Respect between Enemies – The BetanWerecat
Gundam Seed: "Descending Sword" and after. OCs with appearances by canon characters. The actions of Kira, Athrun, and the others have far reaching effects. Not all things that begin as acts of war must stay such. Rated T for language and openly acknowledged but off screen activity. (Reviews are welcomed but not required. This is written only for my own enjoyment. Flaming me will get you ignored.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.
Lance Thoms sighed inwardly. This was going almost exactly as he'd expected. The girl was frightened and mad. His pilot was embarrassed and ashamed. It was the perfect first date. And, weird as it was, this trip was indeed something of a first date.
He had the advantage of watching this from both the outside and an extra decade's experience. He'd known there was something between them when Ito first opened the GINN's hatch. There was a protectiveness in the boy's position, and an acceptance of that protection in the girl's. It was very subtle; he didn't think anyone else had noticed a thing. Perhaps Holman's butting in had been a useful event. It certainly distracted all attention from the two of them as a pair to focus it on the girl as an Earth Forces officer.
During the debriefing, Adrian had been almost more concerned about what was happening to his prisoner than the potential trouble he might be in himself. And the two interrogation sessions he'd had with Grayhawk, under drugs during her sleep so she would not be aware they had happened, had turned up an interest and concern on her part for the trouble Ito might be in. Again, it was nothing that was going to slap anyone in the face but then, any other interrogator would not have been present to see the hatch opened either and so would not be watching for such connections.
Today it was almost blatantly obvious. There was a physical tension between them of course. They were both young, healthy, and all too human after all. But there was something else too, something he thought came from the shared escape from Josh-A.
For a shared combat experience to trigger such a reaction between enemy soldiers was very unusual. But then, how often did enemies find themselves forced to stay in close proximity in the aftermath of mutual disaster? That the situation had followed a very historic pattern of male capture/control of female, outdated as it was, probably hadn't hurt the relationship. There was a lot of biology in these things after all. It was very well known that the responses of the inner recesses of the brain hadn't caught up with the developments of gender equality in human society; that there were moments when anyone appreciated being protected, even if they weren't actually aware of it, because that was what the instinctive part of the hindbrain wanted. Not that it would be wise to say that to any reasonably strong woman today; they much preferred to use the forebrain thank you so very much!
Then too, Ito and Grayhawk were much alike in their world views and their personal codes of honor as well. They both did their own thinking; higher command could give the orders but it could not dictate what they thought about those orders. Perhaps most significantly, neither despised the other's genetic identity.
Lance had known a couple of Natural/Coordinator pairs. Both had eventually moved to Aube's space colony at Heliopolis to find a place where they could live in peace when both Earth and the Plants proved too prejudiced to accept them. They had been happy with each other but had no children. Children would have forced them to choose between the genetics and caused no end of family problems.
Childlessness was not an option for the pair sharing the shuttle with him today. When he'd brought her aboard the Ballard as an Ito Plan candidate, Adrian had locked them both into parenthood. The children would be Coordinators. That was also pre-determined.
About half way through the flight, the fighting petered out. By three quarters of the way to Aprilius, Kayla was demanding information on the entire procedure. Lance was rather surprised at how much the boy knew. Grayhawk was going to walk in the door the best informed 'brood ewe' Dr. Ito had ever had. Somehow, he doubted that wealth of data would be appreciated by the old man.
Adrian was still talking when the shuttle landed. Having finished the actual clinical details, he was going over the kinds of 'gifts' that could be safely grafted onto an Ito Project child. Kayla was listening intently. Thoms noted that the one detail the pilot had left out was his role in this. He wondered if the boy was going to tell her or if he would chicken out and let someone at the clinic do it.
The transport gave a small jerk suddenly. Ah, they had arrived and were unloading. There was a sudden tipping as they rolled off the ramp, then they were back on level ground again. Lance reached over and flipped the external viewscreen on. This was only his third trip to Aprilius; he did want to play tourist a bit while he could. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to remind Ito what he was fighting to protect.
They had come in at the main commercial port. Now they drove through the heart of the central city and on out into the more rural areas. Here what agriculture the Plant had shared space with the estates of the social elite and the parks for the general public. The Ito Project was out on the rim, backing up to one of the largest ZAFT mobile suit training facilities in all the Plants. It made it easy to move people and supplies in and out secretly under the cover of the activity of the busy base.
"It's beautiful." Kayla said suddenly. "I'd always heard the Plants were some kind of wonderlands. Looks like those stories at least are true. But it's so ordered here! Don't you people have anything that grows where it wants to?"
"Maybe some small stuff does." Adrian replied before he could. "But you have to remember that each Plant is actually a semi-sealed ecosystem. Order and balance are vital to function and survival here. The messy randomness I saw everywhere on Earth looked so strange, and so potentially dangerous after growing up here. It took quite a while to get used to it."
"If you think about it, a planet is actually another semi-sealed ecology." Lance noted. "It's just a very large one. I suppose that's why it can afford the wildness."
"You have a point there. Top of an atmosphere or glass walls, both act as seals to keep the ecology protected and enclosed. Only the scale is really different in a way." She agreed softly.
