(Section 3, Chapter 5: Three Ways Too Many)
(Commander's Log)
(indeterminate date, six days after initial arrival in destination three)
There is talk today that our 'misadventure' shall never end and that even our grandchildren are fated to be flying this ship forever toward the sunset, yet I find myself inclined to believe that there shall be a definitive end to this trip, whether it be on our home worlds, mooring the ship and finally walking away onto friendly territory, or in a furious battle that sees us all dead along with countless of our foes at that time. Though I hope fervently that the former shall be the case, I am inclined to believe that the latter is a very real possibility, given that we came real close to being sunk by the Wolves in naval combat and have already sustained one good beating from the Imperial forces on this planet.
Despite the off-and-on complaining from the ranks, morale on the ship remains very high in spite of our prospects. The ship is in a good material state and is presently repaired enough that an enemy hit will not find a lucky chink in the armor. Those persons injured in recent battles with both the wildlife and the Imperial forces are up and moving, if not back on duty. Ship's projects are being completed at or ahead of schedule, and already once we have managed to avert a disaster in the area with a commando raid into Narshe to prevent the capture or elimination of a former Imperial soldier that was attempting to capture an Esper.
After some extended evaluation of our options, the Coordinator quad has come to the conclusion that it should be possible to use the Imperial Capital's machinery and their transport device to fashion a device capable of moving us through time and space to our homes. In theory, they all state, since they have not been able to see the device itself and there are no guarantees on this matter. Even the Rune Gods, themselves conversant in the ways of dimension travel, will not speculate as to how to go about achieving this, though they will admit that there are beings somewhere in Existence that have a technological mastery of dimension-hopping. What that we could encounter them, to make our trip that much shorter, provided that they would be willing to render assistance.
By the Captain's permission, I have instituted some measures on the ship with the aim of improving our ground combat capability by fielding more of the Omnimechs captured during our short and brutal campaign in the Inner Sphere. Within days, we should have the Timber Wolf, Warhawk, Mad Dog and Stormcrow available for ground action, all of which being more capable in a traditional ground battle than the Gundams. Personnel have been 'acquired' for piloting those machines and simulations commenced two days ago during our cruise north from the Imperial lands. So far the personnel are proving to be exemplary pilots and shots, though not quite the match to the Gundam pilots under similar circumstances.
All I can hope at this time is that we see the chance to try to use Imperial devices to get home, for it goes without saying they will do their best to 'dissuade' us from acquiring their research facilities.
-x-x-x-
Kira, bereft of something to actually do since the Captain was in the castle negotiating with the King, decided he would pick up where Athrun left off disabling the devices in the ladies hot springs from recording. How he managed to use a gimmick to weld a seal plate onto the top of the projectors with just one hand was still bewildering Kira, but he figured anything possible nowadays. And where Athrun did the physical side, Kira would do the logical side, preventing the projectors from recording again.
"Okay, how do I want to go about this?" Kira asks the wall behind his computer terminal, though he did not yet have the terminal active. Sitting in front of him was a notepad and pen, which was always the starting point for an ambitious project.
All the physical vectors had been dealt with; there would be no ready physical access to those machines, should they try again. The main concern was preventing a record should they rebuild the connection point, which is what they did the first time. There was no real telling how long they had had access, or how long they had been recording, or even where it was being stored. Like usual, there was too many variables for Kira to solve the whole problem, but he would settle for most of the problem in this case.
"Okay, first, I need to completely gut the code for recording," Kira mutters as he writes it down. That would likely be the simplest of the tasks he would preform on this machine, and the foremost of dissuading problems to someone who wanted to use the record function. Without the software needed to record, a potential pervert would have to reprogram the device before it could do anything.
"Second, probably modify the device drivers to remove the record function from the camera system," Athrun says, which caused Kira to jump and stare at his friend in an accusatory fashion. "What? You didn't hear me enter?"
"No..." Kira replies.
"You really are a space case," Athrun says as he drags a second chair over to the computer desk.
"Thanks," Kira says as he spins back to his desk. "All right, can you think of a third way to keep those recorders disabled?"
"Sure. Prevent the controller they were using from accepting an outgoing data stream from the device," Athrun says. "If they won't route a signal, then they can't get the data unless they pipe it to another router or all the way to their rooms," Athrun says.
"Then we can do it on all the routers in the area," Kira says. "That should be simple enough," he notes. "So, how's the arm?" Kira asks.
"It'll get better," Athrun notes. He had not broke anything this time around, though he did manage to wrench several of the muscles and sprained his wrist, all of which still put him out of the piloting business for a few days.
"Any of the three pissed off at you?" Kira asks after a clear several moments of hesitation.
"No, not really," Athrun replies. "Or, at least, they have not said anything yet," he appends. "I'm not worried about getting a rapier in the back, Umi's on the level and she knows it was an accident, not deliberate, and Fuu is the one person on the ship least likely to commit fratricide, even despite where I ended up from the fall."
"Do you actually remember anything about it?" Kira asks, out of curiosity and not a sense of perversion. Athrun had rebuffed any other questions because of questioning parties asking out of perversion.
"The last thing I remember was throwing my screwdriver aside. Next I knew, I woke up in the medbay. And I don't think I want to remember, should this cause some form of 'conflict' between the involved parties and I," Athrun notes judiciously.
"Right," Kira replies after realizing the possible 'conflict' of his own question. "Okay, this looks like a comprehensive enough plan?" he holds up the notepad for Athrun to read.
"I hope this doodle isn't part of the Oplan, but yeah, it works."
"All right, give me a second and I'll get this whipped up and programmed in," Kira says as if modding the archaic programming of a holoprojector was a trivial exercise to him, much less the routers in the Archangel.
Athrun had to admit that he had seen some of the best Coordinators programming before. He happened to be one of the best, especially in such a specialty as a Mobile Suit OS. Kira, however, was scaring him slightly. Within minutes he had removed the recording programming from all eight of the projectors for the hot springs area. Add another three minutes, he had the hardware drivers edited so they did not even acknowledge the record function was there, though he kept copies of both of the above on his own computer. Add another five minutes and he had the routers locked down in the area of the projectors, so that they would not recognize traffic from the projectors. The projector systems actually ran along a router forward of the springs, so Kira figured blocking out the MAC (1) addresses for the holoprojectors on the routers on anything astern of the springs should not be a problem.
His last action, a bare fifteen minutes after he started, was to submit a report to Captain Ramius as to what steps he took, in case problems arose from his actions.
"Done," Kira says as he finishes filing the report. "So, anything to do?"
"I am now officially in awe of how obtuse you really are," Athrun says. "But that is not a problem. C'mon, let's get some lunch," Athrun says as they head for the door to Kira's quarters.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Kira asks, thereby proving Athrun right.
-x-x-x-
"After six months plus of this crap, and having fought in three wildly different wars with a fourth coming my way, I've stopped caring. I just want to get home, period," Yzak says with a ration of his usual vehemence. It was not as forceful as normal, but it was not completely null of it, either. If anything, he sounded wearied in one word. What he was 'not caring' about any more was affiliations, for it did not matter if he had to swindle Satan himself, he just wanted to get home; working with Earth Alliance personnel any more was just another instance of that same thought.
