Chapter 45
It was a few days after the last battle.
The Minerva laid docked at a smaller Zaft base.
Which the captain after much consideration had decided would be best place to go. Seeing as it had been closed ally base to get to from their last location, in the tiny canal they had been hiding out in.
But even true the base wasn't the biggest one around. It still had a pretty tough defense, which the many different kind of Zaft mass-produced mobile suits assembled there.
From what they had been told when they arrived at the base, it was mostly used to fix and repair the more heavy damage mobile suits, that was simply impossible for the ships or bases to fix and repair in just a day or two.
And when one took a look around the place it was pretty obvious that many of the machines here needed quite the overhaul before they would work properly again, but it was much cheaper then making a brand-new mobile suit.
There had actually been a little talk about leaving Luna's ZAKU here, so the bases personnel could take a look at what was left of it. Not that Shinn cared much about that right now.
He was much more interested in reading Stella's medical report which he had nabbed down from the doctor's office not long ago. Fortunately most of the grey space ship's crew was in their beds fast asleep.
Now that they where finally out of danger, many of them had been kinda excited about getting the long waited opportunity to rest up, and recover their strength till the next time, they encountered the Earth Forces.
And as much as Shinn wanted to follow everybody else example and sleep the entire night away. There was simply no way he could do that until he could figure out what was going on with Stella.
It didn't really take a big medical degree, to tell that the girl was getting worth and worth by every single moment that went by.
The unusual way she was breathing would make even a person, that had smoked a big part of his life raise an eyebrow in concern, and the completely pale look on her face, made clear for everybody that she was more then just a little sick.
But no matter how many times he asked about it, neither the captain or the doctor, had wanted to tell him anything about her condition. So in the end he had decided to figure it out on his own, even if it meant that he had to break a few rules in the process.
Fortunately nobody had been awake to witness his completely out of hour visit to the medical bay. Actually the only person he had meet until now, was a female crew member. Who hadn't really paid that much attention to him, she had seemed much more interested in reaching her destination instead of talking with him, something he was honestly quite happy about.
He did not want anybody to know what he was up to. If anybody where to figure out, that he had taken these fields about Stella's condition, he would properly be in a whole lot of trouble.
So he seriously hoped that he had the necessary time to put them back where they belonged, once he was done reading them. Which could obviously take some time judging from the immense size of the report.
But just as long as the doc hadn't used to many hard words in this. He was kinda sure that it wouldn't take him long to get the basis idea, about what was really going on with the girl.
Yet if this damn thing was fill with a ton of words he did not know, it could possibly end up taking him a very big part of the night to read through it all.
He might have gotten the basis training in first aid back at the academy.
But that certainly did not mean, he had much knowledge about what abnormal things that could be happening inside another person's body, where they actually having some kind of highly serious illness. But if he was somehow able to figure out, if his crush was going to be ok, then that was definitely good enough for him, everything else honestly didn't matter one bit.
He did however not get long to think about that before he saw a familiar person coming towards him from the other direction. "Hey Shinn, what are you doing up this time of night?" Athrun asked, while taking a small sip from the bottle of water he was holding on to with his left hand.
Thinking briefly about what to say it only took a couple of seconds to come up with a believable story, to the blue haired commander's question.
"Well to be completely honest commander Zala, I slept most of the day away while traveling here. So I'm not really all that tired right now, so I figured that instead of wasting my time doing nothing, I might as well read over the last few reports, about the Impulse and Core Splendor. I want to make absolutely certain that everything on them function as it's suppose to" He said.
A small part of him somewhat tempted to give a comment or two, about him and Nicol being the only pilots who still had working mobile suit on board the enormous grey Zaft ship.
Yet in the end he decide to keep his mouth shut, seeing as he wanted to get back to his room as quickly as possible, so he could start reading this so called report about the Impulse, and he definitely couldn't do that if he actually started arguing with Athrun now.
Smiling a bit at that Athrun took another mouthful of water. He didn't really show it much, but he was actually a bit surprised that Shinn would be working this time of night.
It wasn't really something the boy would usually do unless somebody told him to.
And from what Athrun had been quick to notice on his small trip around the ship, was that there was nobody else awake other then Shinn and himself, so pretty much the only logical explanation to Shinn working at this hour, was that he actually wanted to unless he was lying about the report.
Not that Athrun actually thought he would do that even for a second. The two of them might not get along all that well, but he frankly didn't think, their friendship was that bad, that Shinn would find it necessary to lie to him about what he was doing.
