Chapter 12: Where Their Allegiance Lies
September 21st, C.E. 80
Starlord Battleship
"We're almost there." Nowo said. The pilots had gathered in their waiting room, all except for Psylence that is. Sergeant Anderson was a welcome sight back among the piloting crew when he had first come in, but when they started getting closer to the moon, the talking had stopped.
They all sat, spread out around the room. With their pilot suits sealed air tight, they held their helmets in the laps or on the seats beside them. "You could cut the tension with a knife." Seyn thought that would be a fitting thing to say, but he decided against it. He looked around the room instead, and what he saw gave him confidence. The faces of the pilots around him showed their determination for the cause. Even Anderson was ready, and there was nothing he feared more than piloting a mobile suit in actual combat. "How much longer till we're there...how much longer till I can show Oliver my gratitude for what he's done…"
September 21st, C.E. 80
Antarctic Headquarters
"All minor repairs have been completed." An engineer told Captain Ely. "All that we have to worry about now is the catapult hatch."
"That's good to hear, but the hatch was the only thing I had worries about." The captain said. "So I want you to finish that up as soon as you can."
"Yes sir." The engineer ran back to the rest of the crew to begin operations.
The captain would be in a fret about getting the Khern fully operational if he wasn't already confident that the outpost was well protected.
The only pilots in the base were the pilots brought down by the Khern. Luke Oran and Nyle Fell, two of the Orange Flag's aces. But thankfully, Oliver was a paranoid man. All sorts of goodies in the forms of turrets and anti-air rocket weapons lined the walls of the outpost. It would be easily defendable in any situation. This would their final line in the sand.
"Captain Ely." An attendant called for him.
"Yes?"
"We've received a report from Lord Psylence."
"I'll have a look at it now." The captain worked his way over to his office where the attendant had uploaded the report. Booting up his touch computer, he opened the file sent by their leader.
"Captain Ely." It read. "This message is for your ears only. We are beginning the siege on Oliver's laboratory as we speak. I would have liked to speak with you, but I figured it was best I took this approach because by the time you're hearing this message we will have gone off the grid. We wouldn't have done this if we didn't have worries about traitors in the organization, and due to the recent circumstances with Agent Reed, these actions are justified. That is why I'm sending the report to only you, so I don't want you bringing this up to the others. But I also wanted this for you only to ask something of you. As you know, Captain Tal, Admiral Nowo, and myself are all aboard this ship. The three of us and you make up the heads of this organization, and if all of us are eliminated here today, along with the Doomsday mobile suits I would ask you to run. Disband the organization and disperse back into the world. Never contact each other, never even mention each other's names. Oliver has ears everywhere, and he'll be working his hardest to find you. After you've reintegrated into society, make sure to pass Oliver's information to the authorities. Don't get me wrong Captain. I believe in your fighting abilities and your will to use them, but it simply won't be enough if not even the Doomsday mobile suits can defeat his force. As depressing as this message has been to write, I still have faith in you and everyone else in the organization, and I believe that we can win this."
The last thing the Captain wanted to do was give up on the Orange Flag, and he was sure he wouldn't. "Sorry Lord Psylence, but I can't just give up. I will chase Oliver down myself if I have too."
September 21st, C.E. 80
Starlord Battleship, Near Moon Airspace
They were a mere 15 miles away from their destination, President Jem Oliver's laboratory. It wouldn't be long before they finally confronted the man and made him take responsibility for his actions.
"Oliver will know we're coming." Admiral Lance broke the silence. "He's not foolish enough to not expect our attack. He'll have countless soldiers awaiting us, or possibly more suits like our own...we can't be certain what he has until we see it for ourselves. Point is, this isn't going to be as easy as Lord Psylence makes it sound."
"You giving up on us already Admiral?" Hopkins asked.