Of the four surviving Coordinators of the Archangel, only Nicol was missing, him and Fuu having decided to explore the castle more thoroughly and without anyone else around. The castle had a lot of area to check out, of course, so they would be occupied most of the day. Good, that, since negotiations between Figaro, the Returners, and the Captain would take at least that long.
"And how do we get home?" Kira asks.
"Only way I know how to get there is forward," Athrun says. "Somehow, I don't think hanging around anywhere is going to get us home."
"That isn't a guarantee, Athrun," Kira says. "It's really just a hope," he says.
"Thanks for killing my hopes, Strike," Yzak says testily. "Still, I do remember Commander Badgiruel talking about the Empire using some kind of device to transport gear and personnel around. If we could get our hands on that, we could repurpose it to send us home, maybe?"
"Yeah, maybe," Athrun replies. "And when did you get an education in quantum physics?" he asks after a moment.
"No, wait, Yzak's right," Kira says. "I mean, think about it. Three quarters of what has happened to us is due to a quantum physics impossibility. Matter is not supposed to transit dimensions in a complete, unaffected state, and yet here we are, tour stop three on a trip that God doesn't even know how long or messed up it will be. That means that present quantum theories have a few gaping holes and a lot of gray area. Maybe the fact that we don't know how it is supposed to go by the books can save our butts in the long run?"
"I know I didn't hear that right," Athrun says as he uses his finger to check his right ear for an obstruction.
"Oh, you heard it right, Athrun," Yzak replies. "To get home, we're going to have to do more than just break ZAFT's regulations, we're going to have to piss on the physics rulebooks and probably on the whole of every science book while we are at it."
The grim look from Athrun summed up his thoughts on the matter. "There is way too many things that can go wrong with this stunt, Yzak," Athrun says after a few moments.
"Athrun, there is no 'it can go wrong' because it already has gone wrong. Or do you consider going from Aube to Cephiro to Dustball normal for an Earth Alliance ship?" Kira asks on the level.
The question was so absurd that Athrun began cracking up with laughter. "Now you've done it, Strike, you've driven Athrun off the deep end."
"So, how do we go about this?" Kira asks.
"Very carefully," Yzak replies. "First off, we will need to wrest Vector from the Empire, and make sure they can't come back. Second, we analyze their equipment, and figure out if it is even possible to do what we want to do with it. If it can be done, we then make all efforts to mod the gear and begin small-scale testing. If we get that far..."
"...It will be a miracle," Athrun says. "Still, I can't stop you two from trying?"
"Think of it this way, Athrun, if we screw up and create a black hole on accident, we'll get to figure out if black holes really are some kind of cross-dimensional anomaly or if they just suck," Kira notes with an obvious tone of humor. It was enough to set Athrun and Yzak to laughing.
"You know, Athrun, we'll need all hands on deck to actually do the math, as well as make the mods," Yzak notes.
"You don't need help, you two need parental supervision," Athrun replies sardonically. "I still think you're flat crazy for even thinking this is possible, but since I can't stop you from trying I might as well tag along, make sure one or both of you don't screw it up," Athrun notes. From Yzak he got a blank stare; from Kira a smile. "What?"
"That's the spirit, Athrun, forward, always forward, even if our next destination is a rut," Kira says cheerily.
"Okay, now I think Strike has gone off the deep end. Am I the only sane person on this ship any more?" Yzak asks nobody in particular.
"Maybe, maybe not," Athrun asks as he looks up and down the main promenade of the castle, the path that led from the gatehouse in the distance to the keep that they were standing near. "Maybe we are the sane ones and the rest of life is crazy. Who knows?"
"If you're looking for an answer from me, you've dialed the wrong number, Athrun," Yzak replies.
"Abstain," Kira says judiciously. He knew that his involvement with Flay would be used as ammo against him in such an argument, so he chose the silent path real fast.
"Okay, message received," Athrun replies. "Times like this, I wonder where Dearka would vote," Athrun notes after a moment of silence.
"He'd probably laugh," Yzak replies honestly. Kira figured the same, but said nothing since he did not knew Dearka all that well before his demise.
The three were silent for a minute, observing their surroundings in the dutiful guard fashion. Even that did not last long, for the whole area was peaceful and the desert silence gave no indication of an oncoming threat, therefore they were less inclined to be guards as they were to be chatting. "So, Kira, did you get the programming on the projectors fixed?"
"Yeah, it's all done. There should be no more trouble from those, but I intend on checking it every other week or so, just to be sure." Kira notes.
"With luck, they'll get so frustrated next time they try, they'll give up before they get access," Athrun notes. "Your side?"
"I think the involved mechanic I talked to got the message," Yzak says. He was very capable of being intimidating at several levels, and he used most of those on the hapless mechanic, with a stern warning that Yzak was going to serve their asses for lunch if they tried it again (ergo, no third warning).
"And that should be that," Kira says. "You know, now that I think of it, Yzak's plan to get us home hinges on us being able to rid the world of the Empire. Anyone here know how hard that is going to be?" Kira asks.
"Offhand, no," Yzak replies drolly. "We can't stop just because the enemy looks bigger than us. If we don't do this, we're stuck here, probably on the run, and doomed before we get home. To hell with that, I say, let's mulch the Empire and 'borrow' their gear for getting home."
"But...what about them?" The question had come from Hikaru, who was standing behind Yzak and visible only to Kira initially.
"If you mean the Empire, what happens to them is fate's problem, not mine. After some of the crap I've heard they have pulled, and the veritable slaughter they made in Narshe just to get to one Esper, I'm not going to lose any sleep over their demise." If Yzak could have sounded colder, how was lost on Kira and Athrun.
"...cold..." was about the only word that they could make out of what Hikaru had to say about Yzak's comment.
I think he just upset her, Kira thinks aloud. "Uh, Hikaru, wanna go explore the castle?" Kira asks before Yzak could ask Hikaru what she said, thereby creating an incident.
"Huh?" She asks blankly, then realizes what Kira said. "Oh, sure," she says without giving Yzak a second glance. In moments the two were headed down the promenade toward the gatehouse.
"What was that all about?" Yzak asks.
"You just royally pissed her off, Yzak," Miriallia says as Tolle looks around from the pilot's vantage points. "Nice view," Mir says as she looks over the parapet and out into the midmorning desert.
"Going to be insanely hot, though," Tolle says. "That's the one thing I don't like about deserts," he says as he joins Mir on the palisade wall.
"At least our Archangel Team uniforms are gray, not red or dark blue," Athrun notes. "Otherwise we'd already be cookin'."
Yzak snorts. "I still don't get what I said was so offensive," he says, unwilling to be dodged.
"Simple," Athrun says. "Not everyone sees the universe in black and white as you mostly do and as I sometimes do, Yzak," Athrun notes a bit coldly. "Hikaru was concerned about the well-being of civilians and personnel that weren't committed to the fight, not just the main garrisons that we are going to have to shred. And you never seem to think about that," Athrun says.
"And is there something wrong with that? It's the commander's job to worry about such things," Yzak replies crassly but not unfairly.
"Yzak, by role you are a commissioned officer because you are a pilot," Athrun says. "You are required to think about those things, not just your CO," and Athrun pauses to let it sink into the white-and-blue-haired pilot. "Now, I'll say you probably have less to worry about from the commander than the rest of the crew, like Mir, Hikaru, or even Kira if you piss him off, but if you do piss someone off by causing or ignoring a massacre, I'm not going to stop them," Athrun says.
