MINOR EDIT: Changed the name Juno to Diana, because the Goddess of the Hunt makes more sense as the namesake of a warship than the Goddess of Family and Motherhood.
JULY 27, CE 74
The doorbell rang and, for once, Miriallia was at home to answer it. Usually, she was out during the day, in town or across the sea trying to build a photo portfolio. But she'd just finished a commission, cashed the check and decided to luxuriate with ice cream and old movies. And the doorbell rang. She wasn't expecting anyone. She'd paid her rent last week, so it wouldn't be the landlord and she hadn't ordered anything so it wasn't a deliveryman…
Oh. "Captain Ramius!" she said through force of habit, forgetting that the Murrue was technically a civilian at the moment. She was suddenly very conscious of her pajama pants and ratty t-shirt. "Uh, come in!"
It wasn't a particularly large apartment, but that hadn't been particularly important to her since she traveled a lot. She showed Murrue to the small kitchen table then rushed to turn off the TV and reseal the ice cream. The captain politely ignored her until she was ready to actually sit down and have a proper conversation.
"So, uh, what can I do for you?" asked Miriallia as she pulled out a chair for herself.
"Well, Cagalli has seen the need to reactivate the Archangel, and I agree with her. Things might get very sticky soon and Orb needs to be prepared. I'm here to offer you a position aboard her once again." Murrue had a resigned expression on her face and held up her hands to stall Miriallia's reply. "I understand completely if you aren't interested and I can't tell you much unless you accept. But I can tell you that Mu, Neumann, Murdock and several others have already agreed to return. And I can tell you that ZAFT will not be our enemy and we're trying to avoid antagonizing the Alliance."
Mir leaned back and tried to digest the information. If old hands are coming back, they see this mission as important. And since it won't be fighting the EA or ZAFT that means…
"Terrorists?" she asked out loud.
"Something like that," was the reply.
"So a SAD run, then. What are they after?"
"That's classified," said Murrue kindly. "I can't tell you unless you accept the commission."
Commission? "Shame on you for playing with my journalistic instincts like that."
Murrue only smiled. They both realized she would accept, in the end, and Miriallia just wanted to know what she was getting into before actually saying so.
"You know, I'm still in the reserve. You could've just called up my ticket," said Miriallia.
"I know, but I wanted to ask you personally."
"All right, what commission?"
"Lieutenant Commander. As I recall, you finished out the war as an ensign. A two rank jump with the pay increase to match."
Mir chuckled and leaned her elbow on the table, resting her head on her outstretched hand. "Well, you make it very tempting. What position will I be in? CIC again?"
"Executive Officer."
"What?" Mir's elbow slipped off the table as she lost her balance.
"I mean it. XO."
"But, uh, what about Mu? Or…or… Neumann? I'm sure they would be good XOs! I mean, uh…" her voice trailed off as she tried to marshal her thoughts.
"Mu is going to be busy with the Akatsuki and Neumann was never interested in the position. And you have more experience on the Archangel than any of the Orb crewmembers. You're the girl for the job, Mir."
Mir couldn't argue with that. "Well, uh… yeah. Okay." She nodded firmly.
"Great. Glad to have you." The two women shook hands across the table. "And I'm sorry I have to spring this on you, but we're on a rather tight schedule and the ship leaves tomorrow morning at 0930."
"Aye, Captain." Mir grinned.
Once Murrue had left, Miriallia returned to the movie, not knowing what else to do. It didn't take long for her to realize she shouldn't be bothering. Instead, she retrieved her uniform and, after making sure all of the pieces were present and clean, packed in a duffel bag, followed by her camera. Then she called her parents and swore them to secrecy. Then she went out to visit her old haunts, if only briefly, because she had the feeling she wouldn't be home for a long time.
