Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ GunDread SEED- The Second Stage ❯ Part 1 - Memory ( Chapter 20 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The Nirvana now makes it's way toward the debris belt...but a series of events leads to Kyo being separated from the pirates.

Vowing not to leave him behind, they scour the area to find him, but the Talark men uncover a large portion of Kyo's past...

Just as Kyo, who lands on a strange world with unique people inhabiting it, and meeting an old enemy filled with regret and seeking redemption, finds his own.

What will be the outcome of this discovery?

Anime/Manga: Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 03.16.2007 | Updated On: 06.05.2007 | Pages: 40 | Words: 50.1K | Visits: 945 | Status: Completed

GunDread SEED The Second Stage

Disclaimer: GONZO is the owner of VanDread, Sunrise is the owner of Gundam SEED. I only own this story that is using both, so no need for lawsuits.

Chapter 10 Part 1

Memory

< >: Thoughts

<“ ”>: Psychic language

*************

In space…

The Nirvana was now on cruiser mode as they were reaching the debris belt, in less than a day and a half, they would be hitting the outer fringes of the belt and would now have to make their way through the massive numbers of debris and the energy storms that were inside the belt. The crew were more happy but still on alert, as it had been only a few weeks since the battle at Khudan 7, and they were hoping not to encounter any traps that the Harvesters might have set up for them. They knew that the originally deployed Harvester Fleet was still on their way to attack Talark and Megele…and they hoped that the Fleet had not attacked their respective home-worlds once they got there.

The converted Harvester battle-ship was requested to remain in the rear of the Nirvana and follow it; the pirates didn't plan on losing their only piece of evidence to the governments on both their respective worlds, and most of all, they needed to be careful…considering what Aleck and Max had told them of the current situation on Talark, they had to be prepared for anything…it made it even more difficult since the debris belt still prevented outside communications.

So far, the crew were still in good spirits. Others however, had a lot of things they needed to do and consider once they got back to their respective home-worlds

*************

The Medical Bay…

“There…that should do it…keep the bandage on for a bit more and when you come back, we'll check the wound.”

Duero said as he wrapped a special adhesive bandage

“All right…thanks for being here by the way!” The young Security girl said as she went back to her duties.

The Talark medic smiled as his patient left the room and left him alone with his own thoughts. And his thoughts were rather sober and very brooding. He was now reaching the point he once hoped for and now seemed to dread. He and his fellow men were…going home. In a few more days or hours, they would be entering Talark space and would now be able to go home to their desert home-world, but now with the situation as it was, the young medic had doubts on what would be the situation on Talark once they got back to their world. With all they have learned about women, they would prove to be a big problem for the men in the Propaganda Ministry to silence…who knew what they would do to keep the war between them and Megele going and what they would do to keep the truth from the other men on their world?

Duero knew that he would have lied, but lying was never in his nature…nor will it solve anything, it would only make things even more complicated and create even more unneeded chaos in the situation they were in. After all that he and his fellow men had been in and done, they were now firm advocates on the idea that men and women, from their worlds should unite to face this threat posed by the Harvesters and the soon to arrive invasion force that they had sent out…the images of his people being annihilated and his home-planet turned into nothing but a scorched ball of dust and death terrified the medic to no end…and the same thing being done to the women and their home-planet, made him sick with revulsion.

He turned and looked at the rest of his notes on his console. The data was pertaining to the history of the human race, he wanted to learn about how the Days of Despair came about, but his real concern was he recalled from the recording of Misty's message pod…namely on the part where a similar incident was stopped by one of the famed Yamato family.

Like all student in the 1st Class Citizenry of Talark, he was familiar with history, but since most of the history lessons focused on only the early days of the Colonization Era, to the splintering of the Ikazuchi and the rise of his current home planet, Duero had an urge inside of him to learn just what Earth was like before the Days of Despair had corrupted it and the people that still resided there, he wanted to know just what history the world where his ancestors came from had before all this happened.

According to what he had recently found, mankind stood on a deadly knife edge nearly four hundred years ago, due to the event mentioned by Misty's parents concerning the first Paeksis prototype, the first was being studied and tested in a space station, nearly nineteen years after the Bloody Valentine War and the beginning of peace movements between the Earth and the Z.A.F.T Colonies. It was at this time that the Paeksis suffered a rapid de-crystallization event that forced it to reach critical explosive mass and would have done critical damage to all life on Earth…in short terms, it would have been the end of all life on Earth and therefore, mankind would have never reached the point of technological advancement to allow humanity the chance to colonize the planets they were now part of. Neither Megele, nor Talark, nor any other planet with humans in them would have existed at all if the first Paeksis had exploded.

Sadly the name of the person who had done what had to be done was lost in time, though the family name of Yamato was evident of the person's blood line.

He had heard of the Yamato bloodline…and it had even been rumored that their leader Grand Pa was part of that bloodline and family, which was why he was naturally chosen as the leader of the men on the first few days of the landing on the desert world that he and his fellow men now inhabited. Why he took an interest was somewhat odd in such a way, but Duero always heeded an important lesson from his Alpha when it concerned the past.

“It pays to never forget the past, learn from it and understand it, there you will find what you may be looking for, or complete what is missing.”

Duero had a feeling in him and it concerned Kyo…

His close friend had already admitted that he was indeed from Earth, according to his memories namely the ones he seemed to be recovering slowly. However they seemed to be coming in at a greater frequency. Despite Kyo's pledge to fight with the Harvesters and disowning his affiliation with Earth, the medic began to wonder on a very interesting and somewhat outlandish possibility. Due to what he could piece together, it became possible that Kyo might have been in cryogenic slumber on Earth before and after the Days of Despair had occurred on Earth…which would explain some odd things.

Namely on why he seemed to know so much about the past between men and women, the very same way Misty herself knew about the past despite his memory loss. This was a concern since Kyo himself admitted having no prior life on other worlds due to his traveling nature.

His memory loss was another matter, despite it now disappearing, Kyo's recollections of his past did not match up to what had happened now to the earth, namely his recollections of the places he had seen in his dreams, and they totally clashed with the images of the now ruined planet…Kyo's memories were of the planet when it was still unharmed by the Days of Despair event. This raised a lot of questions in Duero's mind since Kyo had a lot of things that dissuaded the notion that he was a member of the Harvesters.

His physical condition was a far outcry from what they had learned about the people on Earth, considering the environment that now permeated over the planet. The bodies of the Harvester populace, according to his studies of the images of both Earth and the people after the Days of Despair showed that the bodies of anyone born on Earth would have to be severely weak and unable to survive anywhere, becoming highly reliant on life support and organ transplants. Kyo's body was at the peak of human condition…and even in some ways, beyond that…in net effect it made it virtually impossible for him to be a Harvester. His still growing abilities which now bordered on real life telepathy and more during several routine physicals done by both him and his younger brother were very intriguing and thus in his mind, Kyo's abilities were beyond what normal human beings had at his age. However during a recent study on blood samples taken from the Gundam pilot by him and his brothers…Duero noted something very remarkable and very confusing.

In the past he had determined that the exposure to the Paeksis all those months before were the reason as to why Kyo's abilities were very much beyond what normal people were capable of doing. However he ran some more tests and noted that the Gundam pilot's cells seemed of already have been upgraded by residual Paeksis energy…and the energy from the Paeksis seemed to only speed up the process…not create it, this would mean…that Kyo had previous exposure the Paeksis, and the exposure to the Paeksis all those months ago seemed to act as a booster, not as the catalyst to his improved abilities.

Kyo's own abilities were also somewhat similar to that of a Coordinator from old Earth, but it was said that over the years, Coordinators merged with Naturals and the term no longer existed at all, yet his abilities and traits were so similar…enhanced learning curve, improved physical strength and reflexes, high immunity to diseases, and one trait that totally stood out.

The Superior Evolutionary Element Destined Factor or known now as the SEED Factor.

According to the data he uncovered, there have been cases of this trait manifesting in both Coordinators and Naturals, showing that despite the genetic manipulations, not everyone can have SEED mode…there were few on record who could utilize the SEED Factor and use it's gifts…even in the past. It had been known that members of the Yamato family could do it…along with those of the Zala family. The Zala family was also well known for their contributions alongside the Yamato family in many fields and he would not be surprised if descendants from both families existed in either his home-world or that of the women since humans of the past used sex between genders to make the next generation. It was known that the ancestors of the Yamato family were Coordinators, and the Zala family's ancestors were both a Coordinator and a Natural, however, the key factor that concerned Duero was the fact that all members of the two families possessed the SEED ability, along with several others.

He learned that the Asuka siblings, both Kouji and Maia possessed the SEED ability due to the fact that they were descendants of a Coordinator bloodline that had the SEED Factor, and that trait was also a dominant trait. Kyo's advanced version seemed to be very much dominant, and it had saved them many times…however, it still troubled Duero as to how Kyo had this gift and at such a high level…but with not much data to work on, both in the past of Earth and Kyo's own past, he didn't have much hope of knowing just where Kyo's bloodline stood. He knew he was picking through something Kyo might prefer to find on his own time, but the young man wanted to at least help his close friend go to the right path to finding his path.

As he did his work, he then wondered just what he should do once he got home, he had a long discussion with Parfait about them possibly parting ways after she returned to the pirates and her home-world…and he would be doing the same things once he got back to his own world. To say that it was a painful truth was an understatement as he could tell that Parfait was hurt and sad about him being gone from the pirates, and so was he…there was still so much between them and they still…

Duero put those thoughts aside for the moment as he continued to work on what he needed to do as he knew more patients would be coming in soon. And right on time, Paiway came into the

*************

In the Hanger Bay…

Kyo was busy doing routine checks on his Gundam, alongside Aleck and Max, who were also working on their own Mobile Suits. The men seemed to be very deep in thought as they worked, both then turned to see Kyo using his laptop to check on the condition of his Mobile Suit's OS, they were curious about something, and they knew that Kyo was the one to talk to anyway.

“Kyo? Can I ask you something?” Max asked as he got up and sat on the ramp.

“Sure…what do you want to know?” The Gundam pilot replied as he finished some checks and then faced Max.

“What did you do before you snuck into the Ikazuchi on Talark? Duero said you told him of the time you spent on our world, but you never told me about it.”

“I'm rather curious about that myself if you don't mind spinning a few tales on me as well.” Aleck replied as he placed his tools away and sat next to the two, he was very much curious of exactly what the Gundam pilot did on Talark before he got dragged into all this.

Kyo nodded and began to think back on all the things he had been in before he had planned to leave Talark and move on through his search of his past. He recalled as much as he could and then began to tell them what he had been doing before all this happened.

“I first managed to get past the mines using debris from the belt to hit my Gundam and used the debris as a shield for reentry. As soon as the debris shield burned up, and I was well away from scanner range of the planet's sensors I powered up my Gundam and took off, I did make sure to avoid flying too close to the ground and that was when I spotted the Capital city and pretty much decided not to draw attention to myself and hid the Freedom in a massive canyon nearby and hid it using the photo-optical camouflage tarp I had with me.”

“As soon as I got there, I met an old man named Jin…at least that was the name he went by when I met him…actually he tried to hit me with a plow of all things when I met him…partially my fault since I accidentally disturbed his work with a garden….though how he was going to grow anything green on a desert world was beyond me at the time. After we straightened things out he allowed me to stay with him.”

Aleck was a bit surprised at that statement and spoke out his surprise.

“Old Man Jin?”

Both men turned to face the elder male with some confusion in their own eyes as the looks of surprise was somewhat rare in the old Vanguard pilot.

“You knew him?”

Aleck nodded.

“Yep…Jin was rumored to have been one of the First Generation but was not part of the Council, nor had he requested to be, according to what I knew about him, he was a very talented electronics specialist and knew other fields of design and manufacturing. Even though he is not one of the listed First Generation, just like our Captain here on the ship…he certainly has the ear of the Council since according to what I have managed to gather, he reports directly to them, and is among the very few men allowed to meet with Grand Pa. He rarely shows up however to meet with them and is always out there in his home/shed that is on the outskirts of the Capital. Can you describe him so I can be sure that it's really Old Man Jin you met?”

Kyo recalled the man he had spent some time with when he was still on Talark before he had boarded the Ikazuchi.

“He's tall, rather well built, wide shoulders, and a lot of physical strength for someone his age, that was for sure. He wore old style glasses, also had on a green tank top, strong body pants and boots, has a long beard and naturally white hair…and like I said, he spends s good portion of his time digging up the soil and trying grow crops in the area.”

“Yep…that's Old Man Jin all right…so what happened?”

“He let me stay there and get used to what kind of culture Talark had, when I found out about how women were portrayed, I was shocked and told him flat out that the guys in the propaganda department were just plain crazy, not to mention the men were foolish to believe that nonsense they said about women being monsters. After that, I realized that I was insulting the land and people he grew up on and I offered an apology…he merely looked at me and then…grinned a bit. He then told me that he was in full agreement but said that this was what things were now and it would be some time before things would change to the way they were supposed to...I asked him what that meant at the time, but he said that it would be best I ignore him for a while…he did tell me however to keep my opinions to myself so as to avoid detection by anyone who would suspect I was either crazy or infected by toxins made by women.”

Kyo snorted at that and so did the two men at that bit of propaganda. Kyo then continued with what he had to say on how he had fared in the months he had spent being on Talark before he boarded the Ikazuchi.

“He managed to get me a fake ID card, but he requested from me data that he could use as a reference base. I handed him several disks from the box of mementos I had with me…most of them were worn out now…so I can't…really recall anything when I held them. The disks were corrupted so Jin told me to wait in his place for a few days, to tell you the truth guys, I nearly thought I was going to be arrested by Talark police, but Jin came back and handed me the ID card and told me to look for a place to work in soon. Took me some time to find a place to work in and I also had to be rather creative when it came to sneaking my Gundam around too. I then got the chance to work in a manufacturing plant where they made the needed parts for the Vanguards. I relied on my MREs until they were too low and had to get used to eating the pills, and I can say with absolute certainty, that it was torture to consume them at first, it took me some time to get used to eating the pills…and all the way to now…even if I am used to the pills from before…I still prefer to eat cooked food.”

Both men agreed with Kyo's description of the pills.

“Anyway…after I got to the city, I had to deal with guys trying to pick fights with me, they didn't last long and no, I didn't kill them, merely stunned them. Got into the mainframe of the data archives and determined when the Ikazuchi would launch since I had planned to leave and move on again…and you can guess what happened afterwards…it was a serious pain to have my Gundam snuck into the ship, namely when hiding something that size and naturally, I had to…ah…steal a considerable amount of credits to pay off some people to not mess around with the container that my Gundam was hidden in, but it worked.”

“You still have that ID card of yours by any chance?” Max asked as Kyo finished explaining

Kyo thought about it and then nodded as he went into his Gundam's cockpit, and rummaged in one of the storage containers and got the item that Max had requested, he had kept it hidden since he no longer had any need for it and wondered just what Max intended to do with the card anyway.

As the trio began to continue their discussion, the others wondered what else they would do.

Kyo then wondered what was happening with the rest of the crew.

*************

Later…

Dita looked at the picture she had of her Ohma and Fahma, along with her still in her toddler years, and holding a stuffed toy and in her pajamas. She smiled and then began to see herself in another picture…her holding a small bundle and Kyo being beside her…smiling.

The redhead blushed a bit as she realized how intimate her imaginings were getting…ever since that…event in the apartment quarters the Taisians had loaned to Kyo during their stay with the Resistance…it still made her blush bright red when she would recall that event.

While Dita was still the cheerful and innocent sort…she was not entirely naïve as some of her crew would suspect…since like all the women her age...she would have gotten some sex education classes back home, and she was familiar with some of the aspects, though she never did it herself, nor did she have the partner or the inclination and time to do that herself…but what had happened between her and Kyo had made her feel so…she didn't know that Kyo had such an effect on her and it made her even more hot and bothered to even think of it.

<Should I tell Mr. Alien about what I saw?> the redhead wondered as she thought about the object of her affections. The thought of doing what they did again was burned in her mind hard and she still had this ache in her when she would recall it, not to mention she got hot and flustered, along with…

She decided to put those thoughts aside for now as she got up from her bed and headed for the bath-room, she planned to take a shower and then head off to the cafeteria and get something to eat, she was looking forward to finally getting home. She then wondered what it would be like if she ever introduced Kyo to her Ohma and Fahma…would they mind if she had a relationship with a man? Especially one who she cared for so deeply.

*************

In another room…

Meia was brushing her hair as she looked at herself in her normal flight-suit and as she took her circlet and put it on she began to recall all the things that had happened ever since she had been on this journey with the others. She looked at the mirror and a part of her commented on the reflection she saw of herself.

In this case Meia realized that it was a good thing, she didn't plan on being the same woman she was before all this happened and she decided to make a trip once things between Megele and Talark had been cleared up…a trip that she realized was nearly ten years overdue for her to finally make peace with herself. She planned to visit her Fahma's grave and speak to her, she also recalled the fact that her Ohma also passed away, she had had died saving what she could of the future…and Meia, to her shame never spoke to her again after all the years that had passed between them.

Now it was time to finally mend the wound that may still be bleeding and not yet healed.

She also began to wonder about her time with Kyo…and the event that happened between them on Khudan 7 brought a fierce blush on her face as she recalled what both had done to the other. It was an exhilarating experience and a very deep one in her mind, and she wondered how she would now approach the situation as she began to recall how she had felt when Jura was nearly unable to have children…though her blonde comrade was fine, it got her to thinking on what she should do once the war was over…she also recalled the comment Ezra had given her and Kyo when she saw them holding her daughter Lacus and the baby seemed so happy in their presence. That they would be great parents someday…

Now she wondered if it could ever happen between them. She put that thought aside as she went to the cafeteria to get break-fast.

