Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam
Here's the next update, covering part of Phase 7:Scar of Space, with monologue by my OC Bentos Haggan.
Gundam Seed Purpose Renew
Chapter 7: The graveyard
We were all young once, everyone of us, young and idealistic, even me. I used to be sober, I used to look in the mirror and see a handsome man, a face I liked looking at. Faith, belief, patriotism, honour, these were all things I used to have, then I woke up and I realised, we're not fucking heroes...we're just, legalised murderers.
Bentos Haggan squeezed out of the Merc's cockpit, letting out a drawn out curse as his belly rubbed against the edge of it. He and the other mobile suits had flown into the Archangel's hanger, whilst Julia docked the Kutai. Wade easily climbed out of his machine, whilst the former ZAFT pilot climbed out of his. The man was still wearing a ZAFT, 'green coat' normal suit, as he removed his helmet, revealing silver hair and black eyes, he noticed the suspicious looks the Archangel soldiers gave him.
"Maybe I should have repainted the suit too," the man huffed.
He joined the other Sensou pilots, landing in a line in front of the engineering team. Bentos followed Murdoch's gaze to the Purpose, which was placing the wrecked Sensou-Merc in an occupied mobile suit dock. The Purpose then returned to its place next to the Strike, which was also joined by the Eurasian mobile suit. Kira was the first to get out of his suit, ignoring everything and promptly floating to the elevator. Mu, Natarle and Murrue stepped out as Kira stepped in.
"Where are you off to kid?" Mu asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm not needed here right?" Kira asked, keeping his eyes low.
"Good work out there kid, and sorry this happened," Mu said.
"It's all right," Kira pushed the button for the elevator to go up.
When the doors closed, Murrue exchanged a concerned look with Mu. But having no time for the adolescent pilot, they floated down to meet with the new arrivals. The Eurasian pilot took off his black helmet, revealing a boy just a few years younger than Kira, with purple eyes and black hair that he untied from its knot.
"Ensign Canard Pars," the boy said, raising his hand into a salute.
"We were already introduced, good to meet face to face," Bentos said.
"Thank you for allowing us to stay on your ship, I promise we'll pull our weight," Wade bowed his head.
"Don't go promising that boy, they might actually hold us to it," Bentos laughed as he slapped Wade's back.
Mu smiled slightly, then looked at the old ZAFT pilot.
"When did you leave?" he asked him.
"Unofficially after the N-Jammers were launched, officially, after Endymion, discharged due to 'post traumatic stress disorder' from hearing my friends get blown up inside their mobile suit's," the man explained.
"Sean Ryder is one of us, a fellow dog," Bentos said.
"You are former Earth alliance as well," Natarle stated.
"Let me guess, you think I'm either a coward, traitor, military criminal or all of the above right?" Bentos asked.
"If you guys are going to start this I'll go," Gekido huffed.
He kicked off of the floor, launching himself towards the elevator. Wade watched in confusion whilst Bentos shook his head.
"How long have you known Gekido?" Mu asked.
"A few years, I assume not many of the crew like him," Bentos said.
"That's putting it mildly," Murrue said.
"Well, I'll tell you this, he's...kinder than he lets on," the man's eyes were serious, then he began laughing again, that terrible horse laugh.
Every time I tell people that, they give me the same look of confusion. It's understandable I suppose, Gekido's a difficult man to understand. He looks younger than he seems to be, he's endured things no other man has, yet, he doesn't remember a lot about his life. People think he's different from them, he gives them plenty of reason I suppose.
After having gotten out of his flight suit, Gekido floated down the corridors of the ship, carrying his jacket over his shoulder. He passed Kira's room, but when he saw what Kira was doing, he stopped and turned to the doorway. The brown haired boy was lying face down on his bed, gripping the duvet, which Gekido could see was wet.
"Tell me," Gekido began, Kira raised his head slightly, showing he was at least awake. "Have you ever had loyalty to ZAFT?" Kira shook his head.
"Do you have an 'us and them' mentality when it comes to coordinators and naturals?" again Kira shook his head.
"Traitor, that's what Garcia called you," Gekido said and then shrugged his shoulders. "To what? If you're not loyal to ZAFT or to the 'us and them' mentality, then how are you a traitor? Or is it the Aegis guy? You gonna ball up like this every time you fight one another? You gonna ball up every time something bad happens?"
