Gundam Seed: Dreams of Fire
By Ysionris Gavotte

Prologue

Although it was no surprise that high ranking officers had their own offices in the Haven, essentially the military administrative facility of the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty in PLANT, it was most unusual that a first lieutenant would have a luxury office, one that overlooked the space dock of Marius Four. While such accommodation would most likely spur rumors of blackmail and bribes, rumors that were ridiculously exaggerated and farfetched, First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard did not really care.

Dressed in the red and black uniform of a ZAFT First Lieutenant, Aiden Renguard probably had the credentials of a captain. With a rich crop of black hair slicked backwards, he looked older than he really was, nineteen. It wasn't just the hairstyle; his green eyes were sharp and carried a great aura of maturity and seriousness. The message was clear; Aiden did not doodle with bullshit.

Aiden rested his eyes as he took a moment to look away from his computer, staring out the window. Outside, the ZAFT engineering crews were busily floating over the Nazca-class battleship Phalanx. One of the ships that had been heavily damaged during the Battle of Yakin-Duue, the Phalanx managed to hold steady, even after its engines were nearly a complete wreck, its hull integrity was compromised by ninety-two percent, a good two-thirds of the crew had died, and its reactor had been heavily damaged due to meltdown.

While the entire ship would've been better off being scrapped completely, ZAFT was running out of Nazca-class battleships, which meant that less mobile suits were being ferried throughout PLANT territory. Mobile suits always needed some sort of carrier to return to, and although it would cost less to simply build a new ship to replace the Phalanx, it was the matter of time; time was of the essence, not money, and ZAFT wanted as many battleships in service as possible.

A knock on the door of the office attracted Aiden's attention. Turning around from the window, he waved his hand over a sensor; the office door opened. Standing at the door was another first lieutenant dressed in the usual red and black. His blonds hair was combed into neat bangs, and he carried himself with a sense of arrogance, his blue eyes showing signs of amusement. He stepped into the office as the door closed behind him.

The newcomer looked around the office, studied it, and sighed. “You are really awful at utilizing space, Aiden,” the newcomer muttered. Aiden smiled lightly, knowing perfectly what First Lieutenant Derlude Helsrang meant. Aiden's office may be large, but it was rather bare. Two bookshelves, a desk, and a bed. That was all. Other than there being books on the shelves, there was nothing, no awards or pictures. Other than paperwork, pens, and his computer, his desk was devoid of personal trinkets as well. It was among the things that Derlude Helsrang complained about Aiden.

“I never liked to make a mess,” Aiden admitted as he turned around to face Derlude. Derlude looked around, found the room devoid of any other chairs. He scowled.

“You're trying to make me stand, aren't you?” Derlude mocked Aiden playfully.

Aiden laughed. “Remind me to get another chair from inventory,” Aiden smirked, and waved toward his bed, motioning Derlude to sit, “For now, let's talk business.”

Derlude's face composed itself as he sat on Aiden's bedsheets. “Right,” Derlude nodded, “Let's get down to work. You've contacted the Ace-Ops already?”

“Basically, all our pilots on ZAFT have already been given the general briefing. I think the message for the Orb pilots also went through, but I'm not too sure for the pilots of the Earth Alliance. I'll have Julius try to contact them again when he gets to Orb.”

“I assume Senator Leland has been informed of the update? And Julius has already left with him, right?”

Aiden picked up a ball-point pen from his desk and started to twirl it in between his fingers. “Senator Leland has already left for Orb along with Julius. His last report has told me he has already made contact with his Orb colleagues there, and will be making contact with Cagalli Yula Attha soon.”

“Don't you think it's a bit early to contact the Attha?” Derlude seemed doubtful as he crossed his arms, “Especially when we haven't...”

“I've went over that with Hitomi already. She's helping me loosen security at this point; Crawford will get the son of Zala, that I don't doubt. Timing should be instant.”

“But you have to realize about the validity of our timeline, and of the information that is leaked out,” Derlude protested, “Should Attha find a hole in the information we're about to give her...”

“She won't,” Aiden shook his head, “Even if she does, she won't get anything out of it.”

