Hamaan Khan waited in the shadows of a park across from the bar until she
saw Cima Garahau's tall figure coming down the sidewalk. "I thought you'd
never get here," Hamaan said as Cima handed her a pair of corduroy pants.
"I'm freezing!"
"My turn now." Cima undid the buttons of the mantle she habitually wore over her uniform and let it fall. Beneath, she was wearing a sleeveless red sheath dress, cut low in the bodice and high above the knee. It hugged every curve and accentuated her black hair, which was longer than even Kishiria's.
"Wow, Col. Garahau, you are a hottie!"
"Like the dress? Kosell got it for me. I've never worn it outside my quarters before." She looked across the street. "Is that the place?"
"Yeah."
"Looks like a good place to grab a beer and a guy. What's he look like?"
"Feddie uniform, early 20s, longish brown hair going grey. Kinda cute in a bug-eyed and frantic sort of way."
"Just my type. Cover me." Cima tossed her long mane and sashayed across the street like the Queen of Sheba.
The place was a pseudo-British pub. Lots of English memorabilia, fake panelling. Cima ordered a dark ale and it was served to her in a tall pint glass. Yummy. Her target was in a booth, alone, staring into the inky depths of his glass of stout. Bug-eyed and frantic was right, but this was one of the men who had taken over the first Federation mobile suits and flown it till war's end with little to no formal training.
She slid into the booth beside him. He looked up at her, then down at her cleavage, then back at his beer. "I'd rather be alone," he said.
"You're one of the White Base pilots. I so admire those guys," she purred.
"Thanks, but I've got a girlfriend already." He took a few deep swallows from his glass.
"I know. She's in trouble. Kishiria sent me to help."
He stared at her. "No way."
"Let's not talk here. Act like I'm your date." She stood and Kai followed her, putting a proprietary arm around her waist. Cima could tell he didn't mind the act, but he wasn't overdoing it. Good. Char would enjoy hearing that his sister had chosen a loyal man.
Hamaan met them outside and returned Cima's mantle to her. They returned to the womens' hotel room, where Cima immediately opened up her briefcase. "Kai, this is Hamaan. Kai, I'm Major Cima Garahau. We need you to get us two womens' uniforms. I'm 5'10 and take a size 10 dress."
"I'm a size 5," Hamaan said.
"The PX is closed right now," Kai said, "so I can't buy uniforms. Are you up to breaking into a dry cleaner's?"
"Give me a deadbolt lock in an alley and we're in. Now. You need to know where Sayla is before we do any of this." Cima took some black and white surveillance photos and spread them on the bed. "These were taken from a spy satellite a couple of days ago. Good thing for us Side 7 is an open plan colony. If they haven't moved Sayla, she's in this building here." Cima pointed to a temporary-looking structure attached to the administrative complex. "As a matter of fact, here she is." The next photo was grainy, but very clearly showed Sayla in manacles and leg irons being walked between two soldiers towards the complex.
The photo had the desired effect. Kai's expression darkened. "I haven't seen her in weeks. At least I know she's alive."
"We will take two mobile suits first. You tear open that building and take Lady Sayla out. I'll give you cover."
"Make it three," Hamaan said. "I can pilot as well as the next person."
Cima stared at her. "You're 12."
"Yes, and I've already qualified on a Zaku. There's no age limit."
"All right then. You'll have two suits as cover. We'll hit, run, and rendezvous with my ship the Lili Marlene. It's a Zanzibar, it'll get us back to Side 3 in a hurry."
Kai was memorizing the photos. "You lead. I'll follow."
"You realize that if you do this, you will almost certainly never be able to return to Federation space again?"
"I'll be a traitor and a deserter. Yeah. I know."
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"Look, it's not like I'm doing this for money. I'm doing this because a good soldier who just happens to be the woman I love is being punished for something her idiot brother did. I'd rather be a traitor and a deserter than a coward who won't stand up for her."
Cima nodded. "Then let's begin." She brought out a small ball of plastique.
