Zeta Gundam Fan Fiction ❯ Harbinger of Darkness ❯ Remember the Titans ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I make no pretense as to lay claim to any of the various and sundry Japanese Anime Programmes referenced to in the following work of fiction. Any similarities between extant characters or places is purely intentional. I do not own Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam, The 08th MS Team, BGCT2040, RahXephon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, or any of the other masterpieces referenced herein. Thank Ye!

Kiyone Shinegori LaVans sat with her head resting on her folded arms. This wasn't her office, which, along with the rest of Thirty Bunch had been fumigated with G3 nerve gas, but rather it was that of her slightly younger nephew, Titans Lieutenant Kou Uraki.

Their family life had been one that was less than pleasant, what with Kiyone's mother getting pregnant with Kou's mother at sixteen and going downhill from there. Misato, Kiyone's elder sister, followed their mother's example and got knocked up at an early age too. The end result was that the two of them, Kou and Kiyone, though aunt and nephew were only a few years apart in age.

"What's the matter, `auntie'?" Kou gibed, looking up from his stack of paperwork at her depressed sigh.

"Don't call me that," she said for what felt like the hundredth time since she arrived on his home colony half a month ago, "it makes me feel old."

"You are old," he said and laughed, "or at least you act like it. Ever since you got married you turned into a crotchety old bag."

She glared death at him and her eyebrow twitched with barely constrained rage. "If you weren't related to me…"

"You'd what?"

"Shut the hell up, Kou," she said with another exasperated sigh.

"Temper, temper, aunt-Kiyone. You'd better be nice to me, since I'm the one who's taking you in and I'm the one whose looking into getting you a job here."

She grumbled obscenities under her breath.

"What was that?"

She said nothing.

"That was pretty shitty the way the brass dropped you guys like that. After the `incident' I mean." Kou said into the stretching silence.

"Damned right it was!" she erupted. "What the fuck, you know? We comply with their sick little-" she caught herself before she said too much. There was always the threat of having a bugged office, particularly so in her nephew's case.

Kou, though he was now a model Titans officer, had run into some rough spots along his military career, not the least of which being the commandeering of a highly classified mobile suit from Anaheim's La Vie en Rose colony/factory during the Delaz scare in '83. He had run buck wild against the Zeon insurrectionists and even squared off against the nefarious Nightmare of Solomon, Anavel Gato, on multiple occasions. The incidents were erased from official records because they involved the production of a Gundam armed with a nuclear warhead, a direct violation of the Antarctic Treaty signed during the One Year War.

He'd stood in a Court Martial, but again, because the records involving the Gundams were erased, he had to be acquitted. That didn't mean that some of the higher ups weren't keeping a watchful eye on him, for he was, as they put it, a `Firebrand'.

Apparently, Kou didn't mind, though. His inconclusive battle with Gato had been seared into his mind, and he harboured a deep distrust for all colonists-In short, he was exactly what the Titans wanted.

"Well, the worst of it is that I can't even go and find Ray," Kiyone said, instead of disparaging her superiors who might just be listening in. "The Brass might have dissolved my unit, but they don't want us going anywhere unless there is an absolute necessity."

"I still can't believe that you of all people went and married a gaijin, Kiyone."

"Listen to this one talk!" she snapped. "Last time I checked, Nina was about as American as they come." His wife of this past year was a systems engineer with Anaheim he had been fortunate enough to come across during his involvement in Stardust. Good thing he'd nabbed her when he did, for he'd never been very good with members of the opposite sex and watching his "overtures" had been a source of constant delight for Kiyone when the two of them had been younger.

"Yeah, well at least I didn't pretend to think all foreigners were stupid like you did. You're just a hypocrite."

"Fuck you! Ray is Japanese on the inside…He just happened to have had parents from France."

"I bet."

"Speaking of his parents, it probably would have been wise to stay with them," she said wistfully. "I could have found work at the Marseilles office and spent my days on the Mediterranean, `stead of being here with your stupid ass."

