Gundam SEED Destiny
Kira
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Phase 3: Difference Between Beliefs

December 6, 71 C.E
Mathilde Colony, 8:20 am

It had been roughly two months since Akira had recovered. In that time, he'd not gone a single day without performing some kind of work for the pirates. If he wasn't being put to work by Professor K on working with analyzing the Freedom, he was being drilled in mobile suit combat and battle strategies. Akira didn't much mind all the work since it was keeping him occupied. The only thing he quickly grew to hate about the schedule was the high probability that more often than not he'd be stuck on cleanup duty after losing in the training drills.

Akira had learned very quickly that the pirates of the Early Harvest were much more than their occupation suggested. Each one of them had been, and still were, good people who had fallen into some very bad luck or circumstances. Actually a fair portion of them had lived on Junius 7 before the Bloody Valentine Tragedy but had survived due to being away from home on business. After the tragedy, the PLANTs had quickly entered into the war and been unable to offer much more than condolences to them. In desperation, they had turned to Captain Brimfield and the Early Harvest.

Apparently, he was something of an enigma to them. The main reason was that Captain Brimfield, who was strictly a professional in everything he did, had all but acknowledged that Akira was now his protégé. Not only was he personally training Akira (quite brutally), but Akira's rapid skill growth was nothing short of phenomenal. Plus his analysis and engineering of mobile suits and their weaponry made him Professor K's instant favorite.

It was that same technological and analytical genius that he was now practicing. He was sitting in the old ZAFT command center with Professor K working next to him. Normally the pair of them would be surrounded by a horde of mechanics as they submerged themselves into the bowels of the Freedom's torso to locate what needed to fixed, removed, or replaced. However just the other day one of their computer-smart mechanics, who had been in the midst of running a memory-wipe of the old CPU, had stumbled upon a very interesting program that had been safely hidden in the depths of the Freedom's computer database.

It had taken Professor K and Akira several hours to decipher the coded matrixes and fully understand the program's design. It was a type of combat record of the Freedom that the program stored, analyzed, and distributed the collected data. At first the purpose of such a redundant program had confused Akira until K shared her opinion on the matter. Despite its awesome power and capabilities, the Freedom was still classified as an experimental model. The designers of the Freedom were, by nature, always looking for ways to improve or replace existing weapons. So this program was created as a way of receiving data not only on the Freedom's limitations, but also on any other model that the Gundam would be battling. But to do that, the program would need a special transmitting device that would send the data directly to the Experimental Weaponry Research Division in Armory One. That was the reason behind K and Akira's present project.

Now that they had discovered the top-secret program, Professor K had gotten a truly malicious idea of revenge of sorts for their banishment of her. Captain Brimfield, ever the pirate, approved of the plan wholeheartedly. The idea was to piggyback off the signal the program used and infiltrate the Division's network. From there it would be a simple matter of acquiring any data on experimental mobile suit designs that ZAFT was planning to put into production. Of course there was always the chance of them being detected, but that was of little concern to them at this point.

That was the plan, and so far it was working splendidly. With Akira's computer skills and K's familiarity with secret ZAFT networks, they were easily evading detection. However Akira didn't like what he was seeing on his monitor. ZAFT was definitely developing new models of the aging GINN and some rather unique G.U.N.D.A.M.s as well. But there were also designs of some kind of large-scale energy shields similar to the lightwave barrier used on the Eurasia satellite of Artemis.

"Why are they still doing this?" he demanded angrily, somewhere inside him a piece of his consciousness was seething at the sight he was seeing. "The war is practically over and the peace talks are still going very smoothly. What's the point of continuing to build weapons?!"

"Not everyone is as forgiving or practical as you are, Iyadomi," K answered, not looking up from her terminal. "Though I'll admit that what I'm seeing does raise quite a few questions. The only reason to further build more weapons of these calibers is if they or someone is planning on using them."

Akira's frown deepened considerably as he continued to watch the designs flash by on his screen. He knew that a lot of ZAFT personnel wanted to continue their genocidal war with Earth, as the Alliance clearly did as well. But Akira also knew without a doubt that if a war started up again so soon, the only thing that would stop it was complete victory for one side or the other.

