Archangel's Amazing Adventures

by CSS Stravag

Mass Crossover fic. Chapter 51 UP! Powerful magic draws the Archangel and the ZAFT Creuset Team into a world of magic and intrigue like nothing imagined by the straight-laced CE residents. Their battles on Cephiro are only the beginning of their nightmarish journey as they give Odysseus a run for his money in the 'bizarre trip home' category...

10. Lost In A Lost Galaxy

(Section 2, Chapter 2: Lost In A Lost Galaxy)

(A/N: If you have not read the updated Sec. 2 Chap. 1, don't worry too much. All I did was put some clarifications in here and there, no major changes to the line of events and correct a boatload of spelling errors. See the chapter afterword for further details.)

"Talk to me, Natarle."

"I'm leaving this one up to you, Captain. You're a lot better at these things than I am," Natarle notes.

At least she's honest about it, Murrue thinks.

"Conn, sensors, enemy ship is lifting off, vectoring away from us," Sai says from his seat in the CIC pit. Eyes were on the window, watching it head away from them at a rather large rate. Indeed, the large ship had left the atmosphere after about ten minutes, all the while headed away from the Archangel. Murrue had made it clear earlier that if the enemy ship approached she wanted the Gottfrieds to put it back on the ground—hard, in pieces if necessary.

"Conn, Control, Duel and Strike secured and undergoing initial maintenance checks."

"Thank you, Miriallia. Get the rest in and hangared, we may have to sortie again." She figured these FedCom personnel were on the level, but taking chances was not in her plan of things to do today.

Below and forward of the ship, the Blitz and Buster were just jumping up into the ship's launch decks and entering the hangar area. "Miriallia, have the pilots connect to the ship's power grid and keep their Phase Shift active. I'm not going to volunteer anything to them that I don't have to."

"Roger that, Captain." Mir switches her headset over to the pilot channel, and encrypts it so only the five Gundams would hear. "All pilots, the Captain wants you to connect to the ship power grid and leave your Phase Shift active."

"Isn't that going to kill the Accumulator?" Kira asks hurriedly.

"Negative, we have enough power," Mir replies almost immediately. She looks at the captain for confirmation, who nods. "Yeah, do it, guys. We can worry about anything else later." Miriallia heard something muttered by Yzak in reference to all blow and no show, which did not make her all that happy.

"Those five are our trump cards, since it appears our ability to conduct battle is on par with their machines in at least one way," Natarle notes.

"Well, we also have not seen what the Magic Knights are worth when they cut loose on these enemy machines, so..." The logic of that comment, however, was predicated on the thought that they would actually do so. There was no guarantee that the Magic Knights would fight, and this time Yzak had rallied the battle on the premise that the forces were attacking a city, something for which the ZAFT personnel all had strong feelings against. There may not be that option next time.

"And if they won't?"

"Well, when you get down to it, we're it for our own control," Murrue notes. "I mean, Kira might help us. Might. But, on the bottom line, all our Mobile Forces are volunteer. They have the right to say no when ordered to do something, and really they also hold the biggest Trump card out there. We really can't force them to do anything."

"Oh...right," As far as Natarle was concerned, it was like getting slapped with a ten-pound trout right on the cheek. The ship was good, but against a concentrated mobile forces assault there was no contest. And she had been taking the power and utility of the five machines and three Rune Gods for granted, something that would not continue into perpetuity, since all the pilots were technically not Earth Alliance supporters, and only one of them was technically an Earth Alliance Ensign. She also had to admit that the said Earth Alliance Ensign would readily desert—with the Strike—if he had a reason to. So much for her ideal command structure, where everyone did as ordered when ordered. The sigh after a moment had the attention of the CIC crew, and theirs was the unstated but obvious mockery in question form: Didn't see that coming, eh? (1)

"Well, shall we go to speak to the natives? Not like we have anything to lose but our heads and all..." Her joke was predicated on an old distortion of European explorers going forth into the wilds of the world, meeting new and interesting people, and being killed by them.

-x-x-x-

Though the meeting was requested in the launch bay, it had ended up taking place in the shadow of the port-side leg of the Archangel, outside the hangars area and off the port-side of the ship.

Major Steiner had already had one of those 'Twilight Zone' days, up to and including the strange music and visual effects. First off, whoever these guys were, they weren't normal kickouts from anywhere in the Inner Sphere, and so far betting was running against them being from the Clans or Periphery as well. Second, though Major Steiner was a Major of ground forces, he knew enough about naval operations to know that he was looking at some kind of small Warship—a Monitor, to be exact, a Warship without a Jump Core (2). As to evidence, well, suffice it to say that the cockpit of his Axman was dead level with the barrel of the heavy weapon on the port-side of the ship and he had little doubt that the slug or beam it put out would tear his Battlemech in half the long way. The ship had done no firing, however, in the past battle, though Adam suspected part of the willingness of the Clanners to back off was from seeing such a monolith swoop in between them and the city they wanted to destroy.

Captain Martinez had climbed off his personal ride, an AWS-8V Awesome assault 'mech, and approached Major Steiner, Captain Hawkins, and Captain Ryder. The 8V version of the Awesome differed from the main 8Q version in that it carried a Kreuss PPC, a Magna Mark III Large Laser, and an Exostar LRM-15, all of which gave it excellent damage potential that increased as an enemy got closer to the unit, as well as mostly solved the overheat problems with the venerable assault 'mech. "Well, the Jade Falcons are gone, and show no sign of wanting to come back for seconds, Major, looks like we got lucky this time."

"No kidding," Valten Ryder notes, staring at the monolithic Monitor in front of them. "Now, where do I sign the lease for one of these things?"

"If their Battlemechs are that powerful, I'd hate to see what this thing is capable of," Captain Hawkins notes. Miles had been in the same line of work as Captain Martinez, as well as part of the Skye Rangers back during the war of 3039, lo those many years ago, he figured. A lifetime soldier of the Lyran Commonwealth and now the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth, he thought he had seen everything busting heads against the other Successor States, but what he saw today was beyond insane in his estimate. The armaments these things had, as well as what he thought they had for defensive capabilities, added up to some seriously bad-ass combat capability. If he didn't miss his guess, he thought he saw one of those machines take a pair of missile packs in the back and acted like it didn't even get a paint scratch. And Hawk couldn't remember seeing any kind of AMS (3) on the machines...

"If this is something the Clans have, or worse, have several of, we're dead meat," Captain Martinez notes.

"They do not have any of these ships," Murrue notes rather coldly from just under the port leg of the Archangel. "I am Captain Murrue Ramius, commander of this ship. From context, I gather you have already met Athrun Zala, one of the pilots." Major Steiner had to literally force himself to disregard the fact that she was quite the looker.

"We've met," Valten notes. "He broke us out of jail. They just don't make laser pistols like they used to..."

"Captain, I am Major Adam Steiner, commander of the 1st Somerset Strikers, this is Captain Hawkins," Adam gestures to the taller and rather burly-looking 'Hawk', "Captain Martinez, FedCom Intelligence," the said Captain nods toward the captain of the Archangel, "And Captain Ryder, also in my unit."

"First off, we owe your unit a heap of thanks for stopping the Clanners butt-cold before they could get into the city. There's no telling what they would have done if they hadn't been stopped," Martinez offers to help break the ice, such as it was.

"Glad we could be of assistance," Murrue returns the props, and in truth she was. Any real soldier would not want to see civilians killed pointlessly. "I'm just thankful we were in a position to be able to help." And also that I managed to give Yzak a 'launch' order fast enough that he didn't cut his way out of the launch deck.

We all are, Major Steiner thinks but does not say out loud. "So, where are you from?" Martinez asks to get things rolling to what he really wanted to know, where the ship and the guys really were from.

"Well, that's a question that is hard to explain. I can give you a good explanation as to how we got from our home to our first misadventure, but not from there to here. My question is, how willing are you to believe me when I say that how we got here probably is not explainable in a scientific fashion?"

"You mean, some form of mystic talents? After Kira's ability to sense battles and Athrun's sword that can cut forged steel bars like a laser torch through butter, yeah, I'll believe it," Martinez coughs, Murrue figured as a cover-up for something. "Well, so long as it isn't too far off the wall, I should add."

"Anything I tell you I can back up with visual evidence." Murrue's voice could best be described as dead serious, which to Martinez either meant that she was a professional liar (unlikely, possible but unlikely he could guess) or that she really was dead serious. "This began in the middle of a battle between our ship and an elite unit of ZAFT, over the Pacific Ocean on Earth in what we can only figure is an alternate universe from where we are now. Same planet, different time-line, that kind of thing."

"Makes sense, I guess," Hawk says warily.

"Now, how'd you get from the Pacific Ocean on Earth—which is over three hundred light years from where we are now, I might add—to the armpit of the Lyran Alliance?"

