Crossover Fan Fiction / Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Crossing Barriers ❯ Assesments, Discussions, and Sharp Ideas ( Chapter 10 )

Crossing Barriers

 

Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed are the sole property of their creators and distributing studios. I have no financial interest in either series. Nor am I receiving any financial gain from this fan fiction work. I do however own all plot elements not part of the original and all self-created characters. Thank you. Enjoy.

 

Special note: Yaoi (homosexual pairings) is a plot element of this story. There will be NO explicit material but there will be sections where it is reasonably clear that sex is happening or has happened.

 

Beta Reader: T'Amara

 

 

 

Assesments, Discussions, and Sharp Ideas

 

 

 

The Sun was deathly tired. It had been a long day and an even longer night. They had nothing but failure to show for their own efforts too. The only good news they had wasn't anything they'd put in place at all. He really wanted to blame someone and get the tensions focused and expended but that would be a fool's move. There was no one to blame. Well, no one still alive anyway. The leaders of the teams who had missed their targets were all safely dead. And if he'd learned nothing else from watching other's mistakes during the Eve Wars, the Sun had learned that blaming the troops only shattered moral without solving a thing.

 

And this was no time to be breaking moral. With Relena Dorlian now out of the picture, the government was beginning to fall into a game of finger pointing and blame. The President was the only man left who could have held things together. But he was also no longer a factor. Word had come only an hour ago that the old man had been admitted to the hospital suffering from a mid-grade heart attack. The preliminary estimate was a stay of at least a week and a half. This left the ambitious Vice-President in charge. And that man was susceptible to both flattery and misdirection. He was a vindictive little son-of-a-bitch too; a fact all too well known by the professional politicians, one that had a number of people already looking warily over their shoulders.

 

They were a good month and a half from being fully ready but sometimes things had to be taken as they came. It would be stupid to allow these conditions to repair themselves, as they would if Crimson Dawn stood by and did nothing. There was considerable danger in this of course. The Gundam Pilots were unaccounted for, as was the Dorlian girl and the Khushrenada child. But the tide of history would not wait while they found and dealt with those dangers. Crimson Dawn was going to have to begin its opening moves now, ideal situation or not.

 

He frowned at the reports from the mobile suit factory. They were running flat out but it would be a good three weeks before there were enough of the Sagittarius suits completed to meet the projected minimum needed to conquer the ESUN. If they moved before they had enough suits they ran the risk of having significant enemy assets escape to form resistance cells. If they didn't move quickly they risked missing the crest of the tide and falling into the trough behind it, with failure as their only footnote in history.

 

He chewed lightly on his lower lip as he considered their options, giving several reports quick scans to be sure he remembered them correctly. He nodded thoughtfully when he finished. They had to move but they didn't have to do it openly yet. It was time to turn the disinformation teams loose though. The more confusion and distrust they could sow in the government and between the government and the people the better now. And it was time to let the recruiters begin to bring in the disenfranchised men and women they'd been feeling out who had once been special forces or black operations troops. Those units were going to have to be put together in haste but none of the people they were looking at were rookies, they'd shake down quickly. He dictated the necessary orders to begin both phases of the opening operations immediately.

 

With that complete, he decided it was time to authorize a select handful of assassinations. There were still a few very powerful voices for peace. Some needed to be silenced, preferably publicly and in a manner that could be blamed on the incompetence of their personal security. It was just unfortunate that none of those were using Preventer security teams. It would have been useful to discredit that organization. Ah well, one couldn't have everything one wanted. He handwrote the orders; there had to be no mistakes regarding just who was to be targeted or in what order they were to be eliminated.

 

Lastly he picked up the intelligent appraisal on the probable flight of the Gundam Pilots from the Ramirez boy. Reading it, the Sun smiled. He'd done a through job, covering each group of Winner flights, with reasons for and against focusing on them. He hadn't come up with any half-assed assessment either. He might be wrong, God knew he wouldn't be the first or last of the Dawn to be wrong, but he'd at least worked at it instead of whining about being stuck with the job. Still, there was something off here.

 

He read it slowly, trying to see if there was something in between the words that he was missing, that could be triggering this feeling of his. The discarded atmospheric flights didn't seem to have anything attached to them. That assessment was straightforward and blunt. Nor could he find a point out of place when the boy discussed the commercial shuttles or even the high speed security flights. His logic regarding both was neatly set out and very, very clear-cut. It was a sensible logic too.

 

The freight shuttle analysis though, while as concise as the others, was not as confident. They were the likeliest of the flights, the boy had that right. But there was a very slight hesitance in the way he had this worded that differed from the rest of the report. He wouldn't have caught it if he hadn't decided to tear it apart word by word either.