*************

In yet another room…

Jura was humming a tune to herself as the changed from her sleeping clothes to her normal dress. She was very happy to finally be able to make it back home to her world and see her Ohma and Fahma again. She had a lot to tell them, though she had some reservations about what she would tell them…namely one of them being her relationship with a certain Gundam pilot. She had been really determined on getting the chance to have children with Kyo and not because of fame…but because she was in love with him.

Yet she still wondered how this would be received back on Megele…since Jura was a lot more intelligent that she outwardly appeared, she knew for a fact that the women of her world would be seriously against what she was doing and she no doubt would be labeled as insane for falling in love with a man. But she honestly didn't mind nor care.

As she got out of the shower and headed off to change…she wondered what Kyo's reaction would be if he came forward and told him flat out that she wanted to have a family with him…recalling the looks he had before and since she became very amorous towards him made her somewhat giddy as she tried to picture his exact reaction to the question she had in mind.

*************

In the Register…

“All right…we'll have the new supplies brought in soon, thankfully we still have enough of the resources.”

Gascogne was busy working on many important parts of the Register and she and her girls were still hard at work, but the fact that they were nearing their home planet and their friends and family still made the girls very excited, Gascogne understood that, but even if she had good friends and adopted family alongside the pirates, she still didn't have anyone to really look forward to meeting again.

The girls in her Register were like family to her, but in the truth of things…she never had a family, once she did…but not anymore.

Her Ohma had passed away when she was still young, she had been a reporter, while her Fahma was a member of the military, after her Ohma's death, her Fahma was assigned to a far away outpost, and she was supposed to have been lost in a mission, but from both parents, both she and her sister were given their parents' pensions, this was when she was still very much a toddler and her older sister Jeanne was also in the military, so they both grew up in the military branch and used the money to make a new life for themselves after their parents' deaths. (*)

Jeanne was very much the opposite of Gascogne when the Head Supply Officer was still a teen, while she was passionate, emotional, quick to action, and in her sister's words…reckless, Jeanne was the epitome of cool headedness, focus, control, planning, and concentration…while she favored quick action and fighting with heart and emotion, Jeanne favored the calm and collected approach…that was why in the past they didn't always get along, despite their closeness to one another…she recalled the times she called her sister cold and emotionless, while Jeanne called her reckless and over-emotional

That all changed a few months before and the only thing she ever had as a remembrance to her sister was the metal rod she always had. It was memory metal, and when she bent it in a particular way it became a key to a certain jewel box she had in her quarters.

She sighed and then turned back to her work…and that was when she saw the eldest of the men on the Nirvana walk in with a sigh on his lips and tired expression. She smiled a bit as she greeted Aleck Koubayashi and handed him a glass of orange juice.

The Talark elder smiled his thanks and sat down with a sigh.

“You seem real tired Gunny, had some difficult leg-work this day?”

“Yes, but I am hoping to finally see the dunes and city of my home-planet…and maybe visit some old friends of mine. Along with my son…”

Gascogne raised an eye-brow at that statement, she didn't know that the tough, sagely male Mobile Suit pilot had a son. That was not an insult to him since she didn't at first peg him to the kind of person to have children.

“I didn't know you had a son Gunny. How old is he now?”

Aleck sighed sadly and replied as he finished his drink.

“He'd be about 23…if he was still alive. He died in a training accident in the military and I was still somewhat young when I had him.”

Gascogne realized quickly that she had touched a very sore subject for the old soldier and pilot. She gave an apologetic look at the change in attitude of the battle hardened Mobile Suit pilot.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to ask about something seems to be a very painful subject to you.”

“I know, you don't need to worry Gascogne, my son did what he had to do so as to ensure that many others of his generation would live.”

“If it's not too painful…”

“You want to know? All right, I guess I can tell you how my son lived. A few years before I became who I am, I had a teen-age son, his name was Rei Koubayashi. Like me, he was in the military and was among the few newly trained Vanguard pilots, despite still being young, he was the youngest of the unit and really had to work hard, like the rest of them, he wasn't very talented nor did he have great skills, but he certainly never gave up and pushed himself harder. They were in a mock combat mission in a mock city when the techs made a mistake on the simulated explosions. I was there when the accident occurred. The explosions tore apart a large structure and sent the debris flying…since the Vanguards was still in test phase, there was not that much armor plating and suffice to say they were somewhat vulnerable.”

“Rei spotted the incoming debris and placed his Vanguard to stop them from killing others…and one large piece smashed into the Vanguard he was piloting…when we dragged him out of the mangled cockpit…he suffered massive internal injuries and we tried to save him…but my boy looked for any of his comrades as the medics tried to save him. He cared more about his fellow man than his own life as I watched him, I told him he did the right thing…protecting them from being cut down by the shrapnel…”

Aleck put down the glass and sighed heavily as he recalled the sight of his son on the medical gurney being treated. He recalled the words his son said calmly and even when in pain, his son was not going to cry about it. It hurt him to no end to see his son in so much pain, but he felt great pride in him for doing everything he could to save lives…the lives of his men.

Then he heard his son make a request that made him even prouder, though he was still very sad to know that his son was dying in front of him.

“What happened?” Gascogne asked as she could see the emotions flowing over the elder Talark veteran.

“My boy offered whatever part of his body that was not damaged or crushed to those he could not save. In the end my son died the way many men of my world wanted to die…as heroes. Ever since then I want all my students to push themselves harder and stronger, and earn their way into the world…and I was not going to let rank stop me from getting out the full potential of my students…to honor my son's memory of doing all he can and giving it everything he had, and I wanted the students to do whatever they did with all of their power and gain what they had with their own skills, ability and merit…not through their fathers' connections…I guess that why I'm called…”

“Gunny.” Gascogne finished. “You push them to reach their full potential and you don't hesitate to remove them from the course, even if they were from the higher ranks if they don't perform to the best of you're standards.”

“Yep…I never had another son since then…I dedicated my whole life to the military…at that point I ran into both Duero and his brother Max…I saw shades of my son in them and I trained them well…it's nice to see them together, their Alpha, Hiryu was my close friend and I did promise him to train his boys to the best of what they could achieve…and they have never disappointed me at all.”

“Do…you have a picture of you're…never mind, I guess it's not my place.”

Aleck merely shrugged and replied.

“No worries…I'm proud of my son, and I will live on…that's what my boy would have wanted his old man to do.”

Gascogne smirked. “You're not old you know.”

“Really? I'm already in my late thirties…to be more specific I'm at my 35 years of age. Now I know that women don't like being asked how old they are so I won't ask you you're age…even if I told you mine.”

Gascogne chuckled at that…she knew women back on her world were somewhat conscious of age, and in her youth…so was she, but she didn't mind that too much now. Besides…with the high amount of medical technology advances on Megele it would hardly be surprising if women her age looked somewhat younger than they actually were

“I may not look like it…but I am old, though not as old as you, old man.”

Aleck gave her a mock glare of anger.

“Old man am I? Fine…if you don't mind, I'll ask you you're age.”

“Go ahead.”

“All right then.” Aleck then grabbed a chair and looked Gascogne square in the face. “Gascogne Rheingau, how old are you?”

“I'm 32. Now that I told you my age…I guess we're even in the age department, right?”

“Maybe…but I will make sure you pay up for calling me an old man.” Aleck replied…not breaking his stare down with Gasco…who also didn't back down from the elder male.

“Really? How do you plan to do that?”

“This…” Aleck replied as he held up the card deck.

“What do you wager?”

“Ten hands…If I win…I get to see if you can cook. I've always wondered if you could cook like you're fellow pirates… so now seems like the best time to find out.”

“And if I win?”

Aleck grinned a bit and replied.

“Then I do the cooking…sounds fair?”

Gascogne smirked at the discovery that the eldest of the men could also cook food, like the others could. Due to so many events that have occurred on the ship, the men had become very much different individuals since they were on the vessel.

Duero had become the best medical officer in the ship and Paiway's former dislike and jealousy had changed to respect and adoration…and naturally the plucky head engineer of the ship had become very much enamored by him, and it seemed that the romance would soon be hitting a center point, though how the two would deal with possible separation once they would arrive back on their respective worlds. Though she knew that the situations between both planets would be very, very dicey, she had a suspicion that it wasn't going to matter soon once the Harvesters invaded.

Bart had become very respected and trusted on the Nirvana…his ability to fly the ship and to now control the ship's plasma cannon batteries were a strong boost to his importance to the crew and the war they were now fighting in. His desire for respect grew as he had single-handedly saved the ship from a fiery fate when they had been dragged to the surface of the planet where they acquired both the SwitchBlade, the Morpheous Gundams along with Max's Templar Gundam…and the two men themselves. He also proved to very brave and strong willed…shown by his courage under fire during their escape and his concentration afterwards. He also proposed to help the men of his world adjust to the possibility of working alongside women…and if his plan to give food pellets real taste worked…that might very well be possible.

Max…well, there was not much to say…he was a very valued part of the crew due to both his skills as a medic and as a pilot of his Gundam…and his relationship with Barnette was certainly a great deal of change for the entire crew to see. Barnette had still a considerable dislike for men, but she had changed when Max saved her life, and it was very obvious to her that Barnette was not going to like the idea of being separated from Max in the very least. The two also worked amazingly well in combat with Barnette in either her Dread of her Gundam alongside the male pilot.

The fact that both McFile brothers were learning how to cook was somewhat an added bonus as this certainly made bonding with them for the respective women to be easier, plus the two men were very much open minded and were willing to learn.

Gascogne knew all this and was curious on just what Aleck had been able to learn in his one year exile from home.

“You can cook? Just how good are you at that?”

“That's for you to find out Gascogne Rheingau…so, do we have a game?”

The female supply officer laughed and took the cards from her male companion and somewhat friend and checked them and began to deal.

“You're on.”

*************

At another location in space…

“My Lord…we have made contact with the 5th Fleet, the one that was deployed previously to deal with the threats of both Talark and Megele.”

“How many ships do they have and how far are they from reaching Talark and Megele?” The Harvester Leader asked as he continued to study all the data concerning the possible amounts of opposition they might have to deal with should the Nirvana arrive and manage if possible to unite both Talark and Megele…and the possibility of the Resistance allying with them all.

“They have seven battle-ships in their force my Lord…sufficient enough to cause more than enough damage to the forces of either Talark or Megele…unless they have united.”

“They have only the basic forces from before…am I correct?”

The clone operator nodded as he ran over the weapon and system manifest of the 5th Fleet's current force strength and operational capacity.

“Yes my Lord…they currently have only the modified Cube Fighter forces, the Urchin Ships, Seed Ships and have a small force of repair/supply drones with them. They have not received any orders for upgrades, and as far as can be determined, they have none of the Overlord or the Dominator Mobile Suit Series in their arsenals.”

“I see…”

“Do you wish for them to change course and await upgrade orders?”

“No…the people of both Megele and Talark may no doubt yet be squabbling among themselves, namely since their ancestors had made some mistakes and those have culminated to their current situation. The 5th Fleet will strike first and soften them up and then we strike, if there will be an alliance between the two…then the 5th Fleet's strike will do enough damage and make them imbalanced…and with that, they will be in grave danger…even if the Resistance aligns with them. Keep the 5th Fleet on course…and if they have managed to spot the Nirvana and their forces, have them attack with whatever forces they can muster.”

“Yes my Lord.”

“What is the latest word of the Resistance?”

“They have continued to harass our forces and the outer strike groups have been damaged…and they have held their own against both the Overlords and the Dominators, but they have lost a considerable deal of their own forces in the assault, as far as can be determined, their attacks are only meant to slow us down.”

The leader nodded as he was somewhat disappointed in the past few days…he and his forces had arrived in Khudan 7 and were treated to the sight of a completely abandoned planet. The Khudani people had left their world many weeks before their arrival and had taken all that they could, samples of plants and animals of their precious world, considerable amounts metals, fuel sources, and other materials were taken and all their cities abandoned. The space stations that were there were also abandoned and the planet itself was no longer a viable target…thus he and his fleet left it alone…the planet no longer was either a viable organ collection and harvesting site, nor a good military target.

His plans however were not fouled up in the least as reports from his planet have shown some success in making the serum in manageable amounts, the fact that the people still needed viable organs until the treatment could be mass produced didn't phase him, in time the human race would be reborn and his leadership would usher in a new dawn for human civilization…and with the removal of all threats, both from the colonies…and the past…the human race will rule once more. The people on the colonies had severed their purpose and were no longer needed…and if they gathered in one place, then all the better for them to be utterly annihilated.

The leader of the Harvester Council decided to continue the journey, but decided to take a break and head for his chambers as it was time to rest. The clone operators were given strict orders to only send him priority Alpha calls when they came and not bother him with the normal and easy to handle details. He had a guest to speak to and have some time with…he smiled wickedly at that thought.

*************

On an unknown world…

A tall man was busy in what appeared to be a massive cave and it seemed to glow, whether by underground water reflecting light, or crystals that glowed from energy, or by other sources could not be determined. The man amazingly enough was dressed in the same clothes that a certain mercenary and former Harvester Spy and traitor to the human race named Rabat…but this man had none of the qualities that made Rabat who he was. This man was different…even the paint patterns on his face were very different…the fact that his eyes seemed to be like that of Ezra's own showed that this was no ordinary man.

He continued to work on what appeared to be some sort of tapestry…something that depicted a vessel, three strange but humanoid like figures…and two figures with wings…one of blue paint for the wing's feathers…and another with blood red paint for red feathers…the two seemed to be fighting ferociously with glowing swords and on the middle seemed to the picture of a child that was born…

The man was still working when he stopped…as if he suddenly felt a shiver go through him…the man turned and faced another man who was dressed as he was and the young man seemed somewhat pleased and expectant.

Amazingly… both men did not speak anything…not even their mouths moved at all, however it seemed that they knew something was about to happen…or rather someone as the man placed a name into the tapestry…namely near the blue feathered angel.

The older man nodded as he placed his hand and seemed to say that the person the named belonged to had come…and it was time for him to come to their world…as he was about to be guided by something…or someone.

*************

A few minutes later…

“Captain…we are now a few hours from the main debris belt.” Amarone reported as the ship was now on it's way to the debris belt that acted as a shield to their respective planets.

Magno nodded with relief evident on her face. As soon as they arrived, she would be able to meet up with the rest of the older pirates and if they could, send a communiqué to the First Generations of both planets and show them all the data they had been able to acquire concerning the Harvesters and their now arriving invasion force. The elder pirate knew that as soon as they could possibly forge an alliance between both worlds, then they would have to align with the Resistance and make their stand and defeat the Harvesters, not just to win, but to stop their rampant assaults on other worlds.

Buzam also seemed to be working hard as the silver haired woman continued to work on the console she was currently using alongside the rest of the bridge crew, as soon as she was done with her work, the Commander stood up from the console and gave her report.

“There's been no sign of Harvester activity, but if they had previously deployed several of their battle-ships in the direction of Talark and Megele…we can ill afford to lower our guard, there is the possibility that they may ambush us as we make our way back to Talark and Megele. I suggest we make sure to have the Dread Squadrons, Crusader Squadron, and Kyo with the other Gundam pilots ready to move out and maintain a perimeter as soon as we arrived near the asteroid belt. Once we're in…we might have to only rely on the Gundams for support.”

“Sounds like a workable plan…have Kyo, Meia, Dita, and Jura head to the bridge.”

Later…

“You called us here Captain?” Meia asked as she, Dita, Jura, and Kyo were now present in the bridge, they had recently met up and were discussing new plans and formations that would prove valuable in the battles to come should they finally arrive in Megele and Talark space. Their one concern was the possibility that they would have to fight either fleet of the men or women once they enter the area.

“Yes, we'll need to be on the look-out for possible enemy activity as we are approaching the debris belt, just because we don't see any current enemies does not mean we should lower our guard, you all do recall that the harvesters had sent seven of their battle-ships towards Talark and Megele after we defeated our first battle-ship?”

All four pilots nodded, they didn't forget what had happened after they had destroyed the first Earth battle-ship and what were the results after the battle. The Harvesters dedicated a large part of their force towards Talark and Megele afterwards in retaliation.

Buzam then took over as she showed images of their location and the debris belt.

“The fact is that since we are already close to the debris belt that acts as a shield towards Talark and Megele, we may have to expect possible Harvester activity, as we already know, they are known to deploy small but well armed and supported strike teams to attack and scout out any potential targets. Since we are on our way to warn Talark and Megele, it would make sense that they will try and halt our approach and once we are in the debris belt, the Dreads and Crusaders will have no way of fighting in the closed environments. Since the Gundams are the only ones with the shielding needed to survive being in such places…we'll need to make sure that once we're in the magnetic debris belt we'll still have security, even with the improved shielding and Bart's ability to use the cannons, we'll still be disabled in terms of defense once we enter, due to the debris and energy storms.”

The four thought about that and had to agree with Buzam's statement, even the Crusaders would be hard pressed in both scanning and maneuvering in such a mess of space debris and energy pulses, and the Dreads would be out of the game for quite a bit, plus Bart would have to dedicate his entire time in keeping the shield up and making sure that their ship didn't get pulverized by debris…as such, they would have to serve as the combat arm, of the Nirvana.

