By: Shadow Chaser
Started: 5/31/04. Completed:
History:
It is now C.E. 73…
After the events of C.E. 71 in which both the Earth Forces and PLANT declared a cease-fire, peace has reigned and disarmament has begun. The nation of Orb has been rebuilt and are now mediate the peace between Earth and PLANT. Though both Naturals and Coordinators are still distrustful of each other, many have now welcomed the peacetime, though prejudices and persecution are still running high after two years.
But there are still those who resent everything that's been happening; people like Blue Cosmos and the more radical factions of Coordinators who still support Patrick Zala's ideal of ultimate Coordinator rule. Under the flag of neutrality, Orb has created a patrolling unit (like Preventers in G-Wing) to smother the flames of possible war before it starts up again. Among the group, known as Liberation Forces, or LF, are a mix of Coordinators and Naturals who are willing to put aside differences and work together.
However, not all fires can be stopped in time, and sometimes, there are those who still sneak around with inside support. Their first target, to eliminate Orb…
Story:
Phase One – An End to the Peace"Miss Cagalli, you must wear at least a ceremonial outfit if not a dress when you address the Senate," the exasperated voice of the maid echoed loudly in a spacious room with sunlight streaming in.
Cagalli Yula Attha, only 18 in recent months, glared at the maid, her hazel eyes flashing in anger. She hated dresses. She hated dress uniforms. She hated talking in front of those damn bastards in the Senate. She hated her job. Since her father perished in the attack two years ago, by the Earth Forces' hand, she had barely wanted to step in front of those ignorant Senators who only thought of themselves and made empty platitudes and condolences for Orb's lost. But now, as the ruler of Orb and its chief negotiator in maintaining neutrality throughout the Earth and space, she had to step up to the plate.
It wasn't entirely by her choice. She was quite happy living on the small island with Markio and his group of orphans, along with her brother Kira Yamato, her love Athrun Zala, and her newest and closest friend Lacus Clyne. But when a few of the surviving members of the ruling council of Orb declared that they were to be the main neutral force in the construction of peace between Earth and PLANT, she had returned to find that her homeland was rebuilding itself from its remains. She had been overjoyed then, but that was when the other hammer dropped. The remaining members of the ruling council wanted Princess Cagalli Attha to lead them…
Initially she had refused and offered the position to Lacus, but she had told her that she had been named by PLANT to be one of their representatives to the Earth Senate and so had to decline. She had looked to Kira and Athrun, but both shook their heads, saying that they were only soldiers, nothing more.
Now she found herself wishing that she had dumped this onto Kira, though it would be cruel to her own brother as he had gone through hell and back through the war two years ago, and was only now on the mend, psyche-wise. At least Lacus was in the Senate hall and was one of her greatest supporters.
Looking outside into the sunny cloudless sky, she wondered how her brother and Athrun were doing. No one outside of the four of them knew of Kira's relationship to her and even then, Kira was still a bit distant about the brother-sister thing – something had affected him badly in Colony Mendel, she suspected that, and she intended to keep the secret that way. No one also knew about her being a Coordinator, and she also intended to keep that secret far away from the prying ears of the Senate and from the press, especially the press.
Kira had opted to continue his university education and was now almost graduating soon, while Athrun had decided to work with the technicians on Orb's defensive system. While they were all living in Orb, with the exception of Lacus who shuttled back and forth from Orb to Aprilius City to give her reports, Cagalli barely had time to see any of them.
Though Athrun graced her with many gifts and kisses each time he visited, she wished that he would come more often. The kinds of gifts he gave made her smile – even though some were Haros like Lacus', some were also beautiful artworks of origami and little mechanical devices that helped make her life easier. She still remembered when Kira had taken one of the Haros given to her from Athrun and reprogrammed it to follow Athrun everywhere.
Athrun had taken his revenge, by taking one of Lacus' Haros that he built and making it follow Kira around. Cagalli grinned as she remembered when she stopped the two by asking Lacus if she could borrow Pinkie, the pink little Haro with a colorful mouth to boot, and making it say some more obscene words, but directed at both Kira and Athrun.
