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drakensis · 06-21-2006, 12:21 AM

On a bench in a Heliopolis park, a strange tableau was laid out. Looming over the trees, an advanced looking mobile suit knelt on the ground. On one of the benches lay a woman wearing orange coveralls - Lieutenant Maria Ramius of the Earth Alliance, wounded earlier in the day by one of the ZAFT commandos who had successfully seized four of the five Mobile Suit prototypes developed jointly by the Atlantic Federation and the Orb Union.
Watching over the Lieutenant was a young woman, Mirialla Haw, who was providing little more than nervous chaperonage to the man tending the lieutenant's wounds. "She's waking," she cried as Maria groaned and rolled her head.
"Ayup," the man replied, knoting off a bandage he'd wrapped around Maria's shoulder. "I'll rely on your testimony as to my conduct then."
Maria's brown eyes flickered and then she reflexively jerked away from the man, recoiling almost off the bench before he caught hold of her with a firm grip. "Don't move yet," he ordered absently.
"Kira!" called the girl, summoning one of the young men who had been attending to the giant robot only a few metres away.
Maria's eyes hardened as she remembered the earlier events of the day - the sudden attack and the loss of the mobiles suits, being shot by one of the raiders and then the desperate fight as first she and then the young man she saw approaching had fought off a ZAFT Jinn in the towering Strike Gundam, only to be stunned when the damaged mobile suit self-destructed almost on top of them.
"I'm so sorry," Kira began, looking ashamed of himself. "It was my fault."
"Keh," the man said dismissively. "Those commando types all running around, shooting guns, and then those giants fighting - the lad's probably the only reason you got off so lightly, and all he does is apologise."
"Have some water," the girl offered and Maria accepted the offered bottle, glad for a moment to think before having to respond to Kira. She was puzzled at why the boy wasn't looking straight at her, then realised that her jumpsuit was open to the waist and had been tugged off her right side. Her reflexive attempt to cover herself didn't do much more than lose the water bottle (Kira caught it before it reached the ground) and elict a yelp as she put pressure on her shoulder.
"I had to open your shirt to get to the shoulder," the man told her calmly after she had steadied herself. "Strictly professional - the lass can vouch for my behavior."
Maria was trying to regain her composure when a snatch of conversation came from the three boys still entranced by the war machine.
"This is a great Gundam. Can you move it or not?"
"You guys, don't mess with it!" called the oldest of them, who remained on the ground. As a wonder, the boy in the cockpit emerged without trying to move it.
"Why is it gray again?" asked the third boy.
"Because the main battery is off," replied the second boy.
"Stay away from it!" Maria shouted, her pistol in her hand almost before she realised it. A warning shot glanced off the armor plate between the pair on the machine and they cringed reflexively. An instant later, the gun was out of her hand and she whirled, eyes tracking it, to see the man who claimed to have treated her wound holding the pistol by the barrel.
"What are you doing?" Kira protested. "They're the ones who brought you out of the machine when you were unconcious!"
Maria ignored him glaring up at the only adult in the group. He returned her stare with an air of amusement, then examined the pistol and tentatively tapped one of the levers, causing the clip to fall to the ground. "Tsk," he said, working the action in a professional manner quite unlike the awkward grip he'd used earlier, and letting the live round eject into the air. "I'm so clumsy today. This is yours, I believe," he added innocently and passed the empty gun to her.
"Who are you?" Maria asked, cautiously accepting the weapon.
"A roll of the dice that went your way," the man replied. Now that she looked at him, he was out of place amongst the little group. Not just in age - although he certainly looked closer to her age than any of the teenagers - but in everything! He was almost painfully thin, his tall frame topped with a ragged beard and shaggy locks of corn-blond hair that was obviously the result of neglect rather than deliberate styling. His clothes were odd - a red leather jacket, tough pants and a shirt that looked like it belonged in a video of the pre-Cosmic Era times - and his eyes... Maria shivered as she looked into those grey-blue eyes. She had never realised how dark that shade could be when the eyes were shadowed by more than just the light. "The name is Thomas Finn."
It was almost a relief as the kids introduced themselves. If nothing else, it gaver her an opportunity to palm a spare clip of ammunition from her belt and slip it discreetly into her pistol.
"I thank you for saving me. My name is Maria Ramius. I am a Second Lieutenant of the Allied Military," Maria told them. "I'm sorry, but that is the military's top secret. It's not something people should touch."
"What? Kira-chan was the one who was operating the machine," protested Toru.
"I cannot let you go," Maria added, raising the gun again, this time keeping the gun pointed squarely at Thomas, who was evidently the major threat.
"WHAT!?"
"Whatever the reason, since you guys saw the secret, you have to stay with me until I have contacted the offical board of directors and receive their orders."
The babble that exploded was almost louder than the sound of a gunfight and Maria was about to fire off another round (into the air this time) to get their attention when there was a sharp crack from the back of the group as Thomas clapped his hands together. "Lieutenant Ramius is correct," he said firmly.
"We're Heliopolis citizens!" Sai protested. "We are neutral! We have nothing to do with the military and those sort of things."
Thomas pointed up at the Gundam. "That was built here wasn't it? For the Allied Military? That doesn't sound neutral to me. I don't think that those commando boys believed it either. They came in shooting - that puts all of us in the middle of a war whether we like it or not. And in any war there are only two sorts of people - those who act and those who are acted upon. The latter are called victims and I don't recommend it."
"But why can't we just go to one of the shelters!" protested Mirialla.
"Because the other side would hunt you down to find out what you know about the Gundam," Thomas said bleakly. "And the lieutenant's side would hunt you down to keep you from telling it. Unless you think you can take them both on, your best shot is to co-operate with one group or another - and she's here and has a gun."
"What about you?" Kira asked.
"She smells trustworthy," Thomas answered. "So I guess I'll trust her. For now, anyway." Then he brightened. "Besides, someone has to look after than gunshot wound of hers. I'm sure that that leaves me with some sort of moral obligation to take off her shirt again..."
Maria almost shot him.
=========================================
Feedback please
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

ordnance11 · 06-21-2006, 02:45 AM

Hmmm....it has possibilities. Not a another teen-age pilot. A Mu Flaga type. Maybe a spec ops guy in the old days? I look forward to it.
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Logan Darklighter · 06-21-2006, 02:50 AM

Disclaimer: I have never seen Gundam Seed, I'm assuming Thomas is some sort of self insert, because that's what he feels like. A couple of his lines are comedy gold.
The action and comedy are well balanced so far with both enhancing the drama.
meh don't really know what to say. keep up the good work.

Valles · 06-21-2006, 03:33 AM

Heh. Well, on the one hand, 'add a new character at the start' seems to be one of the elemental SEED fandom memes, but on the other, you've already managed to set up a more interesting and plausible 'new element' than any of the other attempts I've (tried to) read.
I'll admit to having a Seed fic of my own bubbling away on the back-burner, but I don't think I've seen anyone play the 'serious snowballing divergence AU' card in that fandom, yet, so it shouldn't have so much competition to wipe out the aftertaste of.
... hell, why not. I wonder if I can juggle three scene-trading threads...

"It... it hurts..." Her Highness Cagalli Yula Attha, Princess of Aube and heir presumptive to that nation's throne and, with it, the title of Chief Representative of the Oceeanic Resource Base Coalition, was not a crybaby. She was not. The fact that even trying to wring enough strength from her braced and bandaged legs to get them to support her weight forced tears to her eyes was intolerable. The whimpered words that had left her mouth when the therapist began to ease off her support of the girl's weight were even worse, though, and she felt her cheeks begin to heat.
"Nothing to be embarassed about, sweetie," the therapist - her name was Karika Maning - encouraged. "You're doing something your body doesn't remember it can do. It's hard, I know, and it will hurt, but..."
"I know," Cagalli nodded, then gritted her teeth and forced her way through the rest of the session without making a sound.
"That was very brave of you," Karika said after they had finished. She smiled, secretively. "I know - why don't we get you some ice cream on our way back to your room?"
Cagalli twisted her neck to look back and up at where the therapist was pushing her wheelchair from behind, and her face was somewhere between disgust and terror. "I'm not supposed to have ice cream."
"All right, if you don't want any..."
"I do!" the princess protested instinctively, then frowned and shrank back in on herself. "But I wasn't supposed to be on that wall, either, and now... now people are dying."
Karika pulled them gently to a halt and then stepped around to kneel at eye-level with her charge. "Your being hurt doesn't make it your fault; the only ones to blame are the people who are so eager to hate others."
Cagalli nodded and looked down at her hands, and, though she didn't say so, obviously didn't believe a word of it.

