DISCLAIMER: If they were mine, then Yzak and Dearka would have an entire Gundam Seed series dedicated to them. BANDAI has that privilege.
Phase 01: In Control
"Sir, we've lost contact with the Elthman Squad!" called one of the technicians from the lower bridge of the Voltaire. "Communication is completely jammed!"
"Shit!" Yzak Jule whirled around, his platinum locks and white uniform fanning out behind him as he leapt towards the lift. He gripped the top of the doorway and pulled himself inside.
"Sir?" asked the Captain, barely glancing over his shoulder from where he stood on the upper bridge. He had become accustomed to the teen Commander's recklessness, especially when it involved a certain blond Major.
"I'm going out!" Yzak snapped, the lift door wiping out any further discussion.
Suited and helmet locked in place, Yzak kicked off the railing of the observation platform and floated towards his white GOUF Ignited. A technician gripped his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Sir," the technician's voice hissed over the internal link. "There's a problem with the launch stage of your unit. If you're going out there, you'll have to take one of the ZAKUs."
"Rack off!" yelled Yzak, almost deafening himself inside his helmet. He kicked the technician away, effectively launching himself towards a vacant Slash ZAKU Warrior. It was one of the green churn-out machines with dual rail guns fused to its shoulders. It was also the closest thing to his older Slash ZAKU Phantom, undergoing maintenance back at PLANT. Yzak knew he should have insisted on having both of his units on his ship, but they weren't. The pathetic green churn-out would just have to do.
Inside the cockpit, he secured his harness with a click and pulled the controls toward himself. His left hand moved a series of levers in rhythmic time with his right as his fingers dashed over keys, punched buttons, and flipped switches. The cockpit doors closed shut and the ZAKU Warrior shifted onto the launching platform. The bay doors parted and the Mobile Suit stepped out into the head of the glittering linear catapult.
"Jule Squadron, Yzak Jule, Warrior, LAUNCH!"
The ZAKU was thrust into space.
Two more units exploded into fuchsia clouds. The black Blaze ZAKU Phantom dodged laser fire from behind as a third mobile suit appeared. The pirates were getting smarter and swifter in their pillaged units, now attacking in teams. Each of their mobile suits was a mish-mash of pieces from destroyed units – an OMNI Dagger with the legs of a ZAFT Dinn mounted with the Slash ZAKU's twin Gatling beam cannons, for example – and all were painted black with red markings in the colours of the pirate fleets. Despite the freakish alterations these units had undergone, their pilots had learnt to wield them almost better than any production line model. This fact scared Dearka Elthman.
"Dammit, where the hell are they coming from?" he whined to himself, as he took out the third attacker with a barrage of missiles. It disappeared in a blast of pink. Dearka was guiding his ZAKU to help a group of friendlies when the flares of retreat rose from the pirate mother ship – a custom built carrier. Dearka stared in confusion at the returning enemy units that zipped past his monitor. Again, the retreat flares lit up the black of space but this time they came from the Voltaire.
"Damn," Dearka muttered. The Blaze ZAKU Phantom turned and joined the trail of ZAKUs and other friendly units returning to the Voltaire. Dearka flipped his radio switch a few times but still only managed to get static. He shrugged, put his ZAKU in autopilot, and let his mind wander to the floating graveyard around him.
The site of the last war, which had ended over six months ago, was still littered with the charred debris of mobile suits and warships from both sides. ZAFT and Orb were sharing the responsibility of the cleanup through a jointly run program, whereby citizens from both sides worked together to delicately clear away the destroyed units, and inform families of their losses. However, the crew couldn't work around the clock, giving pirates the chance to dive in and gorge themselves. Well, not if the ZAFT Nazca fleets such as the Jule Squad could help it.
Movement between chunks of debris caught Dearka's attention. He zoomed his visual sensors on the area and waited for another gap in the drifting rubble. His sensors picked up a friendly ZAKU, a green Warrior model. It was relatively undamaged, just disabled, and was being swarmed by pirate units. Dearka realised that the cockpit of the ZAKU was intact. The pilot was still inside.
"Hey!" Dearka called over the radio, but was immediately deafened by a rush of static. Switching to manual, he manoeuvred his Blaze ZAKU towards the area and fired upon the pirates. He took out three units, but a fourth was too close to the friendly ZAKU for him to fire.
"Argh!" Dearka cried as he was slammed from behind. The force of the blow threw him forward, winding him. He tried to turn on his surprise attacker, but was suddenly surrounded. Two blows from the front smashed his cockpit doors in. He snatched his hands away from the control panel as sparks flew. He was rammed again from behind. This time the control panel was too far forward for his harness to safely hold him back. Dearka's head smashed against the panel, cracking the front glass of his helmet. Blood streamed down his face and his vision blurred. Dearka lost consciousness.
