Chapter 7: Ormus Stronghold
Elsa
2:15 P.M.
chaos:
"We've detected Albedo's ascension."
"I see. He did well. The lock has been opened and the obstacle removed. The rest is up to her."
"Will matters proceed smoothly?"
"She is suited for the task. There will be no problems. People always try to live a life of choices between good and evil. They make pessimism their foundation and praise misfortune and sorrow. And then they try to seek a pure heart. Yet this is nothing more than their individual view, born out of comparison with others. Is she who thinks of others right? Is he who opened the door wrong? Only those who stand in a place beyond that point can comprehend the true essence and gain knowledge of absolute truth, right Yeshua?"
I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to get caught up in his philosophy.
"Wilhelm, leave me out of this."
"Her awakening—KOS-MOS's awakening—will lead us to that summit. Don't you agree?"
"Wilhelm…"
"In any case, the intermission is over and the players stand upon the stage. All that remains is to wait for the knight to appear. And for that, it is necessary that someone play the role of the villain."
"Will he suffice for that role?" Testament…
"Do you object? The greater the suffering, the more exciting the drama."
I closed the mental connection with a frown. Sometimes Wilhelm's attitude made me wonder why I existed. I hated death and destruction. All he wanted was a good show. Times like these…made me wonder why I didn't just take a vacation.
"chaos, take a look around, will ya?" Captain Matthews asked.
I entered several things into the keyboard in front of me, bringing up a small screen. To the normal eye, there was nothing to see, but to my eyes, I saw multiple ships.
"Funny…"
Ormus Stronghold
Azaria:
I sat down in the chair next to Orgulla's commanding chair. It was a bit unusual for her to force me to the bridge.
"Any reason why you have me here?" I asked, allowing irritation to creep into my voice.
"A vessel under Vector's jurisdiction has entered Militian space. Our rightful space."
Vector? Didn't Yeshua work with Vector? I kept my expression blank.
"What are you going to do?"
"Destroy it. All hands, deploy ships and prepare to engage enemy target!"
"No!"
Elsa
chaos:
Another ship jumped out of hyperspace, bearing the Vector Industries logo. I thought Wilhelm had locked the Dämmerung down. Could it be…Shion? If it was Shion…then why was she traveling alone? Several ships appeared to come out of nowhere and opened fire on the small ship.
"No! That's going to kill her!" I blurted out.
The little ship managed to avoid all of the beams at high speed. An A.M.W.S. gated out and started firing. The ship was instantly hit on the side and was sent tumbling. No! KOS-MOS, you've got to help her! I shouted inwardly with all of my might. All of a sudden, I was looking in on Vector's Second R&D Division in the room that housed KOS-MOS's cryogenic bed. An employee walked into the room.
"What's going on?"
"It's…KOS-MOS! She suddenly started up!"
That's right, hurry! The cryogenic bed opened with a cloud of mist.
"But that's impossible. Her reactor isn't even installed."
"I…I know!"
Hurry, KOS-MOS! The walls opened up, letting sunny air in. KOS-MOS fluidly got out of her bed and watched idly as it turned into a motorcycle. A ramp appeared out of nowhere extending up to the window. She got onto the motorcycle and proceeded to rev the engine.
"Wait, KOS-MOS! What are you doing?" The Vector Supervisor asked.
"Shion," KOS-MOS said simply.
"What?"
"Shion is calling me and he…"
"Shion? Chief Uzuki is…and who is he?"
Now, KOS-MOS! KOS-MOS took off on the motorcycle into outer space, which brought my focus back to the Elsa. So far, Shion and Allen were still alive, but not for long. I tapped into the keys to open a communications channel between ships. Maybe I could try to reassure them.
"Oh…it's all over! Chief!" Allen screamed.
"I thought you were a man! Quit whining and shoot something!" Shion snapped.
One of the black ships started charging its cannons.
"Captain Matthews, can we get closer?" I asked.
"The Elsa won't be able to dodge all that fire!"
Come on, KOS-MOS…
"Is this the end?" Shion asked.
All of a sudden, a beam blew up the black ship and a motorcycle-like object gated out into our space. It was KOS-MOS! Thank the heavens she made it on time! The rest of the black ships blew up as the android came near.
"Shion. I am switching your craft to control mode B. Prepare for docking," The battle android stated.
"What? Docking?" Shion asked.
I watched in awe as the spacecraft turned into an E.S. The E.S. fired off a laser beam, wiping out several other black ships…all except for the mysterious A.W.M.S., which disappeared as soon as the onslaught began.
