"Man, this whole situation really sucks, you know that?" Lain complained, staring morosely out the window at the African savanna stretching out to the horizon. "I mean not just a little... this is probably the worst suckage I have ever encountered in my life!"

"I hear you there." Eric agreed, unable to take his eyes off the small TV screen in one corner of their shared barrack's room, where constant updates on the situation with the Brotherhood were being reported by the news agencies of the world as fast as they could film them. They had, quite literally, up to the second intel on where the Great Endeavor was and what it was doing, as swarms of news helicopters and planes circled the gigantic mobile fortress, keeping the world's eye on the situation. The helicopters and planes were buttoned up tight, external automated camera's only... those crews that flew in with open windows or doors didn't tend to last too long before either limping off back to base or just plummeting into the ocean as their crews succumbed to that green gas stuff the Great Endeavor constantly produced. "This is truly a world class FUBAR situation."

"Definitely, dude, definitely. I mean, we're two heroic Solar Knights, and we're fucking stuck on base doing fucking supply work while everyone else is out drinking, partying and making time with cute girls. This blows." Lain sighed unhappily. "I shoulda stayed in Orb."

"Yea... wait, what the FUCK are you talking about!?" Eric swiveled his head over to stare at his friend. "The world is ENDING out there, and you're bitching about being stuck on base!?"

"Yeah, whats wrong with that? I mean, I can't really do much to stop the end of the world, can I? I mean, if we could do something to stop it, we would be DOING it, not evacuating the entire fucking world as fast as we can, wouldn't we?" Lain answered with a shrug. "So in absence of being able to do anything about that, I'd really like to see if I could get lucky with Stella. Maybe more than once. Priorities, dude, priorities."

"Maybe you should make it a priority to figure out how we can get out of this chickenshit assignment and actually back to making a difference, no matter how slight!" Eric retorted with more than a hint of bitterness. Not only was supply work insanely boring, not to mention beneath a man of his talents, it kept him well away from the rest of the unit, even his old squadron! He was going a bit stir crazy with just Lain for company day in and day out. "And keep yer damn thoughts out of the gutter. Stella's mine, ya hear, mine. And I intend to romance her the right way, sweetly and formally. Go find someone else to rut with."

"That's cold, man. Not everyone likes to takes things slow... ain't the victorian age anymore, my friend! If you and a girl are both feeling it, no need to hesitate!" Lain replied with a smirk. "And judging from the amount of tongue she slipped into that kiss, she's feeling it. Oh, she's feeling it. Another bites the dust to the Debora charm, baby." He turned away from the window and gave Eric a more frank stare. "As for getting out of here, good fucking luck, dude. You're on the Knight-Commander's shit list, big time. He wanted to kill you, I'm pretty sure. And because I backed you up, I'm on his major shit list too. We couldn't get out of this gig if we walked on fire and turned water to wine! We are BONED... S O L... SKWUUED... DOWN AND DONE! We'll be damn lucky to even pilot a Mobile Suit on the training field again, much less in combat!"

"Sorry to get you dragged down with me." Eric said morosely.

"Wasn't you dude, wasn't you. You stand by your damn friends, thats what's important. Ain't like I got the highest opinion of the Knight-Commander or the SecDef anymore anyway." Lain shrugged. "Whole unit's getting kicked to shit anyway, ever since Shinn bought the farm. Amazing how losing just one guy can cause the whole ball of string to fray and unwind, eh?"

"Not just Shinn. That situation with Meyrin was another kick to the balls." Eric pointed out. "I mean, I still don't know what to think about that. Consorting with the enemy? Aid and comfort to the worst terrorist in history? Dude... its... its just more than I can wrap my head around! And that guy... her boyfriend... mental powers!? WHAT THE FUCK!?"

"Hey, let's not talk shit about Meyrin, okay? Do remember those mental power shits... he's probably got her hypnotized and shit." Lain replied softly. "Or else just plain fucking imprisoned. If she's even still alive. I mean, he's not exactly Mr. Nobel Peace Prize, is he? And its easy for a unit to start getting in the pits if you been through the shit we have. I mean, Galileo kicked our ass up around our shoulders. Then the whole Meyrin-betrayal whateverthefuck. Then the USN Armada, along with most of the Solar Knights, gets just plain obliterated! We're down to less than a Platoon now! And from what I heard in the grapevine, Luna took a bit of a hit."

"Yeah, I heard that too. Lucky to have lived through it, I hear. Rey's a fucking cocksucking pretty boy, but I got to give him at least a few props for saving her ass in the middle of a battle like that." Eric said, spitting into the corner as Rey's name came up. "Not to mention saving her ass AGAIN when that Blue Stuff was eating the ship. Maybe not long on common sense or courtesy, but he does have some pretty serious balls, our Knight-Commander does."

"We should go see her, next chance we get. Or we make a chance. I mean, who the hell's even gonna notice we're gone? Half the time, nobody checks up on us, and the rest of the time they don't care!" Lain opined.

"Not a good fucking idea, dude. Sure, you wanna slip off and go see Stella, I can get behind that all the way, assuming we can even find out where she is. But Luna... Luna don't really want us around, nearby, ya know?" Eric pointed out.

"I don't know. What?"

"Dude, don't be obtuse. She totally blames us for not being there to support her and Shinn when he bought it. Hell, she's probably right to do so." Eric said flatly. "I don't think she hates us, not really... but us coming to visit is only gonna tear at her emotional scabs in a hardcore fashion. We gotta wait until she comes to us. Luna's a tough girl, but she's gotta be near the end of her rope right now. Hell, I can understand. My situation is kinda similar. I mean, one of my best friends is either dead or supposedly a traitor to the USN too, and my little sister is missing, hurt last time I heard, pretty bad too, but just gone and there's nothing I can do about it!" Eric clenched his fists as his eyes blurred for a moment and his throat choked up with worry for Jean and Ashino. "If I blamed her for what happened to Ashino and Jean, you can damn well bet I wouldn't want to see her around, not for a LONG time."

"I've lost family members before too, ya know." Lain replied quietly, his mismatched blue and green eyes downcast. "My little brother, Jason, was killed during Purgatory Day, ya know? He was in that hospital that got blown up by the Grand Buster's artillery shell. Never had a chance, never even found a body. I mean, yeah, he had a terminal illness, but he was alive, Eric! He was alive! And then he died, and he couldn't even run away! He had no chance at all! Blaming the pilots of that Gundam would have been easy. Hell I could understand it, yeah. But I can't. Because I just can't see myself making a different decision from them, if I were in that situation! Same here... I mean, I just don't see how we could have acted any other way, not being the people we are! Right at the moment, the world is going to fucking hell in a handbasket, and we're letting ourselves get divided by stuff none of us is really sorry for! Do we regret what happened? Yeah, hell yeah! But are we sorry for how we acted? Not a bit! We did what we thought was right, what we thought best, and the world made of it what it did!"

"You got good points. But if we show up with that attitude to Rey, he's gonna court martial us for real, and throw us in the damn brig! He doesn't trust us anymore! The only reason he hasn't already completely shitcanned us is because we made a good show at Galileo, and a lot of people like us! Even that vampiric prune Roanoke likes us now, ever since we stepped in to help Stella out! It wouldn't look good politically speaking to fuck us over any more than they have already! But if we push it, I think they'd sooner disappear us than chance us in the field again. Fool me once, fool me twice sort of shit!" Eric replied with a frustrated shake of his head.

