A/N: Please note that for the rest of this fic, Neil is Lockon and Lyle is addressed as Lyle.

Gundam 00 Chapter 11-A Reason To Battle

Lockon woke up to the graceful sight of Sumeragi, sleeping peacefully just inches away from him. She was right there, just like she promised. He smiled and studied her full lips, which were slightly parted as she continued to breathe steadily; her hair loosely framed her sleeping features. It was not often that he got to see her in this state, relaxed and without worry.

Sumeragi stirred in her sleep, subconsciously snuggling closer to his warmth as he stayed still, not wanting to wake her. As much as he wanted to stay, he knew that would be making his rounds; and finding him in bed with the tactical forecaster was not the best impression to make. Lockon knew they had a lot to talk about, he felt that she was not entirely ready to openly accept their relationship, so for the meantime he would give her space.

He quietly got out of bed so as not to wake her. On her desk was a spare pad of paper which he used to leave her a note. Scanning the room, his new uniform at the foot of the bed caught his eye. He liked the new black and grey theme. After all, Lyle had inherited his previous position, so it was only fitting that he moved on. Taking the jacket and pants, he smiled at her sleeping figure one last time before walking out in search of his room.

****

Lieutenant Soma Peries stood in the loading bay overseeing the soldiers that were busy loading up their new custom Aheads. The new A-Laws carrier ship was launching, commencing an operation to seek and destroy Celestial Being's ship. Soma surveyed the new place she would be calling home for a while; the militaristic greys had her longing to be back home, to the warm residence of Colonel Smirnov. As soon as he crossed her mind Soma thought of his proposition, could she really be worthy of being his daughter?

"New home sweet home, how do you like it Soma?" Lieutenant Dyson walked up beside her. He too was responsible for overseeing operations, and his men behind him didn't dare slow down the pace even as he left them to talk with her.

"Yeah, new home." She tried to mask the longing in her voice by switching subjects. "We'll be testing the new Aheads soon, how do you feel about that?"

Diego looked to her quizzically "I feel fine? Testing a new machine is not exactly a new experience..."

"Hmm...that's true"

"Is everything alright? Ever since E-57-"

"DON'T" She hissed at him, "I don't want to hear about him, I'm fine and I'm gonna crush him." With that she stormed off, leaving a confused Lieutenant to do nothing but stare after her.

In the refuge of an empty hallway, Soma sunk against the wall, wondering what on earth was running through her head. Every time E-57 was mentioned, images, no.... memories of events she did not recall living through flooded her mind. Damn it, she was Soma Peries Super Soldier No.1! She needed to get a grip, she told herself as she rested her forehead against the cool metal of the wall.

"Are you okay?" The soft and concerned voice of Diego Dyson startled her, she didn't hear him come up, and she had never heard such worry in his tone. Yet she was not about to let him see her as a weakling.

"What are you doing here, you should be overse-" He cut her off by coming closer and swiftly cradling her in his embrace. They stood like that for a moment as she finally softened and leaned into his shoulder.

"You know you can tell me anything…" he whispered after a few moments, still holding her.

"I know Diego, and I'm sorry it's....I'm sure it's just the quantum brainwaves, they used to interfere with him, but now they bother me instead." She just wanted to stay like this forever, forget the war, forget E-57 and move on with what they called life.

"I'm sure the medics can prescribe something; it can't be that uncommon. Did you want to go see one now?" He asked drawing back a bit.

"No it's alright," She shook her head. "Just as long as you don't mention him, I feel fine." It was a pretty lame excuse but right now she did not need a medical gong show. "Did you leave the loading crew unsupervised?" She asked, getting back to business.

"No Smirnov is there, which means my men are probably chugging down beers by now."

She laughed at that and he smiled. He was still worried, but seeing her relax eased his concerns somewhat.

"2nd Lieutenant Smirnov is a good soldier." She said while stepping away from his embrace as they headed back to the loading bay.

