Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 113
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.
The gleaming chrome-and-scarlet armor of the Full Production Type Evangelion Unit 01 shone in the sun on the deserted island. On a nearby JSSDF destroyer, Misato stared sadly at the new machine.
"Another Evangelion Unit..." She murmured. "We don't even need one, but they built one anyway. This is going to be nothing but trouble."
"Attention, all crews, evacuate to your desiginated ships immediately." The voice of Nerv's AI; Kyoko, whom was essentially nothing more than a copy of Celestial Being's own AI; Lexi, spoke. "The activation of Evangelion Unit 01F will commence in 20 minutes."
The hydraulic pipes squealed in protest as the locks on Unit 01F were tightened to the maximum. On the shore, Nerv technicians quickly cleared up their stations and packed into hovercrafts and motor boats that sent them over the waves to the cargo vessels offshore. Cranes groaned as they levered a hulking flight pack next to Unit 01F's back. With a shuddering series of clanks, the pack was secured to the Eva's back. The cranes moved back rapidly, and the ground began to rumble as a masive crawler, originally intended to carry space shuttles, slowly hauled the Eva and all of its activation appendages down a mammoth gravel path.
Shinji Ikari sat in the entry plug with a melancholy nostalgia. "It still smells like Ayanami...like mother." He mused.
The controls were sleeker, the entire plug's inside was covered with holographic and LCD displays, rendering a full panoramic view of the surroundings. Shinji disliked it. It made him feel exposed and vulnerable, as if suspended in the air for everyone to see.
"120 seconds until activation." Kyoko's voice intoned. Shinji uncurled and held the control handles.
"Checklist items are all clear; Unit 01F is ready for activation." One of the technicians reported.
"Making all preparations and clearing the activation checklist, as well as readying power prior to the actual activation..." Maya said to herself. "It cut the Eva's launch time by 240 seconds."
Misato glanced at her. "What do you think this Eva is for?"
"War." Maya said. "Everything about this rebuilt Eva 01 is made for combat...the lighter, more efficient armor, the stronger muscles, all of the weaponry affixed to the armor and the docking ports for rapidly switching field equipment...it's just a machine of war."
Misato crossed her arms and gazed steadily at the gleaming Evangelion. "We don't need these things anymore." She said, her voice dropping to a nearly inaudible whisper. "The Gundams are vastly superior."
"30 seconds to activation." Kyoko said.
Maya bent down to her keyboard and began to initiate Unit 01F's central systems.
Light rippled through the dark LCL, and Shinji breathed in deeply as his nerves tingled. Rainbow ripples laced with crackles of electricity surged in, replacing the displays. In a moment, everything returned, along with a baffling amount of text and statistics. A flickering orange crosshair spun into place in front of him, and everything settled into place all around the screens.
"Evangelion Unit 01F has been activated." Kyoko reported, only for her voice to suddenly switch to combat mode a few seconds later. "Warning, incoming high speed object!"
"What?" Maya asked, even as the brightly glowing, blood red form of the CB-X60D Divinity Gundam streaked towards Evangelion Unit 01F, the angel-winged mobile suit stopping directly in front of the Full Production Model Evangelion.
"Wow." The voice of Kira Yamato echoed through the speakers in the command center as well as those in the entry plug of Evangelion Unit 01F. "What a piece of shit."
The TRIDENT Type Alpha quickly dashed forwards over the rocky ground, speeding towards the activation site of Evangelion Unit 01F. In the cockpit of the TRIDENT, Mana Kirishima gritted her teeth and tugged at the tubes attached to her body. "I don't really like this new cockpit." She was on her hands and knees, riding the thing, for God's sake!
A stream of positrons screamed through the air from the Type Alpha's chest emitter, only to strike uselessly against the Divinity's glowing GN field. The machine stopped glowing and stumbled backwards, and Mana squeezed another shot off at the machine, which had now begun to generate its own A.T. Field. The beam ricocheted from the translucent orange panes with a glassy clink, and one layer of the Divinity's A.T. Field shattered into crystal-like shards.
"That's an odd A.T. Field..." She muttered, and an instant later, her TRIDENT violently shuddered, and she yelped in pain, holding up her head, which had crashed against the control panel. "Shit!" A couple of the TRIDENT's body shields had been blasted off by a pair of shots from the twin multi-phase cannons mounted in the Divinity's chest.
