North African City
Setsuna was half asleep while he, Cagalli, and Kira had taken a seat a table for lunch.
"We managed to get most of everything we need, but the requests that Flay girl made are ridiculous!"
"Who?" Setsuna asked, opening an eye.
"Flay," explained Kira, "with the long red hair."
"Oh," he closed his eye, "what did she ask for?"
"Hair products, skin moisturizer and all that," Cagalli responded incredulously. "None of these things are even sold here!"
"Ah, she's that kind of girl then," remembering how Louise acted around Saji all those years ago in Japan.
"What kind?" Kira asked, slightly defensive. Setsuna opened both eyes and straightened himself.
"The kind that is somewhat demanding."
"Demanding?"
"Are you speaking from experience?" Cagalli inquired, head cocked to one side. Setsuna shook his head.
"Not my experience."
A waiter came up and served their meals. They all got the same thing, which to Setsuna seemed like some sort of kebab, along with two condiment containers.
"What is this?" Kira asked, scrutinizing the dishes.
"These are kebabs, aren't they?" Setsuna surmised.
"Not just any kebab," Cagalli replied with uncharacteristic, almost girly, excitement. "These are Doner kebabs! Mm-mm! I am so hungry! Lets dig in!" Guess she likes food, Setsuna thought.
"These are Doner?"
"That's what I said." Not that it mattered as Setsuna was already wrapping the meat and veg in the bread. There was also a massive man meandering nearby with a red and yellow shirt. He took a bite and had to revel a bit in the flavor of seasoned beef, lettuce, tomato and garlic.
"It's good."
"I know right," Cagalli gushed as he took a bigger bite, "and you didn't even prep it right."
"M-whmm?" (I what?) She picked up one of the containers, reddish in color, and turned to Kira.
"First, add some chili sauce," she instructed.
"Chili on a kebab?" Setsuna asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah, it really enhances the flavor."
"Woah! Wait just a moment young lady!" The big man had appeared at their table and grabbed the other container. "How could you stoop so low to put chili sauce on your kebab? Now this yogurt sauce is what you're suppose to use." He had tanned skin, big sideburns and wore heavy sunglasses and a straw can-can hat. He looked like a tourist, but he definitely wasn't acting like one. "How should I put it... hmm... right! Not adding yogurt sauce to this dish is considered a form of sacrilege against Doner kebabs." Setsuna could only stare.
What the hell is wrong with these people?
"Do you have a screw loose or something?" Cagalli asked, spurting chili sauce onto her food. "Who invited you anyway, you've got no right to walk up to strangers and tell them how to eat their food." She eagerly took a big bite and the big man recoiled in apparent agony and disgust.
"What a waste!" he cried still not looking.
"Dee-licious!"
Setsuna decided to ignore the food-related comedy before him. Instead, he cast his eyes around at the other tables and up and down the street. He got a glimpse of a pair of men on top of the building across the street, but thought little of it.
"Oh how the masters of excellent living must be turning in their graves," the big man slumped in his chair as Kira cautiously tried out his chili and yogurt soaked kebab. He turned to Setsuna. "You've added nothing to yours; what do you think of your kebab?"
"This is better than I expected, still not what I'm used to."
"You had kebabs before?"
"Yes. I'm more used to Chelow Kebabs, but I would do anything for Jujeh."
"Ooh, you have an exotic taste kid." He cast his eye down at their shopping bags. "Look at the shopping you've done. Were you planning to throw a party?"
"Keep your trap shut!" Cagalli snapped, "It's really none of your business! Who do you think you are? You sit at our table and start lecturing us on stupid stuff." Setsuna caught a glimpse of something just beyond his peripheral and looked back at the roof across the street. He saw-
"Trouble," Setsuna uttered aloud. Both Kira and the big man noticed the bazooka aimed right at them as it fired.
"Get down!" The big man kicked the table up, tossing food about as Kira grabbed Cagalli and pulled her down as the rocket shot into the building behind them. Setsuna dropped down as the table landed, forming cover. He drew his pistol from under his shirt as bullets flew overhead.
