AN: And we are back for more. Sorry I took so long, but this was just a really long chapter to write, and now I know that you all want to get right to it, and the only thing keeping you from doing so, is the fact that you're reading this boring authors note expecting some kind of gag or something were I torment...I mean warn the cast (cough Shinn cough) not to give away a spoiler before they accidentally do so. So stop reading this, and get to the chapter already, you're in for a real treat this time around.
Shinn: How about you just let them get to it on their own time, like how you're taking your own sweet time with getting through this story! I mean I'd think you'd get this story going along a bit more quickly than you have been given how often I've heard you rehearse or rethink the scene where Optimus ends up...
AN: And there it is. DAH! SPOILER! [hits control and releases the most horrifying thing that any series star would have enough sense to fear]
Shinn: Oh no. Tell me those aren't...[Hears excited screaming] Shinn Asuka Fan girls! [runs away screaming with said fan girls on his tail]
AN: Hmmm. You know, maybe that was going a bit too far...Nah, I'm sure he'll be fine. So, roll out!
I do not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter 13: Shadows and Tragedies
The minute he heard about Auel's breakdown, Neo was quick to make his way over to the two boys and find out what had happened, but he quickly changed directions after he found out that Stella had launched in the Gaia. "You fools," Neo shouted as he ran into the hangar. "Why did you let her out?"
Neo received his answer the minute he saw the door that was next to where Gaia normally stood was completely blown open, proving that the crew did not let her out willingly. Then blonde, masked man then tapped the comm. link in his ear as he called out, "Lockdown, tell me your people can deal with this."
"I'm afraid that's no longer possible, Captain," Lockdown replied. "Thunderblast has already gone after the girl to join young Stella in whatever she is doing, and somehow ensured that we could not follow them."
"How," Neo demanded.
"That's we're trying to figure out! Do you honestly believe that I ever thought Thunderblast was even slightly capable of doing this," Lockdown demanded. "Even so, if they are able to destroy any evidence of our activities in that lab, perhaps it is all for the better."
"And what about the fact that Z.A.F.T. and Sentinel Prime are there," Neo asked, silently admitting that Lockdown had a point but still feeling the need to point out that small detail.
"Hard to say. If they're lucky, and that's a very strong 'if', then they will likely eliminate a large number of their forces. If not, well then we'll have severed one of our weak links," Lockdown explained. "And don't pretend that isn't the case with that girl, Roanoke. She is in fact a weak leak for your group, after all, how can one truly be expected to be a true warrior if they're so afraid of dying?"
Neo just cut the communication at that as he softly snarled to himself at Lockdown's comment. He may have seemed like he manipulated these kids, but he really did care about their well-being, and that was why Neo Roanoke, commanding officer of Phantom Pain, and agent of LOGOS, was praying that Stella would be alright. Thunderblast on the other hand, he could really care less about.
A few hours earlier, the Minerva had arrived at the facility that Shinn, Rey, and Heine had been sent to investigate after hearing that the three had found it to be a strange laboratory of some kind and Ray had suddenly undergone a panic attack or some other strange reaction that caused both boys to immediately rush to his side and pull him out of the building, fearing for the blonde's well-being. By the time the Minerva and the Xanthium had arrived, night had fallen, and the two ships were quick to set up teams to try and deal with any sort of traps that might have been in place around the Earth Forces Lab, thanks in no small part to Crosshairs, Springer, and Blaster and his Mini-Cons while Shinn, Heine, and Rey reported to their ship's sick bay so that the three could get checked out, just as a safety precaution. Unfortunately, the results of each teams' efforts did not yield results that provided answers that they needed. "All explosives have been removed, and biological anomalies are at zero," Blaster reported in.
"But that means we still don't know what triggered Rey's reaction," Arthur softly exclaimed.
"Even so, perhaps its best to not send Rey into the lab again, Captain Gladys," Sentinel cautioned.
"Yes, I agree," Talia replied.
Just then, one of Talia's technicians announced that the Justice was finally arriving on site, and the three all then turned to see the red mobile suit landing just a short ways away from them next to the Impulse, the Savior, and Rey's Zaku Phantom as it powered down. The minute he left his cockpit and approached the captain and the Prime, Athrun immediately asked, "Yzak told me that something had happened to Rey while he was on a scouting mission, but he didn't say exactly what. So, what's really going on?"
"We're not entirely sure ourselves what happened with Rey," Chromia answered as she stepped up. "But we're about to send a team in to investigate further along with Heine and Shinn, since they've already been in there once, even if it was only briefly."
Athrun nodded in reply and then turned to Sentinel and asked, "Who do you plan to send in, Sentinel?"
"I will be going in myself, along with Blaster's Mini-Cons, Eject and Steeljaw," Sentinel replied. "I'd rather not risk anymore of my men than necessary, assuming whatever caused Rey's reaction could be harmful to Cybertronians as well."
Athrun nodded in agreement with Sentinel's judgment, and then immediately requested that he go in along with them. Talia was quick to allow Athrun's inclusion, and as soon as Shinn and Heine had joined them, they were quick to head inside. What they found in the lab though, was something truly horrible. There were bodies of scientists and researchers all across the first hallway they entered the moment they were further inside than the first team had gone, and from the pools of blood and they way they were lying around, it almost seemed like someone or something had slaughtered them all. Arthur took a cautious step forward, but they all immediately froze when they heard something clatter against the floor. When they turned their lights to the source though, they only saw that it was simply a small vial that Arthur's foot had accidentally kicked. "Seriously man, would you be careful," Eject requested. "We're already freaked out and jumpy enough as it is without you doing stuff like that!"
"Sorry," Arthur sighed, but the minute he raised his flashlight again, he was quick to scream in terror at the sight that greeted him.
"What now," Steeljaw asked. "How am I supposed to sniff out clues for you people if you keep scaring all of us like…"
Steeljaw's complaining was quickly cut off when Eject screamed as well, and they all then turned to see the dead body of a young boy in a pod, and the boy was not alone, as the room was lined with similar such bodies in similar states. "By Primus, what kind of place is this," Eject cried out in horror.
Heine then noticed that there was a badge on the floor near one of the scientists, and quickly kneeled down to get a better look, only to gasp in shock when he did. "Captain," Heine called out. "This man had an Earth Forces badge."
Talia and the others all quickly rushed over to see that Heine had indeed found such an item, and that led them to only one conclusion. "A mutiny," Sentinel quietly exclaimed.
"That's what it looks like," Talia agreed. "They were going to blow up the lab."
"But…w-what's with all the sparklings," Eject asked. "W-why are they here, and why are there so many of them dead?!"
Sentinel gazed around with his Holo-Form for a minute before he sighed in despair and then noticed something else that shocked him to his core. "Steeljaw, is that what I think it is," Sentinel asked worriedly.
Steeljaw moved over to where Sentinel was to get a better scan of what his leader was looking at, and immediately gasped in shock as he replied, "Sir, if you think that's an encoding of CNA then you would be correct."
"CNA," Shinn asked.
"It's the Cybertronian version of what humans call DNA," Eject explained. Shinn nodded in understanding, but all the while, he could not stomach the sight before his eyes which was also beginning to make him as mad as Yzak normally seemed to be. Sentinel then motioned for everyone to keep moving, and the group moved forward, trying their best to ignore the horrors around them, until they finally reached an office with small jars of what looked to be lab grown brains inside of them.
