Ok so I'm using some of the Japanese Gundam SEED names. I just like them better. Athrun?! Who came up with that...
Chapter 5: The Truth in Space
"Come on Mori!" Akiko shouted from the door of their private Earth-space transport vessel. She had reached her hand out down the stairs to the other girl who was clinging to the hand rails and the bottom. "Please don't tell me that your Dad is an inter-terrestrial diplomat and you've never been in space before!" Mori shook her head slowly. Akiko sighed and dropped her arm. She slowly climbed down the steps and looked at Mori with a face she had never seen on Akiko before. "Listen Mori. You're all I've got right now. I need you're support and your help if I'm going to be able to do this. I promise nothing bad is going to happen to you. I'll protect you." The face was sad and sincere as if she were looking at someone who had nothing else in this world but her and her friendship. Then the thought occurred to her, Akiko really did only have her.
"All right. Let's go!" Mori replied stiffening and nodding resolutely. A smile flashed across Akiko's face. It was sort of relieved and mixed with something else Mori couldn't identify. Something deeper. For the first time in the few months she'd known Akiko now the feeling that Akiko needed someone to protect came over her.
"She was never so passionate as when she stood up for me at school that day. It was like for the first time she was alive and human. Up till then she never cared what anyone said or did thee or what thought... Until it was up me..." Mori was thinking back to a few weeks ago when her once friend Fuyutori had yelled at Mori and mocked her for being friends with "the war loving bitch from space." Akiko never defended herself, only Mori when she stood up and told Fuyutori she couldn't even decide who she was and therefore had no right to judge others. She stated that Mori could chose her own friends and then looked her in the eye and told her that it didn't matter to her if Mori was friends with Fuyutori despite her attitude and closed-mindedness. Mori never talked to Fuyutori again and vice versa.
"Well if she feels the need to protect me to deal with her pain and grief so be it." Mori decided as she strapped herself into the seat. She gripped the armrests tightly and looked over at Akiko. "The things I do for friends." She sighed as Akiko flashed her a re-assuring smile from two seats over.
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"Hello Miss Allster!" A rosy cheeked woman beamed as she waved greeting the pair of girls as they got off their ship at the Lunar spaceport.
"Kari!" Mori gasped more in horror than welcome. Akiko looked at Mori with a look of shock. "You know you're not supposed to call me that in public." She whispered when they got close. All this time Mori's real name had never been of any consequence to Akiko, until now.
"Allster?!" She gasped in her head but maintained happy look as if she was simply happy to get back into space. "Frey Allster... They have to be related. Allster isn't a common surname..." She thought as she shook hands with the lady who called herself Mori's Aunt; she knew that was another lie.
"Come on now I heard that you two wanted to see the sights during your trip so I'll get you settled in as soon as possible!" Kari went on grabbing each girl's arm and gently tugging them along. Akiko looked around intently but with a blank face. The port was the same as she remembered it being three years ago when she last saw it.
"Akiko?! Aka Akiok?!" A boy's voice called out and she stopped and spun around. "I knew it was you!" He shouted running over and grabbing her in an enthusiastic hug. Mori looked on wide-eyed and smiling. "You're so much taller but just as beautiful!" He cried setting her down. "AND LATE!" He went on playfully. He sighed and hugged her again with more seriousness. "I've missed you so much."
"Amura." She whispered hugging him tightly. "I've missed you so much too."
"We have a lot to talk about. Things have been happening at the Academy I think you'll be very interested in." He beamed pushing her away. "I think your emails and what's been going on will become very much entwined." He went on winking. She knew what he was doing and why.
"All right let's get settled and I'll do introductions on the way." She said wrapping an arm around him and holding his side tight. They went back to a less than modest house outside of Copernicus and settled into their rooms. Akiko introduced her boyfriend of 4 years, Amura to Mori. When they boarded the hover car and zipped down the tubes towards the Lunar Academy he eyed Mori warily in the backseat.
"Mori..." Akiko said noticing his stare and why he was doing it. Mori looked up at her from staring out the window in awe. "Your real name, Allster."
