Inside a dim, damp, dark, but a rather enormous basement, there were seen about fifty or more men; all of them armed with pistols, rifles, grenades and some with machineguns and panzerfaust anti-tank weapons. General Zala was up at the very front addressing his group with Lunamaria and Rey at his sides. The plan was already made, Operation 'Snatch' was about to begin at any moment.
"Remember you men and women, this is all about destroying a wedding, don't target the civilians." General Zala briefed; everyone nodded not making too much noise and being careful not to alert anyone outside,
"Everyone knows what to do. Everyone get to your position and wait for the signal." General Zala ordered.
Athrun and Kira led the platoon on a 10 mile march, full pack around the countryside roads and back as exercise ordered previously by their superiors. With 70 or more pounds strapped around their backpacks, the march was extremely exhausting as everyone mostly had to march uphill with gravity against them.
"Everyone's gonna love you for this Kira." Athrun said sarcastically to Kira,
"It wasn't my idea, it was the person in charge of the entire division." Kira said,
"You could have taken them on a run around town." Athrun said struggling under the weight of his pack and his equipment,
"I suppose, but this is a much better form of exercise." Kira said puffing heavily,
"Kira, the war is over, do we really need to march full-pack, 10 miles, up these hills and back and in formation?" Athrun questioned,
"They need to keep their discipline until they're discharged; they're soldiers, not boy scouts." Kira stated,
"Good point." Athrun agreed.
(And suddenly a bush Maori popped out going: "Blahhhhhhhhhh!"… just kidding!)
After the long and painful march, everyone was virtually on the ground massaging their aching feet and legs.
"Ahhhhhhhh, my ass!" one trooper yelled as he tried to cope with the cramp on his ass. Everyone else was sadistically laughing at the sight, it's not everyday that someone screams about his ass.
"Shinn, Stellar, up front and centre." Kira ordered, the couple dropped their packs and limped to Kira,
"You're both aware that you have wedding rehearsals this afternoon right?" Kira asked,
"What!" Shinn and Stellar said in unison,
"You never even remotely told us anything about that." Shinn said,
"Oh, sorry, anyway it's this afternoon at 1600 hours." Kira apologized,
"We haven't even bought our dresses and suits yet." Shinn complained,
"Don't worry about that, it's just a rehearsal." Kira reassured, "It's not like it's the actual wedding." Kira scratched his head,
"So how many people are attending?" Stellar asked,
"Just the 4th platoon and a couple of other people." Kira said,
"Okay, that's cool." Shinn said,
"Tell everyone to report to the mess facility for platoon lunch at 1200 hours, nothing but cold served K-rations." Kira explained.
Almost everything seemed to be safe now that the war was officially over, the fighting force now was more of an occupation force. Everyone wondered what they would do after they were discharged from the army and sent back home.
"So what are you gonna do after all this?" Kira asked Athrun,
"Get some lunch like you said." Athrun said getting changed,
"No, I meant; when you're discharged." Kira re-corrected,
"I haven't thought about it, my first thought is to get married with Cagalli." Athrun said casually. Kira didn't react as if he hadn't cared that his best friend would be marrying his sister.
"Thought about any job opportunities?" Kira asked,
"Probably request my stay in the army until I have enough money to start my own business." Athrun said, "Oh no!" Athrun suddenly exclaimed,
"What?" Kira looked in surprise,
"Come on Kira! I'm a ZAFT member, they'll probably take me as a P.O.W (prisoner of war) instead." Athrun explained,
"Don't worry about that, you can talk to the Colonel and he'll write up bogus documentation about you." Kira laughed,
"What about you? What're you thinking about doing once you're discharged?" Athrun asked,
"You know, I haven't thought about that. I'll probably just be an employee for Lacus. You know, work at Clyne Motors." Kira explained,
"Aren't you lucky. You're already set." Athrun stated surprisingly jealously,
"What say we get some lunch?" Kira said,
"I'm in." Athrun smiled.