Both conceded and reprogrammed the Haros back to their normal state, though Cagalli occasionally saw one following Athrun whenever he came here. She wanted to leave Pinkie's programming in, but returned the little obnoxious ball to its regular state since it usually followed Lacus around during her diplomatic tours and meetings. She didn't want to embarrass her friend in front of important delegates if the Haro suddenly started swearing.
"Princess, you must at least wear something nice," the maid's voice startled her out of her thoughts and she turned and glared at her.
"Why?" she decided to give her a hard time. Dammit, she didn't want to wear a dress or dress uniform!
The maid sighed tiredly, "Princess, do you remember today's proposal? The Senate has been arguing about energy control and want at least the PLANTs to give what is left of Genesis to the Earth Alliance so they may ease the energy crisis around their nations."
Cagalli nodded, annoyed, "I know. Who wouldn't since this thing's been debated for the past six months." Though Orb's energy levels were pretty reasonable, making them one of the most prosperous nations, they were also held in jealousy in the eyes of the other Earth nations because of their wealth and prosperity. Cagalli wanted to say to them, 'Well, don't fight wars then,' and snub them off, but she couldn't now – she was now…more…respectable, refined… "Like a damn china," she muttered underneath her breath before she heaved a heavy sigh.
"Fine, dress uniform," she decided. She figured as soon as the meeting was over, she split and head to the defensive forces control room to surprise Athrun.
If there was one thing about university courses he hated, was the fact that the general education courses were always a pain in the neck. Apparently, when he applied to Heliopolis' sister campus in Orb, his transcript had transferred through, but in his last year, they had found that he lacked four credits in poli-sci so besides finishing up his last semester of college, he also had to take one social sciences course.
For Kira Yamato, he had been enjoying his peaceful life for the last two years. Though his military file was classified and not many higher-ups in the Earth Forces Military did not know about his existence as both a Coordinator and as the mobile suit pilot of both the Strike and Freedom Gundam, he had been forbidden to reveal anything about what happened after Heliopolis through the cease-fire between ZAFT and Earth. He was glad in a way, as he didn't have to face the media like his best friend Athrun did.
Though the courses he was taking made him one of the youngest students in Orb's university, many of his classmates in that class didn't really mind if he was young and though some questioned if he was a Coordinator, he didn't really answer to those questions. Let them make their own conclusions, he had decided, he just wanted to live his life peacefully, back to the days before Heliopolis was destroyed. He was kind of glad that a majority of people in his political science course were of his age, and none of them knew that he was graduating at the end of the semester.
But there was still one problem, what would he do after he graduated. He didn't want to do anything that involved the military, so Orb's defensive forces were out of the question. He had considered going to PLANT to help Lacus, but that would place him in the public eye and he didn't want that. Orb had been considering rebuilding Heliopolis and so far that was the most viable option for him. It was far away from the military, with L3 all the way on the opposite side of the Moon's rotation, far away from ZAFT, PLANT, and Earth Forces.
It wasn't the fact that he wanted to be away from his friends; it was the fact that he needed some time away from them. Ever since Rau Le Creuset told him of his birth origins on Colony Mendel, he had been distancing himself from his friends…he just didn't know how they would react, or even how the world would react, if they found out the true origins of Dr. Hibiki's research and massive genetic manipulation – and especially him as the result of so many failures before him.
If anything about Hibiki's experiments leaked out, he figured the Earth and ZAFT would immediately take him and use him as a lab experiment and that was one of the chief reasons he wanted to be far away from them as possible.
"Kira! Hey Kira!" a sharp poke to his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts and he blinked his eyes as a slightly annoyed face filled his vision. Narrowed blue eyes and dirty blonde hair greeted him and he pulled back, startled by the closeness of those eyes.
"Haruka," he blinked as Haruka Satou pursed her lips at him.
"Kira, you idiot, stop spacing out!" she said, her hands on her hips. The same age as him, Haruka had become one of Kira's friends in the poli-sci class he had signed up in. Though he didn't really want any close friends, he had felt sorry for her as she had claimed she was a Coordinator, but didn't really have too much of the intuitive know-how of Coordinators. That led to teasing by the others in the class and Kira had defended her. It also led to her having a schoolgirl crush on him – to which he did not like it at all. He valued her as a friend, as she was funny on occasion, but she followed him around constantly, like a little lost puppy dog. Luckily though, one of her friends, Taylor Ren, had noticed his discomfort and was always on hand to drag her away. That was how Taylor became another friend to Kira.
