And finally, I've published the last chapter, wich concludes the first part of the story and laeds into the next one, starting with the fall of Junius Seven until... well, I'm not really sure how to officially end with the second part, but that doesn't matter because I remind you that I'm going to stop writing this story indefinitely in order to focus on another previous work.
Another thing I want to add is that I thank most of you for reading this and giving your opinion about it, and for exposing the flaws in my writing to your language. Correcting them is almost murder because I don't know if I will have missed one or got it right. I just hope that DeepL will help with this.
Before I start, let it be known that I only used the DeepL in this chapter and at the moment I am not interested in using it to correct the writing of the previous chapters. When I to resume with the story, I will think about it, thank you.
On reviews:
Findarato: For now, CB will not attack ZAFT until the Second Earth-PLANTs War begins, so be patient. And yes, they will naturally oppose Durandal after dealing with Blue Cosmos/Logos, but I won't go into spoilers.
And as for Shinn, I'm still not planning on maturing him, at least not yet. He will remain as canon, except he won't be reduced to the Durandal's lapdog. Shinn will still hold a grudge against Orb, but in this story he will never attack that country in pursuit of a dangerous war criminal.
Dontus -not Donut- Powerus: Thanks for the compliment. First of all, you should know that I wrote chapter 12 without the DeepL, but I'm surprised that even so my grammar has improved even if only a little. That makes my day a little bit happier.
Thanks again for teaching me the DeepL as with this I will be able to improve my chapter grammars a bit more, although there seems to be a drawback you didn't warn me about:
It seems to have a time limit where it can be used for free for a period of time and then renews after 24 hours later, which is why I was late in posting this chapter. But even so it's fine. I'll get used to it. Thank you.
Now to your private message, I know what I need to do with the canon characters in my fanfic. I've seen several fanfics by other authors where the canon characters take an alternate path or may be OOC, among others things.
I intend to give the characters good development or have things happen to them that didn't happen in canon. Though of course that's going to be a pretty complicated issue for me.
Zeroseed: No, I haven't done it done yet. In fact, I had already thought about splitting the story into 2 like the 2 canonical seasons. The problem is that I don't know when I'll do it, or if I'll be alive until Putin Or china causes nuclear Armageddon.
SulliMike23: You'll have to wait quite a while to see it, but I have it all planned out.
Guest DCDGojira: Thank again.
Just a reader now a writer: In fact, both are polar opposites, like Lelouch and Suzaku or Eren and Armin, each with their own vision of how to end the war once and for all. Both are determined in their own way, although there is an essential difference in their determination.
Setsuna was fully aware of the path that would lead to the eradication of the war from the beginning and went along with it, while Shinn was unaware of Destiny Plan until the last part of GSD.
Setsuna remained steadfast in his resolve that understanding between humans would bring peace, while Shinn remained in a state of uncertainty with the Destiny Plan, knowing that not many people would accept the villain's plan, which led to Shinn's character's absolute deterioration and reduction to a Jeri when Athrun raped him.
Chapter 10: International negotiation part 2
20/112023
Several hours had passed since the Prime Minister of Taribia announce the emancipation of the Republic of Taribia from the Union and the complete obtention of its solar energy exports. Many people around the world were expectant about these developments and did not take their eyes off their TV sets to see how this would end. Meanwhile, the U.S.-led Union government, in response, decided to immediately mobilize the largest number of troops immediately into Taribian territory to stop this so-called anti-government uprising, not seen since the end of the South American Rebellion that arose out of the Earth-PLANTs War.
This operation was considered a high priority because if they lost Taribia, they would not only lose a member state, or encourage other states that made up the Union to do the same by threatening to dismantle the entire confederation, there was also the gact that its Orbital Elevator was located in Taribian territory, and if it lost it as well, the latter could completely appropriate the solar energy supply that the Union needed so much to supply and maintain its strong economy, and its days as a superpower would be numbered. And that was what the Union government wanted to avoid at all costs.
