Disclaimer: I don't anything within this story except Hiroku, the story plot, Rayne and Hisoka (there at the end). I will say that this story follows the Gundam Seed storyline and has direct quotes, but I added to them by bringing in an OC, so many of the episodes are word for word but then my character Hiroku comes in. So enjoy…and read and review please!

Chapter 5

Hiro, Yzak, Dearka and Nicol were all sitting in the lounge. Hiro was looking over a check list of all the things she needed to go over in the Galaxy so it is in top condition for their next battle, Yzak was just sitting on the couch with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, Dearka was once again reading a magazine, and Nicol was just looking into the hanger where the mobile suits were.

"Dammit! Why is my machine so screwed up!" yelled a frustrated Hiro.

"What's wrong this time little missy?" Dearka asked looking up from his magazine.

"There is just so much that I need to do to make my machine perfect. My calibrations on my sniper rifle are always off, I either do too much or not enough, I can't find that happy medium."

"Have you tried re-adjusting the quasy cortex molecular function and increasing the ion pump?" Yzak suggested opening his eyes to look at her.

"Umm…no…"

"Try that, maybe it will work then."

"Uh…thanks…I think I may go work on that now." She said standing up from sitting in the chair at the table and heading towards the door.

"Good luck little missy. I hope that works, we can't have you getting shot down now can we?" Dearka stated with a smirk.

"Be back here in an hour cause we are going to go to the bridge and look over our plan for attacking the legged ship once they reach the 8th fleet." Yzak voiced before she was gone.

"I will don't worry." Then she was gone.

Hiroku floated down the halls and made it to the hanger. She moved towards her machine which was positioned in a corner so you couldn't see from the lounge area. The Galaxy was really giving her some problems and it worried her that it could cost her, her life. She entered her cockpit and sat down in the seat. She pulled down the keyboard and started doing what Yzak had suggested.

Increase the output on the ion pump, adjust the quasy cortex molecular function to twenty and set calibrations to thirty-five.

Back in the lounge, Yzak was getting bored just sitting around.

"I'm going for a walk. I'll see you two on the bridge." He said to Dearka and Nicol.

"Yea…sure." Dearka answered while turning his magazine at a side angle to get a better view of the picture.

"Your hopeless." Yzak stated shaking his head as he went out the door. He floated down the halls and soon found himself at the hanger. I wonder how she is doing? Since they can't see me from the lounge I can go check on her. He floated up towards her cockpit. When he got there he heard her typing away on the keyboard and mumbling about the things he had suggested to do. Wow, she does listen. He laughed to himself and then knocked on her cockpit door so as not to startle her like last time.

"Hiro?"

"Hmm…oh hey Yzak. Thanks for the suggestions back there. I can already tell just going through the computer that my machine is getting better. Let's just hope all my weapons are in working order, wouldn't be good if they failed me and I got shot down."

"No it wouldn't."

"Is there something that you need?"

"No…not really. I was just getting bored in there with Dearka and Nicol, so I decided to come see you."

"Oh I see, I'm entertainment am I?"

"Well…yea but not in a bad way!" he added franticly.

"Haha…its ok…well shall we head up to the bridge and discuss our strategy for finally taking down the legged ship and that damn Strike! If we're lucky, we might get the added bonus of taking out the entire 8th fleet. That's just another obstacle in our way that needs to be eliminated."

"Ouch…harsh are we?"

"Oh please, don't act stupid with me. I hear how you talk about the Strike, you want them all gone just as much as I do."

"Your damn right I do! The pain I feel from this scar that the Strike gave will never go away until I know that he is dead and gone!"

"Now that sounds like the Yzak I know." She laughed some and exited her machine with Yzak following behind her. They floated along the many hallways up to the bridge in silence. They didn't really know what to say to each other. They finally made it to the bridge. When the sliding door opened they saw that Dearka and Nicol were already there.

"You guys are late…something I need to know about?" Dearka asked with a smirk. At that moment Hiroku wanted to smack that smirk off his face. Yzak had balled his fists up in anger.

"Stop it you three. We have better stuff to do then fight with each other." Nicol said acting as the peace maker.

"Your lucky I don't beat the shit out of you right now Dearka!" Hiro said with a glare.

"Sure little missy…sure." He answered nonchalantly.

"Anyways…so what have you found out Nicol?" Yzak asked a little on the aggravated side.

"Can we get to them once they rendezvous with the 8th fleet and take them all out?" Hiro asked looking down at the map of their positions and that of the enemy.

"Sure…it's possible to catch up to them before they join the fleet, but upon arriving we have only ten minutes before we're within firing range of the lunar fleet." Nicol said looking over the digital map.

"You mean we would have a full ten minutes." Dearka stated while floating casually beside Yzak with his back to the map looking over his shoulder.

"I would suggest the cowards keep their traps shut. Are there only ten minutes or are there a full ten minutes? It's all at how you look at it really. My take on it is, if we have a window of opportunity before they join the fleet we can't pass it up." Yzak stated knowingly to Nicol.

