Phase 34: Rau La Creuset

Phase 34: Rau La Creuset was content to let the world burn, but if Gilbert's words were to be believed, there was someone he had to take care of first. While that meant he had another target to exact his revenge, that wouldn't change anything, in his opinion. Mankind must perish. An unexpected discovery about Coordinators' weakness may help him bring that fruition.

Rau La Creuset watched the box of pills in his hand, given by his friend Gilbert. It wasn't often Rau admitted someone else as a friend, but the two had known each other for years and the latter knew his secret of a being a clone. In fact, it was Gilbert who produced the pills to stabilize his condition.

However, even though they were friends, they didn't agree with each other all the time. Despite their shared belief in mankind's doomed fate, he and Gilbert took different approaches in addressing the issue. Rau was willing to expedite extinction through anarchy, while Gilbert leaned towards forcing peace through totalitarian approaches. Despite the said differences, Rau respected the man and was willing to maintain the rather cordial relationship, at least until he could set the entire world ablaze.

It was that respect that prevented him from reaching for his gun as Gilbert started babbling at their recent meetup. According to the man, everyone on PLANTs, including the woman he loved, were being deceived by the current conflict. Blue Cosmos, the enemy they were fighting, was not the real threat, and the real enemy was lurking behind the scenes.

Having his secret desire outed by Gilbert made him wary, but amused. The ideological difference made it clear they would come into conflict with each other even if they remained friends. Rau was ready to kill Gilbert, just as Gilbert would act against him. At the moment when Gilbert had to identify Rau as the unknown enemy, the DNA specialist astounded him with an unexpected revelation.

Rau wasn't the unknown enemy.

To be sure, Gilbert clarified he had some knowledge about Rau's machinations but considered them to be annoyances at best. He even referred to them as pesky! Rau didn't know how to react to the statement. Then Gilbert dropped a bomb on him. The hidden enemy, whoever they were, played a role in Rau's situation. The insinuation was so crazy that Rau laughed at what he felt was a ludicrous idea.

Unfazed, Gilbert explained the anomaly regarding Rau's coming to being. While it was true shortened telomeres had effects on aging, it was just one among the few factors that affected Rau's lifespan. However, shorter telomeres were influenced not only by cloning but also by lifestyle factors like physical activity and adequate rest.

Even if that fact was discounted, and one held the wrong belief that shorter telomeres couldn't be changed through lifestyle choices and it affected one's age, Rau at least had a few more decades ahead of him. When the cloning was carried out, Al Da Flaga's age was around thirty years old, so Rau had at least forty years' life span ahead of him, perhaps even more with care. The degradation would be gradual, with Rau's body age would be around fifty even though his actual age was twenty-five. He would be susceptible to age-related diseases, but that didn't explain the mysterious affliction affecting him. Gilbert's theories regarding his conception were dark, even for Rau, given their connection.

The primary theory proposed that Professor Ulen Hibiki had made an error during the cloning procedure. It made sense, as the man was trying to juggle between fulfilling Al's request and perfecting the Ultimate Coordinator Project. However, Rau would like to believe a man of science such as Ulen, no matter how deranged he was, would make such a mistake since it was the machine he would use for his own project. Furthermore, that didn't account for the identical issues observed in clones after Rau's.

According to Gilbert's second theory, Ulen sabotaged the cloning process, foreseeing that Rau would exhibit certain defects. As a result, Al would request Ulen to produce multiple clones, thereby getting additional funding from the former. Although possible, the same reasoning for the first theory also applied there.

The last theory was, in Rau's opinion, the least possible, a massive conspiracy regarding the creation of not only the cloning process but also the creation of Coordinators itself. When the first Coordinator, George Glenn, revealed the methods for creating Coordinator to the whole, there were some aspects that remained shrouded in mystery even to the present time. For example, to create a Coordinator, the scientists would select from an already established library of gene codes containing the wanted traits. The library simplified the process, but on the flip side, there were aspects that remained unknown. One of them was the non-coding strands of DNA. It was said the non-coding strands had nothing important, but Gilbert seemed to think otherwise. The man believed something remained undiscovered.

