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. Ah, interpersonal relationships! What joys they are. Rated T for language and off screen activity. (Reviews are welcomed but not required. This is written only for my own enjoyment. Flaming me will get you ignored.)

I will be out of town over New Years. Updates will therefore be delayed as the computer will be in one state while I'm in another. I will post a chunk of what's ready before I go.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.


The morning after something like what the two of them had done was not that much fun. Everything hurt. What didn't hurt at the start, hurt when she tried to move it. She was stiff as a board, bruised in places she'd never imagined getting bruised, and was in general a mess. Of course, he was no better.

However, he was a Coordinator. For the very first time in her life she was actually jealous of their recovery abilities. Adrian could really move while all she could do was lay there trying not to let the pain make her cry. He was the one who picked her up and got them both into the shower to clean up. He washed her off like a small child, treating her like delicate china before he ever took soap to himself. And he got them both into the warmth of the soaking tub as well. It was Adrian who recovered enough in the hot water to be able to give her a gentle massage as the heat loosened knotted muscles and unkinked the snarled nerve bundles below the bruises enough to let her begin to feel human again.

He carried her out of the tub too. And dried her off. And dressed her in a clean nightgown. And helped her eat the delicious but all soft foods breakfast someone had very thoughtfully provided. Then he put them both back into a bed someone had changed and curled protectively around her. He was still there, head tucked against her shoulder when she woke for the second time.

She lay quietly looking up at the neutral ceiling without really seeing it. She still didn't know why this had happened. She was an Earth Forces officer, damn it! He was with the ZAFT. There was a war going on! Yet given half a chance she'd unhesitatingly gone to bed with this man. And she knew she would again, when ever he asked. Just as she knew she would as unhesitatingly accept being pregnant by him and bearing him the children they both wanted. It made absolutely no sense at all. When had he gone from enemy to someone she loved so totally?

"Is there something so very interesting up there?" Adrian asked quietly.

"Why did we do this? It doesn't make any sense at all. We're supposed to be at war with each other, not making love 'til our brains fall out." Kayla replied in mild irritation.

"Pheromones." He responded immediately. "Or at least that's Grandfather's explanation."

"Pheromones? What does bug talk have to do with us?"

He laughed softly. "Ah, there's more to them than, ah, bug talk! Humans make and use them too. It's just that we have such poor senses of smell that we don't know we're doing it."

His explanation reminded her of something she'd read in one of her elder sister's college textbooks. Something about attractants and bonding agent pheromones. As she tried to bring that data back to her active memory, she began to understand what had happened. But . . . . . .

"Excuse me for not being a natural scientist but those just shouldn't be that strong. Not strong enough to pull us together like this with a war in the middle anyway."

"If either of us were traditional Naturals, it probably wouldn't have happened." He agreed, rolling over onto his back to stare at the ceiling in his own turn. "But I'm a Coordinator and your family has done a major clean-up on its genome. We are not anything like traditional Naturals in a lot of ways. So some things are not as effective on either of us."

"And some are a lot more effective, that's what you're saying isn't it?"

"Yes."

She thought about this for a while before asking, "So what does the old goat have to say about it? How long should this pheromone thing last?"

He sighed. "Three to seven years. In unusual cases, much longer."

"And how long will it take him to tell if we are one of these unusual cases?"

"Well, if we fall apart in seven years, we'll know we aren't anything special now won't we?"

"Not funny, Ito."

"I suppose not. But the fact is, there really doesn't seem to be any way to tell until the bonds fade. So no one knows how long the pheromone hold will last."

"That's wonderful! I'm so reassured now."

"Kayla, I doubt you and I will last on pheromones anyway. We are too different. We will either make a genuine love match of this or we will part eventually."

She turned to glare at him only to find him looking at her very seriously. "I mean that. Either we choose love or we will fail as a pairing. We are Natural and Coordinator, Earth Alliance and ZAFT, and those are only the beginning of the ways we differ. What we have now is something very good. At least I enjoyed it, all of it, yesterday. And I tell you honestly I'm very much looking forward to doing that again, if on a somewhat less self-destructive scale. Just as I'm looking forward to watching our children develop within you. I think that will be a joy too."

He turned back to the ceiling. "But if we do not choose to build on this foundation, to reach out to each other, to really get to know one another, this will all eventually wither away. Love takes work. It may just happen, I don't know that for sure, but I do know from watching my parents that keeping it alive and growing is something that both must nurture."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. Mom and Dad spend a fair old amount of time and effort keeping their relationship solid."

"So you understand what is necessary here."

"Yeah, I do."

They got up slowly after that. Neither felt all that great although he was clearly in better shape than she was. They went for another soak in the tub, which helped, and he rubbed in the bruise cream they found left for them when they got out. She returned the favor on a few of the more spectacular of his bruises too. Dinner was quiet.

They found the comfortable chair had been replaced by one large enough for them both to snuggle in. So they sat warm and close and just watched old classics for a few hours before going back to bed again. He was gone in the morning when she finally woke up. There was a note left on the breakfast tray telling her Captain Thoms had come by for him.

