Summary: Cosmic Era 72, and the world is divided into four superpowers. Lelouch Vi Britannia is sent to investigate the rumors of the EA's new G-weapons, and to find the advantage to finally end the war. Politics, battle, and betrayal; CE is not the time to be living.


Phase 04

The Imperfect Shield


Kira lay on his bed, hands tucked under his head as he gazed up at the ceiling, wondering if it would give him any answers.

He just didn't know what to do.

ZAFT was not some evil monster that was waiting to devour him the first chance that they got, not that he had ever really thought of them as such. Still, while he had known intellectually that the people of ZAFT were just like him and his friends, seeing it first hand was a shock.

All the ZAFT personnel so far had treated him kindly, and there was a small part of him that was yipping about how they treated him better than the EA forces did.

They'd shown him to his 'prison', which wasn't a prison but a nice, pristine room, and told him that he'd have three meals per day. It wasn't like any of the war films he'd seen. He didn't know how to feel about it.

Was this who he was fighting against? Were these people the friends of whom he had killed back on Heliopolis?

Kira rolled to his side, drawing his knees up to his chest as he squeezed his eyes shut. He just didn't know.

On one hand, there was no way that he could abandon his friends. They were counting on him to protect them, and he could never put all the pressure on Orenji alone. It would be completely selfish of him.

On the other hand, now that he knew what type of people he were fighting against, he didn't know if he could do it seriously. It hadn't been easy killing the pilot of the one suit back on Heliopolis of course, but at that time it had seemed surreal, more like a video game than the thought that someone had actually died in there. He knew it intellectually, but hadn't felt it in his heart.

Now, he couldn't help but wonder if his mind would flash to Athrun's sad smile, or the mechanic's kind gestures, or even Dearka and Yzak's faces if Kira fought ZAFT again. The thought of destroying another mobile suit made him sick to his stomach.

Just then, there was a light knock at his door.

Kira sat up, instantly brushing off his clothes to make himself seem more presentable. ZAFT had even given him spare clothing to wear, as he'd seen when he opened the closet to undress from his pilot suit and discovered casual wear already placed in there.

"Come in," he said, only to pause after that, a bitter smile crossing his face. The person who was knocking had to know that Kira didn't control the door's locking system, and that his voice commands were of little consequence. He felt he had so little control over his life now.

The door slid open, revealing the smiling face of the green haired boy that was one of the pilots of the stolen Gundams. It took a moment for Kira to place his name as he struggled to overcome the crushing disappointment that it wasn't Athrun Zala who had come to see him.

"Nicol, right?" Kira asked in a soft tone as the boy floated in, a lunch tray balanced precariously in his left hand.

The green haired boy nodded kindly, placing the tray down on a small desk as the door slid automatically shut behind him.

"Yes, it's me," Nicol said lightly as he turned back towards Kira, smiling brightly, "and your name is Kira Yamato. You'll have to excuse Athrun for telling us a bit about you. We had to determine ah…"

The green haired boy trailed off, looking unsure.

Kira bit back the urge to laugh, knowing that it'd come out sounding bitter rather than amused. He smiled kindly at the other boy, "Don't worry, I won't snap again. At least, I hope not. I'm finding myself a bit unpredictable these days." Kira paused, realizing that what he said didn't sound reassuring, but it was his true feelings. He sighed, "Sorry. I mean, I understand. It's procedure. You needed to make sure if I was a threat, right?"

The thought sounded ridiculous to him, especially aloud. Kira Yamato, the somewhat goofy but well-wishing engineering student being a threat? And yet, from the way he had so easily destroyed the mobile suits attacking Heliopolis, Kira was no longer sure if he could trust himself to not be a hazard to others.

Nicol smiled again. It wasn't bright like before, and in fact it looked a little sad, but somehow it seemed more real. He slid down into a chair, straddling it so that he faced the rear, arms wrapped around the back.

The green haired boy rested his chin on the back of the chair, brown eyes soft with understanding, "You never wanted to fight, did you?"

There were a lot of things Kira could say in response to that statement. At the forefront of his mind was a well placed and deserving 'you think?' along with a sarcastic rendition about how ZAFT's actions had forced him to take this course.

Still, he had no desire to play the blame game at this moment. It had ruined his meeting with Athrun, and Kira did not want it to ruin his impression on a person who had been nothing but nice to him the whole time.

Kira shook his head, "I don't know if Athrun told you, but we—that is, my friends and I—were just civilians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not like… it's not like we want to fight, but if we don't, we'll die..."

A flicker of shock crossed Nicol's expression, "What?"

Kira felt a flash of annoyance. What right did the ZAFT soldier have to act like that? Was it only hitting him now that his actions affected the civilians too?! "What I said. Us, the Heliopolis civilians who weren't fortunate enough to escape safely, are stuck in a stupid battle between this ship and the Archangel."

Emotions flew across Nicol's face so quickly that Kira had a hard time following them. Finally, the green haired boy settled on a look of distress, "That isn't right. Civilians shouldn't be involved."

