STRIKE Reborn
Me: To my prickly reviewer - this story really is mine, I just impulsively took it down when school started. I thought I'd stretched myself out too much. However, I reuploaded it with a change of heart. I do apologize for that, I'm not sure what I was thinking.
Rau le Creuset: You weren't. That's your problem.
Me: I don't pay you to criticize me...
Rau le Creuset: You don't pay me at all. Not that I would let that stop me. You humans are all-
Me: You really like talking, don't you? (psychically mutes him)
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.
Chapter 3: Across the Stars
Kira winced as he blinked his eyes open. Damn, I forgot how sudden that was. Ow, my head.. Ruefully he reached up and rubbed the back of his head, which had been knocked against the pilot seat quite roughly by his exit. Then his eyes focused on the scene in front of him. Heliopolis still stood strong...well maybe not strong. It was obvious that the colony had been attacked, and many of its sides were being held together quite precariously. But it was still standing.
It still existed.
Kira found himself grinning uncontrollably. I did it! I DID IT! I can pull this off! He had prevented Heliopolis's destruction!He knocked his hands against the Strike's controls, silently thanking his original Gundam for being so reliable. "I should call you Old Faithful," he told the machine with a chuckle. "My old friend."
The comm blinked again, and he immediately hit it. "X105 Strike here," He reported. "I can't see you on the cameras Archangel. Are you nearby?"
"You were thrown past us by the decompression," Natarle informed him. "Find us on the computer and return to the Archangel."
"Yes ma'am." Kira switched the computer off and reactivated the Strike's booster, though he did not head straight for the mother ship. He scanned the surrounding area for a few minutes, searching...and, once again, found something that should, yet shouldn't have been there.
A lifepod with broken engines.
Must have gotten battered by debris, Kira decided as he made his way towards the familiar shape. Cautiously he came to a stop and gently picked it up in the Strike's hands, hoping he wasn't causing the people inside to get thrown around thanks to the zero gravity. Now that he had everything he needed, he started to head for the Archangel.
After this is Artemis. Kira grimaced at the thought. He hadn't liked being in that place, and he hadn't liked dealing with the people in charge. That didn't mean he necessarily wanted Artemis to explode again. It was unlikely that everyone inside deserved to die, and more than that, sometimes when it came to life and death, whether they deserved it wasn't for him to decide.
Like George Allster. Kira knew he was a member, if not just sympathetic, to Blue Cosmos. But loosing him utterly destroyed Flay, and whatever she might have done last time, she deserved to survive, be happy, and look forward to a brighter future. So if George Allster had to live to ensure that Flay got the life she deserved, than so be it.
Death wasn't the only kind of justice out there, anyway. He had two hard drives, still in his pocket, to rain justice upon the living.
Kira opened the channel again when he approached Archangel. "Archangel, this is Strike. I came across a broken down life pod. The engines are non functional. I'm going to bring it aboard for humanitarian purposes."
"What?" Ensign Natarle burst out immediately. "Who gave you authorization to do that?"
Kira resisted the urge to roll his eyes, hit a few buttons to make the channel sound static-riddled, and instead said in a faux confused voice, "Sorry Archangel, I'm having trouble reading you. Must be the jamming left over from the battle. Tell me again when I get aboard."
He was too far away to hear the snickers and outright laughter that spread through the bridge following that remark...and though the lifepod itself, for that matter.
Kira landed the Strike gracefully on the launch deck and walked forward as the hanger doors closed behind him. He waited until they were shut tight and the lights went back on before gently placing the lifepod on the floor. Then he moved to put the Strike back in its resting place, and let out a relieved sigh. Not bad for one day.
He remained inside for a minute, pulling up the OS and making some more changes to the machine. While he wasn't good with programming the same way Athrun was, Kira had learned over the course of the first and second wars just about everything regarding Gundams. He could probably fly any of them if he got into the cockpit. With that in mind, he changed some things about the Strike to make it fight better, and programmed in a few things he had picked up along the way during his first foray at Jachin Dun. The screen turned a dark green in response, accepting the new information and expanding to accommodate it.
Tori pulled free of his shirt when he opened up the cockpit and stepped outside. Flay had just been helped out of the lifepod. Kira smiled slightly and jumped down to see her, following his little green bird.
Flay's eyes lit up with relief when she saw someone familiar, after being tossed around and stuck in a broken boat. "I know you! You're one of Sai's friends aren't you!" She launched herself up and hugged him, relieved. "What happened back at Heliopolis?! What happened in the end?!"
