A/n: As I said in the story update, this is closer to a final form of this phase for the story. I will give details on the changes that come in this phase at the end. I still like the overall storyline and will be keeping the vast majority of it. Still like everyone, I'm human (a natural) and so am prone to making mistakes just like we all do and will probably continue to do so. I will state my official disclaimer in this Phase and then just refer to it going forward.
I myself, do not own Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny or anything in the Gundam Universe, nor any of the related characters or the subject. Nor do I own the ideas that I borrow from other universes. All I can take credit for is my original characters and concepts that come from my musings, such as some of the vehicles, suits or other machines that are not in any series. The ideas from the Gundam Universe and other Universes belong to their respective authors, anime or whatever they belong to.
That's my disclaimer, this will be the one time that I will state it, so refer to it later if you like. The prologue section has changed and I ask you to take the time to read it since it has expanded. It will also have to do with the poll I posted recently. Please read and enjoy!
Gundam Seed: The Federation
By Blackshadow999
Prologue: Dawn of an Era
The human species, also known by the scientific name Homo Sapiens. Unique creatures among the many indigenous species that inhabit the planet named Earth. The species possess one of the rarest gifts which sets it apart from the other creatures Earth supports. That gift is the ability/quality of choice or what's referred to as free-will. With this amazing gift, humans have an incredible potential combined with the rare capacity to surpass the limitations which species normally have. Not withstanding all of this incredible "god-like" potential humanity has within it, the species is also riddled with serious contradictions which can prove detrimental. The faults, shortcomings, and limitations would bring about the destruction of other creatures and relegate such to the annals of history. However, humanity has yet to fall to such a fate during its existence as of yet. But as the wheels of time and fate keep turning ever forward in what can seem a repetitive cycle, chances of destruction keep appearing in humanity's path.
Humans live in what they call the Cosmic Era by the current calendar which humanity uses. The Cosmic Era began when the Anno Domini or A.D. calendar came to an end at 2155 of that calendar. The beginning of the Cosmic Era had been filled with hopes of a fresh start and progressing in different directions than Humanity had gone before. However, those hopes were tested and strained when the transition from the past era to the next came with the greatest upheaval humanity had ever experienced in its history. Many events contributed to the shift and upheaval, the first being the majority of sources of fossil fuels such as oil and petroleum running dry. That combined with the critical levels of environmental pollution which had been building led to the worldwide economic crisis. The crisis rapidly came to the point it couldn't be ignored and morphed into the collapse of the global economy bringing hard times onto all. Attempts to recover from the collapse, the nations of the global community formed a few major powers to stand together. However, in those attempts, long-standing ethnic and religious strife returned to the forefront with more than a fiery passion. It wasn't long at all before the disagreements and differing views pushed for conflict that evolved into a third global war.
The global war quickly became more violent than previous conflicts/wars had been in human history. As with previous wars and conflicts, science made advances in weapons and tools which were employed in the fighting. Among those advances came was a virus that simply called "Type-S influenza." Scientists came to the consensus the virus was not a natural occurrence, but something designed as some type of bioweapon. The virus spread at a pace never seen previously by other viruses. Within months it had reached most places around the globe and was declared a plague. In its wake, serious illness leading to a slow and painful death followed in staggering numbers. Type-S Influenza effectively brought the war to an end between five and six years with the percentage of the global population that were infected. It was a few more years before an effective cure and vaccine could be created for Type-S Influenza.
With a cure/vaccine for the plague made and the conflict ended, humanity was forced to reassess what direction to go forward. The global war was recorded as the Reconstruction War in history. The war had created a stigma for major religions influence in governance and rule. For most that had survived the conflict and plague, religion had become something to be avoided and left in the past beyond personal beliefs. Humanity also formed new territorial powers in order to give the people of the world peace and move forward from the horrible global war. The major powers or states were the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the Republic of East Asia, and the Euros Coalition. By the thirteenth year of the Era, the Equatorial Union, the Kingdom of Scandinavia, and the Orb Union had also been established.
The forming of world powers was seen a good start of moving forward from the horrors of Humanity's past. However, world leaders knew that history had a nasty habit of repeating itself if it wasn't learned from. Thus, to prevent another war from happening in the near future, the United Nations which was the governing body of Earth overall to action after a full council of its members. They announced a plan for humanity to head into space and build colonies and work toward expanding from Earth. Doing so would allow humans to have room for its population increase without territory being a factor to cause conflict. Plus, the hunt for new resources was a part of that expansion so new technologies could be invented to improve humanity's existence. Hope and good intentions were spread to fuel the new outlook for exploration and expansion for humanity for this plan the United Nations had put out.
The execute a plan began quickly after the announcement with the states of the world wholeheartedly agreeing to the United Nations' plan. The idea had been suggested and hinted at before the Reconstruction War had interrupted such things. The start of the Cosmic Era had been to anoint the beginning of Humans looking toward the stars for new discoveries and challenges. Cooperation between the global powers constructed the ships which took up supplies for the first off Earth colonies. High orbital construction yards were created for buildings points which colonies would be built from. The first main construction yard was completed in the tenth year of the Cosmic Era and was declared operational. With it operational, the excitement of moving toward space and colonies increased among the human race.
Once the first high orbit construction yard was operational, discussions for plans for colonies and potential space exploration began. Many were involved in the discussions including many notable scientists and world leaders. Plans to colonize the moon were loosely made along with defining new areas for future colony construction. Those areas were to be designated as "Lagrange Points" which would be in the Moon's orbital path. The logic of the orbital path was then colony clusters would orbit Earth as the Moon did and not interfere with either. Alongside the plans for colony construction, exploration of the Solar System were discussed as well. It was decided that exploration beyond Earth was a good place to start for all of the colony plans. There would be exploration of the immediate area between Earth and the Moon for locations for colony construction. However, there would be a ship constructed to do farther exploration than that for potential future colonies that would be beyond the moon. Thus, the building of several space going vessels began before the end of tenth year of the Cosmic Era.
It was in the middle of the fifteenth year of the Cosmic Era that the first "deep space exploration" vessel was completed. The Tsiolkovsky as the exploration vessel was named was seen as a "crowning jewel" of human science and ingenuity with all that went into it. The ship's first mission would be to head for Jupiter both to get images and potentially samples of the gas giant's "red spot" and survey the planet's moon Titan. A hand-picked crew was assigned to the ship as it was being supplied, all the members being seen as among the best humanity had to offer. Its captain was a man by the name of George Glenn. Glenn had been seen as the first and best choice to lead the first mission of the Tsiolkovsky. The man was brilliant as proven with his Ph. D from MIT and his work in aerospace engineering. He was also a celebrated athlete with his performance in the continuing Olympic Games with winning a gold medal. And finally, his distinguished record with his military service made him a near perfect choice as the commanding officer for the vessel.
The Tsiolkovsky headed out on its mission during the latter end of the same year it was completed. However, before it headed out on its mission, humanity was rocked by an announcement made by George Glenn. The announcement or rather confession was that the man was not a normal human being but was what he called a "Coordinator." After that confession from Glenn and his following explanation of the term, the word gained an entirely different meaning and definition than it had ever had before. The new definition which Glenn had added to "Coordinator" was a type of human being which had their genes changed or altered in some way shape or form, usually before birth or shortly there after. Most didn't quite understand what gene alteration would mean when Glenn's confession had come, so most didn't think a great deal about the term or what it meant.
It was only in the passing years that the Coordinator's new meaning really sunk in more full for the members of the human race. Glenn was only the first publicly known Coordinator, but others started coming out shortly after his public confession. Genetic engineering which was responsible for creating Coordinators was a subject which humans knew existed but hadn't thought much about. Manipulating the human genome had been the work of science fiction, akin to an unattainable fantasy which would unlikely ever happen. The historical scientists which had attempted to further genetic engineering hadn't been successful according to any available records. So, for there to be an individual which proved that there was a successful use of genetic engineering caused pause. Observations of other Coordinators which came into the public eye only further confused many. Common traits began being noticed with these new human "Coordinators." They tended to be faster and stronger than other human beings by a small margin. Coordinators also seemed to excel at academics with their quicker and keener minds.
The majority of the human race didn't quite know what to think of Coordinators even after some observation of more than one of them. They seemed like regular people other than the slight advantages they appeared to have in general. Granted, there were some who were jealous that there were those that got to choose and pick the appearance of their children. However, that jealousy wasn't shown by the majority of people. Yet, when it was discovered that Coordinators were essentially immune to all known diseases including Type-S Influenza without the vaccine, public opinion began changing. Some shouted how unfair it was that Coordinators were "made" so that they would basically never be sick in their lives. Others brought up questions about why any doctor that specialized in genetic engineering would create Coordinators in the first place. There were other arguments against Coordinators made, but those were the two main ones which were echoed by many.
The controversy about Coordinators only grew in strength as time kept moving forward. The controversy transitioned into some claiming Coordinators and how they came about were wrong. The formation of groups which were against Coordinators and what they represented quickly began occurring. That increased the outcries of the "moral" wrongness a growing number were claiming Coordinators were. Among those groups, one by the name of Blue Cosmos which shouted out against Coordinators and was seen as a more extreme group. That same group later was believed to commit terrorist attacks against the places in the world that did the genetic alterations.
With the matter of a year, the outcries and attacks against Coordinators became too loud to be ignored by the general public. Thus, in the middle of Cosmic Era year sixteen, a conference was held to address the "Coordinator Controversy." The conference was held in the Euros Coalition's city of Rome and included the vast majority of world leaders. There was heated discussion in the conference about what the official stance on Coordinators Humanity would have should be. There were some that said Coordinators were still human beings so should be allowed to exist. Others said that Coordinators should be imprisoned or killed as they shouldn't have existed in the first place. In the end, a compromise was reached which both sides were willing to accept even if neither liked the result fully. The "Torino Protocol" the world leaders drafted up stated manipulation of the human genome was prohibited going forward with the one exception if it was being done as a last resort to save a life from being lost and the doctor had written consent. The compromise would stop new Coordinators from being created but wouldn't require those that existed now to die as some wanted.
The protocol eased tension somewhat around the world with the Coordinator Controversy. Yet, as history had proven for human beings when something is forbidden, some would want to do it more than if it was not. Prohibition of things had been attempted before with no lasting success according to historical records. And now with the ability to have human genes manipulated being possible, that caused intrigue about the subject for some. In this case, some more wealthy individuals went to those that had expertise with genetic engineering and began asking questions about Coordinators. Enough of those wealthy individuals were interested to ignore the protocol and had some of their children's genes altered thereby making them into Coordinators.
It didn't take long for it to be noticed some had ignored the Torino Protocol and Coordinators were being created. But those that were having their children made into Coordinators had enough connections and money to get enough to look the other way and not criminally charge them for their actions. This renewed the Coordinator Controversy and fed the growing hate and dislike of Coordinators. For the next few years, the conflict of Coordinators' existence built slowly, yet tolerance for them was also growing within the human population. That didn't stop some from committing attacks on the few Coordinators that were publicly known and the places that could produce them. Those actions would be classified as terrorist attacks later on even if they were seen as accidents or actions of criminals at the time.
As the attacks on people who were Coordinators and those around them grew in frequency and violence, world leaders knew they couldn't keep standing by and doing nothing. A meeting of the United Nations was called to address the growing violence against Coordinators and bystanders. In that meeting, it was decided that a special group would be formed to address and handle those that were committing the attacks. The group would be made up of military personnel from all over the world and would be vetted before being brought into the group. The "military organization" the group would be in the end would be autonomous and only accountable by the United Nations themselves rather than the global states they would work within. The organization would be a peacekeeping force that could uphold international law and bring those that had connections to powerful individuals to justice.
Within a year of the meeting of the United Nations, the special organization they had created had been put together. The organization quickly got to work in tracking down and handling those that were committing the terrorist attacks. The "crackdown" on those that were attacking Coordinators didn't stop the killing of Coordinators, but it certainly slowed it down and made public attacks less frequent. With the terrorism against Coordinators lessening for the most part, the majority of humanity turned back to the plans to build space colonies and moving to live off of Earth. Colony construction had been going on while the Coordinator Controversy had been raging, though it had been slowed down a notable amount during the disagreements. There quickly came demands from many of those working on colony construction for something to be made or invented to help them get supplies faster and more efficiently.
Scientists and architects were put on the task as colony construction was rapidly becoming a race for the global powers. worked together to design and build a new technology for the world to utilize. In months, the concepts of a linear catapult had been created which scientists called a mass driver. The first design of a Mass Driver was given to the world and the Atlantic Federation was quick to start building one around Panama. There were two more Mass Drivers sties were chosen, and construction began on them as well. By the year twenty-two of the Cosmic Era, Porta Panama space port and its mass driver were operating at full capacity. The Chronos Mass Driver in the Euros Coalition was also completed and in full used for large craft to carry supplies into space. But before the end of the year, an event many of the world leaders to pause with the colony construction race.
A message came from the Tsiolkovsky which was a tad unexpected since the ship had faded into the background with the Coordinator Controversy had come to the forefront. The message had come in a very broken form, so it took some time to put it back together into a understandable form. Two things became clear from the message once it was sorted out, the Tsiolkovsky had reached Jupiter and they had done the surveying they had been tasked to do somewhat. The crew had managed to get some interesting samples, both from the planet's red spot and some from the Moon Titan. However, among those samples from Titan, something "odd" had been found by the survey crew. What was described got most of the world leaders scratching their heads, trying to make sense of what the crew could've found. What was left of their description didn't make a lot of sense to those who read it. But Captain Glenn and other officers had clearly stated whatever it was they had found was strange beyond what had been expected.
After reading what had survived of the message from the exploration vessel, a decision was made. An order from the United Nations was sent back to the ship to return to Earth now rather than the year they were supposed to spend surveying. It had been hoped that Titan could be surveyed thoroughly and potential site for a colony could be determined. But whatever it was that the crew had found sounded like it could be something amazing or concerning which should be addressed sooner rather than later. Another ship and crew could be sent with the Tsiolkovsky after it returned to Earth. There was already another vessel of a similar design was under construction currently and would be finished when the Tsiolkovsky when it got back.
In the twenty-ninth year, the Tsiolkovsky arrived back from its survey mission to Jupiter. The ship docked at the main orbital yard which was the checkpoint for most ships going between Earth and Space. An inspection team with some scientists were sent to the Tsiolkovsky to see what it was that the crew had found on their survey and report that back to the United Nations. What the inspection team saw shocked them and the message from the Tsiolkovsky about finding something unbelievable made more sense. When they reported and sent images back to the United Nations, the world leaders were just as shocked at what they were seeing. None who saw the object the Tsiolkovsky brought back felt it would be wise to release information to the general public until more was known. Those with the United Nations decided to have the object sent to the newly built research colonies close to the moon.
The object which was named "Evidence 01" was taken from the Tsiolkovsky and delivered to the collection of colonies at what was called "Lagrange 5." The Lagrange point was sixty degrees from the moon and currently had only research colonies in the lunar orbital path. The crew of the Tsiolkovsky were quickly transported to the colonies to give their accounts of Evidence 01 and their surveys. The crew of the Tsiolkovsky were somewhat confused with the questioning they were put to. The fossil which was Evidence 01 was something they had just found while surveying Titan. None of the crew would deny the fossil was certainly strange and unlike anything humans had found before. It potentially proved that humans weren't alone in the universe, yet that wasn't a certainty with the fossil. They didn't understand about all the secrecy they were being told about when it came to the fossil. The fossil was not revealed to the public even when the crew said they should at least see it.
In the following years that followed the Tsiolkovsky returned, many things changed for the human race. Further plans for deep space exploration were placed on permanent hold until some time in the future. The Torino Protocol was suspended by a vote of the United Nations which had split the governing body. The decision began a period which later was called the "First "Coordinator Boom." During this period, the creation of Coordinators occurred with far more frequency as it was no long criminalized. The enmity toward Coordinators hadn't gone away, but the tolerance had won out overall with the general population. Attacks against Coordinators were still being handled by the organization the United Nations had created preventing serious terrorism attacks.
At the beginning of the fortieth year of the Era, a shift on the global power happened. The shift came in the form of an Alliance between the Euros Coalition, Republic of East Asia, and some within the United Nations' leadership and its general assembly, along with the special military group being established. The alliance was presented as a coalition which would be called the "Human Federation." The Human Federation was quickly seen as the first official superpower of the Cosmic Era. Some of the other global states weren't the happiest of the coalition that had formed. The Atlantic Federation was among the foremost that felt threatened by the newly formed Human Federation. The Eurasian Federation wasn't much happier than the Atlantic Federation about the founding of the Human Federation as it would also threaten the balance of power for the global states. However, the Kingdom of Scandinavia, Equatorial Union, and the Orb Union didn't much mind the creation of the Human Federation.
In response to the Human Federation's establishment, the Atlantic Federation began quietly building a base on the moon. The leaders of the Atlantic Federation wanted to be in a position to grab power if the opportunity arose. And the territory of space was clearly the next horizon with humanity would be expanding into. The base was being named Ptolemaeus while being constructed. The base would be a solid foothold for the Atlantic Federation with having influence in space. There were also early discussions of potentially working with the Eurasian Federation in controlling what happened around the moon and in the colonies. There was already independent group which was running the research colonies that had been built at Lagrange 5. International laws protected them at the moment so the Atlantic Federation couldn't go there and take over the running of the colonies as a few had suggested. Those that led the Atlantic Federation wouldn't let the new Human Federation be the ones that had complete governance over humanity.