"That difference in scale makes each Plant much more vulnerable than Earth is." Adrian said quietly as he stared out at the passing landscape. "We live in fragile glass houses, really. They break so easily."
"Ah," she replied very gently, not looking at him. "So do you want to tell me about it yet?"
"About what?"
"About the broken glass house. About why you're dying inside looking out at that place that you should be glad to see."
Lance froze. Did she have any idea what she was asking? Could she even comprehend how that one event had reshaped the very soul of each and every person in the Plants old enough to understand what happened that day?
"No, . . . . . . . . . , not yet." He whispered.
"I'll wait."
He nodded once. There was silence for the rest of the trip.
She understood! She saw into him! How? He'd never had a girl do that to him before. This Natural picked up signals no Coordinator girl ever had. How did she do that? They weren't supposed to be anywhere as gifted as his people. Why could this one do what none of his could do?
And why in the name of all holy things did he want to answer her?
The sexual interest he could understand. That was reasonable. She was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen. He was going to father children on her. Hell yes, he wanted to have some of the fun! It mattered as much as the privilege of knowing he would have children who were going to be genetically sound; children who would grow up to be able to marry where they wanted and have children of their own without the government choosing their mates. Did anyone think he was a block of rock?
But where had this emotional interest suddenly come from? Why did it matter what she thought of anything? She was only a Natural, an Earth Forces soldier for god's sake! They were the one's who killed his family! Why did he give one rat's ass about her? Why, when he looked at her did he want to take her and keep her safe from this whole stinking war? He was so frustrated by the confusion he wanted to scream.
The transport came to a brief halt. The viewscreen showed a guard station and a heavy perimeter fence. Captain Thoms reached forward and turned it off without a word. The logic behind that was too obvious to need any comment. They started up again a few seconds later.
"You keep running around in that rat maze of a mind of yours, you'll go nuts you know."
He looked up to find her green eyes just looking at him. There was no particular judgment there. But once more she was seeing right through him.
"Excuse me?" He took refuge in indignation.
"Look Ito, a blind man in a blizzard at midnight could see something is messing you up. So why don't you just spit out whatever evil detail it is your sitting on and get it over with?"
Just spit it out? Ah, not likely, no! But he was going to have to tell her something and it was going to have to be something big enough to convince her it was the problem. He only had one other piece of information left that fit that bill.
"Did you ever wonder why I took the chance and captured you?"
"Ah, ha, so there is a personal incentive offered to you guys for doing this!"
How did she know this? What had he said to give it away? He gave up trying to figure it out and just sighed.
"Yes."
"You said there wasn't any sex, just lab work!" She growled accusingly.
"It is all lab work. It's simply that I know that I will be providing the other half of the child. That's my reward, a child to carry my heritage on with a surety few of us have."
He could feel the power of her eyes drilling twin holes in the side of his skull.
"Adrian Ito, who is gonna be raising this kid? I don't see any ring on your finger, so there isn't a wife somewhere to take it on. I fully intend to do my duty and escape if I possibly can. You'll be off getting yourself killed in a damn mobile suit. So I repeat, who raises the kid?"
"My mother has told me she would be very happy to accept any child I ever had. Mom isn't that old, she can and will look after the child."
There was a long moment of silence before she spoke again. "Only three left, that's what you told Freedom's pilot. You, your mother and this disreputable grandfather, right?"
He looked up, startled. "You heard that?"
"Yeah, that's where I regained consciousness."
Adrian turned away again. "Yes, that's right."
"Everyone else was in the glass house that you won't talk about."
"Yes."
"I begin to see why this is important enough to you that you bent your ethics."
The tone of her voice was very odd. He looked over at her but her face was a perfect blank. He looked at his commander to find one eyebrow up in unmistakable respect. He'd missed something here. And he didn't think Captain Thoms would tell him what it was. Not by the look in his eyes at this moment anyway.
The transport made three more stops, in all probability for security checkpoints, before it stopped and shut off the engine. They had arrived. He went over and released Grayhawk from the chair. She nodded thanks but made no move to stand yet. He turned to set his back against the compartment wall and waited.
The door opened silently and his Grandfather stepped into the transport. For only the second time in his life, Adrian saw the old man look every day of his age. Only in the days immediately after Bloody Valentine had he looked like this. Something was wrong, something major. He closed the door behind him firmly.
"Siegel Clyne is dead." Roland Ito said wearily. "Patrick Zala's people are hunting his daughter throughout the Plants. Aube has fallen, although it appears they managed to destroy everything of military value before the Atlantic Federation could lay hands on it. Everything I have worked for is in jeopardy because of one blindly self-centered man who is so sure he knows all the answers."
"Surely someone can reason with Chairman Zala?" Captain Thoms said slowly.
"Who said anything about Zala?" Dr. Ito looked up angrily. "Zala is a tool in the hands of a madman. Oh, our good Chairman thinks he's making his own decisions but there is another pulling the strings! I should have killed that defective clone when I had the chance!"
"Grandfather," Adrian asked carefully, "who are you talking about?"