It was in that moment that Akira Iyadomi decided what his goal would be in the near future. Both sides wanted to finish their war and fulfill their hatred, it was the only thing they really understood at this point in time. And if fighting and pointless battles were all they wanted…then he'd give it to them. Even if he had to fight a one-man war against both sides, he wouldn't let them point their weapons each other!

"Download complete," he intoned as his fingers started dancing across the keyboard. "Removing evidence of theft, upload initiating."

"Upload?" K asked, looking up from where she had been eagerly studying the designs of the ZGMF-X23S Savior. "What are you doing?"

"Showing my appreciation for their efforts of maintaining the peace," Akira said in a voice that made ice seem warm.

Letting out a sigh of resignation, K just rubbed her forehead. If she had known what he'd been intending to do, she'd have tried to stop him. But it was clear that he'd already started the process. To stop him now would be an open invitation to call all of ZAFT's still remaining military down on their heads. Well, at least this way she now knew what to expect from them in the future and could suitably prepare the Early Harvest for that eventuality.

"Let me guess," she said as she returned her attention to the plans in front of her. "You're going to completely wipe their database clean."

"For starters," Akira answered with his voice no less cold or angry.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

9:49am

Brimfield watched the loading of the various mobile suits into the Early Harvest from his customary position location in the command tower of the large internal docking bay. It was time for he and his crew to start their old pirating practices again and that meant loading an acceptable amount of weapons. On his salvage trips, Brimfield only used an average of six to eight mobile suits (the last trip being the exception due to the battlefield's immense size). But when they did pirating trips, they needed more suits with more firepower for protection, even if the added protection sacrificed storage space for any goods they acquired.

The hissing door announced the arrival of his unofficial protégé and his escort. Turning to face the pair, Brimfield spotted a look of anger on Vide's face. There wasn't much that could anger the short-haired woman, but it did happen and usually over less-than-trivial things too.

"You wanted to see me, Captain?" Akira asked, his gaze quickly taking in the activity behind the commander center's windows. "You're going on a run?"

"That's correct," Brimfield said as he crossed his arms. "and I want you to accompany us."

Akira's gaze snapped to Brimfield's in an instant. "Why?"

"It's time for you experience real combat," the captain answered without hesitation. "You've come a long way in your training. But there's only so far that training can replicate the chaos of battle. If you really want to improve, you have to be fighting for your life. And this journey will certainly see its share of danger, based on the prize we're after."

"And what's that prize, sir?"

"Food, water, raw materials like wood and ore, to name a few," Brimfield answered. "While we could certainly attempt to sell some of our merchandise to our benefactors, we are in rather desperate need of these necessities and do not have the time to waste haggling with the dealers."

Akira nodded slightly. He was well aware of the recent shortages they'd been having. Such as bathing and water limitations, how much food was generally served during the meals, and even a rather sudden lack of warmth in the hallways and rooms as the colony heating system was cut back farther and farther to conserve energy. Yes, they needed more supplies and quickly.

Seeing the acceptance in his eyes, Brimfield looked up at Vide with a questioning gaze. "Something I should know about, Vide?"

Snorting derisively, the middle-aged woman said, "Akira is starting to get very headstrong about some…issues, Captain."

"Like?"

"Professor K and I hacked into ZAFT as you know," Akira broke in. "When I finished the data transfer, I left them a little present."

"What did you do?" Brimfield asked, unknowingly repeating K.

"I set up a virus that would erase their network and cause it to crash every time they tried to repair it. Similar to the one you used here, only a lot more powerful." Akira was openly smiling at the thought of how much grief his 'present' was giving ZAFT at the moment. "The only way they can fix it is to completely shut down their network and install an entirely new one. They won't be able to put much thought into building any more of those stupid war machines for a while now."

"And in the process you've invited the Alliance to attack ZAFT while it's having this little problem," Vide snapped, not at all amused. "You're endangering the lives of several million Coordinators!"

"ZAFT and the PLANTs are smart enough to hide this little problem until they've figured out how to get rid of it," Akira answered, his voice hard as he turned a sharp gaze on the woman. "Besides, what good is a peace treaty if you're secretly building more weapons behind the backs of those you're trying to negotiate with? This way they will have to seriously consider accepting the treaty. Besides, they're not the only ones having this little problem."

