Phase 36: Rau Le Creuset II

"A name is the anchor of one's existence in reality. Then, what if one doesn't have a name, or the name is not real? If it doesn't have a real name… would that mean… its existence is not real either, isn't that right, 'phantom'?" Rau asked his adversary. Little he know that the challenge he made would replied with a response so violent that it shook his entire world.

Rau's eyes roamed around the dimly lit room. Other normal commanders would have been unnerved by the eerily silent tension inside the room, but he was neither normal nor cared about whatever people think, including the man seated in front of him. "Someone really should look into the room's lighting," he said. "It's a bit morose; don't you think? Maybe add some blue lighting to increase alertness and enhance performance on cognitive task?

"I didn't ask you to come here to ask your opinion about my office's deco,"

"Oh, that's presumptuous of me, since I thought that's the reason why I'm here and you're just giving me time to appraise."

"Don't mistake tolerance for condonation, Creuset,"

"Forgive my rudeness. So, how can I help you, Chairman Zala?"

"Whatever," Patrick Zala said, not wanting to argue with him. The man reached for a drawer near his table, took out a tablet, and handed it over. "We have a mission of utmost importance, one that requires absolute discretion and unwavering commitment. This mission is classified at the highest level. No one except your team will know of it,"

"Including the Council?"

"Yes, especially Clyne and his lackeys,"

"Understood," It was a known fact that Patrick and Siegel were once close friends who fought hard for the independence of PLANTs against Sponsor Nation's oppressive control and treatment of the colonies. However, just as politics could make strange bedfellows, it can also make families or close friends into enemies. Siegel and Patrick's friendship had fractured, probably hastened by the death of the latter's wife. "Are you worried that the former Chairman would oppose the mission?" he asked as there was no harm in twisting the knife in further.

"No,"

"Then why not announce it, to show him that you're in control?"

"It's not about control. It's about preventing possible leaks. The Council is probably compromised,"

The mistrust ran even deeper than he thought. "I'll ensure no details will be known to them,"

Satisfied by Rau's words, Patrick continued, "You know about the document they called the Book of Revelation?"

Rau nodded as he swiped over the tablet in his hand to read the information for the mission. "Yes. It's foolish, really, in my opinion. It's just a technical documentation of a nuclear reactor that can work in a N-Jammer field. But what of it?"

"Another design was released, with the reactor being miniaturized enough to be placed on ships or spacecraft, or maybe even mobile suits,"

Rau skimmed over a diagram. "Turin Shroud?"

"They came up with whatever word they want, not that it really matters. Name aside, Amalfi believe the design is sound theoretically and if the technical difficulties are addressed, we will have a working prototype soon,"

"And this?"

"That's your real mission. A prototype code-named 'My Fair Lady' utilizing the Shroud that is apparently developed even earlier than the reveal. Our intel estimates that they're 1000 hours away from perfecting the design,"

"Can I include Joule and Elsmann?"

"I don't care,"

"Understood. Rau has expected for Patrick deny his request but the man didn't, highlighting the importance of the mission over protecting the lives of his political allies' sons. That being said, Rau only mentioned their inclusion because he wanted to rile Patrick, not that he really wanted to bring them along for the mission. Yzak was hot-headed and Dearka was arrogant, not exemplary soldiers that he would want for his command, their above skills notwithstanding. Besides, their parents, especially Ezalia, could be extremely annoying when it came to her son. "I would like to request for a list of all operatives to be available to me,"

"You shall have it,"

That would be better. Since there wasn't a need to do a propaganda stunt, he might as well command a team of special forces for the mission; they would be better trained, and if the mission went badly, it would be easier to make it go away. "Thank you, sir. I won't let you down,"

Patrick stared at him. "I know you wouldn't,"

Rau saluted sharply, "Yes, sir!"

He immediately went to organize all the resources needed to carry out the mission and a few hours later found him facing ZAFT officers and special operation operatives gathered inside the planning room. Everyone was briefed on the mission, which included the schematic of the place where the operation will take place, estimated threats at each location, and what task each team would be required to perform.

As the briefing had ended, and everyone had dispersed to make their own preparations, Rau returned to his room only to see an encrypted email waiting in the draft box, containing the coordinates of an unknown location. What made the email strange was that it was created in his name, meaning that someone had access to his personal account.

Interesting.