In Rau's case, the genetic of Al La Flaga was used as a basis, but augmented by inputs from the gene library. By design, Rau was supposed to turn out to be a perfect clone of Al, but with enhanced traits, and none of the afflictions. Discounting the other two theories, Gilbert concluded it has something to do with the DNA from the library.

To support his assertion, Gilbert pointed out other clones who were born after the Ultimate Coordinator project was concluded weren't supposed to have defects. Enough time had passed for the problems identified in Rau to be rectified so that the later clones didn't have the same issues. Yet, they still had them. Since the Ultimate Coordinator experimentation succeeded, there was no reason for Ulen to sabotage the cloning process to secure funding, there wasn't any need to sabotage the cloning process anymore since the man could charge more to produce Ultimate Coordinators.

Yet, the man didn't. He could have produced a less ultimate version but still charged a lot of money for it, with many none the wiser. Ulen Hibiki couldn't because the Mendel facility was attacked by Blue Cosmos, who chose a perfect timing, just a few months after the Ultimate Coordinator was born. It appeared as though they had been alerted about the project.

Gilbert also attributed the current falling birth rate among the third generation Coordinators and beyond to the same source, suspecting the DNA sequences had in them the genetic use restriction technology, also known as terminator technology or suicide technology. If it indeed was present in Coordinators, that meant there was something in their genes that cause third or later generation Coordinators to be infertile. The purpose of using this technology in agricultural firms was to safeguard genetically changed crops from unauthorized reproduction, whereas in the case of Coordinators, it prevented breeding within the group. Instead, Gilbert argued they were expected to procreate with Naturals. While that was considered as the "Natural Regression Theory" by anti-Natural hardliners such as Patrick Zala, the cold hard truth was Coordinators were facing eventual extinction. Selective marriages among Coordinators helped to a certain degree, but it could only go so far before all Coordinators become infertile.

"Commander Creuset,"

With a fluid motion, Rau put the box of pills inside the pocket of his pants and turned toward the voice. Yzak and Dearka were floating toward him, saluting. He saluted back. "Good to see you," he said to the members of his smaller team. "Where are the two of you going?"

"We just got off duty and I want to go to town," Dearka replied. "Yzak's going to see his mother,"

"I did not say that!"

Rau smiled. "You should treasure your mother, Yzak, since you may never know…" he let his words trail. "Anyway," he continued, shifting his tone, "I'm just wondering, do both of you have favorite singers?"

"Lacus," Dearka replied.

"She's not bad," Yzak added.

"I like her songs as well," Rau rubbed his chin in a thoughtful pose before fishing a card from his pocket. "Do you know the next album is going to be announced tomorrow?"

Yzak and Dearka were surprised. "There's going to be a new album? How come we don't know about it?"

"Special privilege, I guess," Rau said, not bothering to hide that fact. "But there's going to be a pop-up stall at the Pavilion around twelve selling coupons to download the album along with special limited-edition merchandises," He handed the card to Dearka.

"This is…"

"A special invitation to skip the main line at the pop-up stall, which you," Rau looked at his watch, "Must be there in an hour from now,"

Yzak and Dearka looked at each other.

"As you were," Rau said as he saluted them before leaving, knowing they would most likely go to the mall.

Interesting. Gilbert's rambling needed to be examined, after all. Rau hated humanity and would love nothing more than having it destroy itself. However, if Gilbert was to believe, then Rau had a new target for his rage. The DNAs had something in them that would introduce flaws in clones. This would make them more susceptible to being manipulated by another. After Rau considered the idea, it looked rational. From the ease of him causing the fire that killed his 'parents' and being cleared of any wrongdoing to him escaping to PLANTs and joining as one of ZAFT's higher ups. While he had to put in effort, perhaps all those things went too smoothly for him.

As if, everything was planned to get him into PLANTs and ZAFT to destroy them from within. Not that one person like him had a chance to do just that, but he would be in place to cause chaos and mayhem. If that was the case, then he would rather bare his fangs to that shadowy cabal controlling from behind the scenes.

