Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed. The company Bandai is the legal owner. I also don't claim originality with this story; Solid Shark is the owner of the idea. If he does not approve of my use of his idea, he can let me know and I'll pull the story once I have gotten his message.
Claimer: However I do declare ownership of the Crimson Eagle, the Dark Side Bear, and the Lunar Cherry Blossom. I also declare ownership of the twist I'm putting in.
"The Endymion Ghosts"
Chapter Six: "The Scare of Space"
Earth Space, approaching the Debris Belt
Eagleton sat off to one side of the bridge holding a bag in case his stomach decided to turn on him again. He hadn't been able to eat for a couple of days now and it showed. He was quite irritable and didn't look to good. He had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and every now and then he hurled his lunch. His skin was deathly pale and his eyes looked more pink than red forget crimson. He said all he needed was some real orange juice, but the ship didn't have any orange juice aboard. So he was in a bad way for a little bit.
The gathered officers were telling the bridge crew of their escape from detainment back on Artemis. Like there was much else to do. It had been decided to go and get some food and water from the debris belt. Though not one of the volunteers had been told that was what they were going to do. Though Crim had seen to it, that they wouldn't even need to scavenge the dead like jackals, or worse, at least to him, vultures.
As he listened in, he had to laugh. After the first few explosions, Lieutenant (Senior Grade) Mu La Flaga had started to yell about a crack in the wall, followed by Ensign Justin Glick, then Ensign Loretta Red-Rains, and finally the Captain, Captain (Acting) Murrue Ramius. As the door opened Lt. Flaga and Ens. Glick attempted to take out the guards, only to encounter the top elite of Eagleton's old security team. The resulting chaos had everyone in a three-minute melee until an explosion had tossed them, anime like in the Crimson Eagle's opinion, into a big heap of arms and legs. To top it off, Justin released a string of curses that even made him blush.
All in all, it had been a rather funny and comedic escape, especially in Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Sara James. Lt. James had made it back to the ship minus her skirt. She also had been closest to the explosion, so she also looked like a coal miner when she got back to the ship.
The jokes going back and forth and the fact that Capt. Ramius and Lt. Flaga had landed holding one another just added to the joking around. That was when Flay Allster appeared on the bridge and in her hand was a bottle of orange juice. Crim looked about ready to cry.
"I found some orange juice Captain Ramius," Crewman Second Class Allster said.
"Oh! Good work Crewman Allster! Commander Eagleton… Where did he go?" everyone looked left and right.
"I may be ill, but that doesn't mean I can still move! Thank you Crewman Allster!" Crim smiled happily and then proceeded to drink the orange juice, slow and easy to prevent an adverse reaction.
"A woman said that she had forgotten she had brought some when she and his children came aboard. It's a little warm, I tried to chill it for a few minutes," she said.
"Ah! THAT HITS THE SPOT!" Crim did appear to look better
The bridge crew were happy that he looked better. Then he looked at Crewman Allster with what can only be described as big, puppy dog eyes. C2 Allster looked a little taken back and took a step back. She was understandably nervous. Crim for some reason, when he wanted too, could appear to be a child at heart.
"Is there any more Ms. Flay?" he asked kindly.
"Actually a little more, we also found some frozen orange juice in the back of the freezer," Crim was gone before they knew it.
"I guess orange juice does help a little with nausea," the Hawk of Endymion said.
"Though now that he is gone, what about his people that had been on Artemis?" asked Ens. Badgiruel.
"Good question, they seemed to have been expecting us, but we didn't know that we would be going to Artemis until the destruction of Heliopolis," the Captain said.
"That's an easy question!" piped up Sakura Ryosouke, "He is notoriously famous for back up plans, almost to the point of paranoia! It can be rather creepy at times."
"But I thought that you two cut all your connections with ZAFT?" asked Lt. James.
"Good point, but he's been keeping secrets even from Lina and me, so don't expect any answers any time soon. You'd think he served with the Atlantic Federation's Spook Corps."
"Yes, one might think that, but wasn't he on the planning staff?" asked Captain Ramius.
"He was demoted for punching out a fellow officer who spoke of giving no quarter to Alliance soldiers and he had a really big fight with Patrick Zala that it came to blows in front of the Supreme Council," the Luna Cherry Blossom said.
"I remember hearing of that, but I didn't think it was bad," said Lina Joule.
"Oh it would have been worst, had not all the other council members sided with Crim, including radicals. You see, Crim understands the multiple options of MAD or…"
"Mutual Assured Destruction!" Lt. James just about fainted when she heard that.
"Yep! He was one of the biggest advocates for Electricical Magnetic Pulse weaponry and N-Jammers," said the young ace of ZAFT.
"Those weapons would only disable not destroy enemy vehicles and ships on land and sea as well as knocking aircraft out of the sky," the Hawk was thinking deeply.
"What happen to the EMP weapons?" asked Ens. Red-Rains.
"Some of the equipment, the most vital with the technicians were in transit and had stopped for a bit at Junius Seven, since Crim had wanted to be in attendance for…" Lina Joule stopped talking and shot a glare only to find she was receiving one from Sakura.
"You know he says never to talk about it, so that's it for today," she left, her voice uncharacteristically cold and harsh.
"Excuse me," Lina left as well.
"In attendance for what?" asked Volunteer Sai Argyle, as C2 Allster sat next to him.
"Don't know, but it would be nice to have some dirt on him. After all, he had to shot his mouth off and ended getting me an impromptu draft order from the Captain. I'm neutral for crying out loud," and she did cry out loud about it.
