After a few days and trying to avoid any kind of contact, the Lorelei is slowly navigating in USSA territory. As their flight plan stated before, the first destination would be the port of Antofagasta, in what once was the country of Chile. Taking his time, Kira supervised the repairs on the Strike Freedom on the ship's hangar. Chief Logan and his maintenance crew were rushing things, even if there was good news.
"We must thank you, General. We got some spare parts from the first Den'an's that you shot down in Antarctica. It would be marvelous for my team if you could only mangle them for parts, but…"
"Don't be sure of that, chief. Have you already checked the beam shield?"
"Even the circuits are strangely similar. My crew only need time to check the necessary energy levels on both the shield and the SF, but even with that, is like the technology was theirs."
"Yeah, kinda notice that… I wonder if…"
Kira's thoughts stopped there as he saw LT. Brightblade's Murasame being repaired. While the repairs were standard, what took his attention was the emblem design on the Orb's MS wing tail. Spotting Klaus, he went to chat with him, thinking about some coincidences.
"Tough luck, isn't it?"
"Only minor repairs and some paint, and it will be flying again."
"Don't strain yourself… 'Sheppard'." At that name, Klaus freeze. There were only a few people that called him like that, and that was way back in time. Kira knew that he was right as he saw the surprised face of the LT.
"How did you…?"
"I recognize that emblem. During the last space campaign of the Three Ships Alliance in the Valentine War I remember seeing that same emblem in one of the Kusanagi's Astrays."
"Typical, now the hero notice one of the extras of the big scene…"
"Asagi-san didn't refer you as an extra back then." Low blow. Kira was gambling too much here with the reminder of Asagi Caldwell, the leader of the Astray Girls on the space campaign, but he needed to be sure. Klaus answer assured that he was right.
"Don't you dare to talk about her now!!" Clutching something on his chest through his uniform, he added. "She shouldn't have been part of that…"
"We all knew the risks at Jachin Due. I take that you also took part of the battle."
"I wish that I had died that day. I survived that hell… only to have lost my soul alongside Asagi and her friends." Kira knew some of that pain, as he lost half of his own that day… until these last days.
"That's why you ended in black ops?"
"Maybe I just want to die ASAP… maybe I just want to make the difference that Asagi fought to have… I really don't know" With that, Klaus turned around and started to get away from the hangar, but Kira stopped with a single question.
"When did you two set the wedding day?"
Klaus stayed there for a few seconds, and then resume his exit. While Kira rest upon the rail of the MS cage, a silent Flay was witness of the chat, with the help of the Omega's internal sensors.
Clear water, no cities on sight… the flight path that Hirvonen choose to first reach Antofagasta was subtle. Navigating in shallow waters and in an intermediate point between the Pacific and the South American cost to avoid any kind of detection, the Lorelei was really a ghost ship right now. Inside the bridge, Rosario checked once more the actual route.
"So, Mr. Hirvonen, when did you think in this course?"
"Remembering my classes on historical battles, I recall a naval engagement during what was referred as the Pacific War in the times before the XX Century. A single ship managed to outrun a whole fleet for several months using a similar route."
"Remind me to give you a class on USSA ancient history about names, but good job."
"I don't like this as much, Captain. This route makes us enter the mainland several times for corrections. We can be ambushed anytime…" Seeing the typical XO reasoning, Rosario cut Galen off.
"That's why General Yamato himself is working alongside Chief Logan repairing our MS compliment. Even Razgriz is helping them."
"That itself amaze me. Up to now, that girl has only cared about the well being of the Omega. Now she's repairing the remaining Murasame and the ship. I smell something fishy here…"
"Enough with the crap. It's time for a little shakedown, Mr. March" There are few times when Rosario can be… eloquent enough to shut down his XO, but that amount of BS was the Lorelei Captain's limit.
"Maybe is the fact that you have not bath in days, XO. Now, I suggest that you take one right now. Otherwise, I don't mind tossing you onto the Pacific for a while to cool you down a little bit."
Enough to say that the laughter was hear in the whole bridge. Galen try to get out of the fry, and he got out… with a little external help. Mai's console catches a glimpse signal.
"Captain!"
Something that didn't seem friendly to the young CIC operator.
