PART 1 - 20-23-15
Her name was Ela. A descendant of the Khyber imperial family; a Princess in name only. The land she may have once laid claim to now lay smouldering and uninhabitable, at least for her lifetime.
She wore a crimson dress with long sleeves and intricate patterns, a golden headband with subtle decorative chains woven into her dark hair. An ornate and bejewelled egg-shaped necklace hung low on her chest, sparkling under the lights.
"Excuse me," Cagalli bowed her head politely at Councilman Hal's before stepping back, but the man was distracted, a look of confusion on his features.
There was no time to ponder the change in Hald's demeanour though, as for the first time that evening, Ela was finally on her own.
Despite the rich clothes adorning her, Cagalli could recognise that deer in headlight expression anywhere.
She was deeply uncomfortable being here.
Was it the natural disposition of a teenage girl being thrust unwillingly into a role she had not sought out? Wouldn't be the first time, Cagalli was careful not to let her thoughts manifest into a scowl.
Or – she pondered, watching Ela's eyes flit nervously left and right each time she was approached by another well-wisher – was there something more to it?
Either way, it was time to find out.
XXX
Earlier...
Perfect fragile shell, encased in crystal, forged in fire, close to my heart.
"What is this?".
Cagalli put down the scrap of paper and looked up at Athrun, amber eyes demanding answers.
They were in the executive suite of a luxury hotel next to Aprilius-One's inland sea. Through the windows, it was possible to see the Supreme Council building up the rise, still covered with scaffolding for repairs following the coup.
She was surprised when Athrun and Meyrin showed up without warning at the door of her suite, interrupting a pre-meeting discussion with Sai. She knew they were tracking down some leads up here, but didn't think their paths would cross on her short visit.
Her heart soared seeing Athrun, and she felt her anger at being interrupted while she was in the middle of something Very Important quickly, traitorously melting away.
But Athrun was serious, in work mode, reporting to his Commander-in-Chief. We have an urgent matter to discuss he advised forcefully, allowing no room to ask questions, let alone say no.
Cagalli signalled to her security standing outside the door to allow them in, and after shrugging helplessly at Sai, asked them to wait while they finished the briefing. It was hard to concentrate though – Meyrin sat quietly on a chair, trying very hard to make herself as unobtrusive as possible, but Athrun stayed standing, arms folded, his lips in a firm, serious line.
Periodically, Athrun would look out the windows at the crafted landscape beyond, his jade eyes intensely fixed on…something. Cagalli couldn't help wondering what he was thinking, how he was feeling about being here, being in the PLANT. It occurred to her, with heavy feeling, this was the first time they had both been in the PLANT together since Armoury One.
Cagalli eventually sighed, realising it was hopeless. "Can we regroup in 15 minutes? I think I'm across enough of the detail for the meeting now anyway," she said apologetically to Sai, ushering him out.
And now Cagalli re-intensified her stare at Athrun – waiting for a coherent explanation for why the nonsensical words on this scrap of paper justified interrupting her preparations for a critical meeting with her diplomats before tomorrow's negotiations to re-establish COMPS.
Perfect fragile shell, encased in crystal, forged in fire, close to my heart.
"I need a favour," Athrun said finally.
"Athrun!" she growled, demanding he get to the point.
He sat down across from her, leaning on his knees with his hands folded. "This is intelligence from a Terminal agent embedded in the Singularity crime syndicate,".
"The Singularity…?"
"It's relatively new as far as crime gangs go, probably established not long after the First War, but has really started to make its mark since the Foundation Attack. Mostly by taking advantage of the chaos in Eurasia,". In other words, it found itself in the right place, at the right time.
"At its most harmless, it's a gang of scavengers – they've been sifting through the ruins of Ishtaria, looking for whatever they can find to profit from. Art, jewels, gold…and military data,".
There were a lot of parties interested in the latter.
Cagalli went still. He knew he had her attention, that she understood exactly what he was saying.
Interested parties including whatever remained of Blue Cosmos, of course, but also ZAFT extremists linked to Durandal, Jagganath…and Zala…who had helped fund the Foundation's succession from Eurasia.
Who probably felt a sense of ownership over the Foundation's advanced military equipment, given it was based on ZAFT technology.
But the Empress Aura was paranoid. She shared little with those who had supported her. Even Jagannath.
Athrun looked out the window, again.