"Real mature, Kiyone. Anybody tell you to grow up yet today?"

Silence again, spanning several minutes.

"Thanks for taking me in Kou," she said at last.

"Aw hell, she's getting mushy on me now," he said with a smile. "You better cut that out, it's bad for our image," he tugged on her blue-and-black sleeve.

"Have you heard from your mom lately?"

He shrugged. "She called after the Delaz thing; last Christmas too. Nothing since, though. I think she's still in Old Tokyo, but you know how she moves around. She divorced that bastard she was married to, thank God, and cleaned up quite a bit. I just don't think she wants to talk to me because I bring up painful memories. Can't say that I blame her, but damn, that's my mom. She didn't even make the wedding as you recall."

Kiyone nodded. "Misato, Misato."

"It's okay," he said with a shrug, though she could tell that it wasn't. "I still give her calls every so often, even though she doesn't return them. She may want to forget me, but I haven't forgotten her."

She cleared her throat uncomfortably, wishing she hadn't brought up the subject. "So what're you working on now? Or what would you be working on if your `auntie' wasn't bugging you?"

"Processing reports, like always. You wouldn't believe how much seditious crap goes on in a single colo-never mind." Thirty Bunch trumped anything he could have brought up and he realised as much.

"I hated that shit," Kiyone said sympathetically, "Almost makes that promotion seem not worth the effort, eh?"

"Well, Nina likes it that I'm behind a desk and not out there on the frontlines, you know? Much as I'd like a beat or to do weapons inspection, she'd have a fit if I ever got behind the controls of a mobile suit again."

"I know the feeling. I was so glad to get back in the cockpit that time, even if it wasn't for melee combat. Ray is lucky, though, `cause he's still in the regular military. He's got one of those command GM suits. Probably tear-assing around South Asia as we speak."

"And you said that you haven't heard from him recently?" Kou asked, looking up from the computer screen.

"No." she said darkly. "Not a letter, not a phone call, nothing! He probably thinks that I died with everybody in the colony!"

"But wouldn't that be the image the Brass would want to convey? I mean, it would look pretty suspicious if only a squad of Titans survived the `incident', right?"

"Why couldn't they just let us speak to our loved ones, then?" she wailed, throwing up her hands.

"Think about it, Kiyone," he said, "If you tell Ray, and Ray tells some of his friends, and they tell some of their friends…"

"How is that any different from Nina finding out?"

"Well, technically, you're in the custody of this precinct. You should be sitting the brig until we figure out what to do with you, but because one of the guys in records owes me one, I got you out. It wasn't easy even then, believe me; we had to sign release waivers swearing we wouldn't tell anybody or let you go anywhere public outside of the branch office."

"What?" she squawked. "Why didn't you tell me any of this sooner? I've been here for four days and I didn't know anything about that. Custody? Jesus! They ran us through a Black Op!"

"That's about the size of it," he said in a small voice.

"What about Mihoshi, Johnny, and everybody else that escaped?"

"You got orders to scatter and escape, right? If they went to the branch offices on different colonies, then they were probably captured too."

"Holy shit."

Kou looked perplexed, "Didn't you think it was odd that you were never debriefed or given further orders?"

"I did, but I never imagined it was because of something like this."

"Welcome to the Titans" he said, deadpan.

"How is he doing?" Dr. Sayoko Nanamori asked one of the MedOffs at the Newtype labs intensive care unit.

"His condition seems stable, now. But a few weeks ago when they were playing all that stuff on the news about the incident, and especially the first few days of the month, he was in an almost catatonic state."

They both looked through the reflective glass at the young Newtype boy, Shinji Ikari, now busying himself by practicing with a cello that he had requested be brought in.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get back here," Sayoko apologised to the MedOff again, "It was a pressing matter at the hospital on the mainland and it could not be ignored."

"Dr. Nanamori, I've told you already not to worry about it. We're trained professionals here too you know. Stuff like that is what they pay us for."

"Certainly," she turned slightly crimson, "it's just that he is my patient, and I should have been able to be here to make sure that nothing happened to him."