Logos.

That was the name mentioned by Gilbert. Logos, a rational form of discourse that relied on inductive and deductive reasoning. It also meant intermediary divine beings, demiurge. A person or a group of people responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe based on their rational reasoning and saw themselves as the intermediary between humankind and heaven. It wouldn't be a stretch for them to believe themselves as gods among the living. If the conspiracy theory was proven correct, Rau would enjoy dragging them down from their make-believe thrones before killing them.

But for the time being, he would have to settle for a small guilty pleasure of provoking one of his ZAFT compatriots, one Marco Morassim. Marco hated his guts, but the man hated Naturals and Earth Alliance even more, particularly those from the North Atlantic Federation, having lost his family to the Bloody Valentine. Archangel and its crew weren't involved in the operation, but Rau was pretty sure Marco wouldn't let that insignificant and inconvenient truth cloud his biased judgment.

"It's been a while since we have time to relax, isn't it?" Sai said as he leaned against the railing of Archangel's deck.

It wasn't the first time they were standing out in the open, but Kira could understand what Sai was talking about. It could be the very first time they were out there, enjoying their time off, while not in the middle of a conflict. Granted, they were still on standby, and they were still onboard Archangel while it sailed through the Red Sea, but not having to think of anything heavy was a luxury. Looking at Tolle and Mirriallia standing together at the other side, talking, he couldn't help a smile forming on his face. "You're right,"

"Wet, salty air. Maybe not as clean as the air at Heliopolis and Copernicus, but it sure has its own charm,"

"You've been to Copernicus?" Kira asked before realizing the Archangel had made the stopover a few weeks prior. "No, wh…"

"A few times," his friend replied, cutting him off. "Even before the 'kor-no-dee-neto' phase,"

"Say what?"

"For a kid, 'Coordinator' is difficult to pronounce. Anyway, since her late mother's R facility was located there. That's well before the main HQ was moved there because of the rising tension between PLANTs and sponsor nations,"

"I see," Sai's statement was unexpected, but Kira was intrigued by it.

"Funny thing is, Copernicus and the other four headquarters are linked to research fields that are related to the first letter in their names,"

"Meaning?"

"Copernicus starts with C, and hosts communication,"

Kira nodded, recalling the call that he had made weeks prior. "And the rest?"

"New York to research on neural networks, Aprilius focus on propulsion…Actuation, Ipoh coordinates on Interface, and last but not least Gqeberha is the lead for…" Sai scratched his head. "Hm… what was it?"

"GUNDAM?" Kira asked, recalling the folder he saw on the screen of Flay's tablet back when they were carrying out the upgrade works on Strike.

The bespectacled man shook his head. "No, that would be part of Interface," his face brightened up, "Now I remember! Generation, as in power generation. Speaking about generation, what did you work on while Tolle and I were on simulator training?"

"Integrating hydrophones for towed array we got from the Suez base into the system,"

"Sonar, you mean?"

"Both the active and passive ones,"

Sai chuckled. "Never thought the Analog Signal Processing 101 electives we took would be useful in this kind of situation,"

"I just thought it would help in the mechatronics," Kira said, causing the situation to become awkward and silent.

They had gone a long way from being normal students to reluctant hostages and to experienced soldiers. Instead of listening to Professor Kato's boring lectures, they had to attend briefing and debriefing by Mu. They had killed, because it was either that, or they would end up being killed instead.

It was Sai who broke the silence. "The base commander was pissed with us and asked us to get off her base, wasn't she?"

"The sonar and two-seater had been reserved for us, and the mutual logistic support agreement in place means she must provide the supplies. She can say no, but that would go on record,"

"And she doesn't want that to happen, as it could mess up her career down the line. Watching them fight about those things, I hope I wouldn't be involved in one,"

"You will, since you jinxed yourself," Kira said.

The two watched the ocean in front of them for a few minutes before Sai broke the silence, "They think ZAFT's submarine is setting up an ambush?"

