Mask finally arrived getting off the elevator, only to see that people had begun coming out of the meeting room. He held his face in anger at himself.
"Late again." He said. He realized that he needed to pay more attention, and was angry at himself for missing because a little skirmish tired him out. Not to mention the mask on his face has been tiring him to exhaustion. He then slightly unzipped his pilot suit, his casual clothes being revealed and pocketed the mask, pulling his hair back to its regular position as well.
"Maybe I can get a summary from them." He said as he walked into the room and saluted to the Captain, ready for the full force of what was to come.

"You're late Mask everything has already been discussed and our plans have been thrown back and forth. Nothing much worth noting from the others though you may be interested in what we have talked about earlier regarding the signals. Would you be interested in knowing? I can give you a brief explanation though this WILL NOT be a regular thing so don't be late again." Jason said calmly but firmly as he watched Mask enter. He had just been about to leave with only a handful of people left in the room. He stood as he usually did his professionalism showing through his usually casual demeanor. Jason just simply seemed to be the captain at the moment despite himself.

====

As Jack sat down he was met by the familiar face of Grant Nimitz who sat down right next to him heavily and breathed out deeply. He was still sweaty though he had seemed to have wiped some of it off or had otherwise cooled down. He cracked his knuckles and neck before addressing his fellow OMNI soldier, "So shit went down today. I'm sorry I was a bit of a load back there I wasn't expecting elite zaku units. Usually i'm just front line infantry. I leave that shit up to Beta, or Paul whenever I need too. So you holding up well buddy? I can only imagine today's been a killer for you. Especially since you know you're kind new here and all." Grant said rubbing his face with his right hand. Over in the corner Nena Trinity sat talking to Puru and Graham who seemed to be only paying attention to Puru intentionally talking to Nena as little as possible as the group conversed about the fight Puru bragging about the whole enemy team she had to fight off Nena saying she shouldn't get cocky.

As Donna was the last to leave, she noticed Captain Mask about to enter. Speaking of him, he doesn't appear to be very sociable with the mask on. "Hello Captain Mask." She greeted him. "I am about to leave the room. Perhaps you can join the rest of us for dinner later?" She wondered if her voice was heard at all as she left the room.

The Gundam pilot entered the mess hall and saw the two OMNI soldiers speaking to each other in one side, and the familiar sight of Puru, Nena and Graham at the other side. she gave a small smile at the sight of the latter, they are her allies. "So I suppose I will have to do better next time?" She entered the conversation. "I owe Beta Leader one."

Jack glances up at Grant as he sits and shrugs. "We went in blind, so nothing that happened is really your fault, Grant. You did damn good for being outgeared, that's for sure." He let Grant finish his sentence, shaking his head and taking a bite of his food. "I'm alright. A little worn and exasperated, but alright. Me being new, well, it's not something that hasn't happened to me before. After all, what Natural wants to admit that they LIKE having a Coordinator fighting in a suit they built after all. Resulted in me getting shuffled around a lot."

"You know a lot of people call me a nut because of my fighting style. But my advice to anyone is this: Fight to the best of your ability. Leave nothing back." Graham responded to Donna coming over as Nena stared up at the woman with a raised eyebrow, "Oh great another normie." grumbled Nena as Puru scolded her for being rude. Graham ignored them and kept focus on Donna, "Look Beta Leader does what he does because he's a soldier. You don't owe him anything. But if you feel like you want to repay him for his hard work then show him that he doesn't need to worry about you. Prove that you're your own woman Donna. The female spirit is something not easily trifled with. Harness yourself and you'll be stronger then anyone thought you could be." Graham said to Donna as Nena and Puru argued over the former's manners.

====

"Oh I know but Captain Jason knows i'm a liability at times. I'm not Paul, I'm not George, I'm not Jason, hell I'm not even near Beta or SIGMA. I'm a good man and soldier and I'm here because I'm reliable and got a good track record. My team and I are a bunch of flunkies who got picked out because Jason wanted to prove that normal men can still be a part of a strong team. Paul has that newtype junk stuff apparently, and Beta Leader is the most experienced man i've ever known. Sigma has his elite training. All I got is a good head on my shoulders and a need to protect what he has." Graham said as he sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know about your history and I don't care though. You're your own man too. You got secret and you got pushed around just like me apparently so we can't be all too different. In the next battle when we fight ZAFT I hope that we at least return to a somewhat normal battlefield. it sucks fighting in this desert with suits from alien universes and all that sort of shit. A kid from Kansas like me just isn't made to handle this stuff." Graham said as he grabbed a nearby pitcher of water set out by the cooks and poured himself a glass of water before downing it all at once. He breathed out deeply and wiped the water off his mouth afterward.

"Yes sir." Luin Lee said. "I've been relying on that mask too long and I fell asleep. I realize that's no excuse." He said before turning towards Donna leaving.
"I'd be delighted to. Some time out of battle could do me some good." He said as he walked out of the room as well. He made his way towards the elevator to head towards the mess hall. He felt, relaxed somehow. Like he wasn't on some alien planet with every other person trying to kill him. He began thinking of Bellri on the way down.
"I hope he's alright. There's no telling what those Space Pirates have done with him. Bell, if I get off this planet and back home, I'll make sure everyone of those pirates pay for kidnapping you." He said gritting his teeth slightly before shaking off the feeling.
"I have to focus on the present first though." He said to himself as the door opened. He smiled to himself and headed for the mess hall.
As he arrived, he noted everyone already talking among each other.
"Hey everyone, sorry for being late to everything, and sorry for becoming a sitting duck out on the battlefield." He said as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Jack chuckles. "This whole things pretty damn crazy. I mean, pretty sure none of us were expecting to end up on some mirror world of our homes." He looked over everyone in the mess hall and sighed, shaking his head. "It's just nice that I'm with a unit that doesn't notice me flying my suit better than the natural pilots and immediately accusing me of being some kind of spy."

"Oh look it's the masked wonder, wonderful...more weirdos." Nena grumbled as she laid her head on the table and banged it on it a couple times. She was as usual none to happy about her current situation. "Oh hey Mr. Mask did you do good in the battle?" Puru asked with a smile as she grinned up at him and grabbed a nearby chair from a table and put it next to her to give Mask a place to sit down at which made Graham smile. "I kicked a lot of butt out there those meanies were trying to blow up the Sundown but I kicked their butts really good!" Puru said with a big grin.

===

"Shit man I don't think any of us minus maybe Sigma and a couple of the older staff would care if they knew you were a coordinator or whatever. Just, if you are that is a special person, don't make it public knowledge. Most people around here take Paul for granted. Lieutenant Black Star is one of the best pilots on the east coast some say he's one of the strongest naturals around. Some say he's been in the military for a long time but I guess a lot of us just think you gundam pilots are something else." Grant mumbled and shrugged as he took a look at Jack. "Man I just wish I had a clear enemy to point my gun at. I hate all these questions on who and who isn't an enemy. I didn't sign up to fight unknown enemies. I signed up to fight enemies of Earth. I don't give two shits about being 'held down by gravity' or some dumb stuff like that. The way I see it is Earth is beautiful and while humanity is flawed I think we all have a right to life. For the most part."

The supposedly inspiration speech by Graham sounded awkward, but encouraging to Donna. "I appreciate your encouragement." She thanked. "I almost never became a pilot myself. It was Instructor W's insistance that I became one." She raised an eyebrow at Nena. "Well if you are in my Earth, you would be the one called a 'normie'." The Gundam pilot spoke back. "The world was almost always ruled by the aristocrats. Even when we were united under a democracy, most politicians and people of power were the same aristocrats. You would be dismissed as a commonor by most in power. I myself came from a line of OZ loyalists."

Mask/Luin Lee happily took the chair, enjoying the fact that people accepted him willingly, despite his Kuntala position.
He looked over towards Nena who seemed annoyed by his presence.
"Yes, Nena, I'm sorry that I inconvenience you with my attendance." He began before turning towards Puru, smiling at her... eloquence.
"I'm glad to hear that Puru. You gave us all a place to come back to. As for me, I made a mistake that cost me nearly half of my Elf Bullock. But, we did 'kick butt' out there." He said, chuckling lightly. It'd been a while since he could give a heartfelt laugh. Not since that day the pirates attacked the Capital Tower. Everything has changed since then, and even his piloting skills have become a little less than it used to be.
"I owe you all much, and I owe my piloting abilities to my instructor, Dellensen. I owe the rest of that to my Mask." He said taking it out to show everyone.
"With this mask, I have gotten a lot of data, and been able to predict the movements and attacks of my enemies. It was developed so that I could go against the possibilities of a NewType piloting the G-self. I've grown a little dependent on it, and have decided to shelve it for now. I'm thinking of sharing the info on it with the ship, but the Capital Army information I would be forced to withhold."

