Phase 10: Differing Perception
Bunk Room 3-2, Level 3, Block 4, Citadel Military Base, City of Aprilius One, PLANTs, 9 February CE 71, 1320 hrs
Upon stepping into her squad's bunk room, most of her fellow squad mates eye Flay in distrust. Uncomfortable by their stare, the red-haired Natural looks at her fellow squad mates. Upon seeing Flay looking at them, they turn their face around to avoid her. Hence, Flay can tell they not only resent her for joining ZAFT, she is not welcome here to be part of their squad.
Flay enters the ladies' sleeping quarters of the bunk room to put down her belongings. Then she takes her military items from the duffel bag and places them into a military locker designated for her. As she takes out the military items, five ZAFT instructors enter the room, intending to assemble the squad. "1st Squad of the 4th Platoon. Assembly immediately!" One of the ZAFT instructors shouts his command.
Quickly, everyone in the room, including Flay, stops whatever they are doing and rushes to the main quarter of the bunk room for assembly. "Good afternoon ZAFT recruits, I'm 1st-Class Petty Officer Filip Vilhelm. Alternatively, you can call me Master Seargent Vilhelm. The other four instructors beside me were 2nd-Class Petty Officer Thomas Manuel, Arthur Karsten, Reena Inderjeet, and Hana Min-Su." Filip introduces him and the other instructors to the rest of the squad. "I will be your Platoon Commander for the entire 4th Platoon. As for your Squad Commander, 2nd-Class Petty Officer Min-Su will be in charge. Hence, she will manage all affairs related to this squad over the next eight weeks. Please look for her first to address any issue before looking for other instructors or me. I will now pass on to your Squad Commander, who will brief you on further instructions." .
2nd-Class Petty Officer Min-Su then nods and takes over to brief her squad as 1st-Class Petty Officer Vilhelm leaves the bunk room with the other three ZAFT instructors following him. Soon, she turns around to face her squad before briefing them. "Listen up, 1st Squad!" Hana begins her speech with a stern voice. "Now, I'm going to brief you on the basic rules you must adhere to during these eight weeks. First, please address me as 2nd-Class Petty Officer Min-Su or Seargent Min-Su. Second, today is your first day in the ZAFT forces, so you are no longer a civilian. Hence, you cannot simply do things without requesting permission. Therefore, every single one of you must request permission from me before doing any activities. This includes reporting sick as well." .
Hana then looks at Flay before addressing the rest of her squad, regarding the red-haired Natural. "Fourth, I know all of you may not be happy to see a Natural joining this squad to undergo the same military as you. However, the Supreme Council approved this Natural to undergo military training as a full-time ZAFT soldier, so all of you have to suck it up and accept her as a fellow ZAFT soldier. Is that clear?" All the ZAFT recruits except Flay reply with a 'yes sergeant' upon hearing her order. "Good. Now I'm going to give all of you your new callsign name. All of you will use this callsign name during battles and military operations, so please remember it." Hana says before announcing their callsigns. "Recruit Allster. Chief Petty Officer Eros informed me about your callsign. So yours is 'Witch'. As for the rest of the ladies, Recruit Marzia, your callsign is 'Queen'. Recruit Oonagh, your callsign is 'Cloverleaf'. Recruit Mizuki, your callsign is 'Miko'. Recruit Osanne, your callsign is 'Eiffel'." .
Hana takes a moment to regain her breath before revealing the other identification for the guys in her team. "As for the men, Recruit Qing, your callsign is 'Lion'. Recruit Oliwer, your callsign is 'Spacehound'. Recruit Gösta, your callsign is 'Hammer'. Recruit Bhaltair, your callsign is 'Scotsman". Recruit Matthias, your callsign is 'Magnus'." With all the callsign names given to her squad members, 2nd-Class Petty Officer Min-Su issues her some instructions before she dismisses her squad; "From now on, Recruit Marzia will be the leader of this squad, so every order comes from me will go to her. She will be the one to convey my instructions and orders to all of you, so please cooperate with her." Hana orders. "For the bunk room to be in an orderly fashion, here's a list of the guidelines on tidying and re-arranging the bunk room according to ZAFT's standard. I will pass on later to Recruit Marzia, so please seek the list from her." Hana waves at the list of papers in front of her squad.
