Chapter 2: In Anticipation of Your
Future Prosperity
Kaino reached down deep below his seat to grasp the emergency hatch release. As nimbly as his fingers allowed, he gave a sharp tug. The piercing "crank!" of the emergency escape mechanism rang through his eardrums; instantly he could feel the cooler air in the mysterious hangar bay rushing into the cockpit.
The 18 year old scuttled out from the barely cracked cockpit, surveying the damage to his mobile suit. Nothing but sparking wires and grievously melted body work where the head used to be.
Nice.
The Flag's right arm lay dead in a twisted heap by its side; the left manipulator assembly was severed cleanly though the forearm. He gazed over at the other mangled Flag…
That one was an utter lost cause.
Gingerly the boy scaled across the Flag's torso over to the other end of the cockpit area, reaching for the external hatch release. He jerked up sharply on the handle and gave a half turn with his wrist, jerking up hard again, followed by a full turn. With one final yank, the hatch popped open. Using his body as a jack, the slender boy opened the hatch fully, taking in the pathetic state of his co pilot.
There Zenna laid, her flight helmet cast aside. She lounged to the side of her seat, cradling herself with her arms, her face swathed with a lazy, apathetic expression of pouting hate. Long since dried, her eyes were still deep red from crying. Kaino's brow fell. For an instant, Kaino cursed the girl silently; it was still hard for him to believe she was given top rank in Valiant-Garde. As it was, Kaino himself had two more years of practical military experience under his belt with the Union, compared to the girl who only recently joined the Earth Federation Forces after the A-Laws Conflict. Either way, to see his superior in such a state… The words of insanity she spoke earlier rang through his mind repeatedly. He still couldn't grasp the reality of it all. He stood back and looked over at the destroyed wall. "They managed to get out…" he whispered softly, remembering the video monitor's capture of the defiant look on Caerlise's face throughout the entire ordeal. The boy's deep purple eyes tracked back to his S.O. as he stepped forward to hoist her out of the cockpit. It had been a good half hour since they last radioed in before coming down there.
Reinforcements were already enroute.
_..._
-...-
The girl's gaze was dead set on Kyrie, her bottom lip working in a slow, thoughtful manner.
Absolutely NONE of this made any sense.
"… Come again?" Lise started with a challenging grin. "Sorry, you lost me in that sea of vowels-
KCHICK!
The snow head leveled the gun again, her gaze hardening. "I am Tieria Erde, Gundam Meister for Celestial Being," she stated flatly, her iridescent eyes shifting over to the two boys, "the lot of you have witnessed too many of our secrets and must be terminated."
Akio's mind went blank for an instant. "Wait, where the hell did you get a gun-
The shorter girl girl swung her arm to point the gun squarely between the boy's eyes.
"Gaah-I'm sorry!"
"W-wait a minute" Jidane stammered as he took a step forward.
The girl pivoted her arm again towards the dark skinned kid. The gun rang out loudly, leaving a smoking bullet hole inches from the boy's foot.
"That's ENOUGH!" Lise shouted back through gritted teeth. "You're gonna get someone killed!"
"If such is the case, then that cannot be helped," the bleach head stated flatly. "I've taken control of this Innovade's body for-AHHHHHH!"
"Kyrie!" Lise shouted as the girl doubled over in visible pain, clutching her head in agony.
The ship slammed HARD into an object and lurched to the side, tossing everyone asunder.
"Chance!" Caerlise whispered with an artful dodge towards the flailing girl.
Kyrie's deep blue eyes screamed agony as they gently flickered that iridescent hue. Through gritted teeth she aimed and fired the gun at the dashing brunette.
Lise winced as the blood splattered across her neck; she had her right hand clamped down hard on the gun barrel. The girl gritted her teeth and drew the gun barrel up and to the side, a bullet hole cleanly formed through her bandaged right hand. Her damaged hand torqued down tighter on the gun, never faltering.
The ship lurched again, causing the two girls to tumble down on top of one another. Lise ripped her arm out wide to fling the weapon aside.
MOOOWOWOWOOOON…
The sudden bass hum emanating from outside the submerged space carrier drew everyone's attention.
"LISE!" Jidane shouted, seeing the red spray of blood from the confrontation.
"Holy shit guys! We just hit a whale!" Akio exclaimed in surprise, making out the white markings of a giant Blue whale through the Bridge window, beating a hasty retreat.
Caerlise flipped hard, pinning Kyrie beneath her, the both of them a bloody mess. "Kyrie!" She watched the girl's blue eyes flicker golden as she continued to struggle beneath her weight.
Jidane dashed over and held the girl's legs down watching in horror as she fought to free herself.
"ALRIGHT!" Akio leveled the bloody gun at the snow head with a resounding "click."
The girl looked up to stare down the barrel, her golden eyed tirade finally dying down.
Caerlise gingerly picked herself off her friend, staggering back to catch her breath. "Just what the hell did you do to Kyrie?"
"Put that gun away moron!" Jidane shouted, standing up fast and batting Akio's hand away.
"Dude she's gone crazy! She was gonna kill us all!"
Lise placed her foot gently on Kyrie's chest, applying just enough pressure to keep her subdued. The blood from her leg started anew, gently trickling down her toned, tan thigh. "Alright 'Tieria Erde,'" she started, holding her dripping right hand behind her and out of the way. She bent down and hoisted Kyrie up and "roughly" tossed her onto the Navigation control seat. "Talk. NOW."
The white haired girl looked away with a scowl, eying the tough brunette. "I've already told you more than what I'm permitted to." She looked at the two boys, particularly the one holding the gun. "This ship and the white mobile suit are property of Celestial Being!" She punctuated the statement by pushing her glasses up back to their proper position.
Jidane tensed up. "We figured that much. What the hell did you do to Kyrie?" he said angrily, slamming his hands down on the seat's arm rests, putting his face right before the "hostage."
"Kyrie Lazon. She is an Innovade whose body I've taken over."
Jidane's brow furrowed in ignorance.
"Hmmph! The only reason is to ensure you three don't hand over this ship's secrets to the Earth Federation!"
"Nice," Lise started, ripping another strip off of her now miniskirt, bandaging her hand once again. The bullet had gone clean through the flesh between her thumb and index finger; luckily the I/O connector cable was undamaged. "Well you better give her back, otherwise so help me god-
"It seems you all will never understand." Kyrie sighed angrily. "Very well. I, Tieria Erde exist within the supercomputer Veda." She eyed Lise. "As such, I have a direct link to this girl's mind-
"ENOUGH!" Lise grabbed the girl's collar, pausing for a moment. She didn't want to hurt her…
"I don't… I don't understand this… Arrr… WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Jidane cried out, running his fingers through his hair.
"Open your minds!" Kyrie shouted angrily. "We're all wasting time arguing like this!"
Akio observed everything, his eyes playing between everyone. "Man… this is some weird shit… So you like… mind-hacked her or somethin'?"
Kyrie looked his way. "Something, yes."
"How about un-hacking her!" Lise barked, her eyes livid with frustration.
"I will, as soon as you surrender over to me-
"Fine. I surrender." Lise stated flatly, throwing her hands in the air. "Jesus that was fucking simple, wasn't it?"
Kyrie looked at her in amazement.
"...This isn't the time for games!" the short girl growled angrily. "By now the Earth Federation's scoured the underground hanger…" Kyrie's eyes seemed to look past Caerlise's own, peering into a vast void. Just as quickly, her glowing gold eyes refocused, "Luckily all the data pertaining to this ship and mobile unit were purged upon activation."
Caerlise let loose a guttural growl, her frustration reaching the breaking point-
"Wait." Jidane shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the situation, "So you're saying… You called her an Innovade… Just what IS an 'Innovade?'"
Kyrie looked dead at him. Her eyes seemed so piercing! Without a doubt, there was another personality peering back at him past those eyes. "Your friend was an access terminal and data collection unit for Veda."
The trio looked at her, dumbfounded. Kyrie looked down and laughed. "I can imagine it being hard for you to grasp, but as an Innovade living an everyday life, Kyrie Lazon, as she is known to you all, was channeling information regarding humanity and human interaction straight into Veda's processing banks." She looked up, meeting everyone's gaze. "The purpose of this was to allow Veda to constantly monitor mankind's development. There exist millions of Innovades throughout society and various ethnical cultures."
Lise shook her head. "Look I don't care about all that shit. Jesus you're sounding like this wackjob!" she punctuated, pointing a thumb Akio's way.
"Hey!"
"At any rate, you three must-GAAA HAAAAAAA!" The girl cut herself off by emitting a feral scream of pain, clutching her head.
"What the hell's goin on with her?" Akio stammered as he leveled the gun once again.
"KYRIE!" Jidane fell to his knees and supported the writhing girl. Beneath her snow white hair he could see her eyes flickering and flashing deep blue.
With a final cry of anguish, the girl threw her head back and fell limp into the chair, breathing hard.
"Wh-WHAT? How could-
The male voice boomed over the ship's com system, obvious surprise in his voice.
"Kyrie!" Lise held the girl's heaving shoulders, feeling the sweat pouring through her shirt.
"Heh…" The snow head managed to laugh, a challenging yet tired grin crossing her face.
"Where's that voice commin' from?" Akio yelped, looking around like a madman. "Ahh man, don't tell me there's GHOSTS on this thing!"
"… You! Access Denied?" The voice truly sounded bewildered. "But Veda-
"No matter what you say or do…" Kyrie started, her voice slowly regaining strength, "my body… is my OWN!"
Lise looked at her tired yet defiant expression. She couldn't help but grin. That was the spirit!
"Kyrie, what did-
"Everything he said was true," the girl interrupted Jidane, gingerly sitting up straighter. "I managed to lock him out of my mind." She looked over at Jidane, a faint smile across her face. "Call it a reverse-hack!"
Jidane could feel his eyes watering. Quickly he fought back the tears, happy to know she was alright.