When the Blaze ZAKU Phantom fell silent, the pirate units withdrew slightly, forming a loose circle around it. Other units, including a passenger carrier of an old ZAFT design but painted black, surrounded the green ZAKU Warrior they had captured before the interruption. Pilots in dark flight suits opened the ZAKU Warrior's cockpit with a hiss. The white-suited pilot from within burst free and fired his gun in rapid succession, killing two of the enemy pilots. He was quickly outnumbered and apprehended from behind, the gun pried free and his arms twisted behind his back. An injection gun was pushed against his neck and fired. In an instant, the needle tip penetrated his suit and his skin, and injected its contents into his neck.
In less than a minute, the pilot was unconscious. A patch was sealed over the hole in his suit, and he was guided to the carrier.
"Dearka."
"Yzak!" Dearka bolted upright and frantically looked about him – he was in a ZAFT ship, maybe the Voltaire. Dearka groaned and put a hand to his temple as the room began to spin. He tried shutting his eyes, but it only made the feeling worse.
"Woah, take it easy," said a feminine voice. Dearka felt hands on his shoulders, gently urging him back down. He complied, lying flat on the bunk. After a moment, his headache was gone and the world was still. He recognised the doctor of the Voltaire staring down at him, a worried look on her face as she removed his hand and looked over his forehead.
"You took a nasty knock," she said. "It's good thing there was someone in the area to bring you in, or you mightn't have made it." The doctor turned to her trolley of medical supplies and retrieved two capsules and a sipper of water from the top shelf.
"Now, sit up slowly and take these," she said, holding them out for Dearka.
"What are they for?" he asked, as he carefully pushed himself up.
"These should cure the headaches, but you've still got a slight concussion so you should take it easy."
Dearka took the pills and emptied the sipper, before swinging his legs over the edge of the bunk.
"Sorry, Doc," he said, standing, though a little shaky on his feet. "I need to get to the bridge."
The doctor was about to urge Dearka back down, but he pushed her hands away. Used to the brash, stubborn, and often thick-skulled, military types, and knowing Dearka as a classic example, the young doctor gave up with a sigh. Instead of protesting, she leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. "Why the urgency? We're already heading to the next area."
Dearka grabbed his uniform from a nearby table. He pulled up his dark slacks and fastened them before slipping into the black military issue jacket that dipped over his knees. Running his hands down his chest, he clipped shut the concealed clasps of his jacket. He tilted his head back as he closed the stiff collar over his throat.
"Something's not right," he finally replied, pulling his white boots up his thighs. "I have to find out what it is."
The doctor stood and approached Dearka – she was slightly taller than him at full height. She reached up and refastened the bandages around his head, making sure they were secure. "Go take a look, make sure everything is okay, then get some rest, or come back and see me if you're not feeling any better."
"Thanks," Dearka replied with a nod, before moving to the door. It slid aside with a 'whoosh' and he launched himself out of the infirmary.
Dearka floated onto the upper bridge of the Voltaire, as the lift door slid closed behind him. His eyes scanned the entire upper and lower bridges as he came to land beside the Captain.
"Where's Yzak?" asked Dearka. He'd never known Yzak to leave the bridge in the middle of a battle unless he was going to the frontlines, yet he hadn't seemed to ever consider pirates worth the effort.
"Major," the Captain greeted. "Commander Jule was registered as returning to the ship with you. We assumed he was also in the infirmary."
"He went out?"
"Scans were showing that the Elthman Squad was outnumbered. We were trying to send you various battle strategies but we were being jammed. As soon as we lost all contact with you, the Commander went out on his own."
Dearka was confused. "But I didn't see Yzak's GOUF out there."
The Captain had already lost interest in the subject, turning his attention back to the main viewer. His tone was edging on frustration when he replied. "There was a malfunction with the staging area or something. He took one of the spare ZAKUs out instead. It's undergoing repairs as we speak."
"A ZAKU!?" Dearka's mind rushed back to the battle.
His sensors picked up a friendly ZAKU, a green Warrior model. It was relatively undamaged, just disabled, and was being swarmed by pirate units. Dearka realised that the cockpit of the ZAKU was intact. The pilot was still inside.
Dearka snapped out of his thoughts. He grabbed an earpiece from one of the control panels, and pushed it into his ear. "Engines all stop. That's an order."
"Sir?" asked the pilot. The other technicians around the bridge had also turned to look up at the Major. It was rare that he was left in charge of the ship, let alone took control of a situation.
"Do it," affirmed the Captain. With a quick affirmation, the Voltaire ceased its course. "Major Elthman, you'd better have an explanation for this."
Dearka nodded. "I have reason to believe that Commander Jule is no longer aboard this ship."
"But he's registered as returning – even the ZAKU returned, disabled but mostly undamaged. I told you, it's–"
Dearka cut him off. "Well he's not here and he's not in the infirmary, so where the hell is he!?"
No one had an answer to that. The Captain could only stare blankly at Dearka.
"Right," said Dearka. "I'm taking command of the Voltaire."
He turned to the communications officer. "Have we got communications back yet?"
"Yes, Sir," she replied.
"Have two security teams meet me on the lower deck. We're going to do a ship-wide search. If we don't turn up anything in an hour, contact PLANT and have them send re-enforcements to our current position."
Dearka leapt past the strategy table and towards the lift. The door slid open. "Keep in constant contact with the teams via private channel. I don't want the fact that we're missing our Commander broadcast all over the ship, or to anyone else out there who might be listening."