"I think…we're saved," Shion breathed.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Allen exclaimed.
"Enemy craft have withdrawn from sensor range," KOS-MOS announced.
I checked the area again. She was right. They had withdrawn from the area.
"KOS-MOS…thank you," Shion said gratefully.
Time for me to interrupt the fun. I tapped a key on my keyboard, making our communications link bi-directional.
"Chief, a transmission!" Allen announced.
"A transmission?" Shion asked.
"Yo, Miss Vector! That was quite a show you put on out there!" Captain Matthews commented.
"That voice!" Shion exclaimed.
"Hey? If you're alive, say something already!"
"If you don't mind, would you pick us up?"
I tapped some keys on my keyboard, bringing up the Elsa's status.
"Tony, you heard her!"
It wasn't long before Allen and Shion arrived on the deck. I had to admit I was very relieved to see the two safe and sound.
"Captain! We owe you one!" Shion exclaimed.
"Yo! Looks like you're causing trouble like always!" Matthew commented.
"Yeah, something kind of happened at First Division."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Something?" I asked.
Knowing Wilhelm, he probably knew about it.
"Yeah. I can't put it into words very well, but I felt I had to go to Old Militia."
Damn you, Nephilim.
"What?" Matthews asked.
"What? What's wrong, Captain?"
"Representative Helmer asked us to go to Old Militia, too. I don't think there was anyone else crazy enough to head there."
Jr. walked onto the bridge quietly.
"Yeah, Helmer asked me to go there, too! Besides, that's where the original Zohar is," He said softly.
The Zohar…and U-DO… I wasn't surprised when Jin walked in calmly with Canaan in tow.
"Canaan and I have business on Old Militia as well. Representative Helmer asked me to analyze Canaan's data."
Not that.
"So, everyone is headed off to Old Militia," Shion commented.
"KOS-MOS was amazing back there!" Allen exclaimed.
"Yeah, even I was surprised. But who was that enemy? It even dodged KOS-MOS's attack! I have a bad feeling about this," Jr. commented.
"Yeah, I wonder about that myself," Shion mused.
Indeed, those ships were troubling. I had never seen ships like those before.
"All right. Do you want to head to Old Militia now?" Captain Matthews asked.
"Yes, let's go," Shion replied.
"Okay, you got it! Hey, Tony! You heard that, right? Hit it!" Matthews ordered.
MOMO entered the bridge shortly afterwards, sporting her normal cheery smile.
"MOMO, can you trace the enemy fleet?" Hammer asked.
"They're headed for point E-52 at combat speed."
Wait…
"Damn, they've got some guts to be charging in there that fast," Tony commented.
The whine of the engines grew louder as the Elsa moved into a course of pursuit. KOS-MOS walked onto the bridge and stood next to Shion.
"That just shows how desperate they are. Course, at this rate, we're never gonna catch them," Matthews commented.
"Captain, I must warn you," KOS-MOS said.
"What is it? Make it quick."
"If we continue to proceed along the present course, it is highly probable that the enemy will leave a force to intercept us. It is prudent to assume that this ship will eventually suffer an extensive and unacceptable level of damage."
"I'm afraid KOS-MOS is right. We're in trouble unless we find a route where the enemy can't detect us," Shion added.
"Look, I get what you're saying, but how in the hell are we supposed to do that? This isn't a highway, you know. It's not like we can just take a detour or somethin'!" Matthews protested.
"Actually, there is a detour," MOMO said softly.
"What?"
"Really, MOMO?" Shion asked.
MOMO walked up to my console and pressed a few buttons. A screen with a visual of the double black holes guarding the column popped up.
"I've detected a small gap in the gravitational fields between the black holes. If we fly through it, I think the chances of enemy detection would drop significantly."
Nice…
"Hey, are you outta your mind?" Matthews asked.
"Right. Even if we made the slightest mistake, we'd be caught by the gravitational field and dragged into the Abyss," Shion stated.
"I guess it's impossible," MOMO said sadly.
"What? Impossible? Hey, hey, who do you think you're talking to here? There's no way Tony 'Numero Uno's' gonna turn down a challenge like that!" Tony said excitedly.
Oh…we're doomed.
"There he goes again…once that moron gets started, there's no stopping him," Hammer muttered.
"Dah! Whatever! Do whatcha want…but you'd better not even think about getting a scratch on my Elsa!" Matthews snapped.
"Don't worry! Leave it on me! MOMO, I'll be counting on you for a route!" Tony.
"Okay!" MOMO said excitedly.
Ormus Stronghold
Azaria:
I was slightly relieved when I saw that the Vector ship had gotten away safely. Orgulla wasn't very happy about it though.
