Asherah had known that she wouldn't be alone with Chibodee for their next meeting, but she was a bit surprised to see the entire camp turned out for her appearance. She smiled. 'I guess they are entitled to questions; I'm asking for their help, and beat up one of their own. Time to join the party.' She flipped off the tree branch she'd been perching on, straight into the Gundam fighters' midst.
Kaiyun, Zuisen, and Raymond fell backwards with startled shouts, Domon, Chibodee, and George leapt to their feet, Rain put a hand to her gun, Nastasha slapped her whip into her palm and upped the hostility in her habitual glare, Sai Saici sprang up to her in a fit of enthusiastic curiosity, and Argo remained stoic, as always.
Asherah laughed. "Down, boys." She flipped a hand at Domon, George, and Chibodee. "As you might have guessed, I'm Asherah. I imagine you have some questions for me, so sit down and we can get started." She seated herself between Sai Saici and Raymond.
For their part, the three Gundam fighters on their feet exchanged glances and shrugs and took her advice. "My first question is, what are you not telling?" George took the initiative.
Asherah tilted her head in unconvincing innocence. "What makes you think there's more to it than what I'm telling you?"
George gave her a dry look. "Common sense."
Asherah laughed. "What more do you need to know?"
"Everything that there is to know about this situation, if you're going to get us involved." Argo spoke up.
"I've told you what you need to know."
"What you think we need to know and what we actually want and need to know aren't necessarily the same thing." George pointed out.
"I think we might do better with specific questions." Asherah frowned.
"You said you used to work for the Neo- American government. Why did you leave?" Rain asked.
Asherah hesitated. "I had a feud with another elite agent. But, more than that… I snooped around and found out some things I didn't like. I took valuable information and technology with me and left."
"You're a fugitive?"
She nodded. "And highly wanted."
"Valuable information?" Rain inquired.
Asherah nodded again. "I knew about some covert operations. I also knew about actions of another rogue operative."
"Covert operations?"
"Another rogue operative?"
"The Neo- American government was interested in upping tensions among the other colony nations. The rogue operative is one Jonas Harrington, a man I'm familiar with."
"Why would the Neo- American government want tensions to rise?" By the sound of his voice, Chibodee's temper was rising as well.
"Because then the diplomats could play off of it. And even if war broke out, if Neo- America hung back and waited for the other nations to weaken each other, they could then come to the forefront in terms of power. This became even more important after the Dark Gundam's attack on the colony, which weakened Neo- America."
There was a depressed silence. They had enough objectivity about the world they lived in to recognize the power games Asherah was speaking of, and the importance of strength.
"What about Jonas Harrington?"
Asherah looked at Rain, and the Neo- Japanese woman saw a flash of something familiar in her eyes. "He's another elite agent, but he isn't playing by the rules, either. His superiors don't know that, though- or rather, they won't believe it." she said bitterly.
"We already know that he's selling weapons to the people here on Earth and stirring them up. Why is he doing it? Is it just greed?"
"No." Asherah looked around. "Are you familiar with John Locke?"
"No." they replied.
"He was an ancient English philosopher who believed that when the government failed in its duty to protect the rights of its citizens, the citizens had the right- possibly even the duty- to overthrow that government. Jonas believes that the colony nations have failed in their duty to their citizens on Earth, and so have the right to overthrow the colony governments.
"There's more to it, though." she continued. "He's also convinced that we would do better to be governed by a central power- preferably Neo- America. So he goes along with what the government wants him to do and works toward his own ends at the same time."
"How can we help?" Sai Saici offered.
"Give the leaders of your countries a heads- up so they'll have some idea of what's going on. Use your positions as members of the Shuffle Alliance to try to ensure that diplomacy remains a more viable option than war."
"The Shuffle Alliance watch over combat to ensure that the human race doesn't destroy itself. I really don't think there's anything we can do until it comes to actual fighting- but hopefully a solution will be reached before that happens." Argo said gruffly.
"People know who the Shuffle Alliance are, and, more importantly, respect you. Even just being seen together, acting friendly, would probably help." Asherah told him.
"Why didn't you come to us a year ago? Why wait till now?" Rain asked.
"For one, the Dark Gundam was threatening the Earth and colonies. It wouldn't have done any good to stop Jonas in his tracks if everything was going to be destroyed anyway. And," she looked to be making a painful admission, "I thought I could deal with him on my own. I thought I could take care of everything myself, but I can't. I need help." She looked around at them. "How long will you need to decide whether to help me or not?"
"Give us ten minutes for starters." Nastasha ordered, and Asherah nodded, jumped back into the woods, and melted into the darkness.
"Well?" Nastasha turned back to the group. "What do all of you think?"
"I think we should help her." Sai Saici said immediately.
"Don't be rash, Sai Saici!" cautioned the monks, undermining their lesson when they added, "We agree."
"So do I." Rain told them.
"If you're in it, so am I." Domon put his arm around her in an uncharacteristic gesture of affection, prompting Rain to give him a suspicious sidelong glance, which Domon ignored.
"I'm not happy with this, but… I'll help." said George, prompting Raymond to add his instant support.
"Count us in." Chibodee spoke for himself and his crew.
"And us." Nastasha chimed in. "We're all agreed?"
They were.
"Asherah!" Nastasha yelled.
The woman strolled into camp. "Have you reached a consensus?"
"We have. We'll help you." Nastasha told her.
"Good! I'll be contacting you soon." Asherah didn't heed any of the protests shouted after her as she once again vanished.