This one is gonna be the last update I give until after Christmas vacation is up. I'm hoping that by the end of it I'll finally get some new character ideas from readers and such. I'm going to enter some soon, but I need those character ideas stat, and I just wanna relax these two weeks that I have. So please, lighten the load just a bit for me would ya?

Enjoy!

"So they were last seen in Dogosen?" Athrun asked his longtime friend, Kira, as he drank a cup of coffee in the morning. Kira nodded when he spoke, "Those guys you were looking for disappeared while the battle was going on; I wouldn't be surprised if they sank their ships in order to slip past Dearka and Menla."

Athrun nodded and then sighed, "We can't blame them though, they barely made it through, we should be glad for that…" Kira agreed completely and then continued, "They'll be heading towards Orb soon, and we've asked that you and your ships be called back as well."

Athrun laughed and smiled, "It's already that time is it?" Kira blushed but grinned at the same time. "Yeah…we'll be doing it in Orb, but we think that an escort won't be a bad idea either. I'll obviously be taking the Freedom but I can't do everything by myself."

"I understand, we'll be there with the best pilots needed to help out in case something happens. Do you think something will happen?" Kira frowned at his friend's question, "Be sure to tell Dearka and Yzak at least, Lacus was almost killed recently." Athrun coughed up on his coffee in surprise as Kira continued, "There was a sniper, if it wasn't for a couple of bodyguards, I'm not sure what would have happened."

"I see," Athrun answered, "I'm happy to hear that she's all right then, I'd hate for something to happen just before you're wedding day." Kira smiled in response but said nothing, Athurn continued, "I'll go ahead and call Cagalli, she'll start to set up good security for the wedding."

"I appreciate that Athrun." Athrun smiled in response before shrugging his shoulders. "We'll be sure to get there when we can, we'll also send some pilots into space to wait for you guys when the time comes." Kira nodded, "You should know that most of the council members will be coming with us, so it's gonna be a very big target."

Athrun nodded, "I'll take care of it."

---------

On the Voltaire, Dearka oversaw the repairs going through the Shogun at Dogosen. Dearka sighed in relief, the Shogun and its crew had been very lucky.

He also knew that Jaken and Shiho were also very lucky. The damage was not-fixable, but replacements wouldn't take very long to position.

From what he heard, both ships would be sea-worthy in a matter of hours. He was glad to know that, he'd received word that Lacus and Kira would be on their way to Orb along with most of the other council members, including his father along with the rest of his family.

He then took a shy look over to Miriallia, the blue collared Zaft soldier. He sighed, even though she'd been on the ship for so long, he hadn't had time to speak with her privately. He got the feeling that she felt the same way every now and then.

He also knew, that Neire seemed to suspicious of both of them. He had to be careful or else Neire would report him of not following through with Zaft Military regulation.

Dearka finally sighed, loudly to which Miriallia noticed and turned around. "Something wrong D?" Miriallia asked using her nickname for him. Dearka was happy to realize that for once, he was alone on the bridge with Miriallia.

"Not really...well not now anyways." Dearka grinned, and Miriallia raised an eyebrow. She knew that smile well, and she smiled back before turning around and getting back to her work. Dearka smiled before standing up and walking over to her.

"Captain, if you're not careful, you might be charged with harassing a newer and younger soldier." Dearka backed off slightly, "You're not that much younger than I am..."

Miriallia giggled, "I am thankful that I can be here though...just...I don't deserve your care right now...not yet..."

Miriallia's demeanor changed so suddenly, that Dearka felt even more confused.

He then shrugged before placing a hand on her head, and then ruffling her hair suddenly. She gritted her teeth as she felt her hard work suddenly messed up by that man.

Dearka grinned seeing her grit her teeth, before heading back to his chair.

A sudden beep on the console sounded, "Yes?" Dearka asked. A screen popped up and a man in an orange suit appeared, Dearka awaited the report on the progress of both ships. "The Shogun is beginning to receive their replacements. They will be done within the next 2 hours." Dearka nodded and then began to think, "All right, at the moment the enemy has completely dissapeared and he reinforcements have appeared correct?" "Yes, I was surprised to hear they'd moved so quickly, it had only been a week since Mendor and they suddenly showed up around here."

