Gundam Seed Momentus Chapter 37: Phase 37: Red sky in the morning, a gundam seed fanfic

Phase 37: Red sky in the morning

"Empath?" Gilbert asked as he held a pill close to his eyes using a tweezer.

"Apparently not interesting enough. Synchronizer," Rau said, wondering about the usefulness of the other man's action. Gilbert's eyes couldn't see anything that small, so why bother? Then again, maybe it's one of the quirks scientists have; putting things close to their sensory organs, even though such actions were unnecessary, or in certain circumstances, outright dangerous.

"We are talking about the same type of people who supposedly can pick up the mental state of someone they're close to, exhibit either positive or negative behaviors depending on the other person, affecting the other person, and thus creating a constructive or destructive feedback loop?"

"Yes,"

"Interesting. Not many of these… Synchronizers are self-aware and even fewer dares talk about that weakness," Gilbert said, as he put the pill into a machine and operated some buttons on them.

A few seconds passed before the result was displayed on the screen.

"It seems the composition is as claimed, and I can synthesis them soon,"

"I can hear a 'but' there,"

"Hm…" Gilbert hummed. "This requires further examination, but I think this is physiology retarding agent, sedative, if you will. Thinking about it clearly, your catecholamines level are very high, exceeding those that a normal Coordinator…"

"Sorry to interrupt, but I do have to be somewhere in the next hour,"

Gilbert gave a soft glare before resuming. "The pills reduce your basic functions, and how to say this… making you more like a normal Coordinator, instead of your so-called default 'Ultra' state, if it makes sense."

Ultra Coordinator, not Ultimate Coordinator. Rau couldn't help but feel disappointed with the revelation and the possible treatment. Gilbert's statement was an indirect admission that he was wrong regarding Rau's cloning situation. Immediately, Rau could already see that indeed, he had abnormal capabilities far exceeding normal Coordinator, or dare he consider it, more than the so-called Ultimate Coordinator. If it was true, then it wasn't inconceivable the health problem that Rau was suffering from was due to his body working beyond the normally acceptable physiological state.

"How fast can you synthesis them?"

"If we skip the normal testing, and instead use the emergency protocol, two weeks?"

"Will it reverse the situation?" Rau said, referring to his accelerated aging.

Gilbert shook his head. "It can reduce, and perhaps heal some of the damages, and most others will probably live normal life if they take them. But for you, it cannot make up for the years lost,"

"I see," Rau said with a slightly lower volume.

"But there's another piece of information here that's of interest," Gilbert said, causing Rau's eyes to raise, "Dr. Aura Maha Khyber is conducting research on reversing aging. This is surprising, since I only know that she is involved in another project,"

"Another project?"

"Some project regarding Coordinator children, studying their growth and physiological changes compared to Naturals. I helped her with the study and worked with some orphans. But it's been a while since I saw her. If the info is true, we might want to search for her."

"You do that and please keep me updated,"

"I will. Once the additional pills are ready, I'll send them to you,"

Rau's hand patted the pocket of his pants. "Thank you,"

As he departed, Rau thought about the situation, the weight of Gilbert's words lingering. While his friend had promised to search for the said doctor, Rau himself would need to do it on his end as well. He didn't know why, but Rau suspected the Aura person Gilbert alluded to was probably connected to the research facility Rau had raided. If that was the case, then, he might come across her in the future, probably the other side.

Rau gritted his teeth and fisted his hands, as he stifled an urge to punch the nearest wall. The smoldering rage and anger he had once harbored towards the whole of humanity was still there, burning through his body. Oh, they were still there, deep in his psyche. However, armed with the new knowledge, the information that was denied from him from the very beginning, Rau found himself with a new goal.

Inflicting pain on humanity was no longer enough. He needed to find out who was responsible for his birth. Before, he attributed it to Ulen Hibiki but found the man was already dead and thus escaped his wrath. With no one else left, it was logical for him to lash out at the whole of humanity. But that has changed. There wasn't just a single Ulen Hibiki, but multiple of 'him', people who fancied themselves as gods, seated in their pantheons while being drunk with power and the sense of their omnipotence, thinking that the humans beneath their feet were mere animals to be guided like sheep.

That's what it was.

The fake deities were certainly smiling as they watched how the grand chess game of the world they were playing turned out. No care was given as people like him were brought to life, flawed, just so that they could serve as chess pieces to be moved around against their wishes. Once the pieces were exhausted, they would simply restart the game again.