“All right…so what's the plan for deployment?” Kyo asked Magno and Buzam

*************

Later…

Kyo was now in is Gundam along with Dita, Jura, Meia, and Barnette, the four women in their respective machines, namely with Barnette now taking over Meia's place as Dread Squadron leader due to Meia now piloting a Gundam unit. Though the Gundams could revert to their Dread form and make GunDreads, the Alpha Versions were no longer possible due to them being converted to make the Super GunDread unit itself. However, the loss of the three didn't dampen the effectiveness of the GunDreads. Kyo had taken that in consideration and requested to train the three on newer tactics and maneuvers that combined the use of their older GunDreads with their new ability to convert their Dread fighters into Gundams. Plus when they could spare the time, they took to using the Super GunDread in mock battles.

As Kyo saw the Crusaders and the Dreads fly out to help with the escort mission, he began to make scanning runs throughout the system area before him, however he had other concerns.

His memories were already coming back to him, a lot more frequently that they had done long before he began this trip of his. He had a feeling, an unmistakable feeling that sooner or later, his memories would someday return to him and he hoped that the greatest question is his mind would finally be answered after so long. His next concern was what he would do should the war between humanity and the Harvesters would finally be over. He had been giving over a lot of thought on such things, namely on whether he would stay with the pirates, or find his own way in the world. The pirates were like his family and staying with them seemed a much better idea…but could he handle being on an all female society? He rather doubted that for a bit, for one thing he certainly wasn't going to have an easy time blending in with them being a man, plus the fact that the female society would never accept the fact that he had what one would call deep romantic affections for the woman, or in his unfortunate or fortunate case, depending on one's interpretation, the women who hold a place in his heart and mind.

But the idea of him being alone again certainly was not a good prospect, and after a few more minutes of deliberation, he decided to put those thoughts aside for the time being and focus on his work as the leader of the patrol team. The last thing he wanted was to be suddenly caught of guard by the enemy and he would be in the worst case situation if that happened.

As he led the Nirvana's forces into their defensive formations, he and the others were about to walk into another situation, only this time, the Harvesters were the ones who were going to spring it…not the other way around, Buzam's suspicions were about to be proven correct, however another person was about to take advantage of both the pirates and the Harvesters.

*************

A fair distance away from the pirates and the Nirvana…

The Cube Fighters and the Seed Ships were already in combat position along with a large number of GunDread, Dita, Jura, and Meia Clones. The harvesters had known that sooner or later, the Nirvana would make it's way through the debris belt to warn the two planets beyond the masses of space debris and energy storms. They had no intention of letting that happen as they got ready to attack. In les than a few moments, a large number of harvesters began their attack.

However, they were unaware that a certain someone in a Mobile Suit armed with Mirage Colloid was nearby, and since the Harvester units in the strike team were not armed with sensors that were conditioned and programmed to help them bypass the artificial particles' stealth inducing properties, it was hardly a surprise to know that they were unaware of the person's current location.

*************

In the Nirvana…

“Captain! Harvesters have been detected!”

Magno nodded and looked at Buzam with a sly look.

“Looks like you're suspicions were correct BC. We'd better get ready, if the Harvesters are already here, then no doubt their ships will soon be following them from behind.”

“Understood Captain…all hands prepare for combat!!!”

It didn't take long for all the pirates to get ready for ground combat as they rushed and prepared, with their squadrons already deployed, and ready fight, Bart was the only one getting ready as he armed up the Nirvana's plasma cannon batteries for lock-on, the mature bald navigator and ship gunner began to check and double check the firing systems and targeting computers for the main weapons of the Nirvana, once he was done he made a call to the bridge.

“All weapons are primed and ready Captain, ready to engage at the mark.”

Magno nodded and gave her orders to Bart.

“Have the guns ready fir and support the defensive forces once they engage the enemy, aim for the Seed Ships first once you have a clear shot…if Kyo directs you to fire at certain target coordinates, then do so and support him.”

“Understood Captain! Leave the guns to me!”

Magno nodded and smiled somewhat at the more confident and brave way Bart acted, no doubt, Kyo's influence and his own maturity had made Bart this way, and it was a good thing as the young man was certainly different from when he first started on this journey. The elder officer then got ready for the inevitable encounter with the Harvesters.

“The Dreads, Crusaders, and the Gundams have engaged the enemy!”

It was on…

*************

Out in space…

The entire area of space was once more a battleground as energy bolts, solid rounds, and missile trails were now in the area, along with wreckage. However, in this case, the pirates had the tactical, technological, and experience advantage, thus being able to outpace the still numerically superior force. Squadrons of Cube Fighters were being torn apart by the women and their Dread, Crusader Mobile Suits and naturally, their Gundams, Kyo was in the lead of the Gundam strike unit while Barnette, Sara, and Mai led their respective teams.

All four Gundam pilots quickly went into SEED mode and Kyo led the three Gundam pilots and their own Paeksis enhanced Gundams into the battle as explosions and beam bolts were seen all around them.

Three Cube Fighters were blown to bits as Kyo used the I-Freedom's beam rifles reduced them quickly as several more filled in the gaps, the Gundam's head mounted CIWS guns unleashed a torrent of bullet fire that tore into several more of the enemy and then, as they drew ever closer, Kyo reached to his sides and revealed both beam sabers, the energy blades were now ready to be used and they were.

Several Cube Fighters were either cut in half or were cut from top to bottom by one powerful slash from either beam saber. Two tried to crash into the Gundam, heedless of the Phase Shift Armor, and both had their eyes ripped apart as the beam sabers impaled them there, with a yank, the Gundam removed it's beam sabers and with two arching slashes, both were cut down quickly. The Gundam jetted away as three Cube Fighters attacked the Paeksis powered Gundam as it still had it's beam sabers. Kyo moved the Gundam in a dodging pattern and with several passes, cut the Cube Fighters down. The Gundam pilot had to move his Mobile Suit aside however as several GunDread Dita Clones came at him.

Kyo then directed his Gundam to place aside it's beam sabers and took out one f his anti-ship swords and as the beam edge was ignited, he quickly guided his Gundam to attack the enemy, Several massive beams were being fired at him by the GunDread Clones but most missed and the Gundam then attacked the first before him.

One Clone got a face full of the beam edge as the anti-ship sword arrived from the lower body and sliced half the face off on the Clone and the Clone could do little as it's CPU was severed from it's body. The anti ship sword then smashed through the now decapitated GunDread Clone and cut it in half. Another tried to use it's arm blade but was blocked by the Infinite Freedom that used it's left arm to catch the attack and then introduced it's massive anti ship sword into the chest…stabbing clear through the armor plating and appearing through the back. The Gundam then twisted the sword, tearing apart the GunDread Clone and with a powerful swing, ripped the sword outward in a rising arc as the Gundam then kicked away the GunDread Clone and as the Gundam jetted away to face off, more of the enemy the machine exploded and was now a burning wreck.

Kyo decided to reserve his DRAGOONS for more important situations since, he estimated that the current situation could be handled by the others, along with him. Though he kept his eyes open for any surprises that the Harvesters might be preparing.

Meia's Silver Lightning Gundam was nearby as she used her Gundam's exceptional speed and considerable fire power to her advantage as her beam rifle, rail-guns, and plasma cannons rained destruction on several Cube Fighters at tried to take her out, she used her Gundam's heavy shield to defend herself from enemy fire and as she was able to shoot down more of the enemy, she then activated her special weapon mode as she placed her rifle at the holding unit on the back.

The strategically located energy field generators on her Gundam began to gather energy to bathe her in the same offensive energy field that she had l\recently learned to use more effectively through her training sessions with Kyo and her fellow Gundam pilots, Her Gundam streaked out like a massive laser bolt and slammed into the Cube Fighters, destroying several more as the Seed Ships unleashed more of them, The Silver Lightning Gundam then jetted past several GunDread Jura Clones and amazingly, smashed through their shields with tremendous force and some of them were severely damaged by the impact, a GunDread Dita Clone tried to shoot Meia's Gundam down, but paid for the attempt as the Gundam slammed into it and ripped off half of it's body with intense force, another GunDread Dita Clone was also destroyed as it's cannon arm was blown off along with most of it's right shoulder and it's torso.

As soon as she slowed down, Meia took her Gundam to higher speeds and dodged several shots from a GunDread Dita Clone and with quick speed got into front of the machine and her rifle was now in her Gundam's hands and she fired a point blank shot into the face of the GunDread Clone. She then took one of her beam katanas and with the weapon ignited she quickly attacked and cut down another GunDread Dita Clone, she then blocked a ramming attempt by a GunDread Meia Clone, she blocked with her shield and with some effort managed to turn the machine aside to expose it's neck and with one powerful slash, decapitated the avian mecha, resulting in it's death. Several more GunDread Dita Clones came at her as she used her shield block several more and then she charged, as the GunDread Dita clones fired, they realized that their weapons were overheating and had to stop…this allowed Meia to get her other beam katana and with her shield safely away, she used the two ignited beam weapons and stabbed both her foes deep in the torsos and with descending slashes, cut them open, she then managed to avoid being rammed by another clone of her old GunDread and as she jetted backwards, she quickly got her Gundam to lie flat and then jammed her beam katana right in the underbelly of the machine. Since the Harvester machine was still moving forward, it was cut open by the beam weapon as Meia placed one of the weapons aside and reactivated her shield and went off to help the others.

Dita was on her own fight as she used her training under Kyo to perfect her shooting skills as several Cube Fighters were taken out by her two beam rifles, as he was able to dodge several shots, she had learned a new trick, on using her Gundam's beam shields to block incoming fire and then fire her beam rifles the moment the barrage was stopped, she then spotted several more Seed Ships, ready to release more Cube Fighters, with that in her sights, Dita quickly combined her beam rifles and used the weapons in their combined beam cannon mode and aimed at the Seed Ships, that had the misfortune of being close to one another and were either severely damaged o destroyed by the combined energy output of the combined beam rifles.

She then returned the beam cannon to beam rifle mode and got her Super DRAGOON system with her Gundam's HiMAT online as several more Cube Fighters and a few clones of her old GunDread came at her. Despite her nervousness, she calmed down enough and quickly aimed the targeting icons of the available targets as soon as she had a good lock on all of them, she unleashed her weaponry as the rail-guns were released, along with the DRAGOON OS guided beam cannons, and the abdomen cannon came online and all the weapons fired in unison and slammed right into the opposition, causing massive damage to them all, Cube Fighters were either destroyed or ripped to bits, Seed Ships were heavily damaged, and a few GunDread Dita Clones were badly mauled by the weapons fire.

As soon as her ranged weapons were back on standby mode, Dita took out one of her Gundam's beam sabers as several other Cube Fighters came at her, firing all the while. She used her Gundam's beam shield to block incoming fire from the enemy units and cut down the Cube Fighters as they came close enough for her beam saber to be combat effective, though she was still a bit uneven with her strikes, Kyo's lessons and drills seemed to have the desired effect as she was able to take out a good number of them. As soon as she was complete in her moves to defend herself and take out her foes she then used her beam rifles and the speed of her Gundam to help her out.

Jura was in her own Gundam and was using her shields to absorb and redirect the incoming beam fire some several Cube Fighters, the Cube Fighters were reduced into burning scrap after being over whelmed by their own weaponry. As soon as she was able to move she used her Gundam's hidden ranged combat weapons to shred apart more enemy forces and keep moving from enemy fire that was directed at her and her Gundam unit.

She then spotted several more threats, namely some surviving GunDread Dita Clones who charged at her at high speed, along with a pair of GunDread Meia Clones as well. She realized that it was going to have to ranged to close combat soon, namely at the range the enemy units were in. She fired some more rounds at the Cube Fighters and quickly got out her beam sabers. As soon as the blades were ignited, she switched them beam sabers to their beam whip configuration and lashed the weapons at the enemy. The beam whips were able to cut down several more Cube Fighters and managed to slice off the arms of some GunDread Dita Clones, the two GunDread Meia Clones tried to ram into her Gundam, and she had revert her beam whips back to their beam saber mode and managed to fight them off, and fired several salvo from her ranged weaponry to slow them down, as soon as the lead Clone got close enough, Jura moved her Gundam aside and used on in whip mode and slashed off the head of the Clone and then she dodged once more and jammed the other beam saber right into the right side of the face of the unit.

As both were destroyed, she faced off with the GunDread Dita Clones that tried to ambush her and fought them off, one GunDread Dita Clone got it's arm slashed off by Jura's attack and the blonde Gundam pilot then drove her other beam saber right into the torso of the second as it tried to blindside her. She quickly kicked the stabbed clone away and finished off the other one with a powerful slash to the torso, cutting the machine in half. Once they were pushed back, Jura went on with the attack.

The other pirates in either their Dreads or Crusaders were quick to overwhelm the enemy and were beating the Harvesters back, however, they had learned enough lessons from previous battles not to get carried away by easy victories, the Harvesters had fooled them three times, one with the massive trap that had the Nirvana trapped on a massive desert world that was about to literally be shaken to shreds under their feet, along with the Mirage Colloid ambush with the large Harvester force, and the battle over Khudani 7. If there was one lesson they had learned, was to never underestimate the Harvesters. The pirates noted that these forces appeared to have been part of the previously deployed ships to their respective worlds, since there were no signs of Overlord Mobile Suits in their forces, and there seemed to be few to none Dominion Gundam units in the assault force that they were currently fighting.

In the Nirvana…

Magno looked over at the tactical screen and was not liking what she saw, the old woman knew that there was no way the Harvesters would allow this to keep happening, and where were their battle-ships? Had they already broken through the debris field and were already attacking Megele and Talark? Were the men of Talark fighting back? Were the women fighting as well? Are they still at war with each other even now as the Harvesters were attacking them?

So many questions that deserved answers, and there was no time for them to be idle, they had to wrap this fight up before they were once more bogged down by enemy opposition. She then got into contact with both Gascogne and Buzam. Recently, the head of the Register had requested that main control of the Cube Fighter squadrons that were on their side would be handed to her, and since she was a former military officer, Magno allowed it, alongside Buzam who agreed with the more open use of the converted Cube Fighters.

“Gascogne…I want you to deploy several bands of Cube Fighters to try and locate the battle-ships. If these forces are here, then it is possible they can be a blockade force, or the battle-ships are nearby, either way, we need to know now.”

Gascogne nodded in agreement.

“Understood Captain.”

The elder woman then ran her hands over a set of controls near her station and it revealed command orders for the release of the Cube Fighters from the Mirage Colloid equipped Harvester battle-ship that they salvaged. The ship itself remained cloaked and unleashed it's Seed Ships as Gascogne issued the commands, and the Seed Ships quickly unleashed their own Cube Fighters to end the fight quickly and effectively.

As soon as the Cube Fighters on the side of the pirate came on the scene, the fight turned in favor of the women very quickly. The Harvesters were unprepared for the sudden onrush of reinforcements on the side of the pirates and were hard pressed to fight back.

As the fight went to the side of the pirates however, several GunDread Dita Clones close to death suddenly acted as if they were being high-jacked by someone or something, a new program perhaps, and suddenly the small band concentrated their attacks on only one Gundam.

Kyo's Gundam…

They were not alone as several still functional Seed Ships suddenly directed their attention to Kyo and the Infinite Freedom. The units then charged at full throttle at the Gundam and as Kyo noted their lock on him and his Gundam, he tried to take them out before they got close enough to finish him off, several g the GunDread Dita Clones took the full brunt of his beam rifle hits, along with his other ranged weapons, He then took out his beam sabers when they were too close to him for his ranged beam weapons to take out quickly and effectively. As he was able to take out a few more of the enemy, namely some of the damaged Cube Fighters, the Seed Ships and the surviving GunDread Dita Clones closed the gap. They were able to dog-pile him and suddenly, the Seed Ships that survived Kyo's retaliatory strikes and the GunDread Dita Clones were able to push Kyo away from the fight and right into the debris belt!!!

Kyo didn't know just what was going on with this suddenly attack, but he was in no mood to be separated from the others as he tried desperately to free himself from the enemy. However, even as he managed to destroy a GunDread Dita Clone that still held him in place…he was dragged deep into the debris cloud and the moment he was deep in the morass, which messed up both communications and long range scanners, the Harvester units that held him released him, allowing him the chance to finish them off.

“MR. ALIEN!!!!”

Dita cried out in shock at the sight of Kyo being suddenly thrown out of the fight by the Harvesters as the pirates were suddenly aware of the apparent attack on Kyo as soon as they were able to finish the fight…just as Kyo was suddenly lost on radar.

Meia and Jura quickly tried to locate Kyo with their Gundams' sensors, but had no luck as the debris belt interfered with their scanners, and their scanners didn't have the range coverage to scan deeper in the debris cloud.

Magno and the others reacted to the news of Kyo's disappearance, the older woman was looking very grim, along with Buzam and the others, she was not in the mood to let Kyo be lost to them.

“Bart! Have the Nirvana enter the debris cloud and try to locate Kyo and the Infinite Freedom Gundam!”

“Roger!!!” The bald helmsman said without hesitation or fear as he guided the pirate vessel into the debris belt, as soon as all the pirates were back in the ship, with the exception of the Gundams piloted by Jura, Meia, and Dita who remained outside to try and visually spot Kyo and his Gundam.

However, Kyo was far from safe as he managed to finish off his attackers, he was just about to try and attempt to locate where he was and contact the Nirvana for pick-up when another Mobile Suit appeared before him, out from behind a massive meteorite.