"But you were born in the Atlantic Federation and have lived in the Atlantic Federation and you also have maintained your Atlantic Federation citizenship, thus you were eligible for the draft and were drafted or we can just throw you into the brig and shoot you later when we arrive at Lunar Headquarters for Draft Dodging," that was a statement, not a question from Ens. Badgiruel.
Flay's mumbled language made Sai blush and got her an extreme talking down from the officers.
That night, Starboard Dormitory, Officer Country, Crim Eagleton's private quarters
The nightmares came back full force, but they weren't that of any battles a ZAFT soldier fought. He writhed uncontrollably as the nightmare continued. It was his first command, three years of leading them. All ended one night with a surprise attack that left him the man he had become.
Flashback
It was a cool night, an hour to dawn. The soldiers on guard were at full alert. They knew that if an enemy attacked, it would be during this time or during the changing of the guard. Even with the most advance security and surveillance technology in the world, human guards were instrumental in any security defense. Lapse in concentration meant one of your friends goes home in a body bag. These men were some of the best, they had trained for just about anything and everything, but this was something they did not train for. Betrayal by their own leaders.
A young officer walked out of his barracks. He had blonde hair and blue eyes that held a sickly red to them. A pair of eyes that only his men had grown to know and even like. They knew that the moment someone that had information they needed and wanted, those eyes would be turned on the stool pigeon and they would get their information. This morning like any morning he wanted to personally check the perimeter. The men felt safe and secure if the 'old man' did this.
As he was approaching the main gate to begin his inspection, the first missile made contact with it and the guards there. Then another missile hit the barracks for officers he had just left. At once the alarm rang and troops began to pour of bed, out of the barracks and into their fighting posts, but soon these were soon abandoned, as the enemy fire was too great and too accurate. Leading what was left of his command the old man led them into a forest area. As he led them, he looked back to what had been his base, his first base command. He turned only to see a man with a sick smirk, a devilish gleam in his eyes, and a gun in his face. The trigger was pulled.
End FlashbackCrim shot up screaming his head off. His screaming sounded throughout the ship. Lina was the first to reach him. Following her were the officers, then dozens of people. They all saw Crim clutching Lina like a child would grasp onto a mother after a nightmare. They could he the muffled sobs from the scared man as the Captain ordered everyone out of the room. She turned and thought for a moment in the darkness of Crim's room that he had blonde hair and blue eyes, that held a sickly red to them, but as she blinked she saw his normal red hair and red eyes, but they seemed to hold a slight shimmer in them that hadn't been there before.
'What are you hiding Crim, now you resemble him?' she thought as she left and closed the door.
Entering the Debris Belt approaching a large object in the field of debris
As the Archangel entered a section of the Debris Belt, Kira Yamato and Mirillia Haw were on their way to the locker room to change. This would be Mirillia's first combat escort and patrol sortie as a mobile suit pilot. She would be piloting the Woodland Strike, GAT-X108. The Dark Side Bear had received orders to pilot his fully repaired and overhauled Mobius Zero Mobile Armor. Though mobile armor would be of little use as their primary strength was speed, in a CQC environment, speed was a handicap. Yet Crim had come up with a plan to cover that base.
As the two entered, they saw the four older pilots talking. It was odd seeing the "Four Masters of Luna" talking about what they planned for after the war, but one of them was really and uncharacteristically quiet. Crim was just leaning off to one side, not even really engaged, but giving his opinion in the talk. It was then that Sakura noticed Mir.
"AH! You're finally here, here you go!" she said as she grabbed a flight suit and helmet out of her locker and handed them to the brunette.
"Umm…" Mirillia knew it was a flight suit, but it seemed different.
"It's my old flight suit from when I was your age. It should fit you, might be a bit snug and show off your assets a bit more, but that's about it," she said, remembering her first time in the cockpit.
"Thank you, but why give this to me?" Mir would have just worn the regular white with orange trim.
"I heard how you handled the Field Strike's weapons while Kira did the piloting. True he wouldn't have really needed help, but you two left the Blitz in rough shape. No way they will ever get that up and running any time soon. We have a very small chance of getting some breathing space," she said.
"Thank you very much, but I have to admit I'm pretty nervous," Mir was and to a point were her legs were shaking.
"Fear is both an enemy and friend," Crim spoke with a deep sadness, "Fear can make you unwilling submit and roll over, but to some, especially soldiers, that fear is a trigger. After we take cover and see we are not alone when comes to fear, when it comes to death, we gain the courage to advance into hell itself. Courage has been mis-defined as not having fear, but it's just the opposite. That fear is our strength, we use it to both terrify the enemy with a grand charge and we use it to give us the strength we need, the strength of wanting to live. In this occupation, death is just around the corner, but we use the fact that we are scared to die to fight and live, to live to see tomorrow. Soon you will see my fear, my fear that manifested itself. I have long ago hidden supplies where we are headed. We will find the spare parts not only for the GINNS, but for the Zeroes as well. There will be food and munitions as well. So we won't be starving anytime soon."
With that said Crim began to change into his flight suit, followed by the others. Mir though was shocked to see them changing in front of her, when she felt someone already starting to unbutton her uniform jacket. She looked to see Sakura with a smile on her face.
"Well, get used to it, if that is even possible. This is behind the real scenes of war, you will live through it so don't despair. Crim's happily married and Justin is engaged to Ensign Loretta Red-Rains. The Pink Princess is Kira's type, though I think I heard Crim say that you two would be an excellent couple as well. Then I'm pretty sure that Hawk would fall for someone like the captain," Sakura help settle Mir's nerves, but only a bit.