A few days later, in another location, Nicol gazed out of the VoLPHAU windows as its engines roared to the life, their vibrations made themselves present throughout the aircraft fuselage. It slowly began to taxi slowly from the hangar and heading towards the runway. As the plane lined up for take-off, he barely paid attention to the safety announcement made by the pilot. After all, he went through the procedures himself twice before letting his thoughts wander.

He felt the slight pressure against his body as the aircraft increased its velocity and raced down the runway until there was a slightly booming noise and the whole aircraft jolted a bit, and it was airborne. The scenery outside changed from individual houses shrinking until they became undistinguishable features as the VoLPHAU quickly gained attitude.

The VolPHAU was headed straight toward the Carpenteria Base located in the Gulf of Carpentaria, straddling the Cape York and Arnhem Land peninsulas in Australia.

"Something or someone on your mind?" Miguel, seated in front of him, teased.

Unbidden, the memory of him and Loretta being together flashed through Nicol's mind, causing him to feel a sense of longing for her. The therapists told him that Loretta was probably sexually grooming him, a term to define any action used to establish an emotional connection with him to lower his inhibition toward sexual act, but can it be called that if he was the one initiating it? If it was true that being sexually active at a younger age could cause mental problem later in life, and thus should be avoided, why was there no aversion to send people his age to fight in the war? "I'm wondering about our situation, especially the GuAIZes,"

"They're sending in replacement parts for your units," Athrun said.

The damages inflicted on their units was heavy but easily repairable. Nicol's unit had its main camera and main radar radome destroyed while three of the four limbs on Miguel's unit were taken out. "How about yours, Athrun?"

"They will be repaired in time for the mission,"

"Talking about that," Miguel said, "are the higherups thinking about this for real? All we were told was to pursue Archangel and defeat it and its mobile suits and mobile armors. What's up with that? Does our mission have some sort of strategic importance?"

"Strategic importance?" Athrun asked.

"Yes! I'm not trying to complain, but why do we need to chase after Archangel? Because Aegis and Buster are still operational? So what?"

"They're stronger and would be threats if left unchecked,"

"They're just modern-day wunderwaffe. Sounds so scary with that PS armor until it runs out of power or gets poked with a beam rifle. So why don't we have a squadron of GuAIZes with us right now?"

Nicol agreed with Miguel, somewhat blase but being on point. While GuAIZes were comparatively weaker than Duel and Aegis, enough number of them could defeat the two prototypes, just like the Eurasian Panzer mobile suits, causing havoc during the recent battle. While not impossible, trying to defeat the ship with its complement of mobile suits and mobile armor would be very difficult. Logically speaking, the number of mobile suits that ZAFT must assign to defeat their adversaries should be at least thrice the number. As Miguel rightfully said, a squadron.

"I think they'll assign other mobile suits and pilots at the Carpenteria," Athrun said.

Miguel sighed. "Nicol, you're the analysis guy. You get what I'm saying, right?"

"Maybe," Nicol offered.

"Explain to our friend here,"

"We're part of an elaborate inveiglement,"

"Decoys," Nicole supplied helpfully.

"For what?" Athrun asked.

"That's a good question, but I'm guessing that as most of the world is following Archangel's movement, any movement by us would also be followed as well. This, in turn, would allow ZAFT to carry out secret missions with less chance of them being found out,"

At that moment, a secret mission indeed was underway under Rau's command. It was surprising that the research center remained undiscovered despite its relative proximity to the PLANTs. Given that it was in an abandoned Island 3-type space colony that was abandoned when PLANTs were completed, it was conceivable to think that no one really thought about doing anything else after decommissioning it. Besides, it was cheaper to just move out instead of deconstructing the whole structure piece by piece. As for the location, as they said, hide a tree inside a forest. ZAFT was so busy fighting against Earth Alliance that it didn't have the resources to search for threats inside abandoned colonies and nearby asteroids.

As he had planned, the operation began at multiple entry points; to disable security, to prevent the secondary security from coming online, to retard response by the enemy security force. Because of that, each entry point was chosen to minimize the distance to the respective mission objectives.

Even as he made his way, Rau could be certain that each team under his command would move with the silent professionalism expected from them. They barely made any sound. Rau almost missed not having his team members around.

One by one, the teams checked in, informing that they were in position. The last team to check in, Team Omega, reported it was at the location where the secret device code-named 'My Fair Lady' was stored. "Are you sure you want it destroyed?" the question came over the radio.