"You did all you could, doctor, and he's fine, so why not just let it rest at that?"

She nodded, but said nothing for a few moments. Then, "what is he playing?"

"It's an older piece," the MedOff checked his notes, "Ode to Joy, I believe he said."

"It's beautiful."

"That it is. Will you see him now? He has been asking about you since he got better. Something about a promise, and a visit."

"Of course. I'll see him right away." She followed the MedOff through the winding corridors to the main entrance to Shinji's room.

"Good morning, Shinji," she began as the door hissed shut behind her, "how are you feeling today?"

"Shh," he breathed, without missing a beat in the piece he was playing. He was apparently coming to the conclusion.

"That was a wonderful piece," Sayoko said when he was finished.

"You liked it?" he asked. "I've been practicing on it for quite a while."

"I didn't know you played the cello."

"There are quite a few things you don't know about me."

"I'm sorry?" she asked, not sure if she'd heard correctly.

"It's not important. Shall we begin?"

Sayoko cast down her eyes for a moment. "Before we do, Shinji, I really want to apologise for not being here when you got sick. There was something pressing going on at the clinic on the mainland. They needed all the staff available to try and ID that new virus that killed all those people in the colony and I-"

"I understand, Dr. Nanamori," he cut her off. "Believe me, I do. I wasn't really sick, anyway."

"Not sick?" she asked, "But the technicians saw-"

"What they saw was the definitive part of being a Newtype: empathy. We feel pain differently from you. When someone else is suffering, within a certain distance of course, we are able to sense their pain and feel a small portion of it as well."

"You're talking about the people on the colony," Sayoko said, putting the pieces together.

"Exactly," Shinji nodded. "The same sort of empathy led me to Dr. Bannock when she first arrived in Hong Kong."

"But I still don't fully understand," Sayoko confessed. "That was within the radius of several dozen kilometres. How is it possible for you to feel the pain of people dying all the way off in Side One? That's not even on the Planet."

"It seems difficult, but that is only because you aren't looking at it in the right way," Shinji said as he finished laying the cello and its bow in their case. "Think of emotional pain in terms of volume, Dr. Nanmori and then you'll start to get the idea."

She paused for a moment to ponder on his meaning. "I see," she said when the realisation hit her, "the magnitude of three million people suffering and dying comes through loud and clear over even seemingly astounding distances."

"See? It's not so tough, cracking a Newtype," he smiled at her.

"But…you're okay, now, right?" Sayoko pressed.

Rather than answer directly, Shinji returned her question with one of his own. "Doctor, I assume you are now familiar with the title of the piece I was just playing, right?"

She looked perplexed. "It was something about Joy, am I right?"

"Ode to Joy, yes. It's such an uplifting piece. Just playing it is almost enough to make me forget about the sorrows of the world we live in. The world can be such a cruel place at times that we often forget about just how much there is to be happy about. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose so," Sayoko said, cautiously.

"Let's look at you as our example, okay?" he asked, sitting on the corner of his bed, looking intently at her.

"Shinji, I don't know about that. I think you should put on the halo and let me begin the exam," Sayoko tried to reassert herself.

"You wanted this conversation," he shrugged. "Are you not getting the kind of data you need? Isn't what we're doing now sort of an examination?"

"My life and psychiatric condition are not what are under examination, Shinji," she said brusquely. "You are."

"Oh, but you're so much more interesting than I am, doctor. What am I but a psychic? A natural phenomenon. You and Dr. Bannock are the interesting ones, not so? What have I experienced but this tiny, secluded clinic? Through living and experiencing things, you and old-types like you are the real future of mankind."

"That's enough, Shinji!" Sayoko shouted. "I will not sit here and be mocked by you!"

"Mock?" he asked, "Doctor, I would never be so bold. I was only expressing my real feelings; isn't that what one facet of your research is supposed to collect?"

"Shut up!" she exploded "I came in here because I was worried about you, not because I needed a therapy session!"

