Weapon's Waltz

by Strata-Assassin

(Prelude and Fugue in SEED Minor: Book 1) A unique runaway flees her world of peace to enter the chaos of war. Who knew she'd have to kill friends and forever debate what it means to be "human." Original characters in the events of Gundam SEED. ZAFT POV. (Some mature content: language/violence) (Prequel to Sibling's Serenade) (Rewritten as of January 2022)

54. Taking it One Grey Hair at a Time

Update: Tweaked/rewritten December 2021.

Taking It One Grey Hair at a Time

Namarra had expected Eclipse to freeze, be stunned, and practically helpless when she saw the Regean explode, but that really wasn't the case. The Natural watched her hesitate for a moment, but before long she was heading towards the nearest Strike Dagger, her movements fluid as she took her beam saber and cut the Dagger from crotch to chin. It was as if the Dagger had no battle experience at all given how easily she destroyed it.

Namarra had the itching feeling she had some inside help.

Athrun had said something, however, his voice coming through their communication line. "Lexi," he began, the Justice releasing his backpack at Shani and forcing the Forbidden away. "There's only one Astray trying to get the Kusanagi loose. Can you help?"

"Roger that. Nam." The Natural jumped slightly upon hearing her name. "Can I trust you to back up Athrun?" There was no visual on her redheaded comrade, but even though Namarra expected her to be tiptoeing with her other half, her voice made no confirmation.

"Yes," was her simple reply.

"Good. Athrun, she's all yours." The Stealth flew to the nearest tethering string and used her own beam sabers to begin cutting out the Kusanagi. Maybe she wasn't berserk after all because Namarra doubted the Berserker would agree to such a mundane task. Then again, maybe there were stages to the Berserker and she was just in the first one? Saving that thought for later, she waited for the Justice pilot to give her an order of some kind, but Shani had returned to attacking the red suit.

It was more of a side glance than anything; intuition rather than mindless perception. Both Clotho and Orga had managed to corner Kira, the Freedom pilot seeming to actually be taken off guard, the off-balance of his suit a sure indication. She knew the Dominion was going to fire sledgehammers and launched a counter before the missiles could hit Kira. Striking one, the debris took out two more, but before she could get in another shot, the Freedom amazingly came alive. It targeted and fired at the rest of the missiles before rocketing up and away.

Damn, she thought, but didn't have a lot of time to gawk before the Dominion targeted her next. The Igellstellungs fired at her suit, forcing Namarra to bring up her buckler and protect the cockpit. Swearing, she decided to go with the attack and pushed her machine towards the Dominion, but despite her good intentions, the buckler was not made for such abuse and split just before she reached the ship. Perfect timing. No doubt, the captain was already calling back an ally since none of the weaponry seemed to be able to turn at such a sharp angle to target her, but she didn't need a whole lot of time anyway.

Grasping her right hand to the Igellstellung, she dug her fingertips into the metal. "Chicabo, fire flamethrower."

"Charging and firing," her suit replied and Namarra smirked when the flames began melting away at the ship's exterior.

At least until a Dagger tackled her off.

It was a scary experience at first, especially when she remembered how a similar attack had turned the Regean into space debris, but the Dagger pilot seemed more frightened than her. For good reason though, seeing as Namarra's reflexes were far better than she had thought. Her flamethrower was still firing, its flames melting through the Dagger's middle. She didn't hear anything other than the pop and melting of the metal as intense heat combined with the vacuum of space. Namarra swallowed, having spent enough battery on the assault and she cut off the weapon, pushing the machine away and leaving the metal to freeze back into a tangled mess. Looking at her right hand, her mouth twitched in a smirk. Her reflexes had moved the Decay's hand from flailing out to the side to near her stomach, killing the machine before the pilot even had the chance to consider suicide. Had gaining a second personality heightened her own abilities perhaps? And the speed at which the Decay moved was still not as quick as her own reflexes, but considerably better than what her Earth Forces mechanics had done before. Lathan deserved—

Shit.

Lathan.

Turning towards the Regean wreckage she almost made her way back there, but stopped, the Raider rising into view. Clotho had noticed her first and it was a good thing, actually. Not only did it pull some of the heat from the Justice and Freedom, but Kira was attempting to attack the Dominion. Given, Orga was blocking him as much as possible, but at least the Archangel was getting some assistance. Whether she liked to admit it or not, the Dominion captain was proving to be a powerful enemy.

"What's this?" Clotho asked, shooting towards the Decay. "A small Level One?"

His game reference didn't even deserve a comment that time, grimly amused that he had chosen to communicate across a universal line instead of keeping his banter to himself. She bit her lip instead, breathing through her emotions and gripped the controls.

Namarra kept her distance as he fired at her, pulling out her beam saber to deflect the more dangerous of shots while he shortened the distance. Bringing the saber back across her body, she slashed near his cockpit when he got within arm's length and while she didn't expect to make any kind of contact, she did anticipate his counterattack. Since he really didn't have any hand-to-hand weaponry, Clotho released a string of shots that he pulled across her cockpit like a saber, but the Natural slapped the rifle wide and did an upward slash towards his head. She had been confident she had caught him off guard, but that wasn't the case, the Raider moving backwards as the attack came and he dodged the blade entirely. Typically, Clotho wasn't good at close combat, but he had definitely learned a thing or two if he had seen that coming.

Deciding to get more distance, the Raider backed up even further and aimed his energy cannon, the glowing hole in his mouth forcing Namarra to retreat down and away once he fired in her direction. She used the evasion to her benefit, however, thrusting forward and arching up under the attack. Clotho must have anticipated the attack again, releasing his mace and swinging it in her general direction. Dodging it easily enough, Namarra lost her advantage and retreated a safe distance away, only to see the mace speeding towards her again.

"Let's play a little dodgeball," Clotho laughed as he swung the weapon while the Decay continued its dance.

Namarra cursed after a while, the mace gaining a lot of momentum and the Decay's reaction time not as quick. It was close, but not up to as good of standards as she needed her mobile suit to be, especially in such a dangerous situation. If that ball hit her with that kind of force, she wouldn't survive and even though her instincts measured the attack well, she wasn't personally doing the dodging.

It was really only a matter of time, and Clotho managed to both hit and sever the Decay's left foot when Namarra couldn't pull the suit away in time. Cursing, she stabbed her beam saber into the weapon as it lost momentum from the strike, hoping to damage it enough to make it useless, but the attack did nothing more than distract her while Clotho charged. The Raider rammed into the Decay, rattling the young Natural inside and she clenched her teeth in an attempt to ground herself as she steadied. Namarra heard Clotho spew some sort of video game jargon and it wasn't until she felt the heat from the beam rifle did she realize how close to death she had come.

The barrel was parallel to the Decay's side, firing shots randomly as Clotho tried to dislodge his suit. At first, she didn't think the rifle could do any amount of damage in that position, but it was close enough to the Decay's side Namarra could have sworn she felt the energy. Given, it might have been the beginning stage of panic, but it was enough to force her into a counterattack. Slipping her right arm down to keep Clotho's at bay, she fired her CIWS, barely managing a few scrapes on the Raider's armor before her sensors began beeping, alerting her to the Forbidden. While she couldn't hear Shani inside, there was enough visual to figure out the sound effects.

Their drug cycle was coming to an end.

Clotho cursed and before he could improve his attacking angle, they were forced to break apart, the two suits pushing back against each other to avoid one of Shani's shots.

"Kusanagi is free. I'm coming to support," Eclipse announced over the team transmission, but it really didn't register for Namarra. Between the Raider bombarding her with his M417 machine gun and her trying to readjust her rattled aim while doing some little dodging maneuvers, there wasn't much more she could fit on her plate. Based on the Raider's poor shooting, however, Clotho was either speaking with his teammates or trying to control his withdrawal symptoms. No one really had much time to recover, however, the Kusanagi finally making it to the field and firing both its Gottfrieds at the Dominion. The Earth Forces ship signaled retreat immediately after its dodge and Clotho went to join Orga without so much as a farewell.

Taking deep breaths, Namarra watched the three suits argue before they finally fled back to their ship and the relief of a renewed dosage. She frowned after that, realizing she had had the chance to make some kind of connection with Clotho as his cycle ended, but she hadn't even thought of trying to speak to them. Perhaps Mu's words had sunk in deep, but it was still an opportunity lost.

"Legund, come back to port," Waltfeld ordered and her harsh breathing continued as her focus whipped to the older commander's face on the screen above.

"Lathan?" she asked as she pulled on the controls to take the Decay towards Mendel. "Lexi?"

"You can check on them here, but we need as many hands as we can get. LaFlaga and Elsman went into the colony. Something about Le Creuset being there."

"What? By themselves?"

Waltfeld's lips flipped into a frown. "That's why we're falling back too. How's your suit?"

"Needs a new buckler, foot, and armor touch-up along with a battery charge and recalibration. Should handle everything else after a good cool down."

