Gundam SEED: Bloodlines (COMPLETE 10/26/16)

[The Green Flame]

Cagalli's time in ZAFT might as well be titled "The Awkward Ark".

Also cool, it's Hilda. Will we ever have happy fun Earth Alliance time again?

[rebel_cheese]

Cagalli's time in ZAFT might as well be titled "The Awkward Ark".

Also cool, it's Hilda. Will we ever have happy fun Earth Alliance time again?

Oh yeah. And it's gonna stay awkward. Everything that's happened virtually guarantees Cagalli's stay will be full of awkwardness.

Hilda and Cagalli's interactions are . . . going to be interesting. Let's just leave it at that.

[rebel_cheese]

Chapter Fifty-Five: Clarity

"So," I said, knowing the question was going to be awkward, "They were able to fix your eye after all."

This was going to be an awkward conversation in general, really. After all, Hilda infiltrated the Archangel to try to kill me, and got her eye slashed by Flay for her trouble. There's no real avoiding it, and it was best just to get the source of the awkwardness out of the way as soon as possible.

"Yes," Hilda said. "But they warned me not to get it damaged again. Next time I'll most likely be permanently blind in my left eye."

"Well, that's good," I said. "The part about your eye being fixed, anyway."

"Yes. Very good. It means I'm still allowed to be a pilot in ZAFT," Hilda said. "They haven't found a permanent assignment for me since my eye surgery, though. Right now I'm mostly acting as a military auxiliary for Siegel Clyne."

"A bodyguard, then?" I asked.

"Somewhat." Hilda gave me a small smile. "Though it won't last for too much longer. I've been given an assignment for Operation 'Spitbreak'. I'll be infiltrating the Panama base and doing some behind-the-scenes sabotage, I believe."

"Sounds lovely," I said. "Hope it goes better than your Archangel sabotage."

Hilda's smile turned just a bit sickly. I no doubt reminded her of Flay slashing that eye open. "It most likely will. They don't have you or Flay Allster getting in my way this time."

Okay. Graveyard humor was a much better reaction than I expected. Though I was pretty sure that if Hilda's eye surgery hadn't been successful she wouldn't be anywhere near amused at all.

"Yeah," I said. "I won't be in the way for sure. I'll be involved with Spitbreak too. They're going to have me join the units dropping from the atmosphere for the airborne assault."

"Ah yes. That is usually pretty fun. Especially if the Earth Alliance starts shooting at you before you can exit your entry capsule," Hilda said, clearly sarcastic.

I guess that was her little bit of revenge for me reminding her about her injury. Now I had something to fuel my nightmares.

"They'll have me doing a small mission before 'Spitbreak'," I said. "I'm sure you know I was just recently commissioned. They want me to destroy a bunch of Earth Alliance raiders that are disrupting the airborne forces assembling for 'Spitbreak'."

"I find it pretty interesting, actually, that you're here in the PLANTs right now, wearing a ZAFT uniform," Hilda said. "You struck me as a girl of strong convictions. I never thought I would see you wearing a ZAFT uniform of any kind for any reason."

"I was being hunted by Blue Cosmos on Earth," I replied. "They want me dead because I kind of helped blow up one of their secret facilities. Well, that and I'm a Coordinator. This is the only way for me and my family to be safe." That was the most I was willing to tell Hilda about what happened to me. She didn't need to know that Blue Cosmos thought of me as someone highly dangerous, perhaps even special, and they wanted me dead because I could be used against them.

"So you enlist in a war for a cause you don't really believe in," Hilda said. "Odd way to be safe."

She was definitely right about that. "I'm not that happy with how things have turned out. Honestly, I don't want to be here. I just want to be back in Orb."

"I'm sure Chairman Zala was pleased to have you here," Hilda said.

"He didn't act like a man who had placed me high on the 'to-kill' list, that's for sure," I replied.

"He probably never intended for you to know that information," Hilda said. "He's not aware that I told it to you either. For him, you were a public relations nightmare waiting to happen. Chairman Zala wants a complete unified front against the Naturals, and with him as Chairman, he has nothing standing in his agenda's way. The council's makeup is leaning his direction as well. The moderates on the Council have been whittled down to a select few, including Siegel Clyne and Eileen Canaver."

"Sounds like the PLANTs want a unified front too. You elect what you want," I replied.

"Maybe." Hilda pulled over and stopped the car. "We're at the Clyne's residence. I will escort you there."

"We are?" I asked. I opened the door and stepped outside. "I don't see anything but shrubs and gates."

"Come over to the front door," Hilda said, signaling over to me with a knowing, almost playful look in her eyes.

I walked over to her. "What is it that I'm supposed to be . . ."

That's when I saw. "Holy . . ."

I never thought a mansion could look so beautiful or impressive. It was built with grace in mind, with two stories and more windows than I could possibly count. Not to mention quite a gorgeous front balcony. If this is what the mansion looked like in the front, I could scarcely imagine the back.

"Siegel Clyne is a wealthy man. Though his daughter building a successful pop music career certainly isn't hurting his finances any," Hilda said.

"No kidding," was all I could say.

Hilda walked over to the gate and buzzed it. "Mr. Foster? It's Lieutenant-Commander Harken. I have brought Mr. Clyne his visitor."

An aged, almost British-sounding voice responded. "Thank you, Lieutenant-Commander Harken. Opening the gates."

The gates swung up with just the slightest creak. They were almost old-school in appearance, without any buzzing or grinding that would signify something more mechanical. There was hardly any indicator that the gates were powered by a machine at all.

"Well? Come along," Hilda said. "It's not everyday that a ZAFT pilot gets to meet Siegel Clyne, after all."

"Uh . . . yeah. Sure." I followed Hilda past the gates and they gracefully swung back into place behind me.

I am sure that the gates were something most ordinary and nice to the Coordinators who lived in the PLANTs, but to me, it was almost as if a ghost swung them shut. It creeped me out for a moment.

Made me wonder what it would be like to truly meet Siegel Clyne . . .
***
The first thing that greeted me at the door was a pink robotic ball that I recognized as one of Lacus' Haro doohickeys.

"Visitor! Visitor! We have a visitor! We have a visitor!" shouted the pink robotic ball as it bounced towards me and right into my hands.

We stared at each other for a second. Then the ball tried to leap from my hands, almost in right. "Wait! Wait! You're the meanie boy who punched Lacus! You're the meanie boy who punched Lacus!"

Okay. It was bad enough when humans called me a boy. But it was entirely another when this massively annoying robo-ball called me one! And apparently thought I was a boy all these months!

That was it. I could hold my temper against humans because there'd be consequences, but against this pink little annoyance? Forget it! Stress relief as long last!

As I raised the ball above my head to fastball it into the ground, I heard a familiar voice. "Wait! Don't smash the pink Haro! He's my favorite!"

Of course it was.

I turned and I saw Lacus Clyne standing in the middle of the hallway, wearing a white dress with purple trim. Surrounding her were . . . not three, not four, but five more of the little robotic annoyances, all in different colors, and all chattering away.

Considering Lacus' eyes, I do believe in that moment that I looked like I had snapped.

"Can I smash at least one of them?" I asked, personally unsure of how serious I was being. "You wouldn't miss one of them, would you?"

"Why would you do that?" Lacus said, playing up the airhead pop princess persona for all it was worth. "It's unnecessary violence!"

That's when all of the Haros bounded towards, chattering their various insults and indignances along with the pink one that was still calling for help.

It was too much all at once. I could not help myself.

I screamed.
***
"I apologize for the Haros," Lacus offered once we found a private room away from her . . . her soulless minions of evil. "They are very protective of each other and of me."

"I hadn't noticed," I said sarcastically.

Hilda and Lacus and the butler, Mr. Foster, had managed to round up all of Lacus' little 'pets" and herd them away right after I screamed. I do think that if they hadn't done that I would have gone on a rampage against those Haros until I was physically stopped. I had been through a lot and those devious little bastards had finally pushed me over the edge.

The worst part is that I would have liked it. A small part of me still fantasizes about smashing all of Lacus' Haros. Really.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you punched Lacus," Hilda said.

"She and I got off on the wrong foot," I said. "The pink Haro didn't help."

"Clearly, Cagalli plus Haros equals violence," Hilda said under her breath.

Lacus chuckled. We had both heard her, and I couldn't help but feel embarrassed. I knew my face was turning red too.

"Sorry," I managed.

"It's all right," Lacus said. Her voice and mannerisms had changed from the hallway, she was reminding me of the Lacus I had spoken to on the Archangel. She was a politician's daughter at this point, not an airheaded pop star. I liked Lacus a lot more when she was like this and not . . . well, basically my worst nightmare.

"I never thought I would see you again to be honest," Lacus said. "I was shocked when Athrun told me he had recruited you into ZAFT. I thought you never would have volunteered for ZAFT's forces, you were pretty clear about that."

"I didn't have much of a choice," I said. "I don't know how much Athrun told you, but Blue Cosmos thought I was a threat to them alive and they tried to kill me multiple times. I felt that Athrun bringing me into ZAFT was the only way to protect myself and my family. It's not like I'm betraying my country by doing so, Orb is still neutral and I accomplished my obligations on the Archangel."

