Update: Tweaked/rewritten August 2020. Previously titled: Athrun Strikes Back

Backstage Right

Athrun's cockpit opened and the pilot flew out even before the mechanic crew could get there. "H-hey does it need—" The redcoat just passed without a word. Eclipse watched him go through the door to her right, examining his face carefully.

Just like she thought, glossy eyes.

The pilot hadn't been crying yet, but as far as she could tell, he was on the verge. The weapon just sighed. She figured that he was pretty close to at least one of the pilots that had been killed, but still there was something nagging at the back of her mind.

There was something else wrong.

More out of curiosity than anything, Eclipse found herself chasing after him. She wanted to stop him and talk about her suspicions, but she also knew that she had no place to just step in like that. She didn't have the right to do anything. Sometimes Eclipse hated the constant reminder of her rank, but it was so drilled into her mind that there was no other way to look at situations. Ever since the beginning, Vindur had told her, well them all, that they were nothing but tools. Even the thoughts in her head resembled an overstocked computer of military and battle information. Besides, no one cared about them, so why should they return the favor? The state of mind had taken a while to take effect, but ultimately, she had turned into what she was now.

The crying 14-year-old of the past was dead.

Things had gotten so far that she barely remembered her life back in Orb. Her and her brother had been extremely close, but even he was a distant memory. How had it gotten this far? Eclipse didn't know anymore, but no matter how much it scared or bothered her, she would never cry over it.

Some things were beyond even tears.

Athrun left the locker room without even changing out of his spacesuit. Given the situation, it was probably a wise decision—seeing as he could get called to action at any moment—but he looked in no condition to be doing anything let alone attempting to destroy a battleship. Should I ask the commander if I could be let out as well? Eclipse thought, but was already shaking her head before she even finished. There weren't any mobile suits left. One of the machines was practically fixed, but it'd never be ready for battle if the alarm sounded anytime soon.

Stuck watching the television again. Damn reruns.

It was a strange feeling for Eclipse to stand in the doorway leading out to the main hallway and stare at someone who either need a hug, or just needed to be left alone. She had followed Athrun out of the locker room, but still managed to keep an unsuspicious distance away. He finally stopped moving and just stared out one of the side windows.

Should she go over to him?

The weapon wasn't totally sure on her next move, but just standing in the doorway looked quizzical if not dumb. Creepy? Definitely. If she did go over to him the conversation would probably shift over to him being weak for letting his friends die. Not exactly a good first impression.

"Kira."

Kira? Eclipse thought, not recognizing the name. She was positive that no one else aboard had been called that and none of the deceased had anything remotely close. The plot thickens, she joked inwardly, but her humor was short-lived when the pilot hung his head.

A tear?

Now Eclipse felt stupid. She was probably the only crewmember within eyeshot that could even attempt to comfort the redcoat and that fact alone just made her frown. Not because of the inconvenience that it would cause her, but because if the situations were reversed, this soldier, no matter how kindhearted, would never even consider what she was debating. No, because she was nothing more than an item to him.

Or should she give him a chance?

Would it even matter if she did?

Most of the soldiers aboard probably didn't know what she was trained to do just yet, but as soon as they found out her specialties were of the torturous and brutal kind, she didn't expect to be making a lot of friends. Not like she would blame them. Nope, sooner or later she'd just become "that girl" and nothing more.

The only ones who really acknowledged her existence were FS and Stray and they were still stuck back at that hell hole. She bit her lower lip at that thought. I wish you guys were here. Perhaps the real reason she clung so close to them was because they had done that small thing.

Proved she was human.

She hadn't met anyone else who cared about what she thought or felt; well, other than in combat scenarios. Dwelling on that realization now, Eclipse had to suppress a wry laugh. If in my mind I'm a tool, then I'll just have to live through other people. Friends like FS and Stray will remind me that I'm alive and have a heart that's ticking.