"Dr. Nanamori, I'm sorry," he spoke with an imperturbable calm, "it wasn't my intention to make you feel uncomfortable. I like you, doctor; please don't be mad at me."

Sayoko put her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. "No, Shinji, I'm sorry. You're in the right. All you wanted was to have an adult conversation and I…excuse me, I need a moment."

She stepped outside the door and took several deep breaths. `What's wrong with me?' she asked herself, `why did I let him get to me like that?'

"Is everything alright doctor?" one of the guards asked her. He had appeared by her side while she was lost in thought.

"I'm fine," she said quickly. "I just needed a spot of air. Thank you for your concern."

"No problem," he said, still sounding rather doubtful of just how "fine" she really was. "You should be more careful doc. Don't talk to these freaks without a halo on `em, or they'll start doing stuff like that."

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," she nodded quickly and went back inside Shinji's quarters.

"You're better now?" he asked. He had pulled the cello out and was preparing to do another piece.

"Yes, I'm fine," she repeated, brushing a strand of her light brown hair back from her face. "I'm just not used to speaking with a child in such manners. I forgot that you are much more than a mere boy for a moment."

"That's okay. I just hope I didn't do anything that might jeopardise my going to meet Dr. Bannock."

"No," she forced a smile, "not at all. Let's just put a halo on for the rest of the exam, shall we?"

Jake Longstreet downed a shot of whiskey, and smiled fiendishly. "God, I'm glad I'm a Titan!"

"Heh, damn skippy," his partner, Ron Davis, heartily agreed.

The two special infantry division soldiers were unwinding at a bar near the Titans' Branch Office in Side One's New Birmingham colony. Neither was an officer, and so were still required to attend compulsory daily training. It was a rigorous ordeal and often left a man hurting for a drink to numb the searing pain of the training bullets or the perpetual soreness of quads, shoulders, and sundry other anatomic sections.

But still, despite all the busywork, despite all the training and re-training, despite the low pay of noncoms, nothing would make them give up their position.

Why not when you got paid to play with guns all day? To say nothing of being able to legally whale the shit out of those damned colonists.

Legally? Hah! They were Titans-they were the law.

"Bar-keep!" Jake shouted raucously. "Get your slow colonist ass over here and fill me up again.

"C-certainly, sir" the bartender replied. He was a wiry man in his late fifty's by the look of him. Even had he been a younger, rougher looking man, Jake would have shown him the same lack of respect. Age and size meant nothing in the face of a gun, which he would have had no qualms against using.

The shot glass was refilled promptly, but he couldn't resist the urge to further belittle a colonist. "'Bout fuckin' time old man." He snarled, snatching it from the bartender's hand.

"Yes sir." The bartender bowed slightly and went on about his business.

"We've been kicking ass lately in those penetration drills," Ron said as he took a pull from his beer. "Too bad they're only drills, though."

Jake nodded. "I know what you mean. They let us run loose at 30 Bunch, why the hell don't they let us go again? We're a policing agency so why aren't we policing anything?"

Ron grinned darkly. "Maybe `cause we did too good a job at 30 Bunch."

"That's probably right," Jake said laughing out loud. "Sons a bitches had it coming though, and that's for damn sure. The fuck were they thinking, staging riots like that?"

"Who knows what half-thoughts flit about in the minds of these colonists," his partner shrugged. "All I know is that it was a helluva time gunnin' `em down."

"Yeah. Maybe if we get lucky another riot'll break out soon and we'll get to blow a few hundred more of the bastards to hell and gone."

The two soldiers didn't seem to care that they were sitting in a barroom full of colonists at that very moment. Then again, the 15mm belt-fed auto-rifles slung across their backs probably were enough of a deterrent for even the most drunkenly enraged of colonial patriots.

"What about that family though?" Ron said, suddenly demure.

"What family?"

"Remember? The one we shot up at 30 Bunch. The one that lived right next to the elevator shaft."