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT!" Kira yelled. "The only friend you have, is someone you're willing to kill, do you have any idea how messed up that is?"
Gekido dipped his head and chuckled, much to Kira's shock.
"Yeah, it's pretty damn crazy, he is my friend," Kira looked at Gekido, and saw genuine sadness in his eyes.
But it changed, his eyes narrowed, even the pupils seemed to become like slits as Gekido grit his teeth together.
"But if he threatens even one of the people I have taken under my protection, I will end him, I won't enjoy it, but I'd rather be the traitor who kept his word, than the good friend who abandoned those he'd sworn to protect," Gekido explained.
Then the emotion left his face, and the perma-frown formed. He turned and floated away, leaving Kira with a lot to think about. His face softened slightly as his friends appeared at the doorway.
"Hey buddy, was Gekido being mean?" Sai asked.
"We could kick his ass for you," Tolle said.
"I think he'll kick our asses," Kuzzey retorted.
Kira smiled as he got up, shaking his head.
"No, I'm fine, do you guys want to find out what our next move is?" he asked.
The four teens nodded their heads, smiling with Kira as they floated in the opposite direction Gekido had gone down.
I've gotta say, there's something incredible about the Archangel, now this if the future of ship designs. Bigger ship, more intimidation, bigger guns too, but slower build up to its top speed, bigger target and the guns are all manipulated by computer and mathematical calculations, god war requires a degree nowadays. Perhaps the Archangel will mark an end to the days gunners could look down the sight at their enemy.
Bentos walked down the corridor of the ship, whistling over the design. He was out of his flight suit, and wore a pair of green fatigues and a brown jacket. The man looked ahead and saw the Eurasian pilot, Canard Pars. The boy however wasn't wearing a uniform, but a black jacket with fingerless gloves, his hair was also kept untied. They passed one another, both stopping with their backs to each other. A grinned crossed the mercenary's face and he let out a hazy chuckle.
"CATX1-X1/3 Hyperion, hell of a machine to be able to use a portable version of the Artemis," he said.
Canard closed his eyes and chuckled himself.
"Don't forget the universal weapons plugs," he said.
"That thing can use ZAFT weapons?" Bentos asked, turning to Canard, who remained with his back turned.
Realising he was ruining his 'cool' moment, Bentos huffed, straightened his back and turned away from Canard again. But then, his eyes narrowed, and his tone became much more serious.
"Some scouts of ours said that there was some kind of incident at the Heliopolis wreckage, three mobile suits were apparently involved, one lost an arm," he explained.
"What's your point?" Canard asked.
"I just find it oddly coincidental that the Atlantic and Eurasian federations, Sensou and Orb complete their own mobile suit development projects at the same time as one another, almost as if someone was manipulating both sides to complete their mobile weapons," as Bentos spoke, Yamato happend to float by with his usual innocent expression.
That expression grew even more ignorant as Bentos glared at him. Canard also looked over his shoulder at Yamato, who quickly retreated to his quarters.
"It's obvious isn't it, corporations, contractors, war itself is considered a business right?" Canard asked.
"Yeah, I'm considered a businessman, I even have a suit now. Still, I suppose the scientific discoveries that come from mobile suit development will benefit people like Wade and Gekido," Bentos said.
"What do you mean people like them?"
"You mean you don't know, they're cyborgs," Bentos grinned.
"EEEEH! Seriously?"
Tolle and Kuzzey looked at Wade's legs in shock. Both were made of a light weight metal, making them ideal for use in a mobile suit. Wade showed them off proudly, wearing shorts to show that from his knees downwards, his legs were cybernetic.
"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Sai asked.
"Sensou had them cut off when I joined," Wade stated casually, in spite of the shocked expressions of the people around him.
"They amputated your legs?" Flay asked.
She hadn't been listening before, instead staying close to Sai. But Wade's casual demeanour over his mutilation, disturbed and interested her.
"Yeah, in order to join Sensou I had to have my legs amputated, they said if the blood didn't flow to my legs I could be a better pilot," Wade explained.
"How old were you when you joined Sensou?" Miriallia asked.
"Oh about twelve, thirteen maybe," he said.
Again horrified expressions crossed their faces, yet Wade remained casual about it, as if it was just something that happened, that didn't have consequences.
