Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs in this story and probably the story idea? (shrugs)
GSD: Shifting Shadows
Shift 04: Reason and Doubt
The Minerva shuddered as it skimmed the surface of Lake Ontario. Meyrin held on for dear life as Ensign Yardbirds kept the ship's course steady throughout the rocky endeavor. The look on the captain's face showed a grim determination as the ship didn't show any signs of slowing down. Suddenly, a loud bang echoed throughout the whole ship.
"Arthur, report!"
"No leaks to the hull, Captain." Slowly, this ship's nose started to descent and after a minute of heart-pounding inaction, Minerva is finally a fully-fledged sea going vessel.
Captain Gladys grabbed the phone headset on her command chair and contacted the Hangar Bay. "Chief?"
"About the bang?" she heard the chief, "That was the Abyss. One of the harnesses snapped."
"Any significant damage on the ship?"
"A few scratches that can be painted over, nothing serious."
"How about the Abyss, can it be repaired?" The man on the other side of the line quieted down.
"It could be done, we can use one of Impulse's spare legs to repair the Abyss' legs and certainly the arm can be repaired in a few days. However, the right 'wing' unit might take at least a week, maybe more to repair. We don't have many spare parts as it is."
Gladys nodded thoughtfully, she knew the consequence of launching prematurely. It can't be helped now. Hopefully, they wouldn't face any more opposition until they reach Gibraltar Base. More of a prayer than anything. "Keep me posted."
"Will do, Captain." Talia placed the headset back to its proper place and gazed at the helmsman.
"Helmsman, what's our course?"
"51 degrees, slowing down to 10 knots, Captain."
Captain Gladys nodded and turned around to face her guest. "Now Lieutenant, what can I do for you?"
"My squad needs quarters, across Representative Attha's would be ideal." Talia stood up and look at her second-in-command.
"Arthur, you have the bridge and Meyrin, lower our alert level to green."
"Yes, Captain." Both Arthur and Meyrin saluted their Captain.
"Come, lieutenant. I'll personally see to it with the quartermaster" the bridge doors opened as both the captain and the lieutenant stepped inside the elevator.
"Much appreciated, Captain Gladys."
After Talia personally oversaw that Chimera Squad had two rooms, one across, the representative's cabin and one just beside it. Ran thank the captain for her hospitality and went about to meet up with the rest of his squad accompanying Cagalli and her bodyguard to give the representative the mission disk in question.
Minerva, inside Representative Attha's accommodation.
Cagalli lowered herself onto one of the room's chairs and Athrun took the other one. The young politician looked apprehensively as the rest of Chimera Squad marched in. The two young women stood beside the only door in and out of the room. The blond one leaned against the wall with one foot supporting her weight while the other latch on the wall. The black haired one crossed her arms around her chest, a small frown plastered on her face. The one with an impaired vision stood to the side, trying to make himself as irrelevant as possible. He pulled out a book and began flipping the pages.
"So, lieutenant" Cagalli started, focusing on Ran. "What is this you wanted me to see?" Ran gazed at the computer, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly.
"Excuse me," Athrun moved his chair aside as the watch the older man booted up the device. "Hmm, Saros. Toss me the 'stick'"
"Uuh, which one?"
"The one with Shen's nifty little OS in it." the young man fumbled his pockets until he produced slim black rectangular data storage device. With a slow underhand throw, the small object sailed through the air and Ran caught it with one hand. He gave it a quick glance before he plugged it. Though Cagalli couldn't see it, Athrun had a clear view of what happened next.
The shape of the plug-in of the black device might look the same at a first glance. On a closer look, it was wider than average. A red intermittent light appeared from within the device and after a few seconds, the connector changed shape to accommodate the port in question. This truly raised some question for Athrun. Who are these people that they do not use a universal connection port and had to have a special 'adapter' just to use them.
On the screen, the usual sky blue screen of the desktop background abruptly flashed into an inky black one. Seconds later, lines and lines of gibberish quickly scrolled up. Both Cagalli and Athrun recognized it as boot up of a computer operating system. If Kira was in the room with them, he would quickly infer that it was probably a home-brewed original OS, and not a variation of a well-known open source OS floating around the net.
Within a few scant seconds, a plain soft teal screen greeted the onlookers with a white box and a blinking indicator at its center. The lieutenant typed in the password, too fast for Cagalli to clearly memorized. Athrun, however, quietly mouth the password, 'Vigilo Confido'. It was clearly Latin in nature, but he have to ask Cagalli the meaning behind it.
