Chapter 44
To say that things where busy on the Archangel was quite an understatement.
Murdoch and the rest of the mechanics was busy running check-ups on all of the Murasames they had gotten on board yesterday.
Fortunately most of them where in good condition. And the few minor errors they had found on two of them, wouldn't really take a whole lot of time to repair. If they push them self they could properly be done with it, in just about a half hour.
Yet for now they where just concentrating on finding the mistakes, once that was over and done with, they could always start on with whatever repairs, the white and red mobile suits needed. But even true they all knew, that it wasn't the most difficult task, that was waiting ahead for them, there wasn't even one of the mechanics who could say that he wasn't looking forward to this.
After being stuck down at the bottom of the ocean, for such a long time. It was kinda nice to have something else to do other then sit on their butts, watching whatever boring junk they could find on the television, or playing poker. Most of them where especially eager to start working on the one Murasame, that was missing it's right arm.
"Ok ladies just two more to go, then we can start the real fun and games!" Murdoch said while taking a small glance in the direction of the only visible damage mobile suit down there, he too was really looking forward to start messing around with that machine.
It was always a bit of a challenge putting a new component on a mobile suit, especially because they would first have to remove the rest of the old arm and that could take some time.
Not that he was going to complain about that. It really was nice to have something to do, after sitting around being lazy for such a long time, which was not something the chief engineer liked very much, he honestly preferred it when the hangar was full of actives and smelling strongly of oil.
Some people might really dislike that stench, but he kinda liked it, especially since it was a clear sign, that he and all of the other mechanics, had been hard at work on something.
And what kind of weird ass mechanic, did not like getting his hands covered up in oil.
If there actually was somebody who didn't like it between them, there was just no way that guy would get out of washing the floors down here, for a very long time.
Truth be told there was only one mechanic on the entire vessel, that the engineer would allow to be a little lazy today. And that was Dearka, simply because he was a pilot too, and would need some time to rest up, until the next battle would occur.
Yet while he was thinking about what kind of mess they would get in to next. There was suddenly a voice that call out to him. "Hey boss! The rifle on this baby is a bit unstable, from the looks of things I would say it got overheated doing the last battle. I'm not totally certain if it can be fixed, so we might have to give this one a whole new rifle!" The young brown haired man sitting inside the Murasame yelled.
Hearing that Murdoch instantly got back to reality. "I'll be right there, we frankly don't have so many beam rifles, that we can afford to just throw them away like they where nothing more then cheap toys!" He said in a loud tone, while hastily making his way over to the Murasame.
Completely and utterly determined to at least try to get the weapon to function, as it was suppose to.
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At the same time else where on the ship.
Kira was standing up on the bridge, watching and listening to the conversation, which was going on between his sister, and the Orb soldiers that had gotten on board the ship yesterday.
They might all say that they where here to help out, but he wasn't entirely certain that he truste all of them yet. There could very easily be somebody among them, that was only here to spy on them.
And he really didn't like the idea of the Seiran family, knowing every single thing they did. And one glance over at Dearka that was standing beside to him was enough for him to tell, that he was thinking almost the exact samething.
It was kinda difficult to just start trusting these people, at least not until they had heard their reasons for being here. So as Birdy slowly jumped from his right shoulder and to the left.
The Freedom pilot once more turn his attention back towards the obvious leader of the many Orb soldiers, extremely interested in hearing what exactly he was going to tell Cagalli.
Fortunately he only had to wait a few moments until the bowing man stood up straight again and looked over at Cagalli.
Yet when he did that, the young Yamato could not help but notice, that it seemed quite bit like he was carrying the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. It was pretty obvious that the lieutenant was deeply sadden about something right now.
That however did not prevent the man from speaking his mind to Cagalli, he actually sounded very sincere about the whole matter.
"I'm really sorry about everything lady Cagalli, for both losting so many of our brave soldiers and the Takemikazuchi" the lieutenant said, clearly having a very difficult time, keeping his tears at bay.
Amagi was still having trouble believing, that his long time best friend was dead. And he knew that it would take quite a long time before he would be able to get over that.
But now was not the right time for him to be mourning, he could always do that when he had a some time for himself. Yet as of right now he needed to work on for filling his friend's last request.
Which where to help out lady Cagalli and the crew on the Archangel, and he was absolutely determined to do that no matter what it took.
And with that in mind, he once more began talking to the blond woman in a deep serious tone. "It's just that no matter how hard we tried, we just couldn't stop Yuna from doing some of the things he did, like ordering us to try and shoot you down my lady and telling our people that you where nothing more then an impostor, to get our soldiers to continue the battle!" He said, while thinking back to some of the things the purple haired imbecile had said.
"I can't even recall how many times I was tempt to throw that damn Seiran over the side of the Takemikazuchi. He didn't even realize that it was actually his fault that we lost so much by joining the Earth Forces, I still can't believe that we voluntarily followed his orders..."
That was about all the depressed lieutenant was able to get out, before Cagalli cut him off.
"Please stop with the excuses Amagi, I don't blame you or Todaka for what happened in those battle. It was just as much my fault for not being able to convince the other politicians about how big a mistake it was, for us to join up with the Earth Forces. Maybe if I had stayed back in Orb, instead running off like I did. I could have stop some of these things from happening. You should all be blaming me for not being strong enough!" The girl said.
Just as a deep sob ran through her entire body, but even with the many tears running down her face, she slowly reached over and took a hold on the lieutenant's right hand.
She could easily tell, that this was just as agonizing for the man as it was for her.
Particularly all of the soldiers standing that was standing gather, not far behind the lieutenant. Seemed quite a bit like they where all just about ready to break down in tears, at any moment now.
Hearing how much their young rightful leader was blaming herself for everything that had happened. Amagi could not hold his tears back anylonger, which meant that they where soon running freely down his face.
"But...but Lady Cagalli we all knew that you did everything you could to talk some sense in to the other politicians. And I'm pretty certain that you could have done that, if it had not been for the Seirans. It definitely can't be denied that you are a pretty strong and wise leader my lady, and if you had not been the voice of reason in all of this, we would properly all still be following Yuna's and Unato's orders, no matter how wrong they where!" He said.
Deeply pissed off at how much the Seiran family, had cost their proud nation.
