Chapter 5

Redrat8- We'll see. You'll get those answers about the Albion sooner or later. As for the other stuff, at best they'll get a passing references if nothing more.

R reyes- I still have no idea what you're trying to say. Can you explain in detail.

RoyalTwinFangs- We'll see.

Chris the Metis- We'll see

Kraut007- Well, I personally don't mind the constant Zeon remnant and Federation battles between each other, but I do understand the view that it's getting repetitive. And I'm trying to go for a more positive AU in the end, but the journey there may complicate matters.


Kai


"Thank you for your time." Said Kai as he shook the hand of the young man that he had just interviewed while the woman next to him, the man's girlfriend, smiled at Kai. The young woman had, like most young men and women in Side 3, had prosthetic limbs for arms and legs while the man was fine, having all of his original limbs intact.

It was clear to Kai that the woman had fought at A Baoa Qu and the man was a worker in some sort of factory for the war effort, pumping out whatever things the Principality needed in order to fight at A Baoa Qu.

He asked them what was lifelike after the war and if they regretted their decisions during the One Year War.

They told him how they were swept up by the charisma of Gihren Zabi. How he fooled them into believing the righteousness of his cause and how he convinced them to do whatever he said because he was just that good in convincing people to follow him and whatever he wished for them to do. It was only because he was down sick was the man able to avoid being sent to fight in A Baoa Qu and have all his limbs intact. The same could not be said for his girlfriend, who only made it out of A Baoa Qu alive due a maintenance error with her Zaku mobile suit, preventing it from launching from it's hanger.

After the war, they had to spend a good portion of their money to afford maintenance for the woman's new prosthetics, preventing them from making rent in their apartment a few times. If it weren't for their landlord being so generous and understanding, they would be in a much more rundown apartment right now.

They told him how they believed that the new laws against them were unfair and that it would only bring about even more problems for the Earth Federation than it will solve. The man, having a degree in psychology, believed that, while the punishment that Federation if giving to Side 3 currently will, in the short term, be a good thing for the Federation as it'll show the people of the other Sides, who are filled with righteous anger at Side 3 for all that they've done throughout the Universal Century, that the Federation will deal harshly to those that dare interfere in their rule or those that attempt to conduct severe war crimes of the highest magnitude, but in the long term it'll cause people to eventually fear something similar happen to their people and will cause people to rebel if it does happen to them. Or, at the very least, cause them to be discontent with Federation rule, even more so if the Federation does more and more harsher rules to the other Sides.

Though Kai doubted it'll happen as the other Sides are content with the Earth Federation, he put that in as a note as what the man predicted could happen if the Earth Federation does something similar with the other Sides for some reason. After that, he said goodbye to the two and left with his escort.

Once they were all out of the apartment complex, Kai looked at a watch he had on him and saw that it was a perfect time for lunch.

"Alright, people, I think it's a good time for a lunch break." Said Kai as he looked at Hepner, who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we have some MREs in the APCs." Said Hepner, knowing full well that they wouldn't be delectable in any shape or form. "We have a variety of food, so hopefully you'll find something that's remotely delectab…" She couldn't say anymore when Merc interrupted her.

"Oh, come on, girl!" Yelled Merc as he suddenly appeared in Hepner's vision, making her yelp in surprise. "Kai isn't some military reporter that can make do with that stuff. Sure, he may be former military and likely had to deal with that stuff back in the One Year War, but that don't mean we should give it to him just because he's former military. He's also on a very important assignment from general Revil himself, so we should accommodate him as best as we possibly can. And that includes food." Erika rolled her eyes at the machine's insistence at proper food and was about to argue against it when Kai spoke up.

"Well, it would make it easier for my job if I had some proper food in my stomach rather than the junk, they feed the grunts. No offense." Said Kai with a smirk as he looked at both Erika and Hepner. One giggled at that, agreeing with him, and the other looked at him in annoyance, finding all this to be ridiculous. "So, how about you ladies tell me some good restaurants around here so I can treat you both to a lunch on me. Don't worry about costs. It's the least I can do for you two risking your lives for me." Hepner gave a small laugh at that while Erika just shook her head at all this.

