Chapter 2 – Rogue Squadron

A/N: Yay! Chapter 2 up! Sorry it's been ready for a while but with the IE crash problem I haven't been able to upload...plus it is the middle of exams rite now. Anyways just a change to keep up with the latest GSD stuff (Rey's unit will be called Legend).

sephiroth12285, IMBSA: Thanks for the reviews.

Freedom Overide: Kira and Athrun will show up later...I promise

Easy-Company-506/101: Actually, Fukada-san (director of GS, GSD) said in an interview that Mwu and Raww were the last two Newtypes so they do exist in CE.

Antilles: Actually there are only two flights (eight)right now...and I know Corran's and Shinn's character quite well, I've read I,Jedi like 20 times.

Anyways, enjoy this chapter and remember to review

Andrew Waltfeld saluted Admiral Todaka and held the salute until the Orban Admiral returned it. "Thank you for seeing me sir."

"It is always my pleasure to see you, Commander Waltfeld," he glanced towards the other man in the room, "General Kisaka and I were just discussing the impact of having Rogue Squadron back in the fleet. He feels that you are ready to be declared operational despite the lack of pilots, the roster itself is impressive."

The brown-haired pilot nodded. "Yes, sir. I wanted to speak to you about the roster, if I could, sir." Andy saw General Kisaka's look change to one of deep reflection. "There have been some changes made without my input."

Admiral Todaka replied, "yes, I'm aware of that, but Lieutenant's Joule and Elthman are needed to bring new training squadrons along and Kira and Athrun, are exploring the mysteries of SEED, so most of the veterans are busy with other assignments."

Andy bit back a sharp comment, before he spoke again, "Admiral, I've spent a good deal of the time since the Emperor died touring worlds new to the Alliance doing political work, but the diplomatic service has made us look invincible, whereas I know that we aren't."

"Of course not. Even if that is what is suggested by the Diplomatic Corps, you have to understand that there is always grandstanding in politics, without any exaggeration it wouldn't be very effective," the Admiral replied.

"As an elite squadron, I feel that we have a very big need for an Executive Officer, who can train up my pilots so that they can be as close to being what the Diplomatic Corps suggest that they are," Andy replied. Admiral Todaka looked over at General Kisaka who nodded and said, "Who do you have in mind then?"

"I'd like to have Captain Mwu La Fllaga as my executive officer," Andy looked over at General Kisaka and waited for his reaction, as head of Intelligence, he knew all about Mwu's case.

"I think that you are taking a big risk here, Captain La Fllaga could betray us at any time," General Kisaka replied. "We don't really know what happened to him after Jachin Due, the Empire did mess with his mind and the effects may not have all shown themselves yet."

"What I know is that we left him there, we abandoned him when he wasn't dead," Andrew argued, "And Captain Ramius, who knows him best, says that he won't betray us. And I have the fullest confidence in him and Kira and Athrun say the same thing too, if they were here."

"Yes, but he was moved to Lodonia. Do you know what the 'Extended' program is at Lodonia? They produce the equivalent of human time-bombs. You never know when a person who has spent time at Lodonia will betray you," General Kisaka, head of Alliance Intelligence warned.

"That is mere speculation. What I know is that Mwu piloted for the Alliance since before I joined, he was there at the beginning, at Heliopolis, even before the Alliance became formalised. He and Kira saved the Archangel numerous times, when that was our only forces. He took a blast head-on from Dominion's Lohengrin cannon to save the Archangel at Jachin Due. And you think that he hasn't shown enough devotion to the Alliance?" Andy argued, taking deep breaths trying to force himself to be calm. "We found him again, after six months, amnesiac but otherwise all right, even the medical scans cleared him."

"The General is correct, there is a substantial risk there, but the fact is that we don't have many resources to spare, and this way we don't have to take another experienced pilot from another squadron off active duty. As long as he is willing to adhere to several restrictions, I personally am okay with Captain La Fllaga being Rogue Squadron's Executive Officer, isn't that right General?" The Admiral spoke, his tone implying that the general would have no choice but to agree.