"Hmm." Lacus actually looked kind of sad in that moment. But it seemed to be directed towards me, like she was putting me before her. "I understand. Athrun did give me a pretty good idea of what happened, so I can guess how conflicted you must feel right now."

Conflicted? I wasn't just 'conflicted', I felt like I was being ripped in two. "You don't know the half of it. I don't believe in the PLANTs or their ideals. And I'm afraid the new Chairman of the Supreme Council is an ideologue of the worst kind."

"Patrick Zala?" Lacus asked.

"Yeah. He was trying to soften it around me, but he despises the Naturals. That much I could see," I said. "I don't think he would shed any tears if the Naturals were wiped out of existence, let's leave it that way."

"His wife was killed on Junius Seven," said a new voice.

I recognized the voice from the meeting before ours that morning. Siegel Clyne. I turned and saw him walk into the room, and he looked every bit as tired as I felt.

"Patrick Zala was never the most . . . sympathetic individual, but the Bloody Valentine hardened his prejudices against the Naturals," Clyne said. "After all, he felt that the Earth Alliance had launched an unjustifiable sneak attack against a peaceful PLANT. Murdered his wife for no reason."

"Well, it was a sneak attack," Hilda offered.

"Evidence shows that the Earth Alliance may not have had anything to do with it," Siegel Clyne said. "It may have been a rogue act by Blue Cosmos or some other group like them. But it did not matter to most people following the attack. It was professional and well-executed and it killed a lot of our people for no reason other than petty hatred, and so we went to war."

"Considering how Blue Cosmos and the Earth Alliance seem to go hand in hand these days, I wouldn't put it past Earth Alliance involvement in some way, shape, or form," I replied.

"That does seem to be the case, doesn't it?" Lacus said. "But the question I want to ask you, Cagalli, is why are you fighting for ZAFT? You said you only came to the PLANTs for your family's safety and your own. You did not have to enlist."

I guess that was true. I didn't have to. I let Athrun and Rau Le Creuset railroad me into the elite pilot corps.

"Athrun is my friend," I said, finally. "I guess I enlisted because I want to help him and protect him. He's put himself at risk for my sake many times."

Lacus smiled. "Athrun is a good person and he's dedicated to his friends and allies. I admire that about him to be honest."

"He's not like his father," I said. "I don't see the same hatred in him that I see in Patrick Zala."

Siegel sighed. He finally sat down next to his daughter. "I personally wonder if Patrick has any interest in peace. I know he said he wants to wait until after Operation 'Spitbreak' is over, but I wonder what his plans are if 'Spitbreak' manages to succeed. He doesn't seem to be seriously considering the idea of peace."

"The wrong kind of victory will just breed another war," Lacus said. "History shows that an unjust peace will create resentment and eventually a war."

"History?" I asked. "What history? There's a big gap in our 'history' after year 2307 in Anno Domini," I said. "We don't have many concrete records of the Reconstruction War or what else happened in the first few years of Cosmic Era either."

"Why do you think that is? Why are those records hidden or destroyed?" Lacus asked.

It took me a moment. "The victors write the history books, don't they?"

"The victors can also erase the history books of whatever they don't like," Lacus said. "It may not have anything to do with them, or took place hundreds of years before. If they don't like it, they can seal it away from public knowledge or destroy it."

Lacus sighed. "I believe that is Blue Cosmos' motivation for eliminating the Coordinators. They believe that a grave error was made in creating the Coordinator and they must erase us as thoroughly as possible."

"They do like their 'cleanse' and 'pure and blue world' language," I said.

"The worst of us aren't much different," Siegel Clyne said. "Many of us have come to believe we are some evolved, superior form of humanity. The inconvenient truth is that we didn't evolve. We were created by Naturals."

"That's what I told Chairman Zala, but he didn't listen," I said. Siegel Clyne's eyes seemed to widen at that. "You truly said that to him?"

"The Chairman of the Supreme Council is a man," I said. "I'm not afraid of him. The only thing I was afraid of was being dismissed from Athrun Zala's unit. I didn't want everything Athrun went through to bring me here to be for nothing."

Siegel Clyne sighed. "You are a . . . different girl."

Lacus chuckled. "Cagalli is unique, Father. Wonderfully unique. That's why I like her. We don't have enough people cutting against the grain here in the PLANTs."

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked. "This feels almost like a type of interview."

Siegel Clyne sighed and he stood up. He seemed to stare into space for a second. "I . . . am worried about Patrick Zala. If worse comes to worse, I want to see if you're trustworthy, 1st Lieutenant Cagalli Yamato. Whether your morals transcend the labels of 'Naturals' and 'Coordinators'."

"You think that Chairman Zala would commit some kind of genocide?" I asked.

That made both Lacus and Hilda flinch. Hilda even exclaimed "Aren't you reaching a little, 1st Lieutenant?"

"No, she's not," Siegel Clyne said. "I am afraid that if provoked, Patrick Zala will give into his anger at the Earth Alliance over the death of his wife. He will want to make a Junius Seven happen to the Earth Alliance, and I'm not sure if the Council can stop him . . . or would even want to. A lot of them are becoming frustrated over the course of this war and want the Naturals to be dealt a death blow."

"ZAFT doesn't have the manpower to keep fighting like this for much longer," I said. "As it is ZAFT has had to draft teenagers from the very beginning because the Earth Alliance has superior numbers. If the war keeps dragging on like this, ZAFT will have to accept a result less than total victory."

"You understand our situation well for an outsider," Siegel Clyne said, clearly surprised.

"I told you she was politically astute, Father," Lacus said. "She majored in political science at her university. She's done her research into PLANT affairs."

Being complimented like that made me blush. I admit it. It was nice to be told I was smart.

I managed to keep going. "That's why you wanted to accept that peace proposal you were talking to Chairman Zala about, weren't you? You yourself are willing to accept something less than total victory if it would end the fighting before ZAFT's numbers are completely depleted."

Clyne nodded slowly. "Partially. The main reason is that I think both sides are losing sight of why the war is being fought in the first place. I think this is turning from a war of grievances into a war of extermination."

"You're talking about genocide too, sir?" Hilda asked. "I really can't see it from our side. The Earth Alliance, thanks to Blue Cosmos taking more and more of it over, I can see. But us?"

"We are human too," Siegel Clyne said. "And we're every bit as fallible as the Naturals are. We can make the same mistakes."

"And you said the Justice as N-Jammer Canceller capability too, right, Father?" Lacus asked. "It could open the door for Chairman Zala to use nuclear weaponry if he desired it. Not only that, but if the Justice were to wind up in the hands of the Earth Alliance, they would be able to use nuclear weapons themselves."

This was getting really serious. "This just sounds like we're going from bad to worse here."

"Now you see why I brought you here," Siegel Clyne said. "My daughter spoke highly of you and said you would understand the gravity of the situation, that you can be trusted to know what's going on, and you can grasp your responsibility with the Justice."

"What makes you think I can be trusted? Your words here could be considered borderline treachery. What makes you think I wouldn't tell Chairman Zala everything you just told me?" I asked.

Lacus chuckled again. "Cagalli, I [i[know[/i] you. You're not the type of person who would allow her hatred to take her over. You wouldn't betray us."

The confidence in her voice, and the friendly tone without any hint of edge, made me realize she wasn't lying or the least bit suspicious. She truly did trust me. "Thank you . . . thank you very much."

Siegel Clyne clearly wasn't as trusting. "My daughter has proven to be a fantastic judge of character since she was a child. I don't want her to be proven wrong for the first time in her life."

"My enemy is not the Earth Alliance," I said. "My enemy is Blue Cosmos and others like them, who don't care how many people they have to kill. I'm only here to protect my loved ones, and to help Athrun. I don't have any loyalty towards Chairman Zala. I don't know where you plan to take things but I am not in favor of this war."

Siegel Clyne seemed to smile, just a bit. "I see. You are a unique person, 1st Lieutenant."

The butler, Mr. Foster, marched into the room. "We have an Athrun Zala on the line, Mr. Clyne," he said. "He is curious if we are keeping her right now."

"Ah, yes, put him on in this room," Mr. Clyne said.

"Understood, sir," Mr. Foster said. There was a screen to my left, on a nearby wall, and it activated.

I saw Athrun's face immediately. "Councilman Clyne, I was told by Chairman Zala's bodyguards that you may have an appointment going on with 1st Lieutenant Yamato, and . . ."

He saw me then. "Um, I apologize if I'm interrupting anything. I've arranged sleeping arrangements for the 1st Lieutenant tonight, at the Amalfis' residence. I would like her transported there when you are done with the appointment, sir."

"It's not a problem, Captain Zala," Siegel Clyne said. "We're wrapping things up here already. I can have my auxiliary bring her to the Amalfis shortly."

"Thank you, Councilman. And Lacus . . ."

He and Lacus seemed to look at each other for a second. "Lacus, I promise I will give you more attention. If there is anywhere you wish to meet tonight, before . . . before my unit has to depart . . ."