The year following the Human Federation's founding, the special military group which was now the Federation's own military gave a public announcement. The announcement was in response to the completion of the Eurasian Federation's military base Artemis. The Eurasian Federation's reveal of their base had a feel of a potential arms race for control of space. Thus, the Human Federation didn't want that to be left to stew and get worse. It's military would be the peacekeepers they had been being on Earth in space as well. So, the Federation's military unveiled their newly developed space fighter to be used to prevent conflict around the colonies and the moon. The show of space fighters forced the Eurasian Federation to back down a bit and not push for control of the colonies right away.
It was in the next year that the Atlantic Federation finished their lunar base. The Federation revealing their space fighters was motivation to finish the base and rush development of their own version of a space fighter. The race for weapons to use in space may not be an official arms race, but the Atlantic Federation saw it that way. And the winner of that arms race would very likely be the power which controlled what went on during the expansion into space and the moon. Scientists working for the Atlantic Federation soon developed a different form of space fighter. The fighter was quickly named as mobile armor so it wouldn't be seen as some sort of copy of the Federation's space fighters. Two variations were designed and set for mass production after they were tested and found to work well in space.
As the arms race was going on, the research colonies at Lagrange 5 had been working on the findings the Tsiolkovsky had brought back. Captain Glenn had stayed at the colonies to help with the research while most of his crew had returned to Earth. During the time which had passed, George had developed and designed plans for a new type of colony. George felt he still had so much to give to humanity which had been so good to him. The colony type he had designed would be the closest simulation to Earth's environment. George had even come up with an acronym he liked which was Productive Location Ally on Nexus Technology or PLANT for short. While George felt it was great for humanity to venture into space, he felt they shouldn't forget the world from which they had come. That had played into the acronym he had given the designs for the colony type. After he had finished drawing up the designs, he presented the colony type designs to those around the research colonies, and it was well received. After the reception of his design by his peers, George then sent his designs to the United Nations in hopes they would adopt the colony type and begin building them.
When Glenn's colony design came to the United Nations' leadership, they glanced them over. Most of them were impressed with the revolutionary design the colony type Glenn had come up with. They had known the man was gifted beyond just being a Coordinator. Yet, his ingenuity was still surprising with what came from the man. The design specs were quickly presented to the general assembly and caught the attention of most within the body. The colony design from Glenn were both feasible to build and manageable to maintain. That had been the standing issue for the current colony types, they were either complicated to build or very work involved to maintain. There had been some trying to find a solution for those issues as it was costing more than estimated initially, which had slowed down construction. The new colony type designs were adopted by the United Nations with little disagreement. Glenn's PLANT colony designs were put to use at Lagrange 5 as the first group of them underwent construction in the forty-third year of the Cosmic Era.
With all the prosperity humanity was experiencing, the hate of Coordinators had been ignored by the majority of humanity. However, there were those that took action to remind humanity of the hate of those who were different that the human race had such difficult escaping. Terrorist attacks had an uptick in frequency against Coordinators but also injuring bystanders during the violence. The United Nations tried to help by denouncing and calling for those responsible to be held accountable, yet that did little. The Federation's military also attempted the continuation of their task of putting down such terrorist attacks against Coordinators. While the Federation's military had some success, the attacks kept coming. And it became clear that most of the attacks were happening either in or by those in the Atlantic and Eurasian Federations. Both global states denied any saying they had any responsibility for the attack against Coordinators.
As the attacks kept coming, many Coordinators sought ways to escape the discrimination which was being pointed at them. Most of them had nothing against non-Coordinators which were being called Naturals in current times. They just wanted to live and be left alone, not be hunted down because of a decision which they had nothing to do with. Many headed for the new PLANT colonies at Lagrange 5 to leave the attacks behind. The stories of the colonies were of peace and no conflict and hate between people which was a draw for Coordinators. However, the acts of terrorism soon began also happening to the PLANTs, though a number of the attempts were thwarted by the Federation's military forces.
Those that were living in the PLANTs appreciated what the Federation's military was doing for them. The Federation's military were among the few that protected innocent people regardless what type of human they were. Yet, there were enough Coordinators around the PLANTs that wanted to do something to help the Federation's military to defend the colonies. The wish led to the creation of the Zodiac Alliance Freedom Treaty or ZAFT to give the PLANTs political autonomy and protection from those who wished to do harm. While ZAFT's defense forces were being organized and built, the colonies still depended on the Federation's Military for protection. The first governing officials of ZAFT also went to the Human Federation and the United Nations for guidance in designing their own system of government.
As ZAFT was organizing itself, the Human Federation was growing and gaining strength with others joining their "faction." The first to join the Federation from the remaining global powers was the Kingdom of Scandinavia. Shortly after the Kingdom of Scandinavia joined the Federation, the Equatorial Union applied for membership and was accepted quickly thereafter. There were several within ZAFT that seriously considered having the organization join the Human Federation. It was becoming clear that humanity was being divided into factions because of the coming power struggle and existence of Coordinators. However, the decision was made for ZAFT to be independent when they were fully organized rather than siding with the Federation. ZAFT's independence didn't come as soon as some wanted since getting a functioning military force was taking more time than estimated. Yet, after the secret cooperative development of "mobile suits" ZAFT did with the Federation's Military, they publicly declared their independence as a faction.
Nonetheless, even with ZAFT declaring independence for itself and showing it was willing and capable to defend itself, the terrorist attacks didn't stop. If anything, the attacks increased with ZAFT publicly stating its independence. The leaders of the United Nations knew something had to be done about the terrorism that was happening. It had been terrorism which had led to the Reconstruction War and what had come with that event. However, any meeting on Earth may be spied upon which signs were pointing towards. Thus, the meeting of the United Nations was made secretly at Copernicus City on the moon. The city was neutral and should be safe enough for the meeting to take place at without others ruining it.
Unfortunately, the assumption of safety was false as the meeting plans reached those that were being the terrorist attacks against Coordinators. Those attacking Coordinators knew if the United Nations were allowed to do something, their efforts to get rid of Coordinators would be set back badly. Blue Cosmos had taken the lead upon this task of stopping the United Nations from interfering. The belief that Coordinators were a plague on humanity was firmly set and was their motivation for what they did. So, a group was sent to Copernicus with supplies to stop the meeting by whatever means are necessary. The group did manage to kill those from the United Nations thereby stopping their potential interference. The attack on the United Nations and killing of their leadership came to be known as the Tragedy of Copernicus. Stories of the tragedy were circulated saying Coordinators were responsible for the destruction of the United Nations.
Days after the Tragedy of Copernicus, there came an announcement of the formation of the "Earth Alliance." The group was made up of the Atlantic and Eurasian Federations, along with the South African Union. Those that led the Earth Alliance accused that Coordinators had been the ones who had wiped out the leaders of the United Nations. Due to that, they also said the formation of the Earth Alliance was necessary to protect Earth from the same type of terrorism. Arguments against the claim put forth by the Earth Alliance leadership were ignored or were considered invalid by those in the Alliance. The Alliance's accusations shifted to the "criminal Coordinators" were likely from the PLANTs. They pressed for ZAFT to look into the "terrorists" that we're responsible for what happened at Copernicus.
Conflict quickly began popping up both on Earth and among the colonies, mostly due to actions of the Alliance. The conflict led to an event known as the "Bloody Valentine" that was the nuclear strike/attack on the Junius Seven PLANT colony. The colony was destroyed and the whole colony's population lost their lives in the event. The event displayed the dangers and horror that nuclear weapons would bring if used to the eyes in many. With the Bloody Valentine occurring, the conflict morphed into a war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT.
In response to the Bloody Valentine, the leadership of the Federation's Military reached out to ZAFT and made an offer of cooperation. Both sides agreed after some discussion that developing something to nullify nuclear weapons was necessary. Out of that cooperation came a device called a "Neutron Jammer" which disrupted neutron energy which the nuclear reaction required to occur. The plan for the n-jammers deployment on Earth and in space was drawn up by the Federation. ZAFT used their resources to get the n-jammers to Earth and drop them down to penetrate the ground and go deep enough to be nigh impossible to remove. The Federation would deploy the n-jammers in space and around the moon and make sure they would be beyond hard to locate by any. The intent of the n-jammers would be to prevent use of nuclear technology which created nuclear weapons for the foreseeable future.
The employment of the neutron jammers didn't stop the war that had begun after the Bloody Valentine. The deployment of the n-jammers which was recorded as the "April Fool's Crisis" beyond frustrated those in the Alliance. The n-jammers burying themselves in the ground also had cascading effects on the world. The global power grid suffered and nearly collapsed when all nuclear power plants stopped working. Some nations recovered quicker from the power grid strain than others. The Federation had been working to get off nuclear power dependency before the crisis, so they were already working on alternatives. Those in Alliance territory weren't as lucky as those in the Federation. Most of the Alliance had a dependency on nuclear power production for energy usage. N-jammers quickly caused an energy crisis for the Alliance to deal with when it came to its citizens.
The nullification of nuclear technology didn't stop the Alliance in its pursuit against ZAFT. Military usage within the Alliance took priority going forward per those in Alliance leadership. The war between the PLANTs and the Alliance has continued on and slowly go worse as it dragged on. Preliminary estimations predicted the Alliance, and its OMNI forces would be victorious with their superior numbers. However, the passage of time proved that assumption wrong as ZAFT pushed back against OMNI with their mobile suits. Neither side was willing to give to the other and so the war kept going without any sign of an end in site within the first year of the conflict.
As time kept wearing on, the stance of the Earth Alliance and ZAFT being at each other's throats went unchanged. The result of that was the neutral nations of humanity whether small or large were put in the trying position. The Alliance and ZAFT were trying to convince them to join their side in the war. That didn't last all that long since the Federation would not allow independent nations to be coerced into the fighting. Nor would the Federation stand by and let the Alliance or ZAFT to bully its own member nations to be pulled into their war. And with the Federation's Military being made up of Coordinators and Naturals, there were attempts made to prevent the violence going on from pulling in innocent bystanders. Yet, with the hatred between the Naturals and Coordinators, it seemed an impossible feat to accomplish.
In what seemed no time at all, five years went by with little change with the way the war was. There was still no hint of a potential end to the war between the two factions. The Human Federation did what they could to stay out of the conflict and held a stance of neutrality. However, the war playing out between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT quickly went beyond the scope of any previous wars human history had witnessed. In the five years, the war had drawn in essentially all of Earth. The territory of the Federation was excluded from the war most of the time. There had been a few battles between the Federation and the other two factions during the war. Yet, those had proven the Federation's Military was nothing to take lightly since they won each battle they were forced into.
Phase 1: Drawn into Chaos
In year seventy-one of the Cosmic Era, tensions caused by the war were only getting worse. The Earth Alliance was still battling ZAFT with no end of the war in sight while ZAFT was defending themselves. However, ZAFT had gone beyond defending over the time of the war. They had pushed into territory on Earth which had belonged to the Alliance before being taken. Yet, news of the war made the conflict seem like something happening far away from those that weren't involved in the war. Most people knew the war was going on, but didn't want to give it attention and admit it was getting worse.
One such place was around Lagrange 3 which is directly opposite of the moon in its own orbit. Located there was the three-island type colony known as Heliopolis. The colony was built during the earlier part of the Cosmic Era during the colony race when it had been going on. The colony type was designed with a base which was normally made of a large space rock and build out from the base. As other three-island type colonies, Heliopolis was built with the intention of mining the resources in the base rock it was built into. The cylindrical tube which made the main part of the colony would rotate to maintain the livable environment for people to use. From the main rotation ring that was connected to the base rock were three utility arms the colony used for its general operation. For Heliopolis, the arms were lined with solar panels to supply power for the colony to use. At the end of the cylindrical section of the colony was the space port for ships to dock at the colony. In the rotation rings and the central shaft which connected them was the oxygen regeneration and distribution systems the colony depended upon.
While Heliopolis had started out as a mining colony with it built into the space rock, it had become more than that. Resources were still being extracted from the space rock mine which had been expanded within the base rock. However, over the years since it had become operational, the colony had taken up technical development for an organization known as Morgenroete Incorporated. The development organization worked for the Orb Union who owned the colony as they had been responsible for its construction. A college had also been build at the colony which specialized in technical skill degrees. Beyond that, Heliopolis had little significance to the ongoing war as far as its citizens were concerned. Thus, any knowledge about the war came from news reports that came from Earth.
Most of the citizens of Heliopolis knew of the war between the Alliance and ZAFT was happening. Yet, there was no reason to be worried about the conflict going on as the colony wasn't involved in the war. Heliopolis was owned by and was seen a part of the Orb Union, which was a neutral nation of humanity, the last neutral nation of humanity. Orb's governing council had been firm in not picking sides in the war which had been stated to the colony in Orb broadcasts. And the Federation had made it clear to the Alliance and ZAFT they were to leave neutral nations alone and not pull them into the war. So, news about the war was all Heliopolis's citizens got about the war and there was little reason for that to change.
However, there had been a recent announcement from Orb's governing council some time ago which only solidified the sense of security the citizens. That announcement was that Orb's leaders were seriously considering applying for membership within the Human Federation. If that was true and Orb did end out joining the Federation, Heliopolis would be even safer than it had been. Federation member nations and what belonged to them tended to be left alone by the Alliance and ZAFT. Even with the proximity of the Eurasian military's satellite Artemis, there was little chance of Heliopolis would be under threat. Artemis may be run by the Alliance, but they wouldn't be so foolish to cause trouble around the colony and risk the Federation coming down on them for it.
Inside the colony, a young man by the name of Tyler McGregor was going about his business of the day. He stood at five foot nine inches in height which was about average for a teenage his age. His body was lean to the point that he was close to lanky in overall. With his green eyes and spiky tan locks of hair that stuck out in random directions, he was considered a bit of a looker by several at the age of eighteen. Tyler was wearing a sand-colored T-shirt with a white vest over the shirt with casual black pants for the day. The outfit helped Tyler not stick out from others around him which he preferred it most of the time. It was something he'd picked up growing up, sticking out tended not to go well for him. Plus, with him being a Coordinator didn't always sit well with others so he would rather blend into the crowd than stand out.
Officially, Tyler was at Heliopolis on educational exchange and was attending the technical college. He had gotten a scholarship to attend the college even at his young age. The schooling wasn't a problem for Tyler, for he was very smart and had a great work ethic. And yet, the time at the college wasn't the real reason for Tyler to be at Heliopolis. His true purpose for being at the colony for close to six months was to "look into some things" that could be going on at the colony. Tyler was a part of the Federation's investigation team sent here by Federation's military high command. And as a soldier within the Federation's military, Tyler was doing the mission he had been given as he could.
The mission was essentially to look into rumors that had been cycling around lately. Supposedly, the Atlantic Federation had been secretly developing something to help turn the war around. Tyler didn't know what the rumor could be referring to when it had been told to him. He'd searched out the data which had fed the rumor and that hadn't done much to help in clarifying things. But the rumors were substantial enough to need searching for evidence of the idea and Tyler wouldn't disagree with that point. If the Alliance was developing weapons in neutral territory, then that could spell issues that would hurt people. Tyler would be shocked if ZAFT hadn't heard similar rumors and were looking into them as well. That was the reason investigations were needed by the Federation, in order to prevent ZAFT from doing something stupid and hurting innocent bystanders in the process. Unfortunately, that had been happening in the last year, innocent people getting hurt because of the war. So, here he was around Heliopolis looking into that rumor for the last six months.
The mission had started out rather boring to Tyler if he were to give his opinion, certainly not eventful or performance driven as some missions were. However, once the investigations had started bearing fruit, that had changed rather quickly. Tyler and the other members of the team had quickly found out that some from the Atlantic Federation were indeed at Heliopolis. What was worse about that, they were developing and constructing a vessel within the colony. But what Tyler found the most frustrating of all the things which had been discovered thus far about the Atlantic Federation's work was the other part they were working on. The Atlantic Federation were developing and had built mobile suits at the colony which would likely work with the ship if their creators had their way.
However, all the team's findings had been reported to Federation High Command by this point. And finally, days ago, a decision had been handed down for what would happen with the Atlantic Federation's work. Tyler was relieved that higher ups had decided the work being done at the colony was to stop. A Federation patrol was on route to Heliopolis to confiscate the ship and the mobile suits that the Atlantic Federation group had been working on. That patrol should arrive tomorrow from what Tyler had been told, thus the mission was close to over for the investigation team. Tyler certainly wouldn't miss having to look into the Atlantic Federation's activities here. That task had quickly become tedious for him for several reasons. But being at the colony hadn't been all bad for Tyler when he considered what he got to do around the colony.
