Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.

Voltaire

Phase one: False Peace

CE 71- Tensions were mounting between the PLANTs supreme council and the earth sphere alliance. Following the bloody valentine tragedy these tensions suddenly escalated into a full scale war.

It seemed a foregone conclusion that the earth forces with its superior numbers would be victorious. These initial assessments proved to be false. Almost eleven months have passed since the conflict began. With no end in site.

Outside Heliopolis Space Colony

A man with brown hair wearing a black military uniform sat seemingly nervously. Watching as a group of six soldiers wearing red coats paid attention to a blond haired man wearing a white commander's uniform.

"Remember it is essential that we obtain these weapons," the man said to the group in front of him. His hair was pale blond slightly below his shoulders and a white mask which covered half his face. He was floating weightlessly.

"Yes Commander La Creuset," the six teenagers in front of him saluted and floated out of the room.

"Commander, are you sure about this I mean it is a neutral colony and to attack it might make Orb join the alliance," said the seated man to the commander who was looking at the information in front of him.

"How can a colony which was building weapons for the EA be considered neutral? I have a sixth sense regarding things like this. If we miss this chance then later we'll pay with our lives for our reluctance to take action." The commander said smiling looking at the man as he spoke. Besides he thought there are those within that colony whom with play a role in what will come. However will they bring destruction or salvation?

Inside Heliopolis Space Colony

A brunette teenager was typing rapidly on a laptop situated on her lap. It was very difficult to determine whether the violet eyed teenager was male or female given that she had short hair and bangs which were just below chin length and she was very flat chested and what chest she did have she bound flat. She had two piercings in each ear, simple studs. As well as what appeared to be a clip on earring which was a silvery white about 1 to 2 cm in length running a third of the way down from the top of her left ear with a piece of wire attached to it which had a strange white thin tear drop like feature on it and a black chocker. She had on a black tank top which was covered by a black shirt with a white collar and red belt like pieces connecting the sleeves to the shirt halfway down between the shoulders and elbows. Also she had fish net fingerless gloves. Her pants were black cargo pants with multiple pockets with a chain reaching from one pocket to a belt loop and had black lace up combat boots.

Briefly the girl glanced at the boy situated across from her who was glaring at her robotic bird. He head hair that was in a similar cut to her own but without the bangs and his hair was as black as the night sky on a full moon. He also had vibrant emerald eyes which had small flecks of aquamarine in them. He was wearing a black t-shirt over a long sleeved black and white stripped shirt. He was wearing black jeans and black sneakers. He had a silver dragon earring in his right ear.

Turning her attention back to the laptop in front of her she began to speak whist typing, "glaring at birdie won't accomplish anything. You know that right Ryan?"

Ryan turned his attention to the androgynous teen situated across from him, "I know that, I'm not stupid regardless of what you may think. Kira, it's just that your bird annoys me and I don't know why."

Kira tore her eyes away from her computer and raised an eyebrow at him upon hearing this. "Getting annoyed at a bird, and a robotic bird at that? You need help." With that she once again turned her attention to her work in front of her. Ignoring Ryan's indigent cry of "Hey!"

Seeing Kira return her attention to her work once again Ryan began to turn his attention to the paper work in front of him muttering under his breath about 'stupid girly boys'. The next few minutes passed in silence except for the occasional cry of 'birdie!'. When a male and female teenager came walking up to the pair.

"Kira! Ryan!" the pair hearing their name's being called turned their attention to the approaching duo. The male was roughly 165cm with light brown wavy hair and light greenish blue eyes. He had on a light blue button up shirt and blue jeans with pale blue sneakers. The female next to him was about 160cm and reddish brown hair at chin length which curled out at the sides. She was wearing a orange and white dress with unattached shoulder sleeves which were the same shade of orange as the dress.

"Tolle, Miriallia. What can we do for you?" Kira asked as she put her computer onto the table in front of her.

