Phase 1: Blasting Into Space
CE 89
"Lacus Clyne has repeatedly ignored the problems on earth and denied our good allies the aid they require to fight ROW. If that is not sympathy to these radicals who would deem coordinators as demons then I don't know what is. She has turned a blind eye to the point where her own home PLANT would have been destroyed if ORB had not stepped in." 18 year old Yaro Yamato watched the television as his adopted mother was repeatedly slapped by Jaley Lired. "her husband Kira Yamato is also an traitor to our government! His history shows that he fought against our military in the first valentine war and sided with blue cosmos! He should have been arrested and made to pay for his crimes yet he is 'serving' our government."
"These are heavy charges made against our leaders," the interviewer said causing Yaro to grit his teeth and glare at the scree. These attacks had been non stop for the past few months and now people were starting to believe them.
"The facts are all there," Jaley said, "He was also a pilot for the earth alliance during the first bloody valentine war. If you remember correctly that administration was entirely led by blue cosmos." Yaro immediately thought of a million ways he could answer her statement and he wished he could debate with Jaley.
"Why are you watching that crap," Yaro turned to see his younger sister Leyas enter the room. The 14 year old was a star child singer in the plants but since the recent outcry's against her mother during the campaign Leyas's album sales had been steadily declining.
"Well," Yaro tried to think of a reason, "it was on and I thought I'd see if Jaley has thought of any new lies to spread." He turned off the television and turned to his younger sister. There really was no point in continuing watching it, Jaley's lies just made him sick. The election still had not taken place but people were already beginning to hail Jaley as their leader. All of this was just because she had the media on her side and together they could control the minds of the people.
"Mother told me to tell you to get ready," Leyas said, "things are starting to heat up a little too rapidly." Leyas slowly walked to the couch and sat down next to him. "This place will no longer be home'" the young girl sighed.
"It's time?" Yaro asked his younger sister, "father still hasn't returned."
"We can no longer wait," the two turned to see their mother standing in the doorway of the room, "we have to go now."
"Now?" Leyas repeated the last word standing up abruptly.
"I've just received intelligence that the people have rise up and the government has taken action," Lacus said sadly looking out of the large window of the room, "mobile suit forces and officers are on their way here as we speak."
"What about Uzumi?" Yaro asked. Their cousin Uzumi Zala had been sent by his father to visit a couple weeks before from ORB. Uzumi had been most excited about seeing his cousins and he always loved going to the PLANTs but he knew his father had other reasons for sending him.
"He is going with us," Lacus said, "he went to collect his stuff." Lacus then beckoned for the the children to get up. "Jaley is sparing no time. I won't be able to refute her claims at this rate." The two children walked toward the door and Lacus placed a hand on each of their shoulders "we are heading to ORB, you have ten minutes. Bring only what you think you need."
Yaro frowned. This world was heading into turmoil and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Yaro and Uzumi hurried to pack their stuff while Kiran sat down with his own pack next to him. Kiran had a sixth sense about these sort of things largely due to his computer skills and he had packed a few days before. Yaro and Uzumi thought they at least had a week but they had been wrong.
"I can't believe people are just turning against my mother," Yaro said, "she's only ever served the country with dignity and honor."
"We can't blame them Yaro," Uzumi replied, "they are deceived." Yaro shook his head at Uzumi; he was fifteen yet he never let himself say anything untrue. Somehow he had always understood what had happening around him and had offered his friends advice based on it
"You're right," Yaro replied to him, "but I still think its not fair." Their conversation was stopped by a blast which shook the house. Yaro looked toward Uzumi and they both understood, the ZAFT police had arrived.
"They're here," Kiran said looking up from the ground he had been staring at.
"Aunt Lacus was right about the timing," Uzumi sighed, "its only been 11 minutes."
"That's because she got her timing and intelligence from me," Kiran sighed, "though I wish I'd been wrong." Kiran stood up and grabbed his pack.
"So to ORB," Yaro said with a laugh, "only we're probably not going to get out this easily."
"Most likely not," Kiran agreed with his older brother.
"Come along boys," they looked to the doorway to see Andrew Watlfeld, one of the leaders of the Clyne faction during both bloody Valentine wars. "It looks like I brought along my force just in time." Yaro looked out the window to see several mobile suits surrounding the house to protect it.
