Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 97
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 Yamato sat back quietly in the crew lounge overlooking Excalibur's primary docking bay and peered at the winged warships Minerva and Katusuragi as they slid into the bay.
The Nazca-class warship Rousseau silently floated in the airless void of space above the ZAFT-controlled Daedalus lunar base.
The ZGMF-X13C Divine Providence Gundam was indeed a very fine machine, reflected Rau Le Creuset as he rode his new, grey-colored mobile suit out of the Rousseau's mobile suit hanger and into battle. The Divine Providence was much more than a simple rebuild of the original Providence Gundam. In addition to the ten DRAGOON units, identical to those used by the Legend Gundam, the Divine Providence Gundam also posessed a pair of heat rods, a pair of beam sabers, a pair of beam shield generators and a high-energy long-range beam cannon. The heat rods were very interesting weapons, and the superior handling and maneuverability of the machine undoubtedly meant that this thing was no normal mobile suit.
A group of Windams rose up from the wreckage of the recently destroyed Galaxy-class warship, beam rifles blazing; Rau seized his chance and sent the left-hand heat rod lancing towards one of the machines. It wrapped around the right arm of a Windam, and Rau yanked the trapped machine closer, and with a quick slash, he chopped the Windam in two and stormed along on his way.
Beams from behind flashed around the Providence and towards another approaching Windam. One of them hit home, blowing off the Windam's head at the shoulders, and then a white Murasame dropped down from nowhere to slash off its head and left arm with a beam saber.
Rau frowned as he moved the Providence in to slash the disabled Windam in half. Instantly, Athrun Zala's disapproving face appeared on one of the Providence's monitors.
"Why did you do that? He was disabled!" Athrun shouted from the cockpit of the Infinite Justice Gundam.
"But he was not destroyed." Rau shot back. The two mobile suits darted apart as a beam volley coursed through the battlefield. "Try to leave your naiveté behind, Athrun. This is a war zone."
"I hardly think it naïve to note that killing people just breeds more conflict." Athrun scowled.
The Providence jinked to the side to avoid another Windam's beam rifle blast, and then charged forward to slash its rifle in two. The Windam backed away, supported by its three compatriots and forcing the Providence on the defensive, but not before Rau ignited the left-hand heat rod and ripped it clear through the Windam's torso to destroy it.
Rau glanced distastefully up at the Justice. "Then you still have much to learn."
"Those things again!" Athrun snarled as the Infinite Justice ignited its thrusters, roaring back into battle. A green and pink GuAIZ Experimental Firearms Type rushed in at its side, and in the cockpit Meyrin Hawke glanced up towards the crimson Gundam.
"What things?" She asked.
"Mobile suits that showed up ocasionally at Boaz. They have lightwave barriers. And... " Athrun trailed off, as the pressure washed over him. "And that clone...!"
Meyrin turned her eye towards the enemy and promptly rammed her GuAIZ into the Justice, driving both mobile suits to the left, just as a wave of beam fire coursed through the battlefield. "Pay attention, Athrun! I can't do all the fighting with my GuAIZ!"
Athrun shook his head and fixed his attention on the charging Gale Strike. "Hang back and give me fire support. Meyrin, call in Shinn's team." He rocketed ahead and switched his beam rifle to his left hand, giving him room to draw a beam saber with his right. "One Kira is enough!"
Up ahead, inside the Gale Strike Gundam, Kira Hibiki faltered as the pressure hit his mind. Within his mind's eye, Kira Hibiki saw a blue-haired boy, holding a green robotic bird in the palm of his hand.
He clenched his fists around the Gale Strike's controls. "Get out of my head!" The Gale Strike swapped its rifle for a saber and charged, and with a crash the two mobile suits came slamming together. "Hyperion team, get around him!"
A group of CAT1-XG1/12 Hyperion Gundams swept in, beam machine guns at the ready, and Athrun ground his teeth. "Perfect!"
