Disclaimer: Still don't own Gundam Seed Destiny

Cagalli walked down the hall, returning the salutes of the soldiers as she passed.

As she headed towards Chanka's room, she still burned because of her meeting with Parliament.

They were not happy of her decision to allow Atlantic Federation military forces on Orb for the duration of the crisis. It was something that she herself was hesitant to do for obvious reasons. There were still bitter memories of what happened last time Federation forces touched Orb soil.

She had lost her adopted father after all.

However, it was decided that Orb would lead the coalition force based on past experiences in leading different military groups. There was also the fact that her nation had been attacked by both ZAFT and the Federation in the last two wars; making the situation impartial in a sense. Though her best friend ran the PLANTs, there was still some animosity towards ZAFT by the Orb military.

The AF contingent would arrive in a few hours and be stationed on Onogoro Island. It was still being decided if the unit would be allowed to visit any of the civilian areas since they were Phantom Pain; it was only on word alone that the contingent was not made up of members of the Blue Cosmos. The young woman had no intention of letting them on her nation ever again.

Incidentally, Third Echelon already knew that Chanka was in Orb's possession. Apparently they had known for some time and were even willing to let her nation continue to hold him. Cagalli suspected that they were up to something since the scientist was still a valuable asset. From the research she had gathered, he had been a major player in the labs run by LOGOS.

It was because of that fact that the young woman was going to pay him a visit.

Cagalli had only met him once since he had arrived and opted to stay away from him. From the details that were given to her by both Kira and the various reports about the man, she had reasons to be wary of him. Scientists disturbed her to some degree, especially those with backgrounds in genetics.

The Destiny Plan had been thought up by scientists as well as her own father. There was no telling what kind of things could be dreamed up by them.

Chanka's cell was located deep underground near the main production plant. It was heavily guarded and protected by a platoon of handpicked soldiers; Kisaka had been involved in that so the young woman had very little to worry about in terms of potential security leaks. Though it was believed that Orb was clear of any former agents of any foreign power, it did not hurt to be extra cautious.

Approaching the room, the two guards armed with heavy assault rifles saluted and she made her way inside the room.

Chanka's room was fairly big and had been originally constructed as a storage room for heavy munitions. It was long and rectangular on the inside, its walls being plain concrete. When it had been converted for the elder scientist as a living space, a bathroom and been installed as well as furnishings to make Chanka somewhat comfortable. A computer had been setup but was heavily monitored in case of attempted contact to the outside. There were also plenty of security cameras all over the room.

So far, the scientist was working on the data dealing with Fllay and her children. Hopefully it would help with her condition as well as determine who wanted the red-head and why.

When Cagalli entered the room, she found Chanka dressed in a simple pair of light brown shorts, a Polynesian shirt, and a pair of white sandals. While the room was not cold, it was hardly warm and with the scientist being a natural, she wondered how he could stand it. However, from the looks of it, he seemed quite comfortable and was working on the small computer on his metal desk.

Smiling at her when he looked up, the older man greeted her in a cheery voice "Good afternoon Representative Athha; it is nice to finally meet you."

"Thank you; I am sorry I could not visit you," stated the Orb leader with a smile but lying at the same time.

"Really? From what I could tell, you seemed to be avoiding me," Chanka said, stopping his work and leaning back in his chair.

"What gives you that impression?" asked Cagalli with a frown as she just stood there.

"Your demeanor and the fact that I am good at detecting lies; do you have an issue with me?" asked the scientist, giving the young leader his full attention.

Cagalli took a seat on the chair in front of the desk and dropped her pleasant demeanor. It seemed that honesty was the way to go.

"Yes I do; I have been going over your history and work and am bothered by it," stated the young woman with a frown.

"I can see why you would; I must admit that there are times when I myself am bothered by what I have done. But I persevere knowing that a great good will come of it," remarked Chanka with conviction in his voice.

"Good? What good? What you are doing is immoral," Cagalli said, upset at the man's words.

"I think I need to explain; what do you think of Coordinators?" asked the scientist.

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Cagalli.

"It is a simple question; what do you think of Coordinators? Specifically the idea of them," asked the scientist again but being more specific.

"That they are people just as we are," simply said Cagalli.

"But they are not; they are born genetically modified thus a danger to humanity," stated the man with a frown.

"Excuse me?" said the young woman with anger rising in her voice.

"I am not talking about the trash that members of the Blue Cosmos banter about but a danger to the evolution of the human race," explained Chanka leaning forward.

"What do you mean by evolution?" asked the Orb leader, her curiosity perked.

"By relying on genetic modifying, mankind risks the chance of not being able to evolve naturally. We have seen the effects of trying to alter the effects of nature many times in the past and thus need to halt the spread of genetic manipulation before it is too late," stated the scientist with sincerity.

"But we have eliminated diseases that way; also Coordinators are a benefit to society," argues Cagalli, not swayed by his analysis.

"But look at the costs for Coordinators; experts both on Earth and the PLANTs agree that naturally born Coordinators are decreasing in population due to sterility. Every plan to curb that has failed and it is looking very unlikely that the problem will be solved. The latest analysis states that Coordinators will be completely unable to reproduce in ten years."

