Chapter VII

Well...hello to anyone who's reading this. This feels like one of those weird messages inside a datadisk you find in a sci-fi horror game. Though hopefully my insides stay inside rather than what normally happens to those people. Anyway, haven't got a whole lot to say here, not much to say. I just hope you guys who are reading enjoyed the addition of Erza to the story, even if it is outside her normal role and as a mech pilot. Well, I'd like to thank my coauthor Bakuto Masaki for all his help with this story. Guess it's on to the reviewer responses.

seeker of true anime fan fic: Nice to see you branching out some. He might. He pops his spikey-blonde head into many places it's not supposed to. Just ask any of his enemies.

Bakuto Masaki: Neither can I. Maybe because Xenosaga and Halo aren't the most popular crossover areas on the site. Yeah, Wagtail Shinobi has about 7000 readers worldwide and this has, what, maybe 150, 500 if I'm generous? Although you being the coauthor I doubt has anything to with it unless you've done something to majorly piss off the fanfiction community en masse. And so far I'm not seeing any sign of you being an internet pariah. No, I don't think sending out spam messages hawking my story would put me in the best light. For now all we can do is just keep going and see how it develops. Hopefully more people start reading but if they don't there isn't a whole lot we can do about it.

YumishinaChan: Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, the fight scenes are getting rather difficult to fight. Though for some reason the whole story is starting to do that but it's not important. I too love Erza as well as Fairy Tail, even though I'm relatively new to the series, still being on the Oracion Seis Arc and all, but I love it all the same. Well, here's the chapter.

SpartanCommander: I know the Yggdrasil. There's only one problem. A Gundam/mobile suit/A.M.W.S. is about 60 feet tall. The Yggdrasil is maybe 7 feet tall. It's just not in the same league as the machines in this story. That and it's featured only in the anime and not in the games and because of a very strange and rather annoying quirk to my brain I can't use two properties that don't exist in the same medium. Which is why I'm glad Fairy Tail: Portable Guild exists.

Hail Lord Archenfel: Actually this will run through the stories of all three Xenosaga games as well as the main Halo titles, Reach, 1, 2, 3, and 4, so you don't need to know anything about either series. In fact, being a long time fan you'd probably get confused as there are many more than minor changes to each game's story to make them fit together. So hopefully you've kept reading up to this point.

Well, that about does it for reviewer responses. And look at all the reviews I got this time, yay me. :)

Gaignun sat in his office in front of a monitor as a dark-skinned, bald-headed man in a formal, purple and grey uniform sat down in a chair on the other end of the call. As he did, Gaignun remarked, "Representative Helmer, busy as always I see."

"Well hello, Nigredo," Helmer responded jovially, "How are things going?"

Responding first with a dismissive huff, Gaignun answered, "I don't really care for that name."

"My apologies, I'm still not accustomed to calling you Gaignun. So, how can I help you?"

Gaignun nodded and explained the situation. "We're currently headed your way and we're carrying an unusual package, so I thought it best to inform you."

"Ohh…?" Helmer asked intrigued as he leaned forward in his chair.

"We secured it from an unexpected source. The Federation cruiser Woglinde. It's an Emulator."

Helmer nodded and then said, "The eleventh one…that means there's only one more left, according to the U-TIC records anyway."

Back in his office, Gaignun nodded in the affirmative, "Right. There's no question that it's responsible for the planetary disappearance. Assuming they haven't constructed any more, we've just got one more to go. Aside from the original of course."

"That's clearly impossible, now that the only man who can create them is no longer alive."

"True enough…and one more thing. We have the Contact Subcommittee's 100-Series prototype."

"How did that wind up in your hands?" Helmer asked astonished.

"One of our passenger freighters rescued her 76 hours ago."

"Is the ability to attract that sort of coincidence another one of your special powers?"

"Not a coincidence, but a probability…as a certain acquaintance might say. Anyway, I'm concerned with what the U-TIC Organization is up to. You may want to step up your precautions."

"I'll see what I can sniff out from the U.M.N. administration bureau. We can locate any large-scale gate jumps from there."

"Excellent idea. Assuming they have no Emulators in their possession, the odds are that they'll go after either the Emulator that is seemingly held by the UNSC or the Original sealed on Old Miltia. Not to mention…"

"U-DO…" Helmer said gravely.

Gaignun nodded slowly. "I don't know what their ultimate goal is, but we can't allow that thing to reawaken again. No matter what."

"Understood. We'll prepare for your arrival. I'm looking forward to seeing you again. But before we finish up, I'd like to discuss that particular matter with you. The UNSC, or, as they call themselves, the United Nations Space Command."

"Yes…do you suppose they are really from that place?"

Helmer put a hand on his chin in thought. "It's not unreasonable. We've never explored beyond the Federation Rim, and they have technology and weaponry that doesn't match up to our own. Add to that the fact that we didn't even know they existed until the past few days."

Gaignun nodded again. "Right, which puts them as a sort of enigma to us. Not only that, but they have an Emulator. Which means they have an unfortunate amount of leeway in any discussions the Federation has with them."

"Agreed. You aren't thinking of…?"

Gaignun huffed dismissively and shook his head. "Not at all. I would never stoop to such lowly tactics as that. I simply hope we can come to a resolution about how to handle the Emulator before the Gnosis sniff it out. And I get the feeling it won't be long. Any security the UNSC has felt from the Gnosis threat up to now, whether they're cognizant of it or not, will be shattered."

Helmer nodded in return. "I agree. Unless they have the means to suppress its signals the Gnosis will sniff it out immediately. And that would not end well for anyone."

Gaignun nodded before standing up, the console shutting down as the communication was severed.

Back on the Foundation, everyone else headed back to the Durandal, but Alister decided to tour around the Foundation to see if he could find anything amusing. That and he wasn't interested in feeling his sudden bizarre case of motion sickness again.

He decided the best place to head would be the residential sectors, twenty-six and twenty-seven, which Jr. had mentioned before heading back.

As he entered the first area, sector twenty-six, he was perplexed at how it seemed to resemble an average Earth city, during the 1930s.

He even saw vehicles that matched the time period, though they lacked wheels and instead floated. Which gave him such a massive headache at the oddity of it he nearly shouted, but then noticed a familiar face perusing the streets of the city sector.

Murasaki. He watched as she wandered to different stores, a basket in her hand, often stopping to sniff whatever flowers were in the area.

Curious, and bored, Alister decided to see what she was looking for. After approaching her he tapped on her shoulder.

"Ah!" she shrieked in surprise, turning swiftly, unintentionally causing her rather large bust to bounce around in a rather distracting way. After calming down she realized it was Alister and sighed. "Oh, Alister…" She then blushed heavily and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to react like that."

Alister shrugged. "It's fine, I get that reaction sometimes." 'And watching those things bounce around wasn't a negative either.' He then shook his head to rid those thoughts and asked, "So, uh, what exactly are you doing here anyway?"

Murasaki tilted her head confused and then pointed to her basket. "Shopping, of course."

Alister looked at her plainly. "Okay…I meant what are you shopping for?"

Murasaki nodded with a smile and explained, "Food. Though I keep getting sidetracked by all the sweet smelling flowers," she finished abashedly.

Alister nodded and then asked with a raised eyebrow, "Speaking of which, I noticed you keep sniffing them. You must really like the smell of flowers, huh?"

Murasaki nodded with a small smile. "Yes. I actually have a stronger nose than most people."

"That so? Guess that makes cooking easy, doesn't it?"

Murasaki giggled at his light joke and nodded. "When I do cook it makes it easier. Moouuu, though I'm not very good at it."

"Uhh…then why are you buying food?"

