When the word 'resistance' came to mind, Mu imagined woefully equipped fighters carrying firearms going into dark caves lined with smelly kerosine lamps, like modern-day forty thieves returning to their hidden den. The place where Sahib led him and Murrue certainly looked like a cave, but the bright light, the humming sounds of machinery and people moving around the base made it look more like a mine or a factory instead.

He, Murrue and Sahib emerged at that seemed to be the command center, a brightly lit room with workstations and various communication equipment. While a bit musty, the air felt relatively fresh, with air conditioning units working to keep pumping the heat outside while simultaneously pumping the air in. A large table was in the middle of the room, with a regional map on it. Mu whistled in appreciation. "You people live here?" he said, his eyes lingering on the blonde princess who was talking to one of the resistance fighters.

"This is our headquarters," Sahib answered, "Oh, take any cup here and help yourself, if you want some coffee,"

The offer of hospitality was probably a test by Sahib to see how they behave. "Don't mind if we do," Mu said as he took two mugs and filled them. He handed a mug to Murrue, with a slight gesture telling her to take it, and then drank a bit from his mug. The taste was intense and bold, with some grounds still in the coffee. While not a gourmet drink and Mu wouldn't recommend it to anyone, it's adequate to get the necessary caffeine fix.

Sahib was quiet when he watched Mu take a sip. When Mu lowered the mug and said nothing, the man continued, "Our homes are in the towns; that is, if they haven't been burned down yet,"

"Towns?" Murrue said while she was blowing the steam off her coffee before drinking from it.

"Tassil, Moula, we even have people from Banadiya here,"

"Not to judge or anything, but isn't Wartfeld quite a swell fellow? He basically leaves everyone alone,"

"That's not a reason for us to bend forward and tell him to screw us benevolently from the back,"

At that image, Murrue choked, and in response Mu patted her back a few times, encouraging her to cough out her drink. Murrue wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand. "A less graphic description would have been enough,"

Sahib snorted and remarked, "Why? Because it's not politically correct? Why should I care about how you feel?"

"Because we depend on your 'karam'?" Mu said tactfully.

The comment caused Sahib to stare at him for quite some time before the man chuckled. "I never thought people like you would ask for such a thing. You should asked for it at the region next to this one, but alright, I'll do this karam thing just to humor you. Wait here and I will go and get something," the man said before leaving the room.

"Where did he go?" Murrue asked.

"Probably getting enough food and drinks to feed us to the death,"

"Say what?"

Mu explained that 'karam' meant 'generosity' in Arabic. By reminding Sahib that the two of them were relying on his generosity, the man had to treat them with utmost courtesy lest Sahib's honor will be tarnished and bring shame to his person if he failed to do so. "I recall reading the hospitality is for a duration of three days, and after that it's just charity,"

"What does that mean?"

"We shouldn't stay over three days, I think,"

"But our operation here is going to take more than that!"

Mu sighed. While it was true Archangel was there for reconnaissance, it was also a special operation group and had another concurrent mission; Murrue was obviously referring to that particular mission.

A few minutes later, Sahib returned with a man carrying a tray of food and another with a fancier coffee pot, complete with cups. Behind them was another man carrying a shisha, an item for heating and smoking herbs for inhalation. The shisha had four hoses, allowing four people to use it simultaneously.

"Don't want to be rude, but I hope that's just tobacco. Hashish or opium, we must say no," Mu said.

Sahib grunted. "We wouldn't be rude to impose such a thing on our guests. Besides, they're expensive here,"

"Guess so."

"We eat, drink, smoke and then talk business, just like you insisted."

Kira sat on the cliff, overlooking Archangel. As instructed by the group they were together with, the ship had moved into a depression between dunes where their base was at. Using Strike, Kira had help drape camouflage netting to cover the ship and had just finished the work.