“You have to realize that she will probably suspect something,” Derlude pressed his lips together, clearly in doubt, “One year down the line does seem rather late for Orb to suddenly ask her to take the reins of leadership.”

“It was the best plan suggested at the Defense Committee Hearing,”Aiden shrugged, “You were there. We can hit three birds with one rock. It's the only plan that's consistent in terms of execution, time, and our current financial resources.”

“It's the best plan because you suggested it,” Derlude muttered, scratching his nose. Aiden couldn't help but smile; Derlude didn't mean any ill, but his skepticism and his general reluctance was amusing.

“Perhaps,” Aiden shrugged, “I guess the other analysts aren't exactly equipped for plotting.”

“You should've been a suspense author, Aiden,” Derlude uncrossed his arms, felt uncomfortable, then crossed them again.

“Perhaps,” Aiden repeated, and turned back to his computer, “But either way, the plan's already being executed. Crawford will have Zala within the hour. And we should be leaving for the Kalima. We can't be caught looking like we don't have anything better to do, right?”

Derlude chuckled, his skepticism instantly replaced by his thirst for action, “Looks like this will get very, very messy soon.”

It was an understatement to say that Cagalli Yula Attha was not pleased with the arrival of a Orb transport chopper moving toward the island. At first, she thought it was some sort of threat, but as it moved closer, she saw that it had the national colors of Orb, and a symbol of a shield, indicating that the chopper was here for escort and transportation, not for an assault. But whatever Orb was up to, Cagalli wasn't exactly pleased.

With blond hair and hazel eyes, Cagalli was much like her former self during the war that had been waged a year ago. She still was a tomboy (a nickname gleefully taken up by her closer friends around Orb, one that annoyed her to no end), she was still brash, she was still naïve, and she still hated dresses. All in all, that was not much of a difference from the shadow of Cagalli Yula Attha.

It had been a year after the Battle of Yakin-Duue, C.E. 72. There was a sense of peace in terms of appearance; the peace talks held at PLANT seemed to have made a difference. However, the war between Naturals and Coordinators still went wrong. While Earth and ZAFT had officially signed a ceasefire, the war wasn't quite over.

“The Earth Alliance is quite ticked off about what happened at the Moon Base, and especially about Genesis. Naturally, PLANT wasn't pleased about what happened at JOSH-A Base at Alaska, and is even less pleased of how the OMNI Enforcers tried to destroy PLANT entirely with nuclear weapons. There's also the economic problems to consider, which hasn't been averted even after the Atlantic Federation has begun to utilize the Neutron-Jammer Cancelers. There's the Blue Cosmos to worry about, as well as the Zala Faction. Briefly said, neither the weapons or the nucleus of the war has been dismantled to a satisfactory extent.”

That was Cagalli's explanation when one of Markio's orphans asked Cagalli if the war was over or not. Quite naturally, not one of them understood.

But these concerns were not as paramount to her thoughts of her mother nation, Orb. After Orb was nearly destroyed by the Atlantic Federation, they had begun rebuilding the nation after the Battle of Yakin-Duue. ZAFT had been generous in its donations to the relief project, but it was quite obvious that ZAFT's motive was to have Orb in its pocket. ZAFT might not have completely succeeded at that, but Cagalli was quite annoyed to learn that the lack of leadership within Orb, in addition to the already dwindling treasury, had brought in two results. Orb's leadership is nearly always siding with ZAFT, and Orb's leadership has essentially become more of an hierarchy caste system.

None of which Orb admits, of course.

But it really wasn't supposed to bother Cagalli, she being on one of the satellite island of Orb with Markio and his many orphans. After the war, she had wanted to steer clear of politics; besides, with the new leadership in Orb, the name Attha probably wasn't going to be a welcome utterance anytime soon. Her twin brother, Kira Yamato, who had decided to finish his course at Orb when he realized his university academics had been cut short by the incident at Heliopolis which consequently dragged him into the war, had sent letters asking of Cagalli wanted to join him at Orb, but his letters usually came with an undertone that told Cagalli things wouldn't be as pleasant as she'd expect. Besides, Cagalli was quite satisfied here, where she lived with the blind Markio and his family of orphans.