"Haruka asked me to." She then shivered. "I don't want to say no to Haruka…she does scary things when I don't listen."

Alister sighed in exasperation and put up a hand. "Alright, I'm going to leave that particular topic alone and get back to the main one; how strong is your nose anyway, just out of curiosity?"

Murasaki nodded as she eased up some. "Much stronger than most people, though it isn't as strong as a dog's. For example I can smell flowers and plants better than most people, but I can't distinguish the individual ingredients in a dish like a dog can. But…" she trailed off with a frown, "where it's strongest is people."

Alister raised an eyebrow in thought. "Meaning you can smell body odor from far away?"

"Not that!" she shot back, in a surprising show of emotion which the mobile suit pilot found adorable, then continued, "No…I get different scents from a person based on how their feeling, or what their personality is like."

Alister widened his eyes some. "Really? That's pretty impressive."

Murasaki smiled sadly. "It's good to see some people do. Though most people don't like that I can read their emotions so easily, and sometimes it gets hard to focus with so many scents around me."

Alister looked around and then asked, "What about here? There are lots of people here."

Murasaki nodded lightly and answered, "Yes, but there are so many people, and the smells of the flower shops and the city air, that it all melds together and I don't get overwhelmed."

Alister rubbed his chin in thought. "I see…it's like someone who has a natural tendency to shy away from crowds being okay in a big city because there are so many people that they become part of the city in a sense."

Murasaki nodded with a slightly wider smile. "Yes, exactly like that. Though even then the smells are rather intense, so that's why I like the flower shops." She lightly lifted a nearby yellow flower with her hand as she said, "I can always push back some of the scents around me with the sweet smell of a flower."

Alister just smiled as he watched and then asked, "You know, if you need some help I'm not really doing anything."

Murasaki looked at him curiously and then nodded with a smile. "I'd like that."

Alister nodded back and then ventured with her to the different shops she had to visit.

As they moved around the area to different stores, buying supplies for both Haruka and some seemingly for Murasaki herself, Alister merely played bag boy, carrying the items she bought while they shopped.

Alister eventually noticed a rather large flower shop they had passed, Murasaki stopping momentarily before frowning and moving on. After a few minutes he asked, "Why'd you frown back there?"

"Huh?" Murasaki asked puzzled.

"I asked why you frowned at those flowers you sniffed."

"Oh…well…they smelled really pretty, but they're too expensive."

Alister raised an eyebrow. "Even just one?"

Murasaki nodded quietly. "Yes, just one is eight credits. A total bouquet would be over fifty."

Alister scratched his chin in thought. "Wait here."

Murasaki tilted her head in confusion but nodded in acceptance as he left.

Alister found his way back to the flower stand they had passed before and looked around before remembering which flower it was Murasaki liked the most. He frowned some personally seeing that it really was that expensive. After a short sigh he muttered, "It's worth it, it's worth it." He then took the flower over to the counter.

Murasaki, still standing at the place Alister had left, leaning up against wall so she wasn't in other peoples' way, turned as she heard Alister call her name.

She watched as he approached with a flower in his hand and looked at him confused. "But…that's…"

Alister nodded. "Yeah, it was the one you were most interested in, right? The one that smelled the best?"

Murasaki slightly widened her eyes in surprise as Alister looked at the flower curiously and then reached over, putting the small flower into the side of Murasaki's hair as a decoration. Murasaki examined the flower curiously for a moment before giving a small smile accompanied with a slight blush in response.

Alister just grinned and asked, "Better?"

Murasaki nodded as she and Alister continued shopping in the Foundation's city sectors.

It took only another hour or so for Murasaki to finish up the shopping she needed to do. It was then Alister was introduced to transfer technology, the technology to instantly teleport any object to another spot in space within a certain distance.

He grumbled in frustration as Murasaki smiled with slight unease. Though he felt no bitterness since the only other way to get the purchases back on the Durandal would be through the carriage back to the ship. So he found mild annoyance now was better than uncontrollable sickness later.

After sending Murasaki on her way Alister continued to make his way around the Foundation's city sectors, deciding to head to the entertainment sector rather than the grocery sector, at least that's what he called it since most of the shops sold food rather than items to enjoy.

It was there he stumbled upon something rather odd. Erza.

However, it was not her mere presence in the area that befuddled him. It was where she was specifically. In front of a specialty dress shop, her eyes affixed to the multiple different dresses out in the front window. Erza was the last person he would have pegged for a dress shopper, so he decided to investigate.

She looked at the different selection of dresses in the window indecisively, humming to herself.

"Hey, Erza," Alister remarked plainly.

Erza came out of her almost daze-like state and turned to him. "Ah, Alister, need something?"

Alister shrugged as he walked up. "Not really. Just curious."

"About what?"

He lazily pointed to the dresses.

Erza looked from the dresses to him and then answered plainly, "They're specialty dresses made by a company owned by the Foundation named Heart Kreuz. I happen to like their designs." She then motioned over her own attire and added, "My armor was actually produced by them on request."

Alister looked at her plainly before sighing. "No, no. I meant why are you here?"

Erza looked at him puzzled and then answered somewhat unsurely, "Because I…enjoy them? Is that a problem?"

Alister grumbled before slapping his hand against his face in frustration. "Okay…guess I'll just come out and say it. You don't seem like the dress-shopping type."

"Is that so? I did not know that."

Alister almost fell over, feeling a strong inclination to slam his head into the dirt. "Let me see if I can put this better…you seem more like the type of girl to go to gun store or specialty weapon shop rather than purchase frilly dresses."

Erza seemed to grasp some sense of understanding to his words as she replied, "Oh, I see what you mean. Despite whatever you may think I do enjoy purchasing and wearing a variety of different outfits. I even have this," she pulled out a small console similar to Shion's, "which allows me to switch between my clothing items at will. It's very handy for ground battles or when I need new attire on short notice."

Alister felt a bead of sweat rolling down the back of his head in disbelief. "Ah, hah, hah…I uh…see."

Erza nodded and then raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I'm having a sort of personal dilemma I believe you could help me sort out."

Alister shrugged in response. "It's not like I've got any better plans."

"Good, now come with me," she commanded as she grabbed his hand and dragged him inside.

Alister just acquiesced, the redhead being surprisingly strong.

Dragging him inside, Erza brought the man over to the different selections of dresses and asserted, "I am having trouble deciding on which of these dresses to buy. I was wondering if you like to help me."

Alister raised a confused eyebrow. "Erm…why me?"

"Are you refusing?" she asked coldly.

"Er…no ma'am."

"Good."

Alister just sighed as Erza pointed out the dresses to him.

The first dress she decided to try was a long pink dress with flared shoulders and a wide skirt. Erza stepped out in the dress and asked, "Alright, what do you think of this one?"

Alister tilted his head in thought. "It's a little…much. Where I'm from a dress like that is mostly a costume more than anything."

Erza looked at the outfit and then nodded, going back to the mannequins, not so kindly pulling another dress off, and changing.

Alister just stood silently as he waited for Erza to come back out.

After a few moments she reemerged in a long white dress that reached her ankles, with long sleeves passing her hands, long white stockings and high-heeled boots.

Alister looked at the outfit puzzled. "I guess it's alright. Looks kinda like a gothic-lolita though."

Erza raised an eyebrow. "I actually fancy this one."

"Then get it," Alister said plainly.

"You voiced displeasure to it," she retorted.

Alister shrugged. "So? I'm not your master or anything, I'm just giving you my opinion, you can make your own judgments about it."

Erza folded her arms in huff before grabbing one last dress, one that made Alister raise a confused eyebrow, before disappearing once again into the dressing room. He looked around and noticed the confused looks he was receiving from the civilians. With a sigh he thought, 'Crap…I suppose putting on something other than military issue fatigues would've been a better idea. Man this is annoying.'

