Racimous' Episode Zero

By Prinder

Summery: this is part three of the four part series about Jin and Fiora's lives predating AC 195. This one will go into the finer details about Fiora's Mother, her work, their Ship, their limited training, rebel missions, and the friendship between Fiora and JinChi.

Warning: nothing that I haven't said before really If you've read some of my other fics you'll know what I'm talking about.

Straight outta the horse's mouth

And don't you even begin to think that I'm going to ask you to pardon the expression.

My name is Racimous "Long Sword" Eleri. Friends call me Race, my sister calls me Racy, and my enemies call me whatever they damn well want!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, like my little sister when she was still in her "innocent" years. Hard to Believe right? Not really, when you look at the facts, it all makes perfectly logical sense in the end.

We hope.

Now when I say "we" I am NOT referring to myself in the royal sense, I actually mean "We" as in my little Bro, Darren, and I.

I'm not going to brake all this up into what happened in what year, mainly because I'm not all that sure if I would get it all sorted out right, and I'll just stick to the known facts and just keep it simple enough for even Fiora to understand.

Lets get one thing straight here, I am in no ways happy that my sister is a Gundam Pilot, in fact I am down right miffed that she went against our orders to do it. But seeing as I had to choice in the matter, I decided that I was going to play along in her little game, at least, for the time being.

Secondly, I'm even more pissed at Jin cause she supported Fiora's idea! JIN! Of all people, the most unlikely one to agree with her did!

Sometimes Darren and I have to wonder if she just did that because I called her "Jinny" by mistake.

That goes double for the whole spy assignment.

But anyways, I'm getting a little ahead of myself here so I'll just back this truck up and try this again.

Maybe the year marking thing isn't such a bad idea after all…

Racimous Eleri.

March 7th AC 182.

This is exactly one year before our Mother; Dr. Jennora Eleri went to Pluto to help with that whole bio chemical mess thing. I thought that this was a good a place as any to start. Seeing as Fiora and Jin didn't really cover that.

I was already three years old by this time and I was just getting used to being "replaced" by Fiora when our little brother, Darren, was born. Don't get me wrong, I liked them and all, but I was still not all that thrilled that I wasn't the center of attention anymore.

Like Fiora, Darren and I were also "tweaked" with in our very early stages in life.

What skills did we get? Well… since you asked… I was given this trait that Mama so fondly dubbed as "Bio Tank" or BT for short. What it does is when I am in a situation that I can't get out of, say I'm surrounded by a bunch of angry goons, I just close my eyes, take a deep breath, and beat the living shit out of them! Friends have nicknamed this "Berserker mode" FYI (For Your Information), think the Incredible Hulk and you'll come pretty damn close (you know, when he gets mad he's either handing out an Ass-Kicking or Lollypops, and he's fresh outta Lollypops)

What about our little Darren, you ask? Well he's built for speed! If he can land enough of them punches he can do damage, when he needs too, but we mostly use him for drawing fire from the rest of us.

Now I don't care what Fiora says, she was designed that way for a very good reason. And it ain't for making webs of lies! Simply enough, I think she was designed for what she does on a board a ship, and it ain't what you would think she does, and always will be in my mind.

I would feel sorry for JinChi, if it weren't for the fact that she could beat the crap out of the rest of us if she wanted to, so I don't worry all that much about Fiora's little friend from the Pluto division.

August 17th AC 184.

Ha ha. She doesn't like the Scientists. Didn't think that she would. They're a little too two faced that most would like, too much like everyone else these days.

I remember being asked if she talked by one of the Scientists, Dr. G, I think, to which Mama replied, "Yes, she talks, just not to slimy old bats, like you G"

All of the other Scientists laughed at this, I did too, and they walked off into Mama's Lab to work on something or another.

It was at that point when Fiora Tugged on the sleeve of my shirt and I looked down at her (She might have been only one year younger then me, but she was always a midget) and promptly asked, "What now?"

She smiled one of her big toothy grins (you know, the one where you want so badly to punch her teeth out cause it's so annoying looking?), turned and dashed off to who knows where.

I needed anger management classes by six.

I flunked out from that one month later.

My Buddies still think I need it, though I am not as bad as I used to be. God I love that temper in the Eleri blood!