"Are you alright?" asked the big man, brandishing a side arm. Kira and Cagalli were unharmed, though Cagalli was covered in chili yogurt. Down a ways, a few other tables were overturned and other men were returning fire. The attackers were charging now.
"Die Coordinator!" one of the attackers shouted. Coordinators again, Setsuna thought. "Dirty rotten space invader!"
"For the preservation of our blue and pure world!"
"Blue Cosmos!" Cagalli muttered with mirth, wiping yogurt out of her eyes.
"We are fighting for an ideal era. To stand in His presence, we are guided by Him." Setsuna heard Ali Al Saachez's voice in his mind, causing him to freeze.
"We shall strike down the infidels who disrespect our traditions and lay waste to the land of God!"
There is no God.
Setsuna, raised his gun, closed his eyes, breathed in, breathed out, opened his eyes and moved!
He stepped out from cover and rushed forward, drawing a bead on the nearest charging attacker. He fired, two-three shots into the attacker.
BLAM-BLAM! BLAM!
The attacker crumpled, dropping his weapon, and Setsuna slid into the corpse, keeping the body propped up as another attacker drew a bead on him. A burst of fire riddled the corpse as Setsuna crouched, aimed, fired twice. Chest-head, the second attacker fell. He glanced back to the roof, let the body fall, took up his foe's assault rifle! It was heavier than he thought. Rounds whistled over his head. He dropped to his stomach and more rounds hit the cadaver in front of him as he spied a magizine sticking out of the dead man's pocket.
Breathe in,
He swiped the mag and switched out the one currently in the rifle.
breathe out.
He kneeled up, right knee in the dirt, aimed down the street at three- no, wait -aimed at the roof as another rocket launcher was aimed, and fired! A puff of red mist hung about the attacker's shoulder as he fell back. The bazooka fired, its projectile arching over the buildings and out of sight. Setsuna shifted to his other knee and fired at the remaining trio of attackers down the street, firing several sustained bursts. One went down, and the other two staggered back, bewilderment in their eyes.
Did they not expect to be fired at?
The other armed men behind the tables assaulted forward.
Oh right! Kira and Cagalli!
Setsuna glanced over his shoulder, saw them, or at least Kira's head and shoulder, saw movement, around the corner! He spun round aimed at the new attacker.
*click* *click*
Oh no.
Kira looked behind them, looked at a pistol on the ground, then decided.
Setsuna dropped the rifle and picked up his handgun, hopefully before- Kira grabbed the gun, handsprung to his feet, and threw it at the attacker with a blue beret who just stepped out to fire! The pistol hit the attacker's rifle, knocking his aim off. And as the attacker recovered, Kira launched himself at him and kicked him right in the face.
Oh? Now that was an interesting way of doing things, Setsuna thought, in a round-a-bout way. He scrambled to his feet and hurried over.
"Do you even know how to use a gun?" Cagalli asked Kira. Kira gave her an odd look. Setsuna, meanwhile, was just tired of fighting without knowing what was going on. He gave the man on the ground with a blue beret a light kick.
"Wake up." Blue beret moaned a bit, his eyes flickering a bit. Setsuna picked blue beret's left knee and fired his handgun. Blue beret was definitely awake now, crying out in pain and reaching for his now shot-out knee. "Who are you?" Setsuna demanded. "And who sent you?" Blue beret gave him nothing but angry eyes. Setsuna put a foot on the knee and pressed down. "I am not going to repeat myself."
"Don't bother," Cagalli said seriously, despite still being covered in yogurt and chili, "he's obviously from Blue Cosmos." Blue Cosmos? It was a name at least. He could ask about it later, but on the other hand. Setsuna looked back at blue beret.
"Is she wrong?"
"Burn in hell Coordinator!" Seriously, what does 'coordinator' even mean in this world?
"Roger that." He stepped over blue beret, picked up blue beret's rifle off the ground and aimed it at it's former owner. The man with the blue beret died with to a salvo of his own bullets.