Dearka nodded but understood why it had been so quick, "Those ships probably have some extra propulsion that they don't use near islands, and Mendor is much closer than Orb or even Carpenteria is." "How do you figure they even made it from Cuba Carpenteria to Mendor anyhow?" "By Mobile suit I suppose, how is Oceana Carpenteria."

"Nothing's happened over there, but their prepared to give assistance whenever." Dearka nodded before finally saying, "All right well do me a favor and upgrade the propulsion on both ships if you can. I'd like to get to Orb as soon as possible after leaving." The worker nodded, "Voltaire has already been upgraded per Captain Joule's orders, we'll start to work on the Shogun too."

Dearka nodded as the worker signed off, "Yzak?" he then said as he noticed that it had been his orders. "Mir? Can you call up Captain Joule?" Miriallia turned around, "I can try..."

From her console she then looked through directories and sent a call for Yzak.

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That call woke Yzak up from his bed, but he shook his head and quickly answered. "Dearka? What is it?" "Did you send orders to upgrade my ship and the Shogun?"

"Yes, actually they were at request from Tad." "My dad...oh he doesn't want me to miss the wedding huh?"

Yzak nodded, "Yup, that's it exactly, he heard about how far you were and wanted to give you a little help."

Dearka sighed but understood, both knew he did not want to miss the wedding. "Oh, Yzak, I think I should tell you tha Shiho is going to be there too."

Yzak didn't respond for a moment, and Dearka grinned knowing why. "S-shiho, are you sure?" "Yup, she was requested by Menla, she's having her DOM repaired right now."

Dearka sighed, knowing that his friend needed to renew his friendship with Shiho. She was hurt, and Yzak felt similarly. Dearka then grinned, knowing that what he was about to do would endanger his well-being, but it was for his friends.

"Hey, why don't I connect you to her room?" Yzak paled but quickly gritted his teeth before shouting, "Dearka! Don't you da-" He never go to finish as the screen suddenly switched faces from Dearka to a brown haired woman in a red suit.

Her expression went from indifferent to annoyed, and then to angry all in a few seconds. They stared at each other, one in anger and the other with nervousness.

Finally Yzak spoke, "Good morning Lieutenant-" "It's afternoon."

Yzak froze again, not knowing what to say to that. "Are you so irresponsible now that I'm gone that you can't even get up in the morning?"

Yzak took a step back in surprise, he din't know if she was joking or being serious because her expression of slight anger was still there.

"Look..." Yzak started, "You're coming to the wedding right? We can catch up and talk there." "I'll see if my orders allow me..."

And so it came down to that. As subtle as it actually was, Yzak knew exactly what she meant by that. He would have to explain for that as well, but he wasn't sure how to, knowing that lying wasn't an option.

"If that will be all Captain..." She saluted and then the screen turned off.

-----------

Wes, Trent, Ikros, and Peter were relaxing at the port city of Mendor. They tried to use as much as their leave as they could before the next mission came up.

"Man this is the life!" Ikros said as he stretched on a chair in a restaurant. "I miss being a civillian sometimes." Trent whispered, feeling very relaxed for the first time in a long time. Wes patted his friend on his back before he said, "I know what you mean, but someone's gotta do this job."

"1st call for Homura launching, 1st Call!" A voice over the intercom called out. It was Cassidy and a quiet groan passed through the group of pilots. "Time to fight again..." Peter said as he stood up, but Trent smiled, "Actually, I think we won't hae too much fighting right now."

Wes and the other two looked at Trent strangely before he continued, "There's a wedding soon, between Kira and Lacus. It's going to be held in Orb." "Trent, do you actually know those people?"

Trent nodded at Wes's question, "My mother was Representative Cagalli's nanny, I used to play with her when we were younger. Along with the fact that Captain Mwu La Fllaga was my teacher and lead pilot when I first got out."

"Lucky son-of-a-bitch..." Ikros murmured with a smile. As they moved back to the ship, Ikros asked, "So have you met Athrun?" Trent nodded, "I know him, but I haven't seen him recently after the last battle."

The four pilots walked back to the Homura. Just as it began to leave, a voic spoke through the intercom. "Pilots Yucker, Baxter, Sethens and Geral; please go to Captain Joules office."

The four were already suited up, and moved over to the office in their uniforms. Yzak met them with a salute, "All right, I'm gonna be quick abou this..." a screen then appeared behind Yzak's body, showing a map of the Indonesian islands, or part of the Orb Union.