"A battle within the PLANTs?" Yaro questioned with surprise.
"No," Waltfeld replied, "a protection. Our mobile suits have been ordered not to cause any damage to the PLANT. Now we have to hurry."
"Lacus Clyne must be arrested alive," Commander Grettan said. He was one of Jaley Lired's oldest friends and now he understood the cruciality of the situation.
"Yes," Jaley replied, "If she does escape the plants I have made arrangements to see that she is dealt with properly. But I would much desire that you captured her right here and now, I don't want any unnecessary problems."
"It will be done my lady." Grettan looked toward the mansion turning off his com link device. Lired had presented her evidence to the ZAFT Supreme Council earlier that day; most of the evidence against her was fake but the gullible politicians had believed it and ordered Lacus to be arrested. Gettan watched in satisfaction as his mobile suits moved on the ones surrounding the leaders mansion.
He looked toward the sky and knew that should Lacus elude them something was waiting outside for them. He knew Jaley well enough to know she'd make sure of that.
Another blast shook the house as Lacus, along with a few loyal soliders, led the children through the secret passageway in the house. Yaro looked around in fear as he saw all those whom he held dear.
"Remember to make our exit quickly so as to avoid detection," Lacus said to Commander Waltfelt.
"Of course," He replied, "I only wish we could have contacted Kira before all this."
"It's better that we don't," Lacus replied, "he is without proper means to protect himself if they trace where he is. The Strike Freedom is sitll abord the Eternal."
"You know something will be waiting for us, this isn't going to be easy." Lacus eyes filled with sadness as she though about what she was being forced to do; once again war was going to sweep the world.
"Do we have any more moblie suit pilots with us besides Dearka?" she asked. Commander Waltfelt swore and punched the wall nearest to him.
"They're all out there," he said regaining his composure.
"We'll think of something," Lacus responded. Kiran looked up from the ground after Lacus said it.
"We have enough strength to make it mother," Kiran said, "if that strength is used properly." Lacus looked at her younger son who seemed very anxious with their situation.
The group came out of the tunnel into a large hanger. There in front of them was Lacus Clyne's pink ship the Eternal which had gone through many upgrades in the past months making it one of the most superior ships in the PLANTs. The crew members were rushing about with last minute preparations. Dearka Elseman ran up to meet the group.
"We'll be ready to launch in 2 minutes," he said with a cool expression. As a war veteran Dearka was an expert at handling these situations.
The group rushed aboard the ship, Lacus led Kayla to a room and told her stay there with Uzumi. The Twins, Kiran and Leyas, both had jobs on the bridge and they stayed behind Lacus as she prepared to head for the bridge. Yaro had been assigned to work with the mobile suit repair crews should they have need of them but for now he could sit back with Uzumi and Kayla but he didn't really feel comfortable with that.
"Mother," Yaro said, "what if there are more soldiers and we need more mobile suits?"
"I don't know Yaro," her concern was evident, "just hope we have a favorable exit." The ship began to lift off from the dock.
Ashy violet eyes stared out the glass in front of them. Her world was something that people had always controlled. Never had a decision she made been her own. She stared into the blackness of space apathetically as she had for the past eighteen years. In her life the stars had always shone for someone other than herself. She had no clue who she was or what she was. She was smothered in an environment where she was not even human and she wondered why. She put a hand up to the glass as traced the stars that were so beautifully laced into the vacuum of space. Meiko breathed a sigh and turned around knowing that as long as the lonely stars had the strength and light there was still hope left in her life. It was this simple hope that had kept her alive for she knew that there must be something greater out there.
"Meiko Virea, Please report to the mobile suit bay," a voice rang throughout the ship. She turned to another window to see a pink ship blasting from the plants. It was time now. The orders she had was to destroy that ship's defenses and force it to surrender and if that fails destroy the ship entirely. As she ran through the ship with her red hair streaming behind her she thought of her life. What justified destroying this ship? What had they done? Though Meiko didn't understand she was powerless to disobey her orders.
She arrived at the mobile suit bay and walked toward her black and blue suit. It was called the Pain and it was up to her to inflict it. As she was about to board it she heard a voice behind her.
"Its alright," it said, "I'll be out there with you." She turned to see her good friend Trey Likra Day standing behind her. He was her always her companion in training and he encouraged her hope of the future.