Kira opened his mouth to reply with a bitter 'well they are', but then he pushed it down at the last second. It wasn't like he didn't realize that Nicol was just as aghast by the situation as he was.

Kira let out a sigh, his fingers tightening on the fabric of his pants, creating clenched balls of cloth. "This is war."

He couldn't bring himself to say more than that, and quite frankly, he didn't think he needed to. The pained expression on Nicol's face told Kira more than enough. The green haired boy, despite how kind he could be, was also prepared to make sacrifices for what he thought was the greater good.

"But still," the green haired boy began again, surprising Kira, "there should be something that can be done. I think maybe Commander Le Creuset doesn't know that there are civilians aboard that ship. If he did, surely he wouldn't try to sink it!"

Kira only shook his head in reply, "I'm sure that he knows. I told Athrun, and if Athrun is anything like what I remember him to be, then I'm sure that was the first thing he said to your commander."

Nicol looked shocked, "Athrun knows?"

Kira could only nod in reply. His fists whitened as he thought back to that particular conversation, the knuckles of his hand turning white. Kira admitted that he had made some mistakes with Athrun in his hasty anger over his capture, but his conviction that Athrun was wrong in disregarding Naturals was not one of his mistakes.

"My friends are on that ship!"

Nicol sat back, tilting his head to the ceiling and blowing a stray strand of green hair out of his eyes. "What a mess."

Kira smiled weakly, "I can't agree more."

They stayed in silence for a bit, each captured with their own thoughts. Kira couldn't help but think back to the Archangel. He wondered how they were doing, and if they'd safely made it to the Artemis.

He thought that Tolle, Miri, Kuzzy, and Sai would be alright, but what about Lelouch? Lelouch was Britannian, wasn't he? Would he be treated alright? Would everyone be let off now that they were finally in a place of safety, or would military protocol demand that they continue sailing with the Archangel?

"Your lunch is probably getting cold," Nicol said abruptly, still staring at the ceiling.

Kira startled, confused at the sudden turn of conversation. His mind was still sluggish with answerless questions, and it took him a moment to even understand what Nicol was talking about. Even then, he didn't get it. "What?"

Nicol tilted his chin down again, looking back at Kira with a sheepish grin, "I just remembered the reason that I came here was to deliver food to you. I'm sorry. I got so carried away with our discussion that I forgot all about it, but you're probably hungry, right?"

"Oh," Kira said in surprise, because quite frankly he had completely forgotten about the reason that Nicol had probably come here in the first place. He blushed, "Oh, I'm sorry for keeping you."

Nicol laughed, shaking his head, "No, no, don't apologize. I came here for the conversation. Bringing you food was just an excuse, but I just realized that you might actually be hungry. I wanted to know what kind of friend Athrun had."

Kira had opened his mouth to reassure the green haired boy that he was feeling fine when the Blitz pilot's last sentence struck him. Kira jerked back a little, stung, and bowed his head, "I'm… I'm not a very good friend. I said some things to him that I shouldn't have."

"Ah," Nicol sounded distressed, and a moment later Kira felt a hand placed on top of his. The unwilling pilot of the Strike looked up, startled at the compassionate brown eyes which greeted him. "Kira-san, everybody makes mistakes. I just know from talking to you right now that you are exactly the type of friend that Athrun would have. You're kind, smart, and strong. Please don't sell yourself short."

There were so many things wrong with that statement that Kira didn't know where to begin. If he were kind, he wouldn't have killed those people. If he were strong, why was he still crying and indecisive all the time?

And while he did admit that perhaps he had a higher than average intelligence, look where that had gotten him. Because of his capacity for programming, he was stuck piloting the Strike, and all his problems had resulted from that.

Still, Kira didn't want to argue about that at the moment. It would sound ridiculous, and besides, what was the point of convincing someone that he was not worth it? They'd find out eventually, anyhow.

Instead, he just shook his head, ripping his eyes away from Nicol's sincere brown ones and looking towards the food plate, "So, lunch?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Kira caught Nicol's frown, but the green haired boy did not confront him about the obvious avoidance. Instead, the pilot of the Blitz nodded, and reached over to the food tray. He plucked the metal plate from the desk like it weighed nothing, which it probably didn't considering they were out in space, and handed it over to Kira.

Kira thanked Nicol, and started on his food. After taking the first bite, his eyes widened, and he started eating much more eagerly.

Nicol laughed softly, just a hint of a teasing quality in his voice, "You like what you eat?"

"This is amazing," Kira praised, wondering how they got their food to taste so good.

"Our cook is amazing. I'll tell you that you appreciate him. He'll probably stuff you from now on."

Kira swallowed his most recent mouthful, and let out a laugh, "I wouldn't mind that."

They talked about lighter topics from then on, exchanging stories about their respective homes and anecdotes about their lives. It was easy talking to Nicol, and although Kira had initially felt a pang of loneliness when he mentioned Helipolis with full knowledge that it could never go back to the way it was, the feeling quickly left as he was drawn into narrating the past antics of his friends.

