Ever since he became the President of Eurasian Federation two months prior, Sergey Volkov became a heavy drinker; he was just a social one before that, drinking a little only to appease others. The stress was so enormous that his predecessor died of heart attack, and he became the next president only because he was her deputy. As the whole Federation was under martial law due to the war and no election was to be held, he had to hold the post until the end of the war, or he died, whichever came first.

Because of that, Sergey earned the dubious reputation as the first dictator since the federation's establifeshment. The predecessor, God blessed her, managed to keep everything in order despite the chaos surrounding the current conflict that he could continue her work almost immediately.

He shivered a bit. Being caught in the war and in the middle of the worst winter wasn't something he would wish even on his worst enemy but that was the situation everyone was facing.

Still, he wished that a bottle of vodka was in front of him instead of the steaming cup of latte. He had repeatedly told his aide about his choice of drink, but the young man was very stubborn in that respect, politely telling him that the leader of the federated world shouldn't show a bad example by drinking alcohol while working.

"Okay, who's the joker deciding on this kiddies' drink?" a uniformed woman said while pointing toward her own cup.

"Damn, she's pissed off. Now this meeting's going to down badly," Sergey thought to himself. General Luidvika Balchunas, the chief of Eurasian Armed Forces, was said to be tougher than a military ration. Sergey almost lost half of his teeth biting into one of those cement blocks masquerading as a granola bar and he was sure that the comparison was not a compliment.

"I did," the aide said.

She pushed the cup away. "Get me a double shot without sugar. And vodka for your boss,"

The aide wanted to protest but was silenced by her glare and left hurriedly to fulfil his duty.

Sergey looked to his right, where the civilian ministers were seated. The Finance and Economy minister sat to his immediate right, followed by the Internal Affairs minister, the Defense minister, Science, Technology and Industry minister, and the Communication and Media minister. To his left were General Luidvika and army, navy, air force and space chiefs respectively, and lastly, the Director of Intelligence.

Suddenly it hit Sergey that the meeting wasn't a scheduled one. Thinking about it clearly, there was no way he would have agreed to a meeting at 3.00 in the morning unless it was necessary. Sergey looked at the ham sandwich on a plate in front of him. A normal meeting wouldn't have food and drink being served as well. He looked at the Director of Intelligence, Andre Mitterrand, who was sipping from his 'kiddie' drink. The perpetrator must have been him, Sergey decided.

"Let's start the meeting," he said. "I'll have the secretariat present the agenda,"

Andre put down the cup and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, confirming Sergey's suspicion. To the man's credit, he delivered good news. The biggest problem in the development of their own mobile suit had been solved, courtesy of Artemis Base.

"That money-sinking rock?" Angela Meyer, the Finance and Economy minister, asked skeptically.

"That money-sinking rock," came the confirmation.

While it had taken some time due to the need to establish laser communication due to the radio signals being degraded by N-Jammers, Artemis had transferred the source code and all the necessary software libraries for Hyperions. According to the report, the data would allow sufficient automations for them to be piloted by Naturals.

"That's good!" Diego De Leon, the Science, Technology, and Industry minister exclaimed. "That means we're one step toward the goal of Unitatem Eurasia,"

"United Eurasia?" General Luidvika said, hunching forward. fingers interlaced in front of her face in a contemplative look. "Not even enough. We don't want attrition battle; we want to slap them in the face with our force's quality and quantity. Even if we have the factories churning those Hyperions and training centers spitting out their pilots days and night starting now, it will take some time to build enough capacity and capability. We need a force multiplier,"

Andre cleared his throat. "We have one, our warfare network system,"

Having been briefed when he was appointed as the Deputy President, Sergey had a rough idea of the so-called network centric warfare the man was referring to. By merging all information collected from multiple sources and then sharing them throughout the Eurasian force, the doctrine allowed high situational awareness and a wide range of engagement options. For example, a troop who spotted a group of mobile suits could relay the information to the command which then could select whether to fire artillery barrage or request for an airstrike targeting them. The command could also decide priority targets to be taken and overwhelm their ability to defend themselves through saturation attacks.