And what really made a few hairs stand on edge, was the whole thing, about not thinking they had done anything wrong.
If he had been in their shoes, he honestly didn't know, how in the world he would be able to live with himself. He just wasn't sure how that he would be able to go on with normal everyday life, with so many people on his conscience.
Yet as he stood there, wondering about the Seirans lack of conscience, it was another sob from the blond teen that snapped him back out of his thoughts about Orb's most despicable family.
"I just...I just wish that I could have done more to help out, if I hadn't been such a naive fool, perhaps I could have found away to stop the Seirans from getting Orb involved in this dumb war!" She sobbed loudly, while she continued telling all of them that it was her fault that Orb had suffered as much as it had since the war broke out so many months ago.
Seeing her crying face, Amagi felt a new bunch of tears leave his eyes. "Please don't say that my lady, you did enough! You have done so incredible much for us, you left Orb behind, to travel all the way out here, to try and stop all of this pointless fighting and prevent us from making a big mistake" the man said, also sobbing quite a bit about the whole thing.
As he tightly grasped the girl's shoulders, in an attempt to try and cheer her up.
He honestly didn't think the young woman was to blame for any of this. But as he tried his very best to come up with something else to say to the girl, somebody else cut in to the conversation.
"Please don't cry Cagalli, it's not the right time for that. Each of us here has to remain strong for the sake of the world. We all know that fighting with Zaft wouldn't do us any good, and going up against Earth Forces wouldn't resolve anything either. So I believe that we all have to think long and hard about what we should be fighting in this war!" Kira said, before he softly embraced his sister.
Looking a few seconds at the young man. Amagi might have heard a great deal about the Freedom gundam's pilot, but this was actually the first time he had ever meet him in person.
But when he thought back to the few video footages, he had seen of the Freedom's battle against the three Earth Forces gundams.
Forbidden, Calamity and Raider it was more then enough for him to know, that this young man deserved a great deal of his respect. And that it was a real honour for him, to be fighting along side the brown haired teen.
So while watching the boy comfort his sister, a small smile slowly appeared on his lips. "I totally agree with you Kira Yamato, but it is hard to figure out, who our real enemies are in all of this. I do however think that there is more then enough people, that has lost their lives already. And I don't think it would be wise of us to throw even more fuel on the fire" the lieutenant said in a deep thoughtful tone.
That was when Dearka decided to share his opinion about the matter.
"Well at least now that the rest of the Orb forces have retreated back home, we don't have to look after the Minerva any longer, I was seriously starting to get annoy by that, mostly because I hate that ship with a passion!" The blond man said, while thinking about how bothersome he found the grey Zaft ship.
Hearing that Cagalli slowly pulled away from her brother's embrace, and looked back at the former Buster pilot. "Well just as long as Orb doesn't try and attack that ship again Dearka, I don't think it will be necessary for us to interfere in any more of her battles" the blond woman said, feeling slightly concerned about her fiancé, he was after all still a part of that ship's crew, even after what Kira had done to the Saviour.
She still had no idea that Athrun, had actually let her brother destroy the Saviour on purpose, she hadn't really been having a whole lot of time to talk with Kira, since he got back to the ship yesterday.
Yet as she was thinking about that, Dearka apparently decided that there was a few more things he wanted to say.
"That's good news Cagalli, I'm not totally keen on the idea of helping a bunch of people, that I honestly don't like" he said, while slowly stretching both of his arms up over his head, and forcing back a small yawn.
He didn't know why but for some reason, he had been sleeping badly last night, so he frankly wouldn't mind going back to his and Miriallia's room and get a good long nap.
Unfortunately his last comment about not liking the Minerva's crew, wasn't really something Cagalli appreciated very much. Which she show openly by glaring angrily at him, not that he notice that. He was far more busy wondering, when exactly he would be able to get out of there. And it was only once Kira gave him a light tap with his elbow, that he snapped back out of his thoughts and looked back over at the displeased blond woman.
Where he immediately realized that she was once more pissed off about something. And just seeing that angry glare that she was sending him, was more then enough to make him take a large step backwards.
"Just so we are clear Dearka, my fiancé and the father of my child is a part of that vessel's crew, you two are suppose to be friends, so please don't go around saying that you don't like the people on the Minerva!" She said displeased.
Not hearing any of the loud shocked grasp every single one of the Orb soldier, once they heard she was pregnant, she was simply way to occupied with making sure that Dearka knew, that she was angry at him again.
But even true everybody else took notice of the shocked looks all of the soldiers was giving Cagalli. The former pilot of the Buster gundam, knew that he was still in a great deal of trouble.
"I didn't really mean it like that Cagalli. Believe me I would have been happy, if Athrun had return back here yesterday. I'm not overly excited about having to beat up my friends!" He explained, while slowly scratching the hair at the back of his neck in a thoughtful manner.
Glaring at him a bit longer, it didn't take many seconds before a wicked grin slowly appeared on Cagalli's lips. "Hmmm I do seem to recall Dearka, that it was you that was having trouble, when you fought against Athrun yesterday. From what I could tell, he was the one to do most of the beating up" she said, not doing very much to hide, that she was feeling pretty smug right now.
Looking deeply hurt by that, the blond man slowly reached up and removed a pretend tear from his cheek. "OW! You do know that really hurt!" He said sound very much, like he was ready to start crying at any moment now.
And before Cagalli could say anything else 'mean' to him, he hurried moved over beside his girlfriend, where he instantly start complaining about Cagalli being mean to him. That however only served to make both girls, and a few others roll their eyes at his childish behaviour.
So after glaring at him a bit longer. Cagalli once more turned her attention back towards Amagi and the rest of the soldiers. Yet before even a single word could leave her mouth, the lieutenant reached down and grasp on to her right hand.
"That's really wonderful news lady Cagalli, I would very much like to congratulate you my lady! Hearing something so nice at these depressing times, is marvellous indeed!" Amagi said in a loud tone, and with an enormous smile on his face.
Completely taken back by those words, the young woman blinked a few times in confusion, as she took a small step away from him, and when she had gotten a little distances from the man.
She could of course not help but notice. The many happy and smiling looks the soldiers was sending her.
