"This looks fun," Nicol said as he watched the play on the stage.
"Maybe," Athrun responded.
The show was formulaic, in his opinion. There was the protagonist, cornily named Peace Messenger, that wore a white and black suit with a white helmet, and a blue cape. The so-called Peace Messenger was fighting against monsters, which looked like blue anthropomorphic mutant sharks named Red Astros whose mission was to pollute the world. To defeat Peace Messenger, Red Astros took the princess as a hostage, preventing the hero from harming them.
"Lacus really enjoys playing her role," Nicol said.
With Lacus as a hostage, the Red Astros took the advantage and defeated the hero. But lo-and-behold! The princess got the children who watched the show to rouse Peace Messenger by telling him not to give up and to fight on. Even Nicol got into the fun, by standing up and shouting to the hero to keep fighting, much to Athrun's chagrin. Galvanized by the support, the masked man quickly powered up and defeated the mutant sharks.
Even though it was fun entertainment for the children, Athrun didn't miss the hidden messages. The Peace Messenger's clothing was heavily inspired by ZAFT's white coat uniform and the protagonist was fighting to protect the town of Trees, a facsimile of PLANTs. Meanwhile, the slogan that the antagonists shouted, 'To corrupt and turn the world red' left not much imagination to whom they were based on. Even the main antagonist was named Count Moron Off-rail, a purposely terrible rendition of Muruta Azrael.
After the show ended, the two joined Lacus on the stage as she bid farewell to her fellow actors. Upon seeing the two, the costumed protagonist struck a pose, before running with his arms thrown out to the side, like airplane wings.
"What a strange way of running," Nicol said.
"Hi, Athrun, Nicol," Lacus said as she approached the two.
"Hi, Lacus," Athrun said.
"What brings you here?"
"I'm here to see my cute fiancée and spend some time with her, what else?"
Lacus became bashful at the statement. "How about your friend?"
"I'm here for the Peace Messenger show. Now that I've accomplished my aim, I leave the two of you here," Nicol said before striking the same pose Peace Messenger did. "The world is worth protecting! See you later!" he said in a grandiose manner before running away, trying, but failing, to mimic the way the said actor was running.
"He likes the show," Lacus said.
Athrun watched his friend leaving with a fond but embarrassed expression. "Yeah." He then turned his attention to Lacus. "Shall we?"
"Wait," Lacus said before putting on a headscarf and a pair of sunglasses.
"Does it really work, wearing those disguises?"
"'Clark Kent' effect works, as long I don't wear them in my public appearance,"
Athrun thought about the superhero who, apart from his super strength, disguised himself as a reporter by wearing a spectacle and arranging his hair style a little. "So that no one would associate Lacus Clyne with a headscarf and a pair of sunglasses?"
"Right. They researched that more than a hundred years ago. It's anecdotal, but I found out that in most cases, it's true,"
"That's interesting," Athrun said, while deciding to file that nugget of information for later use.
While moving towards a nearby café, the two talked, even as Athrun kept an eye on two people following them; one of them was Lacus' manager whom he had met on Archangel. While he and the manager didn't have a good relationship from the get-go, he understood she was looking out for Lacus, which was why he didn't mention to Lacus about their trail.
From their conversation, Athrun found out that the staged show was part of trial for a 24 episodes live action drama where she would play a major role. Her explanation shed some light on why he could see real world inspiration in the staged version. The program was part of a broader propaganda decided by the PLANT Council.
It was the Junius Seven memorial video all over again, as ZAFT's propaganda machine was hard at work.