 

As he continued to pick the report apart, the Sun realized it was the old `Clydesdale' that had young Ramirez's attention. Why? It was an antique, and this one wasn't even a particularly serviceable one. The repair and flight schedule for this one had been filed almost two years ago. There was nothing here to connect it in any way with the evacuation of the Gundam Pilots.

 

The old man's eyes narrowed. Perhaps that was the attraction. That it was such an innocent looking trip. After all, it would have happened yesterday even if the Pilots hadn't been on the run. But it would have been just like 04 to have taken advantage of it all the same.

 

The Sun finally decided to hedge his bets. He wrote orders putting a two-shuttle team on standby. They would be available for Ramirez to use if he found anything out of place when he took over responsibility for the patrol zone. And that covered that. He reached for the next report, the one on the progress of their research team that was trying to develop a weapon that would penetrate gundanium on the first shot. They really needed a highly mobile and flexible weapon that could neutralize the Gundams if they did return. Unfortunately, this research hadn't been doing particularly well. Keeping his level of expectations safely low, he began to read.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Sally Po finished the interview and thanked the Captain. She offered him coffee before he left and the man accepted. They chatted about nothing for another five minutes before he put the cup down and headed back to his outfit.

 

She sighed. One more officer who'd tested clean of Crimson Dawn's influence. It was a slow process, this testing. Ever since the General had found four others she trusted they'd been doing this whenever they could. Now there was a company and the junior officers to test. If they passed, it would be one more to send into hiding.

 

Colonel Po studied the globe in her office quietly. She didn't spin it, she didn't need to, she already knew where the hidden facilities were. They'd managed to slip some two dozen Serpent mobile suits out of the Preventer's inventory and get them distributed in various hiding places. It was a drop in the bucket but it was a start. And they weren't short of parts or ammo for them either. It was finding trustworthy pilots that had proven to be the bottleneck. She could have siphoned off twice that number if she'd had the men and women to fly them.

 

Each contingent of mobile suits now had a full company to guard it. General Une had decided they would tell the people they were sending out of sight what was going on. So once they arrived at their destinations, they'd been shown the data J had sent. No mention of the Gundam pilots had ever been made by the placement officers. Yet each and every company had asked if they were on their side. They hadn't lied to anyone. They'd told them the pilots were also in hiding and nothing more. So far, it had been enough.

 

Their careful screening had located two enemy agents so far. Both had been transferred out of their companies and the rest of the unit had been sent to new duty stations. Neither company was under consideration for one of the secret resistance units though. Both men had been popular, they'd left their units with too many doubts about the current government to consider them for this. Those men would have to learn the hard way just what kind of traitors they'd befriended.

 

Neither of the traitors would be alive much longer though. Sally knew none of the details and didn't want to. She simply knew they were not going to permit any traitor other than Ramirez to stay alive. And the only reason for leaving him was to give them someone who might lead them to others like him.

 

A small scratching coming from the wall behind her desk alerted her to a visitor. Not a fool, she checked the tiny monitor in her desk before she opened the door. It was far from impossible for the enemy to find the handful of secret passageways that had been built into the Preventer HQ in Sanq. This time though, it was a friend.

 

Lieutenant Chen Ly stepped through the secret door and snapped a brisk salute. “I have the documents you requested Colonel.”

 

“Good.” Sally took them from his hand. “Is the team ready to move out?”

 

“Yes Colonel.” Ly hesitated, then plunged on. “We need the Captain though. When will he be back?”

 

She looked up at the unhappy young man who was Wu Fei's second in command. “He won't be returning until things come to a real head. He's vitally needed elsewhere. The Chang Team is going to have to be the Ly Team for a while. He simply can't be spared from the assignment General Une has sent him on.”

 

A child could have read the depth of disappointment and personal uncertainty that reply generated. Sally regretted having to do this to the other but she wasn't going to tell him Wu Fei was Gundam 05 either. She had been giving serious thought to how to best utilize Chang's team though.

 

It had occurred to her that they were all pilots. True they were space fighter pilots but pilots all the same. It was highly likely they could master mobile suits. If they could, it would double her current number of available pilots. What the Preventers didn't have, they were going to have to make. She made a snap decision, already knowing where she could send them to make this work.

 

“Lieutenant, I will be sending you orders shortly that will relocate the entire team. You will be entering training to enable you to support Captain Chang when he returns. I will expect the highest efforts from the people Wu Fei has such faith in.”

