Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam series, nor any of the various series which are used or referenced in my fic, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else, also, don't read this if you are not of legal age to read such material. The story contains possibly disturbing content and should not be read by close-minded people (i.e., people who are easily offended.) Everything in the story is fictional. I am also not responsible for any actions taken by people who read this story and society's problems. I do, however, own my original character; Hope Yamato.

"What?" Hitler all but screamed into the radio as the Bismarck violently shook from another torpedo hit.

"My men are killing each other, sir!" Galland repeated.

After a few seconds, Hitler growled. "I think it's about time to utilize our trump card. Move the Retribution Gundam to the rear deck and prepare it for immediate launch."

"What the fuck is that?" Shinn asked his monitors as a mobile suit shot off of the Bismarck's rear deck.

The machine had a familiar snowflake shape, similar to the Legend Gundam of ZAFT, but this one was blood red in color, possessed a machine gun in place of a beam rifle, a thick physical shield on its right forearm, and a physical anti-ship sword, instead of one with a beam blade, in addition, what functioned as DRAGOON units on the original version of the Legend Gundam were now nothing more than wings outfitted with additional thrusters. To put it mildly, the crimson machine which was now floating ahead of the Destiny Gundam was vastly underpowered, even when compared the Strike Daggers which the Earth Alliance had produced during the First Bloody Valentine War.

"Oh wow." Shinn chuckled as he quickly analyzed the machine. "They call this piece of crap a Gundam?"

On the bridge of the Excalibur, Kira was struggling not to burst out laughing as the analysis of the enemy Gundam appeared on one of the four sub-screens which were positioned at each corner of the main screen.

"I'm going to launch in the Divinity and show these fools exactly what they are trying to fight against." Kira smirked as he stood up and headed towards the door.

"Shinn, return to the Excalibur." Kira calmly ordered a few moments later, as the Divinity Gundam screamed by the Destiny Gundam. The angelic machine leaving a trail of glowing afterimages following in its wake. "I will deal with these assholes."

As the Divinity Gundam moved to combat the Retribution Gundam, a single aircraft in the Excalibur's primary aircraft hanger began to spool up its engines.

"Captain." Lacus said, as the warning appeared on her screen. "We have an unauthorized engine start in the primary aircraft hanger; an Antonov AN-225."

"Bridge to Antonov. What the hell are you doing? Shut down immediately!" Murrue ordered through the communications line, even as the huge six-engine aircraft began to quickly taxi towards the launch catapult.

"Antonov, abort takeoff!" Murrue repeated, her voice rising in volume. "You do not have takeoff clearance! You must abort! I repeat, you must abort!"

The bridge crew watched through one of the sub-screens, as the massive aircraft continued to make its way towards the launch catapult.

"Cagalli." Murrue ordered, as she glanced towards the blonde-haired woman. "Lower our altitude to 150 feet." The marigold-eyed woman then turned to Hope and continued to give out orders. "Hope, if that aircraft somehow manages to pull up before slamming into the ocean, shoot out its engines." The brown-haired woman paused for a short moment, but then she added. "Do your best not to destroy the aircraft or kill the pilots."

"Understood, Ma'am." The two women replied in unison, even as the Excalibur began to descend from an altitude from 1,500 feet, to only 150 feet.

Meanwhile, the Divinity Gundam had begun fighting the Retribution Gundam. At the moment, however, Kira was merely toying with his opponent.

"You can't keep up with me." Kira grinned; mocking the enemy pilot, as he causally dodged a swing from the Gundam's physical blade. "You can't possibly react as quickly as I can." Kira continued yawning within the cockpit of the Divinity Gundam as he effortlessly dodged a burst of machine gun fire. "Even your thinking can't keep up with mine!" The amethyst-eyed man smirked as he finally decided to fight back.

With a flash, the beam saber within the Divinity Gundam's right wrist came to life and Kira swung the bright green energy blade at his opponent. The glowing beam blade cleaved through the Retribution Gundam's arm as though it were a red-hot knife slicing through a block of ice.