April 29th AC 185.

Ah how could I forget this year? This was the year that Oz got really anal about following THEIR rules. This was the year of endless fear for the Shuttlers (Or Shuttle Folk, as Fiora would say). There wasn't a safe place for a person to dock anymore, that is, without the Alliance breathing down our necks.

Fiora was being dramatic. I wasn't crying! If anyone was crying a river a minute it was she!

Darren and I got together not long after that and decided to form our very own attack force out of fellow Shuttle kids. Not an easy task, but we did it and we all made an oath to make Oz and the Alliance leave us alone or we would die trying!

Who said kids didn't understand war? Well, who ever did never met the Shuttlers!

September 1st AC 186.

Don't ask me where she picked it up. I don't know how she learned how to blow a school off of the state map! But she did, and I can't say that I'm grateful, I had friends at school, it's not my fault that Fiora, Queen of the Mime people, didn't make any!

Reading and writing before five. My ass! That is so far from the truth I didn't even think that she could say it! I had to reread that part just to see if I heard it right!

Fiora always had an overly active imagination. Figures that she would twist the truth just to make herself look good!

The truth of the matter is that Mama made a little trinket that looked something like one of those old fancy commando head sets, complete with head phones, microphone, and eye screen. She used THAT to learn everything she did when she was little. Learning how to read at age three MY ASS! That's just bull fucking shit!

I'm really sorry now that we trained her how to lie with a straight face and a clear conscience. The things people have to do to survive and win a war.

May 10th AC 188.

For lack of anything better to add, I guess I'm going to have to tell you what happened from my point of view on this day.

I recall the large viewing screen above us and, unlike Fiora, I heard what was said.

An old man in a fancy red soldier's uniform interrupted a commercial about some kind of Toothpaste.

"People of Colony L1X-18999! We have you surrounded, hand over the rebel scientists now or prepare to be destroyed!" the man on the screen bellowed out.

You would think that with the choices given, they would hand over those scientists and be done with it!

Just goes to show that not everyone thinks clearly when a blaster riffle is aimed at his or her ass.

But what happens? All hell brakes lose that's what!

Dad, Darren and I were running for the ship when it happened. Mobile suits appeared out of nowhere! Guns were going off left and right, but did I panic?

HELL YEAH!

I pulled my pistol from the back of my pants (yeah I know, what the hell is a seven year-old doing with a gun? It's a war going on remember? People do stupid things when there is a war going on! Giving a child a gun is one of them) and emptied the whole clip into that over-sized gun-toting tin-man! It didn't even leave a scratch!

By the time that Fiora showed up we were holed up behind a wall and quickly running out of ammo.

At this point I would like to say: He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.

Three guesses on what we did when we got the chance.

B-I-N-G-O. We ran our sorry looking hides out of there so fast it would make your heads spin!

Out of all of us, I was the one that faired the worst with a busted shoulder, and a cracked rib. Funny thing is, I didn't even feel it.

I don't pick up signals that my body sends me when I'm in pain it seems, go figures. Mama really did make a Human tank.

Dad had to forcibly wrench open Fiora's fist to get at that damned necklace and asked her how she got it.

Now let me just tell you that it is was a well-known fact that Mama loved that Necklace and would never take it off, let alone give it to anyone. So when Dad saw that the chain was snapped, he snapped.

Fiora said that Mama had said that she could have it. Once again I need to stress that Mama NEVER took that necklace off, the only way for Fiora to get that necklace Mama would have had to be dead.

That one thought was a real eye-opener. If it were possible, light bulbs would have lit up above our heads at that moment.

But they didn't and the only thing that gave away such a thought was Dad yelling that it was wrong to steal from the dead.

Fiora ran off when Dad was in mid-sentence and hid out for the rest of the day.

Dad gave it back to her two weeks later with a small wooden box. I never did find out what was in that thing, Fiora wouldn't open it, let alone give me the necklace to see for myself!

Stubborn little shit.

October 12th AC 189.

There is nothing more evil in my mind then our Aunt Kiora.

Damned woman looks like a Pepto-Bismol showgirl reject.

