Ok Here's chapter four. And to answer some questions that have been bought to my attention to anyone who wants to know what the hope gundam looks like with it's phase shift armor on the description that was given just before the fight between Eric and Bernard happened when the Gundam exited the facility and went outside was it. And as for the seed factor yes he'll have one because he kind of needs it like every character in seed.

disclaimer I don't own Gundam seed

"It seems Zala's desire for revenge truly know no bounds." Said the current chairmen of the place before sighing.

Siegal Clyne sat at his desk reading a report of what had happened at Heliopolis. While most military affairs were left in the hands of his former friend Patrick Zala the current chairman still preferred to keep track of how the war was going.

He wasn't particularly pleased with the direction the war had taken. He had hoped to bring it to a swift and peaceful end via peace talks but the Earth Alliance was seemingly dead set on fighting to whatever bitter end the war led them too.

"This war is meaningless."

"Sir your daughter is here to visit you." A voice said over the intercom system.

"Send her in."

"Right away sir."

In another minute or two the doors to the chairman's office opened revealing a teen pinkhaired beauty who was the chairman's daughter and the famous pop idol Lacus Clyne along with a pink sphere shaped machine bouncing around her repeatedly saying Haro."

"Lacus is there something you need?"

"No rather a special request."

"A request?"

"Yes I would like to pay my respects to the departed souls at Junius seven."

Siegel merely raised an eyebrow. He had no doubt his daughter's heart was in the right place I when it came to the morality of the request but he had no desire to expose her the sight of a place that was litter with death even after all the time that had passed.

"Lacus you've no need to prove anything to anyone. You have all ready showed your sincerity through your career."

"I know but I wanted to contribute to those that are fighting to protect are home as well as those who have been lost in this terrible war even if only a little."

Seigel sighed. "Very well but please be safe."

"Of course father." Lacus Clyne said before leaving the room.

"She's inherited her mother's kind heart." Siegel said to no one in particular.

XXXXX

"Raglan we need to speak with both you and Kira. Open the hatch to the machine." Ramius said over the radio.

After fighting back the tears that threatened to spill because of the destruction of Heliopolis that he unintentionally contributed to he opened the hatch to the Hope and was greeted by the sight of Kira who had already exited his machine, Ramius who was now wearing an EA uniform confirming Eric's previous suspicion. Along with the two were a pair of other EA members.

One appeared to be a blond man which at first glance seemed laid back and the other a black haired woman who wore a stern expression almost glaring at Eric who had the feeling she was someone he wouldn't be to fond of.

"So this is the unknown machine you were talking about. Looking at it I'd have definitely thought it to be one of the prototypes we were building in collaboration with Orb." The blond haired man said before turning his full attention to Eric.

"I'm lieutenant Mu La Flaga yo."

"Eric Raglan."

The black haired woman narrowed her eyes."Where did you get that machine? Who made it?" she demanded more so then asked.

"I came across by accident when being chased by Zaft into the facility where it was kept."

"And what facility would this be?" The black haired woman asked.

"The privately owned facility."

The woman raised an eyebrow. The one next to where the original prototypes were being built? That sounds too convenient for someone like you."

"He's telling the truth I saw the machine come out of the building's garage." Ramius said.

"Sorry to ask this but we need to confirm something. Ramius told us according to you that machine's OS system has been configured to allow even a natural to pilot it is that correct?" Mu inquired.

Eric grew nervous. He didn't like the potential direction the conversation was going in especially since it was being held with members of the Earth alliance. But unfortunately he couldn't lie to them since it would likely get him thrown in a brig and the truth would likely be discovered regardless.

"Yeah."

"If that's the case we'll be taking possession of that machine it shouldn't be left in the hands of a civilian and a minor no less" The black haired woman said.

'And leaving it in the hands of the EA is better?' He thought silently.

"Natarle please." Ramius said before turning back to Eric.

"Raglan I know this is kind of out of the blue for you but we're going to need to inspect and get whatever data we can from that machine."

"Fine." Eric said reluctantly before exiting the cockpit and walking next to Kira.

"One more thing." The black haired woman said before focusing her icy gaze on both teens.

"Are either of you two Coordinators?"

"No/um yes."

Eric and Kira answered at the same time before the guards pointed their guns at both teens.

"What the hell! We answered your question why are you treating as if were enemies?!" Eric asked.

"One of you is a member of the enemy and the you are still under suspicion of being one yourself."

"What could I have done to make you think that?"