"Yes, Feather Lite believes so,"

"That's concerning, since it can carry a lot of mobile suits, and it can operate while being submerged,"

"About that, he said the multi-purpose function of the Vozgulov-class could be preventing it from fulfilling its mission in a more effective way,"

"Meaning?"

"Vozgulov-class can carry a mixture of aerial and underwater mobile suits, but they have different operating range and speed. Jack of all trades, as they say,"

As an aerial mobile suit, a DINN had decent ranged, descent speed and descent armament. While it had better flexibility when compared to a helicopter, a fighter, or a bomber, the other aircraft specialization allowed them distinct advantages compared to it. A bomber was slow, but it could fly way higher than a DINN could, not unless the latter was equipped with a specialized booster. The bomber could also carry more bombs, often more than enough to saturate the defensive perimeter. However, the DINN could be carried in the submarine and carry various types of missions, but not as good as specialized weapon platforms.

Another mobile suit type Vozgulov carried was GOOhN. While it was stealthy in normal operation and could attack enemy ships with almost impunity, it suffered from range, since operating in water required more energy. Another weakness was that it was slow to some surface ships because of its movement underwater. Analysts believed it could move at a faster speed, but doing so would require a higher amount of energy and increase the sound it made underwater, reducing its stealthiness. Even if its propulsion could reduce the noise being produced, there was no escaping physics since a body moving through water at a significant enough speed would create cavitation, something a passive sonar could detect.

"So, to ensure they could attack us with all the mobile suits, it has to be an ambush?"

Kira nodded at Sai's question. "That's what I was told. If we come across DINNs operating far away from their carrier, it would take time for the GOOhN to arrive. There's the range as well. It's estimated a GOOhN has a maximum operating time of one and a half hours at slow speed, maybe 40 nautical miles maximum range before it must return,"

True to Mu's prediction, the Archangel was attacked just as it was exiting the Red Sea and had just entered the Gulf of Eden.

"CONDITION RED!" Miriallia's voice echoed throughout the ship. "TWO HOSTILES VECTOR ONE SEVEN ZERO. I SAY AGAIN, TWO HOSTILE VECTOR ONE SEVEN ZERO,"

Decked out in a flight suit, Cagalli entered the hangar to see everyone was in a frenzy as they worked to launch Mu's Skygrasper. She ran toward 'her' unit only to have Kojiro shouted at her, "You busted that fast mover, MB!"

Cagalli clucked her tongue in frustration and looked around. Next to Aegis, which was still under repair, there was another Skygrasper, the so-called B variant they got from Suez base, with its glass canopy open. With little thought, she ran and climbed up the canopy only to see a suited Kira with his helmet sitting in the back seat, pressing some buttons. "You're not going to prevent me from taking off," she said as she dropped into the pilot's seat and put on a helmet.

"I'm not," Kira said. "I'm your Wizzo,"

"What?" Cagalli asked as she went through the flight check procedure.

"Back seater," After a few seconds, he added, "Weapons System Officer,"

"Never had one of those. Always flies solo,"

"Same here… except the first time when I had Captain Murrue stood beside me in the Strike's cockpit. Maybe they can have a foldable seat, like a bench' next to the pilot's so a passenger can sit instead of standing,"

"Not even launching and already a stupid idea from you. Don't do that. Seriously, don't," Cagalli said as she contacted the bridge and Miriallia's face came up on the secondary display on the right side. "Miriallia, I'm ready for launch,"

"Please use my call sign during official missions. And taxi to the catapult. "

"Roger, Signal Wolf," As the Skygrasper moved to the launcher, she asked, "Can I get rid of dead weight behind me?"

"Hey!"

"Why?"

"He's stupid, and I don't know whether he's going to be useful. He wants to put a side bench near the pilot's seat in a mobile suit,"

"Ugh, that's a bad one. Thing is, we don't have spares to operate the ASW suite, and he's been running around without his keeper for a while, so please be more understanding,"

"Why? I think it's a good idea!" Kira protested.