"That's only if they got any other fucking choice BUT to let us help." Lain argued. He waved his hand at the TV screen. "Judging from the looks of that, we're down to a very, VERY small number of choices at the moment! We're at the point where we can choose to take it in the ass or the mouth, but either way, we're getting fucked! He doesn't have to like us! He doesn't have to trust us! He needs every able pilot and soldier he can get his hands on, and he knows it. Everyone knows it! The world has bigger fucking problems right now than whether we did or did not mutiny up at Galieo!"

"Alright, alright, you do have a good point there." Eric agreed, holding up his hands placatingly. "Still, we're gonna have to take things slow and easy. If we just march on over there and get in Rey's face, he'll probably just shoot us on instinct. He's got a lot on his plate, since he's been called out as the official "will save the world by destroying the Brotherhood" point man. Probably under just a little bit of pressure, from well, everyone. Literally. We gotta approach this like ninjas, dude."

"Go in the back way and kill him in his sleep?"

"Not that kind of ninja. I mean, we gotta keep things on the downlow. Let him know, circumspect like, that we understand how he feels, but the situation is dire, so let bygones be bygones, at least until the world is saved. He's not stupid, and though he is pig headed stubborn, he can see sense when there's nothing else to see."

"Damn. I was really looking forward to taking out some guards with throwing stars. And those masks... those masks are badass. Ninja masks, hell yeah..."

"Could you focus?"

"I am focused, dude. Focused like a ninja..." Lain took a stance he obviously fondly considered to be reminscent of a ninja. He looked more like he'd just swallowed a turd covered in hot sauce.

"Don't ever pose like that again. I should never have brought up ninjas. I can't believe I forgot how immature you are. At least its not lions." Eric bemoaned.

"Ninja lions! That's it! Ninja lions, ninja lions! I have an AWESOME IDEA!"

"Shut the FUCK UP, Lain. Seriously. NO."

"No, no, no, no... listen, man... this is a kickass idea! It kicks even more ass than normal ninjas do! You're gonna love this..."

"I'm going to HATE you if you keep this up."


Stella looked down at the imperceptably spinning blue and green and brown and white ball outside the observation window. The view was nothing less than spectacular, the Earth shining like a rare and precious gemstone magically suspended in the midst of space. She remembered the first time she'd seen the Earth like this, from space, looking down and seeing a whole huge slice of it all at once. It had been during a training event for the Program, and that simple view had been quite enough to completely distract her from her mission, which had resulted in her dismally failing it. Dismally. The trainers and Doctor Roanoke had been very much less than impressed. But despite the onerous remedial program she'd suffered through, one of many she'd endured while growing up, she'd never forgotten the magic in that first view, the way it had touched her soul and made her feel warm and proud and beautiful inside. The way it had made her happy. Since then, she'd sought out other views as often as she could, and could usually feel a dim echo when she found a good one. But this... this was the real deal again.

There was only one marr, and it was growing, like a tumor or a bleeding wound, staining the view with its ugliness and discord. Off the eastern coast of North America there was a blot of dark clouds, like a hurricane but far darker, a disquieting deep grey that was spreading in all directions at once like ink diffusing in water, just that this ink did not dissolve away, no matter how much water there was! Already a large portion of the Northeastern section of North America was covered by the hideous stormclouds, and at the rate the blot was growing, it wouldn't be long before it covered all of the Eastern and Southeastern portions of that continent as well, and began heading both inland and further south towards South America. Prevailing winds were heavily retarding the growth of the blot inland, which was some small relief, but by the same token, those winds were carrying tendrils of the blot quickly out to sea. "Is it going to be all right?" Stella wondered, not fully aware she was speaking out loud. "Is everyone going to die?"

"No. Not if we can help it." A strong, self assured and above all calm male voice replied from behind her, and Stella looked over her shoulder from where she floated in the microgravity with her hands and forehead pressed against the window to see Sting coming in through the doorway from the hall outside, his tall, lean form backlit as he drifted into the dimly illuminated observation room. "I thought I'd find you here. Its technically the highest point on the ship, though micro-G kind of renders that moot. At least you can't fall from here."

"It's not the height..." Stella started to say.

"It's the view, yeah, I know. I was just teasing you." Sting finished for her with a slight smile, holding out a hand to arrest himself against the window a few feet away. He looked down at the Earth, and the blot of darkness, and sighed. "To think that something like this would come to pass. Are we really so weak?"

Stella didn't reply, mostly because she couldn't think of any way to. Verbal communication was not her best skillset, even around people like Sting and Auel, who were the closest things to an older and younger brother she'd ever had. Her lack of verbal communication skills was not seen as a handicap by Doctor Roanoke or the others in charge of the Program, but it did make things awkward when they had to interface with people outside of the Program, often making her seem slow or stupid or airheaded when she really wasn't any of the three. Well, maybe a little easily distracted, and a trifle oddball at times, but certainly not stupid or slow. Sting understood though, and so did Auel. Just because she didn't say much didn't mean she wasn't thinking things. And just because she was usually content to follow, more or less passively, her more outgoing friends, didn't mean she lacked independent spirit or free will. That was just how she was. Tranquil. That quality Doctor Roanoke spoke of so highly, Stella had in a degree far higher than any other canidate of the Program.

Tranquility wasn't always easy for her to maintain though. She still had emotions, plenty of them, though sometimes they seemed to be kind of fuzzy and indistinct. Other times they would come in sharp and clear as knifeblades. Fear was a big one, a constant bogeyman. Fear of loneliness, fear of abandonment, fear of uselessness... and the biggest, fear of death. Even the mere thought of that word was enough to make her shiver and hug herself. Death. The final diminshment of life. The point which after there was nothing. Could there be anything more terrifying than that? Stella didn't think so. Anger also sizzled in her, constantly at a low boil just below the surface, waiting for fear to open the hatch and let it come fountaining out, usually during a battle where she felt very much in danger. Anger was good. It drowned everything else out, made the fear go away, even when she was suffocating with it. Fear was her enemy, anger was her friend.

The one she couldn't make up her mind about was love. Affection. Caring, for others. Especially strong for certain others. At times it seemed to be a very good thing. The warm and pleasant feeling inside when she was around Sting and Auel, listening to them squabble or compete. The surge of happiness she got when Doctor Roanoke praised her and smiled fondly at her, making her feel all light and energetic. That sense of belonging it created when they returned to the Facility after a long time away, and she knew she was soon to be reunited with all the other Canidates she'd gotten to know during her upbringing there. The strength she could draw from Sting and Auel just being in the same room as her, knowing they had her back, and she theirs, that connection of trust that was deeper than with anyone else, to a level of instincts! But there was also a negative, disruptive side to it, that brought fear into her life even when she wasn't in combat. Fear for what might happen to Auel or Sting or Doctor Roanoke or even, like just now, everyone! It intensified the fear of being alone to almost an unbearable level... she could not sleep if there wasn't someone in the room with her that she trusted. Even the recuperation beds could not fully calm her if she was alone.