Kira saw Mir's name on the locker next to him and knew that someone set this up. He noticed Sakura guide Mir over to the locker next to him and heard her give Mir some advice. Mir nodded and started to change, it was only when Mir was only in her blue bra and panties that she took note of Kira next to her. Kira turned his head and grabbed his flight suit and started to put it on. Just as he got his legs into the pant legs, he felt a small hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, he saw that the custom flight suit given to Mir, was like Sakura's regular one. Having – rather forced to – help Sakura put her suit on a couple of times, Kira began to aid Mir. The suit was kimono-styled and was a soft orange with gentle blue with soft white cranes instead of sakura flowers which both found odd. Soon Mir zipped in closed and helped Kira quickly put his flight suit on. As the two stepped out into the hallway, they saw Sakura who was smiling happily.
"I thought so… That flight suit is a bit tight," Mir just gave her a look that said "A BIT?"
"Yet, it suits you and my younger sister would be proud, it was actually hers," Sakura sadly said.
"You have a younger sister?" Kira questioned.
"Had a younger sister. We found her body after the First Battle of Jachin Due… She never made it to the locker room before her ship was sunk. They had been on border watch and they were ambushed, we found the ship and I retrieved the suit," Sakura wiped away some tears, then spoke again, "Right, I can cry later, but now we have a mission, I know this is your first official mission since sparing in the Woodland Strike and Field Strike against either Justin or me, but just remember to stick close to one of us. Knowing Crim, you just might be number two on his wing. We will be launching with Aile Packs, so let's go."
The three headed down to the hanger.
Adrift in the Debris Belt, on a chance course with the Archangel
A young girl in a white dress top and soft purple skirtsat in an emergency escape pod. She had been drifting for a couple of days now and had fallen asleep. With her was a small pink ball. Both didn't move, the only movement was the girl's chest rising falling with her steady breathing. She had about six days worth of air left and just about as much emergency rations. Yet fate had delivered her to her path to meet two people for a reason. Perhaps to heal one soul and find happiness with another, all will tell in good time.
Archangel Mobile Escorts
Sakura had been right about Mirillia being number two on his wing, but she never expected that she would be number three and Kira taking up the trail position. The four mobile suits moved forward, slow and easy. The Zeroes were outriders and scouting the flanks and rear; the one good thing about mobile armor in a debris zone is that their speed allows them to trail behind and to the flanks of ships to provide a lower silhouette and high-speed rear line escorts. If an enemy did get behind them, their heavier duty radar and sensors would enable them to alert a battleship or a battle group to a rear or flank attack.
Yet what had surprised most was that Crim had taken Lina with him. All were very much surprised by that. Even Lina was surprised, but she also knew why, or rather she thought she did. As the group moved forward followed closely by the Archangel, they spotted something big and three of the seven people in the escort knew what it was immediately. The rest and the people aboard the Archangel only began to realize what they were seeing when they got close to it.
"ITS JUNIUS SEVEN!" Kira exclaimed.
"It can't be!" CPO Arnold Neumann said.
"The ruins of a home of almost 243,721 people… A place of farming with no weapon production facilities, only a defense force of militiamen numbering at 14,369 not even a tenth of the population and few heavy weapons," Crim said sadly over the radio and then added, "My first command as a ranked ZAFT officer."
Eyes went wide after he said that, not even Sakura and Lina knew he had been the commander of the defense force at Junius Seven. Few actually did know, because he was one of ZAFT's greatest heroes. He could not fail and people didn't want to believe he could. Yet here was his very first real command as a ranked ZAFT commander, broken and shattered, completely destroyed. Many just couldn't believe that one of the greatest men in history had the dubious title of being the Commander of the Junius Seven Defense Force.
What he said had set of alarm bells in Lt. James head and she voiced them over the radio.
"Commander Eagleton, does this mean that your wife and son were also on Junius Seven?" all looked to her, realizing as she did that the possibility was high.
"So was my daughter and grandson, Junius Seven was were we lived and I planned to retire to farming as I got older," Crim's voice was shaky, but he still managed to tell them the true story.
"My god!" Ens. Red-Rains covered her mouth in shock.
"I…" Captain Ramius was at a loss for words.
"If anyone had the right to have vengeance…" Lt. James didn't finish.
"I don't believe it," Kira and Mir said echoing the thoughts of many.
Supreme Council Chambers, Aprilius One, PLANTS
At that moment, with the Archangel crew being led to the destroyed remains of Junius Seven. The PLANT Supreme Council was meeting to discuss the destruction of Heliopolis and the eight G-Weapons. Included in the meeting was Commander Rau Le Creuset and ZAFT Top Gun Red Coat, Athrun Zala.
The two had arrived aboard the crippled Vesalius and had boarded a shuttle. Aboard the shuttle was Defense Council Chairman and Supreme Commander of ZAFT, Patrick Zala, Athrun's father. When both saluted him, he told them no formalities and even told them that them meeting never took place. This didn't sit well with Athrun and as the flight to Aprilius One proceeded, he liked it even less, but kept his piece. Patrick Zala was confident that they would be able to keep Kira Yamato a secret.
Upon arriving and listening to the report given by Rau Le Creuset, the council seemed to have a break between them. A disagreement about how the war should continue. Then Councilman Zala inquired if the losses and troubles gone through over the eight machines and the destruction of Heliopolis had been worth. To point out this fact, Le Creuset had Athrun give a report to the council. At the end, anotherargument broke out again, until Councilwoman Ezalia Joule called for order herself. Her aide took three steps back and stood awaiting orders.
"Councilwoman Joule is something wrong?" asked Council Chairman Sigel Clyne.