"What do you mean?" Vide demanded, still quite angry with the boy.

"Let's just say I wasn't the only one hacking into ZAFT," Kira said, frowning deeply. "So I piggybacked off that signal infected the Alliance's network as well. Whatever they were trying to steal is gone now, along with all their own designs for more weapons."

"Do you have any idea of the forces that you're playing with, boy?!" Vide snapped, practically foaming at the mouth in her barely-suppressed fury.

"That's enough of this kind of talk!" Brimfield cut in before Vide could continue. "We are not politicians or soldiers, so we'll not worry about issues that do not immediately concern us." Turning back to Akira, he said, "Akira, go load your suit. I'm lending you to the Strike Dagger called High Blue for the duration of this trip. Until we find a suit more compatible with you, take good care the High Blue."

"Yes, Captain," Akira said before leaving to get dressed into his flight suit.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Captain?" Vide asked once the door had closed behind the boy. "Keeping him here? At the rate and direction he's going, he's going to endanger us all with his ridiculous notions on how the world should be run and by not thinking his actions through!"

Sighing wearily, Brimfield rubbed his temples to ward off the approaching headache. Politics and war were the two main reasons he had chosen the career he was currently in. With Akira diving headfirst into these kinds of matters, no matter how good his intentions were, it was only logical that Vide was correct in her statement. He would have to have a long talk with the kid later about this. Maybe he wouldn't be able to stop him, but at the very least turn his attention away long enough that it wouldn't affect their pirating operations in a personal matter.

"I understand what you're saying, Vide," he said looking the woman in the eye. "And I do agree with you. I'll talk to Iyadomi on the matter later. But for the moment, you should also get your suit aboard. I think we'll need as many skilled pilots as we can get."

"Yes sir," she answered, saluting smartly before leaving.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

December 19, 71 C.E.
Excalibur, 1:05 pm

Sighing in his boredom, he just stared up at the ceiling of the personal quarters that he'd commandeered upon boarding the ship. No matter how much he tried to, it just felt weird being back aboard a ship that was practically a mirror image of the one that had been apart of the Three Ships Alliance. There was a sense of almost kinship with the vessel for him. He had spent a large portion of his time scouting ahead of the Kusanagi for danger and protecting it valiantly in the battles that it participated in. Yes, he could rather easily call the Excalibur, like the Kusanagi and Archangel, home away home.

Growling slightly as the name of the former Earth Alliance's vessel triggered unpleasant memories, he rolled over onto his side of the bed he was lying upon. It had been almost three months since that day of the final battle and yet it still felt as though it had happened just yesterday. In his mind's eye, he could still clearly remember sitting in the cockpit of his M1 Astray as he battled a countless number of GINN and Strike Daggers.

Then his mind finally reached the really unpleasant memories. He had gotten separated from his assigned squadron in all the confusion when the EA had resumed its attack. Due to the 'luck' of the battle, he had gotten caught up in the fighting closest to the ZAFT super weapon called GENESIS. Thus he had been present to watch Kira in the Freedom Gundam fighting that new ZAFT Gundam. Kira had fought with a brutal disregard to the wellbeing of the Freedom in his furious need to destroy the Providence. At one point in the fighting, it was clear that the Providence was gaining the upper hand so he had decided to play interference and distract the enemy pilot. However, his plan had backfired badly with Kira having to jump forward and protect him from Le Creuset's DRAGOONS. This resulted in the Freedom losing its headpiece. Thankfully though, Kira had somehow been able to deliver the final blow and destroy the Providence just seconds before GENESIS blew up.

He had tried searching, along with Cagalli and Athrun, for the Freedom and Kira. But they couldn't find any trace of either the Gundam or its pilot. No matter how likely it seemed to be the case, he and the others had refused to believe that Kira had gotten caught in the final explosion. No, he was far too skilled a pilot to have let something like that happen to him! They had spent days frantically searching the battlefield for any sign of their friend, very slowly giving up hope as the hours stretched without an answer to their cries. And now it had been nearly three months since then. A lot had happened since then and they were forced to move on, regardless of whether Kira had survived or not.