Yet, Tyler was concerned with how tense the air felt around the colony for the current morning. The mission he was on coming to an end should bring relief but it didn't. Sure, the war had been escalating lately with the Alliance seeming to be getting more desperate with them losing. However, that had been happening for a few years now and things didn't feel like they did now for Tyler. Heliopolis was a neutral colony on the public record, both the Alliance and ZAFT knew that for all the good that did these days. But both factions knew it was very unwise to attack such a place openly and not expect solid consequences in response. And there were already going to be harsh consequences for the Atlantic Federation when their stuff was taken from them.
The Atlantic Federation were breaking a serious treaty/agreement they had with the Federation with doing what they were at Heliopolis. They were using Morgenroete for their benefit which was not permitted by standing international law. And if that wasn't enough, with Orb a member nation of the Federation, that brought in the Latinan Protocol which was against them. In simple terms, the protocol was meant to keep OMNI from getting help with military development from the Federation period. Morgenroete was under Orb who was a member of the Human Federation, thus the Atlantic Federation was in the wrong. Tyler knew those from the Atlantic Federation wouldn't admit that point even if pressed, but it still frustrated him they did this kind of thing. Those from the Atlantic Federation around Heliopolis were putting the colony and its inhabitants at risk whether they meant to or not.
From what Tyler had been able to observe, the OMNI personnel here didn't seem to think their presence or work were issues. They were dead wrong and Tyler knew that as a fact, but that was besides the point. The misconception they had of being safe inside a neutral colony was false as much as Tyler cursed the war had come to that point. He knew there were those in ZAFT that would be willing to attack a colony if there was a benefit or advantage for them doing so. Because of that, the OMNI personnel and their work being here was daring ZAFT to attack the colony. Were that to come up, Tyler would be shocked if any of the OMNI personnel would willingly help Heliopolis's citizens.
The other problem that Tyler saw in this was the work OMNI was producing at the colony. The ship was one thing and from what Tyler had seen on the ship, it would be an issue were it to have a good crew. The "Archangel" as the ship's name was said to be was turning out to be a well armed vessel from the files acquired. Yet, in Tyler's opinion, the other half of the world OMNI was doing was the worse part of this situation. It was no secret that the Alliance had wanted mobile suits to use since ZAFT had proven how effective they could be. But the general consensus was if the Alliance did get them, they would abuse them in no time flat. Tyler was inclined to agree with that view with what he'd seen from the Alliance. That would be especially true once a natural-use OS was developed for the Alliance to use.
The whole mission was really draining Tyler which was combined with not getting a break since his last mission he'd been assigned. It brought back a thought to Tyler's mind which had been coming to him somewhat frequently as of late. Tyler felt he really needed a vacation to relieve the stress which had been accumulating. He wouldn't say no to some time around home and seeing his mom if he was given the opportunity. Tyler should be able to see about the well-deserved break soon enough with the patrol due to arrive tomorrow. It would also mean he would have to say farewell to those who had become friends at the colony. Yet, Tyler would deal with that in his own way when the time came.
Nevertheless, the sound of beeping brought him out of his thoughts. Tyler put a hand in his pocket and drew out the communication device he kept with him most of the time. Such devices had replaced the old "phones" which had been the technology of the previous era. Tyler's comm-unit was a military version so could do more than the regular device available to the public. His device was made to look like a regular civilian com-unit so as not to draw attention or look out of place when he used it. Tyler looked at his comm-unit to see its ID though he was confident in who was calling him. The ID displayed confirmed Tyler's assumption on the one reaching out to him. He had the call connect and moved it to his ear, "Hey Lisa," Tyler greeted, "anything unusual out there?"
Lisa Malto was one of the teammates Tyler had as part of the Investigation team. She was a Coordinator like Tyler was though she was in her mid-twenties. Lisa had a height of five foot four inches making her shorter than Tyler was. She possessed mid-length straight black hair which complimented her green eyes. Lisa also worked to keep her slightly above average female figure. As Coordinators went, Lisa didn't stick out from most since she didn't have any "odd" features which naturals didn't.
Lisa had been made the second-in-command of the investigation team when the mission began. She hadn't minded that since it had quickly seen that Tyler was quite the capable leader for a mission. Granted, Tyler's style and way of doing things was different than any manual a military organization would have to teach officers how to do their jobs. Yet, thus far, Tyler's methodology had worked very well with the mission. Yes, it had taken a little longer to get data on what OMNI had been working on with Tyler's way. However, the team had gotten more valuable data on OMNI's work than any quick inspection method would have. And none of the team had been found out or caught by those at Morgenroete or OMNI which was another plus. For the daily routine that the mission had established quickly after arriving at Heliopolis, Tyler had set the expect ritual. Each team member would report in and tell of any oddities they had seen around the colony. Then Tyler would state the tasks which were to be worked on whether the task had been in progress or was new.
Once Federation High Command had sent supplies requested by Tyler had gotten to the colony, the routine changed slightly. In addition to keeping eyes and ears open around the colony, one member would go out for a watch in one of the space fighters outside of Heliopolis. Lisa had been the one who had suggested that the fighters be hidden in unused areas which she had discovered with her interactions with colony administration. Hiding the fighter there would make it far less likely that any would come across it by accident. Tyler had agreed with Lisa's suggestion as it was sound and best that others didn't discover what they were doing at the colony. For the months before the current one, Lisa hadn't seen anything suspicious when doing her shifts as the watcher. The watcher's job was rather boring as little happened during the shift other than the rare traffic which came to the colony. Most of the time there was supply ships coming to the colony and taking the mined resources back to Earth.
The thing which was more focused on by the watcher was the traffic which was by OMNI. Those from OMNI had tried to make their ships not look like Alliance vessel, at least those currently in service. The two most frequent ships which came to Heliopolis that Lisa had seen were two old Marseille III-class transports. That ship class would draw less suspicion from ZAFT as it had been decommissioned years ago as better ships had been created. However, Lisa was starting to suspect ZAFT may have noticed the frequency of the two Marseille classes coming to the colony. At least ZAFT had been swinging by more often in the current month than they had before it. The point was nagging at Lisa, and she knew Tyler was getting suspicious of ZAFT coming around as well. Yet today had only had one of the two Marseilles approaching the colony and the normal maintenance crews doing their weekly rounds. "Other than the colony maintenance crews making their rounds for this week, not really," Lisa replied. "There's one of the Marseille III-classes closing in on the colony's the dock right now. They'll dock soon I wouldn't doubt offloading whatever they are bringing OMNI this time. Other than that, it's been rather quiet. I've been keeping an eye out for ZAFT forces but haven't seen any sign of them yet."
Tyler had done his share of the watcher shift when they had come up. The weeks those came were long ones with schoolwork to do as well. He did manage to do both tasks when those weeks had come during the month, but his sleep did suffer somewhat those weeks. Other than the lack of good sleep during those weeks, the watcher shift had been just as boring as the others said it would be for them. However, it was during the current month that ZAFT had been showing up more often which had worried Tyler as much as it had Lisa. Tyler was concerned that ZAFT may be guessing that OMNI was around the colony and be looking into such more. The inspection wasn't the issue Tyler saw, it was if the ZAFT commander pushed for more than just looking.
It had been a matter of time with the old Alliance ships coming by the colony regularly for ZAFT to notice something was going on. OMNI had been trying to hide what they were doing with the supplies and personnel they were bringing to the colony. However, they hadn't been doing the best job in covering their tracks in Tyler's opinion. It was why when ZAFT had been popping up more frequently Tyler had two on watcher shift so the whole day was covered. That meant the shifts happened every two weeks rather than every four weeks. During his shifts, Tyler had noticed the two ZAFT vessels that seemed to come around looked to be the same ones for the last six weeks. When Tyler had seen that, he had started looking into who the ZAFT commander could be with the two ships. If Tyler could figure out who the mission commander was, he could plan ahead after looking into their history. Tyler was worried that whoever the commander could be would do something dangerous to the colony's inhabitants.
Tyler's hope was the Federation patrol would get here tomorrow and settle the matter before things went south potentially. However, something in him was saying things wouldn't be as simple as he would like them to be. He would love for his intuition to off the mark in this instance, yet it tended to be generally right most of the time. It was at times like this which Tyler cursed how right his intuition was when it worked out in a "bad" way. Tyler shook his head and took in a deep breath, "I hope it stays that way," Tyler returned, "though I fear it won't. So, make sure you keep a sharp eye out for those two ZAFT vessels that have been coming around more frequently. My intuition is saying loudly it will be a busy day until the patrol arrives to settle things in this situation. I feel it will be screaming at me sooner than I will like before things potentially go south."
Lisa had seen the incredible intuition that Tyler had before this. One could say it was almost like a sixth sense for him, so accurate was Tyler's intuition. Thus, if said his intuition was telling him it would be a busy day and likely involve ZAFT, Lisa wouldn't question it. If anything, she would have one of their other teammates get to one of the other two fighters and head out to help her keep watch. Having two on hand if or rather when things went south would be more helpful in making a quick and proper response. "I will do that," Lisa replied. "I'll also tell Allen to get to one of the other fighters so he can come out and help me with that. I have a nagging feeling you are right that ZAFT will be coming around today. And like you, I fear it will be for anything but trouble this time with the OMNI personnel having rammed up their work recently."
Tyler appreciated that Lisa saw the same potential mess coming their way as he did. While the issues likely ahead weren't nice to consider, the dread combined with the waiting for such to happen made the point worse. And knowing that ZAFT was likely coming to Heliopolis wasn't comforting, the opposite really. Telling any about what was suspected to be coming to the colony wouldn't help. Most of the administration staff would be unlikely to believe any from the investigation team, even Lisa, who had been working with them. Without the proof of the ZAFT vessels within detection range, most would wave off any type of warning. And even if the two normal ZAFT vessels had been in detection range, those that ran the colony would probably not believe ZAFT would cause trouble. The mentality would be "ZAFT hadn't done anything problematic before this. Heliopolis was neutral being a part of Orb so ZAFT wouldn't risk an incident by doing something to the colony." Those in charge at the colony couldn't wrap their heads around the point that Heliopolis was far enough out of the way things could happen before others would know or intercede.
Tyler told Lisa to keep him informed of any changes before he terminated the connection. He slipped the com unit back in his pocket and headed out from his apartment he had at the colony. Tyler had planned to go and meet up with his friends today as he had some time to work with. He knew it wasn't goo to dwell on the possibilities of what could happen in the near future when he could do little to change things. Tyler would wait until he could do something to assist in dealing the crisis that he didn't doubt was coming. The wait would be horrible, but he would manage it. It would take effort on his part to not let others notice something was off with him. But it was better than the colony's general population does not know what was coming in the near future.
Tyler left his apartment and headed out to the college area of the colony where his friend would likely be. The friend that Tyler was going to check on was named Kira Yamato. The two of them had met years ago when they had attended the same lunar prep academy. They had kept in touch since those days which had only strengthened their friendship. Kira was two years younger than Tyler himself though the age difference had never mattered to them. His friend was very smart when it came to academics, Tyler would admit that openly. However, Kira had a flaw that Tyler normally referred to as his friend's "naïveté." It was in truth Kira "missing" what should be obvious and it centered on the social field. The "naïveté" certainly frustrated Tyler more times than he could count by this point, and he knew it would do so in the future. Some may call the idea "innocence" and other things to sugar coat the point. Tyler would continue to refer to it as naïveté and "a special kind of stupid." It wasn't meant to be an insult to his friend, it was Tyler trying to help Kira see things he was missing.
From what Tyler understood, Kira was at Heliopolis on an educational exchange. It was much the same reason that Tyler was at the colony, or rather that was the official story Tyler was going with during the mission he was on. He couldn't tell those that weren't a part of the Federation's investigation team the truth for the time being. That could lead to other unnecessary issues and the colony didn't need any more than it would be dealing with. It was better that there was less complications for this situation. Tyler feared that was wishful thinking on his part especially with ZAFT likely to come around at any time. But again, there was little he could do about that future issue he didn't doubt would be shoved upon him and his teammates.
Tyler was heading to the central quad the residential district had since Kira would go there to get time away from those at the college. It was one of the areas that one could get some peace that Tyler knew of. And he could think of one particular reason that Kira would seek out the peace he could get in the quad. Or rather than a reason, it would be better to state it being avoiding someone. It was much the same reason that Tyler had been making himself scarce around the college area as of late. The one that Tyler and Kira were avoiding was a professor which both had become acquainted with by the name of Kato. Neither had Professor Kato for classes, yet the man would seek them out to "help" him with projects. The man had started "giving" Tyler and Kira special project work to help him when he discovered that they both had a talent for complex electronic and mechanical systems. The man was persistent Tyler would admit with how he pushed and wouldn't take no as an answer. Tyler had been forced to realize that point over the last few months before he'd just started avoiding the man.
Tyler couldn't help but wonder if Kira had been saddled with more "project work" from Kato. From what other friends had mentioned to Tyler, when he successfully avoided Kato for a time, the work he would've gotten would be dumped onto Kira. Tyler had gone to Kira after hearing that and asked him about if that was true. Much to Tyler's frustration, it turned out that Kira had indeed had Kato dumping work onto him since Tyler had been avoiding him. He knew that Kira was a nice guy, sometimes too nice for his own good. However, Tyler wasn't one that liked others to suffer because of something he did. It had quickly become clear that Kira would drown in work if something wasn't done when Tyler found out about Kira getting dumped on.
Tyler had been avoiding the man so he didn't have so much project work he couldn't do mission tasks. He had tried to tell Kato that he had other things he was responsible for that Tyler was given to do through his "job." It was Tyler's effort to be nice and not just ignore another that was coming to him for something. Kato's response had been akin to a punch in the face in Tyler's view. The man had merely told him that "he was young" and that "just manage to get the work he gave done." That answer had been what motivated Tyler to just avoid the professor for a time and not talk to the man. That had lasted a few weeks before Kira's plight became worse, and Tyler couldn't just leave his friend in need.
That had led to Tyler confronting Professor Kato when Kira was elsewhere. The conversation, or rather debate that had ensued hadn't been pleasant in Tyler's mind. He wasn't a bad debater or negotiating with people, Tyler had that skill set even if he didn't use it all the time. But the debate with Kato had ended in a compromise which Tyler didn't much like. The agreement was Kato wouldn't dump on Kira while Tyler would pop up once a week and get a collection of Kato's project work to get through and return within six or so days. Tyler felt that he got the "short end of the stick" as the old adage went. Kato would get to give his project work to him in order to not tax Kira while Tyler would get more work to do. He would tolerate the point in order to lighten Kira's potential workload and deal with the stress he would get from the point.
Tyler was brought out of his thoughts when he arrived at the residential quad area. It took only a moment for Tyler to spot Kira sitting on a bench confirming his guess of his friend being there. Kira had short neutral brown hair and purple eyes and shared a similar average body shape as Tyler had. Kira also had an oval-shaped face that framed his handsome facial features rather well even if he didn't flaunt them. He was a humble person even for a Coordinator, Tyler would say that for his friend. From what Tyler could see, it looked like Kira had his work terminal that he used for school and was looking through things.
Tyler began closing the distance between him and his friend. However, as he was doing so, Tyler spotted that his friend wasn't by himself as he thought he may be. The individual with Kira was
a girl around the same age as him and easily stuck out with her beauty. She had a tad longer than hip-length pink hair that appeared silky in texture. The girl had a hair clip in her hair on the right that was in the shape of two waves one on top of the other. Her eyes were blue and fit her regal-looking face that only added to her beauty. She was currently wearing a black turtleneck and tan capris from what Tyler could tell. The outfit was different than the normal style of clothes the girl wore in public, so it stood out to those like Tyler who knew her.
The girl's name was Lacus Clyne and was a friend of Tyler's. Kira had been the one to introduce the girl to him for the first time. Honestly, Tyler had been rather surprised his friend knew a girl like Lacus, and that was before her background and talents were taken into account. When out and about, she would use the alias of Lacus Christopher, which Tyler didn't blame her for. Tyler knew Lacus had good reasons for not revealing her identity to most. She was the youngest daughter of one of the most influential families around the PLANTs. Said family not major leaders of the PLANTs and one in the ZAFT organization. Tyler was aware that Lacus's father was the head of the PLANTs' Supreme Council right now. The man was a heck of a leader and Tyler had seen prime examples of leaders during his lifetime.
Tyler couldn't say the reason why Lacus had chosen this time to come and visit Heliopolis. She was likely here to see Kira as she had been doing off and on the last six months. It had become fairly obvious that Lacus liked Kira from what Tyler had seen when the girl was around his friend. The saddest thing about that, Kira's naïveté blinded him so he didn't notice the flirting the girl had been doing. Tyler had wondered multiple times if Kira would ever see or understand how lucky he was to have Lacus expressing interest in him, even when he didn't notice it. The truth was it was a stroke of bad luck in Tyler's opinion with ZAFT likely to come around soon. Not that Lacus would have any idea what she could be around to potentially witness and endure. She was a friend even if not like Kira, so Tyler didn't want her to undergo hardship if it wasn't necessary. But it would likely not be up to him or even her with what was probably ahead of them.