With a flash of thruster exhaust, the Justice lunged up, just in time for the GuAIZ to pummel them all with beam rifle blasts, supported by a half dozen more mobile suits. Athrun seized his chance, rushed forward, and tore the first Hyperion's rifle in two with a quick saber hack. The Hyperion backed away and readied its lightwave barrier, as the other three opened fire and forced the Justice on the defensive.
Athrun whirled around to parry a saber blow from the Gale Strike and darted away again as it pressed the attack. He scanned the battlefield again and caught sight of the Hyperions, fixing his eyes on the one he had just deprived of its rifle. "I'll get rid of you four first, and then I'll deal with your friend in the Strike!"
Sparks flew as the Justice and Gale Strike clashed, saber to saber. Athrun saw a chance and surged forward to throw the Gale Strike back, but before the white Gundam could respond, the Justice darted to the side, saber blazing, and ran it through the rifle of a second Hyperion. He scanned the skies for the other two.
"Wait, that's only two of them! Where?"
He jerked back the controls and snapped his attention over his shoulder, where he caught sight of an M1 Astray. It swung up its rifle and opened fire, but the blasts landed harmlessly against a Hyperion's lightwave barrier, just in time for Meyrin's GuAIZ to lunge out of nowhere and tear off the Hyperion's right arm with its beam claws.
"Meyrin! Don't push too hard, the GuAIZ can't keep up!" He whipped back around to face the oncoming Gale Strike and deflected another saber strike. "Persistent little...!"
One of the Hyperions whirled in from behind, beam machinegun coming up to finish the fight. Athrun twirled the Justice around, ignited one of the leg-mounted beam blades, and slashed the Hyperion's rifle in two, and then went back on the defensive as the remaining mobile suits opened fire again.
"Dammit, Meyrin, where are you? The GuAIZ is too old for that!" One of the Hyperions came down from above with a beam saber in its hand. "What the?" The Justice rocked as the Hyperion brought down its saber, and Athrun's eyes went wide as the Gale Strike lunged up from behind with its own saber ready.
"Now, I'll finish this for good!" Kira Hibiki screamed.
"Like hell!" Athrun roared.
The GuAIZ came barreling out of nowhere to slam the Gale Strike aside with its shoulder, but a moment later, another Hyperion was there with its beam cannon ready. Meyrin jammed the controls to the side, but not far enough. The Hyperion opened fire and the GuAIZ's left arm and left leg vanished in the blast.
"Meyrin!" Athrun cried.
Meyrin's voice came cackling through the speaker as the Hyperion closed in for the kill, beam saber lit. "I'm not done yet!"
Instead, the smoke blasted apart and the maimed GuAIZ leveled off its rifle and drilled a blast straight through the Hyperion's cockpit. The two mobile suits were engulfed in a thundering explosion, and Athrun felt his heart skip a beat as the maimed, blackened GuAIZ went sailing out of the flames, into the arms of a ZAKU.
"You, take her back to the Rousseau!" Athrun shouted, and then whirled around to face the Gale Strike's furious attack. "Meyrin, answer me, are you alright?"
"K-Kinda." She grunted, and Athrun ground his teeth at the sight of blood drifting around her in the GuAIZ's battered cockpit. "Some shrapnel got me. It's not gonna kill me, but you're on your own now, Athrun."
Athrun turned his eyes back towards the charging Gale Strike, now accompinied by four Windams. "That's how I work best."
"Jesus Yamato, Divinity Gundam, launching!" A familiar voice rang out through the communications lines, as the Excalibur dropped the shroud of its phase cloak; the massive warship seeming to appear from the blackness of space itself, as the centerline catapult fired and the Divinity Gundam roared into battle.
Up ahead of the Infinite Justice Gundam, the four Windams quickly broke formation around the Gale Strike Gundam, but the Windam at the top of the formation suddenly reared up in surprise as the Divinity Gundam burst into the space before it. The angel-winged machine was glowing with a nearly blindingly bright blood red light as it slammed both its beam-clawed hands into the cockpit, and tore the entire mobile suit in two.