"You joined a mercenary organisation at twelve years old, that's child abuse, enslavement," Tolle said, the anger evident in his voice.
"Oh they pay quite well, I'm able to put my seven siblings through school," Wade said.
"SEVEN SIBLINGS!"
Wade grinned, and began laughing, genuine laughter that got even louder at the dumbfounded looks on the Heliopolis kid's faces.
"Kidding, I haven't got seven brothers and sisters, I have a little brother and sister, our dad died in an accident during a supply delivery on our colony, normal suit breach, and our mom has multiple sclerosis, she can't work for longer than a few hours, and the support our colony gets is limited," Wade explained.
"So you thought you'd join a military organisation?" Tolle asked.
"Yeah, it made sense, I join Sensou, they give me a place to stay, food to eat and a higher education I can't get in the colonial public school sector, it was one less thing for mom to worry about. I also send money home to the family, and along with a few others from the colony who joined, we're able to help with the funding for the colony, off the books though considering how much the alliance takes," Wade explained.
"What does the alliance take?" Flay asked.
"Let's just say not every colony is like Heliopolis, park a ship wrong and there's a chance the whole thing can fall apart," he said.
Flay looked at the ground slightly, finding herself imagining the struggle it must be, for these colonies to function. Then she thought of the people, people like Wade who saw no choice but to join organisations like Sensou.
"You should see Gekido's...not that he even showed me," Wade said, a depressed look crossing his face.
The Heliopolis children turned their full attention to Wade, some of them even grabbing him.
"This has happened to Gekido too?" Tolle asked the question on everyone's mind, curious, like them to find out more about the gruff pilot.
"You mean you guys haven't seen them, I would have thought you'd have seen them by now," Wade said.
"Are you saying that Gekido has more than just cybernetic legs?" Miriallia asked.
As his friends spoke with Gekido's colleague, Mu and Murrue sat in the doctor's office with Yamato. The man had displayed an X-ray, and a photo of Gekido. Mu and Murrue were looking at the X-ray display in shock, showing that Gekido had cybernetic legs, a cybernetic left hand and some kind of implant in his right eye. But horrifically, he also had plates inside his shoulder, and multiple implants running up his spine.
"This kind of extensive level of cybernetic modification Mr Kuzunagi, shouldn't be possible, why was it carried out anyway?" the doctor asked.
"As you know, in order to live in space, children have to undergo training and a specific diet routine, Gekido followed it better than most but..." Yamato paused, looking at Mu and Murrue.
"This affects the Archangel, it's a matter of the crew's continued safety if they're going to put their lives in Gekido's hands," Murrue explained her presence, causing Yamato to sigh.
"Gekido is a...I suppose a genetic imperfection, yet at the same time he's a genetic miracle too," he said.
"Do you have any idea how confusing those two sound?" Mu asked.
"Okay, perhaps its better if I illustrate," Yamato said, walking over to a board and taking one of the pens. "I'm just going to burrow this," he began drawing, without waiting for the doctor's approval.
"This is the normal human body, estimated after say, six months of training for space," Yamato drew two pictures, one of the human body and the other, "This is Gekido's body after the same amount of training," he showed a crude drawing of muscle fibres in Gekido's body, though the left shoulder had developed more than the one on the normal body, the left shoulder hadn't developed at all, and was even thinner.
He highlighted the normal human spine, and began zigzagging around Gekido's spine.
"Certain parts of Gekido's body developed better than others, whilst some broke down altogether, Gekido was developing blindness in his right eye, his spinal column was brittle and certain areas of his muscles wouldn't develop properly. There are certain genetic markers that separate a natural from a coordinator," he drew a gene sequence, with a coordinator one being bigger, and more detailed than a natural one.
"Gekido has genetics marking him as a natural, a defective one at that. But his immune system is strong, he'll flush a sickness out," the Alliance trio gagged as Yamato drew a picture of someone vomiting.
"Modern day bionics are also treated somewhat like a disease by the human immune system, its often a lottery for extensive cybernetics not to be rejected by the body. In order to 'repair' or at least make up for the faults in Gekido's body, I approved, and even carried out the surgeries necessary to replace Gekido's defective limbs and spine. This kind of extensive cybernetic modification was never successfully done before, without the subjects cells completely rejecting the bionics," Yamato explained.
