Title: Crossfire
Author: Jusrecht
See Disclaimer in chapter one.
Warning: A freakishly long chapter. This is the longest single chapter I've ever written, even longer than 'Unbroken' which is a whole one-shot story. At least now you know why it took me so long to update. Beside finals, that is. And this is probably the only chapter without the smallest hint of romance except the toned-down Kira/Athrun. Other than that, I must mention the horror at the end of this chapter, or the grotesque mental image at least. It's probably nothing, but I got the creeps myself when writing it. You know, alone, past midnight, in my dark bedroom…
Dedication: This very difficult chapter is dedicated to soulcollector, who wanted me to update. Thanks for the review and encouragement!
A/N: I'm utterly ruined at the new discovery about this series from Newtype magazine. I kept on hoping, really really hoping that it is not true but seeing that Kira's picture is there, all big and proud, that hope has gone flushed down the toilet. Okay. Forgive my blabbering. On to the story.
Chapter Eleven: Dearka – End of A Beginning
"A colony?"
Dearka glanced at his temporary superior warily. Yzak Jule was using a tone of voice which announced to everyone who knew him well that it wouldn't be long before another bundle of patience was burned to ashes and oh yes, you were definitely going to have a taste of hell's own wrath unless you got your ass out of here on the next millisecond.
But despite the mental alarm going off in his head, the white-haired commander only narrowed his eyes, his voice lowering into a dangerous growl, "Aren't we supposed to know the area around here like the back of our hand?"
The private who brought in the report visibly cowered. "It was reported as abandoned a few years ago, Sir," his voice was shaky and he almost whimpered when Yzak Jule made an impatient noise. "B-but some activities have been detected from the colony, Sir, and the guys– I'm very sorry, Sir, I mean the other gu– uh, officers felt that it might be of importance and so–"
"Very well," Yzak waved an irritated hand. "I'll get down later and see it for myself. You're dismissed."
The terrified private practically ran for his life and Dearka smothered a pitying smile.
"And this comes up when we're just about to wrap up," his friend muttered irritably, a mighty frown wrinkling his brow. He tapped a finger on his chin and turned to Dearka. "What do you think?"
"I say we check it out. It isn't as if a simple recon mission will take much of our remaining time," he pointed out. "And who knows what we may find there. Maybe nothing, but it's better than leaving an itching scrape."
Dearka could almost see the wheels and locks in his friend's head clicking into place. Yzak nodded, undoubtedly getting what he carefully left unvoiced, and moved on to technicalities. "It will be a four-man team and you and I will be in it," he said, his blue eyes staring off to the dark space. "We're moving out in one hour. I'll announce the rest of the group later. Get as much information as possible about this abandoned colony before we leave. I want to know who lived there, who owned it, why they abandoned the colony, why the hell we labeled it as abandoned, everything you can get your fingers on."
"Aye, Sir," he suppressed another smile which quickly vanished when a particular problem popped up in his mind and reminded him of its existence. Dearka sighed, but fired the question nevertheless. "Should we tell him?"
The frown deepened. "He's bound to know sooner or later," his superior muttered, his reluctance as plain as the day. "Where is he?"
"Sleeping," Dearka pointed at the general direction of the crew's quarters with his thumb. It wasn't as if he didn't understand. After all, he was the one who had tirelessly continued to sweet-talk –sometimes downright threaten – the ORB general to allow himself at least a blink of sleep. Inhaling a deep breath, he prepared himself for a long angry tirade which might follow his determination to approach the delicate problem, and surrendered himself to fate by reminding his friend kindly, "But he'll be dangerously pissed off if you don't include him in the recon party."
The look on Yzak's face was bordering on terrifying, as was his tone of voice. "So? We can always say that his health should come first. He hasn't slept for days, damnit."
Dearka smirked painfully. "We? You do that, I'm outta here. If you want to poke at the lion's eyes, not to mention a very easily aggravated lion at the moment, you can have all my blessings but do carry the mission out alone." They fell silent and once he was certain that his superior had seen the gravity of his words, continued gently, "You do know that it may mean more than a reconnaissance, don't you?"
Obviously Commander Jule understood. Still, it was very hard for him to admit defeat, which resulted in a very angry, almost unintelligible growl. "Alright, asshole. You wake him up."
Grinning, Dearka left to carry out the mission. He made a stop at the bridge to have some privates do the data search for him, repeating his friend's order word by word. He suppressed a grin as the junior officers scuttled off to start finding the desired information. Yzak ran his ship with iron fist, which often scared new recruits and made them regret their decision to ever join ZAFT already in their first night. The older ones generally knew that the golden rule was never to upset him and thus steered clear from his way to avoid stepping on his toe.
It still worried him sometimes. Dearka knew that there were very few people who could actually hold a decent conversation with the white-haired commander without losing their nerves somewhere during the first few sentences. Said people were usually those who had known him since the academy and unfortunately, most of them were already dead. The military wasn't exactly a place to maintain a long-term relationship. He winced, realizing that Yzak was on the verge of losing another friend. As much as he claimed to hate Athrun, Dearka was near impossible to deceive when it concerned his best friend.
He sighed and left the bridge. Rusty, Miguel, Nicol. And now Athrun. No wonder that Yzak had that I'm-gonna-find-him-or-die-trying attitude during their nine-day search together. Kira's persistence was outrageous but Yzak was also doing his damnadest to match the ORB General and between the two of them, Dearka was left nursing a very nasty headache. He was their balancer, their common sense – their babysitter, for god's sake – and maybe also their alarm clock. For one thing, he knew Yzak like the back of his hand and to recognize which button to push to drag his best friend to bed or force him to eat came as natural as breathing to him.
Kira, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely.
Dearka found himself in debate with some other part of his mind as he floated silently in front of the general's door. He was inclined to make use of the intercom, because who knows what Kira might do if he came barging into his room unannounced. Despite obviously being more than a little tired, he had long suspected that the amount of stamina that man stored in his body was far from normal, but decided that it was best to test his theory some other time.
The other part, however, reasoned that it would be at least thoughtful of him to choose a less obnoxious method than shouting when Kira had just been sleeping hardly for three hours. Call it silly compassion, but Dearka could feel himself slowly but surely submitting to it.
Preparing himself for any undesirable outcome, he pressed the button to open the door and stepped in. The room was dark, the only source of light available from the hallway whence he came from. He blinked to adjust his eyes and called out tentatively.
"Kira?"
Nothing short of a horror movie, he belatedly noticed a pair of eyes in the darkness and almost started, the scream he felt building stuck in his throat. The general was already sitting on the bed, watching him with bleary eyes which looked eerily luminous and sinister in the dim environment but otherwise not responding. Dearka cleared his throat, calming his palpitating heart, and asked, awkward, "You're awake?"
Something obscured the eyes from his sight and he figured that it might be Kira's hand wiping the sleep away. "Yes," the voice was gruff but not sleepy. Dearka found himself wishing that the ORB General didn't always try to surprise him in various ways, most of them very detrimental to his health and state of mind.
"Okay," he responded, not knowing what else to say.
"The light please, Dearka," Kira requested politely.