The Mobile Suit seemed somewhat the same as a Mobile Suit he had recalled seeing a long time ago, though where he had no idea where, the machine was black and green and appeared to have a shield/weapon system similar to some of the variants that the Resistance built from the Retribution Mobile Suit series that they had developed during their time among the Taisians. There appeared to be a massive cone shaped anchor on the other arm and there were also a pair of swords on the side, similar to the swords used by ancient samurai warriors.

As he was about to try and find out just who this was, his comm. came online and a voice that sounded very familiar came on the speakers.

“It's been a long time Kyo.”

<No…it can't be…> Kyo then quickly activated the visual systems and looked at just who piloted that Mobile Suit.

*************

In the Infinite Freedom Gundam…

“YOU?!” Kyo said with rage and disbelief as he looked at the pilot of the unknown Mobile Suit. He couldn't believe that he would be meeting the traitor once more after many months of hoping not to meet the one man he despised with as much ferocity as the Harvesters…

Rabat

The mercenary then looked calmly at Kyo and in the same way he had appeared, the trader and con artist activated his Mobile Suit's Mirage Colloid systems and vanished into the darkness of space.

Kyo wasted no time and quickly made the changes to his OS, concerning the sensors of his Gundam to track down Rabat's location, so he could find out just what this bastard had been doing here, had he been able to locate Talark and Megele and revealed a weak-point in the defenses of both worlds…so to allow the Harvesters a better chance at striking the two planets? He was going to find out, but what also got his attention was the fact that Rabat was in a Mobile Suit and not in his ship. The trader was not in his old vessel, and what was even more surprising was the fact that Utan was nowhere in sight, plus…for some reason…Rabat acted too strangely from the one he knew as a con artist, parasite, traitor, and mercenary…something was not right.

However, Kyo was forced to stop his actions as Rabat suddenly fired several high impact explosive armor piercing darts at him, forcing him to stop his modifications to the sensors and concentrate on trying to defend himself, not to mention that he had to land on an asteroid and lock himself in to withstand the storm in a large gorge. He used the partial modifications and managed to get a good lock on Rabat who kept on the move to try and avoid his beam fire as he tried to shoot the mercenary down. He then made a broadband communiqué and directed it to Rabat.

“So this is you're plan for revenge on me, you rat bastard? Fine, show me what you've got!”

He then got a response…a strange response as Rabat's normally cocky, smug, and arrogant tone seemed…different, almost broken somehow.

“I didn't come here to kill you Kyo…not anymore.”

Kyo growled as he kept his eyes and his Gundam's sensors alert, but due to the large amount of debris and the dust, plus the energy storms, it made it hard to try and locate Rabat and get a good lock on with any of his weapons.

As he moved out, it became apparent that Rabat was waiting for him and used his own Mobile Suit's rocket anchor to knock the I-Freedom with a ramming attack with the aid of the visual interference, debris, and energy storms. Kyo could barely recover as he then spotted the Mobile Suit de-cloak itself and the rocket anchor managed to get a good grip on his Gundam's fore-arm with the now opened rocket anchor. Kyo tried to move and reach for his beam sabers, or anti-ship swords to cut the line connecting the now opened rocket anchor that gripped his Gundam's arm t Rabat's own Mobile Suit, but the Mobile Suit and it's pilot knew what he was about to do and somehow moved him into the path of more incoming debris that were nearby…knocking the Gundam about and sending him tumbling to another direction.

Kyo shook his head, but suddenly felt nauseous and realized that he must have hit his head once more due to the massive impact on the debris on the armor of his Gundam. He was out of control and unable to right himself, and before he could, another impact hit his Gundam, but before he fell unconscious, he sensed that it was not weapons fire. But something solid that hit him but could not destroy the shielding of his Prominence Phase Shift Armor.

It seemed that Rabat had finally managed to get the upper hand on him.

Rabat however had other concerns, even if by all rights he had a clear shot at Kyo and the chance to destroy him…the trader chose not to and somehow instead of gaining his revenge as most would expect…the man merely scanned the Gundam and seemed…calm in knowing the Kyo was not dead, but only unconscious…

He then powered his Mobile Suit's thrusters and went to another direction, now dragging the Paeksis powered Gundam along with him. It appeared Rabat had other plans for Kyo and it seemed that revenge was not one of them.

<It's time…>

*************

Later…

Celtic checked his scanners again and again to make sure that they were still working, but she could find nothing, and she sighed.

“It's no use, it's dead.”

The moment those words came out of her mouth, the entire bridge crew looked at her with intense fear and worry, even Buzam and Magno looked at her with shock and dismay, prompting the blue haired girl to realize just what words had come out of her mouth. And she was quickly trying to diffuse the situation.

“I mean the radar! The interference from all the debris' shorted out the radar! Both long and medium range radar is offline!”

The bridge crew relaxed, but both Amarone and Belvedere were still very distressed, along with Ezra.

“Geez Celtic! You could at least be a bit more clear…we're in a serious mess right now…this is not the time for miscommunications!”

“Sorry.” Celtic replied meekly at her comrades.

Ezra however was not angry at her and calmed her fellow comrades as she looked at her own scanners and also to her baby Lacus, who seemed to be just as on edge as the other members of the bridge crew.

Buzam was currently trying to figure out what their options were…currently the ship's long and short range visual scanners were all offline or were unable to scan properly due to massive amounts of visual and sensory interference, the occasional energy bolt caused by ionization and energy discharge certainly didn't make things helpful for the crew. The silver haired woman then got into contact with Bart, who was currently trying his best to try and clear up the mess.

“How's things on you're end Bart?”

In the Navigation Well…

Bart was busy running through the controls and systems, checking for any visual and sensory spectrum to get past the interference, while maintaining the shield that protected the Nirvana from any damage that it might face should the debris come into contact with it. He sighed in frustration as he checked and came up with only a short end of the clue.

“Nothing Commander, I can't see anything clearly in visual and I can't use the other sensory spectrums either, plus I can't seem to raise Kyo's Gundam via comm. systems, no doubt due to the massive energy and debris out there, and we can't just go charging anywhere either, I don't have any star-charts in the data-base to see if there are any places where Kyo might be, not to mention the maps that we do have, appear to be at least a hundred years old, and a LOT can happen at that span of time. I won't give up though, I will not leave here until Kyo is with us.”

“Same with me!” Belvedere replied in agreement with Bart. “I won't leave, we're all going home together!”

“Neither will I!” Amarone replied.

“I'm not going to leave until we find Kyo!” Celtic spoke in agreement with the rest of her comrades.

“We're not abandoning anyone. Especially him.” Ezra replied as well.

Buzam and Magno nodded at the sentiment of the bridge crew. They would not leave this place until they found Kyo and he was once more with in the ship, and the old woman knew that the same sentiment was with the rest of the Nirvana pirates, namely with a certain group of individuals who were by her estimation very close to the young Gundam pilot.

Sure, enough, a certain bubbly redhead came on the screen, her normally happy smile gone and replaced with deep concern and worry.

“Captain…we can't leave until we find Mr. Alien! I want t go and look for him!”

Magno shook her head, no matter how much she would like it if Dita did find Kyo and bring him back, she had to be realistic, they were in a debris cloud and if Dita left, there was a chance she too would be lost to them, and they could not afford to lose anyone at this point and time, and besides…Kyo would not like it in the least that Dita would get in danger looking for him, plus he would be very unhappy if she got injured.

Buzam also shared the same sentiments as she spoke as calmly as she could as there was the safety of the rest of the crew to be considered at this point of time.

“No Dita, we cannot afford to lose anyone right now…no matter how difficult it is for me to say it as well…we can't do anything but stay close together and try to find out where he is. Until we do, I and the Captain can't allow you or anyone to leave the ship.”

“But we can't leave him! He…he could be hurt, lost, or he could be in mortal danger! We…we…we can't lose him, please…we can't lose Mr. Alien…”

Dita answered with s heart-wrenching sob as she cried while in the cockpit of her Gundam.

It also didn't take long for several other members of the pirates to follow Dita's plea to not give up and search for Mr. Alien…no matter how impossible it was in their current situation…Meia, the former Dread Squadron Leader was the first to voice her agreement to not leaving Kyo behind.

“I request permission to go along with Dita captain…I know, that what I am doing is against you're orders…but Kyo is too important for any of us to leave behind, we need his help, his skills…everything.”

Magno looked at her and smiled slightly, the elder woman could tell that Meia was serious in this and she could not blame her. She could see how distressed Meia was when Kyo was suddenly sent into the debris belt and despite the dangers of getting lost as Kyo was…Meia was determined to find him.

“And to you Meia…is he important?” She asked as a way to test her, not in a bad way, but she knew that Meia's feelings for Kyo were strong, and despite the somewhat unfairness of the question, she knew somehow the Meia's answer would be enough for her.

“Yes…he is Captain…more than ever now.” Meia replied and despite the calm tone in her voice, she was blushing slightly at her confession.

The old woman smiled a bit more, but before she could comment, Jura showed up as well, the blonde was in her own Gundam and had her uniform on, and from her expression, the old woman could tell that she too was more than willing to go after Kyo and save him.

“The same goes for me…I won't leave here until he's with us again. We all have been through too much together for us…and me to lose him now.”

Barnette amazingly appeared, also dressed in her own Gundam piloting uniform and a grim but very determined expression on her own face.

“I won't leave until Kyo is back with us either, I owe him a lot, and that's why I am going out too.”

Max was also in his own flight suit and had his helmet in the crook of his arm, his expression told the old woman that all she had to do was approve it and he would be alongside the others in rescuing Kyo.

Sara and Mai then appeared, and although they didn't say much at first, Magno knew that the two shared the same sentiments as the three former Dread pilots. And the older woman knew that Barnette…having made her peace with Kyo also thanked him for the chance to be with Max, and this change was for the better.

The other members of the Crusader Squadron came in, each of them asking permission to launch alongside Meia, Dita, Jura, and Barnette to try and find Kyo, despite the dangers and the risks that they would have to overcome if they did, they respected and admired Kyo, he was their commander and there was no way in Hell they were going to leave the debris field without him by their side.

Magno admired the show of great loyalty and friendship of the crew towards Kyo and wished that they could go out and find the young man, but she still had to make the decision to order them to remain near the ship, it was going to be hard for her to tell them to resist the idea of looking for Kyo, since they did have reasons to be fearful for his safety. She knew that Kyo would not want them to get in danger and also get into harm's way.

As she thought about what to say, she hoped that Kyo was alive and safe, she agreed that they would not go anywhere from the belt until they found Kyo. The only thing that they had to work on was to find some way to locate and contact him

*************

The pirates however had little to fear for now, as Kyo was in good hands… though how he got there was going to be somewhat…controversial.

*************

In a room…

<Ugh! Where am I?>

Kyo wondered just what had happened to him as he began to open his eyes, the Gundam pilot found himself on his back what felt rather soft…almost like a mattress, as soon as he looked about, he didn't find himself in a ship or a medical facility…at least not a very high tech one. He noted that the walls appeared to be purely made out of stone and Earth, almost similar to some of the old style huts he had seen in the fringes of civilization on some worlds he had been is, he didn't try to struggle at first, he tried to gently move to see if he was injured, he was happy to note that he only had some strained muscles, not broken bones. He looked and saw what appeared to be medical equipment and several pans of cool water, the room he was in was filled with soothing colors, normally seen in some places of religious significance. However, before he could do anything he was greeted by the sight of a young man who's style of dress reminded him too deeply of a certain traitor he had just met…however he could tell that this guy was not in the same roads as Rabat was.

“Who are you?” The Gundam pilots asked carefully and as diplomatically as he could. He didn't know who the person was, nor the people he belonged too since he hardly met them before…the only thing he knew about that was the fact that they wore the same outfit Rabat did, along with the face paint, though the man had a different pattern. He expected an answer…but the young man barely said a word, and before he could ask, the Gundam pilot heard the man's voice, but it didn't come from the person's mouth…rather, y heard it…in his mind.

<“ My name is Tao, I was sent here to check up on you, as was requested by my Master Diego. Are you feeling all right?”>

Kyo was hardly all right however.

“How did you do that?! How could you speak to me without even opening you're mouth?! And how come I can only hear you're voice inside my head?!”

A new person appeared, and Kyo knew who it was quickly, though injuries were all over the new arrival.

“The reason for that Kyo is that Tao and his Master Diego…in fact, everyone here, except me is gifted with psychic gifts and telepathy. Like I said…it's been a while hasn't it?” Rabat said with a calm tone as both men glared at each other.

Kyo was not in the best of moods, despite his curiosity on the changes Rabat had apparently been on. He still didn't trust the trader and his expression showed it.

“What are you doing here? You planning to sell these people to the Harvesters too? If you are, then you're going to really get it now!”

Wasting little time, Kyo looked for his weapons, namely his combat pistol while keeping his eyes on Rabat to make sure he didn't make any sudden moves that would be an indication of attack, however the Gundam pilot was not happy to notice that his weapons were not with him, even his sword was not there.

“Looking for these?” Rabat replied as he revealed the pistol that the Gundam pilot was looking for, along with Kyo's sword. Right now it seemed that Rabat had the cards as he was now in the chamber and Kyo was once more on his feet, ignoring some of the tenderness of his body, ready to fight if it came to it.

Rabat took out the pistol loaded it with a clip and cocked it…making Kyo tense as the man walked over to him…

And offered the pistol to him.

Kyo was struck dumb as Rabat was offering him a loaded weapon, his own pistol was loaded by the man he despised deeply for his crimes against humanity and it almost seemed that Rabat was doing this willingly. The next words that came out of Rabat's mouth were few…but enough to startle the Gundam pilot even further.

“I can tell you want to shoot me…then here, go ahead, I won't stop you.”

That was enough for Kyo grab the gun and then aimed it at Rabat, however, the normally cocky look and grin that would appear on the trader's face never appeared at all…it was replaced by a look of acceptance and resignation…totally unlike the older Rabat that Kyo had met many months before. Kyo then noted some injuries on Rabat, the way he moved spoke of massive injuries of various degrees, he could tell, due to the way Rabat would move, and some of his limbs…moved too quickly to be that of normal human limbs, almost like they were prosthetics. Something happened to Rabat and Kyo was curious, however, he was not curious enough to not suspect a trap as he aimed the offered pistol at Rabat and kept his gun trained at Rabat and a deep unfriendly glare at the trader.

“What the heck are you driving at Rabat? Is this another trick of yours? Some new scheme that you want to try to save you're hide from the misery and pain you placed on the humans on the colonies you sold out? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't believe that this is some trick.”

“It's no trick, there's no catch, no scheme, and I don't plan on doing any tricks on you…if you want to kill me for all that I have done, then I won't stop you, and if you do, then I won't regret it, if my death could at least make up for SOME of my crimes then I won't hesitate to accept it. I've seen and heard enough to accept what I have done.”

Kyo didn't know where this was going and before he could figure out just what was going on, Tao calmly spoke to him.

<“Kyo, I would like to request that you put down you're weapon, this is my village and my home…as much as I can understand you're issues with Rabat, my people will not tolerate any form of violence in our village…and I would appreciate it if you lower you're weapon…you're scaring the people outside.”>

Kyo looked to the outside of the door, and saw that Tao was correct, out of the room's area were a collection of people who gathered, some of them were children and others n the group were older individuals, many of them looked at him somewhat fearfully, and some of the children were really scared. The Gundam pilot, as much as he was very tempted to kill Rabat couldn't bring himself to kill a person in front of the eyes of children. He didn't want to scar them for life with the images of seeing a person being mercilessly killed in front of them.

He glared at Rabat for a few more moments, and then activated the safety of his pistol and placed it back on his holster and also sheathed his sword away. He then faced Tao and spoke to the man while still keeping part of his alert attention on the trader.

“Sorry about that…but I, never mind, are you the ones who brought me here? And how do you know…him?”

Kyo looked back at Rabat with a dark glare as Tao responded.

<“Master Diego and I have been expecting you for some time, the spirits told us that you were now on you're way.”>

“Spirits?”

<“I am sorry, but it would be best that you follow me to where my Master is so that he can explain things more clearly to you Kyo, and as to the one who brought you here, Rabat brought you here himself. If you wish to know why, then you will have to finish you're discussion with my Master, will you follow me?”>

Seeing that he didn't much at this point in time any terms of options, the Gundam pilot nodded as he and the two men moved to met with Tao's master, however, Kyo insisted that Rabat be in front of him, this would allow him to subdue Rabat should the man try something on them.

*************

Back on the Nirvana…

Duero was busy running through the data on his console, ever since he had been able to gain Kyo's ID card he had tried to locate any information that he could from the card, and so far he had only gained basic information, however there seemed to be some sort of hidden files in the data card and amazingly, for a Third Class Citizen ID card, the data was heavily encrypted, it was as if Old Man Jin had somehow found out something about Kyo that he was not willing to reveal, even to Kyo himself.

The young medic had decided to see just what he could find about his friend and although most of the data he had found were very much basic data had he himself had gained over the months he had worked with the Gundam pilot, anything about Kyo's own personal history was sealed. If Kyo had given Old Man Jin a data disk and the elder male had used it as the basic template for creating Kyo's ID, then the older Talark male must have found data that he thought was too important for anyone to find out casually, thus the massive encryption system and codes that were in there. He had managed to remove the cover story with some difficulty, but the real data was so well protected.

The doctor wondered why Kyo didn't notice it, but considering his friend's nature and the life he had on Talark, he was not surprised that Kyo, at the time of his stay, was concerned with other matters than a seemingly well hidden secret. Not to mention he wasn't very happy with Talark culture, though he admitted he respected their practicality, efficiency, survival training, adaptability, and their will to survive.

