Gundam Seed: Killer's Realm

by Knightmare Gundam of Ni

What would the Cosmic Era be like if the kind, positive, and idealistic Kira was instead a Killer who sheltered a cold and realistic worldview under his kind mask? Alternate Universe Fanfiction with new Mecha and some Original Characters. DEADFIC

13. Phase 08: Black Angel

Gundam Seed: Killer's Realm

Phase 08: Black Angel

Debris Belt, Vesalius, Brig

January 29th, 71 C.E., 6:21 A.M, Orb Time

Inside the spartan jail cell, the five occupants squirmed, the politician and his daughter trying the best to keep away from the somewhat filthy and smelly OMNI pilots, and the OMNI pilots keeping away from the politicians who reeked of class, dignity, and high-borne arrogance.

Which, incidentally, all three of them hated with great vigor.

There was a swish as the brig door open, letting in two men, a suave-looking Caucasian blond and another, rougher, black-haired one. They were followed by a certain pink-haired teenager, escorted by a bouncing pink ball. Said teen was so eye-catching, that the three soldiers in the cell were instantly enraptured, while the girl just turned her head and huffed.

"Hello everyone." Lacus said, smiling. "How are we doing this morning?"

"Just the same as yesterday, and that afternoon, and last night." Flay muttered under her breath. The three OMNI pilots were more forthcoming, talking about how they were 'perfectly fine, Lacus-san' and how 'comfortable' they were in the 'perfectly comfortable abode.' George Allster, on the other hand, was more composed, responding with a politically correct 'very well thank you,' while showing his clear distaste in his expression.

Miguel and John looked at each other before shaking their heads.

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Earth, Upper Atmosphere

January 8th, 71 C.E., 8:14 P.M., Orb Time

The ship shook and shuddered, the thick atmosphere of Earth resisting its entry. The Barachiel was completely covered in a special layer of gel, consisting of liquids and molecular bits of rather inert materials. The heat washed around it, slowly yet surely heating the reentry gel. In the bridge, Murrue looked stoically at the inferno, somewhat unimpressed. After all, what's a little heat against the scorching beams of an Agamemnon's beam cannons?

In the quarters of the Orb volunteers, however, things were rather different, with the occupants desperately clutching at whatever solidly mounted object presented itself. For the most part, the ZAFT pilots acted similarly, although somewhat more disciplined.

In the quarters shared by Kira and Jack, the two were drinking a special Orb tea in the traditional Japanese manner, resting on their knees and holding the cup in both hands. Jack smiled as Miriallia's piercing, terrified scream sounded as the Barachiel experienced a bit of turbulence measurably more violent than before. The Coordinator merely moved his teacup with the shaking, causing the liquid inside to merely shake a little.

"This is nice isn't it Kira? No explosive decompressions, no yells about interceptors, no exploding missiles, no anti-aircraft fire……hell, I don't think we've even been hit by a meteorite."

"Yep." Kira agreed. "This is rather peaceful." This was being said as the amounts of screams from the other Orb natives increased in volume and frequency, as the Barachiel's shudders became full-blown jerks.

"You know, I have to wonder about them." Jack said. "They cope with constant combat, imprisonment, participate in betrayal, calmly engage in a battle against one of the Orbital Fleets, and yet a few shakes as we descend into the atmosphere, and they turn into screaming ninnies."

"Actually, I think that latest batch was just Kuzzey." Kira said. The two of them paused, listening to the tone of the somewhat androgynous shrieks.

"Yep, that's Kuzzey." Jack agreed, taking another sip.

Then, all of a sudden, the ship lurched, the jerks and shudders increasing exponentially, overwhelming even the practiced control of the two Orb Coordinators. The tea splashed out of the cups, wetting their clothes.

"That would be the retrothrusters." Kira stated, Jack nodding in agreement as the two got up. Quickly, the two changed into different clothes, a completely black ensemble consisting of a simple T-shirt and slacks for Jack, and a light outfit made of a blue T-shirt, light gray overshirt, and blue jeans for Kira. They rushed out of their quarters, going for the 2nd hanger deck, which, being the one closer to the ground, would be opening to receive the upgrade pack for the Augury and the parts for the other Gundams. After over a year of breathing recycled air, no matter how advanced the ventilation and purification systems of Heliopolis, the two wanted some fresh Earth air.

