"Damn those Eurasians bastards…" Mu drawled tiredly, his head on the table. To his right, Natarle was slumping back in her chair, lost in the land of uneasy slumber.

"They may hear you," Murrue, who was sitting in front of him, reminded while gesturing to the sentry who was standing near the door of the officer lounge.

"I don't care. They probably bugged this table as well."

"Maybe not. Imagine the privacy documents they have to fill up to spy on us," Murrue replied sarcastically. "But we're finally done."

"Yeah." Mu stood, straightened himself and stretched a bit. "With that out of the way," he glanced at Natarle, "Do you want to get a cup of coffee?"

"Too tired. Maybe at a better TPO."

The man stood up. "Okay, in that case, I'll go and get one for …" he blinked and did a double-take. Mu was sure that he didn't mishear the reply. Murrue may have misspoken due to fatigue, but an answer was still an answer. A grin was beginning to form but it disappeared and was replaced with a puzzled expression when he saw a newcomer enter the lounge.

Murrue noticed his expression and turned toward the door. She quickly but gently shook Natarle awake, knowing very well that the Second Lieutenant wanted to preserve her dignity. "Miss…"

"Flay Allster," the rather familiar girl said as she approached the table.

"The capsule princess," Natarle remarked groggily despite sitting ramrod straight.

The girl's eyebrows twitched. "That's not me," she said before pointing towards the empty seat in front of her. "May I?"

"Be my guest," Murrue replied.

Both Mu and Flay took their respective seats.

"So, how do you get here, Miss?" Mu asked.

"I asked around and they showed me here,"

Mu nodded. "That makes sense… yeah… but…"

"What he meant is how come you managed to get off the ship?" Murrue clarified.

"They took me here."

"Took you here?"

"I'm with NAGI,"

Mu noted that Murrue's expression became guarded. "So, what is this NEGI?"

"NAGI. We're in the software industry."

"Admiral Halberton contracted them to do software maintenance on the prototypes, the nonclassified ones at least," Murrue added. "You were involved?"

"I was there for a while, as a supervisor. But we did some of the classified work as well,"

"A girl like you?" Natarle asked before turning to look at Murrue and then back at Flay. "You're a minor!"

"Employment law's a bit grey on working for a family-owned business. Besides, I'm just there to ensure no slacking,"

"What about the security clearance?" Natarle questioned again.

"No criminal record, in the open and has ties to the company's management. Good enough for the spooks,"

"So, why reveal yourself now?" Murrue asked.

Murrue was right to question the girl approaching them. While he was not part of the original team involved in the prototypes, he was sure the girl being involved with the G-Project was unusual. What's more, instead of keeping it a secret, she revealed it to them.

"NAGI had made a prior arrangement with this base's commander. It was supposed to be a secret, then they took me away in front of everyone. Since I'm already compromised, I might as well come clean and offer assistance,"

"Help?" Mu asked.

"Aegis," came the single answer.

He, Murrue and Natarle shared a look.

The first thing that Athrun noticed when he drifted toward consciousness was the strong smell of medicine. Realizing that he was in a medical facility, he opened his eyes slowly, not wanting anyone to find out his state of consciousness.

"Hello, Athrun," a familiar voice caused him to open his eyes wide. He looked at the origin of the voice. Kira was sitting by the bedside.

A man wearing a medical uniform appeared and appraised him. "Oh, it seems that your friend has woken up. Good for you,"

"Will you give him a check-up, doctor?"

"Don't mind if I do,"

Athrun was about to protest when he noticed that his limbs were tied up. He looked at his friend who was standing behind the doctor. Kira shook his head, signalling him to stay put. Reluctantly, he let the doctor perform the diagnosis.

"For someone involved in a crash, he's quite lucky that he had mild concussion and bruises. A few more weeks and he'll be as fit as he can be."

"Thank you, doctor." Kira nodded at him and at a sentry near the door. "May I speak to him in private?"

"Sure, I'll be around,"

The doctor left the bed, and together with the sentry, left the room.

"Where is this?" Athrun asked.

"Archangel, Earth Alliance vessel."

"So I was captured."

"Yes, by me."

It was then Athrun noticed the uniform Kira was wearing and began struggling against the restraint but to no avail. "What the hell, Kira! You joined the Earth Alliance!" he hissed.

"You joined ZAFT, even though you told me that you would never do so!"