"Tieria Erde," Kyrie said, a newfound passion in her voice, "If what you really want is to keep your secrets from the EF, then I think we should work together."
The com said nothing.
"Mr. Erde!" Kyrie shouted angrily, addressing the male voice.
"Very well." The ship's control panels performed like automated clockwork, checking and double checking the ship's as well as the white mobile suit's status. "It would seem that is the only op- what?"
Kyrie rapidly typed away at the Nav console as numerous documents began to download on the screen before her.
"You… hacked Veda?" The voice demanded angrily.
"Something, yes!" Kyrie retorted, motioning for everyone to gather around as numerous documents filed down.
"That is CLASSIFIED informa-
"Mr. Erde, you don't have anywhere else to go. As long as you're locked into the ship's data banks, even you can't regain access to VEDA!" Kyrie challenged a grin of revenge across her face.
"What?" The com went silent. It was true! "You LOCKED me out! How DARE you-
"And locked you IN. That's payback for taking my body…"
"Hear that, Vowels?" Caerlise taunted, "I still dunno what this is all about, but don't mess with us!"
"You-
Kyrie turned to Jidane, "When you have the chance, take a look at this. I don't really understand it all but… it's got all sorts of information about this ship and the mobile suit… and Celestial Being."
"Right," the boy affirmed with a nod. "Maybe I can finally start to understand just what the heck's going on around here…"
"Uh Guys? GUYS?" Akio's voice tinged with concern as he eyed the main readout at the Tactical Station. Numerous red blips were gently coming into range. "We got a situation over here!"
The trio looked his way, their faces collectively souring at the thought of more confrontation. "Jesus can't we catch a break here?" Lise muttered angrily, noting the various icons on the screen. "What are those… ships?
"Must be Naval Flag Carriers… great!" Jidane shook his head, letting loose an exasperated sigh. "Maybe we should just surrender-
"ABSOLUTELY OUT OF THE QUESTION!" Tieria shouted across the com channel. "Like it or not, your top priority is the defense of this vessel and its mobile suit, do you understand?"
Lise grimaced at the thought of taking orders from this "Tieria Erde," but her friend's lives were in danger.
The ship rocked HARD from an explosion in the water a few hundred meters away.
"They're using depth charges," Tieria stated as an external camera view of numerous exploding balls of energy popped up on the main bridge screen.
"So the answer's obvious!" Akio shouted loudly as he sat down at the pilot controls, ripping the control "handles" back hard. Instantly the Pythagoras lurched upward, blasting at break neck speed towards the surface.
"NO YOU IDIOT!" Jidane's shout was muffled by the two girl's shrieks of surprise as they all tumbled backwards.
"FOOL!" Tieria was helpless to observe the majestic Pythagoras' depth gauge rapidly increase in the positive.
"… THERE! CAPTAIN I SEE THE ENEMY SHIP!" the bridge scout barked. The Captain's ears perked onboard the E.F.N. Clydesdale. His eyes grew wide as he spotted the sparkling blue, white and silver ship knife its way out of the pristine waters. Against the backdrop of the early morning, it was such a sight to see.
"Heh! Old tactics, Celestial Being!" The captain grinned, remembering the combat reports submitted roughly a year ago, dictating a similar escape style from the Anti-War group. "It's been a while since we last heard from you… FLAG SQUADRONS! OPEN FIRE! TAKE DOWN THAT SHIP!"
High in the morning sky, numerous flash bursts could be seen as the blue and white EF Flag Fighters transformed into MS mode and immediately pelted the approaching space ship relentlessly with beam rifle fire.
"SHIT!" Lise shouted, noting a platoon of Flags releasing their payload of missiles.
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING? Direct all GN Particles to the GN field!" Tieria barked. Frustration wasn't the word. Those kids would compromise everything!
"How the hell do we do that?" Lise shouted back, holding on for dear life.
The Pythagoras glowed blue as a shell of shimmering azure particles instantly formed about its perimeter, absorbing all attacks effortlessly.
"Already done!" Kyrie shouted back from her station. "I don't know how long it will last though!"
Lise's eyes were wide in awe. How did she know what to do?
"OH YEAH!" Akio laughed as the ship banked hard, plowing into a hapless Flag, "WE'RE FLYIN' NOW!"
"MORON! WHY THE HELL DID YOU TAKE US OUT OF THE WATER?" Lise shouted, looking to see Jidane barely clinging onto the tactical station seat. "Shit!" The girl kicked hard off the chair she clung to and stumbled out of the bridge, headed to the Mobile Suit bay. "Goddamn IDIOTS! If they just want this damn thing… ARRRG!"
A sudden explosion nearly flung her off the bay's edge but she clung onto the guard rail for dear life. "I swear when we get out of this…" She dashed over to the open cockpit of the Gundam and sat inside, her back growing cold from the still wet blood which covered the seat. "Here we go again!"
The Cockpit closed tightly as the girl reached past her bandages and reconnected the control sockets to her hand and Leg. In the few moments it took for the Heads-Up Display to come online, she got a good look at the monitor layouts.
Gundam Status
Weapons Status
Targeting Status
Enemy Status
Ally Status
DRC
"DRC?" the girl muttered, taking the time to fasten herself in securely while noting a throbbing blue gauge which hovered around 30% She heard the spiraling hum of the Conical Drive behind her sing to critical life, drenching the bay with a torrent of blue particles. The Gundam raised its head and flashed its 'baby blues.'
All Systems Green.
The bridge was a veritable circus with Tieria barking orders which no one seemed to follow, Akio's crazy piloting ability, and the numerous Flag Fighters dodging artfully to and fro, slowly whittling away at the ship.
"Jidane! Open the hatch!" The boy's ears perked at the sound of her voice over the com. "LISE?"
"Just DO IT!" She shouted, watching the back of the bay slowly open, revealing the crystal clear blue morning skies. The Gundam's monitors automatically dimmed in the bright sunlight, hardening so as to give the best view possible. The Mobile Suit increased the particle output from its cone drive and boosted out of the bay.
Lise eyed the altimeter which slowly dropped, despite the constant belching of blue particles. "C'mon… FLY DAMMIT!"
Flags swarmed about the gently falling white mobile suit, pelting it with beam fire which casually glanced off its white armor panels. Lise skillfully dodged the attacks, leveling the forearm Vulcan.
Beads of bullets streamed from the weapon's arm, shredding Flags left and right, all the while falling modestly through the sky. Lise checked her monitors for the slowly disappearing Pythagoras. "SHIT!"
"Lise!"
"Jidane! Any HELP HERE?"
"That Gundam can't fly!
"NO SHIT SHERLOCK!"
"No! I mean all you can do is glide for a short period of time! That's not a normal GN drive so it can't sustain flight!"
"So what the hell do I do?" She shouted back, aiming and firing hard.
Jidane scrolled through the electronic documents at his station, reading as fast as he could in the face of the tumult. "I-I don't…!" His eyes grew wide at the information. Despite the situation, his engineering mind sparked. "LISE! USE WHATEVER'S CALLED THE DYNAMIC REACTION CELL!"
"RIGHT! LEMME JUST PULL THAT OUTTA MY ASS!" the girl angrily shouted as the Gundam dodged hard and swung around to fire at the closing enemy.
…
Empty!
"SHIT!" The girl swore as the Gundam quickly drew its pink beam saber, slashing HARD across a Flag's beam rifle, the weapon going up instantly in an explosion. The Gundam bit down and charged forward, spearing the Flag in the chest. With a swoon of blue particles, the Gundam blasted onward, ripping the plasma blade through the Flag cleanly and proceeded to engage yet another one as the suit succumbed to a harsh explosion.
The girl eyed a timer beside the Beam Saber Status icon. "Three minutes? Damn I didn't notice that BEFORE!" she punctuated by slicing the flag's arm off, blasting along to engage another. "JIDANE! WHAT THE HELL IS A DYNAMIC WHATEVER?"
"It's the DRC! It should allow-
TRIAL TRIAL TRIAL TRIAL TRIAL TRIAL
The Gundam's cockpit glowed red as klaxons blared loudly. Across every screen the word 'TRIAL' flashed as the spiraling whine of the drive died down, a modest number of blue particles steadily draining out.
"That is enough from you."
"Tieria!" Caerlise answered in surprise. "What the-
A Flag rammed into the Gundam's back, halting her. It rudely delivered a swift kick to the back of the head and leveled its bull pup, taking rapid, near point-blank fire at the white bastard.
Each searing round racked the Gundam's frame, finally leaving a good set of dents and damage along its backside.
"SHIT! TIERIA!" The girl worked the mental controls vigorously. "MOVE DAMMIT!"
"There's no use. It took some time but I finally got past that girl's encryption."
Kyrie stared at her readout at the Navigation console, a look of determined fervor on her face.
"While it isn't the true TRIAL system, I now have full control of this Mobile Suit" Tieria stated flatly, his voice ringing over the ship's intercom.
"At the very least, this Gundam will be destroyed by their forces… one less secret to worry about," the voice stated.
Lise gritted her teeth angrily as another flag rammed into the Gundam, lodging its beam rifle snugly against the white bastard's torso.
BARZAAAM!
The pink shaft of biting energy ate through the flag in an instant, erasing its twisting body with an all consuming rage. Without hesitating, more beam cannon fire belched from the top of the Pythagoras and into the enemy fray, driving them out and away from the stranded white mobile suit.
"Tieria Erde!" Kyrie's voice was strong across the Gundam's com channel. Lise's ears perked, noting the shrill target lock tone which drilled into her skull. "We've locked every weapon onto that mobile suit! We'll blast you out of the sky unless you unlock the system!"
Kyrie's brow was awash with sweat. Tense…
"Hey Switch with me!" Jidane practically shoved the redhead boy from the pilot seat and opened up the document files once more, juggling the task of flying the ship and evading enemy fire.