"What happens when you perform a high-G maneuver, huh? Your passenger will go splat against the screen, is that what you want?" Cagalli replied as she watched the flight crew outside move in coordinated and practiced motions.

Kira cringed as he answered, "No,"

"Next time think before you think,"

"Before talking?"

"You don't think enough, so I meant what I said. Now let me focus on my work. ASW right?"

"Yes, Ma'am,"

"Okay, make yourself useful,"

"Copy,"

The Skygrasper inched forward until the front wheel moved into a shuttle, the mechanism that would propel the aircraft. "Signal Wolf, in position,"

"MB, you're clear for takeoff," the signal light changed to green.

"Cagalli Yula Attha, Skygrasper B Variant, take off!" Cagalli said while initiating the catapult launch system and engaging the boosters.

The fighter was propelled down the deck, rocketing towards the end of the carrier and reaching the speed of 200 kilometers per hour in just two seconds. While the acceleration was sudden, it wasn't the first time Cagalli had launched from Archangel, and she had a lot of experience launching and landing on Orb's own aircraft carriers. The jet exited the Archangel, and for an instant, the aircraft hung in the air, suspended between sea and sky. Then the engines kicked to life, thrusting the plane forward and upward.

"And you complained about me being stupid. Didn't anyone tell you we're not supposed to use our real names during a mission, more so announce them?" Kira said.

"That's ORB's SOP, deal with it,"

"If hostiles found out you're piloting this, we're going to have a lot to deal with,"

"I thought I told you to think before you think! You forgot we're on a secure channel!"

"Hey, you two, cut the chatters!" Mu admonished, much to Cagalli and Kira's embarrassment, since the two had forgotten to sign off.

Cagalli signed off. "Let's go and find those GOOhNs," she said in a reconciliatory tone as the Skygrasper circled around Archangel where Buster was standing on its port side, its 350mm Gun Launcher in its right arm. "Is your friend of any use in this situation?"

"To be honest, not much," Kira said while pressing buttons. "I'm going to drop the buoys, so please fly along the route on your HUD,"

Cagalli saw the route shown on the heads-up display. The path was parallel to Archangel's. "Okay,"

One by one, the buoys were deployed, and the sonar reading indicated there were three underwater mobile suits moving at high speed. "They're not bothering to go silent,"

"That's ZAFT alright, flashy,"

"I'm not complaining, though. If they move silently, passive sonar couldn't pick them up. Engage hover,"

"Engaging hover," Cagalli said as the Skygrasper maintained its position in the air.

"Hold her still," Kira said as he flipped on the communication system. "Bloodhound! Bloodhound! Bloodhound!"

Two seconds later, the Skygrasper fired two of its four wire-guided torpedoes. The torpedo dropped into the water with a splash. They came online, making their presence known to their sole controller, waiting for command. Kira glanced at the monitor. The buoys were helping him to keep track of the three mobile suits which were moving toward the Archangel. He selected the nearest target to the torpedoes and transmitted the command to them via fiber optic cables connected between them and the Skygrasper.

The torpedoes began moving as their guidance systems showed them the prey they were supposed to hunt. Faster and faster, they gained momentum. They angled to the left and right of their evading target, which only knew their presence, but not their locations. Unknown to Kira, the ZAFT pilot controlling the underwater mobile suit tried to shake them off by doing evasive actions and releasing decoys. However, its evasive actions made it easier to detect by the buoys, which allowed Kira to fine tune the guidance. The torpedoes chased after their target, even when the mobile suit tried to dive deeper.

In a last-ditch attempt, the mobile suit turned toward the torpedoes. Just as one torpedo was close enough, it swerved to the left. Caught unprepared, the torpedo passed by, as its proximity sensor failed to activate.

Just as the pilot was about to breathe in relief, the second torpedo hit it in the chest. A muffled explosion rippled through the water, sending a shockwave that made a tall splash of water near the Archangel.

"Direct hit," Cagalli said, similar to what Kira thought to himself. "Let's try that again,"

Kira launched the remaining two torpedoes. However, this time, the enemies weren't content to allow what happened to their teammate happen to them. Just as Kira was about to lock on at one of the GOOhNs, both surfaced in their cruising mode forms and fired their 47mm Rifle Darts at the Skygrasper.