"Good work,"

The dark brunette turned toward the male voice to see Sai approaching with a tumbler in each hand. "Thanks,"

"Here you go," Sai said as he handed the tumbler in his right hand. "Have to keep hydrated,"

Kira accepted the tumbler graciously. "Much appreciated," he said before taking a sip. "So, no CAP planned?"

"Nah. Feather Lite doesn't want to advertise our presence,"

"Make sense," Aegis and Skygrasper could conduct combat air patrol to detect enemy from far away. However, just as they could find the enemy, so do their opponents. Once they were spotted, it would be a matter of time before the location of the Archangel would be compromised. It would be a totally different situation if Archangel had other detachments together with it; the prerogative would have been to detect the opposing side instead of trying to avoid being detected. "But what happens if ZAFT sends their aerial recon?"

"I asked him the same question, and he said no. It's likely since they're probably having problems mobilizing aerial assets, too. Plus, easier to get a jump on us if we don't see them flying around."

"That is so assuring. Buster?"

"Oscillating system got busted," Sai cringed, "pun not intended. Right now, Buster can't stand straight, and movement and firing dampening assistance are also affected,"

"Seems like only we have to make do with Skygrasper, Aegis and Strike,"

"And about that… Murdoch said Strike will be out of commission temporarily. He said the diagnostics showed there are unexpected wears and tears on Strike's knee joints. They also found traces of glass on joints, but nothings confirmed yet about how they got there."

"Great, just great,"

"Talking about great, Kira, do you have something with one of the Great Five?"

"Huh?"

"Not huh, Princess Cagalli. Don't tell me you didn't recognize her? It's like you not knowing an artist…" Sai put a hand on his face. "You know what? Just tell me where you got to know her,"

Kira told him about finding her back at Heliopolis, where he ended up getting her to a shelter when ZAFT attacked. "I recall her saying her father betrayed the country. I wonder who her father is and why he betrayed the country,"

"Dude," Sai said incredulously.

"Yeah?"

"Dude," the bespectacled Aegis pilot repeated, aghast.

"What is it?"

"Seriously, dude. Don't you know the Lion of Orb?"

"The one we saw at the zoo?"

The answer earned Kira a half an hour lecture on Orb's Five Great Clans, which formed the aristocratical governing council of the Orb Union. Sai patiently explained the clans were the most powerful and influential families from Orb's noble class. The composition of the council was formed independently. The nation's Chief Representative and Prime Minister are chosen from the leaders of the five clans, with the remaining clan leaders serving as aids.

"Didn't we have an election? I recall your father was elected,"

"To choose representatives in the People's Assembly, but Orb is technically monarchy, and the Assembly's role is to come up with the recommendations for the Chief Representative to decide on."

"This Orb of Lion guy,"

"Lion of Orb, and his name is Uzumi Nara Attha, the father of Princess Cagalli," Sai put his hands on Kira's shoulders. "I know it bores you, Kira, but please take some time to read about the current Orb government,"

"But…"

"Or do you prefer to learn the French language?"

"Are you comfortable, Miss Badgiruel?" the man in a spacesuit asked, a helmet on his arm. A name tag on the left side of his chest showed his name was Danial. "Norsiah is warming up the engine, so it would take some time,"

"It's better than economy class, that's for sure," Natarle, herself in a similar suit, replied. A shuttle to space would be luxurious if it had more than a foot of leg space, something the one she had plenty of.

Another man appeared at the shuttle's entrance. "Hampir siap, Pak Danial," the man said.

"Bagus," Danial said as he gave a thumbs up.

The man then noticed Natarle, "Waduh, cantik banget wanita ini. Apa kesudahpunyaan pacarnya? Jika enggak, aku bisa jadi pacarnya,"

"Sudah, sudah, usah jadi goblok dan jaga adabmu. Dia ini bekas militer, dan tamu spesial direktor. Kalu kamu enggak sayang kepala kamu dan kepala kecil kamu, silakan, tapi jangan menyesal,"

"Ampun, Pak," the man said as he quickly made himself scarce and left the shuttle.