"My mother died in Junius Seven!"

"And that makes it okay to destroy Heliopolis and kill its inhabitants?"

The question caught Athrun off guard so much that his anger deflated a bit. "What happened?" He stared at Kira's uniform again. "Or you're not cleared to tell me?"

He received a short explanation of the events that transpired while he was unconscious. After Aegis was disabled, both he and Aegis were brought onboard the ship where he was being treated. The ship managed to escape the Heliopolis but not before the colony was damaged heavily in the subsequent ZAFT attack.

"We never planned to destroy the colony," Athrun said after Kira finished explaining to him.

"One of the GINN carried weapons suited to destroying bases instead of ships."

"It's because you people worked with Earth Alliance to create those mobile suits!"

"So he was planning to destroy Heliopolis? Is that it?!"

"How should I know? You smashed me on the ground, remember?"

At that statement, Kira shrunk in embarrassment. "Yeah, I guess. Sorry about that but I had no choice."

Athrun looked at Kira's uniform and clenched his fists. "You haven't told me why you joined them."

"I didn't."

The injured pilot considered the answer. To his horror, he came to the realisation that Kira ended becoming Strike's pilot and ended up on Archangel due to what happened to Heliopolis; an event he participated in. "What's going to happen to me?"

Kira shook his head, "I don't know."

The best-case but yet farfetched scenario was that his identity as the scion of the Zala family was discovered and he ended up as the political pawn to be bartered with his father. At the other end of the spectrum was him being turned over to those Blue Cosmos supporters. He didn't want that to happen. Thus, he had to escape. But trying to escape in a ship full of hostiles was almost impossible, not unless he had some help. "Sigh. I guess they'll turn me over to the nearest Alliance base."

"Captain Murrue and the others haven't decided to do that so far, so maybe not."

"What are you saying?"

"We are in a Eurasian base right now,"

"What?! Where?!" Athrun asked, half not believing how far the ship has escaped his forces and the other not expecting Kira to give such important information freely.

"Artemis,"

Athrun bit his lips to prevent himself from letting out a string of expletives. He was done for. No, as a soldier, he must try to escape. He eyed Kira, considering whether his friend could be persuaded to help. "Say, Kira, that Murrue person, she knows you're here?"

"Yeah, he and Mu told me that you're awake and let me talk to you."

The two of them talked some more but Athrun's thoughts were already straying. He had underestimated those Naturals' deviousness. He had thought of seeking Kira's help but it turned out that they purposely sent Kira to him as a message that they were holding his friend as a hostage to dissuade him from trying to escape. What made it worse was that Kira didn't realize it.

The three most senior officers of Archangel, Murrue, Mu and Natarle stood near the bridgeway connected to the ship's entrance. In front of them were Jeremy and Gerard, with the former holding a tablet.

"Here, acknowledge the receipt of five Croix du Nord systems," Pogma said as he pointed at the tablet where Murrue had to put her thumbprint. Once she did that, he pointed to another field.

"Here's for water," Murrue thumbed the indicated field.

"Last but not least, propellant," he said while watching her did the final acknowledgement. Then he tucked the tablet away "And we're done and you're cleared for take-off."

"Gee, I'm not sure," Mu said sarcastically, "Are you sure that's all? Maybe another thousand forms?"

"You did agree to conduct the SAR operation, so that's a load off," Gerard replied, grinning.

"What if we change our mind and do not do it? It's not that you would be able to do anything about it," Murrue asked.

"If you're really serious, you wouldn't be asking me about it, would you?" Gerard replied, "But be my guest,"

"I didn't get it. Why us?" Natarle asked

"Your ship isn't registered," Jeremy answered.

"That again," Mu groaned.

"Because of that, it's not a state vessel. A lot of restrictions don't apply to it."

"But it goes both ways," Gerard added, "You can read it up or ask that fugitive college student of yours,"

"Ask Kira?" Murrue asked in puzzlement.

"Sure, why not?" Gerard looked at his watch, "Well, it's time,"

The statement was a clear signal for the three to leave and they saluted to their Eurasian counterparts who responded in kind. The three then boarded the ship. The bridgeway disconnected from the ship's door and moved away. Meanwhile, Gerard and Jeremy remain in their spots, watching. Gerard remembered something and fished a disk from his pocket, and handed it to Jeremy. "Fllaga gave it to me, do what you want with it,"

"Nothing very useful, I guess, unless we want to produce AF's clones. Good stuff, yes, but full of that military complex." Jeremy said as he pushed the disk and the tablet he was holding at a nearby officer.

