Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed Destiny or any of its characters.

A Spy to the Gods

Section Two

I wake up to chime of a bell. I open my eyes; my vision is blurred slightly. I regain my senses one at a time. I breathe in the air around me, and sit up. I rub my eyes of any sleep in them. I hear the chime again.

'Yeah, just a minute.' I reply to whoever is on the other side of the door. I lift my weight up off the bed, and proceed towards the door. I rub the back of my neck, as I feel for the 'open' button. The door automatically slides open.

'Ah… Did I wake you?' he asks. I look up at my awakener. It's Braner, still dressed in his green uniform. I take in a deep breath through my nose, thinking of a reply.

'Yes you did.'

'Oh… sorry about that sir. Just thought you'd like to know, we're at condition yellow.'

'And that means?' I ask of him, as I rub the growing stubble on my face.

'You can call your boss.' Best news I've heard all day.

'Great.' I walk to the other bed where my jacket is laden. I reach into one of the pockets intending to get my phone.

'Sorry sir, but you're going to have make it through our line.' I nod and take my hand out of the pocket. I put my jacket on. 'Besides…' he continues. 'Captain Gladys would like to have a word with you as well as the Chairman.' He finishes. About damn time!

'Does that mean I'm cleared?' I ask. Hoping I get my sidearm returned to me. I feel at my right hip, where my pistol should be.

'Sort of. But if you want your gun back, the Captain will have to clear you first. Ready?'

'Yeah.'

'Let's go.' He gestures with his head to follow him. I nod again, and step out of the quarters. Again I follow him through the maze of corridors in silence. At this moment I just notice the slight lack of gravity under my feet, but I can still walk on it. Damn I must be really tired to have just realised this.

'How long was I out for?' I ask. He continues walking ahead of me; he turns his head so that I can see half of his face.

'Only a few hours. You must have been pretty tired to drop off just like that and not be woken by the battle.' He tells me jokingly.

'What battle?' I ask feeling ignorant of the current events of today.

'I don't know much of the details.' He shrugs. 'I'm sure The Captain will explain it all to you.' He assures me

'Alright.' I sigh. After a few more minutes we pass two 'Red Elites', both of them looked like kids. The first barges past, his red eyes filled with anger, he obviously had something on his mind to bother asking who I was and what I was doing here. The other red uniform glided past me without even a glance at me. Not that I minded them ignoring me, I've had enough of explaining to people who I am for today. Except maybe for the Captain, but that's only to make progress.

'Hey Myles!' Another red uniform, calls from down the corridor. She approaches Braner. 'Who's the civilian?' she asks him. I roll my eyes. I'll allow Braner, or Myles do the talking for this one.

'This guy? He's an intelligence officer.' He replies. The girl in the red uniform looked quite young. She must be about sixteen or seventeen years old, I guess. Her hair is a light purple, and quite short for a girl, being no lower then her shoulders. Her eyes were full of a joy and optimism that perhaps I once had. Funnily enough, she also wore a pink mini skirt with the red tunic.

'Wow! First Athrun Zala finds his way aboard this ship and now a spy has as well.' She says excitedly. I conclude that her surprise and interest is genuine, she can't be that good a liar, and she's definitely not being sarcastic.

'Athrun Zala?' Braner wonders. Probably searching his memory for the name. I search my own memory as well. It hits me. Zala; former Chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council, killed at the second battle of Jachin Due. This must be his son. I don't really know much about him, only bits a pieces of information one picks up from time to time. Last I heard was that he went into hiding since the end of the war about two years ago. Rumours floated around spelling out that he was believed to be living in the ORB Union.

'Yeah, he came in with Representative Atha!' she grins. That would make the rumours true then.

'Really?' He asks. I wasn't sure if he was really curious or whether he was being sarcastic, he was masking it well. From where I was standing the next open entrance to the left looked as if it had some vending machines in it. While these two talk, I'd like to get a drink of some sort.

'If you two want to talk here for a while, mind if I go and get a coffee?' I ask Braner. He can at least grant me that.

'Not at all, just don't be to long.' He's one to talk. I make my way between the chatty couple. Just as I reach the entrance I turn around to face Braner.

