Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 32
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.
A few days later, Gilbert Durandal sat across the table from Athrun Zala. The two were in one of the Minerva's briefing rooms.
"You wanted to ask me for something, Athrun?" Durandal smirked as he stood up and walked to a door.
"Why do you need a fake Lacus?" Athrun asked angrily.
Durandal opened the door and walked down a long walkway. Athrun followed.
"Was Patrick always such an evil man?" Durandal finally asked.
Athrun sighed and stopped, closing his eyes. "No. He was a good man, once. Before Junius Seven."
"I believe that Patrick may have done wrong, but everything he did, he did for the PLANTs. That's why I needed a fake Lacus. The real one would never support my cause, if she knew my plan. Which is why I can't tell you, either. But I can assure you, it will lead to peace. What would you give to keep the peace?" Durandal asked..
"I'd fight for peace to my last breath!" Athrun shouted.
"Which is exactly why I'm willing to give you this." Durandel said as the two stepped into the hanger and the lights went up, revealing a mobile suit. Athrun looked at it and his eyes went wide.
"The Savior Gundam!" Durandal finished.
Athrun stared, shocked. A Gundam! And a ZAFT model at that! He didn't show satisfaction, only shock.
"Savior was designed around the same time as the three machines stolen at Armory One, equipped with the same technology, although not the same abilities, of course." Durandal explained.
"Why are you giving it to me?" Athrun asked.
"I offer it to you, all I want in exchange is Savior's use as your sword in your fight for peace, Athrun."
"Would I have to join ZAFT?"
"That is your choice, Athrun." Athrun was suddenly suspicious. He asked about obtaining a Gundam, and Durandal simply offers him one?
"I don't need this piece of shit." Athrun finally said, a smirk crossing his features.
"Why exactly do you say that?" Durandal asked. "At the moment, you are lacking a mobile suit of any kind. I am offering this Gundam to you."
"Because, Chairman." Athrun grinned. "I have a much better Gundam than the Savior." With those words, the shriek of twisting metal filled the hanger, as the Infinite Justice Gundam forcibly pried the doors open before walking over to the Savior. The Infinite Justice seemed to glare at the powered down Savior for a moment, before then shoving it aside, causing it to fall over.
"T-the Justice?" Durandal asked, his shock evident. "H-how? All of the reports claimed that you self-destructed it to destroy GENESIS!"
"Yes, I did self-destruct the Justice in order to destroy GENESIS." Athrun smirked. "However, this is a vastly improved version of the original Justice Gundam, this is the Infinite Justice Gundam."
As he finished speaking, Athrun's body seemed to vanish into thin air. An instant later, the Infinite Justice's eyes flashed with a bright green light. Durandal watched in horrified silence as the Infinite Justice opened its right hand, aiming its palm at the fallen Savior Gundam.
Within the cockpit of the Infinite Justice Gundam, Athrun smirked as he transfered a copy of Celestial Being's mobile doll system over to the Savior Gundam's computers.
"That's impossible!" Durandal gasped as the Savior Gundam's eyes suddenly flashed with a bright green light and the machine's Phase Shift armor lit up, the armor changing color from dull grey to a brillant red. Durandal could only stare as the two machines sped out of the hanger with a flash of exhaust.
Five beam blasts suddenly rained down, instantly destroying five of the amphibious Ash mobile suits which had now surrounded the mansion owned by Lacus Clyne. As the smoke cleared, the Calamity, Forbidden and Raider Gundams landed between the mansion and the ZAFT mobile suits. Forbidden boosted forward, slicing three mobile suits in half with one stroke. Raider spun its spherical breaker and smashed one suit into oblivion. One of the few remaining ZAFT machines charged towards Calamity, its beam claws activating. Calamity fired its Scylla cannon, blasting the suit backwards and destroying it.
The mobile suit commander turned and saw another Gundam emerge from the mansion, opening a pair of brightly glowing, pure white wings. "What the hell is that…?" Divinity lunged, drawing a beam saber, and sliced off the suit's arms. The other stabbed at Divinity with its beam claw. Divinity dodged the strike and flipped the mobile suit over, sending it crashing down on top of its ally.
"Oh no you don't!" Kira's voice roared as the commander entered a number into a keypad, but to his shock, nothing happened. "I've completely disabled your self-destruct system. Surrender, do it now!" Kira looked over his shoulder to where his radar had suddenly picked up a new threat, only to groan. The Minerva had just arrived. "Why, hello there, Talia Gladys." Kira sighed, after forcing open a communications line to the winged warship of ZAFT. "Or should I say; Via Hibiki?"
"I don't go by that name anymore, Kira." Talia replied.
"Via Hibki," Kira smirked as he pulled the infomation up on one of his subscreens and began to forcibly copy it over to the Minerva's computers, the information displaying on every computer screen onboard the ZAFT warship. "Biological mother of Cagalli Yula Athha, Hope Yamato, Rey Za Burrel, and Kira Yamato."
Everything stopped when the Verde Buster suddenly appeared, pearched on a nearby cliff, beam cannon aimed at the Divinity Gundam. Everyone watched in horror as the pilot of the Verde Buster fired his beam cannon. The beam hit Divinity in the back, and the angelic machine was suddenly a fireball.