Having finished with the repairs on the Strike Freedom and the internal checking on Klaus's Murasame, Kira was returning to his quarters when Flay catch him up.
"Care to explain that scene in the hangar?"
"Busted! Mental note: disable Omega's cameras when repairing." Kira knew that he got to explain everything to her. Is not that he's bad interacting with people like Athrun, but this issue was a personal one. Not only for LT. Brightblade, but to himself as well.
"Klaus was part of the Astray pilots on the Kusanagi when we returned to space in CE 71. Not only he was a good pilot, he was also engaged with a fellow pilot and a friend of mine. She was killed defending the Kusanagi in Jachin Due."
Flay's sad expression said it all. She understood very well that feeling, having seen Kira's hurt soul at the time she died in Jachin.
"But for him, there was nothing left. Asagi told me that she expected for him to become a legend like me. Instead, he went from a uncover mission to another, maybe wanting to die."
"And, you want him to recover that sense of living that he has lost. I understand your point."
As they were reaching the residential area, some music could be heard on the background. Kira recognize the song and where was the origin of it. When they got close to Klaus quarters, the lyrics of Fields of Hope were clear. Sighing Flay tapped Kira's shoulder.
"If it wasn't for Lacus Clyne, maybe you could've been like that."
Kira's mouth was wide open when the alarms went off. Both Gundam pilots went to the hangar, as Kira pondered about what Flay said to him… and thinking that this enemy, whoever was, saved him for his incapacity to respond to her.
"Talk to me, Mai!"
"Heat signatures detected, count 15. Approaching fast from the NW."
"Just as we changed course to return to the mainland. Quite the bad luck we have." Hirvonen had planned for the ship to adjust course just before Mai detected the raider's appearance.
"The Heirs?"
"It's too soon for them to track us after the battle on Antartica."
"ID confirmed: DINN aerial types. Captain, they're raiders!" Unconsciously, Rosario regained her composure. One thing was fencing off the Heirs' MS, but against these guys, things were easier.
"Well, outdated aerial MS against 2 Phase Shift shielded Gundams… What are the odds?" Even if he wasn't a self reassured man all the time, Galen knew that the attackers were way too out of their league against the Lorelei's powerful Gundam-types.
"Make the update to General Yamato and Razgriz of the situation. Red Alert! Battle stations!"
Once in the hangar, Kira and Flay take a look on the combat data.
"Take it easy with them, Flay. They're not the Heirs, and we need some spare parts to repair the ship and our units."
"Gotcha! Besides, I really doubt that those machineguns they carry can even scratch us."
By the time the Strike Freedom and the Omega launch, the Lorelei was already in the mainland. As Kira and Flay settle their battle stance, suddenly a high energy blast soar through the sky and tore at least 3 DINN's.
"What the…?"
"CIC, where did that come from?!"
"Unknown! The heat signature is dispersing, I can't track that!"
"That was the blast of an Agni cannon. May be a sniper Dagger type... Flay, let's take the raiders, but be careful with those blasts!"
"Copy that!"
Just as Kira say in the hangar, using slice and dice tactics and with the help of the unknown sniper, the DINN's fall in barely two minutes. As the battle ended, the Lorelei stopped on its tracks.
"XO, fire flares. Signals on blue-red-yellow sequence."
"Roger!"
As the flares were visible, suddenly, another blast appeared, but this one was aimed to the sky itself. Rosario understood the signal.
"General, get to that position and greet our guest. Is an ally of the USSA."
"You sure, Captain?" Flay was still worried for the sudden appear of this new MS.
"During the independence war, the USSA warriors used this as a way to identify themselves when comms were out. I can guarantee that."
"Copy that, captain."
While the Lorelei's crew started to recover the parts of the fallen DINN's, Kira and Flay got to the blast position, and manage to saw an EAF colored Launcher Dagger.
While the rest of the crew was busy getting the recovered parts and some of the surviving DINN pilots, Rosario and the main crew of the Lorelei gathered in the briefing room as they meet with the pilot of the Dagger, a 2 meter tall Caucasian clad in what seems an old typical military green flight suit. It was pretty obvious that he was an Eurusian pilot.
"I'm Captain Rosario Vasquez and company of the Lorelei."
