Update: Tweaked/rewritten August 2020

Working with Egotistical Fools

Eclipse got into Morgenroete just fine, at least better than she thought she would. Kirston's ID worked, which was obviously a good thing, but at first the weapon was afraid the guards were actually going to take a blood sample. She had managed to fill a small vial at the last second, but the exact specifics on how to make sure they had taken Kirston's blood and not her own as still being churned in her mind. The guards decided at the last second to just let her go through, saying something like they only pricked fingers the first few days on the job and then at different intervals throughout the year.

More lucky streaks for Eclipse it seemed. The thing was though, when would they run out?

She didn't want to think about it.

Kirston's office wasn't too far inside. Actually, it was through the first door. That was a relief mainly because Eclipse didn't want to be wandering around and looking like a fool. She felt eyes on her back as it was. Perhaps she was just being paranoid? I hope so, she thought and pulled out the rolling chair to sit down.

There were a wide variety of sticky notes plastered on papers and scattered about the desk. Colors ranged from black (white ink) all the way to her least favorite color pink. She figured that each sector had a different color and looking at the pink one now, she kind of dreaded what kind of area that was. The black looked promising so she picked up that one first.

Reading the note silently, she looked at the papers and slid over to the filing cabinet. She opened the drawer, looked through the folders, found the one she was looking for, took out the needed papers and put the ones in her hands inside. I guess I should look like I'm doing some sort of work. Sliding back to the desk she grabbed the next bunch of papers and did the same thing.

She stood up in order to reach the top drawer and pulled it out carefully. This paper, one having the green note, had the brief mention of metal attachments, but nothing more. Figuring that she might be on to something, she fiddled through the other papers in the folder. One of them looked promising. She pulled it halfway out and glanced over it briefly, keeping her ears open to any sound that might alert her to another employee. As she hoped, it was a list of shipping records.

Perfect.

Glancing down at her watch she couldn't help but smirk. She was about twenty minutes into her shift and already she found something of use.

She switched the papers, taking out the shipping records along with the needed ones and slid back over to the desk and computer. She jiggled the mouse, causing the sickening screensaver that said "Morgenroete" in bold letters and bounced endlessly from corner to corner to disappear. The background itself was relatively plain. Eclipse was surprised at first because knowing Kirston, it would've been something amusing or flashy at least. Maybe she just didn't have enough time to settle in yet. There were a few interesting icons littering the screen, and she ended up clicking one that had the same department number as one of the sectors that was receiving shipments.

The glass door slid open. "Miss, could you direct me to Department 25B?"

Eclipse looked up at the bushy-eyed and scraggly bearded gentleman before flashing her "Miss Universe Pageant" smile. "Of course."

No matter how close she was to the information, she was even closer to getting caught.

It wasn't a comforting feeling.

"You set up Eclipse's computer, right? She'd be pretty angry if you didn't," Chronos asked, taking the binoculars from his teammate. The two of them were lying hidden in a small wooden area on a hill that overlooked Morgenroete. The position was ideal, to say the least, but only if the person spying was only looking at the buildings around the eastern edge of the complex. Either it was purposeful or just plain stupidity that the two of them were on the wrong side. Eclipse's building was on the outermost edge of the western half.

They probably did it on purpose.

"Yes, I set it up, Chronos, so stop worrying. I know the temper of our little redheaded pet and have no intention of striking that match." Avalanche scowled as he responded, pulling at the collar of his blue T-shirt. The two of them wore the common, blue jeans and shirt to keep away suspicion, but being sprawled out on the ground didn't make any material fit comfortably.

"If you don't plan on pissing her off then what the hell are we doing here? You know we're in the wrong area."

"She won't be angry once we're through with everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If the girl wants to play secret agent then so be it. I have no reason to stop her."

"But—"

"I'm not just going to let her steal all the glory for this one."

"All the glory? Avalanche, this mission has nothing to do with—"

"Did you know that whoever comes back with the most information or has the most valuable info will be allowed the leave Januarias 4? Just think, Chronos. If we sneak in and find the suits, maybe take one or two, or even get some data from the things personally we'd be able to leave that hell hole." Avalanche paused and looked over at his comrade. He scanned his face for any kind of acceptance or perhaps eagerness, but saw only confusion.

