Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED/Gundam Seed Destiny
'Content' = thought
"Content" = speech
Alright everyone, this is ExArchmagus and now I am back to present you with the follow-up to my GSD re-write Gundam Seed: Humanity's Fate: Power of ORB. Before we kick things off though I want to lay down some notes that I edited in and put in Phase 1: Inside Job of the fixed plot... however I hope that if you're reading this you've already read Gundam Seed: Humanity's Fate and Power of ORB (check profile), so knowing how I am is not a difficult task. Due to the fact that I did not add in an epilogue to Power of ORB (this fic serves as that, so no the ending was not rushed... this is what happens later tyvm), I will address the reviews I received for that chapter here and now... or at least the ones that I find it necessary to review.
Addressing Arthogawa: Thank you for the review. I knew that making Shinn fight Rey was something I had to do from the get go but mixing Kira vs. Rau into it was something I just had to add. It's symbolic of how the two defended the world from the madness of Al Da Flaga, and how Shinn laid him to rest, permanently. In regards to Stella vs. Lunamaria... you actually made me go back to my profile and rip out a large section of it and remake it, considering I have 'modified' my views on what pilot goes where and how their victory is achieved. You also said "That makes me wonder what you'll do with Athrun in the movie and subsequent fic." and I'm simply going to reply with 'You assume too much'. No, he's not dead, not completely irrelevant, and is not going to be a completely devoted villain in this fic like he was in PoO... but let's just say I have something planned for him and Kira... nobody make any guesses because you might guess right and spoil it please! Also, I noticed your review for Price of Paradise, and I'll admit right now I've gotten a few ideas for things to do with that fic should I continue it, and I probably will. With that I found you're idea of how to continue on from it to be my favorite, although understand when I do eventually continue it, that fic will be a KxCxS M rated fic.
That's all the ExRambling for now, so now it's time for the actual fic!
Aftermath of the Second Bloody Valentine War:
Over three years have past since the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War, which ended with the Battle of Requiem. Shortly after the war ended with the death of PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal, Princess Cagalli Yula Attha, Commander and Chief of the combined ORB Union and Eurasian Federation forces allowed the governments of both the PLANTs and Atlantic Federation to quickly 'rebuild' their governments and get themselves together before negotiating a treaty to signify the end of the conflict. This treaty was named after the place it was signed on and became known as the Treaty of Messiah, and outlined several key factors:
1. The use of Neutron Jammers and Neutron Jammer Cancelers was strictly and completely forbidden from all use across the entire Earth sphere with the sole exception of nuclear power plants or very specific, non-militarized activities.
2. The construction of nuclear fusion reactors for mobile suits was outlawed unless the suit already existed.
3. Mirage Colloid was completely banned once again. Any entity caught constructing this technology was to face heavy fines proportional to what would financially harm it.
4. All nations were strictly prohibited from creating mobile suits or mobile armors with the use of Positron Deflector shields and Geschmeidig Panzer arrays.
5. All nations were strictly prohibited from creating new unique mobile suits, or gundams, but were not restricted from repairing damaged machines. The only exception to this was the one remaining Zaft gundam that survived the Battle of Requiem: The ZGMF-X19S Crusader, which was to be scrapped due to having had taken damage beyond repair, but not having been destroyed completely. However the four ORB-0x gundams were to be repaired by their mother nation.
6. In order to discourage another incident like the theft at Heliopolis during the First Bloody Valentine War or the Armory One incident that took place before the Second Bloody Valentine War broke out, all nations were to, to some extents, share mobile suit information and technology with each other. One major exception to this was the data used in the creation of the four ORB-0x gundams, specifically the SEEDpathy blueprints. That was to be held by the ORB Union under strict lock and keep, and not to be used unless another war broke out sometime in the future.
7. All nations were to downsize their military's to some extents.
8. A group of elite soldiers, battleships, and mobile suits, was to be made and supported by all major nations of the world with significant military power. These nations include the ORB Union, the PLANTs, the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation. This group was to be known as PEACE, or Protection of Earth Autonomous Combat Entity, and it's leader would be Captain Talia Gladys of the LHM-BB01 Minerva. This group was meant to combat enemies of humanity, such as the now dead group known as Logos, and to prevent accidents like the theft at Armory One, from occurring, or at least from spreading and causing significant damage.
9. The location of the PEACE mobile suit ORB-02 Veneficus was to be known to all nations at all times, due to it's potential destructive nature.
10. The Requiem super weapon was not to suffer the fate of dismantlement. Rather, the weapon, and it's O'Neill type colonies would be preserved for potential use in case of an emergency. However in order to charge and fire the weapon the leaders of the four world nations that created PEACE would be assigned special keys to activate it in unison.
11. The organization known as Blue Cosmos was to be classified as a terrorist entity, stripped off all power and influence it had, and dismantled.
However the Treaty of Messiah did not include every change that would happen to the world during these next three years, nor their implications. While most nations took rather kindly to the changes that were made there were other things that shook the world, two to be precise.
First of all, the Destiny Plan. Originally created by Gilbert Durandal to 'end war forever' in the world, it was meant to be forced unto all of humanity and would radically change the world. However after his defeat the massive supercomputer stored in Messiah for determining a human being's role in the world by their genetic code was not destroyed, but put to good use. The ability to find out one's 'genetic aptitude test', as Shinn Asuka, Royal Consort to Princess Cagalli Yula Attha at the time would say, was first voluntarily introduced in the ORB Union but quickly spread to the rest of the world. Many people found great interest in what their genes had to tell them about themselves, while others rejected the very notion of this. However the vast majority of people who looked at their readout found that the job they would receive under Durandal's Destiny Plan was either what they would be doing comfortably, or something similar to what they were doing/good at, for the most part. A small minority however was disgusted by it's genetic readouts, either by sheer disagreement or for some other reason, however this demographic was small. As time passed on, people began to wonder if Durandal really was right, considering how many people did find even a smudge of happiness in placing significance on their genes, and that some people were better at some things than others inherently. Needless to say the concept of "Tabula Rasa" and the old phrase "All men are created equal" were now slowly but surely meeting their expiry dates.