Ran fished out the mission critical disk housed inside its protective box from his pocket and extended it towards the representative. "Here you go, Miss Attha." Cagalli reached out before stopping herself and gazed directly at the lieutenant.
"I have a feeling, I'm not going to like what's inside of this box."
"If what I think I know is what inside it, then probably yes. You will certainly not like what's inside. Like a Pandora's Box of sorts." Cagalli gave the black box an apprehensive look. She was torn between curiosity and caution. From the steady gaze the lieutenant is giving her, her only choice if it was ever a choice for her to begin with was to take the thing and open it. She closed her hand around the said box, decision made, and held it in front of her. With her other hand, she flipped the cover of the box open, revealing a small reflective disk sitting safely on its cushion.
Gingerly, she reached for the disk. All eyes in the room were focused on the small object. Athrun furrowed his brow as to what kind of information is inside the disk that necessitates the need to send a small elite team of mobile suit pilots to accompany it to its recipient.
Once the disk slid into the computer, a pitch-black window encompassed the entire screen. In an instant, a bright blue light flash to life, revealing a silhouetted man. Only the edge of his face is visible.
"Hello, Chief Representative" the voice addressed her in a somewhat deep gravely tone. "The Council of Nations we once knew is no more. Which leaves the entirety of mankind in a very difficult situation." Cagalli and Athrun gave each other a glance. "For a few years, we've watched as the home world is wash aflame with unfounded hate and discrimination. Using the technology bestowed by the Council to prepare for what is to come, twisted into another arsenal for us to wage war against one another instead of looking outward into the vast expanse."
The lieutenant quirked his mouth slightly. If he didn't know better, he'd say the commander relished being the mysterious, shadowy, gravelly-voiced guy for a change. He cocked his head towards the son of the shadowy, gravelly-voiced man and found his face blocked by the ever-present book. Judging by his tense posture, he's probably really, really embarrassed right now.
"The truth of the matter is, we are not alone and humanity is ill prepared for the coming storm." The silhouetted man is replaced by an image of an asteroid with a station attached to its surface. "This is 10024 Tanis. An M-type asteroid with mining, processing stations and habitats already completed. As a gesture of friendship, we will give you and your country this resourcing station to any point in space of your choosing, free of charge. In turn, I hope your country is amiable with the thought of an alliance between our two factions in the foreseeable future."
"Once, you've reach Orb. The lieutenant has with him a means to contact myself directly. For now, you can direct all your questions to him. Understand, he cannot give you all the answers as he is bound by my orders not to reveal all sensitive information. I look forward to your call, Chief Representative." The screen blinked out of existence as the video ended.
For a minute, silence reined in the room as both parties held their tongue. One in anticipation of the countless questions, and the other trying to wrap their minds around some of the wordings the shadowy entity let slip either accidentally, or deliberately. Mostly it was the fact, this person, which the two hypothesized to be the leader of IMC, casually offered Cagalli and, by extension, Orb a furnished resource satellite as a gift in exchange for a chance of an alliance.
The Chief Representative in her, however novice, felt something seems suspicious about such an extravagant gift. No one on either Earth or in Space would willingly hand over something such as that without some hefty strings attached.
"Well," The lieutenant finally broke the stillness in the room "I was terribly wrong about the contents of the disk." He gave an easy smile to the two. "So? Any questions? Inquiries? Or, a plain old 'this can't be true'?"
Cagalli gave the blank screen a quick glance before staring at Ran's face with full concentration, "Who's the man in the shadows?"
"That would be the Commander. The de facto leader of IMC."
"Does he have a proper name other than 'Commander'?" Cagalli huffed and cross her arms across her chest. Vivi smirked and opened her mouth to respond but the lieutenant beat her to it.
"That would be considered a classified information, Ms. Attha. I'm afraid I cannot answer that." Vivi gave everybody in the room a pout.
Cagalli change her line of inquiry "The offer your commander gave, the resource satellite, is it true?"
"Yes. It's already primed for deployment. All we need are the spatial coordinates to where you want it placed and probably have some of your experts vet the place; just in case our building codes doesn't match your building codes."
"What's the catch?" The young woman scrutinized the tall man, "No one is willing to offer such a thing without some kind of hefty price attached to it."
"It is what it is, Ms. Attha. We're not scheming an 'Odysseus' over you or the rest of Orb. We need all the allies we can get and HiCo saw Orb as an ideal starting point due to its long standing foreign policy, and not to mentions its considerably higher than average technological base compared to the rest of the Neutral States."