Tolle gave a slight smile, "the professor is looking for the two of you."

Miriallia leaned forward as she questioned her two friends, "well are the two of you assisting him on some project or something else like that? Or is it simply analysis work?"

Kira sighed and was about to reply when Ryan cut in, "not too sure but whatever it is its big."

Kira gave a faint nod as she stood up, with Ryan doing the same when a news clip came on catching her attention. Clicking on the clip she enlarged it and focused on the screen. On the news report there was a GINN on the screen going through a already damaged city. The news reporter was mentioning on how there were sounds of fierce combat going throughout the city however the audio wasn't all that good due to this same factor. She dimly noted her three friends coming to join her as they watched the news feed. She closed the laptop as the feed came to an end and stood to her height of 170cm with Ryan also standing back up straight with him being slightly taller at 172cm.

Tolle was the first to make a comment, "Kaohsiung huh? That isn't very far from Orb is it?"

Miriallia stood back up straight, having leaned down to watch the news on Kira's laptop. "Will Orb be alright?"

Tolle was the one who replied, "oh sure, we're close by but our nations neutral. Can't see Orb turning into a war zone."

"Then I guess we're okay."

Kira was only half listening to her friends conversation having her attention focused upon her robotic bird. She watched as it soared around in the air freely. Tearing her attention away from the bird she looked at her friends once again. She finished packing her things away into her side strap black computer bag and walked over to her friends as they began to make their way to the automatic cars. Birdie trailing behind them.

Outside Helipolis

A ship was making dock into Heliopolis's port while a robotic voice guided it safely.

A aged man who was sitting in the captains seat removed his hat just as the ship made port. "and there you have it, this ship's just completed its final mission. I thank you for being its escort Lieutenant La Flaga."

A blonde man in his mid to late twenties turned to the captain and gave a slight smile. "Sir! I'm just glad we arrived without incident. Are there any ZAFT ships in the vicinity?"

The captain gave a slight nod, "We've spotted two but its no cause for alarm. They can't do anything now that we've docked."

The Lieutenant just gave a small smirk as he turned to face the captain completely, "why, because its neutral?"

The captain gave a small laugh upon hearing this, "true however without that so called neutrality, our plans wouldn't have progressed this far. We are very fortunate that Earth has recognized Orb as a nation."

"Excuse us captain." A voice caught the captains attention. A group of five soldiers saluted the captain and then left the room. Lieutenant La Flaga's eyes following them the entirety of the way.

Once the group had left the room his attention returned to the captain of the vessel. "think they can handle themselves alone on the ground?"

The captain gave a small smile at hearing this. "I know their young but their all top guns selected to be g-pilots. They'll be just fine. You however would stick out like a sore thumb."

La Flaga just gave a small laugh at this.

ZAFT vessel

La Creuset floated away from Ades and towards the table situated in the control room. "Try not to look so glum Ades."

Ades turned so that the commander was still in his field of view. "I don't suppose it would be too late if we waited to hear from the council." Although he knew it was a pointless argument.

La Creuset instead gave a small smile and let a photo showing a deactivated g-weapon being transported floated away from him, "no I have a sixth sense about his type of thing. If we wait for the council's permission then later on we'll pay with our lives for our reluctance to take action. Besides."

"Besides?" Ades questioned however La Creuset gave no response other then a smirk and Ades once again turned his attention to Heliopolis floating in front of him.

The quartet walked down the pathway which led to the automatic cars. Tolle and Miriallia were engaged in an adamant discussion regarding whether or not they believed Orb should be involved in the war, with Ryan adding in a few comments here and there while Kira simply trailed behind them.

The group came upon three girls talking in front of the cars. One being a red head dressed in a completely in pink dress. Soon they were close enough for them all to hear their conversation.

"Its nothing like that!" defended the red head against her two friends who wanted to know about a letter that Sai Argyle had sent her.