The second thing to shake the world was the revealing of the SEED mode factor genes to the world. Originally this data had been kept secret and researched by the ORB Union alone but after some of it was stolen by Zaft during the Second Bloody Valentine War it became a heated issue, for Durandal had ordered several of his most trusted officials back in the PLANTs to reveal this information to the world should Messiah fall and see how the world reacts to it. The effect, at first, was frightening. Large groups of people went to go see if they had these genes and those who did tried to make use of them via robbing banks and breaking laws in general while attempting to activate and use their 'powers' to aid them at first. This lasted for little over a week at most. Finding another potential crisis on their hands the leaders of the world decided that the method of modifying a fetus before birth to give it SEED mode genes, a process much like the procedure used to change a natural into a first generation coordinator, was outlawed completely. In addition to this stricter punishments were put in place for those who broke laws using their powers and were caught in the act. As a result of this, the SEED mode issue was greatly extinguished, however it was not utterly dead, and several great minds started making predictions that the world might face a conflict similar to the one that took place over coordinators and naturals in the future.
Now, the world rests in a relative peace. However there is a dark force that lay in the shadows, licking it's wounds from the last conflict and preparing to make one final strike at humanity. The question at hand is simple: Will this force be successful, or will the defenders of the world stop them in their tracks?
Gundam SEED: Logos' Last Stand
July 2nd, Cosmic Era 77:
Floating in space, all on it's own, is what appears to be a large part of an O'Neill type colony. The massive hollow cylinder rests in the nothingness of space, surrounded by blackness... blackness that is quickly shattered.
A large ray of green and yellow energy fly's towards the colony at maximum speed, going into one of it's ends and coming out the other, but as this happens the beam is bent. Zooming out it is revealed that this colony was a set of several relay stations set in a specific pattern, and that after the laser beam passed through one of them it made it's way towards the next, being bent again as it did, and in the direction of the earth, although it's trajectory is off, indicating that it will fly by the green and blue planet. Another piece of a colony rests in space on it's own, drifting. However this massive structure was different. Unlike the O'Neill colony, which was a cylindrical shape, this one was a massive disk, with several spike coming out of it's edges and facing upwards. This bottom half of a PLANT was headed for Earth on a collision course, but it would not prevail in it's quest to collide with the planet. As the bright yellow and verdant ray of energy approaches the colony piece, the structure is split right down the middle by the power of the beam, breaking it in two as the Requiem shot continues onwards, fading as it did... it's task complete.
"Shattering operation: Stage One complete." A voice echoed throughout the space near the broken disk as the view shifts to behind the dead PLANT, showing several battleships and mobile suits gathered behind it.
"Shattering operation: Initiating Stage Two." Another voice, one of a male, is heard on the frequencies as the camera closes in far enough to show just what mobile suits and ships are present nearby. Three refit Agamemnon-class Earth Forces carriers, three Nazca-class destroyers, two black and blue Izumo-class warships form the bulk of the fleet, along with the largest and most powerful vessel of them all: The Minerva. As for mobile suits, several bulky machines, resembling the ZGMF-XX09T DOM Troopers occupy the area, but these suits look slightly different. Instead of taking on a black and purple color scheme, they are black and dark blue. In addition to this, they also have two beam sabers on their backpacks as opposed to one, and larger, more powerful thrusters on their skirts and legs. There also appears to be several Windams gathered around the fleet, and like the DOMs, these have a black and dark blue color scheme, larger thrusters, beam shield generators on their forearms, and unlike normal Jet Windams, these have a backpack that is strikingly similar to the ZGMF-X56S Impulse's Force Silhouette. Lastly, several MVF-A53B Aishas also populate the field, also possessing black and dark blue color schemes. However these mass production models are not the real eye catchers, not by a long shot. The main attraction of this area are the four gundams: The Blu Duel, Strike Noir, ORB-03 Demoness, and the ORB-02 Immortalis Veneficus, which was currently charging it's Apocalypse Laser, the most powerful weapon on any mobile suit to date.
"Shattering operation: Stage Two... firing!" The voice of what sounded like Kira Yamato echoed across the cockpits of all suits as a large beam of purple and blue energy erupted from the Veneficus, cruising towards the already split colony and making contact with each of it's two halves, cutting through them like a hot knife through butter and breaking it into four pieces, many small and insignificant fragments also being forced away from the colony. As the large beam of energy faded the black and blue gundam with an icy blue inner frame pulled it's two rifles out of it's chest, broke them apart and stored them on it's side skirts as it's eight WASPS docked onto it's black metal wings, the energy particles coming out of them glowing a distinct blue as the suit turned around and headed towards the Minerva, the silver winged gundam on the field following it.
"Aprilius Three has been deflected away from Earth and is no longer a threat. All mobile suits are to return to their vessels immediately." The distinct and commanding voice of Captain Talia Gladys was heard in the cockpits of all the machines as they began to return to their vessels.
"Well that was boring. Just wait out there and let Kira sit there..." Yzak Joule said in a slightly grumpy voice as the four gundams flew towards the Minerva's it's catapult doors open.
"Ooh... it's nice to see that giant ball of energy charge up... you know you'll be sitting there waiting and them BAM!" Auel Neider raised his voice in excitement as the Strike Noir did a corkscrew in the air simultaneously.
"Ouch... Auel don't yet like that. We don't need to have our damn eardrums broken thank you! They can't just be repaired and fixed easily like a part of a machine!" Stella roared, the sigh of a certain Ultimate Coordinator being heard in the background. "Aww... is Kira alright?" She asked.