"You piloted the unknown machine with enough efficiency to fight off the enemy only a coordinator could have done that."

"But I already told you the Hope has already had its programing modified so a natural could pilot it."

"And how do we know that isn't a lie to keep us from executing you?"

"Are you kidding me why would I- no even if I was a coordinator how does that alone justify killing me?"

"Your kind are the enemy of the Earth Alliance." Natarle said angering the teen.

"Only because you EA scumbags won't leave them alone!" Eric yelled out before the guards all turned the safety on the weapons off.

"That's enough all of you stand down!" Ramius said.

"Lieutenant it wouldn't be wise to harbor these two." Natarle said.

"While it's true Yamato is a coordinator and Raglan may very be one but the fact remains these two are the ones who held off Zaft forces and also are citizens of Orb which accepts both Naturals and Coordinators alike."

Upon hearing this the guards reluctantly lowered their weapons.

"Well it looks like we found out who's best suited for the position of leading this shop." Mu annouced.

"What? But you're the highest ranking officer here." Ramius said in response.

"Yeah but if your performance here with defusing the tension here wasn't enough of a hint I think you'll be able to fill the position just fine. Besides I'm more suited for a pilot's position anyhow."

"In that case it'd be best for you to pilot one of the machines." Natarle said.

"Maybe but the kids might be more suited to the task than I am."

"What, how?!"

"Well the Strike from the sound of Murrue has told us when she came aboard with those other kids has a OS system too complicated for any Natural and the Hope as Raglan called it might be the same way if your suspicion is correct and even of it's not well the kid displayed enough skill to prove he can pilot it effectively."

"We need whatever fire power we can get."

"Which is why these kids should be the ones to pilot them while I use the Mobius zero. We'll have three effective units for the time being."

XXXXX

"So in the end our mission on Heliopolis is incomplete with the loss of the Strike, Miguel is dead, and now another model not even our informant knew about has appeared and there was an unknown pilot who had managed to hide themselves amongst our number. Is that everything you have to report?" A masked man with blond hair be the name of Rau La Cruset said.

"Yes sir." Said the pilot of the Aegis Athrun Zala.

"If that's the case we have only one course of action. We'll pursue and the legged ship and capture both machines. Go inform the others that the Vesalius is going to pursue the Archangel."

Athrun left without a word leaving Rau La Cruset alone.

"I wonder who the pilot of this new machine is. According to the report the infiltrator amongst our number seemed determined to destroy it. Perhaps I might be able to get to some answers from the pilot themselves."

XXXXX

"Man it really sucks that there's nothing we can do to help out." Callahan said referring to Kira's current task of bringing life boats that were launched from the colony before it was destroyed back the archangel.

Since the time Eric and Kira had come to the Archangel Ramius had ordered the Strike to be fitted with weaponry and for the Hope to have its own weapons brought online. During the downtime the crew and civilians alike had all been assigned to rooms.

A little while after the Archangel went into orbit with what few crew members it had a multitude of life pops had been detected.

Since the Archangel didn't have that much manpower it was decided to least have Kira help out. Eric was held back on the account of the possibility of him being a coordinator and by extension from lying about it an enemy as Natarle had put it.

The result was a few three man teams as well as the Strike now retrieving the said life pods and bringing them back to the ship.

"It can't be helped. We're just civilians plus they don't have any more flight suits to give out so there's not much we can do." Eric replied.

"We might be able to soon though." Tolle said.

"The Captain's is taking help from any volunteers."

"You're planning on putting your name up for consideration?"

"Yeah it'll be a good way to kill time and someone's gotta see to the safety of all the poeple of onboard."

'Somehow I get the feeling it's more for protecting Mirriallia. Still it's a good reason to volonteer all things considered.'

"That you and I can both agree on." Callahan said jerking Eric's attention to him.

"Callahan please don't tell me you're also planning to work with those bastards!"

Callahan turned to Eric and glared.

"Why shouldn't I? What's wrong with joining up with the EA, they're trying to help people aren't they?"

"Only because the people on the life pods are likely Naturals!"

"What's wrong with that? We're both Naturals!"

"Had the people been coordinators the crew would have been taking a completely different course of action!"

"Not every EA member is as evil as you make them out to be!"

"And what about Junius seven huh? And every other war crime they've commited?! Nothing good will come of getting involved with their group!"

"Only you think that. And if you don't believe me go ask anyone who's around. Even Kira."