"Oh, right." He quickly fumbled around for the switch he knew to be somewhere close to the door. Both of them were blinking furiously as light flooded the room. Kira, sitting on the narrow bed with the lower half of his body covered by a flimsy sheet, was a sight that almost made Dearka wince. The visible part of his body was all tense muscles – or what left of them, courtesy to scarce eating and too little rest – and even his two laid, empty hands seemed, despite their state, ready to knock someone senseless, probably something they had just been about to do before the intruder had announced his presence.
"Did you get any sleep?" he asked at last.
"I did," the other man answered, fingers slowly massaging his right temple. "Did anything happen?"
"It's one of the CIC guys," Dearka explained as carefully as possible. "He detected some activities in a supposedly-abandoned colony. Yzak wants to check it out and I'm here just to let you know."
All of a sudden, the violet eyes that were staring at him were no longer hazed by sleep. "Can I come?"
Ever so polite. But Dearka only knew to well what lay beneath that politeness. A will of iron – or perhaps adamantine – because Kira Yamato would get what he wanted. He sighed and answered reluctantly, "You have to speak to him."
The general nodded and rose to his feet. "Alright."
Dearka watched as the other man reached for his folded clothes and started to dress himself, a frown creasing his brow. Wills of adamantine or not, it was a fact that Kira had only had three hours to sleep in the last four days, if he counted them right. He had been constantly out therein Freedom, coming back once a day at best and that only after Dearka had demanded him to return because no one should survive with granola bars if he could get a better meal. Dearka didn't like it, didn't like the thought that his friend was probably bleeding in the inside and there was no one by his side to remind him that no, he was not alone. There were others who shared his pain, who understood what losing Athrun really meant to him.
He still remembered how he had been introduced to the fact. It had been only several months since he had been removed from the Jule squad and one day he had gotten a call from his former commander. Apparently his friend, never one to consider knocking when his temper got the better of him and especially not when it considered their blue-haired chairman, had just walked in on what appeared to be a very hot, very thorough make-out session and Yzak, quite obviously distraught by the view he had just witnessed, had called him and only realized how ridiculous his reaction had been after Dearka had outright laughed at him.
He had had his suspicions, yes, but Yzak, of course, had remained oblivious until the ultimate fact appeared grinning under his nose. But despite his extreme initial reaction, the commander had not raised any comment afterward except remember to lock the door, damnit. It was one of the things Dearka liked about his blunt, sharp-tongued friend.
But to know was also a burden in a way. There were territories he knew he should not trespass and the knowledge sometimes stopped him from reminding the general what he should do. After all, what did he know about love? The only relationship he had ever been engaged in was with Miriallia and it hadn't lasted long enough to let him know that he had tasted what love was like, not a mere teenage attraction. What he didn't know daunted him, slowing his steps, and only the conviction that Kira would do the same for him kept him going.
And now, looking at the dark circles under his friend's eyes, the same conviction pushed him to say something and go to hell with everything else.
"You really should be sleeping," he heard himself declaring.
"I'm alright, I already slept," Kira answered in the middle of buttoning up his shirt.
Dearka stared hard into a pair of calm violet eyes and knew that it was already way past arguing at this point. Kira Yamato would get what he wanted. He had no choice but to suppress a sigh and admit defeat.
"I'll have someone bring you food."
"It's okay, I can get them myself," the general said and shot him a little smile. "Relax, Dearka, I know how to take care of myself."
"Yeah, in a way I totally cannot approve," he muttered under his breath and snorted when a quiet chuckle rose behind him. What, extensive hearing too? This guy is getting increasingly abnormal with each second.
"See you at the bridge then," he waved and drifted to his own room, ignoring a voice in the back of his mind which asked timidly didn't that laugh sound just a little too thin?
Since a recon mission was never quick to finish, he decided to change his shirt in case something undesirable happened and the mission dragged even longer. And this particular one might be tricky if the information proved to be right. Clandestine activities had never meant a good thing, like what ORB had done in Heliopolis, and he still had to suppress a shudder if he recollected what had happened following the discovery of five mobile suits being built in secret there. It was irony, a wicked twist of fate that had brought him in custody and eventually met Miriallia and then Kira Yamato. They taught him to think, because who knows, the people who issued orders for him probably were not in the right state of mind themselves. It was one thing to be loyal, but it was another to merely be a pawn.
It was Athrun who especially taught him that. Going against an old friend who later turned out to be a long-lost love must be much painful than he could imagine, but then again, he could hardly blame his blue-haired teammate when the other obvious choice had been going against a father who unfortunately was sitting at the top of the hierarchy and had personally ordered him to shoot that damn legged ship. Looking at his friend, Dearka couldn't help but to feel angry at the world. And he hadn't been that close to Athrun at that moment.
But those times of conflicts had been over. The victors, if they indeed could be called that, did take the meaning of thinking and deciding for themselves to the extreme, he reflected dryly. Athrun chaired the Supreme Council, the blonde princess reigned at ORB, one of the most powerful countries on Earth, Lacus-sama keeping both Naturals and Coordinators in check, and Kira generally scared off everyone who had any evil intention. It was perfect, although the word 'totalitarianism' repeatedly popped up in his mind.
Well, who was he to protest? It was perfect. Everything had been going on smoothly, but then this happened.
"Dearka, where the hell are you??"
He winced at the loud, annoyed voice which suddenly reverberated in his room and turned at the intercom. He switched on the display and his commander's cross face appeared on screen.
"Anything comes up?" he quickly asked before a tsunami of angry words could descend upon him.
"It's confirmed," Yzak snapped and Dearka kept another wince at bay. "There really are activities in that damn colony. At least there were, two days ago. How come we have just noticed today?"
"Well, we have our focus concentrated on the search and two days ago we were covering a different area, weren't we?" he reasoned, half-soothing his friend. "At least now we know for sure."
Yzak fell silent, apparently seeing the sense in his words, but the frown remained on his face. When he spoke again, his voice was a little distant, as if he was reluctant to approach the subject.
"Have you talked to him?"
"Yeah," Dearka nodded, sighing. "I've tried to talk him out of it but he wants to go – not that he'll listen to me in the first place anyway. You may expect him any moment now."
"Like I don't know that," his friend growled but his eyes mirrored the same desperation.
No one spoke for a moment, Yzak probably too busy mourning over the prospect of facing Kira and him quietly thinking about the colony and the mission they would soon embark on. Not exactly a recon mission. He had said that but even then, the doubt had been there, gnawing his insides with its sharp claws. Kira was almost blind with worry and anguish that he saw everything as a small flicker of hope. And this colony, this one last chance that had decided to come up when everything already seemed as black as death, if this was another false lead... well, Dearka didn't know how many times a guy– even one as extraordinary as Kira Yamato – could remain intact after repeatedly falling from that high pedestal of hope, but even he was bound to have his limit somewhere.
"This can turn out serious," he finally voiced his anxiety.
"Can? It will turn out serious, damnit," Yzak snapped, his voice rising. "Someone does something here in space and PLANT doesn't know? When I meet those National Defense idiots again, I swear I'll shove their whole computer system down their throat."
"You have contacted them?"
The commander made a slighting sound at the back of his throat. "The same crap. It has been abandoned for years and all those. They know abso-fucking-lutely nothing."