"That craft…outmanned even Pellegri. I suppose it was Yeshua's doing."
I wasn't sure about that. I had no idea if Yeshua could pilot spacecraft or not.
"I have no idea, Orgulla. Now, I tire of this. Let me go back down to my cell."
"An unidentified ship is approaching the gravity well. I wonder if its your friends?"
Just my luck.
"Prepare to gate out to intercept our new guest."
Back to the Elsa
chaos:
"Whoa, radar and sonar are both dead! We're not getting any readings," Hammer commented.
"It's almost like we'd be better off flying blindfolded," Tony muttered.
"Tony, I've detected a massive distortion in the space ahead of the Elsa. A large mass is about to gate out," MOMO announced.
"What? They're gating out here?"
I pulled up the observation screen again. All of a sudden, the Ormus Stronghold appeared between the two black holes. Damnit, Ormus! This is was horribly bad timing. Everything gasped.
"What the hell is that?" Matthews asked.
Oh…Margulis owed me an explanation now.
"Damn, where were they hiding that thing?" Jr. asked.
I couldn't begin to tell you. Now, other enemy ships popped up around the damned stronghold.
"It's moving into the Elsa's flight path! 180 seconds to impact!" MOMO announced.
"Tony, can we avoid it?" Matthews asked.
"Negative! It's taking up the entire gravity well. If we screw up, we'll get pulled into the black hole," Tony replied.
We won't fail.
"They're not gonna let us through no matter what!" Jr. shouted.
A pause.
"The only thing left for us to do is to make them move. Little Master, can we take them out from the inside?" Matthews.
"Yeah…yeah, if we can get inside, that is."
"Tony, maintain present course and increase to maximum speed. Hammer, disengage all weapon safety locks. Don't worry about aiming. Just let loose with everything we've got! We're gonna dive smack dab into that thing's belly. It's time you guys showed me what you're made of."
I brought up the window for the Elsa's current status.
"You got it!" Hammer and Tony said proudly.
"Raising shields up to 100 percent, Captain," I announced.
I leaned back into my seat as the Elsa blasted off towards the Ormus Stronghold. Hundreds of beams crossed our path as we wove through.
"Firing cannons," Hammer announced.
Multiple beams shot out from the sides of the ship, destroying some of the black ships. We were a mere distance away when an enemy beam hit the left side of the ship, sending everyone forward.
"Shields are gone! Tony, do something!" I shouted.
Tony's solution caused us to have a very rough landing on the top of the Stronghold. I groaned as I scanned my window. It read 'Logical Drive Failure'.
"This is going to make hours to repair. Hammer, you've got a big job ahead of you," I commented.
Hammer groaned.
"Okay, then! That was a little rough, but we made it. There's no time to waste! Let's hurry up, get inside there, and take it out! That's a pretty big fortress, so we'll take the E.S.'s!"
And Jr. has spoken.
'Yeshua!'
Ormus Stronghold
Azaria:
"The Elsa has taken significant damage, Mistress."
Oh…Yeshua… They don't stand a chance if they can't fly. Orgulla smirked.
"All units cease fire. I will greet my guest personally. No doubt, they will try to blow up my ship. Take Azaria back to her room."
I wasn't going back to that room. Orgulla laughed and walked out of the room briskly. Two men walked up beside me, motioning for me to get up with their guns. I hope she didn't value her employees. I lashed out at the closest one with my foot, effectively striking him in the groin. Said man fell back with a groan. Without hesitation, I grabbed the other man's neck and violently twisted it to the side. As his body dropped to the floor, I retrieved his gun. I wasted no time in cocking it and emptying a bullet in the other man's skull. Orgulla's assistant looked at me in fear.
"If you value your life, you will not call someone to help you."
The woman nodded, trembling. I tucked the gun into my belt and exited the bridge. Now I was standing on a very thin walkway that traveled down several floors. The core was as the center of the stronghold, which was where Orgulla and Yeshua were headed. A violent tremor almost sent me tumbling over the edge of the walkway. The battle between Ormus and everyone else was already under way. I had to find out where Yeshua was…
I closed my eyes and focused on the bracelet.
'Yeshua…where are you?'
'Azaria? Azaria, is that you?'
I could feel his sweet relief coursing through my mind.
'Yeah…Yeshua, it's me.'
'Where are you? I'll come get you!'
'No…calm down, Yeshua. I'll get to you. Where are you headed?'
'Down to the core.'
Orgulla would be down there in a matter of minutes.
'I'll meet you down there.'
