Chapter 7: The ring, part two
A little about what happen to Celsius after departing the with four coordinators on board, the Nazca class ship captain shouted: "Level one battle alert, code red!" The officers around her quickly relayed the information to the other ships in the same fleet, bracing for battle. A group of unidentified ships caught up with them in space and opened fire, nearly destroying the hull of Absolute.
Just a bunch of terrorist
In her opinion, for right after that they demanded they hand over the four officers who sided or took refuge with Orb during the battle. They've got some nerve to demand that of her, whose job is to escort the foursome safely back to PLANTs.
There was a pleasant buzzing at the back of her mind, reminding her how great it was to be engaged in open combat, she sat down on the captain's sit, anticipating an easy win.
Cagalli proceeded towards the docking bay, heart in mouth. The crew had reentered the atmosphere and will be docking in an hour; she'll get to see her brother and Lacus returning from space. All those she personally knew and cared about… all except the one who was truly special to her. Her fingers gingerly touched the puffy skin beneath her eyes, she had cried till she could cry no more and was hoping there will be no after effects, what would Kira say when he see her like that?
She didn't want to be perceived weak or emotional, especially by Kira. Because by crying, Athrun's not going to come back……it was plain silly to cry. Absetmindedly, she fingered the ring worn round her finger, feeling reassured by the solid metal. It was as if, the ring was consoling her. Taking the usual place of the one who gave it to her...
Kira rushed into the room, while unbuttoning his shirt. He retrieved a fresh set of uniform from the overhead compartment and proceeded to shower. He glanced at his friend, who was still apparently asleep.
"Athrun! It's four in the afternoon already; we are supposed to be at the landing bay! Get up!" he shook his friends shoulders, but Athrun only breathe deeply, and showed no signs of waking up. Kira redoubled his efforts but it was in vain, just for the fact that Athrun was the deepest sleeper he knew. Once he was asleep, nothing short of a hundred tones of TNT will be able to wake him up. Coupled with the fact that he haven't slept for the past two days, his odds of succeeding are one in a million.
Abandoning his friend, Kira rushed into the bathroom, all the while thinking of a way to explain to Lacus why one pilot is absent.
Yzak felt a rhythmic jarring knock along the length of his spine, his eyes opened to find a scared looking medic holding on to the hand grip of what was apparently the infirmary. And its not the Archangel. The medic floated off the ground, meaning the ship is in combat. Switching off the gravity generator allows more energy to be directed to the cannons. He tried to move his arms but was in alarm when he couldn't, he looked down to find himself belted to the bed, and leather strips tied him to the mattress tightly, leaving wedges in his skin.
"Untie me right now!" he ordered the medic beside him, struggling against the bondages that rendered him immobile. Surely there was a more dignified way to treat a patient.
The medic was too scared to be further intimidated, he replied with a shaky voice: "I'm afraid I cannot comply, commander Jule. For I cannot make any decision without my Captain's orders."
"Your captain? What vessel is this?"
"Celsius."
"Your captain?"
"Commander Ileisus." Just then the door slid open with a hiss and a woman along with two Zaft soldiers, she floated into the room. She appeared surprised to see Yzak awake and ordered: "Untie him."
The medic saluted and proceeded to release him. Yzak gazed at the woman while massaging his wrists, he had automatically thought captain meant 'man'. Lady captains are a rarity in the Zaft army. Very few vessels which fall into the hands of one live for more than a year on the frontline.
"Commander Ileisus" he greeted the moment he could stand up. The ache in his chest intensified, threatening to suffocate him. He did his best to hide his discomfort behind a grimace, while employing a more formal tone he learnt from his two years in politics. "This vessel is in battle right now, is it not? So why are you…?"
He never got to finish, the room quaked dangerously and knocked the occupants off their feet. Yzak had only a moment to register the fact that the woman was crashing into him before she did, by reflex he pulled her towards himself and anchored both of them to the bedpost. The action was painful, but saved the pair of them from crashing into the wall, unlike the unfortunate medic who apparently got knocked out by his crash.
Captain Ileisus uttered a small word of thanks and pushed Yzak away, towards the two soldiers, who grabbed his shoulders.
"Escort Commander Jule to the shuttle." She ordered.
"Shuttle?...Why?" he exclaimed, struggling against the grip.
"We met up with some terrorists along the way back to PLANTs, my role…is to escort you back to the council at any cost. The Celsius will provide cover for the escape shuttle, please proceed to the escape shuttle now."
"You mean you're abandoning this vessel…? And planning on sacrificing all the people on this ship!"
She didn't reply, merely nodded grimly.
"Don't! Don't you value your crew's lives? You're the captain!"
"Sacrifices are necessary sometimes." She said quietly, turning to retrieve a set of pilot suit from the cupboard.
"Take him away now, Commander Jule…I wish you the best of luck. And I hope that you will be able to make it back to PLANTs safely."
With that, the two guards dragged the protesting Yzak away, the lady commander proceeded to change, and returned to the bridge.
Cagalli greeted the space fleet, and as each of them walked down the ramp, her spirits sank lower and lower. Athrun was really not there anymore… each face was familiar, and with expectancy she had hoped that the next one will be his. But even after the whole crew stood before her, he wasn't no where to be found. Seeing Shinn didn't exactly lift her spirits either...
Get a grip of yourself!
