AN: Sorry for the delay everyone. Writing has been difficult all around lately. Got to love college workloads.
Desert Dawn Base
Night had come to the Desert Dawn base, as the fighters and crew from the Archangel mingled around campfires. This was the first time the crew had managed to relax in a long time, and they were taking full-advantage of it. Even the volunteers were in their own little group, aside from Kira. He was standing by himself on the top of the valley where he had left Cagalli earlier in the day. It wasn't like he didn't want to be with his friends, but the teen knew that it was only a matter of time until the fires of Tassil became visible in the distance. And he wanted to know exactly when that happened. Of course, he hadn't really planned on the fact that Cagalli would go looking for him.
"Hey, what are you doing up here!" her voice called out from behind him.
Kira turned around, and watched as Cagalli walked up to him, "It's more relaxing up here."
Cagalli frowned, "But wouldn't you rather be with your friends?"
Kira didn't answer right away, as he stared out at the stars. He realized that he would seem anti-social to be avoiding his friends. And, contrary to the way he may have been acting, he didn't want to avoid them. But he couldn't tell Cagalli why he was up here instead of in the camp, or the Strike. She wouldn't believe him anyway.
"I needed some time to think," he finally answered, choosing something that would sound believable.
Cagalli's frown just got deeper as she sat next to him, "Why?"
Kira shrugged, "Everything has been happening so fast. Just a month ago I was living peacefully on Heliopolis. Now I'm flying an Earth Alliance Mobile Suit."
Though Kira didn't notice it, his friends frown softened slightly at that, though she quickly covered it up. It was hard to think of the fact that Kira was hardly doing this willingly...she had come to Africa to fight of her own free will, though her father would doubtless call it her own stupidity. Kira hadn't had a choice in the matter...he was literally thrown into the Strike, and the war, headfirst. It was hard to wrap her head around to be sure...no wonder Kira needed some time alone.
"It's probably hard to get some time alone on that ship isn't it?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.
Kira nodded, a small smile on his lips, "You have no idea. Still, at least I know my friends are safe on-board it."
"As safe as you can be on a giant spaceship," the Princess deadpanned.
Kira just laughed...a laugh that gradually trailed off as he saw the beginnings of an orange glow on the horizon. Cagalli wondered what was wrong, before turning her head in the same direction Kira was looking. The moment she saw the fire, the Princess jumped to her feat, eyes wide in horror.
"Tassil..." she said, horror creeping into her voice...quickly being replace by anger as hot as the blaze in the distance, "that bastard!"
The blond spitfire made to run down the cliff, but Kira's lightning fast arm reached out and grabbed her own limb. She turned back, fully ready to punch him, before she saw the look in his eyes. They were deadly serious, not a hint of the previous laughter left.
"I'll take you there in the Strike," the pilot said, seemingly reading her mind, "if ZAFT is still around its far safer than one of those jeeps."
Cagalli nodded, "You better get me there fast."
Kira grinned, though it was a serious one, "The Strike is faster than anything but one of our fighters."
With that, the two nodded at each other before sprinting down the hill towards the Archangel. As they ran, resistance fighters were loading up jeeps and setting out for Tassil. One of those jeeps nearly ran the pair over, the driver barely stopping before he hit them. When the dust cleared it revealed Ahmed in the drivers seat, with Kisaka in the back.
"Hop on Cagalli!" Ahmed shouted, waving at the seat next to him.
Cagalli, for her part, looked very tempted. But she turned back to Kira, and shook her head.
"I'm heading there in the Strike," she said, "I want to see what it's like from the air."
Ahmed looked depressed, and Kisaka gave his charge a look. Cagalli glared right back, before turning her head. The silent communication seemed to work though, as Kisaka nodded and tapped Ahmed's head.
"Be careful out there Ahmed!" Cagalli shouted at the jeep as it took off after the rest.
"Kid!" another voice rose up after that.
Kira and Cagalli turned around and saw Mu waving them over to the Archangel's open hatch. The pair of teens ran over to the older pilot, shielding their eyes from dust kicked up by the jeeps. Mu helped them inside, before turning to look at Kira. The serious look in his eyes was matched by the purple eyes of the younger pilot.
"The Captain wants the Strike to head out with my Skygrasper, since you know the area from your little detour," even the humor didn't detract from the seriousness of the situation, "the other two Skygraspers are staying here in case this is a diversion."
Kira nodded, and moved off to the hangar with Cagalli in tow.
"And don't forget flight suits!"
Kira sped up, his face burning slightly. He did not want Mu to see that, or he would never hear the end of it. Cagalli, predictably, noticed though. And she didn't even have to guess why her new friend's face was red as a tomato.