The Admiral continued, "The conditions will be as follows, one; he is to accompanied by a security officer or a member of the squadron at all times. Secondly, all correspondence he has will be open to examination. In live training exercises, he will fly a powered-down Windam mobile suit which can be controlled remotely." He gestured to his aide, "Find Captain La Fllaga and bring him here," he turned to Andy, "Where is he currently?"

Andy looked downwards at the floor, trying to avert the gaze of General Kisaka, "He's down at the simulator complex."

"Isn't that rather dangerous and premature?" General Kisaka asked, in a cold voice.

Admiral Todaka ushered his aide out the door, "You'll find him in the simulator complex. Bring him here immediately." Admiral Todaka turned towards Commander Waltfeld, "the simulator complex? Why?"

"It was Asuka's turn leading the Requiem rescue scenario. Mwu's one of the best pilots around, no matter what you say, so I had him fly up against Shinn."

Admiral Todaka's face hardened, "You've taken certain liberties with this situation already, it seems, Commander."

"Yes sir, but nothing that isn't necessary to make my pilots the best. I'm being prudent in this, I think," Andy replied as he sipped some of his signature coffee.

General Kisaka replied, "What's done is done. Now having Captain La Fllaga fly today would have made the scenario much more difficult right?"

A small smile crept back onto Andy's face, as he nodded, "Yes, sir, exactly what I wanted. Asuka is very good, the trio of pilots flying on his side in the exercise aren't bad either. Overall, I think that Asuka or Lieutenant Westenfluss are the best pilots in the whole group. Heine can be quite smothering and this annoys Asuka, who on the other hand is impatient. That will get him killed in combat, and the only way to make him see is by having someone shoot him down in practice. Mwu can do that."

The door to Todaka's office opened and his female aide led Mwu into the room. "Admiral, this is Captain La Fllaga."

Mwu saluted, "Reporting as ordered, sir."

"At ease, Captain," the Admiral replied. As Mwu relaxed, Andy gave him a small reassuring smile, to let him know that the meeting had hopefully gone well.

The Admiral eased himself out of his chair. "Captain La Fllaga, here are the restrictions that I and General Kisaka wish to impose on you, if you wish to return to active duty." The Admiral continued as he listed the restrictions, "you realise that you will have no privacy and freedom if you accept these conditions. So, do you accept?"

"I do, sir," Mwu replied, feeling happy that he would soon be on active duty again.

"I'd like to know why," the question was aimed at Mwu, from the General Kisaka.

"It's my duty, General and my life. I chose to join the Archangel before the Alliance became formalised. I endured through the battles at Josh-A and Orb. I followed orders and saved the Archangel when it was almost destroyed by the Dominion at Jachin Due. I did all those things because that's what I agreed to do when I chose ton join the Rebellion." He glanced downwards, "Besides, even the worst you can do to me will still be better than my time with those disgusting Imperials."

General Kisaka nodded, "well I am satisfied that this arrangement could work, don't you think so, Admiral Todaka?"

"Yes, General, I am signing orders to make Captain La Fllaga the Executive Officer for Rogue Squadron," Admiral Todaka said, "But Commander Waltfeld,…I expect to be informed about any irregularities or problems with your squadron. You will be assigned a military droid to help you make out reports. Use it."

"But, sir wouldn't the droid be more useful somewhere else?" Andy asked.

"No, not really, those decisions are made by those in charge, not those that have refused promotions. You're dismissed, the both of you. I imagine that you have things to celebrate."

"Yes, sir," the reply came from both pilots.

"One last thing," General Kisaka spoke, "What did you think about the pilots in the Requiem scenario?"

Andy looked over at his XO, "Did you get Asuka?"

Mwu gave a small wry smile, "Oh, I hit the Destiny, but not as much of it as I would have liked." Smiling fully, he added, "Admiral, if the people I flew against are representative of the rest of the people we have to work with. Rogue Squadron should be up and running within a couple of months and the scourge of the Empire not very much longer after that, they could be as good as the squadron was back in the War."

Mwu and Andy exited the room. As soon as the door was closed the Admiral turned to General Kisaka, "Well…did I cover up well enough, they won't know right?"

"You did well, Admiral. I have full confidence in Rogue Squadron," he replied.