As the others began looking around the lab for clues, Talia and Eject were quick to begin hacking into the computer consoles that were on the desk to try and get something more solid from them as to what this place really was. Talia did eventually find something, but she honestly wished she did not. "Year sixty-four, July," Talia read off as she looked at the images of a number of kids and what appeared to be records on them on her screen while everyone other than Eject gathered around her. "Eleven discarded, three admitted. August: seven discarded, five admitted."
"Captain, what is that," Arthur asked in fear of the answer.
"They're records of the arrival and departure of test subjects," Talia explained. "In other words, children."
"Children," Sentinel exclaimed in soft, barely repressed anger.
"They're the Alliance's Extendeds," Talia then continued. "I'm sure you've heard about them."
Athrun was quickly reminded of such people when he thought of the three pilots he and Kira faced in the final stages of the previous Bloody Valentine War, and his suspicions on whether or not those pilots were such people was quickly confirmed when he saw the image of one of them come up on Talia's monitor, along with the image of that pilot's mobile suit. "Though they detest genetic manipulation, the Alliance and Blue Cosmos are not above creating living weapons through the use of drugs and other means," Talia continued to explain. "Humans who exist only to fight. This is their experimental…production facility. With drugs and other means, they were able to reconstruct and enhance their bodies, enabling them to compete against Coordinators. They were then subjected to the most rigorous combat training imaginable. Those who weren't competitive enough, or who couldn't keep up with the rest were discarded mercilessly. That's the kind of place this was."
"By Primus, they're monsters," Steeljaw gasped. "And they have the nerve to call us as such?"
"Believe me, you guys don't know the half of it," Eject suddenly spoke up, and anyone could tell from his tone, that what he found was no less horrible than what the captain of the Minerva had discovered. "You guys need to see this."
Everyone immediately went over to the computer Eject was seated in front of, and they were all horrified to find what they did. There on Eject's monitor, was the image of what were clearly the remains of a Cybertronian, and all around this Transformer, were technicians who were continuing to pick, prod, and tear apart the massive being. While this horrible sight was shocking to everyone, it was even more shocking to Athrun, who had immediately recognized who this particular Transformer was, because it was one that was ashamed to admit he had fought alongside of in the previous war. "That's Barricade," Athrun gasped in horrified shock the minute he saw the late leader of the Decimators on the screen.
Eject nodded in confirmation of this. "Turns out that Lockdown had approached these guys almost immediately after the war, and then helped them gather up the remains of whatever dead Transformers they could so that they could analyze them like some kind of lab animals," the Mini-Con then said. "From what I can tell, this lab was suddenly repurposed for the use of analyzing and then duplicating the workings and makings of us Cybertronians in some kind of sick attempt to build their own versions of us. They've done whatever they can to unlock all of the secrets a Transformer's body holds."
He then scrolled down to show everyone the images of the other fallen major Decepticons, some Vehicons, and even one that everyone had hoped to either never see again, or just never see after hearing the stories about him. "They've even got Megatron under a microscope," Steeljaw gasped as he began to quake in fear at the mere sight of the Decepticon warlord.
"I may not be Megatron's greatest admirer, but even I feel that he does not deserve something like this," Sentinel snarled. "They may be Decepticons, but they are still fellow Cybertronians, and these monsters have slaughtered them!"
The sound of an explosion from outside immediately put everyone on edge, but they immediately relaxed when Chromia contacted them to say that Sentinel had merely moved outside and transformed to his bipedal mode before smashing apart the closest thing he could find in anger, a fact that was quickly proven true when they saw that Sentinel's Holo-Form had disappeared from where it was previously standing. Sentinel then radioed Eject and Steeljaw to tell them to destroy anything pertaining to Cybertronians in the lab before they left, and the group then quickly gathered all the remaining data that they could before leaving the nightmare that people dared to call a research facility.
Almost instantly after the group had walked out, Arthur had gone off to the side to throw up at what he had seen while Talia told their teams to notify headquarters of what they found, feeling certain that a team of specialists would be sent out there later, and she then requested for her CIC to continue to keep an eye out for any enemies, a request that Sentinel also put through to Blur while Shinn, Athrun, and Heine filled their fellow pilots in on what they found. Needless to say, Yzak, Dearka, and Rey were all just as horrified as the other three were when they found out, and in some cases, they were even furious.
"This is just insane," Yzak roared. "These bastards go on about Coordinators being a mistake and a crime against nature, while also calling all Cybertronians, Autobot or Decepticon, monsters, and then they have the audacity to create these things?! How the hell can they say tinkering with genes is wrong or that Cybertronians are some sort of evil that should never have come to Earth when they're doing things like this?!"
"I know, what the hell is wrong with these damned idiots," Dearka agreed. "Cause from where I'm standing, they're the only monsters on this planet!"
"I couldn't agree with you both more," Athrun told his two best friends. He then cast a look at a still furious Shinn and Heine as he added, "And the same goes for all the others as well."
"You've got that right," Smokescreen growled as he stormed over to them with Crosshairs, Blaster, and Tracks close behind him, clearly showing that none of the Autobots found this any more appealing than the Z.A.F.T. Forces did, especially after they heard about what Eject had found.
"Captain," they then heard Bart call out to Talia over the radio. "One incoming mobile suit ma'am. It's the Gaia!"
"Sentinel Prime, sir, that's not all. There's more bad news, unfortunately," Blur then added. "Which is sort of becoming a theme for us, and I am not enjoying that one bit, and when I have to report it, I get upset, and when I get upset I feel…"
"Blur, we don't care about that right now! Just tell us what the problem is," Crosshairs interrupted.
"Incoming Eradicon signal approaching fast, seems to be alongside the Gaia. ID has it listed as Thunderblast, which can only mean that either it'll be a really easy fight, or something really, really bad," Blur reported.
"Just those two," Chromia asked as the Z.A.F.T. pilots raced to their machines. "Are you sure that there's no sign of anything else?"
"Negative; no sign at all. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada, zero," Blur instantly replied.
"What are they thinking," Talia wondered to herself.
"It doesn't matter right now," Sentinel told the Minerva captain. "We need to defend the complex."
"We're on it," Shinn, Athrun, and Heine immediately said simultaneously.
Sentinel nodded and then turned to the three pilots' respective Autobot partners and ordered, "Smokescreen, Springer, with me. It's past time we scratch one of those bastard Eradicons off the list."
"Yes sir," the two replied, and the three immediately raced off after the three Gundams that had moved to engage the Gaia. A matter of seconds later, the six saw their two opponents racing towards them, and they were quick to engage them both.
"Hey, who invited you party crashers," Thunderblast shouted as she transformed and armed her launcher before firing at the three Autobots and the Gundams. They were all quick to evade the attack, and they then split into two groups to take on one of the two enemies.
"Careful you guys," Athrun warned his fellow pilots and the three Autobots. "If they're here to destroy the facility, then they could be carrying some kind of special equipment. We need to defeat the Gaia without blowing it up, and try to take out Thunderblast as swiftly as possible without accidentally setting off that equipment."
