Chapter 14: Bargain

Orga felt Artima go limp, as if his shout had made her give up. Perhaps it would be easier for her - for him - like this.

Wasn't making a decision supposed to make it better? he thought.

"Good, you were successful," said Camice as he made it to Orga. Other Gjallarhorn soldiers were racing down the slope and Camice waved them over.

"...Yeah," said Orga.

"She's incapacitated?" Camice asked and stepped forward. He grabbed Artima by the shirt and pulled her unceremoniously out of Orga's arms to the ground, from there nudging and straightening her with his boot as though inspecting but not wanting to touch too much.

Orga narrowly resisted reacting. "She was passed out when I found her. No sign of the suit she stole," he said, hoping a preemptive denial would help.

"That will be a problem."

McGillis had arrived at the same time as the soldiers; his voice slunk out of the dark vegetation and his body followed. Orga was grateful when Mikazuki came to his side, looking down at Artima.

"You didn't put a tracker or something on it?" Mikazuki said, sounding bored.

No one replied. The soldiers hovered around them uneasily, hands on rifles.

Orga felt Artima's blood growing sticky on his right hand - the one that'd been under her legs, just like when he'd carried her from Vingolf that first time. Was he destined to forever have her blood on his hands? He couldn't tell in the dark if she was still bleeding but he was reminded of the main reason he'd made this choice and didn't want to chance it. Of course, he also didn't want to sound too invested. "She's bleeding. You might want to get her someplace before she winds up dead. Won't do you much good then, will she?" He felt Mikazuki look at him but didn't meet his eye.

McGillis turned to a grouping of three soldiers. "Look for the pilot suit." They hurried away. Then to another pair, "Take her to my ship." They lifted her like a corpse - one at her shoulders and one at her feet - and carried her away. Then, to Orga and Mikazuki, and gave the thinnest of smiles. "You will both join me there as well."

"What? Why?" Orga sneered.

"Insurance, purely. I'm sure you understand." McGillis' smile was stronger. "I asked for three things: the pilot, her suit, and her Gundam. Until the Khort Mogoi has been handed over, do you really think I would let you leave my sight?"

Orga sighed when the barrel of a rifle pressed into his back. At least this way, he supposed, they stood a better chance of keeping in proximity with Artima.

"Eugene?"

"Yeah?"

Merribit's voice stuttered over the com into the bunkroom. "That was quick. I thought you'd be asleep."

"Not yet." In truth, nerves had kept him awake. This whole mission business that Orga and Mikazuki - and yes, Artima - had gone on seemed too fishy, no matter if it was technically a meeting with allies, but of course they didn't listen to him. They'd been gone for a couple of hours, Artima around five. "Orga and Mikazuki back?" Artima back?

Another hesitation, then the com crackled back into life. "...No. I need you to come to the bridge. As second-in-command."

Eugene sat up fully, then. Across from him, Akihiro and Shino in their own bunks were coming to attention, too.

"Well that can't be good," Shino said and rubbed an eye.

"On my way," said Eugene.

The three of them pulled on a reasonable amount of clothing and hurried to the bridge, where Merribit, Lafter, and Azee had taken up a night-shift of sorts. Their expressions were a mixture of strained and suspicious. On the main screen was an unnecessarily large, in his opinion, view of McGillis Fareed, who looked strangely smug. Strangely, because it was moreso than usual and wasn't he supposed to be hosting a gala or something? Why was he calling from a ship? It also looked like he'd been shot in the shoulder and it hadn't yet been seen to. Eugene looked at Merribit.

"It's muted. I need you to be calm and rational," she said, keeping her voice steady. "He has Orga, Mikazuki, and Artima. He wants to make negotiations."

"Negotiations?" Shino, behind him, burst.

"He knows we have the Khort Mogoi," Merribit added.

The bridge was quiet. Eugene chewed on his lip, felt his blood boiling. After a heavy moment he muttered, "I knew this was all a bad idea." He took the captain's chair under the blue-eyed sneer in front of him. "Unmute." There was a beep. "You wanted to speak with me."

"With the second-in-command, yes," said McGillis. "As no doubt Miss Stapleton -"

"Let's cut to the chase," Eugene interrupted, but not loudly. "I want to see them first. Show me."