'Same goes for you as well remember.' I remark, whilst smirking. As I turn around to enter the room. I bump into someone.

'Sorry,' is my automatic reply. I look down to see a petite young girl, with two pigtails in her red hair, dressed in the standard ZAFT green uniform. Her eyes lock on to mine. They are a grey, somehow similar to the 'Red Elite' girl, but with a sense of uncertainty and innocence in them.

'Oh I'm sorry,' she apologises whilst still looking into my eyes. Realising that I'm still in her way, I step to the side.

'Sorry.' I repeat. She walks past me and towards the 'Red Elite', halting to the purple haired girl's side. She listens in on the conversation between the two. I walk into the room, scanning the various vending machines that were built into the walls of the room, looking for one that might serve a coffee. In the corner of my eye I notice someone sitting on one of the long seats in the far left corner of the room. Unusually, he was dressed in civilian attire. Could he be the Athrun Zala that was the hot topic of discussion just behind the wall? I try not to think much about it as I make a beeline for what looks like the coffee machine. Let's see what the selection is then; tea, coffee, black, white, without sugar, one sugar, two sugars, hot chocolate, creamy, extra creamy. Black with two sugars, I select. As I wait for my drink, I ponder on whether that civilian behind me is Athrun Zala or not. He has the shoulder length dark blue hair and green eyes that the profile photos showed about two years ago.

'Intelligence Centre?' Someone gasped in a high-pitched squeak from within the corridor. It must be one of the girls, most likely the one I bumped into just a moment ago. I'm going to have to give Braner a lecture on how to keep some things to himself. Tell them once, don't gossip, soon enough the whole bloody ships going to know. The machine beeps, my coffee is ready. I take the plastic cup from out the machine, looking into the blackish liquid. I take a sip; it burns my lips and tongue slightly. I gently blow into the cup, to cool it down a little. I take another sip. I glance at Athrun Zala again; he was sitting forward, resting his hands on his knees, staring at the floor. He was obviously deep in thought, perhaps about the past war. I decide to let him be, as I leave the room and re-enter the corridor. I take another sip; the cup is starting to burn my fingers so I swap the hand I use to hold the cup with.

'Hey, there you are!' Braner shouts over the two girls, as he notices me. The two girls turn to glance at me. The one in red turns to Braner. I take another sip of my coffee.

'See you later, Myles.' The one in red says as she walks off down the corridor.

'Yeah, see yer, Lunamaria' He waves goodbye briefly. All this time, the girl in the green uniform is still staring at me. I look at her for a brief moment. When she realises this she snaps out of the stare.

'Hey wait sis!' she calls out to the girl in red, as she skips to catch up to her. I watch her as the pair as they walk out of view, whispering inaudible gossip to each other.

'You coming or what?' Braner asks, with a slight annoyance in his tone.

'Yeah sure.' I tell him. We continue walking down the corridor in with only the sound of footsteps and other crewman busying themselves with various tasks. The only comfort I had was the coffee; it tasted a little bitter. Which is how I like it when I needed a good wake up.

'We're here.' He announces to me. I drain the last of the coffee from the cup. Braner pushes a button.

'Braner here, Captain. I've got the DISC officer with me.' He speaks into the intercom.

'Thank you Braner let him in.' The person on the other end of the intercom replies.

'Yes ma'am.' He finishes. He takes my empty coffee cup from me.

'I'll take care of that for you sir.'

'Cheers.' I thank him. I press a button, and the door slides open. I step in and close the door behind me. The room is cool and well lit. The Captain sits behind her desk. She stands up and gestures me to sit down. She is dressed in the white uniform of ZAFT Commander. She looked to be in her thirties.

'I'm Talia Gladys, Captain of the Minerva.' She announces herself. 'Take a seat please.' Though a question, it sounded too much like an order to me.

'Thank you.' I sit on one of the seats that are facing opposite the Captain on the other side of her desk. I hand my card over to her. I sit back in the chair as she studies it.

'Jack Browning.' She states my name. 'What do the Domestic Intelligence and Security Centre want here?' She hands the card back over to me. She then leans forward resting her elbows on the desk, with her hands locked together.

