Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces

By: Shadow Chaser

An Alternate Universe to Entropy Rising

Story:

Previously on Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces…

Athrun raised a hand, "Captain, there's also another problem. When we went to the control room on that Genesis, I found information pointing to a second Genesis-type weapon installed somewhere else."

"Where?"

"Colony Mendel," he replied.

He could see Murrue's face freeze up as she weighed the pros and cons. "All right," she started after a long silence, "the Archangel will head to Mendel while the Eternal returns to PLANT to help Lacus. Athrun, I need all information pertaining to the Genesis at Mendel before you are transferred to the Eternal. I need you to help Lacus."

"Yes ma'am," Athrun replied.


Phase Seven – Movement

Cagalli was quite surprised at herself for not falling to pieces at the double dose of bad news. First it was finding out that the LF's strongest ally in PLANT, Eileen Canaver, had been brutally assassinated during the night on PLANT. Second it was finding out that a second Genesis existed beside the one that had been in the debris belt. And it was located in all of the most obvious places – Colony Mendel.

Murrue had immediately called her about this news and she had scrambled to stop her from going straight to the Colony. She didn't want anyone else poking around what she considered her biggest secret. It was bad enough that some people knew that she and Kira were brother and sister, but to find out even more about Mendel…no she wanted to be there personally. But she didn't know the layout and the only other people who did besides Athrun and the commandos that had accompanied Kingfisher that first time, was Kanoko and Ledonil.

Ledonil immediately said that he would go, along with Kanoko, but she wanted to come too. The Babylon would rendezvous with the Archangel along the way and be packed with more of the LF's Astray units. Erica Simmons had volunteered her services to find out where the Genesis was since she had been working on Patrick Zala's notes along with Athrun. Even though she had made the excuse to take some leave of absence from her post, Ledonil had steadfastly refused her to board the Babylon and stated that she was going to stay in Orb to help keep the peace between Earth and PLANT.

She protested until Kanoko reassured her that her secret would never be let out since she was going herself. She promised Cagalli that no one would find out about Kira, her, and the experiments at Colony Mendel. While this didn't reassure her that much, it eased some of the worries in her mind. She trusted Kira's mother…and the woman knew what she was doing.

So she watched the Babylon leave port and head up to space. A part of her yearned so much to return to space and perhaps return to be close to Athrun, but she knew that her duties laid here. She wanted to be in space, to be at PLANT to slip off and search for her brother…

"Princess Cagalli," one of her aides, an older woman, though not by many years, tapped her gently on the shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts as she stared out at the viewport, where the Babylon had launched just half an hour ago.

"Yes Ellie?"

Ellie Statler was not really a beautiful woman. She was a bit homely, but she was a good aide and a shadow bodyguard hand-picked by Ledonil to be part of her security detail while he was gone. "Princess, we should get going. The meeting at the Senate Hall is going to start in about half an hour."

"I know," Cagalli pulled herself away from the window and started walking out of the building and towards the car that would take her to the partially rebuilt Senate Hall. Ellie shadowed her like any faithful aide or bodyguard would do. "Ellie, tell me, what do you think of all of this?"

"Princess, my job isn't to think, but to-"

"I know, but I just want your opinion. I just need someone other than me to think right now," Cagalli interrupted her. As an afterthought, she realized that was a rude comment, but Ellie just gave her a smile before she took on a thoughtful look.

"Well, if this is all Patrick Zala's doing, then he does seem to have inside support. From what is going on right now, he is coordinating things very effectively, which means I think his next move is to send a representative to the Supreme Council to tell them that he is ready to come back to lead them. I believe his inside supporters were the ones who called for Councilor Canaver's vote of no confidence."

"Could they also be in charge of her assassination?"

"Possibly, but it doesn't strike me as the two coordinating. There could be a third force at work. I mean, why would Zala go through all that effort to call for a vote of no confidence and then have her assassinated. It's not good for his support, because it'll turn people sympathetic towards Councilor Canaver's cause," Ellie grinned sheepishly, "I apologize Princess. Before I transferred to your security detail, I had worked as an investigator for the Orb Union's police force."

"No, no," Cagalli was impressed as the two of them got into the car and drove towards the Senate Hall, "I'm very impressed with your ability to reason. It's a lot better than those politicians that can't say a damn thing."

"Thank you," Ellie blushed and looked shyly down at her folded hands before murmuring a question that Cagalli didn't quite catch.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"I was wondering…" Ellie turned a bit redder, "about that ring on your right ring finger…"

"Oh, this," Cagalli lifted up her hand slightly for Ellie to get a better look, "it's not widely known, but yeah…I'm engaged."

