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?)

17. Chapter 17

Author's Notes: Hello there! Happy winter holidays to those who celebrate them! Consider this chapter my gift to you. Not too much to really say right now. This one's pretty light on the action; character interaction and politics are the main focus, along with a dive into scientific atrocity in the latter part of the chapter. Anyway, I'll get out of your hair.

Enjoy!

Episode Seventeen: Ghosts of Lodonia

Leaning against the back wall of the bridge, Andrew Waltfeld sighed. "Well… that could've gone a whole lot better."

Aisha placed a hand on his shoulder. "It could've gone worse, too."

Standing with them while Lieutenant Tsukino managed the bridge, Murrue shook her head. "What a mess… I'm just glad it's over."

Of course, 'over' was a relative term. The battle certainly was, with both the Archangel and Dominion having recalled their mobile suits and slipped quietly beneath the waves after the Minerva and the few stragglers of the combined Atlantic Federation and Orb Union First Fleet had left the field. Terminal's two most powerful battleships were now cruising underwater in the open Aegean Sea, clear of any potential threats so that the crew could have a chance to collect their breath.

On the bright side, we didn't lose anyone, thought Murrue, but that's only if one considers just Terminal's forces. We came here to save Cagalli's countrymen from disaster, and on that front, we failed... catastrophically so.

The tactician in her told her that there was nothing more she could've done. Under Yuna's command, the First Fleet had been a threat to the Archangel; she'd been given no choice but to engage them in order to safeguard her crew. Heero had made the same call, and together they'd at least deprived the Earth Alliance of a major strategic asset in the surface theater of the Second Bloody Valentine War. That hardly made her feel better about what she had taken part in, though.

How many Orb Union sailors and pilots had Terminal killed today? It was too early for official figures, but Murrue knew that would change in due time. She might not have pulled the triggers of her ship's guns, but she'd given the orders to fire; she had more than her share of their blood on her hands. What would happen when she inevitably faced Cagalli? How would the young woman respond to the fact that Murrue had commanded the Archangel to sink Orb Union warships?

Forget about me, she mused grimly, How will she react the next time she comes face to face with Heero?

It was a difficult question. Murrue had been keenly watching the Wing Zero Albion throughout the fight, and there was no doubt that Heero had personally sunk more Orb Union warships than the Archangel and Dominion combined. He had made them pay in blood for following Yuna's orders, and the ire Cagalli likely felt towards him wouldn't be eased just because he'd allowed a few survivors to retreat.

As things were, Cagalli's mental state was fragile to say the least. From what Murrue understood, she still hadn't left the cockpit of the Strike Rouge. Kira had remained down in the hangar trying to coax her out, and Lacus had gone down to help as well, but their efforts had thus far yielded no results. The poor girl was likely still in shock, and it was hard for Murrue to blame her. If it came down to it, she had access to the Strike Rouge's override codes and could force an entry, but Murrue wanted to give Kira and Lacus time to help Cagalli on their own. At this point, her intervention likely wouldn't be appreciated.

"At least this'll knock Orb out of the war for a while," said Andrew, "The First Fleet was their primary offensive force; their other naval groups are meant for defensive deployment. Unato could always order them to take the field, but he'd probably get some pretty strong pushback from the commanders given what happened today."

"That's an understatement," Aisha quipped, "Now that they know they'd be up against us as well as ZAFT, I wouldn't be surprised if they mutiny if he orders them to leave home waters."

Murrue's brow furrowed. "Is there any way we could encourage that? I'm not normally an advocate for military coups, but if one could remove the Seirans from power and free Orb from Atlantic Federation influence it might be worth pursuing."

The Desert Tiger scratched his chin in thought. "It's possible. I'll ask Eric to put some feelers out; the network of contacts he's built up with Kisaka in Orb's armed forces over the past two years should at least give us a good grasp of the general mood amongst both officers and the rank and file."

Aisha frowned. "I don't know… that's a dangerous road to go down. The Zala regime was a military government in all but name during the final campaigns, and those weren't exactly good times."

Murrue shook her head. "I understand your concern, but we'd hardly end up with a repeat of the Zala regime here. Cagalli's popular with the troops; that's part of why Yuna and Unato worked hard to turn her into a puppet ruler rather than outright depose her."

"That popularity didn't stop them from shooting at her today," Aisha countered.

"Even so," said Andrew, "I'm willing to bet they'd be much more eager to follow her than the Seirans, especially after what just took place. She's popular with the civilians too, which would make a coup much easier to sell."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Murrue, "In the meantime, we've got more immediate concerns."

"Like the fact that the Eurasians apparently had a pilot capable of going toe-to-toe with Heero hidden from us this whole time?" asked Aisha.

"That's certainly one thing to worry about," Andrew admitted, "The Eurasians mostly played a secondary role in the last war, and up until now it looked like things would play out mostly the same way in this war. If they're sending their top aces to the front lines, though, then it looks like they may be shifting towards more active participation in the conflict."

"I'm not so sure about that," Murrue argued, "Maybe they sent those three aces and the supporting squadrons just to placate the Atlantic Federation. The Americans are the ones who were gung-ho about starting another war, not the Eurasians. This might be a way for the Eurasians to keep them off their backs. They do have much more substantial forces that they could commit to the war effort, after all."

Andrew nodded. "That's true. Up until now, the Eurasian Federation's mostly operated in a logistical support capacity. They did have their Pacific Fleet put to sea early in the war, but given the losses we inflicted on the Atlantic Federation forces in that region I imagine the Eurasians are probably nervous about the chance of suffering the same kind of beatdown."

"Their Pacific Fleet was probably brought in more to pressure Orb into siding with the Earth Alliance than anything else," Aisha added, "I can't see it being much of a threat to Carpentaria given the casualties the Atlantic Federation's naval units in the area took; they wouldn't have nearly enough support to mount a successful assault on the base. It wouldn't surprise me if the Eurasians have shifted that fleet back to a defensive deployment, or are at least using it more for reconnaissance rather offense."

"We need to find out what their real position in this war is," said Murrue, "If we can drive a wedge between the Atlantic and Eurasian Federation it'll only help us going forward."

Andrew shook his head. "That's definitely a case of easier said than done. It's not like we have any big connections in the Eurasian Federation, after all."

"Why don't we start off small?" Aisha suggested, "That pilot Heero fought against today; Eric's going to look into him, right? Maybe we'll find something we can use there."

Murrue sighed. "We can only hope."

Aisha gave Murrue a sympathetic look. "Speaking of Heero, are you doing okay? I know how much you want him to come back to the Archangel."

Murrue smiled. "I appreciate the concern, but I'm all right. It's true that I'm worried about him and don't entirely agree with his reasoning, but I still understand why he wants to stick with the Minerva for a while longer. He believes he can uncover intel that will help us in the long run, and he's well aware of the risks involved. I don't like it, but he promised me that he'd come back when the time was right, and I believe in him."

Andrew nodded. "He won't let you down. You know how he is; when he makes you a promise, he'll keep it come hell or high water."

Murrue closed her eyes, an image of Heero appearing in her mind's eye. "Yes… he will."

….

When Mihaly and the Wyvern made landfall, it was less of a landing and more of a highly controlled crash. The damage the prototype mobile suit had suffered at the hands of the Freedom meant that a stable landing was out of question, but the Eurasian ace had still been able to touch down without causing too much additional damage to his bruised and battered machine.

That could've gone much worse, all things considered, he thought as he watched the crews finish tying the Wyvern down to the back of the trailer before hauling it off to the hangar for repairs, I've had harder landings in my time.

The beaten state of the Wyvern felt like a mirror for the Eurasian ace. While Mihaly could take pride in going toe-to-toe with the deadliest pilot in the Earth Sphere, the duel had taken its toll on him. Even now, his breathing was ragged, and he required assistance from a base nurse with a portable respirator. His chest felt like it had been hit by a ton of lead, and his limbs felt heavier than his mobile suit. He couldn't even stand without assistance, but he had stubbornly insisted on waiting to see the base medics; he wanted to make sure his machine was secure first.

His wasn't the only Eurasian machine that was worse for wear. The Espada Team had made it back to base before Mihaly, and while Alberto's machine was relatively unscathed the same couldn't be said for Marcella's. Mihaly recalled that the two of them had tangled with the Gundam designed for mass-fire tactics; apparently that machine's pilot was more than capable of adapting to a duel if the occasion called for it.

An extraordinary group of pilots, he mused, and the Earth Alliance decided to pick a fight with them. At least we haven't suffered the same kind of losses as the Americans have to them.

"Major Reyne," said the nurse who was supporting him, a raven-haired woman in her early thirties, "You shouldn't stay out here. We need to get you to the infirmary."

Mihaly was about to relent when he saw none other than Espada One and Two approaching from across the tarmac. "Just a little bit longer."

The woman shook her head in frustration. "Pilots…"

The two Spaniards looked tired but little worse for wear. Mihaly envied them; his advancing years were definitely beginning to catch up to him.

Alberto chuckled when he and Marcella got closer. "Lived to get a few more grey hairs, eh?"

"Something like that," Mihaly replied before he was forced to take a breath from the respirator.

Marcella looked worried. "You really shouldn't be out here right now."

"That's what I keep telling him," said the nurse, giving Mihaly a glare.

"You really should lay down for a bit," said Alberto.

Mihaly's brow furrowed. "Last I checked, I still outrank you, Captain."

Alberto raised an eyebrow. "Funny, you never struck me as the type to pull rank."

Mihaly had a retort on the tip of his tongue, but he was gasping for breath, so his comeback was lost to the respirator. As much as he hated to admit it, his comrades were right; he wouldn't be on his feet for too much longer at this rate. Still, there was something he needed to know first.

"The pilot you fought," said the Major after a moment, "I take it he was good?"

Alberto laughed. "You really have to ask?"

Mihaly smirked. "I suppose not when you put it like that."

"So, the combat data the Americans provided before this little misadventure was actually right for once," Marcella quipped, "Those five, the ones piloting the machines called Gundams… they're strong. All of them."

"No kidding," said Alberto, "Just what have the brass gotten us into?"

"A test," Mihaly replied firmly, "One unlike any the three of us have faced before. Today was just the first round; our trial's only just begun."

….

"Come on, Cagalli," Kira's voice echoed from outside the Strike Rouge's cockpit, "You can't stay in there!"

"Let us help you, Cagalli!" pleaded Lacus, "Don't shut us out like this!"

Cagalli barely heard them. Her amber eyes, normally burning with righteous passion, were darkened with despair and horror as she vacantly stared at the deactivated monitor before her. For everyone else, the battle had ended a while ago.

For Cagalli, it was still raging.

Images of the burning wrecks of the First Fleet's warships dominated her mind. Orange flames spreading across the sea, charred and scorched slabs of metal floating amidst the waves…

…and lances of golden-yellow hellfire raining down from on high, increasing the carnage with each shot.

Heero… why?

Why did you murder my people?

The small part of her mind that wasn't overwhelmed with guilt and sorrow knew that the accusation wasn't fair. After all, it had been a battle, and the First Fleet was operating under the banner of the Earth Alliance. More to the point, they'd been under the direct command of her cousin, a man who had knowingly sold his country out to those who had launched this new war with an attempt at genocide during their opening assault on L5. They had been a legitimate military target, and Yuna had done them no favors by ordering them to attack the Archangel.

And yet…

…hadn't there been another way?

The entire point of Terminal's intervention in that fight had been to get the Orb Union First Fleet to turn back. The mission had been to save the lives of her countrymen; Heero had known that just as well as everyone else. Wing Zero Albion might not have been the Freedom, but Heero still could've fought her countrymen with greater restraint, right? His skills combined with the ZERO System meant that he could easily have fought to disable rather than kill.

So why had he decided to put them down for good? Yes, they had moved against the Archangel, and Cagalli was well aware of how Heero's mind worked; a threat against that ship was a threat against the woman he loved, and his devotion to her safety meant that he would respond to any such treat with extreme prejudice. Still, couldn't he have simply taken out the weapons of the First Fleet's warships instead? Couldn't Murrue have asked him for a more measured response instead of the utter carnage that he had unleashed?

"Cagalli!" shouted Kira.

"Please, come out of there!" Lacus begged, "At least talk to us! How can we help you if you won't let us?"

A new male voice joined them. "Hey, princess. This isn't exactly fitting behavior for someone like you. What would your father say if he could see you now?"

Cagalli's eyes narrowed. "That was low, Waltfeld."

She heard the Desert Tiger chuckle. "Low, maybe, but at least it got a response. Sounds like the kids here haven't even been able to manage that much. How long are you going to sulk in there?"

"Go away," said Cagalli bitterly, "You wouldn't understand."

"Oh, really?" Andrew replied, "A man who defected from the PLANTs two years ago and had to fight against his own countrymen wouldn't be able to understand how it feels to not be able to save your own countrymen? Have you forgotten who you're talking to, princess?"

Cagalli winced; he did have a point there. "I'm sorry, but still… it's not the same."

"Not in the details, perhaps," Andrew admitted, "I wasn't their ruler, after all, but I was one of their senior military officers. How many young ZAFT soldiers who might've looked up to me do you think were killed thanks to orders I gave as one of the leaders of the Three Ships Alliance? How do you think I felt whenever we fired upon ZAFT warships and mobile suits in combat?"

Cagalli had no answer.

"Look, today was a nightmare," the Desert Tiger continued, "No one here's going to deny that. We all know that it was harder for you by far than it was for the rest of us. Still, do you think you're doing the souls of the Orb soldiers who died today any favors by moping in your cockpit? Yes, we came out to here to save them, and we failed. This is war; you don't win every fight, and tragedies are par for the course. That doesn't mean we let those failures paralyze us, though. You want to help your countrymen that are still alive and make sure those who died did not do so in vain? You can't do that by shutting yourself off from everyone else and sulking when things go south."

Cagalli sighed. "I know, but still… how can I save my country if I can't even convince soldiers to leave a battlefield until after nearly all of them have been wiped out? How can I face the families of those who died here today knowing that so many of them were killed by friends of mine… and the lion's share by one in particular?"

"You can face them because you have the strength to do so," Andrew replied, "None of us would back you for the leadership of Orb if we didn't think you were up for it. Being a ruler means having to look your people in the eye when tragedy strikes and give them hope for the future. You can still do that even for the families of those who were killed by Terminal, whether it be by the guns of our battleships or by the rifle of our deadliest ace."

Cagalli shook her head. "Why… why do you all still believe in me? I was a complete failure today, and that wasn't the first time. If I was half as strong as you all believed I was, I never would've let the Seirans seize control of Orb in the first place."

"You're wrong," said Andrew firmly, "You're as strong as we believe you are and then some. You're also young; governing at your age is far harder than us so-called 'adults' would have it in your shoes. We all know the burden that's on your shoulders, and we're all willing to help you carry it. Of course, we can only help you if you let us."

Cagalli closed her eyes for a moment, the image of a certain Gundam still seared into her mind. "What about Heero? I know he did what he felt he had to do, but still… I can't just look the other way. They were my people, Waltfeld."

The Desert Tiger sighed. "My two cents aren't going to help there. That's something the two of you are going to have to work out yourselves. You both might be young, but you're also far more mature than the adults that started this war. When you get the chance, talk to him, and don't hold back; he'll have greater respect for you if you're direct and lay all your cards out for something like this. I can't see him backing down from his stance on the matter, but I also know he'll appreciate the weight of your feelings and give them the time and consideration that they deserve. That might not sound like much, but if you two come at this honestly then I think you've got a better chance of reaching an understanding."

"An 'understanding' won't bring back the people who died today," Cagalli pointed out.

"No, it won't," said Andrew, "but it will help you two continue to work together. The fate of the world is in our hands again, and we need a united front if we're going to save it. We can't afford divisions right now."

He was right, as much as Cagalli might not feel like admitting it at the moment. She knew the stakes as well as everyone else; it wasn't just Orb that they were fighting to save. One side of this war had already attempted nuclear holocaust, and the other was led by a man who had secretly ordered the assassination of a beloved songstress dedicated to peace. Terminal's members couldn't be at each other's throats at a time like this.

Heero, she thought, you're still my friend, but… we're going to have a long talk about what happened today once you're back with us.

She pressed the cockpit release, and when the hatch opened, she saw the Desert Tiger standing outside on the maintenance walkway with a smile on his face. "Well, now. That's progress."

Cagalli nodded. "Yeah… and thanks."

The former ZAFT officer gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Anytime. That's what friends are for, right?"

Before Cagalli could reply, Kira and Lacus came forward. They had apparently backed off earlier to let the Desert Tiger take a shot at talking her out of the cockpit, but now they were front and center, both appearing very much relieved to finally see her out of her mobile suit.

They were both worried about me, she thought, I knew that, but still… I shouldn't have made them wait like that.

"Hey," said Kira cautiously.

Lacus reached out and gently took her hand. "Cagalli… are you all right?"

Cagalli gave her a weary smile. "Not really, but… I will be. I guess I need some time to sort this all out."

"How much time?" asked Kira, "I don't mean to put pressure on you, but… well, I was kind of hoping you'd be up for a little trip tomorrow."

Cagalli raised an eyebrow. "A trip? At a time like this? Kira, did you hit your head during the battle?"

"Hold on, now," Andrew cut in, "There's method to the kid's madness."

Kira chuckled. "I guess I phrased that wrong. I sent Athrun a message at the end of the battle. I wanted to set up a meeting with him."

Cagalli's eyes widened slightly. "With Athrun? What did he say?"

"Nothing," Kira replied, "I just sent him coordinates, a date and time in a burst transmission. It wasn't audio."

"Then how do you know he'll agree to it?" she asked.

"Athrun is not lost to us," said Lacus, "We may disagree with his actions, but he is doing what he believes is right. He's misguided, but his intentions are noble. I do not believe he will refuse an opportunity for dialogue."

"If nothing else, it'll give us a chance to talk some sense into him," Andrew chimed in, "We need him back with us. The longer he's with ZAFT, the deeper a charismatic figure like the Chairman can sink his claws into him."

Kira nodded. "We have to take this chance to bring him back before it's too late. We don't want a repeat of what happened two years ago."

A shiver went down Cagalli's spine. "When you two nearly killed each other… no, we really don't. So, who's all going to the meeting?"

"It was originally going to be you, Kira, and myself," said Lacus, "However, Mister Waltfeld fears that my attendance will leave me exposed for another assassination attempt by ZAFT and refuses to allow it."

The Desert Tiger nodded. "I know you don't like it, but I'm not letting you overrule me on this one. You're staying on the Archangel for the time being."

Lacus gave Cagalli a tired smile. "I guess this is one argument even I can't win. I'm afraid you two will have to convince Athrun of the error of his ways without my help. My apologies."

Kira shook his head. "Don't worry about. Cagalli and I can do this."

Cagalli nodded firmly. "Yeah… we have to."

I lost too many of my people today, she thought, Athrun… I won't lose you to this war too!

….

Talia's brow furrowed as she studied the coordinates displayed on her office monitor. They were centered on a small island to the southeast of what had once been Greece. It had no strategic value, no military assets of any kind were reported there, and its population was so small as to be practically non-existent.

In other words, as good a place as any for a secret meeting, she mused, I still can't believe this, though…

She had wondered when Athrun's connections to the old Three Ships Alliance would come into play. His friendship with Heero Yuy was an obvious one, but it was hardly a secret that part of his defection during the last war was spurred by his relationships with people like Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne. The Freedom had been quite prominent in today's battle, and the identity of its pilot was well known. Talia supposed it had been inevitable that Athrun would seek out Kira even in the midst of such an engagement, and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that the Freedom had been escorting the personal mobile suit of Orb's Chief Representative.

What to make of this latest development? It certainly put Talia in a rough spot. On the one hand, Athrun's friends had provided invaluable aid in the battle at the Dardanelles, and Talia knew that the Minerva would not have survived had they abstained from the fighting. If the pilot of the Freedom wanted a meeting with Athrun after having lent his support to the breakout of the Minerva into the Aegean Sea, Talia was inclined to allow it and see how things played out. However, there was also Durandal to consider. His words regarding Heero and the other Gundam pilots were not far from her mind, and it was only natural to assume that his suspicions would extend to the friends and allies of the legendary ace. A meeting between Kira and Athrun after the latter had become an official member of FAITH was likely something he would not approve of.

However, Talia didn't exactly need his approval for something like this. After all, she was more than just the Captain of the Minerva; she was a member of FAITH as well. She had fairly broad authority to act independently as she saw fit, and she was more than willing to exercise the power that came with her rank at a time like this. Still, caution was warranted.

"You're sure this isn't a trap?" she asked.

Athrun shook his head. "I've known Kira for a long time. Traps aren't his style. Besides, we're not enemies. We just happen to disagree on a few things."

"Philosophical differences are all well and good," said Talia, "but they might not see it that way. After all, you fought alongside Kira and the rest of the Three Ships Alliance during the final campaigns of the First Bloody Valentine War, and now you're back with ZAFT for the second round. They might be more than a little sore about that."

Athrun sighed. "I'm sure things will get a little… awkward. They're not exactly happy with my decision to return to ZAFT. Still, I think it's important to have this meeting. I can act as the representative of the Minerva and help ensure future cooperation between us and Terminal. Look what we accomplished today. We should be looking to replicate that going forward."

"I can't argue with the results of the battle," Talia conceded, "However, the fact remains that your friends are not part of ZAFT. I certainly don't seek conflict with them and am completely open to future cooperation, but you have to understand that there are others higher up the chain of command who might not see things that way."

Athrun raised an eyebrow. "Are you referring to the Chairman?"

"Any number of officials in leadership positions would raise eyebrows at such a move," Talia countered, "You and your friends were instrumental in ending the last war, but you cut a swath of destruction through the ranks of the Earth Alliance and ZAFT in the process. It's only natural for officers on our side to be suspicious, even if your friends provided us invaluable aid today."

Athrun folded his arms. "Are you saying you won't let me go?"

Talia shook her head. "We're both members of FAITH, so we both have the freedom to act in the manner that we think is best. As Captain of the Minerva, I suppose I could prevent you from leaving the ship, but I won't. I respect your abilities as a pilot, and I understand your reasoning. I only wish for you to be cautious, Athrun. It's fine if you wish to represent the Minerva during this little meeting, but be aware that there's only so much leeway the Chairman and the Defense Council will give us."

Athrun nodded. "I understand. I won't commit the Minerva to anything. I'll simply let the others know that you're open to future cooperation."

"Thank you," said Talia, "In that case, let me know when you need to leave. I'll make sure the ship's in a position to accommodate a timely arrival for you."

"I appreciate that," Athrun replied before leaving, "I won't forget this."

After the young man departed the office, Talia leaned back and took a deep breath. She sincerely wished Athrun the best of luck; she certainly wanted things to go well. That being said, it was still her responsibility as Captain to take precautions.

Tapping a few keys on her desk, she contacted her XO. "Arthur, please inform Lunamaria that I wish to see her in my office."

….

Unato's hands were shaking something fierce as he poured himself a glass of bourbon, so much so that he was half-surprised he didn't spill the contents all over his desk. By some miracle it all wound up in the cup, which was quite fortunate for the head of the Seiran Family; he needed something strong to get his nerves back under control.

Yuna, you fool, he thought bitterly, I knew you were taking a needless risk going to the front, and look where it's gotten you!

Perhaps it was overly harsh to criticize his son like so given that he had died mere hours ago, but Unato's grief was counterbalanced by anger and frustration. Not only was House Seiran's future suddenly thrown into doubt with the death of its heir, but the manner of his death and the fact that so many Orb Union soldiers had perished with him meant that Unato's current position had become quite precarious. The full scope of the disaster had yet to reach the ears of the people, but furious whispers were already echoing in the halls of power.

The military brass was absolutely livid at the catastrophe that had unfolded at the Dardanelles. In the quick debriefing Unato had been given once first word of the calamity had reached Orb, it had swiftly become apparent that the senior officers in the room were barely managing to suppress their contempt and fury. At first, Unato had probed to see if that anger could at least be directed towards their enemies, but the commanders were having none of it. Not only had the First Fleet, the pride of the Orb Navy and its primary means of offensive power projection, been utterly demolished, but word from the few survivors was that Yuna had precipitated the slaughter by ordering attacks on both Cagalli and the Archangel. Given the admiration much of the military had for Orb's Chief Representative, that first order alone had been received with disgust by the top brass. When combined with the fact that Yuna had been stupid enough to pick a fight with the Archangel and the Dominion while ZAFT's advanced battleship was still in play…

…well, Unato considered it a miracle that the military hadn't staged a coup already.

He knew that he was standing on a precipice. The private security forces he'd hired and the contractors supplied by the Atlantic Federation would be completely outmatched if the Orb Union military mutinied. Unato could contact Djibril and request a garrison force; since the Orb Union was now part of the Earth Alliance, that was a perfectly legal move. However, 'legal' wouldn't necessarily translate into 'popular' in this case. After all, it had only been two years since the last time the Orb Union mainland was occupied by foreign troops, and the people would hardly be ready for a repeat. Besides, given the losses the Atlantic Federation had already suffered to its Pacific forces since the start of the conflict, it was unlikely that they could currently spare the resources necessary for an occupation. He could increase the security budget for contractor forces and bring in additional hired guns, but that might do little more than delay the inevitable.

His efforts to figure a way out of the mess he now found himself in were interrupted by a chime coming from his desk console. Checking the monitor, Unato bit back a curse; the last person he wanted to speak with at the moment was reaching out to him. Unfortunately for Unato, he wasn't exactly in a position to refuse right now.

Accepting the incoming call, he saw the face of Lord Djibril appear on the monitor… and to say he looked less than pleased would be a considerable understatement. "Ah, Unato. What a pleasant surprise; I wasn't expecting you to answer so promptly. Do forgive me for intruding upon your grieving. My sincerest condolences for the loss you've suffered."

These were pleasantries in name only; the frigid look in Djibril's eyes was proof enough of that. Unato knew he was treading on dangerously thin ice, and a single misstep here would certainly be his undoing.

"Lord Djibril," said Unato cautiously, "I was just about to reach out to you. Thank you for your kind words regarding my son."

Djibril scowled. "Rest assured, those will be the only kind words your son gets in this conversation. When we entered into this partnership, I was led to believe that the First Fleet was the finest fighting force in the Orb Union's navy, and that Yuna was more than prepared to command it. The results of today's engagement would seem to be a classic case of overselling and underdelivering."

Unato cleared his throat. "With all due respect, we were hit with a perfect storm. None of our intelligence services had any evidence that both the Archangel and Dominion had made it all the way out to the Aegean Sea before today's battle."

"Yet you already knew that Wing Zero was operating with the Minerva," Djibril countered, "and we all know that wherever that mobile suit goes, the Archangel is never far behind. Your son should've prepared for that eventuality."

Unato grit his teeth. He was sorely tempted to retort that the Atlantic Federation forces should've made the same preparations, but he held his tongue. Lashing out in anger wouldn't do him any favors.

"What about the Eurasians?" he replied after a moment, "Wasn't it their job to deal with Wing Zero?"