Darren, Fiora and I spent many of our years plotting ways to get rid of her without killing her. We never did manage to pull it off.

Now as you all know, Fiora worked as an engineer on Dad's ship, but do you know what Darren and I worked?

No clue, do you?

Well Darren's the Pilot and the Navigator while I'm in charge of Security and Cargo.

Sometimes I wonder how it is that we manage to run Dad's ship with so few people, it was built for a large crew and we run it with only six men and women on board!

Aunt Kiora is in charge of the Med-bay and the Communications system, our Uncle (actually he's just a friend of my Dad's) Drconous manages the Mess hall and the ships Defenses while Dad tackles whatever jobs need to be done elsewhere on the ship.

An unknown fact here, I was named after my Dad's father, Rhys, and my dad's old friend, Drconous, hence my name Recimous.

Fiora doesn't say this but she has another job on board ship, granted she doesn't do it a lot, and I think she's actually come to hate it. What is this so-called "Job" you might ask? She's our weapon system.

I know, I know. That really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I can explain!

It works just like this:

On every Cargo Shuttle there are these things we call "Lighting Codes"

To put it simply, when ever the lights on the ship change it means that it is in a different kind of mode.

I'll list the light colors for you:

Blue: when the lights are blue, it means that the ship's defense systems are running, which means that it's able to avoid attack and escape quickly if need be.

White: when the lights are like this it means that the ship's more advanced systems are "hidden" from other ship's scanners. This is normally used when Oz or the Alliance is in the area.

Green: this mode is known as the "dead man's warning" basically what happens is that the ship is running out of fuel and/or resources and will soon be stranded if help doesn't make it in time. This is also used when the ship is badly damaged. It's basically; it's a way of telling other ships that you need assistance.

Red: Battle mode! When this one does off Fiora makes a beeline to the weapon's main control room where she goes into this weird machine that works like a kind of interface with the computer and the person inside of it. Makes for faster attacks.

And that's it, that's all of the modes that the ship has basically.

Anyway, back to the story.

Now that Aunty was hell bent on turning Fiora into her namesake (Fiore means flower in Italian and Fiora is a spin off of the word Fiore, hence Fiora's name also means flower) we would take every chance we could get to get out of there and way from her.

Somehow or an other we ended up honing in on our fighting skills during most of the time and soon we were a pretty good fighting force, if I do say so myself.

Unknown to Fiora, Darren had long ago formed that little Co-op of Shuttlers and were just now letting her join the "club"

It just about figures that Fiora would try to take some credit for it.

At least she got the part about me being the boss right!

July 4th AC 190.

Independence day. How fitting for what happened.

First of all, Darren doesn't run unless he needs to. He's more of a sprinter then an all out runner when you think about it.

Second of all, the rebels didn't want anything to do with us; it was WE that wanted to talk to THEM not the other way around.

Thirdly, we were already fighting with the "big boys" LONG before the colony brats even thought about pulling together into a rebel group! If anything THEY were the ones that were the amateurs!

The only truth to her version of this story is that they did want us to meet them under that weird bridge, but as for the cold knee-deep water? Fiora tripped on a rock and fell into it, the rest of us were as dry as ever. What a moron!

I'm thinking that she was somewhat right about them being surprised about us being just kids. But I don't recall her doing as much talking as she claimed to be doing.

Okay, let me stress that no matter what THEY think, we weren't taking orders from them, they were taking orders from US, and they just didn't know it.

God I love being sneaky.

August 13th AC 193.

Changing of the winds. HA! My ass! Why the hell does she always have to dance around the facts and the points? Jesus Wept!

She might not have looked at the goofy disk but that sure as hell don't mean that I didn't!

What was on that disk you ask? It contained not only the blue prints for Fiora's soon-to-be Gundam, but it also carried a list of people that were in on Op. M.! I still can't believe that that idiot didn't even THINK about looking at that thing!

Just goes to show how un-spy-like Fiora really was.

Okay… let me just stop here and tell you something that Fiora asked me once when she first heard of Romafeller, she said, and I quote, "WHA? Just who in the hell ARE these people? What the fuck! Just who in the hell is AROMA FELLA?"

I ain't shitting here, she actually called them "Aroma Fella"

Ladies and Gents, Fiora and her joking slang!

