PHASE 03

BRIEF INTERLUDE

"What's the damage, Canestro?"

The green haired engineer sighed as his Commander floated across the hanger to him, her excursion suit now replaced with a fresh new uniform.

"Aside from the obvious, it could've been worse," he sighed as he took in the data on his clipboard, "We only lost Olar and Romaro, although Miguel got hit by debris from the Nelson he destroyed, so he might be out of it for a while. On the plus side, we did manage to salvage the Cosmograsper Amalfi skewered, and a couple of Skygraspers, atmospheric variants of the Cosmograsper, fell out of the Nelson that crashed into Heliopolis before it…hit. They're a bit scorched, but it's nothing we can't repair. Aside from that, not much to tell. The Valiant and the Gamow both got a bit dented up, but aside from that…"

"What about the prototypes?"

"The Duel, Blitz and Buster have already returned, and the Aegis is just about to come in. As for the Strike…"

"Commander Michaels, please report in to the Bridge immediately!"

Sara sighed irritably as Mira's voice crossed the Hanger Bay, the whitecoat shooting Canestro a helpless glance as she pushed off towards the nearby communication station.

"What's the matter Sanchez? It's not like this day could get any better,"

"Commander," Mira's tanned face appeared on the screen, her features clearly betraying her worry, "The Strike has returned to the ship, however it appears to be accompanied by one of Heliopolis' lifeboats,"

"What? Let me see,"

The solider nodded, her image fading out into outer space, the pale form of the Strike in the centre of the picture, a large cylindrical capsule held between it's hands, the number twenty-six painted on it's side, and…

"What is that?" the whitecoat pointed to the rear of the pod.

"Dunno," Canestro frowned as he squinted at the image, "Looks like some kind of debris got lodged in the thruster assembly. Might've pierced the life support system too. Won't know unless we bring it on board,"

"Bring it on board? This is a captured warship, not a cruise liner!" Sara ran a hand over her pulled back hair, "Ugh, get me the Strike Sanchez, double time,"

"Yes Ma'am,"

"Westfield," The Commander growled as Marcus' image replaced his machine, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Ma'am," the redcoat shifted uneasily under her glare, "I found this lifeboat adrift from the others. It's life support is down to minimal, it'll be gone within the hour. With you're permission, I'd like to bring the pod on board,"

"And where do you suggest we put them?" Marcus flinched at her hard tone, "We've already got five civilians on board, and we don't know what to do with them,"

"These will be different Ma'am. The Civilians we already have on board are here because of their supposed connection to the prototypes. These will just be refugees. They won't be able to last until the rescue ships arrive Ma'am…and we are kinda partially responsible for destroying their home…"

"Stow it Westfield," the last thing the Commander needed was her subordinate playing the guilt card, "Fine, you want to bring the boat on board, you've got permission. I just hope you realise what you're getting them into,"

"No! You stay away from me! I don't want any of you Coordinators touching me!"

It didn't take long for me to figure out what the Commander meant.

Pushing away angrily from the stunned greencoats as they pulled her free of the lifeboat, I watched with mild bemusement as a girl with long dark red hair floated away from my comrades with fear and disgust.

"Just stay away from me!" her voice carried across the hanger as I pushed off from the Strike's cockpit to the top of the pod, "I'm warning you, when my daddy finds out what you've done…"

"What we've done?" a greencoat smirked slightly, "Miss, if it weren't for us, you'd of been dead within the hour…"

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place!" the girl's light blue eyes narrowed to slits as she floated just out of reach, "How could you destroy an entire colony like that? That's the only possible reason the lifeboats would have ejected!"

"That's a good theory," I grabbed a greencoat's shoulder as I came down to the hatch, the trio of soldiers saluting in respect as tried to smile sympathetically at the red-head, "And it's true; Heliopolis has been destroyed, but not by us. It appears Earth Alliance tried to enact a Scorched Earth policy. They didn't want us to get our hands on the technology they were constructing here, so they destroyed the colony in an attempt to…"

"Please, do you really expect me to believe Alliance Forces would destroy a neutral colony?" the girl scoffed as she folded her arms across her chest, "What do you take me for, an idiot?"

"Actually, judging by your attitude, I'd say you were a member of Blue Cosmos," I watched carefully as the girl flinched at my statement, my fellow Coordinators tensing slightly, one even letting her hand fall onto the grip of the pistol on her waist, "The Alliance destroyed Junius Seven Miss; a agricultural PLANT. I wouldn't put it past them to destroy another colony after seeing that travesty first hand,"

The girl scowled darkly, but didn't rise to debate.