 

The words worked wonders on the young man in front of her. Ly was suddenly standing at perfect attention, eyes brilliant in anticipation. It made her wonder if she shouldn't make that same suggestion in a few more places. Wu Fei was a lot more popular than the man himself knew. His skill, unbending standards, and willingness to train instead of blame had earned him a following that extended well beyond his own unit.

 

“Yes Sir!” Ly saluted sharply.

 

“This will be a stealth mission, Lieutenant. You will not discuss it with the Team or anyone else. You will receive the details when you arrive at your destination. Now, get back to your people. I will need you ready to move with all the units gear in twenty-four hours.”

 

“What may I tell the people, Colonel?”

 

“You may tell them that they will be taking part in a special exercise, that and nothing more.” She frowned. “You may advise them they will be on the exercise for an extended period. They will need to make whatever arrangements they need for the long term care of dependents immediately.”

 

“Is the duration known?” Ly asked.

 

“That data is not being released at this time. Plan for several months. The time needed will, to some extent, depend on how well the Team does on the work.”

 

“Oh,” she added dryly, “tell Sergeant Diaz that the dog is not invited.”

 

Ly flushed. Sally didn't grin but she came close. No one was supposed to know about that little Yorkie cross mongrel they'd adopted as a Team mascot. Unfortunately, it would be dangerous to try to take the dog with them. Quarantine laws aside, the dog's life would be in genuine jeopardy where they were going. Too much of the local wildlife regarded a dog that tiny as a snack on legs.

 

The Lieutenant left and she got down to cutting the orders needed to move the Chang Team out of sight. General Une signed them, a bit reluctantly as she'd had other plans for the team but Anne Une was nothing if not practical. The idea of training their own mobile suit pilots hadn't occurred to her but when Sally explained it, she agreed instantly. Especially after Sally told her about the old Alliance base once used to train special strike teams. Now all she had to do was get the men, a few mobile suits, instructors, supplies and support personnel there in the next seventy-two hours. She was going to be busy, wasn't she?

 

* * * * * * *

 

Flat on his back on the bench, Heero grabbed the handle bars and began a series of repetitions at the maximum weight this unit would give him. Well, he wasn't actually lifting anything here, it was a null-g gym so he was more pushing against a measured resistance but in terms of working the muscles it was almost as good. He'd already used the running platform and the rowing machine. He planned to go on to leg work when he finished both the push and pull here. He wanted to end up so tired his mind would leave him alone. That was not a simple state for him to reach; even now he was still in too good a shape to just wear himself out in an hour or so.

 

He'd needed last night. Seeing Relena again had left him as confused as he'd thought it might. He wanted to be attracted to her. But he wasn't. He was drawn to Duo. Who, it turned out, was amazingly responsive when you turned the tables on him and tied him up for a change. He could only hope the other three would understand why he'd locked them out.

 

The rhythm of the exercise was welcomingly hypnotic. His mind got off his case and drifted into someplace where the only thing it worried about was the slowly building burn in his muscles as he ran the repetitions far beyond anything recommended. He soothed it by reversing the system and beginning a series of pulls, suitably strapped down to the bench so he wouldn't lose the benefit in the very low gravity environment. It stayed locked on the program as he shifted to doing leg presses after his arms had been overworked enough to really hurt.

 

“If you keep that up, you'll be setting yourself up for a charlie horse sometime later today.”

 

Heero rolled and twisted, on his feet and braced for trouble before Merquise had finished. He was infuriated with himself. Zechs wasn't Duo; he shouldn't have been able to slip up on him like this. He'd let his mind go too far away damnit!

 

The man was slouched against the doorframe, eyebrows slightly raised. “I wasn't aware that we'd gone back to being enemies, Yuy.”

 

“We aren't.” Heero agreed somewhat tightly as he came out of his combat-ready coil. “But I let you surprise me. I'm not pleased with that.”

 

“Tell me, were you thinking too hard or working hard at not thinking?”

 

The glare he shot should have crisped the man where he stood. Unfortunately, it seemed Merquise was as immune as Maxwell. All he got for it was a small crooked smile.

 

“My sister is lost and confused and the five of you are about as easy to talk to as cats locked in the back room of a dog show. This is not a viable state of affairs. I have a very unpleasant feeling we are all going to end up in one hideout. This has to be addressed now, or there will be serious, possibly deadly, issues later.”

 

“And what do you expect to say about it? That everything is fine?” Heero knew he sounded like a petulant child but he was having problems with his voice and that was better than having it shake.

