Chapter 2: Celestial Being

Tieria walked into the medical bay of the Ptolemaios, where engineer Ian Vashti stood leaning against the wall while keeping watch over their "guest". He currently lay unconscious in a cylindrical recovery pod, his space suit having been replaced by a white patient's gown.

"Any changes?" Tieria asked.

"No. He's still unconscious," Ian replied. He put his forefinger and thumb against his chin as his face turned thoughtful. Seeing the look on Ian's face, Tieria asked, "What is it?"

"I'm just confused. Not only did he betray A-Laws, he's also piloting Kyrios! I never thought we'd see that Gundam again." He started rubbing the back of his head in his confusion and said, "I just can't wrap my head around it."

Tieria couldn't disagree. "Yes, we're going to have plenty of questions for him when he wakes up."

The pod started beeping as it's occupant began stirring.

"Well, speak of the devil..."

Ian reached out and hit the release button. The pod hissed as the pressure seal slowly released and the glass shield slid open. After a few moments, the young man opened his eyes and with a groan, gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position while putting a palm to his forehead.

Moments passed as he held that position. Eventually he looked up and, noticing he wasn't alone, cast an intense gaze on the two strangers as his gray eyes scanned them. After a few moments, he seemed to pass them off as non-threatening and instead fixed them with an expectant look. After several moments of silence, Tieria decided to make the first move.

"You took a nasty hit to your head back there. Are you alright?"

The young man simply nodded, responding in a surprisingly deeper voice than Ian or Tieria expected, "Aside from a lingering headache, I seem to be fine. I have you to thank for bailing me out, don't I?"

"Yes, but think nothing of it for now. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"

"Shoot."

With a non-hostile conversational front established, Tieria began to press forward.

"You were affiliated with A-Laws, correct?"

"That's right."

"Why did you betray them like that?"

"I was tired of them."

The simplicity of the response surprised Tieria and Ian.

Curious, Tieria pressed the question, "Would you elaborate on that?"

The young man closed his eyes and furrowed his brows as he carefully chose his next words.

"I didn't like our plan to deal with dissident nations in the Middle East. Planting GN particle generators to choke their economy was rather tyrannical in my eyes. I hated that we destroyed fourteen nations that refused to join the ESF in the name of 'peace'. And I absolutely detested the fact that all of this information was twisted to sound 'just' and 'righteous' before it was fed to the public. Have I elaborated enough for you?"

Tieria nodded, though didn't immediately believe the story. Despite the stranger voicing a clear dislike for A-Laws, it didn't change the fact that he had also come from the tyrant organization itself. As much as Tieria didn't like it, he decided against pursuing the topic… for the time being, in any case.

"Yes, I have a basic understanding of the circumstances now. One more thing..."

"Ask away."

"How did you get your hands on that Gundam?"

The young man gave a lopsided grin along with a momentary chuckle as he said, "That's easy. I was assigned as the test pilot a few years back."

"What did those tests consist of?"

"R&D. Use the Gundam as a template to develop a new mobile suit."

"What new developments did A-Laws acquire?"

"The suit that was giving that blue Gundam such a hard time is the Ahead, reserved for squad captains and developed based on researching Winged."

"Winged? Is that what they call Kyrios?"

The young man nodded.

"Kyrios... So that's what it's actually called?"

"That is correct."

"So if you know that, then this means you two are with Celestial Being?"

Tieria tensed slightly, wary of where the conversation could go next as he answered, "That's right."

The young man looked him dead in the eye and said, "Then I hope you can accommodate one more person."

Tieria's eyes narrowed incredulously at the young man's suggestion as he said, "Even with what you've just said, surely you didn't expect us to just... welcome you with open arms?"

"No, I didn't. But now that I've betrayed A-Laws, Celestial Being is the only place I can go."

"And who is to say that we even need you?"

"I'm sure you saw that little scuffle I had with the Ahead. I know it wasn't the best combat demonstration but I can assure you that it was an inaccurate display of my combat ability. If given the chance, I will display the full extent of my capabilities firsthand."

Ian took the chance to speak up, directing his words at Tieria. "I don't like this any more than you do, but if he's capable I say we use him. And keep an eye on him, of course."

Tieria closed his eyes as he considered the situation. After a few moments of silence, he opened his eyes and fixed the young man with a serious glare.

"You understand that you're leaving everything behind, right? There's no going back."