Athrun returned to his room without Eclipse even making an attempt at conversation. A part of her was happy about the fact, but another area was still screaming its objections. Question was, was it her shoulder angel that was screaming or the devil?

Arriving back at the hangar, the weapon was ordered to help out with the Aegis repairs and recharging. The bridge hadn't decided on what to do just yet and because of the scattered debris, the ship's laser and thermal detectors couldn't pick up the enemy warship creatively called the "Legged Ship" by ZAFT personnel. The nickname had apparently come from the looks of the ship, but because Eclipse had no mental picture to reference, she just took their word for it.

The captain and the commander were talking on the bridge and going through their options, but the only thing that Eclipse could come up with was good, old-fashioned recon.

When in doubt, wait for orders.

The Aegis had practically nothing functionally wrong with it, but flying through the debris on the way back to the ship had put a few nicks in the armor. They weren't severe enough to bring down performance, but if a few areas were struck again, they could become a problem. One such area was near the cockpit and once the panel was replaced, Eclipse got permission to check the internal functions. The suit knew of its injuries better than the mechanics did so why not play twenty questions? Before opening the OS, the weapon couldn't resist taking a moment to enjoy sense of freedom that she felt just by sitting down behind the controls. While her superiors could monitor her every move on the ship or at the facility, when she was in a mobile suit she could do as she pleased. She, for a change, was in control of her actions and could even justify them in a way that she could never do with an order on a ship. In a battle, she thrived, and in that moment, she missed every last bit of the chaos that went with it.

She just wished they would let her sortie.

The unit itself was impressive. Supposedly, its armor could withstand the typical GINN sword without even a scratch. That in itself was a feat because that particular weapon could slice through another mobile suit like a knife through melted chocolate. The speed of the suit was just as stunning. It could give even the BuCUE a photo finish, but that was probably only in outer space and seeing that BuCUEs were land-based, the race itself would never happen. While there was a good possibility the prototypes would be ready for Earth's gravity and terrain soon, at that moment, they would get overrun and likely destroyed despite their upgraded armor.

Unlike the other five, the Aegis had a feature that allowed it to transform into an aircraft and then a giant claw. The real whipped cream topping was that there was an energy cannon known as the "Scylla" located at the center of the claw. Its power was immense, or so Eclipse had read. She had never actually seen it in battle.

Eclipse took another long breath before pulling out the keyboard and bringing up the OS. Only a few adjustments were needed to the sensory nerves and balancers, but other than that, everything looked okay. Fixing those few things, she turned next to the outer cameras. Flicking some switches caused three separate screens to show. One was right in front of her and the other two on both her left and right side. There was no camera needed for the rear because the sensors were sharper in the back and whenever someone tried to sneak up on the suit, alarms would sound, alerting the pilot to the potential threat. The same was for an attack from above or even from below. Effective, but it still sounded liked laziness to Eclipse. If the pilot was truly worthy of the machine, he or she would be able to cover their backside, above, and below easily enough without the suit's help.

Well, beam rifles might be a problem without the alert system.

The main camera in front came on alright but after about five seconds the screen flashed and then went black. Eclipse sighed and unscrewed the bolts holding the panel above the screen. Pulling it off carefully, she looked at the wiring inside. She fiddled around with a few connections, but when nothing seemed to bring the picture back onto the screen she sighed and moved to the exterior. Welding things is fine, but as soon as it gets down to the wiring, I get a huge headache.

"Attention all crewmembers! The Vesalius will be launching in 10 minutes hoping to cut off the enemy on their expected course. We are now at level one battle stations. All pilots report to your machines and all other personnel report to your stations. I repeat. Vesalius will be launching in 10 minutes."

"On their 'expected' course?" Eclipse reiterated aloud. Did that mean they weren't completely sure where the "Legged Ship" was headed? Considering the circumstances, she wasn't too surprised, but it did make her a bit nervous. With the Vesalius's sensors still on the fritz, things could get messy.