Akio's fingers rubbed along the gunnery triggers once he plopped down. "Oh yeah! I'm itching to blow something else up!" The auto beam turrets spat fire intermittently at any EF suit which strayed too close to the GN encased ship.
"Do what you will. Either way, this mobile suit's secrets will be erased. PERMANENTLY!" the male countered.
"So will you!"
"What?"
Caerlise grinned, glad her mate got the one up. She wasn't scared to die in the least… she only regretted how her friends might hold up without her…
"That backup file you left on board the Pythagoras… I deleted it!"
"That's nothing-
"Wrong!" Kyrie's blue eyes flashed, "When you were inside my head, I also got to see your secrets too. I know that for you to even be anywhere within the network of this ship and that Gundam, you'd have to upload yourself 100% either way! No proxies to hide behind… your entire core is inside that Gundam's OS!"
"There's no jumping ship for you."
The brunette nodded her head in approval "Great job Kyrie! Ya hear that Vowels?"
"WHAT?"
"Yeah!" Lise lowered her head eying a duo of Flags doubling back to make another strike, five more banking hard to rain hell on the carrier ship. "Watch it… she'll do it too…"
BARZAAM!
Another cover blast took out both Flags simultaneously. Caerlise eyed the altimeter. The Gundam fell past a cloud bank, the churning waters of the Pacific growing nearer by the second.
"I've done my part for the benefit of Celestial Being. For my comrades! I've already died my death! Anything further now, means-
"And don't you think they all want to see you again? Tieria?" Kyrie's voice was bathed in sympathy. "Don't you remember? All of them… Soran, Lyle, Allelujah, Leesa... Marie, Mileina, Ian, and Lasse! Even Saji!"
Kyrie's eyes softened, "If there was any way I could cheat death to see my friends again… I would do it in a heartbeat!"
The male voice sounded his hesitance. Whatever AI, be it conscious or unconscious, that was communicating across the channels was definitely mulling over past thoughts and experiences.
"Just what were you all fighting for? The Future, right? A Future created by you and your friends for the benefit of all life! What's the point…?"
Kyrie slammed her fist down hard onto the panel before her, "What's the point in all that if you don't LIVE to see that future WITH them?"
Akio and Jidane looked back at the girl's passionate outburst. "Kyrie…" Jidane had no idea who the people were she named, but he had never heard her like this before. Such heart…
"… I-
"JUST LISTEN TO HER, DUMBASS!" Lise shouted in annoyance, breaking the mood.
The red glow of the cockpit died away; at the same time all view screens and panel readouts switched normal. All systems green.
"Caerlise Alna," Tieria started, his voice nearly drowned out by the spiraling energy hum, "… return to the Pythagoras any way you can."
"Well I woulda done it sooner!" she retorted snidely. The Gundam leveled its descent slightly and reignited its beam saber, slicing clean through an encroaching Flag.
"Lise! Use the DRC system!" Jidane shouted as the Pythagoras pitched hard, dodging a stream of missile fire.
"You said that before! HOW THE HELL DO I DO IT?"
"Get the DRC gauge past 50%! I'm not exactly sure HOW it works, but it should give you the power boost needed to actually fly!" the com squawked.
Caerlise eyed the gauge as she felt her adrenaline start to pump into overdrive. "So how the hell do I get it to go up?"
"There should be an activation switch on the right control stick-GAH!" The boy banked the ship hard right, colliding head on with a Flag fighter, bursting it into flames. The GN field surrounding the ship flickered and finally went offline
"What if there aren't any controls?"
"WHAT? Shit!" The boy tried to juggle two problems at once. They were sitting ducks out there!
Lise shook her head. No time to explain.
"What are you waiting for? Activate the Dynamic Reaction Cell!" Tieria barked as three more Flags came into view, leveling their beam rifles.
"I'M WORKIN' ON IT!" the Brunette snapped back, her hands trembling. If she couldn't pull this off…
NO!
She WOULD do it. She made it this far. And her friends…
If she died, who would protect them?
"That's not gonna happen…" she seethed through gritted teeth, eyes closed.
Jidane.
Kyrie.
"RAAAAA! THAT IS NOT… AN OPTION!" With a defiant shout, the blue DRC gauge slammed up to 65%, wavering strongly.
The entire Gundam's frame shuddered violently as the cockpit became awash with blue light. It pulsated in timely banded streaks as more and more blue particles sprayed from the back of the now glowing blue conical drive.
The white and silver mobile suit phased a deep shimmering blue as more and more particles careened across the aerial battlefield. The glowing blue Gundam's eyes sweltered deep azure, three times as brightly as before.
"Look at that light!" Jidane shouted as the attacking Flags focused their attention on the glowing suit, blue GN particles dancing all about the sky.
With a resounding burst of energy, the blue suit zipped upwards into the sky like a reborn sapphire comet, slicing hard into an unfortunate Flag fighter, rending it in two with it's now blazing red beam saber.
"It's like from before!" A Flag pilot shouted across the com channel. All the data seemed to semi-support it. Blazing red Gundam Type suits… but this one was blue! Comparatively, it wasn't moving nearly as fast either. The Flag's data systems showed that it was flying around at about the same speed and agility as the Close Quarters Combat Gundam Model from roughly seven years ago. The Flag knifed through the torrent of blue particles towards the shimmering suit, its beam rifle blazing.
Caerlise guided the Gundam up higher, closing on the enemy in a matter of seconds as the remaining Flags dodged and put ample room in between themselves and this blue beast. The girl stole a glance at the Beam Saber Status. The timer now read '99:99:99.' "C'MERE!" she shouted at a far away Flag shooting from its hip. The MS transformed and bolted away, the Blue Gundam fast on its tail. It was over for the suit before the pilot knew what attacked.
The glowing saber sweltered the air behind the flag as it sheared apart before the blood red plasma blade even connected. The Gundam's head whipped around to see the mother ship a good 4 kilometers away. Lise's eyes grew wide at the magnified image of the ship.
Fast encroaching was one Flag unit.
The ship was a sitting duck!
There was no way she could get there in time, even with this speed boost! Her thoughts were a blur, but nothing registered. Her comrades….
Her friends!
"Jesus look at that thing GO!" Akio shouted in awestruck surprise, observing the carnage set in the sea of blue specks. "Holy-GAAH!"
The lone Flag managed to slip past the Pythagoras's frontal defenses and leveled its missile rack at the Bridge windows. Locked on target.
"Oh my God!" Kyrie's eyes grew wide in terror. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle straight. "… Caerlise…"
Inside the Gundam, Lise wanted to scream but couldn't find the voice. Her brain and mouth weren't communicating properly. Only one instinctual and primal thought fired across her synapses:
Protect them.
Protect. Them.
PROTECT. THEM.
The Gundam shuddered violently, erupting into a deeper glistening blue hue as the DRC gauge broke 80%. Across the glowing control panel screen, text flashed in bright black letters:
K.I.W.I. DRIVE SYSTEM: ACTIVE
THAWHAAM!
The crew watched as the Gundam's scarlet saber ravaged into the Flag's head, slicing it from top to bottom. Jidane was taken aback by the sudden attack. He was speechless.
The high definition cameras behind the Blue suit's blazing eye covers pivoted to looked upward.
Another Flag one kilometer away.
Giving a hard slash with the saber, the enemy suit was rendered in two.
High above, 1.5 kilometers away; another Flag.
With a hard flick of the wrist, the saber collided with the Flag's torso.
Far aft of the ship, five kilometers away a lone flag doubling back for another pass.
The Gundam's saber reamed the suit in two from the bottom up.
One last Flag, 3 kilometers below the ship, turning to make a tactical retreat.
The Gundam shoved its glowing sapphire hand forward against the Flag's chest, halting its movement in an instant. With one fluid motion the Blue suit stabbed the Flag squarely in the chest, spinning hard to slash outward.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Each Flag exploded well within one second of each other.
"What… is this?" Tieria asked out loud. The battle data was mind boggling!
"…All of the EF's forces… they're wiped out!" Jidane whispered in awe. He couldn't believe what he just saw. Across such great distances, the blue suit dispatched the Flags within seconds of each other.
Impossible!
The cobalt Gundam turned and zipped across the sky to the waiting Pythagoras, its blue haze slowly dying down. The snow white and silver Gundam's upward momentum gently slowed as the ship's suit bay opened up to accept the weary warrior once again.
Caerlise shook her head, unsure of what to make of the experience. "What the hell was that all about? Talk about one crazy-ass ride…" she whispered as the Gundam lurched, the auto systems taking over once again.
The sweaty brunette let her head thud on seat's headrest, the strong odor of sizzling bacon wafting into her nostrils. She glanced at the DRC gauge, now settled comfortably at 30% once again. Her mind worked furiously. All she could remember was dispatching those flags in different ways. She couldn't explain how or when it all happened, but it did. All throughout the cockpit, the alluring scent of cooking meat wafted about.
The mobile suit parked solidly and the wrap-around video panels died out as the blast doors and cockpit opened up wide, a welcome gust of cool air rushing over the girl. Her mind was still drawing nothing but blanks as she gazed ahead at the sealing bay doors. She was so hungry… Hungry for something salty and meaty… whatever was cooking-
The girl's conscious finally acknowledged the burning odor. She sniffed curiously, her eyes growing wide in surprise. "Are you kidding me? Ahh… hell!" She looked down at her smoking cybernetic parts, all well visible within the sizzling artificial blood and muscle work of her legs and arm. "Must've gunned the engine too hard…" she muttered with an exasperated expression. "Dammit!"
_..._
-...-
Caerlise eyed the strange ball-shaped robot giving her arm and legs a quick once over. It had taken about 1 hour in total for the little guy to perform repairs to her system and another 3 for the cellular regeneration unit in the infirmary to fully heal her botched wounds. The girl sat on the modest bed inside the single person room in only her periwinkle pink panties.
"I guess having all that artificial meat paid off eh? Haha!" It felt good to laugh after all that headache. It helped that the flesh needing repair was partially artificial; had it been 100% true home-grown organic material, it could have taken days to regenerate.
