Disclaimer: I'm back, and ready to update, lol. Anyway, I don't own Gundam Seed/Destiny or anything like that (as if I haven't said that before, lol). Anyway, here's the next chapter, enjoy:
Chapter 7: What Lurks in Space
61 days, 10 hours till "deadline"
Kira finally finished unpacking and had placed everything in the drawers he deemed suitable to carry his various belongings: clothes, toiletries, a few books, and a picture of his family. It was taken not long after Lacus and Kazuki came home from the hospital, they where all on the balcony that had a view of the forest behind the house. The sun was setting in the background, giving the perfect scenery for the picture to take place. Lacus was sitting on a bench placed in the balcony, Kazuki sleeping while cradled in her arms and Kira was sitting right next to her, arm gently laid across her shoulder, the picture was taken just as the sun hit the horizon and he and his wife where caught having a small, but love-filled kiss, the sun had caused their faces to look almost like silhouettes when they were cast against its fading light. Everyone who saw it agreed it was a fantastic picture, which didn't surprise Kira, Miriallia (or Mir as he and his friends called her) had taken the photo on his request…she had a knack for such things. Lacus thought it was so good, she decided that it would make a wonderful Thanksgiving Card or something along those lines…Kira didn't mind, and so now, that is likely going to appear in all their friends' mail boxes around that time.
After he laughed to himself thinking about how his friends would react to a card like that, he finished putting on his clothes that he would wear on deck, a black T-shirt with grey jeans for pants. He then to make his way up to the control deck and after an hour or so of walking and inspecting the rest of the ship; he made it to the command deck and proceeded to enter.
The sliding door opened and a crew member nearby saluted and stated, "Captain on deck!" With that everyone stood up and saluted.
"As you where..." Kira answered as he returned the salute and sat down. Lieutenant Branson was next to him sitting in the control chair (this was because, despite Kira being the superior officer, this was still his ship and he was responsible to make decisions at a moments notice should anything come up…he meant no disrespect to the young Captain, and he knew that, being as he had seen a similar scenario when he was on the Archangel). Branson turned to Kira and was puzzled by what he saw.
"Um…sir, if you don't mind me asking…is there any reason why you are wearing somewhat...informal clothes?" The older gentleman asked, to which Kira just politely smiled.
"No, Lieutenant, I don't mind you asking. The reason is because we might run into some problems out here…and if we do, I'll be going out in the Strike Freedom. Wearing these clothes makes it easier to get into my flight suit, that's all."
"Ah, I see. That's right…you normally go out with your men in battles. Sorry for questioning, Captain."
"No need to apologize, glad you understand."
"Of course, sir…if only we had more officers like you, maybe ZAFT wouldn't have gotten so corrupt during the war. Besides, men are more willing to follow leaders who fight by there side, than those who sit back in the safety of a counsel chamber or something."
"I see…speaking of which, how many mobile suits do you have on this ship?"
"Well, besides the Strike Freedom and Mr. Natsuka's GuAIZ, we have five GINNs two DINNs, and one GuAIZ ourselves. We also have a highly trained pilot for every suit we have.
"Good. Thank you, Lieutenant. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to retire for the night. You let me know when you want me to take over though so you can sleep. Oh, and this ship does alert every room if we were to fall under attack, correct?"
"Of course it does, sir. Don't worry; I'll keep you posted through the night on our bearings and what not. Sleep well, Captain."
"Thank you, good night. Take it easy everyone. Also…remember to rest when it is your turn, I don't want you all to overwork yourselves." Kira gave a salute to the crowd of crewmembers in the room, who quickly returned the salute themselves.
"Good night, sir!" The all chimed, with that Kira returned to his chambers, before he entered his room though, he made his way to the break room, he was happy to see there was a hot cocoa machine, so he poured himself some and went to his room and climbed into bed, leaving his clothes on. He slowly sipped his warm beverage while reading one of the books he brought. After a few minutes though, he turned his reading lamp off and drifted to sleep.
Back on the Command Deck:
"Lieutenant Branson, you might want to listen to this." One of the crewmembers stated as he handed his earphones to his superior officer.
"What is it, soldier? Hm…alright, I see. I'll notify the Captain immediately." Branson calmly replied as he made his way to the video communicator.
Back in Kira's quarters:
The video link began to beep, and then finally revealed the face of the Lieutenant.
"Sorry to disturb you, Captain, but this is urgent." The gentleman spoke, waking Kira.
"Hmm? Oh, go ahead, Lieutenant. What is it?" The brunette began to rub his eyes to wake up.
"We've received a distress call from a nearby civilian transfer ship. What are your orders regarding this matter?"
"Change course to rendezvous with the ship, and perform a check up on my mobile suit."
"Yes, sir, right way." With that the screen went black. Kira quickly jumped out of bed and made his way to the hangar. He ran through the door and made his way to the locker room where he slipped into his flight suit. Afterwards he made his way to the Strike Freedom and climbed into the cockpit. When he sat down in the pilot's seat, he began to check the interior, everything was fine. The monitor came up revealing a face of a crew member.
"Sir, checks on the Strike Freedom are done, everything is A-Okay."
"Thanks. I'll go ahead and launch, I'll stay close to the Excalibur while flying."
"Alright, good luck, sir." The man saluted as he pressed the button that opened the hangar doors.
"Thanks…Kira Yamato, Strike Freedom, heading out!" He activated his mobile suit's thrusters and flew out of the hangar in a blur. "Hopefully…it's nothing serious, but we won't know 'till we get there…" Kira sighed as he began to head in the direction of the distressed ship.
A/N: Alright, finally some MS action...he-he...maybe. What will Kira find when he gets to the ship? Find out by reading the next chapter, please RnR as well!