"You don't have separate changing rooms do you?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
Kira shook his head, but continued walking. He couldn't look Cagalli straight in the face at this point really. Then again, she solved the problem by running ahead of him and slamming the door in his face. That just lead to a new problem though, because the flight suit she chose to wear (once the door opened and Kira could get in to change into his own) was rather...form-fitting. Carefully avoiding looking his friend in the eye, Kira quickly changed to his own suit.
Once that task was done, the two climbed into the Strike. Mu's plane had already launched, so it didn't take long for the Aile pack to be fitted to the Strike. With the repairs done, the pack was back to functioning at its full capacity, and that allowed the Strike to move nearly as fast as its airborne counterpart.
Tassil
Sometime later, the Strike arrived at the burning ruins of Tassil. As it hovered over the city with the Skygrasper, Kira had to turn his head away slightly. Seeing stuff like this never got any easier, even if he knew that Waltfeld would have made sure everyone was safe before opening fire. Cagalli, meanwhile, growled and clenched her fists behind him. Kira didn't even need to look to know her golden eyes were narrowed with barely suppressed rage. As much as he loved her (wait, where did that come from?) he knew that Cagalli had one of the worst tempers he had ever seen.
"That bastard...what kind of man burns down a civilian town like this!" Cagalli ground out, "what about the women and children?!"
Kira didn't say anything at first, until he turned the Strike and 'noticed' the crowd gathered outside the town, "Looks like everyone is safe!"
"What?" Cagalli asked, before looking out the 'side' of the Strike, "Everyone is okay?!"
Kira nodded, "Looks like it. I'm setting down next to them, hold onto something Cagalli."
The blonde nodded, as Kira set the Strike down gently next to the townspeople. Most of them looked up at the Gundam with a bit of fear in their eyes though. They may have seen it recently already when Kira came down from orbit, but they had also just had their town burnt down by Mobile Suits. Extremely different looking suits maybe, but the point remained.
The fear mostly went away though, when the jeeps of the Desert Dawn fighters arrived, and it became apparent that Kira wasn't going to randomly attack them. As Kira opened the Strike's hatch, he could see the Desert Dawn members and their families reuniting, and it brought a bit of a pang to his heart. He knew that most of these happy reunions were going to be painfully short-lived...unless he could save the fighters from their own suicidal attack.
"Sahib!" Cagalli called out once she was on the ground, with Kira moving to Mu.
"There you are Cagalli," the large man replied, "I had thought you would be with Kisaka and Ahmed."
"I got a ride in the Strike," Cagalli explained, walking with Sahib while Kira and Mu trailed behind.
The two Alliance pilots watched as the Desert Dawn members conversed with their families. Both of them were curious what the Resistance would do...or at least Mu was. Kira was more curious if things would change or not on his end. He certainly hoped they did. Waltfeld would just as likely leave Desert Dawn alone if they didn't attack him, so hopefully they wouldn't.
"I'm surprised," Mu randomly said.
"Huh?" Kira asked.
"I don't know the Tiger, but I am surprised he let them off with something as minor as this," the older pilot mused, not noticing that the townspeople heard every word he said.
"Err...Commander?" Kira tried to get his attention.
"I mean, he could have just killed everyone in the town and been done with it," the pilot continued obliviously, "instead he let them all leave. That's rather nice of him considering he didn't have to."
Kira had begun to slowly back away from the blonde pilot, something that Mu finally noticed. And right after that he noticed all the Tassil natives glaring at him...even Natarle had a disapproving look on her face. While Mu was hastily trying to calm everyone down, Kira had moved off further, having noticed Sahib arguing with some of his men.
Unsurprisingly, it was an argument over attacking Waltfeld as revenge for the attack. Several of the Desert Dawn members were barely keeping their fingers off triggers they were so angry, and it worried Kira. There was little chance that Sahib would be able to calm them down at this point, and that meant useless deaths. Something that Kira did not want to see.
"All you'll do is get yourselves killed," Sahib was shouting, "your wives and children need you right now, not some foolish attack!"
One man in particular, a bandana covering his face, seemed to be the leader of the opposition group. The pure hate in his eyes would make lesser men back up slightly. Kira had seen Rau Le Crueset's eyes, so it didn't have an effect on him and Sahib was made of sterner stuff than most men.
"I won't just sit back Sahib!" the man shouted, "there is no Tassil left to return to!"
And with that, the man jumped in a jeep with the majority of the other Desert Dawn fighters doing the same. Nothing could be done to stop them, something Sahib seemed to realize. Kira noticed him mutter under his breath before jumped into his own jeep. That wasn't what got Kira's attention though. That was Cagalli running past him and trying to jump in with Sahib. He just pushed the teen out and told her to stay behind though.