"You can't hope to beat a god." Kira smirked, even as a trio of the angelic machines, one colored in silver-and-gold, the second colored in blue-and-red, and the third colored in blue-and-white landed on either side of the Divinity. "It's about time you three got here." Kira smirked as the Divinity turned to look at the three new arrivals.
"Sorry, Dad." The voice of Kira's daughter; Aoi Yamato, sheepishly spoke from the cockpit of the blue-and-red colored mobile suit.
"Well, if you and Allister hadn't been making out in the hanger, we wouldn't be this late." Akira Yamato, Kira's son and Aoi's brother, scoffed from the blue-and-white machine.
"Both of you, stop bickering!" Kira scolded, even as the Divinity blazed with a red light and surged forward to sever both of the TRIDENT's legs along with its back-mounted missile launchers, before then continuing on and severing Evangelion Unit 01F's legs, disabling both machines in less than two and a half seconds. "We're in a warzone!"
Fllay Allister watched in horror as the ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam, which she knew to be piloted by ZAFT Commander Rau Le Crueset, aimed at the Dominion's escape shuttle and fired. She couldn't believe he had done that. To her, he was like her father, and it blinded her to his real intentions. Nonetheless, she trusted Kira Yamato to save her once again.
As time slowed and the searing green lance of energy inched towards the escape pod, it dawned on her that she had always been depending on Kira during her time on the Archangel. He had never failed her, he had never failed them, all of them on the ship. He kept them alive. He kept her alive.
She was right. Kira made it in time, blocking the deadly energy blast with the shield mounted on the right arm of his new ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam. It looked very much like the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam, so much that Fllay never doubted who was piloting it. She stared out of the window. She knew it was wishful thinking, but still, she hoped that she could see Kira. She knew he saw her. She just knew it.
Then, a strange feeling passed through her. A shout came from the front, from those who were paying more attention to the battle. One of those weird individual pods, which Fllay suddenly realized were called DRAGOON units, was directly above them, preparing to fire. She knew that Kira wouldn't make it this time.
She realized then that this was retribution. She had escaped punishment the first time, but her just deserts would not leave her alone until she had paid for all her crimes. She was ready, though. She wasn't about to deny that she was in the wrong.
Even though Kira wasn't fast enough, another Gundam, one which resembled the GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam, but was in fact the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice Gundam, under the command of Celestial Being, was fast enough. The Infinite Justice swooped in, sweeping its physical shield over the escape pod as easily as swinging an umbrella over a head. Everyone stared at the machine, for it was blazing with a brilliant red light and leaving glowing afterimages in its wake. Right then, Fllay thought that if she didn't apologise to Kira face to face, she would not rest in peace for the rest of her days.
This gave her resolve, and when the escape pod docked with the Archangel, she ran to the bridge, intending to talk to Kira immediately. Unfortunately, they were still in a middle of a battle, and she found herself sent away.
She was too tired to protest, even when the entire crew of the Dominion ended up in Archangel's cells with her. She knew it was only a precaution. The captain was preoccupied, and the rest of the crew was just following the rules. It didn't matter. She would soon get to see Kira again.
A few months after the war had ended, Fllay Allister entered the kitchen. The first thing she saw was a flash of light yellow hair as the Head Representative turned to look at her. Her heart was ready to sink. At least, until she saw the Representative's escort.
She didn't notice him at first, because Cagalli's bright yellow hair had overshadowed his brown. But as soon as she saw, she knew. Her heart almost stopped, her pulse slowing so much she could have passed for a corpse, before restarting with enough force to crush her lungs. She tried to pull out a chair and sit down while projecting a clam image, but her excitement betrayed her. Her movements were jerky.
"Tea?" Nelia, Fllay's housekeeper asked, and without waiting for an answer, she placed a cup and saucer in front of the red-haired girl. Fllay absently nodded in thanks, her eyes still on Kira.
Kira hadn't even looked her in the eye once since she came in. He was deliberately talking only to Cagalli. Fllay felt the same feeling she had the last time she saw Kira so happy with the other girl.
Cagalli ended Kira's rant with a pat on his head. "Cool it, little brother. Right now, we're here for a reason." The last part was not only directed to Kira, but to Fllay as well. Fllay's temper flared up again, but was suddenly quelled when she recalled what Cagalli had just said.
"Wait...he's your brother?" Fllay asked, shocked. Now that she knew it though, she could see the resemblances between the two.
"Yes." Cagalli answered shortly. "But the reason we're here is to hear your side of the story. Tell us, in short, why you passed nuclear technology to the Earth Alliance."