"Their failures will be dealt with in time," said Djibril, "but they were a minority of our forces in that engagement. Your son had command of the most advanced ships in the Orb Union's surface fleet; he had more than sufficient assets to deal with the Minerva while also attending to the threat posed by the other two battleships. His forces lacked proper motivation, and their loyalties were divided. Once your precious Chief Representative was on the field, they fought halfheartedly, even if they did fire upon her. Her very presence on that battlefield constitutes another failure on you and your son's part; the two of you were supposed to have marginalized her well before the outbreak of war. Now she's an active player, and let's be honest; she's far more charismatic and beloved by the people than you and your son will ever be."

His words stung, but Unato couldn't deny the truth behind them. For all the wealth and power of the Seiran family, they'd never truly connected with the citizenry of the Orb Union in the same manner that the Athha family had. Despite her noble birth, Cagalli had the common touch, and her willingness to risk her life on the battlefield gave her near-icon status with the rank and file troops of Orb's military.

"Her resurfacing on the battlefield was... problematic," Unato conceded, "However, with respect, I believe you're overestimating her power. After all, if she had the strength to regain true authority in the Orb Union, she would've done so already."

Djibril glared daggers from the screen. "She didn't have that strength before today, you incompetent ass! Are you in such denial that you fail to realize the seismic shift in the balance of power this disaster will cause? I thought your son was the stupid one in the Seiran family, not you!"

"Matters are somewhat precarious now," said Unato warily, "but the situation is not unsalvageable. Wing Zero was responsible for the lion's share of the First Fleet's losses, and since its pilot has strong ties to Cagalli it'll be a simple matter to use his butchery of Orb's troops to turn the people against her."

Djibril's brow furrowed in thought. "Media manipulation might help with that regard, but it'll be an uphill battle. After all, he did defend both your homeland and its colonies during the last war. People might have short memories, but singular individuals can form lasting impressions. Controlling the information your people receive regarding today's battle won't be enough to keep your grip on power secure. More concrete steps have to be taken."

"If you are offering assistance in that regard, I will happily accept it," Unato replied, privately worrying about the price tag that might be attached to such aid.

"I can only do so much to bail you out of your own mess," Djibril sneered, "Our forces aren't quite as powerful as they were at the start of this war, thanks in no small part to that Gundam you assured me had been destroyed two years ago. As much as I'd like to have an official Earth Alliance peacekeeping force assigned to the Orb Union to bolster security, that's not currently a feasible option. Our resources are needed on the frontlines. That being said, I do have a few measures at my disposal to bolster your position."

Unato was genuinely curious now. "What might those be?"

"Economic aid, for starters," Djibril answered, "I know your nation is heavily reliant on international trade, and even with Morgenroete's extensive military contracts bolstering the workforce war is hardly good for business in Orb. Now that your nation is in our sphere of influence, new trade deals and economic support packages can be drafted to ease your burdens in this hour of need. People with full bellies and fat paychecks are less likely to revolt, after all. Of course, ZAFT's military activities at sea will limit the flow of goods to an extent, but this will at least provide some measure of stimulus for your economy."

Unato nodded. "A promising start, to be sure."

"Quite so," said Djibril, "I will also arrange for additional private security forces to be sent to the Orb Union. The Atlantic Federation will handle the direct fees; Orb will only be responsible for housing and logistical aid once the contractors arrive. These will be geared towards internal security and riot pacification just in case the people find our economic aid to be less than satisfactory. It will also give you another resource at your disposal for keeping dissident officers in the military in check."

"A most generous offer," said Unato, "If you truly are making these resources available to my government, then I'll happily accept them."

Djibril shot him a withering glare. "Let me make this absolutely clear; I am only doing this because I believe your nation still has some strategic benefits to offer to the Earth Alliance. I'm giving this matter a light touch for now, but if you squander this assistance then I will personally divert military assets for occupation and outright annexation. Play your cards carefully, Unato; your nation's sovereignty is at stake here. If you fail to make the most of this aid, then I'll happily throw you to the wolves and find a more useful puppet."

The head of LOGOS and Blue Cosmos disappeared from the monitor before Unato could reply. The old man let out a sigh of relief as he leaned back in his chair, and he reached for the bottle of bourbon from before; a fresh glass was definitely in order.

….

Standing on the upper deck of the mansion that had become his home away from home for the duration of his stay on Earth, Durandal smiled as he took in the view. It truly was a shame that affairs of state kept him so busy; he would've appreciated more time to partake in such a splendid vista. He could take in a good chunk of the Diocuia base at a glance, but the true prize here was the view of the Black Sea.

He shook his head as the specter of Patrick Zala and his radicals flashed through his mind. They would've destroyed all this beauty simply to satisfy a lust for vengeance and a tragically misguided sense of superiority. The fact that their hatred and ambition had made them so very vulnerable to manipulation by a certain masked ace made the situation all the worse, especially given Durandal's personal ties with the man. He pushed those musings to the side; they were tainting his enjoyment of the Black Sea's splendor.

Magnificent, he thought, I will miss this quite dearly when the time comes to return to the PLANTs. The colonies have beauty of their own, but the natural splendor of Earth is truly something else. Our artificial environments feel like pale mockeries, as if we were mere amateurs attempting to copy the likes of masters such as Da Vinci or Michelangelo. Then again, I wonder what those titans of the Renaissance would have to say could they see technological marvels like the PLANTs. Would it inspire new creativity within their brilliant minds? Alas, we'll never know.

What would men like them make of the state of the Cosmic Era? How would they react to not just the Mediterranean Sea but the entire world becoming a battleground dominated by mankind's latest technological terrors? What lessons and musings would they take from the news the Supreme Council Chairman had received mere hours ago regarding the stunning events that had taken place beyond the horizon at the Dardanelles?

Updates were still coming in, but the preliminary reports were very interesting to say the least. Durandal was most pleased at the performance of the Minerva and her mobile suits, of course, but the real kicker by far was the surprise intervention of the Archangel and Dominion. The last intelligence reports regarding the whereabouts of those two ships had indicated they were operating in the Pacific Ocean attacking the Atlantic Federation naval forces in the region. For them to have made it all the way from there to the Mediterranean Sea while avoiding detection in the process was quite impressive to put it mildly.

As much as Durandal might like to tout the power of the Minerva and the skill of her crew, he was more than capable of admitting when the ship and its mobile suits were outmatched. Without the five Gundams or the arrival of the renegade battleships, the odds of the ZAFT vessel surviving the encounter that had taken place today were quite low. Durandal owed Heero Yuy and his allies a great debt for their actions, but he wouldn't fool himself into thinking that the beatdown they'd given the combined Atlantic Federation and Orb Union fleet made them friends. After all, to expect them to have forgotten the attempt on the life of Lacus Clyne would be an exercise in grand self-delusion.

We remain mere allies of convenience, he mused, and at the same time still locked in our cold war. The restraint they've shown thus far has been quite remarkable. I can't deny their usefulness, but I will not blind myself to the realities of the situation. Betrayal will be inevitable; it's only a matter of who strikes first.

It was a very delicate balance he had to maintain. If Durandal were to strike too soon there was a chance he could overplay his hand. The Gundam pilots and their allies in Lacus Clyne's faction had bought themselves a great deal of goodwill with not just the crew of the Minerva but with ZAFT's frontline forces in general. Between defending Armory One and the pursuit of Bogey One, their intervention in Operation Redemption and the part they'd played in mauling the Earth Alliance's surface forces, they'd made a considerable contribution to ZAFT's war effort. Making a move against them could very well rouse the suspicions of the soldiers who saw them as invaluable allies, perhaps even turn them against him. However, moving too late would cede the initiative to Lacus and her allies. For all he knew, they were simply waiting for the opportune moment to release evidence regarding his assassination plot to the Coordinator public, turning popular opinion against his administration and making it easier for the internal opposition to seize power.

The political divide within the PLANTs wasn't nearly as extreme as during the days of the First Bloody Valentine War when Siegel Clyne's moderates and Patrick Zala's radicals had been at each other's throats. It was much easier to present the image of a united front, especially given the way that the Earth Alliance had opened this new war, but things weren't quite that simple in reality. There were figures both within and outside of government that had questioned the Chairman's policies, particularly when it came to the construction of a new colony just outside of the L4 debris field. They were also skeptical of the dramatic reinforcement of ZAFT's surface forces during this new conflict, with many whisperings of the parallels between this and the old regime's campaign during the prior war.

Given the success we've had thus far in the conflict, not to mention the fact that our conduct in the war has been orders of magnitude better than that of Patrick Zala, the opposition currently has nothing solid on which to base their suspicions and thus cannot gain traction, Durandal silently told himself, I imagine that would change considerably should word of Case Black Rose leak.

Removing Lacus Clyne and her supporters from the game would make it easier to enact the rest of his agenda, but he'd fumbled the first attempt and had no choice but to allow them free reign for the time being. The raw firepower of the Gundam Albion alone dwarfed that of the Minerva and all of her mobile suits combined, and when that was put together with the other four Gundams it made for a combat force unlike any other in the Cosmic Era. Nothing less than an entire armada would be required to take down those five pilots, and Durandal could not yet devote that level of resources to such an endeavor; the Earth Alliance was hurting, but they were far from down and out.

More to the point, he still had need of the Gundams pilots and their incredible machines. The great victory that had been won today would open up new opportunities, and one of those was already quite apparent. Before now, the Earth Alliance had possessed an overwhelming numerical advantage when it came to naval assets in the Mediterranean Sea. However, the losses that had been inflicted upon them at the Dardanelles changed that calculus considerably. The playing field had been evened; ZAFT now had a shot to seize dominance over the waters south of Europe.

The enemy forces capable of contesting naval superiority in the region were currently scattered. The Atlantic Federation had a fresh battlegroup based out of the British Isles, but it would be some time before they could be redeployed to properly engage ZAFT's forces. Other American naval squadrons were active in the region, but they would have to concentrate their assets in order to pose any real threat. Meanwhile, the Eurasian Federation's Mediterranean Fleet units were divided up amongst naval bases in Toulon, Palma, Taranto, Marmaris and a handful of other facilities. Given the fact that the Eurasians had only seen fit to commit a handful of mobile suits to today's engagement, it was clear that they were rather reluctant to fully throw their weight behind the Earth Alliance war effort. That was a division Durandal knew he could exploit, but he would have to act carefully.

If we become too aggressive in the region, it might convince the Eurasians that we have greater designs on their territory than just establishing the new base at Diocuia, he thought, I imagine they would step up their involvement in the war considerably if they felt we were threatening a full-on invasion. For now, we need to limit the conflict in this part of the Earth Sphere to a strictly naval affair, and ideally one where Eurasian Federation losses are minimal compared to those suffered by the Atlantic Federation. Today's engagement was a good start, but we need to build upon it.

How to do that, though?

ZAFT's forces in the region were naturally concentrated at Gibraltar and Diocuia, with the former having by far the more powerful and experienced divisions and fleet units at its disposal. Those forces had been built up significantly since the war had begun, to the point that several members of the Defense Council had started to advocate using them offensively rather than defensively. The potential was certainly there, and with the losses the enemy had suffered today the idea of taking the fleet at Gibraltar and meeting the remaining Atlantic Federation naval forces in the region for a decisive battle was now at the very least feasible. However, other voices on the Defense Council continued to argue in favor of holding position while continuing the buildup, with the most aggressive action simply being to block American access to the Mediterranean Sea and therefore isolating Eurasian naval units.

The case for maintaining a strong defensive posture at Gibraltar while both it and Diocuia were steadily reinforced had its merits, but a static defense would leave the field open for the enemy. Durandal was particularly concerned about a concentrated assault on Gibraltar, with the Atlantic Federation coming from the west while the Eurasians massed their fleet and struck from the east. Even if ZAFT's forces at Gibraltar were able to withstand such an attack, they would certainly suffer heavy casualties.

Quickly marshalling our current naval assets and striking to the west could knock the Atlantic Federation out of this theatre of war for good, he mused, but our victory in such a confrontation is not guaranteed. Even bringing the Minerva into the broader fleet for such an operation would not make success a certainty, Gundam pilots along for the ride or no. Besides, to enter into a potentially decisive battle with allies of questionable-at-best loyalty in tow is not exactly wise.

He was still puzzling over the matter when his brown-haired aide, Amber Victors, approached from behind. "Excuse me, Chairman? Do you have a moment?"

Durandal turned around and gave her a friendly smile. "Of course, Amber; war demands that we keep our schedules flexible, after all. Is something the matter?"

A tablet was held in her hands, and she passed it to him. "We've received some interesting reports from the garrison force stationed at the Suez Canal. They broadened their reconnaissance operations after the Orb Union fleet forced their way through the Canal, and they found something strange."

Durandal's eyes narrowed as he studied the material. "Strange indeed… were the scouts who found this able to remain undetected?"

Amber shook her head. "Doubtful. They were flying DINNs; those aren't stealth units, Chairman."

Durandal nodded. "Of course. I suppose it can't be helped. Any signs of major activity?"

"Thus far, no," she replied, "That could always change, though."

"That it could," Durandal concurred, "Run this by the Defense Council. I want us to begin probing their defenses. If they went through all the effort to build and conceal a facility in that location, then there's likely something very valuable inside."

….

Late afternoon was slowly shifting to early evening as the sun gradually descended towards the western horizon. Standing on the upper deck of the Minerva, Wufei was barely aware of the pretty view; his gaze was turned inward.

His latest duel and conversation with Rodrigues had given him much to consider. He still believed the man to be a worthy foe when it came to combat ability, but his focus on simply enjoying the fight without an eye towards the larger cause was unnerving. Wufei might not have thought of himself as completely loyal to ZAFT, but he did consider their role in this war to be one of justifiable self-defense. Yes, the old regime had committed crimes and had attempted to wipe out all life on Earth during the final campaign of the last war, but Patrick Zala and his followers no longer held sway in the halls of power. The last remnants of the radical faction had been purged in Operation Redemption, and regardless of whatever contributions Durandal's pre-war policies had made to rising tensions in the Earth Sphere, the PLANTs definitely still held the moral high ground in this conflict.

Most of the moral high ground, at least, he silently corrected himself, Heero's report that Durandal attempted to have Lacus Clyne assassinated does tar ZAFT's image somewhat, but it's hardly equivalent to attempting genocide through nuclear fire.

Perhaps it was simply because Wufei hadn't joined the other Gundam pilots at Terminal's secret base following Operation Redemption that the attempt on the songstress's life wasn't bothering him as much as it was the others. He had no reason to doubt Heero's word, and based on what he had read about Lacus he did consider the operation to kill her to be a crime, but her life had been saved by her friends. She was well-protected, and Durandal would be a fool to make another attempt while still waging war with the Earth Alliance. After all, the man could hardly afford to alienate the Gundam pilots further.

Those minor reservations aside, Wufei felt reasonably secure in his decision regarding who to fight for. ZAFT was hardly perfect, but they didn't even come close to the evil that the Earth Alliance wished to inflict upon the PLANTs. As long as he kept the broader strategic picture in mind, Wufei could fight without regrets and seek out worthy opponents. The Cosmic Era certainly had plenty of those to offer if the past few engagements were anything to go by.

I still need to ask Heero about his adversary from today, he mused with a smirk, I had no idea the Eurasian Federation had pilots of that caliber at their disposal. That ace who dueled Heero put on quite the show, and the ones who went up against Trowa weren't half-bad either. Things are getting really interesting now…

Rodrigues had been his main foe in the battles thus far, but there was no ironclad rule that said things had to continue like that. Wufei was very much looking forward to taking on Eurasia's aces too, and he hoped the chance to do so would come about sooner rather than later.

"You're smiling," said a familiar female voice, "Should I be worried?"

Wufei glanced over his shoulder and saw that Lunamaria had come out onto the observation deck. "How long have you been there?"

"I just got here," she replied as she joined him at the railing, "I get that we won today and we're still alive, so that's definitely cause for celebration, but given how messy things were and how many people died I'm having a hard time finding much joy in all of this."

"Those who died were your enemies," Wufei pointed out, "You're under no obligation to feel sorry for them. I doubt they'd feel much sympathy for you, especially the soldiers of the Atlantic Federation."

Lunamaria shook her head. "Maybe, but still… not all of them are Blue Cosmos fanatics, right? I bet a lot of them didn't want this war."

"Their wants are irrelevant," Wufei shot back, "We're at war now, and that's the only thing that matters."

Lunamaria sighed. "I guess you're right. Was it like this back in your world? People being forced to fight for causes that they probably didn't even believe in, I mean?"

Wufei shrugged. "I guess that depends on which faction's soldiers you're referring to. The United Earth Sphere Alliance and OZ had professional armies rather than conscript forces for the most part, but I suppose whether or not soldiers actually agreed with the task of suppressing the colonies and keeping them under Earth's iron-heeled boot depended on where they were from and what their prior life experience was. The colonial rebellion was built on volunteers too, although I'm sure more than a few individuals were pressed into Operation Meteor against their will."

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow. "Operation Meteor? What was that?"

Wufei closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the righteous indignation and fury he'd felt when the original plan had been unveiled to him all those years ago. "It was conceived as an act of revenge and dominance. The plan was to drop an entire colony onto Earth, and in the midst of the confusion and devastation that followed the five Gundams were to strike the surviving forces of the Alliance, achieving mastery over the Earth Sphere."

Lunamaria's face paled, and Wufei wouldn't have been surprised if she was experiencing flashbacks regarding their desperate fight to stop the remnants of Patrick Zala's radical faction from doing the same thing with the pieces of Junius Seven. "You… you're serious, aren't you?"

"Why would I lie about something like this?" Wufei countered.

Lunamaria gulped nervously. "And… did you go along with it? I mean… you're one of the five Gundam pilots, after all."

Wufei gave her a glare that was perhaps a bit harsher than he'd intended. "After what you've seen so far, do you really think that any of us would allow such a plan to be enacted?"

Lunamaria flinched. "No, but… well, it's not like I know what happened. I wasn't there… you guys were."

Wufei took a deep breath; he had a hard time mastering himself when he was around her these days, and he really didn't want to think about the possible reason for that. "Yes, we were there… and we sabotaged the plan. None of us were willing to go along with a scheme that would kill billions, but at the same time we were determined to free the colonies from the iron grip of the Alliance. So, we jumped the gun; the five of us deliberately launched our Gundams early and began a guerilla campaign against the Alliance and OZ. The masterminds behind the original plan couldn't drop the colony now unless they were willing to risk possibly destroying their precious Gundams in the process. The war that followed was long and brutal, but if the original Operation Meteor had been allowed to proceed as planned then I can assure you that the bloodshed would've been orders of magnitude worse."

Lunamaria gave a relieved smile. "I shouldn't have doubted you. You might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but… well, you're still a good guy. Your strong sense of justice… it's really inspiring, you know?"

Wufei was a bit taken aback by that. He was so used to arguing with her and dealing with her temper that he found himself jarred by her genuine praise. Where was this coming from?

"It was hard earned," he said after a moment, "The price was high."

Lunamaria nodded. "Your wife was the source, right? Meilan Long?"

Wufei raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you'd remember that detail."

He was surprised by the sudden and intense look she gave him. "I remember everything you've told me since you came here. I keep playing all those conversations back in my head, putting them into context with what I learned when I watched you and Heero sparring… all the clues you threw out that I easily missed before. The war in your old world… did you fight because you wanted to avenge your wife?"

Wufei shook his head. "Vengeance wasn't what her spirit would've wanted. As you said, it was her sense of justice that awakened my own, and that's what I fought for."

"I can understand that," said Lunamaria, concern creeping into her voice, "but for you… I know there's more to it than that. All these duels you've had with that Desperado pilot since arriving here… you're feeding off of them. That thrill you're getting from them is driving you just as much as your sense of justice… maybe even more."

She's more observant than I've given her credit for, he thought, I didn't think she'd be able to discern that in the heat of battle.

"There's purpose in facing off with a worthy adversary," Wufei replied, "When you're dancing on the knife's edge with an opponent who's actually skilled enough to pose a challenge, you're more alive in that moment than you are at any other point in your life. That's been my experience, at least."

Lunamaria's eyes narrowed. "Did you have those 'dances' back in your old war?"

Wufei couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes… I suppose that's where I acquired my taste for them. Two in particular… and I lost them both."

Lunamaria looked thrown off by that admission. "Huh? If you lost, then shouldn't you be dead? I mean, I'm glad that you're not, don't get me wrong. It's just that battles are typically life-and-death affairs."

"My adversary from Desperado Enforcement has walked away from each of our encounters so far," Wufei pointed out, "Warfare may be a life-and-death matter, but mutual survival is possible under certain circumstances."

Lunamaria shrugged. "All right, point taken. Were these duels with different people or the same person?"

"The same person," Wufei answered as his mind went back to his old world, "Treize Khushrenada… the man who held the world in the palm of his hand."

….

Lunamaria was surprised at what had come over Wufei. It was one thing for him to talk about a strong opponent that he respected, but there was something different here. There was an almost hushed awe in his tone, a level of admiration that up until this point she hadn't thought was possible with him.

Just what exactly am I getting myself into here?

She decided to play this one carefully; as eager as she was to learn more about Wufei's past and the world he was from, she didn't want to risk derailing the conversation. "That's… quite a way to introduce the guy. Any chance a girl could get a bit more context?"

Wufei smirked. "You want context? How's this for starters? This is a man who conquered the world twice at the age of twenty-four, and the second time he did it without firing a shot. I haven't seen any leaders in the Cosmic Era that come anywhere close to measuring up to him, your Chairman included."

Lunamaria's jaw dropped, and it took considerable effort for her to keep her thoughts on track. "Can you… rewind a bit there? A guy who conquered the world twice?"

Wufei nodded. "That's right."

She wanted to call him a liar just for the sheer outrageousness of his claims, but her intuition told her that he was very much telling the truth. Lunamaria could've done without the jab at the leader of her country, but she could look past that for the sake of satisfying her curiosity.

She took a deep breath to help her get a hold of herself. "Okay… do you mind giving me the rundown on how he was able to pull that off? You can't just leave a girl hanging after dropping a line like that."

Wufei looked out at the sea for a moment before speaking again. "The government that officially ruled our world during the time of our rebellion was the United Earth Sphere Alliance. However, there was another force behind them, and this was the power that really called the shots. They went by the name of OZ."

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow. "OZ? The hell kind of name is that?"

"The hell kind of a name is ZAFT?" Wufei retorted.

Lunamaria considered it for a moment. "All right, point taken. Can you at least tell me what it stands for?"

"The Organization of the Zodiac," said Wufei, "Officially they were recognized as the Special Mobile Suit Unit, or Specials for short. As far as the rank and file Alliance soldiers were concerned, OZ was primarily an elite combat and black ops unit. However, there was much more to it than that. OZ was actually the military wing of the Romefeller Foundation, a group of industrialists and aristocrats that had steered world events for generations from behind the scenes. Selling weapons of war was their lifeblood, and with the world and colonies under the grip of a military government business was booming."

"And this Treize was the leader of the Romefeller Foundation?" asked Lunamaria.

"No," Wufei replied, "That position was filled by a relative of his. Treize was the head of OZ, which meant he was the one charged with executing the Foundation's will. However, he was far from an obedient lapdog; he had his own agenda and plenty of operational independence, the latter of which he used to great effect the first time he brought the world under his heel. More to the point, unlike the old men that made up the Foundation's leadership, Treize was willing to personally get his hands dirty and risk his own neck."

Lunamaria nodded. "If you say so."

Wufei gave her an annoyed look. "You wouldn't be so casual about him if you knew what he was really capable of."

"Fill me in, then," Lunamaria retorted, "You still haven't given me much to go on, after all."

"Very well, then" said Wufei, "I suppose Operation Daybreak would be the best place to start. It was the first time we really saw the full potential of his cunning, and he turned my fellow Gundam pilots, his enemies, into the greatest asset of that scheme."

"What happened?" asked Lunamaria.

"There was a great conference at the New Edwards base," Wufei answered, "Much of the Alliance's leadership was present, including many high-ranking officers who were actually part of a reform faction. The meeting had been called in no small part due to the campaign we had started against the Alliance and OZ, and while some officers wanted to simply keep on fighting these reformers recognized that another brutal campaign of crackdowns and reprisals wouldn't solve the underlying issues. Instead, they advocated for diplomatic dialogue with the colonies, with the end goal of defusing tensions and even beginning the process of dismantling much of the Alliance's standing army."

"Sounds like you guys brought your enemy to the table," said Lunamaria, "You Gundam pilots work fast."

Wufei chuckled ruefully. "We do, but with speed can come a loss of awareness for the broader picture. A soldier must always strike a balance between quick, decisive movement and the need to study the situation in order to take into account all factors involved… particularly if the situation in question has been misrepresented and is actually a trap."

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The conference was supposed to have taken place under tight security, and the flow of information was meant to be restricted until they could establish opening talks with the colonies," Wufei replied, "However, Treize leaked information regarding the conference… and edited key bits of it."

A dark pit began to form in Lunamaria's gut. "What did he let slip?"

"The fact of the meeting itself and its location, for starters," said Wufei, "However, Treize altered the information to make it look like the conference was actually a gathering of top OZ officials; the presence of the Alliance pacifists and reformers was omitted. The only actual OZ leaders in attendance were Treize and his aide; he had to lend just enough truth to the leak in order to sweeten the bait. I managed to figure out that it was a trap, but Heero and the others had already mobilized by that point. Back then, we were all operating independently. That lack of coordination in those early days bit us in the ass hard at New Edwards."

Lunamaria sighed; she had a feeling she knew where this was going. "Let me guess; you arrived too late to warn them, right?"

Wufei nodded grimly. "Yes. The New Edwards base was well-defended, especially given the nature of the gathering it was hosting, but our skills combined with our Gundams meant that we could punch through their ranks and get a shot at the prize. The other four had already done just that by the time I'd arrived. A shuttle had been prepared for the Alliance's leadership, but it was a craft that bore OZ markings and had a matching IFF signal. Treize had laid out his last bit of bait… and Heero took it. He struck that shuttle from the sky with his saber, and killed the Alliance's pacifists. With that, any hope for a quick end to our war had gone right out the window. Had I figured things out sooner and gotten there first, I could've warned the others. I took too long, though, and the entire Earth Sphere paid the price."

"Wufei…" she said softly, sorely tempted to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder; it was clear that this failure was one that had gotten under his skin and had never quite let go.

Wufei continued on, either unmoved by her sympathy or determined not to show what he might deem to be weakness. "Having arrived too late to avert tragedy, I sought to avenge my failure and pursued Treize. It wasn't hard to find him; he wasn't exactly trying to hide his fleet. Breaking through the defenses wasn't difficult, and the ship Treize himself was aboard wasn't even a proper warship; it was a former luxury liner that had been converted to a fleet communications vessel. I could see him through one of the windows, and I had a clear shot to take him out. However…"

"Someone stopped you?" Lunamaria cautiously offered, hoping she was on the right track.

"If by 'someone' you mean myself, then yes," he answered, "When I saw him, I realized that he wasn't afraid at all. He was completely calm, and was armed with nothing but a saber. That was when I understood that he wished to challenge me to a duel, and I accepted."

