Phase 03: Joint Operation
"No! No! No!" The household was filled with Ren's screaming and wailing. He got off on the wrong side of the bed that morning and because of that, he was in an incredibly grumpy mood. Especially seeing that his beloved Auntie Cagalli and Uncle Athrun were dressed up and he sensed that they were leaving.
Athrun was already dressed in his Orb military uniform and Cagalli was in her purple Orb representative outfit. They already finished breakfast and Kira, Lacus and Ren went to see them off. When both said their goodbyes to Ren, that was when he started to cry.
"Ara, Ren. Your auntie and uncle need to work today. They'll be back soon to visit us soon, isn't that right, Auntie Cagalli and Uncle Athrun?" Lacus held him and rubbed his back as he sobbed in her arms. He threw a bit of a fit and shook his head fiercely in disagreement, not wanting to accept his mother's comfort and her explanation. Lacus struggled to keep him in her arms as he was squirming, and Kira had to step in and carry him for her.
"That's right Ren, we'll play again real soon!" Cagalli tried to cheer him up, but seeing her nephew bawling his heart out broke her heart. Her chauffeur was already waiting outside, but she didn't want to leave until he finally had a smile on his face. She did want to stay and spend more time with him, but she had work.
"No!" That seemed to have set him off again and he cried harder than before. Kira tried to sway around to comfort him, but he was unconsolable at this point. He wasn't usually like this, but it couldn't be helped since Ren was still a toddler. He didn't understand why they couldn't stay here with him and today, he really disliked it and was really upset.
"Ren, it's alright…" Kira tried coax him to stop crying, but to no avail.
Athrun walked towards Ren and cleared his throat. Since Athrun was the only one that wasn't consoling him, this caught Ren's attention and he looked up at his uncle. He sniffled and tears were still streaming down from his eyes. Kira patted his back as his son was starting to hiccup.
"Ren, aren't you a gundam pilot?" Athrun asked in a gentle voice. Cagalli, Lacus and Kira were all puzzled by his question. But since it managed to quiet down Ren, they just observed him.
Ren nodded yes and Athrun patted him on the head. "Your uncle is a gundam pilot too. Right now, Auntie Cagalli and I need to go and work, but you need to stay here and protect your home. What do you say? Shall we make a pact as gundam pilots?" Athrun held out his pinky finger to him.
With his tear-filled eyes, Ren looked at Athrun hesitantly and reached out his finger for a pinky swear with his uncle. "Okay…" He mumbled.
Athrun ruffled Ren's head and gave him a smile. "You're such a good boy Ren."
All three others watched in relief as that seemed to have calmed Ren down and he let them go without putting up a fight. Kira was still carrying Ren as he shyly waved goodbye to them. The three of them stood by their porch seeing them off.
Both of them waved at Ren and Cagalli turned to him. "That was a good one, Athrun." She thanked him as he escorted her to her car. She was happy that he really had grown into being Ren's uncle. She remembered back when Ren was still an infant, he wasn't confident that he could hold him, and he panicked when Ren cried or did something unpredictable. Now he was able to get the hang of it.
"I wasn't sure if that would work, but I didn't know how else to help." He admitted, sighing out of relief. "Anyway, I'll see you later..." They were already in front of her car and the chauffeur held the door open for her. He wanted to kiss her but stopped himself from doing so. Even if her staff knew about their situation, he still held back.
"Yes, see you. Good luck later." She nodded and got into her car.
Cagalli rolled down her window and waved to his brother, sister-in-law and nephew, internally promising to free up her schedule in the next few weeks so she could visit them as soon as possible.
Athrun walked towards his own machine to take the trip to the base near the parliament building and get in some work before meeting up with key officials. As he booted up his machine, his camera focused on Kira, Lacus and Ren. He felt bad for them as they were going to be by themselves again until someone drops by.
"Have a safe trip both of you!" They heard Lacus' singsong voice giving them well-wishes. "Come see us again!"
"Come again!" Ren waved more enthusiastically this time; his mood has considerably brightened from a few minutes ago.
When both Cagalli's car and Athrun's mobile suit were out of site, the family of three turned around to walk back into their home and to start another day.
"Time for work for me." Kira said, thinking about the pile of work that Athrun hand-delivered to him yesterday.
"Now! What will I prepare for lunch?" Lacus clasped her hands and smiled enthusiastically.
"Play with Torii, Blue and Mr Haros!" Ren shouted excitedly.
Another day with only just the three of them.
"Representative Athha, these are the documents that you need to sign. These aren't that urgent, so I'll leave it on your desk for you to look through." Sai received her with smile as she got out of the meeting.