"Yeah yeah... all in a day's work. At least we know that thing isn't going to harm anyone now..." Kira said lightly before breathing in and out. "Shinn and Cagalli will be coming back from the Moon soon. Won't take them long to get back here. I think I'll rest until then. Auel may have a fun time watching the 'giant ball of energy' charge up but it's a mental drain on me..." The camera cuts to Kira's cockpit to show his SEED mode eyes close and open again, changing into those of a normal person's, the Veneficus' diamond horn shaped v-fin splitting apart into two half's as it's eyes changed from purple to white, the suit entering the Minerva's starboard hanger seconds later and landing on the floor with the dexterity and precision of an excellent ace pilot.
Space fortress Messiah:
Due to the damages that the Daedalus base received in the last war, due to the fact that the damage Messiah had received was limited to it's offensive and defensive systems, the asteroid had been, for lack of better word, integrated into the Lunar Base and now stood as part of it, it's bottom half severed and it's larger half tied into one of the craters near Daedalus. The former Zaft fortress now stood as part of the base, and the location where the Requiem control center was.
In the control room where Shinn Asuka killed Gilbert Durandal over three years ago, and standing on the platform where the Chairman's seat was, stood a crowd of people before a large set of control panels, looking out onto the window that lead out of the base, except now there was a large array of holographic television screens there.
The camera cuts to show a pair of hands next to each other, one right and one left. On the left hand's ring finger is a somewhat thick metallic band, which looked to be made of gold, and had a concave design running town it's middle, with several diamonds inside of it. On the right hand's ring finger is a similar band, also gold, also studded with small diamonds, but in a convex fashion, as if these two rings were meant to 'interlock' together like a set of cogs. The camera slowly rises upwards to reveal the heads of the figures wearing these rings. The one wearing the concave one is the now five foot, seven inches tall Lioness of the ORB Union, Cagalli Yula Attha, wearing her typical ORB military uniform with a gold-trimmed, yellow rank squared lapel with a tassel running down her front from her right shoulder and coming back up to connect with a green gem on her chest. From the looks of it the Lioness hadn't changed much over the years besides the blatant... to put it simply, signs of maturity present in her face and visible growth. Next to her and wearing the convex band is Shinn Urun Attha, a man of around five foot ten and just under sixty-five kilograms, wearing what also appeared to be the same uniform as Cagalli, but modified somewhat. Unlike Cagalli's uniform, Shinn's had red trim on it's lapel and tassel, the tassel came from the left shoulder down to the chest, and the gem there was dark orange, not green. As for Shinn himself, he looked as if he had matured visibly over the years to some extents, and his hair wasn't as long as it was in the Second War, but trimmed back slightly, so that his bangs no longer completely came down in front of his yes, but rather just above their irises.
Standing around them are several other figures of significance, each of them wearing a high ranking military or political suit of some nation. At the same time the screen in front of all these people displays an image of Aprilius Three broken up into four quarters, and at the same time several key cards pop up from the control panel in front of each significant figure. Mumbling to themselves, the high ranking personal, including Cagalli, walk towards and grab one of the cards each, pulling them out and placing it on their personal.
"Requiem firing keys removed. Locking down system... Requiem will no longer be able to operate and charge until the keys are returned." The automated voice of a women spoke, echoing through the chamber as one of the people there began to speak out loud. "Status update: ORB-02 Veneficus has arrived inside the hanger of the LHM-BB01 Minerva." The computer added.
"So... did PEACE find any information on what happened to throw that chunk of dead rock at Earth? Or the Zaft forces that originally detected it even?" A man who looked to be in his early forties that was well over six feet tall, visibly built, with very short brown hair and blue eyes, a goatee, and an Earth Forces Uniform asked, his head tilted up towards the image of the PLANT as the other figures standing around turned their attention towards him.
"I can confirm that the team sent out to investigate the colony before PEACE arrived did not find anything suspicious going on with it. Our scientists have told us that the reason Aprilius Three failed to establish a stable orbit with the rest of the colonies was due to a collision with a large asteroid in the debris belt, which knocked it off course." A women who looked to be older than the man and slightly taller than Cagalli, with dark blonde hair in a ponytail, dark brown eyes, who was wearing a blue PLANT politician's jacket spoke in response as the man turned to face her.
"Ah, I see. An asteroid..." The man responded, his tone reflecting both a sense of relaxation, and a small hint of vexation as the Prince Consort of the ORB Union decided he had something to add.
"Well... all I can say is that it was a good idea to keep this thing up and running just in case a situation like this arose. Now... it's been dealt with, and quiet handily at that." Shinn spoke.
"Hmm... I must applaud you for your excellent observation but I must ask if it is still necessary... for our nations to assemble together to fire this weapon when your PEACE force is out there all the time and perfectly capable of handling the situation on it's own?" The man asked, turning towards Shinn as the younger and shorter figure turned towards him, the two locking eyes and staring into each other with a hint of anger.
"My 'PEACE' force? It's a group that is autonomous, yet answers to all involved nations, not just ORB. You all should know this by now, considering how important you must be to posses the key you do." Shinn spoke.
"Oh, I do realize that fully well... it's just... kind of unfair how the allegiance of the Minerva, as well as the gundams of PEACE, including the 'almighty' Freedom Mk.2 is to the ORB Union above all else... in case... for some reason..." The tall and buffed man said as the rest of the important figures in the room gasped out loud and Shinn tried to step forward, but Cagalli stopped him with her hand and pushed him back, the Ace of Aces growling.
"Are you suggesting... conflict in the future? After all that we've done to try to prevent it?" Cagalli said in a serious and stern tone, indicating that she wasn't messing around.
"No... no... it's just... something I'd like to point out." The Alliance Officer gave off a slight smile.
"Understood." Cagalli chilled slightly. "You must realize that there's nothing to fear. Yes the Minerva may be loyal to me but my loyalty right now, after experiencing this world, is to preventing another disaster. Surely you realize that, and surely you understand that what you just said was rather inappropriate." Cagalli barked lightly as the other members remained silent but observed her, the tall man stepping back as his body seemed to release stress a bit.
