Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims.

Phase 13: Political entanglements

=GSI=

Part 5

=GSI=

Panacea Research Center

Aprilius One

PLANT

For weeks now, Gilbert Durandal drove himself into his work, spending every spare moment left from running his pharmaceutical company into research. What he worked on was of a particular personal interest for him and his lover, Talya – the inability of them to have children. Really, it was an overhead conversation he overheard in his corporate HQ that caused him to dig deeper and ensured he got little to no sleep for almost two weeks straight.

The fear that Talya managed to get herself killed until she got back to PLANT a few days ago didn't help in that regard. Neither did his preliminary findings based on a lot of test, simulations and calling up favors to get into certain government databases usually someone like him would have no interest or need to browse.

Birthrates among second, and especially third generation Coordinators were sharply falling off, or so the data suggested. How much of it was caused by the disruptions surrounding PLANT's independence, the persecution Coordinators faced down on Earth and wanting to establish a security net for their families when they escaped to the safety of the colonies before trying for children and the war, instead of something deeper and more concerning was still very much in the air. Yet, among thirty samples from volunteer third generation pairs he managed to get his hands on, twenty seven wouldn't be able to have viable children between each other baring a miracle.

Gilbert and Talya were among that number and he wasn't looking up to telling her that when they managed to see each other next. The only possible way for that to change would be extensive genetic modification of both sperm and eggs up to the point that any child they had would be as close to them biologically as the average adoption and it was all because of the genetic modifications they enjoyed in the first place that made them incompatible. Durandal sorely hoped that the samples he currently had access to were loaded, merely a high number of unlucky couples. That hope died when he crosschecked them among each other, which only proved that among the thirty men and women, only eight could have viable children if matched just right. While the sample size was too small to make a reasonable conclusion for Coordinators in general, the trend was more than concerning, not just because of the war in general, but because all of the men and women who died recently. Thousands might not sound like much, however those who perished in space were among some of the best PLANT had and their population had never been particularly high in the first place.

Gilbert needed more samples, more data, because if he was right, not only this war had to end, soon, but the hatred between Coordinators and Naturals too. Because on a hunch, simulations between the samples he had and data he had on record from his grand-parents indicated that there might be no issue for third generation Coordinators to have children with Naturals. No more than anyone else anyway.

Durandal left the lab in a hurry. He had to call in more than a few favors and make damn sure he had his conclusions right. He had to call in a few of the researchers he trusted most to double and triple check it too, just in case. Because if he was right? He had no idea what he would have to do, neither how to tell the truth to Talya.

=GSI=

Presidential Palace

Geneva

Switzerland

Eurasian Federation

Mariah Duboa sat behind her desk, absent-mindedly tracing the edge of the large antique desk she and her predecessors have been using for couple of decades now. Currently, the only things covering the polished wood were a closed thin laptop and a stack of signed documents waiting to be copied and distributed across various archives.

The President's two guests made themselves comfortable in their seats across the desk and they couldn't have been more different from each other if they tried. Vanko Borodin, the ancient bastard somehow looked both distinguished and utterly forgettable, possibly something to do with spending decades as a spy, spymaster and more recently, Director of the Federal Information Service, the overriding organization that kept the various civilian intelligence services of the EF under its umbrella. Beside him sat a much younger, charismatic and energetic man, Foreign Minister Luis Alpizar, who was one of Mariah's closest political allies and the chosen successor of one of her retired mentors.

"It's not often the two of you request a meeting." Duboa examined Luis' aristocratic features for a moment, before her gaze moved from the veteran diplomat to focus upon the spymaster. "Especially together."

"What each of us has to tell you is related." Borodin grumbled, making a good impression of a particularly irate bear disturbed during its slumber. "We do have a spotty picture pertaining certain events." He gave Mariah a pointed look.

"Veil's theories? Do we have some corroboration we can make a good use of?" The President's spine stiffened. No one had been particularly thrilled when the first warnings about the AF leadership being even less trustworthy than usual, if not particularly treacherous because of Blue Cosmos influence came from the ONI asset on the Archangel.

At any rate, that warning, and the confession that the ONI assets attached to the Archangel and Artemis got from Minister Allister did point FIS in the right direction. The EF intelligence services were working on overdrive ever since, however there wasn't much useful evidence they could find on a short notice. The fragmented nature of communications on Earth since the war began didn't help matters. Even at the best of times it could take time and effort for spies to safely rely anything they had discovered without unduly risking to blow up their cover.