Beyond all that, there was the physical side of things. She was a girl, relatively unmodified, with all that being a girl entailed. She had gone through puberty, just like any normal girl would. The purely physical side of things was not really much of a concern for her... the recuperation beds handled that side of things for her, every month. But the hormones, the thoughts, the feelings, the uncertainties... those still plagued her as hard as they did anyone. Perhaps harder. She knew she loved Sting and Auel. But she loved them like siblings. There was no physical desire between them. She knew Sting felt much the same way in return. He cared for Stella, cared deeply... but not as a man cares for a woman. He could definitely notice she was a woman, but noticing and desiring were very different. Auel was... less stable... in his affections, but then again he was the youngest. At times he made her somewhat uncomfortable with the degree of attraction he professed, other times he treated her like a big sister, and still others it was like he was trying to pick on her or be mean to her. At the moment he seemed to be stuck in one of his mean stages, though that was probably because his near brush with... flinch... death at Galileo, and the enforced recovery period he was still in.

But it wasn't her relationship with Auel and Sting that was causing her confusion. Nor was it her relationship with Doctor Roanoke, as topsy turvy as that always was, one week his golden child, the next his biggest failure. She was used to that, used to pats on the head and treats one day, and remedial training the next. The Doctor was very stressed, and he cared so much about all of his Canidates, all of the Extended, that it got to him sometimes, and made him erratic for a little while, before he got hold of himself and everything was okay again until the next minor stressout. No one blamed him for that... his job was much harder than theirs after all, if not in a purely physical sense.

"You seem even more lost in thought than usual." Sting noted, studying her as Stella stared out the window, not even looking at the view anymore. Her eyes had the slightly glazed, faraway look that told him she was deeply enmeshed in her own mind. Some people thought she was an airhead or a ditz or a lamebrain, but Sting knew that there were few deeper thinkers among the Extended than Stella. Admittedly, she sometimes acted like an airhead or a ditz or a lamebrain, but everyone had their off moments. Stella just had more than usual.

"Yes." Stella admitted, barely paying attention to what Sting had said as she at last got to the true crux of the matter, what was bothering her and making her so confused. Those two pilots from the exhibition show. The ones that had saved her life at Galileo. The tall, blond and blue eyed one, Eric Kellson. And the shorter, stockier dark haired one with the mismatched blue and green eyes, Lain Debora. Solar Knights. Heroes. Very confusing and distracting young men! Stella was reluctantly coming around to the conclusion that she had a crush on them. She'd heard some of the other female Extended's talking about this "crush" phenomenon, but had never really expected it to happen to her. She was usually pretty well insulated from other young men her age who weren't Extendeds as well, or related to the Program, both by Doctor Roanoke's orders and Sting and Auel's own independent efforts... they guarded her like a sister, definitely so. But those two... Eric and Lain... they had broken through the usual barriers, and had somehow managed to crawl inside her heart while she wasn't paying attention.

They had saved her life. She just didn't know what to do about it. She'd saved the lives of Sting and Auel before, and they in turn to her, but she'd never felt obligated to do more than smile and say "thanks" later. That wasn't the case here at all. No, here, these two men, they made her mouth dry up a bit, her heart speed up and her extremities feel tingly for no good reason at all. Stella flushed slightly as she remembered walking up to them and kissing them both. She'd thought that would put an end to her feelings of obligation. It hadn't. Quite the opposite, it had made everything so much more confusing! Especially because she knew they had strong feelings for her too. And there were two of them! And she just couldn't, for the life of her, untangle which one pulled at her heart more strongly. It was very unpleasant. But for all that, she found herself being distracted by them more and more of late... especially ever since Doctor Roanoke had mysteriously stopped interfering with Eric and Lain. They hadn't had any direct contact since Galileo, but all it would take to change that would be a vidcomm on her part. But could she do that? Could she really work up the nerve to vidcomm them, especially given her lack of verbal skills? Lifting a Panzerwulf with her bare hands seemed easier.

"You're thinking about those two guys, aren't you?" Sting asked, noting the slight flush of Stella's cheeks. He sighed in mild exasperation, and ran a hand through his lime green hair. He sighed again when she turned to look at him, a wistful expression on her face. "Look, I ain't gonna tell you who and who not to like, okay? You're a big girl, you can decide if you want to fall in love or not. I just... I just don't want you to get hurt, you know? I mean... they're normal people, Stella. They can't... they can't be part of our lives in the long term. They aren't Extended. It's not against the rules to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, even outside the program, assuming you have any spare time for it. But the Program... the Program always comes first, Stella. You know that. There will come a time when the Program will come between you and them. I just don't want you to be sad when that happens, okay?"

"I'm worried about them." Stella said quietly. "They're down there. Down there with... that." She inclined her head fractionally at the dark blot. From what they'd been told, the reason for the dark blot of clouds was because of the green particulate stuff that the Great Endeavor was constantly producing, like a colossal smoke screen. The same stuff that made people sick and go into comas. It was a very fine, grainy substance, too small to be seen with the naked eye. As it floated through the air, it gathered other particles to it. Dust. Gas. Water droplets. It formed clouds. But unlike the normal white clouds, these clouds were dark, because of all the particulate matter and water in them. They started out as light grey, then turned darker and darker and darker, and were even starting to look slightly green in some places, even from orbit. The clouds were playing merry hell with weather patterns of all sorts, as they were heavier and thicker than normal clouds, and absorbed heat from the sun rather than reflecting it, causing a sharp spike upwards in temperature wherever they formed.

Besides just affecting the weather, the clouds were also disrupting wireless communications in areas they covered. Almost a decade after they had first been launched, ways had been found to counteract the jamming effects of N-jammer's, once again allowing for long range wireless comms across the Earth and in near orbit. However, the green clouds seemed to have an abnormally high metallic content, which reflected and diffused many electronic waves used by sensors and communication arrays, sharply decreasing their range and clarity. Not only that, but the clouds were heavily charged, electrically speaking, not only resulting in near continuous lightning storms beneath their cover, but even further screwing up electronic devices and comms with electromagnetic interference of startling intensity. Surface to orbit comms from beneath the clouds were simply impossible, no matter how powerful the relay or antenna. Not that there were many to converse with beneath the clouds... anyone not in a sealed environment when the Green Zone, as it was starting to be called, swept overhead only had a few hours before they were exposed to whatever the green stuff was, and only a few more hours after that until they succumbed to the effects, effects that no one, even a day after the first people had been exposed, had yet awoken from.