Athrun was the only pilot to show up in the hangar dressed and ready. It was actually perfect timing because Eclipse had just fixed the outer camera and finished up some other little adjustments as soon as he glided up to the cockpit. "How's it doing?" the redcoat asked, steadying himself on the hatch like Matthew had done earlier that day. Even the question was relatively similar.

"The armor was patched up, sensors reattached, battery recharged, and cameras realigned and working. Things seem to be alright, but you got lucky this time. Compared to the damage that Matthew, Olor, and Miguel sustained I'd say you came out unscathed." Eclipse watched his face carefully as she spoke, trying to see what emotion passed. Hatred? Sadness? Fear? Actually, none of those did. His eyes did quiver a bit, but they looked hurt other than sad.

Hurt. Like he knew that he did something wrong, but had no way of fixing it.

"If you want to make personal adjustments, do them now. It should be good to go." She was going to press further, but at the last second decided not to. Perhaps, the little angel on her shoulder thought Eclipse should be caring for once.

Maybe not.

"Sir, you're an elite pilot so I guess I'm just a little surprised that the three others on your force were killed and the enemy still has full power. We could blame it on the experience of the pilots, but you and I both know that they had their share of battles."

"Some things just didn't go as planned was all," the redcoat responded, his eyes narrowing slightly. He probably hadn't been talked to before in that way and the sweet passages of Eclipse's shoulder devil were too tempting not to share.

"If your suit came back without an arm and a leg then I'd say that things didn't go as planned, but it came back practically unharmed. Well, Heliopolis's destruction may have been the crack in the dam, but there was still plenty of battle time."

"Athrun Zala, prepare to launch," announced the crewman over the intercom. And just when she was about to get some valuable information.

Pity.

Le Creuset's face appeared on the communication screen inches to the left of the panel that Eclipse had opened ten minutes earlier. "Athrun, the Gamow—wait, Lunar Eclipse what are you doing there? Where's Athrun?"

"I'm here, sir," the redcoat spoke up, the two dancing around each other to switch places. Eclipse climbed out quickly and braced herself on the hatch.

"Good. We've located the 'Legged Ship' and are now halfway between them and Artemis. About 800 kilometers to be exact."

"Has Artemis activated its umbrella?" Athrun asked, referring to the Lightwave Barrier defense system around the base. The barrier itself was an energy field that could block both physical and energy weaponry and it was actually very well developed even according to some Coordinators. It had a reputation for withstanding anything, but things always seemed to have that type of reputation until something came along to tarnish that shiny reputation.

"Yes, as we suspected. Apparently, our calculations were correct and that new warship is heading there. The Gamow is positioned behind the craft and will soon be launching the Duel, Buster, and the Blitz. You are to go and give them support."

"Understood, sir."

"Remember what I said, Athrun. Who's it going to be?"

"I will, sir." The communication ended and the pilot sighed. "It's not all black and white y'know," he said, addressing Eclipse still outside.

"And we're not doing something as innocent as painting a picture." She just shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, sir. Coming back alive is no small feat, nor is it overlooked. I am glad for that, but remember that mistakes often equal death."

"And so does ignorance," he said before shutting the cockpit.

Eclipse stopped, trying to decide whether that retort was meant for her or someone else. If it was someone else than there was something fishy going on, but if it was directed at her she felt a little stung.

Wasn't she just trying to help?

If Eclipse couldn't stand watching the monitor before, this time it was downright suffocating. They're dancing. That damn Athrun is trying to show off some ballroom skills. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. She only wished that she could hear the communication between the Aegis and the last prototype named the X-105 STRIKE. Judging by the way that their "fight" was going, there seemed to be more yapping going on than bumps and bruises. She could name at least two missed opportunities for a killing hit and three others where Athrun could have at least maimed the suit. While the pilot of the Strike was good, he wasn't so good that he should be on equal footing with the ZAFT redcoats. Maybe they just weren't used to the suits yet?

