"Please, Commander! Let me go after him!" Yzak pleaded. "I can destroy him. I will destroy him." Athrun and Nicol
heard their comrade's voice in the briefing room. They had just landed at Gibraltar base and were told to report to their
commander there. They rounded the corner as Klueze responded "You're too emotional, Yzak!" Klueze rebuked.
Athrun noticed the scar crossing Yzak's face and let out a gasp. "Yzak, what happened?" Yzak turned away, embarrassed. It was
the wound he'd received battling the Strike in orbit over the Earth. "The wound is healed, but Yzak refuses to remove the scar
until he shoots down the Strike," Klueze explained. "But our primary mission it to prevent the Paw from escaping to Alaska."
"Isn't that the responsibility of the Carpentaria's Morassim Team?"
"It's our job, Commander! We must destroy them with our own hands!" Yzak growled, clenching his fists. "I feel the same way,
Commander!" Dearla jumped in. Athrun and Nicol looked at Dearka in surprise. "I've tasted too much humiliation because of that
traitor!" Dearka explained. They had taken part in the operation to crush the Archangel and Strike under Commander Waltfeld,
which had gone so terribly wrong. The worst part of it was the fact that neither of them had the chance to attack the Strike.
Their suits immediately succumbed to the desert sands, rendering them immobile. Yet the Strike was strangely as nimble as the
BuCUEs that Waltfeld had led against the enemy. Dearka and Yzak were forced to do nothing more than watch as the Earth Forces
crushed the ZAFT units.
Klueze sighed. "I'm forced to remain on the station in order to prepare for Operation Spit Break, but if you really want to
track down the Archangel alone..."
"Yes!" Yzak exclaimed.
"Then you four will form the team. And just to be sure you don't get too carried away, Yzak," Klueze turned and faced Athrun.
"Athrun will be in charge." Athrun felt his heart sink. "I'll arrange for you to get a transport to Carpentaria. Make preparations
to leave at once," Klueze commanded.
"Excuse me, Commander, but why me?" Athrun asked. He didn't want the job of killing his best friend and Klueze knew it. "It's
not your job to question my orders, Athrun." Klueze towered over him. "It's your job to follow them." Athrun
fell silent.
"I guess that makes us the Zala Team, eh?" Dearka sneered. Athrun found both Dearka and Yzak glaring at him as he left the room.
Clearly, neither wanted to work under him.
Nicol was nervous. He looked out the window. The setting sun turned the sky blood-red. Dearka sat in a chair, reading a
magazine. "Yzak is late." Nicol looked at the clock. It was fifteen past the hour. He paced a few times, then sat down across
from Dearka. A moment later he was back on his feet, unable to relax. They had arrived at the Carpentaria base in the early
afternoon. Athrun's transport never showed. They had just received word that his suit had been lost over the Indian Ocean. Now
they were waiting for Yzak to return with more news.
"Stop pacing," Dearka said, irritated. "It's very annoying."
"Sorry. But aren't you worried?"
"Nah." Dearka smiled. "He's probably having a love affair with the princess of some South Sea island."
"Don't joke!"
Suddenly, the door opened and Yzak entered.
"Any news on Athrun?"
Yzak spread both hands out dramatically. "Members of the Zala Team! I have news of our first glorious mission. It should bring us
great honor as we perform a search and rescue of our esteemed commander!"
Dearka laughed. At times like this, the neutron jammers were a curse. If they had been able to communicate, they might know what
had happened or at least havce a fix on the transport's last position. But now they couldn't even pick up on a rescue signal.
"That's it?" Nicol was indignant.
"HQ has its own problems, you know - something about a war," Yzak replied, rolling his eyes. "They said if we wanted to find our
commander, we'd have to do it ourselves."
"It's getting late. Let's search tomorrow," Dearka said. "I don't want to miss dinner."
"How can you be so callous?" Nicol demanded.