"What family?" Jake repeated in a more stern tone. As much as he enjoyed gunning down colonial rioters and terrorist, shooting up a defenceless family made even his cast-iron stomach turn.

He remembered it well, though: he and Ron had been having a helluva time and, in the intoxication of battle, had decided to collect some spoils. Believing most of the citizenry to be already dead, either by asphyxiation or at the hands of their comrades, they burst in the door of a random house.

Unfortunately for them, and for the family within, the house was indeed still occupied and the residents were scurrying about in a desperate attempt to escape to the elevator shaft. Training and military indoctrination told the soldiers that if this family were to escape, it could have disastrous repercussions and compromise the mission. They would have to be eliminated…

`Fuck.'

Jake shook his head to clear the bad memory.

Ron noticed his partner's distress and tried to lighten the mood a little. "Don't get too bent up about it, though, Jake. I mean, it ain't like they was Earthlings or nothing. Just more colonial trash that needed to be taken out."

"I reckon you're right, Ron." Jake said, downing the rest of his shot. "Stupid fucking colonists."

Suddenly, a loud bang sounded behind the two of them, causing them to turn on their stools. A slightly inebriate man stood shakily at his seat, banging his hand on the table, his friends trying desperately to placate him.

"No, dammit, I am not going to calm down!" the man was shouting. "You're going to let these bastards stand up here and degrade us for being colonists right in front of our faces? Didn't you hear? They were just calmly discussing butchering a family, for God's sake!"

"Shh! Shut up!" his friend hissed, pulling at his arm.

"The hell're you talkin' `bout, shit-sack?" Ron growled, his hands going for his auto-rifle

"You bloody Titans think that yer God All Mighty with your guns and your Mobile Suits. You're not so tough!" The drunk bellowed.

"Is this guy for real?" Jake asked, bringing his own gun to bear.

"Sit down and shut up, Bill!" the drunk's-Bill's-friend said forcibly, fear evident in his voice.

"Better listen to yer friend, Bill," Ron snorted. "Don't want ta kill ya for it, but yer pushin yer luck."

"Fuck you, ya fascist bassard!" Bill raged and spat at his feet.

"Now see, you shouldn't ought to've gone and done that, son." Jake sneered. "Why'd you have to go and spit on my friend's boots like that? Now we really are gonna have to kill you."

"Fine! Make a martyr outta me!" the colonist shouted.

His friend tried to plead. "Please sir, don't kill him. He's right drunk."

Ron's sneer got wider. "Too fuckin' bad."

The cannons opened up.

Shiro Amada sat at the edge of the small makeshift dock he had built next to his favourite fishing stream. The Vietnamese sun filtered down through a dense canopy of rainforest foliage leaving his skin dappled in shadows as he loosely gripped the end of the rod.

Was this really his life now? That of a colonist, turned soldier, turned subsistence farmer? It was so much different from everything else he had ever done, it still seemed like a dream, even though it had been over five years since he had quit the army.

And yet, in spite of-or maybe even because of-the dreamlike state of his life, he was happy at last. No one here cared about what side he was on. No one questioned his loyalties or his judgement calls. He was his own at last.

Best of all, he didn't have to fight anymore. No more would his hands be stained with the blood of others different from him only in that they were under the ambiguous title of "enemy", rather than, "friend".

Life was definitely good now.

"Daddy!" a high pitched voice rang out through the undergrowth, scattering birds and making him sit up with a jolt.

"Hey Daddy!" his five year old daughter Mitsune leapt out at him and nearly knocked him off his stool.

"Hey, Squirt," he smiled and messed up her hair. "What's up?"

"Mom says to hurry on back home with whatever you did or didn't catch, on account of lunch's almost ready."

"She said it like that?" he asked indignantly, "I'm a pretty good fisherman! Remember that big one I caught not so long ago?"

"Mom said that was an eel and we had to throw it back!" she made a face. "Plus, that was last year. I remember `cause it was near my birthday."