Which was to be expected, Dearka reflected dryly. If the higher-ups did know something about it, with their work area being so close to the colony, they would have been notified. Which also meant that Yzak had made a perfectly valid point. How was it even possible that PLANT didn't know about it?
"But there's no mistaking the activity?"
"Of course not," Yzak shot him a murderous look for second-guessing his statement. "I saw it with my own eyes. Our automatic defense system got the visual but for some stupid reasons failed to inform the CIC until their periodic checking. There was something like an explosion and there were shadows like ships leaving the colony – the distance couldn't make it clearer. I've asked around but no one admitted sending any ship anywhere near there. An inquiry has also been sent to other countries but the replies can take a while."
Dearka hid a grim smile. If the clandestine nature of the activity was any indication, he was doubtful an honest answer would be given by the responsible party but chose to keep the opinion to himself for the moment. "What do you think it is?" he asked, trying to sound casual. "The headquarter of a separatist group?"
"If I already know, we won't be going out to find out, idiot," Yzak retorted, rolling his eyes. "And explain to me, what are you doing in your room? Have you got the damn information?"
"In the process," Dearka hurriedly answered and was about to give a further explanation about his apparently unacceptable location when Yzak held up one hand, deterring him from continuing, and turned to his left.
"Who is it?" he called out.
A faint but perfectly clear voice joined their conversation from – he presumed – the other side of Yzak's door. "Kira Yamato, Sir."
The commander's face contorted into a painful expression and Dearka, grinning from ear to ear, quickly wished his friend the best of lucks before terminating the line. Dealing with Kira's strong – hard, solid, unbreakable, whatever – will was always a problematic business and he absolutely had no intention in involving himself for the second time in a row on the same day. That was simply too much for him, especially if he had to exert himself later during the mission. If Yzak and Kira were determined to behave as recklessly as they had these past few days, he could count on it.
The green digital number at the down-left corner of the display told him that it was almost nine in the morning – not that it made any difference to the condition outside. The search mission should be officially stopped on twelve, he recalled with a twinge of regret. He really wanted to find Athrun, but coping with a high-strung Yzak and a depressed-almost-suicidal Kira didn't make his attempt any more enjoyable than it already was. Heaving a sigh, Dearka left his room and headed for the bridge.
The officers he had given the task to were still huddled in front of their monitor when he arrived, looking bored if nothing else. That could pretty much sum up their search result, he thought to himself dejectedly.
"Are we done here?" he asked briskly, proceeding toward the group.
They immediately sobered up at the sound of his voice and the one nearest to him answered quickly, "Almost nothing, Sir, and what little we can get are mostly old stuffs. There are project reports, but everything concludes with the fact that the project itself was eventually stopped. The colony is really abandoned as far as the data is concerned."
Frowning but scarcely expecting anything more, Dearka loomed over the monitor. "Let me take a look."
That much was at least true, he was forced to admit when he scanned through the files they were able to put their hands on. The colony was supposed to be abandoned, deserted, dumped, inhabitable, whatever the word was. Before he went any far however, Dearka made sure to watch the recording himself in case, just in case Yzak had been just a little too eager about paying a visit to the colony. To his disappointment, the commander hadn't been seeing things. The explosion did happen, as well as the fleeing fleets.
Another idea formed in his head while he delved even deeper into the files. It had been there all along, fermenting under his consciousness, but in front of the glaring fact that there was no information about the activity – or whatever importance the colony held that such explosion had to happen – the idea made its presence clear to him.
Someone was, once again, trying to stir the concoction of peace they all had tried to preserve until now. It was definitely an explosion, not a natural occurrence like an asteroid colliding with the satellite or something like that. And what about those ships leaving the colony? Was it the people who had caused the explosion? Or were they actually trying to escape the explosion?
Dearka frowned. It was another thing he had to discuss with his friend.
He had just finished summing up the data when Yzak, who had changed into his white pilot suit, entered the bridge, followed by Kira. The white-haired commander looked mightily pissed and Dearka could guess at once what the outcome of their earlier discussion was. Well, not that it was unforeseen. He would be very surprised if it had ended with anything else but.
"Get Vino Dupre up here, wherever he is," he snapped toward a nearby operator who had shrunk in his seat at the voice full of wrath. "Tell him to prepare for a mission. Full pilot suit and side arms. And tell the head of mechanics to come here too."
Dearka, who was still holding the print-outs of data, was his next glaring object. "A briefing in three minutes. You cannot answer one of my questions and you're dead."
Despite a severe urge to wince and say one or two smart things in return, Dearka managed to give his superior an anguished smile. He could as well try to be supportive now that Yzak had plunged into one of his worst moods. They really didn't need more temper tantrums right now.
It was not long until a young man with bright orange hair and boyish face, probably not more than eighteen, barged into the room breathlessly. This must be the pilot, Dearka thought to himself, noticing the unruly hair and disheveled appearance with a hidden little smile. Voltaire had a total of nine pilots including Yzak and himself and dividing his time between covering his search area and babysitting his two friends, Dearka had not exactly had the chance to make new acquaintances. This young man was one of those he sometimes noticed but never actually spoken with.
"Vino Dupre, pilot, reporting, Sir," the newly-arrived quickly saluted.
Yzak nodded wordlessly and signaled for the young man to wait next to Kira, a position which was accepted with obvious discomfort. Dearka hid another smile when he saw the general attempting a conversation and pretty much only managed to awe the younger pilot even more. The hassle to be a living myth, he thought in amusement before making his way toward the awkward pair.
"Have you been with Commander Jule for long?" he heard Kira asking.
"Four or five months, Sir," the young man quickly answered. "I have just graduated from the academy last April. I was formerly a mechanic but then– uh, it's kind of embarrassing actually, but someone inspired me to be a pilot and so I decided to give it a try."
"You were one of Minerva's crew, weren't you?" Dearka asked lightly, joining the conversation.
For a moment, the young pilot looked as if he wanted to runaway. Dearka raised his eyebrows, interested at this reaction his simple question evoked.
"Yes, Sir," finally the timid answer came.
Suppressing a wide grin, he offered his hand and said pleasantly, "I'm Dearka Elsman."
If anything, the young man looked even more terrified. He stared at the extended hand with something like horror crossed with disbelief, before quickly sobered up and raised his own hand to a light shake. "Yes, of course, Sir– uh, I mean it's an honor. Vino Dupre, Sir."
Dearka was in the verge of pointing out to the younger man that except for having known their commander longer than probably everyone but his mother, he was currently just a pilot assisting the Voltaire in the search, when an idea waltzed into his mind. Perhaps he was enjoying this a little too much, he thought with a guilty grin, but proceeded to execute the idea nevertheless.
"And this idol of yours is?"
Dupre immediately acquired a blush on his face and diverted his eyes to his boots. "Well, Sir, it's an established fact that all of us – the students, I mean – are greatly inspired by General Yamato and Chairman Zala, also you and Commander Jule. I mean, to save the world is just... it's just too amazing for words. But the one who really made me want to be a pilot was actually an old friend of mine."
"Shinn," Kira said softly, a corresponding expression on his face.
"You know him, Sir?" the young pilot looked momentarily surprised. "Oh, but of course you do. He is working for ORB now. Yes, he was the one."