The young man knew that by all rights, he should have other concerns to take care of, namely the medical situation of the crew…not to mention that he too was showing an interest in looking for Kyo to make sure he was safe with them. However he understood the Captain's current standing order for them to not leave the ship while they searched for Kyo using the ship's maps and scanners. Kyo would not like the idea of any of his close comrades getting lost, hurt, or killed, looking for him…plus, the young man believed that Kyo was not going to be lost so easily, if he found his way to Talark through this mess before ever hooking up with them all those months before, Duero had no doubt he could do that again.

“Duero, is there any word yet from the bridge?”

Duero turned to face Paiway who had been out during a rest break. The young girl seemed very worried right now and was very silent, not like her normal self. Paiway was worried about Kyo and hoped that the young man was still safe and would soon be found.

“I'm afraid not…but I have hope and faith that we'll find him.”

“I hope so too…but still, I can't help but worry about him.” Paiway said truthfully.

“Neither can I…but I also know that Kyo has been used to surviving and making it out of tough scraps. Let's not forget that he found his way to Talark through this very same debris belt without any support, and before that, he had traveled the universe on his own, not to mention the times we've seen him escape near impossible situations. If there is one thing we all know about Kyo, it's the fact that he never gives up easily.”

Paiway nodded and gave a slight smile.

“I guess you're right…by the way, what's that you're doing?”

Duero pointed to his monitor as the data was before him, as he made one more attempt to try and decrypt the information that pertained to Kyo's history, the monitor however once more greeted him with the results of his tinkering with the encryption system.

`ACCESS DENIED'

“I've been trying to decrypt Kyo's ID card, normally I would not bother with it since he already showed that he was not from my home-planet and this card was used to let him blend in. But Kyo told me that Old Man Jin was the one who made it, so I was curious as to why that was the case, the normal data that can be found in cards like these are there, physical data, health, names, family history, gene lines, that sort of deal…but any data pertaining to Kyo's family or family history seems to be heavily encrypted…and that is quite unheard of.”

“What do you mean? And who is Old Man Jin?”

“Old Man Jin is among the members of the First generation on Talark, but he's not a registered member of the Council on our world, but we know that he is still treated with great respect and has the ear of the First Generation, there are rumors about him, but we do know that he is a skilled electronics expert and knew design and manufacturing…anyway Jin and Kyo met previously and that was where Kyo stayed before he settled in at the capital and took his cover job as a parts mechanic. It was Jin who gave Kyo the ID card he had with him for a long time with us.”

“On why it was unheard of…is somewhat obvious actually, why would a Third Class Citizen ID card have such a well hidden encryption system? Jin would have easily fabricated a fake history for Kyo to use while he was on Talark, but he used data from some of Kyo's mementos, disks that had a considerable amount of the information but they were older so Jin had to fix them before using them to make the card, that meant that Kyo's history…his real history, and that of his family is in this card…but whatever past history Kyo has and who his family was must have been so important that Jin willingly placed such a security system on the card and it's only now that it was revealed. Kyo's history must have been VERY important for this kind of security. That is what makes me very curious what secrets it has to have merited the placing of the security system in the first place.”

Paiway thought about that and had to admit that Duero was right…why would a simple ID card like that be so heavily protected? If this card held Kyo's history, then it certainly needed to be broken so they can finally find out just who Kyo really was.

“I think it would be better you get extra help, maybe Parfet can do that. She did build that device that translated you're language am I right?”

“I plan on doing that, since it seems that the encryption has a combination of languages that act as a shield for the message, one part is that of my world, and two others, I just hope that this pays off…like the others, I wish I could go out and find Kyo myself, but I have to stay here and keep the Medical Bay operational. If this does hold Kyo's history…then once he's back, we can show him our findings.”

*************

Back in the other planet hidden in the debris belt…

Kyo found himself surrounded by several more men dressed like Tao and Rabat, and at the head of the circle was a man who's eyes were closed and a smile on his faced…the smile was directed at him, though no words were said between him and Tao's master.

However, it certainly didn't take long for someone to speak, and it was Tao's master.

<“It has been quite some time since the spirits spoke to us…and they now have told us that the one we have been waiting for, and you have arrived…as they have said.”>

Kyo didn't know just what was going on, but he could tell that the people around him, with the exception of Rabat who he still distrusted, were not hostile. They did take care of him and he was fine, his military side however told him that while they were not hostile, they were still unknown and he then recalled just where his Gundam was.

However, as he was about to ask Diego where his Mobile Suit was, but the older man spoke through his psychic language to the Gundam pilot.

< “You're Mobile Suit is fine and is in perfect condition…and we have left it in one of our hangers…though the term cave would be more accurate. My people have made sure to leave it be so you can be assured that you're machine is unharmed and un-tampered with.”>

Kyo sighed, realizing that dealing with psychics was different from normal people, though he hardly thought them to be too odd, there had been some worlds that had people with psychic talent, and he had been to some of them and even spoke to those people in question, but it was somewhat a first when he met people who could speak mentally without saying anything.

“Thank you…but I must ask, how did you manage this? Communicating without saying anything except through the mind? I don't mean to offend you…but this is…rather unusual for me.”

Diego smiled and Kyo could tell that his question must have amused the elder village leader…as he could hear the mental laughter in his own mind. The elder male then sighed in his mental language and nodded.

< “I can understand you're confusion, though I can tell that this is not the first time you have encountered people with such talents…along with, having experienced it yourself, though you are somewhat untrained and unfocused in that matter. As to why we all speak in this fashion…you can thank in some way the people of Earth for this.”>

That got Kyo's attention.

“The Harvesters did THIS to you?!”

< “Yes, and it has been passed on to the rest of our children, all of them are born without the ability to speak any words…and this is…incurable.” >

Tao nodded as well.

Kyo then glared deeply at Rabat.

“I suppose you've got something to do with this?”

“Afraid not…when I met Diego and Tao, they were already like this, so no, I had nothing to do with their lack of speaking Kyo.”

The former trader said to the Gundam pilot, his total attitude was changed, there was no sign of the smirk he normally had on him. This made Kyo all the more suspicious, he had not forgotten Rabat's past and his crimes against humanity…and he no doubt ever will.

Diego however could tell that the tension in Kyo was due to being in close proximity with Rabat, or rather, Samuel Adams. The leader then spoke to Kyo, in order to explain the situation better to the young man, though from what he could feel with his senses…Kyo was far older than he looked, then again, the spirits told him this.

< “Rabat has nothing to do with our lack of physical voice, as he himself has said Kyo, the Harvesters had done this to us, long ago…genetic manipulation so to speak.” >

“Why? What did you all have to merit this kind of…treatment?”

< “We had the ability to commune with spirits from a higher plane, something we have inherited from our own ancestors generations before…the Harvesters feared this, and so did their leaders…and they had us silenced for all time, to never speak to the spirits, and thus we lost our ability to speak, namely our vocal chords.”>

“And yet you do nothing?! Why don't you try and fight back?!” Kyo hoped that these people who in a way were his rescuers were not like the people of Anpathos, that was the last thing he wanted to find out after awakening.

Many of the people seemed tense and apprehensive, making Kyo wonder that maybe he had struck a very sensitive chord in them as he could see their looks.

Tao seemed to be angry somewhat and replied in a spirited outburst.

< “Many of us wish to make them pay for what…!”>

< “Tao! There shall be no negative emotion here…lest you wish to lose you're connection to the spirits. Negative emotions such as hatred and rage bring nothing but grief and pain, and wounds the soul…leaving even greater wounds and continuing the suffering, is that what you want?” >

< “No Master Diego. I apologize for my words.”>

Diego's mental warning to his apparent apprentice was enough for Tao to calm himself and Kyo was partially happy that blows were not the result of his own outburst, apparently, many of the people of this village wished that they could actually speak to their fellow villagers, and also to the younger generation. He then faced Diego and offered a look of apology.

“Forgive my…own words Diego…but I am not the kind of person to let such things be easily forgotten, especially such cruelty such as this and the many others done by the Harvesters.”

Diego smiled.

< “I understand you're words Kyo, and I see that there is truth in you're words, but there has been a deeper blessing in this…the Harvesters may have physically silenced me and my fellow villagers here on this world, but they have actually enhanced our connection to the spirits…and as you no doubt have already found out, we have ways of relaying information that none of them can easily gain. And we have the gift to see the truth and history of things thanks to the spirits. And it allows us to sense things that normal human perceptions cannot sense, and I suspect you have that same connection too.”>

“What do you mean by that?” Kyo wondered.

< “You have what we know as the SEED factor, and yours is very unique, am I correct?”>

Kyo's reaction was obvious as he looked wide-eyed at Diego, so there was someone else who knew about this talent he had, he knew that the Asuka siblings had it, but Diego seemed to have an idea on it.

“How do you know that?”

< “My fellow villagers and I have a way of sensing the aura of a person to a degree, and our ability to commune with the spirits is part of the SEED factor as well, an evolved ability so to speak, and since your own SEED factor is very much advanced, you have the ability to commune with spirits, and considering you're unique exposure to the power source you know as the Paeksis, it has given you more. As to why we know about the Paeksis, we have a portion of it here with us in a cave far from here. The Paeksis is more than a crystalline power source you know…it too is a living entity, it has a conscience, intelligence, and will beneath all that power, it was the one that sensed you and told us that you were coming…and it told us of your own hidden pain.”>

“Pain…? Wait, you mean my lost memories? You mean that the Paeksis you have can unlock them from my mind?”

< “Yes, but before you attempt to try and use the crystal to unlock you're past, you must know some things. Using this crystal is not a walk in the park so to speak, you must undergo a spirit journey, and this takes place in the cave itself, no one may aid you in this journey, and you must make it there by yourself.” >

Kyo nodded a bit, but looked confident.

“I've traveled this universe alone before, and I have survived this long, granted I died before…but the Paeksis brought me back from death, I feel that I am ready for such a trial.”

Diego nodded and replied seriously.

< “The journey is not physical Kyo…it is of the mind, you must find the power and answers hidden within yourself for the crystal to work and unlock you're memories, once you have made that step…then and only then will you find the answers of you're past. However…”>

“However? What do you mean?”

< “I can only say that some memories will be painful, and when you gain you're answers to you're past…you will have to face the reality of what you have learned and the reality of the world you live in now.” >

Kyo didn't know what that meant, but he knew that it would be big, however, he had no other plan, if this spirit trial was the only way for him to finally know just who he really was and his past, the past that had eluded him despite all the returning memories, he would take it and if there were any difficulties…then he would accept them and live with the results.

“I am ready.”

< “Good…we can leave now if you wish.” >

Kyo however had a very pressing concern…and that had something to do with Rabat, he still had a great deal of hatred for Rabat, and justifiable hatred for the man, considering all the pain and grief the man gave the human colonies by selling them out to the Harvesters for credits. He then faced Diego and Tao.

“Before we do anything…just how do you all know Rabat?”

Rabat himself was the one who spoke.

“I met them when I was still part of the forward exploration team for a part of a recon fleet for Earth…before the Days of Despair happened. I was in a shuttle with several others until we suffered an accident to the shuttle…we escaped and my pod landed here on Diego and Tao's world…and my name is not Rabat, that is the name I use when dealing with others…my real name was Samuel Adams.”

Kyo looked at Rabat and could tell that the former Harvester spy was not lying about this, but decided to let it drop for now.

“Fine…I'm ready to go.”

*************

Back on the Nirvana…

The ship was still looking through all the debris, trying to get a visual confirmation just where Kyo and the Infinite Freedom had landed ever since the battle. Magno and the rest of the pirates were on full standby alert and were searching desperately for their close friend and trusted comrade. Dita, Jura, Meia, Sara, and Mai were the most affected by Kyo's disappearance, but they could do little as the search was painfully slow.

Misty was also affected, as Kyo was like a brother to her now, after her long chat with Kyo she had learned that she loved him in the brotherly sense, though she did find him very much good boy-friend material. She wanted to help and did so by locating the old navigation charts and try to locate possible locations as to where Kyo had been, asteroids would not be the best place and there was the possibility that there were other worlds beyond the debris belt, that was a big possibility that she wanted to check out.

But so far, there had been little luck as she worked in removing the shrouds that covered potential locations where the young Gundam pilot was.

Elsewhere…namely in the Medical Bay…

“You say that this ID card Kyo had has a very complicated security system?”

Parfait asked as she faced both McFile siblings. She arrived at Duero's request for her electronic expertise and since there was not much she could do to the scanners of the Nirvana due to the interference, she was willing to come in and help the Talark medic any way she could.

Duero nodded and explained why he was very curious about the card's hidden data.

Parfait listened and had to admit that it was interesting…since when did a regular ID card have such an intricate security system and what data did it protect to merit it in the first place? This was going to be an interesting test, and if this data did hold Kyo's past, then it was going to be worth the effort. She owed Kyo that much, and the chance to help him finally have his memories seemed a good way to say thank you for all the time, advice, and effort he gave to them, including her in her pursuit of Duero.

As she took the card she began to see just what type of data was there, there seemed to be basic data, name, age, height, weight, namely normal stuff, that is until you found out that most of the more pressing data, including genetic line, and family history were all well made fakes and then she reached the encryption system itself. It was well made and it seemed rather complex and this required her to use the same device she had used to decrypt the message pod Misty had with her at one time when she had been rescued by the crew. As she read the data, she realized that she might need a bit more help in doing this job.

“This security system is good. Whoever made this was very talented and knew his stuff, I'll have to use that Interpricko device I made last time, namely the one I used to try and decrypt Misty's message pod, along with Pyoro.”

Duero nodded and Max quickly followed suit and contacted the bridge to have Pyoro brought to the Medical Bay for assistance.

*************

Back on the planet…

As the group of people were walking towards the cave where the fragment of the Paeksis was being stored, Kyo looked back at Rabat and was still angry, but was also getting curious as to what had happened to the Harvester spy to have changed him this much. However he tabled those thoughts aside for the moment as they arrived in the cave's entrance.

“Are we here?”

Tao and Diego nodded as the elder spoke calmly and with a smile.

< “Yes, this is the entrance to the Paeksis, however you have to reach the middle of the cave on your own. Once you enter, then the spirit trial begins, the darkness is what you must face, and it is within, not outside.” >

<Great, what did he mean by that anyway?>

Kyo wondered at that and then spoke as he realized something.

“You said that there was no need to get physical here.”

Diego smiled a bit at that, and Kyo couldn't help but wonder if the older man had decided to test him, normally he didn't like being not told everything, but he realized that this after all was a test in a sense, and no sense complaining.

“Never mind…just make it to the center and then the crystal is there…right?”

Diego nodded in reply.

< “Very much, remember, you must do this alone and no one can help you.” >

Kyo nodded as well has he was now decked in his pilot uniform, minus the helmet and his weapons, all of which were under the custody of Tao and several of the other male villagers. He then glared at Rabat or who was now known to him as Samuel Adams.

“When I get back…you better have some answers, I still don't trust you and I want to know just what happened to you to suddenly turn into…this.”

Rabat nodded without complaint.

“Deal.”

With that, Kyo walked into the entrance of the cave and saw that it was massive and there were some pools of water that caught the light of the sun and gave a watery glow to the roof and walls and the light was nice, unlike the maw of blackness that was seen deeper in the cave itself. Kyo however was not afraid of the darkness and strode into the cave with conviction and purpose, if the answers he had spent months looking for his past were in there and the Paeksis fragment inside was the key to finding them, then nothing was going to stop him.

Diego watched Kyo until the darkness shrouded the man from his sight, as soon as Kyo was gone, he faced both Tao and Rabat.

< “We can do little but wait, this trial is his own now, and none of us can interfere.”>

Rabat nodded in agreement.

“This reminds me too much of the time I tried to take it…and how I failed.”

< “Are you still disappointed that you were not chosen by the spirits Samuel?” > Tao asked the former Harvester agent.

“No…he is the one they want, and I can't change that. Besides…he was right about me. I did a lot of things I know I can never take back and a lot of blood is on my hands…and I doubt I can ever be free of it.”

< “True…but it was you're choice to take it…we warned you about you're pride and greed when you were with us. It was inevitable that you're crimes would catch up with you…but even I have to admit that what you had to endure…was somewhat too much.” > Diego replied as he went on to finish his painting nearby.

“No…it was just what I needed to face and feel. No amount of pain I ever felt then would ever compare to what the others who I sold to the Harvesters felt.”

Rabat said as he ran his hands on the scars he had on him. They reminded him well of what he had endured months before at the hands of his former employers. He had learned that they were not going to use his organs, but merely cause him untold suffering before the order to end his life came. That was one of the factors that made him change, but he doubted that others would believe him.

< “On that regard, you are correct, now it is time for our guest to find his own way, all we can do is wait and see.”>

*************

In the cave…

“AAAAAUUUUGHHHH!!!!”

Kyo swore once more as he nearly fell into a pit full of water while crossing over a stone bridge that was rather slippery, there was still some light coming in, but it was not enough to illuminate the entire cave as there were places totally shrouded in darkness. And this wasn't the first time in the cave he nearly fell into a pool of water.

“They could at least tell me about things like this.”

He didn't know just what else was in a place like this one, and a part of him didn't even want to venture on making any guesses. In his experience, if Diego, Tao, and their fellow villagers lived here and used this cave a lot, they would have cleared it of any dangerous creatures at some point, then his fears were unfounded, but that hardly stopped the ideas from coming in anyway.

