January 26th, C.E. 71
Space, LaGrange Point Three
Kira looked up from the floor of the corridor he was floating along when he heard his name called. Up ahead, he saw familiar faces, but below them were... Alliance uniforms?
"Tolle? All of you?" he exclaimed.
"Hi, Kira," Tolle greeted him as the little group drifted to a halt in front of the surprised teenager. The other students were at the front: Tolle, Sai and Kuzzey wearing two-tone blue jackets and white trousers, while Mirialla wore a violet and white jacket with a surprisingly short skirt.
"What's the deal with those outfits?" Kira asked.
"We've decided to help out with tasks aboard this ship," Sai told him. "They're understaffed, after all."
"They require us to wear military uniforms if we're going to be on the bridge," Kuzzey added.
"ZAFT's military uniforms are cooler, aren't they? With no badge of rank, these look kind of silly."
"Don't be a wise guy," snorted one of the Archangel's crew from behind them, obviously having just kitted them out. Beside him, Thomas grinned toothily. He was wearing the same blue and white as the boys, but his jacket was unfastened and the sleeves rolled up past his elbows.
"We can't have just you fighting all the time," Tolle told Kira, looking serious all of a sudden.
"Given the situation we're in, we'll help," Mirialla chipped in. "However we can."
Kira looked down. What had he gotten his friends into?
"Move on, youngsters," the crewman ordered, giving them a little push. In a flurry of farewells, they coasted off down the corridor towards their new duty stations.
"Oh," the crewman called, turning to look at Kira. "And if you're taking off again, make sure you wear a pilot suit this time!"
"That's good advice," Thomas told the boy as he hung in the low gravity like a poster-boy for broken uniform regulations. Kira started, he hadn't realised that the man hadn't left with the others. "After all, it would only take one bitty little hole in your cockpit and you'll be out of air and out of luck."
"Yes," Kira agreed softly, studying the floor again.
"So," Thomas said in a leading tone. "How are you doing? Feeling stressed? Aggravated? Guilty." From Kira's flinch, the last word was probably closest. "Ah. Well, it's been a rough day or so, hasn't it? What's bothering you? Your friends? They are old enough to make their own choices, you know?"
"But if I hadn't gotten them involved..."
"Then what? They'd have been squashed when that ZAFT robot tangled with your robot back in the colony, or blown up along with this ship... What ifs aren't going to help you really," Thomas counselled. "Things have happened this way, and they want a bit of control over it. So they put on the pretty costumes and fight for their own survival, as well as your own."
"You're wearing one too."
"Yeah, but I was wearing all the clothes I had, and now they're getting washed." Thomas looked at Kira. "It's not just that though, is it? The Aegis... I was watching you fight it back inside of Heliopolis - you weren't really trying to fight it, were you?"
"No," Kira admitted, still looking at the floor. It was really much better than trying to look that knowing gaze in the eye.
The man sighed and leant against the wall, facing the boy. "And the ZAFT pilot wasn't exactly reeking of killer intent. You're presumably both smart kids, from what I've heard about Coordinators, so I guess you have good reason..."
"Athrun..." Kira began, haltingly, looking up. Thomas's eyes were weary, maybe a little sad. For a moment, the masks were down. "Athrun was... He is my best friend. I can't kill him. I don't want to fight with him!"
Thomas nodded understandingly. "And I guess he feels the same way about you. You're not his enemy, but this ship is and he has his duty?"
"I... I think so."
"Well, that's difficult," Thomas agreed, stating the obvious being one of his many skills. He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "There's an old saying that the best way to win a fight is to defeat your opponent without harming him. Tell me... about these mobile suits of yours... the cockpit's inside the chest, right?"
"Yes?" Kira replied hesitantly, wondering what Thomas had in mind.
"Well, I realise this is easier said than done, but you aren't exactly fighting this Athrun himself, are you? You're fighting his suit. So isn't there somewhere that you could hit the suit to, I don't know, disable it? Without hitting the cockpit? There's probably information on the Aegis aboard - it was built to operate off the Archangel right?"
Kira's eyes went wide. "And if the suit's disabled, I don't have to kill Athrun!"
"Don't get too confident," Thomas warned. "I respect your not wanting to harm your friend, but accidents still happen. And it will be much harder to target just a part of his suit rather than taking whatever shots you can."
.oOo.