"No, but I have just been informed that some information had been omitted from the official report concerning the pilots of the four remaining machines," she said giving Zala a death glare to which he gulped.
"May I ask what?" inquired Councilwoman Eileen Canaver.
"It appears that three of the machines are piloted by aces, to be more exact three of the 'Four Masters of Luna'," she said.
This created quite the predicament. No one knew how to approach it. They had been shown combat footage, but they had seen the white feather of the Hawk of Endymion, so that could only mean one thing.
"Commanders Eagleton and Ryosouke are alive!" cried Councilman Amafli.
"But I thought they were dead… WAIT! THREE! That means the Dark Side Bear, Ensign Justin "Lucky" Glick of the 3rd Fleet!" cried out another.
"ORDER!" called Chairman Clyne.
"It also appears that the last machine is piloted by a Heliopolis technical student, age 16, but a First Generation Coordinator," Councilwoman Joule shot a look once more at Councilman Zala who started to fidget, Athrun stood up.
"If it pleases the Council I personally know the young man," Athrun said, hoping to save some of his father's dignity.
"Very well," said Chairman Clyne, not wanting to debate the situation at the moment.
"His name is Kira Yamato, he has unruly dark brown hair and clear violet eyes. He has a little mechanical bird named Tori at his side or rather on his shoulder all the time. He, up to a few years ago, attended a lunar prep school in Copernicus, I expected him to join me here at the PLANTS, but apparently he decided to side with his home nation of Orb and was caught up in the middle of this. I tried to persuade him to join his kind, but he refused, claiming his national origin as the Orb Union. He had once been my friend; I gave him Tori as a symbol of that friendship. He can be naive at times, but no one can question his skills with a computer or its programming. Chances are that if the Earth Forces didn't have a usable OS, they nowdo."
"I see… Hm… I would have liked to cons… How did you learn of this Councilwoman Joule?" all eyes turned to her.
She simply snapped her fingers and her aide handed her the disk that had arrived for her. It was from Yzak Joule, her son, but there was a second disk as well. They saw Yzak's first.
"Mother, I have learned during the operation against Heliopolis that father is alive, but I believed him dead when he saved my life. At the time I was full of grief and sought out vengeance against the Alliance. He somehow survived, for he was killing Alliance personnel that had boarded the "Legged-Ship." We got a fairly accurate description from some prisoners takenand the use of a knife and a flash of steel, backed it up. It is one of his specialties he has passed on to me. A unique style of knife fighting in which a user uses whatever light that's avaliableto flash off his or her's knife, followed by rapid attacks. He is quite skilled, but he told me, not a master yet. He had taken out quite a few enemy soldiers and joined the battle when we attacked. He kept Dearka and some GINNS pinned down as the 'Legged-Ship' fled. He said something about too many secrets and genocide, about him having to stop it. If I know him, he should have the "Legged-Ship" moving to pick up supplies and pay his respects to his first command, Junius Seven. I think he wants the crew to know that he had commanded the defense force there and had not only lost his daughter and grandson, but his wife and son as well. I hope to see you when we arrive in a day for repairs and supplies, your son Yzak, signing off."
The room was silent; few knew the truth, even to the Supreme Council. Patrick Zala among them. He had been Crim's commander and yet, he had no idea of what had really happened. Then the second message was inserted. It first showed the Avenging Eagle with the Cry of the Avenging Eagle. It was from Crim Eagleton.
"Respected members of the Supreme Council, and I daresay with trouble, Councilman Patrick Zala. I say hello to the crazy lot of you! How dare you forget what we were fighting for! I mean ZAFT is really starting to act like the damn Alliance! So clean up your acts NOW! Or I'll just have oust the whole lot of you and personally see to new elections! Now onto business, but first on a side note, to my dear relative, Little Missy Joule since I can't figure out our exact relation, but with the way things are itjust might be sister-in-law for the ease of things. Howare youdoing, I hope this finds you in good health and to my dear friend Sigel Clyne, sometimes you need to take the bull by the horns, though I do recommend help because tackling it alone can be mighty dangerous me amigo."
"Well, I'm about to tell you that Rau Le Creuset, and my opinion still has not changed (Rau Le Creuset slumped into his chair trying to avoid this level of humiliation), just practically declared war on Orb! I should know, because since I was in hiding, I would need funds to survive, so I got a job in Orb, as well as diplomatic immunity and political refugee status, though I was not alone. I went to work on Heliopolis at the Moregenroete facilities there to help build Orb some mobile suits for defense. Yes you heard it right, Moregenroete was producing mobile suits for the Orb Self Defense Force when Rau came and blew the place up with D-Package ANTI-FORTIFACTION weapons! So naturally, using those in a close space, like a colony, it was only natural that his pilots would destroy the place, especially when they put their back to the support shaft! Since I know how differicult it is to get those weapons out without permission, I can only guess that Patrick Zala was in constant communication with the Le Creuset Team. Also, note that Heliopolis also had a lot of ZAFT deserters and Coordinators refusing to fight in the war on it. So I would have to ask, 'Zala is starting a war with Orb a good idea, because the next thing you would need to blow up is the rest of the country on Earth!"
"Now as for the Alliance Mobile Suits, the X-100 series, X-200 Series, and finally the X-300 series, Orb had no choice but to make them. The Alliance threatened to revoke Orb's neutrality. In response to this, certain members of the government that sided with the Alliance since the start of the war and members of the government that did not want to have a war with anyone, agreed to make the mobile suits and to protect Lord Uzumi Nara Athha, I got the job on Heliopolis, though they did not know that a lot of us were former ZAFT aces that had up until the attack, quit the war. That is one reason why they can outperform the GINN and the CQUE. That's pretty much all I got to say, so Nosvadona!"
