This became its own thing.

--

"I've never been to Helvetios," Aeon said as he settled into his seat on the bridge of the Hesperides. Mercado held in a sigh. He knew what was coming.

"Once when I was little, but I don't really remember it," Purity admitted. Mercado had long since given up on getting her not to put her feet up on the control panels. It was hopeless.

"Nope," Mercado offered. He changed a few settings with his controls and sent a pre-set message to Helvetios that they were on course.

Aeon flipped his datapad up from his side and fussed around for a minute. Because this was how it always was.

"Helvetios," Aeon read aloud. "An independent colony named for and formerly owned by Helvetica Interstellar Corporation. Currently maintained by a combination of appointed and elected officials. Helvetica still owns ninety-five percent of all businesses on the colony, along with almost all private residences."

"Yeah, no way that could get ugly," Mercado commented. He couldn't help himself. Sure, there were colonies set up with even less pleasant infrastructures. All sorts. But this was their chance to speak openly. Possibly their last one for a bit.

"For Helvetios, it seems to work," Aeon replied, shrugging. "Says here that the crime rate is virtually zero, unemployment is microscopic... and generally, the colony is quite wealthy."

"And they have a crap military," Purity added.

"Yeah..." Aeon sighed. "Which is why we're here. Well, why they asked NIN-ANA for assistance. And please don't say that to anyone."

"We're mostly here to pick up mobile suits and data," Mercado corrected. "I'm sure there's something Commander Varuna didn't tell us."

"Probably..." Purity commented. She looked at her nails and then stretched. "Will I get thrown off the ship if I ask if we're there yet?"

Mercado watched as a swarm of dots suddenly appeared from the far left side of his screen. "Yes," he said quickly. "Both of you. Get out there."

"Wait, what?" Purity looked over at him, eyes wide.

"Helvetios has a bad, bad pirate problem," Aeon said as he got to his feet and nodded to Purity and Mercado. "Which means now we do, too."

~*~

Purity didn't hesitate to open fire as soon as she got Lachesis launched. The Hesperides had been hit twice already - well, likely more. Twice she'd felt. At least the pirates had mostly Safphirs and Emeraldes. They'd be easy to pick off.

"You picked the wrong ship to fuck with," she said, grinning as she watched the explosions following behind her shots. While she was far from a sharpshooter, she at least was fast.

"Cover this side," Aeon's voice echoed in her head. "I'll cover the other."

Anaplekte was a beast compared to Lachesis - big and silver and purple and green. Not as fast, but it could take a beating.

Purity refrained from reminding Aeon that space doesn't have sides. A good twenty dots were still on her screen, swarming, but at least the pirates looked like they were trying to size up the pair of Gundams before rushing in to join their comrades in a certain doom.

"Okay, they're not shooting," Purity said after a long, too-quiet moment. "We've won?"

"No," Aeon replied. "They're just regrouping. They're going to try to get us away from Mercado and attack in swarms."

"How do you know that?" Purity questioned.

Aeon laughed. "That's what I'd do."

Purity swore and watched as Anaplekte took off towards the largest clump. She wasn't terribly surprised, though. Better to catch them off guard.

And then they came for her. There were too many to bother shooting. Instead she stowed her rifle and grabbed for a pair of beam sabers. Anaplekte was the one with the swords, but Purity knew her sabers would be enough for this bunch.

The first Safphir in range was neatly quartered, yet the others still attacked. And dammit, there was another group still after the Hesperides.

"A little help, guys?" Edison called.

"A little busy," Purity replied sharply, dodging a saber and countering with enough fast slices to decimate the attacker. "Let me line these fuckers up, get them dead and then we'll talk help."

"I love you too," Edison deadpanned. Purity smiled, quickly looking around. She was completely surrounded.

Taking a deep breath, she feinted Lachesis left, spun, and pushed the thrusters as hard as she could. The following explosions rocked Lachesis, setting off all sorts of warnings that she really didn't have time to deal with.

Aeon was already back to the Hesperides, swords still ready, when Purity got there. The pirates - what was left of them - were retreating.

"I lost count," Purity commented, snuffing the sabers and stowing them.

Their comms crackled a moment later, before Purity had even thought to get Lachesis back into the ship.

"This is Helvetios Military Commander General Brice Steadman - NIN-ANA ship, please respond--"

"This is the NIN-ANA ship Hesperides," Edison quickly replied. "I don't think I like your welcoming committee."

"Neither do we," Steadman replied. "We're sending final docking instructions now. Please feel free to bring your mobile suits in separately for energy and repairs."

"This is Aeon Jester in Gundam Anaplekte - we copy."

"NIN-ANA's fabled Gundams." There was an almost whimsical tone in Steadman's voice. Purity wasn't entirely sure she liked it. But, with Helvetios looming ahead, she didn't really have much of a choice.

~*~

"Most of the damage is cosmetic," Aeon insisted to the overly-friendly dock workers and mechanics that swarmed the two Gundams and ship as soon as the airlock system had cleared. "No need to really do anything, I promise. If you give me the basics, I can pull maintenance myself."

"But you're our guest," one of the mechanics insisted. His stitched name badge identified him as 'Edric', Aeon noted before beginning another round of protests. While Commander Varuna always asked his subordinates to limit the number of hands on NIN-ANA's Gundams, Aeon also really just thought he could do it himself. Lachesis had a few more dings, but it wasn't bad either. And despite looking rough, the Hesperides was fine. It would need paint, definitely, but the giant burned spots weren't anywhere near as bad as they looked.

"A mission," Aeon countered. "I am a collaborator, not a guest." He kept his tone firm, but friendly.

"Commander Jester?"

Aeon winced as he turned. There, in what he supposed was a full Helvetian military uniform, stood a middle-aged man looking him over cautiously.