"The only equipment that party bitch ever carries is that oversized launcher of hers," Springer told Athrun as he transformed to his helicopter mode and opened fire from above. "So I think it's safe to say that the only one we need to worry about with that would be the Gaia."
"But still, how are we supposed to beat it without blowing it up," Shinn asked as he swerved to the side to avoid the Gaia's beam cannons. His small moment of distraction though, ended up causing him to be rammed by the black mobile suit, sending the Impulse falling out of control.
Upon seeing this, Heine instantly transformed the Savior to mobile suit mode and opened fire with his beam rifle. Though his shots missed, they served their intended purpose, as the Gaia had leapt into the air to avoid any follow-up shots, only to have one of its wings cut off by the Savior. A minute later, a barrage was unleashed upon the Gaia from behind it in two directions, and the pilot of the Gaia was quick to notice that the Justice had separated its wing pack to allow it to attack from two directions, granting Shinn the moment he needed to stabilize the Impulse and charge back into the battle. "Shinn, can you flank it from bellow," Athrun then asked as he kept up his barrage after reattaching the wing pack.
"Working on it," Shinn snapped in reply as he rushed in, beam saber ready. As the battle between the mobile suits went on, Thunderblast was easily dodging her Autobot opponents' fire, almost as though she were dancing around the blasts with ease, and the way she seemed to be mocking them was really starting to irritate Smokescreen.
"Just hold still you ditzy, party girl, bitch," Smokescreen shouted as he fired his blaster.
"Hey, who're you calling a ditzy bitch, brat," Thunderblast shouted in retort as she fired on him. Smokescreen was able to dodge most of her shots, but some were about to hit him. The young Autobot quickly reached for his phase shifter, but stopped when Sentinel jumped in front of him with his hand held out, silently telling him to wait, and his shield raised up in time to intercept the missiles.
"Smokescreen, don't use your phase shifter here," Sentinel warned him. "If you're not careful enough, a stray shot could end up going through you and hitting the complex or one of the ships."
"Yes sir," Smokescreen begrudgingly replied, and he then rolled out from behind his commander and opened fire with both of his blasters on Thunderblast. The Gaia had noticed Thunderblast's predicament, and was about to move to help her, when Heine and Athrun took advantage of its moment of distraction and fired on the machine with their own weapons. The suit was then thrown off balance long enough for Shinn to score a direct hit to the black mobile suit's chest, and send it crashing to the ground where it lay immobile with its cockpit torn open by Shinn's beam saber.
When Thunderblast saw this happen she immediately ceased her barrage against the three Autobots and began to run over as she shouted, "I'm coming, girl!"
"What did she say," Smokescreen asked as he paused in his own barrage for a minute out of shock. "Is the pilot of the Gaia a woman?"
"Focus kid," Springer shouted as he swooped overhead. The triple changer then fired on Thunderblast, throwing her off balance and then transformed to robot mode in mid-air as he armed his default sword. As he dropped from the sky, Springer threw his blade in a downward slash, striking Thunderblast dead center, and he quickly followed up with a kick as he back flipped and transformed into his car mode, racing away just in time for Sentinel to run up. The minute that Springer had raced aside, Sentinel spun his double bladed sword around and then struck Thunderblast with a pair of powerful slashes before he spun himself around and then rammed his blade forward, right into Thunderblast's chest.
Thunderblast's eyes widened in both shock and pain the minute the sword went through her and right into her spark, and she could only stare for a moment while gasping for breath when Sentinel said, "Party time is over, Eradicon."
Thunderblast grasped at the blade that was in her feebly for a moment until she finally gasped out, "W-worst…party…e-ever…"
With those final words, the light left Thunderblast's eyes and her body went limp. After waiting for another moment, as if he were confirming that she was actually offline, Sentinel kicked the female Eradicon off of his weapon, letting her fall to the ground with a loud thud, and then sheathed his sword. Springer was quick to drive up beside Smokescreen and smirk in victory as he assumed his bipedal mode, when he noticed the horrified look on the kid's face. "Hey, Smoke. You okay," Springer asked in concern.
"Yeah," Smokescreen responded hesitantly while his legs shook until he ended up falling into a sitting position. "I just…I just need a minute."
Springer looked at Smokescreen for another moment until he finally nodded in understanding, realizing what was really wrong with the kid. Effectively, this was Smokescreen's first real experience with death, and whether it be an enemy's or an ally's, no one's first experience with that was easy, as was evident by the fact that the horrified look had not left Smokescreen's face for a second. Everyone's attention was suddenly brought back to their current situation when they suddenly heard a thruster fire, and they all spun to see the Impulse taking off in the direction of the Minerva.
"What's going on? Where's Shinn going," Sentinel demanded.
"I'm not sure," Athrun replied as he and Heine began to fly after the combining Gundam. "But it appears that the enemy pilot was injured in the fight and now he's taking her back to the Minerva."
"What," all three Autobots shouted, and at the same moment, they also heard Talia and Arthur shout the same thing over the radio, clearly indicating that Athrun had already contacted them to inform them of the situation.
"We're heading after him now to see what the story is," Heine then added. "But we need to hurry in case something happens on the ship, and we can't just leave the Gaia or that Eradicon out here."
"Understood," Sentinel responded. "Captain Gladys, you head on back to your ship. I'll have Springer transport Thunderblast to the Xanthium and leave Smokescreen to guard the Gaia until you can send someone to retrieve it."
"Understood," Talia replied, and they all immediately set out to do what they needed to in response to the situation that had now arisen, none of them quite knowing just what they would discover from this situation.
After Shinn had returned to the Minerva, he had made a break for the ship's sick bay, and all but demanded that the doctor help Stella. Sadly, the doctor was hesitant about treating the poor girl, despite her condition, and it led to Shinn getting into a heated argument with him that ended up leading him to say the wrong thing just as Stella was waking up, and throwing the girl into a sudden fit of hysteria. When Talia had arrived with Athrun, Heine, Eject, and a small squadron of soldiers for security reasons, they found Shinn trying to hold the agitated blonde girl back to keep her from injuring herself any further or anyone else, and it was not until Eject fired a low powered blast from a Null Ray he was carrying that she finally calmed down and fell unconscious long enough for Talia to allow the doctor to treat the girl before she turned to Shinn and asked the pilot to explain himself in her office, a conversation that was quickly joined by Sentinel via the holo-comm. link that had been set up between the two ships.
Naturally, the conversation started with Talia scolding Shinn for his actions, which Shinn took full responsibility for by only saying that he was sorry for what he did in response, but Sentinel was quick to remind the captain that Shinn's actions were only reflective of the fact that he saw someone he knew was injured and he reacted on his instinct to protect others as a result. When Sentinel pointed this out, Talia could only sigh in response to this, admitting that Sentinel was right in that, and then had Shinn explain how he knew Stella. Shinn was quick to explain that Stella was the girl he met on the cost of Diocuia and how at the time, he thought that she was simply a traumatized war victim. Any further conversation on the matter was brought to a halt when the doctor requested Talia's presence in sickbay, and she and Shinn immediately made their way there, with Sentinel's hologram appearing in the sickbay when they arrived so that he could hear the report as well. None of them were pleased with what the doctor had found though.