A dry cleaner's near the base revealed hundreds of Federation uniforms. The rank tabs were patches embroidered onto the collars, which was convenient, although they had to dig to find a uniform for Hamaan that wouldn't make her into a pre-teen chief warrant officer or the like. The use of child soldiers by the Federation at least made her youth less conspicuous. The much older Cima could make do with any rank, although she ended up as a sergeant. Kai turned his back while they changed.
"What about ID?" Cima asked as she rolled her hair into a bun, fastening it with a pin she pulled from her purse.
"I can think of ways to get you in," Kai said.
"So can I. If I have my cracker on my ship take out the electrical system around the base, I can---"
Kai made a dismissive gesture. "Amateurs hack systems. Professionals hack people.* Follow me."
Soon after, Kai came up to the guardhouse with Cima draped over his shoulder. Hamaan followed, looking sour. Kai walked straight in and showed his ID. "I hafta take Sgt Stadenko here to womens' housing. I came across her while I was pub crawling. She didn't know the pink girly drinks were so strong."
The guard nodded. "Who's the kid?"
Hamaan stared at the man. He backed off.
(Across the base, Amuro Rey glanced up from his workbench, feeling the presence of a New Type. He mentally sniffed the air. It wasn't Char Aznable, it wasn't anyone he knew. He went back to work.)
"Kid's one of the New Types. Stadenko here's her handler." He adjusted his grip on Cima. "The good sarge is gonna be in a lot of trouble in the morning, aren't you?"
"Sorry," muttered Cima. She raised a hand to her face. "I gotta throw up."
"Take her away," the man said, disgusted. The trio left.
It was a while until they were out of sight. "Good job, gals," Kai said.
"It helps that I really am a New Type," Hamaan said. "I told the nice man so."
"It helps that I really have been that drunk, many times," Cima said. "It didn't take a lot of range for me. Okay. Lead on."
They went to the hangar. Kai watched nervously as Cima and Hamaan wordlessly pulled sidearms from their tunics and attached them to their belts. Inside, a Gundam and three GMs stood immobile.
"No yelling 'Sieg Jion' or anything like that, okay?" Kai whispered.
"I get the Gundam," Cima said firmly, and ran for it.
"Take the GM over there," Kai told Hamaan, and hightailed it for his own machine.
"As ever, we escape through the plot hole," Cima sighed as she settled into the pilot's seat. Silly Feddies, leaving their suits fully armed and the keys inside. She turned on the power. The screens lit up, showing the hangar around her and the two GMs coming to life. She belted herself in.
"Cima, you there?" Kai asked.
"Right. Hamaan?"
"Right here, ma'am."
"Okay. Kai, move out and get your girlfriend. We'll cover you."
Soldiers were starting to pour into the hangar, and Kai did his best to kick them aside rather than stomp them like bugs. He didn't know if kicking them was any better, but at least it didn't feel like deliberately killing them. He headed straight for Sayla's prison. He could hear the mobile suits behind him. All he had to do was get Sayla. Those girls were bloodthirsty enough for all four of them, he could tell.
Hamaan was grinning inside her GM. It wasn't controlled like a Zaku, it was simpler. As long as she didn't hit the red button on the stick while facing her allies, she'd be just fine. Ahead of her, the GM was bending over the outbuilding, gently picking at the roof. Where were the Federation forces? All she saw were these ground soldiers, which she didn't even bother shooting when stomping or sweeping at them with her hand would do. It was like being a giant in a fairy tale or something.
Kai was being as delicate with the roof as possible. He didn't want falling masonry to hurt Sayla. The roof peeled back though, like the proverbial sardine can, leaving the inmates exposed to the air. He shone the GM's headlights inside until towards the centre, he saw a blonde figure in orange cowering against one wall.
"Sayla! It's me, Kai! Hold on!" He lowered the hand in and she climbed aboard without a word. He opened the cockpit and a moment later, Sayla was stumbling forward into his arms.
He wanted to stop and hold her, to tell her that everything was going to be all right. There wasn't time. He could only say, "Get on my lap and hold on tight. This is going to be a bumpy ride."
To her credit, Sayla knew that now was not the time for questions. She adjusted herself so he could see over her shoulder and pulled the seatbelts over both of them.
"Kai! Follow me!" Cima's mobile suit started running towards the back of the base and launched itself upwards, using the Gundam's takeoff capability. Snipers with jetpacks were all around them, but these things were equipped with new armour, protecting them quite well. The airlock doors were ahead.