"I couldn't agree more. The success of a surprise attack isn't determined by the actual time spent." Dearka stated.

"It's not that I don't know that but…" Nicol started but was cut off by Yzak.

"I understand that the Versalius will turn around and come back as soon as it hands Miss Clyne over to the Lacony Team. Will already have taken out the legged ship before then. Is that clear?" he asked towards Nicol with a smirk.

"A okay!" Dearka answered giving a thumbs up.

"Yea, we won't need Athrun and his precious Aegis." Hiroku answered mockingly. She had come to enjoy mocking Nicol and Athrun like Yzak and Dearka did. It was quite fun actually.

"Hmmm." Nicol gave an aggravated look. "Very well then." Nicol then left the bridge. Probably to go write some music. He seemed to always do that when he was frustrated or upset.

"He truly is a coward isn't he?" Hiroku asked crossing her arms.

"Yea he is. No wonder her choose the Blitz as the machine he was going to capture, with its mirage capabilities." Yzak answered closing his eyes and smirking with a hand on his hip.

"A weapon fit for a coward." Dearka stated.

"Why are Athrun and him even fighting in the war. They are much too soft. Athrun won't even try to destroy the Strike like we all try to do." Hiroku questioned.

"I don't know. But it is really starting to get on my nerves." Yzak said opening his eyes and glaring straight ahead.

"You can say that again." Dearka voiced annoyed.

"Well we should probably suit up and get ready. Its almost time." Yzak announced.

The three of them left the bridge and headed towards the locker room and got changed into their flight suits. Yzak and Dearka went to their machine's but Hiroku went back to the bridge to talk to Commander Creuset through the communicator screen. He wasn't sending her out just yet. He was waiting for the opportune moment. Once she entered the bridge she was able to see the battle raging in front of them. She saw all of them, Yzak, Dearka, Nicol and Athrun taking out almost every enemy ship that belonged to the 8th fleet

"Commander! I'm sick and tired of waiting! When can I get out there?" Hiro yelled pointing outside.

"Soon enough my dear." He answered calmly. He stopped and looked outside with a contemplating look on his face. "I thought the Legged ship would be heading to the Lunar headquarters but after reassessing their movements I believe they'll be landing on Earth." He added floating up from his seat and over to the map.

"They're intended target appears to be Alaska." Captain Adeis added.

"I'd like to somehow finish them off while they're still in our own backyard. What say you?" Le Creuset asked.

"Should we send out the Galaxy?" the captain asked.

"I think now is the opportune moment we have been waiting for." The commander stated with a smirk. "Hiroku." He called.

"Yes sir." She answered turning back towards the screen saluting.

"I'm sending you out now. I want you to hide yourself above the fleet and take some of them out so it will be easier to get to the Legged ship without it being guarded by the fleet."

"Yes Sir!" she said excitedly. Finally!

Out on the battle field things seemed to be going in favor of ZAFT.

"Take this!" Dearka shouted shooting a whole through the middle of a ship.

"Arg! Where is he? Just where could that Strike be hiding? Yzak said in a low growl.

"Keep your pants on Jule. He'll be here don't worry. I'll make sure of that." Hiroku voiced through the video screen.

"H-Hiro?" Yzak stuttered in surprise at seeing her out here.

"Yes silly its me. Now get back to work. I'm high above the fleet taking some out. If I take out enough of them the Strike will surely come out, then he'll be all yours."

"Ha, perfect…"

"Well I got some ships to blow up…later!" she finished with a playful wink.

The battle went on for a while longer. More and more enemy ships were falling at the hands of the five captured G weapons.

"Great isn't it? All they can boast about it quantity." Dearka said shooting missiles at enemy carrier.

"Come on show yourself Strike! Or else…or else this pain I feel will never go away!" Yzak shouted with a growl while flying towards the Legged ship.

"Yzak, don't be reckless!" Hiroku shouted to him as he headed towards their target.

"Shut up! I don't need you to tell me what I can and can not do!"

"Look at the Archangel…" Nicol voiced looking towards the Earth where the Legged ship was headed.

"It's headed for Earth?" Athrun questioned.

"ARG!" Yzak growled.

"I won't let that happen." Dearka stated proudly.

"Cowards! Think you can run away from us do ya!" Hiro yelled as she charged towards the descending Archangel.

The Strike finally came out as the Legged ship was making its descent towards Earth.

"There you are Strike, you finally showed. This is for the nasty wound." Yzak pulled out his sword. "Now take this!"

"Ahh shit! I'm getting pulled in by the gravity. Dammit I can't move forward!" Hiroku shouted getting a little nervous.

"Haha, yea this is definitely becoming dangerous." Dearka said as he shot his gun some more. Suddenly he was pulled into the gravitational field like Hiroku. "This machine is getting heavy."

"Dearka! Dearka!" Hiro yelled frantically as she was starting to get scared.