"Wh...what exactly are you talking about Amagi?!" The girl asked, the teenager had yet to realize that only a few moments ago, she had told everybody present up there that she was pregnant.
Smiling gently at her, the lieutenant let out a light chuckle. "When you where scolding Elsman over there, you happened to let out that the former Justice pilot, was the father of your child. So unless you where just kidding around. I would say, that you are pregnant my lady" Amagi said, obviously very happy on the young woman's behalf, he might never show it much, but he had always liked kids.
And whenever he gave it some thought, he could honestly say, that he was a slightly disppointed, that he and his ex-wife had never gotten a child, in the short time they had been married.
But back then he had just been so fixated with his military career, that starting a family had been the last thing on his mind. Which was actually the reason why she had decided to leave him in the first place. Something which to this day, still hurt quite a bit.
He did however not get long to think about his past mistakes, when he heard the blond teen mutter out a few minor courses under her breath. And once he turned his attention back towards her, the lieutenant could easily tell that she was feeling a little embarrassed right now.
"Well...I...I...I wasn't really planing on telling you guys about that yet, I had hoped to wait until you where all settled in over here" she said in a small tone, as she looked down at the floor, with a small red glow on both of her cheeks.
That was when another of the soldiers took a big step forward. "I for one think that it's great to know, that there can be brought new life in to this world. After all the death and destruction we all witnessed yesterday" the red haired man said.
While at the same time briefly wondering how his family and girlfriend was doing back home in Orb.
After being away from them, for such a long time, he was honestly starting to miss them all quite a bit.
But he firmly believed that helping out lady Cagalli and the Archangel, was the best way to make certain. That each of them, remained perfectly safe, until this damn war was over and done with.
Looking a bit at the red haired soldier, Cagalli gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you very much for saying that. I really appreciate you guys support, it means a lot for me to know that, all of you guys wants to help me bring Orb back to how it used to be" Cagalli said. Before giving all of the soldiers a deep thankful bow, which made all of them salute her.
Each of them completely determined to help out Orb's rightful leader as much as possible, but before Amagi or any of the other soldiers could say anything about just how deeply honoured. They where to assist the girl in bring Orb back to it's right path.
The door to the bridge flew open, and in stepped a certain eleven-year-old girl that instantly started talking in an extremely loud tone.
"Hey mom! When are you done velcoming our new crew members? You did promise to play a few games with me, it really is starting to get boring sitting down in my room all alone!" She said, not really paying any attention to the newcomers. That was all watching her with a somewhat surprised expression on their faces. Neither one of them had really expected somebody so young to be on board the Archangel.
It was pretty rare for any of them to see a kid her age being on board a warship, that could enter battle at any given moments. And it took a few of very long seconds for Amagi to get over the minor shock the child had just given him.
"So who is this young lady?" He kindly asked, even true he already had a bit of an idea about what the reply was going to be. There wasn't really that many people up there, that actually fit the title mom.
And he wasn't really overly surprised when the captain reached over and gently rubbed her hair. "This is my daughter Mayu Ramius. I really do hope, that you can all get along with her, she is a very important part of the crew" Murrue explained, feeling more than a bit ashame, that she hadn't been able to spend anytime with the girl the last two days.
Which was something she was planing on correcting once this meeting was over. It wasn't really hard to figure out that with all of them, so occupied with trying to stop all of the fighting. There really had been nothing else for her to do, other then sit around in her room reading books or playing with her toys.
But doing that for two days straight, would properly bore most people out of their minds. It actually did amazed Murrue quite a bit, that her daughter hadn't shown up there much early, to search for her.
So once they where done in there. The woman was planing on spending the rest of the day together with the girl, doing whatever she wished to do. She just hoped that it wasn't something like going down to the hangar to play planks and make trouble for Murdoch, as far as she knew the chief engineer was quite busy looking over all of the Murasames, they had gotten on board yesterday.
She did however only get a few moments, to think about that. Before somebody else cut in to the conversation.
"Yeah, Mayu here is the ship's personal prankster, we would not be able to keep on going, if we didn't have one of them on board" Cagalli said, while giving the girl a big teasing smile.
Hearing that Mayu instantly turned and glared over at her big sister figure.
"Hey that's uncalled for big sis! I'm not a prankster, I just like bothering people a lot!" She said in a tone, which made it pretty obvious for all of them. That she was actually a bit proud, of her abilities to annoy and get on other people's nerves.
It was about that time Dearka, decided to started talking again.
"Yeah, and you do that so well Mayu, it's always fun seeing you piss off Murdoch" the blond haired mobile suit pilot told her, while thinking about some of the better pranks the girl had pull down in the hangar.
Looking a bit at him, it took least then a second for the girl to get an enormous smile on her face. Like most other kids she liked, being praised, for something she was good at. Yet her mother's next words did put a small damper on her spiteful attitude.
"Well I for one kinda wish that she would find another hobby then playing pranks on the crew, perhaps you could start assembling jigsaw puzzles Mayu or something else, that will not result in you giving Murdoch a stroke or two" Murrue said. Even true she realized that there was just no way her daughter, would ever take up such a nice peaceful hobby.
Getting a minor thoughtful look on her face, the brown haired girl actually did seem like she was considering her mother's words. But finally after a few long moments, she swiftly shook her head.
"Nah! That sounds even more tiresome, then being cooped up in my room doing nothing. And look at it this way mom, I am getting quite good at sneaking around all over the Archangel. Which means that once I grow up, I can become a spy or something like that!" She said in a loud excited tone, while taking a quick glance around herself, to make certain that there wasn't any suspicious looking people around.
Seeing her do that Murrue roll her eyes a single time, before she began telling the girl what her opinion on her future career choice. "I would actually very much prefer that you found a least dangerous job Mayu, but if that's what you want to do then I support you" the captain said. Quite frankly doubting that Mayu actually wanted that job when the time came.
The last time she had talked about what she wanted to be when she grew up, she had very firmly insist on that she wanted to become a foto model, once she was old enough.
And the time before that she had said something about being a veterinarian, seeing as she liked animals a lot. There was simply no way to tell, when the brown haired girl, would come up with her next career choice, and how utterly crazy it was going to be.