"My name is Flay Allster," she smirked daringly, "Ring any bells?"

"Allster?" I ignored the uneasy look the female greencoat sent my way, "As in George Allster, the Vice-Minister of the Atlantic Federation?"

"The same!" an air of triumph and superiority seemed to surround the girl, "He's my father. I was sent here to be educated away from the conflicts of war, but when my Daddy finds out you kidnapped his daughter…"

"He's going to keep his trap shut," the redhead glared at me indignantly, clearly not used to be interrupted, nor pleased with my dangerous tone, "Because if he opens it, he's going to have to explain why the Alliance and Orb conspired to construct this vessel and five mobile suit prototypes,"

The smugness seemed to falter, the girl's eyes regarding me uneasily.

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't a ZAFT ship Miss Allster; it was built by the Alliance with the help of the Orb Union. Those machines," I indicated to the five prototypes in the bays behind me and the remains of the Cosmograsper as it was hauled into a maintenance bay, "were not constructed by ZAFT, they were built by the Alliance, with the help of Morgenroete. They are the reason we are here, and the reason the Alliance destroyed your home. We are not your enemy here Miss Allster; The Naturals, like your own father that you have so much faith in, are,"

She just stared at me in disbelief, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, the lips moving but no sound coming out.

Taking advantage of the refreshing silence, I quickly ducked down into the cylindrical lifeboat, a crowd of various scared faces quickly parting as this strange man in a crimson excursion suit dropped down amongst them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have you attention," I tried to smile reassuringly as several parents held their children a little closer, "My name is Marcus Westfield, a pilot for the ZAFT Organisation. It is my sad duty to inform you, that due to collateral damage of a recent battle, the colony of Heliopolis has collapsed. Now, I ask you please not to panic, you are not our hostages. As you may have been aware, your lifeboat was damaged by debris, and you were brought aboard to insure your survival. If you will please head up the ladder one at a time, the officers above will show you to general living quarters, and I will send someone to try and explain the current situation, and where we go from here. Thank you for your time,"

Most of the survivors didn't look convinced. A few seemed to relax slightly however. My biggest victory however was a little girl with light brown bunches and pink dungarees, who, although she appeared to be being crushed by her apprehensive mother, gave me a small comforting smile.

After giving one last reassuring smile around the cramped quarters I pushed myself back up towards the hatch, one of the greencoats giving me a hand up as I took in the wary form of Flay Allster.

"Are you going to behave, or do I have to separate you from the rest? The last thing we need right now is unnecessary rebellion,"

The girl scowled slightly, but shook her head hesitantly.

"I'll…cooperate,"

"Thank you," I turned to the nearest greencoat, "Please take the names of these refugees from their ID cards so we know who we have on board, then take them down to the general quarters on the Lower Decks. Get them some food and drink, and keep them comfortable," I smiled as I offered a helping hand to the first person to appear out of the hatch, the young woman hesitantly slipping her hand into mine, "The last thing we need is any more negative press then what this war has already given us,"

They all stood in a long line across the Brig; some in dirtied Alliance uniforms, a couple in simple overalls, one in a custom coloured pilot suit.

As the footage of the battle that had been fought only a half hour ago came to an end, Sara couldn't help but feel a certain grim satisfaction at the mixed reactions of shock and horror that crossed her prisoner's faces at the lengths their comrades had gone to try and hide their secrets from the rest of humanity.

"I can't believe it…" the pilot swallowed thickly as he watched the debris of the colony spin out into the night, "It was so fragile,"

"I hope you're proud of yourselves," The Commander folded her arms across her chest angrily, the soldiers before her all shifting uncomfortably under her gaze, "This is what your actions have brought upon these people. This is the end result of your conspiracy with Orb; the complete and total destruction of Heliopolis. I won't deny that we provided the catalyst for your comrades to widen, but then again, if you hadn't come up here, we wouldn't of had to blow a hole through the side of the colony in the first place, would we?"

The rhetorical question was met with silence.

