Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 52
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.
As the Excalibur silently orbited Mars, one week later, two young pilots entered the hanger and climbed into their mobile suits. Shinn in the Eclipse Gundam and Luna in the Twilight Gundam. Both the Eclipse Gundam and the Twilight Gundam had been modified during the trip to Mars.
The Eclipse now had a backpack setup like the Destiny Silhouette, with two anti-ship swords, which had recently been re-named to; ASS swords, and two long-range beam cannons, it also possessed angel-style wings similar to those on the Divinity Gundam, but instead of being white in color, the wings on the Eclipse were black with blood red accents. The Eclipse no longer had a solid shield, but instead mounted secondary beam-boomerangs on its forearm mounts. The upgraded Eclipse Gundam also carried two beam rifles similar to the Destiny's original, and lastly, all its joints were coated in ruby.
The Twilight also had a backpack setup like the Destiny Silhouette, with two ASS swords and two long-range beam cannons. Unlike the Eclipse, the Twilight still possessed its solid shield, the center of the shield itself mounting secondary beam-boomerangs, the upgraded Twilight Gundam also carried two beam rifles similar to the Destiny's original, and lastly, all its joints were coated in diamond.
The new name for the anti-ship swords which Celestial Being utilized stemmed solely from the acronym for 'anti-ship sword'.
Much to the surprise of the Excalibur's entire crew, multiple settlements had been detected on the surface of the red planet, in addition, all of the settlements were under ZAFT control.
"Shinn Asuka, Eclipse, launching!" Shinn announced, throwing the Eclipse Gundam's throttles forward.
"WAIT, YOU FRIGGIN' MORON!" Murdoch yelled, just as the Eclipse Gundam flew directly through the hangar door, blowing a hole in Excalibur's exterior.
"Uh...should I wait to be launched on the catapult or go out the hole Shinn just made?" Luna hesitantly asked.
"Just go." Murdoch sighed, holding his head in his hands.
"Lunamaria Hawke, Twilight, launching!" Luna announced as the Twilight Gundam flew through the hole, bashing some metal off as she exited the hanger.
"Ughhhhhh, I hate mobile suit pilots sometimes." Murdoch said, even as he glanced at Athrun Zala out of the corner of his eye. "Especially that Zala punk."
"Fuck you, man! I'm in FAITH!" Athrun yelled.
"No one cares!" Murdoch replied. "Now go on standby in the Infinite Justice; Kira wants you ready to deploy at a moment's notice if things go south!"
Athrun growled slightly as he walked over to Murdoch and grabbed his shirt collar.
"What, you think this pin here is a joke?" Athrun shouted, pointing to the FAITH insignia pinned to the right lapel of his uniform. "You think they just give these things away to whomever?"
"Yeah, actually." Murdoch grinned. "You and Shinn both have one, and before long, I bet Luna will have one too."
As the Twilight Gundam landed on the surface of Mars about five minutes later, a pair of bright red ZAKUs moved in close and lunged at the now stationary Twilight Gundam. The first ZAKU, which was holding a beam tomahawk and a beam rifle, stopped a distance away, while the second ZAKU charged at the Twilight, swinging a kick forward as the pilot screamed. "Char Kick!"
"Yeah." Luna rolled her eyes as the Twilight easily dodged the kick and drew an anti-ship sword. "No." She replied, severing the red ZAKU's arms, legs and head. Suddenly, the second ZAKU opened fire with a flurry of beams, the searing bolts slamming into the Twilight Gundam, destroying the machine's head and arms, and pushing it onto its back.
"Nowadays, nobody wrecks Luna but me!" Shinn roared, as the Eclipse Gundam appeared overhead, its wings of light flaring into existence as the machine pointed at the remaining ZAKU with an open, glowing palm.
"Ha, Ha. Innuendo." The ZAKU pilot chuckled, but an instant later, the enemy pilot found that the Eclipse was on a direct collision course with him, palm open and glowing blue.
"Take this!" Shin screamed. "ECLIPSE FINGER!"
The Eclipse Gundam's glowing hand shot forward as the remaining ZAKU tried to lunge into the air, but to no avail as the Ecplise's hand impaled it in the lower abdomen, digging in deep.
"YOU'VE BEEN ECLIPSED!" Shinn roared, firing a devastating blast from the palm cannon, causing the impaled machine to explode in a massive fireball.