"Wow thanks mom, but it's not like I can get a proper training to that here, so do you want to go play a few games with me? I already got the first one ready down in the mess hall!" The eleven-year-old said in a loud eager voice.
Smiling a bit at her, Murrue slowly turned her attention away from her and over at Cagalli. "Do we have anything else we need to discourse right now. I do kinda feel like I have been neglecting my daughter the last two days" Murrue said, then got up from her seat, honestly hoping that there wasn't anything else, they needed to talk about at the moment.
And much to her relief. Cagalli scratch her hair a bit in a thoughtful manner. "I don't have much else to say, but if it's alright with you, I would like to join the two of you in whatever game you are going to play" the blond woman said. She might not show it much, but she really wouldn't mind a little down time to just sit around and relax for a few hours, and what better way to do that, then spending it together with the once she cared about.
Hearing that Mayu instantly got an even more anxious and excited expression on her small face. "Of course you can join us big sis, the more the merry!" She shouted loudly, obviously ready to rush full speed, out of the room at any minute now.
Yet before the meeting could end completely, somebody that had been pretty quiet the last few minutes started speaking. "I do have one more thing, that I would like to talk with Dearka and Amagi about, if that's alright with you?" Kira said.
Then looked over at his fellow mobile suit pilot and the lieutenant, who each looked a tiny bit confused about the request.
But one look at Kira's face, was more then enough to tell them that this was quite important. "Just as long as it don't take too long, I am quite exhausted right now, and I could really use a few hours of shut eye" Dearka explained, just as he stretch both arms up over his head, trying his best to keep back the yawn, that was threating to leave his mouth.
Amagi on the other hand, didn't have anything against talking with Kira, about whatever the young man had on his mind.
"I'm not sure what it is you want to talk about master Kira, but if it's really important then you can count on me" the lieutenant said, while giving the brown haired pilot a friendly smile.
Truly grateful for that, Kira nodded his thanks to the both of them. Then he took a small glance over at miss Murrue that was busy chating with Mayu about what kind of game they where going to play. Yet after listening to them a bit, it quickly became clear to him that Mayu had apparently decided on monopoly, which wasn't really all that strange, she had always liked those kind of games that took a few hours to finish.
And even true, he really would like to join them. He had something very important to talk with his friend and the lieutenant about. He might not have shown any signs of it yesterday.
But doing his fight with Athrun he had once more sensed a certain blond man's present. But unlike last time he had actually been able to pinpoint a more exact source of the weird emotions.
It had been coming from the one Spengler class, that had taken part in yesterday's battle. So now that their meeting was finally over, he really wanted to ask Amagi if he had seen anybody, while working together with the Earth Forces, who looked like Mu.
But as suspicious as he was getting about the blond man's suppositive death by the Dominion's last attack, he still didn't want to bring any of this up with miss Murrue around. He wanted to be absolutely sure that it was really him that invoked his senses, whenever he was nearby.
Fortunately it did not take very long before Mayu practically draged her mother and Cagalli out of the room. And with nothing else to do up there, it did not take long before everybody else was gone too, leaving behind the two pilots and the lieutenant.
"So what do you want to talk about Kira buddy?" Dearka asked sleepy, while scratching the back of his neck in a rough way, which actually did make it seemed like he had something stuck back there he just couldn't get off.
Hearing him ask that. Kira looked slightly thoughtful as he tried to come up with the best way to get his question about Mu out. And finally after a few long seconds in deep silence he lift his head and looked over, at the two men.
"I think that it's best that we go down to my room, I have something down there that will properly make it a lot easier to answer, what I want to ask!" He explained in a very, very serious tone, which made the two other men nod slowly in understanding.
And once he saw them do that, Kira turned around on one foot and quickly made his way over to the door, with Amagi and Dearka following closely behind him.
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It was about two or three minutes later, when the two pilots and the lieutenant arrived at Kira's room.
"Please come on in" the brown haired boy said. Then reached over and preassed the button that was meant to get the door open, and without waiting for them to give him a responsed.
He hurried stepped inside the room, where he immediately made his way over to the small bookcase. Which was build in to the thick metal wall, on the left side of the chamber. Once over there, he used a few seconds to search for what he needed, and when he finally found it, he pull out a brigh green photo album. And after turning a few pages, he found a good picture of the blond man.
As far as he remembered this photo had been taken down in the hangar shortly after the Archangel had left North Africa, days before the ship had ended up in Orb.
Mu was standing straight in the middle of the photo with a big grin on his face, and with his right arm wrapped securely around miss Murrue's waist, while his left one was holding on to miss Natarle in almost the exact same fashion.
And a single look at both of the women's faces made it pretty obvious that neither of them really liked Mu's signs of devotion. Yet if one where to take a closer look at the picture.
One would be able to see, that both of the captain's cheeks was slightly red and she did not look nearly as unhappy with the situations, as miss Natarle did.
The black haired woman actually looked quite a bit like she was just about ready to began scolding the blond pilot, for not following military processed and behaving like a small badly raised kid. From what Kira could recall from the incident, it had end up that way with her yelling at him, and the mechanics to act like full grown-up adults.
Which they all had of course promised her to do, only to break out in laugher the very second after she had left the hangar.
It was kinda normal, to behave like small noisy children down in there. When they had nothing else to do, something Kira was pretty certain that miss Natarle already knew.
But the black haired woman had always been very strict on following the rules and precise military regulation.
Which was honestly something he actually had to agree with her on, wasn't all that much of down in the hangar, when the mechanics, Mu and himself had been bored and was in the dire need of something to do.
It wasn't really a big wonder, why miss Natarle had call them childish and ill behaved from time to time, but she also did seem to understand, why they had the need to act like a bunch of idiots.
If the pilots and the mechanics didn't build a strong bound with each other. It was kinda doubtful, that the pilots would feel safe fighting in whatever machine that the mechanics had just looked over.
He for one knew for sure, that if there was somebody else other then Murdoch and the rest of the gang, down in the hangar, who was fixing up the Freedom. There was no way he would enter combat, without running a complete check-up on the gundam first.
Yet as he stood there, thinking about some of the more pleasant memories from the first war, somebody suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder. Which was enough to make him jump slightly, as he hurried turned around to see who was there.