Kyo shakes his head and pushes on, doing what he could to try and find his way, and this time, made his way past several more obstacles, and leaping over pits and some smaller chasms, along with avoiding the deeper and larger ones. He then arrived at several tall hill like rock growths and from the looks of them, they were the ones that guarded the rest of the cave, this meant that he would have to climb them. He checked the rock face for any good and solid footholds, once he did so, he began to climb them and look for more.

He swore silently as there were times he nearly lost his grip, but kept at it as he moved at the rock face, as soon as he passed the first, he spotted several more as he climbed down. It took him more time to climb down, not just from the lack of light, but also from the moisture that gathered in the stones. He was already feeling tired, but he was going to keep going, if the crystal did have the power to finally answer the questions that plagued him, exhaustion certainly wasn't going to stop him.

However, it seemed that there were going to be other problems he would have to face…

“This place certainly is something else…thankfully, there's nothing living down here…at least not yet.” Kyo muttered to himself as he managed to reach the bottom and make his way to the next rock-face to climb.

< You're a filthy Coordinator.>

Kyo heard a voice, and it was in his mind, along with being heard in his ears. He looked about and tried to determine just who was the one who said that to him.

“Who's there?!”

Kyo looked about and instinctively reached for his pistol and sword. He felt a moment of panic when he could not find his weapons, and realized that he had left them with the villagers and Tao. He then used his SEED mode to try and augment his senses in the location he was in, so as to both locate the voice, and find his way to the middle of the cave and then to the Paeksis crystal. He tried to look around in the dim light, then spotted a human figure, he felt something was off about this guy, like he was…there but not there as well.

“Who are you?!”

< WHAT are you?!> The figure said back at the Gundam pilot, further confusing the young man.

“What the heck are you talking about?! I'm a human being like you!”

“What?!”

<You're a Coordinator, a…thing, born from the hands of people who think they can create the perfect being! You're nothing but a freak!>

“Shut up! I am as human as you are!”

Kyo couldn't help but begin to lose his temper and he walked up to the person insulting him. He had every intention of getting an apology from this man and he was going to get it now. He reached out to grab the man by the arm, but to his shock, the being suddenly faded…right through his fingers.

“What the?!”

<You're not a human being…just a genetically engineered freak who thinks he's human.>

Yet another voice called to Kyo, and this time, the young man turned to look and spotted the speaker on the top of the rock-face he was about to climb.

“What the bloody hell is going on here?!”

This time, yet another voice joined the mix, but this voice belonged to someone he knew.

< “Listen to me Kyo, you must not worry too much about the darkness of the cave, it is the darkness of the mind that you must pierce, those voices are merely part of that darkness. Unless you break their hold on you, then you will fail the spirit trial.” >

“Diego? What the heck is going on here?! Where are all these voices coming from?!”

Kyo tried to speak to Diego, in the hope that the village leader could hear him somehow…but that was the only time he heard the elder's voice as he was suddenly surrounded by other voices, and as he looked about as to where they were coming from, he spotted more figures coming towards him. And they were all human….their voices filled with hatred, malice, and from what he could tell…prejudice, all aimed at him.

He didn't know what was going on, but his previous attempt told him that the figures might be merely illusions, as to what created them, he had no idea yet, but he had no time to waste with phantoms, as soon as he found the answers to his past, he had to prepare to leave this place to hook up with the others back at the Nirvana, he had not forgotten the situation the crew and him were in involving the Harvesters. He had a war to fight and he was needed.

As soon as he reached the rock face, the figures surrounded him and began to chant to him, in even greater tones of hatred, malice, and more towards him.

<Freak!>

<Inhuman!>

<Patch-worker!>

The voices grew louder as the figures began to somehow glow and take a more recognizable form, some of them appeared to be either male or female, wearing paramilitary uniforms, full military service uniforms without any recognizable insignia, and even civilian clothes. The people began to surround Kyo as he tried to move away from them, and they seemed to be following him even up on the climb to the next side.

Kyo tried to keep the sounds and forms from his mind, but even his natural sense of determination and focus was tested as the figures didn't seem to relent in their verbal assault on him. It also began to evolve as they began to speak about what seemed to be military operations, and they began to accuse Kyo as the one who killed them in combat. Kyo's reaction to those accusations was obvious as he tried desperately to recall the faces he was seeing now as the figures accused him of being more than just being a Coordinator, some of them called him as nothing more than a living weapon without a soul. However, something…a feeling told him that despite the seemingly insane claims…he could feel through his active SEED mode that they were somehow…telling the truth, but he tried to deny it.

“I don't remember you!!!”

<Liar! You were the one you allowed a GINN to fall on me in Thailand!>

“What the hell are you taking about?! I don't even know those places!”

<Liar!>

“I AM NOT LYING!!!”

The abuse continued as Kyo managed to make it past more of the rock faces and finally find a path and walked through it, however there was a nearby steep end on the side, and despite his determination to make it across quickly and evade the figures hounding him, the Gundam pilot was nearly overwhelmed by all that was happening to him, now he was feeling more exhausted, not by physical activity alone, but by mental exhaustion as he tried to recall what the figures were saying about him, and what was happening around him. Finally, Kyo couldn't handle it anymore and faced the number of figures following him and shouted back at them in anger and desperation.

“I SAID I DON'T REMEMBER YOU!!! ANY OF YOU!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!”

So intent was Kyo in finally trying to banish them that he didn't watch his footing, the Gundam pilot could only shout in shock and dismay as he lost his footing and fell off the path and was sent sliding to the other side.

Outside of the cave…

Tao was looking at the entrance of the cave with great apprehension and doubt, he then faced both Diego and Samuel to show his concern for Kyo.

< “I think Kyo is unable to finish the spirit trial, if it goes on like this…he might die, and this time, he might not survive this, how then will he be able to defeat the Harvesters?” >

Rabat/Samuel shook his head and replied.

“Kyo has survived worse in this universe, he isn't the type to give up and die…his father faced the same thing before, and he was just a civilian.”

< “But still, to make him face the spirits of those he had no choice but to fight in the past, and while he cannot remember them is too much…even if he managed to avoid most of the fighting, this form of trial is too cruel.” >

< “True Tao, we cannot change the past, but we must learn to accept the events of the past, and learn from them, and use them to help our hands carve the future.” >

Diego replied as he finished his painting, despite only using basic hand painting techniques, the pictures truly was symbolic as it was able to show the Nirvana, the Paeksis, both the one used by the pirates and by the Harvesters, Kyo's Gundam, and that of Meia, Dita, and Jura's own Gundam units, and the I-Freedom was battling the Gundam of the Harvester Leader, the E-Vendetta.

Diego then looked at the cave and spoke calmly.

< “Kyo's will and his mind will face the ultimate test, as much as there have been good times in his past, there has just been as many harsh realities in them as well, this test will see if he is willing to live with both good and bad experiences, we have a balance within all of us…joy is balanced by grief, love with hate, gain with loss, victory with defeat, and naturally, life with death. It is up to him if he is willing to accept that balance…then and only then will he truly be allowed to remember his past.” >

*************

Back in the Nirvana…

Parfait had managed to bring the device she used to decode Misty's message pod and the Navi-robot had arrived, as requested by the head engineer. Despite the robot's complaints on being separated from lacus for this job, he could do little as the others gave him warning looks, and those looks told the robot not to argue and get going immediately.

The bespectacled engineer began to set up her device and connect it to both the Medical Bay's computers and the card reader that the brothers had with them. The three people, along with the Navi-robot wondered if the information they would find in the card would be worth a lot, not in monetary value, and not to them, but to their comrade who was still not found.

They only hoped that Kyo was still all right.

*************

Unfortunately, Kyo was right now, anything but all right…

The Gundam pilot was unconscious and in a pool of water that glowed in a greenish light, no doubt since there were some crystals of emerald color beneath the surface of the water and light from some open crags on the roof allowed light in. The Gundam pilot was fine, in the sense that he was near the bank and was still breathing. His fall had not given him too many serious injuries, due to the considerable light weight body armor in his uniform.

Kyo however was busy in his mind as he tried desperately to find answers to the rest of his past. He had no doubt on his mind that he had indeed been in the military, due to his inbred training, skills, and methods, but he still was very much unnerved by what he had seen. He was currently floating in the dark void that was his sub-conscious.

He then began to see battle scenes in his mind, and saw himself in battle, but he wasn't piloting his Gundam, and the machine seemed to be somewhat different, seemingly following the same design as Barnette's own Gundam, the SwitchBlade…but it seemed that it was not the same…regardless, he saw himself manning the controls and doing things…and he was still young.

Scenes of battles filled his mind, though he felt that those battles were made unavoidable by certain circumstances that even he could not see. He saw other Mobile Suits in the battles, and some were on his side, he could tell as he saw Freedom in the lead in some of the battles…he then saw himself in a hanger…possibly the same one he had seen in one of his returning memories, and looked to see his father, Kira and several others talking and planning things…he saw his younger self nearby and was being talked to by several others, namely by a man with red eyes and dark hair, along with a blonde woman with deep purple eyes, the three of them seemed to be discussing things, and he seemed to notice the sadness in his younger version's face…the two were telling him something that he couldn't hear despite focusing all his senses. His younger self seemed to become more sad, until his father came and he saw his younger self walk over to his male parent. His father looked at him with understanding as the Gundam pilot saw his younger self in tears as he was hugged by his father who kneeled down and consoled him.

He couldn't help but feel the fear, sadness, and confusion of his younger self, but he then felt calmer and more in control of himself as the scene changed to him and his fellow comrades talking and having a break from what appeared to be a mission. He could feel the tension in his younger self begin to flow out and he felt that things would be fine.

Apparently he had spent time in the military as he suspected, and he now had no doubt that he had partaken in missions when he was younger, he wondered if he had been so young at the time, that he was still unsure of what he had done. No doubt that as he was still young…and recalling some of the sadder and somewhat darker memories that surfaced recently, he was exposed to things most children should not have been exposed to at their current age and as a young man, it all must have heavily weighed on him when he was young.

No doubt he had relied on his fellow soldiers, friends, and family members to try and make sense of the things he no doubt must have seen growing up in the battle-field. He then felt that he had not been forced or coerced into the military, but joined of his own volition and did fight, but only if he did all he could to avert disaster first, but even then, he could feel that it was a fate that he detested greatly, in his youth and even up to now…even during his days as a free lance fighter, he didn't take life unless it was absolutely needed and unavoidable. The thought of killing was not something he could accept easily.

But he felt also that he did what he felt was right, there was also a feeling he had that despite what happened, he only had taken life when he had no choice…or, to protect those that were close to him in the memories he had…he then saw a very important memory that seemed to hold him close and tight…it seemed to have some very important significance.

*************

Flashback…

He was currently in the cockpit of the machine he piloted before using Freedom, He was fighting with several of his comrades over what appeared to be a large island that had a hidden base of some sort, he heard that the others in his group had tried for several hours to negotiate with the inhabitants of the base, but it seemed that the time for negotiation was over as he saw through the monitors of his Mobile Suit that the inhabitants had decided to fight and were unleashing Mobile Suits of their own on his comrades and himself in this memory.

“We have incoming Mobile Suits…all of them armed!”

He saw himself moving and using the controls of his Mobile Suit, evading beam bolts, and bullets, and melee weapons. Whatever the base had inside or who was in there must have been very important as the Mobile Suits that were defending it were not going to surrender easily as the pilots of the Mobile Suits were not going to give up.

He saw himself maneuvering the Mobile Suit he piloted as he took out his machine's own beam rifle and fought back, aiming for the legs, and arms of the opponents he was fighting, he managed to disable several Mobile Suits and stop them from harming his comrades, but he had to evade several attackers as well as more Mobile Suits that were no doubt the opposition came straight at him and the others.

He then spotted one Mobile Suit…a Gundam model from the design build attacking the Freedom, and it seemed that whoever the pilot of this Gundam model was, he/she was intent on killing his father as the Freedom was deep in combat with the unit. However, the Mobile Suit seemed to have some sort of defensive barrier that was resistant to beam weapons, and even the Freedom's CIWS could not get through!

Kyo felt panic as he saw his father try to even up the odds, he then decided to come to his father's aid as he directed his Mobile Suit with it's beam saber on the ready, while he fired his beam rifle to try and get the attacker's attention.

“GET AWAY FROM MY FATHER!!!”

Kyo shouted as he dodged several more beam blasts from the enemy Mobile Suits that tried to stop him and block his path, apparently the Gundam unit that attacked his father was the commander of the forces located in the base and it seemed that the forces blocking him were ordered to stop him from coming to the rescue. The same could be said for the rest of his comrades as several of them were deep in the fight as well…leaving and his father alone in the battle in the sky.

“KYO! GET AWAY FROM HERE!!!”

The monitor next to him revealed his father, who was able to use the Freedom's speed to dodge the weapons fire from the enemy Gundam and used the beam saber to block those that were too close for him to dodge. Kyo somehow knew that his father was more than capable in this battle, but the enemy Gundam's special energy shield system seemed to render the Freedom's beam weapons worthless, even when his father got close enough, past all the beam fire he managed to dodge to use the beam sabers of the Freedom Gundam, even they could not penetrate the shields.

The enemy Gundam was armed with what appeared to be a beam sub-machine gun. The principle behind a beam sub machine gun was the same as a beam rifle, but it was able to fire rapid beams at a single target, while it was a valuable weapon in terms of power and unleashing large amounts of weapons fire…it had a tendency to exhaust it's power supply rather quickly and charging it with the power reactor of the Mobile Suit using it was a problem…so unlike normal beam weapons that were connected to the reactor and recharged by it, the beam sub-machine gun was using rechargeable power packs shaped like bullet clips, further separating the beam sub machine gun from normal beam rifles. Other weapons, as far as Kyo had seen in his study were beam knives, a beam bayonet on the sub machine gun and a pair of beam cannons. It seemed that the pilot of the enemy Gundam unit was very familiar with the Mobile Suit he used as he modified one of the shield emitters on his Gundam to take the form of a larger beam saber and attacked his father's Gundam, his father used the beam saber to retaliate, but had to jet away from the beam fire and when he turned around, the enemy Gundam reactivated the energy shield, and due to corrections, the beam sub-machine gun was able to fire past the barriers while the barriers blocked the incoming fire.

Kyo wasted little time as he tried to get into contact with any of his other allies.

“Is there any data on what model that Gundam is?”

It didn't take long for another familiar face to appear before Kyo, though how come the person looked familiar to him was still debatable to the young Gundam pilot. The man had dark brown hair and a massive jagged scar on his face, covering one of his eyes. (**)

“That appears to be the CAT 1- X Hyperion Gundam unit, apparently one of the series units, judging by the color scheme. That G- Weapon series appeared to one of the things that was rumored to have been stolen from the Eurasian Federation. After the Yachim Due battle, the Eurasian Federation had put those units on lock-up, following the Peace Accords, but en route to their storage facility, they were somehow stolen from the convoy and many of the escorts were killed. This must have been where they had been taken, though Intelligence suggests that the theft was a cover-up.”

“Thanks….any weak-points?”

“So far, none, however, the data showed that the Hyperion series can't maintain the “Armure Lumiere” mono phase light-wave barrier shield system that it has, due to power requirements meaning it can only remain on for five minutes. However, the scanners are picking up what appears to be a Neutron Jammer Canceller onboard, that must mean that the rumor of the Eurasian Federation agents gaining the tech a few months before the Atlantic Federation gained the tech from Rau, if that's the case, that must mean that whoever's piloting it must have included a Nuclear Reactor in the Mobile Suit in place of the older battery reactor. I don't know for sure if this is accurate, but the Ptolemaeus Moon Base did mention that unknown personnel had taken one of their nuclear reactors in a daring raid as well.”

Kyo realized that unless something was done, his father would not survive the encounter with the unknown pilot and tried to find an alternative way to try and stop the attacking Gundam, as the two Mobile Suits continued to fight it out, but since both were armed with Neutron Jammer Cancellers and Nuclear Reactors, this would be a dangerous fight. He had no time to waste however as several more Mobile Suits attacked him, the mobile Suits appeared to be armed with heavy swords, once only seen with the Z.A.F.T before they too switched to beam saber weapons. As he was able to take out a pair of them, he however was caught off guard as one of the remaining attackers managed to destroy his Mobile Suit's beam saber. However, he managed to take one of the heavy swords and then strike back…aiming right at the arms of the foes and defeated them, while avoiding their retaliatory attacks earlier. In one part of the fight however, he spotted on of the older Strike Dagger models attack with a beam saber, and the attack was aimed at him. He used the heavy sword in his Mobile Suit's hands to block and much to his surprise, and no doubt his foe as well, the blade held against the beam saber with surprising strength, and after trading several blows, Kyo was able to slice the head off his foe and then hoped that whatever it was that made the heavy sword immune to the beam saber, could penetrate the shield used by the Hyperion Gundam.

As he closed the gap between him and the Gundam his father piloted and the enemy Gundam, he pushed his Mobile Suit to the limit to reach them, he then spotted his father's shield being knocked away by a combined attack and that forced his father to use both beam sabers of the Freedom as both weapons and shields.

Kyo wasted little time and charged with the weapon ready as the Hyperion reactivated it's shield to block his father's strikes. The pilot then turned the Gundam to face him, just as he shouted his previous threat once more.

“STAY AWAY FROM MY FATHER!!!”

