2010-04-29 - Poaching

TDD-1 TUATHA DE DANAAN ABOUT TEN MINUTES LATER

Mithril does not fuck around. This is a truism that is occasionally shocking to Katharon pilots more used to the laxity of the AEUG - everyone wears a uniform, albeit some take the liberty of wearing their uniform..."creatively" (such as Melissa Mao, who pretty much goes around in her sports bra half the time). Everyone does their job efficiently, or at least well. You'd think you were landing on an EFA ship with the speed and efficiency with which the birdlime encasing Soma and Cagalli is pulled away - and the armed guards who promptly grapple Soma and restrain her with military zipties, before shuffling and/or dragging her off to the depths of the ship.

Soma awakens in a white, armored room with a single massive, secured bulkhead for a door. Inside there is a pair of armed guards, both of them with the kind of build and expression that indicates long military service. She has been tied to a simple steel chair.

Outside, Teletha Testarossa is waiting for any visitors, while Mardukas handles things on the bridge. She's been wanting to see Rachel and Cagalli again, but...

But it seems they won't be able to talk about what's on Tessa's mind right away, she reflects, with trouble in her heart. And poor Rachel...

In the flight back from the battlefield, Soma had plenty of time to think. Most of that time was spent glaring at Cagalli and trying to decide if it was worth headbutting the princess, since she couldn't move anything else. In the end, she decided against it. While it would be satisfying, she'd probably have to put up with even more of a headache all the way back.

With the distance from the Psyco (well, all but the arm) increasing, its hold on her is also going away, and some of the anger is fading. Soma has time to think about what has happened. She is captured... they may torture her for information, in which case she knows how to withstand whatever they will do. They may hold her for some other reason... But Soma is not afraid. She refuses to show any fear or weakness. She'll stand strong, and pay attention, and maybe she'll get out of this.

When she sees the uniforms around the Tuatha, however, her eyes go wide. She recognizes those uniforms. MITHRIL... and she suddenly knows just where he is. Stoicism is replaced by a sudden grip of fear. Are they going to brainwash her? She does consider struggling, but she knows that there's no point. It's not as if there's anywhere to run to. Soma is silent, worrying to herself as she's led into the white room and tied to the chair. She's trying not to let her fear show... fear not for her life, but for her mind.

One of the first people to come visit, of course, is the person who is arguably responsible, if in a roundabout way, for Soma's capture -- Cagalli Yula Athha herself. She's been cleaned up, and currently finds herself in a MITHRIL uniform (it was the only outfit on the ship in her size, unfortunately).

As she heads toward Soma's cell, Cagalli spots Tessa; she gives the young lady a polite nod, still never sure whether to bow, salute, or just wave. (As such she goes with 'none of the above.') "... She's OK, right?" Cagalli sounds genuinely worried. "I think she's got a visitor coming down as soon as possible. She might be on the ship already, I'm... not sure."

Despite having been knocked unconscious not /that/ long ago, Cagalli is still pretty loud; Soma can /probably/ hear her.

Ballutes.

Fortunately, they're in relatively handy supply on the Argama, as atmospheric re-entry is typically a pain in the ass for any machine either not treated or shielded for it. With her personal Murasame still on hooks and in more pieces than she would care to count, it was down to her M1A Astray to make the trip, the extra piece of equipment secured tightly to her machine's chest.

This leads us to somewhere around "five minutes ago."

Dropping out of the sky like a blazing red comet, the pink Mobile Suit is surely a familiar if not relatively welcoming sight on the Tuatha de Danaan. As the single-use ballute outstays its welcome, the Astray's thrusters kick in and release cables are pulled.

She barely has the time to bleed off the velocity as she clears her landing with the Danaan's controls, and with the heels skidding across the sea before a slight hop and a gliding landing onto the deck. Hurriedly sorting her machine, Rachel Miu Athha slaps a thumbprint on a biometric pad and crosses her Ts and dots her Is with the crew, then she bolts through the ship at a full breakneck-speed run.

It's kind of impressive, really, especially when she still manages to dodge staff, crew, and other Katharon guests in the process.

Slowing down to a stop in front of the Captain at that door, Rachel breathes deeper, but she's not 'out of breath' by far. "Tessa..."

After changing, Setsuko went out to meet Denzel.

Upstairs, in the hall between decks, Setsuko slams into a corridor wall when she tries to get out of the way of Rachel and adds a new bruise to her arm, plus demonstrates mastery of the shocked expression.

Tessa's face lights up a little when she sees Cagalli, and she returns that nod. But the happiness at seeing her friend (unusually intense - but then, Tessa's been struggling to get her self back in order ever since 'that day') fades quickly, and she nods, defaulting back to looking worried. "She's fine," she affirms. "Nothing too damaged. She seems..." Tessa narrows her eyes, thoughtfully. "Uneasy. I wonder what she thinks of this place..."

