CE 74

Sarik woke up to an unidentifiable noise outside of his tent, something loud. He grabbed his pistol and poked his head outside the flaps that made up the dwelling's door.

Nothing...again, he remarked to himself.

Then he heard the sound again. A low rumbling noise far in the distance that grew progressively louder. Then another, and another, and soon, the sound became a consistent thudding in the background.

Great, he thought sarcastically as he returned inside of his tent.

For nearly a week now, nineteen-year-old Sarik Ostheim had been tracking a herd of deer on his massive lot of property, which was located a few hours drive outside of Berlin, Germany, which was a province was within the borders of the Eurasian Federation. Recently, however, much of the area had been occupied by ZAFT forces, whom were at war with the Earth Alliance, of which the Eurasian Federation was a member. As a result, the two forces were constantly battling over territory in this area.

This did not affect Sarik in the least, who took no sides in this war. He believed it was started for purely racist and destructive reasons, just like last time. Sure, some would say it was provoked by the supposed attack by ZAFT when Junius Seven was dropped onto the Earth, but Sarik knew better. It was true that the space colony had been knocked out of its orbit by Coordinators, but if it weren't for ZAFT, the colony would have hit the Earth in a single piece, affecting it as if a comet or an asteroid had impacted. The destruction that followed the fall of Junius Seven was nothing compared the the complete decimation that would have resulted without ZAFT's intervention.

No, this war was started because of one people's hatred for another, and not just the Natural's towards the Coordinators. Sarik felt that somehow the war was as much the Coordinators' faults as it was the Natural's. It was going to become another excuse for genocide, just like the last war. That's how he saw it.

Sarik had gone to great lengths to proclaim his neutrality in the world's conflicts. When his parents died and he inherited ownership Silver Shield Incorporated, he had moved most of the corporation to a small island within Orb Union territory, after things had settled down at the end the last war. He was not thrilled by the fact that the idealistic nation of Orb broke under fear and pressure, allying itself with the Earth Alliance, something that wouldn't have happened if Chief Representative Cugalli Yula Autha hadn't been kidnapped, leaving the Orb government open to the control of the abusive Seirans.

In the years since Sarik had gained control of SSI, its annual growth had increased immensely. Sarik put the company in a position to take a larger role in the world than before, more than just minor research and limited contracts. During peace times, SSI was selling new weapons and systems to the three major governments: the Earth Alliance, the PLANTs, and most largely, the Orb Union. During wartimes, however, SSI's sales to any involved powers came to a complete halt, in this instance causing the corporation to rely heavily on its few private and even fewer remaining government contracts. Using immense saved-up fortunes that never quite rivaled corporations like Aeron and Morgenroete, SSI's R&D departments worked around the clock to modify existing components and create new ones.

Some of SSI's most recent public accomplishments was when it purchased the blueprints and production licenses for several mobile suit model, the first ever for the company. These included the nearly retired ZAFT GINN, the retiring Earth Alliance Dagger series, and the lesser produced Orb Astrays. In addition to limited production of these mobile suits, SSI had taken these designs and was beginning the process of engineering on its own, original line of mobile suits, though THAT most wouldn't be finished for several years, due to the extremely expensive nature of the project.

Another accomplishment was a parts contract with ZAFT several months before this latest war started. SSI had obtained the contract to design and assemble a new armored command bridge for ZAFT's next generation of battleships, which was somewhat of a feat, due to the fact that ZAFT was unwilling to share any blueprint information because of the then-secretive nature of the project. Sarik learned later on that it had been implemented into the battleship Minerva, a warship that had played a large role in the war up to this point, almost as much as the Archangel had in the last war.

Some things, such as SSI's private military and their research projects, were not public knowledge, some of it so well protected that even the major governments were unaware of the corporation's full capabilities.

Among these was SSI's research on the implementation of several relatively unexplored concepts that could very well make modern day weapons obsolete. Plasma weapons scaled down to small, energy-efficient rifles for mobile suits; high-power railguns capable of destroying Nelson-class battleships and Nazca-class destroyers in a single shot; cheap, unguided rockets superior to modern day smart missiles; shielding systems efficient enough to be used on warships for extended periods of time. And to implement these new systems, entire series of warships, mobile suits, fighters, and formerly obsolete tanks were being redesigned by SSI for their use.

SSI also had compiled a large, defensive military, created in secret under Sarik's personal direction. He felt that in order to enforce their political neutrality during periods of wart, a strong defense force was needed. Armed with the latest technology, including much of SSI's new and sometimes unshared weaponry, they were a force to be reckoned with. No one had yet become bold enough to test their mettle, though that could change any given day.

