Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 93

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.

Kira helped Yumi get through the tiny aisle to their seats. He and Yumi had been touring the Orb government center when they had heard about this important political rally that was being held in the high council chamber that night. Not having anything better to do, and quite interested in Orb politics, Yumi had wheedled Kira into reserving some of the last seats available, up near the top of the gallery. They had gone out to an early dinner at one of the many restaurants scattered throughout the government district before arriving almost two hours early to make sure they got their seats. As it was, they were lucky they did not arrive ten minutes later, since the gallery was almost entirely filled when they got there.

"Everyone does seem very excited." Yumi commented, looking around. Kira merely shrugged agreement. He'd eaten a lot at dinner and frankly wasn't too interested in this whole speech thing. He'd been planning on something a little more exciting as a cap to the day's fun, something along the lines of a private moonlight walk along the beach and maybe a little more besides, but that whole fantasy had been derailed when Yumi had asked to go to this speech. Given how long winded politicians tended to be, Kira was sure they'd be lucky to get back to the hotel by 3:00 AM, given that the speech in question was starting at 8:00 PM and it was a good two hour drive from the government center to their hotel.

"You don't seem very excited though." Yumi noted with some concern. "Anything wrong?"

'Hmm...besides the fact that I'm feeling full and not just a little amorous, but can't do anything about it because of all the crowds, no.' Kira thought darkly. "Just a little too much to eat at dinner." He replied.

"I told you it was too much."

"Yes, you did." Kira agreed before lapsing off into silence again.

"You're bored aren't you?" Yumi asked. Kira started. He never thought he was that transparent.

"We don't have to stay for the speech." Yumi began.

"No!' Kira cut her off. "You wanted to stay for the speech, and it's about time that we did stuff you wanted to do. You always give in to me. I'll admit that I may not be as interested in this as you, but I can take a few hours of fidgeting in my seat, as long as we're together. That's the important thing, that we're together."

"You're determined to have me assert myself, aren't you?" Yumi said with a giggle. "You'd better be careful or I'll start ordering you around. Just because I'm polite doesn't mean I don't have a practical side too."

"Believe me, I am well aware of that." Kira replied. A mechanical grinding caused him to look up. "Hey, look at that. They're retracting the roof. I guess they think the weather is nice enough for an open sky meeting."

"I guess you get a portion of your moonlight walk, without the walking part of course." Yumi observed.

"How...?" Kira asked, his jaw dropping open.

"I noticed several hints, wanting to eat an early dinner, planning on getting back to the hotel before dark and you looked at the page of the brochure that talked about romantic sites to see." Yumi informed him.

"I didn't know I was under such tight scrutiny."

"You find it surprising that I can't take my eyes off you?" Yumi breathed, snuggling as close as their seats would allow, resting her head on his shoulder.

"That's a conversation ender if I ever heard one." Kira mumbled.

They remained in that position for the next hour and a half, whispering nothings to each other, ocasionally sneaking small kisses and generally disturbing everyone around them without noticing in the slightest.

"Attention! The distinguished guest from the Atlantic Federation War Council will be taking the podium soon. We wish to thank you all for your patience and we wish to express our gratitude for the interest you have displayed in the workings of your national government." A speaker nearby crackled slightly with static, most non-Coordinators would never have heard it. Kira and Yumi both sat up attentively in their seats. The minutes ticked by like hours, the packed gallery host to hundreds of whispered conversations. The energy and tension in the room was almost visible. Kira felt himself suddenly becoming interested, almost against his will. Finally the appointed time came. Almost instantly, the doors onto the floor of the council chamber opened and a regal man indeed walked confidently out. He was dressed in the very finest business suit, but that was nothing special amongst politicians. Rather, what drew the gaze of not only the council members but those of the people in the gallery were the accoutrements.