Kira nodded and was about to say something when the chief mechanic entered the room. They all straightened up as Yzak motioned for them to gather around.
"Alright," the white-haired commander started the briefing, addressing his whole crew. "Listen, everyone. I know that PLANT ordered us to withdraw at twelve p.m. today, but something arose and now this ship is going in a recon mission. An unusual activity has been detected this morning from an abandoned colony nearby. There is no information about such activity around here and so we are given this task to investigate the colony."
He nodded at Dearka who continued from that point with the information he had summed up. On the big screen in front of them, appeared an old picture of the colony, side by side with the image they had just retrieved this morning.
"About the colony," he began, pointing at the first picture, "it consists of two parts. The first was named Cygnusia and was originally designed by Eurasian Federation to be a resource satellite like ORB's Heliopolis. However, the usual funding problem emerged and the project was abandoned inC.E.68, one of the most obvious reasons being the escalation of conflicts between Coordinators and Naturals. The last progress report clearly stated that while most of the infrastructures had already been finished, the satellite was nowhere near habitable. Thus the abandoned label."
"They were building a colony this close to Earth?" Kira suddenly asked, sounding incredulous.
"Right," Dearka nodded, "it wasn't designed to follow the normal orbital route at the Lagrange Points, somewhat closer to Earth. As for its exact position, the original plan was to build the colony somewhere between PLANT, L1 and L3. It seemed that the Eurasian Federation was trying to find anew orbital area which was closer but also stable enough, at least more stable than L1. Of course this posed many problems, including the inflating of budget far from their initial estimation for the added research and further support even though a closer location did have its advantages."
"Beside Cygnusia, there was another satellite, a smaller one," he continued, a blueprint replacing the previous images on the screen. "It hasn't been named and throughout the project was called the Second District. Initially it was planned to act as a support to Cygnusia but halfway into the process, to reduce the cost, they decided that it was not yet necessary and so was abandoned even earlier than the first one, in C.E. 66."
"The problem is this," he gave a signal to the private who had been controlling the screen and the recording played on, leaving a graver silence than it had been at its end. Dearka heaved a long sigh and spoke again, "As we can see, there was some kind of explosion, though it isn't really clear here. And there were ships too, some of them, looking like they were leaving the colony prior to the explosion and after. It may have nothing to do with our main objectives, but considering the close distance, these activities may hold some importance that we are not yet able to see."
"And there is absolutely no doubt that both are uninhabited?" Kira asked again.
"No according to the report. But if someone continued the project without telling the world, it's an entirely different problem."
Yzak nodded and took the briefing back into his hand. "The Supreme Council has issued an order for us to investigate this colony, both satellites if necessary. I will have a small party going there for a primary inspection and the rest should wait in the ship until there are further orders. Those who will go are me, General Kira Yamato, Pilot Dearka Elsman and Pilot Vino Dupre." He paused and turned toward his second-in-command, Malik Yardbirds. "I'll leave the ship in your hand, Yardbirds."
The officer saluted. "Yes, Sir."
"There is no indication so far that this mission will escalate into something big," he continued, looking around at his present crews with sharp cerulean eyes, "but the lack of information should be enough a caution for us. It may be nothing, but we must be certain at this point because this matter concerns our chairman. Notify the rest of the crews and we'll start the mission in half-an-hour."
"Now for the pilot briefing," he turned toward the smaller group and beckoned at Yardbirds to follow the briefing. "We'll go with our usual mobile suits, but this is a recon mission, so the Mirage Colloid function is necessary." He settled a questioning gaze on Kira. "All of our mobile suits are equipped with one, but what about Freedom?"
"It has the function too," Kira answered and Dearka hid a smirk. Well, after all, this was the genius who had successfully frustrated ZAFT and the great Creuset squad with his Strike – and later Freedom. One naturally shouldn't expect less.
Yzak looked slightly disappointed but didn't pursue the subject. "Very well then," he continued, once more addressing all of them. "This is what we'll do. We'll get closer until we can see what sort of activities going on there. There should be no problem in running our communication link, so we can talk to each other normally. If we can detect nothing, we'll run sensor checks, electromagnetic field, heat and movement. We'll see what happens."
"And if there's still nothing?" Dearka heard the ORB General inquiring.
Yzak frowned. "I don't like the idea of us going down there, but if it's really necessary, I guess we have to do it. But if it's too dangerous, we will retreat first and report to the Supreme Council. In any case, we must find out what's going on."
Kira nodded, his face betraying nothing.
"Is there anything else?" the white-haired commander asked.
"Should we announce our arrival?" Dearka spoke up. "I mean to prevent them shooting at us in case they notice our presence despite the mirage."
Again, Yzak's face developed an angry scowl. Dearka began to suspect that it had something to do with him asking the question, not the question itself.
"And give them the chance to hide in their holes? No way in hell. We'll go in secret. What's the point of a recon mission anyway? Yardbirds!"
The second-in-command perked up. "Yes, Sir!"
"Move the ship nearer to the colony but stay at a reasonable distance away," Yzak barked his order. "If a combat ensues, get closer and fire a warning shot. We'll scare those sons of a bitch a little. Voltaire is a damn destroyer anyway."
"Yes, Sir!"
He looked around again, this time with a fierce look on his face. "Is there anymore question?"
His question was greeted with silence and so Yzak dismissed his ranks with an order for the pilots to assemble in the hangar in five minutes. It took Dearka only three to don his pilot suit and take care of everything else before heading to the meeting point, humming lightly to himself. It was a habit that had grown on him over the years, one his commanders often reproached him for but still couldn't get rid of. The problem was, he needed something to distract his mind from the upcoming mission and whatever which might follow. The fear, the apprehension had long since diluted by time and experiences, but the habit remained.
It wasn't to say that he was not nervous about this one particular mission. Recon missions always had this unfamiliar side that whispered fear to him, but at least, he reflected, at least he was going with friends that he could trust to watch his back.
Everyone had disappeared into their own mobile suit when Dearka arrived. He followed suit and climbed to his own ZAKU, automatically running various system check and switching on the communication link, including the additional one to Freedom which had been established by the General himself once he had arrived. Everything was working properly.
"Everything's ready?" Yzak's voice came through the link.
Dearka snickered to the screen. "Yes, Commander. Everyone already goes to the toilet?"
He heard Dupre answering 'Yes, Sir!' before blushing madly and saw the small smile on Kira's face and received a death glare from his superior.
"That is not funny."
"Really? And here I thought I could get a laugh out of you," he replied with a mock sigh, making a face at his friend. "You know, Commander, with the current frequency of that frown appearing on your face, your brow will acquire wrinkles in probably the next two years."
"Shut up," Yzak snarled.
"And your voice will–"
Was it that much of a surprise to see his superior's mobile suit pointing its huge firearm at him? No, probably not. Dearka shot him a harmless smile and wisely kept his mouth shut.
But what he had said was the truth. His friends had looked too serious as if they were going in a suicide mission and while he understood the importance of the mission, he couldn't help but to try lightening the situation. Sighing softly, he put on his helmet and waited for the becoming-familiar voice announcing 'Gunner ZAKU Warrior, please launch'.
The mission started.