"Well, if you insist." Said Hepner as she looked at Kai. "There's this fine restaurant nearby that can serve us well. It's not a super expensive one in case you're wondering. Just a fine family diner that can satisfy your want for non-military food." Kai smirked at that before thanking Hepner in appreciation. As he did so, Crick noticed Erika's face adopted a saddened expression before it went back to her typical aloof expression, something that the AI noted for future discussions with Kai later. "Follow me. The place isn't a far walk from here." Kai smiled at that, happy to get some more real food and not some military crap, before following Hepner. Erika, sighing at this, eventually went after them, but not before ordering half of their robotic guards to stay with the APC while the rest followed her in case any of the Side 3 populace decided to be stupid, with Kai's news crew.


Later


"Here we are." Said Hepner as they arrived in a sizable restaurant in Side 3. It was situated next to a clothing store and a barber shop. The restaurant looked fairly occupied, but there was sufficient enough room to give them all privacy and a generous amount of personal space. "I've been here before while on leave once and the food here is great. The people here are quite nice and they'll serve Federation personal." Kai nodded at that as he saw a group of Federation soldiers eating some grub here rather content with their food. He also saw some Side 3 people there as customers, either leaving the soldiers alone or were giving some nasty glares without them noticing, but aside from those people, the soldiers were left alone to their meals.

"Alright then. Let's get going." Said Kai as he walked with Hepner inside the restaurant, followed by Tick, Slick, and Merc. Crick and Erika were the last to enter and that was because Crick noted that Erika was looking at the restaurant with a degree of sadness on her face.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Yugo?" Asked Crick as he looked at Erika with concern, though it wasn't expressed physically due to his mobile platform incapable of expressing emotions like a human can. Erika just shook her head at the question before looking at the machine with a stern look.

"Nothing is wrong." Said Erika sternly and hastily, causing doubt to form in the AI. "Let's just get in and be done with lunch so we can go back to the base and be done for the day." With that Erika went inside the restaurant, leaving Crick alone. Now putting the conversation about Erika with Kai on the top of his to do list, Crick entered shortly after her. Though she was acting rude and unpleasant towards him, he knew that it was due to trauma from the war. Not from participating in the fighting, but from losing loved ones and the aftermath of the war forcing her to mature more rapidly than what a human normally should. And that was something that is both tragic and something that was unhealthy for a human's development cycle. It can lead to some unhealthy habits that can lead to their deaths and that was something that Crick didn't want for anyone, especially with this young lady.

Making a note to recommend to Kai that interviewing Erika so they can have some more information to use in their article on Side 3, calculating that it will be effective of them to do so as humans, for whatever reason, seem to have a tendency to place special treatment on human females, especially youngsters. Perhaps they can use that to their advantage. With those thoughts, Crick entered the restaurant with Erika and the two eventually found the rest of their group waiting for them in a table in the right corner of the restaurent with the AIs standing guard, their presence making the other patrons, aside from the Federation soldiers, uncomfortable, especially Merc with the armaments mounted on his mobile platform.

A few minutes later passed before a waiter came to take the orders of the organic members of the group. Before he asked what they like to order, however, he asked them if they can kindly ask their machines to leave the restaurant.

"No offense, sir." Said the waiter, addressing Kai. "But their presence is disturbing our other patrons and so, if you can kindly ask them to leave, I can take your orders." Erika looked annoyed at this and was about to respond when Kai spoke.

"No problem. I understand completely." Said Kai as he looked at the waiter, eyeing his prosthetics, along with the prosthetics of the other people of the restaurant that weren't Federation personal, many of which were tense and looking nervously at the machines. It was obvious to Kai that the appearance of Federation machines that look like the mobile suits that have either killed their loved ones or have nearly killed them at A Baoa Qu would disturb these people a great deal. He himself would be uncomfortable with having a machine that looked like a Zaku or Dom standing near him, guarding someone important, both of which have tried to kill him many times over the One Year War. So, with that, Kai ordered all their AIs to leave them alone, much to the surprise and shock of them all, including Erika and Hepner. Erika was about to protest when Merc butted in.

"You're sure, good buddy?" Asked Merc as he looked at Kai. "I mean, I trust you and the ladies to handle yourselves, but I don't want to see any of you get hurt by anyone here." Kai just nodded.