The Hyperion merely aimed it's beam sub-machine gun and fired several barrages at him, Kyo used his training to evade as much of the weapon fire as he could manage to get close enough to defeat this foe of his, however, he didn't get away injury free either as some of the beam bolts hit home, blowing off the left leg of his Mobile Suit and blew off half the face, but Kyo was determined and quickly closed the gap and lashed out with the heavy sword. And to the shock of all three pilots, the weapon that had been eclipsed by the beam sabers sliced through the shield as if it was nothing but ordinary light. Kyo had intended to slice off the arm of the enemy Gundam that held the beam sub-machine gun…but somehow the blade misses the target and cleaves deeply into the side of the cockpit instead…a very fatal blow.

The Gundam began to power down and it seemed that it's “Armure Lumiere” mono phase light-wave barrier shield system was also taken out, no doubt due to the damage, the last thing he saw was the Hyperion losing it's altitude and sent crashing into the ocean. He tried to follow and try to save the pilot of the ravaged Gundam but was held back by his father, and realized that it might be possible that the Hyperion, armed with a nuclear reactor would explode and kill him too.

Two more machines came on the scene, both of them appeared to be the same as Kouji and Maia Asuka's own Gundam units, the Shinobi and the Kunoichi. The two people he had seen before were no beside him and his father, both looked at him with great concern.

“Kyo, you all right?”

His father then took the lead and spoke to both his friends.

“Shin…take Kyo back and get him back to base…keep him safe until he's ready to fight.”

Shin nodded in agreement and faced his apparent wingman, or in this case…wing woman.

“Stellar, we've got to go.”

“Done!” The blonde replied while her eyes were showing concern for him.

*************

End of flashback…

Kyo then saw other memories, some of his fellow soldiers who died, others were too badly injured, people being hurt, and him making it past injury, and his own fears…he saw them all and thought over what he should do now.

He then recalled all the memories he had regained and saw over the past few months, and realized that the darker memories made him who he was, not made him a monster. Just as there was joy, there was sorrow as well. He once said to Magno that he was not perfect, and that was true…if it was true that he did belong in the military and killed in the past, he did so with reason, and from what he could recall, he did kill only as a last resort, then all those events made him the man that he was now, and he must learn from the past in order to walk into the future.

He recalled his mother and father's words to him about his genes, method of birth, and abilities not being the factors that made him who he was, but how he used them and what he had done to help human kind. He felt that despite the deaths he might have caused in the past, he did so with good reason, and even though it was not easy to accept he knew that he could not change what had happened now. And he was helping mankind by protecting them all from the Harvesters and their forces. The past was over for him, whatever he had done then and there, stayed there, he had to look forward to the future and learn from the past.

With that in mind, he woke up and looked to where he had slipped and worked on finding a way out from where he had fallen, As he moved through the water, he looked at himself in the pool's reflection one last time and when he found the path he needed to take in order to leave the place he began to tough journey of climbing back up to the path he had fell from.

The rocks were somewhat tough and there were going to be a lot of cuts on his hands from the number of jagged and sharp edges, but he pushed aside the pain and focused on what he had to do in order to leave the place he was currently in, it took him more time since the path was not the best and there were some slippery spots and he lost his grip, but he kept on going and going, he then heard the voices again, but this time, he paid them no attention as he focused on what he must do to reach the crystal.

Minutes later…

As soon as he was back on the road, he saw the figures once more and they saw him and were about to converge on him once more, no doubt intent on assaulting him and halting his progress, but they were not the enemy, once, a long time ago, they were the enemy, but Kyo didn't see them anymore as such, they were part of his past, his life, and as much as he loved his good memories, he knew that to be complete, he must accept the dark memories as well, for only then could he truly be a whole person.

As the figures approached him once more…he looked at them all and spoke to them.

“I know you now…but not entirely, I know that I took you're lives, but I still don't recall where and when. I know also that I cannot take back what happened all those years before, and I know that what I did made me who I am now.”

The figures stopped and seemed to just stare at Kyo silently and stood there.

Kyo took a deep breath to calm himself and to focus his thoughts into words, the figures would never let him move on until he was able to find a way to placate them and also make peace with the darker side of his memories.

“I have done things in the past, in my past life, and if you died by my hand in that same past life, know that I regret it, but I have done what I had to do and I have…accepted that, we do things in war that are hard to undo, and are hard to forget after it is all over. I have lost my memories and I am in the process of getting them back. Whatever I have done, whether it be good or evil was done by me and I did so by my own choice, no one has forced me to do them and I will live with that.”

The figures still remained silent and impassive as Kyo finally finished his speech.

“The key to my past is here, and if I do recall all that I have done and who I am, I will do what I must. The human race is once more in danger of war…of extinction. I need to be there to help them, my friends and my only family, at that, I must at least finally learn who I truly.”

“Whatever past I have…it is part of me as is my memories of fighting, and of peace, I will do whatever I can to help prevent another war and bring peace to humanity, in that way…I hope to rectify any mistakes I have made, and if it can be done…make amends for the deaths I might have caused, including yours…will you let me pass?”

The figures didn't say anything…and for a long moment, Kyo feared that he had failed in his attempt…however his fears were unfounded as the figures seemed to smile somewhat and nod. They then seemed to turn into shades of light and Kyo finally saw a bridge of stone, with the figures illuminating the path before him, and in the distance, he saw the flicker of light on a crystal.

Kyo breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the shades and bowed.

“Thank you.”

As Kyo made his way through the bridge he looked at the crystal as he drew closer towards it and somehow felt something…like a gate in his mind was finally being completely opened.

He then spotted Diego, and Tao nearby. He felt somewhat annoyed at the fact that unlike him who was soaked, cut, and slightly bloody, the two were in fine condition. However, he realized that since they knew this cave and their people have no doubt used it before, they would know paths through this place that were less dangerous, he however decided not to dwell on that, namely due to the fact that this was his test…however he couldn't help but speak to them as they reached the crystal.

“You guys could have told me about that test.”

Tao and Diego merely smiled, and before long Kyo sighed and looked them and replied.

“I guess I know now what was my test, is was if I was willing to face the other parts of my past, and these were the painful ones and the parts that were of loss and pain. But they make me who I am…if I have to see that too…then I will have to accept them, and learn from them to help change the future that is to come.”

< “Good, You are now ready Kyo, Tao and I will assist the Paeksis in opening the barrier to you're memories…are you ready?”>

Kyo looked at the crystal and thought on all he had seen, and his memories, the ones he had seen, both good and bad, and his current memories. The crew of the Nirvana, the people he had met in his travels, and most of all…his loved ones, both his family, and the women who each held a part of his heart. It was now his chance to make himself complete.

“I am ready.”

Both men and the Gundam pilot then placed their hands on the crystal before them. In that moment, the crystal flared and surrounded all three men in brilliant light.

*************

At that very same moment, the Nirvana's own Paeksis suddenly flared up, startling the Engineering crew who were still there, and that that same moment, two things happened.

In the Medical Bay…

Parfait and Duero were busy working on Kyo's data card, along with Max and Barnette who had arrived to see how Max was doing, the four of them were suddenly surprised when Pyoro, who like before was connected to the device used by Parfait to access Misty's message pod suddenly began to glow green and speak in a monotone voice.

“Pyoro? Are you all right?!” Parfait asked, wondering what had just happened to the little robot as it was the same as when the Harvesters had somehow communicated with them by hacking into their communication arrays and the Navi-robot.

Duero, Barnette, and Max were likewise surprised and confused by the situation.

Pyoro then spoke.

“Who is Kyo? What is the proof of his existence?”

This confused the group…that is until they noted that the data that was once sealed by the security system installed by Old Man Jin was suddenly unlocked with the words `ACCESS GRANTED'.

They were surprised see physical data, genetic data, historical information, family names, and most all…a picture of Kyo's family, relatives, siblings, and friends.

It was only when Kyo's full name was revealed that Duero reacted as he ran the name in the Colony database and compared Kyo's full name to the entry that he was able to locate.

“That's…impossible!”

In another part of the Nirvana…

Dita was busy cooking a small dish in order to pass the time and wait as much as she could for any word concerning Kyo, when she suddenly felt sleepy and fell to the floor unconscious but unharmed. This prompted several of the kitchen staff to shout in shock and surprise as they ran to check on the unconscious redhead. Realizing that she was merely unconscious and uninjured, they quickly contact the Medical Bay and two of them managed to get Dita to her feet and they took her to the Medical Bay.

Meia was busy running through a test simulation alongside Sara, Mai, and several Dread pilots and Crusader pilots when she too suddenly losses consciousness and falls to the floor, startling the others and making them momentarily confused as to what had just happened to the former Dread pilot, that passed as they decided to take her to the Medical Bay as well.

Jura was busy looking at the trees in the Bio park when she too suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious, she was with Amarone, and Belvedere and the two girls were suddenly surprised at the collapse of their blonde comrade, they quickly contacted the Medical Bay and then called some of the security personnel to help them get the blonde Gundam pilot to the Medical Bay.

In the Bridge…

“What? Jura, Meia, and Dita have just collapsed?!” Magno asked in surprise as Buzam came on the screen.

“Yes Captain, they appear to be fine, no injuries at all, and they are now in the Medical Bay…but this is very strange, the only time something like this had happened was back on that desert world…”

“…when Kyo was ambushed…this must mean that something has happened to Kyo.”

The conversation however didn't get that far as Chief suddenly came on the bridge via the communications system as well.

“Captain…we have a major situation down here in Engineering!”

“What is it Chief?”

“Captain, the Paeksis has somehow began to power up beyond the normal levels, we're detecting a large amount of energy emissions, but it seems to be directed elsewhere, and the energy is on a wave length that we can't seem to determine!”

The two women wondered just what the heck was going on until Duero then contacted them while he was in the Medical Bay.

“Captain…there is something important you have to see here.”

*************

In the Medical Bay…

Magno and Buzam arrived in the Medical Bay to find Max taking a medical check-up on all three female Gundam pilots who seem to be asleep, the elderly woman was very concerned as to what was going on in the ship at this moment and to her crew, so it was hardly surprising that she spoke on what was the condition of the three Dread pilots.

“How are they doing?”

Max looked up and responded.

“They are physically fine Captain, no injuries, and they are seemingly sleeping but their brain activity seems to be very active and…as amazing as it sounds seem to be overlapping one another. I don't know for sure what is happening, but there seems to be no harmful side effects on the fusion of their brain waves…it's like they are in a dream state and having the same dream.”

Magno was concerned greatly for this and Buzam was no different as the silver haired commander then talked to Max.

“Is there any way to wake them up?”

“I don't know, and it would not be advisable, if we wake them up with their brainwaves combined, we might cause severe mental trauma to all three of them, whatever is happening to them, they have to awaken for themselves.”

Magno sighed once more and directed her attention to Duero.

“What was it you wanted me to see Doctor?”

Duero directed her to the Medical Bay's computer screen and told her of what he and Parfait had been doing with Kyo's ID card, and then told her of what had transpired in the Medical Bay, which was also at the same moment when all three girls collapsed and the Paeksis suddenly coming to life. He then told them of the data suddenly being unlocked and what he had seen and read was…remarkable.

Magno looked at the data as well, her look of still lingering concern quickly faded and was replaced with keen interest, surprise, and finally awed disbelief.

“No…can it really be true?!”

*************

In a place far removed from the Nirvana or anywhere else for that matter…

Dita looked around in shock as she found herself no longer in the kitchen but in a massively dark void of eternal night. The redhead tried to moved about and tried moving, she then noted that she could still stand even if she couldn't see the floor she was standing on, the redhead then felt a bit of fear as she looked about in the inky blackness. Though she was no longer afraid of the dark, unlike back then when she was still younger, this eerie blackness coupled with the fact that she was all alone made her very worried.

She then swallowed her fear and tried to call out to see if there were others here as well.

“Hello…is anyone here?”

At first there was no answer and then she tried once more…after a few moments of no one answering her cries she began to get even more afraid when she suddenly heard a reply.

“Dita? Is that you?”

“Meia?!”

Dita turned around and saw Meia who was a few feet from her, happy to suddenly see a friendly face the redhead ran the short distance to the aqua-haired girl and hugged her. She was happy to note that this was no illusion and she was really hugging the former Dread squadron leader.

“Meia! I was beginning to get very worried I thought I was all alone here!” The redhead sobbed a bit as she recalled her fear when she came to this place.

“Easy Dita…it's all right.” The aqua haired girl tried to calm her fellow Gundam pilot down, she was happy to note that Dita was really here, when she arrived, she too was at first scared as her claustrophobia was still present, however, that changed when she spotted Dita, though she was still wary at first. Now that she was sure that Dita was real, she concentrated on trying to find out just what had happened. As soon as she was able to calm down the redhead she looked around to the inky blackness before them.

“Where are we? And how did we get here?”

Dita looked around too…very confused as to what had just happened.

“I don't know…all I recall was making a dish in the kitchen to pass the time and I was suddenly feeling sleepy and then…poof here I was. What about you?”

“I was in a strategy meeting with Sara, Mai, and the other Dread pilots…when I also felt somewhat strange and suddenly blacked out too. Was there anyone else than just us?”

“Dita, Meia, is that you?”

The two turned around to see their blonde comrade appear as well, both Meia and Dita were happy to see Jura and they were able to touch her hands and see that like them, she too was real as they were, Jura likewise was happy to see that her fellow women were as real as she was.

“How did you get here Jura?”

“Beats me, all I recall was looking at some of the trees in the Bio Park and then I felt strange and then I was here. What's going on?”

Meia didn't have the answers but she then spotted a point of light far away from them…and it seemed to grow even more. The two other noticed it and the light was very much expanding and growing brighter and brighter, forcing the girls to cover their eyes. The glare lasted for only a few moments and the light's intensity suddenly dropped to normal levels…surprising the three women.

As soon as they lowered their hands and looked about, they were double shocked…instead of the black void they had been in only moments before, they were now in a place that appeared to be a beach, they looked and saw a pristine blue ocean with soft light brown sand beneath their feet, there were birds flying in the sky and clouds of various shapes and sizes filled the sky, the sky itself was blue and clear and the sun's light was everywhere and was reflected by the ocean. They could hear the waves and the wind, as they could also hear the callings of the birds flying overhead.

The three Megele women were shocked at the sight and then they smelled the clean cool breeze and looked away from the ocean to see beautiful tropical trees nearby and a forest a bit further away, the air was crisp and had no trace of any smoke at all.

“Where are we?!” All three girls asked simultaneously in shock.

However, their greatest surprise had just arrived…

“Dita, Meia, Jura? What are you three doing here?”

The three women suddenly stiffened at the sound of that very familiar voice, the voice of someone they each held dear to them and the one they had feared lost in the debris belt. They hoped that this was no illusion and turned…

To see Kyo looking at them in surprise and concern…

“Kyo?”

“Mr. Alien?”

“Is it really you?”

Kyo raised an eye-brow at the questions the three were asking him and replied back.

“Yes it's me, and I am real, I was hoping you'd finally stop calling me Mr. Alien for once and…OOOFFFFF!!!!”

The Gundam pilot had little time to finish his words when all three girls suddenly glomped onto him and began to cry in joy and relief that they had finally found him, and as much as his male hormones once more were reveling in the contact of all three females he had other matters to deal with. He managed to finally worm his way free of the three way glomp and look at the three women who were smiling warmly at him.

“Okay, okay, calm down, not that I'm complaining or anything, but what was that for?”

“Kyo! Thank goodness we found you!” Jura said with a smile.

“We nearly thought you were gone…or worse.” Dita said with great enthusiasm.

“It's wonderful to see you are still safe.” Meia replied with a smile on her face.

Kyo sighed a bit and nodded.

“I'm happy to see you all too, but I really have to know something…how did you three get here?”

“We really don't know…all we recall was being back in the Nirvana and then we were in this really black void and then there was this blast of light and…here we are.” Jura replied, still feeling relief that Kyo was right in front of her.

“That's true…I was in the kitchen when I found myself in the black place.” Dita offered, she was still feeling very happy and excited to see Kyo was all right.

“I was also in a strategy meeting with the other pilots when I fell unconscious and came here too…just where are we?” Meia replied as she was still recovering from the wave of joy she had felt when she held Kyo.

“You are in my mind…more importantly in my memories.” Kyo replied. He then told the three girls of what had happened when he had been dragged into the debris belt, faced off with Rabat and awoke to find himself in the village of Tao and Diego, his spirit trial and his touching the Paeksis crystal.

The girls were in awe and surprise at what Kyo was telling them, and they were shocked to know that Rabat was still alive. Dita then asked Kyo a question.

“So where are we…in you're memories?”

Kyo looked about and spotted the same house he had seen in his dreams a few times and it was still the same as before as when he had seen it in the few times he was able to regain flashes of his past. He then pointed it out to the girls.

“That's my home…I grew up here, that's where I just might learn who I am.”

“Can we follow you?” Meia asked, she and Jura, and Dita were eager to finally accompany Kyo on his journey to rediscover himself.

Kyo sensed that since they were tied to him by the Paeksis, it was important that they were present in his journey, and besides…they were very important to him, and he loved them dearly, he certainly didn't want to travel alone.

“Of course.”

The four then set out towards the house and into the journey Kyo needed to make to learn just who he was.

As soon as they came to the house that was Kyo's home, the girls had to admit that Kyo's childhood home was very nice, it may look plain, but they could tell that it was well maintained and had a very kind and happy atmosphere. The house was at least two stories high and it had what appeared to be a garden nearby, along with a small patio. Kyo reached for the knob of the door and with one twist and push, the four entered the door.

As they entered the house, the rooms were clean and there were many paintings and nearby was a family portrait as both the male Yamato and the three Megele women looked at the portrait. In front of them was a picture showing Kyo's family, they saw Kyo as a young man, around the age of six or seven, and the three were able to see just what Kyo looked like when he was still very young…and the only thing that came into their minds was…

“Oh! I never knew Mr. Alien was so cute when he was young!” Dita gushed out as she smiled at the look on Kyo's smiling face in the portrait.