"Like an animal, you're just moving by instinct!" Kira smirked, even as the crimson machine charged forward again, with its sword positioned for a killing stab. The enemy pilot was clearly intending to pierce the cockpit of the Divinity Gundam with the Retribution Gundam's physical blade. Kira rolled his eyes as he dodged the attack, before then slicing the Retribution Gundam's sword in half length-wise with the beam saber on the Divinity Gundam's right wrist.

"My sword!" The German pilot cried out in shock and horror, as he let go of both pieces of the now useless blade, which began to quickly fall towards the ocean below.

Kira grinned, almost manically, as he unleashed his DRAGOON units, and as they cleared their mounts, each of the remote weapons deployed a small set of wings and ignited their internal engines. The remote weapons quickly surrounded the Divinity Gundam with a pink beam barrier, although unlike the other times when the weapons were used for protection, the beam barrier which they generated wasn't transparent.

After a moment the beam barrier faded, but the DRAGOON units remained where they were, floating in midair. The German pilot recoiled in shock and horror as he gazed upon the Divinity Gundam.

The machine was now a grotesque shadow of its former self. Its eyes were completely gone. The sockets nothing more than black vacuums within which nothing reflected. The armor now resembled skin, but it was so pale that it was almost blue. The machine also seemed to have somehow acquired a mouth, which was hanging open. Impossibly open, much further than any human jaw could extend. To make it even worse, the gaping maw was full of dozens of razor-sharp teeth. The machine also seemed to be wearing a thin white nightgown, which had appeared to have been drenched in water, and was clinging to its emaciated body. The machine's now stick-legs looked like they would buckle under the machine's own weight if it were to land on solid ground.

The German pilot continued to watch, transfixed in horror, as the Divinity Gundam slowly floated towards him. Every movement which the machine made was silky smooth and completely silent. It reminded the horrified German pilot of a white ribbon dancing in the wind.

"It isn't so much that you want to live." Kira smirked at the enemy pilot through the still open communications line. "What bothers you the most is that you don't know for sure what happens when someone dies." The amethyst-eyed man paused for a few short seconds, allowing the DRAGOON units to once more dock on the Divinity Gundam's back, before he continued speaking. "Do you want to know what happens when a person dies?"

Without bothering to wait for a reply, Kira began to utilize his powers to alter the appearance of his body. What the German pilot saw a moment later, would never leave his mind. Kira's body now resembled an oddly small, waif-like creature, like a starving child with skin that was much too pale. He now looked like a corpse that had been dropped in water, for his skin was tinged with blue. Every vein was visible. His decaying flesh soaked with dried, cracking blood. His amethyst colored eyes were gone, having been replaced by empty, lifeless black sockets which stared straight ahead at the monitors in front of him.

"There is no heaven." Kira said, his voice disturbingly calm and emotionless, as a menacing grin crossed his face. "There is no hell. There is only oblivion."

Just as Kira finished speaking, he effortlessly cleaved the Retribution Gundam in half, from crown to crotch, with his beam saber. An instant later, the trillions of gallons of water in the ocean far below suddenly changed into boiling lava and everyone onboard the Bismarck began to panic as the steel hull of the massive battleship quickly succumbed to the intense heat, slowly melting from the outside in.

As the huge battleship began to slowly melt, Kira utilized more of his God-like abilities, reaching into a universe which he had visited previously and dragging a group of people into the universe which he currently occupied. At the same time, Kira also returned the ocean below to its former state, leaving the once proud German battleship as nothing more than a burning hulk.

"Where are we?" Isabella Swan, or "Bella" as she was more commonly known, asked as she looked around, clearly confused. A few seconds earlier she had been at her graduation party, but now she was in what appeared to be a hanger of some sort. As she looked around, she was relieved to find her boyfriend, Edward Cullen, by her side, along with the rest of his family.

"What are these things?" Bella asked, motining to the large humaoid machines which surrounded the small group.