"Huh, not bad," the big man surmised, looking at them, "you two certainly made today interesting."
"Commander!" a young man in a green uniform and army cap ran up to them, "are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm alright, mostly thanks to those two guys," gesturing to Kira and Setsuna. Smiling, the big man removed his glasses and hat, showing his full face.
"We were talking with Andrew Waltfeld?" Cagalli breathed. "The Desert Tiger..."
Archangel, Desert Dawn base
"Forgive me, but that does sound rather far-fetched." On the bridge of the Archangel, Sumeragi shrugged.
"I told you."
"I know, I know," said Murrue with a dismissive wave of the hand, "I just had to say it out loud."
"Not that we don't believe you," said Mu. "After all, seeing what you're mobile suits are capable of, it makes sense in a... in a... well, technical aspect." He looked over the independent captain and the three "Gundam Meisters." "Your machines are unlike anything I've ever seen. I kind of wonder if they are nuclear powered."
"They aren't," Tieria remarked blandly as Lockon laughed.
"Nuclear powered Gundams, like that won't blow up in your face. Yeah, count me out."
"Agreed," Tieria concurred.
"In any case," Sumeragi surmised, "we come from elsewhere, can't tell you exactly where on account of you not believing us, we have no idea what's going on in the grand scheme of things, but... we are willing to help you out in exchange for some general common sense." Murrue nodded several times at this.
"And I'm inclined to believe you, somehow. Maybe you just have a trusting face."
"I hope so; my word is all I have here." To the side, Tolle, Miriallia, Kuzzey and Sai looked on.
"I am not going to get used to this, am I?" Tolle asked rhetorically.
"You mean how the two captains sound the same?" Mir asked.
"Yep."
"So what's the overall plan?" asked Sumeragi. Murrue sat in her seat and brought up a map on screen.
"Starting from the canyon, we head through the mountains here, then make a dash across this open stretch to the mountains bordering the Red Sea. Desert Dawn has a camp at that point, and that's where their aid stops."
"And you rendezvous with your forces in the Indian Ocean?"
"We wish," Mu laughed, "but it's impossible for command to send anyone to meet us at this point."
"Oh? Then where are you headed? South Africa?"
"Nope." Mu reached over and pressed a button on Murrue's seat. "We have to run the gauntlet" a red line started tracing a route around India "all the way to JOSH-A." and weaved through the islands of Indonesia before heading straight up to Alaska.
"Forgive me," said Sumeragi incredulously, "but that just sounds stupid. How in the world does your command expect you to get all the way from here to Alaska, all on your own? You only have three fighting craft, only two of which are technically in action."
"Yes, we know," said Murrue, "but that's the hand we were dealt." Sumeragi sighed.
"Well, the most important part is getting you to the ocean. That's what was suggested, and that's what we agreed to. What happens after that is up to you."
"I understand."
"I have a question." Lockon stepped forward. "When I was down here, it looked like the front line was at Suez. Why brave the Indian and Pacific when you could just hop the Red Sea and north to Azadistan?"
"Eurasia," Murrue said simply, guessing somewhat as to what region he was referring to. "The Archangel is a prototype Federation vessel. As such, we don't even have a proper callsign ID. We already had trouble because of it, back at Artemis."
"Yeah, and the Eurasian forces were quite understanding," Mu sarcastically remarked. "They attempted to steal the Archangel and the Strike. Probably the one and only time I will ever be thankful to ZAFT for coming after us."
"And the Equatorial Union is strictly neutral," Murrue further explained. "So we have to cross two oceans, hopefully without getting noticed."
"How do you deal with satellites?" asked Allelujah. Murrue was slightly taken aback, before remembering the circumstances.
"We don't, most satellites were rendered useless due to the N-Jammers."
"Oh."
"Well that's one less thing we have to worry about then," Sumeragi surmised. "By the way, before we go into further details, you wouldn't happen to have cold beer onboard, do you?" That was a question Murrue was not expecting.
"Umm..."