McGillis' gaze dropped as though genuinely regretful. "Miss Wei is indisposed, as she's currently being attended to by our physician -"

By a doctor? What the fuck happened? His panic was stoked by the images that came to mind.

"- however," McGillis turned his chair and the camera view shifted, drew out a little, and Eugene was able to see Mikazuki and Orga standing off to one side, cuffed but otherwise seemingly unharmed, between two armed soldiers. "As you can see they are quite well. I'm sure you'd agree that this is just a formality, since what I propose doesn't require much thought. A trade: your commander and comrade here for the Gundam Khort Mogoi."

"Never heard of it," Eugene tried. "Or Miss what's-her-name."

"Mr Sevenstark, do I look like a simpleton?" McGillis answered without hesitation, the humor and charm gone from his voice. He did not elaborate; the blue of his eyes had grown darker, colder.

Eugene's jaw worked itself. He looked at Orga, tried to determine what he would want him to do. Counteroffer? Outright deny? Accept? He wished he'd spent more time talking to Orga about the overall strategic value the Khort Mogoi and Artima had to Tekkadan's future - it was hard to weigh with relative unknowns. Not to mention he wasn't happy that McGillis had neglected to include Artima in that trade.

"Take a moment to discuss, if you'd like," offered McGillis, some of the amusement returning. He tipped a hand in Orga's direction, "You can even take the order from your commander, if that's easier." His hands laced; he looked theatrically between Orga and Eugene.

"I trust your judgement, Eugene," said Orga, his voice small with the distance but no less clear.

That's an odd thing to say. What's going on? Frowning, and keeping his eyes on the screen, Eugene said to Merribit, "Mute."

Merribit did so.

"What's there to discuss?" Akihiro immediately said. "We trade. We can't move forward without Orga."

"But why didn't Orga say that, then?" Azee said. "You heard him. It sounded like he seriously wanted us to think about it, rather than doing the obvious."

"Yeah but why?" Lafter asked. She shrugged, "It's not like he particularly likes Artima, so that can't be the reason."

"And sure, Kheree's a swell machine but…" Shino rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the deck.

"There's no tactical advantage to us keeping it, and thus breaking ties with McGillis and by association, making an enemy of all of Gjallarhorn," Merribit supplied, her voice dull. "Not to mention he'd have our best pilot and our leader."

"It'd be chopping off Tekkadan's head and setting it on fire," Shino harrumphed, pacing a couple of times.

"Colorful," Lafter commented wryly.

Into the pause, Eugene said, "And Artima. He'd have Artima." At the glances this drew, he elaborated, "Think about it. He had Artima to begin with and then he lost her; soon as he finds her again he suddenly knows we have her Gundam. She's talked before about him wanting 'the whole set', how neither her, the Gundam, or her pilot suit are much good without the other. And now all this coincides with some addition to the special exhibit about her life? That addition must have been the pilot suit - to lure her in. We should have known better." He clenched a fist and pressed it to his mouth, not caring if McGillis saw the deliberation. "But how did he know? How did he know that both her and her Gundam were on board? That's what I don't get."

"It'd have to be us, some kind of way," Merribit said quietly. "Otherwise why bother to invite Orga?"

"It doesn't matter!" said Akihiro.

"Should we call Naze?" Lafter turned to Azee.

"There's no time," she replied.

Eugene was focused on Merribit's words. But both Akihiro and Azee were right - whatever conclusions he was drawing and however angry they were making him, he had to make a decision now. He breathed deep, sat up straight under the five pairs of eyes watching him. "Unmute." Beep. "Terms accepted. You give us Orga and Mikazuki, we give you the Gundam." He saw Orga shift in place - deflate a little, maybe? - but there was no going back now.

"Good," said McGillis. "I have a team of technicians with a cargo ship that will be on their way shortly to collect the Gundam within the hour; your commander and comrade will ride with them."

"Must be in a hurry," Eugene commented.

"As you should be, too. If you haven't left Earth space within the next four hours, you will receive an armed escort."

He wanted to find some way to bargain for Artima, too, but that realistically wasn't going to happen and it wouldn't look good. As soon as McGillis ended the transmission he shut his eyes, wishing he'd gotten that sleep earlier.

The Gjallarhorn technicians and removal team had checked the Khort Mogoi over from head to foot before risking loading it into their own cargo ship. In case of sabotage, no doubt. Eugene sneered at the several floodlights they'd brought out, as if they'd been waiting for this day. The vast majority of the Isaribi crew were either beside him or lingering behind him - somehow word had spread of the situation, but he wasn't that concerned.

