Silent Requiem, a fanfic by Nightmaresama, chapter 5

The expansive tundra of Canada spread out before Gene and Leon for what seemed like a thousand miles in every direction.

"Do you think we're heading in the right direction towards Toronto?" Gene asked.

Leon fumbled in the pockets under his reflective insulating poncho. Eventually, he pulled out a small compass. Looking at it, he said, "We should be. I don't know how many more miles though; we've been walking for about two days now."

A large cloud of steam issued from the scarf around his compatriot's face, indicating an exasperated sigh. "If it took us this long just to cover the trip into Canada…"

"Well then, lets not just stand here talking and get a move on then, huh?" Leon had to force his legs to bend against the freezing cold as he started walking again.

After a brief moment of silence, Gene started complaining again. "It is really cold out here!" he shouted against the howling winds.

The snow made a crushing noise with each step forward they took, but it was waist deep, and their feet were too numb to feel the permafrost they actually stepped off of. Within the hour, the wind started picking up to an unbearable degree. "I think we'd better stop for a minute, Gene," Leon called over his shoulder.

Whit military proficiency, they had a small camp set up in a very short time and had started a fire.

"I don't know what you're going to do, but my feet are killing me and I'm fucking exhausted. I'm getting ready to catch some sack time." Gene shrugged as he began pulling off his boots. He lay down on the floor of the tent and within minutes was asleep.

Instead, he pulled his wedding band off his finger and started fiddling with it the way he did when he was nervous or anxious. How the hell was he supposed to get back to Priss now? Would he make it back at all? The thought of himself dying in this God-forsaken, frozen wasteland did not appeal to him in the least, but they should've seen at least some traces of civilisation by now. Toronto was a fairly good-sized military town with sprawling avenues and acres of suburbs.

No, he wouldn't even entertain a thought such as that. He'd followed the map precisely, he was sure!

"All I can say, Priss," he spoke just loud enough for himself to hear, "I really hope you're being faithful."

That was something that had bothered him ever since he left Port to come to the NE front. They'd just recently been hitched (if he died in the war, he'd wanted to've accomplished at least that much) and he knew he should trust her more, but that didn't stop him from inundating her with letters. The letters were his way of saying, 'look, I'm still alive! Please don't start screwing someone `cause you think I'm not!' He'd heard stories of guys who left for war and stayed gone for so long that their wives or girlfriends took to sleeping with the guy next door, or the mailman (of course, mail was delivered by machines now; Leon couldn't see anybody being that desperate), or whoever else happened to be handy.

Fortunately, though, the guy who lived next door to the McDaniels' was a total prick, so if his wife did start an affair with him, Leon wouldn't feel bad about gutting him upon his return.

'Upon my return,' he thought, smiling. 'I have to survive this damn blizzard before I can start worrying about my return.'

He knew his fears were groundless too. Priss worked for the police department, and was hardly ever home anyway. Her work kept her too busy for a social life when he was around and, knowing her, she'd buried herself under overtime to get her mind off missing him.

Satisfied with his reasoning, he settled back on the floor of the tent and was about to start his sack time too, when Gene started mumbling in his sleep. "Unnnh, sorry…" he snorted out.

"What's this moron babbling about?" Leon thought, as he let his eyes start to close again.

"Talia…I'm sorry…I…unngh." His sleep talking subsided as he rolled over onto his back.

"Talia? Now who the hell is that?" Leon started to wake him but decided against it. There'd be plenty of time to find out later.

After a full week of training in Zero-G Cirrus still could not quite manage the finer points of life in space. Getting around on the ship, for instance had shown itself to be a much greater problem than she'd ever anticipated. Without gravity or even any means of centripetal force, she like all others aboard the Graf Zeppelin, remained in a constant state of free-fall, and thus, had a tendency to float about the ship. Hand-bars made getting around easy enough, but they took much getting used to, especially for someone who had spent most of their natural life On Planet.

Nevertheless, when there was a briefing to attend, she made sure that she was always punctual, even if that meant having to leave her quarters fifteen minutes ahead of time.

She took her seat in the briefing room at 0715 on the dot. The rest of her squad, Sean, Gato, and Rei filed in a few moments later and each took a seat. Lieutenant Commander Reynauld, adjutant to Captain Von Helsing, stood before them at the monitor which, at the moment was blank.

After waiting a few moments to see if anyone else was coming, the Lieutenant Commander began the briefing. "As you all well know," he started wasting no time on formalities, "Side Six is neutral territory; neither ourselves or the Feddies are allowed to maintain weapons or warships in this area. What you may, at present, be unaware of, is the fact that on a certain colony in this Side is housing a top secret Federation weapon which, if used in combat, has the potential to ultimately destroy our Revolution."

"I don't know, but the way he's talking it sounds like it could be even worse than the Gundam."