"What the hell, Athrun?" Yzak asks.
"I didn't turn off my humanity when I signed up for ZAFT, that is what," Athrun replies. "I'm taking a walk, Yzak, you coming or not?"
"No," Yzak replies a bit sharply.
Yzak was left fuming in the morning sun for quite a while, though as the temperature increased his cold attitude cooked off slowly.
-x-x-x-
(Three days later; March 12, Year 986)
There really was not much in the way of negotiating to be done, more along the lines of discussing capabilities and how to use the immense striking power of the Archangel to best effect against the Empire. Still and all, building operational concepts into plans for a mobile assault on the southern continent was not a simple task, especially when the Returner representative was rather vague as to their own strength and operational purpose. Natarle had proposed they meet with the CO of the Returners to get hard information, which would be necessary for any detailed planning of the operations, and the King had not objected on the face of it.
Leave it to us to end up having to execute a revolution to get access to the one possible way to get home, Natarle thinks as she looks over the battlements of the Keep toward the south. The ship was no longer visible in the distance, since it was now parked north of the castle itself, which left nothing but a sea of sand to see in all directions. Natarle was taking a respite from the chambers area to rest her mind and soul in the fresh but arid air on the top of the castle.
"If we do this right, can we do it?" Murrue asks as she approaches and leans up against a crenelation (2) herself, looking south as her 2IC was.
"Probably," Natarle says. "We've already handed their air force back to them in pieces and their ground forces are very limited. We should be able to eliminate their forces by standoff assault, then move in on their bases and the city itself," Natarle says. "Not that I like the thought of having to do that much damage, but because ours is the numerically weaker side we will have to cause more damage to them to force a surrender."
"Or could we use fear factor to our advantage?" Murrue asks after a moment. "Scare them into surrender?"
"We'd need to really scare them, Captain, and if they're disciplined in any major amount then they will not scare enough to do that right," Natarle notes. "The only way I see this working reliably is to smash through their defenses and take Vector, then wait for the remainder of their forces to stack arms and surrender," which was the standard military logic in such a case. Bereft of their command structure and supplies, the enemy would not be overlong in surrendering or dissolving.
"What about a drop operation? Drop right in on top of Vector and hit it hard and fast?" Murrue muses after a few moments. Her plan was predicated on the evolved Archangel's ability to exit and enter the atmosphere without the need for boosters or external aid.
"No, not going to work and likely too risky. If we get cut off before we can complete our objective, kiss the Archangel good bye," which meant that those who lived through that failure would never get the chance to go home.
"Oh," Murrue notes after having that idea rebuffed. "I just..."
"I know. You don't want to have to sledgehammer the bulk of the enemy forces. I don't look forward to it, either, but I do not see another way around it, Captain, and we've both been through the same military academies. Unless Admiral Halburton taught you anything he did not teach in Naval Theory classes?"
"No, nothing that would help here, unfortunately," Murrue replies dejectedly. "Looks like we do it the hard way...again."
"In pursuit of getting home, it beats the pants off doing nothing," Natarle counters.
Murrue simply snorted in response. The silence did not last long between them. "Oh, crap," Murrue says.
"What?" Natarle requests, then traces where the Captain was looking. "Great," she notes. As one, the two senior officers of the Archangel push away from the battlements and head for the stairs down to the lower floors of the keep and castle.
By the time the two got to the exterior of the keep, a crowd had gathered around the spectacle of the day. Natarle and Murrue shoved their way forward to the outside of the clear area formed by the crowd to witness Yzak locked in sword battle with two of the more prominent 'nobles' that hung around the castle. Natarle had been introduced to one of them the day prior, he was lord over basically a small farm village and several square miles of plains to the southwest of the Figaro Deserts, probably also held part of the desert as well. Natarle was less than impressed with his attitude, though she had to wonder if it was Yzak or the noble that had started this.
The battle moved slow, cautious, as they were just beginning and both Yzak and the two nobles expected to be at the duel for some time. Swipe, swipe, as the two tangos with the smaller swords tried to find a way in against Yzak's far larger two-handed sword. The massive blade moved with trained precision and grace, easily countering the smaller swords and each time presenting a threat to the other tango to prevent a cooperative attack from succeeding. As the two began trying to divide Yzak's attention by splitting aside, the Duel pilot responded by picking one of them to flank himself, thereby preventing them from getting around him and forcing him to divide his attention in two wildly different directions.
"Don't kill them, Yzak," Natarle orders as he approaches where he was standing. She knew from the murmurs and comments of the crowd that this battle could not be avoided, it was some form of duel of honor apparently over the ladies. It had to happen, lest the Archangel Team lose honor for some reason.
"I will try to avoid it," Yzak replies curtly before he begins maneuvering aggressively to get a good position on the tango to the right.
The first decent clash of the battle was loud and violent, as the enemy that Yzak was maneuvering on decided to preempt the Gundam pilot before he could begin an attack series. Yzak decided that meeting the enemy halfway was the best option, which he executed with flair. The hilt of the massive two-hand sword came up and he shoved his whole weapon basically with the intent of putting the hilt against the forehead of the enemy. It worked, mostly, though his weapon never contacted enemy flesh the resistance was enough to halt the attack and shove him back against the crowd. Immediately Yzak reset and drove a pair of swings against the other enemy who was attempting to move against his left, first with a swing to deflect the enemy sword from low and right to up and left, then on the way down Yzak brought the flat of the massive sword down on his exposed left shoulder. The impact was leaden and loud, accompanied by the sound of crunching bone as the sheer impact brought the enemy down to the ground with extreme haste. Yzak laid the enemy out with a back spin kick to the side of the face to knock him cold and render him incapable to the fight.
The second enemy was visibly stunned that Yzak had defeated his comrade so quickly, though not caught completely unawares. After taking a moment to fortify his resolve while Yzak set up for his next move, the attack commenced. He defeated the length of Yzak's superior sword by vaulting over it in a nearly-suicidal vaulting jump while trying to bring the sword down on top of Yzak's head. Though insane enough to give Yzak pause, the choice of tactic did not stun him and Yzak managed to get mostly out of the way of the incoming sword; the hit he took was a long, shallow gash down the inside of his left forearm.. The enemy follow-up was well-executed, as after landing the tango thrust in against Yzak's weak left side, though now Yzak was moving himself in counter to the enemy and he only got a minor gash against Yzak's midriff, immediately below the floating rib that caught the Duel pilot's attention but did not cripple him.
Yzak's sword came around from the right, the flat aimed at his foe's calves as Yzak put the whole of his weight into one tremendous, rushing stroke. The sound his blade made in transit was mortifying to the onlookers, who thought for sure that Yzak's first was a fluke and the second would lose his legs just below the knees. The sound of the impact and the subsequent dislocation of the enemy's left knee was rather stunning but far from impossible a result, though Yzak was not through with his swing. With a bit of flair Yzak brought the sword around completely in a high loop and back around, his second target being the blade of the enemy sword a mere centimeter above the hilt; though most expect the sword to be ripped clear of his hand and sent careening into the crowd, Yzak's sword chopped the bulk of the blade clear of the handle and hilt, the magic in his sword well surpassing the strength of the simple steel blade. Yzak's third operational move was to set his blade...