The worst part for Rachel is the agonizingly not-instantaneous elevator ride from the flight deck down into the actual belly of the ship, but once Rachel's out of her machine and has the engineers take over, she's off. The Danaan's corridors are broad, for a submarine - broad enough that people can walk in pairs with some comfort for both, though there's still the occasional pipe or Setsuko Ohara to get in the way.

Again, Tessa smiles, her face relaxing just a touch at Rachel's presence.

She knows she shouldn't care this much. She can't seem to make herself stop.

"Rachel," she says. "I hear you gave Nora something of a fright..."

Drip. Not having the opportunity to have changed unlike some blonde princesses, Soma is still in her flight suit, slightly damp from the solution used to remove the glue. Her hair is likewise still a bit damp. Although she isn't vain by any means, a tiny part of her is glad that they decided against just cutting her hair off to rid it of the adhesive.

Drip. Amber eyes shift to the side as Soma hears a familiar voice. Cagalli Yula Athha. Awake. Alive. And probably ready to come in and gloat. Well, if it's someone like that, Soma isn't going to show any of the fear she feels! Her eyes close for a moment and she takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes again, her expression is steeled once more.

As Rachel runs up, Cagalli resists the urge to just give her a hug right then and there; instead, she gives her a smile and a wave. "Rachel... she's in there," Cagalli says, getting right to the point rather than beating around the bush about her run there. "I -- kind of wanted to talk to her, but..."

Looking away, she says, "I think you should be the first to." She takes a few steps back, saying, "I already know what she'll say to me or Tessa."

It's like something out of a movie, the elevator ride. She pounds in as fast as she can manage and slaps the button, then turns around and shifts her weight, leaning against the wall while watching numbers shift. And then...


 * ding* *ZOOM*

As she catches her breath while her body settles down from the high-speed run and the high-speed wait, Rachel slopes her gaze away from Tessa while taking on a more nervous look. "Sorry," she says, apologetic. The white-haired girl also turns to Cagalli, taking a step closer to her elder sister. "A-Are you all right? I heard you got into a fistfight with Soma again..."

'You should be the first to.'

"... Yeah..."

Barring any secret codes and handshakes and knocks and comically large keyrings to open the room up, Rachel /will/ be that first one into the room, walking in with a calm, light step. Much lighter than moments ago, anyway; feet shuffling as she looks at the girl tied down into the chair with a frown. White hair, a t-shirt and coveralls, two eyes, and... emotional. This is the girl that stands in front of the super soldier. "Soma..."

Tessa gives Rachel a little grin. "She'll live," she says. "She needs some more excitement in her life." She does reach out - hand finding Rachel's arm and resting there, briefly, that strange comfort and physical ease that's come over her since that day. Particularly with Rachel, and perhaps through her, Cagalli, Tessa simply finds herself better able to express with the added medium of contact. "You look good," she adds, one hand coming up and briefly edging upward, as if to touch Ralla's face, before Tessa catches herself and shoves it back down to her side.

She wonders - if she'll ever recover. If she wants to.

"She's restrained," Tessa notes, with audible concern. "There's two armed guards. They..." ... Have orders to shoot if Soma shows signs of violence, she doesn't say - can't make herself say, not with that small inkling of Rachel's feelings burrowed into her heart.

Tessa stands back - Soma faces toward the door, so when it swings open, there's no hiding. Tessa hangs to the back, next to Cagalli, head tipping to one side - murmuring, "You should see Lieutenant Goldberry, when you can. I'm sure she did a number on you. How do you feel?"

The guards are given measuring looks. Will they be involved in this, she wonders. Soma knows that the odds are quite good that some kind of physical pain will be used at the beginning, perhaps along with some sort of good cop/bad cop routine to gain her trust. It's not out of the question that Cagalli may be bad cop and Tessa good cop. It makes perfect sense, especially since she can hear them outside.

There's no need to fear. Soma is sure she knows what they'll throw at her. She won't bend, she won't break. She won't--

She won't expect to see Ralla here. "L..lieutenant Triald?" A pause, as Soma remembers their recent encounter. "Rachel Miu..." But she can't bring herself to say the hated name, to complete the new name. "I see. So they brought you to make me talk." Her gaze travels from Rachel over to the pair waiting by the doorway. "Lieutenant Soma Peries. Code name Super Soldier 001. Callsign Jinx-3." She tries not to look at Rachel as she sets her jaw firmly, trying to look as stubborn and unbreakable as possible...

Though considering how much Soma usually radiates her emotion, it is probably not difficult for Rachel to pick up the fear that fills her.

"... yeah, that's about right. My face kinda stings still, but I've been way worse off before," Cagalli says, answering both Tessa and Rachel. "Not like I'm bleeding or anything." She /does/ have a pretty pronounced facial bruise, but that's definitely better than any of the times she's come back with her hair caked with blood. In fact, comparatively, this is downright pleasant.

