She ran around the park, trying to locate the emerald-green artificial bird his new friend gave him. As she continued on as fast as her lithe body allowed him, she mentally cringed at the fact that she had lost it the day after he received it. Athrun would be so angry that he wouldn't be friend with her anymore!
The brown haired boy stopped near a bench where a man and a woman were pressing their lips together. Ignoring that whatever they were doing was icky and gross, she ventured a question. "Excuse me, sir, ma'am. Did you see Birdy fly by?"
The couple broke up with the man's face looking as if he swallowed a very sour candy but the woman looked at her with a very big smile on her face. "How cute!" the woman said in high pitch. "Look, darling, what a cute boy," she said as she messed with her hair.
Something was definitely wrong but she wasn't sure what.
"Someday, we will have a cute child like him, baby," the man said while gazing into the woman's eyes. "I hope the child will have your eyes."
"Oh darling, I love you very much!" the woman said as the two of them hugged and began kissing again, forgetting the question the boy asked.
The girl sighed and was about to move away when he noticed a wallet near his feet. Picking it up, he checked the contents. There was some money and photograph of an unknown woman. She gently tugged the man's coat.
The man ignored her.
She tugged again.
Then she tugged again.
The man finally broke off from the kiss and turned toward her with the similar expression he had moments ago. "What is it, kid?"
The girl held the wallet in her hand. "Do you see the person who dropped this wallet?"
The man's expression changed into one of recognition. "That's mine."
She held the wallet defensively. "How do I know it's yours?"
"Look, kiddo, that's wallet belongs to me." The man gestured toward his lover. "Ask my girlfriend if you don't believe me."
"It's his," the woman confirmed.
"Okay," She said as she handed the wallet back to the man. "My mom reminds me not to be rude, ma'am but your face is really different from your picture in the wallet. Have a nice day," she said as she resumed her jog, not realizing that her innocent observation would cause the couple's steamy and cozy relationship to quickly heat up to a boiling point. She was far away to hear the sound of the woman sapping the man and shouting that she didn't want to see the two-timing bastard forever.
All that mattered at her that time was she had Birdy to find.
After half an hour of searching and asking, she finally saw the green mechanical bird just beyond a bush. Silently, she crept closer and closer toward his target, willing it not to move around. When he was quite near enough he jumped at it with open arm.
Only to collide with something.
"Owie…" a girlish voice said as she wondered what happened. Slowly, she got up from her prone position only to see a pink-haired girl was beneath him. Quickly she scrambled away before any cootie germ from the girl could get on him.
"Sorry." It was a polite thing to do to apologize to a girl she had collided with even though she was most probably full of those icky cooties germ.
Strange. Why did she think that the girl had cooties germ?
"Why did you hit me?" the unknown girl asked while looking at her somewhat accusingly with her narrowed sapphire blue eyes.
The expression on 'Pinky' would have been convincing if not for the fact that a mechanical bird was on top of her head, cocking its head as if agreeing with what she had said; Pinky ended up looking very cute rather than angry.
However, she was quite troubled with the Pinky's accusation to notice it. "I'm not!" she protested while pointing to Birdy that had somehow remained perched on top of the girl's head despite the tumble she took. "I was searching for Birdy!"
Pinky-haired-girl-who's-full-of-cooties-germ looked up to where she was pointing and sure enough the bird remained out of her viewpoint. She looked at her accusingly and as if following her gesture, the bird cocked its head as well. "It's not nice to lie. Liar, liar, your pants on fire."
Cooties was probably the reason why Pinky was being annoying as well.
The girl groaned. "Look, just put your hand on your head and you will find that there's something on it."
Despite shooting her with a look of disbelief, Pinky did as she was told and was surprised when Birdy hopped into her hand. She slowly lowered her hand to marvel at it. "Hey, you're right. I didn't know that it was on my hand. Maybe it landed when I was sleeping near a tree just now."
"Maybe it's because it thinks that your head is its nest."
"You're mean!" Pinky huffed.
Startled by Pinky's proclamation, she held up her hand. "I'm saying that it likes you because you make it feel safe. It's not like it's because your hair is long or looks like a nest."
The pink-haired girl giggled at her explanation. "You're funny." She said while handing her the green mechanical bird.
"Thanks," she said as he received the bird only to have it fly and landed back on the girl's head. "Traitor," she scoffed.