*****
[title and credits]
*****
"Hey, you're one of the new students, aren't you?"
Kira stated violently as the bright, cheerful voice intruded on his attempts to interpret the badly printed map on his brochure. Once he'd gotten his heart rate back under control again, he hitched his carry-on bag up higher on his shoulder and answered. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I seem to be a little lost..."
The girl who had come up behind him stepped past and then spun back to face him. "Oh, they've got you in Gilbert Hall, then? Yeah, the maps are useless with the way they hid it. My boyfriend's in there, too - c'mon, I'll show you." She waved towards one of the paths leading out of the courtyard and started walking. "I'm Miriallia Haw, what's your name?"
She was so open, so... enthusiastic, that for a moment he was too stunned to respond. When he had shaken the surprise off, he answered, "Oh! Uh, Kira. Kira Yamato. Pleased to meet you."
She laughed. "Don't think too kindly of me - with you transferring from that super tech-school on Heliopolis, I've finally met someone who can explain bloody calculus to me!"
"Heli- how did you know that?"
"There aren't any other student transfers happening right now," she shrugged, then grabbed one of his hands and dragged him down a path that dissapeared behind one of the tall, narrow academic buildings that lined the campus's main plaza. The dorm that was almost completely hidden behind it seemed to be three-quarters buried in the sandy soil of the atoll, and if she hadn't been pulling him through one of the main entrances, he might well have missed the mostly-subterranean building completely.
"Hey, Blaze!" Miriallia called as she stuck her head in the door. "Do you know-"
The girl she was talking to was slender and fairly pretty, with a clear, almost caucasian skin tone and hair so utterly black that the reflected highlights that would ordinarily have been cast by the common room's flourescant lights were completely absent. She was perched on the edge of the cusions of the couch at the center of the room's conversation grouping and had her eyes glued to the news program on the television. She didn't look up when spoken to, just waved a hand and snapped, "Shush, Miri! This's important!"
The news program was showing a map of Taiwan. "-reports of exchanges of fire between Chinese Taipei militia forces and regular military units of the East Asian Republic. This marks the third time in as many weeks where disputes over the island's status as a territory of the Republic or a member state of ORB have cost lives, and many are expecting the renewed bloodshed to cause a breakdown in the diplomatic talks between the two territorial Unions. Given the two powers' close ties with the opposing sides of the ongoing debate over the Archanis Treaty and its proposals for the long term future of the PLANTS and ZAFT, many sources feel that the forecast is not hopeful."
Miriallia sighed as the newscaster started in on the debates raging over the treaty's ratification in the Atlantic Federation's Senate, then walked over and yanked its power cord cleanly out of the wall.
Blaze exploded to her feet so quickly that Kira almost missed it, which would have been a clear tip-off even without the vivid, inhuman gold shade of her eyes - Kira might not be very interested in sports, but he couldn't help being aware that his reflexes were exceptional even for a Coordinator. Whether it was just a matter of luck and good stock or if his parents had had more put into his prenatal modifications than their comments had suggested he didn't know, but even with most of his classmates on Heliopolis being Coordinators also, whether ORB born or visiting from the PLANTS, this was the first time he'd ever seen someone who might have moved faster than he could.
"Miri!" she shouted, and the cheerful blonde girl who had latched onto him so casually completely ignored her friend's irritation. "I was... they were... you heard what happened! Don't you even care?!"
"Of course I do! But there's nothing a college student like you or I can do to change it, so you moping about like that is just a waste of energy."

Guess. ^_^
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

drakensis · 06-21-2006, 11:42 AM

Thomas is not quite a self-insertion, but he is an Original Character. He's going to be even more of a mentor than La Flaga, but he won't be contributing much directly once the mobile suits start shooting.
I'll have to do a bit of backfill for this one, to cover some of Episodes 3 and 4, but it's what I have for now.
_______________________________________________
"Three thermal energy readings detected in the aft quarter. Distance, sixty-seven! They are mobile suits!"
"They came after all," Marie concluded.
"Prepare for anti-mobile suits battle," Natarle ordered from the CIC deck. "Missile launch ready from thirteen to twenty-four. Linear pad, variant, positive gunnel movement. Input the target data, hurry up."
A bustle of activity filled the small compartment. "Identified the fuselage!" came the report. "This is... X number... Duel, Buster, Blitz!"
"What?"
Maria gasped slightly, looking back through the bridge at the sensor operator, a reaction mimicked by many of the crew. "Putting the stolen G's in the front!" she exclaimed, eyes wide.

Outside, Kira's breath was ragged as he saw a lone mobile suit closing in on him. "One suit," he muttered.
Lieutenant La Flaga's words went through his mind. "Just think about protecting the ship and yourself... for now."
"Protecting them..." he said with a firmness he did not feel. A moment later and his eyes went wide once again as a more detailed report appeared in front of them. "That mobile suit... Athrun?"

"Enemy mobile suits, spreading out!"
"Attack now!" Maria ordered. "CRC, what are you doing?"
Natarle blinked, drawn from her shocked reverie. "Laser guidance, is it ready?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Missiles from launchers thirteen to eighteen, launch! Load the Sledge Hammer..." the Ensign ordered, resuming direction of the Archangel's formidable armament suite.
Outside, as flares and decoys painted space with light and electronic interference, missiles burst from the white ship's tail section, none of which was of concern to Kira and Athrun as their suits plunged towards each other, beam saber's igniting.
Kira focused, and as the two suits passed each other the Strike Gundam's saber bit deeply into the leg of the Aegis, before they spun away from their respective vecotrs to face each other again.
"Kira?" Athrun called on an open channel, his voice betraying shock at the attack coming from his friend.
"Athrun," the young man replied, confirming his own identity and his own regrets at having struck at the other boy's mobile suit. He remembered the advice from Thomas: "To defeat an opponent without killing him is the highest art, kid. I respect your not wanting to harm your friend... defeating him need not mean destroying him."
"Stop it, take your sword back, Kira! We are not enemies! Right? Why do we have to fight?"
"Athrun..."
"You are a Co-ordinator, why are you fighting us?" Athrun demanded.
"We're all human! Why are you attacking us!" Kira shouted back. He looked back at the Archangel and saw three more of the Gundam suits attacking the ship, advancing through a firestorm of energy beams and cannon fire. "Archangel is..."
He changed course back towards the embattled ship but the Aegis Gundam cut him off. "Stop it, Kira! Why are you on Earth's side? Why are you fighting with the Naturals?"
"I'm not with the Earth defense!" Kira protested. "But I have friends on that ship! I won't let you hurt them! Why are you with ZAFT? Why are you in the war? You said you hate the war too! Why did you destroy Heliopolis?"
"Because those naturals are making these things!"
"I know! But you didn't just take them! You -" Kira was cut off from finishing 'came back and destroyed the colony!' by the need to evade incoming shots from another mobile suit.
"Why are you just standing around, Athrun!" demanded the new pilot.
"Isaac!" Athrun protested.
The suit appeared as X-102 on Kira's sensors - another of the stolen Gundams. An energy blast battered at the Strike Gundam's shield and Kira dodged the follow up shots. *Well at least I'm keeping the two of them away from the Archangel,* he thought.
"Just like a fly..." Isaac cursed as Kira evaded another volley of energy beams. "Are you going to keep on running away?!" He closed in with his own beam saber, leaving Athrun to wrestle with his conscience. More energy beams announced the arrival of the other two Gundams, drawn away from the Archangel to deal with the lone mobile suit.
*And now I have all four of them on me,* Kira thought, watching his battery levels fade as he ducked and parried the attacks. *Good for the others, but not for me!* He was panting, as much from the tension as from the exertion.
Almost simultaneously, all five Gundams received signals from their respective motherships.
"Vesalius was attacked?!" Isaac exclaimed in shock. "Damn it!"
The conversation was cut off as the two potent energy weapons mounted in the 'toes' of the Archangel, fired on the ZAFT carrier, inflicting even more damage than La Flaga's surprise attack had. Almost immediately, flares around the Archangel signalled for Kira to return.
"Return signal!" Isaac shouted, recognising the standard colors for the signal. "Who said that! I've got to shoot him down!"
"Isaac! They ordered us to retreat!" Athrun shouted as the hotheaded pilot closed in again.
"Shut up, asshole!" Isaac bellowed. But this time he wasn't attacking in co-ordination with the other Gundams and Kira stopped him cold, punching three shots from his beam rifle - thus far unused, punching three shots into the Duel Gundam, crippling ankle, knee and then hip with pinpoint accuracy, putting Isaac out of the fight until he could compensate for the new balance and the lost thrusters.
It was an opportunity that Athrun wouldn't give him. Almost instantly, the claws of the Aegis locked around the damaged Gundam. "We're headed back to the ship," he ordered, and then, switching channel. "This isn't over, Kira."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

