Before the debate on the attack can continue the Irish Captain brought up conscription to ORB personnel. He welcomed this action with mixed opinion due to bringing non-Earth Alliance nationals into the war but justifiable for the duration since they piloted the Gundam units that in theory should belong to OMNI and an ORB soldier fighting in the war against ZAFT will bring controversy. His opinion on Richard joining OMNI is positive since the talk earlier gave him a good impression. The engineer joining is welcoming since the know-how on the Gundams are a must for full operation capacity. Even if they are coordinators (given thought after Arsenio's attempted provocation) he won't judge them since he didn't want to become a pitchfork wielding xenophobe like his father. He sat silently until the full procedures are done.

"Yes! Arsenio said disruptively, slapping the back of his seat in an excited gesture since he still hadn't sat back down and had no intention of doing so, "You should all join OMNI and become pilots for the Gundams! It's great work, as you can see, it's made me a positive ray of sunshine and I'm as happy as a clam," his eye and lip twitched slightly and intentionally to reinforce the sheer stupid irony of his words, "We can all be friends and share our secrets with one another and play board games!" He looked around the room with a forced, cat-like smile though a slyness crept into his eyes as he scanned his potential future teammates for weaknesses. His eyes fell on Milya and lingered uncomfortably long before moving on to the next person. He remembered seeing her around the hangar before and recognized her voice as the pilot of the Strike during the incident. She looked fun to toy with.

"Control yourself boy." Mizawa said as his different colored eyes rested upon the boy whom he had spent so much time rolling over and training. "They aren't joining to be 'friends' with you and we don't need sarcastic comments either. Mizawa said with a plain flatness that was practically and purposely detached from any sort of warm tone. Welsh groaned and nodded his head, "Mr. Preston sir I already confirmed that this is alright with you correct? I just want to make sure we know that they willingly are doing this and if they die in battle they will be buried in OMNI territory to prevent suspicion and that if captured they will be bringing innocent ORB soldiers into a war. As far as the public is concerned they are no longer ORB citizens but OMNI Citizens whom have been masquerading as ORB Citizens until such a time when ZAFT no longer threatens our Earth, pure and blue as it is." Welsh said with quite dignity and perhaps a tone of self mocking towards the end when Preston nodded his head sadly, "Indeed it breaks my heart to do this but I will not involve ORB in a war like this. I never sanctioned this GUNDAM project that Mr. Stone has worked so hard on but now that one of our top generals is in the med bay, in critical status none the less, I can't allow whoever did this to get away and I would prefer not to risk diplomatic relations with OMNI either so I'm allowing this to slip...this time Mr. Welsh. You're lucky that Mr. Stone is clever enough to sneak a battleship onto an island without my knowledge." Preston said directly to Welsh as he nodded to Preston's screen. "Well you heard the man welcome to OMNI but what about you Blitz boy and I assume you're with us as well? Or do you want to sign the papers and place yourself in some god forsaken location?" The OMNI representative said as he looked at the two yet to answer Welsh's question. "Guys I would appreciate your help but if you're not going to pilot it now's the time to back out." Richard said stoutly as he got up and started to unzip his ORB vest with hesitation. Once he got it off he handed it to his uncle, "Keep it clean for me Uncle." Richard said seriously as his uncle chuckled, "Well I may be coming with you so don't give your hopes up." Stone said with a chuckle.

Donald is glad to see that everyone else share his negative opinion on Arsenio, assuring him that he will work with the ship's crew well. He continued to listen to the talks between the leaders that are largely irrelevant to him and thought about the course of the war with nothing for him to say. He hoped this conscription done on ORB nationals won't be permament and Richard handing his vest with ORB insignia had some strong symbolism in it. Welsh speaking to the two ORB nationals yet to decide reminded him that there are still those making their choices and he will be here in this briefing room for a while. The Scotsman hoped that there will be time to buy new packs of cigarettes.

"Assume away. Call me Blitz boy again, and I'll find you and make sure you don't forget my name... Sir. I'd also like a promotion to Captain or First LT. When this is all over should anyone of us make it out alive what happens them? What's the overall objective? Recapture or destroy suites? Are we here, in this room going to try and win this war?"

