Heinrich watched the Orb coast retreat into the horizon from onboard the Minerva's deck, hand resting idly on his family's heirloom sword Gotterdammerung. White-capped waves broke against the armoured hull of the warship in gentle crashes, unable to sway the giant vessel as it powered away from what had only a short while before been friendly shores. The Minerva displaying admirable stoicism that he himself was unable to.
Heinrich was distracted, thoughts drifting from the retreating land and instead onto very different subjects.
Someone was trying to kill him, or else keep him removed from the machinations of Imperial politics. The only question being, was why?
He was on the general staff now to be sure, a prestigious rank and position in its own right, but yet it was still entirely junior to those who led and managed the crusade. Too low ranking to demand an audience with those at the top, much less steer the course of the crusade.
Heinrich held a ceremonial title in regards to the crusade since he had funded the endeavour at the behest of the ecclesiarchy, yet the only boon awarded from that was to declare the start of the crusade, and the official end of it once its objectives were complete. He was no obstacle to the ambitions of more powerful men, nor did Heinrich possess enemies within the command of the crusade force. At least none that he could think of. Then again, perhaps he was looking at it wrong? Perhaps the Lord General Militant had kept him on the Minerva to keep him safe from those plotting against him? Or perhaps he was just being paranoid? After all, he was simply a soldier, and soldiers followed orders as they trusted those above them to give them for the right reasons.
But no, keeping an Imperial officer, especially one from a prestigious family in the crossfire of an ongoing war while the Imperium itself was remaining neutral by way of a pointed order showed intent. A casus beli on whichever side was responsible for his eventual death? Possible, but they already had a greater casus beli with the murder of an Imperial Cardinal and several high ranking Astra Militarum officers. The fact a rogue element had committed the act itself being irrelevant. If in fact it had been a rogue element since Bogey 1 seemed to be in no way affiliated with the group who had done the planet strike, going so far as to attack the ones responsible. Heinrich doubted that it was the Earth Alliance behind the attack at Armoury 1 since it was so brazen and foolish. It could have easily sparked a war all on its own without the added tension from the attempted genocide of the naturals.
So, either Heinrich posed a threat that he was not aware of to someone he could not conceive of and was being kept on the Minerva to keep him safe, or else it was to see him die without needing to sully their own hands.
There were many possibilities with many different reasoning behind each of them and if he acted too rashly it could leave him vulnerable or exposed to consequences of a more conventional nature. Acting outside of his authority and committing insubordination, if not outright treason. Doing nothing on the other hand, could prove just as if not more dangerous.
The other thought that buzzed around in his skull like an angry hornet was his covert aid to Captain Gladys and Lieutenant Hawke.
He could rationalize and explain his aid to the captain. He had offended her, insulted her and undermined her command aboard her own ship with his actions, whether they were decisions he made, or were forced upon him to make. He had done this all the while clamouring for her clemency. The fault was still his to bear and his to correct. He had overstepped his bounds and so had sought to even the scale in whatever capacity he was able to. Though dangerous in a sense for him to have done so, it would have been unforgivable had he allowed someone he was so thoroughly indebted to to suffer when he had an opportunity, nay, an obligation to aid. It had been a matter of personal honour. On that front at least, Heinrich found himself resolute in his decision. For the Lieutenant however...
He tried to justify it to himself in different ways, but each and every time he did, he found that they were just that. Attempts to find justification for it, because there was none. He had done it, because he was infatuated with the magenta haired pilot. He had done it to curry favour, and because he hadn't wanted her hurt by loss. Heinrich chided himself for it, for abusing his position for such personal pursuits, but he would be lying only to himself if he said he regretted it. Perhaps he really did need reeducation?
Heinrich had much preferred it when he had been a common trooper, things had been so much simpler then. His duty had been to obey. His purpose to fight and die when so demanded. Ever sure in the absolute truth and sacrosanct wisdom of those above him and his orders. Now? He was the one delivering those orders and deciding what actions to take. One misstep could see him executed for disobedience, or see a plan bear poisonous fruit. Did his predecessors feel such doubt when they gave their orders, or did his hesitation reveal a heart lacking in faith and fortitude?