At the same time, Lacus was waiting on Kira to finish the "work" he had to do today. She had made the time to slip away from the PLANTs and sneak over to Heliopolis. The vanishing act she had to pull to visit Kira wasn't easy with her singing career. She put a lot of effort into visiting Kira regularly. Sure, she had her own reasons for that which most didn't know about. It was hard to be a famous idol and the press not finding out she was trying to see someone. Lacus didn't want a potential relationship with Kira to be watched and scrutinized by the general public. She wanted to separate her public and private lives for the time being. There would always be parts of her life which she would wish to keep from the public, and she wanted Kira to be a part of that.
As much as she wished for Kira to be more involved in her life, there was a standing issue with that. She didn't like to admit it, but Kira was completely clueless to her feelings for him. It seemed that he was oblivious to the hints that she had been giving him for months. Lacus couldn't say if it was him being dense or him being innocent and naïve in some way. She wanted to say it was him being nice and not wanting to potentially create a scene for others to see. It was frustrating for her, yet she had exercised patience with him and didn't call him out for ignoring her. Lacus had even had others obtain books on how to "flirt" so she could give more pointed hints to Kira. However, there hadn't been much of a difference with Kira when she had done what the books had talked about. It was a challenge for her since she loved him so and wanted him to return those feelings. But it seemed that what she did wasn't getting the results she was going for from Kira as of yet.
She had been waiting for Kira to wrap up whatever the work he had to do was. Lacus was trying to be patient and not bug Kira. Doing that could make him take longer and that would make less time for them to spend together. Lacus wanted the time she could get with Kira while she was here at the colony. She did attempt to be nice and not be possessive of Kira for others to see. That wouldn't be proper for her to show out in public, it was a private matter after all. One didn't deal with private matters out in public if it could be helped. Lacus had seen how such could go and it rarely ended well for the parties involved. Lacus didn't want that to happen with her and Kira if it could be avoided. "Kira," Lacus began, "Couldn't you have asked your professor to let you take some time off from this work?" She pouted slightly while Kira typed away on his laptop in response to her question. "I visit as often as I can, but it isn't easy getting here, and I don't have a long time to stick around."
Kira figured that the time Lacus could spend around Heliopolis wouldn't be long. He wanted to get time with her, he really did even if it didn't seem like it. He'd not asked for the workload which had been dumped upon him by Professor Kato. This had been dropped upon him yesterday late in the afternoon. The Professor hadn't given Kira the chance to argue about the new load of project work, he really never did. Kira hadn't liked the point, more so as he had been working hard to finish the load he had from earlier in the week. A workload a week had been something which had started almost two months ago. Kira couldn't say why Professor Kato had started doing that, the man hadn't said anything about the point. He felt Tyler could have something to do with the change. Tyler had been much in the same position as Kira was with getting workloads from Kato.
With the change of getting a workload a week instead of whenever Kato came to the two of them, things had been more manageable. Because of that, he'd been putting in the extra effort to finish the week's workload when the message from Lacus saying she was going to be visiting. Kira had finished the collection and had gone to Kato to turn in the workload for that week so he could be free to spend time with Lacus. But when he had handed over the data he had finished to the Professor, Kato had told Kira he had more work for him. Kira had said he already had plans for the rest of the week. He'd even asked the professor to add it to his workload next week if it was necessary. But Professor Kato had been insistent the work was a priority and needed attention immediately, so couldn't wait till next week. Nothing that Kira had said had changed Kato's mind, and Kira had tired to do that.
He didn't like Lacus just standing around waiting for him to finish the work Kato had dumped onto him this time. The professor hadn't been willing to take Kira's refusal as an answer. It was a rare thing for Kira to refusing to help others, but he had attempted to do that with Kato this time. Kira had seriously considered calling Tyler and asking him for help in this situation. The only reason Kira hadn't was he knew his friend had been busy with his job. Kira didn't want to burden Tyler if he could help it. Tyler was the best kind of friend Kira could ever ask for with how he did what he could for him when Kira needed. "I know," Kira said smiling apologetically. "I really did ask him to put this work on it next week. I even said I would work hard if he let me have the next few days off, but he wouldn't budge." Kira signed for a moment remembering the response he had gotten from Kato. "He insisted this stuff was the top priority and didn't give me a chance to say anything else to refuse."
Tyler had started overhearing the exchange between the two as he got close, though neither seemed to notice he was coming toward them. What Kira had said confirmed his guess about his friend having Kato dump work onto Kira. Professor Kato "dumping" work onto Tyler and Kira wasn't unheard of by any stretch. In fact, until the debate and compromise Tyler had with the man, such happened once a month or more. But in the compromise Tyler had managed to make with Kato, one point had been the man wouldn't dump work onto them unannounced and without advanced notice to them. Yet, apparently, Kato had done what he'd promised Tyler he wouldn't do to Kira. Tyler would love nothing more than to find Kato and rip him a new one for dumping work onto Kira.
Tyler would've seriously thought to confront Kato if not for two things which he knew of and a third reason at the moment. The reason was Tyler doing that would unlikely do much if anything to change the situation. The two point which contributed to the problem was more complicated and Tyler knew that. The OMNI personnel had been speeding up their work, showing they were either feeling panic or higher ups were demanding results sooner. Then ZAFT would very likely be coming around in the next twenty-four hours or so to do something bad to the colony to get to OMNI's work. With the pressure that OMNI personnel were under, those helping them and were around them were being up under similar pressure. Tyler suspected that Kato was somehow involved with OMNI's work though he hadn't found evidence to confirm that. Even should Tyler's suspicions be true, that didn't help with Kira having work shoved onto him.
Back with Lacus, she let out a sigh in response to Kira's answer. She didn't doubt that Kira had tried to tell this professor he kept mentioning to let him have time off. But Lacus had found that Kira wasn't the best on pushing back against others that ask for his help with things. His willingness to help was an endearing quality Kira had, and Lacus couldn't help but love him love him for it. Yet there were times like this when she wished Kira would stand his ground a bit more. "Alright, find," Lacus replied. "I know you do your best to help others. And I don't doubt you tried to get the time off to spend with me with this professor you keep mentioning. But could you hurry it up a little please?"
Kira had wanted to get time with Lacus as she was fun to be around. He sorts of knew that her coming out to Heliopolis wasn't easy on her part to pull off. Kira had really tried harder than usual to get Kato to put the extra work on next week's workload. Yet the man had said the "priority" the work had on it wouldn't allow that. Kato hadn't gone into detail of why the work had the priority it apparently did when Kira had questioned the point. The professor had just told Kira it was a priority and to get it done as quickly as possible and return it to him. Kira had been working hard to get through the collection of work so he could have time with Lacus. "I have been trying to get through this, Lacus," Kira answered. "It isn't as heavy as the work I normally get, but it is more complicated than usual."
Tyler managed to get up behind the two while they had been talking. He craned his neck to see what was on Kira's work terminal. It wasn't more than a few seconds that Tyler recognized enough to know it was project work from Kato. It proved that the professor was probably being put under more pressure than before. The only change that Tyler could think of what the OMNI work being accelerated which he was aware of happening. The timing was too close for it to be a coincidence in Tyler's mind. It was the closest things to evidence that he had for Kato helping OMNI's work. That didn't prove Tyler's suspicions of Kato working on a Natural-use OS, but it didn't dismiss it either. In the end, Tyler let out a low groan, "Kato dumped work on you, did he Kira," Tyler remarked. Both Kira and Lacus twisted around and were somewhat surprised to find Tyler standing there. Lacus had jerked a bit at seeing Tyler appearing behind them, there had been nothing to say he was coming up to them. "I thought the man and I had an understanding about this bad habit of his. It would seem he and I need to have a follow-up discussion as soon as I can get to him."
Kira blinked at not just Tyler appearing behind him, but also what he said. It certainly wasn't the first time Tyler had seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Kira's friend seemed to have a knack of vanishing or popping up that he'd seen since their friendship had begun. Thus, Tyler appearing wasn't that out of the ordinary for Kira since he checked on him once a day or more. However, what Tyler had said had caught Kira's attention. The remarks suggested that Tyler had talked with Kato. It could explain the change in having a workload given out at the beginning of the week and not any day as it had been for a time. If Tyler was the reason for the change, Kira would have to thank his friend for it. The change had been appreciated as it had made the project and schoolwork more manageable. "Tye," Kira started, "coming by to check up on me for the day then, are you?"
Tyler had no issue with the nickname of "Tye" which his friends used for him. The lack of response from Kira at Tyler's sudden appearance in their perspective had become normal. Kira had gotten used to Tyler's skill set of being able to blend into a crowd or just appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Other friends of Tyler had yet to become accustomed to Tyler's vanishing and appearing as Kira had, and Lacus was among those. Tyler smiled, "I do try and to do so at least once a day," he remarked. "Frankly, I would be worried about you being left alone with your naïveté for too long if I didn't check in on you, no offense." Tyler then turned to gaze at Lacus and waved, "Hey Lacus, nice to see you again. I wasn't aware you were going to visit the colony. If you'd called ahead or Kira told me, then I would have greeted you earlier along with Kira when you arrived."
Kira had forgotten to tell Tyler Lacus was coming for a visit, and he would apologize later. However, he wanted more information on what Tyler had been talking about when muttering about Professor Kato. Kira hadn't heard anything about Tyler talking to Kato in order to get workloads arranged differently. No, Tyler had been avoiding the professor as far as Kira was aware as of late. The two butted heads and didn't see eye to eye, which set them at odds against each other. Tyler's stubbornness had him vanishing anytime the professor would come around. Their other friends had thought it was some kind of magic trick when they had been around, and it occurred. But by what Kira had just heard, the two had some sort of discussion about the project work Kato had been giving Kira and Tyler. "You had some sort of discussion with Professor Kato," Kira questioned. "That is the first I've heard of anything like that happening."
Tyler hadn't told Kira about the "debate" he'd had with Kato. It hadn't involved Tyler's friend directly even if the results of it had. Kira wouldn't have gotten the "deal" which Tyler had managed to iron out with the professor. Tyler could drive a hard bargain when he had to with others. And the "results" from the debate could've been much worse than Tyler had managed to work out. He had been aiming to get a better arrangement for Kira and himself, and Tyler had obtained that. Sure, Tyler would've loved to get the work loads to be somewhat lighter than Kato was pushing for. However, it was part of the compromise that Tyler had to accept to get some of what he'd wanted. So, Tyler hesitated for a second, "It was something I did to help you not drown in the workloads Kato was pushing out to the both of us. You tend to not push back against others when they give you things to do, I don't hold that against you. Thus, I went to Kato, and we had," Tyler paused for a moment considering the best word to use for the discussion that had happened, "a discussion I suppose you could say. I think many would call it a debate which was a heated one at the start."
Kira was almost afraid to as what had come up in the "discussion" that his friend was referring to. Tyler's way of discussing some subjects could rub some the wrong way, Kira was well aware of that. Kira didn't hold Tyler's way of talking about things against him, he could be passionate at times about things. "Should I ask what made it so heated," Kira posed, "or is it better that I not know?"
Tyler would admit that the debate with Kato hadn't gone the nicest at first. Tyler had been unhappy with the constant dumping of "project work" from Kato onto Kira and himself. The man had been shoving so much work onto them which was supposed to be his that it had more than irked Tyler. It annoyed Tyler that another was pushing work onto him and his friend and then doing who knew what with it along with claiming it as his own. Tyler and Kira had other things like school and friends, which life involved before Kato's work. But the professor insisted the two focus on the work he was giving them first before anything else. The issue with that mentality was Kato used to give them more work after a collection was completed and returned. That was the reasons Tyler had along with Kira being buried which had him going to confront Kato.
The opening statements had quickly shoved both Tyler and Kato to heated debate between them. Tyler had stood his ground in the argument he'd gotten into with the professor. And Kato had pushed back against the points Tyler had brought up hard during the first half of the debate. Tyler hadn't let the professor cut over him with his "the work is important" spiel and the man had certainly tried. The debate had lasted around half an hour before Tyler and Kato had calmed down somewhat. Only after calming down did the two actually begin the discussion that had produced the compromise. Tyler exhaled heavily, "Let's say the first part of the exchange was more an argument than a discussion or even a debate." Tyler shrugged his shoulders, "Truthfully, I don't think either of us got ahead in the argument. Once the two of us were able to calm down, we had a discussion about the workload problem. A compromise was reached though both sides didn't like what came out of it, but it was acceptable."
Kira didn't know if he would've wanted to be in the room when Tyler and Kato had argued or not. Tyler had debate skills, Kira wouldn't deny that, and he was quite good at the point. Kira could only assume Tyler had learned that from the environment which he had grown up in since debate was a part of it. Yet, the mention of a compromise made Kira curious of what that involved. The change in how the project work came and the regular frequency now was no doubt part of it. He couldn't help but wonder what else could possibly been in the compromise which Tyler referred to. Kira decided to not ask further on what Tyler could've worked out with Professor Kato. Instead, he turned his attention back to the work holding the documents in one hand and typing at a quick pace with the other.
While Kira was typing, Tyler noticed there was another section of the work terminal display was showing news feeds. What was coming up on the feeds wasn't all that surprising to Tyler. He tended to browse the Federation's Military network to keep up on current events with the war. The war that involved the Earth Alliance and ZAFT had been going on for close to four years thus far, a month away from the start of its fifth year. The fighting wasn't getting any better, it was really only getting worse in different ways. The Alliance's OMNI was losing in the war, it may be slowly happening, but it was hard to say otherwise. The Earth Alliance may put up a "brave front" to the rest of humanity, but it was becoming harder for them to do that convincingly.
Tyler knew the Federation's military had been trying to lessen the effects of the war for as many as possible who weren't soldiers fighting in it. He'd seen the idea himself with his own eyes and even participated in some of the missions that were for that purpose. However, the fruits of those efforts weren't as hoped. Some of the battles were less bloody, but that was lost as the lives taken weren't going down a notable margin. Tyler cursed the point as innocent people were victims of the fighting when they shouldn't be. The excuse that the Alliance and even a growing number in ZAFT would give was that the lives lost were unfortunate accidents. Humanity was suffering for foolish reasons, Tyler fully believed that view. And the justifications which kept the war going were just as bad. Put simply, there were the Natural humans who were afraid, jealous, or both of Coordinators. That translated to them demanded to have control and dominion over them or else kill them. Then there were Coordinators who thought Naturals were inferior to them and should be made second-class or less. No matter which side one looked at, neither were in the right that they used to justified attacking one another.
The event that had ignited the war was the attack on one of the PLANT colonies, Junius Seven. Attacks on the colonies hadn't been unheard of back at the time, but they had been rare. Yet, what came to be called the "Bloody Valentine," changed the views of humanity and pulled it into the ongoing war. The Bloody Valentine was different than previous attacks on colonies as it involved nuclear weapons. The attack had thrown things into chaos making any potential peace talks impossible. Not much had changed since that event, though Tyler had heard there had been a few attempts to have peace talks, but nothing had come from those. And OMNI personnel having been around Heliopolis only worried Tyler more. The project they were working on wouldn't help in the war as they believed, it would make it much worse in Tyler's opinion.
Lacus had also watched the feeds that were going on Kira's terminal. The images of the fighting brought pain to her heart. The war that had started close to four years ago was a horrible thing in her view. There had been so many lives lost because of it, so many good people that had been killed by the fighting. Yet, even with that being the case, the war was no closer to an end than it had been after the first year. At first, ZAFT had been defending the PLANTs and there was nothing wrong with that. But that had been changing into ZAFT pushing onto the offensive rather than defending their territory. ZAFT going on the offensive had intensified the war and the horrors it was creating. Lacus had asked her father why the National Defense Committee had been pushing as they were. The only answer she had gotten was defending the homeland wasn't enough anymore. It hadn't sounded to Lacus that her father believed that entirely, but she couldn't say why.
As Tyler and Lacus were taking in what the news reports, a mechanical version of a green finch-like bird glided into the gazebo. The "bird" flapped its yellow tipped wings and made a sound, "birdie," the bird then landed on the monitor of Kira's laptop. The bird was a robot made for Kira by a friend by the name of Athrun Zala. It had been a parting gift for Kira the last time he'd seen Athrun. Kira had named the robot Tori. The robot may be on the more simple end of those types of machines that exist these days. Tori would either chirp or say "birdie" as it would fly around him. The robot reminded Kira of his friend who had built him. Kira did miss kind-hearted friend Athrun, it had been more than a year since they had parted ways. Tori leaned down and glanced at the work terminal display before chirping.
As Tori was looking from the display to Kira, the ball-shaped robot which had been on the ground by the bench began humming quietly. The pink ball robot was named Haro and belonged to Lacus. It had also been made by Athrun much as Tori had been. Haro's optics blinked before the robot began twitching its flaps, "Haro! Haro!" Haro could put out more words than Tori, but it was normally simple sentences or short phrases. Lacus kept one of the Haro robots with her when she went out. All of them had been presents from Athrun who was set to be her fiancée. Most would differentiate them by their color, yet Lacus knew each one had slightly different programming some might call a personality. Lacus felt it was Athrun's way of giving each of his creation which he gave her some flare for her to enjoy. She had found that Athrun was very thoughtful and wanted to make others smile with how kind-hearted he was.
Haro was jumping and rolling around Lacus for a moment before its sensors picked up other individuals approaching. It didn't recognize any of the individuals that were coming in its direction. With the signals unknown, Haro shifted to its alert and warning mode it had programmed into it by its creator. It had a mode where it would warn Lacus of potential threats approaching. So, Haro's eyes began to flash bright to try and draw attention to itself, "Haro! Lacus! Run! Unknowns approaching!"