"Head to the Kusanagi then. The Archangel has enough to worry about right now and they might need your hands for recovering the Regean."

"Roger that." She cursed after the conversation ended. She had no idea what had happened to Lathan and now Mu was gone.

"Shit."

---

It wasn't easy, even for Namarra.

Lathan and Erika were on two separate beds, their heads nearly touching at the top end. An IV pump was mounted into the wall where three bags of fluid hung and the whole room hummed, the low level of sensors offering high-pitched screams that forced the nail into Namarra's mouth as she bit on it. The machine squeezed the liquid down into their veins since the gravity was set to low in the room and only one of those fluids was for Erika while the other two were for Lathan.

Eclipse stood to Namarra's left, one arm across her stomach while the other was bent at the elbow, her teeth similarly chattering away at her already short fingernails. The Natural could still hear Eclipse's shriek when she had seen the Regean hit and she shivered. It was so dramatic Namarra was certain the Berserker was going to appear, but—as far as she could tell—it had remained dormant. Either Eclipse had had enough willpower to keep it contained, or the Berserker had shown an unusual amount of sympathy.

"Mrs. Simmons suffered a minor concussion and has nearly ten percent of her body burned," the doctor began, a middle-aged man who had only recently arrived from Orb. "The steroids are helping her heal well, but we're keeping her sedated for now in case there's another wave of attacks. Panic is definitely the enemy at this point in the game."

Eclipse nodded and Namarra did the same after another second. The doctor was continuing his update as Namarra turned back to Lathan, not wanting to hear about the grim realities of infection and Erika's possible uphill battle. Namarra's own brothers had escaped unscathed once again, but how long would that last? Would they end up like this one day? Strapped to a bed and without her at their sides? And what about the pilots of the TSA who were tasked with fighting them? Athrun had almost killed Shani while she had just watched. She held back against Clotho, but if she did that again someone else could get seriously hurt and she bit down harder on her nail at the thought. Athrun could be in the bed next time.

"Don't lose hope, but you have to make a decision. Indecision is lethal—for you and for us," Mu had said and perhaps it was because of his supporting presence and Eclipse's camaraderie that she had decided to stay with the Three Ship Alliance.

She just wished it wasn't so damn hard.

"Your brother's stable at the moment and we are just beginning to assess his internal damage," the doctor began again, his voice closer to Namarra's left side and she instinctively moved to the side to give him and Eclipse more room. "The right side of his body is severely burned and we can't be completely sure on motor functions until he's awake."

"And his eyes?" Eclipse asked and Namarra glanced up at his face. A breathing tube dribbled out the side of his mouth, the machine making a sort of sucking noise as it pushed a gust of oxygen into his lungs. Around his eyes and forehead wrapped a bloody bandage, the white material so thick across his face it was amazing the blood soaked through at all. She gulped and turned back to Eclipse.

The doctor sighed a shook his head. "The monitor busted and the glass cut into his eyes the moment of the explosion. If Mrs. Simmons hadn't anticipated the kamikaze and gone back for him, he'd be dead."

"But his sight?"

"I don't think you need my analysis to know that answer."

"Please," Eclipse said. "I want to hear it."

"When he wakes up, he'll be blind, yes."

Namarra turned away before she could see the pain on Eclipse's face, but she couldn't block out the doctor's report.

"We don't have the equipment to fix his eyes here, but there is some research being done on the PLANTs for this kind of treatment. With what we have on hand, these two should be on their feet relatively soon, but we'll need to sit down and look at other options should he want a more permanent recovery."

"And you don't think his brain was damaged?" Eclipse had stepped forward by that time, her hand hovering over Lathan's bandaged one. At first it looked like she was going to hold it, but stopped, a finger merely brushing the material.

"No. There's a lot of reasons and luck as to why they only came out as injured as they are, but I can confidently say, his brain is fine. We have CT scans if you want proof."

Eclipse held up her free hand and shook her head.

"What positive news I can give you," the doctor continued as the door opened behind Namarra. Cagalli came in and put a hand over her mouth before a loud gasp could escape, but not even the audible noise could deter the doctor or Eclipse. "He will wake up and he will recover. He may be unconscious now, but we have induced that to help him heal and he hasn't slipped into a coma. With this kind of trauma, that's definitely a good sign."

"So, he'll be able to work still? I mean, that's all he really enjoys." Turning, Eclipse finally noticed Cagalli and though the blonde had put a comforting hand on her shoulder, she gave nothing back other than an acknowledging nod.

"In all honesty, that's up to him. Physically, he will be able to do much the same things, just far less until after long months of rehab. His mind is fine."

"Ah, thank you, doctor." Nodding, he turned away from the group to look at his other patients. While the enemy may have fled, enough damage had been done, Namarra catching sight of a few others in the background with wounds of varying degrees. Lathan and Erika weren't the only two damaged and she gave a quiet curse.

"Lexi, I really don't want to mention this right now, but we need you on the bridge," Cagalli started, her fingers squeezing on the redhead's shoulder. "We've opened a com line to the Eternal and Archangel."

Eclipse nodded and showed an amount of courage Namarra had found sadly impressive. She smiled. Albeit, it was a solemn grin, but it showed strength and when Cagalli shared a similar look, Namarra's breath slowed. These two knew what was at stake and had already made up their minds on what needed to be done. Unlike her, they had a direction and purpose. Even though Namarra had admitted her decision to both Mu and Eclipse, a part of her still felt that if the boys had called her name, she would go running back.

"If anything happens, I assure you we'll be contacted."

"Thanks, Cags."

How was it that these two had seen less war in their lives compared to her younger age but they understood? She had watched her own brother get killed yet she still wasn't able to face the possibility of her other brothers dying. Was that immaturity? Or just that small sense of hope Mu had told her to hold on to?

"Namarra, you coming?" Eclipse asked and the Natural was actually startled as she turned. Calming down, she managed to mirror the redhead's blank face and shook her head.

"They really only want to talk to you and you can fill me in later. I'll keep an eye out here then see what I can do to help with the Regean."

The redhead nodded and the two left the room, leaving Namarra to juggle her personal struggles. Glancing at Lathan, however, made her realize she didn't want that to happen to anyone else.

---

Eclipse had expected a lot of stares as she entered the bridge, but one of the good things about being involved with military personnel was how they rarely gave the sympathetic look. There could be a moment one person would be in a similar situation and he or she wouldn't want the rest of the crew pitying them, so they all stared at their screens instead.

"Mr. Argyle, has there been any movement from the Dominion?" Eclipse heard Murrue ask from one of the screens near Kisaka's chair. Following Cagalli, the redhead put her hand on the back of his seat in order to get in view. If any of the Archangel or Eternal crew was surprised to see her, they hid it well. Again, the understanding was appreciated.

"Negative," the young soldier responded. "It's immobile for now."

Murrue nodded and turned back to the screen. Eclipse did a quick look around before she began talking. Lacus was there as well as Waltfeld, but Kira and Mu were still missing. She hadn't heard an update on whether or not they had returned, but based on observation alone, she could confidently say they were still back in the colony. Athrun stood near Waltfeld and Lacus, making the normal group look a bit thin as compared to the other meetings. Seeing as both Lathan and Erika were in sickbay—and Dearka rarely present—it made sense, but not exactly comfortable. Glancing back at the door, she sighed. Perhaps she should have brought Namarra along.

"The Archangel repairs are coming along smoothly," Murrue began, briefly explaining the process and the remaining time, but Eclipse was barely listening. Her suit wasn't badly damaged and was currently sitting quietly in the Kusanagi hangar. There were more pressing needs than fixing an undamaged suit and since she doubted the Colloid would even help in the next battle, she didn't bring up her need again. Based on numbers, the Three Ship Alliance had chopped down a pretty good sum of Strike Daggers, but Namarra's brothers were still afloat as well as the ship itself. With Kira, Mu and Dearka missing, she was worried. Their army was looking a bit ragged and then there was still ZAFT hovering around near their asses so they might have to break up into squads again. But, then again, the Eternal might be up and running—

"Lexi?" Cagalli asked, the redhead stopping mid-movement. She hadn't even realized she had been rubbing her forehead and based on the quizzical looks, she hoped she hadn't been muttering to herself either. Recently, Lathan's talking out loud had become more hereditary than habit.

"Sorry, what was the question again?"

Murrue frowned and gave her a motherly look. It was rather interesting to see all the older ship members shift into some kind of parental figures as the rag-tag group kept up its crusade. Seeing as most of the soldiers aboard the Archangel were barely under twenty, the responsibility fell onto them by accident, but none of them seemed to be upset about the role. "First of all, you're going to rest after this meeting." She held up a finger as she gave the order, but Eclipse shook her head.

