Chapter two: The unexpected pilot

"We're here sir" announced the speaker, or rather the pilot of the shuttle. Morning had come quite fast; Yzak, Athrun and Dearka would soon be heading into battle.

"Alright, we'll launch here. Wait for us." Yzak instructed the pilot.

Yzak, Athrun and Dearka went into their mobile suits.

"Yzak Joule, Duel, launching!"

"Dearka Elthman, Buster, launching!"

"Atrhun Zala, Justice, launching!

And they were off. The battle had already started and the ZAFT forces were starting to fail. The Justice, (it was actually rebuilt as well), the Buster and the Duel made their way into the battlefield, destroying everything in their path. The battle was an easy one and the three dominated the field. Then, a message was transmitted on all frequencies:

"Attention all Coordinators. This is the leader of Blue Cosmos, Garret Kim. You are to surrender and hand over all military forces right now unless you want to be destroyed he hehe..."

"Ha! Bring it on Naturals!" replied Yzak

"Very well then" was the answer to Yzak's request.

The battle was still raging on and a few minutes later, four new mobile suits entered the battlefield. They looked modified versions of the Strike Daggers. One went over to fight with Yzak, one with Athrun and the other two were on Dearka.

"Dammit!" Dearka was fighting two against one and the two suits were good. Very good, for Naturals. This reminded the three of Shani, Orga and Clotho.

"So Zala, where's that pilot you talked about? We sure could use some help here." asked Yzak.

"Any time now."

After a good 15 minute battle between him and the two "Daggers", Dearka's suit was sustaining too much damage and was getting low on energy. Whoever was in those suits, they were good.

"Arg!" he screamed after an attack that damaged his suit really badly. "We can't go on like this! Dammit!"

An enemy suit was now coming at him. He didn't see it. He was about to get hit when an energy signature was detected and blew the "Strike Dagger" into spare bits. Dearka and Yzak looked at their sensors and sure enough, another suit had entered the battlefield.

"Heh! What did I tell ya!" said Athrun.

All three watched as the suit took no time to attack the second startled suit that was after Dearka and after less than two minutes, destroyed it. Wow! That pilot's attacks are perfect! Coordination, attacks, his manoeuvres... his technique is practically flawless! Some pilot Athrun brought! Seeing the sudden turn of events, the enemy fleet and suits retreated.

"What? Done already?" yelled Yzak. He was disappointed but relieved that the battle was over. All four suits headed back to Yzak's ship to resupply. Who the hell is that pilot? And where did he learn to fight like that? Yzak thought.

"Well Zala" started Yzak, coming out of his suit and admiring the new suit. "You certainly weren't kidding when you said the pilot was one of the best!"

"No shit! If he hadn't shown up, I'd be dead by now." replied Dearka.

"Hehe, wait 'till you see who the pilot is!" was Atrhun's reply, as he smirked and winked at Dearka.

"...?" What? Thought Dearka, unsure of what Athrun meant by that wink.

The suit was a new model. Hope, it was called. It had characteristics from both the early versions of the Justice and the Freedom. A truly admirable machine. Finally, the cockpit opened, revealing the pilot.

What Dearka and Yzak saw next almost made them faint. Firstly, it wasn't a he, it was a she! Not only that, she was a Natural! As much surprised as Yzak was from the revelation, the expression on Dearka's face was priceless. He was surprised, dumbfounded, happy and confused all at the same time. This has to be a dream, he thought to himself. His jaw had dropped at the mere sight of her. Of all people Orb could have sent, it was HER! His Miriallia! He was speechless.

"Hey Athrun,", Miriallia said, then looked over at Yzak. "You must be Commander Joule. I'm Lieutenant Miriallia Haww of the Orb special forces " She glanced at Dearka, unsure if it was the real him or just her imagination and smiled."Dearka, long time no see!" She was starting to blush.

Dearka was still staring at Miriallia, his mouth still opened. She was beautiful, even more gorgeous than he remembered. She now had straight, brown, shoulder-length hair and she was taller than he remembered. He was transfixed with her slim figure but what attracted him most were her eyes, those blue orbs full of kindness. She was so beautiful.

Milly could not believe it either. Deep down inside and as much as she was pissed off with him, she had missed him a lot and now he was here, just a few feet away from her. He was still as handsome as ever with his tan-coloured skin, blond hair and lavender eyes. He had changed a lot, matured. Damn he's hot! She thought oh God what am I thinking? Its alright Milly, calm down its only Dearka... oh its no use I'm still blushing! I hope he doesn't notice it...

Neither of them knew what to say. Yzak was plain confused by the way Dearka was acting towards this girl. Atrhun, of course, had had a feeling something like this would happen and just smirked. To his surprise, Dearka spoke first.

"Miriallia, I.. Umm... I'm surprised to see you here. How've you been?" her asked nervously.

"Oh umm.. Fine thanks, yourself?" she replied.

"Great actually..."he didn't know what to say anymore and thank God Yzak started talking 'cause it saved them an awkward silence.

"So, you're the pilot. I've gotta say, you're pretty amazing, for a Natural. Where did you train?"

"Well, it's a long story really but in short, I joined the Orb special forces, helped develop Hope and then decided to become a pilot. Athrun did most of the training and Kira gave me some tips too." Miriallia answered, still a little shaken by the situation.

"Well, you better not disappoint me. We'll be needing you in the next battles. Those suits were really something." This statement surprised everyone for a moment; none of them knew Yzak had some more respect now for Naturals.

All four made their way to Yzak's office to discuss their tactics for the next battle. It took them a while to come up with some kind of plan until they finally agreed to just plain fight. After the meeting, both Miriallia and Dearka left Yzak's office.

A.N. So? whatcha think? I know it's not the best but please review so I can go on... Thx!