And seeing as he really did believe that the boy, was telling him the truth he began speaking to him in a encouraging tone. "Well keep up the good work Shinn, we are all counting on you incase of trouble" the blue haired man said, before he stepped past the other pilot and continued on his way, down the ship's almost completely dark hall.
Blinking a bit at that Shinn had to admit that he was a bit taken back at Athrun's encouragement.
He knew that they hadn't been on the most friendly themes recently. Not since the whole fiasco with the Freedom and that light blue Murasame, helping some of their followers steal that shuttle and the Gaia gundam.
After that affair the two of them had been glaring more then a bit at each other the next many days. It had almost seemed impossible for them to be in the same room together.
And just when Shinn had started to believe that Athrun was nothing else other then a stupid bastard, he had to be all nice and friendly like that. "Damn it, I don't think I'll ever be able to understand that guy, he just so weird!" He muttered loudly to himself.
Just before he turned and kept on heading back to his and Rey's room. Still wondering how the heck the last Zala could be so kind at time, while at other times Shinn would like nothing else other then to beat and punch the crap out of him.
But after walking a bit he came to the conclusion that he could always think about Athrun's weird behavior later. Right now it was much more important that he tried to figure out what was going on with Stella.
And with that in mind he began walking even faster, determined to get back to his room as quickly as possible.
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At the same time elsewhere on the ship.
Athrun had just arrived at his own destination, where he slowly looked around for any other sign of life.
Yet from what he could tell through the darkness that was covering the hangar. He was the only person there at the moment. Something he was honestly quite relieved about. There was just no way he wanted anybody to know what he was up too, it wasn't like messing around with another pilots mobile suit, was something that was all that comment.
But it wasn't like he could actually ask Rey for permission to snoop around inside the white ZAKU. So he simply needed to do it without anybody else around to see what he was doing.
If there was somebody on the ship that just happened to notice that he was inside Rey's mobile suit, they would most likely believe that he was trying to sabotage it in someway.
Not that he really thought doing something like that was necessary, the half messed up ZAKU was after all in a pretty bad condition.
Not that it matter all that much in Athrun's eyes, the only thing he wanted to do was check the ZAKU Phantom's computer for any useful information about what Rey and the Chairman was really up too.
Even true he kinda doubt that it would be that easy, but it was at least worth a try.
So after taking one more look around the hangar, he hurried made his way over to the Phantom. Which meant, that it did not take many minutes before he was inside the mobile suit, quietly typing away at the keyboard in front of him.
"Hmm lets see now, weapon status no that wouldn't tell me anything, the same goes with the OS status. It doesn't seem like there is anything of major use here" the blue haired man whispered to himself, as he continued searching thoroughly through the ZAKU's databanks for even the smallest bit of information, that could shine at least a little light on what the Chairman and Rey was thinking.
But after a few minutes of intense typing on the keyboard, he slowly moved his fingers away and lean backwards in the cockpit. Resting his back on the seat behind him.
"Ahhh damn it, there is nothing here!" He growled softly.
Then once more reached out and typed in a few more commands, but like expected the white war machine, was completely empty for information. "Well I guess that it was a bit of a long shoot to think that I would find anything in here, he isn't really that kind of person, who would make foolish mistakes like that" Athrun whispered in a low tone.
Yet just as he was about to shut the mobile suit down again, he noticed a single field that immediately caught his attention. "What the...? Why the hell would he have a field call the Ultimate Coordinator?" He asked himself. Frankly more then a little puzzled about what interested Rey could have in Kira, as far as he knew the two of them had never even meet.
So after taking one more look out in to the hangar to make sure that he was still alone, he decided to put his deep curiosity to rest by seeing what was inside the field that might as well have Kira's name on it.
And it was only a brief second later, when he saw that it contented a whole bunch small and long video footages of the Freedom gundam doing battle with more then a few other mobile suits.
"Why would this interest him so much? He doesn't even know Kira!" He wondered softly, just before he slowly reached over and pressed down on the very first one of the incredible long list of videos, which meant that it did not take long, before the small screen in there show the Freedom doing battle with the Providence gundam at Jachin Due.
He might just be able to see a bit of logic in Rey gathering video footages, of their encounters with the Freedom up until now. But it made next to no sense to him, that he would have something like this saved on his mobile suit, without having some kind of reason for it.