Damn, she hoped that was the reason.

Yzak in the Duel was doing a pretty good job at picking up Athrun's slack, but seeing as the Strike pilot was wasting so much energy so fast, the silver-haired redcoat didn't have to do that much work. He dodged as much as he could, waiting for the suit to literally shoot its battery to death.

Dearka in the Buster and Nicol in the Blitz were doing their part by attacking the "Legged Ship" head on. The warship stood true to its nickname with two, giant, leg-looking body parts sticking out the front and it looked something like a sphinx in how it was all put together. The white exterior made the soldier wonder if Orb was trying to make it look like a peaceful craft. That color was usually used for such things, but seeing how much battle strength it had, she doubted the warship was made for any kind of humanitarian acts. Eclipse had witnessed armaments such as missile launchers, linear cannons, beam cannons, CIWS, and there was still the possibility that those legs were more than just show. It was a battleship by every extent of the word, not just functioning as a carrier for the new prototypes.

Watching their battle for a while longer, Eclipse once again found herself impressed by some Earth Forces' weaponry. The ship's armor was top-notched and the people aboard either had very good aim, or a fair amount of luck. Eclipse was leaning towards luck, but mainly because she didn't have that high of a regard for Naturals.

At least not when it came to down to the nitty-gritty of fighting.

"Attention all hands! Vesalius will be firing its main cannon. I repeat. Vesalius will be firing its main cannon."

"What? Is that ship within range already?" muttered one of the mechanics standing next to Eclipse. They were all wearing space suits as they squeezed in to watch the screen and Eclipse had been standing a bit back and away from the group.

"Alrighty then. If we're going to get in on the action, I want you five to head over to the engine rooms and then split apart as you see fit. Saider and Andrew, grab one or two from the fire crew as well as some extinguishers to go along with you. You never know what might happen. Lunar Eclipse and I will stay here and monitor the battle. We'll relay commands to you if anything should happen. The rest of you, keep working on the CGUE. I want that thing up and running if he needs to go out again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" the group shouted and saluted Carter before moving off to their respected areas. The whole exchange was quite impressive actually. Eclipse had never really been "backstage" for sorties and had to admit that she really didn't think much about the amount of energy and effort that the other soldiers put in. Watching them now and seeing how they always had to be at least one step ahead of everything and looking for the "worst case scenario" she found herself wanting to voice an apology.

They really were underestimated.

The battle raged on relatively unchanged. Once Yzak had stepped in and taken hold of the spotlight, Athrun backed off and basically floated just above the squabble. It looked almost as if he was afraid to join in.

That boy has some serious issues. Eclipse would have commented further if it wasn't for the sudden surge backwards. Most of the soldiers were waiting for the recoil from the main cannon and the unexpected angle caused a few to stumble into a crate or down on platforms.

Eclipse was among the ones thrown into a crate of materials. She caught herself fairly cleanly and even managed to grab Carter next to her before he was flung all the way into the far wall. "What the hell—" he began, but barely got those words out of his mouth before an explosion sounded off to their right. "Damnit! There goes an engine!"

One of the men near the CGUE shouted some more colorful language before the ship took another violent turn. The Vesalius nearly turned over after that hit.

By some stroke of terrible luck, the supports holding one of the damaged machines snapped and sent the unit loose. If there was gravity in the room than about a handful of mechanics would be dead, but there were still two that probably would have rather been in that situation. The pull of the ship was so strong that a panel on the machine's left arm flew off to nearly cut two men in half. One of the two saw the danger just in time and shoved them both out of the way.

Well, almost.

One now had a hand wedged between the sheet of metal and the hangar wall while the other just had a huge, deep cut on his right thigh. The leg could be saved, but the hand would have to go.