Lunamaria's eyes widened. "Wait a second, you got out of your mobile suit just to duel the enemy commander?"

"That's right," Wufei replied casually, either completely unaware of the absurdity of it all or having already accepted it long ago, "Trowa was already on scene and had the rest of the enemy occupied, so I didn't have to worry about anyone going after my Gundam. In fact, it seemed like Treize had deliberately left himself exposed when compared to the rest of the fleet. Looking back on it, I think he was planning on offering a duel to whatever Gundam pilot managed to catch up first. I don't know if the others would've accepted the challenge as readily as I did. In that sense, he really lucked out."

Lunamaria's gaze lowered, drawn to the curved sword Wufei had worn at his hip since the day she'd first met him. "So… what happened?"

Wufei actually smiled. "We dueled, and I utterly lost. My aggression was no match for his composed skill; he won that fight without breaking a sweat. With his blade at my throat, I expected him to kill me, but he didn't. Instead he complimented me on the fight and allowed me to leave. When I warned him that I'd keep coming after him if he let me go, he actually sounded pleased with that. He was already looking forward to our next fight."

Lunamaria shook her head, still trying to wrap her mind around the sheer craziness of it all. "I don't get it… how the hell are you still alive after pulling a stupid stunt like that?"

Wufei chuckled. "Believe me, I asked myself that question more than a few times following that duel. That day, my estimation of OZ's leader changed dramatically. Until that point, I'd imagined him as just some cold and calculating schemer, one who hid in the shadows and had others do his dirty work. That duel and my ensuing defeat, though… well, it forced me to rethink my prior assumptions, to put it mildly."

Lunamaria smirked. "You mean someone actually got you to pull that stick out of your ass just a bit? This 'Treize' really gave you a beatdown!"

She expected some sharp retort, but she was surprised when he simply looked out at the sea, his expression becoming rather somber. "It was more than just the duel that I lost that day. Treize setting up the Alliance's peace faction to die was the start of Operation Daybreak. Under the guise of liberating the Earth Sphere from the corrupt rule of the old Alliance, OZ finally came out of the shadows and staged a worldwide coup. Rank and file Alliance soldiers found themselves under fire from officers they'd thought were allies just hours ago. Treize's powerplay was as swift as it was thorough; in no time at all, the once mighty Alliance military had been reduced to just a few scattered holdouts, while the rest surrendered and joined OZ. The only meaningful resistance to OZ was us, and our actions at the New Edwards base severely damaged our credibility."

Lunamaria grimaced. "Yeah… I bet OZ was quick to frame you guys as nothing but a bunch of terrorists after Heero took down that shuttle."

"As good a way as any to put it," Wufei conceded, "However, the tides of war are ever shifting. Operation Daybreak gave Treize unprecedented power, but once we were sidelined his opposition became internal rather than external. Remember those Mobius units the enemy fielded against us during our pursuit of Bogey One?"

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow; what did that fight have to do with this? "You mean the ones that were modified for unmanned operation? What about them?"

"Your world is hardly the first to dabble in attempting to turn combat over to artificial intelligence," Wufei replied, "The Romefeller Foundation had been experimenting with unmanned mobile suits in secret for some time, and during our war they were finally able to field a successful combat artificial intelligence. Originally it was installed in modified pre-existing mobile suit models that had originally been designed with pilots in mind, but soon enough they were able to produce units built from the ground up as Mobile Dolls. It gave the Foundation and OZ a powerful new weapon; mechanical soldiers that wouldn't question orders, could execute uncannily precise maneuvers, did not suffer from fatigue, and could be treated as completely expendable due to the lack of human pilots. The Foundation declared the age of humans risking their lives in combat was over, and Treize was furious at this."

Lunamaria tilted her head in confusion. "Huh? Why? The Foundation was the group he fought for, right? Why would he be angry when they'd given him a weapon like that?"

Instead of answering her directly, he responded with a question of his own. "Tell me, why do you think he was willing to risk his life in a one-on-one duel with me? Forget my own recklessness in that affair; Treize was the leader of OZ when we fought, and he was placing himself in incredible danger just to challenge me like that. What do you think possessed him to do that?"

"He was as crazy as you?" Lunamaria quipped dryly.

Wufei folded his arms. "Very funny."

"I'm not joking," Lunamaria countered, "He sounds every bit as nuts as you are."

Wufei chuckled. "Depending on one's perspective, I suppose you might have a point there. There actually was a level of mutual understanding between us, although it took me some time to realize it. Then again, part of me really didn't want to admit that I might have anything in common with my enemy."

"And what was that commonality?" asked Lunamaria.

"The man loved battle," Wufei replied, "or rather, he believed that combat had the potential to bring out the best in people. He felt that there was no higher form of art than two powerful warriors facing off in single combat. On a broader level, he respected soldiers who were willing to risk their lives on the battlefield, especially those who took on impossible odds. That was why he felt confident in gambling that I'd be willing to leave my Gundam and face him in single combat; he understood me as a warrior even though we'd never actually met until that day."

Lunamaria's eyes narrowed as she followed that line of reasoning to its conclusion. "It's also why he was against the Mobile Doll program, right? Even if it gave his organization a powerful new weapon, the fact that it was automated was an insult to everything he believed in."

"Exactly," said Wufei, "He saw the Mobile Dolls for what they truly were; tools for the rich and powerful to use in order to play at war without having to risk their own necks. They allowed for their masters to wage conflict at will without the potential for pushback from soldiers who would otherwise be sent to the front. It cheapened war and made it utterly meaningless. Lives taken by the Mobile Dolls wouldn't mean a damn thing; they'd just be casualties of the Romefeller Foundation's greed and lust for dominance over the Earth Sphere. Soldiers would no longer face off and risk their lives for their homelands or ideals. The potential for conflict to bring out the best in people would be snuffed out under the soulless heels of the Mobile Dolls."

"So, if OZ was the Foundation's military wing and Treize commanded it, couldn't he use that position to stop the implementation of the Mobile Dolls?" asked Lunamaria, "I mean, maybe he didn't lead the Foundation itself, but if he was the man in charge of its armed forces then he'd have plenty of power at his disposal."

Wufei nodded. "He certainly had the power to pushback, even if the Foundation's higher-ups were set on mass producing Mobile Dolls. However, instead he decided to resign his position in protest. Even taking into account his disagreements with the Foundation, for him to step down was still a serious blow to them, especially given just how popular he was with OZ's rank and file troops. The Foundation couldn't make a direct move against him out of fear of turning him into a martyr, so instead they placed him under house arrest."

Lunamaria was more than a bit taken aback by this. "And he just went along with it? He was the head of their military; couldn't he have put up a fight?"

"He could've, but he didn't," Wufei replied, "To be honest, I still don't completely understand it myself, especially considering that an armed conflict within OZ and the Romefeller Foundation did break out after Treize was confined. His supports, who called themselves the Treize Faction, turned against the broader Foundation and its use of Mobile Dolls. To my knowledge, Treize played no part in the insurrection. It's strange because if he'd led it personally, I have no doubt it would've been much more effective, and he had opportunities to do so before he was arrested."

Lunamaria shook her head. "This guy's as confusing as you Gundam pilots."

Wufei chuckled. "I'm sure he'd see that as a compliment. Oddities aside, his confinement didn't last too long. The political situation changed drastically when the Romefeller Foundation attempted to coopt the princess of the Sanc Kingdom, a source of opposition to their policies on Earth, as a figurehead in order to bolster both popularity and legitimacy. They named her Queen of the World Nation and thought they had her in the palm of their hands. This wound up backfiring spectacularly."

"How so?" asked Lunamaria.

Wufei smirked. "I might not be the woman's biggest fan, especially since her pacifist ideals clash rather strongly with how I've chosen to live my life, but I'll give credit where it's due. She was and remains a fantastic orator, and she put those public speaking skills to very good use at a conference called by the Foundation. It was meant to be as little more than a ceremony where they'd install her as their puppet queen, but the speech she gave and the passion behind her words was enough to genuinely move most of the attendees to adopt her positions. She sought to turn the militaristic Foundation into an organization for peace, including massive disarmament, and she won over the bulk of its leadership at that conference. The man who was supposed to be in charge of the entire Foundation wound up completely blindsided and looked like an utter fool, all thanks to a foolishly idealistic fifteen-year-old girl."

Lunamaria smiled. "Sounds like the teenage girls of your world are as crazy as the boys."

Wufei shrugged. "That's one way to put it, I suppose. However brilliant her spontaneous coup of the Foundation's militaristic order had been, though, reality struck back all too quickly."

Lunamaria grimaced. "That doesn't sound good."

Wufei shook his head. "It wasn't. While Earth might've suddenly found itself with a government that favored disarmament over military rule, a new colonial rebellion was brewing up in space. The revolutionary group at the heart of this new insurrection called themselves White Fang, and they were far more radical than us Gundam pilots had been. They seized a massive OZ battleship called the Libra, as well as Mobile Doll production facilities. Before long, they'd amassed a force that was more than capable of threatening the Earth Sphere. Making matters worse was the fact that they were led by a man known as Zechs Merquise, real name Milliardo Peacecraft. Not only was he the brother of Relena Peacecraft, the girl Romefeller had named Queen of the World Nation, but he was also an old friend of none other than Treize Khushrenada."

Lunamaria did a double-take. "Whoa, rewind there a bit! The new colonial rebellion's leader was the World Nation Queen's brother? Why the hell would he fight against his own sister, especially if she's trying to implement policies for disarmament and peace? Even if the colonies might not trust the Earth, from what you've told me it sounds like her agenda would help them immensely."

Wufei shook his head. "It might seem that way at first glance, but it would never have worked. Like I said earlier, Relena was an idealistic fool. She might've been a gifted public speaker, but it was always going to take more than mere words to bring peace to the Earth Sphere. Simply laying down arms would not be enough, not when so many still had the will to fight. Relena might not have understood this, but Treize and Zechs did. Ironically enough, despite fighting on opposing sides during that final campaign they actually shared the same ultimate goal and the belief in how to achieve it."

Lunamaria folded her arms. "You lost me there. If these two were so aligned in their goals, then why fight on opposite sides? What the hell were they after, anyway?"

"The same thing Relena was," Wufei replied, "Peace. Where they differed from her was how to bring it about. They understood that there was a need to go beyond mere disarmament; the very will to fight had to be driven from humanity's collective psyche. There was only one way to accomplish that; to kick off a final war, one where the stakes were higher than those of any previous conflict. Mankind's survival itself would be the wager."

Lunamaria's face paled. "That sounds… uncomfortably familiar."

"Only on a superficial level," Wufei countered, "The First Bloody Valentine War became a conflict of annihilation because both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT fell under the sway of leaders and factions who sought out genocide as the end goal. They were driven by fear, hatred, lust for power, and a foolish sense of supremacy. Treize and Zechs would've been appalled and disgusted if they could've seen that war. There was no higher purpose the Cosmic Era's previous conflict; in the end, it just boiled down to a war of extermination. What Treize and Zechs were shooting for, what they had brought the entirety of the Earth Sphere into, was a much more profound undertaking, but humanity would have to prove itself worthy of inheriting the vision they sought to make a reality."

Lunamaria's eyes widened as it all sunk in. "Let me get this straight… these two deliberately put mankind itself at risk because they thought that was the only way to eliminate the will to fight?"

"Exactly," said Wufei, "Mankind has seen the horrors of war time and time again, yet it's failed to learn its lesson. Therefore, Treize and Zechs knew that the conflict they were waging would have to threaten humanity as a whole if it were to have a chance at breaking the cycle. A pacifist like Relena was not the leader Earth needed in that moment, and the White Fang's growing power combined with their obviously hostile intentions was all it took to undermine her position. That's when Treize made his move. It took him little effort to establish his power base with the bulk of the World Nation's leadership, which meant the Queen was isolated before she even knew what hit her. Then Treize capped things off by approaching her directly. I don't know what transpired between them, but I do know the result; she abdicated. Treize had seized rulership of the Earth yet again, and this time without so much as a single drop of blood being shed. It was the greatest coup in the history of mankind.; he'd taken over the world in a single night with zero loss of life. If that's not one for the history books, then I don't know what is."

Lunamaria whistled. "No kidding. How's all this tie into the second duel you had with the man?"

"I'm getting to that," Wufei replied, "Having taken power, Treize quickly mobilized the military might of the Earth and moved all his forces to outer space. White Fang had already concentrated their forces around the stolen Libra, and after eliminating Earth's space fortress Barge they began their march on the cradle of humanity. Libra was truly massive; calling it a 'battleship' is actually a disservice to the scale of that titan. In fact, it was so large that White Fang's plan was to use to the battleship to recreate the original Operation Meteor."

Lunamaria felt a chill go down her spine. "They were going to drop that thing onto the Earth?"

Wufei nodded. "That's right. White Fang had actually used the main gun of the Libra to destroy a small island on Earth, but that level of destruction wasn't nearly enough. If the battleship itself were to fall to Earth, though, it would be enough to render the planet uninhabitable. Any surviving remnants of mankind on the homeworld would have no choice but to abandon Earth; all human life would permanently reside in space from that point forward. Treize, of course, positioned his forces to intercept the battleship. He professed a great love for Earth's beauty, and while I have no doubt those words were sincere, they also served as a nice cover for the real reason he was leading the World Nation's forces in this battle. If mankind as a whole ever figured out that its great last war was being staged and that countless lives would be lost in order to make humanity finally throw down its arms and move towards a lasting peace, that knowledge might very well undermine the peace that so many died for."

Lunamaria shook her head as she struggled to absorb it all. "They really were shooting for the war to end all wars, eh? You know what? Those two were crazier than you and your friends could ever be."

She expected Wufei to argue, but much to her surprise he took her words in stride. "Maybe. They do say that genius and madness are two sides of the same coin, after all. Whether it was brilliance or insanity driving them, that didn't change the fact that Earth and the colonies alike were dancing to the tune they called. They pulled out all the stops, and the five of us wound up right in the middle of it all."

"Who did you guys fight for?" she asked, "I mean, you started your war as freedom fighters for the colonies, but White Fang's goals sound exactly like the plan you sabotaged when your original campaign began."

Wufei nodded. "Officially, we weren't on anyone's side. White Fang had expected us to join them since we were fellow colonial revolutionaries, but they were deluded if they thought any of us would partake in their campaign. Using the Mobile Dolls of the Romefeller Foundation was dishonorable enough, but attempting to recreate the original Operation Meteor? There was no way in hell that any of us would've signed on with them. We were hardly on friendly terms with Treize, but the White Fang was clearly the bigger threat, so we concentrated our efforts on their forces. Still, I was on the same battlefield as Treize, and I wasn't about to miss my chance for a rematch."

"Please tell me you didn't get out of your Gundam this time," said Lunamaria, not sure what to expect at this point.

Wufei shook his head. "I didn't. Apparently, since I had fought him on a field that favored him the first time around, Treize had wanted to return the courtesy for our rematch. He'd been looking forward to facing me in mobile suit combat, and we couldn't ask for a better backdrop for our duel."

"Hard to beat a battle with the fate of the world riding on the outcome for set dressing for your grudge match," Lunamaria quipped.

Wufei folded his arms. "Grudge match? It was hardly that crude."

"Oh, really?" she shot back, "Come on; you can't honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you weren't burning for some payback after he beat you the first time around."

It looked for a moment like he might contest the point, but much to Lunamaria's surprise he actually conceded. "Fair enough. I suppose part of me was looking to avenge my earlier defeat, but there was more to it than that. I wanted to confront him and find out for myself what all the destruction and carnage since Operation Daybreak had really been for. I wanted to call him out for all the lives that had been sacrificed, for how many people were continuing to die around us as we dueled."

Wufei sighed. "I expected him to dodge responsibility or to simply brush my words off as foolish sentimentality when I asked him how many people had died for the sake of his ambitions, but instead… not only did he respond with an exact figure, but he even began listing off individual names. He called them necessary deaths, which was what I had expected from him, but he actually sounded genuinely regretful for their deaths. Once again, he'd taken me completely by surprise… and that was before he charged me."

Lunamaria took a deep breath, sensing the approaching climax. "What happened? You said that you lost twice to him, but a loss in a fight like that should've killed you. How'd you survive?"

Wufei chuckled ruefully. "Simple; I impaled his mobile suit on my Gundam's beam trident. It was a clean kill… and right before he died, he said it was an honor fighting me. In that moment, I knew… he'd won."

Lunamaria shook her head. "No, you won. You killed him!"

Wufei shook his head. "Foolish girl… don't you get it? He beat me and quit. He'd planned for his death from the start, and he was simply looking for a suitable way to go. I suppose he found dying in battle against me to be a fitting end. Either way, it didn't change the fact that victory was his. In the aftermath of that final battle, after we stopped the Libra from falling to Earth… the war ended. Peace finally came to the Earth Sphere… the peace that Treize had been gunning for from the beginning."

Lunamaria closed her eyes as she tried to wrap her brain around everything Wufei had just said. "If that's the case… why seek out his own death? If bringing peace to the world by killing mankind's collective will to fight was what he sought, wouldn't he want to see what that peace looked like when the fighting was over?"

"No," Wufei replied, "Treize was an anachronism. He may have ultimately sought peace for mankind, but his love for battle was genuine. I believe he recognized that a world at peace would be a world that he'd be ill-suited for… just like me. He pushed events along just far enough for us to bring them through the home stretch, confident that we'd be able to turn his vision into reality. In the end, the five of us were being manipulated by him even as we were saving the world from Operation Meteor. It was only when it was all over that I could fully comprehend what had happened… and why he'd chosen to die by my hand."

"Because there was no place for him in the world his great final battle would create?" Lunamaria guessed.

Wufei nodded. "That must've been the conclusion he came to, although I believe part of his decision was also due to the recognition of all the blood that had been spilled to reach that point. He understood his karmic debt and decided to let the devil collect his due in that last fight. Of course, one could argue that death was simply a way for him to dodge real accountability for his actions. Still, he went out on his own terms and wasn't afraid to face death if it meant realizing his ambitions. That's more than can be said for plenty of leaders, whether they're from the After Colony world or the Cosmic Era."

"Maybe," Lunamaria conceded, "I wonder what he'd make of our world?"

"I'm sure he'd recognize it as a warrior's paradise," Wufei answered as he looked out at the sea again, "Apart from that, it's hard to say."

"The war's not going to last forever, you know," said Lunamaria, "I don't know how or when, but someday it'll have to come to an end. I doubt we'll qualify as a 'warrior's paradise' then."

"Don't be so sure of that," Wufei countered, "The First Bloody Valentine War only ended two years ago. It didn't take the Alliance and ZAFT all that long to reignite hostilities. Who's to say how long the peace will last when this war comes to an end? I doubt this world's ready to cast aside its will to fight anytime soon."

Lunamaria sighed. "I wish we could. Honestly, your world sounds like the real paradise. I mean, you guys actually managed to achieve a lasting peace and move beyond the cycle of bloodshed and hate. The Cosmic Era could learn a thing or two from your world."

Wufei shook his head, a bitter tone creeping into his voice. "Hardly. That 'peace' is a mockery of those who died in the effort to bring it about. Soldiers have been cast aside in the After Colony world; the new era has no place for us, and it cares nothing for the sacrifices we made to secure its future. If Heero hadn't blazed the trail from our old world to this one, I think one of us would've found our way over here eventually. After all, the Cosmic Era's proven repeatedly that it does need warriors like us, and it values us more than our old world ever did."

"So… does that mean you'll be staying here even after the war's over?" asked Lunamaria, trying not to sound like she was hoping for exactly that.

Wufei smiled. "The more time I spend here, the greater appeal that option has. I'm still keeping my options open, but… well, I'm not about to rule it out, that's for sure."

"Will you join ZAFT?" she pressed, "I bet you'd get a really good starting position given all that you've done for us so far. Hell, they might even make you a member of FAITH!"

"Rank has no appeal to me," Wufei replied, "As for joining ZAFT in any official capacity, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I value my independence, and that's not going to change anytime soon."

Lunamaria sighed. "Oh, well, it was worth a shot. Would you at least consider possibly immigrating to the PLANTs when the war's over?"

Wufei shrugged. "Perhaps. If nothing else, I'd like the chance to check out this world's versions of space colonies. There wasn't any time for that at Armory One. The governments of your world have very interesting design philosophies and trends; none of them use the wheel-style layout that dominates the After Colony world."

Lunamaria smiled. "I wouldn't mind the chance to see your world's colonies sometime, although I guess the chance of that happening is pretty damn small."

Wufei gave her an odd look, like he was carefully evaluating her. "Don't be so sure of that. War tends to have strange effects on the tides of fate and can send us to the oddest of places. The journey that you've made thus far in this campaign may ultimately prove to be quite tame compared to future endeavors."

"I'll take your word for it," said Lunamaria, "Any idea where your journey's going to take you next?"

"All I'm focused on right now is where the next battlefield will be," he answered firmly, "We'll see how things play out from there."

….

November 8th, C.E. 73

Sitting in the cockpit of the helicopter as she ran through her preflight checklist, Lunamaria couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. It didn't have to do with the aircraft she'd been assigned; she'd been trained to operate a variety of basic military vehicles in addition to mobile suits, so flying the simple scout helicopter that had been transferred from the Diocuia base to the Minerva prior to yesterday's departure was hardly an issue. Rather, it was the nature of her mission that was the source of her apprehension. The conversation she'd had the prior day with Captain Gladys echoed in her mind even as she tried to focus on prepping the aircraft for launch.

"What? You want me to spy on Athrun?" she'd asked incredulously.

Talia gave her a grim nod in response. "That's right. While I have no reason to doubt his intentions with regards to this meeting with his allies, we do still need to take precautions. We have to do all we can to understand their intentions in this war, especially in the event that we end up having to fight them."

That last part had made her more than a little uneasy. Having fought alongside the Gundam pilots since Armory One, Lunamaria knew quite well the kind of damage they could cause in a short amount of time. She very much did not want to be on the receiving end of that kind of beatdown, and would've figured that the higher ups in ZAFT would be of a similar mind. After all, they had enough on their hands just fighting the Earth Alliance; they didn't need to add the deadliest pilots in the Earth Sphere to their list of enemies.

Her task was simple enough; shadow the Saviour and land without being detected, then follow Athrun on foot to where he'd be meeting his friends. The Saviour itself had already launched, and despite the fact that it was considerably faster than the helicopter Lunamaria wasn't concerned about losing track of it. Not only had the helicopter been outfitted with the best sensors ZAFT could cram into its small airframe, but every ZAFT mobile suit had a tracking beacon to make it easier to keep tabs on. While the beacons for the prototypes stolen from Armory One had been disabled by the thieves during the raid, since Athrun was fighting under ZAFT's banner he had no reason to tamper with the device. After all, since his rendezvous with his friends had been signed off on by Captain Gladys, why would he disable the beacon for a mission that had official approval?

The idea was simple; wait for the Saviour to get far enough out that Lunamaria could launch and tail it once the Minerva was beyond the range of Athrun's sensors. In addition to the advanced radar, sonar, infrared and other instruments designed to aid in the aircraft's mission profile, an advanced electronic warfare countermeasure suite had also been installed on the helicopter that was capable of scrambling its radar signature and making it much more difficult to detect than standard aircraft of its type. It wasn't a Mirage Colloid by any stretch of the imagination, but it would more than suffice for Lunamaria's current needs.

If she had any particular gripe with her aircraft for this mission, it was that the helicopter was completely unarmed. Every hardpoint and hull spot that could've conceivably been used as a weapon's mount had instead been repurposed to hold all the advanced hardware that made the aircraft such an effective scout. The helicopter did have two sets of flare launchers, one on each side of the airframe, in the event that someone was able to get a missile lock on it, but it was by no means meant for frontline action. If spotted, the only viable course of action for Lunamaria would be to run the hell away and radio for backup.

You'll be all right, she told herself, The enemy's got much more important things to be looking for than a single recon chopper, and they're not going to detect you unless they stumble right on top of you.

Getting to the mission destination undetected was just the first act, though. She'd gone through the same basic training every ZAFT recruit received regarding surface combat, and that included rudimentary instruction on stealth, but that by no means made her an expert. Lunamaria was a mobile suit pilot, not a spy or covert ops specialist. This kind of assignment was way outside of her comfort zone, but orders were orders.

Looking behind her seat, she did a quick check to make sure she had all her gear. It really wasn't much; the basic emergency rations and first aid kit in case things went south, a portable distress beacon, sidearm, knife, standard jumpsuit favored by ZAFT's special operations forces, and a sleek direction microphone for eavesdropping on whatever conversation Athrun had with his allies from a safe distance. She really was going in with the bare essentials for this mission, which made her feel rather vulnerable.

"Control, this is Crow One," she said, "Do I have launch clearance yet?"

Meyrin's voice came over her headset a moment later. "Crow One, this is Control. We're opening the hangar doors now. Are you receiving the signal from the target's beacon?"

Lunamaria nodded as she checked her sensors. "Got it nice and clear, Control."

"Good," Meyrin replied, "You'll have launch clearance soon. Be careful out there."

Lunamaria smiled. "I will. Don't worry about me, sis."

It only took a few seconds for the hangar doors to open, and Meyrin gave her the go-ahead. "Crow One, you are clear for takeoff. Commence the operation."

"Roger that, Control," said Lunamaria, "Crow One, launching."

….

Sitting in the cockpit of the Gundam Wing Zero Albion, Heero's fingers danced across the console as he set up a secure transmission with the Archangel. A moment later, Murrue appeared on the screen.

She gave him a warm smile. "I didn't think I'd be hearing from you again so soon, but I'm not complaining. Everything all right, Heero?"

He nodded and gave her a small smile of his own. "So far, so good. Unfortunately, this isn't a social call. Athrun's already left the Minerva for the meeting, but they just launched Lunamaria Hawke in a recon chopper to tail him."

Murrue's brow furrowed. "I'm going to go out on a limb and assume he doesn't know that ZAFT wants to spy on his meeting with Kira and Cagalli. What do you think?"

"I'd say that's a safe bet," he replied, "The chopper can't match the Saviour's speed, but with all the advanced sensor systems it's outfitted with, it doesn't have to. I'm sending you its specs and projected course now."

Murrue glanced to the side for a moment before turning back to Heero. "Just got it. I'll have Natarle send out one of the Wraiths to intercept. Do you think she's a threat?"

Heero shook his head. "Her chopper's unarmed, and she doesn't strike me as assassin material. More to the point, she's a fundamentally good person; it wouldn't be hard to imagine her flying for us under different circumstances. Lethal force isn't called for here."

Murrue smiled. "I'll make sure whoever Natarle dispatches goes easy on her. Forcing her to land on a separate island shouldn't be too hard; there are plenty of uninhabited rocks out in this part of the Aegean."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," said Heero, "Captain Gladys won't be happy with us interfering with her mission, but this is what she gets for trying to spy on us."

"She could retaliate," Murrue cautioned, "If nothing else, she'll likely be more suspicious of you from here on out. Be careful over there."

Heero nodded. "Roger that."

….

Zipping along at low altitude, Lunamaria's brow furrowed as she constantly shifted her gaze back and forth between the cockpit window and her instruments. For all the fancy bells and whistles the scout chopper had to offer, its autopilot was surprisingly lackluster, and Lunamaria didn't trust it to maintain its current course without crashing into the sea.

"Keep your cool," she muttered to herself, "You got this…"

She understood why the Captain wanted this to be a solo mission, but Lunamaria wouldn't have minded the presence of a copilot right about now. It would've been nice to have someone to shoulder some of the responsibilities for safely operating the aircraft with her, not to mention someone she could chat with to pass the time and calm her nerves. Her mind briefly went to Wufei, but she dismissed the notion; Captain Gladys would never have allowed it, especially given that he was one of Heero's fellow Gundam pilots and Lunamaria's mission was to spy on a friend of Heero's.

Maybe I should've asked if Rey could come along, she thought, Captain Gladys would probably trust him as a copilot for this mission. He's not exactly the best conversationalist, but it'd be better than nothing. Heine wouldn't be too bad, either. Oh, well. Too late now…

Checking her sensors, she was relieved to see that she currently had this little bit of the Aegean Sea all to herself. Of course, she knew that the odds of anyone picking up her radar signature were low thanks to the chopper's electronic countermeasures, but spotting anyone on radar when she was flying an unarmed aircraft would be enough to make her nervous. The sooner this mission was over with, the better.

She was so focused on simply flying the chopper and keeping it low enough to minimize the risk of detection that Lunamaria nearly jumped out of her seat when a female voice came over her headset. "Nice ride you got there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it, don't you think?"

Lunamaria's face paled as she frantically looked outside the windows and checked her sensors. There was nothing on her scopes in the area that should've been able to detect her. Was she simply imagining things?

As if the voice was reading her mind, it answered that very question. "Hey, ZAFT pilot in the scout chopper! Trust me; this isn't a hallucination or a friendly neighborhood ghost. You and I need to talk."

Well, so much for continuing to fly and hope that the voice would go away. Lunamaria took a deep breath; she had no idea what this stranger was capable of, but if nothing else they possessed a degree of stealth that put the scout chopper to shame. She would have to play her cards very carefully if she wanted to get out of this situation alive.

"All right, then," she said, "This is Lunamaria Hawke of ZAFT. Who am I speaking to?"

"Name's Adaline," the mystery voice replied, "You don't need my last name. I'm sure whoever analyzes your bird's in-flight recording system will probably run a voice-print search and fill in the blanks when you get back to your ship. Anyway, that's not important. What's important is this; you're on your way to spy on some friends of mine. I happen to think those friends deserve their privacy. That puts us in a bit of a conundrum here, doesn't it?"

"I suppose it does," Lunamaria answered, sounding way calmer than she felt, "I get where you're coming from, but I have my assignment, and I'm going to carry it out."

"No, you're not," said Adaline, her tone amazingly casual given the circumstances, "I'll even show you why. Look up above you. See anything?"

Lunamaria checked her radar and peered out the cockpit window. "Sky's clear, except for a few clouds. What should I be looking for, exactly?"

Her hidden observer chuckled. "Look again."

Lunamaria did so, and her face paled when she saw the air above the chopper suddenly shift; the telltale signs of a Mirage Colloid deactivation. Mere seconds later, there was a black and red mobile suit hovering over her, and Lunamaria instantly recognized it as a ZGMF-X08A Wraith.

Lunamaria slumped down in her seat, recognizing when she was beaten. "Oh… well, crap."

"Look, for what it's worth, I really don't want to harm you," said Adaline, "If you continue on your present course, I'm going to have to stop you. I can do that without shooting you down, but it'll still bang up your bird, and I'm sure your hangar crews will hate you when you bring it back like that. Might I suggest a compromise?"

Lunamaria sighed; she didn't really have a choice in the matter. "I'm open to suggestions."

"Great," Adaline replied, "I'm transmitting a set of coordinates. It's a small island, completely abandoned and with a nice little clearing where you can set your bird down for a bit. We'll chill there until I get an update from my friends, and then you're good to head back to the Minerva. Sound good?"

Lunamaria shrugged. "Can't say my Captain will be happy about it, but it beats the mechanics chewing me out… or getting shot out of the sky, for that matter. All right, I'll play along."

"Perfect," said Adaline, "Let's get going, then."

The Wraith vanished as it reactivated its Mirage Colloid, but Lunamaria knew it was still there. Checking her console, she saw the coordinates that Adaline had sent her. It wouldn't do her any good to call the Minerva for backup; the Wraith could shoot her down the second it detected a transmission. Besides, a spying run like this wasn't worth her life.

I'll be on the Captain's shit list for a bit, but it could be worse, she thought, I mean, I'll be alive, for starters.

She'd have to take what comfort she could get.

….

I have to hand it to Kira, thought Athrun as he exited the Saviour, He sure did pick a nice spot for this little get-together.

The broad clearing where he'd landed his mobile suit was pretty enough to be sure, but the real beauty on this small island was the series of ancient ruins not too far from where he'd touched down. Half-collapsed Greek columns stood as remnants of what had probably been a modest temple a long time ago, and there were other decayed structures dotting the area as well. The island as a whole had likely played host to a small settlement in a bygone era, but now it was completely abandoned.

That felt like a metaphor for something depressing. Athrun hoped it wasn't an ill-omen.

"We never did agree on a signal, did we?" Athrun mused aloud as he looked around, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…"

That was when he heard a familiar female voice cry out from the ruins. "Athrun!"

Moving closer, Athrun saw none other than Cagalli and Kira come out from behind one of the old columns. Both were smiling, but Athrun could tell that the gestures were a bit forced. It wasn't hard to blame them given the circumstances.

The two of them waived him over, and he duly obliged. The ruins were as good a place as any for a talk, and they'd at least offer some cover if the enemy stumbled upon them.

It was strange, seeing the two of them again like this. Athrun wanted nothing more than to embrace Cagalli at that moment, but the look in her eyes gave him pause. She seemed happy to see him, but at the same time there was a clear sense of apprehension about her. It wasn't too surprising; after all, he'd fought against her countrymen just the day before.

"Cagalli," he said after a moment, "I… I'm glad to see you're all right."

Cagalli nodded. "Yeah, same here."

"Hey, Athrun," said Kira, "Thanks for meeting us out here like this."

Athrun smiled. "Well, I figured it was the least I could do. We were overdue for a talk, I suppose."

Cagalli sighed. "We are… and at least now Yuna can't get in the way."

Athrun knew he had to tread carefully here; Cagalli might not have been particularly fond of Yuna, but the man was her cousin all the same. "About that… I saw his carrier get taken out by Heero."

"It was kind of hard to miss," Kira pointed out.

"Right," said Athrun, fumbling for the right words, "I'm… sorry. You two weren't close, I know, but still…"

Cagalli shook her head. "You don't have to apologize. Yuna got what was coming to him several times over. Orb's better off without him."

Athrun was a bit taken aback; that was rather cold for Cagalli. "I suppose so, but isn't it his father that's now calling the shots?"

Cagalli nodded. "It is, but Unato's more cautious than Yuna ever was. With the First Fleet shattered, his striking power's taken a critical hit. He'll probably be playing it safe from here on out, meaning the rest of the Orb Union Navy likely won't leave home waters."

Athrun nodded. "I see. That'll take some of the pressure off ZAFT, at least."

Kira folded his arms. "You're back with them for real now, aren't you?"

Athrun sighed; he'd been wondering when that would come up. "Yeah… I am."

Cagalli stepped forward, a confused and pleading look in her eyes. "Athrun, why? You know what they tried to do to Lacus, right? Durandal can't be trusted! Why are you fighting for him?"

"Because I can make the biggest difference with ZAFT!" Athrun shot back, "The Chairman's made me a FAITH operative, which gives me greater authority and autonomy on the battlefield. I can act according to my discretion, and with the Saviour I have a mobile suit that'll give me the power to have a genuine impact in the war."

"It's a devil's bargain, Athrun," Kira countered, "Don't tell me you've already forgotten that the Chairman tried to have Lacus killed?"

Athrun shook his head. "No, I haven't."

"Have you confronted him about it?" asked Cagalli.

Athrun looked down nervously. "I… I haven't had the chance to."

Kira's eyes narrowed. "Haven't had the chance to… or the will to?"

Athrun was caught a bit flat-footed; Kira was being much more confrontational than usual. "Kira… it's not like that. You know I don't want any harm to come to Lacus. I don't have the access to the Chairman that you seem to think I have, though. He might've appointed me to my current position, but I can't just call him at will."

"FAITH operatives report directly to the Chairman and the Supreme Council though, right?" Cagalli pressed, "If that's how the system works, then you should have that access. If you really want to make a difference from within ZAFT then you need to use it!"

"And do what?" Athrun snapped, "Accuse him of trying to murder Lacus? Ask him if he's still trying to have her killed? She's on the Archangel now, right? If he was going to take another shot at her, he'd have to attack one of Terminal's most powerful battleships, and he's not stupid enough to pick a fight like that."

"You don't know his full agenda," Kira replied, "None of us do. His true goals in this war are cloaked in shadow."

Athrun shook his head. "He's trying to bring peace back to this world! He's not my father, and he's not the Earth Alliance. He's not Terminal's enemy!"

Cagalli sighed. "You really do believe that, don't you?"

Athrun nodded. "Kira, Cagalli, you two should actually try to open a dialogue with the Chairman. If you did, I think you'd find that his goals are the same as ours. He's our ally."

"Open a dialogue with the man who ordered a black ops attack on Home One?" Kira asked incredulously, "Athrun, do you even hear yourself?"

"If the Chairman's really so upstanding, then why does he feel the need to deceive the world by creating a fake Lacus?" Cagalli pointed out, "If his goals really are in line with ours, then why not simply ask the original Lacus to return to the PLANTs? Lacus would've at least heard him out, but instead he jumped straight to an assassination attempt! What does that tell you, Athrun?"

Athrun flinched under her withering gaze. He thought he'd been prepared for this confrontation, but it was clear now that he most certainly wasn't. He believed in what the Chairman was trying to accomplish, but at the same time he also knew that Kira and the others had no reason to lie about the attempt on Lacus's life.

"Look… I'll try to contact to the Chairman when I get back to the Minerva," he said after a moment, "I'm sure we can clear this up. I can make him understand that going after Lacus was a mistake, and I bet I could get a guarantee of her safety. If the Chairman goes after her again, he'll alienate not only you guys but Heero and the other Gundam pilots, which is something he can't afford. They're the reason the Minerva has been able to win its most recent battles, after all."

To say Kira was skeptical would be quite the understatement. "How would you hold the Chairman to that? I'm sure he sees you as a valuable asset, but you're also just one pilot under his command. Besides, with you on the Minerva and him at whatever base is currently housing him, it's not like you can really keep tabs on what he's up to."

"There's a better way for you to guarantee Lacus's safety and show the Chairman that he's made a mistake," Cagalli argued desperately, "Leave ZAFT and come back to us, Athrun! We need you… I need you!"

That hit where it hurt, especially since Athrun could see the genuine pleading look in Cagalli's eyes. He'd known back when he'd decided to rejoin ZAFT that she would oppose his decision, but it was only now that they'd been reunited that he realized just how much that choice had hurt her. His leaving had deprived her of a not just an ally and bodyguard, but a close confidant and a pillar of moral support. It had deprived her of the person she loved at the moment when she'd needed him most. Athrun could recognize all of this now, and hated himself for what he'd done to her.

The temptation to take her up on her offer was incredibly powerful. Going back to Terminal, fighting alongside his friends again, being with Cagalli… it would be just like old times. However, this wasn't the same war as the one they'd fought in two years ago. Yes, the Earth Alliance was an enemy again, but this time the same couldn't be said of ZAFT. To Athrun, remaining with ZAFT, while a difficult choice, made sense because it would allow him to serve as Terminal's link to the organization and facilitate dialogue.

Reluctantly, he shook his head. "Cagalli… I can't. I have to stay… this is where I can do the most good right now."

"Is that what you think, or is it what Durandal's been telling you?" asked Kira pointedly.

Athrun glared at his old friend. "This is my choice, not his. It's not easy, and I know you two don't like it, but I really do think it's the right thing to do. When I get back, I'll contact the Chairman; it's important that ZAFT and Terminal continue to cooperate just like we did at the Dardanelles. In my position, I can make sure that cooperation remains a viable option. Isn't that better than Terminal and ZAFT fighting each other?"

"You assume that cooperation can be maintained indefinitely," Cagalli countered furiously, "Athrun, that's wishful thinking! If Durandal had a genuine interest in long-term cooperation, he would've reached out to us instead of attacking Home One and trying to murder Lacus! If he's willing to work with us right now, it's only because he can't afford facing us in combat at the moment."

Kira nodded. "She's right, Athrun. I'm sure Heero feels the same way. He and the other Gundam pilots might be on the Minerva right now, but they recognize that this is simply an alliance of expediency for both parties involved. Maybe Durandal's goal really is long-term peace in the Earth Sphere, but how he plans to achieve that is another matter entirely. Maybe we don't have proof as to his intentions, but the behavior he's demonstrated thus far shows that he's not to be trusted."

Cagalli stepped forward, the look in her eyes simultaneously accusatory and sympathetic. "Athrun, I know you want to redeem ZAFT after what happened with your father in the last war. The problem is, so does Durandal. He's read you like a book and is playing you like a damn fiddle! You're right in that Durandal's not your father; he's far more cunning and patient, which makes him just as dangerous. Genocide might not be his ultimate objective, but if he has to go so far as to create a fake Lacus and plot the assassination of the real deal then I find it hard to believe that 'peace' is the only thing he's after!"

"True peace will only be possible if we work with him!" Athrun snapped, "Terminal's powerful, but can it keep peace in the Earth Sphere? We were supposed to stop a new war from breaking out, yet look where we are now! Maybe Durandal's committed questionable acts, but you can't tell me he's just as bad as the Alliance! Terminal needs a partner in the Earth Sphere's major powers in order to truly preserve peace in the future, and under Durandal the PLANTs have the best chance of being that partner."

Kira shook his head. "Unlikely. I'll admit I don't know much about Durandal, but his actions so far suggest that the only kind of peace he's after is one where he calls the shots. Terminal wouldn't be an equal partner with him; he'd want to get us under his thumb one way or another."

"You're only saying that because you don't know him," Athrun pressed, "You haven't even spoken to him, after all!"

"No, we haven't," Cagalli conceded, "However, actions speak far louder than words, and his have spoken quite clearly. Terminal won't be allying with Durandal, Athrun, and neither will the Orb Union once Unato's government has been overthrown."

Athrun couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You mean you'd keep Orb in the same stupid war that your cousin brought it into?"

"I never said that," Cagalli replied firmly, "I have no intention of picking a fight with ZAFT, but neither will I simply stand by and let Durandal mold the Earth Sphere to his liking. Make no mistake; that's exactly what's happening. If ZAFT's war is supposed to be defensive in nature, how do you explain the uptick in reinforcements being dropped from space to the surface? It's more than simply to secure ZAFT's current holdings, and I think you know that."

"The Chairman's not after global conquest," Athrun argued, "ZAFT doesn't have the resources for that, and it would only set the people of Earth against the PLANTs!"

"He doesn't need to conquer the world in order to influence it," Kira countered, "With the Earth Alliance having taken such heavy casualties since the war began, his greatest rival on the world stage has been considerably weakened. ZAFT's victory might not be guaranteed, but no one can count them out either. Other neutral nations or groups seeking to break away from the Earth Alliance may gravitate towards ZAFT for protection and stability, which would give the Chairman leverage over their policy. He'd have control without having to conquer them."

"You don't know that's what he's after!" Athrun protested, "You don't have any evidence to back that up!"

"Nor do you have evidence to back up your belief that he's benign," Cagalli pointed out, "You're taking too much of what he's told you at face value. I thought the last war taught you better than that."

"It taught me plenty," said Athrun, "Most importantly, it showed me what could happen if mankind's allowed to fight each other in a prolonged war these days. The sooner this conflict ends, the better the chances of it doing so on a note that doesn't include nuked colonies and gamma ray lasers aimed at the Earth."

"No one's arguing with that," Kira replied, "but how this conflict ends is just as important as when, if not more so. We don't know what Durandal's vision of the post-war world is, and that lack of knowledge isn't comforting. Obviously, the Earth Alliance is the biggest threat given how they started the war, but that doesn't mean Durandal defaults to being our partner. It just means that right now he's not our primary focus."

Athrun's eyes narrowed. "The way you're talking, it sounds like Terminal's leadership has decided that fighting ZAFT is a foregone conclusion."

"It'd be foolish to rule it out," Cagalli argued, "and it's why you need to come back to us. If the time comes that we have to engage ZAFT in combat, none of us want to fight you as well!"

Athrun sighed. "I don't want to fight any of you either, but… I can't just up and leave ZAFT. There's still work that I have to do… still a purpose that I can fulfill."

Kira gave him a resigned look. "There's really no talking you out of this, is there?"

Athrun shook his head. "No. I'm sorry, but I truly do believe that this is where I can do the most good. I'll keep an eye out for the Chairman, and I was serious about reaching out to him to persuade him to stay away from Lacus. I'll extend that to the rest of you as well; the last thing I want is for the Chairman to see any of you as a threat."

"It might be too late for that," said Cagalli, regret and pain clear in her eyes, "Still, if you really feel like this is what you have to do… Athrun, please be careful, all right?"

Athrun nodded, forcing a smile for her. "I will. You too, all right?"

There was so much more that should've been said between the two of them, but Athrun didn't know where to start. His affection for her remained, and he believed that she felt the same regarding him, but there was no denying that the current situation put their relationship in an extremely difficult spot. He could only hope that they could reconcile and recover once this war was over.

For her part, Cagalli could only give him a pained smile. "All right."

Kira couldn't bring himself to smile, forced or otherwise. "Athrun… think long and hard about what you're doing. Make sure that the purpose you're trying to fulfill is your own and not someone else's."

Athrun's eyes narrowed at the implication. "I'm not the Chairman's pawn, Kira. I'm acting on my own free will."

Kira sighed. "I don't know what's worse; if that's what the Chairman's got you thinking… or if it's really the truth."

For the life of him, Athrun didn't have an answer for that.

….

"So, what do you think of them?" asked Adaline.

Lunamaria raised an eyebrow. "Of who?"

Adaline laughed. "Oh, come on, don't play dumb with me! I'm talking about the five hotshots that bumped you and your comrades off the position of 'top pilots on the Minerva.'"

Lunamaria smirked. "Oh… them. That's… complicated."

Despite the fact that this was the same woman who had forced her to land on a small island under gunpoint rather than let her complete her mission, Lunamaria actually found that she was enjoying her time with Adaline. While the rogue ZAFT pilot hadn't left her Wraith, she had struck up a friendly conversation with Lunamaria while ever-mindful that communications on the helicopter's side were of course being recorded. Lunamaria didn't know what Captain Gladys would make of this once she returned to the Minerva, but as far as she was concerned there were definitely worse ways to pass the time.

Hey, at least I'm still alive, she thought, I'll take what I can get. I mean, it's not like another pilot could've shaken her off in this scout chopper.

"Are you jealous?" asked Adaline, "I mean, I imagine they've kind of stolen your thunder ever since their arrival."

Lunamaria rolled her eyes as an image of Shinn flashed through her mind. "I can think of one pilot who resents them for that, but I honestly don't mind. They've made our last few battles a hell of a lot easier, that's for sure. As long as I'm still alive, I don't mind giving up the spotlight."

"That's a good way to look at it," Adaline replied, "It probably helps that they're all pretty easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean!"

Lunamaria blushed as this time it was Wufei that came to mind. "I… suppose they are."

Adaline pounced on her hesitation. "Oh, let me guess; one in particular's caught your attention?"

"It's not like that!" Lunamaria snapped.

Adaline laughed. "Oh, I think it is! I like you kid, but I gotta be real with you here; you're a shit liar. Just throwing that out there."

Lunamaria slumped down in her seat as if attempting to vanish into the cushion. "Even if I did… it's not like they'd feel the same way. I mean, look at me; I might be a ZAFT Red, but compared to them I might as well just be a grunt pilot."

"I think you're selling yourself short," Adaline countered, "You handled the chopper pretty well, and I bet those skills extend to your mobile suit as well. You've got talent, and those boys have an eye for it. You might be more on their radar than you're giving yourself credit for."

Lunamaria shook her head, even though she liked what Adaline was saying. "Maybe, but… it wouldn't work."

"Oh? Why's that?" asked Adaline, "I've seen crazier matches in my time."

Lunamaria hesitated; how much could she say over this channel knowing that her superiors would have access to the cockpit recordings? "Do you know… where they're really from?"

"Of course," said Adaline, "Do you?"

"They… gave me an idea," Lunamaria cautiously answered.

"Is that so?" Adaline replied, and from the tone of her voice Lunamaria had a feeling that she was smiling, "If that's the case, then I think they like you more than you might realize."

"Even if that were the case, you know why it wouldn't work," Lunamaria protested, "They're not going to stay here forever."

"How do you know that?" Adaline shot back, "At least one of them already decided to. He's been here for over two years now and has no plans on going back. Who's to say that one of the others might not have a similar idea?"

"Do you really think one might?" asked Lunamaria, trying not to get her hopes up.

Adaline chuckled. "Which one do you want to stay?"

"Well…" Lunamaria began, unsure of how much she should reveal.

Before she got the chance, Adaline interrupted. "Hang on, got an incoming transmission. Looks like the meeting's wrapped up, which means I no longer have a reason to hold you here. This has been fun, but you should probably be getting back to the Minerva now."

"Wait!" cried Lunamaria, "There's something I need to ask you first!"

"Oh? What's that?" Adaline replied.

"You guys… you're going to keep fighting alongside us, right?" asked Lunamaria.

There was a moment of silence before Adaline answered. "For now, yes. However, let's just say your Chairman doesn't have a whole lot of goodwill left from us. Between the fake Lacus he's employing and his assassination attempt against the real one, we're not exactly fans of his."

Lunamaria's eyes widened in shock; she couldn't have heard that right. "Hold on… can you say that again?"

"I think you heard me just fine the first time," said Adaline, "If not, just check the cockpit recorders once you're back on your battleship. Catch you later, Lunamaria."

The Wraith was cloaked, so Lunamaria couldn't directly see it take off, but the way dirt and dust began to fly about not too far from the chopper was all she needed to know that it was heading out. She supposed that meant she was free to take off anytime she wanted, but she couldn't bring herself to do so just yet; Adaline's earlier statement was still echoing in her head.

The Lacus working for the Chairman is fake? The Chairman tried to have the real one killed?

What the hell is going on?

….

Talia sighed as Lunamaria left her office. "Well… didn't see that coming."

Athrun had returned before the ZAFT Red that had been assigned to tail him, but it hadn't taken Lunamaria too long to catch up. Even then, though, Talia knew that Lunamaria's mission hadn't gone according to plan. The scout chopper's beacon had gone wildly off course, but the crew of the Minerva didn't dare risk sending out a transmission lest it compromise the helicopter and give the Alliance forces in the area an easy target. Talia knew that Lunamaria wouldn't have diverted course without a good reason, so she had been more than willing to hear out the young woman once she'd returned to the ship.

That her mission had been a bust was hardly a surprise, but Talia wasn't really concerned about that at the moment. The fact that she'd been intercepted by one of the three Wraiths that had been stolen by ZAFT during the last war was all the evidence she needed to know that Lunamaria's mission had been leaked, just as it was all the proof she required to understand that Heero had been the source. To say this put her in a precarious position with regards to the fearsome pilot would be a massive understatement.

He can transmit to his allies with an encryption that we're not anywhere close to cracking, she thought, and he had no compunctions about interfering in this operation. Granted, we were trying to spy on his friends, so a countermove on his part should've been anticipated. Still… this is a problem.

Here she was with a clear security breach in the form of the deadliest pilot on her ship. Talia could already picture the utter fiasco that trying to confine or detain Heero would be; the man had stormed the Dominion during the final battle of the last war in a three-person boarding action, and Talia was not optimistic about her crew's ability to contend with Heero and his fellow Gundam pilots in close combat. Informing Durandal and the Defense Council would certainly bring a demand for punitive action, but Talia lacked confidence in her ability to enforce any such decrees against the Gundam pilots.

The position of the Minerva was far too precarious for such a confrontation. The Earth Alliance's naval assets in the region might've taken a severe hit, but the ZAFT battleship was still operating without support. Talia was sure that the only reason the enemy wasn't attacking her ship at this very moment was because they feared suffering another catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Gundam pilots. There was also the fact that the Archangel and Dominion had come to ZAFT's aid in the previous engagement, and the Earth Alliance would be wary about picking a fight with them if they did not possess anything less than absolutely overwhelming force.

If Talia made any move to antagonize the Gundam pilots, there was every reason to believe that they'd simply abandon the Minerva. The ship's top deterrent against the forces of the Earth Alliance would be gone, and while Talia didn't doubt the growing skills of the pilots under her direct command, she was not blind to their limitations. The same went for the warship itself; the Minerva was one of the most powerful vessels in the entire Earth Sphere, but she was far from invincible.

All of this, of course, wasn't even factoring in the bombshell accusations the rogue pilot that vocal scans of the chopper's recordings had identified as Adaline Bellerose had levelled against ZAFT. Talia was still struggling to wrap her head around the idea that the 'Lacus Clyne' employed by Durandal was in fact an imposter. She'd always known that he was a clever and resourceful man; his intellect and drive were part of what had drawn her to him all those years ago. Even back then she'd caught hints of a certain coldness that he typically tried very hard to conceal; a ruthless ambition that fueled his intellect. It hadn't overly concerned her at the time, and in fact she'd occasionally told herself that she'd been imagining it altogether. Now, though, she was forced to reconsider.

Employing a fake Lacus for the purpose of boosting morale in both the military and civilian population certainly had a logic to it. However, such a deception was inherently risky due to the backlash that would be provoked should it be uncovered. That was why Talia wasn't willing to dismiss out of hand the second accusation; that Durandal had ordered the assassination of the real Lacus Clyne in order to protect the identity of his fake one.

Even two years after the First Bloody Valentine War, the songstress had an influence on the world stage that was impossible to ignore. Her very name carried an almost incalculable weight, one that went far beyond her simple fame as a pop culture icon. She was a symbol of justice and peace in the Earth Sphere; if she supported a cause, then said cause almost automatically was considered to have the moral high ground. That kind of backing was invaluable in times of war, and Talia was forced to privately admit that the notion of Durandal trying to manufacture such support through the use of a double wasn't exactly out of character for him.

But to order the girl's assassination? Would he really go that far?

Talia honestly didn't know. Part of her wanted to dismiss the allegations altogether as mere disinformation. For all she knew, it was simply a lie meant to sow distrust and confusion in ZAFT's ranks. However, there was enough plausibility to it that Talia couldn't just brush it aside.

Durandal, she thought, what do you want out of this war? You've said before that we're fighting for the safety of the PLANTs, and I want to believe that. However…

…what price are you going to make us pay for that safety?

….