A sharp gasp came up from the crowd. Some of the onlooking ladies screeched. Murrue's jaw sagged; Natarle's jaw clenched in seeing what he was to do. Even the tango on the ground reacted, his eyes showing instantaneous fear and dread at what was about to happen. For a moment, the tip of the sword hung just over his head to where the enemy could look straight up the side of the blade.
CLANG.
Yzak crouched down to where he was right next to the head of the enemy. "Just because I pilot a large war machine does not mean I can't kick your ass from here to Hell to Breakfast and back without it, punk," Yzak says before the tango sits up and dabs at the long but shallow gouge on his left cheek about three centimeters below his left eye. "Now, pick your cohort up, dust him off, and drag him and yourself out of my sight, clear?"
"Yessir," the late-thirties landholder says.
Yzak stands up completely and pulls his sword from the stonework, then dispels it by basically going through the motions of sheathing it into the blue gem on his left-hand half glove. Still the guy had not moved. "Faugh! Don't just sit there, move your ass!" Yzak half-shouts, which caused an immediate reaction as the tango sprang up, moved to his downed comrade, and picked him up. In moments both had moved through the crowd and were headed down the walkway toward the gatehouse amid laughs from the crowd.
When Yzak moved toward the two officers and the others from the crew that had come to observe, there were some that were trying to suppress giggles, others that had mastered any such reaction, and those that were laughing outright. Natarle was one that had mostly suppressed the giggles for a few moments, then managed to clear the reaction. "I will expect an incident report by 0800 tomorrow, clear?"
"Yes, Commander," Yzak replies.
"What started this?" Mu asks; standing in front of him and to the side was the King.
"Ask those two, sir, I don't know. One moment I'm walking south down the promenade, next I know I have a meter of steel blade in my face for no apparent reason."
"I will have them seen to," King Edgar says. "Chancellor, take four guards and clear this matter up," the King orders.
"Aye, Highness," the Chancellor replies.
"All right, disperse," King Edgar orders; the crowd begins funneling away from the scene of the battle fairly smoothly. "Milady Ramius, Badgiruel, are you two ready to resume?"
"Captain?" Murrue nods to Commander Badgiruel's question. "We are, sir," Natarle replies to the King.
-x-x-x-
The cafeteria was initially closed due to the fact that the bulk of the crew was in the castle, but Natarle had ordered the ship reactivated and ready for transit to an area east of South Figaro, where the Returner Hideout was supposedly at. This meant that the Cafeteria was to be reactivated as well for meal purposes and the all-important coffee, something that King Edgar assured could be purchased in several areas of the world.
Terra, the former Imperial soldier that the Chef Crew had rescued during their fast jaunt into Narshe, had decided she would prefer to be around the ship, instead of dealing with King Edgar, who had wasted no time hitting on her. Terra had been polite but rather confused as to what it was all about, though Natarle's presence had more or less cut any such pursuit short—it was fast becoming obvious King Edgar had his sights on the Commander of the Archangel CIC. Her presence on the ship meant that after a few hours she had gone looking for something to eat, which inevitably led her to the Crazy Cook.
"And this is it," the Crazy Cook says. "Normally people will eat in here, sometimes they'll have me box a cold lunch for their duty station or they'll take a tray back to their—" BRRRRRTT; "a—what the hell was that?" The Cook says as he pulls his pistol and takes aim at the galley section, where the cooks did their thing. "Something is in here," he says low as the sound of ponderous footsteps could be heard on the other side of the counter.
"What could it be?" Terra asks as a light source moved around, shaking back and forth the whole time. It went to an area where the cook knew there was a lower table, then a few seconds pause ensued before BRRRRRTT echoed throughout the whole cafeteria and dining area. "That...is freaky," she says.
"Sounded like a really fast knife on a cutting board," the Cook says as he draws a pistol he normally kept concealed in the belt loop around his pants. Again the light source was moving, toward what he thought was one of the reefers, then back toward the table. Terra followed close, her hand looped in the back of his belt as he approached the door and then entered silently. The lights snapped on with the flick of a switch and the pistol centered on the one foreign object in the cafeteria, some...thing that he could not identify with a lamp in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.
BRRRRRTT. The carrot that had been properly skinned was diced crosswise from tip to end in a matter of less than a second. From the way it looked, each cut also was dead even in width from the last, as well.
"Now I know I did not see that right," one of the dishwashers says, staring over the counter at it from behind a Gunther KA-23 Submachinegun.
"That little dude knows how to slice shit up," the grill master says as the tango moves away from the cutting table toward the table where all the stuff had been peeled already. There was only one item left, a celery stick, and the tango gripped it steadily with his left hand (the lamp was in its left, the knife in the right), then began the march back to the cutting board.
"Do it again, Sam," one of the cooks says before the knife came up... BRRRRRTT. "You're right, he really can cut shit up," the same guy says before the tango uses his knife blade to scrape the cut celery into a waiting pot.
The tango holds his lamp up slightly, and the light inside begins glowing bright. Simultaneous with that, the pan levitates off the ground level and up to the stove, where it sets on a burner. A loud, slightly soggy farting sound comes from one of the personnel that had stacked on the counter. "Holy shit, dude, check your shorts 'cuz that even sounded soggy," the Dishwasher notes to the guy next to him.
How does this infernal contraption work? They all hear inside their heads, obviously telepathy from the little tango. His knife-point poked the side of the stove-oven combo to indicate what he was referencing. If anything, the mental voice sounded like an older, wizened gentleman than anything else.
"Here," the secondary cook says as he reaches over and turns the burner on under the pot.
"What's for dinner?" the dishwasher asks.
"Looks like a vegetable stew with some chunks of meat in it as well," the secondary cook says.
"Strange, the meat locker is not open, what meat did he use?" The Crazy Cook says.
Leafer, the small creatures of the area that are actually edible, the reply comes to their minds directly. Given that he was not moving fast, they had to wonder how he caught one without completely obliterating it.
"Okay, now I'm officially on the 'freaked' list. Is he just borrowing the use of our galley or does he want on this slow-boat journey through hell?" the team's baker notes.
"I don't know, why are you here?" the Crazy Cook says.
A kitchen requires a cook, or it is nothing of the sort. I chose to make it something while you were preoccupied, they all hear in their minds.
"So, is this an official request to join the galley staff?" the Crazy Cook asks. A slow and decisive nod was the answer. "Other than being an expert slicer and dicer, and apparently a good stew chef, what other skills do you bring?"
I can identify edible plants and animals wherever you go, and I can cook just about anything if I have the recipe. And I swear I will not poke you with the knife, the last part was added after a few moments.
"Well, holy shit, that makes him worth his weight in engine fuel," the dishwasher says, referring to the fact that the ship always needed fuel, better an extra pint here and there than running out of juice in the middle of a battle.
"Vote?" The Crazy Cook asks.
"In!" All of the present galley staff half-shouts. There were no declarations of 'out' which made it unanimous.
We are few, but there are others of my kind throughout the world. With some 'persuasion' they will also be an asset to the galley, he notes. I am best at soups, stews, sauces, and some confections; others are better at certain specialties of their own.