 

“Obviously its not.” Zechs shook his head. “Everyone's upset and walking around everyone else like the floor was covered in eggshells, very explosive eggshells. This is an impossible situation and you know it.”

 

“Merquise . . .”

 

The silver-blond held up one hand and he stopped. “It must be discussed Yuy. Not shoved under a rug or politely ignored like `civilized people should'. The stress on the five of you alone is high enough to compromise everything. Toss in Relena, Mariemaia and the two of us and it is a recipe for disaster. You're intelligent, somewhat suicidal but nevertheless intelligent. You can not meet my eyes and tell me this can be overlooked.”

 

Heero sat slowly back onto the bench he'd jumped off earlier. Damn ex-Oz Special had that right. He couldn't meet the man's eyes while saying anything that stupid. He growled wordlessly in frustration. He did not want to talk about it. Period.

 

“While you're contemplating whatever is going on in the back of your head, I have one more bit of news for you.” Zechs sounded oddly tired and Heero looked up to find a strangely lost expression on the man's face.

 

“Hn?”

 

The blush was so out of place on Merquise's face that it took him several seconds to realize that was what it was. He let his eyes widen, sometimes surprise was justified. Zechs' mouth just tightened.

 

“You need to know that while the soundproofing of these rooms is impressive it isn't perfect. And Mariemaia is a precocious child. She heard Maxwell this morning. At least I assume it was Maxwell since Quatre stumbled and told me the two of you locked the others out and that scream was far too high for you. She's fascinated by the idea of the two of you together. As I've been saying, we have to talk this out. Too many things that should be secret aren't. And I'm getting worried about what's in hiding that still is secret.”

 

For the first time in years, Heero Yuy wanted nothing so much as to be able to melt through the floor. He hadn't really come to terms with this overpowering need for the others himself yet. He most definitely did not want to try to `talk' about it with this group. He really did not want to discuss it with Relena, Noin, Dorothy, or the child around! Yes, he'd learned to talk more when he'd gone off on his own, there hadn't been anyone available to do most of the common but necessary interpersonal chatter with the other pilots no longer there to do it for him. But he had no practice in discussing his own emotions, needs, or confusions. Those weren't anyone else's business!

 

“I can't do this.” He found himself admitting.

 

“You have to.” Merquise told him gently. “We all have to work on understanding how we feel; and what we are, and are not, going to be willing to live with here. Especially if we end up in one safehouse together. This can not be allowed to fester. And you know it will. It's eating you to the bone now. How much worse will it be when it's all of us in a small space for an extended period? Or do you think Crimson Dawn will be kind enough to start their war tomorrow so you can avoid your own mind?”

 

Normally he'd have glared the man out of the room. But it was difficult to do that when all he was doing was being both honest and accurate. The combination was stealing the strength from his stare and he knew it. So he glared at the deck instead. It wasn't going to notice how much of the power was missing from that look. And it wasn't going to tell Merquise just how accurate he was either.

 

“I have Noin making sure everyone else meets in the lounge in half an hour. You need a shower before you come. Please don't make it necessary to come find you.”

 

“No.” Heero agreed evenly. “That won't be necessary.”

 

To his intense relief, the man just left. He gave Zechs ten minutes to round up the others and get them started for the lounge before he slipped back to the room he shared with Duo. It was empty, just as he'd hoped. He found clean clothing, ran himself through the shower, dried the hair until it was only damp, dressed, and took himself reluctantly to the lounge. Only an experienced understanding of how bad things could get if they didn't deal with reality forced him to go.

 

The door was still open, telling him that nothing important was being or had been discussed yet. He was slightly surprised to discover he wasn't the last one here. For some reason, Mariemaia and Noin were still absent. Unfortunately for his emotional equilibrium though, both Dorothy and Relena were already inside.

 

Zechs looked up grimly when he stepped in. “Good, that's everyone for the moment. Quatre, will you please close the door?”

 

There were moments when it was hard to remember Merquise only had four years on him. The man had already been the famed `Lightning Baron' when they'd first encountered each other and Heero had always gotten a sense of maturity from him that far exceeded his actual age. Today, he had that feeling in spades. This promised to be a difficult meeting.

 

“Where are Noin and the girl?” Heero asked, as much to delay the conversation as to have the information.

 

“She's keeping Mariemaia busy.” Zechs replied. “There are things we need to go over that an eleven year-old doesn't need to be party to, no matter how precocious she is.”

 

“Thank you.” Heero said, almost surprised to find how seriously he really meant that.