"So, this is how the rest of the war is going to pan out for you," she pushed off the floor to go down the line, "Kojiro Murdoch, Dalida Lolaha Chandra, Romero Pal, Jackie Tonomura, Arnold Newmann, Natarle Badgiruel, Murrue Ramius, Mu La Flaga," she came to a stop beside the blond pilot, "From this moment forward, you are to be considered prisoners of war. You shall be confined to the Brig until we reach the PLANTs. One there, you will be handed over to the proper authorities. I would preferit if we could return home without any unnecessary…" she eyed La Flaga sharply, "…complications. Understood?"

The officers all nodded sombrely.

"Good. You may return to your cells,"

She sighed heavily as the Naturals turned about face and returned to their respective cages, the greencoats saluting respectfully to her as she past by on her way into the corridor.

"Are you expecting trouble, Sara?"

Michaels regarded Le Creuset irritably as she found him outside the Brig, the masked man's smirk…irking her somehow.

"Not really," she shrugged as she glided past him on her way to the Bridge, "They all seemed pretty shocked after seeing the footage of their comrades. I know I would be if our roles had been switched. It won't be long until we get back to Aprilius One. After that," she shrugged carelessly, "It's not our problem," she gave her masked comrade a querying look, "What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to on the Vesalius?"

"I felt there was still a minor inconvenience we should discuss before we get underway," Sara squeaked in surprise as his heavy hand fell on her shoulder, halting her progress down the corridor, "I felt it would be better to discuss it personally. After all, it does involve the welfare of those five children we brought on board,"

A pang of guilt shot through Sara's body. She had almost forgotten about their civilian passengers.

"On my way in, I was also informed that you had taken the liberty of bringing a damaged lifeboat aboard," Rau seemed to smile almost sympathetically, "While I admire your heroics in saving those civilians, I am curious to know as to what you plan to do with them,"

"Westfield," Michaels eyes narrowed as she cursed her redcoat under her breath, "You idiot…"

"Sorry," Rau smiled innocently, "I didn't quite catch that,"

Sara merely scowled at her comrade, before sighing heavily.

"Their fate will just have to be similar to that of the Alliance soldiers. We'll take them as far as the PLANTs, then hand them over to someone who can take them back to Orb Union territory. That's the best they we can do for them right now,"

"And the five children? The Alliance woman seemed to think keeping them around was important,"

"Maybe to the Alliance, but not to me," Sara shrugged again, "I am having them interviewed though, just to be sure. I'm kinda understaffed though, so I had Westfield and Amalfi do it," she chuckled slightly, "Compared to most of us, those two are pretty soft when it comes to war. I think the seven of them will get along great,"

"Understaffed," I shook my head with mild disbelief as I took in the data already gleaned from the ID cards of our interviewees on my clipboard, "We have a hundred personal on board, that's almost a third of the optimum crew. It wouldn't of killed the Commander to send a couple of greencoats down here,"
"Don't be so harsh on her," Nicol smiled sympathetically as he pushed the food trolley beside me through the gravity block, "We're just the pilots, all we have to do is fly the suits whenever we hit trouble, and maybe a little maintenance when we get back. It's not like we were doing anything at the moment anyway,"

"I guess so," I rolled my shoulders achingly as I pulled at the collar of my fresh uniform, "At least she gave us time for a shower and a change. I think I might've mutinied if I had to spend another minute in that excursion suit," I sighed as we turned into another corridor, a line of five private quarter stretching out before us, "This the place?"

"Yep, private quarters. Supposedly reserved for officers and the usual higher-ups that only come for a visit," my green-haired friend grinned as he plucked the clipboard from my hands, "Looks like the first one on our list is…Kira Yamato,"

"WAIT!"

My hand hovered over the first door's lock release when the cry echoed down the corridor, my green eyes looking back in surprise as Athrun sprinted up to us, his breathing heavy and panting as he lent against a nearby bulkhead.

"Zala?" I frowned slightly as my comrade caught his breath, "What are you doing here? I thought Michaels told you to get some sleep,"

"I…I need to talk to Kira,"
"One of the civilians? Why?"

Athrun didn't reply for a moment. He just kept his eyes trained on my boots, his free hand clenching slightly.

"Please…I just have to see him,"
"Is he a friend Athrun?" The blue haired coordinator looked up at Nicol in surprise, "I mean you referred to him by his first name, you didn't even look at the data we got from the ID Cards,"

Athrun winced slightly, his shoulders sagging as he realised he was clearly caught. Finally, he nodded.