The Diana gave Shinn déjà vu. He hadn't yet decided if that was a good thing or not. He'd known that pieces of the Minerva had been salvaged and used to speed up the construction of its sister ship, but hadn't quite realized what that meant. Now he knew. The Diana looked like the Minerva's ghost: blue where the first had been red, a lighter gray than the first's darker coloration, and practically the same silhouette. The only major structural difference was the lack of a centerline catapult for an Impulse-type machine. That project had gone down in flames with the Minerva.
Since neither Shinn nor Lunamaria's Gundams had survived the Battle of Messiah, Shinn was flying a GOUF for the time being and Luna had returned to her red ZAKU. They were watching their suits being loaded onto the Diana from the departure lounge.
Luna hadn't exactly been happy to step down to a ZAKU.
"This stupid thing is so vulnerable to ECM that I'm surprised I hit anything with my cannon!" she'd griped. And it was true. ZAKUs were one of the most inaccurate suits of the war, thanks to being completely unprepared for the electronic countermeasures that had evolved rapidly during the Second Bloody Valentine. For his part, Shinn wasn't exactly pleased with the GOUF's performance and took solace in the hope that HICOM might, if properly impressed, give them a lovely prototype. So far the jury was out on that one.
The time came for personnel to board. Shinn and Luna fell in line behind several Diana crewmen who had spent what little time they had ashore. One of the men, a green coat, tried to flirt with Luna. Her red uniform appeared to have passed unregistered.
"So…" said the wannabe pick-up artist, "New aboard ship, huh?" He was using an especially deep voice in an attempt to increase his sex appeal.
"Not gonna happen, hot shot," said Luna, already bored of the guy.
Sarcasm was apparently lost on him as well. He slid back in front of Shinn and put his arm around Luna. "You wound me, babe. Even gonna give me a chance? We could have fun…"
"Nope. I'm afraid that I'm not interested," said Luna, squirreling out of his grasp.
No was clearly not a part of the man's vocabulary. "Don't be ridiculous. A woman as pretty as you are requires companionship, if only to keep all the other jealous men away."
At this point Shinn stepped in. "Look, pal," he said in his typical blunt, derisive tone, "she's not interested. So you'd best walk away. Now."
"Ooh! Competition!" Now he had figured out sarcasm. "I think you're out of your league here, buddy, so I'd advise you to step back before you got hurt." He emphasized his words with a shove, hard enough to make Shinn take a step back and enough to mark him as a threat. Shinn bristled and dropped into a fighting stance.
However, he didn't get the chance to make a move as, to the flirty green coat's eternal surprise (and not remotely to Shinn's), Luna stepped up and broke the meathead's nose with a solid right hook. "I said not interested. And you'd best remember."
The man, his ego and body wounded, promptly fled to staunch the bleeding from his nose.
"Man, they say I'm violently protective," said Shinn, watching the green coat flee.
"Don't give me that. You were going to do the exact same thing," said Luna.
"Well… yeah, but I was going to kick him and crack a rib or two," he said. "Your way works, too," he added after a moment. Luna simply rolled her eyes in response.
The pair managed to board and find their quarters without further incident. They had received officer's quarters, similar to what they'd had on the Minerva and similarly located, unsurprising considering that the Juno was built from only slightly modified plans of the original. Once again, they had been assigned together. ZAFT generally tried to avoid coed room assignments, if only for efficiency's sake, but it wasn't unheard of, either. It was a carryover from when the organization had just been a militia protecting the PLANTs, rather than the well-trained, well-equipped modern military it had become over the course of two wars.
An announcement came over the ship's PA system. Shinn recognized Commander Joule's voice. "All personnel, Diana is leaving port in fifteen minutes. Asuka Team to the bridge immediately."
Shinn groaned. They were probably getting brought up on charges for clocking the idiot in line. Luna, midway through unpacking her duffel, simply sighed and hung her head in defeat.
Luna began defending herself as soon as the elevator door opened. "Look, if this is about what happened in the boarding line, he totally started it."
Kira, Dearka, Shiho, and Yzak shared a confused look. "Something happened in line?" asked Dearka.