Shemei folded her arms as Adaline finished her debriefing. "Are you sure that was a good idea? Telling her about the assassination attempt on Lacus, I mean."

Adaline shrugged. "I know we've been adopting a wait-and-see approach with regards to ZAFT, but let's be real; our truce with them is on borrowed time. Heero and the other Gundam pilots might not have let the word out yet, but we were always going to let it slip eventually in order to create discord in ZAFT's ranks, right? I figured now was as good a time as any to start."

Lan smiled. "I think it was the right call. The sooner we start giving the rank and file ZAFT troops doubts about what their war is really about, the easier it'll be when we finally have to fight them."

Priscilla sighed. "I'm not so sure. It might just simply cause ZAFT to turn against us sooner rather than later, and right now the Earth Alliance is still our primary enemy."

Eric shook his head. "Well, what's done is done. Overall, I'd say the intercept mission went pretty well. It's just a shame that diplomatic efforts with Athrun didn't really pan out."

Shemei found it hard to argue with that. Based on the report that had come over from the Archangel, it sounded like Athrun was now firmly in ZAFT's camp. When the time came for Terminal to finally engage Durandal's troops in the field, it seemed pretty likely that Athrun would be among the opposition.

That's gotta be tearing Cagalli up inside, she thought grimly, Athrun, you idiot…

The five of them were in the briefing room of the Dominion trying to figure out what today's events all meant for them going forward. On the one hand, it was certainly a good thing that Kira and Athrun hadn't come to blows during the meeting; Shemei knew just how badly both of them had been hurt when they'd fought each other during the last war and was loathe to see history repeat itself. However, based on what had happened today, the chances of them clashing on the battlefield were now considerably higher than they had been before.

As if reading her mind, Lan gave voice to Shemei's concerns. "Are we actually going to have to fight him now?"

"It's not out of the question," Adaline replied grimly.

"It's not a forgone conclusion either, though," Priscilla pointed out, "As of right now, our efforts are focused against the Earth Alliance just as ZAFT's are. There might still be time to bring Athrun around."

Eric sounded doubtful of that. "Maybe, but the next time we meet him is likely to be in the middle of battle. That's hardly the ideal time and place to try to persuade him to come back to us."

As much as she didn't like it, Shemei knew that they had to plan for the worst-case scenario. "What do we know about his mobile suit?"

Eric's brow furrowed in thought. "The Saviour? It's no Freedom or Justice, but it is formidable. The unit's designed for fast attacks and is capable of operating equally well in space or atmosphere. It's faster in mobile armor form than mobile suit form, but both configurations are agile and highly maneuverable. The amount of firepower it packs is impressive, all the more so considering that it operates off of conventional high-capacity batteries rather than a nuclear reactor and N-Jammer Canceller. In Athrun's hands, it's all the deadlier. We underestimate it at our peril."

"Athrun's always excelled at close-quarters-combat," said Lan, "The Saviour's speed plays to his strength by enabling to close the distance between his foes quickly. Its only melee weapons are a pair of beam sabers, but that's really all he needs."

"What's our best counter?" asked Priscilla.

Adaline turned to Shemei. "The Epyon Revenant can beat him at his own game, right?"

Shemei nodded. "Oh, yes. That thing's designed as a dueling mobile suit; melee combat is where it's deadliest. I'm not thrilled about the possibility of tangling with him, but I can beat him."

"I suppose Kira would work as an alternative," said Eric grimly, "He understands Athrun's fighting style better than any of us and is more than capable of matching him, especially with the Freedom. However…"

"The last thing we want is for those two to fight each other again," Lan finished for him.

Adaline nodded. "That would devastate Cagalli. Same goes for Lacus."

"At least with the Freedom Kira could disable Athrun, right?" asked Priscilla, "I can't see him resorting to lethal force against him."

Shemei sighed. "It depends on how hard Athrun wants to press the issue. If he goes all out, Kira might not have any other choice but to return the favor. Same goes for me. As much as I'd prefer to take him alive, that can be easier said than done in the heat of battle."

Eric shook his head. "At this point, all we can do is hope for the best and be ready for the worst. Any such confrontations between us and ZAFT are likely still a way off. The Earth Alliance is still Durandal's biggest threat, even with their naval assets reduced in this part of the world. He would need a really good reason to justify diverting resources away from the fight with his primary enemy and towards us instead."

"We're assuming he has to justify his moves to the Defense Council and Supreme Council," Priscilla pointed out, "In the latter part of the last war, Patrick Zala had essentially reduced both bodies to little more than rubberstamps for his agenda; he could do whatever he wanted, justifications be damned. Who's to say that Durandal hasn't already accomplished something similar?"

Shemei's eyes narrowed as she turned to her husband. "Eric? Is she onto something?"

Eric scratched his chin as he pondered the question. "I'm not sure. Everything I've heard from my contacts indicates that both Councils are still functioning as governing bodies and have their authority intact. However, at the same time, there hasn't really been much in the way of pushback from members of either Council when it comes to how Chairman Durandal wants to prosecute the war effort. I don't know if this means that the Councils have been sidelined or if a supermajority on both simply agree with the Chairman and have no cause to oppose him, whether it be on ideological, moral or practical grounds."

"What about popular support?" asked Adaline, "How are things looking with the civilian population?"

"From what I've gathered, as of right now the public's backing the war effort," Eric replied, "No doubt the fake Lacus is having an impact there. Even without her, though, by and large ZAFT's waged an overall defensive campaign, so keeping public support under those circumstances wouldn't be difficult. The increase in surface deployments are a more recent development, and it might take time for those to fully register with the civilian population and have a real impact on how they perceive the war."

Lan scowled. "Shit, this pisses me off. The guy's adored by the public while in secret he tries to have a girl killed just so he can prevent his fake from being exposed. I get that he's still not as bad as the Alliance, but come on! Durandal needs someone to knock him down a few pegs!"

Eric nodded. "His time will come. For now, keeping our little cold war with him from going hot is still the best move."

"At least it'll give us more time to prepare for when things inevitably go sideways," said Shemei before turning to her girls, "Speaking of which, Adaline; great work today, now go get some sleep. Lan will take your recon flight since you had an op earlier today. Pris, you're on standby, so try to grab a quick bite while you can."

Her three subordinates answered as one. "Understood."

Three Wraith pilots left the briefing room, leaving Shemei and Eric behind. A pensive silence hung in the air as the two of them carefully considered everything they'd just learned.

It was Eric that eventually spoke up first. "Planning to potentially take down a comrade and friend… can't say that's ever something that feels good."

Shemei sighed. "I know what you mean. Athrun didn't exactly leave us much choice in the matter, though."

Eric shook her head. "I knew Durandal's intellect and charisma made him dangerous, but I think I underestimated the level of threat he really represents. Turning Athrun against us like that was a coup, one the Earth Alliance could never hope to replicate given their behavior during this war."

"How far do you think he's got Athrun wrapped around his finger?" asked Shemei, "Is he salvageable?"

Eric closed his eyes for a moment, and Shemei didn't like the uncertain look they held when he opened them again. "Honestly, I just don't know. Part of me gets it; he wants to redeem ZAFT and prove it has the potential to be more than just the massacre machine his father turned it into two years ago. I can understand that, even sympathize with it, but just because Durandal's not Patrick Zala doesn't make him all that's good and right in the PLANTs. Far from it; it just means he's learned from the mistakes of the old regime, which makes him all the more dangerous."

Shemei nodded. "An enemy that learns and adapts is far more formidable than one that adheres to strict doctrine and dogma. Durandal might truly believe that he's doing all this for the sake of peace in the Earth Sphere, but his behavior so far suggests he's far more pragmatic than any simply idealist. He might have a vision for the reality he wants to create, but he's also not blind to the current reality that he has to work with."

"Well spoken," said Eric, "He's played his cards well so far, and the Earth Alliance has given him no shortage of cover thanks to their attempt at genocide when this war started. It's fair to say that he wouldn't be able to act the way he is now without the cover of war, actually. In that sense, the Alliance has done him a massive favor by starting this conflict."

Shemei's brow furrowed in thought. "If the Alliance hadn't kicked off this war, do you think Durandal eventually would've found a way to instigate it?"

Eric scratched his chin as he took a moment to consider the question. "Not directly, but I think he would've helped set the stage for it. Remember what Heero told us a while back after the Armory One attack? That conversation he had with Durandal aboard the Minerva?"

"Yeah," Shemei replied, "He said Durandal told him Armory One was eventually meant to be the core of an entire cluster of colonies at L4 rather than a stand-alone project. His administration had kept those plans from the public out of concern that such intentions would antagonize the Earth Alliance; they wanted to have the proper groundwork laid before going ahead with the full project."

"Good memory," said Eric, "At first glance, the caution makes sense. However, when you take a moment to think about it, the Alliance would freak out about a cluster of Coordinator colonies outside of L5 regardless of how much prep work the PLANTs did. Durandal's not an idiot; he would've been well aware of the potential for major backlash when he was conceiving this plan. Combine the location of Armor One and the proposed future colonies with the fact that Armory One's chief purpose is advanced weapons development, and it's hard to see how the Earth Alliance would see this as anything other than a provocation."

Shemei's eyes widened slightly. "In other words, his long-term plans basically made a war inevitable."

Eric nodded. "Exactly. It almost wouldn't matter if ZAFT fired the first shots or not; the very position of Armory One's colony cluster would almost guarantee an aggressive Earth Alliance response. If not an immediate attack, then they'd almost certainly start with a blockade. It wouldn't be hard for things to escalate from there."

"And if we can think things through that far ahead, then so can Durandal," said Shemei grimly as she took her train of thought to its logical conclusion, "That bastard… he wanted this war!"

"That's what it looks like, at least," Eric concurred, "The surprise attack on Armory One and the remnants of the Zala regime trying to drop the Junius Seven remains onto Earth might've kicked things off earlier than he wanted, but even without those incidents I think shots would've been fired sooner or later. Durandal didn't start the blaze, but he definitely set out more than his share of fuel and potential matches."

"Not the arsonist himself, but a willing and patient accomplice," Shemei mused aloud, "He probably wouldn't like that analogy, but it definitely fits."

"Yeah," said Eric as a dark look came to his eyes, "The question is, how much of the world is he willing to burn down to see his vision brought to life?"

Shemei couldn't suppress a shudder. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to that.

….

November 9th, C.E. 73

Arthur raised his eyebrow as he studied the tablet Talia had given him. "Lodonia?"

Talia had summoned him to her office early that morning. Normally the two of them would be on the bridge at this hour, but a surprise transmission from none other than Chairman Durandal with new orders had come through and Talia wanted to make sure that her Executive Officer was properly briefed.

"That's the codename for the place our analysts found in intercepted and decrypted Earth Alliance transmissions," Talia replied, "Our scout forces operating out of that base we captured in the Suez Canal area seem to have stumbled upon it a couple days ago."

Arthur tapped the image of the map on the tablet. "This position isn't that far away from the canal zone. Why are we only learning about this facility now? It should've been found when we initially seized the region."

"It was mostly concealed underground," Talia answered, "Patrol flights happened to witness a supply shipment reaching one of the hidden entrances. It was simply a lucky break on our part."

Arthur set the tablet down and folded his arms. "And the Chairman wants us to divert from our present course and head back to North Africa to seize and examine this place? Why not leave it for the local forces?"

That was a question Talia had been asking herself ever since she'd received the new orders. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. The forces we have holding the canal zone did take some hits when the Orb Union First Fleet passed through, but they're still formidable and more than capable of dealing with an installation like this. It might just be that the Chairman is concerned because it's an underground facility; we don't know how extensive it really is."

Arthur nodded, although he still looked a bit skeptical. "All right, then. So, are we going to be a spearhead or simply reinforcements?"

"The latter, most likely," said Talia, "From what I understand, the local forces have already begun probing the facility's defenses. By the time we arrive on scene, we might only be responsible for mopping up, perhaps dispatching a survey team to examine the interior."

Arthur's brow furrowed. "The way this is all set up… it's not a conventional Alliance base. It doesn't match any of their known layouts, even accounting for previously known underground facilities like the Alaska base from the last war."

Talia nodded; that thought had occurred to her as well. "There's also the fact that it was constructed in territory that doesn't actually belong to an Earth Alliance member state, and it appears that a great deal of effort was made to keep it concealed. The likelihood of this being some form of black site is rather high."

She watched her XO shudder. "I'm not sure I want to think about what we might find there."

Talia had a hard time arguing with that; given the rumors about what the Alliance had gotten up to in its black projects during the last war, it was hard to imagine anything good coming out of one of their secret facilities. Still, orders were orders, and they had a job to do.

"Perhaps, but unfortunately that's something we're going to find out for ourselves all too soon," Talia replied grimly, "I've already plotted our course. Taking measures to avoid possible hostile submarine and combat air patrols into account, we should be able to make it to the area and be ready to assist in the fighting by tomorrow. Whether we like it or not, this is our new assignment."

Arthur sighed. "Understood. I'll get to the bridge then."

"I'll forward our new course to helm and then join you," said Talia, "The sooner we get this over with, the better."

….

Standing on the upper deck of the Minerva, Heero idly watched the waves glistening in the afternoon sun. Things might've seemed relatively quiet on the surface, but the underlining tension was impossible to miss.

Our course is now to the southeast, not the west, he thought, and the Captain has not informed us as to why. My leaking Lunamaria's takeoff to Terminal is already having consequences, it seems. Well, that was inevitable.

The cold war between Durandal and Terminal was now beginning to make itself known aboard the Minerva. The vast majority of the battleship's crew had no idea as to what was going on, but Captain Gladys had clearly become much more wary of the Gundam pilots. There was Rey to consider as well; he'd always kept Heero and the others at arm's length, and it had never been hard to discern his distrust of them. Still, that was only two people out of an entire crew. Shinn didn't count; even though he had no problems directing his anger at Heero, Wing Zero's pilot knew that the young man's wrath was really meant for the world as a whole even if the ZAFT Red didn't realize it.

Shinn Asuka… as if Heero didn't have enough to be worried about. The young man's piloting skills were growing with each passing battle, but his fury burned as hot as ever. That was a very dangerous combination, especially given that he had the Impulse at his disposal. It might not have been a nuclear-powered mobile suit, but it could still do quite a bit of damage in the right hands. The boy clearly believed that he was on the side of justice, and Heero could tell that he was overall well-meaning, but the rage that had taken a hold of him ever since his family's death poisoned any good intent on his part. It was always there, simmering beneath the surface and looking for an outlet.

Was there anything Heero could do at this point to make him recognize that the anger he used for fuel would ultimately destroy him? It was hard to say. Heero knew that he and Shinn were hardly on the best of terms, and he would even admit to a bit of fault there; he hadn't done himself any favors by knocking the ZAFT Red out cold shortly after the attack on Armory One, even if Shinn had thrown the first punch. That encounter had poisoned the well for all of their subsequent reactions, with the young man's resentment towards him never too far from the surface. Perhaps there was too much bad blood between them now for any words from Heero to have a meaningful impact.

Still, he was reluctant to completely write Shinn off as a lost cause. The boy had genuine talent, and if he could just get past his anger, he had the potential to make a positive mark on the world. He could become far more than just ZAFT's attack dog and actually transform into a force for peace and justice in the Earth Sphere. Hell, he'd actually make an attractive recruitment target for Terminal given his abilities.

He's never really gotten closure for what happened two years ago, Heero mused, I think that's the real issue. If there were a way to make him feel as if some measure of justice had been delivered against his family's killers, that could change everything.

Could that realistically be done? The Earth Alliance had been the ones to attack the Elysium colony where Shinn and his family had been taking shelter during the last war; they were the party directly responsible for the tragedy that had unfolded there. Shinn's anger hadn't been directed at just them, though. The Orb Union was another sharp focus for his rage, and Heero knew that it wasn't entirely unjustified. Cagalli didn't deserve Shinn's hatred… but certain members of Orb's ruling elite definitely did.

Yuna Roma Seiran was dead, but Unato was still alive. Both had been at the Elysium colony during the Alliance's attack two years ago, and had more or less been running the colony until Cagalli had arrived. They had been in charge of overseeing the administration of the habitat, and that included the running of the refugee camps.

Refugee camps that had not been evacuated when the Alliance had struck.

That had initially been chalked up to an unfortunate oversight thanks to the confusion caused by the assault, but that excuse had never really sat right with Heero. The residents of the colony had largely been able to reach shelters before Alliance mobile suits had breached the docks and entered the colony; it should not have been difficult to move the refugees to similarly secure locations as well. Any administration with a basic level of competence would've had at least a rudimentary evacuation plan in place, yet none had been implemented at Elysium. Of course, it was impossible to rule out simple incompetence, but it still struck Heero as far too glaring of an oversight.

And part of him suspected that it wasn't an oversight. Yuna and Unato hadn't exactly rolled out the red carpet for Cagalli following the Battle of Elysium, and they had hardly given a warm welcome to the Coordinator members of the Three Ships Alliance. Their actions in the leadup to the Second Bloody Valentine War had only confirmed what Heero had already guessed; anti-Coordinator sentiment ran deep with the Seirans. They might not have been card-carrying Blue Cosmos members, but their attitudes were certainly sympathetic to them. When all that was taken into account, the refugees being left out in the open at Elysium started to look much less like an accident or bureaucratic screwup and more like outright malice.

You only have circumstantial evidence for a case like this, he told himself, You need more.

He certainly wouldn't be finding any sort of evidence out in the Mediterranean. The Orb Union and her colonies would be the preferred hunting ground for that kind of investigation, and right now he wasn't anywhere near there. Still, it was something he could run by Murrue and the others the next time he reached out to the Archangel; if nothing else, they could probe their network of contacts within Orb's civilian administration and get the ball rolling. In the meantime, Heero knew that he had to keep his mind focused on the current theater of war.

The hatch behind him slid open, and the voice of a friend rang out. "I thought I'd find you out here."

Looking over his shoulder, Heero saw Quatre smiling as he approached. "I didn't realize you were looking for me."

Quatre shrugged as he joined Heero at the railing and looked out over the sea. "It's fine. Didn't take me that long to find you, after all."

"Did you need something?" Heero asked.

Quatre laughed. "What, I can't come up here just to hang out with a friend? I thought the Cosmic Era had mellowed you out more than that, Heero!"

Heero allowed himself a smirk. "It has, but I still know you. Given our current circumstances, idle chitchat likely isn't at the top of your agenda."

Quatre sighed. "I guess I can't get anything by you. Some things never change, do they?"

"Consistency has some benefits," Heero replied, "What's on your mind?"

"Our new course, for starters," said Quatre, "I can't make any sense of it. Our destination was supposed to be Gibraltar, yet right now our heading takes us to North Africa. This is more than just maneuvering to avoid enemy patrols; we've been on this path for too long now. The ship's gotten a new mission, and we don't know what it is."

"Nor do I expect for us to know until the Captain decides to tell us," Heero conceded, "Giving Terminal the information needed to intercept Lunamaria may have preserved the privacy of Athrun's conversation with Kira and Cagalli, but it had consequences."

Quatre nodded in understanding. "One of those being that the Captain's now less willing to share information with us. Is that a price worth paying?"

"There's no sense in doubting what's already been done," Heero countered, "We simply accept the repercussions from our actions and move forward. Besides, the alienation would've come sooner or later anyway."

"I guess you're right," Quatre admitted, "It was always going to be a matter of time before this partnership between us and ZAFT began to fray. The attack on Home One made that inevitable, really. Is now really a good time for that to start, though?"

"I doubt there's ever really a 'good' time for an alliance to start cracking," said Heero, "We're at least not at the point of open warfare with them. Count your blessings while you can."

Quatre's eyes narrowed. "They still need our firepower and skill. The question becomes how do we anticipate when that will change?"

"A question without an easy answer," said Heero, "All we can do is stay on our toes and prepare the best we can."

Quatre nodded. "I guess so. Speaking of guessing, any theories on what's so important that they're diverting their prized battleship to the south instead of having it continue its mission to support ZAFT's Mediterranean forces by going to Gibraltar?"

Heero shook his head. "You're guess is as good as mine."

"Great," Quatre muttered, "I hate flying blind like this."

"That makes two of us," said Heero.

Quatre scratched his chin in thought. "Could we be heading back to the Pacific?"

"Possible, but I doubt it," Heero replied, "The Alliance is still hurting out there thanks to our attacks on their fleet early in the war. ZAFT's forces at Carpentaria are more than capable of holding their own in the region without backup from the Minerva."

"Maybe, but Orb's practically a stone's throw away from that base," Quatre pointed out, "ZAFT might be nervous that they could make a joint push with the Atlantic Federation's fleet."

"The time for such a push was before we demolished the Orb Union's First Fleet at the Dardanelles," Heero argued, "Orb's leadership will be much more skittish now about committing significant assets to offensive operations. Even if they decided to send another fleet out, the military might not go along with it. The Seirans sent their comrades to their deaths out here; the rank and file troops won't forget that."

Quatre nodded. "Yeah… I suppose Unato has to tread very carefully right now to avoid provoking a mutiny. All right, I guess that does rule out the Pacific unless we've grievously misread the tactical and strategic situation. What about North Africa? Maybe we're temporarily reinforcing the Suez Canal area until ZAFT can drop in additional troops and supplies from orbit?"

"That's possible," Heero conceded, "Strategically speaking, the Suez Canal's as important a holding as Carpentaria and Gibraltar combined thanks to the control it lets ZAFT exert over global shipping. They could be building up the base they have there and want us on site as an additional layer of deterrence while they beef up the defenses."

Quatre sighed. "Part of that makes sense, but right now the Alliance is on the backfoot in the region. If anyone should be digging in, it's them rather than ZAFT. Hell, if I were ZAFT I'd be trying to press my advantage right now rather than focus on fortifying. Strike while the iron's hot, right?"

"The Mediterranean Sea certainly doesn't lack for viable targets," Heero agreed, "The Eurasians have stepped up their involvement in the war if the last battle's any indicator, and they've got plenty of naval bases in the area that it would make sense to strike. Alternatively, ZAFT could gather a strike force at Gibraltar and set out for the British Isles; the Atlantic Federation has significant fleet assets out there for them to attack. Both sides are at a rough parity when it comes to naval strength in this part of the world, and right now the momentum is definitely with ZAFT. Digging in squanders their initiative and gives the Atlantic Federation space to regroup."

"Maybe they know something we don't," Quatre suggested, "ZAFT's intelligence services might've detected an Alliance force buildup that Terminal's sources missed and are worried about a potential attack. Perhaps they're anticipating a strike in the region and want to use us to counter while we're still on relatively friendly terms."

Heero shrugged. "That could be it, or it could be something else. We just don't know enough to say for sure."

"True enough," said Quatre, "That aside, there's something else that's bothering me."

Heero raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"There's an apparent lack of a broader strategy on ZAFT's part," Quatre answered, "The Alliance's endgame is obvious; they want all Coordinators dead. A nuclear strike was their initial plan, but they lost all their warheads when ZAFT deployed their countermeasure. Right now, they're probably rebuilding their stockpile or trying to pump out more ships and mobile suits for a massed conventional attack. Either way, their objective is clear and there are obvious ways for them to accomplish it, monstrous as it is. You can't say the same for ZAFT."

Heero took a moment to consider his friend's words. "You're right. Durandal claims his strategic goal is to keep the PLANTs safe and restore peace to the Earth Sphere, but he hasn't really articulated how ZAFT can accomplish that. The losses the Alliance suffered to their space forces early in the war, along with their expended nuclear stockpile, means that L5 is reasonably secure, yet that alone isn't enough to actually end the war. ZAFT's buildup on the surface likewise secures its holdings on Earth and has inflicted damage to the Alliance's planet-based forces, but all that achieves is bringing the two powers closer to parity. As of right now, the Alliance has shown no inclination of wanting to come to the negotiating table and ZAFT doesn't seem to have a strategy to change their minds. With the way things currently stand, the war could continue indefinitely."

"Maybe a negotiated peace isn't what Durandal has in mind," said Quatre grimly, "Perhaps he really wants to do what the old regime couldn't and actually conquer the Earth. If nothing else, it'd definitely be a way to guarantee the security of the PLANTs in the short run, although long-term he'd be begging for insurgency and rebellion."

Heero shook his head. "Even at the height of its power two years ago, ZAFT never had the resources for absolute planetary conquest. The Treaty of Junius Seven may be a dead letter now that there's open war and both sides can build new ships and mobile suits to their hearts' content, but ZAFT's numbers still don't come close to matching the armada that Patrick Zala commanded. If Durandal wants the Earth to submit to him, he doesn't have the resources with ZAFT alone to accomplish that. Not conventionally, at least."

"The Zala regime resorted to a superweapon during the final campaign of the last war," Quatre pointed out, "Do you think Durandal might do something similar? He might not be waging a war of extermination like Patrick Zala was, but I'm sure he'd still be able to find a use for that kind of firepower."

"It's always possible," Heero admitted, "In a way, he has the inverse of one with the Neutron Jammer Stampeder that he used to neutralize the Alliance's nuclear arsenal at the start of this war. If nothing else, it at least helps him secure the home front and allows him to focus on offense rather than defense. He always could have other such devices up his sleeves. We just don't know."

Quatre sighed. "Too many unknowns… Durandal's good at playing his cards close to the chest. He could give Treize and Zechs a run for their money."

Heero nodded. "He's definitely more intelligent than the genocidal warlords that were trying to rip the Cosmic Era apart two years ago. Restraint and subtlety serve him well. Without knowing his true agenda, it's very difficult for us to anticipate his moves."

Quatre's eyes narrowed. "We need to change that, and quickly. The Alliance might be the more immediate threat, but long-term I'm pretty sure Durandal's going to be the more difficult of the two to defeat."

Heero wouldn't argue with that, but he also knew that they had to keep things in perspective and focus on what they could accomplish in the here and now. "One threat at a time, Quatre. One threat at a time."

….

November 10th, C.E. 73

There was a tense silence in the briefing room of the Minerva as everyone waited for Captain Gladys to arrive. Shinn was fidgeting in his seat; patience had never been his strong suite, and that wasn't helped by the fact that he had no idea what was going on. The Captain had been very tight-lipped about the seemingly out of the blue decision to diver the ship towards North Africa, and now the ship was within sight of the Suez Canal but they still had not been told why they were here.

Hopefully that'll change real soon, he thought, I don't like anything about this.

"She'd better get here soon," he muttered under his breath.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been quiet enough if Lunamaria's reaction was anything to go by. "Shinn! We don't get to dictate when the Captain starts our briefing. You really need to learn to wait patiently."

Shinn folded his arms and pouted. "She's the one who told us to gather here. She shouldn't be late for her own briefing!"

"The Captain's likely making sure she has all the relevant intelligence organized for presentation," Rey chimed in, "Delays like this are perfectly normal. You should know that by now."

With both Lunamaria and Rey against him, Shinn knew it was time to throw in the towel. "Fine. I just want to know what the hell's up with all this. We were supposed to be going to Gibraltar before yesterday to link up with our main forces in the region, right? We've been going in the opposite direction for the past two days!"