No one said anything after the launch. The mobile suits party moved quietly in two files, he and Freedom at front while the rest followed not far behind. It was a sight to behold, Dearka reflected with a smile, to see the legendary mobile suit flew in all its glory. A prominent officer himself in ZAFT, he was used to first class mobile suits, but Freedom had always marked the deepest impression in him, Strike following closely in the second place. Perhaps it had something to do with him being at the other side of the line and seeing them from the eyes of an enemy, but an incontestable fact remained. Kira Yamato was an extraordinary pilot, even by Coordinator's standard.
If Dearka had any reason to be worried, it was Kira. He had witnessed the man's feat of skills and it went without speaking that he didn't wish to see those skills exploited for the wrong reason. But it troubled him to see what his friend was doing to himself lately. He had seen how layer after layer of patience – pretenses – were shed slowly, until only shadows of pain remained on a tired, sad face.
It pained him to think what would happen if they found nothing. He saw the light in Kira's eyes, the faint flicker of hope, and what if the light dimmed and died completely?
This was why people said that power was a two-edged sword.
"Activate the mirage colloid," Yzak's voice suddenly echoed in the cockpit.
Dearka shook his head and complied the order, focusing his sight to the nearing colony. It was hard to see anything but a huge shadow in the distance, a patch of blackness no star could permeate. He thought about the explosion. It really happened, didn't it? Looking at the colony now, somehow it felt absurd.
"It looks pretty dead to me," he finally voiced his doubt.
"You've seen the damn evidence, Dearka," his commander snapped at him. "Or do you want me to shove it up your ass?"
It brought a wry smile to his face. "No need to throw a hissy fit at me, my dear Yzak. Or are you, perhaps, nervous?"
"Shut up before I shoot you dead."
"Yes, Sir," he replied meekly. They continued the journey in silence.
But as they closed the distance, the silence began to spread its oppressive wings. Dearka tried to stifle the discomfort. He had never particularly liked space. It was probably strange considering that he had been born at PLANT and had enlisted into ZAFT in a rather young age. Still, he didn't like the silence, that feeling of being alone when he was in his mobile suit facing the boundless universe of stars and the thought of civilization was faraway. He had gone through extensive training to deal with this kind uneasiness and he was able to deal with it, really. But the sentiment remained.
It was why the thought of that girl lingered at the back of his mind. Meyrin Hawke went through all this alone, without the slightest hope that she could survive. Five days. Darkness. Alone. That she had not gone out of her mind was an accomplishment in itself.
Not out of her mind, but close enough, Dearka reminded himself with a frown. Those eyes of hers were the same ones he found looking back at him every time Kira climbed off Freedom, complying his requests –or threats – to return at least once a day. It took him only two seconds looking into her eyes to realize that she loved the chairman, who didn't return while she made it alive. And the notion destroyed her.
Athrun, always the handsome one girls would flock around.
Dearka smiled. There was no malice in that thought. Perhaps a little jealousy, but he had settled on understanding that looks did have its uses and no, Athrun never flaunted it. Sometimes he hated the man for being so unbelievably modest but it was just who Athrun was. It had never been in his nature to show off and despite all said and done, he was a good man.
Maybe the old saying about a good man wouldn't live long was true after all.
He chased the thought out of his mind with another frown as the colony began to loom in front of him. Up close, it looked big enough to swallow Voltaire without any difficulty and the thought was actually making him a little wary.
"It looks dead, Yzak, I'm serious," he brought up the topic once more, painfully aware that his voice was smaller than usual.
"Stop," the commander ordered, his own voice sounding tight. "Run the check, Dupre."
"Yes, Sir."
A few moments of silence followed. Dearka fixed his eyes on the dark bulk before him, more convinced than ever that the video recording had been wrong somehow. It was just impossible to picture life or any activity in that darkness and he wasn't surprised when the younger pilot's voice came through the link again with an answer.
"Negative, Sir. No heat, no sign of movement. Nothing. Maybe they have detected us."
Dearka saw his friend's face furrowed into another frown. "Impossible. We have the most advanced technology in mirage colloid."
"It was Naturals that came up with the idea first," he reminded Yzak. "Although it still doesn't explain why we're still floating idly here if they really have detected us."
Suddenly Kira spoke up. "I'll go first."
Dearka glared at the left corner screen. "Are you insane? What if they're just waiting for us to move and get into a convenient shooting range?"
"I'll be able to dodge them," Kira answered calmly, in his voice the confidence of a pilot who had gone to hell and back twice.
"Yes, but what if you are hit?" he insisted, no intention to back down whatsoever. "What should we say to your sister and ORB? Claiming that her brother is a stubborn idiot who always insists to go his own way?"
The general didn't answer directly but Dearka could feel tension building, the same one he experienced every time he found himself face to face with a wall which was Kira's adamantine will. It was the lack of participation in the argument that returned his gaze to the navigation screen and he realized with a sinking feeling that Yzak's mobile suit was already halfway toward the colony.
"Yzak!" he shouted at the screen, noting angrily that his friend was purposefully looking away. "Get back here! You are the commander damnit!"
The reply came no less vicious. "Shut up and stay put there! That is an order!"
Insubordination was one thing and Dearka usually wouldn't pay the slightest heed to rules and its inevitable penalties if it concerned his closest friends, but he stayed back nonetheless. It was okay, he tried to reason, the mirage colloid would protect him and Yzak was really a first-class pilot. Still.
Still.
If that son of a bitch managed to get himself shot...
Silent, almost paralyzed, his mind was a blurry blizzard of shouting and fears, his heart thumping madly in his chest. It felt like an eternity had passed before Yzak's voice reached his ears again and cleared the fog.
"I think I've found the source of the explosion."
Dearka was in the middle of processing the new information when he realized that Freedom had already sped up to the colony. He hissed in frustration and found himself wishing for the umpteenth time in this week that he was anywhere but here, stuck between his two friends. "Damnit, we're going there," he informed Yzak briskly and quickly followed.
The flight took him almost halfway to the other side of the colony before he himself noticed what the commander must have seen. What once had been a large part of the satellite was now a gaping hole. Natural causes completely went out of the window, Dearka thought wryly, unless there was a big meteoroid with every intention to crush the first surface it came across rushing at the colony in a velocity that was almost vengeful. The hole was actually not that big, but the stark difference with its surroundings –heavy buildings to nothingness – set an imaginary line somewhere in his mind.
"This must be the result of the explosion," Kira's solemn voice broke the silence.
"Well, that was surely one hell of an explosion," Dearka said, unable to keep the hint of dryness out of his tone. Maybe he was only uncomfortable being this close to what might be a veritable source of danger. Even the mirage colloid failed to give him a sense of security invisibility should.
"Uh, excuse me, Sir," Dupre suddenly spoke up, loud enough even though Dearka could detect a slight hesitance, "but is this place...really the right one?"
"You mean this isn't Cygnus," Yzak replied in a voice that sounded eerily calm in the blinding darkness. "And you're right. Cygnus is over there, the big one. This is the Second District."
Dearka looked over the place once more. Dupre was right and really, how could he not realize it at the first glance. Looking at the colony now, it was painfully obvious that they were staring at the Second District.