The effectiveness of Eurasian warfare network system was proven when ZAFT's attack to seize Habilis Mass Driver at Victoria was beaten back by Eurasian Federation's technologically inferior tank divisions. While Eurasian Federation lost a lot of tanks in the battle, ZAFT's losses was larger since the mobile suits it used were more complicated and complex, and therefore more expensive. The success was the only one Earth Alliance managed to achieve against ZAFT so far.

"You forgot that network we're so proud of is down right now." General Kamille Nowak of the Eurasian Army, said. "Ever since those chujs and cipas up in the sky decided to screw with rest of the world by dropping those jammers, we don't have that capability anymore,"

"If you want to use 'cocks' and 'cunts' in your words, don't bother hiding them using Polish, Kamille. Either be politically correct or damn the political correctness," Luidvika admonished before turning to address everyone. "But General Kamille made a good point,"

"That is true, until recently," Diego said.

"Until recently, you say," Sergey said with raised eyebrows.

"While it is true that N-Jammer degrades radio signals, but the radio communications aren't totally cut off. Our research has managed to come up with a workable countermeasure by deploying network meshes at strategic locations,"

'Strategic location' was the term the Intelligence Bureau used for a place ZAFT will capture or raze to the ground in the next six months. It then hit him why the meeting was held in wee hours of the morning. "Someone just figured out that we're going to be attacked soon," he stopped to stare at the bottle of vodka placed in front of him. It was an expensive variety, beyond his office's set budget. "It's either Victoria or Suez, isn't it?"

Sergey didn't wait for the answer. Instead, he poured himself a shot and downed it. "Okay, now that I'm stupider, I'm going to ask whether we have a faster option we can deploy,"

"Yes, we do," Diego answered.

"Vive le commerce," Andre said with a fake cheer.

Sergey turned toward his head toward the finance minister who was crossing her arms, face stony. He was wrong. The real target of the morning meeting was not him, but one holding the purse string and from the look of it, everyone else except him was in the plan. "All of you are ready for a drawn-out battle with Angela," he observed, annoyed that his role was relegated to a mere rubber stamper.

"All of you want to bulldoze this spending," Angela said, "Give me one exceptionally good argument why this cannot wait until spring, and I'll approve it,"

"Mrs. Meyer," Luidvika said, using the minister's surname instead of her given name, "There's no winter in Africa,"

Growling, Angela stood and smacked her palm on the table, glaring at the chief of the armed forces. She then wrestled the vodka bottle from Sergey's hand, not caring that she spilled it a bit on him and on the table, took a long swig, and set the bottle down with a loud thump. "Now I'm drunk, get those budget forms I need to sign,"

The forms were placed in front of her seconds later.

"No," Nellie answered simply

Athrun didn't know what was wrong. When he was told that he would be transferred to the cordon area, he was happy to say the least as he would have the chance to discuss with his fellow compatriots on ways to take over Archangel. From what he had gleaned, the ship's crew aren't as many as Laurasia-class or even Nazca-class. Therefore, if the ship's network could be hacked, he, together with Silverwind's crew could potentially take over it. But when he asked about them working together, he received that unexpected answer. "Why not?"

"We're not trained soldiers. Besides, Lacus' safety takes precedence,"

"I'm her fiancé! Her safety is my priority!" Why did the woman in front of him think that he would even entertain the notion of doing something that will endanger Lacus?

"We have an agreement on that. Therefore, I would like to remind you that we shouldn't do anything to jeopardize that, including trying to hijack the ship,"

Athrun couldn't believe what he was hearing. "They are the enemy, you know that, right?"

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't,"

"And you know them?"

"Better than I know you," Nellie snorted.

"What do you mean by that?" If he didn't know better, he would have said that Nellie was hostile at him for no good reason.

"That's not important. What's important is I'll stop you if I suspect you of trying to do anything dangerous. So, no going behind my back to influence others. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Athrun said before excusing himself to return to his room, which was personally assigned, unlike the rest of the Silverwind. While his plan had failed, at least Nellie didn't forbid him from talking to other people which was a concession in a way. However, even if he went against her warning, it would be quite difficult to ensure that any planning because the Silverwind crew would likely side with Nellie instead of him. At most, he could garner the support from half of them which was not enough.

Athrun understood that the manager of Lacus would, inevitably, take the safest and easiest way out since she was a civilian, as opposed to someone like him. Despite that, he couldn't help but feel a bit miffed that she would rather put her trust the Archangel's crew instead of him.