Murrue wasn't entirely sure what he meant by 'armpit of the Lyran Alliance', but she decided she'd take that on faith. "There are two theories to that happening. One, we were accidentally pulled across dimensions to a world called Cephiro, basically caught in the effect of someone else's summons, or two, we were actually part of a group summoned to Cephiro for a...well...rather unpleasant task. Either way, within a week we were pulled into the fighting on Cephiro, whether we wanted to or not. The local situation was even bad enough that the four ZAFT elite pilots that were trying to kill this ship decided saving Cephiro and getting home came first, sinking the Archangel came next."

"That's the name of your ship, right?" Major Steiner asks in a brief pause. "Archangel. Something about just looking at this thing makes that name fit."

"I'll be sure to pass that on to the Engineers that named it, if we ever get home."

Martinez decided he'd let that linguistic nuance slide, though he had come to the conclusion by now that she was not a professional liar. She was just too open to be that kind of person, or she was incredibly good at manipulating people by effect... "So, what's the big deal with Cephiro?"

"A powerful troublemaker by the name of Zagato," Athrun notes, the first thing he had said to point in this conversation. "He was one of those old-school master Sorcerers that could literally chunk a mountain down to a molehill with a few spells. We were under the operational impression that by taking him out, we'd be saving the Pillar of Cephiro, a young lady by the name of Princess Emeraude. We could not have been more wrong in one sentence."

Murrue picked up where Athrun dropped off: "We went through his subordinates, hell, we even had to fight two of them inside the hangar of the Archangel, they were that powerful. We brought the three other summoned persons, the Magic Knights, to the shrines of the three Rune Gods. Once awoken, the Rune Gods helped us defeat Zagato. Then we got the nastiest surprise possible: Princess Emeraude, in her own Rune God, decided she wanted to kill all of us because we took Zagato down."

"Wait, wait a second, if you were supposed to rescue her, then why'd she try scratchin' you guys?" Valten asks abruptly.

"We don't know for certain, except that she was royally pissed off that we killed Zagato. And, coming from royalty that was more powerful than Zagato, we almost didn't survive that one," Athrun notes rather dejectedly. "Present theory is that we were sucker-played into killing Zagato, which forced the battle with Emeraude, and after that battle ended, we woke up in the middle of the deserts south of here. It might have been a power-play of some kind internal to Cephiro, and they just used the good intentions of the Magic Knights as pawns in their little game. We don't know for certain who was playing who or what, but if the four ZAFT pilots ever cross paths with some of the involved parties from Cephiro again, it will get messy."

"That's the second time I've heard that name," Hawk notes. "Can you clarify who's who from where you come?"

"Captain?" Athrun defers to Murrue for this one.

"From the Earth we come from, there are several large states formed out of what used to be the hundreds of nations of Earth. There is also a series of colonies, called the PLANTs, which is where ZAFT come from. The war was between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, a rather loose alliance of some states on Earth. And there's no telling what's been going on since then, since we've been gone a month and counting." Murrue decided she'd keep the variance between Coordinators and Naturals hidden for now. No telling what local customs had to say about genetic manipulation, and she didn't want to find out the hard way that the ethos of Blue Cosmos (if not the said group) was alive and well here. "Now, that being said, can you guys tell me who those maniacs were that tried leveling a city?"

"Here, easier to show you on a rough map." (4) Martinez crouches down and draws what looked like a distorted circle in the sands, and then partitioned it into two smaller sort-of-circles opposite each other, a pair of small wedges, and the bulk of the shape was between the upper-left and lower-right as one contiguous shape that sort-of resembled an angled dumbbell. "Okay, here's Earth, or as we commonly call it, Terra." he pokes a dot roughly in the center, though it was in one of the smaller wedges and toward the 'south' of the map slightly. "This is where you are. Federated Commonwealth territory, a merger between the Lyran Alliance," he indicates the upper-left half of the dumbbell, "and Federated Suns territory," he indicates the lower-right half. "This area is the Draconis Combine," he indicates the large separate state to the upper-right, "and this is the Free Worlds League," which was the state to the lower-left. "This wedge is called the Capellan Confederation." The wedge indicated also included Terra. "This is the Free Rashallague Republic." The wedge he indicated was the northern one that extended all the way to the border.

"This map is accurate to early this year, which by the way it is late March, 3050. Some time in January, the Clans started showing up in force on the border up here." He indicated the 'northern' border of the map, the Draconis top away from Terra and the 'top' of the Lyran Alliance. "Four Clans, Jade Falcon, Wolf, Ghost Bear, and Smoke Jaguar we believe are their names, have attacked inward toward the center of the map. We do not know what they want, other than to take land, planets, as quickly as possible." He draws four slashes headed inwards on the map with each name; the Falcons and the Wolves were headed down the FedCom territory, the Ghost Bears down the Rashallague lands, and the Smoke Jaguars were rampaging through the Draconis, though to Athrun it seemed their lines all pointed to Terra. "You've seen their machines. The Inner Sphere isn't entirely powerless to stop them, they can be defeated here and there, but so far the Clans are winning a lot more than losing. And that's the situation we're in, we estimate that if we can't stop them, it will only be about six years before they have gone completely through the Lyran half of FedCom and the Draconis Combine, which is two of the top four Successor States. That doesn't speak well of their power compared to our chances."

"Not a pleasant thought," Athrun's head whips around to center on the speaker, being Dearka. He was still in his pilot's suit at this time, as was Athrun, though Athrun could not tell how long he had been standing there.

"Major, Captains, this is Dearka Elsman, another one of the pilots," Athrun introduces him; Dearka nods to the assembled officers.

"The unit?" Murrue asks.

"Repairing, recharging and rearming as we speak, Captain," Dearka says in Japanese, his native language, just the same as the rest of the crew of theArchangel with exception to Murrue (who had learned it secondhand in the academy long ago).

"That brings me to another question, did your unit take any damage from the battle? Any casualties?" Martinez asks.

"I lost a missile pack to a laser weapon, and I think the Strike took one in the shoulder, nothing serious. We've all had our machines beat up worse than that before."

"Didn't one of your machines take a pair of missile packs to the back?" Captain Hawkins says. "I think the machine had a red backpack with wings, and was mostly white."

"The Strike, you mean? I don't know what happened over there, I was too busy getting chased around by their midget machines," Dearka says at his most acerbic; Athrun had a chuckle for the thought of seeing the Buster being chased by small enemies, hounded to death by units half its size... "I got four of the little shits, but man do they run fast."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of facing the Clans," Major Steiner replies to the Buster pilot. "Improved speed, heat dissipation, range, firepower, armor, they have just about everything going for them. All we have is the home-field advantage and sometimes force of numbers."

"That never worked for the Earth Alliance, I don't think it's gonna work here," Dearka says deadpan. "Plan B, anyone?" Murrue silently blessed the judgment of the Buster Pilot, when he wasn't being a nihilistic screwoff he actually knew how to think.

"You could always try swiping some of their machines in working condition, Major," Martinez notes. "I mean, no offense to the crew and compliment of the Archangel, but most of what you just knocked down is pretty badly banged up."

"The bigger they are, the harder you have to beat 'em down," Dearka retorts slightly acidly to the FedCom spook.

Ain't that the truth, Murrue thinks but does not say.

"They punch, kick, choke, and bite harder, too," Valten notes; his comment drew amused snorts from several on both sides of the discussion.

A radio crackles. "Captain Martinez, this is Captain Haralds. We have Tybus in custody. Be warned, some of his 'mechs are loose, though, they may try to jump you guys or that ship, over."

"Last known area?" Martinez asks into his radio.

"Southwest and West of the city. We have radio calls for them to turn themselves in, but I don't think anyone is listening, over."

"Understood. We'll wrap it up here and move in toward the city, over."

"Roger that, Martinez. Over and out." Martinez puts his radio back in its holster. "Well, what does that leave? Oh, yes, I guess the quintessential question: what is your intention, Captain Ramius?"

That answer was dead simple and immediate: "Above anything else, getting my crew back to our home."

It was the expected answer, though not one for which anyone had an answer. "Well, since nobody knows how you got here, I would say even fewer people know how to get you back to the Earth from which you come," Martinez notes.

Murrue could sense where this was going, and she had a counter: "I am willing to discuss options for the interim, of course." Both Dearka and Athrun could sense what she was planning, and they figured better that than trying to scrape by on their own in a world where they could end up dead in the next battle.

"You know, I may just have to take you up on that offer," Major Steiner notes after a few moments of deciphering Murrue's statement. "It'll take me a day or two to get some details ready, you think you can wait that long?"

Murrue had to fight pretty hard to maintain decorum, given that her heart was racing damn near double normal right now. "I think we can manage," she says in a fairly level voice.

