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Despite the ruckus of the day before, Libot remained quiet, still an island of tranquility amidst a sea of war. On the southern side of the Colony, the end not attached to the mirrors, Al sat in school, doing his classwork. The teacher was trying to explain early Colonial history to them, and having very little luck. They were young boys and girls, and wanted to know about the war that went on outside their borders. Al stared out the window, ignoring what the teacher was saying. He had seen something in the forest earlier that day, a hole had been punctured in the Colony wall close to their town, just for a minute or so before it was sealed. Something had flown in, and he wanted to check it out. Bernie and Emil walked through the colonies streets, looking in at shops and trying to enjoy themselves. The city was bustling, many people were off work for the holidays, and shopping like bandits. "So how are we supposed to find any intel. I have no idea where to start!" Emil said, stretching and sitting down on a sidewalk bench. Bernie's face went red, sitting down next to him. "Don't talk about it like that in public, somebody might hear you!" He said. Two ladies walked past as he did, and they giggled and looked back at them. "Oh my, they make such a cute couple! Young boys in love~" She said, laughing and walking down the street. "See, now look what you did..." Bernie scratched his head, ruffling his light blonde hair. "Well, it's better than them knowing what we were really talking about right?" Emil responded. They were both tired, and neither of them were really used to such a sensitive or high priority mission. They spent the day wandering through the city, discovering very little that was fruitful. At another end of the city, Veronica was laying on the roof of an apartment building, a can of iced tea in one hand and binoculars in the other. She'd been there for three hours, and had not moved at all. From her vantage point, she could watch the trucks moving in and out of the industrial compound here, without being seen in return. This was where they expected the base was, but they couldn't be sure. However, there wasn't anybody moving in and out really, or any automobile traffic. At least, nothing of importance. She sipped her tea, watching and waiting. How anybody could remain so still with so much caffeine in them remained a mystery, but Colonal Wu was trained to do this job, and she did it well. "Oh come on, is' just one leetle drink!" Misha said, chasing Caleb around the room. He was convinced the younger test pilot was much too serious, at all times. "We're working Misha! I don't drink on the job!" DeGrau responded, ducking behind a table. Caleb was a serious man, he'd always wanted this sort of an assignment, to be the one everyone was counting on. To be a pilot on a high priority mission like this was something he'd always dreamed of. And here was Misha, an MAF pilot of the Cyclops team, likely more qualified and definitely more famous, and here was acting like a drunken idiot. It confounded Caleb. Yoritomo stood outside, trying to pay more attention to his patrol route than the hilarity inside. They were staying in an abandoned warehouse, big enough to store their two mobile suits once they had been reconstructed. Caleb and Misha were supposed to be reconstructing them, and really were making pretty good time, despite Mishas constant affliction with vodka. Yoritomo thought he wouldn't mind a drink, and then kept going on his route. He sighed. There was no way the Federation knew they were there, but they had to patrol anyway. Just in case. Around dinner time, Steiner Hardy sat in a bar at the far end of town, sipping slowly on his drink. The bartender was an old friend, and an accomplished information agent for the Duchy. He was paid well for his services, and it made up for the fact that his bar was largely empty. As an informant, that made things better in fact. "So that's where you think it is?" Steiner asked quietly. "Yeah. Trucks go in that area and they don't come out. No other way to explain it Hardy." The bartender said, washing a glass. "But look Hardy, this is messy stuff you're getting into. Who knows how many guards they have in that facility." "I know, old friend." Steiner smiled beneath his mustauche. "Orders are orders." While the two continued their conversation, Roslyn and company walked into the bar, already engaged in a ridiculous conversation. "So she uses the minovsky particles and it splits the conjoined twins in two, and then it's legal for them to marry in Space Neptune." "WHY are you calling it Space Neptune again? Why can't it just be Neptune?" One of the crewmembers responded. Roslyn snickered. They were quickly filling the bar, and Steiner saw his cue to leave. "Because it's not like they're ON Neptune, they're in orbit around it. So it's Space Neptune! Obviously." Roslyn snickered. Steiner finished his drink and thanked the bartender. "It's not like they call Side 6 Space Earth!" Another crewmember responded. The Zinnia seemed to have a lot of crewmembers. Roslyn rolled her eyes. "Well of course they don't. That's just silly." Steiner walked out of the bar quickly, and Roslyn kept a keen eye on him, still engaged in her conversation. "And then you guys got arrested? Wow!" Christina said, laughing. The test pilot for the Alex was quite the babe, and well liked throughout the hidden base. "I know, right?" Derek joined in on the laughter. Jack wheeled up as fast as he could, hearing his name several times in the conversation. "Don't you go hitting on her Carter, I'll have to get out of this chair and beat you to a pulp." Jack said. They all laughed. "Oh stop it you two. I'm impressed Murphy, it's amazing you're as good of a pilot as you are stuck in that chair. How come you never got prosthetic legs, you know they work just as well as real legs these days." Christina said, showing concern for her fellow pilot. "I dunno, I'm just not ready to give up my real legs yet, even if they don't work." Murphy slapped the two appendages, as if trying to shock them back to life. To the Federation soldiers on the base, this testing project was a vacation and a dream. Everybody was smiling, everybody was happy, they got to be with friends and family every day. Most of the personnel here were actually from Libot, since it made it much easier to hide the records that way. Officially they were all on leave, and although they had to go to work every day, it definitely felt that way. They were all having a wonderful time. Alex was kind of bummed, having to go out into the city while Jack and Derek got to babysit the babe. He had seen Christina first, and he wanted her all for himself, but it seemed it was not to be. He sighed, wandering through the city streets, idly watching the passers by. He didn't really know what he was looking for, there was a rumor that the Moonfucks had established a base in the outskirts of the city and were planning an attack. Sentara didn't really believe any of it. He muttered to himself, walking along. He needed a date. Even the homosexuals in Libot were together, he had seen two young gay boys on a sidewalk bench earlier in the day. Oh to be young and carefree. He thrust his hands in his pockets and kicked a piece of wayward trash into the nearest gutter. This was boring, and he wanted to go back to base. "I think it's around here Emil." Bernie said, rustling through the bushes. It was almost dark. Myberg was annoyed that Bernie had taken him on a wild goose chase all the way out to the bushes, but they'd heard something interesting from a couple civilians, and they wanted to check it out. "You can't just HIDE a goddamn Zaku in the middle of the forest." Emil said. He was annoyed. They'd been out the whole day, and Veronicas orders were definitely not to go trecking through the woods. Why couldn't the colony be like the inside of a spaceship where you could just fly wherever you wanted, anyway. "... Or can you." Emil said, the two moving past a clearing and finding the beast. A huge Zaku Kai, one of the ZEFs own, was sitting next to a recently and gooily patched hole in the colony wall. It was amazing that the trees were hiding it, but apparently they were. And there was a small boy sitting atop the mobile suit...  |