"Sounds like a plan," the Crazy Cook says, already considering the possibilities, both inside and outside the galley.
-x-x-x-
(A day later; 13 March 986)
"Captain, sensors," Murrue's radio squawks during lunch with the King and chancellor.
"Go," Murrue replies into the radio after excusing herself for a moment.
"We have two inbound Magitek contacts, confirm type match to class that we fought on the southern continent. Headed for the castle, estimate range ninety kilometers. ETA of two hours." Sai notes.
"That would likely be the Emperor's Retainer, Lord Kefka," Edgar says. "How far away is ninety kilometers?"
"About 50 miles or so," Natarle says, winging it.
"What that I could see the movements of foes at that range," Edgar says. "Yours must have been a terrible bloody history of wars to have such marvels as your ship," he comments on a snap analysis.
"That is what it amounts to," Natarle notes after a moment.
"They will still be several hours off even at their best advance speed, so we have time to finish our lunch and plan contingencies on what Kefka is doing here," Edgar says before taking another bite of Rhobite. A physical cousin to the Leafer, the Rhobite had a slightly more pungent taste due to the sharper-tasting foliage of its native lands, the Kingdom of Doma. In Figaro, Rhobite was considered something of a delicacy, an excellent main entrée to go along with the local salads and greens.
Murrue had figured it would be a good way to make something of a side-business profit by using some of the unused cargo space on the Archangel to transport local goods from one area to the next for sale or barter. There were few cargo ships running the seas on this world, and few caravans for trading purposes, therefore both the speed of the Archangel and its hold capacity would make it an excellent freighter. Especially when the Archangel could spare enough room to fit some of the smaller towns in its cargo areas with room left over.
The discussion wandered back to their differing worlds. Besides being a machinery fanatic, King Edgar was also a history buff who absolutely loved the tales of the Cosmic Era and the differing governments of the Earth Alliance. He also was fascinated by Pre-CE history, especially the era between years AD1700 and AD2050 and the constantly evolving technology it brought. In kind, he spoke of the past several hundred years as humanity rebuilt from the War of the Magi and how the world had more in it than where the Archangel had thus far been. Of particular interest to Murrue and Mu were the Independent West States, Kohlingen, Jidoor, Zozo, and the two to the west under no territory known as Mobliz and Thamasa, the latter of which had almost no outside contact (people barely knew it even existed, much less what was in it).
There was also talk of an ancient kingdom that held the West States over seven hundred years ago, but it fell to ruin and not even the best of adventurers knew where its remains were. That had Natarle's curiosity, as it was said they were both masters of technology and wizardry. Legends were traded of where the kingdom might have been, and what area of the seas west of the northern continent contained its remains. Natarle figured it more likely that one of these dread monsters Esper had destroyed it, which was less than an earth-shattering revelation in Natarle's mind. The tales of how destructive the Espers could be were already enough to chill the bones of the commanders, as some of them sounded as to have more power than necessary to sink the ship. And this was not even the worst of them, Natarle could sense.
In due time, the radio call came: "Captain, sensors, reporting enemy contacts rage sixty kilometers away at this time."
"Conn, Ramius, have Newman report to the castle keep with his long-arm," Murrue says.
"A little bit of 'insurance' against improper conduct from the enemy VIP," Natarle says in response to a raised eyebrow from the King.
"Ah," he replies as Miriallia confirms the orders and confirms that Newman was moving.
"Speaking thereof, why would Emperor's Retainer be coming here?" Murrue asks.
"I can think of only one cause: he is after the three Magitek troopers and their armor that he sent to Narshe," the Chancellor says.
"No, he's after the one surviving soldier, Terra. You do have her guarded by good hands, correct?" King Edgar says, looking to Commander La Flaga.
"Yes, she is in the care of the galley staff on the ship," Mu replies before taking a sip of some excellent local hot tea.
"The galley staff? An unusual place to hide someone," the Chancellor replies almost immediately.
"It is, yet the crew in the Galley has many options to conceal her, from disguise and tasking all the way to outright hiding her in secret areas that I might not be able to find her," Commander Badgiruel says. "And the Galley staff are themselves rife with surprises of their own, and all that on top of the fact that we're definitely not going to let Imperials on the ship willingly."
"Ah, if they can never get on the ship they will not find her until after it is too late?" King Edgar asks.
"Correct," Murrue replies. "Anyways, what is so special about her?"
"So far, I don't have a clue," Mu replies. "The Crazy Cook doesn't know, either," he appends after a few moments. As eyes wandered around the table for any idea, there was a wave of shrugs and nothing more. Nobody in the group could really figure out why she was so sought after by the Empire that one of their highest-ranked officers would come looking for her.
"We could ask?" Murrue finally opines.
"I see that working well," Natarle replies dourly. It went without saying that he would conceal the real reason he was after her.
"Worth a try, though," Mu says.
"I will deal with Lord Kefka," King Edgar says. "He has...a strange method of going about his tasks and whims, and it would be best if he sees no indication of your presence here," he notes afterward.
"If they are coming in from the south, then parking the ship north of the main castle body should be the best bet," Murrue says before picking up her radio from the table. "Conn, Captain, come back," she says.
"Reading five by five, Captain," Kuzzey says.
"Have Mina move the ship around the castle to park it directly north of the castle and behind the largest dune within twenty kilometers of it. Have Chandratta on standby, if things go to hell I want accurate and immediate support fire, over," she says.
"Roger that, Captain. Archangel will be moving in minutes," Kuzzey replies. "Archangel is out," he says.
"I really hate waiting, especially when the enemy displays frightening capabilities like the ability to move troops a quarter the way around the world instantly," Natarle says.
"It could be worse," Mu says in a cheery fashion.
"How?" Natarle says.
"At least they can't teleport a soldier into the hot springs or the showers," he says, which immediately engendered a disgusted groan from Natarle and giggles from Murrue.
-x-x-x-
Murrue was actually on top of the keep, looking down on the promenade where King Edgar would likely meet with Kefka. Murrue had requested it, just in case things went sour Newman had an excellent field of fire that he could use to keep the King out of trouble.
And an excellent weapon to go along with that field of fire. Days prior he had proved the power and accuracy of the Barret 50-caliber, he had even used it to take down a mastodon-looking local 'pet' of the Narshe Guard that was trying to run down the commando team and trample them. He had a barrel-mounted observer camera on his rifle, and the video of him taking down the enemies had hotly became a favored video of the crew, as it was morbid and violent and gave them a reason to brag about one of the helmsmen, which is not something that most naval crews around Existence would do. Not to mention it also showcased the whole spec ops team as they took down a large amount of Narshe's guards who had decided to jump them as well as their pet wolves.
A shotgun microphone had been set up and both Newman and Natarle had earphones to listen to the output.
"Tango has entered the promenade from the gatehouse," Newman says on the radio, which was on VOX due to the possible developing situation and the need to talk fast and in the clear.
"Ah, Lord Kefka, what brings you out to my humble abode?" King Edgar says as he approaches down the promenade. Unlike usual, he was armed this time, carrying a typical broadsword in a rather decorative sheath.
"Spare me the pleasantries, Edgar," Kefka replies. He was escorted by two of the Imperial troopers, nothing special (a smaller sword in sheath on each) and himself had a broadsword. "I am looking for a...missing trooper," he says in prompting to get down to business.
