Gundam Wing: Destiny's Call

by operation meteor

Sequel to Journey to a New Battlefield. It's been two years since the Bloody Valentine War and tensions are rising. When a shadowy group attacks the colony of Armory One, a certain Gundam pilot takes to the battlefield once again. However, little to his knowledge, some old friends are on a journey to his new world. M for language and violence (again, it's war. What do you expect?)

7. Chapter 7

Author's Notes: Well, it looks like I was able to cut down on the length a little bit for this chapter. Just a little… hey, don't judge me! I tried, okay?

No combat here; this chapter's really about setting the stage for the start of the Second Bloody Valentine War. Trust me, the battles aren't too far away now, and I think you'll find some interesting tidbits tucked away in here to make up for the lack of explosions.

No music pieces for this chapter; figured I'd save that for when the fireworks start.

Enjoy!

Episode Seven: Freefall

Slipping on a pair of black mixed-martial-arts gloves, Murrue looked at Heero and smiled. "Are you ready?"

"Are you?" he replied from the other side of the mat.

The two of them were in the workout area of Terminal's estate. Along the walls were the latest in exercise equipment, while the middle of the room was wide open and had several blue exercise mats lain down. Heero and Murrue had joined several of them together to create an improvised sparring floor.

Murrue smiled. "You bet."

Taking a quick glance over at a wall-mounted mirror, Murrue was pleased by her appearance. Right now she was only wearing black sweat-pants and a matching pair of shoes and a workout bra, so her well-maintained figure was on prominent display. Murrue put a lot of work into keeping herself in shape, and she was glad to see that it was paying off.

Across the mat, Heero was also dressed entirely in black, although in his case he wore a tank-top instead of what Murrue had on for obvious reasons. Just like her he had also just put on a pair of sparring gloves. This was one of Murrue's favorite workout routines, especially since it was one she could do together with Heero. He never went all out against her, of course, but at the same time he always made sure to put her through her paces.

The two of them stepped out onto the mats and raised their fists. Murrue was raring to go; she wanted to see how much she'd improved since their last match.

"All right," she said, "Let's do this!"

"Ladies first," said Heero, and he gave her a small smirk that Murrue took as a gesture of challenge.

Murrue accepted the invitation and moved in, kicking things off with a right jab. It was a punch that Heero easily blocked, but Murrue didn't let up. She immediately followed up with a left hook, and then another right punch, doing her best to keep Heero on the defensive.

The Gundam pilot ducked, weaved, and blocked, never letting her land a solid hit. This was the way their sparring matches always started out; Heero would let her take the initiative and stay on the offensive for a bit, evaluating her before countering. It was really a testament to his level of control and discipline that he was able to refrain from seizing any opening to switch from defense to offense until he had a chance to judge her technique.

Still, Murrue didn't want him to hold back as much as he normally did. She wanted to be tested, and that wouldn't happen if Heero just continued to block and dodge. Murrue knew that she would have to press harder to get him to counter and start giving her a real fight.

She threw another right hook, but instead of following it with her left she dropped down and made a sweeping kick to try and trip her sparring partner. It didn't work; Heero had already started rolling to the side even as he blocked her punch, and he was able to avoid her kick with a few centimeters to spare. As he came up Murrue made a jab with her left, but Heero's fists were already raised and he was able to intercept the punch.

"I know you're patient," she said in between punches, "but you don't need to let me have my way for this long, Heero."

"Maybe you've improved," Heero replied as he continued to block her strikes, "and maybe I'm unable to counter because of it."

Murrue smirked as he ducked another one of her punches. "You can try to flatter me, but I know you too well, Heero."

Heero chuckled as he blocked her right hook. "That you do."

This time he actually moved to counter, striking with his left fist. It was fast, but as Murrue blocked it she knew that he had held back considerably. Still, it was enough to raise her pulse a bit, and she smiled as she threw a punch back at him.

"That's more like it," she said as she ducked to avoid another one of his counterattacks.

"Good," Heero replied, "I need to keep you from getting overconfident somehow."

Murrue laughed as she made a high kick, only for Heero to block it with his arm. "Bring it on!"

Heero dropped low in a mirror image of her earlier attempt to trip him. Instead of rolling like he had, Murrue jumped at the last moment so his leg passed harmlessly beneath her. As she came back down she already had her fist up in a guard position, and it was a good thing she did; Heero had instantly gotten back up and moved to attack again.

"Now that's better!" she said as she raised her arms to block his punch.

Heero smirked as he kept up his offensive. "You're coaching me, now? I think you're forgetting who the teacher is and who the student is."

Murrue laughed as she countered with a right jab. "Well, if I'm good enough, why not?"

"You want to surpass me?" said Heero as he blocked her strike, "Take your best shot."

Murrue smiled. "You asked for it!"

She pressed her assault, punching and kicking as fast as she could. Of course, she still couldn't land a hit on her boyfriend, but that was okay. Her talk of surpassing him was jest, and they both knew it. Murrue could train with Heero the rest of her life and never be his better when it came to hand-to-hand combat, and she was quite all right with that. It was enough for her to continue improving her skills so she could keep having these matches with him. If nothing else it was certainly a fun activity to do as a couple.

"So," she said as she made a left hook that Heero dodged, "I've been doing some thinking."

"That's healthy," Heero commented while blocking her follow-up right punch.

"Oh, be quiet and listen," said Murrue with a chuckle as she slowed up a bit so they could talk and spar at the same time, "It's about the Minerva. I want to go to the dock where she's at tomorrow and check her out."

"We've already got plenty of eyes on her thanks to Erica's observers in the work crews at the dock," Heero replied, "There's no need for you to join them."

"It would just be for one day," said Murrue, "I know you gave us plenty of intelligence on her with your report, but I still want to see her with my own eyes."

"It's an unnecessary risk," said Heero, his eyes narrowing as they continued to trade blows.

"Not really," Murrue replied, "As the Captain of a large warship myself I think that seeing a potential rival first hand would be valuable to me."

Heero nodded. "All right, then. Want me to tag along?"

Murrue smiled and shook her head, touched by his concern even as she declined his offer. "I appreciate the thought, but I'll be fine. My face isn't really that well known to ZAFT, but yours is. Depending on what happens in the near future you may end up working with the Minerva's crew again, so it'd be good if they didn't see you disguised as an Orb dockworker."

"Good point," said Heero as he ducked a punch from her, "Will you go in with the morning crew?"

"Yes," said Murrue as she kept up her offensive, "Is that a problem?"

Heero shook his head while continuing to block and dodge her punches. "No. Just be careful, okay?"

Murrue nodded. "I will. So, how will you keep yourself occupied while I'm away?"

"I'm sure I'll find something," Heero replied, "Between the rest of Terminal and my old friends it's not as though I lack for company."

Murrue smiled as she started kicking at him again. "Good point."

She pressed her assault, mixing up punches and kicks to try to put him off balance. Of course, Heero wasn't about to let her trip him up so easily. He bobbed, rolled, and weaved, always seeming to be one step ahead of her. Murrue was really working up a sweat now; she would definitely need a shower after this.

"By the way," she said, "did Erica ever get back to you about the data your old friends gave her?"

Heero nodded as he continued to fend off Murrue's attacks. "Yeah. It was earlier this morning, actually."

"What did she say?" asked Murrue.

"Well," Heero replied as he countered, forcing her to block and let him seize the initiative, "the method that they used to get over to this world is perfectly replicable. We have all the necessary technology to build the same device Howard did for them, and when the time comes we can either use Wing Zero Albion's Twin Buster Rifle or the Buster Cannons of the Archangel or the Dominion to act as a catalyst for the detonation. As long as the rest of us maintain our distance, the only ones who will go through the portal will be the four who came over here."

Murrue nodded as she evaded a flurry of kicks and punches from him. "That's good. How long will it take her to get everything set up?"

"That's the hard part," said Heero as he kept up his assault, "Between assembling the proper specialists and resources in secret and keeping the device's construction under wrap it'll be far from an overnight job. Things are even more complicated when you consider the current political situation; if the Earth Alliance or ZAFT catch wind of us building something like that they could easily mistake it for a weapon and launch an attack. We're talking months of work to pull everything off, and that's being optimistic."

"Got it," said Murrue as she blocked a punch and countered with one of her own, "Is there a place that she'd be able to do the work in secret?"

"One of the resource satellites at L3 should suffice," Heero replied as he went back on the defensive, "The real trick's getting everything we need out there without raising suspicion. I think we'll have to take a piecemeal approach to this."

"Well, there's no hurry," said Murrue while pressing her attack, "After all, we might need your friends help in the near future. Having the other four Gundams on our side could be a game changer if the Alliance really is trying to start another war."

"Three," Heero corrected, "As of right now Wufei hasn't agreed to work with us, after all."

"Oh, come on," said Murrue as she kept punching and kicking at him, "I can't exactly see him siding with the Alliance. From what you've told me about him I doubt that their goals would fit well with his idea of justice."

"I never said that he'd support the Alliance," Heero replied while evading her blows, "but he did remain with ZAFT after the battle, remember? I'll need to talk to him to get a better idea of where his head's at, but the fact that he stuck with the Minerva rather than join us after the fight does have me concerned."

Murrue's eyes widened slightly; for him to admit something like that, even if it was just to her, was quite rare. "What do you think he'll do?"

Heero shook his head. "I'm not sure. He's unpredictable… even for a Gundam pilot."

"Should we try to reach out to him?" Murrue asked as she eased up her offensive, "Bring him into the fold now while things are still calm?"

"We can't make the approach while he remains with the Minerva," said Heero, "There's too much risk involved. He may also consider it to be us trying to manipulate him, and his pride won't let him stand for that. For now, I think that observation is our best course of action."

"Hard to do that when he's on the Minerva and the rest of you are here," Murrue commented.

"Perhaps," Heero replied, "but, as you said, there's the chance that we could end up working with the crew of the Minerva again if a new war breaks out, depending on the circumstances. That may present an opening to gauge his current stance and what he may be planning to do."

Murrue nodded. "Well, he's your friend. You know him better than I do. Whatever's up with him, I'm sure you'll find a way to sort things out."

"Yeah," said Heero as he countered and switched over to the offensive, "although… he's not the only pilot on the Minerva that I'm worried about."

"Really?" said Murrue as she blocked his attacks, "Who's the other one?"

"The Impulse's pilot," said Heero, "Shinn Asuka."

"You mentioned him before," said Murrue, her eyes narrowing, "He's actually from Orb, right?"

Heero nodded. "Yeah. His family died in the attack on the Elysium colony in the last war."

"Right," said Murrue, "I do recall you mentioning that. Under those circumstances I can definitely see why he moved to the PLANTs. You also said that he's not particularly fond of his homeland, right?"

"Yes," said Heero, "It's a grudge that I think he's carried ever since the war. I'd say that he holds Cagalli's government as responsible for his family's death."

Murrue sighed as she evaded his attacks. "She doesn't deserve that. Cagalli did everything she could for her people during the war, but I suppose he doesn't see it that way. So, why are you worried about him?"

"He has a lot of potential," said Heero, "The Impulse is basically an improved version of the Strike. It's highly versatile and capable of being a decisive factor on the battlefield. As its pilot, Shinn has a great deal of power at his fingertips. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a full-fledged Gundam, but it's just a few steps away from that point. As Shinn's abilities grow it will become a more effective weapon, but in his hands it's a ticking time bomb. Any mobile suit is with him at the helm."

"What makes you say that?" asked Murrue as she blocked and countered, retaking the initiative.

"He hasn't found closure with his past," Heero replied, "He has some good motives; he wants to protect his friends and the people as a whole. However, much of what drives him is rage against both his past and the world. He hates the Alliance for murdering his family and Orb for not protecting his family. All that anger clouds his judgment; he's the perfect attack dog for anyone capable of recognizing and manipulating that fact."

"I can think of at least one person capable of taking advantage of that," said Murrue as she punched and kicked at him.

Heero nodded while blocking her attacks. "Chairman Durandal. I'm willing to bet that he played a considerable role in making Shinn a Red and getting him assigned to pilot the Impulse. Shinn's got the talent for it, but not the temperament; his trainers should've recognized that."

"Do you think that he had any role in influencing the position of the other ZAFT pilots operating from the Minerva?" asked Murrue.

"I don't know," Heero replied, "Both Lunamaria and Rey seem calmer than Shinn, and their piloting skills are solid considering that they have little combat experience. It's possible that the Chairman had nothing to do with either of them becoming Reds or becoming pilots operating from the new battleship."

Murrue nodded. "I know you and Shinn got off to a rocky start, but if you two do end up working together do you think that there's any way that you can talk some sense into him?"

"We'll see," said Heero.

It was at that moment that he caught her latest punch and threw her to the mat. In a single fluid motion not only had he taken down Murrue but he had also pinned her. Murrue sighed and smiled; she couldn't get out of this if she wanted to.

"I guess that's it for this round," she said as she looked up at him, "It took you long enough, Heero."

He smirked. "I wanted to let you have some fun first. You really do get better every time we do this, you know?"

Murrue smiled as she leaned up and kissed him. "Thanks. I was hoping you'd say that."

Heero released her and stood up. He offered her his hand, and Murrue accepted it and let him help her to her feet.

"Well," she said, "that was fun. It's been a while since we've done that."

Heero nodded. "It has. We should get cleaned up."

"Yeah," said Murrue as she looked down at herself, "We worked up quite a sweat. I think that does it for today's workout, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes," Heero replied, "Want to grab some lunch?"

Murrue leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Sounds good. Let's go!"

….

Mu La Flaga leaned back in his chair as the last target on the screen disappeared in a ball of flame. "And that wraps up that exercise."

He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and flattened a wrinkle in his flight suit as a female voice came over the Tallgeese Kai's radio. "Simulation complete. Nice job, Mister La Flaga!"

The Hawk of Endymion smirked at the praise of the overseeing technician. "Thanks, Jane, but it wasn't that hard. By the way, is Natarle out there?"

"She just walked in," the young woman replied, "She's heading for us right now."

La Flaga smiled. "All right, then. Can't keep her waiting!"

He hit a key and opened up the mobile suit's hatch. Stepping out of his machine, he gave a nod and a smile towards Jane Robins, who was sitting nearby monitoring a portable console. She was a woman in her early twenties with mid-length brown hair and light blue eyes. She'd defected to Orb during the last war just after the attack on the Elysium colony, and she'd decided to stay on with Terminal when the war was over. Her technical and computer skills had found her a place on board the Dominion as part of the crews that oversaw mobile suit maintenance as well as keeping pilot simulation programs up to date, and she'd been assigned to the group charged with working on the Tallgeese Kai.

"Try to make the next batch a little more evasive," he said, "It's hard for me to really go all out when they're just flying standard combat maneuvers. Not a whole lot of fun there."

Jane nodded. "I'll do what I can, but that program utilized all of our most recent intel regarding the performance of the Alliance's Dagger-Ls and their pilot protocols. You've stressed the need for realism in the past, so I tried to tailor the program to your specifications."

La Flaga chuckled. "I think you're doing your job too well, Miss Robins. That was a pretty decent simulation of a fight with Atlantic Federation grunts, but you should start shooting a little higher now. I'm sure the Alliance still has some good pilots left, after all, and I bet I'll be mixing it up with them sooner or later."

"Very well," said Jane with a smile, "I'll see if I can work up something more challenging for your next bout. Perhaps I'll throw the Gaia in there; it is the only one of the stolen prototypes that survived the events from Armory One to the fight at the colony ruins and remains in Alliance hands, after all."

"Good," said La Flaga as he smiled back at her, "Can't wait to see what you come up with. Later!"

La Flaga then moved to meet Natarle, his smile growing as she approached him. She was dressed in her Orb Captain's uniform, and La Flaga would readily admit that she made military attire look good. A uniform wasn't meant to draw attention to the wearer's physique, but in La Flaga's eyes Natarle's was snug in all the right places.

"Couldn't wait for me to wrap things up down here, eh?" he said, flashing her his characteristic cocky grin.

Natarle rolled her eyes, but she still returned his smile as she kissed him on the cheek. "You are so full of yourself."

La Flaga chuckled. "Hey, it's part of my charm!"

"Right," Natarle replied before nodding at his mobile suit, "Enjoying your training?"

La Flaga nodded. "It was a good run. Hopefully the next one will be a little more interesting."

"You know," she said, "you really didn't need your flight suit; we are still down on the surface, after all."

La Flaga shrugged. "Yeah, but I like to keep the conditions as realistic as possible. That includes suiting up."

"Well, you need to get cleaned up and changed," said Natarle as her eyebrows narrowed, "You stink."

"Oh, come on!" said La Flaga, "I didn't work up that much of a sweat!"

"Your armpits say otherwise," Natarle shot back as she shoved him towards the nearest exit, "Take a shower, Mu. I'll be in the mess."

La Flaga smiled. "See you there!"

….

Man, that felt good, thought the Hawk of Endymion as he finished combing his hair, I guess Natarle was right about me needing that shower.

He was just about done cleaning up down in the Dominion's pilots' locker room. He'd swapped out his flight suit for the Morgenroete attire that had become an almost unofficial second uniform of sorts for Terminal. It hadn't taken him too long to clean up, in part because he was eager to sit down with Natarle and enjoy a late lunch with her.

They'd actually both just returned to the black battleship the day before. The two of them had gotten plenty of quality time together before that, but Natarle had decided that the two of them had needed to cut their shore leave a bit short. La Flaga understood where she was coming from; she wanted to make sure her warship was ready to go at a moment's notice, and it was as good a time as any for the Hawk of Endymion to get a few more simulation runs in.

"Well," he said, smirking at the mirror, "can't keep a good girl waiting."

It only took him a few minutes to get from the locker room to the mess. Natarle was easy to spot; she was the only person in the room.

"Not much of a crowd," he said as he dished up and joined her at her table.

Natarle nodded. "It's after the main lunch break for the shift."

"I bet you planned it like that, didn't you?" La Flaga replied with a smile.

Natarle smirked. "Maybe I did."

She'd become so much more relaxed since they'd started dating at the end of the last war, and that was something that La Flaga was quite grateful for. As much as he liked her disciplinarian side, he loved seeing her loosen up and trade barbs with him. She could give him a wicked smirk when she put her mind to it, and when she genuinely smiled it was a thing of beauty. She'd proven herself to be very quick witted, and when they were off the clock La Flaga had learned to beware of her sharp tongue and cool sarcasm.

"Well, you won't hear me complaining," said La Flaga, "Always nice to have a meal without an audience."

"Agreed," Natarle replied, "and I bet you're hungry after that training round."

La Flaga chuckled. "A little bit. It was nice, but not something that I'd work up too much of an appetite over. Now, if I could have a sim match against some of Heero's old crew, that'd be a different story."

Natarle shook her head. "Pilots. You're all the same when it comes right down to it; you just gotta find out who's the best."

La Flaga shrugged as he picked up his sandwich. "Hey, it's who we are. Doesn't matter what rank you are or what kind of machine you fly; you gotta find out who's the strongest one way or another."

Natarle rolled her eyes. "It's all about your egos. I swear, sometimes you flyboys act like it's still gym class or something."

"Might as well be," he replied as he took a bite, "Sure, our job's dangerous, but that doesn't mean we can't look for thrills and fun in the process."

"Chew your food, then talk," said Natarle before she started chowing down.

La Flaga gave her a mock salute. "Aye, Captain."

They spent a few minutes focusing on their food before Natarle spoke again. "How do you think Tallgeese Kai matches up compared to the new mobile suits?"

"Which ones?" asked La Flaga, "Ours or those of our enemies?"

"I was thinking the Alliance and ZAFT," said Natarle.

La Flaga nodded. "Gotcha. Well, it may be over two years old, but it can still hold its own with the best that our prospective foes have to offer. Based on what I saw up in orbit I'm pretty sure it's faster than anything ZAFT or those Alliance black ops guys have, except for maybe that unit with the gun-drones; Heero did say that that machine appeared to be nuclear powered, after all."

"I see," said Natarle, her eyes narrowing in thought, "What about in terms of firepower?"

"Tallgeese Kai's focus is more on speed and precision than raw power," said La Flaga, "I mean, its beam rifle and Vulcan Cannons are pretty basic weaponry, after all. The Planet Defensors give it an edge defensively, and the smoke grenade launchers in the legs are good for setting up surprise attacks or covering a retreat, but if you just look at it in terms of pure firepower then it's pretty easy to find units that have the Tallgeese Kai beat. However, all of their heavy weaponry is useless if they can't hit me."

Natarle smiled. "That's true. Tallgeese Kai may not be Wing Zero Albion or the Freedom, but it is quite the agile machine."

"Yeah," said La Flaga, "Honestly, I'm not all that worried about any of the new Alliance or ZAFT models right now. They're not too different from what we faced in the last war."

He took a sip from his water bottle before speaking again. "That being said… there is something that's been bothering me ever since the orbital battle."

Natarle's eyes widened slightly. "Really? What is it?"

"The pilots," he said, "Two of them, to be exact. I think one was with ZAFT and the other was with the black ops group trying to disrupt the drill operation."

"What machines were they using?" asked Natarle.

"I think one was flying the white ZAKU Phantom," La Flaga replied, "As for the other… if my hunch is right, he was flying the machine with the gun-drones."

"Why those two?" she asked, "I mean, I get the one with the gun-drone machine; anyone who can survive a fight against Heero is not to be taken lightly. But the one in the white ZAKU Phantom too?"

La Flaga nodded. "I know it sounds weird at first glance. However… I think those two are linked."

Natarle shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm having a hard time seeing how they could be connected. I mean, one's a ZAFT pilot and the other appears to be part of an Alliance black ops group. That's about as far apart as you can get, really."

"Not quite," said La Flaga, his eyes narrowing, "I was an Alliance ace and Creuset fought for ZAFT, but we still wound up being connected, remember?"

Natarle's face paled. "No, wait… you mean…"

"Yeah," said La Flaga grimly, "That… feeling that I used to get when fighting Creuset… well, I had it again during the orbital battle. Twice, actually, although the second wasn't exactly the same as with him… but I've felt that one before too."

"What are you talking about?" asked Natarle.

La Flaga sighed. "It's strange, but I get the exact same vibe from that white ZAKU Phantom that I did from Creuset during the last war. As for the pilot of the gun-barrel unit, I get a similar feeling, but something's off about it… and it matches a feeling I had during the final battle at L5. It came from a pilot that Heero wound up fighting; the one that had that unique Striker pack that combined the Launcher, Sword, and Aile configurations."

"Wait a minute," said Natarle, "I thought Heero mauled that machined in the final battle. You mean the pilot survived?"

"Looks like it," said La Flaga, "I'm not sure how, but he's still alive, and he's back on the battlefield."

Natarle looked down. "So… we've got two more Al Da Flaga clones to deal with now, huh? As if we didn't have enough on our plates…"

"Not necessarily," said La Flaga, "Based on the vibe I got from the ZAFT pilot I wouldn't be surprised if he's an Al Da Flaga clone. However, the feeling I got from the Alliance black ops pilot was different. He might be connected, but I don't think he's exactly the same as Creuset."

"Have you told the others about this?" asked Natarle.

La Flaga shook his head. "Not yet. I figured I'd run it by Kira first before the others; he mentioned that he was able to sense Creuset during the final battle like I was. I don't know if he could feel those other two in the orbital battle like I could, but it's worth a shot."

Natarle nodded. "Does it matter if he could or couldn't? I mean, you could, and you were having those sensations well before Kira manifested that ability."

"That's true," said La Flaga, "I guess it'll make me feel a little more confident; always nice to get a second opinion. Beyond that, though, whether he could sense them or not is irrelevant."

Natarle's eyes narrowed. "Should we plan a trip out to L4? The Mendel colony did survive the war, after all. We never took the time to dig through that lab you and Kira encountered there. Maybe there's some evidence hidden there that can help us get a better idea about who those two are."

"That's not a bad idea," La Flaga replied, "but we might have to put it on hold for a while. With the way things are now, I don't think it'd be smart to send any manpower out on what could end up being a wild goose chase."

