Xenosaga: Das Ende Zu Verursachen

by Skrunks

This is a FanFic that I really enjoyed writing, and hope whoever reads it enjoys reading it as well. It takes place 3000 years after the events of Xenosaga Episode III, told from KOSMOS's perspective for the most part.

1. Yesterday's Tomorrow

Xenosaga: Das Ende Zu Verursachen

Introduction:

Well, this is my first FanFic, it's based entirely off of Xenosaga and it's actually a continuation of the story taking place three thousand years after the events of Also Sprach Zarathustra. I don't know if it's crap, or if it's worth continuing, so I hope you guys can tell me, it's quite long though. I don't know if other chapters are going to be shorter or longer or what. It is rated M for violence and a nude scene or two, but nothing explicit. But I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is all classified as Chapter 1 on the website, so yeah, it's the introduction, Prologue and Chapter 1. Enjoy…. Please.

Prologue: Lost and Found

It was another routine day, scanning around for that infernal artifact. Ryan was at his post as usual, bored out of his mind. With a ship as advanced as this, you would think that they could have at least installed a few video games. Heh, even if they did, Tirith would rip my larynx out if he ever caught me playing one.

We've been in this same system for three years, scanning every speck of space dust looking for some clue. What happened to the old days? Battle was tiresome, but far more entertaining then these useless sensor sweeps... Ryan checked the console again. Comets, asteroids, a few planets and a star. Oh look, another hydrogen atom! YAY! Ryan smiled stupidly to himself, and then sighed. Nothing special. Not even a trace of that ancient thing. He felt the urge to issue another futile complaint; "What is the point, we've been searching this system for almost three years now. We haven't even found a molecule out of place. I think we should go raid another Remnant station, go liven things up a bit."

"I spent eight months calculating, recalculating, checking and rechecking. She's here."

"Why do you always refer to it as a she? It's simply a machine."

"Built in the shape of a woman."

Ryan muttered under his breath, "Or so you think..."

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Think of it this way. Everywhere we've searched so far is everywhere she isn't. So it's only a matter of time before we find her."

"Whatever, believe what you like." Uh oh...

Tirith sauntered over and slapped Ryan in the back of the head.Ryan grunted, then snapped back to watching his glowing holo-sceen. If I activate a micro-particle scan of that planet and its rings, then I'll be able to get some shut eye, at least an hour or two, assuming Tirith doesn't catch me. Ryan looked over his shoulder and watched Tirith out of the corner of his eye; the guy lumbered over and sat down at his console in the middle of the enormus bridge. Ryan grinned, and then entered some commands into the console. The beautiful bluish green world and its marvelous rings appeared on tje screen. Ryan hit a few more keys and the Vanguard's incredible sensor array began identifying, counting and analyzing ever single molecule of that magnificent sphere. He leaned back, shut his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

A boot in the back of the head would wake anyone up, Ryan was no exception. The shock knocked his head forward, sending his face through the phantasmal screen and into the console.

"What the hell?"

"A. Never sleep on duty. B. Never sleep while scanning something. C. What the hell is that noise?"

"Huh?"

Ryan bewilderedly looked back at his screen. He'd never heard this particular beeping chime in a long time, if ever. His puzzled look changed to shock and almost horror as he slowly turned back and looked at Tirith,

"I think I actually found something..."

Tirith's gruff stern look changed to a rather pleased expression, or as pleased as he could look. He stood up and began to walk over to Ryan.

"The micro-particle scan detected a small concentration of a metal I've never seen before, synthetics and very faint energy signs all within a one meter area."

"Isolate it!" Tirith barked as he arrived at Ryan's station.

Ryan's hands moved furiously as the image of the planet faded and a humanoid appeared. It had long grey hair, and was missing an arm and both legs. "Female humanoid android. Inactive but still has power. Its consciousness may still be intact. This is amazing; there is almost no external or internal decay. The planet's rings shielded it from solar activity and hid it from sensors. That explains why it was so hard to find, the only way we would have found her was with a micro-particle scan. It's almost like she was placed there."

Tirith smacked Ryan in the back of the head again. "Told you SHE was here."

Ryan grumbled as Tirith pointed at one of the random grunts hanging around looking idiotic. "Go take a craft and pick her up. And do be careful, she's more valuable then most of this ship." The grunt scampered off as Tirith turned back to Ryan. "How long will it take to reconstruct her?"

