Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 106
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.
"I won't pretend to know what this is about." Rau muttered. "But I know now that you've certainly inherited my flair for theatrics, Kira." He smirked. "So I'm sure you won't disappoint me."
His Divine Legend Gundam came to life with a flash from its eyes and he roared into battle. Up ahead, a trio of ZAKU Warriors led by a Blaze ZAKU Phantom toting a large particle cannon noticed him and opened fire. He dodged their shots expertly, saw his chance, and sent a heat rod snaking out of the Legend's right arm to wrap around the ZAKU Phantom's left arm. He yanked the captured mobile suit closer, drew his beam sword, and chopped the mobile suit in two at the waist.
The three remaining ZAKUs broke formation and showered him with firepower; he seized the fallen ZAKU Phantom's cannon, leveled it off, and fired back to force the ZAKUs on the defensive. One of them activated its Gunner Wizard pack and sent him diving for safety with a pulsing blast of crimson energy, just in time for the next one, twirling the Slash Wizard's beam axe over its head, to slam the blade down onto the Legend's beam shield.
"Too close!" Rau cried, and with a crash, he forced the ZAKU up, leveled off his beam rifle cannon, and blew the ZAKU away.
The two surviving ZAKUs darted around on both sides of the Legend and fired again, forcing Rau back. He glanced up at the dark sky at the feeling of two more approaching presences. And then the world flashed bright and a torrent of firepower came slamming down around the Legend. Rau threw the grey mobile suit back and returned the fire with the plundered beam cannon.
"I see." He grumbled, as the ZAKUs intensified their attack, even as he cast a sidelong glance towards the shattered docking bay where the Minerva still waited. "This little incident just gets more and more interesting."
"Shinn Asuka, Eclipse, launching!"
The Eclipse Gundam wove its way through the wreckage in front of the Minerva and took off with a flash into the battle, a spare beam rifle from the Strike Freedom Gundam in hand. Shinn scanned the battlefield.
A squad of red ZAKUs descended from the sky, beam rifles blazing. Shinn fired back with his own rifle to break up their formation, then switched the rifle to his left hand, drew the Eclipse's beam sword with his right, and charged with a blast of afterimages. The ZAKUs struggled for distance, but the Slash ZAKU Phantom at their head threw itself down towards the Eclipse with a blaze of beam gatling gun fire.
"You're with that bitch, Ritsuko Akagi." Shinn growled, and in a blinding flurry of afterimages, he lunged over the ZAKU, dropped back down behind it, and slashed it in half at the waist. As it exploded, he rocketed up towards the next enemy, a Gunner ZAKU Warrior leveling off its cannon, and as it fired, he jetted to the right to let its blast slice through an afterimage. The ZAKU desperately brought its cannon around, as the other two opened fire with their beam rifles, but the Eclipse plowed through the blasts and ripped the Gunner ZAKU in two, and then charged at the remaining two ZAKUs. Both of their Blaze packs let out a swarm of missiles; Shinn slammed through them all with his beam shield, blasted through the smoke, and sliced both mobile suits in two.
Up ahead, he suddenly caught sight of an all too familiar grey mobile suit, the unmistakable, snowflake-shaped form of the GN-X666D Divine Legend Gundam. The pilot of the stolen mobile suit, Rau Le Cresuet, was doing battle with two other stolen mobile suits, one sleek and white; the ZGMF-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero, and the other a hulking blue machine; the ZGMF-X31S Abyss Gundam. The white one slammed its saber down against the Legend's beam sword and pressed the grey mobile suit back, just in time for the blue one to come up from behind, beam rifle ready.
Shinn threw himself into the fight, stabbing forward with his saber to slash the Wing Zero's beam rifle in half. The two Gundams backed away as the Legend landed hard behind the Eclipse, and Shinn ground his teeth as the pilot of the Wing Zero appeared on his auxiliary monitor.
"Well well! I was wondering when you'd show up." Toji Suzahara cackled from the cockpit of the Wing Zero. "And you even brought us a new toy!"
The Wing Zero charged with a beam saber slice that slammed against the Eclipse's sword. The Legend swept in from behind, sword blazing, only for the Abyss to shower it with firepower and drive it back. Shinn surged forward and sent the Abyss reeling with a hard knee to the chest, as he closed in for the kill, the Abyss thrust its shoulder shells into the path of the Eclipse's beam sword, spoiling the blow. The Abyss whirled around and charged in from behind, beam axe held high.
Shinn clenched his teeth and fired the Eclipse's thrusters to throw his mobile suit to the side, dodging the finishing strike from the Abyss, and with a crash, he slammed his sword down against the blue machine's shoulder shells and sent it stumbling away.
"That's not too bad." Rei said with an approving smirk.
Shinn glared back. "You have no idea."
Sparks flying and metal straining, Rau Le Creuset's Divine Legend Gundam traded blows with a ZAKU Phantom over the dusty lunar surface. The ZAKU Phantom slammed the Legend back with an overhead sword hack, sending the Legend grinding back through the dust. Rau glanced to his left and then threw the Legend down onto its right knee, just in time for a plasma volley from a pair of Gunner ZAKU Warriors to sizzle by overhead. And an instant later, the ZAKU Phantom was upon him again, forcing him back with a swift barrage of saber swings.