A good soldier obeys without question, a good officer commands without doubt. The words came unbidden to his mind, an earmarked passage in the Tactica Imperialis that he had memorized cover to cover. Whatever course he chose he would commit himself fully and walk towards his goal as though the Emperor was at his side. For if one allowed himself to be led astray by frivolous distractions, he deserved to fail.
And what an inopportune to be assailed by such frivolous distractions, yet, he couldn't help but feel a measure of pity for these people. They did not yet truly understand the stakes they were playing with. Part of it was their pacifistic nature, and part of it was because it was always hard to acknowledge an ugly truth. He wondered if they would realize it before it was too late?
Footsteps on the metal decking stole his attention, and he was annoyed at himself for being pleasantly surprised to see that it was Lieutenant Hawke. He gave a quick gesture and his grenadier guards let her approach him.
"Sir," said Lunamaria saluting, which Heinrich promptly returned.
"At ease Lieutenant. How may I be of assistance to you?"
"Shinn, Rey, and I were all going to go and see Emily in the infirmary since she's feeling better now. I was wondering if you would want to come with us and wish her well. You know, since you were the one who helped her."
"The offer is most welcome Lieutenant, but I am afraid I must politely decline. I believe that such a greeting would be better received by sub lieutenant Towers were it done by her peers only, and not with a general staff officer present. My presence would make the setting far too formal."
"Well, the offer is still open if you want to pop by later. We'll be with her for a little while anyway. I still can't believe that they did that to her," said Lunamaria, a dark look creasing her features.
"I can and am afraid that it is all too understandable," said Heinrich, drawing a startled look from Lunamaria, indigo eyes going wide with surprise.
"To be clear, I am not saying that I condone what was done and I certainly believe it displayed both poor judgment and a lack of discipline among the crew, but I can see the reasoning behind it."
"I don't, sir," said Lunamaria, an edge to her voice.
"No, you won't and I do not wish to come across as rude, but your people do not fully understand the gravity of the war you are in."
"We're fighting for the survival of the PLANTs, we're well aware of the gravity of our war," said Lunamria, an adversarial tone taking root. "And Emily is on our side."
"No, I'm afraid you're fighting for the right of coordinators to exist Lieutenant. If you lose this war they will hunt down you and your people. They will rip and they will burn out the very root of your people until there is nothing left. They didn't aim for military installations with their fission weapons, they went directly for the habitation stations. They won't halt their attacks either. Won't sign a white peace, because they believe they are fighting for right of naturals to exist. They believe that if they want to live, you have to die. If Either of you wins this war and manages to force an unconditional surrender on the other without exterminating them, you'll merely fight the same war again in twenty years time."
"But," began Lunamaria, mounting horror on her face as Heinrich's words sank in. "We're not like that, I'm not like that. You can't blame a few extremists for what's happened. I see the people who dropped Junius on Earth the same monsters who launched the nukes at the PLANTs. When Patrick Zala tried to fire Genesis on Earth during the last war, coordinators stopped him, his own son stopped him, because it was wrong. The natural crew of the Archangel and Orb forces saved the PLANTs from nuclear Armageddon the very same day. People can see past differences, people have humanity in them."
"Yet it was just a few monsters that nearly eradicated the naturals, root and stem from existence. Only chance circumstance prevented it, but at the cost of a billion souls dead. Naturals content to leave coordinators be were suddenly confronted by the inescapable fact that they were almost eradicated by them. Fear is as infectious as it is powerful Lieutenant. Would you save a poisonous snake from drowning knowing that it would bite you? Saving it would be in your nature, just as biting and killing you would be in its. So would you sacrifice yourself and any other it could bite? Or would you let it drown and crush the life out of any other you found? Humanity has survived the millennia since leaving Holy Terra, because we brook no threat to our continued existence and we have always listened to our fear. It is why we as a species will inherit the stars, and why there will be no peaceable end to this war. Those who would save the snake embrace oblivion."
"Then how do you do it?" demanded Lunamaria. "How has the Imperium stayed together if its so large and so diverse? Why hasn't it torn itself apart or destroyed itself?"