Fllay glanced at Kira, who was determined to avoid meeting her eyes as much as possible. With a heart rapidly plummeting through the floorboards, she told the twins the main points of her story.
"I was taken prisoner by ZAFT, as you both know. Commander Rau Le Crueset gave me that disc with the information, and he told me as soon as it reached the Earth Alliance, it would end the war. I thought...I thought it was a proposal for a peace treaty. I never knew it was nuclear technology." Fllay's eyes began tearing up as she thought about all those she might have been responsible for killing.
"It's not your fault." Cagalli said, only for Kira to suddenly interrupt her.
"We have to go, Cagalli. They'll notice you're not around sooner or later. And I can't stay as your bodyguard for too long. We found out what we came here for." Kira's eyes were focused outside the house. It was a ruse, although a convincing one. He couldn't bear to stay around Fllay when she was crying, knowing that he couldn't help her.
"Alright." Cagalli agreed, and as she got up, she spoke to Fllay again. "I guess your lawyer would be around to see you soon. Until then, please just stay in the house."
Fllay nodded and watched as the two left, she noticed that Kira didn't look back even once. She left her cold, untouched tea on the table and went back into her room.
Kira started the car and headed back to the Parliament House in silence. Cagalli tried to fill it in with some conversation, hoping that it would ease her brother's tension.
"I don't know how to appoint a judge for this case, Kira. If it happens to be a Coordinator, and if she is convicted, the Atlantic Federation will complain that the verdict was biased. If it happens to be a Natural, and if she is acquitted, the PLANTs will say that she was let off easy."
If Kira had heard her, he gave no sign, his entire mind was focused on the road ahead of him.
"So I guess I'll have to do it myself then." Cagalli continued.
That broke Kira's stupor. "What?" He asked, his eyes wide.
"I said, I'll have to judge this case myself. There is still far too much tension and rivalry between ZAFT and the Atlantic Federation to trust either of them not to bitch and moan about the verdict. People are still really pissed off about the actions taken during the war. And since I was originally a Natural, and now an Ultimate Coordinator myself, I guess I'll just do it myself. Don't worry, I won't be hard on her."
"Cagalli, you don't have to do this for me." Kira said, the expression on his face unreadable.
"Who's doing it for you? I'm just going to be a fair judge, that's all."
Kira subsided back into his seat. If he disapproved of his sister's plans, he didn't show it. Cagalli continued talking as though Kira's sudden outburst never happened.
"And I guess if you want Fllay to win the case, you'll need a lawyer who isn't prejudiced, who is persuasive and logical, and can convince even Coordinators that she is innocent." Cagalli rattled off the list of requirements, hoping that Kira would get the hint. He didn't, and Cagalli sighed. This was going to hit him hard.
"I think the best person to do this would be Lacus." Cagalli said, bracing herself for the explosion.
"WHAT?" Kira screeched. "You must be joking! How could you ask Lacus..."
"It's for the best, Kira!" Cagalli replied, covering her ears. "And keep your eyes on the road."
Kira obeyed, although he was still quite upset. "Do you think Lacus is going to agree to it? Do you think I'm going to agree to it?"
"Whether you agree to it or not isn't the issue here." Cagalli replied. "Whether Lacus agrees to it, and I suspect she will, is what matters."
"But still..." Kira trailed off, seeing Cagalli's point.
"If Fllay is to be proven innocent to everyone, it will be necessary. We know, but the PLANTs needs to know and believe the truth. Stop worrying, Kira." Cagalli said in reply to Kira's dumbfounded expression. "Lacus can handle it."
Kira decided not to answer, his mind on the pink-haired princess. He scowled, already thinking of her reaction to the request, and somehow, the guilty feeling he got while visiting Fllay multiplied by a thousand times.
Representative Cagalli Yula Athha gave a cold look to the ZAFT officer sitting in front of her. "I must apologize, Colonel Walther, but I'm afraid that I cannot entertain your request. The Orb Union is a neutral nation, and I will not compromise that. Now, if you'll kindly get the fuck out of my office, I have another appointment. I will see you another time, Colonel."
The stiff-looking man on the other side of her desk wore a barely concealed scowl, due to Cagalli's divine abilities, he hadn't actually heard her more vulgar language, but even so, he got the message. He stood up, and the two assistants standing by the door escorted him out of the office.
Once the door slammed shut, Cagalli once again utilized some of her more divine abilities, this time to make the ZAFT Colonel's head explode for no apparent reason, sending crimson blood and hot brain matter splattering the escorting assistants and guards, and the walls of the hallway. To everyone's surprise, however, before the body could even begin to fall to the floor, the ZAFT colonel's head regenerated. After releaving her stress somewhat, Cagalli dropped her facade and rubbed her golden eyes. She already had enough problems to deal with regarding Onogoro, and now both ZAFT and the Atlantic Federation were pestering her in regards to the trial.
Meanwhile, in the land which had previously been the country of Spain, the CB-X60D Divinity Gundam, which had once again assumed the size of an average human and was utilizing its holoshroud to take on the appearance of its pilot, glared angrly at a pair of muscle-bound men.
"Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?" The first man asked, turning to face the man behind him and to his left.
"It's over 9000!" Vegeta roared, as he removed his scouter and crushed it in his fist.
"What, 9000!" Nappa screamed. "There's no way that can be right! Can it!"
"I think it's right." Kira smirked. "After all, I am a god."
"Why you little...!" Nappa roared as he charged at Kira. "You're no match for me! I don't care what you are!"
"Why do I still put up with this shit." Kira muttered, even as he effortlessly dodged a flurry of punches and kicks. After nearly a full minute of simple dodging, Kira decided to end the fight. Nappa and Vegeta both stared in confusion as a pair of angelic wings suddenly appeared on the amethyst-eyed man's back, even as a halo formed over hs head and his eyes began to glow.
In the blink of an eye, the angel-style wings swung underneath Kira's arms, and an instant later, two tactical forty-kiloton nuclear cruise missiles shot out from the relatively small spaces in between the wings, both missiles taking off with a flash of exhaust.
Kira allowed a sadistic grin to cross his lips as both of the nuclear missiles slammed into the two men in front of him, both of the projectiles detonating almost simultaneously as they slammed into the strange men. There was a blinding flash of light, and then everything was enveloped in a pair of massive nuclear fireballs, the intense heat from the twin nuclear blasts completely vaporizing anything within 20 miles. Kira Yamato, and his Divinity Gundam, however, were left completely unharmed, thanks to his more god-like powers.
Even before the explosions had begun to fade, the Divinity Gundam had once more assumed its normal height, take to the air, transformed into its mobile armor mode and sped away.
"What is it you all think we should be fighting against to end all of these senseless conflicts?" Kira Yamato's voice calmly asked through the Excalibur's intercom system as he stood in the massive main confrence room. "Whatever it is. It's time we started fighting against it."
"What is it you all believe in?" Lacus Clyne asked as she stood beside Kira. "What is it that we should be fighting for now? We must understand that the people of Earth are our brothers and sisters." As the pink-haired beauty finished speaking, the throng of crewmembers which had assembeled in the confrence room erupted.
"We are led by a group of gods!" Shinn Asuka said. "Why the hell should we simply sit back and agree to co-exist with the humans on Earth when they've tried to kill us all on countless occasions!"
"Shinn's right!" Lunamaria Hawke yelled, slamming her palm on the table. "We have come under attack so many times, that even I am beginning to wonder if we shouldn't simply eliminate the Earth's population and repopulate the planet ourselves!"
"Both of you, be quiet!" Kira ordered, glaring as Shinn and Luna.
"Fuck you, Kira!" The two retorted in unison.
Lacus, determined not to lose control of the situation, simply continued speaking. "Possibly, we can exist without having to fight. but many of us have chosen to fight. But, for what reason?" Everyone instantly stopped arguing and turned to look at the blue-eyed beauty as she continued. "To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future?" She asked, even as everyone silently listened to her. "If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with bloodstained hands? Is that the truth?"
"We still haven't fixed the damage to the timelines." Athrun Zala spoke up after a moment of silence.
"I'm fully aware of that." Kira replied as the lights dimmed and the holographic display in center of the the table lit up, projecting the image of what could be best described as a massive gun barrel that was tapered towards the center at the front end, with a large sphere behind the barrel, and finally, behind the sphere, was a collection of six pylons which jutted out from the hull.
"This is what we will use to repair the timelines." Kira said. "The Celestial Being Temporal Weapon Ship. 1,240 meters long, with height of 310 meters and a beam of 299 meters. The Temporal Weapon Ship is a device which is capable of rewriting history. But, instead of going back into the past and effecting some sort of change, this ship fires a high power energy beam which removes the target completely from the timeline. The result is a temporal shock wave which spreads out through space, changing everything it passes over to the way it would have been if the target had never existed to begin with. Hence, if you fired the main weapon at Germany, then the world would literally vanish and be replaced by a world in which Germany had never existed."