The message ended and now Sigel was rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was going to be a long night.
Back with the Archangel
As everyone started to load their newly acquired supplies, Crim was looking over his old home. As it would happen some Junk Techs had been in the area and found the stash, by pure luck that is. One of them had become trapped among the supplies after the pilot proved to be a real ditz until the Archangel arrived. To the shock of all, there was a mobile suit with them. Crim and Ens. Glick were impressed by its appearance. Now the pilot, Lowe Gear, an old friend of Crim's, and a few members of the Archangel crew stood in what had been the living room in what had been his home on the destroyed colony.
"I can't believe it Crim old buddy! This was your place! Not to mention some of the suits lying around Junius Seven and a few of the ships had been under your command. I don't even ever what to know what that must of felt like," Lowe said shaking his head.
"I know what you mean, I lost my mother and father to the famine, but I still have my brothers and sisters," Lt. James scanned the room with her brown eyes.
"Gee Crim I don't know what to say," said Mir as she looked at Crim's son, wife, and daughter float in space, dead.
"I won't ever get over it. If it isn't a nightmare of the troops I lost, its my…" Crim had been stepping towards them when he stopped as his boot came down on his old secret training gym door under the floor, but he heard an echo and the door held firm.
At once, there was someone banging on the door from underneath and the faint cries of help could be heard. Everyone spun into action; Lowe went flying out the door – almost quite literally – to get his computer AI Eight, and his fellow Junk Techs. Lt. James had also left and was calling the Archangel for help. At once, a great attempt at a rescue was mounted. The first of its kind since no one has ever tried rescuing people from a secret underground gym on a colony that had been hit by a nuclear missile, since after all, this WAS the first time for such a thing.
After a lot of ideas and a brief attempt at some trial and error ideas, Lowe Gear showed his genius and came up with a way to make an airtight airlock over the hatch. Crim described how the room was set up and that in an emergency, it could double as a shelter, but the attack had happened so suddenly, he didn't believe anyone made it, especially since he had not thought much about nuclear missiles in making the room.
As the mobile airlock was ready, Crim used his own mobile suit and created an opening for it. He said it was his responsibility, but his family had been moved and what he wanted salvaged, had been. The house was destroyed and the airlock was positioned. The airlock was pressurized, the door was open and the people came out. There were only a few survivors, but two stood out, a woman with midnight blue hair with jade green eyes holding a baby with silver hair.
Crim was one of the first to greet the survivors and they all recognized him, but his eyes fell on the small child, no more than two years old. He approached the woman, she smiled and handed him the child. Tears flowed freely as Crim held his grandson, alive and apparently well. He fell to his knees; the sounds of him crying and the sight of his tears made many turn and look at him and his young grandson, reaching up to him. The child's red eyes shining in the limited light, full of innocence as Crim was helped up by Lowe and his fellow Junk Tech Liam and led back into the Archangel with the rest of the survivors.
After a few moments, operations to recover the hidden supplies resumed. It was a bit of a surprise for the survivors of Junius Seven to be rescued by an Earth ship of all ships. Yet it held two ZAFT aces and some Coordinator refugees onboard, which gave the survivors a sense of safety. Then they meet the captain of the ship as she personally went down to the mess hall to check on them.
"Hello, I'm Acting Captain Murrue Ramius of the Eight Lunar Fleet," she said as she greeted the survivors, one of them, the woman from earlier stepped forward.
"It's a pleasure, I'm Lenore Zala, I would like to thank you for coming to our rescue. We thought we had been given up for dead and would never escape," Lenore Zala said.
"The pleasure is my and my crews, we survived the destruction of Heliopolis so we understand better than anyone in the Alliance right now about the need to avoid bringing needless combat to the colonies," Captain Ramius responded.
"I was surprised that we were rescued by an Earth Forces vessel, but glad none the less, but why is Commander Eagleton onboard?" Mrs. Zala inquired, but he was close enough and not too engross in playing with his long lost grandson not to here her.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Zala, but your husband and I had a major falling out, same with a lot of soldiers of ZAFT. Desertion isn't as high as it had been, but just after Endymion it hit an all time high of three out of every ten, but the Alliance is still having their desertion problem which is roughly from last I heard two out every five," Crim said, seeing his grandson reach over towards the captain he gave a short laugh as the little one climbed from his arms into hers.
"Um… Commander Eagleton… I…" she was at a lost for words.
"I take it you were a fine teacher with a mother like personality that cared deeply for your students?" he asked.
"I had been, but how…" she was at a lost of words, Lenore laughed.
"It's one of his talents. To be able to tell people apart from others, reads them like a book. I guess you read something about my husband and that's why you left ZAFT, though…" she looked at the blue officer volunteer uniform.
"I only joined till we get back to Orb, I left this war behind," he said, but saw the captain, but knew, despite the face, she would keep quiet, but unfortunately, Chief Murdoch walked in.
"Hey Commander, we finished loading up most of those hidden supplies," he saw the child with silver hair and red eyes and knew to be the Crimson Eagle's grandson, but when he saw the Captain holding him with a gentle smile, even he could tell she would be a great mother.
"Hidden supplies? Only to Orb?" asked Lenore, with a smirk as others listened in.