After the second war, Miriallia came to her and asked if their old comrade Sai could also come and work for her. Sai shifted gears from being in engineering school and furthered his studies in the realm of political science for the past few years. Cagalli agreed as she remembered his dedication to fight alongside them during the first war. He now works in the Orb government council, functioning as an information officer assisting Cagalli in administrative work. He also is agile enough to be assigned to some operations and the Cavalier Aifrid for some CIC work during emergency situations.
"Thank you, Sai." Cagalli thanked him as they walked briskly to her next appointment with Touya just right behind her. The policy discussions extended a bit more than she'd like. It was a long dialogue regarding changes with Orb's current healthcare programs and they had to go over this in another session where Cagalli would ultimately give her approval if the bill was already finalized.
"The car is ready outside." Sai informed her.
She got out of the parliament building and towards her vehicle where her chauffeur was waiting for her. She and Touya got on to go to the Orb military headquarters in the capital for their next agenda for the day. Sai was in a separate escort car but was also headed to the same venue.
"Looks like the several high-ranking officers from the Earth Alliance Forces will also be present today." Touya mentioned as was going through documents in preparation for their appointment.
"Yeah, I'd expect nothing less. The United States of South America is a member of the Alliance after all." Cagalli nodded and browsed]lk through her emails to check for anything important that she needed to respond to before she got sat into another long-drawn meeting.
Their intel has discovered that there were activities from Blue Cosmos in one of the remote islands in Western Polynesia. Just when they thought that the organization of radical naturals that caused so many coordinator deaths had already died a natural death, they now find out that it was very much still alive, and that their operations were now ramping up. They stayed on the down-low and tried to build up resources and funding as they could before striking again.
It also appeared that several officials and elites from the United States of South America were financing their actions by laundering money to their offshore accounts in those islands where there was less banking regulation. Large amounts of money have been withdrawn from those banks and there have been sizeable shipments of weaponry to those locations, which aroused suspicious activity that was flagged as possible terrorist movement. Most of the shipments have been intercepted and confiscated but it seems that there was a number that was able to pass through successfully.
The island of Pacifica had little to no military power to even fend for themselves. The country's government was mostly in the dark when Cagalli and the President of USSA had presented all the facts of the case and sought assistance to rid of the illegal activities happening in their small archipelago.
Given the threat that it serves to Orb as the island is near their territorial waters and confirmation that officials from South America directly involved, it became a problem for both jurisdictions. As such, it was decided that a joint operation between the United Emirates of Orb, United States of South America and COMPASS would take place to neutralize Blue Cosmos activities.
Knowing all this made Cagalli frustrated. Why does Blue Cosmos still exist up until this day? Why can't some naturals just accept the existence of Coordinators and co-exist peacefully?
When they visited the day before, they made it a point to not tell Kira and Lacus about the situation. Cagalli tried to block this issue from her mind so as Lacus won't be able to tell. She told Athrun to do the same. She focused on Ren the whole night and tried to think about other things when her thoughts went to it. She wasn't sure if it worked but if it failed and somehow Lacus caught on it, she didn't say anything.
Her mind flashed back to the image of Kira, Lacus and Ren waving goodbye to her. The crying face of Ren when they were departing because he didn't want to be left alone again. He probably wouldn't have felt that way under normal circumstances where he could be around many people and make friends with kids his age. Kira and Lacus too, even if they didn't show it, she knew how lonely it must be in their position. Their family still needed to be isolated from the world because so many people want them dead.
Just thinking about how the situation wasn't getting any better and the people she cared about continued to hide themselves from the world make her incredibly furious. There were so many people working so hard to achieve peace and yet it several people can't get past their hatred and their way of thinking is setting humanity's progress back.
That's why this joint operation must succeed. No matter how many times Blue Cosmos or any other radical group spring about, they must nip it in the bud to prevent it from seeping into people's hearts and minds again.
She will definitely pave a future where her loved ones can live a normal life.
"Cagalli nee-sama, we've arrived." Touya cut her train of thoughts as they arrived in the Olofat base. She put her device down as they pulled up on the driveway, all her things would be brought to her by Sai later.
"This way Representative Athha." They were both escorted to the conference area by Miriallia Haw as soon as they got out of the car. She was working in the Homeland Defense Ground Force in Olofat as her family resided in the capital. One of her duties was liaising military updates to Sai, and in turn, he reports to Cagalli. In times when the Orb military was being mobilized, she took the responsibility of a communications offer and would also be stationed in the Cavalier Aifrid.