Which was one of the reasons why Cagalli met the Orb helicopter with a scowl as it landed on one of the plains on the island. But she reminded herself that there may be no specific reason why a helicopter would be landing here. Hell, they might not be looking for her specifically. Why was she so worried?

But she suddenly realized that the helicopter did came for her, for one simple reason. Out of the transport helicopter piled out two Orb guards, corporals, and an Orb senator, who Cagalli immediately recognized as Senator Joseph Strauss. Cagalli didn't know her personally; she had not been in service of Orb before Yakin-Duue. However, she had seen him on television many times, and she thought he was a calm, reasonable man. It was unexpected, but not really a surprise to see him here. But what really surprised her was the last two men to jump off the chopper.

The next man to jump off was dressed completely in a tuxedo. He had to be just a year older than Cagalli, just by looking at his features. Although his eyes were hidden by a pair of tinted shades, he had relatively long dirty blond hair that flowed in the wind. Cagalli didn't realize it immediately, but she suddenly noticed some specifics on the tuxedo, and her academics recalled he was definitely of ZAFT's secret service. As a child, Cagalli was required to memorize every aspect of military dress code of every nation, but what her teacher didn't realize was that Cagalli had already memorized every detail through her outside sources, sources she had gained in her interest of the military. Of course, it was something she never told her teacher; it was much easier to pass if one acted like she didn't know a thing.

Cagalli was just wondering what a ZAFT special agent was doing here when the fifth man came out, in the form of a ZAFT senator.

For these reasons, Cagalli was certain that they had come for her.

Senator Strauss walked up to Cagalli, followed by the two corporals and the two ZAFT members. Strauss looked Cagalli up and down for a moment, studying her. Strauss seemed young, and Cagalli suspected him to be the youngest member of Orb's ruling party.

“Cagalli Yula Attha?” Strauss asked in an even voice, “Are you Cagalli Yula Attha?”

Cagalli felt compelled to say no, but reason prevailed. “Yeah,” Cagalli nodded. She closed her mouth there; she couldn't think of anything else polite to say.

“I am Senator Joseph Strauss,” Strauss introduced himself, “Behind me are Senator Francis Leland and his aide, Julius Vibrassa.”

Cagalli stared at the five of them, or more importantly, the three that seemed to make more of a difference here, Joseph Strauss, Francis Leland, and Julius Vibrassa. She pressed her lips together, and finally said, “It's not everyday that I get politicians visiting here. So what do you want?”

Strauss looked around. “It would be better if we were to talk somewhere inside. Do you mind?”

Cagalli knew he was talking about Markio's cabin on the beach. Cagalli found no reason to push them away, but there was a feeling that she felt, something about them that she couldn't quite trust. But she didn't know anything now, which was the reason she was compelled to say, “Okay.”

It was, after all, all she could say.

“So tell me,” Cagalli said, looking at the three men on the other side of the table. The two corporals had been situated outside the house, keeping guard detail; Strauss and Leland were seated in front of Cagalli, while Julius stood beside them. Apparently, Leland and Markio were old acquaintances, and Leland had no trouble asking Markio to “lend the place for the time being”. Cagalli wished that Markio didn't have such friends in high places; although they were useful, it was also likely that the favor could be turned the other way around.

“I will have to ask that all information presented to you here remain within this room,” Strauss started as he leaned forward on the sofa and folded his hands together, “It's not public information yet, but just twelve hours ago, Representative Roland Davenport died of heart failure. It was sudden; the doctors never saw it coming. Clinical data suspect the causes to be natural.”

Cagalli tried to hide her surprise. So Davenport was dead. For some reason, Cagalli wanted to smirk; she had never liked the man who had wrested Orb from the policies that her father, and the Representatives before him, had set down. While his rule was full of scandals and conspiracies, his rule never collapsed on him, which was a miracle unto itself.

“Is that all you came to tell me?” Cagalli asked, knowing full well that whatever they were saying was just the beginning.

“Roland hasn't declared any legitimate heirs, which means that Orb is currently at a lack of leadership,” Strauss continued, “News of his death is being scheduled to be released to the media in twelve hours. We're hoping to have someone take his place before his death becomes public knowledge. It's the best way to have a less turbulent maneuver. For the last twelve hours, we have been choosing among candidates to replace the late Representative Davenport. We've selected you.”

