"Why so glum? You look like you've just seen the end of the world." Alkire asked Murrue as she walked past him to sit in the row of seats just in front of him. He ignored the glare that she shot him in reply. "Oh come on, don't be like that... if I can smile with four bullet holes in my chest and one of my best friend's dead, so can you!"
"We lost the war." Murrue said witheringly. "My ship has been confiscated and I've been stripped of command. I've been discharged from the military and exiled from my home planet. The country I fought so desperately to preserve is even now being divided into two areas by race, and the Coordinators are being shipped up to the PLANTS like they were condemned criminals. Everything I've fought for since the beginning of even the first war has been for nothing. So I'm sorry, but I don't see myself smiling much, thank you."
"Goddamn, you people are good at focusing on the negative things. We lost our ship, our mobile suits, our weapons, our vehicles, our homes... we lost everything... even our pride and principles! But we didn't lose one thing... the most important of all! We DIDN'T lose our lives! And because we're all still alive, we can go on. We can start anew! The war is lost... but that doesn't mean everything is over! For fuck's sake, I didn't bleed all over creation just so we could give in to despair!" Alkire coughed thickly, his chest thickly padded with bandages and sterile wraps. "I ain't giving up, even if all you bastards quit on me!"
"Admirable sentiment, but really, what can we do?" Dearka shot back, sitting across the aisle of the surface to orbit shuttle. "We haven't got jack for resources, we're all hurt and the enemy has massively overwhelming manpower and now he's got all our technology too! I'm no defeatist, but I know when I got my ass kicked!"
"So it got kicked... big fuckin deal!" Alkire coughed violently again. "Mark of a true fighter is coming back for more AFTER getting yer ass kicked!"
"I really never thought I'd find myself agreeing with you on a personal level..." Lacus spoke up from the back of the shuttle, where Kira's bed was situated along with a large portion of their luggage. It had been only a little more than a day since the Clyne Faction and Orb had surrendered to the Isolationist task force. Sai certainly ran a organized government, if nothing else. They were disarmed, interviewed, patched up, told to pack and escorted to a staging area within hours of signing the articles of surrender. A brief stay at the staging area allowed them to gather personal effects from Alkire's bunker house under heavy guard, and from there they went directly to the spaceport, where they boarded the shuttle and were re-united with Kira, who was still unconscious, if otherwise reasonably healthy. "... but you're correct. This fight is not over yet. I may have surrendered, because there was no other choice besides dying uselessly, but as long as I live, I will not accept the Isolation as a solution to lasting Coordinator-Natural relations. I'm not sure how, yet, but I will find a way to oppose Sai and his Plan."
"And I have a date to curb stomp his degenerate ass!" Cagalli shouted from the other side of the bed. "This is twice he's messed with members of my family and I still haven't got him for the first time! There's no way I'm letting this fight be over yet."
"I'm no more pleased by how that battle turned out than anyone else. But we can look at it like we got beaten and lost... or we can look at it like we chose to move the fight to a different level, at least for a while." Athrun put in. "ZAFT has yet to officially surrender, which means someone in the PLANTS has a plan. And the PLANTS won't run out of supplies for a few months yet... we have time to recover, to think, to plan, to decide. Right now, we just have to take our lumps and get on with life, like Alkire has said. Me, I think I could use a few weeks break from everything... come back with a new perspective."
"Would you all shut the fuck up? I'm trying to get into a good blue funk over here, and I can't do it with all you people being so goddamn uplifting!" Ysak yelled from the front row opposite Murrue.
"Aww, Ysak-y, don't hide it! You just wanna see your mommy again soon." Katie admonished him with a cheerful face. Inside she was still in major turmoil over Victor's death, but if Lacus and Cagalli could put on good faces, damn it, so could she. "Don' wowwy, eveting' be jus' fine, Ysak-y!"
"Don't take that tone of voice with me! Especially that loud! We're in a public shuttle for god's sake!"
"Kids, kids... quiet down, please! I'm trying to sleep over here! God knows its the first time I been able to get some decent rest!" Waltfeld joined the conversation at the top of his lungs. "I'm so sleepy, since those bastards confiscated my coffee making kit... I can't live normally without that caffeine!"
"You never lived normally WITH that caffeine!" Miriallia pointed out. And from there it turned into a free for all of released tension and friendly insults
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"Tell me again who just lost a major battle?" Sergeant-Major Thomas Glory shut the cockpit door, after peeking back into the raucous madhouse the passenger spaces had become. "They certainly don't act defeated."