"I'm terribly sorry, Chief Representative. Perhaps it's just my paranoid nature after witnessing two major wars and being on the front lines of everything. Slight PTSD causing me to see faults in everything. I mean you no insult. You speak wise words for a young girl." He said, giving off what appeared to be a genuinely happy smile as he did. "Well the, our work is done. We should all be heading back to our respective locations now... I see no business to dally here any longer, unless of course you wish to destroy the rest of the colonies floating around the debris belt in case another asteroid crashes into one of them..." The man said as he began to step off of the platform and walk away, several other Earth Forces officer with him.
"No thank you..." Cagalli responded as she and Shinn seemed to 'settle' in a way. "I guess we'd better be on our way too." Cagalli said as the two of them began to walk off of the platform with the Zaft Officers as well.
Three minutes later, just outside of the Messiah mobile suit change room:
The Chief Representative of the ORB Union as well as her significant other had just walked out of the room, wearing their usual ORB pilot's suits that they would use when in their machines. As the two of them walked towards the mobile suit hanger deck they found themselves approached by the other women who had spoken out in the control room; the one wearing the blue PLANT uniform.
"Lady Cagalli... ah, there you are." The women said, her dark blonde ponytail lifting slightly off of her back and falling back down as she did.
"Chairwomen Leia Mills... shouldn't you be on your way to the PLANTs now? The ship port entrance is that way." Cagalli said, pointing down one of Messiah's other corridors as the women walked up to the two of them, several other high ranking PLANT officials behind her.
"Ah, I was... my ship isn't scheduled to depart for another fifteen minutes though, but after hearing about how you two are going to get back to the Minerva... I have to wonder... using your own mobile suits all by yourselves? Isn't that a little odd. Are you sure you don't want a ride? It would be a great chance to talk about the world, leader to leader." The women asked in a tone of voice that indicated that she was very much confused by Shinn and Cagalli's transport choice.
"It's appreciated... but I'll have to pass on your offer, this time. We'll make it back by ourselves... no big deal either." Cagalli replied, shrugging her shoulders slightly as she held her helmet in her hands, with Shinn holding his by the tip of his right fingers.
"Al... alright then, if you insist." Leia responded as Shinn turned to her.
"Hey, do you have any idea who that... jackass was? I mean, saying something abysmally stupid like that in front of all those people? Reminds me of...ow..." Shinn said as Cagalli shouldered him slightly.
"The first time we ever talked to each other all those years ago..." The Lioness turned her head towards the Chairwomen. "Still, a man of his age... what's up?" Cagalli asked.
"Oh, I know who he is. I had a chat with him a while before everything went down. He's Commander Francois Adrian, and he's grumpy from what I get from him. Chancellor Kedorin assigned him to bring Eurasia's key up to space. Used to be an officer at Heaven's Base and was close to it's old Commander who died that day during the Second War. I'm guessing he's just bitter after what happened that day and wanted to get a rise out of you, knowing that he can." Leia responded as Shinn rolled his eyes.
"I know better now not to just freak out over something like that. Damn..." Shinn mumbled.
"Still, if the two of you are leaving and headed for the PEACE fleet, I'd better let you go. I have to agree though with how our nations dealt with this crisis... far preferable to the way it happened in the past... hopefully we never have to relive a tragedy like that again..." She lowered her head.
"I understand, and I feel the same way." Cagalli shook her head and raised her pilot's helmet up to where her breasts were as the two of them turned around and began to walk away.
"Oh, and one more thing, say hello to Ezalia Joule for me when you get back. I used to work under her in the Martius government since before even the First War broke out... I know her, and she's an old friend." Leia explained, turning around and walking towards the other Zaft officials, where seemed to be beckoning for her to return..
"Will do." Cagalli responded as she and Shinn continued down the corridor, headed for their machines.
"Old friend? Does that mean she's..." Shinn tried to say lightly as the two put enough distance between themselves and Leia not to be heard.
"No, she's rather tolerant. In fact out of all the potential candidates for the Supreme Council Leader that were present in the last Federal Election I prefer her other any of the others." Cagalli informed as the two of them continued, taking a left down the hall as they did.
Twenty-five minutes later, in space:
The two mobile suits, the ORB-01 Sovereign and ORB-04 Judicator were flying through the sparkled blackness of outer space, moving away from the Moon at high speeds, the darker machine's wings still folded in to allow the golden one to keep up.
"We just left the Moon's radar range." Shinn informed, checking the Judicator's radar screen, the golden gundam flying next to him on his left.
"Alright then." Cagalli responded, grinning as she did. "You better watch out." She smiled.
"Ugh... Cagalli... what?" Shinn asked, his eyes widening somewhat, the golden mobile suit altering it's course to the left and then quickly ascending and performing a back flip before making several corkscrews. "Hey! What are you doing?" Shinn raised his voice somewhat in confusion as his eyebrows lowered into a slightly pissed off position.
"Just... having a good time..." Cagalli said in a light and relaxed, her suit making moves that seemed to be a cross between dancing in zero gravity and generally evading enemy weapon fire... but there were no enemies nearby at all, not even another mobile suit besides the two of them for quite some ways.
"Having a good time? Cagalli what's gotten into you?" Shinn raged, his brain trying to figure out why Cagalli was doing what she was doing, but failing to do so, miserably.
"Shut up and join me. We've still got a way to go before we get back to the Minerva, so we might as well enjoy ourselves." She demanded, flying circles around the now slowed Judicator gundam. "I said now!" She commanded as Shinn groaned, flying upwards and near her machine, keeping up with it.
"By the way you're acting we're not going to even make it to the Minerva on time!" Shinn warned as Cagalli quickly took a dive and he followed, the golden suit then coming out of it's maneuver and ascending while twisting to it's right, passing in front of the sun as Shinn was forced to look away from it due to the reflection of the gold armor and the sun itself.
"So what? Am I not allowed to..."
"No, but I'd rather not keep the others waiting. COME HERE!" Shinn raged, rushing at Cagalli head on and trying to grab her as she moved out of the way.