"I think open betrayal of A-Laws makes my decision clear enough."

"Very well, then." Tieria nodded and turned to walk out of the door. He stopped midway and turned his head back.

"One last thing: you'll need an alias to identify yourself with."

The young man closed his eyes and started thinking. After a few moments, he pushed himself out of the pod as he answered, "Sora. Sora Museigen."

"Tieria Erde," was the response.

"And I'm Ian Vashti."

Tieria motioned to Ian and said, "Take care of him. I need to go back to the bridge."

Ian nodded as Tieria walked out of the door before turning to Sora. "Follow me."

Sora nodded and followed Ian out of the infirmary and into the hallway. He was lead down a few doors to another room. Ian opened the door and turned around to Sora, motioning for him to go in.

"There are some extra uniforms in the last locker," he said before making a motion at his shirt with his thumb. "Take your pick out of one of the black ones."

Sora nodded as he walked in. "I noticed Tieria was wearing a purple one. Color-coded?"

Ian nodded. "Something like that. Make it quick in there."

"Got a job for me already?"

"Yeah, but you need an introduction to the rest of the crew. Can't expect them to work with someone they don't know."

Sora nodded in full understanding and said, "Of course."

It took about five minutes before Sora emerged from the locker room sporting a black, slightly loose, long-sleeved Celestial Being uniform, complete with black and grey boots and brown gloves. Ian looked him up and down before he nodded in approval. Sora also nodded as he reached his left hand to his belt, before immediately realizing something was missing.

"Hey, where'd you put the suit I was wearing? I don't plan on using it again, but I had something on it that I can't lose."

Ian reached into his pocket and pulled a slender, gleaming black object with flat ends from his pocket.

"You mean this, right? I hope you'll understand when I say that I can't trust you with a weapon, especially a blade."

Sora gave an agitated sigh. He looked at Ian, who noted the strained look of his eyes, and said, "I do but... Look, just don't lose it, ok?"

"Is it that important to you?"

"Yes. You can hold onto it for as long as it takes for me to be trusted, just please do not lose it."

Ian nodded. "I won't."

He looked at the sheathed blade with new respect and carefully put it back into his pocket. "Alright, let's go."

Sora nodded as Ian turned and lead Sora through the halls of the Ptolemaios. Sora was first led up to the bridge to get the introductions out of the way.

The door opened to reveal a spacious, beige colored room seated to accommodate up to seven people: two at the front for the helm, one between and behind for the commanding officer, and four along the walls for other CIC personnel. Currently, only the helm seats and two CIC operator seats were taken. In short order, Sora was introduced to each of the occupants, besides Tieria.

The first was Mileina Vashti, Ian's daughter. She wore her brown hair in curly pigtails, sported a yellow uniform, white gloves, black and grey boots, and (to Sora's complete and utter confusion) a teal, pleated skirt that would have looked more appropriate on a school uniform. At only 14 years old, Sora found her a little young and over-energetic for a military operation but was informed by both Mileina and her father that alongside her duties as CIC operator, she was also skilled in mobile suit mechanics and engineering.

Next was Lasse Aeon, helmsman, gunner, and reserve Gundam Meister. He was a 30 year old, tall, lean speciman with short black hair and small scars going over his right eyebrow and bottom-left of his chin. Similarly to Ian and Sora, Lasse sported a black, Celestial Being uniform with brown gloves, and black and grey boots. He wore a vest instead of a jacket, exposing his short sleeves and arms. Despite being a reserve Meister and gunner, the fact that the Ptolemaios had lost its other helmsman five years ago meant that Lasse had to take over piloting the ship.

The final person to be introduced to Sora was Feldt Grace, a quiet girl of 19 years with dyed pink hair and a matching uniform. Despite her quiet nature, Sora was informed that she was the Ptolemaios' CIC operator alongside Mileina, while also being skilled in mobile suit mechanics, engineering, programming, and hacking. As she said hello to Sora, he noticed something odd with her uniform. Rather than ask Feldt directly, Sora decided to ask Ian about it after they had left the bridge.

"Say... Why's Feldt wearing a mismatched uniform?

Ian gave him a confused look, as though to say, "What are you talking about?"

"Her jacket's pink but her shirt's light green."

"Hmm... I'm not sure. The colored part of the shirt is only the sleeves and above the chest, and it's mostly covered by the jacket... Honestly, I never noticed."