"Relax. He's aboard the Aegis. Even if the transport crashed, the suit would survive."
"Yeah, we both fell dozens of miles through the atmosphere and lived," Dearka pointed out, referring to their battle with Kira
in space. "What's a mile or two from a transport?"
"We'll search tomorrow after the mothership's preparations are done."
Nicol bit his lip. He looked back out the window. The sky was turning as red as fire.
Yzak threw the printout on the table. "Do they expect us to believe this crap?!" he cried. He referred to the official
statement Orb had released. "We're being made to look like fools." He glared sharply at Athrun. The Zala team had gathered
in the briefing room of the Cousteau, a submarine hiding in the waters just outside of Orb's territory. "I bet the Paw's
already slipped away from Orb," added Dearka.
"Dearka!" Nicol scolded him. But it was natural that Yzak and Dearka were indignant. Not only had the Archangel escaped from
their grasp once again, but they had little reason to believe the official pronouncement from Orb. After all, Heliopolis was
an Orb colony that had illegally constructed the Archangel and the X Number mobile suits.
"It doesn't matter what we believe." Athrun held up his copy of the Orb pronouncement. "As long as this is Orb's formal
statement, we can't refute it."
"What?!" Yzak yelled.
"Why don't we just break through, destroy the Paw, then escape?" asked Dearka.
"It's not like Heliopolis," Athrun answered. "If we attack Orb, it'll only bring them in on the Earth Alliance's side. That's a
situation ZAFT high command would rather avoid, considering the power of their military force."
"How rational of you, commander," Yzak sneered. Even though Orb didn't have a sizable military, they were well-armed with the
most advanced weaponry in existence. Of course Morgenroete, the state-run company, designed the very mobile suits the Zala team
was using.
"So what are we going to do? Just go home?" Dearka asked sardonically.
"Carpentaria will pressure the Orb government through diplomatic channels," Athrun said, pausing long enough to see Yzak roll
his eyes, "while we infiltrate Orb on our own reconnaisance mission."
After a long pause, Yzak threw his hands in the air as if giving up. "Fine, if that's the best we can do."
"That's the best we can do," Athrun assured him.
"Sounds good to me," Nicol added.
"Yeah, whatever." Dearka stood and left the room. Yzak followed him out, but paused at the doorway.
"I'll listen to your commands, Athrun, but just remember at the end of the day, I'm the one who takes out the Strike."
The eastern sky turned faintly red with the first traces of morning. A small fishing boat floated off the coast of Orb.
There was nothing conspicuous about it, other than the fact that the fisherman kept checking his watch.
Eventially, the fishing boat tilted slightly. A hand reached out from the water and grasped the boat's line. The fisherman
smiled as he offered to help the person in the wetsuit trying to board. Three more people appeared from beneath the water's
surface. They each quietly boarded and removed their scuba gear. The first aboard introduced himself to the fisherman.
He offered his hand. "I'm Athrun Zala, of the Klueze team."
"Welcome to the country of peace." The fisherman smiled.
They split up to search the island for news about the Archangel. Onogoro wasn't very large, but there were still many people
working and living there. By day's end, they had learned nothing. Nor had they found any chance to gain access into
Morgenroete. They headed back toward the inlet, walking along the factory district's outer fence.
"How did you do?" Yzak asked, irritated.
"Well, I didn't expect it to be sitting in the military port," Dearka grumbled.
"They can't hide such a large ship very easily," Yzak added.
"It really isn't here, is it?" Dearka complained. "What are we going to do?" They turned to Athrun, awaiting orders.
At a length he said, "We have to be sure. We'll keep asking around tomorrow."
Yzak nodded. They continued to walking. Yzak watched the inhabitants as they went to and from work. "Geez, everybody looks
so calm!" Yzak sneered. "Don't they realize this is the middle of a war?!"
"But they're not fighting. Why should they suffer or be concerned when all they want is peace?" Nicol said.
"Yeah, peace is nice. This is a nice country. The girls are cute," Dearka added.
