The sleek lines of the four ZAFT mobile suits came slowly into focus through the blurred lenses of the binoculars, and the girl at their other end let out a low growl of distaste.
"They're leaving Grotto," she announced, passing the device to the burly man beside her so that he might look for himself. "I'm sure they must be going to Central."
"So it would seem," confirmed the man in a deep voice as he marked their speed and direction.
"What bothers me," the girl burst out, tugging at the zipper on her bulky vest in agitation, "Is that we still don't know where the Desert Tiger took off to." She scanned the horizon, one hand shielding her bright hazel eyes from the sinking sun.
The red orb hovered just above the line of mountains they were facing. The two mysterious figures had monitored every move as the four mobile suits exploded from the hidden ZAFT base and took off in the direction of Central. Now there wasn't much time until nightfall, and no news had come in about the location of Andrew Waltfeld and his ground forces.
"We might have known their whereabouts," rumbled the soft voice of the large man at her side, "If you hadn't fallen asleep at your post, Princess."
Cagalli Yula Attha, heiress of the Orb Union, blushed a brilliant pink. "I-I didn't do any such thing! I was just resting my eyes, Kisaka." Her eyebrows met in a knot. "And don't call me a princess."
"We'll need to figure out the Tiger's location if we're to make a move," Kisaka announced, still watching as the Aegis, Buster, Duel, and Blitz sped into the distance. Now they were mere dots against the sky.
"Arrgh!" Cagalli tore at her blonde hair and gritted her teeth. "The nerve of them! Thinking we'd be defeated after such a short battle!"
Kisaka fixed her with a gentle smile. "The Desert Dawn did take quite a lot of damage, you know. Don't be so quick to discount the lives of those soldiers as nothing."
Her face fell. "You're right. I suppose I'm just angry with them for underestimating us," she revealed, picking absently at a spot of dirt that had somehow fused itself onto her cargo pants. "But we have the upper hand now. I'm sure they never expected us to follow them this far from the desert. Where are the rest of our troops?"
"Some are tending their wounds, and the remainder of them are resting," Kisaka told her, handing her back the binoculars. "They should be ready to move out at nightfall."
"Good," she said, "And have them do a weapons check before we leave."
"Of course." The older man eyed her with concern, noting the distant look on her face. "Is there something wrong, Princess?"
She shrugged indecisively. "I can't put my finger on it. However, I find it odd that the Tiger would leave Grotto with all his men, and yet the base would remain so active in his absence."
"It's almost as if the soldiers left at Grotto are preparing for something more," Kisaka observed on cue, voicing the thoughts of the Orb princess aloud.
"They did send out the mobile suits," she exclaimed, "And those aren't part of the Tiger's forces. They're used in space. I want to know why they're here as well."
Kisaka rubbed his chin. "And why that big green spaceship arrived at the same time Waltfeld did."
Cagalli nodded, remembering how she'd seen the massive ZAFT ship sink out of sight and into the depths of the hidden Grotto base. "Our first priority should be to locate the Tiger in the Lesseps. It shouldn't be hard to track by sight alone, since it's camouflaged for the desert sands. A beige ship won't be concealed easily among all these trees."
"I just can't get over how they had a base hidden in Resembool all this time," mused Kisaka after she had finished, preparing to radio the camp with Cagalli's new instructions.
"Well, at least now we have an advantage," the feisty girl decided, jumping to her feet and placing her hands on her hips triumphantly. "Let's get to it."
"Cagalli!"
The blonde turned as she was hailed from behind. She spun around to see her close friend Ahmed panting as he sprinted up the hill toward her.
"What is it, Ahmed?" she asked, noting with anxiety the look on his face.
"There's an unidentified ship coming this way," he breathed, resting his hands on his knees for balance the moment he reached them. "Its data isn't in our computers."
"Unidentified?" she echoed, slightly baffled. "Kisaka!"
"Right," the older man confirmed, lifting free the keypad from his supply pack. He connected it to the data from the camp, then ran a quick search on the coordinates of the impeding ship. "It's an Earth Forces ship," he announced momentarily. "It appears to be an assault ship of the Archangel class."
"We've already shut down the main computers," Ahmed added, "So we won't be easily detected."
Cagalli scratched her head, bemused. "What are the Earth Forces doing out here? Are they going to attack ZAFT?"
"We can't be too sure right now," Ahmed told her, taking her by the shoulders and guiding her under the cover of a rocky outcrop. "Here it comes, can you see it yet? Take a look."
Cagalli gazed off in the direction of his pointing finger and gasped as the ship drifted into sight. Shining a blinding white in the setting sun, it hovered above the ground, two sleek, elegant legs protruding from its front like giant prongs.
"They're heading straight for Grotto," Kisaka declared, his dark eyes glinting with skepticism. "Is it a surprise attack?"
"Wait," Cagalli ordered, holding a finger to her lips for silence. In a moment her suspicions were confirmed as the elegant ship glided straight past the concealed cave mouth. "Just like I thought. Look — they're flying right past it. The Earth Forces don't even know the ZAFT base is there." The eyes of the three guerilla fighters remained locked on the legged ship, as it disappeared in the same direction as the four mobile suits.
"Will ZAFT pursue them?" Kisaka asked, brooding half to himself and half to the two teenagers at his side.
"That depends on whether they can spare the men, doesn't it?" asked Ahmed, squinting as he kept his sight trained on the shrinking Archangel. "I mean, it seems like ZAFT is awfully busy with something else, doesn't it? They haven't even realized that we've followed them yet."
"Let's pray they don't," Cagalli cut in. "We'd lose our edge."
At once, there was a loud rumbling that shook the ground under their feet, and Cagalli's eyes narrowed. The trap door above Grotto was sliding open.
"GINNs," she remarked as six or seven of the mobile armors flooded from the opening and took off in hot pursuit of the Earth Forces ship. Then she clapped her hands sharply. "All right then. We're moving out. Ready the forces."
Ahmed's eyes went wide. "But Miss Cagalli, we still haven't determined the location of the Lesseps or Commander Waltfeld."
Her eyes glittered brightly. "I think we already know which way they must have gone. We're going to follow them and make them pay for what they did to our homes in Tassil. Come on, you two. Stop wasting time."
A/N: SCORE! And Cagalli is now in the running. I just had to wait for the opportune moment to introduce her. I think things will get more exciting now that she's been thrown into the mix, don't you think? Yay.