"Does Sai cry about setbacks?" Cyprus asked in reply, finishing the last of the pre-flight checklist. They could have had anyone take the Clyne Faction prisoners up to the PLANTS... but Sai wanted to be ENTIRELY sure no funny business went on, so he'd assigned Cyprus, Glory and Ramierez to the job. Overkill perhaps, but no one knew better than Sai how good his friends were at beating long odds. "These are all people cut from the same mould as him. Which is why we're escorting them, not a group of FAGGs."
"Thats one of the longest sentences I've ever heard you say on the job, sir." Glory pointed out with a grin at Ramierez.
"Should have heard him when he talked down Lacus Clyne. Madre de Dios! I thought we were all going to die, but the Lieutenant... he didn't even blink!" Ramierez replied with an answering grin. "And the speech... my god, he thrashed her! Maybe we should report him for assaulting a minor!"
Cyprus ostentatiously checked the play of his pistol in its holster, cutting down dramatically on the ribbing from his subordinates. Not that he was particularly embarassed about breaking his usual quiet streak... but he couldn't let them think they could just poke fun at him either.
"I still don't know if I can believe you about that. You could look for a hundred years and not find a girl as kind and gentle as Lacus Clyne... how could you possibly feel threatened by her?" Glory asked after a few moments.
"Go point a gun at Kira's head and find out, sarge-major. But aiieee... let me get a few kilometers away first." Ramierez replied, suppressing a shiver as he recalled the memory. "I'm not scared of much... but I will never, EVER anger Lacus Clyne, if I can avoid it. She was IN my head. If she'd asked me to, I would've blown my own balls off! And not in the good way!"
"I talked with Ashino." Cyprus threw out suddenly, while they waited for traffic control to give them the green light for launch.
"And?" Glory and Ramierez chorused after several seconds pause. "Come on, sir, don't make us drag it out of you phrase by phrase." Glory pleaded.
"Yeah! What did Markov have to say?" Ramierez wheedled.
"Not much." Cyprus let them hang for a moment. "From what he did know, apparently Lacus Clyne is something called a "Newtype". An Active Newtype. Most everyone is not a Newtype... Newtypes call regular people "Stumps", because we have no sensitivity to mental abilities. A very small fraction of people are Latent Newtypes. Kira and Ysak apparently are such. Latent's are very open to mental abilities, though they have none of their own. And then the rarest of all are Actives, like Lacus and the girl Katie Belaruse."
"You mean there's two of them?" Ramierez shivered again. "This is all really hard to believe, sir! If I hadn't been possessed by one, I never would have believed it!"
"I don't believe it. Sorry sir, but telepathy and psychics... thats fantasy. I don't know what sorta trick she pulled on you two... can't even think of ANY trick that would work on you, sir... but..."
"I'm not lying, Thomas." Cyprus said flatly. "I didn't want to believe it either. But when I met her gaze, she was in my head. Without the training I put myself through, I would have been just as helpless as Ramierez was."
"Speaking of, you really have to share some details on your training sometime, sir. Sorry, tangent." Ramierez withered under the stare from his boss.
"Okay... say I do accept the existence of psychics or Newtypes or whatever they call themselves. Why haven't I heard of them before? What can they do?" Glory pressed.
"I don't have an answer for either of those. For once, I know just as little as you two."
"Hey, was that a put down?"
"That's not very nice, sir!"
"This is Victoria traffic control. Shuttle twelve, you are clear for launch, all systems green. See you in a few days."
"Shuttle twelve, clear for launch, all systems green." Cyprus confirmed. He took the control yoke in both hands and started flipping ignition switches.
"All engines reading powered up and... nominal. Runway is confirmed clear. Radar shows clear along projected flight path." Glory reported.
"All exterior hatches sealed and airtight. All interior hatches sealed and airtight. Passenger seatbelts... engaged. Ventilation systems engaged. We are now on ships air and the recyclers." Ramierez added.
"Taking off." Cyprus said, setting the shuttle in motion, taxiing into position on the end of the runway.
"Taking off aye." His subordinates chorused. Then they were all crushed back into their seats by the acceleratrion as the shuttles main thrusters fired and sent them roaring down the elevated runway and then up and out into space, just one of hundreds of shuttles from around the world engaged in near round the clock runs, ferrying Coordinators and their families off of Earth.
