Chapter 37 Sins of the Past
Later that day in the Zaft frontline port of Torkuis in the sea of Marmora, the Minerva sat doing repairs and removing the bodies from the destroyed part of the ship. "They destroyed the cannon right as it fired. It caused a lot of damage to the front of the ship."
"I can see that." said Gladys "Can you have it ready as soon as possible, we will need it when they attack again."
"We will do our best."
"Thanks." said Gladys as she looked at the body bags of her dead crewmembers. Meanwhile back onboard the ship Heero sat in his room working at his computer, when Athrun stormed in.
"Heero, what happened back there?" asked Athrun as Heero spun around in his chair and looked at the disturbed pilot.
"They were trying to stop the battle." said Heero
"I know that, but why?" asked Athrun
"That is something you should ask them." Said Heero as Athrun's eyes widened. "Do you want me to get in touch with them?"
"Yes." Said Athrun
"Alright I'll send the signal, we will meet them at Create." said Heero "It will take some time for them to get the message we should leave around 6 tonight and meet them at sunset tomorrow."
"Ok I'll clear it with the Captain." Said Athrun as he turned to leave "I wonder, was that Dearka and the Buster?"
"Yes." said Heero "it's Dearka and the Destroyer Buster."
"What?"
"His new mobile suit." said Heero as he went back to his computer "I gave it to him to help Kira protect the Archangel without mine or yours help.
Miles away and deep underwater the Archangel sat with a single bowie above the water. "Captain incoming message." said Miriallia as she pulled up the message.
"What does it say?" asked Waltfeld.
"The fallen one is calling for a meeting, on wings of war to the angel of peace below the waves until only zero remains. The red knight is looking for the princess." Read Miriallia as Cagalli, Lacus and Kira walked onto the bridge. "Captain I think it's a message from Heero."
"Well it makes sense Wings of war…until only Zero remains. Wing Zero." Said Waltfeld
"Who is the red knight?" asked Lacus
"Athrun." said Cagalli as her heart soared "He must be back from the Plants."
"Alright I will go and meet with him." said Kira
"No I'm going I have to talk to him." said Cagalli as Kira nodded his head.
"Alright." said Kira
Back on the Minerva Luna stood before the captain. "As you know Heero and Athrun left today to meet with the Archangel." said Gladys
"I know."
"Alright, your orders are to follow them using the Saviour's IFF signal to find them. Command wants you to spy on their meeting if possible." Said Gladys as Luna shifted a bit in her stance. "I am sorry that I have to send you to spy on your teammates but Shinn and Rey are going on a recon mission tomorrow so you are all I have."
"I understand captain." said Luna as she walked out.
The sun was setting as Heero brought Zero in for a landing near the ruins of an old Greek temple. He opened the cockpit doors and watched the sunset for a bit before the Freedom came roaring in. It landed next to Wing Zero. Heero walked out and lowered himself to the ground. Kira was doing the same holding onto his sister as they came to the earth.
"Heero?" asked Kira as he walked over to the pilot.
"Kira, Cagalli." Said Heero
"Where is Athrun?" asked Cagalli as Heero looked at his watch and pressed a button on it.
"He should be here in a few seconds." said Heero as the Saviour came roaring in before transforming back into a human and landing on the other side of Wing Zero.
"That's a Zaft mobile suit." Said Kira as the cockpit doors opened and Athrun lowered himself to the ground. Slowly Athrun walked over to his friends.
"Kira, Cagalli." Said Athrun
"Athrun did you…rejoin Zaft?" asked Cagalli
"Yes."
"Why? Why Athrun, why did you do it?" asked Cagalli before she placed her arms on his shoulders. "I was so worried about you, I had no way of contacting you to find out about you, about what was happening. Why did you have to rejoin Zaft?"
"Because I thought it was the best thing for me and Orb." responded Athrun
"What does Orb have to do with this?" asked Cagalli as Kira placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to shut up.
"So if that's your machine, then you must be on the Minerva with Heero?" asked Kira
"Are you a member of Zaft now too Heero?"
"No." stated Heero "I am trying to find the real source behind this war, that way I can remove it. However they did give me membership to a group called Heaven and free access to their computers; like I didn't have it already."