"Are you all right Kira? For a moment there, you did seem to be very far away from here" Dearka said, while taking a short glance down at the picture, his friend had been staring so intensely at the last couple of minutes. Once he saw, who was on the photo, he instantly knew what Kira was up to, and that alone was more then enough to make him forget how tired he was.
But even true he was deeply curious about the response. He just couldn't help, but wonder who exactly the third person was on the picture. Of course he recognized both the captain and La Flaga, but the black haired woman, wasn't one he had seen before on this ship.
Yet before he could ask about her, Kira slowly shook his head a few times, to get his mind away from the past, and back to the present.
"I'm fine Dearka. I just couldn't help but think about the past. Back then I might have hated piloting the Strike and fighting the war. But when I give it some thought, there was actually a few nice memories between all the fighting" the brown haired boy said.
Then took a look over at the photo on the next page.
Which show him and Lacus standing beside each other up on the deck with the wind blowing strongly around them, which resulted in her long pink hair flying around all over the place. Yet that had only served to make the whole event even more hilarious.
Especially for Mu, who had been the one to take the picture.
Even true it had turned out, to be a bigger challenge then any of them had originally thought.
Back then his fellow pilot and friend, had definitely been having an amusing time, seeing Lacus and him fight to gain at least a little control, over her long pink hair flapping around in the strong wind.
He did however not get the opportunity, to disappear completely in to another reality this time around, before Dearka once more interrupted his thoughts.
"So just who is that black haired woman Kira? I never seen her before" Dearka said. Highly curious about who exactly, that woman was. He had after all been a part of the Archangel's crew for quite some time now.
So seeing a picture of somebody, he didn't recognize was actually somewhat strange to him. He just couldn't help but wanting to know, why this woman wasn't a part of the ship's crew anymore.
Slowly moving his gaze away from the second photo. Kira looked a bit at his friend before he gave him a slightly sad smile. "Well she isn't a complete stranger to you Dearka. You do actually know a little about her, I'm pretty sure her name has been mention a few times. Especially around those times, when we where facing the Dominion and her forces!" Kira said, while thinking back to the battle, they had with the black Archangel.
Hearing Kira tell him all of that, was of course all Dearka needed to figure out the identity, of the black haired lady. "So this woman used to be the second in-command of the Archangel and the captain of the Dominion, Natarle Sabiruel!" He call out in a loud tone.
Raising an eyebrow at that Kira let out a small chuckle, before he decided to correct Dearka's minor mistake, when he pronounced her name. "Actually it's Badgiruel Dearka! But yeah that's her" he explained, then thought briefly about his last conversation with the woman, doing the battle of Boaz.
"Ok I'm bad at remembering names, so sue me. But I do have to admit that she doesn't look nearly as evil as I image. I guess that with her working together with that bastard to Azrael, I just figured that she was a witch of some kind, that was ready to fly away on a broom at any moment" Dearka said, while trying to recall some of the things, Miriallia had told him about this woman.
But the only thing he actually did remember for sure, was that she had apparently been very strict on following orders and had been a very good strategist. Something which had been made pretty clear, from the very first moment, the Dominion had started attacking them at the Mendel colony.
Yet while the two pilots was talking about all of this, Amagi was begining to get a little bit impatient waiting to hear, what exactly it was, the Freedom's pilot wanted to ask him.
So once there was a small break in their conversation, he instantly took it as an opportunity to remain them of his presence, which he did by clearing his throat loudly.
That alone was enough to make the two young men, cease with their discoursing about the past, and look over at the lieutenant.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but I'm quite tired after yesterday's events, so I could really use a good cup of steaming hot coffee. And a few hours to get a little rest and time for myself. So could you please hurry up a bit?" He asked, in the most friendly voice he could manage, in the totally and completely exhaust condition that he was in right now.
Looking a bit at him. Kira could easily tell that there was more then a few things that was troubling the lieutenant, so not wanting to waste anymore of his time, then he already had. Kira hurried stepped away from his fellow pilot and friend, and over beside the other man, to show him the picture of the 'supposably dead man.'
"Well I was wondering Mr Amagi, if you had seen anybody who looked just like this? While working with the Earth Forces" He said, while pointing at the blond man who was obviously enjoying flirting with the two beautiful women.
Not paying much attention to the rest of the photo, Amagi slowly reached out and took the album away from the teenage, to get a better look, at the person Kira was asking him about.
"Hmm I...I don't think I have seen this man before, but maybe this could be..." He said in a far away tone, while trying hard to imagine, what the blond captain of the Earth Forces ship John Paul Jones would look like without that freakish looking mask, he was always wearing. But it was kinda hard to guess if this blond man on the photo, was the same one who had been bossing them around ever since Orb joined the Earth Forces.
Hearing the man mumble like that to himself, Dearka immediately took a couple of steps towards him, so he was better able to understand what exactly the lieutenant was saying. Unfortunately all of his whispering didn't really tell Kira or Dearka anything useful.
So after watching him a bit longer Dearka just couldn't stay quiet anylonger. He was frankly ready to crack with curiosity, and it wasn't hard to tell that Kira felt pretty much the same way.
"It's not like we expected you to know him in person lieutenant. But if you have seen any signs of him on that Spengler class, then please tell us, it's very important for the entire crew, to know as much as possible about this man!" The Murasame pilot explained, he might not have been having as close a bound with Mu as many of the other crew members had.
But he had still respected the blond man greatly and been deeply sadden, when he apparently had gotten kill by the Dominion. The sight of the Strike and it's pilot throwing itself in front of the Archangel's bridge had been just as terrible, in his eyes as when Yzak had been kill, not that there was anybody to blame for his death, not even Kira.
When Yzak had traveled all the way to Orb to find the Strike gundam, he had been more then ready to kill a ton of innocent people, who had nothing at all to do with the war.
And when he gave it some serious thought.
He realized that he would properly have done the samething, had he been the one piloting the Strike gundam. There was just no way he could sleep calmly at night, had he been able to do something to stop a mass murderer. Even if that guy had at some point been one of his best friends.
It was just about that time, when Amagi's voice brought his deeply serious thoughts about Yzak to an end. "To be honest, I'm not totally certain if it's the same guy, but doing our time working with the Earth Forces, Todaka and I had a few meetings with a guy that was wearing a scary looking mask. I don't know the first thing about what he looked like, under that thing. But one thing I can tell you. is that they both have the same blond hair colour!" The lieutenant explained, then asked who the guy on the picture was.