"Get me then. Catch me, Shinn, and then I'll stop having fun and come with you." Cagalli said, a slight hint of joy in her voice as Shinn slowed down somewhat and closed his eyes as Cagalli continued to 'have fun' in space. What she was doing was so weird and out of character and because of that he couldn't understand why she was doing it. She had to have a reason to, but he figured that would reveal itself in time.
"Alright fine then!" Shinn roared in a controlled fashion, the Judicator's large red and black wings unfolding and opening up, the three smaller metal wings inside the two sets of larger ones spreading out as the gundam activated it's "Velox Veredictum" system, two massive red wings of light jetting out from the suit a split second later as it quickly turned to go after Cagalli and she made efforts to move away, Shinn reaching out with his suit's right hand to get close to the machine with two large deactivated shields on it's arms. "Cagalli, stop this... nonsense!"
"No, you HAVE to catch me first!" The Goddess of Victory warned as the two suits chased each other around in circles somewhat, bending and turning in space for a couple of minutes until Shinn caught up to his lover and grabbed the hole inside one of the Sovereign's shields with it's right hand and pulled the golden armored machine in closer to it before nestling it in it's arms, the left arm going behind it's back as it held it in a pseudo-bridal style fashion, the Sovereign's large disk getting in the way somewhat and causing the Judicator to have to tilt the smaller machine inward towards itself as they continued onwards.
"Alright, that's enough of that." Shinn announced as the black and red machine did a sharp turn in the air and put it's engines to their maximum outside of SEED mode, setting course away from the Moon and towards where the Requiem shot had hit Aprilius Three before, although closer to Earth then the shot was. "Hopefully we don't miss our rendezvous due to your nonsense."
"IT WAS NOT NONSENSE! Would you give me a break!" Cagalli groaned, trying to break free of Shinn's suit as he held her tight, the Judicator's head tilting down and to it's left at the Sovereign's.
"Oh yes it was... what the hell were you doing and why?"
"Having 'fun' in my suit... why? Because I wanted to, that's why!" Cagalli raged.
"Yeah, sure, whatever..." Shinn rolled his eyes inside his cockpit. "If you want I'll bloody put you down now if you promise to fly back with me."
"No, you're going to carry me back from here on end for, period."
"Wha..."
"END OF IT!" Cagalli yelled.
"OH YEAH?"
"YEAH!"
"Grr..." The black haired coordinator groaned.
"Yeah, my way buddy."
"We'll see once we get back to the ship." Shinn warned as the two suits continued to fly in space, the wings of the Judicator still emitting the bright red energy particles, the two of them remaining silent, having nothing more to say for a couple minutes after their little yelling match, until Cagalli spoke.
"You know... Shinn..." Cagalli said in a lower and calmer voice from her cockpit, having had taken off her helmet and unzipped her flight suit somewhat as he machine continued to be carried.
"What?" Shinn asked in an annoyed tone, his eyes still in a slightly pissed of state as he gripped the controls of his machine.
"I love you, you know that?" Cagalli asked as Shinn's eyes widened somewhat, the suits flying for a couple more seconds, the area completely devoid of sound besides the slight white noise their suits would make. "Shinn? SHINN?" Cagalli asked as the Judicator quickly performed a corkscrew to it's right and swerved around from left to right a little bit, Cagalli shaking in her chair as she did. "Whoa..." She settled only to see that the head of the ORB-04 machine was up closer to the Sovereign's, staring right at it with it's pure white eyes and blue v-fin.
"Of course I know you love me, Cagalli..." Shinn said as the two machines heads got closer together and bumped slightly, the Sovereign's head jewel colliding slowly with the Judicator's face mask. "And I love you too..." Shinn said in a calm and sweeter tone as Cagalli cracked a slight smile, and Shinn did the same seconds later, the two machines headed in Earth's general direction, the eyes of the Lioness slowly closing over time as she drifted into sleep in the arms of her husband's machine.
Couple hours later, in very high orbit around Earth:
The starboard catapult door of the Minerva swung open as the Judicator let go of the Sovereign and allowed it to enter the ship, following along seconds later.
"Back on board the old Minerva as always..." Shinn spoke, the volume of his voice a whisper as the catapult closed behind him and he set his machine down on the floor of the ship and walked towards one of the shoulder docking clamps, his machine resting in one of them as he took off his custom ORB pilot's helmet and shook his head left and right to air it out, the control panel of the Judicator lifting away from his lap as he pressed a button on the arm rests to open the cockpit door, unbuckling himself before finally leaving his suit. At the same time the Ace of Aces felt the Minerva start it's engines and change it's course somewhat, accelerating quickly as it did.
"You guys were late, you know that?" Auel Neider said in a joking tone, floating in the hanger bay a little bit away from the suits with his hands on his hips, his body language an expression of his snarky attitude and need to tell the two lovers how they were tardy. Although it had been three years the now 'cured' Extended didn't really change over time, besides simply growing a little as he aged. No, the light blue haired pilot still kept his same hairstyle and looks as always. The current pilot of the MBF-10+P30QC Strike Noir was wearing what appeared to be a modified hybrid of the uniforms that each faction wore. While the base design hinted at a standard ORB uniform, this suit had black instead of white and a darker shade of blue for trim and while it still had what appeared to be modified ranking badges of the ORB military in the same location, with his being the equivalent of an Ensign's. In addition to this, the uniform also featured the lapel of the island nation's suits, while the shoulders were blatantly taken from Zaft's red uniform, which had a symbol displaying the Earth, the Moon, and one PLANT colony on it's shoulder, as well the Zaft style belt, and the collar and sleeves of an Earth Forces uniform. This was the standard PEACE uniform and everyone on the Minerva seemed to be wearing this type of outfit unless they were using a pilot's suit or an engineer. Shinn and Cagalli however would be using their ORB Uniforms when they took off their pilots suits however.
"Yeah, well that's what happens when you're machine is carrying another object for ninety percent of the trip because she can't..." Shinn tried to say.