"It's all right, Athrun," Lacus said. "I have some ideas. Just call me back in an hour."

"Okay . . . thank you. Goodbye." Athrun looked pretty embarrassed before he killed the feed.

Lacus chuckled. "Athrun tries hard, but . . . I know his heart belongs to you, Cagalli. I don't think anything will ever change that."

That made me feel embarrassed. "You're . . . a better match for him than I am. I'm a bit of a jerk, you . . . you're really nice and thoughtful. And I know you care about him."

"I want him to be happy," Lacus said. "That's what I want for him . . . more than anything else."

It was like she was conceding defeat to me, in that instance. I didn't want to accept it. I had no right to destroy her engagement with Athrun.

Siegel Clyne stepped in then, perhaps sensing that this discussion was going to continue. "Lieutenant-Commander Harken, please escort the 1st Lieutenant to the Amalfi residence."

"Yes, Councilman," Hilda said.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm screwing things up and I'm not even-"

"I don't blame you for any of this," Siegel Clyne says. "I can tell by your tone of voice and the look in your eyes that you're not purposefully trying to destroy my daughter's engagement with Athrun Zala. But I'm going to need to talk to her about this and I would prefer to do so in private."

"I understand," I replied. I looked over at Hilda. "All right, let's go."

"Sounds good to me, things were getting a bit awkward around here," Hilda said, grunting as she got up from her seat.

I almost laughed. "It's been nonstop awkward since I arrived here in the PLANTs, Lieutenant-Commander."

"Goodbye, Cagalli," Lacus said, waving.

"Yeah, goodbye. I'll see you later, you and Councilman Clyne," I said, returning the wave, and then I followed Hilda out of the room.

Before I shut the door behind me, I did turn back towards the Clynes. "I will protect Athrun. I promise. And don't just give up on winning Athrun's heart either. I'm not competing for it. There's no point in surrendering to someone who isn't even in the race, Lacus."

Lacus' smile turned sad. "You're my friend, Cagalli. I'd like you to be happy too."

"Don't sacrifice your own happiness," I said. "I just did that to protect my loved ones and honestly I feel like crap. And I'm saying that as your friend, Lacus. Later."

I didn't want Lacus to reply to me, so I closed the door. I wanted her to think about what I said. I didn't want her to roll over and stop her engagement to Athrun, even though I knew my own feelings for Athrun were growing little by little. It just wasn't right. What right did I have to deny Lacus her own happiness?

Now that I look back on this, it's occurred to me that I was being a hypocrite. What I was telling Lacus not to do was precisely what I was doing.

Oh, who am I kidding?

Love's insanity.
***
I was gaping again. "Don't tell me that the Amalfis have somebody on the Council too!"

"They do," Hilda said, clearly amused by my reaction. "Yuri Amalfi represents one of the PLANTs on the Council and he is also the PLANTs' top scientist. I believe he has been working on cancelling out the neutron jammers that prevent nuclear power from working on Earth."

"What is with the Council people and their mansions?" I asked. "It's like I'm in a city of castles or something!"

Hilda chuckled. "Councilmen aren't shy about showing off their status. Anyway, I must be going. I am sure I'm going to be deployed into 'Spitbreak' quite shortly and I'd like to try to get some things in order before then."

"All right. Bye, Lieutenant-Commander," I said, giving her a short wave as she went back into the car.

"You can just call me 'Hilda'," Hilda said, returning the wave before getting back in the car and pulling away.

"Right," I muttered under my breath.

I walked up to the gates, and it opened up the moment I reached for them.

Okay. Spooky.

That's when I saw a beautiful woman step out from behind some bushes ahead, chuckling. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

I looked at her. "Wait . . . you . . ."

"I made the gates open with a switch," the woman said, still smiling. "My name is Romina Amalfi. You must be 1st Lieutenant Cagalli Yamato."

"Uh, yes. That's me."

She smiled at me. "Pleased to meet you. Nicol has told me quite a bit about you. I'll bring you inside."

Romina Amalfi was striking. I could see the family resemblance in regards to Nicol, she shared the same eyes and hair as her son. But she was beautiful in the angelic sense, like she was pure and uncommonly kind. Kind of like Lacus Clyne in a way. It's an odd type of beauty to describe.

"Thank you," I said, afraid that I was going to stare at her. I privately wished I was as beautiful as Romina Amalfi. I just felt inadequate in comparison to her. Not even Lacus Clyne made me feel this way, like the differences in our appearances actually mattered. I actually felt insecure, which was an incredibly weird feeling for me.

But I followed her inside the house and tried to keep from staring. I could hear piano music distantly in the background as we moved through the front hallway. I did not have any musical training so I could not identify the piece.

"You're much quieter than I expected," Romina Amalfi said all of a sudden.

"I'm . . . I'm kind of overwhelmed right now," I said.

"I can understand that," Romina Amalfi said. "The PLANTs must be an incredibly strange experience for you. You've spent most of your life on Earth or in a Natural colony, correct? The PLANTs are much different."

"It's more than just that. I'm a Coordinator, but . . . I really feel like some kind of alien or tourist or something," I said. "And everyone wants to talk to me. I had Chairman Zala personally introduce me to the Mobile Suit I've been assigned. How am I supposed to feel about that?"

Romina gave me a comforting smile. "You're a special young woman. And I am for one glad you are here. Nicol's told me about what it was like to face you in battle. You seem like an incredible pilot. I think Nicol will be safer with you on his side than he was without you."

It took me a moment to realize that as Nicol's mother, she had to be constantly worried about him whenever he was deployed into battle. I wanted to say that war isn't safe, but I couldn't say that to the mother of a soldier. She didn't need to be reminded of the real danger Nicol faced every time he was sent out into battle.

"He will," I said, deciding to make a promise even though I wasn't sure I could keep it. "I'll make sure he stays safe."

"Thank you, it means a lot." Romina seemed lost in thought for a second before continuing. "It's all right to mention the Justice around me, by the way. My husband, Yuri, has played a pivotal role in the technology being used for the Justice and the other Mobile Suits in development."

"So he helped design the Mobile Suits?" I asked.

"No. Rather, he designed the Neutron Jammer Canceller," Romina said. "My husband believes this technology will allow us to win the war on Earth. I hope it does. I don't want this war to go on any longer than it already has. This war has gone on for over a year now, I fear that if it lasts any longer . . ."

So Yuri Amalfi designed the Neutron Jammer Canceller that allowed the Justice to use nuclear power. That meant that when I was deployed onto Earth, I would have a significant advantage over everyone else. I would never run out of power and my weapons would be stronger than everyone else's too.

No wonder Romina Amalfi thought I could protect Nicol. Down on Earth, I wouldn't just have the advantage of a technologically-advanced Mobile Suit. I would have a lot more power than anyone else.

I was being given the Justice with the expectation that I would single-handedly end the war in the PLANTs' favor. And that had to be why I was being given the warm-up mission. They wanted to see what I could do in the Justice, whether I would be capable of ending the war. If I could sufficiently destroy this raider fleet, they would send me right into the heart of Panama and have me wipe it out.

"If everything goes according to plan in Operation 'Spitbreak'," I said, feeling that she knew about that too, "The war won't last too much longer. Panama's defeat would starve the Earth forces in space and make the ground forces significantly more desperate. If Panama goes down and if Earth doesn't take one of the Mass Drivers ZAFT has control of quickly, the war is over."

"That's what Yuri is hoping for too," Romina Amalfi said. "I personally just wish we and the Earth Alliance could sign a peace treaty of some kind and just end this war. I really don't see the point of it anymore."

I didn't have the guts to tell her that the Earth Alliance had offered the PLANTs a peace treaty and Patrick Zala had rejected it.

"Anyway . . ." I said, noting the piano in the background hadn't stopped and in fact had changed pieces, "Who's that playing? It sounds too analog to be playing through speakers."

"Oh, that's Nicol," Romina replied, her smile becoming bright and proud. "He's a fantastic piano player. I wish he had chosen to become a concert pianist over a soldier. I am sure Yuri would have gotten Nicol some kind of exemption."

It sounded like to me that Romina Amalfi was even more against this war than I was. And I couldn't blame her. She clearly treasured her child.

"His playing is lovely," I offered, despite my lack of knowledge of classical music. I assumed this was classical anyway. Jazz piano has more of an improvised, wild sound, this sounded more calculated and textured, if that makes any sense.

"It is," Romina said, almost wistfully. "I don't hear it often enough anymore. I was a good piano player myself but I never could win my auditions to become a concert pianist. I know Nicol could, though. But it's too late at this point now."

"Let's not worry about that," I said. I was getting a bit tired of Romina's worrying, but I kept my voice even and calm. "Let's just enjoy the moment. Watch your son play. And you can tell me what kind of fancy classical piece he's playing."

"He's playing Mozart-"

"I said tell me while we watch him play," I said, making sure to walk into the room so Romina would follow. "Come on. Just enjoy the moment. Let's save the worrying for tomorrow, okay?"

