-1
"Do you think he's alright?" Elijah asked concerned about his brother.
"I'm sure he's fine Elijah. He's a very resourceful person, I'm sure he found another way out." Nate said cheering Elijah up somewhat.
"Well then I guess that's good." Elijah replied quietly.
"You had better be alive Azrael." Nate thought to himself "I don't want to be the one to tell him that you aren't."
Just then Nate was about to give Elijah the meteor shard when the drifting escape pod came to an abrupt halt.
"Are we being rescued?" Elijah asked.
"I don't know. It seems like it is too early for them to come and find us." Nate said.
The escape pod was being loaded onto a ship that was apparently rescuing the survivors of this terrible ordeal. And it wasn't long after that their particular escape pod was being opened. Once they came out, Nate and Elijah immediately identified their rescuers.
"The Crusaders?" Elijah asked in disbelief.
"What is this? And why did you attack Alpha 3?" Nate asked an officer very impatiently.
"Calm down will ya." The officer replied. "Please proceed to the waiting room. The Commander is going to explain everything to you momentarily."
As they waited, more escape pods were drifting into the ship, many carrying injured civilians that were in need of serious medical supervision.
"Why do you think that we are the only ones in here Nate?" Elijah asked as he was looking around the room.
"Maybe they want something from us." Nate replied thinking about the shard he was still holding.
They waited for a few more minutes when another officer came in and introduced himself.
"Good evening gentlemen. Nate, right this way." He said
"Wait here Elijah, I'll be right back." Nate
"Okay." Elijah replied
After leading him further into the ship, they came to what appeared to be the control tower of the ship and were instructed to go inside.
"Have a seat, Nate." Someone who appeared to be the commander of the ship instructed.
"Just why have you called me here?" Nate asked suspiciously.
"Ah yes, I'm sure you've got many questions about why the Crusaders were attacking Alpha 3. I assure you that those questions will be answered very soon." He told them
He then took a long sip of the drink that was in front of him, and introduced himself. "I am General Jarvis, and I am the Commander of this ship, the Valiant."
"So what makes me so important General?" Nate asked again.
"Well, I am confident that he be able to answer that." Jarvis said as someone else entered the control room.
It didn't take long for Nate to recognize the familiar face that had appeared before him.
"Dad?" Nate asked puzzled by the fact he was wearing a Crusader uniform.
"Son, we need to talk." Samuel Barlow said.
"About what?" Nate asked.
"About something I should have told you about a long time ago." Samuel replied
"Sir! A lone ZARTEMA unit is requesting to board the BASTION." A mechanic reported.
"What? The ZARTEMA pilots are supposed to come back after the Gundams have returned and they are supposed to use the shuttle! Haven't the Gundam pilots completed their mission yet?" The impatient Zartem scowled.
"No sir, but the pilot of the ZARTEMA claims to be from the Alpha 3 space dome." The mechanic replied.
"Well of course he is, that's where we sent the ZARTEMAs in the first place." Zartem retorted.
"No sir, I mean he is actually claiming to be a citizen of Alpha 3. And he is not wearing a pilot uniform or anything." The mechanic added.
This took Zartem by surprise as he took a moment to contemplate what he had just heard.
"Very well patch him in." Zartem finally ordered.
"Yes sir." The mechanic replied.
As soon as he was patched in, Zartem saw the face of this mystery pilot.
"Who are you pilot?" Zartem asked.
"My name is Azrael Dartessius and I am a citizen of Alpha 3…or at least I was." Azrael added as he still felt the sting of what had happened.
"Very well Azrael and just what is it you hope to accomplish here?" Zartem asked.
"I wish to join your fight against the Crusaders." Azrael replied.
"By stealing one of our mobile suits and bringing it back here? How can we be sure that you are not an enemy spy Azrael?" Zartem asked.
"Would a spy destroy the 3 mobile suits who caused the death of his family?" Azrael replied.
"Wait a second, are you saying that the 3 Crusader mobile suits that were on Alpha 3…are destroyed?" Zartem asked curiously.
"Yes, I destroyed each mobile suit on my own after your soldiers fought to try and defend our space dome. I don't know what your intentions were but I am grateful for what you did. But one of your mobile suits had fallen and there was no pilot to be found and after I assumed he escaped, I took control of this lone unit and…did what I had to." Azrael reported.
"Uhh…please wait a moment while we confer on this." Zartem said as he turned off the comm-switch.