"Course not. I wouldn't still be here if I were." Nowo calmly replied. "Though I have every right to doubt myself...we all do." He quickly coughed up something motivational to keep them energized. "But that doesn't mean we can't. We just need to reach inside ourselves and dig up every ounce of hard work we have in us." But the crew didn't get as energized as he had hoped.
"Admiral Lance to Lord Psylence's office." A woman's voice rang echoed in the quiet room. He stood up and left the men without another word.
Within a few minutes Nowo had gotten to entered Psylence's office where he would meet with Psylence himself, and surprisingly the Captain as well. "Captain." Nowo saluted. "Who's watching the men on the bridge."
"There's no need to worry." Captain Tal groaned.
"And that brings us where we need to be…" Psylence said. "We have an issue."
"What kind of issue?" Nowo quickly asked.
"The laboratory...it doesn't make any sense." Psylence said.
"What about the lab?" He asked, wanted to scream at Psylence to answer him directly.
"It isn't there."
"That...no that doesn't make sense." Nowo said, agreeing with Psylence. "Are you certain you were looking in the right place?"
"Yes...positive. I was held prisoner there for a long while and I remember leaving it like it was yesterday. There is no mistake that what was there is gone."
"Perhaps it was torn down to…" Nowo tried to rationalize.
"There is no way that they took it down and masked the area over in just two days. We checked up on it...so many times! It's impossible Nowo! There is no possible way something as big as that could just disappear!"
"Lord Psylence." Captain Tal said. "You should calm yourself, you know better than to act like this in a crisis."
"Right…" He said. "The only thing I could imagine happening...the only possible conclusion I can reach is that is was simply covered and that means we'll need to blast a hole through to get where we need to go. But even then…"
"Yes...if we're wrong that could get us into some serious trouble without even doing what we came to do."
"Why can't the Earth Alliance find somewhere else to hunker down…"
"That's most likely one of the reasons Oliver settled there." The captain thought aloud. "No need to worry about defending yourself because the Earth Alliance would blindly do that as well."
"So...how do we want to go about doing this?" Nowo asked. "Do we risk an attack, or do we pull back and rethink through what we know."
"I would no doubt chose the second option if only we weren't in a rush already. That's why we're here in the first place, if we weren't we would still be back training without knowing that the labs were missing."
"Should we consult other men besides ourselves?" The captain asked. "Though I already think I know the answer to that question."
"Yes you do. We can't risk another mole in the Orange Flag. Perhaps we would be playing into their hands in telling the force that the labs were gone...or perhaps we're playing into their hands by not telling the them."
"We won't know until we make a move…" Nowo said. "Though we could be wrong all together. Maybe Oliver didn't think this far ahead."
"I doubt that. He has plenty of tricks up his sleeves. Managed to catch the Khern off its guard just yesterday, so I figure his plans stretch a little farther."
"Maybe we do something unpredictable, something only the insane would do. Though I don't exactly know what they would be…" Nowo frowned.
"If you find something like that with an actual chance of success, then and only then can you run it by me." Captain Tal told him.
"I'm just trying to throw thing out there sir. This is turning into a disaster after all sir." Nowo said being particularly frank. "But about telling the force, they'll learn that the labs don't exist soon enough if we don't come up with an excuse to leave or for whatever it is we're going to do." Psylence groaned and pushed his long hair back.
"I don't know what I want to do...we could tell them that we simply need to regather ourselves and retreat but I don't know if that's the right thing to do. Its just...this is too much."
"I suggest doing as you said." Tal said. "Opening fire on the moon's surface, where the Earth Alliance's main headquarters are stationed, isn't a great idea if we don't even know we'll get our job done. I've said that before and I'll proudly say it again."
"And you, Admiral?" Psylence asked him.
"The Captain has a point sir and I don't really know what else we could do."
"Well Admiral, there are plenty of things we could do. But whether we should do them is the real question. But I do believe that retreat is our best option. I'll make the announcement."
September 21st, C.E. 80
Earth Alliance Moon Headquarters
"General." An attendant spoke up. "We've received a report from the Bastion, and just now it's gone off radar."