"I haven't been able to access the Regean yet myself, but the Stealth did a quick damage report before I boarded the Kusanagi. Most of the living quarters were destroyed. Currently, I don't even have a bed to sleep in and I doubt there's much time to do anything other than patch up the hole let alone check for personal belongings."

"No, you do have a bed," Cagalli cut in, looking at her over Kisaka's head. "You and Namarra are bunking with me. That room is way too large for just one person." She smiled as she proclaimed the news, but the redhead couldn't help her flinch. Given Cagalli's tolerance with Namarra—and the Natural's returned feelings—it was going to be quite the tense arrangement.

Despite that, however, Eclipse nodded. "For now, that'll do. Thanks, Cags."

"Good," Murrue finished then went on to ask what she had originally begun. "Now, I was wondering if you had any positive news on the Regean?"

"Really, there's not much to say." She shrugged. "The main propel and attachment systems aboard the transport were destroyed as well as most of the hangar, and—like previously mentioned—living quarters were scorched when the fire just licked up any bit of oxygen it could sink into. Lathan's quarters were probably the least affected which bodes well for his computer equipment, but the transport is nothing but dead weight now. I actually suggest we either dislodge it and let it join the debris belt or weld it up best we can and pray the enemy doesn't aim for that area specifically."

"Nothing can be saved?" Lacus asked, looking rather distressed about the news.

"Many spare parts for the Stealth, Decay, and even the Orb machines had been stored in the hangar, but the blast had either destroyed them or blown them to the moon by this time. If Murdoch wants to check out the damage personally to see if he can find anything useful, by all means go for it. I just don't want him to get his hopes up."

"I'll send him on that right away and see if there are any other hands I can spare though the Archangel repairs take precedence." Murrue nodded as she thought.

"I'll go and assess some of the damage myself if you'd like," Athrun offered and Waltfeld rattled off a couple more mechanics he could spare.

"The Eternal's doing well so I think we can help out the Kusanagi a little bit," he added.

"That would be greatly appreciated," Kisaka responded and the two nodded at each other.

Murrue didn't look pleased at first—probably thinking about Athrun's health—but really had no other choice than to agree. "Fine, but an hour, tops, for the two of you," she pointed to Eclipse's screen and then to the other screen at Athrun specifically, "you're our main defense at the moment. You have to rest."

"In about an hour I can spare a few more," Waltfeld confirmed, letting his clipboard float from his hand. My men are already working in shifts and most are too restless to relax anyway." Lacus added a confirmation and everyone else agreed. The bridge sunk into a short silence, Eclipse's mind traversing back to Lathan on the bed and she gave a shaky breath. Damnit. Things had gotten dicey really quick and that made her nervous.

"We have to discuss what to do if Elsman, Yamato, and LaFlaga don't come back in time," Kisaka said after further pause, apparently the only one willing to bring up such a sensitive issue. Then again, with the kind of situation they were in it would just be careless not to mention it.

Murrue sighed. "Yes, yes we should."

"If all goes well, the Eternal can head out with the rest of the ships," Lacus said.

"And the Kusanagi'll be ready too," Cagalli confirmed.

"Good, then we should—" Murrue began, but Eclipse cut in.

"What news is there on the ZAFT ships? Have they moved?"

All the captains immediately turned to their radar techs who announced there had been no movement. A universal sigh passed through the bridge on each ship, but despite the good news, Eclipse still felt tense.

"I doubt they'll be stationary for long."

"I agree," Athrun added and the two old ZAFT pilots shared a nod. "They might not have wanted to interfere with our fight against the EA, but they won't be able to camp out there for long."

"There's three Nazcas," Waltfeld confirmed. "If they make a move, the Eternal will head them off. They are looking for us, after all. Why not make a grand appearance?"

"The Archangel is probably the best ship to face the Dominion," Eclipse added. "And even though we took out a fair sum of their Strike Daggers, I'm still worried about the three machines."

"I can hold my own for a little while."

"Namarra and I will help," the redhead added to Athrun's response. "That leaves the M-1s and the M-1 prototypes with the remaining Strike Daggers and ZAFT GINNs."

"Scary odds," Kisaka admitted.

Cagalli cut in before anyone could let their nerves get to them too much. "But that's worse-case scenario. There's still a good chance Kira and the others will come back."

"But worse-case is still a strong possibility. No matter how much we wish they were here, we can't rely on them coming to our rescue," Athrun explained. Cagalli's face twisted from surprise to a soft form of offense, but it slipped away quickly. No one could really blame her for her optimistic thinking, but even though she had a natural knack at war tactics, it took experienced soldiers to really understand the necessity of preparing for the worst. Eclipse felt bad for her at first, but then stopped. Hoping for a positive outcome wasn't a weakness, per se, and in this circumstance—with everyone so panicked—it was probably more of a welcomed point of view.

"Then I drop back to help the Astrays," Eclipse responded, getting back onto topic. "Namarra knows the EA machines better than all of us, just doesn't have the proper suit to match their upgrades. She'd be more of a help to Athrun than I would if we had to split our forces."

"But remember her relationship to them," Waltfeld added and the other captains nodded. "You and Zala have been battling with each other for a while now, so there's more compatibility there. We'll pull Legund back instead to help the M-1s if needed."

"Agreed," the others replied and Eclipse shrugged and shared a nod with Athrun. As long as the Astrays had backup she didn't mind fighting beside him again.

"The ships are formidable too," Murrue added. "We can't rule them out just yet and the Stealth might be better equipped for that fight than the Decay."

"Lexi, have Legund be on alert then just in case we need to pull her back for support," Waltfeld finished, ending the debate with that one statement. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Miss Cagalli does have a point however," Lacus said, causing everyone to turn their attention towards her. "We can't give up hope that Kira and the others will come back to us. We've come too far to just give in now. Please, let's try our best to hold off the enemy so that those we've lost will have not died in vain."

Really, there was nothing more that could be added to such a powerful statement, so no one tried, the group getting swept into goodbyes and the lines shut down. Eclipse had managed a peek at some of the Archangel crewmembers before everything went black, however, and she saw couple muttering to themselves in what the redhead assumed was some kind of prayer.

Begging the other pilots to come back quickly.

And for the Dominion to stay far, far away.

---

Eclipse hovered in the harbor, staring at the wreckage. She was still in her pilot suit, having lost track of how long she had it around her shoulders, but she felt sticky and tried her best to ignore it. The repairs to the Kusanagi side took top priority and she tapped her annoyance onto her elbow as she crossed her arms.

As a quick fix, the mechanics were folding metal over the damage, hoping that patch would hold through the next battle. For the most part, the rest of the Kusanagi wasn't too damaged since it came in so late into the battle, but the missing Regean definitely put a hole in its defensive armor—no pun intended. If they didn't patch it up somehow, the ship would be sunk with one precise hit and since the enemy wasn't stupid, they would probably aim for that spot directly.

"Cover that whole section with CNT Paste," Murdoch ordered, Eclipse hearing his baritone voice in the background. The Archangel repairs had to have been moving along well if he was able to help out the Kusanagi.

"What?" a mechanic argued. "We're finished if we take another hit in the same place."

"Look, I'd even seal it with money if it would help any."

Eclipse knew should have been lending a hand, but every time she butt in to offer that help, the mechanics smiled and then made sure to push her back to standing room only. Rubbing her forearms, she stared over at Athrun, jealous that he was able to help without someone being overly concerned. Maybe it's for the best, she thought, not realizing how spacey she really felt until a crewmember had to say her name three times in order to get her out of the way.

"Sorry," she muttered and let the nearest mechanic push her to the side.

Athrun must have seen the exchange because he kicked off towards her, the two reaching out to steady each other. "This might be the first—and only—time I'll say this, but you're in the way." Athrun shook his head slowly and put on a sympathetic smile. "And staring at it," he nodded to the Regean wreck, "isn't going to help."

"But there's nothing else I can do—and the Stealth's fine so I'll just," she trailed off and sighed.

"Hey, Zala, can you lend a hand?" Murdoch asked and the younger pilot agreed.

"You." He turned back to Eclipse, pointing a finger at her. "This may sound cold, but you have to snap out of it. The Dominion could come back and with us down as is—"

"I know, I know." She huffed, the glass of her helmet fogging for a second. "I just never thought it'd be Lathan."

Smiling lightly, he patted her shoulder and left.

They all sat around for another few hours, the pilots more restless than was probably healthy. Eclipse had managed a very brief nap and she knew both Athrun and Namarra had done the same, but the exhaustion levels were still high. As well as the tension. Athrun had a small argument with Lacus about heading into the satellite to find Kira, Mu, and Dearka, but in the end the Pink Princess talking him out of it. Having Athrun chase after them—no matter how much they wanted to know if they were safe or not—meant losing another pilot. Namarra and Eclipse would probably be able to hold Orga, Shani, and Clotho off for a fair amount of time, but—ultimately—their suits weren't made for such fighting.

