JULY 26, CE 74
Seven months. Kira had checked the date. Six of them had been spent in training. While his skill and experience as a pilot more than qualified him for the white uniform he now wore as part of ZAFT, there had still been much to learn. He had to see a wider picture than just the view from his cockpit. Military doctrine, warship maneuvering and navigation, assault and defense of fortifications, command structure and protocol, strategy and logistics. He was now formally a commander, with all the responsibility and authority that came with the rank. Sometimes he wished he was still just a pilot. Then he reprimanded himself, since he had chosen to join up after Messiah. It had been to stay near Lacus, of course, but he could have done that as a civilian. Now he had finished his first month on duty, which brought him up to seven months of peace.
He wasn't commanding a ship yet, though it was almost certainly in the cards. For the moment, he and the Strike Freedom were assigned to the Diana, the second of the formidable Minerva-class of warships going into service as the aging Nazca-class ships were phased out as ZAFT's mainstay, instead becoming escorts carriers. Yzak Joule, who had become one of ZAFT's most prestigious commanders following his exemplary service in the Second Bloody Valentine War, was its first captain. The Diana was brand new and, like Kira, finishing up its first month-long tour. They would be rotating back by the end of the week.
It had been a quiet month. No encounters with pirates, raiders, or other hostiles. Not that they'd really expected any. All the same, it gave the rookies a chance to learn life aboard a ship and drill enough so that if contact did occur, they'd be ready. Kira just wished it didn't take so long. He was on board to learn how to run a ship like this one. The next of its class, the Bellona, was two thirds of the way finished and the third, the Juno, already had its hull laid down. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. Odds were Dearka Elsman would get one, too, being Yzak's first officer. When the time came, Shiho Hahnenfuss would almost certainly take over as XO, having been Yzak's comrade since the end of the first war. He'd expected to hear griping amongst some of the senior officers, who'd been around the military much longer than he, but heard none. It was odd considering how young they were (Yzak was barely twenty), but being veterans of two wars obviously counted for a lot.
He tried to keep busy aboard the ship, either learning his job on the bridge or training with the other pilots. About half the pilots had combat experience while the other was more or less fresh out of the academy. They flew mostly ZAKUs with squadron leaders in GOUFs. But even Yzak's and Dearka's custom units couldn't hold a candle to his Strike Freedom. So when it came time for combat simulations he normally was given his own orders since giving him a squadron would only slow him down. Or he acted as the aggressor and gave the rookies the fight of their lives. When he was off duty he read, or sharpened his computer skills, usually by refining the Strike Freedom's operating system or practicing cyberwarfare, both attack and defense. When he could, he emailed Lacus since voice communication wasn't usually an option for a front-line warship.
He was doing that now, attempting to compose an email, when he received a notification on the ship's network, requesting him to report to the briefing room immediately. Curious, he checked who else the message had been sent to. Dearka and Shiho had also been called. What was this about? The message revealed no clues.
Kira was the third person to arrive, behind Dearka and Yzak. There was a program window up on the briefing room's main screen, with only four blank text fields on it.
"What's this about?" he asked.
Yzak's shoulders were tense, his eyes narrowed. "I don't know. I don't like it. We just received a message from command – priority CORMORANT," he said. CORMORANT was the highest-priority signal there was, which meant that whatever was going on was national-crisis level. "Where's Shiho?"
"I don't know," said Kira. "She wasn't behind me."
Yzak snorted, which would have been offensive if the man's primary mode of communication wasn't hostility. "No rumors from Lacus?" he asked.
"No. In fact, I was in the middle of emailing her when I got called down here."
Dearka saw an opportunity to engage in his favorite pastime: needling. "I'm sure you have more important things to talk about in those. Like how much you miss each other. Or politics. Or how fancy she looks in her newest dress," he said. "Or maybe how fancy she looks without it," he continued, raising an eyebrow.
It took a beat for Kira to realize what he was getting at. "That's none of your business. And politics is certainly not what we talk about."
Yzak snorted again, positively antsy while he waited for Shiho. Followed up by a withering "Whatever."
This gave Dearka, who'd already gotten as much of a rise out of Kira as he was liable to get, all the opening he needed. "You're one to talk, Yzak. At least he has a girlfriend."