"The Bastion…" The general questioned. "One of our scouting ships, correct?"
"Yes sir. Would you like me to read you the report sir?" The attendant offered, to which the general nodded. "The Bastion battleship has come under attack by what looks like bandits. We require assistance at our current location."
There was a pause before the general responded. "That's all?"
"Yes sir."
"Well where were they when they went off radar?"
"They were amidst the wreckage of the first debris cluster sir."
"Tell all ships in the vicinity to report to there immediately. Sounds like bandits."
"Yes sir."
September 21st, C.E. 80
PLANT, Januarius City
The Hercules touched down inside the hanger and began repairs. Commander Kira Yamato awaited them and, having read Commander Lezly's basic report, was anxious to learn more. He greeted the Commander upon watching him exit the battleship. Knowing of Lezly's close relations to Madam Chair Clyne, he assumed he could rely on his word. "Could you perhaps explain the happenings of yesterday in a little more detail." He asked of Lezly.
"Well…" The commander replied nervously. "As you already know, Jet Number, one of your crew, was unfortunately killed in action."
"Yes...I know. Though I was hoping that you could explain a little further."
"Oh yes...of course. We arrived during a battle of rivalling factions. We have confirmed one to be the bandits we were sent to capture, and the other carried ZAFT armaments. I insisted that we accomplish our goal of defeating the bandits while Mr. Getson insisted on engaging both parties. He refused to obey my commands, and Number got caught up in our argument which distracted him and he was unfortunately killed in action because of it. Not only did Getson do that, but after returning to the ship the boy threatened, and then attacked me."
"I see...I saw him as such a promising pilot with a more naive personality. I thought he would have been one to listen blindly though I do admire his attempt at trying to see the entire battlefield."
"I would hardly call what he did admirable Commander Yamato. Not only did the boy refuse to take my commands, but he attacked me. Treason. That is a crime punishable by death, commander. You do understand that don't you?"
"Yes I do understand, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Commander Yamato replied. "Though I can't say my real combat experiences had much to do with such formalities. I was hardly ever a real soldier, and for the brief time I was, our ship was neglected the care it needed."
"Yes I am familiar with your story commander. You worked as a vigilante equipped with one of the most powerful suits of its time and acted solely off of what you thought was right."
"A vigilante…?" The commander asked, but was cut off as Lezly continued.
"You attacked both sides of each war you took part in, making yourself a clear target to both sides as well. Then, after an obvious decision was made to attack your force, you were astonished. How could they come to such a conclusion was a question you certainly asked. People call you a hero, but looking back on the thousands of lives you took, and the millions of dollars of debt you sent both ZAFT and the Earth Alliance into, I would hardly do the same."
"Does Madam Chair Clyne know you think this way?" Commander Yamato, a usually calm and controlled officer, was getting worked up quickly. "I would find it surprising if she kept you instated after such a debacle. Do you understand how she thinks?"
"I could ask the same thing to you." The discussion had quickly escalated into an argument between the Madam Chair's closest officers. "You were nothing but a...a terrorist!"
"At least I took action. You were to busy blindly following orders from a man who intended to disrupt everything that makes our world what it is."
"Bringing up my allegiance to Chairman Durandal? I see that you find it ridiculous to follow such a man, a man that was elected as a leader of our land! We had to follow his commands otherwise face punishment! In fact, I would have preferred we kept Durandal in office! Comparing him to Clyne...it is hardly a comparison at all! Do you even realize how vulnerable we are now? We are technologically years...YEARS behind those who would be our adversaries if war were to erupt. We would stand no chance! Her actions did not save us, they've done just the opposite."