"Yet Gekido's body didn't reject them," Mu said.
"Like I said, a genetic defection and miracle in one, of course the therapy was difficult, but Gekido was able to do it for the same reason he went through the surgery," Yamato said.
"He's stubbornly determined," the mobile armour pilot said.
"Exactly, this doesn't change anything Flaga-San, Ramias-San, Gekido and Kira at the best pilots qualified to protect the Archangel, because they both have such powerful characters, obscured by their personal flaws," Yamato explained.
Mu and Murrue nodded their heads, agreeing at least with his assessment of Kira. In the days following Artemis, the crew moved on, operating on rationed water and supplies, drained even more with the refugees. In his room, Gekido sprayed a special paint over his metal left hand, forming a layer of synthetic skin over it. He picked up his shirt, putting it on to cover the surgical scar on his back. After putting his jacket on, he floated out of the room and into the dining area. Murdoch and some of the mechanics were at one table, and Canard Pars was sitting by himself.
"Chicken again Kai?" Gekido asked, sliding to the serving area.
"A bit of protein for the crew, couldn't pick up any extra ingredients at Artemis, and the water is low, so no boiling the potatoes," Kai explained.
"This is the same plate I used yesterday, I can tell by the chip on it, how are you cleaning them?"
"Good old fashioned spit shine," Kai grinned.
Gekido's eyebrow twitched slightly, his grip on the plate tightening.
"If you think that's bad, you should see how I cleaned Murdoch's plate," Kai said.
Gekido shook his head, the slither of a smile crossing his face as he went to a table, Canard's table. The young man seemed surprised by his presence at first. They exchanged glances, before they continued eating, remaining quiet for the longest time. Eventually though they looked at one another again, and Gekido offered Canard his hand.
"Gekido Jaegar," he said.
"Canard Pars," the pilot shook the mercenary's hand.
"The rifle has its own battery doesn't it?" Gekido asked.
"On the Hyperion? Yeah it does, that Strike can only operate on its own battery," Canard said.
"You know, if you get to a descent engineering team, I've got a way for you to upgrade those cannons so that they don't draw from the main battery," Gekido explained.
"Really? Are you a pilot or a tech head?"
"Doesn't hurt to be both, and I can tell by your hands you're pretty good with machines too!"
Canard grinned, a feral kind of grin like the kind Gekido had. But when the group from Heliopolis entered the room, Canard's expression took on a different one. It became more innocent, and made Gekido think of Kira for a moment, especially in the way their eyes looked so similar to one another's. Shaking it off, Gekido kept eating, but before long he noticed that Tolle and Kuzzey were staring at him. Even though Miriallia elbow nudged Tolle, Gekido had already picked up on their interest.
"Okay," he said, putting his plate aside. "The doctor would only have broken confidentiality and told the senior officers, none of you have the balls to go near Harper, and Ryder and Bentos aren't the people you're likely to talk to...it was Wade wasn't it?" he asked.
Tolle and Miriallia remained silent, but both had nervous expressions. Kuzzey however was sweating as Gekido looked at him.
"Yes, it was Wade, but we asked him," Kuzzey said.
"Thanks Buzzkill!"
"Its Buskirk!"
"Don't care!"
"You know it isn't something to be ashamed of," Miriallia said.
"It's not shame, how defective my body is just isn't anyone else's business," Gekido said.
"Defective huh?" Canard muttered.
"What, you got something to say?" Gekido asked.
"No," Canard said, his eyes still, again much like Kira's, "I'd never make fun of someone because of their genes, natural, coordinators, we all have our defects," he explained.
Gekido's expression calmed, finding a small understanding with Canard, whilst the others simply looked at the Eurasian soldier with confused expressions.
"Sorry, I'm finished now," Canard said.
The way he bowed and spoke respectfully, Gekido could tell it was an act, that the way he acted before was more like the real him. As the Eurasian soldier left, Sai and Flay sat down. At first Flay shuffled a bit away from Sai, who though confused tried to shuffle closer.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Oh, it's nothing, it's just with all the water restrictions I wasn't able to take a shower today," Flay said, causing Gekido to scoff.
'Looks like the ballerina princess ain't pleased with four eyes,' Gekido thought, seeing the tension between Sai and Flay. 'Time apart can break a relationship, but so can so much time together, arranged relationships...they don't work out!'