One of the girls saw Miriallia and run up to her, "so do you know anything about the letter Miriallia?"

Before Miriallia could answer however, a woman roughly 172cm talked cleared her throat from behind Kira and Ryan. All of the teens turned their attention to the dark haired woman in red. She gave a small smile, "if you're not getting in mind if we do?" gesturing to herself and her two male companions.

Kira spoke up, "No not at all." This got an eyebrow raise from the women and her two companions who found the voice to be feminine but still boyish. Dismissing it as nothing the women and her companions entered the car and then drove off.

Fllay which was the red head in pinks name gave her two friends a glare and then entered a car saying how they were going shopping and then the car drove off.

Tolle spoke suddenly, "well well, that Sai! Seems you've got some competition Ryan!" he said as he put his hands on Ryan's shoulders. Then walked towards the car.

Ryan sputtered slightly trying to defend himself, "no wait I don't!" however he never got to complete his sentence as Kira dragged him to the car and forced him to sit down allowing the car to drive off.

Somewhere within Heliopolis

A group of about ten soldiers in space suits six red and four green sat on a ledge overlooking a factory.

"It's just as the commander said" a silver haired blue eyed male teenager said after having pulled a pair of binoculars from his face.

"What that with the right amount of prodding they were sure to come out of their hiding place? Well what more do you expect? Naturals are stupid and pathetic," a tanned blonde with violet eyes said smirking looking at his companion and giving a thumbs up.

Bright green eyes surveyed the scene; blue hair framing the young man's impassive face.

Kira sat watching as the scenery flew past her as her friends bickered over whether or not Ryan liked Fllay Alaster. She was sitting in the front left seat of the car with Ryan next to her and Miriallia and Tolle in the back seat. Seeing her friends still preoccupied she swiped her ID card enabling the four into the university.

The quartet walked into the room and immediately noted that Sai was in the room. Kira's attention was however drawn to the unknown figure in the room. Sai saw that Kira's attention was on the mysterious stranger and informed her that he was a guest of the professor. This seemed to placate most of the other students however Kira couldn't shake the feeling she'd seen the mysterious person somewhere before.

Feeling some one's eyes on them the stranger turned to face the person. Kira's eyes widened slightly, Cagalli! Kira frowned faintly what was she doing here?

Kira returned her attention to the front and heard Ryan explain that it appeared to be a program analysis of some sort and Kira nodded slightly when Sai looked to her for confirmation. Sitting down she began to work on the program on the suit that Tolle was currently in.

Ten minutes later

Explosions suddenly rocked the colony, causing Kira to grasp the desk in front of her to try and regain her stability. Soon enough the explosions stopped and Kira looked around the room and saw that while most were dazed they were fine. Cagalli however Kira saw was attempting to open the door which led into the factory district causing Kira to look at her suspiciously.

However Tolle grabbed her attention when he opened the door leading to the stairway and asked one of the people on it what was happening. Kira blinked at the response and narrowed her eyes, apparently ZAFT was attacking the colony.

Ryan turned his attention to Kira when he saw her still sitting on the seat while everyone else was on their feet. He walked over to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. He attempted to drag he over to where their friends were going out the staircase door when she suddenly broke free. Turning back he watched as she ran out the door which led to the factory district after the blond stranger. Cursing slightly he told his friends that he'd catch up and took off after the pair.

Kira easily caught up to Cagalli and grabbed her arm pulling her to a halt. Before however Cagalli could say something Kira beat her to it, "what are you doing here Cagalli? Why aren't you in Orb with your grandfather?"

Cagalli gave Kira a glare for that, "This all happened because of my grandfather!" Hearing this Kira blinked in shock.

"Kira!" Hearing her name being called Kira and Cagalli turned to the owner of the voice. He looked angry.

"What is wrong with the two of you? Your supposed to head for shelters when things like this happen." He said to the pair.

