Dearka Elsman whistled to himself as he strolled through the corridors of the Archangel towards the captain's office. He had in his hands a list of possible upgrades that could be added on to the Buster within a reasonable amount of time. He had carefully combed through his suit and did some consulting with Kira, Athrun and Murdoch, the chief engineer of the Archangel. He would have asked for Yzak's input but the other Coordinator had been occupied with his own machine and other matters. Speaking of Yzak, Dearka was somewhat surprised when he found his friend at the entrance to Murrue's office, about to knock on the closed door. "What are you doing here?"
"I won't be here for too long. I just need to ask the captain something," replied the silver-haired Coordinator before knocking on the door.
"Come in!" Yzak opened the door and went inside the office while Dearka followed him in. The office itself was the size of about three cubicles. The furniture in the room consisted of the desk and the chair for the captain along with a three-shelf bookcase behind the captain's chair which contained some reading material and also acted as a place where photos and other small items could be placed. Then there was the small sofa for visitors to sit down on in case they need to stay longer in the office to complete their business with the captain. The walls were painted gold while the floor consisted of dark blue tiles. The only decorations in the room were a painting of the ship and some personal items such as photos and medals on the bookcase. Captain Ramius put down some papers that she had been going through on her desk before greeting her visitors. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"I would like permission to borrow a shuttle, Captain. I need to make a personal trip," stated the pilot of the Duel. "I understand that this may not be the best time since technically, I should be on stand by in case of another Obsidian Abyss attack but this is something I need to take care of."
Murrue rubbed her forehead slightly with her right hand while considering her decision. "Well, if you really need to take care of this, I see no reason why you can't go. Just file a flight plan and an estimated time of return to the Archangel to the proper department."
"Thank you, Captain!" Yzak saluted before floating out of the office and back to the corridors.
'What type of personal trip did he need to make anyway?' Dearka pushed the thought out of his head before presenting his list. "I've been planning some upgrades for the Buster and I would like permission to start working on them as soon as possible. I understand that this would mean that the Buster would be unable to be on stand by for a few weeks and..." The Coordinator paused when he noticed a small marking behind the painting of the Archangel. "What's with that tiny mark right there on the bottom right corner of that painting?"
Murrue gave him a puzzled look before turning around to see what Dearka had meant. "That's odd. I never noticed that before." She carefully lifted up the painting to reveal the wall behind it and blinked when she noticed a small signature engraved into the hull which read Repaired by Lowe.
**********
After Yzak had docked his shuttle at the Aprilius One spaceport, he made some arrangements to rent a car and changed into a simple civilian outfit consisting of a dark blue sweatshirt, a pair of blue jeans and sneakers. Considering that he would be seeing his mother, he felt that he should show up as her son and not as a soldier. He started up the red vehicle and began driving towards the Joule estate. It wouldn't be too hard to miss considering that it's a large grey bricked mansion with a garden near the front entrance. And of course, there's the big gold plaque on the gate with the name Joule on it.
'So the judge finally rendered a decision. At least it's not too bad,' thought the young Coordinator. He had constantly kept in touch with the legal counsel who worked on behalf on his mother during her trial. If he had been given a chance, he would have come to see her much earlier but considering that she was being held in custody during her trial and that it would take nearly forever to arrange a visit due to multiple legal procedures, he opted to wait until the trial ended. And it did, not too long ago. The legal counsel had sent him an E-mail with the judge's decision. Some of the charges would stay but they were relatively minor. The major charge of conspiring to plot genocide had been dropped since Ezalia honestly was unaware that Patrick Zala intended to use GENESIS to eradicate the Naturals. The sentence that the judge passed down was that Ezalia would no longer be allowed to work in the PLANT Supreme Council and that she would be under house arrest until January 1, CE 72.
The closed gate to the Joule estate came into his view and he brought the car to a stop before reaching for the intercom and pressing the 'doorbell'. After ten seconds, he heard the voice of his mother on the other end. "Who is it?"
He pressed a button on the intercom to reply back. "It's me. I would like to come in if you don't mind."
"You're always welcome here, Yzak. You know that, right?" The gate's door automatically opened up, allowing Yzak to drive up to the front of his mansion. After parking his vehicle on the section of the driveway near the front door, he saw his mother open the front door, dressed in some comfortable clothing with an apron covering her torso. She seemed to be more relaxed now that she's no longer a member of the PLANT Supreme Council.
"Hello, mother. It's been a while." Yzak slowly approached his mother and gave her a hug.
Ezalia simply smiled and returned the gesture of affection from her son. "Indeed, Yzak. I'll bring out the batch of chocolate chip cookies that I've just baked and you can tell me what you've been up to lately." She released her son and led him into the mansion, smiling as she noticed Yzak's face lighting up at the thought of his mother's cookies.
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(Posted Tue, 12 Jul 2005 05:46)
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