"Yes," Rau said as he was accessing the computer in a room in order to locate his secondary objective. "Getting it out will be difficult, and we want to minimize risks,"

Rau made that decision as the mission leader, not because he cared about his men's lives, but because he was being pragmatic. Trying to get the prototype out would require the team to haul the whole thing over to their shuttle could get them easily spotted, which in turn works increase the risk of their attempt to fail.

"Acknowledged. We've preparing the charges now,"

"Good. How about primary and secondary security?" Rau asked, his fingers dancing over the console as he searched for the researcher he needed to rescue.

"Main alarm is down,"

"We've disabled the secondary alarm,"

"Good, proceed as planned," On his end, Rau found what he was looking for.

"Charges set. We're moving out,"

"Understood. We're initiating the countdown," Rau responded before making his way through the facility. "Fall back,"

The location he was heading for had minimal security, as they didn't expect intruders. Any research personnel he met, Rau quickly took out, as he didn't want them raising the alarm.

While searching, he came across some terminals containing information on a specialized armor that was being at a nascent development. The armor, supposedly reinforced at a femtometer scale, could defend against beam weapons with almost minimal energy consumption. However tempting it was for him to download the information on the project, Rau was short on time. Besides, the technology needed further work before it would be ready, if ever. On a whim, Rau placed a timed bomb at the terminal. Maybe the sabotage would negatively affect the research, or maybe it wouldn't; Rau couldn't be sure. But one less bomb to carry would help him move faster.

The room he was looking for was locked, but he cracked it open with so much of a problem. Upon his entry, immediately two of the three researchers, recognizing that he was an armed invader, raised their hands upwards.

"Terrence Shauzer, I presume?"

The two looked at the other one, who was typing on a small computer.

"Thank you very much," Rau said before he shot the two researchers in the head, killing them immediately before approaching the last one.

"Let me finish calibrating it here, and then we can leave," the third researcher, a blonde man in his early twenties, said.

Rau crossed his arms in amusement. "Neither shaken, nor stirred, are you?"

"They're…how do Normies call them… acquaintances, not friends. Since you didn't kill me yet, I assume you want me alive. Since you didn't whisk me right away, that means you're also interested in whatever I'm working on right now," the man said as he continued working.

"And not killing you after you're finished part?"

"You could have promised to spare our lives if we finish working on it, based on the assumption that the two would pressure me to finish quickly. There's the option of killing one of them to introduce a false sense of urgency, but you didn't. Also, not to toot my horns, but my value is quite high up there with Simmons and Heinlein,"

Rau didn't know about the first name, but the second one did seem familiar. "That didn't stop you from working here,"

"I was kidnapped from Januarius, moved here, and was given food and lodging in return for doing some work,"

"Sounds like a research drone to me, slaving away for peanuts,"

The man sighed. "They're preying on my ADHD, knowing that seeing the whole software architecture will drive me crazy and prevent me from relaxing until I correct them accordingly,"

"You could have saved and continue later,"

"Nope. Whoever dumbass who came up with it didn't allow for incremental saving. And I'm inspired right now, and nearly about to finish,"

The alarm went off.

Rau glanced upward, and then at the man. "Faster?" he said calmly.

Terrence continued typing for a few more seconds, before finally pressing 'Enter'. "And done," he said as he closed the computer, grabbed a nearby backpack, put the computer inside it, and slung it over his shoulder. "Lead the way. Oh, it's encrypted, so keep me alive, okay?"

"That is going to be a challenge," Rau said as he looked at the small console in his flight suit. The central alarm that went off was the result of Samy and Lewis failing their objective, and there's a high chance that they were taken out. Rau didn't expect they would be so incompetent at their job, since suppressing the central alarm was the easiest task that anyone could perform. At least the rest of the team he had assembled were proceeding through the mission parameters at a good pace. Rau peeked around the entrance, only to have shots fired.

"What now?"

Rau reached for a flashbang and threw toward the sound. There was the telltale sound of it going off and the ensuing shouts followed, a signal for him to rush out. In the chaos, he quickly took out the two assailants. He then took the weapon from one of them and gave a cursory look. The color was different, but there was no mistaking the ZAFT standard battle rifle in his hand. The magazine had around 20 bullets, visible from the semi-translucent magazine. He salvaged another two magazines and then signaled toward his charge to follow him.