"Morgenroete's the one developing it,"

"Exactly my point. So-called 'clean' but lots of offsets and throws money lobbying groups camping in Washington and our capitals. Not to mention practising a lot of those 'Strategic Transfer of Equipment to Alternate Location', even though they complained about us doing it."

"Guess my people skills' the reason why you salute to me instead of otherwise."

"Not everyone enjoys kissing that part of the body as much as you do, Gerard."

"With that venomous mouth, no one wants your kiss,"

"You're sure?"

Gerard coughed. "Moving on, countermeasures ready?"

"As soon as the ship clears Artemis, we'll send so many signals that they'll think that we're hosting the grand ball for Cinderella!"

"Who already bolted even before the dance started," the Artemis base commander said as Archangel began moving toward the exit. "Which is might as well, since we don't want Prince Charming to come knocking on our base,"

"Got to keep up that useless base in the middle of nowhere reputation, eh?"

"Otherwise, ZAFT would come with the whole fleet blazing while our 'friends' would be very persistent in sending 'support'." Gerard put his hands behind his back. "Talking about support, we've sent acceptance for the SAR request, right?"

"Yes, checksum tallied, he got it."

"And just like that, we profit by just being here… is what I want to say, but we will have to spend the first four hours sharpening the axe."

"Prince Charming would come in the last two?"

Mu stood on the bridge, looking at the rest of the assembled crew. While a briefing would be done in a briefing room, but due to the small number of crew, it had to be done at the bridge instead. In his opinion, those youngsters from Orb shouldn't be involved in the briefing but it was Murrue's call, not his. He pointed at the schematics of a ship being displayed on the main screen with a laser pointer.

"This is?" Arnold asked.

"The ship we're supposed to search and rescue, the Silverwind," Mu answered. "And get this, this is a civilian shuttle that belongs to PLANTs,"

"What?!" Natarle uttered in surprise. "Why?"

"Because we agree to the request," Murrue said, "in exchange for the partial waiver we received," She gave Natarle a pointed look.

The said woman shrunk in her seat. "Sorry, there's no excuse for accepting it," In her defence, Natarle was being overwhelmed by the documentations that they had to complete but getting tricked was wholly on her own shoulder.

"Seven days of operation," Mu said. "We're to search in the debris field and upon finding it, rescue the ship and its passengers. Then we release to a neutral party or," his face scrunched, "to ZAFT," He held his hands up to forestall the incoming questions, "I know, I know. That's irony with a big 'I' there, but we'll cross the bridge when we get there,"

He then proceeded to explain the mission. Earlier that week, the unarmed shuttle was sent out to the debris belt by PLANT to survey the ruins of Junius Seven. Led by Lacus Clyne, the ship was supposed to check suitable sites for hosting a memorial marking the first anniversary of the Bloody Valentine tragedy. Due to the ship being a civilian aircraft, PLANT informed Artemis, the nearest Earth Alliance to the site, in advance about its flight plan.

"Such a thing exists?" Miriallia asked, with the rest of her friends nodding.

"I forgot about that piece of treaty too," Mu admitted reluctantly.

The conduct was bound by the Manama Convention which was ratified during Cosmic Era 12, which itself was based on the antiquated Chicago Convention signed in the previous era. The Convention, which all countries on Earth and PLANT were party to, established regulations, safety, security, and sustainability for space flights, especially civilian space crafts. While it wouldn't totally ensure their safety in conflict zones, the convention at least offered a semblance of protection to them.

"So, based on the convention, the Silverwind is supposed to send a report to Artemis seven hours ago. It could be that it couldn't establish direct laser contact, or it's actually on a secret military mission and want to sneak around. But there's less chance of it happening since Clyne's daughter is confirmed onboard. Even publicly announced."

"Lacus Clyne," Kira said.

"Princess herself," Mu confirmed. "And so, we're to conduct the operation with a little big challenge. One that our 'friends' in Artemis didn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole. It's going to be a Combat SAR, and there's a possibility that we'll face ZAFT or even our own side."

Sai raised his hand. "But didn't you say that the Artemis is okay with the ship operating in the region?"