"Hmm... Alright. Never mind then."

After receiving a quick tour of the ship (or more accurately, informed of the only areas of the ship that he was allowed to go while alone) Sora was directed into the hangar of the Ptolemaios to help prep Exia, Kyrios, and what little of their equipment that could be salvaged for transport.

"So where're we taking these to? I certainly hope it's not to the junker."

"Scrapping them or not is a call to be made later. In they're current condition, Exia and Kyrios are nothing more than dead weight for the Ptolemy." Ian saw the bothered look on Sora's face and added, "Don't worry about it too much. I contacted some of our people while you were still unconscious and a transport is on its way to pick them up. They'll probably be here within the next 48 hours."

"Right. Speaking of hours, how long have I been out?"

"I'm not entirely sure about how long you've been out, but you were brought on board about six or seven hours ago."

"Damn... I've been down for awhile then…"

Sora lingered on the thought for only a moment before turning his full attention to his work. The next hour flew by like nothing.

Upon securing the last stretch of cable around Kyrios, Sora's stomach let out a furious growl. He put a hand to his gut in a vain attempt to silence it while looking around for Ian. He saw him with a holo-tablet in hand, floating at the doorway and talking with Tieria about something. Sora slowly floated over to where they were. The conversation abruptly stopped when Tieria saw him approach.

"Ah, good timing," Ian said. "We were just talking about fixing you up with a room and getting you some food."

"'Fixing me up with a room and getting me some food?' I'm being graced with room service?" Sora asked, genuinely surprised.

Tieria smiled. "Yes. You get room service where you're going."

Five minutes later, Sora was floating in a corner of his cell in the brig, thoroughly annoyed at himself but still slightly amused that he hadn't seen this coming. His tray of food was set in a groove in the wall about 5 feet from the floor, providing him with a solid, convenient place to put his food while he ate. As Sora consumed the surprisingly tasty and filling meal, he looked around, inspecting the cell.

It was rather unimpressive. Every surface was light blue, and there were no windows or displays. Even the door was a solid mass of light blue E-carbon. The only outstanding feature of the room was the bed set across from the door and the groove in the wall, which stopped only for the door.

Sora sighed in content as he finished up his food. He stretched his arms and back as he floated to the bed. He knew it would probably be awhile before these people trusted him and he couldn't really blame them either. A defected A-Laws officer was something completely unheard of.

But then, nobody would have heard of it anyway. The information would have been twisted around somehow... or hidden completely. Just like back then…

He grunted in disgust, casting his mind around in an attempt to find something that didn't depress him. Eventually he kicked his boots off, stowing them with his jacket under the bed. He slid under the blanket and fell asleep in the zero-gravity of space, his mind lingering on happier days long past.

Sora awoke almost ten hours later, feeling completely refreshed. He had just finished getting his boots on when his cell door opened and Ian floated inside.

"Well, today's your lucky day," he said, a nasty looking grin on his face.

"Why's that?" Sora asked, cautious of Ian's expression. Were they going to vent him out of an airlock? Use him for target practice? Or could it possibly be that they...

"You get to eat outside of your cell."

Oh. Sora was again amused, this time because he had so easily gotten hopeful.

"Right." Sora rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. He put his jacket and gloves on as he followed Ian to the mess hall.

"I don't think I've explained yet, but the food here is all pre-prepared and stored in sealed trays in the freezer. You want something to eat, you grab a tray and heat it up. The meals themselves are nice and simple. No gourmet out here."

Sora grinned as he said, "I was previously stationed on an A-Laws battleship in space. Morality wasn't the only thing they were lacking."

Ian laughed as he passed Sora one of the aforementioned trays. He noted that it was already heated as he took it into his hand.

"Since we're in space, time of day has a bit less meaning. You just eat whenever you're hungry. Although, most of the crew seemed to want food at the same time today, so I took the liberty of preheating a tray for you too."

Sora nodded his thanks as he uncovered the tray. His face was met with a cloud of steam, and the smell of... nothing?

A few more sniffs and Sora confirmed that his nose wasn't actually playing tricks on him. He looked down at the contents of the tray to see a gray mush that vaguely reminded him of mashed potatoes.

"… I can see what you mean when you say that there's no such thing as gourmet out here and as such I'm going to ask where that… rather tasty meal from the other day came from."