She scolded herself silently and put on the most emotionless face she knew, trying to ignore Shinn's presense. She congratulated the fleet and shook nearly every body's hands. Informing them that the neighboring nations had feed backed to her about their views and majority supported the Orb army's actions. Especially kingdom Scandinivia who was the first to hail their victory.EAF had been silent but an emergency committee had been set up which declared the atrocity of the actions of Zaft and declared hostility. Most of Plants are unaware of what's happening except Dulliandal's dead, but about65 percent of the population had proposed to let someone from Orb take the post of the next Chairman. Several members of the superme council resigned, meaning the turnover rate in the leadership in PLANTs is quite high. Others believe it was the Council's fault thatDulliandal was ableto stuff the whole of ZAFT into his own pocket, leading to the tragady ofRequiem and Neo-Genesis firing again and again. A few independent groups have declared they'll kill the whole council, two members are assasinated already and the world in a mess.(The crew gave each other an odd look at this point) The identity of the the new prospective chairman said to be from Orb had not been disclosed yet, but she'll look into the matter further. When the briefing was finished they were treated to refreshments and a commemoration party was to be held tomorrow night and the Royal family of Scandinivia will be present, so basically eveyone had to be well rested and well dressed.
She excused herself and walked to Kira's side, Kira had been avoiding her and she knew he didn't want her to ask, but…she just had to.
Heart in mouth, the words left her mouth
"Where's Athrun?"
Kira looked away guiltily; Cagalli assumed he didn't want to say. Kira was actually guilty for not being able to wake Athrun up… He replied slowly, hoping not to get punched
"Cagalli, I'm really sorry… He's not here with us... "
"Than...than where is he?"
He pointed in the direction of the Archangel, refusing to say more.(Because he really want to avoid being punched) The weight of the gesture came crashing down on Cagalli, it was as if he was confirming what she could only suspect and didn't want to believe.
Shinn couldn't identify whathe was feeling when he saw Cagalli again,memories of Mayu dying in Orb flashed past his mind and he flinched. He knew he should be thankful that she granted permission for him to enter the territorial waters of Orb at all. But the past tugged at his heart, weighing down his mind. In the end, he just chose to avoid her as best as he could. He still needed time, he still couldn't forget...
Yzak was surprised to see that the shuttle was packed with people, Dearka explained that the crew's all here, along with the Hawke sisters. They had planned to return all these people to the PLANT's.
"What of the captain then? Will she be coming later?"
Dearka frowned in disapproval.
"She's staying behind. She disallowed me and the older Hawke over there to launch and ushered us here. Rumors from her bridge crew said that she threatened to shoot herself if they don't board this shuttle. She's staying behind on this ship and intend to perish with it, strong lady, she is…"
He was interrupted by Lunamaria, who shouted at the guard blocking the entrance.
"I'll launch in Impulse whether you like it or not!"
"Our captain's orders are to escape."
"You want your Captain to die? It was noble of her to give up herself to save all of us! But there must be some other way; I'll blast the dudes outside into defeat. Just let me launch and you captain may not have to die!"
The guard ignored her but shut the door just as an injured medic was brought in. "That's all the people, Launch off!" He turned to the flaring Luna and shouted at her: "I wouldn't let you touch any of the mobile suits even if I blow them up myself, now sit down!"
"You are heartless enough to let your stupid captain die!"
"He grabbed her collar and railed: "Don't speak as if you know our captain well, don't allow yourself to think her decision was easy to make. Don't think that what she was doing is a rash decision! You don't understand at all, sit down!"
Why wouldn't I understand, just tell me why!" she challenged.
"I'll tell you why. Its all because we have a certain senator Jule onboard!"
Yzak gasped, the whole shuttle went silent and over thirty pair of eyes fell on him.
"What?" he ask testily, hating the sudden attention.
Cagalli ran all the way and was standing outside the dorm Kira and Athrun shared now, it didn't make sense. By rushing here, she wouldn't be able to change anything, but she needed to make herself believe. She needed to convince herself that he's really gone……
With quivering fingers, she pressed the code on the panel and the door slid open, inside…she saw a sight that brought tears to her eyes……
"Yzak Jule, the one who took down your mobile suit…was a captain from our fleet." A collective intake of breath issued from the occupants of the shuttle, which mean most of them were unaware of the truth.
"He's the captain of Valkyrie, disobeying orders he went to the frontline and attempted to blast the Eternal…but you were in the way. Valkyrie's engines were destroyed by Freedom, and he was sent back to PLANTs to be dealt with…"
"What has all that gotta do with your captain's decision?" demanded Dearka.
"The council agreed not to excute that captain if we manage to escort you back safely, Yzak Jule. That's why captain Ileisus is going all out to protect you… Celsius's power is down to 40 percent because of those drat terrorists who out maneuvered us, so the only way… is self-destruct. Captain valued all our lives…she treated us like family, even the officer who erred. That's why she chose to stay and let us escape. Because of us, she's going to smash the damaged Celsius into the enemy fleet. Hoping to buy us enough time to..."
He didn't finished, for Dearka had given him a quick chop at the base of his neck, knocking him out. He winked at Luna and the two searched him to retrieve a set of card keys. With that, they ran toward the airlock, Dearka managed to shout "Yzak, stay here and make sure you don't injure yourself further, knock that guy out if he wakes up again!"
"I'm going to launch too." he called after Dearka, making a move towards the airlock.
"You can't, your suit is still damaged. Ours are fixed, leave this one to me, I'll go kick some ass with the red babe today."
"Please protect my sister!" squeaked the younger Hawke sister from behind Yzak.
"Roger, bye!"
The moment seemed to freeze in time, as Cagalli gazed at the miracle in front of her…
The blue-hair teen looked equally shocked; he could only look back at her, and waited for her to scold him for over sleeping… Cagalli had no such intention, but surprised Athrun as she leaped into his arms, causing the pair of them to land on the ground, Cagalli lying on top of Athrun. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, feeling the warmth of his embrace, feeling the familiar sensation of his slender neckline. And telling herself over and over,
He's alright! He's alive…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The pair of them are going to cheese, very obscenely cheesy, avoid if under ten. So is the other pair. Romance if you will, read on...