"Exactly. That is why for combat, I will sortie," Mu pointed at Kira, "Strike will be at point defence," he hesitated, "together with Aegis, if we manage to get it to work."

From Strike's cockpit, Kira watched as Mu's Moebius Zero fell into formation before shifting his attention to Aegis that was trying to land in front of the bridge. The red mobile suit stumbled a few times before managing to synchronise with the ship's movement and land successfully. They had managed to get the Aegis to work but barely. His sudden takedown of Athrun had prevented the latter from activating a security mechanism. However, while Murdoch and the rest of the technicians had managed to repair the superficial damages, the software problem was what prevented it from being piloted.

"Are you okay, Flay?" he asked through a private channel.

If not for the fact that they were heading toward a possible battle, he would have commented more. Flay was wearing a flight suit similar to his, even down to the same color. The only difference was the helmet. Unlike the "beak-like" design helmets that he and Commander Flaga were using, the one Flay was using looked like a proper astronaut helmet not out of place on Agamemnon-class or Drake-class ships. However, it was a proper pilot helmet, just that the shape and design were to allow more electronics to be installed inside it along with an integrated display while not sacrificing protection. From what he was told, the helmet was more for diagnostic purposes instead of proper combat.

Aegis raised the shield on its left hand a few times, followed by raising the 60mm High Energy Beam Rifle in its right hands.

"I guess so. The assistance in aiming is improving but right now, it's only good as static artillery at best," she chuckled humourlessly, "though right now, I'll settle becoming a scarecrow,"

He only found out about Flay piloting Aegis only a few minutes prior. They managed to install a self-learning neural network that would assist in its movement but since it belonged to her father's company, she insisted on being the one handling it. "You don't have to do this,"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because…" Kira could complete the sentence. He didn't want her to fight neither because she was a Natural, nor was it because she was a girl. It was hypocritical of him, he knew, but somehow, he wanted to protect her, not only from the dangers threatening the ship but also from the harsh reality of the war itself, just like before. "I don't want you to fight,"

"Kira… thank you,"

"Huh?"

Their conversation was interrupted by Miriallia, "Three ships ahead! One of them is Silverwind and it's under attack! Three, no, five mobile suits, seven mobile armors!"

Archangel increased its speed. Meanwhile, Miriallia's face was replaced by Murrue's as Archangel broadcast another transmission on international channels. "This is the Archangel of the EF Special Force to all units in the area. Under the Manama Convention, you are to cease hostilities immediately or face the consequence," The warning was repeated two times, as required under the said convention.

"Special force?" Kira questioned.

"We throw that phrase when we can't tell them anything," Mu answered.

A few seconds passed after the ultimatum without the attackers backing down.

Mirriallia appeared online again, panic on her face. "We have a request for help from Silverwind. Hot and clear. I repeat, hot and clear."

"Just stow away that malarkey, Missy. Use normal words from now on,"

"Mu?"

"She wanted to say 'Cleared Hot'. Meaning we're to engage those marked as hostiles on the radar," Mu said as he engaged Moebius Zero's thrusters and sped away.

Kira looked at his own radar to see multiple triangles with many red triangles converging on a single blue on it.

"Let's go, kid! Chop! chop! Capsule, on point!"

"On it," Kira answered as he followed the mobile armor.

Once Kira arrived at the area, he saw Silverwind trying to get away from its pursuers. Mu quickly went to attack a GINN that was close to the shuttle. "Kira, that MA!"

Kira quickly searched for the said mobile armor, and managed to locate a mobile armor that was on a strafing round. He hesitated until mobile armor opened fire and hit the side of the shuttle and heavily damaged it. "NO!" he exclaimed as he pressed the trigger.

Strike fired its 57mm High-energy Beam Rifle and hit the attacker, destroying it totally.

Kira gasped as the implication hit him.

"Stay sharp, kid!" Mu barked as another GINN got close enough to the shuttle.

Before he could react, Aegis shot at the GINN, missing it by a wide margin. However, Aegis fired again a few times; each shot becoming more and more accurate, forcing the GINN to pull away. Deciding to take care of Aegis, it sped toward Aegis which was still on Archangel. However, Aegis managed to hit its left shoulder when it was halfway, causing the GINN to careen out of control. It barely stabilized itself before a shot hit it almost in the chest area and it exploded.