Nicol's stories were likewise peace filled, his words bringing to mind great expansive pastures and harmonious skies.

Soon though, it was time to go. Kira handed the long empty tray to Nicol, smiling sadly as the green haired boy made to leave. Talking to the pianist had been refreshing, and now that he was going, Kira would have nothing to keep his mind off the confusing realities of war.

"Nicol," Kira suddenly called out just as the green haired boy opened the door, just remembering something which he had forgotten to bring up in the course of their conversation. And then, he hesitated, wondering if he should say it after all.

The sixteen year old pianist turned back to him, a patient look on his friendly face, and Kira knew he had to deliver his message.

Kira took a deep breath, "Could you—could you please tell Athrun that I'm sorry?"

Nicol smiled brilliantly, his whole face lighting up. "Definitely."

And with that, the green haired boy was gone, leaving Kira feeling lighter than before.


It was only about five hours of hacking in total before he heard a loud thumping at his door, presumably a knock.

"Now I wonder who that is," Lelouch murmured, shutting off his laptop and getting up to unlock the door.

Jeremiah had gone out about an hour ago, the mechanics calling him down to maintain his suit, yet the person at his door was not Lelouch's trusty knight. He and Jeremiah had developed a specific way of knocking, to determine who was with his knight at the time, or if it was even his knight at all, and this monstrous pounding was obviously not any of those.

Lelouch opened the door, fully expecting to Lieutenant Ramius or maybe even one of Kira's friends, but all that greeted him was the sneering faces of tall men in blue uniforms. That, and the barrel of a rifle.

"Get to the mess hall," the man growled, shoving his gun forwards as if that would do something.

Lelouch's mind raced, coming up with a dozen possibilities at once, and in a split second coming up with the most likely one.

So, it was like that, huh? The EA had such obvious power-plays, and it really was a wonder how they stayed alive for so long. Hiding his smile, the eleventh prince of Britannia bowed his head, and meekly followed the soldier out.

They walked down the familiar passageways, and it only took Lelouch a moment to realize where they were heading. And then, they were there.

"How unpleasant," Lelouch murmured as he was shoved into the mess hall, stumbling slightly from the uneven push. He heard a low, guttural growl to his side, and quickly turned to shake his head at the source. Jeremiah, who was already in the mess hall and had seen the whole thing, calmed down, but was still staring daggers at the man who had pushed him.

It really was a good thing they decided to go with this whole butler angle, or else they would have been given away ten times over by Jeremiah's instinctive actions already. As much as Lelouch loved his knight, he was even more protective than Guilford over Cornelia, and that was saying something considering everyone within a mile radius of the two knew how much in love they were.

Nobody was really paying any attention to Jeremiah though.

"Lelouch, are you alright?" Miriallia asked in concern as she ran up to him.

"Hey man, know what happened?" Kuzzy piqued in.

"Who are… you?" A girl with dark pink hair and a pink summer dress asked warily as she looked him up and down, all the while clinging onto Sai's arm.

Kuzzy's face lit up as he moved to drag Lelouch over to their ragtag group. "This is Lelouch my man. He helped us and… Kira."

At the mention of the name, everyone's mood dropped. Lelouch almost felt guilty. Almost.

"Do you think he's alright?" Tolle asked hesitantly.

"I—I just don't know," Miriallia choked out, dropping down onto a bench as if her legs couldn't support her anymore.

"Well he's probably not being tortured or anything, right? So it'll be alright, right?" Kuzzy asked flippantly, before wavering and looking around at the group hesitantly, "Right?"

Lelouch decided that enough was enough.

"I doubt they'd hurt him," the hidden aristocrat said casually, sliding into a seat beside Mirillia. "He hasn't really hurt them, and besides, he's a Coordinator, so if ZAFT hurts him, wouldn't they be going against their ideology?"

"You're right, you're right!" Miriallia cried, "Of course you're right Lelouch."

"Hm, of course, let's defer to the noble," Sai snorted, but there was no malice in it. He smiled at Lelouch, "Yeah, I agree with you. Good point. And thanks for calming these folks down."

Sai was, of course, the most logical of the bunch sans Lelouch himself. But Lelouch didn't miss his faint trembling. He was affected by Kira's capture more than he let on, but he was putting up a brave face for his friends. Or was it for the girl next to him?

Only semi-paying attention to the conversation that picked up near him, Lelouch discretely scanned the area for Jeremiah again, and whether anyone was looking at the two of them. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the green haired CC of the Gundam Glory, but he didn't much care at the moment.

Why are you here? He signaled Jeremiah with his hands, only half-looking in the man's direction as to not draw attention.

They got group of us in the hanger, was his knight's quick reply.

So that meant that Artemis had indeed gathered everybody on this ship including the mechanics, though of course Lelouch could have easily found that out by asking the others. But still, why bother to make yourself stand out when you could just ask someone in cahoots with you?

Did you lock? Lelouch asked.

Of course.

Inwardly Lelouch nodded. Of course his knight would not neglect to lock the OS after he felt something was wrong. While Jeremiah was not as gifted in programming as Lelouch himself, there was a reason why he could pilot top mobile suits.