"Two reasons. The first and most important, the God Emperor of Mankind. What would I have in common with a people halfway across the galaxy on a feral world that sacrifice the second born son of the greatest hunter in the tribe and eat his heart at the start of the summer solstice? All under the assumption they do it so they may gain the strength of his father? Nothing, save for the Emperor. We all believe in his divinity, in his undeniable magnificence and it is the glue that holds us together. That binds us. Not to say that we don't have internecine conflicts for any number of reasons, but they aren't to the level you face."
"Then what's the second?" asked Lunamaria, sounding defeated.
"The second," said Heinrich pausing, an expression like he was looking through Lunamaria to see something far more terrible. "The second reason, is that we learned there are things to fear in the galaxy more horrific than we could have ever possibly imagined in our worst fever dreams. Fear keeps us together Lunamaria, as strongly as our faith in the Emperor. Your system is too peaceful, too safe, and so you look for more minor differences, more petty grievances with which to align yourselves. Set your fear to grow in what should be barren soil. Naturals saw the intellectual acuity of the coordinators as a threat to their place in the social and economic hierarchy in your meritocratic system. Saw the threat of being reduced to being in a menial serving caste and so lashed out."
"Then, wouldn't you be in the same situation as the Naturals?" asked Lunamaria, realizing an instant after saying it that she could have just insulted the general.
"Yes and no. We have physical superiority to both the Naturals and Coordinators. Faster healing, greater stamina, higher fertility, and now potentially greater lifespans. We have enviable traits to the coordinators, who in turn have enviable traits to us, but they are symbiotic when paired together. There is not a severe power imbalance between the two groups. May I grab your arm?"
"What?" asked Lunamaria surprised.
"I wish to demonstrate my point."
"Then...I suppose so. Yes, go ahead sir."
Heinrich removed his left hand from the pommel of Gotterdammerung grabbed hold of Lunamaria's arm, lifting her effortlessly off the deck so her feet danged a good two feet off of the armoured plating.
"I could kill you like this. Effortlessly. Throw you over the railing and watch you drown. You do not possess the strength to make me release you, nor to save yourself. Such a power imbalance, even in a simple demonstration as this is uncomfortable. It causes the beginnings of fear, no matter how small."
"Well, I'm not afraid," said Lunamaria simply. "Not even really all that uncomfortable."
"And why is that?"
"Because I know that you wouldn't ever do anything to hurt me."
"I..." began Heinrich, finding himself at a loss for words.
"And now I'm pretty sure I know why you helped my family, and why you really want to spend so much time in the simulator training, especially with me," added Lunamaria with a wink.
Heinrich flushed hot and cleared his throat, setting Lunamaria down gently, suddenly finding that his uniform fit too tightly around his throat.
"And I'm free, without needing to lift a finger," said Lunamaria, a small grin on her face.
"And so you are," admitted Heinrich.
"You might be right about fear being powerful, but there are other things just as powerful Sir. I believe the only difference being is which voice we choose to listen to."
"Yet love leads to a fear of loss, and that fear can compel someone to actions they had never once contemplated. To treachery, as quickly as righteous devotion. It is a double edged sword."
"Who ever said anything about love?" asked Lunamaria coyly, making Heinrich flush red, much to the amusement of the ZAFT pilot.
"I have to go and see Emily now, or I'll be late, Sir."
"Dismissed Lieutenant," said Heinrich, returning a quick salute.
"Oh, and Sir? The answer is a definite maybe."
Heinrich watched the pilot depart, and found his gaze drift to where it would be considered inappropriate, before he wrenched it away, starting a slow walk around the perimeter of the Minerva. Yes, frivolous distractions would be the death of him, and now his thoughts were focused on only one subject.
Xxx
The sortie klaxon blared, dragging Helen roughly from any semblance of sleep she had been under the delusion of having. Her body fighting against the coming consciousness, with black still clinging to the edges of her vision as she staggered to her feet. Flightsuit still clinging to her like a second skin. She secured her helmet with a click, the smell of stale sweat assaulting her as she began to run before she was even fully conscious of her actions.