Meanwhile, Mu finally dispatched the GINN he was engaging.

The remaining mobile suits and mobile armors shifted their attention to Strike and Moebius Zero, realizing they posed greater threats than the shuttle they were chasing. Five mobile armors ganged up on Strike and launched a missile barrage at it. Kira engaged the CIWS on Strike's head to shoot them down but it was too many. Missiles hit Strike's chest, head and torso, engulfing Strike in a fireball. Though the whole mobile suit shook violently, it held up, even though the barrage dissipated a quarter of Strike's power reserve.

When the explosion abated, to Kira's surprise, one of the mobile armor closed the distance, trying to launch a missile at point-blank. Instinctively, Kira raised Strike's shield and batted it, smashing the mobile armor and killing the pilot almost instantly.

He had no time to dwell on what he had just done as a GINN was attacking him from below.

"What the heck with those people?!" Mu complained as he landed a glancing shot on a Moebius, hitting its main thrusters.

Another Moebius approached and destroyed the disabled unit.

"They're no mercenaries!"

Murrue's face appeared on the screen as Archangel was close enough for the visual communication work once again. "Your take?"

"Probably Spec Ops,"

Kira narrowed his eyebrows. If what Mu said was true, that meant their opponents would try their best to destroy Silverwind and kill everyone on board, even if that meant forsaking their own lives as well.

"I will provide support," Flay said as Aegis jumped from Archangel and moved toward the operation area, holding the shield with its left hand to protect the cockpit. It fired a shot at a Moebius that beneath Strike, preventing it from launching a sneak attack. "We can't hold back, can we?"

"You got it, Capsule."

"Even at this moment of time…," Flay muttered something inaudible. "Commander, I will draw their attacks,"

"Hey!" Mu protested, "Even if you have Phase Shift, it's not going to last forever."

"Then let's take care of them before my power's gone."

The battle resumed, as Moebius Zero, Strike and Aegis continued to defend Silverwind as the damaged shuttle made its way toward Archangel, all the while being pursued by the remaining attackers. At one point in time, the GINN that was attacking Strike seemed to notice that Aegis was being piloted by a total beginner. It moved away, causing Kira to think that it retreated but the belligerent mobile suit approached Aegis from the back and emptied all of its M68 "Cattus" 500mm Recoilless Rifle's ammunition on its back.

"Flay!" Kira shouted in alarm.

To his relief, Aegis was unscathed. Instead, it performed the classic textbook example of Active Mass Balance Auto-Control manoeuvre or AMBAC as it was called. While still moving forward, Aegis simultaneously moved its legs forward. The movement caused the upper body to turn backwards. The red mobile ended up moving forward, feet firsts. While the transition wasn't smooth, the manoeuvre had served its purpose as Aegis had got into the position to retaliate.

The attacker, despite being unsuccessful in his attack, tried to close the range. The gap in skills was made abundantly clear as even though Aegis fired so many shots, only managed to singe the former's wing. The GINN got close enough, hugged Aegis and self-destructed.

"NO!" Kira shouted again.

Once again, Aegis survived the attack. While still intact, the suicide attack had exhausted its energy, and the mobile suit began turning grey as its Phase Shift armour was forced to power down.

"Flay! Come in, Flay! Are you okay?!"

Flay appeared on the screen, breathing heavily. "I'm alright,"

"You have to go back!"

"No!" she denied him. "Our priority is to defend Silverwind," she said as the shuttle passed by her mobile suit.

"Kid's right!" Mu said in agreement as he fought off one of the two remaining GINNs. "You remaining here will only cause them to focus on you."

"Now's not the time!" she said. Aegis moved to intercept a barrage of missiles fired by the remaining Moebius units at the shuttle. The red mobile suit fired its Close-In Weapons System, CIWS, to destroy most of the missiles but blocked the remaining ones using its shield. The shield protected the mobile suit but without Phase Shift, the explosion caused it to be flung away. Taking advantage of the opening, the final GINN took aim at Aegis.

At that sight, Kira felt something inside him snap. A single shot from Strike ended the GINN and a couple of others took care of the remaining Moebiuses. A few seconds later, Fllaga dispatched his own opponent. Deprived of their mobile suits and mobile armours, the pursuing ships quickly changed their vectors and retreated from the area.

1

A/N

Abraham Lincoln once said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe