Xenogears: Ragnarok

(The following takes place 2 years after Deus is defeated.)

BACKSTORY: THE ERA OF PEACE

After Deus's defeat, there is peace throughout Ignas. Bart has retained his standing as Prince of Aveh. Citan Uzuki has managed to create an alternate power source for the Gears; the fusion engine, which can supply unlimited power to a gear. Bart made peace with Kislev 1 year after Deus's defeat, and had slowly decommissioned 70% of all gears in his Army. Kislev also did the same. Now more industial gears, such as construction and repair gears are being bulit. A new golden age of peace reigns throughout Ignas. But there are some who do not want peace, and would rather see it destroyed…

Chapter 1

"If I could do things over, I would have stayed out of the desert." –Jason MacKenzie

"Call me trash, will they?"

Kharan Ramsus mumbled to himself as he stood on the wrecked bridge of the Kefenzeil. Somehow, he had managed to survive his own suicide, by some cruel cosmic joke. He had spent the last 2 years scheming of a way to get revenge on the ones who tried to destroy him. Now, he was almost ready.

"Soon, all will be ready, and I shall destroy Aveh, destroy the Fatima dynasty, and destroy Hyuga and Sigurd! And, as a bloody formality, I shall dispose of that schizophrenic bastard Fei, and his stupid bitch! As for the rest of them…they shall not live to mourn their friends." Ramsus laughed evily.

A Gebler officer, one who had survived Solaris's destruction, walked up to Ramsus. "General, the Devastator and the Invincible are ready for takeoff."

"Very well, let us go to Base Solaria. I would like to check on project Ragnarok."

"As you command, General"

From the depths of the desert, two Gebler Aerial Battleships rose up and headed towards the Aquavy region.

On board the battleship Invincible, there were prison cells to hold people that had been captured by the Solarians and were going to be sent to work camps, such as Base Solaria. In one such cell, Leftenant Jason MacKenzie, formely of General Maitreya's command, sat, cursing his bad luck. Ever since the day he had been captured, he had been forced to work on completing the two Gebler warships for Ramsus's insane purpose, whatever it was. Now he was being sent to some base, to do more work on some mysterious project known only as Ragnarok. Jason decided he wanted no part of it, and was preparing for an escape attempt.

"Why are you pacing back and forth like that?"

Jason looked over at his cellmate, who had asked the question. The cellmate was a young man, maybe only 18 or so. His brown hair was a little messy, and probably in need of a haircut. He was a little on the chubby side, but Jason could tell that the kid had been losing weight as a result of the forced labor.

"I'm trying to figure out a way out of here. I've had it, having to be forced to work for two years straight!"

"Well, let me help," the kid said.

"What can you do?" Jason asked, "You're just a kid! I don't even know your name!"

"It's Bob," the kid answered. "Bob Smithson. And I'm not a kid, I happen to be 18."

"Yeah, well I'm 26 so you're a kid to me," came Jason's gruff reply. "How did you get captured anyway?"

"It was about 2 years ago." Bob started "I used to be an Etone-In-Training under Billy Lee Black.

"Hey…I know him!" Jason suddenly answered "He was the priest that helped out our rebel efforts when Prince Bart needed assistance with one of his friends being in a coma…I think his name was Fei. Soon after, Billy joined up with us."

"Well, I don't know too much about any rebel effort, but it sounds like something Billy might do." Bob said. "Anyway, while Billy was on a mission with the one you call Bart, the Ethos HQ was attacked. I was present during the attack, and tired to resist using the guns Billy had given me. I failed to protect my faith. I was knocked to the ground and captured, forced to watch everybody die. I have shamed my religion."

"I got bad news for ya, kid." Jason said. "Your religion is a fake created by Solaris to get people in work camps like this one."

"NO!!! It cannot be true!" Bob shouted

"It is though…Billy told us all as much on the Yggdrasil. He seemed pretty shaken up by it. Look, if I help you escape, and you help me, I'll take you to Billy, and have him tell you the truth."

"ok…but first I want to know how you ended up here."

"Well, this all happened two years ago as well. I used to be a part of the "Fatima Rebels". I served under General Maitreya, and had a good job as a Gear pilot. After General Maitreya was listed as killed when he was fighting the Dora, I was angry that nobody had gone to confirm his death. So after we defeated Shakhan, I asked to go to the battle site, and confirm his fate. Bart agreed, and I headed out. When I reached the battle site, it looked like some construction was going on. I went to investigate, and found myself ambushed by the Gebler Knights, 5 gears of incredible strength. I severly damaged one of them before my Gear was disabled. I was then put to work building the battleship we're stuck on."

"Very interesting." Bob said. "So how are we going to escape?"

"Well, I built the door circuits for the prison cells, if I can just get to them…I just don't have anything to pry this panel off," Jason said indicating a panel near the door.

Bob produced a small dagger "Take this."

"Wait…how did you get this?"

"I found it on the ground near the construction site and I strapped it to my ankle. The guards must have missed it when they searched me."

"Good job," Jason said as he took the knife and used it to remove the panel. He quietly placed the panel on the ground so as not to attract attention. Then he pulled out a set of wires. "Now, I can disable the alarm and the door locks." Jason said as he cut a green wire, then a red wire. There was a klik noise as the door unlocked.

"I'm going to check outside, wait here." Jason said. He slowly slid the door open, and checked outside. He and Bob were the only prisoners there. The only guard on duty was facing away from him. Jason ducked back inside, just leaving the door slightly open. As the guard walked past, Jason flung the door open and attacked. He punched the guard in the side of the head, dropping the Gebler soldier to the ground. Jason checked to make sure the guard was unconscious, then he picked up the guard's rifle and pistol.

"Here, take this" Jason said as he handed Bob the pistol. "You do remember how to use one, right?"

Bob removed the pistol's clip, reloaded it, and cocked it "Yeah. So now what do we do?"

"Well, I'm going to go to the Gear hangars and try to steal a Gear and escape. Do you know how to pilot a Gear?"

"Somewhat…Billy gave me some basic training so as to combat larger Wels." Bob answered

"Good enough. Follow me" Ed said as he armed the rifle and unlocked the door from the prison chamber. The door opened up to a large hallway. At the end of the hallway, there was a branching path that took the hallway either left or right.

"The hangars are on the starboard side, so we'll take the right hand path." Jason said as he started running down the hall, Bob following close by. As they neared the branch, two Gebler soldiers rounded the left corner. Jason brought up the rifle and opened fire. The lead soldier caught three bullets in his chest and flew backwards. The other soldier began to backpedal towards cover, but Bob shot him through the head.

"Nice shot." Jason said. "Now let's keep moving."

The two of them ran down the hall and around the bend, in the direction of the hangar bays. Three more Gebler soldiers were right behind them. Bob spun around and dispatched two of them, allowing Jason to finish off the thrid with another three-round burst. They kept running until they reached the hangar.

"Well, here we are, all we have to do now is steal a couple Gears and fly outta here." Jason said as he activated the door.