"Ah, I realized I didn't have your name," Lelouch said suddenly, looking intently at the pink clad girl. She looked kind of familiar, now that he thought about it, but he couldn't place her. He stood up, and bowed deeply, "I am Lelouch Lamperouge, and you, my lady?"

The girl giggled, as did Miriallia.

"Flay Allster, your lordship," she said with a curtsey, either not seeing or ignoring the semi-jealous look that Sai treated him with.

"Why didn't you greet us like that Lelouch?" Miriallia laughed, pointing to Kuzzy, "He sometimes deserves the title of 'ladyship' very much, especially when he waters the plants."

"Oi!" Kuzzy interjected, "Just because I like gardening doesn't mean I'm feminine!"

"I apologize, at the time I didn't feel like we were in the right place for it," Lelouch replied automatically, though inwardly his mind was racing. Allster. Ah that's right, the vice-foreign minister for the Atlantic Federation, the leaders of the EA. Honestly, he didn't know what he had done to deserve all this good luck, but it looked like his plans might need another adjustment. And this one he wouldn't mind making. "Shall we forget that we ever met each other so I can greet you all over again?"

Miriallia actually blushed, and opened her mouth to reply when suddenly, she was interrupted.

The door burst open, and three men came marching through. They were all wearing white uniforms, and Lelouch quickly made the balding man out in the front to be the leader.

"Where is the pilot for the mobile suit stored on this ship? And I've also heard that you've recently captured a member of ZAFT. Where are they?"

Lelouch watched the proceedings boredly as the commander in charge began to thoroughly abuse his powers. The dark haired teen felt a bubble of disgust well up within him, swelling up not unlike Artemis's shield. He hated those who abused their power without grace.

And then, suddenly, the man moved towards Miriallia, taking her by the arm and forcing her to stand. Lelouch almost stood himself. Almost. Expect that he knew it wouldn't do any good. His mind flashed to Nunnally and Euphie, and wicked men with their golden teeth. This was the bane of corruption. Artificial brown eyes hooded. He would make sure that this man came to regret what he was about to do.

"It looks like the pilot can be female. After all, this ship as a female commander," the man laughed to himself, as if he had just made the greatest connection in the world.

"That hurts," Miriallia cried as the man twisted her arm, completely unsympathetic.

Lelouch closed his eyes, and then opened them again. Honestly he had enough. He stood in one smooth motion, looking at the man coolly, "Really, is that how you treat a lady? Stop this foolishness. I'm the pilot of the Victory, is that enough?"

The man blinked, and let go of Miriallia's arm however. The girl winced, bringing it close and nursing it before shooting Lelouch a surprised look. She knew that he wasn't the pilot, and she was obviously wondering why he was saying that he was.

"N-no!" Kuzzy stammered, standing up also, "I'm the pilot!"

"No you're not," Tolle said, shaking his head, "because I am."

Lelouch shot them an annoyed look. He kind of knew where they were coming from, but he didn't want to complicate things more.

The commander threw back his head, and laughed. "You boys, your willingness to protect her is impressive…" And then, his eyes hardened. "But small chicks like you—"

"—can't carry the weight of our lies, is that it?" Lelouch finished blandly, ignoring the shocked look that crossed the man's face. Well alright, he didn't ignore it completely. It was sort of funny. If only Anya were here, then she could take photos. "And then you were going to punch me. That's not very nice, is it?"

The man actually took a step back, his eyes wide with fear, "What… what are you?"

"Maxwell's equations are partial differential equations that relate the electric and magnetic fields to each other and to the electric charges and currents. Often, the charges and currents are themselves dependent on the electric and magnetic fields via the Lorentz force and the constitutive relations. These all form a set of coupled partial differential equations, which are often very difficult to solve. Like any differential equation, boundary conditions and initial conditions are necessary for a unique solution. For example, even with no charges and no currents anywhere in spacetime, many solutions to Maxwell's equations are possible, not just the obvious solution E=B=0. Another solution is E=constant, B=constant, while yet other solutions have electromagnetic waves filling spacetime. In some cases, Maxwell's equations are solved through infinite space, and boundary conditions are given as asymptotic limits at infinity. In other cases, Maxwell's equations are solved in just a finite region of space, with appropriate boundary conditions on that region"

Everybody's jaw dropped open, only partially aware of what had just spewed from his mouth.

Lelouch cocked an eyebrow, "I am what you call, a genius."

The commander sneered again, but this time there was some hesitancy in his look. Lelouch barely hid a smile. Good. "Look, I don't need to listen to some kid yabber on about some complicated passage of physics that they read. I want the pilot."

Lelouch simply shrugged in reply, "Alright, if you don't want to believe me, at least ask yourself this. What would I gain from lying? If I'm unable to unlock the OS that the, ah, pilot put on the Victory, then just come back here. Nobody's going to stop you."

The commander's eyes sharpened, "How did you know that we came here about the lock?"

"Wasn't it obvious? What else would you need me—excuse me, the pilot of the Victory for?"