"What is it little missy?" he answered calmly.

"What do we do? Can we add more power to the thrusters to get us outta here?"

"It's too late! Can't break free."

"Your finished!" Yzak yelled as he charged towards the Strike and tried to hit him with his sword. Both Yzak and the Strike pilot were getting pulled into the gravitational field but they didn't seem to notice so much.

"Come back guys! Yzak, Dearka, Hiroku!" Nicol yelled as he and Athrun watched as their comrades were sucked down to Earth by gravity.

"You! What is this? How dare you get in my way! You soldiers want to be cowards and run away do ya!" Yzak said angrily as a shuttle passed through his line fire towards the Strike. He shoots at the shuttle and hits it. The blast from it blowing up was powerful enough to send him flying back over to Hiro and Dearka.

Yzak, Dearka and Hiro just let themselves descend to Earth as best they could. Once they broke through to the atmosphere Yzak and Dearka were able to get control of their machines and land relatively safe. Hiroku was less fortunate. She had been knocked out from the extreme temperatures inside the cockpit and had no control over her machine. When she entered the atmosphere her machine landed next to Yzak's in a large heap, a large thud sounded from the impact it made with the Earth.

Yzak looked over to see what had made that large thud and saw Hiroku's machine just lying there with her shield completely gone from disintegration and its phase shift amour was off.

"Hiro!" he yelled as he quickly got out of his machine and ran over to her. Dearka was coming down from his machine as well to see if everything was ok. The Galaxy was on its back so Yzak just jumped on to it and went over to the side and tried to press the button to open the cockpit.

"Damn that's hot!" he voiced as he jerked his hand away from the very hot machine. Oh no…I hope she is ok in there! Please let her be ok! Yzak finally got the cockpit open and looked inside. His stomach turned when he saw Hiro slumped over unconscious.

"Hiro…" Yzak whispered as he climbed towards her.

"Yzak…is she ok?" Dearka questioned as he came up to the cockpit.

"I don't think so. I believe she is unconscious. If I am correct we aren't to far from our Gibraltar Base. So we should try and contact them to get here quick so we can get her to a hospital."

"Already a step ahead of ya buddy. They're on their way here to get us. In fact, here they are." Dearka said as he looked over his shoulder to the helicopter and transport planes that were landing near them. "You take care of her, I'll get our machines in the transports."

"Sure…"

Once Dearka left Yzak tried to sit Hiroku up and unhook her restraints. Once he was done with that he picked her up bridal style and walked out of her machine so they could get it on the transport plane. When he got outside he set her down on the ground so he could take her helmet off. He saw her lovely face drenched in sweat and she was now breathing quite heavily. Oh…Hiro…at least she is breathing. I just hope its nothing serious. Yzak didn't notice the medic heading towards him until he was spoken to.

"Is she the one that is in need of medical attention?"

"Yes she is." Yzak answered coming out of his thoughts.

"Well then let me take her so we can get her to a hospital." The medic said as he came towards her to pick her up.

"No!" Yzak yelled as he pulled Hiro closer to him. "I'll take her." He finished more calmly as he stood up with her in his arms. The medic just stood back and walked back over to the helicopter with Yzak in tow.

They reached the base by nightfall. Yzak quickly took Hiroku to the hospital. He knew she had a fever and it had only risen since they got in the hospital. He was fearing that it could kill her if it got too high. If that happened, I wouldn't know what to do. He entered the room that they had told him to put her in. He put her on the bed and unzipped her flight suit. Her uniform underneath was completely wet. Before he could do anything else the doctor walked in.

"Thank you young man for bringing her here. I'll take over from here. You should probably head over to your quarters so you can rest. You can see her when we are done trying to bring her fever down."

"No! I'm not leaving!" Yzak yelled defiantly.

"Come on Yzak. You can see her tomorrow ok?" Dearka said walking into the room when he heard Yzak yell.

"No!"

"Yzak! She'll be fine. Trust me!"

Yzak took a glance over his shoulder at Hiro. His eyes softened immediately upon seeing her. A frown found its way to his face when he saw her state of health though.

"Fine…" Yzak said reluctantly.

Yzak and Dearka walked over to the quarters to await the doctors call in the morning of when they could go see her. Dearka, after eating and taking a shower, immediately went to sleep. It wasn't so easy for Yzak. He stayed up all night after his shower just sitting in a chair thinking of her.

God I hope she is getting better. I hate leaving her there all by herself. I wanted to stay there and be there when she woke up. I can't stand just sitting here doing nothing while she is in the hospital with a high fever. Please come through Hiro…I don't know what I would do without you around. I can't believe that I have become this dependent on her. But I have to admit once again that I like the feeling. I just hope she feels the same way. Well I guess I could get a little bit of sleep, it wouldn't hurt. I hope she wakes up tomorrow, I can't wait to see her!

Well there you go…five chapters done and more to go…I can't remember how many…hehe. Please review! Thanks again! Look for chapter 6 and 7 by next Friday!