"Ugh, you're no help," he sighed, but pulled up his line and followed her back along the footpath toward their cabin and the smoke from their fire. She ran ahead as he struggled to keep up; he'd lost a leg in the final days of combat and had needed to fashion himself a wooden prosthesis and he still needed a crutch every now and again after extended periods of walking.

"You found the slacker, eh Mitsune?" Shiro's wife Aina smiled brightly as the two of them came into view. "Lunch is almost ready, so you two go and wash up."

Mitsune rushed inside and dunked her hands into the small basin of spring water. Rubbing them back and forth, she made a break for the door, but her progress was sharply impeded when her father caught her by the back of her cloth tunic.

"Didn't you forget something?" he asked.

She looked at the planks that made up the cabin's floor. "Aww, Daddy," she whined, "I hate using the soap! It burns my skin and it's just a waste of time anyway."

"There's just a little bit too much lye in it, but it kills the germs. Go and wash up for real this time," Shiro said as he marched her back to the basin.

Mitsune grumbled and complained the whole way through the process, but a loud clang and a sharp cry from outside made Shiro jump and dash for the rifle he kept by the futons.

"What's wrong, Aina?" he demanded, shouldering the weapon.

He followed her gaze and was shocked to find a young woman emerge from the woods along the same footpath he and Mitsune had just used. She was dressed in a Federation Intelligence uniform.

Just seeing that uniform again made Shiro's blood boil. A deluge of memories of his own service in the Federation army washed over him in a matter of seconds, and most of the darkest ones centred around one female Intel Officer named Alice Miller.

"Drop your weapons!" he shouted.

Given that he had taken her by surprise, the young woman complied. Shiro kept the rifle trained on her heart at all times as she moved to drop first her sidearm, then a concealed pistol from her boot, and lastly a bowie knife from her hip to the sandy soil below her.

"State your name and affiliation." Military doctrine had been so thoroughly ingrained in him that he knew instantly how to act, exactly how close to approach, and precisely what to ask.

"I am Captain Haruka Mishima, Intelligence officer for the Anti-Earth Union Group," she said, simply. "I have orders to contact one Shiro Amada, Ensign, ex-Federation Military. May I presume that I have found him?"

"You might," Shiro lowered the gun slightly, but kept it warily by his side. "Who did you say you were with?"

"The AEUG," Captain Mishima said.

"I've never heard of them. Do you report to the Federation? No, wait, you said Anti-Earth, so you must be with the Zeon."

"Beg your pardon, Ensign Amada, but just how long have you been back here in these woods?" Haruka Mishima asked with raised eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shiro returned, "and what do you want with me?"

"To answer that question may take some time. Would you care to listen?"

"I think it's okay," Aina whispered to him. "If she had wanted to kill us, we'd probably already be…" her voice trailed off.

"I suppose you have a point," Shiro put the gun down and pointed to one of the log upon which he and his family ate when they were outside, "Sit there, but leave your weapons where I can see them."

Haruka complied, walking casually over to the log and sitting down as if the rifle Shiro still bore were merely a superfluity.

Her confidence in the face of certain death assuaged Shiro's doubts a little, but he kept the rifle in his lap as he sat down across from her.

"Mama?" Mitsune's small voice came from the cabin. How long had she been watching?

"Stay inside Sweetheart," Aina cautioned. She took a seat on the log next to Shiro. As a former Zeon test pilot, she also wanted to know whatever this strange woman had to say about the political situation in the Federation.

"May I begin, Ensign?" Captain Mishima asked.

"Certainly," he nodded.

"Very well. As I'm sure you are aware, the conflict known as the One Year War was formally concluded in January of 0080 U.C. What you probably do not know of are the incidents which followed the establishment of this peace."

"We are not totally cut off here, Captain," Shiro snorted. "We have to travel to the market in town to buy food."

"Okay, well that makes things a bit easier. Tell me, what was the last major news event of which you learned?"

"I remember hearing about the colony drop a few years back, and something about an elite police organisation, but those were really the last thing about the global political situation. Of course we mourned for the Americans after the colony drop, but I have severed all ties between myself and the Federation. To be perfectly honest, I don't really care all that much about what problems it faces anymore."