"No worries." Said Kai with a small smile. "I got these two pretty ladies taking care of me that were born here and are trained in hand to hand combat. That's got to draw people away from hurting us or picking a fight with us just because of me, a known war hero for the Federation." Though Hepner blushed at being called a pretty lady, Erika just scowled, annoyed with how carefree Kai was at the moment with his safety and thinking people will be reasonable with their anger and hate. "So, trust me, Merc. They got this." Merc just stayed there for two seconds before nodding.

"Alright, you bots, you heard him." Said Merc as he began to hurdle the other machines out of the restaurant. "Let's get out of here and give everyone space. Boss' orders." There were a few protests and grumbles in binary, but they all got out the restaurant in an orderly fashion. Once they were gone, the waiter let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for that.' Said the waiter. "I'm sorry, but many people around here have fond memories of these things, sir. Within reason, of course. So, I'm very sorry that…" He was interrupted when Kai raised his hand with a nonchalant look on his face.

"No worries, man. I completely understand how people feel about Federation mobile suit lookalikes." Said Kai before adopting a more sympathetic, but still nonchalant expression. "I would be nervous too if I have to eat while things that look like the machines that tried to kill me in the One Year War were standing nearby like stone statues. And I don't want something similar to happen to any of you. Even if some of you killed or even tried to kill me or my friends at A Baoa Qu or anywhere else during the One Year War. Because those days are long gone and now we're all citizens of the Earth Federation. Even if some people just can't let go of old grudges and hatreds." A few people nodded at that in agreement, even the Federation soldiers, which Kai noted were relatively young, likely new recruits that didn't participate in the One Year War and thus were assigned to this post so they can see that Side 3's people were just regular people and not monsters as some, much to Kai's disapproval, media outlets and historians paint them as. "Besides, I'm just here to get some good food for my lady friends and myself. And if I have to be relatively unguarded in order to get that food as well as some good privacy, then so be it." He then gave a quick glance to see the stunned look on the waiter, causing him to smirk. "Come on, man. It's not even a good speech. Just give take our orders and let us talk with each other in peace." With that, the waiter was taken out of his stupor and began readying himself to take the orders of Kai and his group. As Kai was looking through the menu, wondering what to get, he saw Hepner looking at him with a smile on her face, her eyes glittering in happiness. Looking at Erika, her noticed her eyes also displayed a similar happiness, but was covered with annoyance. Acknowledging both of their looks, he went on focusing on what he wanted to order.


Meanwhile

Merc


"So, yeah. What exactly is it like working with Kai?" Asked Merc as he addressed Kai's news crew, wanting to know the details of what his former partner did now that he was out of the military. "Is it any different than what he did during the military?"

"While we have no idea what Kai was like in the military, we can safely say he is a kind boss that knows how to treat his employees well." Explained Crick. "He treats us well and never overworks us, despite our synthetic nature. He also has things that seems to be lacking in humans. Morals and principles. He doesn't go for the most optimal profitable avenues of news coverage if it involves deception and the purposeful lack of facts in order to deliver a report or article that can fully support his view on things with little to no counter arguments. He always tries his best to look for credible sources in order to deliver the most accurate and non-bias articles and reports as possible, even going so far as to travel to distant and inhospitable lands for humans in order to get that information. He's quite an honorable person, despite his sarcastic demeanor." Merc's optics glowed brighter upon hearing all that, making his mobile platform's visor glow bright upon hearing all that. It pleased him greatly to hear that his former partner was still the great person that he thought he was, even after the war ended. From the moment that Kai stepped into the cockpit of the mobile suit that they first went into combat with, Merc knew that Kai Shiden was a good man and that he'll continue to be so, even with all that was thrown against him by the Principality of Zeon.

"That's great to hear!" Yelled Merc as he yelled out his enthusiasm for all to hear. This caused the other AIs to look at him before quickly going back to watching the perimeter of the restaurant so they can fulfill their duty in protecting their charge at the moment, still maintaining a respectful distance of the restaurant so that people won't be discouraged from entering because of them. "Great to hear that he's still the great guy that he was back in the One Year War! He was a great pilot to have as a partner I can tell you that!"