"You've got a real smart mouth kid." An ugly look spread across the commander's face, "Watch it."

Lelouch looked back at the commander impassively, "Why do I need to? We're all on the same side, right?"

For a moment, the man didn't look like he knew what to say in reply, and then, he grinned. It was a forced grin, but that was pretty much what Lelouch had been aiming for. "Yes, yes, of course you're right. Alright, I'll believe that you're the pilot of the Victory for now. Now tell me, where is pilot of the other mobile suit? The one from ZAFT?"

Too open. Too obvious. This man's intentions were written all over his face.

"Dead." Lelouch said tonelessly in reply, and then he shrugged, "Or escaped, I don't know. But he wasn't there when we opened up the hatch. Good riddance is all I can say. Coordinator scum make hard competition even for people like me."

Miriallia gasped, and Kuzzy looked as if he were about to open his mouth to say something, but Tolle stopped him with a shake of his head. However, Lelouch still caught the slight tightening of the brown haired boy's muscles. Huh, so it looked like even the one who understood was still affected by what Lelouch had said.

"You're a real bastard, kid," the commander said with a grin, a more sincere one this time.

"Should we get going? The faster we get this done the sooner we're cleared, right?" Lelouch paused, and allowed a hint of vulnerability to colour his tone. It was best to make himself seem like an easily manipulated kid after all. "I'd like to call my parents."

Well, that wasn't a complete falsehood. He did want to get in contact with his father as soon as possible. Charles Zi Britannia would no doubt be pleased with Lelouch's findings.

But then, Father was pleased with whatever Lelouch did. A small frown flickered across his face at that thought. When he was younger, he lavished in the attention of his father, but recently he had started to notice the disproportionate time that Father spent with the Vi Britannias as opposed to any of Lelouch's other siblings.

Nevertheless, how could Lelouch complain when his mother and Nunally were all smiles whenever his father visited? Besides, it wasn't as if Lelouch didn't want his father to visit him. After all, spending more time with the other families meant spending less time with theirs.

Still, recently Lelouch had begun to catch small flashes of loneliness in his older brother Schniezel's and sister Cornelia's eyes, and he couldn't help but wonder if neglect was part of the reason that Clovis rebelled. Then again, perhaps he was mixing up his vision of Cornelia with the Cornelia after Junius Seven, who could only express loneliness if not anger.

He shook his head. Ah, he was showing too much vulnerability now.

The commander nodded, and motioned for Lelouch to follow him with his hand. The black haired boy did so readily. A couple of guards came too, but Lelouch was used to guards. Although of course, they were usually protecting him, and not the person beside him.

"I don't get it," came Flay's confused voice from the room he quickly abandoned, "wasn't he Kira's friend?"

"Flay," Sai sighed, his voice growing fainter and fainter by the second, "think about where we are right now…"

The babble of the mess hall faded completely, and all Lelouch could hear now was the faint breathing of his escorts and the small buzz of the ship's machinery. Inwardly he laughed at how lightly he was being treated. Other than the commander there were four military personnel with him, and none of them had their weapons out. If he had been lying and were actually someone of Jeremiah's capability, he could have taken them out in an instant. They were idiots.

They stepped inside the elevator. The commander punched in the coordinates for the hanger and soon, the six were descending. Floors flashed by them, but they were empty of people. Finally they arrived at the bottom floor, and they all stepped out.

Walking towards the figure of the Victory, Lelouch couldn't help but muse if it was time to make his move. He thought he had a fair judge of the commander's personality, though of course it could do to wait a bit and see if he was right.

"So all I have to do is unlock the OS for you, right?" He asked as they stopped at the base of the Victory. He very much doubted that the commander would let it go at that, but this question was a probe just as much as any of his others.

"Right, but for you, you can do many other things as well."

Lelouch hummed. He'd known it. The question was, along what lines did the commander think? It was best to act the part of a confused teenager for now. He was likely to get simplified answers, but he knew he could reconstruct basically what the commander truly intended from that. "There are other things I could do?"

"Yes, for example, you could translate the codes for this and making a copy of it. The kind for making effective armaments for this mobile suit. If you were able to create that OS lock, this type of thing shouldn't be too hard for you, right?"

Lelouch thought this over, or rather, how best to reply to this. Finally, he turned back to the commander, taking his eyes off the Victory, "I'm just a regular civilian though. As much as I hate the coordinators, I don't particularly want to get involved in war and possibly die."

The man's eyes glittered. He thought he had Lelouch, how quaint. "Oh you wouldn't have to risk your life. We'll protect you well. Eurasia, I mean…"

Hidden amethyst eyes sharpened. Ah-ha, so that was the commander's game. He was an actual loyalist then, and not just someone who simply looked out for their own interests. Lelouch knew that even within the EA there were power struggles, mostly between Eurasia which owned this base, and the Atlantic Federation which created the G weapons. The fact that the commander cared about Eurasia as a whole instead of just his own promotions made things so much harder.

"That's an offer worth considering," Lelouch murmured, putting on a thoughtful face, "but do I get anything out of it?"