"General Steadman?" Aeon questioned. The man nodded, offering a hand.

"Please, call me Aeon," Aeon said as he accepted. "If you need to add something ridiculous in front, Team Leader would be the most appropriate."

Steadman's handshake was firm. "No disrespect intended. I do, however, wish you hadn't been introduced to our problem so early in your visit."

Aeon nodded. "I'm guessing they're staying too far out of range for Space Forces to step in, for all the good they usually do."

"We don't have a large military," Steadman replied, nodding. "I'm the only general. The military numbers in the low hundreds and most of that is volunteers. We've lost most of our mobile suits and while we have orders in with quite a few factories, we have neither pilots nor do we want this to be a permanent solution."

"We could take out the pirates," Purity piped up as she stepped in. She had her pilot-suit unzipped to her waist, sleeves tied. All she had on underneath was a white sports-bra that didn't leave too terribly much to the imagination.

"Allow me to introduce Purity Albion," Aeon said, gesturing. "She pilots Lachesis. Purity, this is General Steadman."

"A pleasure," Steadman said quickly, before taking Purity's hand.

"Forgive our appearance," Aeon said quickly. He suddenly felt a tiny bit self-conscious in his own suit.

"It's to be expected," Steadman replied. He shook his head. "You had a rough trip in, after all. I'm sure you'd rather get cleaned up and relax instead of listening to me rattle on."

"With all respect, sir--"

"Would we ever," Purity interrupted. She smiled. "Though after you tell us why we can't just go kill the pirates."

"Helvetios has no interest in aggression, only defense," Steadman explained.

"That's not a viable option," Aeon replied. "Unless you want this pattern to continue."

"We called you in for a reason." Steadman shifted, reaching up to rake a hand through his close-cut blond hair. It was a sharp contrast to his skin, which was nearly as dark as Purity's, but it didn't look strange. Aeon could only guess that he was trying to hide a bit of early grey.

"We've got time to talk," Aeon said. He saw Mercado talking to another couple of mechanics and gesturing at the Hesperides. "I think my team does need a chance to regroup, to be honest."

Steadman nodded. "A guest residence has been prepared for you," he said. "I'll have--"

He glanced back and then around.

"Where is that girl? Shelby!"

"Sir?" a squeaky voice called from over near Anaplekte. A moment later, a short young woman skittered over to the group. She didn't look up at anyone, instead looking at the hangar floor as she clutched a datapad to her chest.

"Shelby, this is Aeon Jester and Purity Albion." Steadman clearly looked frustrated with her, but Shelby just nodded before finally glancing up ever so slightly. Aeon was a little surprised by the thick glasses she wore. Only about three percent of poor eyesight couldn't be entirely corrected and for the remaining group, few couldn't be corrected to at least some type of thinner lens.

"It's nice to meet you," Aeon said softly.

Shelby just nodded.

Aeon glanced to Purity, who was giving him a very strange look in response. Definitely, something was already odd.

"Shelby, could you show Aeon and his team to the executive guest residence?" Steadman tried.

Finally, Shelby looked up. Her eyes were a sharp purple - a surprising contrast to the almost colorless silvery-white of her hair.

"Of course, sir," she said, nodding.

"Thank you," Aeon tried. "If you'll just follow us over to the Hesperides, we'll get changed and get our bags."

Shelby nodded, and Aeon glanced to Steadman. The general looked like he was about to cry. Obviously, Helvetios needed more help than Aeon had even considered.

~*~

Mercado drew close to Aeon while they stripped out of their suits.

"This place is weird," he commented. "Not bad, just..."

"NIN-ANA is weird to anyone who hasn't been there for three years," Aeon reminded him.

Mercado sighed. "You know what I mean."

"I do. But I need to spend more time talking to Steadman before I can say what's really going on here."

"You two whispering sweet nothings?" Purity questioned as she shimmied the rest of her suit off. "I'm jealous over here."

"Tactical planning," Mercado noted. "We'll be doing a lot of it. Get dressed."

"Yeah, I know," Purity replied. "Though a proper shower sounds so much better."

"A nap, once I wind down," Mercado said. He stretched, reaching for his uniform pants. It would take a little while for the adrenaline to clear his system, he knew, but he figured he could jog a little, or just explore. While he knew Purity and Aeon were likely concerned with strange hands on their machines, the Hesperides was a fairly standard shuttle and anything it needed, he trusted the dock crew to handle. Besides, he'd check it all before leaving anyway.

He didn't think this was an ambush. But it was something. They'd just have to puzzle it out. At least they'd be able to contact Varuna and try to wrangle a few more details from him. Mercado wondered just how much Varuna actually knew. Though Varuna always seemed to know far more than he ever let on.

"I want to start making notes for what I want to discuss with Steadman," Aeon said after a moment. He'd already peeled off his suit and gotten his lower half covered.

"I want to know what's up with that girlie," Purity said as she pinned her hair up. It still looked a bit like a deep blue waterfall as the ends trailed down, but it wasn't everywhere, at least.

While Mercado quite liked Purity's hair - and Aeon's, too - he couldn't do it himself. Anything longer than a few inches and he marched down to get it chopped off. So much easier. Wait--

"Girlie?" Mercado questioned.

"You probably looked right over her," Purity replied. "Short, quiet, pretending to be invisible."

"She seems to be our liaison," Aeon added. "I think she's just shy. And that she hasn't met anyone like us before."

"Oh." Mercado tugged on a t-shirt and then his uniform jacket to cover the tattoos that trailed down both arms. "Okay."

He could handle shy, he supposed. Though why a quiet girl would be their liaison, he wasn't sure.

"I think she'll be okay." Aeon pulled on his own shirt and grabbed his jacket. He smiled. "Mission start."

~*~