"Now, now, don't get angry," Pinky said in a placating manner. "If you get angry, it would want to be friend with you." Pinky gently took the bird and then put it on her head. This time, it didn't move away and instead made a chirping sound. "See? It's saying your head is more like a nest compared to my hair."
"Liar."
Pinky giggled again and suddenly she seemed quite cute even though she had cooties. Pinky held out her hand. "I'm Lacus,"
"Flay! Are you all right?"
Flay blinked as what she perceived faded away, revealing that she was inside Spectrum's cockpit. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said slowly.
"You scared me for a while just now when you didn't answer my question."
"Sorry. I'm a bit out of it." She took a deep breath. "I'm a bit tired so can you take over the control?"
"Huh? Er, sure."
As she slowly relinquished the mobile suit to him, Flay let herself slump into her seat. She wasn't lying when she said that she was tired as the machine was quite taxing on her physiology. It was probably due the fact that she was a mongrel, as her Blue Cosmos handler had called her; erasing him for trying to abscond with their cell's monetary resources was something she did so enthusiastically.
"Now, just relax and let me handle it," Kira said as he kept Spectrum hovering. Murrue had asked the mobile suit to keep guard until other mobile suits and Mwu's fighter had landed on Archangel.
"Thanks." She was silent for a moment. "Just wondering, Kira, I heard that you said to your friend that wars can be averted if people really understand each other."
"Yeah. Take Tolle for example. He accepted me for what I am."
As the first Spitfire began its landing sequence, Kira told Flay about his stay in Heliopolis three years before the war broke out. His family stayed at the orbiting colony as his father was made a branch manager there by the company where he worked. It was there that he went to school with Tolle. Apparently Mirriallia went to the same school as well even though he couldn't recall her that much since they weren't close at that time.
"When did you get your pet bird?" she asked.
"Birdy? Well, that's was around ten years ago. It was a gift from a close friend whom I haven't seen for five years. You know, sometimes I wish I can meet him."
"Will he accept you as well?"
"Athrun understood me very well. Both of us, we want, we yearn for peace. It's like I said, as long as people understand each other, there will be no war."
Despite losing his innocence, Kira was still naïve. It was a hard decision but Flay decided against revealing the identity of their attackers with the hope that Kira would never find out that it was his best friend who led the attack. Being an agent, she had access to some classified information including the identities of the Redcoats. Despite being the sons of prominent ZAFT politicians, they were kept secret to prevent an all-out assassination attempt that would have deal a severe blow to ZAFT's Gundam program as well its political stability.
She knew that she wasn't a good person but she didn't have the heart to tell him. Instead, she would just let Kira found out the cold hard reality by himself.
Flay closed her eyes. She was lying to herself once again. She was jealous of his childhood. Her own childhood of one that is loneliness as her mother was busy with her own work. It had changed when her father came to get her and despite his public mask, accepted her as his own daughter. It was with him that she learned the joy of being a child.
It was very short period, but one that had cast her fate.
The debriefing was strangely uneventful, with all pilots were in somber mood, since they had failed to defeat the Alliance's Trojan Horse or, as revealed by the previous battle Archangel. The so-called elite Red Coats, along with their highly advanced prototypes had failed for the second time to defeat their enemy and even though Dearka had incapacitated one of the hostile mobile suits, the blonde pilot candidly admitted it was a fluke, not a display of skill befitting of his status.
As for Talia, she really didn't care to bring their moral up since she believed that they could improve themselves by eating some humble pie now and then. After the debriefing had ended, she let everyone off except Lunamaria whom she told to stay. After two were alone, she began her address to the DINN pilot with a steely look. "Miss Lunamaria Hawke."
"Yes, ma'am." The cherry-haired pilot looked down on her feet. She was dreading the moment but there was no escaping what she had coming for her.
"A reprimand will be in order your gross misconduct in the previous mission."
"Understood." There wasn't anything else that she could say, was there?
The door to the briefing room opened; the next thing Luna knew she was reeling from a well-placed slap on her face and ended up on the floor. She nursed her stinging cheek while looking up.
Meyrin held her hand, trembling. "Sis, you're an idiot…"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" the younger sister screamed before dropping down to the floor and began to cry.
Meanwhile Talia locked the door so that it could only be opened from inside and stood silently while watching the Lunamaria tried to console her crying sister. Normal military procedure wouldn't allow siblings to be placed together to prevent complications such as one that was currently taking place but then again, despite the structure, ZAFT wasn't really a normal military outfit either.