"I wish we were that kind of ship," Mu admitted ruefully.
"Mu!"
ZAFT base
Setsuna and Kira both entered a room with Andrew who was busy preparing coffee. Andrew's girlfriend had taken Cagalli to be cleaned up. Setsuna stood at the window seeing the BuCUE's and Ginn's outside of the building and recalling how he had to surrender his gun when they arrived.
"Is it okay to just have all your machines out in the open like that?" Setsuna asked.
"You would think," Andy explained pouring the first cup of coffee, "but after the first month or so, most of the locals pretty much ignore such things, especially if you let them mind their business." He started pouring a second cup. "After all, we're only here for justice. And it just so happens that 'our justice' has nothing to do with the innocent townsfolk of North Africa. Truth be told, the only reason we're here of all places is because of the Eurasian Federation, the Atlantic Federation's lap dog. They're mainly push-overs. In fact," and now the third cup, "I think Eurasia would fold if it didn't have the Federation breathing down it's neck."
"Don't you also have trouble with guerilla's though?"
"Of course; mostly rural desert dwellers. They just don't like us, more specifically me, because I'm in control here. As it happens, they were also strongly against their previous overlords, before we came down and established the African Community. I think they're just pissed that they aren't in charge of 'their god-given homeland,' or 'the land of their people,' or something like that."
He's surprisingly objective, Setsuna thought, not at all what he was expecting from an "invader." He walked back to the sofas while Kira was looking at a rock on the fireplace mantel. Andrew noticed as well.
"Evidence 01," he explained as he came over "Weird how they call this thing a Whale Stone." Andrew said walking over with the coffee. Setsuna glanced over at the fossil. It was oblong skeleton with a large mouth, a fish-like tail and a pair of wings over the top. "Does that look like a whale to you?" Andrew asked handing a cup to Kira and turning to Setsuna. "If you ask me, those look like wings." Setsuna accepted his cup and gave it a sniff. "Whales don't have wings, do they?"
"Well no." Kira answered. "But it was brought back from space as proof of extraterrestrial life. Doesn't that make it some sort of deceased alien?" Extraterrestrial life?
"No, it is; that much is apparent. The point I'm trying to make, is why is the fossil assumed to be that of a whale?"
"So... what would be a better name for it?" Andrew hummed in thought as Setsuna took a sip. Bitter of course. There was some sort of flavor buried deep in there, but the bitterness kept it drowned out.
"Nothing really comes to mind." Andrew admitted.
"Why not just call it a flying fish?" Setsuna asked. Andrew laughed.
"Perhaps, if it was smaller! But George Glenn didn't bring back a small fossil, he towed in this Whale Stone." Oh, so this is a model of something much larger. "Now, more importantly: what is your assessment of this coffee?" He then adopted a smug little grin. "Or perhaps you haven't yet acquired an appreciation for such an adult taste."
"There is a strong flavor," said Setsuna from the sofa, "but I can hardly tell due to the bitterness." Andrew shrugged.
"Well, at least I got something there. Work in progress." They all sat down, Andrew casting his gaze at the mantle again. "As remarkable as it is, that giant space rock is also problematic."
"Problematic?" Kira wondered aloud, "how come?"
"Don't you think so? This thing could be the reason this war got started." That thing? Setsuna glanced at the skeletal fish again.
"No offense," he said, slowly, "but I can't see a fossil responsible for starting a war."
"Well, not directly," Andrew admitted. "The reason I say it is, is because it gave humans the idea that they could go further."
"Then why did the war really start?" Andrew took a long sip before answering.
"Well... some people, and by 'some' I mean: several hundred thousand at the very least, got the funny idea that genetic manipulation was too far." Genetic manipulation?
"Blue Cosmos wasn't always that big, was it?" Kira pondered. Andrew barked a laugh.