Steady flickers of light, like raindrops in reverse, slowly trickled away from the Earth in several spots, all well removed from the Green Zone. Those would be the surface to orbit shuttles and hurriedly assembled, Mass Driver launcher Mass Transport Modules, ferrying the first portions of the evacuating populace away from Earth and up to the PLANTS. The lines appeared so very, very tiny against the gigantic backdrop of the Earth, and though Stella knew each shuttle carried hundreds of people, and each MTM almost a thousand, there was simply no way it could ever be enough. Not unless they had years, and the best estimates she'd yet seen gave them only months before the Earth became one big Green Zone. And they had no idea how to stop it. Or if it even could be stopped. Some were saying that the Green Zone was self sustaining and self multiplying, that even if they destroyed the Great Endeavor, it wouldn't change anything in the long term. Stella didn't want to believe that. Destroying the enemy base had to make a difference, didn't it? Had to. Because if they couldn't do anything, then anyone who tried to fight and got killed would die in vain. Eric and Lain might die in vain... Stella clutched her hands to her suddenly achy chest.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Sting said, noting her distress, though he was more sure of the opposite. She had it bad. So much for tranquility. Course, who was he to throw stones, right? "They're Solar Knights after all. And they're pretty capable and stubborn. They're not going to just roll over and d... and give up." Sting caught himself from mentioning the "D" word that always sent Stella into a shivering panic. Or a berserker rage, if she was already angry. They all had their little tics, their words they could not stand. Auel's was "Mother". Seemed innocuous enough to Sting, but Auel would seriously freak out if people started talking about mother's. Him? He could simply not stand to hear the word "Spider". Even thinking it made him grimace. He wasn't arachniphobic. The creature's themselves didn't bother him in the slightest. But that word... that word made him want to crawl into a hole and pull it in after himself. "Trust me. I've traded punches with them. They're pretty tough."

"Why did you do that?" Stella asked, her tone somewhat odd to Sting's ears until he finally realized what it was. He held up his hands placatingly.

"Hey, now don't get like that, Stella. It was just a little tussle amongst guys, back when we all thought they were trying to get to you for less than honorable reasons, okay?" Sting told her. He himself was still not sure that their intentions were honorable, but since Stella seemed to like them, he wasn't going to put a brick wall in her path. Mostly because if she really wanted something, she'd go through pretty much anything to get it, without a second thought. Not that he thought she was really angry with him... she was just protective of them, like any girl would be over those she really liked. Or any guy, for that matter. "I'm sure there were no hard feelings either way."

"You're avoiding my question." Stella observed. Her fingers toyed with the slit on the back of her uniform jacket that allowed her access to the combat knife she wore across her lower back whenever she was not in her cockpit or in a recuperation bed.

Sting could not help but notice her not so idle gesture, and he was not ashamed to say that he gulped. Stella was such a sweet and gentle girl most of the time. She was also the best knife fighter out of all the Extended's, hands down, far and away. She could do things with her knife that were frankly amazing. And cause injuries with it that didn't bear thinking about, even for a combat hardened veteran like Sting. Even Auel knew to back waaayyy the hell off when Stella started playing with her knife, and he sometimes seemed to have the situational awareness of a particularly dim gnat. The sort that kept flying into a window for three hours straight. "Not avoiding. Merely talking around. What do you want me to say? Tell me what you want me to say that doesn't end up with you tickling me with the point of that knife, and I'll freaking say it, as sincere as you like!" Sting said quickly, pushing off from the window and drifting towards the doorway.

"You didn't hurt them, did you?"

Sting thought about Auel kneeling over the short guy with black hair, holding a knife in one hand as the Natural spat at him through a mouthfull of blood and chipped teeth. He thought about how he'd been within a hair of either breaking the tall blond one's neck or crushing his windpipe as he tried to strangle the bastard unconscious from behind. He thought about how dextrous Stella could be with her blade. "Hurt them? No. Never. Never ever. Not even slightly did we hurt them. We... we had a competition. A punch throwing competition. Purely for fun."

"For some reason I don't believe you." Stella replied, peering at him under narrowed brows. She transfixed him with her stare for several more long moments, before abruptly turning back to her treasured view, like nothing at all had been happening. Sting sighed in relief. Again, he didn't think he'd really been in danger... the knife would have been drawn if she was really mad... but he would definitely know better to be careful on the subject in the future. He was just turning to go out the door when Stella spoke. "Don't ever hurt them again. Not even in fun." She said, softly, as if talking to herself. Sting knew better than to think she was.

"Right." He answered. "Try not to get too distracted. We've got a lot of work to do soon, and it's gonna be dangerous. If you aren't paying attention, you're never gonna get to see this view again, Stella."

"That... would be bad." Stella agreed. This time though, she was talking to herself.


"Well, I suppose this makes a few things make more sense than they used to. Such as why I was such a natural with the Moebius Zero system, which kicked the crap out of more than ninety nine percent of pilot candidates." Mu commented with a slight shrug, staring at his restrained hands where they rested in Murrue's lap. "I wonder how many of the rest of the old Zero squadron had genes like mine?" He wondered, staring up past the sky for a moment or two. He and Murrue were sitting on a section of the roof of the Orb National Palace, along with Kira and Lacus, who had been released from the hospital, though not without strict orders to avoid aggravating their injuries, earlier in the day. Mu had been allowed to wear civilian clothes instead of an Orb prison jumpsuit, and though there were still many that gave him a cold shoulder or a suspicious glance in the hallways, by and large most people had a lot more to worry about than the treatment of a "coerced former terrorist". Especially one that was doing everything he could to give up as much dirt on the Brotherhood as possible, though as yet there wasn't much to be done with his information, which included much of the interior layout of the Great Endeavor.

"I don't know about the rest of your original squadron, but it sounds to me, from what Kira and Lacus say, that Rau was also a Latent. And so then was your father." Murrue answered, squeezing his hand gently, her fingertips brushing against the plastic cuffs around his wrists and drawing another slight frown. She wished she could just cut them off, and she probably would have if it was just the four of them, but there were almost certainly one or two unseen observers about, probably even Stormhounds, and she didn't want them to get the wrong idea. They probably wouldn't hesitate to take Mu down with tear gas or worse if they thought he was attempting an escape attempt or anything else untoward. And she'd only just gotten him back, she wasn't going to chance anything that would result in him going away. She was afraid to let him out of her sight, to be honest.

"I had heard people say my dad was quite a flyer in his younger days." Mu said distantly. "By the time I came around though, that was long in the past. I suppose it also accounts for how I was able to pick up piloting the Strike so quickly. And here I'd thought it was just because I was that talented. Thats kind of a bummer."

"You are that talented." Kira said with a small smile. "The enhanced spatial awareness that is part of being a Latent certainly helps out, but its not a conscious skill. Its no substitue for experience and training and a creative mind. Its just a slightly keener edge than most have. Just because you have good genes doesn't mean you're automatically better at something than others. You still have to try. Its just like being a Coordinator."

"Except without all the hassle." Lacus put in with a smile, lifting one hand to rub lightly at her neck, where she'd been shot with the needle gun. She realized what she was doing almost at once and put her hand back down on the rooftop, not wanting Kira to worry any more than he already was. It was just a phantom itch anyway, all of the blood tests and other scans the doctors had done had come back completely negative on any known toxins or contaminants. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her, other than general batteredness.

"Yeah, from what you guys say, being an Ultimate Coordinator isn't nearly as much fun as you'd think, huh? I honestly don't know up from down with all this stuff you talk about, Seed's and next steps and whatever the hell Noah is up to, but it sounds like a lot of complicated bullshit I'm really glad isn't part of my life. I've got enough problems with everyone thinking I'm a terrorist." Mu said with feeling.

"Like everything, there are upsides and downsides." Kira agreed wholeheartedly, more lighthearted than he felt. It was kind of hard to forget the cast on his left hand, and the phantom twinges in the ends of his fingertips that were no longer there, and the way Lacus's hair tickled only the tops of her ears, rather than puddling on the ground around her, was a constant, if almost subconscious hiccup in his attention, which caused him to always look twice whenever he looked at he. She looked... different. Still Lacus obviously, there was no way he could ever mistake who she was... but short hair... just weird...

"Interesting new look with your hair, princess." Mu noted with one of his trademark casual grins. "Must be a relief not carrying around all that snarltastic weight, eh?"

"I like it." Lacus admitted. "I got an extra thirty minutes of sleep this morning, simply because I didn't have to take care of the usual mop. I'll probably end up growing it out again though. Maybe after all my impersonators have decided to have a trim too." Lacus said with a slightly wicked smile, which faded after a moment or two. "I do hope no one else has to cut their hair like I did."

"I really can't believe the kid did that." Mu shook his head in bitter wonder. "I mean, he was always grandiose, and touchy, definitely touchy, but I never had him pegged as the mass murder type. Guess I can understand him not wanting me to believe that though." He paused, and looked down at his and Murrue's hands, turning unwonted serious for a moment. "He can't do it again, right? I mean, I've been practicing that shielding stuff you and that Katie girl told me about every free moment I get. He... he can't get me again, can he?"

"Shields are just like walls. Anyone can get through them eventually, its all a matter of how much effort you put in." Lacus answered frankly. "I'm still painfully new in this subject as well, I'm afraid. All I can do is try and smash him like I have a hammer in my head. Sometimes its a very big hammer, but he's very good at blocking me, and he gets right through my own defenses like they're hardly even there. I can work with you if you like... I need to practice too... but I'm just a brawler and he's a trained fighter."

"Same here. I was using my Seed and everything, and he put his claws in me with ease." Kira added, with a shiver at the invasive memory. "Just shields aren't enough. Keeping your distance helps... he gets much weaker the farther away you are... at space combat distances, you really don't need to worry about much, especially with Lacus and Katie around to watch your back. Use your shields like a sort of warning system, to give you time to cut and run when you start feeling pressure on them."

"Katie and Ysak are working on new methods of mental combat as quickly as they can. She's much more expert than I, still." Lacus said with a frown of self displeasure. She was still leaving too much of this particular burden to Katie, in her mind. Yes, she had a pregnancy to worry about, but given how extraordinarily powerful Noah was, even with Katie and Ysak together Lacus had strong misgivings over their ability to prevail. Katie's abilities just didn't tend towards the sort useful for a direct mental confrontation, at least as far as Lacus understood. "However, I think I can give you some reassurance that though he will be able to affect you with his mental powers, Noah shouldn't be able to put you back under his total mind control. Not without a lot of work. From what Katie and I have discussed, there is just no way we can see that sort of deep conditioning taking less than hours of time. He can still kill you, can still make you move or black out or who knows what... but he can't make you rejoin the Brotherhood unless he gets you alone for a few hours. I promise."

"I suppose that's some comfort." Mu said with a small smile, as Murrue leaned into him reassuringly. "I suppose it's all kind of crazy for me to be worrying about what to do if I face him in combat eh? I mean, its not like anyone's going to let me into even an old prop fighter, much less a Mobile Suit. Hell, I probably need to unlearn a lot of bad habits anyway, I've gotten used to the easy life of having a NIC system. Using standard controls is going to feel so awkward."

"I'm sure you'll manage." Murrue said supportively. "And given the dire straights the entire world seems to be in, I think you might find that few will put up any serious protest about having Mu la Flaga rejoin the battle line, on the proper side this time. With those three monstrous Gundams, plus the two remaining originals and who knows what else he has cooked up, we're going to need all the help we can get. Especially with..." Murrue trailed off and shot a somewhat guilty look, first at Kira's hand, and then at the hospital in general. "With the setbacks we've recently suffered." Murrue continued in a much quieter voice.

"Just doesn't feel real." Mu agreed. "We went through so much shit with that ship, and now it's just gone. Feels like my dog has just died." Mu was quiet for a moment or two. "Guess that means we'll just have to go get another dog, right? I mean, I'm sure Orb is going to continue its warship program, and I can't see anyone better suited to being the captain of the next major battleship than you. Assuming you still want to, of course."

"I don't know what else I would do, to be honest, if it doesn't have something to do with ships." Murrue admitted. "I don't know if I have it in me to captain another expermintal battleship, but I'm definitely going to have to think about a more full time position with Morganroete's shipbuilding division. Assuming the world doesn't end in the next few months anyway."

"The world is not ending." Lacus said, her voice firm, where Murrue's had been lighthearted. "It is changing, for the worse, in my opinion, but even if we can't stop Noah, the world will not end. We shouldn't be so conceited as to think that the Earth cannot survive without us."

There was a few moments of awkward silence at that, before Mu stepped up to fill the conversational gap once more. "So, uh, besides the spatial awareness, what other cool superpowers do I have? Leaping tall buildings, being more powerful than a locomotive, faster than a speeding bullet sort of stuff, right?"

"You're very, very sensitive to the emotional states of others." Lacus replied, after a short shared chuckle.

"But I'm male. Surely that's impossible." Mu protested, drawing more chuckles of amusement. It felt good to laugh, certainly, since there was little enough to laugh about of late.

"You can make Active's more powerful." Kira said seriously, after the chuckles died away. "Either by touch, or by, um, linking purposes I guess. I'm really not sure how its worked between me and Lacus in the past, but we've Resonated while she was on Earth and I was in orbit before. I think that might require a very deep emotional connection between people though. Deep enough that no one else is likely to ever forge one with Lacus." Kira told them. At least if I have any say in the matter.

Thanks for the thought, I guess, but you remind me of something else. Lacus replied fondly. "You can also hold mental conversations with other Actives and Latents. We've been working on a sort of unspoken comm network between even the non-Newtypes in the last battle. I won't speak into your mind if you don't want me to, but Katie sees things differently than I do when it comes to mental etiquette, so you may not find her so polite. I found it really strange at first, but now it's second nature, so much so that I sometimes have to remember to speak out loud when other people are around. People are going to look at you funny, especially at first, because it takes a bit of work remembering to only think things, rather than say them outright. But its very convenient, at the end of the day. And no, just because we are talking in your head does not mean we are reading your mind. Sometimes we are reading your mind, but... its not like most people think. You put the thoughts at the "top" of your mind and I skim them off and put mine there in turn. I don't look below the surface unless I have to or need to. Privacy is important to people. Too important in some cases." Lacus said the last with a long sigh of frustration.

"Huh?" Mu asked, puzzled to know what could so bother the infinitely patient pink princess.

"Don't worry about it, its something between me and Cagalli." Lacus replied, pasting a smile back on her face.

"Ah, yeah, she's in a bad way at the moment, or so I hear. She just can't catch a break, can she?" Mu mused.

"She'll get through it. I have faith in her." Kira said resolutely. Though its absolutely killing Athrun at the moment.

We offered again, you know. He wouldn't hear of it. Honestly, I don't know what to say anymore. Thats only the second time in my life I've seriously wanted to punch him or shake him until he sees sense.

I'll talk with him.

The only person he's going to listen to is Cagalli, and she's in a depressed fugue. Katie's thinking about going behind their backs, you know? I'm not sure I should stop her. Orb needs Cagalli right now.

She'll never forgive you... neither of them will ever forgive you or Katie if they discover you going behind their backs, even if you have their best interests in mind. Kira said gravely.

I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that there might be bigger concerns. We're rapidly approaching a point of no return, Kira, and at the moment a third of our fighting and decision making force is entirely inoperative. Athrun can't even drive a car at the moment, much less pilot the Phoneix King once its rebuilt.

We have to give them a little more time. Its only been a day or two since it all happened. Give them a week or so, and if she's not showing any signs of improvement, then... well...

A week and a half at the most. That'll put the Great Endeavor just off the West Coast of Europe, which should hopefully be mostly evacuated by then.

"You're right, that is going to take some getting used to." Mu said, having been watching Kira and Lacus trade glances and subtle nods and other nonverbal cues usually reserved for a private conversation, but with no words spoken out loud. "So the question of what I can do is still kind of open, is what I'm hearing?"

"That is correct." Lacus replied. "The field of Newtype abilities in general is one that is very mysterious to us all, and Latents in particular are an enigma. Anything you find out on your own would be very helpful to us all." Lacus was going to say more, but just then a footstep from nearby, intentionally loud, drew all of their attention up towards one of the air conditioning units on the roof nearby, and the Stormhound in full battle gear, including mask, leaning not so casually against it, arms crossed across his chest. His appearance was no surprise to Kira, who'd heard him move into position or Lacus, who could see on the mental landscape, but both Mu and Murrue looked a little unsettled at having a heavily armed soldier appear within easy talking distance as if by magic. "Can we help you, Mr. Kurtz?" Lacus asked, smiling slightly at the flicker of surprise at being addressed by name caused in his consciousness.

"Request from higher." Kurtz replied, respectfully, eyeing Lacus warily. She was getting creepier and creepier the longer he knew her. That utterly serene expression on her face, like she'd known exactly where he was the whole time, the quite confidence in addressing him by his name even though there was no nametag or other identifying mark on his armor. Maybe her eye for detail was just that good, that she had memorized all of the Stormhound's appearance, but he doubted that was the case. There was a significant group of Stormhounds with similar build and height, him, the Lt, Major Jones, Ramierez and a few more. With armor and mask on there shouldn't be any way a human eye could tell them apart at just a glance. "The Chief Representative is holding an executive meeting with Dr. Simmons to figure out if Orb has any sort of coherent response for this crisis that doesn't involve abandoning the entire country. He'd like the both of you to attend, since, well... the Queen and the Ambassador are, uh, indisposed."

"Those guys scare me." Mu said in an undertone to Murrue, eyeing the tall, lean soldier wearing the slowly shifting camouflage armor with the full head mask in the shape of a snarling demon dog with glowing blue eyes.

"They scare everyone." Murrue replied. "Except for maybe Kira and Lacus. Don't get me wrong, it's great having them on our side... but they're a little too hardcore for me to be comfortable with. And they're constantly giving me frights, stepping out from under bushes and trees and around corners without warning."

"I know Kira's got senses like a hunting cat, just like Noah, so I see how he keeps track of them, but what about Lacus? Come to think of it, Noah seemed even more perceptive than Kira is. I could NEVER sneak up on him, not even through a soundproofed passageway!" Mu wondered.

"Lacus can see people's minds." Kira supplied, grinning slightly when Mu jumped, obviously having thought his conversation with Murrue was inaudible, as it was barely at the level of a whisper.

"That's actually not fully accurate, according to Katie." Lacus added, getting to her feet and brushing off her dress fastidiously. "Every mind gives off mental energy that affects the enivornment of the pyschic region around them, I suppose you can say, like a boat leaving a wake in the ocean. I can see those wakes, which are different for each person. The better I know a person, the clearer I can see their wake, and the clearer a picture of that person I get, even when I can't see them. Every Active Newtype sees these wakes differently, and they often have elements of synthesia. Katie's pictures start out as simple colored cartoon animals, and rapidly acquire smells and tastes and feels the better she knows a person. Mine start out as mere outlines of a person that get more and more filled in by abstract representations of their defining characteristics and current emotional states as I sense them."

"Sounds complicated. Glad I don't have to deal with that." Mu said with a grin.

"You and me both." Kira said fervently. "Bad enough having hyperactive senses, if I was constantly seeing and feeling and tasting and smelling these "mental wakes", on top of all the smells and sights and sounds of the physical world, I think I'd go nuts. Though I think it might be interesting to see Lacus's wake, once or twice."

"Katie says I look like a pink songbird, which I guess is no real surprise, but that I taste sweet, smell strongly refreshing, feel firm and unyielding and sound like a snoring giant keeping." Lacus said, and then shrugged. "If that helps any."

"Well, since everyone experiences wakes differently as you say, not really." Mu answered, holding out his hand. "Thanks for taking time to try and explain things to me."

"Its not trouble at all, Mu." Kira shook the proffered hand, his eyes widening a fraction as their hands touched, getting a brief, hard to define but definite feel for how Mu was feeling. Mu was staring at Kira in mild shock as well, having got a similar instantaneous glimpse. "That happens every so often, when two Latents are both pretty riled up, emotionally speaking. Its like static electricity building up around you." Kira explained without waiting for Mu to ask.

"I see." Mu didn't, but they kids were busy enough at the moment, he shouldn't take up any more of their time than needed. God damn it, but he hated feeling so helpless and useless, but he understood there was little there could be done about it. He was still suspect, damaged goods in the eyes of all but a select few. There was nothing he could do about it besides be on his best behavior and wait for time to tell though, and idleness had never grated well with him.

"I will talk with Mr. Kurenai about your status at this meeting." Lacus assured him. "With our current levels of force diminishment, not putting a skilled and willing person like you to use would be simply criminal. If Mr. Finch is as successful in deprogramming that poor girl, the other Brotherhood pilot, as he expects to be, we may very well be finding some way to deploy her as well. One never knows which will be the straw that breaks the camel's back." Lacus took hold of Mu's hands in both of her own and held them tight. "Just be patient for a little while longer, please."

"Of course." Mu looked at her with wide eyes. He stared down at his hand and then after her and Kira as they followed the Stormhound, the one caleld Kurtz apparently, away towards the nearest roof access stairway.

"Something wrong?" Murrue asked, after the others were well out of earshot, except for whatever other Stormhound was keeping watch upon Mu from hiding.

"Nah. Just a little surprised." Mu said with a smile, turning and putting his cuffed hands over her head and down to her waist, pulling her towards him into a warm embrace. "Thought I could see something for a moment there. Like a psychedelic flashback. Its nothing." He told her, reveling in the feeling of being able to just hold her, and be held in turn. He could not help though, but dart his eyes towards another bank of machinery about forty feet away along the rooftop. He wasn't sure, but he could almost swear he could see a patch of shifting color that shouldn't have been shifting. It wasn't something he would have noticed unless he knew exactly where to look, but during that brief psychedelic flash, he'd seen something over there, something like a flight simulator pic of a fighter jet, bristling with weapons, rakish and lean, dangerous in the extreme, hovering around that spot of the roof.

"See something?" Murrue asked, seeing him turn his head and peer.

"Just the most beautiful woman in the world." Mu turned his gaze back to her. You got better things to worry about, flyboy.


"I need something to tell the people, other than "please trust us, we have everything in hand"." Jiro said forcefully, planting both hands flat on the polished wood of the table as he half stood, head bowed, at the head of the table. At his left sat Kira Yamato, Lacus Clyne, and most surprisingly, Athrun Zala, though poor Athrun looked like death warmed over, his eyes heavily ringed, his chin unshaven, his hair and clothing unkempt and wrinkled. Jiro's heart really went out to him in that moment, like never before, and he strongly wished he could lend a shoulder for Athrun to lean upon and hold onto, but he refrained from acting upon that particular fantasy. Painful as it was to recognize, there was no doubting the fact that, regrettable as it was, Athrun Zala was wedded firmly and permanently to the Queen, in mind, body and soul, and there was simply nothing that could come between them, least of all someone like Jiro Kurenai. This latest crisis was perfect proof of that. At Jiro's right sat Cyprus Finch, acting as the Director of Intelligence, Andrew Waltfeld, representing the regular military and then Dr. Erica Simmons, representing Morganroete. Other advisors and aides hugged the circumference of the room, waiting to be called upon to provide helpful facts and figures.

"The USN has already started conferring with us about using the Kaguya Mass Driver for the evacuation effort." One of the aides from the Department of Foreign Affairs spoke up. "Of course, Orb citizens will have priority of use, but we are more than a month and a half at the earliest from being in critical danger of this Green EDEN stuff, at least according to current projections."

"Do we really have no better option than to cut and run, abandoning everything we've worked for over the centuries since Orb gained its independence?" Jiro snapped in frustration, wishing he could slam his head on the table a few times. It would probably hurt, but maybe it would clear his head a little. Nothing else certainly seemed to be working. "Orb has been conquered and liberated, ruined and rebuilt so many times over the years that its become part of our national character to be courageous in the face of tremendous adversity... are we to forget all of that in the face of this latest challenge? Is that what I am to tell the people? That we are giving up this time, so sorry, this is too much for us?"

"Sometimes there is no dishonor in retreat." Cyprus pointed out. "When faced with a foe you cannot defeat, it only makes sense to re-engage on terms more favorable to your own victory at a later date. And Green EDEN is not a foe that can be killed with weapons or forced to surrender... its much more a natural disaster, it can only be allowed to run its course, and then pick up the pieces after."

"I refuse to accept that. Green EDEN is a man made substance, surely there is a man made countermeasure we can deploy!" Jiro retorted. "Dr. Simmons? Morganroete has led the world in terms of applied scientific achievements for almost a decade now. Surely there is something you have, something that can counter this Green EDEN?"

"Respectfully, Mr. Kurenai, as of the appearance of the Brotherhood, Morganroete has NOT been the world leader in terms of technology, and hasn't been for a while." Erica replied with a frustrated sigh of her own. "Though the technical sophistication of the Brotherhood varies far more widely than similar situations in regular world governments and militaries, there is no denying that even the least advanced Brotherhood technologies are at least equal to our current top secret level projects, and their advanced technologies are years, even decades ahead of our fondest dreams. Noah Borander is, simply put, the foremost living expert on the engineering and deployment of Nanotechnology. Give me ten years and an unlimited budget and I can promise you, I will find a way to counteract Green EDEN, perhaps even Blue EDEN, especially given the examples of Brotherhood technology we have captured to build off of. But as far as providing a magic bullet in time to do the Earth any good... its simply impossible. It would take a miracle of divine proportions."

"Hameya helps those who help themselves." Jiro muttered the saying under his breath. "Okay, so destroying or counteracting Green EDEN is out of the question then. What about destroying the source, this Great Endeavor monstrosity? Would that not buy us quite a bit of additional time?"

"It would." Waltfeld agreed. "But I just don't see how it would be done. The USN military forces are all involved with the evacuation procedures, as are the militaries of the FNE and ALU. Even ZAFT is sending support units to Earth to help keep order. With the massive losses suffered during the Armada Fiasco, everyone's reserve levels are dangerously low. One more lost engagement of similar scope would be the end of active military resistance. Everyone is leery of losing their militaries entirely, because there is simply no way to confront the Great Endeavor unless it is with overwhelming force. I've no doubt the USN will eventually make a last ditch effort to destroy the bastard, but by that time it will be too late to matter for Orb."

"Damn it! DAMN IT!" Jiro slammed his fist on the table resoundingly. He controlled himself with a very difficult effort of will, the silence in the room at his brief outburst all but crushing. He slowly looked up and caught Athrun's haunted gaze. "Will the Queen be available for presenting a joint statement to the people about our decisions at this meeting?"

"I..." Athrun trailed off and looked downcast. "I wouldn't count on it." He said, every word feeling like it was being dragged by barbed pincers from the pits of his soul.

"I see." Jiro said softly.

"I don't." Athrun replied, mostly to himself, though he was clearly audible. "God help me, but I don't..."

Lacus cleared her throat to cover the uncomfortable silence that followed. "I may not be the Queen, but I will offer what moral support as I can, Mr. Kurenai."

"Appreciated, Ms. Clyne. You presence and words are, as always, a fount of resolve and fortitude for us all." Jiro replied thankfully. "Does anyone else have anything to add before I adjourn the meeting?"

"I've been thinking." Kira spoke up, drawing attention from everyone. Kira did not often speak at meetings like this, usually leaving the talking to Lacus, while providing emotional support and a calming presence, as well as private advice and observations through their private link. "About how Noah disposed of the Blue EDEN up in space after he was done destroying the Armada. He used some sort of electromagnetic field devices to collect the scattered clouds of nano-particles, so he could destroy them with those anti-matter weapons."

"Yes. So what? Gathering the stuff up doesn't help us much since its being constantly produced." Waltfeld pointed out, somewhat testily. Stress was getting to them all.

"Obviously the Blue EDEN was magnetically charged, or else the EM field wouldn't have been able to suck it in so effectively. What if Green EDEN is also magnetically charged? Couldn't we like, scoop it up and then destroy it, or somehow force it away from areas where people are? Filter it, kinda like a big bug zapper?"

"We're pretty sure that it is charged, given the merry hell it plays with regular communications and sensors in all the area's its covered." Erica answered thoughtfully. She suddenly stood bolt upright, an expression of revelation on her face. "That's it! Of course! You're a genius, Kira!"

"Um, I guess... in some ways..." Kira flushed slightly at the praise. "Why am I a genius now?"

"We can't counteract Green EDEN. And destroying it is just not time or cost effective, certainly not with the Great Endeavor still active. But the strength of the stuff is also its weakness!" Erica was talking so fast the words were tripping out of her mouth.

"Care to explain, for those of us without class A scientific minds?" Waltfeld asked dryly.

"Green EDEN is a nano-cluster... a chemical robot the size of a molecule or a couple molecules! That is very, very small, talking nanometers (one milionth of a meter). Which means it can get pretty much anywhere, especially into something as molecularly porous as a biological organism! It also means its easy to distribute over wide areas through natural forces like wind currents or water. But it also means that it has very little mass and inertia... meaning it can be deflected easily! Regular materials obviously would block it, but we don't have the time or resources to build bubbles of Exo-glass over Orb. But we can build bubbles of another sort. I'm sure I can modify something out of the BGCS system... yes... yes, it should work... the power requirements are going to be huge... and we're going to need a lot of projection apparrati, but its doable... doable but very expensive..." Erica trailed off specuatively.

"Dr. Simmons, have you a solution for us?" Jiro asked hopefully.

"Maybe?" Erica replied distractedly. "Its all highly theoretical of course."

"Maybe is not good enough, Dr. Simmons." Jiro said forcefully. "Do you have a solution or do we need to evacuate? If you aren't sure that this will work, then waiting until you are sure will be as good as dooming our people to suffering the full effects of Green EDEN. Whatever those are."

"Its not poison gas." Lacus reminded them. "Many will die, but many will live as well."

"Its those that live that worry me more than those who die." Cyprus said bluntly. "If what Noah says is true, and those that survive become Ultimate Coordinators, then we are already going to be dealing with tens of thousands of people with new physical and mental gifts like those of you and Mr. Yamato, but without your ironclad moral codes and experience. If that thought doesn't scare you, then it should. But that is a problem for the future, assuming we have one."

"I don't like being forced to make this call." Erica told them.

"Join the club." Jiro replied sardonically. "The fate of Orb is going to be decided by whether or not your theoretical solution can be made practical in the next month and a half. Eighty million lives, including those of everyone in this room, depend on your answer. No pressure."

"If Cagalli were here, she'd just order me to do it." Erica grumbled.

"Cagalli is not here though." Jiro said sadly, with a cautious glance at Athrun. "And I will not issue an order like that blindly."

"We can do this." Kira said confidently. "There is always hope."

"I agree." Lacus said simply. "I have complete confidence in you, Erica."

"I hate to disagree, but this is not the time for experimental measures." Waltfeld countered. "We should begin planning and executing the evacuation now, or else we'll never get everyone off planet in time."

"I agree with Commander Waltfeld." Cyprus said. "We have been defeated for the moment. Sticking up for our ideals now would just result in a mountain of corpses. I believe I've had this discussion before somewhere..." He looked at Lacus bluntly.

"Athrun?" Jiro asked after a multi second wait.

"I... I don't know." Athrun said brokenly. "I just..." He trailed off and shook his head.

Jiro waited a few seconds more, but Athrun didn't speak up again. "I must say I'm leaning towards the side of Commander Waltfeld and Lieutenant Finch. That would be the safe course of action, even though it sits wrong with me to abandon our homes."

"I can do this." Erica blurted. "Its going to take everything we've got, and its going to be damned close... but I can do this. We can do this."

"You are willing to gamble eighty million lives on that?" Jiro asked seriously.

"I'd gamble more if I could, but there's simply no way we have the time to protect more than the Orb home islands with this strategy." Erica replied fiercely. "As things go, we're going to be working twenty four hours a day, pulling in as much support labor as we can, and its going to be by the skin of our teeth. But we can do this."

"I see." Jiro sat back down in his chair heavily. Three ayes, two nays and one abstain. Not the sort of resounding consensus he could have hoped for in this kind of situation. He really wished the Queen was here to lend her vote, but if Athrun himself was any indication, there would be little input from the Queen for the forseeable future. He met their gazes one by one, a business strategy his father had taught him. Read their eyes, for they are the window into the soul. In the movement of the eyes there was the key to what people were really feeling. Erica's eyes told him she was worried, but still confident in her choice, now that it had been made. Waltfeld's eyes were worried but resolute, wanting to hope but feeling he had to go the route of safety. Cyprus was, as usual, unreadable and implacable, like looking down into the depths of a mist shrouded grotto. Kira was firm and unyielding, convinced as always of his chosen path. Lacus was much the same, though there was a steely undertone to her gaze that made him shiver. She was angry about something. As for Athrun... his eyes were drained and empty, the eyes of a man who has lost his moorings in life and isn't sure if he should sink or swim.

"Very well then. We will stay and trust to the fortitude and ingenuity of our people." Jiro said at long last. "Dr. Simmons, just tell me what you need to save our people, and you will get it. You will have the full cooperation of every branch and agency of government that you need, I think that should go without saying."

"We're going to need a lot of labor for construction purposes. More than we currently have available in Orb. Obviously, public support will make up for some of that, but if we could draw in even more help, that would significantly widen our margins of error. I know this is unprecedented, Mr. Chief Representative, but you might want to think about ways we can recruit help from among the refugees evacuating elsewhere from Earth. Offer them citizenship for them and their families or something, in addition to premium pay. We need engineers of all sorts, as well as anyone with a background in electronics, industrial construction, physics and a half dozen other fields. I'll prepare a full list of criteria before three pm. We're also going to need to start considering what to do about food and other supplies, since we're likely to be cut off from imports for the forseeable future, and anything outside of Orb won't be edible to regular humans without high risk of Green EDEN contamination." Erica said at once.

"I will prepare a public briefing and release it at once." Jiro replied. He looked over at Lacus. "Could I ask for your help in preparing a similar broadcast for the international audience, Ms. Clyne?"

"I would be glad to, but I'm afraid I need an hour or two to take care of some very pressing business first." Lacus answered immediately.

"That should be fine. I want to make the domestic announcement first anyway." Jiro said, privately wondering what the delay was about. Perhaps it was about whatever had put that dangerous look in her eyes. He shivered... that which earned the ire of Lacus Clyne was not a fortunate thing. "If there are no further questions, then I suggest we end this meeting and get started, as we obviously do not have time to waste." There were no objections, and people immediately began bustling about to begin facilitating the decisions made.

Lacus swept out of the room so quickly Kira almost had to run to catch up. What's up? he asked cautiously, wary of the stiffness in her spine and the clipped and rapid pce she was setting. Lacus was very much not happy.

Cagalli should have been there. Jiro was floundering without her presence.

She's not well though... even Athrun looked like he was barely holding on!

Then its time she got better. Her country, her people and her friends and family need her now.

We said we were going to wait a week or so though...

We don't have that kind of time, and you know it, Kira.

Athrun is going to flip...

Athrun needs to take a rest. You should go make sure he does. He's a wreck at the moment. I have never seen him look so bad.

He's not going to want to listen to me, you said as much yourself.

Kira... Lacus stopped and turned aa very icy look indeed back at him. Athrun needs to rest. Please ensure that he does. And ensure that he does it away from Cagalli's room. This farce has gone along too long as it is. Either Cagalli is going to shoulder her responsibilities, or she needs to just give up altogether and leave the stage permanently. I'm sure we can find a nice psychiatric ward for her somewhere. Remaining in limbo is causing more damage than we can afford right now.

But...

There is no but. I will do all I can to avoid using my Newtype abilities, out of respect for her wishes. But like Mr. Finch has just reminded me, yet again, we are at a point where sticking up for our morals and ideals to the bitter end is simply no longer appropriate, when the end result is a mountain of innocent corpses. Go and take care of Athrun. I will go and take care of Cagalli. One way or another, Orb will have a resolution regarding their Queen before the end of the day. Lacus started walking again, leaving Kira standing in the hall, blinking back worried tears, his fists clenched at his sides. She did not look back. The time for looking back had passed.