Eclipse was waiting in the Kusanagi observation area with the three Astray pilots, Juri, Asagi, and Mayura while Namarra waited in the Decay. All three were the same age as the redhead, but had seen far fewer battles, the tension in that room mostly radiating from them. Eclipse couldn't blame them and she sighed, not feeling bad about the gesture until she heard Juri make an audible noise in response. The redhead turned to her when she heard the sound, confused by the reaction at first.

"S-sorry," she said, rubbing her face with her hands. "I'm just a little… anxious."

"It'll be fine, Juri," Asagi said and patted her knee. The third Astray pilot did the same and Eclipse looked away. The redhead had been asked to sit over with the newbies, seeing as her attempting to help was doing nothing more than annoying the other mechanics. Most of the Three Ship Alliance was panicked; there was really no other way to describe it. Even the older officers were nervous though they hid it better than the less experienced. Thanks to Eclipse's previous training she was better at keeping her feelings from showing, but with Lathan injured, Erika just as bad and most of their battle strength missing inside Mendel, her outer shell was one buzzing alarm away from cracked.

"We'll be okay," Eclipse said, trying to help the girls calm down. "They'll be back soon."

"All hands, level one battle stations. I repeat, all hands, level one battle stations!"

Eclipse was going to mutter something like, "Or not," but kept her mouth shut. Seeing as the girls all jumped simultaneously, the comment was best kept for her own personal commentary. They recovered well and that was comforting, but the redhead didn't have time to babysit them anymore. Despite their lack of battle experience, they were handling themselves rather well given the circumstances. They were nothing more than novice pilots and they were still willing to get into their suits and face unbelievable odds.

Impressive really.

"Coffee Addict, begin launching preparations," she said into her earpiece, pushing her way back through the locker room and out into the hangar. Finishing the last clasp on her helmet, she propelled herself to the cockpit and swung inside. "Bridge, I'm heading out."

"Roger that, Stealth," the soldier replied. "Hatch is open."

Eclipse and Namarra joined Athrun as the Dominion launched the three machines. Namarra had already been updated on the plan and even though Eclipse knew she would be rather be keeping an eye on her brothers, the Natural agreed to help the M-1s if ZAFT ever decided to move. The redhead was a bit surprised by her sudden submission to the plan, but she didn't press the matter. If Namarra agreed, she wasn't about to question it.

It was three-on-three when the guys came within firing range. It was a debate whether or not they wanted to choose their opponents or just adapt as the battle went on and seeing as Shani was bulleting towards Athrun, and Clotho leaning in Namarra's general direction that mean Eclipse would have Orga.

Fine with her.

"Great, leave me with the mix 'n match," the Calamity pilot grumbled on that same open channel, Eclipse merely smiling at the remark. It was a well-known fact the Stealth was a hodgepodge of parts from assorted mobile suits and even though Lathan had done his best to even out the differences, she would always admire its uniqueness.

"Whatever," he added after a second or two and looked as if he was about to charge first, but Eclipse wanted that honor. Thrusting forward, she pulled out her two beam sabers and went for the attack. She knew Orga would block both of them, so she didn't strike at full strength. Instead, she did more of a fake attack and spun to his left, slicing her right blade down near the machine's thigh. The Calamity moved far enough to avoid the attack but didn't have the agility to dodge her next thrust from the left saber and the blue beam seared into the metal at the armpit, coming dangerously close to the chest. Since that beam was made more for defensive purposes, it didn't get too far into his Trans-phase armor, but it was enough to piss him off.

Eclipse heard the older pilot curse and kept up her attack, flipping the red saber around in her right hand and jabbing it down at his shins. This one made more contact than the other two combined, the attacking beam slipping into the metal and out the other side. Using the momentum, she moved forward a touch and cut her left blade out wide, pulling it from near the Calamity's armpit to sever the right hand at the joint instead.

"What the—" Orga began, and retreated back a fair distance, the red beam in his right shin tearing through the metal and wires as he fled.

Eclipse smirked. Lathan had been doing some touch-ups on the HiMat system, giving her better mobility than she had had in months. Each individual thruster was synced with the others, the system meant to mirror the wings on a bird rather than have the velocity of a common booster pack. They acted more like muscles than propulsion systems, making her movements more fluid, and while she had tested his improvements in simulations, this was the first time she really had a chance to use them in battle.

The Calamity fired a burst from his duel ram cannons as Eclipse began to charge again. Since Orga's suit was built for long-range attacks, she had to keep things up close and personal in case he got the upper hand. Despite the previous bout, however, Orga was now more prepared for her agility.

At one point, he pushed her back far enough to fire his right duel ram cannon again, but she had avoided the attack easily enough and began sweeping in for another round, spit firing her CIWS to keep the Calamity distracted. She stabbed up near his head and he dodged to the right. Her bottom blade swung towards his cockpit and he boosted upwards, the beam catching only a sliver of metal. Aiming, he managed to gather up enough energy—and distance—to shoot his long-range beam cannon, forcing Eclipse to back up in order to dodge.

And right into Clotho's mace.

Her own muscles had pulled on the levers in time to dodge, but despite the improvements, the Stealth was still slower than what her brain and body could accomplish. If she survived the battle she would personally help Lathan finish his new cockpit system because what she had now was doing nothing more than chiseling her gravestone.

The Stealth evaded most of the attack, but the wire wrapped awkwardly around its right leg, spiraling upwards until the ball smacked against the back of her mobile suit near the battery. Eclipse rattled inside, her world a Picasso painting for a moment before the CA announced internal damage to her main battery and an energy pulse that backfired to short out both beam sabers.

"Power down to 20 percent."

"Twenty percent?" she hissed, knowing the battle had only just begun and she ignited the HiMat at full potential just to hear the CA announced an even lower percent seconds later. The connector to the battery must be damaged, but she couldn't do anything about it mid-battle and she cursed. She couldn't let her thrusters fade, however, knowing Clotho's best move available was pull her back towards his suit and shoot a round through the cockpit. The strain on as the Stealth tried to pull away from the Raider proved he was of similar thinking.

"Initiate HCF-EPR," she ordered, and listened to her suit groan as it resisted his tugging. The alarms alerted her to his attack at her back and she spun, facing the Raider to block some of his M417 bullets.

Coffee Addict complied with the order, but her battery only reached up to 50 percent thanks to all the internal damage. Cursing, Eclipse glanced at her screens to see Orga aiming in her direction.

"Lexi, let go!" Namarra yelled and Eclipse gulped, cutting her boosters just as the Decay tackled the Calamity before he could shoot.

The Stealth twisted and whipped down towards the Raider, Eclipse watching in horror as its mouth glow with energy while its Scylla charged. She needed to distract him—something. Just get him to hesitate on that trigger so she reached to her right, flipping the switch for the Mirage Colloid. There was basically next to nothing left in the tank, but she just needed it for that brief second, the Colloid not able to make the Stealth invisible, but it did distort the appearance enough to startle Clotho and let Eclipse slam into him.

The Stealth's upper chest landed on the cannon and the redhead immediately jerked the body to the left, bringing up her hand and placing it over the charging cannon. "Addict—"

"Charging Scylla," her machine announced, but Eclipse wasn't out of the red zone yet. Pushing off with her right hand, she tried to free the Stealth from the Raider, but the mace had wrapped around both suits then, making it hard for her to get any distance between them. It wasn't wrapped too tight, but with two charging weapons she didn't have time to focus on her caught leg.

"Damn you, small fry," Clotho said and unengaged both of his hands to grip her forearm with the Scylla. "Why don't we just snap this off?" His fingers clamped down on her arm, the metal digging into the Stealth just as both weapons were about to fire. The force damaged the wiring and the Scylla fired prematurely, the jolt so powerful it zapped both suits apart and shorted the Raider's main weapon. Eclipse felt the surge course up through her arms, the current not strong enough to harm her, but her muscles stiffened and her breath stopped, mouth half open, assuming Clotho was the same.

Breathe, she thought, trying to make her lungs move. The CA was shouting something through her earpiece, but she had to concentrate on her flesh body before she could help move her metal one. Just breathe. It's really not that hard.

"—joined the battle."

Eclipse ignored it. Breathe, damn it!

She took a breath.

"Freedom and Buster have joined the battle."

"R-roger that," she responded, hearing her suit then, but not giving herself time to digest the news. Shuddering, she pried her fingers from the controls and flexed them, shaking them as much as possible to get them working again.

"Raider approaching."

Of course he'd gain movement first, she thought with a growl.

Eclipse looked up and felt her breathing slow once again, although this time it wasn't from any weapon malfunction. Calculating the Raider's speed and her current reaction time, the redhead knew she couldn't stop the attack. If Clotho wanted to kill her now, he would get his chance. She had expected to feel sad or angry about it, but she felt nothing. The only rage she heard was the Berserker screaming in her subconscious for the redhead to do something.

She doubted her other half even had the ability to dodge.

So, the Buster fired instead.

While the damsel in distress motif wasn't something she found appealing, she was grateful to see Dearka at that moment. Not only because she was afraid he had been shot down in the satellite, but because his attack had stopped the Raider's approach, giving her enough time to get feeling back into her body to stop Clotho's next attack.

"Always good to see you, Dearka."

"ZAFT is on the move. Namarra's been called back to help the Astrays and the Eternal's gonna take on the Vesalius."

"We anticipated as much."

"Need some help?"

"Got it under control."

"Alright, I'm going to fall back and help the Eternal then."

"Roger that." And they ended the transmission. She felt a small pang when Dearka brought up the Vesalius and she knew her teammate had felt it too. They had started out the war on that ship and now they were about to face it in battle. The ship had never felt like home to Eclipse, but she knew the crew. Clotho came at her again during her guilt trip, but stopped halfway, one of those oh-so familiar voices coming through her radio.

"Attention, Archangel-class Earth Forces vessel. Before we commence battle, I'd like to return a captive to you." It was Le Creuset's voice over a universal channel and she shuddered at the sound, certain she would never hear that man utter anything again.

"What the hell?" Clotho asked and Eclipse checked her radar to see an escape pod floating aimlessly in space, seemingly having been dumped from the Vesalius. She doubted Le Creuset would ever do anything without a reason, so she really didn't know what to make of it. It didn't seem like anyone else did either since everyone was just as startled, some machines stopping mid-attack. The battlefield lay frozen for a moment, the first three to break the ice being Namarra's brothers.

"Stop gawking, newbie!" Clotho shouted and swung his mace back out to play.

Knowing the drill by that time, Eclipse charged forward, throwing off his depth and making the weapon jumble harmlessly around as he tried to readjust. The redhead dodged his feeble attempt and pulled out both EARP daggers, sticking them into the joints at the Raider's knees and giving a silent cheer when they exploded, the lower legs joining the rest of the battle debris as planned.

"W-what?" he stammered.

Swinging back around, she was about to disable Clotho's machine some more when a Strike Dagger fired in her direction. Why the pilot thought to interfere the redhead had no idea, but she doubted it was because of some sense of camaraderie. Somehow, she figured the guys weren't too good at playing with others.

Spinning, she let loose the Gleipnir from her right buckler and punctured the suit in three places, the left thigh, the chest and the head. Tugging towards her, the metapolymer chords tightened and she flipped out the sword under her wrist to stab the Dagger's cockpit when it came flying at her, using the same technique Clotho had been trying to use on her since the beginning of the battle.

Shit. Clotho.

Twisting around, she made a zig-zag movement just in case the Raider was coming at her, but nothing was around. In fact, the Raider had gone to join its teammates.

The ones chipping away at the Freedom.

A part of her was thankful to see the Freedom back in the fight, but for some reason he wasn't fighting. The machine was moving around as if Kira was drunk, but Eclipse had no idea why. At least not until she finally noticed the female voice screaming through the emergency channel.

"I-I have something with me. A-a key! The key that's supposed to end this war! So help me! Please, help me!"

Eclipse didn't recognize her, but based on elimination, she had to be in the pod ZAFT released as they entered the battle. No doubt Eclipse was not the only person who knew Le Creuset was up to something, but that transmission caused more questions to pop up than answers.

"Stop it! Just stop it!" the girl screamed again, but Eclipse had stopped listening, Kira getting overrun by the Earth Forces machines. Cursing, she watched Clotho knock off the Freedom's head, forcing the machine to twist awkwardly away from its original trajectory. Was he trying to get to the pod?

"Damn it all!" she yelled and went over to help.

Only Shani and Clotho were there attacking Kira—Athrun trying his best to keep them at bay—but she couldn't find Orga. That made her nervous for a second before the CA told her the pod had been snagged. One quick look at her cameras verified Orga had been the one to make the grab.

"Flay!" Kira screamed, but it was too late.

"Damn it, Athrun, get him out of here!" Eclipse hissed, knowing the Freedom pilot was either too tired to continue the battle and would get himself killed, or was on the verge of a mental breakdown and wanted to die. Based on Kira's past performances, she doubted he was suicidal, but she had no idea what he was trying to do.

Clotho had noticed her return to their side of the battlefield and—not caring about the signal to retreat—must have seen her suit for what it was: prey. Shani was chasing after Athrun still and the CA was announcing another low battery.

Great.

With her energy nearing empty and the only weapons open to her either too weak against his Trans-phase armor or too battery-draining to risk, she was about to become someone else's problem much like Kira had been. The only difference was she had some sensibility left.

"Coffee Addict, transfer remaining battery power to the Scylla. Leave only enough for one last shot."

There was a pause. "Negative. With the Scylla so unstable, the energy will cause it to spark and then explode with us attached."

While she planned, Clotho had changed modes and snagged her left arm with his claws, but she managed to swing her right arm around and jam her unsheathed sword into the Raider's head before he could fire his own cannon at pointblank range. Eclipse's breath began to quicken as Dearka and Athrun screamed through her transmission, but she ignored them. She had it all under control.

Hopefully.

"The wires will hold. Do as I ask then dislodge the arm."

"Understood."

Based on the Raider's movements, Clotho was either really close to the end of his cycle or too pissed about losing his main weapon to think straight. Like a baby with a doll, he tossed the Stealth from side to side, practically tearing the arm from the machine without any added help and despite how the situation looked, the thrashing actually helped.

"Energy transferred."

Clotho swung her hard to the right and her body went with it, her grip tightening on the controls before she became the bead in a rattle. Or at least more so than she already was.

"Disconnect the arm," she managed through gritted teeth before her body was swung back to the other side of the cockpit.

"Disconnecting," Addict confirmed and there was a small click heard amid the jostling, the control locking up under Eclipse's hand as the Raider sent the Stealth spinning away when the arm came off. Cursing, she pulled on her thrusters to gain some stability, knowing she had to fire off a shot at the primed explosive and even managed to become upright, but her battery was drained from that movement, leaving her stranded and a ticking time bomb attached to the one enemy able to tear her apart.

Her plan was to fire off one last shot from her beam rifle, but Addict had drained the last of her extra battery into that one bomb. In space, distance for her CIWS wouldn't be a problem, but her calibration had been thrown off in that last tumble and not only that, she was still trying to calm her physical body down enough to aim a shot.

Saying something equivalent to, "Fuck it," she pulled the trigger and aimed in Clotho's general direction anyway. The Raider had already started coming at her, so she really had no other choice. The bullets shot out like a fan, Eclipse moving the head to try and cover a wider area and as luck would have it, one hit her half-assed explosive. Okay, for all she knew, the wires could have combusted on their own, but the bit of metal exploded, sending the Earth Forces mobile suit spinning in one direction and the force pushed Eclipse in the other. It wasn't a large explosion, but enough to keep Clotho from coming back at her again.

And it gave Dearka enough time to grab her suit and cover their escape.

"You're gonna give me grey hair," he hissed as they sped towards the cover of friendly battleship fire.

"And I'm sure it'd look fetching," she responded, the remark coming out breathier than she had hoped. Her adrenaline was washing out of her quickly and raw reality was finally seeping its way inside. She had come close to death before, but somehow each time felt fresh, and perhaps she would never get used to it—was never meant to get used to it. She would never get used to the spots across her vision either.

Black spots.

White ones?

A sense of flying then nothing.

---

Namarra got to the infirmary just as Murrue was leaving. They shared a serious look for a moment, as if they were going to say something important, but instead Murrue smiled lightly and nodded. Namarra breathed, not even realizing she had been holding her breath.

"Captain Ramius to the bridge," the intercom buzzed and she squeezed past the younger Natural.

Mu was lying on a bed to her right, his side bandaged while IVs stuck into his skin. He was pale, but otherwise looked okay despite the wound. Something was still off, however. She could see it in his half-comforting smile. Typically, that grin was followed by a spark of some kind, but this one was dull and she took a tentative step into the room.

"I've never known you to get hit. You must really be getting old, ace."

He laughed, a forced sort of cackle that ended in a cough, but it was genuine at least. "You're the second person to tell me that."

"Then you should be concerned your grey hair might be showing."

"Ah, kids."

Moving closer to his side, she stopped her momentum nearby and lowered herself to be closer to his height. "Seriously, though, what happened? You leaving the battlefield had to be for some reason. I mean, you left the Archangel."

"The Archangel was holding her own just fine. Elsman and I were getting in the way anyway. Besides, Le Creuset made a move from the other port."

Le Creuset? Namarra thought. The Alliance had their suspicions that the famed commander was on one of those ZAFT ships and apparently this was their proof. Well, more so than the proof of him speaking over the universal channel at the end of the previous skirmish. The thing the Natural didn't understand was how Mu knew that. Based on what she had heard, Mu, Kira, and Dearka had left the battlefield but for what reason, she never learned. Maybe ZAFT had made a move after all?