However, unknowingly, Athrun was wrong; Nellie wasn't a civilian, and in fact a military operative trained in the field of espionage Siegel Clyne especially selected to protect his daughter. When she and the rest of the crew was taken onboard the ship, Nellie had considered something similar and had tapped into the bridge' communication network in preparation. Unfortunately, she tapped the network at exactly the wrong time and had learned about the GINN being sent to ensure Silverwind's destruction.

Due to Nellie's training, she had developed an unhealthy distrusting and suspecting nature, even to the extent of covertly checking Lacus' body every day when they are back at PLANT, trying to ensure that the pink idol wasn't switched by an impersonator. Nellie even checked Lacus' clothing to ensure that they were safe to wear in case someone had the idea of applying biological or toxin agent on them. However, she was powerless to stop the decision to recall Silverwind's escorts. Unlike three ships as mentioned by someone called 'Capsule' in the audio Nellie had listened to, PLANTs had sent four ships to escort the shuttle. The four ships had to leave Silverwind due to an attack by Earth Alliance and were supposed to rejoined it afterwards. They never did and instead the shuttle was attacked.

After their unexpected rescue by an Earth Alliance ship, which Nellie had suspected of collaborating with the attackers, she was surprised to find out that Lacus fiancé, who was supposed to go together with Lacus, was captured and onboard the ship. As it was, Nellie suspected Athrun of either working together with Archangel's crew as a mole, or even worse, was part of the conspiracy to kill Lacus to prolong war. His proposal made it seemed likely that the latter was the case. Just like the ships, Athrun, who was linked to the war hawk Patrick Zala, suddenly couldn't be with her due to some last-minute deployment, which sounded suspicious since ZAFT's military doctrine that everyone, being Coordinators, were equal. While some mission required a particular skill set and Athrun was top of the class in the military college, according to the dossier she had, he was not irreplaceable.

Furthermore, Lacus was looking forward to being with him.

It vexed Nellie for Lacus to has such a war-loving fiancé who think of nothing of attacking their gracious host. Sadly, he's a bit slow on the uptake, as he discussed about carrying the attack in an open manner, even though he could be under surveillance. While she could hack the ship's computer to access the surveillance files, she didn't want to risk antagonizing their host unnecessarily. Besides, there were other ways of keeping tab on Silverwind' crew without resorting to listening devices.

Speaking about keeping tab, it's about time.

Nellie looked at her watch and then at her reflection. She rubbed her face with her hands, willing the frown to go away. She smiled a few times, settling on the one she deemed as most friendly. Once satisfied, she made her way to the door separating the Silverwind crew's living quarters and the rest of the ship. Right on the dot, the door opened and Lacus entered the room. Behind her, were teenagers known as Kira, Kuzzey and Mirriallia. "Lacus!" she said, manipulating her facial muscles to break into the smile that she had decided upon moments prior. "Good to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Nellie!" her charge replied enthusiastically.

Nellie felt her own smile becoming wider and more natural. Even though it was an assignment, she would do her best as Lacus' manager. According to her calculation, the ship would be heading towards Copernicus and would be arriving there soon. Once there, she would use her connection to arrange for an escorted transport back to PLANTs. "Wait, before we start… Let's get Athrun here," she said while signaling someone to get the man.

A few minutes later, Athrun came to the place. "Have you changed your mind…"

"Yes," Nellie said cutting Athrun off before he could say something incriminating. "I'll let you help in preparing the food," she said while gesturing her head toward Lacus.

"Thank you," Athrun said, fully understanding what was to be expected from him.

"So, about today's arrangement..." Nellie started.

"Good news," Lacus said, "Kira managed to convince the higher ups to allow all of you to go to the cafeteria for lunch and dinner starting now,"

Ten minutes later, all of them as well as the rest of the Silverwind's crew were in the said place, together with some refugees from Heliopolis. To his chagrin, they knew him as a crash victim the ship saved, causing him to receive a lot of sympathy and encouraging words from them. A young girl even gave him hug to make him feel better. Those kind gestures weighed heavily on his heart, but Athrun braved them nevertheless and smiled.

After they had returned to their assigned section, Nellie approached him, "It's not as easy as you thought, right?"

