Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY

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Phase 23 - Beneath the Mask

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Stella Loussier was utterly baffled. Miki had barged into her room, yanked her out of bed, and quickly gotten her dressed. Before Stella knew what was going on, Miki had whisked her out of her room and into the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Stella asked uneasily.

“I’m taking you out of that room and into the galley,” Miki said resolutely, shoving Stella forward. “It’s unhealthy for you to be cooped up in there with the Emo Marauder all the time.”

“...emo?” Stella echoed blankly.

Miki shook her head. “Never mind,” she said, “just come on. We’re getting breakfast.”

Stella stared in confusion over her shoulder at Miki. “...why?”

“What do you mean ‘why?’” Miki said, stopping short. Stella turned around slowly to face her. “We eat breakfast. Most important meal of the day.”

“...but...why is Miki making Stella go?” Stella asked slowly. Miki paused, searching for words.

“I wanna be your friend,” she said, sticking her hand out and smiling. “And if we’re gonna be friends, it means we do stuff like this.”

Stella looked down at Miki’s hand, and then back up at Miki’s smiling face.

“Don’t you wanna be friends?” Miki asked, her hand falling, scratching the back of her head awkwardly.

Stella stared at Miki for a moment. “...friends...” she repeated. “...like Sting and Auel...”

Miki looked aside uneasily. “Uh, sure, I guess,” she said with a shrug. “So, um...we friends?”

Stella was silent a moment, before she smiled. “Okay...”

Miki grinned victoriously. “Great!” she exclaimed, grabbing Stella by the shoulders and turning her around, pushing her back down the hall. “Then we can get breakfast! I’m starving!”

Stella blinked in confusion as Miki wheeled her into the galley. Across the room, Yun and Gan glanced in surprise at Stella as she drifted into the room.

“Hey, you got Little Miss Recluse out into the light,” Gan said, pausing to take a healthy swig of coffee. “Does Shinn know about this?”

Miki shot a glare at Gan as she pushed Stella towards an empty seat. “What do you think?” she asked. “Kika’s probably off trying to get in his pants anyways.”

“What?” Yun exclaimed, her eyes widening in horror. “You mean we’ve got more drama to deal with?”

Another door opened; the intimidating shade of Zora Naikov swept into the room, with George not far behind her. She glanced neutrally at Stella for a moment and disappeared into a side room.

“I see you coaxed Stella out of hiding,” George said as he approached Miki. He turned towards Stella. “So what do you think?”

Stella stared blankly at him for a moment. “...it’s loud,” she said softly. George smiled and glanced at Miki.

“Your heart’s in the right place, Miki,” he said, “but let’s not go running until we know how to walk.”

“...where’s Shinn?” Stella asked suddenly. George glanced at her.

“No idea,” he said. He glanced over his shoulder and drifted off towards Zora, as she stared guardedly at everyone else. Stella looked back at Miki, confused.

“Stella wants to find Shinn,” she said. Miki blinked.

“Shinn? Ah, well...” Miki sighed in defeat. “Okay. Just let me get my breakfast.” She paused for a moment. “You want anything?”

Stella stared at Miki for a moment. “...hungry,” she said quietly.

Miki grinned, grabbed Stella by the arm, and pulled her towards the kitchen.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“He’s a liability, captain!”

Mev Typhoon sat in the captain’s chair, a piping cup of coffee in hand. Viima stood defensively to the side, clenching her gloved fists. Chris leaned against the wall to the right, watching everything neutrally. From the helm, Mike tried to look like he was just minding his own business.

Mev sat back and took a sip of coffee. “Of course he’s a liability,” he said. “If you want to look at it that way, so are you. What’s your point?”

Viima bristled angrily. “He has a death mark on his head in the PLANTs!” she protested. “They sent their best ship after him! They sent FAITH members after him! He’s not some smalltime punk; he’s committed treason, and ZAFT is hunting him down! And we’re the ones giving him shelter!”
“Again, if you want to play the ‘he’s an outlaw so he’s a liability’ card, the same applies to you,” Mev said smoothly. “Need I remind you of your little tiff with the Marshall Colony Authority?”