While what Lunamaria did during the battle was tactically correct and had salvaged what should be a defeat to Minerva, her action was at best suicidal. However, Talia was willing to let Meyrin do the reprimanding and simply kept quiet until the two of them had settled down before continuing what she wanted to do. She gestured toward the empty seats. "Sit down." After the two of them took their respective place, she looked at Meyrin with her hand making a circular motion.
"None." the young SCCS officer answered.
Confused by what transpired, Lunamaria looked at her younger sister. Surprisingly enough, Meyrin didn't say anything and remained stoic-faced; it was rare for the younger sister to do so and Lunamaria knew very well not to press for an answer at such times. Reluctantly, she moved her gaze to her superior, begging for an answer to her unasked question.
Talia shrugged. "I'm giving Lunamaria the clearance as well, since she has to be properly instructed."
"Oh," Meyrin chirped before smiling at her sister. "I was tasked with ensuring that this room is clean."
"Clean, as in 'that' clean?"
"Yes." Talia answered. "To make thing short, I asked her to ensure that the room is clear of any electronics. I'm going to ask the two of you some questions, awkward questions and then gives you some instructions that you must follow to the letter. Do you understand?"
The two siblings nodded, understanding the weight that was about to be dropped on their shoulders.
The door suddenly opened, surprising the three of them and Athrun stormed inside. He quietly fixed a stare on each one of the room's occupants and then locked the door again. After he had locked the door, he remained in the position, as if thinking about something. "The mobile suit is nuclear powered, isn't it?" he asked. "And it's ours."
"What are you talking about?" Talia asked despite frowning at the question.
"Unlike others, I normally do my own maintenance on Aegis which is why I'm surprised when I was told by the technicians just now that you gave them the order to delay the maintenance routine."
"So? That's normal procedure. I don't get where this is leading to, Zala. I didn't think that a Redcoat would mind us doing the macabre work."
He turned to look at her. "It's not normal because I carried out Aegis' maintenance since getting onboard and not once I was stopped. Regardless, I was about to dismiss the whole thing until I found out that," he gestured toward Meyrin, "you have summoned her here immediately after a battle. You didn't include her during the debriefing so it is something you don't want the rest to hear. Given the timing, it is something important you want her to do."
"And what is that?"
"You want her to check through our black boxes, particularly Miss Hawke's DINN and Dearka's Buster since the two of them were close enough to the enemy mobile suit that the sensors would have picked something up. From there, I knew that something must have been big, so I'm guessing 'that something' is the white mobile suit's power generation."
"I don't understand," Lunamaria interrupted. "How do we know the mobile suit is nuclear powered? Besides, even if it is nuclear powered, isn't it advantageous for us since Alliance is breaking the treaty?"
Meyrin looked at Talia who motioned her to answer the question. "One of the drones picked detected that it released a high concentration of Helium along with other ions."
"And Helium is a byproduct of fusion," Athrun added. "And I'm making a guess that Miss Hawke's drone also determined that the propulsion technology being used is also similar to those powering our ships?"
"Wow." Lunamaria said in awe.
"This is why you call the two of them here, to get the information regarding this, isn't it, Captain Talia?"
Talia had to admit that she was impressed with the way Athrun managed to figure everything out. However, he was a bit off with his assumption. When she saw the mobile suit in action she already realized that it had to be nuclear-powered since there was no way for a battery-powered mobile suit to produce such a constantly high output of propulsion for a long time.
She also didn't need Meyrin to confirm the fact the mobile suit was probably theirs in the first place. If it was Alliance's in the first place, such a powerful mobile suit would have been deployed during the attack on ZAFT's base. Also, it played a defensive role in the previous battle instead of the offensive role as it should assume. Any commander worth his or her salt would have utilized its superior firepower to end the battle as soon as possible. Using a defensive tactic would only be used if the enemy wasn't experienced with piloting the white mobile suit. That, itself, led to the conclusion that the mobile suit had been acquired recently.
"Very well, let's try to answer Lunamaria's question just now." The FAITH member gazed at Athrun. "Since you found out the information, what will you do it?"
"It is our duty to report our finding to ZAFT."
"And that's exactly why I don't want everyone to find out."
Athrun looked at her incredulously. "What are you talking about? They should know about this!"