"We can tell with how loud you are." Said Slick, astonished on Merc's personality. He knew that there were a handful of AIs out there with personality settings that were a big deviation from the normal stoic and emotionless one that made up the majority of military AIs, the reasons being either due to slight hiccups in their creation, special request of pilots, or major accidents. And the Federation let them stay that way because they see no reason to waste money on an AI's personality matrix if they can do the exact same thing as the normal ones with no problems. And ever since the One Year War, standards for them have laxed, especially ones made for civilian applications, so more personality parameters that differed between AIs were common, such as the case of Kai's news crew. But to have such a wild personality like Mercs and for them to stay in the military all this time with no change to their personalities was quite a shock to them. "He must have been a good partner." Merc was about to go on another tirade of how Kai was a great partner when he noticed something afoot.

Taking a better look, he noticed a few old lads with prosthetics lumped near the restaurant, glaring at something in said food establishment. It didn't take long for Merc to see that they were glaring at Kai and his female guards. He also noticed that they were holding alcoholic based beverages in their hands along with a few other bottles near them, either empty or untouched. Seeing them, he informed the other AIs about them through radio and they all looked at them, catching their attention. A brief staring contest commenced that the humans eventually backed down from, leaving their spot to go sully something else. Once they were completely out of sight, the AIs resumed their normal positions and lookouts.

"That was almost too easy." Noted Tick as he nervously looked at the general direction the humans took. "People like that aren't too easy dissuaded from doing foolish actions. Especially if they're not sober."

"Agreed. We got to watch the entire perimeter of the restaurant." Said Merc as he looked around. "Including the back. This may be a colony, but generally there's always a back entrance for places like this. Got to watch that place as well. In case they try to be stupid and go after Kai and the others in that place." Kai's news crew nodded in agreement before Merc dispatched some GM troopers to go around the restaurant and guard the back, which two did as they were instructed. With that, Merc looked back at the news crew and went back to their conversation about Kai, but this time more on alert in case those drunken guys come back to cause trouble or anyone else for that matter.


One hour later


"Now this is some good food." Said Kai as he ate his chicken lunch with mashed potatoes with clear appreciation as Hepner and Erika also ate their food rather contently as well. After taking another bite of his food, Kai looked at Hepner and Erika. Though he had respect for both of them, he wondered if either of them will be alright with an interview regarding everything around Side 3.

Both of them were quite good choices for interviews. Hepner was a good candidate if she gave him good answers and responses. She had been in the Zeon military since the start of the One Year War. With how innocent and young she looked and was, people would question how such an individual would help perform the atrocities that Side 3 had done in the war and that was the thing he wanted. He wanted people to ask that question and why it was crucial that Hepner gave him a good answer so that it'll get people to see how Side 3 was able to do the horrible things they did and still be worth having in the Earth Federation in the sorry state they were in after the war, thus making it easier for him to influence people to see Revil's point of view and how that continuing to treat Side 3 like monsters will just make them as bad as them during the One Year War or even worse.

Erika was also a good candidate as well. Since she wasn't a soldier during the One Year war, just a civilian at the time, she could provide him a good source of what may help make or break his article. Most people thought every single citizen of Side 3 supported or even approved of everything their nation did in the One Year War, not even considering that some people were against or even disapproved of the stuff their nation did. Erika was a prime example of that. She also can give him what it was like for a young girl to survive in a post war nation that had lost the war. How hard it was to live without parents that were lost to the One Year War. And how hard it was knowing all the horrible things that your nation did that disgusted you. That they did in the name of liberty and independence. All that would make people see that not everyone approved of or even liked the things that their nation did in the One Year War. It would also make people see that people of Side 3 aren't monsters that needed to be treated as such and that they suffered more than enough already. Both were good candidates just for different reasons. Plus, they were attractive and Kai knew, no matter how much it annoyed him, attractive people can do wonders in driving a point with humans.

Thus, he made a note to ask them both for permission to interview them later on, but for now, they have food to eat.

Cutting a good, juicy piece of meat from his chicken dinner, Kai was about to put it into his mouth when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Looking out at the window, he saw a glint that was getting brighter and brighter. Squinting, Kai's eyes widened in shock when he noticed what it was. Yelling at everyone to get away from the windows and to hug the side walls of the restaurant, he pushed Hepner and Erika away from their food and to the nearest wall before he himself hugged it. Just in time too as an electric car came crashing into the restaurant and nearly running him over. As it passed him, Kai got a good look on the driver and saw what he was wearing along with his passenger before the car crashed into the kitchen section of the restaurant. An old Principality of Zeon military uniform.