"That is truly admirable," Haruka smiled at him. "A little idealistic, but remarkably commendable, especially considering the turbulent times in which we now live."

"Please," Aina said, "tell us more about these trials that are impending."

"To be honest, Ensign, your steadfastness and resolve are what lead my superiors to have me track you down. You saw the corruption inherent in the Federation far before most other soldiers did, and you were willing to sacrifice everything rather than compromise your beliefs by succumbing to it. Unfortunately, even as the war ended, the corruption was spreading through all branches of Federation hegemony like a cancer. This is what led Delaz and his subordinates to unleash Operation Stardust and to drop the colony.

"Ironically, it was the very act of defying the Federation, of proving that it had not yet quelled the rebelliousness of the Colonists, that triggered the inception of the Titans elite paramilitary police force. Do you consider yourself competent in Atomic Age history, Ensign?"

Shiro shrugged. "I suppose so, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Surely you have heard the expression, `those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it'?"

"It sounds vaguely familiar, though I still don't understand where you're going with this."

"Ensign, the Titans are a group that exactly mimics the tactics and ruthlessness of the Gestapo and SS organisations of fascist Germany. They brutally hunt down and kill all who would dare to question the might of the Federation. It's scary how effective they are, but their zeal and the charisma of their commanders are enough to continually draw more and more soldiers into their ranks."

Shiro shook his head in disbelief. "Slow down a minute, Captain; you're telling me that the Federation has created an autonomous division whose sole purpose is to track down and kill Zeon sympathisers?"

Haruka nodded gravely.

"Jesus!"

"Surely they can't be that terrible," Aina said, trying to sound hopeful, but the undertone of fear evident in her voice just the same. As a former member of the Duchy, she had much more to fear than he did.

"I'm afraid it is," Haruka clenched a fist in anger. "Those bastards…I was a Federation officer; a firm believer in everything they said. I did everything they asked of me and had a perfect record, but when they found out that my family was originally from Side Three, they put my little sister in protective custody and executed my parents on suspicion of treason. On the suspicion of treason! I was on duty when they did it-assignment in North Africa-and so, managed to escape before they gave me a blindfold and cigarette, but they put my sister in one of their damned detainment centres. I can only hope that she's still alive."

Suspicion dissolved in Shiro's mind. No one could tell a story like that with such raw emotion and not mean it. He set the rifle down on the grass. "I'm sorry," he said.

"And that's not an uncommon practice! One in ten soldiers had the same sort of thing happen to them! The entire Titan's organisation is made up of Earth-borns, and every one of them bears a deadly grudge against colonists."

"So, explain about the organisation you belong to now," Shiro asked, "I believe you said it was the AE-something-or-other?"

"That's right, the Anti-Earth Union Group, or AEUG. It was established as a conglomeration of several Anti-Federation Factions after the 30 Bunch incident. I joined-"

"30 Bunch?"

"Oh, that's right. Two months ago, there were a series of demonstrations in Side One's thirtieth colony, know colloquially as 30 Bunch. We don't know what exactly went wrong-all three million citizens are believed to be dead-but the assumption is that the Titans executed a chemical-warfare attack and asphyxiated everyone inside."

A cold shiver ran down Shiro's spine. A similar attack had been executed by the Zeon on his home colony while the One Year War was still new, and everyone inside who was not wearing some sort of normal suit or gas mask died a horribly gruesome death. The fact that a branch of the Federation could be capable of committing a similar atrocity made him viscerally ill.

Aina must've been taking the news with a similar sense of revulsion; her lips were a pale shade of purple when she asked, "three million?"

Haruka nodded. "As you can imagine, the incident was quickly covered up by the Federation Brass, and there was the obligatory media blackout. Still, some of the information leaked, and the public outcry that was raised and outpouring of sympathy towards the innocents killed was all that it took for the freedom fighters of the colonies to unite under the common banner of the AEUG. It's quite a motley organisation at this point; we have disaffected Federation soldiers like myself, former Zeon soldiers who had been living in the Republic, and a large number of bitter civilians. The hatred of the Titans is strong indeed."