"A normie is what I would've been called? What was your entire army run by a bunch of losers who spend their time on their computers? Whatever I'm glad I don't live where you live it sounds boring. Even worse than my world where it's basically become one giant fascist dictatorship. They pretend to be a democracy but that's a load everyone's in power because they put themselves there or were put there by some big cheese." Nena growled as she got up and looked back at Puru, "I'm going back to my room. I don't feel like talking about politics and shit with Miss Classy over here. And whatever the masked wonder just said was boring. I'll see you around squirt try not to get hurt." said Nena as she walked away without so much as a goodbye to the others at the table. "You owe that to your mask? I don't really get that but I'm glad I managed to help you guys out. I don't like being treated like a burden heck Captain Jason even rescued me when I was being chased by Glemy. It's a shame that I can't do more but I'm going to try my best." Puru said with a grin as Graham finally spoke up, "If I could get a word in without being cut off I'd like to say that you guys are pretty ok pilots but you need to push yourselves a little harder. I think you're letting your inhibitions hold you back. While you have doubts and worries you can't properly fight. Today I was in charge of fighting that sniper. She wasn't too skilled and the battle itself wasn't too thrilling but I left it all out there. If my flag wasn't outdated I'd have probably beaten her. Lee, or rather Mr. Mask, I want to say that you should be more careful with your machine but I put my machine to it's absolute limits. My flag has proven itself to be worth it's keep. So my advice to you is too keep pushing that mobile suit too it's absolute limit and when it can't be pushed further then you should look else where. This is a multiverse center point or something isn't it? I'm sure one or two suits will suit your fancy. And as for you Donna I sense some untapped potential...is it your ties to your political structure that's holding you back? You seem engrossed in politics. Forgive me if I'm pushing too hard but I want everyone here at their peak potential. It'll make it better in the future when things go crazy." Graham said as Puru stared up at him with a confused face unsure what Graham was prattling on about, "Can't we just talk about normal stuff? Why is it always about fighting?"

Jack listened as Grant spoke and shrugged. "Even in a one nation versus the other nation war, you should ask questions about who the real enemy is. I mean, it's not always the case, ZAFT could be considered the exception to that particular rule. But during several of the old wars, it was politics that people fought for." He sighs and shrugs. "In the end though, I just want to get home and rest. The whole time we've been here, it's been an on your toes experience."

Donna saw Nena leave in a huff. She turned to reply to Graham. "I never thought politics as affecting my fighting." She replied honestly. "I was kept kept ignorant in politics until Instructor W arrived. My father did not think I would be fit in intrigues, but the Instructor had a different idea. Though most of my training focused on close-quarters combat." She looked at the confused Puru. "Actually Puru one thing I also learned was to cook. I learned to many things from mashed-potatoes, borscht, cake to pot-au-feu. Maybe we can cook a cake at some point together?"

Luin Lee smirked at the remark dealing with being boring. Perhaps he was.
"I wonder if she would've said that if she knew just how useful it is." he said to no one in particular before nodding in affirmation towards Graham and turning towards the conversation between Puru and Donna.
"A cake. That sounds good, perhaps I could help. My culinary skills are a bit rusty of course, but I'm sure with the help of you two ladies, I could manage to get back to where I was." he said, chin resting upon his hand.

"Oh wow! I didn't think both of you would be interested in cooking! I'm not the best cooker ever, heck I haven't really got much experience at all. But hey if we can get the supplies lets give it a shot! It'll be delicious! Maybe we can even share some with Yuri as a thank you for repairing our suits!" Puru said happily as she started bouncing in her seat with a big grin on her face. She smiled at Mask and nodded her head. "I'll be counting on you Mr. Mask!" Puru said as Graham merely shook his head and chuckled. "You know I won't really fit in with that whole thing. I'm not really a cook you see. I'm sure you'll get along without me. But you may not want to get too excited finding all the ingrediants will be hard. This is a military airship after all. Jason did tell everyone this ship was stocked for months but all of the stuff is probably MRE's and the food prepared here in the kitchen. If we find a city we maybe could find some stuff or maybe a civilian ship got caught up in this mess. Who knows maybe you'll get lucky." Graham said with a shrug a mildly amused smirk on his face. At the whole ordeal. One of the cooks did shout over however saying that the Cafeteria would be shut down soon for cleaning.