Then, all of a sudden, just as they were about to board the lift to the 2nd Hanger Deck on the 1st Hanger Deck, the alarm sounded, causing the two to look at each other and shrug. Then, they sprinted for their Gundams, as the ZAFT pilots scrambled from wherever they were to their own units, all of the pilots quickly starting their respective units up. The process, by now extremely familiar to all the pilots, was finished within fifteen seconds, with the Augury and Kiba stepping onto the upper catapults while the Ferox and Enmity walked out of the lower hatches, weapons at the ready. As they emerged, the two ZAFT units saw that the Barachiel had landed in a slight depression, practically a crater due to the sand dunes. Around the top of this was arrayed a force of about twenty Constantines, most armed with the Beam SMGs common amongst the easily slaughtered units of the 3rd Orbital Fleet, although some had a cannon-like weapon that held with both manipulators, one gripping a handle on the barrel, and the other counterbalancing on the grip like it was holding some kind of minigun. One, however, had an Anti-Ship sword in its right manipulator while its left held the beam rifle used by the first Constantines the Barachiel had encountered.

As the Augury launched, Cavalier pack equipped, the apparent leader waved his sword, a rather superfluous gesture, considering the advanced communications that, by all rights, the Costantines should have. Nevertheless, at this rather obvious command, all the Constantines simultaneously took aim, pointing their weapons at the Augury. Just before they fired, Kira used the Cavalier's microthrusters, swerving the Gundam around the lasers that were emitted from the large weapons, even then acquiring some interesting cosmetic scars. The Constantines shifted their aim, following the Augury to where it would land, the shock of its impact causing the mobile suit to adjust for a second to the sand.

The Augury never touched the sand. Instead, the microthrusters flared, noticeably less brighter, and the main thrusters added a slight amount of power, causing the Augury to cruise, seeming to float centimeters above the sand. The Constantines stopped, and stared. The Augury was literally hovering, and seemed to almost skate on the air. Then the Gundam drew its sword, and the Constantines regained their senses. Not in time for the Constantine closest to the Augury, which raised its SMG to fire at the Gundam while its free hand darted to its beam saber. The Anti-Ship Sword cleaved the SMG in half diagonally, going to carve through the mobile suit's shoulder, through the cockpit and screaming pilot and exiting via the hip, leaving the machine to fall in two halves onto the desert surface.

At this time, the Kiba had reached the line of distracted Constantines, and as it reached its first two victims, the Ferox and Enmity began opening fire, the Ferox's Shredder spitting hails of rounds and the Enmity's grenade launcher firing several times before the beams began flying. The Kiba's claws cut through the laminated titanium armor of one Constantine like paper, before the Silver Gundam's maw opened and glowed silver, the Ion Beam Cannon firing seconds later, slamming into and through the second Constantine.

The Ferox's rounds shredded a Constantine, even as three others opened up fire on the gray G Unit. The beams never reached it, the clouds of anti-beam smoke from the Smog dischargers blocking them, even as the rest of the Ferox's solid ordnance began firing, missiles tracking and detonating, bullets and Bazooka rounds spraying indiscriminately. That barrage ended six Constantines, causing the rest to migrate towards the 'safer' side of the battlefield.

There the Enmity intercepted them, engaging the OMNI mobile suits that seemed eager for an easy victory. As the fight began, Yzak actually got a little worried. Mass-produced junk or not, these pilots evidently had a little more training than their comrades in space, and while the very special and somewhat overengineered and/or overarmed Kiba, Augury, and Ferox were able to compensate for the difference, the Enmity, which shared the same basic role as the Constantine, was on slightly worse footing. Still, that wasn't enough to cause the ZAFT Redcoat to lose, never that. It just required a bit more than a few swipes of the beam sword and a few beam rifle blasts too do the job. Even as this passed through Yzak's head, the lead Constantine, having switched its SMG to its off-hand and drawing its saber, took a swipe at the blue Gundam, which passed harmlessly above the Enmity's head as it ducked. Right into the path of the SMG. When that fired however, the Enmity's shield slid easily into place, the somewhat weak beams splashing against the shield with little effect. The Enmity's beam rifle, however, had considerably more effect on its target, the guncam mounted on the rifle where a scope would be helping Yzak in getting the perfect shot, depriving the enemy mobile suit of its rather important knee joint. Still, there were others, one who threw its arm around its fallen comrade, dragging it to safety as the other two covered them. Even Yzak had to wipe away a (nonexistent) tear at this display of soldierly sacrifice. Then, he 'sacrificed' the two Constantines on the 'altar of victory', literally stabbing one in the cockpit with the barrel of his beam rifle and firing straight through whatever the weapon didn't penetrate, into the cockpit of the Constantine dragging its companion, destroying two mobile suits in an instant. Aghast at the rather brutal tactics, the second-to-last Constantine didn't react in time, being blasted into scrap by the Grendel shotgun in the Enmity's shield. Yzak marched the Enmity towards the last Constantine, holstering the rifle and drawing the beam sword. The prone Constantine fired a burst of beams, each one flying into the face of the Enmity's shield. Then, the OMNI pilot just laid the Constantine on its back, placing its weapon by the mobile suit's side. Raising an eyebrow at this, Yzak did the only thing he could do. He started hacking.

