Reina and Shinonome stood next to Zachariah, whom was laid unconscious in the medical bay. Frontal's onslaught and battle experience got the best of him, the Mirage Frame was nearly destroyed and Zachariah lost his right arm completely. Shinonome, who rescued him after the battle, was completely devastated. She stayed by his side almost the whole time since he entered the medical bay. She held his left hand and watched over him silently as the doctors operated on him to fix any other puncture wound caused by flying debris. Luckily, the beam saber Zachariah was cut by cauterized the wound, otherwise he would've bled to death long before he could've gotten help in time.
Reina left after a while and drifted around the ship, "why does this happen to people who try to protect me," she asked herself constantly. Remembering, Apollo's apparent death to save the Eternal and now Zachariah paid the price with his future as a mobile suit pilot. All just to make sure that she would live. It sickened her every time she thought them. As she walked around she saw Shirou looking out one of the panoramic windows. "What are you doing here," she asked him.
"Just...," he paused and begun to break down in tears. After the events of the last few days, Shirou wasn't the same bright face as when he first boarded the Eternal. Reina remembered that Shirou lost more in the last three days than anyone else on this ship. First, his lifelong friend dies right in front of him in a situation out of his control. More recently, his comrades from the academy were slaughtered by their encounter with the Sinanju and the Kshatriya. As Reina realized this, she felt empathy for him knowing they and many others aboard the Eternal were in the same situation. "Why does it have to be like this, " he cried, "first, Apollo, then Atlas, Crow, Dylan..." Shirou's words were broken up as he tried to choke them past his tears. He was interrupted as Reina wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
"I know, I know, we all lost our friends out there, " Reina assured him. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she remembered Zachariah's disfigured body and her memories with Apollo, "we just have to be strong for those we still have left." Shirou held her close and cried into her shoulder. Reina rested her head against Shirou's as they embraced. "Apollo, told me when we first met that as long as he was there we'd be alright," Reina said looking into his reddened eyes, "now I'll tell you as long as I'm here that maybe things won't be great, but at least you'll have a shoulder to cry on." She tried to hold back the tears, but as she remembered Apollo's face as he left the Eternal the last time, she couldn't help but let them flow.
Shirou looked at her past teary eyes and rest his head on Reina's shoulder. Reina ran her hand through his gray and white hair brought his head closer to her. Shinonome was excused from the medical bay and saw the two still locked in their embrace while on her way back to her quarters. She checked on them to see if they were still awake, but they were fast asleep at that point. Shinonome decided to not disturb them because everyone on the Eternal needed some rest, especially those two.
Inside the briefing room, the Captains of the two ships met to discuss their terms and agreements as they worked out a temporary alliance between the two. In the room, Captain Mitas had beside him Banagher Links, the mobile suit pilot for the Gundam Unicorn, and Riddhe Marcenas, another skilled mobile suit pilot. Both are capable soldiers and thus he assigned them to his envoy. Inside the room with the Eternal's Captain Connor was first mate, Atra Trine, a young woman who made it her goal in the academy to be a captain one day like her grandfather, Arthur Trine, a hero during the Third Valentine war and captain of the Minerva.
The two captains ran through all the paperwork to set up a fair agreement between the two ships. The Nahel Argama would contact the Federation's top scientists and engineers to assist the Eternal in finding a way home. In exchange, the Eternal would assist the Nahel Argama in defeating "The Sleeves," an insurrectionist group belonging to the remnants of an organization known as Neo-Zeon. The two shook hands and Captain Connor offered them a tour of the ship. He showed them all the different rooms and quarters aboard the Eternal. More importantly, Captain Mitas, Banagher, and Riddhe wanted to see the Mobile Suit hangar. On the way they passed by Reina and Shirou sleeping in front one of the windows. Atra walked over to them and woke them up. Reina and Shirou quickly got up, readied themselves, and saluted Captain Connor.
"At ease," Connor told them, "Captain Mitas, I'd like you to meet two of our mobile suit pilots, Reina Kimura and Shirou Yamato." They cleaned themselves up a bit and stood at attention.
"Nice to meet you two," Mitas said proudly, "I look forward to working with you and the rest of the crew aboard the Eternal. Links, Marcenas, please step forward." The two men standing behind him strode up front and saluted.
"My name is Banagher Links, it's nice meeting you," Banagher stated. Reina and Shirou realized he wasn't that much older than themselves, same with the other young man standing on the other side of Captain Mitas. Banagher was a young man with brown hair that was swept aside. Unlike his Captain and the other man, he did not wear a gray and red uniform. Instead he wore a black gray jacket over an eggshell colored hoodie.
"My name is Riddhe Marcenas," Riddhe stated, "I've heard plenty about you two from Captain Connor. He holds you two up highly, and it will be an honor working with you." Marcenas unlike his comrade, Banagher, looked a lot more disciplined and wore his uniform proudly. He had blonde hair that was cleanly cut and combed over. He stepped back and waited for further instruction.
"Thank you, Banagher, Riddhe," Mitas said, "now, I want to see what else you have aboard the Eternal."
"Ah, yes, Captain," Connor replied, "well right this way. Reina, Shirou take Banagher and Riddhe to the mobile suit hangar. I'm sure that's all they want to see aboard the Eternal anyways."
"Yes, sir," they replied. The four of them walked off to the hangar while Mitas, Connor and Atra continued exploring the rest of the ship. Banagher, Riddhe, Reina, and Shirou entered the hangar and saw the Mobile Suits being repaired. All that was left after that battle were a couple of Red Astrays for the green horn mobile suit pilots, Shinonome's Blue Frame, Zachariah's Mirage Frame, Shirou's White Frame, and the Gundam Parallel Alpha. Banagher and Riddhe were pretty amazed by their arsenal of mobile suits. The designs shared a lot in common with the Gundam, and there were so many of them. Banagher and Riddhe explored on their own for a bit, Banagher asked the engineers repairing and maintaining the suits about their specs. They soon figured out he was a student at a technical institute who was swept into the conflict between the Federation and Zeon. He really dove into learning how all the machines functioned.
Riddhe on the other hand was like most other soldiers, he rose through the ranks as a respectable soldier. Following orders and growing in his skill in combat and becoming distinguished amongst his peers. Riddhe noticed that among the empty slots left in the hangar, the one next to the Alpha had a label on it, "Omega," he made out as he squinted to read it, "I'm guessing it was the sister unit to the Gundam Alpha." He looked at Reina and Shirou, Reina turned her eyes away from him.
"Yes it was," Reina said with a wavering voice. Riddhe noticed and decided not to continue. She grasped for Shirou's hand and they interlocked.
"I'm sorry if that brought up some bad memories," he replied seriously, "in war we all lose people, that's just how it is. My condolences."
"Thank you, " Reina replied.
Riddhe acknowledged her and turned his attention elsewhere. He joined Banagher and took a look at the mobile suits. Riddhe even climbed into the cockpit of one of the Red Astrays to get a feel for them. Everyone enjoyed the bonding experience. After a couple of hours Captain Mitas and crew left the ship and invited the Captain, mobile suit pilots and others to have a tour of the Nahel Argama. Captain Connor, Shinonome, and Nina left the Eternal to take a look at the inner workings of the Nahel Argama.
Now alone in her living quarters and many of her burdens lifted off her, Reina rested peacefully.