As the Other Half Lives - 5
Yzak Joule was not in the best of moods when he returned to the Cousteau. Upon being informed that Commander Le Creuset wanted to see him, he almost flew to the commander's quarters, as though seeing the man in person would dispel any niggling doubts that his erstwhile teammates had implanted. As soon as he entered, though, he found himself face-to-face with the red-headed Earth Alliance girl that the commander had brought back with him from the base.
He scowled at her. She squeaked, and backed up against the wall like a frightened mouse.
"Come, now," the smooth voice of Commander Le Creuset brought instant relief to her face - and nausea to Yzak's stomach as she gazed at him in wide-eyed expectation of salvation. "I promised you that no one would hurt you while you were with me, didn't I?"
She nodded timidly, and scurried behind his seat. Yzak eyed her in disgust. At least Athrun and Dearka had retained their dignity if not their brains after being captured. This girl seemingly lacked both.
"I'm glad to see you're safe, Yzak," said the commander, recapturing his wandering gaze.
"Sir!" he saluted, drawing himself up to attention. "Thank you, sir!"
"The destruction of JOSH-A was a shocking blow to us," the man continued. "We simply had no idea that the Earth Alliance were capable of such an act. Yet I hear that you are responsible for a warning that saved the lives of a number of our pilots. It is, of course, a most admirable achievement; but I am curious as to how you came by this knowledge."
Yzak blinked, the news of Athrun and Dearka's presence aboard the legged ship and their revelation on the tip of his tongue. Yet when he opened his mouth to answer, he found himself lying through his teeth.
"I overheard a transmission between the Earth forces vessels," he reported as crisply as though every word was nothing but the purest truth. "The legged ship was informing the others about the Cyclops System. I determined the information to have a high probability of veracity, and acted accordingly. Sir."
"Without informing your superiors?"
"The communication suggested that the destruction of the Alaska base was imminent, sir. There was insufficient time to report the matter without needlessly risking the lives of our soldiers."
"I see." Le Creuset tapped one finger thoughtfully against his cheek. "License to make such a decision does not lie within your current authority."
"No, sir." Yzak swore to himself that if he ended up being reprimanded for his actions, he'd damn well find a way to make Athrun suffer, too - even if he had to go and drag him off the legged ship himself.
"Under the circumstances," the commander continued after a few moments of deliberation, "I can only commend you for your quick thinking. Well done, Yzak. I will see to it that you are appropriately rewarded."
"Thank you, sir!"
"Dismissed."
He spun on his heels, his mood lighter than it was when he had arrived. Simply being in the commander's presence was reassuring, yet doubt still plagued his mind. He paused for a moment on the threshold, wondering what the commander's response might have been to the truth.
"Was there something else, Yzak?"
Blue eyes contemplated the scene before him: the commander calmly seated at his terminal, the Earth forces girl cowering behind him. What possible reason could the commander have for bringing her on board? Why had he been in the base in the first place? Had he truly known about the Cyclops System?
"No, sir," he answered, and departed.
"You know, we really should have a guard posted down in the brig round the clock," Mu La Flaga advised his captain. "If they got out once, there's really nothing stopping them from doing it again."
"You're right, of course, but..." Murrue Ramius sighed.
They'd been sitting here in her office for the better part of an hour, discussing their options. With the almost inevitable charge of desertion awaiting them in Panama, return to the Earth Alliance would be literal suicide. The best scenario they could achieve would be if a neutral nation accepted their request for asylum - and that in itself was fraught with dangers, both for themselves and any possible host. Then there was still the problem of the prisoners to consider.
"Yeah, I know." Mu shook his head in mild disbelief. "That Zala kid."
Murrue stared down into her mug. The coffee was getting cold. She tilted it idly in her hands, watching the dark liquid swirl around within its confines.
"It's easy to see why he and Kira were friends."
"That didn't stop them out on the battlefield," Mu was swift to point out.
"But it made it so much harder, for them both. So young, all of them." She couldn't help but recall Athrun crying out that the Blitz's pilot had been barely fifteen. She had been aware that the Earth Forces had been drawing ever younger people in to enlist, but they still adhered to standard policy regarding age limits. At least, she amended regretfully, considering their own horrendous plight and associated consequences, they did so under ordinary conditions. For the Blitz to have such a youthful pilot, it seemed that the ZAFT forces were deliberately training mere children to their cause. Athrun couldn't be much older himself, to be such a close friend of Kira's...