"That is…!" Commander Yamato regained control of himself. He saw his actions would only fan the flames, so he ended the conversation. "It is unfortunate you think that way, though I can understand your point of view, it simply is not what I believe." Commander Lezly felt proud of himself winning his argument, and proudly marched off after saluting Commander Yamato. Commander Yamato brushed it off and walked inside to meet with his crew. After ten minutes he had successfully gathered his pilots and the Captain into the briefing room aboard the Hercules. While making it possible for Ralph to be there without supervision took some time, it was well worth the work. He needed to straighten things out.
The pilots sat in front of their real commander, and Captain Brooks stood at his side. "I've heard the commander's report on what happened at the cluster."
"His reports probably a bigger lie than his fake persona." Ralph said.
"I didn't say I believed his report." The Commander silenlty agreed. "I was hoping to hear the story from more than one person, so please, explain it to me."
"First he had us launch, obviously." Seth said. "Up until that point we really had no problem with him. When we reached an asteroid for cover, Ralph perched himself on top and told us about two separate forces, neither of which could have ZAFT. Though the commander insisted that one of them was."
"That brings us exactly where I wanted to be." Ralph said. "Sure one was a ZAFT ship, but it was orange and not giving off any signals that it was there, or at least no signals for us to see. On top of that, I watched as two black suits without records fought for it. They were no Zakus that's for sure. After I explained what I saw, that was when the Lezly went astray. He muttered something about the Underground under his breath. I wasn't the only one to hear it, that Captain did and I'm sure the others did as well."
"That's true, at the time I assumed he had just said something I didn't understand." Captain Brooks explained himself.
"Then he tells me to ignore the orange ship and attack those we eventually confirmed as the bandits. But at the time, there was no way for us to know. I made an executive decision based on what you told us to do. Capture the enemy. I split the forces up with a few shots."
"That's when Asuka over there rallied us to attack." Seth said.
"Originally it was Shinn and Lunamaria attacking the bandit cruiser and the three...sorry, four of us dealing with the remaining bandit mobile suits." Sonya said.
"Then I watched as the orange ship started to descend down to earth." Ralph said. "Jet agreed to help me take care of it, and he boosted out ahead. Tore one of those new black suits right from the ship's hangar. But he didn't act...he looked like he was going to fire into the cruiser, but he didn't...Capture the enemy. That's what he was thinking…" The room went silent, and the Commander couldn't help but feel responsible. Had he been there, he never would have let this happen. "But both him and the black suit got pulled down by the Earth's gravity...and he was killed...But I didn't let that black suit get out. No I didn't. Tore him apart, but the ship was to far out of my reach...it escaped and now it's lost."
There was still more story to be told, but for the most part the pilots agreed to most important part was told. "What about the prisoners?" The commander asked.
"There were three Eagles left after what those black suits did." Seth said. "Had to take out one, but we captured the other two. One of them seemed like the leader."
"Then the commander gave the order to have the bandit ship destroyed." Shinn said. "And I followed it."
"Then I went to the bridge, where I was treated with disrespect and so was Jet." Ralph said. "Thought the guy deserved a few punches and I proudly gave them to him. The Captain sent me to the brig, and I learned a little something about Commander Lezly's Underground. I talked with the head bandit and he gave me some ideas on what it was. Said the Underground consider themselves the saviors of the PLANTs. They're developing new mobile suits somewhere, said he heard it was in an asteroid."
"So perhaps he thought that the ZAFT ship was carrying the black suits, the supposed Underground's new models, down to Earth for something." Captain Brooks said.
"Possibly…" Commander Yamato said. "I need to report this the Madam Chair Clyne, immediately. Thank you for your time." He stood and walked towards the door, pointing at Ralph on his way out. "I'll be sure to plead your case, the Madam Chair will gladly clear your name." With that, the Commander left and the soldiers sat in silence.
"That means I'd better take my leave as well. Rest up all of you, you've earned it." Then the Captain followed in the commander's footsteps and left.
"This all happened so fast." Lunamaria said. "Too fast for my taste."
"That's the way war is, you know that." Shinn answered her.
"War?" Sonya asked. "There's no war."
"At this rate, there is no way there won't be."