However, that confusion had potential.

The temptation of getting out of that damned facility was too much for any weapon to resist, even one as detached as Chronos. Everyone knew of the horrors and the nightmares alone would make any individual grow unstable. In fact, Avalanche figured that most of the recruits back at the compound were in fact going insane.

Hell, maybe even he was.

Then again maybe he just hated Eclipse so much that putting her up as bait didn't bother him in the least. She was, after all, the one to bump him from his throne as number one at the place.

Pride tended to lash out when wounded.

"Chronos, just think. No more executions, no more tortures. No more punishments for something as little as forgetting to make your bed in the morning."

The boy's eyes were widening and Avalanche had to cover up his smirk. The part about getting out of their prison was true enough, but they would most likely be thrown headfirst into the war and considering what they were trained to do, nightmares and bloodshed seemed to be the only promising things to look forward to.

Not like Chronos needed to know that.

"Chronos, we'd be free. Remember what that was like? To be able to wake up when you want to or eat as often as you like? To be able to be your own master?" If it was a musical, he probably would've broken out in song about all the pleasantries of being free to do as you wish. And lucky Chronos was the one being serenaded. "Do this with me and you can have all of that back again."

"But that's disobeying orders." Good for him. He was holding his ground.

"No, it's not. We're getting the information and bringing it back to the commander."

"But—" The younger of the two continued to hesitate. There was a part of him that trusted Eclipse to come back with some information and then they could all go to Commander Le Creuset together to get rewarded. He knew that she wouldn't fail them and if she did get some information, it may lead to the actual position of the mobile suits and later on they could get more solid evidence. They would all return and receive the highest honors for executing the mission so flawlessly.

He actually believed that it might happen.

However, that small ounce of trust that he held for Eclipse was nowhere to be found when it involved Avalanche. Sure, he was one of the top-ranked recruits back at the facility, but this was a totally different environment. All Avalanche had shown Chronos was that he was rash and hot headed, but not the same way that Eclipse was. Eclipse had come to control her emotions a little better than Avalanche did. Knowing that, Chronos just couldn't trust him. But what if his trust for Eclipse was ill-placed and she bolted after completing her shift, information in hand? What if she just abandoned them there and took all the credit when she saw the commander? They'd never know. At least not until it was too late. If he followed Avalanche his freedom might be guaranteed. When he heard Eclipse's plan at first, he didn't like it, but she soon talked him into it. Those fears were returning.

She could fail and they would never have another chance.

"Fine, I'll help you. What did you have in mind?"

Avalanche smiled; he couldn't help it. The strings were tied to the puppet and all the master had to do was move them as he pleased. "Here, put this on." He pulled a pair of orange slacks and an orange jacket with a white collar from the bag he had brought along.

Chronos blinked, grabbed the clothing and saw Avalanche pull another set out. "How long have you been planning this?"

"Not long, but I wasn't sure if you were going to help or not." He slipped a shoulder holster with a handgun over his left side, adjusting it to fit snugly. "If you didn't, I had this."

Eclipse checked her watch one more time, sighing only slightly. It had been almost three hours since she last found any valuable information and she was getting a little tired if not antsy. The shipping records had shown her the areas that the parts were constructed, but no signs of the suits themselves. The parts seemed to have been put together, even though she still wasn't sure, so how hard could it be to find 60-foot robots?

Apparently, really hard.

She had confirmed that there were five of them, the names, and even the pilot data, but nothing more than that. Armaments weren't listed, at least not where she was looking, so she hadn't found anything of real substance. There were only a few more areas that she could look, but the longer she spent on the computer and looking through files, the faster her cover faded. Given she wasn't doing too bad of a job as Kirston McGumery, but if someone came along that really knew her target, she would be in a huge amount of trouble.

Avalanche was right in saying that she didn't tail Kirston long enough.

"Miss, could you drop this off at Sector 32D? Thank you." The man didn't even bother waiting for her to answer. He just dropped the pages off on the desk and walked away as if no other explanation was needed. Well, if Eclipse worked there full time then there probably wouldn't have been a need for one.