Andy and Mwu made their way down to the briefing amphitheatre, where the successful candidates would be gathered. As they entered they saw that several seats were assembled in rows from the back. The other half of the room was filled with tables, a dais, a lectern and a holoprojector. Andy took his place at the lectern with Mwu standing behind him.

Shinn had taken a seat by himself at the end of the row, away from the other pilots. Auel, Stellar and Rey sat together, near Shinn but not quite next to him. Even though she had attempted to make friends with him, Stellar could feel that Shinn was for the lack of a better word, haunted. She had seen it before with the many Orbans in the fleet, some of them just seemed to be emotionally dead, especially those without family. She saw that there were three other pilots there as well, who she didn't know yet, but one wore a Lieutenant's insignia.

Andy began to speak, "Well I'd like to congratulate you on surviving the initial culling process. We had many candidates but you were the best. We'd actually hoped for twelve, but only the seven of you were good enough. So we will have two flights instead of three."

Andy glanced down at his datapad for a moment, "Before I get into the specifics, I should introduce myself. I'm Commander Andrew Waltfeld, I served in the Imperial Army until Victoria after which I defected to the Alliance. Since then I've flown in missions for the Rebellion and I was at Jachin Due, though I captained the Eternal back then, I've since done many pilot hours. Behind me is your Executive Officer, Captain Mwu La Fllaga. He's been with the Rebellion since day one, and is one of the best pilots out there. He's an expert on Imperial Mobile Suits, especially those developed by OMNI."

Shinn looked up in surprise, so this pilot is impressive and skilled too. Andy continued, "We'll be spearheading the push towards PLANT headquarters, so this will be a dangerous job, but I'm sure we will be up to any mission headquarters provides us with."

"Now for wingpair assignments I'll hand over to Captain La Fllaga," Andy said as he stepped down from the lectern and handed over to his XO.

"Commander Waltfeld will be Rogue Leader and Rogue One. He'll take both designations to limit confusion," Mwu said, as he opened his datapad. "Flight Officer Hawke you'll be on his wing, as Rogue Two."

Lunamaria nodded, "it is an honour to fly on your wing, Commander."

"Rogue Three will be Flight Officer Neider, Rogue Four, flight Officer Za Burrel," Mwu continued. Both of them looked content with the wingpair assignment, they had gotten along quite well, even though they were so opposite in character.

"Rogue Five will be Lieutenant Westenfluss, who will lead Two Flight, on his wing will be Flight Officer Oakley. Rogues Seven and Eight are Flight Officer Asuka and Flight Officer Loussier. Okay, that's it folks," Mwu said as he finished and shut down his datapad. He saw that Shinn had raised his hand, "Yes, Flight Officer Asuka, what's your question?"

"But won't you be flying, Captain?" Shinn asked.

"Oh, umm…I won't be flying in combat, as XO, I have to train you guys up to your best, but while you guys are flying, I'll be monitoring your progress," Mwu replied, not sure if that excuse did enough to cover up the real reason.

Shinn carefully listened to Mwu's words. He felt that Mwu's tone certainly inflected an intention to not talk about it anymore in public, at the very least. But still he thought to himself, he's one hell of a pilot, and, having him not fly doesn't make sense. There has to be something else, the monitoring job is usually done by someone on the carrier. But he dropped the subject in deference to his superior's wishes.

Mwu and Andy stood up and saluted, and walked out of the briefing amphitheatre. The pilots stood and returned salute. After they had exited, Stellar came over to Shinn and said, "Shinn, we're going to be wingmates, I hope that we can work well together."

Athrun and Kira stood outside the simple mud hovel, as they looked inside they saw the sparse furniture which adorned the dwelling. They entered through the threshold of the door and looked around. Cobwebs were all over the ceiling corners, showing that no one had lived here for a while.

They began to look through the things in the bare rooms of the dwelling. But again, there was nothing of use, the Empire's hunters had been thorough, and all they could really gather were snippets of information from people who had claimed to have seen the miracles of SEED. There were a few personal items of interest that they took, but there was nothing revealing about the powers of SEED. Slightly dejected, Athrun and Kira went back to the Saviour and blasted back off into space, towards their next destination.