"Wow, your radars detected that mid-battle? From that distance?"

Mu shrugged. "No, not the radars, just me. It's…" he trailed off, searching her face as if looking for some kind of clue she would understand. In the end, he didn't share, giving the vague answer, "It's complicated," before growing silent once more. Namarra felt her façade slip at his evasion, but didn't let it slip for long. Everyone had secrets—even her.

"Can I ask what happened next?" she continued, prompting the conversation to not die out just yet. "I mean, as far as I remember, you weren't injured until you went back into Mendel."

The older man sighed and closed his eyes, bringing up his one arm to point at the water bottle just out of his reach. She handed it to him then set it in a more accessible position once he was content.

"A lot of weird science shit that I'm not sure I even believe, but the evidence is pretty clear. God damn it," he cursed, a bit unusual when coming from him. She didn't know enough about the situation to say he deserved the right to swear, but it said enough to make her nervous.

"I wish I had something to say," she murmured, but Mu was already beginning another thought.

"I guess you out of everyone understands not wanting to believe the truth."

She had to look away before they made eye contact, but his words rang true enough. Both her and Eclipse had been learning things they would rather not know about, but she couldn't help thinking it wasn't a horrible thing. While not many of the crew knew of their screw up genetics, most of the adults were aware they were mutant enough to be of interest to their previous military allegiances. Neither Eclipse nor Namarra wanted the news to be the hot gossip of the Alliance, so they had kept any of Azrael's revelations to themselves for now—at least as far as Namarra knew. Personally, the Natural didn't really have anyone to tell, so any spilling would be coming from her redheaded counterpart, but Eclipse seemed just as spooked and keen to keep her lips closed on the matter as Namarra.

It was an interesting notion nonetheless and the Natural found herself staring at the wall. Whether it was her strange genetics or the unknown surrounding her brothers' fates she couldn't help but wondering whether it was better or worse to know the truth.

"Would you rather know or be ignorant?" she asked him after further pause, her attention drifting back down to him on the bed. "As the saying goes, knowledge is power, right?"

Mu gave another wry chuckle. "But ignorance is bliss, isn't it?" He paused. "I guess you're right. Just hard to know that man—that Le Creuset is my—" Her head titled to the side when he paused, expecting him to continue but he shook his head instead. "Sorry, I really shouldn't be burdening you kids with my problems. You're already fighting the war my generation began. I feel like I should shelter you from some of it at least."

"I'm far from an innocent little kid, but I guess I can't get too mad at you for trying. Are thanks in order then?"

He smiled, but it soon flipped. "How's Lathan and Erika? Murrue told me a little, but I don't think even she knows much."

"They're both hanging in there. They'll both make decent recoveries, just have some scars each." She left out Lathan's potential blindness so as not to startle him more, but just like she knew when he was giving her half the story, he could probably see through her teenage façade. He, however, didn't pry.

"Good. When I had heard about the Regean I was worried that—" he sighed, not finishing the sentence. "Maybe some angels are still floating around out there somewhere."

"Maybe a couple," she agreed, thinking briefly of her brother and his small smile appeared in her mind, but she swallowed it away, not wanting to upset herself as the emotion rushed to her all at once. "I should let you rest."

"And you should do some of your own. We've lost… some on our own side," he said carefully and frowned, probably thinking about all the fellow soldiers from their own alliance who hadn't made it through the previous fight.

"Yes, sir." She saluted and smiled at his eye roll, kicking off to head to the door, but didn't get far. "Can I ask you a question?" He shrugged a yes. "Does Murrue know the captain of that ship?" After she said it, she wished she hadn't. is face went all serious again and she didn't like the pain there.

"She was an officer on the Archangel. We went through a lot together those first few months and as it would anyone, we all formed a family of sorts. Since we didn't have that much contact with our superiors, we had to make a lot of important decisions on our own. Well," he continued with a sad sigh, looking off to the side, "she and I got transferred off this sip at Alaska. I came back and she must have been promoted. In any other circumstance I'd be so happy for her."

"I see... Sorry to bring up something so personal."

"You deserve to know. You told us about your brothers, so it's only right we share our own connections, right?" There was that smile again then a wink; always trying to make her feel better. Too bad she never seemed able to return the favor. "Now, go rest."

"Copy that." Another salute and she left without another word.

---

Eclipse was only out for a grand total of two hours. Exhaustion was the main cause of her passing out, so the doctors made her get a couple hours of rest and then she was able to roam about as she pleased. Seeing as her suit was getting some major repairs done on it and Lathan was still unconscious in the infirmary, there was really no reason for her to be up and about for those couple hours anyway. The Three Ship Alliance had fled away Mendel for now—putting some distance between themselves and both armies—but they were debating whether or not to return there eventually. There were a lot of resources still remaining at the satellite and with them so short on supplies—well, that was looking like the best option.

Lacus and Cagalli were apparently on the Eternal talking to some peace factions within the Earth Alliance through some connections in Orb. She hadn't heard any more details on the discussions, but it had sounded promising. Three ships versus two armies was just ridiculous odds and if they could chip away at the militaries from the inside things might move along faster. There was even mention of a reverend and something called the Junk Guild, but Eclipse had decided to leave the negotiations up to her fellow females. So, she was left taking care of the Regean. The ships had found a safe place to sit for now and have recently given the okay for mechanics to go out and properly take care of the overall damage to all the ships. Eclipse, of course, volunteered for the Kusanagi.

She surprised herself with how calmly she approached the demolished side from the inside of the Kusanagi this time around. There were already Orb mechanics working to chip away at the debris, but they hadn't gotten too far, Kisaka telling them to leave the living quarters intact until either Namarra or Eclipse had gotten a chance to look it over. That was very generous given the circumstances, and Kisaka had even agreed to let the Stealth be fixed in the Kusanagi hangar. Perhaps she had finally redeemed herself for her selfishness in Orb.

Namarra was already there when Eclipse, Athrun, and Dearka arrived. She was holding onto a jutted piece of metal as two workers were sawing at the door next to her. It was hard to tell exactly whose room she was trying to get into—since Eclipse couldn't see how far back the damage went—but the redhead assumed it was Namarra's.

"I'll contact the Eternal to see if they can spare one of theirs," Athrun said, pointing towards the two men at work. "I have a feeling we'll have to do that to all the doors and with the situation as is." He shrugged as if he didn't need to say anything more then pushed off to the nearest communication device.

Dearka tapped Eclipse on her shoulder and pointed towards Murdoch directing traffic. He and two others were over near the old storage area. While the space looked better than the melted metal it was before, there didn't appear much to salvage, but the older mechanic seemed to be finding some valuable pieces out of the mess. Eclipse nodded and the blond headed towards them to help out while she glided over to Namarra.

The Natural saw her and held out a hand to help steady the descent just as the crewmen took a large enough chunk out of the door to walk through and Namarra went in first. It was hard to tell immediately, but upon more thorough inspection, the room had begun taking shape as the Natural's. Flames from the explosion had managed to slip through the door and scorched everything inside. It must have been a slow intake because the frame of the room itself was still intact, just everything lying inside was crispy. Her cot was nothing more than twisted metal in the corner next to the melted chunk that used to be her desk and the laptop molded in there somewhere. Eclipse could see the white letter 'X' from her keyboard poking through the black mess. Her clothes were mostly alright, the closet door pressed back against the wall and protecting a few stragglers, but not enough to last more than three days. The toilet had been pushed into the main living area, the utility half black, half grey as it lay bent into the mangled bathroom door. Twisted upside down, the upper—or was it bottom?—half was melted to about the middle, the once-gooey metal molding over the toilet and suspending it in place.

Eclipse sighed because there was really nothing else she could do. She had no idea where the small coffee table had landed, but the distorted debris dangling off the far wall gave her a good idea.

Namarra matched her sigh and headed over near what was left of her bed. The redhead knew what she was going after and called for the two mechanics to come back in, just in case the wall safe needed some prying open like the door. Agreeing, the mechanics came inside the room as she left to check on Athrun and that other saw.

Athrun had positive news, actually, already at the door across the way with two mechanics from the Eternal and the sawing had begun, Eclipse steadying herself off to Athrun's left as she waited for a large enough gap to slip through.

"Where's Lathan's room?" Athrun asked, putting a hand on her shoulder to catch her before she ventured in.

She pointed to her right. "His living quarters are next to mine, but he kept some of his finished projects in the room next to Namarra's. Hopefully, those survived because his workshop definitely didn't." Looking down at where the hangar used to be, she saw some stray wires that could only be what was left of his geek cave.

Athrun nodded. "I'll try to get into those then to see what's left."