"I'm Major Andrei Zaitzev, of the former 28th Free Eurusian Army Corps. Thanks for the help, Captain."
"I didn't expect an Eurusian pilot in USSA territory." Kira shake hands with the Eurusian pilot.
"As much as I didn't expect to meet the legendary General Yamato in such a place…" The Eurusian, like every single soul on Earth, had heard about the heroic efforts of the former Three Ships Alliance and the now well respected Kira Yamato and the Strike Freedom.
"Small universe."
"What were you doing here, Major?"
"Since the USSA independence war, some units from Free Eurusia were assigned to aid them. My former squad guarded this territory until a couple of months, when we were attacked by unknown Mobile Suits."
"I'm betting that they're the Heirs, Captain." Quite obvious for everybody, including Galen.
"Heirs?"
"Long story. Where's the rest of your unit, Major?"
"All destroyed. I also lost my Hyperion in that battle. Since there, I'm using that Dagger."
"Well, with this now we confirm that the Den'an can pierce the full Armore Lumiere." Chief Logan was astonished to hear of technology that without an energy spiked DRAGOON like the Legend Gundam that can pierce an energy force field.
"Do you know any outpost or firebases where we can re supply?"
"There's a firebase a couple of clicks from here. It's were I'm staying. I can guide you."
With everything settle, 30 minutes later, the Lorelei set course on Zaiztev's firebase. As Kira let him into one of the ship's barracks, he once again heard Lacus' Fields of Hope. The source was obvious.
"You're going to be identified as an introverted and gutless guy with a fetish of hearing the same song once and again if you keep doing that."
After shutting down the music, Klaus stand from his bunk.
"What I am now? An old anime character?" Kira laugh at the comment. Klaus just remove the music data from his laptop and turned to Kira.
"You were there, General? On Lacus-sama's last live concert?" Klaus heard about the "For the Fallen Ones", last concert that Lacus made for all the Earth Sphere, just days before the establishment of the Confederation.
"Yes, as her guardian. If you can call yourself a "guardian" being in your MS the whole concert, that's it."
"It must be nice for you, Sir. You have the ability, the right MS… the right girl…" Kira saw were did this conversation was being routed, so he simply stand and started to leave Klaus's quarters, but before he went out, he turned to him.
"Leaving aside the ability that came with a curse… Up to now, I'm not so sure about the right girl."
For once, Klaus didn't have something else to say. And as Kira exited the barracks, he didn't notice the red-haired girl that has one hand on her chest after hearing that last part.
Far into the forests of what was once Brazil, the Heirs has placed a base, in advance for a complete assault on the USSA forces. Deep into a no-one zone with little resistance and inside a zone that the Atlantic Federation don't dare to enter, they rule here. Following Admiral Motosuwa's orders, Den'an CAG, and the Prototype Daras pilot, Colonel Albert Graham check the base units, thinking about what can he do to track the stolen ship and the Omega. Just as he faced his pilots, a runner came to him.
"Colonel! This just came!" After reading the paper, Graham sighed.
"So, the ship was seen in USSA territory… Is there any unit on pursuit?"
"A ship with a compliment of Den'an's under the command of Lt. Clayton, sir!" Graham lost his edge. He knew that Eddie Clayton was well known for his unethical antics in combat and the fact that personally, he thought that Clayton was a complete nutcase.
"That wacko?! He can compromise our presence here! Contact him and get his ass here on the double!"
"We can't, sir. There's a lighting storm on its way, and all comm's have been lost with any available unit." No way out. Even with direct orders from his Excellency, Graham knew that he and his unit will be on standing by until the storm subdued.
"Let's hope that cocky SOB doesn't mess up this time…"
Graham didn't know that what was to happen will change everything…
AN: Yes, I'm not dead. (A little bit shaken, but alive) Kinda sense what did Kira felt when the Freedom was shot down.
Enter Zaitzev, the sniper (I felt that the ship needed a full time defender) Expect more new people for the Lorelei eventually, and also some guest stars. I had planned this chapter to be longer, with the Lorelei and especially Flay having internal problems. As a matter of fact, 60 of it was made a month ago, but writing about the Heirs is very much a pain. After the next chapter, its going back with the AA and its mission.