"Almost done! Almost done!" the robot chimed. If it hadn't been for Tieria informing the "crew" about the little Haro robots and the physical repair capabilities of the Pythagoras, Lise would have still been in pretty bad shape. It was a cute little thing, that Haro. Pea green and roughly the size of a soccer ball, it had retractable legs and arms as well as flap like appendages that allowed for clumsy flight to and fro.
A gentle knock on the room door drew her attention.
"Caerlise? Can I come in?"
"C'mon in K, it's not locked!" Lise shouted back as the door gently 'whooshed' open. The snow head walked in, holding a neatly folded set of clothing underneath a pair of black and dark gray boots. Her hair appeared slightly damp from showering and her attire was different. Caerlise laughed, taking her in. She sported black pants with dark gray highlighting and a silver belt buckle, matching black and dark gray boots, a black form-fitting zip up shirt, a blue and dark gray highlighted long sleeved full fitted jacket, and matching gloves. "Don't you look hipster!" she laughed loudly.
"Yeah well looks like you're joining the club!" Kyrie laughed back, placing the clothes neatly on the bedside table. "You've got some clean underwear too. It only took about an hour to make using the fabrication unit, so I made clothes for everybody," she started, her cheeks burned slightly red. "The Pythagoras is practically self sustaining…" She looked away from the semi nude Caerlise periodically. She couldn't help but feel envious of Caerlise's athletically large chest. Her own body's smaller frame naturally supported smaller feminine features, but each girl's body fit them perfectly.
"Huh?" Lise looked confused. She noted her friend's strange antics. "Oh…" She grinned with only the slightest hint of embarrassment, "Eh… you seen one set of tits, you've seen 'em all right? Boobs are boobs! Besides," she said as the little Haro bounced, retracting it's feet and arms.
"All done! All done! All done!" it chirped as it flittered over to the automatic room door, and sailed down the hallway.
"Apparently that regeneration thing works best with the fewer clothes you have on." Lise flexed her arm, rotating her wrist rapidly, wiggling her fingers and extending her legs.
"You're leaving those cords exposed?" Kyrie inquired, peering to get a better look. Caerlise's artificial skin felt exactly like the real living deal and looked flawless save for the odd cable tip protruding from the side of her shapely thigh and back of her hand. At the base of each cable was a small metallic jamb to prevent keep her flesh and blood from being exposed to infection.
"Yeah. Figure if I have to get inside that thing again I should conserve as much of my REAL blood as possible, right?" She pulled the I/O cable on the back of her hand out, and let it recoil back in place with a silly grin on her face.
"…Hmm…" Kyrie gently sat down on the bedside table, a far off look in her eyes.
The brunette let out a large sigh, relaxing her sitting posture against the head of the bed. "Thanks again for the change of clothes, babe," she said with a grin. "God I smell like week old sauerkraut!" the girl stood up and headed over towards the tiny bathroom. "I sure as hell hope this room has running water-
"I'm sorry!"
Lise paused and looked over her shoulder, meeting the girl's concerned gaze. "Huh? What for?"
"About everything! You having to fight inside of that mobile suit, all of us being on this ship in danger, ALL of it! I'm so, so, sorry!"
The taller girl crossed her arms and leaned in the doorway to the bathroom. She only smiled softly. "So you're saying it's all your fault…right?"
The girl paused, taken by surprise.
"You giving that dumbass a crap-ton of explosives, you building that underground hangar, and you being the whiz kid you are, building that Gundam and this ship? All your fault, huh?"
"…Well… no I-
"So then what's there to be sorry for?" Lise replied back, shrugging her shoulders. "Shit happens, K. You know that." Caerlise turned to flip on the bathroom lights. "If anything, just be glad we're all safe and alive still." She reached for the modest tub to turn the water on. "It's like what they say… 'Life's worth living, when you're alive,' right?
Success. Running water.
Kyrie took in her friend's concise advice. One thing Lise was good for was NOT mincing words. "…And also…"
Caerlise dipped one toe into the lukewarm water. It wasn't so bad… at the very least her artificial nerve endings all functioned properly.
Kyrie's eyes were hidden by her stringy wet hair. "… I am… so sorry… about shooting at you…"
"WAITAMINUTE!" Lise shouted, sticking her head around the door, "YOU shot at me?" she asked with a playfully fake air of shock, "'cause last I knew it was that 'Tieria Erde' guy who shot me," She said with a grin, shaking her head. "God how the hell do you even spell that?"
Kyrie mouthed a retort but couldn't find the words to say.
"That's what I thought, kid," the brunette finished, standing in the doorway again, still in just her underwear.
The snow head looked up at her as if she was a child who had done something hellishly bad, and didn't realize the consequences. "…"
"Hmm?"
Kyrie's bottom lip trembled. "Do you… think I'm a freak?"
"A freak?"
Tears streamed from her deep blue eyes. She hadn't the heart to say anything further.
"Ahh jeez… no time for tears, ya?" Caerlise said kindly as she walked over to the sitting girl, a look of compassion on her face. "Now why the hell would I think you're something weird for?"
"Because I'm not Human!" Kyrie shouted back, her eyes full of frustration.
"Huh?" Lise blinked hard, and then burst into laughter.
"See you DO think I'm some weirdo now!" Kyrie shouted back, her eyes renewing their tearful tirade.
Caerlise fought to regain her composure, running a hand through her oily, dirty hair. "Ahh man… WOW!" She chuckled, finally catching herself. "I totally thought that guy made all that up!"
Kyrie looked at her, speechless.
"Wait, what… you mean you're seriously some humanoid computer terminal dealy thingy?"
Kyrie's surprised expression slowly furrowed into slight annoyance. "Yes! As soon as I got control of myself, I realized everything Tieria said was true. It was as if a part of my mind suddenly unlocked itself. Like I became self-aware, all over again. Everything… I feel as if my whole life's been one big li-
"'Cause I sure as hell don't see no antennas or nothing!" Lise interrupted by yanking hard on the girl's white hair with both hands, pulling it up, out, and all about. "You look pretty damn human to me. Huh!" she punctuated with a jovial grunt.
"OWWWW! Hey it's not fun-ny!" Kyrie retorted, halting herself from laughing at the exchange as the girl let her hair loose.
"Yeah it kinda is! Look at you, you're getting so bent outta shape about it! Check me out! Half my body's practically a robot. Hell I really do have computer terminals comin' outta me! Doesn't make me any less human now does it?" Lise asked with a knowing grin.
Kyrie couldn't help but smile as she dried her tears.
"I really don't give a damn about this "Innovade" science fiction-y whatever, whatever. Honestly thinking about it just makes my damn head hurt!" the girl said, shrugging her shoulders. "All this brain jacking, Celestial Being, Vader shi-
"Veda," Kyrie corrected with a timid smile.
"Yeah him too," Lise continued, never loosing stride. She put one hand atop the snow haired girl's head, grinning with smiling eyes. "No matter what the hell all that means. You're you! You'll always be you! A Human chick who's awesome at everything she does! Computers, school-
"Cooking!"
"Yeahahaha! Yeah…" Lise's voice fell. "Anyway!" She started up again, "just take it as it is, ya know? Think of it as some advice from your 'older sister' haha!"
Kyrie nodded with a laugh, pushing up her glasses in a knowing way. "You know, we're both 18, right?"
"Yeah but I was born first!"
"You were born September 28th… I was born on the 1st so…"
"Eyagh… that's just technical shit! You know, with me being more mature and all?"
Kyrie smiled maternally, tilting her head, "Actually… I think everyone knows I'm just a bit more mature than you… actually, a lot more mature than yo-
"That ain't the damn point!" Caerlise interrupted, pushing her hand down harder, on the girl's head causing the girl to falter on the table. Lise turned and walked back into the bathroom. "Point is, when you're in danger, I'll always be the first one to save your ass! THAT makes me your older sister! You, Jidane… and that weeaboo weirdo! He's been hangin' around too long for me to just let his dumbass die for no reason," she rattled, slipping out of her underpants unseen.
Kyrie grinned. She knew Lise was always 100% good for her word. No matter what.
"Even if it means I die, your battles are my battles! That's just how I am! I've always been that way, ya know?" she said, gingerly slipping her body into the water, taking care not to submerge the thin cables on her thigh and hand, even though, according to the little Haro, everything was waterproofed. "Now lemme soak for a bit. Jesus I smell like a dead animal! Bleh!"
Kyrie burst into laughter and stood up, headed towards the main door. "Caerlise Alna… you are definitely one-of-a-kind…" she thought to herself, nodding in affirmation. "Hey Lise, one more thing!" she shouted, looking to the side, recalling her memories with a smile.
"Yo?"
"Doc's orders on your clothing! Hehe!"
"Huh? The hell's that mean?" Lise asked with a smile in her voice. She looked up at the fluorescent lights as she gently rubbed her right arm down with soap, her hair sopping wet against her tanned skin.
Kyrie only laughed, saying nothing further as she opened the door and headed down the hall.
The bedroom was silent, save for the gentle splashing of water and the occasional sigh of relaxation. There was no way for him to see what occurred, but he heard every word of the exchange.
Definitely she had a way with words. Her own way with words. Just like him. The first Lockon Stratos.
_..._
-...-
The Elan. Once a scrapped A-Laws prototype for aerial Mobile Suit deployment, over the course of a year the Earth Federation resurrected the massive airship project, producing a domineering titan of the skies. With its twin Jubilee class mega particle cannons and forward swept, black armored design, the Elan looked as if it were a massive falcon, swooping with majestic wings out wide and razor sharp talons poised forward.
Currently it was knifing through the ether at 43,000 feet.