The promotion might have been pushing it, but to him it was a great way to see just how serious they about keep the pilots. He was in either way, but he needed to know just how badly they wanted it. A half ass mission to recapture mobile suites that were more than likely already be stripped apart. That mission was stupid and pointless. One to win the war however, that was very idea made him giddy. It was a shame that it took a life or death situations for him to feel even remotely happy. At least he could smile now.

"First off I know for a fact that you're not going to be captain...because you just asked for it. No one who literally demands command of a company of armored units is going to be given to it. Good job shooting yourself in the foot. Now as for the suits...Simple." said Mizawa holding up his hands simply before stretching them out and clearing his throat very briefly, "We recapture the suits....and then we destroy them and remake them." Mizawa said as Stan's eyes tilted up a bit, "Once we capture them we can remake them....use different controls and then we can make sure the damn info doesn't somehow leak out again. Because unless they're using advanced hacking tools that we don' t know of they knew exactly how to use those suits and their weapons as well. Raider transformed and flew away. A man without that knowledge isn't about to be able to use a suit like that without practice. THIS WAS PLANNED people that fact we can't escape. Worst case we destroy them completely and dump the remains in the ocean." Mizawa said as Welsh grunted, "How very elegant but yeah I agree with that."

"Why the fuck would I want a company of armored units? I want the pay and to escape OCS training." He said truthfully. It was clear that he was not motivated by what these guys were used to. "So you best you guys have is to recapture and rebuild or destroy? What's the fucking point of that? They got them, let them have them. Nothing good is going to come of going after them. Send us into battle, let us fight to win a war. Not cover some dumb ass politician or a noble family. Why not let us win the war you guys got us into?"

"Because that armor system ain't cheap bud!" Said one of the mysterious viewers in a monotone and scrambled voice as Mizawa nodded, "We rebuild the things so they can't use them. Yeah it costs money but it's better than just destroying the damn things. We rebuild'em so they don't know how they work. We reprogram them and then what? They still can steal'em again possibly and they don't need to get an info leak to find out how they work because they know." Mizawa stated as he turned his back to the man then turned around again after gathering his thoughts, "You want to get promoted to leader of a squad, which is what lieutenants and captains do, in order to skip out on training? Kid I'll offer you both those without the damn raise in rank. I'll jump you up a couple ranks too. I may not be military but I have connections." Mizawa stated plainly with a cold dryness. "We're not in to cover some politics we're in it to prevent the theft of majorly important mobile suits that could possible wipe out entire companies if used properly. These things are dangerous we're just glad they didn't get Aegis, Blitz, or Calamity. Forbidden and Raider are one thing but those two suits can do some major damage. Strike is powerful as well as Duel but they are more or less upgraded daggers with extra equipment." Mizawa stated as he looked to the little bastard he kept with him.

Donald took the paper and read carefully, most which are irrelevant since he is an OMNI citizen as a commissioned officer in the first place. He wrote his signature on the first set of papers that will transfer from engineer to a Mobile Suit pilot. For him it was like returning as a fighter jet pilot before the battle at the Suez. If those Gundams can turn the tables then there will be less of a chance of getting relegated back to the engineering division as he is about to leave. As all pages that required his signatues were signed he handed the papers back. "So can the Aegis or while the Mobile Suit I used yesterday be explained?" He requested. "I used to be a fighter pilot so I was barely able to control it without a manual."

"Well sure I suppose you were already a part of this assignment so I just needed to make sure you could handle actually piloting Aegis. Of course in the condition that you are unable to pilot you may be replaced." Stated the OMNI representative as he spoke up once more, "The man who piloted the Blitz. Please just stop complaining about military actions. We're here about getting people into these suits or keeping them quiet. If you don't want a step up in rank to an extent then go ahead and sign the papers. We're not going to make you a captain and or lieutenant until you accept the responsibilities of piloting the suit and putting your name on a few pieces of paper and I am certain if you prove capable you will be promoted to that rank eventually.." The man stated as he somberly looked at Welsh, "Ay sir...I forgot to mentioned before we head out you need to sign some small legal papers regarding the secret. Sorry but the military doesn't run on the honor system you know. Don't worry it's only a couple pages..." Welsh said with boredom as if this whole thing was something he could just do without.