"First, I'll tackle ONI. Our own vice-director is currently the only one alive high placed member of the organization we're reasonably sure hasn't been compromised by Blue Cosmos elements or whoever is pulling their strings if Allister is to be believed. What's more, a closer look and data analysis of the actions of their known members and various figures among the military-industrial complex indicate some concerning trends."

"It's confirmed then?" Duboa asked.

"Only one of the ONI vice-directors is currently unaccounted for, either dead or in hiding. The rest, including the new director of the agency are either known or suspected Blue Cosmos sympathizers. Those who weren't are dead or retired over the past few months. We expect that this trend will repeat itself within the AF at large after their presidential elections."

"Blue Cosmos will be consolidating power, that much was a given." Luis grimaced. "The way they're doing it or we suspect they'll go about it is most concerning however. It's one thing to remove members of the previous administration from power, something like this however… That's one of the major selling points of democracy, it allows people to lose elections and not fear for their lives. The same goes when a new administration overhauls the top echelons of either the military or intelligence agencies if they don't meet their standards!"

"Unfortunately, what we're primary seeing so far are mostly concerning trends that aren't really out of the ordinary for large corporations. It's the hints of close cooperation between what should be rivals, especially among various defense contractors, both within the Eurasian Federation and abroad that is more concerning. As far as Blue Cosmos themselves are concerned, there isn't anything new of consequence. We've been watching them closely domestically ever since their ideology became a big thing across the Atlantic. We can't have one of the largest political parties in North America have undue influence in our own backyard after all."

"Not to mention that the ideology of their radical wing hints too close to comfort of some things that better stay buried for good." Luis hummed. "The reason why we're both here has less to do with the Atlantic Federation and whatever they're trying to pull off this time around. The primary diplomatic issues entangled with our intelligence apparatus are centered upon ORB. It's a public secret that their Chief Representative stepping down due to Heliopolis was merely a smoke screen." The Foreign Minister nodded at the spy. "Both news coverage and data from our friends in the FIS confirm that Athha has been visiting ORB's Prime Minister, his brother, practically every day since he 'retired' from politics."

"In practice nothing changed, which is why I haven't been angrier at your failure to bring them on board. After all, for all practical intents and purposes, ORB has been anything but neutral in this conflict." Duboa stopped at that.

"Strictly speaking, they're following the principles of armed neutrality, however we all know that nowadays doing so is at best a polite fiction." Luis sidestepped an old argument between them.

"Cagalli Attha's capture and exposure in aiding terrorists within the Community is likely to be enough to bring down her father and his neutrality focused faction. In the short to medium term we expect political shift within ORB, the only question is if the faction favoring us or PLANT will emerge on top. My people are monitoring the situation and with your permission, Madam President, we're planning certain operations which should shift the probabilities in favor of the Earth Alliance supporters." Borodin said.

"When you have the plans ready, bring me the summaries. If you can convince me, I'll give you the green light. Luis, I want you to press as hard as prudent. We need ORB on our side, their Mass Driver alone is going to be invaluable. At the very least, if they join us, ZAFT will have to expend assets to neutralize them, instead of it being the other way around. Ideally, any such arrangement will be kept quiet until ZAFT finally strikes at Panama and pays the price for an attempt to neutralize the Mass Driver there."

=GSI=

Part 6

=GSI=

Supreme Council Chamber

Aprilius One

PLANT

The Supreme Council was in full attendance and everyone had their eyes locked on the National Defense Committee. Many of those looks were anything but friendly.

No surprises there. Most of the plans and conclusions Zala had to present were a far cry from the regular reports of crushing victories or the Naturals hiding in their holes that characterized many such meetings until Heliopolis.

"Can we afford to send that much raw resources and hardware to Earth, especially when most of it won't be used by our people?" Jazek asked.

"The resources aren't issue." Patrick explained. "We're set up to mine and refine more raw resources than our existing industry could handle. Since the beginning of the colonization program at least a part of the mining production was meant for Earth so the Naturals won't harm the environment any more that it already was and in the long run it was increasingly cheaper than what they could effectively mine across most of the planet. Our domestic bottleneck remains our population and industrial capacity, primary the former. Theoretically we could support our allies on Earth both with significantly more raw resources and military hardware than we've been making available until now."

"Why didn't we?" Dr White asked.