Cagalli performed a hard, swerving maneuver to evade the projectiles. While she managed to prevent them from causing damage to the aircraft, the action snapped the fiber optic cables connecting to the torpedoes. Without any guidance, the torpedoes moved in their current vectors. "Sorry,"

"Don't be. I don't like big needles,"

"Thanks, but we're fresh out of torpedoes. Any other ideas?"

"I'm going to try something," Kira said to his pilot before flipping the switch. "Archangel, please lift off out of the water. I say again, lift off out of the water,"

After a few seconds, Miriallia replied, "Lift on in fifteen,"

"Monarch, be prepared to shoot when the hostiles surfaces,"

"Wilco, buddy,"

"What are you doing?" Cagalli said.

As Archangel raised itself above the sea level, Kira pressed some buttons "Turning the sonar volume up to eleven,"

A few seconds later, the two GOOhNs surfaced, and Tolle took aim and scored a direct hit on one of them, destroying it. Meanwhile, Cagalli, noticing their surfacing, maneuvered the Skygrasper into a strafing run on the second GOOhN. The 20mm auto-cannons hit the mobile suit, causing some damage.

"It's leaving?" Kira said as he watched the mobile suit moving away from the Archangel.

"Maybe one of its tanks got hit and it cannot dive," Cagalli said as Buster fired at it, missing it by a few meters. She then noticed a DINN fighting Mu's Skygrasper. "That's probably the mission lead,"

"How do you know?"

"It stayed around and drew Mu's attention," Meanwhile, Mu's Skygrasper damaged the DINN's right wings.

"And now it's leaving," Kira said, gritting his teeth, as he took over the control. "Not on my watch," he said as their aircraft chased after the DINN, as the latter's speed degraded to the damage it suffered.

"Wait, it's in no state to fight!" Cagalli said, even as she didn't stop her co-pilot.

"If we let it go, it will come later, putting us at risk!"

"But the convention…"

"As long as they don't surrender, they're hostiles!" Kira said as he lined up DINN in his sight. Then he pressed the triggers and emptied the Skygrasper's remaining bullets into it. The DINN burst into flames and crashed into the sea below.

Even as the screen blinked rapidly, indicating the auto-cannons' munitions were diminished, Kira's finger was still pressing the trigger, his hand clenched.

"Kira?" There was a concern in Cagalli's voice.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

Kira let out a long breath. "I'm okay. Why do you ask?"

"You were… screaming just now… when you shot the DINN,"

"I did?" Memories of what transpired a few seconds prior hit him like a bludgeon. He had really lost it. It took some difficulty, but he unclenched his hand holding the joystick. "You have control. Sorry,"

"It's okay. It's a good thing the comms were off. Boss is going to whine about the bullets, but I'll think of something," Cagalli was quiet for a moment, "Do you want to talk about it?"

1

A/N

1. If Gundam Seed Freedom (GSF) was written by Chiaki Morosawa, then I suspect it is 'inspired' by the drama behind Gundam Seed Destiny production. GSF is about how Naomi Shindo (Cagalli's VA) was trying to seduce Mitsuo Fukuda, and Chiaki's effort to get him back. Orphee Lam Tao represents Naomi's forceful and desperate need for love, and Aura Maha Khyber represents her childish and irrational side. That's why Ophree and Aura are blonde, similar to Cagalli's hair. On the other side, Lacus is Mitsuo, 'the voice' that determines everything, since he's the director while Chiaki is Kira Yamato, the Coordinator, the one that put everything into motion. When GSF was written, the animosity between all sides was still fresh, hence the anger and hatred was there. Even for the sake of the fans, I believe Naomi wouldn't throw away her principles to come back to lend her voice to a 'hate letter to her' (instead of the love letter to the fans). Think about it, even if the theme was love, there were many ways to approach it, without going the Netorare route. Then there's the part regarding 'Accord', but I believe it to be a recent development.