Erza then came out in the last dress and Alister almost felt his tongue crawl down his throat as she did.

She wore a long, form-fitting purple dress with rose flower accents on it, a halter top, which crossed to reveal a large portion of her chest, and was open on the back and much of the sides as well as having a slit going up the left side up to her hip. It was also accompanied by long purple gloves and white boots. She looked at him curiously and asked, "Well, what about this one?"

Alister took a moment to shake his head of the cobwebs and nodded dumbly, "Ah…yeah. It looks good."

Erza nodded in approval. "Good. Then in that case I will buy this one. Thank you for your help."

Alister just nodded. "Not a problem. I'll be around if you need anything else."

Erza nodded and, after purchasing the dress, she and Alister walked out of the store.

However, before they could go their separate ways Erza suddenly got a call from someone.

Alister, nosy as he was, decided to wait for her to finish up.

After closing her console she sighed in annoyance.

"Something wrong?" Alister asked lightly.

Erza shook her head. "No, not wrong. It just seems that Haruka needs to go to Professor Light's lab."

"Professor…Light?"

Erza nodded. "Yes. He is the scientist that actually created the Vysaga. He hired my guild to retrieve it from Ormus. Apparently there's something she wants me to see there."

Alister shrugged. "It's better than taking the shuttle back to the Durandal."

Erza just looked at him confused.

Erza and Alister arrived at a small port on the other side of the Foundation and saw a small set of stairs leading down into an underground area.

Alister felt an eyebrow twitch as he thought, 'If this has anything in common with my mission to Haphaestus Four I will not take the fall if one of us ends up getting jumped by a bunch of fast-talking midget aliens.' Resigning himself to the new surroundings with a sigh he followed behind Erza.

As they walked down the stairs he saw first a large pit filled with discarded machine parts and then looked off to the side to see Haruka standing with two people.

One was an old, hunched over man with a balding head of gray hair wearing a simple grey uniform.

The other was a younger man with short blonde hair in a blue and green casual uniform.

After a few seconds of talking Haruka turned to see Erza enter the room. "Ah…Erza, how good of you to arrive. Fufu, you even brought that little outsider with you."

Alister just grumbled quietly, starting to grow annoyed at being called an outsider by everyone.

"Outsider, eh?" the old man asked as he walked up to Alister. "So why would you be here? I haven't any custom A.M.W.S. for you, go!"

"Actually," Erza interrupted, "he's with me, so he can stay."

Haruka took the chance immediately and snickered into her palm. "Ufufufu, with you is he? How serious is it?"

Alister jus frowned in annoyance while Erza responded, "You misunderstand. I simply invited him here so he could see these A.M.W.S."

Haruka folded her arms in a sigh. "You know Erzy, you're no fun."

Erza just smirked at the young woman before getting to the important topic. "So, why have you called me here?"

Haruka nodded and motioned to the old man. "I think I'll let my grandfather take it from here."

Alister raised an eyebrow and looked from side to side puzzled.

Haruka noticed his confusion and giggled, leaning over the old man's back and remarking, "Yes, we are related."

The Professor nodded and then seemed to remember something, pointing to the blonde man behind him. "Have you met Assistant Scott yet?"

Erza and Alister looked at him.

Scott chuckled weakly and waved. "Hello. Just Scott is fine."

"No, no!" the Professor shouted. "You are my assistant, you are Assistant Scott. The moment you started working for me you became Assistant Scott, understand?"

Assistant Scott sighed heavily in resignation. "Yes Professor."

"Good boy," the Professor pointed before turning back to Erza and clearing her throat. "I've finished the repairs on the Vysaga and want to finish our conversation we had before those bastards broke in here. I actually created the Vysaga and its sister A.M.W.S. the Epyon Gundam for your guild. The Vysaga is actually your machine, Erza."

Erza widened her eyes slightly in surprise. "Truly? You made that machine for me?"

"Yes, of course. I would do anything for a pretty girl like you." The old man then snickered in a very disturbing way.

Alister just flattened his brow in annoyance. 'This old fart is worse than Grandpa Nate.'

After finishing a hacking fit brought on by his perverted laughter, Professor then pointed behind him to where the Vysaga stood alongside another machine.

A large, maroon colored machine with long wings, lizard-like details on its body, and a long whip in one hand.

"That, deary, is the Epyon Gundam. I actually built it for another of your guild members." He then leaned to the side to look around Erza and grinned. "Here she is now."

Erza raised an eyebrow and turned around as a rather surprising person approached the group.

It was a young woman with long white hair, which curled at the ends and had the bangs tied up into a small ponytail, a rather impressively large bust, and blue eyes who wore a long maroon colored dress and matching high-heeled shoes.

"Mirajane, what are you doing here?"

The now named Mirajane walked up to Erza and flashed a sweet smile. "It was actually my own decision. The guild has been doing…rather poorly in terms of bringing in profits, or rather in keeping them with all the bills we've had to pay," Erza suddenly slumped over some with a vaguely guilty expression, "so I decided to help out in jobs some. Of course only those that allow me to fight without using my particular skills."

Erza folded her arms as she looked over Mirajane. "I must say it's surprising to see you considering getting back into the field after so long. Either way it will be a good thing. Having more active job takers is always helpful for the guild."

Mirajane giggled sweetly and asserted, "You mean job takers that don't destroy everything in sight."

Erza slumped again.

Alister noticed how well the two got along and wondered what kind of place that guild was. He also found it strange that a guild like that existed as the UNSC outlawed vigilante activity after the mess with the Insurrectionists got as far is it did.

Mirajane turned and noticed Alister and smiled at him before bowing. "So you must be the visitor to the GFG?"

Alister nodded and waved to her. "Yes, it's good to hear a term like that. I was honestly getting tired of outsider."

The Professor folded his arms in a huff. "Well it's what you are!"

Alister snarled and was about to snarl back at him when Mirajane raised a hand lightly to stop him. "You'll have to forgive him. He's cross to people he doesn't know very well."

The Professor looked at her and adjusted his glasses with a chuckle. "Unless that person happens to be a cute young girl, of course."

Mirajane merely laughed the remark off. She then turned to Alister and added, "If you like you can merely call me Mira, I know that Mirajane can sometimes be a little hard to remember all the time."

Alister nodded in response. "Got it. But I think Mirajane's a pretty name, so I doubt I'll be forgetting it anytime soon."

Mirajane giggled happily at his compliment. "Well aren't you sweet."

Alister just shrugged.

The Professor then coughed into his hand and pointed behind him. "Now that you're done faffing about shall we focus on the matter at hand?"

Alister grimaced at the old man in annoyance.

"Ahem, now that we're all talking about something actually important, I would like to present these two machines, the Vysaga and the Epyon Gundam, to you two pretty young ladies."

Erza and Mirajane turned to look at the two machines and Alister then frowned in thought. "Err…doesn't Mira's machine look a little…I dunno, demonic?"

Mirajane just giggled happily. "I actually requested this design."

"Ah…I'm actually not sure how to respond to that."

"How about just a smile?" she asked with a smile that was far too sweet to make Alister comfortable, so he just nodded in return.

"Alright then," Professor interrupted, "the only thing left now would be payment, but I'll cut both prices in half thanks to Erza's little quest for me."

Erza nodded. "You are quite gracious."

The Professor just grinned slyly. "I'll cut the price all the way down to zero for a little-"

Assistant Scott suddenly fell over, knocking over several pieces of equipment as he fell and interrupting the Professor.

"Darn it Assistant Scott!" the Professor snarled. "Ohh…where was I?"

Assistant Scott sat up with a groan and answered, "You had just finished telling the girls the price."

"Ahh, that's right. Okay then, now that that's been decided I'll transfer the A.M.W.S. to the Durandal and will expect the payment within a week." Without another word the Professor turned and left.

Alister walked over and reached out his hand to help the clumsy man up with a smirk. "That was pretty smooth, Assistant Scott."

Assistant Scott just chuckled weakly. "I do what I can. Someone needs to stem his gushes."

Haruka chuckled into her hand as she walked up to Alister curiously. "Fufufu, you know. You're quite an intriguing one."

Alister raised an eyebrow curiously. "And why's that? I haven't done anything yet."

"Not here, no. But I've been on the Durandal. I simply never had the proper chance to speak to you. And now that I can…" Haruka trailed off as she put a hand on his chest and smirked slyly, "I can say that it's going to be fun…experimenting on the abilities of you and your machines."

"Ahah…is that so?" Alister asked as she inched rather close to him.

Haruka inched ever closer towards him, closing her eyes, before suddenly backing off with a smirk and a wink. "Yes, I've got a special machine I think you'd be the perfect pilot for."

Alister grumbled silently is frustration at the more than annoying tease and then registered her last few words. "A new machine?"

Haruka nodded as she sauntered over to a control panel and pressed a few buttons, a new A.M.W.S. coming out from an underground elevator to be revealed. A blue machine slightly shorter than the others with several shades of blue on its body, jet-like boosters on its back, and a pointed shield on its left arm. She motioned grandly to the machine and announced, "I present, the Delta Plus!"

Alister looked at the machine impressed. "I like it. So are you giving this suit to me?"

Haruka tilted her head and then seemed to remember something. "Ah, that's right. You people call them mobile suits, don't you? Not A.M.W.S. At any rate, yes. I was originally planning on giving this A.M.W.S. to Little Master but then he was given the E.S. Asher, so I had no use for it. I also originally had a different version called the Delta Gundam, but a bunch of pirates stole it."

Alister raised an eyebrow as he asked, "You ever get it back?"

Haruka put a hand up to her head with an annoyed sigh. "Sadly no. I specifically asked those Federation grunts to get the A.M.W.S. back in one piece but they somehow felt it was better to destroy my precious Delta Gundam than to lose one or two, dozen, soldiers."

Alister just laughed uncomfortably. "I see…remind me not to piss you off."

Haruka smirked at him and added, "And you won't so long as you don't trash my beautiful Delta Plus."

"I'll uh…do my best." Alister chuckled weakly and then turned to the side and noticed something off in a corner. Two weapons sitting in a weapon rack.

One was a large, three-barreled pistol with each barrel having a six-shot cylinder at the back. Each barrel was also ornamented with designs that ended in the shape of dog heads at the end of each. He also noticed a chain hanging off the end with an ornament resembling a cross with three dog heads at the top, and a wing hanging off one side.

The second was a long, mechanical looking sword with a black flat edge and a silver sharp edge, its angular sheath nearby.

"Oh, like those do you?" Haruka asked playfully. She then said slowly, "You can touch them if you want."

Alister twitched an eyebrow. 'Does she have to make everything a sexual innuendo?' After sighing he decided to check out the weapons, the sword being first. He grabbed it by the handle and hoisted it in the air. He noticed it seemed heavier than a normal blade as he gave a few test swings and couple twirls. "This is a nice blade."

"Yup. It and that pistol are inventions of mine. I call them the High-Frequency Blade, or HF Blade for short, and Cerberus." Haruka then walked over and took the blade, showing him where it got its name. She pressed a switch on the handle and Alister heard a low whirring sound before the blade suddenly lit up bright orange. Haruka smirked at his impressed expression and decided to drive the point home, by slicing straight through a spare A.M.W.S. rifle the Professor had lying around.

"Hey!" the old man gargled.

Haruka switched the blade off and then put into a reverse grip, handing it back to Alister.

He nodded and took the blade, going into a combat stance.

Haruka smirked with a tilt of her head in amusement. "You have a good stance. I thought you were a soldier."

Alister went through a few simple movements as he answered. "I am. I learned from my grandfather, Nathan. He knew a whole slew of different combat styles. But when it came to weapons," he paused as he executed a thrust, "he always favored the katana and taught me how to use it."

Haruka clapped lightly as Alister exhaled before sheathing the HF Blade. "You know, since I've got no use for them, you can have those two if you like. It'll be better than them just sitting around collecting dust in grandpa's old garage."

"Watch your tongue young lady," the Professor chided, "this is no garage, it's a highly advanced robotics laboratory!"

Alister looked around and then responded flatly, "You've got a car engine hanging from the ceiling. That seems like a garage to me."

"Ohhh, you little-!"

Assistant Scott intervened before matters got worse. "Okay, I think that's enough. Isn't it time for your midday medicines."

"Oh, phooey. I hate those things."

Alister then walked over to Cerberus and picked it up. He was surprised at how light it was. He then narrowed his eyes in bewilderment. "Erm, how do I load it?"

Haruka stuck out her hand, Alister placing the pistol into her fingers. She brought it up and pressed a switch on the bottom, the barrels flopping forward as she dropped six bullets into each cylinder.

Alister folded his arms as he watched. "So how much of a-"

BANG

The room was filled with the sound of the gunshot as Haruka fired the Cerberus at that same A.M.W.S. rifle, blasting a hole right through it.

Letting the ringing die down in his ears, Alister muttered, "bang…damn. That's one hell of a gun."

Haruka smirked as she flipped it around for Alister to grab handle first. She then handed him a leather strap which held the gun's holster as well as several reloads' worth of speed loaders to quickly reload the pistol. "One last thing. If you ever need to you can come to me to modify Cerberus. I also designed a few other weapons if you're interested in becoming a walking armory."

Alister nodded as he holstered the gun, placing the HF Blade into a holster on his back. "I'll think about it, but I'll make good use of this, I assure you."

Haruka lightly clapped her hands with a smile and chirped, "Good! Now, Grandpa, why don't you get those A.M.W.S. to the Durandal?"

The Professor nodded as he turned around to the console. "And what about you?"

Haruka responded with a playful chuckle as she draped herself over Alister's left arm. "I've got a guest to entertain."

Alister gulped and wondered, "Errr…what does that mean?"

"Fufu, oh you'll see," she said cryptically as she dragged him away, to the confusion and annoyance of Mirajane and Erza.

Elsewhere, on the Pleroma, Margulis stood in front of a screen talking to a strange man with combed over red hair, thin red goggles over his eyes and an elaborate red and white uniform. The red-haired man then said, "Current output is 5.806 LPP. Not even three percent of the required levels."

"In other words," Margulis remarked, "you're saying it's impossible to open the door to Lost Jerusalem."

"Open the door?" the man asked sarcastically. "It's doubtful whether we can even find it. I've told you repeatedly that the Emulators were mere supplements. You're the one who ignored that."

Galdin listened to their conversation from the sidelines, a sneer on his face.

"Because of you, we've lost a valuable asset. I've done what I can with what we have, but it's not going to make much difference. Even Mizrahi couldn't pull this off without the Original."

"So…" Margulis responded, "have you finally come to acknowledge that lunatic's work?"

"I'm just being objective. No one in the universe is as knowledgeable in this field as he was."

Margulis folded his arms in frustration. "We can't keep our commander waiting any longer. We'll proceed with Plan 401."

"Plan 401…that seems a bit extreme to me. The 100-Series that Helmer's protégé is babysitting, not only does it contain the entire record of Mizrahi's research but the access code for the U.M.N. transfer column to the sealed area of Old Miltia, also resides in it. Treat it too roughly, and you'll lose everything."