Natarle sighed. "Good point. The news from this morning has me worried."

La Flaga raised an eyebrow. "What did I miss?"

"There was an announcement in the Atlantic Federation," said Natarle, "It sounds like their inquiry about the Break The World Incident is almost wrapped up. From what I heard, it seems they'll be releasing their findings any day now."

"You've got to be kidding me," said La Flaga, "It's barely been a week since they started the damn thing. That's way too soon to have conclusions from an official inquiry ready for public disclosure."

"I know that," said Natarle with a dark look in her eyes, "but the general public doesn't."

La Flaga grimaced, knowing what she was getting at. "Damn it. They're using it just as a piece of showmanship, aren't they?"

Natarle nodded. "Exactly. It's a prop; just something to offer their coming actions legitimacy. The people as a whole don't understand politics well enough to realize how these sorts of things are supposed to work, or what kind of timetable to expect. Things haven't exactly been helped by the Atlantic Federation's media outlets. They all toe the line of the ruling conservative faction…"

"And that faction's in league with Blue Cosmos," La Flaga finished for her, glaring down at the table, "Son of a bitch!"

"I couldn't agree more," said Natarle with a sigh, "You should see the stories that they run these days. It's absolutely disgusting."

"I'm surprised you can stomach that stuff," said La Flaga, "I think I'd go crazy trying to wrap my head around all the bullshit they feed their audience."

"I don't watch the actual shows," Natarle replied, "I just check clips when I browse online articles. It's the only way I can learn about what they're saying without going insane."

"I can't even bring myself to look at that much," said La Flaga, "To think that our old country has sunk that low."

Natarle shook her head. "Looking back, I think it was that low even while we were serving it. We just never really paid much attention to the politics until after Alaska, I think."

La Flaga chuckled ruefully. "Yeah. Your perspective changes when your own country tries to stab you in the back."

Natarle looked down. "We should've caught on a lot sooner. The fact that they were willing to nuke a colony, and an agricultural one to boot, should've been a huge red flag for us. We were on the wrong side right from the start."

"Hey," La Flaga replied, "It's not like ZAFT wound up being any better. They did try to return the favor and then some with GENESIS, remember?"

Natarle nodded. "I know. I think Orb was about as close to a 'good guy' as you could get in that war."

La Flaga smiled. "Hey, don't leave out our little group! Once we ditched the Alliance, Orb was the natural place for us to go."

"I'm not leaving you and the others out," said Natarle, "but… well, it took me quite a bit longer to join you guys."

Her sense of guilt was all too obvious for La Flaga; he knew that she'd never quite forgiven herself for sticking with the Atlantic Federation for as long as she had during the war. La Flaga could understand where she was coming from, but in his opinion Natarle was being too hard on herself.

He reached across the table and grabbed her hand, smiling as he did so. "You made the right call in the end. That's what matters."

Natarle returned his smile. "Thanks, Mu. Getting to see Heero kill Azrael on the bridge of my ship certainly was a nice way to mark my change of allegiance."

"Yeah," said Mu with a laugh, "and you spacing his corpse was the icing on the cake."

"That was the best way to handle the disposal," Natarle replied, "It would've been practically impossible for his most devoted followers to find his body and build some sort of sick memorial for him. By now his corpse has probably burned up in the atmosphere. Either that or it's drifting out towards Mars or the sun."

La Flaga nodded. "Well, I say good riddance regardless of which way he's floating. I still can't believe he managed to convince so many people to go along with his damn crusade."

"Yes," said Natarle softly, "and from the looks of things it appears his crusade didn't follow him to the grave."

La Flaga sighed. "I get that the guy was rich and well connected, but was that really all it took for him to influence the Atlantic Federation's policy regarding Coordinators? It feels like there should be more to it than that."

"Well," Natarle replied, "like I mentioned earlier, the media in that country have played Blue Cosmos's tune almost flawlessly. That's before, during, and after the war. There's a big market for that kind of fear and hatred… bigger than I'd care to think about."

The Hawk of Endymion shook his head. "It still doesn't make sense to me. Why are so many of our former countrymen willing to go along with that stuff? I mean, I get that it's not all of them, but it's enough to keep the conservative faction in power, right? That's millions of people voting for an agenda that amounts to one giant crime against humanity!"

"Believe me, I know," said Natarle, "but the voters don't see it that way. Or rather… they might choose not to see it that way."

"But why?" asked La Flaga, "I mean, I can't wrap my head around going along with stuff like that. It makes me want to throw up! How can so many people swallow that?"

"The debate over the ethics of creating Coordinators was always a contentious one," said Natarle, "but it got insane in the Atlantic Federation. Hell, I think it got worse than the argument over abortion."

"No kidding," said La Flaga, "except instead of firebombing clinics and killing doctors these psychopaths are blowing up entire colonies and starting world wars. Talk about one hell of an escalation."

Natarle sighed. "I don't know why, but ever since the existence of Coordinators was revealed and their numbers expanded the Atlantic Federation's taken a sharp reactionary turn. Now it's to the point that their rhetoric and crimes are on par with the worst authoritarian regimes of the 20th century. The liberal opposition to the current government's been completely marginalized by intimidation and assassination; our homeland's become a police state that offers up the illusion of democracy. It would take a serious popular uprising to change the status quo now."

"And there's not much we can do to kick that off on our end," said La Flaga, "We're good at pulling off the impossible, but we've got our limits."

Natarle nodded. "Yes. Orb's our real sphere of influence for the moment, but even here our power only counts for so much. We don't exactly have a lot of pull over in North America."

"Yeah," said La Flaga, "It'd be nice if we had the same sort of network there that we do in the PLANTs thanks to Eric's network and that of the Clyne Faction."

Natarle shook her head. "It was never going to happen. The new government in the PLANTs was relatively forgiving of people who defected to us during the war if they returned to L5, but the Atlantic Federation's policy was one of zero tolerance. For any of our friends and allies to return there would've been a death sentence. It's thanks to that policy that we don't have any real connections within the Atlantic Federation government or armed forces to rely on for intelligence and influence."

"Which means that we're flying blind when it comes to them," said La Flaga with a sigh, "I hate that."

"You're not the only one," said Natarle, "It's driving me crazy. Being on the inside in the last war was bad enough. I had access, but they still kept me in the dark about quite a bit. I think the only reason I learned as much as I did was because I was the Captain of Azrael's flagship."

"Too bad he didn't leave behind any juicy files on the Dominion," said Mu, "If he had we might've learned what other plans he had in the works and if any of them apply to what's going on these days."

Natarle nodded. "It would've been nice. Unfortunately we didn't catch that lucky break. If Azrael had any secret files I imagine he had the servers for them either on Luna or down on the Earth. He may have kept tabs with both locations from the battleship, but he didn't leave anything that we could use to gain access to that kind of data. He was a ruthless psychopath, but it seems that he was rather paranoid on his flagship."

La Flaga chuckled. "Not paranoid enough. We still managed to get aboard and kill him, after all."

Natarle smiled. "True, although I believe that was more of a brute force effort."

La Flaga grinned. "Hey, what do you expect? Brute force is what we mobile suit pilots do best!"

Her smile turned into a smirk. "Well, I can't argue with that."

La Flaga nodded. "Got that right!"

"Don't let it go to your head, Mu," Natarle replied with a chuckle, "We're gonna need a lot more than just brute force to get through what's coming our way."

"I know," said La Flaga, still smiling, "I'm not saying that whatever's ahead for us is going to be easy to deal with, but we've grown quite a bit from our experience in the last war. We'll do the same thing we did last time; adapt, make a plan, and fight like hell."

Natarle nodded. "Sounds good to me."

….

"Ah," said Lunamaria as she left the Minerva's mess hall, "That really hit the spot!"

"If you say so," said her younger sister, who was following in her wake.

It was late afternoon, and the two of them were currently off duty and spending some time together. Lunamaria knew that she hadn't been paying as much attention to Meyrin as she should've been lately, and since they were still stuck at the Orb dock she was trying to make up for that. That had been a case of easier-said-than-done; her sister had seemed a bit down over the past few days.

The reason for that hadn't been too hard for Lunamaria to figure out. While she would admit to being a little preoccupied with Wufei, Lunamaria hadn't missed that Meyrin had been distracted by another one of the strange but handsome pilots that they had met at Armory One. Unlike Lunamaria, however, Meyrin's Gundam pilot of choice had not remained on board the Minerva following Operation Redemption.

There's been no word of Duo or those other three pilots since the orbital battle, she thought, I know that the Minerva's sensors tracked them descending to Earth after the fight, but I've heard nothing about them since then. I hope they're doing okay… wherever they are.

While Lunamaria was curious as to where Heero and the others had gone off to, that was only a secondary concern to her. Wufei was still on the Minerva, and while Lunamaria had gotten some hints from him as to whom he really was it still wasn't nearly enough to satisfy her. If anything his cryptic words had only served to fuel her hunger to learn more about him even more so than before. She was much more focused on him than the other Gundam pilots, almost to the point that she had forgotten about Meyrin and the pilot that she was interested in.

"So," she said, figuring now was as good a time as any to broach the subject she knew was bothering her little sister, "did you hear anything about our missing friends and their machines when you were up on the bridge today?"

Meyrin shook her head, looking a little gloomy. "No, nothing."

Lunamaria sighed. "Well, it's not like they were assigned to the ship like we are. I'm still surprised that Wufei stuck around."

"I know that they're not part of ZAFT," said Meyrin, "but they still fought alongside us and helped us save the world. They just left without saying anything. Not even goodbye…"

Lunamaria put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "Look, I'm sure that they had their reasons. They were only with us for about a week, anyway. You shouldn't get so hung up over something like this, Meyrin."

"That's easy for you to say," Meyrin grumbled, "Wufei's still here."

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on," said Meyrin, "What do you think it means? You like him!"

Lunamaria's eyes widened, and try as she might she could not keep a hint of red from flashing over her face. "Like him? You've got to be joking!"

"Really?" said Meyrin skeptically, "Then why have you been spending so much time with him since he arrived on the ship?"

Lunamaria shook her head. "Look, it's not like that!"

"I don't believe you," said Meyrin, her eyes narrowing, "Don't forget who you're talking to, Luna. I know you better than anyone else."

"Well, you're wrong this time!" said Lunamaria with much greater force that she'd intended, "Guys like Wufei are so not my type. He's stuck up, even if he has the skills to back it up. He never gives you any clue as to what he's really thinking, and when you try to learn more about him he just gives you these half-riddles and cryptic responses and acts like he expects you to be able to figure things out just from those! He's standoffish and doesn't even try to socialize with the rest of us; it's like he wants to make us approach him instead of putting in any effort himself! I don't care that he's good-looking and has a kickass mobile suit and helped save our hides in the past three battles; his attitude pisses me off!"

Lunamaria was surprised to see her sister actually smile and giggle. "Oh, Luna…"

Lunamaria scowled. "Oh, Luna, what?"

Meyrin shook her head. "Nothing."

Lunamaria sighed. Now wasn't the time to be arguing with her sister.

"Whatever," she said, "Come on, let's go topside and get some air."

Meyrin nodded. "Sure."

It only took them a few minutes to make their way up to the landing pad positioned behind the battleship's bridge. Lunamaria figured it was as good a place as any to relax and shoot the breeze with her sister for a while, but when they arrived she immediately saw that they would have company there. Standing in the middle of the platform, seemingly oblivious to the sounds of the dock crews working on the Minerva, was none other than Wufei.

And he was holding a sword.

"What the hell?" said Lunamaria, raising an eyebrow.

"What's he doing up here?" asked Meyrin, "And what's with the sword?"

That was what Lunamaria wanted to know. She watched as Wufei shifted his stance, holding the curved blade behind him in his right hand while his left was held out in front of him, palm open. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and then leaped into the air.

Lunamaria's eyes widened at the height he was able to achieve. It should've been impossible for a Natural to jump as high as he was doing now. The height wasn't the only thing that impressed her; while airborne he went through a fluid flip, and as he came down he brought his sword around with him, using the momentum to make a powerful falling strike.

As soon as his feet hit the deck he was moving again, rushing forward with his blade lashing out in a series of lighting blows. He was swift and aggressive in his relentless assault against his imaginary foe, and his sword flashed through the air looking almost like streaks of silver light rather than a physical weapon.

"Whoa…" said Meyrin softly.

"Holy crap…" Lunamaria whispered as she watched the display of martial prowess in awe.

Lunamaria had seen Wufei with that sword before, but it had always been sheathed. She'd just assumed that it was decorative, a means for him to intimidate people and nothing more. While she already knew that he was a highly skilled mobile suit pilot, Lunamaria hadn't even thought of the possibility that those talents would also extend to a more traditional form of combat.

He's as fast as a Coordinator, she thought as he continued his exercise, I don't believe it! How the hell is that possible?

Her mind flashed back to the last time that she'd seen something resembling what Wufei was doing now. It was back during the last war, shortly after the Fall of Avalon.

The duel between Heero Yuy and Shemei Rehema.

Back then those two legendary fighters had settled their score using not mobile suits but traditional swords. Lunamaria hadn't witnessed the event firsthand, of course, but someone from within the group that had become known as the Three Ships Alliance had gotten the entire duel on video and had posted it online. The video had quickly spread like wildfire despite all attempts by the Zala regime to purge it from the web. There wasn't a soul in the PLANTs that hadn't seen that video by now, and Lunamaria perfectly recalled the shock that she had felt at the duel's conclusion.

His speed, grace, and power were phenomenal. One move would flow smoothly into the next, and if there were any openings in his defenses Lunamaria could not spot them. His balance was perfect and his focus was absolute. The ways of the sword were completely alien to Lunamaria, but she had a feeling that if Wufei were to be plucked from this world of mobile suits and mechanized warfare and flung into the distant past where battles of life and death came down to one's skill with a blade he would absolutely thrive in an environment like that.

What kind of training does it take to fight like that?, she thought as she continued to observe him, We were taught hand-to-hand combat at the academy, and Reds get more specialized training, but nothing I can do comes anywhere close to this!

If her instructors from ZAFT could see Wufei now Lunamaria would wager that they'd be at a complete loss for words. This wasn't mere close-quarters take-downs and punches; this was martial arts refined to an unbelievable degree of sharpness and intensity. It was captivating, almost beautiful in a primal way, and Lunamaria knew that it would be utterly lethal should anyone have the misfortune of taking on the likes of Wufei in close-quarters-combat.

She watched as Wufei leapt high into the air again, achieving an altitude that Lunamaria knew she couldn't match even with her enhanced physical abilities as a Coordinator. Once again he executed a smooth flip before coming back down, using his momentum to add power to his swing. His feet hit the deck with the grace of a cat, and he immediately rushed forward, his blade flashing through the air like bursts from a machine gun.

Lunamaria was completely in awe. Where had this guy been during the last war? A fighter as powerful as him should've gained a reputation regardless of what kind of machine he'd been using back then, or even if he'd been acting as a foot soldier. With his level of skill and strength Lunamaria found it impossible to believe that he had sat out the Bloody Valentine War, but she had no idea where he was from or what side he might've fought on.

"Can Duo fight like this?" she heard her sister mutter.

"I know I can't," said Lunamaria, at a loss for any other words at the moment.

She saw him go into a back handspring. Pushing himself off the ground with only one hand, he effortlessly flipped back and landed on his feet. He gave a few more swings of his sword for good measure before sheathing the blade and turning towards the two of them and folding his arms.

"You know," he said, "I don't really like performing for audiences."

Lunamaria scowled. "Well, this isn't exactly a restricted area, you know? If you want a private practice arena you're going to have to find one off the ship."

"It doesn't matter," he said as he walked over towards the side and looked out over the edge of the platform, "I'm done for now, anyway."

"I'll… be going back inside," said Meyrin, awkwardly edging towards the door, "Luna… catch you later."

"Hey!" said Lunamaria, "You don't have to go just because he's being a jerk!"

"It's fine!" Meyrin replied, "See you around, sis! Nice to see you, Wufei!"

She was through the door and gone before Lunamaria or Wufei could react. Lunamaria shook her head. She should've expected this; her sister had a habit of shying away from certain people that she found to be intimidating, and Lunamaria couldn't blame her for wanting to put some distance between herself and Wufei.

"Well," said Lunamaria as she walked over to join Wufei, "You scared my little sister off. Congratulations."

"Leaving was entirely her decision," Wufei shot back coolly, "She could've stayed had she wished to."

Lunamaria shook her head. "You really do have a way with people, don't you?"

"I've been told that I can be… abrasive, at times," said Wufei, "Whether people think that of me or not really is no concern of mine. My actions speak louder than any words can. If they really want to judge me they can let my skills stand in for rhetoric."

"You know," said Lunamaria, "you'd have a much easier time making friends if you pulled that arrogant kung-fu guy stick out of your ass."

She was surprised to see him chuckle. "Now you sound like Duo."

"Probably because he has a point," Lunamaria replied as she folded her arms.

"If he'd ever learn to shut his mouth I might start taking what he says seriously," Wufei shot back, "but the day that happens is the day hell freezes over."

"You might talk shit about him," said Lunamaria, "but you two seem to work well together in a fight. Actually, all five of you guys do, really. How long have you all been doing… well, what you guys do?"

"Longer than you," said Wufei.

Lunamaria rolled her eyes. "I get that. Care to specify how much longer?"

Wufei shrugged. "Not really."

She groaned. "Why do I even bother?"

"Good question," said Wufei as he looked at her, "Why do you have such an interest in my past?"

She was taken aback by how serious he had become. "Well… that's… complicated."

"I don't think it should be," said Wufei as turned back towards what was beyond the platform.

Lunamaria could feel herself blushing, as much as she might try to fight it. "Look… can you really blame me for being curious? I mean, I know I'm not the only one who's got questions about you guys."

"I'm sure," Wufei replied, "but you're the only one that seems to be focusing on me. Care to elaborate?"

Lunamaria looked down, suddenly quite eager to avoid looking him in the eye. What was getting into her?

"I…well, you did save my life back at Armory One," she said after a moment, "and your moves... well, I've only seen a few pilots that could take you on, and all of them fought in the last war. I want to know how you got so good."

"So you can try to match me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lunamaria sighed. "Look, I get that I'm nowhere near your level of skill, all right? I can figure that out without you telling it to my face. That doesn't mean that I don't want to get stronger. I want to be the best pilot that I'm capable of being. Your fighting style's different than mine, but that doesn't mean that I can't learn a thing or two from you."

To her surprise he actually smiled. "So you do have a little bit of wisdom."

"I'm not Shinn," she replied, "I know how to recognize my weaknesses."

Wufei nodded. "You do. While it's true that you fight at long range, I think there are a few things that fighting up close could teach you. In fact, why don't we start now?"

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what?"

"You want to learn a thing or two from me?" asked Wufei as he walked towards the center of the platform, "Show me how you play my game right now."

Her eyes widened. "Wait, you mean you want me to fight you? As in hand-to-hand?"

"I don't have an extra sword for you," he said with a shrug, "so fists will be the way to go. Got a problem with that?"

Lunamaria smirked as she followed him. "Not at all. I've wanted to smack that smug smirk off your face for a while now. If you're giving me a shot then I can't refuse!"

Wufei chuckled. "You think it's going to be that easy?"

"You're not using your sword, right?" said Lunamaria, "I think I can get a good hit in."

"We'll see," Wufei replied as he unclipped his sheathed sword from his belt and set it down off to the side.

He then turned to her and raised his hand in a gesture of challenge. "Show me what you've got. Don't hold back."

Lunamaria grinned. "All right, you asked for it!"

She rushed forward as fast as she could. Lunamaria knew that she couldn't beat him when it came to sheer skill, but if she put everything she had into her first strike then she had a chance to land a solid hit on him. Waiting until the last possible moment to avoid telegraphing her attack, she threw a hard right punch aimed right at his jaw.

It never came close to landing. In a single fluid motion Wufei caught her arm and turned her forward momentum against her by throwing her to the ground. Her back hit the deck, and for a moment Lunamaria found herself seeing stars.

How…, she thought in a daze, how did he do that so easily? It's like he wasn't even trying…

He knelt down beside her, and for a moment it looked like he might be concerned, although Lunamaria couldn't entirely trust her senses right now. "You okay?"

Lunamaria groaned as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head. "I think so. Damn it, what the hell happened? How'd you take me out like that?"

"You had the right idea," said Wufei as he stood back up, "Going with speed and throwing all you had into your opening move was a solid strategy given the gap in our skills. However, you're too tense. You may have held off on your punch until the last second, but it was still easy to see coming."

Lunamaria shakily got to her feet. "Okay, then. How do I fix that?"

"By embracing a different mindset than what you were taught by your academy instructors," Wufei replied, "The reason I was able to counter you so easily was because I'm able to keep myself relaxed."

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow. "You, relaxed? With the stick you have up your ass I have a hard time seeing that."

Wufei rolled his eyes. "I'm talking about my body. Yours was too rigid. You had all your energy bunched up, and there were only a few paths for it to be released along. By relaxing your body you make it easier to be flexible in a tight spot. That's how I was able to grab your arm and use the energy behind your attack to my advantage."

Lunamaria nodded. "All right. So, how can I do that?"

"Be like water," Wufei replied.

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"It's not a puzzle," said Wufei, "Water seeks the path of least resistance. It flows ever onward, working its way around that which it cannot overpower directly. Imagine trying to achieve a state like water when you train. Embody the flexibility of water, and you'll be able to do what I just did."

Lunamaria folded her arms. "So all I have to do is just think of myself as water and that's it?"

Wufei shook his head. "Of course not. If all it took were imagination then anyone could do it. You have to combine that mentality with your physical actions. Mind and body have to be in synch."

"This is getting a little more mystical and 'out-there' than I thought it would," said Lunamaria, "I'm a soldier, not some fighter in a Wuxia film."

"The martial arts passed down by my clan are not quite the same as the hand-to-hand drills taught by the militaries of the world," said Wufei, "If you look at them as just physical fighting techniques and nothing more then you'll never truly be able to perform them. Your mentality is just as important as your body."

Lunamaria nodded. "Okay, then. How do I get my mind and body in synch?"

"The same way I do," said Wufei as he raised his hand and gestured for her to come at him, "Practice. Care to go again?"

Lunamaria smiled as she raised her fists. "You're on!"

….

October 17th, C.E. 73

Standing down on the dock, Talia looked up at the crews that were working on the portside hull of her warship. It wasn't any serious maintenance; they were mostly just giving the paintjob a good touch-up. Still, Talia did want to spend some time outside today observing the dock crews.

I don't know why I'm worried, she thought, These Morgenroete personnel have been very professional in their work. I'd say that they're as good as any ZAFT dock crew, actually.

"It looks like the maintenance is going along quite well," said a familiar male voice from behind her.

Talia turned around and smiled at Arthur, who was holding a clipboard with a checklist. "It is, isn't it? I'll admit that I was concerned when we first arrived here about the ability of the dock crews to work on a ZAFT warship, but it seems my fears were misplaced."

"Morgenroete accepts nothing less than the best personnel for her ship maintenance crews," said a new voice, this one female, "Your vessel's in very good hands."

Both Talia and Arthur tuned towards the newcomer. It was a woman with long brown hair and deep brown eyes. She appeared to be about Talia's height, and the ZAFT captain suspected that she was around her age as well, or perhaps a year or two younger. She was dressed in the red shirt and khaki pants that were the standard attire for Morgenroete personnel, and she had a warm and welcoming smile on her face.

"Forgive me for interrupting," she said as she approached the two of them, "From your uniform may I presume that you're the commanding officer of this vessel?"

Talia nodded and smiled as she held out her hand. "Yes. I'm Captain Talia Gladys, and this is my Executive Officer, Arthur. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss…"

"I'm Maria Bernes," the woman replied as she shook Talia's hand, "I'm a manager with Morgenroete's shipbuilding and maintenance division. It's nice to meet you."

Talia had a strange feeling as she shook Maria's hand. She couldn't explain why, but she felt as if she should know her from somewhere. They hadn't met before, at least to Talia's knowledge, but she still couldn't shake the sensation that she should be familiar with her.