"Kira, Tye," came a male voice. The three around the bench turned to see who was approaching them. The owner of the voice turned out to be a male teen which Kira and Tyler knew by then name of Tolle Koenig. Kira had befriended Tolle in the first month after he had come to Heliopolis, he had been one of his first friends at the colony. Tolle was a Natural-type human that stood at a height of five feet four inches and had dark brown hair that had a bit of a wavy quality to it. Along with his green eyes, he gave the impression of being an easy-going and funny guy. Today, he was wearing an off-white button-up shirt and a pair of jeans.
Tyler had been introduced to Tolle by Kira within a week of arriving at the colony. The guy had come off as an easy-going individual which Tyler had nothing against such. Tolle had quickly grown on Tyler and had become a friend to him. It was nice as Tyler didn't have what many would call friends that weren't colleagues in the Federation's military. Tolle could also get Tyler to genuinely laugh which could be a hard thing to do. The guy could be silly and clownish which tickled something in him. Tolle would come around Kira and Tyler often enough, but Tyler couldn't think of a reason for him to be paying a visit today. Yet, he heard Kira groaning quietly which nagged at Tyler. Then a thought came to him which wasn't a pleasant one to him.
Before the compromise had been made, Kato hadn't seen an issue with using friends to get Kira and Tyler to go to the man. And with the "priority" the recent project work had been stated to be, it wouldn't surprise Tyler if Kato had gone to their friends to get them to see the professor. Tyler had worked out in the compromise that the man wasn't to use their friends to get to them. But apparently, the pressure on Kato had him forgoing the agreed upon conditions of the compromise. Tyler didn't like that point, nor did he think it was right for Kato to forgo the compromise they had come to just because of pressure put on him. Tyler would be confronting the man should the opportunity come up. Unfortunately, Tyler feared that chance wouldn't come for him with the trouble that would soon come to the colony.
Tolle closed the distance to where Kira and Tyler were in the residential quad area. He had figured that Kira would be around here as he came to the quad to get peace for a period of time. Finding Tyler in the same place was somewhat of a bonus for Tolle today. He had meant to just check on them and see how they were doing. School was currently on a short break for the next few days, so Tolle wanted to see what kind of plans there could be. Tyler had a knack of coming up with fun plans when there was time to spend with all of their friends. From what Tolle had heard, Tyler had been working on something they could do during the break. That had excited Tolle and had him looking forward to what was ahead in the coming days.
Yet, as Tolle and his girlfriend had been about to set out to look for Kira and Tyler, they had been stopped by the college professor, Kato. The professor had asked them if they knew where their two friends were. When Tolle had asked the professor why he wanted to see them, he and his girlfriend were told by Kato that he had some stuff for them to work on and it was important. Tolle had been aware that Kira and Tyler had been doing work for Kato, but he still didn't know what exactly that work was. They had been stressing until close to two months ago when something had changed. Tolle couldn't say what had changed, but something clearly had as the stress for the two had lessened.
But at coming up to them in the quad, Tolle noticed there was a third individual with them. A moment later, Tolle recognized the individual was none other than Lacus. The girl was Kira's girlfriend from what Tolle had seen when Lacus had visited before this. Lacus was certainly pretty, Tolle would say that, Kira was a lucky guy to have her. Yet, Kira didn't seem to know that since he didn't show much if any affection to Lacus that Tolle had seen. Tolle gained a smirk, "So, you weren't after peace today then Kira? You were wanting to spend time with your girlfriend," Tolle commented. "Not that I blame you for wanting to do that, Lacus sure is a pretty one."
Kira and Lacus both blushed slightly at Tolle's comment while he glanced at Tyler for a moment. Tyler wasn't a bad looking guy, he was handsome since several of the girls at the college had gossiped about that when talking about him. But Tolle didn't think Tyler had a girlfriend. At least, Tolle had never seen any evidence or even a hint of Tye having a girl in his life. It was a shame that Tye didn't have a girlfriend since most in their gang did. "Tye, I've said it before and I'll say it again, you really should get a girl for yourself. Kira is showing you up with Lacus. There are plenty of girls around the college that would be more than willing to go out with you. You probably are aware they whisper and gossip about you."
Tyler held in the flinch at the mention of getting a girlfriend by Tolle. His personal life was his business and that would include a girlfriend if that ever came along. Tyler had some issues with a "girlfriend" which made the subject one he didn't want to talk about. It was something he dealt with and didn't want others involved. And it wasn't just because the "issue" was one that was difficult to deal with, it was also outright embarrassing too. He knew several of the girls at the college gossiped about him and whispered he was handsome. It was one of the times Tyler wished that he hadn't inherited his dad's good looks. So, Tyler rolled his eyes at Tolle in response, "If or when I start seeing and dating a girl is my fudging business Tolle and don't you forget that. And I've told you to kindly stay out of my personal business I choose not to share, so please remember that." Tyler paused and took a deep breath, "So, moving on, what brings you around here?"
Tolle rubbed the back of his head a tad nervously, "Well, Professor Kato happened to catch Mir and me this morning before we headed out. He pulled us aside and asked us if we knew where the two of you were today. I said that we didn't at that time but asked him what he wanted to see you two about." Tolle stopped for a second not exactly knowing how to put the point other than what the professor had said himself. "He said he had more work he needed the two of you to do. The Professor said it was important but wouldn't say why when I questioned him sorry to say."
Tyler shook his head while Kira groaned to what Tolle had told them. Professor Kato wanting to see them outside of the Monday meeting he had with them wasn't a good thing. It normally meant he would have something more for them to do. The point had been rarer in the last two months or so since Tyler had made the compromise. Tyler was more convinced now that Kato was being seriously pressured by OMNI personnel to finish whatever it was, he had been working on. But it did give the potential opportunity for Tyler to confront Kato and give him a piece of his mind about tossing out the compromise they had agreed upon. Kira gazed up at Tolle, "Again," Kira moaned, "I told him that this work should wait until Monday, but he insisted and said he wouldn't give me more until Monday."
Tyler exhaled heavily, "He shouldn't be giving you work other than on Monday, Kira," Tyler remarked, drawing attention to him.
Kira tilted his head to the side, "What do you mean, Tye? Does this have something to do with the discussion you mentioned you had with the professor?"
Tyler nodded in response to Kira, "Something like that," he replied. "We came to the agreement that he was to give you and I the workload of the week on Monday and nothing more during the week. He was also to make the workload "reasonable" and not heavy as hell. If he agreed to those conditions, I would stop avoiding him as I have been and do the work he was giving us. However, it seems he has forgone that agreement and returned to what he was doing beforehand." Tyler sighed, "It means he and I need to have a serious conversation where I remind him about the agreement. If that requires I remind him of what he agreed to and what will happen if he doesn't still to it, then I will do just that."
A girl came into view of the quad and came up to the group as they had been talking. The girl's name was Miriallia Haw, another Natural-type human who is a fifteen-year-old female and stood at five feet two inches. She had auburn-colored hair and ocean blue eyes which were fitting for her. Today, Miriallia was wearing a blue dress with the middle of the dress being white and the shoulders open. She had been working to catch up with her boyfriend Tolle who had run off to the quad ahead of her. "Tolle, you weren't supposed to run ahead of me you know," she chided. Then as Miriallia glanced over the group, she noticed that Lacus was there, "Lacus, you never mentioned you would be visiting for the break. You should've told us so we could meet you when you arrived."
Technically, Lacus hadn't been aware Kira would be on break while she would be visiting. She had just managed to get some time away from the PLANTs to come and see Kira. Lacus enjoyed spending time around Kira and Tyler's friends at the colony. The four which were around the two were good people and were nice to them both. However, Lacus had been hoping to get time alone with Kira while she was at Heliopolis. "Oh well," Lacus started, "This visit was a bit shorter notice than others. Sorry for not saying anything ahead of time."
Miriallia was once again curious what kept Lacus busy. She had never said what she did for the job she inferred she worked on. Not that it was Miriallia's business to know what Lacus did for a living, but she couldn't help but be curious. Instead, she turned back to Kira and Tyler as Tolle hadn't finished the message they had from Professor Kato. "Tolle hasn't mentioned that the professor said if we did cross paths to bring the two of you to see him as soon as we could," Miriallia said. "Are you assisting him with something else Kira?"
Kira was frustrated at the question Miriallia had posed. It was essentially the issue he was dealing with that was keeping him from spending time with Lacus. He was doing work for Kato already which he had been handed yesterday. Kira had said he would give the collection to the professor later today before going to break. He would get more with the next workload on Monday and not before that, or that was what Kira had thought he understood. Apparently, Kato had other ideas which Kira didn't appreciate, "I have too much stuff," Kira complained. "I'm still working on the stuff he dumped on me yesterday. I was to wrap it up so I can hand it in and go to break."
Tyler groaned, "Yeah, I will be talking to him today about this crap," he growled. "If that means we have a shouting match again, then I'll grab water before getting to Kato so I can go for as long as it takes to get the needed point across." Tyler shook his head, "I really thought he and I had come to a fair compromise that we could both accept and work with. It may have not been ideal, but it would work for both sides okay. But he goes tossing that aside and that isn't going to fly with me." Tyler glanced at Kira, "Once you finish what you got up, just give it to me. I'll give it to Kato when I go and have a talk with him, so you don't have to face him."
Miriallia didn't like that Kira was getting so much work from Professor Kato. Tyler had been avoiding the professor for a time and that had put more work on Kira. Tyler had gotten a little better in the last two months, but apparently that hadn't helped enough. She's nice most of the time, yet Tyler's behavior irritated Miriallia and she couldn't stay silent often with it. She had tried to help improve Tyler's bad behavior by harping at him but that hadn't helped as she wanted. Thus, she glared at Tyler which got him to flinch slightly, "It's pretty rude of you Kira doing all this work when Lacus is visiting." Miriallia wouldn't let Tyler wave off his inaction like he would sometimes. "Tye you should be taking some of that work off of Kira and do it yourself."
This wasn't the first time Miriallia had called out Tyler for his "behavior" that she didn't like. He tried not to hold the point against her, but times like this made that hard. Not only did he do schoolwork, he had a "job" which was his mission around Heliopolis. On top of that, he was getting through the workload he got from Kato as well. It was more Kira didn't say no and refuse things being pushed onto him when he should. That was a skill set that Tyler had been attempting to teach Kira for some time now and hadn't made much progress with. So, he didn't see it fair for him to be blamed for things like this when he did try to help his friends as he could. Tyler tended to work in the background so most didn't see him doing what he did, which had advantages and disadvantages.
Hypothetically, if Tyler were to take some of the work off Kira which Kato had given him, it wouldn't work out as Miriallia thought it would. With Kato pressing work on Kira, it wouldn't surprise Tyler if the man would just shove more onto Kira as he had done already. And yet, with the gaze he was getting from Miriallia, Tyler knew that he could say little to nothing in his defense that would help. But he wouldn't back down to any that would accuse him not trying to help his friends. "Seriously, you're going there again Miriallia?" Tyler rubbed his temple with a hand, "You think I'm doing nothing while Kira is drowning in work from Kato? I take a workload every week from the professor as Kira does, I assure you. Unlike Kira, I don't answer calls from Kato during the week. He and I came to an agreement that he would only hand out work on Mondays, and not during the week and I would stop avoiding him. It is him that is breaking that compromise which shouldn't earn him any pity or understanding."
Both Tolle and Miriallia blinked at what Tyler had said. Neither of them had heard anything about Tyler going and having a conversation with Professor Kato about the work they were doing for him. There hadn't been even a whisper about such a thing, which was odd. It was known throughout the college that Kato and Tyler butted heads often. One would think an argument or compromise would have been gossiped about. And it sounded like that argument had been Tyler trying to help Kira not be buried under work from Kato. "Wait," Miriallia started, "When did you have even talk to Professor Kato and come close to compromising with him on anything? The two of you rarely agree upon anything that I've ever heard."
Tyler didn't like how some portrayed him as uncaring about his friend, for he was anything but. So, he sighed, "It was close to two months ago," Tyler returned. "And I discussed what Kato was doing to Kira by burying him with work if you must know. The conversation was a heated one I will say, but we came to a compromise in the end. I thought that would be the end of the issue, but apparently that was wishful thinking on my part. It means he and I will be following up and it will be uncomfortable for Kato, I will make sure of that."
Tolle didn't like the tone Tyler had in his voice. Miriallia really needed to take it easy on Tyler and his behavior. Tolle didn't know why Tyler's behavior bothered Miriallia as it did. The two normally got along just fine most of the time. Tolle got between the two in the attempt to tone down the bad air, "Hey you two, calm down," interjected Tolle. "There is no reason for you two to fight about this." Tolle focused on his girlfriend, "It sounds like Tyler has been helping Kira, Miri. Do give him a break and don't press this right now. Kato just wants his project to keep moving and Kira is one of the best students at the college. Then, Tye is certainly not a bad student and is good with computers and the like." Tolle turned back to Kira and Tyler smiling slightly, "At any rate, let's get going, maybe Tye can talk to the professor and get a break for the both of you if we're there with you both."
"We can only hope for that," Kira and Tyler said at the same time.
"You should come along with us too Lacus," Miriallia added. Then she grabbed the pink-haired girl's hand as the group headed off towards the transit system that would take them to the college. They could find the others around the college since the other two of their gang should be at the college campus. Then they could go and have fun for the school break they were supposed to be on now.
The group of teens walked over to the nearest colony transit station to the residential quad. They could get an electric car at the station and take it to the college campus. As they were traveling, Tolle's curiosity got the better of him and he couldn't help but wonder once again what Professor Kato could have Kira and Tyler working on for him. "So, what's Professor Kato researching and then having you two working on," Tolle inquired looking at Kira and Tyler. "I think he does stuff for Morgenroete if I recall him saying before."
Tyler had heard Kato say something to the effect that he worked with Morgenroete as Tolle mentioned. But after the digging Tyler had done on the man, he'd found Kato didn't work for Morgenroete as an employee, but more as a consultant. That wasn't the same as doing things for Morgenroete, more so as the man was likely doing work for OMNI lately. Whether that was true or not didn't excuse the man shoving work onto Kira and Tyler. Tyler would be bringing that up in the conversation he may get with the man today. That would depend on when ZAFT would be popping up and causing some sort of trouble. So, Tyler exhaled heavily, "As far as I've been able to tell, he is indeed doing some research for Morgenroete Inc. However, that doesn't mean he works for the organization or what he has Kira and I working on relates to that collection of research. Yet, the man doesn't give us much if any detail on what the work he gives us will be used for exactly."
Kira wouldn't disagree with what Tyler said about Professor Kato doing research for Morgenroete but not necessarily being an employee of Morgenroete. Although Tyler would likely be more aware what work Morgenroete would be doing. He did have a knack for knowing that sort of thing. Tyler said it had something to do with having a few friends who worked within the scientific community. Honestly, if Kira was to make an educated guess on what the project Kato was giving them work on, it would be some sort of operating system. That guess came from some of the data Kira had been working with more recently since it was critical piece for an operating system. "I can't say much better than Tye," Kira began, "But from the work that has been handed to us from the professor, my best guess is that he's developing some sort of operating system."
It was Tyler's suspicion that Kato was working on an operating system for OMNI. It made logical sense with the facts Tyler had at this time. And it sounded like Kira was seeing much the same things with the operating system angle. A Natural-use OS wasn't a new thing to Tyler, the Federation's military had developed the idea already. With Tyler a soldier in the Federation's military, he'd seen and worked with the system. It wasn't the simplest and took practice to use compliantly, but it worked well enough for complex machines the Federation used. Tyler knew that OS hadn't been mentioned let alone shared with the Alliance or ZAFT. Its existence was likely among the suspicions the other two factions had of the Federation, but they wouldn't be able to confirm it. Tyler shrugged, "I suppose it could be something like that with the stuff Kato has given us thus far. As I said, the man doesn't give details and tells us not to ask too much about it whenever the opportunity comes up. And honestly, I'm not that interested in knowing more myself."
Lacus perked up slightly when Kira had suggested the "Professor" he got work from could be working on an operating system of some kind. That was the first mention of any guess he had to what the work he had been getting could be for. And that Tyler had agreed with Kira as to what the work they got could be for only made the guess more likely to be true. A development organization like Orb's Morgenroete would be one who may be working on a Natural-use operating system. Morgenroete developing a Natural-use OS for Orb wouldn't be a bad thing from what Lacus knew of the nation. However, the same couldn't be said of the Alliance or their OMNI from what those in ZAFT would say. ZAFT intelligence had made it clear that OMNI was working feverishly at making a Natural-use OS from themselves. There had been no success as of yet from what Lacus had heard yet. However, if the Alliance went to an organization like Morgenroete, that could produce the results that the Alliance was hoping for. Lacus didn't want to think Morgenroete would do such a thing for the Alliance knowingly. Yet, that didn't mean OMNI couldn't use others to get Morgenroete to unintentionally do the point for them.