 

Zechs nodded back, and while he did a good job of hiding it, Yuy still saw the sympathy in the back of his eyes. He didn't like it or want it. But he was grateful to the man for hiding as much of it as he did.

 

While Quatre closed the door and returned to his own chair, Heero picked out one for himself. It sat alone by an end table, a little way out of the conversation group the rest were seated in but not so far that he wouldn't be able to hear, or be heard. Moreover, it was on the far side of the space from Relena. And he found himself grateful to her when she let him set them that far apart with no protest. He curled up in the high, wing back seat and made an attempt to just vanish. He wasn't fool enough to expect it to work.

 

“Ok Zechs, we're all here like you wanted.” Duo was obviously no more comfortable than Heero was. “So just what do you have in mind?”

 

“We talk.” Merquise replied grimly. “We talk about the things we don't want to talk about. And we do it because we can't afford not to. As I told Heero, we're likely to be confined together in whatever safehouse the Doctors have for us. We'll all be in serious trouble and likely become deadly enemies if we don't deal with the issues or set firm ground rules for behavior.”

 

“'Ro?” Duo asked. “You agree with this?”

 

“Yes.” Heero replied shortly.

 

“Why?” Maxwell grumped.

 

“Because he's right.”

 

Wary cobalt eyes turned back to Merquise. “Ok, `Ro says we talk. I'll at least start out willing to listen. Whadda ya wanna talk about first?”

 

“Sex.”

 

Heero buried his face in his arms. Yeah this was going to be every bit as difficult as he'd thought. Then Duo gave an odd, wordless snarl and he knew it was going to be worse.

 

* * * * * * *

 

“The standard size of a Team is twelve.” Kira noted as Joule frowned at him. “I was thinking with you and I part of it and Dearka for your Wing, we'd really only need nine others.”

 

“You aren't planning to leave me out are you?” Shiho asked dangerously.

 

“No, but I'm not sure how to get you in either.” He admitted openly. “I'd put you as Yzak's Wing if Dearka didn't already have the job. As it is, he does. So I'm not sure where to go with you. And that's annoying because you're a very fine pilot and I don't want to see you left on the sidelines.”

 

“Oh, I got an idea there.” Dearka announced from the overstuffed chair he'd appropriated the minute he'd walked in the door.

 

“You would.” Yzak snapped. “I don't want to hear it. I don't like this at all.”

 

“Why not?” Kira asked calmly. “Understand me, I want this sanctioned by the Supreme Council and written into the new Charter for FAITH that this unit can't ever be expanded. The whole purpose of it is to have a single, tactical response team that can react instantly. And it's our personal heads if we screw up by deciding to react with force too. On the other hand, you and I both know if there had been such a unit available to meet the Blue Cosmos strike on Junius Seven, there is a damn good chance it would have failed. It was Command's hesitation to accept going to war let them get too close.”

 

“That's an opinion.” Dearka cut in. “You'll find a lot of people who disagree with that one.”

 

“Yes, and they still refight the Battle of Gettysburg and argue about Lee's decision to send out Pickett to attack too.” Kira noted. “But that's my opinion and until better data comes along to change it, I'm sticking with it. And it's why I want this unit. We look strong on paper but if you really dig, you turn up our limits in people power very quickly. We have enemies, enemies who would love to hit us while we're not really able to hit back. A fast response team is one key to keeping those enemies from actually making a move.”

 

“I doubt the Strike-Freedom and eleven GOUF units will be that big a deterrent.” Yzak replied grimly. “It will need more firepower than that.”

 

“I know.”

 

All three of them turned toward him sharply. They'd heard the edge in his voice. Yzak gave him a ferocious scowl, knowing already that he'd gone behind his back on this. Kira tapped the plate on the conference table, bringing up the vid display. There, in all its renewed glory, was the Command Duel he'd commissioned for Joule. He'd even had it done in Yzak's white and pale gray to make it unmistakably clear right from the first glance who it was intended for.

 

“But the Duel's outdated tech?” Dearka said it more like a question than a statement.

 

“This isn't the Duel although it is based heavily on it.” Kira smiled tightly. “Meet the Command Duel. Has four 75mm Igelstellung head mounted guns for CIWS, an permanent Aile pack, two `Super Lacerta' beam sabers, two beam shields mounted on the arms, and a pair of high energy beam rifles. If all else fails, it even has a pair of Armor Schneider combat knives. It also has a sensor suite that is at least as good as mine and a full command communications suite. It's powered by a deuterion reactor and has an n-jammer canceller. Oh, and it comes with variable phase shift armor and the `g.u.n.d.a.m.' operating system.”