Rieverre · 06-21-2006, 05:26 PM

... why oh why does Thomas bring to my mind some of your pre-Nerfed World of Darkness fanfics?
Coolness, the both of you. Two thumbs up, and waiting for more. Especially since the vast majority ... hell, _all_ the Gundam SeeD fanfic I've so far read that involve and OC getting into the thick of things early on in the plot have been ... lightly put, crap. As in, they don't actually, y'know, _change_ anything worthwhile about the general plotline.
Knowing your writing styles, you'll turn the damn things on their head. Or so I dearly hope!
-Griever
who never quite got into the Gundam 'make peace, not war' message ...
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

classicdrogn · 06-21-2006, 10:50 PM

(snicker, snort) Nerf World... OF DARKNESS! Vampires vs. Weres vs. Wizards in an all-out, no-holds-barred battle to the last brightly colored foam dart, for the fate of the world! (Bursts out laughing) I remember playing a Nerf-branded FPS style game at a party a few years back, where the levels all looked like the kind of sets you see in live-action Nickelodeon game shows, and that only adds to the mantal image.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Happerry · 06-22-2006, 05:35 AM

Nerf Arena Blast?

drakensis · 06-22-2006, 09:14 AM

The title is quite deliberately a reference to some of the Worewolf: the Apocalypse sourcebooks.
==========================================
"I was meaning to ask," Thomas asked as he probed the injury carefully. "What's a Co-ordinator?"
Maria blinked at him in disbelief. "You don't know? Where have you been for the last fifty years?"
"For half of them, I hadn't been born," Thomas replied casually.
"But you stood up for Kira anyway?"
"Well, yeah." He shrugged. "He's a good kid. That's more important than some damnfool label."
"Damnfool?" Maria asked, smiling slightly. "You're sure it's not important then?"
"Doesn't bother you, does it?" the healer observed, his face directed at where his fingers gently manipulated her shoulder rather than her face. "I trust your judgement, I'm just curious."
Maria gave him a puzzled look and gave the blond man a thumbnail summary of the Co-ordinators and the Naturals. At the end of it, Thomas merely shook his head with an amused twist to the corners of his mouth. He pulled out a length of bandage and checked the length. "You're healing nicely, by the way. A few more days and you won't need bandages any more."
"Does that mean that you won't be taking my shirt off anymore?" Maria asked impulsively, and blushed furiously as she realised how flirtacious that sounded.
Thomas chuckled and let his hand trace the line of her shoulder for a moment. "Only if you ask me nicely," he replied lightly. "Now, let's put this bandage on for you."
Damn the man!
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

drakensis · 06-22-2006, 11:05 PM

"Lieutenant Ramius!" came a call from further insde the cavernous hanger and a little group in Earth Alliance uniforms came running towards Maria as she led the little group down from the hands of the Strike Gundam, Kira having kindly carried them all up and onto the ship. "I'm relieved to see that you're alright," continued the woman in the lead.
"And you," Maria replied. "I'm pleased to see that you were able to protect the Archangel. You saved us," she added, referring to the ZAFT mobile suit that had left rather than face the ship and the Strike Gundam at one time.
Up above this little conversation, the Gundam's hatch opened, and a rather woeful looking Kira emerged, drawing surprised looks from the military personnel. "Come on," protested a scruffy looking man in coveralls. "What's going on here? He's only a kid. You mean that child piloted that thing?"
"That child," Thomas remarked sarcastically, "took out another Mobile Suit as easily as you or I take out a bag of trash."
"Lieutenant Ramius, what's going on?"
Maria was at a loss for words, but an interruption saved her from having to give an immediate response.
"Wow, what a surprise," came a voice from behind the ships crew and an blond man emerged from the shadows, wearing a grey and violet flightsuit. "I'm Lieutenant Mu La Flaga of the Seventh Orbital Fleet." He saluted. "Nice to meet you."
"I'm Lieutenant Maria Ramius of Sector Two, Fifth Special Division," Maria replied, returning the salute.
"Ensign Natarle Badgiruel of the same division," added the lady leading the crew. Thomas choked his laugh off into his fist - she didn't look like a 'bad girl'.
"I'd like authorisation to board this ship," Mu said, ignoring the dirty look that Natarle was shooting at Thomas. "Who's in charge here?"
Natarle lowered her eyes. "The captain and top officers of this ship have all perished in battle," she admitted. Thomas stifled his amusement immediately. "Therefore, I believe Lieutenant Ramius is now in command." Maria gaped speechlessly at the Ensign. "Only a dozen or so of us were saved, mostly non-commissioned officers. Fortunately, being in the shaft, I was able to escape danger," Natarle explained.
"The captain?" Maria exclaimed, regaining command of her voice. "How could that be?"
"Oh, man," Mu sighed. "What a disaster. In any case, Lieutenant Ramius, I request permission to board the ship. My Mobile Armor has been shot down."
"Ah. Sure. Permission granted," Maria agreed.
"And who's that?" Mu asked, jerking his chin towards Kira.
"As you can see he is a civilian teenager," Maria explained. "For some reason he was in the factory district while we were under attack. I let him on the G-weapon. His name is Kira Yamato. As Thomas - sorry," she added. "This is Thomas Finn, a civilian doctor. As he said, thanks to Kira we were able to fight off the Jinn and protect this one machine.
"He fought off a Jinn?" Natarle exclaimed. The other military types looked at each other in disbelief. "That kid did that?"
"I came here as an escort to the young pilots trained to pilot that," Mu said to Maria, an enquiring expression on his face. "Where are they?"
Natarle cleared her throat. "We were bombed when they were in the control booth, being welcomed by the captain," she explained. "So they too..."
"I see," said Mu sadly. He paused in thought for a moment and then stepped towards Kira and the other students, the rest of the group trailing after him.
"Wh-what is it?" Kira asked nervously.
"You're a Coordinator, aren't you?" the pilot asked kindly, sending a ripple of concern through everyone in earshot - everyone except Thomas.
"Yes," Kira admitted.
Instantly, the four soldiers at the back of the group raised their rifles to port arms. Almost as swiftly, Tolle Thomas interposed themselves between Kira and the soldiers. "Put those toys down before I take them off you!" Thomas snapped with such authority in his voice that the four had relaxed their grip on the almost before they took in who was speaking to them.
"You are in no position to give orders!" snapped Natarle.
"Lower your rifles," Maria ordered.
"Lieutenant!" Natarle protested. "Why...?"
"There's no puzzle, is there?" Maria chided gently. "The Heliopolis Colony belongs to a neutral state, after all. It is natural that some Coordinators would choose to come here to avoid being involved in the war. Am I wrong, Kira?" she asked.
"No, you're right," the boy said. "Especially with me being a first-generation Coordinator."
"'First-generation'?" one of the crew muttered in confusion.
"Meaning your parents are Naturals," Mu said for the benefit of the crewman. "Well, I apologise for causing such a stir. I was just curious. Nothing more."
Thomas snorted. The man played the innocent well, but there was a reason he'd asked the question in front of the crew. His reasons might have been good - Thomas couldn't have said for sure - but the action had been calculated.
"On my way here, I observed a fair number of simulations involving the guys who are expected to pilot this but not one of them could do much more than get it to move," Mu told them as he backed up and then started to walk back into the ship.
"Lieutenant, where are you off to?" Maria asked.
"Off to?" he asked, as if it were obvious. "I landed after being shot down, and the team waiting outside is Le Creuset's. He's one persistent fellow. If you ask me, I don't think we can afford to spend too much time here."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

