Disclaimer – Don't ask cause I don't own it.
A/N Ok NOTE re-uploaded with minor corrections due to an unrealized at the time Dues Ex Machina moment that would have come in chapter 9. See CH 9 AN for more details.
"Speech"
'Thought'
Communications
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
Starlight
Chapter 8
Findings of Love
CE 71
Hellespont Station
Olympus
Richard leaned back at his desk in his Quarters aboard Olympus. He was making final adjustments to the Starlight's cockpit settings while Lacus had her shower. The last of the crews aboard Hellespont would be packing out tomorrow, and then the self destruct would render the station a lifeless rock. That would keep either side from trying to use it. As he finished up the final adjustments a soft knock sounded on the door to his cabin, which was curious.
"Enter"
Through the door stepped, or rather floated, Flay Allster. Now that was curious indeed.
"What can I help you with Flay?"
She seemed a bit nervous, with everything that had happened over the last 48 hours he couldn't exactly blame her.
"That thing you had to check on today…it was a Mobile Suit wasn't it?"
He nodded, still not sure what she wanted exactly.
"Yes, the Starlight. It's still going through final setup and should be done by morning. Why are you asking me this Flay?"
She stayed quiet for a moment, thinking her words over.
"…I just… Kira's a Coordinator, and he's out there fighting and so are you and Cagalli. I need to do something to help"
Richard leaned back in his chair and nodded. He could sympathize a bit.
"So you wanted to take over whichever suit is spare right?"
Flay nodded.
"Yes"
Richard sighed and shook his head.
"Sorry Flay, Starlight is nowhere near done. It will take a few more weeks at minimum to fine tune the thing before I even try to pilot it. Even then Cagalli will transfer to Nemesis and the other suit will go to the main facility."
While everyone from Hellespont was gathering at Sylias Station it still wasn't the main facility for the Peacemaker Organization, only Richard and Laura knew exactly where that was. Flay's expression dropped.
"Oh"
Before either of them could say anything else the console on Richards's desk beeped and he turned to check.
"Jonas, what's he want at this hour"
He hit the stud on the screen and opened the line.
"Hope I wasn't interrupting anything"
"No, Lacus is having her shower and Flay had something she needed to ask, what is it?"
"Good, we've loaded the 3 spare GINNs and Starlight onto Olympus. We have pilots for the GINNs, all old team members, Matt Ajax, Kari Juris, and myself. Your High Maneuver Type is being sent to the main facility with the rest"
"What about Nicolas and Kisho"
"They're at the main facility doing flight testing on new units. They should be done soon"
"The Setherin and Shadowstar?"
"Both unit types are being tested but it will be a few months till the bugs are worked out. We'll only be able to use them at their max if we can crack how your old man designed the Hadron Engines."
"Well that's something at least"
Richard glanced back over to where Flay stood, an idea blossoming in his mind.
"Jonas, we re-supplied Archangel with spares for the Strike right?"
"Yeah, well their spare for Nemesis, but since the only real difference between them is some design in the external armor it wasn't a real stretch, why?"
"What do we have in the way of ready to assemble parts?"
"Well what we gave Archangel was basically assembled parts ready to swap but what…"
Jonas noticed Richards's innocent look. He passed a quick glance back to his former COs guest and then grinned. News had even hit the Peacemakers, who found it a great irony, that George Allster's daughter was a Coordinator.
Oh, you devious bastard. I knew there was a reason I liked you. So this, Strike Clone, wouldn't happen to be for Miss Flay here would it?"
"It might, how soon can you have it done?"
"We'll transfer the spares form the Anthon, one of our cargo transport, onto Olympus tonight. Considering that this is just putting together the pre assembled parts, and since their not doing anything else with the Savior Team on Starlight and it nearly done, DJ and his team should be able to have it together by morning. Recommend you get her in the simulators though. Will she be flying off of the Olympus or Archangel?"
Richard looked back to his guest.
"Well Flay?"
Flay thought for a moment then smiled.