"It is certainly interesting," said Heine as he scratched his chin in thought, "The Captain's certainly been playing her cards close to the chest; she hasn't told me the reason for this course change, and we're both members of FAITH. How about you, Athrun?"

Athrun shook his head. "No luck here, either. I don't know why she hasn't at least clued the two of us in."

Rey's eyes narrowed as he carefully regarded Athrun. "Perhaps she's concerned about a potential security leak."

Athrun raised an eyebrow. "Why would she be worried about Heine and I being a leak? We're on the same side and were all selected personally by the Chairman for promotion, after all."

"Why, indeed," Rey muttered, and Shinn couldn't help but notice how he glanced at Lunamaria.

Had he missed something? He'd heard about Lunamaria taking the scout chopper out the day before yesterday, but she hadn't told him what was going on beyond saying that it was a mission the Captain had given her. She'd made it back in one piece, so he'd assumed that her assignment had gone well, but her continued evasiveness whenever he tried to ask her what it was about was concerning.

Things have been weird ever since we left Carpentaria, he thought as his gaze drifted across the briefing room, No… ever since they rejoined us.

Whether it was by accident or design, the Gundam pilots were sitting apart from ZAFT's pilots. The only exception was Wufei, who occupied a seat right between both groups. None of them seemed phased by the wait, but that was par for the course.

Shinn didn't know what to think of them at this point. Sure, their skill and the power of their mobile suits had been invaluable, and even he could admit that the crew of the Minerva wouldn't be alive without their help. Still, the fact that they weren't a part of ZAFT still made him uneasy, and that wasn't even getting into his thoughts on Heero.

He didn't get what they were after. They claimed to desire an end to the war, but if that were really the case then the best way to do that would be for them to join ZAFT so they could truly fight as a united front. The five of them acting as independent fighters only created confusion, regardless of their efforts to coordinate with the pilots of the Minerva. Shinn just couldn't bring himself to trust them, and he was sure that he wasn't the only one.

Rey gets it, he thought, I've seen the way he looks at them. He doesn't trust them any more than I do.

Unfortunately, Shinn's opinion appeared to be in the minority. Lunamaria was all for their help, and it hadn't escaped his notice that she was spending a lot more time around Wufei than any of the others. Athrun was already a known associate and friend of Heero's, so it was only natural that he didn't raise objections. That just left Heine, and if nothing else he at least seemed cordial towards them and didn't give any hints of hostility.

Shinn was still quietly fuming when Captain Gladys finally entered the briefing room with Arthur behind her. She quickly moved to the front of the room while Arthur went off to the side, standing by the large screen mounted on the far wall.

"My apologies for the delay," she said, "We received some new intel just a little while ago and had to adjust our plans. We now have everything we need to begin."

She turned and nodded at Arthur, who had apparently synched up the tablet he was holding with the screen on the wall. His fingers tapped the tablet a few times, and moments later the screen came to life, showing a rather unremarkable patch of sand and rock in North Africa.

"A few days ago, scouts operating out of the base we captured in the Suez Canal region noted some strange activity," Talia began, "Convoys of supply trucks were seen entering the area and seemingly disappearing in the middle of the desert. Specifically, they disappeared at this point."

A red rectangular outline appeared on the monitor, and the image zoomed in to focus on that particular area. Shinn leaned forward to focus, and his eyes widened when he saw a large patch of sand and rock suddenly shift and begin to rise; it was a massive disguised door.

Lunamaria whistled. "Whoa… what do we have here?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Talia replied, "The supply trucks weren't bearing any official markings, but a few transmissions were intercepted and decoded. The encryption pattern matched one that's used by the Atlantic Federation, and the contents of the message made reference to a 'Lodonia facility'. It would seem that we've stumbled upon a secret Alliance base, although the nature of it is something we have yet to determine."

"What are we looking at as far as defenses go?" asked Heero.

"Our forces began probing the area shortly after the facility's discovery," Talia answered, "Several concealed anti-air and anti-vehicle emplacements opened fire and were subsequently destroyed in counterattacks. No mobile suits have sortied from the base, but our forces keep coming across mines that require clearing out. It appears this facility's defense is static and based more on stealth than actual combat potential."

Duo leaned forward. "Any idea just how big this place really is?"

Talia shook her head. "That's unknown. The defensive emplacements we've discovered so far have spanned an area of roughly twenty square kilometers, and we believe that this represents the outer perimeter. However, it's entirely possible that the facility's true scope expands well beyond the defensive measures that we've encountered up until now."

"The Alliance really loves their fancy underground bases," Trowa deadpanned.

"Quite so," Talia concurred, "although Lodonia doesn't appear to be of the same scale as their old Alaska base."

"So, what's the plan?" asked Wufei, "Are we laying siege and starving them out or making a direct assault?"

"Our local forces are trying to breach the entrance we've already identified," said Talia, "Unfortunately, the door is rather thick; conventional weapons and explosives aren't having much of an impact. They've been looking for secondary entrances but have so far come up empty. That's where we come in. Impulse will sortie with a Blast Silhouette loadout, and will be supported by Lunamaria with her Gunner ZAKU and Athrun in the Saviour. The firepower of these three machines combined should be enough to force entry."

"Begging your pardon, Captain," Heine chimed in, "but why dispatch three mobile suits who should be able to breach the door when we already have one that we all know beyond a doubt can breach said door all by itself?"

All eyes in the room turned towards Heero. Shinn didn't like the attention the Gundam pilot was always getting, but he had to admit that Heine had a point. After all, Wing Zero had destroyed the hardened Alaska base during the last war, and the Gundam Albion seemed to have not only inherited but improved upon that fearsome firepower. While Shinn was all for giving himself the starring role in breaching the base, he had to concede that the Impulse was a secondary option when compared to Heero's mobile suit.

Talia shook her head. "The Gundam Albion was considered, but I'd like to save that as a fallback contingency. We want to take the base intact so we can study it, not destroy it. If Shinn, Athrun and Lunamaria can't breach the door, then we'll up the firepower. I trust you have no arguments with that, Heero?"

Heero merely shrugged. "It's fine. This is your operation; run it how you will."

Talia nodded. "Once the base is breached, in all likelihood we'll have to fight for the interior; if the Alliance forces here were going to surrender, they would've done it by now. The local infantry will handle the bulk of the fighting, but they'll still want our support."

"We don't mind getting our hands dirty," Duo chimed in.

"He's right," said Quatre, "If they want an extra fireteam on the ground, all they have to do is ask."

Talia smiled. "I was just about to, actually. Nice to see that we're on the same page."

"Just give us access to the ship's armory, and we'll be good to go when the time comes," said Trowa.

"Of course," Talia replied, "I'll let the quartermaster know to give you whatever you need. I'm assuming you five will want to operate as your own fireteam, right?"

"That's the idea," Wufei answered.

"We'll still coordinate our actions with your forces," Heero reassured her, "Friendly fire hurts a lot more when you don't have a mobile suit's armor to take the hit, after all."

Talia winced. "True enough."

"What about the rest of us, Captain?" asked Shinn, "Will we be joining the interior assault after we breach the base?"

Talia raised an eyebrow. "You can if you want to, but you're pilots by training, not infantry. I know you all got basic ground combat instruction at the academy, but it's not your specialty."

"We can follow the lead of our ground teams easily enough," Rey countered, "It would be better if we got a chance to see the inside of the base with our own two eyes so we can make an accurate report to the Chairman."

Heine nodded. "Rey's right. I have no problem with leaving ground warfare to the professionals, but at the same time I do wish to examine just what the Alliance has built out here. If we follow in the wake of our proper fireteams, I don't think we'll have any issues."

Duo smirked. "If you want, you can just hide behind us. We kick ass on foot or in a mobile suit any day of the week!"

Heine chuckled. "Perhaps I'll take you up on that! It'll be interesting to see what you and your friends can do without your mobile suits."

"When do we move out?" asked Heero.

"One hour from now," Talia replied, "I've already sent word ahead to the commander of the forces operating in the region. Their mobile suits are ready to go, and once we make the breach, they'll have their fireteams move in. We'll have one of our jeeps prepared for your team's use, Heero."

"I'd like to go with them," said Rey, "You won't need me in my mobile suit for the breaching operation."

Talia raised an eyebrow but didn't push back. "Very well, then. Make sure you join them in the armory and equip yourself accordingly."

Rey nodded. "Of course."

"I want you all ready to go when the time comes," said Talia, "The Alliance went through a lot of effort to build a secret base out here, and we're going to find out what they're hiding."

….

"Shotgun!" called Duo.

"Bit late on the draw," said Trowa as he slid into the front passenger seat while Heero revved up the engine.

Duo folded his arms. "Trowa, get in the back."

Trowa raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I called shotgun!" Duo argued, "You did not. You are violating the sacred rules of calling shotgun!"

"If anyone has the right to call shotgun, it's me," said Quatre from behind him, smirking as he loaded the actual assault shotgun he'd taken from the ship's armory.

Wufei rolled his eyes. "Remind me why I decided to team up with you guys again?"

"That makes two of us," said Rey, looking as if he was seriously questioning his recent life choices.

"Just get in the jeep and secure your weapons," Heero ordered, resisting the urge to floor it and just leave the rest of them behind, "Duo, you can have shotgun on the way back if you stop whining right now."

"Fine, Dad," Duo groaned as he climbed in the back with the others.

That's a mental image I didn't need, Heero thought, although I suppose Murrue might find it amusing…

Shinn, Athrun and Lunamaria had sortied earlier and made for the base entrance, while Heine had gone out to act as an escort just in case the Alliance actually did have mobile suits lying somewhere in ambush. So far, though, the ZAFT pilots had reported no signs of resistance; apparently the weapons emplacements that had already been taken out by ZAFT's local forces were the extent of the base's external defenses. The three of them had already made progress in blasting their way through the door, and according to the latest update the Captain had given Heero it probably wouldn't be too much longer before they successfully breached it.

Up ahead, Heero saw the door open up, but the ZAFT soldier at the entrance didn't wave them through just yet; they had to wait for the cargo ramp to descend. That would only take about a minute or so, and it wasn't as if he lacked for entertainment during the wait.

"What level of competence can we expect from the ground forces ZAFT has assigned to this region?" asked Trowa.

Rey bristled at the remark. "ZAFT employs rigorous training for all branches of its service, including our surface units. Our troops are efficient and professional."

Duo chuckled. "Kid, we eat 'efficient and professional' troops for breakfast and shit them back out just before lunch. If you want to impress us, you'll have to do better than that."

"Duo, play nice," Quatre chided him.

"I will once he pulls the stick out of his ass," Duo shot back, "He's worse than Wufei."

"I'm sitting right here," Altron Custom's pilot dryly noted.

Duo grinned. "I know!"

"ZAFT has experience operating in North Africa," Heero interjected, "Their local commander might not be the Desert Tiger, but they'll at least have access to the data from prior campaigns as a reference point. If they're smart, they'll take advantage of that."

"And if they're not smart?" asked Trowa.

Heero shrugged. "Then we work around them."

Rey raised an eyebrow. "That would contradict the willingness to cooperate that you indicated to Captain Gladys during the debriefing."

"Your Captain has proven herself to be a competent commander," Heero replied, "I have no issue with cooperating with her. If ZAFT's field commander in charge of the local ground forces does not display similar competence, then working around them is simple necessity."

That didn't do much to lessen the suspicious look Rey was giving him. "It's not a soldier's place to determine the competency of their commanding officer. That's for the higher ups to decide. Soldiers don't get to pick their commanders."

"They don't if they're part of an organized state military," Heero agreed, "Fortunately for us, we're not part of ZAFT. Your Captain's well aware of our independence and has adapted well to it. You and Shinn seem to be the only ones who still have a problem with it."

"You don't share our goals," said Rey, "and you've been blunt about this alliance being one of convenience, nothing more."

Heero shrugged. "So I have. You don't appreciate honesty?"

"Getting stabbed in the front as opposed to the back is still getting stabbed," Rey pointed out.

"No one's stabbing anyone," Quatre cut in.

"Not yet," Rey shot back, "but we have no guarantee that won't change in the future."

"The only knives you have to worry about right now are those of the Alliance soldiers in the base up ahead," said Trowa, "I suggest you keep your focus on the immediate threat."

Duo looked back and forth between the two, seemingly a bit confused. "Huh… weird."

"What is it?" asked Trowa.

"I can't believe I only just noticed this now," said Duo, "When you two talk… you sound really similar. It's honestly kind of creepy. Stop it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Rey.

Trowa folded his arms. "Likewise."

Duo shook his head. "I always get stuck with the oddballs."

"What's that make you, then?" Wufei quipped.

Duo smiled. "The life of the party, of course!"

"We'll have a party one way or the other soon enough," said Heero as the ZAFT soldier up ahead finally waved them forward, "We're moving out."

It only took a few seconds for the crowded jeep to make its way down the ship's cargo ramp. Their destination had already been programmed into the vehicle's onboard GPS, so it wasn't difficult for Heero to keep oriented. He opened up with the acceleration as soon as they were clear of the ramp, and soon the jeep was racing across the sand.

Theirs wasn't the only such vehicle heading towards the base. Despite being known as the pioneers of mobile suit warfare, ZAFT did still employ more traditional military vehicles when the need arose. While DINNs raced overhead maintaining air superiority and keeping an eye out for serious enemy opposition, on the ground scores of armored fighting vehicles and personnel carriers were on the move. In the distance Heero also spotted a Petrie-class land cruiser, one of two such ships taking part in the operation. A group of BuCUEs were up ahead acting as a vanguard.

"So," said Duo, "how do Alliance infantry tactics and weapons stack up to what we've faced before?"

"Conventional and uninspired," Heero replied, "Whatever troops they have out here are cornered, though, so expect fiercer resistance than usual."

Quatre sighed. "No chance of them surrendering?"

"Their policy towards Coordinators is one of extermination," said Trowa, "They're likely still expecting their enemies to be of the same mindset, especially given what happened in the war two years ago."

Wufei shook his head. "A fight to the death in an underground base… that's going to be ugly."

"According to the Captain, the commander of the local forces has made multiple open channel broadcasts attempting to persuade the enemy to surrender," said Rey, "Unfortunately, they've received no response."

A grim silence fell over the jeep, punctuated only by the engine itself as Heero navigated the dunes and continued their approach to the base. This definitely wasn't his preferred kind of battlefield; he felt much more vulnerable down here than he did in Wing Zero. Still, this would be the best way for him to acquire information inside the base to send back to Terminal without having to get it secondhand from ZAFT and worry about them filtering it.

Whatever we're dealing with here, all initial intel indicates that it's not a traditional military base, he thought, It's not too far from the Suez Canal zone, yet it didn't deploy any forces to back up the ones the Alliance had fortifying the region when we launched our attack. The Alliance already had a base there, and they've gone out of their way to make sure that this one is concealed unlike the other one. We're likely looking at either some form of an intelligence facility or one dedicated to research. The former makes at least some sense, but the latter… why put a lab way out here instead of in secure territory like the Atlantic Federation homeland? Something doesn't feel right…

Unfortunately, for the moment there was nothing he could do regarding his concerns. For better or worse, he knew that the only way to find answers for his questions was to get inside the base and see it firsthand. All Heero could do for now was focus on the task at hand…

…and hope that this whole mission wouldn't blow up in his face.

….

"How are we looking, Heine?" asked Shinn.

"Still clear," Heine replied, "No sign of enemy air units."

"If they had any, they would've deployed them well before now," Athrun chimed in, "I'd say at this point air superiority is definitely ours."

"Good," said Lunamaria, "I feel way too exposed being stuck on the ground like this. When can we go back to space?"

"When we get orders saying so," Athrun answered, "In the meantime, we got work to do."

They were already a fair way along from where Shinn was sitting. He, Athrun and Lunamaria had already hammered the thick door to the hidden base with two concentrated salvos, and it had definitely buckled. One or two more blasts in the same spot would likely be enough to breach it.

I still don't get why they built a second base out here when they already had the one at the Suez Canal, he thought, I swear, I can't figure the Alliance out.

Part of him wished he could be on the ground team, if only to satisfy his curiosity. However, Shinn knew what his mission was, and he would carry it out. Since Rey was part of the ground team, Shinn figured he could just get the highlights from him.

"All right," said Athrun, "Lining up my next shot. Shinn, Lunamaria, what's your status?"

"Ready when you are," Lunamaria reported.

Shinn checked the readings for the Blast Impulse's twin M2000F Kerberos High-Energy Long-Range Beam Cannons. "Hang on a sec… okay, charged and ready!"

"Copy that," Athrun replied, "Fire on my mark, same target zone. Three… two… one… mark!"

The Impulse, Gunner ZAKU and Saviour all opened up simultaneously, hammering the door with a staggering barrage that held sufficient firepower to rip warships in half. There was a near-blinding blast as the shots found their target, and it took a few seconds for the dust to settle. When Shinn finally got a clear picture again, he saw that the third time had been the charm; the door had been breached.

"About time," he muttered.

"All right!" Lunamaria cheered, "Go us!"

"Yes, that was one fearsome door," Athrun deadpanned, "Promotions all around, I'm sure."

"Why do you have to kill my buzz?" asked Lunamaria.

Heine chuckled. "Athrun, let them have a bit of fun!"

"This is a field operation," Athrun shot back, "It's not meant to be fun."

"You've been in a rather sour mood lately," Heine pointed out, "Ever since you got back from that mystery flight the Captain sent you on two days ago, in fact."

That was true, and now that Shinn thought about it, he realized that Athrun wasn't the only one who had been behaving a bit oddly since then. Lunamaria had been rather withdrawn over the past couple of days, and Shinn suspected it was due to whatever had happened when she'd gone out on the scout chopper. She'd said nothing about what her mission was or what had gone down, which naturally made Shinn even more curious. Her cheers over breaching the door were a welcome sign that she was returning to normal, but that didn't mean Shinn's questions had gone away.

I'll have to get some answers later, he thought, Something strange is going on, that's for sure.

Then again, 'strange' had been the normal state of things ever since the attack on Armory One. If Shinn had to guess, he assumed that things would remain strange until the end of the war.

….

The sound of gunfire echoed up ahead as Heero's group drew closer to the breached entrance. He caught sight of Heine and Athrun circling overhead in their machines and maintaining air superiority, but the Impulse and Lunamaria's ZAKU were nowhere to be seen. Given that they'd already accomplished their mission of punching through the base's front door, those two were likely on their way back to the Minerva.

The jeep's radio was set for the primary tactical frequency for ZAFT's ground forces in the region, so Heero had been able to get updates on the situation as they drove across the sand. Based on what he had heard so far, initial resistance inside the base after the breach had been hastily organized; the first line of defense within the facility had been broken through with relative ease. There were still scattered firefights and pockets of resistance, but nowhere near what Heero had been expecting.

Don't let your guard down, he told himself, You still don't know how large this place really is or how many people are inside it. Be ready for anything.

"So, the ZAFT troops up ahead do know we're coming, right?" asked Duo nervously, "I'd rather avoid friendly fire if it's all the same to you."

"The Captain has informed the commander of the local forces that we'll be joining the operation," said Rey, "They won't shoot at us."

"Accidents do happen," Trowa pointed out.

"Hope for the best and expect the worst," said Quatre with a weary sigh.

"The worst is usually what we get," Wufei deadpanned.

"Cut the chatter and ready weapons," Heero ordered as he juiced the accelerator, "We're going in hard."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Great."

The engine roared as the jeep picked up speed, barreling across the home stretch towards the gaping maw of the base's entrance. A few ZAFT soldiers standing by the breached door on perimeter duty quickly got out of the way, and a few seconds later Heero and the fireteam were out of the sunlight and charging down a long cargo ramp towards a loading and unloading area for heavy vehicles.

Trowa leaned forward in the front passenger seat, taking in the area at a glance as they rapidly approached it. "Some dead soldiers by the doors, but no active hostiles. Sounds like the fighting's already moved further into the interior."

The jeep skid to a halt once they leveled out, and the fireteam quickly exited the vehicle with weapons raised. Scanning the large room, Heero saw a few hastily deployed heavy machine guns and their dead crews, along with a couple of discarded rocket launchers and the charred husk of one of ZAFT's armored fighting vehicles. Still, the overwhelming proportion of casualties were clearly Alliance soldiers.

"Hey, check this out!" called Duo as he knelt by one of the corpses, "Guy's got a combat vest and rifle, but that's it; his uniform's that of a logistics worker. He was probably assigned to this area to move incoming supplies."

"This one's a cook," said Wufei as he studied another body.

"And this one looks like an administrative officer," Quatre chimed in, "Barely any of these guys were actual frontline soldiers."

Trowa's eyes narrowed as he looked around. "The first line of defense should've been trained infantry at least, not support personnel. What's going on here?"

Looking around, Heero saw Rey wincing and rubbing his forehead. "You okay?"

Rey shook his head. "Just a headache. I'm good."

Heero wasn't entirely convinced, but he didn't have time to press the matter; the sounds of gunfire echoing in the corridors beyond spoke of much more important concerns. "Stay behind the rest of us. No offense, but I know the ground game's not your strong point."

He expected Rey to argue, but instead the ZAFT Red simply nodded. "Understood."

Heero paused to take one last look around the loading area, trying to figure out what they were getting themselves into. The lack of a strong first line of offense was another indicator that this base had a purpose other than supporting forward operations. What its true purpose actually was, though, Heero couldn't say just yet. He needed more information, and there was only one way to get it.

Into the belly of the beast we go…

….

Being assigned to the prestigious Heaven's Base certainly had its ups and downs. Since it was located in Iceland, at this time of year outside it was biting cold, but Colonel Nazara tended to keep to the interior of the facility so that was hardly an issue. The accommodations were downright luxurious compared to other bases; the Atlantic Federation had spared no expense on creature comforts for the top brass. His office here was incredibly spacious to the point that all the extra room felt almost opulent, and it was very well furnished. Even the coffee was several steps up, and given the Alliance military's reputation for giving its soldiers absolutely shit coffee the marked improvement at Heaven's Base in that category alone was enough to ensure that morale amongst the troops was maintained at a reasonably decent level.

Unfortunately, none of the creature comforts mattered much to the Colonel at the moment. Sitting behind his desk, the masked leader of Phantom Pain was uncharacteristically tense. His left foot was almost constantly tapping the floor as he waited for the next status update to show up on his monitor; the recent reports he'd received from North Africa had all borne ill-tidings, and he fully expected them to get worse as the day went on.

Djibril, you incompetent ass, he silently fumed, I told you we needed to reinforce the Lodonia facility…

Providing said reinforcements would've comprised the facility's secrecy, but as far as the Colonel was concerned that had been forfeited the moment ZAFT had seized the base at the Suez Canal. It was always going to be a matter of time before patrols stumbled across the vehicles shipping supplies to the Lodonia base, but the impact could've been blunted if proactive measures had been taken to give the facility a proper fighting force to defend it. The base's security measures were more focused on keeping people in rather than defending against an external attack; the guards didn't have the firepower required to repel an organized military assault.

Based on the reports he'd gotten over the past few days, Nazara had suspected said assault would not be much longer in coming. The Atlantic Federation was about to take a big hit to a key project, one that Phantom Pain had invested a considerable amount of time and resources in. At this point, the best he could hope for was that the base's staff would implement liquidation protocols efficiently, but he wasn't optimistic.

After what felt like an eternity but was probably no more than a few minutes, the Colonel saw a new message from the facility appear in his inbox. Opening it immediately, his brow furrowed in puzzlement behind his mask when he saw that the content was just a link to a live-feed from one of the base's internal security cameras.

With no further information available, Nazara opened up the feed… and quickly found his frustration replaced with sheer fury. The particular camera in question was focused on the cargo unloading area, and it showed the aftermath of a firefight. There appeared to be a few corpses bearing ZAFT insignia, but the lion's share were clearly Alliance personnel. That wasn't what had incited his rage, though. A group of six was making their way through the area towards one of the doors, and at the head of said group…

…was none other than Heero Yuy.

….

His back against the wall, Heero cautiously peered around the edge of the doorway to check for hostiles. Looking down the corridor, all he saw were a handful of bodies in Alliance uniforms.

"Clear," he reported, "Watch your step."

"Not much of a defense these guys have put up, eh?" said Duo.

"Clearly," Trowa dryly quipped.

"I told you ZAFT's ground troops are good," said Rey.

Wufei shook his head. "Let's not kid ourselves here. This isn't about ZAFT troops being competent; the Alliance left second-stringers guarding this place."

Heero was forced to concur. The Gundam pilots hadn't gotten into a single firefight yet; the ZAFT troops were cutting through the Alliance defenders like a hot knife through butter, and while the former were displaying a reasonable level of skill the real reason for their progress was that the enemy clearly hadn't assigned anywhere close to their best troops to protect the facility. Still, Heero knew that they still didn't know the full scale of the facility, so caution remained the best policy.

As they proceeded through the corridor, Quatre checked the bodies. "More auxiliary personnel. Wait a sec… check out this guy."

Motioning for Duo to watch point and Trowa to mind the rear, Heero turned his attention to the corpse Quatre had pointed out. The individual in question didn't look particularly out of the ordinary, but the unit patch did stand out; a red and white skull inside a red diamond.

"Desperado Enforcement," said Heero, "Looks like the Alliance contracted out a chunk of this place's security."

Duo raised an eyebrow. "Desperado? You mean we might run into psycho bitch and her friends here?"

Heero shook his head. "Unlikely. If any of their elite pilots were here, they would've sortied well before now. We're probably dealing with just a ground contingent here."

"That's a shame," said Wufei as he patted the sword on his hip, "I was hoping for another go with Rodrigues."

Quatre chuckled. "I'm sure you'll get to face him again soon enough. I've lost track of the times you two have fought."

Rey looked thoughtful. "Desperado is one of the Atlantic Federation's more high-end private military companies, right? If one of their units was assigned to guard this place, what does that say about this facility's value?"

"We can't draw any concrete conclusions just yet," Heero reminded him, "We still don't have enough information."

Rey nodded. "True enough."

Heero's eyes then narrowed as he saw the ZAFT Red grimace and rub his forehead. "Headache again?"

"It's nothing," Rey replied, although the answer had come too quickly and definitely sounded forced.

Heero very much doubted it was nothing. "If you've got health problems, get back to the Minerva. Toughing it out's a good way to get yourself killed in a firefight."

"I said it's nothing," Rey growled.

"Let him be, Heero," said Wufei, "If he's eager to get himself killed, who are we to stop him?"

"Wufei!" Quatre protested, "That's uncalled for!"

Wufei shrugged. "Just stating the obvious."

Heero scowled at his two fellow Gundam pilots. "Lock it down, both of you."

He then turned back to Rey. "If you're not going back, then stay with the group and don't move ahead of us, you got that?"

Rey nodded. "Understood."

"Anyone feel like we're wandering aimlessly right now?" asked Duo from up ahead, "We need to get our bearings."

"Agreed," said Trowa.

"Let's look for areas that might be part of this facility's admin sector," Quatre suggested, "We should be able to find a decent map of the base there."

Heero nodded. "Good idea. We should also be able to start infiltrating their network from one of their admin offices as well."