She glanced briefly over the papers, pushed them aside with the other errands, and went back to the computer. Eclipse had already made a trek around the campus and didn't plan on making another one for about another hour. Whoever was in Sector 32D would just have to wait.

There was one more area on the computer that she could check for the prototypes and with her luck, not matter how well it was doing lately, the last area that she looked would be what she wanted. Then again, when you find what you're looking for isn't it in the last place you look? Funny how ironic that statement was.

She double-clicked on the folder named "Sector 29B" and waited for the computer to load. She looked over at the errands once more and absently flipped through them. Morgenroete actually had their hands in quite a few pies and even if Kirston was primarily receiving superficial data, Eclipse had been recognizing products and terminology from things ranging from drug trials and requests for research supplies involving nuclear waste.

Looking at the stack of papers the, Eclipse wondered when she would have enough time to hack into the computer and deliver the papers. If she could just have some time to herself instead of having people come in at crucial moments, she wouldn't have to quit every time someone came close to seeing what she was doing.

A separate page pulled up onto the screen and a giant, grey box flashing white letters that said, "Clearance password, please." Why the hell do computers always feel the need to be so polite? The weapon wished she knew.

Another secretary came in then, startling Eclipse as she stopped what she had been doing. They had a brief chat where she introduced herself as Gilly. The introduction made Eclipse think that it was her first day on this side of the complex and, no doubt, she was going to be really surprised when she would meet a very different Kirston. "I've been assigned to help Daine today and she asked me to come and check up on you." Eclipse arched an eyebrow at that comment, knowing full well that Daine was not just a colleague but also a supervisor in some aspect. Gilly must have noticed the look and shrugged apologetically. "I just follow orders."

Eclipse knew that feeling well.

"I'm a little behind on my errands, but I seem to be up to date on everything else." Eclipse pointed to the stack of papers next to her. "They should be sorted within the hour though, if you wanted to assure Daine."

Gilly nodded thoughtfully and reached out, taking half of the stack ad nodding. "Don't want to go back to my desk just yet," she confessed and Eclipse gave a knowing smile.

"I appreciate it. If you run into any trouble, just bring it back and I can sort it later."

Nodding, Gilly gave a final wave and walked off, her final phrase of "Keep up the good work," fading from her lips as she moved out of sight.

Shrugging, Eclipse went back to what she had been trying to do before. There were ways to get around passwords and Eclipse knew most of them, but those methods might alert someone to her position and her intentions. That was just something that couldn't happen. Leaning back in her chair, she thought for a few moments on what a possible password could be. She wished now more than ever that she could have gotten some passwords from Kirston before she put her down. A couple jumped to mind and she tried them, but both flashed back "Denied."

An idea struck and she took out her, well Kirston's, ID. Flipping it over, she glanced at the number on the bottom. In order to get into a sector, a worker had to get their ID scanned. What if the authorization wasn't only in the barcode but in the numbers listed as well? If that was the case, then perhaps the password was listed in the sequence. Also, since Kirston was most likely allowed into the databases for each sector, she should have the right set of numbers.

Oh great. It was going to be a guessing game.

Taking a few things into account, like the sector number and letter, Eclipse began punching in some numbers. The computer wouldn't let her go past six numbers, so that made things a little easier, but only a little.

A half hour passed before Eclipse finally found the right one. It surprised her at first, thinking that her mind was just playing a cruel game, but when a whole new page opened, she almost wished that an employee would walk through the door so she could wrap him or her in a hug. Scrolling through the pages nearly made her faint.

Everything was there.

Reaching down to her left shoe, she pulled it off and took out the memory stick at the bottom. There weren't metal detectors around the facility, so that was the reason she had gotten inside with it, but they did require her to dump out her purse. The shoe was the best spot. Finding the correct slot in the computer she stuck it in and waited as the computer loaded it in. Opening one of the files on the stick, she also began downloading a program onto the computer.

Well a virus was more like it.