"Oh shut up, Shinn!" Cagalli raised her voice as she floated around the Minerva's hanger bay. Her voice was one of vexation and despite her words Shinn realized there was no insult to be meant, and simply gave off a light smile as he headed towards the door out of the hanger bay.
"I'm just kidding..." Shinn said as he followed her.
"I know, I know." A hint of joy seemed to be present in the tone of the Sovereign's pilot.
"Yeah, well I'm not. Captain Gladys was wondering where you guys were and told me to go get you." Auel said as the three of them landed the deck on the left side of the hanger bay. "She wants to see you on the bridge right now." He added in a serious tone, which caused Cagalli to raise an eyebrow, and Shinn to exchange his expression for one that was more perplexed. It was very rare for Auel to say something with as much severity as he just did, and when he did express concern for something, it was often a matter that could not be ignored, and both Cagalli and her consort knew this.
"Alright then. Lets see what's up." Cagalli replied in a normal tone as the three of them left the hanger bay.
Minerva bridge, two minutes later:
"Captain Gladys, you wanted to see us?" Shinn asked as he and Cagalli walked onto the ship's normal white bridge, the short blonde haired women sitting in her Captain's seat getting up and out of it before turning around and floating towards them and the digital map at the back of the vessel's bridge.
"Yes, I do. There's something you should know..." Talia said lightly as she rise from her seat and turned around, landing on the floor to the opposite side of the map as the Princess, who's eyes widened slightly as she did, wondering what the hell was the matter.
"Did we not successfully deflect Aprilius Three? Is that the case?" Cagalli asked, leaning forward and speaking in a serious tone as Talia shook her head negatively.
"No... no... it's got nothing to do with Aprilius Three but we do have to make a course change on our way back to ORB." Captain Talia Gladys informed, pressing several buttons on the console in front of her to display an image of the Pacific Ocean.
"Course change?" Shinn questioned as the map loaded, displaying the islands of the ORB Union in addition to what appeared to be a large circular cloud with a hole in the center of it; or to put it in simpler terms, a tropical storm.
"Typhoon Emiron, a category five..." Talia gritted her teeth shortly after revealing this information.
"I thought Emiron was a category four and that it wasn't headed for ORB, or did it change it's course?" Cagalli asked, looking at the map and staring at the storm cloud which needed to be, at the very least, one thousand kilometers in diameter.
"It shifted course and was upgraded in strength... isn't that exciting?" Talia asked in a sarcastic tone, clearly angry with this development.
"So we're going to alter our course so we don't descend into the atmosphere right on top of it. Am I right, Captain?" Shinn asked, looking up at the Captain.
"Yes, we would have been able to descend to ORB and dock the ship right before it hits Ono'goro... but you guys arrived off of schedule." Talia explained, pausing for a second. "I mean we could potentially try to land the ship somewhere close by but that's not really a risk I'd like to take all things considered."
"We're more likely to be thrown around like a rag doll if we try to fly in that thing!" Shinn warned.
"Yeah, well if that's the case then I'm sorry for taking too much time then." Cagalli apologized.
"It's a non-issue, all it means is that you'll be staying the night aboard the ship and we'll make our descent first thing in the morning. I suggest you get some sleep in the meantime." Talia suggested as Cagalli continued to look at the map for a few seconds until Shinn placed his left hand on her shoulder.
"Cagalli?" The red eyed coordinator asked as the golden haired girl stood straight up and turned to look at her partner. "Is there something wrong?"
"I'm worried about ORB right now. If that thing really is a category five then it's going to do a lot of damage one way or another. I just hope that the ministers get their act into gear and make sure everyone's safe and don't fool around. Personally I'd rather be there right now to make sure things get done properly and in time but... I guess not." She explained, letting out a slightly defeated sigh at the end of her speech as Shinn put his left arm around her and pulled her into him somewhat.
"It'll be alright, Cagalli. I'm sure they have everything under control." Shinn tried to comfort his wife.
"We received a message from Lady Joule just over an hour ago. ORB's preparing for the worst with this and they're making efforts to get everyone to shelters. She wanted me to tell you that." Talia continued as Cagalli let out a sigh of relief.
"Good, well if that's everything then we'll be heading down to the mess hall right now." Cagalli informed.
"'We'll'? Speak for yourself! I ain't that hungry right now." Shinn replied as Cagalli turned to look him in the eyes seriously.
"Yeah well too bad, mister!" She threatened before smiling at him. "Just kidding, got to bed and get some sleep if you want to. I'll be there in an hour or so." Cagalli gave him a peck before the two of them walked towards the elevator and Gladys crossed her arms and smiled, turning to face the front of the bridge seconds later.
"Order the rest of the fleet to break off into it's assigned groups and keep tabs on the fragments of Aprilius Three. We'll continue on towards ORB territory." The command from the vessel's Captain was quickly heard by all bridge officers and obeyed without question.
"Yes ma'am. Adjusting course three degrees to port." Malik responded, the camera cutting outside the Minerva to show the rest of the PEACE vessels break off into four groups and head in different directions. Two of the Nazca-class vessels were in one group, the remaining one was with an Agamemnon-class carrier and the last two groups consisted of an Izumo-class ship as well as an Earth Forces space carrier.
An hour later, in Shinn and Cagalli's bedroom:
The young red eyed coordinator lay quietly in his bed, his two hands above his head holding the cover of an average hardcover book open as he analyzed it's text, his senses completely fixed upon it and ignoring the world around him, some light bed clothes all that remain between his skin, the sheets under him, and the thin blanket above him, comforting his body. However his fixation with the book would soon be his downfall, for without notice, without warning or signal, a hand reached over the top of the book, grabbed it, quickly pulled it out of Shinn's hands and gently threw it aside.
"HEY! What the hell are you doing that for?" Shinn complained, the look in his eyes reflecting his anger as his wife straddled his torso and leaned over him, her knees bent and on the bed as she looked down upon him, the Goddess of Victory wearing little more than a light green nightgown that matched her dresses. "I was just getting to the good part! What gives?" Shinn asked as Cagalli smiled, leaning down and planting a kiss on his right cheek.