"And if we find any workers that ZAFT hasn't gunned down yet?" asked Wufei.

"Give them the chance to surrender," Heero ordered, "If they don't take it, do what must be done."

"I doubt they'll surrender," Rey commented, "Alliance propaganda probably has them believing that they're fighting the same ZAFT that tried to carry out Zala's genocide campaign. They won't care about the new management and will likely fight to the death.

"Possibly," Heero admitted, "but there's only one way to find out."

With that, they set off again. Heero moved back up to the front to take point, but without a working knowledge of the facility he was really just going by instinct. He was vaguely reminded of his infiltration of the Atlantic Federation's Alaska base during the last war, but that facility had been far larger and much better defended than this one.

Occasional bursts of gunfire would echo from up ahead, but they were distant and muffled. ZAFT's forces were sweeping through the structure relatively quickly, and while Heero would've liked to get ahead of them he was able to recognize the benefits of the situation too; their troops would deal with the lion's share of the opposition, and they were moving so quickly that they likely weren't taking the time to take stock of the information that the facility had to offer. This would give Heero better odds of getting into the base's network and pilfering valuable data before ZAFT could get their hands on it.

Of course, what sort of data that might be was anyone's guess at the moment.

….

To say that Quatre was uneasy would've been a considerable understatement. He'd seen more than his share of battlefields, and whether he was fighting in a mobile suit or on foot he was more than capable of handling himself, but there was something about the current operation that seriously rubbed him the wrong way. Part of it he could simply chalk up to the engagement zone itself; fighting underground was never a pleasant experience, all the more so when said fighting was taking place in a large enemy facility that they didn't have any meaningful intel on. However, there was more to it than that.

ZAFT is cutting through the Alliance forces here way too easily, he thought, I expected that we'd have to at least do some fighting, but so far we've yet to encounter any meaningful opposition. This doesn't make any sense; the enemy should've assigned more troops to this location given how close it is to the front lines.

Then again, there were likely factors that he wasn't taking into consideration. Perhaps the Alliance was more stretched for troops than its size might suggest, or maybe they simply hadn't expected ZAFT to find this facility so quickly. Still, given the extensive investments in funds, manpower and materials that would be required to construct such a facility it was remarkable that the Alliance hadn't done a better job of protecting it.

"So, totally not trying to jinx us here," he said as they made their way down a hallway with only the occasional corpse slumped against the wall to get in their way, "but this feels way too easy. It's not just me thinking that, right?"

Duo shook his head. "No, Quatre, it's not just you. Call me paranoid, but I've had a bad feeling ever since we entered this place, and it's not going away anytime soon."

"Any signs we might be near the admin sector?" asked Trowa.

"Possibly," said Heero, pointing to a placard mounted on the wall, "and quite literally. The Alaska base had markers similar to this one."

Wufei peered over his shoulder at the indicator. "If this thing's right, looks like we just hang a right at the end of the hall. Simple enough."

Heero nodded. "Let's move."

Proceeding forward, Quatre couldn't help but feel an increasing sense of foreboding. He didn't doubt Heero's experience or judgement, but his instincts were telling him that this base was hiding some very dark secrets. Given the Alliance's conduct so far in this war, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the kind of shit they got up to when they thought no one was looking.

They kicked off this war with a shot at genocide via nuke spam, he grimly reminded himself, I'm not putting anything past these guys. They make the old United Earth Sphere Alliance from our world look like a cute and cuddly kitten in comparison… even OZ at its most bloodthirsty couldn't hold a candle to them.

It only took a few minutes for the group to reach their destination. Rounding the corner and trekking a bit further down the next hall, they soon found themselves in a large room that wouldn't have looked out of place in any civilian office building. Cubicles, file cabinets, a few tables and chairs set aside as a break area; the place screamed mindless bureaucracy and boring office work.

"All right," said Duo, "Where do we start?"

"Fan out and sweep the room first," Heero ordered, "Let's make sure there aren't any surprises waiting for us."

Splitting into groups of two, the pilots spread out and began their search. Working with Heero, Quatre covered his friend's rear while they moved along the perimeter of the area. There were clear signs of a previous firefight; many of the cubicles were riddled with bullet holes, bloodstains marred the walls and led down to the corpses slumped against them, and there were even signs of scattered grenade detonations.

"Finding a working console might be harder than I thought," Quatre mused aloud.

"Make note of any that look functional," said Heero, "It shouldn't be too hard to hack our way into the network as long as we can locate a computer that's not full of holes."

"You're not just after floorplans, are you?" asked Quatre.

Heero shook his head. "The computers here probably won't have access to the real juicy stuff, but we can still gather valuable intel. I want to look at the incoming supply manifests in particular."

Quatre nodded. "Makes sense. Use what they last shipped in to get an idea as to what was going on here. We should also see if we can access financial records from here."

Heero concurred. "Good thinking."

Several minutes later their sweep concluded, and Heero had wasted no time in setting up shop at a console. Duo, Trowa, Wufei and Rey were on lookout, while Quatre was standing next to Heero looking over his shoulder as he effortlessly broke through the first level of security. It was easy to forget that his friend was more than just a phenomenal mobile suit pilot and lethal combatant; Heero's extensive training had included hacking, and he was putting it to good use now.

"Here," he said after a moment, "This looks like a comprehensive layout."

Quatre leaned forward as Heero pulled up a series of maps and floor plans. It only took him a few seconds to spot their current position, but that quickly took a back seat when he realized the true scope of the facility. Right now, the team had only scratched the surface; it went much deeper than Quatre had originally anticipated.

"Looks like we've got a lot of ground to cover," he murmured.

Heero nodded. "That's putting it mildly. They put a lot of work into setting up shop out here."

"Which makes their defenses here all the more pathetic," Quatre pointed out, "This place should be a much tougher nut to crack than it's proving to be."

"They were relying on stealth rather than force of arms to keep it safe," Heero countered, "It just didn't work as well as they had hoped."

"I guess so," said Quatre as he studied the images, "Does this place have a central command center?"

"That's what I'm looking for," Heero replied as he scrolled through the images, "I think… this looks like a good candidate."

Quatre's eyes narrowed as his gaze followed the cursor on the screen. "Solid central location, a few levels down to provide protection from any major attacks… yeah, I'd say that's probably it. We heading there next?"

"ZAFT might already be there," Heero answered as he scratched his chin in thought, "I'm not so sure that the central command center is the real prize here, anyway."

Quatre raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Check this out," said Heero as he brought up another set of floor plans, "It's a few levels lower than the command center."

Quatre's brow furrowed as he tried to figure out what he was looking at. "These labels make no sense. Such a large amount of space devoted to 'weapon maintenance'? Sure, if there were mobile suits, maybe, but then you'd need supporting elevators and shafts to get them to the surface. There aren't any large enough that connect to that area. Look at this other one, too; 'Processing and Tuning'? What the hell is that even referring to?"

"My guess is that they're euphemisms or deliberate mislabels," Heero answered, "Look at the layout as a whole."

It took Quatre a moment to realize what his friend was getting at. "The base… it's essentially two bases in one. The upper levels have all the facilities we'd expect a typical base to have, and the lower levels duplicate those facilities but on a larger scale and also have those mislabeled rooms. Staff that work on the upper levels probably don't have a complete understanding of what goes on beneath them."

Heero nodded. "That's what I was thinking. Whatever's really going on here, it's clear that those running the show wanted as few people aware of the base's true purpose as possible. Support and maintenance personnel for the most part would've been assigned to the upper levels, with the exception of those deemed essential enough to work down below."

A chill went down Quatre's spine. "This is definitely a research facility then, and if they went through this much trouble to not only build it underground but then segregate it internally to compartmentalize information like this… Heero, I do not like where this is going."

"That makes two of us," Heero deadpanned as he moved the floor plans aside and dug deeper into the system, "Let's shift our focus a bit…"

It took a few minutes before Heero apparently found what he was looking for. "This should be up your alley. Supply shipment records and maintenance expense logs."

"Mind if I take over?" asked Quatre.

Heero stood up and gestured towards the chair. "Go for it."

Quatre took a seat and leaned forward as he studied the lists and tables Heero had brought up. His experience running his family's conglomerate was definitely coming in handy here; what he was looking at now wouldn't have been out of place in a quarterly review, with the exception of some of the materials listed. It didn't take Quatre long to spot several irregular items.

He highlighted several of them before looking over his shoulder at Heero. "Check this out. These are included with the rest of the medical supplies. I've never seen any medication like this before."

Heero's eyes narrowed as he studied the screen. "Me neither. I don't like the look of this."

Quatre nodded. "That makes two of us. I've got something else here, too. Take a look."

He pulled up another supply shipment manifest and pointed to one item in particular. "What do you think is up with this?"

Heero leaned forward. "Basic clothing, but the sizes… these would be for kids, or adolescents at the oldest."

"Exactly," said Quatre, a chill running down his spine as he considered the implications, "Heero… what the hell were they doing here?"

"Nothing good, that's for damn sure," Heero replied, "Mind if we swap again?"

Quatre stood up. "Sure. All yours."

Heero sat down and immediately got to work, his fingers racing over the keyboard as he tried to dive deeper into the network. However, after a few minutes he leaned back in the chair, his brow furrowed.

"No good," he said, "The consoles up here don't have access to data on the core functions of the lower levels apart from basic engineering and maintenance. We've exhausted this line of inquiry."

Quatre sighed; he knew what that meant. "So, time to get moving?"

"Yeah," Heero answered grimly as he stood up, "Time to get to the black heart of this place."

Quatre shuddered; he did not want to think about what they were going to find down there.

….

There were two possible paths available for Heero to consider. The first and most obvious would've been to head for the facility's central control room. It would've offered far greater information access than the admin area, and at the rate ZAFT's troops were carving their way through the base it was likely already secured. However, that second factor also weighed against it; Heero didn't like the idea of data mining while ZAFT was looking over his shoulders. It was easy enough to manage Rey, but multiple teams of ZAFT soldiers would be another matter entirely.

The second option was what Heero had opted for; leave the control center to ZAFT and head to the lower levels to see what was down there firsthand. He was reasonably confident that his team could get ahead of ZAFT and make it there first, which would definitely help his investigation. Of course, the downside was that he would no longer be able to use ZAFT's troops to punch through whatever defenses had been established up ahead. Heero wasn't too concerned about that, though; he and his fellow Gundam pilots had plenty of experience with combat in tight spaces.

"How much further?" asked Duo.

"According to the floorplans we found back there, one of the maintenance stairwells should be just up ahead," he replied, "Around the next corner to the right, I think."

"You know the Alliance will have troops standing guard at the bottom, right?" Trowa pointed out.

"They'll have guards posted on the elevator, too," Quatre countered, "The stairs are the better option."

"We've got grenades," Wufei added, "We'll just toss a couple out to stir up some confusion and then take out whatever sentries they have down there."

Rey raised an eyebrow. "That sounds a bit too simplistic. Wouldn't the enemy be expecting that?"

"Trained and experienced troops would, sure," Heero conceded, "but look at the state of the opposition. The Alliance hardly has crack soldiers assigned to this base."

A few moments later they had rounded the corner and, sure enough, there was the maintenance staircase. A quick peak inside and down showed that it was clear, but of course there was no way to know what kind of defenses were waiting for them below.

"Want me to take point from here?" asked Quatre as he hefted his assault shotgun, "I've got the better weapon for it."

Heero nodded. "Sounds good. I'll cover you."

"Would've been nice if those floorplans you found earlier clearly labeled what was down there," Duo muttered, "Level B12; tools, guns, keys to superweapons. Would that sort of thing be too much to ask for?"

Wufei chuckled. "That'd make it too easy. We don't get the easy jobs, remember?"

Duo sighed. "I know. A man can dream, though."

The chatter died down as they followed Quatre down the staircase. Apart from dim emergency lights, it was poorly illuminated. Heero didn't think that the base had suffered any damage to its power systems; this was likely a hasty measure by the defenders to hamper the intruders. It was too little, too late all things considered, but it did force the fireteam to proceed cautiously. They stopped at every level, carefully scanning for enemies before continuing their descent.

Just what on Earth were they walking into? Every instinct Heero had was telling him that something nasty awaited them, and the clues they'd discovered on the admin console had only served to reinforce those suspicions. In particular, his mind kept focusing on two key bits of information; the medication and the clothing listed on the incoming supply manifests.

This is the same government that Muruta Azrael commanded two years ago, he thought grimly, Any manner of horror is on the table here…

It didn't take too long for them to reach the bottom. Approaching the exit of the stairwell, Heero took up a position to the right of the doorframe while Quatre mirror him on the left. The others hung back, waiting to see what kind of hornet's nest they were about to kick.

Quatre carefully and quietly opened the door, poking the barrel of his assault shotgun through first. The fact that such an action wasn't immediately met by gunfire didn't mean much; the enemy could simply be waiting until they had a clear shot. Heero watched as Quatre cautiously peered around the edge, only to pull his head back sharply a moment later.

"How many?" Heero whispered.

"Three," Quatre replied, "but they're not watching the staircase. Their focus is in the opposite direction towards one of the service elevators."

Heero shook his head. "Amateurs."

Quatre nodded. "Definitely not their A-Team, that's for sure."

"Are any of them in range of your weapon?" he asked.

"I can probably bag the first two before they know what hit them," Quatre answered, "The third will be a bit trickier, though."

Heero's eyes narrowed. "Leave him to me. Go low for your shots; I'll fire above you."

"Got it," said Quatre, "On three?"

Heero glanced over his shoulder first and nodded at the others to make sure they were ready before turning back to Quatre. "Count's yours."

Quatre took a deep breath. "All right, then. One… two… three!"

The two of them threw the door open and swung around the corner, Quatre going in to a crouch while Heero took aim over his shoulder. Two quick blasts from the former's weapon put the lead pair of hostiles down in short order, and a precise shot from Heero nailed the third in the head. Heero didn't even bother to watch his target fall; he was already sweeping the area for additional contacts.

He lowered his rifle after a moment. "Clear."

Quatre nodded. "Affirmative."

As the rest of the team came through the stairwell exit, it was only now that Heero and Quatre could properly survey their immediate surroundings. They'd found themselves in another corridor, with the hall stretching to their left and right. The three guards they'd just dealt with were down to the right, and that part of the corridor opened up into small unloading area, likely for supply shipments and maintenance crews pushing handcarts or pallets. Heero didn't particularly care about that section of the base; it was the portion that was down the hall going left that he was curious about. One of the large and strangely labeled rooms he'd found on the layouts up in the admin section was supposedly down that way, and he very much wanted to see what it held.

Heero gestured in that direction. "Let's head over there and see if we can find out what we're really dealing with here. Quatre, keep on point; I'll cover you. Rey, stay between Duo and Wufei. Trowa, watch the rear."

He once again saw Rey clutch his head, and that wasn't all; this time, there was a very noticeable tremor running through his right arm. "Rey?"

The ZAFT Red forcefully shook his head as he rubbed his furrowed brow. "It's nothing."

"Bullshit," countered Duo, looking genuinely worried, "Buddy, you are not looking so hot right now."

"You need to get back to the Minerva," said Trowa.

"No," Rey growled stubbornly, "I'm staying."

Heero didn't have time for foolish arguments like this. "Duo, keep an eye on him. If he goes down, get him back to the ship. He doesn't get a choice in the matter."

The God of Death nodded. "Copy that."

Rey shot him a resentful glare but didn't press the matter. Heero didn't care about how the young ZAFT pilot felt, but he now had another mystery thrown onto his plate. Whatever Rey's condition was, the symptoms seemed to be intensifying the deeper they dug into this facility. More importantly, why did Heero feel like this was oddly familiar? They were nothing that he had seen firsthand, yet there was something about him that he believed he should've recognized.

And that was when his mind flashed back two years ago…

…specifically, to Mu La Flaga's after action report following the chaotic clash at Mendel.

His brow furrowed as he studied Rey in a new light. Was this going where he thought it was?

Avoid jumping to conclusions, he admonished himself, I need supporting evidence; wild speculation is useless.

The group continued to travel down the corridor, but now that they were ahead of ZAFT's troops they had to proceed with greater caution. Heero doubted that the base blueprints he and Quatre had reviewed in the admin sector had given them a complete picture; clearly, those who worked in the upper levels for the most part didn't have the necessary clearance to know everything about what was going on here. Deliberately mislabeled areas aside, it was very possible that there were additional rooms or passageways that hadn't even been on those layouts to begin with. They also didn't know the exact level of staffing at this facility, so until the base had been completely and thoroughly swept, they would have to operate on the assumption that there were still hostile contacts in the area.

So, when a trio of troops in uniforms with Desperado Enforcement insignia appeared around the corner, the Gundam pilots were ready for them. On guard and weapons already raised, a quick burst of gunfire was all it took to eliminate the threat. Heero was braced for a follow-up attack, but it appeared that these three combatants were the only ones in the immediate area.

"Not much to offer when it comes to the ground game," Duo noted, "Their pilots might have a few screws loose, but at least they've got the moves and mobile suits to back up the crazy talk. Can't say the same thing for the company's infantry."

"No kidding," Wufei sneered derisively, "They're more like glorified rent-a-cops."

"They've still got guns and can kill us if we take them lightly," Trowa reminded him.

"Trowa's right," said Quatre, "Let's save the trash talking until after we've confirmed all hostiles eliminated."

Duo nodded grimly. "You got it."

Continuing onward, it didn't take long for Heero and the rest of the group to reach the end of the corridor. There was a small placard mounted on the wall next to the door, with only one word printed on it; 'Testing'.

"That sounds promising," said Quatre.

"That's not necessarily a good thing," Heero replied as he spotted a keypad mounted down by the door handle, "Any ideas for getting through?"

Quatre smirked and hefted his shotgun. "I think I've got this."

Heero stepped aside, readying his rifle in case there was opposition on the other side. Quatre took aim and fired off a blast that blew the door straight off its hinges. Looking around the edge, Heero didn't spot any signs of hostile contact.

"Clear," he reported as he stepped through.

Quatre frowned as he looked at the badly mangled door on the ground. "You'd think they'd have something heavier if they were looking to block access."

"They probably never imagined hostile forces breaking in here to begin with," Rey pointed out.

Wufei shook his head. "Sloppy."

"Likely a cost-saving measure," Trowa commented.

Duo chuckled. "Cost-saving, he says. Sure, let's build a ridiculously expensive underground lair, but we'll skimp on the doors because we're a bunch of a cheap-asses!"

"It's working out in our favor, so don't complain," said Heero as he looked around, "We've got work to do."

The fireteam had found themselves in another long hallway, but this one was different in a few key ways. For starters, the predominant color was white, and when combined with the almost harshly bright lighting it gave off an almost sterile vibe. Both sides of the corridor were lined with both doors and windows, and it was the latter that drew Heero's attention. Walking up to the closest one on the left side of the hall, Heero sidled up along the wall before cautiously peering around the edge to see what was inside.

There were no occupants, but that didn't mean the room held nothing of interest. There were half a dozen beds spread out within it, and Heero immediately noticed the straps that hung loosely from him. He also spotted tables next to each bed with what appeared to be a variety of medical devices and tools set upon them. Armatures with lights mounted on them descended from the ceiling and hovered over the beds, each one also mounting a camera for recording procedures.

"That's totally not creepy or anything," Duo deadpanned.

Wufei's eyes narrowed as the group went inside the room and began to look around. "What the hell were they doing here?"

"I'm leaning towards medical experimentation," Trowa quipped.

Quatre shook his head. "This from the same bunch who claim that Coordinators are 'affronts to nature' and other such bullshit… gotta love the hypocrisy."

"We don't know the full extent of what they were doing here," Rey pointed out, "although… a room like this certainly doesn't bode well."

Heero stopped at one of the surgical tables and studied the various tools and implements. He quickly zeroed in on a series of small bottles whose labels matched that of the mystery drugs he'd spotted on the incoming supply manifests. Furtively looking over his shoulder to make sure Rey didn't have his eyes on him, he pocketed a few different samples; he would have to find a way to get them to Terminal for study.

Beyond the drugs and the surgical tools, though, there wasn't much available in this particular room to enlighten them as to the exact nature whatever experiments had been performed here. They would have to move on, ideally keeping their eyes out for the office of whoever the head scientist or doctor in charge of the project might've been.

"Let's keep pressing on," he ordered, "We've got plenty of ground left to cover."

Leaving the room and pressing down the hall, the group would take quick looks inside the subsequent rooms and check for anything of note before moving on. The first few were much the same as the first one; treatment and surgical chambers of some sort, with only medical devices and a few strange chemical cocktails to offer any sort of clues as to what the facility's true purpose was. They were quite clean and orderly, and there was no sign of the staff; whether they'd been evacuated or already killed was something Heero needed to determine as quickly as possible.

The nature of the rooms they encountered soon began to change. There was still the occasional treatment area, but for the most part the rooms were becoming much larger. They were also wide open, and to Heero they appeared to be meant for subject observation and perhaps physical exercise.

Those rooms were also where they started finding new corpses.

Well, 'new' was perhaps the wrong way to put it. As Heero led the team into one of the chambers, he quickly made note of several factors. The first was the age of the deceased; the youngest were pre-teens, while the oldest were in their mid-teens at the latest. Their corpses were clutching a variety of weapons ranging from knives, brass knuckles and wooden sticks with nails to sidearms, and they'd clearly died fighting each other. Each body also wore a collar with a small black device embedded in it; Heero was betting on it holding some sort of shocking device meant to keep the wearer under control. Finally, there were the bloodstains. They were hardly fresh; indeed, they appeared to be at least a couple of days old.

Duo grimaced as he looked around the room. "Well, now… what the hell went down here?"

Heero knelt next to one of the corpses, that of a young red-haired boy. "This one couldn't have been older than twelve…"

His outer expression remained impassive, but inside a cold fury was making its presence known. He'd suspected that whatever they would find down here would be bad, but this was orders of magnitude beyond even his worst expectations.

The normally inscrutable Trowa took in the chamber with a disgusted look on his face. "Child soldiers, pitted against each other…"

"A training exercise gone wrong?" asked Quatre, although the shakiness in his voice was evidence that he didn't buy it.

Wufei shook his head, his brow furrowed as he surveyed the carnage. "More like one gone right. The violence was confined to this room. They were deliberately pitted against each other, and the overseers clearly wanted a deathmatch."

Rey looked like he was about to throw up. "What… what was the point of this?"

Heero had an idea, and he didn't like it. "They were washouts. For whatever reason, whoever was running this horror show decided that they weren't going to make the final cut. The overseers probably had them fight each other as a means of getting one last batch of useful data that they could then apply to the next pool of candidates."

"Making a lot of assumptions there, buddy," Duo pointed out.

Heero nodded. "I know. We need more information before we can make solid conclusions."

Quatre shuddered as he looked down at one of the bodies. "I think we can at least make a few conclusions already. Whoever's running this place has no conscience; they threw their moral compass out the window long ago. Whatever they're doing here has to be stopped."

"Agreed," Wufei growled, "and whoever's in charge of this freakshow needs to pay in blood."

"No argument there," said Heero, "However, let's hold off on the summary executions. I'd like to take at least one of these bastards alive so we can get some more intel on what happened here."

Rey gave an approving nod. "I'm sure the Captain would appreciate the value of prisoners as well."

Heero wasn't doing this for ZAFT's sake, of course, and normally he would've tried to keep as much intel as he could to himself so he could pass it along to Terminal rather than give Durandal's government anything useful. However, that simply wasn't practical in this case given that ZAFT would likely have the facility completely secured within the next few hours. Also, at this point it was blatantly obvious that this base had more than a few members of its staff that were deserving of trial for war crimes, and while Heero didn't trust ZAFT by a longshot he was at least capable of recognizing that the institution had reformed enough from Patrick Zala's old regime to the extent that it would be capable of competently trying and sentencing the monsters that ran this facility. As long as Heero could secure enough valuable intel to send Terminal's way in the process, he could deal with ZAFT having the run of the place.

The next couple of rooms showed more of the same; victims that had obviously died days ago at least, and yet the facility's staff had made no efforts to dispose of the remains. Most of them had clearly died fighting against each other, and without security footage to review Heero had no way of knowing for sure just how many kids had been involved. He was likely only seeing the corpses of the losers; he suspected that the Alliance was using these macabre exercises as an extremely harsh form of trial by fire.

Survival of the fittest brought to a new level of brutality, he thought, I don't know who was running the show here, but they have a lot to answer for.

They were about halfway down the hall when they came across a markedly different scene from what they'd observed in the preceding chambers. This time, the dozen or so adolescents hadn't murdered each other; from the position of the bodies along with the bloodstains on the wall directly behind him, they'd clearly been lined up and executed by firing squad. Unlike the other bodies, these were definitely fresh.

Kneeling next to the corpse of a girl that couldn't have been older than thirteen and closely inspecting the pool of blood surrounding her body, Heero then looked up at the others, his gaze a mix of sorrow and ice-cold fury. "This can't have happened more than a few hours ago."

Wufei scratched his chin as he mulled it over. "Disposing of the evidence?"

Trowa nodded. "Most likely. They did a very poor job of it, though. All they've really done is deny us witnesses to interview."

"They probably panicked and went for the quick solution," Duo added, "Sloppy."

Quatre gave a solemn sigh. "This is… beyond horrific. The old Alliance and OZ were real pieces of work, but… this goes way past that."

Rey raised an eyebrow. "Old Alliance? OZ? What are you talking about?"

Quatre's eyes widened slightly as his gaze met Heero's; none of them had planned on informing Rey about where they were really from. Heero and Wufei might've let it slip to Lunamaria, but she apparently had decided against spreading the word further. Would they have to let Rey in on the big secret now?

Surprisingly, it was Wufei of all people who stepped in to bail them out. "Nothing you'd care about. We've got more immediate concerns to deal with here. Let's stay focused."

Rey shot a skeptical look at him but didn't press the issue. "Very well."

When the ZAFT Red looked away, Heero saw Quatre give a small sigh of relief. Heero shook his head; they couldn't afford that kind of carelessness right now. Fortunately, Quatre seemed to have gotten the message quite clearly.

"Where to next?" asked Trowa, "The rest of the rooms along this hallway are probably more of the same."

"We should look for a security station," Duo suggested, "Should be plenty of juicy footage for us to download."

"Assuming the enemy hasn't purged it already," Wufei countered, "That's what I would've done the moment someone breached this place."

"They've done a pretty poor job defending this place and disposing of evidence so far," Quatre argued, "Checking for security footage is at least worth a shot."

Heero nodded. "Agreed. Keep your eyes open for any signs of such a room. We should also see if we can directly access this facility's servers."

"Good idea," said Rey, "Those will be a treasure trove of information in their own right."

Taking point, Heero led the group onward. Sure enough, all they had to do was look through the windows of the remaining rooms in the current corridor to see additional horror shows. Blood and bodies were either scattered about or lined up against the far walls, and by the time they got to the end of the hallway Heero had counted upwards of three-hundred corpses… all of them child test subjects.

Someone was going to pay dearly for what had happened here.

….

Damn, this place gives me the creeps, thought Duo as he brought up the rear of the formation and kept an eye on Rey, Heero, you really have a knack for dragging us into the worst kinds of messes.