"Ru, stop harassing Kira," Taylor yawned next to Kira. It was already 10 in the morning and their poli-sci class had scheduled a trip to the Senate hall today to hear deliberations on the Genesis Bill, something their teacher had them research about for the past couple of months in preparation of a report due in two weeks. The class had divided into groups, each focusing on a certain aspect of the Genesis Bill, and their teacher thought it would be a great opportunity for them to go hear what it was like to debate among top notch politicians, especially since this was related to their history, as their teacher had said.
Initially when their teacher had declared this to be their major project of the semester, he had almost dropped the course, but there were no other openings in any of the other poli-sci courses so he had to stay in this one. He didn't want to do it and so convinced Haruka and Taylor that their focus should just be how a bill should be passed in the Senate considering all political aspects. Let some other group do the history of how Genesis became so hotly debated he explained and his two friends reluctantly agreed.
"But he shouldn't be spacing so much," Haruka turned to Taylor and stuck her tongue out at him to which he returned by blowing a raspberry at her. "My mom said it wasn't healthy, as it leads to too much thinking, and too much thinking will eventually blow your head up."
Kira stared at Haruka, jaw dropped slightly open. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Taylor wearing the same expression while Haruka continued on, oblivious. She finally noticed them and frowned. "What?"
"You still quote from your mom?!" Taylor started laughing and Kira grinned too. "Come on, Ru, you're IN COLLEGE!"
"Shh!" their teacher hissed at them and Taylor immediately shut up while Haruka turned a bit pink.
"So, shouldn't freshman feel homesick?" she glanced at Kira, hoping he would support her and Kira shrugged.
"I guess," he replied. He didn't really know how to answer, as while he did feel homesick sometimes, he didn't really have a home, per se.
"See! Kira agrees with me, so nyah!" Haruka smiled proudly.
"Shh, quiet you three! It's going to start," their teacher glared at the three of them and they shut up.
Though the public seats were in the back of the Senate room, it gave them a good view of what was happening. Kira didn't see Lacus though, and wondered if she was going to attend today's hearing. Though he couldn't exactly wave a hello to her or even talk with her, he wished that he could see her at least. The last time they talked was about a week ago and it was through the private channels he had on his comlink. He didn't know if he loved Lacus or not, but he knew that she was someone he could share his thoughts with – a soul mate of sorts.
Suddenly the Senate Hall hushed into quiet murmurings as to Kira's surprise, Cagalli walked from one of the doors to the podium in the middle of the hall. A part of his mind reprimanded him for being surprise and he realized that as Orb's leader, Cagalli was bound to appear in the Senate talks. He remembered reading and watching media reports that Orb was the chief mediator between PLANT and Earth and so why not have its leader be the one to stop tensions from rising.
He saw Cagalli look around and spot him before tilting her head slightly; a silent question of why the heck was he here. He made a subtle gesture to those around him, indicating for her, his classmates, and she nodded once to say that she understood before focusing his gaze back onto the senators in the room. He hoped that after this hearing, their teacher would let them roam a bit, maybe ask some of the senators questions, and so he'd have a chance to slip out and catch his twin sister and talk with her.
No one with the exception of Athrun and Lacus knew that they were brother and sister, and he intended to keep that secret that way. It would be hard with the press a few rows below them, covering the hearing, but he could just be a student asking the leader of Orb her views on the whole Genesis thing.
"To continue on last week's hearings, Senator Ivensten, you were talking about the plans for Genesis. Would you like to expand on your views or yield your position to a member of PLANT or its allies?" Cagalli started without preamble. Her voice was strong and carried power, Kira noted, she was perfectly groomed to be a soldier and the leader of Orb, though a little rough around the edges.
A senator stood up in the middle of the second row. "No thank you, Princess Cagalli. I give the floor to PLANT and its allies."