Luna was caught flat-footed. "Wait. You mean…" She smacked herself on the forehead. "Oh, dammit…" Realizing that the four officers were still staring at her, she reluctantly told her side. "Well, this green coat was getting handsy and didn't understand the word no. Then he tried to pick a fight with Shinn, so I belted him one."
The bridge was silent for a moment. Then a high pitched voice shouted out "Luna, you punched someone?" Everyone now turned to look at the shouter, Meyrin Hawke, who blushed at the attention. She decided to just keep going and try to defuse the embarrassment. "And when did you get assigned to this ship, anyway? As the ship's information officer, I ought to have been informed!"
"Yesterday," said Shinn, still a little confused.
"And that was classified," snapped Yzak.
Meyrin blushed deeper. "Oh," she said in a small voice.
"Whatever," continued Yzak, rolling his eyes. "It sounds to me like a crew member sexually harassed a superior officer and was justly disciplined by said officer after failing to obey orders to desist in his attentions. Does that work for everyone?"
There were no complaints.
"Good," finished Yzak. Just because he'd broken his vengeance fixation at the end of the First Bloody Valentine didn't mean he couldn't enjoy it when someone else got their just desserts.
"Well, we only called you up here because we figured you ought to be here when the Chairwoman arrived," said Kira.
"Speak of the devil…" said Dearka jokingly as the elevator door opened again, this time revealing Lacus, Mister Pink, and Andrew Waltfeld in a fine purple-and-gold uniform.
"Madame Chairwoman," said Yzak, inclining his head respectfully. You could count on one hand the people Yzak treated with respect, and Lacus had earned the honor. "General Waltfeld, we weren't expecting you."
"Are you ever?" said the General with a wry grin. "I'm her escort." When Kira frowned at this, he continued. "Wasn't my idea and it was either me or a squadron of guys in suits and sunglasses, kid." He shrugged. "Nobody was arguing with me, especially when I pointed out what happened when you guys got jumped after the Break the World incident. And hey, when I saw a chance to catch up with everyone on the Archangel, I took it."
"Welcome aboard the Diana, General," said Dearka, stepping forward to shake the man's hand.
"Shall we?" asked Lacus, flashing a glance at Kira as she settled into one of the chairs around the tactical display.
"Yes, ma'am," said Yzak. "IO?"
"All sections report ready, Captain," said Meyrin.
"All right then. Helm, engines to twenty percent, then increase to full once we clear port." He thumbed the intercom button. "Diana is heading out."
The Kaguya Mass Driver was essentially a very upscaled version of the Archangel's deck catapults. It made Murrue glad that she wasn't catapulted more often. Mu, strapped in next to her, didn't seem to mind the jostling and g-forces one bit. He flashed a jaunty smile, which made her feel a little better. Miriallia, new rank insignia proudly displayed on her shoulder, was strapped into the CIC bay with an amused expression as she watched the novice operators try not to pass out from the acceleration. The new deputy captain seemed to be treating the launch as a military-sanctioned rollercoaster ride.
As the Archangel reached the apex of the mass driver's arc, the gunners fired the Lohengrin cannons, creating the positronic interference effect that would, essentially, allow the ship to accelerate through vacuum rather than through the atmosphere. For the crew, this had the effect of smoothing out the ride, since there was no turbulence in vacuum. Within a minute, they had reached the border of space, fifty miles up, and in the next, stable orbit. Murrue relaxed and let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as the crew unstrapped and made their way to their active stations. Neumann already had the course laid-in to the navigation station and the Archangel fired its thrusters, now free from Earth's gravity, and began to pick its way through the debris belt towards the moon. It would be several hours before they reached Copernicus, where they'd rendezvous with Diana.
Mu unbuckled his restraints and pushed himself up and out of his chair to float calmly in the middle of the room.
"The first float of a trip is always the best," he said, drifting past Murrue.
She rolled her eyes. "How's she feeling, helm?" Murrue asked, referring to the ship.
"Lighter and more responsive than ever, Captain. Morganroete knows their stuff."
"Good to hear. I'm going to check in with Cagalli and Athrun. XO, you have the conn."