Of course, the fact that a member state would suddenly rebel itself and would use force to ensure its complete independence was not a problem, at least not in the long run, because considering that Taribia is completely alone and surrounded by other states that were not sympathetic to emancipation, and therefore remained loyal to the Union, they would use their own forces in conjunction with the Americans to stop this independence fiasco and everything would be solved in an instant.
However, there was only one major concern to consider that could become a strong obstacle in their attempt to stop the Taribian emancipation, and that was Celestial Being. Everyone who was following these events, they knew very well that the enigmatic paramilitary organization would take sides in this matter in order to quell the conflict that was about to take place, but the problem was that they did not know which side they would be on. They did not know if they were going to attack both sides, like their previous armed interventions, or if they were going to do something new like attack only one side, in this case the Union, since they would be the main aggressor. Either way, depending on how this organization would respond, they would get nowhere because it would make it difficult for them to put an end to this conflict that was supposed to be brief.
Meanwhile, as the world anxiously awaited the arrival of Celestial Being at the place where the fate of the world would be decided, the Gundam Meisters rushed towards their respective Gundams. Each boarding their respective mechas, the giants of destruction ripped out their systems and flew off to their destination to stop all the madness that was happening in Taribia.
At the same time, flying over the waters of the West Central Atlantic, Graham's SVMS-01E Flag Custom and his wingmen flew in formation, cruising along gently after taking off from the MSWAD base towards the Taribian coast. The enthusiasm among the pilots was enormous at the prospect of facing a formidable opponent after 5 years of not participating in any air battles.
"We'll finally meet the Gundams." Howard commented eager through the communication panel in Graham's Flag cockpit. "This should be fun, Major."
"I think so too." Graham said in turn before disconnecting communication with his partner leaving him alone to his own devices. "Now then, I wonder how far this Flag Custom can go in terms of matching a Gundam. No, let's see how well they can keep up!"
Firing up the afterburners, the Flag jumped forward of his wingmen's as it accelerated. The aircraft gaining speeding off into the horizon.
The third U.S. fleet sailed alone toward the Taribian capital, Caracas, to occupy the capital and prevent Taribia from leaving the Union. Made up of several battleships, destroyers and an aircraft carrier as its flagship, it was also loaded with a good amount of Mobile Suits, made up mainly of different models of Daggers and Flags, the US Navy had been well regarded as one of the most formidable maritime forces in the world for several centuries.
However, despite its apparent weapons superiority, it was still vulnerable to any sudden and aerial attacks, so their defenses were reinforced by an air force above and a group of submarines below. Part of the air armada had long-range reconnaissance censors, as it had been warned that it was possible that the Gundam Meisters would going to intervene in the conflict and they attack to them.
In the midst of the aerial swarm, a news helicopter flew overhead near the fleet, out of the way of the other forces whose reporter was reporting fleet's activities.
Space
Location: Minerva - Debris Belt - Earth Orbit
Durandal watched the television camly, as did Athrun and Cagalli, as well as the rest of the crew of the Minerva.
"The American Third Fleet is making its way to the capital of Taribia without pause as if it were a war. The navy seems to be in perfect condition and well armed to the teeth, and so far not a single activity has occurred."
Location: Girty Lue - somewhere far away from the Debris Belt - Earth Orbit
The 3 young men who stormed the Armory, Sting, Auel, and Stellar, listened to the broadcast absentmindedly.
"The Brazilian Air Force also deployed its troops from the south and there are also several scouts monitoring the area to alert of the presence of the Gundams in case the latter appear."
"We should be there too." Auel said grumbling, thinking that they should be there to take revenge on the Gundam that caused them trouble at the Armory. "Then we could have taken revenge on that bastard."
"I agree too." Sting replied in agreement.
Instead, Stellar was just watched the TV in silence.
"Celestial Being is expected to intervene in the South American region. However, they have not yet made an appearance. How will Celestial Being make their armed intervention?"
Neo and Lee were also watched the broadcast with some interest.
Location: Caracas - Taribia - Union
In less than 2 hours, the Third US Fleet arrived in Taribian territorial waters and approached the capital, whose citizens were being evacuated in fear that the capital would become a battlefield. Several divisions of Taribian Mobile Suits, mostly VMS-15 Union Realdos, were stationed in the city's urban areas, awaiting the long-awaited battle. The Realdo was the predecessor to the current Union Flag, which is currently the lead US MS behind the Dagger class which are currently gaining renown, but the Flag still served as the US MS leader due to its numerical superiority as the deployment of the Dagger class deployment was still underway.