Viima sputtered angrily. “That’s different!” she exclaimed. “They framed me and forced me into exile!”

“And who said that’s not the case with Shinn?” Mev asked. He glanced down at Mike. “What do you think?”

Mike sighed, partly because he had just been dragged into the conversation. “He’s a kid,” he said with a shrug. “Still has some growing up to do, but he’s not that bad.” He turned his chair around to face Mev. “Yeah, he’s got the Minerva all over our asses now, but he’s also capable of chasing them off himself. Net result, more excitement than we’re ever used to, but it's not like our profession is for those of delicate constitution anyway.”

“Are you really going to keep taking that chance, captain?” Viima asked. “He may be a good pilot, but he’s dangerous!”

“Only to the people who piss him off,” Mike put in with a shrug. “He and Stella are damned good pilots, and they’ve got a couple of Gundams. You don’t just find Gundams anywhere.”

“Captain!” Viima exclaimed. “ZAFT sent the Minerva specifically to track down Shinn! Now that they know he’s here, it’s only a matter of time before they send enough troops to finish us off!”

Mev stood up and slowly turned to face Chris. “Your thoughts?” he asked.

Chris was silent a moment. “He does his job,” he said indifferently. “That’s all I care about.”

Mev turned to face Viima again; she sighed in frustration.

“You were there, Viima, when we made our deal,” Mev said. “He would work for us, fight for us, and help us. In return, we would provide him with a home. He has worked for and fought for and helped us. Shall we break our contract without good reason?”

Viima stormed out of the bridge in disgust. Mev sat back down indifferently.

“But still, captain,” Mike spoke up hesitantly, “we can’t rely on Shinn to hold the Minerva off all the time. Like Viima said, sooner or later ZAFT will send more troops after us. What will we do when that happens?”

Mev sat back and draped one leg over the other.

“We will let fate answer that question.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Impulse’s OS was finally recalibrated. Shinn closed up the cockpit panels with a sigh and climbed out of the cockpit. The Impulse was what made him worth something; it had to be at its best.

“So,” a voice that Shinn was growing all too accustomed to began jovially, “how’d you get this thing?”

Glancing down the gantry, Shinn found Kika drifted towards him. He glanced up at the silent Impulse.

“Haven’t I told you enough about me?” he asked uncomfortably, grabbing another pull-bar and taking off down the direction Kika had come. She watched him go for a moment, huffed indignantly, and hopped up into the corridor over his head, drifting down headfirst in front of him and stopping him.

“Stop being all pissy,” she said with a grin. “I’m trying to be friendly.”

Shinn tried to go around her; Kika righted herself and stopped him again.

“I mean it,” she said, her smile fading. “You’re never going to last in the world if you’re all pissy and shut off.”

Shinn looked away in annoyance. “I don’t need to go wearing my heart on my sleeve,” he said scornfully. Kika shook her head.

“Well, at least try to be a little more receptive, okay?” she asked. She paused, finding him still not answering her, and smacked him upside the head.

Shinn sputtered in surprise, staring angrily at her. “What the hell was that for?” he demanded.

“To make you pay attention,” she said sweetly. “Now talk to me. That’s how this whole ‘conversation’ thing works.”

“I don’t like it,” Shinn said resolutely, skirting around her and taking off down the corridor again. Kika heaved a sigh and righted herself.

Shinn continued down the corridor towards his room alone, shaking his head. Kika was interested in him, but he didn’t know why; she was relentless in her efforts to pry into him and get to know him better. He wondered if she had some kind of ulterior motive. She was friendly, and she didn’t seem to be trying to hurt him or cause him problems, but that didn’t answer any of his questions.

He blinked in surprise as he saw Stella and Miki coming down the corridor towards the door of his and Stella’s room.

“Shinn!” Stella exclaimed, rushing towards him and hugging him. Shinn looked at Miki in confusion.

“I took Stella out to get breakfast,” Miki said sheepishly, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. “Hope you don’t mind.”

Shinn looked back questioningly at Stella. “Miki’s nice!” Stella exclaimed happily. Shinn blinked again and looked back at Miki; she shrugged back.

“Um, okay,” Shinn said blankly.