"This wouldn't happen to be anything to do with the supposed Magitek-riding witch people have been speaking of? The one that assaulted Narshe? Or would it be in reference to that craft that mauled the First Imperial pretty badly?" King Edgar asks in an entirely civil fashion.
"Lies, all of it!" Kefka replies angrily.
"Really," King Edgar replies, a clear tone of disbelief to voice. "Still and all, I need a little more information about this trooper before I can tell you if I have seen him or not," Edgar continues smoothly.
This King could sell a snail a bucket of salt and make a profit on the deal, Murrue thinks...
"No fooling, Captain," Newman replies to her apparently telepathically-broadcast commentary.
"Sorry about that, Newman," Murrue replies as Kefka was working his way through a description of Terra, right down to physical height and shoe size. "I get the feeling he's been rather involved with her..."
"That's fucking sick," Newman says. "She's way the hell too young for me, and he is older still," Newman says in a clearly disgusted fashion.
"I do not recall having seen anyone of that appearance, especially the green hair in this castle," and here Edgar looked toward one of the stairhouses to either side of the promenade, "Truly I wish I had, however..." Technically he was not lying, as Nicol had green hair but was also a guy and did not match that appearance, and Fuu had green hair but looked a lot more mousy than Kefka's description by a long shot, not counting her rather shapely figure that King Edgar had noticed but figured her already reserved.
"You are sure of this?" Kefka replies in a dangerous voice.
"Granted, Lord Kefka, there are more girls in this castle than grains of sand outside this castle, but someone of that striking an appearance would undoubtedly come to my attention with all due haste. No, I cannot help you there, Lord Kefka, I have seen no such person in the castle."
Kefka turns his back on the king, which was grossly uncivil in these circumstances. "I would hate to see anything happen to your precious Figaro..." he says before he waves the two troopers to follow him back into the gatehouse and presumably out of the castle.
"Sniper reporting tango is out of sights at this time," Newman says. "Good God, I wish I had green light," he says, referring to authorization to shoot a threat.
"He will live, for today, Newman," Murrue replies, rather infuriated by his attitude that Terra somehow belonged to him. "Keep that rifle cleaned and oiled, you'll get your chance," she adds after a moment. "Track them, make sure they do nothing hostile to the castle. If they so much as aim their weapons in this direction with fingers on the trigger, hammer them flat."
"Aye, Captain," Newman replies. "Sniper off the channel," he says before he turns his radio off VOX and onto push-to-talk mode.
Murrue had descended into the keep where King Edgar and the Chancellor were meeting with Locke. "...and be there in a week's time or thereabouts," King Edgar was heard to say as she approaches.
"Thankfully they did not notice the ship from the direction they came, or there would have been a lot more 'hostile' intentions on his part," the Chancellor says.
"And your take, Captain Ramius?"
Murrue's tact was dead simple: "I almost ordered my sniper to shoot him," she says. "Still, we do know he is after Terra for some reason, so denying her to their side is one of our objectives now."
"I would have been less than shocked if you did have your sniper shoot Lord Kefka," The Chancellor says. "Still, that open-ended threat he left us with is worrysome."
"He is unstable," Newman says as he comes down the stairs and into the room. "After he was outside the castle I turned the microphone on him, and he was going on about getting materials and authorization to set the castle on fire. We may want to have a guard detachment ready for that," Newman notes. There had been some discussion about how effective the massive Barret
"No, we will do something even better," King Edgar begins, then starts laying out his plan for action. The plan relied on sleight of hand as much as anything else...
-x-x-x-
"Conn, Sensors, I have missiles in flight, origin south of Figaro, intended destination Figaro," Sai notes to Mu, who had the Conn at this time.
"Battle stations," Mu orders; Sai immediately tripped the battle klaxon.
"Report," Murrue orders as she enters the Conn a matter of seconds later.
"Missiles fired on the castle, Captain. We tracked eight missiles, they detonated at 300 meters AGL over the castle," Sai says.
"Napalm attack," Natarle says, going on the thought that it would get an impressive pattern if detonated that high above the ground. Igniting it all would be a bit rough, though, which is probably why they used eight missiles instead of one.
"We wait for the signal," Murrue says. "I have the Conn," Murrue says as she pokes at Mu's side as signal for him to evacuate the Captain's chair.
"Aye, Captain has the Conn," he says as he clears out and heads for the lift down to the lower decks and the hangar beyond.
"Captain, I have activity in the area of the south-west end of Figaro, possible Magitek forces," Sai says. "Visual?"
"Main screen," Murrue orders. In three keystrokes the magnified view of Figaro was on the screen. "Thankfully they don't have night vision, or they would already have made us," she notes.
"Conn, Control, Gundams Aegis and Duel reporting ready op, Skygrasper is preflighting right now, Battlemechs are jump-starting from accumulator and will be ready in 15 seconds," Miriallia declares.
"Conn, CIC, Commando team reporting ready op," Natarle says. There had been no protest from the crew about the new addition to the galley staff, so far he was definitely pulling his weight with local cuisine. Not to mention Leafer tasted real good when prepared right, and this guy really knew how to do it.
"Elementals?" Murrue asks.
"They are on standby, ready op at this time," Natarle replies. "We're going to have to go shooting inevitably, so where do we begin?"
"Arm Valiants, missile tubes. Charge the Gottfrieds and deploy after others, Igelstellung grid active. Point Defense grid last," Murrue orders.
"Weapons spooling up now, Valiants showing green, Missile Tubes loaded with Sledgehammers all around, Gottfrieds are charging now, Igelstellungs are armed and ready, point defense grid is arming. No shoot-list loaded yet," Chandratta says.
"Conn, Sensors, I have low-level track on two Magitek armors at the southwest corner of the castle, not locked up yet," Sai notes.
"Roger that, Sensors uncage the laser designator but do not target yet. We're still waiting for the signal," Murrue says.
"Conn, sensors, severe seismic activity detected from Figaro," Sai says, getting a read from a part of the sensors that were not often deployed due to the ship doing a lot of hovering.
"Holy crap, the west and east towers on the castle are dragging inward," Natarle notes as they could barely see it on the visual from ten kilometers.
"Figaro submerge mode," Murrue says. "Helluva mechanical feature built into the castle, it actually runs along a tunnel and rails between several points around the world. When it gets to the end of the rails, it lifts up to above the sands."
"Interesting," Mu says, himself not privy to the concept until Murrue had said so. "So, how are we going to do this?"
"We move to and pick up the King and Locke after the castle is down and the Imperials give chase. We'll have very little time between, so you'd better be on top of your game, Chandratta," Murrue cautions.
"I'll do it with the Gottfrieds," Chandratta says, given that the cannons were the most accurate of the ship's guns at range. "Sensors, pass me control of the laser designator," he requests after a moment.
"It is yours," Sai says. "Conn, Sensors, I show two Chocobo with riders heading roughly east at this time," Sai notes. "Magitek forces are following, estimate intercept in one minute," Sai says.
"Tracking now," Chandratta says as he enters a thus-far unused mode of his weapons control systems. "Gottfried one, barrel one uncaged and maneuvering independently, laser designator active, tracking now," Chandratta mutters at his control panel while doing as he said. "Target painted, locked up," he says.