The man was tall and broad shouldered and though plainly well past his sixtieth birthday, the man walked tall and proud, without the slightest hint of a limp. His white walking cane seemed more a flourish than anything else, and the large yellow gemstone affixed to the top caught many eyes with its golden sparkle. A full head of snow white hair descended down past his shoulders and a similarly white moustache and goatee contrasted starkly with the tanned skin of his face. His eyes seemed to glow with an inner fire and Kira felt an electric jolt when he managed to catch a full on gaze into the man's yellow eyes. Yumi let out a small gasp next to him.

"He certainly has a presence." Yumi noted. The entire crowd, probably more than one-thousand people, had gone stock still and silent from the moment the man had walked into the room. Kira couldn't help but agree. This was no government drone. This man radiated power.

"My friends!" The man said, in a voice that needed little amplification to reach Kira and Yumi way up at the top of the gallery. "My friends! My name is Cervantes Robotnik. I am the head of Cosmos Weapon Manufacturers...no relation to Blue Cosmos." Cervantes announced ringingly. The crowd laughed nervously, caught a bit off guard. Kira and Yumi looked at each other in shock.

"I have come before you, the people of Orb, today as an emissary from the Atlantic Federation, with all the proper fanfare that implies." Cervantes continued with a smile. More laughter from the audience, genuine this time.

"Despite my position on the Atlantic Federation War Council, I have not come before you today with grim tidings of war and destruction. Instead, I have brought rays of new hope for you, the people of Orb. What is this hope, you ask? Well, before I reveal to you that, let us first take a candid look at Orb as it is today. Orb survived the war, but it was a close thing. No one can deny that. War is hell, simply put. Orb lost much, more than many. Your resource colony; Heliopolis, was destroyed several months into the war. Followed, a few months later, by the destruction of your mass driver and the unlawful occupation of your peaceful country. An occupation that was quickly rescinded, but the pain of that wound is not quickly forgotten. Am I not telling the truth?" Cervantes expounded. The crowd roared a garbled response, mostly consisting of people agreeing with him. Most were ecstatic to discover a politician who could talk straight and dirty, getting right to the heart of the matter, not beating around the bush and mouthing meaningless mush.

"Because of these tragedies..." Cervantes began to pace back and forth on the podium, using his cane to accentuate important words by either thrusting it upwards or cracking it down onto the floor. "These despicable tragedies, your nation's economy has been completely crippled. Sad, I know. Painful, I have absolutely no doubt. But those are the simple facts. And as if that wasn't bad enough, you are also in the process of reconstructing your military, as is the right of any sovereign nation. You barely had the time to bury the heroes of the last war and barely had the mourning properly begun when calamity struck once again!" Cervantes cried, slamming his cane down on the word 'calamity'.

"If your proud, beneficent nation had had strong leadership, perhaps you might have been able to sort through the wreckage and rise from the ashes, like the legendary phoenix. However..." Cervantes beat his cane so hard against floor that Kira expected it to split in half. "However, you were betrayed in your time of need! Instead of working with you to rebuild this great nation, your leaders concentrated on themselves! They enriched themselves! They hid things from the public! They engaged in scandalous and illegal affairs and attempted to hide them from the eyes of the public in their shame! They sought to use the peace process for their own ends, not considering in the slightest how their warping would affect the people of their great nation and indeed the people of the entire world!" Cervantes was in full flow now, roaring his speech, stomping back and forth, swinging his cane like a madman, and preaching to the crowd, reaching out to the crowd, practically glowing with energy and conviction. The high council members were looking decidedly uncomfortable at this flaming and direct critique.

"As a result of this criminal and immoral conduct, world confidence in Orb has been dealt a truly staggering blow. The peace talks, our one final hope for the security of the future have all but collapsed! Is that the fault of Orb? NO! Is that the fault of the PLANTs? NO! It is the sole fault of your leaders. You have already taken a step in the right direction, people of Orb. You have arrested and confined those whose falsities and scandals so harmed your great nation previously. But there is so much more that can be done!" Cervantes paused for a drink of water. The crowd in the gallery was going nuts, eating his words up like fine food.