Over lunch at the mess hall facility, only K-rations were dished out, all cooks had left, so everyone had to go through K-rations or buy their own meals down town,
"Dearka, what are you going to do after you get discharged?" Athrun asked,
"Thinking about growing my own vineyard somewhere down South." Dearka said swallowing his spoonful of spam,
"Down South where?" Athrun continued asking,
"New Zealand." Dearka stated,
"What? Where is New Zealand? Is that somewhere in Spain?" Kira asked,
"No… you know where Australia is right? It's a country made of two islands just South-East of Australia." Dearka explained,
"Vineyard huh? That's gonna be a bit tough on your girl isn't it? I mean, maintaining a vineyard is such a backbreaking work." Kira explained,
"Hey, she's one tough girl. I'll be employing people to do the work for me." Dearka winked with a smile,
"But you need money to employ them, a lot of disposable income." Athrun slowly stated,
"Not if you have little Dearka's running around the house working for you, one little Dearka is already on its way right now." Dearka said before realizing his mistake,
"WHAT!?!?" everyone shouted in unison equally surprised to hear that Dearka made Miriallia pregnant,
"Miri is pregnant?!?!" Athrun widened his eyes,
"Oh no gulp." Dearka looked around as everyone stared at him in disbelief,
"You player!" Athrun smirked, as Yzak was also seen smirking,
"Hey, hey don't tell anyone alright, Miri told me that if anyone found out, she'd leave me bloody, dead and lifeless on the streets." Dearka nervously smiled waving his arms frantically,
"Sure, we won't tell anyone about it." Yzak said with his fingers crossed under the table and smiling evilly,
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Dearka asked rhetorically.
After lunch, everyone in 4th platoon that passed Miri gave her a wink or an indirect remark, "How's the bundle of joy?" "Dearka sure is a player." "Congrats."
Miri became suspicious. "Dearka, we need to talk." Miri said,
"A-About what?" Dearka answered nervously with a shaky smile,
"Did you tell anyone about my condition?" Miri cut to the chase,
"I-I-I uh, what-" Dearka started sweating, however before he could finish:
"Dearka! Miri! Do you two want to be at the wedding rehearsal?" Kira shouted from a distance,
"No thanks, we got better things to do." Miri shouted back,
"Okay." Kira replied before running off.
As Kira caught up with Athrun and Cagalli running slowly towards them: "Hey!" Kira cheerfully greeted,
"Hey Kira." Athrun replied with a little smile,
"What are you two up to?" Kira asked,
"Breathing." Athrun stated while Cagalli giggled at his comment,
"Ha ha, very funny." Kira said sarcastically, "I was wondering if you two wanted to attend the wedding rehearsals?" Kira asked,
"Kira, why do you think we want to see a stupid rehearsal?" Cagalli stated coldly,
"Alright then I'll go, jeez!" Kira said leaving,
"That's a bit harsh Cagalli." Athrun said,
"He's used to it, I say that sort of stuff to him all the time." Cagalli said.
"So did you hear what happened between Dearka and Miri?" Athrun asked casually,
"Hear what?" Cagalli asked curiously; Athrun whispered to Cagalli about what he heard. Cagalli's eyes lit up, "Oh my God!" Cagalli shouted,
"And it was supposed to be a secret too." Athrun continued,
"Dearka is such a player!" Cagalli stated, "Listen Athrun, I'm gonna go have a little talk with Miri, you should attend the wedding rehearsal." Cagalli said,
"Alright, see you later." Athrun said giving Cagalli a quick peck before walking off.
Kira was free of paperwork and any other office work involving paper. He was left with the whole day off due to little M.P activity on border patrols. There were many civilians travelling in and out from every town, some were disbanded soldiers, some were just civilians seeing their families after a long, bitter war.
Shortly after the wedding rehearsal began, pops were heard in the background.
"Someone's celebrating the end of the war a bit late." Kira teased,
"That's a lot of Champaign." Lacus stated hearing multiple pops, however, there were a lot of screaming followed after these pops. Everyone was beginning to be suspicious. Suddenly Athrun burst in: "Sniper in the bell tower!" Athrun screamed, "Let's get to the barracks quick!" Kira immediately reacted. Rattles of machineguns and sound of firefights were heard, as soon as Athrun, Kira, Shinn and Stellar sprinted towards the barracks, they saw Yzak's lifeless body covered in a small pool of blood, "Come on Kira, let's just get our weapons and go!" Athrun screamed.
Almost everyone from the 4th platoon made it to the barracks unscathed, "Sir, the MP patrols were ambushed by a large groups of disbanded ZAFT soldiers." one trooper suggested, "Alright, Shinn take a trooper with to inform the M.P's on the western approach of the town, tell them to search and destroy now!" Kira ordered, Shinn loaded and took a random private with him.
"You!" Athrun pointed at a random trooper, "Take a jeep and inform the Colonel that we're under attack." Athrun ordered,
"What about the radio?" Kira asked,
"It's useless now, the radio just went flat." a radioman pointed out,
"Dearka, treat the wounded as best you can." Kira said,
"Everyone else, search and destroy." Athrun ordered loading his Thompson sub-machinegun.