"Gentlemen, if you please." Reynauld had apparently overheard them as well. Quieting the disturbance, he continued, "Four days ago, one of our commando teams, the 'Cyclops Unit' infiltrated a Federation stronghold in the Arctic Circle. They were looking for a new prototype Gundam, one that we've been informed was designed specifically for Newtype pilots. However, before the destruction of this prototype could be confirmed, it was loaded aboard a shuttle and blasted off into space.

"Until yesterday, we had no idea where it could have been shipped, and feared it a lost cause, but, through the works of one of our soldiers during a raid at Side Six's Libot colony, we've been able to find out exactly where it is."

"No, that would prove to be a political disaster, and all of Side Six would jump right into the Federation's arms. Instead, our superiors at Granada base have offered a different plan: we are to escort the 'Cyclops Unit' as they infiltrate the colony and destroy the mobile suit within. However, given that this is neutral space, we cannot do anything overtly. Therefore, while three of the 'Cyclops' commandos have already entered the colony, we are to provide cover for the fourth who will carry a disassembled mobile suit into the colony aboard a commercial transport vessel."

"But if the Feds see us covering the transport, won't they begin to suspect something anyway?" Sean asked.

Reynauld shook his head. "Perhaps the way I said it was unclear. Rather than cover the vessel, we are to provide a diversion for him. This means we will be scrambling you all to stage a mock attack on his vessel to draw out the Feddie MS. It is imperative that it look real, though, but once you've got confirmation on the bandits, feel free to engage. The pilot of the transport knows what to do; just don't be stupid an kill him by mistake."

Cirrus finally found a question that needed asking. "After he makes it in, we will be required to stay in the area? In case their team should need assistance?"

"No," Reynauld said, flatly. "This is a Black Op. If they get caught, we will deny all knowledge of them and they will be left to the Feds. In effect, in undertaking this mission, they are effectively cutting themselves off until its completion. Besides, maintaining a ship is this area would only make the Riah (Side Six) government antsy. Again, this is the politics of war."

He looked out at the Blood Drakes team who were scribbling notes on mission particulars in their logs. "Are there any further questions before I begin the actual tactics portion of the briefing?" he asked as they finished. "No? Very well then. This mission will henceforth be called Operation Rubicon, and given the repute of both the Cyclops team and yourselves along with the rest of the soldiers who will take part in it, I trust it will be a success."

"So explain to me again why we're out here in the middle of the fucking boondocks, commander?" Trowa asked with more than a trace of bitterness.

The SR, along with three other companies, were out on patrol duty again in Side 6. Yet since Side 6 was ostensibly neutral in the War, hardly there was hardly anything worth seeing besides stars, stars, and, more stars.

"We're out here because the Brass wants us to be out here," Sanders replied exasperated. "Look, if I'm not mistaken, you all were the ones who were so excited about getting out of Basic early."

"Yeah, but if we'd know we were going to be coming out to Riah of all places, we would've probably said 'no'" Hilde remarked from the back of the formation. "At least on Luna II there were enemies to shoot up in the simulators--out here there's nothing!"

"The commander is right, though," Sam interjected, "You two were the ones so gung-ho about getting off that rock."

They had arrived after a distress call had been sent out by the colony of Libot the day before. There was supposed to have been a raid on the colony by a few Zakus, but since their carrier, the EFF Gettysburg had arrived that morning, there had been no trace of action to any degree. Now it was getting close to eight and they were all tired from having combed the area for no apparent reason. No further attacks seemed immanent.

"Well," Sanders started, "it doesn't seem like there's going to be any sort of show today. Perhaps we'll head back to the ship after all."

"Huh? Hey, commander, I'm picking up a high-level of Minovsky particles about a thousand kilometres and closing," Sam said. "And a weak radio signal too, like its coming from a transport."

"A radio signal and Minovsky particles? That doesn't make sense, commercial vessels are too small to be able to broadcast particles like that"

"Something's probably going wrong somewhere," Trowa said hopefully. "Do we need to check it out sir?"

Just as Sanders was about to reply, the bridge of the Gettysburg sent out a response on the broadband, "Attention SR company, there is a small transport ship, the Aqua Verde, currently under attack by Zeon thugs. You are requested to fend off the pirates so the ship may enter port. Repeat, destroy all attacking enemies."

"So what?" Hilde replied. "You want to just sit there and let that guy get killed?"

"No, but what I'm saying is, if we go out there and engage those Zeeks, what kind of political repercussions is it going to cause? We don't want Riah to throw theirs in with the Zeons just because we made a preemptive attack on neutral ground!"

Trowa cut in, "Okay, and while we sit here arguing, the ship is about to be blown to space dust. Fuck neutral territory, I'm going to save that pilot."