Romina just stared.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

Romina shook her head after a moment. "No. It's just . . . you are different, 1st Lieutenant. Just like Nicol told me."

Seemed like everybody was calling me different here in the PLANTs. "I've been told I'm unique," I said, parroting what Lacus said to me earlier.

"I can see why people have confidence in you, seeing the way you are now," Romina said. "Maybe you can keep my son safe."

"I will," I promised again. "Now come on. And call me Cagalli. I don't want to deal with military formality right now if I can help it."

Romina smiled. "All right, Cagalli."

She followed me into the room, and we began to watch her son play.

[Vent Noir]

So, a blank in history starting in 2307 AD? Hmmm, why does that date sound familiar?

[rebel_cheese]

So, a blank in history starting in 2307 AD? Hmmm, why does that date sound familiar?

As I warned, this fic will be folding some of the ideas from my previous Gundam fic, Gundam SEED Kismet, into the storyline of Bloodlines. This includes the concept of SEED being a distant finale or sequel to . . . well, the reason why that date sounds familiar. =)

[rebel_cheese]

Chapter Fifty-Six: Sooner or Later

I had trouble sleeping that night in the Amalfi residence. It wasn't that I felt unsafe. Far from it. They tried to make me feel welcome, but it just felt strange to me. I just didn't feel like one of them.

I had my ZAFT uniform washed and wore my other one when I came downstairs that morning to see Nicol also wearing his ZAFT uniform. I couldn't help but notice that it looked older than mine, the colors had faded a bit in comparison to my own. It wasn't something I had noticed before that moment, how new I was in ZAFT.

Nicol's father, Yuri, was present along with Romina that morning. Yuri Amalfi smiled at me. "No pun intended, but you look natural in your uniform, Cagalli."

"Um, thank you, Mr. Amalfi," I said. I didn't know why people thought I looked good in the uniform, but it was embarrassing to be told so. It was like they were saying 'you belong to us', which probably wasn't their intention, but it still creeped me out a bit.

"I've read some of your battle records," Yuri Amalfi said. "It's a relief to know you're on our side now. Nicol told us about his battles against you."

Seems like everyone was talking about my battles except myself. I was going to have to change that in the future. "Yeah . . . I assume he's told you I'm pretty good, huh?"

"Yes," Yuri Amalfi said. "I hope you use the Justice well. I designed the Neutron Jammer Canceller myself."

"Your wife told me," I replied. "It sounds like one heck of a piece of equipment. I'll be able to use nuclear power, even on Earth where nuclear power is effectively useless."

"It will give you a clear advantage over every other opponent you'll face," Yuri Amalfi said. "Even if, theoretically, the Earth Alliance successfully manufactures their own Mobile Suits, you will still have the advantage of unlimited power. The Phase Shift will never fail you once it turns on . . . unless, of course, you choose to shut off the Justice in the middle of the battle, but I don't see you doing that."

"No, I don't see myself doing that either," I admitted.

Yuri Amalfi smiled. "I truly hope you can help end this war, 1st Lieutenant."

"Cagalli," I said. "Just call me 'Cagalli'. I don't need to be referred to as my rank in private like this."

Yuri Amalfi had been more difficult to convince than his wife with talking to me informally. I just wanted to be treated as a guest and a friend of Nicol's, not as a soldier. Being treated as a soldier was just making me feel uncomfortable.

"My sentiment remains the same," Yuri Amalfi said, his smile fading. "This war has gone on much too long. It is a necessary evil, and I hope that the power of your Mobile Suit will force the Earth Alliance to submit terms that will be acceptable to Patrick Zala. I know he rejected their previous offering because he felt that PLANT wasn't getting enough of a deal."

"Patrick Zala believes the Earth Alliance shouldn't submit peace terms," I said, not quite keeping the bitterness out of my voice. "He feels they should submit surrender terms. He pretty much said so in front of Siegel Clyne."

Yuri Amalfi sighed. His eyes looked vaguely sad in that moment, which caught me off guard. He seemed to be quite the melancholy man, unlike his more spirited and youthful wife. "I am not surprised. Patrick Zala is . . . more aggressive in his approach. However, I do hope that his more forceful approach will bring a close to this war."

"I agree with you that it has gone on too long, Mr. Amalfi," I said. "But I'm not sure if Chairman Zala's approach is truly the right thing to do. I think the Earth Alliance is being increasingly influenced by anti-Coordinator forces like Blue Cosmos. That peace offering may have been the last gasp by the doves in the Earth Alliance."

"I know," Yuri Amalfi said. "That's what I am afraid of as well. That's why I'm hoping that 'Spitbreak' and the Justice can end this war before the doves lose all of their influence in the Earth Alliance."

I saw Nicol enter the room then. He was wearing his military uniform, unlike the civilian wear he had worn the previous day. "Father, Cagalli and I will be departing soon. Where's Mother? I'd like to say goodbye to her and I'm sure Cagalli would like to as well."

"Ah, right. I believe she's out in the gardens right now," Yuri Amalfi said.

"Thank you, Father." Nicol looked fairly melancholy too. He only had a short time of R&R, I wasn't surprised that he looked dismayed. I think he'd prefer if his R&R with his family could have lasted forever.

"I'll be right with you," I said. "Don't go anywhere. You're my ride."

Nicol did smile at that. "I know. I'll see you outside, Cagalli."

Yuri and Nicol Amalfi traded their farewells with each other, and then Nicol vanished towards the left side of the house. Yuri Amalfi, for his part, turned to me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

That sent a chill up my spine. That meant that he was about to tell me something important.

"Please," he said, not with the reservation of someone on the Supreme Council, but with the melancholia of a father of a soldier, "Protect Nicol. He does not have . . . have the right temperment for battle. Keep him safe for me."

I remembered all of the promises I had made to protect people on the Archangel, some broken, some successful. I didn't want to make another promise. If you make too many promises odds are you're going to break them. But I knew there was no way out of this situation either.

"I will do my best, sir," I said, as if I was following an order. "But I can't make guarantees, especially if Nicol and I are separated. I'm sorry I can't promise anything more than that."

Yuri Amalfi sighed. "I understand. Battle is such a random thing, from what I've heard. It never ceases to amaze me how many casualties that we get from friendly fire, for example."

He removed his hands from my shoulders and looked away. "Then promise me you will use the power of the Justice properly, in the way it was intended."

"That I can promise, sir," I said. "The Earth Alliance will not get their hands on your technology and I will not abuse the power that's been given to me."

"Thank you," he said. "Farewell, Cagalli Yamato."

What was it with people in this country and their dramatic goodbye words? "Later, Mr. Amalfi," was all I said in reply, before I began walking in the direction Nicol went off to.

I quickly found them outside, and I saw Romina hugging Nicol. It was clear they were pretty close. It reminded me of my own relationship with my mother, before I screamed at her . . . before I ran away from her.

It just reminded me that I couldn't die. I couldn't let things end this way with my mother or father.

"Nicol, please, you need to be careful out there," Romina Amalfi said. "Your father's been talking about some aggressive offensives. I really want you to come back home."

"It's supposed to be the biggest offensive ever amounted by ZAFT," Nicol replied. "The point is, for the first time, we will outnumber them on the battlefield. That should make all of the difference in the world."

"I hope so," Romina Amalfi said, although she did not look particularly hopeful. She looked to me. "Ah, Cagalli."

"I'll be leaving with him," I said. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"It's no problem, Cagalli. Good luck to you as well out there."

"Thank you." To be honest, at that point, I just wanted to leave. All this was doing was reminding me about my own family. About how I was fighting for a cause I didn't believe in. How I shouldn't even be here to begin with. I belonged back in Orb.

But at the same time, Romina Amalfi was so kind. It was obvious she cared about me. There just wasn't a violent, angry bone in her body.

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Amalfi. I'll do the best I can."

"That's all that should be asked of you," she said. She turned to Nicol then. "Both of you."

"Thank you, Mom," Nicol said. He sighed then, and looked towards me. "I guess we should go now, huh?"

"Yeah." I tried to give Mrs. Amalfi a casual wave but it seemed to be half-hearted, at least to me. "See you later, Mrs. Amalfi."

"Goodbye," she said. "And bye to you as well, Nicol."

"Yeah. Bye, Mom." Nicol and Romina Amalfi gave each other one last hug, and then Nicol approached me. "Let's go."

"Okay." I turned and followed Nicol out of the grounds of his house. I wasn't sure whether I should say anything to Nicol or not, I couldn't quite figure out what he was feeling, and I didn't want to offend him. Unlike Asta, who even on her best days seemed prickly, Nicol at least seemed friendly enough. I didn't want to alienate him.

Finally, I thought I should say something and did. "Your family is nice. They're wonderful people."

"They do the best they can," Nicol said. "Neither one of them truly wanted this war, and Mom in particular didn't want me to join the Academy. But it didn't feel right to me to sit down and play the piano while others fight in my place. Dad's influence could have kept me from the service but I just couldn't do it."

"I understand," I said. Nicol clearly felt that it was his duty to fight, to suffer like everyone else his age, rather than use his parents' influence to stay out of the war.