So, the war was back in their faces again eh? Kayla munched her way thoughtfully through her share of breakfast. She had some decisions to make, decisions that would not benefit from haste or lack of care in her thinking. She needed information too if she could get it. That was going to have to come from Adrian. The old goat wouldn't tell her a thing and neither would his lackeys.

In the mean time, she needed to get back in shape. A question to Serin and she was shown the way to the physical training room she'd been ignoring until now. It had limited equipment but that did include a running track set in the traditional oval around the few resistance machines and a strip pool that could be set for various water speeds that one could swim against.

She secured a suit and gave the pool a try at a fairly low speed. She was in no shape today to be going all out at anything. It seemed to be a pretty decent set up so she quit while she had some energy left to try all the machines. They were all in working order too. A walk on the track showed her it was also in good shape. A bit of careful planning and she would be back in combat condition very soon. The daily workout in the GINN simulator had at least prevented her from losing all her edge.

She rested after lunch, spending the afternoon with a book. She took time for one modest walk on the track before dinner but no more. There were still a lot of aches and twinges from her bout with Adrian the other night. She knew enough to build herself back slowly and safely. Besides, she was going to be returning to the simulator in the afternoons anyway.

The days settled into a routine. Mornings were spent in the training room. Afternoons were spent in the GINN simulator. Between the two, Kayla was very quickly getting back into combat condition. In a couple areas, like upper body strength, she was actually getting better than she'd ever been before while the swimming was doing wonders for her endurance. In some ways, she was back to the nearly tireless kid she'd been before the war; the kid who could spend dawn to dusk in a saddle managing a flock of eight thousand sheep in the high foothills with one horse, three dogs and a predator rifle.

She was also beginning to get passable with the GINN training. She could walk or fly and draw a weapon now. She had to hold a very simple flight path to be able to target and shoot but she could do that too. She was now in the bottom quarter of the simulator's imaginary 'class' and about to start the space training portion of the unit. She still had to have too many of the monitoring systems shut down though. Fifteen percent of her board was still dark when she was actually trying to do anything.

Adrian appeared on no set schedule. He was present for a night or two, then gone for three or five. He'd be back for four, out for one, back for two, away for three. But he was absolutely true to his earlier promise; when he was there, the first part of the evening was committed to as much love as she could handle. She honestly had no objections to that. He was a generous partner who made sure she got as much out of it as he did. Even better, he turned out to be rather talkative between sessions.

So she learned of the three way battle at the Mendel Colony and of the existence of the small but disproportionately powerful three ship fleet that followed Lacus Clyne. She also learned that Captain Thoms was seriously worried about something that had happened in that battle. Adrian didn't know what it was, Thoms wasn't telling, but he knew his commander well enough to know whatever it was, it was serious and dangerous.

She got to know most of the Thoms Team through Adrian as well. The sheer normalcy of the group never ceased to surprise her. Coordinators were supposed to be so very different. Yet listening to Adrian talk about his Team mates, they sounded no different from her old Squadron really. Some were rock solid, reliable people. Some were pretty good but could be distracted at the wrong time. A couple should be traded off to ceremonial squads where they wouldn't endanger anyone with their carelessness or arrogance.

She'd been some three weeks in this pattern when a very significant fact dawned on her one morning. Her biology was regular as an atomic clock. She'd been able to count the days and know when to expect things to cycle for the last five years. She'd been keeping a tally on a napkin she'd stowed in a bathroom drawer. This morning, she actually counted her tick marks.

Kayla looked at the number again. It didn't change. Including the day of arrival, she'd been here now thirty two days. She sat down on the toilet very slowly. That put her eighteen days over her due date for her last menses cycle. She didn't miss cycles. She never missed cycles. But then, she'd never been making very frequent, unprotected love with that magnificent ZAFT ram before either.

Her hand flattened across her abdomen. Pregnant. She was pregnant. With Adrian's child. With their child! Now what was she going to do? Stay? Still try for an escape? She didn't even know if the kid was a Natural or a Coordinator! She didn't know if there was more than one for that matter! What the hell should she do now?


"Ah, Adrian! Would you be good enough to come up to my office for a moment?"

Grandfather's timing was not good today. He'd just gotten a call right after breakfast from Captain Thoms canceling his official permission to be off-base. That just didn't happen, not with his excuse being dancing attendance on his responsibilities to the Ito Project. Something major was happening or about to happen.

"Sir, I've just been recalled . . . . . . ."

"Yes, I know." The old man interrupted impatiently. "This is important and given what is happening, is something you need to know before you leave. Come! Standing there arguing is wasting time."

He gave in. There was no point fighting with Grandfather now. He would only have his staff hold him in the building until he had his say anyway.

The small lift he was led to was one he'd never seen before. It took them directly up to Grandfather's private office. Adrian began to get just a bit uneasy. This was not a place he'd ever been allowed into before. Whatever was going on, the old man definitely was not joking about its importance. He took the seat he was directed to silently.

