Chapter 10 Upgrades in the Land of Peace.
"Thank you for letting us into your country." said Ramius as she, La Flaga and Badgiruel sat across from the leader of Orb, Uzumi Nara Athha.
"You are welcome." said Uzumi
"I think there is another reason why you let us in. I don't think it's because we had your daughter on board." said La Flaga as Ramius glared at him.
"If only it was that simple." said Uzumi "In return for your repairs, we want access to the Strike, Wing Zero and their pilots."
"Lord Uzumi when it comes to the Strike and its pilot Kira Yamato I will order him to go but Wing Zero and Heero Yuy are not under my command you would have to ask him." said Ramius
"I understand, I will ask him myself but please have Kira Yamato and the Strike ready in the morning." said Uzumi
"Lord Uzumi, we have many people from Orb onboard. Is it possible for them to see their parents?" asked Ramius
"I can see what I can do." said Uzumi as he walked out of the meeting with the head officers of the Archangel.
"You can't be serious Captain." said Lt. Badgiruel "We can't hand them over the Strike."
"Lt. Badgiruel, I am sure that they are getting pressure on them from Zaft, so it is the least I can do for their troubles." said Ramius
"I understand sir." said Badgiruel as she walked out.
"She has a list doesn't she?" said La Flaga
"Probably." said Ramius
Meanwhile back on the Archangel a woman opened a small door to see Cagalli standing there. "Hello Myrna." said Cagalli
"Lady Cagalli, what are you doing in those things." said her caretaker Myrna as she threw her bag of cloths on the bed, before forcing the Princess of Orb to act like a princess.
"I can't believe that Cagalli is really royalty." said Kira as he worked on repairing his mobile suit. "Wait did you know about this Heero?"
"Yes." said Heero as he ran the video of the battle from the other day.
"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Kira as he walked over the catwalk to look at Heero as he sat inside his cockpit.
"It wasn't mine to tell." said Heero flatly as an Orb soldier and a man in a red suit, with a beard walked up to him.
"Heero Yuy?" asked the soldier
"Yes." said Heero as the soldier stepped aside letting the man through.
"Heero Yuy I am Lord Uzumi and I wish to speak to you." said Uzumi as Heero look up at him
"What do you want?" asked Heero
"I want you to bring this impressive mobile suit to the Morgenroete factory tomorrow, if you can?" asked Uzumi
"No." said Heero flatly as Uzumi looked at him for a bit.
"If you are worried about us taking anything from this suit without your permission then your worries are unfounded." said Lord Uzumi "I promise you your secrets will stay secret. However if you come to Morgenroete tomorrow you may be able to help us and we may be able to help you."
"Alright." said Heero
"You can't take this seriously!" yelled Yzak as he slammed the report from Orb onto the table.
"We can't just go crashing in there Yzak, they said they left." Said Nicol
"They were so damaged that they couldn't have left. They are still there" said Dearka
"True, but it doesn't change the fact that we can't go crashing into Orb." Said Athrun as Yzak got into his face.
"And what are we supposed to do leader?" asked Yzak
"We will have the political pressure increased, in the mean time we will sneak in and get proof that they are there. Once we do we can attack." said Athrun as Yzak grinned.
The next morning, with the early morning fog hiding their movements, Kira Yamato and Heero Yuy moved their mobile suits toward the back entrance to the Morgenroete factory. They placed both their machines on a lifted that brought them deep underground. At the end of the lift stood a tall woman with brown hair wearing a red jacket and grey paints. "Hello you two I am Erica Simmons, senior engineer of Morgenroete." Said the woman as Heero and Kira stood before her. "I have to say Heero I would love to tear your machine apart and study it but the Chairman has made me promise that no one will touch it without your permission."
"Good because Zero can activate its self-destruct system without me." stated Heero as Zero's eyes flashed.
"Alright, will you two follow me." said Erica as the two of them followed her into a hanger where rows of mobile suits stood. They looked almost the same as the Strike with the Aile pack on.
"But these are?" asked Kira
"They are the M1 Astray mobile suits built to be the next generation mobile suit to protect Orb." said a new voice as they turned to see Cagalli dressed in her normal clothes. "However until my father betrayed it by building those machines for the Earth Forces."
"Cagalli, your father had no idea what those people up there where doing." said Erica as Cagalli glared at her for a moment. "Come on I want to show you something."
With that the four of them walked toward a small control room where a series of three of those Astray mobile suits stood. "Are you girls ready to start your drills?" asked Erica
"Yes." said some female voices as they started to move the suits very slowly and very poorly.
"Very good girls, that is a lot faster than normal." said Erica
"They would be dead in an instant." Stated Heero flatly
"That is why we want you two to help build a new computer system to put in more in line with the Strike and Wing Zero." said Erica "In return for your help Kira we will rebuild the Strike and for Heero I would like to take a look at the engine." With that she pulled out a blueprint of engines. "This is Morgenroete's latest engine design, for the last stage of space shuttles. We think it can be retrofitted to your Wing Zero and allow you get to space without help."