That was one of the reasons why he was here now, lounging lazily in the room that was where his old room on the Kusanagi had been. After the Battle of Orb, he had enlisted into the Orb military and became an Ensign in control of a mobile suit. His enlistment was far different than many others. At first he had merely enlisted to forego the annoying complications that came with being a civilian piloting a military weapon. But now he did it because he felt he owed it to his friend to carry on protecting those closest to him from danger. And while the war may be ending, tensions between both sides were still quite high.

Actually, now that he thought about it, his enlistment was quite similar to Kira's into the Atlantic Federation about six months earlier. He had climbed into a slightly damaged M1 Astray on the first day of the Atlantic Federation's attack on Onogoro Island after the original pilot had been forced to eject due to some kind of injury. Thanks to pure luck and the support of the other Astray pilots, he had survived a trial by fire in the mechanics and operations of mobile suit combat. He was still very green, but his superb reflexes (the very things that he saved his life earlier in the year) had served him well.

Perhaps it was due to that trial by fire, but his skill level had shown quite brightly on all the battlefields since then. He had quickly attracted the eye of Erica Simmons, who approached him only three weeks ago with a request he couldn't turn down. The chance to test pilot one of Orb's new experimental suits? Oh, he was so there! Now he was the proud pilot of the MVF-M11C Murasame, a transformable unit with a few other hidden features.

Because of that same experimental mobile suit, he had been assigned as an escort almost by default. Mrs. Simmons was curious about the Murasame's space performance capabilities. Thus, once they'd achieved a stable cruising speed on their journey to the PLANTs with the cargo, he would be deployed to perform a few flight and weapons' tests. Until that time, there was nothing for him to do at this point but to start reminiscing on the past.

Letting out a frustrated groan, he climbed to his feet and launched himself for the doorway. If relaxing meant that he'd be condemned to remembering things he didn't want to, then he'd just go play with the simulator down in the hangar or see if he could be of some use to the maintenance crews down there.

"I still can't believe they're using a full-fledged warship to transport supplies like a freighter," a voice nearby was saying, snapping him out of his reverie. There were two Orb officers drifting ahead of him, talking in low voices and not seeming to have noticed his presence yet. "Are they expecting some kind of trouble or something?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that so much," the other officer said in a weary tone. "But it's better to be safe than sorry. With all the trouble that the Alliance has been having with their defense networks due to that damn virus, I wouldn't put it past the radicals to start placing blame on the Coordinators and trying to start the war up again."

"You know, I also heard a rumor that ZAFT is having a similar problem with their defense network," the first officer said in a thoughtful tone. "I wonder if the two events are related."

"Don't be ridiculous," the second snapped in annoyance. "To hack into both the Alliance and ZAFT's networks and plant a virus capable of shutting them down without being noticed, within at least twenty minutes of one another as well, would require at least a team of computer geniuses working solely for that purpose, even for Coordinators. And even if the Coordinators did cause the virus, why infect themselves as well?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," the first agreed. "In that case, I guess that being overly prepared is better than being underequipped. But it still seems excessive to use a battleship as a transport."

Snorting in his annoyance at his companion's persistence, the second officer said, "If it'll make you feel any better, I overheard one of the bridge-bunnies talking about pirates that have been prowling around the area we're heading towards."

"Pirates? Well, now it makes a bit more sense at least," the first said.

If there was anything else the duo was going to discuss, he didn't hear it because he'd finally reached the elevator that would take him down to the mobile suit hangar. However he didn't much care for what else could've been said. There were pirates in the area? He didn't know that…did Mrs. Simmons know when she requested his presence on the Excalibur or was this just a coincidence?

No, it was too convenient to be a coincidence. Especially considering how much more valuable the data on the new Murasame's space combat would be if it was based on actual combat. Yes, Mrs. Simmons had most assuredly known and sent him for that possibility that they'd be attacked. It was be a field test for the machine as well as yet some more precious combat experience for him; a real win-win situation…as long as he didn't die.

Understanding the implications much more deeply, he pushed himself off the floor to float up quickly towards the Murasame's open cockpit. If he was likely going to go into battle, he needed to fine-tune his Gundam's OS for combat and maneuverability in zero-gravity. He was no computer expert like Kira, but he still knew enough about the program that he wouldn't make any serious mistakes without realizing it.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

1:24pm

"Remember, crew," a deep, filtered voice thundered on the radio. "We're only here to take what we need. Disable the transport ship's engines; destroy their defensive weapons, no killing if it can be prevented, and no excessive damage to the hull! Understand, Kuromaru?"

