Resolve
By Mangaka-chan
Disclaimer: Gundam and its characters do not belong to me
"Tieria, you're awake."
The young man sitting in the room was receiving a preliminary round of exams from the doctor who had been in charge of his recovery. His garnet eyes glanced at the woman with curly brunette hair before he nodded silently at the last question the doctor asked him.
His examination complete, the white-robed doctor turned towards the door where Sumeragi had been waiting quietly. The doctor greeted her and left a few lines of instruction before leaving the two to themselves.
Sumeragi walked into the room. Still wearing the black skin-tight suit outfitted for patients in the ICU recuperation capsule, Tieria stood up from the capsule bed and met Sumeragi's eyes.
"The priority was set to retrieving the solar furnaces. The rest was unnecessary," Tieria said suddenly.
Sumeragi blinked. She then smiled wearily, "But it wasn't to me."
Hearing her answer, Tieria looked away, and Sumeragi was wondering if he was going to call her actions unnecessary again when he asked instead, "What is the current status of our situation?"
"It has been four weeks since the battle with the UN forces," Sumeragi recounted. "All of the four GN drives have been recovered and are now at Krung Thep for assessment. So far the tests show they are fully operational and are in good condition. The remains of the Gundams have all been retrieved with the exception of Exia. Allelujah has been captured by the United Nations Army. As for Setsuna, there simply hasn't been any trace of him or Exia. We don't know if he's been captured…or if he had been killed in action."
Tieria's eyed narrowed at the news. Their main priority, the GN drives, had been secured. Without the solar furnace a captured Gundam would only be half as valuable to the enemy, but with one, possibly two Meisters captured as well, there was the potential for the enemy to get their hands on a good deal of classified information. They would have to find them as soon as possible and, in the meantime, assess what kind of information was potentially at risk. He would have to go through the briefings and memos previously disclosed to them, as well as the technological specifications on the Exia to get an idea of the security risk. It would be a time consuming task, one that could have been completed much more efficiently if he still had access to Veda.
But Veda was a thing of the past. They were utterly on their own now.
As his thoughts came to that, Tieria began to walk towards the door. But as he tried to step forward his legs felt numb and he would've fallen had Sumeragi not caught his arm in time.
"You've been in the capsule for a month. The nano-machines may have kept muscular atrophy to a minimum but you should still take it easy for a while until you're fully recovered," Sumeragi cautioned.
Tieria pulled his arm away and stood leaning against the side of the capsule as the frustration on his face deepened. "The most important thing right now is to reduce any possible breach of classified information," he said tersely. "We are already at a disadvantage; we can't let the enemy gain another advantage against us!"
"I have already thought of that."
Tieria looked up at Sumeragi, and saw the former tactical forecaster's face marred with a pained expression. "Intelligence reports indicate that Allelujah is being held in a highly secure military base within the HRL. Our agents could only tell us that much due to the high levels of security measures within the facility. Without the Gundams we cannot take assertive action without bringing even greater risk to ourselves."
Silence descended on the room. This meant that they were going to have to leave one of their pilots in the hands of the enemy. If only they still had the Gundams then…
"What are your predictions?" Tieria asked, his voice now mollified.
Sumeragi paused to collect her thoughts before she spoke in a solemn voice, "After the battle at Lagrange 1, the world will think that Celestial Being has been destroyed. Now that they know how powerful they are by working together, the leading members of the United Nations will push to consolidate their armies into an international force, while at the same time requiring the other member nations to dissolve their own military, in order to create a single military organization. But some countries will not be able to let go of their military despite the pressures to consolidate. They will see it as a treat to their national security and identity, and some will probably withdraw from the UN charter to maintain their military independence. This will cause a series of backlashes from the UN in the form of economic and trade sanctions, quite possibly with military occupation in some cases as well. When the economy of the rogue countries begins to crash, resentment toward the UN will deepen and conflict between these countries and the UN will break out."
Which means war will continue, and humans will continue to fight one another, Tieria thought to himself. Their goal had not been achieved, and would never be achieved unless something was being done to make sure the world changed. In that case, there was only one thing to be done.
Tieria pushed himself away to the capsule so that he could stand. Sumeragi watched him closely in case he stumbled again, but this time Tieria was able to steady himself as he slowly stepped past her. Even though Sumeragi could not see his face, she could clearly hear the determination in his voice as he said, "If the world continues to fight then we must be there to intervene. That is the creed of Celestial Being."
"You intend to rebuild the Gundams?" she asked somberly.
"It was the reason why we were put here in the first place: to see to the realization of Aeolia Schenberg's ideal," Tieria turned to face Sumeragi. It was for that too that Lockon had died, for which Allelujah had buried his soul, for which Setsuna had fought, and for which he himself had been born. Despite their setbacks, deviations, and alterations from the plan, if they stopped now everything would have been for naught. Celestial Being would simply become a footnote in the history of conflict, when it should have been the beginning of its end. Tieria could not let that happen. What would have been his purpose then? To have lived, fought, and survived, only to fade away quietly?
Sumeragi smiled at his reply, surprising Tieria. Though she had known the answer he would give, she had wanted to hear his answer spoken aloud, had wanted to hear the conviction of this young man. There would be no going back; there hadn't been ever since she joined this organization. The road led forward and their task was to walk it.
"You really are human," she said.
The statement stunned Tieria into silence for a few seconds before he was able to summon a familiar scowling look at the gently smiling woman.