"To that young man with blue hair?" Ellie blinked, "what's the lucky guy's name?"

Cagalli knew that as a bodyguard Ellie was privy to any information in her private life, but she felt a bit uncomfortable announcing that she was engaged to Athrun; though a majority of the crew of the Archangel knew about it, she also knew that they wouldn't tell anyone until an official announcement was made.

"Oh!" Ellie seemed to notice her discomfort, "I'm sorry Princess for intruding like that. I shouldn't have been so forward. Forgive me."

"It's okay," Cagalli shook her head before leaning against the leather chairs, staring out of the window, "I…just miss him, that's all. I don't like staying here where I can be out there doing some good."

"Princess…what you're doing is good. You're helping to keep the peace," Ellie said gravely, "don't give up hope on that."

She looked at the brown haired woman, "Thanks Ellie."

"You're welcome Princess. Anytime."


Keiji Yamato had once considered himself to be pretty well versed in military tactics and defining what war was about, until he had received a special mission order to assassinate a young scientist on the run with a child that didn't belong to her. That was when he realized not everything the military did was sound. Not every branch of the military was as righteous as the claimed to be in the recruitment posters. And not all Coordinators or Naturals were enemies of each other.

That last part he knew long ago when he had been part of the Special Ops of OMNI. When he met Kanoko Kamiya he had originally thought she was carrying illegal clones of babies or had stolen a Coordinator's child, but in reality she had stolen a child, but this child was very special. He made the hard decision to resign from the military and help Kanoko hide the child. By marrying her and giving his last name to the two of them, he brought them into OMNI's protective custody for those who had been in the military and had families.

It was also then that he found out about the conspiracy surrounding the child and his newlywedded wife. He knew that as long as he was on Earth, where OMNI was at its strongest, he wouldn't be safe so they traveled to the Moon first before going to Heliopolis. He had vowed years ago never to abandon them and even till now, he wasn't going to go back on his promise.

He was determined to find Kira on his own. He wanted his son back and nothing in the world or the universe was going to stop him.

Kira was special to him, not only as a son, but he was his light and path to redemption from all those dark years he was in OMNI Special Ops. He didn't want to lose that part of his humanity anymore, but he knew that he would have to go back to the thin line between assassin and killer to find his son. If Patrick Zala was really alive, then he would be treading that dangerous line trying to find him.

He gripped the brief case that contained a few changes of clothes along with two different types of guns with ammo for whatever he might run into. He was dressed in a casual outfit, khakis and a gray shirt. Over that he wore a non-descript jacket and black gloves. Using the many names he had while he was in OMNI, he had gotten past PLANT security, even though he was a Natural, and was currently walking along one of Martius Eight's city streets, staring up at the cloudy sky and artificial sunlight.

The PLANT's random weather system had said that there was a chance of rain, but so far the clouds didn't hang too low. He turned a corner and spotted the building one of his contacts told him had been having a few unusual dealings involving certain products shipped. Those products he knew Patrick Zala liked a lot, after all, when he was in Special Ops, one always thoroughly researched the background of the employer and target in order to get a sense of where their dynamics were.

He walked casually towards the building before quietly disappearing into it. Blank white walls greeted him along with a ratty looking counter. The place looked very run-down and shabby. A disheveled man who was watching the television set with a slight look of mild interest was behind the counter. Keiji approached the counter and the man looked up at him briefly before looking back at his program which was showing a music video of Lacus Clyne's latest single "Fields of Hope".

Keiji grinned inwardly as he watched the images roll by. He was proud of his son and glad that Kira had found a soul-mate like Lacus. She was such a strong person yet so gentle at the same time, much like his son. Turning his mind back to his personal mission he casually poked the man in the shoulder with two fingers.

"Hey buddy, can I get some service around here?"

"What service?" the man grumbled, glaring up at him with blank beady black eyes. "Go service yourself."

Keiji tilted his head and let a slightly wolfish grin appear on his face, "I'm sorry. I don't think you've heard me." He suddenly grabbed a fistful of the man's shirt and pulled him sharply towards him so that they were nose to nose. "Where's the shipment?"

"I don't know any shipment-"

"Not good enough," he shook the man once for emphasis, "Mr. Tamiro sent me here to check on it. If I don't see the shipment then you can kiss your skinny ass goodbye." With a flick of his wrist, he dropped his suitcase next to his foot and drew out a handgun that had inhabited his pocket before pointing the barrel underneath the man's chin. "Where are the goods?" he asked in a quiet tone.