Meanwhile, back in the Excalibur's hanger, the other pilots were moving to their mobile suits.
"Don't go dying now." Athrun grinned as he moved towards the Infinite Justice Gundam. "If you die, I might end up being the leader of Celestial Being.
"And no one wants that." Kira smirked.
"Right, no one wants th-HEY!" Athurn yelled, while Kira merely laughed as the zip line carried him to the Divinity's open cockpit, and a few short moments later, the Akatsuki, Chimera, Divinity and Infinite Justice streaked out of and away from the Excalibur, the five machines quickly diving into the atmosphere of Mars.
A glowing red beam saber slashed down at the Divinity Gundam, only for the angelic machine to twist to the side and separate from its backpack, the slash passing between the two pieces, the enemy pilot clearly confused.
The enemy pilot watched in surprise and horror as a pair of arms and legs suddenly unfolded from the Divinity's backpack, and finally, a head emerged from the center of the backpack, sprouting up between the shoulders. The distinctive Gundam-style v-fin unfolding from the forehead as the machine's eyes flashed with a bright yellow light. This machine, which was normally hidden on the back of the CB-X60D Divinity Gundam, was known as the GN-009 Seraphim Gundam.
The enemy pilot watched in shock as the Seraphim Gundam freed a beam saber from its right hip and ignited the glowing green beam blade.
"Well, I do believe I'm dead at this point." The ZAKU pilot sighed as the Seraphim Gundam thrust its beam saber through the cockpit, obliterating the pilot. Kira smirked slightly as he removed his saber from the wounded ZAKU and kicked the sparking mobile suit away, leaving it to vanish in a massive fireball.
"Yes, you are dead." Kira grinned as the Seraphim Gundam's head slid back down, even as its arms and legs folded back up, and finally, the machine docked on the Divinity Gundam's back. Once more, the Seraphim Gundam appeared to be nothing more than a backpack for the Divinity Gundam.
"Difficult times call for difficult measures." Kira sighed as he stood at the head of the table in the Excalibur's massive main conference room about an hour later, squinting at Shinn. "I find it hard to believe that the prospect of abandoning a system that has proven to be fatally flawed and starting anew is so daunting."
"If you've got it all figured out..." Shinn started to say, before he was interrupted by the sound of Kira's palm smacking down on the thick oak table in front of him.
"That is exactly the sort of petulant immaturity that has so devalued my opinion of our so called elite military force in recent years!" Kira said venomously. "Someone speaks out against the accepted norm and immediately everyone starts acting like they've got a full-sized redwood tree shoved up their butt! God damn it all, Shinn, I'm not here to tell you how to do every aspect of your job, because I am simply not the kind of person who would do so! But I am the kind of person who will tell you how to do certain things in a more efficient or practical manner. Please stop trying to make it seem like I'm attempting to usurp control of your mobile suit squadron, because I am simply not! No offence meant, but nothing would please me less than being saddled with a leadership role like yours!" Sitting back down in his chair, Kira clenched his fists below the desk to hide his agitation from the others.
He took a deep breath before going on. "Now this is my idea. From what I've seen of the pilots in your squadron, you usually allow them to go waltzing onto the battlefield, carving a path of destruction and usually leaving nothing in their wake. That's fine in some situations, however, there are situations in which you don't want to cause much, if any collateral damage."
"You're one to talk about not causing collateral damage!" Shinn yelled. "You've completely exterminated humanity twice in the past!"
"I didn't do that of my own free will, Shinn!" Kira shouted back, this time slamming both of his palms onto the table, the force of his palms slamming down on the table causing dozens of micro-fractures to form throughout the heavy oak used in its construction. "I was under an unimaginable amount of stress the first time, and I was mentally unstable during the most recent instance!"
"If you were mentally unstable, why were you even allowed to pilot?" Shinn asked, his voice now raised in volume to match Kira's own. The only response that the crimson-eyed man received, however, was a broken and profusely bleeding nose, courtesy of Kira, as the amethyst-eyed man picked up his laptop computer and threw at Shinn.
"No one questions my decisions!" Kira shouted, even as he began to move towards Shinn, while Lunamaria crouched protectively over her fallen husband, carefully examining his now broken nose and unconscious form. Kira never made it more than a few steps, however, as all six of his lovers simultaniously pulled out their tasers and hit him with more than five million volts of electric current, the massive amount of electricity rendering Kira unconscious in less then a second.