Letting Rachel walk in and start talk, Cagalli listens as best she can; she repositions herself a couple times, getting closer to the door, wanting to hear a little more of it than she probably explicitly needs to.

"... you know, it's -- this is gonna sound kinda weird, but, it's kinda cute to see you and Rachel that close," she remarks to Tessa, trying to fill an uncomfortable moment. "It's... different, for you."

For a moment, Rachel looks at Soma in worry, a bit of shock. She was sent to ... make her talk? She doesn't even look back at Cagalli or Tessa at that moment, her eyes half-lidding and the frown on her face growing to exponential levels. Her hands ball up into small fists, and her eyes begin to water a little bit.

Crying isn't something new to Rachel Miu Athha.

Crying isn't something familiar to Ralla Traln Triald.

Her hand lifts slowly, fingers falling into line. The motion is swift, fairly fast. Her hand swings to throw a hard, crisp slap across Soma Peries' cheek. While it won't be ringing her bells, it'll probably sting.

"The Psyco Gundam. The /Psyco/," she says, letting the breath hiss between her teeth, "/Gundam/."

Dropping down into a squat in front of the captured Lieutenant, the white-haired girl looks up at her with pleading eyes. "Why would you do something like that to yourself? Y-- You were the one that was worried about me when I was inside that thing... a-and all the things it did to me..."

"Soma, I-- I came here as fast as I could, because I was /worried/. About /you/, and everyone..."

Her hands come up, face slowly burying into their heels. The tears come a little harder this time, despite her attempts to cut it off. "W... What would the Captain think...?"

Tessa favors Cagalli with a small, sad smile. "The resonance," she says, almost regretfully. "Honestly, I...can't even tell how I used to think of her, anymore. She's been inside my heart. That kind of thing..."

She lets out a small sigh, tired, and her arm swings out - she only seems to notice the gesture when she finds Cagalli's hand, skin against skin. She jumps as if stung. "Ah!" she murmurs. "That is...it...seems I've picked up some---I'm sorry." She retreats her hand and cradles it like a burn, and takes a half step away, as if to make sure she doesn't do it again.

Then again, if she /really/ didn't want that to happen again, she could put a lot more distance between them than /that/.

Instead of doing so, she frowns acutely. "She knew," she murmurs, suddenly, as if deeply troubled. "She knew both names. That's..." Now she's /worried/. Did A-LAWS see through them already? No, that's impossible - even if the foot had failed, /Rachel Miu Athha/ can only be connected to Ralla by visual confirmation, and even then Mithril's falsified the documents to the point that from an official standpoint the EFA would have no choice but to assume the whole thing little more than a freak coincidence. Her hand finds her braid, fingers curling into the tightly-wound hair. Soma's completely unsurprised, too. ...

..."Occam's razor," she mutters, taking a step forward, edging into the conversation. "Rachel," she offers, voice raising just enough to be heard. "Have you...encountered Miss Peries, recently?"

The question she's really asking should be fairly apparent by the small frown. They paid good money for that cover story!!

The tears do not surprise Soma. She... felt them, when she fought the former Lieutenant Triald in space. It is a little strange to see them, but Soma remains stoic. She will not be moved by tears, no matter how she feels about Ralla.

The slap, on the other hand, catches her completely by surprise. If her hands weren't tied, she'd be pressing one of them against her cheek. As is, shw just slowly turns her head back to face Rachel, blinking several times in shock. "I..." The Psycho Gundam. Amber eyes turn away, and Soma hangs her head. "I had no choice. It was to defend my country." She gives no other excuses or explanations. She could... but she doesn't want to give any free information to her captors.

"You do not need to worry about me." She glances up again, giving a sad look to the crying Athha. "The Captain will be worried about me. So will Warrant Officer Halevy." But there isn't anything that can be done about that... after all, it isn't as if MITHRIL will just let her go free.

When Tessa steps forward, Soma glances at her. It only takes her a second to process just what this question was about. Before Rachel can answer, Soma speaks, her voice steady, "Second Lieutenant Triald and I have been in prolonged contact while she was with A-LAWS. Our mental processes had a chance to become synched. At such a close range, I can read her Quantum brainwaves." While this is all true, it has nothing to do with why Soma would know the assumed name. She's bluffing... and she doesn't realize until after she's said it that she might be... covering for Rachel?

Scooting back toward Tessa as she takes that half-step, still listening to Rachel and Soma talking as she scoots over, Cagalli responds to that retreat by gently wrapping her hand around one of Tessa's, leaving the other to fool around with the braid. "... it's not a bad thing, y'know," she says, with a smile.

