2024-09-08: Them And Us

• Cutscene: Them and Us
• 'Cast: Kathras Fari, Lanra Gavarre
• Where: Heaven's Base, Atlantic Ocean, Earth
• Date: September 8, 0099
• Summary: Nearly finished with work for the night, the Captain of the Aion and his executive officer handle one final matter for the night... and then have a personal conversation.

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"That's the last of the leave requests, sir. ...There were an awful lot of them." A silver-haired woman in a Gaia Sabers uniform sits on a couch in a plush office, looking over a datapad. She looks up at her Captain when she finishes. Her pale hand closes on the datapad as she does.

"And yet," Kathras Fari answers his second-in-command, "You didn't submit one. I noticed that." He's not a tall man, but he has a certain presence; a serious expression, perfectly arranged straight and short black hair, clean-shaven, and also wearing a Gaia Sabers uniform. He's in a chair nearby.

"..I didn't, sir." Lanra Gavarre sets the datapad aside, and gives the Captain her full attention.

"And why is that?" His brown eyes settle on hers.

Lanra's red gaze meets them. "...Because I don't have any family to visit, sir. I lost them in the Bloody Valentine conflict. To ZAFT. To the Coordinators." Her expression tightens. "...I prefer to stay where I'm needed, sir."

Kathras watches Lanra quietly. His expression is briefly unreadable, as usual. But he nods, after a moment. "I see. I knew you were from the AEU..." He lets out a sigh. "...Commander," he says. "This is not an order. Would you get us a drink? I could use something strong for this conversation."

"S-sir?" Lanra blinks. "...Yes, sir." She rises from her seat to walk to the shelf, where there's a bottle of good scotch. and a couple of glasses. She pulls them out, opens the bottle, and quietly fills both. "...Rocks, sir?"

"No, thank you." Kathras waits.

"Very well, sir." She returns with the drinks, setting one in front of him and the other in front of her on the coffee table, returning to her seat. "...What conversation is that, sir?"

"A personal conversation about family, Commander. ...No, 'Ms. Gavarre'. I want to talk about ZAFT, and family."

"...All right," Lanra says, and he can tell that she has to work not to say 'sir'. "We can talk. I'll consider it... 'off the record'." She lifts her drink to punctuate her statement and sips the scotch.

"Good," Kathras replies. He pulls from his drink, too. "...I lost my father to ZAFT," he explains. "Not as bad as losing your entire family, no, but I understand if only to a degree. My father was on the negotiation team meant to broker a deal with Siegel Clyne... Only to be killed by treachery."

"...You too, sir?" Lanra wonders. Then she pauses, noticing her mistake. He doesn't comment on it.

"Yes. I had always wanted to serve like our heroes in the past. ...But after that, it became personal to me, the struggle against them."

"I see... and then you had to serve with people who turned out to be enemies of Earth, too. That never happened to me."

"I did," he confirms. "I was friends with some of them, even. War is complicated by personal relationships. It's easier to avoid them. To maintain professional distance. You understand?"

"...I do. Is that why you haven't told anyone about this?"

"One reason," Kathras answers. "But..." A shake of his head, and he sips at his drink. "At a point, it becomes necessary to 'connect' with other humans, or we lose sight of why we fight."

Lanra watches Kathras in silence, still holding the glass.

"So, when you speak of having similar experiences to me... I would like to tell you, Ms. Gavarre, that I understand. That I think our reasons for continuing to perform our duties have at least some overlap."

"...I can't forgive them," Lanra sighs. "I know we're supposed to be at peace now. But you saw as much as I did. We left ourselves open to it. And now so many people are dead."

"I know," Kathras answers. "...I'm not entirely surprised at this outcome, though I could never have guessed at the degree of devastation. In the end, 'tolerance' only leads to chaos. We have an obligation to protect people. ...An obligation that we didn't meet this time."

Lanra hangs her head, lowering her glass and looking down. "We didn't," she agrees.

"...But there are still more people to protect," he says. "Even if we've lost many. Let's remember them." Kathras pauses, and considers. "...Would you tell me about your family, Ms. Gavarre? I would like to know."

"Sir..." Lanra looks up again, and he sees the glimmer in her eyes; a conflict. A strong feeling that he's known about for some time, warring with... something. But after a moment, she nods.

"...Yes, I will," she says. "My parents came from Belgium, of course. From Anvers. Our house looked out over the river Scheldt. They met over work. I had two older brothers, who would always do their best to protect me... sometimes more than I wanted, you understand. That is the way of things." She is fond as she recalls, growing distant in memory.

"Hmm." Kathras watches Lanra as she speaks. They are done with work for the night, at least. "The water is beautiful, isn't it? I remember it, growing up in Britannia. Before we left for Londenion. There's nothing quite like the blue Earth."

Lanra smiles at Kathras. "Yes," she agrees. "Just so. ...I remember, once..."