Yet as he sat there watching the two extremely powerful war machines, slammed their beam sabers together. He suddenly heard a loud noise from somewhere out in the hangar, which could only mean that he wasn't alone any longer.
And knowing that, he instantly shut down the video footages, seriously hoping that nobody had noticed the light from the cockpit. Fortunately it very much seemed like, the individual down on the floor, was more occupied with his own problems.
And it did not take many seconds before Athrun heard a familiar voice complain loudly about something. "Ahhhh damn it man! I can't believe that I completely forget all about having to turn in these damn reports. If Aves ever hears about this, he will properly kill me!" Vino grumble displeased, knowing quite well just how punctual the ship's chief engineer, could be at times.
Yet as the young mechanic continued bellyaching about his grand misfortune, he wasn't even close to realizing, that he was not the only person currently present down there. And that the other person was getting quite impatient waiting for him to leave again.
"Now where was it I put those stupid things?" He asked loudly, obviously searching through something not that far away, from the one armed white ZAKU.
And from what Athrun could tell from his location inside the ZAKU, Vino was obviously having some trouble finding what he needed, and the mechanic's next words made him tense up, more then just a little bit.
"Maybe I left them up in the Phantom!" He said, not even close to realizing that if he actually went up there, he might just end up with a big swelling bump on his head seeing as Athrun was already mentally preparing himself to knock the mechanic out, should he actually discover him up there.
Athrun just sincerely hoped, that it would not become necessary for him, to use the thing he had hidden away inside his jacket.
The two of them might not talk all that much with each other. But Athrun actually liked Vino, he was a friendly guy and very easy to get along with, unlike a few other people around the ship, namely Shinn and Rey.
Which was the reason why Athrun seriously disliked even the thought of actually having to kill the big scatterbrain of a mechanic. He truly didn't want Vino's life on his conscience.
He kinda felt like he had more then enough dark spots on it already. There honestly was no need to add yet another one, if there was anyway to avoid it.
So he would very much prefer just to knock the other teenage out. If he did end up having to somehow silent the mobile suit mechanic, he would only use the gun if it turned out that he had no other choice.
Fortunately it still seemed like Vino hadn't given completely up on trying to find the reports somewhere below the white ZAKU. He kept on talking loudly with himself, about where those damn things could be.
And just when Athrun heard a loud sound of something being thrown on the floor. Vino's next few words made him sigh softly in relief. "Yes here they are, I just knew that I left them back here, when Yolant and I was done looking over the Phantom, at least now I don't have to worry about Aves getting mad at me. Now I better get out of here and back to bed!" He said, before his steps could be heard slowly leaving the hangar.
Once gone Athrun rested his head at the seat behind him, where he let out a long breath, that made some of the hair covering his forehead fly around a bit. "That was pretty close, I was almost certain that he was going to discover that I was up here" the pilot whisper quietly to himself, while he slowly reached down in to his pocket and pull out a blank compact disc, which he instantly slide in to the ZAKU's computer.
"I still have no idea about what Rey is doing with all of these video footages of the Freedom. But maybe if I take a real good look at all of them I can figure something out" he mumbled, while he began transferring all of them over to the disc.
Yet knowing that could take some time he crawl back out of the ZAKU to make extra sure, that there was nobody else around, to capture him in the middle of what he was doing.
Beside if somebody actually where to notice him now, they would most likely think he was down there to take a look at the sad remains of the Saviour, which was at the currently time spread out right in the middle of the hangar.
Fortunately it really didn't seem like anybody else was going to visit the hangar tonight. Which gave Athrun the time to think about why exactly Rey was so fixated on the Freedom and Kira.
If the blond man frankly did have some kind of grudge against his childhood friend, the young Zala just didn't understand why. It was not like the two of them actually knew each other.
So there simply had to be another explanation to Rey's extremely high interest in the Freedom gundam.
And whatever it was, Athrun was completely determined to at least try and figure out what Rey was planing to do. Which could frankly be quite difficult, seeing as he hardly ever talked with the blond teen, as far as he remembered the two of them hadn't even had a real conversation together.
Which pretty much meant that the only thing he could do, was hope that one of the many footages, could somehow tell him, why in the world Rey would even bother taking the time, to download and save all of them in the first place. It wasn't like it was all that hard to gather together a bunch of data about the Freedom. It was after all the very mobile suit that had kill Rau Le Creuset two years ago.
Yet while he stood there thinking about that. He was not even close to realizing that the insane mask man, actually had something to do with Rey's enormous collection of the Freedom, fighting just about every type of mobile suit in existence.