Kira whipped around as dozens of blasts flashed around him and darted down towards the next Windam, to rip it in two with a palm cannon blow. The third Windam rushed in from behind, using the Euclid as cover, but the Divinity whirled around and flung its arm out. A panel on the inside of the arm slid open and a clawed anchor blasted its way out of the arm and embedded itself in the Windam's cockpit, and with a shout, Kira pulled the anchor back and impaled the Windam through the chest with his mobile suit's left hand. He flung the sparking Windam's remains away and put himself between the Euclid and the Excalibur.
"What is that thing?" The remaining Windam pilot exclaimed. "Is that the Divinity Gundam?"
"No!" The pilot of one of the Euclid mobile armors answered. "That's a new model!"
The Divinity descended with a flash upon the Windam and blasted clear through its torso with a palm cannon strike, and then whirled around to face the Euclid closest to him. The gray mobile armor opened fire with its beam cannons, and Kira flicked his eyes to the right as the second one came streaking in as well.
"Sorry!" Mayu Asuka's voice called. "They got past...holy crap, is that the Divinity Gundam?" Kira had resurrected his lovers and his children, only a few hours prior to the start of this conflict, which explained how Mayu and her Destiny Impulse Gundam were on the battlefield at the moment.
Kira ground his teeth as the mobile armors lined up to open fire, even as he thought. 'Four Windams and two Euclids as your first prey, Divinity. That's not too bad.'
With a blast of afterimages, the Divinity activated its beam wings and rocketed upward to let the beam shots sear by underneath. They both pulled up and poured beam fire after him, but the afterimages flared and blazed through the black sky, and Kira raised a hand up to the hilt of his mobile suit's Quantum Crystal anti-ship sword. One of the Euclids nosed up after him, beam cannons blazing, and it launched off a barrage of missiles from its rear section.
Kira seized his chance, charged forward with a scream, and drew the Divinity's anti-ship sword. The green shimmering beam flashed to life as he took the weapon in his hands, and with a triumphant shout he plunged down through the Euclid's fire, dipped the blade down into the Euclid's armor, and then flicked his wrist up to rip a gaping hole in the Euclid's hull. And then, with an ear-splitting screech, he drove the Divinity's left hand deep into the wound and poured fire from the palm cannon into the Euclid's insides. The second Euclid came down with a crash to rescue its comrade, but Kira lunged back and kicked the dead machine's nose, forcing it upward to smack into the second mobile armor. The first one belched sparks and exploded, sending the second one reeling, and Kira saw his chance.
"And now for you!"
The Divinity was there in a heartbeat, anti-ship sword raised high, and Kira brought it down with a scream to slash off the mobile armor's left-hand beam cannon and engine. The Euclid shuddered under the blow, and Kira's eyes darted up towards the Destiny Impulse.
"Mayu, now!"
Mayu wasted no time in lining up a beam cannon barrage through the Euclid's gaping new hole, and both mobile suits backed away as the mobile armor staggered forward and exploded.
"Th-That's the Divinity Gundam?" Mayu cried. "That thing is a monster!"
"Kira, are you alright in there?" Murrue asked as her Strike Freedom Gundam dropped in from above.
In the Divinity's humming cockpit, Kira scanned the battlefield. There was a strange point of pressure out there, and there was still that fleet to deal with. The Divinity could do it.
Rau Le Creuset felt the change immediately, even as his beam saber blazed against the beam saber held by the crimson Windam in front of him. Kira Yamato was out here now, and he had the Divinity Gundam, and now the entire universe would see what the he could really do.
"Ah, it seems that Kira has finally come out to play!" Rau cackled manicaly, throwing the Windam back and impaling the cockpit with his beam saber before the pilot could reorient the machine. "I am not going to miss this!"