 

“What, . . . . . shit!” Yzak spit.

 

“Get something straight here Joule.” Commander Yamato said flatly. “You have an office to uphold. Your GOUF Ignited is a good machine, but it's a mass produced model. You put that in front of my Strike-Freedom and you lose position you can't afford to be giving up. You must have a mobile suit on par with mine. Better would be considered appropriate but I couldn't find anything that was. And between the four of us, I can handle more weaponry at one time than you can. So, since command is your job, I went this way; a command suit that can kick butt.”

 

Dearka had been running the specs and whistled in admiration. “Oh hell, Yzak, you should look at the range on these beam rifles! And they can be combined to make a sniper rifle like my old Buster had! You can shoot the shit out of anything short of Kira's machine with these. This is one sweet mobile suit.”

 

“Uhm.” Shiho was also studying the new machine. “He's got a real point about putting a GOUF beside the Strike-Freedom. This one on the other hand, well, it's just as clearly a special unit as Kira's is. And it's a good looking machine too. I like the very clean lines. It will look capable of being in command of Strike-Freedom, something your GOUF Ignited simply couldn't manage in a million years. A lot of our early efforts with FAITH are going to be going on appearances and impressions. Plus, this suit is fully capable of doing all the damage it looks like it can. Combine it with Kira's and a highly trained team and yeah, you will have a deterrent.”

 

She looked up, eyes dead serious. “He's got a good point here. You really need to consider it.”

 

The glower in Joule's eyes didn't diminish but it was matched by an odd admiration. Kira pretended not to notice. He wanted Yzak's agreement here, not to make him so mad he tossed common sense out the door.

 

“I suppose you've already found out how long it will take to have one of these made?”

 

“Two of them were started during the first Valentine War. I don't know why they were abandoned but I've already had them both sent to Armory One. Your new mobile suit will be ready in six days. Considering how the peace talks are going, it should be done before they get around to discussing the limits they want to try to put on mobile suits this time.”

 

“Six days!?!” Yzak stared at him.

 

“Yeah.” Kira grinned. “Apparently they are going to have to do a lot less to bring the suit up to current standards than I thought.”

 

“Whoa!” Dearka exclaimed. “How fast can you get us a pair of GOUF Ignited's to go with this new look your setting up?”

 

“Hey! I have a mobile suit!” Shiho yelled.

 

“Shiho,” Kira said gently, “think about this please. I know you're very attached to the DEEP Arms but its aging tech. If it were simply a case of upgrading the systems, I'd have it sent to Armory One and get the work done. But the frame has seen a lot of use too. I had a couple engineers look it over and they say it isn't in good enough shape to be worth the upgrade. You need a new suit, honest, you do.”

 

“The GOUF may be a great suit but it's ugly.” She snapped.

 

“Excuse me? What did you say?” Yzak stared at her.

 

“I said they're ugly. It's a personal opinion about a piece of military equipment. It has nothing to do with anyone who operates one.”

 

“Do you like this better?” Kira asked, activating a second vid screen.

 

The new mobile suit was another find from his research into the files of the last war. This one was a modification of the Blitz. It was numerous shades of black and gray with silver highlights. The `Trikeros' system was gone though, replaced by more standard weaponry. This version had a pair of the 75mm Igelstellung mounted in the head for CIWS. There was a permanent Aile pack on this suit too and it also carried a pair of beam sabers. There was a beam shield built into the right arm and the `Gleipner' anchor of the original Blitz mounted on the left. It too had a pair of the same high energy beam rifles the Command Duel had and standard phase shift armor. The suit also had an unusual number of maneuvering verniers, promising an amazing degree of agility.

 

“These also have deuterion reactors, n-jammer cancellers and the `g.u.n.d.a.m.' os.” Kira said softly. “But they have another special trick. They're like the Blitz was, they have Mirage Colloid as well. They were designated as the Blitz-Ranger, for their ability to handle atmosphere and maneuver like cats I think. Both of them were four-fifths finished at the end of the last war and just stored. They're at Armory One too. It'll be about three weeks before they're ready though. There's more to take out and put in on them and they have to be careful not to damage the Colloid.”

 

“They?” Dearka asked.

 

“Yes, you weren't listening, there are two of them. One for you and one for Shiho.” He turned dead serious eyes on the other three in the room. “All of these machines fit into what I call the `Gundam class'. They're exceptionally powerful and, the two Blitz-Rangers aside, each is unique. These four and eight GOUF Ignited units were my plan for the FAITH tactical team. Once we can figure out how to get Shiho into the unit that is.”