"Okay then, I'll see what I can work out for you guys. Thanks again for the assistance, Captain, pilots." He gave them all a slight bow and trudged back to the rope ladder to the cockpit of his Battlemech.

"So, did we win or lose, Captain?" Athrun asks when they were out of earshot and headed for the personnel hatch on the far side of the ship.

Murrue sighs. "Verdict is still out, Athrun, but I think we'll come off pretty high on the pole. I could sense it among all four of them: they don't want us as enemies, but they'd love to have our striking power for their war. I think we'll probably see some form of a mercenary contract offer from them, probably a very generous one by local standards."

"That's...almost insulting. We're ZAFT elites, and you guys are Earth Alliance Special Forces. How can you think about going Merc?" Dearka asks crassly.

"Simple. Do you think you can live as some kind of bandit between now and when we figure out some way to go home, that is, if we ever figure out a way to get home?" Murrue asks quite sweetly to the Buster pilot. "At least this way, we're making an official living, and what the ship makes we can use to repair, resupply, outfit, and upgrade. Hell, we do this right, we might even be able to do some personal things while we're out and about."

"I think you lose, Dearka," Athrun says.

"It's still...well...you're right, it could be worse," he says as they take the few steps into the ship's interior.

-x-x-x- (Day four on Dustball, 1100 hours) -x-x-x-

Of course, there would be some that were not easy converts on such a plan, despite the prospect of personal profit.

"Hell no, no, no, no! Not happening! You and your fucking ideas! Go the hell away, Dearka!"

"Look, Yzak, you have a better idea, or best, a way to get us home right now?" Silence was the answer Yzak returned. "That's what I thought."

"Shut up, Dearka."

"Okay, fine, if you don't want to nobody's going to hold a gun to your head to make you pilot. When the rest of us end up fat-paid and rather famous for our efforts, you'll be left in the dust."

"What—you mean—like..."

"What? Drop you off and leave you somewhere while we trudge forward? Hell no, I'm talking about other things." Like the prospect of upgrading the Buster, Dearka thinks but does not say out loud. The possibility of installing a battlemech's fusion reactor in the Buster would change the name of the game drastically for the Gundams. Infinite power for his main guns and Phase Shift armor would render recharging requirements a moot point. The only limit to his battlefield usefulness, in that case, would be how long he could keep the enemy beam weapons off his unit.

"Hey, guys, what's happening?" Dearka and Yzak had stopped their rather loud argument in the pilot's lounge to glance at the newcomers, being Hikaru and Umi.

"Well, I thought we didn't have much of a choice," Hikaru notes with all the innocence of her age and naiveté.

"Technically, it is a catch-22, follow?" Yzak asks, calmly (which was quite surprising to Dearka).

"No, not really," Hikaru notes. She was not familiar with the term Catch-22.

"We can either be mercenaries, paid soldiers basically, or we can be bandits, outlaws in name and deed. Basically, bad or worse. So yeah, we don't really have a choice, we can sell our souls or live as criminals."

"It's not going to be as bad as Yzak makes it sound." Athrun had stepped in and moved to the vending machines in the lounge, which were approaching empty and without 'reloads' he was down to salted peanuts or beef salami, neither of which really appealed to him. "From what the officers are thinking, about the only thing we're going to do is either fight the Clans or work attached to the 1st Somerset Strikers, which amounts to fighting the Clans in the end. Murrue seems to think the FedCom personnel think we're just too powerful to waste on anything other than that." He had a cup of steaming coffee now, the fuel of pilots all throughout Existence. "In fact, it is volunteer for us pilots, and will probably be for you Magic Knights as well. The Captain made it clear that if we don't want to pilot, we don't have to."

"Like hell I won't pilot," Dearka notes clearly while staring at Yzak, or more appropriately attempting to stare down Yzak. "I'd love to get my hands on one of those Fusion Reactors for the Buster. And, if they can make 'em, so can ZAFT for the PLANTs—huh? Kira? What're you doing here?" Dearka's abrupt shift had caused everyone in the room to look to him.

"Well, it's—"

"Get lost, Strike," Yzak orders tersely. Off and on he referred to Kira by the name of his machine, more often than not when frustrated with Kira or some external factor.

"Shut up, Yzak." And the task of defending Kira from Yzak usually fell to Athrun or Dearka. "What's eating you, Kira?"

"Well, I'm trying to, well..."

"Faugh. For the love of—just spit it out, Strike!"

"Well, I'm trying to avoid Flay right now. If she comes by, I'm not here, okay?" There was a corner of the room that he could sit in that made it almost impossible to see him from the doorway without the person entering the room.

"Oh. That I can manage," Yzak notes.

"Why?" Hikaru asks.

"I don't agree with Strike on much of anything, but that one we do see eye to eye. Flay kinda creeps even me out sometimes."

"Oh." In fact, Umi had noticed the way Flay alternated between hotheaded, dazed, pathetically clueless, and perverted (the latter only towards Kira) in such a fashion that it seemed as if she was trying to manipulate anyone around her. It was rather disgusting to Umi, who didn't believe in doing anything except on merit.

"In Flay's defense, she watched her father blown up on a ship right in front of her. Her father was on one of the advance fleet's ships from the 8th fleet. I think the Vesalius destroyed it." Athrun had to look away from his long time-friend, something between disgust and grief tearing at his conscience. There was always a human cost to war that pilots almost never saw or heard, but in this case he just got a crash course in something he had done automatically, a trained strategic reaction to an enemy presence, and what it cost one of the persons he was now living with. "She's not been herself since then."

"Still, enough is enough," Yzak says as he grabs a seat on one of the couches in the center of the lounge. "I mean, I know I ain't the best around here for sympathy—"

"—More like dead last, but—" Yzak slaps his 'wingmate' across the back of his head for the crass addition.

"—But still, live in the here-and-now, not the past. Nothing ever happens in the past."

"Whoa. Wisdom from the silver-haired hothead; film at eleven," Athrun notes with what they could tell was a hint of humor and sarcasm.

"Kiss my ass, Athrun," Yzak retorts archly. "Well, anyways, you know how you can sometimes sense evil coming? I suggest you get to it, Strike, cause here 'evil' comes."

"Great." Kira moved to the couch in the obscured corner, which put a vending machine between himself and the door.

"I have an idea," Hikaru says aloud, then moves to and sits down right next to Kira. "Kira, lean up against the vending machine and act like you are asleep."

"What?"

"Just do it, trust me."

"Oh, I see where this is going," Umi notes just as Hikaru completed her half of the plan, which was to lean against Kira's shoulder and feign being asleep herself. "Now, be respectful, guys, they're sleeping."

"Who knows what they did to wear themselves out like that," Yzak notes with a hint of amusement to voice. He had taken a seat at one of the tables in the break room, followed quickly by Athrun, Dearka, and Umi.

"See, the way I think they're going to play this mercenary detail is simple: we get a fixed rate per month, hazard detail pay, and probably some other perks like kill bounties or salvage rights or something similar. That being said, we do well, we, as in the ship's personnel, might get some slack to spend on whatever world we are on at the time, follow?"

"It still doesn't feel right," Yzak declares obstinately.

"Of course it won't. Probably is also eating at the Captain's conscience as well, but it beats the alternative, and all things considered we can use the hard cash to upgrade our gear for when we get back to the PLANTs. How many Mobile Suits do you know are equipped with fusion reactors?" That had been the main datum point that they had picked up on the enemy units over the past few hours of listening to other people's radio conversations, that the local machines were equipped with fusion reactors, and apparently the Clan machines were equipped with some real high-power low-weight reactors. From context, this was the first good look at the Clan's weapons technology the Inner Sphere had, from what the Archangel's mobile compliment had just shit, beat down, or slashed up. And, all things considered, a Mobile Suit with a fusion reactor and good beam weapons would be an almost uncontested platform, though even a Mobile Suit with a high-charge capacitor and beam weapons would pose a serious threat to an enemy.

"Been there, heard that," Yzak retorted, though after a moment he added: "I would like to have my hands on some of those reloading missile launchers, though, and of course I want a reactor for Blitz."

"Does that mean you're willing to go out if we do become Mercs for a while?"

"Give me a few hours to think about it," Yzak finally concedes. Dearka could sense more than else the potential benefits were weighing heavily on Yzak, despite the necessity of serving as someone else's paid soldiers.

"What about you guys, Umi?" Athrun asks.

"Oh, well, I mean, well..."

"Here we go again," Yzak says. His comment drew sharp looks from all three at the table.

"Well, Hikaru and I are thinking, 'we're part of this ship and we should at least help support ourselves between now and when we get home.' So we're going to do it. Fuu has not said whether or not she wants to either way, so we don't know what she's going to do."

"You're still kinda depressed about Princess Emeraude, I take it?" Surprisingly, the question was from Yzak.