"This alliance, does it relate to what something your commander mentioned as a 'coming storm'?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the lieutenant, "Are you suggesting someone or something is coming from outside the solar system? Are you thinking some kind of alien invasion fleet is enroute to Earth to attack us?" Silence followed her question as the seconds' tick on "Well?"
"Ms. Attha" Ran heave a small breath and spoke with solid conviction "That's what the projections indeed say will likely happen."
"An alien invasion!?" She threw her hands up in the air, disbelief visibly coloring her voice. "You can't be serious! What evidence do you have to support such a ridiculous claim? This sounds more like some kind of lunatic's conspiracy theory more than anything else right now."
The good lieutenant tried hard not to point to someone as a likely evidence. As it will be considered a ridiculous claim to begin with and a poor form of convincing the young politician otherwise. "I have none with me at the moment. The Commander can provide you with more information once we've reach Orb." Ran noticed the skepticism plastered on her face, "As hard as it is to believe Ms. Attha, the first shots have already been fired before the change to the Cosmic Era calendar even took place."
Cagalli searched for something that would make this an elaborate joke in the lieutenant's eyes. All she ever found was a conviction that his words ring true. She looked behind the man to peek at the rest of the squad's reaction. Joan stared right back at her with a placid face while Vivi, for once since they've met, have a dark look on her. She couldn't decipher the bookish pilot's reaction since he's hidden his face.
With Cagalli's state of mind currently incapacitated, Athrun leaned forward from his chair, resting his elbows on each of his knee, and clasped both of his hands together. "If I may ask again, lieutenant. Who, or what is IMC?"
Ran look at Athrun for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "IMC is," He started, rubbing the back of his neck "well, we're an independent faction with former ties to the now defunct United Nations." Athrun frowned at the information, "It would not be farfetched to say that we are all what's left of the old guard not annexed into Earth Alliance's OMNI Enforcers."
Cagalli, snapped back from her brief stupor, jumped at the discrepancy. "But, the man mentioned 'Council of Nations', not the United Nations. Why is that? What's the difference between the two?"
Ran frowned slightly, trying hard to come up with a suitable explanation without giving more information than he already spilled. "The United Nation is the overall governing body while the Council of Nations is an oversight committee of select member nations which used to oversee IMC operations."
Before the two could pressed for more information, a knock on the door interrupted them. Joan and Vivi each stood next to each other, almost shoulder to shoulder, as the door slid open.
Lunamaria, already back to wearing her ZAFT Red uniform, shuffled a step or two as two white suits covered most of her field of view, baffled. "Uh…" She didn't notice before that being stared down dispassionately by two ladies in their bulky armor-like suits would be quite intimidating. The skirt-wearing pilot raised her hands in semi-mock surrender "I give up?" almost squeaking the last part.
"Oh," Vivi dropped her glare and smirked, "it's just Pinky."
"Ms. Hawke" Joan nodded at her in recognition. "Can we help you with something?"
"Hey, Luna. What's going on?" Shinn's familiar voice floated over to them.
"Ah, Shinn!" She waved one of her still raised hand at him, motioning him over. "You haven't met these guys yet, am I right?" The young man with disheveled hair, who sipped a juice box in one hand, slowly walked his way over. He eyed with suspicion the two new guests blocking the room's entry way with a frown, which is unfortunate for the young man in question.
Vi did a once over of the new visitor and decidedly smirked at the pout-like frown the child in question showed. "Turn that frown upside down, kiddo. You'll live longer" Shinn glared at the blond.
"Who you calling a kid." He stepped forward aggressively, looking up at the blond who was a head taller than him.
"Ah, Vivi." Luna pulled her friend by latching both of her hands on his shoulders. She, then, put herself between the two to prevent Shinn from being more confrontational. "This is Shinn Asuka, pilot of the Impulse and a good friend of mine. Shinn, these two are Vivi and Joan. Two pilots of Chimera Squad."
"Greetings and salutations, kid. And, I'm serious about that frown." Shinn growled, but maintain his silence, to the slight relief of Lunamaria.
"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Asuka." Joan greeted the young pilot monotonously. Her eyes, however, gave him a sharp warning glare that promise something untoward to the boy in question.
"So, Pinky. What's up?" said Vivi, while still obstructing her view of the inside of the room.
"I was hoping to invite your team to breakfast. I hear they're serving bacon and eggs." Unbeknownst to the ZAFT pilot, she just offered an enticing offer to at least one of them.
"Hmm, breakfast does sound appealing" the black-haired Chimera pilot whispered to herself, now noticing the hunger pangs for the first time.