She knew that all the computers were connected to a main system somewhere on the facility, but seeing as she was getting away with so much so far, no one was there in the room making sure things were going alright. That she was sure of. The virus would allow the weapon to access the material from her laptop, but infect any computer that tried to track where that information was going. It took three passwords to open up the information and Eclipse punched those in when the virus asked.

Once that was all set, she closed the program, removed her equipment and began planning her way out. When in doubt, fake sickness.

Her phone began vibrating before she could even attempt to make herself vomit. Did she bring too much attention to herself? Was she about to be caught?

Did she fail?

Snatching the thing from her waist, she flipped it open and read the message. Read it twice actually. "We found them. Not assembled. They're in Sector 29B. There's a warship here too. We'll get information on that."

What the hell is Avalanche doing inside? Wait, we? Does that mean Chronos is with him? My God, they're going to get caught! Idiots! As if on cue, loud sirens started ringing throughout the complex, echoing off each other like one air raid warning. Eclipse froze. Damn them! Damn them both to Hell! She thought of a few worse phrases, but decided not to say them. What good would they do? She had to get out and fast otherwise she was as good as caught.

Some of the other workers were walking past her desk, heading to the outside. They were talking quickly to each other, shouting questions, but none of them receiving any answers. One even asked Eclipse but she just shrugged and shook her head.

Armed guards were running towards the glass door, both prepared to control traffic as well as keep anyone suspicious from leaving. If they blocked her now, they'd definitely get that blood sample.

No way.

She grabbed her purse, wrote a sloppy, but quick note to Diane and Gilly about feeling sick, shut off the computer (almost violently) and fled towards the rear of the building before anyone could stop her. Damnit! Fools! The both of them fools! Shouting at them in her head was the only way to keep her sane. She prayed that they weren't caught and only spotted, but if they were seen it would only be a matter of minutes before they were trapped. She knew the guards of the place were at least good enough to do that. Hangar. I have to get to the hangar. It has the most open space and has the largest amount of people. All the hallways led to the main hangar of the building and knowing that each sector had its own hangar, the weapon was quite confident she would find it eventually.

She ran on, glad that she picked some flats instead of something with heels. At one point she had to stop and take out the memory stick so that it wouldn't fall out, but also because it was just so damned uncomfortable.

Some groups of people were heading in the opposite direction down the hall, muttering things like Sector 29B and mechanics, but nothing more. Eclipse didn't need to hear any of it.

She already knew.

She slowed to a fast walk, not wanting to draw any attention to herself, but almost broke out into a sprint again when she saw the open door to the hangar. The guards were already inside and ushering the people to one area, but some seemed to be giving them a hard time. More were flooding in through the surrounding doors to add to the chaos and Eclipse almost heaved a sigh of relief.

She was a good as gone.

"Kirston!"

Or not. Damnit.

Eclipse turned towards the voice and saw none other than Kirston's beloved Kharl waving at her. Why the hell didn't she say anything about working with him? If he came any closer, he was bound to see the difference and if he kept pointing her out like that, the guards would notice if she tried to sneak out.

When her luck fell it plummeted.

She tried not to make eye contact the first time he shouted her name, pretending not to hear him. Although, he was practically screaming at the top of his lungs.

Well, for right now Kirston was going to be deaf.

A door. She had to find a door to the outside. That was her only option. The guards were finally getting everyone settled down and beginning to scan the hangar for some more stragglers. Kharl called her name again and she just ignored him, but he was getting close enough that she couldn't keep up the ruse for much longer. A sliding door on the opposite side had opened briefly to let in a few guards and it led right where she needed to be.

Outside.

"Kirston!" She couldn't allow him to get any closer.

Faking sudden interest in her purse, Eclipse began fishing through it. "Shit, my ID!" She bolted back through the door and out of sight.

Kharl stopped. He looked as if he didn't know what to do. Seeing as the bluehead never really responded he wasn't sure whether or not it was his ex. One of his worker buddies called him back over before he could debate things any further and with one final look he turned away.

Gorgeous and dumb. Seductive but a very deadly combination.