Them having encountered each other already... doesn't honestly come as a surprise to Cagalli. It'd only be a matter of time before they found each other again on the battlefield, right? The same squadron -- and Cyber-Newtypes in it, no less... of course fate would conspire to bring them together again. If nothing else, they'd subconsciously gravitate toward each other. (That's how Newtypes work, right?)

Nevertheless, it makes her nervous, too. If they found her -- brought her back to heel... and they could, since it seems Soma knows... Cagalli doesn't know what she'd do anymore. It's a scary thought, to be certain.

"Yeah..." she says, after a few moments.

After a few quiet sobs.

"I'll... forward the report from the Argama..."

Rachel's hands ball up again as they lower, wrap around herself as though to give herself a hug. All of that emotion, all of those feelings she has-- they're not cold or robotic, but so very /human/, the one thing that shouldn't be there. It's just like the end of that fight they had engaged in, days ago.

"N... No, Soma... I mean... I mean, all of the things that ... that machine has done to me. The pain? The headaches I had, and the sick feeling. The nosebleeds. This wasn't because of me, was it? You-- You didn't get into that thing because of me, did you? Even if you were trying to defend the area, that Mobile Suit..."

Rachel stands up, slowly, taking a couple of steps back.

"Soma, I can't... t-these... these aren't bad people. They've done so much to /help/ me. They saved my life, t... took me in, and..."

She takes a couple more steps back, tears still running down her face.

"... Soma..."

The white-haired girl turns away, stepping toward Cagalli. Thin fingers reach out to grab her jacket, and all she does is cry.

Facing your friends is hard.

The touch against her hand seems to startle her. That's the thing, really - like she's surprised at another human being touching her. Surprised that nothing awful happens because of it. Surprised that it eases her nerves - her hand wraps around as well, and her braid miraculously is released, hand falling back toward her side.

Which does mean she drags Cagalli a long a little when she steps forward.

Tessa gives Soma a (surprisingly?) patient smile. "Thank you, Miss Peries, but you don't need to lie for her. Even if that is true, your reaction was far too subdued for you to have only made this discovery now. Even a Super Soldier would be shocked, I'm sure."

Can Soma sense it? Perhaps a Super Soldier's quantum brainwaves lack the necessary sensitivity to find the other receiver in the room - the faint ping, actively resisting connections. Rachel's wildly fluctuating emotions are taxing for Tessa, especially now - once their minds have resonated so deeply, Tessa is having to keep part of her attention on actively preventing Rachel from resuming contact. Whether that initial resonance will prove to be good or bad for them, the truth remains: If Tessa allows it again, she could lose herself entirely - forever.

Despite half her mind being on defense, Tessa hums, an unhappy sound, and finally manages, "Well, my superiors will be upset, but...I'm glad you got to see your friend again, as well."

And then Rachel...implodes. Inevitable, some dim part of her thinks, but it doesn't stop Tessa from stepping over. She knows what the girl needs, because it's written on her own heart, as well - grip shifting, she slides an arm around Cagalli's back, and the other around Rachel's, and simply...rests the crown of her forehead against the others, murmuring, "It's alright," with a quiet voice - some of her old strength seeping back into her tone.

Cagalli lets herself get dragged along by Tessa, keeping that hand held tight at first... in large part because she needs it more than she'd admit. Hearing Rachel's fear, her love -- it's harder than she wants to admit it is. Hearing Rachel pour her heart out makes /her/ want to cry.

"... I --" Cagalli starts, wanting to address Soma, wanting to say something to her... but finding no words that really feel right. It'd be like shoving her face in it. As such, she keeps her focus on the person she /is/ comfortable helping, would be uncomfortable /not/ helping -- the retreating Rachel.

Unlike Tessa, Cagalli doesn't tell her it's all right. As she matches Tessa's shift, wrapping an arm around Tessa and another around Rachel as she feels the girl bury herself in her jacket and cry, she tries to find the right words. Eventually she says, a little louder than Tessa but not nearly as self-assured, "It's -- it's gonna be OK... even if it's not now, it's gonna be OK." The hand on Rachel's back pulls her in closer, a few tears finally finding their way down Cagalli's face, too.

Soma Peries was never any good at lying. It's something she has no experience in, but she had to try... she didn't want her fr-- Ralla to get into trouble. It seems her worries were unfounded, and yet...

That smile. Why is Tessa smiling at her that way? Something is wrong. Soma knows that, but she can't tell what. If she was at peak mental condition, she may have been able to pick out something strange in the room. The past two weeks, however, have been a surge of one attack after the next on her mind. The Psyco's influence today has definitely not helped keep her calm. Even in the best of times, Soma has always been more of a mental transmitter than a receiver, and these are nowhere near the best of times.

More tears. A hug... a big hug. Is this how much Ralla has changed? Is this what being with Katharon has done? That feeling of fear is magnified somewhat as Soma looks on.