Across the battlefield, the Augury dueled with the apparently commanding Constantine, said opponent decorated with a symbol of some kind on the shield/pauldron, looking like the painting of some kind of rank insignia or something of the kind. The two Anti-Ship swords clashed, the Clarent against its somewhat more pathetic-looking descendant, sparks flying as the interaction between the magnetic fields caused zigzagged lines of electricity to play along the blades. The Constantine's beam rifle shifted to fire under the interlocking swords, only to be intercepted by the Anti-Beam Shield. In return, the Augury's Anti-Missile lowered from its usually upright position, aiming at the Constantine's head. For a half-second, the weapon's barrel glowed as energy gathered to allow it to emit it's killing light, which sprang forth instantly, slicing into the Constantine's left optic sensor. The OMNI pilot was clearly caught off-guard by this, his mobile suit starting to lose ground. After all, there was a reason the weapon was called an anti-missile laser. In some respects, it was less a weapon than an active defensive measure. Nevertheless, the improvisation worked, and the Constantine could no longer clearly see on its left side, which just happened to be the Augury's right side. Where it's right arm was. It's sword arm. The Gundam broke the blade-lock, swinging its blade around to the right side. At this moment, if the leader had been a Blue Cosmos fanatic, he could've just ignored the attack and sliced at the Augury's cockpit, seeing as the shield was fixed in front of his rifle and the Gundam's sword was now swinging at the Constantine. However, while a Blue Cosmos member, the team leader was by no means one of those fanatics who'd be perfectly willing to strap a bomb to his chest 'for a pure and blue world.' So, the Constantine's blade moved to block the most likely attack, one coming straight from the side for the cockpit in a bisecting slice. Instead, the Augury's blade angled down, taking the Constantine's leg off at the knee. The OMNI mobile suit fell over, as the Augury's blade sliced in several more times, severing the weapon arms and decapitating the mobile suit.

As the Ferox, Enmity, and Augury gathered in front of the Barachiel, carrying the remains of the OMNI units, their pilots turned their unit's heads to watch the last of the Kiba's battle.

Unlike the others, Chimamare was taking his sweet time in finishing his opponents. He absolutely loved the game of cat and mouse. He had harried the same six Constantine's since the start of the battle three minutes ago, the Chilong claws scratching across the back armor, or cutting an actuator, sometimes curving around the mobile suit's side to rip terrifyingly at the armor covering the cockpit. Then, one of the OMNI pilot's nerve broke, and he ran his Constantine at the Kiba in an obviously suicide charge. The Chilong claws slammed into the mobile suit's 'stomach', as Chimamare flipped the OMNI unit over the Kiba's head and down to the ground behind it, the impact raising a cloud of sand. Before the Constantine could so much as twitch, the Kiba laid into it, flaying at it's cockpit armor, slicing away centimeter after centimeter of protective and comforting laminated titanium alloys. Eventually, only air and flying sand existed between the Kiba's claws and the pilot, causing a large amount of fluid to suddenly dirty the OMNI soldier's trousers. However, the Kiba turned away, looking back towards the other, frozen Constantines. The poor, scared pilot sighed in relief.

Then he noticed the glow of the Kiba's thrusters. Before he could instinctively lift his arms, before he could utter a last, plaintive cry, the thrusters opened up, the plasma slamming into the Constantine with considerable force. If the armor had been intact, much of it would have melted or been crushed by the heat and hundreds of kilograms of thrust. But, with no armor, the cockpit was engulfed in plasma far hotter than almost anything else made by human hands, the pilot fried into little more than ashes, no, a shadow of his form, which disappeared quickly as the plasma burned and melted the cockpit away.