She took up the papers and looked through it, skimming through the usual disclaimers. A pay raise, a few perks, the usual. But signing this means she would be piloting the Gundams for real. And what was that nonsense about Strike being just an upgraded Dagger? She didn't toil on that machine(especially on those damned gyros) to just have it be classified as... adequate. Or to have it compared to a Dagger, for that matter.

"Alright, I signed it." She looked around. "Now what?"

"I would expect an OMNI soldier like you young lady to be a bit more patient with her officers." Welsh said patiently as he breathed in deeply and took a bottle of water and took a large chug of it in one go. He ran his hand through is blonde hair and then he cracked his neck. "However now...well now you can go and start readying up that mobile suit." Welsh commented plainly as Richard didn't even flinch as he took a pen from his uncle and signed his name on the dotted line on all the papers. He'd miss being ORB but at the end of the day it was a different uniform....that was all. A mobile suit like Calamity will be of massive help if he learned how to use it and he found out exactly what his old friend was doing this for. He was determined to make her answer his damn questions if he had to pry it from her lips himself. Besides he grew up in North America that meant if things were different he could have been a member of OMNI instead of ORB. This national change wasn't as extreme for him as it would have been for others. "I'll read up on Calamity's formal systems later but for now Captain Welsh sir I'd like to go and meet the crew and say good bye to some old friends with your permission sir." Richard asked him as he saluted and Welsh grunted, "Go on lad for now your other compatriots need to go and freakin' sign so we can get'a move on now. I don't have all day we're going to go and attack former ZAFT soldiers and those pirates soon, tomorrow exactly, with a joint ORB forces we'll be a nearby OMNI fleet moving in to assist in the removal of these rogues. We don't have a general lock on their vicinity but they can't be to far so satelliates will find them soon enough if not we got other ways of finding out stuff." Welsh commented as Mizawa confirmed it to be sure. "Indeed we will eliminate them like cockroaches in a factory." Mizawa said with particular delight as if he were sampling a fine rich person's food item.

"Ah! Miss Techie signed! You've signed your soul to the Devil!" Arsenio applauded, giving Milya a thumbs up and a silly wink. "We can both be over-glorified Dagger pilots together!" he said, with a bit of snark in his voice, referring to Mizawa's unkind statement about their suits. "Hey! Since I'm the only actual designated pilot, does this mean I get to be a senior member? Do all our new friends here have to grovel at my feet and call me Arsenio-senpai? Let's go rat-hunting! They-stole-our-cheese-so-we're-going-to-kill-them!" He said this last part in a singsong way.

Picking up the papers he noted the lack coherency in everyone's reaction to a higher rank. Some were for, others against. The ones for were the ones he was working with, they wanted them in the Gundams. He signed the papers quickly but did note that no where in it did it say who his CO was. This was going to be the last time he was going to be able an obstinate ass without fear of repercussions.

" I hope you guys know how bloody this is going to be. The imagines different paths to the purpose. Also, check underwater, I'd run a few hundred meters north then go underground and meet a sub." He stated as he put the pin the down on the ground. "I'm with him, I got a couple of friends I'll to have words with before we leave. I can meet the crews later." He followed the other guy out the door and tended to his affairs

She gave off an awkward salute as she was dismissed.

"Ah! Miss Techie signed! You've signed your soul to the Devil!"

"Ahaha...." She gave a small smile at that, wondering how she was supposed to handle a person like Arsenio.

"We can both be over-glorified Dagger pilots together!"

That one hit straight through her ego. The Duel and Strike were perfectly good in their own rights, and comparing them to the standardized Daggers was insulting to say the least. Her expression darkened slightly but her smile remained intact.

"Ah, yes, that may be so. Do excuse me, I have work to do."

With that she escaped the room, and finally unzipped her jumpsuit. It was getting stuffy in there. With a determined spring to her step she made her way to the hangar.