When they entered the room and found Stella strapped down to a table, Shinn's initial impression was that they were afraid she would suddenly attack them again when she woke up, but the doctor quickly assured the pilot that was not the reason. The reason for this was because they had discovered that Stella was in fact one of the Alliance's Extendeds. He then explained how he had subjected Stella to a few tests before treating her, only to find astonishing results, as the doctor discovered that there abnormally high levels of many natural chemicals, along with numerous substances that were not normally found in the human body, all leading them to suspect that this was all done artificially through the use of drugs, which all seemed consistent with what they had found in the laboratory.
During his explanation, Stella woke up for a moment, but unfortunately, when she saw Shinn, there was not a single sign of recognition in her eyes and she began to throw a fit once more. Shinn had tried to calm her down after a minute, but it was to no avail, and that was when the doctor grabbed an anesthetic while continuing his explanation. The doctor quickly informed the three that there were unusual patterns in her brainwaves as well, leading him to believe that her personality and memories were either manipulated or simply just erased, and upon hearing this, both Sentinel and Shinn were horrified.
To hear that someone had their memories altered in any way was beyond atrocious in both of their eyes, and to hear that someone had done so to Stella was something that they both considered to be unforgivable. The memories of any person were what truly helped to shape someone for better or worse, as it helped them to reflect on experiences and learn how to handle things better should they ever encounter a similar situation, and the fact that someone would tamper with that was something that both found truly unforgivable. It was so unbelievable to them that Shinn found he could not bear to stay in the room with the girl that would likely never remember him again and then immediately raced out while Sentinel simply swore that the ones behind this would pay for such an atrocity just before he cut off his communication.
When word finally spread around about this, everyone was either sympathetic towards the enemy pilot, or just simply found her to be even more horrifying than before because of it. Surprisingly, Lunamaria was among the former, and because of this, her jealousy towards Stella had diminished a great deal, but quickly began to bubble up again when she and Shinn both went to visit her, and Stella seemed to remember Shinn a little more easily after she awoke and saw his face. Of course, this was not the only problem that the female Z.A.F.T. pilot was facing, but rather, it was a problem in addition to the assignment that the captain had given her earlier, in which she was asked to spy on Athrun for the moment he made contact with anyone from the Archangel and Omega II. Even though Talia had assured Lunamaria that the mission was not because Athrun's loyalty was in question, when the captain told Luna to forget what she had seen and heard on the mission, the girl found she could not do so.
Every time Lunamaria tried to shake the memories of what she had seen and heard during Athrun's meeting with the group from the Archangel and Omega II, it always seemed to bubble to the surface of her mind, particular when the topic of the Lacus Clyne in the PLANTs being a fake while the real one and Optimus Prime were nearly killed by a squadron of Coordinators and Autobots came up. While Lunamaria had to admit that the Lacus she and the others had seen and met in Diocuia was nothing like the Lacus Clyne they had all come to know, she still could not help but have a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that the Lacus she and the others had met was actually a fake while the supposedly real one was nearly killed, and from what she heard, it almost sounded like Sentinel had wanted Optimus to be killed long before he had ever declared him a traitor. With that in mind, it only made sense that by declaring Optimus and his team as such, it made it easier for them to kill the Omega II Autobots out in the open, but Lunamaria was not sure if she could really believe that so easily after all she and the others had been through alongside Sentinel Prime and his team.
The thing that really bothered Lunamaria though, was that knowing all this made her head spin like crazy and the gag order she had been given kept her from talking about it to anyone, which was something she felt that she really needed to do if she were ever to get her facts straight again. Lunamaria wanted to talk to someone about it so desperately, but she knew that aside from the fact that she could no longer bring it up due to the gag order she was given, there was also the fact that it did not seem like there was really anyone she could bring it up with. Obviously Athrun was out of the question since she would have to admit that she was spying on him, as was Rey given his personality, along with the Xanthium Autobots since the topic did involve them, and there was no way she could talk to Yzak, Dearka, or Heine about this either given that she did not know them all that well, personally. Shinn was also out of the question for multiple reasons, but the main one being that he was already really worried about Stella, and even though Shinn's attentiveness towards the enemy pilot drove her up the wall with jealousy, Lunamaria did not want to add more to Shinn's plate, so naturally, Luna felt she was on her own with figuring out how to deal with the situation she was now in.
Lunamaria was not the only having difficulty figuring things out, as Shinn found he was having the same problem in relation to Stella. He knew that she was Gaia's pilot, but she was also the same girl he rescued that time in Diocuia as well, so naturally, even though she did not recognize him that well at first, Shinn found himself unsure about what to think, and that held true for a lot of matters that had recently happened, namely Sentinel declaring the Autobots of the Omega II as traitors. He just could not believe that one of the ones who had saved him and his family's lives all those years ago could really be considered a traitor now, and that he essentially, would end up having to fight against him, and that was the last thing that Shinn wanted.
Shinn knew that it probably was not all that great an idea to talk to anyone on either of the two ships about it, but he still needed to talk to someone about everything that had happened. Fortunately for Shinn, unlike with Lunamaria, his prayers were answered when his cell phone suddenly rang. "Hello," Shinn asked as he answered the phone.
"Hey big bro, its Mayu," the younger Asuka sibling said.
Shinn's face immediately lit up with a smile when he heard his sister, but it quickly became somber once more as he replied, "Hey Mayu. This really isn't a good time right now."
"Why? Did something happen," Mayu asked, her immediately growing concern evident in her voice.
"Well, sort of," Shinn answered, and he then went on to tell Mayu about everything that had recently happened, or at least everything he could without breaking any rules or worrying his sister more than necessary.
When Mayu had heard Shinn's story, naturally she was shocked by what she had heard, especially in the case of the Sentinel declaring Team Optimus as traitors to the Autobots, and of course she went on a small rant about how the Xanthium's captain was out of his mind doing that. After she had finished doing so, Mayu simply took a breath and told Shinn, "Don't worry, big bro. I'm sure that everything will work out."
"I don't know Mayu," Shinn admitted. "These days, I'm just not sure what to think anymore on anything. I mean, my biggest heroes and inspiration have been declared traitors to their own kind, a girl I thought was a traumatized war victim turned out to be an enemy pilot who had her body messed with by the Alliance, and…it's all just so…"
"Shinn, relax," Mayu cut in. "You've never given up in anything before, especially when it came to what you believed in and what your goals were, and I know that you still believe in those first Autobots who came to Earth and saved us at Onogoro and all of the Earth. I know you'll find a way to figure out the real truth."
Shinn sighed at this and smiled as he said, "Thanks Mayu. I needed that."
"Anytime big brother," Mayu assured him. "I'll let you go so you can tune up your mobile suit or whatever it is you were doing before I called now. Hope to see you at home soon, and Mom and Dad say to try and call them some time just to let them know you're okay, so be sure to do that."
"Alright, I will. Bye Mayu," Shinn then told his sister and he then hung up, feeling a bit better as he headed out to do a bit of maintenance on the Impulse before the ship got underway again, all the while feeling much more confident after hearing his sister's words.
Around the same time, things had become rather excited aboard both the Archangel and the Omega II since Kira, Cagalli, Elita, and Bumblebee returned from their meeting with Athrun. One reason for the recent excitement was Miriallia's return to the Archangel, and her reassuming her old seat at the CIC position on the bridge. Everyone was glad to have her back with them, being an original member of the Archangel crew and all, and it just went to prove that having Miriallia back with them was a great morale booster for everyone. The only downside to this was that she would not say so much as one word on what happened between her and Dearka, but it did not stop anyone from bringing it up, especially in the case of Kira, Elita, Cagalli, Arcee, and Jazz.