"That explains why we didn't detect anything right away," he agreed with a sigh. "This one is very well hidden behind Cygnus."
"But there is no living sign," Kira reminded them.
"Dupre."
"Done, Sir," the young pilot's reply came quickly. "It's still the same. All negative."
No one spoke for a moment. Dearka frowned as he mulled the new information over in his head. They had not moved from point one. There was no reaction and yes, it could be a trap even though what kind of idiot would miss this chance to shoot the laser through their cockpits while they were already this close. He sighed. This was why he never liked recon missions. Least of all to spy over something this dangerously vague. Which was the crucial problem from the beginning. They knew nothing.
"Do you think we should land and check it out?" He finally broke the silence. "For all we know, this may be a trap."
"But looking at that explosion, there may be people who need our help," Kira argued.
"They would have sent a distress signal or something," Dearka reasoned, although he could feel the building of the same feeling he got every time he tried to go against Kira's wish. He could see the stubbornness as plain as day. The general would go alone if that was what it took.
On the other hand, they needed to know what happened. Going into the colony was probably the only way to find out. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to prepare himself, and said, "Let's try to deactivate the colloid. I'll do it first."
"De–"
He didn't let Yzak finish the word and pushed the deactivating button, his other hand ready on the control to flee his mobile suit if something unwanted ensued, namely a barrage of fires directed at him.
Nothing happened. Long silence, filled only by the hum of his mobile suit's machine, reigned for maybe one full minute before he broke it with a shaky laugh.
"I guess that does it," he said, the sound of his laugh thin even to his ears. Dearka winced when Yzak's glare fell on him, ready to burn him alive.
"Are you fucking out of your mind??"
"Yzak–"
"Never again," the commander hollered, face pale and livid with anger, "never again you do something stupid like that without my exact permission! You got that, Elsman!?"
"You were doing just the same a few minutes ago," he pointed out, starting to feel annoyed.
If it was possible, Yzak's face became even paler. "I'm the commander, Elsman! Don't you dare question my judgment!"
"Yes, Sir," he muttered, looking anywhere but the screen.
"Don't just 'yessir' me!" his friend spat and for a moment Dearka wondered if it was better for him to accept the other kind barrage of fires. "Show me that you mean it, asshole! You could get yourself killed doing that stupid brave act!"
Dearka remained silent, throwing helpless glances at Kira and receiving only an unreadable look in return. He sighed, far from sorry because after all, hadn't Yzak just done the same a few minutes back? Taking unnecessary risks and all and to top everything, he was the commander. If there was a stupid brave act like his friend had said, it must be one.
At long last, Kira's voice came to rescue him. "Yzak, I think it's enough."
"You stay out of this, Yamato," the white-haired commander retorted, voice dripping with all venomous substances he could think of.
"I just want to remind you that we are still in a mission," the ORB General said, unperturbed by the offensive reply. "It has already happened. What do you think we should do now?"
For a moment, there was only silence, that kind one got before a massive explosion or volcanic eruption. Half expecting his friend to launch a second burst, Dearka heaved a relieved sigh when he leaned back with an irritated huff. "Thanks to someone's idiocy, I think it's safe enough to remove the colloid," Yzak muttered, still sounding resentful but thankfully a little calmer. "Run the checks once more, Dupre."
"Yes, Sir," the answer came readily and soon was followed by another just as proficient. "Again, nothing, Sir. There is no activity going on in there."
Everyone waited patiently as Yzak stared at the colony, already sporting another frown on his face. It wasn't long, however, until he turned back to them, lips set into a firm but grim line.
"We're going in."
In his own mobile suit, Dearka closed his eyes with a deep breath, a familiar shiver running down his spine. From the communication line, he could hear Yzak establishing a communication link with Voltaire.
"Yardbirds, we're going into the colony," the commander informed his second-in-command crisply, as if to cover what little nervousness that might turn up in his voice. "If we don't return in three hours, get the hell out of here and report to the Headquarter."
The answering 'yes, Sir!' this time didn't sound as convincing. Dearka smiled grimly as Yzak terminated the connection, leaving the four of them alone once more.
"Deactivate the colloid. We'll descend now," he ordered.
More out of habit than anything, Dearka readied his mobile suit's various armaments as his comrades slowly came into view. Only silences were traded as they proceeded with the plan, the slow but insistent gravity pulling them even closer to the colony. As they reached the interior of the colony, it became clearer what they were looking at.
"I'll be damned, it's a city," he whispered.
"Yes," Yzak murmured, sounding a little awe-struck himself.
The city, as he called it, was not actually that big, but it was still bigger than a normal military base. There were buildings scattered about in a fashion so orderly that he suspected military interference at once.I t was not a base – no base had so many small buildings – but it wasn't a city either. And then there was the 'who' question.
One thing for sure, he reflected to himself, building anything of this scale behind other's back could only mean bad intention. Something like GENESIS or MESSIAH.
"There, on your left," Kira said, indicating at the big hole they had been staring at earlier. "Let's take a look at the explosion site."
They made their way toward the area quietly. All the way, there was no sign of people living in the city and Yzak continuously ordered Dupre to perform the check, each no different from the last. For some reasons, it hardly surprised Dearka. The city was dead. Too dead. He frowned at the use of the word. Dead, but not abandoned; that was the feel of this place.
There was always the possibility of a trick, of course, he reminded himself.
"The target was that large building, wasn't it?" Kira spoke up again as Freedom hovered close above the explosion site.
"Seems so. It destroyed the whole wing and a few nearby buildings," Yzak replied with a frown. "And there, you see? It looks like a damn functional landing site. Dearka, I thought you said that the Second District was nowhere near finished."
"It's what the report said, not me," Dearka defended himself although he knew where the thought had come from. The report was a lie, that much was obvious. What still remained was the 'why' question.
"We're going to land," suddenly Yzak said. "It'll be useless if we don't now that we're here already."
"Alright," he nodded, "how do you suggest we cover the ground?"
Yzak's frown deepened. "Assuming there are people still here, if they are even a little smart, they will prepare an ambush. The smaller buildings circling the landing site will be a perfect hiding place if they think that we're idiot enough to go to the main one first. So the smaller ones first. And keep the helm on," he added as if an afterthought
They landed in a relatively empty site circled by what looked like hangars. Dearka instinctively pulled out his handgun before getting out from his ZAKU Gunner, the small weight almost comforting against his palm. It was different, fighting in his mobile suit, shielded by all those metals and a big gun ready to be fired with walking around protected by nothing but his skimpy pilot suit.
Yzak made a signal with his hand and Dearka sprinted to the building he was appointed to, aware of his friend's light footsteps behind him. The entrance was left open a little and he peeked inside but saw nothing except pitch-black darkness. There might be an ambush, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time, and readied the gun just in front of his chest before kicking the door open.
He slipped inside and pressed his back against the wall, his gun raised at the end of his outstretched hands, but even with added light pouring in from the outside through the now wide open entrance, he still couldn't see anything inside the building. Dearka blinked a few times. Still nothing.
"It's too dark," he whispered to Yzak who had just followed him inside and clearly was facing the same problem. "We can't see anything inhere."
"Just feel your way around," the commander said quietly, "but ready your gun."
