Gundam SEED: The Keshitai
A Kido Senshi Gundam SEED Fan Fiction by Prayer Reverie
Contact: prayerreverie(at)yahoo(dot)com
Summary: The heroes of the war set off to stop a vicious group from starting another! The fate of the Earth and the Colonies rests on their shoulders. KL, DM, AC, Y ... uh ...
This will be AU, thanks to Destiny (Well Phase 05 is out, and it looks like a good setup for 6), however try to think of this story as a side-story, or a filler story much as Battlefield of Pacifists and Ground Zero was for Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED in any way (although some days I wish), but any Original Characters and Original Mobile Suits are mine.
Rating: PG-13. I don't plan on mincing words and there will probably be some descriptive scenes, but nothing outside of the rating boundaries. You have been warned.
Redeye84: I guess 10 Gundam units is a lot eh? Shiho is off doing other jobs, that's all.
King Arthur6687: Well, a 30-meter tall Gundam would spell trouble for anyone, and don't worry about Lacus.
Darkness Flame: Godzilla, it's been a while since I've watched that ... but a better comparison would have been the Scorpio MS from Battlefield of Pacifists from Wing. Still not bad.
Angel of Dreams: Of course Milly's a nice girl, but Kira and Lacus really need a long vacation ...
Prince Takeru: I'm going to answer all of your previous reviews in this chapter. First, thanks for pointing out my errors, I always try not to make any, but some days are harder than others. No the Four Horsemen were only talking to themselves, not broadcasting on a general frequency when they dropped in Aprilius City. Kudos for getting the Star Wars reference in Chapter 3, and so far it looks like you're the only one who's wondering how Flay's half-Coordinator brother will complicate things.
Chapter 7: Their Return
CE 72, January 1st
The 10 new Gundam units charged each other as the year CE 72 began. Despite all of the efforts to create a lasting peace, conflict had begun anew scarcely months after the last war ended.
Dearka opened fire with his "Cycler" 70mm repeating beam rifle, spraying the large unit with destructive bolts of energy. His enemy didn't bother to dodge, dissipating all of the shots with his own I-Field.
"Damn, this new one has an energy-blocking field!" Dearka warned.
"It's called an I-Field, your Veritas Gundam is equipped with it as well." Doctor Shayd informed them, appearing on-screen.
"Fine then, eat rail-cannon!" Dearka fired his other main armament, a "Jackhammer" 90mm rail-cannon. The rounds passed through the I-Field and impacted on the Trans-Phase armor.
"Well jeez, he just has everything, phase-shift, I-Field and two large bazookas." Dearka muttered sarcastically.
The Conquest Gundam, piloted by Gideon, fired his beam rifle at Yzak, who was charging in the Matrix Gundam. The XML surpassed any standard control system in terms of response time, allowing Yzak to dodge everything.
Yzak swung his beam sabers, but Gideon was faster than the average Natural pilot and dodged everything, firing at the Matrix at point-blank range. It was Yzak's skill combined with the new XML that allowed him to dodge the shot and slash the beam rifle in half. Gideon swore as he unsheathed his two heat shotels and started swiping at Yzak.
The 25 meter-tall black-colored Death Gundam was missing his shield and beam cannon from his first appearance and instead had a large double-bladed beam scythe, which he wielded against Cagalli in her Angel Gundam. For her part, the Orb Princess was trying to keep the black Gundam at range and failing as her opponent dodged every shot directed at him.
Syuu Untensu, younger brother of Syuu Hiroto, closed the range quickly and swung his beam scythe at the torso of the Angel Gundam. Cagalli didn't see the attack coming and closed her eyes, preparing for the worst. She opened her eyes, and was greeted with the sight of Aequitas' beam staff holding Death's beam scythe at bay.
"You ok Cagalli?" Athrun asked quietly.
"Athrun look out!" The War Gundam was approaching fast, the 10 meter katana ready to strike.
Cagalli fired her 120mm head mounted "Lancer" cannon, forcing Mordecai into evasive maneuvers. Athrun swung the other end of his beam staff up to hit Death, but missed as the large Gundam disengaged from his attack and regrouped with War.