On the upside, his pants were dry.

The Kiba leaped, the force from its thrusters allowing it to jump the twenty kilometers or so onto a Constantine, Phase-Shift armored feet crushing the mobile suit's legs. The claws flickered, slicing the Constantine in half across the chest, the cockpit, and the hip. Finished with this victim, the Kiba leaped again, This time landing on the shoulders of his target. The Constantine was floored, brought down by the Kiba's added weight even as the Gundam sliced apart its compatriot. A brief glance down combined with the fire of the Ion Beam Cannon destroyed the Constantine under the Kiba's feet, before the G Unit sheathed its claws and drew the beam rifle, easily shooting and destroying the fleeing mobile suits. After the last Constantine collapsed, cored through the cockpit, Chimamare let Jack have back control.

Shuddering for a moment, Jack shook his head in a futile attempt to clear that corrupt feeling from his mind even as he began taking the dessicated metal carcasses back to the Barachiel's hanger.

"More contacts, incoming!" Jackie warned, sending the Gundams back on the alert. All their weapons were aimed at the lip of the 'crater', ready to annihilate whatever came over. They all holstered there weapons when they saw the GAHMUs leap over the dunes. Although most sported the standard desert camouflage color pattern, one very noticeable one was colored orange with yellow highlights, equipped with a set of three rather dangerous-looking beam rifles on its dorsal turret mounts.

"Hoy! Nice work with those Constantines. Truth be told, we could have taken them, but I was interested in seeing how you did." The Barachiel units composed themselves as Waltfeld's voice, calm and jocular, came from their speakers.

"Oh yeah, the official welcome." A brief coughing was heard, before: "Welcome to North Africa, the Sahara Desert to be precise, home to me and my command, not to mention the numerous OMNI units consisting of Megalodons and Constantines, as well as this very scary, very powerful mobile suit that is as yet unidentified."

"Erm.....that....doesn't seem....official..."Jack said.

"Eh, I was never really good at those anyway." At that moment, a large convoy of several desert-vehicles, some like a Jeep, others like a sort of desert version of a large cargo truck. From the Jeep at the front, a figure dressed in a red tank top with green cargo pants and a green combat vest leaped out of the passenger seat, short blond hair moving slightly from the wind.

"Kira! Jack!" Cagalli shouted, waving. The two set their mobile suits down on one knee, opening the cockpits and climbing out. Cagalli rushed over to Kira, giving him a very tight hug that left the long-since-ace pilot (at least by 21st century fighter pilot rules) breathless. Jack walked up next to Kira, in front of Cagalli, and threw his arms wide open, expecting a hug himself. Instead, he got a punch to the kidney and a very harsh kick to the ankles, followed up by a head-butt. Cursing, Jack fell to the sandy ground, one hand on his general kidney area and another on his almost broken nose.

"What was that for!?" Jack swore between curses, slowly getting back up to his feet.

"That insulting little wave when you two pushed in that shelter!" Cagalli shot back. Kisaka came up next to her, the tall African (I'm just assuming, since it is Northern Africa, and his home town is supposedly in there) shaking his head.

"You have the parts?" They all jumped up, having been so engrossed in their reunion that they hadn't noticed Liene walking up, wrapped in a cloak or some similar kind of cloth to protect his fair skin from the harsh desert sun.

"Yeah, they're in the transports." Cagalli said, flicking a thumb over her shoulder at the dozen or so cargo trucks, which began gunning their engines and heading for the hanger. As Liene walked away, all four of the other Orb natives noticed a slight difference in his step, seeming somehow.....happy. Which they all knew was Liene's equivalent of skipping in joy, rubbing his hands together, or cackling gleefully. Or all of the above. They shuddered. Who knows what monstrosity Liene will make now?

Recovering from his slight bout of combined fear and anticipation, Kira turned to the orange GAHMU.

"You wanna come with us?" Kira asked, politely.

"Sure!" Came the reply, as the GAHMU began walking over to the hanger, taking up the rear of the convoy.

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Barachiel, 2nd Hanger Deck

11:25 A.M. Local Time, 9:25 P.M. Orb Time

"So.....why do you have a coffee machine in your cockpit?" Kira asked, politely as possible.

"Classified" Waltfeld said, storing the machine back in the lockbox beneath the seat.

"Yeah right." Jack muttered.