***

"Is the port secure? I don't- Ah, I see it now. Lock it in, and we can get on to testing the compensators."

The monitoring system for Strike was done, but there was still a few tests she could run to make sure the system wasn't bogging down the OS for the machine. Without the OS the machine was practically useless.

"Mil! We're done down here!"

With that she opened the cockpit door and slowly descended using the power cord attached to the cockpit door. WIt the boss down, she was the highest authority in the team for the moment, though another Head Technician should be joining them shortly. How long did she have to work as a pilot? Being a test pilot was fine and all, but her? A technician sent into the heat of battle? That sounded like suicide for her.

"Alright, time for the others." She yelled out to the rest of her team. "We should get the monitoring system ready by today."

After distributing the workload, Milya finally sighed, and walked over to Duel pushing a cart of tools and parts. She hoped the system would give her enough information so she can fine tune the Gundams some more.

"Very well gentlemen and ladies.Thank you for signing and I welcome you all officially to OMNI meet me tomorrow for wardrobe assignment and the rest of that boring nonsense." Welsh said as he bid the others on the screens fair well and turned it off before pulling out a bottle of booze from his jacket and took a chug of it. "I'm going to go and make rounds on the shop. All men and...women as well....are free to....go and do as they please until otherwise stated." Captain Welsh said with sigh as he noticed what the boy was saying before he got up and left. Mizawa grunted, "Well boy go check on your, in your own words, 'a glorified dagger' with your new 'friends' just don't stab them understand. Wait until they start shooting at you to do that." Mizawa sternly told the boy when the boy started questioning him with meaningless nonsense that no one really cared about before he replied however he dragged the boy out towards the hall way and into another room nearby which was empty for the moment, "Try it if you like you worthless little piece of trash. I can promise you'll get decked by all of them and then decked by the captain for being a fool. Do you really think just because your a senior officer that means ANYTHING whatsoever? Richard Stone, the little soldier boy he is, was made out to be an expert level pilot by talent by his uncle Stan Stone who led our little project in ORB. The others were techs they probably know that suit of yours better than you do. Don't just assume that you can do as you wish. I don't enjoy pulling your ass out of the fire and it makes us both look bad." Mizawa said with malice and annoyance as his eyes stared coldly at Arsenio's. "Now go out there and prepare to do your duty. We got people that need to be erased from this Earth....that is your favorite part of your chores isn't it?" Mizawa commented as he left Arsenio before he could answer and left to go towards the makeshift laboratory in his ship on the lower deck. Or at least that was where he normally went.

===

"There's more to just murdering you know Mr. Augustus was it?" Richard said calmly as he stood up and started to walk away towards the door. "We will need to spill blood but more than that we need to capture people. We're not murderers. Or at least me and the rest of the ORB soldiers I served with weren't. If ORB was filled with people who loved violence like you I would have joined some peace corps instead. I hope you don't lose yourself in that battle...uncle can you please come with me...I got some goodbyes to say before I go and since I'm no longer ORB material....I need you to let me go where I want to go." Richard said as his uncle chuckled, "So self righteous my boy....but fine I'll take you around town one more time. It's not like you need to ask permission since you got a lieutenant girlfriend." Stan teased Richard who told him Satsuki wasn't his girlfriend in the relationship term but in a actual friendship way at which Stan nearly choked because he was holding back some rather hard laughter. The boy was so uptight he didn't know he was messing with him. "Well Mr. Augustus even though the boy still acts like he's in high school you should follow his advice. Go say goodbye to your drinking buddies while you're doing your thing unless Blitz is more important to you than a fellow soldier." Stone said not listening to anything Augustus had to say before ushering Richard out the doorway and quickly led him to towards the nearest exit.

Arsenio stared back expressionlessly at Mizawa when the older man dragged him into an adjacent room and gave him a good telling off. Arsenio wasn't about to give Mizawa snark, not when he was this angry, but he didn't want to show any reactionary emotion like rage or fear. After Mizawa had vented enough and left, Arsenio straightened his collar, and grinned, "Oh, Dr. Mizawa, you might think I'm annoying, but you probably don't realize how much I respect you for your ruthlessness. That's OK, just let it aaalllllll out, James. I'll do my job when it comes down to it."