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Two steps out from the spaceport on Aprilius One, as soon as they got a good view of the interior of the PLANT, Katie whirled and smacked Ysak across the back of his head with her open palm. "Ahg! What the hell? I didn't say anything! I didn't even THINK anything!" Ysak protested. Even as he did so, he looked around. Thing's looked pretty normal. Well, there were a lot more people around, but no rioting crowds, no bums begging on the streets, no signs of unrest or privation. The air was cleaner than he remembered, or maybe it was just the difference between Earth air with its centuries of pollution and accumulated greenhouse gases and PLANT air, filtered and eighty percent recycled every twelve hours. Looking down from roughly twelve kilometers up on the number two continent on the PLANT, his current "down", with continent number one "above" him on the other side of the space port, Ysak reflected that he'd almost forgotten what it was like to be home, really home.
"You neglected to mention that you LIVED IN PARADISE!" Katie admonished him fiercely.
"What do you mean?" Ysak asked, confused. It was a PLANT, and not even one of the more decorative ones. Aprilius One was the heart of the political and administrative bereaus running the PLANTS. It had been designed for form and functionality above all else, and was about as nondescript a PLANT enivornment as they came. Each continent was a circle ten kilometers in diameter, the land usually broken up into several island clusters by large lakes and rivers where the fresh water for the PLANT was stored when not in active use. There were a few parks, small forests and plenty of open space... but it had nothing on Earth, where you could stand at the top of a tall mountain and see nothing but ground in all directions for farther than you could see. Or where you could be flying at an altitude of ten thousand feet and still see nothing but water in all directions, knowing that the actual ground was a good thirty thousand or more feet below you. Hell, he'd flown over individually owned private property on Earth that encompassed more land than a PLANT contained! He didn't see what was so cool, cool enough to earn a slap on the head for not mentioning.
"Gah... geh... grr! Isn't it obvious?" Katie retored, sweeping her arms to encompass the whole PLANT. "The air is so pure and fresh, not even a hint of smog! The temperature is perfect mid-tropical spring, feels like about eighty fahrenheit, even at this height! Just enough breeze so that you don't get overheated walking around! White sand beaches, crystal clear water, sailboats, open space and trees and parks... we're in space, damn it! It's right out there!" Katie pointed dramatically at the glass wall a few hundred meters away, through which the infinite darkness of space was impossible to miss. "I've never been to a place so beautiful, even in my dreams! Are the PLANTS all like this?"
"Most of them are a lot nicer than this one." Dearka replied. "Aprilius has always been... dreary, almost. Everyday. Plain, I guess. It's a politician's city, designed for cost effectiveness, not beautification."
"This is a plain city..." Katie trailed off. She rounded on Ysak again. "Oooh! I should throw you over the edge! How could you keep something like this from me?"
"I don't understand what you're talking about! You never asked me anything specific about the PLANTS, I'd figured you'd seen pictures or videos." Ysak looked around at all the curious stares from passersby and his cheecks flushed slightly. "You're making a scene!"
"Well, I kind of understand where she's coming from." Cagalli commented to Athrun as they watched the antics of Katie and Ysak from a discreet enough distance that they could deny knowing them. "An environment like this would be a paradise spot on Earth. I have seen pictures and video, but it really doesn't capture just how spectacular and unique a PLANT is, from the inside."
"We've been to plenty of spots on Earth that are just as beautiful as this." Athrun replied, slightly bemused as well. This was a really ho-hum city, he was a little off guard at the reaction too.
"Yes, but they're all overbuilt tourist traps, where most people only go once or twice in their lifetimes, because of how expensive it is to live there permanently. This is your everyday life, Athrun, its obvious from how normal you see it. The PLANTS are a twenty four seven cruise vacation, at least in looks." Cagalli looked around herself. The disembarking concourse and overlook was busy, but not overflowing. She didn't see any signs of unrest or hardship yet. Everyone looked happy, or at least not unhappy. She'd never seen such a bewildering array of hair and eye colors before, especially with certain skin pigmentations. She was feeling kind of dumpy with just blond hair and golden brown eyes and pale skin. On an intellectual level she knew that people didn't generally have purple-blue hair and piercing emerald green eyes, like Athrun did, but compared to some of the combinations she could see, Athrun looked positively everyday!
"It can be a little overwhelming at first, I guess, if you're not used to it." Athrun noticed her wide eyed looking around. "Though now I'm debating if I should even take you to some of the party spots Dearka used to drag us to... people have certain limits to how they can look on the streets after all... limits that don't always apply in the clubs and dance halls. I would hate to offend your delicate sensibilities."