"My brother was able to have children," countered the young woman.

"With a Natural though and not a Coordinator. The data on the Ultimate Coordinator Project reports the possible probability that the child of two Ultimates will be unable to reproduce. Since your brother is the only known success, we could never be truly sure," stated the elder man.

"Okay; but how does this justify to what you did to Fllay?" asked Cagalli, conceding that the scientist had made a successful argument despite her lingering doubts.

"I take no pleasure in experimenting on her and the children; I like to think that what I did has given her more of a chance. However, I do not doubt that Fllay Allster is a step forward in mankind's evolution and must be studied," Chanka said.

"Okay- but why is she a target? Would not her children be a more of a risk than her?" asked Cagalli.

"I do not know and that's what is bothering me; by all counts, the children should be the target and not Fllay. I just cannot figure out why," admitted the older man with a sigh.

"Did you have any partners on the project or was she involved in any other experiment?"

"No on both; Fllay was mine alone, though LOGOS did have access to all my data. The price of being able to use their resources," stated Chanka with a frown.

"Too bad they are all dead and that many documents relating to the organization are gone," said Cagalli.

"I have never really believed that everyone involved in leadership in an organization that large was killed during the war."

"You think there are some players still around?" asked the Orb leader with interest.

"Maybe; I would not doubt that," Chanka said.

Cagalli went into deep thought about that and decided to consult Kisaka to see if he had any thoughts.

…..

Both Kira and Athrun stared at the car engine.

"Why did you decide to rent an older vehicle from a shady car rental?" asked Athrun as he turned to frown at his friend.

The two had been traveling for a few hours when suddenly the car died in the middle of a stretch of road that seemed to go on for miles. The surrounding terrain was desert and mountains; barren of any life. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on the two and making the air hot.

The two were dressed in formal civilian attire, giving the hint of being someone important but not too high on the hierarchal ladder. Their dark clothing was not suited for the environment which made them uncomfortable. They also lacked any change of clothing and have very little for liquid refreshments.

It was almost comical with a sense of cliché.

"I was trying to save money," was all Kira could say, continuing to stare at the dead engine.

"We pilot million credit machines, are using a converted freighter on an intelligence op that is costing Orb billions, and you are worried about saving money?" asked Athrun incredulously. He shook his head to contemplate it.

Kira just stood silent and looked around for a sign of civilization.

"So what do we do?" asked raven-haired Coordinator, wiping the sweat off of his face.

"We could try to fix it?" Kira suggested, motioning at the engine.

"We may be both engineers, but something this old is out of out league. We also do not have any tools with us," Athrun stated, giving his friend a frown.

The vehicle was battered and looked to be of a design from before the Reconstruction Wars. It was red, two door, and had a license plate that had the old United States flag on it. Three of the wheel covers were missing and the back bumper was held together with durable tape. It was amazing that it even ran at all.

"Okay, I guess we could call Shinn and have him come get us," the Ultimate Coordinator said, grabbing his phone.

"Oh, I am not looking forward to hearing about this," said military soldier sarcastically. He knew that the younger man would not let them live it down.

"We could just say lie and say that we were hit by something," said Kira as he dialed a number.

"That might work; why would anyone put a military base in an area such as this?" asked Athrun looking around and trying to make sense of it.

"What do you mean?" asked Kira with the receiver at his ear.

"North America is one of the greenest continents in the world. One would think that a military base would be in a more hospitable place," stated the young man.

"ZAFT has bases all over the Sahara," Kira countered, still waiting for a response.

"Yes, but that is because the African Community is mostly desert; there should be a difference here," Athrun said, wiping his brow again.

Kira just shrugged and still waited for his signal to go thru.

All of a sudden, there was a large roar in the sky and a shadow covered the two Coordinators. Both looked up to see a mobile suit overhead and descending towards them. Athrun was suddenly nervous due to the fact that the type of mobile suit as well as its color was well known. Kira put his phone down slightly, just as nervous as his friend.

The dark-colored Slaughter Dagger landed just a few meters from them and their vehicle. It was equipped with a jet striker pack and held a beam rifle in its right hand. While it was not pointed at the two Coordinators on the ground, they were nervous because if the mobile suit turned hostile there would be very little they could do to stop it.

"Need a lift?" called a voice from the mobile suit; catching the two young men on the ground by surprise. It was not hostile and even somewhat friendly.

"Yes please!" called out Kira, being as polite as possible.

After a few minutes, the two were back in the vehicle while the Slaughter Dagger hauled in it the air. The pilot told them that they were lucky since their breakdown was on the path of the routine patrol. If it wasn't, then they would have had quite a walk to make.

"I do not know who picked out that car, but boy were you two ripped off," laughed the pilot of the mobile suit.

Athrun just glared at Kira.

Author's Note: Due to a technical problem involving a power surge, this chapter is a lot shorter than it was suppose to be. I apologize for that and promise the next one, which will be out next month barring any problems, will be much longer. The next chapter will feature Kira and Athrun again, a new OC, as well as more of Yzak and company. Also more will be revealed on why our villain is after Fllay.

Please R&R