Episode 28: Barreling towards Disaster
The cast of characters in the developing galactic stage gets a little larger. An itinerant race known only as the Xerobim have started to play their hand once again, but it appears that they have much more permanent solutions in mind.
Can one group cast the influence to avert the end of two races, or will the mysterious desires of the Xerobim win out in the end?
Hangar Bays below the North Am Advisor Offices…
Something in Noin's mind immediately knew that there was bad news even before the cockpit to Commadore Eternal opened. As the rest of North Am's Elite Unit waited in front of the elevator leading to the golden mobile suit, Aelan's grim face as he was lowered to the floor did not bolster Noin's feelings of dread any.
"I take it this means war?" Noin asked softly.
The blank expression Aelan gave her nearly caused Noin to sob. She had never seen such an empty face, so devoid of life or vitality. His voice was nearly as flat as his features, but not by much, "If only it was that simple…"
He pushed right by Duo and Trowa without as much as a hello, and Noin asked a little louder, "Well? Should we prepare for war or not?"
Aelan didn't even bother to turn around. "The current issue is one that need not be addressed immediately, as it will no doubt take much time for my father to implement his plan. I just need to be alone for a while…"
Aelan heard a knock on his office door, and seriously thought about telling them to stop bothering him. However, logic quickly dictated that despite being in a sour mood, he had no right to impose that bitterness on others.
"Enter." Aelan replied simply, and when the door opened, he took one look at the face on the other side. With a disbelieving look, he queried, "What are YOU doing here? Shouldn't you be…"
Lady Une chuckled softly, then answered, "Quite simple. I never left North Am. Noin told me you were in a bit of a funk, and was wondering if I could manage to pry out what is troubling you."
"She could have asked herself." Aelan replied indignantly.
"Well, not to sound rude, but you don't exactly appear to be all too… pleasant to talk to at the moment."
When Aelan didn't reply, Une realized that something was VERY wrong. "What has happened. What could possibly be so dire?"
"I… have to… kill my own father."
Une gave herself a mental slap when she asked the obviously stupid question, "What?"
"Talor Marcus has taken control of Eden. He is going to drag both humanity and the Edenites into destroying themselves." Aelan answered.
"What purpose would that achieve?"
With a sigh, Aelan muttered, "Can you summon the rest of the Elite Unit? They might as well hear all this too."
"Damn… you've gotta be KIDDING ME!" Duo moaned, but no one told him to shut up this time around, as he was merely saying out loud what everyone else was thinking. "There's ANOTHER goddamn race of aliens out there who want to give us hell? They must be worse than Kiron… no offense." He finished humbly.
The Edenite medical technician dropped his head, and muttered, "None taken." Kiron pursed his lips slightly, and added, "So Talor is from a race of shapeshifters called the Xerobim? They are the ones responsible for the rise of the New Age of Eden…"
Aelan interrupted, "I would thank them if they weren't about to destroy us all. However, we must avert the coming cataclysm before we can even begin to address the issue of the Xerobim."
Always the perfect soldier, Heero was quick to ask for details, "How do they plan to eliminate both Earth AND Eden? A war would probably take too long, and wouldn't be totally effective."
"You're right." Aelan confirmed, activating the holographic panel on his desk. A projection of Eden appeared, and it began to play out the data it had received from the tap on the Serenity. "Eden has built a small, artificial satellite roughly the size of Earth's moon that they plan to use as a weapon against Earth."
"How do they plan on using such a thing?" Noin asked.
"The Fold Generators…" Kiron muttered.
"Well done, Kiron." Aelan nodded, "Eden has over 32,000 Fold Generators on its surface. By using them all, they would be able to generate a Fold large enough for the satellite to enter. It would emerge back onto real space right in Earth's orbit."
There was an eerie silence in the office as the satellite on the hologram appeared right in the path of the Earth. Despite most of the gathering not being experts in physical science, it was painfully clear to all what the result of such an impact would be.
The impact of even one section of the Libra would have been enough to plunge the Earth into the equivalent of nuclear winter. A meteor barely over a kilometer in diameter had eradicated over 90% of all life millions of years before. An impact with an object the size of the moon… well, there wouldn't be enough pieces of the Earth to form a dust ring…
"That plan in itself would be disastrous, but Talor must have something else in mind." Kiron noted, "I'm no tech master, but the sort of power generated by all the Fold Generators on Eden would be even more than would be needed for such a satellite."
"And you'd be right again, Kiron. Talor DOES have something else in mind. When the Fold is generated, he plans to set it up so that EDEN enters the fold, and is placed in Earth's orbit."
"Killing two birds with one stone." Noin gaped, "In one fell swoop, he will have dealt with both the Edenites and humanity."
Duo knew he wasn't a genius, but something about all of this wasn't adding up. "Wait one moment here… the Edenites are supposedly some pretty sharp people. Don't you think they'd realize that something was up?"
Aelan merely glared at him, making Duo think for a moment that he had said something wrong. The stare stared to get a little creepy, when all of a sudden he heard Aelan's voice, but the Advisor never moved his lips…
Kill Hilde.
All of a sudden, Duo was filled with a desire to kill, and with a cold expression, pulled out a pistol, and aimed it directly between Hilde's eyes.