Athrun, Kira and Stellar decided to go in a group, the bell tower suddenly went off when a bazooka round ripped into its stone wall. The streets were quiet and still as everyone sought shelter indoors. Athrun became concerned: "Kira, first thing's first: we have to hide Cagalli, Lacus and Miriallia." Athrun suggested,
"Alright, good idea." Kira whispered, "Stellar, try to link up with the M.P's to the west, meet us in the battalion HQ." Kira ordered,
"Stellar will try her best." Stellar whispered before running quietly off,
"Let's go Kira." Athrun said.
Five minutes later, Athrun and Kira found that someone had already beat them to the apartment. By the looks of it, a struggle had ensued. Furniture was tipped, chairs lay broken, pots and pans were everywhere. Athrun and Kira became concerned, suddenly: "Kira!" Lacus said coming out of the closet with Miriallia, "Lacus!" Kira replied in relief, to embrace Lacus in a tight hug,
"Where's Cagalli?" Athrun asked in concern,
"They-they-they… took her away." Lacus cried,
"Where?" Athrun asked,
"I don't know, he was an old man in ZAFT uniform and two other men." Lacus described vaguely. Athrun's eyes lit up in shock and horror while Kira's expression remained the same,
"Alright, we have to get to battalion HQ about ten minutes from here, everyone ready?" Kira asked,
"No Kira, I'm going to find Cagalli." Athrun said,
"Athrun I know how you feel, but we have more important things to do now, we need you now, we can find her later. Saving these civilian's lives are more important." Kira explained,
"Kira, you don't understand-"
"No I do understand Athrun." Kira yelled knocking some sense into Athrun,
"We have to move now Athrun! Kira yelled.
Battalion HQ was untouched, everything was abandoned. Everyone lay waiting for Stellar and the M.P reinforcements from the west. Athrun and Kira could only lay and wait anxiously and helplessly while gunfire had covered the atmosphere.
Darkness started approaching as everyone started to get impatient, the whole HQ was dead silent, the air hung with anxiety.
Shadows were seen quietly running towards the battalion HQ, Athrun and Kira ready their weapons as they could not see if the were friend or foe, "Flash!" Kira shouted readying his Thompson, "Thunder!" Stellar replied as she led a squad of 5 M.P's.
Kira was briefed by the M.P's reports, "We're completely surrounded sir. Our patrols were ambushed at around 1630, we're lucky to have made it out alive. This whole damn place is a battleground, we'll be lucky to escape now." one M.P Lieutenant reported,
"How many enemy soldiers did you see?" Athrun asked,
"Where we were, we saw about 17 men." the M.P replied,
All we have to do is sit tight and let the runner reach the Colonel and he'll bring in some men to relieve us." Kira planned,
"You mean the runner on jeep sir?" the M.P asked,
"Uh, yeah, I think so." Kira said,
"He was taken out sir." the M.P regretfully said,
"What?" Athrun exclaimed,
"Enemy roadblocks cut him off, he eventually took an enemy panzerfaust and never made it out." the M.P reported,
"We'll have to try and escape ourselves." Kira suggested,
"Sir you won't make it, no one can. They have: machineguns, anti-tank weapons and snipers everywhere… almost everyone is now dead or dying out there." the M.P said, "It's hopeless unless we have heavy armour support." Kira admitted defeat.
Lacus suddenly intervened, "Kira, remember when I told you that I was developing a war machine for you?" Lacus asked, "I developed and built two new tanks and they happen to be here in this town locked in a garage." Lacus smiled,
"Are you serious?" Kira's eyes lit up,
"Yeah, come on, I know where it is." Lacus said getting up.
Only five minutes walk took them to the garage, "Here it is." Lacus pointed at a garage chained and locked up, "Anyone got any bolt cutters?" Athrun asked, Athrun got out his pistol and shot the chains off, "Everyone else stay put in the battalion HQ, Athrun and I will try to get to the Colonel." Kira ordered.
As soon as everyone seemed to be out of sight, Athrun and Kira started the tanks up revving the engines. Kira took the lead, they came across many enemy patrols that used everything they could, the anti-tank weapons harmlessly bounced off of their steel tanks, the tank barriers were crushed and in thirty minutes, Athrun and Kira were safely over the lines and towards the north.
"General Zala sir, two enemy tanks have crossed the border to the north." one ZAFT soldier explained, "We're in for one fight trooper." General Zala said,
"What about the prisoners?" General Zala asked,
"We only managed to forcibly capture one live enemy soldier, a medic and the civilian that you had captured yourself sir." the soldier said,
"Good, have you got my interrogation kit ready?" General Zala asked,
"Yes sir." the soldier replied,
"Then let the torturing begin."
Next chapter will take around one week or more, or maybe less.