"I think we all are," Athrun answers. It had only been two days ago that they had been forced into a battle for their lives against the one they assumed they were going to save. "I had a nightmare last night, a replay of the battle. Funny how the human conscience tortures those who have to do things like this."

"It's too easy to forget, when you shoot a tank or fighter, there's real people in there you just killed. This time, though, we saw clearly what we had to do, and we did it, and our souls are tormented because."

The silence, as the four looked down at the table, was broken only by Yzak's comment: "This sucks."

"Deja Moo," Dearka notes.

"Don't. Say. It," Yzak stammers through gritted teeth.

"Right," Dearka breaks off, not wanting to start a fist-fight in a lounge were supposedly two were supposed to be asleep. In the silence, they realized that they were asleep, and one of them was snoring lightly. "Hey, which one of 'em is snoring like that?"

"At a guess, Hikaru," Athrun says while looking at them. He was basing his guess off observing their chests as they breathed, and it seemed the snoring was timed to Hikaru's breathing, so...

"They're so cute sleeping together like that..." Umi says wistfully, in her mind drawing more of a link between the brown-haired average-nice-guy pilot of the Strike and the red-haired, spunky Magic Knight than actually existed; her comment drew a questioning glance from Dearka, a shrug from Athrun, and a disgusted grunt from Yzak. "And what was that about, Yzak?"

Whoa, someone to call Yzak short on his foul attitude, I'm impressed. Where the hell are the people like her in the PLANTs? Athrun asks within the confines of his own mind.

"Hey, what? So I don't like the pilot of the Strike at all. What makes you think I'm gonna throw him a party for getting with a girl? Mind you, none of the above has happened yet, so I don't see any reason to get your panties in a bunch," Dearka opened his mouth to give Yzak a sharp rebuke; "and that includes you, Elsman." The finger Yzak pointed at his teammate silenced any further retort. Umi looked supremely frustrated with Yzak right now, probably enough to jump over the table and skewer him with a butter knife if she had one at hand. Athrun could sympathize with the Magic Knight, since Yzak was known far and wide to be an arrogant, unruly hothead. Perchance he would make such a name for himself here?

"Hey, Yzak, forget why he's here?" Athrun asks plainly.

"What?"

"He's here because Flay apparently wants to sleep with him all the frigging time, and at a guess I'd say she's managed to work her way into his bed more than once over the past month." Athrun's dictum was delivered almost in a monotone, as if he was reporting the weather would be gray skies with a good chance of rain.

"Point being?"

Athrun holds up one finger. "One, you're a dumbass for not noticing that." Athrun holds up a second finger. "Two, I don't think Kira wants to deal with her any more." He glances to his friend, still asleep, and then back to the table. "And I can't really blame him. Too much is too much, and I think he's subject to way too much in this case. Yeah, you can make a case for Flay being on the wrong end of someone else's war, but still, relationships are a two-way thing, not one-sided as this one seems."

"What about you, Athrun?" Dearka asks.

"I am engaged still, and after all this is done I'd like to go back to my fiancée." He pauses, gauging Dearka's reaction. "What?"

"I'm surprised you still think we are going to get home."

"What?" Athrun asks sharply.

"Now, before the rest of you get your panties in a knot, this is personal belief. I don't think we're going to get home. We got sucked out of our homes courtesy of a summoning spell, and we got thrown back into a technological dimension where going between dimensions is unheard of. By that, I'm guessing this ain't happening, or it might. I see two options: one, we get stuck here, forever, or two, we do find some way to cross dimensions and are doomed to constantly wander, never getting home but always finding new, interesting places." The tone of voice told that he didn't think there was anything interesting about wandering, though.

"You are so dead, Dearka." The looks he got from Athrun and Umi reinforced the comment from Yzak.

"Um, excuse me," The interruption mercifully saved Dearka from being shredded by the other three at the table; it did not take them long to realize that it was Flay who was standing in the doorway. "Have you three seen Kira?"

Yzak decided he'd toss this one straw to the Strike pilot, for what it was worth. He may claim to not like the Strike pilot, and probably never would, but some things he had his principles on, and this was one of them. "Why should three ZAFT pilots give two shits or a damn about an Earth Alliance airhead?"

"I asked a fair question!"

"And I'm still not giving a damn," Yzak counters calmly.

"Have you seen him or not?"

"No," Athrun responds before Yzak could continue torturing her with bullshit answers. "Haven't seen him since the morning briefing today." It was partially true, or completely depending on how you looked at it. After the briefing they had done shakedowns on their machines; Athrun had at that time seen the Strike, and it went without saying that Kira was the pilot, but at that time he did not have eyes on Kira, so technically he had not seen Kira since the morning briefing.

"Thank you!" She even managed to reply with a completely pissed-off demeanor and voice. Seconds later, she was audibly stomping her way down toward the rear of the ship.

"That was almost amusing." Dearka pauses for a moment, considering his tack: "Okay, I take that back. That was very amusing."

"I think you're right, Yzak," Umi was still looking at the empty doorway. "She really is creepy—eegh!" The next person through the door was the Captain, Murrue Ramius, right in the middle of Umi's sentence..

"Creepy? Me?" Murrue gave Umi one of those creepy evil-eye looks similar to the look you get from a school teacher just before she assigns you two weeks detention.

"No, really, I meant Flay, not you Captain Ramius!" Umi corrects in a rush.

"Oh." Murrue shrugs, since she was the captain of the ship and had no place to comment on such, since Flay was part of her crew. She takes three steps to her left, and stops in front of the vending machine for coffee, and dispenses herself 12 ounces of caffeine and roasted beans cocktail (otherwise known as a wake-up-call to some). While it was pouring out Kira had made some kind of grunt-moan sound and shifted his shoulders, immediately drawing Murrue's attention to him, and thereafter to Hikaru, who was still snoring lightly. "Wow," and she looks back to the table with the pilots; "Is that why Flay stormed past me all pissed off?"

Athrun had the most proper answer for her: "Yes and no. She's looking for Kira, but we told her we hadn't seen him."

"This is...crazy. Just...I know I can't order you to do anything, but may I ask that you try to ensure that this doesn't become some kind of love-triangle bloodbath?"

"You're reading too much into this, Captain," Athrun replies. "That," and his waving finger indicated Kira and Hikaru, "is simply a ruse that Hikaru came up with...that worked too well. They've been asleep for a little while now."

"And you four?"

"Trying to avoid that demonic technician. He seems to think that when we aren't on duty, we're free game to help clean up the bay."

"That demonic technician...Murdoch? He can't be that bad, can he?" Murrue asks innocently.

"Well, he's better than some others on this ship, but he's definitely in the top five," Yzak notes sardonically.

"I may have to investigate this," Murrue notes with as much sardonic tone as Yzak. "As you were." Murrue left the break room after a few.

"Someone have a permanent marker?" Yzak asks as he eyes Hikaru and Kira.

"And just who is demonic on this ship?" Umi asks in a scathingly accusatory fashion. Athrun could not help but laugh at one of the few persons willing to call him short on some things.

-x-x-x-

"All weapons are stowed, weapons console is safed," Chandratta turns the arming key to 'safe' and pulls it, hanging it around his neck as customary. Murrue and Natarle also had a key to unlock the weapons, but so far they had not needed to use theirs.

"Helm, charge the levitator, set course to land about 500 meters off the west side of the Dropship dead ahead."

"Helm, park it 500 meters due west of that ship, aye," Newman notes as he begins doing so.

"Sensors, search radars only. Tracking radars, laser designators are to be powered down. When the ship is parked, I want them checked over," we may have to use them soon enough, Murrue thinks out loud.

"Sensors, aye," Sai replies by rote.

Murrue picks up her intercom phone and dials in the all-ship code. "Murdoch, please contact 110."

It only took five seconds: "Murdoch here, what'cha need, Captain?"

"You know that plan we went over about a week ago, y'know, draft plan 47?"

"Yeah, you, me, and two of the Engineers. What 'bout it?"

"I'd like to go ahead with that plan. Tell the engineers to get on it within the hour if they don't have anything to do relating to the engines."

"All right, Cap'n, I'll be on it in the half-hour. Out."

"Don't tell me you're going to do that, Captain."

"And why not?" Murrue asks Natarle in response.

"It goes grossly against military procedure—"

"—I don't want to sound like I'm flaunting the rules here, Natarle, but between now and when we get home we're all going to need to really unwind. Because I think us getting home is a long ways off, so we might as well make it as comfortable as possible."

Could be worse, Natarle thinks but does not say. At least she isn't setting that up for perverted purposes. After a moment, Natarle shrugs, resigned to not arguing the point, yet before she could continue other things began happening.

"Captain, just about in position," Newman notes.

"Set it down easy, helm."

"Roger that, Captain." Newman begins the landing cycle, which involved reducing the levitator output until the ship settled down easy. Newman was getting good at it, as well; it only took him thirty seconds to set it down real gentle. "Ship is down, Captain."