"Aye, ma'am," said Miriallia. "I have the conn." She pushed out of the lower bay and settled into the vacant command chair. Her first command experience. She was thankful that it was relatively low pressure at the moment.
Murrue smiled a small smile and left the bridge. Mu followed behind her.
"You think she's ready for the job?" he asked.
"I wouldn't put her in the position if I didn't think she was ready. Besides, you agreed with me the last time you brought it up."
Mu shrugged. "Well ,yeah, I did. It's just a little surreal for me, that's all. Maybe a little bit of me still thinks of her as a civilian from Heliopolis."
"Will that be a problem, Captain La Flaga?"
"Not at all. I'm used to hearing her voice in my ear; she'll just be giving orders now, too."
The two captains made their way through the corridors down to the crew deck, where the Justice pilot and Chief Representative were currently ensconced in the officers' lounge.
"I don't envy Cagalli's position," said Murrue. "She's making the right call, but it's going to upset a lot of people: diehard conservatives in the parliament, anyone angry at ZAFT for Operation Fury, isolationists… it's a mess. She's got public opinion for the moment, but soon enough the dissenters are going to make their voices heard."
"And who knows how the Earth Alliance is going to react if they find out," replied Mu. "LOGOS or no, Coordinator hate isn't going to die down in a hurry. If it comes down to it, we can only hope that the new government sees sense, but they might not have a choice." He sighed. "This could go to all kinds of hell in a hurry."
"And she knows it, Mu."
"Yeah. She's a pretty good politician for a teenager. Better than me, anyway."
"Well, you've seemed diplomatic enough for me, when the situation calls for it."
"Why, thank you, Captain." He gave her a little mock bow. "I've been practicing just for you."
Murrue rolled her eyes again and entered the lounge. Cagalli and Athrun didn't notice the captains immediately, due to the deep conversation they were having. Judging from the atmosphere in the room, it was not too dissimilar to the conversation she had just finished.
"Oh," said Cagalli, having just registered their arrival. "Captain Ramius, Captain La Flaga." She dispensed with the formality once the door had closed, shutting the conversation off from the public ear. "Everything all right?"
"Fine," said Murrue, taking a seat in one of the padded chairs, one of the little perks of being an officer. "We've got several hours before we get to Copernicus and I thought I'd give Mir some time at the helm."
"Already?" asked Athrun.
She shrugged. "No time like the present. She's smart. She'll call down if there's something she can't handle."
Cagalli and Athrun exchanged looks that seemed to be the equivalent of a shrug and a 'Why not.'
"We were discussing long-term policy," prompted Athrun.
"Right," said Cagalli, getting back on track. "I was curious about what you two thought of the whole thing."
"I'm not sure what to make of everything, yet," said Mu. "There are simply too many unknowns. But there were some real crazies in Blue Cosmos." He suddenly seemed older, weighed down. The scars seemed starker, now, contrasting much more heavily against the normal color of his skin. "They wouldn't just give up."
Everyone in the room knew that Mu was bothered by the time he'd lived as Neo Roanoke. Even after breaking the Blue Cosmos conditioning, it was still something that haunted him. He hid it well most of the time, but now it came through in full force. He'd never quite forgiven himself for the things he'd done, despite those being the actions of, essentially, a completely different person. He'd trimmed his hair back into something resembling his old style, but Murrue knew that the guilt was the reason he'd kept the scars. He felt that erasing them, pretending to be the old Mu, would be disrespectful to the people he'd hurt as Neo. Memories would ambush him during private moments. Sometimes, he'd wake with a start to check if Murrue was really there, and not a memory or delusion, seeking evidence to prove to himself that he wasn't Neo any longer.
And, as Neo, he'd taken orders directly from the head of Blue Cosmos. It made him the closest thing to an inside source they had. When he said that Blue Cosmos wasn't dead and was now beholden to no one but itself, Athrun, Cagalli, and Murrue believed him. In a way, it made him feel better. Trust was something hard to come by in a terrorist group and receiving it now was another reason to be sure that he really was Mu.