"Kai! Open those for us!" Cima ordered.
Kai reached down and tapped in the codes to open the door. They slid open and the suits soared inside. The doors closed behind them, trapping some of the snipers inside with them.
"Kai, you're not going to...?" Sayla asked.
"You have a better option?" Kai asked. "Cima, Hamaan, shoot those guys so we don't space them alive, okay?"
Lights sparkled around them, each ending the life of a soldier as the outer doors slid open.
"We have company," Hamaan said.
"I don't see--oh right," Cima answered. "Kai, we don't have to go far. These coordinates." Numbers came up on his screen.
"Gotcha."
Some hastily launched GMs appeared in the distance. They hit their thrusters. Cima, in the Gundam, was having a hard time controlling the thing. "Why's this machine so sluggish?" she asked Kai.
"Dunno, I've never been inside of it. Standby." He aimed his vulcans at a nearby opponent and let him have it. "Probably tailored for Amuro. He's a New Type."
"Damn, Hamaan, you should have taken this."
"You wanted it so badly, ma'am. Try the beam rifle."
Cima brought it around. "This feels better."
The Lili Marlene rose into sight then, weapons blazing. Cima ordered Hamaan and Kai to pull in closer to her, so they wouldn't be mistaken for the enemy. The formation had the added benefit of allowing them to cover Cima, Kai thought, but it didn't anger him, he'd have done the same. A few minutes later, they were docked within the Jion ship.
Kai held Sayla's hand as they floated from their suits into the corridors of the Lili Marlene. They were met by the impassable Kosell, who nodded at Cima.
"I lost the red dress," she confessed to him. He shrugged.
"I stink," Sayla observed softly. Kai had a chance to look at her for the first time since she'd fallen into the cockpit. She was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, pale, her hair stringy. She did stink, but Kai wasn't going to agree with her and make her feel worse.
"Why don't you and Kai take my quarters tonight. There's a shower in there and the bed's large enough for two." She peered down at Sayla. "I think the doctor should take a look at you. I'll send her by."
Kai supported Sayla as they followed Cima to her quarters. The bedroom was big enough for a couple of lockers and a double bed, with a bathroom to the side. The room was decorated like an Arabian harem fantasy, with draperies on the walls, carpets on the floor, the double bed covered in bright paisley sheets with animal furs as accents.
"Wow," Kai said.
"Well I'm not going to spend my nights staring at bare steel walls," Cima said. "I like to be comfortable." She opened a locker and took out a sweater and skirt. "Here, Sayla. I'll have to send down to Supply for underwear for you."
"Thank you."
"I'll call for some food and the doctor."
Kai joined Sayla in the shower. She was standing motionless, the hot water splashing onto her. Kai washed her like a child, shampooing her hair thoroughly. "How long has it been since they let you wash your hair?"
"They let me take one shower a week. I was almost due."
He sank his fingers into her soapy hair, feeling a week of oil rising to the top, rinsing out under the hot water. He wasn't used to seeing Sayla like this. She had her low moments of course, and during the war she'd had plenty of doubts and fears. He had never seen her non-responsive though. Once she was clean he wrapped her in towels and steered her to the bed, drying her off before dressing her and himself. Kai had just gotten her under the covers when the ship's doctor came in.
"It's just shock," the doctor told Kai when she was through examining Sayla. "It doesn't appear she was physically harmed, but she's been kept isolated, underfed, and awake. Being rescued just must have been too much for her. Here's some sedatives if she needs them, but probably the best thing now is to keep her warm and let her get sleep and food."
Hamaan soon appeared with a meal for Sayla, who broke out of her stupour and pounced on it. An anonymous marine showed up with clean clothes for the both of them. Alone again, Kai curled around Sayla protectively. She rolled over and began to sob against his shoulder. There was nothing to do except hold her until the storm passed and Sayla fell asleep in his arms.
Some hours later, Cima poked her head into the darkened bedroom and heard deep, even breathing. She withdrew and closed the door. Let them sleep. This was no time to tell the exhausted pair that the Federation and the Kingdom of Jion had just re-declared war on one another.