The commander laughed in reply, "I judged you right, kid. You'll get the best accommodations and supplies, and I'm sure that you want to put your brain to use anyway, eh? You'll be paid of course, very handsomely, and after this war you'll be a hero."

"A hero," Lelouch repeated, his lips twisting into a wry smile. "Hardly a title I would risk my life for, but not a bad one to get if I just have to sit around in a room all day."

"Yes, we'll treat you much better than the Archangel does."

Lelouch let out a heartfelt sigh, "Honestly I get no rest from them. If it weren't for the fact that I had to protect my life…"

With a shake of his head he walked up to the platform that would take him up to the cockpit of the Victory and tugged on the strings, leaving the commander with his last statement. Hopefully the commander would take it that Lelouch was tired, and in his greediness to conform Lelouch to the Eurasia faction, he would make sure that Lelouch had some time to rest after the prince unlocked the OS. And when Lelouch got his unsupervised resting time of course, it would finally be time to end this farce and reunite with his countrymen.

The platform slowly ascended, making it look as if the commander and his guards' forms were becoming smaller with each passing second. When the strings finally ran out and the platform clunked against the cockpit, Lelouch nimbly jumped in, making sure to pay attention to his movements. It wouldn't do to look like a monkey in front of the commander after all.

Starting up the Victory, he immediately got to the core of the matter. Moments later he was joined by two technicians, who were there to record what he was doing. He quietly memorized their faces, making sure to get someone to kill them so that they didn't spill the secrets of Jeremiah's lock.

That done, he started picking at the OS lock, making sure to take it slow in order to not show too much of his skills. He'd just depicted the surface when, suddenly, a loud explosion set off somewhere in the distance, rocking the gundam.

Lelouch jerked forward, barely catching himself on the seat. The two technicians in front of him staggered, nearly losing their balance and crashing to the floor below. Lelouch didn't care about them though. He looked upwards, confused. What? Had the Britannian forces arrived already? But he had asked them to wait for his instruction before attacking!

More explosions rocked the base, but this time they were all prepared for it. Still, it didn't do anything to clear the confusion about what the heck was happening.

Suddenly, a panicked voice from below caught his attention. It was raspy and hard to make out, and Lelouch immediately deduced that it had to be radio.

"A—a mobile suit is within the defense mechanism! The reflector has been destroyed!"

The commander's voice followed, full of anger and shock. "What?!"

Lelouch closed his eyes. He couldn't see what was going on anyway because the two technicians in front of him were blocking him from viewing anything but the inside of the cockpit. False brown eyes snapped open, "Don't you two have something better to do? It's obvious we're being attacked, and I for one don't want to die. Go help them!"

The technicians hesitated, but evidently decided that the Artemis was more important. Without another word they turned and left Lelouch, obviously hurrying off to their positions.

Lelouch finally looked down, putting away the keyboard in front of him and leaning halfway out of the cockpit. The ground was chaos. Streams of Artemis personnel flooded out of the Archangel, until eventually only the commander and three of his guards were left.

"What?!" The commander was screaming to his walky-talky, "The umbrella has been breached? That's impossible!"

Lelouch felt his eyes narrow. Umbrella was the term that Artemis used for their shield. Someone had taken it out before him? It would be good if they were talking about the Britannian forces arriving early, but the likelihood of them attacking when the third in line for the throne had expressly ordered for them not to were slim. It was only Schneizel or Cornelia who could belay his orders, and there was no way that either of the two was in space. The same could be said of the Knight of the Rounds, who were not required to follow his orders, but would need a very, very good reason not to.

It only left one option open.

"That's unfortunate," Lelouch muttered, just as Jeremiah burst through the door to the hanger, eyes wild as he searched for his prince.

The commander turned to him instantly, distracted from the more urgent situation by what was in front of him. Well, it wasn't true that Jeremiah was less urgent, so the commander actually made the right choice this time, even if he didn't know it.

"What are you doing here?" The commander demanded as Jeremiah raced towards the Victory, and in consequence, towards the group of four. "Hey, stop!"

Jeremiah's eyes only flickered to Lelouch, who nodded once in reply. A savage grin spreading across his face, Jeremiah ducked under one of the guards who had been stalking towards him in response to the commander's decrees and grabbed onto the man's arm. Then, before anyone could react, he flipped the man over, throwing him towards one of the other guards.

The two guards went down, but Jeremiah didn't take time to make sure of it. Immediately he pulled out a handgun, firing two rapid shots at the remaining guard. The guard fell back, dead. He hadn't even had time to draw his weapon, too much in shock over Jeremiah's reflexes.

To the side, the two guards Jeremiah had put down earlier were groaning, fumbling for their guns as they struggled to get up. Eyes narrowing, the knight of the eleventh prince switched the direction of his gun, quickly putting the two down. However, that gave the time needed for the commander to react, his own gun pulled as he pointed it towards Jeremiah.

The knight tensed, ready to dodge in either direction, but otherwise he did not move.