Somehow, Athrun became less interested in discussing the show or the Blue Cosmos, as his attention was being refocused on his fiancée who was enjoying her meal, twirling the spaghetti in front of her at an alluringly sedate pace. He swallowed a gulp as Lacus pushed away a few stray hairs off her face and held them in place using her left hand while the right hand brought the spaghetti to her pink lips. "Nice,"
"Oh, you want some as well?" Lacus said as she twirled another spoonful and then offered it to him. "Say 'Ah',"
Athrun wanted to tell her not to do such an embarrassing thing in public, but upon seeing her hopeful expression, he agreed and took a bite. There were some voices cooing over what they did, while a few complained about how shameless the two were. Lacus seemed to not notice what's going on around them, but Athrun wondered whether she was dense, or she was sharper than most people gave credit for. But the coy smile she had after he ate the spaghetti made him believe it was the latter.
The surprised look on her when he did the same, somehow made his day.
His mood improved even better when he returned to the barracks and saw Miguel in a red uniform; it was high time people acknowledged the man's skill and experience. All exuberance was lost, however, when he and the rest of the Creuset team were told to brief the PLANT Supreme Council the day after.
When the appointed time, the team stood in front of the council, at ready. The most that Athrun got from his father was a curt nod in his direction.
"Very well, Creuset," Patrick Zala began. "You and your team are here because we want your assessment of the battle with Earth Alliance fleet,"
The announcement caught Athrun by surprise, as some time had lapsed since the battle had ended; he thought the council wasn't interested in knowing about the team's assessment about it. A glance at his team showed he wasn't alone.
"May I know why we are being summoned here now? Don't you think that our viewpoint of the mission is not worth listening to?" Creuset asked, voicing the thoughts Athrun and others had.
"You're stepping out of the line, Creuset," Patrick said.
"Really? Isn't it logical to expect us to be frustrated at being used as baits?"
" All of you are soldiers and are to follow orders,"
"Well then," Creuset said, while giving a mocking bow to the council members. "What is your order?"
Eileen cleared her throat. "As you know by now, Gibraltar has mostly fallen. One factor that has been identified is our orbital fleet's defeat and loss of orbit superiority." She adopted a contemplative pose. "Now, I know that there were other arrangements made by other members of this council during the battle, arrangements that perhaps have contributed to the loss. But that is under the purview of the council, and not for you to bring up. The reason you're here is we want to know your opinion about Alliance's battle tactics."
Other members of Creuset's team turned their attention toward Nicol, expecting him to answer the question. Sighing, he took two steps to the front and hardened his expression. "I believe the Alliance has somewhat recovered its combined arms capability. Gibraltar and the orbital battles prove this point. If we do nothing, from now on, we will lose more offensive battles,"
Murmurs broke out among the council members. They were silenced by Patrick's fist on the table. "Watch what you say, boy! I'm not here to listen to a coward spouting off nonsense!"
Nicol was caught surprised by the comment, but then he narrowed his eyes. "Sorry, Chairman. I can't see sound waves; hear them yes, but not watch them. But you and the people in those chairs, including my father, do not understand or refuse to accept the truth that the Alliance had adopted to our tactics,"
"You forgot how we beat them so soundly in every battle in the past two years,"
"Let me take this, Nicol," Creuset said. "All of you forgot that when we fielded GINNs, they were unknown, something that confounded our enemies. But now, as they field their own units, they have understood that with the right tactics, our mobile suits are not something to be feared of. The orbital battle showed just that."
"What do you mean?" Clyne said.
"They destroyed eleven GINNs in the first five minutes of the battle, engaging us beyond sensory range. I'm sure you have seen the battle recording. They correctly predicted our responses and prepared countermeasures accordingly. We may have won quantitively, narrowly, I must add, but qualitatively, it is our greatest defeat. As Nicol had rightfully said, we must change our approach,"
From his position, Athrun could see the effect Creuset's words had on the council members. When the man wanted to, he could be very persuasive, using words and theatrics to the greatest effect. But Athrun reluctantly concurred with the masked man's assessment. ZAFT suffered from situational awareness deficit. The way each team was structured encouraged independent action. While that itself was good conceptually, the fog of war affects the teams from working in a synchronized manner.
"Signal extenders! All this while, Archangel has been fighting with the support of signal extenders!" Miguel suddenly said.