"If you say so, but I really think Smirnov could learn a thing or two from his father."

Before she could reply, a young private saluted before them. "Sir, Ma'am, Colonel Mannequin wishes to see you on the bridge."

With that, both of them changed course and headed for the destination.

*******

Allelujah closed the fridge door before sitting down a nice bottle of Orange Juice. Ever since being freed, everything tasted just that much better. Before he could take another gulp, Lyle walked in, seemingly lost.

"Hey, do you know how to get to the bridge?" Lyle asked, remembering his comrade from the brief introduction the previous day.

Allelujah graced him with a smile, "Your guess is as good as mine, I haven't been here that long."

Realization hit Lyle as he smiled back - this man was a prisoner just hours ago. Walking to the fridge, he too got a bottle and joined Allelujah in the seat that was offered to him.

"I never knew Lockon had a twin, it's great to have you on board as you can see we're gonna need all the help we can get."

"Thanks, but it looks to me like you guys have things under control." Lyle replied, taking a drink.

Allelujah took a deep breath, "With Lockon still recovering we're not at full strength. On top of that, A-Laws is a pretty advanced organization, they're ruthless and I know this first hand."

"I'm sorry." Lyle said. He couldn't imagine what the man before him has been through.

Allelujah shook his head, "It's over now, but I will make sure no one has to go through that again."

Lyle nodded and they both sat in easy silence, enjoying their drinks. After a moment Allelujah spoke up again, "Lockon was an amazing sniper, I never had anything to worry about when he was covering us. Please work hard with Cherudim, for the sake of my comrades we need to know that you're just as reliable."

Lyle looked down, he hated being compared to Neil. "I may not be my brother but I won't let you guys down. However having said that, don't think I want to be compared with him, I am not my brother and I'd like to make that clear right now."

Allelujah was about to reply when Lockon walked in, this was the first time he had seen the meister in over four years.

"Lockon!" Allelujah stood up to embrace his comrade before taking in the new uniform, "You're back? What happened? How did you-"

"I'll answer that in due time Allelujah, I'm just glad you're out." Lockon noted his brother's quiet exit, but looking forward to a distraction as they started walking towards the bridge, catching up on lost time.

****

Ian and Sumeragi walked out of the meeting with Marina, letting Mileina inside to ask her childish questions. They laughed lightly as they caught one of Mileina's questions just before leaving.

"I've got the ship status report you requested Sumeragi-san."

"Excellent I wou-" She was cut off by the blaring of the ships alarms. Giving each other sharp looks; they both sprinted for the bridge.

On the bridge an angry Feldt stood next to Lockon as he sat in the Almagest's chair, trying desperately to shut it off.

"Access Denied, Access Denied, Intruder Alert" The robotic voice of Almagest's AI repeated continuously over the ship's alarm as Feldt yelled at him.

"I told you we should have waited for Ian."

"I know, I know." He continued to press more buttons but nothing seemed to work "Damn this voice, I miss Haro already."

Just as things were getting worse Ian ran in and took the chair, "ID Ian Vashty"

The scanner flashed over his eyes before the alarms turned off and the AI sounded, "Ian Vashty confirmed, priority passed to Ian Vashty."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief before Ian turned to Lockon, "Sorry Lockon, I set it to read me since you were not here."

"It's alright old man," He patted Ian on the shoulder, "I'm just glad you got that thing to shut up."

Feldt went to go launch Setsuna and Marina who were using the personell carrier, as well as tell the other meisters of the false alarm. Ian went to get yellow Haro, leaving Lockon to walk up to Sumeragi who was leaning against the door, eyeing the machine cautiously.

The Almagest's chair was a regular combat chair with a rod that was fixed to its top, the rod extended into the open ceiling that housed the Almagest's cockpit.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack Lockon?" Sumeragi asked once he was closer

"We just needed proper introductions," He replied sheepishly with a hand behind his head. "Sorry about this morning. Moreno was making rounds and I wasn-"

She shook her head, "No, I got your note. You did the right thing, but we'll talk about us later, okay?"