Of course, there was also the information that they had received from Athrun, which explained everything that he, Yzak, and Dearka had learned from their time with Sentinel and the Xanthium Autobots, and naturally the news of Sentinel declaring them as traitors further cemented the belief that the forces who attacked Lacus and the Autobots in Orb were working for Durandal and Sentinel. The data they had received also explained everything that the three Z.A.F.T. veterans had gathered in regards to the chairman and the Prime's plans regarding LOGOS, as well as how he believed that there were some among Sentinel's forces who did not entirely believe in what their leader said, and about the fact that Sentinel was working on a secret project involving multiple different forms of energon and the Forge of Solus Prime. After seeing all this, it seemed that while they had a few questions answered, they all felt like another hundred questions had risen up in their place, and as result, Lacus felt that they might find more answers if she were to return to space. Naturally, Kira was against this idea of hers, but the pink songstress insisted that if they truly wanted a clear understanding of things, then it might help if they had someone looking into them from in space, where they could also have an easier time remaining in touch with the contacts they had in the PLANTs. After much arguing between the two, and an assurance from both Waltfeld and Aisha that they would keep her safe, Kira finally agreed to let Lacus go through with this plan, and the three all made preparations to head for the Eternal, which was safely hidden away after the last war.
Originally, Lacus had wanted to take advantage of the fact the fake Lacus, who they now knew was really called Meer thanks to Athrun's Intel, was about to return to space herself, but that idea was immediately shot down when Ratchet reminded them of the fact they could just use the Ground Bridge to send them there. Of course, sending Lacus and her two escorts into space via the Ground Bridge was not without incident, as the Omega II had to ascend to a certain altitude and be in a specific position for them to successfully send the three there, and the minute they began, they were quickly intercepted by Z.A.F.T. forces, since the position they needed to be in was in Z.A.F.T. territory. Thankfully, Kira had accompanied them in the Freedom, and he was able to disable the enemy mobile suits with ease, and ensure that the three made the journey safely.
This had actually taken place just yesterday, and at the moment, everyone was just doing their best to either keep busy to just simply pass time until they decided to move again, or was at their post doing their job. One such example of the former would be when Miriallia was on break and had decided to ask Kira about his new pilot suit, having clearly noticed it was not the same as his old one, and not just because it now wore the Orb Union's emblem on the sleeve and the Autobot emblem on the left side of his chest armor. Kira gladly explained that Ratchet and Wheeljack had designed new pilot suits and such for everyone on the ship, including Athrun and the others when they finally returned, and that they were made of a special kind of fiber that was extremely resistant to the point the suits were completely bullet proof and could even protect the pilot in case any form of shrapnel came close to stabbing them if their mobile suit was damaged to that point. To go into further specifics would either have caused Kira to bore Miriallia greatly, or just required Ratchet to explain everything in full, so he was sure to keep it as simple as he could while pointing out that she should ask said medical Autobot if she ever wanted more specific details.
Their need to fill their boredom was quickly alleviated when a message came through the terminal that shocked everyone. "The Orb Forces are gathering at Crete," Cagalli exclaimed when she heard the news.
"Which likely means they're after the Minerva and Xanthium again," Murrue added in.
"That does seem to be a likely possibility, even if we do not yet have confirmation," Optimus agreed from the Omega II's communications station.
"Not to mention there's some other things to consider as well," Jazz added in. "They're plan seems to be riding on the hope the two ships are heading for Gibraltar."
"The Alliance and the Eradicons must be getting desperate then," Bumblebee suddenly said. "Because a plan like that is not very solid without any kind of solid, reliable Intel that would indicate that there's something close to an absolute guarantee that their enemy will actually show up."
At that point, Miriallia's terminal suddenly began setting off an alarm, and the newly returned CIC was quick to check it. "It's a coded message," Miriallia announced before she read the contents of said message. "The Minerva and the Xanthium are leaving the Sea of Marmora, heading south."
That news was all the confirmation they needed that the Orb Forces were going to engage the Minerva and the Xanthium again at Crete, and naturally, everyone wanted to move out, but they all quickly remembered what Athrun had told them about, and they all quickly became more hesitant to head out knowing what would happen the minute they arrived on the scene. Everyone could feel their determination slipping at just the thought of Sentinel's declaration in regards to Team Optimus, which no doubt now held true for the Archangel crew as well, or at least, everyone except one person. "Let's head out," Kira finally declared after a moment of silence.
"Kira, are you sure about that," Silverbolt asked.
"Yeah," Kira replied as he smiled at Cagalli. "Remember, that's what Lacus said. First decide, and then just do it. It's the only way to achieve anything of real value in this world, and that's why you need to go out there, Cagalli."
Cagalli stared at her brother for a minute before she finally nodded in agreement, her determination already rising up once more along with everyone else's. That same determination quickly began to show signs of not falling again when Optimus spoke up saying, "Kira is correct in what he says. Even if the world turns against us, we cannot allow it to fall any further into the holds of darkness than it already has. Others may lose faith in us, but we must never lose faith in ourselves and what we stand for, and if we are to truly continue to stand for what we have stood for, then we must go. Sentinel, Durandal, Lockdown, this LOGOS group, it does not matter who among these individuals we face. They must be stopped, no matter the cost."
Everyone instantly agreed with this, and they were quick to race to their stations before preparing the two ships for takeoff, and the minute they had arisen from the water, they were quickly on their way to the battlefield that they were sure to find at their destination, this time, certain they were ready for anything they may encounter.
When the Minerva and the Xanthium were told to bring Stella to Gibraltar so that she could receive treatment at a specialized facility, both ships' captains were quick to point out that there was a likely chance that they would not be able to get her there, because the doctor had reported that Stella's condition was only getting worse by the day. Though they understood this, command insisted that it was all the more reason that they transport Stella to the facility where it was likely she could receive better treatment. Of course, some of Sentinel's Autobots were still a bit skeptical about this since the Z.A.F.T. ship's doctor himself admitted that Naturals were much more advanced with this sort of medical science than Coordinators were, but they were not about to argue with orders, especially if there was a chance to save that poor girl's life and give her something of a normal life afterwards, and so, as soon as everyone was ready to move, the two ships immediately set out for Gibraltar, hoping for a safe and steady journey.
Sadly those hopes were ill-placed as the ships were soon under attack, and they found themselves caught in a net placed by the Alliance Forces, the Eradicons, and the Orb Forces. The five Gundams were quick to deploy alongside their Autobot partners, with the two Zaku pilots and their partners deploying a minute later, and soon enough they were all caught up in battle against the enemy forces. Sadly, their efforts were not very fortuative, as the Orb Forces were quick to focus all their efforts on the two ships, and the Gundams and Autobots were quickly kept occupied by the Chaos, Abyss, and the Eradicons. Eventually, it became clear that they were completely surrounded and had no other options but to go straight through the forces in front of them, but even so, it did not help matters improve.