Kira shook his head as he closed the clasps of the Earth Forces flightsuit. He'd never expected to see his friends all in military uniforms, having volunteered to work as part of the crew. All they said they'd done it so that he wouldn't be the only one fighting to protect them.
"So..." came the voice of Mu La Flaga from the door of the pilot's ready room. He was wearing own flightsuit, but Kira's had aquamarine trim rather than the older man's violet. "Judging from that outfit, I see that you've finally decided to do it."
Kira looked down. "You said so yourself, lieutenant," he said, picking up his helmet from where it drifted in the air beside him. "Right now, you and I are the only ones who can protect this ship. It's not that I wanna fight, but I do wanna protect this ship. Because of the people onboard."
"It's the same for all of us," Mu assured him, an unusually intent look the usually laidback pilot's eye. "You won't find too many people who wish to fight for no reason at all. We fight because unless we fight, we cannot protect."
Kira nodded his understanding.
"Okay, let me explain our plan to you..."
.oOo.
"Three thermal energy readings detected in the aft quarter. Distance, sixty-seven! They are mobile suits!"
"They came after all," Maria concluded.
"Prepare for anti-mobile suits battle," Natarle ordered from the CIC deck. "Missile launch ready from thirteen to twenty-four. Linear pad, variant, positive gunnel movement. Input the target data, hurry up."
A bustle of activity filled the small compartment. "Identified the fuselage!" came the report. "This is... X number... Duel, Buster, Blitz!"
"What?"
Maria gasped slightly, looking back through the bridge at the sensor operator, a reaction mimicked by many of the crew. "Putting the stolen G's in the front!" she exclaimed, eyes wide.
.oOo.
Outside, Kira's breath was ragged as he saw a lone mobile suit closing in on him. "One suit," he muttered.
Lieutenant La Flaga's words went through his mind. "Think only about protecting the ship and yourself."
"Protecting them..." he said with a firmness he did not feel. A moment later and his eyes went wide once again as a more detailed report appeared in front of them. "That mobile suit... Athrun?"
.oOo.
"Enemy mobile suits, spreading out!"
"Attack now!" Maria ordered. "CIC, what are you doing?"
Natarle blinked, drawn from her shocked reverie. "Laser guidance, is it ready?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Missiles from launchers thirteen to eighteen, launch! Load the Sledge Hammer..." the Ensign ordered, resuming direction of the Archangel's formidable armament suite.
Outside, as flares and decoys painted space with light and electronic interference, missiles burst from the white ship's tail section, none of which was of concern to Kira and Athrun as their suits plunged towards each other, beam saber's igniting.
Kira focused, and as the two suits passed each other the Strike's saber bit deeply into the leg of the Aegis, before they spun away from their respective vectors to face each other again.
"Kira?" Athrun called on an open channel, his voice betraying shock at the attack coming from his friend.
"Athrun," the young man replied, confirming his own identity and his own regrets at having struck at the other boy's mobile suit. He remembered the advice from Thomas: "...the best way to win a fight is to defeat your opponent without harming him... I respect your not wanting to harm your friend..."
"Stop it, take your sword back, Kira! We are not enemies! Am I right? Why must we fight against each other?"
"Athrun..."
"Why must you, a Coordinator like us, fight against us?" Athrun demanded.
"We're all human! Why are you attacking us!" Kira shouted back. He looked back at the Archangel and saw three more of the Gundam suits attacking the ship, advancing through a firestorm of energy beams and cannon fire. "Archangel is..."
He changed course back towards the embattled ship but the Aegis cut him off. "Stop it, Kira! Why are you on Earth's side? Why are you fighting with the Naturals?"
"I'm not with the Earth Alliance!" Kira protested. "But I have friends on that ship! I won't let you hurt them! Why are you with ZAFT? Why are you taking part in the war? You used to say that you hated wars! So why did you destroy Heliopolis?"
"Because those Naturals were making these things!"
"I know! But you didn't just take them! You -" Kira was cut off from finishing 'came back and destroyed the colony!' by the need to evade incoming shots from another mobile suit.
"Why are you just standing around, Athrun!" demanded the new pilot.
"Isaac!" Athrun protested.
The suit appeared as X-102 on Kira's sensors - another of the stolen Gundams. An energy blast battered at the Strike's shield and Kira dodged the follow up shots. Well at least I'm keeping the two of them away from the Archangel, he thought.