"Okay, busted, but I have a reason, but I can't speak about, Commander Zala has gone a bit overboard, well a lot, but you know me, its not like I would willingly sign up, I just happened to be working on the Alliance Prototypes, taking vital information and funneling it to the Orb Military Mobile Suit Astray Project when the attack occurred, not my fault that Zala is losing not only his mind, but control over his men, though you might be able to help keep whatever sanity he has left, but for now I think…"
"LEVEL ONE GENERAL QUARTERS! THE WOODLAND STRIKE AND THE STRIKE HAVE JUST DESTROYED A COUPLE OF GINNS! LEVEL ONE-GENERAL QUARTERS! MAN YOUR BATTLE POSTS! ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS! IT'S THE BLIGHT TEAM!"
Crim was out of there faster than light. Captain Ramius handed little Yzak over to Mrs. Zala and made for the bridge as fast as she could get. Fear gripped the crew, but the sight of the Crimson Eagle launching into battle with a look that… no one knew how to describe it. No one aboard the ship really knew the whole tale between David Blight and Crim Eagleton, but those that knew, knew enough not to talk about in front of either.
With Mirillia and Kira as they both were talking while on Picket Duty moments ago
"Survivors Kira, Survivors of Junius Seven including Crim's grandson! I am so happy for him!" Mirillia was practically jumping up and down in her seat, unknowingly making Kira's job harder in that tight flight of hers.
"Yeah, I know, it would be like finding survivors of Heliopolis stuffed into a shelter that failed to launch. I wonder if she got away?"
"She? Who do you mean Kira?"
"That blonde boy that was in Professor Kato's lab waiting for him was a girl… I… ah… accidentally groped her, um,ah, upper area,when we took cover from ZAFT commandoes," he said blushing.
Mir's face was beat red as she watched as Kira scratched the back of his head, or rather back of his helmet with a nervous smile. She did something that only she could do; she began to laugh her head off at what he had just said. Kira blushed even more, but before they could continue, their alarms and warning systems started to go off. At once both were on it. They spotted a wrecked ship, but then…
Supreme Council Chambers, Aprilius One, PLANTS
The council finally let out and as the Supreme Council was leaving, a ZAFT messenger ran up to Chairman Clyne, not Councilman Zala. Chairman Clyne took the letter and gave it a once over. His face immediately paled, he then looked over to Rau Le Creuset and Athrun Zala, as they were conversing with Councilman Zala. He ran over to the three at once, the messenger following him.
"Commander Le Creuset how long until your vessel is ready?" Chairman Clyne inquired hurriedly.
"A day at the most, may I ask why sir?" the masked blonde hair commander asked.
"The Silverwind has gone missing and my daughter was aboard! As soon as you are ready move out and head towards Junius Seven, she was going there for the preliminary investigation of the sight for the Memorial Delegation," the chairman said.
"I'll have all ships that can be repaired and launched with-in a twenty-four period mobilized at once, Mr. Chairman," Councilman Zala said, knowing the significance of the Clyne girl.
Three hours later Junius Seven Ruins and a wrecked nearby silver with teal trim civilian ship
Two Recon Type GINNS appeared from behind the wreckage of the ship with the name Silverwind on it. As Mir and Kira were sitting their weapons, Mir made a call to Sakura who was standing direct watch over the mobile worker pods. Sakura was surprised to say the least of the GINNS and their actions. That was until Mir reported the ship's name and Sakura was ordering everyone to lay low, but one of the pods had been spotted as the two GINNS were leaving and they turned back to investigate. The GINNS picked up the pod's IFF and ID signal as that belonging to the 8th Lunar Fleet of the OMNI Enforcer. They engaged, but were engaged by Kira and Mir. Mir's shoot had been true and one GINN was now part of the Debris Belt. The second GINN lost an arm and started to retreat, the two-seater's rear seated electronic warfare specialist was screaming on an open frequency about their discovery when Kira fired two more shots in rapid succession and the GINN was destroyed, but both of the crews had been spared the conditions of vacuum as they had been vaporized.
Both of the young pilots killed their radios and began to shake violently inside their cockpits, but then Kira, like at Heliopolis, picked up an SOS. He turned the main camera, which was the head and spotted a small life pod. He signal Mir as they both went over to it and began to retrieve when an Ion blast ripped through the area. The shot barely missed the life pod and the two Strikes. Then seven CQUE mobile suits painted in various colors came out nowhere, but were lead by a sword bearing CQUE. That CQUE had four deadly looking spikes on its shoulders and knees each, while the others had only one or two spikes. The leader was also painted black with red patches on the sides and shoulders with a red head. The red color was blood red. The rest was evil black with violent purple. The other suits were similarly painted, but outside of the standard evil black and blood red, they had tasteless splattering of different colors all over them.
Kira and Mira fired back and two CQUES carrying Ion Cannons were felled and exploded. Then Sakura and the Field Strike with the Zeroes arrived, but the remaining six broke formation while the leader went in for a killing blow on Mir's forest green body with black torso Woodland Strike GAT-X108, but the Cry of the Avenging Eagle pierced the airwaves and the leader barely had time to duck away from the collision, but his sword was caught clean down the center right through the blade from tip to bottom of the hilt, including the hand holding it.