Kaino stood at rigid attention, breathing in the recycled air. Just like the transport ship he had arrived on hours earlier, that same "fake" scent wafted into his nose. The boy's weight shifted a microscopic amount as he allowed himself a nanosecond to look over the interior of Colonel Madera's flight office. Relatively spacious, it was adorned with replicas of the Colonel's numerous "honorary degrees" from the former Union's colleges and various combat honor decorations. In the far corner Kaino spotted a half completed model of the former AEU's Enact. The boy blinked. Interesting purple the Colonel had opted for coloration…
Overall the boy was unimpressed.
Thwack!
Kaino's eyes darted to the stack of papers Madera tossed towards his side of the desk. He stood in silence, his brow furrowing ever so slightly.
"Well?"
The boy looked up at the gruff tone in the man's hardened voice. Colonel Hennessy Madera was an ugly fellow, to put it bluntly. He wore the stately black and gray EF Top official uniform proudly. For a man in his position, looks weren't very important. "S-Sir…"
Madera motioned with his head and hands. So what? You want something else?
"…" the boy stiffened. "…Sir, did-
"Yes yes I read everything. There are no grounds for approving your request for reassignment," the man said, waving a hand in the boy's direction.
"But Sir I-
Kaino caught himself before saying too much.
"What was that?" Madera leveled his eyes with the youngster. "I said… your request is DENIED."
Kaino's lips pursed tightly. "Col. Madera! The Flag's Recorder Box clearly displays Ensign Renault's inefficiency and recklessness as squad commander!"
The older man glared at the brazen boy.
"Ensign Jenesis, I went over every piece of data from that Recorder Box… I've found nothing that proves your baseless claim."
The look of shock on the uniformed young man's face was priceless. "Sir! There must be some-
"The Gang hoodlums used that Gundam type mobile suit in association with Celestial Being. Do you deny that Ensign?" The man interrogated with an accusing air.
Kaino motioned to speak, but said nothing. Wait! "I do, sir. We have no evidence connecting those high school students to Celestial Being."
The older man's eyes phased annoyance. "Oh I see where this is going…" the man looked him dead in the eyes, "Your little school mates are enemies of the Federation, Jenesis. There's no excuse for their actions, other than being in league with Celestial Being!"
The pastel green haired boy gritted his teeth, his keen violet eyes fighting to contain his shock and awe.
"Furthermore," the Colonel began, sitting back in his posh chair, "due to Ensign Spencer's hotheaded attitude and blatant disregard for protocol in shooting first, he was killed in action."
Mortified, Kaino's eyes widened. This was impossible! "B-but sir! The recordings-
Out from the side door, Zenna Renault casually walked into the room, fully adorned in black EF official garb. Kaino stared at her in surprise. "W-what? How long-
The boy eyed the blazing white rank stripes on her new black uniform. Unbelievable!
Zenna only smiled as she sashayed to stand in front of Kaino and the Colonel's desk, leaning her perfectly shaped rear on the edge. "Surprised?"
Kaino wanted to scream to high heaven. "…!"
Zenna smirked as her muscles tensed and shoved her lithe body off the edge. The Colonel's lecherous eyes followed her perfect figure. His mind raced, reliving the numerous encounters he shared with the young vixen. At more than three times her age, the old man knew each and every line of her delicious body…
She patted the boy's shoulder, letting her razor sharp fingernails linger down his sleeve. "Suit up… Lieutenant."
"What?" Kaino couldn't believe his ears! "Ensign-
"That's Captain, Lieutenant Jenesis," Zenna corrected with a curt tilt of her head. She glared at him seductively, standing by his side. She lovingly smoothed the collar of his Uniform and brushed his shoulder. "We have a few new tools to use…" Her trailing hand tensed, her sharp nails digging into his arm, "… we're going to sift through the trash to kill a few rats!"
Kaino blinked, unable to take in everything.
Rejection.
Blatant lies.
New tools?
New promotions?
"Lieutenant Jenesis, you are under my direct, absolute command. You will answer to me, and only me." Her hand relaxed slightly, her grasping nails still biting deep, "…be a good little boy and do as I say now…"
With that, the newly promoted woman's hips swayed over to the closed door, opened it, and confidently walked out.
_..._
-...-
Caerlise was not pleased. Not pleased one bit. Not pleased at all.
The hangar bay door slid open, her perturbed expression biting into the air. The girl stepped inside, swinging her fisted arms angrily as the gentle "whips" of her black and gray skirt sounded in time with each "clopping" step of her gray and black boots, continuing the mocking tirade. "Damn Kyrie… I swear if she wasn't such a good kid I'd kill her for this…" Lise muttered as the smell of ammunition and lube wafted into her nostrils.
The girl wore a similar outfit to Kyrie, save for the deep blood red pallet swap.
And of course, the knee length skirt.
Lise opted to leave her black zip up shirt completely unzipped, showing her stark white tank top underneath. Her red jacket was unzipped, the sleeves rolled up to mid-forearm. Her clenched, red gloved knuckles popped angrily, almost as if entering an automatic "violence mode."
With a deep sigh, the girl shook her head and continued onward. The bath had managed to do its job of relaxing her somewhat decently, but her entire core felt jazzed. Lise stifled a yawn as she slowly walked along the metal girder towards the white Gundam. She felt tired, but her body refused to sleep. "God I hate that…" she muttered, scratching her still damp hair.
She walked around to the opened cockpit to see Jidane lying asleep with a printout of literature splayed across his hunter green jacketed body. He too wore similar clothing to Caerlise and Kyrie, opting to fasten his jacket all the way. The girl shook her head, supporting her weight against the open cockpit door with one arm above her head. "Always proper…" she laughed quietly.
She turned to leave, letting her hand linger on the smooth white surface of the door, looking up for the first time to fully take in the Mobile Suit's simple elegance. Its dynamic fin-swept white head design and neck features seemed to echo a similar aerodynamic around the pelvis. Beautiful.
It was oddly beautiful: slender in its stark silver build with white body armor mounted on set points all over its hands, arms, torso, back, legs and feet; even the trademark "Gundam Fin and Chin" combination were white and silver.
The girl cocked her head slightly as she took in the Gundam's face. She had never understood the iconic look; to her, a Gundam's red "chin" ended up making the mobile suit appear to be perpetually sticking its tongue out and down low at its foes. The way how the white faceplate almost glowed in contrast to the silver chin and silver color matched eye and nose region made it truly appear as if it was a human face that was partially protected by a face mask.
"Hmm…" The girl allowed herself a moment of awe. It was a horrible weapon… but undoubtedly beautiful. She smiled, tapping her gloved fingers on the side of the cockpit door; before she turned around, her eyes caught a glimpse of a deep engraving along the length of the cockpit. Caerlise did a double take and took in what was written.
A G I L E N T
"…Aa-ji-lent?" she slowly pronounced with wonder. The name dripped with speed, precision, and versatility. It just fit. "Heh… Gundam… Agilent."
Jidane let loose a jolting snore, jarring the girl's thoughts of admiration. Caerlise's eyes were wide, failing to comprehend how such a noise could come out of her best bud. With the mischievous grin of an older sister, Lise stood above the sleeping boy and impulsively, impishly, irreverently, cajoled the boy awake with her booted foot in his crotch.
"WAKEY WAKEY!
The boy let loose an emasculated yelping/howling/bleating/squealing/bawling noise, like a wild jaguar caught in a dull bladed wood chipper, for the duration of the rude wake up call.
"WITTLE ELYPHANT WANNA PWAY PWAY? IN DE MORNY MORNY A WHOLE WOTTA WOODY-WOODY! HAHAHA!" The brunette exploded in raucous laughter, holding her sides until they split, relishing the boy's horrifically embarrassing rouse.
Jidane quickly regained himself, shielding "himself" from anymore baseless and unprovoked attacks. "JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE HELL, LISE?" The papers on his chest had strewn everywhere. "I was asleep jeez!" he started as he gathered the papers.
"Yeah I could hear it!" Lise replied with a laugh, sticking out her tongue. "Brings back memories though, don't it? Haha!" Every morning at the old Orphanage, Caerlise would wake up the unsuspecting Jidane in that exact manner.
"Yeah, BAD ones…" The boy mumbled something further, incoherently.
Lise only grinned, reliving the nostalgia.
"HEY! WHAT'S GOIN ON DOWN THERE?"
The redhead boy's red head popped out over the Gundam's lean and nimble chest, peering to see the gorgeous brunette looking back up at him. His face was covered in grease and he smelled of spent ammunition. "Oh hey there hot stuff! HAHA I thought I heard like a sheep dog getting fixed or somethin-WHOA!" The boy leaned out too far, toppling over hard and landing atop the girl.
Jidane stared in surprise at Caerlise's crisp clean white panties beneath her black and gray skirt… which Akio seemed to get a face full of.
"DUMBASS!" The girl was up in a flash, kicking the boy HARD in the crotch.
Jidane winced. "Jeez Lise… you could seriously hurt a guy… like that," he finished in a mumble, moving his hands to guard himself yet again.
"That was kinda the point!" she shouted back irately. "Hmph!" She turned her head sharply, paying no more mind to the writhing carrot top. Her eyes opened to track Jidane hoisting himself out of the cockpit, her eyes blinking in surprise. "Hey…"
"Huh?" he sounded, looking up as he stepped out onto the metal platform.
"… Did you clean it all up?" the girl asked, sticking her head inside. The modestly padded seat and floor were completely devoid of blood and sweat.
"Yeah I did… you sure do bleed a lot," he laughed.
"Uggg… so that's why…. Chick's constantly on the rag!" Akio managed to retort, finally regaining his bearings, heaving back nausea. The poor kid still lay on his back, sucking in air. He also wore similar clothing, but with black colors. His half fastened jacket had the sleeves shorn off in a "rebel" fashion, showing the black short sleeved zip up shirt underneath.
"SAY WHAT?" Caerlise blared, baring her teeth and clenched fists.
"ANYWAY," Jidane interrupted, diffusing yet another bomb, "It's all cleaned and sanitized. I even cleared out all the scattered tools and all the dust."
