DISCLAIMER: 'Repercussion' is a story based on characters and situations from Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed which is a property of Sotsu Agency, SUNRISE and MBS. This work is non profited and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Unless specified, all materials in the web is work done by HERMIT JUNCTION. Please do not use without permission any text or artwork.

WARNING: Text and all related materials are rated R/M and may mild strong language, violence, cruelty, explicit adult content, rape, death and nudity unless otherwise stated. Please do not read if you are underage or maybe offended by such material. Spoilers for Gundam Seed.

NOTE: This fanfiction disregards the plotline of the original series' sequel Gundam Seed Destiny. Please go to gseedaftermath.hermitjunction. net for site hosting of this fic. For Dearka and Miriallia's story, please go to 'GS Aftermath Trilogy I: Rebound'.

Gseed Aftermath Trilogy II:
REPERCUSSION
a hermit junction project

Chapter 1

Four Years Ago / C.E. 70

'Yzak Jule, Dearka Elthman and Rusty MacKenzie…' Miguel Ayman looked down at his board then up at the three new recruits standing before him, their hands raised in a smart salute. 'The last of the five new elite recruits assigned to Team Klueze.'

'Yes sir!' Yzak Jule responded, standing, if possible, even straighter.

'Question.' Miguel leaned forward slightly in the sofa, a sly smirk plastered on his lips. 'Why didn't you three come with Athrun Zala and Nicol Armafi yesterday?'

Dearka Elthman shot a glance at Rusty MacKenzie, who shot a glance at Yzak, shuttering slightly at the fire burning in his eyes. Here we go again…

Miguel's sharp eyes lowered slightly as he crossed his legs. 'Is it because of you Yzak?'

'I don't get what you mean sir.' Yzak said through clenched teeth.

Miguel shrugged. 'It's nothing, I just heard from Nicol that you've lost to Athrun in practically every training session.'

'That idiot…' Yzak seethed, his hands clutched in a tight fist, his knuckles turning white.

'I challenged him to a knife duel yesterday.' Miguel continued, eyeing Yzak with one eye closed. Rusty shot a glance at Yzak and Dearka.

'And…' Dearka's voiced trailed.

'I lost, of course.' Miguel said as a matter of fact, shrugging.

'Damn!' Dearka muttered while Rusty smirked.

'What?' Yzak shrieked. 'You've got combat experience for Christ's sake!'

'Dude, he's a topgun that beat up stabby Fred.' Rusty said dryly, making a face. 'That's a personal ad my friend.'

'That's exactly what I told myself as consolation.' Miguel said, sighing. 'The guy has got more than just some skill.'

Yzak snorted. 'I ranked first in marksmanship.'

'That's because Athrun caught a cold and I broke my arm.' Rusty said dryly, shrugging when Yzak shot a death glare at him.

'You?' Miguel looked at Rusty. 'What are you good at then MacKenzie?'

Dearka looked at Miguel weirdly. 'I thought you had our records.'

Miguel waved his hand in the hair absently. 'I'm too lazy to go over those stupid records.' Dearka and Yzak stared at him in disbelief.

'I ranked last in practically all training sessions except for marksmanship.' Rusty replied, shrugging. 'Of course among the five of us only, I am an elite, afterall.'

Miguel raised his eyebrows. 'Marksmanship?' he looked down at the long case at his feet. 'You're a sniper?'

'Yes sir.' Rusty replied promptly.

'The sniper.' Dearka muttered. 'He shoots better with a sniper rifle at a sixteen hundred meter range than a pistol at a five meter range.'

Miguel smirked. 'Really? That good?'

'I say so myself.' Rusty replied, returning the smirk.

'I would challenge you at the shooting range, but I suck at firearms.' Miguel said, standing up. 'Or at least I'm not as good as the others.'

'You wouldn't want to challenge him, believe me.' Dearka muttered. 'He makes money out of these bets at the academy.'

'Dearka!' Rusty hissed.

'What?' Dearka shrugged innocently while Yzak sneered.

'You do?' Miguel's eyes lit up, 'and you were never caught?'

'Nope. I lost count of the money I made during those six months of training.' Rusty admitted. 'I was the richest fellow back then. Best days I've ever had.'

'A sniper huh? You're going to make a superb assassin, I'm glad you didn't join one of those underground societies that recruit professional snipers.' Miguel murmured, grinning up at them.

Rusty shrugged. 'Just be glad I'm putting my extraordinary skills into some good use.'