“You shouldn’t keep her cooped up in there all the time,” Miki added, crossing her arms, trying to look authoritative and failing because she was about a foot shorter than Shinn. “It’s not healthy.”

“Stella’s been through a lot of things that aren’t healthy,” Shinn said, arching an eyebrow inquisitively. Miki paused, and then sighed in defeat, looking down at the floor.

“But still,” she began, and said nothing more.

“Miki is Stella’s friend,” Stella said earnestly, looking at Shinn. Shinn smiled back.

“I know, it’s okay,” he said. “I guess you need friends too.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

Standing on the bridge of the Girty Lue, Neo stroked his chin in thoughtfully, reading the reports as they scrolled by on the screen. In his chair, Lee read them as well.

“So Stella’s a pirate now,” Neo said conclusively.

“So the rumors say,” Lee put in. Neo sat down in his chair and sighed.

“This will complicate things,” he said. “The Minerva’s attacked that pirate ship once, and they’re gearing up to do it again.”

“It’s not a fast ship,” Lee added. “We would be able to catch up to it.”

“We would,” Neo agreed gravely, “but that kid in the Impulse beat us once before. He’d probably do it again.” He scowled. “Damn you, Shinn Asuka.”

“He’s a formidable opponent,” Lee said with a hint of approval. “I see why ZAFT wants to take him down.”

Neo stood up. “We’ll follow the Minerva, and see how they fare,” he said. “Depending on how they do, we’ll sweep in and take a stab at those pirates again.” He glanced at Lee. “Keep the Mirage Colloid up and follow the Minerva.”

“Yes sir,” Lee answered neutrally.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Shinn Asuka sighed as he zipped up his flight suit. The Kasselheim had almost made it to Copernicus without event, both within and without, but the Minerva had finally caught up with them. The Minerva was back; here, in front of Copernicus, the Kasselheim and the Minerva would duel once again. Rey was back; Shiho was back; Luna was back. He would have to face them again.

"Hey, Shinn," Gan said as she closed the seals of her helmet. "Pay attention."

Shinn glanced at her with an arched eyebrow.

"We have a plan this time," George said as he closed his visor. He went over to a screen on the wall and activated it; a panorama of Copernicus and the space around it appeared. "The ship is heading for the ruins of a colony that was destroyed in the Valentine War and crashed onto the lunar surface. We'll go play with your friends there."

Shinn nodded mutely and strapped his helmet on. He turned and entered the hangar without a word, strapping himself into the Impulse's cockpit.

He closed his eyes; they were back again. He would have to fight Rey again, listen to his screaming accusations, defend his friends again.

Shinn opened his eyes; the Impulse stepped onto the catapult.

"Shinn Asuka, Impulse...going out!"

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Inside the Blast Impulse, a twisted scowl slithered onto Ruumari Star's face.

"That traitor will die today!" he shouted, firing the Blast Impulse's booster.

"Ruumari!" Shiho shouted from the Savior. "Don't break—goddammit, what the hell is his problem?!"

"Aoma and I will keep an eye on him," Luna offered from her ZAKU. "Since we know he'll be after Shinn."

"Roger," Shiho answered in annoyance. "Rey, you and I will go after the other mobile suits. The Rutherford's mobile suits will attack the pirate ship."

Rey nodded silently, his face dark with hatred. Shiho looked back wearily at the Kasselheim, as its mobile suits had launched. She hoped that someone would take Shinn down this time—he was engendering too much hatred and drama to be alive any longer.

Inside the Force Impulse, Shinn magnified the image and found the Blast Impulse rocketing towards him as fast as its thrusters could carry it. He glanced up ahead, finding the wreckage of the colony nearby. The Blast Impulse fired its weapons at him; Shinn dodged easily and took off towards the colony.

"Stop running!" Ruumari shrieked, blasting off after the Force Impulse.

"Ruumari! Stop!" Aoma shouted. "He's leading you into a trap!"

"Like he cares," Luna snorted disgustedly; her ZAKU and the Sword Impulse took off after the Blast Impulse.