"I'm well aware of the importance of Miltia and the Y Data. That's why I'm using them."

"I do not like them. Well…most of them. Those two…their eyes share the same look as Mizrahi's."

"The same as yours?" Margulis chided.

The man just huffed. "Well, I'll be waiting for the good news."

The comm screen then shut off.

"Pellegri. Secure a channel to our commander. I want to report this and discuss our plans for manipulating the committee."

Pellegri nodded and turned around.

Margulis then turned and noticed Zellex leaving the room. "Something bothering you…Galdin?"

The redhead glanced at Margulis sharply and then left the room.

Elsewhere, Albedo and Zellex floated through space.

Inside Albedo's cockpit, he was speaking with Margulis. "I see. What do you want me to do?"

Margulis answered, "The situation is proceeding as planned. Don't interfere with it for now."

Inside the Pleroma, Margulis then continued, "Of course, I can't imagine the Second Miltian government and the Kukai Foundation will simply hand it over. If the situation warrants, we may have to use…the Song of Nephilim."

"Now this is a surprise," Albedo mentioned, "I though you hated it with a passion."

"I'm just saying even your toys have their uses."

"Then why don't you join me? We can enjoy the show together."

"Thanks I'll pass. I don't share your perverse taste in hobbies. Besides, with Zellex there I'm sure the two of you can handle the situation."

Albedo cackled before jabbing, "Kukuku, yeah right, you gutless bastard!"

The screen then shut off.

"Albedo…" Pellegri sneered, "a U.R.T.V. A monster born of life recycling. There are plenty of mentally unstable life recycling variants out there. Just as Cherenkov was one of them. If he starts getting impatient and moves on his own-"

"You needn't worry about that. Time means nothing to him. The only thing that interests him is that Realian."

"Are you really…going to use the Song of Nephilim?"

Margulis then turned to her. "Pellegri. Have you ever heard it? That song…draws everything unto madness."

Back with Albedo and Zellex, just as their conversation finished, Albedo snickered. "I see. So that bastard's too scared to come out here himself but is willing to send us. It's good to see we make good cows."

"What?" Zellex asked simply.

"Haven't you ever heard that phrase? Like cows to the slaughter?"

Zellex sighed in annoyance. "It's lambs to the slaughter you pinhead."

"Ahhh, yess…that's it." He then leaned over to look at Kirsch. "Isn't it wonderful? If we go to the Foundation, and use the Song, you get to see that outsider again."

Kirsch looked up at Albedo worriedly before turning back around and looking down somberly.

Zellex turned to Albedo. "Outsider? What are you talking about?"

"Ohh…haven't you heard? Apparently a few people from the other side of the Federation Rim have crossed to our side. There's even an entire civilization over there, UPS or something."

Zellex tightened his grip on his controls. "UNSC. That's what they're called."

"Oh…know them?"

Zellex turned to him slowly. "That's one way of putting it. Come on, let's go. If we're going to get that thing ready we better get moving."

"Right, right."

In another area of the galaxy, a large group of ships traveled through the stars. Multiple ships of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. The largest of which was a massive, long, white ship with a huge disc in the center, on the bottom of the ship.

With smaller pink, purple, and blue ships in its wake.

Onboard the ship, a large, bipedal creature with four fingers, two index fingers and two thumbs, gray skin, a reptilian body with double-jointed legs, and a mouth with four mandibles covered in rows of teeth and which wore elaborate golden armor as it waked through the halls of the ship, other similar creatures in slightly more elaborate armor ranging in color from gold, red, and blue bowing as it passed by.

As it walked into a large room filled with other creatures, another one of its race in silver armor bowed to it. In its own language it said, "Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee. To what do I the honor of you visiting my ship?"

Thel raised his four-fingered hand to silence the other creature. "I have no time for your pleasantries, Shipmaster. I have need of your fleet to go elsewhere. Another of the Forerunner's Matrices have surfaced. The humans currently have possession of it."

The Shipmaster folded his arms in frustration. "Naturally. Those maggots always seem to find their slimy hands over the relics. Are we to pursue them immediately?"

Thel nodded. "Yes, Rtas. The San'Shyuum want the artifact taken from the humans before they can desecrate any further with their presence."

Rtas saluted by crossing his right arm over chest and nodding. "Yes, Fleetmaster. All forces! Move out! Pursue the heretics!"

The ships suddenly shot small beams of energy, opening hundreds of slip-space portals, travelling into them before disappearing.

Albedo and Zellex traveled through slip-space on a small Ormus cruiser with a skeleton crew as the latter walked onto the bridge where the former was, as Zellex viewed it, dancing.

"Albedo," Zellex said shortly, the insane, white-haired man ignoring him. "Albedo," he reiterated.

No response.

"Albedo!"

"Yyess?" Albedo asked patronizingly.

"Respond when I talk to you."

"Sorry, I am just so elated at find Ma Peche that I can't help but dance it out!"

"Then do that on your own time. Margulis has given us new orders. The Foundation currently has possession of your sick obsession so we can't do much for now. We'll take care of the Song later. For now, it seems the UNSC is transporting one of the Emulators."

"Ooh, ooh, lemme guess! He wants us to…give them a big ol' party!"

Zellex looked at him flatly. "No. He wants us to go and get it, while simultaneously showing them the folley of underestimating us. Which I'm sure those fools already have after we were pulled back so swiftly."

"Oh goody, Simeon and I get to entertain a real fight then."

Zellex couldn't suppress the sadistic smirk that crossed his features. "Yes…we do."

Back on the Foundation, all was quiet as it was the prescribed night time. Even the Durandal was still and silent.

Inside the Elsa, Allen, Shion, and Alister stood near KOS-MOS' pod.

"Miltia…" Shion said quietly. "I never thought I'd come back under these situations."

"Miltia? I thought that place was gone or something," Alister remarked.

Allen shook his head. "No, Old Miltia is. It's hidden behind a time-space distortion caused by two supermassive blackholes, however Second Miltia is actually the planet that the Foundation orbits."

"Oh…well nevermind then." Alister then turned to Shion and asked, "So you know this place?"

Shion nodded. "Yes. I was born on Old Miltia and then grew up on Second Miltia."

Alister nodded. "From the sounds of it, the forced transition musta been pretty violent. Wonder how your parents fared…"

Shion's expression darkened as Allen glared at her.

"Uh…what'd I…say?"

Allen walked over and said quietly, "Her parents were killed during the Miltia Incident."

"Huh? Whu…oh boy…" Alister reached a hand tentatively to Shion. "Uh…Shion…I uh…"

Shion shook her head. "No, it's alright." She smiled sadly at him. "You didn't know."

Alister rubbed the back of his head in shame. "Sorry…I still feel like an asshat though. But, you seem a little distracted, is it because of all this Miltia business?"

Shion shook her head again. "Oh, it's nothing, really." She then turned and walked over to a large computer panel on the opposite wall and pressed a few buttons. She then turned and asked, "How's that KOS-MOS?"

"Fine, there are no problems. Please continue," the android responded in her usual monotone.

Alister put a hand on his elbow as he sighed in frustration. "Great…'nothing' again." After sighing in mild frustration he decided to leave the two techies to their business and wandered off to find something interesting to do, like maybe watch paint dry.

MOMO walked around the halls of the Durandal's civilian sector when she heard someone call to her.

"Hey MOMO."

The pink-haired Realian turned as Jr. walked up to her. "Yes? What is it?"

"Once we get you down to Second Miltia, we'll be going our separate ways, right?"

"Yes…" MOMO responded, somewhat confused.