"We attended the same Lunar Prep School. He's a Coordinator, and we were supposed to meet up on the PLANTs after my father pulled me back home due to rising tensions between us and the Naturals…" he cast a troubled gaze towards the nearest door, "I never dreamed we'd meet up again like this though…"

"Then maybe you can find out what he was doing inside the cockpit of an Alliance mobile suit,"

Zala blinked in surprise as I pulled out Yamato's information from the clipboard and handed it to my comrade atop a packet of rations.

"Go talk to your friend. Me and Nicol will divide the last four between the two of us," I smiled sympathetically, "Just remember, this is the guy that reprogrammed the Strike Gundam's OS in the middle of a battle. Of our five, he probably knows the most about the project. If anything, you might actually get a more honest answer out of him then me or Nichol."
"I understand," Athrun merely nodded solemnly, taking the rations and data from my hand, "Don't worry, I'll keep that in mind,"

"So…it really is you,"

Kira blinked in surprise as the familiar voice of his former friend came across the room, his blue eyes narrowing as the redcoat closed the door behind him.

"Athrun? Athrun Zala?" he frowned uneasily, "What is this? Why are you here?"

"You should talk," his friend smiled grimly as he cast a page of notes and silver packet onto the nearby desk, "I thought you said we'd meet up on the PLANTs, but you never came. I never even heard from you up until now. Not even a letter to say 'sorry, can't make it'," the smile disappeared, Athrun's eyes slowly trailing to the data sheet, "After everything that's happened…I can't help but wonder…" he shook his head, as though to disperse the thoughts that had entered his head, before looking up determinately into his friend's eyes, "I'm only going to ask this once Kira, so you damn well better give me the truth. Are you working with the Alliance or Orb to develop mobile suits to fight against ZAFT?"

"What? No!" Kira balled his fists angrily, appalled that his friend would even consider such a thought, "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! After the evacuation, my parents decided to move to Orb to try and avoid the war," he scowled slightly, refusing to meet Athrun's eyes, "They…they were afraid that you might try and make me fight if I returned to the PLANTs, so they wouldn't even let me contact you. I thought they were being ridiculous, that the tension between Naturals and Coordinators were just feeding their decisions. I thought there was no way you'd want to fight the Alliance if war did break out, and no way you'd want me to fight by your side. I thought that," he eyed his friend sharply, "Maybe I was wrong,"

Athrun scowled, but didn't rise to debate.

"What were you doing near the mobile weapons at Morgenroete? Why did you attack the GINN and reprogram the Strike?"

"Protection!" Kira's eyes narrowed to slits, "ZAFT was attacking a neutralcolony, I was trying to evacuate, but I was cut off from the lifeboats. Lt. Ramius called me down to the Gundam's cockpit to try and save my life. You're GINN attacked us, with my friendsstill fleeing for their lives around its feet. I took control of the suit to protect them Athrun, and I reprogrammed the OS in order to better protect them. I'm not an Alliance solider. I hate war, and I just want to go home,"

A stunned silence met this speech, the two young teens staring each other down from across the room, the tension thick.

"And that's the truth…is it?" Athrun frowned slightly as he finally spoke, "You were just…in the wrong place at the wrong time? If you're lying to me Kira…"

"I'm not," he shook his head, "You're my friend Athrun…at least I thought you were. Why are you here, and why are you wearing that uniform?"

"Why have most Coordinators join ZAFT recently?" the redcoat sighed as his shoulders slumped, "Junius Seven, Bloody Valentine,"

Kira tensed as Athrun closed the gap between them, only to walk past and slump onto the bed, his hands twisting and turning in his lap.

"My mother was on Junius Seven when the Alliance destroyed it," the pilot scowled darkly under tresses of blue, "I was in the Januarius cities at the time when the news broke. I could only stare as they played that same footage over and over again. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether to be angry or distraught. Then they played the footage of the actual battle; of ZAFT soldiers valiantly defending the PLANTs from the oncoming attacks," he smiled slightly, "Of Marcus Westfield as he ploughed a GINN into the Bridge of the Roosevelt and barely escaped with his life. To me, it seemed to be the only thing I could do; focus all that hatred and despair against the Naturals, and join ZAFT to release that energy against them. My father agreed with me," he sighed again as Kira sat down beside him, "I came here for this ship, and the five prototypes it was designed to carry, in an attempt to at least slow down the development of Alliance mobile suits. But we ran into a Alliance transport fleet bringing some kind of fighter to the colony and…" Zala turned to his friend sadly, "I'm sorry Kira, but in an attempt to take out the Archangel, the Alliance forces destroyed Heliopolis,"

"Heliopolis is…gone?"