'I'm glad too…' Miguel stood up and smiled. Walking pass them, he suddenly turned on his heel and pulled out his pistol but found himself staring down the barrel of Rusty's gun. Dearka and Yzak watched in silence as the two ZAFT soldiers glared, their guns pointing at each other.

'We should both be glad our guns aren't loaded.' Rusty said in a low voice, cocking his head.

'Likewise.' Miguel smirked, lowering his hand. He suddenly sighed in exaggeration and shrugged. 'I should do some serious self evaluation.' Sticking the gun back into his uniform, Miguel picked up the file on the coffee table of the conference room and motioned for the door. 'You guys came from the hanger?'

'Yes sir!' Yzak said sharply.

'So I get that you've got a glimpse of the Ginns stashed away there.' Miguel smiled.

'When are we going to get some real action?' Dearka asked as the three ZAFT soldiers followed him out of the conference room.

'Well, I should get a sortie order any minute since all the rookies have arrived.' Miguel answered. 'In the meantime, the five of you will do some serious stimulation training. Right now, I'm taking you guys to the sleeping quarters where you'll settle down.'

'We've done so much computer training back at the academy.' Yzak muttered. 'Why can't we just use the real Mobile Suits?'

Miguel shrugged. 'We act on strict orders Yzak. That's why we're called military.'

'You think you're going to challenge Athrun again?' Rusty asked, sneering at Yzak. 'Perhaps, say, chess?'

'Chess!' Yzak stopped in his tracks. 'Why have I never thought of that? I'm best at chess!'

'Huh?' Miguel turned and looked at the three rookies with raised eyebrows.

'There's this challenge going on.' Dearka explained, shrugging. 'Yzak will not admit defeat until he's won Athrun. It's this weird obsession thing of his.'

'It's not an obsession!' Yzak bawled, grabbing Dearka by the collar. 'I will beat him down! You just wait and see! I will so make him go down!'

'He likes to vent his frustration and anger of this issue on others.' Rusty whispered to a stunned Miguel. 'He gets more and more vicious and doesn't really learn his lessons, so if you're near him after a defeat, chances are something of yours will be broken.'

'Thanks for the advice.' Miguel said, his eyebrows twitching as he watched Yzak strangle Dearka by the neck. 'I'll keep that in mind.'

When they reached the quarters of the base, Miguel led the three to the end of the hall. Entering a code, the automatic doors slid open and the lights flooded the neat room.

'This room will be for the three of you.' Miguel said. 'From time to time, your rooms will be switched, on the month.'

'Why?' Dearka asked, setting his case onto the bed at the far end.

Miguel shrugged. 'I don't know, to get to know the others on the base? I get the arrangements from Captain Klueze directly, rookies only.' He was about to say something else when Rusty suddenly jumped up.

'What?' Yzak asked, glaring at him.

'Speaking of Captain Klueze…' Rusty rubbed his chin. 'What's with the guy and his mask?'

Miguel stared at him for a moment before sitting down. 'You're my favorite crew.'

'What?' Rusty cocked his head.

Rusty shrugged and waved his hand in the air absently. 'The captain's mask is an issue that is beyond all investigation, our team's special rule. The captain's face is a total mystery and should not be talked about around here.'

Dearka, Yzak and Rusty managed a three way glance.

'We're being led by a creep.' Dearka muttered, sighing loudly.

Miguel choked. 'You could say that.' He looked down at his watch. 'You kids take your time and unpack. The mess hall is on Level V. I'll be roommates with Nicol and Athrun for the time being, our room is the third one of the left after you take a right at the elevator.'

'Where's the laundry room?' Yzak asked.

'Level N.' Miguel replied. 'It's open twenty four seven.'

'Great.' Yzak murmured.

'I'm going to take off now, we'll have a rookie briefing at ten hours tomorrow at conference room 221, questions?' Miguel looked at the three. 'Nope? Then I'll see you.'

'He seems like a cool guy.' Rusty commented as the door slid shut.

Dearka nodded absently, throwing himself onto the bed. 'It would be cooler if we got to see that knife duel he had with Athrun yesterday. Why oh why did you have to piss each other off? We miss all the action!' He eyed Yzak who was steaming with anger.

'We're meant to piss each other off!' Yzak hissed, opening his briefcase. 'It will be the end of the world when you see us befriend, trust me on that.'

Rusty shook his head and unzipped his duffle, taking out a stack of magazines. 'Oh I trust you Yzak, I trust you big time.'