Twenty Minutes Later
chaos:
We entered the room that housed the mechanism to lower the core into the water. I almost expected Azaria to be in there waiting for us to save her. Instead, a woman dressed in the typical Ormus uniform with silver hair in a ponytail off to the side of her face was kneeling in the center of the room.
"Welcome to this holy confessional. Come in, you filth," She said, disgust evident in her voice.
"What?" Jr. asked.
"There is nothing to fear. No matter what you do, there is no escape from this place. Now, confess your sins. I will listen to anything, even from the mouths of foul beasts like you."
She must be one of the Patriarch's humble followers.
"You damn bitch!" Jr. snapped.
"I see. You do not wish to admit your sins. You will leave me no choice but to rip you apart."
"You will not touch a hair on their heads, Orgulla!"
That voice…
I turned around only to see Azaria walking down the stairs with a katana in hand. Her eyes were narrowed to dark purple slits. Orgulla snarled and drew her weapons: a beam sword and a dagger.
"So, you decided to break out on your own then. Tell me, which one of these filth is Yeshua?"
Azaria shrugged once she got down to the bottom of the stairs.
"It doesn't matter. I was using them as an ample distraction to get away from you."
Orgulla settled into her battle stance.
"Well, let's see how good you are."
Azaria charged forward, keeping her sword at the level of her chest so that she could easily parry any move Orgulla would come up with. And so, the battle began between the two women. It seemed like Azaria had the upper hand with her speed and viciousness of her strikes. That is, until she was blown back across the room. Orgulla doubled over…in what seemed like pain and screamed. Energy crackled off of her body…
"Get them, Manes!"
Wait…Manes? The virus Seller developed? But how…? Azaria warily got onto her feet and lifted her weapon up again. She was exhausted. Orgulla laughed and lifted up a blue colored sword.
"How pathetic of you, Orgulla. Hiding behind Manes like that," Azaria hissed.
I smelled a bluff. My guardian was bluffing to keep herself alive. Orgulla laughed.
"I've been waiting for this. The day you fall in front of your saviors!"
'Azaria…let me—'
'No, Yeshua!'
Azaria waved at us.
"Go! I'll lower the core. Hurry up!"
She drew a gun with her other hand and fired. One of the electrical columns in the back blew up and a loud splash was heard.
"You heard her, everyone! Let's go!" I shouted.
The others exited the room quickly…all except for me. I couldn't leave Azaria behind. The fight between Orgulla and her started up again. This time, Orgulla had the upper hand, with wide sword swings. It wasn't long before Azaria was pinned against the wall. Before I could blink, Orgulla had a gun out and pointed at Azaria's chest.
"Azaria!" I shrieked, taking off towards the wall.
A gunshot tore through my ears as well as the jagged cracking of the wall. Orgulla smirked and ran out of the room, blood trailing behind her. It was hard to shut out the pain flooding through Azaria's temporary link that she shared with me. Her body pitched backwards through the hole and fell backwards. Without thinking, I jumped after her…
Azaria:
With a bullet lodged in my chest…in my lungs, my healing spell refused to work. I was far too weak to activate it. Orgulla's Manes form had weakened me just by showing itself. Now I was free-falling down into the water that lined the center of the stronghold, where I would drown. I didn't like those odds very well. All of a sudden, two hands grabbed me. Warm energy flooded my veins, rushing the pain away.
I gasped loudly and opened my eyes. Surrounded in light energy and silvery angelic wings was my charge's blue-green eyes. He…jumped to rescue me…
"Yeshua…you…"
"Hush. Let me finish."
The light died down seconds later and I found that I was standing on the catwalk underneath the core. Yeshua was standing in front of me, breathing heavily. Did he…? I checked my power reserves. All full…
"Yeshua, you need some rest. We need to get you and your friends out of here now," I stated.
Yeshua straightened up with a sigh.
"To my friends, my name is chaos. You can call me Yeshua in private."
I had no idea why Yeshua would hide his real name. But I would respect his wishes for now. I touched Yeshua's shoulder, trying to reassure him.
'I'm sorry. I supposed to be protecting you. Not the other way around.' I sent the thought to his mind.
'Azaria…'
"Attention, self destruct mechanism has been activated. Thirty minutes until Ormus Stronghold destructs."
Yeshua's friends rushed out of the core and stopped in front of us.
"The teleports won't get you up there in time. No doubt, Orgulla left a force to slow us down. I believe I have a quicker way up to your ship," I said gently.
Yeshua gave me a wary look.
"How?" Shion asked.
"Join hands. chaos, you and I will be in the center."