"But..." Cagalli tried to protest, before Sahib's jeep shot out after the others.
Kira was about to walk up to her, when he nearly got run down by Ahmed's jeep. And Cagalli wasted little time before she jumped into said jeep.
"Cagalli! Wait!" Kira shouted, running up to the jeep...before being left in the dust just like everyone else in Tassil.
"Your girlfriend leave you behind kid?" Mu asked, having managed to get free from the rather angry citizens of the burning town.
Kira sighed, "She's not my girlfriend Commander. And shouldn't you be reporting to the Archangel?"
Mu scratched the back of his head, "Oh right...I do need to do that."
The other pilot shook his head as the two walked to the Skygrasper. The sun had begun to come over the horizon, but all the new light did was give a backdrop of the devastation of Tassil. The doctor and medics who had come with Natarle were already hard at work treating the injured townsfolk, but it was still a depressing sight nonetheless.
When the pair reached the fighter though, Mu ignored the surroundings and reached into the cockpit to activate the comm systems. It didn't take long to connect with the Archangel, even with the N-Jammer interference. To say Murrue was shocked at the news of the revenge attack would be putting it mildly however.
"Isn't there something you could have done to stop them?!" the Captain protested, not able to wrap her head around the Desert Dawns seemingly suicidal move.
Mu shrugged helplessly, even though Murrue couldn't see him, "If we had tried they would have attacked us. I've never seen someone this angry Captain. In any case, someone had to stay behind to help here. The Tiger may have let them leave, but there are still a lot of injured people here. Not to mention the problems with food and water."
Murrue sighed over the link, "I'll send more jeeps with supplies that we can spare. Is Ensign Yamato with you?"
"I'm here Captain," Kira answered.
"Good. Take the Strike and try to help the Resistance," Murrue replied, "no sense in letting them get themselves killed."
Kira nodded, very relieved that she had said that. Especially with Cagalli out there...
Libyan Dessert, somewhere outside Tassil
Meanwhile, far away from the burning ruins of Tassil, Andrew Waltfeld reclined in his jeep and enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing over his face, sand and all. While the Tiger wasn't exactly a fan of burning towns to the ground, he had to admit that it was a job well done. The Desert Dawn had only whatever supplies they had at their base, and those would be stretched thin feeding and housing everyone from Tassil.
Maybe now they will finally give up,the Tiger thought to himself, though I doubt they will.
"Why are we moving so slowly sir?" DaCosta broke into Andy's thoughts.
The ZAFT Commander turned his head to look at his subordinate. DaCosta was a good man, but Waltfeld had always thought he was a little to stuck-up at times. He needed to learn to relax and enjoy the moment.
"Haven't you gotten used to the heat by now?" Waltfeld said with a grin, "or are you just impatient to get back to the base?"
DaCosta frowned, "It's not that sir. Just-what if the resistance manages to catch up to us?"
"Then its fate," Andy replied easily, "besides, people may say 'I would rather die' but do they really mean it? I doubt that."
He was mostly saying that for DaCosta's sake though. The experienced commander had little doubt that Desert Dawn would soon be charging down after them in their little jeeps and missile trucks. Expecting them to act rationally and stay behind to help their families was too much to ask, in his opinion. Sure, he may have preferred to not have to slaughter the Resistance fighters, but he expected that would be needed.
Especially as one of the BuCUE pilots started talking over the radio.
"Sir, we have radar contacts...looks like resistance jeeps!"
Andy sighed, before gritting his teeth as a missile came entirely to close for comfort, "Maybe they would rather die!"
When he looked over his shoulder, the Tiger saw several Desert Dawn jeeps coming down the hill, rockets flying directly at him. If it were anyone else, Andy would have been worried about being hit. However, he had trained each and every one of his pilots in desert warfare...and he didn't doubt their ability to keep him out of harms way. A feeling confirmed when one of the BuCUEs jumped in front of the incoming rockets, taking the projectiles that would have punctured an old tank without even flinching.
"Heh, you don't really think you can hurt me with those toys do you?!" the pilot gloated, as he brought his machine's foot down near a jeep.
Of course, the BuCUE was basically invulnerable aside from a lucky hit on a joint to what weapons the resistance had. But by the same token, it was almost impossible to hit the jeeps with the weapons on a mobile suit, they were just too agile. As evidenced by the stomp missing every jeep it had been aimed at. This, naturally, frustrated the pilot of the ZAFT machine, who turned to try and hit another jeep.
That turn opened him up however, as a missile from Cagalli lanced right into the head of the wolf-like mobile suit. While it still didn't do any damage to the formidable armor of the BuCUE, it did serve to blind the pilot long enough for a barrage of rockets to score a lucky hit on one of its joints. The machine collapsed to the ground, seemingly out of the fight.