I didn't know what to feel about that. Lacus Clyne was clearly old enough to be in ZAFT if Nicol and Athrun were, and yet she wasn't fighting. Was she simply too famous to send into battle? Or did she have her father pull strings for her? Or did Siegel Clyne pull the necessary strings of his own initiative to keep Lacus from going into combat?

I was going to have to ask one of these days.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like that was going to happen for a while.

After all, I was heading back to war.
***
Nicol dropped me off at the base and then went off towards his own rallying point. Much to my surprise, I saw Chairman Zala waiting for me the moment I entered inside the base.

"Chairman Zala!" I exclaimed, completely taken off guard. I even forgot to salute for a few seconds, but I finally did.

"1st Lieutenant," Zala said after I finally saluted, "Welcome back. I am here to witness the launch of the Justice . . . and hopefully the end of the war."

"Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman, sir," I finally said. What was he doing here? Was the launching of the Justice really so important? I was even beginning to think that the Chairman had spent all night and day here, waiting for me, like he was paranoid that someone would take his new toy before I got here.

"Please follow me to your Mobile Suit," Zala said, and he turned, followed by his bodyguards. I suddenly got an uncomfortable sense of being enclosed upon, and I saw that troopers were surrounding me on four corners. It was clear that in that moment my freedom was gone and that the only path for me was to become the Justice's pilot.

Patrick Zala clearly did not trust me. I must have passed whatever test he had given me by the slimmest of margins.

"Do we need so many armed guards?" I dared to ask. "We hardly had any yesterday."

"You don't need to know the answer to that question," Zala replied.

Yep. That pretty much confirmed it. I definitely was not trustworthy.

Did anyone tell him that I had associated with the Clynes the previous day? Probably Athrun, he had seen me there. And it wouldn't have been for a malicious reason. Athrun was Chairman Zala's son, after all.

But this was making me worried. Assuming that my thoughts were true, this meant there was a major paradigm shift. Siegel Clyne clearly still thought of himself as a friend of Patrick Zala, but I was getting worried that Zala wasn't returning the feelings. Perhaps Zala no longer considered himself Siegel Clyne's friend, but rather a foe, probably because of Siegel Clyne's increasingly dovish point of view. And if I was so willing to associate with Siegel Clyne, that meant I was a dove as well.

That was all conjecture, though. Assumptions. I didn't know for sure. I had a feeling I never would.

I looked at the various doors. "I assume some of these doors lead to the Freedom and Providence."

"Among other machines," Zala replied. "But they're not your business, 1st Lieutenant. The Justice is."

"I understand. I was just asking." "You don't need to ask stupid questions you know you won't get your desired answers on, 1st Lieutenant."

Ouch. "I was just curious, that's all."

"Curiosity won't get you anywhere, 1st Lieutenant. Just following orders and doing what is necessary to end this war against the Naturals . . . end it in victory."

Zala seemed more . . . animated than he did the previous day. It was making me nervous. Why was he so excited? Did the prospect of the Justice finally taking off really thrill him so much? Or was it the possibility of what the Justice could do?

Either option was scary. Which one was scarier I didn't know yet.

"I understand, sir," I said.

"You can't just understand, 1st Lieutenant Yamato," Zala said. "You have to execute as well. I need this war won, and I am trusting in your ability in order to end it in our favor. We will have peace in our lifetimes if you crush the Naturals, 1st Lieutenant. The Justice has the power to pull that off."

The certainty in his words were even more frightening than the implications of his excitement.

"I'll beat them," I said, trying to show confidence but not the violence of Zala's intent. "I can guarantee that. With this Mobile Suit I won't lose."

"You better not," Zala said. "A lot is riding on you."

Gee, no pressure. Not.

"I won't lose," I promised again.

We walked through the door, and this time, the Justice's cockpit was open. A technician stepped out of the cockpit then and saluted Patrick Zala and I. "The O.S. is prepped and ready to go, Mr. Chairman. She's ready to fly."

"Excellent." Zala motioned to the cockpit. "Get in your pilot's uniform and get inside as soon as possible. The rest of your team has already departed for the Vesalius."

"Yes, Mr. Chairman, sir," I said.

I knew there was no way to say no.
***
After I got changed and my things packaged up, I re-emerged back onto the dock. There was no one there, but I immediately heard Patrick Zala speak over the intercom.

"1st Lieutenant Yamato, remember what I told you. Show the Naturals the ability you showed us for those two months we wasted chasing you from Heliopolis to Orb. I want those Naturals cowering in fear of you and the Justice. Make them learn who is superior once and for all."

I knew it would look really bad if I didn't at least meet Zala halfway. "I will win, Mr. Chairman. You will have victory over the Earth Alliance."

I had no idea if they could pick up my voice, but apparently they could. "Make it decisive."

Finally, rhetoric I could agree with wholeheartedly. "That I can do."

I threw my helmet on and stepped into the cockpit and sat down. The cockpit was roomier than the Strike's, and it seemed to have more functions and buttons, and it seemed to have a pretty well-equipped survival package if I were to get shot down. There was enough space for a full-fledged assault rifle to sit on my right, for one thing. And I could place my carrying case that was containing my dress uniforms down to my left without much difficulty.

I re-adjusted the seat for my size and got everything going. I saw a piece of paper with a code on it, and after a brief attempt to memorize it, I gave up and just entered the code as it was written. There would be time to memorize the unlocking code later, as long as I didn't lose this paper.

As I unlocked it, a compartment opened to my right, revealing a key. ZAFT was being really secure here. Just to get access to the key to turn this thing on I needed a password.

I put the key in and saw another code I would have to put in. The paper had this code listed as well and I plugged it in, and suddenly the machine came to life, all of the buttons and lights glowing like I was at some dance rave. It was fascinating. And it also reminded me I was going to have to take a look at the user's manual as well.

I looked around and could not find it. I looked at the piece of paper, and saw there was an unlocking code just to gain access to the manual.

Screw it, I thought.

The O.S. was similar enough to the Strike's for me to figure things out and get it booted up. I heard Chairman Zala's voice over the radio then. "Not even going to give the manual a look, 1st Lieutenant?"

"I've flown this type of machine before. It's basically the same. I'll look at the manual before I take her into combat," I said.

I completed the bootup sequence and saw a word sequence display across the screen: Generation Unsubdued Nuclear Drive Assault Module.

The GUNDAM abbreviation once again. Just spelled differently and in a slightly more coherent way than the Strike's.

I felt the machine come to life, ready to launch at a moment's notice. It felt powerful, lumbering, like a giant waking from a long slumber and it was ready to rush out into the world . . . or outer space, in this case.

"All right, this is 1st Lieutenant Cagalli Yamato, launching GUNDAM Justice! Let's do this!"

I powered the machines on and launched straight up, out of the hangar.

It seemed to be impossibly long at first but when I was ready to settle in I was suddenly out of the PLANT and in outer space.

So many stars. So many colonies.

And a burgeoning ZAFT fleet to my left. Undoubtedly either in reserve or preparing to depart for Operation 'Spitbreak'.

I wondered if I could set coordinates for the Vesalius. I plugged it in and realized through my trial and error that indeed the ship could find any ZAFT ship and its location. It was an intuitive, adaptive O.S., much more so than the Strike's even at the peak of its efficiency. Without much effort, I was able to put the Justice on autopilot and send it right for the Vesalius.

I was amazed at how easy it was.

I wondered if the combat would be easy in this thing as well.

Something told me probably not.
***
I made it to the Vesalius in under an hour and docked with the hangar. Like the chairman had predicted, the only Mobile Suits besides my own belonged to Athrun's team. The Aegis, the Duel, the Blitz, and the Buster were all here.

A technician greeted me when I got out of the cockpit. "Welcome to the Vesalius, ma'am. Get dressed and head for the bridge. There will be a mission briefing that will begin the moment you arrive."

'Ma'am'. I was being addressed as 'ma'am'. It was a heady feeling. "Thank you, um . . . Petty Officer."

Apparently my guess was right as the technician nodded. "No problem, ma'am."

It was weird to float around on the Vesalius. For the entire time the Archangel had been in outer space, the Vesalius had haunted us, shadowed us, stalking us seemingly every waking moment. In one battle, they had even cornered us and would have destroyed us if Natarle Badgiruel had not used Lacus Clyne's presence to save our hides. This had to be a good ship with a good captain. At least, I hoped it was.

After getting changed and wandering around lost on the ship for a short while, I finally made it to the bridge, and saw Athrun's team waiting for me, along with who had to be the ship's captain.

"What took you so long?" Asta asked.

"I got lost," I replied.

Asta chuckled bitterly. "Figures. The one time I don't want you to get lost, you get lost."

"Stuff it," Athrun said. "We need to listen to the briefing. We're going into combat tomorrow if possible, so we need to take this in now."

Tomorrow? We were already going to begin fighting tomorrow? So soon? I didn't feel quite ready for that, I was only just beginning to understand the Justice!

I was going to have to pull an all-nighter just to learn how to fire everything.