"Quite an animated conversation you have there," Natarle said to Danial.

"We take safety very seriously, and I told the guy not to skip any measures,"

"Right…" Natarle said. Unbeknownst to the men, she understood what transpired as her father had served in the region for a few years and she had picked up basic language. The first man complimented her looks, wondering whether she was single and available; if she was single, he could volunteer to be her boyfriend. In response, Danial chastised the man, revealing Natarle as an ex-military and being the special guest of the director. Harassing her could cause the man his head, or even worse, that part of his body. The man wasn't bad looking, in Natarle's opinion, but looks could only carry one so far. He was only interested in a short fling, and while there were some people who claimed that 'you only live once', Natarle was not one of those. If she cared for the short-term, she wouldn't have ended up at the place after all. "Who would have thought there's a half-finished mass driver on Borneo Island?"

"Eighty-five percent," Danial replied. "We could have finished this Pontianak mass driver, but we don't want both sides to get any idea, do we?"

Equatorial Union was a neutral faction in the conflict, not affiliated with the Earth Alliance and PLANTs. However, from what Natarle knew, that wasn't the real reason the Union was spared. The Union was known as the world's 'food granary', supplying a substantially large amount of food, ranging from rice to palm oil. There seemed to be a tacit agreement between both sides not to involve the Union in the conflict as it could have a catastrophic effect on the world food supply. Meanwhile, the Equatorial Union's leadership was keen to remain neutral, as it lacked the military forces to defend itself, and submitting to one side would only cause the other to burn its agricultural facilities to prevent monopoly.

However, just like other nations, the Equatorial Union also harbored the ambition to possess the means to transport items to space cheaply, as compared to using normal rockets to do so. That desire culminated in the mass's construction driver that started a three years ago, but the war had brought its construction to a halt. The half-finished mass driver's location was in Pontianak, right at the equator as the geographical advantage would have allowed it, all other factors being the same, to operate a higher efficiency than even Orb, Panama, and Victoria mass drivers. However, having access to a mass driver would have changed the dynamic significantly, as the union would have the means to transport food, materials, and people to space. Neither the Alliance nor PLANTs would leave it alone, as it could affect the course of the war. Therefore, the decision was made not to complete it.

Natarle looked out of her window, watching people scurrying around some boosters that were about to be attached to her shuttle.

Danial continued, "The rails are there, but the most important part, the power system that created the magnetic field, isn't completed. This shuttle can only achieve 9 kilometer per second with the current system,"

"You need another 3 then,"

"But as you already know, difficulty rises exponentially. Which is why we need the boosters. Both sides know about it, there's even a defense attaché from each side here to keep us honest. In return, both pretend this place is not operational."

"Must have been very troublesome, balancing the two,"

"Your father was stationed in Bintulu Base a few years back, so I'm pretty sure you're aware how full of tension this region is. It has been that way since forever, even before the Cosmic Era."

Natarle narrowed her eyes. "You know?"

"About you understanding Indonesian? I did, he didn't,"

"No, I mean about my family record,"

"Oh, that one. Big G sent the dossier on you,"

"Big G?"

"Big Guy, Big God, Big George, take your pick," Danial said, shrugging. "Norsiah and I know you're going up there for something, as for what, we don't know and don't ask. Less chance of us ending up in the belly of a crocodile here,"

Natarle's thought went to the memory drive she was carrying on her person. The Aegis, Buster and Strike's data were indeed valuable, but she failed to see why they were required. "How soon before we launch?"

"Another hour. Would you like some drinks? Coffee or tea perhaps? Or do you prefer some wine or champagne? We have a lot of them onboard, but not enough people to drink."

The former Archangel crew grinned. "Thanks, but no thanks. Getting people filled with a lot of water while being in this suit is a trick we used to play on cadets."