Cagalli just turned away from him and prepared to continue on her way when Ryan grabbed her arm forcing her to face him. Suddenly an explosion happened causing smoke to fill the hallway forcing all of the trio to cover their face. Soon the smoke cleared and when it did Cagalli's hat had been knocked off causing Ryan's eyes to widen slightly.

"You're a girl?" he muttered.

Cagalli growled slightly at him for that. "Yeah what did you think I was? Huh?" She sent a glance towards Kira as if to say is he an idiot? Also her eyes seemed to ask whether or not they knew that Kira was female.

Kira shook her head, Cagalli rolled her eyes muttering under her breath, 'typical'.

Before however Ryan could reply to either of the things Cagalli said, Kira grabbed the pair by the arm and dragged them forward towards the factory district.

Finally the trio reached the exit of the hallway and discovered a scene of pure chaos in front of them. There were bodies of soldiers everywhere.

Cagalli collapsed to the ground upon seeing them humanoid machines and yelled out, "grandfather I knew you betrayed us all." Earning a curious look from Ryan and a glance from Kira. Unfortunately this yell had garnered the attention of one of the soldiers fighting and she shot at them thinking they were an enemy combatant. Seeing this Ryan grabbed Cagalli's arm and began pulling her towards a shelter with Kira following. None of them heard the women exclaim 'those were children?'

When the trio made it to a shelter, Kira pressed the button to one of the shelters still open. Only for a voice on the other end to say that there was no room.

Ryan blurted out, "at least take our friend then! Please she's just a girl!" Earning a sharp look from Cagalli for this remark.

Hearing the voice agree to take her Kira grabbed Cagalli and shoved her in and pressed the button to send her down into the life pod. After this she and Ryan ran out once again to the battlefield only to get separated as a soldier tackled Ryan over the railing. Kira called out to him only for him to tell her to keep heading towards a shelter. As she past another platform she glanced down and saw a ZAFT soldier take aim at a woman in orange.

"Look out!" Kira called causing the women to turn in her direction and see the soldier. She shot him and then told Kira to come down telling her that there was nothing left behind the door she was running to.

"wha-" was all Kira managed to get out before an explosion tore apart the door she was running to. Seeing she had no other option she jumped over the railing of the platform and landed on her feet stumbling onto her hands slightly. Kira regained her footing and glanced up to the women after hearing a gun shot.

Ryan hit the ground hard with the ZAFT soldier on top of him. He was having a hard time preventing the soldier from stabbing him when Ryan suddenly kicked the soldier off him. The soldier got to his feet as did Ryan. Flicking his eyes from side to side trying to finding a way out of this he looked down and the soldiers feet and smirked. The soldier was surrounded by water. Ryan's eyes changed from emerald green to electrifying yellow.

Having got out of the jam with the soldier Ryan told Kira to continue heading towards the shelters. He ran away from the scene with the soldier trying to ignore the smell. And saw one of the humanoid machines Kira, the blond girl and himself had seen from the platform. Ryan shrugged and climbed up the machine and into what looked to be a cockpit. He turned the machine on. Unknown to him, the machines eyes flashed the same electrifying yellow his had earlier.

Kira ran towards the women after seeing her go down. She crouched beside her and turned to face the ZAFT soldier running towards her. She pushed the women down behind her and got into a defensive position. When the soldiers face came into view she gasped slightly and a name left her mouth, "Athrun."

Athrun ran towards the downed soldier and saw a figure dressed in black crouch down beside her. The figure turned to face him and got into a defensive position in front of the women. When he got closer to the figure he heard the figure saw his name and he froze now recognizing his best childhood friend Kira. He put the army issue knife down slightly when the women fired at her. He used the jet pack on his flight suit to propel himself away and onto another of the machines. With one last look at his friend he entered the machine.

Kira stood up watching as he went inside the machine when she was pushed by the women into the machine they were standing on. The women then activated the machine. And now the wheels of fate have begun to turn.

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

Harry S. Truman