"Just by saying that, you know very well we no longer have any option but to go." Cagalli retorted. Before they could continue their banter, Alkire and Raine made their way over to them. Athrun wasn't sure who was leaning on who for support, or if they were leaning on each other. He knew they were both probably better off in wheelchairs, not lugging armfuls of luggage around in even the near micro-gravity of the disembarking concourse, but from the looks on their faces he determined that keeping his silence was a good idea.
"Well, looks like here is where we're going to part ways, at least for a while like we agreed." Alkire said with a crooked smile. Crooked because he was trying not to scream like a baby from the pain in his chest... his painkillers had worn off shortly after the shuttle docked and the pills were packed deep in his luggage, which he didn't want to spread all over creation digging through... not least because despite severe security precautions down on Earth, he had managed to smuggle away a few goodies that would be hard to explain to authority types on the PLANTS.
"You two sure you're going to be okay by yourselves?" Athrun asked, looking them up and down, at how they were swaying slightly on their feet and covered in yards of bandages and sterile wraps. "The PLANTS can be a overwhelming place to experience for the first time, especially without a guide." Shortly after they'd reached orbit and started heading for the PLANTS, everyone had gotten together to discuss just what they were going to do. They couldn't make any mention of any plans to return to Earth, because of the three Hellhounds no doubt eavesdropping on them from the cockpit, so they focused their talks on what they would do for their "enforced vacation" instead. So many different ideas were tossed out that eventually everyone just decided to split up for the first two weeks, after which they would re-unite and go from there. The question had been raised of where people would stay, but with roughly half the party having homes... often large ones by PLANT standards... it was deemed it probably wouldn't be much of an issue after all. Just about the only people who couldn't bum a place to stay from a friend or lover were Alkire and Raine, who assured everyone they would be more than fine by themselves, despite their injuries.
"I think we'll manage somehow, thank you though." Raine answered. "I never thought I'd get to vacation in the PLANTS, and I'd like to get the full tour in, just in case I never get to come back. No offense, but I don't think that would be possible if we had to deal with a pair of starry eyed teenagers."
"Yowza! Green hair, red eyes, black skin! Nice color combination. Our children HAVE to be Coordinators!" Alkire was likewise looking around with a slightly agape jaw like Cagalli had been. "I wonder if its a sixteen color menu, or if you get a full 256 color deluxe palette?" He noticed the sour look on Athrun's face. "Oh... no offense... didn't mean to make it sound like I was designing a doll or anything."
"I need to get him out of the public eye before he gets lynched." Raine said. She thrust a backpack at Athrun. He took it, with an eyebrow raised questioningly. "This should help cushion the resource impact of starting life up here again."
Athrun unzipped the bag slightly and peered inside. His eyebrows both tried to climb into his hairline. "Is this completely filled with money?" Athrun hefted the bag experimentally. In the full gravity of the city levels, it would probably weigh close to ten or fifteen pounds if not more. Raine nodded nonchalantly. Athrun reached in, looking around cautiously, as he didn't want to draw too much attention to the fact he was holding a fifteen pound bag of solid paper money... street crime was almost unknown on the PLANTS... but that was a lot of money. He brought one neatly wrapped stack of money into the light so he could see it better, and his knees nearly gave out. "Are these ALL hundreds?" He asked, his voice strangulated.
"Well, we won't be seeing you for two weeks. I couldn't live with myself if you guys ran out and were forced to actually WORK for a living during your vacation." Alkire said with a smile and a wink. "Of course, if you don't WANT it, I'll be glad to take it back. There are casino's in the PLANTS right? I could always use more capital."
"No, that's all right. I'm not too proud to turn away free money." Cagalli snatched the bag out of Athrun's hands. "Just how rich ARE YOU, Alkire?"
"Just how much do you weigh, Cagalli?" Alkire asked back. He laughed when she scowled. "First rule... never ask a woman how much she weighs. Second rule... never ask a mysterious benefactor just how rich he is. It's just passe. Now you two have the time of your goddamn lives, you understand? I'll see you in two weeks, right here, got it? Now let me go distrubute the other care packages. Lacus already has hers, in case you were wondering." Alkire said with a wide grin. It was only then that Athrun noticed Alkire had three identical bags still clutched under one arm. His mind could not help but run a quick calculation. One Earth dollar was worth roughly .84 PLANT dollars, though most stores and businesses still accepted either type of paper. Each billstack had two hundred fifty bills in it and weighed about a quarter pound... damn that was more than one and a quarter million dollars each! No, they wouldn't be running out of money... Athrun couldn't even begin to imagine spending a tenth of that amount in just fourteen days. But then again... there was Cagalli to consider...