"Holy fucking shit." Kira muttered. Yumi nodded agreement. Rarely had she seen such a competent speaker, and never one so fired up. Even Siegel Clyne, Lacus Clyne's father, in his frequent pleas for diplomatic negations, hadn't been this bombastic.

"PEOPLE OF ORB! Your feet are on the right path. You only require direction. My nation, the Atlantic Federation, is willing to offer you that direction as well as a great deal more. We are willing to forgive the transgressions of the individuals and re-welcome the proud nation of Orb into the circle of nations. We will help you rebuild your nation. We offer trade, economic benefits, political support and disaster relief. What do we ask in return? Only what you would do anyway! Cast off the filthy chains your slanderous leaders have confined you in! Tear away the veil of lies and untruths that they have blinded you with! Step forward as a people and do the right thing!" Cervantes pleaded, his eyes practically alight.

"Cast these false leaders down from their pedestals and allow new leaders to rise, leaders who have the best interests of the people of Orb in their hearts and minds, not the sick desire for personal gain or worse, the desire to plunge to world back into the dark times of war. Impossible, you say. Never, you shout. Oh, how little you know. But I will reveal to you a great truth that will cast the ray of light into the darkness. Here, in this report gathered by the free media of the world, I have conclusive proof that your current leader, Cagalli Yula Attha entered into a binding contract with the ZAFT military suppliers to create an entire new generation of death machines, created expressly for the purpose of killing the people of Earth. Each of these machines would have netted Ms. Cagalli Yula Attha the tidy sum of twenty billion dollars. Not just a little retirement fund." Cervantes paused, as if waiting for laughter or comments, but if there were any it couldn't be heard in the ruckus.

Everyone was on their feet now, shouting and screaming, some in denial, some in support. Cervantes turned up his microphone. "It's all in this report! Verified by several independent sources. It will be made available in its entirety after my speech. Now, Ms. Cagalli Yula Attha cannot be blamed for this fiasco. Not entirely anyway. The only blames that can be placed on the dear girl's shoulders is a shocking lack of concern for her nation's well being and a disgusting degree of infatuation with a foul manipulator. Yes, I speak of none other than the son of that ZAFT demon who nearly destroyed the world. The son of Patrick Zala. The one and only Athrun Zala. Athrun Zala warped your kind-hearted princess. He twisted her to his own evil ends. Unsatisfied with his father's failed plan to annihilate the Earth via the Genesis laser, Athrun Zala turned to subterfuge to accomplish his ends. He seduced your princess over the course of several months, before then entering into a sham marriage with her, quite illegally mind you. Athrun Zala used his intimate acquaintance with the dear Ms. Cagalli Yula Attha to arrange this heinous contract and to undermine the peace talks. For you see, as the nuclear attacks in Hawaii have demonstrated, the PLANTs had no intention of keeping the peace. Pearl Harbor, not just the military base, but thousands of civilians as well, have been annihilated. Scoured from the surface of the Earth by nuclear weapons...the very thing that the PLANTs claim to hate so much." Cervantes lowered his voice so it was practically a whisper. The crowd was as silent as a hall of mutes.

Kira felt like he'd been punched in the gut. The venomous hatred evident in Cervantes's every word and gesture was like a physical attack.

"The loss of Pearl Harbor is a blow, a blow indeed. But it has shown the world what the words of those traitorous bastards in the PLANTs are worth! Pleading mercy and forgivness on one hand, while readying a sucker punch with the other! We will not fall because of a single blow! We will not let them win so easily! NO, we will stand strong and tall against the onslaught of darkness, the darkness hiding in space, glowering down upon us with claws of nuclear fire. We will stand together! Will you, the people of Orb stand with us?" Cervantes held his arms out in a beseeching gesture. Nobody in the crowd said anything. A terrible silence fell on what seemed to be the entire nation. Kira twisted around suddenly in his seat, searching the sky.

"What is it?" Yumi breathed, concentrating on Cervantes.