"Understood," replied the Captain, as the lift swallowed Dearka. When the Captain turned back to the bridges, the entire crew was staring up at him.
"I know how you all feel about Major Elthman," he said, addressing their unvoiced concerns. "However, both former and current Chairpersons, and even the Commander himself have had enough confidence in Major Elthman to allow him the authority and position he currently holds. We have to follow his orders until either the Commander returns or we're given further instructions from PLANT.
"Now, in addition to Major Elthman's orders, I'll ask that Communications notifies PLANT of our current situation via coded frequency, but don't ask for re-enforcements until the Major's specified time."
The communications officer punched a few buttons on her console. "Done, Sir."
"Open a link to Major Elthman's private frequency."
"Yes, Sir."
The remaining bridge crew glanced uneasily at each other, but returned to their duties.
"Bridge, this is Elthman. Can you hear me?" said Dearka, pushing a finger against the button of the earpiece he had acquired from the bridge. He was accompanied by another eight crewmembers – all green coats.
"Loud and clear, Sir," replied the communications officer, her voice sounding hollow but clear against Dearka's eardrum.
"Good." Dearka turned to the other crewmembers who were also wearing earpieces. He indicated to those closest to him. "You three come with me. Hayes, take everyone else and re-check the infirmary, then go to the hangers. Make sure you check out the ZAKU that brought me here. My team'll go to the recreational rooms, and then both teams will meet at the personnel quarters."
With quick acknowledgements, the group split into two and followed the curve of the corridor in opposite directions.
Dearka's team swept through the refectory, recreational halls, and training facilities without any sign of the ship's commander. The second team reported similar luck. With those areas cleared, Dearka ordered the teams to the level assigned to the crew's quarters. Dearka reasoned that if Yzak were still aboard, his captor would have been forced to retreat into quarters by now. The search team split into four groups to quickly cover the various personnel sections.
Dearka, accompanied by a technician named Tains, went straight to the Command section of the level, which housed both his own and Yzak's quarters. Stopping in front of Yzak's door, Dearka pushed the intercom button, but even as he did so, he pulled out his own personal access card. He waited briefly for a reply. When none came, he swiped his access card and the door to Yzak's quarters whooshed aside. From behind him, Tains stared at Dearka dumbfounded.
"Instead of gawking at me why don't you check the quarters in this section? Start with mine if you want – room 328, around the corner," suggested Dearka, barely concealing his annoyance as he held up the spare key card to his quarters. "I'll meet you there."
Tains didn't move.
"Go!" Dearka growled. His rare burst of anger jerked Tains out of his daze. He took the card from Dearka with a startled, "Yes Sir," and hurried down the passageway. His mind returning to the task at hand, Dearka stepped cautiously into Yzak's room. The lights came on as he entered.
The main room looked the same as it as always did – clean, formal, bare except for the few files that were piled up beside the monitor on the workstation. Even the chair at the workstation was pushed in. Behind it, in the far corner of the room, the double bed was neatly made, the sheets crinkled slightly from urgency. Dearka moved around the corner to the small bathroom. He nearly rolled his eyes at the sight of the lowered toilet seat, but continued his inspection of the shower cubicle. He smirked when his gaze fell upon the sink. A familiar coffee mug, filled with water, was blocking the drain. Yzak's habit of late night cups of tea and early morning coffees often meant that his mug would spend the night in the nearest sink – why take the trip to the kitchen when he was going to go the next morning anyway? It used to annoy Dearka when they were sharing quarters during their earlier days in ZAFT – where was he supposed to brush his teeth with Yzak's prized cup hogging the sink? – but now it felt like a small comfort in all the chaos.
"You don't change at all, do you, Yzak," Dearka said to himself. He sighed as he left the bathroom and gave the main room a final look over, even glancing up at the ceiling. He tapped a finger to his earpiece. "Dearka here. No sign of Yzak in his quarters. I'm going to meet Tains in my own quarters."
"Understood, Major." The usually eager feminine voice seemed distant and sad. Dearka ignored it before it could remind him of his own feelings. He pushed himself off the entrance doorway and drifted down the hall, pulling himself around the corner to reach his own quarters. His door was wide open when he got there. Inside, Tains was half-crouching, half-kneeling beside Dearka's bed amongst the strewn collection of dirty magazines. His gaze was set on the issue laid open atop Dearka's sheets. Dearka stood in the doorway and folded his arms.
"Tains?"
The technician jumped – literally – and bumped his head against the ceiling thanks to the low gravity.
"Ow! Oh, sorry, Sir. I was trying to inspect under your bed but I was… distracted." Tains looked away, pink tinging his cheeks.
Dearka opened his mouth to scold Tains, but a voice in his ear cut him off.
"Sir, authorised entry into Commander Jule's quarters!"
Dearka whirled around and launched himself from his doorway. By the time Tains reached the Major's side, Dearka was already standing in the open doorway of the Commander's quarters. His eyes were wide as he stepped inside.
Set out neatly beside the files on the workstation, were Yzak's gun and personal access card.