The sickly-green colored Famine Gundam opened fire with her 8-barreled gatling cannon, firing at Kira in the Eternal Gundam. His Eternal was similar to the GAT-X102 Duel Gundam and the GAT-X105 Aile Strike developed during the first war. Kira dodged most of the semi-wild attack, blocking some of the rounds with his shield. He fired in return, hoping to slow the onslaught, but Kali, the female pilot of the Famine Gundam, dodged by moving as little as possible.
"I think it's time to bring closure to our relationship." Kira said, holstering his beam rifle, drawing his beam saber and charging the Famine Gundam.
Kali started to back off and fired her 8 micro-missiles from the launchers mounted on the legs of the Famine Gundam. Kira targeted the incoming missiles with his head gatter cannons and the "Beamer" beam pistols mounted in the forearms of the Eternal Gundam.
Just as Kira passed through the debris left by the destroyed missiles, Kali released her 20 shoulder-mounted missiles. Reversing thrust, Kira contemplated the situation quickly. A seed exploded in his mind, and while he knew that the missiles would probably cause minimal damage to the Eternal, it would allow the Famine to set herself up in an advantageous firing position.
Quickly pouring all power into his verniers, the Gundam shot forward, closing the range between the missiles and him. Seconds before their impact he pulled left sharply, forcing the missiles to loop around to reacquire their target. Kali grimaced at Kira and fired her gatling cannon again, hoping to slow him down long enough for the missiles to reacquire and impact.
He simply raised his shield to block the hail of fire and swung his beam saber, aiming for her 8-barreled cannon mounted over the left arm. Kali activated her arm-mounted beam saber on the right arm to block the incoming attack.
"Untensu, take down that ugly pink Gundam, I'll go for the black and beige one." Mordecai said.
"Don't presume to give me orders you coward!" Untensu spat out, aiming for Cagalli nonetheless.
"My actions during the war are of the past, while I may not have helped the Earth Alliance a lot, I certainly didn't support ZAFT and their Coordinators." Mordecai replied, hurt at the younger Syuu's response.
"Well you certainly didn't try to stop that Coordinator from using Strike while you were on the Archangel!" Untensu was letting his anger get to him, making his attacks directed at the Angel Gundam sloppy and easily avoided.
"Yaminov!." Syuu Hiroto cut in. "Finish your arguments when Armory One is in flames, not before!
"Hai, Niisan."
"Yes Lord Syuu."
Mordecai aimed for Athrun, pulling out his 10 meter katana. Athrun warned Cagalli about the incoming units and sped forwards, reactivating his beam staff to counter the blow. The War Gundam threw a punch, aiming for Aequitas' head, but Athrun deftly caught the oncoming fist with an open hand of his own.
Athrun grimace as the War Gundam activated the arm-mounted beam saber, the blade extending though Aequitas' hand and destroying it instantly. Backing off, Mordecai grinned as he sheathed his sword and activated the remaining 9 body-mounted beam sabers: the other hand, at the elbows, knees, feet and shoulders, creating something close to a beam shield in terms of coverage.
Screaming a war cry, Mordecai accelerated and started attacking Athrun wildly. The blue-haired Coordinator was hard pressed to use his beam staff one-handed, and so brought his beam-coated shield into play to fend off more attacks. He certainly wasn't going on the offensive anytime soon.
As Mordecai relentlessly attacked Athrun, the younger Syuu homed in on Cagalli, intent on ending her life. Cagalli barely dodged the rain of blows from his beam scythe, slowly moving away from her brother and friends. Untensu was amazing at dodging her shots from the beam rifle at close range, so she switched it out in favor of a beam saber.
The two continued to duel it out, and Cagalli was slowly being worn down by the larger dark Gundam. She had scored a few minor hits on the superior pilot, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to make him even pause for a second. Untensu finally managed to slice her shield in half, forcing Cagalli to arm her second beam saber in order to keep up and stay alive.
As soon as she activated the second weapon, the younger Syuu backed away quickly. Cagalli was puzzled; if he was winning then why not keep up on the offensive? Her answer came in the form of three extensional arrestors, flying out from the legs and the right forearm and rapidly making their way to the Angel Gundam.