Ah, the gods themselves. Certainly, they would serve as more worthy prey for him to hunt and destroy compared to the flock of sheep who didn't know anything. Merely thinking about what he would do after he got his hands on them made him grin. Yes, yes, that would be more interesting instead of thinking of ways to escalate the war. Not that he had stopped hating humanity, and he would still destroy any traces of Ulen Hibiki's work if he came across them, but currently his energy was required for a better pursuit.

Vengeance.

It was not the first time he had uttered the word, but it had never felt so sweet on the tips of his tongue, thick, poisoned honey slowly filling his sense. Just saying it then… made him feel so alive. That ticklish feeling in his gut, was it what people were referring to when they were talking about feeling 'giddy'? Be it may, Rau felt a sense of excitement never experienced before.

Vengeance.

Yes. That was a goal worthy of an Ultra Coordinator to pursue.

Thinking about where to start, Rau found his thought straying to the Natural who gave him the information, and he quickly put it out of his mind. Somehow, he had developed an acute revulsion and aversion of the said informant. Despite the self-mocking tone used, the whole conversation, no, the whole interaction, was on the other party's palm the whole time. Having his secrets laid bare made him very uncomfortable and left him with a sense of helplessness. It wasn't mentioned, but Rau wouldn't put it past the Synchronizer to sense his obsession with his father; Rau killing him was to ensure that the man would never feel disappointed with him and find a new son to shower his love. That vulnerability he felt, Rau didn't want to feel that again. He would rather pursue his new goals using his own ways and methods.

Kira walked groggily along the corridor toward his destination, mind still fuddled despite the cup of espresso he grabbed from the mess. He had put in an all-nighter finishing up his duty, only returning to his room to grab two hours of sleep before waking up again. Putting in an all-nighter wasn't something new for him, as that was normal for a college student, but most of the time, he could choose the timing, and in certain circumstances, choose to be absent from the class.

"And a good morning to you too," a feminine voice greeted.

"What?" he said.

"I said, good morning,"

Kira turned to his left. "Oh, it's you, Princess,"

"Cagalli,"

"Princess Cagalli,"

"So, are you looking for a brain to eat or what?"

It took him a second to process that she was making a joke about him looking like a zombie. Unbidden, an image of him walking slowly while moaning 'brain' entered his mind, causing Kira to chuckle. His mind jolted by the joke, he answered, "Something like that,"

"Really?"

"Follow me and we'll turn you as well,"

"Sure, why not,"

The two of them entered the room to see that Kuzzey, Tolle, Mirriallia, and Sai were already seated. After taking their respective seats, Cagalli said, "So, class?"

"Class," Mirriallia confirmed.

"Mandatory?"

"For us, yes, not for you," Kira answered.

"What topic?"

Sai answered. "It's been a while so we're not sure,"

It was just then Janina entered the room. "Alright, people," she said without missing a beat as she moved to the front of the room. "Let's start with an important question everyone onboard this ship should know. What is the most important skill and knowledge a soldier should know?" She turned to Kuzzey. "You start first, and we'll go around the room,"

"Ranks?"

"How to shoot?" Tolle said.

"How to survive," was the answer given by Sai.

"Chain of command?" Mirriallia said.

"Mobile suit piloting?" Kira replied.

"And you?" Janina asked Cagalli.

"Same as Sai,"

"Wrong. Sai and Her Excellency… Can I call you Cagalli since I couldn't be bothered?"

"That is what I told everyone to call me,"

"So, what Sai and Cagalli gave as an answer is something someone should know without being a soldier. If you're a civilian stuck on an island, you should know what to do to survive. Being a soldier is not a requisite to stay alive. It's all about survival knowledge and skill,"

"Don't you need to learn about it?" Sai asked.

"Yeah, no need to join the military. Go get a course or learn from someone. As for other answers, ranks, chain of command, shooting and piloting come later. The first skill and knowledge that you must know is how to cover your ass. The higher ups may say otherwise, but at the end of the day, when the shit hits the fan, and everyone is looking for a scapegoat, it wouldn't be you that standing around like an idiot, saying 'Baa baa baa', waiting to be brought to the slaughterhouse. You wouldn't be that sheep, because you'll be the fox that already ran away from the scene, or the wolf wearing grandma's clothes and lying on the bed innocently."

"Knowing how to cover our ass… How come we never learned about it?" Tolle asked.

"I'm sure you did. Feather Lite or Marchem That already talked about International Law before, right?"

"They did, but they didn't describe it the way you just did,"

"Because they were not properly trained to have that way of thinking. They're model soldiers, while I soldier on with models,"

All except Cagalli cringed at that joke; she has yet to know about the officer's weird hobby.