"Not sure, aside from the color loss, it looks exactly like it dose in the database, so I'll model physical features after comparing the two and hopefully it'll to look the same as before. Once I analyze its memory banks, I can determine exactly what her previous capabilities were, and get to work. Thankfully the facilities on this ship are the best out there, so I'd guess about six months."

Tirith looked unsettled, "Why so long?"

"Well, it was just a guess. But I'd estimate the best body to use would be a mostly realian body with some cybernetic systems; so it will take time to grow the necessary parts to a quality worthy enough. We will be reverse engineering most of its weapons systems, but I expect them to be rather simplistic, they are three thousand years old after all.

Chapter 1: Yesterday's Tomorrow

The vast expanse, countless stars and galaxies surrounded by an infinite abyss. In the hopeless expanse lies an unparalleled beauty, the cosmic radiance of the universe and it's never ending assortment of infinitesimal specks known as worlds. The peace of such a measureless void seems like it would last until the end of time itself. The apparently endless unity is shattered by the Elsa's glimmering green hull, spinning wildly out of control, engines ablaze. The countless holes in the vessel's armor spewed it's once breathable atmosphere. A beam ripped through the aft of the ship, sending it spiraling in another direction. A second beam tore through the bridge compartment, obliterating the entire bow of the once beautiful. The aft section was all that remained, only to be shredded and engulfed in a magnificent fireball by a third and final beam.

Shion...

KOS-MOS opened her fiery red eyes and looked around; expecting to see Vector's Second or even First R&D Division, but the unfamiliar sight was unsettling. Almost as much so as the fact that her eyes hurt. What is this? My eyes, my head... my whole body aches. This isn't normal, self diagnostic commencing. KOS-MOS moved her hand up to her head but she could feel, her hair, her face... she could feel? Diagnostic complete, everything's functioning normally, but I'm... biological? A youthful character with fair hair and navy eyes approached.

"I understand that this must be a little weird for you. Just try your best to get used to it. It will take time, so I advise you not to even try to access any of your combat systems just yet. You would probably injure yourself if your tried anyway, we couldn't update your memory with your new capabilities, your AI is far to complex, more so then anything we've ever seen before, almost as much so as a human mind. Anyway, you will have to manually read your specs and statistics later on. I'll give you a brief outline, but you'll still need to read the document for full information.

"Understood."

KOS-MOS gazed around the room, but the flaring light strained her seemingly new and blurry vision.

"Your eyes most likely hurt, but that's normal, as with the blurriness. But once your vision clears, your eyes will be far more acute then your previous body's optical sensors."

Another 'first' to add to her list, this is the first time KOS-MOS had ever awakened to see an unfamiliar face.

"Who are you?"

The young man smiled. "To the point are we? My name is Ryan Wells, and yours?"

"KOS-MOS, Kosmos Obey Strategical Multiple Oper..." KOS-MOS hesitated. That title would no longer apply if I'm biological now.

Ryan looked a little puzzled at her pause, "Something wrong?"

"I'm KOS-MOS."

Ryan looked slightly clueless again.

"My system was originally designed as an android comprised of one hundred percent mechanical components and my name was an acronym referring to that nature. Having biological components is entirely new, so I don't know if that title would apply to me anymore. Therefore, I just told you my name." KOS-MOS paused yet again. "I just realized that I must breathe to talk. Tell me, since my body is organic, does that mean I must absorb oxygen?"

"Yes, but that is not associated with breathing."

"Clarify."

"Your body is about seventy percent biological, so you do have quite a few mechanical components still. One of these will generate oxygen from energy."

"Why must I still breathe then?"

"It's a backup system incase your Oxygen Generating Systems fail. Plus it also allows you to communicate easier with humans. Listen, all of this is in the manifest I put together for you. It's a large document, so it will take some time for you to read it all."

"I see."

"Yeah. Listen, you should try standing and getting used to balancing. Your balance system is completely different then your previous one, and like I said, we couldn't install how to use it directly in your memory, so you will have to learn how to use it the hard way."

"Alright."

"Heh, not very talkative are we?"

"It's not necessary for me to say anything more then I've already said."

"I guess not…."

KOS-MOS recognized that he was a little troubled by her comment. She had realized before the power of words and the effect it can have on people.

"I apologize... this is all very unsettling."

At the apology, Ryan smiled again.

"So... about you standing..."

"Right."