---

Arsenio decided to take Mizawa's advice and check up on his suit. When he arrived he noticed Milya heading towards the Duel with a tools cart. "Ah! I knew I've seen you before!" Arsenio shouted attracting a lot of attention, "You run regular maintenance on the Duel when I'm not testing it. And now we're both pilots! I'd like to thank you for all your efforts keeping this wonderful machine in tip top shape! The Duel's a great piece of work, I have to say, nothing like those mass-produced types, but don't let James know I said that!" he winked at her. It was hard to tell whether he was joking, being serious, or being sarcastic as his voice simply oozed insincerity all the time. "Ah! But where are my manners, my name is Arsenio Forneus, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Milya Sveis." He reached out his hand to shake hers, while grinning from ear-to-ear, hoping that his ability to remember her full name from having only heard it once was enough to send a chill up her spine.

As the meeting was wrapped up, Donald saluted the captain before leaving. His impression of Welsh was a contrast to his previous captain, swearing like a sailor and reserved respectively but he did say he is Irish. The lieutenant junior-grade got out his pack of cigarettes but remembered that he ran out of them before he entered the Lucifer. "Nuts. I better stock up on them." He thought as he got in an elevator. The Scotsman gave a salute to a guard at the entrance and went out to satisfy his nicotine addiction.

He returned minutes later when ORB actually had vending machines. They weren't the brands he got near JOSH-A but they will do to him. When he returned to the hangar he found that snot-nosed teenager and conscripted mechanic. He overheard the brat's introduction but he remembers his name. "And it's the third time we all met." He added into the conversation. "I'm only used to the controls of a jet so I'll find some difficulties with the Aegis. As you might remember, Donald Sinclair."

The Blitz will never be more important than a persons life he thought to himself. No mobile suite could ever replace live human beings. He wanted to beat them bloody for their self righteous ways. It would have been a pleasure and a little fun but he still needed to see Jim and Maggie as well as Sendo. He left first to see Jim and Maggie, then after words he was on his way to Sendo's.

His talk with Jim and Maggie wasn't what he had hoped. They said how happy they were for him but he knew it was nothing more than lip service, them saying what he needed to hear not what they wanted to say. It was proof enough of their friendship. Two of the most honest people were willing to lie so their friend could lead the life he wanted. He was proud and happy to know them. A hug from Jim and kiss from Maggie sent him on his way. A good bye that was more painful than anyone of them could have thought it. He cried a little as he as drove away. It was more than likely going to be the last time he saw either one of them but it was a good way to leave things. The last memory they were going to have was them talking for a couple of hours drinking and telling stories. If he had more of this in his life he would have stayed but it was all too late now.

Sendo's was his next stop. It was be wrong to leave him without a thank you. Sendo did save his life. He have the balls enough to say good by and leave the man in some sort of good standing.He walked into his hospital room still a little drunk from the time spent with the Harper's. "How are you holding up old man? You a little shitty there in your bed. You'd think you were hurt or something."

"Ah, good day err... Sir Forneus, Sir Sinclair." She shook Arsenio's outstretched hand absent-mindedly. It was a state of mind she was almost always in when working with any machine, complete with a dreamy half smile and the habit of talking softly to the machine she was working on.

She didn't really notice that Arsenio remembered her name and all. After all, some people were like that and some just couldn't remember a name regardless of how many times they met the person.

"Also, jets? Hmm... I recall the Aegis has an MA mode. Perhaps you should try that out and see if it fits you. But please do not neglect to use its MS form. We worked hard on it after all. Now if you'll excuse me..."

With that she removed the dust cover from one of Duel's legs, pulling up a box of tools and parts to attach the sensors. Jet fighter, huh? Perhaps she should increase some of the acceleration, and decrease the power going to the PS armor a little. Then there was the problem with adjusting the controls to their reflexes. Jet fighters are said to have excellent reflexes, or so she heard. Realizing they might just be bored and trying to make conversation, she asked them as she worked.

"So what brings you two here?"