"Take it easy, Flay," Kira said soothingly, while they floated by the Strike. "Heliopolis was attacked, but it's still standing."
"I – I got separated from my friends and ran alone to a shelter," Flay said anxiously. "And then everything..."
"I know...it's over, at least that part. You're safe on board here."
"No we're not! This is a ZAFT ship, isn't it?" Flay nodded frantically towards the Strike. "That's a mobile suit!"
"Actually, both that mobile suit and this ship belong to the Earth Forces." Kira said. "I just used that suit to bring you in here, after all."
Flay gaped at him. "YOU used it? But...doesn't that mean-?"
"Yeah, I'm a Coordinator." Kira smiled sadly at Flay's resulting poleaxed expression. He could guess what was going on in her head; she was wondering why a Coordinator would save a Natural, when her father had taught her that they were horrible monsters. She was wondering what would prompt him to do something so 'out of character' for his 'species'. "But I'm not part of ZAFT. I'm fighting them now to ensure that you, Sai and Miriallia and the others reach the safety of ORB."
"S...Sai and Mir are here?" Flay asked hopefully, unsure of what to make of this new discovery. It ran contrary to what her father would have said. How could a nice boy like Kira be a Coordinator?
"Yeah, I'll take you over to them." Kira's violet eyes were full of reassuring warmth. "I know you're going to be just fine. Let's go."
**~On the Vesalius, Athrun's POV~**
Athrun made his way towards Commander le Creuset's office, his mind still full of his encounter with Kira, in the Strike. Miguel was confined to the hospital, having lost his right leg when his GINN got mauled but otherwise was fairly healthy. Matthew's GINN had blown out its engines escaping from the debris field around Heliopolis, so they were both out of the fight for good. They'd be sent back to the PLANTs on the next shuttle.
Kira...Athrun swallowed.
Kira had been in the Strike, and he had handled it like a veteran. Sure, Kira was talented – he always had been – but when had he learned how to use that machine? He would have had to have rewritten the OS while being fired on by Miguel's GINN. Then taking it apart with just a few hits...
As desperately as Athrun wanted to deny it, these clues seemed to point to the EA having pressed Kira into service, training him to fight their war – or tricked him into it. Kira was sweet and naive, and his good nature left him easy to talk into things if it required helping people. Athrun remembered as much from when they had been together on the Moon.
The idea that the Earth Alliance, those butchers who had caused Junius Seven and killed his mother, were now taking advantage of his best friend caused an ugly surge of rage in Athrun's chest. It caused his head to spin, and it was mainly his soldier training that allowed him to maintain a somewhat cool head and act as normally as possible around Nicol, Dearka and Yzak. He wasn't sure he was fooling Nicol, though. His green haired friend was very emotionally perceptive.
Taking a calming breath, Athrun walked into the Commander's office and saluted. "You asked for me, sir." He said.
"Relax, Athrun. I have no intention of punishing you for the events of last battle." le Creuset said with his normal unflappable cool. "I am curious to hear your explanation, though."
"I...regret my conduct. I had been quite distraught and failed to report the incident." Athrun took a deep breath again. "That final unit...I saw who the pilot was, and I recognized him. My old friend Kira Yamato."
"Oh?" le Creuset asked, the only indication of his surprise being the slight inflection in his voice. The mask made it very hard to determine the man's emotions.
"Yes. I...hadn't expected to see him there. We attended the same Lunar Prep School, and probably would have continued living in the same world if it hadn't been for..." for Junius Seven... "...the evacuation. He's a Coordinator, like me."
Somehow, Athrun had a distant flicker that telling Creuset this was a mistake. He quickly shook it off, that's absurd...
"I see. Irony abounds in warfare." le Creuset stood up. "No, I don't blame you for being upset. I imagine you were very close to this friend of yours."
"We were." It feels like an understatement somehow, looking back at us, but I have no other way to describe it.
"I'm taking you off the next sortie," The commander said.
Athrun felt a stab of slight panic. "Sir, please, allow me to go! Kira...he's good natured, and naive. The naturals are using him, manipulating him, I'm certain of it. Please, let me go and confront him. I...I should be able to convince him he's making a mistake.
"And if you can't?" The commander asked, sounding both sympathetic and foreboding at the same time.
Athrun's heart jerked. He didn't even want to consider the possibility. "Then...then I'll shoot him down, sir." Non-fatally. A few weeks as a prisoner wouldn't hurt too much, and he'll still be alive. The Earth Alliance... his fists tightened. I'm coming to get my best friend back.
End Chapter
Shorter chapter. Mostly for feels and reactions.
Read and review please!