As multiple explosions thundered all over him, with a shell landing on one of his platoon members, killing the man instantly, Second Lieutenant Jose Sanchez found himself wishing for his mother's Tarta De Santiago. He could almost feel the taste of almonds and orange zest in his mouth, causing him to salivate at the taste of the cake. He knew thinking about the treat in the middle of the battle was a crazy thought, one that could get him, and his platoon killed. Forcing himself to focus, he gave a hand signal to one of his two sergeants, the one closest to his position. She signaled back, acknowledging his order. Good. He didn't need to shout and give the enemy the chance to locate him.

Five seconds later, a launch motor came to life, and burned through its propellant for only a fraction of a second. The resulting force propelled the motor and a missile out of the launch tube that contained them. Spent, the launch motor fell to the ground while the missile deployed its four wings. After the missile had moved ten meters away from the launcher, its flight motor came to live, the flight motor ignited, accelerating it to a velocity of 300 meters a second, all the while trailing fiber optic wires behind it. The flight motor burned through its result after two seconds, and the missile continued to move toward its target. Behind it, three more missiles followed suit.

A squad of four GINNs detected the missiles. Unable to engage it, the four changed their movements while firing toward the direction of the launch and opened fire, trying to disrupt the targeting systems. While the stray shots managed to kill two and injure one infantry not far away from the launchers, the effort failed. The operators that were targeting the GINNs were located much closer to them, kept hidden by camouflage even as the operators maintained their targeting reticules on the mobile suits. The targeting systems the operators were using relayed the GINNs' locations to the launch units, which then corrected the missiles' flights.

To evade the missile, the four GINNs jumped. This was what Sanchez, and his platoon were waiting for. He screamed out the order, and eight of his platoon members took aim with their AT-4-T recoilless guns and fired at their legs. Five out of eight shots hit their marks, but leaving seemingly no damage. However, when the four landed on the ground, they collapsed, with one of them falling on its face while the other three fell on their back. As the command had suspected, the GINNs' pilots were trained in space. Because they were used to jumping in space colonies, they had not predicted the catastrophic effects the landings would have on the GINN's joints.

Satisfied that the mobile suits were disabled but could still pose a threat, Sanchez told the radio operator to call for the artillery strike at the GINNs' location and a minute later, the bombardment landed on them, annihilating everything at the site. Unless the ZAFT's pilots immediately surrender themselves, there was no taking them alive. Sanchez and his platoon had learned their lesson. A week prior, a ZAFT pilot of a disabled GINN pretended to surrender but then activated the mobile suit's self-destruct mode, killing a few people, including the platoon's former commanding officer.

He smacked his lips in anticipation of the cake, which had his name back home. His girlfriend would probably want to jump on him when he got back, but Sanchez knew where his priority lay, which was to demand three slices instead of one. He would get a whack on his head, but this time he wouldn't fail. No, he reminded himself, there were the letters he had to write and deliver to the families and suddenly Sanchez realized he had become quite morbid and cynical, thinking about a cake even though he had just lost nine people. Maybe he should get himself checked in the head the next time his platoon got the time off.

Sanchez felt a needle prick. "What are you doing?" he asked a sergeant who had jabbed a syringe needle to his side.

"To keep you thinking of those happy thoughts, Boss," the sergeant said while gesturing toward Sanchez's side. There was a large gash, and he was bleeding profusely. "And don't want you to bloody scream my ear off while I try to patch you up,"

A day later, the battle that Sanchez's platoon took part in was discussed by the Eurasian military planners in Berlin. Even though the casualties were quite high, as they were expected, the defense of Tarifa and the surrounding area from ZAFT's North Africa invasion was successful. Leery of Alliance using its THOR missiles to intercept drop pods dropping directly on the Eurasian territory, ZAFT massed its military force at the Eddalya and Ksar es Seghir ports in the Morrocco, a member of the African Community which was friendly to ZAFT. From those two ports, ZAFT launched an attack using its GOOhn and DINN mobile suits to soften the coastal defense before launching an amphibious landing.