When the Heliopolis children finished, they put their plates away with Gekido, and continued staying in the cafeteria.
"Now Flay it's up to you but I think you should apologise to Kira when he gets here," Sai said.
"But why?" Flay whined.
"I certainly can't force you but don't you think the situation calls for it?" Sai asked.
"Yeah the fact is Kira went through a loud of hassle back there because of what you said, it's not as big a deal to us but the truth is that Kira's a coordinator so we're stepping on egg shells here," Tolle explained.
"I'm not asking much your both bound to run into each other at some point and it'll only make things unpleasant if you don't apologise," Sai said.
"Ok if you think it's for the best I suppose I'll apologise," Flay sighed.
"Don't apologise because they say so," Gekido snarled.
They looked at Gekido, seeing the anger in his eyes, and the way his pupils almost narrowed like slits on an animal.
"You should apologise because it's a damn courtesy to apologise to someone when you've caused them trouble and put their life at risk, like you did at Artemis," he explained, then looked at the others."Oh and stop with the whole 'Kira is a coordinator' mindset, that revelation hasn't changed a damn thing about how you should approach him, if you're going to tread lightly do it because he's out there fighting in a war he doesn't even agree with."
Gekido left the group with their heads low, all of them thinking about what he said.
"Coordinator," he huffed, "Don't validate the ridiculous reason this war is being fought!"
Culture, race, economy, politics, some of the many reasons a war is fought. Past wars have also been retaliation against tragedies, and defence against conquest. Those are both the reasons this war is being fought, depending on who you'd ask. Me however, I saw the exact this war is being fought, I'm imagine that in the Plants right now, Patrick Zala is tastelessly using one tragedy to justify a call to arms, and a reason to forgive Rau Le Creuscet. Mu La Flaga calls himself the man who can make the impossible possible, Gekido and myself don't believe that.
It isn't exactly a brilliant idea to scavenge in the debris belt, that ring of potential projectiles around the Earth. Organisations like Sensou and the Junk guild have been scavenging there for years. Battleships, mobile suit parts, weapons, even pieces from broken colonies end up there. But biggest of all, is the very reason myself, Julia and Sean are so afraid to go back there. It's where we lost our faith in humanity, and where I lost my soul.
Groups from the Archangel were being outfitted for a space walk. Mu and the pilots put on their flight suits, in the case of Bentos, Sean and Julia they were baggy brown suits, with bits of green armour and white around the back of the head and chin. They clicked their helmets into place, sliding down the green visors. All the other crew were being given the standard white normal suits, with round helmets and glass visors. Gekido walked out of the elevator, leading of all people Flay.
"Why do I have to go?" Flay asked.
"Because you haven't pulled your weight around here yet, besides, I want to show you something," Gekido said, putting on his helmet and throwing Flay hers. "Wade," he called to the Sensou pilot.
Suddenly, Gekido slammed his fist into Wade's gut.
"That's for talking about shit that isn't anyone's business," he snarled.
"Hey, are you two going to be a problem?" Mu asked.
"No sir, we're best friends," Wade grinned, despite nursing his stomach.
"Leave your mobile suit behind, pilot the Kutai, Julia can use one of the mobile armours," Gekido said.
"Oh I see, you want Miss Alster here to use the manipulator arms," Wade said.
"We'll scavenge parts and ammunition, your crew could search for water," Bentos said to Mu, who nodded his head.
The suits launched, with the Strike equipping the Aile pack, and Gekido taking the spare Merc's rifle. Following the suits, came the small squadron of Mistrals. Kira watched the Purpose and the Sensou-Kutai split from the main group. Slowly, they advanced, weaving through pieces of metal, and houses. Each of the Heliopolis children became confused as they saw pieces land, roads, street lights and then they saw a huge land mass.
"Is that a continent?" Tolle asked.
"It's all that is left of Junius Seven," Canard said.
Bentos and Sean kept watch as some of the crew disembarked. Kira, his friends, Natarle and some of the other bridge crew moved inside the massive agricultural colony. They opened one of the doors, and were met with a horrific sight. Miriallia screamed, immediately grasping Tolle as she cried. Kira's eyes widened, seeing the body of a mother clutching her child.