"Thrusters. Mobile suit thrusters. Closing fast." Kira replied. Barely had the words left his mouth when other audience members began to notice the sound too. Soon the noise grew to a steady rumble, then a low roar. Finally, less than a minute later it built to a sky shaking thunder and seconds after that it seemed to drown out the world. Cervantes turned his microphone up as high as it could go, and Kira could still barely hear him.

"I present to you, the people of Orb, proof of the Atlantic Federation's good will! An undeniable presence has graced our ranks with his presence. A presence that is more than familiar to you, the people of Orb!" Cervantes bellowed. At that moment the mobile suit became visible, diving straight down from above the council building. Even at the distance of more than a mile, if closing rapidly, the mobile suit was unmistakable.

It was the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam

"The Freedom!" The cry came from one of the audience.

"Freedom! The Freedom has come back!" The chant spread through the crowd like wildfire.

"Who's in that?" Yumi asked. Kira couldn't hear her, although he was thinking the exact same thing. The last time he'd seen the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam was more than two millenia ago, just prior to its destruction at the hands of the ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam.

"Freedom!" The crowd cheered.

"Yes, the Freedom!" Cervantes cried back. "The Freedom, the mobile suit that so heroically fought to save your great nation durig the last war, has returned. Listen to what the Freedom has to say!"

Static crackled from the Freedom's external speakers. "People of Orb. The last time I was in this fine nation, we were all fighting desperately. For truth. For honor. For Orb. I helped protect Orb from its enemies, though in the end they were too many and I was forced to retreat. But I have returned. Returned to ask that you, the great people of Orb, stand with me! Stand with us all! Stand against the darkness in space! Stand against ZAFT aggression! Stand against your false leaders. For your own Freedom!"

"Freedom!" The crowd echoed back.

"Freedom!" The man in Kira's old mobile suit called again.

"Freedom!" The crowd screamed, entirely out of control.

Even the law enforcement officers were in on it, shouting and gesturing as much as the civilians they were supposed to be controlling. The only people who weren't going crazy with fervor were the Orb high council members, who were trying to shout Cervantes down, and Kira and Yumi, who were in total disbelief.

"PEOPLE OF ORB!" Cervantes bellowed, taking the crowd back from his accomplice. "At this very moment an Atlantic Federation relief fleet is steaming into ports all over Orb! They bring supplies! They bring relief! They are your brothers and sisters, standing together with you, the people of Orb, for Freedom! How do we welcome them?"

"FREEDOM!" The crowd roared back. Cervantes smiled.

"There are those in this room who seek to take your freedom from you! They would have you go back into the darkness, back into servitude of their twisted schemes! Will you let them!"

"NO!"

"Will you do nothing?"

"NO!"

"Will you help me cast them down so you may be free, free to stand amongst the people of the world once again? Bind them in those chains they sought to bind you with! Blind them with their own veils of hatred! Step forth into the light and welcome your brothers and sisters of humanity! Stand for humanity! Stand for freedom! Stand for Orb!" Cervantes roared.

"FREEDOM! ORB! FREEDOM!" The crowd screamed, overflowing from their seats and pouncing upon the council members in mobs. The police did nothing to stop them, indeed more than a few led the charge.

"We need to get out of here." Kira said, grabbing Yumi by the arm. The Freedom reached down and Cervantes climbed into its palm. He was held over the boiling crowd, shouting down at them like a vision from hell, or heaven, depending on your viewpoint. Kira forced his way through the morass of people, dragging Yumi behind him. He was forced to resort to some of the unarmed fighting techniques, which he had learned over the past few millenia, in order to get to the doors.

"This is scary." Yumi said, quite calm as she surveyed the riot from the doors. "I've never seen people so inflamed. I had no idea things were this tense in Orb. All it took was that man, Cervantes Robotnik. Just one spark and the whole country is aflame."