"Good part? Oh yeah, that's still to come, don't worry!" The blonde smiled as the male's rage laden visage quickly cracked a crude smile, his hands reaching up to firmly clamp onto the sides of her torso as he swung them around so that he was on top. "Whoa!" She yelped as he pulled the blanket that had been folded out from between them and took his right hand off of her torso to caress her left cheek, the two of them smiling as they did, Shinn's wedding band rubbing against Cagalli's beautifully toned flesh.
"You have a nice bite to eat?" Shinn asked, taking his hand off of her face and resting it down upon the sheets nearby.
"Yeah, I did." She said in an average tone, although there seemed to be something off about it as she tiled her head to her right somewhat, and Shinn caught on.
"What's bothering you? Is it Emiron?" Shinn asked as Cagalli gave off a 'so-so' expression and flipped them around so that they were each facing one another side by side. "Then..." She cut him off.
"Well, it has somewhat to do with that, but it's just... all of this couldn't have come at a worse time! Remember what happens in about a week?" Cagalli asked, raising an eyebrow as Shinn made movements with his pupils, thinking.
"Um... uh..." He thought as she put on an annoyed look. Clearly he should remember this, or maybe he was just tired. No, he wasn't tired enough to sleep but he did have a desire to just lie down for a bit after flying out for such a long and for the most part, boring journey. "Is it..." The Ace of Aces reached above them with his right hand and snapped his fingers, creating an audible crack-and-snap sound. "The Summit of World Nations?" Shinn asked, Cagalli smiling back at him.
"Finally you realize that! Well you get a kiss for guessing correctly." Cagalli giggled slightly as she closed in and laid her lips on his for a second. "Yeah, it's because we've got all these things on our plate all right now! Grr... First an Asteroid knocks a colony out of orbit, then we find out Ono'goro might be in ruins by the time we get back, and while I'm yelling at every lazy slob in parliament to get something done I've also got to attend a meeting with the rest of the world leaders in a week in the Republic of East Asia!" Cagalli growled.
"Yeah, that pisses me off too." He spoke, clearly ticked. "Play of fates... we got dealt a bad hand this time around." He gently directed his right palm so that is was over her abdomen. "Don't worry though... I doubt something like this will happen again, if not for a long time." He began to rub very gently.
'We still haven't told Kira or the others...' Cagalli thought to herself as she formulated a response to Shinn, feeling his careful caress. "Gah, I know it probably won't, but that still means we don't have to deal with it. We'd better make use of what leisure time we can on the ship until we get back... once we step foot in ORB... well let's just say we're going to have one hectic schedule for the following week. It's not just like we can look to the future but blindly walk the path to get there!" The Goddess of Victory explained as her husband nodded. "But..." She gripped his lower right arm with her left hand and smiled. "We'll go through this together and so it through to the end... and it'll be worth it, right?" She asked as he simply closed in and kissed her for a second before breaking away.
"Right.. that's our line... we work together..." Shinn said as he took his right hand off of her stomach and wrapped it around her body, doing the same with his left hand as she wrapped her own arms around his torso, making a faint 'um hmm' approval noise as she did, both of them closing their eyelids, the two engaging their lips together again as Shinn slowly but surely began to roll over Cagalli so that he was on top, the sweet sound of two lovers kissing, the breeze of gentle body movements, and the motion of fabric all that could be heard in the room.
Another hour and forty five minutes had passed, and the red and gray vessel known as the Minerva was floating in space on it's own, making very little movement as it's numerous nuclear pulse thrusters gave off a steady amount of energy. In the background behind the ship was the Earth itself, the very surface of the planet directly below the ship almost perpendicular to the vessel's direction. However, since it was nighttime, or to be more specific, half past midnight in ORB time, the surface of the Earth was practically pitch black. Although a small amount of light made it's way through, one could hardly see anything more than the pacific ocean itself, as well as what appeared to be the roof of a very large storm cloud, unless they looked at the right time...
"Course locked in. Geosynchronous orbit with the planet has been established, Captain." One of the few remaining officers still on board the Minerva's bridge, Malik Yardbirds informed as he sat in his up front station, the vessel's Captain standing just behind him and in front of her chair, her arms crossed as she looked out the Minerva's window down at Earth.
"Very good, now go get some rest. The night crew should be arriving any second now." Talia ordered as she quickly turned her head to look out the side of the massive set of glass windows, noticing several large flashes taking place on the Earth's surface. Lightening was going off in the atmosphere and these flashes were what could be seen from space.
"Alright then, thank you Captain." Malik responded, getting up and out of his chair before kicking the ground and launching himself at the door, flying past his Captain as he saluted her and she did the same, her eyes still fixed upon the ground.
'Curious... isn't it. When you're on the ground in the middle of a storm like that you're running for your life... and that flash, it would be massive, and followed by great clashes of sound. But from up here, way up here, it's harmless. A spark of light, indicating a greater power some distance away, but what kind of great power. If these flashes didn't happen and if I didn't know what was happening in ORB, then I would be ignorant of what is taking place just a few hundred kilometers below my feet.' Talia thought to herself before turning and facing space itself. 'Makes you wonder what really happens up close when you see flashes of light that far away. Sure, we have science to thank for some discoveries, but still, I wonder what's really out there... even if it's close to home...' She finished before opening her jaw and giving off a deep yawn. 'But I guess that's the purpose of our group, to prepare for things like that, and to protect from chaotic powers to the best of our abilities.'
Minerva lounge:
The door opened up only to have Shinn pass through it seconds later, the black haired, red eyed coordinator wearing his ORB uniform pants with the plain red suit that would be underneath his ORB jacket covering his torso. Scanning the area he found a couple of people still in the room despite the hour, but only three of them were of note: Kira Yamato, Yzak Joule, and Auel Neider. Each of these men, as well as the random unnamed crew members on board the ship were either wearing a PEACE uniform or just it's pants and undershirt, like what Shinn was doing. Still, Kira and Yzak had kept their jackets, and they both had commander ranks. However the Ultimate Coordinator, who appeared to be a now six foot tall man, was, for lack of better words, floating in the air above Auel and Yzak as they stood on the floor surrounding a collapsible pool table, playing a round themselves.