So it was a day full of surprises. Cagalli didn't quite successfully hide her surprise this time; true, she did feel that Orb would be better in her control, but she would've thought that her name was an unwelcome utterance under the Davenport rule. Now that the opportunity to become the Representative of Orb seemed farfetched, even in her wildest fantasies. Cagalli squinted her eyes.

“Let's keep it simple,” Cagalli said in an even tone, “What do you want from me?”

Strauss' expression didn't betray any emotion. “Nothing,” he said simply, “We just need someone to be the new Representative of Orb.”

“Yeah,” Cagalli muttered, obviously not believing what Strauss was telling her, “Then tell me what a ZAFT senator is doing here.”

Leland cleared his throat, seemingly expecting this question for a while. “PLANT wishes to extend its interest in the matter,” Leland said, “In a sense, we are hoping that Miss Cagalli Yula Attha take the reins of leadership of Orb, in hopes of bring Orb to its former glory.”

Cagalli didn't like the way this ZAFT senator spoke at all; while his voice was full of graciousness, his words were slippery, almost as if he had another plan in mind, and was daring her to expose it.

“And what if I don't?” Cagalli asked testily, keeping her voice steady.

“We will have to contact the next candidate,” Strauss said rather simply after a moment's hesitation, “It will take more time to locate him, however, and by that time, the leadership crisis of Orb will probably already take its toll. The next candidate is not as easily located, or as qualified, as you.”

Cagalli stared at Strauss' eyes, cursed in her mind. She had done her best to do what she called “half-aggravating speech”, which was right on the border of politeness and outright rudeness. It could be taken either way, and had Strauss taken the bait and become furious, Cagalli was, in a sense, innocent, because she could back her claim in saying she did not intend to aggravate Strauss, merely asked for the results of what would happen if she didn't take the seat of Representative. However, Strauss had answered her question perfectly without fuss; this Orb senator was much more than he seemed.

“We sincerely hope that Miss Attha will accept the title of Representative,” Leland added, breaking Cagalli's thoughts, “The rise of the Attha back to power will serve as a great joy to the people of Orb. The late Representative Uzumi Nalah Attha was admired by all as a reasonable and headstrong ruler of Orb; I'm sure his daughter, carrying the name of Attha, will rule as wisely as he had.”

Cagalli's gaze to did waver from Strauss, but kept her attention on Leland. It seemed the ZAFT senator had a habit of talking about people in third-person. Inside, her mind tightened, however; although Cagalli now had a hunch that her late father, Uzumi Nalah Attha, was not her birth father, there was still an imprint he had left on Cagalli, something that she couldn't throw away. The mere mention of her father brought back unwanted memories of her “father” perishing in the Morgenraete explosion when Uzumi forcibly self-destructed the island as a final act of defiance against the Atlantic Federation.

“You're probably thinking why it took so long for us to insert you as the Representative of Orb,” Strauss said, “You're probably thinking we're just using you. We know that you probably don't have good thoughts about the present state of Orb. But consider; how do we use you? If we are to use you, how can we? If that was the case, it would've been better off that we leave you alone on this island. If we are using you, I guess you can say we've considered your presence as Representative would reduce the number of strikes against the more radical changes of Orb. But the end result is the same. We're not using you for any heavy purpose. You can't think of any possible reason why we would insert you as Representative and use you at the same time, can you?”

Cagalli looked down on the floor, for a moment, considered. But her reply had already been known before it was voiced.

“If you were to use me,” Cagalli stated flatly, “I wouldn't know for what reasons.”

Strauss stared at Cagalli, contemplated, then nodded in agreement. “You wouldn't,” he agreed.

Cagalli gritted her teeth in frustration, leaned back against the chair she had been sitting on. Her gaze settled on Strauss, then Leland, then to the silent Julius who hadn't strung up a word in the conversation.

“Give me some time to consider,” Cagalli sighed finally, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles.

“We didn't expect you to make a decision so quickly either,” Strauss concurred, “However, if you are to make a decision, it would be best that you make it within the next ten hours.”