"I…would like to fly off of Archangel if I could"
Neither Richard nor Flay had noticed Lacus return from her shower. She stood by the door in a blue cotton robe she had bought that day on Hellespont, quietly drying out her long pink hair. Richard turned back to the terminal on his desk.
"Guess that settles it, Peacemaker will retain possession of the new machine but once it's done Flay will fly off of Archangel till we meet up with an Alliance fleet. Then we'll decide what to do from there"
"Roger that, well it seems I have more work to do. Tomorrow I want to meet your bother and sister at least once before we split up again. And as for that info you asked us to find about the "GRAM projects", there wasn't much to find. When Blue Cosmos hit the place they pretty well gutted it. What ever may have been there is gone now. I'll send a full report here later on."
Richard sighed.
"Damn, alright at least it was worth a shot. Keep at it; I need more info before I can decide anything"
"Will do, Renard out".
Richard sighed and sat back again. He turned to Flay and then finally noticed Lacus near the door. He stood, moved over to her and took her into his arms.
"Didn't know you were out"
Lacus smiled and gave him a soft kiss.
"You were busy"
Richard nuzzled the tip of his nose against hers then turned back to his guest.
"Flay if you're not too tired, head to the Mobile Suit bay. Cagalli should be there, she knows how to run the training programs in our machines. Have her run you through with one of the GINNs"
Flay nodded and moved into the hall.
"Thank you…umm could you not tell Kira or anybody. I want to surprise him"
Richard smiled and Lacus gave a soft giggle.
"Sure, don't worry. Now get going, were leaving tomorrow and your machine should be ready"
Flay nodded and was off. Richard locked the door as Lacus let the robe fall away. She wore a baby blue nightie that she had bought earlier. Richard striped down to his boxers and t-shirt and joined her in bed. Tomorrow would be a hectic day and both would need sleep.
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CE 71
Debris Belt
Nazca class Vesalius
The bridge was rather busy that morning as Buster, Blitz and Duel prepared to launch from the Gamow to establish contact with the two ships they had been following. Chairmen Zala and Cline sat on the bridge with Zala's wife Lenore sitting next to him. Chairman Cline's thoughts were not exactly on the mission. His thoughts were on his daughter, who was likely out there on one of those ships, and the other teen siting at his side. She was 15 with long brown hair and deep blue eyes. She was Chairman Cline's youngest daughter and Lacus' half sister.
Meer Campbell
After Lacus' mother had died in child birth Cline had been devastated and one of her close friends, Sillia Campbell, had helped him through. Eventually one night, one thing had led to another, and Meer had been born a year and some months after Lacus. Her mother had raised her, wanting a normal life for her until she died 3 months ago. Meer had been living with a friend until Cline found her a few weeks ago and had moved into the Cline estate while Lacus was away. She had been a fan of Lacus' since her career started. Then to find out her idol was her half sister.
Now she sat next to her father with her sisters red Haro in her lap. It had been following her since she had come to live with the Cline's.
She was excited about meeting her sister for the first time, she was just nervous about how Lacus would receive a sister she hadn't known about.
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CE 71
Hellespont Station
Olympus MS Hanger
That morning Kira, Mu, Murrue, Ensign Badgiruel, Sara, Kale, Flay, Richard, Lacus, Laura, and Jonas stood in the Olympus Mobile Suit bay looking over the ships complement. This being her first time on the Olympus Natarle picked up on a few things. Such as the fact that the girl Richard had introduced as his Fiancé was, in fact, Lacus Cline. Also that the 3 GINNs aboard were painted in unit colors well known to the Earth Forces, ZAFT's Black Knights.
Another fact that no one would miss was the fact that Jonas, Richard and 2 others on board, Matt Ajax, Kari Juris, were now sporting their "Black Knight" uniforms with attached Long Swords. Richard had forgone wearing his Zaft whites, as Zaft had formally disbanded the unit, and the whole group had removed all patches except the team crest which sat on their right shoulders. It consisted of a black knight's helmet siting over a vertical long sword with a Plant colony in the background. Normally the Ensign would have pointed this out, but both Lt La Flaga and Ramius seemed as if they had already known. So she would just inform her superiors once they met up with the fleet command.