"Shut up, Dearka."
"I mean, honestly, I'm worried about you. It's like you don't even care."
"Shut up, Dearka."
Dearka was having too much fun now. "So you do care! Progress! Now, are you going to ask her out when we get back to port?"
"Shut up, Dearka!"
"Who?" asked Kira, making a mental note to avoid being interrogated by Dearka at all costs.
"Shiho, duh," answered Dearka. "So, Yzak, you've been practically living with the girl for five years and you still haven't asked her out?"
"She's a valued comrade and friend. That's all!" protested Yzak.
It was Dearka's turn to snort. "And you expect me to believe that? You're not much of a liar."
"SHUT UP, DEARKA!"
"Oh, come on! Shiho would totally go for it-"
He was cut off by the woman herself entering the room, hair still damp from a recent shower. "Go for what?" she asked.
Yzak went pale and silenced his friend with a glare. "Nothing," he growled. "Let's get on with this."
The four of them entered their command codes into the text fields. It was a way to verify their identities and for the military intelligence bureau to restrict the information to just its intended recipients. The text fields were replaced by a video of the Supreme Chairwoman herself, Lacus Clyne.
"My friends," she said, "I am sorry to have to contact you like this."
Kira felt a pang of longing. It had, after all, been a month since they had seen each other face-to-face.
Lacus looked and sounded tired. "I am afraid we have received some troubling news." The screen shifted to a view of an Earth Alliance hangar. "We were given this by an unknown source, which also passed this information to Orb. Whatever motives they may have had, this information has been confirmed through satellite and data taps, though I regret that such a course of action has become necessary."
The video began to play, silently, as the camera apparently lacked an audio receiver. The bustling base had soldiers and vehicles passing the hangar constantly. However, three figures stood outside the pedestrian entrance, totally ignored by the people around them.
"This is the classified projects hangar at the EA's new Cape Town Headquarters," narrated Lacus.
The camera was too far away for the viewers to make out anything more than the genders and hairstyles of the three aberrants. The farthest left, a male, had brown hair, cut severely close to his scalp. The center figure, also male, had very fair hair, slicked back to a single point at the nape of his neck. The rightmost was female. Her hair was forbiddingly black and hung to her shoulders, where it was cut straight across, so perfectly that it almost didn't seem natural.
As they watched, the blonde male touched the other two on the shoulders, who turned to look at him and nod in a gesture of silent affirmation. Then, the three pulled submachine guns from under their uniform jackets and entered the hangar. After a minute or so of silence, the hangar doors suddenly exploded outward. The ruined building belched smoke and flame as ammunition cooked off and mobile suits detonated, the ground shaking from the sheer force. Out of the fire stepped first one mobile suit, then another and another. Despite the fact that all four viewers were experienced pilots, intimately familiar with both ZAFT and the Alliance's equipment, they recognized not one of the suits. Though that was in itself worrying, more so was that each of the three appeared to have phase-shift armor and at least one large caliber cannon. But they had little chance to examine the strange new machines, as the three of them suddenly jetted up and out of the camera's view.
Lacus speaking again was almost a shock, entranced as they were with what they had just seen. Her voice was subdued. "The Alliance has made no announcement regarding what happened. It seems that they are pretending it didn't happen, at least publicly. We do know that they failed to capture or destroy the machines. No group has yet taken responsibility for the attack. I don't have to tell you how serious this is. As such, the Diana is to return to port immediately. Before we take any sort of action, the PLANT council will have to confer with Orb. But as some of our best pilots, I have a feeling that you will be needed soon."
The Supreme Chairwoman smiled sadly, looked down and closed her eyes to end her transmission.
Dearka's voice barely concealed his shock. "Those were…"
"Gundams," said Kira, finishing the sentence. He felt a chill pass through him. Weapons that powerful, stolen? By who? And for what purpose?
Yzak wasted no time, storming out of the room in the direction of the bridge, Shiho trailing in his wake. If he moved any faster, he'd be running.
Dearka simply looked at Kira, a sad expression on his face. "Hell of a way to end a tour, huh?" he said.