Lacus Clyne and Cagalli Yula Athha sat together at the High Council meeting. Representatives from other planets in the Alliance sat across from their position. They debated the merits of the new push towards PLANT headquarters. Most of the Representatives were in favour of the move that would in most people's eyes give their government legitimacy. However, most of their holdings were situated far from PLANT headquarters, and the first step would be to establish a base close to PLANT headquarters, and be able to defend it against the Empire.

A number of suggestions were floated, but they decided that December City would be the ideal base, it was away from the main strength of the Empire, but close enough to be threatening and be able to be used as a base. The meeting concluded as the delegates filed out of the meeting room, leaving Lacus and Cagalli together. Cagalli heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Whew! That was a hard meeting, I wonder how the boys are going, Lacus."

"I'm sure they're fine," Lacus replied, "the boys can take care of themselves, and they do have their Gundams with them."

Captain Murrue Ramius felt someone's hands close over her eyes. "Guess who?" a very familiar voice, one she hadn't heard happy for a long time resonated in here ears. Involuntarily she giggled and replied, "It isn't Mwu is it?"

"Awww! How did you guess?" he replied, a wide grin on his face. To her it seemed as if his eyes had regained the spark that they had been missing for a long time. She pulled him in towards her hands clasping his face, closing her eyes, she kissed him, fully and deeply. He let his lips caress hers, as their tongues intertwined. It wasn't until they were fully into the kiss that they realised that one of the Alliance's security personnel had just opened the door to look in.

Hastily, they broke away from each other, assuming her most vicious voice, Murrue barked at the officer, "Ensign, what are you doing? Don't you know how to knock before you enter? Get out. This is private."

"Hasn't the Captain explained to you yet?" the Ensign replied, "he has to be supervised by Security at all times."

"Look here, Ensign, I'll keep him out of trouble, now you will leave. This is an order. Take it up with your superior officer if you need to," Murrue snapped, "If you have to be nearby at least have the decency to stand outside the door or something." The Ensign saluted before complying with her order.

"Murrue, you didn't have to be so harsh, he was just doing his job," Mwu said, sheepishly. "Well about this thing, I'm back on active duty but the Admiral decided to impose some harsh conditions."

"Well I expressly forbid any Security personnel from coming in here, while we're together. I almost lost you once, and I intend to never let you go again," Murrue replied with mock seriousness. "But I'm serious about the first part," she added, as Mwu laughed at her expression.

"Perhaps the Security man and I can come to some understanding." Mwu said. Both of them laughed at the apparent absurdity of that proposition.

"But we should celebrate, you got your wings back, I made some cake," Murrue said as she bought out the cake she had made, and sliced it and made to hand a piece out to Mwu but then shoved it into his face. Mwu got cream and cake all over his face, and Murrue laughed and said, "Aren't you a messy eater, Mwu. Perhaps I need to feed you myself."

Mwu put on a mock child expression, as the cake splattered off his face onto the floor "Of course I need you to feed me, Captain," he said, a creamy grin on his face. Murrue giggled at Mwu's antics.

"Here, open your mouth," Murrue said as she spooned some cake into his mouth, this time. She took a spoonful of cake for herself. They sat together, finishing the cake, enjoying every moment of each other's company. Afterwards, Murrue got a towel and wiped Mwu's cake-full face clean. "Can't have you looking messy when you leave," she explained, as she put the towel in the wash.

"Murrue…" normally Mwu wouldn't struggle for words but he did, "I want to thank you for helping me through these really hard times. I want to say that I love you more than ever."

"I know that, silly, nothing would change the fact that I love you, for who you are, no matter what I'll stand beside you," Murrue replied. "Though now that you're back on active duty, we won't see each other as much as before, hopefully we can pull some missions together."

"Yeah…I hope so too. And I promise that I won't leave you hanging like last time," Mwu said before they kissed again.

Later, in the pilots lounge, Shinn again sat in the corner, lost in his own thoughts and remembrances. His hand involuntarily went into his pocket and drew out a small pink mobile phone, the one that had belonged to his dead sister. He flipped it open and played the message again. He didn't notice that Stellar had come to sit next to him, "Hey Shinn, what is that?" she asked.

