Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces

By: Shadow Chaser

An Alternate Universe to Entropy Rising

Story:

Previously on Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces…

"Has his essence transferred yet?"

"Yes sir. He's almost ready to be awakened."

"Good. Send him up when he's ready. The next phase of the plan is about to start."

"As ordered sir," the doctor replied.

Phase Five – Politics

Kira awoke to find himself sitting in a metallic chair, a bright light shining down upon him. He found that his hands and legs weren't bound and stood up tentatively. The world didn't spin and he didn't feel anything like drugs roaming around his bloodstream. Where was he? He took a few steps forward, squinting to see what was beyond the spotlight that had been shining down upon him.

"Kira Yamato," the sudden booming voice in the room echoed and bounced off the walls, startling him as he backed up suddenly and banged his legs against the edge of the chair he had awoken up in. He didn't know where it was coming from and so looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice.

"Please, sit down. We wouldn't want you to get hurt wandering around, now do we?" the voice said again, but this time the volume was lowered considerably.

Kira decided to ignore what the disembodied voice said and instead, narrowed his eyes, staring up and around, "Why should I? I'm perfectly fine standing."

"Please, sit," suddenly, the disembodied voice was gone and a man suddenly stepped into the spotlight. Kira recoiled a bit, startled. The man was old, just beyond middle aged with salt and pepper hair and brown eyes that looked soft, but he saw just a hint of coldness in them. He watched the old man carefully, one hand gripping the back of the chair as he backed up slightly as he approached.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.

"Now," the man clasped his hands together before looking at him, a curious smile on his face, "that is a good question. The real question isn't 'who are you', it's who are you? Who decides when is the war to start and when is it to end? Who decides the work hours for everyone? It's not the real question of who are you, but of who you are. Oh, and the name is Richard. Please, sit Kira."

Kira blinked in confusion. What was the man saying? He didn't get it, but he reluctantly sat down on his seat and Richard approached him, kneeling down towards his eye-level.

"Now, do you know what this is?" Richard suddenly whipped out a small white ball. It took him a second to recognize that the man was holding a golf ball.

"It's a golf ball," Kira said in a flat voice, wondering what the man was getting at.

"Yes, yes," Richard smiled gently before getting up and pocketing the golf ball at the same time. "A golf ball. Very good Kira. Now, you must realize how special you are."

"What?" Kira spun around his seat, staring at the man as he paced around.

"You're special Kira. You must have known that since you fought your clone-brother, Nikolai."

"How do you..." Kira half rose from his seat.

"SIT BACK DOWN YOUNG MAN!" Richard suddenly jumped at him and shoved him so forcibly into his seat that it stunned him for a few seconds.

A few seconds of silence ticked by and Richard drew back, a smile on his face, but Kira could tell that it was more forced. He watched the man warily now as he resumed his pacing around him.

"Now, we'll try this again, Kira. You are special because of your clone-brother Nikolai," Richard paused to see if there was any reaction and when Kira refused to give one, he continued, "surely you must have noticed something that happened when you interacted with him."

"No," Kira said shortly, "don't care and don't want to remember it."

"Now, now Kira, don't be so stubborn. As I recall, Nikolai had the ability to teleport somehow, during battle…do you remember something like that?"

A sudden proximity warning made him spin around and he gasped in surprise as the Liberty appeared behind him. There was no way that a mobile suit could travel that fast, he realized, but just then he was kicked hard in the back and Griever didn't stop there.

"No," he lied.

"Uh-uh, Kira, I sense that you're lying… You know, I don't take kindly to lies," Richard suddenly pulled out a small remote control and pressed one of the buttons on it.

He only had a split second of comprehension when his body suddenly twisted in pain, throwing him to the ground. He screamed as claws of pain raked up and down his back. It was only for a few seconds, but it felt like hours before he could breathe again. He involuntarily curled up against the pain, his breath coming in harsh gasps. When he could feel that his body would cooperate, he managed to push himself up on shaky hands and stared up at Richard who had a smile on his face.

"Now, would you care to amend your statement?" he held up the little remote with the buttons on it to emphasize his point.

"Yes," Kira replied, grimacing as he pushed himself back onto the chair before slumping against its back.