Kira certainly agreed.
Cagalli's face was a study in shocked disbelief. Slowly and unsurprisingly, shock gave way to anger. She shoved herself away from the terminal, though she had in fact intended to push the terminal away and had failed due to the fact that it was sitting on a rather large and sturdy desk. As her chair spun away towards the back wall of her office, she was already at full burn. She immediately called together the cabinet and her military advisors, already running through eventualities in her head as she blitzed out of the room. The intelligence officer who had shown her the video followed her out like a lost puppy. Then she made calls to the people she actually trusted: Murrue Ramius, Mu La Flaga, Erica Simmons, Ledonir Kisaka, and Athrun Zala. Officially, she was advised by the cabinet, but she preferred the perspective of people who actually knew what they were talking about. It wasn't the politicians fault they weren't experts, but things like this certainly needed expert opinions.
Aides rushed to meet with her as she made her way through the halls to the cabinet chambers. She was in full-on commander-in-chief mode now. She sent an attaché to begin preparations to bring the Archangel out of dry-dock. She hoped to hell she wouldn't need it, but it was definitely an escort that would make anyone think twice about interfering in Orb business. She knew Lacus and the council would want a meeting. After all, they'd seen the same intelligence. And sure enough, the ambassador from the PLANTs had notified the Orb government of Lacus' request as soon as it had arrived, conveniently as she was already on the way to speak to the cabinet about that very same thing.
Most of the cabinet had already arrived, as had Kisaka, since they worked in the same building. Murrue, Mu, and Erica were given priority routing from Morganroete and the same for Athrun from Onogoro. They'd be arriving shortly.
As Cagalli reached the head of the conference table, she took a moment to lean on it and take a deep breath. She couldn't appear frazzled or out of control, not now. The Seiran affair had taught her that the hard way. Thus, she was composed and collected as the room came to order. They sat, expectant, all looking down the table at her. She had been intimidated the first time she was in this position. Not anymore.
"Ministers," she began, "we have received some unsettling news. Last night, three advanced Earth Forces mobile suits were stolen from their Cape Town base by unknown aggressors."
Many of the cabinet members were now rather pale. She couldn't blame them.
"The Earth Forces have made no acknowledgement of the theft. We all know how weak the Alliance's member nations have become after Durandal's LOGOS campaign and the destruction of Arzachel. While it may be in their best interests to stay quiet and preserve what power they have, we have to be prepared to defend ourselves. The confidential source we received the information from also passed the knowledge to the PLANTs. They have already requested a meeting. As such, I believe that it is in Orb's best interests to take cooperative action with the PLANTs in order to combat this threat. Objections?"
One or two members were not exactly pleased with the thought, most notably a Seiran cousin, but they all had lived through both wars and were pragmatic enough to know that it was a sensible decision. And considering the Chief Representative's close friendship with the Supreme Chairwoman, it wasn't exactly a surprise, either. And cooperation with the Earth Alliance, if or when it got its act together, was not off the table. In any event, the Orb cabinet was prepared to accept that decision.
One of the Sahakus spoke up. "Have you given any thought to a public statement?" he asked.
Cagalli had considered the matter. "We are, as yet, unaware of the nature of this threat. We ought not to raise a panic over something we are still getting the measure of. Furthermore, upstaging the Alliance military would only further upset the power structure we have to deal with. So we'll wait for the Alliance to make a statement for now."
The ministers accepted this, too. She had a point. None of them were particularly interested in getting on the Earth Alliance's bad side, nor were they unintelligent simply because they were not experts on military policy. Politicians knew a shrewd move when they saw one. And with that the emergency meeting concluded. Law of the land or not, there was only so much that civilian authorities could do in terms of threats like the one they now faced. Border security would be tightened. Early-warning radar stations would be higher on the priority list for funds and personnel. Police forces would be quietly built up and brought up to speed on evacuation procedures. Just in case. Two invasions in three years would make any country at least a bit paranoid.
Waiting back in her office were Athrun, Kisaka, and the others. She sat down heavily at her desk. Being properly political was taxing for Cagalli, but here, now, she could let her guard down.
"You guys have been briefed, right?" she asked.