"What are you talking about?" Eileen said.
Miguel explained the observation made by Captain Zellman about the ship's equipment; Archangel could communicate clearly in a highly jammed environment. "During the battle, Nicol asked us to search for any wunderwaffe and we didn't find any. However, perhaps the extender is a wonder weapon, if it is how the Alliance gets an edge over us,"
The man was fudging the truth a little; in reality, they were searching for Antevorta, the purported device that allowed nuclear weapon to be used.
"It is possible that the Alliance probably deployed them in Gibraltar as well," Patrick, arms crossed, said. "That's what you're saying?"
"Yes," Creuset said, "We will have to overhaul our doctrine and perhaps the organization structure later on, but ZAFT needs the capability immediately."
The discussion continued for a while, and Athrun found his thoughts wandering to his friend who was onboard Archangel.
Kira, piloting Strike, traded attacks with Athrun, who was piloting Aegis, trying desperately to prevent the latter from attacking the ship behind him. "You used to say you hate wars! Why did you attack Heliopolis?"
"They are the ones who shot first! And those Naturals build these things!"
"Heliopolis is neutral! And so am I!"
"Then you must retreat! Stop making this mistake!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Your side is trying to be commit another Bloody Valentine! Didn't they tell you?"
Before Kira could respond, the ship behind him was hit by two beam shots and disappeared in a bright light. Once the light subsided, Kira found himself cradling Flay, who was bleeding profusely.
"I'm sorry, Kira."
Kira put his hand on top of her left hand. "Why?"
"I didn't lie, but I held everything away from you, and Sai. Like you're the first and now. I thought I was prepared to throw it away, and Sai, he was supposed to be the anchor, but I couldn't lie to myself," she said while trying to maintain her smile but failing to do so. "You are the most important person to me. You always were, always will be. That's why promise me," she continued, as her eyes already lost their light and were not looking at him anymore.
Kira grasped her left hand. "I promise,"
"Be careful of Logos, as it is your greatest enemy," Flay whispered before she succumbed to her injuries and fell silent.
"Flay!" Kira shouted as he got up from his bed, one arm outstretched, as if trying to grab something. Realizing that something was amiss, he frantically looked around, trying to find anything familiar. A digital photo frame, with its screen switched off, on the nearby desk, reminded him where he was. He was back at Archangel, together with Sai and Tolle. Kira reached for the photo frame and switched it on, seeking solace in a picture of the girl on it. "She will wake up," he said to himself as he tried to calm his racing heartbeat. He repeated the words a few times, recalling that she was undergoing treatment at the best facility her father would provide for her. Kira put the photo frame back on the desk and got out of the room. The dreams were sporadic, but whenever he had one, he would have trouble falling asleep. The onboard doctor had prescribed some relaxant but abstained from giving stronger ones, saying that he would avoid doing so unless the situation worsened. Instead, the man had suggested some warm milk, saying that it will help. Deciding to follow the advice, Kira went to the cafeteria where he saw Kuzzey and Tolle, who were sitting together.
"Two and a half more before your shift, Kira," Tolle said.
"I got hungry," Kira said, even though he wasn't really hungry.
Tolle gestured toward the serving station.
After taking the food, as well as a glass of cold milk, he joined his friends at the table. "So, what are you guys talking about?"
"The current situation," Kuzzey said.
"Yeah, can you believe that they're asking us to stand by here while all the battles are still going on?" Tolle said.
"I can't believe it either," Kira said, joining in the conversation. The three of them talked about the matter until an opportunity presented itself for Kira to ask what was on his mind. "Do you guys know anything about Logos?"
"Logos?" Tolle made a pondering pose. "It's Greek, meaning word, conversation, or an idea, I think,"
"If you're talking about Logos in the Bible, it is the title of Jesus, the prophet of Christianity. I recall reading somewhere that sounds something like this, 'In the beginning there was Logos, and Logos was with the God, and the Logos was the God',"
"Oh yeah, you took Theological Discourse 101 last semester," Tolle said.
