[Text, untraceable]

[in_the_cracks]

What could you never accept? What would it take for you to shut the door to someone?

Can you truly be friends with someone you're obligated to act against?

Comments

[kohi_no_tora]

It is possible to be friends with someone you have to act against, but the end results are rarely pretty and how bad things get are more or less directly proportional to the stakes involved.

Believe me... I speak from experience having watched just such a relationship from the sidelines.

[in_the_cracks]

I don't doubt you.

How bad was that one? If you don't mind my asking.

[kohi_no_tora]

It was pretty damn bad. They came within a hair's breadth of killing each other and the fight leading up to that moment was, from what information I saw on the cockpit recorders later, just brutal.

They eventually did reconcile but only after behind the scenes politics brought them around so they were on the same side.

[in_the_cracks]

That last part, I would expect. I'm surprised they were the greatest threat to each other, though.

[kohi_no_tora]

Circumstances of war. On the battlefield at the time more or less the only thing that could take on Kira's Strike Gundam were the Athrun's Aegis, Deaka's Buster and (technically) Yzak's Duel Gundams.

Both were also operating at an extended distance from their main operational headquarters so it kept them away from the political time bombs that went off later.

[in_the_cracks]

Ah, I understand. Distance seems to be a recurring theme in these... situations.

[kohi_no_tora]

It does make things easier if the high command isn't close enough to be metaphorically breathing down your neck. Of course when you are the local commander it also allows you a great deal of leeway which is how I first met Kira

[in_the_cracks]

An enemy, or a former enemy?

[kohi_no_tora]

Former enemy. He was fighting for the Earth Alliance, I was the senior ZAFT military commander for the North African Theater when he and the ship he was on tried to pass through without being detected.

When I heard that there was a detachment being sent into a nearby town to buy supplies I decided to do a little incognito intelligence gathering of my own.

[in_the_cracks]

You went to meet him? Why?

[kohi_no_tora]

There was a standing order to capture or destroy the Strike Gundam and I was curious about the pilot. Especially since he'd successfully held off repeated attacks by the other four Gundams, both separately and in groups with only a single mobile armour for back up. (Granted that mobile armour was being piloted by the Hawk of Endymion but still...)

[in_the_cracks]

You could have satisfied your curiosity after you'd captured him.

[kohi_no_tora]

That... wasn't an option. Even with my LaGOWE he still beat me in open combat. It's why I'm missing an eye, one of my arms is a prosthetic and I've got a bad leg.

And it wasn't the pilot that command was interested in, it was his mobile suit. I wanted to learn about the pilot because I knew we were going to have face each other on the battlefield sooner or later. Since, and I say this quite honestly, and was and still am one of the best pilots of land based mobile suits so it was going to be up to me. Technically I had the Buster and Duel Gundams and their pilots under my command but they weren't really suited to fighting in desert terrain, especially with the edge in maneuverability Strike had using the Aile Striker pack.

[in_the_cracks]

It's never just about having the best weapons, is it?

There's a pause before a question is added.

You think that was a good idea?

[kohi_no_tora]

That's... a complicated question. I lost... a lot that day yet it ultimately put me in a position that helped stop the war and if Rau Le Crueset's manipulations had been allowed to continue there might not have been anyone left to talk about it later.

So to this day I don't know if it was a good idea or even if was the least bad idea but I'm still not sure if I would change anything even if I could.