"Damnit!" Carter cursed. "Joel, take Zev to the infirmary before he loses anymore blood! You two, Koji and Rect! Try to get that hand out! Don't be sluggish, but don't just give up too soon either! We want to save it if we can, but you're all sitting ducks if the ship jerks again! Lunar Eclipse!" he shouted, turning to her next to him. "We need to secure that suit!" She nodded and followed his lead to one of the consoles on the floor that operated the suspension system for the suits.

"I'll latch onto the unit and guide it back to its dock. Once it's there, I'll need you to secure it."

She nodded and kicked off towards the dock. Carter was using the upper suspension system, which he could use to stabilize the unit from above. With good aim and a little bit of force, the grappling hand on the end of the cable could shoot out and latch onto the GINN, directing it enough for Eclipse to pull it into the dock with the other system near the back of the suit.

She snagged the railing as she passed, pulling herself down in front of the console to control the grappling cable from the rear. She just needed to wait until Carter had turned the unit and it was as good as secured.

Carter had already begun his end of the work, latching onto the right shoulder of the unit and levelling it out for Eclipse to fire the cable from her end. The battle raged on, however, and despite the rocking, they managed finish the job.

"Do you have it?" Carter called up to her once she had locked the system in place and the right shoulder was secured.

"Almost!" she called back, kicking off and going to the other side of the dock to do the same thing with the left shoulder of the unit. "Done!" she announced a moment later, locking that arm in place as well. The system wasn't perfect and there was still the possibility it would snap again before the end of the battle, but they would have to rely on any luck they might have gathered because the battle felt far from over.

With the GINN in place, sheet of metal still in the wall (along with the abandoned left hand of a certain individual), and the two remaining mechanics, Eclipse followed Carter to the damaged engine room. Knowing that the area was just sealed, she was surprised to see several floating bodies and what should have been the strong smells of drying blood, excretes, and smoke. Thankfully, the recycling air in her suit saved her from that reality. Some bodies still had the spacesuits on, but the missing limbs gave the impression that the suits didn't protect against much when it came to explosions and flying metal.

That was something to keep in mind.

The soldiers stationed there were in the process of gathering up the injured as well as information on the situation. Things looked dire. One of the two mechanics that came with Eclipse turned away and wretched into a corner. Luckily, he got his helmet off in time.

"Alright, c'mon, we have a lot of work to do. From what I've been told, there's a large hole from the blast and that's the reason for the bulkhead. There shouldn't be any fires inside because of the lack of oxygen, so we'll just go right for the repairs."

"Understood, sir."

"Here, wrap this once around your waist and then hook it on the clip at your hip. The other end will be clipped here—"

The ship jolted again, sending both Eclipse and another mechanic backwards down the hall. The weapon hit first and only groaned when the other unfortunate fell onto her. He spewed a few colorful words before attempting to push off her, but the force of another explosion kept him pressed against her.

Based on what she experiencing, Eclipse suspected the "Legged Ship" had targeted the Vesalius and fired. That explained the sudden attempt at evasion and the reason for their mechanic sandwich at the end of the hall, but where had the attack hit?

The man on top of her muttered something and finally managed to move away, but what she looked up to even drained the blood from her cheeks.

The attack hadn't made direct contact with the ship, but with the engine on the starboard side damaged, there wasn't enough thrust to pull the whole ship away entirely. Having the least amount of power, the damaged side didn't get far enough away from the blast to avoid most of the shock and heat waves. One of the blast doors that had been previously been sealed from the first attack lay against the opposite wall. Whatever was left of the engine had exploded and blown the door backwards into some of the recovering mechanics. Carter was among those hit, but while one mechanic sustained an impact to his full body, only Carter's right side was trapped under the sheet of metal.

Some would call that lucky.

The rest seemed okay, their suits protecting them from the initial fire from the explosion, but needless to say, the engine needed to be rebuilt.