But even true both of the pilots had heard Amagi's question. Neither of them where quick to give him a responsed. They both just stood there with a far away look on their faces, which made it perfectly obvious, that he had really given each of them something to think about.
Yet before he could decide if it was, best to wait with the answer until another time.
They all suddenly heard a loud happy sound echoing through the room. And it was only a brief second later when a certain green robotic bird, flew over and dropped down on his own's left shoulder, where he once again call out his own name.
Which was enough to snap the brown haired man out of his thoughts.
And without saying a single word, he slowly reached up after the small toy, that instantly leaped over on to his offer hand. Once there he carefully brought it down in front of his face, so he was looking directly at it.
But as he was doing that, it did not take long, before he took a couple of deep breaths. Then started talking in a far away voice. "His name was Mu La Flaga, he used to be a part of the Archangel's crew a very long time ago, and he was also dating the captain. She was completely crushed when he was kill at Jachin Due, or at least that is what we thought happened. But in the last few battles I have senses his presence more then a few times!" Kira said.
Then tried briefly to figure out, why he had suddenly gained the ability, to sense a few certain individuals presence.
He knew that Mu had been able to sense when Rau Le Creuset when he was nearby, but not once doing the last war had he been able to do that.
It was almost like the somewhat weird ability, had just appeared from out of nowhere, not that he was going to complain about that. If it had not been for that ability it would have been impossible for him to know, that his big brother figure was still alive.
Realizing just how utterly important this was to the two teens and so many others on the white space ship. Amagi again looked down at the photo, unfortunately there he was no way for him to know for sure, if this man and Neo Roanoke was one and the same person.
"I'm sorry guys, but I really don't know. That mask he was wearing was covering up most of his face, it was only the lower part that could be seen. And that's just not enough for me to tell, if Neo Roanoke really was the second pilot of the Strike gundam!" Amagi said, deeply sorry that there was nothing else he could do to help the two teenages solve this mystery.
Slowly removing his eyes from the photo, Kira looked over at the lieutenant, with a slightly down expression on his face. "You don't need to apologize Mr Amagi, it's not your fault that he is wearing a mask, I guess that the only thing we can do now is to try and capture this Neo Roanoke, that pretty much the only way to know for sure if he really is Mu La Flaga!" The brown haired teen said.
Just as he reached over and took the album from the lieutenant and flipped it back shut, then he once more started talking to the two other men in there. "But for now I would prefer if this small chat stays between the three of us, I really don't want miss Murrue to know about this" the male Yamato said, while at the same time wondering just how exactly, they where going to capture this Neo Roanoke.
Thinking thoroughly about what the Freedom's pilot had just told them, Amagi nodded slowly in understanding.
"I'll be extra certain to keep my mouth shut when around her. But I most admit I'm curious about how exactly you are planing on capturing this guy. From what I could tell, he was quite an outstanding soldier, who was not afraid of getting his hands dirty, when need be" Amagi said.
Then quickly went over his few encounters, he had with the mask man.
"If you ask me, the two of you are in for a serious challenge if you want to take that guy alive. He is not the type of person that will surrender without at least trying to fight back. No matter what you do to bring him down unharmed" the lieutenant said.
Before telling the two pilots that the entire thing got even more complicated, when the only clue they had about Mu's whereabouts, was whenever Kira sensed him.
Taking a small glance over at each other, both Kira and Dearka knew that the lieutenant was right. It was kinda difficult to find the Hawk of Endymion when the only lead they actually had, was Kira's ability to sense, when he was nearby.
It just couldn't be denied, that the whole thing would have been so much easier, had the Orb lieutenant actually been able, to give them some information, that could have helped them track the blond man down, or perhaps told them why he hadn't return back home if he had been alive all of this time since the last war. There frankly was a lot of things, that just didn't make any sense, about 'Mu's' current actions.
Which served the make the two teenages even more determined, to get in contact with him, so they could get some answers to their many questions.
"Each of us gets what you are saying lieutenant, but it doesn't really change anything, we still need to have a chat with this 'Neo' character!" The former Buster pilot said, using a tone of voice that made it pretty clear, that he wasn't going to change his mind about this.
And it was only shortly after that, when Amagi saw the brown haired kid nodded slowly in agreement. "I completely agrees with Dearka about this, if Mu is out there somewhere I need to speak with him. There is just noway around that. Beside I think that it would be great if Mayu could finally have somebody that she could see as her father" Kira said, while thinking about how Mu had saved the little girl two years ago, doing the battle of Orb.
"I guess that there is just noway to talk the two of you out of this, not that I was going to do that anyway, but please promise me that you will be careful when fighting that man, I have already seen more then enough young pilots getting killed" Amagi said.
Then turned around and bagan making his way towards the exit of the room. Yet as he did that, he call back to the pilots that he would be going to the mess hall now, to get some coffee, and that he would talk with them later.
Once he was gone Dearka again turned his attention back towards Kira. "I frankly would like to do something about Mu right here and now, but it seems like we got no other choice but to wait, until the next time you run in to him" the blond boy said, while scratch the side of his head in a thoughtful manner, seriously trying to come up with an idea that would be better then sit around on the Archangel doing nothing.
"Yeah I too would like to do something about all of this. But it's not like we can just take off and leave the ship behind to go search for this Neo guy. So I guess we just have to stay put for the moment, until we get an opportunity to talk with that man" Kira said, then turned and walked slowly back over to the bookcase and placed the photo album back where it belonged.
Watching his friend do that, Dearka slowly stretched both of his arms up over his head.
He might have woken up a bit when he had realized what it was that Kira had wanted to talk about.
But now that the conversation was over he could once more feel the deep exhaustion from the lack of sleep last night. And if anybody asked him, he was actually a bit relieved, that they had nothing else to talk about, at least for now.
And once Kira turned his attention back towards him. He instantly told his friend that he would be going now too. And that he could easily hear his and Miriallia's bed calling out after him.