"Thanks." Swinging out to the side, she slipped through the gap and realized the mechanics hadn't cut into the door to her room. Instead, they had cut into the wall and she was standing in her bathroom. The toilet was where it had originally been, but the frame was disfigured and she had to blink, seeing a large piece of glass from what she had assumed was her mirror float past her face. The flames had rounded the edges so she pushed it aside easily, eyes drifting over to the sink that was now only half there. Stepping forward, she was able to push open the bathroom door and got a good look at her living quarters, now thoroughly scorched and up against the far wall. The closet had been blown out, her clothes either burned or too close to matter, and her cot and desk were shoved into the corner, covering up the one thing she wanted to get at: the wall safe. She yelled for Athrun as she headed towards the spot, trying to see if anything would budge with mere woman-power alone or if she had to wait for the heavy artillery. Some pieces did move, enough to see that a couple paper stragglers in her desk drawer had magically survived, but she could also see the black corner of a folder and she cursed.

That was the printout Erika's friend had given her about the Berserker research.

Given, Erika should have the digital file somewhere—and the Stealth might still have the bugged version they were baiting Azrael with—but just seeing the charred paper equivalent brought all the nasty memories back. She frowned.

"I'm sure the safe's still intact," Athrun said, having come up behind her to steady himself on the wall nearby. He reached down and pulled half of her laptop up from the mess, only managing to get it so far before a melted part of the frame refused to detach from the wall. "Find anything salvageable?" She shook her head and he sighed. "Damn it, I'm sorry."

"How was Lathan's?" she asked, not really feeling up to soaking in his sympathy.

"Surprisingly, undamaged. I'm thinking these two rooms took the brunt of it all."

"So, most of his stuff is still working?"

"It all looks okay, but he'll have to start it up personally before we can know for sure. It's all still pushed back against the far wall thanks to the force of the explosion, but it looks like Lathan managed to close the bulkhead before the fire could destroy his side and the Kusanagi. Quite amazing really," Athrun continued, grabbing one side of the bed frame as Eclipse held the other. "To go from attacking," he paused to put some force in moving the debris, "to closing off the bulk of the damage before it harmed the Kusanagi." They moved the next piece, but that one wasn't going anywhere. "Rather impressive."

"Erika went back at one point, remember." She waved him off when he reached for something else. "Just wait for the others," she recommended, indicating the debris.

Shrugging, he leaned against the wall next to her. "A tag team then," he continued. "Still, it was no easy task."

"Yeah," she said and trailed off, looking to the side as she disguised the emotion that suddenly leapt to her throat. "Came at a fairly hefty price."

"What do you mean?" Athrun began and Dearka squeezed through the gap, the two of them acknowledging him.

She took another breath before continuing, wishing she could take off her helmet to stop it from choking her, but oxygen right then was far better than the lack of it. "He'll live," she said, matching each of their curious faces. "His right side is severely damaged and they won't know the extent of his mobility until he's conscious, but his brain is functioning fine and has no hemorrhaging." She shrugged as if it didn't matter, but she was thankful they had known her long enough by now to recognize it as an act. In fact, it had rattled her more than she thought possible. This type of thing wasn't uncommon for her, but somehow because it was Lathan—someone she thought would never even be near war let along in the throes of it—it hurt more than the others she had witnessed. "He's blind," she managed after another moment.

"I'm sorry," they said simultaneously and to anyone else it may have seemed a frigid moment, but it was all they could do. If it had gotten any more personal, they may have lost the will to keep fighting at all, so they stood there in silence until the mechanics came in with the saw, the mere sense of them being next to her better than any hug. While she would still keep Namarra's brothers in mind, Eclipse was happy to know there were at least two other pilots who had the same goals as her.

The two soldiers explained the state of the other rooms before they began, probably needing more of a breather than anything, but the little group let them have their rest. Apparently, there had been gunpowder marks in one of the padlocked closets, but it didn't take a genius to realize the girls' gun collection had been hidden there. Eclipse smiled at that and even the guys cracked a grin as they stood back to let the mechanics work. Everything was intact if not needing a little cleaning and compared to the past twenty-four hours that sounded easy.

It was a grueling ten minutes before the redhead was able to open the safe and grab her belongings. Surprisingly, her journal was in good shape as well as some assorted personal items she had thrown in there before the battle. Sifting through them briefly, she grabbed them all and turned to see Namarra peeking inside to take a brief look around.

"Well, shit."

"My thoughts exactly," Eclipse replied and everyone turned towards the newcomer.

"Oh, but, Lexi, did you hear about our stash? It survived."

The redhead laughed and the guys shook their heads. The mechanics might have been just as amused, but Namarra's statement hadn't given Eclipse enough time to look.

"What? I'm quite fond of that sniper rifle, alright?"

---

Eclipse's mind had wandered as she watched the mechanics finish up what was left of the Regean. Despite her promise to get some more rest, the redhead couldn't bring herself to sit down let alone go sleep in Cagalli's room. Well, she was kicked off the crew once the rooms had a thorough examination, but was never officially asked to leave the wreck, so that meant she could float and stare. Healthy? No, but at least it was a version of "rest."

She felt like shit. Lathan and Erika would be all right in the long run, but they had yet to awaken and she was getting nervous about her brother's condition despite the diagnosis. Lathan blind? For good? Sure, with the kind of technology in the PLANTs he might be able to get his sight back, but the process would still be hard. And would he ever get his same amount of sight back? Fiddling with small mechanics was his favorite pastime.

Lifting her head, she watched two soldiers weld a metal sheet where her bed used to be. They had kept Lathan's rooms, but cut off the remainder of hers and Namarra's. It was practically dead weight now anyway, so they had no choice but to shave it. The room wasn't that big of a loss, but it was a visual reminder of what her brother had gone through and that made it more painful than she had thought it would. They were in a war and yet she still never saw Lathan as a soldier. He was a geek; since when were they using defensive weaponry and racing to close bulkheads before the flames fried the main ship?

It was almost too surreal.

Lathan wasn't supposed to get hurt. Optimistic, yes, but it had been more of a plea than a fact. While she didn't have very many fond memories of her parents, she had plenty with her brother and she wanted to make even more. Part of her couldn't help but think it was all just bad luck. Anyone she got near would painfully and she hugged her arms against her stomach. Yes, she knew it was stupid, especially since the only reason was because of this damn war, but it was that small voice in the back of her mind that started riddling off the list of those who had died around her. She had debated sending Heine an update to check on his health, but every time she was about to relay the message to her suit, she would freeze and get nothing beyond the greeting. Rather pathetic, really.

"New message received."

Coffee Addict had startled her at first, but the statement became a momentary distraction. If it had gotten her mind away from those gloomy thoughts she wasn't about to complain.

"Message from Revelin Sloan—"

"Fuck." Now, she wanted to complain.

"—approximately fifteen minutes ago. It says: 'Hello, darling, haven't heard from you in a while. After your little run-in with my Lust, I was expecting to see you knocking at my door. You've disappointed me, my little goddess, so I'm inviting you to me. Currently, I'm at Spemann—another satellite in the L4 cluster—and would love for you to join me. I've attached an invite for one friend and one friend only. I have a feeling I know who you're going to bring and I'm so excited to see you both soon.

"'Since I feel in a generous mood, I won't even place a time limit on this invite. I'm getting ready to do something huge so don't delay too long, my love. I'd hate for you to regret missing the fireworks. Revelin.'"

Eclipse frowned, there was really nothing else she could do. Get pissed? She was beyond pissed and even a bit anxious. Her immediate idea for a plus one was Namarra, but he was probably expecting that, so why should she fall into that trap? With his ruse on Stray's death over and done with, she knew there were at least two of them. Two formidable foes and she was walking right to them. Again, why?

"Because I have no choice."

"Sweetheart, you of all people have choices."

Eclipse turned to see Dearka standing next to her. She had the eerie feeling he had been there a while, but he had always been considerate enough to not butt into her personal conversations despite the fact that his line was edging on creepy. "Thanks, Dearka, just don't call me sweetheart."

"Sorry." He shrugged and looked back down the hall at the work being done.

After his help earlier, he and Athrun had bailed to go get some rest. Whether or not they had gotten any was beyond her, but they had shown an effort and that was commendable at least. She wasn't sure why he had returned to the wreck as quickly as he did, so she asked. If anything, it would pull him away from baby names.

"Just thought I'd check in. I figured you'd still be here."

"Looking out for me, huh?"

Shrugging, he said nothing more after that and they just watched the men work. With another girl it might have been awkward, but with a guy friend, silence meant camaraderie, friendship, and maybe even trust.

They stood there for a while, watching the crew line up the last piece of metal to weld into place. Next was readjusting the anti-beam shield and coolants. Given the amount of work they had just done, it was impressive they had finished it in such a short amount of time.

"Y'know, you should be near your suit in case that ship comes back," Eclipse said, not putting much force into the comment, merely stating the obvious.

"The Buster's not too far. The Archangel's getting some major repairs done and with Mu out of commission for the time being—well, let's just say the Kusanagi is surprisingly quieter."