"What just happened there?" Talquest asked as he had witnessed the whole conversation
"I don't know but I think I had better confirm this ridiculous report." Zartem said puzzled. "An inferior machine destroying 3 highly experimental mobile suits. I've never heard anything so foolish in my life."
He then contacted the ZARTEMA team that was still on Alpha 3.
"Sergeant what just happened down there. Where are the Gundams?" Zartem asked.
"Destroyed sir, I don't know exactly what happened but one of my men claimed he saw what appeared to be a civilian enter one of the ZARTEMAs and activated it. And from what we saw sir, it looked like the Gundams never had a chance once this lunatic started attacking them." The team commander reported.
"Th…thank you Sergeant. Please remain on Alpha 3 with your team until further orders." Zartem ordered.
"Yes sir." The Sergeant replied.
The events that had just taken place had completely taken the unusually quiet Agon Zartem by surprise. "This…this is impossible. How could such a weak mobile suit even be considered in the same league as those behemoths?"
"Could it be that the data we collected on the Crusader mobile suits was inaccurate?" Talquest suggested.
"No Talquest, you and I knew how powerful those machines were." Zartem replied. "Wait a minute, could the pilot be a…no he couldn't be." Zartem rambled.
"What sir?" Talquest asked.
"…But maybe." Zartem then turned the comm-channel back onto Azrael. "Alright Azrael, we'll let you join us. But under one condition." Zartem said.
"Name it." Azrael replied.
"You must prove your worth before me. If you can defeat 3 of our mobile suits using that machine you are piloting now in a Trial of Trust, you will be wholeheartedly welcomed into our cause. Should you fail, however, you will be deemed a Crusader spy and will be terminated." Zartem said.
"Great…" Azrael replied sarcastically "Fine then, I accept your terms. Bring em' on."
"Not here Azrael, I have a much more…suitable arena in mind." Zartem said with a smirk on his face. "Go to Zeta 8, your challenge will await you there. I shall witness your skills personally."
"Alright…sir." Azrael said as the ZARTEMA headed for Zeta 8.
"Talquest prepare my transport, you are in command of the BASTION until I get back." Zartem ordered.
"Uhh y…yes sir." Talquest stuttered.
Once he was on the transport unit, Zartem contacted NZFF Headquarters.
"What do you request of us Lord Zartem?" A Zetan soldier asked.
"Prep the Basila team for combat on Zeta 8. We are expecting a visitor. Tell them not to attack the intruder until I have arrived to personally give the order." Zartem ordered.
"Right away sir." The soldier replied.
"Now then Azrael, let's just see if you've got what it takes to be an NZFF soldier." Zartem thought "If I'm right about you, then you just might be the best."
"The meteor is…inside of me?" Nate asked after just hearing his father explain it to him.
"Yes son. Please understand that we had no other choice." Samuel pleaded with his son.
"But…why? Why pick me for such a dangerous experiment?" Nate asked sounding more worried.
"Because when you were born, you had contracted a life threatening disease that doctors believed had a connection with the terrestrial rescue as I had been poisoned with the Earth's toxic cloud. Although, the meteor had saved my life, it still must have passed down to you. We tried to simply expose you to the healing effects of the meteor, but it just wasn't good enough. So we had only one option left." Samuel explained.
"You placed the meteor within me to…cure me?" Nate presumed.
"We didn't want to lose our son and we were even concerned about what the meteor would do to you but we knew it was our only hope. Sure enough the disease had been cured, but we didn't want to remove the meteor afterwards because…" Samuel stopped as the memory of what Gerdera told him came flooding back.
"Because what?" Nate asked.
"Because we were afraid that you had become dependent on the meteor for survival and that if removed, the meteor could no longer help to function your vital organs. We feared that if the meteor had left you, you would die." Samuel explained.
"So since I was a dying baby, I have been carrying a piece of why this war began. And you never told me about it until now?" Nate asked impatiently.
"I figured I wouldn't need to tell you if the war had ended, but unfortunately I was wrong. I know I should have told you so many times before but it was still a matter of trying to keep this a secret from the rest of the galaxy. If people knew you were a meteor child, they would try to take it from you. Meteor insertion was banned throughout the galaxy remember." Samuel reminded his son.
"Alright I can understand what you are trying to tell me but you still haven't answered my questions from before. First why did the Crusaders attack Neo Alpha and second why have Elijah and I been brought here?" Nate demanded.
"To answer your first question…" General Jarvis broke in. "…we rescued the citizens from Alpha 3 because it wasn't the Crusaders who attacked it. Those 3 Crusader machines were a new experimental type of mobile suit that were stolen by the NZFF about 6 hours ago." Jarvis continued as he started showing Nate the surveillance footage of the 3 NZFF pilots raiding the weapons facility.