Athrun nodded.

The first thing that Kira noticed when he came to consciousness what the cozy and warm feeling that only a thermal blanket would provide. Then he noticed that the slightly uncomfortable position he was in. That was to be expected since he recalled sleeping next to the cockpit chair. What he didn't expect was the person nestled in front of him, strays of her red hair floating in the micro gravity. His arms were encircling her small frames, pulling her toward him close enough that he could feel her body warmth and hear her slowed heartbeats.

Kira's eyes opened wide, and his mind went into overdrive.

How did it end up that way? When he came to the cockpit, she was asleep in the chair. After placing a blanket on her so that she wouldn't be cold, he kept a vigil behind her, making himself comfortable at the small space behind the chair. He must have been tired that he ended up falling asleep as well. But he didn't recall bringing an extra blanket for himself. He slowly turned his head toward the chair, saw that it was empty and then at the woman who was fast asleep on his chest. The snug position they were in meant that any movement by him would wake her up.

One of the technicians appeared at the open cockpit entrance and was about to say something when a hand clasped over his mouth and he was pulled away, arms flailing. Then Kojiro peered and nodded, silently reminding Kira about their earlier conversation before leaving. He nodded back.

Being nestled against her wasn't what he intended; he was supposed to advise her to return to her bunk. According to Kojiro, she had been pulling all-nighter for the last two days straight, sleeping in the cockpit; she only left the cockpit for meals, showers, and toilet breaks. While Kira himself had engaged in sleepless nights in the past, especially during examination periods, he didn't like her doing it.

Kira looked down and saw that her forehead was close. The thought came unbidden, but he bended his head a bit, and his lips lightly touched her forehead. The small guilt he felt for the action was overwhelmed by an intense feeling of happiness and contentment. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into slumber once again.

The next time he woke up, he did it just moments before Flay began stirring in his arms.

Flay talked softly, "You're awake?"

"Yeah."

"Was I disturbing you?"

"No," he said while smiling at her.

"Sorry for this situation, it's just that you were shivering, and the blanket isn't big enough unless the two of us use it this way,"

"Thank you, and Flay,"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry for putting you in such a position then. It just that I want to know more about you," Kira hesitated but the words still needed to be said, "Despite all that we've been, I don't know you much,"

"Kira, we've slept together twice already, and I can say the same thing,"

Kira spluttered as he pulled away a bit. "I didn't... I haven't done anything yet,"

"So, you want to do something to me?"

Kira was about to answer affirmatively, when then he reconsidered. But to deny it would have been another minefield as well. In the end, he decided to deflect it altogether. "Do you want me to?"

"What if I said yes?"

Kira felt himself stiffening in panic.

"You don't have to take it so seriously, Kira," Flay said while laughing softly. She then turned serious. "You want to know about me, so why don't you start? I'll try to answer truthfully,"

"That day, you knew that the Commander's warning couldn't be heard by them, did you? He was broadcasting through the encrypted channel, so it must have sounded gibberish to them,"

"Yes, I knew,"

"Why?"

"Because we're in no position to be arrogant enough to show them mercy,"

"Mercy is arrogance?"

"Yes, because you're not punishing the person that's you're supposed to. You're basically telling your enemy that it's okay to try again to harm you and the people that you're protecting,"

"But how are we going to determine which one we should spare and which one we shouldn't?"

"Good question. How would 'you' determine which one is which?"

"Huh?"

"Let's say you have a gun, and Lacus is being attacked, let's say, by a tiger. Would you kill that tiger, or just wound it? You wouldn't take the risk, would you? Now, imagine the same thing but with a man instead. Would you spare him even though he's more dangerous than a tiger?"

"A tiger is more dangerous, Flay,"

"But no tiger wields a gun or pilots a mobile suit; there's the fake desert variety but that's actually a coffee-pooping civet. The point is that a human can be good or bad, but it will be up to you to decide whether you're willing to risk it or not,"

Kira considered her words. While they sounded logical, he couldn't find himself agreeing. "That kind of thinking wouldn't stop the war,"

"Of course not. But again, how will 'you' stop the war? Simply talking about a problem with pretty words wouldn't solve it. In fact, that's another example of arrogance, putting oneself at that hill of self-righteousness while judging everyone else,"

"How about you then?"