Inside the Life Pod from the Silverwind
The young girl had awoken to a violent rocking of her pod and the little ball seemed to come to life as well. They both looked out and saw the battle going on, they also saw a piece of debris flying right towards them, but a mobile suit with a blue chest and red torso and everything else was white except for the feet and the shield and the red and black pack on its back. Its amber eyes burned with determination to rescue the pod, but the debris was coming closer, until…
Kira and the GAT-X105 Strike
Kira watched as the lead CQUE and the Crim's crimson colored Highland Strike GAT-X106 cut through his opponent's hand and sword as well as colliding with it and stopping it from attacking Mirillia. That was when he noticed another CQUE with a tacky bright green and mad dog orange blotches painted onto it knock a piece of debris towards the escape pod. Kira immediately threw the Strike into the race, but knew from the start he would never make it, but tried anyways. He closed rapidly; he only had one shot, as he opened up the Strike's hatch. In his mind's eye, a seed appear, bounced off something that left a ripple, like that in water, and it exploded. The Strike moved faster and just as the pod was hit and destroyed, he arrived and scooped up a girl his age with long pink hair and stunned baby blue eyes. She held a small pink ball clutched tightly in her hands as Kira resealed the hatch removed his own helmet and forced some air into her lungs. She began to breathe as the atmosphere inside the mobile suit returned, enabling anyone in it to breath without a helmet on.
Kira brought his head back and made for somewhere safe for the time being. He looked at the young girl who was smiling. She rested her head against his chest and seemed to be fine. Removing his gloves, he began to stroke her hair with his right hand.
"Are you alright?" he asked, admiring how she seemed to fit perfecting against his body and with in his arms.
"Yes, thank you kindly for saving me," she said with a voice so soft, that Kira guessed that had to be the softest he had ever heard.
The two just stayed together, resting. Kira had really pushed the Strike and its engines needed time to cool. He had hidden inside one of the old mobile suit hangers, but he wasn't the only as two mobile pods with Junk Tech IFF and ID signals sat only 30 meters from the Strike. They too decided to stay out of battle, but a Junk Tech mobile pod was not useful in battle anyways.
Back on the Battlefield
The lead CQUE stared at the GAT-X106 Highland Strike as it floated in front of it. A crimson frozen flame coming from its hand that meant a beam saber. The eyes also glowed red. All around them the fighting raged. Inside the CQUE, Commander David Blight looked at the enemy mobile suit in front of him; he knew Master of Aces Crim Eagleton piloted it. He now, could legitimately kill his biggest thorn. Blight knew that his ship the ZMS Wasteland was nearby. It was a Nazca-Class warship with all its weapons aimed at where the Archangel was approaching.
The trapped would have worked, but the two Zeroes had split off to look for the enemy ship. They spotted it and attacked, the crew had been caught off guard and severe damage was inflicted. The Wasteland began to list from the hits taken. Fire raged unchecked as crew tried valiantly to save their ship. They succeeded.
Blight saw his ship in distress and looked about the battlefield. He saw Sakura's gentle white and soft blue-bodied GAT-X107 Field Strike cut two of his CQUES in half at the waist with a silver beam saber. He then saw Mir kicked one his other CQUES, the one that had nearly killed the occupant of the escape pod, then send an emerald dart right through the hip and spar ammunition, which ignited and destroyed the CQUE. Another tried to impale her, but she saw the attack and fired her Igelstellung and then pulled her jade beam saber out and slice the CQUE in two, from the head to the crotch, the CQUE exploded. He quickly looked over to his left and saw his last man fall to a mobile pod that had gotten the drop on him. Volunteer Tolle Koenig and Ensign Natarle Badgiruel piloted that mobile pod as they flew back to the mighty ship that had the appearance of a white angel with red trim and blue and yellow shields. The Archangel was now in position.
On the bridge, captain Ramius gave the order and the two Gottfrieds High Energy Beam Dual Barrel 220cm Mk. XXI Cannons fired. The Wasteland took another direct hit and the captain was shouting his head off to Blight to withdraw.
Blight shook his head and left, but before he could leave, he had to get past the Crimson Eagle who now stood in his way. Fear overtook Blight, the same fear he used to cause in others. He had always feared Eagleton, but they had been on the same side. Now they were in different uniforms on different sides of the line. Eagleton struck and dismembered the CQUE of its arms and head. Then apparently satisfied, Crim left David Blight to limp back to his limping ship.
Crim called off the battle saying now they had a win worth talking about. David Blight's ship withdrew from the battle area. Crim then called on everyone to start looking for the Strike, which had gone missing. The search had hardly begun when Lowe appeared ready for battle.
"Alright let me at them! I'll show'em to risk a person's life in a life pod!"
"Um, Lowe, they left… WHAT LIFE POD?"
"It was destroyed, but that pilot of the Strike sure was something, he flew in and rescued the damsel in distress!"
"Any idea where he is?"
"Yeah, Liam and Kisato are looking after them in an old mobile suit hanger on Junius Seven."
Sakura decided to join the conversation.
"Did she have long pink hair and a small pink ball?"
"Yep! She did, but as I said, that pilot was incredible you should have seen it! I mean a Coordinator assisted by computers wouldn't be able to make that kind of move."
"I have long suspected Kira is not an average Coordinator, his skills are both natural and enhanced, but to a degree that should be impossible. Though I'm one to speak, our job is to…"
"Make the impossible possible! I am good! Oh yeah!"
"I wonder when those two would show up. Nice run boys, Archangel practically saw no action, save for one volley. Also, Mu, you took the words right out of my mouth about what we, as soldiers, are supposed to do."
"I did? Well, um, I always say that!"
"I know and I had actually been timing you, right on cue."
"Is there anything in this universe you don't have timed?"
"Yeah, actually."
"What?"
"When are you going to put on your playboy act and try and woe the captain for example."
"DAH! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!"
"Nothing, now let's find the kid! Hey Mir, you alright?"
"Yeah, I think so… So is that what you meant by fear?"
"Yeah that is, but don't worry you'll be alright. That WAS just the tip of the iceberg."
"Thanks Crim, it was helpful advice you gave me."