"Pardon me," said Talia, "but I've been out here several times since my ship docked here, and I haven't seen you with the crews until today. Why is that?"

"I've been working at another dock," Maria replied, "I was asked to come in today because the manager who has been supervising your ship's maintenance had a family emergency to attend to. Nothing too serious; apparently his son's a bit of a troublemaker at school."

Talia nodded. "I see. Well, I do appreciate all the work your crews have done on my ship. I'm confident that when we eventually depart here the Minerva will be in perfect working order."

Maria smiled. "You can count on that, Captain Gladys."

"Captain," said Arthur, "We should be getting back inside. It's almost time for us to send our morning status update to L5."

Talia nodded. "Of course. Thanks for the reminder, Arthur."

She turned back to Maria. "I'm afraid I have to get moving. Thanks again for taking care of our ship. Please, pass my compliments along to your workers."

Maria nodded. "Will do, Captain."

….

"Well?" said Erica Simmons as Murrue entered her office, "What did you think?"

Murrue smiled as she walked up to her friend, who was standing by the window overlooking the dock. "I have to say, she truly is an impressive warship. Seeing all the data Heero sent to us about it was one thing, but it's quite another to get up close and personal with it like this."

Erica nodded. "She's the pride of ZAFT's fleet for a reason. Nowhere near as large as the super carrier Gondwana or the surviving Orizaba-class carrier/dreadnoughts, and she can't carry anywhere close to as many mobile suits as those beasts, but she's an offensive powerhouse and a technological marvel."

"Yes," said Murrue as she looked down at the warship, "ZAFT clearly took a few pages out of the Archangel's book when they were designing her."

"And her mobile suits," Erica added, "Especially the Impulse; it's a much more potent version of the old Strike unit in every way. Part of me wants to chide ZAFT for the imitation, but I have to admit that it's a quality piece of work."

"Agreed," said Murrue with a smirk, "I wonder how Kira would feel about ZAFT copying his old machine?"

"I doubt he'd really care one way or the other at this point," Erica replied, "The Freedom surpasses the old Strike in every way that counts and he seems quite happy with it."

Murrue nodded. "That's true. From the data Heero sent over it seems that the other units ZAFT designed are quite formidable as well."

Erica chuckled. "Yeah, at least on paper. Don't forget that two of them fell at Armory One; together they didn't even last a minute against Wing Zero Albion."

"Well, Heero did get the drop on them," said Murrue.

Erica smirked. "Come on, Murrue. Do you think those two machines and their pilots would've done much better against Heero in a straight-up fight?"

Murrue smiled. "Good point. I'm impressed that the Gaia was able to escape him, although if it hadn't been for the gunbarrel unit I suppose that machine wouldn't have been so lucky."

Erica nodded. "I'm with you there. That being said, the enemy has put that machine to good use since they stole it. It certainly gave the ZAFT drill teams a hard time at Junius Seven."

"Yes," said Murrue, her eyes narrowing in thought, "It's a rather versatile mobile suit, too. The focus of its mobile armor form may be on terrestrial combat, but the Gaia's mobile suit form handles quite well in outer space. I wonder if we'll get the chance to see it in action on the surface."

"From the data I've reviewed I think it outclasses the old ZAFT BuCue units," said Erica, "It probably outperforms the Desert Tiger's LaGOWE in mobile armor form as well. ZAFT took all the best aspects of their standard surface combat mobile suit and amped them up with the Gaia. If they had the combat data from that unit I bet that they'd be using it to work on a new generation of mass production ground warfare mobile suits."

Murrue nodded. "I imagine that was the aim of the whole prototype program that they had at Armory One. The data they could eventually have gathered from the Chaos and Abyss would've been invaluable in creating next-generation air and underwater combat units."

"No doubts there," said Erica, "Although… ZAFT might still get the chance to get new data for advanced air combat units."

Murrue raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

"There was an interesting bit of information that the Wolf picked up through his network of contacts in the PLANTs," said Erica, "He first heard about it a little bit before Heero set out for Armory One, and he got some corroborating intelligence on it right before that big battle up in orbit took place. Apparently that black ops group didn't pick the best time to raid the colony."

"What do you mean?" asked Murrue, "From where I'm standing their timing was excellent apart from Heero and the other Gundam pilots showing up. ZAFT's defenses at Armory One were much weaker than at L5 as a whole, and at the time that they were launching the Minerva the majority of the personnel they had at the colony were green. Having both Chairman Durandal and Cagalli at Armory One would actually have been a bonus to them; they had a chance to eliminate the rulers of both the PLANTs and Orb. Frankly they got pretty close to accomplishing that as well."

Erica shook her head. "I'm not arguing with you there. However, apparently at the time the colony was attacked it actually didn't have all of the prototypes that were supposed to launch with the battleship."

Murrue's eyes narrowed. "There's a missing unit?"

Erica nodded. "Yes. The file Bristow's contact within the Integrated Design Bureau managed to pass along had some very interesting information on it. The mobile suit's official designation is the ZGMF-X23S Saviour. It's an aerial assault mobile suit like the Chaos, although it lacks that unit's gun-drones."

"Why was it not at Armory One?" asked Murrue.

"From what I understand, it seems that its development had fallen behind that of the other prototypes," said Erica, "The intel didn't list a specific reason, but the Wolf thought that they were having trouble with the machine's shifting sequence from mobile suit to mobile armor form. They brought it back to L5 for some fine-tuning."

"Another transformable unit," said Murrue, "ZAFT's really got a thing for those these days."

"Can you blame them?" asked Erica, "The Treaty of Junius Seven put them at a numerical disadvantage compared to the Earth Alliance military, so they're trying every trick in the book to make up for that gap. Transformable units are more technologically complex but offer a higher degree of versatility, not to mention unique capabilities. ZAFT was probably counting on the variability of all five prototypes acting in concert with the Minerva to provide an advanced vanguard force on the battlefield and put the Earth Alliance off balance."

"They may well still have that to a lesser degree," said Murrue thoughtfully, "The Impulse seems formidable enough, and if ZAFT works out whatever issues they're having with the Saviour then I imagine that they'll have it join the Minerva soon enough; it sounds like it was designed to operate with that warship and the other prototypes, after all."

Erica nodded. "That would be a reasonable assumption. As for who they'll tap to be its pilot, I suppose that's up in the air."

"Miriallia mentioned something interesting in her report," said Murrue, "She said that the word going around Armory One was that ZAFT was hoping that the Minerva and her prototypes would be able to take on Wing Zero if they acted on concert. Was that just arrogance, or would they actually have a shot at fighting Heero on even ground?"

Erica's eyes narrowed. "That's a good question. Even pre-upgrade Wing Zero was one hell of a mobile suit, quite possibly the deadliest in the Cosmic Era, and that's not counting the serious performance boost it gets from having a pilot of Heero's caliber at its controls. ZAFT's gone a long way towards addressing the technology gap, especially with this new generation of mobile suits, but still… even if they had all five of their prototypes I have a hard time seeing them actually beating Heero in a straight up fight. Their odds get even longer when you factor in that the mobile suit's been upgraded into the Wing Zero Albion. If Durandal was trying to find a way to counter Wing Zero while remaining within the bounds of the Treaty of Junius Seven, however, his options would be limited. I can see the Minerva and her mobile suits being envisioned as some sort of rival force for Heero, although I think Durandal would have better luck following the model of Zala's Special Operations Squadrons."

"Even though Heero annihilated them in the last war?" asked Murrue with a smirk, "That model didn't exactly have a track record for success against him, if I recall correctly."

Erica chuckled. "True enough. That being said, Zala didn't commit his best units until the end of the war. Gault Team in particular put up a good fight against Heero at Jachin Due."

Murrue nodded. "Yes, but the leader was piloting another Freedom; that was part of why that team was able to last as long as they did. Unless Durandal's been violating the Treaty of Junius Seven he won't have any comparable units in his arsenal."

Erica folded her arms. "Do you really think the PLANTs are playing by the rules, Murrue? We're already pretty sure that the Alliance has violated the Treaty, and we all know that our arsenal flies in the face of it. If ZAFT doesn't have some black projects on the books regarding nuclear powered mobile suits or other proscribed weapons systems then I'll be very disappointed."

Murrue sighed. "You're right. Black projects, the rise of all these new PMCs, entire battle groups flying without official IFF tags… the more that I see, the more I become convinced that the Treaty's not worth the paper it's written on."

"You're not the only one," Erica replied, "Between you and me, I think the writing's on the wall; this 'peace' of ours won't survive through to the New Year."

"That's a pretty pessimistic outlook," said Murrue.

"I'm not exactly thrilled about that line of thinking," said Erica, "but I'm trying to be realistic here. We all need to if we're going to survive what's coming."

Murrue nodded. "You're right. Wishful thinking won't do us any favors. We have to prepare for the worst."

Erica smiled. "Fortunately for us, we've got an edge there. The Orb mainland's not our only base of operations; we've got our facilities at L3 as well, not to mention the Eternal's secret hideaway. We may not have a clear picture of everything the Alliance and ZAFT can bring to the table, but the same goes for them; they've got no idea how much power we've got stashed away."

Murrue smirked. "Yes, and now we have the other Gundam pilots thrown into the mix as well. There's no way that Blue Cosmos or Durandal's administration could've prepared for the likes of them."

Erica chuckled. "No kidding. Heero threw a wrench into everyone's plans in the last war. Four more pilots like him? I can't wait to see the amount of havoc they can wreak on the Alliance and ZAFT."

"The events stemming from the attack at Armory One have proved to be a very informative sampling of their abilities," said Murrue, "and I doubt that we've seen the full extent of what they're capable of yet. From what Heero told me, it seems like their upgraded Gundams are just full of surprises."

Erica nodded. "You've got that right. Designers for the Alliance, ZAFT and Orb would sell their souls for the chance to study the schematics of those four mobile suits, and that's not even adding Wing Zero Albion into the mix. Heero's beast is still the crown jewel of the collection, no doubt there."

"Thanks in no small part to your efforts," said Murrue, smiling again, "You really went all out in helping Heero with the upgrades."

Erica laughed. "I might've gone a bit overboard, actually. I really couldn't resist, though. The chance to work on that machine? Talk about a mobile suit engineer's dream come true!"

"Heero told me that you certainly enjoyed yourself," said Murrue, "and your enthusiasm certainly shows in the finished product."

Erica smiled. "I'd like to think so. If I had to name one project as my pride and joy, Wing Zero Albion would be it. There's nothing else in the Cosmic Era quite like that Gundam."

"Epyon Revenant would be a good rival for it," said Murrue, "It's a good thing that it's on our side as well."

Erica nodded. "I'm glad Shemei's gotten a good handle on that unit. I know it was pretty touch and go there for a while."

"Yes," said Murrue, "I know her husband wasn't happy about her using it, and for good reason. When Heero says that a mobile suit is trouble, you know that it's bad news."

Erica shook her head. "I still can't believe he wanted that version of the ZERO System installed in that machine. The original one's intense enough as is; why the hell would you design a variant that's even more demanding on the pilot?"

Murrue sighed. "You'd have to ask Treize Khushrenada about that, and I'm afraid that's not possible; he took his motives to his grave."

"Probably for the best," said Erica with a dark look in her eyes, "A man willing to give a mobile suit an operating system like that is not normal. Whatever his reasons were, I'm perfectly fine with not knowing them."

They were quiet for a moment before another thought crossed Murrue's mind. "Heero told me that there was a unit in the last war that reminded him of the Epyon. It was the mobile suit flown by Cipher in the final battle."

Erica nodded. "I remember him mentioning that. Why bring it up now?"

"Heero mauled it in his duel with Cipher," said Murrue, "From what I remember it appeared to be damaged beyond repair at the end of the fight, and I'm willing to bet that the destruction of GENESIS ripped apart whatever was left of it."

"Seems likely," said Erica, "What are you getting at, Murrue?"

"Well," she replied, "even if it failed to defeat Heero, the design itself was quite impressive. It did manage to stand up to Wing Zero for a considerable amount of time, even if much of that was with the aid of a partner. If ZAFT were to be looking for the means to counter Wing Zero, they may not have put all their eggs in the same basket as the Minerva and her prototype mobile suits."

"I get it now," said Erica, "You're wondering if Durandal's got ZAFT working on building another version of Cipher's machine as a black project. Maybe the other one that was working with it as well. Sound about right?"

Murrue nodded. "I doubt that ZAFT has forgotten those machines. If I was them and wanted to have a few secret weapons held in reserve, that pair of mobile suits would certainly be one of them."

"I agree with you there," said Erica, "and there were a few other designs that proved effective as well. Between the Earth Alliance and the PLANTs, it was the latter that built the most sophisticated mobile suits in the final phase of the war. The Alliance has made strides towards catching up, but even with all the progress they've made today I'd still give ZAFT the edge when it comes to the development of newer and more cutting-edge designs."

"Yes," said Murrue, "but what about finding pilots for them? Both sides' pilot corps' took monumental losses in the war, especially during the final battle. The Alliance and ZAFT still have some veteran pilots flying for them, but the bulk of the soldiers are green. It takes experienced pilots to use the more sophisticated mobile suits to their full potential."

"I don't know about ZAFT," said Erica, her eyes narrowing, "but the Earth Alliance may have a workaround for that. Remember what Heero said about some of their pilots that he fought in the last war?"

Murrue shuddered. "You mean the ones that he thought had been augmented… and were child soldiers?"

Erica nodded. "The very same. If the Earth Alliance was willing to cross that line once then I see no reason why they wouldn't do so again. Pilots like that may be no match for the likes of Heero and his comrades, but against regular forces they can wreak plenty of carnage."

"Yes," said Murrue softly, "and they make perfect vanguards for Alliance forces. That was demonstrated quite well in the last war as well. They inflict significant casualties on the enemy before they're taken down. The Alliance might've given them more advanced units than the standard Strike-Daggers that were rolled out after Alaska, but I have no doubt that they still saw those augmented pilots as nothing more than high-caliber cannon fodder."

Erica sighed. "Given that they still hold a numerical majority thanks to the treaty limitations, I have no doubt that the Alliance still views its pilots the same way. Besides, you and I both know that they would chuck the treaty limitations right out the window the second a war was declared. They'd no longer have to rely on black projects."

Murrue nodded. "Goodbye secret fleets and hello mass conscription. Sound about right?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Erica replied, "It's kind of depressing when our enemies are so predictable, isn't it?"

"Only because we witnessed their brutality and ruthlessness firsthand in the last war," said Murrue bitterly, "We know better than anyone else what they're capable of."

"And that's why it's our responsibility to stop them from repeating the crimes of the past," said Erica firmly, "That goes for both the Alliance and ZAFT."

Murrue smirked. "Tall order. Still, I think we're up for the challenge."

Erica nodded. "I hope so."

….

"Hey," said Athrun, waving as he saw his two friends approach, "Thanks for meeting me here like this."

Kira smiled as he joined him on the estate's rear deck, followed by Heero. "Sure thing, Athrun."

"From your message," said Heero, "it sounded important."

It was just like Heero to skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point. Athrun liked it better that way; there was no sense in beating around the bush with something like this.

Athrun nodded. "It is. Come on; let's head down to the beach."

He led the way down the stairs, and a few moments later the three of them were walking along the sand. "Did you guys see the news report earlier? The one from the Alliance?"

"About their inquiry, right?" asked Kira.

"It seems the release of their findings is imminent," said Heero.

"Yeah," said Athrun, "Anyway, I was doing some thinking about that. Whatever they release to the public, I doubt it's going to do much to ease tensions."

"What makes you so sure of that?" asked Kira.

"Their past behavior and their current rulers," said Heero, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Athrun, "Azrael and the old High Command may have all perished in the war, but their influence lives on; the political leadership in the Atlantic Federation remains much the same now as it was back then. It wouldn't be too much to assume that Blue Cosmos has replaced Azrael but is maintaining his policies. Any findings the Atlantic Federation releases from their Senate's inquiry will be designed to further inflame tensions in the Earth Sphere."

Athrun nodded. "That's what I thought, too. They won't be looking to calm things down; quite the opposite, in fact."

"Maybe," said Kira, "but we're not at the point of no return yet. Cooler heads can still prevail in all this."

"Perhaps," said Heero as he looked out at the sea, "but they'll be fighting an uphill battle. At any rate, I'm not sure that there are many rational political figures left in the Atlantic Federation that aren't under the thumb of Blue Cosmos or their sympathizers at this point."

Athrun sighed. "I think you're right. And the problem's not just in the Earth Alliance; the PLANTs have their share of issues as well."

Kira nodded. "Councilor Canaver's provisional government did a lot to sweep the radicals out of power, but I guess their ideology didn't completely die."

"The attempt by the extremists to drop the ruins of Junius Seven onto Earth is proof enough of that," Heero added.

Athrun closed his eyes for a moment, images from that battle flashing through his head. "One of the enemy pilots spoke to me during the fighting. He said that the path of Patrick Zala was the only path for Coordinators."

"He was a diehard supporter of the old regime," said Heero, "as were the rest of the members of the fleet that tried to drop the colony. The fact that ZAFT organized a task force to stop them shows that the current government's ideology has diverged considerably from that espoused by your father."

Athrun nodded, his eyes narrowing. "I know. Still, what that man said… it reminded me of the pull my father's memory still has over people. The people who want to refight the last war aren't just in the Earth Alliance; there are those in the PLANTs who want to have another round as well."

He looked up at the sky. "Our war's not over. The peace we've enjoyed wasn't a peace at all; it was just a pause for both sides to regroup and rearm."

"Athrun…" said Kira, "You can't mean that…"

Instead of turning to his old friend, Athrun looked at Heero. "You were right. None of us wanted to admit it, but your instincts were dead on about what our peace really was. What did you call it? The endless waltz, right?"

Heero nodded. "The three beats of war, peace, and revolution. It would seem that the Cosmic Era isn't ready to break humanity's pointless cycle."

"That can't be right!" cried Kira, "So many people died for the peace that we have now! We can't just accept that its end is inevitable!"

"It may not be pleasant," said Heero, "but to ignore what's staring us in the face now would be foolish. We need to be prepared."

"I agree," said Athrun, "and I think I know a way that I can help. However… I can't do it if I'm here with you guys."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kira.

Heero sighed. "I know what he's thinking. It's not a good idea, Athrun."

Athrun shook his head. "You're wrong about that, Heero."

"Convince me, then," Heero replied, "Why should I believe that you'll be able to make a bigger difference working with ZAFT than you could by staying with us?"

Kira's eyes widened. "You want to go back to ZAFT? Athrun, you can't be serious!"

"Calm down," said Heero, "I've already got a good idea as to his reasoning, but let's hear him out first."

Kira nodded. "Okay."

Athrun smiled. "Thanks."

"You might want to save that," said Heero, "I for one think that you're an idiot for considering this. I'll still listen to you, but you're going to have a hard time changing my opinion."

Athrun chuckled. "At least you're being honest about it. I can live with that."

"So," said Kira, "what gave you the idea to do this, Athrun?"

"A few things, really," said Athrun, "I'll admit that what happened in the orbital battle was what started it all for me, but it involves more than that."

"Like what?" asked Kira.

Athrun sighed. "Well, for starters, there's really not all that much I can do here with you guys. You all have your own mobile suits; mine was destroyed in the last war. Sure, I know it'd be easy for Simmons to use her influence in Morgenroete to send a Murasame my way, but that won't give me anywhere near the power that I had with the Justice."

"And you think that ZAFT will give you a more formidable unit?" asked Heero, raising an eyebrow, "You didn't exactly leave them on the best terms in the last war."

"He's right," said Kira, "Athrun, ZAFT still considers you a traitor! If you go back to the PLANTs you're signing your own death warrant!"

Athrun shook his head. "I don't think so. The Supreme Council Chairman said that he had known my true identity from the moment I stepped foot on Armory One, but he never made any attempt to have me arrested. I'm sure the warrant for my arrest is still active, but if the Chairman was serious about acting on it he had plenty of chances to do so while I was at the colony or aboard the Minerva."

"I wouldn't chalk that up just to his goodwill," said Heero, "When you were at Armory One you were Cagalli's bodyguard; having you arrested there would've made for a diplomatic incident that the Chairman likely wanted to avoid. As for when you were on the battleship, he was being strategic; he knew that you were a veteran mobile suit pilot, and given the situation I'm sure he felt that your talents might come in handy. He was simply keeping his options open. Since you were able to fly one of the ship's ZAKUs during the orbital battle I'd say that his prudence paid off. However, you're mistaken if you think that his flexibility amounts to complete amnesty in the eyes of the PLANT government for your actions during the last war."

Kira nodded. "If they were going to pardon you, I think that they would've had an official announcement about it by now."

"Maybe," said Athrun, "but even so, I'm willing to bet that if I go to L5 under my real name and ask to speak to the Chairman the last thing that they'll do is arrest me. Chairman Durandal's already recognized that my abilities are useful to him; at the very least I think that he'd be willing to hear me out before having me thrown into a cell."

"Fine," said Heero, "Let's go along with the assumption that they won't put you up against the wall in front of a firing squad the second that you get off the shuttle. I'll admit that your talents as a mobile suit pilot combined with your reputation from the last war would give Durandal some valuable tools that he likely wouldn't ignore. What makes you think that he'll be willing to put you in a position that has any real influence?"

Athrun sighed. "I'll admit that part's a bit shaky… but I think that anything in ZAFT would be better than what I've currently got down here."

"Athrun, how can you say that?" asked Kira, "You're part of Terminal, and you're Cagalli's bodyguard! You've got plenty of influence, and if you work with us you can help us make a real difference."

Athrun shook his head. "Normally I'd agree with you, Kira, but… well, these past few days haven't exactly been normal."

Heero's eyes narrowed. "Something's happened between you and Cagalli, hasn't it?"

"No," said Athrun, "It's nothing like that."

"Really?" asked Heero, not even bothering to hide the skepticism in his voice.

Athrun sighed; there was no point in circling around the issue with Heero. He was just too damn perceptive.

"Well," he said, "it's not entirely like that?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Kira.

"Ever since we've gotten back," said Athrun, "I've only been able to see Cagalli twice. I know she wanted me to take some time off, so technically I haven't had to fulfill my duties as her bodyguard, but I still want to see her. However, something's happened; I'm having a much harder time getting access to her than I once had."

"Did you two get in a fight?" asked Kira, "I could talk to her if you think it would help."

Athrun smiled and shook his head. "I appreciate that, but Cagalli and I haven't had a fight or anything like that. In fact, as far as I can tell I don't think I've done anything that would make her want to keep me away. I know she wanted to shield me from the political infighting that she has to deal with in her job, but there's a difference between that and what I'm facing now."

"So if she's not limiting your access to her," said Heero, "that means someone else is."

"I don't understand," said Kira, looking between Athrun and Heero, "Who would do that? Why would they want to keep you away from my sister, Athrun?"

Athrun met Heero's gaze. From the look in his eyes Athrun had a feeling that Heero already suspected the culprit. However, he didn't say anything; it would fall to Athrun to actually make the accusation.

"It's her cousin," he said, "Yuna Seiran."

Kira's eyes widened. "What? Why?"

"Well," said Athrun, "he's never liked me to begin with. He wasn't a fan of the idea of a Coordinator protecting the ruler of Orb."

"Rather petty of him," said Heero, "although it's not too surprising; he wasn't exactly pleasant to deal with in the aftermath of the attack on the Elysium colony"

"Does he not like Coordinators in general?" asked Kira.

"It wouldn't surprise me," said Athrun, "but I don't think that's the only reason that he's trying to keep me away from Cagalli."

"What would other motives would he have?" asked Heero.

Athrun sighed. "I found out about this a while after I became Cagalli's bodyguard. Apparently there used to be some kind of arrangement between Cagalli's father and Yuna's. It involved binding their houses closer together. Cagalli told me that the deal died with her father in the last war, but… well, I don't think Yuna got the memo."

"Binding their houses?" said Kira, raising an eyebrow, "They're already related, though, right?"

