Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 146
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.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, all hell was slowly yet steadily beginning to break loose. With the sudden dissappearence of Celestial Being, the fragile, planet-wide cease-fire which had been negotiated between the various timelines and realities quickly crumbled.
"Audio communications severed!" A voice announced throughout the Nerv Command Center, amid dozens of alarms and flashing lights. "The Goura ground circuit is inoperative!"
"Switch the left side over to blue emergency communications line!" Fuyutsuki yelled into the phone. "Use the satellites if you have to! What's the situation on the right?"
"Negative!" The person on the other end replied. "All outgoing network and data lines are being cut off!"
"Are they after the MAGI?" Fuyutsuki wondered aloud.
"Data entry from all external nodes." Aoba reported, verifying Fuyutsuki's suspicions. "They're trying to hack into the MAGI system!"
"Just as I thought." Fuyutsuki sighed. "Is it coming from MAGI-2 in Matsushiro?"
"No, there are at least 5 MAGI systems working together." Aoba replied. "Hacking verified from Antartica, Germany, China, the United States, and the Lunar Base"
"SEELE is mustering all of their forces." Fuyutsuki realized. "5 to 1 odds...that's not good."
"Number 4 firewall breached!" Aoba reported a moment later.
"Locking the main database." Hyuga responded instantly. "Negative! We can't stop their invasion!"
"It's entering a deeper level!" Maya reported. "Even the back-up circuit can't stop it!"
'This is bad...' Fuyutsuki thought. 'Capture the MAGI, and you capture everything.'
"Radar sites 8 to 17 have gone dead!" Aoba yelled. "JSSDF battalion advancing through the Goura defense perimeter!"
"Two more battalions approaching from Gotemba!" Hyuga added.
"Three air squadrons confirmed approaching from Mishima." Maya reported an instant later.
"It seems that man's ultimate enemy is also man." Fuyutsuki mused.
"General quarters." Gendo Ikari announced. "Go to First Level Battle Stations."
"Battle Stations! Maya asked, clearly shocked, before whispering. "But this enemy isn't an Angel. They're human beings like us."
"I wish those bastards felt the same way." Hyuga whispered.
"The Daigatake tunnel has been cut off!" Aoba announced. "Fire reported at West Number 5 freight entrance!"
"Invading forces have entered Level 1!" Maya yelled.
"South hub station off-line!" Hyuga added.
"The forces attacking the west side are just a decoy!" Misato Katsuragi announed as she strode into the command center. "If their real target is the Evas, they'll be going after the pilots first! Have Shinji stand by in Eva Unit 01F!"
"Affirmative!" Hyuga replied.
"Where's Asuka?" Misato asked.
"In sickroom 303." Aoba answered.
"Put her into Eva Unit 02 anyway." Misato ordered.
"Asuka's barely conscious, she'll never be able to synchronize." Maya retorted.
"If they find her, they will kill her." Misato replied. "If we put her in Unit 02, at least she'll be safe."
At the same time, across the Pacific Ocean, the United States had been buried in ice. Five years earlier, the government of the United States had cut the use of fossil fuels and spent trillions of dollars developing alternative energy sources, in addition they had made it illegal to own pickup trucks or sport utility vehicles, with the only exceptions being law enforcement, emergency services and the military. Some of the more aggressive nations also joined in the effort, making oil and coal too expensive to use, which hurt the economy but reduced pollution tremendously, since energy prices were too high.
The climate change occured almost overnight. After spending trillions to eliminate the threat of global warming, which proved to be the result of higher energy output by the sun, the nations couldn't afford to fight the ice age that descended upon the world like a blanket. Millions died in the first year, and even those that lived at the equator suffered from the relentlessly approaching cold.
In Washington DC, the government was disbanded because survival became a higher priority than making laws. The ice age deniers were ridiculed just like the global warming deniers were ridiculed generations before. The glaciers that had been retreating galloped forward. For the first year months, the environmentalists rejoiced, but after the first year, when villages, towns, and even cities, began to be crushed by the mountains of ice, people turned against the environmentalists and pleaded with their leaders to stop the destruction, but it would have required nuclear weapons to melt the glaciers and the people wisely chose not to revert to them.
Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and most other cites and towns north of the Mason/Dixon Line were gone within the first three years. The only thing that had saved New York, Philadelphia, and Balitmore was a tall, cement wall that used beam shields to keep the ice from leveling those cities and a massive geothermal power plant to provide the energy. The wall was nearly as massive as the Great Wall of China, but 20 times more expensive.
Washington could have been protected by the wall, but the last thing Congress did before it disbanded was to declare the nation bankrupt and run like rats to warmer climates, and as a result, there was no money to extend the wall. Once the wall reached Annapolis and Baltimore, it was closed up and everything outside the perimeter was left at the mercy of the ice.
Even as the Earth was thrown into complete chaos, the crews of the warship Excalibur and the starship Voyager were enjoying reletive peace. At the moment, Kira Yamato stood in the Excalibur's massive mobile suit hanger, looking up at the silver form of the GSX-401FW Stargazer Gundam. "I want this mobile suit refit. For combat."
The chief blinked. "For combat, sir?"
"As soon as you can. I'll instruct the technical division to draw up blueprints." He turned towards Misato, the lone person among the knot of officers and mechanics, in her custom red Celestial Beiing uniform, which had been based on her old Nerv uniform. "And Misato, we're going to have to select a pilot. We have some research to do."
"So, the passage at Planet Vegeta will be difficult. The plotted course forces us to pass close to the planet." Rau Le Creuset said as he stood on the Excalibur's bridge, peering up at a map.
Lexi, whom currently sat at the helm, glanced over anxiously at Rau. At the other end of the bridge, Lunamaria Hawke glanced up at the map herself and shrugged.
"It's nothing we haven't done before." She replied. "The station near that planet is usually pretty lax anyway, at least from what we our database suggests." She glanced up ahead, then over at her younger sister, Meyrin, whom was sitting at the communications station. "Meyrin, signal the fleet. The Excalibur is clear. Return to flank speed."
The warship rumbled as its engines came back to life. Rau paused and studied the face of the woman that ZAFT had learned to fear as the Crimson Blade, the undefeated ace pilot of the ZGMF-X42T Twilight Gundam, the one that dozens of ZAFT pilots had sought, only to be destroyed when they eventually found her.
"I must say, I'm surprised that you've got such an organized operation here. I had heard you were reduced to hiding out near the Mendel Colony." He spoke up after a moment of silence.
Luna glanced over skeptically at the masked man. "No more inglorious than what you've been up to, I'm sure."
"But you gave up a lot when you defected from ZAFT." Rau continued. "A commissioned officer, an ace pilot with a clear path to promotion and prosperity." He shrugged. "Not many people in this world are very willing to forgo those pleasures for principles." He finished, waving a hand at the inky blackness, at the massive fleet consisting of millions of mobile suits and hundreds of ships escorting the Excalibur, the world around them.
"Are you saying I made a mistake by joining Celestial Being and wanting to help eliminate all conflict?"
"Not at all. I'm simply remarking on your unusual career choice."
Luna merely scoffed as she stared into the blackness. "What was I supposed to do?" She turned her eyes back towards Rau. "Anyway, it should be pretty obvious why I'm here. But you, Rau Le Creuset of ZAFT, that's more interesting to me."
Rau smirked back. "I'm afraid my tale is a bit less prosaic than yours. I was simply left behind, and in my time in ZAFT, I developed a few enemies within ZAFT, enemies, which, as luck would have it, have survived and took over the leadership. So, here I am."
"And you said I gave up a lot?" Luna chuckled.
"Oh no, Ms. Hawke." Rau said with a laugh of his own. "It all depends on how you look at it."
The Eclipse Gundam's mighty anti-ship sword fell into place with a crash that echoed through the Excalibur's massive mobile suit hangar, and at the controls to the crane, Shinn Asuka glanced tiredly up at his trusty steed's darkened green eyes. The ZGMF-X42E Eclipse could still fight, but it had been completely outclassed during the last training simulation, by none other than Kira Yamato and the CB-X60D Divinity Gundam. The age of his Eclipse Gundam was finally starting to show.