"Kira! We're ready." Liene called down from the 1st deck. Excited, the trio entered the elevator, bringing them up to the uppermost catwalk. They stepped out, each wondering just what was done to the Augury that could make it better. Although, in Waltfeld's case, it was more of a professional 'how was it before and how much better will it be now'.

Arrayed before them was, presumably, the Augury, except that it was draped in a large tan tarp.

"I give you-" Liene began, jabbing at a switch on a remote he was holding. The tarp fell, revealing a very different Augury. "-The Kuro Tenshi pack!" The new Augury was an inverse of it's previous color, black where it was white and red where it was blue. The golden highlights remained, although a bit thicker. In it's left arm, the Augury held a shield. It was vastly different from the standard one the Augury usually used though, more like a curved wedge rather than a blocky rectangle, and it was at least 50% larger to boot. To the right forearm, what looked like a sort of armor was attached, with what seemed to be two small barrels protruding over the back of the manipulator. The legs looked slightly slimmer, the thruster sections less bulky and more streamlined, with what appeared to be extra thrusters attached to the sides, conforming to the legs.

The most obvious and apparent difference was the Equipment pack. The main body was at least as large as the Juggernaut pack's, with a section extending down, and yet more thrusters on the sides and backs. The largest part of this pack were the two enormous wings, just like the Angelos pack's but larger by about a half. The very last part, the part that caused their jaws to drop, was the single ten-meter sword, mostly black except for the silver double-edge, that was sheathed on the Gundam's left hip.

"That's fucking enormous!" Jack breathed.

"Indeed. The Excalibur Beam Longsword is three meters longer than the Clarent, and uses new magnetic technology to improve the effectiveness of the beam edge." Liene said, somewhat pleased. "Going into the more general data, the Kuro Tenshi is a new Equipment Pack designed and developed by my comrades at Morgenroete." Here Liene scowled a bit. "I'm sad to say that they were a bit off in tuning the parts and equipment, which is the reason it took so long for me to finish. Anyway, before you ask, the reason the Augury is black is because I had to change the voltage settings in the OS, in order to accommodate the changes in the electronics made by the Kuro Tenshi pack." Liene gestured to the shield. "The most glaring change is the shield. Looking at it, I expect you guys think it's just a larger and tougher version of the standard shield." Out of the corner of his eye, Liene saw the three glance doubtfully at each other. "Well, it's not. The edge of the shield is actually made of high-density Phase Shift Alloys, and can slice through the Barachiel's hull like a balisong through Swiss cheese." Jack gazed hungrily at the shield. "That's not all. The shield has a weapons system built into its ventral surface, the Kamikaze Dual-Barrel Railgun. The Railgun is constructed of different materials than the standard mobile suit-based rifles, and even from the ship-mounted Linear Cannons. They're harder to melt for one, by at least a factor of 15, and are much denser and more electrically conductive. This is necessary, because this Railgun is designed to produce staggering amounts of heat on command. The reason? The Kamikaze fires specially made 150mm shells, cast in four layers. The first, which takes up about three-fourths the total size of the round, is made of the artificial magnesium allotrope thermesium, which, as you know, has a kindling point of about 300 Kelvin (I guess about 440 F). As a result, it starts burning about three nanoseconds into firing, and by the time it exits the barrel is completely ionized and exists as plasma. The second layer is made of a special magnetized alloy consisting of iron, tungsten, and silicon, which both generates a magnetic field to contain the thermesium plasma and absorbs the thermal energy. The third layer is completely made of depleted uranium, for its penetration capability. The last, smallest part, is a specially made and super compressed explosive compound weighing in at about 68 kilograms (150 or so lbs) with about five times the explosive power as an equivalent weight of C4." Liene just loved the slack-jawed look on their faces. "I can see by the look on your faces that you understand the power of this weapon. Well, unfortunately, we have a very, very small amount of the thermesium rounds, so I hope you can deal with depleted uranium HEAP shells Kira." Kira now had that blank look he had whenever he contemplated dealing large amounts of damage/pain/excruciating agony to OMNI personnel or Blue Cosmos supporters. "The weapon you see on the right forearm is a Beam Carbine, less than half the diameter of the standard beam rifles, but with about five times the firing rate, for the smaller enemies that don't warrant the use of the Kamikaze. The carbine fires beams about a fifth the size of the standard beams, but is much more energy efficient."