Heero shook his head. "Blue bloods… some things never change."

Athrun nodded. "I think Yuna and his father are trying to get more power through Cagalli, and they see me as an obstacle to that."

"Makes sense," said Heero, "Cagalli values you for more than just the relationship you have with her. As someone who grew up in the PLANTs and fought for ZAFT in the last war you provide a unique insight into them, and she can use that as a means to maintain friendly relations with L5."

"I don't get it," said Kira, "Why would Yuna and his father think of Athrun's background and the advice he might give Cagalli as an obstacle?"

"Because the Seirans prefer closer ties with the Earth Alliance," Heero replied, "They want to avoid a repeat of the invasion that took place in the last war. I don't think that they see Orb's traditional stance of neutrality as a viable option towards achieving that; they're looking to secure their position, and in their eyes favoring the Earth Alliance is the best policy to accomplish that."

Athrun nodded. "If a new war breaks out, Orb's caught between ZAFT's forces at Carpentaria and the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet based out of Pearl Harbor. Since ZAFT lacks the numbers that the Alliance has, they can't afford to launch offensives without careful consideration, and especially not against an officially neutral country. ZAFT's surface fleet isn't a direct threat to Orb in their eyes, but the forces of the Earth Alliance are. After all, they have the capacity to sustain offensives on multiple fronts, so they could easily attack Orb while still engaging ZAFT in other theaters."

"So in order to head off that threat," said Heero, "Yuna and his father seek to ingratiate Orb with the Atlantic Federation. In order to accomplish that, they can't afford to have Orb follow policies that give Coordinators favorable or even neutral treatment. It doesn't matter that both Naturals and Coordinators are considered equals in this country and that Cagalli's tried to extend that philosophy to her foreign policy; the Seirans need to undermine that stance in order to earn the Alliance's favor, which means removing Coordinator influence of any kind in the government."

"So it's all about them getting Orb on good terms with the Alliance before a new war breaks out?" said Kira, "That's so wrong!"

"I agree," said Heero, "but the Seirans don't see it that way."

"Yeah," said Athrun, "For them it's the right way to go."

"Not to mention," said Heero, "that with Alliance backing, they can increase their own power in Orb. That may actually be their real goal here."

"Do you mean that they plan on using the Earth Alliance to remove Cagalli?" asked Kira.

Heero shook his head. "I doubt that; the people of Orb love her too much for the Seirans to risk a stunt like that. She's more useful to them as a puppet ruler."

"Cagalli will never agree to go along with that!" said Kira.

"I know," said Heero, "but she might not be given a choice in the matter."

Athrun nodded. "Yeah, and I don't think there's anything that I can do to stop that from happening. When it does, what little ability I have to make a difference here will be gone. That's why I think it's best for me to go to the PLANTs. If I work with Chairman Durandal there, I think that I'll have a better chance to help all of you guys keep the peace. We may be close to the point of no return, but I believe that the Chairman is someone who could pull the Cosmic Era back from the brink."

"You can't know that for certain," said Kira, "Even if he's the leader of the PLANTs, he's just one man."

"Even if he agrees to let you help him," said Heero, "I doubt that it'll be out of simple gratitude. He'll want something in return. When you're in the PLANTs, you will be vulnerable; you won't have the leverage you'd need to negotiate with him."

"I'm prepared for that," said Athrun firmly, "I know it's a gamble, but at this point I think that it's the right thing to do."

"So nothing we say will stop you from doing this?" asked Kira.

Athrun shook his head. "Sorry, Kira, but I've made up my mind. I want to do my part to help preserve the peace and protect this world, and I think the best way for me to do that is with ZAFT."

"I still think that you're mistaken," said Heero, "but if your mind truly is set on this, then I won't try to stop you."

"When will you tell Cagalli?" asked Kira.

Athrun sighed. "I don't know. I'd like for it to be as soon as possible, but with Yuna trying to cut me off from her I can't figure out how to do it."

Kira smiled. "I'll talk to her. Yuna hasn't done anything to make it difficult for me to get in touch with her. Once I tell her what you're planning I guarantee that she'll make time to talk to you, regardless of what Yuna tries to do."

Athrun nodded. "Thanks, Kira."

"Anytime," he replied.

"I'll give Murrue and the others a heads up on your plan," said Heero, "When do you plan on leaving?"

"After I talk to Cagalli," he said, "No matter what happens, I will speak to her before going through with this."

"She'll be against this," said Kira, "Knowing her, she'll fight it pretty hard. Are you going to be okay?"

"I think so," said Athrun, "Cagalli's passionate, but she's also willing to listen. Once I explain things to her I think that she'll be fine."

Heero shook his head. "This won't be easy on her, Athrun. Thanks to her position she's surrounded by people who care more about their own political ambitions than they do the safety of Orb and her people. You're one of the few people within her circle that she knows she can trust."

"She can still turn to you guys for help when I'm gone," said Athrun.

"It's not that easy," Heero replied, "If she's to make contact with the rest of us, she has to do so in secret. None of the other noble families, the Seirans included, are aware of our exact location or the forces at our command. They may suspect, but they have no proof. In order to maintain that status quo Cagalli has to be very circumspect in how she meets and speaks with us. Given all that she has to deal with in the government right now it's incredibly difficult for her to find the time and space to set anything like that up. We'll do all we can for her, but your leaving like this will make her all the more isolated and vulnerable. That's one more reason why I'm against this plan of yours."

"Maybe," said Athrun, "but I still have to do this. Cagalli will understand, and she'll do all right. She's strong; you two know that just as well as I do."

"She may be strong," said Heero, "but much of that strength comes from the knowledge that she has us standing behind her. For her, you're the most important part of that strength. Loosing you as a pillar of support will weaken her, regardless of her inner fortitude."

"You and I will just have to make up for that, Heero," said Kira.

Heero nodded, and as he turned to Athrun again the former ZAFT pilot thought he saw a hint of disappointment in the Gundam pilot's eyes. "I suppose we will."

….

October 18th, C.E. 73

Looking down at her coffee mug, Meyrin sighed. "Another day and still no word. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by now."

It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was referring to. Her conversation with her sister about her preoccupation with Duo and his absence was still fresh in her mind, but Meyrin just couldn't help herself. She'd only known the young man for about a week before he'd gone off with Heero and his fellow Gundam pilots at the end of the orbital battle, but that didn't change the fact that he had somehow charmed his way into her heart and mind, and she couldn't get him out of there for the life of her.

What was it about him that had captivated her? Was it how he had saved the Minerva during the battle at Armory One? Was it his easy-going nature and confident attitude? Was it how he'd been willing to listen to her worries and find some way to offer her reassurance? Was it the way he carried himself with optimism and good-humor even though he'd undoubtedly suffered tragedy in his past? Or was it just that he looked really good in that priest's outfit of his?

Of course, it wasn't hard for Meyrin to admit that it was all of the above. Duo's combination of wit, kindness, and physical attractiveness was pretty impressive. Add into that the fact that he was clearly an experienced pilot with a highly sophisticated mobile suit, along with the fact that he had saved her life, and it was all too easy for Meyrin to get attached to the guy.

And he'd just up and left.

Meyrin didn't know why that bothered her so much, but it did. Intellectually, she knew that she should've seen it coming. Duo was not a ZAFT pilot; he was no more bound to remain on board the Minerva than Heero Yuy or any of the other Gundam pilots were. His allegiance appeared to be to the pilot of the Gundam Albion and whatever else that might entail. His stay aboard the Minerva was always going to be a temporary one, but it was still jarring to have it end so suddenly.

I'm an idiot, she thought as she took a sip of her coffee, I know that I'm being stupid about this. I mean, I barely knew the guy. Sure, he was nice to me and gave me some good advice, but that was it. There's really no reason for me to be so down about him leaving like he did. Still…

…I miss him.

So here she was, in the main break room of the Minerva, drinking coffee on her off time and trying to figure out where she went from here. She doubted that the Minerva would be in Orb for much longer; all the major repairs were done, and at this point the only work being done on the ship was minor maintenance. Since the ship was now on the surface Meyrin was sure that the Defense Council would want it to link up with the ZAFT forces at Carpentaria; it wouldn't make much sense to have the PLANTs newest warship operating out of another nation, after all.

She wondered if they'd be remaining on the surface for a while or if the Council would order them to return to Armory One or L5. Meyrin honestly would've liked to stay on Earth for a while longer. This was her first time down on the planet's surface, after all, and despite Duo's absence she really was enjoying the opportunity to explore the cradle of humanity, even in a limited fashion. The excursions she and the others had made into the city had been fun, and Meyrin was rather eager to see what Carpentaria and the area surrounding it was like too. If nothing else it promised to be a nice change of pace from the PLANTs.

Sis and I can go exploring for a while, she mused, I mean, we won't exactly be on leave while we're at Carpentaria, but I bet they'll still let us off the ship for a little bit. I've always wanted to see a Vosgulov up close, and Carpentaria should have at least a few of those ships docked there.

"What's on your mind, sis?" said a familiar female voice.

Meyrin looked up and smiled as her sister walked over to her. "Not much. Just wondering what Carpentaria's going to be like when we get there."

Lunamaria nodded. "I hear you. It'll be pretty cool to check it out."

"Any idea when we might be heading over there?" asked Meyrin.

Lunamaria shook her head. "Your guess is as good as mine, sis."

"We won't be going there to sightsee," said Rey from a nearby couch, "It is a military base, after all, and we will be on duty."

"Hey," said Lunamaria, folding her arms, "You don't have be a buzz kill, Rey."

"Ah, don't mind him," said Yolan from a table off to the side where he was playing blackjack with Vino, "Rey doesn't know how to have a good time for the life of him."

Vino chuckled. "Hey, lay off Rey. At least he's not as grumpy as Wufei."

"I'm sitting right here," said the Gundam pilot dryly.

That was certainly true; he was on the same couch as Rey, and Shin was with him too. All three of them were focused on the monitor on the wall, which was showing a broadcast from one of the major international news networks. It was rather unusual to see all three of them chilling out in the same room together, but Meyrin supposed that it shouldn't surprise her too much that they were all in this room today. After all, they were likely there for the same reason that she and the others were.

Rumors had been going around the Minerva that the Atlantic Federation government was set to make a big announcement today. Meyrin hadn't been able to pick up any concrete details, but the only logical topic she could think of was the results of the Senate inquiry regarding what was now widely known as the Break The World Incident, or the attempted drop of the ruins of Junius Seven by holdovers from the Zala regime. If the Senate was to present its findings today then Meyrin certainly didn't want to miss it. Whatever conclusions they came up with had the potential to decide whether or not this tense peace between the PLANTs and the Earth Alliance would last or if the orbital battle would be enough to plunge the world back into another war.

They can't seriously think that the PLANTs had anything to do with the attempted colony drop, she thought, I mean, ZAFT played a major role in preventing the ruins from falling! Sure, if the ruins had actually fallen then the results would've been catastrophic, but the Alliance can't really want to start a new war over what might have happened.

She wished that she was more confident in that line of thinking than she really was. After all, no Coordinator could forget that it was the Earth Alliance that had started the trend of using weapons of mass destruction in the last war with the Bloody Valentine Tragedy. Sure, Patrick Zala had eventually tried to retaliate with GENESIS, and the Alliance had tried to finish what they'd started by attempting to nuke the rest of the Coordinator colonies, but there had been a considerable gap between the strike on Junius Seven and the events of the final campaign of the war. Two years had passed since that bloody conflict had ended; surely the old hatreds had cooled off over that time period, hadn't they?

"Hey, Meyrin," said Lunamaria as she sat down across from her, "Are you doing okay?"

Meyrin nodded and smiled for her sister. "I'm fine, Luna."

Lunamaria looked a little bit skeptical, but to Meyrin's relief she didn't press the matter. Instead she turned towards the couch in the middle of the room and smirked.

"How about that?" she said, "Those three in the same room, and no fight's broken out yet."

Meyrin laughed. "Yeah. Although… Heero was the one that actually got into a fight with Shinn, right? I mean, you did tell me that he knocked him out."

Lunamaria smirked. "Yeah, well, Shinn was kind of asking for it."

"I was not!" Shinn snapped from behind her.

Lunamaria rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You told me yourself that you tried to hit the guy just because he said something that got under your skin. It's your own fault that he knocked you out like that. Seriously, you really need to get a grip on your temper, Shinn!"

Shinn folded his arms and turned back towards the wall monitor. "That's none of your business."

Lunamaria winked at Meyrin. "Boys. They're so stubborn, aren't they?"

"Not all of them," said Meyrin, thinking of a certain Gundam pilot.

Her sister smiled deviously; it was like she'd read Meyrin's mind. "Well, that Duo certainly is a laid back guy, isn't he? And he's pretty cute, too. Still can't take your mind off him, eh sis?"

Meyrin blushed furiously. "It's not like that!"

Lunamaria reached over and messed with Meyrin's hair. "Sure. Keep telling yourself that, sis."

"Oh, yeah?" said Meyrin, desperate to turn the tables on her sister, "Well, at least I wasn't having private sparring sessions with him!"

Now it was Lunamaria's turn to blush. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I came back to check up on you two after I left yesterday," said Meyrin, smiling, "So, how did you talk Wufei into giving you hand-to-hand combat lessons?"

Lunamaria folded her arms and shot a quick glance over at Wufei, who seemed to be ignoring their conversation. "I don't need him to teach me to fight; I got plenty of training from the academy. I… I just wanted a few pointers from him, that's all!"

"Right," said Meyrin, pressing her advantage, "and those pointers just so happen to involve him pinning you to the deck? Luna, are you trying to learn from him or trying to get him to cop a feel?"

Lunamaria's eyes narrowed, but the red in her face only grew even as she glared at Meyrin. "For your information, Wufei's not the kind of guy that would use hand-to-hand fighting as an excuse to do something like that. Jeez, Meyrin; I never thought your mind would go into the gutter like that!"

"Well," she said, "I did learn from you, Luna."

Lunamaria shook her head. "I guess I've been a bad influence…"

"Maybe!" said Meyrin with a laugh.

Their playful teasing was cut short by Shinn. "Hey, check it out! They're doing a press release!"

Meyrin's eyes widened as she turned towards the wall monitor. "Really?"

"Turn it up, Shinn!" said Lunamaria.

The sisters stood up and walked over to where Shinn and the others were. Leaning on the back of the couch, Meyrin watched as a blonde news anchor appeared on the screen, dressed in a red pants-suit.

"This is breaking news from Washington, D.C.," the woman said, "We now go live to the Capitol Building where the Senate committee investigating what's become known as the Break The World Incident is presenting their preliminary findings to the public!"

"This is it," said Rey.

Meyrin saw Wufei nod. "Indeed."

"Quiet!" hissed Shinn.

The image on the monitor shifted, and Meyrin found herself looking at three middle aged white men wearing high-end suits. They were sitting behind a long and fancy wooden table, while the emblem of the Atlantic Federation Senate was hanging on the wall in the background.

"The head of the committee," said the voice of the blonde anchor woman, although she herself did not appear on the screen, "for those of you who have not been following this inquiry too closely, is Senator William Perry of Texas. Accompanying him is Senator Patrick Carson of Georgia and Senator Robert Reagan of North Carolina. Together, they make up the most senior officials involved in the inquiry and are the heart of the committee."

"Heavyweight conservatives," Meyrin heard Rey mutter, "Not a good sign. They stacked the deck."

Wufei chuckled. "Are you surprised?"

Rey shook his head. "Not particularly."

Those two seem to get along well, thought Meyrin, Odd, given that I barely ever see them talk to each other…

On the screen, Senator Perry cleared his throat. "As you're all well aware, a little over a week ago there was a great battle in orbit between Coordinators who were trying to drop the ruins of the Junius Seven colony onto the Earth and those who were attempting to stop them. Thankfully the worst did not come to pass, but there were questions that still needed to be answered in the aftermath of this event. While the findings we are releasing today to the public are little more than a summary, rest assured that far more exhaustive information has been given to the President."

"These findings are the result of intensive work done by the committee and the associated agencies that aided us in our task," said Senator Carson, "You may rest assured that they are quite definitive; our conclusions are absolute and there is little room for alternative interpretation."

"Yeah, right," said Wufei, "After they spent barely more than a week with their investigation? This is a farce."

"One that will serve a purpose, no doubt," said Rey.

"Since when did you two become so chummy?" asked Vino.

"Shut up," said Shinn, "I want to hear this."

"There are those who will deny the conclusions that our inquiry has reached," said Senator Reagan, "This is only natural, since we have uncovered truths that are very uncomfortable for certain parties. However, their denials will only serve to further prove our conclusions and act as evidence of their guilt in the eyes of the world."

"That doesn't sound good," said Meyrin.

Lunamaria nodded. "I don't like this."

"As was revealed in the orbital battle," said Senator Perry, "The Coordinators who tried to inflict catastrophic harm upon our beloved Earth were no simple band of terrorists. They were highly organized and exceedingly well armed. It may be true that the warships and mobile suits that they employed were older models, but that does not change the fact that they were able to field a large mechanized force, the likes of which no private entity could ever hope to assemble."

"This leads us to one unmistakable conclusion," said Senator Carson, "These terrorists had help in acquiring their weapons and equipment. These may have been decommissioned warships and mobile suits, but any responsible government would have kept them under guard nonetheless. The fact that these Coordinators were able to gain access to these weapons of war is evidence that members of the current PLANT government, including its armed forces, sympathized with the terrorists and were willing to provide them with the material means to accomplish their goals."

"What the hell?" Shinn cried, "They're making it sound like we wanted them to have all those weapons!"

"Calm down, Shinn," said Yolan, "They're not done yet."

No, thought Meyrin, but this looks pretty bad already…

"Furthermore," said Senator Reagan, "after reviewing combat data records from the battle, it is abundantly clear that the force assembled by ZAFT to fight these terrorist was insufficient. The only reason the ruins of Junius Seven did not impact the Earth was due to intervention in the form of traitors and renegades from the old war, who were no doubt using the situation to further some nefarious plot of their own."

"In light of that," said Senator Perry, his eyes narrowing, "we believe that the PLANT government did not make a full-hearted effort to stop the fall of Junius Seven. Had they assembled a larger and more capable force, we might then be convinced of their sincerity, but the paltry battle group that they dispatched to halt the descent of the ruins speaks volumes as to their true feelings on the safety of our precious Earth."

"Paltry battle group?" said Meyrin incredulously, "That force was all that ZAFT could scramble on such short notice, and that's still more than what the Earth Alliance sent! They didn't do anything to help!"

"Son of a bitch," growled Lunamaria, "They're pinning this whole damn mess on us!"

"As we have already forwarded our more in-depth findings to the President," said Senator Carson, "naturally the means in which we respond to these despicable crimes are ultimately up to him. That being said, this committee has its own recommendations for how the Atlantic Federation must proceed going forward, and we would hope that the other member states of the Earth Alliance are willing to extend their cooperation to us in this matter."

"Here it comes," said Wufei softly.

Rey nodded. "Now the hammer falls."

"It is clear that we must take drastic steps to ensure the safety of not just the Atlantic Federation," said Senator Reagan, "but that of the Earth as a whole. The actions of the PLANTs with regards to the Break The World Incident reveal a disturbing mix of negligence and malice. It is abundantly clear that the Coordinator nation cannot be allowed to maintain such power and independence if this is the result of it."

Senator Perry nodded. "In order to protect our precious world, the PLANTs must be brought to heel. This committee's recommendations to achieving that end include a full economic embargo by all the nations of the Earth Alliance against the L5 government as a first step, while working with the rest of the global community to greatly reduce, if not eliminate outright, all commerce flowing to the PLANTs from Earth and vice versa. Following that, the PLANTs must be occupied by the terrestrial powers and subsequently disarmed in order to fully ensure the safety of the Earth."

"We would hope that the current administration in the PLANTs will see the necessity of these measures," said Senator Carson, "If they agree to cooperate and allow an occupation of their colonies then the economic embargo can be avoided outright, and we can proceed with fully integrating them with the nations of the Earth, as they were always meant to be."

"Integrate?" said Shinn with disgust, "That's bullshit! They want to enslave us!"

Shinn's right, thought Meyrin, and that's one of the reasons the PLANTs became fully independent in the first place; we were tired of the nations of Earth exploiting us.

"However," said Senator Reagan, his voice taking on a grim tone, "if the PLANTs refuse to cooperate, then mere economic sanctions will not be enough to resolve this crisis in global security. That is why this committee strongly recommends that the Atlantic Federation must be prepared to act in a more forceful manner. A military solution is not ideal, but the nations of the world cannot shy away from the possibility of armed conflict."

"Force of arms is to be a measure of utmost last resort," said Senator Perry, "but we will counsel the President to keep all options on the table."

Wufei chuckled. "All options? Hardly."

Rey nodded. "Agreed. There's only one option that they really have in mind."

"Okay," said Lunamaria, "you two are seriously starting to scare me."

"The committee will now take questions from the press gallery," said Senator Carson, "However, any material that is considered classified will not be discussed."

Before the questions could begin Shinn raised the remote and turned off the monitor. The screen went black, but even after the faces of the three Senators had faded Shinn was still glaring at the monitor. Meyrin couldn't blame him.

There was a very uncomfortable silence in the room. Any thoughts of using the break room for its original purpose had gone right out the window. Meyrin was no mind reader, but she was sure that she knew what everyone else was thinking at that moment.

There's gonna be another war…

The three Senators may have framed the press conference as nothing more than the disclosure of their preliminary findings, but it was impossible for Meyrin to see it as anything other than a declaration of intent. No concrete demands had actually been issued; the Senate did not have that authority in matters of foreign policy. However, that did not change Meyrin's view that their 'recommendations' were really nothing short of an ultimatum.

An ultimatum that was guaranteed to be rejected.

….

"I think we've seen enough," said Shemei as she turned off the TV.

Beside her on the couch, Eric Bristow nodded in agreement. While the Atlantic Federation Senate's press conference had gone about along the lines that he had predicted, that didn't make the results any easier to swallow. While releasing preliminary findings of an inquiry was not the same as actually taking concrete action at the legislative or executive level, the Wolf of the Far East was certain that the wheels were already in motion.

The former ZAFT Field Marshal and his wife weren't the only ones in the living room at that moment. On another couch to the left was Andrew and Aisha Waltfeld, while sitting off to the right were Heero and Murrue. While the other members of Terminal were preoccupied with their own activities, Eric knew that they would get the news all too soon.

It's official now, he thought, our leave is over.

He looked over at his fellow ex-Field Marshal, who nodded at him. "Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later."

"True," said Eric, "but it doesn't mean that I have to like it."

"None of us do," said Aisha, "but I think we all saw this coming for a while now."

"Since we learned that the renegades were going to try to drop the ruins of Junius Seven onto Earth, at least," said Heero, his voice grim, "It was never going to matter if we stopped them or not, at least as far as the politics of it all was concerned."

Murrue nodded somberly. "It's true that we saved many lives by stopping the fall, but if the Atlantic Federation is truly this determined to launch another war then they would seize upon any pretext to do so. What the committee heads just said… there's no way that the PLANTs will ever agree to anything approaching those terms."

"Agreed," said Eric, "Which means that we have some work to do."

"Should we prep the ships and get them into orbit?" asked Shemei.

"Not quite yet," said Heero, his eyes narrowing, "While the Alliance may be planning to move against the PLANTs, I doubt outer space is the only theater where they'll be mobilizing. In fact… we may have a more immediate threat closer to home."

"What do you mean?" asked Murrue.

Eric was curious as saw Heero turn to Shemei. "Would the girls mind if I borrowed one of their Wraiths?"

Shemei raised an eyebrow but nodded just the same. "I'm sure they'd be okay with it. What's on your mind, Heero?"

"I want to make a recon flight," he said, "To the north."

Eric saw Andrew's good eye widen as the proverbial light clicked on in his head. "To the Pearl Harbor naval base. Pacific Fleet HQ."

Aisha whistled. "That's a long flight. You up for that?"

Heero nodded. "It'll be an overnight job at the very least, but I can manage."