Talia shook her head. "You're very naïve. Do you realize why we ended up fighting Archangel instead of Marco?" When the man couldn't come up with an answer, she continued, "The ship had gone rogue. It is as simple as that."
"Deserter?" Meyrin asked.
"From the very beginning I had suspected that it wouldn't return to Alaska but instead use the Makassar Strait to lose us. It will then head east along Papua New Guinea and then arrive at Orb, seeking asylum."
"Orb?" Athrun asked.
"Orb. We're quite quiet lucky that the ship deserts the Alliance. Do you know why?"
"No."
"Alliance would have found out that we have a nuclear mobile suit."
"But in that case, we can claim that that it's theirs," Luna protested.
"See? That's where you are very wrong. In war, it doesn't matter who built it first or who use it first. What matters is either everyone doesn't use it or everyone use it."
"You mean…" Meyrin asked with a horrified expression, realizing what her superior had implied.
"Yes. It doesn't matter even if the circumstance is reversed. Trying to determine which side built it first or which side fielded it earlier first is moot when both sides would quickly field their nuclear mobile suits in respond. To my knowledge, we have at least fifty nuclear engines ready to be fitted in our mobile suits just in case and I can imagine the same thing with Alliance." Talia stared at Athrun. "If you mention one word about this to someone, be prepared for a nuclear warfare tomorrow."
"I understand," he said reluctantly.
"Good. I know you would understand." She turned to Meyrin. "You're going to add a backdoor to the operating system of every mobile suit on board this ship as well as detection processing computer that will cause them to ignore peculiarities in the mobile suit's propulsion."
"I'll help,"
All eyes were on the single male in the room.
"I really don't like this but I understand your reasoning," he clarified. "Besides, I know my way around the prototypes' programming so it would be faster."
"I'd appreciate that," Talia said.
"Why don't we just destroy the no-face white jackass now before the ship reaches Orb?" Lunamaria asked.
"No-face white jackass?" Athrun asked.
"We have to call it something," the short-haired pilot argued.
"The time is not right to attack the no-face white jackass." Talia said contemplatively. "Currently, Archangel is technically an Alliance ship so it quite risky. However, if my prediction is correct, we will have the chance to fight it later."
Cagalli Yula Attha, known to everyone as the scion to Izumi Nara Athha held down the curse that was already at the tip of her tongue as she piloted her mobile armour to make a fly-by the Alliance's ship that slowly made its way to one of Orb's hidden military port. Already a flight commander at a young age which she achieved through meritocracy rather than using her father's influence, she was tasked with escorting the ship while ensuring that it didn't try to do anything peculiar. In the small probability that it tried to do something however, her flight would unleashed all of their anti-ship missiles which she didn't doubt would destroy the ship given its damaged condition.
Despite the importance of the mission, she couldn't help but be annoyed. Her bothersome brother had been missing for almost two weeks and the situation vexed her. She wanted to go to the island where he was at but was held down by her duties. She could, at any time put in a request for a search to be conducted but that would be using her father's power and she didn't want to do that. Besides, her relationship with her younger brother wasn't that well known except to select few so she didn't feel like explaining to others why a search has to be conducted for a normal civilian.
"This is Lancer 1, situation A-OK" she reported to the command.
"Roger, Lancer 1, proceed with caution."
She made another fly-past, taking note of the two leg-like compartments in front of the ship. It seemed that the two compartments were big enough to store mobile suits. But that was impossible since that would mean Alliance had a jump start over Orb which was still grappling with its own mobile suits program.
"Lancer 1, you're to return home immediately, I repeat, return home immediately."
"Roger." Cagalli frowned. The only way for her mission to be aborted just like that was for her father to summon her and he would only summon her bypassing the normal channel if there was something very important.
Tolle slurped his coffee rather noisily, earning a disapproving look from his girlfriend seated next to him.
"Do you mind?" Mirriallia asked.
"Not at all." he replied before he resumed his slurping despite his answer. "You have yours and I like you for what you are, so if you want to enjoy your coffee as well, go ahead."
She sighed and threw up her hands in the air, bringing out a smile from Kira who was seated facing the two of them. The auburn-haired Coordinator was quite amazed with their ability to remain calm despite the numerous soldiers posted nearby. He looked around and saw the same thing with the ship's personnel in the cafeteria who kept eating despite their guards.
Kira gave a nervous smile at a nearby guard who ignored him and remained stoic. While the guards were Orb soldiers, he had yet to hear about a bullet being able to tell apart enemy combatants and innocent civilians so he still had a good reason to worry.