"Well... I... thanks, Alkire. I'll try and return what's left... after..." Athrun started to say, slightly tongue tied by the massive generosity. Alkire headed him off by throwing up a hand.
"Nah, nah, nah... thats not how this works. That's paper cash there... it doesn't belong to me. Belongs to whoever's holding it. That's why cash is beautiful. If that was my credit card, sure... but paper money... far as I'm concerned its pre-spent, capiche?" Alkire assured him. "Goddamn, don't be selfless for once in your life. Lacus was the same way!" Lacus had left directly to a connecting shuttle flight headed to Februarius City, where Kira would be sent to the finest hospital the PLANTS had for further treatment. Athrun had been wondering who was going to pay for that, since medical care in the PLANTS was only government covered if you were a registered citizen, which Kira was not. But that question was now comprehensively answered. If Alkire could afford to just hand out one and a quarter million in pure cash, paying for medical care was not going to be a problem. It made Athrun wonder, just where had Alkire gotten all this money from... he doubted it was from entirely legal business. But that was a question for another time.
Without further ado, and only a simple good by wave, Alkire and Raine left Athrun and Cagalli standing there, holding the bag in a manner of speaking, both momentarily rooted to the ground with shock. They only roused themselves when they heard the muffled half shouts of surprise from the others as Alkire finished delivering his "care packages", which suddenly presented each couple, or trio in the case of Murrue, Waltfeld and Kisaka, with more hard cash immediately on hand than they'd ever seen in their entire lives. Cagalli smiled, patting the bag fondly. She'd grown up a spoiled rich girl, well not totally spoiled but priviliged, certainly. If there was one thing she knew how to do in civilian life, it was spending money to have a good time. It had been ages since she'd last had the opportunity, and now she had Athrun to spend on too. A wicked smile crept across her face. She wondered if Alkire could be persuaded to part with more of his apparently limitless supply of money.
"All right, we need to get going, before that smile gets too entrenched in your brain." Athrun kept a wary eye on Cagalli as he gathered up their luggage, which was fortunately just a large duffel bag each... the Isolationists hadn't given either of them time to comprehensively pack. "Give me the backpack for safekeeping."
"It's perfectly safe in my hands." Cagalli said sweetly. "So which way to the December city shuttle terminal?"
"Cagalli... thats a lot of money... we really don't want to lose that..." Athrun tried to edge closer to her so he could make a snatch for the bag... he knew he could take it from her if he could only get a good grip. He didn't know why, but the look on Cagalli's face when she realized she had a moderate fortune in easily spendable bills in her hands made him sure that it was in his best interest to be the responsible parent who handled money situations.
"Only thing that's going to get lost is your hand, if you make a grab for the bag." Cagalli countered, edging away from him even as he moved closer. "Alkire said he wanted us to have the time of our lives, and of the two of us I know best how to spend money to make that happen, alright, honey-dear?"
"Don't call me honey-dear, unless you want me to start bringing out the pet names too." Athrun replied. He waited a few beats. "Dawn-chan."
"You're not Japanese, don't butcher the honorifics! The bag is mine, that's final! Now where's the shuttle terminal, before we miss our connection flight?"
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"I can't believe you wouldn't even let me off for an hour while we refueled, sir." Ramierez only half mock whined. Glory could almost swear the latino was brushing tears out of one eye. "I've never been to the PLANTS before, and with the Isolation I probably never will get another chance!"
"You're wearing an Isolation uniform, Ramierez. I don't think you'd be very popular." Glory pointed out.
"I planned ahead! I'm wearing civilian clothes underneath! I had it all planned out! I even knew which beach I was going to! You've broken my heart, sir! Don't you have ANY idea how beautiful those Coordinator college coeds ARE?" Ramierez pounded his head into his console desk and ran both hands through his short cropped black hair in obvious frustration.
"This is work. Indulge your voyeuristic proclivities on your own time, corporal." Cyprus replied dryly, as the Aprilius colony cluster began receeding behind them.
"How beautiful we talking here, just hypothetically speaking?" Glory asked after a few moments. Cyprus rolled his eyes, though neither of his subordinates could see it.