"Fire," Captain Ramius says.
A single beam struck out into the night air between two dunes that concealed the bulk of the ship's length. In less than a second the beam had transited the several-kilometer gap between ship and pursuing Magitek. The beam struck the enemy armor dead on, and being a 225-centimeter particle beam weapon, blitzed right through the bulk of the 300-centimeter-tall Magitek frame. The pilot had not even the time to scream before most of the matter in his body was flashed instantly to vapor; focused on running down the King and his escort, the pilot never even saw shot coming.
The second pilot was a veteran of a certain nasty campaign where he had seen a giant ship that floated above the ground, spitting death in fashions that he knew Magitek could not even match. He even doubted the power of an Esper to take down that ship, it was that powerful and tough. He instantly recognized the green beam as being one of the ship's most powerful long range weapons and brought his armor to a skidding halt. "Hell with this, I'm getting out of here!" he shouts over the roaring fire that was what was left of the lead armor.
"Target is stopped, retreating," Chandratta says as he watches the armor turn around and head for the one guy that was still standing around in the desert. "Should I shoot?"
"No, leave them, we terminated the pursuit. Our objective is completed," Murrue says. "Helm, bring the ship up, hook around to the east to intercept Locke and King Edgar," Captain Ramius says. She would never completely know the extent of how much trouble she could have saved herself by finishing the battle.
"Can do," Newman says. In moments the ship was up above the desert floor and turned east, with a judicious amount of engine power applied it was soon moving far faster than the bird that King Edgar was riding. "Bingo, we've outpaced him," Newman says after about two minutes.
"Set course 1-4-0 until we intercept their travel path," Murrue says. "Then bring her to a stop and land," she finishes up the order string. She picked up the growler phone and dialed in a combination. "Hangar area, after we land open the forward cargo doors and prepare to receive two on indigenous mounts," Murrue orders.
"Captain, we have intercepted their travel course. Distance to the King is 700 meters," Newman notes after a few minutes of flight. "Setting down now," he says as he begins pulling back on the Levitator output throttle. In moments the ship was sinking about a meter a second, until it landed and settled.
The sound of the forward vehicle and cargo doors opening could be heard throughout the hull, and Murrue watched the two Chocobo run up to and literally into the ship. "Captain, Hangar reports they have recovered King Edgar and Locke," Natarle notes as the doors begin closing.
"Have Mu see them to guest quarters for now," Murrue says. "Helm, bring the ship up to 200 meters and set your course 1-2-0 for now, ahead five percent. Natarle, you have the Conn, I am retiring to my quarters for the night," Murrue declares.
"Aye Captain, I have the Conn," Natarle says in response.
-x-x-x-
(4 days later, 17 March 986)
"Here's where it gets tricky," Mu says as he hauls back on the throttle to slow his rate of advance.
Kira's unit, the Warhawk, had already matched pace to Mu's Timber Wolf, and both were advancing more or less in line on the supposed enemy formation. They were working in simulation in hill terrain to sharpen up both Kira and Mu for the inevitable next encounter with the Empire, since they would have to invade Vector and there more or less was no chance of being able to negotiate an amicable settlement. Not to mention, Mu figured it best that someone stuffed the Empire, given how bloody their campaigns in Albrook and Tzen were. No pretensions here, people were dying in the Emperor's quest for power.
"Commander, contacts forward and left, forward, forward and right. We're heading straight in at them, are we sure we want to do it this way?" Kira asks.
"The Omnimechs should be able to survive is kind of a battle easily, even without support. We should be able to win this one," Mu says as they finally crest the hill and start seeing the simulated enemy formation. "Open fire, start moving left. We'll roll up their left flank and push them into the gulch," Commander La Flaga says.
"Roger that," Kira says as he activates his Large Pulse Lasers and ER PPCs. The combination was similar to the primary and much dreaded variant of the Warhawk, but traded in the top twenty percent of the damage potential for increased heat efficiency. Kira did not object to this, he preferred the thought of not having the full arsenal, as the inside of a Warhawk got real hot real fast even without the massive heat spike of the Primary.
Despite the rather noisy way Mu had taken out the vanguard and scouts, the enemy formation was caught unawares as the two Omnimechs crested the hill, and it showed as they reacted away from the hill badly as Kira fired both ERPPCs and one Large Pulse Laser at units farther up the next hill over, hoping to force them to split and thus divide their firepower. Initially it appeared that he was doing what he intended, as a rift started forming more or less down the center of the formation, though this was countered by Mu's use of LRMs on the forward left elements and the whole enemy formation began shifting right, away from the nastier of the two weapons salvos.
"Incoming," Mu says calmly as missiles start closing in on them, fired from the rear echelon of the enemy unit. Most missed, but as in a shotgun used on a distant target some were more or less expected to hit, and most of those were on Kira's unit. "You know, I've been thinking about switching weapons pods on my unit to something better suited for handling larger volumes of smaller targets," Mu thinks aloud.
"The A Variant on the Timber Wolf isn't half bad for close-in fighting," Kira says. "You just have to be careful not to overuse the PPCs," Kira cautions.
"I may talk to Murdoch about getting it set up after this," Mu says.
"Simulation cancelled," the computer in his Timber Wolf declares as his monitors all go dead.
"What the hell?" Mu says before he reads the cancellation reason. "Oh," he moans, looking outside to the assembling personnel. "Okay, c'mon Kira, we have a pow-wow to attend," Commander La Flaga says.
"You say so," Kira replies as he climbs out of the cockpit and starts down the rope ladder for the deck. Captain Ramius had issued a kill command for the sim mode on their machines, so...
The crew took no more than three minutes to assemble, including the new chef's assistant, and next to Captain Ramius and Commander Badgiruel was the King, the leader of the Returners, and Locke.
"I wonder what this is about?" Miriallia asks nobody in particular.
"No telling," Kira replies. Athrun simply grunts in response, thinking the same thing.
"You could always do some digging, Mir," Tolle says.
"No way," Miriallia replies. "I don't always like looking into your mind, and I know you well. What makes you think I want to dig around a complete stranger's mind?" The three Magic Knights had a bit of a giggle about Mir's comment, given that they were standing right behind Mir and Tolle.
Tolle clutches at his chest, somewhere near his heart, while making a dramatic moaning sound. "That...hurts, Mir," Tolle says.
"Sorry, Tolle, the truth hurts, so I can't help you there."
"Zero to brutal in one sentence," Yzak comments from Kira's far side from Tolle.
"You know, I think I like having an operator with a personality," Nicol notes. "ZAFT Operator training must have been engineered to suck the life out of the people who give us pilots orders."
"And why is that?" Athrun asks.
"Reminds me that there is a real person on the other side of the radio," Nicol replies almost immediately. "It helps," he adds.
"He's right," Athrun says. Miriallia blushed slightly about the overt compliment from the ZAFT pilots, but not severely.
"All right, settle down," Murrue orders. Within moments the whole crew was silent. "All right, people, we have determined that there is a possible way to get us home, back to the world from where we came," and the whole crew let out a massive cheer that lasted almost a minute. "Now, before we go off the deep end, I need to make this clear: this is a possible way to get home, not a guarantee that in X amount of time we will be back in the skies of Earth, CE 71. For this to work, a lot of breaks have to come our way, but to do that, we have to manufacture a bit of our own luck to even get the chance."