"DUO! WHAT IN BLAZES ARE YOU DOING?" Hilde screamed, but Duo was not the least bit concerned. However, as he began to pull the trigger, Duo began to resist, and finally threw the gun away in shock. He then turned to Aelan and demanded, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU MAKE ME DO?"
"I'm impressed. It takes incredible will to reject such mental manipulation, especially when you aren't expecting it. Do not worry, I would have pulled off long before you actually did anything."
Aelan sighed, then made his point, "The fact is that my father most likely has skills that far exceed mine. By the time the Edenites would be able to retaliate, it would most definitely be too late."
"That is the situation, people." Aelan then addressed, "Admiral Noin and I will discuss what I've learned with the rest of the leaders of the Earth Sphere. Start getting yourselves into battle mode, we have no idea when we're going to need you."
The Elite Unit began to filter out, but Kiron and Une lingered. Kiron then said, "You didn't let me finish."
"How so?" Aelan asked.
"If Talor is a Xerobim, then that means that you also have the blood of the Xerobim running through you. Did he ever tell you about your heritage before recently?"
"No, but that isn't what's bothering me. I've stabbed my father in the back once before, and here I am doing it once again. As much as I hate it, I'm doing what I have to do, rather than what I want to do."
Une was immediately sympathetic. "How many times will you have to sacrifice those close to you to do the right thing? I wish I knew what the powers above are trying to do to you."
Aelan then stood, his sorrow seemingly placed on the back burner for the moment, for he replied sternly, "There is no higher power that is trying to manipulate me. The actions I am taking are what I think is best, and I will accept the consequences of those actions, regardless of what they may be."
He finally motioned for the pair to leave, and said, "Notify Admiral Noin to meet with me as you leave. There is much we will have to discuss."
Meanwhile, down in the hangar bay, Heero was making some minor adjustments to Wing Zero's auxiliary systems. He sensed, more than heard, the sound of someone below him. As he looked down, he noticed Relena, surrounded by the rest of the North Am Elite Unit.
"Heero, can you come down here for a moment. I think we all need to talk about something." Relena called out.
Heero didn't immediately respond, and didn't move from his position when he did, merely asking, "What about?"
"It's about Aelan."
Heero then pulled away from the service panel, but only so that he could look at all of them below a little more easily. "Don't you think that Aelan would appreciate if you brought any issues about him to him?"
"This is something that I want to make sure we are all in agreement on this before we bring this before Aelan himself." Relena assured him, and with some reluctance, Heero stepped down from the scaffolding, and onto the floor.
Relena waited for Heero to say something, but when he didn't, Relena finally decided to break the silence. "I'm worried that Aelan is getting a little over his head. This entire situation just HAS to be very hard on him."
Trowa surprisingly was the next one to speak, "He obviously loves his father deeply. The idea that he might have to kill him is definitely ripping at his soul."
Quatre slightly nodded, "I thought for a while that my actions had killed my father, and the pain I felt is something that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I was able to realize the truth, but Aelan won't have any truth to hide behind."
The other pilots didn't seem to have any strong opinions in the matter, although Miliardo didn't appear totally convinced. Relena noted the silence, and said, "All right, let's go up there and ask Aelan to step back from his position for a while, at least until this all is resolved."
Finally, Heero said something about the discussion at hand.
"No."
Relena paused in mid-step. "Pardon?"
"Aelan wouldn't dare back off from this, and to ask him to would merely insult him. Aelan is a lot like me in many respects, and you should know me by now, Relena. He is a man of action, and even though it might be painful, he has to do this. Aelan has made a promise to us, to North Am, and to all humanity, and he isn't going to back out of that promise now, no matter what the personal cost to him would be."
Heero looked at Relena, their eyes sharing a moment that only the two of them would ever know. Escaping the ruins of the Peacemillion and the Libra after the two ships had collided, and the promise that Heero had never forgotten. "Aelan is a lot like me… and YOU know how I feel about promises."
Relena stopped, and sort of slouched over in defeat, reluctantly admitting the truth behind Heero's words. Aelan WAS a lot like Heero, both of them would fight regardless of the cost for whatever cause they had given themselves to, even if it meant their lives and everything they held dear. "I guess you're right, Heero. Perhaps I just don't want to see anyone get hurt anymore."
Heero started to say something more, but he was interrupted when Aelan blared over the intercom for the North Am Elite Unit to assemble in the side offices.
On the top floor of the Advisor Offices, two people waited for the rest of the group. Noin looked concernedly in Aelan's direction, worrying about what all this must be doing to the Edenite. Just when he had thought his life couldn't possibly be turned more upside down, it was.
Finally, she couldn't bear not saying something. Turning her head towards Aelan, she asked, "Are you sure you can do this?"
Aelan didn't even look back, merely replying, "Remember when we attacked Eden all those months ago? I posed you with the question would you be able to kill Miliardo if you must."
Noin nodded, recalling that trauma all to well.
"You were able to put aside your personal feelings for the good of everyone else." Aelan finished, "I MUST be capable of doing the same thing if it comes down to it."
Next time…
Aelan reveals his plan to thwart his father's act of genocide. As the forces of the United Earth arrive outside Eden, Talor gives one last plea to his son. When the threat is abated, Aelan prepares to make another painful choice, and Talor warns that the assault of the Xerobim has just begun.
Coming in Episode 29: Armageddon Averted