"Think Lacus Clyne, but twenty, tanned, single, wanton and clad in skimpy bikinis!" Ramierez sobbed. "As single men, we have missed out on a literal El Dorado!"
"Damn, I had no idea! That SUCKS!" Glory complained. "Why didn't you tell me sooner, corporal? You got somethin against your sarge-major, that you're now hiding pertinent info from him?"
"When the girls are that HOT, TWO is a CROWD, sarge-major, I'm sorry! I couldn't take the risk of having competition!"
"If you had taken the risk, at least there would have BEEN A COMPETITION, ya numbskull! Instead, you kept yer trap shut and we got to oogle a bunch of automated dock refuelling robots! You're on my shit list now, corporal! You can expect latrine duty when we get dirtside!"
"I even had a camera! Oh dear God, why must you torment me so terribly? Even Ashino has a girlfriend when I do not! What's next... is the Lieutenant going to get a girl before me too? I don't know if I could live with that!"
"If you really want to go back so badly, feel free to get out here. But I can't let you take any government property with you. That includes the E.V.A. suits." Cyprus told them both darkly. "And what, precisely, makes you think I would have trouble finding female companionship, corporal?"
"Well... uh, I... I don't quite know how to say this... sir. Permission to speak... freely?"
"Where would you run, anyways, corporal?"
"That's as much of a yes as you'll get." Glory said helpfully. It wasn't often he had time to poke fun at his entirely too serious superior and friend. But apparently even Cyprus Finch could find a little time to relax now that the war was all but officially over.
"Well sir, no offense intended... but in most public situations you do tend to end up coming across as... dour."
"Unpersonable." Glory added.
"Even actively unfriendly." Ramierez continued. "Unless someone knows you really well, you appear uncommunicative, introverted, uninterested and antisocial. I can't claim to be around you twenty four seven, sir, but I can prolly manage twenty hours a day six days a week and eighteen on sunday, so you don't have much time away from me."
"Plus he looks weird."
"Well, I wasn't going to go that far, but if you've already brought it up, sarge-major..." Ramierez and Glory kept careful watch on their superior officer, sitting only a few feet in front of them. It was impossible to tell what the expression on his face was while he was facing the controls, but both men could put out a reasonable guess. The Lieutenant didn't have too many different facial expressions. Grim patience, dissapointed frown, wintry half smile, composed neutrality... and that was about it. "... I might as well hit on your taste in clothing sir. Though it may match your hair and eyes, grey is NOT a fashion statement and neither, in most cases, are uniforms."
"It wouldn't kill you to get a tan either, sir I know you can tan, I've seen you do it on missions. Why the nordic pale look? With your hair and eyes, it makes you look washed out. Colorless. Hell, sir, I mean this entirely platonically, but if you got a tan, grew your hair out a bit and let Ramierez and I dress you a bit, you could probably model on the front page of magazines like "Men-Monthly" or "Fitness", you know?" Glory knew he wouldn't get many chances like this one, so he was opting to push the line as much as possible.
"You just don't seem to make the effort to make yourself attractive to women sir. You're a pupae in a land of butterflies. Thats what I meant by being distressed if you found a girlfriend before me. I'm actively looking, and I'm a sexy latino devil, who knows fashion and culture."
"You two have any other last words or comments?"
"That's a very threatening way to phrase that question, sir."
"Her name is Wrenn. Wrenn Nostaliviche." Cyprus answered. There was a long silence.
"What, you mean like the Slavic international star goth-industrial singer? The Goddess of Dark Ice? Lead singer of the legendary female band Avaunte Noctem? The svelte girl with raven wing dark hair to her knees and eyes of silver-blue? The one with the voice that curls your toes and other parts even if can barely hear it over the bass? The one who always wears those oh-so-nearly-transparent-gowns? THAT Wrenn Nostaliviche?" Ramierez sputtered.
"..."
"FUCK YOU, SIR!"
"I didn't know you listened to goth-industrial, sir." Glory was actually learning something new. And making a few connections he hadn't made before. "So that's what you mean when you say you're going to the "Eastern European Range" for "Urban Assault Training"! I knew there was something suspcious about that when I never got any invites!"
"I don't believe it! I refuse to believe this travesty!" Ramierez moaned and griped. There was a rustle of cloth from the pilot seat, and the brief slap of skin on leather. And then a folded piece of photo paper twirled through the microgravity towards the two enlisted Hellhounds.