Dearka frowned and sat up. 'Oh what the hell is that?'

'My collection of "Sniper".' Rusty said innocently, placing them neatly on the shelf above the headboard.

Dearka reached out one hand and took a copy. 'Dude, this issue is like eight years ago!'

'Yeah baby!' Rusty exclaimed. 'It'll give you a guide to all the classics!'

'Classics are out, that's why they're called classics.' Yzak said shortly. 'They're just a bunch museum crap.' He yelped when Rusty threw a bottle across the room.

'Don't insult my babes!' Rusty scowled.

'Don't tell me you're going to sleep with them.' Dearka raised his eyebrows at Rusty.

'Just marry your stupid guns.' Yzak muttered.

Dearka smirked. 'Give the guy some credit, just tell him to marry a girl who makes guns, if they're of existence at all.'

Rusty was about to throw back a torrent of insults when the door slid open.

'Finally! You guys are here!' Nicol floated into the room with Athrun behind him.

'Hey Dude!' Rusty gave Nicol a high five.

'You guys got your way around okay?' Athrun asked, holding onto the headboard of Rusty's bed.

'Yeah, it was okay.' Dearka shrugged. 'I heard from Miguel that you won him in a knife fight!'

Yzak snorted and plopped onto his bed.

'You heard!' Nicol exclaimed. 'He was no match I tell you.'

'Really?' Rusty raised his eyebrows. 'Then maybe we should have another shooting bet Athrun.'

'Oh, give me a break, you know you kick my ass big time and you only bet long range.' Athrun waved his hand. 'I lost a lot last time and I'm not running that risk again, lesson learnt.'

'Aww…' Rusty crossed his legs in the air. 'Come on! I'll give you ten shoots.'

Dearka laughed. 'You'll win even if you give Athrun thirty shoots, forget it Rusty, no one's going to bet with you in this team ever again!'

Rusty snorted and turned to Yzak. 'You like challenges, step up!'

Yzak shook his head. 'For once in my life, I'd like to lose to you Rusty, as rich as I am.'

'Damn you guys!' Rusty wailed, pulling at his spiky red hair. 'Come on!'

The four other elite glanced at each and shook their heads. There was no way they'd fall into that trap again, Rusty MacKenzie was too hard a sniper to beat, and whoever was caught under his scope wouldn't live to see the next day.

Life under Captain Klueze was more demanding than any of them had thought it would be. Besides continuous combat and mobile suits training, there was also a lot of decoding and strategic work to do and with Yzak's constant fits, life wasn't that easy and their team was definitely not the dream team anyone would expect.

It had been almost four month since they were reassigned to the Klueze team and they had just finished another series of Mobile Suits and Firearms training. As a firearms fanatic, Rusty loved firearms training and considered himself the best, especially long-range shooting. He was a record holder, thank you very much.

Yzak and Athrun haven't really been getting along well during these four months and with Yzak's constant defeats against Athrun, he was starting to get on each other's nerves. There really was no pleasing him, even after his first victory over chess. The guy really needed to work on his temper. Rusty was glad he changed rooms yesterday. Somehow he got stuck with Yzak for four months straight and he didn't like it one bit.

'Yo Rusty.' Dearka floated into the room along with Yzak and Nicol.

Rusty looked up from the magazine he was reading. 'What's going on?' Athrun too stopped fiddling with his tools.

'Doing good for your little fiancée again?' Nicol teased, looking over Athrun's shoulders.

'We got orders to a meeting tomorrow morning at ten hours, says it's important.' Yzak said, sitting down with a bottle of water in his hand.

'Again? They always say they're important.' Rusty muttered, turning the page of his magazine.

'What are you reading there?' Dearka asked curiously.

'Not porn, if that's why you're asking.' Rusty said dryly, eyeing Dearka, who shrugged and moved towards the magazine rack in the lounge.

'Firearms, again?' Yzak rolled his eyes. 'Don't you get tired of all this stuff, we practically sleep with them.'

'Yeah, when I want to sleep with women instead.' Dearka muttered, flipping through the swimsuit catalogue.

'You're sick Dearka.' Rusty said. 'That's a woman's catalogue, by the way.'

'Who cares?' Dearka shrugged.

Yzak rolled his eyes. 'You're hopeless Rusty.'

'Thank you.'

'By the way, are we ever going to get a day off?' Dearka asked out loud, looking over his shoulders.

'Why? You got a date?' Athrun asked absently.