This was the Early Harvest's standard policy when they went on pirate runs. They would only cause enough damage to get the target ship to surrender; killing was considered a last resort since any deaths of the crews of the victim ship would invite a pirate-hunter party. Plus all their helmets and radios were carefully outfitted with voice filter to prevent any radio interceptions from revealing the identity of any of the pirates. This was so if any of them wished to leave the Harvest's service, they would not be discriminated against when they returned to normal society.

"I'll try to restrain myself, Captain," a snide voice answered. Though Akira hadn't met the man yet, he could already tell he didn't like him, based off his voice tone and apparent disregard to his Captain's orders.

Akira and about twenty other mobile suits were clustered together in the Early Harvest's catapult bays. The ship itself was still under the Mirage Colloid as they silently crept up behind the Izumo-class Orb warship. Despite himself, Akira could feel his apprehension and fear beginning to rise. This would be his first real mission, against real people who would definitely be shooting to kill. Failure here meant certain death. Could he do it?

A sudden pair of loud explosions of sound and Early Harvest's gently trembling quickly awoke Akira from his thoughts. He immediately realized that they had just fired their twin Lohengrin cannons. Though he couldn't tell if they hit their intended targets, namely the Izumo's engines, he did know that his time was rapidly approaching. With those first shots, the Early Harvest would have to drop its Mirage Colloid in order to properly launch its mobile suits. Speaking of which, all his current suit was equipped with was a mere shield, a single beam saber, and a rifle. Was that going to be enough to fight a fully armed and rather formidable capital ship?

The launch bay doors suddenly opened at the end of the catapult. Akira waited with a nervous sort of excitement as he watched one unit after another launch forward until it was finally his turn. "Akira Iyadomi, High Blue, launching!"

The high g-forces of the catapult caught him by momentary surprise and slammed him back into the cockpit seat. Recovering quickly, he punched the Strike Dagger's thrusters to the maximum as he disconnected from the Early Harvest's power cable and shot into space. Raising his beam rifle into the ready position and bring his shield up in front of him, he raced forward to join the group that he'd be participating with.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Hurriedly dressing into his flight suit, he grabbed his helmet and secured it into place while sprinting back down to the hangar. A sudden bad feeling settled into his stomach as he noticed an especially large number of mechanics swarming over his mobile suit. Yelling out a warning for them to clear away from the suit, he launched himself for the cockpit.

As he was about to disappear within the torso of his Murasame, the lead mechanic called out to him. "Hey, kid, hold up a second!"

"What is it?" he yelled, urgency clear in his voice as he automatically began the start-up system. "We're under attack!"

"I know that but listen to me!" the mechanic insisted. "While we were doing some last minute checks, I noticed that there was a shorted out circuit in one of the battery connections. It'll take up about ten minutes to jury-rig some new components into place."

"Ten minutes!" he yelled out in exasperation, but still ceased powering up the suit. "This fight will probably be over in five minutes!"

"Trust me, kid, we know that!" the mechanic stated vehemently, scowling deeply at the situation they were in. "And we're working as hard as we can. You'll just have to hope that the other M1 pilots will be able to hold them off for you."

Yelling out in frustration, he slammed his fists into the side of the cockpit. He was so close to getting to properly test out this new model! How was he supposed to live up Kira's legacy if he couldn't even get out of the launch bay?!

It was an aggravating wait. He watched as his fellow pilots launched out of the open bay doors. He was the flashes and streaks of light as the battle outside intensified. He could feel the Excalibur tremble and shake in ways that were eerily reminiscent of all the times the Archangel had been struck. Either the pirates were being extremely sloppy in their targeting, or the Excalibur's gunnery crews were able to hold off a vast majority of their attacks.

Finally, after felt like hours, the mechanics proclaimed him ready to fight. Wasting no time, he shut the cockpit and proceeded to the catapult. Sealing his helmet's visor, he called out to the Excalibur's CIC, "Tolle Koenig, Murasame, launching!"