ZAFT was being relentless, chasing down the remnants of the fleet that had launched the attack on their colonies, the Mermaid chief among them for its role in the attack. Helen didn't regret her part in it in the slightest, but she was getting worn down by the constant attacks. They all were.
Round the clock attacks from the coordinators was turning what had started out as a well ordered withdrawal into a rout. Their Nazca class ships were damnably fast and the Mobius mobile armours that made up the bulk of what the Equatorial Union forces that had spearheaded the assault had were woefully outmatched. They had their own mobile suit forces to be sure, but most natural pilots just were not a match for a coordinator. The Mermaid wasn't without its share of losses, even though they had the new Windam mobile suit. They were already down to half strength as it was.
Adelina, Diego, and Oscar were all dead. Had been for a while now, though Helen couldn't really say how long. Time seemed to be blurring together with the constant combat, lacking any kind of permanency and fatigue made it even harder to keep track of.
Adolf was in the infirmary and if he survived it would be without his legs, courtesy of a beam shot that had scored a grazing hit on his cockpit. The glancing blow had spared his life, but dumped molten slag onto his lap in return.
Now it was just her, Peter, Radek and Diego left to defend the Mermaid and any stragglers that they could regroup with.
Even with alarm klaxons sounding, the bone dead exhaustion just wouldn't leave her and Helen grabbed a handful of the affectionately named baby blues from her suit. Little nondescript blue pills that could keep pilots awake and alert for long periods of time, though their overuse was heavily cautioned against. Helen downed a handful and dry swallowed through her open visor, finally able to think without a fog when she reached the hangar. Though she felt twitchy and on edge. An unfortunate side effect of the baby blues.
Propelling herself along the catwalks and pushing off the walls in the zero G, Helen got quick, but respectful nods from the ground crews. The Mermaid was constantly taking hits in its skirmishes and it was beginning to wear on the ship and its crew. The offensive and defensive capability of the Mermaid almost laid entirely with its pilots now, despite half of them being dead.
"How the hell?" murmured Helen as she saw that Peter was already in his windam. He always seemed to be the first to the hangar when they had to sortie, often strapped in and ready before the warning klaxons sounded.
Helen's windam was waiting for her and prepped when she reached it and she paused only long enough to look at the word "Cook" stencilled on the side of the cockpit hatch, alongside a painted chefs hat. Looks like she had earned her call sign. More than a few of the crew had heard the story of her saying that she enjoyed a good barbecue after nuking the coordinators.
"Guess it's time for the Cook to fry up some more coordinators huh?" opined Helen to one of the ground crew, who only grinned in response and gave her a thumbs up. Helen gave a grin in return and pulled herself inside her windam, powering up the displays and closing the cockpit. The visor snapping closed on her helmet with a muted click.
She blew through the preflight checks, hardly even paying attention to them. Ignoring any warnings that were displayed and clearing them with an annoyed swipe. After all, what did a 50% loss of power storage from a cracked battery pack or damaged servo motors in the left shoulder matter when they would die if her windam didn't launch? At least there were less warning lighting up her display this time.
"Helen Cook Visser, windam, LAUNCHING!" cried Helen as the launch lights turned green and the linear catapult rocketed her into the inky nothingness of space, the force of acceleration crushing her back into her seat. Her HUD just finishing recognizing the IFF tags of the units around her as she cleared the confines of the Mermaid when the Equatorial Union drake class frigate Flamingo exploded violently into a fireball.
"Diego Garcia, windam, LAUNCHING!" called Diego and an instant later his windam was flying next to Helen's. Her and Peter had needed to be assigned new wingmen due to their falling out after their nuclear strike. They'd gotten into several near fights since then, the threat of court martial forever hanging over their heads, but held back for the simple fact for the reason that they were needed to keep the Mermaid safe.
"Incoming ZAFT Zakus, flight one take starboard, flight two, take port," came the curt order from the Mermaid as the ZAFT suits flew through the burning wreckage of the Flamingo, exploiting the gap in the defensive line made by its loss anddestroying a pair of old mobile armours like they were merely a nuisance as they passed through.