"Never you mind! What you don't know you can't accidentally repeat. Your grandmother used to tell me I would rue the day I ever got involved with that ethic-less young genius Hibiki and so I do, so I do. But rue or no, that was a long time ago. If anything is to be saved out of this, it must be saved today. It isn't Siegel who played both sides against each other. That game won't stop with Clyne's death. Betrayal of both sides will continue until he has his climactic battle that ends all mankind or someone stops him."
The old man suddenly pointed a long finger at his grandson. "And it will not be you who does that, do you hear me? You are skilled Adrian, but it will take the best the human race has to stop this one. No, you will concentrate on stopping the Earth Forces from destroying the Plants. And perhaps you will also have to help stop our illustrious Chairman from destroying the Earth as well."
"Are you sure Clyne is lost?" Captain Thoms questioned crisply.
"Eh?" Dr. Ito turned to stare at him, then nodded angrily. "Yes, yes. Your mother brought me word herself. Zala is keeping this news out of public distribution of course, Siegel was and still is very popular with scores of moderates. This business of accusing him of treason has stuck in many throats."
"The fall of Aube is also confirmed?" Thoms asked, staying focused on the issues.
"Yes, she had proof of that as well. Two ships are known to have escaped into space immediately before the destruction of the mass driver. One was the apparently former Federation battleship Archangel. The other belongs to Aube but no identification was made. Two new mobile suits are also known to have been at that battle are believed to have left with the Aube ships. One is the Freedom, a prototype stolen from right here. That is the theft that led to accusing Clyne of treason. The other is the Justice. That suit was given to Zala's son, Athrun, with orders to hunt down and recapture or destroy the Freedom. There is now some question about his interpretation of his father's orders."
"Is there any word on who Freedom's pilot is?"
"No Lance, your mother didn't have that name." Dr. Ito brightened. "Although you might find it interesting to know that one of her agents has learned that the Hawk of Endymion was at the Battle of Aube. He has exchanged his mobile armor for a mobile suit. He is now the pilot of a unit called the Strike, one of the five Earth Alliance suits Heliopolis was destroyed to obtain. Strike's initial pilot now flies Freedom. That much we did learn about him."
Adrian's head came up with a snap. "The Hawk is a Natural! What's he doing in a mobile suit? They're just too complex for Naturals to operate effectively!"
"Ah, it seems someone at Morgenroete has developed an operating system that compensates for the limitations of a Natural. Aube was defended by its own small army of mobile suits." His grandfather replied briskly.
"Aube welcomes Coordinator and Natural alike. Her people are fiercely loyal to their nation because their nation is loyal to them." Grayhawk suddenly contributed. "An Aube suit doesn't mean a Natural pilot."
Dr. Ito stopped and focused on the raven haired girl, who stared back at him defiantly. Adrian wanted to put a hand on her shoulder in warning but didn't think it would be either appreciated or heeded. Grandfather looked at someone like that only when he was seeing something special in genetics. He'd never liked that look; he really didn't like seeing it directed at Kayla.
"No," Dr. Ito agreed slowly. "An Aube suit does not assure a Natural pilot of course. However, Mu La Flaga, the Hawk of Endymion, most definitely is a Natural. There is a bit of his performance in Strike on the record the agent sent up. It is very impressive. Man has a sincere destructive streak. Fortunately, this time he was using it on the Federation."
He turned to Adrian. "I have the results from the Ballard of course, and the second sample they sent. I've already run the cross-match against that. The compatibility factors are excellent. I will start the confirmation tests today."
"Yeh, rah." Kayla got more contempt into two words than most could into a complete speech. "You got a ram and a ewe. Whoopee. Mind telling the ewe how many lambs you're planning on?"
The look on Grandfather's face was priceless. How long had it been since anyone had treated him with anything but respect and deference? A very long time to judge by the shock Adrian was seeing now. He recovered quickly though. It did not do to underestimate Grandfather.
"Two," he replied bluntly. "One, ah, ram and another ewe."
"You have the ethics of a toxic waste dump, you know that right?"
Roland Ito snorted. "Oh no girl, you have no idea what a genuine set of such ethics look like. Mine are simply bent to survival, nothing more. If we all live through this war, I'll tell you where you can go to see what real toxic ethics look like. It will give you an entirely new outlook on human greed and a completely new definition of depravity."
"Wonderful, I'm looking forward to it." Kayla said quietly.
"Are you indeed?" The old man enquired with mock politeness.
"Yeah. You said after the war didn't you? Means I'd be alive to see it."
All trace of mockery vanished. He looked at her even more intently than before. She met his gaze with the same defiance she had earlier.
"I must remember not to take you too lightly." The old man's eyes flicked to Adrian. "You have made an extraordinary find in this one."
He just nodded, not trusting his voice. He discovered he wanted to hit his Grandfather right across the face for everything that statement implied. What the hell was wrong with him?
"We have been here long enough. It will not be wise to make any mention of the subjects we have been discussing other than the genetic one. Come, there are things for all of us to do." Dr. Ito waved them all toward the door.
