Cosmic Era 81: As the peace gained by the Clyne faction came down to a crashing halt, The Destiny movement, a group that has been founded on the ideals of Gilbert Durandal would come into power. As their reign would bring about the shadows of war once again, the Orb Mediatory Council is tasked with its first mission: to make a dialogue between the exiled pink empress and the leadership of the disarrayed Earth Alliance, The crew of the Seraph needs to break through the ZAFT blockade.

Alternate Mobile Paradigm: Gundam SEED Seraph

Phase 10- Despair of the Songstress

"Where have I gone wrong?" –these words cloud the former chairman of PLANT, Lacus Clyne, who is saved by the Orb Mediatory Council, and given safe haven by both Terminal and the Orb government , would realize that something was wrong with her.

Her mechanical friend, Pink-chan, would pester her with squeaky sounds and would bounce around. The relatively young woman would pick it up and hold it. It's been a month since she and Kira were forcibly ousted as the leaders of PLANT. Suddenly, she has to trust someone who in her mind is still a puzzle to her. As the pink empress looks at space from her little window, she came into a realization.

"I no longer want to rely on Kira doing the heavy lifting, Esther and I shouldn't use him like we both did, ten years ago, but…we have no choice, he's the only one pilot who we both know is capable of defending this ship."

Her belief that she was doing a fine job as chairman of PLANT was completely shattered, whether it is by virtue of overconfidence or sheer foolishness, it was still a loss that Lacus herself couldn't bring herself to accept. Only when Kira punctures a disabling blow to her old flagship, did she realize that she still has hope, at first, she thought that becoming chairman was just to be a political symbol of stability, but the situation did not really reflect what was going on. Lacus found out the hard way, that her would-be allies have all shunned her, except for Orb, and the organization that she turned her back on, Terminal.

"I should really tell the reverend that I'm sorry for leaving them after all this is over. On another hand, Fllay still seems to be a puzzle for me. Is she really going to be trustworthy? " –Lacus would focus deeply on the thought that her only ally on the situation is someone who's she'd think would leave her to the wolves.

Gazing towards the direction of where the Earth is, thanks to the hologram-viewer, she would realize that the only thing that hinders Esther and Lacus from achieving their goal is the Atlantic Federation, the faction that Kira used to work for.

As fate would have it, Lacus would find an ally, from an unlikely source: Terminal's current leader: Esther Allbionne, or as Kira vividly remembers her, the young dame Fllay Allster. While their first meeting was a fiasco that ended with the death of the latter's father, Lacus would look back at that time, figuring out what she could've done to help her out.

"Irony wouldn't have done any better, I now am indebted to the same person who bargained my life in exchange for her father's safety. And while it feels relieving to finally be friends with her, I couldn't fully trust Fllay yet, not when the past keeps telling me that she's that same person who wouldn't shake my hand because of what I am. What is this uneasiness? Is it because of the thought of Fllay returning and getting Kira away from me?"

So many things are revolving around Lacus, that she cannot rest, AT ALL. Boredom finally hit her and she went out to get something from the cafeteria. As she would get a cup of tea and some pastries, a familiar voice would surprise her.

"And what are you doing here, Haven't you've learned by this time that you need to ask first before you leave your quarters?" –Esther would say with a sarcastic tone.

Lacus would banter with the brunette and say;

"I'm not a prisoner, remember? But yeah, I suppose that this place really reminds me of what happened… Between the both of us."

Esther would sit beside Lacus after she got her own cup, with coffee. Both would continue the silence until;

"I guess we could both blame Cagalli for assigning me to this ship, after all. " –Esther finally breaks her silence.

"If only different circumstances introduced us to each other, it wouldn't have ended up to be such a fiasco. You could probably blame my naïve understanding of the situation. Had I been as knowledgeable as I am right now, we would've stopped the war cold on its tracks with just Kira and Athrun…okay, I may be overestimating." -the younger of the two would say.

Esther would help Lacus with the food she was trying to find on the cafeteria.

"…I know that you still do not trust me. It's okay. I've already expected that you still doubt me, given our not-so-good history. But I assure you, I'll do everything to prevent Kira from suffering again, so protecting you is included in that assurance."

"I'm not doubting you because of our history, I'm actually doubting myself. I feel that I've lost my touch. I can't believe I'm saying this, Esther. I feel that I'm not the former head of Terminal you expect me to be. I realize that I gained everything because people feared my influence. If not for Kira and Athrun, I would be nothing." -Lacus would lament.

"Don't tell me you've caught Kira's anxiety from earlier. Believe me, sometimes I want to choke him for being so damn pessimistic. " –Esther would say, while serving newly cooked pasta for Lacus.

Lacus would laugh at that moment, feeling that the person who was willing to kill her in exchange for George Allster's safety ten years ago, is now an important cog to reclaiming PLANT from the Destiny Movement's control. Carefully consuming the plate of pasta the redhead cooked for her.

"Like I said, I'm surprised you've learned so much, despite how hard rehabilitation for, let me guess; was it roughly a year?"- She would complement Esther;

"Two years and a couple of months, and it was hard to cope up with everything."—Esther says.

Fascinated with her friend's story, Lacus wanted to ask more. So she has another query for the redhead to satisfy:

"So what made you decide to take up politics, records from Heliopolis' database seem to point out that you were once in the same Engineering class as Kira and the others, why the career change?"

But before Esther could answer the question, a shockwave reached the cafeteria, a blockade was set up and has intercepted the Seraph's trajectory. Lacus and Esther would rush to the bridge and wake Kira up.

"Sheesh, I was sleeping tight. These jerks don't know when to quit."—the Ultimate Coordinator would say as he suits up.

"The Nu-Striker isn't operational, so you're stuck with the new pack I made from the remnants of the suit you broke when you first arrived in this ship. I've managed to salvage the ExMAT system, but it isn't 100% complete. So whatever you do, NEVER try the extender."

"You have a name for this, Ssigh?"

"Not yet, but im…"

"It's the Liberta Strike Gundam, then."—Kira would say.

"Kira Hibiki, Liberta, Here I go!"