"Hmmm? Yes what?"

"Yes…I-I…remember," he tilted his head back as his breathing became steadier and steadier by the minute. A few of his muscles still involuntarily twitched, but they were mostly under control.

"Good, good," Richard was pleased by his cooperation, "oh, just to tell you, we injected little nano-transmitters underneath your skin, quite harmless out of a certain range with this little box, but they're rather painful, nasty little buggers. Please do not make me do that again."

"I don't care," Kira knew that torture methods included pain so he wanted to resist the pain. "Use it…I don't care."

"Now, Kira, you shouldn't say stuff like that," Richard tsked in disappointment, "now. Since you remember what Nikolai did, we will begin to work on that." The man suddenly held out the golf ball once more and he blinked a few times as not to go cross-eyed at how close he was holding the ball to his face. "I want you, to move this," he suddenly held the ball flat on his palm and moved it a bit away from his face.

"What!" Kira was confused.

"Nikolai, as your clone-brother, had a special ability given that he was the Ultimate Coordinator. He was what myth deemed to be an Esper, one who had ESP, extra-sensory powers. Of course there are countless other names, telepath, telekinetic, psionic, call it whatever you want, he had that ability. That is why you, the original, should also have that power.

"Now, move this," he jiggled the golf ball in his palm.

Kira gaped as he processed the information the man was saying. He was a what? But that wasn't possible. Coordinators had enhanced genes, but not enough to drastically and so suddenly be able to move objects!

"Perhaps you did not hear me correctly," Richard suddenly frowned, "move the golf ball."

He pressed a button on the remote and Kira's eyes bugged once more as he felt the pain return. However, this time it felt worst and lasted longer. As soon as the pain was gone, he coughed, clutching his chest as he felt like his lungs were on fire. This time, Richard picked him up from the floor and slammed him back into the chair none too gently, making him cry out once more as he felt his previous bruises being slammed all around.

It was a few minutes later when he had finished his coughing and managed to focus his eyes on Richard. The man didn't look happy and instead held out the golf ball once more.

"Move, this. Now, or else you'll be feeling a bit more pain. And I don't think you want to," the man said.

Kira was at a loss on what to do. How do you move an object with just your mind? He had seen a few movies about people with powers and they didn't even explain anything. Books didn't even say anything about moving objects…how was he supposed to do this?

"I…I don't know…how…" he said, trying to convey to the man that he truly didn't know. He didn't want to feel that pain again. It hurt so badly…

"Not good enough," Richard said and raised the box once more.

"No! Wait! STOP! I don't know, I don't know!" Kira yelled, shrinking back into his seat in reactive fear, trying to prevent him from touching that button.

"Hmmm," Richard smirked before drawing away the golf ball and he sat back on his haunches, "it seems you've learned your lesson, Kira." He got up and started to pace once more, "We will continue this another day…but for now…I think you should get some rest."

He moved so fast that Kira barely had time to react. His left arm was suddenly in his vise-like grip and Kira struggled as he saw that his other hand held a needle of sorts and was going to inject it into him. His fight-or-flee instinct kicked in and he tried to lash out against the hand that was holding him, but Richard dodged all of his attempted blows with relative ease. There was a prick of pain in his arm before Kira saw his world tilt and fade to black.

He slumped down in his seat, unconscious.

Doctor Madison watched the whole proceeding from an observation room that was above the room where Kira and his trainer were. The boy was learning quickly, she had to admit. Even though they hadn't really gotten him to try to concentrate and move the golf ball, he was adapting well to the pain techniques Richard was putting upon him.

Oh well, who said a little pain wasn't good for the soul, she thought as she looked at the readout the nano-transmitters were giving her. They weren't there just for pain, they were also recording every little bit of information about Kira Yamato for further analysis. Next time, after Kira had awakened, they would start this process again and she knew that she had to tell Richard to at least try to make the boy move the golf ball this time. No procrastinating, no matter how much the man felt sorry for the boy.

"Curious, isn't it, how just a little pain can make someone fear," a deep voice nearly startled her from her work and she looked up from her computer screen to see Quinn Misali standing by the window, one hand pressed against it. There was no visible expression on his face as he stared at the unconscious figure of Kira.

