Chapter 7: Target Range
Cagalli sat in the chair in her grandfather's office. They had taken her to her grandfather's home after she had passed out in the infirmary. She sighed as she shifted in her seat, ignoring the pain from her injuries.
"Now then." Sir said as he walked in to sit at his desk. He smiled at the group of young people who were throughout the room, either standing, sitting on chairs or lounging like Dearka on the sofa. "Please tell me what happened Leila." He said glancing at his granddaughter who was sitting next to her sister. Nikki had been worried sick over Cagalli when she had seen the gundam's appearance when it had landed and Cagalli had stumbled out.
"Well," Cagalli said not knowing exactly how to start. "Well, I was attacking the Alliance fleet, and then they sent out this weird gundam. It had two spikes on its back that deployed bombs." She said thinking back to her fight with it. "I got hit the first time it did that, and then I finally destroyed both of the launchers. That was basically its only weapon besides a regular gun, so I destroyed it quickly after I destroyed the launchers. Anyways, I had just destroyed another of the three remaining air ships when I was hit from behind by another gundam. After firing at me briefly, it destroyed one of the other two remaining ships. At first I thought it had been one of the Alliance's, but when it attacked the air ships I figured it must be a member of the new group. It sent me a transmission." She said trying to remember it exactly. "It said 'Both Orb and the Alliance will fall to the might of the Rebellion.' Then it ended and it started to attack me again. Meanwhile the remaining Alliance ship high tailed it out of there.
I managed to damage one of its arms before they sent out a second one. I've never fought gundams like those before. They were amazingly strong. I dodged most of their attacks, but then my armor was partially destroyed. I managed to get out of the way as they tried to ram me and instead rammed eachother. I took that chance to get back here. There was nothing more I could do with my armor destroyed." She said sighing and looking to Nikki who was drinking a cup of hot chocolate.
"You were very good out there. We received part of your transmission, but it was more static than words so we didn't understand it very well though." Sir sighed looking over his grandchildren for a moment, glad that she had come back not more seriously hurt.
Kira came to stand next to Cagalli and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
"You should go get some rest." Athrun said as he got up from his seat on the sofa with Dearka.
"No, I think since I've already spoiled your first day here, then I should take you all to have some fun, since we have until tomorrow night until the party, and the council meeting isn't for a few days." Cagalli said cheerfully jumping up.
"Oh dear." Said Sir as he watched her drag Kira and Nikki towards the door. He looked at Athrun and grinned. "You best be ready for anything, but I have an idea where she's going to take you." He laughed as Lacus, Athrun, Flay, and Dearka followed after Cagalli and her two victims.
Cagalli whistled merrily as she waited for her friends by the front door. She had told them all to go change into swimming clothes since it was such a beautiful sunny day outside. She had already called for transportation, and she had rushed to change.
She tapped her foot anxiously as she waited. She was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a blue tank top. She held a pair of sunglasses in one of her hands and a bag of towels in her other.
"Finally!" she almost yelled as the group finally came down the stairs of her grandfather's mansion. The boys had t-shirts on and swim trunks, while the girls were dressed similarly to Cagalli. Without saying anything of where they were going, Cagalli told them to get into the limo. It would take about an hour if traffic was alright, but she knew it would be.
The group sat wondering what Cagalli was up to when she started talking to Lacus about what had been going on since they had been gone, quickly getting engrossed into a conversation which left the others to find their own means of entertainment since none knew where they were going.
After about an hour Cagalli jumped from the limo when it pulled to a stop, abruptly ending her conversation with Lacus, giving them no chance to ask her what she was up to. They all exited the car to find themselves at a dock. It was almost ten o'clock in the morning, and they were still puzzling.
Cagalli practically skipped down one of the docks to stop and talk to a boat man who was aboard a large beautiful yacht. She motioned for her friends to hurry, and she hurried on board.
Kira and the others walked up to the boat and got on carefully. Once they were all on board, the boat cast off, and the captain steered them out of the harbor where they were.
Athrun found Cagalli sitting in the cabin pulling towels from her bag. "So what's going on?" he asked watching her.
"Just unpacking." She said not looking up at him as she knelt down to pull out a drawer from a cabinet.
Athrun walked down the steps and peered over her shoulder. "What's that?" he asked spotting something in the drawer.
"This?" she asked pulling a gun out. "Just protection in case of an emergency she stated innocently. She continued rummaging around until she found a bottle of sun tan lotion. She smiled as closed the drawer and stood, ignoring Athrun quizzical look. "Come on." She said as she grabbed her bag and with the lotion in hand walked back up stairs.
Fifteen minutes later the boat was anchored to a buoy, and the water around them was a beautiful turquoise. The group watched the fish swim under them, and were surprised when Cagalli opened a compartment and pulled out goggles, snorkels, and fins.
"Don't just stand there." She grinned, "Let's go swim!" she laughed as they all started get the meaning of her words. The boys took off their shirts, while the girls removed their shorts and tank tops.
Cagalli and Nikki sported identical blue bikinis, while Flay wore a green one, and Lacus showed off her yellow one.
"So this is what you were up to." Giggled Lacus as she grabbed a mask and snorkel and put on a pair of fins. She squealed as she jumped into the warm water, Kira following after, splashing her just as she came up.