"That sounds like a damn good idea to me too." Sanders put in. "Besides which, I've heard Libot has a Federation base in it somewhere, so this sector is hardly as 'neutral' as it claims to be."

"That's great. We may not have to do any real fighting at all, at this rate." Cirrus said.

"Schist! Better scratch that, commander--" Sean's voice came over her radio. "I've got nine GMs bearing 45 degrees-72 seconds to starboard."

Almost immediately after he said that, her sonar scanner flashed hotly too. 'Too much to ask for, eh?' she thought. 'Oh well, c'est la guerre.'

Sean whooped in excitement as he sliced open a GM with his heat hawk, but was rudely cut off by enemy fire that caught him from behind. He whirled around and returned fire only to discover that the Feddie had escaped.

Rei, in her Zaku II, took off in pursuit of the suit that had attempted to finish off her comrade, took aim and fired a round of missiles from her leg-mounted launchers. The lock proved positive and the suit was obliterated.

"Crap! That's another one!" Trowa shouted as the missiles collided with another member of the patrol party. He didn't have long to regret it though, as he soon found himself locked in a fierce hand-to-hand swordplay contest with an enemy Rick Dom.

Their blades locked for what seemed an eternity, and Trowa was certain that his arms would give out. Yet just as he was on the point of collapsing, a new model of enemy suit blasted his shoulder with a massive beam rifle. The force of the explosion was enough to send him spiralling into the void, but he was able to get a good look at the bizarre new suit.

"What the hell was that?" he asked over the team frequency after he had righted himself. "When did these bastards get beam weaponry for MS?"

"I have no idea, but that's one helluva gun," Hilde whistled admiringly. Refocusing on her current status, she turned her GM around to try and take a shot at a Zaku with the bazooka that had just missed hitting her with a destructive volley.

"Shaddup and fight, dumb-shit!" Commander Sanders roared back at him. "We're in the middle of a damn battle and you want to analyze the enemy? Shoot first and ask questions later!"

"Did you see that?" Gato asked, gleefully as the new Gelgoog JÃ¤ger took another shot at the crippled GM. "That guy is so good!"

"Who is that, commander?" Rei asked, her flat voice sounding alien amidst the screams and whoops of the battlefield.

Cirrus thought for a moment, recalling the briefing as she fired a few rounds from the beam rifle on her own, standard-issue Gelgoog. "That is…Kaji, Ryogi of the Headhunter unit. He is a test pilot and the suit is an upgrade on the standard Gelgoog, designed specifically for fighting at long range with its prototype beam-cannon."

"Kaji, huh?" Sean asked. "He's damn good, I'll give him that. But those Headhunters won't outdo us for kills in this fight!" as if to underscore his claim, he shot forward and unleashed a maelstrom of bullets from the assault rifle he carried.

Two unwary GMs, spooked by the blast flew into one another. Laughing, Sean chucked a cracker grenade at the two entangled Feddies, annihilating them both.

"Not yet," Rei responded, checking her instruments. "He just transmitted the access codes to the hangar bay."

'Please work!' Cirrus silently hoped. Though the feint had gone relatively smoothly, but casualties were mounting steadily, the longer they remained in battle. If the pilot's codes did not work, she would have to consider pulling out and leaving him. It was a tough choice, but if it came down to the life of the spy or the lives of her team and herself-well, she knew where her priorities lay.

"He got through!" Rei cheered, only an octave or so above her normal speaking voice.

Breathing an inward sigh of relief, Cirrus spoke to all the Drakes at once, "Good job, troops. We prepare to pull back now, but the trick is to pull back without making it look like we are pulling back, copy?"

"Hilde, you and Sam performed excellently; exactly like we practiced." Sanders complemented.

"As for you Barton," he began in a more stiff voice, "While you performed well while engaged, you need to watch the chatter during the heat of battle. Don't pester your comrades or myself with non-pertinent questions in the middle of a battle! If you want to know what kind of enemy you just fought, review the combat data from your recorder and compare it to archived data. But I swear to God if you ever interrupt like that again…"

"Now, let's get on back to the ship and report this mess. Not bad for your first time in actual space combat, everybody."

As they neared the Gettysburg, Sam spoke up over the radio, "Hey, don't you all think it was a little weird that the Zeeks all started pulling back after the shuttle entered the port?"

"I mean it was like as soon as it was safe--no, as soon as they entered combat with us--they forgot all about the ship they had been chasing, don't you all think?"

"No," Sanders said, shaking his head emphatically. "They stopped attacking it when they entered the combat zone because they couldn't spare the men to try and wreck it. We were the more pressing concern for them. They were probably just pirates that had been sacking merchant ships in the area. As soon as their prey was safe within the colony, they had no reason to stay any longer."