"It's unfortunate," the commander sneered, his eyes flickering to the three bodies in EA uniforms, "that they never fought against a Coordinator before. I'm assuming that you're ZAFT's pilot, and the little boy up there lied?"

Lelouch inwardly tsked as he reached for the inside of his shirt, and Jeremiah only smiled in reply. It wasn't a pleasant smile. "Please don't call my lord something like a little boy. You could get killed for that. And I will never be with ZAFT."

"What—"

But before the commander could finish his sentence, a shot rang through the air, and blood blossomed at his right shoulder. The commander's gun clattered to the floor as he staggered forwards, throwing a shocked look to the direction of the shot.

Lelouch was sitting at the edge of the cockpit, his handgun pointed calmly towards the chief officer of the Artemis.

The commander's blue eyes widened with comprehension, "You're not a civilian."

Lelouch smiled, "No, I'm not."

And then, he pulled the trigger.

Even from the distance he was able to hit the heart. It was just a matter of calculation really. The only reason he hadn't killed the other man in the first shot was because he had wanted to see the shock and realization dawn upon the man, about the fact that it would be Britannia that would win this stupid war.

Stowing the handgun back into the inner folds of his clothing, Lelouch swung up to the catwalk which was right beside the cockpit, just as the commander fell down. Jeremiah fired a few more shots just to make sure, and then began his climb up the Victory.

"Cover the Archangel as it leaves," Lelouch told his knight as Jeremiah made it to the computers of the giant machine. Turning away, Lelouch covered his frown, although he wasn't sure if he was able to completely keep the bitterness out of his voice, "It looks like the ZAFT vessel found us before the Britannian forces, so we'll have to leave."

"Yes, your highness," Jeremiah said in a voice that signaled that he was saluting as well. Lelouch decided to let it go this time. With all the other occupants of this room dead, he very much doubted that anyone would make a fuss.

Giving one last nod to his knight, Lelouch made his way down the catwalk, feeling his fingers clench into fists as he did so. All his careful planning, gone to waste, and now he would be stuck on this cursed ship for who knows how long.


"The Archangel has left the parameters. I repeat, the Archangel has left the parameters."

Athrun let out a sigh at the report. Nicol's voice was blaring over the speakers in the strategy room, the one word hidden under the complex wording clear in everyone's minds.

The Blitz had failed.

Yzak narrowed his eyes, "I knew we shouldn't have depended on him."

"He did what he was supposed to have done," Athrun said lightly, "which was take down Artemis. The fact that the Archangel got away after that is unfortunate, but the Blitz met its objective."

Well, technically it had, but everyone in the room knew that the main purpose of the mission was to then secure the Archangel afterwards. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the ship had made its escape, leaving the Gamow tied down with the rest of the falling Artemis's forces.

From their distance, they could see it clearly. Not ten minutes after the destruction of Artemis's Umbrella, the fortress had sent out its mobile amours, which had immediately begun engaging Nicol, which was possibly the reason he had lost the Archangel.

Even as the green haired boy was making his report, he was fighting off about three different mobile armors, although he was doing an amazing job of destroying them.

"Should we deploy?" Athrun asked, glancing at their captain. While he fully appreciated Nicol's skills, the amount of enemies that were emerging from the nooks and crannies of the collapsing Artemis was ridiculous, and Athrun was afraid that Nicol would get overwhelmed by the numbers.

But Captain Hinomi shook his head, "No, there'd be no point. We're not trying to obliterate the Artemis's forces. We're trying to catch the Archangel. Engaging in unnecessary combat will only slow us down. I'm going to recall Nicol."

Athrun nodded. A retreat was the second best option. Either way, it didn't leave Nicol in a one vs a hundred situation.

He remembered that Nicol had come up to him just before they went into the strategy room to map out a way to get past Artemis's defenses. Nicol had said that there was something he needed to talk to Athrun about.

"So," Yzak said, quickly seeing that they were done as the captain walked out, no doubt to radio his orders. "How's that prisoner of ours doing?"

Athrun stiffened instantly. Despite his recent… disagreement… with Kira, the brown haired boy was still very much Athrun's friend, and Athrun would not allow a slight towards him to pass. "He's not a prisoner. He's just a very confused friend."

The fact that Kira had brought up Junius Seven only made it more than obvious. The Kira that Athrun knew was never that insensitive. Kira wasn't made for war, and even a few days of fighting was getting to the brown haired boy.

Yes, Athrun understood Kira's reason for snapping very well. That didn't mean that the words didn't sting however.

Yzak only snorted in reply.

Dearka leaned against the window, crossing his arms as his lips curled into a sneer, "Yeah, yeah, I got that when I heard form one of the mechanics that you and the Strike pilot were yelling your hearts out at each other. I guess that translates into love in Zala language, right Yzak?"

Athrun clenched his fists, but he knew that there was no reasonable retort he could give in reply to that. It was true that he had Kira hadn't exactly had a joyful reunion back at the hanger, and Athrun had been called away before the whole thing could be turned into more than exchanges of sorrow.