There was no one to help her as the remote-controlled weapons struck her Gundam, one in each leg and third destroying the head. Before the weapons had even retracted fully, Untensu was zooming towards his now-disabled enemy, beam scythe at the ready. Laughing madly, he sliced off both of Angel's arms, rendering the Gundam completely defenseless. He raised the scythe for a final attack.
"Cagalli!" Kira screamed. He had been keeping tabs on the fights, but was unable to do anything; Kali kept blocking his attacks with her single beam saber. She was fast, that was evident enough.
Yzak, however was able to send the Conquest Gundam flying with a powerful side kick to the torso. Free from his opponent temporarily, Yzak raced towards the Death Gundam, getting there in time to block the blow meant to kill Cagalli.
"What the?" Untensu said, shocked he got here so fast.
Using his two beam sabers, Yzak tried to force Untensu away from Cagalli. The pilot of Death backed away slowly, trying to judge his new opponent. The Matrix's speed made up somewhat for its lack of armaments, but it wasn't enough sometimes. Untensu was almost in the same position, currently relying on the size of the Death Gundam and its likeness to the Grim Reaper to scare enemies.
The optional parts were back on the mothership, and they included a triple beam claw tipped shield, a railcannon or a mega beam cannon to replace the scythe. However, the Death Gundam still had its three extensional arrestors, giving him a slight edge over the Coordinator-piloted Matrix Gundam.
Mordecai got back into the game sooner than Yzak liked, forcing him to deal with two Gundams. His options were few thanks the armaments he wielded, but the XML would keep him alive until the battle was over. Death moved away from Matrix and War, seeking to finish his target off.
"If I'm not thorough, then what good am I?" he asked himself, raising his beam scythe again to strike.
One of Cagalli's few remaining secondary cameras let her watch it all play out. Death raised his scythe slowly and deliberately, taunting her. As soon as it reached the peak, he reversed directions and brought it slashing down quickly, screaming "YATTA!" over the general broadcast channels.
There was a red flash as the scythe started to cut into the Angel Gundam, and then the blade of the beam scythe shut off, since it was now separated from the staff portion of the weapon. Untensu looked around to see who had stopped him again.
"Don't. Touch. Her."
Untensu finally found Kira and the Eternal Gundam, just below the remains of the Angel Gundam. He had his beam rifle in the right hand and a beam saber in the left hand. The beam shield was nowhere to be found. Untensu finally heard the emergency alarm that had been sounding for the last few minutes. Zooming in, he found the Famine Gundam floating in space, her 8-barreled gatling cannon severed, her beam saber arm floating several meters away from the main unit, which had a large slash scar across the torso. A beam saber handle was nearby, evidently Kira's first saber, now discarded in his haste to rescue Cagalli.
Sparks flew from the damaged area of the Famine Gundam as Kali slowly moved away from the battlefield using emergency thrusters. The remaining Horsemen and Hiroto pulled back from their fights to assess their situation. Each side had lost a Gundam, if not the pilots inside, but the Armory One Defense Force was rapidly approaching, having finally navigated through the debris. Hiroto knew that fighting all of the approaching Mobile Suits was possible, but that was not the objective.
"Horsemen, pull back for now. Gideon, support Kali. Return to base immediately, and do not delay if you want to live." Suiting words to actions, the largest Gundam turned away from Dearka in the Veritas Gundam and poured on all speed, fleeing from the battle.
The remaining Gundams followed, with Gideon making a quick stop to grab Kali in the Famine Gundam before increasing thrust to maximum. The Aequitas Gundam moved beside the severely damaged Angel Gundam as the Matrix, Eternal and Veritas moved out in front to ensure the enemy was in fact actually retreating.
"We won the battle, but this was isn't over." Kira said softly.
"All units, return to base." Came the command from the Chon-Ji Tul.
"Let's go home." Athrun said tiredly.
-
There were mechanics and medics were on-hand to deal with any injuries and battle damage immediately as the Gundam set down one by one. The Aequitas Gundam set the damaged Angel Gundam into a suspension unit, designed to keep damaged units locked down in case of battle. The medics were already getting Cagalli out of the cockpit as Athrun left his own.