A booming knock came on the door of Gene's temporary quarters at the Federation's Toronto airstrip. He and Leon had arrived two days earlier, half-frozen and more than half starved so the base commandant had been gracious enough to allow them to stay on the base until he had straightened things out with the BD mark II test corps, currently stationed in Nevada.

"What?" he called out, his voice a hoarse croak from sleep, as he got up from his cot and walked to the door. He had just been dreaming about Hilde and who ever the bastard was who'd woke him up had better have had good reason to do so.

"Colonel Litvosk!" He gasped as the adjutant of the base commandant stood in the open doorway. Then, remembering his ingrained discipline, he stiffened to attention. "Ma'am!"

"At ease." Though she outranked him, Col. Litvosk was one of the few members of the upper echelons who actually gave a flying-fuck about grunts like himself. For that Gene both respected and liked her.

Curiously, though, today Litvosk's face was beet-red, and small fits of laughter followed every sentence she uttered. "I've got a couple of simple `little' orders from the commandant. You and your compatriot are to report to the tarmac in the `wee' `small' hours to-morrow morning. From there, you will board a `small' flight of Medea transport craft along with other supplies already headed out west for the upcoming offensive against California. The Medea will provide you passage to the Third Directional Forces Energy Supply Base."

"Ma'am" Gene said, now painfully aware of the fact that he was standing before the second highest-ranking official on the base in a wife-beater, his "tighty-whities", and a bad case of `morning wood' (well, he had been dreaming about Hilde), asked, "Can you just, um…give me the orders in writing? I, ah, wasn't expecting anyone and I just woke up, so…"

"Oh, I don't know; there might be some `small' difficulty involved," the Colonel snorted, barely able to control herself now. She handed Gene the clipboard and orders form, and walked away down the hall laughing hysterically. "Remember soldier, it's not the size that counts, it's how you use it!" she called back over her shoulder.

"Fucking bitch," Gene thought, re-evaluating his opinion of Litvosk on the spot, "doubt she'll ever see bigger anyway."

He looked at the orders form to assuage his anger. After arriving in Nevada, he and Leon were to undergo training with something called the EXAM system until the test on the prototype BD unit (the mark I, he inferred) had been completed. His commander, a certain Yu Kajima, was the test pilot of the new unit, and more data needed to be collected before the test-type units (the mark II's, presumably) were to be used.

Another knock on the door came a few moments after he finished reading. This time, he put on his uniform before answering.

"Hey, Leon," he said as he saw the form of his ex post facto compatriot, "What's up?"

"Not a whole lot," he replied shrugging, "You've received a copy of our orders?"

"Uh-huh." Gene nodded, "And I ain't one damn bit sorry to be leaving this fucking icebox."

"Yeah, right. And when we get to Nevada, you'll start complaining about the heat, too." Leon paused after that, as if he was getting ready to say something more.

Gene's looked up and recoiled almost as if he'd received a physical blow. "What? How the fuck do you know about that?"

"I'm just asking a question," Leon replied, holding up his arms in mock defense. "You were mumbling that name in your sleep a few nights ago, and so I thought I'd ask. Was she an old girlfriend or something?"

Gene felt his face going red-hot with a mixture of rage and embarrassment. "Fuck off," said in a low voice, and pointed to the door.

"I said get the fuck out, you brain-dead dip-shit!" he raged. "It's none of your damn business who that is, and if you ever bring it up again, I swear to God, I'll kill your ass!"

As his friend hurried from the room, Gene buried his face in his hands. "Why, Talia? Why can't I do anything right?" he thought aloud to the empty room.

Natalia D'Ark was Gene's thirteen-year old younger sister, six years his junior. When she turned four she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and was not expected to live past the age of twelve. Blithely unaware of this fact for much of their young lives, Gene and Talia, had been as close friends as could be expected of a pair of siblings. They never fought, and Gene had always done his best to help his parents make sure that his little sister had been provided for. Even when she had to be moved to the hospital a year ago, Gene would always make visits to see how she was doing and to try and cheer her up.

During the slaughter of the One Week War, Zeon troops had invaded the Side 4 colony where Gene and his family had been living. Gene had just got out of his class at the university and was visiting his sister in the hospital when the three Zakus and thousands of Zeon infantry had come in through the colony's main port. The entire city was over-run in mere moments and over two thirds of its population was executed. Among the casualties were Gene and Talia's parents.

After the battle was over, and much of the enemy forces withdrawn, Gene learned that he could not afford both care for his sister in the hospital and college tuition. The only way he could assure that Talia would be well taken care of would be to join the military, which, after moving to earth, he did. Now while he was fighting a tangible battle against those who had killed his mother and father, his sister lay in the Federation's St. Mary's Intensive Care Hospital in Buenos Aires, fighting an equally pitched battle against the disease that wracked her body.

As long as she would continue to fight, he would make sure that he did too. He would fight his hardest, but still come back alive-he had promised her.