 

“Oh I can solve that.” Dearka said again.

 

“Fine, since you won't shut up until you get it off your chest, I'm listening.” Yzak sounded like he knew what was coming and he didn't like it already.

 

“We are going to be honest and we are going to be practical here.” The blond stared hard at his commander and best friend. “You may insist you don't have, need, or want a girlfriend but everyone thinks you should have one and everyone thinks Shiho is that girl. Even your mother says so. So we are going to go with expediency and with practicality. Now, you can't assign a GOUF as Wing for the Strike-Freedom, no GOUF could keep up with it. That'd be worse than stupid and it'd end up breaking the moral of the GOUF pilot. These new Blitz-Rangers are another story. They won't have any problem keeping up with either of your suits. So we do the obvious; you have Shiho for your Wing and I fly as Kira's.”

 

“We do no . . .” Yzak started to shout.

 

“Perfect.” Kira cut him off. “Shiho wouldn't be happy as my Wing and anyone being honest with himself would know and admit it.”

 

He turned to Yzak. “Are you being honest with yourself here?”

 

“I, . .” Joule faltered.

 

“Has she ever been anything but a professional while serving under your command?” Kira pressed the point.

 

Yzak shook his head. “No, her service has been exemplary.”

 

“What's the problem?”

 

Joule's nostrils flared. “I don't need any more gossip!”

 

“She's flown as your Wing before.” Kira noted. “I doubt the gossip will either increase noticeably or change. You're stuck with the public opinion about the two of you. Now are you going to be professional and ignore it so we can build an efficient unit or are you going to let it get to you?”

 

The blue eyes were molten but the rage did not reach his voice. “We will build the unit. I will look over your data and write up a presentation for the Supreme Council by Friday.”

 

With that, Commander Joule stalked out of the room. Kira let him go without argument. This had gone so much better than he'd been expecting it wasn't funny. He glanced at the other two though and knew he wasn't quite finished here yet.

 

“Dearka, are you really comfortable with the idea of being my Wing?”

 

Lavender eyes similar to his own met his evenly. “Yeah, yeah I am. The real question may be are you ready to have someone sticking to you like glue? You're real prone to running around battlefields all on your own you know. But the Second of FAITH won't be able to do that. You're going to have to work in a structured unit now and I know for a fact that you've never done that before. You think you can handle it?”

 

“I don't know.” Kira told him honestly. “But I don't see any reason why I couldn't learn how to do it.”

 

“Well, that's a good place to start from. We'll have to start practicing working together and developing combat plans just as soon as my new suit is delivered.”

 

Kira groaned mentally. One more thing he was going to have to find time for! He hadn't considered this when he'd planned out the new unit. Stupid him.

 

“Commander, will you permit either Dearka or myself to individualize our Blitz-Rangers?” Shiho asked. “Being able to tell them apart would be useful you know.”

 

“Yes, but so is not being able to have the enemy tell them apart. Run that one by Yzak. If he says you can, I'll agree. He knows how units with a mix of special and standard suits work better than I do.”

 

“Thank you, sir.”

 

She promptly stood, saluted and left. Kira turned both vid screens off and flopped into a chair. Dearka snorted softly and the other Coordinator just looked at him, one eyebrow up.

 

“What is this really about Yamato?”

 

“Just what I said it was.”

 

“Pardon me if I think something is being glossed over here.”

 

“No, it really isn't.” Kira shook his head slowly. “We need a deterrent unit, one with serious firepower that can move faster than the Council can argue. And Yzak absolutely must have a mobile suit that is at least in the same general class as mine. He's in a very political arena now and he can't afford to be overshadowed by his subordinates. FAITH will lose power if it's Commander does.”

 

“Yeah, I understand all that. But what else is going on? What the hell happened over at that warehouse on Armory One the other week? The stories are crazy, too crazy to believe, or to ignore.”

 

Kira made a snap decision. Dearka was going to be involved no matter what if those strangers really did cross over. He didn't want the other, who had become something of a real friend now, to go into this blind. He decided he'd either tell Shiho himself or bully Yzak into it too since she was going to be his Wing.

 

He entered a very high security code and brought up the vid screen again. “Come over here. There's something you need to watch. We'll go over it when you've seen this.”