Jura nodded in agreement as so did Meia as they too admitted that Kyo was rather adorable as a young child…much to the utter embarrassment of the Gundam pilot in question. Kyo however didn't bother as he looked at the pictures of his parents, He looked nearby and saw their names…his father's name was Kira Yamato and his mother's name was Lacus Clyne Yamato, he smiled a bit as his memories began to play out.

Before the three women could comment, they saw several people in the house, appearing out of nowhere, at first they were shocked, but from the look of utter calm and joy in Kyo's face, they relaxed.

The older man in the house seemed so much like Mr. Alien, it was almost impossible to tell the two mentioned people apart, that is until they noted that the older man had deep violet eyes while Kyo's younger self appeared to have blue violet eyes, just like he did now. It didn't take long for the girls to recall the Christmas video they had seen several months ago and made the connection.

Their question was answered as they saw a beautiful woman with pink hair and deep sapphire eyes, and wearing what appeared to a simple but elegant and classy sun-dress of pink and white cloth. The woman radiated kindness and a strong will as she reached over and hugged Kyo's father and also did the same to Kyo's younger self, the boy smiled warmly as he hugged his mother back, and that was where the girls realized that the woman was Kyo's fahma or rather, mother as there was some similarities between him and his female parent, most notably their eye color, it was there that they now understood why Kyo's eyes were both violet and blue.

Another young woman appeared, rather younger than Kyo's younger self and the two seemed at home with one another, and the three girls saw such a familiarity between the two children, they quickly realized that she must have been Kyo's younger sister. The two seemed to get along rather well and that was with the approval of their parents as well. They then also reached over to what appeared to some sort of crib, and as Kyo, Dita, Meia, and Jura came closer to the crib, they saw a young little baby boy in the crib…Kyo saw his sister and younger self play around with the little baby, and since the baby was a boy…it made sense for him to guess the baby was his baby brother.

The girls could only stare in awe at the sight of Kyo's family, they were surprised as the images changed as Kyo's memories were being unlocked, they saw Kyo learning the fine arts of music and singing from his mother, how his father taught him about the sciences, computers, and how to use a Mobile Suit, they were then introduced to Kyo's other friends and relatives as the memories continued…

Later…

The group found themselves meeting a blonde woman who appeared to Kyo's aunt who had short blonde hair and had her hair in a semi wild style as she was dressed in what appeared to be simple clothes as she and Kyo's mother Lacus were busy shopping in a small mall, next to Kyo and his sister was his cousin, a blonde girl, like her mother, but had her father's green eyes, the man in question was chatting with Kyo's father Kira, and it was here that Kyo learned just they were, the blue haired and green eyed man was his uncle by marriage Athrun Zala, and he had been his father's friend when they were around his age as well, however, the war from so long ago had driven a wedge between them, and things had become harsh for them both, and they had nearly killed each other, but now they were heroes who fought side by side to prevent what would have sealed the fate of all human kind, regardless of the fact that there were two factions, Natural and Coordinator. It had been quite a surprise for them all, Kyo included to learn that he was indeed borne on Earth, but he had been born long before the incident known as the Days of Despair, meaning that he must have been somehow placed in a state of suspended animation, and something happened to make him forget the past.

Kyo remembered that message pod from so long ago when they had found Misty and as his memories were played before him, he recalled his parents had somehow been part of the war that the parents of Misty had spoken of…to know that his parents had been part of that war was rather surprising to the Gundam pilot. To think that his parents were actually heroes themselves, and had managed to prevent the end of all human life in their world…it was shocking and somewhat humbling to him to know that his parents had such a place in history.

They saw him as he made some friends in his school and watched him as he grew up and even protected his sister from a band of bullies one time in school, and he did the very same thing when he also saw his little brother being bullied, they saw him as he graduated from his school in record time and make good friendships with other who were older than him, the girls even smiled when they heard him sing before a small audience, his voice was just as pleasant and entertaining as it was when he was with them in the Nirvana.

Jura, Meia, and even Dita then felt some tingles of jealousy as some of the memories highlighted some of the people he met who were female and who showed a great deal of interest in Kyo as he was growing up. He and the others then watched his life play before them as they saw him participate in the Guardians alongside his uncle and father, and fight alongside them all in the military group who were dedicated to ensuring a lasting peace for both the people of Earth.

This was where Kyo's questions concerning his training in military techniques, methods, and the skills he had were answered, as he saw himself studying under several instructors, and even under his father and uncle. He then saw himself leading small teams of agents, mostly from the way they moved, he could tell were spies, and much to his surprise, he saw himself having great aptitude with Mobile Suits, though the surprise faded quickly. The women were surprised to see that when he was young, Kyo was already a soldier and Meia was finally able to see just where did Kyo learn how to use Mobile Suits so well.

The group watched as the Guardians celebrated both the Peace Accord and the final mission of their group and that was where they also saw Kyo continue his life as a growing up man in Earth, going to high school and having a normal childhood, along with the rest of his family.

Dita, Meia, and Jura saw just what kind of man Kyo was as they saw him dote on his little sister and brother, he was very protective of both his family, relatives, and his friends as the images showed him being with the people in question, he seemed to be a really nice guy, despite being a young soldier. They saw him when he was also in some of his own bad moods, showing that despite being a kind, compassionate, strong willed, and determined guy, there were bad things about him as well, however, Kyo didn't seem to mind at all as he realized that the bad things and situations that happened both in the present and the past, made him who he now was…and the women realized that as well.

It was then that they wondered just what happened to have made Kyo forget all these memories, all of which seemed to be so precious…what had happened to him?

However, it seemed that the girls were not going to find out at all, the answer to that question as they were suddenly being pulled back from where Kyo was standing. They were shocked and afraid, but Kyo looked at them and smiled…the scenery changed into the room of the Nirvana…namely in the Map room…as the women looked at Kyo, he merely pointed at the nearby star chart screen and pointed to a section of the map…in that same moment, the shroud that hid that section of the map faded and there was the planet where he was on.

“This is where you'll find me…I'll be waiting for you all.”

The women couldn't say much as they began to fade…just as the scene once more changed…this time, Kyo found himself in what appeared to be a meeting hall…at the time frame of a certain event that he had been part of…nearly four hundred years ago.

*************

Back at the Nirvana…

Things were getting rather hairy as the crew who were in the Medical Bay looked over the three Gundam pilots with worry and uncertainty, unlike the last time, when they had sensed Kyo's plight back on the desert planet, the three girls were very much unconscious and they could not be awakened, lest they suffer from brain damage since their brain waves were combined.

Magno was still in shock as she looked the data over and after she was done, she could only sit down and shake her head…

“In all of my years…I never thought…I never thought it was even possible… but if it really is true…then how come Kyo does not recall this information?”

Duero himself was unable to believe it himself, but it seemed that his friend Kyo was truly more than what he seemed in every sense of the word as he ran through the history records and compared it to the records found in Kyo's ID card. The data all matched and it was irrefutable that the one they knew as Kyo had a history that truly set him apart from them.

“I am afraid I do not have the answers, however, I can surmise, that only Kyo can answer that question for us…the only chance we have is to find him…however, until he manages to regain his memories as well, any way to answer you're question is closed to us all Captain.”

Magno had to agree as she looked at the information, Buzam was not all that sure about what was troubling the Captain so much as she had just came there after looking Dita, Jura, and Meia over to check their condition along with Max. Along with them were Sara, Mai, Barnette, Aleck, Paiway, and Gascogne, all of whom were vigilant over the matter. Buzam then contacted the Map archive room, the same room Misty was currently in.

“Misty, any luck finding out the possible location as to where Kyo might be?”

“Nothing yet….without any charts of the debris belt, I can't make any estimate as to where Kyo might be, even Bart is having a hard time trying to locate his possible location and he has more charts than I do.”

“Keep working on it.”

“Roger, Misty out.”

The silver haired woman then turned to the elderly woman and the doctor.

“If we had some way of locating Kyo, then we would be able to continue this race to stop the Harvesters. The only problem is that since no one from either our worlds have properly charted this debris belt, we don't have that much data to work with.”

The elderly woman nodded in agreement….however, this was also when the three girls' brain waves were seamlessly separated and amazingly, the girls were now awake.

The others were astonished as both Talark medics came to the newly awakened Gundam pilots to check their condition, Duero looked over the scanners and found no dangerous ailments on them and saw that all their brain wave patterns were in good order at this current time, as soon as he was assured of no physical or psychological anomalies in the three, he questioned Dita on how she was feeling.

He was surprised to see a smile on the redhead's face as she looked rather excited. Her next words told him and the rest of the people in the Medical Bay just why she was like that right now.

“We know where Mr. Alien is!”

Before the people could do anything, all three women stood up and headed for the Map Room, right where Misty was working.

In the Map Room…

As her scanners told her once more that her search was unable to find any habitable planets or planetoids, the dark blue haired girl sighed and rubbed the side of her head in exasperation and exhaustion, there was just too much ground and uncharted territory to cover for her, and the charts were not very accurate, as much as she wanted not to give up in her search for Kyo, unleash by some miracle, there was nearly no chance for her to locate him and his Gundam.

She was naturally surprised to suddenly hear the door open and spot none other than Dita, Meia, and Jura, who were supposed to still be in the Medical Bay for check up.

“What are you three doing here all of a sudden?”

“We know where Kyo is!”

Misty was naturally shocked and is some degree of disbelief at what she had just heard, coming from the three women, she and the others had been searching for Kyo and his Gundam for several hours now, and now the three of them were before her, saying that they knew just where Kyo was.

Before she could say anything all three women then pointed at a certain point in the map before them, which naturally showed the debris belt, despite her confusion, the dark blue haired girl concentrated her scan of the area and was finally able to locate a certain planet that appeared to be more than capable in supporting human life forms, but she still was not convinced that Kyo was truly there at all.

The three girls however didn't stop their pointing at the screen, thus insisting that Kyo was there, they however knew that Kyo told them the truth…they could FEEL that the planet they had found was where Kyo was.

However, Magno and Buzam had just arrived and the looks on their faces told Misty that this was the place where they would really find their lost comrade.

“Misty…how long before we are able to reach that location?” Buzam asked.

Misty then began to work on estimating the exact time and distance to the planet considering their current location, after she had finished her reading of the data, she answered the two officers.

“At the very least…two hours, less if we can blast through most of the debris.”

Magno nodded and headed for the bridge to begin the crew for their mission to rescue Kyo from where he was currently located. As soon as the charts were brought in and the news of Kyo being located was all over the ship, the crew cheered loudly and worked at full tilt to help them locate Kyo all the quicker.

The Nirvana powered up it's shields to full power and the pirates began the journey to locate their now found comrade. The Dread pilots were merely waiting for the order to take in their Dreads and provide support, should the Harvesters plan any sudden attacks. The last thing they wanted was to be ambushed by the Harvesters and get wiped out in the process of recuing Kyo.

The same sentiment was in the members of Kyo's Crusader Squadron, but the emotion and sentiment was the strongest in the three female Gundam pilots who were very close to Kyo, they tried their best to keep themselves under control as they hoped that Kyo was waiting for them as he promised them when they were alongside him in his mind.

*************

Back in the cave…an hour or so later…

Kyo shook his hand as he moved away from the Paeksis, his face was a mixture of disbelief, and joy…however, the last memory he had seen, just as the girls had somehow left his mind made him feel something he had always felt but never this strongly…loss.

<They're all gone…my family…my friends…my home…everything…they're all gone!>

Tao and Diego didn't say a word, but their looks of sympathy were able to speak volumes on how much they could understand Kyo's feelings of pain and loss. The Gundam pilot however calmed himself as best he could and then followed the two out of the cave via the secret path to the village. As soon as he was out of the cave and back into the village he looked up to the sky and sighed heavily.

The Gundam pilot however felt one thing as he looked up to see the sky as the landing shuttle of the Nirvana came on the scene…

He was happy that he still had a place and people to go back to…

As the shuttle landed, he walked over to the ship, just as the crew disembarked from it, in the lead were naturally a certain redhead, a certain blonde, and an aqua haired girl, not to be outdone by the three, two girls, one a copper haired woman and a brunette rushed in alongside the first three girls, all of them having expressions of joy at seeing him alive and safe. He looked over them and saw the others in the crew, namely Buzam, Magno, Duero, Parfait, Max, Aleck, Gascogne, along with several members of his Crusader Squadron. He smiled though his heart was still heavy from the painful discovery that he had made after he had regained his memories, and realized what had happened to him so long ago.

“MR. ALIEN!!!”

Kyo sighed a bit as he walked towards them and in that very same instant, he was tackled to the floor by all three girls, and Sara and Mai still got into the act and hugged him tightly as well…that is, until he was finally able to get on his feet and manage to convince Dita, Jura, and Meia to finally release him before he lost his supply of air. As soon as they did so, Magno walked up to him with a very expectant look, confusing the Gundam pilot somewhat.

“How are you feeling Kyo?”

“I'm fine…and I also know who I really am now.”

Magno seemed to tense up a bit and look at Kyo very intently. “And you recall you're full name?”

“Yes I do…”

Magno waited and so did Buzam, and Kyo then spoke calmly as he finally said his full name, the name he had not heard from others, and himself for the last four hundred years.

“Yamato….my full name is Kyo Clyne Yamato. My parents were Kira and Lacus Yamato.”

*************

Elsewhere…

In the Harvester assault fleet, namely in the massive battle-ship that housed the Harvester Armada's ultimate weapon and their ultimate Gundam, the pilot of the mentioned machine was currently reading the latest reports from the rest of the fleets that had been dispatched many years before, most of the reports were not too pleasing as the rest of the universe seemed to be still uncharted, and those that had human colonies were hell bent on resisting their will, his and the Harvester Council.

No matter, with the fact that the Resistance was now planning to converge in the system where Megele and Talark were, it would be far easier to finally wipe the Resistance out, their utter destruction, along with their potential allies, and the Nirvana would shatter any form of rebellion with the other colonies. He smiled as his forces were soon to arrive…however, their…advanced fleet would be allowed to draw first blood in their battle with the all male and all female planets beyond the soon to be seen debris belt, their advanced fleet had to prepare their systems for battle and could not rally yet, however, they would be ready, and so would his fleet.

Soon, the Harvesters would win this war…and he would finally get to kill the one man who had given him the jagged scar on his body, a symbolic reminder of his own flaws.

“Soon…soon, Megele and Talark will fall, along with the pathetic Resistance, and you Kyo, I will keep you alive long enough to witness it all, before I finally end you and you're accursed blood-line!!!!”

The Harvester leader and pilot of the E-Vendetta Gundam laughed in a maniacal tone as the fleet continued on it's mission of utter extermination.

*************

To be continued…

*************

Author's Notes:

This is short…but that's only because I still need to get all my plans straight, hope this chapter will show that this story is still being made and planned out. Have fun and send me your' comments and suggestions…

Because like I promised before…the lemon stuff is in this chapter arc now. (^_~)

This is also where Kyo's past will come back, and we now get to see what Kyo's life was like before he joined the Guardians, his two years of fighting in the Guardians, and his later years until the very moment he stopped the Paeksis from exploding four hundred years before.

This will also have some serious side effects to not just Kyo, but to his comrades, and the incoming war with the Harvesters…so anyone care to wager a bet on what the outcome will be?

(*) This is not the real name of Gascogne's sister, it is just something I made since I can't find any data that tells me her real name anyway, hope you don't mind…and if you DO find out her name…then please send me an email so I can know.

(**) Sound familiar? If not, then here's a clue…he was once part of Z.A.F.T and was known as the Desert Tiger. Another clue is that he is the commander of the Eternal, and if you have seen Gundam SEED Destiny, he has new prosthetic limbs to replace the ones he lost in his battle with Kira Yamato and pilots the Gaia Gundam that Stellar once used in battle.

If you haven't figured it out yet, or have forgotten, the Mobile Suit that Kyo piloted years before was the Orb MVF M-11C Murasame, that is the soon to come replacement for the Astrays.

And who is the one he had fought with to save his father?

*************

Kyo's memories have now been unlocked! What will happen now?

Find out soon!

New notes:

(Okay, I know these parts sound real harsh, but Kyo WAS in the military in the past and HAS done some battles, but he only did them when he had no other option, or had to defend his comrades, and no matter how one tries to avoid it, life is lost in combat. It is only through his parents, relatives, and friends that Kyo didn't not become traumatized by it growing up, now that his memories are still sealed, there is a chance he might be tempted to give up…but if he did, then things would not work out.)

(Things will work out, so relax and hold you're horses people! I'll be right back…)

**************

It's been a rather long time, and this officially ends this part of Chapter 10!

Sorry about the way the story might be going, I've been rather busy as of late and I don't have enough time to work on this as much as I hoped I could, and I have had some writer's block lately since I have had so many ideas lately, and I seriously need a break for a while.

However, this chapter is now officially finished, and I hope that you can send me comments and suggestions regardless.

In the next chapter, we will have a bit of an adventure and some combat, and just so everyone will be informed…someone will soon die in the story, but rest assured it will not be a member of the crew, however it was be rather interesting as that certain person will leave behind a very important bit of information that could very well change the outcome of the battle…and we will have a lemon soon, this is just part 1 after all.

Please send me comments and reviews, I really will appreciate it if I get some…having been gone for some time from the fanfiction writing circuit.