A Father's Prerogative
A/N:
I know, it's been a bit slow to start, and probably not what most of you were expecting, but now things are getting going, with events that are going to sweep everything along.
Right, on with the show!
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Almost a two months had gone passed since she found out about her first concert, it had taken that long for everything to be put into place, it was the final curtain call of the second night, as well as the third encore that night, she could hear the packed stadium, most of them calling "Lacus! Lacus!" but every now and then she heard, "Mina! Mina!"
She looked over at her aunt, as she took off her microphone head set, smiling back at her, "How did it feel, to make it through two nights back to back, to be on stage, singing for over 200,000 people between the two nights?"
Mina padded down her dress, well taking off her own microphone head set, "I don't have any words to even describe it... On the first night I was so scared, I thought I was going to be sick, but when I felt that spot light, it was like magic!"
She couldn't help but jump around on the stage a bit, holding her head set in both hands, her dress flowed, well changing colours to match her excitement.
Lacus walked over to her, and hugged her, "The hard part comes next, and that will be an album, that's the real test. But seeing as so many people were enjoying your songs, true they might have been written by someone else, but you made them your own tonight, I think you can count on a number of sales. Now let's get changed, and get something sweet, I want something sweet right now."
Mina smiled and nodded to her aunt, as the both headed to the dressing rooms.
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He was sitting in his office on his ship, power had finally been restored, life support as well, he was attending to the pile of form letters, telling loved ones, that their son / daughter / husband / wife / brother / sister, had died, of the 19,999 people under his command, only 167 had actually died in the last battle, he played that number over in his head, only 167...
He through the pen across the room, and slammed his hands down on his desk, as he cursed out loud, it was aggravating to him, no matter how hard the U.N.S. fought, they were barely winning, sure they would win the battle, but they were losing people. Machines could be replaced, easily, but people were another matter, at a minimum of 15 weeks for a marine, to over a year for a pilot, replacement personnel were not as plentiful as the machines that were being lost.
His eyes drifted to the pile of letters, half of them actually signed, the rest, just a stack of papers that had been given to him, to sign, for as HR put it, 'a personal touch', he didn't even know these people, never really talked to any of them, didn't have any idea who they were, what they might have been like.
She watched her husband, he was so angry with what was going on, she placed one hand on his shoulder and gently rubbed it, she heard him sigh, and felt him relax a little, "I know it's hard on you Alex, especially with the Seraphim being out of action for another few months at the very least. On another note, Mina looked really good on stage the other night, granted we watched from the hill, since we couldn't get in to actually see it... thank god, your Typhoon has such a great audio pick up system, as well as zoom function."
"She did sound, and looked great didn't she?" he turned to look at her, even after all this time, she was still as beautiful to him now, as the day they had met, "Still I can't help but feel like I can never be a part of her world, and I feel so horrid for it." Both his and Murrue's eyes landed on a picture in a silver frame, that had shown the three of them, so much younger than they are now, sitting out in a green felid with a single tree providing the shade for them.
Murrue gently slapped the back of his head, before she scolded him, "Don't you dare start thinking that maybe we shouldn't have had her, or let her even know that we are her parents. I wouldn't have traded those first five years for anything... I know we've talked about having another baby, but I think I might be getting too old for that now, so let's just be happy with having one, even if she doesn't really know us..." she bent at her hips to kiss the top of his head, "Not that I'd be against a second child."
He smiled and pulled her into his lap, he started to kiss her, and gently tug at the buttons of her uniform.
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She sat on the couch in the living room, her not, not boyfriend's head in her lap, she was idly playing with his brown hair, as they were watching some of the news, with her aunt and uncle, when it caught her attention;
"... and the biggest part of the recent Lacus Clyne shows, were the opening act of a one Mina Kross, the very same girl that came in second at the Miss Orb 90 pageant. Reports from local business in the entertainment industry have stated that interest in this young woman, is on the rise..."
As those words were said, she stopped playing with his hair, and she was fixed on the screen. Lacus looked at the girl; she couldn't help but smile, as she saw some of herself in her.
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Beep, beep, beep, beep...
That was the sound coming from the door, followed by someone on the other side asking, "Captain, its important... are you awake?"
He slowly opened his eyes, and smiled at the still sleeping form of his wife, they'd been camped out on the floor of his office for two weeks now, as their cabin was still on the 'to be fixed' list, it wasn't a major system, so was a low priority, he stretched and stood, walking slowly to the door, he pressed the communications button, "I'm awake, what's going on?"
The voice of the young woman on the other side of the door was shaky, "Sir, we've got sighting of 'The Unity' in the system..."
In an instant, all tiredness left his body, "What? How did they get here? Never mind that, I want to know where were they last seen?"
Murrue woke to her husband's agitated voice, she rolled onto her belly, and smiled to herself, he was yelling at the door, naked, she licked her lips, as her smile got bigger; he'd worked so hard to keep his body in shape.
"They were seen heading towards Earth, almost three hours ago... Fort Victoria picked them up, breaching the atmosphere 10 minutes ago..." said the voice on the other side of the door again.
"I'll be on the bridge in 10, have us ready to leave dock in 9." He said as he walked away from the door, he kissed Murrue, before starting to get dressed.
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Ten minutes right on the nose, the door to the bridge opened, to reveal Alexander and Murrue, as they entered the bridge, taking their places at their stations.
"Captain, systems are showing that we are only going to be at 60 percent combat effectiveness, are you sure you want us to launch?" asked the woman running the CIC.