"De Arc has a point. I haven't had a single morsel for eight or so plus hours."
Joan turned around to face her commanding officer "Sir, permission to- uh- secure breakfast?"
Ran waved a lazy, dismissive hand and replied, "Sure, just bring us back something from their mess hall."
Placing a firm hand on her Lunamaria's shoulder, Vivi's smile widened "Great! It's a date then." She snaked a hand around Joan's arm and began pulling her squadmate. "C'mon De Arc. I'm sure Commandy Boy and El-Tee can handle any would-be assassins gunning for Ms. Cagalli." She pulled Joan with her stepped out of the room's proper. "Lead the way, Pinky." Vi turned to look at Shinn, "You might as well come with us, kiddo. Let's make this a double date."
The door slid close, but not before Shinn squawk indignantly with a resounding denial and followed by some teasing from the blond.
"Ms. Attha" Ran started. However, he noticed Cagalli's shoulders droop while Athrun slumped at the chair, drained of energy. "I know you have more questions right now, and I'll answer them as best as I can. But, from the way as I see it, you and Athrun here need some sleep."
She pointed towards the screen of the computer and blurted "How can I sleep when you and your commander announced an imminent invasion. Not just a normal invasion, but with aliens!" Cagalli, huffed and took several deep breaths "As hard as it is for me to do, this is too fantastical for trick of some kind. So, I'm giving your organization the benefit of a doubt." She ran her fingers through her hair before saying, "One last question for now lieutenant, if the invasion will occur right now what are the chances of us repelling it?"
"Everything as it is right now?" Cagalli nodded "then, I'll say around twenty percent. But, don't take my word for it. IntCo analysts will probably have a much lower figure than that."
"Why twenty then?" piped Athrun.
"Mobile Suit Technology is widely used, simple as that." He clapped both of his hands. "Now, go to sleep the both of you. I can already see Athrun's eyelids complying with my order." Cagalli was about to protest when he gave her a powerful gaze which stopped her short. "Now now Representative Attha, as the undisputed leader of Orb; you are allowed to sleep. Rash decisions are born from lack of sleep. You are after all not a terminator-like machine, or some sort augmented super-being, are you?" Cagalli paused, as if to think about it. Ran cocked an eyebrow "Are you?"
She shook her head and answered, "No"
"You two rest, we'll be outside." The lieutenant walked towards the door. Saros pulled himself from his rather comfy position and followed suit. They both step on the other side of the door. "Our quarters is just across the hall." Saros wave a goodbye at the two before the door slid shut.
Minerva's Bridge
Meyrin sighed as she places her headset tiredly on the console. It felt like she hadn't slept for days. She rubbed her eyes to try and fight off the exhaustion creeping in. Although, she did spend an entire hour listening to the local radio channels and what she heard made her slightly sad.
The news reports indicated the damage is lower than projected. The larger pieces of the colony which didn't break apart all landed in the water, creating towering tsunamis that battered the coastlines around the world. The most severe were around the Atlantic coast of both the Americas, Europe and Africa. The smaller debris which didn't end up disintegrated during entry bombarded around the equator, with the Equatorial Union taking the brunt of the damage.
"Meyrin, your shift ended five minutes ago" The CIC officer jumped in surprise at the Arthur's tone. "You need rest. The others are already off-duty."
Y-yes! I'll go right away." Meyrin pushed herself up and saluted the first officer, which he responded in kind and exited the bridge. She covered a huge yawn that threatened to split her face to two as she headed towards the cafeteria to at least fill her empty belly with something before going to sleep. On the way, she passed by one of the engineers doing maintenance check on of the ship's systems.
"Long day?" the engineer asked. Meyrin hummed in affirmative before forcing back another yawn. She absently fixed her cap before entering the cafeteria. Inside, she found her sister sitting on one of the tables with two strange girls wearing the same bulky suit she'd seen Lieutenant Ran wore. Lunamaria and the blond one were talking animatedly in-between bites while the black-haired one is merely content with sitting in silence, chowing down on her eggs and bacons and the occasional sliced bread with the use of a fork.
Meyrin filled her tray with foodstuffs and headed towards one of the empty tables when she heard her name being called out by a familiar voice. "Meyrin! Come and sit over here." She turned around to find her sister waving at her and patting the empty seat next to her. The younger Hawke sister swerved towards her older sibling and her new acquaintances and meekly sat beside Lunamaria.
The two strangers eyed her critically and she tensed her shoulder and slowly slid lower on her seat. "Guys, this is my sister Meyrin. Meyrin these two are Vivi and Joan."