"Because even before the war we were making money hand over fist by selling resources, limited military and industrial hardware to both our allies and Earth as a whole. That's what in large part paid for our military and overhauling PLANT to be as self sufficient as time and resources allowed." Councilor Canaveral explained. "If providing such a care package to our allies is feasible, I'm all for it. The recent setbacks unsettled some of them, and while the Community makes all the right sounds to indicate that they're still on our side and would remain committed until either a victory or the bitter end, they did take heavy loses against the Eurasians. Loses it would serve us best to replenish as well as we could."

"That's the Defense Committee's recommendation." Zala repeated.

Surprisingly enough, the vote that followed was unanimous in support.

"The motion passes, we'll increase support of our allies on Earth as much as feasible." The Chairman declared. "Next, item on the agenda, how does the National Defense Committee suggest that we counter the recent military reversals?"

"In the short term, the overall strategic situation in space hasn't changed. PLANT is safe barring the Naturals going genocidal with the use of saturation kinetic strikes. You are all briefed on what losing the orbital means and are aware of the consequences. Our primary objective is retaking them. The question is what goals ZAFT should pursue afterwards. We have three different plans to propose for approval." Zala began. "First, after the recent defeats we suffered, do have a single silver lining. We no longer need to assault Panama ASAP. The supplies our enemies shuttled to the Moon would allow their forces to last for six to eight months at a minimum even if we completely cut off the Earth Alliance's remaining space assets from any resupply from planet-side and keep it that way. The reason why this is of a limited benefit is the fact that the defense of Panama ties down a significant amount of the Atlantic Federation's best ground forces and wet navy so they aren't available to deploy against us and our allies on Earth. In light of the losses we suffered recently, we in the Defense Committee see it in our best interest to play for time in the short term, replenish our losses, upgrade our hardware so we would be better positioned to face Earth's Mobile Suits once they begin mass production and most importantly, strengthen the position of our allies planet-side. This is partially achieved thanks to the Council's agreement to offer increased aid to said allies."

"Isn't this play straight in the enemy's hands? The longer the war drags, in worse position we will be." Chairman Clyne spoke sharply.

"It does, at least in theory. We aren't proposing to stop any and all offensive operations, on the contrary. We have three plans for strategic offensives that will weaken the Earth Alliance in the long run, which will culminate in an assault on Panama to neutralize the Mass Driver there." Zala stated. "First however, we need a clarification on ORB's status. One of the plans is a currently a contingency in case that they either openly join the Earth Alliance or this Council decides that their actions to date constitute grounds for military retaliation. In either case, we will need to neutralize ORB's Mass Driver in order to deny it's use to the enemy. The most currently relevant part of the plan is a limited campaign targeting ORB's space assets, which will deny them both resources and industrial capacity. This component, dubbed Angel's Tears, will aim to capture said assets if practical, destroy them if not. Obviously, activating this plan will require a Council vote."

As expected, Patrick's words ignited a fire-storm. They also promptly divided the Council between those who believed that for almost all practical intents and purposes ORB had thrown their lot with the EA and was already and enemy, and the Councilors who were against increasing the scope of the war even further. After nearly an hour of debates and fielding questions pertaining Angel's Tears, the Council remained dead-locked and Clyne had to table the discussion for the time being so they could be briefed on the other two plans for strategic offensive.

"The second plan is to feint launching Operation Split Break, which is the code name for our assault on Panama, and instead strike at JOSH-A, the supreme headquarters of the Earth Alliance in Alaska. Neutralizing that facility will not only decapitate the enemy's military but serve as a severe blow on their combat and industrial capabilities. To the best of our knowledge, JOSH-A isn't merely an important command node and a military base but a large industrial node as well, one dedicated on military production."

More debates followed, and unsurprisingly, changing the target of Split Break did gain much more support.

"Before we put it to a vote, what about the third option?" Clyne inquired.

"It is arguably the most controversial. Needless to say at this time we aren't considering a further escalation of the war in the realm of using strategic weaponry, otherwise Operation Crown would be more palatable. In a nutshell, it is a direct strike against critical nodes of Atlantic Federation and Republic of East Asia power generation nodes aimed at further disrupting their industry. What makes Operation Crown controversial is that if we conduct it conventionally, it will be virtual suicide for the units we will drop in order to neutralize the targets…"

The Council chamber fell silent for a couple of seconds before almost everyone began shouting at the same time, demanding answers.