'Before I answer any of your questions, you're going to have to answer my questions first.' I tell her, cocking my head to one side. She looks to the wall whilst she thinks this over for a moment.

'You're a tough one aren't you?' She replies still studying the wall. I just stare at her with deadpan eyes, as best as I can. 'Alright.' She throws her hands up. 'No point arguing with an officer of the intelligence services.' She concedes. 'What do you want to know?'

'Where is Chairman Dullindal? I heard he came aboard the Minerva just before myself on Armoury Four.' Ensuring his safety is my first priority; I must at least confirm this.

'Yes he did.' She sighed. 'He's resting though, so I'm afraid you can't speak with him at the moment.'

'That's fine, just as long as he's safe. I've heard from a little bird, that Representative Atha of ORB is here as well?'

'Yes, she stumbled in with her bodyguard. Alex Dino, or rather Athrun Zala.' Living under a legend I see. Pretty good, that's he remained hidden for so long. But I suppose, him not being around the PLANTs would help with that. Now that he's back here, a war hero like himself would be easily recognisable and popular with some of the people around here.

'Yeah, I saw him.' Thinking back to a few minutes ago.

'Hmm… They were visiting the base with the…' She starts to tell me

'I already know that.' I cut her off. I didn't want to be bored with information I already knew. 'How did they get on board?' I ask to get the ball rolling again.

'Well…' she takes in a deep breath as she searches her memory. 'Apparently, herself and her bodyguard boarded a Zaku, and fought the three stolen units. They got damaged and ended up boarding the Minerva.' She explains. I think back to the green Zaku I saw boarding the Minverva, whilst I was with Commander Gregov, was that him?

'What exactly happened at the base?' All that I know at the moments was that it's pretty much out of action.

'We're not sure ourselves.' She shrugs, kind of a long shot. But the information from her would be the most reliable I could find for now. Any others would be still on Armoury One, cleaning up or dead.

'Tell me what you know.' She might as well tell me what she knows.

'The three units being kept in a storage hanger broke out at some time today. They destroyed most of the mobile suits at the base. I was ordered to launch the Impulse Gundam. Impulse engaged in combat with the three stolen units, named Gaia, Abyss, and Chaos.' I nod, taking in the information.

'Continue.'

'As this was happening, outside the colony, one of our Nazca class destroyers and a Laurasia class frigate were destroyed by an unidentified ship, that was believed to be equipped with the mirage colloid.' A system when installed on a mobile suit renders it invisible to the naked eye and to radar; it even blocks infrared emissions. Perhaps, the most perfect stealth system to date. However I have never heard of it used on a ship before, though it was only a matter of time before someone did it.

'That explains how they managed to get so close to the colony without being detected.' I figure.

'After we launched, we were engaged in combat against the unidentified ship, that we've codenamed; Bogey One. Bogey One withdrew and escaped. We followed in pursuit.'

'The three stolen units boarded Bogey One?'

'Yes. After two or three hours spent refitting and repairing we engaged in combat with Bogey One and the three stolen units again in the area of the debris belt.' She tells me. This definitely went beyond a CDI operation, maybe EAF Special Forces as well.

'And that ended in Bogey One escaping again?'

'Unfortunately… yes.' She scowled. I went too far with that assumption. I remind myself to be more careful. 'Look…' She continues 'Can we wrap this up quickly it has been a rather long and stressful day.' That goes for both of us.

'Okay.' I agree 'Last two questions. What are you and the Minerva going to do now?'

'Priority is to continue the pursuit of Bogey One and to recover the three stolen units. Orders from the Chairman himself.' She rubs her eyes.

'Can I make a call to my boss?'

'Yeah sure, whatever you want.' She must be getting pretty fed up with me. 'Braner will help you with that.'

'Thank you.' I thank her as I get up from the comfortable chair and make my way to the door.

'Oh, one last thing.' She says as I open the door. I turn to face her. 'What is your part in this?'

'I can't tell you that. Top secret, need to know basis. I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself. Remember, I didn't tell you that." I chuckle to myself. She just frowns at me. 'Good evening.' I bid her a farewell as I close the door behind me. I see Braner leaning against the wall just outside.