Ian looked momentarily confused before a look of realization came over his face. He nodded sagely as he said, "Mileina probably decided to be nice and give you one of the trays that has something else besides that paste in them. That stuff doesn't taste like anything, but it'll fill you nonetheless."

"I certainly hope it fills me," Sora laughed as he took a spoonful and consumed it. Just as Ian had said, it didn't really taste like anything.

They spent the next few minutes eating and exchanging mostly small talk. Before long, Sora found that the subject had moved onto the subject of "past". He was wary of where the conversation could go, but thankfully Ian only wanted to know of what Kyrios had gone through during it's time out of Celestial Being's reach.

Sora explained everything he knew.

"As far as I know, Kyrios was thoroughly examined inside and out. It's systems, it's mechanics, everything. Nothing was left untouched. As I recall, the only thing the engineers regretted was that it didn't have it's original source of power. It was replaced with one of our GN Drives instead."

Ian nodded and then asked, "So… why is Kyrios mounted with a Tieran arm? It's clear she's still capable of battle. Why not do something more proper?"

Sora closed his eyes as he carefully thought his answer out.

"Kyrios was never meant to see battle again. After the Ahead was developed, I heard it was either going to scrapped or thrown into storage. As its test pilot, I had grown… attached. Even if it was enemy technology, I didn't want to see it go out with a whimper."

"Did that have anything to do with why you betrayed A-Laws?"

Sora nodded. "That's part of it. But that's not all. I managed to convince the higher ups to let me participate in operations with Kyrios. If I had known what I was going to be ordered to do then I think I would have destroyed Kyrios with my own hands."

Ian's eyes narrowed as he looked at Sora.

Sora saw the question coming and answered it before Ian had even voiced it.

"Do you remember those 14 massacres that I said A-Laws committed?"

Ian nodded.

"I had to participate in some of them. We were told we were putting down insurgencies. I was to fly in first and use Kyrios to scare them out of their hiding places. When we arrived at the designated area, I did as I was told. I flew in and… what I saw horrified me. What we had been sent to kill weren't soldiers."

His hands clenched into fists as he stopped talking. His eyes went wide as his entire body slackened. His utensil slipped from his hand and floated several inches away, forgotten.

Images flashed through Sora's mind. Images of men, women, and children running in terror as A-Laws mobile suits rained death from above. Orange particle beams slammed into throngs of people trying to get away, granting them escape through Death's cruel embrace.

"An intervention for the sake of peace" was nothing but a lie. There was no intervention. There was only…

The images continued to play in his mind, as though he had been forced to watch a horror movie so gruesome, it would make even the most hardened criminal shed tears and cry in terror. He cast his mind around in an attempt to make the images disappear, but no matter how he tried, they continued their mental rampage. He threw himself into his deeper consciousness in another attempt to get away. It wasn't until it was too late that he realized what a mistake he had made. One evil was replaced by another as something Sora had long suppressed came roaring to the forefront of his mind.

Sora opened his eyes and looked around to see that he was no longer aboard the Ptolemaios. He cast his eyes around in a frantic attempt to identify his current location. His eyes quickly settled on the signboard of a store. It was written in Japanese. With his location confirmed, he continued looking around when the unmistakable sound of an explosion pierced his ears. It didn't take long for him to find the source.

A public transportation bus had suddenly gone up in flames. Burned and blackened bodies, some still on fire, were scattered all over the immediate area from the explosion. Unharmed civilians desperately cleared the area as emergency response personnel quickly began to move in. Though confused at first, Sora's eyes went wide as he suddenly recognized the scene of his most painful memory.

With almost mechanical precision, Sora turned his head to where he had been on that day. He saw himself as he was 5 years ago, at 19 years old. He watched as his younger self ran up to the destroyed bus, flashing a Union lieutenant's insignia at the firefighters as he pushed his way into the heart of the carnage. He watched as he reached the edge of the bus's charred remains and peered inside, disbelief and a look of foreboding fear written all over his face.

The Present-Sora turned his head away, already knowing what his younger self was about to find. Amongst the blackened bodies were three in particular: a man, a woman, and a young girl with a blue ribbon in her long, black hair. Their faces had been deformed beyond recognition from the explosion, but Sora remembered how painfully easy it had been for him to identify them. The blue ribbon in the girl's hair had somehow managed to escape the destruction with only slight charring to the edges.