"Just like a fly..." Isaac cursed as Kira evaded another volley of energy beams. "Are you going to keep on running away?!" He closed in with his own beam saber, leaving Athrun to wrestle with his conscience. More energy beams announced the arrival of the other two Gundams, drawn away from the Archangel to deal with the lone mobile suit.
And now I have all four of them on me, Kira thought, watching his battery levels fade as he ducked and parried the attacks. Good for the others, but not for me! He was panting, as much from the tension as from the exertion.
Almost simultaneously, all five Gundams received signals from their respective motherships.
"Vesalius was attacked?!" Isaac exclaimed in shock. "Damn it!"
The conversation was cut off as the two potent energy weapons mounted in the 'toes' of the Archangel, fired on the ZAFT carrier, inflicting even more damage than La Flaga's surprise attack had. Almost immediately, flares around the Archangel signalled for Kira to return.
"Return signal!" Isaac shouted, recognising the standard colors for the signal. "Who said that! I've got to shoot him down!"
"Isaac! They ordered us to retreat!" Athrun shouted as the hotheaded pilot closed in again.
"Shut up, you coward!" Isaac bellowed. But this time he wasn't attacking in coordination with the other Gundams and Kira stopped him cold, punching three shots from his beam rifle - thus far unused - into the Duel, crippling ankle, knee and then hip with pinpoint accuracy, putting Isaac out of the fight until he could compensate for the new balance and the lost thrusters.
It was an opportunity that Athrun wouldn't give him. Almost instantly, the claws of the Aegis locked around the damaged Gundam. "We're headed back to the ship," he ordered, and then, switching channel. "This isn't over, Kira."
.oOo.
"Hey, come on Doc!" called the chief flight engineer as Mu floated through the hanger towards the Strike. Chief Petty Officer Murdoch was one of the few survivors of the Earth Alliance contingent at Morgenroete's Heliopolis facility. The stocky NCO was floating next to the Strike's open hatch.
"What's wrong?" Mu asked as he caught himself against the hatch.
"Well the kid's still in there," Murdoch explained. "The doctor's gone in and now he's blocking the hatch."
"Oh?" The pilot stuck his head into the tunnel-like entrance to the cockpit. "What's happening in there?" he called, unable to see much past Thomas' shoulders, although hints of aquamarine in the poorly lit compartment made it clear that Kira was still in the pilot's seat.
"We're just admiring the dancing girls," Thomas shot back sarcastically. "You should make this scene sometime, it's really something."
Murdoch choked back a laugh at the surprised look on Mu's face and there was a nervous giggle from inside that suggested that Kira was probably less restrained. A moment later, the helmet of Kira's flight suit was thrust back past the doctor's shoulder and Mu caught it.
"Make yourself useful," Thomas advised. "Put that away for him, would you?"
Mu backed up a moment and Thomas followed him out of the Strike a moment later, towing a subdued looking Kira. The boy's violet eyes looked dull and he appeared exhausted. "Hey, kid," Murdoch asked in a worried voice. "Are you alright?"
"Hm," Kira nodded, his own voice faint.
"I'm prescribing some food and a bit of rest," Thomas advised drily. "Fortunately, nothing that should require raiding the pharmaceutical cabinet in the medical bay." He patted Kira's shoulder with one scarred hand. "Unfortunately, the food'll have to come from the military rations aboard - if you can call that food."
"It's... not bad..." Kira objected mildly.
Thomas sniffed derisively, hiding a smirk at having directed Kira's attention away from the scarcely completed battle.
.oOo.
January 27th, C.E. 71
Artemis, LaGrange Point Three
The Archangel backed slowly into Artemis, passing through a deactivated panel of the fabled 'Umbrella' - actually a lightwave belt believed to be proof against anything short of nuclear weapons. Or human stupidity, Thomas mused as he glanced out of a porthole at the defenses and spared a moment to consider the history of 'impregnable' fortresses.
Artemis itself was an asteroid several miles long, with the base buried inside and a quite astonishing array of devices mounted on the outside. The 'harbour', so to speak, was a cylindrical hole lined with metal, large enough for even the broad-winged Archangel to fit easily within, despite the shape of another warship berthed ahead of it.
No sooner had clamps fixed onto the white-hulled ship, anchoring it in place, than other shapes began to move out from hatches and behind fortuitously placed cover. Within instants, Thomas could see armed men in space suits and craft that evidently filled a similar role to Mu's Mobile Armor, all not so discreetly aiming their weapons at the Archangel.