"Quinn? I thought you had already left," Madison wondered what was going on.

"Eh…it's not quite that safe right now if I show my face to the outside world. After all, I did betray my comrades in order to bring him here. Plus, Zala still hasn't paid me the other half of my commission yet," Quinn looked at her for a second before turning back to stare at Kira.

"Well, you might want to get back to OMNI Black Ops soon. Zala's almost ready with the second phase of his plan. Then the shipping lanes are gonna be seriously swamped," she warned him.

"I know," Quinn replied, "but I'd rather stay here for now."

"You really don't feel sorry, do you?" Madison prodded.

"We've already had this discussion," the tone of his voice said to drop the subject, but she wasn't a scientist for nothing.

"Quinn, stop it. I know you-"

"You knew me, Madison," Quinn suddenly turned angry eyes on her; "you don't know me anymore. I've changed. I'm not the same man I was all those years ago. Not your lover, not yours anymore. I've changed." He suddenly stalked out and the door hissed closed behind him, leaving her all alone in the room once more.

"You haven't changed, Quinn. I hope you can see that before it's too late," she whispered before turning back to the computer screen.

Nikolai Mercus, or codenamed Griever, was very patient when he was hunting his prey. It was what made him so good at his job – assassination. The last time he had a job, he had botched it up because he wasn't careful. Now, though, there was hardly anyone to protect his prey. Those that would were either on their own missions or were captured, like Kira for example.

He knew of his failure and so had changed his appearance a bit. The scientists that had given him his new body gave him longer hair, so now he held it back in a short ponytail. It wasn't much of a change, but it was enough so that he wouldn't stick out so much.

Now as he walked the corridors of December City, dressed in the typical red uniform of an elite ZAFT pilot. No one questioned his presence, as it was mostly ZAFT that walked through these parts. He made his way towards the offices of the members of the Supreme Council. Two guards were on patrol at the security checkpoint and he handed his ID over to them, saluting them.

They scanned the ID wordlessly and handed it back to him as he cleared before one waved him across the security scanner. The machine beeped an all clear, and it was true, he wasn't holding any weapons on him. There were more than one way to assassinate someone; weapons sometimes were just a liability.

"You're cleared," the guard waved him off and he saluted once more before heading towards a particular office. He knew his prey was currently in a Supreme Council meeting, but he was patient for now. The meeting would go as planned, and then he would kill his prey.

As the door to his prey's office opened, the secretary looked up and Nikolai immediately raised a hand and blanked her mind before moving quickly into the inner office. As soon as the door to the inner office closed, he released the hold he had on the secretary's mind and looked around. The room was dimmed, but not dark and shadows stretched along the walls. It was a perfect cover…

He went to the desk and rifled through a few drawers, finally finding what he was looking for. Drawing out a sharpened knife, he pocketed in the folds of his borrowed uniform and closed the drawer. Each one of the Council members kept a personal weapon on them when they were in their offices – it was more for ceremony then for protection, but he didn't doubt that all of it was real.

He glanced at his watch and a feral smile appeared on the corner of his lips. There was at least half an hour before he knew the Councilor would be making their way back. Plenty of time. He decided to lounge about in one of the couches in the Councilor's office and fell into a light doze.

Eileen Canaver rubbed her forehead in an effort to relieve the tension headache that was there. She had told the Council all that they needed to know about Patrick Zala's return and she had specifically told them not to spread this to the public, but now, they were demanding that heads roll for such a cover-up. It was her job to mediate and to lead the council, but right now, she felt her control slipping.

She had Ezalia looking up pharmaceutical information as she knew a lot about the cloning process and what had happened to Rau Le Creuset and would probably be able to figure out certain medications that Patrick Zala needed to take in order to keep up appearances. She could see that there was a deep history that involved Ezalia and her family with this and though she didn't pry, she knew that the fiery white-haired woman would do everything in her power to prevent something like what happened 2 years ago from happening again.

However, that was not really the case for Aaron. She glanced at the seats that were beyond the Council table, reserved for guests who reported directly to them or for members of the press that were allowed in certain meetings. Aaron sat in one of those seats, watching the proceedings with a neutral expression on his face.