"Yes," said Athrun, resplendent in his Admiral's uniform, nearly identical to the one she wore in her military capacity.
"Seems awful familiar, doesn't it?" said Mu. He was in civilian clothes, though he remained in the military reserve, and still bore the scars he had as Neo Roanoke. Murrue nodded in agreement with him.
"Yeah, it does," said Cagalli. "That's what has me worried. These people, whoever they are, went to a lot of trouble to obtain them. And with our previous experience with mobile suit theft, I'd say it's pretty clear those were Gundams." Just the word, Gundam, dropped the temperature of the room a couple of degrees.
"You will be going into space to meet with Lacus?" asked Kisaka.
"Yes. Some things have to happen face to face. Unless there was a problem, I'd planned to go up on the Archangel. I hate to say it, but I'd rather not take a diplomatic shuttle. I'd rather have the firepower and not need it than rely on speed and small size to avoid being hit if it comes down to it."
"Of course," said Murrue. She couldn't fault Cagalli for being cautious. "I'll pack a bag."
"So will I," said Mu, unsurprisingly. "Akatsuki will be there, too."
"And I'll bring the Justice, as well," said Athrun, which seemed to satisfy Kisaka's unspoken concerns over security.
"Anything to add, Ms. Simmons?" asked Cagalli, seeing that their little meeting was all but over.
"Not especially," replied Erica. "You seem to have the situation well enough in hand, from what I can see. Morganroete is done with refits on the Archangel as well as the Akatsuki and Justice, so you should be good to go whenever you need to. We've got some interesting tech undergoing testing now, but it'll be a few weeks before it's ready to show results."
"All right. Thank you," said Cagalli. She stood, a signal that this meeting, too, was over. The important ones never seemed to last very long. Athrun lingered by the door, hoping for a private word. If he had professional objections, he would have voiced them, so whatever he had to say was personal. She joined him and they left together.
"You all right?" he asked. "This is just a little too much like what happened at Armory One."
"I'm okay. Just a little on edge." She led him out onto a southward facing terrace. They were the only people out there, other politicians either still engrossed in their work or out to lunch.
"I can only imagine how the PLANTs are feeling about this. I mean, I trust Lacus to keep things under control but they're probably near panic," said Athrun.
"After Requiem? Almost certainly."
Athrun approached the railing, staring out over the Pacific Ocean. "What's the worst case scenario?" he asked quietly. Cagalli knew he'd already guessed but wanted to hear it from someone else, just to be sure.
"Hit and run strikes," Cagalli said just as quietly. "You're the soldier, you know this. The amount of damage to populated areas, even before response teams could arrive, would be catastrophic. It would be another Destroy situation, but that thing at least had the decency to stand still."
They both silently acknowledged the grim truth and then just as silently agreed to change the subject. The virtues of long association.
"All the same, it'll be nice to see everyone again. I wonder how Kira's getting along in ZAFT?" wondered Cagalli.
"Knowing Kira, he's either thriving or absolutely lost," said Athrun, a hint of warmth and humor returning to his voice. "I doubt Yzak is letting him off easy, even if he did have the scar removed."
Cagalli couldn't help but smile at the thought. If there was anything she'd learned over the past couple years, it was to savor moments where you felt at peace, however fleeting. This was one of those moments. She closed her eyes and let the sea breeze flutter through her hair. That wind also brought puffy gray rainclouds that soon covered the sun. The vagaries of Pacific weather. She sighed.
"Come on," she said, beckoning back inside the government palace. "We've got places to be."
Athrun rather reluctantly followed her in. He spent much of his time in administration with the Orb Self-Defense Forces and savored whatever time he could get out-of-doors.
"You know who's responsible," he said. It wasn't a question.
"It's a short list. And one group certainly earned the top spot," she said. "I never did believe Blue Cosmos was dead. They covered their tracks too well." They'd both spent more than their fair share of time dealing with the terrorists.
"Ideals die hard. We know that better than anyone," replied Athrun. "Junius 7 – both times – was proof of that."
Neither of them could say anything after that.