That was a distressing thought, as he looked around the hangar, at all the berths, or at least the ones which he could see from his vantage point. The hanger was packed with mobile suits. In the cubicles on either side of his Eclipse Gundam, the Abyss, the Chaos, the Providence, the Legend, and the Savior, all silently stood.
"Things will be hectic." One of Lexi Yamato's holograms said grimly on the screen as Shinn Asuka closed the seals of his helmet in the Eclipse's cockpit. "Military units hidden throughout the city are starting to get active. That may make your job easier or harder, depending on what they do."
"What everyone always does, I guess." Shinn grunted. "Shoot at us."
"Well, you can do something about that." Lexi replied. "Destroy the bases and whatever military units you encounter. Do not target the cities or the civilians. Be the bigger man, Shinn."
Shinn arched an eyebrow. "That's in direct violation of our orders, ma'am."
"I don't care."
"Hope Yamato will."
"She is not in command." Lexi fixed Shinn with a stony look. "We're not going to be barbarians, commander. I will hold my fire on the city and restrict it to the base. I expect you to do the same, on your honor as a soldier of Celestial Being."
Shinn smiled back and saluted. "Nothing's more sacred, ma'am. Shinn Asuka, Eclipse Gundam, heading out!" A fraction of a second later, the Eclipse Gundam was hurled out of the Excalibur's hanger. Due to the fact that the massive warship was cloaked beneath its Mirage Colloid stealth system, the Eclipse Gundam appeared to materialize from the blackness of space itself.
As the Eclipse Gundam was catapulted out of the hanger, Lexi sighed. The holographic beauty knew that she would most likely be punished for disobeying orders, but she also knew that part of her job was to minimize casualties on both sides in any way possible.
The hangar doors swung open and the cockpit screens of the Destiny Impulse came to life, the magenta MCPS armor following suit. Closing the visor of her flight suit's helmet, Mayu Asuka sat back and savored the hum of the Destiny Impulse's engines. She stepped forward with a crash. "Mayu Asuka, Destiny Impulse, launching!"
The Destiny Impulse lunged out of the Excalibur's hangar, and the beam wings came to life with a flash.
"Here we go." Meyrin Hawke sighed from the Minerva's bridge as she glanced up at the tactical map. "Kira jumped the gun."
"I don't blame him." Talia said. "Not with all this firepower bearing down on us." She glanced over at one of Lexi's holograms. "Lexi, keep me posted on enemy numbers. If they fall far enough, we will intervene and open up a path for our mobile suits ourselves, charge all weapons, except the Tannhäuser."
She looked back at the map. Sayian and Celestial Being units were duking it out in the eastern outskirts of the planet's captial city, known as Belém. Meanwhile, much to everyone's confusion, Alliance and ZAFT troops were in battle on the city's northern edges. Both fronts were slowly grinding backward into the city center. Belém would be destroyed.
Unless, of course, Kira had anything to say about it.
"Say that again, Mr. Yamato." Kathryn Janeway ordered, arms crossed, with an impassive Chakotay at her side.
"We've caught sight of what appears to be a ZAFT fleet coming up from the surface." He answered, even as a glowing green GN field surrounded the Divinity Gundam, the shimmering energy barrier harmlessly deflecting the incoming energy blasts while vaporizing the projectile weapons. "Projections of their course have them coming straight at Voyager. We've also detected movement at the base on the southern-most continent, they must be on to us..." He cut himself off and shook his head. "I don't know if we can do this."
"We've been through worse odds than this." Janeway scoffed. "We'll find a way to win." She paused for a moment, before firmly adding. "We'll win this battle without having to be rescued by the Excalibur."
"But four warships and at least two dozen mobile suits!" Kira sputtered. "No offence, but a single Starfleet vessel isn't going to make that much difference!"
"Voyager is no ordinary starship." Chakotay interjected. "We'll do our job, of that you can be certain." With that, the communications line closed and Voyager dove into the atmosphere of the planet known as Coruscant, the ship spewing orange phaser blasts and neon green beam blasts at any enemies that dared to approach.