"A number of council members and their spouses will be touching down in Orb in a few weeks." A small line curved down through the image as Yzak continued, "I can't tell you how easy it could be for this transport to be taken down by sniper fire as its landing. Their only high ranking pilots will be in the Gundam Strike Freedom and the Mobile Suit Gaia."

Yzak sighed as the lights came back on, "Listen we're not going to rush there, besides that I hear that we'll be meeting up with another group, Elthman's group. We'll keep up with them for the rest of the trip, but we'll probably have to wait for them at some point."

Yzak then sat down behind his desk before sighing, "The minute we get to Orb, we'll be launching to space alongside a couple of Dearka's soldiers, we'll meet up the transport outside of the Earth's atmosphere."

---------------

A week after, there had been no attacks and no damage done to each side. "Captain Dearka, we have another hour before we are forced to shut down the boosters." Dearka nodded at Neire before answering, "Be sure to use them as much as possible without causing damage, I'd like to get there as soon as humanly possible."

Neire nodded before returning to her post beside Miriallia. The Shogun and the Voltaire were making rapid progress in their travel. They were already three-fourths of the way there. "Sir we should be meeting up with the Homura by the time we turn off our boosters." Miriallia called back from her screen, "Good, we'll be better off with those numbers. I hear Yzak picked up a good team of pilots."

Dearka sighed with a smile on his face, he'd been meaning to meet up with one of those pilots for some time now. Ever since Menla had told him about her brother's skill behind the controls of a mobile suit, he'd been meaning to get someone like that into his squadron. So far, he felt that his men were not the best of the best, and that they needed his help every now and then.

"Have we received any reports on the transportation of the council members?" Dearka asked suddenly. Miriallia nodded before answering, "Actually we've received a number of reports that you were supposed to read over when you returned to your office, should I bring them up now?"

Dearka shook his head, "No, could you just tell me what they're basically about?" "One is giving orders towards preparation for space combat, another is suggesting caution when dealing with the new enemy factions…oh! And I've received word that Ian and First officer Neire are to receive Mobile suits. They're to be part of the attack force from now on."

Dearka nodded, "I see, well be sure to tell Ian to start sharpening his skills with piloting. Neire, I want you to work on that too. I might have to choose another First officer, sorry." Neire looked over her shoulder and smiled, "I understand Captain, orders are orders."

Later that day, Dearka was sitting reading through his reports. "So Ian is getting a Gouf, and Neire is getting a DOM, a nice upgrade from their spots." He then began to look through some other reports about the transportation. He learned that he would need to check for the air-tightness of each and every mobile suit. He'd need to protect the transport in case of an attack. "Of course, they'd decide to put every single passenger on only ONE transport, making it easier for the enemy to take them out."

Dearka sighed, knowing that his father and mother were going to be on the ship only worried him. At that moment there was a knock on his door. It opened to reveal Neire standing in front of him. "Hello Neire, what can I do for you?" "I was hoping that I could suggest a new First officer for you."

She then passed him a piece of paper, which he opened and then read. He then smiled, "And here I thought you hated her." "Not hated sir, I just didn't think she'd be useful in combat but she proved me wrong in the last fight. I also think that being a first officer will be a new and more useful experience for her. She might be able to deal with you more easily in the future." Dearka looked up and noticed Neire's smile, he then cleared his throat, "Well that's enough out of you…and thank you for your suggestion, I'll keep it in mind."

----------

"I trust that the scanning is complete now that we've been without interruptions for quite some time." Captain Qura stood beside a head scientist and looked over several other scientists working on three mechanical weapons, the stolen ones.

"Quite, our scanning has showed a number of traits that make these weapons different than others."

The head scientist then put up a screen showing the three weapons in a blueprint stage. "From what I've found, the Sniper rifle is quite accurate and also has a built in computer system made to increase the accuracy even more so. The shield is built to last and is able to fire three cannons shells at a time. And the Booster pack is small yet excellent with maneuverability due to its wingspan, it also has two small caches made for shells."

Qura sighed, "All of this is well known, but is there anything else?" The scientist also sighed, "Only that the three weapons use a massive amount of energy. In fact, although they have superiority in combat to many other mobile suits, they don't last very long and there doesn't seem to be anything special about them. The power they seem to use is overwhelming, I can't even believe that they were going to use such machines in the first place." Qura's frowned.