Yeshua's allies formed into a ragged circle with me and my charge in the middle. As soon as Yeshua's gloves touched my hands, I felt something flutter in my stomach. Whoa…that wasn't energy. I pushed my feelings down and started the energy flowing.
"Unleash some of thy powers…"
Instantly, all of us took off of the platform and flew up. Various objects flew by as we continued to gain speed. We finally stopped in the E.S. hanger at the top of the stronghold. I watched as everyone climbed into their respective mobile suits, except for me.
"Azaria, are you sure you don't want to come in?" Shion asked.
When will people figure out that I'm not human? I made my way to the end of the ramp and scanned the floor, calculating the drop. It had to be about twenty foot drop.
"Don't worry. I can take care of myself."
Just before I jumped, an E.S. arm extended at the ramp.
"A twenty foot drop could go wrong, Azaria," Yeshua said gently.
'Yeshua…don't be difficult.'
'Just get on the arm so I can let you down.'
I hid my displeasure as I walked onto the arm.
'Someone is going to get a nice discussion when this is all over.'
The arm lowered down to the floor and I stepped off as daintily as I could. I walked ahead of the E.S.'s as they crossed into the airlock. When the airlock opened, I activated my powers, sealing breathable oxygen into my lungs. This was how I was able to breathe in space. My genetics made it possible to walk out into space, unscathed. Yeshua had the power to do it as well…but I still didn't know whether he used it or not. Any doubt that my new allies had about me vanished as I walked out into open space.
"Really? So neither my subordinates nor the Patriarch's toys are any use. The Inquisition will not allow you to escape."
Ah…Pellegri. I've been waiting a long time for this. I wasn't surprised when the E.S. Issachar came into view.
"Pellegri!" I shouted joyfully.
I actually was happy to see her…for all the wrong reasons.
"Disengage your weapons and surrender!"
The E.S. Asher, where chaos was, fired a few rounds at the enemy E.S. Pellegri avoided them easily.
"Pellegri, your fight is with me, not them!" I shouted.
The E.S. Issachar faced me.
"So Orgulla couldn't do her job. That means that we'll have to settle this later."
The mech took off into space.
"Oh no, you don't!"
I forced my wings to emerge, ignoring the horrible pain it created and flew off after her.
The Elsa
chaos:
I was concerned about Azaria, but we were in worse shape.
"Hurry, captain! We're going to be pulled into the Abyss with the fortress!" Shion shouted.
"Shut up, I know! Tony, what's up?" Matthews.
"It's no good, Captain. The Logical Drive was damaged in the battle. We don't have enough thrust. Hammer!" Tony.
"I'm still working on it! Damn, thrust is down 40. It's no good. She's still dropping," Hammer announced.
"What the? Who the hell slammed the ship into this place, anyway?"
That would be you, idiot.
"Well, it was the Captain's idea, but Tony, you're the one who did the slamming!"
"Shut up! Quit your bitching and do something already! You wanna die here!" Matthews snapped.
There was a series of tremors beneath us.
"We're losing it, Captain! We can't get away!" Tony.
"At this rate, we're not gonna last another minute!" Hammer.
Another violent tremor…but this time…
"It's the Durandal!" Jr. exclaimed.
Right on time.
"Oh thank goodness," Shion exclaimed.
I tapped a few keys and brought up Mary's face.
"Hey, Mary," Jr. said softly.
"Oh, Little Master! Thank goodness you're ok."
"What the heck are you guys doing here, anyway?"
"What? We came here to rescue you!"
"Yeah and I'm grateful for that…but don't you think your timing was too perfect?"
"Master Gaignun instructed us to come here. He said if we let the Little Master handle everything, he was bound to do something reckless." Shelley.
"And it looks like he was right, huh?" Mary.
"Nah! He's always treating me like a kid. So, where's the big shot at now, anyway?" Jr.
"Master Gaignun said he had important business to take care of. He took off for the Federation capital."
What a second…Fifth Jerusalem?
"Fifth Jerusalem? What's he doing there at a time like this? Geez…and he's calling me reckless?"
Yeah, that was pretty reckless. A chime sounded.
"Elsa recovery complete."
"All right! Let's go back to the Foundation at max speed. If we hang around here, we're gonna get sucked into the Abyss, too," Mary ordered.
Author's Note: I know this chapter might sound a little confusing, but that's due to the conditions I've been in. I am currently working on Chapter 8, which a filler chapter designed to explain the relationship Yeshua and Azaria. As well, piece of couple of things together. Most likely, I won't be able to update until the weekend.