So, was he sorry that he had nearly died in the tundra, fighting his way up to this base? Of course he was. How would it look if his sister had found out that he had died, not honourably on the battlefield, but of exposure in a blizzard? No, he had to survive, if not for his own sake, then at least for Talia's.

After another few minutes' thought, he stumbled upon a realization: even though she was sick much of the time, Talia could still be very stubborn at times, and sardonic too. 'That must be the reason I found Hilde so attractive,' he reasoned as he stood from the bed to begin getting his effects together for the long trip ahead, 'She's exactly like my little sister…'

The whine of drills and the crackling hiss of welding torches should have become ambient white noise by now. They had been going for almost thirty-six hours straight, and it seemed as though every other member of Yagami's crew had gotten used to them.

"Dammit!" he swore, slamming a fist down on the pile of papers that still needed to be filled out for Luna II's port authority, "I can't even think with all that racket!"

Unlike the other ships that floated outside in the soundless vacuum of the main zero-G well, his ship had needed to undergo far more repairs than the others, and so had been taken into the fortress' interior and sat in drydock. Therefore, being surrounded by sound conducting atmosphere…

"For the love of God, can not those fools be a little more quiet about trying to fix my ship?"

Swearing still, Vince struggled with the paperwork, but due to the noise, he ultimately gave up. He grabbed his black greatcoat from the rack by the door to his quarters and stormed to the main gang-plank.

"Going somewhere, sir?" his first officer asked, watching him as he prepared to descend.

"I am going for a brief walk to calm my nerves," Vince replied curtly. "I have also to drop off the first round of paperwork to the drydock officials. You are in charge, Trent, I leave the well-being of my ship in your hands."

`My ship' Vince thought, bemused, as he descended onto the floor of the dock. `Given all that we've been through together, Yagami is mine, more than anyone else's'

Luna II was massive enough to generate its own slight gravitational pull. Not enough to hold one down should he try and jump or sprint, but just enough to allow for walking and other non-ballistic movement. It had been a while since Vince had gone for a walk at all. He felt slightly unstable, even in the reduced gravity.

But, as it frequently did, his thoughts drifted back to his unrequited love. Cirrus had been just the opposite about gravity; she'd been much more at home in real and artificial G's than in freefall.

He could not forget about her, no matter how he tried. She had been too much a part of him. Of course, she probably reviled his existence, as she had every right to. He had killed her husband. But what she did not see-what she would not see-was how bad killing Brian O'Rielly had hurt him too.

He hadn't wanted to kill Brian, right? Or had he? Brian was his friend, but he had also stolen what had mattered most to him. How much did friendship count for against love? How could he weigh Brian against Cirrus? The scales would have to tip one way or another, and they tipped in favour of Cirrus.

So was he justified? Could he rationalise his actions like that? That he was his friend but she was the one he loved? No judge alive would buy that sort of convoluted logic!

Well, he could try and look at it from a different perspective. What would Brian have done had the roles been reversed? Would he have allowed his emotions to simmer so long as he himself had? That didn't seem in accordance to his personality. He would have called Vince out and shouted at him about it; odds were they probably would've come to blows. But that was the American mindset: if things don't go your way, violence will solve the problem.

When Cirrus found out that there had been a fight, and that Brian had started it, she would've flatly rejected him and come back to Vince's side, stronger than ever.

In essence, that was a watered down version of what had actually happened. However, rather than just fight, Vince had taken things one step further and killed Brian outright. That had been all it had taken to drive Cirrus from him for good.

Even when she hadn't known that the shot had been fired on purpose, she still hadn't truly loved him. It hadn't been the same as those early days at the academy. She had simply allowed herself to be consoled by him. Comforted by him. Then, ultimately, after she found out the truth, enraged at the very sight of him. He really had lost her forever.

"Morning, sir!" the young non-commissioned officer at the desk said brightly. She looked about nineteen, and exuded the carefree spirit of a soldier who had yet to see the frontlines. "How can I help you today?"

He didn't want to sound cold to her now, but by the very nature of the fact that he had been on the front, his words came out short and curt. "Langley, Vincent, payroll number 712-45-1066, Captain of the Salamis-class cruiser EFF Yagami. These are the necessary papers for docking at Luna II, all of which have been pre-approved by Admiral Lhadat." Vince slid the papers across the desk to her.

The noncom eyes lit up at the sound of his name. "Wow!" she gushed, "Are you really the Captain Vincent Langley? The hero from Loum? Jesus! They made us read about your exploits in my final days at the academy! It's a honour to sign you in, sir!"

"Ah, thanks." Vince shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like being called a hero, but it seemed as though more and more people were taking it upon themselves to address him as such. If this noncom knew about what really happened that fateful day, she would probably be much less likely to swoon over his presence.

