Martius city
PLANTs
"Wait, that's what they wanted to know?"
"Yes," Dearka reaffirmed. His debriefing actually didn't take that long, only a few hours. In that time, it had been decided that no vital intel had been divulged and that Dearka was, without a doubt, uncompromised. Now he, Nicol and Athrun, still rubbing his jaw, were seated in a small meeting room.
"War factions," Athrun said, "general leadership, N-Jammers, who invented mobile suits, Morgenrate, ZAFT's goals, Earth Alliance aims... Aside from Morgenrate, pretty much all of that is common knowledge. Then there's the data we gave them."
"About that, what did you exchange for me?"
"A historical record of the last year or so."
"Seriously? You made me spill intimate secrets in exchange for, what, a page of a history book?"
"Now, now, you already punched me in the face."
"Yeah, and I'm still thinking about castrating you!"
"Oh come on."
"Has your father said anything?" Nicol asked.
"Yeah, he gave me a call after debriefing. I assured him I was fine, but he still insists on meeting me before we're redeployed."
"Can you blame him?" asked Athrun.
"Eh, not really."
"So, what can you tell us about those mobile suits?" Nicol inquired.
"The Gundams, not much. They're faster, stronger and have more firepower than any of our mobile suits. The only silver lining in all this, aside from their apparent ignorance, is that they aren't a part of the Earth Alliance."
"They really aren't?" Dearka crossed his arms and adopted an odd tone.
"We are Celestial Being, an armed organization devoted to the elimination of war by armed force in accordance to the will of Aeolia Schenberg." He dropped the act. "At least, that's what they say."
"That's impossible," Athrun said, leaning back in his chair. "Attacking people because they happen to be at war won't lead to peace. If anything, that will just make everyone hate you. So unless they have a different plan, then they're going to end up as warmongers with overpowered mobile suits and an impossible objective."
"Regardless, they are a force to be reckoned with; especially that Setsuna guy."
"Setsuna?" That sounded familiar.
"Yeah, he pilots the white-blue one. He took out the Tiger."
"Oh!" Nichol smacked his forehead. "Athrun, that recording, from that burst transmission."
Ptolemy
"Well, at least we're not clueless anymore," Lockon surmised. They were gathered in the briefing room, scrutinizing the data on display.
"A terrorist attack on a peace summit," Sumeragi read aloud, "the only surviving delegate being the current leader of the PLANTs. The Earth Alliance responded by declaring war on the PLANTs and launching a nuclear warhead at one of the colonies."
"Oh my God," Mileina gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes alighting on images of the attack and the shattered remains of Julius Seven.
"Unbelievable," Tieria smarted as Sumeragi continued.
"The PLANTs military, ZAFT, resorted to implementing," she squinted at the text, "Operation: Uroboros. During which, they released dozens of Neutron-Jammers, which prevents the occurrence of any type of nuclear fission. Since then, it has been nothing more than a slow back-and-forth, mostly in ZAFT's favor."
"But it's essentially a stalemate?" Ian inquired.
"Yes."
"All things considered," said Lasse, "I can't decide whether this Earth is better or worse than ours."
"Almost the entire world is at war," Tieria observed, "but this world is free of the Innovators and the A-LAWS."
"Indeed," Sumeragi concurred.
"So what do we do?" Lockon asked. "Do we just let everyone be and try and find a way back? Or do we start doing armed interventions according to our mission statement?"
"Honestly," Sumeragi sighed and shrugged, "I don't think interventions can do anything at this point. This isn't like how it was before the Earth Sphere Federation, with hundreds of nation states with wildly different interests. Neither is it like the Federation, where the majority of the world is technically at peace, save for the actions of the A-LAWS and the Innovators."
"But the Federation actually nuked one of the ZAFT colonies," Saji pointed out. "Doesn't that make them the aggressors in this case?"
"The Atlantic Federation, yes. But it isn't just them." She indicated a section of data that the crew of the Archangel actually provided. "The Earth Alliance is made up of the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the Republic of East Asia, the South African Union (currently in exile) and the United States of South America. A nuke going off in space is not something that can be swept under the rug, everyone is bound to know about it. Despite this, four separate political entities decided to ally with the Federation."