"I'm not worried about anything except why we're doing this?" She stated simply.
"The ship is full of traitors to the plants and we're being paid off to drive them back into the plants," he responded, "pretty crooked." Both of them immediately thought of ROW's anti-coordinator views.
Meiko boarded her mobile suit and switched it on. She looked down at her ROW pilots uniform. If her superiors were being paid to help the coordinators she had no choice but to obey her commands. She bowed her head as the mobile suit began to power up, before every battle she dispelled everything from her mind but her objective. Somehow her mind would not readily obey her commands this time around, images flooded it as her mobile suit neared the launch pad. A feeling stirred through her bones as if fate were at work. Familiarity rocked through her as her dreams began to stream through her mind disrupting her concentration. She angrily lifted her head, today was not her day for battles yet she had to get out there. Her mobile suit was launched into space.
"We're exiting the plants," Lacus said to the crew, "Stay cautious and set out course for ORB on the earth."
"Captain!," Lacus turned to one of the concerned soldiers, "We're undermanned, we need more help, more pilots!"
"There's a ship approaching," Waltfeld said turning to Lacus, "its unidentified but I'm willing to bet they are going to send out mobile suits"
"Have Dearka board his machine and standby," Lacus replied, "prepare the weapons, and prepare to intercept missiles. We have to make it through this not jsut for our lives but for the lives of so many others who will die if another war breaks out!"
Yaro held his breath as the ships emergency lights began to flash. He toward Kayla who was holding their mothers pink haro; when Kayla was nervous she often reprogrammed the haro as a way to keep herself occupied. Uzumi stood up and walked toward a nearby window looking out to space, neither voiced their concern. A crew member had confirmed to them that there were not enough mobile suit pilots on board and it was certain that something may happen.
"How do you think they are going to handle this?" Yaro asked his cousin who looked deep in thought.
"I just know that we need to trust them," Uzumi replied with faith in his voice, "my father use to tell me stories of how Aunt Lacus was a war vetran and how she could get herself out of sticky situations with little problem."
"But she usually had daddy there as well," Kayla said floating through the room, "without daddy, things aren't so great."
"No," Uzumi said, "there are three more mobile suits in the bay. I know one of them is for Kira but the other two..."
"The gundams?" Yaro asked.
"Yes," Uzumi said looking toward the door, "the gundams are our only hope if Dearka fails to fight off all our enemies."
Leyas focused on her job trying to remember which buttons to push when commands were called. She watched as screen after screen beeped. The battle had barely begun, the ship hung back and didn't bother to engage them. The only thing they were all certain about is that the ship was not from the PLANTs or ZAFT.
"Two mobile suites have launched from the unknown craft and are heading this way," commander Waltfeld said. Leyas quickly worked to match the thremal patterns of the suit.
"I'm getting a visual now," Leyas said placing it on the screen, "they don't match any thermal patterns." The entire crew turned their eyes toward the screen in the front of the bridge as the visual appeared.
"What!" Lacus said in alarm standing up at the sight of the brightly colored mobile suits.
"It can't be!" Leyas said.
"Gundams," Kiran glared.
"Order Dearka to launch," Waltfeld yelled.
"Rodger," Kiran said, "Commander Elseman, you have permission to launch."
"Dearka Elseman, we'll make it through this," Dearka's voice rang on the bridge.
Meiko closed her eyes as her mobile suit floated closer and closer to the ship.
"Why am I doing this," she whispered, "for the memory of my mother and for the freedom of this world? Or is it I fight for my own gain?"
"We fight because we have no choice," Trey said looking up from his own controls.
"No choice," they said together. The statement sounded wrong to both of them.
Please Review! I might update faster if I get more reviews.
A note about this story - it is most assuredly going to be split into two stories. There will be a time jump in between them and the plot lines they will both span are subject to change. This is my version of what happened after Destiny and if I don't get all the details of the past right, Oh well; it is fan fiction. I would appriciate constructive criticism. I am not that good with mecha so it is up to you the readers to envision the gundams; I know their colors and that is it. I'll try to give a description of them at the end of next chapter!
Updates may be slow due to me anxiously awaiting the end of Gundam 00's second season! I am a Seed fan to the core but Gundam 00 has really captured my attention and this season has been quite a good ride! If anyone else who reads this is watching it then you understand!
Again please review!