"That's a shame, but no avoiding it," Nadi said as the last third of the Khort Mogoi vanished into the cargo ship on its flat bed.

"...No, guess not," Eugene replied at length.

The representative for McGillis that they'd been dealing with for the past couple of hours - Camice, if he remembered right - came up the ramp out of the dark of the grassland into the light, followed by two soldiers escorting Orga and Mikazuki. The crew relaxed when they saw them and greeted them when their cuffs were taken off, allowing them to walk forward of their own accord again. Eugene noticed that there was dark, dried blood on Orga's right hand. He heard one of the younger boys ask where Artima was - no one answered at first, and eventually Merribit began speaking in hushed tones. The boy whined his question louder.

"You have two hours left to leave Earth space," Camice reminded them, ever dispassionate.

"Where is she?" Eugene asked. Not that he expected an answer but he couldn't let the boys, who'd started to get attached to her, see that they didn't care.

"It's no longer of your concern. You should be grateful for this arrangement." He turned and left.

"Let's go," said Orga. The group turned as one and headed inside; Nadi hung back to lift the ramp and close the hatch.

Eugene fell into step with Orga. "Why did they know both Artima and her Gundam were on board?" he asked, not bothering to lower his voice. Without waiting for an answer he said, "You told them. You handed her over -"

"And what about it?" Orga said without lowering his voice, either, and stopped. "I told them, yeah. In the interests of protecting this family. Being at odds with Gjallarhorn directly undermines the future -"

"This isn't handing over a piece of information or equipment, it's handing over a human being!" Eugene countered. By now the rest of the crew had stopped and were looking at them. Questioning Orga's authority like this probably wasn't wise but he didn't care.

"If you would let me finish you'll see why we're both right," Orga said. After a pause, he elaborated. "Yes, I told McGillis we had them both. But in the end, I wasn't going to hand them over. I didn't want you to hand over Kheree, either." He clenched his bloody hand.

Eugene reeled. "Then why the fuck did -"

"She was injured," Mikazuki interrupted.

"Then we could have treated her here," Eugene's eyes were wide, his anger and confusion rising. "What the hell happened?"

"She shot McGillis and tried to steal her pilot suit from the exhibition," Orga said. "We pursued her in the interests of looking like we were working with Gjallarhorn, because otherwise McGillis would cut ties. When I found her she couldn't move, she was in so much pain. Wouldn't stop bleeding. Looked like some kind of hemorrhaging. Whatever it was, we don't have the medical facilities for that here, but Gjallarhorn does. I promised her we'd keep Kheree safe and handed her over to save her life."

Silence fell. Eugene squinted at him, processing this turn of events. He wasn't sure what to say.

"You hid the pilot suit, right?" Mikazuki said. "We don't have much time to go get it."

Orga turned from Eugene. "Ride."

"Yeah?"

"They don't know your face yet. I need you to go to the garden behind the museum…"

Eugene lost focus on Orga's voice. No wonder McGillis mentioned a physician, he thought. Hemorrhaging - is that internal? We can handle broken bones and surface stuff but… Wait. If it's internal then why's his hand bloody? Fuck I don't know. He wiped a hand down his face. And how do we know that they'll actually treat her? How do we get her back out? What are they going to do? And if -

"Hey."

Eugene looked up at Orga's voice. "Yeah?" The rest of the crew were moving away.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," he said. "I did the best I could." It looked like he meant it.

Eugene sighed, admitted, "Wasn't an easy choice. Not like mine - like hell we weren't going to get the two of you back. What were you thinking, wanting us to hold on to that Gundam instead?"

Orga thought for a moment, as though it was hard to articulate. "No Gundam, no trade. Then we would have been able to keep an eye on her, maybe. Can't do that, now. Broke my promise, too."

Quiet fell between them. Eugene suddenly smirked, "She shot McGillis, huh?"

Orga smirked too, nodded slowly, "She sure did. Think she could have killed him too if that Camice guy hadn't pulled at him."

Another pause while Eugene thought through the information again. "So if you're getting her pilot suit back, that means…"

"What you think it means," Orga said and walked away. "I owed her, and now you owe me. When Ride gets back, take us out of Earth space."