Shinn glanced over his shoulder, finding the Blast Impulse charging after him. He boosted up towards the wreckage and looked around tensely. The wreckage was enormous, clearly ideal for a mobile suit battle, but it would take all of his skill not to fall victim to the same trap he was leading the ZAFT suits into.

Ruumari fired another full blast that Shinn easily ducked under. The blasts slammed into the colony wreckage, and something began to explode; Shinn used the explosion as a cover to escape into the debris. Ruumari shielded his eyes and landed with a curse, looking around furiously.

"Stop hiding, you traitor!" he snarled. "Come on out! You're in here somewhere!" He raised his weapons to open fire.

The Sword Impulse slammed down in front of him, pushing his beam cannons back down. "Stop it!" Aoma shouted.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Ruumari screamed back. Luna's ZAKU landed to his right.

"You're just going to make things worse," she said wearily. "We'll have to find him ourselves." The ZAKU turned and cautiously began to walk towards the wreckage.

Ruumari scowled and took off over the Sword Impulse's head, diving into the debris.

Shinn narrowed his eyes at the Blast Impulse and dove out from behind cover, firing his beam rifle. The Blast Impulse lurched back behind his shield, but not before a beam blast from the Force Impulse blew its beam rifle out of its hand. Ruumari cursed and fired back with the Blast Silhouette's weapons.

"Go to hell, traitor!" he screamed. "I'll take you down one way or another!"

Shinn dove beneath the Blast Impulse's shots and rocketed up into its face. Ruumari pulled back, drawing the Blast Impulse's beam javelins, and charged again; Shinn scowled and drew a beam saber, and the two Impulses slammed together with a crash.

"All those ZAFT troops you killed! I'll take revenge for them all!" Ruumari screamed. He tried to kick the Force Impulse in the stomach; Shinn caught the blow with his shield and kicked the Blast Impulse in the face, sending it staggering back. Before Ruumari could recover, he slashed the beam javelin in half; Ruumari threw the sparking remainder of one javelin away and charged with the remaining half.

Shinn narrowed his eyes and kicked the beam javelin out of the Blast Impulse's hand—before it could react, Shinn severed the Blast Impulse's right arm at the elbow, and knocked it to the ground with a kick to the chest. Shinn raised his saber for a killing blow—

A pair of beam boomerangs came slicing down at him; Shinn cut them both in half and looked up in surprise. The Sword Impulse came flashing down towards him, anti-ship swords upraised. Shinn ducked aside from their blow and kicked the Sword Impulse in the stomach, knocking it to the Blast Impulse's side. He switched to his beam rifle and raised it, but a beam cannon blast smashed into the ground before him, and he leapt backwards in surprise. A red Gunner ZAKU Warrior landed with a crash in front of the two Impulses, pointing its beam cannon at the Force Impulse.

"Not today, Shinn," Lunamaria said, glaring at Shinn. "Aoma, get Ruumari out of here before he blows an artery."

The Sword Impulse took off with the damaged Blast Impulse. Shinn narrowed his eyes at Luna's ZAKU.

"Why'd it have to come to this, Shinn?" she asked. "Weren't we friends? Didn't that mean anything to you?"

"That's why I told you not to get in my way," Shinn said harshly. “I promised you I wouldn’t hurt you. Don’t make me go back on that promise.”

Luna flinched at his words, but held her ground. “Would you really?” she asked. “Would you throw away our friendship, forsake the times we had together, and kill me, just to protect Stella? I don’t believe you would.”

The Impulse raised its beam rifle and pointed it at the ZAKU’s chest. Shinn scowled.

“Do you want to bet your life on that, Luna?” he asked.

Luna’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Y-You’re serious!” she exclaimed.

“Lunamaria, get back!” a voice screamed; a beam blast came down in front of the Impulse, and Shinn rocketed away as Rey’s ZAKU Phantom slammed down between Luna’s ZAKU and the Impulse. The ZAKU Phantom raised its beam rifle and opened fire; Shinn pulled back behind his shield.

“Rey!” Luna exclaimed. “What are you—”

“If you won’t take him down, I will!” Rey snapped. “Go back to the Minerva!”