"I want that back in mint condition." Cyprus said coldly. Ramierez snatched the paper out of the air, though he was still careful not to crinkle it. He didn't want to believe it, but he also really didn't want to make his boss upset with him. Glory was already hovering over his shoulder as Ramierez slowly turned the paper over so it would be rightside up when he unfolded it and stared at the handwritten note on the back.
"To my most precious fan Cy, the brightest star in my dark nights. Hope to see you soon, my lovely tree-bird-kun, Wrenn Nostaliviche." Glory read softly. "Even I don't call you Cy off duty, sir." Tree-bird-kun is it?
"Nobody but her has permission." Ask about the tree-bird-kun. I dare you.
Ramierez unfolded the picture and stared. "Fuck you, sir." He repeated, shaking his head slowly from side to side. Even as he did so, he surrepitiously fingered the mini-digital camera in his pants pocket, edging it slowly out to clear the optics. Finally, he had actual physical proof that the Lieutenant was not a supernatural being or ghost. A picture of this picture, which was definitely of Wrenn Nostaliviche, clad in a reddish tinged translucent shoulderless wrap-dress that barely managed to contain her near perfect chest and was stretched tight over her taut stomach... Ramierez had to count to four to stop devouring the picture with his eyes... with her arms around a man who was undeniably Cyprus Finch in black slacks and a red silk amani shirt with half the buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, with an actual honest to God sunny smile on his face... this proof was worth thousands of hours of swapping out of shitty duty with other Hellhounds in exchange for just a glimpse of this evidence. Ramierez snapped a couple of quick shots, hoping at least one would turn out in a distinguishable manner, coughing to hide the minute whirr of the camera electronics.
"Wrenn Nostaliviche is infamous for not signing autographs. Do you have any idea how many thousands of dollars the back of this photo is worth, sir?" Glory asked slowly, holding the paper almost reverently. "Even a photo copy could fetch two grand, easy." Wonder when "tree-bird-kun" had this picture taken. And where. Doesn't look like Eastern Europe.
"Do you have any idea how long it would take me to eject you both in three seperate pieces... skin, meat and bones... from the airlock if you try and take that anywhere near a copier?" Cyprus replied. You won't be able to figure anything out from the background, Thomas.
"I think we can leave both guesses safely in the realm of imagination, sir." Ramierez replied with a gulp. He nudged Glory with one elbow and flicked his eyes at the barely visible camera. Glory flipped the photo around so the signature was facing the camera. Ramierez coughed again to disguise the camera noise. "Dang shuttle air, always gets to my lungs."
"Here you go, sir. I am in awe." Glory handed the photo back to his superior, who rapidly put it back into the secret slit it occupied in his wallet. Cyprus had to fight for a moment to keep his face straight as he listened to Glory and Ramierez whisper about how unfair life was. "I don't suppose we could uh... you know... get an intro to her, or anything? I'm not a rabid fan, but... damn, shes got some good songs sir." When did this start? How deep is the relationship? Why do I care so much? Damn it, sir, I hate your mind games!
"And the other girl's in Avaunte Noctem aren't exactly hard on the eyes either! I'd give my left... left kidney... yeah... to get to chat with the band." Ramierez added, suddenly hopeful. It did help to know people with connections.
"Wrenn and I are not a dating service. In fact, we're not even a public couple. That is understood by everyone in this cockpit, isn't it?" Happy Thomas? Are you going agonize over every detail of my life in a new light now, pal? I know you're OC like that.
"Perfectly sir!" Glory replied at once. "My lips are sealed." If he knows I can't leave this alone... why did he admit to anything? Why not just take the ribbing? Is he trying to ease us into something?
"Black as a mission order, sir!" Ramierez seconded.
"Thank you." Cyprus let them relax a bit. "I'll give you two options, Ramierez." It's just a mutual destressor, Thomas. You don't need to go tabloid over this.
"Sir?"
"Option one. We can all continue to pretend like I don't know you took pictures of this very private and dear token of love between me and Wrenn. If we do that, however, once we return to Earth, I will personally ensure that your life is so full of hellish duties no member of the Hellhounds would dream of swapping duties with you, and I will at the same time ensure you are so overworked that you have no time to do anything besides eat, sleep and work, which will put a dramatic dent in your own efforts to find any love your own hands can't give you. Or, option two, you can place that camera and any data storage devices I might even begin to suspect held photos of my keepsake on my chair before I return from the head and we can all live life normally." Cyprus stood up and headed aft without a further word, or even a glance. Though Wrenn would be highly complimented if I tell her how many die hard fans there are in the Hellhounds.