“Before the population finds out, and with enough time for me to get orientated, I know,” Cagalli nodded, her eyes closed. And inside, her mind struggled. There were endless reasons why she should return to leadership. Bringing Orb back to the way it was, returning to her responsibility as an Attha, to bring happiness to the people of Orb. But deep inside, she knew that they wouldn't have come without a reason, the Orb Senator Strauss, the ZAFT Senator Leland. Something had to be up, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

What was it that they needed her for?

Athrun Zala grimaced as the clock ticked on to five minutes past five, which was, in the manner of Niel Schneider, way too past the appointed time. Niel practically lived his life on the clock, and his appearance was usually only off by the seconds; his inability to show up at five disturbed Athrun. Of course, it was possible that Niel might've forgotten something along the way and turned back to retrieve it, or he had been caught in traffic. No, that wasn't the case; Niel had a fantastic memory, and he was always wary of traffic, departed early. Even if there was a contradiction this time, he could've easily contacted Athrun on his cell phone. Athrun had tried contacting Niel on his cell, but it appeared Niel had it off. Athrun had left a message, though.

A tall, lanky, blue-haired, green-eyed Coordinator, Athrun had doubts when asked to return to ZAFT. Not only was he the son of Patrick Zala, the man who had fired the superweapon Genesis against the Earth Lunar Base at the Putilitatis Crater, the one who had declared that only Coordinators were true humans. He was almost sure that the name Zala would be tainted for years to come. Not only that, but he had been part of the Clyne Faction in the last fraction of the war one year ago, essentially, a traitor in the eyes of ZAFT.

It was Lacus Clyne who had saved him, and many other Coordinators who had sided with her during the war. Her brave, although somewhat brash, charge into the ZAFT Supreme Council was supported by many Coordinators who were willing to put down their arms, including the recently elected Chairwoman Eileen Canaver. Quite ironically, it was outright innocence that got her into trouble, and still outright innocence that got her out of it.

But Athrun still had doubts; even if his identity as the pilot of the second nuclear-powered mobile suit Justice, the pilot that had saved PLANT by shooting down the nuclear missiles directed at the stations, was acceptable, the name Zala certainly wasn't. Despite Lacus' most convincing arguments, Athrun decided to switch his alias to Alex Reno. A few select insiders knew his true identity, insiders that included Kira Yamato, Lacus Clyne, Cagalli Yula Attha, Niel Schneider, and several other ZAFT insiders that were close to him. And even with him being Alex Reno, he still somewhat unsafe.

Which explained his relative unease of Niel unable to arrive on time at the Hybrid Shopping Mall, where Niel had made his appointment. Niel had called him, asking him to meet him at the Hybrid Shopping Mall at five, no explanation, just saying he was in a hurry. Normally, Athrun would've felt suspicious, which he had, but he thought reasonably. Niel was a first lieutenant of Hitomi Varyvae's Peace Project, a ZAFT-funded organization that acted as an independent branch of ZAFT's National Defense Committee to ensure the peace, or ceasefire, between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance. There were thousands of things that could've tied Niel's schedule down in his position.

Athrun sighed as he looked around him. No sign of Niel. Standing on the second floor balcony in front of the food plaza, Athrun leaned on the railing, looking up at the third floor balcony, which would serve as an extension of the food plaza when construction of that balcony was finished. Athrun, becoming worried, reached into his pocket for his cell phone once more. While his behavior could be classified as outright paranoid, Athrun had been a soldier for a long time; his instincts were usually accurate, and it was tingling like mad.

Athrun had just pulled his cell phone from his pocket when something suddenly stabbed him in the back, Athrun didn't know what. A needle, a blade, what? Athrun groped backwards, tried to cry out, but something had already sealed his throat. And Athrun realized suddenly that a depressant, most likely a tranquilizer, had been injected into his body. He struggled with the chemical, trying his best to keep his mind sharp, trying to figure out everything before consciousness failed him. But fighting against such a tranquilizer was useless, as Athrun went limp, his vision blurred, his thoughts foggy, and his last thoughts were suddenly realizing that he was being grabbed by the arms, and that the world behind him exploded, turning into an orange cloud of fire.

Then, the depressant took him, and his world was black.