"A ZAFT pilot?"

"Yeah." Mu confirmed with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Who'd have guessed?"

Murrue looked down at her hands clasped on the desk in front of her, seeming to forget the other two people who currently occupied the same small, yet homely room which doubled as her quarters and office.

Badgiruel looked at Mu, her eyes none too friendly. "And you gave orders for him to be brought aboard?" she asked, seizing her chance to interrogate.

"Well, yeah. I couldn't very well just leave him there."

Badgiruel made a irritated noise and turned back to Murrue. "Captain, I must object. We're already holding one ZAFT pilot prisoner despite the fact the ship is woefully undermanned. I think holding two ZAFT pilots is not only unnecessary, but dangerous." She shot Mu a sharp, disapproving look as she finished, then waited for an answer.

"And what would you have me do, lieutenant?" She asked, a sad look in her eyes. "Leave him? Shoot him in cold blood?" She sighed and shook her head. "No, I'm afraid the only option we have at this point is to bring him on board. Alaska isn't too from here. We'll just have to trust the crew to make it until then."


After being formally dismissed from his meeting with lieutenant Badgiruel and the captain, Mu made his way through the many brightly lit, yet virtually deserted corridors that led down to the docking bay to see if the search party had returned. When he arrived he found Murdoch directing the placement of the few small pieces of the Strike they'd managed to scavenge.

"No, not there! We want it out of the way!" Murdoch yelled, the exasperation in his voice was only too apparent. He caught sight of Mu and a smile broke his stern face. "Ah, commander, how did it go?"

"Alright, I guess." Mu said, standing next to the head mechanic and looking on at the progress they'd made. "We decided to keep him at least. Do you have his things?"

"Yup! Right over there." Murdoch replied, pointing to a red and white bundle laying atop the small table beside them.

Mu took it and scattered the contents across the limited area of tabletop he was able to clear of tools. Sifting through it, he found a 40 caliber semi automatic handgun with an extra round of ammo, a small bag containing a first aid kit and a few small meals, some other emergency supplies, a communicator, and a simple yet exceptionally well made knife which Mu took a moment to admire. It was all very interesting, but there was nothing in the pile that an average pilot wouldn't have.

He heard something drop to the floor and leaned down to pick it up. A small smile tugged at the corner of Mu's mouth. Just what he needed; a dog tag. He briefly scanned the information on the small metal plate and frowned.

"Zala. Where have I heard that name before?"

The chief mechanic looked over and shrugged in an unconcerned manner.. "I dunno, maybe you caught part of their transmission during a battle?"

"No." Mu answered, shaking his head slowly. "I don't think so." Murdoch made no reply and Mu looked up. "Where's the pilot now?"

"The kid broke his arm so I sent him to the infirmary."

"Right." Mu said, tapping the tag thoughtfully against his hand. "I think I'll go check on him. Would you have these things taken care of?" He motioned to the pile of ZAFT equipment, and walked off without waiting for an answer.


That name… Mu couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew he'd heard it someplace before. Maybe seeing the pilot would jog his memory. If not, he'd turn to the database for an answer. Mu stopped and pressed a button on the wall, causing the two slabs of seemingly solid metal in front of him to slide open. As he entered the ship's infirmary he was greeted by a pair of purple eyes from the other end of the room belonging to the first ZAFT pilot they had picked up.

The young man studied him for a moment, then laid his head back on the pillow.

"Whadda you want?"

"Nothing much." Mu shrugged, then nodded to the other bed in the room. "Just came in to welcome our new guest."

He moved over to the bed he had indicated and glanced down at the occupant. It only took one look from Mu to realize he'd never seen the youth before in his life. Sure, the guy wasn't conscious right now, but Mu didn't think a kid with with blue hair would have escaped his memory. He frowned thoughtfully then turned to the blond teenager.

"So, you're.." Mu racked his brain for the information he'd received earlier, "Elsman, right?"

The pilot shrugged. "That or Dearka. Whatever flies your ship."

"Right. I don't suppose you could tell me where I might have heard this kid's name before. 'Zala'?"

The teenager stared at him for what seemed like a whole minute before bursting into a fit of laughter. "Well, let me see. I hear he was pretty good as Juliet in that one school play. If not there, I can't imagine where you could have possibly heard that name before."

