Quote:Hopefully, once I've tied all these snippets together, these should make more sense - right now, this is more stream of conciousness as I write the scenes I want and then figure out how to twist the plot about to get them. Thus, there should eventually be scenes explaining how circumstances came to be.
In the unlikly case that you want people like me, who haven't seen Seed, to read this you should give some more explanation what is going on because I'm quite confused as to how when who is captured.
Quote:D for Drakensis
"But I think about you!"Quote:He's a werewolf - of course he's good with his hands. You'll note that once again he's led them down the garden path about his path without actually lying. He never actually said that he was ex-special forces, which he isn't. But it's a handy explanation for some of his capabilities. (Since they aren't likely to accept 'I turned into a wolf' or 'I used my six inch razor sharp claws' as explanations)
The stuff after Thomas reply to that is a little cliched but it works.
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Flay screamed in horror as she saw the last of the Alliance warships explode under fire from the ZAFT vessels. Natarle pushed past her, seizing hold of Lacus and reaching for the comm channel. A firm hand pulled her away from it and she turned to see that Thomas had entered the bridge only a short distance behind Sai, Flay and the Plant Chairman's daughter.
"Captain," he said, looking down at Maria. "Would you mind if I tried reasoning with those fellows? Don't see that it could make matters any worse."
Maria hesitated. "Miss Clyne is -"
Thomas looked hurt. "I know the difference between guest and hostage," he promised.
She bit her lip. "I'm sorry. Go ahead."
Waving away the apology with an understanding smile, Thomas donned a microphone. "Think you can put me through to them?" he asked Kuzzey. The boy nodded and adjusted his controls for a moment before nodding.
"Hello, Le Creuset," Thomas said cheerfully. "Here's a hot news update for you! We know what happened to Miss Clyne's ship - and if you start shooting at us, you might lose your best chance of finding her. Why don't you back up a little so we can get the civilian matters settled away before we go back to killing each other?"
There was a pause and then a voice came crackling through the bridge speakers. "I'm listening. What do you have in mind?"
"How about you back off and take your mobile suits on board," Thomas proposed. "We'll slow down and bring ours back on board. We'll call you and talk then."
"Are you playing for time," the man replied, a little contemptously.
"To an extent," Thomas replied calmly. "If you want some verification, she's got a little pink gizmo with her - kept saying 'Haro' all the time. Sound familar?"
There was a longer pause and Thomas rather gathered that there was a heated conversation going on while he waited. After a minute that seemed much, much longer, the ZAFT mobile suits began to fall back towards their carriers.
"Alright," the voice said. "We're pulling back. What now?"
"Hold on for a moment," Thomas said pleasantly and closed the mike. "Well, that went well," he said.
There was a crackle from CIC and Mirialla called up: "Kira wants to know what's going on."
Thomas glanced at Maria, who nodded. "Tell him to come back aboard - I'll explain in person. Same to Mu." Gesturing for Natarle to precede him down to the front of the deck, he looked over to Maria. "I hope there wasn't anything objectionable in what I said, Captain?"
Maria shook her head. "No, it was fine. What do you have in mind?"
-/-
Kira was scowling as he departed the Strike's cockpit. "What's going on?" he demanded of Thomas, who was leaning on the gantry. "I didn't bring her aboard to be a hostage."
"She's not a hostage," Thomas assured him. "No one's going to hurt a hair on her head - unless Flay jumps her, I suppose, and I'll try to keep that from happening." He gestured for Kira to join him in an alcove of the hanger. "Look, we're in a tight situation here. I'm pretty sure that Le Creuset doesn't give a damn about the civilians aboard, it's only the consequences about killing someone with political connections that's worrying him now. And if the lass is aboard when we meet Eighth Fleet then sooner or later someone will try to use her as a hostage. I don't want that and nor does the Captain."
"So you're using her as a hostage yourself?"
"No - we're arranging to hand her over to the ZAFT forces so that they can take her home. We're just going to drag it out a little so that they can't overwhelm us before we can take shelter with Eighth Fleet and arrange for the Heliopolis survivors to be shipped down to Earth." He poked Kira lightly in the shoulder. "Are you with me?"
Kira flushed. "Sorry," he muttered.
Thomas shrugged. "It's okay. Lots of people misjudge me."
-/-
"He's going way too far!" Natarle declared in Maria's office. "He has no authority to make that sort of decision!"
Maria's eyes narrowed. "It was my decision, Ensign Badgiruel. On my authority."
"He's taking over the ship, Captain! What do you really know about him!"
Maria hesitated.
"You see? We don't know where he came from or who he's loyal to. For all we know, he could be a Co-ordinator himself!"
"Like Kira, you mean?" Mu asked innocently.
"That's enough!" Maria snapped. "Suppose he is a Co-ordinator? He's had ample opportunity to betray us, but he never has. Or are you forgetting Artemis? Short of Kira he's done more than anyone to get us this far."
"Are you sure that's it?" Natarle asked, and then flushed and looked away.
"What are you talking about?" Neither of the other officers would look Maria in the eye. "Ensign Badgiruel, I want an answer."
Natarle looked up, angry. "It's no secret that you're fond of him, captain. But how fond?"
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.