"Right, good idea," said the captain, who had long, orange sideburns. He looked at me then, and then approached me and extended his hand. "You must be 1st Lieutenant Cagalli Yamato. I am Fredrik Ades, captain of the Vesalius. I am sure it must be strange for you to be onboard considering that you fought us for a period of time."

"Nice to meet you, sir," I said, shaking his hand. "And I'll get over whatever disorientation there is. I'm here now, so I'll do what I'm ordered to do."

"Excellent," Captain Ades said. He returned to his post. "All right, let's begin the briefing."

He turned on the holographic displays and I suddenly saw a picture of a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties with long, sleek dark hair and eyes.

"This is Selena Hikowa," Ades said. "Atlantic Federation citizen but she was born in the Republic of East Asia. She is the one who has been harassing our preparations for 'Spitbreak' and we're going to take her out."

"She's been winning by outsmarting us," Athrun said. "She's basically a sanctioned space pirate. She preys on ZAFT military vessels and PLANT civilian vessels, disabling and plundering them and is always taking prisoners and shuttling them to the Earth Alliance. Our counterattacks have been fruitless because she employs an extremely loose battle plan that usually involves a lot of fighting retreats until she can get us caught in an ambush, usually in the Debris Belt, and destroy us."

"So we have to outsmart her," Nicol said.

"Or just overwhelm her with our power," Dearka said. "Remember that we have the most powerful Mobile Suits in the war right now, all on this ship."

"It's not that easy," Ades said. "She was once a true Earth Alliance soldier, but was discharged after the Battle of Endymion. Apparently she and her superiors did not get along and they dumped her because she disobeyed orders in that battle. But that's only part of the story. What makes her a true threat is the craft she flies."

I suddenly saw a picture of something I never thought I would see again.

"No way!" I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice. "That's Mu La Flaga's Mobile Armor!"

"She was part of the same unit as La Flaga," Ades said. "She is the last known individual outside of La Flaga himself who flies the Moebius Zero. And that is why she needs to be eliminated. She and her small force are causing too many casualties and hardships for our civilians and military personnel, and we've been ordered to remove her from the equation once and for all."

I couldn't believe it. My first battle, and I had to go up against a Moebius Zero, of all things? A former companion of Mu La Flaga? They couldn't be serious!

No, they were serious. Too serious. This was real, this was really happening.

Damn it, I thought. The last thing I want is to kill one of Mu La Flaga's comrades.

But I knew that was what I was going to have to do. Those were my orders, and I had promised victory. This was war, and now I was on ZAFT's side. I had to pull myself together and do it.

"Understood," I said. "I guess I should volunteer to get her attention, then."

"That's what I was thinking," Athrun said. "We outsmart and overpower her. With you as bait and causing a lot of damage to her forces, she'll have no choice but to fight you personally. And then the rest of us surround her and take the Moebius Zero apart piece by piece until it's gone."

"That was the plan I was thinking of as well," Ades said. "It sounds like we are in agreement then. Loose battle plan to counter her own loose plan, and we cause chaos to draw her out and then shoot her down. We win."

They all seemed so certain about it. There was an air of confidence in this room that I never got onboard the Archangel. On the Archangel, we were more worried about survival than victory. Here? These were people who wanted to win the war, who thought they were winning the war. They believed in victory and that was creating a confident swell in the room that I couldn't shake. In fact, I almost wanted to be swept up in it.

"Understood, sir," I said with a salute. I wasn't anywhere near as confident as I was acting but I felt I had to show it too.

Ades nodded. "You'll do great, 1st Lieutenant. I'm looking forward to seeing how you do out there."

"Looking forward to victory, sir," I said, and I forced a smile.

The truth was, I wasn't so sure I wanted this victory. There was just something ruthless about the whole operation.

At the same time, these were my orders and it was brought up that this 'Selena Hikowa' was picking on civilians. I couldn't let that stand either, especially as someone who defended civilians for such a long time on the Archangel.

The only way to end it all was to win.

And I was the best person available to provide it.

So . . . I was going to win.

Irrevocably.

[The Green Flame]

"All right, this is 1st Lieutenant Cagalli Yamato, launching GUNDAM Freedom! Let's do this!"

Whoopsie daisy.

Nooooo, a Zero pilot is already getting the axe.

[rebel_cheese]

Whoopsie daisy.

Nooooo, a Zero pilot is already getting the axe.

Yeah, that was pointed out to me on FF.net. I'm fixing it now, lol.

We haven't even met her yet, how do you know she's fodder? XD

[The Green Flame]

All mobile armor pilots get the axe in Seed. You can't deny it!

[rebel_cheese]

All mobile armor pilots get the axe in Seed. You can't deny it!

Now I have to let her live just to prove you wrong! XD

[rebel_cheese]

Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Liberation of Gracemeria

I had never worked with such a large unit of Mobile Suits before. I had worked almost exclusively as part of a duo with Mu La Flaga, and then a trio when Flay became a pilot near the end of the Archangel's journey. There was a brief period of time when we had some Eurasian pilots and Mobile Armors, but Athrun killed them all, leaving it down to just La Flaga and I again.

This was something else. I was part of a specialized team, five people, and we had a clear technological advantage over our foes. It was hard to not feel confident, especially not in a brand-new Mobile Suit, especially a GUNDAM model.

Captain Fredrik Ades was on the radio as soon as the five of us all launched. "All right. Looks like we're going to be intercepting Hikowa's forces in the middle of a raid. It looks like they're trying to destroy or take over Gracemeria Defense Base. We need to scatter them, and then hunt down the remnants before they bug out."

Athrun. "It looks like to be they're using transportation shuttles. I definitely think they're trying to occupy the base."

Ades. "That's worse than them destroying it. Turning Gracemeria against us makes this relatively clear section of the Debris Belt perilous. It must be prevented."

Athrun sounded so confident and calm. "Understood, sir. Cagalli, take point. Let's give Hikowa a wake-up call."

"Got it." I accelerated the Justice's engines and blasted off towards the battle.

It looked like most of Gracemeria's defenses were still operational, as they were shooting a lot of flak at the raiders. But the transportation shuttles weren't like the civilian ones I've seen. These were fast and nimble. They weren't getting shot down.

"Cagalli," Athrun said, "Don't worry about the shuttles. Take out the escort Mobile Armors. Without escorts, the shuttles will have to withdraw."

At least Athrun was trying to take the path of the least amount of life lost. I appreciated that. "On it."

I had studied the operations manual religiously after the briefing, and it was mind-numbing how much the Justice was able to do. It was all based on the FATUM-00 unit attached to the Justice's back, specifically the Fortis double-barreled beam cannon. The M9 Cervus machine-gun, however, was the one that looked most formidable on the Justice.

I told the FATUM-00 to detach itself from me and target the Mobile Armors. With the rapid precision that only a ZAFT computer was capable of, the FATUM-00 detached itself from me and shot forward. It was running on a computer autopilot now.

Suddenly, the M9 Cervus machine-gun and the four supplemental machine-guns attached to it all began firing according to my sensors. And the Mobile Armors were dropping fast.

"All right, the FATUM-00 is plowing the road, let's move in," I said.

I heard Asta scoff. "I could've told a computer to fly in and kill everyone too."

Dearka whistled. "I want one of those."

Athrun put a stop to the chatter. "Cagalli, Dearka, you're with me, we're going to hunt Selena Hikowa down. Nicol, Asta, you assist with defending the base. Let's move.."

I followed Athrun through the battle. One Mobile Armor dared to get in my way and I aimed the Lupus rifle in the Justice's right hand and blasted the Mobile Armor right in the center. It exploded instantly.

The Justice was formidable.

Dearka chuckled as we moved through the battle. I barely had to do anything at all, the FATUM-00 was doing most of the work for us. "Damn, looks like we got them in a panic, Athrun. I don't think they were expecting us."

"In a way, we're lucky. We caught them in the middle of a raid. We don't have to hunt them down and if we do this right, we could wipe out the whole unit," Athrun said.

I called the FATUM-00 to return and it latched onto the Justice's back. It was beginning to run low on power, it had been doing so much shooting. Unlike the Justice itself, the FATUM-00 didn't have nuclear power, it ran on a battery, and all batteries need to be recharged.

I was going to need to remember this later. The FATUM-00 needed to be deployed much more carefully.

Captain Ades got on the coms. "All right, I'm positioning the Vesalius to cut off their escape route. Just keep the pressure up. They've got nowhere to run."

That's when my sensors beeped. I looked at my screen, and my heart began pounding against my chest. She was already here.

"Athrun, I have a Moebius Zero incoming."

"I see her. Dearka, keep your distance. Harass her with sniper fire. Cagalli, you and me will fight her directly. Watch yourself."

"I'll be careful," I promised, but I wasn't sure if I could. If Mu La Flaga could fight GUNDAMs so effectively with his Moebius Zero, who's to say this 'Selena Hikowa' couldn't?

I aimed my new toy, the Fortis, right at the Zero. I knew she was going to split the Zero up and have the four automated gun turrets fly around and make life hell. Might as well start it now.