"Not too young to die," Mu responded cynically. "Don't forget he's a regular ZAFT soldier. Unlike Kira, he made the choice to join this war of his own free will."
"Can you be so sure?" She frowned at the coffee dregs. "With a father like Patrick Zala..."
Mu shrugged. "Who knows? But it doesn't change the position we're in right now: We are AWOL, with high profile POWs on board. No one in their right minds is going to want us anywhere near them in this situation."
"So what are you suggesting? We can't just leave them in the middle of nowhere, anymore than we could take them with us! That only leaves..." She raised her head to meet his steady gaze. "Letting them go."
"Yeah, well, that's not such a brilliant idea either, considering that they know too much, now."
"They were only on the bridge for a few minutes - "
"And the hanger, and sick bay, and wherever else they fancied in between."
She sighed.
"Also, if Le Creuset discovers that we sent them off with a merry wave, he'll be even more suspicious than he'll already be as soon as he discovers that they were here at all."
Murrue blinked, and raised her eyebrows at him.
"Hey," Mu protested, "I'm just saying that they know too much for us to really let them go without knowing what they're going to do next."
Narrowing her gaze, Murrue stared at him pointedly. "So, what do you think they're going to do if they get of this ship?"
He grinned disarmingly at her. "I'm so glad you asked."
Later that day, a duty roster was drawn up so that there was a guard posted down in the brig around the clock. Miriallia Haw was one of those assigned to guard duty. Neither the Captain nor the Commander were particularly surprised when a few days later the alarms sounded, and Murdoch reported the Skygrasper being stolen.
They were, however, rather surprised by the ZAFT pilot who had remained behind.
Tugging her cap down a little further, Cagalli Yula Atha waited with increasing frustration for the security detail to move on past the shop she was currently hiding in. She knew Kisaka was bound to find her sooner or later, but she was fully intent on making it as much later as possible.
Her return to Orb had been accompanied by further restrictions on her movements that drove her up the wall. It was almost impossible to breathe, cooped up within the confines of the government buildings where she was expected to behave like a good little princess. She'd told them repeatedly where they could stick that idea.
"It's not safe, Miss Cagalli! With the current situation with ZAFT and the Earth Alliance we cannot be too careful!"
She'd heard it all a thousand times, but that didn't matter to her. What mattered was that she knew she could be making a difference somewhere, if only they would let her take action rather than tying her hands with diplomatic phrases.
Breathing a sigh as the security forces finally moved on, she counted to fifty before slipping back out into the crowds of people on the street. Looking around as she walked, she watched the faces of the citizens of Orb as she moved among them. They were happy and carefree for the most part - certainly not the pinched and frightened demeanours of the freedom fighters and their people. She could only hope that she would never see such expressions on her own people's faces.
Shaking her head slightly, as though to rid herself of that depressing thought, she almost missed the flash of green that flew through her peripheral vision.
"Hey!" she called out reflexively. "Hold up!"
She dashed after the pale green bird, hardly daring to hope that it truly was -
It alighted on the top of a brick wall, turning its head towards her curiously.
"Birdy?" it chirped its familiar greeting.
"Oh," she gasped, her heart pounding. Surely if Birdy was here, then Kira -
Birdy fluttered down from the wall, landing somewhere on the other side.
"Wait!" Cagalli shouted, launching herself up and over the wall with strength born of desperation. She landed with a grunt on the other side. It took a moment or two for her to realise that she had not in fact come to rest upon the ground - at least, not directly. Scrambling to a sitting position, she froze as she found herself straddling a very familiar boy.
"Cagalli?" Green eyes blinked up at her incredulously. "What are you - ?"
"You!" she interrupted, shouting in surprise. "Where's Kira? Where is he? Where -"
She broke of as the shock in his eyes faded to grief.
"No," she denied, shaking her head furiously. "It can't be true. It just can't be!" She clutched at his collar. "I didn't believe it when we combed through that wreckage, and I won't believe it now!"
"It's true," he informed her with the ache of unrelenting truth in his voice.
Her fists hit the ground beside his head, her jaw locked tight against the onset of tears - but the tears came, regardless. Several long minutes passed before she felt she could control her voice long enough to ask the inevitable.
"Tell me," she ordered, glaring down into his grieving eyes, her own now thoroughly bloodshot. "Tell me what happened to Kira."
June '06