"We don't need to search anymore, everything we'll need is outside," Julia said, and Natarle nodded her head. "This is why we left you know, it's hard to remain part of an organisation that is proud of this."
"None of us are proud of this," Natarle retorted. "Whoever did this, should have been punished!"
"Except he wasn't," Julia said.
"How do you know that?" Natarle asked.
"Because he's piloting one of the suits outside."
"I hate this place," Bentos said, flying out of sight of the colony.
"I was just following orders," it's what most men responsible for great tragedies would say. I was part of a squad of mobile armours equipped with nuclear missiles. At first I'm thinking, 'we aren't actually going to do it right? This is just a bluff right?' I was young and stupid, I didn't think at all that people could be cruel. But then the order comes in, and I turn out to be the closest mobile armour with a sure shot.
"I was just following orders" is no real excuse. What I have isn't an excuse, but an explanation, it doesn't bring people comfort but it's the reason I have. I had a choice, if I flew away, there was a chance someone else would have agreed with me, but then you'll have those who agree that this is an order they have to follow. Maybe they would have fired and would have been broken by what they did, or maybe they would have enjoyed it, which was much worse. I pulled the trigger, I sent the missile flying, resulting in a beautiful and horrific show and I alone had to live with the consequences.
I'm the one who slaughtered the innocent, I am the catalyst to so much suffering. Every day since I have dreamt that I turned those weapons on the bastards who ordered something like this. That day the war truly started, and I lost my soul.
"That water there, are you serious you want to take that water?" Kira asked. "You saw it yourself Natarle thousands of people lost their lives there and you..."
"Listen kid no one wants to take anything from that place if it can be helped, but it can't be helped," Mu interrupted. "No one's thrilled about this I don't see people yelling hooray water! We're alive people and we'll do what we have to keep on living."
The thing about sin, is that it can be a burden that the next generation has to bear. This war will break Kira and his friends, I know it, they aren't the kind of people who can live this life.
"First time seeing a body?" Julia asked Miriallia.
The girl nodded her head. Julia had whispered it, so that the little girl they were making paper birds with didn't hear. Julia herself was joining in, not doing quite so well with it. But Miriallia helped her, and she, in her own way helped Miriallia.
"I never felt ashamed to be part of the Earth Alliance, until that day, oh my, I'm doing terribly at this," Julia cursed, nearly breaking the bird.
"Here, let me show you," Miriallia said.
I thought I would never see anything as beautiful as that nuclear explosion. Seeing all those paper birds, makes me glad I was wrong. Gekido, you know that there is more to the world than the fight right?
Away from the Archangel's scavenging operation, Gekido had positioned the Purpose on one of the parts of Junius Seven. He stood on the hand of the Gundam with his hands on his hips. Instead of looking at the mass of birds, he looked at the distant moon, and how it illuminated the frozen and still bodies of Junius Seven.
"Gekido, how long do you want us to stay here?" Wade asked.
He looked towards Flay, whose hands trembled, seeing all of the bodies and a full view of Junius Seven.
"I know your father is part of Blue Cosmos Flay, do you see what they did Flay? Can you see all those bodies? All those people, all those women, all those children? Can you see them?" Gekido asked.
"Yes," Flay said.
"Now, I don't know whether your dad is old style Blue Cosmos, or new style Blue Cosmos, as in does he support the old environmentalist beliefs, or could he be anti-coordinator, I don't know, I don't care, hell, maybe you came up with a legitimate argument against it yourself, or maybe you're just a lamb who does what papa sheep told you. But think about those little arguments you have, those reasonable and justifiable reasons you might have for hating a coordinator, then look at this and know, that this is how far your reasons can go," Gekido explained.
His voice wasn't harsh or angry. Gekido climbed into the Purpose's cockpit and closed the hatch.
"Or you could just imagine it was a bunch of Naturals who were nuked and not coordinators, no that's not quite right, it wasn't the nukes that killed them, it was the cold and lonely vacuum of space, try to imagine what it's like to die in that."
"Gekido," Wade said, his friendly tone gone.
Gekido wasn't bothered by the warning, but Flay was bothered by what he said. She silently listened to Wade's instructions, as he taught her how to operate the Kutai's mechanical arms. But all the while she was thinking of Junius Seven, of the colony shattering, the vacuum drawing in objects. When Heliopolis collapsed, Flay felt the life boat shake, and somehow she knew that the worst had happened. Heliopolis was a tragedy, the peaceful lives of so many were ruined, and she hated ZAFT for that.