"Me?" Flay leaned her head against Kira's chest. "I'm not able to. That's why I don't go around talking about it. But, if we're to compare war to a fire, then, based on the tetrahedron, the workable options are either to remove the fuel or stifle the reaction. There's also the other option of causing a bigger fire to starve the fire,"

Going by the analogy, then oxidizing agent would conflicts between Earth and PLANTs, heat would be the intensity of malicious intents between the two, while fuel consists of the military forces. "What makes up the reaction part of the equation?"

"The leaders,"

It made sense since they the ones who use people's opinion to cause more conflicts, sending their militaries to engage in the said conflict. "You seem to know a lot about this,"

"An arsonist taught me, and you know that kind of people can be very passionate about fiery things,"

Kira didn't know what to make of that remark.

Flay cocked her head. "Anything else you want to ask?"

He did have another question. "Before this, have we met?"

"Before this?"

"I remember we first met at Heliopolis. Have we met before that?"

"Ah, so you were there. I thought I saw you,"

"Sorry. Didn't mean to eavesdrop,"

"I don't mind. To answer your question, Kira, we first met at the Heliopolis College. That's the truth."

"So, you didn't stalk me?"

"Would you settle for me adjusting my appearances and cloth when I saw you a few times?"

"You did?" Kira asked in wonder.

"You're not supposed to ask that kind of thing," Flay said while burying her face on his chest. "Even though I was kidding, it's still embarrassing when you asked about it earnestly,"

It was unfair that she could tease him but not the other way around. But he had already won the argument, so he best kept quiet about it. "So do you like me?"

The girl in front of him looked like a deer in the headlights as her body tenses.

Upon seeing her adverse reaction, Kira put his hands on her shoulders comfortingly. "You don't have to answer if you don't,"

Upon hearing that statement, Flay shook her head vehemently. "You're making this hard for me," she whispered.

"I'm sor…"

"Shh…" she silenced him with a quick peck on his lips before moving away.

All this time Kira had imagined that his first kiss would be like those in the movies, with he and Flay watching the stars from the observatory, before both turned toward each other, looking each other deep in their eyes. He would tell her that he had always found her grey depths attractive and could lose himself in them indefinitely. He would then tell her that all the stars could never compare to her, and she would blush. The two of them would them close their distance and ended up in a slow and soulful kiss, between a princess and her knight.

He felt betrayed.

The short meeting of their lips left Kira wanting, his heart beating faster. His eyes wandered toward her cherry lips. It was unfair, his mind screamed. She was ready; he was not. Once again, she was teasing him, only to retreat under that shell of nonchalance before he could even react.

He looked to her left and she turned her head slightly in the direction, curious.

When she turned toward him, retribution came swiftly, and Kira determined that it tasted better than cherry as well as more intoxicating as he made his own tactical retreat. Strangely that hunger didn't become satiated, but instead becoming more ravenous.

While Flay had been caught by surprise by his kiss, she quickly schooled her expression and looked at him coyly. The sight of her invoked a feeling of calm and cool danger; instead of a princess, Flay was more like a witch that sought the payment of his soul for a moment of bliss.

When she licked her lips, he knew that he lost. He dipped his head in submission, asking for her permission. His request was rewarded when she put her hands at the back of his head and gently pulled him toward her.

The spell was complete.

If he were to describe what happened during their make out, Kira would be hard pressed to described it since he didn't know what transpired during it. He was fully entranced and bewitched by the redhead that he had almost melted all the way when the two finally broke off their kiss.

"Please, don't say it," Flay said, putting a finger on his lips, when he was about confess his feeling. "I'm already having trouble controlling my feelings. Whatever you say now may cause me to lose control,"

Kira didn't understand why that was a problem but since she was looking at him in desperation as she said it, he reluctantly acquiesced.

"Thank you," the redhead said in relief before yawning. She leaned her head on his chest while pulling his arms so that they encircle her body one more time, "Sorry, I'm more tired than I realize. You don't mind?"

"No, of course not,"

"So warm," she whispered. Seconds later, soft snore escaped her lips, leaving Kira alone with a lot to think about. But until he fell asleep hours later, his mind was occupied by the sensation of her lips on his.