"Just make sure to leave the resupply crates near the back of the hangar before you leave, okay? The mechanics need to finish restocking before noon tomorrow, so they asked to have it right by the ship." Murrue told her junior engineer as she looked over the checklist on the clipboard he had handed her.
"Got it, chief. Are you heading out?" the engineer replied.
Murrue looked over the checklist quickly once more then handed the clipboard back "Yeah, just about. We only needed to make sure the resupply stock was delivered anyway, so tell the crew that they can go once all the crates have been placed in the hangar."
"Yes ma'am, I'll go let them know." the young engineer started walking away, but suddenly turned back as if he remembered something "Oh shoot, I almost forgot! Chief Simmons came by earlier, said to tell you she was looking for you."
Murrue raised her eyebrows, it wasn't everyday Erica Simmons asked for her "Really? Did she say what it was about?"
The engineer shook his head "She didn't, all she asked was to tell you to go see her when our shift was done. She came by while you were talking with mister Murdoch earlier."
"Okay, thanks for letting me know. I'll see you guys tomorrow then, okay?"
"Sure thing, chief. See you tomorrow."
It had been over six months since the end of the Bloody Valentine War, some of the Archangel crew had gone their separate ways but those that decided to remain were secretly enlisted in the ORB Union military. Murrue herself included of course, but she opted to take the alias of Maria Bernes as a precaution and to avoid any unwanted attention. After all, her name and her role as the Archangel's captain had become quite high profile among those privy to the events of the Battle of Jachin Due.
Her backstory as Maria Bernes was that of a senior shipbuilding engineer formerly from the Earth Alliance, and that she was a friend of Erica Simmons, who had recommended her employment as chief engineer in the ORB military due to her experience. Of course, this really was her role prior to the attack in Heliopolis at the start of the war, which made it easier to re-adapt to being an engineer.
Murrue made her way to the Mobile Suit R&D division where Erica Simmons' office was, wondering what it was Erica had personally called her for. She then saw the older engineer waiting outside her office, who noticed her and lightly waved to acknowledge her.
"Captain Ramius, glad you made it." Erica greeted, calling Murrue by her real name since no one else was around.
Murrue gave a light wave back "Miss Simmons, I heard you wanted to see me?"
The older engineer nodded her head "Yes, I have something I wanted to show you." she then made her way inside her office, motioning for Murrue to follow her.
Once inside Erica's office, which looked like her own personal laboratory due to its sheer size, Murrue immediately noticed something on the table at the far end pf the office: a large black box with wires connected to the terminal close by. By the way the box itself looked very beat up and the way it was connected to the terminal, she thought it was some sort of flight recorder that was being analyzed. It was when she saw Erica walking towards it that she started putting the pieces together; whatever Erica wanted to see her for, it had something to do with this black box.
"Is this what you wanted to show me?"
Erica nodded "A few months ago, one of the retrieval teams deployed around Jachin Due brought this back to the facility. This...is the in-flight recorder from the Dominion." Erica said as she began operating the terminal the recorder was connected to "As you can see, it's in pretty bad shape, and the data drives were slightly compromised due to the damage to the exterior and what I assume to be radiation damage from the Archangel's Lohengrin blast so I'm still in the process of finding and recovering whatever's salvageable from it."
"But...what of it? What's the big deal with the black box from an Earth Alliance ship?" Murrue asked, confused as to why Erica was showing her the Dominion's recorder.
"Mostly battle data." Erica replied "Something to correlate against the battle data we have collected from the Archangel and use that to help help further developments." she then opened up what looked like an audio file and motioned for Murrue to take a look "However, I didn't call you just to give you that generic answer, Captain Ramius. I called you here because I thought you'd want to hear this little bit of data that I've managed to recover...the recording from the bridge before the ship was destroyed."
"The Dominion's...last moments?" Murrue couldn't help but take a step back as her thoughts went back to that moment, images that she could still see vividly no matter how much she did not want them to.
Emergency escape pods coming out of the Dominion's launch bay making them assume the Dominion was surrendering, only to suddenly be met with its Lohengrin cannon firing at them...and then the Strike sacrificing itself to intercept the blast...before she knew it, a tear rolled down her cheek as the scene of her lover Mu La Flaga dying in front of her started playing in her mind once again.
Erica noticed this and slowly stepped away from the terminal to give Murrue some much needed space. "Yes...I know Lieutenant Natarle Badgiruel was a friend of yours, and I thought it was right for you to know what transpired in that moment. At least, I thought you should know first before anyone else." she said, making her way out of the office and leaving Murrue alone to listen to the recording. "I'll be waiting for you outside."
After staring at the terminal for what seemed like an eternity, Murrue took a deep breath and walked closer. What lay ahead was the other side of her life's worst tragedy, but she didn't want to stop and ask herself if she was ready to find out. Deep down, she knew Erica was right that she needed to hear it. She needed to know what in the world caused the surrendering vessel to suddenly open fire.
"Why did Mu have to die..." she said softly as she pressed the button to start the playback of the recording, holding tightly onto her upper arm as if she was bracing for something. The playback started with buzzing static, as the voices in the recording gradually became clearer.
"NOW! Open fire while they're wide open! Aim the Lohengrin!" came the voice of the crazed leader of Blue Cosmos Muruta Azrael.
"No! Please stop this! Archangel, get out of there!" then came Flay Allster's cry to the Archangel, something she vaguely remembers hearing in the Archangel's bridge during the encounter.
"Argh, you bitch! What do you think you're doing!?" Azrael shouted and Flay could be heard yelping as he grabbed her by her arm and forcefully pulled her from her seat. A gunshot rang out a second later, much to Murrue's shock, fearing that the gunshot had actually killed the young girl.
"Are you crazy, what were you thinking!?" Murrue heard Natarle protest.
"Why are you interfering!?" Azrael retorted as he then grabbed Natarle by the neck.
"All hands abandon ship!" just from the sound of her voice, Murrue realized Natarle had gotten into a physical altercation with Azrael, and that the rest of her bridge crew could do nothing but watch.
"Badgiruel!" Azrael's outburst and Natarle groaning in pain had began to make Murrue's stomach turn. The scenes in the Dominion that she was hearing was beyond anything she could've ever imagined. "You bastards!" he called out to the bridge crew as they started making their escape.
"Go! Head to the Archangel!" Natarle also called out to them, and Murrue felt a bit of relief when she heard Flay responded followed by the sound of the bridge door closing, realizing that she was fine and was part of the crew that were in the escape pods. Her relief then turned to grief when she remembered the ultimate fate that the escape pods suffered.
"Damn you!" said Azrael as he continued to struggle with Natarle.
"Some kind of commander you are...to just give those kinds of orders...ah!" Murrue couldn't help but gasp and put a hand to her mouth as another gunshot came, and Natarle's pained reaction made it clear that she was hit.
"You know what'll happen to you for treating me like this!" said Azrael as he pushed the now bloodied Natarle off of him, only to be cut off by the sound of the door shutters coming up.
"You have to be stopped, and you'll die right here with me." a defiant Natarle retorted, her pained gasps of air evident in how she spoke, followed by another shriek as Azreal shot her yet again. At this point, Murrue didn't bother stopping her tears. She was listening to more than just the Dominion's final moments, but the final, painful moments of her friend.
"Stop fucking with me...open that door!" Azrael desperately cried out, with another gunshot ringing out a moment later along with another, longer and more painful cry from Natarle.
"Natarle! No..." Murrue cried out, unable to bear to listen to how her friend was being slowly murdered by the crazed psychopathic leader of Blue Cosmos.
"Damn it! I won't die here!" Azrael said as he went over to the Weapons Control terminal.
"Azrael! What are you doing!?" Natarle called out, struggling to follow after him.
"I can still win!" Azrael, now having completely gone insane, started talking to himself as he started activating the Lohengrin himself "That's right, I always win!" the sound of the Lohengrin's launch bay could be heard, and Murrue knew this was what had happened the moment they saw the Dominion charging its cannon aimed towards them.
"You bastard!" Natarle cried out as she tried to stop Azrael in vain. The noise of the cannon firing and the subsequent explosion made Murrue look away from the terminal's screen, as it was at this moment that Mu La Flaga had maneuvered the Strike in front of the Archangel's bridge to block the positron beam and lost his life.
Silence filled the recording for a few seconds until Natarle started chuckling, as if taunting her assailant "It looks like you've lost." she said in a smug tone.
"DAMN YOU! YOU BITCH!" Azrael screamed as he threw Natarle across the bridge and shot her one more time.
Amidst her cry of pain, Natarle's next words were the ones that completely broke whatever was left of Murrue's composure "NOW, MURRUE RAMIUS, FIRE!"
What followed was Azrael's screaming as he watched the Archangel's retaliatory Lohengrin blast coming at him and a few seconds of explosions before the recording went back to buzzing static. What the recording failed to express, however, was Natarle's smile as she accepted her fate, content in bringing the insane Azrael down with her like she had told him she would.
Murrue fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably as she relived her own tragedy alongside the grim fate that befell her friend. She and Natarle had probably gotten into more arguments than friendly talks as far as she remembered, but Murrue never held anything personally against her friend. She remembered the time when Natarle had been transferred out of the Archangel when, for the first time, her junior seemed lost and unsure of herself, despite her obvious ability.
Even after the time they had reunited on the battlefield as enemies, Murrue never stopped caring about Natarle as a friend. What hurt Murrue the most, however, was the fact she never got to tell Natarle how much she valued their friendship. How she would've just offered her hand and ask her junior to join her had she known about Natarle's volatile situation. She just never got the chance.
After a few minutes and having regained her composure, Murrue made her way out of Erica's office to find the older engineer waiting for her just outside like she said. Erica looked at Murrue's face for a moment and simply put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" she asked. Murrue nodded but her face told her that she still needed time to process everything "If you need more time..."
"I think I'll be alright." Murrue replied, her words clearly betraying her feelings. "Can I...ask you a favor?" she then asked.
Erica nodded, willing to give every kind of support she can give the young captain "Sure thing, what do you need?"
"Can you handle my shift for me tomorrow? I just remembered I had something I needed to do."
"Don't even worry about it, I'll take care of it."
The following day, Murrue made her way to the ORB Military cemetery, where she had erected an unmarked grave for her lover, Mu La Flaga. This time, she came to place another beside his, this time for Natarle. She figured it was the least she could do to honor her late friend.
"You really weren't the best at showing your feelings, lieutenant, but don't worry, I'm sure everyone knew you cared deep down." she said, looking over the newly erected gravestone.
Natarle had lived her life as a by-the-book type of soldier, something Murrue knew came from the former being from a military family, but the fact that Natarle had died saving the lives of her crew from the psychopathic Muruta Azrael at the cost of her own made her respect her friend even more. Sure, she was stern on-duty and a bit socially awkward while off-duty but in the short recording of her last moments, Murrue realized that Natarle had learned to care for her crew in the same way as she had for hers.
"Thank you, my friend. We'll see each other again someday."