"Lock out the levitator and set the engines to shut down, except two to run at idle for power purposes."

Newman enters the appropriate commands on his consoles. "Done."

"Now that we're secured, Sai, you think you can handle the sensors and radios for a half-shift?" Murrue asks calmly.

"Can do, Captain."It's only five hours, Sai thinks aloud.

"Very well, bridge personnel dismissed. Commanders Badgeruel and La Flaga to the stateroom."

The stateroom was one that held mixed memories for Murrue, as likely it did for Mu and Natarle. They had some good discussions here in times past, but they also had to scare Kira into following some semblance of discipline in this room, with a court martial that had shocked him straight with the threat of the death penalty for endangering the ship. Murrue really could not fault the kid on moral grounds when he had returned Lacus Cline to ZAFT, but his actions had been grossly dangerous and even he should have known that. Not to mention the threat to the ship, which is what Natarle had 'nailed' him on. Since that day, Kira had more-or-less played by the rule book, though in the end such was a rather moot point given that he has taken serious, almost fanatical initiative to protect the ship and persons afterwards.

Murrue had to remind herself that given enough investigation, a court of inquiry could prove anything. In this case, they would not have to do much investigating, Murrue knew that Natarle had been logging everything going on in the ship, including stuff she was taking part in. A lot of what Murrue did would haunt her come that day, if it ever came, yet right now evidence was suggesting that day would not come. Murrue didn't especially enjoy being pragmatic about things, she preferred the optimistic view, but in the end she couldn't see a way home from where she stood right now. Not that such a feat would be impossible (they went from Earth, CE Era, to Cephiro, to Dustball, Post-Star League era, which was not a small feat), but the 'how' to get home was escaping her.

"You know, the Captain shouldn't look that grim," Mu says as he was standing just at the doorframe. Natarle was directly behind him, though she didn't look all that better. "It's bad inspiration for the rest of the crew."

"Come in and close the door." Both do as ordered, sitting opposite each other from the Captain. "All right, I'm going to start this off by saying that I don't care about the disposition of this conversation. As far as I am concerned, I want both of you to speak freely, since the matters to be discussed affect the whole ship and all persons on it. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Natarle notes.

"Got it," Mu notes after a few moments.

"First off, you know the offer that the AFFC is likely to cough up here in a day or two. I want your opinions, and I want it straight up."

Could have thought of a better way to state that, Captain, Natarle thinks but does not say.

"I'm in," Mu says after about five seconds. "I mean, yeah, we're Earth Alliance, but we ain't in Earth Alliance territory and we have to come up with some creative way to survive to get back to where we want to be. Follow?"

"I agree," Natarle says calmly. "Without the supplies and without recognized hard currency, we have no choice but to find some way to make ends meet. That being said, I can't abide by us being pirates, so being mercenary or mothballing the ship and taking up civilian tasking are the only two options I can come up with. Being mercenary at least gives us a chance to keep the ship under our control and maybe keep our fates under our control as well." Both Murrue and Mu meant that she was concerned about some kind of black operations team trying to wrest the ship from them, which seemed unlikely but not impossible, even given their environs and possible patronage. Or, if you wanted to look at it from a conspiratorial point of view, given their environs and patronage the chance of attempted subversion was incredibly high.

"Well, then, that is the route we shall take. Now, related issue, how are we going to distribute funds accrued from the contract?"

"Well, the bulk of it is going to have to go into the ship and units," Natarle immediately says. "I mean, without the ship or the units, we are dead in the water and of no use to our employer. And then there is the prospect of being able to upgrade the ship's arsenal with some of the local weapons would be nice."

"Personally, I think we should also look into investing in some of the local 'Mechs. Or, even better, if we could salvage some of the Clan 'mechs, they look and act real fierce, and might make a nice addition to the ship's forces."

"He's right," Natarle notes. "We still have room for another 7 in the bays, and at worst we could also stack units in the main hangar area not in a repair bay."

"Pilots?" Murrue asks fairly.

"I can learn, probably Tolle and a few others on the ship. Also, we might be able to draw in personnel from the areas we work in, if we are going to be mercenaries that may attract others," Mu says thoughtfully.

"We'd have to make sure the people understand that if they hang around with us, they may end up traveling with the ship if we cross dimensions again," Murrue replies.

"There are bound to be people in this world that don't care about that, and would follow us just for the chance to get away from where they are," Mu replies with confidence. It was true just about anywhere you went in his estimation.

"Yeah, but I have problems with that possibility given that such persons may be spies or saboteurs from one of the local governments, though for that we have our own counter—"

"I have already spoken to Miriallia about this issue once, though with the new circumstances I may have to revisit it with her. Still, I cannot force her to read minds, and nor would I try. That much would be entirely volunteer on her part."

"She's part of the crew, Captain. She should be able to do it."

"I don't know about you, Commander, but I think I would not want to look into the minds of some people, even on this ship, much less random persons here and there. I'm not going to have her do it unless she wants to. End of story." Murrue knocks on the desk she was sitting at, effectively physically signaling the end of that chunk of debate. And, when phrased that way, Natarle even had to agree with Murrue on that one since the inside of someone's mind is a place another normally should not venture. For damn sure Natarle didn't want to know what ran the course through Mu's mind, just for starters.

"Well, back on initial subject, how are we going to work out payment for the crew?" Natarle asks

"Well, that is going to be very iffy. Personally I was thinking about a slush fund that people draw upon as they need stuff..." Mu says, scratching his head in a very pronounced matter.

"And who's going to manage that? You or me?" Natarle asks in retort.

"Well, before we can even begin to worry about that, we need to get the unit's first paycheck in the bank. We'll work out the details at that time. As a cross-reference, Natarle, after we're through here, do a workup on what you think our crew costs and equipment costs would be, assuming the local currency is four times as powerful as ours." The Earth-Dollar had devalued severely in the years leading up to the war, and it was not all that powerful to begin with.

"If that's the case, we officers should be making about 10K a year, the crew should be 5K, the pilots 7K. I'm not sure of the ship's operating expenses, I'll have to go back over the contractor's reports for that."

"Okay, we'll go on assuming that is the case. Now, the last thing to discuss is something that I observed today that maybe one or both of you can come up with a solution to." Murrue pauses, prompting the inevitable from Mu:

"Well, shoot, Captain."

"Well, first, have either of you two been observing the situation between Kira and Flay?"

"I already know where this is going to," Natarle notes as she looks away.

"Well, ideas from the gallery are welcomed here. I mean, I just asked three of the ZAFT pilots to keep an eye on it, try to stop a bloodbath before it occurs, but..." Her sentence trailed off, accompanied by a feeble gesture as to her position.

"Did you ask Athrun or Nicol?" Mu asks.

"What does that matter?" Natarle asks in retort.

"Athrun will look our for Kira if he thinks his friend is in danger. Nicol would as well, based on him being a rather nice person any way you look at it. Dearka I cannot place, I don't really know enough about him to take a guess. Yzak, however, would take bets on how deep the knife wound when Flay tries skewering Kira." Despite the rather humorous punch-line, there were no laughs in the room. A stabbing was a very real possibility in this case, and though nobody wanted to see it, it could happen.

"Dearka, Yzak, and Athrun were at the table, as well as Umi," Murrue replies.

"Good. They might be able to stop or slow her if something happens. As to a real solution, I can't look at you and give you an honest one, since all I can think of is to let this run its course and hope that Kira doesn't piss her off." In both Natarle's mind and Murrue's mind came a vision of how Kira had conducted himself with Cagalli. To their knowledge he hadn't said more than two words in that first encounter, and got backhanded for his efforts. Given his prior record, they both figured that thought was a losing proposition.

The room was silent for over thirty seconds; "Keep them busy and separated?" Natarle throws into the mix.

"Where do we assign Flay?" Murrue asks in retort.

"Well, Kira is a pilot, which mean his duty area is the hangar. So, the exact opposite point of the ship is the engine room."

"The engines...perfect!" Mu slams his right fist into his hand. "We'll assign her to the sauna and hot spring rooms as the attendant."

"Huh?" Natarle asks, staring dim-eyed at the other Commander in the room.

"That might work, provided her shifts coincide with Kira's shifts."

"That I can arrange," Murrue notes with a bit of satisfaction, then halts. "No, that would not work. That would mean that they are off-duty at the same time, which would make Kira fair game for her. I can stagger her shift one place after Kira, which would put her on duty while he is off duty, and she goes off-duty as he goes to sleep, and she is going to bed as he wakes up and goes on duty. All he has to do is deny her access to his room and that problem is solved."

"Well, that makes it official, you are going to put the hot-spring in, then." Not a question, but a declaration from Natarle.

"Well, maintaining discipline is more than just striking fear into the hearts of the enlisted, Natarle. Relaxation and stress relief are as much a part as the rule book."