Carter and the other mechanic were unconscious by the time that the door was removed, but Eclipse was just surprised that the man that got squished was still alive. Probably not for long, the weapon observed when a comrade attempted to assess the wounds. Using some exceptional reflex capacity, the man had crossed his arms over his chest just as he heard the explosion. That act softened some of the blow, but now his arms were practically shattered along with some ribs. Eclipse heard something about a punctured lung and could practically visualize what happened.

Eclipse had seen plenty of injuries and death in the past year, even issuing some of it herself, but as she helped gather the wounded and watched two of her fellow soldiers die from hemorrhaging, burns, and blood lost, something in her mind clicked.

Suffering and death were what she had been trained to deliver and for the first time she realized that not all were guilty of pulling a trigger. Most were just innocents, and she wasn't entirely certain why she had only made the connection now. Maybe not in every sense, she thought, perhaps in an attempt to make herself feel better. Fixing death machines for a living didn't exactly make a person innocent on every level.

Or death had a very ironic sense of justice.

The two ships rendezvoused about a half hour after the excitement ended. Le Creuset ordered most of the mechanics on the Gamow over to help with the repairs on the Vesalius since it had sustained the most damage. The engines of both sides of the warship had definitely seen better days and even the launcher on the port side had taken a hit.

Well, things would take a while.

Eclipse had been helping with as much as she could on the launcher, but when the other workers came over, she had been ordered to switch places and was sent to the Gamow to work on the prototypes. Despite her knowledge on the suits, she couldn't help but think she was being sent away for other reasons. Frowning, she figured leaving without any incident was the best plan of action and saluted, heading to the locker room for a fresh change of clothes and onto the transport.

Eclipse was left in charge of both the Aegis and the Blitz while the one other mechanic that stayed aboard fixed the Duel and Buster. It sounded like a good plan when she looked over her suits, but when she glanced at the Duel and the empty spot where its right arm was supposed to be her insides churned. Things weren't going to be easy after all. Even if she did finish the repairs on the Aegis and Blitz she would still need to help out on the Duel. Either way, she was happy to be back in her green uniform and out of the mechanic suit for now.

Sighing, she uncrossed her arms and kicked down towards the console at the foot of the Aegis. Since she knew that suit the best by that time, she figured she could get through those tests and repairs before moving to the Blitz. They had time, she knew. The Vesalius wasn't going to be moving any time soon and based on her current to-do list, she hoped they weren't going to sortie any time soon either.

A/N: Hey all, new chapter. I'll tell ya now that I'm going to have a lot of things to balance for the next few months so bear with me on the long waits, okay? I'll try to dish out the chapters as much as I can, but being a Creative Writing Major I won't really have the luxury of "writing for fun" that much anymore. There'll be a lot of assignments I'm sure. Anyway, I'll try really, really hard.

Man, you guys have no idea how much I've watched the first DVD of Gundam SEED so far. Quite ridiculous actually especially since it's my least favorite disk... I'm finally done with it though and the next chapter will bring in some old characters as well as some new ones so be prepared! I'm so excited! I'm not sure how far into the old/new characters I'll get, since I don't actually know how far it'll get until I write it, but hopefully quite a ways.

Thanks again to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. I really appreciate it and all that jazz.

CSS Stravag: I have to admit that your review scared me half to death. I hope that this chapter'll explain Eclipse a little more and why she thinks like she does. Funny how I never know how cold my characters sound until someone actually points it out.

Death-Scimitar: I must admit that it's a huge relief not to see/write about Kira. Even when I go back through the episodes I skip over him and go right to the ZAFT personnel. I'll say a quick sorry to all the Kira fans out there because I know that there are a lot, but I really don't like the kid. He's fine in Gundam SEED but in Gundam SEED Destiny he really pisses me off. Then again so did most of the people I really liked in SEED... A pity , sorry guys, but he may get bashed in the later chapters. Not too much because like I said, I do respect him, but enough to maybe make some people angry. I really hope not though...

I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and see ya in the next one!

Strata