"Firing the Fortis! We're starting this, guys!" I shouted, and then positioned the Justice horizontally . . . or whatever passed for that in space.

I guess this was the true test of the Justice, right here and now.

I fired the Fortis, and two bright beams of light blasted from the top of the Justice. As I expected, the Moebius Zero split up, and the beams missed all five resulting pieces.

This is what made the Moebius Zero so deadly. It could be anywhere at once, attacking you with precision. And now I was up against that.

Considering how much trouble Mu had given Athrun's team with his Moebius Zero, I couldn't let that happen here. I needed to even the odds and quick.

The turrets quickly fired on both Athrun and I, and I made evasive maneuvers, forcing the Justice to fly through several scraps of debris to avoid getting hit by the turret. I spun the Justice to the left and forced my way through the debris, and aimed at the turret that had been chasing me.

On target.

I fired the Lupus, and a beam went right through the turret. It sparked for a second, with a great big hole in the center, and then exploded.

All right. I could do this. The Justice was proving to be better than even I expected.

The remaining turrets returned to the enemy Moebius Zero, and she blasted off, heading towards the main battle. Nicol and Asta were trying to help the remaining GINNs hold the line, and clearly Selena Hikowa was thinking she could still stand a chance if she eliminated them.

"Athrun, I'm pursuing!" I shouted.

"I'm with you! Dearka, cover us!" Athrun yelled.

"You guys don't need to yell so friggin' loud," Dearka sighed.

I chased the Moebius Zero through the battle, firing at it, but the woman was a good pilot. I wasn't hitting her, not like the way I had easily wiped out one of her automated turrets.

Suddenly, my com beeped. I was being hailed . . . by that Moebius Zero.

What the hell?

"What is it?" I asked.

I suddenly saw what had to be Selena Hikowa. She looked to be about Mu's age, and had almond-shaped, dark eyes. I couldn't make out much more, though, her helmet covered the rest of her face like Mu's did. Which made me wonder why she had bothered to turn on the video portion to begin with.

"Ah. I'm being chased by a girl. How interesting."

"Why did you hail me?" I asked.

Hikowa chuckled. "I'm being chased by a Mobile Suit not in my files. I wanted to know what the pilot they were entrusting a new Mobile Suit looked like. I guess ZAFT likes entrusting expensive things to children."

I was not going to listen to this. "Both sides have been sending children to the front lines! You're not one to talk!"

"Perhaps I'm not, but I don't entrust my best equipment to children like yourself! That will be ZAFT's downfall!"

She was going to attack. I could hear it in the tone of her voice.

The Moebius Zero did a spinning maneuver, taking it to the top of the Gracemeria station. I pulled up and followed it, to see the Moebius Zero spin around and face me.

Crap.

I immediately repositioned the Justice's position to allow the Cervus machine-gun to fire. The Cervus did so, but the Moebius Zero split apart again, its turrets and main body shooting everywhere. I tried to have the Cervus rotate to chase at least one of the pieces but I hit nothing.

And then, they all hit me.

The Justice rocked and I couldn't help but cry out.

For a second, I thought I was going to die.

It took me a moment to realize that I wasn't.

"Cagalli!" Athrun cried. I spun the Justice around, which didn't feel like it was damaged much at all, and saw the Aegis fire at the main Moebius Zero body as it reformed and tried to blast away.

"Athrun, I'm fine! The Justice seems to be pretty tough! Let's keep after her!" I yelled.

To emphasize my point, I charged off after Hikowa before Athrun could protest.

Hikowa chuckled again. "Well now. You have a pretty resilient machine there. But can you take another attack like that? Or a third?"

"I'm not going to let you try!"

I knew that both times I had fired at her when she was about to split her Moebius Zero apart, I had missed completely. I needed to time this so I would hit one of the pieces during the sequence. Instead of aiming dead-center, I needed to hit the Moebius Zero at an angle. Even though I would only blow one piece up, that would substantially weaken Hikowa. And maybe I would get lucky and destroy the main body, but considering how things were going so far I wasn't going to count on luck.

So I aimed at the upper left corner and fired just as the Moebius Zero split apart again.

I was rewarded with an explosion.

I saw the main body and two turrets escape the explosion and fly at me, but I saw Athrun and Dearka both lay down suppressive fire that forced Hikowa to pull back and reform the Zero, but she was down to just two turrets.

"Very good! You're showcasing an admirable amount of talent, child!" Hikowa said.

"Do yourself a favor and surrender. Our flagship and the Gracemeria base have your forces surrounded. They're going to be cut apart," I replied.

"I already got two of my shuttles to successfully land inside the Gracemeria base. I'm not going to surrender just yet."

Athrun's voice came on my ear. "Stop talking to her, Cagalli! She's trying to distract us!"

Before I could answer, I heard Hikowa again. "Cagalli? Are you the Cagalli? Cagalli Yamato?"

How the hell did she hear of me? "Yes, that's my name. Why?"

"I thought you were serving in the Earth Forces."

"I defected." A loaded statement, but I wasn't going to go into a long philosophical discussion with her. Not in the middle of a battle.

"Tsk. A shame. The Earth Forces badly needed you. I suppose it was expected, though."

"You have no idea what motivated me to make my decision, and you'll never understand. Now surrender or you will die here!" I replied.

Despite their forces being surrounded by the Gracemeria fortress and the Vesalius, the raiders were still giving a good account of themselves. It didn't help we were outnumbered, or that three of us, instead of shooting raiders down, were chasing their ringleader all over the place.

Hikowa laughed. "Like I said, I have no plans to surrender. I have a job left to do. Also, once I have your fortress, that little ship of yours won't stand a chance in hell."

"That's assuming you'll take it." At that moment, I locked on.

I aimed the Lupus rifle and fired several shots with it, and Hikowa dodged my attacks as I continued to chase her through the battle. A couple of Mobile Armors tried to get in my way, but Athrun quickly shot those down. The woman was a good pilot, and in spite of having inferior equipment, was managing to evade me, Athrun, and Dearka.

She wasn't on Mu La Flaga's level. He had been able to fight Athrun's squad off without his Moebius Zero taking heavy damage most of the time. She had already lost two turrets in this one and there was no conceivable escape for her.

Hikowa split her Moebius Zero up again, and Athrun this time nailed one of the turrets, making it explode. Hikowa zipped past Athrun and I, though, along with her one remaining turret, heading right for Dearka.

"Damn it," Dearka growled as he realized what was happening.

I spun the Justice around. "Stop it!"

I shot at the Moebius Zero, but none of my shots got close to connecting. The Buster launched its own barrage, but Hikowa dodged all of those too.

Athrun zipped past me, the Aegis in Mobile Armor form. Before I could ask what Athrun was doing, the Aegis caught up to the lone remaining turret and rammed it. The turret spun out of control and crashed into the wreckage of a dead ship, exploding.

Hikowa, down to just the main part of the Moebius Zero, broke off her attack on Dearka, and shot off towards the base again. "Not a bad strategy, children. I'm impressed."

"Stop mouthing off at us and just die already!" Dearka yelled.

Hikowa laughed as she dodged another Buster barrage. "My time for death will come soon, probably in this battle. But not yet."

It took me a moment to realize that the Moebius Zero was angling for one of the Gracemeria base's hangar bays.

"Athrun!" I shouted.

"I see what she's doing! Nicol, Asta, break off from what you're doing and stop her!" Athrun ordered.

"We can't!" Nicol replied.

"Damn it!" Athrun growled. The Aegis shot past me, and I followed him.

"Athrun, what do we do if she docks inside the Gracemeria base?" I asked.

"We have to stop her one way or another, Cagalli," Athrun replied. "Even if we have to climb out of our Mobile Suits and shoot her personally."

My heart skipped a beat at that thought. I already spent one harrowing night in ground combat. The thought of me having to do more hand-to-hand fighting brought back terrifying memories of Tassil. Not something I wanted to relive again.

The Moebius Zero sped into the hangar bay, and I watched Athrun. He wasn't pulling up, he had every attention of landing in there.

"The hangar bay is not pressurized," Athrun said. "Leave your helmets and suits on. Something tells me we'll have to do this the hard way."

I felt more terrified of trying to kill Selena Hikowa with a gun than I did of trying to shoot her down in the Justice. My hands were already shaking as I piloted the Justice to follow the Aegis inside the Gracemeria base, setting the Justice down right beside the Aegis.

I prepared to open the hatch, but I heard Athrun shout "Cagalli! Wait!"

"What? What am I waiting for?" I asked.

Silence.

"Athrun?" I asked.

Still silence.

My heart began slamming against my chest. I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't.

"Athrun, what's wrong? Answer me!"

"She was aiming for you, Cagalli," Athrun finally said. "I got her to back off and change positions. You and Dearka can both open your hatches."

I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Of course Athrun wouldn't die. Not on our first mission together. After all of those months fighting each other, and now that we were together, it would have been too cruel for words if Athrun had died in this battle. "Thank you. Just don't scare me like that."