Shinn, oblivious to Stellar didn't answer but put the mobile phone away again, as he turned around he noticed Stellar, "uhh…hello Stellar. What do you want?" he asked, as he saw her take a seat next to him.

"I'm your wingmate, you have to tell me what's wrong, I can feel that something's wrong," Stellar said. "You're really closed off from everyone else, that isn't healthy." Before long, Mwu and Murrue entered and took two mugs of coffee before taking a seat in another corner, away from the public area. Stellar looked over and said to Shinn, "hey, Shinn isn't that Captain La Fllaga, I wonder who the woman is?"

"I don't know," Shinn replied, "but I'm still a bit curious about the Captain, he should be out there flying but he's not. I mean, he is a great pilot. But I get the feeling that he's hiding something."

"Shinn," Stellar chided gently, "whether or not he's hiding something, he's our squadmate and our XO besides; his secret is his to keep and he'll tell whoever he wants to tell, when he wants to tell." She turned around and saw Auel and Rey come in, "Hey, Auel, Rey come over here," she motioned for the two other pilots to come over.

"Hey guys," Shinn managed to say, while the others greeted each other in return. "So what is going on?"

"Shinn, we just learned that you scored the highest on the Requiem run," Rey said. Shinn gave a small smile, and managed a small thanks to Rey.

"Who came in second?" Shinn asked, thinking that it would most likely be Heine.

"Lunamaria came in second actually," Auel said.

"What?" Shinn was very surprised, he hadn't heard much about Lunamaria and hadn't imagined that she was that good of a pilot but apparently she was.

"We're all pretty surprised actually," Rey replied, "though I know that Heine must be pretty annoyed right now at being beaten by her."

"Hey, do you guys see the Captain over there," Shinn said, changing the subject, "What do you guys know about him? Have you guys found out anymore?"

"The woman with him, that's Captain Murrue Ramius of the Archangel," Auel answered, "as for anything else, its all rumours but I heard that Captain La Fllaga was captured by the Imps after Jachin Due, and then when she found him again, she brought him back. That's all I know for sure." There was no mistaking which she that Auel was referring to.

"That's such a sad story, if it is true," Stellar said, "look at them, they are so in love."

The four of them heard the door to the pilots lounge open with a whoof, and saw another red haired girl walked in, up to Lunamaria, "Hey sis," the girl said, "how is piloting going?"

"Hey, Meyrin," Lunamaria replied, "It's okay, come, meet some of my fellow pilots, this is Heine and this is Sting."

"Hey guys, it's nice to meet you," Meyrin said, smiling and shaking each of the other pilot's hands. "Who are those guys over there?" Meyrin asked, pointing directly at Shinn, Stellar, Auel and Rey.

"More members of the squad," Lunamaria replied, she gestured for them to come over. "I'd like you guys to meet my sister, Meyrin, she's a crewman of the Archangel," Luna said, "This is Auel, Rey, Shinn and Stellar," she introduced each of them to her sister.

"So is this everyone in the squadron, are there any more pilots?" Meyrin asked, "Most of the other squadrons have twelve."

"Yeah, there's only the seven of us right now, and Commander Waltfeld," Shinn replied, "perhaps more pilots will come later."

"There's also Captain La Fllaga, our XO, but he doesn't fly combat missions." Stellar added.

"Oh! him," Meyrin said, "Around the fleet, especially amongst the crewers, there's a lot of rumours about his past. For instance, there was one guy on the Archangel who said that the Captain had lost his memory but I don't think that's true. The way he and Captain Ramius carry on, its like they're kids or something."

"But this much is true," Meyrin continued, "the Captain is shadowed by a Security Officer everywhere. I don't know why though."

"Meyrin," Luna chided, "Don't gossip like that, it's unbecoming."

"Onee-chan, they want to know, so I'll tell," Meyrin pouted, "And anyway, what I've said is true, he is followed around by Sec."

"But you don't have to go and tell everyone about it," Luna rebuked. Everyone laughed, as they saw the sister's fighting.

"Stop it you guys," Rey said, always the sensible one, "let's just say that there are some things that are left better untouched and leave it at that."