Episode 20: The Monster Called Jealousy

With the development of the Eternal System, the terror of General Calnus was finally abated, but at what cost? Advisor Aelan Marcus, unable to control the immense power granted by the Eternal System, has lapsed into a comatose state.

While the Earth continues on its path of peace, the North Am Elite Unit waits anxiously for Ventrali Gorrs next move…

"What are we going to do now that Calnus has been eliminated?" A woman's voice queried, "He was a major factor in our plans for revenge."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, my friend." Ventrali Gorrs smirked, "Sometimes the best ideas just happen all on their own."

"I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"Aelan has obviously used the technology from Project Eternal. It is the only logical assumption for his violent outburst against Juggernaut."

"What is going through that head of yours, Ventrali?"

"Unlike you, where I intentionally lowered the effects, Aelan has most likely utilized the full brunt of the Eternal technology. It makes him very unstable. Just the right push could cause him to totally snap."

"And with the power of that suit of his…"

"He'd completely obliterate my brother, himself, and the whole goddamn Earth. Then, I can finally be at peace."

"Question. How do we get him to…"

"Snap? That's where you come in. We'll put him in a position in which he HAS to use the Eternal technology. Then, we give him plenty of reason to keep fighting."

"I see. Very well, I shall do as you request."

"Thank you… Yeara."

St. John Paul Memorial Hospital, New Richmond

Noin stepped inside the infirmary wards, and directly to room 212. She knocked on the door gently, and heard Kiron gently mutter for her to enter. Noin gently pushed the door open, and looked inside before entering.

Aelan Marcus, a man who had always seemed full of life, was lying motionless on the bed, his body up to his chest covered in a thin blue blanket. Unlike Relena, there wasn't any of the grotesque tubes connected to him. Kiron was on his left side, closely monitoring any changes in Aelan's biorhythm. And on his right side, sitting in a chair was… Lady Une?

Noin looked in her direction, and asked, "What are you doing here?"

The Preventer looked over at Noin, and answered, "When I had heard what had happened, I came to North Am as soon as I can." She then turned her head back in Aelan's direction, and said, "Now I know how Trieze must have felt when I came in like this."

"Is there something going on here that I don't know about?" Noin questioned, "I mean, Aelan's not…"

Une chuckled slightly, and retorted, "No, that's not exactly what I meant. I'm just saying that I understand, that is all…"

"Whatever." Noin answered distractedly, almost forgetting why she had come. She turned to Kiron and asked, "Any change?"

Kiron shook his head, "None, neither for the better or the worse. I'd almost go for anything right now. I mean, I can at least try to do SOMETHING if his condition worsens."

"That's all I wanted to know. I really wish I could stay longer, but I really need to get back to the offices." Noin admitted sadly, "I was volunteered to take over some of Aelan's duties… pure joy."

Offices of the Advisor

Aelan's secretary met Noin at the entrance to Aelan's office. "The Congressional Body called a few minutes ago, wondering why you haven't looked over the bill that was submitted yesterday."

Noin gritted her teeth, and hissed, "I am only human, trying to operate an army AND a region. I will get to it when I am able."

"Yes, Admiral." The secretary said sweetly, and trotted back to her desk in the reception area.

Trowa then walked by, and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Noin grabbed him by the collar, and she wailed, "You've got to get me out of here! I can't take it anymore! Blow up a building or something! Do something to get me out of this hole!"

Without a hint of a smile, Trowa replied, "They would not have chosen you to do this if they didn't think you were capable. Do you want to admit you are not as capable as they believe you are?"

"No…" Noin admitted, and she released the sad-looking pilot. "It's just all the inane crap that this beauracracy throws at the Advisor. How does Aelan put up with it?"

"Most likely the same way you shall. With grit and determination."

Noin entered Aelan's office, and turned on his terminal. As she waited for the terminal to load the network information, she did indeed look over the bill that the Congressional Body was in a snit about.

Part of the problem she was having was trying to decide how Aelan would answer these bills. She was quite sure that when Aelan returned that the Congressional Body would just send all the bills again, hoping that he'd overturn Noin's decisions. He probably would too…

Suddenly, Aelan's terminal beeped, drawing her attention to the screen. On the monitor, a small window opened up, with a channel prompt reading:

Are you there, Aelan?

Noin licked her upper lip, and deciding not to leave the poor person on the other end hanging, she typed in:

I'm sorry, but Aelan is not here at the moment.

Do you know when he'll be back? It's very important.

I'm sorry, but I can't say for sure.

If you are trying to cover for him after that run-in with Calnus, don't worry, I already know that he's recovering. How long will he be?

I see… well, once again, I'm not sure.

I hope you don't mind if I ask, but who exactly are you?

I am Chief Admiral Lucrezia Noin. I am taking over Aelan's duties for the time being.

Admiral Noin! Well, you do just as well. I need to talk to you as soon as possible. Ventrali thinks that I'm working for him, but I can't bear to see him harm Aelan.

And who may you be?

My name is Yeara Marcus. Aelan might have said something about me.

Yeara Marcus is dead. Who are you really?

Let me assure you, I'm not dead. Ventrali brought me back with what he calls Project Eternal. He's totally lost his mind, and wants to destroy everything that was associated with the fall of Eden. He was the one that revived General Calnus, and used him to try and destroy Aelan, Kiron, and the entire Earth.

Suppose I believe you. When and where do you want to meet me?

I'll be waiting at the North Magnetic Pole in three hours. Ventrali's little probes won't be able to keep track of me there.

Can I bring some friends along? They might want to hear the story.