Some military four-wheelers and crates covered her flight and she was outside in a matter of minutes. The guards had no idea, which was even better, but she still had to get out of the complex. She remembered reading something about an emergency gate located near the east side of the compound. That's probably how they got in, she thought and decided to head in that direction. If they killed the guard than I can only hope that no one thought to look over there yet. It's my only chance.

No matter how much shit they had gotten her into, Eclipse was still relying on them to get her out alive.

Ironic.

As she hoped, the guard was dead and the area clear. There wasn't even a watch tower nearby.

Stupid on their part.

Once out, she ran until she was far enough away to feel relatively safe. Just like with the flats, she was so glad that she grabbed pants instead of the skirt that she was debating with. That would've been hell if not embarrassing.

Making her way back to Kirston's she considered her next move. She had to give the girl two more pills to keep her out until the next day and prayed that Eclipse's little note gave Kirston enough leeway to keep her job. Then again Kharl had noticed her, but perhaps he convinced himself that it really wasn't the target. If that was the case Kirston might have a chance. After drugging the secretary, she had to get back to her apartment and grab everything before contacting Stanley. Hopefully he could put her in contact with Commander Le Creuset and then she'd be free.

Yeah, if it was only that easy.

Walking around the corner to the apartment complex, Eclipse found the key and opened the door once she arrived. Taking the stairs two at a time, she threw open the apartment and rushed to Kirston's bedroom. The target still seemed to be sleeping soundly, which was a relief, but the weapon knew that she didn't have much time. Running back to her purse she grabbed the prescription bottle, took out two pills, and went to get a glass of water. Crushing them, she poured the powder into the glass and helped the liquid flow into her mouth and down her throat.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered before getting to her feet and going to the bathroom to change into her original clothing. Tossing Kirston's things back into her closet, the weapon put some things into her purse and switched them back again. Once the hat covered her hair she was gone.

Nothing disturbed her on the walk back. In fact, things were quite peaceful. If the memory of those sirens wasn't so clear Eclipse might have even thought that it was just another ordinary day.

Hah, ordinary. That's a good one.

Putting the key into the lock, the weapon headed right upstairs to their room and locked the door behind her. Everything seemed relatively unmoved, so at least the police didn't know too much already. Her laptop, along with the boys', was lying neatly on the cots and if it wasn't for the predicament it would've looked quite picturesque.

Rushing over to her things, she found the folder with Stanley's number on it and pulled out Kirston's cell phone. Sadly, the girl wasn't meant to get everything back. She'd have to break it after the call.

She explained the situation using as many "codes" as she and Stanley was able to understand before closing the phone and gathering up her things. Stanley was going to pick her up in about a half hour and take her to the harbor. Both of them hoped that it wasn't closed due to the break in.

The half hour didn't pass fast enough, but as soon as the weapon saw a blue vehicle pull up to the apartment she let out a breath. Grabbing her phone and the boys' laptops she walked into the bathroom and tossed them in the water-filled tub beside their drowning and smashed hard drives. She would have liked to keep them, but she needed as little of baggage as she could handle. Stanley glowered at her once she reached the bottom, probably having heard more about the incident since she had spoken to him. She didn't say anything further and just threw Avalanche's and Chronos's bags at him. He caught them and threw them in the back while she climbed in.

Apparently, things had settled down at Morgenroete and the criminals apprehended, or so the news said. The security representatives were so confident everything was taken care of that they didn't feel the need to close the harbor. So, pretty much Avalanche and Chronos were caught, probably killed, and Morgenroete thought that the threat to them was over.

How arrogant.

Stanley promised to get rid of Avalanche and Chronos's things as Eclipse boarded the personal shuttle. It was an old, small thing, but as long as it got her to the Vesalius the weapon wasn't about to complain. Having only two boosters and fitting three people snuggly it looked more like an escape pod than a shuttle. Eclipse had put on a bulky, but purposeful orange space suit over her clothes. She knew that it was protocol, but just the thought of sitting for so long in the thing made her scowl.

Stanley finally received a message back from the ship as she was boarding and relayed it to the weapon. She was to meet them in an isolated area outside of Heliopolis's scanning range. Eclipse just had to get to the rendezvous point without incident.