Miriallia led them to a room where multiple high-ranking officials from Orb, COMPASS and the United States of South America were already present. They were all seated in a u-shaped conference table with a large screen at the very end of it. The president of the Pacifica Island was also in attendance virtually and was taking up the portion of the screen. She came in with a presence so commanding and all the officials stood up and gave her a salute to which she motioned for them to sit back down.
Before, meeting so many officers that were more experienced that her used to intimidate her. But now, that didn't matter anymore. Even if she was younger and a woman, she was well-aware of her role as a chief representative of Orb, and she didn't let anyone talk down on her. Soon, it was enough to gain the respect and trust of most officials.
Cagalli took her seat at the very head of the table, with Touya taking his place on her right and Miriallia and Sai standing right behind them. She glanced to her left to see familiar faces. It was her long-time comrades, Murrue and Mwu. Murrue gave her a smile and Mwu gave her a wink. Cagalli made a mental note to catch-up with them later.
Miriallia, Mwu and Murrue weren't the only ones Cagalli was closely acquainted with in this room. Athrun was there too and was already by the display monitor. He would be leading the meeting today to present to everyone what they already know so far of the situation and what the joint operation will entail. He met her eyes and gave her a silent greeting by way of a nod.
The same person who was carrying Ren around yesterday while they ran around and chased her and whom she slept beside with last night, was standing here radiating a different aura. He meant business. When it came to work, Athrun was very serious. He separated his personal life and his professional life that only people in their close circles knew about their closeness.
"President Anaru, thank you for taking the time from your schedule to attend. To the officers from United States of South America and COMPASS, I thank you for making the trip to Orb." Cagalli started, acknowledging all the guests. "As you all know, the world is under the threat of another uprising from the radical group anti-Coordinator group, Blue Cosmos. We must safeguard peace and ensure that these groups are not allowed to fester. We cannot allow this incident to lead to another war. That's why we must all work together now for a successful operation."
"I am grateful to Orb and officials from the United States of South America for your assistance. As you all know, our very small nation is not rich and doesn't have abundance of exports to offer and therefore we allot our funds to economic growth instead of a establishing a powerful military. We have no technology advanced and powerful enough to stop Blue Cosmos ourselves." President Anaru stated, his eyes filled with so much regret that this was happening under his belt. "Everyone, please lend our small country your strength."
"It is no problem." Captain Gonzales from the USSA navy fleet also interjected. He was a man who was a veteran and had survived years of war. He was one of the oldest people in the room, his black hair already starting to show colors of grey. "The backers of this undertaking are citizens from South America. While most of the backers have already been arrested, the money has been transferred so it is only fitting that we also take responsibility for this."
Murrue Ramius also spoke. "Of course, COMPASS is here to oversee the operation and will provide necessary backup."
All the people in the room gave each other nods of agreement and when everyone was on the same page, Cagalli then turned to Athrun. "Thank you everyone. Well then, let's begin, Rear Admiral Zala."
"Yes, Representative Athha." Athrun cleared his throat and kicked of the discussion.
The screen lit up while the room lights dimmed. There, it showed photos that were taken secretly from the Pacifica Island. It showed development of weapons and mobile suits. It was the first time most people in the room saw this and there was a moment of surprise. Cagalli even heard Miriallia gasp. She, however, remained calm as she already saw this beforehand. Athrun sent her a mail that she already reviewed yesterday while she was on her way to visit Ren.
"Based on our intel, the mines in the Pacifica Island have been a great source of raw materials for the mobile suits. The mines have been privately owned by the Enele family but had been bought out by Blue Cosmos. We suspect that these are the funds that came from the backers of the United States of South America. The area is large and secluded enough that it would have gone unnoticed save for COMPASS detecting some unusual activity via their satellite monitoring and Orb detecting some unusual shipments crossing their waters." Athrun started.
The photos changed from the initial weapons to the citizens of Pacifica Island that were working in the vicinity under harsh conditions. Cagalli felt a mixture of anger and forlorn seeing their faces. She knew they were forced to work in this illegal setting, and they seemed to have no choice but to comply, lest their livelihoods or lives be taken away from them. The President of the Pacifica Island also had the same grim expression on his face, seeing his people in such a predicament.
"The visual of the mobile suits seem to imply that they were able to obtain the technology used by the Foundation." Athrun continued and a photo of a mobile suit prototypes flashed the screen. They indeed looked very similar to the mobile suits of that the Foundation used in the battle five years ago with just some modifications.
"Is it possible that they also have the Femto Armor?" Mwu asked, remembering how problematic it was for them to deal with the Black Knights with that kind of armor that blocked their beams.