Tolle blinked at the answer he'd gotten to his "simple" question. He'd just been curious about what his two friends had been doing for Kato. The professor had been consistent on giving the two work every week for the last two months. Neither of the two had mentioned before now what they suspected the work they were doing could be for. Kato may be a "Mechanical Systems" professor at the college, but that didn't mean he would be an expert on operating systems. Sure, Kira and Tyler had a knack with systems, no one in the gang would deny that if asked. But they weren't developers that would create stuff from scratch. And the answer didn't sound like they were that sure about it. "Operating System you say," Tolle questioned and thought about it some more, "Okay, guess that could make sense." Then Tolle glanced between Kira and Tyler, "But neither of you seem that sure about your guesses."
Kira smiled softly and rubbed the back of his head in response to Tolle. Tyler merely shrugged his shoulders, "The work gives enough to make educated guesses, but not to have a sure theory, but you have a point with that Tolle?"
Miriallia was once again somewhat annoyed with the two and their behavior. Granted, Kira had shown he was "innocent" and "clueless" about several things that should be relatively obvious. Yet, there should be a limit to how clueless Kira should be able to get away with in Miriallia's view. She normally just chalked up Kira's cluelessness to just being how he was and looked past that annoying quality. However, Tyler certainly wasn't as clueless as Kira was, even if he fainted the idea every once in a while. He was smarter and could read a situation better than most his age and certainly those in the gang. Tyler may say he only had an "educated guess" with the work he and Kira had been doing was an operating system of some sort, but there was more to it than that. "Kira being like this, I can accept as much as I wish I didn't," Miriallia stated. Then she glared at Tyler, "But you just accepting things given to you and not knowing more Tyler, that isn't like you."
Tyler and Kira stared at Miriallia for a long moment with her response. It wasn't the first time that Miriallia had called out Kira and Tyler on their behaviors. She had been frustrated with Kira and his obliviousness he displayed often enough. The gang had become accustomedto Kira's apparent inability to see some things. Yet, Tyler had shown himself sharp enough to not just wave things off and not know something. Tyler had tried to make it seem he was easy-going and not that knowledgeable on certain things while around his friends here. Apparently, Miriallia had been able to see past Tyler's behavior enough to know he kept himself informed than he let on. Not that he would confirm or admit that to Miriallia if there wasn't a need for him to do so. Thus, Tyler rolled his eyes at Miriallia, "I know I come off as one who takes things and rolling with it," Tyler began. "But there are times and positions which I've learned it is best to not ask or question things more, Miri."
Miriallia's glare intensified with Tyler using the nickname he did. Only Tolle got to call her "Miri," no one else was allowed to do it, especially not Tyler. She had told him that several times before this so he had no excuse for using the nickname. So, he was using the nickname intentionally to incense her which she didn't like. "Tyler McGregor, I've told you using that nickname is off limits," she growled. "Tolle is the only one allowed to call me that. So, if you want a slap and more, you should've just said so!"
Tolle rushed forward and grabbed Miriallia from behind holding her back from getting to Tyler. He knew Tyler could set Miriallia off sometimes, even with Tyler was nice most of the time. And the subject wasn't worth arguing over, so it would be best she be stopped from doing something foolish that she could regret. "Come on, Miri," Tolle said, "It isn't worth arguing about this. You need to calm down."
Lacus didn't like that Miriallia was snapping at Tyler. He wasn't wrong that there were times and situations it was better to not ask for more details, she'd seen the idea herself. Granted, Tyler should know better than to use a name that another didn't want him to, but that wasn't the point right now. "He's right," Lacus stated. "It isn't worth arguing about. Tye shouldn't have called you that name, but let it go. He has a point that there are times and situations it is better not to ask. Besides, Kira and Tye are just students, they wouldn't likely be told everything about what they work on to begin with."
Kira was a tad glad that Lacus had stepped in and tried to get Miriallia to calm down. It wasn't the first time that Miriallia had snapped at Tyler's behavior. The point came up from time to time, but after a day things normally blew over. Did it really matter that Tyler, and he didn't ask or want to know more about what the work Kato was having them do was for? Kira didn't see a problem with not wanting to know more about Kato's work. Then, if they did ask, Kato may use that to shove more work on them and say for Kira and Tyler to take responsibility. "Lacus makes a good point," Kira remarked. "Besides, making inquiries would probably just get both of us saddled with more work if Kato could manage it."
Tyler wouldn't exactly argue with the point Kira had brought up about Kato as the man may do just that given an opportunity. Tyler had found the man was the type to push for more if he could and get away with it. That was the reason Tyler had gone to Kato and the discussion which had ended out with the compromise. Although, it seemed that had only held for two months or so before Professor Kato had tossed it aside. Besides that point, neither Kira nor Tyler needed more "work" to do than they already had. Tyler especially had more on his plate than he liked, and he was handling things as he could and was doing fair. It he had more dropped upon him, things would get so much worse with what was likely ahead in mind. "Oh, he would Kira, I have no doubt about that," Tyler returned. "Being busy with other things has never made a difference to the man, he still pushes work onto us. I thought I had gotten the point across during our last discussion, but apparently, he has forgotten it for some reason."
While what Tyler said may be true, both he and his friend had other reasons they didn't need more work to do from Kato. Tyler had "other" work he should be focusing on, more so with tensions climbing as they were lately. His mission that the Federation's Military's High Command had given him was a priority, and he knew that. Yes, that mission should be coming to a close in the next day or two. However, Tyler felt that time would feel so much longer than it really was with what it would involve. His intuition was stating in no uncertain terms things wouldn't go smoothly to the end as he would like. But that was his business along with his team's, so it wouldn't involve others the best possible.
On the other hand, Kira had Lacus here at the colony as a reason to no need more work. The guy didn't understand or comprehend how freaking lucky he was having Lacus interested in him. Tyler hadn't missed the girl showing signs she liked his friend, her flirting was kind of hard to miss. And yet, Kira had been oblivious to all of Lacus's non-verbal hints of her feelings toward him. Tyler had been tempted to smack Kira and tell him he was being foolish and to open his eyes and ears. He didn't think that would help a great deal, but seeing Lacus flirting with him while around Heliopolis had been getting almost painful. Instead, Tyler moved over to Kira, "Although, shouldn't you also say you want less work so you can spend time with Lacus? I mean she likely can't stick around for long my friend, don't miss the opportunity?"
Kira couldn't stop the blush that came to his face at Tyler's whispered comment to him. Sure, he liked spending time with Lacus and so with her here he wanted to do that. But Tyler saying that was kind of embarrassing to Kira. Kira was aware Lacus was putting things on hold to come and see him at Heliopolis, he wasn't so dim to not know that. But Kira felt that Tyler was prodding him that he was missing something. Kira took a moment to consider things, but couldn't think of anything which he could've missed. He would potentially ask Tyler later and get more information hopefully. He glanced at his friend who was smirking at him which definitely said there was more to what Tyler said than just the words.
Miriallia didn't like what Kira and Tyler had given in response to the questions posed to them about the work they had been doing for Kato. Tyler baiting her wasn't pleasant, but she knew Tolle had been right it wasn't worth slapping him over. It wouldn't change Tyler's behavior now or in the future as much as Miriallia would love that to be the case. However, the two should be more aware of what they did and what it could do. They were both smart enough to know when something could be a bad thing and not to ignore such, but it sounded like they were doing just that. "That's your excuse," Miriallia countered, regaining their attention, "You two know better than to just blindly accept things and not want to know more about it. So, either you're lying or being idiots, what do you have to say for yourselves?"
Tyler knew that he among the gang which all but Lacus was a part of wouldn't and didn't understand the situation with Kato properly. Tyler was pretty sure that Kato was helping OMNI with their project being done at Morgenroete. Like with military development in general, it was best to not know details unless it was necessary. There were several inherent risks learning more about a faction's secret project, Tyler knew that well. And it was more true with the part of the Alliance being involved. From Tyler's experience, the Alliance was the most likely to make one's life a hellish misery if you found out about their secrets. He felt with this Atlantic Federation project would be that way and more if he were to give his opinion. Especially with this project involving mobile suits, Tyler felt the Alliance would be more than willing to kill to keep it safe if they saw it necessary.
Miriallia continued to pin Kira and Tyler with her gaze, clearly waiting for a reply to her question. Tyler would rather not continue the debate with Miriallia. The girl wouldn't let him have the last word, he'd seen that point quite some time ago to know the truth of that. Yet, nor did he want Miriallia to bug him and Kira about this for whoever long she would. Tyler didn't have anything against Miriallia personally, but she could be stubborn about the small things. The two were saved from replying when an interruption came, "I'm telling you it's not what you think," a female voice said. The five glanced in the direction the sound had come from, and they saw a trio of girls walking their way. One of the girls was a blue-eyed redhead in a pink sundress with a jacket in the lead. She was a height that was around a head shorter than Tyler himself. Tyler did note that he had seen the girl a few times around the gang of friends he had. However, his flaw of matching names to faces was causing him trouble with remembering her name.
"Then what is it," asked a brunette with pigtails with the redhead.
" It's none of your business," the redhead replied.
Kira had seen the redhead before, for she had been around his friends. Her name was Flay Allster and she was supposed to be his friend Sai's fiancée. Kira thought Flay was quite pretty, though not as much as Lacus was. Perhaps in a different world where he hadn't met Lacus as a young age, he could be seeing Flay. However, he had known Lacus for years and valued her friendship and Lacus tended to be frustrated when other girls were around him. So, he didn't tended not to spend time around other girls that weren't in his gang of friends. But Kira hadn't expected to see Flay around the residential area of the colony at this time of day. "Flay," he muttered.
Tyler had heard the muttered name from Kira which had made him realize where he'd seen the girl. The girl had been around Sai sometimes and Tyler had been around the college to see him. Tyler may have heard something about there being a thing between the girl and Sai, but he didn't know the details. Kira had said something about there being an arrangement between their families or something like that. It was business that Tyler had no interest in getting into himself. He would support Sai in what he wanted, so if the arrangement was good with him, Tyler would back that.
Tyler wasn't the only one observing the trio of girls that were approaching their group, Lacus was watching the scene as well. She had not thought much about the three girls until Kira had muttered the name "Flay." Lacus had heard Kira mention the name a few times during her visits. The way he'd talked about her hadn't been pleasant to Lacus as Kira had said she was kind of pretty. That could mean that Lacus had competition when it came to Kira. She didn't want to believe Kira had interest in a different girl than her. Lacus visited often enough so that Kira shouldn't be seeing another girl besides her.
"Oh, Miriallia!" the brunette girl in the trio called when she noticed the group.
Flay had been trying to get her friends to drop the subject they had brought up. They had taken a small thing and blown it out of proportion far more than she had thought they could. The embarrassing conversation had all started when Flay had mentioned Sai had sent her a letter. The letter had been nice and Flay planned to thank Sai for it later when her friends weren't around. The letter hadn't been a "love" letter as her friends were say it was, Sai had just been asking how she had been doing. It was sweet of him to worry about her even if their engagement was a family arrangement. But her friends were really making something so simple much more complicated and embarrassing for her. Yet, one of Flay's friends calling out got her to glance ahead and find there was a group of people. Among the group was some of Sai's friends, like Tolle Koenig and Miriallia Haw. There was also Kira Yamato and Tyler McGregor with the two as well.
However, there was one more in the group ahead which wasn't one of the friends Sai had which Flay had seen. Yet, she had seen the girl before now as they popped up every once and a while. The girl had pink colored long hair and blue eyes. Flay would admit the girl was sort of pretty in many respects. The pink-haired girl seemed to come around to see Kira Yamato if Flay were to guess. Not that Flay cared that one of Sai's friends was seeing another girl or anything, but it was kind of hard to not be a tad jealous with how pretty the pink-haired girl was. The beauty and hair color made if obvious that the girl was a Coordinator. Flay didn't much like Coordinators herself, having their genes altered to be better than those that didn't. Sure, her dad would speak out against Coordinators more than she did, but she shared some of the same views about them.
"Did you hear," asked the brown-haired girl, rushing over to Miriallia. "Flay got a love letter from Sai Argyle!"
Tyler observed Miriallia and the brown-haired girl begin chattering with one another. The subject matter they were chattering about was kind of interesting, but not something Tyler would get himself into. He knew Sai was a heck of a good guy, Kira and Tyler's friend was very thoughtful when it came to others. As an example, Sai had been trying to help Kira and Tyler not be buried by work from Professor Kato. Sai Argyle as an individual was an easy person to get along with by what Tyler had found. He was about as smart as Kira and Tyler were, which allowed productive conversations between the three. However, Tyler was a tad confused at hearing Sai had set a letter to the girl he was supposed to be engaged to. Should it not be a normal thing for Sai to communicate with the girl he was arranged to spend the rest of his life with? Tyler wondered if he would ever understand why girls would gossip about the things they did.
"Huh, from Sai," gasped Miriallia in surprise.
The words jarred Flay out of her silent stupor. It was embarrassing for her friends to make a big deal out of something Sai had done to be nice. Her fiancée was thoughtful and showed it even if in a more subtle way. The point of the matter was what Sai did for her was no other's business but hers and Sai. With that in mind, she stepped forward, a partial glare on her face, "Come on, this has nothing to do with Miriallia," she said as firmly as she could manage. "The letter is to me from Sai, it is our business and no one else's!"
Flay's black-haired friend giggled, "Why don't you just say yes," she asked. "He's not all that bad or anything, right?"
It wasn't that Flay had an issue with her building relationship with Sai. It may have started as an arrangement between their families, but she didn't have any issue with the arranged marriage. And she had found Sai to be a very nice young man who would be an individual she could see spending her life with. But the marriage was years away, they were merely engaged right now and it wasn't publicly recorded just yet. "It's not that," countered Flay before she tried to explain things to her friends.
Tyler was left to wonder as he had several times why girls seemed so addicted to gossip. They seemed unable to help but talk about what another was doing and make wild guesses as to why it was happening. It had never made much sense to him, but Tyler had seen this idea enough to now it tended to be a commonality with girls. He had accepted it was just one of those things in life he would never understand logically. Tyler tended to personally ignore gossip most of the time. However, he had seen a value of listening to gossip to get general information which was assigned on some missions. So, while he didn't understand the point of why girls felt the need to gossip, the information he could get from it gave it some value.
Lacus leaning closer to Kira, "Isn't your friend Sai her fiancé," she whispered in question to Kira. Tyler glanced at the two to see Kira nodding slightly, "Yeah, I believe it was a parental arrangement from what I've been told," Kira whispered back. "It's a lot like the arrangement that you and Athrun are in."
Tyler was aware of the arranged marriage that his other best friend Athrun Zala and Lacus were in. Athrun had mentioned it to him in a letter than had come to Tyler before he had left for Heliopolis. He hadn't mentioned the point to Kira yet, there had been other things distracting Tyler that it had slipped his mind. But apparently, Kira was already aware of the arrangement. Tyler could only assume that Lacus had told him about it. He wondered how Lacus felt about the arranged marriage to Athrun when she loved Kira. The arrangement was the "current" solution to the Coordinator "sterilization" issue. It had something to do with the gene manipulation by what scientists said though there was no solid evidence for that yet. Tyler hummed, "So, that's what was going on, I wondered if that might be the case," he remarked. Kira blinked and turned to face Tyler at his comment. Tyler sighed, "I was referring to Sai always having the redhead coming around the college to see him. It was a tad odd as Sai never specifically mentioned he was engaged that I can recall."
The teens arrived at the trans station where electric cars were waiting for passengers to pick up and input a destination. A few minutes after the teens had reached the station a trio was walking up to the station behind the group. The woman in the lead of the adults stood five foot eight inches which had her around the same average height as the two men with her. The woman had short raven black hair while her eyes were a light violet color which were behind sunglasses. Her name was Natarle Badgiruel ensign in OMNI even though she was wearing clothes that had her blend in with the citizens of the colony.
Natarle and the two with her were part of the OMNI project team that were assigned to work on the Atlantic Federation's G-Project. The project's goal was to create prototype mobile suits that could be used by OMNI soldiers in the ongoing war. There was also a new battleship class being developed to be the prototypes' carrier. The G-Project had been going for close to two years now at the colony since its start. So far nothing about it had been discovered by those outside OMNI according to the most current intelligence reports. Yet, with ZAFT forces coming around the colony more frequently as of late suggested a leak may have occurred. If that was true, the project had to be moved elsewhere to be fully finished.
From what Natarle had been told by the battleship's vice-captain who she took orders from, things had been accelerated as much as possible. The ship was undergoing final preparations to be ready to move out of the colony in hours. The project members under the command of two ship officers were at Morgenroete. They had been overseeing the work on the G-Weapons, yet now they were getting them on transport trucks. Once loaded, those trucks would move with an escort convoy to the secret dock entrance and be moved to the ship and stored in the hangar. If the G-Weapons were secured on the ship, it would make it much more difficult for ZAFT to potentially get to and steal them. Hopefully, all of that would be done within the hour before the remaining preparations were focused on. That was the general plan as Natarle had been told about it by the commanding officers of the G-Project team.