"No problem Captain Langley, sir!" she saluted. "Godspeed, and thank you for stopping by Luna II. On my honour your ship will receive the utmost care and-"

"Thank you very much," he cut in, "but if you'll excuse me, I have to return to my duties."

`Hero,' he thought, turning the word into a curse. `I'm no hero. I don't deserve any of this.'

Karen strode in front of her troops, looking them up and down. "Well, at least none of you died in Basic," she commented, which from her was a compliment. "Now, it's time for the real thing. We are about to embark on the final counteroffensive against the Zeeks in what will be known as Operation Star One. The first phase of this operation is an assault on the Asteroid Fortress Solomon. This will be real combat, much worse than anything you have yet witnessed in your lives. People are going to die in large numbers, but you all have shown to be at least semi-competent and capable of at least following orders. I will be royally pissed off by the amount of paperwork I'd be required to do if one of you maggots buy it out there, so don't fuck up!"

After the brief, the unit proceeded down towards the dock to make ready to board their home for the duration.

Along the way, they passed a huge window that gave an impressive view of Luna II's Carrier Dock. Seven full sized Salamis-class carriers floated in the zero-G well, mobile suits being loaded as well as supplies.

Duo whistled through his teeth in awe. "Those are some of the biggest damn things I've ever seen," he whispered. Kiyone and Alex nodded in assent.

Karen smirked, overhearing the statement. "Come on Duo, you of all people should know that size doesn't matter."

After the laughter had subsided, Kiyone spoke up. "Hey, commander, which one of these things are we going to be stationed to?"

"Some old battlecruiser from the early days of the war. I heard that it saw a lot of action during the colony drop battles, but now it's been overhauled with a MS catapult and storage dock. It's called Yagami, I believe."

"So many questions!" Karen was starting to become irate. "Do I look like an engineer? How the hell should I know what they can and can't do?"

The airlock hissed open and everyone stepped through the connective walkway towards the ship.

"All right, maggots," Karen began, "This is where we meet the captain of the ship, and the rest of the crew. Since first impressions like this are crucial, and since the lot of you have no concept of either tact or class, I'll do all the talking. Whatever I say, you had better agree with."

On the bridge, they found a young man who looked to be no older than his early thirties. However, the cold, hollow look in his sepia eyes was that of a man who had experienced much in his scant years. His dark hair fell down about his broad shoulders and and he had a slight five-o'clock shadow. The Captain wore a long black greatcoat over his uniform that rustled as he stood from the captain's chair.

"Good day," he began in an elevated German accent. "On behalf of the EFF Yagami and her crew, I, Captain Vincent Langley greet you all. You are the new mobile suit team, yes? I trust your stay at Luna II has been--tolerable?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Karen said abruptly, clicking her heels and saluting. "We of the 107th GM space assault force thoroughly enjoyed basic training and are now fully prepared to engage the enemy." It was a great thumping lie, but none of the others dared comment on it.

"Excellent, lieutenant." He gave a brisk nod, but then pensively furrowed his brow. "I read the memorandum, but try as I might, I cannot remember your names. You will oblige me, yes?"

"Of course, sir. First Lieutenant Karen Joshua, commanding officer of the 107th. The other soldiers are, Ensign Duo Maxwell, and Petty Officers First Class Alex Kincaid and Kiyone Shinegori. Together we have accrued over fifty-six hours in the simulators over the past two and have mastered all forms of space combat. I might note that they perform exceptionally well at carrier launches."

"That's very good to hear." Vincent smiled, though it did little to breach the almost palpable aura of darkness about him. "It is a pleasure to meet you all and I look forward to slaughtering many Zeon soldiers with your aid. Pilots' quarters are located aft of the reactor room. I suspect you will be wanting to reach them soon; we leave port in approximately," he glanced at his watch, "Thirty minutes. Until then, you are free. Good day," he walked off with Teutonic precision.

After he had left and Kiyone had gone aft to her cabin (probably to sneak in a smoke but neither Alex nor Duo hinted at that to Karen), the rest of the 107th sat about in the lounge waiting for the departure. It was fairly spacious and had a massive windowplate that would have provided a spectacular view if the ship were not still within Luna II's docking bay.

"Hmm, it's a great ship, no question, but that captain guy-" Alex started, "something about 'im doesn't sit right with me, you know?"

"You're probably just imagining things, Alex," Karen said. "I spoke with some of the dock crew, and nobody'll say a bad word about him; from what I gather, his record's spotless."

Duo nodded. "Me too. Captain Vince Langley, one of the few heroes of the Battle of Loum. This same ship and her core fighter battalion were responsible for taking out over seven Zeek Zaku I's."

"In that case, I suppose we're in the right getting transferred here. You know what they say: leadership counts, what?"