After the few murmurs calm, Murrue continues. "First off, and this is the most important part, we need to basically overthrow the Empire and kick them out of power. With them in play, there is no hop of us being able to even try to do this. To that end, we will sign a contract to support the Returners in their battle against the Empire, with compensation being operational supplies and the necessary facilities to complete what we must. Second, during the coup, we must make sure the Magitek Research Facility and the Teleport Generator are intact by the end of the shooting, or we're stuck here until those can be rebuilt. Third, once the Empire is gone certain persons in our ranks will attempt to repurpose the teleporter to transport us between dimensions to our home. This whole process is going to take time, both kicking the Empire out and rebuilding their machines to our needs. I'm talking years, here, people, but we have a chance of being able to do this."
"Say the word, Captain, and my team 'n' I'll go in and 'persuade' the Emperor to get lost," one of the Cooks says.
"It's not going to be that easy, specialist," Natarle replies. "We have to force the Empire to abdicate to the Returners, and that means all their forces, or we'll be busy fighting them the whole time we're trying to get home, clear?"
"Aye, Commander," the same cook replies.
"All right, people, for now we will do nothing except avoid direct confrontation with the Empire, though soon enough we will be gainfully employed and very active," Murrue cautions to some giggles here and there.
"Make sure all your gear is in working condition and get some rest, people. When the fighting starts, we likely will not stop until we've taken Vector and the Imperial Army stacks arms to surrender," Natarle says. "Dismissed," she says. The crew beings to break down and head back to their duty stations in a very cheery mood. It did not last long.
One of the Returners had entered the cargo doors of the ship, followed by a rather large and muscular man who was dragging a second Returner in a one-arm carry. Two other Returners followed, one of them looking like he had been brutalized with a wooden hammer, the other missing a hand and part of the associated forearm that had been replaced with a tourniquet. "What gives here?" Natarle asks sharply.
"Banon...I must speak to Banon..." the one that the large guy was dragging says.
"What?" Banon asks. "What happened?"
"The Empire...at Figaro...coming this way...unhhh..." the guy finishes collapsing, though he was being supported by the large guy. Kira figured him for some form of bodybuilder or martial artist.
"Medic! Up here!" Murrue shouts as the large guy lays him down. "He's lost a lot of blood," she says as she checks for a pulse and finds it very weak and thready.
"Jesus," the Doc says as he approaches. "Natalya, Pytor, give me a hand here," the Doc requests, and the two Bondsmen immediately move to assist him in loading him on a casualty stretcher brought up by one of the hangar techs.
"He wasn't lying," the large guy says as the Doc begins hauling him off with the help of the Clanners. "A Regiment of their troops appeared in the valley east of South Figaro and marched on the town with ten minutes warning. There was nothing they could do," he notes with a depressing shake of his head. "They won't be long in coming over Mount Kolts and heading for here; they probably know this craft is here, as well."
"And with the possible invasion of Doma to the east, we have three ways they can cause serious damage to a rebellion," Banon says. "The Esper in Narshe, take Figaro out of the picture and we lose comparable technology advantages, take Doma out and we lose some of the best soldiers aligned against them," he ticks the points off on one hand.
"Which is worse?" Natarle asks.
"They are all very bad, but the absolute worst has to be the Esper. If the Empire wakes it, it will tear a lot of the world to pieces in fury," Banon notes. Before anything else could be said:
"Sabin?" Edgar asks as he nudges forward, toward what sounded like a familiar voice. The large guy cringes visibly, himself recognizing the voice of the speaker.
Author's Chapter Afterword:
And just when you think it safe to relax and get back into the art of writing, some of your relatives WILL come up with a 'better plan' for you to execute. I planned on having this one something around 4 July, but nooooo...
The moral of the story: moving sucks. Even when the total distance you are moving is 125 yards west from your present residence.
Kind of a light chapter here, thin on battle but a definite bridge. Shortly shall the real action commence, as first the invasions have to be quelled and then Narshe defended against another, far heavier attempt to seize the Esper. Expect a lot of bloodshed in the next chapter, minimum, maybe as many as two chapters as I really unwind the might of the Empire and the Archangel. 'Bloodletting' would be a charitable term for the upcoming action, and not all of it on the side you would expect.
Other than this, I have not much else to comment on this chapter. Just stay tuned, the war without frontiers is about to really commence.
Up next: The Archangel is caught in a quandary, required to be in three places at once to deal with three separate incidents, can they do it?
Review Replies:
Six reviews initially to this chapter, and for that I thank you all.
Frasermage: Life or death are really just concepts without definition. How does one define life or death when you never really know where you are to begin with?
CHM01: Flat answer: You do NOT want to know what goes on inside my head, comrade. Actually, it was Natarle that was subject to King Edgar's try, but he got nowhere (like usual). Stay tuned, more on this subplot to come.
EtienneOfTheWestWind: of all the various injuries I have taken, not once have I been concussed. Still, Athrun remembers something of those last few moments, and he is not talking. As to the rest, I am unsure who would make a good female tech in any circumstance, since Terra is more military than technical. Miriallia, however is a possible. This bears reviewing.
TheGreenKnight63: Thank you, going out and shooting targets just does something for the soul. And yes, you will get some more badass enemies in the next few battles, but keep in mind the compliment of the Archangel is always improving, so this one can be a close engagement...
Nick012000: Code Geass has been on my list of anime to pick up for some time, only problem is that these things known as 'bills' keep getting in the way. That and the ammo expenses I incur in the course of writing an average chapter. Still and all, if the mass of one of these Knightmare Frames is equivalent to its size when compared to a Gundam, the Duel could pick one up and drop-kick it FTW. That would definitely be a psychological detriment to anyone that pissed Yzak off :P
Knives91: You expected any different from the cooks after the incident with the light machine gun back when there was a near-mutiny on the Archangel? These guys know their shit, and not even Murrue knows what all they are capable of.
The Gripe Sheet:
There is one outstanding gripe from last chapter, whereby after Athrun was injured I had him mounting his Gundam in full battle gear to defend the first expedition to Figaro. I modded this to show that Kira had mounted the Aegis, borrowing it from Athrun while he was laid up. I figured this the most logical of all options. Much thanks to Etienneofthewestwind for pointing that out, I missed it on my read-over before posting.
In clarification to CHM01's question, no, Flay is not out of the brig and she does not have her Kodachi back. The dice are still on standby to determine her fate after she is released.
Footnotes:
(1): Machine Address Code. This is a unique hardware ID on network cards, designed to prevent addressing conflicts since there are only so many IP addresses available under the IPv4 standard. Every network card has a unique (in theory) MAC, listed as xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx, where each x is a hex number (0-9 plus A, B, C, D, E, F). In theory, there are a possible 4 billion, 294 million unique addresses using present MAC systems.
(2): a crenelation is the raised part of a castle wall that people hide behind to avoid arrows or gunfire. It makes the wall look kind of like it has a sawtooth edge on top. Crenelations can also have an arrow slit or crossbow slit in them, allowing the trooper behind them to fire a bow at people on the ground with far less hazard of being shot back at and struck by return fire.