As he fired the Blast Silhouette's weapons at the enemy forces, shooting down Alliance mobile suits and disabling Orb suits as a result, Shinn's thoughts could not help but lead him to wonder if the Omega II Autobots would show up and interfere in this battle with the Freedom and the Archangel as they had before. He knew that it was probably not a good thing that he should hope that a group that Sentinel had pretty much ordered him and everyone else to consider the enemy would arrive, but he honestly felt that things would probably be better if they did. His moment of distraction though, caused him to completely miss a squadron of Murasames flying past him, and swiftly dodge both the Verde Buster's barrage and Drift's attempted interception until it was too late, and one Marasame managed to get right in front of the Minerva's bridge with its beam rifle aimed right at said section of the ship.
Just when it seemed the lone Marasame was about to fire, a single beam blast destroyed its rifle, and caused it to back off just in time for everyone to witness the Freedom swooping onto the battlefield once again with the Archangel and Strike Rouge directly behind him, but no sign of the Omega II or any of its Autobot crew members. "Orb Forces, cease fighting and withdraw at once," Cagalli shouted as the battlefield came to a standstill once again.
"Here we go again," Yzak moaned as he slashed apart an Alliance mobile suit with his beam saber before he froze with everyone else.
"Orb should never fight in battles like this," Cagalli continued on. "You won't protect anything like this! Don't be a slave to the Earth Forces, and remember the ideals of Orb, because if you lose them, then what do you have to fight for? If you do continue like this though, then I am afraid that as the true Chief Representative of Orb, I will stop you by any means necessary."
"Oh just shut the scrap up already," Blitzwing suddenly shouted through his more violent personality, and he then suddenly fired on the Strike Rouge, shocking everyone on the battlefield, but thankfully, his blasts were intercepted by the Freedom. Blitzwing was about to move and attack the blue winged mobile suit, when he was suddenly hit by a missile barrage from the side.
When Blitzwing turned to see who had fired on him, he saw the Impulse charging in with its beam javelin at the ready, as its pilot shouted, "Don't you dare attack Lady Cagalli like that, bastard!"
As he continued his charge, Shinn once again went into SEED Burst mode unknowingly, and his movements and attack patterns suddenly sky rocketed enough for him to land numerous blows against Blitzwing, allowing him to snuff out the spark of the multiple personality Eradicon. Everyone who saw Shinn accomplish this task had a different reaction, but the most dominant ones were those of Kira and Sentinel. The former could only gaze in shock and slight amazement at the sight of the Impulse's fighting strength suddenly increasing the way it did, while the latter could only smirk in approval of the young pilot's actions and how they allowed them to mark another Eradicon off the list, and soon enough, the battle was raging on once again.
Almost immediately after he dealt with Blitzwing, Shinn was quick to toss his javelin at the Abyss's cockpit, destroying it as its last shot destroyed the Blast Silhouette, which Shinn had detached before it blew up. Upon seeing how the battle was beginning to escalate once more, Shinn immediately requested the Force Silhouette be sent out, and the minute his Gundam was re-equipped, he charged in once more with Sentinel right alongside him. While that was going on, Scattershot and Crosshairs were firing everything they had at the enemy units that were attacking both their partners and their ship, when a barrage suddenly caused Rey's Zaku to become damaged, gaining his attackers' the attention of Scattershot, as the Wrecker shot down all of the mobile suits that were making a run for the Minerva once again, but it did little to stop Lunamaria from effectively becoming the only one fully capable of protecting her ship, even if Rey was still able to keep fighting.
Scattershot's moment of pause to fire on the mobile suits also caused both him and Crosshairs to miss Cyclonus, Astrotrain, Thrust, and Snowcat racing up to them, until the four had fired on them and prepared to fire on the Xanthium while the two Wreckers were forced to stop and regain their bearings. "So long ya Autobot pests," Cyclonus cackled as he primed his arm cannons.
Just before the cackling lunatic and the others with him could fire, they too were suddenly attacked in the same way as the Marasame that had recently attempted to fire on the Minerva's bridge was, and forced to back off as the Aerialbots swooped into action with a barrage. Before anyone could pause to wonder were the five Autobot flyers had come from, the Omega II suddenly burst out from the water, and the rest of the golden ship's Autobots aside from Ratchet had raced out while Hound shouted, "You punks want a piece of us, well come on then!"
"Them again," Lockdown snarled as he swung his hook arm at Sentinel, who blocked it with his shield while glaring at the newly arrived ship. The Eradicon leader only made a minor note of how Sentinel had ordered all of his forces save for Blaster's usual Mini-Cons and Tracks to deploy to the field at once as he slashed with his hook once again and then moved to engage the Freedom, thinking that taking out one of the other Autobot team's allies would throw them off balance.
Sadly, this did not go unnoticed by Kira or by one particular Autobot, as Lockdown was immediately intercepted by the Battle Axe of Optimus Prime. As soon as Optimus had forced Lockdown back, he opened fire to put some more distance between them before raising his axe once again to block an attack from Sentinel. "You never learn do you Orion Pax," Sentinel snarled.
"I have learned more than enough to know who the true traitor to the Autobots is," Optimus retorted as he pushed Sentinel back. Soon enough, a second three-way battle of leaders was underway, which was soon followed by similar such battles between all Transformers, and upon seeing this, Sting thought that he could finally sink the Minerva with his Chaos Gundam while all the others were distracted, but unfortunately, that was proven wrong the minute he was shot down by a combined effort of the Savior and the Blu Duel.
As he and Heine prepared to move to their next targets, Yzak could not help but notice how some of the Xanthium Autobots were not engaging the ones of the Omega II as quickly as others, but rather instead were simply putting a majority of their focus on either defending the two ships or fighting the Eradicons. Two such examples of this were Smokescreen and Defensor, as the former was doing everything he could to stay in the fight while avoiding any chances of fighting fellow Autobots at the same time, while the latter was focusing solely on Menasor and did not wish to engage his other fellow combiner because of the results that had occurred in the previous battle when there was a three way battle between three combiner teams. One final example of this was immediately brought into the fight when Scattershot noticed how he was fighting.
Upon seeing this, the Xanthium Wrecker leader immediately shouted, "Crosshairs, stop wasting ammo on those little fools, and fire on those traitors now!"
"But I have to," Crosshairs started to say as he glanced over in Lunamaria's direction, just as the girl scattered a Marasame squadron that had slipped past the Strike Rouge, who's pilot had proven true to her word as she immediately engaged the Orb Forces the minute they did not heed her words.
"I don't give a frag what you think," Scattershot shouted. "Our orders are to either apprehend or destroy Orion Pax and his fellow rebels, and while we are also Guardians for the little humans, that doesn't mean we have to protect them from every little thing, only the most serious threats. Now open fire on them!"
Crosshairs looked to Lunamaria's red Zaku Warrior for another minute, sparing a glance at Rey's Zaku Phantom as he did, and then simply lowered his head and nodded before he whipped out his second pistol and fired on Bulkhead, who had started to go toe-to-toe with Crumplezone just before Crosshairs had attacked them both. The two combatants were quick to dodge the paratrooper's shots, but they were not so fortunate to completely evade his follow-up attacks. Seeing how effective this was, Scattershot smirked for a minute while he thought to himself Now if only Drift would take orders from someone other than Sentinel so easily. Sadly, he was quickly stirred from his thoughts when an explosion from the Minerva rocked both the ship, and the two of them from the resulting blast wave.