I opened the hatch and grabbed the assault rifle beside my cockpit. I only had two clips for it, I was going to need to use the ammunition wisely. The advantage of zero gravity would be that there wouldn't be much of a recoil, since the gun was weightless just like I was. I would be an elite shot, like I had been a soldier my whole life.

However, so would anyone else. Zero gravity was the great equalizer.

Dearka and I floated to Athrun, who had taken cover behind a half-wrecked GINN. "What's the plan?" Dearka asked.

"We track her down and kill her," Athrun said. "Watch yourselves. We're in a vacuum. We can't hear anything, and our bullets' ranges are gonna be reduced. Also, one hit and you're basically dead, no matter where you get hit."

Coming in here after her seemed more and more like a stupid decision to me.

I leaned out, and suddenly saw a bullet immediately head straight for me. I ducked back to let it pass by.

My heart slammed against my chest and I felt like collapsing. If it weren't for the vacuum I would have had my head blown off right then and there.

"Cagalli?" Athrun asked.

"S-She already took a shot at me. She's . . . she's somewhere up ahead," I managed. I didn't want to imply how close of a call I just had.

"Damn it, we're pinned down," Dearka growled.

"No, we're not," Athrun replied. "Cagalli, blind-fire in her general direction. Dearka and I will sneak up on her and kill her."

"All right," I managed. I peeked my rifle out and did exactly what Athrun told me to do, blind-fire. I used up five three-round bursts, and then ducked back, to see Athrun and Dearka had both vanished. I was alone.

I wanted to throw up.

I couldn't hear a single damn thing in this vacuum and it was scaring me. She could come from anywhere, at any time, and I had no clue where Athrun and Dearka could be.

I kept looking back and forth, up and down, waiting for Selena Hikowa to appear and try to kill me. I thought about changing out my half-empty clip, but my hands were shaking so much that I wasn't sure if I could pull it off without screwing up.

All I could hear were the sounds of my own short, ragged, fearful breaths, waiting for death to come from any possible direction.

Then I heard Athrun. "Cagalli! We found her! She went into a pressurization chamber, she's going to head inside the base!"

I almost breathed a sigh of relief. That meant that Selena wasn't going to kill me the moment I left my cover.

"I'm on my way!" I replied, and floated out from my cover and went straight for Athrun and Dearka. They were floating by a door, and Dearka was clearly trying to force his way inside.

Finally, Dearka punched the door in frustration. "I can't override the security protocols! She's gonna get inside!"

"No, she's not," Athrun said grimly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, and then I saw it.

A satchel charge.

"You're gonna blow her up," I said.

"We have no choice," Athrun replied.

I heard a click as Athrun moved us onto the general channel. "Selena Hikowa, I know you're in there! It's going to take thirty more seconds for the chamber to fully pressurize so you can head inside the base! However, I have a satchel charge set to five seconds! You can either surrender, or die when I blow this charge and suck you back out here!"

Hikowa sighed. "You really think this is over, do you, child?"

"Is that a 'no', then?" Athrun asked.

A pause. "I suppose so."

"So be it." Athrun slammed the charge on the door and activated the timer. "Everyone, back off!'

Hikowa laughed. "You think you're doing the right thing, children? Let me tell you this, at the rate this is going, we're all going to die, all because we thought we were doing-"

The door blew open, and I heard Hikowa cry out as she was sucked back out into the same chamber we were. She was scrambling to get her weapon in position to fire, but both Athrun and Dearka aimed at her and fired first.

Blood gushed from multiple holes in her spacesuit and I saw Hikowa's visor shatter, and I looked away. I did not want to see this woman's horrible death.

Athrun took a long, deep breath, and exhaled. "All right. We got her. I'm going to inform Captain Ades, and then we're going to head back out and clean up the remaining resistance."

It amazed me how distant Athrun was. But I didn't say anything. I wasn't a rookie anymore, and I knew why Athrun was being distant.

He needed to disconnect himself from the people he killed in order to move on.

I couldn't help but wonder how long he could do that without losing what made him . . . Athrun.
***
Captain Fredrick Ades greeted us all personally on the bridge after that mission. "Excellent job, all of you. We wiped out Hikowa's entire group, either by taking them prisoner or otherwise eliminating their resistance."

I didn't feel like I had done anything worth congratulating over. I just felt like I had killed people. And for what?

Ades, as if sensing what I was thinking, continued on. "With our victory, Gracemeria will continue to hold this position and serve as an outpost in the debris belt to assist our fleet as we assemble for Spit Break. We all saved a lot of lives today. You are all dismissed."

"Yes, sir!" the other four pilots beside me all said, followed by the odd ZAFT salute. I barely remembered in time to mimic them, though I felt like I was still a second or so behind them.

"What's next for us?" Dearka asked as we left the bridge.

"Probably Spit Break itself," Nicol said. "Which means we're dropping into Panama."

"The Naturals have to have fortified Panama. They're stupid but not that stupid," Asta replied. "They'll be waiting for us."

"Yeah, but it's pretty damn clear to me they've got nothing that can match these Mobile Suits of ours. Especially the Justice. You saw that FATUM-00 thing Cagalli's got? That takes care of a ton of the work for us!"

"Not if it gets shot down," I replied.

"Well, it didn't, so why worry?" Dearka asked, presumably rhetorically.

"We can't get overconfident. Spit Break is going to be the largest offensive we've mustered in this war, and I am sure the Earth Alliance knows we'll be coming. Panama's too obvious of a target," Athrun said. "So yeah, we should worry. Even with us there, a lot of people are gonna die."

"Geez, what made you the wet blanket today?" Dearka sighed, but he didn't say anything more.

Athrun looked at all of us. "We should take as restful of a sleep as possible before tomorrow. Spit Break is due to begin any day now."

Oh sure, Athrun. Tell us to get a restful sleep and that Spit Break was due to begin? Counter-productive.

But everyone set off on their own, and I stayed in the hall by myself, left behind.

I thought about Hikowa, how she had built up that whole operation from scratch, and we just destroyed it all in a single battle.

Who's to say that couldn't happen to us, too?

That comforting thought followed me for the rest of the day . . . and into the night.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry about this taking so long.

Operation Spit Break finally begins next chapter!

[Vent Noir]

Good to see a new chapter!

I have to try and get to work on my own fic, I've hit a rather large stumbling block at the moment.

[The Green Flame]

All mobile armor pilots get the axe in Seed. You can't deny it!

Now I have to let her live just to prove you wrong! XD

Phahahahaha.

Great chapter though.

[Amion]

Good to see a new chapter!

I have to try and get to work on my own fic, I've hit a rather large stumbling block at the moment.

I thought I saw someone else beating their fist against this giant wall! So it was you! I command you to write, heathen! Just because I have now reached the same wall does not mean my urgings for you to overcome writers block are not valid. *Vainly attempts to budge the wall somehow, getting nowhere* Grr, when I get that space drill I swear I'll get through. It would have been here by now, but Captain Cain from Valvrave hi-jacked it.......and I don't know when he plans to return it. *Attack the wall again desperately*


Sorry Bloodlines, I had to catch Noir where I could. I ought to check out this fanfiction, it would be interesting to see whether this mobile armor pilot survives. And yes, they all do end up dead, don't they? A case of the Warf factor?

[Vent Noir]

Sorry Bloodlines, I had to catch Noir where I could. I ought to check out this fanfiction, it would be interesting to see whether this mobile armor pilot survives. And yes, they all do end up dead, don't they? A case of the Warf factor?

Well, I don't like kill-em-all endings, so you can rule that out. I make no guarantees for individual characters, though...

[Amion]

Sorry Bloodlines, I had to catch Noir where I could. I ought to check out this fanfiction, it would be interesting to see whether this mobile armor pilot survives. And yes, they all do end up dead, don't they? A case of the Warf factor?

Well, I don't like kill-em-all endings, so you can rule that out. I make no guarantees for individual characters, though...

Sorry, poor and hasty writing. I mean the mobile armors and their combat life-expectancy. I mean, most mobile armors only last one episode before they're shot down.

[Vent Noir]

Sorry Bloodlines, I had to catch Noir where I could. I ought to check out this fanfiction, it would be interesting to see whether this mobile armor pilot survives. And yes, they all do end up dead, don't they? A case of the Warf factor?

Well, I don't like kill-em-all endings, so you can rule that out. I make no guarantees for individual characters, though...

Sorry, poor and hasty writing. I mean the mobile armors and their combat life-expectancy. I mean, most mobile armors only last one episode before they're shot down.

Traditionally, yes. Although remember that the story was inspired in large part by my annoyance at certain "newtype girl"-related tropes...

[rebel_cheese]

Announcement: I am working on getting updates ready for this story again. I've had a harsh last 5 months. But I'm going to try to get enough chapters completed for an update string. Ideally, part 3 will be completed in this update string.

Another part of the hiatus was Operation Spit Break, admittedly. But I'm working on getting over this hump.

[The Green Flame]

I knew you'd come back 8D

[Vent Noir]

Glad to see this back (although given how my progress on Gundam Storm is going, I really have no right to complain)