After Richard finally introduced the members of his team present to his siblings the group wandered over to a pair of the mobile suit racks which were covered with large tarps. Normally the Olympus had a carrying capacity of twelve Mobile Suits. She currently housed the Nemesis, Hermes, Ares, the captured Aegis, a normal GINN, a GINN Long Range Recon type, a GINN with an Assault Shroud, and the 2 MS racks in front of them which were covered. One of the remaining MS slots was fully enclosed with a set of doors on the front. Technicians could be seen going in and out through a small door on the side. What ever was in there, they were taking extra precautions with it. The rest were empty. Mu pointed over to the enclosure.
"What's in there?"
Richard looked over at the large double doors and then back to the earth forces officer.
"A next generation Mobile Suit. My personal machine partially designed by my father."
Richard was generous to have even stated that much. To forestall anymore questions he turned to the whole group.
"Ok you're probably wondering why I dragged you all out here when you could easily be getting another hour or so of sleep. Well, let's just say we've cooked up a pair of surprises"
Richard glared over at his former XO who was doing his best to look innocent.
"One of them I didn't even know about till this morning"
Jonas looked to his former CO.
"Oh no, don't look at me. I found out just before I told you"
Richard gave off an annoyed growl which drew a giggle from Lacus.
"Anyway, Mu we figured you're probably getting tired of piloting that damn Zero so we dug a little something out of storage for you"
Richard nodded to the two techs atop the left MS rack, who then rolled up the covering over the rack. Inside sat a Mobile Suit similar in appearance to a very simplified Strike. It was blue on the body and shoulders with black on the feet and gray everywhere else. On its left arm sat a small shield and in its right hand a simple looking rifle. On its backpack sat a pair of beam sabers. Richard smiled at the stunned expression on the Hawk of Endymion's face.
"This is the RGX-X00; we never officially named it since it was just a proof of concept. Similar to the frame concepts still held by the Alliance at Panama But a lot of the techs have taken to calling her the Origin since she was pulled out of storage. She was never meant for battle but will keep up with anything minus the Strike of high performance G-Weapons. It doesn't have Phase Shift but it does have Laminated Armor. The Savior Design team is responsible for its refit."
Mu looked over at the teen floating in front of the group looking up at the new, or was it old, Mobile Suit.
"You're giving me this thing"
Jonas floated up with his former CO.
"That's right, it's yours. There's nothing about her tech wise that the Earth Forces don't already have"
Jonas turned back to face the group and sent a pointed look at Ensign Badgiruel.
"And the OS does work for a Natural, again thank the Savior Team, however it is safe guarded. If you attempt to access it, or copy it, without the proper code the OS will scram and the batteries will melt. Think of this as an insurance policy, this machine is for Lt La Flaga's use only"
The Ensign grumbled. As she simmered Kira stepped forward from the group.
"Hang on a second, The Savior Design team, as in John Savior? The same guy who designed the CGUE and most of ZAFT's current generation Mobile Suits?"
Jonas nodded.
"The very same, not surprised you've heard of them considering you went to Tech College."
As they turned to the next covered machine. Kira, who was standing next to Flay, could tell she was getting excited. She seemed almost ready to start bouncing around the hanger deck like Lacus' Haro. Did she know what this machine was?
Richard noticed as well and smiled, as did Cagalli who was also in on it. She should have been as she had been running Flay through the simulations into the early morning and was ready to strangle her brother for not allowing her extra sleep. Jonas motioned for Richard to go on.
"You do the honors here boss"
Richard chuckled as he moved toward the still covered machine with the group not far behind.
"Last night I had a visitor in my quarters, a young lady who wanted to know if we had any more Mobile Suits. She wanted to do her part and to insure a certain young man kept coming back to her"
Richard glanced over at his brother, who caught the look he gave him and then in turned glanced at Flay. Who simply stood with a big smile on her face.