Cagalli nodded, "Senator Amalfi, do you wish to speak?"
A dirty blond haired man stood up and nodded before walking over to the podium as Cagalli backed off and sat down in one of the seats next to the podium. Next to her were the rest of the Orb's council members, all four of them.
Senator Aaron Amalfi was the husband of Yuri Amalfi, a representative of PLANT's own governing body, the Supreme Council, and as Kira had found out from talking with Athrun on occasion, the father of Nicol, the pilot of Blitz Gundam. Even now, two years after the war, he still could not look at Amalfi and when he saw him on television, he always switched the channel. Now, to see him in person, it was hard for him to control himself from breaking down.
Too many innocent lives lost in that war, too many memories…he had to get away from everything, to escape and live his own life; far away from those that causes his memories.
"Hey Kira, you all right?" Taylor shook his shoulder and Kira snapped out of his musings, and realized he had been white-knuckled, his grip on the side of his chair tight. He forcibly unclenched his fingers from the chair and nodded.
"Yeah, just kind of surprised," he mumbled an excuse and got a skeptical look from Taylor but left it alone as Amalfi started talking.
"While those in PLANT realize that the important lack of energy that our home planet is suffering from, we want to completely destroy any trace of Genesis, including its plans. We don't want anything like what happened to Ptolemaeus Lunar Base to happen anywhere else. I understand that the Cyclops System used two years ago to destroy JOSH-A in Alaska was based off of Genesis or vice-versa. I ask, what happened to those plans?"
"They are none of your concern!" a senator suddenly shouted out from the right side of the hall, and all heads turned towards the outspoken senator. Kira noticed that Amalfi had narrowed his eyes as he stepped to the side to let Cagalli speak again.
"Senator Ingriss, the hall has not recognized you at the moment. Please refrain from this outburst," Cagalli said and Kira noticed that his sister's glare was potent and the female senator that had spoken out sat back down, fuming. With irony, he noted that the press had scrambled for cameras and recorders while reporters were furiously making notes.
Amalfi took back the stand, "I understand the need for the orbital mirrors to perhaps reflect the sun's rays down upon Earth to capture energy, but using Genesis' mirrors is not the way. It would take time to dismantle pieces of what Genesis is capable of in order to return the mirrors to their normal state. By that time, we have estimated that the energy crisis will be greater if we do that. My colleague, Senator Clyne has proposed what you have said to the Supreme Council back in L5 and they are in the midst of discussing it, but I do not think such plan will be beneficial to Earth.
"What I propose instead of having Genesis or Cyclops is to use the debris field around Earth to set up orbital mirrors that will benefit everyone. These mirrors can be used to help heat up distant colonies at perhaps L1 or even repopulate L4."
The senate hall suddenly burst into fairly loud murmurings and Kira noticed that some of his classmates perked up at the idea. It was feasible, he supposed, and perhaps using the wreckage of Junius 7 as orbital mirrors along with debris of ships and whatnot would be beneficial. He was kind of shocked really, to hear something like that suggested from a representative of PLANT.
"It would be a fitting memorial of life to those who perished on Junius 7," Amalfi continued, "it would also symbolize that life continues and those who have gone before us, still continue to help us live."
"What of the time it takes to construct and fix these mirrors in the debris field? What are the dangers involved?" a senator suddenly stood up. A few loud agreements followed the senator.
"Salvage operations could be established quickly from neutral nations like Orb, to prevent anyone blaming each other for foul play. In the recent years, as some of ZAFT's ships passed through the debris field, they've been counting the mirrors that can be recycled and reused for this purpose. Though the estimated time of construction hasn't been calculated, we think that it would be faster than reprogramming Genesis' mirrors," Amalfi said before a hand rose up in the air and a nod from Cagalli okayed the senator to stand up.
Kira noted that it was Ingriss, the outspoken woman, who stood up. "Senator Amalfi, if I may take the podium?"
Amalfi looked a bit discomforted, but reluctantly nodded and left the podium. He sat down in his seat as Ingriss, looking smug stepped up. Kira immediately didn't like her gaze at all. It was predatory, like she wanted to claw something to death – the gaze made shivers run up and down his back.