"I see." Said Heero as he looked at the design "Yes, it should work."
Meanwhile back on the Archangel the repairs where already underway all over the ship but with Miriallia and her friends there was nothing to do, so they sat in the lunch room. "I wonder if they will let us off?" asked Sai
"I don't think so, they may let our parents come to visit us but we will stay onboard." said Miriallia
"I hope you're wrong." said Kuzzey as he looked at his food but knew she was right.
"I saw them loading in a new Skygrasper into the hanger." said Tolle as Miriallia lowered her head a bit. "Don't worry I'll be fine."
"Still I am worried." said Miriallia
On the shore only a few miles away four people came ashore in scuba gear. "Athrun Zala of Le Creuset team." said Athrun to the head Zaft spy in Orb.
"Welcome to the land of peace."
A day later Heero sat behind one of the desk at the Morgenroete factor looking over the latest computer control system for the M-1. "This should work nicely." Said Heero as Erica leaned over his shoulder and looked at the system.
"Wow I can't believe that you did this in less than a day." said Erica
"I took the base program of a Leo ground assault mobile suit and combined it with the control system for space flight from the Taurus space mobile suit." said Heero "This should allow for free movement in both ground and space combat."
"We didn't ask for space." said Erica
"Zero says you will need it soon." said Heero "I'll leave it to Kira to do the final fine tuning he knows what those machines can do better than I do."
"Sounds good, your engines should be ready soon, it's strange how well they fitted in." said Erica
"Good." Said Heero
"So Heero, do you know how you're going to get home?" asked Erica
"No, at the moment it looks like I may never get home." said Heero as he stood up and headed toward the door. "Even Zero is telling me I have no future in my old universe."
"So your suit can tell you the future." asked Erica as she followed Heero toward where the Morgenroete workers where putting in the engine busters next to the old busters in the wings and on the back.
"Yes, it tells me with almost certainty what will happen." said Heero as he looked up at Zero.
"What does it tell you about the future of Orb?" asked Erica
"Orb homeland will burn in the fires of war." stated Heero as Erica lowered her head. "However the flame of Orb will not burnout."
"Erica!" yelled an engineer "We are ready for a test burn."
"Go head Heero give it a try." said Erica as Heero hoped into Wing Zero and turned on the normal engines. Instantly dust and dirt flew all over the testing room.
"Wow what power!" yelled an engineer as Erica looked closer.
"That is just his normal engines, I had no idea that they were so powerful already." Thought Erica as Heero looked at the readings
"All normal, alright Zero lets test out the busters, 5% max power." Said Heero as the secondary busters kicked in increasing his thrust by 10%. "Impressive with only 5% of these engines combined with normal engines I already have escape." added Heero to himself before pushing the engines to 10, 25, 50 and finally 75 and everything was still in the green when he shut his mobile suit's new engine down.
"So is everything in order?" asked Erika as she yelled up at Heero
"Yes, I will take Wing Zero back to the Archangel." said Heero as Erika nodded.
"I'll tell them that you are coming." said Erika
The next day on the Archangel the parents of the young soldiers where visiting their kids. "When do you leave?" asked Sai's parents
"Soon, the repairs are almost done. We are only waiting on Kira to return from wherever he is." Said Sai
"Do you really have to go?" asked Miriallia's mother
"I'm afraid so." said Miriallia as she tried to changed subjects.
In a private room in the office area at Morgenroete Kira's parents sat before Uzumi. "I am afraid the kids have meet." said Uzumi as the woman lowered her head.
"I see, do they know?" asked Kira's father
"I do not believe so, they have formed a tight friendship but nothing to be worried about." said Uzumi "Where is Kira today anyhow?"
"I guess he doesn't want to see us." said Kira's mother in tears as her son sat inside an almost finished Strike.
"Kid, shouldn't you be seeing your parents, like everyone else is today?" asked La Flaga as he looked into the cockpit.
"No, I didn't want to see them. All they would see is a soldier now." said Kira as his robot bird, Birdie stood on his shoulder. "Also I want to get this done before we head out tomorrow morning."
"Sounds good." said La Flaga before suddenly the green bird flew off Kira's shoulder and out on the vents in the underground base.
"This place has even more guarded then the port." said Yzak as he and the others stood in Morgenroete uniforms in the outer area of the factory.
"I know and the computer system is even more guarded. I can't get through." said Nicol as he looked at his handheld. Athrun looked up at the sky only to see a small bird fly down and land on his shoulder.
"Birdie." said the robot bird.
"Wow a robot bird." said Nicol as a second voice filled the air.
"Birdie!" yelled Kira as he turned the corner of one of the top ground warehouses. When he saw Athrun he stopped and slowly approached the gate. Athrun did the same the stopped only feet away from each other.
"Is this yours?" asked Athrun
"Yes. Thank you he is a gift from a good friend." said Kira as the green bird hopped the short distance between them. Athrun slowly turned and left Kira standing there.
Sorry for the delay I studied for a test when I normal edit the chapter. Well Thank you for the reviews I ask that you keep on reviewing. Thanks Wilkins75