'Of course you'd try and use Kira as the catalyst for your arguement.' Eric said rolling his eyes irritation.

Even though Eric was technically Callahan's brother even if it was via adoption into the Raglan family Callahan had a closer sibling like bond with Kira. In fact whenever he had a personal problem or trouble Kira would usually be the first to hear about it.

Eric had more or less accepted the fact but in spite of it Eric still had some responsibility to see to Callahan's safety.

It was by this time Miriallia decided to intervene. "Calm down you guys. Let's just figure out how to make the best of this."

"Yeah it won't do anyone any good if you two fight." Tolle said.

"Fine." Eric said before hearing someone say something about the Strike arriving with the last life pod.

'Mine as well go greet Kira.'

XXXXX

As everyone entered the hanger bay Eric saw the Strike standing motionlessly next to the Hope which had mechanics working on different parts of it.

And now that he got a chance to truly look at it he saw that the Hope's shield had actually taken more damage than he would have originally thought.

There were a good number of burn marks and gashes in it. In fact one gash was actually deep enough that the body of Gatling gun it was mounted over was now exposed.

Eric had to admit the damage didn't exactly help any type of matter especially given the situation him and the others were in. Still as far as he was concerned it would've been easier to prevent said damaged from occurring if he had possessed a better arsenal than the one he had during the fight on the Heliopolis though it was highly likely the situation couldn't be helped.

On a side note there were also two beam rifles suspended in the air by cables in between the two Gundoms. Eric aready knew one of them was for the Strike so it was pretty much safe to assume the other one was gonna be given to the Hope.

'It'll definetely benifet the Hope's arsenal.' Eric thought even if he dreaded the idea of it being used by the EA.

"Kira!" Callahan exclaimed running over to the bruenette.

"It's good to see you to."

"So I take it that's the last life pod?" Eric asked looking at the only life pod that hadn't already been opened.

"Yeah of all the ones we were able to find at least." Kira said with a hint of guilt.

Eric had a sneaking suspicion that he was worried about any life pods that may still be floating out in space.

"Let's just be happy about the life pods that were saved."

"Ri-right." Kira said before Callahan rapped a single arm around Kira's shoulder.

"He's right you should be proud of yourself. You helped a lot of people and even protected all of us."

'Yeah you definitely saved a lot of lives Kira so you auto take pride in that, besides any pods left behind on more on my head than yours.' Eric thought as one of the Crew member yelled put that they the life pod to open.

"Come Kira it might be nice to see who you saved." Callahan said leading Kira over to the life pod.

As soon as the door opened around eight or nine people came out all of them being strangers with the exception of one girl that Eric while he didn't wish death on her he had no desire to see her.

"Kira!" A feminine voice yelled out before a red haired girl practically leaped out of the pod and into Kira's arms embracing him in the process.

"I'm glad you're ok." Kira said returning the embrace.

Sai who seemed to completely fail to take note of the potentially mold affection between the two spoke next.

"Flay! I'm relieved to see you made off the colony."

Flay turned to Sai before pushing away from Kira and throwing herself into the other teen's arms and started sobbing.

"My friends they didn't make it."

"You mean...?"

"Those scumbag coordinators took them from me."

Kira wore a look of mild hurt which didn't go unnoticed by either of the two step brothers.

The older of the mentally sighed. He knew Kira had a crush on the redhead but in the end a relationship between them was unlikely to ever happen since Flay was already arranged to be married the Sai and to top things off she had an obvious hatred of Coordinators.

Having enough of the scene Eric simply decided to head for his assigned quarters.

XXXXX

On the bridge Ramius, Natarle, and Mu were discussing what to do with the Strike and Hope.

"We will take Strike to Alaska as planned though I'm at a lost as to what to do with the Hope." Ramius.

"I strongly advise on taking it to the Alaska HG along with the Strike." Natarle Said.

"I can see how doing that might help our cause but the other model wasn't really built by us like the other prototypes. In fact have no idea who built it." Mu chimed.

"Orb is the only one that could have been responsible for its construction."

"Maybe but that still kind of leaves the question of why they would build another prototype right under our noses."

"The reason doesn't matter as things stand it should be used by the EA against Zaft."

"We'll decide what to do with it when we meet Uzumi to give him Strike's data." Ramius said before the head mechanic Murdoch came running in the room panting and sweating with a look that would make one think he saw a ghost.

"This is a private meeting Mechanic you need to..." Natarle said before being cut off by Murdoch.