"Yes. We detected that all life pods were launched as the colony broke up, and we even took on one of the damaged pods before it could drift out into space," Athrun winced slightly as his friend tensed, "Once we get back to the PLANTs, Commander Michaels intends to send them back to Orb. It's not their fault their government betrayed them,"

"And what about me? And my friends?"

"Well…that depends," Athrun smiled wryly, "How much do you know about the Strike?"

"If you're talking about the Gundam mobile suit I was found in, not much," Kira returned the gesture, "I could tell you how to move it about if you like, but aside from that…"

"So…nothing we don't already know then?"

Kira chuckled, "Yeah…I guess so,"

Athrun laughed, his head shaking with sdisbelief as he made to get up, "You haven't changed much Kira. I'm…glad. I'll see if I can get Commander Michaels to let you join the other refugees…"

"Athrun…wait,"

"Hm?" the redcoat frowned slightly, midway through standing up, "What's the matter?"

"Can we…just talk?" Kira smiled slightly, his hands flexing uneasily, "It's been so long since I've seen you. Can we just talk about…anything?"

Athrun frowned, but eventually smiled.

"Alright," he set himself back down on the bed, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, that was informative,"

I smirked slightly as I locked the door behind me. Kuzzey Buskirk had thus far had the loosest of lips, spending the past five minutes telling me everything he didn't know about the Strike, the Archangel and everything in-between, each sentence seemingly punctuated by "I don't know anything!"

Considering he had cowered in the corner of the room from the moment I entered, I found it hard not to believe him.

"That just leaves one for me: Miriallia Haw,"

I frowned down at the image of the sixteen year old that accompanied her ID data, the girl I had originally stopped in the hanger before the battle staring up at me with a small shy smile.

"Very pretty," I grinned guiltily to myself as I pulled a packet of rations from the trolley left unguarded in the corridor, "It's a shame she got pulled into this. Then again…" I paused my hand over the lock release, "She's only a year younger then me. Suppose that means it's a shame I got pulled into this too. All of us, too young to fight a government's war," I smirked slightly, "Damn, I sound like Robert,"

Shaking my head at the mere thought, I flicked off the lock release…only for the door to open onto a empty room.

For a moment, my heart stopped. Had I gotten the wrong room? Had she escaped? Had some lecherous Coordinator decided to take her away to have some 'fun'? I scowled darkly at that last thought as I calmed myself, my free hand flexing tensely against my holstered pistol as I carefully stepped inside.

There was no way she could have escaped; the locking mechanism had been reworked so it could only be unlocked from the outside and the inside panel didn't show signs of being tampered with. That meant she was either hiding, or she hadn't been put in this room in the first place.

As I closed the door however, I quickly got my answer; in the form of the bed's thick pillow coming down hard on my head.

"Ow! What the!" I gasped heavily as something human sized jumped on my back from the desk, my winded lungs gasping for air as someone locked their arms around my neck and pulled hard

"Who are you?" A distinctly female voice pierced my dulled brain as her legs tightened around my waist and her arms continued to choke my windpipe, "Where's Tolle? Where are my friends! What's…"
"Would you kindly…" I weezed darkly as I abruptly grabbed her upper arms, "GET OFF!"

My attacker barely had time to cry out in alarm as I promptly threw her with all my might across the room to land with a soft thump on the open bed that had been bolted to the wall.

Wasting no time, I quickly crossed the room in a few steps and forced her to the mattress as she opened her mouth to scream, one hand closing around her wrists and holding her arms above her head, my other free appendage coming over her mouth as I pinned her to the bed with my knee.

"Alright, now that I'm seeing stars," I smirked uncomfortably as the girl struggled and squirmed underneath me, "Would you mind calming down? I'm not going to hurt you," her lithe form stopped wiggling abruptly as she heard my voice, her blue eyes still darting around the cramped quarters as though trying to find a means to escape, "Thank you. Now, I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth now, so that the two of us can sit down and have a nice conversation like decent human beings, alright?"

She seemed to be a little insulted at the condescending tone, but she nodded all the same.

Slowly, I raised my hand, only for it to clap shut over it again as she inhaled deeply to scream her lungs out.