He only nodded as she glanced at Ian and Feldt who were busy behind him, before taking her eyes off Almagest to meet Lockon's.

"Please promise me you will be careful with that machine."

He was confused about the hint of worry he caught in her voice, he wanted to say something but Ian all but materialized out of nowhere beside him. Fortunately, Ian had not noticed the moment had he just walked into.

"Okay Lockon try it now," With an apologetic glance in Sumeragi's direction, Lockon sat down at the seat of Almagest.

"State your access code." the AI prompted after sensing the change in pilot.

"Lockon Stratos"

"Access granted, priority passed to Lockon Stratos"

Lockon smiled as Ian came up beside him, "Well that finally went well." With that Lockon unhooked the rifle that was locked to the arm of his chair. As soon as it was in his hands the Almagest's chair started ascending. Looking down he yelled to Ian, "I'm assuming this is normal?"

"It's taking you to the actual cockpit; it's fine." Ian yelled back as the three of them disappeared from view when the hole closed beneath him. The cockpit was no different from that of the Gundams, 360 degree displays came to life before him as he steadied the rifle for firing. The personal monitor in front of his chair flickered to life and Ian popped up.

"So what do you think?"

"I think one eye's not good enough" Lockon spoke as he marvelled at the sights around him. "But I guess I don't have a choice until that surgery, right, old man?"

Ian relaxed as he noted the younger man's humour, he sure seemed like he was back to normal.

"Alright wise guy, we're going to surface, try and shoot some low powered shots at the water, I want to test the particle dispersion system."

"You got it. AI, tune particles to ultra low power." Lockon ordered. It would take some getting used to the new system, but after skimming through Ian's notes he was sure he'd get a handle on basic procedures.

"Low power particle dispersion complete." The AI announced, letting Lockon take control.

Lockon aimed the rifle at the water, and blasted away. The cannon rifle had a lot more power than the GN rifle, this new change would take some getting used to.

Ptolemy started passing a remote island and Lockon took a few targeting shots. The power was amazing, full grown trees vaporized beneath the incredible surge of particles. Once he started getting the hang of things Lockon reverted back to meister mode.

"Lockon Stratos, aiming and firing!" he shouted as he continued to precisely hit each target.

On the bridge below, everyone stood watching in awe as their sniper returned. Feldt broadcasted the training to all screens on board.

"Lockon..." Allelujah uttered, as he smiled up at the hangar monitors displaying his friends practice, his lost hope had been restored.

"...Stratos" Setsuna finished as he too smiled at the broadcast being sent to him, their craft was nearly out of range so the feed started to cut out. Marina watched along with him, secretly happy to see the Gundam pilot smile for a change.

Lyle was heading out to practice in Cherudim when the video flashed on his phone. He watched in amazement as his brother continued to polish off target after target. "I guess we've got a lot of training to do Haro."

"Training, training," The robot squealed in his arms.

Back at the bridge Ian took the communicator's chair and spoke to Lockon, "I hate to spoil your fun, but you've got to stop, we're going under again."

Lockon obliged and powered down his systems before the chair descended back to the bridge. Everyone clapped and smiled, as he stood up.

"That was amazing Lockon it's good to have you back." Feldt chimed in. Lasse nodded and Sumeragi beamed up at him.

They were all about to take their operational seats again when the zoning alarms of Ptolemy blared, the unidentified fleet was closing in on them.

A/N: Yes I know I'm a jerk for taking so long to update, have no fear though this fic wont go unfinished. My profile contains status reports updated at least twice a month, so check them out if you ever feel like I've dropped off the face of the earth. Cheers! And please review.

PS: I've also got fic pics and FicTrax links on my profile. All the pics will be on the deviant art link there.