Valles · 06-23-2006, 04:59 AM

Blaze glared for a moment more, then sighed and deflated. "Yeah, okay. Point. It's just... being able to do something about it is the whole reason I'm here, y'know? And, oh, by the way, Tolle called and asked if had changed your mind about your date, so he could cancel the reservations..."
Miriallia stood bolt upright, and her face went white. "That's today?! I thought it was next..." she trailed off and bolted deeper into the building, calling behind her, "Sorry, Kira! I have to hurry!"
The dark-haired girl looked after her friend with a tolerant smile, then shook her head and turned back to the bemused new arrival and stuck out a hand. "You're the new resident we're supposed to be getting now that SunTech has shut down, right? I'm Blaze Shiratori, sorry about that. You'll likely get used to us in a couple of weeks."
He took the opportunity to set down the bag with his computer and datachips, since its strap was cutting into his shoulder, and reached out to shake. "Kira Yamato, don't worry about it. Most of my friends transferred to Hawaii University, so I had thought I'd be sort of on my own. It's nice to be wrong."
She laughed a little, then a little more as a noticably-more-dressed-up Miriallia bolted out past them, and showed him to the dorm office as they chatted.
* * * * *
Yitzhak Joule scowled at his wingman. "Could you maybe be a little more conspicuous?" he snapped. "I think maybe there's still a blind man or two that hasn't seen you."
Dearka Elsman slid his sunglasses down a little to make eye contact. "Another random Coordinator with the touristas is a lot less remarkable in a place like this than an obvious military type, hey? Relax a little - pull the rifle out of your ass and enjoy the scenery." His voice had been atypically serious, the better to make his point, at least until a trio of the local university's coeds walked by on their way to the beach. Only one had bothered to put anything on over her swimsuit.
"He's right, you know," said a third voice, and both of them tensed for a moment before they placed the face under the scraggly beard from their mission briefing. "There's no military base here on Aube proper, so that kind of discipline stands out more than a bit."
Yitzhak flushed slightly, and his jaw clenched, but he nodded. "Understood. What can you tell us?"
There was no reason for anyone to have bugged this stretch of sea wall, and there was no one close enough to overhear the quiet voices all three of them were using, but paranoia was practically a neccessary job skill for any sort of intelligence work and their contact checked a display on what was carefully designed to look like a generic PDA before he spoke further. "Boss said there hadn't been time to brief you guys before now. Background: when Morganroete lost the ORB mobile suit bid to EBC, their shareholders were out a whole lot of money with not much chance of getting it back, right?"
Dearka nodded. "So now they're trying to sell it out of the country to try and cover their losses."
"Right. We come into the picture because the customer they've gotten coziest with isn't South Africa or Oceania - it's the Atlantic Federation."
"Fuck," Yitzhak hissed. "And ORB's just letting them?"
The Information Directorate agent shook his head. "No, but for them it's a criminal proceeding - takes time. There's not much doubt about the case, at this point, but the whole final development run was just about finished - they're almost ready to field-test. Some of the higher-ups think that there's a good chance the Federation will just decide that war's inevitable anyway and snatching mobile suit tech is worth starting it early."
"That's what we're for, then," Dearka concluded.
"Yeah. Mostly. Morganroete's suits are supposed to be a lot more sophisticated than EBC's Ares series, probably even better than what we've got. We aren't quite sure just how much ORB's IAB knows about what we're planning, so keep your heads down in the meantime and try not to be too obvious."
"That's ridiculous!" the paler of the two mobile suit pilots snapped. "An Earthside nation building better suits than the PLANTS? Hah!"
The intelligence man shook his head at that. "ORB's got a full fifth of the Coordinator population, and seven times as many Naturals. On top of that, they've got a lot easier access to raw materials than we do, which helps their economy. Yeah, they've got the tech to do that, no sweat."
"So if we can get them without getting caught, we should?" Dearka asked.
"Not without orders. But yeah, be ready for that. Top priority is keeping them away from the Federation or OMNI, though. Do whatever you have to to make that happen."

You can maybe see where this is going, ne?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

06-23-2006, 04:23 PM

Er... actually, no. ^_^
The writing's great though but I am Gundam allergic - except for the alt-universes, the one I liked best were G and X - but UC and CE turn me off a bit.
But hey, with that title I was expecting a WoD crossover like Bubblegum Knights. ^_- Or am I right? Besides Thomas let it slip about the smelling right part. Dimension travelling Garou from pre-Nerf WoD?

drakensis · 06-23-2006, 07:01 PM

> Dimension travelling Garou from pre-Nerf WoD?
To all practical purposes, yes. There are a few cosmological twists, but they don't really matter.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

drakensis · 06-26-2006, 11:18 PM

There was a thudding sound from outside the door and then it swung open. The moment that a head appeared through the door, Mu clubbed it with his paired fists. The man staggered, taking the blow on the back of his neck and then shook off the impact.
"Ouch," Thomas observed, pushing an Alliance uniform cap back from his face. "Last time I break you out of a cell, La Flaga."
"Doctor Finn?" exclaimed Natarle. "What are you doing!"
He grinned and then winked at Maria. "You're looking well, Captain, but you'd be all the sweeter on the Archangel again. Care to wander in that direction?"
She smiled suddenly and joined him at the door, followed by Natarle and a slightly embarassed Mu. "I didn't recognise you in a uniform, Thomas," he said, by way of an apology.
The skinny man waved him away. "I suppose I can't fault you for that," he replied. "Just don't turn me in for impersonating a non-commissioned officer." Outside the door he caught hold of a cargo pallet and began pushing it. "Don't try to help," he advised when Mu reached for the other end. "You're an officer and a gentleman, not one of the coolies."
"What are you talking about?" Mu said with a frown.
"This is a Eurasian Federation station," Thomas explained. "They're a bit more sensitive about officers not doing the grunt work around here."
"You'll bust a gut though!" Mu exclaimed. "That has to weigh..."
"It's not too bad in this low gravity," Thomas grunted. "And we could do with the supplies on the Archangel. I didn't manage to get any water, but I did divert a couple of munition crates aboard while I was figuring out where you were stashed."
-/-
"Who are you?" Maria asked quietly, as they crossed the line between Artemis Station and the Archangel. "You're not just a doctor, are you?"
"Legally, I'm not even a Doctor," Thomas said mildly. "My training was more or less along the lines of a paramedic."
"But you said..." She hesitated and then glared at him. "You never actually said that you were a Doctor, but you let us assume that, didn't you?"
"Yes," he admitted cheerfully. "People tend not to poke too hard when they've dropped you into a neat little catagory. The minute the crew started calling me Doctor Finn, they stopped thinking about me."
"But I think about you!" Maria protested. Natarle raised an eyebrow at that, where no one could see her.
"Yes, but you call me Thomas," Thomas said, pausing by the cargo lift leading down to the hanger storebays. "That's rather refreshing, really."
"So who are you really?" Mu asked from behind them. "You didn't seem to have any problem dealing with the guards outside our room."
Thomas grimaced. "I suppose you know what it means when some one says they're 'good with their hands'?"
"It's special forces jargon," the Lieutenant replied, frowning. "The whole: hands are lethal weapons thing... wait, you?"
"They're the same hands," Thomas said in a disturbingly mild voice, as he held his fingers up to look at them, "Whether I take a life or save it. I'm not working for anyone, Maria. These days I keep my allegiances personal. It's less confusing that way."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

Logan Darklighter · 06-27-2006, 02:19 AM

well as I mentioned I haven't seen seed so I don't know what is going on, but it's nice to know something more about the good doctor.
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 confsed as to how when who is captured.

"But I think about you!"

drakensis · 06-27-2006, 09:53 PM

Quote:
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.

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.

Quote:
"But I think about you!"
Quote:
The stuff after Thomas reply to that is a little cliched but it works.
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)
------------------------------------------------------
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?"

D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

Valles · 06-29-2006, 08:02 AM

"Understood," Joule replied. "Where are we supposed to be based?"
"A boat shed on one of the outer islets; it'll have room for your mobile suits and is out of the way enough that ORB's security forces will be able to pretend they never noticed."
"Pretend?" asked the less reverent of the soldiers. "They know were're here?"
"Of course not," Yitzhak said scathingly. "They don't know a thing, just like my mother and your father never work anything out outside the Council Chambers."
The intelligence man smiled. "Exactly," he said, since the behind-the-scenes discussions and dealmaking of the PLANTs highest governing body genuinely did have much the same sort of widely known but never admitted character.
*****
Mu la Flaga checked his instruments and ruthlessly supressed the frown trying to force its way onto his face. The consequences of an unprovoked attacked on one of the leading nations of the so-called 'Coordinated Axis' were obvious to anyone with half a brain, of course, and however certain his superiors might have been that they would eventually come to pass anyway, he was less than resigned to it. On the other hand, having protested as much as he was permitted to, he really didn't have any options other than shutting up and soldiering; even if he'd been willing to go as far as mutiny, the next person who might be picked to lead this mission was Samantha Akers, who was bloodthirsty even when she hadn't been turned loose over a city full of 'space monsters'.
Not if he could prevent it, thanks.
"White Lead, ready," he reported, and listened as the other five members of the flight did the same. When the three 'Black' elements, the stealth VTOLs carrying the commando teams, had chimed in their status, the mission was finally ready to go.
The transport submarine shuddered and roared around them as compressed air rushed into its ballast tanks and sent it bobbing the last dozen or so meters to the surface, and then the hatches overhead slammed open and the nine aircraft rushed out into the open air.
They were almost on top of the atoll when they launched; Aube proper was a volcanic island, but the place's growing global role as capital of ORB had caused the city to expand until it covered almost the entire landmass. Morganroete's testing facility was on the atoll that had grown up around one of its outlying islets. None of his threat sensors were reading, and out of the corner of his eye he could see the mushroom clouds rising where the Federation fleet's thermobaric weapons had leveled the city's air defense sites.
The next island in the archipelago, Soran, held ORB's primary military training facility. The forces stationed there wouldn't be as capable or well-equipped as the now-demolished squadrons which had been tasked to defend the capital, but they were nearby and it would only be a minute or two before they managed to scramble. It would be his job to keep them from doing anything... permanent... about the infiltration teams before the backup squadrons could take them out, but that shouldn't be a pressing matter for another couple o-
There was a scream and a howl of static across the comms as Black Two came apart in a hail of cannonfire, and Mu was too busy staying concious through his evasive maneuvers to curse. When he came out of the turn he got a clear look at the culprit - a GINN, in full ZAFT colors, was arrowing up out of a copse of trees and firing as it came. One burst missed Black Three, then another, before the third clipped the transport's wing and set it reeling as the pilot tried to regain control.
One of his people, Chigger, he thought, tried to force it away from its target with an attack of his own, but the GINN cut its thrusters and spun and dropped under the shot before bringing its cannon back around to put a final burst straight through the transport's center of mass.
Each of the commando teams had included five (theoretically) qualified pilots. The mission still hadn't failed. Yet.
But there was no more room for error at all.