Seeing Junius Seven up close, made her believe that she, and perhaps the people of ZAFT were not so different. Miles away, in the Plants, Patrick Zala turned a tribunal about Le Creuscet's actions, into a rant about Junius Seven, more than that, a speech to garner favour. Revenge was on the minds of many people, from a civilian like Flay, to a high ranked politician like Zala.
Flay, Wade and Gekido searched more than just Junius Seven. They looked for parts, weapons, and fuel cells from wrecked ships. The Kutai had been loaded, and was carrying enough scavenged parts for Gekido to fully repair, and even upgrade the Purpose. Half of what they recovered, wasn't even for the Purpose, but part of salvage contracts that Gekido had taken. The Purpose carried a net of parts, and Gekido was still cycling through contracts.
"Interesting," Gekido hummed.
"What?" Wade asked.
"Last known location, you've got to be kidding me, we need to go back now," Gekido said.
He flew the Purpose ahead of the Kutai, not even giving Wade an explanation. Flay held onto her seat as she felt the G-forces from the shuttle's flight.
"Archangel, do you read, we need to wrap up salvage operations asap..." Gekido froze, and Wade and Flay widened their eyes, seeing the effects of an explosion where the Archangel was.
"ARCHANGEL! Are you okay?" Wade asked.
"Mu, Canard, Kira, anyone on this frequency, what the hell was that explosion?"
"Gekido, this is Mu, we just ran into a scouting Ginn, it tried to shoot down one of the Mistrals, but Kira got it first," Mu explained.
"Thank god," Flay muttered.
Gekido opened a private channel with Kira, looking at the boy's sweating and tired face through the screen.
"Kira," Gekido caught his attention. "Did the Ginn fire?" he asked him.
"Yeah, Mr Chandra and Kuzzey would have..."
"Exactly Kira," Gekido said, looking at Kira with a hard gaze. "That Ginn was looking for something, it could have ignored the Mistral but it didn't, and it would have found the Archangel and endangered everyone. You protected your own, you've got nothing to feel guilty about, understand? You've got nothing to feel guilty about!"
Slowly, Kira nodded his head, though still felt uneasy and weighed down. Gekido closed the private channel, returning to the shared link with his allies. He looked upon what the Strike had found, a luxury, but wrecked cruise liner, the kind of ship used by VIP's from the Plants.
"We need to get out of here now," Gekido said.
"What's wrong?" Murrue asked.
"I just checked the net, there's a contract for the recovery of a member of the Junius Seven memorial committee, last known location was here," Gekido explained.
"Well, that ship's an obvious sign, he's right, we need to leave now," Mu said.
"Captain, we have enough supplies until we reach the fleet," Murdoch reported.
Sean rotated his Ginn around, taking a final look at Junius Seven. Bentos floated his Merc alongside the Ginn, looking at the broken colony too.
"You know, the N-Jammers didn't pay the debt, one day, ZAFT will commit an atrocity against Earth that was just as bad as this," Bentos said.
"Sadly, you're right, even more sadly, those people probably won't be soldiers, but men whom have lost too much. Men who couldn't live with the grief, as I have had to," Sean explained.
"How can anyone live with this?" Bentos asked.
"One day, those people responsible for this tragedy will get theirs, but you are not among them Bentos Haggan," Sean said, smiling as he noticed small tears appear in Bentos's eyes. "You were a soldier following orders, now...you're my brother Bentos, you're my brother!"
I don't want anyone to forgive me, I don't deserve to be forgiven, none of us do. Yet still, someone doing just that, has made my life just a little bit bearable, for now.
Suddenly, a purple beam ripped through space, slamming into the side of the Ginn. The crew of the Archangel, and the mercenaries of Sensou widened their eyes in horror. Gekido's pupils, and the glowing eyes of the Purpose however, narrowed, as a fierce rage grew within him.
Next Chapter 8: Mercenaries
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, I didn't include the whole meeting ZAFT's supreme council had, but you'll notice I alluded to it. Next time, Gekido and the Archangel crew fight for their lives against a force of mercenaries.