Aboard the space battleship Fortitude near the hourglass shaped colonies of ZAFT, Captain Midian Relcruza was going through his early morning intensive training. A man with a passion for all things about ancient warfare, Relcruza usually preferred his own special training menu as opposed to the ones outlined for ZAFT military personnel. In full kendo uniform with a specially crafted bokuto, Relcruza stood in position with four sparring partners surrounding him. Yelling out with a fearsome kiai, the first enemy rushed straight forward swinging his sword. Immediately blocking the blow, the captain yelled out "Men!" and hit his opponent squarely on the mask. The next two opponents soon followed suit, fiercely attacking with their wooden swords. Despite the hard blows being dealt, the Captain blocked calmly and with a wide arcing blow knocked back his two enemies, leaving the last man. Both men dashed straight at each other, however the captain managed to duck under his opponent's high blow in an instant and deliver a slash to his side. Much to Relcruza's surprise, his sweeping victory was rewarded with applause.
"Very well done Captain," remarked Lyina Maltoz while clapping, a slender African looking woman dressed in the red and black standard uniform of ZAFT. Relcruza removed his mask, and turned to his admirer, panting for air.
"Didn't see you there. Well I'm glad it was at least a good show," replied the Captain grinning. Bowing to his sparring partners, Relcruza removed his gear and put on his solid gray training suit.
"I didn't know you were such a fan of the ancient arts Captain."
"Well, I much prefer them to the soulless regiment our superiors came up with. I mean doing pushups and running is fine in its own way, but there is more spirit and meaning in the way our ancestors used to train…" wistfully replied the Captain, looking at his bokuto.
"You really are a romantic. Well I just came to report there will be a special board meeting in two hours and all the higher ups will be there. Here are the particulars," Maltoz said handing Relcruza a flat computer screen. The captain never could truly understand what the woman was up to, if anything. Her voice was too smooth, her manner too controlled, and her eyes too mischievous for Relcruza's liking, but she had proven to be a valuable first officer and confidante.
"Thanks for the info; I'll see you at the meeting."
Smiling sweetly, Maltoz floated away down the hall to take care of the rest of her duties. Relcruza retired to his quarters to get ready for the meeting. Getting into the shower and lathering up, Relcruza began to think about his life as a ZAFT officer. Being captain of a ship was spectacular and the privileges that came with it were more than he could ask for, but the scars of war still hadn't quite gone away. Memories of Panama came flooding back, even though he had tried his best to keep them at bay.
The Earth Alliance forces had been beaten back, overcome by the sheer power of the ZAFT military. After the preliminary defensive perimeter had been breached and all hope of defending the outpost were lost, the Earth forces simply surrendered. It was the most logical thing to do.
"Major Relcruza, the Earth Alliance Forces have offered a surrender, I'll patch the signal through to your personal communicator."
Flipping the communication button on, Relcruza hit a few buttons on the computer console of his Gundam.
"All ZAFT forces, the Earth Alliance has issued their surrender, we will immediately begin securing the perimeter and downloading all useful information from the enemy database. I request a temporary facility be set up for the prisoners to stay …"
"You seriously want to house these criminals Major!"
"What do you mean? What are you talk---"
"They killed my brother in Alaska!"
"They took my father away…"
"Naturals are total vermin. Vermin should be exterminated!"
Relcruza couldn't believe what he was hearing his soldiers say over his communicator.
"Calm down! Do not forget what we're here to do. Do not forget that we…"
"I'm not going to let them get away with it!"
All around the Captain, the sound of gun fire and rockets exploded. The screams of Earth Alliance personnel trying to escape with their lives filled his ears…
Snapping back into reality, Relcruza noticed the clock and decided he didn't have much more time before the meeting. Quickly getting out the shower and grabbing a towel to dry himself off, he looked at himself in the mirror. The giant scar he got from a battle two years ago was still very prominent on his right cheek. Drying off his short dark blue hair, Relcruza put on his solid white captain's uniform and made his way through the winding corridors of his ship to the main meeting hall.
"Looks like I'm a tad early…" thought Relcruza looking into the empty meeting hall.
"I like to see that early is on time for you Captain," replied Maltoz making her way into the room.
"I wanted to be one of the first people to greet the dignitaries as soon as they return. The talks with the Earth Alliance should be finished for the time being and I'm eager to see what headway we all have made."
"My my, aren't you the optimist?"
"Optimist? I don't think there really is any room for negativity here."
"Well I'm not talking about negativity, I'm talking about realism. Do you really think that after everything both sides of the war went through, we can just lay down our arms, hug each other, and sing kumbaya?"
"Well of course not but…" Relcruza replied, but was stopped short when the dignitaries appeared through the door. Straightening their posture and saluting, both the captain and Maltoz greeted the ZAFT dignitaries and politicians into the meeting room of the ship. There were the long standing council members that had all ruled during the previous war, and a person Relcruza both admired and respected.
"Ahh, Chairman Gestant it is an honor to have you aboard my ship."
The chairman placed a firm hand on Relcruza's shoulder, a warm and inviting smile painted on his face. There was something about the chairman's piercing gaze framed in between his medium long strands of silver hair that reminded Relcruza of old generals that he would read about in history books.
"You run a tight ship Captain and for that I am grateful," replied the chairman, making a gesture towards the table, indicating the dignitaries to take a seat. "If you wouldn't mind I would like to have you and your first officer join us at this meeting. After all you're both officers of ZAFT, and I feel that those who fight for our people on the front lines deserve a voice in matters of government." Maltoz's eyes lit up at the thought of sitting with the big wigs, and Relcruza was equally taken a back.
With everyone taking their seats, the chairman remained standing, making sure to make eye contact with everyone in the room as he took a few moments to start the meeting.