I wouldn't recommend it. Ventrali might get suspicious if several suits left North Am all at once.

I suppose you're right… but why should I trust you?

I never said you HAD to meet with me, it's not like I'm holding a gun to anybody's head here. Just if you want to know what Ventrali is planning, you have to meet me. I can't risk coming to you.

At that point, the communication ended. Noin sighed, and looked at the door to the reception area, and then to the side offices where the Gundam pilots were busy doing research. She wondered if she should have them at least on stand-by.

"Why should I even trust this person who says she's Yeara? Ventrali was working on Project Eternal, but it failed. Could he have succeeded? Finally, she stepped into the side offices, and noticed Trowa as the lone pilot in the side office.

She was about to call out to him, but decided that it would probably be best not to explain that she was going out to meet a potentially dangerous person with no backup.

Magnetic North, Northern Canadian Territories…

As Noin, in Cygnus, approached the Magnetic North, she noticed her sensor arrays starting to flicker. Soon, over half of her sensor bands were completely off-line. 'A perfect place to hide.' Noin noted to herself, 'Or to hide things.'

About thirty kilometers ahead, Noin noticed a speck that was getting increasingly larger. Another golden mobile suit, with green panels, slowly became visible. It must be the person who claimed to be Yeara Marcus.

"Are you Admiral Noin?" The woman in the green suit asked.

"I might be. It depends on how you died." Noin replied questioningly.

"I suppose you're checking to make sure I am who I say I am." The woman on the other end chuckled. "I'll be quite honest when I say I'm not sure. I assume that something from the ceiling fell on me. I was to busy kissing the floor from beneath a beam that collapsed to look up."

Noin nodded, and her story seemed to fit as Aelan described it. "So what do you want to talk to me about? I want to check if Aelan is all right, so I can't stay long."

Somewhere unknown…

"You may think that I can't figure out what's going on, Yeara, but trust me, I can tell quite easily. Just in case you are having second thoughts, let's just up the dosage…" Ventrali then adjusted a small knob on his control console, and waited.

Back at Magnetic North…

"What has happened to Aelan…?" Yeara asked softly, then Noin noticed a sudden change. Her suit started to tremble slightly, much like Aelan's had before he collapsed…

"Yeara, is everything all right?"

The shaking stopped, but Yeara definitely was not all right, "And why are YOU visiting him?"

"Pardon?" Noin asked, confused.

"Do you think that you can just waltz in on my husband to see if he's all RIGHT? What sort of slut do you think you are?"

Noin was totally taken aback, "Aelan is a good friend of mine… He's the one who gave me the position I have…"

"A GOOD FRIEND, HUH? I'll just BET that you didn't want to GIVE him anything in return, RIGHT?"

Noin had seen enough of Calnus and Aelan to figure out what was going on. "It is all that crap from Project Eternal. You, or someone else, are making you lose control of yourself. You have to focus, Yeara!"

"I DON'T NEED TO FOCUS! I JUST WANT TO KILL YOU… YOU… LITTLE SLUT!"

Noin barely had time to dodge the attack from Yeara's mobile suit. Noin had the terrible feeling that she would be incapable of fighting this enhanced suit alone, but at the same time, would have to go several kilometers before she'd be far enough from the magnetic center so a transmission could be effective. Either way, she could quite possibly be dead before she could do anything of consequence…

Back in New Richmond…

"Trowa!" Hilde shouted to the pilot as he passed the steps to the hangar bay.

"What is it, Hilde?" Trowa asked almost coldly.

"Have you been around all this time?"

"Yes, since you and Duo left on your little picnic."

Hilde looked around the hall, then asked, "Did you notice anyone suspicious around the hangars?"

"No… why?"

"Because Phantom is missing, and none of the tech crews claims to have taken it. Yet, just a half-hour ago, according to the computers, it was launched from the hangar…"

Kiron was jolted from his daydream to notice a spike in Aelan's neural activity. Soon, the jolts became more and more common, and after fifteen minutes, had leveled out totally. Aelan's life signs followed, returning to normal. Too bad Une had left a few hours ago. She wanted to be here when he woke up

Kiron smiled as the Advisor opened his eyes and said, "What happened?"

"It's a long story." Kiron replied, "How much do you remember?"

"Up until I collapsed." Aelan admitted, "That Eternal System was way beyond what I expected. My mind simply wasn't prepared for it."

Kiron smirked, and answered, "Neither was your body. You collapsed of physical and neural exhaustion."

"Remind me never to do that again."

"Never do that again."

Aelan gave a wry smile, and said, "Thanks…"

At that moment, Kiron's comm unit beeped. "Can I be of service? Yes, Trowa, he just woke up… Oh dear… all right… are you sure? Okay… I'll tell him." He put the comm back in his pocket, and replied, "That was Trowa. Someone has stolen Phantom."

Aelan rubbed his head, still throbbing somewhat, "Wonderful…"

"That's not all." Kiron warned, "Supposedly, Cygnus is gone as well. Noin left in such a hurry that she forgot to turn off your terminal. She went to the Magnetic North Pole, meeting with someone who claims to be Yeara Marcus."

Next Time:

Aelan rushes back to action, hoping to meet the woman who says she is Aelan's dead wife. Meanwhile, Noin is stuck in a hopeless battle against the same woman, when Phantom arrives. But if Hilde isn't piloting it, who is? When Aelan finally arrives in Commadore Eternal, the woman known as Yeara springs her trap. With reinforcements too far away to be of any use, Aelan is forced to use the Eternal System once again…

Coming in Episode 21: The Beginning of the End