"Even though they murdered all those people?" Mileina asked incredulously.
"Over two hundred thousand civilians," Feldt solemnly added, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Exactly," said Sumeragi, "these other nations joined the war effort, even when the aggressor committed a massive war crime."
"You think it has something to do with the whole 'Natural / Coordinator' thing?" Feldt asked.
"That's a possibility, considering what Setsuna has told us." A few of them looked to Setsuna, standing aloft with his arms crossed. He hadn't said anything since they started going over the data. "What was that one group you learned about?"
"Blue Cosmos," he answered, eyes locked onto the floor screen.
"Blue Cosmos. If Blue Cosmos is one such example, it won't be much of a stretch to think that there are other terrorist groups for or against that same ideology."
"Terrorists again," Lockon uttered to himself.
"There are obviously still facts we don't know," Sumeragi continued. "While the Federation are the obvious aggressors, something still compels other nations to fight against ZAFT."
"There are countries that are unaligned," Tieria observed. "The Equitorial Union, Orb, the Kingdom of Scandinavia. Maybe we should head to one of those nations next." Sumeragi nodded her head at this.
"A neutral perspective would be greatly appreciated at this point. Guess that's where we're headed next."
"Sumeragi," Setsuna suddenly spoke up, raising his gaze and uncrossing his arms as he straightened up.
"Yes? What is it?"
"I would like to request permission for a solo scouting mission."
"A solo scouting mission?" Sumeragi repeated. "Where exactly."
"The middle east, northern Azadistan." Everyone looked at him.
"You mean, Krugis?" He nodded.
"I know this world is different, but I still need to see for myself." He inclined his head slightly. "With your permission."
Sumeragi scrutinized him with wide eyes. Setsuna never made a personal request, ever (disregarding that one time where he got the sudden urge to jump into battle and fall to Earth after coming into contact with unknowns)! But nevermind that! More importantly, he most likely intends to "scout" with 00, which was still their strongest unit, even without the 0-Raiser. Then again, it's just a "scouting" mission, and this Earth's mobile units are easily the weakest any of them ever encountered. No! Stop it! Don't make stupid assumptions like that, that's when you lose. But it is a fact that Setsuna has been on his own multiple times and always made it back alive and with his Gundam intact. And he would be investigating an area that he would, theoretically, be intimately familiar with. Even if the nations, peoples and buildings are different, the geography and geology should be more-or-less the same.
"Very well," Sumeragi decided. "Just to be clear, you are only going to look, you're not going to start anything."
"That's right."
"Alright. Then that's what we'll do, among a few other things. I'll let you guys know when I finish the mission plan."
Martius City
"Setsuna, this is Allelujah, we need to withdraw! Setsuna-"
Dearka nodded as the audio-bite finished.
"Yeah, that's one of their voices alright, but I'm not sure who it belongs to."
"Obviously, it belongs to this 'Al-lay-lu-yah' person," said Athrun, rolling his eyes.
"Well yeah, of course. But I don't recall meeting an Allelujah when I was captured."
"No matter," Athrun dismissed, "all that's important is that Celestial Being is essentially a powerful wild card with their own ambitions, whatever those may be." Dearka leaned back and stretched in his chair.
"So, back to Earth and after the legged ship, Archangel?"
"Unless we're ordered otherwise," Athrun concurred.
"Archangel," Nicol repeated. "Hopefully it's the only one."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you read the Divine Comedy?" Neither Athrun or Dearka had, though they knew the general synopsis. "In the last book, Paradise, Dante describes a hierarchy of angels in heaven. Archangels are one, but there are also Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues and others."
"So?" Dearka asked. "Archangel is only the name of one ship."
"But what if it's only one ship of a class? We're already having so much trouble because of the Archangel. What if there are sister ships?"
"I wouldn't worry too much," Athrun said, thinking about Kira. "Most of our trouble is because of the Strike, and there is only one Strike."