ZAFT wasn't the only concern for the G-Project, Natarle knew that well enough. The Human Federation or rather their military was as much a problem and threat to the project as ZAFT if not more a threat than them. The Federation may not be directly involved in the war, but they had shown they couldn't be taken lightly or waved off as no threat. Thus, drawing the Federation's attention was undesirable for the project team. Orb may not be a part of the Federation yet, but there were rumors its leaders were seriously considering the idea these days. With how much the Federation were sticklers for rules and regulations, there was no reason to think they would ignore the G-Project. And were they to find out, there was a very high probability that the mobile suits and the ship would be seized and confiscated.
The threat of the Federation discovering the existence of the G-Project was bad to be sure. Yet, to draw ZAFT's notice was just as problematic for the project team. The G-Project was intended to change the balance of power in the war and level the fighting capabilities. That was seen as the most efficient way to end the long war by what Natarle had heard, and she did agree somewhat. And with the vice-captain saying two ZAFT vessels had come into outer detection range of the colony's sensors, the pressure was on. That translated into stress levels for all members of the project team to become extremely high and continue to rise. There was still a lot to do to get things to the point the battleship could leave the colony as planned.
If the majority of the tasks could be accomplished in the next few hours, then things could be manageable. Natarle and the two with her were to report back to the ship and help with the needed preparations there. The battleship would evade ZAFT around the area before heading for Alliance Lunar HQ or that was what the vice-captain had said. All of the ship officers would join them except the two with the G-Weapons after meeting with the special OMNI pilots who had been selected to use the G-Weapons. They should be arriving anytime now from what Natarle understood of the current timetables. Those pilots would help get the G-Weapons finished during the journey to OMNI Lunar HQ. The fact of the matter was the suits weren't ready for deployment yet. The majority of the physical work was finished, but the operating system wasn't fully complete at this point. The "consultant" the project had called in had been putting the current OS together the best they could so it could be finished during the journey.
With all the work needing to be done, Natarle knew she and her companions didn't have the time to wait for the teens to finish whatever they were doing. Her trio needed transport quickly so they could return to the ship and get to the required tasks. The colony's inhabitants could keep their ignorant lives while others fought in the war for the time being for all Natarle cared. And the teens didn't appear to notice her group's arrival yet as they drew closer. Natarle began to overhear what the closest team who had pink hair speaking, "I wonder why he'd write a love letter?" Natarle came to a stop close by the five teens and cleared her throat, "Excuse me," she posed.
Tyler and his four friends turned at a voice speaking to find three adults there. Tyler took a quick moment to study the three. They weren't familiar to him, but their "civilian" outfits stuck out a bit which had him assuming they were OMNI personnel. The vibe he was getting from the woman didn't sit nice with Tyler. His intuition was stating firmly she wasn't one that would get along with Tyler much if at all. There was silence from his companions at the question from the woman. Thus, Tyler figured he would be the one expected to speak for them. It was something that came up from time to time and he didn't mind doing the task. "Yeah," Tyler replied, "You need something?"
The gaze from the older teen felt somewhat odd to Natarle, as it was a penetrating one. Teenagers didn't tend to have such gazed that Natarle had seen in her lifetime. But there wasn't the time to dwell upon the oddity with the work needing to be done. So, Natarle inclined her head slightly in response, "If none of you are going to board a car, then do you mind if we do?" Natarle glanced at her companions who were nodding, "We do have an appointment to get to as it happens, and it is important."
Tyler and his companions moved out of the way after a moment to let the adults through. The woman and the two men with her walked past them toward one of the waiting cars. Natarle wasn't going to give much more thought to the teens and what they were doing. However, she felt a stare upon her which took her aback for a moment. She looked back at the teens and found it was the oldest teen who was following her with his gaze. Him watching Natarle and her companions like he was made Natarle a tad suspicious of the teen. But she got into one of the cars and told the two with her to do the same. What reason the teen had to stare didn't matter right now, so Natarle would dismiss the strange behavior.
Tyler had watched the trio as they had entered the car, and it drove away. The more he had looked at the woman, he swore that he'd seen her somewhere before. It would be a surprise if she was one of the OMNI personnel that he had caught a glimpse of before today. The red jacket and black hair were too familiar to Tyler for him to dismiss it. The mentioned "appointment" did concern Tyler though. OMNI personnel doing that tended to mean they needed to go and do something for their project. It made Tyler surer that ZAFT was getting close and that would spell problems for the colony more than likely. The issue he had with that other than innocent bystanders getting potentially hurt was he would be involved in the containment and clean up of whatever could happen.
Kira glanced at Tyler who seemed to be gazing in the direction way the car the adults had gotten into had gone. That was odd since Tyler didn't normally take such an interest in adults around the colony before this that Kira had seen. "Uh, Tye," Kira started, "You, okay? Do you know that woman or men that took the car or something?"
Kira's question brought Tyler out of his thoughts about the three who had just left. Whether they were OMNI personnel or not could be looked into at a later point hopefully. Yet, his intuition said that wouldn't happen as he was wishing. Tyler also felt it was better he stick with his friends for the time being instead of slipping away and doing investigations. So, he dismissed thoughts about the woman for the moment. Tyler then smiled a bit, "I'm fine man," he returned. "And no, I can't say I know any of the three that just left. I want to say I have seen the woman somewhere before though. However, I can't say where that could've happened at the moment, drawing a real blank on that." Tyler shook his head, "But moving on, let's get into a car and get to the college and have a talk with Kato about the workloads, shall we?
Meanwhile, in the colony's control center, those operating and watching the colony systems busied themselves with the docking procedure of the incoming vessel. T he ship was an old Marseille III-class vessel. It was a class the Earth Alliance used to use but had decommissioned more than a year ago and didn't use anymore. It had a length of one-hundred-twenty meters from bow to stern with the navigation bridge at the front of the ship. The transport had four mid-sized engines attached to spars with two on top and the other two below. There wasn't much when it came to armaments, like most transports there weren't many weapons equipped to the ship. The ship had a few point-defense turrets and a single beam cannon to intercept incoming projectiles but little else. Nonetheless, with the way the war between the Alliance and ZAFT was going, old ships were used for different purposes than they were originally built for, so this transport was not entirely out of place.
The Marseille transport was given clearance to dock as it had provided the proper documentation for docking at the colony. The documents which had been transmitted to the colony control had appeared to be in order and that was what mattered for the time being. The old transport which came around on occasion was much less a concern than the two ZAFT vessels who had been popping up lately. The frequency of the ZAFT vessels coming around had most of the colony control staff on edge since it didn't happen much before the last month or so. Plus, when the ZAFT vessels had been contacted, there was little said in the effect of what they were doing around the colony. The chief controller got on the com-line that there was with the Alliance vessel, "Marseille Apitus, adjusted your axis right 6.51 points and prepare to enter dock one."
Onboard the Apitus, its captain nodded at his pilot to do what they were being told to do by the colony control. The Marseille made the corrections they were instructed to as they were moving toward the colony's port entrance. The corrections were observed in the colony control center, "Ship entering vector is satisfactory," returned one of the operators to the chief. "Breaking jets off, transferring control to automated docking system," replied the ship captain. "The rest is up to you in the colony control center."
One of the console operators signaled that he had the ship coming into the dock as the ship was slowed and caught by the systems that regulated the docking process for the colony. As some looked out the window as the ship passed before the vessel moved towards the dock it had been assigned. "Transfer to automated controls with the electromagnetic bucket confirmed. Deceleration rate at 2.56," stated the chief controller looking at a console display, "Commencing final docking procedures, stand by."
Back on the Apitus, the captain let out a sigh of relief as the docking procedure was taken over by the colony's control center. The mission of getting personnel to the colony had been more complicated than it had seemed originally. They had encountered some ZAFT vessels along the way who had insisted they inspect the transport ship. The OMNI personnel had to be hidden while that had been going on. ZAFT had been fooled during that inspection since they found nothing, but that hadn't been the end of the problem. Two more ZAFT vessels had been spotted along the way to the colony and they had seemed to follow the Apitus. But with the ship in the colony's port, ZAFT had their hands tied. "And so, this old ship has just completed her final mission and done so admirably."
The captain of the transport turned to the two younger people who had been on the bridge while the docking had been occurring. One was a man and the other a woman and they were part of the escort the ship had been given for the mission. They were among the best mobile armor pilots OMNI had to work with. But that just said how valuable the G-Project was to the Earth Alliance. "The escort of you and your team provided us has been much appreciated Lieutenant La Flaga, Major McAlester. It may have been a boring job for pilots like yourselves with so little to do," said the captain with a smile. "Still, my crew and I are in your debt nonetheless, and I will not let that be waved off."
The young blonde man named Mu La Flaga was twenty-eight years old and held the rank of Lieutenant in OMNI. He was seen as one of the best mobile armor pilots OMNI still had to fight in the war. He'd seen more than his fair share of combat and nasty situations during his military service. So, he wasn't against having a "quiet" or "easy" job every once and a while. This escort mission had been quiet thus far and he wouldn't complain about that, more so when ZAFT had done their inspection. He just hoped things would stay quiet, though he was inclined to say they wouldn't be with ZAFT around.
The "interesting" part of the trip had been watching the special guests the ship was carrying to the Heliopolis Colony. The young OMNI pilot had been "handpicked" by what Mu had been told for the "G-Project." Observing them in the simulations they had been doing along the way had made Mu wonder several things. He hadn't been told what the G-Project was producing by those who had assigned him and his companions this mission. But the simulations strongly implied that it was creating some sort of mobile suits. Mu would love to use a mobile suit in the fight against ZAFT. Maybe then combat wouldn't feel as one-sided as it did these days in the war. Still, he waved a hand in dismissal, "Sir, we're just glad that all on board along with our teammates were able to get you all here safely and without incident." Mu shook his head and gained a sad expression, "It's a rarer thing these days with the war as it is."
T he woman close by Mu was his friend named Krystal McAlester or Major McAlester. She had auburn colored hair that went to her mid-back which complimented her dark green eyes. She was a head shorter than Mu, but she never let him think his height gave him an advantage. Krystal was a fighter, he would give her that, and she was willing to fight dirty if she had to. Mu had personal experience with fighting Krystal back at the academy and he wouldn't forget that embarrassment. She was an armor pilot much as Mu was for OMNI and was a skilled one at that. He was glad to have her watching his back on missions they were both assigned, for he knew he could count on her. Enforcers nodded in agreement. "Indeed, with the ZAFT Nazca-class destroyer and Laurasia-class cruiser around here, I'm still concerned," Krystal remarked. "They weren't here the last time by what the reports said, and I doubt they are here sightseeing. What is the status on those two ships by the way?"
The two ZAFT vessels were still a concern as Major McAlester had said. His sensor operator had been keeping an eye on them since they had been detected. The two ships were remaining just outside of the colony's outer sensor range. That they were staying there for the moment didn't sit well with the captain. Yet, they were in the colony's dock which would protect them as it had before. ZAFT would have to be very desperate and foolish to attack or invade the colony. The Orb Union wouldn't let ZAFT do that and not demand an answer along with accountability. It was the reason the colony should be safe for them, which the captain hoped it would until they left. Thus, he inclined his head a bit, "They're out there alright, but there is no real cause for alarm right now. As we're docked now in Heliopolis, they are fully aware that taking action against us while we're here would cause massive problems with the PLANTs and the Orb Union Major." The captain paused before he kept going, "In future, it might be even more of an issue for them and us if the rumors about Orb considering joining the Federation are true."
Mu had heard the rumors that the captain was referring to recently. The rumor was that Orb's leaders were seriously considering joining the Human Federation faction. There were supposed to be discussions with Alliance politics to dissuade them from doing that, but Mu wouldn't hold his breath for success from that. If they applied to join the Federation, there was little that could be done to stop them. The fact of the matter was Orb was not a member of the Federation, not yet at least. And with them being neutral and the colony belonging to them, it was seen as neutral as well. But the Federation was neutral in the war, so whether Orb joined them or not wouldn't change things for the colony much that Mu could figure. "Well, Orb has been neutral since its founding as I understand it. They constructed Heliopolis thus, they own it, and the colony is their territory. I don't see much of a difference as both Orb and the Federation are neutral when it comes to the war," Mu remarked. "I still don't understand that stance while the war is going on personally, but that is their choice."
Lieutenant La Flaga had much to learn about the Federation and its military. The captain had experience during his active service in OMNI. The Federation's military wasn't to be underestimated, or you paid a high price doing so. There were those in OMNI that wouldn't admit or believe that, but that was their choice. "Well Lieutenant," the captain remarked. "I can tell you from experience while in active service, the Federation's military isn't an organization you want to underestimate or have as enemies. Even the ZAFT is careful around the Federation as each encounter with them on record hasn't ended well for either the ZAFT forces or OMNI," the captain admitted. "But still, it is because of this colony's neutrality that plans for the G-Project have progressed as far as they have. It is a good thing that the Alliance recognized nations like the Orb Union as independent nations if only for that even if others disagree."
A t that moment, the door to the bridge slid open and five young men came in. They were the special guests which the transport had been carrying to the colony. They five were the hand selected pilots for the fruits of the G-Project. "Excuse us, captain," the leader of the five who was in the middle greeted. They all saluted the captain, "We are grateful for you and your ship getting us here. But well will head out and meet up with the project team. We bide you farewell and safe travels."
Mu watched the five young men exit the bridge to head into the colony interior. He was worried about them and what lay ahead of them in the future. They were so young, and yet they were expected to help turn the tides of the war to the Alliance's favor. He knew the war wasn't going well, worse than the news was actually stating it was. The top brass was making sure the truth wasn't known to the general public, so Alliance morale didn't fall more than it already had. However, for that to translate to young people going to battlefields before they had much of a chance to live a life didn't sit well with Mu. "You think they will be able to handle themselves on the battlefield," he asked. "I'm not trying to say they are as good as dead or anything like that, but they are so young. They're still kids for goodness sakes and so haven't really had the chance to live and find happiness at their age."
Krystal agreed with Mu on the five pilots being younger than should be allowed to enlist. But the war had brought about desperate times in the last year or two. The OMNI had to change its standards to keep up the fight to defend Earth from ZAFT. "You have a point Mu," Krystal said sadly. "They shouldn't be fighting in this war. But I can't see much of another choice for OMNI right now."
"It's true that they are young," the captain admitted. "But they have proven that their selection to be G-pilots was not just a random one. They had done the best with the simulations and have put in the work to earn their chance to be involved in the G-Project. An old colleague of mine told me that after watching those five undergo testing." Then he smiled, "Plus, Lieutenant, Major, don't take it the wrong way, but you two would stick out like sore thumbs with your experience and reputations."
T he two ZAFT vessels had observed the old Alliance transport dock inside the colony even with their moderate distance away from the colony. The lighter and faster of the two, the Nazca-class destroyer which the ZAFT forces used was two-hundred-seventy meters from bow to stern. The ship was built in three sections, the main central sections and the two side wings. There were a few engines at the back of the central section though the more powerful engines were in the wings. This gave the ship class a total of eight engines to work with and provided a good amount of speed to work with. And as a destroyer, the Nazca-class had an array of weapons including railguns and beam cannons mainly. There was also defensive equipment for interception, but the ship normally relied on speed and the suits they carried to keep the ship safe.
T he other ZAFT vessel was a Laurasia-class cruiser named the Gamow which was the traveling companion of the Vesalius to the Heliopolis colony. It was somewhat larger than its companion being three-hundred meters from bow to stern. Unlike the Nazca, the Laurasia had two smaller wings on both sides which connected to heavy engines giving the ship six in total to work with. Much like the Nazca-class the Laurasia had an array of railguns and beam cannons to use along with the mobile suits it carried.
U pon the bridge of ZAFT's Vesalius, a white-uniformed ZAFT commander, wearing a silver mask that covered all but his mouth and chin stood looking at an image of the colony nearby. His name was Rau Le Creuset, a well-known ZAFT commander specifically for disregarding rules and had earned the reputation for doing the point. The reputation hadn't earned him much in the way of favor with ZAFT higher-ups, but he didn't care about that. "Try not to look so frustrated Ades, it is bad for one's health," Creuset said as he turned and floated back towards the tactical table display. "You should relax, things will go as I have predicted I assure you. I did the research to cover most outcomes for us before we got to the area."
Captain Ades wasn't happy right now with Creuset on his ship. He knew the man's reputation much as most ZAFT captains did. And like most captains, Ades wasn't pleased he had been "assigned" Commander Creuset for an investigation mission. But the Commander's plan wouldn't fit what most would consider an "investigation." The man was essentially having soldiers invade the colony to go get machines that may or may not exist. Entering the colony without permission was bad and dangerous enough with it belonging to a neutral power. To attack inside of it was another matter entirely and Ades was certain the council would not endorse the plan at all. "Forgive my frustration sir, but I can't imagine that it's too late to wait and hear back from the council about this. I'm not saying that your point of the argument isn't valid. The evidence you showed me is rather convincing and it makes sense somewhat. However, what you suggest with your plan," Ades paused in hesitation, "it's more than just risky to pull for many reasons."