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

drakensis · 06-29-2006, 09:15 AM

I think I'm beginning to see where this is going... interesting...
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

drakensis · 07-03-2006, 10:57 PM

While there are several small divergences, this is where things start to change on a large scale as a result of Thomas.
-----------------------------------------------------
"There's definitely something going on," Thomas muttered as he looked out of the bridge window at the Archangel's dock.
Maria sighed. "How is it," she asked with a familiar feeling of impending disaster, "that the only places that feel remotely safe these days are those where the Earth Alliance has no authority?"
"Probably because the Earth Alliance seems to be working for those Blue Cosmos idiots," Thomas muttered. "Some of the officers I've listened to - Sutherland for example - are spouting that philosophy chapter and verse. Plus the military leadership seems intent on bleeding units from the Eurasian Federation against ZAFT and husbanding units from the Atlantic Federation..."
"But most of the units being sent to Panama are from the Atlantic Federation," Maria protested weakly. "And that has to be ZAFT's next major target."
"Yeah," he said. "And it makes sense - but they know that we know that, and in their place I'd be more inclined to hit other targets that have been stripped to reinforce Panama. South America's wide open and they never wanted anything to do with the Alliance anyway. Or they could knock the South African Union or East Asia out of the war entirely. It would be something of an effort, but it would buy them time to build up more forces before they hit Panama. It depends how worried they are about the Earth Alliance's mobile suits."
"But we're..." Maria groaned. "I suppose we don't have the only mobile suits any more, do we?"
"Rumour has it," Thomas confirmed, "that a mass-produced mobile suit based on the Strike Aile and the Duel has been deployed in Atlantic Federation units. It was only a matter of time really. They've had much longer to work on this than Kira did when we were in Orb, and they're probably about as good as Orb's suits."

Thomas growled softly under his breath as he prowled the halls of JOSH-A. He had a feeling that Jericho might have been more appropriate name - the walls felt like they could come crumbling down at any moment. The halls were empty and room after room was vacant. Thousands of soldiers, an army of surprising potence, were guarding an empty shell. He knew the smell of this, he'd seen it used by masters, he'd even held the line a couple of times around a hollow target.
It was how Cagalli had used Kira and the Strike when they met again in the desert.
This was a trap.
The Archangel - and all the units stationed around the command post - were goats.
But what was the trap?
He could see it in his mind. ZAFT moving in, pushing past a resolute and valiant defense no doubt, entering the base... and then...
What?
There are a few disadvantages to being a technological illiterate, he observed grimly. All these high tech weapons. Nukes? But they weren't supposed to work, were they?
Well, no use having a dog and barking for himself, he grinned (wolfishly, of course). No one else was using these fine communication devices. His shadow grew in height and he perched himself in one empty chair to peck with two fingers at the keyboard, remembering how Kuzzey had manipulated his controls.
"Archangel, this is Doctor Finn," he hissed into the microphone. "Kuzzey, can you hear me?"
Aboard the Archangel, it was Mirialla rather than Kuzzey who manned the board. While docked they only needed a half-watch and there was no need for her usual position now as they were... without mobile armour or mobile suits for her to command.
"Doctor Finn?" she exclaimed as she hear the quiet voice. "What are you doing on that channel?"
"Breaking some rules," came the reply. "Sorry to rush you, Mirialla, but I'm a little over my head with some of this technology stuff. Are any of the military types around?"
The girl smiled a little wanly and turned to Arnold Neumann, who was sitting at the pilot's postion. "Ensign, the Doctor needs some help."
"What can I do for you?" Arnold asked once he was patched into the call.
"I need to talk about weapons," the older man explained. "I'm in the main command centre and I think we're being screwed over. I understand that nukes down't work because of those Neutron Jam things, but are is there anything else the brass could use to take out the base and anyone is a sizeable radius? A couple of miles or something?"
The young officer frowned. "Not really, the only... well, I suppose they could use a Cyclops again - sort of a gamma radiation emitter - it worked on the Moon. But that would be insane, they'd be wiping out everyone in the defence groups, as well as themselves."
Thomas growled under his breath. "You'd better to go to battle stations then. There's no one here at all - I think the defense groups are just bait to suck ZAFT into the area of effect of one of those Cyclops gizmos."
"But why would ZAFT attack here? Aren't they heading for Panama?"
A siren went off and even Thomas could decipher the reports that suddenly began appearing on the map displays in the command centre."
"Forget I said anything," Arnold said and sounded the alarm aboard the Archangel.
"Why should we listen to you?" asked the man on the end of the communications link. "Yiu admit yourself that you're a renegade."
Thomas snorted. "Renegade from who? Never mind." He gestured at the display he knew would be visible behind him. "Use your own eyes then. The units defending JOSH-A are almost without exception units of your military - and that red line they're within? That's the radius of effect for the cyclops array buried under JOSH-A. If it's activated - and it's slaved to a remote control someplace a long way away - then a rather large fraction of your military will be obliterated."
"What you're suggesting is that the Atlantic Federation would massacre our troops," the Prime Minister of the Eurasian Federation. "They have no reason to do that. We've joined forces under the banner of the Earth Alliance."
"The same way that the United States of South America joined forces?" Thomas asked sweetly.
The USSA had tried to stay neutral in the war, much as Orb had. The minute ZAFT forces started to land in Africa and Oceania, the Atlantic Federation had annexed their southern neighbour in the name of the Earth Alliance.
"Face it, Prime Minister," Thomas said earnestly. "ZAFT aren't saints by any means, but OMNI is just a pretext for the Altantic Federation's conquest of the Earth. How long do you think you'll stay independent if half your forces are wiped out over here? You don't have the new technology being deployed - all the mobile suits belong to units that the Atlantic Federation formed. And try comparing the list of their senior commanders to that of officers suspected of sympathising with Blue Cosmos. Do you really want a terrorist organisation focused on genocide to be running the world?"
The Prime Minister broke eye contact, looking at other outside Thomas's field of vision. The muttering in the background wouldn't have normally been audible without sophisticated audio filtering. The command centre probably had such gear of course, but Thomas couldn't begun to work out how to use it. Fortunately, nature had equipped him with rather better ears than most realised. From some of the comments he was hearing, factionalism was alive and well inside the Earth Alliance.
"That's all very well," the Prime Minister picked up the conversation as if had never broken off. "But even if I accept what you're saying, what can we do. We're in a shooting war with the PLANTs. We can't just... 'stop fighting'."
"No?" Thomas said with a smile. "I rather think that you can. Or are you going to write off a rather large number of your country men - whose commanders, I should add, are getting this transmission piped to their command posts?"
The Prime Minister was far too experienced as a politician to wince at that revelation. He had no way of knowing that Thomas was lying. "I am sure they understand that ZAFT will need more than words to convince them not to shoot at our troops."
"Probably," Thomas agreed. "Rumour has it that Rau Le Croissant is in command. I've spoken to him, and frankly I think he's a sociopath."
"Don't you mean Creuset?"
"I can never wrap my mouth around that word," Thomas admitted. "Anyway, the appointment of a loony like that says worrying things about how desperate ZAFT is - and I might point out, if they have a way to switch off the N-Cancellers then they could be dropping nukes on everyone rather easily if they get pushed too far. I'd rather not see any more nuclear explosions, if you don't mind. I've been to Junius Seven and it's not a pretty sight."
There were worried sounds coming from around the Prime Minister now. "What do you suggest," he said sourly.
"There remains a faction within the PLANTs Supreme Council who are still loyal to Siegel Clyne," Thomas said simply. "I have some contacts there and if we can buy a little time, I believe we can convince them to accept you as neutral. You'd have to make some concessions... but do you really think that you can take control of the PLANTs now? If you recognise them as a sovereign state and hand over a few members of Blue Cosmos - don't pretend that you don't know how to lay hands on them, Prime Minister - then they can be reasoned with."
"General," Thomas said, cutting into the canned responses being spat out from the command centre.
"Thank god somebody's there!" the soldier on the other responded. "We're preparing for battle, but we can't possibly stop what's being thrown at us. ZAFT are committing more mobile suits than I've ever seen in one place."
"I understand, General," Thomas assured him. "The radio transmission is a deception. Things are a little disordered here - there was a panic I'm afraid, but we're getting things sorted out now. We're going have to delegate a lot to the field commanders, so proceed on the assumption that there will be no further orders - I could be cut off at any moment."
"Understood... sir," the General replied and then frowned at the lack of insignia on Thomas's uniform jacket. "May I ask your authority?"
"Zeta-Zeta-Zero-Zero-Eight-Three," Thoams replied, praying that the Prime Minister had given him the right code. Judging by the wide eyed response, he had. That code was the highest emergency and signified emergency executive authority by the Prime Minister. "I've been breveted to Marshal for the duration, General. I'm afraid my uniform didn't survive the.... incident we had here."
"I understand, sir." For the first time, the 'sir' was said with genuine respect.
"I'm ordering a retreat, regrouping thirty miles inland. We'll be evacuating non-combatants by air - sector commanders are responsible for clearing the area. The flanks will conduct retreats - fighting only iof need be - directly away from JOSH-A selecting their routes at their own discretion. Central Sectors will load all anti-air and anti-armour teams onto the ships in harbour immediately, before withdrawing as fast as they can to the east, I repeat, to the east. Do *not* try to enter JOSH-A, we're setting traps and evacuating ourselves. Don't stop for anything. Devil take the hindmost I'm afraid."
"All air and sea assets will be launching as soon as your men are aboard, to break up the ZAFT forces - we're hoping we can push them back long enough to complete demolition work and deny them the facility. Command for that little job will be from the Archangel - Commander Ramius has assured us of complete co-operation, unlike the rest of the Atlanty's."
The General frowned. "Are you sure of that, sir? There was the incident with Artemis..."
"It's no mere luck that she managed to get her ship out of that," Thomas snapped, with heat that surprised even him. "The base commander was lucky he got fragged before we court-martial him for letting ZAFT get inside the umbrella perimeter."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