Lise blinked in awe. Sure enough the cockpit looked like it could have been straight out of the military. "Jeez… you didn't have to do that ya know…"
"Yeah I know," Jidane said, gently slapping the stack of papers on a nearby service cart. "Not only that, but I double insulated most of the wiring for the inputs." He grinned and tilted his head, "so if you ever need to go at it again, you don't fry something else!"
"Heheh!" the girl laughed nervously, scratching the back of her slowly drying hair. "So uhh… did you do anything else to it?"
The boy looked at the stack of papers and shook his head. "Other than putting in some handlebars, nothing unfortunately. Most of the Gundam's spare parts and stuff are all on board but… I guess who ever designed this thing didn't get to install the controls." He crossed his arms and motioned to the paper stack with his head, "Everything's lined up here but they just never got around to doing it I guess. It's just flat out unfinished. Hmm." The boy shook his head, his engineer's mind churning. "And to be honest," he started, motioning to no one in particular, "even if I had the parts I doubt I could do much… this stuff is seriously advanced-
He looked over at the girl whose skirt-draped rear end stuck out of the open cockpit. God only knew what she was intently staring at on the inside. Jidane laughed, shaking his head. "Anyway so we both replaced some armored parts and Akio was just reloading the arm Vulcan before I passed out while reading this manual," he punctuated by drumming his fingers on the stack of paper.
Lise backed out, looking the Gundam over once more. "Yeah…" She wasn't paying much attention. "Must've been one hell of a New York Times Best Seller…" She looked his way, "So who's the author?"
Jidane shrugged. "No clue. But I know it's not Celestial Being."
Lise looked at him, confused.
"I know, right? Somewhere down the line, CB got control of this Gundam and this ship… but from what I've read?" The boy flopped the papers before her, "Whoever built this ship and that mobile suit was definitely in competition with Aeolia Schenberg."
Lise' brow furrowed. "… Wasn't he that bald guy? Super smart? Stupid goatee-
"Will you stop joking around?" Jidane snapped. He sighed, shaking his head. "Here. Just take a read and then let me know what you think," he said, handing the papers to her.
"How about you just give me the damn cheat-sheet version?" Caerlise retorted, walking back over to the cockpit and plopping down in the seat. "For starters, who the hell built this thing?"
"I already told you, I have no idea," the boy started with a shrug. "From what I gather, based on some of the technical data Kyrie pulled, there were a lot of competing ideas within CB when it was first founded. One of the biggest issues was the actual construction of a workable GN drive."
"Yeah, and?"
"And… this Gundam Agilent and the Pythagoras are the products of a radically different approach to GN Particle Science.
"Oh… I get it…" Akio started. By now the boy was sitting upright, listening intently. "So like… rival factions within Celestial Being went rogue and made their own designs?" he finished, standing up to clamor back up the Gundam, continuing his repairs.
"Maybe, something like that," Jidane replied. "Either that or both of these designs were just glorified Betas for the real thing. It definitely would explain the lack of a completed cockpit."
"Yeah… I guess you're right…" Caerlise replied, taking it all in.
"But what's really neat is how drastically different the GN Drive works on this Gundam, compared to the ones Celestial Being used." Jidane knelt down on the girder and flipped through the stack, pulling one sheet out. "See this here? A lot of the data on the Pilots, Gundams, and GN Drives that Celestial Being used was somehow erased along the line, but a few early schematics show what a normal GN Drive looks like. Check it out." The boy pointed to a blow-up diagram of a GN Drive. "This here's the missing link between the technology that A-Laws was using, and what Schenberg realized."
Lise looked where the boy was pointing at. "… What the hell am I supposed to be staring at?" she asked bluntly.
"The TD Blanket," the boy replied. "This little device is what makes a GN drive a perpetual energy generator. It also has the neat side effect of making sure the GN particles produced aren't toxic to the body. Think of it as a self-charging battery that doubles as a particle filter, got it?"
"Yeah, sure…"
"Oh yeah, I get it!" Akio muttered. "Back on TV when they'd show Celestial Being kicking ass, their Gundams always had green GN particles coming outta their GN Drives, but the A-Laws had red ones."
"Well, it was 'Tau Drives,' not 'GN Drives' that A-Laws used, but you're pretty much right. Red GN Particles are essentially unfiltered and highly toxic, but as the skirmishes with Celestial Being went on, the science behind the Tau Drives improved somewhat, making them not so hazardous. Well… even though the ICPMS-7500cx Gundam Agilent was affiliated directly with Celestial Being, it doesn't have a TD Blanket at all-
"WHOA WHAT?" Caerlise shouted, her eyes open wide. "Holy shit are you kidding me? So what am I gonna get GN Cancer now?"
"No," the boy replied, stifling a laugh. "Here's where the differing technology comes into play. Overall, the TD Blanket and the GN Drive construction was essentially one gigantic loss for CB financially. It wasn't cost effective, and the only real way to develop one would be to do it within Jupiter's gaseous atmosphere. Good luck replicating that on Earth! So who ever designed the Agilent really had to approach the science differently. This big guy has what's called a Dynamic Reaction Cell… see?" Jidane flipped more pages and pulled out a sheet showcasing a cylindrical device with rods surrounding a core. "The DRC essentially acts like a TD Blanket."
"Same effect, different process… hey I guess that is kinda cool…"
"Isn't it though?" Jidane's eyes brightened.
"Yeah… so I won't get cancer from this thing…"
"…" The boy's face fell.
Caerlise didn't notice. "Alright so how the hell does this DRC work anyway? That's that gauge thing on the display screens, right?"
"Right. Uhh… actually I'm not one hundred percent sure how it works, but I do know this." The boy scratched his head and pulled out another sheet. "The DRC operates at about around 30% of its capacity to compress a GN Particle enough in order to mathematically and physically treat it as if it were a wave-
Blank stare…
"Hey look man, I'm pretty good at math so just spit out the numbers," Caerlise replied with an angry expression of embarrassment. She wasn't stupid; all this theory crap just wasn't her brain type!
"… It's that compression followed by other reactions within the cell that produce a filtered GN Particle. Furthermore, the act of compressing and decompressing a GN Particle generates a sort of inductively coupled resonance phenomenon, which makes this Drive about a 25% efficient perpetual energy generator when operated normally It's not much, but… Oh yeah, and of course, since the particle's undergone subsequent reactions, it's shifted down to the blue region of the visible spectrum-
"So what you're sayin' is, this thing does some shit to the red thing, and it makes it blue. Right?" Lise interrupted. It was all getting to be too much for her!
"Yeaaaah… and then-
"And because it's blue, it's not gonna kill us, right?"
"… Yeah."
"So why the hell didn't you just say that? Jesus Criminy Christmas Jidane, take a damn class on public speaking, for cryin' out loud!" The girl replied, clearly annoyed. "No one cares about all that other crazy talk!"
Jidane sounded his disagreement, looking down in embarrassment.
"Hahaha…" Akio laughed tauntingly from high atop, "Hey man, looks like your nerd's showing hahaha!"
"What do you know?" Jidane snapped, his pride obviously hurt. "Anyway, like I was SAYING…" he glared at Caerlise who only looked up and away nonchalantly, "this GN Drive is also set to charge the Pythagoras' GN condensers when the Gundam is docked like it is now. That way we're constantly provided enough purified GN Particles for running the ship."
Caerlise only nodded and tapped her finger on her bare knee.
"Right so, a few more things. You never got a chance to see that battle data from early this morning, did you?"
"No not at all… what's the deal?" Lise asked, her interest piquing.
Jidane grinned. "Wait so before I show you, tell me what it felt like."
"Huh? You mean sitting inside the cockpit-
"No I mean what did it feel like as you were fighting? Uhhmmm… fighting from when Tieria dropped the system lock. What do you remember?"
Lise sat back in the seat, crossing her arms in thought. "Well… hmmm… I remember- no… I remember taking out this one Flag… and then anoth- wait no I…. damn! Tcht!" The girl looked down and to the side, shaking her knee up and down rapidly as she struggled to remember. "Dammit Jidane… I don't really know, come to think of it." She repositioned herself in the seat, "Well I mean I do… but I don't…" The girl's bottom lip worked in a thoughtful manner. "It's like my memory's all jumbled up. I think it happened one way, and then I start to think it happened some other way. Like, I know I was beatin' the hell outta the EF's Flags and all but… everything's all hazy and mixed up…"
"Heh…" the boy grinned as he leaned in closer, making himself comfortable. "Remember how when we were little, and every time I'd miss a cartoon or something I'd ask you to tell me how it went?"
"Yeah!" the girl punctuated with an insightful fist pound into her gloved hand. "And you'd always get pissed because I was so bad at telling stuff in order and all that! Yeah…" she finished with a nostalgic grin, "stuff would come back to me in bits and pieces, but I could never tell you exactly how it all mashed together."
The boy nodded, "Yeah! And I'd say that's what your problem was with this, if I hadn't taken a look at all the data."
Caerlise looked quizzical.
The dark skinned boy reached forward and inputted a sequence into the terminal access board with his green gloved fingers, a video of the recent skirmish popping up on the control panel screen. "Here take a look at this. The ship automatically deploys battle cameras during a confrontation to gather visual data."
Lise watched as the shimmering blue mobile suit dashed across the screen to hack a Flight Mode transformed Flag in two. The girl's eyes grew wide, recalling the enemy Flag at point blank range near the bridge. "… Wait, why's the Gundam blue now-WHAT THE-
Jidane watched as she blinked in surprise, her eyebrows contorting in disbelief. "Crazy, isn't it?"
In one instant the blue suit was far away from the ship and the next it had already destroyed the point blank Flag. A sudden explosive flash in another location drew the girl's eyes, seeing the blue suit in the midst of another destroyed Flag, only to see the sudden scene repeated at various points. "Whoa… what the hell's goin on?" Lise demanded, leaning in forward to squint at the screen. "Is this thing skipping or what?"