Once the two were able to recover enough, they looked to see that one of the Marasames had pulled a kamikaze move against the Minerva, and though she had tried her best to stop the Orb machine, Lunamaria was not able to do anything at all when she was suddenly bombarded by an ice beam from Snowcat, which was followed up with a blast from Sideways. The end results of this were Luna's Zaku being seriously damaged, and the girl herself sustaining serious injury. "You know, for guys who're supposed to be guardians for these humans, you Autobots sure aren't doing a great job," Snowcat yodeled, mockingly.
That turned out to be the thing that pushed Crosshairs over the edge, and the Wrecker immediately raced towards the two Eradicons as he shouted, "Damn you both to the Pits!" The minute Crosshairs had finished his curse, he leaped off the Xanthium in the direction of Snowcat and Sideways, and then waited until the last second before deploying his parachutes and opening fire on the two with everything he had.
"Yodel-yodel…uh-oh," was all Snowcat could say before both he and Sideways were hit by the entirety of the barrage, leaving barely enough of Sideways for him to escape back to his ship and nothing of Snowcat besides his severed arm. Seeing his work was done, Crosshairs released his parachutes and dropped back down onto the Xanthium to resume his previous duties. While the battle continued to rage on around him though, Crosshairs could only hope that what happened just now was the last of the tragedies to take place at least in this battle.
Shinn had just taken out another group of Eradicon drones and Alliance mobile suits while disabling some Murasames and Astrays, when he heard the explosion from his ship. "Minerva, are you alright," Shinn immediately shouted.
"We're fine, but Rey's Zaku has been damaged, and…" Meyrin replied, hesitating before she brought up her sister. "Lunamaria's been hurt."
Shinn immediately froze for a minute when he heard what the younger Hawke sibling had said, and then narrowed his eyes in anger before he demanded, "Send out the Sword Silhouette. I'm taking out the enemy battleships."
"Roger," Meyrin replied, and not a minute later, the Impulse had re-equipped and changed colors once again, and then headed after the Orb ships, making sure to warn the crew members to evacuate just as he landed atop each vessel and sliced them apart.
Shinn was not the only one who had heard about what had happened to Lunamaria and Rey, and the moment that Heine and Yzak had heard, they too were quick to unleash hell upon any enemy that crossed their path. One such enemy would have been the Freedom, had Athrun not charged in ahead of the Savior and engaged Kira himself at the last moment. "Kira, stop this," Athrun shouted. "I told you guys to go back to Orb, and yet you go and pull this again!"
"Athrun," Kira tried to say, but Athrun was not going to listen.
"No! Just stay out of this, Kira," Athrun shouted, signaling Kira on what he needed him to do as he did. "All your interfering does is bring chaos to the battlefield, and having the Omega II Autobots here is only makes things even worse!"
Kira was quick to catch on to Athrun's hidden message, and immediately replied, "I understand that Athrun, but right now, it doesn't matter, because at this moment, even if they don't show it, Cagalli and Optimus are both crying their hearts out. Cagalli is crying because all of this is exactly what she feared, and Optimus because he is now being forced to fight yet another friend who seems to have fallen into darkness along with 'Bots that he has fought alongside of at one point or another. If anyone were to say that all these sacrifices, that this and any other battles that force Autobots to fight against one and other in an Autobot Civil War, is the fault of Orb, Cagalli, Optimus, and his team, then they would be attacking the very things that Cagalli is trying to save, and the very things that Optimus has always stood for! If that is the case for you, Athrun, then you leave me no choice. I must defeat you!"
"Then by all means Kira, show me just how strong those beliefs really are," Athrun shouted in reply, and the two brother Gundams charged each other as both pilots entered SEED Burst at the same moment. What followed was not a battle between mobile suits, but a duel between best friends, between brothers, the likes of which that none had seen since the two ace pilots fought against each other in the previous war, but this time around, it was clear that the Freedom seemed to have the upper hand, as it quickly outmaneuvered and outmatched the Justice at nearly every turn. Even when Athrun separated the wing pack of his machine in an attempt to confuse his opponent, Kira was quick to counterattack by using the Freedom's railguns to destroy the pack.
Finally, the battle came to a head when the Freedom landed a powerful blow against the Justice with one of its beam sabers, severing both one of the red mobile suit's legs and its arm. The shock from the blow had thrown Athrun off balance for a minute, and that was minute that Kira quickly took advantage of by pulling out the Freedom's second beam saber in a reverse grip, and knocking the Justice out of the air completely, destroying the mobile suit in the process. "Sorry Athrun," Kira whispered to his friend before he turned the Freedom to help his sister.
As he sat in his destroyed mobile suit's cockpit, managing to shut down the Energon Reactor Core before it was too late, Athrun somehow knew what Kira had said, and simply smiled as he whispered, "Don't be, Kira. It was what was necessary."
At first, Yuna had been excited when it seemed that they were going to finally sink the Xanthium and the Minerva, cackling like a madman and insisting that they were doing the right thing in the same manner, but when Todaka ordered his ship to move forward, he was immediately thrown for a loop. Todaka simply insisted that he was simply getting the job done, and the ship proceeded forward. Eventually though, the Minerva had opened fire on the ship, and they were quickly beginning to sink. "Hey Todaka, what the hell do you think you're doing?! We're sinking," Yuna demanded as he grabbed the Orb captain by the collar of his shirt.
"Lord Yuna, please abandon ship," Todaka simply said in reply before he turned to his crew and ordered them to do the same. "I will try to carry out your order to destroy the Minerva to the very end. I will take the blame for the ships and soldiers that we've lost. With this act, Orb's bravery will be unquestioned, and the whole world will know what we did here!" Todaka then broke Yuna's grip on him when he saw that his words had the desired impact, and then threw the foolish man against the door, before he ordered his men, "Escort the commander in chief to safety. All of you are to abandon ship as well. That's an order, not for Yuna Roma, but to protect our nation!"
Todaka's men hesitated for a minute before they all saluted their captain and began to carry out what they all understood to be his last orders, save for Amagi. "I'll remain behind with you, sir," Amagi told his commanding officer.
"No."
"I must insist."
"I said no," Todaka snapped at his second in command as the other soldiers and Yuna left the room. "I'll take full responsibility for this. You're in charge from now on."
"Sir, no," Amagi tried to argue, hoping to convince his commander to come with them as their ship continued on with its collision course for the Minerva.
"If you're so eager to lay down your life, then gather together those who feel the same and go to the Archangel and Omega II," Todaka then told Amagi as he placed a hand on his loyal second in command's shoulder. "One day, I know they will find the right path for everyone, and they will succeed in saving our world from itself and the dangers it doesn't realize that it's facing. Please Amagi, do this for me and for all those who gave their lives pointlessly today."
Amagi hesitated for another minute until finally he nodded, showing that he would grant that last request, and immediately headed for the lifeboats so he could join the rest of his comrades in abandoning the Takemikazuchi. As they were all abandoning ship, Cagalli had seen what the ship was doing and immediately had the Strike Rouge race over, begging whoever was left on the ship to stop what they were doing. Just when she was nearly at the ship though, she had to pull back to avoid a beam blast that would have likely only grazed her, and she then looked to see that the Impulse was the one who had fired on her.