With more than a little wariness, Dearka started to feel his way – as Yzak had put it. It took him a few more seconds to let his eyes adjust in the darkness as he fumbled around but everything slowly came into view. There were equipments in the deceptively small building, lots of them, some neatly arranged and the rest scattered around, even toppled down as if they had been abandoned in hurry. Dearka felt the conflicting impressions furrowing his brow again. This was obviously a base, a valuable one judging from that much effort made to keep it a secret until now. The obvious question– why it was empty now – was what eluded him. The machined and equipments were not new but obviously someone had been using them until just recently.
It was abandoned, Dearka suddenly felt sure. They were alone in the colony, only four of them. Instead of inducing relief, the thought only succeeded to disconcert him even further. The darkness, the structure's low ceiling, the absolute silence did not help. The only thing they accomplished was to make him feel like a trapped mouse in a twisted cat-and-mouse game.
A smart mouse, but still.
They circled the building once, and then silently moved to another next to it. It wasn't too different to the first, only a few additions of small vehicles lining one side of the building, the kind one would use in a government facility. Meanwhile, that feeling of them being alone intensified. Dearka remembered going in a similar mission and all the way, he had felt eyes everywhere observing him from behind the curtain of silence. When the first barrage of shots had rained down on them, he was probably the only one who was not so surprised and in the end, suffered the less injuries.
Sometimes, a soldier had to rely on his gut instinct and he didn't have that feeling of being watched right now. Judging from the quiet but sure steps behind him, Yzak was not about to contest his opinion.
When they got to the fifth building, they met Kira and Dupre who were crouching down to observe a nearby vehicle, this one not neatly parked like the rest. Instead, it was left abandoned near the entrance of the small warehouse, all sort of tools scattered on its seat.
Kira looked up at them as they approached, his face indistinguishable under his helm, and asked, "Find anything? Or anyone?"
"No, there is nobody in these buildings," Dearka answered, lowering his gun. "But obviously these equipments were used until just recently. Maybe they left with those ships we saw."
"But what is – or was – going on here?" the ORB General wondered, sounding truly puzzled.
"If they kept any report, it would be in the main building," Yzak decided.
"If they haven't destroyed them, that is," Dearka added with a sigh.
In a unanimous silence, they left the warehouse and crept toward the largest construction there, trying to stay along the wall as much as possible. As they neared the building, Dearka realized that to say it was 'large' was a serious understatement. Even PLANT Council building which housed their countless offices held no candle against this – it was at least five, six times larger.
The front door – or gate, depending on how one saw it – was an automatic sliding door made like those in Voltaire, only obviously much sturdier. A few poundings on this thing wouldn't do much good, Dearka thought to himself. But there was always hope, like someone careless enough to leave the entrance unlocked or a sudden system breakdown, even though it was a pretty tall hope in their situation. However, Yzak's mind seemed to work the same way he did, seeing how his hand hovered near the door as the other sill loyally kept his gun in company.
He tried once. It didn't budge.
"We need a cardkey to get in," Yzak decided, sounding pissed, mortified and offended at the same time.
"The system seems to be inactive," Kira said, looking pointedly at the card slot. "Look, it doesn't work."
"Should we blow it up?" Dearka heard himself suggesting.
"Or shoot it down," Kira added quickly. "Your ZAKU Gunner should be able to do it easily."
Dearka was not sure if it was something the 'Protector of Peace' should be saying, but he went back to his mobile suit nevertheless at Yzak's silent nod. He did not doubt his Gundam and the beam cannon did not fail him when the front door gave way with a sickening crash. Climbing down from his ZAKU, he returned to join the others who had stepped inside the building.
A moment later, he bumped into Dupre. Hand automatically flying to his gun, Dearka leaned forward and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"
Whatever the answer was fell on deaf ears as he saw for himself the very cause which put the group into a complete halt.
It was not the most grotesque scenery he had ever seen – the aftermath of Jachin Due had been worse – but it could as well attain the second place. Just beyond the doorstep were two bodies, crimson marks staining their white lab coats and a pair of eyeglasses shattered at their side. A few steps from them were another set of bodies, five of them in more or less similar conditions, bearing the same crimson marks.
Kira knelt down next to the nearest body, his empty hand carefully examining the multiple red stains. Below layers of clothing was a pitiful sight of human body pierced by what Dearka only knew too well.
"Bullet wounds," the general said quietly. "I'm not the expert but they might be inflicted around that time two days ago."
"Who are they?" Yzak asked, the harshness in his voice trying to cover hints of tremor and failing miserably.
"I don't know, but maybe Naturals, from the look of it," Kira answered as he moved to the next person. "This one seemed to have died of the same reason."
It began to feel like a dream, a nightmare. Dearka might have pitied Dupre if he himself were not so overwhelmed by the sight before him. Even under the helm, he could almost smell the stench of death as he stood in silence there, blankly watching his white-uniformed superior walking around to check the rest. Yzak had always been the stronger one between them in matters like these. Death – close-up death, that was, one with corpses in front of your eyes – did not bother him as it did Dearka.
In contrast to his boastful nature, Yzak had never said a thing about it. Dearka suspected he knew, of that attempt of assassination fifteen years ago on Congressman Elsman. The congressman, caught up in his work, had stayed up late that night in his office and thus escaped the murder. The same could not be said about his wife, whose death had been witnessed firsthand by her only son who, as attested later by the shaking boy, by Mommy's order had slipped into the closet and hid.
That night might have been worse. Jachin Due might have been worse, but they all spelled the same word.
Madness.
"They are all dead," Yzak announced, breaking him out of his stupor. Dearka reprimanded himself and forced his feet to follow his friend. Fear was forgivable in certain cases, but not when he was a soldier and currently in a mission, especially if it was a haunt of the past.
"They were all shot?" he asked, thankful that his voice was at least steady.
"Yeah," Yzak mumbled absentmindedly, still staring at the body before him. Crouching next to his friend, Dearka felt his tension gradually began to fade away. He hid a relieved sigh. The panic attack would go away like usual and no, he was not a small child alone hiding in a closet now.
He had friends. And one – two – of them was in need of his help. He glanced around, noticing Kira still bending over the earlier body he had been inspecting. For the first time he noticed the room they were in, if it could be called a mere room at all. It was more like an atrium, an intersection of three hallways with the other remaining side an equally grand entrance he had blown up just a few minutes before. Despite the size, Dearka felt like he was in a some kind of hospital. Or a lab. The latter was probably right.
Was it another laboratory like the one found by Minerva four years ago? Why not? He had witnessed with his own eyes the extent of madness humanity could be driven into. Adding another mad scientist and a power-hungry, world-conquering lunatic to the list was not that impossible.
"I'll check around there," Kira suddenly announced, already walking to the center hallway.
"No," Yzak's voice was sharp and it stopped the ORB general on his tracks. "No one is moving alone. You go with Dearka. We'll separate into two groups. Where is Dupre?"
"Sir, there is a map of the building here," a small voice said from the other side of the room. The commander quickly crossed the room toward the single source of light, followed closely by Dearka.