Despite suffering losses, ZAFT secured the landing area and landed quite several GINNs and other military assets at the beach. Despite its success, the Eurasians halted its progress using carefully planned strategies.

First strategy was to deny ZAFT any semblance of aerial superiority. A DINN had markedly superior armor compared to Alliance's fighters, rendering the normal air-to-air missiles useless against it. The solution was to change the missiles' warheads from the fragmentation type used to spray the target aircraft with metallic shards to high-explosive anti-tank warheads, which were designed to penetrate armor. An earlier mission to defend Victoria spaceport had shown such modifications to be effective. While the missiles could still be shot down by experienced ZAFT pilots, their presence and availability in a large number prevented ZAFT from achieving aerial superiority.

The second one was to deploy infantry to attack ZAFT's mobile suits as it didn't learn from its defeat in Gibraltar and was sending the mobile suits without infantry protection. The Eurasian infantry attacking them were equipped with anti-armor missiles which used optically tracking and wire guidance. While the system was archaic and belonged in museums, the deployment of mobile suits had rendered the other methods of targeting ineffective. A GINN produced little heat compared to a DINN; the latter used heated air to increase its thrust. Because of that, a GINN couldn't be targeted effectively using infrared. Illuminating it using lasers would only alert the pilot to the presence of the attackers and radar guidance was useless because of the presence of N-Jammers. There was the other option of using artificial intelligence to predict a mobile suit's line of movement, but the pilot could simply stop or change direction, rendering the targeting system useless. The ambush by Sanchez's platoon had proven the concept to be workable.

The last strategy that planners used was to strike ships inbound from Eddalya and Ksar es Seghir ports while they were in the middle of the Gibraltar Straits, using long range artilleries and planes and fast boats carrying torpedoes to ensure they never reach their destination. A few got through, but not enough to supply ZAFT's forces. In response, ZAFT used its GOOhns to patrol the waters while the DINNs flew above them, but as the Eurasians were using saturation attacks, the latter still inflicted significant damage on the ships.

Despite the current success in containing ZAFT's incursion, the planners knew that the time was slowly running out and eventually, it would overrun the defenders in Tarifa just like during the early part of the war. Throwing more people and assets at the unstoppable juggernaut that was ZAFT war machines wouldn't solve the problem. There was the option of recalling the special operation team currently on a mission in North Africa, but doing so would jeopardize the arrangement they had with that neutral party.

The only clear course of action left was to seek the Atlantic Federation's help. According to intelligence, the Federation would soon field their mass production mobile suits based on its X100 series. However, their ally had 'politely requested' the Eurasian to cease its own indigenous mobile suit development and instead pool its own resources to support the Atlantic Federation's model to achieve the economic of scale. While the proposal seemed logical, doing so will curtail Eurasian's technological progress and leave it totally vulnerable to the other side's whim and fancy; with nutcases such as Azrael being influential in the other nation, there was no telling what demands they would come up with. But it seemed they had no other choice and time was running out.

They settled on the recommendation to accept the Atlantic Federation's aid and were about to take a recess when the door to the room opened and a major came in with a sheet of paper in her hand. "The First M1 Panzer Battalion has achieved operational status,"

As the jeep they were travelling on moved toward the city, Kira looked at his clothing. It had been quite some time since he wore civilian clothing that he forgot how comfortable they felt. He turned toward the passenger seated next to him at the back. "Your Highness,"

"Knock it off," Cagalli retorted.

"Sorry, Princess,"

"Stop it," the said princess growled.

"Sorry, yo… Cagalli," Kira said, crossing his arms. During their conversation earlier, Cagalli told that she was trying to keep her identity a secret. While it made sense, what boggled his mind was how she ended up helping Desert Dawn. The last time Kira saw her, he had shoved her into a life pod before searching for his own. Obviously, the life pod had not landed on Earth as it could not survive reentry. So, how did she end up halfway around the world from Orb, in the middle of a conflict?