"I want to know why you showed up at the battlefield the other day. It caused nothing but chaos and because of it all the deaths are meaningless." said Athrun
"We showed because we wanted you to stop that battle and to protect the Orb fleet." Said Cagalli
"If you wanted to stop them, then you should have stopped them from sailing to begin with." Snapped Athrun as Cagalli stepped back and Athrun lowered his head.
"I know it's just…Yuna would get control of the country anyway because of some old law so Kira and the others came and got me so that I could find a way to stop him." Said Cagalli as she played with her ring "Heero recorded them talking about their plans and with the attack on Lacus."
"What attack?" asked Athrun
"The night before the Minerva left port at Orb a squad of elite coordinators launched an attack on Lacus." Said Kira "That is the reason why I decided to pilot the Freedom and why I don't trust the Plants or Durandal."
"Didn't Heero tell you, he was there." said Cagalli as Athrun looked at Heero.
"I don't give out information freely." said Heero "a Gundam pilot lives or dies based off information. But you're missing the bigger picture."
"Heero's right, Chairman Durandal may have tried to kill the real Lacus so that he can have her replaced by the fake one he controls." said Kira
"Or a rouge squad tried to kill her just like a similar squad dropped Junius Seven." said Athrun "I thought it would be clear that this is the case."
"Nothing is clear during a war." said Heero
"True, I'll look into the matter when I get back to my ship. In the meantime, you guys should get back to Orb and break up the alliance." said Athrun as he turned to leave.
"Wait aren't you and Heero coming back with us, back to the Archangel, back to Orb?" asked Cagalli
"When the war is over or when Orb is no longer following the Earth Alliance, then yes we will be walking the same path." said Athrun
"Athrun?"
"Look I'm a soldier again." Said Athrun as Cagalli's eyes widened. "I am not going back with you."
"But we're…" said Cagalli as both she and Athrun looked at the ring.
"At the moment, both me and Athrun have chosen our sides." said Heero "I will join you after I find out what I need to know and together we can destroy whoever is the cause of this war. Whether it be Durandal, Logos or another group."
"I will try not to fight Orb but you need to get that treaty removed." said Athrun as he started to walk away.
"Athrun…" said Cagalli as he stopped in his tracks and lowered his head.
"I know why you did it." said Athrun as he remembered giving Cagalli the ring. "But some things are unforgivable, even to me." With that he got into his machine and flew away.
"Shouldn't you be going to Heero?" asked Kira
"No you two head out first, good luck with whatever you decide." Said Heero as Kira and Cagalli got into the Freedom and flew off leaving Heero standing alone in the setting sun. "You can come out now Luna." He said as he looked up at a small hill.
"What! How did he know I was here?" asked Luna as she stood up showing her position.
"You get all the information you wanted?" asked Heero as Luna walked down to him.
"How did you know, I was out of sight the entire time?" asked Luna as Heero shook his head.
"From the human eye you were but not from Zero's." said Heero
"Well since you know about me, why don't you tell me what just happened?" asked Luna
"Why did Commander Zala act so weird around Cagalli Athha. It is almost as if they are a couple but that can't be because he is with Miss Lacus and what about two Lacus'?" asked Luna as Heero shook his head.
"I trust this stays between you and me?" asked Heero as he looked out at the setting sun.
"Yes, I will tell no one." Said Luna as Heero nodded his head trying to figure out why he believed her.
"These facts are simple, Athrun is engaged to Cagalli." Said Heero "The Lacus you saw him with is a fake that snuck into his room. The real Lacus is onboard the Archangel and engaged to Kira Yamato the pilot of the Freedom."
"What?" asked Luna as Heero turned and headed back toward his mobile suit.
"Come on, grab your gear, I'll give you a lift back to the ship." said Heero "Unless you want to fly that small bird at night?"
"No I'll fly. The Captain will be wondering why I show up with one of people I was supposed to spy on." said Luna as she went back to her small machine.
Night had fallen as Wing Zero and the Saviour approached the new location of the Minerva. It had moved to an abandoned Earth Forces base. All over the place people where setting up lights and moving things around as the two mobile suits landed beside the Impulse and Rey's ZAKU. When they reached the ground, the Captain was waiting. "What happened, I got to port and they said you left?" asked Athrun.
"You will want to see this." said Gladys as she led the two pilots down toward the base. As they walked Shinn walked up.