Sora heard the thump of his younger self falling to his hands and knees. The thud as he sent his knuckles into the ground. The sound of sobbing as tears flooded the eyes of the past and the eyes of the present. The sound of despair as a single voice shattered the heavens.

Ian watched as Sora's body suddenly tensed. His eyes squeezed shut as his hands curled into fists. His body shook as his breathing began to quicken. He bared his teeth and let out a grunt followed by a low, pain-filled growl. Ian was about to reach out and ask him what was wrong when Sora's body suddenly relaxed and his eyes slowly opened. The episode had ended as suddenly as it started. Sora shook his head as he looked up at Ian. He continued speaking, but his voice was now noticeably trembling.

"I knew turning on them right then and there would have just gotten me killed. So I decided to be patient. Until an opportunity showed itself, I participated in A-Laws operations, forcing myself to use the full extent of my abilities to complete any and all missions given to me. After every operation I was involved in ended in success, I was quickly promoted and given a free-reign license. I had permission to call my own shots while I was on the battlefield."

He sighed as he continued. "I always wondered why they didn't commission repairs for Kyrios. Back then I thought it may have been because they were on to me and wanted me killed off in combat. Now I think it may have just been a simple case of public opinion. Then again, I may have been right on both counts."

"Not even A-Laws can make the public support the use of a Gundam." Ian said.

Sora nodded as his eyes lost focus slightly.

Fearing another of Sora's episodes, Ian's brows furrowed in concern as he asked, "Sora… are you sure about this? Are you sure you want to keep fighting?"

He nodded and said, "Yes. I want the world to change. I want the existence of the Autonomous Peace-Keeping Force to end."

Ian's face turned thoughtful as he listened to the resolution in Sora's voice. After several moments of thought, he finally spoke up and said, "Alright. When the transport for Exia and Kyrios arrives, I want you to board it. I'll send word to Lagrange 3 ahead of you. When you arrive, find my wife. Tell her who you are and she'll take care of the rest."

"What, sending me off to day care now?" Sora half-heartedly joked.

Ian shook his head as he said, "Not quite. We all want A-Laws to be taken down. I'm just going to give you a little boost."

Though he was greatly intrigued by Ian's words, he decided to simply thank him instead of inquire further. Ian saw Sora's confusion and answered his question without needing him to ask it. Unfortunately, that answer was vague enough that Sora still didn't quite understand what Ian had meant.

"You'll see what I mean when you get there," really didn't explain much.

Sora shrugged in defeat and decided to not think about it for the time being. With their food consumed, he and Ian left the mess hall to tend to their duties.

Author's Note: Chapter 2 has hit the deck! Finally, the guy has a name that isn't "the young man" or "the young captain". I was getting a bit worried about calling him that for the prologue and first chapter.

This chapter took a bit longer to write than I had expected. I kept writing, deleting and rewriting, and continually finding out that I had wandered horribly off-course at some point in the writing. The end result is still slightly "meh" in my opinion, but that could just be me being really self-critical ("you are your own worst critic" indeed). At the very least, I covered what I wanted to cover.

Anyways, the next couple of chapters will be mostly dialogue. There'll be some combat, but it'll be kept to a minimum as I go about fleshing out my character, giving him some backstory, and following up with the hint I totally did not drop during my last Author's Note. *shifty eyes*

Oh, and for those wondering: the whole bit about the little girl with the blue ribbon was inspired by yellow 14's Ace Combat 04 short, "Blue Ribbon". You people hear me! It was INSPIRED BY, not RIPPED OFF OF! *F-22 flies in* Hey, the insignia on it's tail looks kinda familiar... *goes pale* Ooooohhh, CRAP.

In real life news, my second year of college starts up on the 16th and I'm soon going to replace "writing fanfiction" with "completing classes" as my main priority. Since Chapter 3 is already partly finished, I should be able to get it up before things start to get really hectic (no promises, though). You may want to find something to keep you busy during what will undoubtedly turn into long waits between chapters (as though the wait between the last chapter and this one was "short" to begin with). These waits could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, with the worst case scenario being that I don't get anything up until the end of the semester during the winter holidays. With that said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and again, if you give me an anonymous review, please check the bottom of the relevant chapter for my response.

Later!

Edit: I completely forgot to mention: the name "Museigen Sora" (because last names come first in Japan) means "Unlimited Sky". In the time between this chapter's upload and this edit, some of you have probably used the wonderful, wonderful interwebs to get this information already, but still...