"We cannot yet confirm if the Femto Technology Armor has been incorporated in the mobile suits but with the material of the prototypes, we can assume that it is. To be conservative enough, we should assume that it is an upgraded version of it." Athrun stated as a matter of fact.
"What?" Captain Gonzalez gasped in horror. That armor was very difficult to deal with and not even Earth forces are able to keep up with that kind of technology. "How are they even able to obtain that technology?"
"Most likely from ruins of the Foundation kingdom." Murrue chimed in as she was very involved in the clean-up post the battle. "While the capital was hit by a nuclear bomb, the military facility was almost at the outskirts, and it may have contained some information that they could have utilized.
"But that site would have been heavily radioactive!" Captain Gonzalez exclaimed as it was absurd for anyone to go that far.
"It is, but it's not impossible." Mwu said. "After all, we now have anti-radiation suits that can allow us to visit the site. That's what exactly what COMPASS did when we secured the area and ensured that any information that was high risk and of confidential nature was extracted and cleared permanently."
"But… we were only able to do that post the battle with the Foundation." Murrue explained. COMPASS activities were suspended after Kira was manipulated by the Black Knights to cross Eurasia's territory. Since they had to worry about Foundation shooting their enemies with Requiem, they had no time to focus on other things.
COMPASS weas only re-established after Cagalli's mediation and after convincing the PLANTs and Atlantic Federation to resume their support. Even when they were back on board, there were still damages from the aftermath of Foundation battle that needed to be prioritized. As such, they were able to examine the Foundation ruins, wipe out the data and dispose of the remaining materials found only after two months.
"Since the Foundation worked with the faction from ZAFT that raised a coup d'état, it could be that the information was passed on from that alliance between them and was somehow obtained by Blue Cosmos." Captain Luciano, another officer, with a Colombian descent, from the USSA speculated.
"That's…" President Anaru was surprised with the claim.
"We have yet to find out the source, so I suggest that we don't jump to hasty conclusions just yet." Cagalli cautioned this kind of thinking. It was a dangerous thing to accuse ZAFT of something of this gravity. It may trigger another conflict yet again and people shouldn't have the mindset of pointing accusations towards the other side so quickly.
"You're right Representative Athha. Apologies everyone for that rash statement." Captain Luciano bowed his head down in shame.
"Let's continue." Cagalli nodded and urged the discussion to go on.
"Another pertinent information that we have obtained is the person behind all this, the new leader of Blue Cosmos." When Athrun mentioned this, the whole room went really tense. Everyone held their breath, wondering who could have been still stubborn enough to hold onto these ideals that Coordinators shouldn't exist.
"Jonathan Gabriel." Athrun stated and everyone shared confused glances. No one knew who this person was. This person's name wasn't in the list of the former members nor the backers that were linked to it. "This might be a false name but there is little known about this person and his background."
Cagalli read the report from Terminal, and it was the only data that they have so far. This person seemed to have hidden his identity so well, so they had very little to work with. It was frustrating because this means they didn't have a clue on who they were dealing with. But with the photos from Athrun's presentation, it was certain that he was a very dangerous man. Now that she thought about it, anyone who wished to eradicate a whole race is someone that extremely terrifying.
Athrun then proceeded to expound on the details of their mission to the people present in the conference room. It was a very thorough plan of the operation which Orb was spearheading, with the cooperation of forces from the United States of South America and COMPASS. He outlined the supplies and mobile suits that they needed and then laid out the strategy that they would implement once they reach the island. The tactic makes very good use of all their military resources that ensures minimal losses.
Athrun would be taking command of the whole operation and Cagalli was already worrying about his safety. While she had no doubts on his piloting and hand-to-hand combat abilities, it was his recklessness at times that made her anxious. Besides, it had been a long time since they had an operation on this scale so for him to be setting off again for combat just had Cagalli's stomach in knots.
She wished that she could at least oversee the battle or support him remotely via the Cavalier Aifrid. But she had other duties to attend. This joint mission was also confidential so if she were to be actively put her focus here, it might tip off some officials that are not privy to the situation and might cause spread some unrest.
Another thing was Prince Fredrik's ball that she needed to attend to. The day that she would leave for the Kingdom of Scandinavia would be the commencement of the operation. She frowned that while Athrun was risking his life for the operation, she was in a frivolous social gathering.
The conference finally ended after so many other points for discussion and questions raised by the attendees. Cagalli had some quick conversations with the officials from the USSA before leaving for another commitment. She smiled at Murrue and Mwu as she left the room, there was no need to have a chat with them now, they would be catching up with each other later.