"That's the added job of the veteran, to share our knowledge. Now let's go find Kira, I know who he is with, but I don't feel like explaining to their parents why she is a mother and he's a father."
"YOU MEAN IT IS!"
"We'll talk it aboard ship, but like I say, those two are made for each other."
The group of mobile suits and mobile armor started towards the hanger where the Strike, quite literally, looked to be sleepy soundly. From the scans showing the interior of the mobile suit, it could be seen that the young girl was sleeping, almost curled up like a ball against Kira. Deciding against just waking them and having Kira move the mobile suit, Crim coordinated with the Mistao, Liam, and Lowe to simply move the mobile suit to the Archangel's hanger. As the Strike was being move, Crim got a shock of his life.
Ens. Badgiruel and Volunteer Koenig had accompanied the little band of mobile suits and mobile armor, with Tolle talking everyone's ear off about how he and the good ensign had bagged a CQUE single-handedly. As the mobile suit was being retrieve, they were detailed to ensure the back of the Strike didn't hit anything. So the two were sitting there when the Strike's back came into view. They both couldn't believe what they saw. The back of the Strike was slagged with melted metal!
"Commander Eagleton! The back of the Strike! Its…" she was at a loss for words.
"What about…" he got a view of the Strike's back.
"What in the world happened!" yelled Chief Murdoch.
The Strike was standing in the number one slot for the mobile suits maintence racks. The whole back was slagged and melted metal. The vernier engines looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to them. The Aile Striker Pack engines had not only melted and slagged, but also warped in every direction. The Striker Pack was actually almost welded to the back of the Strike and in places was!
"Um Lowe?"
"Yeah Crim?"
"How much do you think that's going to cost to fix?"
"About half the Professor's poker debt to you?"
"Good, because I don't think we have that kind of money on us," Crim could only stare speechless.
"I'll get the others and get to work then," and Lowe turned to his two friends and co-workers.
"Let me guess, this will halve the Professor's debt if she's lucky, a quarter at the most?" asked Liam.
"Yep, so let's get to work, we're going to be with them for a while," with that said, they went to talk to the Professor, while Crim told Chief Murdoch to wait for help from the Guild and told him and the officers no one was better at keeping secrets then Lowe Gear.
Inside the mobile suit, the young girl woke up for a moment and saw the young man sleeping. Kira had worn himself out, what he did may have been short, but the level of stress alone would exhaust anyone immediately. She smiled and moved in close, Kira awoke as she was doing so. She placed her lips on his, surprising him, but he didn't back out, but returned the soft kiss. The two broke it and Kira did the first thing to come to mind.
"I'm Kira Yamato."
"-Giggle- I'm Lacus Clyne," then having her name, Kira kissed her again, but it lasted only a few seconds before sleep reclaimed them both.
Two minutes later, the hatch opened and Crim and Lowe gently removed the two and took them to rest in some proper beds. The whole time, in Crim's room, Flay Allster had snuck in to find some way to get back at Crim. She couldn't find anything, but then found a journal, the steel lock sealed tight by intense heat, a bullet lodged in it, and a dark color that could only be blood. She looked at the name of the owner; the cover wasn't faded, but covered in dry mud and dirt. The name said:
Career Master Sergeant Thomas P. O'Ryan
Dog Company, 6598th Combat Infantry Battalion
Atlantic Federal Army
Flay was understandably confused. Why would a ZAFT soldier have the personal journal of an Atlantic Federation soldier? Then something came to her, the journal said Atlantic Federal Army. The Atlantic Federal Army had been disbanded just after the Alaska Declaration. The Atlantic Federation still had its own military, but they were now a part of the Alliance. Then Flay remembered seeing an old dress uniform that was not a ZAFT red, white, violet, or black that would be expected of ZAFT soldiers. The green hue was also wrong. It was olive drab, the old Atlantic Federal Armed Services colored uniform. Deciding that was enough and not wanting to be never found, Flay put the journal back and fled the room. Crim returned and just picked up the journal. He actually suspected something when he smelled perfume in the air, but decided not to investigate.
HEY THERE FOLKS! I thought I might just change things up a bit. Now we have learned the horrid truth of Crim and Yzak's sadness with Junius Seven, especially Crim's sadness. To think he used to command the troops there and lived there with his wife and son, as well as his son-in-law, daughter, and grandson, but we find that little Yzak survived and that he has silver hair with red eyes and has taken a fancy to the Captain. No surprise, she has red eyes too! Yet the biggest shocker must be Lenore Zala! Athrun's mother is still alive! Wait, there's more!
Now we have one of Crim's enemies on the run back to the PLANTS due to severe damage taken from a failed ambush! We also see Mirillia Haw in her first battle and the previous training (which will be mentioned in a later flashback) had paid off. She's an ace in her first sortie! We also see Natarle Badgiruel and Tolle Koenig also get a kill in! Tolle's first official combat kill, now he needs four more for the coveted title of Ace!
We also see what the Blight Team is like. We all know and love Lacus, but I decided she needed to be in a little more danger. Also, this rescue will have fundamental impact on Kira's psyche. Especially later, and yes, I will make sure to find a way to make Flay in the seductress manipulator she was in the series. Also Sai and Kira won't be having such a bad fight later; I will give that little secret now!
Also, this is to Solid Shark! Thanks for your assistance in writing this chapter. I know it isn't much, but I drew on some of the things you wrote for inspiration and on what you said. There is a great mystery behind all this. In the shadows, the real war is fought. Both the shadows of the battleground and the shadows of the mind. I also decided to follow the path of going a little bit different down the road, much like you have. Thank You once again me amigo.