"We are going to lend whatever hand we can, even as handicapped as we are right now, we still have a lot of fire power... can we get a fix on where they are?" Alexander called back, as Murrue started to feed commands from the station to the person at the helm of the Seraphim.
The 1600 meter long ship pulled away from the docking clamps, three of its massive four engines emitted a blue-white light, as the ship tore free from the station.
As the ship approached the planet, it rotated to a 30 degree angle; the sections that were still exposed to space were sealed off, to prevent the damage they were going to take, from spreading to the rest of the ship.
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She was running, beside her, were some of her class mates, they were running for their lives, strange black shapes were in the sky, they had round bodies, long and pointed at one end, wings that ran the length of the body they were concaved, as well as being long and pointed at each end, but it was the sound that they made, as they flew through the air, so shrill and terrifying.
She looked up, there were dozens of them, fighting with Typhoon units, locked in the dizzying dance in the sky, explosions marked the end of some of the craft, be it Typhoon or these new things.
From where she was, she could see one of the new things, fly over her head, to where her friends had run ahead, and drop something from the body, she felt the urge to stop, and did so, just as it exploded, in a shower of fragmentation, ripping the people that were ahead of her apart, all she could do was retch on the spot at the twisted meat of the people she had just started to get to know.
She felt a hand on her shoulders, and screamed, before turning her head to see her cousin standing behind her, she took his extended hand, and they both started to run, hand in hand, from the carnage being unleashed.
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"Alex, it's been a long time, since you've actually flown in combat..." she was fuming, he'd told her, to take command of the ship, as he was going to go out and try to help the forces that were trying to defend from the attack.
"I'm still a qualified combat pilot Murrue." He said back to her, as he zipped up his flight gear.
"That's got nothing to do with it; you've got other responsibilities now!" she was on the verge of tears, something was nagging at her, she just couldn't pin point what it was.
He turned to face her, that soft loving smile on his face, as he pulled her into an embrace, and kissed her, before telling her, "Murrue, our daughter is down there, and Orb needs our help. All I do on the bridge is bark orders, or I just sit there, doing nothing, everyone on the bridge knows their roles well." His smile got bigger, and a little goofier, "Besides when I get back, you can yell at me then. Just remember I love you, and I'll be back, with victory in hand." He kissed her again, before grabbing his helmet and running out to the nearly empty flight deck.
She watched him, walk up to his fighter, it was still the white, black and yellow that it used to be, but the tails were now different, rather than the skull and cross bone, that was their 16 years ago, it now had a stylised grim reaper, with one hand out stretched, it's boney finger pointing down the body, with rose petals dropping from its hand, in the other hand was a massive scythe, that reached its curve just under the tip of the tail, where the blade met the haft, was a collection of roses, on vines.
She watched as it launched from the bay, before she returned to the bridge, having taken a moment to dry her eyes, and regain her composure.
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Mina and Rin had been running for so long, they were on the edges of the city, and they both looked skyward, as they saw the clouds darken, before the massive metal leviathan breached them, they watched as weapon batteries came to life, and started to strike down these invaders, as best as they could.
"That's my parent's ship... but it's damaged..." she managed to get out between gasps for air.
Rin too was gasping for air, "We'll be okay, I'm sure they won't let anything happen."
She smiled at him; he always had a way of making her feel more comfortable, when she was scared.
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Alexander grunted under the strain, it really had been a long time for him, he put his craft into a high g-turn to get a missile lock on one of the enemy craft, with the buzzing in his ears, he released a volley of four missiles at it, he watched as the smoke trails reached the craft, turning it into a massive fire-ball.
He pitched his craft to the left, to come around again, just as it fired a green energy beam at him, the emerald beam skimmed the body of his craft, bringing down his barrier system, but it was the second beam, which did the damage. The weapon flew in through the port side engine, and right out the back of the after burner, his craft shuttered, as the engine was torn apart by the beam.
He pitched his nose around, and returned fire, with the particle cannons mounted in the wings, brining the craft down, in a twisted shower of metal.
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Murrue's eyes were fixed on the 49 green or red silhouettes of Typhoons, only five of them were green, but she saw it, the one with 'Reaper' written under it, turned yellow, her heart sank, "Tell him to RTB, he's been hit." She called out, to the person running the CIC.
She saw his face come up, on the screen, behind that mask, showing red lights in the cockpit, reflecting off of the glass, she could see smoke starting to fill the air around him, "Alright, you've done what you can, time to come home Alex." She said to him, as she fought to keep her emotions under control, her mind filled with memories of the last time she saw this, it had been years ago, just before the first time they had been to Orb.
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Alexander was fighting to keep his craft under control, as he over flew the ground, it was out of the corner of his eyes, that he saw it, Rin and his daughter, were about to be steeped on, by one of 'The Unity's' combat units, that had rotated it's wings down, to be like legs, one of them raised high.
He sighed inwardly as he pushed his throttle wide open, pulling up, then around and down, flying hard and fast towards them.
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"Murrue, remember, I love you." He said, as he closed the channel, she turned to look at the person running the CIC, as they spoke, "Commander, Reaper, has turned towards one of 'The Unity's' craft..."
She hurried over to watch the RADAR display, as the two blips neared one another, then both vanished from the screen, it was the words of the flight operations that broke the silence, "Reaper has been destroyed."
Murrue, looked back to her station, to see the top Typhoon on the screen, go from yellow to red, only one word, escaped her lips, "No..."
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Well I do hope, that this little cliff hanger, is met with some degree of success, and I do hope that you all enjoyed it. The next one is going to be a bit of action, and a bit of not so much action.
Thank you for reading this far.