"But, back to the discussion. Teaching you to become soldiers that fight conscientiously according to rules of engagement and respecting international laws and norms are good and all, but it seems they forgot to emphasise the 'W-I-I-F-M' or 'What's in it for me'. Before you talk about fighting lawfully for your country, or in this case, for Eurasian even though you're from Orb, the first thing you must understand is you're being lawful because it allows you to protect yourself, hence, covering your ass,"

Despite the interesting introduction, the class went as expected, as dry as a class teaching law, and the legal system can be. While Kira and others struggle to stay awake and invested in what was being taught, Cagalli was sponging everything that was being taught, asking questions here and there. Finally, the mandated two hours was almost up, and Janina ended her teaching with the customary 'Do you have any questions?'.

"I do have one. What does the law say about the Junius Seven tragedy?" Cagalli asked.

Janina's face scrunched. "That's as deep as a rabbit hole can be. You wouldn't like… you couldn't accept the answer."

"Try us," Cagalli said.

"This is going to rile you up, that you're going to complain a lot, and I'm going to raise my voice, you speak louder, and I will be at risk of possible regicide. So, here's the off ramp where we can put this idiotic discussion away,"

"We want to know,"

Janina eyed everyone and clucked her tongue in annoyance. "I didn't see a 'we' just now, but what the heck? Okay, civil discussion, promise?" she said, while giving a pointed look at Cagalli.

Cagalli nodded.

"Say it,"

"I promise,"

"Good. That goes on record. Now, imagine you have a house and a friend of you come to stay there for a while. He doesn't pay for the rent, but does wash the dishes, clean the house, and cook the food you bring home. That's good for a while until he starts to complain more and more, telling you that he deserves to do whatever he wants in the house since it is his. You brought some people to beat the crap out of your friend, but he beat you up. So, is your friend legally entitled to claim the house as his, maybe under adverse possession, for example?"

"No,"

"Correct. There are some laws and norms on what to do about someplace uninhabited or unclaimed, but PLANTs always belong to the Sponsor Nations, at least those that are already built or undergoing construction at the offset of the conflict. The Sponsor Nations doesn't own the population, of course, and thus the act of proclaiming independence is legal. What is not legal is assuming control of PLANTs,"

"But," Cagalli said, trying to argue, "the Colonies were being oppressed by the Sponsor Nations!"

"No one forced the inhabitants to move and stay there. The colonies still belong to the Sponsor Nations, and the people living there are in the same legal obligation as those living on Orb's military base, or even its colonies. The reason for assuming control is valid, in my opinion, but the act is illegal. Of course, the PLANTs High Council knows this, which is one of the reasons it is trying to enter to trade with many other nations, in a bid to establish its de facto control of PLANTs, and perhaps a few years down the line, establish it as the de jure government,"

"Wait," Tolle interrupted, "What do you mean by that?"

"In short, de facto means the current situation, while de jure means the legal situation. While the occupation is illegal now, if enough countries accept it as legal, its status will change. Orb's law will prevent your friend from claiming your house, and the legal system will enforce the court's decision. Internationally, we do have a 'world court' but enforcement is a bit… nuanced and complicated. With that out of the way, legally speaking, PLANTs' High Council and ZAFT are two state-like illegal entities,"

"State-like?" Kira questioned.

"PLANTs' High Council functions like a government, while ZAFT functions like a military force. Now, if ZAFT is an illegal entity that attacks a sovereign country, what do you call that act?

"An act of terror?" Sai asked.

Janina nodded at him. "So, what does that make them?"

"Terrorists,"

"Yes. Terrorists. So, what can you say regarding their activities on PLANTs?"

"Terrorists activities?" Kuzzey tried.

"Activities… Act of terrorists… in short, an act of terror," Janina said.

"Wait. The Sponsor Countries allowed them staying there. Couldn't it be something like they are given permission? They have that Doctrine of Condonation," Cagalli added.

"To the Sponsor Countries, the colonies are facilities they own, not a country. If the military personnel at a base decided to rebel, take over, and proclaim independence, can we consider it as a country?"

"No," Cagalli admitted.

"Same concept here. When the High Council proclaimed PLANTs' independence, they sent their militaries there in response. Not a condonation. More like condemnation. So, PLANTs' independence is illegal, High Council and ZAFT are illegal, the annexation is illegal. That's three things we already covered. Another two left,"

"What are they?" Kira asked.

The lieutenant harrumphed. "Do all of you want to go that far?"

"Might as well go all the way," Cagalli said, all the while frowning.