"As for today, all of you will spend the rest of the day packing your belongings and rearranging this bunk room to the desired standard. Later, all of you will assemble at the company's assembly area at 1745 hrs for dinner in your current ZAFT Recruit Uniform. After dinner, we will announce the vaccination program and the end-of-day briefing to all of you before nights out at 2200 hrs tonight. Other than that, all of you are free to carry on. Dismiss." Hana finishes briefing her squad before passing the list of papers to Recruit Marzia.
"Yes, Sergeant!" Everyone acknowledges Hana's order before the 2nd-Class Petty Officer leaves the room. Then everyone gathers near Recruit Marzia before she passes a set of papers to them containing the guidelines. As it was Flay's turn to collect, a sound of audible bang shook Flay as she witnessed Recruit Marzia intentionally drop her set of papers onto the ground. "Whoops, my hand slipped," Stefania says sarcastically. "Pick it up, pure blue Natural." .
"I'm not a Blue Cosmos member, Recruit Marzia!" Flay ominously rebukes Stefania. However, Stefania didn't buy a single word from Flay since she knew the red-haired Natural's family. "I know who you are, Recruit Allster. Your name is Flay Allster and you are the daughter of Blue Cosmos scumbag, George Allster. I bet your father had sent you to Blue Cosmos's training camps to become a slut for EA soldiers." Stefania says in a provocative voice, intending to provoke Flay. Aware that Stefania is trying to pick a fight with her, Flay ignores her and walks away from her. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Stefania berates as she approaches Flay. When Stefania lays her hand on Flay's right shoulder, Flay immediately turns around and restrains the dark green-haired Coordinator by pulling her hand and pushing her body to a nearby large rectangular table before arm-locking her right hand.
"I know you hate me just because I'm the daughter of George Allster. But neither am I a Blue Cosmos member or supporter!" Flay lambasts at Stefania while restraining her tightly. "But I would not accept your physical threats or harassment against me!" Everyone in the room immediately rushes in to separate them after seeing what Flay did to the dark green-haired Coordinator. "Recruit Allster, snap out of it! It's not worth it, and you can get into trouble. Just let her go!" One of the ZAFT recruits, Saki Mizuki, tries to reason with Flay while pulling her back. Realizing that she is the only Natural among them and wanting to avoid any trouble from the higher-up ZAFT officers, Flay releases Stefania's right hand before letting her go.
After Stefania picks herself up from the table, she glares at Flay as she issues a verbal threat to her — "You better watch yourself and your back in these eight weeks, dirty Natural. You are not welcome here, and I'm watching your move every second." Despite being threatened, Flay ignores her and returns to the ladies' sleeping quarters to unpack her military items into her designated locker. Though she had just experienced Anti-Natural racism firsthand, Flay thinks it's best to let it go since Stefania is not wrong either. She remembers how Blue Cosmos indoctrinated her and other Naturals with hatred of Coordinators when attending Anti-Coordinators programs. Hence, it's no surprise to Flay that Coordinators would hate her for enlisting in the ZAFT forces.
As Flay unpacks her military belongings from her duffel bag, Sacha Osanne calls her from behind. "Hey, Recruit Allster!" Sacha calls out to Flay. "So sorry that you had to experience Anti-Natural racism from our squad leader. Hence, I would like to apologize to you on behalf of her." Her apology surprises Flay as she assumes that all Coordinators living on the PLANTs would hate Naturals upon seeing one. Flay even mentally told herself that once she joined ZAFT forces, she would experience racism and hate from fellow Coordinators.
"Why, why did you have to apologize? I deserved it for being a Natural and being related to George Allster, so there is no need to feel sorry for me, Recruit Osanne." Flay says as her eyes look away from Sacha in guilt. "Don't blame yourself, Flay. Just because you are a Natural and your father is a high-ranking Blue Cosmos officer, it doesn't mean that I will look down on you or mistreat you." Sacha comforts Flay. "It's incredible that you dare to join ZAFT and fight alongside us despite potentially facing reprisals from the Naturals or us. I would be more willing to be your friend and training buddy during these eight weeks of training." .
"Wait, you don't hate me at all, Recruit Osanne?" An astonished Flay asks. "Not at all, Flay. I do not hold any grudges against Naturals. I mostly see both Naturals and Coordinators as humans. Since we belong to the same kind, there is not much difference between looking down at one another. Hence, I would rather look forward to working with you. You can call me Sacha instead of Recruit Osanne." Sacha explains her intentions with amazed Flay further. "Thank you, Sacha. For believing in me." Flay expresses gratitude to her newfound friend for standing solitary with her. "It's alright. Let's work hard together and survive well during these eight weeks of training." Sacha tries to cheer up Flay with encouraging words. Flay smiles and nods at her before she returns to finish unpacking all her military belongings and store them in her designated military locker.