"H-hello" the CIC officer meekly greeted the two. "Nice to meet you." The blond one extended her hand at her. Meyrin hesitated for a second before lightly grasping the offered hand.
"Hi, Meyrin." Vivi tightly grasp the meek young lady's hand and vigorously shook it, "Vivian Onatis, IMC, Chimera Squad, Callsign: Eighteen. Nice to finally meet you. You sound so different in person than on the comms though." She let go of her hand.
"Eh?" Meyrin found herself baffled at her comment, "but I sound the same." Vivi grinned at her and merely said nothing. Vivi's seatmate extended her hand and she shook it.
"Joan Watson, IMC, Chimera Squad, Callsign: Seventeen. Nice to mee you." She said coolly to her.
"L-likewise. Um what does IMC stand for?" Meyrin asked. Vivi's grin just went wider, but before she can say anything. Lunamaria butted in.
"'If I tell you, I'm gonna have to kill you'," her sister said in a lower, but slightly menacing voice and let out a laugh. "But, really though, why can't you tell us?"
"As I said before, IMC is IMC. Nothing more nothing less." Vivi replied as she laughed at Lunamaria's slightly peeved face.
"Um is one of you the sniper?" Meyrin look at the two, hopeful of meeting the mobile suit pilot she heard from the comms.
"Sniper?" the older Hawke sister asked, baffled at her young sister's question. Vivi and Joan looked at each other, then stared at Meyrin. Joan's gaze was merely out of curiosity while the much scarier blond had the look of mischief in her eyes.
Vivi smiled at the poor CIC officer, "looks like Commandy Boy has a fan now." Meyrin lowered her face, flushed with embarrassment. "Which is surprising as that guy doesn't like to show off." She leaned forward, resting her chin on her cupped hand. A smirked graced her face and asked, "What did he do to impress you anyway?" Lunamaria, also look at her sister with curiosity. The only other male pilot that participated in the battle was the glasses wearing guy reading a book. She didn't pay much attention to him as he didn't stand out like the rest of his squad. She regarded him as average and easily forgettable without his obvious quirks.
"Um" Meyrin looked away from them and said, "he—he is better than Luna at debris combat."
"What!?" Lunamaria's reaction drew looks from everyone around the cafeteria. "How can you say that to your own sister!" Joan just smiled and took another bite while Vivi enjoyed Lunamaria's outburst. "I mean, my—my scores are alright during the academy. Are you saying he's better?" Meyrin meekly nodded and took a small bite at her breakfast. "How?"
"He single-handedly defeated seven GINNs coming after him. Four at long range, three at close-combat using ambush tactics. A-and, I heard him mutter something about a missing sword. He was looking for it."
"That doesn't mean he's better than me."
"Oh, don't worry about him, Pinky. He's not the one to rubbed it in your face, say, unlike me."
"But, my own flesh and blood, my sister doubting me. I can't stand that." Lunamaria playfully whined. Meyrin lowered head, murmured an apology, and continue to eat in silence.
"You could always ask for pointers." Joan pointed out to the ZAKU pilot. "Though, I don't know if he'll agree."
Lunamaria seemed to think about, "Not a bad idea" she whispered to herself. She turned her attention to Meyrin. "Where did we land anyway?"
"L-Lake Ontario."
She scratched her, "Where is that one again? I'm not well-verse on Earth Geography." Joan's eyes lit with concern about the ship's location. She turned to glance at Vivi with the same concern. Meyrin was obviously nervous about their predicament, but continued to nibble on her breakfast.
Joan spoke with a low voice "that's definitely troublesome."
"Why's that?"
"We're in the middle of Atlantic Federation territory, Pinky. Any sane PLANT citizen would stay well away with their Anti-Coordinator sentiments. We picked a hell of a spot to land, that's for sure." Vivi stood up taking her empty tray, "De Arc and I should take our leave. A well-rested Chimera is the enemy's worst nightmare after all."
"Wait! We need to get Lieutenant Ran and Saros something to eat." Joan handed her tray over to Vivi and hurriedly went back to where the food was laid out.
Shift 04 End
AN: I completely rewrote more than half of the entire thing after posting the previous chapter and accidentally added around a thousand words not, including the extras. Still, I'm more than happy that it is a slightly significant improvement over the original and also, a tiny bit dissatisfied with it for whatever reason. So, I'll be more than happy for you readers to point out the flaws.
With that said, Darkstormer signing off... (*mumbles* I better start looking over at Chap. 5 *mumbles*)