Without waiting for Luna’s answer, the ZAKU Phantom drew a beam tomahawk and hurled it at the Impulse. Shinn batted it away with his shield and fired back with his beam rifle; the ZAKU Phantom ducked aside from the Impulse’s shots and fired back.

“You couldn’t turn me into a Newtype super-soldier, so you’ll kill me instead?!” Shinn screamed, taking off over Luna’s ZAKU as Rey’s ZAKU skimmed over the lunar surface. “Is that how it’s going to be, Rey?! I’ll kill you too if you make me!”

Rey scowled and fired back with his beam rifle; the Impulse ducked beneath the ZAKU’s shots and raised its rifle to return fire. A moment later, it lurched to the side to dodge a beam cannon blast from Luna’s ZAKU Warrior.

“We won’t take your actions lightly, Shinn!” Luna shouted; she fired again, and Shinn ducked beneath another blast. “We won’t let you be just like that! What you did is too serious!”

Shinn growled a curse under his breath and pulled back behind his shield as Rey showered the Impulse with beam rifle fire. He dove behind a pile of wreckage; Rey’s shots slammed uselessly into the wreckage, and a pall of smoke rose over the battlefield.

“Stop running, Shinn!” Rey shouted, landing with a crash. “Stop running and face your destiny!”

The ZAKU took off with a beam rifle shot; Luna’s ZAKU Warrior followed it up with a beam cannon blast, and behind another piece of colony wreckage, the Impulse dove away from an exploding piece of ruined machinery.

“You have no choice!” Rey cried, as the ZAKU Phantom leapt into the air and released a swarm of missiles on the Impulse. “You can’t escape yourself! You are a Newtype! Accept it!”

“Not if it’s just going to make me suffer!” Shinn shouted back, cutting down Rey’s missiles with a CIWS burst. He fired off another rifle shot to force the ZAKU back and lunged back into the wreckage.

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Zora bit back a curse as her GuAIZ rattled, beam blasts pounding against its shield. She ignited the beam claw and stabbed forward as her foe made the mistake of slackening its fire— only to come crashing up against her enemy's shield.

The Savior Gundam, it seemed, was a far tougher foe than she had thought.

George's CGUE dropped in from above with a devastating overhead slash— the Savior rocketed aside and opened fire with its beam cannons again, putting George back on the defensive. As he did, he returned fire with his shield-mounted Vulcan guns, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off the Savior's crimson armor.

"That Phase Shift armor must be pretty cool stuff," George grunted— the CGUE ducked aside again as the Savior returned fire with its beam rifle. Zora charged, beam claw raised high, but the Savior somersaulted over her head. George stopped it from firing at the GuAIZ's back with a beam rifle blast, and Zora wheeled around, activating her extensional arrestors to clamp onto the Savior's rifle and tear it free, hurling it into space.

The Savior answered by firing its beam cannons, forcing Zora to dive over the blasts. George's CGUE charged again to distract the unstoppable red machine, ramming it with his mobile suit's shoulder. The Savior drew a beam saber from its own shoulder and brought it down with a crash on the CGUE's shield.

"Well, whoever this guy is, he earned his wings," George grunted. "He's not in FAITH for nothing!"

"Shinn's going to be the death of us," Zora snapped. "Distract it, and I'll hit it from behind!"

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Beam rifle shots slammed into the wreckage around him, followed by another storm of missiles. Taking cover behind his shield, Shinn dove aside as a beam cannon burst tore across the battlefield. As more wreckage began to explode, Shinn saw the repaired Blast Impulse Gundam slammed down onto the lunar surface.

“You goddamned traitor!” Ruumari screamed. “You sold us out to the Naturals at Arzachel!”

He fired another beam cannon burst; Shinn dove aside again and took cover behind the wreckage. Ruumari followed with a scream; another beam rifle shot tore towards the Force Impulse, and Shinn deflected it with his shield. The Sword Impulse Gundam blasted into the fray with its combined anti-ship sword and swung towards the Force Impulse. Shinn batted its blade aside with his shield and pulled back.

“Ruumari, stop chasing him!” Aoma shouted. “He has the upper hand!”

“Go to hell, Aoma!” Ruumari shrieked. “I’ll tear his head off!”