*Wave of the Zaku hand to Don McKillican, Bell Canada Security, who made this observation.
"My turn now." Cima undid the buttons of the mantle she habitually wore over her uniform and let it fall. Beneath, she was wearing a sleeveless red sheath dress, cut low in the bodice and high above the knee. It hugged every curve and accentuated her black hair, which was longer than even Kishiria's.
"Wow, Col. Garahau, you are a hottie!"
"Like the dress? Kosell got it for me. I've never worn it outside my quarters before." She looked across the street. "Is that the place?"
"Yeah."
"Looks like a good place to grab a beer and a guy. What's he look like?"
"Feddie uniform, early 20s, longish brown hair going grey. Kinda cute in a bug-eyed and frantic sort of way."
"Just my type. Cover me." Cima tossed her long mane and sashayed across the street like the Queen of Sheba.
The place was a pseudo-British pub. Lots of English memorabilia, fake panelling. Cima ordered a dark ale and it was served to her in a tall pint glass. Yummy. Her target was in a booth, alone, staring into the inky depths of his glass of stout. Bug-eyed and frantic was right, but this was one of the men who had taken over the first Federation mobile suits and flown it till war's end with little to no formal training.
She slid into the booth beside him. He looked up at her, then down at her cleavage, then back at his beer. "I'd rather be alone," he said.
"You're one of the White Base pilots. I so admire those guys," she purred.
"Thanks, but I've got a girlfriend already." He took a few deep swallows from his glass.
"I know. She's in trouble. Kishiria sent me to help."
He stared at her. "No way."
"Let's not talk here. Act like I'm your date." She stood and Kai followed her, putting a proprietary arm around her waist. Cima could tell he didn't mind the act, but he wasn't overdoing it. Good. Char would enjoy hearing that his sister had chosen a loyal man.
Hamaan met them outside and returned Cima's mantle to her. They returned to the womens' hotel room, where Cima immediately opened up her briefcase. "Kai, this is Hamaan. Kai, I'm Major Cima Garahau. We need you to get us two womens' uniforms. I'm 5'10 and take a size 10 dress."
"I'm a size 5," Hamaan said.
"The PX is closed right now," Kai said, "so I can't buy uniforms. Are you up to breaking into a dry cleaner's?"
"Give me a deadbolt lock in an alley and we're in. Now. You need to know where Sayla is before we do any of this." Cima took some black and white surveillance photos and spread them on the bed. "These were taken from a spy satellite a couple of days ago. Good thing for us Side 7 is an open plan colony. If they haven't moved Sayla, she's in this building here." Cima pointed to a temporary-looking structure attached to the administrative complex. "As a matter of fact, here she is." The next photo was grainy, but very clearly showed Sayla in manacles and leg irons being walked between two soldiers towards the complex.
The photo had the desired effect. Kai's expression darkened. "I haven't seen her in weeks. At least I know she's alive."
"We will take two mobile suits first. You tear open that building and take Lady Sayla out. I'll give you cover."
"Make it three," Hamaan said. "I can pilot as well as the next person."
Cima stared at her. "You're 12."
"Yes, and I've already qualified on a Zaku. There's no age limit."
"All right then. You'll have two suits as cover. We'll hit, run, and rendezvous with my ship the Lili Marlene. It's a Zanzibar, it'll get us back to Side 3 in a hurry."
Kai was memorizing the photos. "You lead. I'll follow."
"You realize that if you do this, you will almost certainly never be able to return to Federation space again?"
"I'll be a traitor and a deserter. Yeah. I know."
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"Look, it's not like I'm doing this for money. I'm doing this because a good soldier who just happens to be the woman I love is being punished for something her idiot brother did. I'd rather be a traitor and a deserter than a coward who won't stand up for her."
Cima nodded. "Then let's begin." She brought out a small ball of plastique.
A dry cleaner's near the base revealed hundreds of Federation uniforms. The rank tabs were patches embroidered onto the collars, which was convenient, although they had to dig to find a uniform for Hamaan that wouldn't make her into a pre-teen chief warrant officer or the like. The use of child soldiers by the Federation at least made her youth less conspicuous. The much older Cima could make do with any rank, although she ended up as a sergeant. Kai turned his back while they changed.
