Longest chapter so far I think.
Name: Pari Bahram
Location: Maius Three
Civilian Number: 330257
Genetic Type: Coordinator
Blood Type: O-
Age: 16
Name: Sho Hai
Location: Maius Three
Civilian Number: 260510
Genetic Type: Coordinator
Blood Type: AB
Age: 17
Name: Caiohme Sorcha
Location: Maius Three
Civilian Number: 490231
Genetic Type: Coordinator
Blood Type: A-
Age: 15
Councilman Yuri Amalfi looked at the paper with feigned interest. "What do these names mean?" he glanced up at his assistant questioningly. "Well sir," the young man stepped forward to the desk and pointed to the first name. "She went missing approximately four weeks ago."
"Your point?" Mr. Amalfi asked dryly.
"I'm getting to that sir. The second and third on the list disappeared at around the same time."
Missing children were a concern, but Yuri failed to see the relevance of it right after a tedious videoconference with Aprilius One. "It is a tragedy. I'll put out a public watch tomorrow morning." The councilman dismissed his assistant with a wave of his hand and a slightly candid yawn.
"But sir" the man persisted. "We have reports that the last one on the list was the niece of eccentric billionaire Kennith Hughes-"
"Kennith Hughes?" Yuri turned to his assistant with sudden interest. "The one who designed the G-weapons for the Earth Forces and the two new mobile suits being built in Aprilius? Wasn't he executed for building three more suits in Maius Three about…"
"four weeks ago?" The assistant finished Yuri's statement.
"Do you suppose that these children were involved?" The thought was entirely ludicrous. Mr. Amalfi rubbed his right temple, this could unearth something terrible.
"Yes sir. We have strong evidence to support this. Witnesses say that the three of them were often together. And a security video from the apartment residence of Miss Bahram and Mr. Hai show the three of them leaving together. " He paused, letting his words sink in. "In the direction of where Kennith Hughes was found with three mobile suits and then executed."
Yuri froze. Three mobile suits had emerged from the warehouse. Three children were missing. That left one question, where were they?
Lights flashed and alarms escalated to an unbearable pitch. One moment Caiohme and Sho were on a big screen, then something slammed into the side of the mobile suit, throwing Pari against the metal guardrail. She had screamed. The light within the platform grew brighter. Screens all around her began to spring to life, but the screen that once held Sho and Caiohme's images remained blank.
Images, images of things she had never and had hoped to never see blazed with terrible clarity. Before her loomed the open universe. Gone was the metallic shuttle bay that had swallowed the mobile suit for an eternity. But ahead, GINNs were positioned to meet her in battle.
And behind them loomed earth. How was it that people had almost brought something so massive and fearsome to its knees? Pari's breath caught in her throat at the sight. She had never seen earth but in pictures. Now that it stood in front of her, a sentinel of the universe, it terrified her like no army of men could.
That was why the naturals hadn't been defeated yet. They were creations of earth. Not creations of man. The planet had taught them the elements that they needed to survive. Unpredictability. Resourcefulness. Self-Preservation. Coordinators lived in a place that suited their needs. Not a place that taught them how to survive. No disasters tested the mettle of human courage or showed the true depth of human kindness in the face of humiliation or death.
Pari was blind to the encroaching army. Blind to everything except for the truth which burned itself behind her eyes and forever in her heart. No war could kill humanity. It wasn't defined by race, religion, or allegiance. To be human was to feel hope. To bleed and learn from mistakes and strive to make tomorrow a better day is to be human. To feel the solitude of pain and the rage that comes from fear is to be human.
Her vision blurred with tears. Instead of making themselves better, humans were destroying themselves. It was so ironic. Pari laughed mirthlessly, her unshed tears glistening in the red warming lights. 'they've come to kill me' she thought absently. Her mind had ceded control of her body for the endless universe that surrounded her. Pari saw herself standing in Esfahan, the ruins of the Persian Empire at her back and the sun warm on her face.