He did however not get long to wonder about it before a small sound from inside the cockpit interrupted his thoughts.
"Ok that should be everything, now I just need to get out of here before Vino comes back to find something else he has forgotten" Athrun whispered softly, as he reached in to the cockpit and removed the disc again.
And after making sure, that it was securely hidden away in his pocket.
He took a small look around inside the Phantom just to make extra certain, that there was nothing left behind, which would somehow tell Rey and the mechanics that he had been rummaging around inside the white mobile suit's databanks.
But as far as he could tell there was really no evidence of his little crime, unless somebody actually started dusting for fingerprints, and that was highly unlikely. It wasn't like it was a safe, he had just broken in to with a crowbar or some other piece of junk.
And once everything was in perfect order inside the mobile suit, Athrun quickly began making his way towards the exit of the hangar, hoping not to run in to anybody on his way back to his room.
He knew that there was no other places on the ship, where he could look through all of this data, without having to worry about anybody seeing what he was doing.
He seriously didn't want Rey to realize what he was doing, the blond man might believe he was somewhat cautious about it.
But Athrun had know for quite a while now, that Rey had been keeping an eye on him, and it didn't really take much of a genius to figure out why. Especially not after discovering all of these videos of the Freedom.
If Rey really did despise Kira as much as it seemed, it wasn't difficult to understand why he didn't have much trust in him.
Seeing as he had know Kira through most of his life and was his best friend. Yet one thing that was still a big mystery to him, was why Rey was feeling this much hate towards Kira and the Freedom.
'If that blond bastard really is after Kira's life I need to warn him somehow. But how the hell am I suppose to do that without the Saviour or any other mobile suit. It's not like I can just send the Archangel an ordinary e-mail!' He thought displeased, while fighting the temptation to give the wall next to him a hard kick or two. He really didn't like where all of this was going.
And as much as he wanted to do something about it all. He knew that the only option he had right now, was to play possum until he got the right opportunity tell Kira about what he knew, or at least try and assemble even more information about Rey's intentions.
But now that his only means to leave the Minerva, had been reduce to nothing else then a few pieces of useless scrap metal. He whole spy thing was even more risky now then it was before.
He was pretty sure that if Rey realized just what he was doing. The blond man would not hesitate even a second about telling the Chairman about it. And if that wasn't a possibility he might just attempt to put a few extra holes through his head.
And there was no way he could permit that to happen, at least not before laying eyes on his son or daughter. 'You just wait and see Rey. I will in one way or another find the truth about all of this' he thought determined.
Just as he opened the door to his room and disappeared in there, making absolutely sure to lock the door behind him, so he wouldn't get any unwanted visitors, when he was busy looking over all the videos.
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So while Athrun was busy watching and wondering what was going through Rey's head.
The ending credits of the movie the two Hawke sisters and Nicol had just spend the last hour and a half watching.
"That was a fun movie, I really enjoyed it!" Meyrin said in a happy tone, from where she was sitting on the floor beside Nicol, who nodded slowly in agreement while taking a look back at Luna, who was like she herself preferred to put it, a prisoner in her own bed. Not really something she liked very much, which was one thing she made sure that every single person that paid her a visit knew.
And it was only once she felt Nicol's eyes looking at her, that she turned her gaze away from the screen. "I guess it was pretty good. But I just couldn't help but find it a bit lengthy about halfway through, they took way to much time preparing for the last battle" she said, not totally certain if she regret using an hour and a half of her life, to see this movie.
Hearing her say that. Nicol smiled gently at her.
"Well if you feel like that you can choose tomorrow's movie. According to what the doctor told us, when he was here earlier, it will still take a few days, before you are ready to get out of bed" the only male present in the small room told her, while he slowly reached out and busted back a few strands of hair that was covering her forehead.
Feeling him do that. Luna glared a bit up at him. "Please don't remind me of that Nicol, it's so damn boring being stuck in this thing for so long. I have already read my favorite book twice now!" She said, seriously hoping that her injured leg would hurry up and heal, so she could get out of there, and buy a few new books, she hadn't read yet.
Realizing what the problem was Meyrin instantly got a huge grin on her face, as she gave her only sibling an offer, she already knew that she would say no to. "Well if you want sis, I have a few gossip magazines back in my room, that you are more then welcome to borrow" the youngish of the two sisters said.
Not doing anything to hide that the only reason why she was offering this, was because she knew that it would annoy her older sister greatly.