Jr. paused for an awkward moment as he collected his thoughts then began, "I don't know if Realians believe in carrying charms or not, but…" He paused as he reached into his pocket and pulled a small object out. "Here, take this. It's for luck." In his hand was a small, unfired bullet.

"It's so pretty!" MOMO remarked excitedly. She then asked flatly, "What is it?"

"It's a bullet from a looong time ago. Look, it's got a good luck phrase on it: 'Sayonara, baby!'"

MOMO smiled at the small trinket happily. "Thank you! I'll keep it safe!"

"Ah, wait, hold on a sec." Jr. suddenly stopped and ruffled through one of his pockets and pulled out a long gold chain and showed it to MOMO. He then draped it around the bullet and closed his hands over the two objects and grunted in concentration as small particles of light began to collect in his hands. He himself was then almost encased in a bright show of light emanating from his hands.

MOMO watched entranced at the show of light and energy.

After a few seconds the light died down and Jr. sighed in exhaustion before handing the bullet to her, now as part of a bracelet with the chain somehow fused to it. "Ah, there we go." He held it up for her to see. "Try it on."

MOMO took it in her hands and exclaimed, "Wow! You can do things like that, too?! That's wonderful!"

Jr. wiped his forehead and retorted, "It kind tires me out a bit, though."

MOMO nodded with a smile and affixed the bracelet to her wrist. "It's so pretty. Thank you Jr.!" She glomped the young redhead in a hug before running off.

Jr. just chuckled happily before walking away.

What he didn't notice was Alister standing nearby. Alister narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "That's…alchemy."

Outside the Foundation, a large number of Federation vessels suddenly converged on the area.

On the Durandal's bridge, Mary looked out into space at the small fleet. "What a strange welcome. Are they escortin' us in this time?"

"They're blocking the way?!" Shelley said in surprise and confusion.

Mary gasped in surprise.

"This is no welcome."

Outside, several of the Federation ships had small sections on the bow of the ship light up with blue energy. They then fired blasts of energy at the Foundation, causing shockwaves everywhere.

Inside Ziggy's repair room, the lights suddenly went dark.

The same occurred in the room where KOS-MOS' pod was housed.

As well as on the bridge of the Durandal. However, the lights flickered back on almost immediately.

One of the 100-Series Realians then reported, "Confirmed Photon Torpedo detonation in immediate vicinity. We're being surround by a fleet of Federation vessels."

The world outside proved this true as in almost every angle there was a Federation ship around the Kukai Foundation.

On Fifth Jerusalem, at the Federation Parliament Building, the Federation's leaders had their visages projected from many different places inside the main meeting hall as they watched a disturbing video.

"As you can see from this video," one councilor began, "the Kukai Foundation has engaged in what is clearly an act of aggression against the 117th Marine Division."

The video in question showed the battle where the Woglinde's fleet was destroyed. However, it was not the Gnosis that were shown destroying the fleet within the video. It was the Durandal.

"From the events that followed, we can only come to the conclusion that this was an act of rebellion orchestrated by the Foundation's creators: The Second Miltian Government. In light of these troubling events, we hereby enter a motion for the following: Per Article 104, an emergency suspension of the vested rights of Second Miltia's autonomous government."

Another councilor then commented as well. "I'd like to add that the 422nd fleet from Gedalya has been dispatched to the scene in order to surround and contain both the Kukai Foundation and Second Miltia."

A third councilor interjected angrily, "Hold on there. Won't that constitute an unauthorized use of force?"

The second councilor retorted, "The deployment is in accordance with the Federation Emergency Powers Act. It is fully within our powers."

A fourth councilor also added his opinion. "I would think that the Kukai Foundation possessing that level of weaponry is a far greater problem in and of itself!"

A fifth also chimed in. "Perhaps they were heroes during the conflict, or whatever in the past, but the current situation is a result of letting them have their way for so long! The Zohar belong to the entire Federation! Why should Second Miltia have sole control?!"

The third councilor rebutted, "The decision to turn the artifacts of Old Miltia over to an impartial third party was decided by vote fourteen years ago."

The fourth councilor answered frustrated, "We're talking about the dangers of it being monopolized by a corporation!"

"The Kukai Foundation was converted after the completion of the postwar cleanup and their own disarmament. Since taking on their current name and converting to a business, their primary source of income has become entertainment and tourism. How could they possibly have a vested interest in the Zohar?!"

"You call that disarmed?!" the fourth councilor responded, pointing out the Durandal's weaponry.

"It's just enough for self-defense. Think back to the reason the organization was formed. Not only that, we can't ignore their recent achievements against the Gnosis."

Yet another councilor argued his point. "Can we be certain these accusations aren't merely the jealousy on the part of a state that didn't receive postwar government handouts?"

"How dare you!" the fourth shouted.

The fifth councilor remarked, "I've heard rumors that Miltia was secretly involved not only with the current planetary disappearance case, but also with other recent developments, including the anti-Gnosis Zohar Project."

The seventh added, "I'd like to hear the Contact Subcommittee's thoughts on all this. Dr. Mizrahi?"

A screen then appeared in the large empty room showing an older woman with short brown hair, pale yellow eyes, light brown lipstick and wearing a brown and grey formal uniform. "We moved the 100-Series Realian to Second Miltia in accordance with the original plan. We're following the protocols."

"But I wonder," the fourth councilor interjected, "Have you forgotten that it was Miltia that produced the lunatic that summoned the Gnosis and tried to destroy the Federation?"

"I sympathize with your desire to defend your late husband," the fifth councilor also intervened, "but…perhaps you are too deeply involved in this situation?"

Mizrahi responded coldly, "I would not have expected my presence here to be misconstrued in such a manner."

"Oh really?" another councilor argued before the room suddenly came alive with accusations and angered voices of the dozens of parliament members broadcasting to the area.

"Order! Order!" a deep, booming voice belonging to someone physically present in the room shouted. In the center of the room was a tall, tiered spire that rose from the floor. The man sitting atop the tower was the one who hushed the councilors. He then reported, "We've just patched in with Representative Helmer. I'd like to hear about the situation from the Second Miltian government."

Mizrahi's screen closed as a new screen opened showing Helmer in his office.

"Well, Representative Helmer?"

On the Durandal's bridge, Shion, Alister, Murasaki, John and all the others stood in front of a screen which showed the image of a Federation officer.

"In accordance with Federation law, we hereby place the Kukai Foundation under the suspicion of violating Article 798, Chapter 37: Collection and Concealment of Defense Information, and Article 2153, Chapter 105, Acts of Aggression against Federation vessels, and hereby revoke all rights previously granted. Shut down your engines and relinquish your weapons…"

As the officer spoke Alister slammed his fist against the wall. "This is bullshit!"

"Acts of Aggression against Federation Vessels?!" Jr. asked in shock.

The man continued, "Furthermore, should the Miltian Government allow the Kukai Foundation to dock the Durandal, we will issue a state of emergency notice under Article 2384, Chapter 115, Part 18…"

As he continued again, Alister glowered up at the man as Allen wondered worriedly, "W-what in the world is going on?"

Alister sneered in response. "It looks like your government is headed by a bunch of fucktards, that's what! What the hell is this crap!? Acts of Aggression my ass! The only acts of aggression so far are those damn monsters and these A-holes!"

Chaos frowned and added, "In simpler terms, it seems they think the Durandal conspired with the Miltian Government in an attack on the Federation fleet."

"Huh?" Shion responded dumbfounded. "What Federation fleet?"

"Hey!" Mary exclaimed. "Check out the news network on the sub-monitor! You're not gonna believe this!"