Ryan took a step back as KOS-MOS swung her legs off the bed-like table and onto the frigid grey floor. She put her weight forward, and to Ryan's surprise, stood up.

"Amazing, I expected you to fall flat on your face. I guess your AI and OS systems are far more adaptable then we anticipated. Not surprising since it's thousands of times more complicated then any normal one, like I said, it's on par with a human mind."
KOS-MOS surveyed the room again, but since her vision was still hazy, she couldn't identify much beyond Ryan.

"Where are we?"

"Onboard the Vanguard."

"A ship?"

"Mhmm."

I didn't detect an engine; this ship must be designed for silent running.

"This ship is all that remains of the Conglomerate."

"Conglomerate?"

"Hmm, I guess that was a little after your time huh?"

"What year is it?"

"T.C. 8023"

Thirty two hundred years? Shion...

"When were you originally built?"

"...I first came online in T.C. 4767..." …to save Shion... she would be long deceased by now...

"Wow, you have a lot of history to catch up on."

KOS-MOS solemnly nodded her head.

"Let's see, T.C. 4767, which was just one year before the great collapse..."

"...collapse?"

Ryan playfully smirked at her, "Listen, if we're going to do this, then you will have to keep quiet till I'm done, kay?"

"I'm sorry..."

His face suggested that he believed he might have offended her, then decided to proceeded; "Alright. Thirty-two hundred years ago, a network called the U.M.N., something that bound humanity together, vanished along with the Gnosis. But not before eighty percent of all mankind had transformed into Gnosis, cutting the population of the universe from over a quadrillion people, to two hundred trillion. After the U.M.N. collapsed, all interstellar communication and travel was obliterated. Thousands of civil wars erupted as individual sects of Ormus, Federation, Vector and Hyams bid for control. There were only two worlds that didn't. Fifth Jerusalem and Second Miltia, and the Dammerung functioned like a mobile planet, so we'll count that too."
Ryan, started to drift off in thought, but caught himself and looked back into KOS-MOS's listening eyes.

"Anyway, the portions of Scientia and Vector aboard the Dammerung merged and along with a realian girl, discovered how to access hyperspace without the U.M.N. They moved the colossal space colony into hyperspace to Fifth Jerusalem first, then Second Miltia and worked to set up a government. Since they wanted to erase the mistakes of the past, the came up with a new name for their assembly, the Organizational Conglomerate. They sent thousands of ships out to every system they could, hardly any returned. Those that did either reported escaping capture or a planet that was willing to join the Conglomerate. The Dammerung with a small fleet visited each and eventually built a five hundred planet system, with the Dammerung as its headquarters."

"Over the next hundred years, planets had either developed their own hyperspace tech or stole it from the Conglomerate emissaries. Tech was developed that used hyperspace to allow interstellar communication, and that's when things got bad. The planetary civil wars that had been occurring resulted in ten trillion deaths universally and planetary governments began to rise. After some time and the advent of interstellar communication, about ninety percent of the populated worlds either joined the Conglomerate or joined one of the other two factions, Ormus and the Federation Remnant. After that, the Thousand Years War began.

"We really don't know who struck first, but we do know that after six hundred years of war, both Ormus and the Remnant fell into a state of bloodlust. They began to destroy planets, not caring who or what was on it. The only reason they needed was that it was affiliated with one of the other two factions. This genocide continued between the Remnant and Ormus as the Conglomerate mostly withdrew and bolstered its forces. Another sixty years of war progressed and the two barbaric factions had wiped out about half of each other. They must of realized how stupid they were being, and signed an alliance treaty, and a death pact for the Conglomerate.

"Ormus and Remnant forces hatched an insane plan to use their combined strength to take out the most fortified ship in existence, the Dreadship Dammerung. Since the war started, the Dammerung had all its civilian population taken of and converted into a complete military Dreadnaught. The Alliance launched an attack using ninety percent of its combined strength on the Dammerung; however, Conglomerate spies had learned of this and reported back to the Conglomerate. The Dammerung pulled back to Fifth Jerusalem, the most heavily defended planet in history, and pulled every other ship available to that location as well.