The Blast Impulse fired again; Shinn ducked aside, and the blasts tore into a heap of ruined machinery. As the wrecked machines began to explode, the Force Impulse jumped into the air and dislodged a massive shaft from the colony’s mirrors from its grave in the lunar dust. Shinn kicked the shaft down towards the Blast Impulse; Ruumari desperately raised the Blast Impulse’s shield, and grunted in pain as his mobile suit rattled under the impact. With a scream, he threw the shaft aside with sheer brute strength, and turned his eyes towards the Force Impulse—

An instant later, he screamed in pain as the Force Impulse delivered a devastating kick to the Blast Impulse’s chest. The Blast Impulse went flying back, slamming Ruumari into the cockpit, and as his helmet cracked open and blood burst out, his eyes closed and he faded into unconsciousness.

“Ruumari!” Aoma shouted in disbelief. The Sword Impulse landed in front of the fallen Blast Impulse, and turned towards the Force Impulse.

Shinn narrowed his eyes; the Sword Impulse fired its beam rifle again, but Shinn skirted to the side and knocked down another metal shaft. The Sword Impulse cut the shaft in half with its anti-ship sword and fired back up at the Force Impulse—Shinn clenched his teeth and used the Force Impulse’s foot to pull up a wrecked piece of machinery, blocking the beam shot. As the machine began to explode, Shinn kicked it back down into the Sword Impulse’s face. The Sword Impulse staggered back; Aoma grunted and abandoned her beam rifle as it sparked ominously, and hacked the fireball apart with her swords.

The Force Impulse was upon her instantly with a kick to the Sword Impulse’s face. The Sword Impulse stumbled backwards; Shinn kicked it in the stomach, and Aoma grunted as the Sword Impulse crashed to the ground. She swung her shield up to deflect Shinn’s finishing beam rifle shot, and jumped up into the air over his head to shower him with CIWS fire.

“I don’t care who you are!” Aoma cried. “I won’t let you hurt my friend!”

A cloud of missiles slammed into the ground around the Force Impulse as the Sword Impulse landed with a powerful overhead sword slash. Shinn dove away from the Sword Impulse, looking up anxiously into the black sky. The Nazca-class was descending on the battlefield, pouring missiles and beam cannon fire into the wreckage. It was spewing smoke and flames, and covered in ugly scars and burns. Shinn pulled back behind his shield, as the Sword Impulse seized the fallen Blast Impulse and took off again.

Shinn glanced over his shoulder, finding another metal shaft behind him. He dove backwards and leapt up; with a shriek of metal, he kicked it down towards the Nazca. The ship turned its guns on the falling metal shaft, but it was too late—the shaft smashed lengthwise onto the ship, crushing the guns next to the bridge. The Nazca began to list towards the lunar surface. Shinn charged—Luna’s ZAKU Warrior and Rey’s ZAKU rose on the side to open fire. He ducked through their shots and fired his beam rifle.

The Nazca’s bridge exploded—Shinn took cover behind his shield as the rest of the ship began to meet a fiery death. He landed on the lunar surface with a slam; the ZAKUs landed nearby.

“How many more of your old comrades will you kill, Shinn?” Rey asked callously. Shinn scowled back.

“However many it takes for you to leave me alone,” he said back.

Rey’s face twisted into a hideous scowl, and the ZAKU Phantom charged, drawing a beam tomahawk—Shinn’s eyes narrowed at the approaching mobile suit. They met with a crash; the ZAKU Phantom slammed its tomahawk down against the Impulse’s shield.

Shinn screamed; the Impulse used its shield to force the ZAKU back, and with an angry yell, Shinn raised his rifle and drilled a shot through the ZAKU’s left shoulder. As the ZAKU’s left arm spiraled away, Shinn charged and slammed the ZAKU with a kick to the face. The crippled ZAKU staggered back; Luna’s ZAKU caught it before it could collapse.

In the sky above, flashes of light split the darkness; Luna looked up at the Minerva’s signal flares, and then looked back at the Impulse.

She scowled and took off with Rey’s defeated ZAKU. Shinn watched them go impassively.