"Moving on, you obviously saw the wings. Well, aside from being larger, they have better thrust vectoring systems than the original Angelos wings, and around twice the thrust." Which was in and of itself impressive, seeing as the original Angelos' wing thrusters had about 560 kn/m (about 413,034.80248 lbf/ft) "The main pack's dual Ramjets add on about 120 kn/m, and with the new standard thrusters we installed in the legs, there should be a total thrust of around 1500 kn/m." Which made the Kuro Tenshi Augury about the fastest mobile suit in existence.

"The energy system is similar to that of the Juggernaut's, with the Kuro Tenshi adding two medium-sized energy capacitors. It also, however, adds four good-sized rechargeable paper batteries. Most of this energy is eaten up by the formidable energy requirements of the new thrusters, although even then the Augury's operation time is exponentially increased, by about a power of three." The sheer energy then measured in terawatts, as Liene could tell by the flabbergasted looks of his audience that they understood.

"Lastly, you see that second V-fin there?" Liene asked, pointing up at the Augury's forehead. The three nodded. "That is a vastly improved version of the Augury's EWACS system, comparable to the Bastion's, incorporating tachyon communications systems, phased-array radars, magnetic resonance imaging sensors and all such highly-advanced sensory systems." Liene allowed his gaze to very slightly flick to Yzak, who was overseeing the updates to his Enmity, before returning his attention to his audience after the Redcoat shuddered. Moving on, Liene left Kira to gaze at the black Augury, the engineer chuckling maliciously in his head.

Next to the Augury was the Kiba, without any tarp or obvious physical enhancements.

"Alright, you're pulling my leg aren't you? You didn't actually do anything with the Kiba did you?" Jack asked, staring accusingly at Liene.

"Well, I certainly didn't do much with the Kiba as I did the Augury, but I justify that with two reasons: one; the Kiba is almost perfect, as I designed it, and two; Kira is exponentially more important than you." Allowing Jack to steam for a few seconds, Liene began his explanation.

"For the Kiba, the first thing done was the armor. I sprayed it with a thin layer of a specialized ferrofluid developed by myself and physically created by my colleagues. Like the Gundam's armor, it reacts to electricity. However, instead of becoming more resilient, it instead rearranges itself into a structure that has considerably less overall friction than the normal Phase Shift Alloys. This is because that the upgrades to the Kiba make it amphibious, and thus less water resistance is paramount to the design."

"Hold up." Jack interjected. "Amphibious? Why not make it fly, or dig at twice the speed of sound or something cool?"

"For the former, we already have the Shadowfax and the Kuro Tenshi Augury. The latter is something that is simply impossible to accomplish without large expenditures of energy well beyond the limits of the Kiba's capacitor." Liene replied.

"Anyway, I've replaced the Kiba's normal thrusters with hydro-plasma thrusters. These experimental thrusters are somewhat more complicated than normal plasma thrusters, which work by simply ionizing gases and then using magnetic fields to propel it out of the exhaust, creating thrust. The hydro-plasma thrusters work by retrieving air or water via intakes on the sides of the thrusters, which are located there in the case of the leg-based thrusters." Liene said, pointing to a gill-like structure on the upper half of the Kiba's lower leg. "Then, in a specialized chamber similar to that of the Kamikaze Railcannon, the water or air is superheated until it is ionized, and is then stored inside special mini-containers located to either side of the main thruster."

"What's so complex about that? That's pretty much just like how normal thrusters work!"

"The complex part is in waterproofing the more delicate structures and electrical components, installing the high-energy microwave emitters that render the quick ionization of liquids possible, and making the interior of the thruster proof to the corrosion that exposure to sea water generally results in."

"Oh...."

"Aside from the thrusters, we also managed to modify the Ion Beam Cannon so that it too may operate underwater, although I expect its range will be drastically shortened. However, we have also finally finished the Positron Cannon." At that, Jack leaned forward, a somewhat hungry look on his face as Chimamare exerted energy to listen. For the alter, listening through Jack was sort of like having information relayed by one of those cups-and-a-string things kids made.

"With the parts from Orb, we replaced the capacitors and magnetic coils, as well as improving the positron storage units. Therefore, the Cannon should be perfectly able to safely fire, although you shouldn't use it in atmosphere because of the gamma radiation generated by the annihilation reaction." Chimamare had stopped listening at 'fire'.