"I-In the b-back…" the man stammered, eyes flickering towards the door. Keiji stared at the door and immediately sensed that something wasn't right.

His instinct was correct as suddenly the door that he had entered in and the door that the man had been looking at flew open with people firing guns at him. He immediately used the man he had in his hands as a shield, his eyes narrowed dispassionately as the man screamed as bullets peppered him, killing him instantly.

Keiji fired back, taking out two men who had been stationed at the door he had came in before he dropped down to one knee, one hand still holding the lifeless corpse of the dead man, and fired at another, his bullet taking out one of the gunmen's kneecap and the man fell down screaming Bloody Mary. He ended the man's screams with a bullet to the head before firing another shot at the last gunman's neck, severing his spine and killing him instantly. The firing stop and the place was filled with a harsh silence.

Someone had to have heard that, Keiji realized. Even though the building was in one of the alleyways off from the main road, police would be here. He was glad he kept his gloves on, it meant no fingerprints whatsoever. Dropping his body shield, he quickly headed towards the backdoor and went down a few flights of stairs to what looked like the underground works of the PLANT. As he went down the stairs, a part of him was disgusted at his own actions. How he so easily fell back into the role of an assassin…was so weak to fall like that?

Some sour bile rose of his throat, but he kept it in and swallowed it back down. He had never told Kanoko or Kira of his true duties when he was in Special Ops…they were jobs like these and it disgusted him at times. But was it all for Kira's sake? Or was it for something else?

Was it revenge? Was it because Quinn Misali stole his son from right underneath his nose and while he had the power to stop him, he was frozen in his own inability to become who he truly was?

An assassin who had been originally hired to kill the baby known as Kira Hibiki?

Those thoughts haunted him as he worked his way deeper into the maze of the interior of PLANT, headed towards the internal shipment lines to hopefully lead him to his son.


Instead of maintenance people, they were now dock workers for the inner workings of PLANT. With Diana's help she was able to get them promoted quickly to work in the Martius PLANTs where there was a better lead on the possible whereabouts of Patrick Zala.

Yzak was still in the guise of Ivan Yarovich and Dearka as Alan Kingston as they worked they way around. Like the other dock workers, they had heard about Canaver's assassination through the news and it had chilled him to the core. It also made him think. Was this another ploy by Zala to throw them off his trail? He wondered why would the man have his flunkies in the Council call a vote of no-confidence and then suddenly just assassinate the Supreme Councilor. It didn't bode well for his support…was there another faction playing them too?

He considered the facts, but he didn't have any other evidence to support any conclusions. Instead, he and Dearka decided to concentrate on finding Zala before anything else could happen. The others had resources to possibly track down this phantom second faction. He had sent a message to Lacus over a day ago mentioning the possibility of a second faction and didn't expect a reply.

"Hey Yarovich! Get moving! We don't have all day!" a gruff voice suddenly called to him and he glanced up at the foreman who was waving at him to finish his job. He nodded to the foreman before activating the forklift he was using and placed a few boxes that came in with the latest shipments from other PLANTs.

He and Dearka had the ability to disappear and each time they did to go onto their next "job" a cipher was inserted into the records and erased any traces that they were at their job. Those that saw them and worked with them were given psych evaluations and told that they worked with phantoms of their own imaginations. ZAFT was good at hiding tracks. It had been a week since they went undercover and there was still little to no leads.

Yzak was quite surprised at how fast things were progressing, even without leads, and it worried him. He parked the forklift near a pile of boxes just as Dearka came up to him, holding two cards in his hand. He recognized it as their cue to go to a different cover. Which meant someone had a lead or a feeler at least. He nodded before glancing around and then hopping off of the forklift.

"Where's the next stop?" he asked. He had taken his best friend on a crash course in espionage and so far, Dearka was a fast learner. He had taken to the whole espionage thing like a duck to water.

"We're supposed to meet someone down a few levels. He's going to introduce us to our third party member to help us on our next cover."

"Which is?"

"Apparently we're going to be assistants to a scientist," Dearka smirked, but dropped it as soon as he saw the frown on Yzak's face.

"Scientist? What kind?"

"I dunno, the message didn't say. You think we're getting close?"

"Yeah, but it's too fast…something isn't right here," Yzak murmured before he stopped talking as a few dock workers walked past them, chatting animatedly. As soon as they were past he looked at his best friend, "we'll go in a few hours. Stop by the armory. I have a feeling someone's trying to set us up, or we're walking into a trap."

"All right," Dearka smiled grimly before handing him his new identity. Yzak glanced down at his new name and nearly balked at the name.