The two made their way along the corridor, and had close encounters a few times, one of them even ending up with them coming into the visual range of a security team. One wrong move, a chance glance, one sound, and it was over. The moment stretched before the team finally disappeared around a corner. The two were fortunate the team was running in another direction and didn't see them at all. Unlike what some may think of him, Rau didn't want to fight unnecessarily, especially since he had someone to guard.

Just as they were about to reach the entry where the shuttle was located, a guard rounded the corner. Quickly, he lunged, a knife strike to the guard's throat, silencing the man while taking him out. Making their exit through the shuttle was quite an anti-climatic event, even if his charge was disturbed with the calm manner Rau disposed of the guard.

The shuttle barely left the place when the latter shook as the bombs planted exploded, destroying the prototype. With that, Rau's mission was complete. Even in the unlikely event that the shuttle was destroyed, he would be able to ensure that the prototype 'My Fair Lady' wouldn't be able to be completed. That was what it was, preventing others from gaining access to technology earlier than ZAFT; that was the objection behind the attack at the Heliopolis and the current mission. That was all the whole situations had deteriorated into. All sides were in the nuclear race, trying to reach the goal of having nuclear capabilities while trying to prevent the other sides from achieving it. The recent strike against ZAFT's N-Jammer Canceller research facility near the Sahel region in Northern Africa was a good example of such an effort.

With the prototype destroyed, Patrick had no reason to complain if he came in to report slightly later than expected. That would give him enough time to go to another location, which was a Laurasia-class ship that was waiting for him 1,000 kilometers from the research center. Once he landed and exited the shuttle, he found a person in a ZAFT green space suit waiting for him, its tinted helmet preventing him from determining the person's features. The person was holding a gun aimed at him. "I'm afraid I'm at a disadvantage," he said, watching for any chance to close the distance and subdue his opponent.

"Don't," the person warned, the voice garbled by synthesizer. "I chose this method for many reasons, and one of those is to ensure you wouldn't rush at me before I finish. And I warn you, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger,"

"I assume you're here to kill me?"

"No, like I told you, I'm here to trade," The stranger released the gun and let it float slowly toward Rau. "I'm not defenseless, but this is to express my bona fide,"

Rau took the gun and aimed at the person in front of him. "You sent a message to me using my military ID. That is a breach of security our people would want to find about, and I'm sure they can be very persuasive,"

"True. I will be able to give them information useful for them," The person shrugged. "Or I can give information useful to you. Not both,"

He was sure that both knew such openly hostile action on his part wouldn't be allowed to continue by security. The fact that there was no response highlighted the fact that the threatening motion by Rau had already been predicted, and the answer was prepared. The two of them were going through a charade, trying to read each other. "You've piqued my curiosity. Now convince me,"

"Who do you think gave the info to the Chairman?"

Behind his mask, Rau narrowed his eyes. "It was you?"

"Yes. And it was contingent upon you being assigned to it, something he was happy to do,"

The answer caused a twinge of annoyance and discomfort to surface. "Why?"

"Apart from knowing you would like to do a trade? Maybe I'm repaying you? Or maybe the reason is that I want to see you get yourself killed without having to lift a finger?"

"Or you want to witness me destroy the world?" Rau said while smiling, "I'm just joking, mind you,"

"Ah, that is a really scary proposition,"

Rau grinned toothily. The way the remark was made, it was as if he was seen through. "I wonder what your real name is, stranger,"

"Oh, why should you care?"

"A name is the anchor of one's existence in reality. Then, what if one doesn't have a name, or the name is not real? If it doesn't have a real name… would that mean… its existence is not real either, isn't that right, 'Phantom'?" The so-called 'Phantom,' was still for more than a minute, causing Rau to continue. "You like the name I gave you, and thus speechless?"

The 'Phantom,' replied, "Oh, sorry for spacing out. I'm just shocked. It was you who influenced Durandal. Thinking back, it all made sense. However, as beautiful sounding as it is, what you had just said is a paradox,"

"Really? I believe it's the truth of the world,"

"Shall we conclude our trade? I must admit, I'm not well versed in engaging in philosophical diatribe that you like so much?"

"Oh, I rather like our exchange, but very well," Rau pointed toward the shuttle. "He's all yours, though I would prefer to keep the system as a souvenir,"

"Of course. We just wanted the man alive. But, if you offer us that as well, I can throw in this," the person said as it held a small rectangle box. "You can have Durandal have a look first,"

Normally, Rau would be very wary of such an offer from a stranger, but he was already too deep to back out. While he didn't trust the person, he trusted himself to know that he was still valuable enough to be kept alive. The item 'Phantom' was holding had been prepared earlier with the intention of cajoling Rau to do something else other than handover the researcher. "You would have given it to me for free, regardless, so why are you trying to negotiate with me now?"