The pilot of the Verde Buster split his beam rifles, laughing, and turned to aim at the Minvera. Suddenly, Divinity boosted out of the fireball, both wings missing, the machine now wielding a pair of massive physical swords, both of which were legendary.
The blade in the Divinity's right hand was known as Soul Calibur, while the blade in the machine's left hand was Soul Calibur's counterpart; Soul Edge.
Kira screamed in rage as he lashed out and slashed at the Verde Buster with Soul Calibur, and the pilot screamed as the blue crystaline blade passed through his midsection.
Everyone on the Minerva's bridge stared in shock at the now wingless Divinity Gundam as it stood motionless on the shoreline.
"ZAFT warship Minerva, you must confirm something; are you my enemy?" Kira asked as the Divinity's wings regenerated with a nearly blindingly bright flash of orange light.
A moment after the machine's angelic wings had regenerated, the sky split as a single Skygraper flew overhead, dropping a pair of Striker Packs; a Sword Striker and a Launcher Striker. The Minerva's crew watched in silent awe as the two Striker Packs activated laser locks and docked with the angelic Gundam, further augmenting its already impressive firepower.
Kira allowed an annoyed sigh to escape his lips as he brought both of his long-range cannons to bear, aiming them at the Minerva. "ZAFT warship Minerva, please reply or you will be eliminated."
"We are under orders from Chairman Durandal to maintian peace, Kira." Talia replied. "We are not you enemy."
Kira simply smirked as ten of his DRAGOON units swung to the end of the machine's wings, and a field of rainbow colored energy spanned between each wing, as the Divinity's eyes turned purple, flashing.
Inside the cockpit, Kira's pupils seperated into a trio of close-knit mini-pupils, his opals turning multicolor at the edges, extending the spectrum of his vision. In the same instant, a blindingly bright yellow glow illuminated the cockpit as Kira once more began to speak, his voice now completely devoid of emotion. "ZAFT warship Minerva has been found guilty of promoting conflict. Commencing destruction."
"Kira!" Taila yelled, even as the winged warship turned away and ignited its engines. "We are not your enemy!"
The only response she received was the Divinity taking to the sky, unfolding its plasma cannons and rail guns, before then unleashing a full-burst from its weapons. To everyone's surprise, the shots missed, striking the surface of the ocean just off the Minerva's bow, throwing up a huge wall of water. The winged warship plowed through the wall of water, only to see a huge pure white cross of energy explode out of the ocean directly ahead, forcing them to slow down. As the cross of energy dissipated, the Divinty Gundam took it's place, hovering in front of the winged warship, now weilding a pair of twin buster rifles, both of the weapons aimed directly at the ZAFT warship.
"ZAFT warship Minerva, this is your fiinal offer; join Celestial Being or die." Kira growled, as the Excalibur dropped its phase cloak, the massive dagger-shaped vessel seemingly appearing out of thin air, the sudden appearance of the huge ship, stunning the Minerva's crew further into silence.
The crew of the Minerva continued to watch in horror as the Excalibur's primary weapons bay opened, revealing millions of bombs. Out of the ten-million weapons currently in the weapons bay, five-million were freefall bombs, and the other five-million were percision guided bombs.
The ordnance within the bombs themselves currently consisted of one-million conventional warhead bombs, one-million thermobaric bombs, one-million nuclear bombs, one-million neutron bombs, one-million electromagnetic bombs, one-million smoke bombs, one-million stink bombs, one-million quantum bombs, and one-million antimatter bombs.
"Target; ZAFT warship Minerva, locked on." Hope spoke from the weapons station on the Excalibur's bridge.
As the weapons bay opened, 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.
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 annocuned as the catapults fired, once again causing the Excalibur to shudder ever so slightly, as the aircraft of Hammerhead Squadron and Strigon Squadron were flung 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 are both cleared for takeoff. Rapier Squadron is to fly escort for Valkyrie Squadron."
As the aircraft continued to launch from the massive vessel hanging overhead, quickly forming a defensive formation around the Excalibur, the Minerva suddenly shuddered as a transparent blue tractor beam fired from the underside of the Excalibur, instantly grabbing the winged warship of ZAFT and lifting it vertically out of the water.
"Break us free!" Talia shouted, her shock subsiding and her training once more asserting itself. The Minerva's engines quickly roared to full afterburner, huge blue flames leaping from the engine exhausts, but even with the afterburners, the ship didn't budge.
"We can't break free!" One of the bridge crew shouted, even as the aircraft which had been launched from the Excalibur began to circle omniously overhead. "What the hell? Our wings are retracting!"
Kira silently watched from the cockpit of the Divinity Gundam, as the Minerva's wings folded into the sides of the ship as it was inexorably drawn towards the Excalibur's now open hanger bay. A moment later, the winged warship of ZAFT rose into the spacious hanger bay. As it rose into the hanger, the Minerva shuddered as it was grabbed by a pair of massive clamps and moved deeper into the hanger.
As the ZAFT warship was moved deeper into the hanger, the aircraft, which had been launched mostly as a deterent, began to return.