"What does that have to do with peace?!" Yzak asked, annoyed.
Dearka shrugged. "Well, even the Natural girls are hot."
"Since when were you do interested in girls?" Yzak snapped at Dearka.
"Knock if off," Athrun interrupted. "Let's move out. We don't want to draw any unwanted attention." They continued walking
when Athrun heard a faint noise above him. He looked up. It took a moment for him to realize what it was that caught his
attention.
Birdy. Athrun stood there, amazed, as he watched his mechanical creation flap its metalic green wings through the air.
He stretched out his hand and the bird-shaped robo-pet landed on his palm. "Birdy. What are you doing here?" Then he realized.
If Birdy's here, so is Kira.
"What's that?" asked Nicol. His companions gathered around. "Oh, a robo-pet." Nicol smiled.
"You mean we're just going to sit here and wait?!" Yzak yelled. Athrun had canceled their mission to return to the island the
next day. He didn't need to return now that he knew Kira was there. He had all the evidence he needed that the Archangel was
hidden in Orb. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell anyone else how he knew.
"We need to stand by until we're resupplied. A cargo ship is en route."
"And then what?" demanded Dearka.
"And then we ambush the Paw."
His team looked at each other, confused. "How do we do that?" Nicol asked.
"We wait for them here." Athrun pointed to a spot on the map. There was nothing but the blue ocean. "I know the Paw is in Orb.
Since we can't do anything while it's there, we're going to wait and attack once it leaves."
"How do you know it's there?" Yzak insisted.
Athrun hesitated. "I can't tell you."
"This is crap!" Yzak threw his cup across the room.
"What if you're wrong?" asked Dearka.
"I'm not."
"Yeah, right. You magically know where the Paw is and which direction it's going in. But if you're wrong, then we sit here in
the middle of nowhere while it escapes!" Yzak kicked the table to emphasize his last word.
"We already know it's heading toward Alaska. Once they leave Orb-"
"If it's still there," Yzak interrupted.
"Once they leave Orb, we're bound to run into them as they head north.
Yzak slumped down in a chair. Fine. Yzak thought. Athrun is our commander. I'll follow his orders. At least if this
ambush fails, Athrun will be demoted. Perhaps then I'll get my chance to lead the team to victory.
Yzak beat his hands against the wall with all of his might. His knuckles were bleeding. "Damn it all to hell!" Athrun and
Dearka silently changed out of their flight uniforms. Yzak turned and violently kicked the lockers. One of the doors swung
open and a red uniform fell out.
"Yzak!" Dearka pointed. Yzak stopped in surprise when he finally noticed he'd kicked open Nicol's locker. He slumped forward,
his energy spent.
"Why did he have to die?!" Yzak moaned. "Why?"
Athrun grabbed Yzak's collar and shoved him against the lockers. "If there's something you want to say, say it!" Yzak hung
limply in his arms as a tear slid down his face. His fight was gone. "That it's my fault. That he died because of me!"
Athrun continued shouting, ready for a fight.
"Athrun! Stop it!" Dearka stepped between them. "The two of you fighting won't solve anything! It's the Strike that
we have to defeat!"
"I know that!" Yzak shouted back, tears streaming down his cheeks. "He killed Miguel, too! I'll never forgive him!" Yzak ran
from the room, sobbing. There was a tense silence.
"I'm going to make sure he's okay." After glancing at the uniform, Dearka turned and followed after Yzak.
"Contact!" Athrun wheeled around to face the Cousteau's sonar operator. He could see a point of light moving on the radar panel. The operator
collated the incoming data and gave the answer, "It's the Paw!" The entire crew felt bloodthirsty. They wanted revenge for
Nicol.
Monroe examined the map. "There are a lot of islands in this area and it's nearly sunrise. We'll definitely have the
advantage."
"Today we settle it!" Yzak raised his voice. "Today, we destroy the Strike."