"There's no time where's that other mschine's pilot we need him right now!"

Ramius' eyes went wide upon hearing this.

"Are we under attack by Zaft?"

"No that other machine has a timed self detonation device on it! If the pilot doesn't deactivate it in the next few minutes the machines gonna self destruct right inside the hanger bay."

XXXXX

Eric was in his assigned room placing his lab top on the table before pulling out a case containing a special disk he had found in one of the compartments of Hopes' cockpit back after his initial fight with the CGUE back on Heliopolis.

After deciding that it was best kept secrete from the EA he kept it concealed within his hoodie.

"Let's see what thing has on it." Eric said inserting the disk into the side of the laptop before being interrupted by a voice on the intercom.

"Eric Raglan head to the hanger bay immediately!"

Eric put his laptop in a drawer and headed for the hanger bay.

"What could have happened that they need me down there so urgently?" He asked no one in particular as he exited his room and immediately was confronted by a guard.

"Come with me now. We need you at the hanger bay asap."

XXXXX

The alarm was going off in the hanger bay sending everyone into a full on panic.

Many of the civilians jumped to the conclusion that Zaft was attacking and ran to their rooms as fast as they could.

It was by this time the doors leading into the hanger bay open revealing Eric along with the guard who had escorted him. As soon as Murdoch who had been standing along side Ramius, Natarle, and Mu saw the teen he wasted no time in yelling out the instruction of what he wanted done.

"Deactivate the self detonation device now!"

"Self detonation what are you talking about?"

"That machine you brought in turned out to be set with a timed explosive."

"What? How am I suppose to stop it."

"Your the one who armed it aren't you!?" Another mechanic yelled out.

"No I..."

"Enough!" Ramius yelled out before turning her attention to Eric.

"According to Murdoch the deactivation switch is already displayed on a touch panel with the amount of time left until detonation. The problem lies in the fact that the switch can only be used by someone who's had there DNA registered in other words you."

"Alright." Eric said before running over to a latter and climbing up to the second level catwalk before dashing over to the Hope which already had the hatch open and leaping inside.

From a single glance it became clear Murdoch was telling the truth about the touch panel. It displayed a timer that showed five minutes and fifty three second and counting down along with the words "Registered DNA needed to deactivate" below it."

Underneath both the timer and words was a flashing white hand showing Eric where to press his palm. The teen wasted no time in pressing his palm against the panel. Moments after the timer stopped and the numbers turned green before blinking a few times and disappearing. The previous words were now replaced with now ones that said "self detonation reset and deactivated."

"Alright I took care of the would be explosion problem." Eric yelled out while exiting the cockpit.

"That's good in all but why did you arm that thing in the first place!?" Murdoch asked.

"Actually I didn't."

"And why exactly would we believe that?" Natarle asked.

"Because it's the truth I told you before I only stumbled across the machine by chance."

"And it just happened to already have your DNA registered."

"No not prematurely."

"Then how is it that the other prototype has you registered now and why it's set to self detonate should anyone else try to use it?"

"At the time I stumbled across it the Hope's touch panel said "awaiting DNA registration" and showed the flashing shilloute of a hand so I pressed my palm against it and the next thing the panel said was DNA registered, accepted, and...Locked." The realization hit like a ton of bricks. The Hope's DNA registration along with the self detonation feature, Shirou had set it so the first person that activated the Hope Gundam was the only who could use it. In this case Eric himself.

"Ok. By any chance would you know how to undo the lock on the Hope's systems?" Ramius asked.

"Unfortunately no." Eric answered reluctantly knowing where the conversation would most likely go.

"You aware that sounds a bit too convenient for you aren't you?" Natarle asked.

"I am." Eric admitted.

While it was actually the truth the idea of him stumbling upon a new model mobile suit that just so happened to have its system set up in a way that it would set the locks and failsafes on its own so only Eric could use it without him having any knowledge of the said locks at the time or how to undo them sounded like a convenient lie so he wouldn't have to give the machine to the EA or get interrogated for information.

"If that's the case we're going to have to go with La Flaga's suggestion and have you pilot it in the meantime." Ramius said causing Natarle to jerk her gaze towards the unofficial captain.

"Ms Ramius I would have to disagree with that course of action. He needs to be interrogated until he divulges how to undo the DNA lock and since we're unable to check the OS there's also the possibility he may be a Coordinator."

"He's obviously a civilian so interrogating for information he most likely doesn't have would just sully the Earth alliance's humanitarian name."