"What about ID?" Cima asked as she rolled her hair into a bun, fastening it with a pin she pulled from her purse.
"I can think of ways to get you in," Kai said.
"So can I. If I have my cracker on my ship take out the electrical system around the base, I can---"
Kai made a dismissive gesture. "Amateurs hack systems. Professionals hack people.* Follow me."
Soon after, Kai came up to the guardhouse with Cima draped over his shoulder. Hamaan followed, looking sour. Kai walked straight in and showed his ID. "I hafta take Sgt Stadenko here to womens' housing. I came across her while I was pub crawling. She didn't know the pink girly drinks were so strong."
The guard nodded. "Who's the kid?"
Hamaan stared at the man. He backed off.
(Across the base, Amuro Rey glanced up from his workbench, feeling the presence of a New Type. He mentally sniffed the air. It wasn't Char Aznable, it wasn't anyone he knew. He went back to work.)
"Kid's one of the New Types. Stadenko here's her handler." He adjusted his grip on Cima. "The good sarge is gonna be in a lot of trouble in the morning, aren't you?"
"Sorry," muttered Cima. She raised a hand to her face. "I gotta throw up."
"Take her away," the man said, disgusted. The trio left.
It was a while until they were out of sight. "Good job, gals," Kai said.
"It helps that I really am a New Type," Hamaan said. "I told the nice man so."
"It helps that I really have been that drunk, many times," Cima said. "It didn't take a lot of range for me. Okay. Lead on."
They went to the hangar. Kai watched nervously as Cima and Hamaan wordlessly pulled sidearms from their tunics and attached them to their belts. Inside, a Gundam and three GMs stood immobile.
"No yelling 'Sieg Jion' or anything like that, okay?" Kai whispered.
"I get the Gundam," Cima said firmly, and ran for it.
"Take the GM over there," Kai told Hamaan, and hightailed it for his own machine.
"As ever, we escape through the plot hole," Cima sighed as she settled into the pilot's seat. Silly Feddies, leaving their suits fully armed and the keys inside. She turned on the power. The screens lit up, showing the hangar around her and the two GMs coming to life. She belted herself in.
"Cima, you there?" Kai asked.
"Right. Hamaan?"
"Right here, ma'am."
"Okay. Kai, move out and get your girlfriend. We'll cover you."
Soldiers were starting to pour into the hangar, and Kai did his best to kick them aside rather than stomp them like bugs. He didn't know if kicking them was any better, but at least it didn't feel like deliberately killing them. He headed straight for Sayla's prison. He could hear the mobile suits behind him. All he had to do was get Sayla. Those girls were bloodthirsty enough for all four of them, he could tell.
Hamaan was grinning inside her GM. It wasn't controlled like a Zaku, it was simpler. As long as she didn't hit the red button on the stick while facing her allies, she'd be just fine. Ahead of her, the GM was bending over the outbuilding, gently picking at the roof. Where were the Federation forces? All she saw were these ground soldiers, which she didn't even bother shooting when stomping or sweeping at them with her hand would do. It was like being a giant in a fairy tale or something.
Kai was being as delicate with the roof as possible. He didn't want falling masonry to hurt Sayla. The roof peeled back though, like the proverbial sardine can, leaving the inmates exposed to the air. He shone the GM's headlights inside until towards the centre, he saw a blonde figure in orange cowering against one wall.
"Sayla! It's me, Kai! Hold on!" He lowered the hand in and she climbed aboard without a word. He opened the cockpit and a moment later, Sayla was stumbling forward into his arms.
He wanted to stop and hold her, to tell her that everything was going to be all right. There wasn't time. He could only say, "Get on my lap and hold on tight. This is going to be a bumpy ride."
To her credit, Sayla knew that now was not the time for questions. She adjusted herself so he could see over her shoulder and pulled the seatbelts over both of them.
"Kai! Follow me!" Cima's mobile suit started running towards the back of the base and launched itself upwards, using the Gundam's takeoff capability. Snipers with jetpacks were all around them, but these things were equipped with new armour, protecting them quite well. The airlock doors were ahead.