Valles · 07-04-2006, 02:59 AM

Kira Yamato bolted down the deserted halls of Morganroete, Inc.'s Wilson Frade Development Facility and shamelessly indulged his desire to feel put-upon. Even if Blaze had been justified in her insistence in dragging him along as a 'cameraman' for her 'investigative reporting' - which she wasn't - the tremendous explosions rocking the entire place down to its foundations would have been entirely more than any person could reasonably be expected to stand in a given day. "Are you sure that the stairs were this way?" he panted.
"Uh-huh!" Blaze shot back over her shoulder. "I saw a map, and there was a way down marked in the mobilohshit!" she interrupted herself as they burst out of the hallway and onto the catwalk running the perimeter of the massive open room that had been used to build Morganroete's entry into the design competetion for ORB's primary mobile suit design. Both of them pulled up short at the sight of the dozens of corpses littering the floor, and, after trading a quick, instinctive glance, they ducked out of sight of the black-clad soldiers stalking across the blood-soaked concrete.
He was about to turn and sneak back the other way when he saw his friend crawling back towards the edge of the pathway. "what are you doing?" he demanded, as quietly as he could. "get away from there! if they see you..."
"i think they're from the atlantic federation," she replied. "if they get those suits, and let eurasia and the republic have the technology, the war this will start will probably destroy all of orb!"
"what? but the last war..." She was crazy! But trying to drag the suicidal girl away from there would make noise, and attract attention, and likely get them both shot and killed.
"was against the equatorial union! they fell apart after the first campaign - all that the rest of it was was trying to rescue some of the wreckage from eurasia and the republic."
"and give orb control of malaysia's mines, factories, and farmland," he muttered, mostly to himself.
"they already held the referendums about that," she retorted.
"for what those are worth."
"hey, who's the pol-sci major, here, anyway?" A woman in a light-colored Morganroete jumpsuit dashed out towards the largest cluster of figures, and Blaze waved for him to be quiet as she strained her ears to pick out what was being said.
"Lieutenant Marie Ramius," the woman on the floor said, snapping off a salute. "Authentication baker-echo-yankee-niner-zero-seven-golf."
"Are they ready?" one of the commandoes, probably the commander, answered.
"Yes sir, fueled, flight-prepped, and passwords cleared, as instructed."
"Pick one and set its self-destruct. We lost half our people when that GINN hit us on touchdown, including three of the pilots. The shuttle jock and the fast-mover who bailed out on top of us say they're whole enough to handle a suit, but-"
She was shaking her head. "I can handle one," she said firmly.
He hestitated a moment. "...All right. Move it, people!"
The plant pointed at two of the suits. "The X103 and X303 have the gentlest handling, so they shouldn't be as bad for the wounded."
"kira!" Blaze hissed as the strike team began to move. "have you played those arcade games?"
"arcade? yes, but...?" he asked, then made the connection to the mobile-suit simulations that had become popular since the fall of the Equatorial Union. "oh, no!" he tried to refuse, but she had already started scrambling towards the nearest of the looming metallic giants.
She's crazy! he thought in dismay, then turned in the opposite direction to move towards the next closest, since the only other choice was just leaving her hanging out to dry.

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

ordnance11 · 07-04-2006, 05:05 PM

I'm assuming that Kira at this point is MIA, presumed dead?
Someone once said that no general can consider himself a great commander if he hasn't successfully conducted a fighting retreat.
Also, Thomas wouldn't be the first Medical Officer to become a line officer.
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drakensis · 07-04-2006, 09:49 PM

> I'm assuming that Kira at this point is MIA, presumed
> dead?
Missing-in-Action, yes. Presumed Dead, no. Thomas has no idea what happened to Kira or where he is, but he's quite certain that Kira got out of Strike alive. The nose knows, you see. Thomas himself will be MIA before they meet up again.
> Someone once said that no general can consider
> himself a great commander if he hasn't successfully
> conducted a fighting retreat.
Thomas R Finn (the R stands for Riley, and no, it's not his real name) has conducted quite a lot of fighting retreats. He could almost be said to be an expert at fighting retreats, last stands and forlorn hopes. One of these days it would be nice to have numbers on his side.
> Also, Thomas wouldn't be the first Medical Officer to
> become a line officer.
It's not so much becoming a line officer as going pirate.
==========================================
"What should I do with this?" Natarle asked, holding up the medical eyepatch that had been hastily inked black.
"Put it over your eye, of course," Thomas replied equably from the captain's chair. He was wearing a hat that appeared to have been made of folded newspaper. "All self-respecting pirates wear eyepatches."
Natarle blinked. "Pirates...?"
Thomas nodded seriously. "We're making off with a military vessel, for the purposes of waging war to our own purposes, almost certainly against the ships' previous owners. What else could we be?"
"You're enjoying this, aren't you," she accused. There was a certain seductive quality to the notion though... "The Dominion isn't a pirate vessel."
He frowned and then snapped his fingers. "You're right! Lousy name for a pirate ship. We'll rename her. How does 'The Black Pearl' sound?"
"That's..." 'Not what I meant.' "...a good name for a pirate ship," she replied after a moment's thought.
"Splendid!" Thorfinn declared and stood. "Well, I'm going to go check on my patients. Have fun."
When she was sure he was gone, Natarle self-conciously looked at the rest of the bridge and then quickly held the eyepatch in front of her left eye and studied her reflection in one of the deactivated display screens of CIC, where the rest of the bridge crew couldn't see her.
Then she shook her head and put the patch away.
"Captain?" asked the officer at the communications station. "Are you sure that Doctor Finn is... alright?"
"He's been a little strange as long as I've known him," Natarle replied. "I think he's just letting off steam - I can't blame him for being a little... odd, after what Djibril put him through."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

Valles · 07-05-2006, 05:37 PM

*pictures Natarle in not-very-much-motley, or one of Ryoko's outfits*
I approve in all ways, shapes, and forms. Yum! Plus, it'll be nice to see another side of her than the insubordinate hardass.
Oh, and here's a thought for y'all - the Mendel Colony team knew what they were after. They already had a design for their ultimate coordinator; the problem was getting it stabalized and 'durable' enough to carry to term.
IIUC, the difference in Kira's case was the elimination of the in vivo factor. Taking that step, however, would have been an experiment.
Experiments have control elements... and the genes weren't what that one was testing.
^_^

The password was exactly like that woman, Ramius, had said, just five zeroes, and the controls did bear a disturbing resemblance to the game consoles he'd experimented with. Shutting the hatch behind him was a matter of a mere touch of a key, and a second switch brought the suit's computers on line.
MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM
///Version NV8 - N099////
General
Unilateral
Neuro - Link
Dispersive
Autonomic
Maneuver
G.U.N.D.A.M Synthesis System
If the machine was hooked into the facility's computer network, then he might be able to... yes! A quick check of the status of the other prototypes confirmed that Blaze had sealed and started her chosen machine, and then he had the suit's security protocols open and was hurrying through the needed modifications. New file, randomly altering number... password to that, alternate condition, since it was demanding one, DNA sequence from current scan... copy to the other four suits and save it... There.
He almost laughed in triumph. Now it would take a complete physical replacement of the suits' computer systems to get them to respond to anyone but him and...
All four of the other suits were active. The Federation's people had been able to get to them before he could... Damn it.
One of the smaller secondary displays flashed to life, startling him out of his momentary funk. "Was that you?" Blaze asked, orange eyes concerned.

Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

drakensis · 07-06-2006, 08:17 AM

Did Kira just give his DNA codes to the Atlantic Federation?
-------------------------------------------------
Thomas was helping the civilians out of the damaged lifepod Kira had brought aboard when he heard a gasp from the mobile suit's cockpit. Looking up from the redhead who was climbing out, he saw the kid's little mechanical pet diving down towards the girl, Kira close behind him. The way the little gizmo acted, he could almost think that it was his familiar. Hmm, given that the kid was some sort of machinery whiz, perhaps that wasn't as far-fetched as it sounded.
The girl looked up and beamed. "Ah, it's you," she called. "Sai's friend!" She jumped up from Thomas's helping hand and coasted up in the zero gravity towards Kira, arms outstretched.
"F-Flay," the boy stuttered. "Is it really you, Flay Alistair? So you were on this boat!"
"Hey, what happened to Heliopolis?" she asked once their faces were level. "What happened there? What went on? I... I... I got seperated... from Jessica and Misha in a store in Florence and I ran to a shelter alone, and then...! This is a ZAFT ship, right? What's gonna happen to us? What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Th-this ship belongs to the Earth Forces," Kira corrected her once he got a chance to talk through her babbling.
"You're lying!" she protested. "There's a mobile suit on board."
"No, that also belongs to the Earth Forces," the boy assured her. "B-But, boy am I glad. Sai and Mirialla are here too. You'll be fine."
'Glad' huh? Seems like the kid had a crush. Thomas shook his head and turned back to see a small girl nervously looking around over the rim of the hatch, her mother trying to persuade her to move forwards. Putting aside the adolescent byplay above him, Thomas reached down and scooped the girl up by the back of her dungarees, hauling her out of the pod before she could react. "Upsy-daisy, pup," he said, not unkindly, as her startled face passed his. "Hold onto my head for a minute, there's a good girl."
He didn't quite manage to refrain from flinching as two small hands latched onto his hair and offered his hand to the girl's mother, the woman startled and then choking down a chuckle at the expression on his face as the little girl pulled herself determinedly closer to his head.
"Mama," came the announcement from somewhere far too close to his ear. "He's got yellow hair!"
'Owowowowowow!' Thomas mouthed to the woman, who couldn't restrain her giggle at that point.
-/-
Shortly afterwards, Thomas entered the small compartment being occupied by Kira and his friends. It wasn't much - bunks built into the walls and a passage between them. He guessed that it was probably just a standard crew berth and shuddered at what it must smell like after a couple of months of occupancy.
"I wonder where we're heading," asked Kuzzey as Thomas entered. No one seemed to notice him, engrossed in their own conversation.
"They changed course once, didn't they?" Sai observed. "I wonder if ZAFT is still around."
"They're after this ship and that mobile suit, right?" Tolle observed from where he stood, leaning against one of the bunks, facing Kira. "Then maybe they're still after us."
"Huh? Then what?" Flay protested. "Are you saying that we're less safe now that we boarded the ship? No way!"
Kira flinched and Thomas shook his head. Fret fret fret. "Yer safer from losing life support," he advised the girl. "If Kira hadn't have spotted you, you'd have died in the boat before help arrived. Unfortunately, if these ZAFT fellows were going to be happy with just what they snatched the first time, they wouldn't have gone back into the colony for another fight - so they'll likely still be trying to do us in."
"Oh, Thomas," Mirialla said. "Do you know where we're going?"
He shrugged. "Not a clue. One place is as good as another for me... I suppose Maria knows, but I haven't seen her since I put the bandages back on -" There was a tap on his shoulder and he paused. "Help you, Lieutenant?"
"Is Kira Yamato in here?" Mu asked, trying to look past the larger man's shoulders.
"I'm here," Kira replied as Thomas turned slightly to let them see each other.
"Petty Officer Murdoch is furious," Mu explained. "He doesn't have enough people. He says you're responsible for maintaining your own machine."
"My machine?" Kira asked. "Wait, what do you mean, 'my machine'?"
"Let's just say that's what's been decided," the pilot told him. "The fact is, you're the only one capable of piloting that thing. It can't be helped."
"Sure I rode the thing twice, only because I had no choice!" the youngster protested. "But I'm not a soldier or anything!"
Mu rubbed his face. "So when the fighting starts again, you'll say that again. Yu'll refuse to pilot it, and we'll all die, right? Right now, you and I are the only ones who can protect this ship."
"But I..."
Thomas reached over and patted him on the shoulder. Kira looked up and saw the regret on the man's face as he growled something that the boy wasn't sure he could pronounce, much less comprehend. It was as much snarl as speech and Thomas frowned as he realised he'd used the wrong language. "Sorry, forgot who I was speaking to," he said. "Roughly translated, you can sing or make love when you wish, fighting you do when the other guy wants to."
"Right..." Kira admitted. "What you said about war and victims, back on Heliopolis."
"Yes," Thomas agreed. "No one's saying you've got a good deal out of this, but for better or for worse, we're all dependent upon you. I'm sorry."
Kira gulped. "I..." He shook his head and then bolted from the room.
The two adults in the room looked each other in the eye and grimaced. "Hey, Kira?" Tolle called after his friend.
"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Flay asked, confused. "You mean that that Kira kid was on...?"
"You heard that a mobile suit carried your lifeboat to this ship, right?" Sai explained. "That guy, Kira, was the one piloting it."
"What? Him? But how? How could he pilot a mobile suit?"
Thomas gave her a puzzled look. "I presume he puts his hands on the hand controls and his feet on the pedals. They have pedals?" he asked Mu suddenly. "They're not piloted through some sort of mind-machine interface thingy are they?"
Mu blinked. "Er... no."
"Oh. Good."
"You really liked giant robot shows when you were a kid, didn't you?"
"I really like giant robot shows now... what's your point?"
"Excuse me," Sai asked, interupting what looked like it was going to be a long and probably pointless arguement. "Where is the ship headed?"
"A Eurasian military fortress," Mu told him. "Well, we'll be lucky if they let us in without incident."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