"Acknowledged!" grunted Helen, already gunning her windam to get it into position, Diego following hot on her tail as her video feed glowed green as the Mermaid fired its main beam armament at the approaching mobilesuits, a flurry of missiles following shortly afterwards.
"JINK!" cried Helen, quickly changing direction as she avoided a long range beam blast from the approaching ZAKUs, then had to avoid a follow up shot from a gunner ZAKU as he tried his luck again.
"Damned space freaks," seethed Helen, watching the yellow flashes of missiles flying away from the Mermaid as another volley was launched at the ZAFT units. A brief, but brilliant yellow flash dominated her viewscreens as the starboard valiant linear cannon fired. An IFF tag suddenly disappeared as the Drake class frigate Bombay guarding their starboard took a long range beam blast and exploded. Its complement of mobile armours long since destroyed.
"Dammit," cursed Helen, seeing how exposed the Mermaid was becoming. Losing the missile and anti-mobilesuit firepower from their two escorts was going to make an already difficult fight damned near impossible.
"Here they come!" called Diego as the ZAKUs finally came into effective firing range. Damned creepy things as far as Helen was concerned. The first thing you saw as a ZAFT unit approached you out of of the void was the pink dot of its primary sensor coming out of the black at you, backlit by the soft blue glow of its engines like some kind of monster emerging from the nothingness. Fitting so far as she was concerned.
"Keep 'em back, volleys at five second intervals!" ordered Helen, targeting the group approaching them from the front and loosing her own barrage of shoulder mounted missiles at them, Diego following suit. All they had to do was keep them off of the Mermaid until the 18th fleet arrived and allowed their battered strike group to flee for safer harbours. The only question being was could they survive until then?
The ZAKUs broke their formation to evade the missiles and Helen fired another controlled volley, along with Diego. Peter and Radek doing the same from the port side of the Mermaid. Green beams cut through the black as the Mermaid fired its main beam armament again, followed by smaller streams as Helen and the other pilots of the Mermaid fired in turn with their rifles, while moving erratically to evade the beams fired at them in turn.
"SHIT! BELOW US! JINK! JINK!" cried Helen as she noticed a pair of cyclopian eyes light up out of the nothingness below them. The ZAFT pilots must have accelerated their suits before powering down to not show up as a threat on sensors amidst the confusion and carnage going on around them. All in an effort to drift past the defences of the Mermaid and her escorts. A ploy that had succeeded. Now they were powered up and had them in their sights.
Helen gunned her thrusters to maximum, but Diego was a fraction too slow. The first beam blowing out the thrusters on the back of his windam causing him to spin out of contorl, the second coring the suit from groin to crown, causing it to explode spectacularly as the battery pack and munitions detonated.
"RADEK!" came a cry over the radio and Radek's windam IFF disappeared from her HUD off the port of the Mermaid. Now it was just her and Peter left.
"Dammit!" cursed Helen, holding down the firing studs until the missile racks on the shoulders of her suit were empty, watching as the few that did manage to hit failed to breach the phase shift armour of the ZAFT units. She did manage to score a beam hit that took off the arm of one of the ZAKU suits, but it disengaged before she could follow up on the success, the more suits surging up from below to take its place.
Her view was suddenly obscured as a thick mass of greyish particles consumed her unit an instant before a beam shot fizzled off the outside of her suit, making her heart jump into her throat.
She had forgot about the suits to the front, and the only reason she was alive, was because the Mermaid had basically detonated an anti beam depth charge directly on top of her. Proximity warning sensors screaming at her and lighting up her cockpit with red warning lights.
"Visser! Get to the port side with Commander Schweitzer!" snapped Captain Badgiruel, over Helen's radio, even as more beam blasts tore through the protective shield of particles surrounding her, a fireball washing over her as the starboard valiant was hit by a flurry of beam shots and exploded. Though Helen didn't hear him, hardly noticed the fire that engulfed her suit. Instead, she was shaking with rage as she clutched at the wedding ring looped on a necklace underneath her flightsuit.