"Representative Athha." Athrun formally called out and made his way to her and she stopped in her tracks.
Representative Athha… Whenever he addressed her that way instead of just calling her Cagalli, she always found that she felt a bit lonely. It was the same when she had to address him with his military title. The lack of familiarity and the closeness… It was like there was distance in between them. It was such an irrational thing to feel as they were around other people, but it was something that couldn't be helped.
"What is it, Rear Admiral Zala?" She turned to look up at him.
He leaned in and whispered in a low voice. "I'll be working on some additional preparations for the operation, so I won't be able to join later." He was referring to the dinner with Murrue and Mwu.
"Ahh… Is that so…" Cagalli felt a tinge of disappointment, but she knew that he had to prioritize this mission. They couldn't be selfish because there were many things that they both needed to do. Besides, most of the time, she was the one who was blowing him off due to so many tasks on her plate.
"Yeah, I have to speak with the staff as well to make a preliminary briefing." He explained to her.
"I understand…" She said with a sad smile. She did recognize that while she wanted to spend more time with him while he was here in the capital, it was imperative that all arrangements for the operation were ironed out and that Athrun had to focus on this first. He wasn't here for a vacation after all.
Her look didn't escape Athrun, so he gave her an honest apology. He didn't want to give her false promises that he could try to finish everything early and make it to the dinner. "I'm sorry…"
She shook her head and composed herself. "No no, don't worry about it! This is more important. The mission must succeed so please, make all the necessary preparations that you need."
He showed a bit of relief in his face and was about to say something else before Touya interrupted them. "Cagalli nee-sama, we should leave. We will be late for the meeting with the Space Development Program with representatives from the PLANTs." He was keeping track of the time and seeing that Cagalli was preoccupied by Athrun, he had to intervene.
"Right." Cagalli then snapped out of it and cleared her throat. "Well then, do your best Rear Admiral Zala. We're taking our leave now."
"Thank you Representative Athha." He bowed his head slightly as Cagalli left for her next engagement.
Before Touya also left to follow Cagalli, he gave a quick glance at Athrun and gave him a curt nod and turned quickly turned around to leave, not even giving Athrun the chance to say anything to him.
Sai was quickly catching up with Miriallia and when he saw them leave, he rushed to catch up with Cagalli and Touya. He quickly paused to give Athrun a quick salute and ran off.
Athrun sighed when they left. Touya was another one of those people that didn't seem to like him that much. When they first met, he thought he was just a bit aloof, but seeing how he warmed up to everyone except him makes it too obvious. He even calls Kira, Kira-nii-sama! Then was talking with Shinn just fine too. It was only him that received this kind of treatment from him.
He didn't know what he did to gain Touya's aversion towards him. Was it because he left for ZAFT during the second war and that he fought against Orb? It might be that and he wouldn't blame him for that. Even though he didn't cause any casualties to Orb soldiers, he did point his weapon towards them. He might not like it that he's with Orb again, even having such a high position now in the military.
But anyway, Touya wasn't being outwardly disrespectful towards him, and it wasn't the first time that this happened so he could live with that. Yzak and Shinn didn't like him too when during their first encounters, but they were more or less on amicable terms now, with Yzak that is… With Shinn, they butted heads every now and then. It was nothing new for the both of them.
"Rear Admiral Zala?" Miriallia called out to him to as he was needed for some checks that they needed to conduct.
"Miriallia, why doesn't Touya like me? How can I get along with him?" He said absentmindedly. Even if he said that he was fine with it, it did bother him. At least with Yzak and Shinn he did know why they didn't like him, but with Touya, it was a mystery.
He mentioned it to Cagalli and she said she didn't notice but that she would talk to him as Touya never mentioned anything about it. After that, when they were all together, Touya would talk to him in a friendlier tone but when she wasn't looking, he would revert to being cold and ignoring him.
Miriallia looked at the Cagalli, Touya and Sai's retreating figure, then at Athrun's defeated expression and chuckled.
"What?" Athrun turned to her confused.
"Nothing. Who knows, maybe you did or said something that he didn't like." She shook her head in denial. Miriallia knew the reason why, but she wasn't about to tell him. To her, watching all this unfold was her little form of entertainment.
Notes: Some fans mention Touya as a possible love interest… so why not? Hehehe.
Also, I always have a hard time writing the political stuff but it's important to the story. A lot of the plot points that I've been thinking about are always the AsuCaga moments and I'm not even at those parts of the story so it's a struggle to get to!