Even though she had never been to earth, her grandmother, a natural who still lived in what was once Iran, sent letters describing Pari's family history and the land in which they had once lived. It was a strange thought, and it ignited a spark of anger in her heart. These people, who don't even know her, think that they have the right to decide whether she lived or died? No…
Pari narrowed her eyes. She would fight back. She didn't know how, but she would fight. 'Bahram means victory' she thought to herself proudly, 'I may be a coordinator, but my blood runs deeper than that!' That was it. It was like someone else had taken control of her body and left her mind free to witness what she was really capable of.
She straightened and moved to hover directly above the platform. Her body went rigid as an electrical current ran from her neck to the soles of her feet and out of her fingertips. She had power.
The guardrail was suddenly drawn down into the floor, and a large metal ring rose level with the platform. Pari didn't remember putting on the helmet, but suddenly saw, as if through someone else's eyes, her breath ghosting against plastic a few inches from her face. Pari's distant body detected a drastic drop in temperature. It didn't matter. All that mattered was surviving.
The GINNs burst forward with weapons raised. Pari leaned forward, activating her Martyr Gundam's boosters and sending it straight for the oncoming GINNs. Reaching behind her, Pari grabbed at an object that wasn't there, and drew it infront of her.
Just as the Martyr reached back and drew a beam saber that sparked to life in its hands.
Pari dodged the shots by ducking and leaning away, all the while holding her invisible saber and slicing at invisible enemies. Simultaneous with the slashing and darting of her gundam. The GINNs lagged as they tried to keep up with Martyr's rapid movements. More were cut down as Pari and Martyr merged to become a single entity bent on erasing the GINNs before them. Soon none remained. On a different screen, Pari saw more ZAFT ships coming to aid those that had fallen.
A warning light flickered to life. Power was running out. Pari leaned forward and sent the Martyr into a headlong collision course with earth. If she ran out of oxygen in space, there would be no hope for survival.
The echo of battle within her mind began to die down. She felt hollow. There was no feeling, only a consuming emptiness. Before her, the planet grew larger and in truth, more beautiful. Something bright in the corner of the screen caught her attention. Pari turned to see the sun graze across a glistening cobalt ocean she had heard called, 'the Pacific.' She recognized the landmass below. An old map had called them 'The Americas' and 'Asia'. With the endless ocean between. What would it be like to live someplace so beautiful?
Pari realized that she was going too fast towards earth. Gravity was already beginning to pull at the mobile suit, causing it to shudder in periodic spasms. She leaned as far back as possible, shutting off the boosters and sending the mobile suit into a backward summersault towards earth.
No, that wasn't what was supposed to happen! Pari was thrown against the screen, her feet losing magnetic contact with the platform. The metal ring receded and the guardrail rose again. She had lost control.
Even as her world spun out of control, Pari couldn't help but remember the sight of the sun glancing across glistening ocean. It was a rare break in the Debris Bealt from which she saw the earth so unspoiled. She had passed straight through the belt and into the gravitational pull of the planet who she suddenly loved more than life itself.
In a fleeting glimpse, she saw the image of a vast, barren land rising to meet her amid an endless blue. Martyr began to tremble and shake violently. Pari was thrown against the guardrail with a sickening 'crack' and then to cockpit doors to which she clung desperately. In all her life she had never prayed. Never believed in a sentient being who watched over all. But as she clung to any handhold she could find amid the chaos, a hope blossomed in her heart. Be there someone out there or not, the situation was out of her hands. Pari screamed against the metal door to assure herself that she was still alive. That the never ending tumbling had not crushed her body and her mind only remained to watch the unfortunate end. She screamed into the emptiness till her voice was hoarse and her soul exhausted with the effort of living.
Pari closed her eyes and tried to imagine that the shaking of the mobile suit was the tumultuous waves of the ocean crashing about her tired body. That the heat was that of the sun as she stood beneath the ruined arches of her ancestral homeland. And the ground speeding towards her was just the endless heavens rising to meet her.