'More like a fling.' Nicol smirked, taking out a piano piece from his bag.

'Shut up sissy!' Dearka hissed.

'I don't think you want a day off to see you're Father.' Yzak snarled, letting his body float into the air.

'Tell me about it.' Dearka rolled his eyes. 'The man is nothing but annoying. You should've heard his last lecture on me.'

'All of you're parents are in the council, is that right?' Rusty asked absently, looking up. The four looked at each other and nodded.

'Why the question? Nicol asked.

Rusty shrugged. 'Nothing, just wondering.' He was the only orphan in the whole team and didn't have any strings attached. He was basically a free man.

'Nicol Amarfi, line one please.' The communicator beeped.

'Who is it, your Mama?' Dearka jeered.

Nicol glared at him and made a move to throw the water bottle, but stopped when Athrun shook his head.

'Shut up!' Rusty muttered, whacking Dearka in the head with his magazine. 'This is no place to pick a fight, especially between the five of us.'

'Say that again and you'll be dead.' Nicol warned, pointing a finger at him.

'Why, I never knew little Nicol would get ticked off.' Dearka sneered.

Rusty sighed. He was always caught in the middle of things. It was either a fight between Dearka and Nicol or Yzak's fury towards an expressionless Athrun. He himself could get along with all five of them easily, but there were times when he had to take sides.

The day went by without anything big happening. Athrun kept himself locked in his own room after dinner, fiddling with another one of his gadgets. Yzak and Dearka spent the rest of the night in recreation room, having a game of pool with the other ZAFT soldiers on the base and Nicol killed time with Miguel and some other technician in the cafeteria, having trivial conversations.

Rusty spent about two hours in the ammo locker before retiring to his quarters and found Athrun asleep with his arms folded under his head. Shaking his head, he kicked his chair, waking him up abruptly.

'What?' Athrun sat up and looked around with dazed eyes. 'What have you been doing? You have grease all over your face.'

Rusty rubbed his cheeks. 'Nothing, I was in the cage.'

Athrun yawned. 'I don't get you, I really don't.'

'I'm not for you to get.' Rusty said flatly.

Shrugging, Athrun stood up and sat on his bed, staring at the photograph on the shelf.

'You're Mother?' Rusty asked, sitting down on his bed.

Athrun nodded. 'She died on Junis 7.'

Rusty nodded and collapsed on his bed. 'At least you still got a father, Patrick Zala right?'

'You're an orphan right?' Athrun asked.

Rusty nodded, giving him a toothy grin. With his flaming red hair, he looked like a cowboy. 'Parents died long time ago, I don't even know what they looked like, or was I abandoned? I really don't know, I lived in the orphanage ever since I could remember.'

'Well, you seem to enjoy life for an orphan.' Athrun commented, taking out his computer.

'Why not, you got to live, why not live it in a happier way. I mean, if I were anything like Yzak, I'd already have a heart attack.' Rusty wrinkled his nose. 'No thank you.'

'What made you so into firearms?' Athrun asked, crossing his legs.

Rusty shrugged. 'Because they're amazing. Dearka said I spend so much time with my babes I should go off and marry a girl who makes guns.' He wrinkled his nose. 'I doubt their existence.'

Athrun laughed. 'You're hopeless.'

Rusty smirked. 'I say so myself Athrun.' Stretching, he fell back on the bed. 'I'm so glad I'm roomies with you this month.'

'Why? Yzak giving you a hard time?' Athrun smirked.

Rusty rolled his eyes. 'Tell me about it. He gets vicious every time he loses to you. First it's horseback riding, then Mobile Suits Training and now chess.'

'I lost.' Athrun muttered.

'But you don't break stuff.' Rusty cried. 'I hope I don't get stuck with him next month.'

Athrun smiled. 'Who knows what will happen next month.'

Rusty shrugged. 'Maybe we'll get a sortie order and someone dies.'

Athrun looked at him silently before the doors slid open, Miguel entering.

'You guys are still up?' Miguel frowned.

'I just got back!' Rusty protested, sitting up again.

'At the ammo locker again?' Miguel guessed.

'Where else can you find him?' Aurel Kudenerg sneered, following Miguel. 'Really, you're a freak Rusty.'

'Thank you.' Rusty said dryly.

'What time is it by the way?' Athrun asked, yawning.

'Two.' Miguel said shortly. 'Now get your ass in bed or you'll never wake up in time for Captain Klueze's "important" meeting'.

'Yes sir!'