"He's a hell of a big spark. And the Freedom Gundam, that was the clincher right there. When whoever is in the cockpit endorsed him. That man, Cervantes, he's pretty much won, for now at least. It makes me sick, how all the good things I do seem to get twisted back on me and my friends." Kira growled, before quickly restraining his anger. "We need to get out of here though, Yumi. This place isn't safe."

Yumi nodded agreement and together they fled from the council chambers, the sound of the vicious riot taking a very long time to fade from their ears.

"That man is a devil in human form." Asuka Langley Soryu gasped, still caught up in the almost tangible fury that had been flowing out of the television screen. She had been sitting in her quarters onboard the Celestial Being warship Katusaragi, channel surfing after a long, boring watch on the bridge.

"Well, this is fucking wonderful. Orb has just welcomed Blue Cosmos into its heart with open arms." Misato Katusaragi commented darkly from the bridge of the Minerva-class warship Katusaragi.

"He certainly knows how to give a good rousing speech. I hate to admit it, but I was almost caught up with the whole thing for a bit there." Shinn Asuka said.

"It just goes to show that hatred and fear really are the two greatest binding forces in the universe." Lexi Yamato's holographic image added morosely.

"That was cynical enough to hurt." Shinn replied.

"Can you deny it though, given what just happened?" Lexi asked.

"Well, fear and hatred themselves have little binding force. But when stirred up and fed fuel like the rhetoric and bombast Cervantes was spewing, then you are totally right. He went right for the primal instincts in modern man; when there's a problem, blame the people in charge. Do everything you can to avoid taking responsibility yourself. Go for the quick and easy solution. Take the helping hand, without considering what you will be expected to give in return at some point in the future. There's no such thing as a free lunch, after all." Shinn responded.

"Everyone's living for the moment, without a thought for the future. A relief fleet? I highly doubt that! Occupation forces are much more likely. Bringing food, medical supplies and helping hands, without even bothering to mention the mobile suits, tanks, guns and munitions. It's depressing how so few people are willing to look beneath the surface of what's really happening around them." Lexi put in.

"He knew all the right strings to pull in order to get people to not look below the surface. They're all concentrating on Cagalli and Athrun and the PLANTs. Cervantes played those cards well. Let's hope Athrun never falls into Orb's hands after that speech; he'll be lucky if they don't crucify him." Misato said.

"Yeah, that was really a smooth move on his part. He absolved Cagalli of nearly all the blame, since she's still really popular in Orb. He made her out to be an innocent victim of Athrun and the PLANTs. And of course, there will be many who won't bother to look beyond the Zala part of Athrun's name, as they'll be more than willing to blame the son for the sins of the father." Shinn mused. A phone rang suddenly. Shinn quickly picked up his cell phone and listened for a few moments.

"Yeah, we saw it too. It's all over the television, on practically every channel. Yeah, we saw the whole thing. Okay, we'll be waiting for you. Glad you two made it out okay. See you guys in an hour. Be careful." Shinn finally ended the call and turned to the rest of of the bridge crew. "That was Kira. He and Yumi got a pair of nose bleed seats at the high council chamber. They were there in person during the entire thing. They managed to get out after the crowd erupted into a riot and jumped the councilers. They're on their way back to the Excalibur now, but things are slow, of course."

"Glad they made it out safely." Misato said.

"Cervantes was kind enough to leave his Blue Cosmos dogma out of the whole thing, for the moment anyway. No one paid any real attention to two kids, even Coordinator kids." Shinn replied. He went over to the bridge windows and looked out at the blue Earth below. On the view screen, dozens of troop and cargo ships from the Earth Alliance Pacific fleet were already pulling into Orb's docks as the Katusaragi's bridge crew watched from high above, the Alliance ships unloading thousands of troops and hundreds of tons of supplies. Strike Daggers moved along the docks, toting cargo containers like men would carry crates. "They're well organized. They had this whole thing planned."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Misato asked.

"Kira told me that the Katusaragi is to go to Condition Red and assume a stationary orbit above Orb until the Excalibur ascends." Shinn answered.