She had thought he would return to Earth with Lacus who was leaving in a few days, to help soothe tensions and to continue the peace effort, but he seemed reluctant to return and she couldn't blame him. After all, the Earth demanded that he be convicted even though he was innocent, and PLANT didn't want to do such a thing. Orb had no jurisdiction over them and so it was better, Eileen mused, that Amalfi stay here. He could act as a liaison for Lacus and her.

"I still don't understand, why didn't you tell us this sooner?" a Council member's voice rose above the rest and Eileen recognized it as Orson White, one of the few radicals left in the Council after the war. He was from Sextilius City and was one of the geniuses at particle physics. There had been suspicions from when Patrick Zala ruled the Supreme Council that he had White give the basics of what a concentrated microwave pulse would do the human body, after all, it was part of particle physics, and the man had agreed.

But there was a hint of fear in the man's voice that made Eileen doubt her original thought. It seemed that White was afraid of something, afraid that if Patrick Zala came back, things would get ugly for him. She didn't know why…and made a mental note to have her aides look through his files later to figure out what was going on.

"We couldn't have known Councilor White. This information was revealed after the Talon leader Sven Anderson was killed. Only then did we find out who he was really working for," Tad Elsman explained patiently.

"Then why haven't you done anything?" White shot back.

"We are doing something. The LF has given their support to help search-"

"We don't need the Liberation Forces' help! We can assign ZAFT to search for Zala. Foreign support would only lead the Earth to gain influence over our colonies! We don't need that!" Louise Leitner representing the Junius PLANTs shot back. She too had been considered a radical when Zala ruled.

"That's isolationist theory," Tad replied, narrowing his eyes, "we don't need that. What we need now is support. Besides, there might be traitors among ZAFT-"

"Do you care so little for our military? I guess that is why your son joined the Liberation Forces – because he loves those insufferable Naturals!" Leitner snarled.

"That was low," Tad's face grew stormy and Eileen knew that things were going to get out of hand if she didn't step in now.

"Stop it, both of you," she stood up from her seat and slammed her palms down on the oval table. "There will be no petty words in this Council. We've already sent ZAFT personnel to search for the whereabouts of Zala. Ezalia has kindly lent her knowledge of aerospace engineering to help us search for the clone. If Zala was like how he was two years ago, then the first thing we figured was that he would try to rebuild something similar to Genesis – which he did as evident by that demonstration you all saw a day ago."

"What if it's an Earth thing?"

"The LF has been sent out to investigate the ruins of Junius Seven. It's sufficient to say that it is a space bound thing and that Zala has been alive quite some time in order to build something like that."

"Space!"

"But where did he get the funds!"

"What if it's a copycat?"

Eileen shook her head, "We don't think that it's a copycat, and I've already sent Captain Andrew Bartfield with the Eternal to support the LF."

"But that man is a part of the LF already! How do we know he's not working directly for Earth? For all we know, Orb is already friends with the Earth. Look what happened in the war two years ago, they were building mobile suits for OMNI!"

"But so did we, Councilor," Eileen stared at White with hardened eyes, "except we built them with far more devastating consequences then we could ever imagine."

"We were at war. And those suits were stolen by pilots who were part of OMNI," White shot back.

Eileen bit her lip from contradicting the man. She couldn't say anymore without revealing who were the true pilots of the Justice and Freedom. "We're not at war now…"

"We will be if you keep us in this direction," Orson shot back before he stood up in his seat and stared at everyone around him, "I move for a vote of no confidence towards Councilor Canaver."

Silence reigned in the room and everyone stared with shocked eyes at Orson who was smiling a bit cheekily at her. Eileen could feel her breath leave her as she realized the implications of what he was saying. She couldn't lose her spot now…not with so much riding at stake. What the hell was going on? What was White playing at? She stared at the man with narrowed eyes…it couldn't be, could it? But if no one second the motion then it would die and she would still be safe. She had the trust of the Council. They had chosen her after Zala's tyrannical rule because she was the voice of reason… No one would dare second the vote, would they?