"Nope. Everything's perfectly fine," the boy started with a knowing smile as he pulled another paper from the stack and placed it over the screen. "This is what the hell went on."
Caerlise picked up the diagram which consisted of another exploded view of the GN Drive, only this one was littered with notations. "…. Kinetic Impulse, Wave Induction system?" She shook her head slowly, looking up at the boy. "What is this?"
"It's called the KIWI system," he said, taking the paper from her. "It's one of the DRC's secondary functions." The boy's hands danced on the input board, pulling up another view of the battle scene. "This GN Drive theoretically- well I guess it really does have... it has a much lower power output than a real GN Drive at normal use. That explains why it can't sustain the Gundam for atmospheric flight. So… in order to get around that… when the DRC operates at 50% capacity or higher, it activates the Gundam's KIWI system. It's a high performance propulsion system that works by highly compressing the GN Particles into literal wave form and saturating the Gundam completely with these new, more physically realized, "wave particles." You remember back in Chem class, don't you? How electrons and all matter has what's called a 'Wave-Particle Duality?' It's sort of the same idea, only more physically than theoretically apparent."
"Huh…" The girl took it all in, noting the now confusing battle scene depiction. There were lines and waves all about the screen. Nothing made sense, it was all abstract. "Now what the hell is this supposed to be?" she asked, scratching her head.
"Hold on a sec…" the boy muttered as he evened out the waves, creating more of a Doppler view. The entire screen was saturated with blue static; a small white static blob appeared along with several other red blips. Near the far left was a larger white static blob. "Okay. So the blue is just the battle scene, drenched in GN Particles. The reds are the Flags and this big white blob is the Pythagoras. This here's you," he stated, tapping the screen above the smaller white blob.
"Okay…"
"Right so, with the KIWI system active, the Gundam can literally knife its way through the atmosphere, just like the Gundams we all saw Celestial Being use. You can think of it like removing the limiter from your rotorcycle. You end up getting way more bang for your buck. Remember when it activated, the GN Particle output went through the roof!"
The girl nodded.
"That influx and saturation of wave-particles is what turns the Gundam's frame that blue shimmering hue. But that's not really important. This is what blows my mind…"
The boy set the scene to play, slowing the playback. Lise watched as the small white blob gently melted into the blue screen, gently appearing again near the larger white blob.
"That's me taking out that Flag, right?"
"Yup! So you see, when the DRC is taxed even harder, about around 80% or so, the KIWI mobility system literally semi-collapses the waveform of the Gundam, allowing it to travel at pretty much light speed anywhere within the GN Particle field."
"Holy… wait, so you mean like teleportation?" The girl asked, completely in awe. She watched again as the white blip melted into the blue, appearing again in another location.
"Not so much. Teleportation implies that you're completely in one place then completely in another, in an instant. This KIWI drive is essentially bending the waveform of the Gundam and the surrounding GN saturated areas. Think of it like bending space, only to have you jump to the other side of the bend, and then un-bending it again. Only in this case, you're pretty much restricted by how far and wide the GN particle saturated "space" is."
The girl only shook her head at him.
The boy sighed. "You're basically going ridiculously fast from one point to the other by using the GN Particles as a medium to shift in and out of space for a brief time."
The girl only shook her head at him... slower this time.
"Uggh…" He rubbed his sinuses in annoyance, "… you're teleporting."
"Huh! Man this is seriously science-fiction, wow…" The girl replied, finally bending her mind around it all.
Jidane only smiled. Typical Caerlise… "With each shift, it takes about a microsecond to come in and out… pretty damn fast if you ask me!" He flashed a toothy grin, "Ya know, if you want I can tell you more about how the-
"Naa, I'm good, thanks," the girl interrupted, reaching for the stack of papers. "So tell me about weapons and stuff. I'm practically flyin' on empty out there." She looked at a sheet that could have been a beam rifle…
"Yeah, that's not gonna do you any good," Jidane replied, taking the blow up diagram of the Gundam's leg away from the girl. "Actually…" The boy thumbed through the papers, a grin splitting his face, "the entire weapons system is kinda interesting; definitely tells us something about who ever designed and built the Gundam," he finished, drawing two sheets from the stack and handing them to the girl.
"Yeah? What's that?" she inquired, looking at what appeared to be two drastically different mobile suit design specs. Her face contorted in a thoughtful expression.
"Well, all of the weapon systems are 100% complete and ready for action," he started, meeting her surprised look. "Heh yeah! The Gundam isn't even fully completed but all the weapons are. I suppose our guy must have been really pressed for time."
"Either that or he really enjoyed blowing shit up," she replied, looking at one design and then the other. "So what is this… two more Gundams? Doesn't solve the no weapon issue we've got here though. All we have is this one MS…"
The boy set back, his eyes twinkling. "Not exactly. Ya see, the Agilent was built with a next generation moveable frame design, meaning that armor plating and armaments could be rapidly swapped in and out, depending on the situation. Not only that, but it sacrifices defense for mobility. All this here?" he started, waving his hands about him as he looked over the bay. "All of these are the weapons systems."
Lise rocked her body out of the cockpit, looking about the hangar at the hanging, standing, and laying red and green parts and accessories all at strategic locations. "Yeah I had no idea what those were all for," she muttered, noting a set of what looked to be green and silver arms, sporting a rear swept aerodynamic look.
"Yeah, it's really something else. The Agilent is amazingly versatile. Take this," the boy said, pointing at the design spec in the girl's left hand. "That there's what the designers called the 'Valkyria' configuration. All the green parts around here are what make up that weapons chassis. It was designed for high speed, close quarters combat. Not only that, but the core unit of the Valkyria weapons system can be operated independently, almost like a separate fighter jet. Pretty neat, eh?"
"Huh!" The girl sounded her impression. "And this guy here… these are the red parts?" she asked, shaking the paper in her right hand.
"Yup! That one's called the 'Braver' configuration. It's designed to be a heavy assault mode. It's loaded to the nines with weapons and anything else you would need. A lot of its weapons can operate independently as autonomous drone units to boot. As you can see," he started, spreading his arm out towards the bay floor, "there are a lot more parts than the Valkyria set up. Each and every armor plate of the Agilent comes off and gets replaced with the Braver components, unlike the Valkyria which basically docks on and off."
"Wow! Holy hell… would you take a look at that missile pod?" the girl whistled, taking in a rather large red box marked 'MISSILES.' "Heh… let's hope I never have to use it…" she muttered.
"Well…" Jidane shook his head as the girl returned the papers to him, "this is Celestial Being we're talking about. Using force to blot out war and terror and all that."
"Yeah… and with no war going on, it's just little ol' us, caught right in the middle," Caerlise sighed, scratching her head. "Ahh man… this shit's really gotta stop… soon…" she added with a ravenously tired yawn.
"Hey you oughtta get some sleep, Lise," Jidane replied with a caring smile. "You really did a lot for us today… a lot…"
The girl popped her neck, crossing her arms as she turned around. "Yeah… think I might take you up on that… actually…" she punctuated with another giant yawn, stretching out wide. "See ya in the morning!"
"Evening…" Jidane said back, bent over in the cockpit, "it's already past lunch!"
"Ahh well… tired trumps hungry any day!" The girl waved a blind goodbye to whomever cared to notice as she walked across the metal walkway towards the bay doors.
"… Nice skirt by the way," Jidane snorted with a grin as he stood up, barely dodging a tomahawking monkey wrench after the fact.
_..._
-...-
It had been roughly 10 minutes since the snow white haired girl stirred awake at the Navigation controls of the Pythagoras. Kyrie gently typed at the console, checking and double checking the ship's flight status.
It was well into midday, but the lights on the darkened bridge were all dimmed, the auto-shades on the bridge's massive windows were doing a splendid job of filtering the light from the burning sun.
"I wouldn't touch that," Tieria piped up, his voice pattern appearing in a side window of the console's multiple screens.
Kyrie's blue gloved finger hovered over a button, instinctively retracting as she put her hands in her lap. "Sorry about that," she said quietly.
"Not a problem. Be careful with the Optical Camouflage. It took long enough to get it up and running properly," the voice reprimanded calmly.
The girl's nimble fingers worked the console, rearranging the windows neatly, closing each one by one. She sighed, letting her eyes fall out of focus to see her vague reflection on the screen before her.
Everything… it was all like something out of a science fiction movie…
"… Tieria?"
"What is it?" the voice responded flatly.
Kyrie smiled timidly, slowly shaking her head. "… I-Its nothing…" The girl sat back in the chair, enjoying the quiet ambiance of the bridge.
The dark was soothing; the past few hours had been hectic and hellish beyond words. She took peace in simply listening to the sounds all around her:
The gentle beeping of her console.
The audible circuit noise from blinking status lights.
The faint hum of the ship's engines.
In the midst of all that, her rhythmic breathing.
Even deeper beyond the unique symphony, the sound of silence whining steadily…
"… How… was it like?" the girl asked, breaking the stillness.
"Excuse me?" Tieria replied.
Kyrie could have sworn she noted a hint of humanity, genuine humanity, in his voice. "… I just…" She looked down, gently smoothing out her zipped black shirt. "I was wondering what it felt like… to be an Innovade."
"…" Tieria was silent. He honestly couldn't say.
"I mean… I would think it would feel the same as being a human…" Kyrie started, looking down and away. "Then again… did you ever feel different from your friends?"
"…" The computer voice was silent. "… I'd rather not discuss that."
"Why's that?" the girl prodded gently. She laughed, shaking her head slightly, "No, never mind… I understand what you mean." She smiled, her memories in another place. "Those are your memories… your experiences with your friends… It must have felt amazing…"
"…"
"Being able to understand those strange feelings you felt… those conflicting emotions that you had to have noticed growing inside of you…" she turned to look at the barely moving speech pattern, "you know… slowly becoming Human."