"Kai! Open those for us!" Cima ordered.
Kai reached down and tapped in the codes to open the door. They slid open and the suits soared inside. The doors closed behind them, trapping some of the snipers inside with them.
"Kai, you're not going to...?" Sayla asked.
"You have a better option?" Kai asked. "Cima, Hamaan, shoot those guys so we don't space them alive, okay?"
Lights sparkled around them, each ending the life of a soldier as the outer doors slid open.
"We have company," Hamaan said.
"I don't see--oh right," Cima answered. "Kai, we don't have to go far. These coordinates." Numbers came up on his screen.
"Gotcha."
Some hastily launched GMs appeared in the distance. They hit their thrusters. Cima, in the Gundam, was having a hard time controlling the thing. "Why's this machine so sluggish?" she asked Kai.
"Dunno, I've never been inside of it. Standby." He aimed his vulcans at a nearby opponent and let him have it. "Probably tailored for Amuro. He's a New Type."
"Damn, Hamaan, you should have taken this."
"You wanted it so badly, ma'am. Try the beam rifle."
Cima brought it around. "This feels better."
The Lili Marlene rose into sight then, weapons blazing. Cima ordered Hamaan and Kai to pull in closer to her, so they wouldn't be mistaken for the enemy. The formation had the added benefit of allowing them to cover Cima, Kai thought, but it didn't anger him, he'd have done the same. A few minutes later, they were docked within the Jion ship.
Kai held Sayla's hand as they floated from their suits into the corridors of the Lili Marlene. They were met by the impassable Kosell, who nodded at Cima.
"I lost the red dress," she confessed to him. He shrugged.
"I stink," Sayla observed softly. Kai had a chance to look at her for the first time since she'd fallen into the cockpit. She was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, pale, her hair stringy. She did stink, but Kai wasn't going to agree with her and make her feel worse.
"Why don't you and Kai take my quarters tonight. There's a shower in there and the bed's large enough for two." She peered down at Sayla. "I think the doctor should take a look at you. I'll send her by."
Kai supported Sayla as they followed Cima to her quarters. The bedroom was big enough for a couple of lockers and a double bed, with a bathroom to the side. The room was decorated like an Arabian harem fantasy, with draperies on the walls, carpets on the floor, the double bed covered in bright paisley sheets with animal furs as accents.
"Wow," Kai said.
"Well I'm not going to spend my nights staring at bare steel walls," Cima said. "I like to be comfortable." She opened a locker and took out a sweater and skirt. "Here, Sayla. I'll have to send down to Supply for underwear for you."
"Thank you."
"I'll call for some food and the doctor."
Kai joined Sayla in the shower. She was standing motionless, the hot water splashing onto her. Kai washed her like a child, shampooing her hair thoroughly. "How long has it been since they let you wash your hair?"
"They let me take one shower a week. I was almost due."
He sank his fingers into her soapy hair, feeling a week of oil rising to the top, rinsing out under the hot water. He wasn't used to seeing Sayla like this. She had her low moments of course, and during the war she'd had plenty of doubts and fears. He had never seen her non-responsive though. Once she was clean he wrapped her in towels and steered her to the bed, drying her off before dressing her and himself. Kai had just gotten her under the covers when the ship's doctor came in.
"It's just shock," the doctor told Kai when she was through examining Sayla. "It doesn't appear she was physically harmed, but she's been kept isolated, underfed, and awake. Being rescued just must have been too much for her. Here's some sedatives if she needs them, but probably the best thing now is to keep her warm and let her get sleep and food."
Hamaan soon appeared with a meal for Sayla, who broke out of her stupour and pounced on it. An anonymous marine showed up with clean clothes for the both of them. Alone again, Kai curled around Sayla protectively. She rolled over and began to sob against his shoulder. There was nothing to do except hold her until the storm passed and Sayla fell asleep in his arms.
Some hours later, Cima poked her head into the darkened bedroom and heard deep, even breathing. She withdrew and closed the door. Let them sleep. This was no time to tell the exhausted pair that the Federation and the Kingdom of Jion had just re-declared war on one another.
*Wave of the Zaku hand to Don McKillican, Bell Canada Security, who made this observation.