After finding himself dozing off in his thoughts, Sarik snapped out of his daze and went about preparing for the day. He quickly threw his coat on, the temperature outside being negative twenty degrees celsius. He grabbed some cold, dry cereal and turned on his small portable television, which was coming in perfectly due to the fact it tapped into local satellites' signals to gain unlimited access to most channels.

He nearly spat out his food when he saw the flattened mess that was reported to be one of Eurasia's major cities.

"...And this unidentified weapon has been utterly destroying anything occupied by ZAFT," said the reporter narrating. "Several cities have already been demolished by this unknown weapon, and there are unconfirmed reports that Earth Alliance mobile weapons have been spotted escorting it. Why they would deploy such a destructive weapon is still unknown, but casualties, both civilian and military, are estimated in the millions."

How sad, Sarik thought coldly.

The young man turned off the small device and quickly finished his food so he could get an early start. The distant sounds of battle encouraged him to get moving all the more quickly.

After dropping the coat, he first he slipped on his web belt, then pulled his large coat back on over his body, which was dressed by day light clothes under an insulated dry suit, allowing him to cross rivers and streams easily. Onto his web belt went his canteen, which he had filled the night before, his side-arm, for the rare occasion he would need to defend himself, a twenty-four hour pack, for emergencies, and his knife and sheath.

As he picked up his knife, he simply held it there, taking a moment to stare. At fourteen centimeters long with an inward curved, diamond edged blade, it was most definitely weapon fit for a soldier. He had acquired his last day there.

Eleven years, Sarik thought. I wonder what you're like now.

It had been eleven years since that summer, the summer that changed his life. He had made close, trusting friends, then lost them abruptly, having them taken from him. That summer, he had lost his innocence, his past, his sanity, and sometimes, he thought, his humanity.

However, during the summer in that horrible place, he had begun to have these dreams on rare occasions. Dreams that always, in some way, came true. They were so rare, however, that he had only had two during his time with Blue Cosmos and four in the eleven years since. The only way he could tell it was a vision, and not one of the nightmares that consistently plagued him, was the screaming. The loud, unbearable screaming that grew progressively louder until he was on the brink of insanity. Then he would wake up.

But to this day, they had never been wrong.

Two weeks earlier, he had another vision. In it, he saw a young girl dropped into a lake. A man with tears had delicately set her on the water and released her, allowing her unmoving body to sink. Then, he simply walked away from the lake's edge, leaving the child to slowly drift to the bottom of the freezing lake.

But in this dream, Sarik knew she still had life in her. Somehow, he knew. He dove into the lake after her. He searched and searched, but it was too dark. He swam deeper. His lungs were burning and his head felt as if it was going to explode. Then, he felt her. He grabbed whatever he could and swam to the surface. He swam to the edge of the lake and pushed her ashore before pulling himself onto land.

He was exhausted, darkness creeping in at the edges of his vision. He just wanted to sleep. But he couldn't.

He jumped up and felt her. She was cold as ice, unmoving.

He pulled something long from nowhere. He didn't know what, but as with all of his dreams, he had little control. He stabbed her four times with this unknown object.

Then, what was he doing? Kissing her? No, he was trying to breath life back into her.

Suddenly, her eyes opened, and he felt a pain in his stomach. This girl, no longer innocent looking, had just stabbed him with his own knife.

Then the screaming started, and he awoke.

That was why he as here. Not as a hunter of beast, but a hunter of his lost past. The lake in his dream was identical to the one located on one of his many properties. It was there where he had the few memories of his father that he did. During his search, he was always careful to keep within a few kilometers of it.

Sarik attached the knife to its correct place on his belt, then grabbed his rifle. Making sure the safety was on, he pulled back the bolt and loaded five rounds into the gun, then placed a round in the chamber and slid the mechanism forward, locking it in place.

Before Sarik packed everything, he made sure to get his shots. "Liquid maintenance" as his doctor had always called it. Because of his alterations, Sarik had to have his body "recalibrated" every so often. Due to the fact SSI didn't have the equipment to do this everywhere in the world, his parents had a compound developed that did this for him, after many frustrating years, of course. Because of them, he was no longer restricted on where in the world he could go. He simply had to have a supply of this cocktail. It was one of the few things he was thankful to them for.

How much longer? he asked himself as he finished packing. He absolutely hated this cold. It reminded him too much of what he'd been through.