Murrue chose her next few words carefully. "There's no use in worrying about it now. Even if it was Blue Cosmos, they still have to figure out how to properly maintain and use their acquisitions. That gives us a few days to find out more, at least."
This seemed to snap Mu out of his funk. "Yes. You're right," he said, seeming to relax, scars seeming to fade a little. There was a bar in the officers' lounge, a new addition. He went to it now, pulled a bottle of rum and a glass. He poured a little, for nerves, and no one begrudged him the drink. Then he put it away. The liquor seemed to do him good, bringing him most of the way back to normal. Weight seemed to lift away from his shoulders and he stood a little straighter. Maybe it was the light, but it seemed to Murrue that his hair was a little more golden than it had been before.
"Well, we ought to prepare a public statement, just in case anything leaks out," said Athrun.
"You don't need me for that, do you?" asked Mu. "I'm a pilot, not a PR guy."
"Why? Did you have something pressing to do?" asked Cagalli, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
He edged toward the door. "I rather had my heart set on taking a nap…"
"Please, Mu," snorted Murrue. "You've only been awake for three hours on a solid nine of sleep."
He elbowed the door control. "That's true," he admitted, "but you can never have too much sleep on deployment! Have fun playing politics!" He snaked out the door, giving Murrue a cheeky wink as the door hissed shut.
Definitely back to normal, all right.
By her next shift, Meyrin was reasonably confident that her earlier outburst had been overlooked, thank God. Embarrassing herself in front of the whole bridge crew and command staff was one of her nightmares. Damn her sister and her violent impulses!
The Diana would be approaching the rendezvous within the next hour. She supposed that meant the Archangel wasn't far off. At the thought of that ship, she idly wondered if Athrun would be on board, but shut down that train of thought immediately. He probably would be. With Cagalli. She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel at least a twinge of jealousy, but she had tried to move on from her one-sided crush these past few months and had done a rather admirable job of it in her opinion. She shook her head hard and refocused on the comms terminal, waiting for contact from the Archangel.
The past few months had kept her busy. An intelligence and data specialist, especially one with her résumé, was constantly in demand. She had done contract work, sanctioned by ZAFT, as an analyst for civilian law enforcement tracking smuggling rings. Then she had been recruited and offered a full-time assignment in ZAFT intelligence that she had declined in favor of becoming the combat operator on the Diana. She couldn't quite pass up the adventure of serving on a warship. It helped her feel closer to Lunamaria. And in her experience, mobile suit pilots were probably the most fascinating people in the military, so she took the opportunity to perhaps get close enough and snag one for herself. The problem, and she kicked herself for this often, was that she was too shy to actually go out and meet them.
Meyrin was, however, an excellent observer and judge of human nature. As such, over the past month on deployment, she'd gotten to know her fellow bridge crew fairly well. Philip, the helmsman, was a font of stories when off-duty. Clarisse was a motor mouth, which contrasted with her careful and considered work as navigator. The sensor officer was named Jon, an adrenaline junkie who nursed a crush on Clarisse. Lev, the weapons tech, was mostly notable for his black humor. They all worked well together, posting one of the highest efficiency ratings in the fleet.
Of course, that was also due to the extraordinary competence of her commanders. She thought of Yzak as stern, precise, and rather rude, but he was also clever and unorthodox, often surprising her with his depth of thought. He was also clearly smitten with Squadron Commander Hahnenfuss, a fact that amused Meyrin to no end, that behind all his bluster, he was just as clueless as the rest of them when it came to relationships. Kira was less complicated. Of everyone on board, she had known him the longest, having worked with him at the end of the last war. He was still new to authority, treating subordinates as equals and phrasing orders as suggestions. He was getting better, though. And Dearka… she wouldn't admit it, but she'd developed something of a soft spot for him. She enjoyed it when he gleefully drove Yzak berserk. He was confident and easily social, excellent at reading people. He was also disarmingly handsome and single.
