hell she is." Murrue said almost angrily as she stormed her way back to the docking bay.
A/N: So trying something a bit different. Seed is notorious for clones so I thought 'why not!' I plan to do this in shortish(sometimes long) one shots skipping ahead in time as there's not much going on in the background.
Kookith is yanking the leash around my neck so eventual NxN … maybe… *hides from Kookith*
This also takes place a about a year or two after destiny, in case anyone was wondering why a Zaft patrol would contact the 'Archie'
Also, Murdoch got to tag along because I like Murdoch and we hardly see anything about him. Yaaay Murdoch!