"Yes." She replied nodding. "My real name is Kaiala Freyann Allster. Yes I am related to Frey Allster no I don't believe in the ideals of Blue Cosmos. I believe that the way someone came into this world isn't their fault. They can't control what their parents do to them before they are born. Likewise Coordinators can't change the fact that their child is going to be a Coordinator as a safe reversal process was never discovered." Mori replied sighing heavily.
"Mori. I trust you but I don't trust your Father." Akiko replied.
"Neither do I. He thinks this is my birthday present to you." She said with a sly smile. "Something he's better off not knowing the truth. Which is why we took Amura's car. You'll have to debug ours later." Akiko laughed and nodded in silent assurance that she would take care of things.
"Nothing's like it was before Akiko. The gang is all split up and things are shady." Amura said as they neared the school. "Matsuri Fushi came up missing a month ago and the Space Police have been particularly interested in the case for some reason. After everything you've told me I think that it may involve neither this RPC organization or ZAFT." He said gravely. "Not only that but shortly after Morikoro Ame was sent to live with a relative on Earth."
"What about Shiro Kou?" Akiko wondered in concerned voice.
"He's still around but he's visiting family on colony Artemis 9 over the holidays. He'll be back in two days. You know, he took over your spot as the top student." He finished with a playful smirk. Akiko laughed and smacked him lightly.
"You really think I care about all that anymore? He can have it!" She mused slumping back in her seat. Mori just giggled; she wasn't sure what was going on but seeing Akiko like that was odd and shocking.
"Come on in. I have all of the research you asked for over here all except the maps of course I needed the coordinates for that." Amura said motioning them into his room at the Lunar Academy. Akiko handed him the coordinates and he typed them into the program he custom made for the circumstances. "So why do you think everyone's getting broke up?" He wondered looking up at the girls from the keyboard while the program started processing.
"I don't know about Shiro but I think Ame and Fushi are the Keys I told you about. Well two of them at least. Think that's why Fushi was kidnapped. If it is the case, we have to get her back right away." Akiko said with concerned urgency.
"How are we going to find her?" Amura wondered looking at her with a sort of awe. "We have no idea where to start."
"Just worry about finding that secret base and I'll worry about the rest." She replied with a re-assuring smile. "You know I was never big on making a plan ahead of time. Especially when the future is never certain..."
"Except as certain as you try to make it." He finished the sentence as f she had said it a thousand times. "But it's never real until it's the past." She simply nodded and eyed the monitor behind him. The program had finished running and Amura turned to rattle off where the coordinates were on the map. "That can't be right." He said confused as he cocked an eyebrow and scratched his head. "These coordinates are the middle of nowhere in Lagrange point 3. There hasn't been anything out there for years!"
"Has there really been nothing out there, or have we just not known about it?" Mori wondered as she watched Akiko pinpoint the spot on a map she had brought. She slowly lifted her head and looked at Mori oddly. She had never expected such an insightful thought to have come out of her mouth. Clearly there was more to Mori than she was letting on but just what was it?
"Exactly." Akiko replied smiling and nodding. "Come on we can get there in a few hours based on where the moon is right now. Amura you can stay here if you're worried about class tomorrow." Amura got up and held her hands in his and looked at her a bit wounded.
"Now that I've got you back I'm not letting go." He whispered with a faint smile. She smiled back and nodded slowly. "Well come then!" He beamed spinning around and unplugging his computer. The three rushed out of the school and back to the car. In a matter of minutes they were bordering the private vessel and launching out to find this unknown colony.
A light on the dash of the console began lighting up indicating a threat. "Civilian vessel indicate authorization code immediately." A almost frantic voice boomed over the intercom. Akiko address them in her indifferent tone that Mori was accustomed to.
"The sleeping stars have returned to space but the ones that shine are in my sight. Some have fallen down to Earth but others still remain unrecognized." There was a long silence.
"Your authorization has been approved prepare for docking instructions." The voice replied finally in an easier tone.
"Akiko... I didn't know this colony would be real let alone manned." Amura said with a gulp.
"We're safe as long as you have the Doctor's notes and stuff right?" Mori wondered worriedly as she gripped her friend's arm.
"Don't worry come what may I'll protect you. This was my idea I'll protect you. Both of you." She replied resolutely. The dock door opened in the side of the meteor. They had been camouflaged to blend in. Inside bright lights shone ushering them into an unsure new world and certainly a turn in their lives.