"Yeah, we got it!" Cagalli shouted in her jeep.
Of course, the ZAFT pilots were rather more annoyed than happy at the fact one of their own was even damaged. One of the pilots, letting his anger take hold, jumped into the air above a cluster of the jeeps. The machine came down hard, smashing one of the jeeps like a tin can, not even noticing the detonation of its fuel and ammunition. Retracting his machine's paws in favor of its high-mobility treads, the ZAFT pilot turned to chase down the remaining jeeps, determined to run them down.
However, he wouldn't get the chance...as a green lance of light came over the horizon and blew the wolf-like machines head clean off. Instead of risking damage, the pilot withdrew as he lost his main camera.
The remaining two BuCUEs sensors picked up the source of the beam the moment their pilots (and Waltfeld's) eyes did. The Strike, charging into battle at full speed.
"Damn you!" the pilot of the one undamaged machine shouted, turning to fire a barrage of missiles at the Gundam.
Kira didn't even blink as he gunned the projectiles down with his CIWS, before drawing a beam saber and flashing past the BuCUE at a speed that most would be hard pressed to follow...before the ZAFT machine fell to the ground, neatly bisected.
Needless to say...
What the hell is that pilot! Waltfeld was actually shocked for once.
For his part, Kira just looked out at the remaining jeeps, "I saved more people this time...good. And Cagalli is okay! But what about that last BuCUE?"
In any other situation, Kira would have been right to worry about the last BuCUE. The rockets had done damage, true, but it was still functional. And Andy Waltfeld was hardly one to back down from a fight. However...he had just lost two BuCUEs in as many minutes. Even he knew when it was too risky to fight, and taking one damaged machine against the Strike was pushing things.
"Get us out of here DaCosta," the Tiger said, backing away with the two damaged machines, I wonder...that pilot can't be a Natural. Not with that level of skill. Who are you, you strange pilot?
Kira sighed as he watched them retreat, "I won't have to fight him yet..."
There was still the problem of Desert Dawn though. The jeeps had gathered around the Strike, the anger fading from the fighters systems to be replaced by awe as they looked at the burning hulk of the bisected BuCUE. They quickly turned back around as Kira came down from the Strike though, Cagalli running forward.
"Kira!" she shouted, panting slightly as she stood in front of him.
The teen looked down with relieved eyes on his friend, before turning hardened eyes on the resistance fighters.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" he shouted, putting the acting skills he had developed to use...along with genuine frustration at this happening again, "taking jeeps against BuCUE's?"
"Kira..."
"Do you have a death wish?!"
A slap echoed through the desert...this time it was Cagalli slapping Kira though, not the other way around. Something that seemed to shock the teen, if the widening purple eyes were any indication.
"How dare you!" the Princess growled, "we put our lives on the line, and that's all you can say?! We fought hard, we are always fighting hard!"
Shock aside, Kira recovered quickly, "And what would have happened if I hadn't arrived?"
Cagalli backed up slightly...anger aside, she knew darn well what would have happened. All of them would probably have died...that first BuCUE was this close to running down half the Desert Dawn force, and there wasn't a chance in hell they could have stopped it on their own.
"What can you protect if you lack the power?" Kira asked simply, looking out at the gathered Desert Dawn members.
None of them had an answer for him.
AN: Like I said, I apologize for how long this took. I can't say it won't take this long again, though I will do my best to update faster. Now onto the reviews:
Just a Crazy-Man, edboy4926, Plutone-pilot, NinjaFang1331, thunder18: Thanks for the reviews!
inyuyasha112: Glad I got her personality right!
Lord Edric: Maybe, maybe not.
Fireminer: A Strike E is roughly (roughly) equivalent to the Rouge. It would be the Striker Packs (like the Noir) that make it different. So no Strike E, even if it were developed in SEED proper. Mu and Kira will get more interactions, there just hasn't been a chance for it yet (aside from what I got in this chapter).
Windraider: While I haven't read the manga, I have looked up the Strike variants used in it. I'm still not convinced I could make them work in a (mostly) canon SEED though. Remember, I'm trying to stick to tech that could (logically) be built in SEED. As for Kira's skill, I have to balance things. He isn't going to show off all his skills, unless he has to (hence keeping the beam-saber block in reserve until the Battle in Orbit). That being said, this battle neatly shows what he is capable of, especially when he gets the drop on the enemy.
Dragoon Swordsman: Both Talbadyia and Banadiya are going to be all sorts of fun to write.
PinkSugarDust: Oh it's going to be fun when he eventually gets ratted out. Though Kira is doing everything he can to keep his little jump to the past secret.