"I know what you're thinking," said Murrue as she put her hand over Heero's, "and I won't try to stop you. Still… be careful, all right?"

"Roger that," Heero replied.

"I'm going to start hitting up my contacts at L5," said Eric, "This might not have been a declaration of war from the Alliance, but I bet that ZAFT's on the move just the same."

"I'll check in with Kisaka," said Andrew, "I'm sure the Orb military's going to be shuffling some forces around too, both down here and up at L3."

"We should reach out to Cagalli," said Aisha, "Thing's have been hard enough for her the past week, and this is only going to make things worse."

"We have to be careful about that," said Shemei, "One wrong move and we'll tip off her political rivals about where we're at and what we're doing."

Murrue sighed. "Poor girl. You'd think that she'd be able to trust everyone in her administration, but we know full well that's not the case."

"Andrew," said Heero, and Eric saw a dark look in his eyes, "Does Kisaka have any intel sources close to the Seirans?"

Andrew shook his head. "None that would be of any use to us. You thinking that the Alliance will be reaching out to the Seirans?"

"If they haven't already," Heero replied, "The Seirans are well known for having a pro Earth Alliance stance when it comes to Orb's foreign relations. If the Atlantic Federation is set on starting up another war then they'll want as many cards in their hand as possible. Having the Seirans undermine Cagalli's adherence to Orb's traditional stance of neutrality and tipping the country towards the Alliance would likely be on their agenda."

Eric nodded. "Agreed. We need to keep our eyes on them now more than ever."

"Have the Seirans truly grown strong enough to compromise Cagalli's position?" asked Shemei, looking worried, "I know Unato's powerful on the domestic front, but I thought Cagalli still had enough influence when it came to foreign policy to keep him in check."

"That was the case immediately after the war," said Andrew, a dark look coming to his good eye, "Now, though… I'm not so sure."

"What about Orb's inquiry into the attempted colony drop, Andy?" asked Aisha, "Wouldn't that still carry weight since Orb still publicly has a neutral stance?"

"It's possible," the Desert Tiger replied, "but there are a lot of variables in play there."

"The biggest one of those is the makeup of the inquiry board," said Eric, his eyes narrowing, "Did Cagalli handpick the senior members, or did she just leave it up to her ministers? That could make all the difference."

Murrue sighed. "Things are moving too fast, and we've got too many questions that we can't answer. I have a bad feeling about this."

Heero nodded. "Our enemies have the initiative. Until we have more concrete information, we'll be stuck on the defensive."

"Hopefully your flight up north will give us some more data to work with," said Eric.

"I'm sure it will," Heero replied, "However… if I find what I think I will, I don't imagine that it will improve our position."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes," said Shemei.

Eric concurred with his wife's assessment. "That we will. For now, we've got our work cut out for us. Let's get to it."

….

Rushing through the corridors of the Athha estate, Cagalli nearly barreled over one of her servants. The young ruler offered a curt apology but did not stop; she had to get to the courtyard before her boyfriend decided he'd waited too long and left for the spaceport.

That idiot!, she silently fumed, Athrun… why didn't you tell me about this before now?

To be more accurate, it was actually Kira that had broken the news to Cagalli that Athrun was planning on heading to the PLANTs. Cagalli would've met with Athrun right away, but almost immediately after Kira had told her about Athrun's intentions the Atlantic Federation Senate committee had held its press conference. The announcement of their preliminary findings had only served to make what was already a very busy day for Cagalli even more chaotic, but she had been determined to make the time to see Athrun before the day was out no matter what it took.

We're supposed to talk to each other about stuff like this, she thought, I can't believe he never mentioned this to me! He only asks me to meet him after Kira tells me his plan? What's wrong with him? He didn't think of this overnight; it has to have been on his mind for a while now!

A few seconds later she was in the courtyard. It wasn't hard to spot Athrun; he was standing by the fountain at the center of the courtyard.

"Athrun!" she called as she rushed forward.

He turned to her and gave her a small nod and a smile. "Hey, Cagalli. Sorry about the short notice…"

"Short notice?" Cagalli repeated furiously, "Athrun, what the hell! Have you lost your mind? You can't go to the PLANTs!"

"I have to, Cagalli," he said, "It's the only way that I can really make a difference. I can't do anything here in Orb, but if I rejoin ZAFT…"

"That's not the right path!" Cagalli cried, "Kira told me what you were thinking, and you're wrong! Durandal may have let things slide on the Minerva because he needed you then, but he doesn't need you now. I do!"

Athrun sighed. "Cagalli… this wasn't an easy decision for me, you know."

"So why didn't you come to me sooner to talk about it?" she asked, "Athrun, I thought you trusted me!"

Athrun looked down, and he actually looked a little ashamed. "Cagalli, I do trust you. I love you! It's just…"

"Just what?" asked Cagalli pointedly, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's just that I couldn't get to you," he replied.

"What are you talking about?" said Cagalli incredulously, "Athrun, you're not just my boyfriend; you're my bodyguard! You can come to me anytime you want!"

"It was Yuna," said Athrun, "He kept saying that you were too busy to see me. No matter what I said, he wouldn't let me get to you."

Cagalli's brow furrowed as her fury found a new target. "What? That jerk! I can't believe he did that!"

"Look," said Athrun nervously, "Cagalli… I know about you and Yuna. You told me about that deal your father and his made a long time ago, remember?"

Cagalli blushed. "It's not like that, Athrun! I told you that that deal died with my father, remember? Besides, he's my cousin, and I never liked that deal to begin with!"

Athrun nodded. "I know. Still, it does bother me."

Cagalli couldn't blame him for that. It bothered her plenty, especially since she was the one who had to keep dealing with Yuna trying to bring the damn thing up in conversation. Her cousin had never really learned how to take a hint, and it was just one more bit of aggravation that she did not need to deal with right now.

She stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder. "Athrun, you don't have to worry about me and Yuna. No matter what happens, I'm not going through with that deal that he wants."

Athrun smiled. "I know. I trust you, Cagalli."

He then reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out, though Cagalli couldn't see what it was. Before she knew what was happening he grabbed her hand, and a moment later she saw that he had slipped a ring onto her finger. It was quite lovely; a silver band with a crimson gemstone embedded in it.

Cagalli's blush from before returned, and it was much deeper now. "Uh… Athrun! This… this really isn't the right way to give someone a ring, you know?"

Athrun chuckled. "I know. I've never really been good at these sorts of things, you know that. I'm sorry."

Cagalli smiled. "No… it's okay. Thank you."

Athrun nodded. "You're welcome. I know that I'm leaving at a bad time, but I'll be back. Consider that ring to be my promise to you, okay?"

"All right," said Cagalli, "Just… be careful, okay? No matter what happens, you're not allowed to die on me!"

Athrun smiled. "You got it, Cagalli."

He leaned in to kiss her, and Cagalli readily met him. She wanted nothing more than to lose herself with him at that moment, to forget all about global affairs and the petty politics that she was surrounded with. She wanted to stay here, with him, forever.

It was not to be, and they both knew it. All too soon their lips parted, and the daydream was over. The real world awaited them both, and they each had their own paths to walk through it. As much as she might wish that Athrun would stay, she knew that there was no talking him out of this; his mind was completely made up.

"I love you," she said softly.

"And I love you, Cagalli," Athrun replied, "Take care of yourself, and don't worry about me. I'll come back to you."

"You'd better," said Cagalli with a smile, "If you don't then I'll have Kira and Heero hunt you down and drag you back here."

Athrun chuckled. "I don't doubt that one bit."

….

This is it, thought Athrun as he settled into his seat on the shuttle, I can't turn back now.

Actually, that wasn't entirely true. He was at the rebuilt Kaguya spaceport, and the shuttle that he had purchased passage on was still taking on passengers. Athrun could get up and leave the shuttle right now if he had a mind to… but he did not. His decision was made, and he knew that he could not afford to look back now.

That didn't mean that he was entirely at ease with the call he'd made. It had been one thing to talk it over with Kira and Heero, but another entirely to confront Cagalli with it. As well as he knew her, Athrun still hadn't been prepared for how passionately opposed to the idea she had been. She might have ultimately accepted his decision, but Athrun realized that she was still hurt over it. Giving her that ring may have helped her, but part of Athrun's heart still felt like he was abandoning her.

No, he thought as he shook his head, I'm doing this for both of our sakes. I'm only going to work with ZAFT to either help the Chairman stop a war from happening or to help end one as quickly as possible. Once either of those goals is met I'm returning to Cagalli immediately. This is the best way that I can help her. It's the only way that I can help her.

He'd told himself that more than a few times now, but it still rang a little hollow in his head. Nor for the first time his mind flashed back to his conversation with Kira and Heero on the beach. The look of disappointment in Heero's eyes stood out more than anything else from that encounter, and Athrun had a feeling he knew why. If Heero and Murrue were in the same positions that he and Cagalli were in now, Athrun was certain that Heero would not be making the same call that he had. The Gundam pilot probably felt that Athrun was leaving Cagalli to fend for herself when she needed him the most, but Athrun was convinced that his friend was wrong. He was acting with both of their needs in mind, and Cagalli wasn't alone; she still had the rest of Terminal to support her.

He didn't need the approval of the others in order to make his decision, although he would've liked to have it. Kira had been a bit easier on him, but Athrun was sure that his old friend was still uncomfortable with the path that he'd chosen. He supposed that he couldn't blame him. Athrun was taking a huge risk with this trip. He might be travelling under the name 'Alex Dino', but that cover had been blown while he was on the Minerva. Athrun would be seriously surprised if his alias hadn't been circulated throughout ZAFT and associated with his name by now; flying to the PLANTs under that pseudonym was practically begging to be arrested the moment he stepped off the shuttle.

Even if he was cuffed and thrown into a cell upon arrival, Athrun was willing to bet that it wouldn't end with him facing a firing squad. He had valuable skills and a considerable reputation. It might not have been as powerful as that of Heero Yuy, but he was sure that his exploits from the last war, the good and the bad, had to count for something. His experience with exactly the sort of fight that the world was teetering on the edge of now would give him a powerful bargaining chip, and Athrun was sure that the Supreme Council Chairman would see it as an asset.

I doubt he'll go so far as to give me a brand new mobile suit, he thought, but that's fine; I can fight effectively with a ZAKU too. The Chairman will have plenty of evidence of my piloting skills in records from the last war, and if those aren't enough he can always check the Minerva's records from the Break The World Incident. I'm sure ZAFT's evolved since I left, but I bet plenty of the old regulations and protocols are still in place too; it should be a pretty smooth transition.

He hadn't wanted to admit this to his friends, but part of him was actually looking forward to being part of ZAFT again. This time the organization wouldn't be under the command of a monster like what his father had become. Heero and the others might not have trusted Chairman Durandal, but Athrun could tell that the man was definitely not cut from the same cloth as Patrick Zala. Projects such as the Armory One colony proved that he was a man with a constructive vision for the future and not obsessed with destruction and vengeance. His foreign policy as far as Athrun could tell had been measured, conciliatory, and open. There had been some bold steps, but nothing that broke diplomatic norms, threatened the peace, or was otherwise needlessly belligerent.

What would things have been like in the last war if ZAFT had been answerable to a man like Durandal instead of Athrun's father? The former ZAFT Red couldn't begin to say one way or the other. One thing was for sure, though; he could find out what it was like in the here and now.

….

"Well," said Atlantic Federation President Alexander Copeland on one of the room's several monitors, "are you satisfied, Lord Djibril?"

Sitting in the center of an elaborate and well equipped communications hub, the leader of LOGOS and Blue Cosmos smiled. "Not bad for our first step into the water. Our puppets performed quite well today. Senator Perry and his cohorts can expect to be well rewarded with fresh campaign contributions for their efforts."

Djibril wasn't in the Atlantic Federation capital himself, but he wasn't too far from it either. He was currently residing in an elaborate mansion that was a few hundred kilometers to the north of Washington D.C. It was just one estate of the several that he owned across the Atlantic Federation, but its relative proximity to the capital made it one of his most often used ones. From there it was just a quick trip by private jet to meet with his puppets in the Senate or the White House if he desired, or he could always hop over to New York City for a face-to-face chat with any number of LOGOS's major financial partners.

Copeland nodded. "My media staff's been monitoring the public reaction to the press conference. Demonstrations have occurred across the country. Granted, there was some astroturfing done on our part, but for the most part the people haven't required too much prompting."

Djibril chuckled. "Of course not. We've been priming them for years now in preparation for this day. We own the major broadcast networks, talk radio, and several influential online publications. With the messages that we've been feeding the people since the last war the coals of their hatred and fear of the Coordinators have been carefully tended to. Now we are ready for those hot coals to become the seeds of a raging fire. I must say, the sparks have ignited a very pleasant flame."

"One that I imagine you would like to be fanned further," said Copeland.

"A bit presumptuous of you, Mister President," Djibril replied with a smirk, "but only a bit. Yes, the fire must spread, and quickly. That is the responsibility of our media partners, though; you have separate duties to attend to."

"Yes, my lord," said the President, "How soon should we issue the official ultimatum?"

"Tomorrow evening will suffice," said Djibril, "The people will be expecting their Commander in Chief to make an official announcement of some sort, after all."

"Of course," said Copeland, "How many days should we give the PLANTs to respond?"

"Not too long," Djibril replied, "A few days, no more. I will leave the exact amount to your discretion, Mister President. Just make sure to inform me before you deliver the ultimatum."

The President nodded. "It will be done, my lord."

"That's all for now," said Djibril, "Farewell, Mister President."

As soon as one puppet left the screen another took his place. This one was yet another middle-aged Caucasian male, but instead of a presidential suit this one wore the white and red uniform of an Earth Alliance officer.

Djibril smiled. "Ah, Admiral West. As punctual as ever, I see."

Richard West, the new head of the Atlantic Federation High Command in the wake of Admiral Sutherland's death in the final battle of the war, nodded. "Lord Djibril. I believe you requested an update on the readiness of our forces."

"So I did," said Lord Djibril, "Begin with the orbital fleets, Admiral. Are they prepared for battle?"

"Yes, my lord," the Admiral replied, "The measures put in place by Colonel Nazara have succeeded in positioning our space forces. When the official muster order comes out it will be a simple matter to marshal the fleet that will strike L5."

Djibril grinned. "Excellent. What of the containment force? If Orb does not fall into line we will need them at the ready to blockade L3."

"All the senior officers have their orders," said Admiral West, "and the appropriate battle groups are on standby. Moving them into position to commence the blockade will take a matter of days at most."

Djibril nodded. "Very good, Admiral. I don't foresee us having to make use of the containment force, though; our puppets within the Orb government should bring that nation into line before such a measure becomes necessary. Still, I am quite pleased to hear that that particular contingency can be put into effect if required. You're much more competent than your predecessor, Admiral."

The Admiral bowed. "Thank you, my lord."

More competent and more malleable, thought Djibril, suppressing a smirk, If I'd known that such an obedient and efficient tool was buried within the sludge of the military's officer corps during the last war I would've elevated him much sooner. No doubt Sutherland and the others kept him obscure because they viewed him as a potential rival, and Azrael failed to perceive that. Well, they're all gone now, which means that I get to take advantage of what should prove to be a very useful puppet.

"What about our forces at Pearl Harbor?" asked Djibril, "Is the Pacific Fleet ready for deployment?"

Admiral West nodded. "Yes, my lord. The fleet can set sail at a moment's notice."

Djibril smiled again. "Good. That will let us move against Carpentaria and serve as a sufficient threat to the Orb mainland. See to it that the fleet's prepared to act against both if necessary, Admiral."

"As you wish, my lord," said the Admiral.

A little extra insurance, he mused, in case the Seirans aren't able to fully control that troublesome bitch of a Chief Representative. The last invasion of Orb cost the girl her father. She'll think twice about acting against us if her country's faced with the threat of another assault.

Truth be told, Orb's days were numbered regardless of whether or not Unato and his son were able to fully transform Cagalli Yula Athha into a puppet ruler. If they did prove capable of bringing her to heel and consolidate true power with themselves then Djibril would eventually have the girl eliminated, and her death blamed on the Coordinators. It would serve to give the Seirans power in both name and fact in Orb and also to further stoke hatred against the Coordinators, two outcomes that Djibril would certainly welcome. In the event that Cagalli was still able to exert enough power on her own to prevent Orb from fully toeing the Atlantic Federation's line then an invasion would be necessary, and the girl would have to be killed during the assault. It would turn her into a martyr for her people, but that would only be a temporary setback. Regardless of which direction events with, the Athha line would be extinguished, and as the second most powerful noble house in Orb the Seirans would be able to seize the reins of power. With their ascension Orb's independence would be a thing of a past; it would be absorbed into the Earth Alliance as part of Djibril's broader plan.

This war would not just end with the elimination of the Coordinators. Djibril planned to accomplish what no other man in history had done; to bring the entire Earth Sphere under his rule. Since the end of the Bloody Valentine War he had worked tirelessly to prepare both LOGOS and the Earth Alliance for the start of a second war, and this time he intended to see the fight through to its glorious conclusion. He would not make the same mistakes as Azrael; he would be victorious.

However, ultimate victory was still quite some ways off. For now there were the troublesome details of the present to tend to. He returned his full attention to the admiral and proceeded to do just that.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Admiral," he said, "but Desperado's Winds of Destruction are still at the Pearl Harbor base, right?"

The admiral nodded. "That's right, my lord."

"Have they been causing any trouble with the rank and file troops stationed there?" asked Djibril.

"We've had reports of a few scuffles," West replied, "but no serious incidents."

Djibril supposed that was about as good a report as he could expect on that matter. Desperado Enforcement LLC wasn't the only Private Military Company that the Earth Alliance had under contract, and studies of past interactions between standard military personnel and the hired guns had shown that a certain amount of friction inevitably developed between the two groups. Djibril was no psychologist, but he could still take a good guess as to the cause of the occasional altercations that broke out between the regular forces and the PMCs; the Earth Alliance soldiers doubtlessly took a dim view of the mercenaries since they were fighting for a paycheck rather than any sense of patriotism, while the contractors considered themselves better than the rank and file troops due to their combination of special privileges, looser chain of command, and higher salary.

A bit troublesome, he mused, but as long as they're able to cooperate on the battlefield then the occasional fistfight is meaningless in the grand picture. Whether they are soldiers of a nation or dogs of war, they are first and foremost men of violence. When viewed through that lens, I suppose that a physical altercation would be the most natural way for them to vent any frustrations.

"Well," said Djibril after a moment, "as long as both parties are ultimately kept in line, I think that we can afford a little roughhousing between rivals."

If the Admiral had thoughts to the contrary he wisely kept them to himself. "Very well, my lord."

"Let's move on," said Djibril, "Have you spoken to Colonel Nazara recently?"

West nodded. "Yes, my lord. We just spoke earlier this morning, actually. A standard status update, nothing more."

"I see," said Djibril, "Regarding that status update, did it by any chance mention our nuclear arsenal?"

"Yes, my lord," said the Admiral, "The missiles are ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. Final adaptations for the mobile suit-mounted launchers are complete. They can be fitted to any of our combat units."

Djibril grinned. "Excellent. That's the best news I've heard all day, Admiral. Thank you for that."

"You're welcome, my lord," the Admiral replied.

"Do you have anything else that you wish to report?" asked Djibril.

"Not at this time," said West.

Djibril nodded. "Then you are dismissed, Admiral."

Djibril didn't even wait for the Admiral to respond before cutting the feed. He sat in silence for a moment before tapping a few keys on the side of his chair. Now it wasn't just one monitor on the wall that came to life, but several of them. None of them were for communicating with anyone. Instead they simply showed news broadcasts.

As was to be expected, the primary story for today was still the press conference from the Atlantic Federation Senate committee, even if the event itself had already ended. Djibril was pleased to see that the networks were also reporting on the anti-Coordinator rallies that were taking place across the country, a spectacle that Djibril only expected to grow as time went on.

"Ah, the hoi polloi," he said softly, "Their passions and prejudices far outweigh their intellects. It's all too easy to stir them up. Such useful pawns."

A classic saying went that fear led to anger, anger to hate, and hate to suffering, but in Djibril's eyes that was not necessarily true. Hate led only to the suffering of those who were the objects of that hatred, and if they were too weak to fight back with hatred of their own then they deserved to suffer. For those who controlled events like himself, the proper sequence would be more along the lines of fear leading to anger, anger to hate, and hate to power.

And hatred had given him plenty of power.

Djibril was no warrior. Whether it was in hand-to-hand combat or mechanized warfare, his skills in the art of battle were nonexistent. However, his ability to manipulate the deep seated fears and prejudices of others had given him strength far beyond that of simpleminded soldiers. He was no brawler; he was the one that pulled the brawlers' strings. From the rank and file troops to officers high and low, every soldier in the Atlantic Federation and the broader Earth Alliance was nothing more than a puppet to him, just like the President and the Senate were his playthings on the political field.

Soon the world would once again be engulfed in the fires of war, and it was with no small amount of pride that Djibril took satisfaction in knowing that it would be a war of his making. The Coordinators could talk as much as they wanted to about how their minds could process and react to data far faster than those of Naturals, but they were completely unaware that they were now being outmaneuvered by one of those 'slow-minded Naturals' that the late Patrick Zala had been so publicly dismissive of.

And they would remain unaware until their colonies were purged by nuclear fire.

….

October 19th, C.E. 73

"Thanks for coming over on such short notice, everyone," said Andrew Waltfeld as he and Aisha led the way into the conference room.

"Well," said Heero as he and Murrue followed him in along with the others, "some of us live here anyway, so it's not exactly out of the way."

"I'm just glad that you gave Heero time to clean up first," said Murrue, winking at the Perfect Soldier, "He kind of needed it after that flight."

Aisha laughed. "Oh, I bet he did! No one ever smells good after an overnight recon flight."

Heero wasn't about to fight either of the two ladies on that point. The shower he'd taken after returning Adaline's Wraith to the Dominion had felt very good. The hours on end that he'd spent in the mobile suit's cockpit hadn't done him or his flight suit any favors, so he was relieved that the Desert Tiger had at least allowed him a brief period to wash and change before having everyone gather for the meeting.

The conference room they were gathering in was actually below the mansion. It was part of a substantial underground bunker complex that was known only to Terminal insiders. Constructed and maintained by Morgenroete employees handpicked by Erica Simmons for their loyalty and dedication to Terminal's cause, it was a very sophisticated fortification. It wasn't just a shelter or a place to hold clandestine meetings. There was a network of tunnels that led to hidden exits at several points on the estate grounds in case a covert escape was required, and it also included a hardened communications and monitoring center that could withstand an EMP blast, a well stocked armory, enough rations and other consumables to last several people at least a year, an intricate ventilation system that not only kept fresh air flowing but also was capable of screening for airborne toxins and nerve agents, and a fortified hangar with room for no less than a dozen mobile suits.

"I'm just glad he made it back in one piece, even if he reeked," said Shemei, smirking at Heero, "I can't lose my friendly rival, after all."

"The data you forwarded to us was great, Heero," said Eric, "and it's one of the reasons why Andrew decided to call this meeting today."

"It better be worth the work it's going to take to get the B.O. out of my cockpit," said Adaline, "I've got no problem with Heero borrowing my mobile suit, but next time he wants to take it for a long flight like that he can clean the cockpit himself."

"Oh, lighten up, Adaline," said Priscilla, "It's not like any of us come out of our machines any cleaner after a prolonged mission."

"Besides," said Lan, "we're just the pilots. We don't handle the cleaning; that's what the maintenance staff is for."

"Don't let the crews that take care of your Wraith hear that," said Quatre with a chuckle, "They might make you start paying them for it."

Lan grimaced. "Oh, man, totally didn't think of that. Guess I'll keep my mouth shut then."

"How long are we going to be down here?" said Duo, "I'm not exactly a fan of big meetings, even if they're in a place as nice as this."

"You can always fall asleep," Trowa deadpanned, "We might tell you what you missed when you wake up."

Behind them, La Flaga chuckled. "I know how you feel there, Duo. Give me a mobile suit fight over one of these conferences any day."

