Gundam Seed- Alternate Plot twist

Silent Rundown

"...Strike! X-105 Strike, please respond!"

Kira Yamato's face was the epitome of 'a complete lack of emotion' as he sat in the cockpit of the Strike Gundam. On all three of the Strike's cockpit monitors, Kira's home for the last decade was currently disintegrating before his eyes. Trees and patches of sod, along with large chunks of buildings floated past, though Kira was comforted to see a lack of corpses.

"Strike Gundam, do you hear me? Please respond!"

It took a few seconds before Kira realized that he was actually hearing someone who was trying to talk to him, and not just slowly going insane. Clearing his throat and toggling the communications panel to his left, Kira spoke up, "Strike Gundam, Kira here. What just happened? Anyone have a good explanation as to why Heliopolis just went all Bloody Valentine on us?"

There was a long, awkward pause as Kira could barely make out some muffled discussions coming from the bridge. It wasn't heated, but more along the lines of polite arguing between two or three people as to who should talk next. Another few seconds passed, and a male voice came on the line. Kira easily recognized it as Commander laFlaga.

"Ah..." Mu started, trying to think of what to say, "That might be kinda my fault, kid. I was the one manning the main Anti-Air guns against those two GINNs, and the guns weren't calibrated properly before we went into battle. So, the collateral damage caused by ZAFT and ourselves..."

Kira waited for several seconds as his brain processed this information. It was then that he simply shrugged, "I... kind of expected it, actually. One of my history papers back in grade school was on the history of Heliopolis - the colony is... was... one of the first PLANT colonies. Orb bought it off PLANT as a jump-start to their own colonial fleet, so to speak." he paused and laughed somewhat derisively, "And then the costs of upkeep accidentally made sure that it was the only Orb colony."

"Ah..." Mu blinked a few times, unsure of how to continue. He wasn't really expecting that.

Looking up, Kira began to move the Strike towards the friendly IFF signal he was receiving from the Archangel, "This is just fucked up, Commander laFlaga. I'm coming home, prepare the landing bay."

Kira could hear Mu's grin over the communications channel, "You got it, Kid. Hell, if you can find any more supplies out there, bring them in too."

Back on the Archangel, Kira's friends weren't going that bad, all things considered. Unable to assist with any fighting for the time being, like most of the mechanics, they were quickly ushered into one of the Archangel's recreational rooms. There had been plenty of room, and the Archangel's lack of strong gravity had been a blessing in disguise when the ship began to perform one of the pilot's insane stunts... although Tolle Koenig hadn't been as fortunate as his friend and girlfriend. Luckily, he'd found one of the many fake potted ferns in the room to hold his vomit for him for the time being while his stomach continued to do flip-flops all over the place. However, it wasn't until Tolle pulled his head out of the fern that he noticed something was off about the room.

"Hey, Mir..." Tolle whispered as he crept towards his girlfriend, trying not to stare at the nervous tattooed chefs in one corner or the rather distressed-looking suited executives in the opposite corner, "..who are all these people? I don't remember seeing them when we came on board." Tolle paused, frowning, "I mean, it was really rushed and crazy when we did get here, but I'd think I'd have noticed."

Miriallia Haw looked at her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow, sounding worried as she spoke softly, "Tolle. These are people that also came from Heliopolis. The guys in suits are some visiting people from Morgenroete HQ back at ORB." Gesturing slightly at the men dressed in cooking attire that had seen better days, Miri continued, "These guys are from that awesome Space Taco Truck we found last week. Remember? Romero Pal came back with them and the Space Taco Truck." Upon seeing Tolle's face stay blank with confusion, she continued, her voice flatter than before, "The Space Mexican we had while working on the Strike."