"Zeon and Federation veterans working together?" Aina asked incredulous.

"I never would've believed it myself if I hadn't been a part of it," Haruka said. "This brings me to my current mission: I am to bring you back with me so that you might be an officer in the AEUG's mobile suit corps. Do you accept the offer?"

"You want me to what?"

"Please, Lieutenant! We desperately need officers if we're to have any chance of winning this war!"

"But…but…why me?' Shiro asked, jumping to his feet. "I have a family now! I can't just saunter off to risk my life anymore; I have responsibilities! That, and I left the army for a reason. I won't fight as a pawn in any more battles between corrupt regimes. I will not side with the lesser of two evils anymore."

"And, again, I laud you for your idealism, but think of what the Titans have done! Think of what they will continue to do if the resistance is crushed! You may think that you live a quiet life out here now, but think about this: if I could find you, it's a damn good bet that they could too."

"I…" he sputtered. "I won't! I can't! It would be one thing if it were only me that mattered here, but it's hard enough to live out here with three people; it would be impossible for Aina and Mitsune to survive out here if I left!"

"Arrangements have already been made to accommodate them at a secure colony," she said, matter-of-factly.

"But what if they don't want to go? What if I don't want them to go? From what you've already told me about 30 Bunch, how am I to believe that any colony is truly secure anymore?"

"Mrs. Amada," Haruka tried, "Surely you see the danger clearly presenting itself here? You were a Zeon officer, right?"

Aina sighed. "All I can say, Captain, is that Shiro is a man of strong principles. It was this sense of honour and pride that drove him from the Federation in the first place. Ever since that day, he has sworn to never be a tool for organisations blinded by patriotic zeal. It is that oath which has led us to this simple existence out here. It is that oath that helps him maintain his humanity for myself and our daughter. Whatever he decides, I'll stand by him unconditionally."

"Don't we all wish life was so simple," Haruka muttered, rolling her eyes. Aloud, she spoke again, "All right then. If this is your decision, I will accept it, and so will my superiors. We are hardly such a brutish group as to force you into our ranks if you do not wish to join. Yet let me repeat my earlier warning to you, Lieutenant, you may not be able to continue living this idyllic life much longer even if you stay. The Titans are a ruthless group, yes, but they are also clever and methodical. It's only a matter of time before they find out that you are indeed still alive and come looking for you, and with a name as powerful as yours among the resistance, they will not hesitate to make you into a warning for others who might feel inclined to challenge their might."

"Thank you for the warning Captain, but I believe we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Shiro said, curtly, "Good day."

"Likewise to you, Ensign, Mrs. Amada" Haruka nodded to each of them. "It was not my intent to scare, merely to inform. Should you change your mind, the apothecary in the local market is an AEUG recruiter. Seek him out." With that, Haruka Mishima disappeared into the underbrush, back along the footpath.

Shiro sat back down on the log next to Aina and put an arm around her shoulder. Mitsune came running out from the cabin and sat next to them.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked. "That lady seemed like a total bitch!"

"What did you say?" Aina wriggled from under Shiro's arm. "You'll watch your mouth young lady, if you don't want it washed out with soap!"

Shiro laughed in spite of himself, relieved that he had survived his first encounter with the outside world in five years. He had stuck by his beliefs again, and even though the AEUG officer's warning hung like an ominous cloud over him, at least he had not allowed himself to compromise.

"And what are you laughing at, mister?" Aina brought him back to reality with a harsh tug on his ear. "She's probably picking up words like that from you."

He grinned sheepishly. "So maybe I let one or two slip every now and again. It's not like I'm teaching her on purpose! Please, lemme go!"

The three of them ate their lunch in relative harmony after that, but two words still dug at Shiro's mind even after they had finished and he had gone to work in the fields: "What if…?"