The Divine Providence Gundam's eyes lit up with a cold blue light as it ignited its thrusters, the grey mobile suit quickly speeding away from the now exploding Windam.
"Admiral! We've detected the Excalibur!" One of the bridge crew on the Earth Alliance Archangel-class warship; Aurora, called out, excited. Admiral Richard Krowhart, sometimes known as King Crow for his habit of picking through the wrecks of destroyed ships and mobile units, leaned forward in his chair.
"Perfect." He muttered. "Get the Nelsons to move forward and have the Drakes screen them, tell them to prepare for anti-mobile suit, anti-mobile armor, and anti-ship combat. Oh, and ask the Drake crews where they left their wills." The ships did as ordered, with the Drakes holding positions just forward of the Nelsons. The next few seconds had the ships launching their mobile armors and mobile suits, numerous Windams, Strike Daggers and Moebiuses leaving their ships to dash towards the incoming Excalibur, with many more holding position around the fleet. The attacking machines were quickly destroyed by a combination of the CIWS rounds, flak shells, beam blasts and rail gun shells from the Excalibur, and the 36 rapidly moving and firing DRAGOON units of the Divinity Gundam, which had flown out from behind the Excalibur's bridge, the angel-winged mobile suit firing several blasts from its EMP Cannon at the head Drakes.
Those same Drakes fell to the hellish volley of fire from the Excalibur's beam turrets and rail guns, the expertly targeted shots ripping through hulls and munitions bays to cause devastation. Divinity darted in, smoothly dodging the bursts of CIWS fire and missiles, using the fire superiority afforded by the DRAGOON units to tear into the Drakes, and accounting for three more all by itself. A few of the Windams and Strike Daggers, their pilots obviously having more balls than brains, boosted at the Divinity, intending to end its reign of destruction. Instead, they were pierced by beams from several directions, momentarily turning into miniature suns as the searing energy blasts set off their ammunition and batteries.
A single Nelson moved forward, its intentions clear. It never got the chance to fire, however, the blood red form of Evangelion Unit 02 phasing into existence in front of the bridge and firing bursts from its beam rifle into the ship. A few more bursts shredded the armor, destroying the reactor before the Mirage Colloid swallowed the crimson machine up again. For the next few minutes, Evangelion Unit 02 engaged in guerrilla warfare, picking off Drakes with beam fire and damaging Nelsons with its twin rail guns. After about fifteen seconds of this, the crimson mobile suit reappeared behind one of the Agamemnons, its left-hand rail gun firing upwards, clean through the ship, the projectile piercing the armor to come up from below the captain's chair, impaling the unfortunate officer and dragging him with it back into space.
"Damn it, how many did they launch before coming here?" Krowhart hissed, displeased by the rather unfortunate turn of events.
"I think...all of them sir." The sensor officer said.
"What?" The officer pointed. From the left, the others came, Akatsuki, Strike Freedom, Twilight, Destiny, Infinite Justice, Eclipse, and Destiny Impulse, each of the mobile suits nestled within the menacing confines of a METEOR unit. The seven machines came on in a fury, instantly unleashing hundreds of thousands of missiles and beam blasts. Even so, the massive wave of destruction annihilated half the remaining Drakes, and practically vaporized a good portion of the mobile armors and mobile suits.
Hope Yamato's manical cackle echoed about the radio waves as the Destiny Gundam dscarded its METEOR and charged into a Nelson, clawing straight through it and into another. Six Windams swooped in, hoping to save their ship. Instead, the Destiny's open maw emitted a red-blue energy beam, running one Windam through and impacting on another. The Destiny's left hand embedded in the Nelson, forcing Hope to detach the appendage, revealing the three-bladed claw hidden within the Destiny's forearm. Even as she used her remaining hand to draw the beam rifle to destroy another Moebius. Two more Windams were shredded, the Destiny's rapidly spinning claw slicing them into little more than scraps of metal. The last one ran, coming under the condescending fire of the CIWS, and managing to escape into the fray between the ships. There, it was destroyed by a shot from the Twilight's high-energy beam rifle.