"Captain Rey is fine, the doctors checked him out but still have no idea what caused him to become like that in the first place." said Shinn as he joined their group walking down into the base.
Meanwhile in the Earth Force front line base, repairs where going on to all three Zaft machines from Armory One. "Sir, these are damaged worst then we thought." said a mechanic to Neo as he stood watching the repairs with Stella at his side.
"I see but still we can't fall back to Suez, just get them working." Ordered Neo as another man walked up.
"Sir we have a situation."
"What?" asked Neo
"There was a problem at the Lodonia lab." said the man as Neo looked at him. "They failed to destroy it and Zaft has found it."
"Great. If this day couldn't get worst." said Neo
"Suez is scrambling."
"My God." said Arthur Trine as he fought back the need to throw up at the sight of all the dead children.
"No God should allow this." said Shinn as he eyed Heero. "Captain I really think that he shouldn't be allowed here."
"We have been through this before Shinn he is part of Heaven, he is welcome onboard any ship." said Captain Gladys as Heero picked up a small knife from under the body of a five year old girl. It looked so simple, a normal K-bar combat knife.
Flashback.
"Here you go." said Doctor J as he handed a small brown haired boy a similar knife. "Now let's practice your throws."
End Flashback
"What is it Heero?" asked Athrun
"Doctor J used a similar knife to train me when I was five." Stated Heero
"Who is Doctor J?" asked Arthur
"He is the man who trained me to be a Gundam Pilot since I was born." said Heero as he put the knife down before looking around some more. Slowly they walked down until they reached one of the offices, the walls where lined with jarred brains as a single computer sat in the center. Heero was the first to sit down at it; it only took Heero a minute to get into the system.
"So what is this place?" asked Arthur
"This is where the Earth Forces trained those Extended as you call them." said Heero "People like me who are trained only to fight, however they control them with drugs, something I never had done. People's kids who entered died here."
"So the Earth Forces created this place and drugged kids in order to stop us from messing with genes?" snapped Shinn
"Yes…" said Heero as he suddenly stopped talking and looked at the screen.
"What is it Heero?" asked Gladys
"This place was run by the same people who built the Gundams in my universe, only here instead of being mechanical scientists they were biological and physical scientists. They created the Extended" said Heero as he pulled out a disk and placed it next to the computer.
"What are you doing?" asked Shinn
"Taking the information to look at later." said Heero
"Lab at Lodonia." Said Stella as she and her fellow Extended pilots headed to bed.
"Mmm?" asked Auel
"What is it?" asked Stella
"It's the place we lived before coming here." Said Sting
"Oh, Zaft found it." Said Stella
"Zaft but that is where my moth…mother is." Said Auel as his eyes widened before crashing to the floor. "Mother…mother is going to die!"
"Die?" asked Stella as Sting tried to calm down Auel. "Mother is going to die…must protect mother." Stella sprinted down the corridors of the carrier until she reached the Gaia. In an instant she was in her machine and powered up.
"Stop!" yelled an engineer as Stella blew open the hatch and disappeared into the night.
A couple hours later Heero sat inside Wing Zero looking over the new data when suddenly an alarm went off.
"The Gaia is incoming!" yelled someone below as Shinn and Athrun ran to their machines. Soon all three machines where taking to the air as the Gaia ran below.
"It might have some special equipment so don't destroy it. Disable it." said Athrun
"How are we going to do that!" asked Shinn as Heero blasted past them beam saber already out.
"Simple." said Heero as he landed in front the Gaia.
"Move it!" yelled Stella as she transformed into human mode and pulled out her sword. She flung wildly at Heero but Zero ducked below the swipe only to answer with an upper cut opening the cockpit up to the elements. Heero followed up with a quick buster shot to the head. This caused the Gaia to fall to the ground as Shinn and Athrun hovered above.
"Wow!" said Shinn as his computer zoomed on the cockpit causing his eyes to widen.
"A woman?" asked Athrun as the pink uniform of a female Earth Forces soldier came into view.
"Here she is." Said Heero as Zero searched the new files and pulled up her data. Instantly Heero's eyes widened as he read the information in front of him. "That can't be right." As he looked at the girl.
"Stella?" asked Shinn as he focused on the girl he had saved from the ocean, even with the blood running down it was clear to him it was Stella.
Well I hope you like this chapter, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep on reading and reviewing. Thanks Wilkins75.