"For now at least," said Dearka. A communication station on the wall beeped and Athrun turned it on. Rau Le Creuset appeared on screen.
"Commander."
"Athrun, I apologize for not being able to contact you sooner. Things are very sensitive where I'm currently stationed. Is Dearka there?"
"I am," Dearka answered as he and Nicol stood next to Athrun.
"How are you?"
"I'm fine," he glared at Athrun, "just very annoyed, and eager to get back into action."
"That's good, but do you still have the Buster?"
"No," he admitted, crestfallen.
"And Yzak?"
"Still on Earth, and he still has the Dual."
"Hmm... you still want to pursue the legged ship I take it?"
"Of course."
"I wonder... Athrun, when do you depart for Gibraltar?"
"Tomorrow, 0900," Athrun reported. Le Creuset rubbed his chin.
"I think I might be able to secure something for Dearka."
"Wait, really?"
"Maybe. I have a friend in the Heinlein Design Bureau. He told me about a prototype he has that's combat ready, but only the one." The young pilots looked at each other. It was a risk, but then again the mobile suits they were flying since Heliopolis were technically prototypes themselves.
"I'll take him up on it," Dearka decided, "just let him know that I specialize in fire support."
"I will tell him."
"What is this machine called?"
"I don't remember its designation, but its callsign is: ZAKU."
Ptolemy
After everyone dispersed, Feldt lingered a bit on her way back to the bridge. She stopped, placing her hand against the wall as she sorted through the thoughts in her head. Tapping a finger on the wall, she made a decision and turned around. Down the hall and to a fork, she made an educated guess and moved toward the hanger. Entering the hanger, quickly spied Setsuna looking up at 00 and floated over.
"Setsuna?"
Setsuna blinked and looked at her, looking mildly nonplussed. "Yes Feldt?" Feldt opened her mouth and just-as-quickly closed it, one of her hands on the railing and the other reaching up to rub the back of her neck. Setsuna tilted his head. He could see she was nervous, but why would she be?
Feldt took a deep breath before looking him in the eye and trying again.
"Setsuna, let me accompany you on your mission."
Silence.
Setsuna blinked twice.
"Wait, what?"
"When you scout Krugis, let me accompany you."
Silence.
Setsuna blinked thrice, suddenly aware of her cheeks turning a distinct shade of red.
"Umm... why do you want to come with me?" Her cheeks turned redder.
"Would... would it be too troublesome?"
"No, it wouldn't," he admitted. There was more than enough room in the cockpit for her to ride along with him. But that still begs the question.
"But why? If there's something you want to know about Krugis, I could send you a video or maybe even just tell you."
"I can't explain why. Or rather," she reached around her midriff, her fingers grasping each of her elbows. It looked like she was trying to embrace herself while her gaze dropped. "I can't come up with an explanation that makes sense." She forced her gaze back up to Setsuna's face. "I just feel like it's something I have to do."
Setsuna continued to look on with wide eyes. He couldn't make heads or tails of this, but she seemed almost desperate.
"Are, I mean, do you want me to take you without telling the others?" Feldt immediately shook her head.
"No, I intend to tell Sumeragi, but I wanted to ask you first. So please," she leaned forward and Setsuna actually leaned back a bit, "let me accompany you."
What in the world is she thinking? he thought. Why does she want to come along? That's all I want to know. But, there isn't really a reason for me to say "no" is there?
"Okay?"
"What?"
"Umm, yes."
"Oh," she visibly relaxed, "okay, thank you." And before Setsuna could think of anything else to say, Feldt kicked off the floor and headed back to the door she entered from.
Why does she want to accompany me to Krugis?
In the corridor, Feldt briefly stopped again. She pressed a palm against her chest and felt her beating heart.
Oh my God, I actually did it! She couldn't help herself. She let out a little squeal of joy. Way to go me! I asked him! I asked him and he didn't say: no! She set off again, doing her best to calm her beating heart before getting to Sumeragi's room.