"Since we are all very busy in these hectic days of transition, I will try to make this meeting as brief as possible. I have been satisfied with my recent tours and inspections of the dismantlement of the Genesis weapon and the dismantling of many of our weapons facilities. I commend our citizenry for their eagerness to expedite the cause of peace for humanity," said the chairman in a very stately tone of voice, taking a moment to allow the dignitaries to applause. Relcruza couldn't help but get the feeling the man needed applause as much as water to survive.
"There have been concerns that in case our peace agreement is breeched we might not be prepared for retaliation. My response is that in order for there to be an accord between Earth and Space we must start the first step on the ground of trust, for without trust there is no foundation for us to move forward. Natural and Coordinator alike must learn that no one gains from strings of meaningless battle and loss of life. Now, for the main point of today's meeting, I would like to begin by…"
The chairman's words were cut short when a powerful impact hit the ship, shaking everything in the room violently. The alarms immediately sounded, blaring at full volume.
"What's going on, status report!" commanded Relcruza, running over to a communication station and pressing in a few buttons.
"Sir, we have just detected an unidentified space carrier. It has thus far evaded our scanners until it launched its attack," replied a bright yellowed hair girl with thick rimmed black glasses.
"Maltoz and I will be on the bridge at once, all hands to battle stations."
Red lights began to flash all over the ship, as a mechanical voice rang out "All hands to battle stations".
"Chairman, if you and the dignitaries would please take refuge we will find out exactly what is going on," Relcruza instructed as the ship was rocked with yet another blast.
"Of course Captain."
Relcruza and Maltoz made extreme haste towards the bridge, eager to figure out what on earth was going on. Sitting in his chair, Relcruza looked over to his communication officer.
"Leysa, what on earth is going on?"
"Well Captain, like I said, there is a large unidentified vessel some one hundred kilometers from our position that has thus far evaded all of our scanners. I can't ascertain how long they've been there, but what is for certain is that they are located amidst the asteroid belt," answered the young blonde girl from earlier.
"Damnit, I really wasn't in the mood for surprises today. Well now that our friends have decided to reveal themselves I see no reason why we shouldn't return the greeting."
"Load Gottfried missiles 10 through 16, fire!" ordered Maltoz.
A series of missiles exploded from their tubes, streaking outwards into space towards a field of asteroids. The rocks took on the brunt of the destruction, but a few missiles found their mark. A large ship, reminiscent in design of the Fortitude and other ships of their class, seemed to shimmer into visible view.
"Our scanners show the ship has positronic hull plating and is using refraction cells to mask themselves, much like the Blitz model gundam," reported Leysa.
"Whoever they are, they're well equipped that's for sure," said Maltoz, looking at Relcruza.
"See if we can hail them, I want to know what's the meaning of all this," said Relcruza, his face like stone.
"Go ahead Captain."
"I am Captain Midian Relcruza of the ZAFT ship Fortitude. I demand to know why you have fired on our vessel, and also demand you surrender yourselves immediately before we are forced to destroy your ship."
"They are firing their main weapon!" exclaimed Leysa.
"Evasive measures, 25 degrees to port side!" barked Maltoz.
"I guess that's their reply. Charge the Omega cannon, I plan on finishing this skirmish quickly," said Relcruza.
"Charging the omega cannon, phase 1 of the cannon reaching critical mass…sir they've disappeared again, I can't get a lock on them! Wait, two more unidentified objects. They are much smaller and are heading straight for us."
"Fire everything, full spread. I don't want those things to get anywhere near us!" ordered Maltoz.
The full arsenal of the Fortitude was released, missiles and laser turrets firing at different trajectories surrounding the ship. A deafening explosion rocked the vessel, a bright flash streaking across the space in front of the viewer screen.
"Sir, judging from the analysis of the debris I believe we destroyed one of the objects but I'm not sure about the other."
"How can you not be sure? And what do you mean by 'objects' ensign Leysa?" asked Maltoz.
"One was definitely destroyed in the last volley, but the other is totally not being picked up by scanners. As for what they are sir, they seem to be small shuttlecraft of some sort."
"Shuttlecraft, that doesn't make any sense…" said Relcruza looking up at Maltoz.
"Sir, intruders reported on deck 7 section 18."
"Intruders? Patch it on the screen ensign."
Relcruza looked on with shock as he saw two people dressed in gray uniforms carrying automatic rifles moving through the ship and shooting any unfortunate soldier who came in their path.
"Captain it's the same section the chairman and the other dignitaries are on!"
"How did they get on the ship ensign!" barked Maltoz.
"Onscreen m'aam."
The camera switched angles and displayed a long tube that had been dug into the ship from the shuttlecraft.
"They drilled their way in m'aam."
"That could damage the integrity of the hull and depressurize. Notify all security and tell them to pin down the intruders," ordered Relcruza.
"The intruders have made their way into the residential section, oh my god, Captain, look at this!"
Horrified, Relcruza looked up and saw the two infiltrators leading the chairman and a ZAFT dignitary into a hallway and back towards their ship. Rounds of fire were traded back and forth, but the security team was hesitant lest the chairman be hit.
"Tell them to be careful, damnit, they're using him as a shield," said Relcruza pounding his fist on the arm of his chair.
The crew looked helplessly on as the infiltrators ascended into the tube and back into their shuttle.
"Follow that ship, I don't want it to leave our sight. Leysa, can you adjust the sensors to compensate for their stealth?"
"I'll try Captain but…"
"Do it ensign!" exclaimed Maltoz.
"We can't fire at the shuttle or else the chairman will die. We've got to figure out what these people are up to. All right everyone brace yourselves, we're following them even to hell itself."