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

1:40pm

Outside, chaos ruled the vacuum of space. Despite the Astray pilots' best efforts, the more experienced pirates and their superior numbers had steadily wheedled down their ranks until there were only a small handful of the truly skilled pilots remaining. The Early Harvest was engaged in a fierce battle of ship vs. ship combat. In this arena, the Orb warship was faring much better due to its superior armament and agility.

Akira was one of several mobile suits who was actively attempting to disable the Izumo's weapons and remaining engines. The Orb engineers truly did deserve their reputation for being some of the best to be able to build a ship that could still fight so effectively after gaining so much damage.

As he was making another strafing run down upon the warship's portside missile launchers, he spotted a mobile suit shoot out of the hangar. "This is High Blue," he called instantly. "A new mobile suit has just launched from the Izumo!"

"I'm on it!" someone responded almost instantly.

Focusing back on the task at hand, Akira brought his shield and rifle up. With a series of precise shots, he managed to strike some of the missile launchers as they began firing once more. The sudden explosion within its protective casing caused a chain reaction with resulted in the entire array detonating violently. Spotting the Igelstellungs closest to him suddenly swerve in his direction, he immediately shifted his shield's position and reversed his flight path. The automated beam cannons' shots went wide, missing him by a considerable margin.

Akira couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. As much as he hated doing this, it was kind of exhilarating in its own strange way. Like riding a roller coaster at a theme park back on Earth, fast, dizzying, unpredictable, yet completely exciting. The adrenaline that was gushing through his veins was boosting his energy levels and had practically tripled his reaction time.

A sudden pair of screams accompanied by the flare of an explosion snapped Akira back into the present. Quickly surveying the battlefield, he spotted the cause being that new mobile suit that had just launched. Yet before his eyes, it had changed shape into that of a rather streamlined jetfighter and rocketed towards the Early Harvest.

"No!" he yelled to himself, launching the High Blue to chase after the new suit with all due speed. Captain Brimfield had been more than generous in his actions at saving and treating him after they'd found him, and then taking the time to train him in mobile suit combat and teaching him some rather invaluable lessons. He wouldn't allow the Early Harvest to be destroyed!

Pushing the Strike Dagger to its maximum speed potential, he quickly was on course to intercept the suit due to the perpendicular paths of flight. As he neared, he exchanged the beam rifle in favor of the saber. Cutting directly across the path of the current mobile armor, he brought his shield up protectively to block the beams that it had just started shooting. Swinging his saber forward, he watched in slight frustration and reluctant acknowledgement as the pilot suddenly swerved to the side and avoided the close strike.

Transforming back into a mobile suit, the pilot drew his own beam saber as he yelled across the radio, "What do you idiots think you're doing?!"

"That vessel is carrying food and water, is it not?" Akira asked, not caring that the pilot would hear the same filtered voice as the rest of the pirate crew. "We desperately need those supplies."

"So that just justifies attacking a neutral country's ship that's trying to send some war-relief supplies to the ones who truly need it?!" the now enraged pilot yelled in response as his suit took on unmistakable threatening stance before ruthlessly attacking. "You filthy pirates!"

Blocking and countering each strike with his own beam saber or shield, Akira ground his teeth together in his anger. "Just because I'm flying with them doesn't make me a pirate! Plus, who are you to judge who needs those supplies more desperately than who doesn't?!"

Breaking away from the enemy suit, Akira shutdown the saber and switched it for his rifle in an instant while sending a spray of rapid-fire Igelstellung shots out to cover his retreat. Quickly aiming his rifle, he started firing with careful precision, his shots only aimed towards non-vital sections of the suit, like the arms, legs, and headpiece. A disabled suit was much more readily withdrawn and forgiven than a destroyed unit and a dead pilot.

Those surprisingly fast reflexes of the enemy pilot came into play once again. The shield was hoisted up just enough to deflect the first few beams aimed for the headpiece while the pilot shifted to the side to dodge the rest. This guy was pretty fast for a Natural, if he was indeed a Natural that is.

"The fact that you have to resort to stealing them only proves that they're not meant for you and your friends!" the enemy yelled back, continuing their earlier conversation as he grabbed his own rifle and fired back.

"So because we weren't on some special 'waiting list' means that our lives and dreams are not significant enough to warrant them?" Akira demanded, feeling his anger growing quickly. "While at the same time the PLANTs, who can easily acquire their own supplies themselves, are privileged to get surplus?!"