The normally laid-back and cheerful God of Death was on edge, and he knew that the same went for his friends. That was hardly a surprise given the nature of the facility they were exploring, but there was a dark sense of foreboding that he wasn't used to permeating the group. This was more than just the usual tension from operating in a combat zone; there was an underlying unease here that was impossible to ignore. Of course, given what they'd found so far in this nightmare factory, Duo couldn't blame his friends for that. He had an active imagination, and it wasn't doing him any favors as it conjured up new ideas as to what manner of fresh horror they might find around the next corner.

Duo was no stranger to child soldiers. Hell, he had only been fifteen at the outset of Operation Meteor and had been running with anti-Alliance and anti-OZ crowds well before that, so he had definitely qualified as a child soldier himself. However, he had volunteered for that lifestyle; based on what he'd seen in the underground base thus far, it was pretty clear that the kids involved in this operation had not been willing participants. The Atlantic Federation had even taken it a step further with medical experimentation if the surgical rooms were any indication, and Duo had at least been spared that particular brand of hell in the After Colony world.

As the group had proceeded deeper into the base, Duo was surprised at the fact that they had only run into sporadic resistance. He had figured that since the base's darkest secrets were down here that they would have dedicated defenses, but the fireteam had thus far only had to tangle with scattered squads of either contract fighters or base support staff pressed into combat roles. Some of that could likely be chalked up to the base commander devoting troops to defending the upper levels, but those had been cut down by ZAFT in short order. One would've thought that an underground base would equate to a strong defensive position, but the enemy here had clearly failed to capitalize on the advantages offered by the nature of their facility. That only served to further reinforce the notion that this base had primarily served as a research facility rather than a forward operations posting. The Alliance had put all of their local military eggs in the Suez Canal and Gulnahan Ravine baskets, and with said baskets spilt and eggs shattered by ZAFT this secret facility had been left wide open to assault. Remaining hidden had been its only real protection, and given the supply needs of such a facility, that secrecy had come with an expiration date.

Up ahead, he saw Heero pause and study a sign on the wall of the corridor. He then peered around the corner for a moment before looking back at the rest of them and nodding while holding up a fist; all clear up ahead. Duo wasn't sure how to feel about that. Sure, it was nice knowing that they didn't have another firefight up ahead, but this was starting to feel a bit too easy.

I really hope I didn't just jinx us there.

One corridor later, the fireteam found themselves at the entrance of a room that the Atlantic Federation had been kind enough to label as 'Security'. The door was shut, of course, so they had no way of knowing what their opposition would be. Quatre had already taken up position on the left side of the doorway, and Heero was on the right. The rest of the team braced themselves, with Duo turning around to watch the rear and make sure that they didn't get caught in a pincer.

A blast from Quatre's shotgun was all it took to blow the door off its hinges. The L4 native was first through the entrance, followed immediately by Heero. He heard a quick series of shots ring out, signaling that this room was indeed defended. However, they faded after just a few seconds, and he anxiously waited for the report.

It came a moment later in Heero's voice. "Clear."

"You two okay?" asked Wufei.

"We're fine," Quatre replied, "Can't say the same for these guys, though."

"Better them than us," said Trowa.

The group entered the room, and Duo spotted a trio of corpses with very fresh and bloody holes in them. He would've felt a hint of sympathy for them were it not for the displays of carnage he'd witnessed earlier; it was hard to feel sorry for anyone who had been assigned to this place apart from the kids. Taking in the rest of the room, he saw that it was a pretty typical security station. There were the usual consoles, monitors connected to camera feeds, and even half-full mugs of coffee. A room like this would not have looked out of place in the After Colony world, and it was just one more mundane demonstration of how similar Duo's world and the one he found himself in now were.

Rey folded his arms as he surveyed the aftermath of the very brief firefight. "Hard to believe they couldn't set up a tighter defense. If anyone would've had advance warning of us coming, it'd be the guys monitoring these feeds."

"These guys weren't fighters," said Quatre, "Their reflexes were slow. They've been stuck behind desks too long. That's my guess, anyway."

Duo shrugged before shifting his gaze to one of the consoles. "Worked out in our favor here. Yo, Heero; mind if I take a crack at one of these?"

Heero nodded. "Go for it. I'll take another one of the consoles. The rest of you are on perimeter duty. Watch our backs."

As the rest of the team took up guard positions, Duo got to work on cracking the security at his station. He was expecting at least a bit of a challenge, but the staff had been sloppy; in their rush to put up their pitiful defense of the room, they had left this particular console fully logged into the network. Duo had to shake his head in disappointment. Was the enemy even trying at this point?

"I'm already in," he said as he glanced over at his friend, "How about you?"

"Just a second," Heero replied, "All right, good to go."

Duo sighed. "Talk about a letdown. I didn't even have to work for it."

Heero shook his head. "They didn't have their best and brightest down here, that's for sure."

"Tell me about it," Duo replied, "So, what exactly are we looking for?"

"At this point, anything to reinforce a war crimes case," Heero answered grimly, "Based on what we've seen so far, it shouldn't be hard to find supporting evidence."

"Got anything I can store it on?" asked Duo.

Heero reached into his pocket and pulled out a small data drive, which he slid across the desk to Duo. "That should suffice. I made sure to pack clear ones, so you've got plenty of storage space there."

Duo grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "Nice. Time to get to work!"

….

The guards might've been neutralized and the rear secure for the moment, but Heero knew that they had no time to lose. They couldn't download the entirety of the base's security footage archives; the drives he had were good, but they had their limits. More importantly, they had to stay ahead of ZAFT's troops if they were to uncover the facility's juiciest secrets before Durandal's forces got the chance. This was still very much a race against the clock, so Heero was focused only on retrieving data that directly pertained to either the Alliance's research or the crimes they had committed in this base.

Given what he'd seen so far, the two were pretty much one and the same.

He could get far more at the security station than just evidence of atrocities, though. He had been hoping that the consoles here would have access to complete blueprints rather than the mislabeled ones he and Quatre had sifted through in the admin area, and it didn't take long for him to strike gold.

Pulling up a far more detailed map of the facility than what he'd seen before, Heero took a moment to study what he'd unearthed. The general layout was still the same, but a few labels definitely caught his attention. The rooms that the fireteam had passed through earlier were listed as the 'Extended' augmenting and testing areas. It didn't take a genius to see why the Alliance had decided to name their child soldiers 'Extended', but Heero was less interested in the name and more in the sheer sadism and butchery behind the project. Putting aside the floor plans for just a moment, Heero pulled up security footage from one of the surgical rooms.

He immediately wished that he hadn't. A lifetime of combat had given him a stronger stomach than most, but even the Perfect Soldier felt a twinge of nausea as he observed sped up footage of one of the augmentation procedures. Given his own background, it hit a bit too close to home, but even then, he was struck by the sheer brute-force nature of the work. The kids were processed and operated on in a process that was practically industrial in nature; a veritable assembly line of medical madness. Based on the very visceral reactions of those strapped to the table, it was clear that many of the procedures either used horribly ineffective anesthetics or didn't bother with even that much. On the surface, the Gundam pilot remained calm, but fresh fuel had been added to the cold fury that had been building within him since they'd started exploring the lower levels of the facility.

He proceeded to download portions of the surgical footage as evidence before shifting his focus to the training rooms. Sifting through the data, he discovered live exercises that basically amounted to gladiatorial combat, only the audience was an impassive collection of scientists and ruthless security guards rather than the cheering throngs of ancient Rome. The scenes of carnage that had only been hinted at by the bodies they'd seen before now played out before his very eyes, with all the brutality and ferocity that he had expected and a good deal more.

At the next console over, Duo had apparently found similar footage if his reaction was anything to go by. "Jesus fucking Christ…"

If that didn't perfectly sum up the manmade hell they'd discovered, then Heero didn't know what would.

"Keep it together," he muttered.

Duo shook his head. "Easy for you to say. You're seeing this shit, right?"

"Yes," Heero replied grimly, "We can't change what's already happened here. All we can do is gather what evidence is available and ensure at least some level of justice is meted out."

Duo glared at the monitor. "Justice, huh? Yeah… the God of Death's going to have work to do later."

"Agreed," Heero growled.

Figuring he had enough evidence to satisfy a Nuremburg tribunal or two, Heero shifted his focus towards studying the rest of the facility. On a hunch, he switched away from archived footage and instead toggled the cameras so he could view real-time feeds. He had to cycle through several different cameras before he found anything of note, but eventually his efforts paid off in two big ways.

The first was a new room he'd found, one that he was certain had been deliberately mislabeled on the blueprints he and Quatre had studied in the admin area. It was a very wide chamber, and very well-lit as well. That second bit was crucial, because it allowed the camera Heero had hijacked to perfectly capture the rows upon rows of cylinders.

Cylinders filled with fluid and human beings.

Heero stiffened slightly in his chair as he realized what he was looking at. They were humans at varying stages of development, although it was hard to tell if they were alive or dead without seeing them up close. Still, even from the camera Heero thought that more than a few of them looked very similar to each other, and he was getting a very bad sense of déjà vu. Not for the first time today, his mind flashed back to what Mu La Flaga had reported two years ago after the chaotic battle at the old Mendel colony. Was what he saw now related to the dark research that had taken place at that abandoned colony so long ago?

Rey's headaches and the tremor in his arm, he thought, I highly doubt they're coincidental at this point…

The second payoff from switching to real-time footage came in the form of a man he discovered in the same room. He wasn't a security guard, and he didn't appear to be one of the support staff or technicians. It was an elderly gentleman, and if Heero had to hazard a guess he'd say that the man had to be pushing 70. He still stood surprisingly tall for someone of his advanced age, though, and the pace set as he made his way through the room was still respectable. His uniform was the typical white jacket, button up shirt and black pants of a high-level researcher, and Heero was willing to bet that he was pretty far up the food-chain in this facility.

He made a snap decision, quickly retrieving his data drive and standing up before pointing at the screen so Duo could see. "We need to move out now. That man; we have to take him alive."

Duo leaned over so he could get a good look at the figure. "Who is he?"

"I don't know for sure," Heero replied, "but I think he's at the heart of all this."

Duo nodded. "Good enough for me. Think we can catch him?"

"We have to," Heero answered, "I'll take point. Let's go."

….

Tapping her fingers anxiously on her console, Lunamaria's anxiety was clear to anyone who could've looked inside her mobile suit's cockpit. After breaching the door of the base, the team had pulled back to the Minerva and had remained on standby ever since. The technicians had already recharged the batteries of Lunamaria's machine and were just wrapping up with servicing Rey's and Heine's. Shinn had merely needed a Deuterion Beam from the Minerva to replenish his energy reserves, and he had taken up position atop the battleship to await further orders.

Not for the first time today, she was tempted to swap her ZAKU for a jeep and head for the base. It was a foolish notion; she was a mobile suit pilot, not a foot soldier. She only had basic infantry combat training, just like Rey, Shinn, Athrun and Heine. An operation like this wasn't her area of expertise, and she knew that the only reason Captain Gladys had allowed Rey to join the Gundam pilots in their infiltration was to act as an observer for the Minerva while Heero and his friends handled any actual surface combat.

None of that changed the fact that she very much wanted to see for herself just what was hiding in the base out there… and, if she was being honest, make sure that Wufei didn't do anything stupid. She was sure he could handle himself in a ground role, but that was still very different from being in his fearsome Gundam.

Frustrated at the lack of any updates, she reached out to the bridge. "Hey, Meyrin, what's going on out there? Need us to sortie again?"

"The Captain still wants you on standby for now," her sister replied, "As for what's happening in the base, I'm afraid I don't have much to share. Communications with the infantry units that have gone into the facility are spotty. I think the fact that it's underground probably has something to do with it. Resistance hasn't been too bad from what I've heard, although we have taken some casualties."

Lunamaria tensed up for a moment, and she had to force herself to take a deep breath. "What about Wufei? Or the rest of the team that went in? Anything from them?"

"We haven't gotten any updates from them," Meyrin answered, "I think they're okay, though. There would've been a report from one of the other infantry units if any of them needed evacuation, after all."

Lunamaria sighed; she was sure Meyrin was telling the truth, but at the same time she knew that her little sister was trying to keep her from worrying. "You're right. Besides, they wouldn't let themselves get taken out in an operation like this."

"Exactly," said Meyrin, "They're too strong for that. So, try not to worry so much, okay?"

"No promises," Lunamaria replied, "I'll be here if things change and you need me out there."

"Of course," said Meyrin, "You'll be the first to know if we need more firepower. Bridge, out."

Lunamaria leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes as she tried to get her thoughts in order. As much as she hated sitting out the action, she was stuck for the moment, and she'd have to deal with it. Inevitably, her thoughts soon drifted back towards a certain Gundam pilot.

Damn it, Wufei…

…don't you dare go getting yourself killed out there!

….

"Is this it?" asked Quatre, nodding at the door up ahead.

Heero nodded. "It is. Be ready."

The fireteam briefly came to a halt when they reached the door. Heero sidled up against the wall to the right of the door frame, while Quatre mirrored him on the left. Trowa was ready to provide fire support, Duo was keeping an eye on Rey, and Wufei was watching the rear.

Quatre tentatively tested the door, raising an eyebrow a moment later. "It's not locked."

"Sloppy," Trowa muttered.

"We'll take what we can get," said Heero, "Enter on my mark. I'll sweep the right while Quatre takes the left. Trowa, watch the middle. Wufei, Duo, be ready to support. Rey; keep your head down."

He was expecting the ZAFT Red to protest, but much to his relief the young man simply nodded. Taking a closer look, Heero saw that his brow was furrowed, and his expression was a pained grimace. His headache was back again, and it looked like it was all he could do to keep his composure.

This room might hold the answer to what's happening with him, he thought, but that's a secondary concern right now. Seizing data and evidence of this base's broader purpose is the top priority.

Quatre gave Heero a nod. "Ready when you are."

"All right, then," said Heero, "Three… two… one… mark!"

Quatre took point, flinging the door open and dropping to one knee while both Heero and Trowa took aim over his shoulder. Spotting no initial targets, the three of them fanned out as planned, and it was only now that Heero could appreciate the scale of what they had stumbled upon… and the horror.

Seeing the rows upon rows of tubes on the security monitor had been one thing, but being up close and personal with them made for a whole different level of unnerving. Moving up the right side of the room, Heero could only afford brief glances at them while he searched for potential hostile contacts. Those quick looks were more than enough to reinforce the sense of foreboding that had been steadily growing since they'd entered the base, though. More importantly, he increasingly felt as if the figures floating in the tanks should be familiar to him.

Duking into cover and double checking to make sure there were no contacts in the immediate area, he took a closer look at one of the tubes. At first glance, there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the contents. It was a human body, male, with a fair complexion, and if Heero had to guess at age he'd ballpark it at somewhere between late twenties to early thirties. It lacked hair, although he supposed that would grow if it were let out of the tank, assuming it was even alive at this point. Its eyes were closed as well, so he couldn't use those to see if he knew the person here either. That did nothing to shake the sense that he really ought to be recognizing the figure before him.

This doesn't make any sense, he thought, I can't find anything here that would indicate why I ought to know who is in here, and yet that feeling remains all the same. I need more information.

Continuing down his side of the room, he reached the end a few seconds later and headed back towards the middle. "Clear."

"Clear," Trowa reported as Heero linked up with him.

Quatre joined them a moment later. "Clear."

The others entered the room, all of them looking at the rows of test tubes with varying degrees of morbid curiosity and revulsion. Heero couldn't blame them. For all their differences, the After Colony world and the Cosmic Era did have one thing in common; very strong laws and regulations against direct human cloning.

"Holy shit…" he heard Duo mutter, "How many of these things are there?"

"A few dozen at least, I think," said Wufei as he looked around, "This is… unbelievable."

Heero was about to order the group to advance when he saw Rey suddenly drop to the ground. His first thought was that they'd missed an enemy in their sweep, but he quickly realized that there had been no gunshot, and Rey wasn't clutching at any obvious wounds. Instead, he was holding his head, and his entire body was shaking.

"Agh!" he groaned, "What is this… damn it!"

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Quatre as he knelt beside him.

Trowa turned to Heero. "Any ideas?"

"One or two," he answered, "We don't have time for speculation right now, though. Duo, get him back to the ship. Wufei, go with them and watch their backs."

"No," Rey growled even as he continued to grimace in pain, "I'm… staying."

"No, you're not," Heero replied firmly, "Your only choice now is whether you leave while still conscious or not."

Rey shot a withering glare his way. Heero didn't care; the ZAFT Red had become a clear liability, and he wouldn't have the young man endangering the fireteam.

For a moment it looked like he might press the matter, but Rey eventually relented. "Fine… let's go."

Heero turned to Duo and nodded. "Move as fast as you can."

"Don't need to tell me twice," said Duo as he helped Rey to his feet, "Come on, kid. We'll have the medics take a good look at you."

Letting Rey use his shoulder for support, Duo began leading him out of the room. Wufei moved ahead of them, his weapon at the ready.

"Well played," said Trowa, giving Heero an approving nod. "No ZAFT eyes looking over our shoulders now."

Heero shrugged. "You act like I planned it that way. I'm just taking advantage of the opportunity."

Quatre raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, what's going on with him? Have you seen something like this before, Heero?"

"Possibly," Heero cautiously answered, not wanting to jump to conclusions just yet, "I'll fill you in when we're back on the ship."

Trowa shook his head. "He shouldn't have been out here to begin with."

"Not much we could do on that end," said Quatre, "I'm sure the Captain wanted some way to keep an eye on us. She's not going to be happy when she finds out we've slipped the leash."

"She has no leash," Heero quipped, "and she's deluding herself if she believes otherwise. Let's move. Security footage had one of the scientists running off this way."

"Do you really think we're going to get a live one?" asked Quatre as he and Trowa fell in behind Heero.

"Prudent guards would've already evacuated or silenced any VIPs," Trowa pointed out.

"I know," said Heero, "but the enemy's security measures here have been less than inspired, to put it mildly. We may yet catch ourselves a big fish."

"A big fish that we'll eventually have to share with ZAFT," Trowa reminded him.

"As long as we can get what we need first, that's fine," Quatre countered, "I know things are going to be frosty between us and Captain Gladys from here on out, but there's no reason to escalate tensions just yet."

Heero nodded. "Agreed. We'll play nice for the time being."

Exiting the room, Heero immediately saw that they had a problem; the hallway forked. Left or right? The scientist that he'd seen earlier could've gone either way.

"Your call, Heero," said Quatre.

Heero took a deep breath before nodding. "Left. Let's move."

If he had read the floorplans correctly, there were some offices and secondary labs in that direction. Perhaps the scientist had gone that way in order to retrieve some important data before trying to make a break for it. A facility like this had to possess any number of hidden escape shafts, and Heero was willing to bet that there were some that only high-ranking officers or VIPs knew about. Either way, he knew his luck would be the same here; fifty-fifty.

Approaching a corner, Heero heard fresh footsteps up ahead, along with some shouting. Pressing his back against the wall and motioning for the others to stop, he carefully peered around the corner. He spotted a trio of guards standing outside a door, appearing rather eager to get inside. The leader of the group had likely been the one yelling earlier, and based on what Heero could see from this angle he seemed to have run out of patience; he had begun to attach a small demolition charge to the door.

"This is your last warning, Doctor!" he heard the lead officer shout.

"Doctor?" Trowa whispered from behind Heero.

"Sounds like we're onto something here," Quatre murmured, "What do you want to do, Heero?"

"Let them blow the door," Heero replied, "When the charge detonates, that's when we'll strike from behind. We'll catch them flat-footed. Engage as soon as you hear the blast. I'll take point."

"Copy that," his fellow Gundam pilots answered in unison.

He watched carefully as he saw the lead officer finish setting the charge before joining his men a good distance from the door. Heero caught sight of the detonator in his right hand, and the officer pressed it a moment later.

The moment the charge went off, Heero bolted around the corner with Quatre and Trowa hot on his heels. He managed to snap off two quick shots, the first of which caught a soldier in the neck while the second hit another man in the head. However, the officer was still unscathed, and while Heero was already shifting his aim to him the man had his gun pointed at the breach where the door had once been. Heero pulled the trigger at the exact same moment as the officer did, and while the Gundam pilot's shot dropped its target he also heard a muffled cry of pain come from inside the room; the officer's shot had found its mark.

Heero rushed forward, desperately hoping that the officer hadn't just cost them their prize. The soldier Heero had shot in the neck was still alive and attempted to aim his weapon at him, but Trowa finished the man off before he could pull the trigger. Throwing caution to the wind, Heero charged into the office, counting on his friends to cover his blind spots.

At first glance, it wasn't much to look at. It was certainly spacious, but it was rather spartan with regards to interior decorating. There was little more than a desk, a computer, a few chairs and a coffee table off to the side, and a handful of file cabinets. Far more interesting than the room itself was the man slumped against the side of the desk clutching a fresh gunshot wound to the abdomen with both hands. His breathing was labored and ragged, and it only took a cursory look for Heero to recognize that the wound was fatal. However, he could also tell that it was the kind of mortal wound that didn't kill quickly. He could use that, and fully intended to.

"Gut shot," said Heero as he stood over the man he'd seen earlier on the security monitor, "Bleeding out from that's a bad way to go. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll speed things up a bit."

The old man looked up at Heero, his eyes widening in recognition despite the clear pain he was in. "You… of all people… how fitting."

Quatre glanced between Heero and the old man while Trowa guarded the doorway. "Heero, you know this guy?"

Heero shook his head. "Never met him."

"No, we have not," the scientist agreed, "but… I have always… wanted to meet you. Ever since you burst forth onto the scene two years ago… you have no idea… how badly you shook up Azrael and his ilk."

Heero's eyes narrowed as he knelt next to the old man. "You knew Azrael?"

"Oh… yes," the scientist wheezed, "Worked for him on… his special projects. We hated… each other… but he hated you more. Far more."

"I'm sure me shooting him and then driving a knife into his heart didn't improve matters," Heero deadpanned, "He probably didn't appreciate his corpse getting spaced either."

The old man actually smiled despite his agony. "So, that's… how he died. Too quick for him, but effective… I should've expected nothing less from you. After all… you're the driving force behind all of this."

Heero didn't like where this was going. "No more beating around the bush. Who are you, and what the hell were you working on here?"

A few ragged coughs shook the scientist before he could answer. "Doctor Wilhelm Frick… University of Berlin… now operating under Phantom Pain… for the Atlantic Federation. This place… is designated Lodonia. Advanced genetic and bio-augmentation research… to combat you."

Quatre raised an eyebrow. "You really know how to make enemies, Heero."

Pieces of the puzzle began to assemble themselves in Heero's mind. "Those highly aggressive troops the Alliance began deploying in the latter part of the war, and the ones they've used in this conflict… those were your doing."

The old man nodded. "Quite so. ZAFT… was foolish. They thought… your strength came from your mobile suit. So did most of the Alliance… but I knew better. A mobile suit, no matter how advanced… is only a weapon. It is… the soldier… that gives the weapon its true power. I knew, without ever having met you… that you were what the project was meant to achieve. Not the horde of… raging berserkers that Azrael and Djibril wanted… but a singular warrior… that could shape the flow of entire wars. The Alliance and ZAFT… may be the great powers of the Earth Sphere… but they mean nothing to you. You are a force unto itself… one that strides across the Earth Sphere with utter surety… that bends history itself to its will."

Heero shook his head; this guy was clearly losing it. "I'm afraid you've overestimated me. I'm just one man. No more and no less."

Frick actually laughed at that. "Is that… your estimation of yourself? Oh, the irony… the world sees you as a demon, and yet… your awareness of your mortality remains clear. Perhaps that is why… you've become what you are."

"Who or what I am doesn't matter," Heero replied firmly, "You're going to die before you can stand trial for what you've done here, so I need to find someone to fill the docket in your stead. You didn't do this work alone. Where are your colleagues?"

"Scattered… or dead," the old man answered, "You will find no justice here. Only horror… both present and past."

"Heero," said Quatre quietly, "he's not going to last much longer."

Giving Frick another look-over, Heero knew that Quatre was right. The man was losing blood faster than had first been apparent, and his face was already deathly pale. If Heero wanted to salvage something from this modern-day Mengele, he would have to act quickly.

"Forget about justice, then," said Heero, "The clones we passed earlier; who's the template?"

The scientist gave a grim chuckle. "You mean you didn't... oh, that's beautiful. I would think you'd recognize… someone like that. After all… you were there at their end. Up close and personal… two years ago. You… told me yourself."

Heero felt his blood chill. "No…"

Frick was fading fast, yet he managed a smile just the same. "Project Phantom Commander… pure vanity at its conception, and yet… I must say… I'm rather proud of how far it got. The ones you passed… won't survive the fall of this facility, yet… it doesn't matter. The one that's out there already… well, you've already faced him. He will grow stronger… and his hatred of you… has already surpassed that of the template."

Stepping away from the old man, Heero went behind his desk. Much to his surprise, the console was already logged on, and he caught sight of a small drive plugged in; the scientist must've been trying to extract data before making a break for it and had taken too long. A dossier was on the screen, and it showed two photos. The one on the left was of a man in a dark grey and red mask, with blond hair poking out from the edges. The one on the right revealed the man's real face.

A face Heero had seen before.

Two years ago…

…on the bridge of the Dominion.

"Ironic, really," said Frick, his ragged gasps indicating that he truly was on death's doorstep now, "The most successful version… is genetically enhanced. Reborn… a Coordinator in all but name. He would've hated that… and that the work from Mendel… was used in the process. Well… at least I'll have a good laugh… when I see him in Hell."

Heero paid no attention as the old man let out his last breath. His gaze was locked onto the screen… on the second photo. Locked onto the face…

…of Muruta Azrael.

Preview for next time!

Fresh from the horror factory that is Lodonia, even hardened warriors such as the Gundam pilots require a moment to fully process the butchery and sadism of the Atlantic Federation's Extended program. Unfortunately, there will be little time to reflect upon the ghoulish nature of the enemy's crimes. The Earth Alliance marshals its remaining naval strength in the region for a pincer attack on Gibraltar, with an Atlantic Federation fleet setting sail from the British Isles while the Eurasian Federation begins amassing squadrons of warships off the southern coast of Sardinia. In order to save ZAFT's major stronghold in Europe from an overwhelming assault, the crew of the Minerva launch a surprise attack on the Eurasian fleet, with the Gundams acting as the tip of the spear. Next time, on "Destiny's Call", Episode Eighteen: Night Raid at Cagliari.

The sea itself will be set ablaze by the five gods of war…

Author's Notes: Ah, that wonderful sensation when a long-overdue chapter has been posted never gets old! Sorry this took so long, but you know me; I don't do rush jobs.

I decided to go with a redesign of the Lodonia base, turning into something of a North African version of the Alliance's Alaska base, albeit not nearly as heavily defended. Given the atmosphere of the scenes there, it probably would've been more appropriate to finish the chapter around Halloween rather than so close to Christmas, but that can't be helped now.

Hope you liked the chapter! Please review, and I'll see you next time!