"Yeah, but that's such an outlandish way to do this, Captain, I cannot help but note that this will be looked on with disfavor by the court of inquiry when we get to Alaska."

"I would prefer to face that rather than building stress and resentment among the ship's crew."

"No arguing with that, in my opinion," Mu notes. "Better that demon another day than adding to it now. And nobody said you couldn't use it, either."

Without even trying, Mu's comment had made her blush beet red and immediately busted what little composure she had left. "I—well—you are planning on making it a divided facility, right?"

"Of course," Murrue notes matter-of-fact. "If I made it a single facility that would cause instantaneous problems that would require Military Police to be stationed there at all times." Or a babysitter, neither of which this ship has in their staff, Murrue thinks but does not add to the conversation.

"Well, anything else, Captain? Murdoch wants me in the hangar to service the Skygraspers, since we are so short on personnel." He rolled his eyes famously.

"Actually, that is the last thing I need to cover, how is Murdoch holding up?"

"All the machines are keeping spit-shined and 100 percent operational. I don't see where there is room for improvement, but I do see where he could lighten up a bit. I mean, yeah, there is a good hazard here to us pilots, and having the machines in top form would be good, but at the end of the day he doesn't need to keep his crew going that hard or that fast. Good enough is good enough."

"I agree. If there's any one area of the ship stressed out, it has to be the deck crew," Natarle notes.

"Okay, I'll have a talk with him later today or tomorrow about that. Anything else?"

"Nope."

"That's it for me," Natarle notes on the heels of Mu's comment.

"Then this meeting is dismissed. Thank you both for your opinions and advice." Natarle stood, saluted, and left the room smartly. Mu did not. "Something up, commander?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you would join me for a cup of coffee?"

"Sure."

-x-x-x- (day five on Dustball, 0630 hours) -x-x-x-

It had taken Kira no more than three bouts to prove himself the one to beat.

The problem was dead simple. His weapon, the twin sword-staff, gave him unprecedented flexibility, two surfaces to which he can challenge or defend against a foe, and being one of the Magic Knights' weapons it had almost zero weight, meaning that he could perform all kinds of acrobatics with it easily. That combination literally meant that the only way to properly challenge him was to keep him at range (Fuu and Mu, failed), be better at him in close quarters (Hikaru and Umi, failed), or have twin weapons to guard against both staff ends (Nicol and Athrun, failed). All in all, Kira was proving himself a right pain in the ass today.

Yzak, whose initial weapon was a broadsword and not a two-handed sword, was still getting used to the unusual method by which his sword was controlled now. Rather than swing the sword in most normal context, he had figured out that the sword worked just as well when used as a rotating object as much as it was a swinging object. The center of gravity of the sword was just forward of the hilt, and rotating the sword centered on this gave him the ability to present a constantly-moving weapon to the enemy, making his actions hard to read and his offense hard to counter. Of this, he came in on Kira with his sword high, eye level and tip set forward, pointing straight to Kira's chest. Kira went in low, an easily blocked strike, and as Kira tried bringing the other end of his weapon in high from the other side, Yzak went into motion, rotating the sword around the balance point to bring the counterbalance weight on the pommel (basically a large lump of metal) right down on top of Kira's head. That hit literally forced him down onto his arse as he lost his footing from the unexpected blow. With that, the melee was over, and it was time for Yzak to be the reigning defender.

"Ow, that hurt, Yzak," Kira notes.

"Then pay attention next time, Strike." Yzak looks away from the pilot to the circle of challengers. "Who is next?"

"I am." Dearka steps forward and gives Yzak enough time to align on him before he charges in. Dearka had set the ax haft forward, as Yzak had set his blade forward and down for a guard, and the sound of them colliding was violent and echoed throughout the hangar. After the impact, Yzak was on the floor and Dearka was still standing, though the cut on the inside of Dearka's left leg made the results of the match a double-loss, not the one-sided knockdown victory that Dearka had attempted. "Man, that sucker hurts," Dearka says as he leans down to cover it.

"Winds of Healing!" Nicol chants, and all the minor cuts and bruises the group had accumulated in fifteen minutes of practice were restored. "You both lost, so I'll take over the center."

"Good luck." Dearka wanders back to the rim, awaiting his time to challenge the next king or queen of the circle. Yzak had already cleared away with his monster blade slung over his shoulder. Nicol had takes up position, with a half-guard half-offense stance, awaiting the next to challenge him.

The next happened to be Umi, of all persons. Nicol was well past wary of Umi, for he knew that she had once been a tournament fencer and for all his speed and reflexes being a coordinator that didn't always make up for being a novice with blades. She had also proved that having two blades and being a Coordinator didn't make things easier, either, and that was against Athrun. Stories of Athrun and his flip-fold combat knife had made their way around the ship like wildfire; as a result, whenever Nicol had seen Athrun hanging around, there was always a wary air to those nearby. Still, Umi did not seem all that intimidated by matters at hand, and she definitely viewed Nicol as just another match among many.

The initial was fast, as Umi brought her blade up and went straight in, though a bit off-center to make sure she did not actively kill or seriously injure him if the worst happened. Nicol did well enough, managing to bring his left blade up in time to force it outside a circle centered on his heart, and far enough away from his shoulder that the tip of the blade just barely missed gouging his left arm. Nicol countered fast, using his right-hand blade to attempt to stab inward against her left side as she was still moving forward from her own thrust, though Umi was a lot lighter on her feet than appeared; she managed to get inside his thrust line easily, and managed to bounce away from him before he could try again with the paired spatha. Nicol began the next wave, as his left-had sword came forward and he went in swinging from both sides, in the hope that she could only guard from one and not both. That hope proved optimistic, though, as Umi managed to parry each swing in turn, and though good at controlling both Nicol could not put up an offense any faster than Umi could counter it. The matter changed hands, though, as Umi blocked his right sword and immediately slashed inward against Nicol. She contacted with her blade but did not gouge him. "It's over."

"Too fast, just way too fast." Nicol shakes his head, steps back, and bows slightly. "Good match."

If he had the kind of training I did, he would have eliminated me easily, Umi thinks behind a passive mien and a respectful bow. Umi did understand the dangerous limitations when facing Coordinators, though she still didn't completely understand what the hatred is or was all about. "Mu, I choose you!" Her sword was pointed to the ground, though her left index finger centered right on the Commander. (5)

"Ask and you shall receive." Mu steps forward and advances on her steady, the pike end of his halberd set forward and low, ready to counter just about any move she made. Seeing this, she began trying to circle around him, though the positioning of his polearm made it impossible for her to get a clear shot at his side. They circled for about twenty seconds, until Mu decided he wanted to initiate the melee and changed hold forms to where the blade(s) of his weapon were now behind and above his right shoulder, and the weighted end of his halberd was facing forward. Since the final battle with Emeraude, the main feature of his weapon that had changed was the weighted end now had a rather nasty-looking spike and the blades on the end of the halberd (pick blade, pike blade, and ax head) all were larger by about half. Umi took this as an opportunity and charged in, though as everyone expected her first strike would run afoul of his haft.

She had made one small mistake, however; "Wah—Yeeee—" Clong. Her head hit the metal deck hard enough that she saw stars for a moment. She had made the unconscious mistake of straddling Mu's pole, and for her effort he simply swept her left leg out from under her, though he was simply trying to unbalance her, not trying to knock her to the ground. "Oh...ow."

"Hand?" Mu asks as he braces his pole to the deck and offer her his right hand. She accepts after a few moments, still slightly reeling from hitting the ground that hard. "Sorry if I hurt you."

"No, should have been paying attention to both ends of your pole." She bows gracefully and heads back for the circle.

"Am I the only one that thought that looked and sounded slightly perverted?" Dearka asks toward Kira, who simply snorts in response. "By the by, have you seen—er, what's her name? The one with the bow."

"Miriallia? Last I saw her, she and Tolle were heading toward the rear of the ship."

"Oh." There was three seconds pause before: "I must be doing something wrong with my life," Dearka mutters under his breath.

"No, I think we all are doing something wrong with our lives. Mostly the war, the rest, well, why the hatred?"

"Leave it to you to ask that, Kira," Dearka replies, though his answer was ironic, not derisive and certainly not hateful.

Mu had called on Athrun to continue the battle, and they had been going at it for over thirty seconds so far, which was not an unheard-of amount of time, but better than average. Athrun had the speed and paired blades; Mu had the longer weapon and the battle savvy that the younger soldier lacked. This would be a long bout, everyone could sense, and it came down to which one made a small mistake first.

In this case, the small mistake came from an outside source: "Man, I don't think I'd like gettin' in there. You guys are crazy," Athrun recognized the voice as being Captain Valten Ryder, of the 1st Somerset. Mu had been slightly distracted by the unfamiliar voice and was unable to stop an incoming sword from his right. Athrun managed to gouge his arm bad enough to catch his attention, despite the magicked sharpness of the blade that most the time could not be felt on small cuts.