"Alright, let's try this again," I smiled tightly, my head not up to the screams of false accusations I had no doubt would come my way if I let this girl open her mouth, "I am going to let go of your mouth, and this time, you're not going to try and scream. Because if you do, I am going to ask all my questions from the position we're in now," I smirked as her eyes widened in alarm, her cheeks flushing scarlet, "And if Nicol comes in here wondering where I've got too, I imagine you and I are going to have to answer some rather more difficult questions then the ones I've been asked to ask you,"

Her eyes narrowed as though to say, 'You wouldn't dare!'

"Don't look at me like that," I smiled sympathetically, "I'm not you're enemy here. I just want to know what you know about the mobile suit you were found with. If you're a civilian, you won't know much, and you can probably go and join the other refugees. So…I let go, and you answer my questions…please?"

She seemed to shy away from me as she pressed her head down into the mattress of the pillow-less bed, the adrenaline that had no doubt fuelled her previous actions now completely drained. With an air of reluctance, she carefully nodded.

"Thank you," my smile became a reassuring one as I gently removed my hand from her mouth, a sigh of relief escaping my lips as no high-pitched sound came from hers. Carefully, I released her hands and removed my knee from her abdomen, allowing her to gently sit up as I rose to my full height, her cheeks still flushed as she kept her eyes on her knees in embarrassment.

"You want something to eat?" I hesitantly picked up the discarded packet where it had fallen from her assault, "It's just basic rations I'm afraid, but they'll keep you fed,"

She shook her head silently.

"I see. Well, they're there on the desk for when you want them," I sighed as I picked up the data sheet and tossed the rations onto the desk. Somehow, a part of me prefered the physically abusing girl that had greeted me as I walked in then this clearly afraid young woman that sat on the edge of the bed, "So. You are Miriallia Haw, born February 17, 55CE. Guess that means you're birthday's coming up right?" I winced when I didn't even get a reaction, "Okay…Natural, Blood type AB, born on Heliopolis, Parents are…"

"What…happened?"

"Hm?"

"The ship…it was shaking," Miriallia twisted her hands in her lap, her face scrunched up as though she didn't really want to know the answers to her own questions, "I heard we were going into battle over the Communications system," she raised her head slightly, her bright blue orbs meeting my green ones, "What happened? Is the colony alright? Did we really go into battle? You mentioned…"

Her voice died as I sighed uncomfortably, my eyes returning to my data sheet for a moment, only to return to hers as I cast the clipboard aside.

"There was a battle," I chose my words carefully, my mind fully aware of how her body tensed, "The Alliance appeared to be delivering several components to the Archangel under heavy guard; three Nelsons, two Drakes. We won but…before they got what was coming to them, the last vessels tried to invoke a Scorched Earth policy against this ship and the prototypes we recovered…they destroyed the colony in the hope that the resulting explosion and debris would…" I winced slightly at her gasp, realising too late how bluntly I'd put it as her eyes widening in horror, "I'm sorry…really. We tried to stop them but…"

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why is this happening?" she stood up slowly from the bed, her features betraying a mixture of anguish and anger, "Why is the Alliance here? Why is ZAFT here?" she shook her head violently, "We're neutral, why is the war here?" she suddenly glared at me, my feet taking me several paces back as she advanced on me, "Tolle said…because we were neutral, we'd be safe. That there was no way any Orb territory would become a war zone. Now I've been abducted by both the Alliance andZAFT in the same day, and my home has been destroyed as the result of a battle that I never wanted to be a part of anyway. Answer me Coordinator," she raised her hand as she suddenly lunged at me, her intentions clear, "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!"

Her eyes widened as I caught her wrist in an iron grasp, a frown gracing my features as she struggled to release my grip.

"First, my name is Marcus. Don't group Coordinators under one name, it's just rude," I kept my voice calm, my eyes watching her carefully as she continued to pull at fingers.

"Let go of me!" she made a move to slap me again with her free hand, only to find the limb caught in mine a moment later, "Stop it!"

"Second, I don't know the particulars of why the Earth Forces chose Heliopolis as the base from which to construct the Archangel and the prototypes. I only know what I'm told, and that's that the Orb Union and Earth Alliance conspired to build them. I don't know why your government abused our trust, I only know that if the Alliance had been allowed to develop these weapons, this war would just escalate further out of control.

"Stop it! I don't want to hear it anymore!" tears were now streaming down Miriallia's face as she continued to fruitlessly pull at my grip, "It's too painful. Why would our own government do something so terrible? It's just no…"

Her voice became a squeak of surprise as I pulled her in close, my arms wrapping around her slim waist and back as my cheek lightly graced her soft brown hair.