She couldn't hear the alarms of her suit anymore, couldn't hear her own heavy breathing anymore, couldn't see the explosions erupting over the hull of the Mermaid as she clutched at the ring that her Lucas had given her. All she could see was that stupid boyish grin on his face after he had stolen a quick kiss from her when she hadn't been expecting it. The last time her lips had touched his. The last time she had truly been whole, before the coordinators had stolen everything from her.
Blood pounded in her ears, as she gripped the controls of her suit, feeling as though she was going to crush them in her grasp as she was filled with terrible, grim resolve that felt like it was going to tear her apart at the seams as it built within her. This was her only purpose now. Her only duty was to make sure that coordinators would never hurt anyone else ever again. Nothing else mattered anyone.
"Visser!"came the call from the Mermaid again as green beams tore through the cloud of beam absorbing particles around her, searching for her.
"If I'm going to die here," growled Helen lowly, teeth gritting together in a feral snarl. "Then all of you coordinator fucks are coming with me!"
With a feeling like ice water washing over her the pressure inside of Helen seemed to burst, and the feeling was incredible. Helen's pupils contracted to tiny dots and the iris of her eyes extended. Everything was...so much clearer now.
With an explosion of speed, Helen burst out from the protective cloud of particles, putting a beam shot through a ZAKU before it could react and causing it to explode.
It almost seemed that the ZAFT units were moving in slow motion, or like they were marionettes moving on twisted strings as Helen fired on the second suit, causing it to cover itself with its shield, but immediately losing a leg as Helen switched her aim at the last moment. The blast sending the ZAKU spinning and easy prey for a follow up shot through the cockpit. Each shot only an instant behind the other.
The third suit jinked to the side, shooting as it went and forcing Helen to dodge or else block with her shield in actions that felt too...easy.
She fired the pair of missiles housed in her shield towards the ZAKU that blocked with its shield in turn, phase shift armour taking and damage that the shield failed to. When the fireball cleared though, Helen's windam wasn't in front of it anymore, it was underneath it, and she destroyed the third ZAKU with a trio of well placed beam shots that took off limbs from the ZAKU like a child pulling the legs off of an insect.
Watching the data feed from the Mermaid, Helen skirted underneath her own ship, coming up below and behind a ZAKU just as it was lining up a shot on Peter. She took one of the explosive daggers from her suit and slammed it into the neck joint of the suit, kicking it away and into the path of its wingman.
The explosion took the head off the ZAKU she had stabbed and sent both units tumbling away into the firing arc of the Mermaid which finished the two suits off with a single high powered beam blast. The sixth and final ZAKU attacking them exploded an instant later when Helen put a glowing hole through its chest. Now there was a hole in ZAFT's lines.
Helen pushed her windam to full power as she rocketed away from the Mermaid and towards the Nazca class direct front.
"VISSER! Come back!" ordered Schweitzer, but Helen didn't pay it any mind. She saw her target, and hardly felt the G forces as she evaded its return beam fire. Windam shuddering as near misses from the Nazca's missile volleys threatened to tear it apart. Her suit shrieking warning icons from every available screen due to all the weapons locking onto her and incoming threats. She hardly even noticed when a beam turned her right shoulder mounted missile rack to molten slag.
The Nazca class hangar bay doors opened as it prepared to launch an intercept unit towards her, but Helen was already too close. She discarded her shield into the launch pathway of the port catapult and watched as the launching GINN crushed itself against the discarded piece of armour, while the launching ZAKU from the starboard side was bisected in a pink flash as Helen ignited her beam saber. Then, she flew down the launch ramp before it could close and into the hangar of the ZAFT ship.
Her windam came to a stop at the end of the ramp catapult and she strode into the main hangar of the ship. Seeing the ZAKU she had maimed earlier in its launch cradle, while dozens of technicians and ground crew personnel floated in their suits around the interior of the ship, staring at her in horror.
Without a word, Helen swung the beam saber in vicious arcs, watching the coordinators turn to vapour as they tried to get out of the way of the blade. She plunged the glowing blade into the chest of the ZAKU as the pilot tried to get back inside, turning him to vapour and sending glowing hot shrapnel through the hangar bay as it exploded, eviscerating anyone caught in its path, or exposing them to hard vacuum.