Most of the ship's personnel were in the whole plan so when it was announced that everyone were to stand down and surrender to the Orb soldiers who were coming onboard it was only him that was surprised. Tolle had apologized for keeping mum on the situation since he was instructed not to tell Kira. Although Kira was a bit miffed at his friend's action, he readily forgave him since he had no choice in the matter. Besides, both Kira and Tolle had went to the primary and junior high school in Heliopolis and Tolle's ability to keep secrets was one of the reasons why they were pals in the first place, especially since one or two of those secrets could cause Kira to be caught; hacking into police computer even without any malevolent intent was something punishable by law after all.
Once the announcement was made, however, Tolle was free to divulge to Kira the specifics regarding the intention to surrender to Orb force and seek asylum. It was rather confusing to Kira since he didn't expect it to happen and instead resigned himself to end up at somewhere in North America.
Izumi Nara Attha was more imposing in person, Murrue thought as she saluted the man who entered the bridge.
The head of the small but powerful country nodded slowly. "We've been expecting your arrival," he said.
"Thank you." Murrue replied before glancing at Mwu who gave her a reassuring wink.
Izumi strode to the center of the bridge and dismissed the Orb soldiers who seemed rather reluctant to leave their leader with the two Alliance officers but order had already been given. They gave a crisp salute and left the place in the orderly manner.
"So, this is the trans-atmospheric Archangel, the ship capable of flight on Earth," the man remarked. "I can see a bit of similarities between this ship and the ships we're nearly completed but it seems that our country has yet to achieve parity with North Atlantic's atmospheric propulsion technology."
Murrue instantly understood the reasoning behind Orb's agreement to receive the ship's asylum arrangement. Doing so would allow the country the opportunity to reverse-engineer and learn the ship's technology.
"If you're thinking that we agree to accept Archangel to study it, then you're mistaken because our country doesn't need to do power projection beyond our border so our current armada is more than sufficient to protect our water and the propulsion technology isn't really needed."
Murrue felt her face reddened as the man seemed to read her mind.
"To say we wouldn't benefit from the exchange isn't true since we want the synthesis of your mobile suit's operating system. However, even that wasn't enough to convince me." Izumi had a faraway look on his face. "Your admiral, he traded his life to ensure that this ship and its complement wouldn't fall into the hands of Blue Cosmos."
Murrue had already steeled herself for the news but it still felt as if her heart was being stabbed with a blunt knife.
"What happened?" Mwu asked.
"Shuttle accident. The Alliance blamed it on ZAFT seeing that he's the architect of your successful operation."
The blonde ace snorted. "Really milks us for the publicity even to the last drop, huh."
One moment Kira was eating his soggy cereals, compliments of the ship's cafeteria, and the next, his face was being pressed into the bowl by a firm hand on the back of his head. He raised his head, sputtering milk as he did so. He quickly wiped off his face before turning toward the person responsible to protest. However, the angry scowl from the perpetrator stopped him cold.
Cagalli was standing right beside him, pissed beyond hell and the fact that there were so many witnesses in the room didn't do well to comfort him. "Um… I claim treatment under Geneva Convention?"
"Oh? You claim treatment under Geneva Convention? Do you really think I care for that?"
Mir stood up to say something but Tolle pulled her down. She gave him a questioning look. He shook his head.
"I'll show you the proper treatment you deserve!" Cagalli said as she pulled Kira's ear, forcing the pained youngster to leave the place. "Damn you stupid worm, wasting my time and causing me to be summoned in the middle of a mission!"
When the two had disappeared, Mir reproached her boyfriend, "I know that she's Attha's daughter but that's no reason for her to be treating our people like that," she frowned for a moment, "she has no reason to be treating her people like that. We have the convention, after all."
"True," Tolle agreed before taking a bite from his burger. "But as far as I remember, Geneva Convention has nothing on maltreating siblings for doing something stupid."
It had been a few days the ship had set anchor at the port and it was those few days that Erica Simmons tried to achieve neurosis by depriving herself of sleep. At such time she cursed for having to sleep; so many work to do, so many things to accomplish. The Orb scientist had kept herself busy examining the technology behind ship and of course its mobile suits. Already she had plans for them, plans that were well underway given the carte blanche approval to modify them since the Orb army would certainly use them in the future. Of course, with the synthesis of mobile suit operating was the first order of the day but she was also busy trying to fit Alliance's railgun-based CIWS with Orb's own design.