Eyes were immediately on the speaker, Captain Valten Ryder, who was accompanied by Captain Hawkins and Major Steiner. By silent accord weapons were stowed, since now was a time for talk, not practice melee battle. Seeing the various soldiers stow their weapons was a rather unnerving sight to the Major and Captains, since not one of them removed their gloves. Watching that distracted them from seeing Fuu take care of Mu's bleeding arm. "Major Steiner, a pleasure." Murrue nods to the Major to complete the gesture.

"Captain Ramius, I have an offer from the Major General that I answer to. The Secretary of the Armed Forces doesn't want to list your team as a mercenary formation, since that would draw a lot of unwelcome attention to the ship...likely with unpleasant consequences."

"That's...a creative way to put it," Natarle note dryly.

"That being said, he also doesn't want to incorporate your forces into the AFFC directly, as that would definitely cause conflict within the various prefectures of the AFFC."

"So, where does that leave us?" Murrue asks.

"We're going to do a combination. Your unit will be officially listed as an adjunct to the 1st Somerset Strikers, though in terms of supply and compensation you will be considered a mercenary formation. You guys will be able to draw supplies through the AFFC Quartermaster network, though unlike normal formations that run on an operating budget you will have to pay for your supplies. The Secretary of the Armed Forces took the liberty of setting you up a bank account with ComStar, and deducted the startup fee against the established kill bounty and salvage you've already accumulated. Here's the paperwork on that."

"Uh, 'already accumulated', sir?" Major Steiner looks to the speaker, being Athrun.

"Two days ago, your units went through about a dozen Clan 'mechs, remember? The signing bonus for the terms of employment is those 12 machines you knocked down, though you can sell them back to us for salvage purposes. The one proviso to that is that any data you accumulate on their units is shared with the AFFC for research purposes."

Not a bad way of going about it, Murrue thinks. Given the talent on the ship, they could produce schematics for these units from felled enemy equipment, as well as decipher any conflicting design technologies or philosophies and hand it to the AFFC on a golden plate. The Contract that Murrue was now reading over had clearly-spelled-out procedures for that, and the AFFC Technical departments would award bounties to the 'unit' for meritorious improvements turned over to the AFFC. How it defined meritorious or how large a sum payout was not spelled out, however, which left room to maneuver for the AFFC. Murrue silently figured they couldn't do everything by a hard-and-fast book, though.

"Oh." That put a wholly different spin on things: the better they did in battle, the better they got paid, which means they could purchase better gear and unit upgrades as well as keep the ship operating. "No, actually, I was thinking about getting inside those machines, seeing what makes them tick, if nobody objects."

"The eternal tinkerer," Yzak notes. "Just so long as you don't make any of those god-awful Haros, we won't have 'issues'." Yzak flexes his right hand in plain sight to those around him.

"Haro...don't you mean that pink ball thing that was with Lacus?" Mu asks.

"Yes. And yes, I did make that one, and about thirty others that she keeps at her home in the PLANTs."

"Holy—that many, Zala? That is evil!"

"Oh, she loves them."

"Somehow, the phrase 'army of mass destruction' comes to mind," Dearka notes.

"Well, Major, from what I'm reading of the terms of employment, about all that needs to be really covered here is an introductory course to the ship from my end. So, when do you want to begin?"

"One hour sound good? Captain Martinez wants to get those salvaged units dealt with, and I know at least one of your personnel wants to work on them, so where do you want them? They are by contract yours, as soon as you sign those documents." Murrue looks back and forth for a moment, then notices Mu had a pen in his left breast pocket. She quickly lifts it, pops it open with one hand, and proceeds to sign off on the three copies of the contract.

"Athrun, Nicol, I want you two to see to stowing and securing the salvaged frames and gear. Major, do you require any assistance on the ground at this time?"

"No, Captain Martinez has everything in hand."

"Then we'll have a command staff meeting at 0830 and go from there. Unit dismissed."

The last thing the Major noted about the group was the two different styles of salutes in the crowd, and that at least three of them did not salute.Strange, really, how was this unit made up to begin with? He asks himself within the confines of his own mind.

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Author's Chapter Afterword:

First, for the story. The deal is struck, the Archangel now is an adjunct to the First Somerset Strikers, and are about to get their first taste of real action as a unit, when the enemy will use every trick in the Clan playbook to send the Archangel to hell...hrm, where have we heard that before? Would it be Rau Le Creuset, or Murutha Azraiel that tried sinking the ship in Gundam SEED and failed miserably? Both? Someone needs to forewarn Nikolai Malthus, he's in for one helluva bumpy ride, facing off against the Archangel.

Second, you can tell the situation between Flay and Kira is getting real tenuous. Kira really does not want to deal with her any more, he knows she's trying to manipulate him and he's not playing that kind of game any more, regardless of how much bed action he gets out of it. Personally, I would say the only question that remains is how venomous (or vilent) the breakup when he finally tells Flay to get lost. Tolle and Miriallia are growing ever-so-closer, for the record they spent some time together in the cafeteria having lunch and then...well...what else they did is classified. Nothing that perverted, though, so keep your pants on. Umi and Yzak are still at the point where they want to knife each other, Umi knife Yzak for his foul attitude and language, Yzak knife Umi for her insufferable continual attempts to 'correct' him all the time. Strictly speaking, I am unsure what I want to do with the two of them at this time, though you can rest assured this is not going to be a quick-hit with them, if a 'hit' at all. Yzak still hasn't gotten over his subconscious conditioning to hate Naturals yet, which is at least half the reason why he gives Umi (and a good chunk of the crew) short shrift all the time.

And lastly, I would like to note that I am looking at two anime right now, three games (both PC and console), and two movies for integration into my evolving storyline (that already has twelve full-length destinations plus two one-shots, and one of those one-shots is going to be really screwed up). Keep those suggestions coming in, people. Your dream is but a drop of fuel for a nightmare.

(And yes, anyone that knows Sonata Arctica knows that is the title of one of the songs off their latest album. I got to see them in concert in Philadelphia at the beginning of October 2007, it kicked serious portions of ass. I'd do it again if I was not broke.)

And now, to the acknowledgements section for reviews and other commentary:

First and foremost, serious thanks to Alkard for the PM with the categorical list of errors and gray areas I made in the first posting of the first chapter of this section. The fact that I made 20 screwups in 16000 words means I was typing too fast in too short a time. Since then I have slowed down significantly to ensure I am more clear and correct about how I do things (but not politically correct, of course). Once again, serious thanks, comrade. Second, I must apologize for the slow updates on this one. These past few weekends have been just plain screwed up, having requests to fix computers, yard work, a whole frigging laundry list that also includes laundry, etcetera, etcetera. And my vacation stunt at the beginning of this month, though inspirational, set me back 5 days in all my projects. And then there is work, of which I shall not go there to protect your sanity. If you are hearing a continual level of tortured screaming coming from south-central Ohio, that would likely be me :P

And, as requested, it is time to reply to reviews that wanted them replied to in the body of the next update, though in the case of suggestions for where to take the Archangel, I will have to reply No Comment since the order and destinations is classified, just like pairing info. Reading is two thirds the fun, after all, and the summaries with pairing spoilers piss me off. I actually like to understand what shall happen during the reading, not prior.

So for first we have Bien, with his long-arse review with many questions. Thank you for the review comrade, that is just amazing. Here are my replies to the questions you posed to me: (note, to reference the points, read Bien's review)

1 For how long the Archagel will be in Battletech, Neg, this is not a temporary stop. Expect the Archangel to have 'issues' with more than one of the Clans in coming chapters.

1.1 As to a hook-up between Blue Cosmos and Word of Blake, not in this story since in this fain the only kickout of the SEED world in Battletech will be the Archangel itself. That is an idea I may execute in the Jokers' Wild series, though, so stay tuned.

1.1B Neg, the Jade Falcons just took one helluva beating, they are not done by a long shot. Malthus hasn't got his just dessert, rest assured. And you can rest assured that I intend on actually killing him, for even by Clan standards Malthus was an asshole. Grr.

1.1C That is an evil thought, dropping the Archangel into Operation Bulldog as the Inner Sphere knocks out the most savage of Clans. I like your style. Officially, though, no comment as to whether or not I will do it.

1.2 Oh, yeah, Romulus is their next destination, for some training time that turns into an escape-the-planet battle. As to Ciro's fate, I am not going to comment on what shall happen to any characters on Romulus.

1.2A as to the Archangel, they got to the Crystal Palace of Cephiro, which was outside the atmosphere, on their own power. The Engines of the Archangel have evolved and are now as powerful as a Battletech Dropship's engines. And this is not the only part of the Archangel I have slated for evolution, so stay tuned.