"Lady Cagalli, please stay back," Shinn requested, much to Cagalli's surprise. "This is their choice, and how they have decided to make up for the wrongs they feel that they've committed. I'll try to save as many of them as I can, so all I ask is that you don't strengthen their burden by letting them see your tears. Please go."
Cagalli hesitated for a minute, allowing those very tears to fall without hesitation now, but in the end she could do nothing more than nod and acknowledge Shinn's request and turned away both so she could return to the Archangel before it began its retreat from the battlefield along with the rest of its allies, and so that she would not have to see any more of the horrible loss that was unfolding.
When Shinn saw that the Strike Rouge was clear, he turned his attention towards the cockpit, thinking that the ship was now completely abandoned, but before he struck with his Gundam's swords, he saw someone was still on the bridge and hesitated. "You need to get out of there! You won't survive otherwise," Shinn tried to call out to the captain of the ship.
"As you told Lady Cagalli, this is my choice son," Todaka replied when he heard Shinn's pleas. "So just stop hesitating and make it quick."
Shinn froze once more when he recognized the voice of the man who had helped him and his family to safety after Bulkhead had saved their lives, and he could then do nothing more than cry out in agony and weep as he slashed through the ship's cockpit. The Impulse then flew away as its pilot continued to shed tears of sorrow at what he just had to do, and the members of the Orb Forces, the Alliance Forces, the Archangel and Omega II, Kira, Cagalli, and Athrun all saluted both the ship and its captain for the sacrifice that he had made for the future of the world. The Battle of Crete was now effectively at an end.
When he heard of the results of what happened at Crete, Djibril was furious to say the least. Not only had they effectively been defeated, but the Archangel and Omega II had shown up again to cause trouble, which was why he made sure to make it clear to Neo Roanoke that the next time he encountered those ships, the captain was to destroy it. It did not help matters that they had also lost Auel along with a few of the Eradicons as well, but he would admit that after what the Orb ship had done, the world would have a general idea of how far they would go to destroy the enemy. At that moment, Djibril felt that he could not take much more bad news, especially given the fact he had to stomach Lockdown's presence via holo-communication as he read over the report, and thankfully, he was about to receive some form of good news.
"Lord Djibril," a scientist by the name of Joshua Joyce called out over his computer.
"What is it, and for your sake Joyce, it had better be good news," Djibril warned the man.
"It is, sir," Joyce assured Djibril. "We're nearing completion on Project: Nemesis."
Now that was definitely good news in Djibril's eyes. He threw a smile to the head of said project as he said, "Excellent. That's effectively the first bit of good news I have heard all day. How soon can we deploy?"
"Actually, it may be a little while longer," Joyce replied. "We are having a minor setback in reference to the main project."
"What kind of setback?"
"See for yourself, sir." A minute after Joyce said that, the image of the man's face was replaced by an image of what could only be a massive Transformer with dark purple and black armor, with a set of wings on its back that were folded up in a downward v-shape, and a head that had a set of three horns on top while its optics were darkened, and mounted on its right arm was a large cannon.
"What the hell is this," Djibril demanded. "I specifically said that the first unit from Project: Nemesis was to be designed in the exact image of Optimus Prime, so why the hell does that thing look like Megatron?!"
Djibril was correct, as the machine did bear a striking resemblance to the Decepticon leader, but the main difference was the color of the armor and the fact that it had an extra bit of muscle mass to its body than Megatron did, and the cannon was more sleek in its design than said warlord's Fusion Cannon. "We're not entirely sure what the problem is sir," Joyce reported. "We've been rendering, scrapping, and re-rendering the unit constantly, but no matter what we tell the computer, it always seems to come out similar to, if not exactly, as the image you are looking at. We tried to see if there was something we missed when we were analyzing the corpse of Megatron, but from what we can tell, there's nothing left to find."
"Well clearly you're missing something," Djibril retorted. "So go back, check the computers for bugs, and the corpse for anything that might even slightly indicate what the problem is, and…"
"Sir, that's just it. When I said that there's nothing left to find, I meant literally," Joyce suddenly interrupted. "When we checked it out just recently, all the results we had received showed no signs of the body ever even functioning at all. It's almost as though the thing is just an empty shell."
That was slightly confusing, but Djibril just waved it off and then ordered that they leave the first machine as it is when it was finally completed, and then attempt to build the second one in the way he wanted them to. After Joyce gave confirmation of the orders and signed off, Lockdown's hologram looked to Djibril and simply said, "That does not seem like a good omen."
"I don't care what you think," Djibril retorted. "Project: Nemesis will be the key to ending this, alongside the Destroy if necessary. I take it you are proceeding with the measures you said you would take if it came to the point we would need the Destroy?"
"They have already been completed," Lockdown assured Djibril. "Not even one Autobot will be expecting what is to come when the first Destroy is deployed."
"Excellent," Djibril smirked. "That will be all for now then, Lockdown."
"Before I sign off though, I must ask," Lockdown suddenly said. "Exactly how did you acquire the source of power you intend to use for powering the units of Project: Nemesis? The Energon of Earth alone is difficult for humans to come by given how protective the Autobots are of it, but the fact that you acquired even a small amount of Dark Energon is certainly fascinating."
Djibril remained silent for only a few seconds until he finally replied, "To be honest, it was actually quite a strange and fortunate coincidence. We were scouting out a place for a new lab when we stumbled upon it. You may find this hard to believe, but it actually seemed to be coming out of volcano as it neared its eruption."
AN: Well there you have it. Some Eradicons are dead, there was the whole thing with Todaka, which while different from the original version in some ways is still pretty much the same admittedly, Cagalli showing how serious she is about stopping Orb by saying that they need to either back off or fight against her, and, hey look at this! References to Transformers: Age of Extinction and some hints at what is to come later on down the line! For those of you who caught those references to said movie, good for you, for those of you who didn't, go back and watch the movie again and then re-read this chapter. It should make sense to you then.
As for me killing off the Eradicons, well as much as I hate killing off characters, as I have said before in the past, I must admit that I had always intended for most, and I do mean MOST, of the Eradicons to be killed off by the end of this story. Some of them will survive to return for the final story, but don't go expecting your favorite ones to survive if you have any. With this chapter, we are getting closer and closer to the end of the first half of this story, at which point the focus of heroes will be officially shifting, but don't worry, I'll be sure to make it clear when we get to that point.
Finally, who was able to catch the little meaning behind dark energon erupting from within the Earth means? Huh, come on show of hands...oh wait, never mind. Well if you did catch it then good for you, but please don't mention it in a review and give away any possible spoilers for everyone who doesn't know. Now then, onto the preview!...
Stella's condition continues to deteriorate, which causes Shinn to take actions that may lead to the end of his career in Z.A.F.T., and to more problems in the near future. The results that follow are all but devastating, as a great terror rears its ugly head alongside a legendary warrior that has every Autobot worried for the battle to come when they face him. What sort of terror is it that has even Optimus and Sentinel worried about what the battle will bring, and what will end up being the fate of Shinn? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime: Destiny Sentinels…Chapter 14: Massive Terror. Impulse, be ready to brave the evil that is to come!
Please read and review, and I'll see you next time!