"There is a major Earth Alliance fleet on its way here." Dr. Ito said tersely. "Their specific target is unknown but it is likely the Plants themselves. I have reason to believe a traitor has given them the data on our N-jammer canceller. The battle you will be going out to fight will be the one that decides the fate of our people."

"What!" He could hardly breathe. "They have N-jammer cancellers? I didn't know we had those!"

His grandfather looked up, eyes frozen metallic gold. "Yes, that is the technology that allowed us to build those mobile suits, Freedom and Justice, with nuclear power units. That's why they're so very powerful. There was a reason Chairman Zala was so upset when Freedom was stolen you know."

Freedom was powered by what? But that would mean it could stay out on the battlefield almost indefinitely! And that it wouldn't run out of energy for its weapons either! Nor would its phase-shift armor ever go down. If the pilot chose to aid the Earth Forces, how would they ever take that suit out? It could destroy literally dozens of GINNs each time it fired!

"Freedom, how the hell do we stop that thing?"

Dr. Ito glared at him. "Freedom is hardly your problem. It is with Lacus Clyne's group and no matter what that fool Zala says, the girl is no traitor to the Plants! Pay attention to the real danger here boy! The Earth Forces are coming with nukes! I've already warned Lance Thoms, that's why he sent for you. Now I'm warning you. I want you to have time to process this shock, to be able to get past it so you can think again by the time they get here."

He stopped, then added gently, "Adrian, you must stop them. We can not afford to have you fail."

The universe vanished in impossibly brilliant light. It seared his eyes for a blinding eternity. Then there was only darkness. Where there had been life, home, and family, there was nothing but frozen waste and death huddled in the bitter shadows.

They were coming again.

He wanted, needed, to scream. But no sound emerged from his fear-closed throat. This could not happen again! It could not! He could not live through that a second time!

They were coming, now.

"Their immediate target appears to be the Boaz Fortress."

Adrian shook his head sharply, forcing the old nightmares out of his vision as he demanded his attention focus itself on his grandfather's new information. If he was going to stop them, he had to know what was going on. He might be shaking, he might want to run and cry, but he couldn't afford to yet.

"How did you learn all this sir?"

"Eh? Oh, I have people I know in interesting jobs. We've taken to trading information around ever since Clyne was murdered. It is our only hope of staying ahead of the fanatics who would kill us all."

"And you trust this information? I mean you really trust it this time?" Adrian asked, desperately hoping there was a chance it was wrong after all.

Roland Ito looked at him with terrible sadness. "Yes, Adrian, I trust it. I've had a chance to see the raw data for myself. They are coming. They are targeting Boaz. And once it is out of the way, there will be only you and the rest of ZAFT to keep them from destroying the Plants."

He stared at the floor for long seconds before he could pull himself together. The sheer weight of responsibility Grandfather had just loaded onto him nearly crushed him. But the old man was right. If Boaz fell, there was nothing else to stop those Blue Cosmos led madmen but the ships and mobile suits of ZAFT. One of those suits was his to fly.

He turned to leave, then paused. "Sir, this time, its serious enough, please, tell Kayla what's happening. She's a soldier, she deserves to know."

"Adrian, . . ."

"No sir! There's a very good chance that even if we do save the Plants most of us won't come back. Tell her! She deserves to know what happened to me. We've been talking about what to do after the war. Well, it doesn't look like there will be an 'after the war' for us! Just promise me you'll tell her!"

His grandfather gave a deep sigh, then said unhappily, "All right. I promise I will tell your Kayla about the impending attack and that you will be going out to meet it."

"Thank you, Grandfather."

The base was a boiling anthill by the time he arrived. His red uniform allowed him to jump the waiting line and got him an immediate seat on a transport running out as far as his Team's hanger. The low, swift personnel carrier dodged in and out among the tramping mobile suits as the individual units formed up and were loading for departure.

He could see that this was a very orderly deployment so far. The units moving right now were ones he knew held defensive assignments some distance out from Aprilius. The Thoms Team was assigned to local defense. They were likely to be departing fairly late in the game. He probably wasn't going to be seriously overdue at the hanger.

The transport didn't actually stop at his hanger. It slowed to a crawl and he jumped off. As soon as he was clear, it sped away. Adrian ran for the briefing room, knowing if Captain Thoms wasn't there, he would be somewhere in the nearby offices.

"'Rin!"

He paused to see Yuri Lubbek waiving at him from the door of the pilots locker room.

"We're supposed to get into our flight suits before we go to briefing!" Yuri called.

"Right! Thanks!" He changed directions immediately.

He was the last one to arrive. All eleven others of the Team were already in various stages of changing. Adrian pealed out of his uniform coat before he reached his own locker, grateful that the call to return had come after he'd had a chance to shower at the Project. He was out of the rest of the red uniform and into the red flight suit in record time. He didn't bother to hook up the internal suit plumbing yet. That could wait until the last second. He did grab his helmet as he closed his locker though and took it with him to the briefing room. Sometimes with Captain Thoms it paid to look absolutely ready to go.