"The following battle was the bloodiest and most catastrophic military engagement in the history of the known Universe. Six hundred thousand conglomerate ships gathered and waited for the two million Alliance ships. The battle lasted for three weeks and was a stalemate for most of if. The Dammerung was enough to make up for the difference in fleet sizes, but the Alliance began to push the Conglomerate lines back and attacked the Dammerung directly. As incredible a ship as it had become, it couldn't withstand an attack of that magnitude. Eventually it was whittled down until its reactor was exposed and targeted. It's colossal reactor took heavy fire and went critical, the ensuing detonation not only destroyed both fleets completely, but also seared Fifth Jerusalem of all life and extinguishing its atmosphere. One point five trillion people died in the fight, and it's known as the Battle of the Dammerung. That area of space is now a graveyard and the hulk of the Dammerung still drifts there.

"After that, the Alliance began to hunt down every Conglomerate world, which offered no real resistance now that its governing body had been destroyed. Once the Conglomerate was wiped from the face of the universe, the Remnant stabbed Ormus in the back and obliterated their Cathedral World with one decisive strike. Over the next two hundred years, the Remnant hunted Ormus to extinction in the same way the Alliance had done to the Conglomerate."

"In T.C. 5921, Ormus surrendered, ending the Thousand Year's War. Over ninety percent of humanity had been exterminated. From then to now, the Remnant has ruled unchallenged. For two thousand more years, nothing really big happened. The only remaining Conglomerate world secretly built its last hope, the Vanguard. But the Remnant got wind of it and destroyed that world, just before we got away. Then we found you. We rebuilt you from what we analyzed in your old body and upgraded almost every system you had.

"Your X-BUSTER was redesigned to out put on two levels. Your first level is identical to your original X-BUSTER. However, at level two, it has about one hundred times the power. At that level, you will need your cooling system deployed."

That's at least several times the output of the Dinah's X-BUSTER

"Your D-TENERITAS attack can now be generated in the palms of your hands because the phase emitters are in your fingertips. There isn't really any restriction on this, but it uses a considerable amount of energy, so be careful. Your Tertiary Weapon System still has the same output, but we refined it so that you will receive almost no recoil. You can now fire it at maximum output without suffering any damage. Your G-SHOT chain guns have been upgraded, each one can fire at a rate of six point two million rounds a minute. The ammunition is created as required by an internal synthesizer, so you don't need to worry about that."

"May I ask a question now?"

Ryan buoyantly grinned at her. "No."

"Why not?"

"I'm kidding."

KOS-MOS looked irritated, but forgave him "Alright, why am I biological?"

"Several reasons actually. Your body's muscles are about three times stronger then your mechanical body and you have an extremely high regeneration rate from the nanomachines in your blood. In fact, your blood is twenty percent nanomachines. They carry out a number of tasks, not the least of which is hyper regenerative properties. Your body heals approximately twenty thousand times faster then an average human. A regeneration rate of this extremity would be impossible with a mechanical body."

"With a body of flesh and blood, doesn't that mean I'm more susceptible to damage?"

"Not necessarily. True your flesh is less durable then the synthetic polymers that composed the outer layers of your body, but your skeleton is made out of a specially made polymer, it's over a full three magnitudes stronger then titanium. Combined with your regenerative capabilities, this body is far more enduring then your previous one. Now getting back to your weapon outlines. Obviously you cannot teleport a weapon directly into one of your arms, as your previous cannon and blade weapons did, for that would cause extreme damage not only to your skeleton, but also to your biological components. So you now have two blades, one on each arm and housed in your wrist pieces."

Ryan held up KOS-MOS's left arm, and pointed to her wrist bands.

"They can each be extended to three separate lengths, the first at thirty centimeters, the second at sixty, and at maximum, ninety centimeters. The blade is sheathed in energy, meaning it can cut through most substances. Your cannon system has been upgraded, making it much lighter and far more powerful. It will need to be transferred onto your left arm, connecting to the blade housing and enclosing your fist."

KOS-MOS' eyes had stopped hurting and her vision had returned to normal… well, quite far from normal actually. Her vision was at least a dozen times stronger then her previous body, which put her at least several hundred times that of a normal humans. She could see the texture on the wall on the other side of the dull monotone room. There was a curious azure platform on the floor in the far left corner. Besides that, there were just a few panels and consoles here and there.

"What's that platform over there?"

Ryan looked puzzled. "It's just a standard transfer plate."

"You mean it can transfer, even living organisms?"

"Well du… Oh right, from your time, you still used the U.M.N., so you couldn't transfer living things. Well, this thing can transfer to anywhere in the ship. All though there are still corridors, this is far more effective."

"I'd imagine."

"So, let's go to your quarters, shall we?"