'Finished?' He asked looking tired and fed up.

'Yeah. I was told I can make my call now.'

'You'll have make it from the Security station. Follow me.'

'Alright.' I nod along, yet again. And yet again I follow him through the maze of corridors. I hadn't quite figured Myles Braner out. At times, he was very professional, giving me the 'tick, tock, yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir!' attitude. Then at other times, he gave away his sarcastic attitude to me. Best I could figure; he pretty disgusted at having to escort a 'kid' like myself around the ship, that's in a higher job then he is. He put on a good face for me, but his mask had slipped at times. I can't really blame him for thinking like that. I'd be the same. However that still wouldn't stop him from hating me. It didn't matter anyway; I wasn't planning on staying here much longer.

After walking just about every corridor on the ship and an uneventful ride on the elevator later, we reached the Security station. Braner punched a code in at an electric lock next to the door to the Security station. The door slid open. Two green ZAFT regulars were chatting to each about the usual random bullshit of their views on the world. The one of them notices me and looks straight at me. The other continues talking until he notices the absence of his listener, then looks at me. They both just stare at me for a moment or two, and then go back to their conversation. They don't greet Myles. They go back to their conversation. Braner leads me into an office room.

'You can make the call from the terminal in my office, here.' He points to the computer at his desk. I sit in chair, whilst he sets up the line.

'Is the line secure?' I ask just to make sure.

'Yes… However it will be recorded.' He tells me. 'Security reasons of course.' It'll have to do for now. Just better be careful not to mention anything sensitive. 'Okay, it's up. You know how it works.' I just nod again. He exits the office. I dial in the number and start the call. The screen goes black, the number I dialled appears on the screen along with the text 'Calling…' just above the numbers. Someone answers. Their picture comes up on the screen. A tired pale girl with short dark hair answers on the other end.

'Liz Ryan, OS Four.' She opens her eyes. 'Oh… Jack, where hell have you been?' She asks with some worry in her voice.

'Sorry I haven't been able to call back. Busy day.' I explain. She shakes her head.

'Where are you now?'

'What kind of daft question is that?' I ask her, poking fun at her. 'The caller ID.' I remind her.

'Cut the crap, Jack!' She snaps, clearly not in a good mood. 'Stoke wants a word with you, and he isn't the least bit pleased with you or himself.' Her eyes are full of anger.

'Is that Jack?' Someone shouts from somewhere in Section. Liz turns to face the perpetrator of the outburst. Liz nods. She steps off the screen and a slightly chubby looking ogre comes on with short grey hair and complemented with a grey moustache. His skin is slightly wrinkled through aging. He reminded me of a very old cartoon dog of the name of 'Droopy', except a little faster on the ball though. 'You're in trouble Jack!' He points a finger at me. 'You know what that little bastard rehfield keeps bitching on about?' He asks spitting acid.

'I can guess.' I shrug.

'Sorry, but I'm not going to cover for you anymore! I thought we agreed that the last time I'd hear about something like this was during Prometheus!'

'Careful what you say, this communication is being monitored.' I tell him. He just grunts angrily.

'Let me spell it out for you; you and I are in the shit!' He retorts. 'Sieren wants us at Centre within the next five days!'

'We're still on an ongoing assignment…' I start.

'Not anymore.' He cuts me off. 'I've just been informed that it's now out of our jurisdiction and it's being handed over to ZAFT. Look, you will be at Centre in the next five days or else!' He points the finger at me again.

'I'll try of course.' I assure him.

'That's not good enough. Our heads are on the chopping block. Sieren will probably assign us to some gutter cleaning or give us the sack.' He hits the desk with his fist. 'Beg, borrow or steal. Just be there in five days.' I look away from the screen and nod. Seeing he's got through to me, he hangs up. I stare at the wall to my left, pondering on what could happen to me now. I've really blown it.

Endnote: Section Two completed. I've started work on Section Three, and hopefully it should be up in two or three weeks. Please, please, please review. I've had zilch, so far. Comment on anything, mistakes that can be rectified, improvements that can be made (in story and writing) etc etc.