Yzak let out a slight chuckle at Dearka's words, and for the first time since he had met them, Athrun felt himself hating their comradeship.

The way that Yzak and Dearka always backed each other suddenly seemed detestable, especially when both seem to decrease in maturity by ten years when they were around each other. It was never about seeing logic or listening to sound advice when one was in range of the other; it was always about proving how 'cool' they were to each other even if it meant disobeying authority figures.

It was an attitude that was bound to get them killed.

And that thought didn't make Athrun feel any better.

He didn't want to lose any more comrades. They had already lost Matthews and Miguel and Rusty. The thought of Rusty sent a pang through Athrun's heart. If Rusty were here, Yzak and Dearka would not be like this. Not to him. Not to their comrades.

"He isn't the enemy," Athrun repeated as he turned his head away, closing his eyes, "and just because he was piloting the Strike doesn't mean I expect him to take the place of Rusty."

There were hisses from both ZAFT Reds, and a jumble of half-frustrated, half-astonished voices that suddenly filled the room, making each individual word hard to make out.

"That isn't—"

"How dare you—"

Rusty had been the glue that had held them all together. There was no one who disliked him, and he had an amazing ability of bridging the gap between Yzak's hostility and Athrun's stiffness, as well as Nicol's innate kindness and Dearka's sarcasm. As soon as Rusty had gone, so had their comradeship.

There was no one now to retort to Dearka's comments in such a clever way that Dearka forgot to be sneering. There was no one now to sincerely reassure Nicol that he was good enough and be believed. There was no one now to spray pepsi into Yzak's face when he was being too intense and get a half-hearted glare in response.

There was no one now to see through Athrun's stiff masks and know when he was hurt.

The fact that he had to bring up Rusty at all sent a pang through his heart, but he felt like he had finally gotten to the root of why Yzak and Dearka disliked Kira so much.

"Am I wrong?" Athrun asked softly, sure that he wasn't.

Dearka only snorted in reply, but Athrun noted the trace of hesitancy in his eyes. "Heck yes. You're dead wrong this time Mr. Perfect."

"Then why can't you give Kira a chance?"

"He's a freaking soldier for the EA," Dearka sneered, "how do you expect us to feel towards him?"

Athrun narrowed his eyes. Even he had an end to his patience, and with the emotion testing conversations he had been having all day, he was very very close to nearing it.

"He. Was. Tricked." The blue haired boy said slowly.

"Are you sure that's the truth?" This time, it was Yzak who spoke. The silver haired boy had shot a calculating look towards the blue haired boy that Athrun didn't like one bit. "Are you sure that this isn't just you wishing that your old friend would never go against you, Zala?"

Athrun opened his mouth to retort, but actually hesitated.

The truth was that he actually didn't know if Kira had the knowledge of what he was doing or not. Athrun had been so sure that Kira was being forced into whatever role he was made to play, but during their confrontation at the hanger, it certainly hadn't sounded like that.

Oh sure, Kira hadn't wanted to fight, and Athrun never expected that to change, but now he was no longer sure if Kira would choose to not fight against them if he were actually given the choice. Athrun still knew Kira, and it was he more than anyone who knew how fiercely Kira would defend when he had a reason to. And now, Athrun couldn't be sure if the Archangel hadn't found such a reason.

Had Kira been going into those battles not knowing what was at stake? Athrun was less and less sure of that with every passing moment.

Seeing that he had won, Yzak snorted triumphantly, crossing his arms as a sneer spread across his face, "I knew it. It was just Zala arrogance, wasn't it?"

Before Athrun could reply to that, something else caught his attention. His head swiveled to that direction, and unwittingly, Dearka and Yzak followed his movement. All thoughts of Rusty and Kira fled from his mind.

Athrun felt his eyes widen as he spotted a pinprick of light in the distance, growing steadily brighter with each passing moment, until he could finally make out what it was that was heading towards them.

"What is that?" Dearka asked in awe, obviously never having seen such a large military commandment in his life. The soldier in him obviously dictated the need to put aside their earlier argument in face of a bigger threat.

Athrun let out a breath. This was not good, so not good. "That's… the Britannian 14th Fleet."

Unlike the case with Artemis, they had no chance of getting away now. The Britannians had developed the fastest ships in space. Athrun wasn't sure how the Britannians knew about what they had, or even that they were here, but Britannia's intelligence network had always been something of a mystery to the public. The fact of the matter was, Britannia was here, and the chances that it was for peace was slim to none.

"Change of plans," Hinomi muttered, walking back into the strategy room. "We'll be deploying after all. I suppose we had to test the effectiveness of these G-weapons sooner or later. Athrun, Yzak, Dearka, go to your mobile suits."


A/n: Ah, ripple effects. Don't you love them? As said by my profile, I don't have a ton of motivation for this fic. I think I'll write it whenever I have a brief relapse into Gundam Seed or Code Geass, but this definitely isn't the fic that most readers want updated and I put my focus on differing stories accordingly. So my apologies to you lovely readers, but I have a feeling this fic won't be updated for at least two years after this chapter.