"Can you believe those terrorists were once descendants of Greenpeace? You would think they would love Coordinators, what with all our achievements in regard to bioengineering and nature preservation; but no. Letting parents decide which of their genes pass on: that is just unnatural, you all need to die, for the preservation of our blue and pure world. A bunch of bad apples ruin the whole orchard." So that's what this is all about, Setsuna finally understood, Coordinators were genetically modified humans and Naturals weren't. Still a stupid reason for war, but at least "God" had nothing to do with it. There was a knock at the door and Aisha's voice called through.
"Hey Andy."
"Well, well, well." Andy said as Aisha and Cagalli entered. Setsuna had to look closely to see that it was indeed Cagalli in the green dress and high heels. Aisha gently pushed Cagalli closer toward the men. Kira was pretty shocked to say the least.
"You're a... a girl." Kira said, almost breathlessly.
"What was that?!" she snapped. Kira, now flustered, held up his hands defensively.
"N-no! I was just saying that I remembered you are a girl."
"That's the same thing jackass!"
"My respect for this boy has now gone lower again." Setsuna sighed as Andrew and Aisha both laughed.
Archangel hangar
Feldt, Miliena and Saji stood at the feet of 00. Other Archangel crew members and mechanics were spread throughout the hangar, but almost all were keeping a respectful distance.
"It looks alright," Saji observed, "is it alright?"
"It should be," said Feldt. "According to Tieria and the other Meisters, the mobile suits here are not that strong."
"It's fine," Miliena said with finality, hands on her hips. Then she frowned. "Of course we have to check it completely. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing a good job. Now where are the stairs?"
"Over here miss," offered a dark skinned mechanic in orange overalls, "this ladder goes straight up."
"Thank you sir," Miliena said cheerily, hurrying over and latching onto the ladder before stopping, "what is your name?"
"Kojiro Murdoch, chief mechanic."
"Nice to meet you Chief," Miliena responded, giving a cute little salute before proceeding up the ladder.
"She's pretty gung-ho, isn't she?" Murdoch asked the other two.
"She's her father's daughter," Feldt explained, "and her father is our head mechanic. I could introduce you if you want." Murdoch laughed.
"No need miss, I'll introduce myself later." Miliena opened 00's cockpit and gingerly entered.
"So what do we do now?" Saji asked Feldt. "Do we attach that 0-Raiser thing like last time?"
"No way! The last time we did that, we ended up in this situation."
"Ah... good point." He stretched his arms out. "At least we're back on Earth. Less to worry about."
"Except that there's a war going on," spoke up a young girl with rich red hair, a magenta and white uniform, black skirt and mint green stockings walking up behind them. She's cute, Saji thought. She fixed her pale blue eyes on him. "you forgot about that, didn't you?" Her gaze was almost like ice.
"Uh... pardon?"
"You said there's less to worry about," Flay continued, still glaring him, "but you seem to forget we are at war with ZAFT." Saji frowned. Something seemed off.
"No offense, but we're not. We're only helping out this one time." Flay's eyes grew colder as her gaze moved to Feldt.
"Sure you are, especially with that look."
"My look," Feldt reacted, "what does 'my look' have to do with war? Besides, your look isn't natural either."
"Excuse me?"
"Your hair," Feldt pointed out, "it's obviously dyed."
"It... isn't..." Flay faltered, now sounding uncertain. Murdoch opened his mouth to say someth-
"HEY!" Miliena's voice called out, "SOMEONE TRIED TO BREAK OPEN 00!" That got everyone nearby's attention.
"Are you sure?" Saji called back. Miliena stuck her head out of the cockpit, holding a small sized screwdriver.
"I'll have you know, Dad doesn't like it when I leave tools out!" she shouted down, waving the screwdriver. "And none of our tools have brand names! Especially-" she scrutinized the tool, "'DTT' inside of a diamond outline?"
"Diamond Tough Tools," Murdoch admitted back, "yeah, that's ours."
"How rude!" Miliena snapped. "Did any of you consider the barbarity of such an act?" Other Archangel crewmembers were listening in now, some of the technicians began to look a tad guilty. "Nevermind that the pilot was a guest! How disrespectful can you get?!"