'Extortion?' Rusty looked down at the photos laid before them with raised eyebrows. 'All five of them?'

'Yes.' Raww le Klueze said, picking up one photo. 'Intelligence confirmed that OMNI is developing a new type of Mobile Suits on Heliopolis.'

'Are you sure?' Nicol looked down at the photos. 'I mean, Heliopolis is a neutral colony of Orb, they have no reason to do this? Unless…'

'They've secretly allied with Earth Alliance.' Yzak finished for him, his eyebrows twitching. 'And that is no where good for ZAFT.'

'This is bad.' Rusty muttered, letting his feet float while holding onto the huge table before him. 'This is really bad. If Heliopolis turns into an OMNI station, chances are we'll be surrounded.'

'You're right Rusty.' Klueze turned the lights to the strategic rooms off and turned on the projector, a map before them. 'That's why we're going to extort these units and destroy the battleship they are building.'

'I still don't get it, why would Orb allow armaments being built in their own neutral colony?' Nicoli pondered.

'There's no such thing as neutral when real war comes.' Yzak countered. 'Being neutral would just get in the way of making things happen.'

Klueze nodded. 'Your mission will be the extortion of these mobile suits, as I said before. Each of you will bring a team of ten and will be assisted by our MS team in the exterior. Our carrier will sneak you into Heliopolis and from there you will infiltrate the factory. The first thing, however, is to destroy their security system. Bombing devices will be set in these areas.'

The five of them looked up where the passages that lead up to what seemed like the battleship workshop had blinking lights.

'After the detonation, the five of you will be responsible for extorting the five Mobile Suits and bring them back to Vesalius where the data of these Mobile Suits will be collected for further development of ZAFT's armaments.' Klueze continued. 'This operation is highly dangerous and I will only entrust it to the best soldiers I have. If you fail to capture any one of the MS, I will order the MS team to destroy it by all means. We will not let this kind of weapon go against PLANT.'

The five of them were silent as they studied the map.

'Miguel Ayman will be in charge of the MS team operation.' Klueze said, changing the map.

'How about the battleship?' Yzak asked.

'That is an ambiguity, we still do not know how powerful it is so there's no saying what we will do with it.' Klueze replied. 'But this will not be of your concern. Your mission will be to capture the units and bring them back to Versalius. The operation will commence on the twenty fifth at fifteen hours. There will be further strategic meetings and you will be assigned your team, any questions?'

The next three days were packed with strategic meets and equipment preparation. It was a big deal for all five of them because it was their first major operation and it was a very dangerous and important one. They were all shocked to find out that a neutral colony was building OMNI suits and from the reports, the G series were very advanced models that could cause high destruction. If ZAFT got hold of the information, the face of war would be different.

The five of them were silent as they changed into their suits in the locker room. Their equipment were outside and they were scheduled to leave in an hour.

Buckling his suit, Rusty did a final check on his shot gun and made sure he had enough ammunition. 'Nervous Athrun?'

Athrun looked at him silently.

'Too bad we've been roomies for only a week.' Rusty commented, taking his helmet off from the shelf.

'We were roommates at the academy.' Athrun said quietly.

'This is going to be war.' Rusty said, hanging the shotgun over his shoulder, giving his roommate and comrade a smirk. 'We might die.'

'We're not going to die.' Athrun said firmly, loading his shotgun. 'We're not.'

Rusty just smirked and motioned for his team of soldiers to follow him into the carrier.

'Ready?' Yzak asked as they met up in the carrier. They were to sit at the very back while Nicol sat at the front with his team.

Rusty nodded and let Athrun up first. 'But, you know, you think it's okay?'

'What do you mean?' Yzak asked, seating himself beside him.

'Attacking a neutral colony. This operation isn't exactly a quiet one you know.' Rusty said with an uncertain smile.

Yzak snorted while Dearka relaxed himself beside him, moving his neck and shoulders. 'And you think a neutral colony has the right to build OMNI weapons? You've got to be kidding me.'

Rusty stared at Yzak's angry face for a second before letting out a laugh. He was too straightforward, everything was written on his face. 'Of course not.'

'People.' The five of them looked up at the communicator and found Miguel looking down at them. 'Don't rush through things.'

'Roger that.' Rusty replied, then turned to Yzak, noting Athrun's silence. 'Let's go.'

'OK.'

Rusty closed his eyes and relaxed himself. 'Don't forget, "for the sake of ZAFT"'.