Rau Le Creuset used the Divine Providence Gundam's twin-bladed beam naginata, wielding it in his right hand as the beam rifle fired from his left. The beam blasts that he had fired, melting through two Moebius as the beam naginata slashed clean through another mobile armor that ventured too close, slicing it in half. The beam rifle fired three more times, one shot destroying a Drake's bridge and two more coring its thrusters. Three Strike Daggers decided to go on an attack run, arcing their path to bring them straight at the Providence. A completely foolish move, as Rau proved, easily weaving in between the bursts of machine gun bullets to destroy them, his beam naginata slicing them in half.
A few miles away, on the other side of the battlefield, the Destiny Impulse fought among a scattered group of two Drakes, a Nelson, and the four surviving Moebius of their combined detachment. The Impulse's long-range beam cannon fired a blast into the hull of one Drake, searing its way past quite a bit of the hull before dissipating. Momentarily leaving the sorely damaged Drake, Mayu turned the Impulse around to fire her long-range beam cannon again, the superheated plasma blast leaving a supposedly sneaky Moebius as little more than vapor. Without turning its head, the Impulse fired its beam rifle, the column of energy tearing through one of the Nelson's twin beam guns, even as the METEOR fired a flight of anti-ship missiles for the wounded Drake, exploding in the large cavity created by the cannon blast. Evidently, the series of explosions set something off, and the entire left side of the escort ship was reduced to floating scrap.
Before Mayu could turn her attention towards the remaining Drake and the Nelson, three beams slashed through the Drake, and a dozen DRAGOON units smashed into the Nelson, ripping through the center of the battleship and taking most of the ship's innards with them as they continued, slightly deflected from their original trajectory, to smash into the side of another Nelson, severely damaging the ship, before finally returning to the Divinity Gundam's back
"Damn it, stop stealing my kills!" Mayu snarled over the communications line, causing some of the CIC crew to shrink into their chairs.
On the bridge of the Aurora, Krowhart seethed with fury.
"What the hell are they doing? Get the Nelsons back around us! And tell the Drakes to stop screwing around and deal with those mobile suits!" Unfortunately for the Admiral's blood pressure, about half of the Drakes obeyed the order, the rest either having been destroyed or severely damaged in key areas.
Then the good Admiral's day got a lot worse. The Eclipse zoomed past a Nelson, completely ignoring its rather pitiful machine gun turrets to head straight for the brain of the fleet, being followed by the Twilight, which was doing a good job of confounding the fleet's systems. Within a short time of being exposed to the Twilight's special brand of hacking and electronic warfare, the Nelson's machine guns were turned on the Moebius and Strike Daggers pursuing the two Gundams, creating a mess not unlike that of a shredded aluminum can.
As the Eclipse reached the first Agamemnon, the powerful plasma cannons fired, twin luminescent beams of concentrated plasma reaching out. Unfortunately for the Agamemnon, the Eclipse rather easily avoided the slow-moving fire path of the cannons, wings moving to direct thrust in a manner that, combined with the leg thrusters positioning, resulted in a pseudo-somersault, landing the white mobile suit well outside of the cannons coverage, and right in front of the unfortunate carrier's bridge. Seeming bored, at least going by 'body language', the Eclipse holstered its rifle, unsheathed one of its beam sabers, and slashed the front of the bridge, exposing it to vacuum. An amount of freezing air was ejected into space, along with the dead or soon-to-be-dead bridge crew and captain, and whatever loose objects had been in the bridge.
To the side, the Twilight simply drifted towards a second Agamemnon, its systems causing every beam to hit an Alliance ship, often destroying a Drake or at the very least, crippling a Nelson. As the Twilight drifted past the cannons, it activated the beam sabers in its wrists, slashing them diagonally, creating an X-like breach in the bridge. With the Alliance fleet wiped out, the Celestial Being mobile suits returned to the Excalibur.