"I…second the motion," Louise Leitner looked very reluctant as she raised her hand before putting it down, "I apologize Eileen, but…I feel that you've served your tenure as Supreme Council Chair through us in this peace. But I feel that there might be the approaching storm of war, and I believe we need a stronger leader. I'm truly sorry…"

Eileen couldn't do anything except give a weak nod as the Council members slowly got up from their seats and walked out of the room. She barely heard Ezalia whisper in her ear before she left, Amalfi and Tad following her. All she could think about was the mind-numbing shock of her world crumbling all around her.

It was at least two hours after the meeting ended that Eileen was able to pull herself together and made the slow agonizing walk back to her office. She knew she looked haggard and even the guards were giving her curious looks until someone began whispering that she was under a vote of no confidence. Then their expressions turned sympathetic and even a few of them told her that if they were on the council they would completely support her.

She stepped into the outer part of her office, finding her secretary still there. "Melanie? Shouldn't you be having a dinner date right now with Krista?" she asked, looking at her, "or was it James?" She had constantly teased her secretary on her bisexual preferences, but her secretary took it all in stride.

"It's with James, but since I found out what happened…you know," Melanie looked a bit uncomfortable, "I decided that I should stay here to support you and to help you through this."

"Oh," Eileen gave her a tired smile, "thank you Melanie…but you should go. I'll be fine. I just need some time alone to think."

"Are you sure, Madam Councilor?" she looked happy at the prospect of having her date with James, but also worried for her.

"Yes. Go…" Eileen placed her folders down on top of a cabinet before going over to the closet and grabbing Melanie's coat before tossing it at her, "have fun tonight. We'll begin anew tomorrow for a support system."

"All right," Melanie put on her coat, "thank you Madam Councilor. Don't worry, we won't let Councilor White defeat you. You're too good for our people and for PLANT to be voted out."

"Thank you for your support," she waved her secretary good-bye as she stepped out of the door.

She was left alone in her office and tidied up the place a bit before deciding to go into her inner office. She needed some brandy to calm her nerves.

She opened the door to her inner office, letting some of the light spill in from the outer one and took a few steps in. Suddenly she felt her arms being pinned behind her in a painful grip and another hand clamped down on her mouth to prevent her from screaming, but she did anyways and it came out muffled.

"You took your sweet time, Madam Councilor," a male voice said and her eyes darted around, trying to see who her captor was. She could feel the sharp point of her knife that she kept in her drawer poking her in the back and she tried to kick out with her feet, but he locked his legs around hers to prevent her from doing so.

She tried screaming again, but he pressed down harder and it hurt her jaw.

"Uh-uh, Ms. Canaver. Too bad you won't be seeing the results of your vote of no confidence," the voice breathed into her ear, "but Patrick Zala sends his regards."

Her eyes bugged as she realized that he was an assassin and she was going to die. There was no one to stop her killer… The last thought she had was that she hoped Lacus and the others would continue her work before she felt a brief flash of pain on her throat, then all was black.

Nikolai released Eileen's body as soon as he slashed her throat, the liquid feeling of her blood running down a part of his left arm. She thumped to the ground unceremoniously as a pool of blood began to form beneath her slashed throat. Flicking the blood off of the knife he had took out of her desk, he wiped the blade clean on a part of her clothes before sticking it inside his uniform. He didn't bother to wear gloves as he knew PLANT would never be able to match his fingerprints. He wasn't registered anywhere. True they might find a connection between him and Kira Yamato as he was a clone, but since Kira had gone missing, nothing would be able to prevent it.

He stared down at her lifeless form, no hints of regret in his mind. She was just another job he had been ordered to complete. She was one of the obstacles in his Master's way of completing his goal. To eliminate her would pave the way for Zala to regain control of the Supreme Council and ultimately PLANT.

Now, since she was dead, the Supreme Council, even with their vote of no confidence, would have to nominate someone to temporarily fill her position before elections were held again. This would enable Zala to become a candidate for that position. But before any of that could happen, he would have to eliminate three more targets for him.

And his next one would have to be soon, before she left to head back to Earth.

Author's Notes:

And the plot thickens. Btw, there will be no SEED: Destiny characters in this fic. This is all based on Gundam SEED.