"A salvage operation to the debris belt would be beneficial, but I question the judgment of my colleague. Since the war and before, the belt has been a dangerous place for ships to roam through. Countless of ships have been lost due to some accident in the debris belt. What would happen if the orbital mirrors were to be placed there? Wouldn't they suffer the same fate, and in a wave effect, force us to rebuild mirrors once more – perhaps even spending more money?
"Of course, this is all speculation…"
While Senator Ingriss kept talking Kira noticed that an aide had come up to Amalfi and was whispering in his ear. Amalfi looked concerned for a moment before nodding and stood up quietly and left the hall, the aide following behind him. Though it was usual for aides to tell various Senators of calls and whatnot, this one seemed a bit odd…at least in Kira's opinion.
Shrugging, he turned back to what Ingriss was saying, noting that while she seemed manipulative, she was also making a valid case against Amalfi's statements.
"Hey, Kira, you wanna get a snack after this is over?" Taylor whispered.
"Sure. Where do-"
Kira didn't get to finish, as his whole world became a multitude of yellow, orange, and black smoke then blackness. A loud roaring sound filled his ears, but then, silence.
"What's the output of the verniers?"
"120% capacity. Great job Athrun!"
Athrun Zala smiled as he saw from the distant observation window Dr. Erica Simmons giving him a thumbs-up. He shifted in the seat of the redesigned mass produced Gundam Astray Mark II. Typing a few more commands to the Astray II, he finally shut it off and opened the cockpit and stepped out. Grabbing the extension cord, he lowered himself to the grassy ground of the training ground. No one outside of Orb knew that the country had rebuilt is mobile suit force, with the exception of probably the spies within Orb from both the Earth Military and ZAFT. But even then, they wouldn't do anything as LF was keeping a close eye on the two military powers.
When Lacus accepted the position of representative to the Senate from PLANT and Cagalli as leader of Orb, he had considered joining up with the Liberation Forces, a group created by Orb that mixed both Earth and ZAFT forces together to help keep the neutrality. Except these were ships, crews, and mobile suit pilots who were willing to work together. LF's capital ship was the Archangel and its two second-in-command ships, the Eternal and Kusanagi. Though there were a lot more ships in the mini fleet, they were directly independent, though loyal towards the neutrality of Orb.
He considered it, but then decided that he needed a break from the military life and applied to work at the technological research department of Orb's government. It gave him the opportunity to work on the mobile suits and stay close to the military, but he wasn't in the military and so didn't have to follow orders like he usually would. Plus it put him closer to Cagalli to whom he had taken a serious interest in, in the past two years.
Right now, the new Astray II models were to be tested then put onto the LF ships to help better patrol and quiet down possible insurrections. The Archangel was currently in dock with the other ships all over the Earth and space. Athrun had yet to see Captain Ramius or any of her crew and was hoping that after this test, he would be allowed to leave. He briefly wondered if Dearka was wandering around the city, with his girlfriend Miriallia. Though he didn't know Miriallia that well, not as well as Kira did, he could see that she brought out a gentler side of Dearka.
As he got into the lift to take him up to the observation room, he wondered how Yzak was doing. He had not talked with him since the war and while Dearka kept him posted of Yzak's situation, he had found out through Lacus and through his own military connections that the Joule family was still in hot waters. Ezalia, Yzak's mother, had been arrested for conspiring to wipe out both Coordinators and Naturals at the end of the war and Yzak had disappeared. Though the military still kept his file, Athrun figured Yzak would never quit the military – he had too much pride and skill as a mobile suit pilot to let something like that happen to him.
"Hey great job today. I'll give the results to the others so we can finish the upgrades on the other Astray II's," Erica Simmons greeted him from her seat in the front of a massive amount of buttons, knobs, and computer screens in three rows.
"So I'm good for the day?" he asked, running a hand through his dark blue hair.
"Yeah," Erica waved him off, "Dearka came in looking for you about an hour ago. I think he said he'll be wandering the stores in Market Square with Miri."
Athrun grinned, so Dearka did come. "All right. I'll see you tomorrow, Erica," he waved a goodbye before heading up the stairs in the back of the room.