"What does it mean?" Kira asked.
"Not sure, to be honest. But from what I learned, Logos eventually became human and live among humans, eventually becoming the savior of humans. Didn't really study though since it wasn't counted in the grade and all I needed to do was pass the subject. Why are you asking?"
"I heard it on one of the broadcasts and was wondering about it."
After he returned to the room, Kira accessed the ship's database and what he found correlated to what Tolle and Kuzzey told him.
From Kuzzey's description, Logos was supposed to be on the side of good. If that was the case, why did Flay warn him about it being his greatest enemy? Who or what 'Logos'? Was it the Gundam that attacked Flay? Or was it the person piloting it?
In the end, the questions that Kira had remained unanswered. All he did was to come up with more unanswered questions.
The space shipyard was a bustling hub of activities as workers in hardened helmets and spacesuits worked alongside robots of different forms and sizes; some were a few centimeters long, while others were massive arms that spanned over 50 meters. Meanwhile, building materials, ranging from armor and missile racks to display and wires and even beds and doors, were being transported from nearby warehouses to the shipyard to be installed on the two 300-meters long ships in the middle of the building.
In the center of the shipyard, Benedita Carreiras floated between the two vessels, overseeing a nearby team of workers applying ablative armor on a section of one of the two ships, her eyes reflecting a mix of pride and determination. She saw her aide from the corner of her eyes and moved toward him. With a youthful demeanor, always taking initiatives, and eager to please, Steven was an excellent aide, in her opinion.
"You don't have to come here, Ma'am,"
"Nonsense. I do like to do MBWA from time to time," Benedita said, referring to the management by wandering around, a style of management where leaders and managers wander around the workplace at random to engage employees regarding their work. The principle was based on finding out about minor issues before they become bigger or determining processes that could be enhanced that would lead to major improvement. "So, Shokaku and Zuikaku's progress?"
"Ahead of schedule by 29 and 41 days, respectively,"
"Good. It would give more time for operationalization,"
The company that Benedita headed, Visonaer-Solon Aerospatiale company, simply known as VSA, was a multinational company that predated Cosmic Era, which had its roots in maritime shipbuilding before transitioning into the space travel industry. Being an independent ship maker, it had experience building luxurious star liners and space transport ships. Looking to expand its market, five years prior, VSA developed a new class of carrier spaceship and marketed it to the Earth countries. The company also offered the ship to the then publicly unknown ZAFT. While the design failed to gain many buyers, the Oceania Union put in an order for twelve such ships.
VSA found out why ZAFT rejected the offer when the latter's mobile suits made their debut two years ago and defeated sponsor nation forces and drove them out of PLANT space despite being heavily outnumbered. VSA's carriers were designed to carry smaller mobile armors, not mobile suits.
The mobile suits' debut forced a paradigm shift; it also pushed VSA to the brink of bankruptcy.
To secure the first contract, VSA had offered a very favorable contract to the Oceanian Union. However, convinced that the mobile suits were the way forward, the country suddenly ended the contract on the same day as announcing the OUPLUS initiative. Through the initiative, the Oceania Union, PLANT, and the United States of South America would jointly develop their own ship design, presumably able to carry mobile suits. While the USSA was later annexed by the Atlantic Federation, the ship's development was completed, which was evidenced by the introduction of the Nazca-class ships.
The contract with the Union was a nightmare, with the country suddenly making a sudden announcement despite the positive engagements VSA had with it. At first, the country wanted to invoke the 'off ramps', or 'exit gates' clauses in the contract to terminate the purchase for poor performance or unacceptable delays. But VSA over-delivered, having halfway through the first ship and build several ship frames when the treaty was made public. In the end, the Oceania Union paid compensation based on the contract. However, because of the contract being too favorable to it, the amount paid couldn't cover the current and sunken cost of the project. Some ships had to be built and then sold to other parties at a reduced price to recoup the investment made.