drakensis · 07-06-2006, 09:57 PM

"DINN's approaching from aft," Neumann reported. "They'll be on us in fifteen minutes."
"We don't have time to look for them," Natarle insisted. "If we lose this ship then everything they sacrificed will be wasted!"
Mirialla sobbed and lunged for the door, but it hissed open before she reached it, leaving her to cannon into the chest of Thomas. "Captain," he said simply. "Permission to disembark? I know we can't wait around here, butI can take an emergency liferaft over to where we last heard from the lost boys."
Maria looked torn. "Just you and an inflatable boat?"
"I could take a volunteer, I guess," Thomas answered.
"Captain!" Natarle insisted. "We have to go!"
Mirialla turned a pleading face towards Maria and the captain folded. "Alright," she agreed, with a sinking feeling that it might be the last time she saw either one of them. "But hurry - we're taking off the minute you're off the ship."
-/-
Only two minutes later and the Archangel lifted slowly away from the island crashed and made it's faltering way into the air. Below, Mirialla and Thomas ducked as debris was thrown around by the blast of the engines going to full power. Between them was an emergency kit from the Archangel and a small case that Thomas kept on hand for emergency medical purposes.
"Well," the man told his young companion. "We'd better get started." He opened the survival kit and passed her a small bundle. "Put this on - your miniskirt's very cute but it's not much use in a small boat."
Miri blushed furiously as she shook out the waterproof coverall. Glancing around for something to change behind, she realised that between crashing and taking off, not to mention taking several near-misses from missiles and beam weapons, the Archangel had pretty much denuded the area of suitable cover. She shot an embarassed look at Thomas, only to see that his back was turned as he unpacked the inflatable boat. "Get a move on," he grunted and she hastily obeyed.
By the time she was changed, he'd managed to get the boat inflated and was strapping the assorted equipment to it, cursing at the fasteners as he did so, "How far do you think we are from the other island?" he asked abruptly.
"About ten miles," she said, eyeing the boat nervously. It didn't look as large as she had hoped for, "Can we get that far?"
"I expect so," Thomas replied. "We better had, anyway. Mar- Captain Ramius will be sending the details to Orb so they can send out a rescue crew, but there's no chance of them getting here before morning. If we come a cropper out there -" he waved one hand at the ocean "- there's nothing to fall back upon. You can swim, I hope?"
"Yes, of course... but not ten miles."
"Ah? Well, as long as you can stay afloat," he muttered.
"Doctor Finn?"
"What?"
"Do you think... do you think that they're dead?"
"Hard to say," Thomas said thoughtfully. "It's possible that they've both survived - but equally, this isn't a safe business."
-/-
When the ORB rescue team landed, Cagalli was the first to leave the huge flying boat that had carried them, jumping into the shallow water and wading up onto the beach to where Mirialla was tending to a small but rather smoky fire. The crude signal had pinpointed their location for the plane, but it almost equally obvious that tending to the fire was makework that had been foisted on the exhausted girl to persuade her to stay in one place and rest her body, even if her mind was too troubled to sleep.
"What happened?" Cagalli shouted as she crossed the strand, looking at the scattered remains of the Aegis.
"There was another battle," the girl replied slowly. "Kira and Tolle were shot down. The Archangel had to keep going. Doctor Finn and I used a lifeboat to get here, but we can't find them..."
Cagalli blinked. "A lifeboat?"
Mirialla pointed to what the 'Princess' had thought was a tent. Now that she looked coser, she realised that it was a small inflatable raft, of the type that had a collapsible roof. The roof had been raised but through the open flap, she could see a figure sleeping inside.
"Who's in there?"
Mirialla's mouth twisted unhappily. "A ZAFT pilot. Probably from the Aegis. We found him on the shoreline, injured. He's not woken up yet, but he might have a better idea what happened."
The blonde wondered at the resentful tone in the other girl's voice, but then recalled that Tolle and Miri were a couple. Having her boyfriend missing in action - probably dead - and the Doctor treating an enemy officer must be upsetting for her. She looked inside absently and blinked at the familiar face.
"Well, he's the pilot of the Aegis alright," she observed. "He sure gets shot down a lot."
Mirialla blinked. "You know him?"
"Remember when I went MIA myself?" Cagalli asked rhetoricallly. "He was on the transport I shot down and we crashed on the same island. When Kira arrived, he let me go to get picked up and I left him for his own people to pick up. He's... not a bad guy, not really."
"He and Kira are friends," Mirialla said with a sniff that sounded like the herald of tears.
"What!?"
"We picked up a lifepod when we went past Junius Seven," the girl explained. "There was a Co-ordinator inside, the daughter of ZAFT's chairman. She and Kira talked a lot and Kuzzey heard them talking about the pilot of the Aegis."
"What happened to her?" Cagalli asked.
"Kira went out with her in the Strike and signalled for the Aegis to come out and collect her," Mirialla explained. "One of their mobile suits almost attacked us, but she called them off."
"Wow," Cagalli exclaimed. "How is it that everywhere we go, we keep meeting the same people?"
The rest of the ORB expedition were assembling on the beach now. Technical staff fanned out the check the Strike and the components of the Aegis, while the medical team joined the two girls.
"There's a wounded Coordinator in the boat," Cagalli ordered. "He's been treated, but check on him anyway. The rest of you spread out... there are still two people not missing."
"Just one," came a sombre voice from behind her and they all jumped to see a dripping Thomas Finn standing there. No one had seen him approach and finding him looming over them was something of a shock. Ignoring the new arrivals, he set an Earth Alliance bodybag down beside the tent and knelt down by Mirialla. "I'm very sorry," he said gently. "I found Tolle's body."
The girl paled even further, something Cagalli would not have beleived to be possible. "NO!" she protested loudly. "You're wrong! He couldn't be..." She reached for the bodybag's zipper but Thomas caught hold of her wrists and restrained her easily.
"You really don't want to do that," he said bleakly. "His cockpit must have taken a direct hit - I had to piece together the remains."
With a sick feeling in her stomach, Cagalli realised that the bag was lying too flat to contain an intact corpse. It was alsot too short to have contained Tolle unless...
Bending over, she briefly regreted the breakfast she'd managed to choke down on the aircraft. It hadn't been very appetising when she ate it, and it felt much worse as her stomach expelled it all over the sand.
-/-
Athrun's eyes flickered open as he felt the bed beneath him vibrate slightly.
Wait... bed? He'd been in the Aegis, fighting Kira...
Everything came flooding back to him. Nicol dead, the cold focus that had fallen over him as he fought against his friend to avenge his friend. The way that Kira had fought back, reluctantly at first, then with the same fury after the Earth Forces jet had been shot out of the sky. Locking the claws of the Aegis around the Strike and triggering the self-destruct... the shockwave of the explosion batting him out of the sky as he tried to escape with his jet pack.
The door to the compartment slid open and Thomas entered, glancing at the bed and nodding without surprise at the jade green eyes that speared him as he entered. He pulled a chair out from under the room's small desk - the same sort of institutional plastic chair that had been used for centuries - and dropped himself into it.
Mirialla stood in the door, glaring at Athrun rather than entering and Thomas sighed. "Cagalli, is there somewhere Mirialla can lie down? She's been up all night."
"So have you," the blonde snorted. "Take your own medicine."
"Cagalli!?" Athrun exclaimed. "What... am I on the legged ship?"
The three gave each other blank looks and then Cagalli grinned. "The Archangel," she concluded. "The ship from Heliopolis. 'Legged ship' indeed."
"No," Thomas told the concerned Coordinator. "We're on an ORB Union aircraft - they'll arrange for you to rejoin ZAFT. You're in no particular danger of the Alliance getting their mucky paws on you."
"Oh," Athrun responded, the rush of adrenaline that had flooded through him at the prospect of imprisonment fading away. There was more talking, but he couldn't focus on it. Wen he looked up again, the girls were gone and Thomas was leaning heavily on the desk, head in his hands, his entire posture reeeking of exhaustion. Athrun used his left arm to push himself up a little, but at the first sound, Thomas jerked around with feral speed, his eyes alert.
"Don't do that," he growled. "You need your rest."
"I'm fine," Athrun replied automatically.
"You've a broken arm, two bruised ribs and a mild concussion," Thomas replied confidently. "And I've had Kira in the medical bay a time or two - I know that those will affect a Coordinator just as much as it would the rest of us."
"Kira..." Athrun whispered. "Did you... did you find him?"
Thomas shook his head. "No. We found you on the beach, and we found the wreckage of the Strike, the Aegis and the Skygrasper... I don't care about any military secrets, but I'd rather like to know what happened there."
"I killed Kira," Athrun said softly. Even the thought that Nicol was avenged didn't stop a wave of horror at the thought that Kira - naive, gentle and innocent Kira - was dead by his hands. "I detonated the Aegis, I can't imagine that he would escape from that."
The older man grunted, a pained noise in the quiet room. "I gather you took down a fighter as well," he said, a question implicit in the statement.
Athrun nodded slowly.
"Ah," Thomas nodded back. "I thought that it looked like one of the Aegis' weapons. Poor Tolle. He wanted to protect Kira - they were friends, you see."
"Friends," Athrun grimaced. "Kira killed one of my friends."
"The boy in the Blitz?" Thomas asked.
"Nicol... he was a pianist... he never planned to be a soldier, he only joined ZAFT to protect his family against you Naturals... he died to protect me," Athrun cried out in broken sentences. "And Kira cut him apart in an instant!"
"Your friend dies to help you," Thomas sighed, leaning back in his chair. "And Kira's friend dies to help him. There's a twisted symmetry to that. Tastes foul. Like most of this bloody war."
Athrun shook his head. "Why did he do it? Why did he let you use him? Why did he... why did he..."
"Why did you have to kill him?"
"Yes, dammit! He was a Coordinator! He should have been with us!"
"He was a human being," Thomas observed coldly. "He belonged with all of you."
"But..."
"Those idiots in Blue Cosmos think that Coordinators are different... why are you agreeing with them?"
"They're saying we're monsters!"
"Ha!"
Athrun stared at Thomas. That snort of bitter laughter was not the reaction he had expected. "Being more competent doesn't make you inhuman. It just means you do the same stupid things with greater skill. Thus the war - killing each other is a very human trait."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

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