While she was attending to those two project, Erica was also tried to come up with an explanation on how Alliance could come up with mobile suit breakthrough in mobile suit frame and joints technology in such a short time even though Orb had been working on it even before the war started. Plus, with the limited information that she managed to scrounge about the attack on ZAFT base, the prototypes had proven their worth in combat whereas Orb's own had just undergone the final phase optimization
She put down her table computer on the desk, deciding to go on a short break. Maybe when she came back, she could figure out the current problem of trying to bypass the white prototype's security protocol. It seemed that the system didn't react no any attempt to switch it on.
Somewhere in JOSH-A, the Alliance central headquarters located in Alaska, a high ranking Alliance officer looked around him to make sure no one were around before entering the room. Inside the darkened place, few people had been waiting for him. "For a pure and blue world," he said in a salutary manner.
"For a pure and blue world," came the quiet chorus.
The man took a seat.
"So, Sutherland," one of the people spoke. "We've read the report of the hit you ordered on Halberton. While everyone in the room concurred that he was a threat, nevertheless your intervention had a rather negative effect on our development.
Instinctively, Sutherland took out a cigarette and lit it up. Despite what non-smokers claimed, he found it easier to put together his thoughts while smoking. Besides, it also served as a ploy to delay the conversation for a few seconds, enough to create a psychological advantage of having people wait on his words, few of which are his superiors. After the second puff had dissipated only he answered, "I know that. However even as we speak, our forces all over the globe are receiving Dagger units which should put us on parity with ZAFTs."
"That is not enough!" another one said. "The Eurasians are fielding their Hyperions while we have substandard equipments!"
"And how many Hyperions they have?" Sutherland asked.
"Er… I'm not sure."
"Three, and all of them are also battery-operated, in line with the convention. We have a hundred Daggers and the number will be increasing, so please don't tell me the three could hold off an assault of thirty Daggers, not when the use weapons with high power usage." The general took another puff. "But I understand the need to have units at superior to Spitfires even if for publicity purposes. The new machines that we're working on had exceeded their performance and it wouldn't be too much to claim that ZAFT's… what do they call it?"
"Gundams," someone supplied the answer helpfully.
"Ah, right. 'Gundam's'. Basically our 'Gundams' when finished can destroy theirs easily."
"You have a lot on your mind," Cagalli said as the two of them sat on the patio, stargazing.
The self-proclaimed older sister had beat him up the day the ship anchored at Orb. While he could, with some effort stop her, he didn't because it was her way of saying that she was very worried over his disappearence and let her beat the stuffing out of him was his way of saying that he was sorry. Of course, when the two reached Kira's home, his mother broke in tears while his father simply put his arms around his family and Cagalli.
It was at that time Kira remembered his words to the late Reverend Malchio few weeks prior. Truly, he had a blessed life.
"You didn't eat a lot even though your mom cooked your favorite," she continued while glancing toward his house.
"Mom…" Kira trailed. "Cagalli, have you wondered about our parents, the real one I mean."
"I did now and then but only for a few seconds?"
"Why? Didn't you want to meet them?" While his parents, Caridad Yamato and Haruma Yamato, were good people, he really wanted to find out about his and Cagalli's real parents. What kind of people were they? Why did they give Cagalli and him away? Were they still alive and if so, where were they?
Cagalli set down the mug of tea that she was about drink from. "Yes, I want to know them but I'm not going to dedicate my time to do so. I'm fine with not finding out about them for the rest of my live."
"How could you say such things?"
"I can because I'm my own person," she replied. "I yearn to know the past but I live in the present and plan for the future so I will not let my past bog me down."
It was something he already expected from his twin sister. Cagalli had always seemed sure of what she wanted to do and had the drive to go out and do it. "More like your future will be bogged down by one Jona Roma Seiran from the way he's wooing you, with all that flowers and stuff."
"That retard?" Cagalli rolled her eyes. "I really hate his gut!"
"There's a very fine line between hate and love. Besides you would certainly miss his pursue when he suddenly stopped."
"Sure, just like a bubonic plague."
The two of them became lost in their own thoughts until Kira couldn't take it and blurted out. "I've killed someone."
"I know. I've read the report," Cagalli said before sipping her tea.