Even at a cheaper price, the ships were non-sell. To make matters worse, Morgenroete started offering the Izumo-class battleship which could carry more than ten mobile suits, which, unexpectedly given the company, and the country it was headquartered in, didn't have access to mobile suits. However, the VSA's rival showed some vision in its planning when it also built Archangel, the first ship of its class, based on a heavily modified Izumo-class. The ship made its debut public appearance in the recently concluded campaign to retake Gibraltar, which served as a free advertisement to Morgenroete.
Orb will publicly deny its involvement until the cows come home, but to anyone in the know, it's just Attha playing politics, saying pleasant words in public while doing something else in the back. Benedita didn't see this as something negative, far from it. Morgenroete had a better product. From the rumors she heard, Morgenroete is building at least two more Archangel-class, presumably for Atlantic Federation.
The problem of selling off the carriers was eventually solved by an unexpected offer from a mercenary company, which was promptly accepted, and VSA's cash flow crisis was averted. To make things even better, the company itself had learned something new, proving the old saying about every cloud having a silver lining in it. The war had caused security problems all over the world, causing mercenaries to flourish, fueling demands for warships. The conflict also caused a new business opportunity to appear, one VSA went all in with little ado. "How's work on the Nazca-class Unit 2?"
"It's proceeding per schedule, with progress payment being made on time by ZAFT,"
VSA ended up receiving a contract to build several Nazca-class ships from ZAFT, allowing it to gain access to certain technologies. When completed, the ships would not be fitted with systems such as sensors, communication, and weapons, as their fittings would be done by ZAFT' shipyards instead because of their classified nature. It also received contracts to build Drake-class and Nelson-class ships for Alliance, also in almost complete form. The war had skyrocketed the demands for all kinds of ships that both sides had to contract some of the construction work to independent shipyards, VSA included.
"Did our subsidiary on Earth receive any request to build some ships? Maybe from North Africa or Southern Europe?" Benedita asked.
Gibraltar's capture wasn't the end of the struggle in the region. The region was important for ZAFT to ensure that supply lines between its bases on Earth and space remained intact. Therefore, it was not inconceivable to expect a military built up by both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT.
"None so far,"
"Tell our people to keep an ear open,"
Benedita considered herself to be a peace lover, but as her favorite classical author, Kenneth Eade, had once stated, 'War is the most profitable business on earth.' The pacifists who protested outside of VSA's offices were being naïve and irrational, in her opinion. Even if VSA stayed out of the war, another would take its place. Instead of letting that happen, it might as well get involved and reap the benefits.
Mu saw Kira standing by a window of Archangel, a mug of tea in his hand, as the young pilot gazed at the swirling sandstorm with a mix of awe and concern. The sky was orange, full of haze due to a lot of dust in the air. "Looks fascinating, isn't it?"
"This is the first time I saw orange rain. Is this the first time for you as well?"
"Watching calima? No. Was here for a joint training a few years back," Mu said as he moved next to Kira. "The wind blows a lot of dust from the Sahara Desert to this region and even to South America. When the rain comes down, you have this muddy rain, and I tell you, you wouldn't want to be caught outside when it happens,"
"Is that's the reason we were recalled here?"
"One of them. I guess the planners think the weather is quite bad to be operating the Gundams or any mobile suit. Even if the Skygrasper can fly above the cloud, launching in this weather wouldn't be good for the engines,"
His question answered, Kira turned back to appreciating the weather. "They don't want dusts getting into the joints,"
"They're certainly built to be rugged, but space, desert and sea are different, aren't they? A bit of water or some sand, sure. Both? That sounds potentially problematic. That's why the planners would like to reduce the risk as much as they could. They also want to hold us as a reserve, a trump card if you will in case everything goes to the south, or in this case, north."
"But we will not be there to protect our troops,"
This time, it was Mu who gave a surprised look. "You're fired up, it seems."