The stars and empty blackness of space slowly replaced the vision of the cables and metal of the docks as Yagami pulled back into space and prepared for its passage to Side 4, and Solomon therein.

"Hey, how's it going, Sweetness?" Cirrus groaned internally and promised herself that if Ryoji Kaji was talking to her again, she'd kick him in the nuts as hard as she could.

She sat by herself in the crowded dining area inside the heart of the Space fortress Solomon. The Graf Zeppelin and her crew, like many other MS units had been ordered to come to port and prepare for probable hostile confrontation with the Feddies. Everyone was on a high state of alert, but Kaji, another soldier of approximately her age, still found time to latch onto her following the mission in Riah.

There could be no question that he had everything, though. He was definitely a talented pilot-why else would the brass let him play around with that new model Gelgoog? She also had to admit that he was very smooth. He reminded her a lot of Brian from all those months ago.

"That's no way to return someone's greeting," he said putting a hand on her shoulder.

She started to shrug it off, but instead, she asked with a long sigh, "Kaji-san," though she had no respect for him at all, the honorific came naturally, "Do you not have anything better to do than stalk me?"

"Ouch, Cirrus!" he recoiled pulling his hand back in mock pain. "That hurts! Nobody told me the Black Lotus had thorns."

"I have no time for your stupid fantasies, Kaji-san, now if you will excuse me." She started to leave and head back to her quarters.

"Wait up!" he called following her. "I assure you, this time my overture is not merely because of my unrequited love for you, I've got a military reason too!"

"I do not care what you have to say; leave me alone" she said over her shoulder.

"Dammit, Cirrus! Would you just listen for a minute! Why are you being such an Ice Queen anyway?"

She whirled to face him, "Why? Why? I will tell you why you horny son of a salamander! I am cold because you have stalked me consistently ever since we left Riah; I am cold because I too fell for somebody, once--somebody a lot like you, and they died. No, not just died, they were killed right in front of me by my own commander! I will not love anyone else! I cannnot love anyone else! I will never risk that happening to me again. If that makes me an Ice Queen in your eyes, Kaji-san, then so be it. I…I…" tears choked off the rest of what she was going to say.

"Shut up!" she fled from his presence and into the mobile suit hangar. Brushing aside the technicians working on her suit, she opened the cockpit and flung herself inside. "Why?" she demanded of herself. "Why did I let him get to me like that? Nobody has been able to get under my skin like that; are these Newtype powers messing with my emotions? Can I keep control?"

She didn't know how long she lay in the pilot's seat, sobbing and pondering the answers to those and other questions, but it felt like an eternity.

"Kaji, you bastard!" Gato shouted at him after seeing his commander flee the area. "What the hell is your problem?" He Rei and Sean all walked over and surrounded the outsider.

"I had something of military significance to tell her and she just flew off the handle!' he shot back defensively.

"Yeah, right," Rei challenged. "Is it militarily significant to pester a woman about screwing you during your next leave?"

"You know what, fuck you all." Kaji shoved Gato aside and stalked off, returning to his team.

"Dip-shit," Sean muttered just loud enough for the others to hear and nod in agreement.

"But, I've never seen the commander look so upset before," Rei remarked, "it hardly seems likely that that horny SOB would really get her goat to that level."

Sean said, "That sounds good, but we can't do it just yet. We need to wait for her to get herself together a little, first. I'll do it, though, I've served with her longest."

"Ayanami, we should probably go ahead and try and talk to Colonel Ryoji again. If he has anything that may really be of import to either the commander or the unit as a whole, we're doing ourselves a disservice by not finding out what it is." Gato pointed out.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. We do need to find out what that ass-hole has to say. I'll go with you."

Kaji sat at the bar in the main pilot's lounge within the heart of the fortress with the rest of the Head-Hunter unit, drawing away at a mug of beer. He looked up as he heard Gato and Ayanami approaching.

"The hell do you want?" he said with another pull from the mug. "If you're going to tell me to apologize, you can forget about it."

"Colonel, sir, we overheard you mentioning to our CO that you had something important to give her," Gato spoke up. "Because she is temporarily indisposed of at the moment, my senior and I have come to collect the item."

"The item you had for our commander," Gato said, his voice getting tight. If this bastard didn't stop playing games with them, he was going to pry whatever it was from his cold, dead fingers.

Fortunately, Kaji chose that moment to have an epiphany. "Oh, you mean that! It's not an item, but I'll get it for you. Hey, Heero! Get your scrawny ass over here," he shouted at one of the other soldiers.

"Yeah," Kaji replied. "The brass wanted me to transfer this guy to your unit. I guess they figure that Cirrus is good enough to handle four subordinates. Of course, after that display a few moments ago, I wonder if she's even good enough to handle herself."

"I'll make you eat those words, you bastard!" Gato came close to actually taking a swing at him, but Rei caught his arm and held him back.