Eclipse listened to a few more instructions before saluting and closing the hatch. A civilian shuttle was about to leave and the weapon was to follow in its shadow, so to speak. If she tried to leave on her own, the sensors would be tripped and she'd be back to square one. Not to mention that Commander Le Creuset wouldn't get his information.

Starting her engines along with the shuttle's, the weapon made one last check of the monitors. Once satisfied she followed the civilians out. Eclipse could almost see their smiling and excited expressions.

She wished she felt like that.

"Now, tell me recruit, why the rush?"

Eclipse arrived safely on the Vesalius, if safely describes nearly passing out from heat exhaustion. Stupid air conditioner. Stupid spacesuit. Vesalius was a large craft, but still one of the smaller classes in the ZAFT military. Then again, because of its size, it is very quick and agile. The Vesalius was a Nazca-class battleship and the newest coming off the ZAFT assembly lines. Oh, it was powerful, at least more powerful than its predecessor the Laurasia-class. There was one of those waiting with the Vesalius and the weapon couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't been spotted yet.

Eclipse had asked to see the commander as soon as possible and had been granted her wish once she was cleaned and changed. She now wore a baggy, green mechanic's suit and black boots. The commander was leaning forward on his desk, his black and white-gloved hands folded neatly out in front. He looked intent on what Eclipse would say next. Considering what she was sent out to do and what had happened, Eclipse probably would've been just as anxious for the answer. "I have the information that you wanted, Commander. As for the rush, blame my partners." Eclipse lifted her laptop and placed it on the desk. It was already on, but she felt that she should wait until she was in the room to actually get the information.

Precautionary measures.

"Tell me what happened and then we can look at what you have." His voice was calm and had an airiness that surprised the weapon. Somehow, she was expecting him to be a little sterner with her. Shrugging the confusion off, she went on to explain what had happened, even going as far as mentioning the reason behind the hair change. Even the commander, despite the circumstances, seemed to chuckle at that. "Alright. It was good of you to get out of there as fast as you could then. Well done, trainee. Show me the information and then you can go get some rest."

The weapon nodded and started typing a few things on her keyboard. The laptop asked her for the three passwords and she typed them in ending with the last one "Rymyr." As far as she knew, the only ones who knew her last name were her and a few others on Januarias 4. Sounded like a safe password to her. The pages flashed up immediately and Eclipse turned the screen so that he could look at it. "Is that all, sir?"

"Yes, thank you, Lunar Eclipse. You may retire for the evening. There should be a free room two doors down to your left in the second hallway. No code is need because no one's in there at the moment. You are dismissed."

She saluted, turned, and then walked out of the cabin. Le Creuset waited until she was gone before going through the information. It was thorough, that was for sure, and more than enough to get the Council's attention. "With honors," he muttered, glancing at the individual pictures of the mobile prototypes and smirking to himself. Graduated with honors.

A/N: Yeah I know, a lot of little sections in this one. Sorry about that. Yeah the beginning might be a little choppy too. Blame the forced writing on that one. Yup, another long one too. Surprise, surprise. I really hope I'm not losing people because of the lengths. Apparently my "hit" numbers are going down. I'm really sorry about that, but it's hard to split something like this up into different chapters. I really don't want to anyway. Shrugs

Next chapter starts episode one in the Gundam SEED Anime! Cheers I've even started writing it already 'cause I'm so excited. Thanks again for everyone who stuck with me through the non-SEED episodes. I hope you enjoyed them because I really liked writing them. Now comes the time where everything has to be perfect and right on the mark. A few things might be changed here and there, but nothing drastic I hope. So far things have been staying pretty close the the anime so I'm not anticipating much.

Oh, I added descriptions of Avalanche and Chronos to chapter 9 (Games) if anyone's interested in going back to look at it. Sorry I didn't put it in before. I really didn't think I'd need to describe them in such detail, but they played a bigger role than previously planned.

LunarRaven666: I'm glad that you've enjoyed the past few chapters, but better than the first ones? C'mon... Haha, just kidding. Thanks for sticking with me and I'm looking forward to your new chapter as well.

And to everyone else, thanks for reading and I hope that you keep doing so!

Strata