As a new screen popped up, a news reel played showing the same video of the Durandal attacking the 117th Fleet that parliament watched, with a reporter narrating, "On the morning of the twenty-first, it appears that the 117th Marine Division flagship Woglinde, of the Galaxy Federation's Tessedora division, came under attack by a heavily armed ship belonging to the Kukai Foundation." The footage then showed the Durandal's photon torpedoes ripping the Woglinde to pieces.

"The Woglinde?!" Shion mentioned in shock.

Alister clenched his fists to the point of shaking. "This…this is-"

Mirajane put a hand on his shoulder. "I think that's enough for now."

Alister sighed and then grumbled again. "But this is such BS. It wasn't these guys that attacked the fleet, it was those dam-er, blasted," Alister calmed himself as Mirajane frowned at him, "Gnosis, things. These guys had nothing to do with it."

Shion then wondered, "I thought the Gnosis attack had been reported already."

Alister snarled with a shrug, "Yeah, well apparently some bureaucrat dropped the ball on this one big time."

Salcito sighed in annoyance. "I've seen this before."

"What are you talking about?" Shion asked.

"In the first few years of the war with the Covenant, in an effort to keep peace among the civilian population, the UNSC modified all footage of battles against them to show Insurrectionist troops instead of the Covenant. The war is a little less secret now to the general population but a few decades ago the only way someone could see uncut footage of battles was through hacking. And my guess is…"

John then added, "They altered this footage to show the Durandal causing that destruction instead of the Gnosis."

Alister sighed heavily in anger. "Great, so we basically just trade one group of A-holes for another one. Wonderful. Why are humans such dicks?" He glanced at MOMO and offered, "Be glad you're not technically one of us, otherwise you'd inherit the A-hole gene too."

"I think know isn't the time for jokes like that," chaos offered.

Alister glared at the dark-skinned young man. "Then what the f…crap are we supposed to do!? Look at this! If something goes wrong and any one of us, me, John, or Salcito, end up dead because of these fools you are going the universe's most powerful, largest, and most pissed off navy beating down your door with a jackhammer. And trust me, the last thing you want is a whole army of Spartans charging at you for killing three of their own. You think that just John is a pain in the ass, wait 'til you get thirty or more with weapons that make you look small tryin' to blow you to Kingdom Come and try again."

Chaos frowned. "I'm aware of that, but what if we just tell them the truth?"

"You're too trusting friend, they'll just say we were coaxed, or, hell, that we were in on it. Plus I'm sure that while they haven't outlawed them, guilds like Erza and Mira's aren't exactly the Federation's best buds, so any chance to knock them down a peg would be like open season. Believe it or not, most humans are loving, kind people like you and the others. Most are selfish, impudent jerks waiting for the right time to build the right pile of bodies to get ahead. And something tells me these guys are looking to make us part of that pile."

MOMO frowned as she looked up at Jr., then to Ziggy. "Ziggy…are we going to be alright?"

Alister answered for him. "Don't make any promises Zig. But I'll tell you this MOMO, you see those two?" He pointed to John and Salcito, "Add in me and you got three badasses between you and those jerks. So I wouldn't worry too much. Plus to these guys you're too important to hurt, so they'd probably just shoot us out an airlock instead." He then grinned at her, "But I'll be sure to take a few of 'em on the ride with me."

The news report then continued as the footage looped. "The company has been identified as operating in conjunction with the Second Miltian Government. And considerations for the possibilities of treason have forced the Federation Parliament to dispatch a fleet…"

"They certainly modified the footage well," Mirajane observed.

"But that leaves a bigger question," chaos added, "how did they synchronize the battle coordinates as well?"

"Damn!" Jr. shouted.

Haruka sneered in disgust. "They obviously took the footage from when we battled U-TIC."

Clair nodded. "Seems they have observers everywhere."

Gaignun, who was also standing with the group, observed the video calmly. "I see. That would explain how the absolute coordinates match. I guess that's their indisputable proof. Even I'm starting to think that we did it."

Ziggy looked at Gaignun puzzled. "Considering the situation, you don't sound very worried."

Shelley turned to Jr. and said. "In any event, this is confirmation that the remnants of the U-TIC Organization have infiltrated both the Federation government and the military."

"Which means…" Jr. began, "their next target is…" He then glanced down to the standing area below and looked at MOMO, who was looking at the video worriedly.

"This is such a blatant lie," Shion argued, "it's ludicrous! As survivors, if we testify-"

"Weren't you listening to Alister?" Gaignun asked. "They'll just claim that you survived because you were in on the conspiracy."

"This is insane," Allen shouted.

Alister sighed, "I already said that Altair."

"Grr, it's…oh nevermind! But, do you think this is why headquarters hasn't communicated with us?"

The Federation fleet continued to encircle the Foundation outside, getting into positions specifically for easy destruction, as the Foundation was boarded by a group of Federation ships.

On the Durandal's bridge, the elevator lifted up to reveal three people onboard, multiple soldiers and a female commanding officer. A woman with short, dark brown hair tied in two small twintails on the sides of her head with metal clips, her bangs swept to one side, brown eyes, and a gray and beige officer's uniform. "I am Captain Lapis Roman of the Galaxy Federation's Special Ops Command Headquarters, Intelligence Bureau. I hereby place this ship under custody of the Galaxy Federation.

The soldiers ran through the bridge, arresting everyone there.

Two people ran up to John and just stopped, lifting up the cuffs. He turned to Roman and mumbled. "Uhh…Captain. We don't have cuffs that big."

Lapis just sighed as she tossed the man retractable cuffs.

The man turned back and gulped. "Now, uh, don't…do anything…uhm, crazy. Okay, mister giant?"

John responded wordlessly by sticking out his hands close together.

The man nodded after a moment's pause and put the cuffs on John.

"I understand you're from the Woglinde," Roman began, addressing Allen and Shion. "I'll take you in as witnesses."

"Hold on," Shion argued. "We're not the only ones." She motioned to John, Alister, Salcito, Murasaki, and Homura.

Roman shook her head. "They're military, my job is to bring in unaffiliated parties. Also, those three aren't my concern. All Vector property will be temporarily confiscated as evidence."

"KOS-MOS…" Shion mumbled in concern.

Using their guns, the soldiers motioned everyone towards the door.

One of the men jabbed Alister in the side of the ribs to get him moving. Alister turned back to the man and grumbled, he then heard a small shout and looked ahead, one of the men had knocked over Murasaki when she froze in place. Alister sneered as the man shouted, "Get up!"

"Hey!" Alister shouted back. "Cut it out!" Everyone froze as Alister's body suddenly disintegrated, as if turning to ashes, as the ashes sped over towards Murasaki and the two soldiers. His body then rematerialized in front of them as he punched the one that hit Murasaki in the head, sending him flying, kicking the other in the gut with the same result.

Most were frozen in place at what had just occurred, and even Alister himself was amazed, right before he felt a sudden pressure on the back of his head followed by darkness.

Roman stood behind the fallen Alister with her pistol in a reverse hold, right after she knocked him out. "Fool."

"Here's the 100-Series Realian under warrant," one of the soldiers reported as the others were gathered at the bridge's rear elevator. He roughly grabbed MOMO by the hand and attempted to pull her up the ramp, the young girl fighting with all her might to get free.

"Hey, don't hurt her!" Jr. shouted while flailing to get free, before getting a knockout punch to the back of the head as a reward for escaping.

Roman then began giving out her orders. "Detain them in a single room and watch them carefully."

"All of them?" a soldier asked confused.

"Splitting them up will
only serve to underman our guardposts. Investigate as much of the ship as possible before we rendezvous with the others."

The man saluted and gave the typical military answer before the group, including their two unconscious members, were hauled over to the elevator.

Roman then turned to Gaignun. "Gaignun Kukai, you are hereby under arrest for suspicion of treason against the Galaxy Federation. Come with me."