"Listen miss," Murdoch called up, "we were under orders from Lieutenant Badgiruel. She wanted to know the threat level of-"
"Doesn't matter! It's still rude!"
"Easy, easy," Saji said, holding his hands up, "they were just soldiers following orders. You can't blame them for that, can you?" Miliena turned her nose up as she turned back to the cockpit.
"Still rude." Feldt sighed.
"Well, they wouldn't have gotten much anyway. The Gundam's are all bio-locked after all." Feldt looked over at Flay, now nibbling her thumbnail. "Sorry." Flay blinked.
"What?"
"For earlier, I haven't been to Earth in a while, so I don't know much about fashion; hair or otherwise."
"Oh, uh... yeah..." Feldt held out a hand, smiling softly.
"I'm Feldt, Feldt Grace of Celestial Being." Flay hesitated, but reciprocated the gesture.
"Flay, Flay Allster." Someone called out from an entrance to the hangar, and Flay straightened up. "I got to go, um... nice meeting you."
"You as well," said Feldt as Flay hurried off. Feldt's face soon turned sour. She looked at Saji. "What was her problem?" Saji could only shrug.
"You're guess is as good as mine." That being said, Saji already didn't like the Flay girl.
ZAFT base
"That dress looks very flattering on you," Andrew observed from his sofa. "From the looks of it would seem you're accustomed to dressing up in fine clothing like that." Andrew said in order to break the silence.
"Say what you want." Cagalli retorted, taking another sip of her drink.
"Perfect little lady until you speak."
"And it's difficult for me to believe you're the Desert Tiger. Why spend your valuable time dressing people up? Is this another way for you get your kicks?"
"Well Aisha is the one that picked that ensemble. What do you mean by: getting my kicks?"
"Taking a trip into the city while in disguise, or having have residents evacuate their town before burning it; that's what I mean." Setsuna looked between them as the air grew tense. Andrew just smiled.
"You've got a lovely pair of eyes, something sincere about them. Very lovely eyes."
"Don't toy with me!" Cagalli snapped, slamming her hands on the table. Andrew's face suddenly shifted serious.
"Are you another one of those people who would rather be dead?" he asked serious.
"What do you mean by that?" Setsuna asked, before clarifying: "People who would rather be dead?"
"People with a death wish, like all those regional resistance fighters. I know they're more mad at our presence rather than me, so I show an act of mercy. And what do they do? They try and mount a counter attack, knowing very well that they are outmatched. It's happened on at least 5 different occasions I can think of; and don't bother saying that they are justified or whatever excuse you can come up with. There's nothing justified about dying for nothing. A waste of life."
"And burning down an entire village?" Cagalli insisted angrily.
"A strategic success, little lady," Andrew answered simply. He turned to Setsuna. "I take it you disapprove as well?"
"No," Setsuna answered, "I think war is a waste of life." Andrew was visibly surprised, but shrugged.
"No disagreements here." Andrew looked to Kira. "And what do you think about all this? Give me your opinion as a mobile suit pilot." Uh oh. Setsuna tensed up, thinking about throwing his half-cup of coffee at their host before rushing him and bolting for the door- no, he probably has guards at the door.
"How- what are you talking about?" Cagalli asked, shocked. Andrew just laughed.
"Being too sincere can also be a liability." Andrew said, standing and moving toward a small side table at one side of the window. Setsuna, Kira and Cagalli mirrored their host, backing toward the fireplace. "Unlike sports, the game of war has no set time limit, no points are awarded."
"No rules," Setsuna said softly.
"That too." Andrew pulled open a drawer. "So how do you determine the winners and losers?" Kira and Setsuna both looked at Andrew sternly. "At what point do we put an end to it?"
"At what point?" Kira asked quietly.
"When every single one of your enemies has been destroyed?" Andrew aimed a sidearm at the trio, eyes hard. "Perhaps then." Setsuna stepped in front of Kira and Cagalli, staring sternly at their host. Andrew, however, seemed to be fixated over his shoulders. "Don't even think about it; you know very well that you can't fight your way out. Everyone here is a Coordinator after all, just like you."