Mu had a sudden urge to opened the door and let some air in. The sarcasm emanating from this kid was suffocating. Obviously Zala was a name he thought every idiot should know, or... absolutely nothing.

"Thanks..." He said uncertainly, turning to look at the unconscious kid behind him. He was just about ready to give up and walk away when something caught his eye.

Mu frowned. "Hey, I thought this kid's arm was broken."

Dearka looked from Mu to the bed across as if missing the point. "Yeah?"

"Why hasn't the doctor fixed him up?"

The blond gave him a funny look. "Seriously? You're asking me?"


"Commander!"

Mu turned at the sound of his military title to see Murrue walking towards him from an adjoining hall to his left, and waited for her to catch up.

"You do know you can call me Mu, right?" He asked grinning as she fell into step beside him.

Murrue smiled, but ignored the question. "Where are you headed?"

"The bay. You?"

"The very same."

"Really?" Mu raised his eyebrows in surprise. " And why would that be?"

Murrue sighed and a tired look entered her eyes. "I don't suppose you've wondered why we're not moving yet."

Mu had to paused and think about it before realizing that the ship was indeed still immobile. "No." He said jogging to catch up with her again "But now that you mention it, why?"

"The thrusters, among other things, got hit during the battle." Murrue stated."They were fine while running, but Murdoch seems to be having trouble getting them to start up again."

"What?"Mu asked, raising his eyebrow skeptically. "Don't tell me we've finally found something that man can't fix!"

They stopped in front of the elevator and Murrue pressed the down button with a slight shrug. "I don't know. You forgetthat since the Archangel was still technically in the testing stage when we took her out, we didn't have many spare parts to start with."

They stepped into the elevator and Mu leaned casually back on the rail as they started moving down.

"We could call Orb."

Murrue shook her head. "No. Even if we could I wouldn't allow it. They've helped more than enough already. "

Mu sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Communications are out to then, huh?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Were you able to tell Orb that we've already conducted a search before the com went out?"

Murrue's jaw tightened slightly and she looked away. "No, but they'll need to pick up what's left of the Strike and Aegis anyway. We just don't have the equipment on board to do it ourselves."


Murdoch was standing in the middle of the bay waiting for them when they arrived. Around him the other mechanics worked in a flurry of orange jumpsuits to get the ship working. Occasionally one of the younger men would run over to give reports to Murdoch from the farther reaches of the ship where some of the more serious repairs were going on.

"What's the situation?" Murrue asked Murdoch as they approached.

Murdoch looked up. "Not good I'm afraid. When the engine got hit it fried some of the wiring. So when we tried to fire up the thrusters the plasma release valve didn't open and the computer wasn't able to detect the pressure build up in time."

Mu frowned. "I didn't feel an explosion."

Murdoch shot him a slightly irritated look."There wasn't one. The build up was only enough to blow a few of the valves. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but parts have to come from somewhere, and we don't have any."

"Could we use the Strike's thrusters?"

Murdoch gave Mu a look that obviously stated his now rock bottom opinion of him. "Even if they did work, the Strike's thrusters wouldn't give us a fourth of the thrust we need to move on earth. Unless you plan on racing a snail."

Mu thought he heard a chuckle from Murrue's direction, but when he looked she was busily going over the information on the clipboard Murdoch had just handed her.

"Fine then. Is there anything we can do?" He asked folding his arms defensively.

"There's a box of duct tape in the storage room."

Mu felt his jaw drop. "You're joking, right?"

Murdoch shrugged. "Only half. All we really need right now is something to hold her together until we can get the parts."

"Oy..." Mu brought his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Whatever it takes." Murrue said, handing the board back to Murdoch.

"Yes mam. But..." He halted.

Murrue raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Could we slow down a bit? My crew's exhausted and I could used a few hours sleep myself."

Murrue smiled. "Of course. I think the same holds true for the rest of the crew as well. Do you think you could have it done by tomorrow?"

"Positive."

"Good. I'll go inform the crew."


Both men paused to watch her leave, then Murdoch turned and started to prepare the night's shift.

Mu shook himself out of the daze. "Hey Murdoch?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know who it was that brought the kid in?"

"The one you think you know?"

Mu nodded.

"It was Birch and Dan. Why do you ask?"

Mu shook his head. "It's nothing important. Do you know where I can find them?"