The ride wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was better than the usual. The ride was less than fifteen minutes and when they were unloaded, they found themselves in front of a shaft opening that would lead them directly to the Morgenroete factory.

Opening the cover of his wrist, Yzak's timer started. They had exactly one minutes to get through the shaft which had a highly sensitive laser security system. Giving the signal, the five teams moved down the shaft in time and found themselves staring through a cage that allowed them a glimpse of the new battleship OMNI had built.

'It's this one.' Yzak muttered through his communicator.

Raising his hands, Athrun gave instructions to split up the team. They were going to locate their devices in a way that the whole of Morgenroete would be damaged.

'Done.' Rusty heard Athrun, Dearka and Nicol report.

'Let's get the hell out of here.' Rusty said, giving Yzak a signal.

'Roger.'

The whole team met up at a high spot where they overlooked the whole Morgenroete factory and found three G suits.

'That's what we're looking for.' Yzak said, looking into his binoculars. 'Just what Captain Klueze said, the G suits.'

'They'll come out of their holes when something little happens.' Dearka smirked, 'Naturals really are stupid compared to us coordinators.'

Looking down, Rusty closed his eyes as the explosion continued. 'We're almost done then.'

'We found our boys, targets are at the thirty-seventh gateway.'

'Roger that.' Miguel said through his communicator. 'That was fast, Yzak, impressive.'

They watched as the MS team started firing at the three G suits parked at the entrance.

'Let's go.' Yzak said, jumping off the cliff. 'Destroy all parts than cannot be removed.'

'This is going to be bloody.' Dearka commented, pulling on his trigger.

'There should be five suits according to the reports.' Yzak murmured, raising his eyebrows. 'Where the hell are the other two?'

'Rusty's team and I will find the other two suits. You three take care of these.' Athrun said from behind him.

'Okay, leave it to me.' Yzak responded, turning to Nicol and Dearka. 'Get on your own suit and deactivate the self-detonation system.'

'Roger.'

'Let's go Rusty.' Athrun said, turning into another direction.

'Into the gateway.' Rusty shouted over the gunfire. 'They should still be in the factory and haven't been moved out.'

'Cover me!' Athrun yelled, firing at a few technicians.

Pulling the safety lock on his grenade, Rusty threw it out just in time for a loud explosion. Running forward, he pulled the trigger of his shotgun.

'This is getting bloody!' Rusty muttered, taking cover behind a car.

'It's there!' Athrun cried. 'Let's go!'

'Look out!' Rusty took out his knife and threw it across the air, stabbing it into one of the technicians. 'Be careful!'

'Let's go.' Athrun said, running forward while instructing his team to take cover.

'Shit.' Rusty cursed at another explosion that carried dust through the factory. 'How many did we plant?'

'Damn it!' Athrun yelled. 'Copper!'

Rusty turned, just in time to see one of his teammates fall from multiple gunshots.

'Son of a bitch.' Rusty cursed. All this for PLANT? If they didn't capture these units, there would be more bloodshed, he had to convince himself that this notion justified the chaos they were creating. If OMNI hadn't taken the initiative in building weapons on a neutral colony, then none of this would have happen, no one will die.

It was right, right?

'Blow 'em up!' Rusty yelled.

'We're losing here! If we're not careful, the whole place might explode!' Athrun yelled over the noise.

'Damn it.' Rusty cursed, hiding behind another box, a bullet barely hitting him. 'I'll cover you and when the chance comes, get into that damned mobile suits!'

'Be careful! There's more than six armed out there.' Athrun said, pulling at the safety lock of another grenade.

Jumping out, Rusty rolled onto his back and hid behind a construction car. He wasn't going to lose now when they were so close to completing this mission. No, he wasn't going to lose to naturals.

Taking out another grenade, he threw it out and took cover at the explosion. Raising his shotgun, he pulled the trigger, his eyes squinting at the smoke.

'Rusty! Look out!' He heard Athrun shout over the noise.

Out of the smoke, a technician with a shotgun in hand pulled the trigger and it was too late for him to dodge. The bullet shot right through Rusty's helmet and all he could hear was the shatter of the protective shield. He winced as two bullets shot through his chest.

'Rusty!' he could hear Athrun shout over the fire and smoke.

He couldn't see anything, there was only noise. His world went dark as he lost complete conscious. He was going to die, he knew it.

'This is going to be war. We might die.'

'We're not going to die. We're not.'

End of Chapter 1
Next Update: 14th August, 2005