Eric scoffed at the last part before Ramius continued.

"As for if he's a Natural or Coordinator we can't imprison or execute him if he's the latter of the two since the fact remains he's a civilian and a citizen of Orb no less. We can perform a blood test to put the matter to rest but beyond that anything else would be abuse of authority on our part."

"I make preparation the test immediately." Natarle said before leaving.

Ramius turned to Murdoch. "Will the DNA lock get in the way of general maintance on the Hope?"

"No we've been able to bring the weapons online and load them. So far the detonation program only triggered when we had one of our workers try and start up the machine to check the OS according to him the machine gave him a warning saying his DNA wasn't registered and after he tried again in hopes of simply being able to bypass the lock was when the detonation started."

"So basically all we can really do with the prototype as of now is load its weapons." La Flaga said.

"And give it new ones to an extent." Murdoch said gesturing to the Beam rifle it the Hopes' hand.

"What do you by extent?" Ramius asked.

"It's built differently from the Strike so we can't put any packs on it." Murdoch answered.

"Ok since the matter of the other Machine has more or less been settled what's our next move?" La Flaga said

"We'll head for the Artemis base to resupply."

"Well if that's all I'm heading back to my room." Eric said leaving the hanger bay.

XXXXX

As Eric came back to his room he found the door wide opened and two voices emanating from the room.

One sounded like his younger step brother and the other...

"Haro you're back you're back." Came the mechanical voice of a trade mark blue sphere like pet robot called a Harobot which hopped into Eric's hands.

"It's good to see you too Haro but if your here does that mean..."

"It does." Another voice said.

Eric looked up to see a man dressed in casual civilian clothes with brown hair.

"You've no idea how glad I am to know the worst didn't befall you."

"Father!" Eric exclaimed before letting the Harobot hop out of his hands and practically leaping into the man and wrapping his arms around him.

"I was worried I lost you!"

"I could say the same to you especailly if what Callahan told was true."

Eric released his embrace and stared at his adoptive parent Abram unsure of how to respond at first.

"Yo-you mean he told you about what happened with me?"

"Well only that you were piloting one of the machines this ship's holding."

"Then are you..?"

"I can't say I approve but as I said before I'm just glad the worst didn't happen to either of you and at the very least I want to hear your side of the story and your reason for doing what you did."

Ok that's the end this chapter. Sorry that wasn't any fights I pretty much just used used the chapter as an opportunity to show off some more of Eric's particular character as well as the others view towards him.

Eric at this point in the fic actually has a bit of a reversed black and white view on things. Where most people on the ship think Coordinators and Zaft are the villains Eric believes the Earth Alliance to be the villains. Namely because of the Junius seven incident which pretty much started the conflict and the fact that the overwhelming majority of the EA is fighting out of their desire to kill off coordinates and other reasons which will be shown later. Also he's currently unaware of Patrick Zala's goal of wiping out Naturals so as far as he's concerned the war is only going on because the EA won't leave the coordinators alone.(even tough that kind of actually is the reason the entire first war happened at all. Zala was just trying to retaliate against the EA though like them he took his goal to far.)

To clarify Eric just hates the Earth Alliance not the entire Natural race.

I also changed the scenario of events for the chapter. Originally I was going to have everyone in charge of the ship in favor of the idea of simply taking the Hope from Eric who would have protested only to get locked up in the brig until everyone found out about the DNA lock and timed self detonation which would have forced them to let Eric pilot the Hope.

I changed my mind because I realized Ramius wouldn't simply jump at the opportunity to steal a mobile suit from someone who had more or less helped fight off Zaft simply because it was the optimal thing to do and La Flaga would probably turn down the opportunity to pilot it even if he was able to in favor of having an extra ally on the field. Plus I don't want Eric to be the type of character who wants to make an ass out of himself every chance he gets because I personally find that annoying in any character.

He'll still show some distrust if the fact he left out the part Shirou had created the Hope or that he lied about having no previous experince with a mobile (choosing to keep his simulator experience a secrete) or his argument with Callahan along with concealing the disk he found wasn't enough of a hint but I'm not gonna have him act as defiant as possible at every turn for the sake of it. At most Eric simply wants keep as much information out of the EA's hands as he can and to avoid any involvement with the Earth Alliance though thanks to the DNA lock on Hope combined with Zaft's in pursuit of the archangel which has his friends and family on board I'm sure we can all guess how accomplishing the latter of the goals will work out.