"Don't encourage him," said Natarle, pinching him on the cheek, "This is important, so you'd better not doze off. If you do I'll flip your chair over."

"All right, all right!" said La Flaga, smiling despite the pinching, "You're just ruthless sometimes, you know that?"

Natarle smirked. "Someone has to keep you in line."

"Tipping his chair might be going a bit too far," said Lacus from the rear, sounding a bit concerned.

Heero then heard Kira laugh. "It's fine, he can take it."

"Is it wrong that part of me is hoping she does that at some point?" came the voice of Erica Simmons from the back, "It would certainly liven things up a bit."

"Perhaps," said Kisaka with a chuckle, "but we should really keep things professional here."

"Speaking of staying professional," said Waltfeld, "Let's get this meeting underway, all right?"

"Sounds good," said Heero as he and Murrue took seats at the table, "We've got a lot to cover."

"That we do," said Eric as he and the others sat down.

Sitting around a table like this reminded Heero of the conferences they'd had on board the Eternal during the last war. This conference room had actually been designed in a similar manner to the one on the stolen ZAFT warship, but it was significantly larger. Like the one on board the Eternal, the table had a built-in hologram projector along with a matching unit in the ceiling to allow for detailed three dimensional imaging, and while the projectors were inactive at the moment Heero was sure that they'd be seeing their fair share of use in short order.

"Well," said the Desert Tiger after a moment, "I'm assuming everyone here's seen clips of the Senate press conference from yesterday, right?"

"Hard to miss it," said Shemei.

Kira nodded. "I didn't catch it live, but they replayed plenty of footage from it over the day."

"It seems like that was the only story anyone in the world cared about yesterday," said Lacus.

"With good reason," said Aisha grimly, "That press conference means that the chances of averting a war just took a nosedive."

"Is it really that bad?" asked La Flaga, "I mean, it definitely wasn't good, but you're making it sound like we're already at the point of no return here."

"We may well be," said Natarle with a sigh, "I've been watching the follow-up broadcasts, and it looks like even more rallies are being held across the Atlantic Federation than there were yesterday."

"I saw some of that too," said Priscilla, "It's not pretty."

"No kidding," said Adaline, "Looking at those, you'd think that Coordinators were the enemy of the world."

"Some of those signs the protesters were holding weren't exactly subtle," said Lan dryly, "We got it pretty bad right now."

Sitting to the left of her, Quatre put his hand on her shoulder. "Not all of the people in that country think that way about Coordinators, Lan. The press is just focusing on the loudest parts of the population."

Lan looked at him and smiled. "I know, Quatre."

Those two seem to have gotten close recently, Heero mused, Duo said something about Quatre going out somewhere with Lan a few days ago. I wonder what happened…

He pushed that thought aside. There were more important things to worry about at the moment than Quatre possibly hooking up with one of the Valkyrie's subordinates.

"The Atlantic Federation's put a lot of time and effort into shaping domestic opinion when it comes to Coordinators," said Eric, "I think it's safe to say those efforts have had a day like this in mind."

"There have been demonstrations and rallies outside the Atlantic Federation," said Andrew, "All of the Earth Alliance member states have experienced them to a lesser extent. However, the ones who push the hardest when it comes to an anti-Coordinator agenda are headquartered in North America, so it's no surprise that the rallies are the strongest there."

"I bet they're at their strongest in the Bible Belt," said Shemei, "Our kind's never been popular with the religious crowd."

Aisha chuckled ruefully. "A considerable understatement."

"I haven't been able to verify the details to that extent," said Eric, "but it wouldn't surprise me if your bet was right on the money."

Murrue sighed. "Atlantic Federation public opinion was never going to be on the side of the PLANTs in a situation like this, and there's nothing we can do to influence that one way or the other. What I'm more concerned about is their potential military moves in reaction to recent events."

Heero looked over at Eric, and the Wolf of the Far East nodded in recognition. "There's been an uptick in activity on that front, and Heero's recon flight has given us some critical new intel on that."

"Really?" said Kira, his eyes widening slightly, "What did you find?"

"I spent a considerable amount of time floating around over the Pearl Harbor naval base," said Heero, "I was able to confirm my suspicions; the Pacific Fleet is mobilizing."

"So soon?" said Lacus, her alright light complexion paling even further.

"Son of a bitch," growled La Flaga, "They're not even waiting for an official declaration of war!"

Natarle's eyes narrowed. "If they're mobilizing a surface fleet, then I bet the same thing is happening up in orbit."

"They're probably putting all their combat forces on alert," said Priscilla grimly.

"They must be preparing to march on Carpentaria," said Adaline, "That's the only ZAFT target within range of the Pacific Fleet, after all."

"They'll have a hard time taking it, even with their full fleet," said Lan, "It's pretty well fortified."

"It would be a protracted siege, but still doable," said Heero, "However, I doubt that Carpentaria is the only target of that fleet. That mobilization is aimed as much at Orb as it is at ZAFT. In a way, it's aimed at us as well."

Murrue nodded. "You're right. Cagalli's government can't openly acknowledge us, but it's more or less an open secret that our group operates out of both the Orb mainland and her facilities up at L3. By mobilizing the Pacific Fleet and using it as a threat against Cagalli's people along with ZAFT, they put us in a bind."

The Desert Tiger's good eye narrowed. "If we move the Archangel and Dominion to outer space, it leaves Orb more vulnerable to the Alliance's surface forces. Orb's official military could still act as a deterrent of sorts, but it wouldn't be nearly as potent as it is with the unspoken threat of Wing Zero and the rest of us backing it up."

"Our forces are divided," said Aisha, "Eternal and Kusanagi are up in space while our other two premier battleships are down here. It's served us well in the past, but with the Alliance now threatening Orb along with ZAFT it's become a liability."

"Shit," Shemei hissed, "Is there any way that we can get ourselves out of this mess? The Alliance might be mobilizing forces on the planet's surface, but if a new war does start you can bet your ass that their first target will be L5."

Eric sighed. "I talked to Andrew about that, but I'm afraid we're stuck. The situation's worse than you think, dear."

Shemei's eyes widened. "What are you talking about, Eric?"

"I got news from one of my sources within ZAFT before Heero returned from his recon fight," the Wolf replied, "The Alliance is mobilizing its space forces. Most of the activity is concentrated over the Moon; it's around the same spot where Azrael started mobilizing his armada for the final battle two years ago. However, there's a separate point that ships are also moving towards."

He tapped a few keys on the pad in front of him, and the surrounding lights dimmed while the holographic projectors on both the table and the ceiling came to life. The flashes of light quickly morphed into a map of the Earth Sphere. The Moon, L1, and L2 were bathed in red, while Orb space out at L3 was yellow and L5 was blue. There was also a small blue dot out at L4 representing the Armory One colony. Scores of other dots, each one bearing one of those three colors, were scattered around the map; they stood for warship squadrons and patrol groups.

Heero's eyes narrowed as he immediately zeroed in on one particular group of red dots. It wasn't large enough to be a full fleet, but its position was ominous; it was just outside the orbital Debris Belt, and it was about halfway between L1 and L3.

Not good, he thought, I've got a feeling I know what that's about…

Heero wasn't the only one that picked up on it; he saw Trowa lean in a little closer, and he saw that his gaze was on that exact same point. "That Alliance force by the Belt is out a little too far."

"Yeah," said Duo, "and it looks a little too big to be just a patrol group."

"What's the deal with that?" asked Quatre.

"Good eyes," said Eric, "I should've expected you guys to catch that as quickly as you did. I've got no proof, but my hunch is that it's going to be the base of a force the Alliance will direct at L3. They did attack the Elysium colony in the last war, after all; both that colony and the Eden habitat have plenty of Coordinators for them to target."

"Plus we've got forces of our own out there," said Shemei, "Bastards aren't leaving anything to chance this time."

"How many ships do you think they'll devote to that force?" asked Waltfeld, "Since L5's got to be their top priority I doubt they can send too many ships out that way."

"They won't have to," said Eric, "My guess is that this force is just to keep the Orb space fleet, and our forces in that area by extension, from making a move when the Earth Alliance fleet heads towards the PLANTs."

"They're trying to block out any outside factors as fast as they can," said Aisha, "They want the opening clash to be a straight up Alliance vs. ZAFT fight."

"And it looks like they're going to get their way," said Natarle grimly, "I don't see how we can make any moves of our own with the Earth forces arrayed like this."

"Damn it," growled La Flaga, "So what, we just sit back and watch them attack the PLANTs? We can't do that!"

"There has to be something that we can do!" cried Kira.

Eric held up his hands. "Calm down! You guys are forgetting that L5's not exactly defenseless here. The ZAFT Navy may not be as large as it was at the height of Zala's power, but it's still no slouch in a fight. The Earth forces outnumber them, but numbers alone aren't a guarantee of victory; what our little group pulled off in the last war is proof enough of that."

"It's not numbers that are a cause for concern," said Lacus, "It's what the Earth Alliance fleet might bring with them if they attack the PLANTs."

"She's right," said Adaline, "If the Atlantic Federation still hates Coordinators enough to try to start another war, do you really think they abided by the nuclear disarmament clause of the Treaty of Junius Seven?"

"When the Earth forces launched their nuclear strike during the final battle of the last war, we were the ones who had the capability to stop them," said Priscilla, "ZAFT wasn't able to intercept the missiles."

Lan nodded. "Unless they've got some new METEOR units up their sleeves, along with mobile suits and pilots that are compatible with them, they've got no way to defend against nukes."

Quatre looked down in thought. "You know, you would think that even with the limitations of the treaty ZAFT would still take precautions against such a strike, especially given the Bloody Valentine Tragedy and what happened in the final battle of the war. Such countermeasures wouldn't constitute a treaty violation in and of themselves, right?"

"If nothing else, ZAFT's pretty tech savvy," said Duo, "Their new battleship and mobile suits are proof enough of that."

Trowa nodded. "I find it hard to believe that the current administration has given no thought whatsoever to means to defend against a nuclear strike, especially given the advanced technology at ZAFT's disposal."

Eric smiled. "You boys are getting ahead of me. Yes, ZAFT has spent considerable resources since the last war developing countermeasures against another possible nuclear attack. One of my sources within the L5 government has indicated to me that they've actually succeeded in developing an effective defense, although they couldn't give me many details."

Shemei raised an eyebrow. "Really? I'm surprised the government didn't make a public announcement about a development like that."

"Me too," said Aisha, "You'd think they'd use such a device as a means of deterrence."

"And deterrence doesn't work if your enemy doesn't know that you have such a capability," said Waltfeld, his brow furrowing in thought, "So why hide something like this?"

"Perhaps whatever technology they've developed is still experimental," said Murrue, "They may only have a prototype available and want to wait for the public debut until it has entered mass production."

"Or they're trying to make the Alliance think that they're vulnerable," said Duo.

Adaline raised an eyebrow. "Why would they do that? L5's the heart of PLANT territory; the last thing they'd want would be for the enemy to think that they've got an opening to attack."

"Not necessarily," said Trowa, "It depends on their ruler's agenda."

"You mean Durandal?" said Priscilla, "I know his program out at L4 with Armory One and the new battleship and mobile suits can be interpreted as a provocative gesture, but I have a hard time imagining him wanting to start another war and have L5 be attacked."

"Normally I'd agree with that sentiment," said Quatre, "However… if Durandal does have some sort of countermeasure against the Earth Alliance's nukes, he might be keeping it secret so that his enemy uses those weapons early. If they bring them out at the start of a conflict and he's able to somehow neutralize them, he'd be removing one of his foe's trump cards right off the bat."

"That's pretty devious," said Lan, "but also pretty damn risky. I mean, if you think about it that way, then he's pretty much using all of L5 as bait."

"Indeed," said Erica Simmons, "The potential for utter catastrophe is quite real in such a scenario. If that is indeed his plan, then he would have to have a very high level of confidence in whatever countermeasure ZAFT has devised."

"I don't care how certain Durandal might be," said Kisaka, "Even if he's got the chance to remove the Alliance's nukes from the equation early, it's still not worth risking the lives of his entire civilian population for."

"That's the conclusion we might come to," said Heero grimly, "but I don't think Durandal see things in the same light as us."

"That's right," said Murrue, looking at him thoughtfully, "You did speak to him at length during your time on the Minerva. If anyone of us here would have some insight into how his mind might work, it's you, Heero."

Heero shook his head. "We only talked once in private. I wouldn't put too much stock in it."

"I disagree," said Eric, "I know how analytical and observant you can be. You can glean quite a bit of insight from a single encounter, Heero; don't pretend otherwise."

"I'm with Eric on this one, Heero," said Shemei, "You must've picked up something from him."

Heero closed his eyes for a moment before responding. "He's a man with a vision, and one that goes beyond merely the PLANTs. When we spoke aboard the Minerva he said that he wanted to create a world where the likes of Patrick Zala and Muruta Azrael couldn't seize power again. He wasn't just blowing smoke; whatever his real plans are, they really do encompass the Earth Sphere as a whole."

"Ambitious to say the least," said Kisaka, "Does Orb play into his vision at all?"

"If it does, he never mentioned it directly," Heero replied, "He was pretty vague overall."

"While I'll be the first to say that the world would've been better off without Zala or Azrael trying to realize their mad dreams," said Andrew, "I don't know how to feel about Durandal trying to build a new world. Hell, outside of his public political career I don't know much about him at all."

"A man who keeps his true intentions veiled," said Aisha, looking worried, "Whatever moves he ends up making will be much harder to predict than those of the Earth Alliance."

"Is he really the one we need to be worrying about right now?" said La Flaga, "I mean sure, the guy might be fishy, but he's not the one that's threatening to start another war."

Natarle nodded. "That's true. However, who can say what he'll do once hostilities commence? He may not instigate the conflict, but he may very well try to take advantage of it."

"He wouldn't be the first," Quatre chimed in, "When the Earth Sphere's in a state of war, the rapidly shifting circumstances are prime conditions for someone who wants to their own agenda. With the people fearing whether or not the conflict will arrive on their doorsteps and looking for some sense of safety, a leader can get away with much more than he could during peacetime."

"It sounds like you're speaking from experience," said Lan, looking at him curiously.

"He is," said Trowa.

Duo chuckled. "That's putting it mildly. Man, I wonder what Treize and Zechs would've made of the mess we've found ourselves in now."

"Those two again?" said Adaline, raising an eyebrow, "I've heard Heero mention them before."

"Those guys were big shots in your old war, right?" asked Priscilla.

Heero nodded. "Yes, and for much of that conflict the entire world was dancing to the tune they played, especially in the final campaign. I don't know if Durandal's on their level, but if he isn't I doubt it would be for lack of trying."

"Interesting," said the Desert Tiger with a smirk, "Sounds like he's pretty cunning if that's your impression of him."

"He's one that we should watch carefully," Heero replied, "but I can't say much more beyond that."

"Speaking of people that we need to watch out for," Eric chimed in, "I was reviewing the footage Heero sent in from his recon flight before the meeting, and I found something pretty interesting."

He tapped a few keys on the pad in front of him, and the image on the hologram projectors shifted. A large hangar and a decent sized section of tarmac appeared, along with a heavy transport plane with a crimson skull set within a diamond painted on the tail. There was a group of four people standing next to the plane, and the Wolf of the Far East quickly zoomed in on them. The group was composed of three men and one woman, and Heero instantly recognized this particular bit of footage from his recon mission and the people in front of him.

The mercenaries, he mused, I was wondering when Eric would get to them…

Murrue leaned forward in her chair next to Heero. "That man with the sword… that's Samuel Rodrigues, right? The Desperado pilot that Wufei dueled in the Debris Belt and over the Junius Seven ruins?"

"One and the same," said Eric, "The people with him are Desperado pilots as well. The big bald guy's Sundowner, their lead field commander. The man with the cybernetic visual aid is Monsoon, and the woman is Mistral. They're the four Winds of Destruction; Desperado's top mobile suit pilots."

"All four gathered in one place?" said Shemei, her eyes widening, "The Atlantic Federation must be serious about mobilizing the Pacific Fleet if they've got their mercenary heavy hitters operating with it."

"Heero," said Andrew, "did you spot any other PMCs at the Pearl Harbor base during your mission?"

Heero nodded. "I saw at least two drones with Werewolf insignia flying patrol, along with a transport jet with the same logo; probably contracted to help with base security. There was also what looked like an amphibious assault transport with Marlin markings. They could probably deploy an infantry company off of it, with maybe a few light vehicles as well. Desperado was the only PMC I saw that looked like they'd brought their heavy weapons, though; that plane the Winds were standing by was the same model as the new mobile suit transport jets the Atlantic Federation started producing after the war."

"They've probably got other contractor groups gearing up at the rest of their main surface bases," said Murrue, "I'm sure they've got some of them up in orbit too."

"Man, this blows," said Adaline, scowling at the monitor, "I mean, I'm all for being paid to do something that you're good at, but being a gun for hire to a government with a history of committing war crimes? That's just low!"

"The PLANTs employ PMCs too, Adaline," Priscilla gently admonished, "and it's not like ZAFT was a paragon of virtue in the last war as well."

"That is kind of why we ditched them," Lan chimed in.

"Did the PLANTs hire PMCs in the last war?" asked Quatre, "I remember Heero mentioned a pair of mercenary pilots he fought in the closing months of that conflict, but from what I understand contract fighting appears to have been fairly limited."

"You're not wrong in that assessment," said Eric with a nod, "There were some scattered mercenaries active in the last war, acting either as solo freelancers or as small groups, but they weren't particularly widespread."

"That changed after the Treaty of Junius Seven was ratified," said Shemei, "The limitations placed on the armed forces of both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT meant that both sides had to look at new options to maintain a competitive edge over each other. Since nothing in the treaty accounted for the use of contract forces, both sides were pretty quick to engage with the existing mercenary organizations in this world. It was a boon to the private military sector; more commercial armed forces have been founded in the past two years than in the past hundred."

Duo whistled. "Damn. I know we've got our share of guns for hire in our world, but those guys are peanuts compared to what you're dealing with over here."

"They can't all be frontline units," said Trowa skeptically, "It'd be difficult for private groups to maintain the necessary equipment and weapons without some serious financial backing."

"You're right about that," the Desert Tiger replied, "Many of these groups operate in support capacity. You've got PMCs that assist with military policing duties, observation and recon, convoy security, and even ones that keep the main troops supplied. Hell, the Atlantic Federation even employs one company that's really just a bunch of cooks that specialize in meal prep for the rank and file."

Aisha shook her head. "Privatization of war... they're turning it into just another business market. I've heard the term 'green-collar' gain traction recently; it refers to anyone whose job is related to armed conflict but isn't a member of a nation's official army."

"I've heard that term as well," said Lacus somberly, "My father always said that there would be people that sought to profit from fighting, but I never imagined anything quite like this."

"Isn't there any way that we can put a stop to this?" asked Kira, "All these private military groups lining up behind one side or the other are just raising tensions even more."

"We already have enough enemies as it is," said Kisaka grimly, "The PMCs may be small fries compared to the national armies of the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, but it would not suit our purposes to pick a fight with that industry as a whole, even if their very existence runs counter to our cause."

Erica chuckled. "You know, in a way, our group's not too different from them. We are a private armed faction that's not officially affiliated with a nation's standing army, after all."

"Perhaps," said Heero, "but we're not hiring ourselves out to the highest bidder."

"Heero's right," said Murrue firmly, "We're not in this to make money, but to protect the people of the Earth Sphere as a whole."

Erica smiled. "I know. It was just an observation."

"While we're on the subject of PMCs," said Shemei, "Eric, does ZAFT have any particular heavy hitters from that industry on its payroll?"

Eric nodded. "A few. Maverick Security Consulting is one of the big names on the list. The bulk of their operations are actually focused around running training programs and rear guard security of important facilities, but they've got a few frontline units too. Their best mobile suit pilot's a veteran of the last war, and from what little information I've been able to pick up on him I bet he could give 'Jetstream Sam' of the Alliance's Desperado group a good fight."

"Which means he might be able to do the same for us as well," said Duo with a smirk, "I'll have to keep my eyes open for the guy."

"Any other groups of note?" asked Trowa.

"Raven Sword, for starters," Eric replied, "ZAFT's got them handling behind-the-lines military policing duties so they can transfer more of their soldiers to full combat squads. Praying Mantis is another one. Their forces are split; ZAFT's got some of their units supplementing security at their shipyards, while others are operating down at Carpentaria and Gibraltar performing reconnaissance and local intelligence gathering. Both companies have very limited frontline capabilities; I doubt we'll be meeting either of them on the battlefield directly, but we could tangle with them if we do an infiltration op. They may be guns for hire, but both companies have reputations for professionalism and discipline, so don't take them lightly."

Quatre chuckled. "If anyone's going to do infiltration ops, it'll probably be us. We've got plenty of experience with that, after all."

Duo smiled. "No kidding."

"We do seem to have a knack for those," said Trowa.

"We'll deal with them if and when we come across them," said Heero, "We know that the Earth forces are on the move. What about ZAFT?"

"They're prepping too, although no official muster order's gone out yet," Eric replied, "Shore leaves have been cancelled and the Defense Council is reinforcing the line along the Alliance's most likely attack vector. The Gondwana's anchoring the line, and they've moved two of the surviving Orizaba-class carrier/dreadnoughts there as well."

"Can they afford to do that?" asked Shemei, "The fleet's nowhere near as big as the armada Zala assembled in the last war; their forces have to be stretched thin just protecting the homeland."

"That's true," Andrew acknowledged, "but if the Alliance sends an attack force ZAFT's long range patrols will pick it up with time to spare. The Defense Council won't have any problems shifting fleet units if the Alliance doesn't take the most direct route to the PLANTs."

"What about our forces?" asked Aisha, "We're already in a tight spot thanks to the Alliance mobilizing the Pacific Fleet. What's our move, Andy?"

The Desert Tiger and the Wolf of the Far East shared a nod before the former spoke. "For now, our focus is defense. We can't move to aid L5 with the way things stand, so we're going to have to trust Eric's intel on ZAFT's countermeasure regarding the Alliance's nukes. With the way we're positioned, our most effective roles will be to protect the Orb mainland and the colonies."

"And if the Alliance is able to overcome ZAFT's countermeasure?" asked Lacus nervously.

"Then millions will die," Heero replied grimly, "but our hands are tied. We're outnumbered and outgunned. We can't be everywhere at once; we have to pick the fights that we can make the most difference in, and sometimes that means we have to make some tough calls."

Murrue sighed. "Heero's right. ZAFT will have to defend the PLANTs, and we will have to place our faith in whatever countermeasure they've cooked up. Both the Orb mainland and the L3 colonies have substantial Coordinator populations even after the events of the last war, and we know that the Alliance will be targeting them for extermination. These are the people that we have the best chance at protecting right now."

"At least we can be reasonably sure that the Alliance is the only party in this war with genocide on the agenda," said Eric with a grim chuckle, "Durandal's true motives and plans may be somewhat of an enigma, but I know enough about the man to say with confidence that he's not cut from Patrick Zala's cloth. Extermination of Naturals isn't his endgame. If it were then his moves would've been much more provocative up to this point."

"So," said Kisaka, "we focus our efforts on the Alliance until we know more about Durandal's objectives. Works for me."

"What do we tell Lady Cagalli?" asked Erica, "Orb reconnaissance forces don't go nearly as far north as Heero did last night; she likely has no idea that the Atlantic Federation is massing their Pacific Fleet."

"Kisaka can update her on that," said Andrew, "You see her more than the rest of us, so her meeting with you won't draw too much attention."

Kisaka nodded. "I'll handle that later today."

"What about Athrun?" asked Kira, "He should be in the PLANTs by now. Shouldn't we contact him?"

Eric shook his head. "We have no way to set up a secure communications link with him. I could have one of my informers find him and make contact, but I don't want to risk them being discovered by ZAFT."

"Athrun was the one that decided to go to the PLANTs," said Shemei, "Kira, you said that he thought that would be the place that he could make the biggest difference, right? I think we can trust him to do what he feels is right, and to warn us if Durandal's got something up his sleeve."