"If you are so desperate for some food and water, get a real--legal--job and pay for them!" the pilot yelled, one of his shots flew true and hit Akira's rifle, destroying it.

"You're really starting to piss me off," Akira warned as he withdrew his beam saber.

"Don't like hearing the truth?" the pilot taunted. "Then hold still and I'll put you out of your misery!" Shifting back to his mobile armor form, the fighter lunged forward and partially to the side, curving around Akira's Strike Dagger.

Turning with the suit, Akira felt a gasp of horror clench his chest. Due to how involved he'd gotten in his fight with the new suit, he'd forgotten the main reason he'd engaged the unit in the first place. Now, he watched in renewed horror and anger as the persistent pilot readied to attack the Early Harvest's bridge directly.

Somewhere within Akira's conscious mind, something exploded. With its eruption, a sudden eerie calm overtook his rampaging emotions. He was focused and determined with one goal in mind: protect the Early Harvest.

With a sudden heightened reaction time, Akira slammed the Strike Dagger's engines to their maximum. As his velocity quickly increased, he realized that his mobile suit didn't have the necessary amount of thrust power needed to intercept or catch up to the armor. The solution came to his mind in an instant. He threw his shield forward with all the power and strength his suit could generate. Combined with his already great speed, the shield flashed forward and slammed into the side of the armor with enough force to send it into an uncontrolled spin over the Early Harvest. As he was racing towards the quickly reorienting armor, he swung his Strike Dagger down and grabbed his shield again.

The transformable suit quickly changed modes back into the suit and recovered from its spin much more quickly. Just as the pilot was bringing his rifle forward, Akira seemed to have materialized out of nowhere, already swinging his beam saber towards the cockpit. But milliseconds before actually slicing through it, he heard the pilot scream out in fear. It was from hearing that scream, the same one he'd been hearing at odd times throughout the entire battle, that he'd made a decision on a whim. He lowered the angle of his beam saber just enough that it cut through the suit's upper thighs, missing the cockpit by only a few precious feet.

Bringing his Strike Dagger to an instant halt behind the damaged unit, Akira yelled out, "I'd suggest you never attempt to fight dirty like that again!" Then he kicked the suit powerfully into its engine pack on its back, adding further damage to the unit. "Do you surrender?"

"Who are you?" there was an obvious hint of fear in the pilot's voice.

"I don't know," Akira answered evenly. "So I've decided to call myself Akira Iyadomi until I remember."

"Akira Iyadomi…?"

"Do you surrender?" Akira repeated.

After a long moment, the pilot finally ground out, "…Yes."

It was that submission that snapped Akira back to himself and the battle calm that had overwhelmed him vanished. Surveying the battlefield quickly, he saw the battle seemed to have mostly ended at that point. A combination of the Early Harvest attacking from the warship's blind spot, the overwhelming numbers of mobile suits they'd launched into comparison to Orb's amount, and finally the efficiency of an experienced team had all resulted in the Izumo-class ship having to surrender, despite putting up a valiant retaliation to the surprise attack.

In fact, even as he was watching, the Izumo-class was launching it trio of return flares for its remaining mobile suits. Since they were technically no longer enemies, Akira had no qualms in grabbing onto the damaged unit and flying it back towards its mothership. As he did so, he idly glanced at the remaining power in his Strike Dagger's battery.

It was practically in the red zone! Was he lucky he'd won the fight when he did!

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

5:00pm

"That was quite a display you put on out there, Akira," Brimfield said, seemingly disinterested in the subject.

In the Captain's hand was the final report of the supplies they'd acquired from the Izumo-class warship. All totaled, they had only taken about half of the ship's current cargo. While they could've certainly taken much more, they had enough to settle their immediate needs and allow them time to properly sell their salvaged and rebuilt units.

"Tell me," he continued. "Were you at any point holding back during all those training sessions we've had recently? What happened out there earlier?"

"No sir," Akira answered, torn between being embarrassed and confused. "I was just…I don't know…I just knew I didn't want that pilot to destroy the Early Harvest."