"As you wish," Gaignun responded plainly.

Inside a room in the Durandal's civilian sector, Alister slowly came to.

After a few moments he finally woke up and realized where he was, sitting up in haste as he looked around.

"Calm down," Mirajane said calmly as she patted his shoulder.

Alister sighed and then turned around, seeing that he had actually been resting on Murasaki's lap. He nodded appreciatively to her before standing up. "So, just where are we?"

"In one of the Durandal's rooms, you should recognize it, it's yours apparently," Jr. remarked.

Alister looked around as he realized it was. "Well…that was stupid."

Shion raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

Alister waved a hand. "Right now I don't think that it's too important. Any idea how long I was out?"

"About half an hour," Ziggy answered.

"So that's half an hour we've lost." Alister turned to John and Salcito. "You guys make any headways with the Dawn Under Heaven?"

Salcito shook his head. "No, our communications have been jammed. So for now we can't update them on the situation. And that would be bad if they wandered into this mess."

Alister nodded in return. "There are far too many ways that could go belly-up."

Ziggy agreed with a nod. "Yes. But something bothers me."

"Oh really?" Alister asked flatly.

Ziggy shook his head. "I don't mean that. I mean, it's all orchestrated too well."

"Huh?" Shion responded dumbly.

"The fleet deployment came too quickly."

Alister put a hand on his chin. "Come to think of it…you've got a point. I remember looking at your starmaps and that Fifth Jerusalem place is waay too far away to launch a fleet that size, from that location only shortly after hearing about the situation. It would take at least a week for things to get moving."

Ziggy nodded. "Yes, they must have been prepared to ensure that MOMO would return to them regardless of what happened. Or perhaps ensnaring Second Miltia was part of their plan from the very beginning."

Jr. nodded and then added to the conversation, "As a neutral territory, Second Miltia was invested with a whole bunch of rights and legal privileges after the Miltian Conflict. There are a whole lot of folks who still have problems with that, even outside of the U-TIC Organization."

"Unbelievable. So more bureaucratic pettiness is leading to individual people getting put in danger so they can settle their pathetic squabbles. Seems that even an entirely different civilization of people still have the same problems," Alister interjected angrily.

Ziggy nodded in agreement to the disgruntled soldier's remarks. "The asteroid where MOMO was imprisoned, I wondered where the information about that place came from. Now it seems like it was all part of the plan from the very beginning."

"Do you mean…" MOMO began, "from when Mommy sent you to rescue me?"

Chaos then supposed surprised, "You don't think there are U-TIC members within the Subcommittee itself…?"

Allen leaned over as he pondered, "It's not inconceivable. Perhaps it was the very person who arranged for MOMO's rescue, Dr. Juli Mizrahi herself…"

"No!" MOMO argued vehemently, "Mommy would never do something like that!"

"Allen!" Shion chided.

Alister just chuckled. "Way to go genius."

Allen then began to sputter weakly. "I…uh…sorry…"

Alister ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Well, for now I think the most important thing is getting out of here."

"And just how do you plan on doing that?" Clair asked chidingly.

Alister just smirked as he walked over to a section of wall and kicked it.

"Hey!" Jr. snarled, it was his ship after all.

The section of wall swung open and Alister showed off the weapons inside.

"But…how…?" Shion asked puzzled.

As Alister pulled out an assault rifle and tossed it to John he explained, "Simple: I brought them with me. Turns out a bit of ingenuity, a big ol' case from a mobile suit, and a robolady with a laser sword can get a lot done."

"Robolady…?" Shion mumbled before flinching. "KOS-MOS?! Why would you have her do something like that?!"

Alister shrugged. "I needed a place to put this stuff where no one else would find it, and she seemed more than happy, er, as happy as an emotionless battle machine can be, to help me. I think she gets some sick thrill out of property destruction. Plus there's something else that helped me…"

"Which is…?" Homura insisted.

Alister sighed and took off his gloves, revealing a strange, complex circular design drawn on the back. As he put his glove back on, he explained, "It's a sort of relic from the world where my great-grandmother was born. While my grandfather always entertained with stories of adventure and lunacy, my grandmother had items a little more basic and useful."

"Like what?" Shion asked.

Alister smirked in response. "Magic and alchemy."

"M-magic?!" Allen shouted.

"Yes, Alister, magic," Alister responded.

"That's your own damn name!"

Alister ignored him as he placed his hand on a glass on the table. Blue energy sparked from the glass before it reshaped into something completely different, a pile of sand.

Shion and the others gasped. MOMO then shouted excitedly, "That's just like what Jr. can do!"

"M-MOMO!" Jr. snarled hastily before sighing.

Alister folded his arms. "So I was right, that was alchemy."

"You…you saw that?"

"I did."

Jr. grumbled as he got off the seat he was reclining on. "Yeah, I can do that too. It's a bit more limited than that, and it doesn't really have a name beyond 'a power I can use' but that's what it is."

Alister nodded in return before going back to his gun case.

Jr. looked at him puzzled. "What, you're not going to shout or anything?"

"Why would I?" Alister asked bluntly. "I don't see any reason to get angry. I can do the same thing, but I kept it hidden too. I usually do."

"And, what about that magic stuff?"

Alister shook his head. "Aside from those lightning abilities and that weird…ash thing I did earlier I can't do much. The most I can really do is heal a few simple wounds and injuries or cast a floating light bulb. Like I said, what she taught me was stuff used for practical purposes, I didn't learn any combat magic."

Shion asked curiously, "So then how are you using those other powers?"

Alister shrugged. "Not sure, there's an old legend from that planet that may apply but last time I checked I don't have a weird crystal in my body nor was I raised by a dragon."

"Raised by a…do they exist?"

"They did. But it's been at least a thousand years, if the stories that my grandma told me were true. Anyway, if you don't mind I'd rather drop this subject and get to work on getting out of here."

Roman walked through the halls of the Durandal with Gaignun behind her, suddenly stopping and turning to him. She handed him a small black box and ordered, "Open it."

He picked up the box and shook it, hearing a ringing sound from inside, before opening the box and pulling out a phone. He looked at the number surprised and answered it. "Helmer?"

Inside his office, Representative Helmer sat with a phone in his hand. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Gaignun. I'm in a somewhat difficult position myself at the moment, but I'm doing what I can with the Federation Parliament."

Gaignun stood next to Roman as Helmer continued.

"Now the woman beside you is Captain Lapis Roman. Several years ago, I sent her to infiltrate the military in order to keep tabs on the U-TIC members within it."

Gaignun turned to Lapis as she saluted, he returning her gesture with a nod.

"She is one of my most trusted subordinates."

"Always prepared, aren't you?" Gaignun asked knowingly.

"Caution is something that comes naturally with age."

Back in his office, Helmer continued speaking as he looked over a screen with different sets of information on it. "Captain Roman will investigate the Durandal's records before someone modifies them."

Gaignun nodded as Helmer added, "Please assist her."

"Understood," Gaignun answered plainly. "I'll give her the Durandal's master key."

Back within Helmer's office, an attendant walked up to him. "Sir. There's an EPR com from the CEO of Vector."

"Vector?" he asked surprised. "Alright. I'll take it." He then refocused on Gaignun. "If you'll excuse me. I'll let you know if there are any developments."

"Busy as always," Gaignun responded sarcastically.

"Not half as much as you," Helmer retorted with a light chuckle. He then hung up and leaned back in his chair in thought as an image came up of Wilhelm.

The white-haired man greeted, "It's good to see you again, Representative Helmer."

Alright then, that finishes up this chapter. Let me know what you guys though of it in a review, if you could. Even if you didn't like it just something so I know what to do here.