She stole a glance at him now, relaxed in his chair near the fore of the bridge. Kira and Lacus chatted around the tactical display behind her and General Waltfeld was on the hangar deck with Yzak, most likely talking shop. Shinn, Luna, and Shiho were currently taking their turn on standby, and would be the first pilots to deploy if they came under attack in the next half-hour, when the Harve Team would take over the job.
She did a quick check of the airwaves, and was relieved to discover that the Archangel had made no attempt to make contact yet. She hadn't missed anything while she was daydreaming.
The moon loomed large outside the windows. It was possible to see Copernicus City from this distance, but only indistinctly, a patch of color and light on the otherwise dull and gray lunar surface. The last time she had been to Copernicus had been in the last weeks of the Second Bloody Valentine. The visit had not ended well, but the shopping she had been able to do before everything went south was excellent. She was not optimistic about the chances of going ashore on this trip, though. This mission was supposed to be kept quiet, if not exactly secret. And dispersing the crew into civilian sectors would only amplify the risk of exposure. She doubted that Captain Joule had a high opinion of such activities anyway. A shame.
Meyrin now was starting to pick up traffic on the frequency that she had been told the Archangel would be using. It was, of course, encoded. Wouldn't want just anyone listening in. She ran the signal through the decrypting algorithm, and then scrubbed any interference from lingering N-Jammer emissions and solar flares.
"Commander Elsman, we're picking up a communiqué from the Archangel," she reported.
"Thank you, Meyrin," said Dearka, which sent a little thrill through her. "Patch it through to me, I'll handle it." He glanced at the ship's time. "It appears that Captain Joule is a little busy." Some would term that remark insubordinate, but that was about par for the course for Dearka. ZAFT was more lenient than the stricter, more disciplined Earth Forces, but Dearka got away with it mostly because he and Yzak were old friends and had more than proved himself as a rock-steady soldier when in action. Even if the Captain ire was raised, everyone knew it was mere irritation than outright anger, a subtle gradation, which he reserved for situations that would actually require disciplinary action.
A woman's voice came over the speakers. It sounded vaguely familiar to Meyrin, but she couldn't match it to a face. Then she looked over at Dearka, who had a strange look on his face. She would've said he looked nervous if that description wasn't so at-odds with her image of him.
"Diana, this is the Archangel. We are currently inbound at heading mark thirty, green, alpha. Over," said the Archangel officer. It was an audio only link, since they were too far for a stable video link.
It took a moment for Dearka to reply. "Archangel, this is Diana, we've got you loud and clear. That you, Miriallia?"
Oh no, thought Meyrin.
The return was distinctly frosty. "Dearka." The woman on the other end sighed. "It's been, what, two years now?"
"Yeah," said Dearka. He swallowed. "Something like that."
Ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno…
Kira and Lacus looked up, also recognizing the voice. They gave Dearka sympathetic looks, but declined to comment. Now Meyrin put the name and voice together. She remembered, now. The Archangel's combat operator.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," said Miriallia. "You always do seem to show up in the most awkward spot for me."
God Damnit! Meyrin nearly swore out loud, too, but clamped her hand down on her mouth and looked around quickly to see if anyone noticed her lapse in composure. No one did. They were all staring at Dearka as he, for once, fumbled his way through a conversation.
"Well…" he said, about to try to defend himself. But Mir cut him off.
"Don't even start. If we have time, we'll talk about it later. This isn't the time or place. Just give me your heading."
Lacking any other option, Dearka gave it to her and the link was abruptly terminated.
Dammit! thought Meyrin again. Figures! He's friends with Athrun! Of course he had one who got away! Damn Le Creuset team must be cursed! That's so typical! Why, why, why do I keep falling for men with complicated love lives!? Gah! Throughout her whole mental tirade she kept her face carefully calm when she really wanted to beat her head against the console. And maybe kick something for good measure.
"You heard her, helm. We've got a rendezvous to keep," said Dearka. He did not seem particularly happy about it.