"These, Isabella Swan, are machines known as mobile suits." A young man's voice replied as he descended from the cockpit of one of the machines on a zipline.

Bella turned to look at the man as his feet touched the floor, but he merely stayed where he was, sttanding in front of his machine.

"Who are you?" Edward asked as he stepped protectively in front of Bella.

"My name is Shinn Asuka." Shinn smiled. "It's a pleasure to finally meet the famous Cullen family."

"How do you know us?" Edward's adoptive father, Carlisle, asked. "And what do you mean famous, we are no diffrent from any normal family."

"No." Shinn replied. "You are what most people would call vampires, although unlike others of your kind, you feed ezclusively on animals and not humans." Shinn paused for a moment, to allow his words to sink in, then he added. "As for why you are all famous, that is because you, along with a tribe of werewolves, were able to able to defeat an ancient group of vampires who called themselves the Voltuie."

Just as Shinn finished speaking, the voice of Lacus Clyne echoed throughout the ship, clearing multiple aircraft for simultanious takeoff from the aircraft hanger deck. "Mobius and Yellow Squadrons, you are both cleared for immediate takeoff. Strigon and Hammerhead Squadrons, please taxi to the catapults and standby for takeoff clearance."

The Excalibur shuddered ever so slightly as the catapults fired, launching the aircraft of Mobious Squadron and Yellow Squadron from the ship. A few seconds passed, but suddenly, the shriek of metal grinding against metal filled the air as multiple alarms began to sound and Lacus yelled. "Damnit, La Flaga! I told you to wait on the taxiway, not to try cutting in line by taxing in between Strigon 4 & Strigon 5!"

Both the Yellow and Strigon Squadrons consisted of thirteen Su-33D Super Flankers, whereas the Mobius Squadron, consisted of eight F/A-22 Raptors and the Hammerhead Squadron consisted of fifteen B-52H Stratofortresses.

The Super Flankers of Yellow Squadron bore a digital camouflage sceheme with yellow wingtips, while Strigon Squadron's Super Flankers posessed a black and red color scheme, with blood red wingtips. The F/A-22 Raptors of Mobius Squadron posessed a grey camouflage scheme, while the B-52H Stratofortresses of Hammerhead Squadron bore an aquatic camouflage scheme.

As was standard for all of Celestial Being's combat weapons, the aircraft had been upgraded. All of the aircraft in the hanger now possessed Mirror Coated Phase Shift armor, the standard machine guns had been replaced with beam machine guns and each of the aircraft, including the reconnisance planes, had been equipped with a rearward firing scattering beam gun.

"Hammerhead and Strigon Squadrons, you're both cleared for takeoff." Lacus sighed, then she added. "La Flaga, thanks to that little stunt you just pulled, Captian Ramius has taken you off the pilot roster until further notice. Proceed to the hanger deck, power down your aircraft and report to the briefing room immediately." As Lacus finished, the Excalibur shuddered once more as the catapults fired again, launching the aircraft of Hammerhead Squadron and Strigon Squadron from the ship.

After a moment, Lacus continued to issue directions to the dozens of aircraft which were still waiting for clearance to takeoff. "Valkyrie and Rapier Squadrons, you will be the last two squadrons allowed to takeoff. Rapier Squadron is to fly escort for Valkyrie Squadron." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Valkyrie Squadron, don't forget that you are carrying a nuclear payload." Lacus once again hesitated for a few seconds before finally adding. "Your targets are the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasake in Japan. Good luck and please don't forget about those who are sacrificing their lives for peace."

As their squadron names suggested, Valkyrie Squadron exclusively flew XB-70 Valkyrie bombers, with a total of 20 bombers, while Rapier Squadron only flew XF-108 Rapier fighter/interceptors, with a total of 25 fighter/interceptors.

As the two squadrons ignited their afterburners and sped off towards Japan, the Hammerhead Squadron began to carpet bomb the still smoldering remains of the Bismarck.