"Neither having feeling nor having power alone is enough, it has to be both."
Mu grinned. "Wrong answer!"
"Wrong?"
"Having both is not enough as well."
"Why?"
"Have you come up with an alternative plan, besides going there and going 'bam bam bam' disregarding what comes after that? If you do, I'll be more than happy to bring your plan up to them."
"I don't," Kira said reluctantly.
"If you don't, then pick your fight accordingly," Mu felt Kira had changed, but not for the better. While it was good to have someone fighting to protect his allies, protecting everyone all the time was an impossible dream. Unlike his two friends, who turned out to be competent soldiers with the correct mindset, which required enough training and experience to become better, Kira has yet to let go of the thing that was holding him back from becoming the best pilot there was. While Kira didn't refrain from shooting to kill, as evidenced by a few ZAFT mobile suits and helicopters he took down, he also went out of the way to disable his opponents. The Strike pilot was more content to chase his opponents away, even if the enemy would return to counterattack.
"I want to help end it faster,"
"You and me, kid. Rushing out wouldn't help, though. Don't worry, we have accomplished way more than was expected from us,"
Almost a year prior, the ZAFT Task Force fought and defeated a Eurasian Federation naval fleet near Casablanca. The victory allowed them to take control of the surrounding region and eventually build a base in Gibraltar by dropping a lot of components from orbit. However, while ZAFT maintained a forceful presence in the region, it faced one problem that eventually led to the fall of the base. Because of manpower constraint, ZAFT couldn't consolidate its power.
In the southern region of the Gibraltar Straits, the African Community maintained the security with ZAFT's assistance. However, in Gibraltar and Spain, the responsibility fell on the latter. While the population of the North Africa was ambivalent towards ZAFT's occupation, the southern Spain's reaction was outright hostile. The difference in sentiment in both regions was due to the condition before the war. At the beginning of the war, the northern region of the straits was more affluent, having more access to power, food, and other resources. The war had curtailed it a bit, but not that much.
Then the electricity supply was suddenly cut off as the nuclear power stations in Spain and other European countries went offline.
According to the conversation he had with a local officer, at the beginning of the conflict, the local public opinion for the war was a third, with the remaining was against it or unsure. The attack by the Atlantic Federation on the Junius Seven dampened the mood for war to less than twenty percent, until ZAFT responded by committing its own war crime, this time against the entire world. That single action had hardened public opinion against the invaders. While initially, the anger was directed to Coordinators including those living in Europe, it quickly changed when it was revealed that they were victims too. Not a few videos of Coordinators crying over the deaths of their loved ones and Coordinators in Earth Alliance uniform swearing to fight against the ZAFT invaders circulated, tempering the public opinion.
When ZAFT finally came to the region, its occupation led to the rise of armed resistance groups fighting against it. No matter how much the local ZAFT commander tried to placate the people by providing them with some supplies, people remembered it was ZAFT who put them in the situation in the first place. All those factors lead to ZAFT's forces being concentrated in Gibraltar and a few areas such as Seville and Malaga, as it didn't have enough manpower to maintain the security of the entire country.
"It's going to be messy, but our people on the ground will mop up the whole thing soon," Mu said.
"And then, where do we go?"
Mu considered the question for a moment, recalling the order that the Archangel had received recently. He decided giving away a bit of the information would be alright. "Hush hush, but once we have the supplies and there's no need for us to remain here, we will head southward,"
"Africa?"
"Yup. Higher ups think it would be nice if we keep ZAFT forces there busy so they wouldn't get the idea of retaking Gibraltar while our boys and girls here build those new thick walls to keep them away,"
Kira nodded his head and then glanced at the coffee in Mu's hand. "Can't imagine you like that stuff, Mu,"
"Well, you don't need it because you have that thing called 'youth' running in your vein."
"That reminds me. I hope to see the desert version of coffee-pooping civet."
"A desert variety?"
"I'm told it looks like a tiger,"
"Huh?"