Walking down another hall before turning left, he entered into the bright sunlight of the day and closed his eyes against it. A warm breeze lifted up his hair and his short sleeve shirt, the summer in full, and finally he opened his eyes before walking to his car and got in. He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, stopping only at the security gate to show his I.D. badge before the guard let him out. It was only a quick drive to Market Square, but the question was, where was Dearka. Market Square was fairly large and had a lot of shopping and eatery places.
He pulled into a parking space and got out. Locking his car, he looked around, a bit apprehensive as to where he would find Dearka. Miri was a girl and girls usually liked clothes and shopping, but it was past lunchtime so perhaps they were eating lunch. He looked around…
"Athrun!" Dearka's voice made him turn to his left and he saw the two of them sitting underneath an umbrella-table, eating lunch. Dearka was grinning and waving while Miri smiled. Both were dressed in the blue, white trimmed uniforms of the LF.
"Hey Dearka, Miriallia," he greeted them as he walked over and sat down at the third unoccupied seat, "glad that I didn't have to search all over Market Square for you two."
"Well, Miri decided to eat lunch next to the lots so we would be able to find you a lot easier," Dearka explained and Athrun nodded. His friend hadn't changed much in the past two years, but Miriallia did. Her hair was longer now and she had lost much of her youthful features. Instead they were replaced with a more sophisticated look that made her like a good-looking model.
Though he still wasn't totally at ease talking with Miri Haw, after all he did kill her fiancé in the war, it was the soldier discipline inside of him that internalized these feelings. He knew that Kira had a harder time internalizing Nicol's death; after all, he was just a civilian, turned Gundam pilot with barely any military training.
"So how long are you guys in port?" he asked.
"We just came in about a day ago and the Captain gave us shore leave for the next two days. She also said something about picking up some Astray II models," Miri explained and Athrun nodded. That was why Erica wanted him to improve the models quickly. Archangel was to have the first batch.
"There's the possibility of something happening in one of the PLANTs, either Februarius 3 or Martius 5. Dad's been giving us good information so right now Eternal's checking out the lead in Martius while we're going to Februarius," Dearka said, downing the rest of his drink.
Athrun nodded; he knew that Dearka's father was the representative to the Supreme Council from Februarius City and so would be able to provide excellent knowledge to help the LF. "How's everyone else?"
"The Captain is doing fine as are the rest of the crew. I think Sai's found himself a new girlfriend, though I don't really know," Miri looked a bit skeptical as she pushed around a tomato from the remains of her salad.
"I'll tell Kira to call Sai," Athrun knew that Kira liked to keep in touch with his friends, but wasn't always able to due to his school work.
"Speaking of which, how is he?" Miri tilted her head.
"He's fine, though he's complaining about his political science class," Athrun started before Dearka started cracking up.
"What, he can't stand the politics?"
"They're doing a research study about the Genesis Bill," Athrun said in a quiet voice and that shut Dearka up immediately.
The silence was a bit awkward until Miri coughed politely. "One of the television screens is showing the debate, and Cagalli's there."
Athrun nodded, "Yeah. She's been working hard on trying to keep the Senate from becoming a bloodbath. It's not easy for the Coordinators from PLANT and I think the only one anyone respects is Lacus."
Dearka nodded in agreement, "Yeah. But she's not there today, so things are bound to get sticky."
Athrun shrugged, "Cagalli's going to be fine." He trusted her to simmer things down, even though she was probably more inclined to swear or even start shooting the Senators if she had a gun and they started to get rowdy.
"So how's-"
There was a distant sound of a 'boom' and Dearka stopped in mid sentence and looked up and around, concerned. Athrun also looked around, wondering what the boom was. It had sounded muffled…
"Oh my God! Someone just bombed the Senate Hall!" a woman nearby shouted and Athrun froze. He turned in his seat and stared at where the woman was pointing to a live television feed of the Senate Hall and saw that the news program was putting on repeat what was their former live feed on slow motion.
It was the Senate Hall.
Turning back to both Dearka and Miri's shocked faces he saw his friend's eyes narrow before they both came to the same decision.
"Let's go."