"Wait, Mu out of commission?" She spun a bit too quickly, her fatigue making her lightheaded for a moment, but she swallowed down the feeling. "I thought it was weird he was missing, but how did I miss that big of an announcement?"

"It happened while we were in Mendel and it's been rather hectic. I'm sure the captains have been keeping each other informed, but it's hard to circulate so much information at once. Hell, I hadn't even known Erika was hurt with Lathan until roughly ten minutes ago when I didn't see her helping in the hangar."

"She saved his life, actually," she responded, the relief and admiration still in her voice. "But Mu?"

"A shallow puncture and graze, but it's a bit more serious than it sounds. Don't worry," he added quickly, "he'll be fine eventually, but that means we have to work a little harder."

"What else has been happening? With Lathan and the Regean—"

He held up his hand again and shook his head. "I know. Don't worry. I'll fill you in." While he didn't know everything that had happened with Kira and Mu when they were with him on Mendel, he knew whatever it was, had them rattled. Kira wasn't injured, but he had been pent up in his bedroom on the Eternal since they had come back, only a select few able to get through to him. Lacus was among that crowd and she had been running ragged, either helping Cagalli with the negotiations or with Kira since he had gotten back.

"Do you have any guesses?"

Dearka shrugged. "Cagalli seems involved in some way—something about a photo—and Athrun seems to get it too. We were in some kind of scientific area, but I don't know what that really has to do with anything. There might have been something about genetic research, but I'm not gonna lie, I don't think anyone wants the news to circulate."

"Wow, you notice a lot for not knowing anything."

He shrugged again. "Aren't we trained to be observant?"

Smiling, she returned to looking back at the mechanics. Based on those few observations alone she could put together most of the puzzle. Cagalli and the picture was the giveaway, but she couldn't tell what was the final verdict, or how Mu fit into it. Perhaps she would ask later, but right then everyone needed to process. Besides, she didn't think she could handle their drama with Lathan in such poor condition.

"Yzak was with Le Creuset," Dearka said after further pause. "He actually agreed to talk to me. At gunpoint, yes, but it's still impressive." Eclipse listened as she heard his voice grow quiet. "He's still with ZAFT even after knowing everything you went through and what's going on. We fought in the last battle, but I guess I never fully understood how hard it was to fight a real friend until now. He's just so—" He paused, looking for the right word. Eventually, he settled with, "Blind."

"I'm sure you got through to him in some way, but his circumstances are much different than ours. Hard to judge him for just having a different perspective, I suppose."

"With his mother so deep into the Council and being the heir to a great military lineage I guess I can't blame him. Seriously though," he continued, crossing his arms. "Has he always been so stubborn? And such a stickler?"

"W-what?" she stammered, amazed he had been so ignorant of his friend's personality the whole time. "You're kidding."

"Huh?"

"I just praised you for being observant and you didn't even notice Yzak has a tendency to have a stick shoved up his ass?"

"I'm assuming that's a figure of speech."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, c'mon, you were just as bad once."

"No, I wasn't."

"Uh-huh—darling—you totally were."

"Now who's using endearments?"

"Dearka, you two were inseparable and basically thought—" She decided not to finish the argument, waving her hands in front of her face. "The point is, Yzak's always had a chip on his shoulder. Lucky you for being one of the few to see his good side or at least be blind to his faults."

"I'm not saying I was blind to anything, I just think he's a bit tense."

"Tense? Dearka, he thought you were dead."

"Yeah, I guess when you put it that way it makes a little more sense." He smiled briefly and even though she didn't appreciate his ruse, she found herself amused by his fake ignorance. "In all seriousness though, being that tense and conflicted is going to get him killed."

"We can't do anything about it though."

He sighed. "I know. Kinda sucks." He did a half shrug and seemed to remember something when he did. Blinking, Eclipse watched him fumble at his side before holding out something to her. It looked like a book of some kind. "Oh, and I found this on Mendel." She hadn't noticed it despite his close proximity which probably said more about her state of mind rather than her skills. Maybe he had been hiding it on purpose until now, but that was just an excuse to make her feel less pathetic. Mentally shrugging, she took the offered book and turned it over in her hands.

The cover was torn and burnt, the bottom right of the book nothing more than particles, but the binding was still strong and holding the pages together. There might have been a title at one point, but the engraving was etched off, leaving a scratchy surface near the top.

She looked up at Dearka as he moved his hand in a circular motion, trying to get her to turn the page. Doing as he had asked, she opened to the first page, wincing when she saw it nearly crumble under the movement. Pointing, he traced his finger over half a word followed by another.

"—erker gene," she read aloud and instantly frowned. "Is this what I think it is?"

He shrugged. "Originally, I thought it was a prayer book, but now it looks more like a bible. Pretty creepy if it's a bible about what I think it is."

"Creepy would be an understatement," she muttered and closed the front flap before turning it over in her hands. There was nothing on the back other than more etched off words so that didn't help her any and with Dearka still standing there, she didn't want to dive too deep into it. If anything, she didn't want to bore him despite his intrigue. "Where did you find this? I thought you talked with Yzak the whole time."

He did his shrug thing again. "When the Strike hit the ground, it knocked up more than dust and cement."

"And burned some other things, apparently." She held up the book again, but couldn't help smiling. "Thanks, Dearka. I'm not entirely sure what it is yet, but it's definitely an interesting find."

"That's me, Mister Observant."

She scoffed. "How vain. And you thought Yzak was a dick?"

"Now who's being harsh? Perhaps we should cut him some slack. He didn't exactly get whacked across the head with the reality stick."

Eclipse chuckled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, he hasn't been attacked by a sixteen-year-old with a scalpel or been prodded with needles within the past six months."

Laughing once, he nodded, but his face soon grew grim once more. "Joking aside, I've thought more on whether or not I wanna leave. I mean, our old team is practically in our backyard." She nodded, letting him continue. "But I think I've decided to stay. That talk with Yzak opened my mind to a few things. One, I don't want to destroy all Naturals. And two, I like this prospect of thinking for myself."

"So, you'll stay?"

"Yeah, I think I'll stick around. And what about you?

"It's getting easier for me to be making so many choices on my own," she admitted, "but there are still some things connected with ZAFT that I can't just ignore yet."

"So, you're leaving?"

Now she shrugged. "Probably not, but I know I'll have to face a few things eventually."

"Fair enough. You know where I am if you need backup."

"Thanks."

They went back to watching the final touches, Eclipse admiring the quality and speed at which the mechanics finished their work. Given, it was a fairly standard job, but doing anything of that nature whether it be on Earth or in space was still rather impressive. She and Dearka struck up another conversation, but she didn't remember much about the chit-chat, an Orb soldier calling to her from behind proving to be the more memorable of distractions.

"Miss Rymyr," he started and she nodded. "Your brother's awake."

---

A/N: For any of you who live in Germany, I envy you. I've been back for nearly a month and I miss it every day. Perhaps I just don't like my country enough. And there were a lot of Canadians there. (Do I have any Canadian readers?) Do you guys normally travel that much? Anyway, met a lot of cool people and I hope to head out to Europe again soon.

As for the chapter, you guys know I wouldn't kill off Lathan just yet, right? I know most of you didn't fall for it (predictable, huh?) but I liked the prospect of Lathan being blind. So many possibilities.

This is the point in the canon where all the huge drama begins. The whole prospect of the "Ultimate Coordinator" (Ugh…) is thrown around and we finally get the official announcement that Kira and Cagalli are twins. Ah, the drama. Another thing we run into is a huge break where everybody's at a stalemate (and the EA's making those nukes). I had asked for suggestions on what to do, but haven't gotten much in response. Are there any people you want to see interact with each other? Some kind of simulation with a new upgrade? Anything? Please let me know 'cause I'd hate to jump to the next battle like the series does.

Special thank you to my Betas who some may say have been with me too long and I say, "Yes, they have, but for some reason they kept coming back." :) This story would suck more than it does without your help. ( , Death-Scimitar and Maderfole)

And that you to the reviewers old and new for offering suggestions, criticisms and praise where they felt the need. And every help is appreciated.

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Corrections to the Narrative:

The only changes I really made involved Flay's screaming over the emergency channel. In the Anime her dialogue was switched, but this way worked better for my story. Besides, I'm sure she was screaming some other stuff that we never heard.

As for the battles, I beat the boys up pretty good, but most of the damage was what the canon originally gave them. Eclipse took out the Raider's legs instead of Athrun, but it was just a minor thing. Hopefully no one has too big of grips about it.

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Questions/Gripes:

I think it's my turn to gripe here because Maderfole took all my reviewers and have been huddling them up in his little forum. Yes, I have gone there from time to time... but-but that's not the point! :P

Well, Lathan's not dead, obviously. Hopefully that won't turn into a gripe for this chapter.

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Thanks again to any and everyone reading this fic and offering advice. It's always appreciated no matter what form. I'll see you next chapter.

Strata