Tieria processed everything she said. In certain respects he found her to be rather annoying… but then again, she seemed to capture him perfectly as he had been over the span of 7 years ago.
"When you were in my head, I saw a little bit of how you used to be… you know, cold… and unfeeling." The girl smiled, looking down into another world, "For me, it's not the same though. Learning to be an Innovade, I mean." She looked up, "Look at Lise and Jidane, even Akio! Not one of them seems to think I'm some sort of freak… or something less than human. It's nice…" She let her head rest back on the headrest, "… knowing you have friends who support you. Friends who love you…"
"… Indeed. Friendships are one of the few things we humans can form from absolute nothingness."
Kyrie grinned, glad to have him open up, even if just a little to her. For all intents and purposes, she was a stranger to him. Hearing the voice say 'we humans' definitely put her heart at ease. She shook her head, "No, not from nothingness. It forms from mutual understanding of one another. . All it takes is a single thought; an intuition. An unconscious desire to learn about another person. I think… humans are truly capable of understanding each other on a deeper level."
"Not just a human," Tieria started, his voice definitely sounding more genuinely human with each passing moment, "but one who's begun Innovation."
"Hmm…" Kyrie smiled timidly, hunching forward. "When I saw some of your memories… I saw that boy. The one you called Setsuna."
If possible, the voice sounded his shock. "…Remind me never to dive into your mind again."
Kyrie laughed, "I can't believe it… was that a joke?" she asked, her smile increasing tenfold.
"Hmmph!"
She only grinned. She never knew the stoic yet friendly voice had it in him. She clasped her hands behind her head, "Well… ever since I learned what an Innovator is… I can't help but wonder if Caerlise-
"I wouldn't push that issue to far," Tieria interrupted with caution. "Innovation isn't something that will happen overnight."
"True… I guess we shouldn't expect all of humanity to up and realize what troubles one another." She turned to look out the darkened window. "We can't expect everyone to suddenly understand the essence of people and things…"
"… But that doesn't mean we should stop striving towards it."
Kyrie blinked. She definitely didn't expect that from Tieria! "Hmm… We'll never stop trying to become that new type of person… I kinda like that!"
"The future…; no one knows what it will hold. Even as a super computer, Veda requires constant, updated information and various other data in order to take a calculated guess as to what may come."
Kyrie smiled. His voice was oddly soothing. "Tieria?"
"Yes?"
"… I wish I could have met you."
"W-what?"
"I mean it! I think you're a very interesting person!" the girl laughed. "Not only that, but all of your friends. There isn't any information regarding them in the data on Celestial Being." She looked forward, a look of content on her face, "but you know… each of them kept an electronic journal, daily."
"Did you-
"No no!" the girl laughed, waving her hands, "don't worry I didn't read any of them. That's just too personal, you know?"
Tieria didn't respond.
"But I did notice… each entry was signed by their real names. That's the only reason I knew them."
"… Yes, they were."
Kyrie smiled. "So you know what that means, right? No matter their task of fighting daily, each member of Celestial Being always knew who they were, regardless of code name. Their bond… your bond was really eternal."
The voice was silent, taking it all in. Such interesting people, Tieria had to admit.
The girl leaned towards the console and began typing away, finally punctuating with a resounding finger tap on the keyboard's physical 'enter' key. "There."
The voice sounded his surprise. "You-
"Uh-huh!" the girl smiled, "I'm sorry I did that earlier… but I was honestly scared for my friend's safety. I just deleted your block on Veda."
"I can't believe you managed to perform that in the first place!" Tieria sounded, surprise still in his voice.
The girl shook her head. "It all started back at that terminal in the underground hangar. Somehow there must have been a trap program that would trigger a connection through to the old OS."
Tieria remained silent. He knew she was referring to the older systems on board the Pythagoras and the white Gundam, compared to those of the Ptolemaios and the other Gundams. He had no idea who could have placed a connection trigger like that underground.
"With the OS differences, you'd have to commit a full upload from Veda either way," she said, typing again. "All it took was sealing off that connection… There!" She turned to look at the pattern, "you should be able to go back and forth between the ship and Gundam easily now. And the lock on me is also erased," she said with a confident smile.
"… Why would you do that?" The voice phased wary, "I could just as easily find another plan to make sure the secrets on board this ship don't fall into the wrong hands."
Kyrie only shook her head slowly. "No… I don't think you would…" She smiled timidly, "Caerlise, Jidane, Akio… we're all fighting for our lives. Fighting for our futures! Besides… the future you fought for will be lived by all of us."
Tieria was silent. Silent, but surprised.
"Think of it as a sign of trust. I trust in that future you fought to create."
"… I… I see…"
The bridge door zipped open quietly as Jidane stepped into the darkened control room, a freeze dried piece of meat in between his teeth.
"Heya K! Thought I'd find you in here," he said, tossing her a packet of stale graham crackers. "I know it's not much… this stuff's been here for an awful long time, but it sure hits the spot!"
Kyrie said her thanks and opened up the packet, relishing the bite into the sugary ration.
"So, where're we headed anyhow?" the boy asked quietly as he walked up behind the girl. The way he rested on the back of her seat… did he perchance have a "thing" for the fair-haired, blue eyed girl?
"We're currently going in the direction of the Pillar of Heaven," the girl replied, pulling up a map view which indicated their distance towards the Pacific Ocean bound orbital elevator nicknamed 'Pillar of Heaven.' "We really don't have any other plans."
Jidane frowned, "Well… we really need to get back to LA somehow…" He was completely out of ideas.
"We should rendezvous with Celestial Being," Tieria stated, pulling up a space map. "Staying here on Earth isn't an option any longer."
Jidane's frown deepened. He didn't like the idea. Not one bit. But the voice did have a point… "Heh!"
"What's funny?" Kyrie asked, starting into another cracker politely.
"Nothin'… just that we're pretty much gonna be kicked out of our Senior year of Highschool… and Lise is gonna have one hell of a time explaining to Doc why she's been gone for so long!" he finished with a grin. Caerlise was pretty well known among her friends for making Dr. Castle prematurely gray in certain areas.
Kyrie laughed, "I'm sure she'll think of something!" She turned to the console, typing with the cracker in between her lips.
"Setting a course for Pillar of Heaven," Tieria stated, "we can use the Elevator's 'dead zone' to blast into space undetected." He referred to the incredibly narrow cylinder of communication dead space about the elevator. "It will be tricky… but from what I've seen, you four seem to be capable enough."
Kyrie smiled big. Perhaps their chat brought out this "friendly" side of Tieria.
"In the meantime, I suggest getting rested."
"Yeah…" Jidane stood up and scratched his head, stretching out wide. "Lise is taking a break in her room and Akio's passed out on the hangar floor. I think I'm good though. I caught a nice cat nap about an hour ago."
Kyrie stood up, smoothing her jacket. "Excuse me, I'm going to the little girl's room!" she said with a laugh. She turned and placed a warm palm on Jidane's jacketed chest. "Thanks again for the cookies… guess I didn't know how starving I was!"
Jidane's cheeks blazed red. "Uh… y-yeah sure!"
The girl smiled and patted her hand on his chest, letting her finger tips linger as she walked on. "Keep an eye on things here for me, okay?"
The boy couldn't say anything, his heart and emotions running pleasantly rampant.
_..._
-...-
Kaino flipped the circuit testers on and off repeatedly, checking and double checking the wiring of his blue GN-XIII. Everything looked to be in perfect order. He looked at the view screens, noting the plethora of blue and white units, all identical to his own. "… A little overkill to just capture one ship and mobile suit… even if it is a Gundam…" he muttered, noting the blinking IFF codes sounding off one by one within the cockpit. When his turn came, he flashed his signals.
"Lieutenant!"
The boy's violet eyes snapped over to the image of the squad leader. "Yes Captain?" He winced within, unable to stomach the thought of a person like Zenna Renault being promoted to such high rank in such a short time. And with no record to support such a promotion…
"Keep an eye on my back out there. Don't forget, that ship and mobile suit are our enemies. You will shoot first, and not even bother to ask questions. Do you understand?" Her eyes flashed on the view screen, dripping with sexy and seductive malice.
"… Yes Captain," Kaino replied, looking forward.
"… Glad to know you can follow orders," the image said as the girl activated her helmet auto-visor, her face darkening in an instant. She promptly cut communications.
Kaino gritted his teeth, praying that worst didn't come to worst out there. He darkened his helmet, watching as the massive bay doors of the Elan opened up majestically, the past midday sun blaring brightly. With a loud roar, the bottom shutter bay doors slowly retracted back, revealing the blue atmosphere below.
The launch lights sparked brightly to life as a blaring klaxon sounded.
Five.
The first row of five blue and white GN-XIII's Tau Drives blared to life, casting red particles gently behind them.
Four.
The first row fell forward out of the massive hangar in unison, zipping forward in perfect formation.
Three.
Kaino watched as the second row of five belched to red life.
Two.
The set of five fell forward out of the bay, jamming through the clouds into a secondary formation.
One.
The boy's blue suit shuddered smoothly as the cascading bay doors opened to their full width, the floor doors fully retracted. The spiral hum of the Tau Drive corkscrewed through his ear drums, finally reaching a near undetectable frequency.
Zero.
The Lieutenant's stomach lurched into his throat, gently settling back down as the agile mobile suit dropped down fast. The software leveled the Mobile Suit's lance weapon and body, blasting it forward through the ether.
Captain Renault eyed her forces with selfish pride. "Finally," she started, her eyes tracking over towards a pulsing mark on the radar of her blazing red GN-XIII. "Even with this worthless pile of metal… I'm gonna kill you!" she seethed. The girl allowed herself a grin, wishing that she could use the "personal" present that she had constructed, to herself, on that piece of trash girl Caerlise Alna. "Good things come to those who wait…" she started, her eyes glinting hard in an instant. "Daddy… watch me make you proud!" she laughed as the red mobile suit dove from the bay doors, igniting it's belching red Tau drive to morbid life.