"Remember, you asked for it. Once again, no preaching to the choir," Janina held up four fingers. "Next point, what do you think about bombing your territory in order to defeat the invaders?"

"It is an acceptable strategy," Mirriallia said. "But we want to reduce the collateral damage,"

"Looks like Feather Lite did a good job with that class. Here's a pop quiz, is causing collateral damage illegal?"

"No, as long as it's proven to be unintended and unavoidable," Tolle answered.

"How about bombing the colony belonging to you to get rid of invaders?"

"Wait…" Cagalli cut in, "are you saying…"

"Yes. It is barbaric, it is genocidal. But, strictly from a legal point of view, destroying Junius Seven is a perfectly legal action since it belongs to the Sponsor Nations and was being used for terrorism efforts,"

"What terrorism efforts? The colony was used to produce food!"

"Do they differentiate the food given to innocent people and terrorists? Does the food have labels 'Not intended for ZAFT personnel' or something similar? No? What makes it okay to produce food for the Sponsor Nations' enemies while not okay with producing weapons for them? Mind you, most colonists supported the secession and their involvement in any activity related to it can be considered as a crime against the state. From there, it's a small jump in technicality to them being classified as terrorists. And for point number five, there's no law in the Sponsor Nations prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons against 'terrorists',"

"But hundreds of thousands of people were killed,"

"There are no international laws prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons on something you own, either. So back to the original question, why yes, it's legal to bomb your colony, even if it causes a lot of deaths," Janina said neutrally while looking each person in the eyes, one by one. "The first thing that you must understand is that law and justice are two different things altogether. While in an ideal world, the two will go hand in hand, but while justice is not, law is blind,"

Murrue watched the main screen as the starboard side of the Archangel moved slowly toward the terminal until there was a slight shake, as the ship bumped against the rubber wall of the terminal. Another screen showed the ship's crew casting the ropes toward the waiting dockhands, who quickly secured them with practiced ease.

"Welcome to Lumut," Janina said, "the port city known for mosses,"

"I know you and Murrue discussed this before, but tell me, why are we here?" Mu, was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, asked. "Why not Medan or Singapore?"

"The MLSA Eurasians signed with the Equatorial Union don't cover ports in this region. I heard about what happened in Artemis. You don't want to undergo that again, do you?"

Mu shuddered involuntarily. Mutual Logistic Support Agreements, or as known in the Atlantic Federation as Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreements, were agreements that allow military forces on one nation to receive assistance from other nations. However, Archangel being an unregistered ship at that time caused a lot of problems for him, Murrue and Natarle. "I've had my fill, thanks,"

"The paper works here isn't as bad, but there are other issues to compensate,"

"And this Loo-Moot is okay… why?

"Not a debatable toilet… so anyway, this port is under the administration of Ipoh Headquarters, so resupplying is free. Since the regional headquarters is here, and there's an Equatorial navy base nearby, it is heavily militarized which provides some level of security to the ship, and lastly, we need to pick some spare parts for Buster and Aegis,"

"About that, there are a lot of things that I don't understand. Murdoch told me that we're still doing the CCDD on Strike before it got totaled, and we're also doing it on Buster and Aegis," Murrue said, referring to the Continuous Capability Development and Delivery process. While she still thought the whole process was a stupidly inefficient way to develop something, it had inexplicably saved Strike from being hijacked. "Wouldn't that cause some of the spare parts to become incompatible?"

"True, that's why we're going to exchange them," Janina answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You know what I meant," Murrue said. "It's not about recycling,"

"It's not. Originally, it's all about collecting data to train the artificial neural network that drives the psychomotor servos on Strike, but later it was expanded to include the Eurasian Panzers, and then Aegis and Busters. Of course, better optimization leads to better use case, which is how we get the parts, but installing them in turn cause the neural model to be redefined, requiring further optimization,"

"In English?" Mu asked. "I don't speak Geeklish,"

Murrue sighed. "She's saying Strike, Buster, Aegis and the Eurasian mobile suits have AI to help with the control,"

"And in order to make room for improved spare parts, the old ones have to be taken away," Janina said. "Coming up with the custom parts for the prototypes cost a lot but since they can keep us safer, I don't really question the management's decision,"

Murrue and Mu had earlier found out that Janina was not fully trained as an officer, but 'embedded' in the military, given a rank and clearance to allow her to do her work as a specialist to integrate software and firmware into Panzers, the Eurasian were developing. Later on, she was reassigned to Archangel to replace Natarle and at the same time oversee the CCDD process involving the three prototypes the ship was carrying.