At last, he turned and stomped off towards the city of Copernicus.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Sting Oakley nodded as he watched the Impulse leave the battlefield, on a screen in the Girty Lue‘s crew lounge. At the very least, that Shinn guy knew how to fight.

“He sure kicked ass,” Auel observed from his place on one of the couches, slathered across its length with a bottle of water. Sting glanced at him for a moment and shrugged.

“At least it’s not our asses he’s kicking,” Sting said. “I guess Stella’s in good hands.”

Auel glanced at him, puzzled. “What, you’re giving up already?” he asked.

“Of course not,” Sting answered, crossing his arms and looking steadily at the screen. “But...” He trailed off and shook his head.

“But what?” Auel asked, sitting up. “I thought we were going to pay them a visit inside Copernicus.”

“We are,” Sting said. “But...well, we want Stella to be safe, right?”

“Yeah,” Auel said hesitantly, casting a sideling glance at Sting. “Why?”

“Well, if she’s not gonna be around us,” Sting said uneasily, “then I guess this guy, Shinn, he can take care of her.”

Auel glanced at the screen, and then back at Sting. “I guess so,” he said.

Sting took a step back. “At least one of us gets to be happy,” he said. He glanced over at Auel. “But our turn’s coming too.”

Auel smirked back. “Damn right it is.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

“It’s funny,” Luna said in the infirmary of the Minerva, arms crossed, staring down at the unconscious Ruumari. “He looks so peaceful when he’s had his lights knocked out.”

She glanced at Aoma; she was sitting on the bed next to Ruumari’s, her uniform shirt draped over her legs, with an icepack over a large and painful-looking purple bruise on her right shoulder. She glanced painfully at Ruumari and sighed.

“He’s gonna get himself killed,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t know why he’s like this.”

“He told you,” Luna said, glancing neutrally at her and then looking back at her. “He wants to prove himself.”

Aoma blinked and looked back at Luna. “He wants to prove himself?”

“You two were stuck on Maius 5, right?” Luna asked. “He wants to prove that he’s worthy of being a ZAFT Red.” She paused, and then smiled amusedly. “Though I’m not sure who he’s trying to prove himself to.”

Aoma blinked again in surprise at Luna’s amused look, and looked at Ruumari, blushing. “Wha—we’re not like that!”

“Whatever,” Luna said with a dismissive smile. She uncrossed her arms. “I have work to do, so give me a holler if you need help getting him to put his bib on.”

Aoma sighed dejectedly as Luna left.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Unlike New Haven, even from the vantage point of the Kasselheim’s port observation deck, Copernicus was beautiful. There were twinkling lights everywhere, forming an eerily beautiful panorama across the mottled gray surface of the Moon.

George stood on the observation deck with Zora, staring down at it all. Zora crossed her arms and glanced at George.

“What are we doing here?” she asked. George glanced back at her.

“Upgrade the ship’s engines so we can stay ahead of the Minerva,” he said.

“That’s not what I meant,” Zora said, shaking her head. “I mean about Shinn.”

George arched an eyebrow and looked back at the city. “Viima wants him gone,” he said. “But she hates newcomers anyways.”

“I know,” Zora said. “He’s a good pilot, but he’s got too much baggage with him.”

“We all have baggage,” George said. “You have your fair share too.”

“But the Freedom Gundam has never come after us because I’m here,” Zora answered, looking at George. “The Minerva is only chasing us because Shinn is with us. If he were to leave, then the Minerva would stop chasing us.”

George sighed heavily. “Poor Shinn,” he said. “On one side, he’s got Kika, who wants to be his friend. And on the other, he’s got Viima, who wants him gone. Hasn’t he done a good enough job as a pilot for us?”

“I’m not denying his skill,” Zora said, crossing her arms and looking back out at the city. “All I’m questioning is the wisdom of keeping him around on this ship.”

“There’s questions to be had of the wisdom in pretty much everything,” George said, shrugging.

Zora was quiet for a moment. “Are you going to take him out into the city?” she asked. George nodded. “Is there a dark side to Copernicus too?”

George stared grimly at the city. “Shinn will have to learn. Wherever there’s light, somewhere nearby, there’s going to be a shadow.”

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To be continued...