By unwritten rule, the elevator to the council chambers on Aprilius was deadly quiet. There was, very purposefully, a single elevator to the council chamber itself, out of which branched the offices of the councilors themselves. It was an intimidating atmosphere for outsiders to enter, and despite Shinn's several meetings with Chairman Durandal during the war, he was still definitely an outsider. He and Luna had only been up here once before, when Supreme Chairwoman Clyne had been sworn into office, a grand ceremony that had gone on rather longer than it needed to, a common ailment of political functions. Then, they had shared the ride up with Meyrin, Athrun, Kira, and a few of the pilots from the Eternal whose names had escaped them. Now, the car was occupied by three taciturn men in suits who stood as far from each other as possible and a purple-coated general that the two redcoats did not recognize. The atmosphere was far less amiable than their previous trip.
Shinn and Luna were now working as a special operations duo, nominally the 'Asuka Team,' which hadn't earned them much points with the ZAFT old guard, but was accepted and quietly encouraged by other Terminal members in ZAFT command, namely Andrew Waltfeld. 'Asuka Team' was something of a misnomer as well, as Shinn didn't really lead Luna as much as backed her up when she needed it and vice versa. They were intimidatingly competent in simulations and maneuvers but had yet to receive an official mission, courtesy of the peace settlement. Which is why they were worried when they had been called up to the Supreme Chairwoman's office.
The last time they had met the Chairwoman had been in Orb, at the memorial. Of course, she hadn't been the Chairwoman then. No, she was just an intimidatingly beautiful idol singer who also happened to be the leader of one of the most important independent factions in the world. No big deal. Now she was their boss, which was just another layer of awkward. Shinn had a hard enough time in normal conversation. Politics was his nightmare.
They had exited the elevator and passed down the hall, through the security checkpoints and reached the door to the Chairwoman's office, a solid edifice of dark wood that hid steel plates and vault quality locks. Luna knocked. There was the sound of heavy bolts being withdrawn, a loud CLUNK.
"Come in!" came a pleasantly pitched voice that could only be Lacus Clyne. Shinn and Luna looked at each other, shrugged, and pushed open the door. The first thing that greeted them appeared at first glance to be a pink softball that was in the process of throwing itself at Shinn, who caught it before it impacted his face. He stared at it, now able to make out two beady optical sensors and aerodynamic flaps that fluttered in his hands.
"Haro! Whatever!" it chirped. Clearly, the security consultants had failed to convince her to leave the damn thing at home with the rest.
"Excuse me," said Lacus. "Mister Pink!"
Obediently, the Haro dropped to the ground and rolled to her ankles, then jumped up into her lap behind her desk. Shinn almost expected it to purr like a cat and was almost disappointed when it didn't. It seemed so fitting. Belatedly, Shinn matched Luna's salute.
"Thank you," said Lacus, returning their salute. "Please sit down." She gestured towards the two comfortable-looking chairs in front of her desk. Behind her, a large viewscreen, which the two redcoats had initially thought to be a wall, turned on. Her face, without quite losing the good-naturedness that had always been present in her public appearances, hardened and became quite serious. "This briefing is classified Top Secret, priority CORMORANT. This is not to be discussed with anyone outside of the Supreme Council, ZAFT HICOM, and the crew of the battleship Diana. The arriving Orb military representatives are also cleared, as their objectives are the same as ours."
Shinn's gut clenched a little at the mention of Orb. It was reflex. He couldn't, and wouldn't, say he really hated the country anymore, but it wasn't something that he could just drop, either. He could at least tolerate it, though, and that was progress.
"Ms. Chairwoman-" began Shinn.
She held her hand up. "Lacus, please. We're friends, are we not?"
Fair enough. "Lacus, what exactly is our objective?"
Luna stiffened a little at that, but Lacus didn't seem to mind his impatience.
"Yesterday," said Lacus, "three prototype Earth Forces mobile suits were stolen. I'm sure you can appreciate the seriousness."
She played the footage of the raid on the viewscreen behind her.
"Another Armory One situation?" asked Luna, once it had finished.
"Precisely. No group has claimed responsibility for the theft and the EA has made no statement. Considering your experience in this type of situation and your skill as pilots, we are considering assigning you to the pursuit/quick-reaction force in order to counter this threat. However," she turned her gaze directly on Shinn now without changing her tone of voice, "this may involve cooperation with Orb. Will that be a problem?"