"That's not funny, Kira!" Asuka roared.
"The Temporal Weapon Ship, like the Excalibur, is capable of operating outside space time, giving us an eternity with which to complete our task." Kira continued, ignoring the red-haired woman's outburst. "Unlike the Excalibur, however, the Temporal Weapon Ship is completely invulnerable to conventional weaponry, as long as its temporal core remains online. In the event that the temporal core has to be taken offline, however, the ship is equipped with our standard MCPS armor."
"If we're going to use this to repair the timelines." Cagalli spoke, gesturing to the holographic image of the ship. "Why is it designated as a weapon ship?"
Meanwhile, back on Earth, a few miles outside of San Diego, a large house stood near a beach, its back patio looking out at the ocean. Sitting on the patio is one Lieutenant Commander Natarle Badigruel, looking out at the rolling waves as they came in. This had always been her favorite spot in the house when she was growing up. As a young girl, she loved watching as the surf rose and fell. She paticlurily loved to watch it during this time of day, with the sun slowly sinking beneath the horizon showering the water and waves with bright reds, oranges, and violets.
"You're just worried. Well, I wouldn't worry to much about them, for if they managed to survive this long against the best ZAFT threw at them, then I am sure they are alive somewhere." Charles Badigruel, Natarle's older brother, said with a hidden smile on his face. Natarle looked over at him before nodding in agreement.
"That is true, but now the Archangel doesn't have the one thing that made it so lucky. The mobile suit known as the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam and its pilot; Kira Yamato." Natarle said with a sad smile on her face, looking at the waves once more as Charles frowned in confusion.
"One mobile suit and its pilot? How is that possible?" Charles asked, confusion lacing his voice.
"Kira and the Strike are very unique compared to anything else. For it is thanks to Kira that I'm alive right now. I can't tell you how many times he managed to single-handedly save the ship." Natarle remarked, her eyes glazing over slightly as she looked into the past, remembering those times. Charles blinked as he continued to look at his sister in confusion, wondering where this was going.
"But, what made this Kira Yamato and the Strike so special, Natarle? Explain this to me." Charles asked, trying a different approach, wondering what was with this Kira. Natarle blinked, before grinning slightly.
"Very well. Kira Yamato was a resident of the Heliopolis Colony and attended a technical college located there. He was a whiz at computer programming and was frequently asked by his Professor to help with some major projects that the Professor had been working on for Morgenroete. During the Battle, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He ended up being dragged into the cockpit of the Strike when my old Captain, Murrue Ramius, saw the need to get out of there before the entire factory blew up. Kira quickly took over and started to reprogram the Strike's entire OS for himself. Once he touched those controls, the Strike become something much more than just a mobile suit. Kira Yamato is a natural pilot and quickly got better after each battle. He was basically unstoppable compared to the ZAFT forces chasing us. The only thing that really gave him a hard time were the four other G-Weapons that been captured by ZAFT and turned against us. But even then, he came through every single time. Later, after we landed back on Earth, he personally took on Commander Andrew Waltfield, ZAFT's Desert Tiger and won! While we had other pilots on board such as, Mu La Flaga and Tolle Koenig, two of the mentioned pilots, it was always Kira who was the ship's true protector." Natarle sighed looking over at her brother with tears in her eyes. Charles looked shocked to see his tough as nails and cold-blooded sister cry. Shaking his head, Charles said nothing as he waitied for Natarle to finish her story.
"But eventually, even Kira's luck ran out, and he was killed at the Marshall Islands. Even so, he managed to do his job and got us to Alaska. Granted, we noted him as MIA, but I know that he most likely dead. Although Captain Ramius still hoped that he managed to survive and asked the nearby Orb Union to see about searching for him. When we reached Alaska we got a message that they didn't find him on the islands. They found the Strike pretty much intact, but no Kira. And I watched as the rest of the crew, including his friends, whom had volunteered to help run the ship alongside the regular crew, cry. I never did though, I was just happy to get to Alaska with the data we had gathered and the recaptured Buster. When I was transferred, I suddenly realized that I was going to miss them, and knew that I should have done more to help Kira." Natarle finished with a sad smile on her face as she looked back to her brother to see him staring at her. "Kira was only sixteen, and that is why I regret not helping him."
Little did Natarle suspect, but Kira Yamato was very much alive, and he was currently planning one of the most massive and complicated armed interventions ever undertaken by Celestial Being.