"Wait..." Cagalli looked over to Kira surprised, "you mean you're a...?" She couldn't even finish, she was so surprised. So Kira is one of these Coordinators?
"I saw you in battle on two separate occasions." Andrew explained. "If rumors are circulating that a natural is the pilot of that mobile suit, I'm not gonna believe it. On top of that, considering the amazing job you did getting us out of that jam earlier. I have no idea why you decide to fight against your own people. But as long as you remain the pilot of that Earth forces mobile suit you and I are destined to be sworn enemies, even if we are both Coordinators." Hold on, Setsuna thought, so he figured out Kira was a Coordinator by his abilities?
'Letting parents decide which of their genes pass on,' the Tiger said. So that must mean Coordinators have better physical traits, but then-
"What about me?" Setsuna asked.
"You?"
"How do you know I'm not a Coordinator?" Andrew grinned.
"You surprised me back in town, I admit it. But your actions speak for yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"Let me give you a little hint, for future reference." The Tiger tapped his temple with his free hand. "We Coordinators tend to overthink a bit, we can't help ourselves. Take your friend here. Even though he knows he can't get you all out of here, he's still thinking about it. His eyes darting this way and that." Kira gave a fustrated *grr* behind Setsuna. "But I saw you before you charged those guys. You had your eyes closed. My guess is that you acted on pure instinct. You didn't think at all, you just moved. Something like that, you don't get that from genes, you just can't. My guess is that you've been fighting for a very... very... very long time. A natural warrior, a natural berserker even. If you were a Coordinator, you would be quite similar to me and your friend here."
"Berserker?" Kira breathed. Andrew's face then lost its hard edge and he lowered his gun.
"It's actually makes you wonder if there's no other option but for one of us to be destroyed." Setsuna eased up as Andrew put his pistol away. "The fact is you saved me today and we aren't on the battlefield." He pressed a button on his desk Aisha opened the door. "You have permission to leave. I sure have enjoyed talking to you. Wish we could have talked more." The three of them slowly moved to the door. "Don't you miss your home in Persia?" Setsuna perked up, but tried not to show it; he still froze in place though.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked, not looking at the Tiger, keeping his tone steady.
"Chelow and Jujeh... those are Persian style kebabs." So he means Azadistan. Fair guess, but still. Setsuna turned to face the Tiger.
"I was born in Krugis, not Persia." He turned and took his leave, Kira and Cagalli following close behind him.
"See you on the battlefield... both of you."
The three of them exited the building and directed to a jeep.
"I am to drive you back into town." The ZAFT officer said, holding up Setsuna's sidearm. "The Commander says to give this back."
"Thanks," Setsuna accepted his gun as they entered the back seat. As they started to be driven away, Setsuna pulled the slide back, checking the chamber. Empty. No doubt the ZAFT sentries unloaded it when they confiscated it. He looked to Kira.
"So you're a Coordinator?"
"Yes."
"Your mother or your father?"
"What?"
"Your genes; did you get most of them from your mother or your father?" Kira seemed surprised at this.
"I... actually don't know. I resemble my mother more, but she doesn't seem to have any of my other traits. My father is good with numbers and talking to people, but he never seemed to be that good with technology like I am. Maybe my intellect was a dormant, or recessive trait."
"You really don't know?" Cagalli asked. Kira shook his head.
"I never asked. But my parents probably don't know either. I'm first generation after all."
"First generation?" Setsuna inquired.
"Your parents are Naturals," Cagalli surmised. Kira nodded.
"Maybe that's one thing I should've asked a long time ago."
"Which genes you got?" He gazed at his hands in his lap.
"Why did they make me a Coordinator in the first place?"
I actually had a hard time figuring out locations because of one very tiny detail. Even though it's stated that they're in Northern Africa at this point, Cagalli is introducing Kira to Doner Kebabs... which is a Turkish style kebab! WHAT THE HELL SUNRISE? YOU'RE NOT MAKING THIS EASY FOR ME!