"I can't believe that," Qura then said, "The reports told us that these weapons would be some of the strongest." "They are strong, but they come with a high cost. The energy they use is too much, it really isn't worth mass producing."

Qura shook his head at the head scientists response. "Fine then, can you find a way to upgrade them at least?" The scientist nodded, "Easily, the things are too small as it is, we can upgrade them though to make them stronger and last longer."

Qura nodded, before walking away, "Good get to it!"

As he continued down the hallway, he shook his head. 'So it seems,' He started thinking, 'that the way they are now, we stand no chance against the Freedom and Justice…' He stopped walking and then looked forward. 'Hell, even those three from Carpenteria Cuba, although they weren't rookies, have been able to fight us off time and time again.'

Qura continued walking, he came up to a room where the three Extended were lying down fast asleep. 'We depend too much on these children…yet the coordinators are usually no older than this…'

Qura shook his head, 'And now, there's only a few more days before our next batch of extended are sent to us.'

-------------

"Captain Dearka, we are approaching the Homura. Captain Joule requests that you move over here and leave the ship to your first officer." Dearka nodded at Miriallia's call as she went back to work. "Well then 2nd Lieutenant Haww, the bridge is yours." Dearka was quick to get up and walk out as Miriallia stopped typing suddenly.

"DEARKA!" The said Captain ran as fast as he could towards the elevator leading to the hangar. As he entered and turned around, he grinned seeing Miriallia running straight towards him as the doors closed.

Dearka's smile stopped as he noticed that the elevator was starting to jerk up and down. "Uh-oh…"

Above him, Miriallia grinned as she suddenly heard Dearka's yell and the elevator slam into the bottom. She then patted her hands and walked back to the bridge……while biting her nails.

She knew how to be a First officer; however she'd obviously never had to do that job until today. She'd been so pensive on that situation, that she didn't realize that much of the crew was waiting for her at the entrance to the bridge.

When she did realize, she jumped back in surprise. "Ma'am what are your orders?"

Miriallia looked up to see that it was Neire asking, she was trying to hint something. 'Orders?...I give orders?...Oh!' Miriallia was finally back when she decided to start ordering around.

"Prepare to launch Captain Dearka and his Gunner Zaku, send out an escort with him as well. Match speed with the Homura and signal the Shogun to do the same. We'll be floating beside them until we reach Orb."

There was a sudden flurry of steps as all the crewmen went about their duties. Neire immediately saluted and went to take Mir's spot on the bridge, leaving Miriallia to wonder where she was sitting for a moment. She then spotted Dearka's chair, and before she knew it she was sitting on it wondering what new orders she'd have to give.

She was brought away from her train of thought, when she realized that the chair she sat on smelled like Dearka.

----------------

The black Gunner Zaku landed inside of the Homura, and the escort GINN's quickly turned around and returned to their ship. Dearka quickly got out of his mobile suit and was slowly brought down by the wire attached to the cockpit.

"Captain Elsman sir!" A worker stopped and saluted to which Dearka returned. "The Pilots room is over there sir if you wish to change." The worker pointed in a direction and Dearka followed after nodding to the worker.

Once inside, Dearka changed from his pilots uniform to his white Captain uniform. After that he walked out of the room…and bumped into someone.

"What the?" Dearka and Wes got a good look at each other. "HOLY!" Wes said as he jumped back in surprise. Both were stuck, not knowing what to say to the other. Finally, Wes saluted, "It's…a pleasure to meet you Captain Dearka…" He stammered while Dearka slowly saluted back.

The two "twins" had finally met.

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Well that's that, I hope that was interesting for you. Now then, about those extra characters…help me….please….help me. I'm running out of ideas fast, of course that's probably because of the finals. Anyhow, I'll keep working on it AFTER I have some character ideas, I just can't think of anything for characters right now.

Well thank you for listening to my rant, please review when possible.

Oh and if your wondering about giving a new character, just put it on as a review and that will be enough. Be sure to put on:

Name

Hair Color

Type of Human

National Affiliation

Citizenship if different to above

Military Affiliation if possible

Job-(Pilot, journalist, helmsman, etc.)

Type of Mobile Suit if pilot

And background information.

And if I don't see you the rest of the day, Good afternoon, Good evening, and Good Night.