Fortunately, she had sustained no injuries other than the psychological impact of nearly dieing. If Kira had been two seconds later, she would have died. Everyone was pronounced fit and unharmed and allowed to go about their duties, if they actually had been assigned any. Doctor Shayd was asking Yzak about the XML in combat and wanted to know all of the quirks in order to improve the second generation.
Kira went straight to the infirmary, not bothering to change out of his dark blue and gold trimmed pilot's suit. The only thing that mattered to him right now was Lacus. He took his helmet off as he was riding the lift down to level 12. Closing his eyes, he ran a gloved hand through his sweat-dampened hair and tried to remember the last time he slept.
Oh, that's right, he mused, I fell asleep on Milly's shoulder for about 40 minutes. Then we hit Armory One up for prototypes and here we are now. Well at least Lacus has slept, I hope.
He entered the medical bay to be greeted by Lacus, who was awake and sitting up, Miriallia had fallen asleep, her head resting on the bed. The medical staff was conversing in a nearby room, talking about the recent battle if the phrases he caught were correct.
"Hey you." Lacus said playfully, if a little weaker than usual.
"How are you feeling?" Kira asked, lightly hugging her.
"Better now, thank you."
Kira glance over at Milly, who was still sleeping on Lacus' bed. He chuckled softly, not wanting to wake the sleeping brunette Natural girl. She moaned quietly, mumbling a few words, Dearka's name included. Kira and Lacus looked at each other in surprise, but Kira shrugged, thinking it wasn't that farfetched. Dearka burst into the room, with a frantic expression on his face.
"Kira! You've got to get up to the bridge, the Keshitai have made an ultimatum, and it involves you directly!" he said hurriedly, not noticing Milly who had been startled awake.
"Wha ... what happened?" she asked groggily.
"I'll let Dearka explain, I've got to get to the bridge." Kira said, rushing out the door, concerned what the terrorist group wanted.
"Lacus, Milly, maybe you should come also. I'll help you up." Dearka offered, still worried.
-
"Yamato, there you are. I assume Dearka told you to get up here?" Yzak said, greeting Kira once he burst out onto the bridge.
Kira only nodded, not entirely sure what to expect from everyone. Cagalli was trying to calm Athrun down off to the side of the bridge while Ron and Otto were discussing their options.
"This was a live broadcast, originating somewhere in space, presumably from their carrier ship." Yzak said, starting the recording.
"Attention all ZAFT, PLANT and Coordinator aligned forces: we, the Earth Alliance's Keshitai, will no longer stand idly by and allow such blatant attacks to continue. A new treaty had just been forged when ZAFT remnants broke most conditions and attacked with new Mobile Suit models and a new Battleship-class. In retaliation, our elite teams attempted to disable the genocidal pilots and their powerful machines, but failed. We have decided to punish the offenders accordingly: blood for blood, there is no other way." The man on the screen could be none other than Hiroto Syuu, the man formerly in-charge of the Port Arthur Asteroid Base.
The picture switched to a pilot inside a mobile suit, confirming a few weapons checks. The voice sounded like Hiroto again, and it was confirmed when he lauched. The picture changed again, this time to a camera on their ship which was recording the events.
It was the tall mobile suit Dearka had fought in their last engagement, the one that Doctor Shayd had said was armed with an energy-blocking I-Field. Hiroto had called it the Apocalypse Gundam when he launched.
"Arming warhead one, target locked, confirmed safeties disarmed. Solution is final, launching warhead!" There was a flash of light as the engine propelled the unknown warhead away from the Gundam.
A ZAFT Fleet was assembling in the distance, a mix of Nazca-class high speed destroyers and Laurasia-class light frigates and several supply transports. They were unaware of their doom as the warhead sped on unopposed and undetected.
It detonated in the middle of the fleet, sending out a massive Electro-Magnetic Pulse wave before a fiery explosion engulfed two-thirds of the fleet. More explosions occurred as the ships caught in the blast exploded. The inferno subsided minutes later, showing a large field of debris and few remaining ships, most of the disabled.
"Nuclear warhead?" Kira asked, stunned.