"Let me see that," he said briskly, grabbing the flashlight from the younger pilot's hand. Dearka took a peek from his friend's shoulder, surprised by the details shown by the map and the design of the building itself. This was not a two-month project, not even a two-year. It might take three or four years to design and finish the building, let alone the whole satellite and the city outside. A scale number at the bottom-right of the map verified his rough guess earlier – a monstrosity, nothing short of it. Suddenly, the size of the hall alarmed him. He looked around uneasily. The ceiling looked so high, or was it only because of the darkness?
Stupid, he scolded himself. It was the atmosphere whispering fear and he had let himself get carried away. Fortunately, Yzak decided to speak up at that moment.
"That settles it. Look here. This is a three-winged building. As we have already seen, the south wing is almost completely wiped out by the explosion. We can check it later but for now, you two go to the west and I and Dupre will cover the east. If anything happens, use the comm."
They all nodded. Dearka took another glance toward the map, memorizing it as far as he could before following Kira to the west wing. Again, the automatic handgun was readily clasped by his hand. Stupid or not, he rather not taking chances.
The first few doors yielded nothing behind them. There were workstations, machines, test tubes, and various equipments which uses Dearka preferred not to know, but all of them appeared to be off. Like those warehouses outside, there were signs of living everywhere, a sense of chaotic orderliness only humans possessed. Notes were everywhere, scattered on the desk, pinned on the announcement board, and slipped between ridiculously thick textbooks. Add a few half-empty bottles of mineral water and they found a perfect workspace.
They performed a quick search in every room but little were found so far. Whoever had been using these rooms before must have left them in a great hurry.
"I should have known," Kira said with a sigh after checking another computer yet again. "The problem is electricity. That is the reason the whole satellite is so dark."
"One thing for sure, this is a damn well-habited colony," Dearka said, handing Kira a piece of paper he had found in the printing tray. "Someone was just printing that list when they suddenly and abruptly left."
Kira frowned behind his helm as he scanned the names written on the list. "There must be at least thirty peoples working for this…Engineering Division alone."
"My point exactly."
They looked at each other but said nothing. Not even when they found a few more dead bodies along the corridor on the second floor, sporting the same wounds and in a condition more or less the same like those in the atrium. Kira was tense, Dearka could see it in the way he walked around two bodies slumped together in the middle of the floor, and the way his empty hand balling into a fist.
He would hate seeing what that tension could turn out to if something – or someone – didn't come and break the spell.
"Any survival?" he asked after what felt like hours prodding in the darkness.
"None so far," Kira replied, his voice tight and Dearka glanced at him. He was itching to ask 'are you okay' but realized that it was probably rhetorical at this point. The probability was small but if Athrun was somewhere among these dead bodies...
They continued their inspection in silence. He wondered how Yzak and Dupre were doing in the east wing. Probably not much of a success either. Whoever had executed this plan of massacre seemed to make sure they had done a very thorough job.
"Dearka."
It was probably the tone of voice Kira was using – frail, wretched, vulnerable. He turned around reluctantly, warning sirens blaring behind his eardrums, every step he took heavier than the last as he approached the ORB General who had stopped on the threshold of the room he had been about to enter. Dearka stopped not a feet away behind Kira and peered inside the room.
That his feet had been frozen to their place was probably the only reason he had not crumpled to the floor.
"We should tell Yzak now," Dearka muttered weakly, rather surprised that he could produce any voice at all, and almost shrieked when Kira took a tentative step into the room instead. In horror mixed with incredulous amazement, he watched the other man kneel down, looking at the nearest body – or the one on top of the nearest pile of bodies, considering the condition inside the room. He had seen something like this, a picture on the slideshow during his ZAFT's mental training, and it hadn't exactly affect him that much, unlike to most of the girls in the room.
He wasn't supposed to see that picture in real life.
"What are you doing?" he asked, for once not caring about the tremor in his voice.
"Not all of them died from bullet wounds," the general said, sounding eerily matter-of-fact.
Dearka felt his head spinning madly. "What?"
"This man doesn't have any external wound."
"But–"
When Kira stood up and started to run back the way they came, all Dearka could do was following him, his own feet eager to leave the room and its only too clear proof of slaughter. They returned to the entrance, Kira stopping in front of the map and hurriedly reading the legends at the bottom-right of the map.
"The south wing is the control and engine areas," his voice was uptight, holding back something just beneath the surface, ready to break out, "and if you blow that up…"
Kira didn't finish his sentence and Dearka didn't need him to. He stared at his younger friend, horrified. "You mean the people in that room died because they couldn't breathe?"
He couldn't see Kira's face, but the anger – desperation – was clear when his fist collided with the wall, voice wrecked by so much more than just anguish.
"Something like this can still happen!"
It was then when he realized that they stood at the beginning, not the end.
End Chapter Eleven
Character Info: First, Vino Dupre. He's this orange-haired mechanic boy in Minerva, a friend of Youlan whom I have mentioned in chapter nine. He first appeared at the beginning of GSD driving a jeep with Lunamaria. The second is Malik Yardbirds, Yzak's second-in-command. He was previously the pilot of Minerva, the one with dark hair and a hat, usually sitting at the pilot seat on the bridge. He could be seen assisting Captain Gladys with Arthur Trine from time to time and he actually spoke, though I don't remember the exact episode.
I don't know anything about Dearka's mother and I have never read any info about her either, so I make a background story out of her. I just want to add slightly more character to my Dearka and I think it's fitting in many ways. If she is, in truth, alive and happy, let's just pretend.
Other technical info: L3 is the location of Heliopolis and Artemis (colonies from Gundam SEED series). Lagrange point itself is (from Gundam Official): an area of gravitational stability created by the interactions of a planet and its satellite...there are five of such regions in the Earth-moon system, referred to as L1 through L5, which make ideal sites for space colonies. For information, PLANT is at L5. L4 is colony Mendel, Kira's birthplace.
Mirage function was the function Blitz (Nicol's Gundam in Gundam SEED series) was equipped with. According to Gundam Official, Mirage Colloid 'renders the mobile suit invisible to both radar and the naked eye...even blocks infra-red emissions, giving the Blitz perfect stealth capabilities. However, the mobile suit's Phase Shift Armor must be deactivated while this system is in use, so it becomes highly vulnerable while in its invisible form. More info can be found in the website.
About Freedom, it should be noted that the actual Freedom had been destroyed by Destiny during Phase 35 of Destiny. The Freedom I continuously refer to in this story all along is actually Strike Freedom. I hope this doesn't confuse anyone.
About the deficiency of oxygen in Second District, as I have said above, air circulation is maintained by engines which are a part of the infrastructure system. But in SEED, we saw Kira and Mwu going into an abandoned colony (which is Mendel) without helm, which means that there is enough oxygen to keep them breathing. Oxygen is a heavy gas, so it may have something to do with gravity pull, but for the sake of the story, I make Second District an oxygen-less area despite the fact that it has enough gravity to allow the characters to run. Not sure if it's scientifically possible and I don't pretend to know how a colony is built and managed either, so if I got it wrong, sorry. The exact cause of death will be explained in the next chapter.
Notes: Okay, enough of the actions and whatnots. The next chapter, we'll return to another angst-ridden piece which will be nowhere as long as this. It shouldn't be too hard, seeing that I still mourn from the new development... Oh Kira... goes off to cry some more
pops back Review please?