2 For upgrading the Archagel with a K-F drive, Neg, ships with K-F drives are literally engineered around the drive—ergo, the drive is built first, then the rest of the ship around it, if I remember my analysis of the ship's design from Battletech correctly. The Archangel will not have a K-F drive, but there are a plethora of other options for them going from place to place. The Archangel may even get one or more of them. For now, though, they will hitch a ride on the Kwidan (the Draconis Jumpship).

3 I think I answered that in the prose above, but yes, that should be possible given weight tolerances of the Gundams nearly match most Heavy Omnimechs. As to a tech exchange, some things may get out between the sides, but I don't think it would be feasible for either side to do such an exchange at present. Leaks, however, are inevitable...

4 As to helping Adam rescue Andrew Steiner, there is that possibility, but if they do so it would likely be under different motivation.

5 I will save that surprise for another chapter.

6 Find Star Leaguue caches? That is too big a plot dev to comment on freely. So, no comment.

7 I am unsure if I want to drop any mercenaries into the story, as I am not hugely versed in the merc factions of Battletech. Most of my grounding is in the Houses, ComStar, and the Clans. This is not to say that other Mercenary elements will not show up, but it is a ways off if at all.

7 1 well, I am slightly versed in Robotech, from my Battletech days and also from Macross II (the movie). First off, the great tinkerer Athrun may have to bust out and rejuvenate the dead Inner Sphere arts of Land-air Mechs and some other advanced technologies. Second, as to a crossover between Macross and this story, well, No Comment. Though, if such a cross does occur, note clearly that there is a marked absence of Lacus and Cagalli in this story, so a singing duel between the pop stars is not happening. Sorry, as amusing a thought as that would be...

8 Hell no I am not limiting this to just Anime. I have more than a few games lined up, as well as possible movie crossovers and a possible American Cartoon crossover. Of course, where to go is classified and no amount of glomping the author will get you that information. Period. Just read and review, and it will keep coming.

Next, for CHM01's review, thank you for taking the time to drop two cents into the can. I believe I already commented on the efficacy of doing Naruto in this story (Naruto vs Launcher Strike, oops, why does that smoking crater have scraps of orange jumpsuit all over it?) Not that I am dissing Naruto, but the limiting factor is on the 'local' side and if they really pissed off the Archangel it is over. As to your suggestions, thank you for the input, but No Comment (like usual) as to whether or I will go there. Classified and all. Though, one bone I will toss: yes, the return trip to Cephiro will occur, and it is going to get bloody from there. Not all of Existence is goody-goody and Clef has (by design or chance) managed to piss off the ZAFT soldiers.

Next on this gravy train is dafa nut dafa (sa dota)'s review. And, you know, I have heard all kinds of ranting and raving about Super Robot Wars over the past weeks, and prior to this I have not encountered it...ever. Rather strange, actually. I may have to look into this. You can expect while I do research that I will not be going there, but my timeline of places to go and people to kill is always flexible, so... And since when have I had a mastery? Am I a master of suspense? Hell no. But I enjoy inflicting it on people. Sorry to those with weak wills or stomachs. Thank you for the review, and stay tuned for more 'mech busting action.

And onward to etienneofthewestwind who has been a constant reviewer and always with a kind word. Thx comrade. First, yes, that complacency may cost Athrun now or later, or both. Though, IRL I find the motor-mouths to be more 'up' on that subject than the quiet ones. And, word of advice, never take a long road trip with one of those motor-mouths, it may be hazardous to your sanity (but of course it will be amusing). Character torture...tch. Such a crass way to put it. I prefer to think of it as 'enlightenment' as to the cost of someone else's fanaticism. I have such a good set of ideas as to how to go about this one, so consider this the next (and likely last) look forward I will publicly acknowledge. As to artificial gravity on the Archangel, I just a few ago realized that the Archangel has a gravity block where the quarters are. It is a rotating drum section entirely internal to the ship, though the Archangel could stand to have artificial gravity throughout the length of the ship when you get down to it. Making that modification, though, is going to require some heavy modding and cost. And yes, I do believe that though not public (Civilian) knowledge, elements of the military would know that their own command structure was being manipulated or staffed by Blue Cosmos elements. And yes, that does put a wholly different spin on the position Haliburton takes as well as Murrue's self-appraisal, since Murrue is Haliburton's student that means that whatever tars the Admiral also gets her by association. Politics are soooo messy...and fun to write about.

Next to Maddery, another constant reviewer that has provided much inspiration. Thank you. Since there seems to be a general question as to Battletech, check below the footnotes for some links that I recommend for studying up on Battletech, the game of armored combat. I started in on Battletech back in the early 90s before the Mechwarrior games were really heard of, which is what most people recognize as Battletech, and have enjoyed the franchise since then. After all, in what other game can you run a fight in space and four different theaters of the same planet on the ground with over 1000 units in play total? Granted, completing that game took me almost a year, and the Magi lost, actually (hehe custom factions and 'mechs) in overtime to the Negaverse. It was close, but Queen Beryl's Dark Army (1st Mechanized Assault Army) won over the 3866th Commando Heavy Assault Galaxy. It was not pretty. Something like 40 of all the 'mechwarriors ended up dead in that battle. (note to all: keep that in mind when you read, because death is a very real possibility for 'mechwarriors.) As to the suggestions, I am obligated to deliver the expected, ubiquitous No Comment, though thank you for the input.

And last, certainly not least, Gonging apple, the first review from someone with a rather unique name. As to the suggested, they have been heard and recorded, though as usual No Comment as to whether or not I will be going there. Though I will admit that many of you have similar tastes and evil ideas, which are rather shockingly close to mine in some cases... (erm, still, No Comment). Thank you again.

Now, in closing, I think I should give everyone fair warning that updates from now on are going to be spotty, since I have to knuckle down on my MCSE training in preparation for taking the test next spring. Aff, that may be six months off (or more) but it is going to take me that long to make sure I am getting it right the first time. MCSE comprises no less than six tests, and each test has a three-digit price tag. This is going to take a lot of work on my part, and working full time means I don't have a lot of free time to begin with. Though, as I have sworn, so shall I do: I will not abandon my writing. I will not surrender. I will not be politically correct. I will do strange things to the Archangel. And I will attempt to make sense! (hopefully!)

Thank you. I have said my peace for the day.

Next up: The 1st Somerset and the Archangel do some training on Romulus...that leads to a helluva battle for their lives.

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Footnotes:

(1): In all fairness to the CIC crew, they were just wondering what Natarle was so resigned about, not mocking her. Part of me thinks Natarle is headed for a mental meltdown at this rate...

(2): In the Battletech Universe, humans travel from star to star using JumpShips, of which explaining is a rough proposition. It punches a hole in space-time using magnetic fields to take a ship from one known point to an estimated location in a matter of seconds, and usually these jumps go from the zenith of the gravity well of one star to the same location on the next system over. They require a lot of energy to execute, and more detail will come into play in the story.

(3): AMS, Anti-Missile System. Basically it is a machine gun connected to an independent sensor system solely for intercepting missiles. Sort-of like the Archangel's CIWS systems when used in auto-track mode, but a lot smaller and designed to be carried on a Battlemech or Omnimech. The Clan version uses different ammunition which doubles its battlefield life, but carrying enough ammo to last a battle is a bitch for either side (in Battletech games I have bled AMS ammo bins dry. It wasn't pleasant.)

(4): If you want a map of the Inner Sphere to follow along with Martinez's logic, look up Battletech in Wikipedia, at the bottom of the page is a series of links to outside sites, you can find dozens of maps of the Inner Sphere (literally—I am not joking here) among those sites. They even have maps showing by the time references. Also, the third link I listed below, along with the guide info accompanying that link, has maps segmented by the year as to the shape of the Galaxy at that time. Very interesting read.

(5): If you think the way I phrased this one makes me a Pokemon fan, guess again. I even once made a Winamp skin with a picture of Pikachu as seen through a telescopic sight. Though, in all fairness, back when I was young and stupid as well as a MechCommander League Gamer my callsign was CS-SCL-Raichu (Raichu Atrebas in RP, Precentor-ROM of ComStar). If there are any Steel Command League gamers reading this, toss me some word in a PM.

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Battletech Links recommended by the author:

Do a Wikipedia search for Battletech. At the bottom of the page, one of the links is Classic Battletech. On that first page of the Classic Battletech Page, in the upper left corner of the page is a link that says Leap Into The Action. I recommend the third link down on the Leap Into The Action page, it is a PDF document that basically gives the whole G-2 on the history of Battletech Universe in one shot. It even has what happens long after the story I am writing and mossing here :P

And check out the extensive info Wikipedia has through its cross-links, at the bottom of the page. You will learn a lot, grasshoppers.