"Athrun's not the only one who's with ZAFT right now," said Lacus as she turned to Heero, "Chang Wufei remains with the Minerva, correct?"

Heero nodded. "Yes, but I don't think trying to make an intelligence asset out of him would be wise."

"No kidding," said Duo, shaking his head, "That guy's way too prideful to be a spy."

"He would likely be offended if we made such an attempt," said Trowa.

"Still, we should at least try to make contact with him," said Quatre, "If nothing else we can still share with him what we've learned about the Alliance forces."

"If any of you want to get a message to him, that's your call," said Heero.

"Having you guys here does give our capabilities a considerable boost," said Andrew with a smile, "I know that this isn't your world and you didn't come here for our battles, but we could definitely use your help."

"Beyond aiding you in returning home, I'm afraid we don't have much to offer you as a reward," said Erica, "I doubt any money we could give you would be worth much in your world."

Duo chuckled and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I'd feel bad if I cut and ran just before the shit hits the fan. I can't let Heero be the only one out there representing us Gundam pilots!"

"This may not be our home," said Quatre, "but it's clear that Heero considers it to be his. Given what he did for Earth in the final battle of our war, the least that we can do is help him in securing his home before we return to ours."

"I am curious to see what other differences there are between this world and our own," Trowa chimed in, "I'm not opposed to staying longer, and we certainly can't turn our backs on people who could be targeted by a global superpower."

"Thank you so much," said Lacus, bowing her head, "I promise that we shall never forget your generosity."

Kira smiled. "You guys must really be good friends with Heero if you're willing to dive into another war for him."

"Yeah, well, he'd better not push his luck," said Duo, smirking at Heero, "You get one war out of us, and then we head home. You got that, buddy?"

Heero shrugged. "It's your call. Just don't forget what I told you before; I'm not heading back with you."

"You've already made that abundantly clear," said Trowa.

"Yeah, but it's Duo we're talking about here," said Quatre with a laugh, "If Heero doesn't hammer the point home enough who knows what he'll do?"

Duo folded his arms. "Classy. I thought you were supposed to be on my side here, Quatre. What gives?"

Quatre shook his head. "I never said anything about being on your side, Duo."

Duo scowled. "Now that's just low."

Murrue laughed. "You boys are a regular comedy act, aren't you?"

"Not intentionally," said Quatre, "but it certainly does seem that way whenever Duo's around."

Duo grinned. "That's because you guys would be a bunch of boring stiffs without me! Someone's gotta be the icebreaker in the group."

"A humorous Grim Reaper," said Shemei with a smirk, "Now there's something you don't see every day."

"I think we'll need that humor to keep our spirits up in the days ahead," said the Desert Tiger, "I doubt the future's going to hold much good news for us for a while."

Aisha nodded. "You can say that again. Both superpowers on the move, gearing up for war… this won't be a walk in the park."

"Long odds and huge stakes?" said Adaline, "Sound like old times to me."

"Indeed," said Priscilla with a nod, "It does invoke a certain sense of déjà vu."

"You'd think the bad guys would've learned their lesson after the beating we gave them last time," said Lan with a smile, "but if they need us to bust their heads again, I'm all for obliging them!"

"There is still a chance, however small, that it might not come to that," said Lacus, "However, should the worse come to pass, I am prepared to do my part to protect the people of our world."

"As am I," said Kira, and Heero was sure that he was holding the hand of the songstress under the table.

"I can't say what direction the Orb government will take in all this," said Kisaka, "Lady Cagalli will do her best to keep us on the right course, but I doubt the Seirans will go along with her. Still, even if her government is undermined from within, Terminal will not lose its support; I know plenty of officers in the Orb military who will back our efforts when the time comes."

"Even if Lady Cagalli is sabotaged by her fellow nobles," said Erica, "Morgenroete does not face the threat of subversion. The company's core is fully behind the endeavors of Terminal, and it will remain committed to this group's cause come hell or high water."

Eric nodded and stood, and Heero and the others joined him. "The course of events may well be decided over the next few days. I'll monitor things as close as I can through my network, but we have to be ready for anything."

"I won't order everyone to go to the ships at this time," said Andrew, "but from this point onward, everyone in Terminal is now on standby status. I know Erica's crews have the Archangel and Dominion ready to go at a moment's notice, and the same goes for our mobile suits. We must all be prepared to deploy the instant we get news from Eric's network. Is that clear?"

Heero nodded along with the others.

"Good," said Andrew, "That's all for now. Meeting adjourned."

….

One mess after another, thought Cagalli as she listened to her ministers and fellow nobles drone on and on in yet another meeting, Things are moving too quickly, and now this? Damn it, Unato… I know that this is your doing!

The 'this' in question was the surprise announcement that Cagalli had gotten just a few minutes ago; the official Orb inquiry into the Break The World Incident was nearly complete. Cagalli had expected it to be weeks until findings would be presented, and she suspected that the commission had been pressured into rushing its work. Cagalli had made it clear that she had expected a thorough investigation, but with the Atlantic Federation's outrageous Senate press conference forcing an escalation of events it appeared that someone had decided that Orb's inquiry needed to pick up its pace… and come to a certain set of conclusions.

It was an open secret that Unato and Yuna had social and economic ties with members of the Atlantic Federation government and business elite. Since they were part of one of the five Orb noble families Cagalli's ability to curtail their activities in that regard were limited. She had tried to rationalize it by convincing herself that their connections would come in handy for diplomatic purposes, and indeed they had been useful in the past. However, it was now clear that those connections were a double-edged sword, and now the blade was cutting in her direction.

"We have to be prepared to issue a statement," said Unato, "Lady Cagalli, do you concur?"

Cagalli glared at him. "No, I do not. Our commission hasn't had enough time to conduct a thorough and proper investigation. Any sort of statement now would be premature on our part."

Yuna chuckled. "Clearly the Atlantic Federation disagrees with your assessment."

"They're hardly an impartial party in all this," Cagalli shot back, "We all know that their findings were politically motivated and intentionally provocative!"

"Perhaps," Unato replied, "but we have no means by which to prove that."

"Giving the inquiry more time to gather evidence will change that," said Cagalli firmly, hoping that she sounded more confident than she felt.

"Time is a luxury that we may no longer have," said Yuna, "I'm sorry, Cagalli, but if Orb does not make its position known soon then other powers might force our hand."

Cagalli's eyes narrowed. "Other powers? Or just the Atlantic Federation?"

"Our position is precarious," said Unato, "With Carpentaria on one side and the Pacific Fleet on the other, our homeland is faced with threats on two fronts. The same could also be said of our colonies and resource satellites at L3."

"The only threat that I see," Cagalli replied, "is the posturing of the Atlantic Federation. The Americans don't dictate the foreign policy of our country!"

"No, of course not," said Yuna, and while he may have been going for a conciliatory tone the look on his face did not match his words, "We all value Orb's independence just as much as you do, Cagalli."

"However," said Unato, "we cannot pretend that the policies of other nations have no impact on ours. That especially applies to those that have greater military power than us."

"Our forces have recovered from the losses they suffered in the last war," Cagalli retorted, "and they've been improved thanks to new technological advances courtesy of Morgenroete. The Earth Alliance cannot fight us and ZAFT at the same time."

"They managed it well enough in the last war," Yuna quipped.

"With a much larger force," Cagalli immediately shot back, "They can't field armadas on the level of those they deployed in the last war; the Treaty of Junius Seven has seen to that."

"The treaty has been beneficial in that respect," said Unato, his eyes narrowing, "but I'm afraid we must be realistic, Lady Cagalli. The Earth Alliance wants us in their camp, and if we do not act diplomatically towards them they may think of our desire for independence as belligerence."

"Act diplomatically," said Cagalli, "or bend the knee? My father and his cabinet didn't sacrifice their lives in the last war so that Orb might become a client state of the Earth Alliance!"

"No one's saying anything about submitting to the Earth Alliance," said Yuna with a smile, "If we approach them on friendly terms then a mutually beneficial partnership can no doubt be arranged."

"A partnership in a potential war against the PLANTs?" said Cagalli, disgusted at what she was hearing, "Absolutely not! The PLANTs have done nothing wrong, and I will not have Orb join the Atlantic Federation in acting as an aggressor state!"

"What would you have us do?" Unato growled, "Ally with ZAFT? The PLANTs are reviled by the people of Earth right now; us siding with them in any sort of way guarantees that Orb will face a heavy backlash."

Cagalli shook her head, quickly growing exasperated with where the meeting was heading. "I'm saying that we don't ally with either party, but stand by the evidence that our own inquiry presents! I will not allow us to be dragged into a war just because of the Americans' fear mongering!"

"The Atlantic Federation won't abide by that," said Yuna, "Cagalli, you've heard their rhetoric; from their point of view, if someone isn't with them, then they're by default against them. It's not the most elegant line of reasoning, but it's brutally simple. The Earth Alliance inflicted a great deal of damage and suffering upon Orb in the last war; the people rightly fear a repeat of that experience."

"I've gotten updates from our embassy in Washington, D.C.," said her Foreign Minister, a man in his late fifties by the name of Uchida Kosai, "The Atlantic Federation's State Department has made repeated overtures; they're becoming rather insistent on knowing the official stance of the Orb government in this matter. Our ambassador has informed me that the Atlantic Federation will react quite favorably to a press statement that would be in alignment with their position."

Another middle-aged, man, her Minister of International Trade and Industry, Makino Nobuaki, cleared his throat. "If we do come to an agreement with the Atlantic Federation over this matter, this would likely result in benefits beyond the diplomatic front. Our economy could grow substantially through a closer relationship with the Americans."

Cagalli couldn't believe what she was hearing. The nobles, her ministers… one by one, they were all suggesting what amounted to cooperation with a nation that now seemed hell bent on starting another world war. And why?

Because they were afraid.

Cowards, she silently fumed, My father and his cabinet were willing to die for Orb's ideals rather than defile them by joining the Atlantic Federation in its crusade against Coordinators! Has the new generation of leadership really sunk this low?

As Chief Representative of Orb, Cagalli had appointed most of the ministers that now sat at the table with her and the heads of the other noble families. Due to her inexperience in government, she had allowed her fellow nobles to make suggestions regarding candidates for key offices, and she had given their counsel due consideration alongside that of allies like Kisaka. Now that Orb found itself at a moment of potential crisis, however, their true natures were being revealed. She had given more weight to the counsel of her fellow nobles than she had initially realized, and now she was paying for it.

She was isolated. Yes, her friends in Terminal had her back, but she could not call upon them for government affairs; she couldn't even publicly acknowledge their existence without jeopardizing everything that they had worked so hard to build. The people before her now were not enemies that she could fight on the battlefield, and in fact should have been counted as allies and fellow servants of the people of Orb, but Cagalli realized now that she was actually surrounded by adversaries of another nature. She couldn't fight them with a mobile suit.

She didn't know how to fight them.

"Lady Cagalli," said the Foreign Minister, "Our embassy staff members are reporting that the Atlantic Federation President will likely be issuing an official statement tonight regarding the course of action his nation will take. Once that is done, they will expect a signal from Orb sooner rather than later."

Cagalli nodded, only half hearing him. Her ministers, her fellow nobles… they looked less like human beings now and more like circling hyenas. There was no one here that she could truly rely on.

Even her bodyguard, her boyfriend, was gone.

Athrun, she thought, I… I can't do this. Members of my own government want me side with the Earth Alliance against your people! I don't know what to do! I need help!

"Lady Cagalli," said Unato, "We must prepare a response."

"A response?" she said bitterly, "Or a capitulation?"

"Cagalli," said Yuna with a smile, "it's not like that at all."

"How?" she snapped, her composure starting to unravel.

Yuna turned to the other nobles and ministers. "Perhaps we should recess for a little while. I imagine some fresh air will do us all some good."

Unato nodded. "Yes, I agree. Let's take a break, shall we?"

Cagalli stayed seated, hardly aware of the members of her cabinet heading for the exit. At the edge of her gaze she saw Yuna and Unato share a nod before the elder Seiran left the room. A few seconds later she was alone with her cousin, which was the last thing that she wanted.

Cagalli sighed once the door closed. "What do you want, Yuna?"

"Cagalli, you needn't be suspicious," he said as he walked over to her, "I just thought that you could use a bit of space. The meeting's been dragging on for quite a while, after all."

Cagalli stood up and headed towards a door that led to an open balcony. "Don't act like you're doing me a favor. I know that you're after something."

Yuna chuckled as he joined her on the balcony. "Cynicism does not become you, Cagalli. You're so much lovelier when you're leading our people with a smile."

"This is hardly the time for smiling," said Cagalli, "The world is on the edge of war, and you and your father want us to side with the provocative power."

Yuna shook his head. "Cagalli, I truly am sorry, but I fail to see how the Atlantic Federation has been provocative in this affair. It was Coordinators that attempted to drop the ruins of Junius Seven onto Earth, not Naturals. As the sole Coordinator-led nation in the Earth Sphere the PLANTs have a duty to keep their people in line."

"Those were renegades who tried to drop those ruins, and you damn well know that!" Cagalli snapped, "The PLANTs tried to stop them! I was there, in case you've forgotten!"

"I assure you that I haven't, Cagalli," Yuna replied, "but you must've seen just how paltry their force was, especially given the stakes. Were it not for the intervention of your… friends from the last war, the situation would've been catastrophic."

"We've been over this already," said Cagalli, "ZAFT had to scramble to assemble a force; that was the best they could do on such short notice. It's still more than what the Earth Alliance did."

"Perhaps," said Yuna, "but the people of the world are not pointing fingers at the Earth Alliance. They're pointing at the Coordinators. I imagine that they'll also start pointing at anyone who supports the Coordinators in due time. Even impartiality may be seen as tacit support in these times."

"I don't care," said Cagalli firmly, "Unless our inquiry is able to provide solid evidence that the PLANTs were involved in trying to drop the ruins onto Earth, I will not let Orb act against them. I will not condone any course of action that leads us to war."

Yuna smiled. "I've always admired that resolve of yours. I just hope that you're able to see the big picture. It wouldn't do for your resolve to be construed as simple stubbornness… or willful ignorance."

Cagalli glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yuna sighed. "I'm sorry, Cagalli. I didn't want to bring this up again, but in times like this I fear I have no choice."

"Save the apologies and just spit it out already," said Cagalli.

"It's an open secret that your bodyguard is also your boyfriend," said Yuna, "and that he's a Coordinator. Given those circumstances, it's only natural for people to assume that you have a conflict of interest when dealing with the PLANTs."

"That has nothing to do with this!" Cagalli snapped, wanting nothing more than to punch her cousin right in the jaw at that moment.

"Others might not see it that way," said Yuna, "and I couldn't help but notice that he boarded a shuttle bound for L5 yesterday. There are all sorts of implications that people could imagine from an action like that at a time like this."

Cagalli's eyes narrowed. "So you're having him spied on?"

Yuna smiled. "That's such a crude way to put it. I prefer to think of it as looking out for your best interests, Cagalli."

"That's not the way I see it," said Cagalli, "and for your information, he went to L5 because he believed that he could do more to deescalate this crises from there than from Orb."

Yuna shook his head. "Please. He's nothing but your gun for hire. There's nothing that he could accomplish up there… unless he's acting as your personal emissary. If he were, well, I imagine that the Foreign Minister would not take kindly to you using your boyfriend to go around his back."

"That is not what his trip was about," said Cagalli firmly, "For your information, I didn't even want him to go! It was his decision, not mine!"

Yuna smirked. "Is that so? Well, then, I do wish him the best of luck… that is, if he's really trying to help resolve this crisis."

"What are you implying?" Cagalli growled, sorely tempted to throw him over the balcony.

"Well, he was once a soldier of ZAFT," said Yuna, "Maybe he turned against them in the last war, but that was over two years ago. Now that we're on the brink of war again, maybe he feels it's time to return to his people. Maybe your trust in him is misplaced, Cagalli."

That was it. In the blink of an eye, acting on nothing more than instinct, Cagalli slapped him across the face. It was quite satisfying to see her cousin's eyes widen in shock and alarm, but as much as she wanted to follow up she had to refrain; it would only cause problems if she beat her cousin to a bloody pulp.

"Cagalli…" said Yuna, struggling for words, "I… I can't believe you…"

"You'd better believe it," she said firmly, "and if you insult him like that again, I'll do a lot worse than slap you. I'll fight you and your father about politics until I go insane, but you leave him out of it. You got that?"

Yuna nodded. "Yes."

"Good," said Cagalli, looking out over the balcony and pointedly ignoring her cousin, "Now leave me be. I'd like at least a few minutes of peace, and I'm not going to find it with you around me."

Yuna smiled, but there was a dark look in his eyes that robbed the expression of any sincerity. "As you wish, Cagalli."

Cagalli sighed as he went back inside. Her cousin wouldn't forget what had just happened, and he'd probably tell his father about it. They'd find some way to make her pay for it. She'd known that, but she hadn't been able to restrain herself.

If Athrun were still here, he would've held her back.

"Damn it," she said softly, "Athrun, you idiot… why'd you have to leave me here alone like this? You don't belong up there anymore…"

You belong down here…

… with me.

….

"Hey," said a familiar female voice from behind him, "Care for some company, cutie?"

Quatre turned around and smiled as Lan joined him out on the back terrace of the estate. "If it's you, how can I resist?"

Lan returned his smile as she joined him at the railing and slipped her arm through his. "You can't."

Quatre chuckled as he looked back out at the ocean. "I suppose you're right."

The meeting from before still weighed heavily on his mind, but he was surprised at how the presence of the pretty and flirtatious Chinese Coordinator eased his concerns, even if it was just momentarily. He had no doubt that what had been discussed in the conference earlier was still fresh in her thoughts as well, but outwardly she showed no signs of it. Her composure was the same as always; relaxed and playful, with a hint of deviousness thrown in for good measure.

"You okay?" she asked, looking genuinely concerned.

Quatre nodded. "Yeah. I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Can't blame you there," Lan replied, "We got quite the load dropped on us today. Shit's going south, and it's going south in a hurry. Not exactly what I'd call fun times."

Quatre smirked. "You don't seem to be letting it get you down."

Lan shook her head. "Hey, don't get me wrong; I take stuff like impending war plenty seriously. I just don't see the point in stressing myself out over something that I've got no control over. If we have to fight, we have to fight. That's all there is to it, and I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

Quatre smiled. "You've got a point. I guess I've always worried more than my friends when it comes to circumstances like this. It's hard to kick the habit."

"Nothing wrong with that," said Lan, "The way I see it, you've got a good head on your shoulders. You probably think things through way more than I do."

"I think that you're selling yourself short there," said Quatre, "Maybe you're a bit impulsive, but you strike me as plenty intelligent."

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks. You really are a sweetheart, aren't you?"

Quatre could not help but blush. "So you keep telling me."

Lan winked. "Well, you keep proving me right. Speaking of sweetness, that was pretty touching how you and your buddies volunteered to stick around and help us out. You didn't have to do that, you know."

"Maybe," Quatre replied, "but we're not going anywhere for a while, so we might as well fight alongside you guys. Besides, I'd feel bad if I left knowing you were flying into a battle and I could've stuck around to help."

Lan smiled at him. "I've grown on you that much, eh?"

The blush returned in full force. "Well…"

He felt her fingers intertwine with his. "Relax, Desert Prince. You don't have to say anything."

Yeah, he thought, I guess she's right. She's really gotten to know me… in more ways than one.

Had it really been just a week and a half ago that he had met her? It felt like so much longer. Ever since their date at the club and the events that had followed, Quatre hadn't spent a day without seeing Lan one way or another. He was still trying to come to terms with how she had worked her way into his heart in such a short amount of time, but he couldn't deny that she had done so quite effectively. She was so unlike any other woman that he had met before, and while he wasn't entirely sure if she was the kind of girl that his sisters' would've wanted him to hook up with, Quatre definitely didn't have any regrets about it.

Yes, she was flirty, seductive, and beautiful, but as he'd gotten to know her it felt like those traits were really just bonuses, not the main package. She was fun, quick with a joke or a quip, much smarter than she let people think, and had a spontaneous streak to her that so far had yet to fail in catching Quatre off guard and pulling him into something entertaining. Her talents as a mobile suit pilot and a fighter were beyond proven in his eyes, and it was quite something to find a woman who was not only capable of holding her own in his world of mobile suit and physical combat but actually seemed to thrive in that environment.

His mind kept going back to that fight with the club manager and his thugs. Quatre had just been focusing on keeping Lan and himself safe at the time, but even while he was fending off Junior's henchmen he hadn't been able to resist sneaking a few glances at Lan's share of the action. Needless to say, he'd been impressed. She'd been swift and precise, but it wasn't her moves that caught his attention so much as it was the energy that she had shown in the fight. She'd looked so alive as she was giving her foes the thrashing that they deserved. Her eyes had gleamed with enthusiasm as she'd trounced one opponent after another, and it looked like she was having as much fun fighting Junior and his goon squad as she'd had when she was dancing with him.

She was, in short, a literally otherworldly woman, and Quatre was captivated by her.

It was going to be much harder than he'd originally thought it would be when the time for his inevitable departure came.

He banished that thought from his mind. He would deal with whatever heartache that brought when the time came. Right now he was here with her, and that was more than enough for him.

"So," she said, bringing his attention back to the present, "when the fighting starts... where will you be?"

Quatre raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well," said Lan, "I'll probably be on the Dominion with my friends. If I know Heero he'll probably be on the Archangel with Murrue. Where are you going to fly from?"

Quatre smiled. "Well, I can't make any promises. Normally I'd say I'd be following Heero, but I think that depends on how things unfold this time around. If there's room on the Dominion then would you mind if I tag along?"

Lan winked at him. "Well, I definitely wouldn't complain. Having you on the Dominion would certainly make things more interesting."

Quatre nodded. "All right. If I get the chance, I'll take it."

The two of them were quiet for a moment before Lan spoke again. "Hey… mind if I ask you something?"

"Go ahead," he replied.

"Do you ever get scared?" she said, "I mean, what we're probably about to fly into… it's not exactly going to be a walk in the park. If we fail… well, the body count's going to be pretty damn high."

"Of course I do," he said, "I think anyone who says they're not scared at a time like this is an idiot and a liar. I know my friends would agree with that."

Lan nodded and smiled. "I do too. So, how do you Gundam pilots deal with the pre-fight jitters?"

Quatre shrugged. "We've all got our own coping mechanisms. For Duo it's humor, martial arts for Wufei, and Heero and Trowa typically spend time double and triple checking their Gundams."

"What about you?" she asked.

Quatre smiled. "If I have the luxury of it, a nice cup of tea helps calm my nerves. Also, I like music."

"Anything in particular that you listen to?" asked Lan.

"Classical, really," said Quatre, "It feels even better when I get the chance to play it on the piano."

He saw her eyes widen slightly. "Wait, you play?"

Quatre nodded. "Yeah. Did I never tell you that?"

Instead of answering Lan grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the house. "Come with me."

….

It was so like her; a completely impulsive move. Lan didn't have any sort of ulterior motives; she simply wanted to hear Quatre play, and she knew just where he could do it.

It only took a few minutes for her to take him upstairs and into a small studio that overlooked the sea. It was a very simple room, with nothing more than a white piano and a few chairs in it. Only a few people that Lan knew actually used it; Lacus in particular would usually play a few songs whenever she came over to visit. Lan was sure that Quatre had been shown this room before when he'd been given a tour of the place, but that was before he'd revealed that he could play the piano.

She smiled as she shut the door behind them. "Well, here we are."

Quatre looked at her. "You want me to play? Just like that?"

"What's the matter?" she asked, "Nervous? Does having a private audience give you shivers, Desert Prince?"

Quatre shook his head. "It's not that. It's just… I don't know what to play. I don't know what you'd like."

She stepped forward and gently brought her hand up to his cheek. "It's all right. I'd like anything that you'd play."

It was a rather tender gesture, and one that Lan knew was rather out of character for her. She didn't particularly mind. Quatre was a special guy, so she had no problem with being softer and sweeter with him in a private setting like this.