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Couldn't, not without making me look like the biggest hypocrite in the world. I haven't killed before so I can't say to you, 'it's all right; you did it to protect the children so you had no choice'. I couldn't even say that it's the right thing to do. I practice day and night for the time when I'll be forced to press the trigger and then the report came revealing that you destroyed two mobile suits in a single fight. The only thing I can clearly say is that if I'm in your place, I'll do the same thing and then some."
Maybe Cagalli was the older sibling after all. "But my parents… I can't tell them about what happened."
"Then don't, at least until you're ready."
Flay smiled at the first person who entered the darkened interrogation room. "To be honest, I really don't expect you to come here; you have to keep your image clean, you know."
"I'm aware of the Yamashita standard, Miss Hentoff" Izumi replied, referring to the doctrine of hierarchical command responsibility and accountability that originated before Cosmic Era.
Her smiled dropping ever slightly, Flay continued, "Really, I have to say that if referring to me by my mother's maiden name an attempt to impress me with Orb's intelligence gathering, then I really think you're really pathetic."
Kisaka growled. "How dare you act discourteous and ill-mannered in front of our leader. Not only you remained seated when His Excellency entered, now you utter blasphemous words regarding His Excellency? How disrespectful!"
Flay laughed. "Respect is a two way street. If you really want me to be courteous then you should have acted that way when you entered the room." She waved her hand around. "And this place is more suitable to breed fear rather than instill respect, you know."
"But that's no reason for you to be saying such a thing."
"Okay, let me say something else." She pointed at Kisaka. "You are very stupid."
Izumi put a hand to calm Kisaka down before addressing. "Very well, I apologize for my error."
"Your Excellency!" his bodyguard protested but the man remained unmoved.
"I hate my mother," Flay said suddenly.
Izumi nodded. "Then I apologize once again for my error." Referring to the woman by her mother's surname could only be seen as an insult to her. Also, by him making that mistake, it already told her the capability of Orb's Intelligence which wasn't very powerful outside its own territory. "Also, let me apologize for the current arrangement. Should we reconvened at a more comfortable and conducive place?"
"There's no need. Besides, I want to remain alive until this thing blows over so less people see me, the better." She held out her hand.
Izumi gave a signal to Kisaka who brought out a small computer and set it in front of her.
"Have a seat," Flay said to Izumi before switching on the computer.
Despite the room having few more chairs, the two men kept standing.
"Suit yourself. This thing is on the Kitsune Network?"
"No," Kisaka said, still angry at her impudence.
"Good." Flay entered commands into the computer at high speed. "You already realized it, don't you?" she said to Izumi.
He knew. It was simple enough to understand. Yet it was quite difficult to accept. The enemy had compromised the security network installed used by Orb's Intelligence Agency, one that was developed indigenously for the purpose.
Izumi spared a look on the Blue Cosmos operative. He realized that what she had presented to him was a façade, an image he had seen on many who tried to cover their fear. Perhaps the woman wasn't really afraid of death but he could see that she was hiding something. No good agent would suddenly make a turnaround and offer to betray their employer to the enemy. True, he had to wonder on her real value but he had to admit, he was curious with the way she was acting.
Flay turned the computer to face him and Izumi felt his heart tightened. There the answer was, right in front of his eyes.
"I think the good admiral realized this which is why he approached you," Flay remarked. "He wanted to 'return' what was stolen."
There was a possibility that the redhead was trying to trap him but the Orb Representative was an objective man and being objective meant open to accepting the bleak truth he was seeing.
Suddenly the suggestion to sit seemed more enticing.
"Lord Sahaku and his family are Coordinators," Kisaka said. "I can't see why they commit this travesty, not when it meant working together with the very same people who want to exterminate them."
"That's because you really don't understand the truth, do you?" Flay asked rhetorically. "At the very basic level, there's no such thing as Naturals and Coordinators."
"Even before Cosmic Era mankind go to war," Izumi said to explain her statement, "for various reasons. Religion, ethnic or politic; even in homogenous society was no guarantee against internal turmoil. I'm sure the Sahakus have their own reasons for betraying Orb which has nothing to do with them being Coordinators."
Flay shook her head and sighed. "It's close enough though that's not what I meant. So Lord Izumi, while I don't care about what will you do with the information, may I have my reward for signing my own death warrant?"
"As I promised, we'll try to fulfill it."
1
Author's note (14 June 2010)
1. No note whatsoever. Oh wait, this is also a note