"No, ma'am," said Shinn. And he was completely honest. Or was trying to be, anyway, and that was the important thing. If Lacus was bothered by the formality that she'd previously waved off, she gave no sign.
"Excellent." Lacus was genuinely pleased. "The battleship Diana is returning to port in the next day or so. You will be assigned to that ship, which will be escorting a PLANT delegation to a meeting with Orb's chief representative, where we will discuss the precise action we will take. Thank you." She bowed her head politely, a clear dismissal.
As the two returned to the elevator, Luna spoke up first. "Are you sure you're alright working with Orb?" she asked
Before Messiah, he would've snapped at her, angry that someone presumed to question his motives. Now, he gave a quiet and definite answer. "Yes. It was bound to happen, eventually." He had a far-away look in his eyes. "I won't break the promise I made at the memorial."
Luna had taken Shinn's past for granted, perhaps forgetting that the memorial was also where Shinn's family had died during the first war. She should have known. Any promise he made there would have immense meaning to him. "Well, that's very mature of you," she said. "We'll make a diplomat out of you yet." She decided to risk a joke. "Or at least someone I won't be ashamed to be seen with in public."
"I know," he said. "Hmph. Maybe I'll even be halfway respectable someday, too." That, too, was new since Messiah. He hadn't been able to stand jokes at his expense. Luna put her arm around his shoulder and gave him an affectionate squeeze. Shinn was slowly coming out of his shell. Or maybe… Luna had first met Shinn at the academy, so she hadn't known him when his family was still around. Maybe some of the old Shinn was shining through now. Despite the news they had just been given, it was a heartening thought.
The elevator ride back down was just as silent as it had been on the way up, though only the two ZAFT reds were inside. Luna rested her head on Shinn's shoulder as the elevator descended. They split up once they reached the ground.
"I've got some supplies I've been needing to get. Shampoo and things," she explained. "Anyway, if we're deploying soon, I ought to stock up now. I'll see you back at base in an hour or two." She waved and took an autotaxi in the direction of Aprilius' shopping district. Shinn took one in the opposite direction, which brought him near the colony's port and the Aprilius garrison, where he and Luna's quarters were. Since the Minerva had been brought down during the Battle of Messiah, they had been shuffled around various PLANT garrisons while the chain of command, itself in the process of being remodeled, tried to figure out what to do with them. They had been in Aprilius about a month. By policy team members roomed together while on base, which meant he and Luna technically lived together. Sometimes they could be incredibly close and familiar and comfortable with each other, like on the elevator, and other times it was a rather awkward situation and they nervously avoided each other. To outside observers on the base, it appeared that they were an on-and-off couple, though they had never actually said so and neither of the two would admit it.
Still, reflected Luna, they hadn't had a huge blow-out fight and that was something to be thankful for. She was searching a department store for the things she considered most essential to life aboard ship: shampoo, toothpaste, facial tissues and the like. She tried to guess what Shinn might forget and then gave up. He'd get by. He always seemed to, somehow. So she focused on herself. It was a pride thing. Like the miniskirt.
"Admiral," greeted the young commander, raising a salute.
"Commander Halley," replied the admiral, returning the salute, then pulling out a file and placing it carefully on the desk between them. "You've been briefed, Commander?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. The Odysseus is waiting for you to take command. Any questions before you set out?"
"Sir, what pilots have been assigned under my command?"
"This is all in the file, but let me see…" The admiral opened the folder and slid his finger down the crew roster. "Here we are." He cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Ricardo Duomo, Lieutenant Trey Thomas, and Ensign Natasha Vela will be your heavy hitters, I think. There are three others but they will have base machines. Is that all?"
"Um, sir, Duomo?"
"So you've heard of him? Yes, he is a troublemaker, but very, very effective. Don't hesitate to put him in his place if you think the situation calls for it. The other two shouldn't give you too much trouble."
"Very well, sir."
"You are dismissed, commander." The admiral closed and handed him the folder.
"Yes sir." Commander Halley stepped back, saluted, and turned on his heel, as was only proper.