Quatre nodded and smiled. "Okay, then."

Lan sat down in a nearby chair and watched as Quatre approached the piano. He studied it for a moment before adjusting the bench and settling in. The young man then spent a few moments running his hands along the keys, familiarizing himself with an instrument that he probably hadn't been expecting to play today or at all during his time in the Cosmic Era for that matter.

"This is nice," he said, "It's very well crafted."

"Glad you like it," Lan replied, "Now, show me what you can do."

Quatre smirked. "Be patient. You don't just go right into a song with a beauty like this. You have to feel her out, first, get to know her. Besides, I still need to figure out what I want to play for you."

"Don't put too much thought into it, said Lan with a smile.

She saw him press a few keys, testing their sound and finding his bearings. Lan could see his confidence starting to build as he got a better feel for the instrument before him, and she was sure that she wouldn't have to wait much longer.

Quatre closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When he opened them he looked her way and nodded before turning back to the piano.

He started on a soft and high note, and Lan watched in fascination as his fingers seemingly danced along the keys. The melody was light, smooth, and quite pleasant, but what enthralled Lan more than the music was just how easy Quarter was making it seem. Whatever nervousness he'd shown before had gone out the window; now he was in his element, and the steady increase in tempo reflected his newfound confidence.

Lan had no idea what song he was playing, and she didn't care. It was upbeat and relaxing, simple and pretty. There was a sense of innocence to the melody, and to Lan it felt like a reminder of more peaceful and carefree times. She saw Quatre begin to smile as he continued to play, and the song seemed to reflect whatever happiness he was feeling now.

Never thought that I'd go for a guy like this, she mused, a smile appearing on her face as well, Quatre… you really are something else, you know that?

It was a stark reminder of just how different their backgrounds were. Here was a guy that had been born into ultimate privilege, had been brought up as a member of the very top of society's upper crust, and had the world at his fingertips. However, despite that, he showed none of the arrogance or snobbery that one might expect someone born into such a high social class to have. Instead he was gentle, kind, and selfless to the point that he was willing to risk his life on the battlefield in order to build and protect a better world. As for her, she'd been born the bastard daughter of a crime boss and his mistress, made a Coordinator because her scumbag of a father had wanted her to be a living weapon. She had been raised and taught how to fight for the selfish and petty ambitions of her father, and yet she had shown the ultimate defiance by turning her back on the man, rescuing her mother and fleeing to the one place in the Earth Sphere she'd felt that they could truly be free. She had entered the armed forces with the initial intent of defending her new homeland, but as she met new friends and her war went on she had found new things to fight for; the people she cared for, and the wellbeing of the countless innocent lives that the two great superpowers were all too willing to slaughter.

The two of them had come from backgrounds that were about as opposed as one might find, and yet here they were now, together. They had met on the battlefield, and since then they had become friends, more than friends, and Lan for one couldn't be happier. Had someone told her a story like this before she would've dismissed it as just a fairy tale, but here she was, living what felt to be just like that.

It couldn't last forever, she knew that. The day would eventually come when Quatre would have to return to his world. Lan was a grown woman, and she could accept that. For now, though, that sad day seemed so far away, and it was the last thing that she wanted to think about at the moment. She just wanted to lose herself in Quatre and his music while she had the time and privilege to do so.

The song came to an end a couple minutes later. When it did Lan stood up and went over to Quatre, who was looking at her nervously from the piano bench.

"How was it?" he asked.

She smiled before leaning in to kiss him. "Beautiful."

"Oh," he said, smiling sheepishly and failing to hide his blush, "Well… thanks. I'm glad I haven't lost my touch."

"So am I," she replied with a wink, "Any chance I can get another one out of you?"

Quatre nodded. "All right."

Without further adieu, Lan went back to her chair and sat down. A few moments later Quatre started up his next piece, and she once again lost herself in the melody.

The eve of war would no doubt be upon them soon enough, and Lan would worry about that in due course. For now, thought, the Earth Sphere's growing crises seemed very, very far away. Right now there was only Quatre, his music, and her.

And that was all she needed.

….

"How's it look?" asked Murrue as her boyfriend stepped out of the Gundam's cockpit.

Heero nodded before closing up his machine. "Ready for action."

Murrue smiled as he walked over to her. "You know, you really don't need to worry so much about your machine. Erica's crews have always taken good care of it."

Heero shrugged. "Old habits die hard."

Murrue nodded. "I suppose so."

It wasn't just Heero that was tending to his Gundam; the secret underground hangar was rather busy today. Off to the right Murrue saw Trowa overseeing maintenance on Heavyarms Arsenal, while Duo was checking over Deathscythe Omega. The only missing pilot was Quatre, but if he was anything like his friends Murrue was sure that he'd be down here sooner or later, if he hadn't stopped by already.

She certainly couldn't blame Heero for wanting to make sure his machine was combat ready. Murrue hadn't been out to the Archangel yet, but she'd been keeping in touch with Erica's dock crews, and she knew Natarle had been doing the same with regards to the Dominion. She supposed that Terminal's current status reflected that of the rest of the world; they were on war footing now.

We've always known that a day like this could come, she thought solemnly, and we've done our best over the past two years to prepare for it. Still, it's hard to see how anyone truly prepares for the onset of a new world war.

"Are you all right?" asked Heero, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She sighed; there was no point in lying to him. He knew her too well, and vice versa.

"Do we really know what we're getting ourselves into here?" she said, "I mean, I know that we've been planning for something like this as a contingency, and we've been monitoring the other powers to the best of our abilities, but still…"

"We can't really say for sure how things will play out," said Heero, "For all of our knowledge and hidden power, there's still far too much that we don't know about the forces at work here and what their next moves will be. Does that sound about right?"

Murrue forced a smile. "That's one way to put it."

Heero nodded. "I understand what you're feeling. No two global conflicts are ever exactly the same, after all. For all the experience we gained from the last war, we still can't say for certain what we're walking into here."

Murrue gave a hollow chuckle. "I've got one world war under my belt, and you've got two. You'd think that people like you and I would know what to expect more than most, but here we are with our doubts and fears."

"We need those doubts and fears," Heero replied firmly, "Without them we're reckless, and that's a good way to get killed."

Murrue smirked. "Reckless? This coming from the man who took on Avalon and GENESIS head on? I'm not sure you know the meaning of the word, Heero."

The Perfect Soldier chuckled. "Either that, or my definition of it falls outside the normal one."

"That wouldn't surprise me," said Murrue as she kissed him on the cheek.

She then looked up at the imposing figure of his Gundam. "All of this strength, including the most powerful mobile suit in the world, and yet we're still facing an uphill fight. We're outnumbered to a ridiculous degree, and our enemies haven't been sitting idle when it comes to R&D either."

Heero nodded. "We've only seen the vanguards of the forces that will be fighting this war. The full fleets have yet to take the field."

"I wonder what the world will be like when it's all over," said Murrue, "I thought that the Bloody Valentine war would've left enough of a mark on the Cosmic Era, but we're about to fly into another global conflict only two years out from the last one. Is this the fate of our world? One massive conflagration after the next? How are we supposed to build a life together in a world that's determined to tear itself apart?"

"By fighting with everything we have to protect it," said Heero firmly.

Murrue gave him a weak smile. "You make it sound so simple."

"It always has been for me," he replied, "The mission's always been the same; protect the innocent and the people that are close to me. It's the same for you, isn't it, Murrue?"

Murrue nodded. "I suppose it is. Still…"

"What is it?" he asked.

She met his gaze. "Heero, if I have to fight again, I can do it as long as I fight alongside you. I'm willing to give it my all, but… I don't want our lives to be defined by fighting. I want there to be something for us beyond fighting."

Heero nodded. "So do I. I don't intend to spend the rest of my life like this, Murrue. I want to reach the day that I can truly leave the battlefield behind, and I want to reach it with you by my side. I don't know how far into the future that day might be, but we will make it there."

Murrue smiled again, this time genuinely; if anyone knew how to encourage her, it was him. "And when we do? What do you want to do then, Heero?"

He looked down for a moment. "I'm… I'm not sure."

She reached out and caressed his cheek. "Well, whatever we do, we'll do it together. Our new life together is only two years old, Heero. It's still young, and I intend for it to grow."

Heero gave her a small smile in return. "So do I."

….

Sitting behind the desk in her office aboard the Minerva, Talia nodded as her Executive Officer made his report. "I see. How is the crew holding up?"

"Well enough at the moment," Arthur replied, "However, there is some… tension."

Talia chuckled ruefully. "No doubt thanks to our dear friends in the Atlantic Federation. Everyone knows that the President is due for his address concerning the incident up in orbit at any time now. Since what he says could very well push us into a new world war, I'd say that some tension is completely understandable."

"I agree, ma'am," said Arthur, "May I speak frankly?"

Talia smiled. "Of course. You know that I prefer that, Arthur."

Her XO nodded. "Thank you, ma'am. I believe that some of the concern among the crew is less due to the coming announcement from the Atlantic Federation, but what our role will be in the response. Have we still not received new orders from the homeland?"

Talia shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not."

Arthur sighed. "Captain, how long do they intend to leave us in limbo like this? All necessary repairs and maintenance have been completed by the Orb dock crews. There is no reason for us to remain in this country any longer."

"I'm with you on that, Arthur," said Talia, "However, when we first arrived in Orb the instructions that I received from the Defense Council were quite clear; after safely returning Lady Cagalli to her people and allowing the local crews to perform the necessary maintenance on our ship, we are to await explicit orders before departing this nation."

Arthur shook his head. "Our most obvious course of action would be to head to Carpentaria, right? I highly doubt that Orb would let us use their new mass driver to return to space, regardless of whatever goodwill we might have with their leader. Carpentaria is therefore the only logical choice for our next destination."

"That it may be," Talia replied, "but that is not our call to make. Our superiors are the ones who have the larger picture in front of them, not us. That's why we must trust their judgment and follow their orders when they do arrive. I'm sorry, Arthur, but this matter is not up for debate. We're soldiers, after all; we need to act the part. Is that understood?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes, Captain."

"Good," she said, "Is there anything else that you would like to bring to my attention?"

"Not at this time, ma'am," he replied.

Talia smiled. "In that case, you're dismissed. Rest up, Arthur. One way or the other, we're going to need all the energy that we can muster soon enough."

Arthur nodded. "Yes, ma'am. And…"

"What is it?" she asked.

He smiled. "You should do the same, Captain. It's not my place to say this, but I think that the crew as a whole will perform better if its commander gets some rest."

Talia nodded. "I will."

"I'll be going, then," said Arthur.

He turned around and headed for the door, but Talia stopped him before he could leave. "Arthur?"

Her XO looked a bit startled. "Ma'am."

Talia smiled at him again. "I appreciate your concerns. You needn't hesitate to voice them. All I ask is that you be respectful in airing them, and you've demonstrated that you're more than capable of that."

Arthur nodded. "Understood, Captain."

The door shut behind him a few seconds later, leaving Talia alone with her thoughts. It wasn't like Arthur to comment on her personal wellbeing; perhaps she'd been staying up a little too late reviewing intelligence briefings and it was starting to show. That wouldn't have surprised her; the material that she'd viewed hadn't exactly been soothing.

The Defense Council's been busy up in orbit, she mused, Cancelling shore leaves, calling up reserves, redeploying squadrons… all actions one would expect of a nation gearing up for war. Is that where we're heading, Durandal?

After arriving in Orb, Talia had been well aware that the attempted colony drop would raise global tensions, but she had hoped that eventually they would subside after the major powers concluded their inquiries. That had been before the Atlantic Federation Senators had held their press conference, however. The Americans hadn't shown a hint of restraint or diplomatic tact in the manner that they'd delivered their findings to the public; it was as if they'd been trying to stir things up even more than they already were. All eyes were now on the man in the Oval Office, waiting for that moment when he would make his announcement.

The Senate's announcement had the effect of an unofficial ultimatum. It would be a tough act to follow, and Talia suspected that President Copeland would do so by making what was unofficial now official. She hoped that she was wrong; one global war had been more than enough for her tastes. Still, she wasn't exactly feeling optimistic about the prospects of deescalating the current tensions in the Earth Sphere; the Americans had put more than a few nails in the coffin of those efforts.

Talia sighed. What would come would come. Her power to influence the events unfolding beyond her ship was nonexistent. All she could do now was sit tight and wait for the dreaded hammer to fall.

A loud chirping came from her monitor; it was the direct communications line from the bridge to her office. She pressed a key and the current on-duty signals officer showed up on the screen, a raven-haired young man in his early twenties.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Ma'am, turn on the news, quick!" her subordinate replied frantically.

He should've addressed her with a bit more decorum and professionalism, but Talia would let his lapse slide for now. The young man was clearly distressed, and taking him to task wouldn't help matters.

"Which channel?" she asked.

"Any channel!" said the officer, "The Atlantic Federation President's going live! This is it!"

Talia nodded and adjusted her monitor. So the moment had come, and a little sooner than she had been expecting.

There was President Alexander Copeland sitting at the desk in what was clearly the Oval Office. The flags of both the Atlantic Federation and the Earth Alliance flanked him. His demeanor was resolute and severe, neither of which boded well as far as Talia was concerned.

"Here we go," she whispered.

"People of the Atlantic Federation," he began, "As you are all painfully aware of, not only our nation but our entire world narrowly escaped utter calamity merely eleven days ago. Our Senate, in cooperation with our intelligence agencies, has conducted a thorough investigation into the matter, the preliminary findings of which were released to the public a short time ago. At that time, the committee that handled the inquiry made several recommendations, many of which sounded drastic at the time. I can understand that many of you are concerned at such pronouncements. Know that I share your concerns, but we cannot allow fear to deter us from doing what is necessary to defend not only our country but our precious world. Therefore, I make this address not only to my fellow countrymen but to all who call our beautiful Earth home."

Not good, she thought, I know he didn't say 'blue and pure world', but his rhetoric certainly harkens to that sentiment, and he's just gotten started. I wonder if Blue Cosmos actually wrote this damn speech instead of the President…

"The culprits behind this attempt at what would no doubt have been an act of genocide of monumental proportions," he continued, "were all Coordinators. To our knowledge, all of the direct perpetrators were killed in the battle that resulted in the destruction of the ruins of Junius Seven. However, their deaths do not mean that the threat to this planet has been removed. In order to truly secure the safety and continued prosperity of the Earth, we must move to address the source of the threat."

Talia's spirits were already low, but they took a nosedive at that statement. The true source of the threat to Earth was Patrick Zala's rabid Coordinator-supremacist ideology, but those who still adhered to it since the end of the war remained a fringe element of Coordinator society. With the renegade fleet destroyed in the Break The World Incident, whatever real power they were still able to muster had suffered a heavy blow, perhaps a mortal one. However, it would seem that President Copeland did not see things that way. She doubted that the 'source' of the threat in his mind and in those of his advisors was merely the ideology of a man that had died two years ago. That required nuance, and the Americans had shown little inclination towards that as of late. If the Atlantic Federation government was truly willing to make that kind of a distinction then the Senate press conference would not have been so provocative. As it was, world peace now stood upon the edge of a knife, and Talia had a sinking feeling that tonight's speech would drive it over the precipice.

"As the committee made clear," said the President, "the government of the PLANTs bears no small amount of responsibility in this matter. Whether it was by malice or negligence is still an open question, but either way the ruling body at L5 allowed substantial amounts of warships and mobile suits to fall into the hands of those who sought to inflict catastrophic harm to the Earth. That cannot be brushed aside simply because a great tragedy was averted. Concrete steps must now be taken in the name of global security. A reckoning is at hand, and accounts must be settled."

Are you watching this, Durandal?, she thought, Are you prepared for what will come next? I'm just a soldier; you're the ruler of all of L5. The fate of our people may very well rest on your shoulders…

"The PLANTs can no longer be allowed to function as an armed autonomous state," Copeland declared, "For the sake of all life on Earth the colonies at L5 will have to be brought under the umbrella of the Earth Alliance. At the same time, they must be disarmed and occupied by our military. Under the supervision of our armed forces, the Coordinators will then be fully integrated into the Earth Alliance, with representatives from the Atlantic Federation, Eurasian Federation, and the Republic of East Asia forming a coalition government to properly administer their colonies. Their economic resources must also be made to serve the Earth Sphere as a whole and not solely the needs of L5. This is the only way that is guaranteed to avert any repeats of what has become known as the Break The World Incident."

"If the PLANT government truly wishes to demonstrate a desire for peace and prosperity throughout the Earth Sphere," the President continued, "then they must indicate their willingness to comply with these measures. By swallowing their pride and relinquishing their independence in this manner, they will show that they are truly prepared to be responsible members of the global community, and they shall be welcomed into the Earth Alliance with open arms. Such a transition would no doubt have its share of trouble spots to overcome, but if the end result is a safer world, and if the Coordinators truly desire such a world, then they should demonstrate their willingness to commit to this process."

Talia shook her head in dismay. Renounce independence? Become part of the Earth Alliance and allow themselves to be occupied militarily? Allow those who had tried to massacre them in the last war to become their rulers? Submit to economic exploitation when they had become independent in part to escape exactly that sort of exploitation in the first place? These were impossible demands for the Coordinator people to accept, and Talia had a feeling that the Atlantic Federation President was entirely aware of that.

"Now," said Copeland, "such measures cannot, of course, be carried out over night. There is a natural process for matters such as these; a considerable amount of time and effort will be needed in order for these policies to actually go into effect. However, the capacity to signal the intent to comply with such measures is another thing entirely, and we expect to receive such a signal from the PLANTs within the next forty-eight hours. By declaring their intent to fully cooperate with us, the Coordinators may yet prove their earnest desire for peace and security throughout the Earth Sphere."

The President's eyes then narrowed. "I would advise the PLANT Supreme Council and its Chairman to declare their intent to comply with these measures within the allotted time period. A prompt announcement will enable this process to truly begin moving forward. However, if no such declaration is made by the time those forty-eight hours have elapsed, I am afraid that truly drastic steps will need to be taken. In the event that the PLANTs refuse to relinquish their sovereignty and their armaments in the name of global peace, then I shall convene a special session of Congress to authorize a declaration of war."

There it is, Talia thought grimly, out in the open for all to see.

"It is my sincerest desire to avoid an armed conflict," said the President, and Talia was amazed that the man was actually able to keep a straight face as the words came out of his mouth, "No one in their right mind would wish for a return to the staggering destruction that rocked our world two years ago. It would be with the heaviest of hearts that I would go before our Congress to declare war, but if it comes to that it would only be because the PLANTs will have given us no other option. If the Coordinator government will not be part of the solution, then it is clearly part of the problem. There can be no middle ground here; with the safety of our beautiful Earth on the line, half measures cannot hope to suffice. Either the PLANTs agree to dissolve their government and military and submit to occupation, or they will be brought into line through force of arms. Should it come to that, rest assured that my resolve is absolute; I will see this matter through to its end, no matter what the cost may be."

Talia sighed as she turned off the monitor; she didn't need to hear the rest. The events that would soon play out were already crystal clear in her mind's eye. They were so vivid that it was like she had already lived them.

The Atlantic Federation had made its ultimatum. Durandal and the Supreme Council would unanimously reject it. The deadline would pass…

…and then the world would be at war again.

….

As his fellow members of the PLANT Supreme Council filed out of the group's primary meeting chamber, Durandal parted ways with them. The Atlantic Federation President's speech had turned what was already a busy evening of work into an absolutely frantic one, and the Chairman doubted that he would get any chance to rest until well into the following morning, or perhaps not until the evening of the next day.

The demands of high office can be quite grueling at times, he mused as his aides and security detail escorted him to his office, but this is what I signed up for. I always knew that a reckoning would be necessary, but I had feared that my tenure as Chairman might expire prior to it. How strange to actually be relieved at this turn of events…

Of course, that was a sentiment he dared not utter publicly.

A few minutes later they had arrived at his office, and Durandal politely shooed away his retinue. He would have very little time before he would need to get to an emergency session of the Defense Council, and there was an important call that he needed to make in private.

He sat down at his desk and powered up his workstation. As soon as it was ready he dialed out on the software phone and waited patiently for the expected party to answer. It didn't take long.

"Well, now," said a relaxed male voice, "That was quicker than I thought. You move fast, Chairman."

"We saw the President's announcement," said another male voice, sounding almost like it was discussing the weather rather than a sign of imminent war, "I take it that this isn't a social call."

Durandal smirked. The feed was sound only, but there was no need for visuals; he knew exactly who he was talking to.

"Indeed," said Durandal, "Are you combat ready?"

"We're always ready for a fight," said the first voice, "but what about our machines?"

"I thought our new mobile suits still weren't ready, Chairman," said the second.

"It's true that Projects Knight Regalia and Witch Regalia are behind schedule," Durandal admitted, "Neither machine will be ready for the opening act. However, I do still have units for you to use. The new GOUF Ignited requires field testing, and a few prototype suits are available. I could send two of them your way."

"Make it just one," said the second voice, "I've seen the designs; that unit's closer to my style of fighting than that of my partner."

"He's right," said the first voice, "Got anything with a little more kick, Chairman?"

"Well," Durandal replied, "if you insist on remaining true to form, then I'm afraid that the closest substitute I can offer for now is a standard Gunner ZAKU Warrior. That strikes me as a rather poor fit for a pilot of your caliber, though."

"It's fine," said the first voice, "As long as it's got a big gun, I'll make it sing."

Durandal nodded. "Very well, then. You'll have your machines."

"Just one thing," said the second voice, "I want the paint jobs altered to our specifications."

Durandal chuckled. "Ah, of course. It would be good for morale to see the two of you in your trademark colors, after all. I'm assuming you'll want the emblems, too?"

"You got it," said the first voice, and Durandal was sure that the source of it was grinning.

"We also want our autonomy upheld," said the second voice, "That was one of the terms of our contract, after all."

Durandal smiled. "And I have every intention of letting you keep it. You'll be free to engage as you see fit. Of course, I'm expecting a performance fitting of the freedom that you've been given. I trust that you'll make it worth ZAFT's investment in the two of you."

"Keep your end of the bargain," said the second voice, "and we'll keep ours."

"You're paying us for what we do best," said the first voice with a chuckle, "Don't worry; we'll give you plenty of fireworks."

Durandal nodded. "I'm looking forward to it. Your usual liaison officer will contact you when your mobile suits are ready. You'll be flying from the Gondwana for the opening act."

"A prestigious stage," said the second voice.

The first voice laughed. "I'll say. Biggest damn ship in the fleet. I hope we don't get lost on that thing."

"You'll be provided with orientation materials for her shortly," Durandal replied, "I suggest that you study up."

"Understood," said the second voice.

"Anything else?" asked the first.

Durandal shook his head. "Not for now. Thank you for your time."

"Copy that," said the first.

"Farewell," said the second.

Those two truly are dogs of war, Durandal mused as the call ended, I suppose they were born for it. After all, they put on quite show in the final act of the last war. They danced in the shadow of GENESIS with none other than Wing Zero and survived. They've laid low for the past two years, but now they'll get to return to their natural environment.

Welcome back, Galm Team.

Preview for next time!

The Atlantic Federation has issued its ultimatum, and the question of war or peace now falls into the hands of the PLANTs. For Chairman Durandal and the Supreme Council, the terms offered by the Earth Alliance's leading nation are completely unacceptable, and ZAFT prepares for battle. In the midst of the impending showdown between the two superpowers, Heero and the rest of Terminal watch from their hideout in Orb as the world marches to war, waiting for the right moment to act. Next time, on "Destiny's Call", Episode Eight: Ignition.

"Alea iacta est."

Translation: "The die is cast."

Gaius Julius Caesar.

Author's Notes: Well, the shit's about to hit the fan! I know you're all eager for everyone to start throwing down, but it takes a lot of effort to set up a world war. Don't worry, the explosions will start taking place soon enough, and the Gundam pilots will do what they do best; turn the bad guys' best laid plans into smoldering ruins.

Hope you all liked the chapter. Please review!