"These 3 broke into the lab and, judging by their recent actions, used these 3 Gundams to wreak havoc upon a smaller expansion within the Neo Alpha space dome to try and frame the Crusaders and get Neo Alpha on the NZFF's side." Samuel added.
"To an extent, I'd say their plan worked, we've lost over half the support of the Neo Alpha space dome and it's becoming harder to convince them that it was an NZFF propaganda scheme." Jarvis said.
"But here is where the NZFF had complications and I do believe this will answer your second question Nate." Samuel started "We have reports from the Alphans who still trust us that these 3 Gundams were destroyed not too long ago. Just take a look at this." Samuel said showing new footage on the screen.
This time the surveillance screen showed the battle between the stolen Gundams and the lone ZARTEMA. "The rest of the ZARTEMA team feigned defeat against the Gundams to try and fool Neo Alpha into thinking that NZFF was on their side. But someone activated this lone unit and attacked all 3 of the experimental mobile suits. None of them stood a chance." Samuel said as he was demonstrating this to Nate. "His timing was perfect, his reflexes were unmatched and his power was almost God-like with such a weak machine. We can only assume that he had the characteristics of a meteor child. No human being could ever pilot a machine like that even by just holding a piece of the meteor."
Then Samuel turned off the screen and stared blankly at it for a while trying to find out how to fix the problem he got himself so far into. "Nate…there was only one other person that we know of who became a meteor child."
"Who is…oh no. Dad what have you done? You don't mean to say that…" Nate said realizing the cruel irony of the situation.
"Yes son…Azrael, the friend you have known since the day he was born possesses the same gift as you. His life threatening disease was not connected to the terrestrial rescue but it was no less deadly than yours." Samuel said. "But I'm afraid that the death of Tezra and Violet has probably stirred up his hatred for the Crusaders so badly that the meteor has activated an even greater power within him and that makes him dangerous." Samuel explained.
"So the reason you need me…is to try to convince Azrael to listen to reason and tell him who's really responsible for the destruction of Alpha 3. And that's why you brought me here." Nate replied in disbelief.
"You do understand why he can't fall into NZFF hands, if he were to side with the Freedom Fighters, it would be the end of us." Jarvis stepped in.
"And just how am I supposed to do that, he wouldn't even listen to me when I told him to stay with Elijah in the escape pod." Nate retorted.
"General Barlow, I fear that it's too premature to try and sway the meteor child to try and join us. He may assume that we are lying and won't hesitate to attack. I've already got reports that the ZARTEMA is heading back to Neo Zeta." Jarvis said.
"Damn, we can't risk it now. We'll have to wait until Azrael shows his face again." Samuel said
"But we can't just leave him there and what about Elijah, he would be able to convince him as good as anyone to come back to us." Nate pointed out.
"We can't take that chance Nate. There would still be the chance that Elijah would follow his brother to the NZFF. He is still convinced the Crusaders are his enemy as well and we may need him later as he is the only Dartessius we managed to recover from Alpha 3." Samuel replied.
"I see." Nate said.
"One last thing Nate. You wouldn't happen to have overheard anything about there being a second shard of the meteor in Tezra's hands before he died did you? It was to be entrusted to Elijah if he had a rare disease like you and Azrael but he turned out perfectly fine. It would be helpful if you would give us any information about it so we could retrieve it." Samuel added.
Nate then immediately knew what he was in possession of at that very moment. He was carrying the very piece of the meteor that Azrael wanted to give Elijah before he took off. But Nate was still not sure if he was willing to give up something that was entrusted to him by his best friend. "No, I have no idea if there was another meteor shard or not. Can I go now?" Nate asked.
"Yes I do believe we are finished here." Samuel concluded. "Just make sure that you give us any information if you come across it."
"Yes…father." Nate replied silently as he left the control tower.
"Zeta 8, I should be close already." Azrael said checking his radar screen.
As he came closer to the expansion dome, he noticed something about his destination point. "Why is Zeta 8 detached from the whole space dome. It must be a rejected expansion, hopefully Alpha 3 won't share the same fate." He thought to himself.
Then he used the ZARTEMA to fly right into the expansion dome. Once he got in, he felt an immediate change in temperature.
"Ugh…this whole expansion dome is one giant desert. No wonder it's detached from the mainland." Azrael thought.