"Since this young man's survival is also a very good thing to me, and others as well, I had Jonas have DJ and the Techs assemble this from spares for Nemesis"
The tarp covering the Mobile Suit fell away and Ensign Badgiruel stated the obvious.
"It looks like the Strike"
Jonas nodded.
"That's exactly what it is, a perfect copy of the Strike. We've designated her GAT-X105R Strike Rouge"
Jonas floated up to the cockpit and hit the Phase Shift. As the armor shifted colors the difference in appearance between Strike and the Rouge became apparent. Instead of the Strikes blue, white and red the Rouge was a pale pink on arms, head, waist armor and legs. The feet and lower torso were a deep pink while the body was red. On its back was mounted an Aile striker pack. Richard turned his attention to the young redhead.
"She's all yours Flay"
Said teen clapped her hands together and started to move toward her new machine only to be stopped by Kira placing his hand on her shoulder.
"You asked them to build it?"
Flay nodded, her smile dropping.
"I can't stand you going out and I'm not able to help. I keep thinking, what will I do if you don't come back to me? I can't stand the thought of you not being there with me"
Kira was a bit taken back.
"Flay…"
Flay forestalled any other comments from Kira by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him, deeply. Everyone was silent as they parted a moment later, Flay nuzzling into Kira's shoulder.
"I love you"
Kira's eyes widened, startled by Flay's sudden admission. As he thought back over the past two weeks and some days he realized he should have seen it coming. A smile slowly blossomed on his face as her words sank in. He wrapped his arms around the redhead teen and held her close.
"I love you too"
Lacus moved over to Richard who drew her into his arms as they watched the exchange between his brother and the girl who was certainly to be a part of his life from then on, their pair Haros floating only a short distance away. Sara slipped her hand into Kale's as they watched and gave it a gentle squeeze, which he returned. Their usual rule against not displaying affection in public was slowly eroding since Lacus came aboard.
The rest of the group watched the exchange with a smile, or smirk in Mu's case. Even Natarel couldn't suppress a slight smile. Even though she followed military code to the letter, neither Kira nor Flay were active military. Plus she was still human and had emotions. One would have to be a cold bastard indeed for this sight not to draw at least a smile.
Athrun watched his friend from the MS hangar's observation room window. Cagalli had told him what Flay was doing, and he had to admit. Flay going so far as to request a Mobile Suit to be able to protect Kira proved her affection. Back on the bay floor the group's attention was drawn as the Olympus' chief mechanic floated up to the group.
"Hate to break up the moment, but were finished"
Richard released Lacus and stepped toward the enclosed MS rack. Standing outside the enclosure was a man around 30 years of age with short cut brown hair talking with a woman perhaps a little younger with deep purple hair. This, Richard and Kira knew, was John Savior. As the group approached the man in question turned.
"You must be Commander Arin, John Savior"
Richard shook the man's hand.
"An honor to meet you, and its just Richard if you wouldn't mind"
Richard gestured to the group and introduced each in turn. Savior greeted them all before turning his attention back to the enclosure.
"I'm told this was your fathers design based on the Alliance data. The machines themselves are rather impressive, I've based my own suit 'A-Savior' on the data, but the copy of the base state OS we received was trash."
Richard nodded.
"Yeah we rewrote ours from the ground up. Kira had to mod the Strike's on the fly. So how is it. Can it fly?"
Savior nodded his head.
."Whenever you need it, Prometheus is ready."
Then, almost as if a jinx had been evoked, the Alarm Klaxons began to blare.
A/N well here's 8. The whole project of redoing things was fairly fun if time consuming. I decided to add Meer into this fic as Lacus' half sister because I think her character had potential and got shafted in Destiny along with the ENTIRE female cast.
NOTE re-uploaded with minor corrections due to an unrealized at the time Dues Ex Machina moment that would have come in chapter 9. See CH 9 AN for more details.