 

Five minutes later, after Dearka had run through the short clip several times, the blond just turned to stare at him. Kira simply nodded. Dearka's eyes widened. So, now he knew. They both studied the two and a half mobile suits they could see through the hole in the air. And, after some rather frank discussion, he discovered they both shared the very uncomfortable feeling that they were going to get a much better look at them someday.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Captain Ilene Terasawa of the Starving Vulture sat in her command chair on the bridge and studied the situation ahead of her. It wasn't pretty. The neglected colonies here at L-4 had been coming apart for years. A bad encounter with an exceptionally heavy burst from the Pleiades meteor shower a dozen years ago had started the real deterioration. Two wars had done the abandoned structures no favors. At least two significant battles had been fought among them, with corresponding levels of damage adding to the litter.

 

There had been sporadic scavenger efforts made too. Some had been better organized than others, causing less damage. A few had been directed at the completely dead colonies. At least three of those had taken no care of how big a hole they punched in the structures or how much junk they threw around. And that effeminate ass Hannam wanted them to try cornering Yamato in here! Bastard was fucking nuts.

 

“Captain Ellie, how close do you want us to try to get?”

 

She scowled at her helmsman. “I don't want us to go any closer. You got that?”

 

“Yes Ma'am!”

 

Goddard Colony was a flat out write-off as an ambush site. The data Blue Cosmos had given her was almost three years old and what her screens showed her reflected that. The colony was in much worse shape than it had been the last time one of Hannam's allies had come by here. The debris field had spread dangerously. Worse, there were dozens of the sectional support lines floating free around the colony now. Most of them were still anchored at one end too, making them deadly snares for any ship.

 

She shook her head. Something had hit this place and hit it pretty hard too. Whatever it was hadn't punched any holes but it sure had torn up the exterior. It almost looked like it had been clipped by energy from the Requiem. That didn't seem likely though as she couldn't recall it having either being fired or having a shot deflected in this direction. She shrugged, it hardly mattered what it had been, the results were what counted.

 

“I take it we're writing off Goddard too.” Mickey Peters, her First Officer asked quietly.

 

“You want to fight with the likes of Yamato in this chaos?” Terasawa snorted derisively.

 

“Not hardly. My Pop didn't raise that big an idiot. This space's a mess for a mobile suit but its sheer suicide for a ship. And if we can't get close enough to support our suits Strike-Freedom will have them for lunch.”

 

“Got that right.” Ilene replied grimly. “And while I wouldn't mind seeing some of our dear colleagues lose a lot of their suits, I don't plan to waste any of ours helping that along.”

 

“Three colonies on the Cosmos bastards list and the first two are worthless.” Peters shook her head savagely. “This Mendel place better be viable or the whole deal is gonna come crashing down.”

 

“I know. Set up a course to Mendel Colony. Oh, and be sneaky about it. There are still active scavenger teams working there. I don't want any of them to notice us. It wouldn't be much of an ambush if they were warned early now would it?” Captain Terasawa sat back with a small snarl. “And that supply transport he promised us damn well better hadn't be early either.”

 

“I'm on it Captain.”

 

Ilene hunkered down in her chair, a brooding expression on her face that assured she would not be disturbed for anything but a serious reason. Curie Colony had been dedicated to human and Coordinator medical research. It had also been one of the fully dead colonies and the scavengers had torn into it ruthlessly. She could only wonder what they'd been looking for. Considering the mess they'd made, she vindictively hoped they hadn't found it.

 

It was a hopeless site for combat. Not even the Debris Belt had that much small, dangerous trash in such a limited area. The colony was still more or less intact but it wouldn't be much longer. Almost all of the sectional cables were loose and gaps were beginning to develop between some sections. It would be coming apart at the seams in the next decade and would be in at least eight separate pieces in perhaps twice that time.

 

Goddard Colony here had been oriented to space exploration and physics. While it was as dead as Curie, it hadn't been the target of the same low caliber of scavenger. Yes, there were too many of the section cables swinging loose but the structure still had integrity and could likely be salvaged and returned to service if someone was determined enough.

 

In fact, from what she'd seen so far, several of these wrecks could be reclaimed. No wonder the Alliance wanted them back. It would be a lot less expensive to repair one of these than build from scratch. And they didn't have a lot of stray cash to waste these days. She grinned evilly. They would have less before she was done with them. And the PLANTs would be gone altogether.

 

She suddenly had high hopes for the conditions around Mendel Colony. Not that she expected them to be good by any means but the simple fact that there had been scavenger teams on the place almost continuously for the last four years meant it was at least accessible. That promised much better surroundings than either of the two they'd just had to discard. After all, that much ship traffic didn't come and go if things were too dangerous. Her mood began to rise as they headed for the colony, the only one on the list that still had working life support. Maybe she'd get a chance to blow it to hell in the ambush. No point in leaving it for the Alliance in any better shape than she absolutely had to now was there?