Just then a shot was fired right past the unsuspecting ZARTEMA. Azrael saw it and immediately moved out of the way. "It looks like my challenge has arrived" Azrael said.
"So you're the pilot who took down 3 Gundams with that mobile suit eh?" A loud raspy voice echoed through his comm-link.
"He doesn't look so tough boss." A younger voice responded.
"Boys, calm down, you know how dangerous underestimation can be. I have no doubt in mind that this guy is an excellent mobile suit pilot." A woman's voice followed.
Then a mobile suit charged Azrael from behind and hit him hard with a beam saber. Azrael managed to turn around and block it but the ZARTEMA had still taken damage from such a hard hit. "But that still doesn't mean that you will be able to beat us." The woman continued.
Then the other 2 mobile suits showed up and surrounded him. "Well now, shall we begin?" she asked.
"Just who are you guys?" Azrael asked.
"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners. I am Lieutenant Carol Basila and these are my associates, Tank and Guard. It's nothing personal but we have been given orders to destroy you." Carol replied.
The mobile suits that had just shown up before Azrael appeared to be newer models than that of his obsolete ZARTEMA. To his left, the enormous ENSOT machine that appeared to be more of an enormous tank than a mobile suit possessing numerous cannons on its front, sides and back. To his right, the RESISTOT mobile suit that had numerous shields on it's body and appeared to be quite the defensive weapon. His opponent dead center was Carol's ZYROT, the machine that attacked him earlier. This mobile suit was similar to the ZARTEMA apart from being more maneuverable and equipped with a custom beam shotgun for up-close attacks.
"Well then I guess I'm going to have to fight you then." Azrael said.
The ENSOT fired a few rounds at the ZARTEMA and as soon as Azrael dodged the attack, the ZYROT charged and fired furiously at the lone machine. The ZARTEMA strafed its attack easily and made a move to take out the ZYROT. But the RESISTOT swooped in and blocked Azrael's attack with the shield on its right arm.
"Hiding behind your lackeys for protection Lieutenant?" Azrael taunted to his opponent.
"I'll show you what it means to be a pilot Alpha trash." Carol scowled.
As the 4 machines were fighting fiercely, the ever-watchful Agon Zartem was observing closely from the safety of his personal ship.
"This is proving to be very interesting." Zartem said.
But there was one person who was watching the battle from a different perspective. "Are you sure about this Lord Zartem, I mean what exactly is this going to prove."
"Ah Lady Maieva, so good of you to express your opinion to us." Zartem joked.
"Lord Zartem, please do not call me by that name. We are trying to keep my identity secret from our enemies and that is simply not possible when you insist on using it." Maieva replied.
"Of course, how foolish of me…Miss Kyte." Zartem said redeeming himself.
"As I was saying before, why must this so called, Crusader spy, be pitted in such an unfair trial. His mobile suit is damaged and he is against 3 of our best, and that hardly seems like a Trial of Trust on our part." Maieva explained.
"This isn't a Crusader spy, that much is certain." Zartem replied. "I am simply trying to discover this young man's hidden abilities. I believe he possesses a meteor shard within his body."
"But that is simply not possible Lord Zartem. No one is able to withstand such a power within his body." Maieva said.
"Just keep watching and we will see if that is indeed true, Miss Kyte." Zartem replied.
"You are not going to win Neo Alphan!" Carol screamed as she lunged at him with her ZYROT.
"Just try it!" Azrael yelled right back.
The ZYROT and ZARTEMA were then caught in an extremely tense battle. Carol was matching Azrael's attacks blow for blow and it seemed with the support of her two mobile suit lackeys, Azrael didn't stand much chance. Every time Azrael tried to strike one of the mobile suits, the other 2 would respond quite fiercely and throw Azrael completely off. Even worse was the fact the ZARTEMA didn't have anti-heat coating and Azrael was starting to really feel the heat of this barren place.
"You are a good mobile suit pilot Azrael, I'll give you that much." Carol began. "But you won't be joining our cause any time soon because when I'm through with you, that will be the last thing on your mind."
"Ugh…I'm…I'm not finished just yet." Azrael said exhausted.
"I'll be the judge of that!" Carol said lunging the ZYROT at the damaged ZARTEMA again.
Beam saber to beam saber, these two machines became locked in a death struggle, throwing everything they had at each other. Carol then pulled out her shotgun and caught Azrael completely by surprise by blowing a large chunk of armor out of the ZARTEMA's left hip. Then with one mighty swing, she swiped her beam saber right across the front midsection of the mobile suit and the ZARTEMA fell, knocking Azrael unconscious.