Dearka and Nikki had already pushed the stubborn Flay who was afraid it would be too cold. After they had jumped in, Cagalli and Athrun were left. Cagalli checked her already almost healed arm, complements of modern technology. Athrun grinned wickedly as he came behind Cagalli who was just about to jump in. He began to try and push her, but without warning his target dropped from his outstretched hands and him off balance stumbled forward and fell into the water.
When he came up, he found Cagalli laughing her head off on the boat. She had simply ducked when she knew he was behind her. "You need to work on your sneaking skills she said sitting down and dangling her legs in the warm crystal clear water.
"Oh really?" he asked gripping her ankles and pulling her in. He laughed as she shrieked and once in the water she began to attack him. He had fins on, and so was much faster than her. She struggled after him, finally giving up and ducked under the water pouting.
The group started to enjoy a game of tag; Cagalli finally getting sick of being the only one without fins grabbed a pair and shoved them in.
"Now it's my turn for revenge." She said grinning. She sped after them much quicker then they could go.
Athrun was the only one left who hadn't given up on catching her, and soon the two were ducking between the coral reef below them, and hiding behind the boat as the others relaxed in the water on rafts.
"You're too slow Athrun." Cagalli said from somewhere behind him, but when he turned she was gone. He ducked underneath the boat, but then felt someone swim past him. He turned to see Cagalli surface, and he followed her quickly.
Cagalli splashed water at him when he surfaced, and then dove back under and hid among the rocks and coral. Athrun getting tired and annoyed followed her back under. He couldn't find her for several moments, but suddenly he saw a figure rush up next to the boat.
Cagalli burst from the water taking in a deep breath. Athrun came up infront of her while she was gasping.
"You're not completely invincible." He said smiling at her before he reached and grabbed her arms so she couldn't dive back down
"Looks like you win." She said sighing. She wasn't prepared for what he did next though.
Athrun pulled Cagalli closer to him, and lightly kissed her on the lips for a brief moment before pulling away and saying "You're it." As he dove under leaving a dumbstruck Cagalli at the surface.
Getting control over her whirling and confused mind, she swam around the side of the boat to see Flay's and Lacus' rafts tip over much to their shrieks. When they surfaced they saw the boy's laughing and Athrun swimming away quickly. Flay and Lacus glaring after him quickly took up chase.
Cagalli sighed as she pulled herself up onto the deck of the boat. She grinned as Dearka made a rude comment towards Flay, something about what she'd do when she caught Athrun, and suddenly Flay was jumping towards Dearka and where he was on his raft. Kira was soon caught up in the mess, and eventually Nikki too as Cagalli sat on the deck drying off in the sun.
They'd have to leave soon. They'd already been there nearly five hours.
"There's a call for you Miss." Came the captain as she was jolted from her reverie.
"Thank you." She said standing and walking to where he held the phone out to her. "Hello?" she asked into the receiver.
"Leila? You have to get out of there now. One of the ships identified with the rogue force has been spotted near your location." Came the voice of one of the people she knew in the Defense Department of Orb's military.
"Alright. I'll go now." She said hanging up. She said a few words to the captain, and then screamed out to her laughing friends, "Get on now! We have to go!" they didn't ask any questions just obeyed.
"What happened?" Dearka asked as he dried himself off and the boat's engines roared to life and they started to go back to the harbor quickly.
"There's been a Rebellion ship spotted in the area. We have to get out of here." She said looking worriedly at the captain who had a grim look on his face.
Suddenly Cagalli stiffened. She spun around from her seat and stared up at the fast approaching scout plane.
"Shit. Everyone get in the cabin!" She yelled as it soared over head, obviously taking in their coordinates.
Everyone rushed to obey her as she stood next to the captain at the wheel. She ran into the cabin though to retrieve the gun she had for protection.
"Don't come out." She ordered as she turned and went back up to the deck. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from a clip next to the wheel. Raising them to her eyes she muttered a few choice words as she saw a skygrasper coming towards them about a mile and a half away.
"Can we go any faster?" she asked the captain.
"I'll see." He said pushing up the throttle to go faster.
"Damn it's gaining. We'll been in target range in about a minute." She muttered angrily as she checked the guns ammo.
Cagalli jumped when she felt a hand go onto her shoulder. She looked up to see Athrun's reassuring smile.
"Get back down in the cabin she ordered." Glaring at him.
"I'm not going anywhere unless you come with me." He said defiantly.
Cagalli wanted to smack him hard, but refrained from doing so when she spotted a flare gun and grabbed it.
"What's that for?" Athrun asked wearily.
"It," she said making sure it had flares in it. "Is for hopefully blinding the pilot of the skygrasper." She said tossing him the binoculars so he could see. "How far away is it?" she asked irritably.
"Oh it's about half a mile away." He muttered calmly, receiving a lump on the back of his head as Cagalli pushed past him to see it. They were within target range.
-Pre-Story Line-
The mysterious enemy has finally named itself as the rebellion, but it's reasons for attacking the Alliance and Orb are still unknown.
Hey everyone, I thought I'd finally give it a random name. Also thought Athrun should finally make a move especially since Kira and Lacus are hitting it off. Poor Flay, but I don't think she minds Dearka's attention much…cackles evilly Anyways, hope you liked it, and thanks for the reviews.
Always pondering –DHM-