She dragged the blade along the walls of the interior, leaving molten slag floating in the vacuum and causing fires as oxygen began venting from the ship proper. Firing her beam rifle into the interior of the ship that her saber couldn't reach to, fire erupting from the molten holes she created. Helen then cut her way through the deck of the ship and into the space beyond as secondary explosions tore the ship apart behind her.
Almost like she was suddenly exposed to gravity again, Helen was hit with a wave of fatigue and it felt like her senses became a tenth of what they had just been. She was breathing hard and could feel the sweat beading off her head and soaking into the liner of her helmet. She blinked several times to try and clear her vision that was suddenly clouded. She had just enough power left in her suit to make it back to the Mermaid. The low energy warning beeping at her along with a host of others.
With a start, she realized that her cockpit integrity had been ruptured at some point, leaving an opening to the void of space beyond. A glowing slit marking how close she had come to death.
But as she turned to go, she saw a lifeboat jettison from the wreckage of the Nazca class as smaller explosions continued to wrack the stricken ship. Helen tracked the lifeboat, and then raked it with CIWS fire from her windam. Holding down the firing studs until it was belching fire and leaking atmosphere. She held down the firing stud until she saw the lifeboat rip apart, letting out a satisfied grin when it did. Then she turned and headed back to the Mermaid, sighing in relief as new IFF tags popped onto her screen.
The 18th fleet was arriving to relive the Mermaid and what remained of their beleaguered battle group. Four carriers, five battleships, sixteen escorts, and a whole hell of a lot of mobile armours and mobile suits. Now all the Mermaid had to do was run to the moon.
Helen was so tired that when she docked back in the Mermaid, even with zero gravity she found it hard to muster the energy to get out of her cockpit. She found she hardly had to though as Jubilant ground crew pulled her from her unit and cheered her name, lifting her up and laughing in both gratitude and relief. Patting her on the back and giving her a mixture of praise and gratitude. Helen raised her fists in triumph to the cheers of the crew and cheered right alongside them.
Xxx
"Hey guys," said Emily sounding tired, but otherwise in good health. Head swathed in bandages and laying upright on an inclined bed in the infirmary. The lights overhead dimmed for the patient within.
"We brought you some stuff from your quarters," said Shinn awkwardly, setting down a handful of books and her phone with a new set of earbuds onto the small table beside her.
"Thanks Shinn, I was to starting to get stir crazy being cooped up in here all day. No movies?" joked Emily with a smile. "I suppose that's for the best, not supposed to look at screens or bright lights for very long anyways.
"How are you feeling?" asked Lunamaria.
"A lot better now than I was. Doctor says that there was some swelling in my brain, but it went away and didn't leave any long term damage. I've got an open linear skull fracture, but not a bad one so they say it should heal quickly. Well, quickly for a skull fracture anyways. Still tired a lot though."
"We're really sorry for what happened," said Shinn.
"Why? I know you guys have always have my back, some people are just assholes. I just hope they clear me to fly soon, sounds like we're going to need every machine we can get into the fight. I heard we left Orb?"
"Yeah, they're worried that they'll join the Atlantic Federation," said Shinn, a surprising vehemence in his voice as he said it.
"Meyrin said that the bridge crew received a transmission from a man claiming to be the Desert Tiger warning that that's exactly what they were going to do," added Lunamaria.
"Didn't he disappear after the last war?" asked Emily.
"Along with the Archangel, her crew, and most of the members of the Clyne faction," said Rey.
"Oh, I actually saw Lacus when we were in Orb," said Lunamaria excitedly. "We were-"
"No, you didn't," said Rey pointedly, surprising everyone present as he seemed almost confrontational as opposed to his normally stoic demeanour.
"Yes I did," said Lunamaria, both taken aback and irritated. "I talked to her and even got an auto-"
"Nobody knows where Lacus is, what is known is that she's in the PLANTs somewhere."
"Rey, what's gotten into you?" asked Shinn surprised.
"I'm tired of people claiming every few months that they saw Lacus, it's getting old," said Rey stiffly.