"Fold. You can't win." Glory recommended as soon as the cockpit door shut. Fucking hell... just when I think I have tabs on him...
"But sarge-major... this is... this is..."
"I know what it is. And we both know how far he'll go to protect it. Better to surrender this battle and wait for a time when the advantages aren't all on his side, like after we land on Earth. The important thing is, we two know he's got a social life. We can work with that. Get other proof. Come in and solve the problem from another angle. But you can't do that if he's riding your ass into the ground, which he will do without hesitating until you become a Ramierez-zombie." I won't be able to contentrate for the rest of the fucking day. Damn you sir, you didn't even say anything and you STILL got the last word!
"You have a way with words, sarge-major." Ramierez slowly and painfully took the camera and data sticks he'd palmed and put them on the pilot's chair. It was as he was sitting back down that a sudden thought struck him. "Say... you don't think those Clyne Faction bastards were thinking along those lines, do you?"
"Hmm?"
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"So we're agreed then?"
"We don't have any other choice."
"But the collateral damage will be..."
"There is no other choice."
"How long to be ready?"
"We're working around the clock, but events have outpaced us. A month at least to reach the required amount of devices. Maybe a week more for the delivery system."
"How long can we last?"
"We have enough food supplies for our normal population and the extradites for two months at a stretch. No more."
"That's cutting things close. If the project suffers any setbacks..."
"I know. But we don't have any other options."
"And the effect is assured? We're only going to get one shot at this."
"It's a proven technology, we're just expanding the scope. The "Angry Sky" mechanisms are more than powerful enough to achieve the effect we desire. Blanket coverage is assured with twelve units, but we're producing twenty just in case of malfunctions or interdiction efforts."
"To think that its come to this..."
"Orb didn't last nearly as long as we predicted. Hard luck for us all."
"It's us or them. There is no other way to look at it now. And this is a lot more merciful than GENESIS."
"We're ending an entire civilization! Can something like that be decided by just twelve of us?"
"It has to be. So we are in agreement? Speak now if you dissent." There was a long silence.
"Very well then. Continue with all resources dedicated to the Angry Sky Project. Operation Overload will tenatively be commenced one and a half months from this date. This emergency council meeting is now adjourned. Thank you for your time."
"Hopefully history will forgive us."
"After the mechanisms go off, we're going to be the only ones with a recorded history."
"They pushed us to this."
"Lets not talk about it anymore."
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Author note: All right reviewers, its time for me to indulge a little audience participation. I've some ideas for my next few chapters, which will be devoted to describing the "vacation" time of our favorite good guys, one full chapter per couple (or trio in one case). However, more ideas is always better, so I'd like to ask you, the reader, to tell me what sort of encounters/events/occurences YOU'D like to see for your various favorite people. I can't promise anything, but if I'm struck by an idea you could very easily find me taking it and running with it. I'm writing this for audience enjoyment after all. And my own, naturally. After I do a chapter for each couple there will be at least one or two for the group as a whole, probably one for the good guys, one for the bad (being Sai and the Isolationists). I'll take ideas and suggestions for those as well. We're in the last 100,000ish words now (can't be specific, because the way I write I just keep going until everything I want to have done is done for a chapter). And after all the humor and romance and drama and "downtime" I'll finally be able to get to the climax I've been dreaming of for most of two years now.
I'm sorry to ask for so much from you, reviewers, but I beg selfishness for just a bit. I know I've asked this before, but I have a good number of new reviewers and a lot has happened in the story... characters have changed. I have a few questions I'd like answered... kind of like a brief audience poll of whats good and not so good. So, whats your:
1. Favorite Original Character and why... just a sentence or two.
2. Least Favorite OC and why
3.Favorite Mobile Suit, why
4. Canon character I represent best
5. Canon character I don't do well at
6. Something I need to work on or add to the story to make it just a teensy bit better in your opinion. Or a lot better, whichever you feel is needed.
Thanks to you all in advance. My writing lives for your reviews... more reviews motivate me to write MUCH faster. Which is why I've been pumping out the chapters at such a pace recently.
P.S. Oh, I almost forgot. My story summary has always struck me as inadequate advertising for the story. Can anyone help me with some ideas for something better? Thanks.