"They've been playing cards in that corner over there ever since I came in." Murdoch said, gesturing to the far corner of the noisy bay. "They wanted to help, but there's nothing but mechanics work to do."

Mu turned and nodded his thanks as he glimpsed the two men among an arrangement of boxes made into a set of seats with a table between them.

As he approached Mu was able to make out the two men's faces and was somewhat taken aback at the age difference. The younger one seemed to have just graduated from his teens, had a mop of dark brown hair and a pair of quite green eyes. The elder was well past forty and had the look of a hard bitten soldier ingrained on his face. He was seated across from the younger man and appeared to be teaching him how to play poker.

It was a game Mu had never bothered to learn himself, despite his time in the military when gambling had beena serious sport. He preferred to keep his money where it belonged. In his pocket. Mu slowly walked up to the table and crossed his arms as he watched the game commence. He was in no hurry to interrupt and stood there, content to wait until the players noticed him. It took a hand or two, but the kid eventually glanced up. The young man stared at Mu uncertainly as his partner dealt the cards once again, attempting to explain some of the finer points of bluffing.

" And... Dan?" He looked up from the deck as he finished dealing and frowned at the young man's apparent lack of interest. "Are you listening to me?"

"Hmm?" Dan asked, turning his head but keeping his eyes on Mu. Birch looked to see what Dan found so interesting and seeing Mu he started from his chair and saluted in professional military style.

"Sir." He said briefly, standing at attention.

Mu straitened from his position against some oil containers and saluted back in his customary dismissive way.

"You two been in the service long?" He asked, nodding down at the matching green uniforms they wore.

"Twenty years sir, before I retired." Birch replied with a hit of pride. "I came on board and rejoined after Heliopolis."

Mu nodded, not even attempting to hide how impressed he was at the man's dedication. Twenty years was a large portion of any man's life, he wondered if he'd ever make it that long himself. He then turned to the younger Dan, who hadn't moved from his seat. "How about you?"

Dan opened his mouth as if to speak then shut it and looked away.

"I.. I'm sorry sir." Mu looked up to see Birch watching with a pained look in his eyes. "My nephew's family died at Heliopolis. He joined then."

"Oh." Mu said quietly and he mentally kicked himself. The last thing he wanted to do today was bring up death. "I'm... sorry to hear that."

"It's alright sir."

No one spoke for a long time and Mu shifted uncomfortably on his feet. If anything was worse than saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, it was awkward silences.

"So, I uh... understand you two were the ones who brought in the ZAFT pilot earlier."

Birch's face seemed to harden at mention of the pilot.

"Yes sir."

"Well then, I think you should know that I just came from a visit with the doctor." Mu gave Birch a meaningful look. "He was rather upset no one told him he had another patient that needed attention. Mind telling why that is?"

Out of the corner of his eye Mu saw some of the color in Dan's face disappear and he glanced up anxiously at his uncle. Birch on the other hand kept his face mask of steely calm.

"We have a very humane doctor, sir."

"No." Mu frowned. "I mean why he was never informed. From what I heard, that was supposed to be your job."

Birch was silent for a moment.

"I saw no reason to." He replied carefully.

"What?" Mu sputtered in disbelief. "You saw no reason to? That kid's arm is broken in three places! How much of a reason do you need?"

"More of one!" Birch snapped. The icy mask he had been wearing but moments before melted away and was replaced by hatred. "You call him a kid, but in no universe I know do kids commit the kind of monstrosities they have!"

"They? You mean coordinators?"

"Yes sir, I do!"

Birch's angry voice echoed across the large bay and all activity ceased as people looked over at them curiously.

Mu set his jaw and glared at the man.

"Don't you go forgetting Kira was a coordinator as well." His voice was hardly over a whisper, but it rung loud and clear in the still.

With that Mu turned his back and left.


A/N: Hello you guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I made it extra long in the hopes you wouldn't kill me for taking so long to update, but if you decide to anyway I can't say I'd blame you. lol

OK. Random notes:

1. A few of you have been asking about Athrun. I know it's taking me forever, but I promise he will be waking up within the next chapter or so and from there he will proceed to fulfill the evil destiny I have plotted out for him. *Evil laugh*

2. If any of you are wondering, Dearka's random reference to Athrun playing Juliet came from Mingathur's awesome fanfic "Ten things about Athrun."