"Third," my voice dulled down to a bare murmur as I hugged her stunned form tight, "I am…so sorry I couldn't save your home,"

As my words sunk in, I felt her struggle. She tried to worm out of my embrace as her fists beat against my chest, each blow becoming weaker than the last as I felt the dampness of her tears seep through the shoulder of my tunic.

This was Miriallia Haw; a scared and sad girl who had just lost her home, who didn't know the fate of her family or friends, and couldn't decide who to blame for it's destruction.

I held her quietly as her anger dissolved into sobs, one hand rubbing soothing circles against her back as her own limbs came around my waist.

I can't remember how long we stood there like that in each others embrace, only that I did so until the weight of recent events carried her away into a fitful sleep against my shoulder, her tears drying up to make way for slow steady breaths against my cheek as Archangel continued to hum quietly around us.

"Alright, we've transferred all the supplies we're gonna need for this trip," Simon smirked from the Bridge's comm. Screen as he gave a thumbs up, "We're ready to go when you are Ma'am,"

"Good work Canestro," Sara nodded with a sigh, "Get down to engineering. Sanchez, contact the Vesalius. Inform Le Creuset we're ready to get underway when he is,"

"Roger that Ma'am," the communications officer nodded as her fingers flew across her console, "Message received. Vesalius will take up defensive position in front, Valiant and Gamow to port and starboard respectfully. Kamna, stand by to match velocity,"

"Roger," the azure haired helmsman nodded, "Standing by, ready to head out Commander. Commander?"

Sara didn't reply. Her light blue orbs took in the last remains of Heliopolis one final time, the spinning debris dotted with clusters of lifeboats as they clung together in the dark void of space.

"Like it or not, we're partly responsible for bringing this situation onto these people," the redhead scowled darkly, "But if we'd stayed away…this war would just go on for so much longer. Yes…mobile suits against mobile armours might be unfair, but at least this damn conflict will be over a whole lot sooner then if Naturals and Coordinators were on even footing,"

She sighed again, before turning her attention to the main window.

"Let's head home ladies and gents. Kamna, if you get lost, just follow the big ass in front of us,"

"Aye, Ma'am,"

In the silence of space, Archangel and her escorts headed away from the destruction it's creation had wrought, a handful of refugees unwittingly tagging along for the ride as we headed back towards the PLANTs and home.

As I turned off the lights in Miriallia's quarters however, content to leave the girl asleep under the thin sheets of the bed, a cold thought hit me, staying with me as I strolled down the corridors to where my own quarters lay:

If the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit hadn't been involved in this operation…would things have been any different?

A bit of a quiet chapter today. I might upload another one either next week or week after, because that one has a bit of action in it.

Regarding questions I've had on where the other canon characters fit in in this fic (e.g. Kira, the Earth Alliance guys and girls, etc), I can't really say much a couple of reasons. The first major one is I'm not completely sure myself. I only have a basic plan of where this story is heading, so at present, only major characters fates are set in stone. the second major reason is I don't want to spoil much for what story I've set in stone (which is understandable right?).

Kudos to the guys and girls who noticed the MS-Igloo references. As I said before Marcus, Sara and most of the original characters were salvaged from my other GUndam Seed fic: The Path to Bloody Valentine, which was basically going to be Ms-Igloo in the Cosmic Era. The first two chapters are still on my profile if you want to read it (I'll probably won't do any other adaptions due to a lack of interest, but I consider what I've written to be canon to this series, although the names of the cast have been changed a bit as I said before)

Lastly noting the self-insert aspect Mr. Cereal noted about Marcus becoming the pilot of the Strike, I will be the first to admit I agree with him. The only other way I thought of having Marcus becoming the pilot was for him to be running diagnostics when the Earth Alliance actually attacked, and was assigned to the Strike after they won the battle. I didn't like this version though, because it felt a little too close to how Kira became Strike's pilot in the original. As such, when it boiled down to it it was either the above or what I wrote down, so I decided to use the one I used because I couldn't think of anything else.

Anyway, that's all I have to say. Leave reviews if you liekd what you read, or if you want to ask a question and constructive criticism is always welcome. As I said, I'm thinking about uploading another chapter before Christmas, but it depends on how busy I am, it being Christmas and all.

Thanks for reading,

Dearing