I do not own Gundam Seed anime, manga or any other materials.
As the repairs and upgrades where finished the nanites began to build a small black briefcase. The loaders could not find everything they needed, it turns out that the colony was having a rather stingy manager, the colony always had a little more than what it needed to operate, but not much. So the supplies they found were not enough to resupply the archangel of basics, such as food, water, spare metals for construction, and such. But they did find strangely enough a lot of ammunition, and electronics, this made it possible for some quick upgrades to the Strike's sensors. The machine could barely keep up with the speed Kira's mind worked at. The sensor upgrades were finished in quick succession. The nanites then asked if they could return to their temporary colony. Kira saw no issue with that and agreed that they could. The metal briefcase was quickly boarded by the nanites and they really were quite happy in it, how could Kira know that, well the nanites told him of course in a text message.
"Well I have some good news and some bad news. Which would you rather hear?" Murrue asked Mu and Kira who apparently were having afternoon tea. "I would like the good news, good tea by the way, Kira." Mu said in his own joking manner. "Thank Natarle, she was the one that made it. I would like the bad news myself. Need to get things moving, don't want to be caught unprepared." Natarle was surprised, Kira actually noticed that she made the tea, and he did not take credit for it. She guessed the coordinator was honorable at the very least, but secretly she was still very upset that he picked Murrue, instead of herself. She is a typical ice queen, and Natarle believed she was a much better choice. His loss then, Mu wasn't that bad of a catch either.
"Well the bad news is that we don't have enough crew to operate the Archangel effectively, and that exit made it impossible for one of the shelters to be released by the colony's evacuation procedure." Kira looked and came up with an idea, "Well I could always pry it open with the Strike, we could ask them to help with the Archangel." Natarle wanted to object, the Archangel was a top secret project of the Earth Alliance, they did not need more people knowing about it. But Murrue agreed. "Well what is the good news? Thanks for the tea, Natarle." He saw a coughing and blushing Natarle. He believed that she was rather shy, but Murrue and Kira could easily tell that it was all an act. The shy and cute routine, talk about a classic. "The Archangel has enough weapons and ammunition to function, some basic food and water, and some raw materials for future repairs. The food and water will last for a few days." Murrue was quite the optimist, Kira knew that the situation was a lot worse than that. "So Lieutenant La Flaga, why haven't you taken your newly repaired Zero on a test flight?" Kira asked him. "You can call me Mu, and I don't need to waste fuel. I expect the enemy will give those upgrades of your quite the test." Kira was listening but always looking at Murrue, and she knew it. I guess we really need to get started all them said at the same time, but with different objectives they each separated. Murrue was going to go over to get the paperwork for some new volunteer soldiers, Mu was going to make sure that the Strike had the Aile Pack mounted, Kira was going to check on the damaged shelter to see if he could open it, and Natarle was going to check if she could contact Atlantic Command.
The group went to their expected tasks, until Kira and Murrue where briefly alone. She quickly walked up to him and kissed him on his lips. He asked what was the matter, she simply told him that she needed to remind him who his girlfriend was in case there was a beautiful girl in that shelter, and she tried to seduce him. He touched her blushing face and told her, "If you really want to worry, then worry about how are we going to be able to date? I don't think that ship will give us any free time in the near future." She knew that he was right, and she did want to go on more dates, there was the option of simply coming out and telling the rest of the crew about their relationship, but she worried about the objections and ridicule.
The thrusters on the shelter had been melted shut. He connected to the shelter using a portable terminal, and managed to get it open. To his surprise Sai, Tolle, Kuzzey, Miriallia, and Flay Alster was inside. Sai was surprised to see that the one person who opened their damaged shelter was none other than Kira, one of his college classmates. "Don't have much time people, I want to ask you who is willing to work with the Earth Alliance Forces on their ship and who is just going to be a refugee?" Kira asked, almost everyone agreed to work with the soldiers until they could leave for Orb. Flay did not want to work with any soldiers, specially a coordinator. Kira was surprised how she knew that he was a coordinator, she smiled and told him that she managed to get Athrun to tell her that he was a coordinator, and since Kira is his brother it made sense to think of him as one too.
Kira was very much upset at hearing how easy his brother divulged such sensitive information. He was going to have to give him a stern talking to about his management of secret information. Lose lips sink ships after all. Flay even tried to work her womanly charms on him, and acted all cutesy. This had no chance of working, he was in a wonderful relationship, with an honest, caring, and sweet lady. The fake advances were more an insult than anything else. "Very well, Ms Alster you may go to the ship and report to the crew, they will assign you a room for you to stay at. The rest go over to there and get ready to talk to Captain Murrue Ramius." Kira pointed at the direction where his girlfriend was waiting for them at. "Alright, by your command Ensign Yamato." Flay told him as a joke, but he was scowling when he heard it.
Flay was surprised by the look on his face, "Why would he be angry if I called him that if he was a soldier." She asked Miriallia, she just told her that maybe he wasn't, that maybe he was a volunteer just like she was going to be. This made no sense whoever heard of a coordinator volunteering, those space aliens were always seen by her family as being rather selfish, narcissistic, and cruel monsters after all, they had their uses to be sure, but a dog was more loyal. Flay thought to herself. She really believed in the rhetoric of Blue Cosmos. The possibilities of having a relationship with Athrun went down hill, as soon as he told her he was a coordinator after all.
Everyone in the shelter volunteered, except for Flay. Since they were all pretty good with either communications and computers they were all assigned positions in the CIC. Bridge crew to be certain but Kira felt this was to keep an eye on them more than anything. Natarle's little scheme to keep them away from sensitive area it seems.
Mu finished getting the Aile Pack on the transport truck so it could be mounted on the Strike, so much hard work for just one piece of gear, he was sweating bullets. Kira boarded the Strike and moved to where the pack was, he quickly let the onboard computer to take over as the Strike moved and took the armaments onto itself. A beam rifle, a shield, and a laser sword. Well this was better than 2 hip knives. Murrue was busy with the paperwork as it seemed through the view of his cockpit.
"Well at the very least I know Murrue will not tell them about our relationship." At least he hoped. He could imagine how the group would react to the news that their rescuer is off the dating market as it were. Honestly they had a few moments that made him want to do more than kiss, and a few instances where he wanted to hold her closer, with a little more meaning. But he would always be respectful, so he waited to have a clear sign that she was willing. But these burning desires, and feeling were making it very difficult for him to do just that. A small kiss, and he wanted to french kiss her and throw caution to the wind. He wanted to show her how much he loved her, his restraint as painful as it was, was a clear sign of his love for her. He hoped that this got across to her, at the very least.
Murrue finished the paperwork and was reading a report by Chief Murdock, but her mind wondered sometimes to that last kiss, she wanted to take it further but not in the open. Natarle would give her nothing shorter than a serious talking to, if she did that in the open. She wanted to remind her that she held a lower rank, but when she held Kira there was something clearly pressing against her thigh. He was clearly longing for her, but his self-control meant that he was waiting for her approval, but it also meant that he too wanted her. This made her blush, and smile at the idea. "Maybe when we are away from this situation, and we have some privacy I can tell him how much the desire is mutual. It's taking every ounce of self-control in just not telling him that his quarters are going to be shared with me!" She could just imagine him saying that on occasion they could share the same bed, but they would have to be careful. The Archangel did not have a working daycare after all.