Glaring a bit at her, Lunamaria slowly roll her eyes a few times, before she lean back to rest her tired head on the fluffy pillow behind her, where she instantly sighed softly in contentment, there was just no way she could deny how much her pillow, had helped her relax and loosen up these last couple of days.
But as she kept on watching the grey ceiling, she began talking in a small tone. "I'm really grateful for the offer Meyrin. But as desperate as I am to get something new to read, I want something that doesn't destroy most of my brain cells in the process" she mumbled just loud enough for them to hear.
After that she turned her head a bit to the side, where she slowly drifted off in to a calm sleep, without even saying goodnight to her irritating younger sister, or the man which she was finding herself growing more and more attach to everyday that went by.
Seeing that her sister was already far away in dreamland. Meyrin slowly stood back up where both of legs each gave a minor cracking sound from sitting on the floor for such a long time.
"Hmmm guess that there is no reason to stick around in here, so I think I'll follow her brilliant example and go get some sleep too. But if anything does happen Nicol please call me immediately" Meyrin said. Realizing that their green haired friend, would most likely be spending another night in there, on the light blue mattress which she herself had brought to him, so he had a place to sleep, while he was keeping an eye on her sister.
Yet as the red haired girl made her way over to the door, there was a small part of her that really wanted to stay there too.
But seeing as she had always been having a very difficult time, sleeping anywhere else other then her own bed, her loud rummaging around would most likely keep all of them wide awake, for the rest of the night.
And it wasn't really a big secret around the Minerva, that the oldest of the two redheads would always get extremely cranky whenever somebody was foolhardy enough to disturb her sleep.
And even true it had not been proven yet. Meyrin was almost totally certain that if the captain or the deputy commander would ever be stuck with the task of waking Lunamaria up, she would show them almost the exact same gratification she showed everybody else who pull her away from her journey in dreamland.
Looking a bit at her. Nicol knew just how tough it was on Meyrin leaving her sister right now. But each of them knew that it was absolutely necessary that the injured girl got as much rest as possible. And there was no way she could do that, with Meyrin kicking and rolling around, on a mattress only a few feet away from her.
"Please don't worry Meyrin, I promise you that I'll call you immediately should anything happen, even true I kinda doubt that. It is pretty easy to tell that she is getting better day by day" Nicol said quietly, while briefly thinking about the condition she had been in, after she had been hit by that Murasame.
Truly happy to hear that there was somebody with her sister. Meyrin nodded her thanks before she turned around and left the room. Leaving the young Amalfi to keep an eye on the only family member she had left.
Once gone, Nicol quickly got comfortable on the light blue mattress, where he laid a few short minutes just listening to his temporary roommate's soft breathing.
And even true the green haired man had yet realize it, the tiny sounds she made while she slept did have a somewhat calming and soothing effect on him. And it didn't take long before he too slowly drifted off to sleep.
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Meanwhile in Shinn and Rey's room.
The gundam pilot was sitting quietly in his chair slowly reading through everything that stood in the reports. "Damn it, this is more serious then I thought. I didn't really think that she was in such a bad condition" he said.
Honestly totally piss off by some of the things he had learnt from the doctor's report. It just couldn't be right, Stella where not suppose to be this sick and addicted to whatever drugs, the Earth Forces had so mercilessly fill her with.
Yet just as he was about to mutter out a few minor courses about them, the only other person in the room, interrupted his completely furious thoughts. "What are you reading Shinn?" Rey asked in a small tone, as he slowly lifted his head away from his pillow, and looked over at his roommate.
Hearing his friend asked that, Shinn instantly turned his attention over towards him.
"It's...It's nothing Rey, just a small story I got from the internet, it's actually pretty exciting!" He explained, before he continued reading the painful black words imprint on the white paper.
Looking a bit at him, Rey could of course easily tell that he was lying, not that he didn't know why. "Ok please do enjoy Shinn and good-night" the blond man said in his usually kind tone, before he turned over and looked in to the wall.
'If we don't do something drastic about that girl, we might end up losing his loyalty, and there is no way that can be allowed. So no matter what he decide to do with her, I will most likely have to involve myself in it' Rey thought determined.
Knowing that if they somehow lost Shinn they would have nobody around that could defeat and kill Kira Yamato.
'I just have to make sure to keep an eye on him, no matter what' the blond man told himself inside his mind. While he took one last glance at the teen, before he close his eyes and once more nodded off in to a deep sleep.
To be continued.