Smiling slightly at that, the Freedom's pilot could easily understand why Dearka wasn't really in the mood to talking anylonger. And after watching him yawn loudly a single time, Kira began speaking to him again, also sounding highly tired and lazy at the moment.
"I'll talk with you later Dearka. Maybe if you are up to it, I can beat you in a few video games, once you are done sleeping" Kira said, with a small challenging grin on his face, which he knew from past experience that his friend just wouldn't be able to resist.
And he did not have to wait long for a reply. "Yeah right, I'm seriously going to make you eat those words Kira. And seeing as you where the one, to issue this socall challenge, I do believe that I have the right to choose what weapons we are going to fight with!" Dearka said loudly, already knowing what game they where going to compete with each other in.
"We'll just have to see about that Dearka, I'm definitely not going down without a fight" Kira declared determined, and with a expression on his face that was enough to make it completely clear to the other pilot, that he took this very serious.
But that just served to make Dearka feel even more excited about the idea of playing video games a few hours. Maybe if they where just a bit lucky, they could get a few of the new pilots to join in as well.
"Get some rest too Kira. You are certainly going to need it if you are even going to have the smallest chance to beat me!" Dearka boasted in a proud tone, just before he turned around and left the room.
Seeing him go like that, Kira slowly moved over to his and Lacus bed and dropped down on to it. Where he spent the next many seconds just looking up at the bare ceiling.
Wondering briefly, what kind of video game Dearka wanted them to play.
He just hoped that it wasn't some kind of sport or racing game. Those type of games wasn't really his thing, especially because he was quite bad at them. If he actually had a choice in the matter, he would honestly prefer a good well told RPG over most other games.
Yet after thinking about that for a few minutes. He slowly reached over and picked up one of the many comic books, that was located over on his wife's side of the highly comfortable bed.
And once he got it open, it did not take long before he was slowly reading the words imprinted on the first page.
000000
Meanwhile quite far away from the snow covered area the Archangel was hiding in.
Neo was sitting alone in his room, thinking about everything, that had happened in yesterday's battle, against the Minerva and her forces. He was honestly more then a little displeased about Auel, getting killed by the Impulse.
But at least Sting was doing all right.
Even true the Chaos had gotten, more then a little damage from Sting's fight with the Freedom gundam and that blue Murasame, it wasn't overly hard to tell that it was going to take quite a while to repair that mobile suit.
It wasn't like the Freedom's pilot and been very gentle, when he cut off the head and both arms on the green mobile suit. He had already heard more then a few of the John Paul Jones' mechanics complain, about what a nightmare it was going to be, to get the Chaos fully operational again. and that it would properly, be much easier if they got rid of the rest of it, instead of bothering wasting time trying to fix what was left.
But as much as all of this was getting on the mask man's nerves. He was also greatly annoyed by the new assignment, he had received from Lord Djibril not that long ago, which was to deal with Northern Europe, that up until now had been working together with Zaft. If it had been under normal circumstance, he had nothing against going there to destroy the Zaft forces in that area.
Yet one look at the data that had been send along with the message, was more then enough to make him feel, like his so called lunch, was just about to reappear from his stomach at any moment now.
He had nothing against killing an enemy soldier, or an entire bunch of them. But if they actually brought this kind of massive mobile suit in to a city, there wouldn't really be much left of it when they finally moved on.
"I really don't get what that bastard was thinking, about when he order something like that made!" Neo muttered out loud, then took another look at what information he had about the Earth Alliance's newest mobile suit or whatever it was supposed to be called.
And after spending a few long minutes reading all of it one more time, he slowly leand backwards in his seat and looked straight up at the ceiling. "It weighs over four hundred tons, I never heard of a mobile suit, being that heavy before. What kind of lunatic am I working for?" He wondered quietly, while looking at the few pictures, he had of the Destroy gundam.
It didn't really take much of a genius, to see that this mobile suit had a whole lot of destructive power, which was properly the reason why it had gotten it's inventiveful name in the first place.
"Perhaps I should seriously consider finding myself another job, maybe if I'm lucky they need a new ice-cream man or hot-dog vender back home" he joked, already knowing that the possibility of him actually getting a job like that was extremely low, but it didn't really hurt anybody to joke around about it, at least not when he was sitting here all on his own.
He did however not get a whole lot of time to think about that, before somebody knocked quite hard on the door to his small room. And even true he wasn't really in the mood to talk right now. He still call out to his visiter to come on in.
And it was only a second later, when Sting Oakley stepped in to the room, with his left arm resing in a sling. Fortunately according to the ship's doctor the arm wasn't broken.
But when the Chaos had crashed full speed in to the sea, the shoulder had been dislocated. Which according to Sting had hurt like hell. He had almost been as pissed off at that, as Auel's death.
And Neo frankly hoped that he wasn't here to complain more about his injury and all of yesterday's events. He had already heard more then enough of that, to last him a life time.
"So Sting, do I have to guess your reason for visiting, or are you going to tell me?" The mask man joked with a small grin on his face, which grew slightly bigger when he noticed that the green haired man got even more cranky at his somewhat foolish question.
But just when Neo was begin to believe that the Chaos pilot was going to start yelling at him. He saw the green haired man take a deep breath then began speaking in the most calm tone, he could muster right now.
"Well I just want to know what our next move are going to be? If we are just a bit lucky, we can find the Minerva before it's crew have the chance to repair everything that got damage yesterday!" He said loudly, then got a light thoughtful glint in his eyes before he continued telling what he wanted to do.
"I really, really want to see that damn ship explode in a nice pretty light. Besides I also own the Impulse a good beating, not to mention the Freedom!" The pissed off pilot said, obviously believing that the next time he encountered those two mobile suits, he was going to defeat both of them relatively easy.
Raising an eyebrow at that, Neo was slightly tempted, to crack a few jokes about Sting's success rate against the two enemy mobile suits. But once he took notice of the almost hysterical look which Sting had on his face. The mask man decided to keep his mouth shut and not throw anymore fuel on the fire, he frankly didn't feel like listening to a long speech, about how Sting was going to rip and tear the Freedom and the Impulse apart.
So after watching the young pilot walk back and forth a few times. Obviously trying to make a trench in the floor, while at the same time muttering out whatever highly colourful course, he could think of about the two gundams.