"Thought you went to sleep... or did you just need to lay down for a few?" Kira asked as he turned to look at the newly arrived Shinn, holding a drink cup with a straw in his right hand, as one would use in space.
"Just a chance to relax for a bit after basically cruise controlling myself to death for several hours on the way back here." The Ace of Aces said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a little paper wrapper and opened it, revealing a large cookie inside. "That, and I'm now in the mood for a bite to eat, unlike Cagalli." Shinn responded as Auel thrust his cue stick forward, hitting the white ball and causing a moderate amount of noise as the balls rolled around and struck each other. Since there was no gravity in space the balls had an iron core and the table itself gave off a slight magnetic field, enough to keep the balls from flying off into the air on their own.
"Yes! Gotcha! Told ya so, Yzak!" Auel stuck his hands up into the air and cheered for himself as the platinum haired commander clenched his teeth and gave off a slight groan of annoyance before moving over to Auel himself, his blue eyes fixed upon the table, planning his next move as Auel turned his attention to Kira and Shinn.
"So I take it she's gone to sleep? Hmm, kinda odd that she would hit the hay this early." Kira said to himself as Shinn took a bite out of his cookie.
"Oh, I'm sure she was tired alright, considering the circumstances. Knowing them they probably had a nice little session of pillow talk followed by several rounds of..." The light blue haired pilot tried to say.
"SHUT! UP!" Yzak erupted, turning his attention towards Auel and punching him directly in the upper right arm, sending the Noir's pilot flying away into the distance as he covered his injured limb with his left palm. "We don't need to know about the nonsense that goes on in their bedchamber." Yzak warned.
"Well he's right, but still." Shinn said.
"Whatever. At least Cagalli will have some time for herself and not have to deal with the constant problem I hear from her about your love for blankets." Kira said before taking a sip of his drink.
"Oh please, she's such a terrible hypocrite in that regard. It's not even funny sometimes." Shinn shrugged off the Ultimate Coordinator's words before looking around. "Where's Stella anyway?" He asked.
"She's in the hanger bay after hearing about how late you guys were." Kira answered as Shinn cocked an eyebrow, trying to make sense of what was happening. "She thought it had something to do with an engine failure in the Sovereign, and perhaps the Judicator, and last I checked she told me she's trying to 'fix' the problems." Kira warned.
"Dammit... Stella..." Shinn sighed. "The reason why we were late had nothing to do with any engine problem... and now that I think about it she'll probably have those two machines dismantled by now trying to find a problem that isn't there!" Shinn said.
"Well if that's the case then she'll put them back together again if she does, and probably just the same way they were before, if not somehow better." Kira joked as Yzak made his move on the pool table as Auel stood a little ways to his right.
"There... like I said I wasn't going to let you beat me!" Yzak said in a prideful tone.
"In any case I should probably go get her in a bit and tell her what's up then. I wouldn't want her to try to find a place to hide and sleep in the hanger bay during our descent tomorrow. Can't imagine what that might do to her." Kira pondered as he turned and looked out the window into space again, Shinn doing the same as each of them either took a sip or bite out of the consumable they were holding, Yzak and Auel still battling it out on the pool table as they did.
Ono'goro Island, ORB Union:
The entire sky was pitch black if not for the random blasts of lightning coming from the sky above, exposing both the dark clouds overhead and the urbanized land below. At the same time thunder crashed and rain pelted down from the sky, coating the surface of the island nation with icy cold water, while high speed winds rushed between the towering skyscrapers in the city. This was just the beginning of the storm, and the situation would be getting a whole lot worse from here on end. However the chance of someone being hurt in this disaster was actually quite low, for ORB had anticipated something like this taking place, as indicated by the camera cutting to inside several underground shelters in the island, where citizens, young and old, male and female, sleeping or awake, took refuge for the time being.
However, not everyone was buckling down for the occasion. From the shadows of one of ORB's smaller buildings a small group of people, veiled in dark shadow, could be seen preparing themselves behind the walls and windows of one of the city's constructs, their shades all that could be seen as one of them smiled and gave off a pleased 'hmm'. Yes, these people were preparing to strike, but it would not be a violent strike, nor one that would cause direct conflict, but something else... something that was part of an even greater plan to be realized by the island nation later on...
Author's Note:
Well, that's chapter one of LLS. I hope you enjoyed it, and there's more to come. Couple of things though:
1. Before you say "What Shinn and Cagalli traveled from the Moon to the Minerva in their machines? That doesn't make sense!" I'll simply tell you that Amuro traveled from Anaheim Electronics to (I think) Ra Calium on Char's Counter Attack, so this makes sense.
2. For the heck of it I've decided to try and draw my gundams and mobile suits that I've been 'designing'. Right now I've got a mock sketch of the ORB-04 Judicator made and I'll work at it over time. When I'm ready to post a good copy I'll make a deviant art account and post it there, and tell you guys to check my profile as a reminder. Although keep in mind I'm not a good artist by any stretch of the imagination, so keep that in mind. If you're expecting Hajime Katoki like works... ugh... no.
3. Important: Also, I am now accepting mobile suit designs and ideas for Valkyrie. However I request that you send them to me by private message only if you post with an account. If you do not post with an account, then post it as a review if you must. This is to ensure that the reviews section doesn't get cluttered up with giant lists of mobile suit specs.
4. You've read, and now if you're nice, you'll probably review (xD). However keep in mind I don't want people making assumptions on things that they think are/could happen. Please, you may guess correctly and spoil it for others, so I kindly request that you don't make any big guesses, yet. I already checked over this fic with one of my more trusted FF friends and he guessed a critical plot point right off the bat... lol.