A New Beginning - Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam series, nor any of the various series which are used or referenced in my fic, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else, also, don't read this if you are not of legal age to read such material. The story contains possibly disturbing content and should not be read by close-minded people (i.e., people who are easily offended.) Everything in the story is fictional. I am also not responsible for any actions taken by people who read this story and society's problems. I do, however, own my original character; Hope Yamato.


Kira barely glanced at one of the sub-screens in his cockpit when an alert appeared on it, notifying him of an approaching ship. A moment later, he watched as a shuttle landed and rolled to a stop in the hanger bay. As the shuttle came to a stop, Lacus, Murrue and Hope silently waited to greet their guests. Kira wasn't sure why, but he felt uneasy as he waited for the door to open.

"What's taking them so long?" Lacus asked after nearly an entire minute had passed.

"I don't know." Murrue replied as she walked up to the door, quickly opening it before then walking into the shuttle's cabin. As soon as she had entered the shuttle, Murrue yelled. "Kira, get in here now!"

"What is it?" Kira asked as he floated out of the Freedom's cockpit and into the shuttle, only to find that of all the seats had been removed and in their place, sat a large box with nuclear signs on it.

"They sent a nuke!?" Cagalli yelled a few moments later as she stood in the briefing room, along with the other members of Celestial Being.

"Yes." Kira answered. "Lucky for us, the inhabitants of this universe didn't know about the N-Jammers that we had built into the Excalibur and the nuke didn't go off."

"Those people." Hope growled as she punched the wall. "We give them a chance to make peace and they send a nuke!?"

"Not just any nuke." Kira said as he brought up schematics of the nuclear weapon on the screen. "If this had detonated, the Excalibur would have been completely destroyed."

"What are we going to do?" Sumeragi asked.

"What choice do we have?" Kira sighed. "We now have a full-scale war on our hands."

"Kira, wait." Cagalli said, causing the amethyst-eyed man to turn and look at her. "The public should know the truth before we allow you to go waltzing onto the battlefield and carving a path of destruction."

"Waltzing onto the battlefield?" Kira echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." The blonde-haired woman answered, before then continuing. "Anyway, we should broadcast the recordings of us opening the shuttle, that way the public will know what was really sent to us."

Half an hour later, Cagalli once more stood at a podium dressed in her elegant Orb Representive uniform. As with her earlier declaration, the cameras that were aimed at her were broadcasting on all frequencies and in all languages, and the transmissions had once again been setup so that only Celestial Being's declaration could be picked up.

"My name is Cagalli Yula Athha; I am the Chief Representive of Celestial Being." The blonde-haired woman said. "Two days ago, I made a declaration to the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, asking to open peace negotiations." On the screen, Cagalli vanished, her vestige instantly replaced by a video feed that showed the door of the shuttle opening, before then moving into the interior of the ship and settling on the nuke. The weapon was still armed, and the countdown timer was frozen at zero, but it was unable to detonate.

"Instead of coming to talk with us, you sent us a nuclear weapon." Cagalli said, her voice rising slightly as she continued, while the camera slowly yet steadily zoomed in on the weapon itself. "As everyone watching now can clearly see, this is a fully primed and operational nuclear warhead, and only through our technology was the detonation prevented."

"This is an obvious sign of aggression." Cagalli said, as she once more appeared on the screen. "Celestial Being will not allow such blatant acts of aggression against itself or anyone else, regardless of the reason."

Once she had finished speaking, Cagalli moved from the podium, but Kira was quick to replace her. He was dressed in the uniform of an Orb Union Admiral, and for a few seconds, the amethyst-eyed man simply glared at the camera.

"My name is Kira Jesus Yamato, and I am the leader of Celestial Being." Kira finally began. "You assholes tried to kill me and my family, and by doing so, you have crossed the line!" He yelled, slamming his fist down on the podium to emphasize his words. "I hereby issue the following challenge to the Earth Sphere Unified Nation; send your strongest pilots against me." After a moment of silence, he added. "I'll even fight them all at once." With his declaration complete, Kira walked away and the transmission cut out.

The bridge of the Excalibur was quiet, everyone was at their posts and much to their surprise, the Earth Sphere Unified Nation had not yet attacked them, they hadn't even replied to the declarations that Cagalli and Kira had given a week earlier.

"Do you guys think that these people may actually have some brains, and have realized that if they fight us, they will be royally fucked?" Kira asked, breaking the silence.

"I suppose that's entirely possible, Kira." Hope answered.

"What about our preparations?" Kira asked, glancing at both Cagalli and Sumeragi.

"Well, all of our Gundams are in perfect working order." Cagalli answered. "The only machines that could pose any problems for us would be the Legend, the Forbidden, the Raider, the Calamity, the Wing Gundam, and the Impulse, all of which we had captured at some point in the past, in addition to those machines, there is also the Wing Gundam Zero, which we've been in possession of since the end of the first Bloody Valentine War." The blonde sighed as she added. "We don't have pilots for them."

"Well," Kira replied, as he began to recite the current piloting roster from memory. "At the moment, I'm assigned to the 000 Freedom, Athrun is assigned to the Infinite Justice, Shinn is assigned to the 000 Destiny, Murrue is assigned to the Strike Freedom, Hope is assigned to the original Destiny, Lacus is assigned to the original Justice, and you, Cagalli, are assigned to the Akatsuki."

"And all of the Gundam Meisters will pilot their respective machines." Sumeragi quickly added. "Setsuna in the 000 Gundam, Lockon in the Cherudim, Allelujah in the Arios and Tieria in the Seravee. In addition to the four Meisters, Saji, Louise and Marie all decided to join Celestial Being after the war, in order to continue helping us." She continued. "Saji pilots the 00 Gundam, while Louise is the pilot of the 0-raiser, and Marie pilots the GN Archer, which we have equipped with a GN Drive." Sumeragi paused for a moment, finally she added. "But we also have a few machines that we don't have pilots for, specifically; the 0-Gundam, and the Exia."

"The most likely reason that we haven't been attacked is probably because the Excalibur's phase cloak has been active ever since we arrived in this universe." Cagalli sarcastically said, as Kira moved towards the door, but he stopped in his tracks when he heard Cagalli's remark.

"Well then, I'll just take the fight to them." Kira said as he walked off the bridge, heading towards the hanger bay.

A few minutes later, the Freedom streaked out of the Excalibur's centerline launch bay, as Kira cleared the launch bay, a massive explosion erupted behind him, the heat from the explosion twisting and warping the metal, not only completely blocking, but also disabling the launch catapult.

"You have called us out and we have come to accept your challenge, now defeat us if you can." The voice of Zechs Marquise said through the open-channel communications line.

Kira simply glared at the Epyon and the Wing Zero as they both sped towards him.