"One of those warheads has more power than all of the missiles used to destroy the Boaz Asteroid Base. If we got Apocalypse armaments correct, then they have one more left that could easily wipe out most of the PLANTs." Yzak said.
"That was merely a taste of things to come. We are willing to go as far as we need to and pay any price, regardless of our own lives. We are the Keshitai, and we will preserve our Pure and Blue World. You can make things easier on yourselves and hand over the abomination that has the nerve to use the name Kira Yamato, and anyone associated with it. You have 12 hours." The recording ended, showing that this all happened less than five minutes ago.
Kira couldn't talk; he didn't trust himself to speak, because he wasn't sure what would come out if he opened his mouth. Lacus moved up beside him, holding one of his hands in both of hers.
"Kira ..." she said softly.
These ... these men! They are no better than Rau! An image of Rau's mask haunted Kira's mind. Closing his eyes tightly, he shook his head to clear the haunting sounds of his final battle and the words spoken by the evil man.
"Humans know only what they think they know! Envy, hate, with a hand that knows only how to pull a trigger in this world!"
"NO!" Kira yelled, pulling his hand out of Lacus' and moving quickly into the lift and leaving the bridge.
Lacus hung her head low to hold back the tears as everyone else stood stupefied.
-
A loud bang echoed through the empty corridor. Kira slowly floated backwards from the force of the punch he had thrown against the wall. His arm was still slightly cocked as it shook with anger, rage, surprise, sadness and almost every other emotion humans are capable of feeling.
He brought his arm back for another strike, screaming in rage and pain as let loose with the powerful blow.
"I wouldn't advise that." A female voice said, surprising Kira.
He pulled his punch short, but his momentum flipped him head over heels and ended up throwing him against the wall he was aiming for.
"Ow, advise what?" Kira said, rubbing his head.
"Taking your anger and pain out on a metal wall. In my experiences, it usually ends up with more anger, a bruised fist and possibly more. Talking is a much better way to solve things." Shiho explained, floating up to Kira, who was now starting to twirl.
"Yeah, sure talking is a great way to solve things, but it never lasts more than a week. The treaty was all talk until now, and now its dust in the wind." Kira rebuked.
"I assume you saw the ultimatum." Shiho said.
His emotions boiled up again, but he managed to contain them in time. Nodding an affirmative, he slowly flexed his hands, trying to relieve the tension he felt. Taking a deep breath, he finally calmed down enough to talk properly.
"Yes, I saw the ultimatum."
There was silence as Shiho looked at Kira expectantly. Kira was confused; he'd answered her question and didn't know where she was going with this. He raised his eyebrows to visibly show said confusion. Shiho finally caught on that Kira wasn't going to say much more.
"And?" she prompted.
"And what? I assume you've seen it so I don't have to explain it to you, because it would be a waste of time." Kira said, frowning.
"I don't need you to explain it to me; I want you to talk about it. This is the whole 'try-and-solve-it-by-talking' thing." She clarified.
He sighed in frustration. Finally, he relented and started.
"Just when I think that everyone has forgotten about the Mendel Colony projects, someone goes and brings it up again. Every time this happens, I'm afraid for those I care about. Hiroto has demanded all of my friends along with me. I'm not afraid to fight to protect what I care about anymore, but I'm afraid for those I care about. The last thing I want is too see someone hurt because of me." He started.
"Cagalli, Athrun, Lacus, Miriallia, Sai, you, even Dearka and Yzak; all of them I don't want to see get hurt. I know I can't protect everyone and everything all of the time, but I can try." He continued.
"But sometimes one person has to take matters into their own hands, regardless of the cost, and hope that the end was worth the means. I believe that the Keshitai are using a skewered version of that statement to justify their attacks." He finished.
"And so what are you going to do about the enemy?" she asked, wanting to see if he had changed.
He lowered his head, his brown hair covering his eyes and upper part of his face. After a moment of deliberation, he looked up again, straight into Shiho's eyes. She gasped as she saw his eyes, pupil-less, having crystallized into seed mode.
"I'm going to kill them all."