===

Grant heard the cooks call for a finish up since they wanted to get everything cleaned up in the kitchen. "Look man I only know of two recent wars one occur ed when a minority spacenoid group wanted independence. The other occurred when former OMNI Officer Lao La Lugara betrayed and murdered an entire military base calling for a resurgence in spacenoid freedom causing the shattered Earth War which is technically a ceasefire at the moment. Your time progressed a lot different than mine. I'm just a gun who kills the enemies Jason tells me too. I don't like politics. I trust Jason to get me through all of this and he knows how to play the game better than anyone on this ship. No one, not Paul, not Beta, Sigma, or anyone else on this ship can play the game half as good as the big guy. Captain's been a soldier longer than some of us have been born from what Beta told me. Well I hope you sleep well tonight man I'm heading out I'm tired and my guys need me." Grant said patting Jack on the back as he got up and left without another word.

Thinking about cake... Donna relised it wouldn't work here. "Bad idea." She scratched it away. She instead remembered something. "Actually Puru, anything for our song yet?" The Gundam pilot asked, looking to change the subject. "Theme I think should be something to give us hope, something to bring everyone here together?" Thoughts went through her mind. Something to remember back home? Something to fight for? Fight to see the end of this ordeal? She wished she can write those ideas down, but she sees nothing useable. If Puru had some ideas, it would be great.

"Oh yeah that song! I almost forgot about that! I was talking with one of Grant's squad, and she said that a lot of these guys around here aren't fond of girly songs. But they don't mind country, or soft rock. It's going to be hard but we can probably come along with something that will fit the theme of this ship. My idea is. well a lot like yours actually, in that we motivate them through the song by appealing towards...umm what were those words called again? Unity I think? Remind them to fight for those they have back home, for those we've lost, and for their friends here now." Puru said as she rubbed her head unsure about how to really handle the idea of making a song. It was a process she really hadn't thought about before. Graham giggled childishly as he watched Puru try to pull ideas out of her head. "Captain Jason told us that we need to hold onto each other for help. We wouldn't be here if Jason decided he didn't want to try to help others. My best hope is that we all come together and we should put that into a song. Do you get what I'm saying Donna?
" Puru asked as she looked up at Donna with a pleading face.

Jack nods to Grant and stretches as he stands. Grant was right, they'd had a long day and now rest was a good idea. Setting his tray where it could get washed, he headed back down towards the Duel. He couldn't sleep just yet, he had some recalibrations to do on the targetting system after all.

Donna nodded. "That is an idea." She agreed. "Everyone can add something somehow. We will see what they think." Her first idea on who to ask was Graham still in the room. "Mr. Aker, can you think of something to add to our song?" She asked. "Puru and I so far agreed to theme the song on 'unity', as we need to unite as a means to survive here." Although asking a career officer was a longshot, it would be interesting to receive his insights. In the meantime, she collected thoughts on who else to ask after.

Graham nearly laughed at the idea of him composing music but he merely got it down to a chuckle. "I don't write music you know. I'm about as skilled at writing music as I am at construction work. For reference I've never built anything in my life besides the occasional field repairs on my flag. But you know what? I'll give it a shot why not? It's just another challenge and I'm always up for a challenge. Besides how can I say no to Puru." Graham said as he rubbed her head like he was her uncle and he got up. "Well Donna the cooks are going to be on our butts soon enough if we don't leave. But a quick idea I can throw out would be something along the lines of 'We can work together and if we do we can win.' that sounds like the sort of team cheering crap that pop stars would come up with. I heard gossp that Baker, and Williams up top are big pop fans. In case you haven't seen them already why not go and ask them for some help?" Graham said as he cracked his neck and yawned. "Oh boy I'm tired...That excitement today took a lot out of me..." Graham said yawning once again.