Ades concern was understandable to Creuset. Heliopolis belonged to the Orb Union. They were a neutral power and not part of the war directly. However, the Alliance was working on their "G-Project" inside, of that, he was sure. This was the only clear opportunity to get a look at and potentially steal OMNI's latest work. So, Creuset shook his head, "It will be too late if we delay in this. Your frustration is understandable, and I would sympathize. Yet I assure you that I've seen enough to know that with the evidence we have says the enemy is up to dangerous things." Creuset sent a picture he'd already shown to the man towards Ades, "You tell me what these pictures tell you. To me, it says that time is of the essence and the time to act is now. We will only come to regret our inaction later, likely paid with our lives." Creuset paused, "The Alliance's attempt to create mobile suits must not slip through our grasp because of hesitation, they needed to be secured before they're moved somewhere else."
W hile that was going on, down in the pilot locker room a young man was thinking about what he was expected to do soon. He stood at five feet seven inches and had neck length blue hair and green-colored eyes. His name was Athrun Zala, and he was a soldier and pilot in ZAFT. Athrun sighed to himself as he pulled on the gloves of his pilot suit. He was still having some serious reservations, questions, and doubts about the upcoming mission he would be a part of. The commander had briefed the participants on his plan for the mission. There were so many contradictions and ways things could go wrong, and lives be lost.
The more that Athrun thought about this mission, the more risks that came to his mind that could occur. Some of those possibilities were dangerous or lethal, and there was even the chance that the information obtained that this mission was going on was false. The mobile suits in the images could be frames the Orb Union was developing and completely unrelated to the Alliance or its OMNI forces. The other real possibility that would be a serious problem was the Federation's military discovering the ZAFT presence here without permission. There were serious consequences of trespassing in Federation territory that usually got ships shot at and potentially destroyed.
A proper allegory for the mission was like someone juggling high-grade explosives, several of them of the extremely dangerous variety along with a single jewel in the collection. The juggling was done in the hope that the juggler could snatch the one gem and leave while praying to get far enough away before all the explosives went off and spread horror. Most sane people would dismiss the idea outright as foolish and asking for trouble. It was a logical calculation which Athrun was inclined to agree with. One jewel was rarely worth so much potential harm and death. Yet, the commander wouldn't hear argument to the contrary of his plan.
If that allegory didn't make the mission seem a bad idea, the very notion of Orb helping the Alliance in weapon development was crazy and really ludicrous to him. There was far more reason for Orb not to work with the Alliance than to cooperate with them in Athrun's mind. Even if working with the Alliance could accelerate the union's own weapon development, especially with mobile suits, it made more sense to remain strictly neutral. Should they do that, Orb could quietly develop their technology while everyone else ignored them. That's pretty much how the Federation was supposed to do things. With Orb being on as good of terms as they were with the Federation, it made even more sense not to work with the Alliance.
That being said, if ZAFT forces were caught attacking Heliopolis, things would be beyond bad for them. The Federation could use that as cause to attack both ZAFT vessels here without much further issue. Orb may own Heliopolis, but the area was essentially Federation territory. That created a time factor for the mission due to Federation patrol schedules that would have to be accounted for. Athrun was brought out of his thought as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He turned and glanced to his left and saw a recently made friend by the name of Rusty Mackenzie. He was slightly taller than Athrun himself by a centimeter or two. He had chin length orange hair and had a somewhat babyish looking face. Rusty had quickly become Athrun's friend while they had both been in ZAFT basic training. Their friendship had strengthened during the weeklong survival course as they had been in the same trio. They had watched each other's back and trusted one another. It wasn't to the same extent as Athrun had with his best friends Tyler and Kira. However, it wasn't a great deal less than the friendship he had with those two. "Rusty," Athrun questioned, "Sorry I was lost in my thoughts."
Rusty had been watching Athrun off and on since the mission brief had been given. The two of them had been close friends since the survival course that all ZAFT soldiers had to take. Athrun had a good heart and didn't like people getting hurt, which Rusty understood and respected. And Rusty wouldn't fault Athrun for being lost in thought, Rusty had been doing the same since the mission brief from Commander Creuset. The mission ahead was concerning to Rusty and he didn't doubt it was the same for Athrun. They were two of three in the mission team that had expressed worries to the commander. Yet, Commander Creuset had assured all the members of the mission team things would work out fine.
The plan to infiltrate the colony and attempted to capture OMNI's project sounded simple on the face of it, but Rusty feared it would be anything but that way. If the colony was controlled by the Alliance, it would be much simpler even if the risks would be about the same. However, Heliopolis was owned and controlled by the Orb Union who was a neutral power. That complicated the mission, and ZAFT would be called out for the attack in most possible outcomes. Then the colony was surrounded by Federation territory which had its own set of issues to deal with. The commander may say things would work out just fine, but Rusty wondered if Creuset was factoring in the potential of a Federation patrol coming by while the attack was going on. Two ZAFT vessels had slim chances of winning against a Federation patrol, Rusty was aware of the calculated odds.
Nevertheless, Commander Creuset had insisted the mission proceed according to the plan he'd laid out. That had led to the team suiting up so they could board the shuttles which would take them to the colony. "I don't blame you for being lost in thought, Athrun," Rusty remarked. "You aren't the only one who still has doubts about the mission and plan Commander Creuset laid out to us. I still have some and don't like what is expected of us in this. We can only hope things go as the plan says they should and the mission can be contained and not effect the rest of the colony. If that isn't possible, pray the colony's citizens will be able to get to the shelters quickly so they can be safe from the fighting."
Athrun was glad Rusty was worried and had doubts like he was about the mission. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only one that was concerned about what was ahead. Heliopolis was a colony that belonged to a neutral nation, and yet Commander Creuset insisted OMNI was there and the attack was needed. Athrun could believe OMNI may be in the colony, though it was still just as likely they weren't. Sure, the pictures the commander had shown had been rather convincing to say the mission had merit. But there was the chance the pictures could be fake or a fabrication to throw off those looking into OMNI activities. Athrun ended out frowning, "The mission doesn't feel right even after the commander explained things," he returned. "All the data is second hand and doesn't have any corroboration to say it is likely true. This mission is a real risk for all of us, we're essentially putting our necks on the line for Commander Creuset's hunch. It is hard to put faith in that even with the commander's record of being right."
"Hey," snapped a voice from two lockers down from Rusty and Athrun. They turned slightly to see one of their teammates for this mission almost glaring at them. The teammate's name was Yzak Joule and was a bit of a hot head. He had medium length silver hair that went down to the top of his neck along with blue eyes and stood at five foot nine inches. He could be seen as handsome if not for his attitude most of the time. He could be hard to get along with sometimes, but Athrun and Rusty didn't say that out loud. Athrun sighed, "What is it, Yzak?"
Yzak had seen Rusty and Athrun appearing to be talking about something. The time for talk was essentially over with the mission soon to start. Commander Creuset had laid out the plan for them to work with. The plan was straight forward and should be doable for the mission team. There was no more that needed to be discussed about the mission after the briefing. "You two shouldn't be wasting the time talking," Yzak stated. "The mission briefing gave us the facts we need to get the job done."
Rusty knew Yzak would likely be hard to deal with until after the mission was finished. That time couldn't come fast enough for Rusty or others he would bet. He didn't need to know that Athrun and Rusty were still having doubts, Yzak would just snap at them instead. That was the last thing needed before the mission. So, Rusty gave a small smile, "We're good Yzak, just discussing ways we can cover one another's back should it be needed," he replied. "The plan may be straight forward, but things rarely go exactly as predicted."
" You're just excited then Yzak," Dearka Elsman posed. This teammate of Rusty and Athrun's was the same height as Yzak. He had blonde hair and purple eyes and was more easy-going most of the time. "Give the two a break, Yzak," Dearka continued. "After all, it was their team that beat a proctor during the survival course when the rest didn't. They make a good team if they can do that if you ask me."
A nother team member floated up to the four as they had been talking. The individual was named Nicol Amalfi, and he was friends with Rusty and Athrun. Nicol had green hair and brown eyes with a height under his comrades at five foot five. Nicol didn't like Yzak trying to call out Rusty and Athrun as he was trying to do. Yzak was command material yet, though he had some potential in that. Nicol had seen hints that Rusty and Athrun had concerns and doubts about he mission much as he had. Commander Creuset may have said there was little to worry about, but not all had agreed with that. Nicol trusted Rusty and Athrun's judgement since their time as a team during the survival course. They had saved Nicol within the first day of the course from another trying to attack him. The next few days had created a solid friendship between the three of them through that experience.
Nicol wouldn't let his friends be called out or chided when they hadn't earned it. Rusty was right that it was best to have a few possible plans to watch one another's back during the mission. If the data Commander Creuset had provided was correct, Nicol couldn't see OMNI just letting their weapons be stolen without a fight. OMNI would do whatever they could to stop the mission team, shooting to kill without doubt. "While the compliment is nice Dearka," Nicol began, "Yzak's excitement is reckless. We will need to help each other which does include watching one another's backs. If the commander is right about OMNI being inside, they will be doing all they can to stop and kill us."
Nicol paused for a minute since OMNI was only half of the equation that the mission had to take into account. The colony was own and run by Orb who was neutral. ZAFT attacking would not be taken silently, not if Orb's political leader was as stubborn as his reputation implied. Then the colony was essentially in Federation territory. Intel said Federation patrols did past in view of the colony when they didn't use their stealth systems. "Whether OMNI is in the colony or not, we need to keep any possible damage to the interior to a minimum. Infiltrating the colony will be called out by Orb I wouldn't doubt. And the worse case scenario is if a Federation patrol comes by while we are inside. If that happens, we need to be focused on OMNI and not doing anything we can prevent to the colony's citizens. The more of us that make it back the better in the end."
Rau had entered the pilot locker room to check on the team which the mission would be accomplished by. He had heard Nicol's iteration and was once again impressed by the young man. Nicol Amalfi had immense potential as a soldier and would no doubt make an effective mission commander in the future. His father on the PLANTs Supreme Council had to be proud of the boy and his service. And Nicol did make some very valid points about the mission which needed to be considered. OMNI was inside of the colony, there was no doubt about that with the information Rau had acquired. However, Orb wouldn't let the attack just be dismissed which would get the council involved. It would be worse if a Federation patrol happened to come by while the mission was in progress. "Nicol is quite right," Rau stated. "This will be a delicate balance to pull the mission off."
"Commander Creuset," muttered Yzak, surprised to see their enigmatic commander here.
"I said this mission is of great significance," Rau continued. "The Alliance's OMNI Enforcers have developed prototype mobile suits at a colony of the Orb Union, under no circumstances should this be treated lightly." He paused, "The success or failure of this mission could have a tremendous impact on the rest of the war rest assured. Time is of the essence, and we need the mission to be done before Federation patrols come looking around," Rau stated firmly, taking time to study his subordinates, and gave a slight nod as he concluded that any joking attitude had vanished. "The fate of ZAFT rests on your young shoulders, so we're counting on you to help secure the future."
The five in red pilot suits snapped to attention saluting their commander without visible hesitation, "Yes sir! For the glory of ZAFT!"
After Commander Creuset left, the five headed to the hangar and boarded the shuttle that would take them to the colony. The shuttle left the Vesalius and was quickly joined by another shuttle that came out of the Gamow. The two shuttles move to be on a route that wouldn't be noticed by any of the colony controllers. The less chance of any warning being raised the better it would be for the mission. If OMNI could be caught by surprise, then there was the chance the rest of the colony wouldn't have to be involved in this. The shuttles made an arc around the colony, gliding for most of it to give less heat signatures to face the rock base of the colony. The aim was to get the team as close to maintenance access ways as possible for them to use as an infiltration point. The shuttles deployed their drag chutes to slow them down and stop them before they touched the rock wall. The shuttle pilots told the mission team they had arrived at the drop off point and they were good to head out.
Athrun looked to Nicol, who was nearest the hatch of the shuttle and nodded for him to be ready to open the hatch. Then Athrun depressurized the shuttle interior and then Nicol opened the hatch giving those in the team an unobstructed view of the outside of the colony wall. Athrun raised a hand and waved those in the craft to exit. They were joined by the other half of the team from the second shuttle. The whole mission team used their thrusters to move to the rock wall and more specifically the maintenance bulkhead that was ahead of them. The access ways would provide a path to the colony interior. And from the specs that Athrun had seen, they could even use them to get to the colony district Morgenroete was in where the targets were supposed to be.
The main mission plan called for those in the ZAFT red pilot suits to capture the enemy weapons. There were five suits according to the evidence obtained, and a pilot had been chosen for each machine by the commander. There was a risk to those chosen getting killed by the Alliance personnel defending their suits and death was a real possibility. Therefore, regular ZAFT green pilots were accompanied their comrades to safeguard their lives the best they could from OMNI personnel. Also, if one of the red pilots fell, a green pilot would pick up the slack should something be off with their Intel. It was an unsaid given, anyone who didn't capture an Alliance machine would probably not make it out alive. Should they somehow be left alive, it would probably only be through capture and intelligence made it clear that such was a fate akin to death. Every single member of the team had volunteered for this mission as they understood the importance of this mission. Were OMNI to gain the use of mobile suits, the war would become much worse, and the death toll would skyrocket.
Athrun glanced at his watch waiting for the scheduled time to start the mission. These hatches were used almost daily at a set time, at the time, the hatch would automatically. Following the hatch opening, five seconds afterward the sensor lasers in the tunnel would shut down for thirty seconds normally in some sort of cycle. This routine was a relic from the time when Heliopolis was being built and had never been changed or removed. With the low number of workers, the need for more automation had forced for the necessity of maintaining the colony. If they encountered any maintenance workers, then they'd have to kill them, so Athrun hoped they were running a little late today so that they wouldn't need to kill someone unfortunate enough to just come by. There was already likely going to be a bloody battle with OMNI while they defended their project. Athrun would rather no other have to be silenced that was just around the colony.
A thrun's watch lit up just as he'd set it to do, and the maintenance hatch opened giving the view of long dirty maintenance tunnels of the resource colony. Since this tunnel was close to the outside of the colony, there wasn't an atmosphere here unless someone needed to work on this area. The ZAFT soldiers briefly caught sight of the sensor lasers before they deactivated. Athrun signaled for all to move inside so they could head toward their targets and get the messy business over and done with. The sooner the mission was over, the better Athrun would feel since he didn't like what could happen if things went wrong.
A/n
I'll leave off there. Unlike when I first revised this phase, it ended out much longer than it was. There are several things I would like to go over in these notes. First, the reason I redid this was several people gave me the critic and rightly so that it needed polishing. My writing has changed and improved from what it was when I started writing and even when I began this version of the story, I won't deny that. So, the writing style has gotten better which translates hopefully into a more enjoyable experience for you readers to have.
Let me move onto the changes in the "prologue" which now exists and is labeled. I know the prologue is more a history lesson for the Cosmic Era and it is intended as such. I wanted to build a foundation which this story works from. And as the poll I have now posted will ask, I am considering making that prologue into multiple Phases for this story. I would love you readers to go to the poll or write reviews to say whether you would be interested in me doing that in the future.
There are some highlights which I would like to point out in the prologue. The first is I hint about several things which come into play and get details at later points, just keep that in mind. Second, I want to state that I have nothing against religion or subjects that relate to it. My writing can suggest that, but it isn't so. I just don't work with such in order not to potentially offend you readers, it is my way of showing respect to you as I can. I also know that the events which I mention I'm more skimming over. That is why I'm considering doing multiple phases to go into those events in the future. The other thing which you may have noticed is that I give some attention to George Glenn. I feel that we only get a mention of him and sparse tidbits about him. He was the first official Coordinator in the series and that should be seen as significant. He was also a great contributor for Humanity during the early part of the Cosmic Era. I wanted to portray that for you readers as canon doesn't do that much at all.
The change in the order of the events of the Phase is to try and streamline the flow of this. I am trying to not go back and forth between things as it seems to work better for a story this one included. This will be the general norm for this revision. But moving onto the first scene with Tyler, his introduction may be close to the same as before, but the description of the mission is more detailed. First, I would like to highlight Tyler's behavior with Kato as it has changed in this revision. Tyler confronts Kato as you read, which he didn't do originally, and it is important. It shows that Tyler is willing to do even unpleasant things for those he sees as friends, Kira in this case. I would iterate Kira being naïve, but for those who have read this story, it would be pure redundancy. Kira is naïve and doesn't get a lot of social stuff, it will be a running gag, so enjoy it as much as it frustrates Tyler and others.
I would like to shift to when Natarle comes into this. I want to focus on her description of the G-Project and the difficulties it faces. First, the OMNI personnel figure something is going to happen soon, more due to the uptick in frequency of ZAFT coming around the colony. There is the assumption that should ZAFT cause issues, they could and likely will try to take or destroy the G-Weapons. And with the G-Project, ZAFT isn't seen as the only threat to, the Federation is seen that way as well. OMNI and the Alliance may not like the Federation, but at this point in the story, there are enough that see the Federation as a faction to take seriously. The rest of the Phase speaks for itself so I will shut up about it.
In conclusion, I will say there will be changes which I'm considering currently, but I will not say more so I don't spoil the fun. Get ready for longer Phases, though I will try to keep them under 30k in length minus the closing notes. As I normally do, I ask some of you to take the time to write a review and tell me what you think of this Phase. You can also PM me should you want to ask questions and not let others see it. Peace out until the next Phase!