"Quarters?"

"Your domicile, living spa…."

"No, I know what quarters are, It's just...," she paused.

"What?"

"My accommodation has always been a lab not unlike the one where I awoke."

"First time for everything right?"

Shion would have said something like that. KOS-MOS became very solemn. It looks like she never arrived at Lost Jerusalem, other wise none of this would have happened. Or perhaps there wasn't anything there to unite the human race as Yeshua had thought. She felt Mary's consciousness resonant at the thought of chaos. Even after six…wait, nine thousand now, she still has feelings for him. Love is something that I won't soon understand. At least, not love in that sense. At any rate, it's still possible that Shion did reach 'Earth.' "Was Lost Jerusalem ever found?"

She received a quizzical look from Ryan, "Lost… Jerusalem?"

"Earth… the birth place of the human race."

"I guess not, I've never heard of it."

"Have you ever heard of a woman named Shion Uzuki?"

"No…."

I'd expect Shion would have taken the Elsa and the others.

"What about a ship called the Elsa?"

"Again, never heard of it. Sorry."

"Is there a database I can access then?"

"Before Kyrana was destroyed, they uploaded the entire Conglomerate database onto this ship. Maybe you could find something there?"

"Where can I access it?"
"Well, you don't have the direct interface equipment of your previous body, so you'll have to read it from the terminal in your room just like the rest of us humans." Ryan pointed at the shimmering blue transfer pad.

"I'm not human."

Ryan smiled at her "You're close enough."

KOS-MOS stepped onto the pentagonal glowing pad, and several holographic options appeared. She put her finger through the one that said 'Domicile' and the room vanished in a blinding flash. The new room appeared in a similar glare that faded as suddenly as it had come. It was just as dull as the lab. There was a bed with white sheets and bland grey bedspread, some smokey colored chairs around a black table where the turquoise holo-terminal resided. KOS-MOS walked over and looked out the window, which was stunningly beautiful. There was a fantastic crimson nebula which spanned across an incredible starscape. There was a nearby world banded with a luminous set of rings and two enchanting moons, directly contrasting the un-imaginative accommodation. She hoped they would be able to stay there for a while, it was quite the view. KOS-MOS fell into an almost trance gazing off into the cosmos.

It's so beautiful. So much more vibrant, and colourful then the abyss I fell asleep in. I was… I was afraid. Afraid of what might happen… afraid of how things would turn out. If what Ryan said was true, then the universe has fallen into an even worse state of being then before… hundreds of trillions… dead after a thousand years of war. This isn't how things were supposed to turn out… this isn't why I gave up my life. This isn't why I went to sleep… but maybe this is the dawn that has awoken me. Yeshua had said that there were still things we needed to do… I thought for a time that he had just told me that so I wouldn't despair… but it appears that's not the case. Shion's been dead for thousands of years already… but… maybe she had a good end and everything I did wasn't in vain.

KOS-MOS turned back, towards the holo-screen on the ebony table. She stepped over, sat down in one of the dingy chairs and began to examine the blue and green display. She found the database and opened it, sending the main screen to the background and a new holographic window with a text box manifested itself; it was titled query. KOS-MOS entered in 'Shion Uzuki' and hit search, no results. Un-phased, she typed in 'Elsa'. Six hits appeared, the Elsa II through VII; they must have had a lot of ships to name in three thousand years. She selected 'Elsa II' from the list causing the previous window to vanish and another one emerged. A picture of the elegant swan herself appeared in the top left corner. The document was large, and detailed everything for about six years of history before they met in T.C. 4767. Then in even more context, it outlined all the adventures they had, from Old Miltia to penetrating Abel's Ark. Then the escape form Michtam, which was where they last met. The Elsa used the last open U.M.N. column to transfer to just within sensor range of the Dammerung, barely managing to escape the dimensional shift that engulfed all of Michtam space. They were picked up by the massive space colony, unloaded their passengers, and then departed no sooner then they had arrived to search for Lost Jerusalem. Having only sublight drive systems, it was a bold venture into the unknown that no one had attempted before.

KOS-MOS's face began to contort, for she knew what was coming. Yet she forced herself to read the last sentence of that paragraph. Unfortunately it was a doomed journey, for the Elsa II was destroyed three years after beginning their fated death march. Her eyes swelled up as she ripped her eyes from the screen. Her head fell as KOS-MOS's first tear rolled down her cheek.