"I see." Setting the reports down on the table in his quarters, he turned to face the boy whom he'd taken in with a serious expression. "I won't lie to you, Iyadomi. You saved our lives out there today. We hadn't noticed that mobile suit's approach, I suspect it has some kind of new special shielding that masks it to our sensors. In any case, we had been focusing on Izumo-class, a rookie mistake on my part."

"What are you trying to say, Captain?" Akira asked slowly. In all the time he'd known this man, he never once struck him as the kind to give out sappy 'thank you' speeches. He preferred the method of giving gifts to express his level of gratitude, be it a raise of pay or special privileges at Mathilde or on the Early Harvest.

"I think it's time I made my decision official," Brimfield said, turning back to his table to pick up a small folder that had been resting on it. "You have an unbelievable amount of talent for piloting. You're now easily the best pilot of all of us pirates onboard this ship. So, as much as it pains me to say this, it seems only logical that I give you a mobile suit that best reflects your capabilities."

"Which one is that, Captain?" Akira asked, suddenly feeling a strange excitement rising up from his stomach.

"It's back at Mathilde Colony," Brimfield hinted. "It's rather damaged, but I have some rather skilled mechanics working on repairing it. Once it has been properly repaired, it's yours to use as you see fit."

Akira couldn't stop the slightly childish glare he was now sending towards Brimfield. "There are at least five hundred mobile suits being repaired back at Mathilde at any given time…You're enjoying leaving me in the dark, aren't you?"

"Very much," Brimfield replied, the seriousness in his voice belying the actually amount of amusement he was feeling. "There is also another matter I wanted to discuss with you. Given what you know of its programs and probable limitations, what is your opinion on upgrading or altering the ZGMF-X10A Freedom?"

Suddenly unaccountably interested, Akira mused for a moment before saying, "It's definitely possible, I'd say. If you'd allow me to, I'd love to go digging through your surplus for armaments that we could add to it. It was extremely damaged when you first found it and missing quite a few key design features. Though with the data we downloaded and are using to rebuild those missing pieces, it shouldn't be difficult at all to incorporate new additions to it."

Nodding, Brimfield said, "Once we return to Mathilde, and you've had time to rest, I'm giving you and Professor K free reign of all our equipment and stores. Use as much as you see fit, redesign or change the Freedom as much as you want."

"Why are you doing this, Captain?" Akira asked, suspicion alight in his eyes as he stared at the elder man. "I thought the whole purpose of rebuilding the Freedom was to restore it to its original state."

"At first, that was indeed the case," Brimfield acknowledged with a nod of his head. "But as time passes, change is inevitable. People and technology both must evolve to survive that change. That is one of the most basic truths of the universe." Seeing the boy's slow nod of agreement, he continued, "I believe there are still dark days on the horizon. And whoever becomes the pilot of the Freedom would benefit greatly to any changes we add to it right now…Who knows, maybe that pilot will one day finish what the original one couldn't quite do."

Nodding again, Akira turned to leave. "I'll start drawing up some new designs immediately."

As the boy left the room, he never saw the triumphant smile on Brimfield's face. As brilliant as the kid may be, he was still very much a child at heart. Then again, this little personality quirk of his would only serve to make the grand unveiling of his new mobile suit all the more surprising and amusing.

(Author's Note) Whew, that was killer chapter! I hope you all enjoyed the fight scene, I hope I didn't convey too much a narrowed point of view during it but I had much my own focus on Kira unknowingly fighting his old friend and gradually beginning the shift from late-SEED into the early-Destiny timeline.

On that note, truthfully, how many of you were expecting it be Sai or one of the others? I bet I caught a fair number of you by surprise when I finally revealed who he was! That's right! Tolle had managed to survive the destruction of the Skygrasper he'd been flying in Gundam SEED! I'm not going to go into too much detail at this point, I'd rather save that for a later date and chapter (who knows, maybe it'll be the next one).

There's something else I noticed in most of your earlier reviews. A good portion of you seemed to guess that I had plans of 'upgrading' the Freedom, even when I was trying so hard to hide that. Am I really that predictable? If so, that's really depressing…Well, whatever the case, I do have some preliminary ideas for what this new Freedom will turn out as but I'm always open to suggestions. If any of you wish to share, feel free (credit goes to those who give me any ideas that I actually like, naturally).