"I'm not claiming anything, I'm telling you that I talked to her. I've seen her in person before, and it was her."
Emily laughed, disrupting the argument.
"Damn, it hurts to laugh," chuckled Emily, rubbing at her bandage. "But I mean we're at war you guys are arguing about pop stars. It's just too funny," said Emily laughing again.
"Emily," said Shinn, concern in his voice.
"What? Am I bleeding again?" asked Emily, wiping at tears that came away sticky and red.
"Oh, yeah that happens from time to time. Anyone got a Kleenex or something?"
xxx
Sting could feel the presence with him. Like someone standing over his shoulder, almost able to feel their breath on his neck. Yet, if he were to look behind him, he would see nothing, but he could always feel it.
Sting remembered getting sucked into that rift when the Imperial ship had powered into the remains of Junius 7, before taking the remains of it god know where. Yet, he couldn't really remember what he had seen while in the rift. Vague recollections at best, more emotional imprints than actual memories. Maybe the memories themselves removed by the machine they always put him into, before he found a way to resist it? What he had gained from that rift though, was the greatest thing he had ever experienced. Freedom.
He could remember things now, could experience everything that had been denied to him. It had put him in control of his own destiny, the only thing standing in his way now was his servitude to the EA. He wanted to leave the very next time he piloted Chaos, but the voice, the presence told him it was not yet time. The voice was also never wrong.
It had given him his memories back, sex, piloting ability that was unimaginable, even to an extended, and very soon the ability to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. He was also certain it was making him psychic to an extent, or at least very good at guessing.
It had told him that he wasn't strong enough yet. That they weren't strong enough yet. That Sting needed to keep piloting the Chaos and keep fighting. Keep killing, because doing that would see both of their power grow. They also needed followers, and Sting had the perfect first candidate in mind.
She wasn't hard to find, there wasn't many places that she could be after all, and every time they had their memories wiped, she would revisit the same places, seemingly experiencing them again for the first time. Though, they never erased their knowledge of each other which was beneficial.
"Hey Stella," said Sting sitting down next to the blonde extended on the flight deck.
"Hey, Sting," said Stella noncommittally, still staring out over the water.
"What are you looking at?"
"Just the water. It's pretty. Do you think Neo will let us go swimming?" asked Stella with all the innocence of a child that in many ways she was. It infuriated Sting to see it.
The machine that they put them through refused to let them grow, never letting them change or form opinions or ideas beyond what their overlords wanted them to. The drugs that enhanced them also made them dependent on their masters, meaning that if they ever were to flee they would die since they had bastardized their bodies so much.
"No, they won't," answered Sting honestly.
"Oh, that's no fair," huffed Stella. "Why not?"
Sting considered what to say for a minute, but if he wanted Stella to agree to anything, she had to be vulnerable, and that meant one thing.
"Well, because if we were to go swimming, there's a chance that we would drown and die," said Sting, not drawing any satisfaction from the immediate panic and horror that spread across Stella's face.
"D-die? I-I d-don't want to die!" said Stella, terror in her voice and tears threatening to spring forth. Looking around like a trapped bird wanting to escape.
'Will this work?' asked Sting to the presence in himself.
"It might."
'What do you mean might?' demanded Sting.
"Total clairvoyance is practically impossible, there's too many branching possibilities. It does have a good chance of working. Try it."
"Shh, shh, It's okay," comforted Sting, stroking Stella's arm and cooing platitudes softly to her. "You're not going to die."
"I...I don't want to die. I don't want to die," repeated Stella to herself, not hearing Sting.
"Stella, look at me," said Sting, making the blonde look at him. "What if I told you that there's something out there that would make it so you would never get hurt? Never worry about growing old, and never be able to die? You would be safe Stella, you could live forever. All you have to do is trust me. All you have to do, is see what I have to show you."
Sting's reassuring smile disappeared when Stella began to scream and shake her head.
"NO! NOOOOO!" screamed Stella, shaking out of Sting's grasp and to her feet.
"NEO! NEEEEEEEOO!" yelled Stella, running across the flight deck towards the command tower of the carrier.
"Fuck."
"Fuck."