"CCDD is such a life saver," Murrue said in a sneering manner, while crossing her arms. "If not for Strike being inoperable at that time, ZAFT probably would have…," she trailed off as her expression changed, arms lowered.

Due to the complexity of the whole process, it would have taken some time to process the data gained and then come up with the software and hardware enhancements. But she recalled signing off the delivery of Strike's replacement parts in Copernicus Port, even though her focus at that time was thinking of ways to get the Heliopolis refugees to the Orb Embassy. The time window of any data transmitted, and the enhancement came in, was a bit too small to be workable. "Jackie," Murrue called out.

"Yes, Ma'am?" Jackie, seated at his station, responded.

"I recall you have radio certification?"

"Yes, I'm a 94ES MOS," Jackie said.

94ES meant Jackie was had a Military Occupational Specialty certification to maintain the secure communication system onboard the ship. Archangel had a proper officer in charge of maintaining the system. However, Murrue recalled she had been killed during the attack on Heliopolis.

"But you're not the one in charge before, and right now it's the Lieutenant's responsible for maintaining SECOS, right?" she asked, referring to the secured communication system the ship was using.

Janina nodded.

"Let me guess, it's always on and transmitting?"

The other woman smiled and said, "In my defense, I assumed you know about it,"

"What is she talking about?" Mu asked.

"You remember Dolfin volunteering to do Coms duty?"

"Yeah, and?"

"We were so short-handed that I didn't really think about it, but since Jackie has the proper certification, I was supposed to assign it to him to do the checks and maintenance. But since her company provided the SECOS for most Atlantic Federation's military assets, it seemed natural to give it to her to do. Apparently, all this while, we're broadcasting 24/7. That's how you managed to get something delivered from orbit so fast? There's no need to waste time to establish a connection?"

"Connection's not always stable, but yes, and if Strike, Buster, Aegis are close enough, even their battle data are transmitted almost at real time,"

"How?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you that,"

"But it pertains to the security of the ship!" Murrue said a bit sharply.

"Yes. Security of the ship," Janina replied. "And before you say it, I've to point out that the transmission was undetected even in contested environments, just like a leaf in the middle of a forest remained inconspicuous. Also, if you read through all the documentations provided during this ship's induction, you would have known that it was given a special authorization to do it,"

"You're saying the whole ship is a mobile transmitting station all this time?" Mu said.

"That's pretty slow on the pickup, but yes," Jan looked up for a moment, thinking, before she turned back toward Murrue. "I guess since we're Eurasian, the gag order doesn't apply. When this ship was designed, apart from other requirements set by the planners, it has a specific task, which is to be a part of Project Saturn and Orp,"

"Project Saturn and Orp?" Murrue asked.

"The ship serves as a test bed for communication technology, fusing the most recent advancement in software, and hardware. Haven't you wondered how Archangel managed to get five Croix du Nord units even though other militaries have yet to have even one of those?"

"Dolfin is rich?" Mu tested.

"Some things simply cannot be bought by money. Even then, the systems would have been useless, if not for the fact that Archangel has all the necessary equipment and software to use them,"

"And what Project Saturn and Orp are intended to achieve?"

Janina grinned. "To collect battle data on a scale beyond mobile suit or a ship. Battle data of an organic fighting force, this ship and its mobile suits,"

"That's crazy!" Neumann uttered.

"What's crazier is that the brief I'm cleared to access, indicates that the objectives are being met ahead of schedule,"

"Any chance you'll tell us?" Mu asked.

"Sure, why not. She would have told you anyway. We're preparing for the next phase of the war, the emergence of nuclear-drive weapons,"

A/N

1. Often, a war is presented in a black and white lens, but there' are a lot of things going on behind the scenes. In the eyes of the law, two wrongs don't make a right. The discussion regarding Junius Seven is 'inspired' by real world laws and norms, but creative liberties were taken.

2. MLSA or ACSA are signed between countries so that militaries could receive logistic support, supplies, and services from their counterparts or suppliers of their counterparts. While commercial arrangements can be made to fulfil this, there are certain advantages to having MLSA or ACSA signed, such as rates and taxes imposed similar to the rates enjoyed by the supplying country, opportunities for exchanging knowledge by subject matter experts, and increasing cooperation and relationships among the militaries.

3. 94E is a US Army certification for trained personnel responsible for maintaining and repairing radio and communications security (COMSEC),

4. This chapter's title, "Red sky in the morning" is the first half of a poem, "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning,", which is pretty much self-explanatory.

5. Loo - slang for toilet