Over the next two days, Flay and her squad mates undergo mandatory vaccinations and taught how to wear both the Green ZAFT Space Forces and Ground Forces Uniform set. Despite having a rough start with the squad leader, Flay tries to improve their perception of her by staying out of trouble. Luckily, things went smoothly for her.
(Author's note: In the previous Phase 3 chapter, it wasn't mentioned that Flay wears what kind of ZAFT Uniform set so now I will mention it. During her time aboard the Vesalius warship, Flay wore the Green ZAFT Space Forces Uniform set. I apologized to readers if I had not mentioned this before.)
Auditorium Room 2, Block 2, Citadel Military Base, City of Aprilius One, PLANTs, 11 February CE 71, 0800 hrs
After breakfast, the entire Striker company assembles in the auditorium to attend the first military lesson. Not only will they learn about ZAFT's military laws and regulations, but they will also learn the truth about Junius Seven. "Good afternoon, recruits. I am Second Lieutenant Hahnenfuss." Shiho introduces herself before continuing. "Today marks the beginning of your military training. But first, everyone in this room needs to learn all the military laws and regulations before you can start your physical training sessions. Now, you will watch a short documentary before the lesson begins." Shiho then plays a video on a projected screen before she dims the lights in the auditorium. As the video plays on the projected screen, an image of Patrick Zala appears before speaking.
"Many Naturals living on Earth said that the collapse of the Junius Seven colony is an inside job caused by ZAFT forces. Some even said the colony itself is a military base. Don't listen to their lies!" Patrick's eyes filled with fury as he speaks. "Junius Seven is only an agricultural colony, and there are no ZAFT units on it. Instead, they destroyed the colony with a nuclear missile to frighten us enough so that we would submit to their demands." The documentary then shows a missile heading toward a PLANT space colony before exploding into a massive fireball that destroys the colony entirely. "243,721 Coordinators died on that day when the colony collapsed. Worst, they even deny nuking the colony. Hence, we can never trust Naturals again and we must fight to protect our homes, families, and freedom from them. We will never forget those who lay down their lives to protect us by joining ZAFT, and we will support our brave soldiers till the war ends. Thank you." .
As the video ends, many of the ZAFT recruits were angry to see the destruction of the Junius Seven colony caused by a nuclear missile. Some of them were crying in anger and had a strong desire to eradicate all Naturals. As for Flay, she feels rattled after finding out what really happened to Junius Seven. For years, both her father and Blue Cosmos had continuously lied to her that the PLANTs themselves ordered the destruction of the colony entirely. As a result, Flay feels guilty for believing their lies for the past few years. "All right, I think many of you are angry to see what happened to Junius Seven, so we will take a 5-minute break to cool off. After that, our lecture will continue on the ZAFT's military laws and regulations." Shiho says as she releases the company of ZAFT recruits for a quick break.
While most of the recruits left the auditorium room for a quick break, Flay remained in her seat, feeling uncomfortable over what she had just witnessed. She felt ashamed that her father did nothing to stop the nuclear attack on the Junius Seven colony. The colossal number of Coordinators who perished in the colony itself etches into her memories forever. Hence, Flay realizes why ZAFT Coordinators like Rusty, Yzak, and Recruit Marzia hated her. They blamed all Naturals for the destruction of the Junius Seven colony and wanted to exact revenge for the thousands of lives lost on that fateful day.
Since Coordinators were merciful enough to let her join their armed forces, Flay has a challenging task ahead of winning their trust before going into mobile suit battles. If she fails, they will shoot her down instead. Still, Flay wishes to make amends with Coordinators living on the PLANTs before helping them to find a solution to end the war. Once the war is over, she plans to change their perception of Naturals and end Anti-Natural racism in ZAFT forces.
Determined to accomplish her goals, Flay tells herself that she must overcome all obstacles to become a full-fledged ZAFT soldier and end the cycle of hatred between both sides. Thus, ending the ongoing Bloody Valentine War before it worsens any further. As the quick break ends, all the ZAFT recruits return to their seats in the auditorium and continue the military lecture. Not wanting to fall behind, Flay immediately pays attention to the military lecture lesson and notes down every single detail.
To be continued...
End of Phase 10
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