"We also got a new ranged weapon." Liene continued, pointing to some conical devices now attached to the Chilong Gauntlets. "These are the Maser Vibration Spikes, or MVS. They're made out of an Osmium-Titanium Alloy reinforced with silicon nanotubes made especially to be durable and extremely heat-resistant. The drills are heated by masers located on the interior, and can withstand enormous amounts of heat without melting. They are also able to vibrate at extremely high frequencies, enhancing their already powerful penetration power. At the base are miniaturized Ramjets and microthrusters, as well as a monomolecular titanium wire connecting them to their respective ports on the Chilongs. They're meant to be launched from a rather long distance, say, about four hundred meters."

"That long?" Waltfeld asked.

"When the wires are monomolecular and have a diameter less than that of hair, you can make them quite long."

At that moment, the alert sounded.

"OMNI force approaching! Everyone, get to your stations!" Natarle barked, causing some of the less familiar people inhabiting the hangers to jump and look around. Liene shook his head, jogging for the halls.

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Barachiel, Bridge

11:47 Local Time, 9:47 Orb Time

Miriallia contacted the Augury, making sure that Kira was ready. She was taken aback by the stricken expression, the flushed face, and what appeared to be.....

"Kira! Are you alright? Your face is red....."

"Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"Is that your nose bleeding?"

"Huh? Oh, um...no?" Kira said, hurriedly wiping at his nose. "Just get the catapult ready Miri." Immediately, Kira cut off the comms screen, interrupted Miriallia before she could get into questioning him further.

"I swear Liene, if I die because of that image, I'm going to haunt you until you die!"

In his quarters, Liene allowed himself a little malicious snicker, watching Kira from the small camera he'd installed in the Augury's cockpit.

Oh, the blackmail material....Liene thought to himself as he brought up the image that had automatically popped onto the Augury's main cockpit screen when Kira had started the Gundam up.

That of Lacus Clyne's pink panties under her billowing dress, as seen from Liene's perspective when she emerged from the escape pod, with the caption: YOU'RE WELCOME

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A/N: You can thank Velshard for that little joke at the end. Anyway, how do you like the Kuro Tenshi? And don't say too powerful, cause that's the entire point. To get an excuse to cause the Praetor to be ever more dangerous, as the personal mobile suit of Kira's 'archenemy', Edward Abaddon (just in case you forgot.) That, and to flex my imaginative muscle (i.e., the brain)

G. Wagers: Well, not exactly sure what's going to happen to Flay, Lacus, and Co., whether I'm going to go the canon route and have her/them appear way later in the story, or what. As for Rau......well, I'll see, but Abaddon is evolving somewhat........sort of growing into Rau's role.......

Thrawn716: Well, to alleviate the ease, the Constantines and other OMNI units on Earth are going to be a touch more difficult to deal with, seeing as the majority of OMNI's troops was born and raised on Earth, they'll be moving easier than their colleagues in space, and OMNI's been positioning most of its more experienced forces on Earth to try and uproot ZAFT (not happening of course), plus, OMNI's gonna have a heck of a lot more power coming its way, (especially when Velshard's Orb units make an appearance, which happens to be around the time the Augury gets well-known....and we all know what happens when you become well-known among your enemies)

Plus, I really like making things that scare people to death. It's the psychological aspect of war I like the most. Or, at least, it ties with the explosive parts.

Velshard: I didn't mean it that way. See, I bet some of the readers have some ideas, and considering how many mobile suits you've designed, I figured I should let some of them take a hand at it. Of course, if no one gets them in on time, I'll take the Calamity and Forbidden, you take the Raider, seeing as how you seem to have an interest in transforming Gundams. Also, you've still got Rau's Gundam to look forward to.

Got a Cold War era joke for you guys

The KGB, the GIGN and the CIA are all trying to prove that they are the best at catching criminals. The Secretary General of the UN decides to give them a test. He releases a rabbit into a forest and each of them has to catch it. The CIA goes in. They place animal informants throughout the forest. They question all plant and mineral witnesses. After three months of extensive investigations they conclude that rabbits do not exist. The GIGN goes in. After two weeks with no leads they burn the forest, killing everything in it, including the rabbit, and make no apologies: the rabbit had it coming. The KGB goes in. They come out two hours later with a badly beaten bear. The bear is yelling: "Okay! Okay! I'm a rabbit! I'm a rabbit!"

GIGN: French Counter Terrorism Agency and Military Police, Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale

Knightmare Gundam of Ni

(6,116 words, It's getting longer!)