Belatedly, and to his own personal irritation, Athrun understood the timing of the intelligence leak… the COMPS talks…the invitation for Eurasia to observe…it was no coincidence.
But it was too late, events were now deep in motion. And maybe it could be spun to their advantage…
"The possibility of the Singularity finding something the official clean-up missions passed over is why Terminal has been keeping close tabs on them,". To date, they had found surprisingly little – even in the deep underground military bunkers, everything had been destroyed – probably even before the nuclear attack - machinery, computer servers, nothing backed up even in the cybersphere. Athrun talked Cagalli through this.
It seemed the Foundation's military tech had disappeared as fantastically as it had appeared – as if it were all a dark, macabre dream.
But then…deep in the carcass of the hollowed imperial palace, in a reinforced steel safe in the Empress' inner sanctum…
A map, of sorts, was found.
A map to a hidden treasure…
Data for the Black Knight's Femtech armour.
Cagalli looked at Athrun with wide eyes. She bit her lip. "But…I don't understand…what does this have to do with any of that?".
"It's an extract from one of Aura's journals," Athrun explained. "That's what the Singularity found in the safe – handwritten journals, filled with riddles and babble…" he trailed off, his words thick with disgust.
Cagalli shivered recalling that high-pitched voice, the knowing eyes mis-matched to her childlike body.
"But with the journals was this cipher, see, here's a copy," Meyrin walked over with her tablet, bringing up an imagine of a complex table with letters and numbers. "We think it will lead us to the coordinates for a security box in the Sicuro storage facility," Meyrin added. "If we can work out what this riddle means,".
"Who has the original journal?".
"The Singularity. Currently working out who the highest bidder will be. But they need to make sure it is what it is to get the best price,".
Frowning, Cagalli considered the words on the slip of paper again.
Perfect fragile shell, encased in crystal, forged in fire, close to my heart.
Cagalli looked up again, sceptical. "Isn't there every chance it's just…nonsense?".
Athrun shrugged, accepting the point. "Aura developed a system of riddles and games to protect her research,".
"Her mind was going backwards along with her physical body through exposure to the de-aging chemicals in Mendel. It's something that features in all the intel we've found about her... an obsession with fairytales and fantasy...".
The fantasy of Foundation. Athrun and Cagalli exchanged a pained, knowing glance at each other – both thinking of Lacus, the prophesied princess who was to join her prince in a pre-determined partnership to lead the world to a new peace. And so on, and so on.
"The trouble is it seems Aura was often drawing on her very long memory to concoct these riddles – the historical records from the region are poor; and anyone who might have first-hand information is….well. There aren't many of Aura's contemporaries around anymore,".
Except…maybe, exiled relatives, from another time.
"The reception tomorrow night" Cagalli echoed, realising now why Athrun and Meyrin were here.
Meyrin brought up a picture of the Princess Ela; and zoomed in on a necklace being worn by the young woman – an egg-shaped pendant covered in sparkling jewels. "It's a necklace which belonged to the Khyber family, handed down over the generations. We suspect there might be something inside it that can answer the riddle and give us the location of the data,".
"A fragile 'shell'…diamonds forged by fire…worn close to the heart…," Cagalli mused aloud, then looked at Athrun again with quirked eyebrow. "Are you sure, it seems like such a long bow?".
"It's as good a lead as we've got,".
"Wait, is she in danger?!" Cagalli rose her voice in alarm.
"Not as far as we know. ZAFT intelligence is monitoring, and security in place for the reception and COMPS talks is as high-level as you'll get. But," Athrun had to concede "The situation in the PLANT is still not wholly stable,". Despite Yzak and Dearka's best efforts.
"Why don't we just set up a meeting and ask her directly? I can make a formal request,".
"There isn't time for that. Not while you're here in the PLANT anyway. Also…we're not sure where Ela's allegiances are…don't want to give away to the Singularity we are onto them, otherwise they could slip away into the night,".
"How am I supposed to work it out…" Cagalli started, but Athrun cut her off gazing at her directly.
"Your intuition on these things is better than anyone, Cagalli – you will be able to tell,".
Her cheeks went rosy, and she dropped her eyes away from his. "What if it's not what you're looking for?" she then asked quietly. There was knock at the door, and Sai popped his head in. It was time to go to the Orb embassy in Aprilius-One for the briefing.
Athrun shoved his hands in his pockets, and returned to looking out the window. "…well, Meyrin will keep at it, and we'll just have to hope we work it out first,".