And it was only when he finally stopped doing that and looked back at him, that Neo gave him a reply.
"Unfortunately it would very much seem like I have to disappoint you, my aggressive friend. But we are not going after the Minerva again, we have been order to deal with whatever Zaft forces, that are currently assembled in Central and Northern Europe!" He said, not bothering one bit to hide, that he wasn't overly delighted, about these orders.
If he had to be completely honest, he would much rather prefer a battlefield, where there was no civilians around. It wasn't overly hard to figure out that if they actually went through with something like this, a lot of innocent people was going to lose their lives.
He did however not get long to think about that, before Sting's next words interrupted his thoughts. "Ahhhh damn it all! I really want to destroy the Minerva to avenge Auel's death. But I guess that just has to wait until another time, and be satisfied with slaughtering all those Zaft bastards in Europe. They are really going to regret that they messed with me in the first place!" He said, already looking forward to whatever battle, that was waiting for them in the future.
Looking a bit at him, Neo rolled his eyes a single time underneath the mask. "Calm down Sting, it will take quite awhile before we are actually, ready to handle such a tough mission, beside there is no way you can fight with your arm like that, and with the Chaos in that totally beat up condition. So why not take advantage of that and get some rest, you do seem like, you could really use it" Neo said.
While seriously hoping that he wouldn't just say something about not needing to rest, and that the only thing he wanted to do, was to make Zaft and the Freedom pay for what they had done.
Yet surprisingly Sting actually seemed to be considering what Neo had just told him. And even true, he still looked completely and utterly pissed off he slowly moved his hand over to massage his highly acheing left shoulder, which was obviously quite painful.
"I guess you are right Neo. But once I'm completely healed up and the Chaos is fully repaired, we will be heading for Europe, you can be damn sure of that. I need to teach the world not to mess with me!" He said, sounding very much like he was the one in charge of the two of them.
Not that Neo cared very much about the green haired man's boasting, he just nodded a single time in understanding. "I see, you do sound quite determined about this Sting. But even true I do understand you lack of patient, there is simply no way you are going to win against anybody, if you are just about ready to collapse, because of exhaustion. So go back to your room and get some sleep already" the mask man ordered in a slightly bossy tone.
Thinking briefly about what Neo had just said to him, the young pilot gave his lower lips a light bite.
"I know what you are saying is truth Neo. But I just don't feel like sleeping right now, I would much rather find some stupid idiot and beat the crap out of him. I don't even remember, the last time I felt this frustrated!" He yelled out, then gave Neo's desk a hard kick, knocking over the few things on it.
Getting more and more annoyed with Sting's violent behaviour, the mask man looked directly up at him. Then began talking in a somewhat down to earth tone. "If you are really that stressed-out, then go to your room and watch a movie or play a few video games. Just don't come here and take out your anger on me. It's not like I'm overly delighted about Auel getting kill or the Minerva escaping from us one more time" he warned.
Before slowly placing his small aquarium, back where it belonged on the desk.
It was only by share luck, that he had actually manage catch the small yet important item, before Sting's hostile and completely thoughtless action had send it crashing to the floor.
Seeing the mask man do that and noticing the displeased tone in his voice, Sting knew that it was properly best that he cut his time in there shut. It was pretty obvious that Neo wasn't pleased, with the idea of him destroying his office, and everything in it.
So he decided to take his advise and go down and play a couple of video games, then get some sleep. "All right I'll be going now Neo, I'll talk with you later" he said then turned around and swiftly left the room.
And once the door flew back, shut behind him. Neo slowly reached up and removed his mask, which he placed down on the table in front of him. "Perhaps tomorrow I should ask them to remove his memories of Auel" the blond man whispered to himself.
While at the same time rubbing both of his eyes in a thoughtful manner. He might not like the idea of actually doing something like that.
But if Sting continued behaving like this, there was a chance that he would run off at some point to fight the Minerva on his own. He might not be as mentally unstable as Stella and Auel, but from time to time he did show that he could be just as psychopathical, as the other two.
So it was most likely best to take a few precautions. He quite frankly didn't want to see Sting leave in the same totally brutal fashion that Stella had left in. They didn't even know if the blond haired girl was still alive.
But if she was, it was highly unlikely that she was feeling all that well. It had after all been quite along time since she had last gotten any of the necessary treatments, that was meant to keep her breathing.
And if they didn't somehow rescued her, she was properly doomed to leave this world in a highly painful manner.
Not really something that he liked thinking about, he did after all care for all three of the kids. So if anybody ever asked him about it, and he had to tell that person the honest truth.
He frankly didn't feel like any of those kids deserved to be messed up in this war, it would have been much better had they gotten a real education and lived a normal life, with a whole bunch of friends their own age. Instead of living the life of a soldier.
But as much as he would like to help them there wasn't really a whole lot he could do about it, which made a deep angry frown appear on his forehead. "Damn it this is just wrong!" He muttered out loud, then got back up on his feet.
Yet seeing as he had been sitting there for almost three hours straight, each of his legs was kinda sore. Which cost him to fall over almost immediately after he got out of the chair, and before he could do anything to stop it, he slammed his head in to the corner of the desk, knocking himself out before he had the time to try and figure out what was happening.
And as he landed painfully on the floor, he saw a few unknown images, the first one of a brown haired gorgeous woman, that was smiling sweetly, at him as she slowly moved towards him.
But before he could really take in the lovely sight of her, she was slowly replaced by another image. This time of a brown haired teenages boy that was holding hands, with a pink haired girl, each of them where smiling at him too.
He did however not get anytime to figure out who they where. Before his painful aching mind flashed onward through a whole bunch, of images of people, who he did not know.
And it was only when he saw the beautiful woman again standing beside a small girl with the same hair colour, that he regain consciousness again.
But while there was no way for him to deny, that the injury didn't hurt.
He still didn't move from the floor. He just kept on laying there looking up at the ceiling, trying hard to figure out, who all of those people where. Yet in the end it didn't matter how much he thought about it, he weren't able to put even one name on any of them.
"What the heck is going on?!" He asked himself in a low tone.
Just before he slowly moved over to his bed, and laid down on top of it. But even true he really want to rest up and get his mind back on track, he just couldn't forget all of the happy faces, looking at him.
To be continued.