"Heh, useless Alpha trash, you never had a chance against me." Carol said confidant that her opponent had been defeated. "Come on boys, lets get out of here."
Just as the mobile suits were about to leave, something was happening within the damaged ZARTEMA. The meteor within Azrael was starting to do something to him. He was still unconscious but the meteor was almost forcing his arms and legs to twitch. Suddenly, Azrael placed both of his hands on the mobile suit controls. Then, without even moving the controls, the mobile suit activated and was starting to stand up again.
"Uhh…boss?" Tank stuttered.
"What! He's standing up again?" Carol said shocked.
The mobile suit had been damaged beyond any kind of repair, yet it was still able to stand on it's own two feet. It was also starting to give off bolts of extreme amounts of energy out of the damaged parts and it was slowly starting to move closer to the stunned trio of NZFF pilots.
"What the hell is going on Zartem? Just who have you sent against my team?" Carol asked as she opened her channel to Zartem's personal ship. But to her dismay, there was no response from Zartem or any of the ship's crewmembers.
"Watch out boss, it's coming closer!" Guard warned.
Suddenly Carol charged straight at Azrael using the full power of her ZYROT. "Just die already!" she screamed as the ZYROT landed a hard blow right at the base of the ZARTEMA. What surprised her next was that the blow didn't even make this zombie-like mobile suit flinch even a little bit.
"You…first." The crazed Azrael said to the completely horrified pilot as he opened his eyes revealing a very dangerous glare. His eyes began to glow a very bright yellow which was also the color of a very powerful aura that now surrounded his mobile suit.
Azrael had become as bloodthirsty as ever now thanks to his anger, which had finally unlocked the full potential of the meteor that was within him. It had consumed him of all thought and reason and because of its power, Azrael was now able to manipulate and control his machine without even using the controls. What's more is that the meteor has had a direct effect on the mobile suit itself, coating it in an armor that was nearly indestructable to whatever these 3 pilots could throw at it.
The ZARTEMA then tossed the ZYROT aside effortlessly and charged full speed at the ENSOT mobile suit to cripple the team's long range support. It fired numerous rounds at the charging mobile suit, taking piece after piece out of it. But nothing could stop this chaotic mobile suit now that a meteor child who had unleashed his full power was piloting it.
"Help me Boss! AHHH!" Tank screamed as the ZARTEMA slashed through his mobile suit with his very unstable energy bolts.
"You'll pay for what you did to Tank you bastard!" Guard shouted as he unleashed a blade that was concealed within his shields and came straight at the ZARTEMA. But once he was in range of the ZARTEMA, Azrael quickly turned around and caught the charging mobile suit in mid-air by it's arms. Then with no effort at all, ripped the arms off of the RESISTOT, backed away, and threw one of the bladed shields straight thorough the cockpit of the defenseless mobile suit, killing Guard instantly.
"No! Tank! Guard!" Carol cried as she watched her comrades die so easily. "You monster, I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do! Prepare to die Azrael!"
Then the ZYROT flew in close and fired round after round of shotgun fire at the ZARTEMA, stunning it slightly but not causing any real damage.
"You…are…powerless…pilot." Azrael said inducing even more fear into Carol. "Feel…my…true…power!"
Suddenly the ZARTEMA started to charge all of the meteor energy Azrael had within him and as soon as the ZYROT charged after him one more time, he unleashed an extremely powerful meteor beam straight at the ZYROT. Carol was disintegrated along with her mobile suit with one touch of this unbelievable force. The blast was so powerful that it had nearly broken up all of Zeta 8.
As soon as his attack was finished, the ZARTEMA dropped in the sand, Azrael's powers had vanished and he fell unconscious once again as the extreme heat of his attack and the desert expansion had finally got to him.
"Such…power." Zartem said with awe.
"It seems as though the Neo Alphan has completed the Trial of Trust with flying colors, Lord Zartem." Maieva said sarcastically.
"Get him patched up and bring him before me." Zartem ordered.
"Yes sir." One of the ship pilots replied.
It didn't take long for the observers to come in and rescue Azrael from his smoldering mobile suit. When they finally got the cockpit open, the inside gave off a lot of heat and smoke. They found Azrael unconscious in the cockpit and slowly removed him from his mobile suit, taking care not to injure him any further.
When Azrael came to for a brief moment, he noticed a woman speaking to him. "Welcome to the Neo Zetan Freedom Fighters, Azrael." She said as the exhausted meteor child blacked out once more.