-
Ron and Otto called the other pilots and Lacus and Milly into the briefing room to discuss their options. Ron had sent for spare uniforms for Milly and Lacus, so they could change out of their formal wear and hospital clothes. Once the two girls had changed, they all took their seats around the table.
"So we know now that their newest Gundam is codenamed the Apocalypse Gundam, and it's capable of at least one more nuclear attack. It's fairly obvious that their target will be as many PLANTs as possible." Ron said, explaining the situation.
"We will gather what's left of the fleet to make a stand against the Keshitai. The Chon-Ji Tul will head up the fleet and lead the attack to stop them from using the second nuclear warhead. Right now we probably have more suits than pilots, so I wish to ask you all if you will fight." Otto continued.
We have no choice but to fight! Patrick Zala's words echoed through Athrun's head as he listened to the senior officers of the Chon-Ji Tul try and outline a plan.
"I'll fight." Athrun said, earning looks from everyone in the room.
"Me too." Yzak said, supporting his former squad leader.
"Count me in." Dearka added, always ready to lend a helping hand.
"I'll go, but I think the Angel needs more repairs." Cagalli volunteered.
"Then it's settled. Now where's Kira? He disappears more than P does." Ron asked.
The door opened and the group turned, expecting to see Kira. It was Shiho, out of breath, standing there with a very worried look on her face. Athrun and Lacus stood up.
"We have a problem." Shiho said.
-
"Kira Yamato, Eternal, launching!" The Eternal Gundam screamed out of the hangar bay and shot off into space, blasting away at full throttle.
"Where's Kira?!" Athrun demanded, just missing the launch.
"He just launched, said he had special orders from Captain Mycholuk." The technician replied, closing the hangar doors.
"Damnit, get the Aequitas ready to fly, I'm launching now. Otto, tell Captain Ron about this ..." Athrun started towards his suit, but turned to address Otto.
But Otto wasn't there.
"Aw, damnit." He cursed.
The hangar doors reversed direction with no warning, opening again to allow a suit either to launch or to land. A dark blue and black GuAIZ unit stepped onto the foot launchers and quickly shot off into space, following the Eternal Gundam's tracks.
"Whose suit was that?" Athrun asked, turning back to the tech.
"That was Commander Otto's, sir. It's his personal customized suit."
"Continue with my orders and get the Aequitas ready for launch please." Athrun said again, turning to change into his pilot's suit.
"And get the Matrix online." Yzak said, coming out of the lift.
"And the Veritas." Dearka added.
Athrun smiled lightly, and was joined by his old comrades.
-
Kira's proximity alarm beeped as his sensors detected four mobile suits launching. Two of them were over 20 feet tall; they had to be the Death and Apocalypse Gundams. The other two were quickly identified as the War and Conquest Gundams.
I guess the Famine is down for repairs, much like Cagalli's Angel Gundam. Still would be a fair fight, four on four. But this is something I need to do alone.
Another proximity alarm went off, alerting him to an incoming friendly suit from behind.
What the? That's not a Gundam, so who is it?
"Identify yourself!" Kira demanded.
"You should know who this is, Kira Yamato." Otto replied, arming his weapons.
Great, they send someone in a GuAIZ to die. Just great.
"Go back to the Chon-Ji Tul, I don't want anyone to die out here today." Kira said, arming his own weapons.
"Where I fight, I fight alone, where I walk, I walk alone. Most fighters adopt that as their motto, unwilling to let anyone care for them. But you have people who care about you Kira, and they know, and I know, that you care about them. Your friends need you Kira, more than ever now." Otto argued.
"That is why I'm doing this, because they need me." Kira replied, targeting the Conquest Gundam first.
"They need YOU, not your actions! You're getting into a fight that you have no chance of winning, and you know that! Now pull back!"
Too late!
A massive blast lit up space, as the Death Gundam fired his Mega Beam Cannon at the incoming suits.
A/N: Whew, how long was that, more than a week? Again, the World of WarCraft Beta test (now in Open Beta) has been eating at more of my time, and combined with work, left me with very little time for anything else. But here it is an update for my faithful readers! Please, Read and Review, and don't be afraid to constructively criticize.
P.S., anyone know how to spell "stop it" in non-kanji Japanese?