"Sergei Romanov!" he whispered.

"Don't laugh. Whoever's creating our names is having a little too much fun with history. Mine's not better. See, Phillip Churchill."

Yzak made a noise of disgust before pocketing his new identity. Though he didn't know too much of Earth's history, as that was all shrouded in what was known as the Dark History, he did know that the Romanovs was the last ruling czar family in what was formerly known as Russia now a part of the Eurasian Federation. Churchill was the last name of one of Prime Ministers of an island nation named England, now a part of the Atlantic Federation.

"We'll meet again in three hours. Be ready," he said before walking away casually as not to attract any unwanted attention. This whole thing started to reek of a huge problem and Yzak felt like he was just many of the puppets being pulled on a makeshift stage. Except he didn't know the script.

He suspected only one person probably knew of the whole script – Patrick Zala. And that made him a very dangerous force to contend with.


Dr. Madison stared aimlessly at the cameras that were placed in the subject known as Kira Yamato's room. So far, after the results of the first test there was hardly any movement and she couldn't blame the teenager. No, not teenager, adult. As a Coordinator, Kira had been considered an adult from the age of 12 and on because of the knowledge he had. But inwardly, his maturity level like so many Coordinators was both that of a child and of an adult – adolescent and trying to find his own niche in life.

She briefly wondered why did the human species try to create Coordinators? It was such a sad life in her opinion. They had so much knowledge yet they were able to fight at ages where Naturals were just hitting puberty and learning the ins and outs of being a teenager. Hormonal levels were just on the rise and yet Coordinators didn't seem to have that hormonal sense. They were mature about their love and it was just so confusing.

Madison shook her head before rubbing her eyes to blink sleep from them. She glanced at the cameras again before letting her mind wander once more, seeing there was no activity coming from the room.

After Richard had knocked Kira out they put sedatives in his IV line to keep him quiet and also fed him a few experimental drugs to see if that would be able to enhance his latent abilities. In about a few hours they would be waking him up to test him again to see if the drugs worked.

Madison had created these drugs and had used them on three convicts who were on Death Row. Except they didn't react well with the drug. They were Naturals after all and the results she had received from then head of Blue Cosmos Murata Azrael told her that the drugs initially did well, but that it would have to be refined. Unfortunately Azrael and the test subjects died two years ago during the war, leaving her with only the results.

She had went to Patrick Zala to see if he could help her and he did. He had discreetly taken a few Coordinators and Naturals in the prisons for her to experiment on. The medication still had an adverse effect on Naturals but in the Coordinators she had tested it on, it enhanced their abilities ten-fold and they had entered a heightened state of mind that made them seem devoid and blank. She had asked them afterwards what made them go into such a state and they told her that they had seen a seed explode in their minds.

When she told her results to Zala he had the most peculiar expression on his face, as if he was a child who had discovered a shop full of candy. A few days later he approached her and told her to start researching the experimented Coordinators DNA strands for any abnormalities. It was there she had discovered that the drug she had given to the Coordinators enhanced their DNA for a short while before the strand released the changes and repaired itself to its original state.

This had given her an idea. What if she was able to inject the drug into a woman's eggs, whether Natural or Coordinator, and if the woman had a baby, what would happen?

But so far she never had a chance to do so. She had tried to mate a few Coordinators together, but they rebelled and she was left with dead bodies. So as with any prisoner that came her way, she tested out the drug on them. Kira was no exception and since he was the original genetic material used to create Nikolai Mercus she was eager to see the results of the experimentation.

Though she felt something akin to pity for Kira, she was first and foremost a scientist and then a woman. Science was her passion and she loved it. Besides, a little experimentation didn't hurt the boy…

She had read through the notes Zala had given to her about Kira and while she knew she didn't have all of the information, she knew that some of that resided in the person that stole Kira from Dr. Hibiki. If only she could meet Dr. Kanoko Kamiya…what interesting conversations would they have. After reading the notes, she had wished she was on Hibiki's team, but sadly, she was still in medical school…and it made her wonder why Dr. Kamiya stole Kira away. Was it for her own experiments? That had to be it…

"Kira, Kira, Kira…you're lucky to have all of this attention on you, but you do you want it?" she whispered to the unmoving image in the bed before she sighed and stretched.

Only a few more hours and then they would be able to get the real experiments started.


Notes:

That last part is what happens when you talk about the Holocaust in your history class for your history minor mixed with Ethics class about Genetic Engineering and you're writing a paper on it. Heheheheheh…plot twists abound!