"Surprise, bitch!" The voice of Kira Yamato yelled, as the Divinity Gundam suddenly appreared directly in front of the ZAKU Phantom that had been attacking the Legend. An instant later, the angel-winged machine ignited the beam saber on its left wrist and sliced the ZAKU Phantom in half at the waist. The Divinity then ignited its thrusters and screamed towards the Abyss, smacking the blue mobile suit aside and spoiling an axe swing meant for the Eclipse's head.
"Interfering bastard!" Rei snarled within the cockpit of the Abyss.
"Stupid angel fucker." Kira retorted, even as the dragon fangs on each of the Divinity's arms rotated into their attack positions and lanced towards the Abyss. Much to Kira's annoyance, however, the Abyss ignited its thrusters, dodging the twin dragon fangs at the last second.
"I've got you!" Rei shrieked as the Abyss brought its axe down, slicing the right-hand dragon fang in half. Kira scowled as he ejected the now useless dragon fang from his machine's right arm, even as he retracted the one on his left arm, the dragon fang that still remained intact.
"You stupid, stupid whore." Kira snarled as he merged with his machine, causing the Divinity's eyes to flash with a bright amethyst light.
"Aww, did I damage your shitty mobile suit?" Rei mocked as she opened the Abyss Gundam's shoulder shells and brought the pair of triple beam cannons to bear. An instant before Rei could fire her beam cannons, however, a pure white column of energy erupted from the glowing green orb in the center of the Divinity's chest. Kira has fired one of the Divinity's most powerful weapons; the temporal inversion cannon. The energy blast from the temporal inversion cannon didn't actually destroy the Abyss Gundam or its pilot, instead it forced the blue machine out of the current timeline and into a completely different one. After the truly impressive display of power from the Divinity Gundam, the remaining enemy forces were quick to retreat. Seeing that the enemy forces were now wisely retreating, Kira transformed the Divinity Gundam into its mobile armor mode, the angel-winged machine vanishing underneath the shroud of its mirage colloid as it sped away.
The Minerva's bridge crew and mobile suit pilots gathered around the mapping console in the main briefing room, a flat projection of the lunar surface arrayed before them, and Talia Gladys fixed her eyes on the blinking dots that represented the quickly retreating ZAFT fleet. Rau and Luna stood next to her, peering down at the image; on the auxiliary screen, Athrun Zala and Meyrin Hawke watched them all.
"Gendo Ikari is a wily one, but he's also a coward." Athrun chuckled. "His motive is mainly to stand on the sidelines and direct rather than dirty his hands with combat."
"Can you tell us why he's working for ZAFT?" Talia asked with a skeptical look. Athrun's smirk disappeared.
"As close as I can come to it, Captain Gladys, I am not omniscient. But I'm sure there is a vast sum of money in it for Mr. Ikari. He who has the largest pocketbook and the most interesting needs commands Gendo Ikari's loyalty, to the extent that the pocketbook and interest last."
Luna slapped her hands down on the mapping console. "Athrun, just tell us something we can use."
"Excuse me, Vice Captain Hawke." Athrun answered with an upraised finger. "But my job is only to supply the information. It's your job to do something with it."
"Athrun, do you know what it is they're having Ikari do?" Talia cut in, wanting to stop a fight from brewing. "Is he directing the fleet, or the gassing operation, or what?"
Athrun shrugged. "I know that he is with the fleet and there's something going on there called 'Hell's Wind', which I assume to be the gassing operation that they recently carried out at the Copernicus lunar colony. Whatever else he's up to, I can't tell you."
Talia sighed and scratched the back of her head, peering back down at the map. The ZAFT fleet was clustered around what looked like a second Marseille freighter, taking on supplies and replacing losses, no doubt. If the Minerva could get in range, it would be the ideal time to strike.
"I rather doubt ZAFT would put a mercenary in charge of almost a dozen warships." Rau spoke up suddenly. "Much less a Natural mercenary. And either way, I do not believe he will require exceptional tactical chicanery to defeat." He looked up towards the auxiliary screen. "Especially not if he is unaware of you, Captain Hawke."
On the screen and over Athrun's shoulder, Meyrin Hawke nodded her agreement. "And as long as you guys can distract that fleet long enough, he'll stay that way."
"There's one other problem, though." Luna pointed out, and laid a finger over the two blinking blue dots on the map. "The Alliance warships Hornet and Viper."
Across the console from Luna, Shinn Asuka frowned. "What could they want?"
"Probably to destroy the fleet that attacked the lunar colony." Rau answered. "The attack at Copernicus was a challenge that Lord Djibril, the current leader of the Earth Alliance, can no longer afford to ignore. No less than the finest of the Phantom Pain will be sent to destroy them."
Talia studied the map again and thought about the Phantom Pain, and about that man in command of the Hornet. He had fought her ship to a standstill and forced her to retreat for the sake of her survival; she had never handed that ship a decisive defeat. But how would he react to this?