Sai had drilled into his brain as a neutral country, Orb wouldn't attack another nation, wouldn't allow another nation to attack it, and wouldn't intervene in the conflicts of other nations. If that was truly the case, was Cagalli being there could be considered as intervening in the conflict of other nations?

"Hey! We don't have all day!" Cagalli's voice snapped Kira out of his reverie.

Kira looked around to see that he and Cagalli were standing at the side of the road as two jeeps sped away from them. Was he so in thought that he didn't notice they had arrived?

"I can't believe you!" Cagalli said, berating him. "Are you the type that don't pay to your surroundings?"

"Not true. I do have situational awareness,"

"And you have just admitted that you're trained as a soldier. Congratulations,"

Kira sighed. "Let's just get this over with,"

Cagalli looked at the list in her hand. "We got most of them," she waved the list in her hand. "But these things you're searching for are quite ridiculous! Elisario brand milky lotion? Beauty wash? I never thought you to be such a person,"

Kira slumped in his seat. "It's for… something to comfort me,"

"Right," Cagalli said with understanding in her voice, nodding slowly.

"No, not like that," Kira said. "Those…" he struggled a bit, "are her favorite skincare, and I bought them just so that I can tell myself that I'm doing something for her, even if it's useless,"

Cagalli's expression softened with sympathy. "What happened?"

"She Charlie Miked me,"

"Charlie Mike?"

"She forced the mission to continue even when she got attacked, and she ended up in a comma,"

"Oh, I see," the blonde girl put a hand on his. "I'm sure she wouldn't want you to be down in the dumps like this, so cheer up. Keep your heads up, and you will be reunited with her sooner than you can say…"

"Here's your order," someone said as a plate of food was set on the table in front of them.

"Not what I was thinking," Cagalli said as she looked at the waiter setting down another plate of the food.

"What is this?" Kira asked after the waiter left the table.

"Doner Kebab. Yes sir, just like Doctor C ordered for hunger and a mild case of survivor's guilt," Cagalli pushed the plate in front of Kira toward him. "Have some," she said, while grabbing a bottle of chili sauce. "Here, add some chili sauce to it,"

"Wait a minute," another voice interjected. "Stop right there!" A man, decked in red and yellow shirt, with a hat on his head and sunglass on his face, grabbed the other bottle of condiment. "How could you add chili sauce to your kebab?" The man pointed to the bottle in his hand. "Now this yogurt sauce, now that's the proper thing to add to such a dish?"

Cagalli stared at the newcomer.

"That doesn't sound right. Instead of saying proper… how should I put it?" He then smiled. "Right! Not adding yogurt sauce to the kebab is a sacrilege to the food!"

"You got a screw loose or something?" Cagalli asked before squirting some chili sauce into her own kebab. "You have no right to be telling me what to eat," she said before taking the bite of her food.

The man groaned. "What travesty!? And that must be over two screws loose to do such a thing!"

Cagalli swallowed her food and held the chili bottle toward Kira. "You should have some too,"

"Hey, don't teach your bad sensibilities to him,"

"What?" Cagalli said as she glared at the man.

The man responded in time. "You heard me right. You have a bad sensibility,"

"No, you are,"

They broke into a short quarrel, accusing the other of being wrong about their choice of condiment. Realizing they were getting nowhere, they turned toward Kira, only to see the brunette was spreading some black sticky paste onto his own kebab as the waiter who had delivered Cagalli and Kira's orders earlier was seen walking away. Cagalli was the one who pointed at the paste, but it was the man who asked, "What the heck is that?"

"It's Marmite," Kira replied. "You know, the black yeast extract, very salty but a lot of umami? The waiter recommended it to me just now,"

The expressions on Cagalli and the man's faces looked as if Kira had kicked some puppy out of spite.

1

A/N

1. The 'karam's hospitality originates in the Middle East and had propagated even to some African regions.

2. The Equatorial Union is located at the South China Sea region, which is a highly tense region.

3. The missiles used by Sanchez's platoon are based on the TOW missiles.