With a grimace, he pushed away from the porthole. Evidently matters would not go as smoothly here as had been hoped for.
.oOo.
Only moments later, spacesuited soldiers entered the ship through several airlocks, much to the surprise of the crew and civilians aboard.
"What is this?" Flay asked, as she and dozens of others watched scenes of outside the ship on a screen in the mess hall. "What's going on, Sai?" Behind the couple, Kira stared wide-eyed at the screen.
"Okay!" came a shout from the door. "Freeze!"
Everyone looked around and saw a squad of soldiers aiming automatic rifles in their direction. "Don't move!" the apparent leader shouted through his open visor.
.oOo.
A similar scene played out on the bridge, with spacesuited soldiers pointing their guns at the half-strength bridgecrew.
"What are you doing?" Maria demanded, only to have a rifle muzzle directed uncompromisingly towards her face.
"Commander Biddulph," Natarle protested. "I request that you give us an explanation for this! We've..."
"I'm just blockading the ship's controls and fire control systems as a security measure," the Eurasian officer replied. He'd first boarded the Archangel to verify her identity and then to direct her into Artemis's waiting arms... arms that now seemed rather less welcoming. In all that time, he'd never shown himself to be other than a stuffed shirt.
"Blockading?" Natarle exclaimed. "But the way you're...!" She looked utterly shocked as her step forward provoked one of the soldiers to move closer, his rifle close enough that if he fired she'd probably be killed just by the muzzle flash, never mind the bullet.
"Your ship is not registered, and so naturally we have no identification code for it," Biddulph told her. "Given the circumstances, we did permit you to enter port but unfortunately we have not yet recognised you as an ally."
"But...!" Under the cover of Natarle's protest, Maria eyed Biddulph's smug expression warily. The Atlantic Federation, who had constructed the Archangel and the G-series, had been rivals of the Eurasian Federation for decades, until the conflict against the PLANTs had brought them together under the banner of the Earth Alliance. Doubtless, the commander of the station was drooling at the thought of obtaining the cutting-edge military technology aboard the Archangel... and since no one on Earth knew where they were, it was only too possible that the ship - and crew - could convienently vanish to hide the theft.
"This is a military facility," Biddulph continued. "I'd like you to at least understand that. Now, I would like the officers to come with me. You shall explain the situation to us."
.oOo.
In a relatively isolated corner of the Archangel one member of the crew had managed to avoid being captured. Thomas was squinting out of a tiny port without letting one of the troopers outside see him. It was only a matter of time until the Eurasians realised that they were missing someone - even if the rest of the crew didn't give him away, he was pretty sure that he was on the crew lists.
And the one thing he did not plan was to get caught. The one thing that every magican knows is that tricks require some degree of concealment - and staging an escape from inside custody would be much much harder.
It would be relatively easy to take control of the Archangel back. The soldiers aboard were in small groups guarding key locations and Thomas was sure he could neutralise them all before any alarm was raised. But there were technical crews aboard, looking over the ship... and the Strike, no doubt, and they were more numerous. The chances were good that one of them would manage to alert Artemis that a break out was imminent. And what if the Archangel was limited? Maria and the other officers weren't aboard and breaking out of the station would be rather less than trivial as such tasks went.
No... the solution would have to lie on the station. And that was where Thomas would be going.
It wasn't humanly possible, of course. He didn't have the training to use a shuttle or a space suit to cross the vaccum that lay between ship and station. Even if he tried, he'd just make himself vulnerable.
But Thomas Riley Finn wasn't human.
His eyes still fixed on the port hole and his reflection beyond it, he crossed the Gauntlet that lay between the material and the spiritual. As always, the transition stripped away the illusions of flesh and the wolf that flew between two equally empty points in the aetherial umbral realm did so on great feathery wings, aiming for a carefully calculated point that should be well within the stace station.
The risks were considerable. Travel too far and he could find himself inside the solid rock of the asteroid. Travel not far enough and he would emerge into vaccum and be visible to everyone in the docking bay, even should he escape back into the umbra. And neither Archangel nor Artemis had been in their current locations long enough to have cast their shadows across the Gauntlet.
The spirit that used on occasion the name of Thomas Finn stepped across the Gauntlet once more, the white feathers following the grey-brown fur without hesitation, the air rippling where he had once been.