As they left Kaji and the rest of the Headhunters, Rei turned around excitedly and said, "It's been way too long, huh Heero? I was wondering if I'd ever see you again."

"Wait a second," Gato interrupted as the three of them sat back down in the lounge waiting for Cirrus and Sean to return, "You know him? How? He was just transferred to our unit today."

She nodded, unfazed by his advance. "That's right. We met back, how long ago was it? I think it was back in January. See, Heero used to be a Fed Intelligence officer, but he defected to our side."

"Oh," Gato harboured a natural distrust for traitors like any other soldier. If they would betray their own side, what was to stop them from betraying yours too?

But Heero spoke with as much conviction as any Zeon Ultra-nationalist "I really hope I'll be able to be of some assistance to you all in the coming weeks. I am sure we will slaughter many Feddies together."

"Okay. Yeah, me too." The vigor of his speech had surprised Gato. 'I suppose all traitors are not created equal?'

He searched high and low, but was unable to locate his superior officer. He was about to go back to the lounge empty-handed, when she suddenly appeared next to him.

"Commander!" he was shocked by her re-appearing act. "Jesus! Are you okay? You took off like that and had everyone worried sick!"

"Yes!" he nodded vigorously as if it was something she should have known already, in a way it was.

"You made a big scene like that and then ran off…nobody knew what was wrong. Do you want to talk about it?"

In the months following Brian's death, Cirrus had built up a fortified wall around her heart. She had assumed that, since she was unable to have emotions towards others anymore, that others would never again have any emotions towards her. The simple fact that her subordinates had been worried about her well-being was a major shock to her.

"Look," Sean said, carefully, "you do matter to us commander. Even if you're distant sometimes, and even if you think that you can lock your emotions away, that doesn't change the fact that you are a damn good CO, and a damn good person too. I don't know if the rumours about you are true or not, but I've served with you since the Blood Drakes were first commissioned. I know you pretty well, and I just want to say that for me, this whole Drakes thing is like a family for me, and that includes you too!"

"Family? Me?" though she understood intellectually, she could not understand the whole magnitude of what he was saying.

Cirrus floated in the Zero-G well for almost a full twenty minutes contemplating the significance of what her senior subordinate had told her. Perhaps, just perhaps, she could warm to them. Perhaps she didn't have to be alone anymore. She had already started doing so more and more; why else would Sean come find her to try and offer solace to her while she looked to be under such emotional strain?

But she had been alone for so long now. Why were things like this just now starting to affect her pysche? Hadn't she resolved her fears after they had left New England? All she needed to do was kill Vince and then everything would be okay…right?

Of course, was not that proving to be as susceptible to her own emotions as he had been when he killed Brian? Why seek vengence? Would it really bring Brian back?

She slammed her fist futilly against the titanium armour of a nearby mobile suit. No. Nothing would bring her husband back.

`But it will make me feel better!' she tried to rationalise, but even as she did, she knew it to be a weak argument.

Tears flooded her eyes. `Brian…I…I just miss you so much. God, I miss you…'

For the first time, Cirrus began to wonder about what might happen to her if she really did kill Vince. Up until this point, it had always seemed to be an impossible goal, some unreachable star. The chase had become her whole life, filling the void that had been created when Brian had been stolen from her, replacing the emptiness with malice and rancour.

But then, what awaited her on the other side? What would fill the void that would be created by finishing her life's ambition?

Would she still have the Drakes to turn to? She hadn't thought so, at least not until now. Truth be told, Cirrus had always thought of the Blood Drakes unit as a means, never as an end; a means to allow her to fulfil this burning desire inside her. But now that she was beginning to open herself to others, it left her vulnerable to acts of dishonesty and betrayal. Vince Langley had educated her in that regard. Could her teammates here ever do anything so cold?

Cirrus felt caged. Caged by emotions she'd forgotten she had. Caged by respect and admiration for her subordinates, but also a fear that they may die on her on do her other emotional harm. She was caged by her fear of death.

Yes that's what it was. Cirrus was afraid of death. Not so much of her own-though that did influence her as it did all beings with any sense of self-preservation-but fear of what death meant. Death that breaks ties, that it ends friendships, that it steals away lovers.

But…what was the solution then? Was desiring death for Vince and her other enemies wrong?

This was a war. Kill or be killed was the one rule of the game. Enemies become clear as soon as they fire the first shell at you.

Was the only solution to become cold and heartless as she'd thought she had? Could you have emotions and be a warrior at the same time?

'In this delicate balance of life and death, only those who have nothing have nothing to lose…'

Cirrus hated losing people. Losing friends. She hated it almost as much as she hated those who killed them.

Silent Requiem This fanfic is complete.

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Silent Requiem

Chapter 5: Inter-Bellum I part 2