I'm getting annoyed with remembering the past, I need to punch something. I'll be back.

…I have returned! Did you miss me? Heh. Didn't think so.

Ah yes! This was when "Jinny" came into the picture.

I don't know if what they said was true to life, but I do know about the many missions after it.

I don't think there was ever a time when they DIDN'T get back from a mission not mad at each other.

JinChi would say that Fiora was taking too many unnecessary risks, while little Sparky would argue that the only reason she had to make those risks was because of little goody two boots, JinChi, didn't want to play the her game by the rules.

Okay, I'm going to stop, AGAIN, and explain something.

Ever wonder why she calls the her missions games?

I'll admit, I had a role in all that. It was the only way we could teach her how to do it and make it stick within that mind set of hers.

Fiora has the mindset of a twelve year-old, she think, feels, and acts like she's twelve years old.

Well… maybe not quite as far as that, she PRETENDS to be suck at that age, but really she's just playing one of her favorite games.

Which we all so fondly call: The village idiot.

Why does she do that? Your guess is as good as mine here!

Maybe she just likes using it as an advantage, or maybe she just likes the look of it. I don't really know.

All that I do know is this: Nobody questions an idiot for the fear of being seen as one himself.

May 9th AC 194.

Well I'll be damned! I'm FINALLY almost done with this damned thing! Took me long enough!

"Jinny" strikes again! Sometimes I have to wonder just how it is that those two haven't killed each other yet! They're always getting each other into messes that they can't handle!

But, as much as I'd hate to admit it, JinChi is good for Sissy, and in a way, Spark is good for Jin too.

They compliment each other. What one is, the other isn't.

Fiora makes JinChi "live" so to speak, she makes JinChi do things spontaneously, while Jin keeps Fiora's feet firmly planted on the ground and out of trouble that she would get into without Jin's guidance.

Fiora is wild while Jin is tame.

Jin is calm and colleted while Fiora is unfocused and panicking.

Fiora is carefree while Jin is serious.

But in some ways, they are vary much the same.

Jin is like air, calmly blowing through the trees, but, when the need be, she becomes a tornado, ready and willing to destroy everything in her path.

While Fiora is like water, gentle and wild at the same time. Like a river, calm and peaceful, yet swift and dangerous all the same.

Didn't know that I was so poetic, did you?

But I've gotten sidetracked once again so lets get back to the problems at hand.

Fiora hates guns. She never told us why though. And when the rebel man tried to teach her how to use one she refused to do it, saying: "I can do just as much, if not more, damage with my knives then with that thing! I ain't gonna be no killer! You want a spy! And that's what I'm gonna be! But if you think for one moment that I'm gonna carry that thing, well then you've got another thing comin' pal!"

JinChi intervened and said, "If she so desires, then she shouldn't have the need for a weapon such as that, she has managed to get this far without one, lets see her make it the rest of the way the same"

It finally dawns on me how close they really are. They understand each other, though they would never admit to it.

Jin is too proud and Fiora is too stubborn for that.

Last impressions.

Okay, so maybe this is more about my Sister and her friend then it is about me. But hey! I'm more of a background person then a center ring man!

This is the part where I leave you with my understandings of the world around us right now.

I wasn't wrong in dragging Fiora into all this, though, she might have been better off back at home, but someone needed to be the voice of the shuttlers, to be the voice of the people, who for so long have had nothing to say, and take a stand.

I wasn't that person, as tough as I am, I can't be that person.

It's not just what she says, but how she says it that makes people stand up and take notice of her.

If I were to do that, all that would have happened is a lot of people would end up feeling threatened by me, and that wouldn't have gotten us anywhere.

Fiora is a lot of things, but she isn't threatening, she has a way with words that can scare people, but deep down, she could never carry out half of those threats and everyone knows it.

that's including herself.

And what of JinChi? Well, I'll admit, I never knew that she had that kind of potential, a valuable jewel where a lump of coal once lay.

She really knows how to make things all pull together, sometimes I wonder if Fiora ever would have even made it inside the Gundam Pilot HQ without Jin's help and guidance.

Well, that's just about it, I suppose.

This is Racimous Eleri signing off.