"Yes, I may have given it away for free. But I may not. However, that doesn't reveal to you how important it is. What I did is provide you with an approximate value of it,"

"That you did. Trust is a valued currency, isn't it?"

"Betrayal is always a slippery slope. Once you betray a trade, it's tempting to continue to betray and betray,"

"Seems like spoken from experience,"

"Oh, no. I'm a paragon of virtue," The synthesizer made the voice sound so cynical. Maybe the speaker was being cynical? Rau didn't really care. 'Phantom' took out a memory disk, and together with the box, and pushed them toward Rau. "You know, I believe one's existence shouldn't be defined by its name,"

"But we have 'Naturals' and 'Coordinators' being involved in the war right now,"

"That has nothing to do with the names, but instead, their natures,"

"They already aligned themselves with their identities,"

"That doesn't mean such a principle is absolute. Consider this: what happens if a name is given to a phantom, something that doesn't exist? Does its existence remain illusionary, or has it transcended into reality?"

Rau took the items. "It becomes a reality," he answered.

"That's how heroes, and villains are created. You give a new name to an existence, and it transcended beyond mediocrity, and permeating in human consciousness. Is that's what you truly believe?"

"Yes,"

"But therein lies the paradox. What if the nature of the name contradicts the nature of existence? Then, which one is the reality, and which one is illusionary? Or what if we add something that was missing to the name? Would it change the nature of that existence, or will it remain the same?"

"That is difficult to answer," Rau conceded. There was no end to such a discussion, and he already had the information he wanted regarding the Mendel Colony. "Let us leave with that, then," he said as he turned to leave.

"As you wish,"

Rau was halfway into the shuttle when he stopped. He was being petty, but not being able to pooh the other person's argument was vexing. "People who don't know about themselves wouldn't last long in this violent world,"

"I know myself more than I'm comfortable with. But is it okay to be holding a stone in your hand while living in a pretty brittle glass house?"

Rau whirled around. "Really?"

To his surprise, his new acquaintance was slowly removing the helmet. Ah, he realized, it was a direct challenge to him. Rau could decide not to give in to the provocation, but if he didn't, anything he had said, or will say from thereon would be empty statements not backed by actions. Therefore, he must do it as well; his person wouldn't allow such a blatant gesture to go without a response. Rau reluctantly removed his mask and found his eyes meeting another pair of eyes, examining him with a myriad of emotions; curiosity, mirth, and some he couldn't identify. "You're not him," Rau remarked.

"I am not. I'm just a mirror, a cheap one at best,"

The allusion to being a mirror probably had something to do with Yata no Yagami and its lore of how someone should always evaluate himself. Then again, it could be a reference to the legend of the Bloody Mary apparition. "From where I am, you look more like the Grim Reaper instead of Bloody Mary,"

"I don't know why you're thinking so highly of me. I'm a Natural,"

"My instinct tells me otherwise. You seem to know a lot of me,"

"Still, I can't read your mind. I'm an Empath, wait... What was it that you said just now… A name anchors one's existence, right? Very well, I am a Synchronizer. Just a garbage Synchronizer that couldn't fulfill the role properly,"

Despite the self-deprecating way it was said, the statement made Rau realize why he felt uncomfortable during the whole situation; he was made to feel as if he was talking to another version of himself.

"Well then, how about you, Clone Rau La Flaga …or more accurately, … the Ultra Coordinator Rau Le Creuset?"

1

A/N

1. The statement made by Rau's acquaintance is a combination of the sayings "What does sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me" and "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones". The statement was meant to warn Rau that even as he was trying to provoke his acquaintance by saying the latter didn't know anything, he himself didn't know the true circumstance regarding his origin.

2. Yata no Kagami is s a sacred bronze mirror that is part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan and represents wisdom and honesty. It's also a reminder to always evaluate oneself.

3. The legend of Bloody Mary describes her as an apparition, which will appear in a mirror when conjured, to foresee the future. The Bloody Mary apparition may be benevolent or malevolent, and can take many forms, one of which is a lady covered in blood, hence the name.

4. The conversation that Rau had was similar to what Durandal said to Athrun and Cagalli in Gundam Seed Destiny.