While production of the Realdo was ceased during the Earth-PLANTs War, the constituent states of the Union, with the exception of Canada and Mexico, still retained the Realdo as their primary Mobile Weapon force and with different standard colors to differentiate them from each other, being the Taribia's orange.
On the other hand, the third naval and air fleet arrived at the coast of Caracas, where the commanders saw that there was very little air resistance, so some thought that the occupation would be a piece of cake and brief, but that depended on how things would develop next. Another option would be that logically, given the numerical and technological superiority of the US forces and some of their allies, the only thing the Taribian forces had to do was to surrender unconditionally and submit to the designs of the United States.
The aircraft carrier came a little closer to the shore, while on the bridge, the captain picked up a horn microphone to communicate with the Caracas forces.
"THIS IS A MESSAGE TO YOU THE TARIBIAN FORCES! THIS IS THE CAPTAIN OF THE THIRD FLEET, REAR ADMIRAL EDWARD WILSON! YOU ARE ORDERED TO SURRENDER YOUR WEAPONS IMMEDIATELY AND RELINQUISH YOUR CLAIM TO THE ORBITAL ELEVATOR IMMEDIATELY! IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY OUR REQUESTS WITHIN THE NEXT 5 MINUTES, WE WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO DECLARE YOUR COUNTRY AS OUR ENEMY AND OCCUPY THE CAPITAL BY FORCE! I REPEAT: YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES TO DISARM!"
The Taribian forces stationed in Caracas heard the Rear Admiral's message and did not nothing or respond to it. A good part of the Taribian forces felt a knot in their stomachs at the warning and began to think that this was suicide and they would achieve absolutely nothing. Some, however, hid their anxiety and continued at their posts as if expecting a miracle. A miracle in the form of a Gundam that would start attack the invading forces, and so they waited for they to arrive.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mendoza was in his office, silently watching the fleet through his window, and had heard the warning. He, too, was a little anxious about what was going to happen, but he did a good job of hiding it, though not the bad feeling that it was probably all going to go wrong. Whether or not Celestial Being would finally show up up here, the course of action they would take was debatable. He did not know if they would intervene unilaterally by attacking the aggressor Union forces, or if they would attack both sides like in their previous interventions. Both possibilities were possible in this type of situation, and Mendoza hoped wholeheartedly that they would choose the first option.
However, there was also a third option that, which, while also within the realm of possibility, the Taribian president hoped that, such a thing would never happen in the worst case scenario...
For now, all he could do for the time being was wait for the celestial angels to arrive and decide the fate of his nation and perhaps the world, through their intervention.
On the carrier's bridge, Captain Wilson and his lieutenants waited patiently for Taribia's response, while the operators remained at their posts, waiting for any external signals. It wans't long before one of them picked up an object on radar.
"Captain, we have movement on the radar." The operator suddenly warned, causing the rear admiral and his lieutenants to turn to look at him.
"What is it?" Wilson asked the operator.
"I'm not sure. It's not Brazilian forces. It's two unidentified objects and they're coming at us at a high rate of speed." The operator continued as the officers looked at each other with suspicion as to what it was. Then another operator noticed that the radar was starting to fail.
"Captain, we have contact with the Eagle Squad, and they seem to have spotted the Gundams approaching."
This surprised the captain and the others.
The operator put the images recorded by the scout on the screen, showing the Exia together the Dynames slightly behind it. The bridge froze at this, and then an unnamed crewman on the right saw the blue Gundam through the right hatch.
"Captain, there it is." He warned, pointing at the passing Gundam.
The others looked to the right and saw the Exia flying past the ship and heading for the capital.
"There goes the other one!"
Then they all turned to the left to see the Dynames passing and by heading for the capital. The captain stood up to watch the 2 Gundams in awe.
The news helicopter noticed the presence of the Gundams, and the cameraman focused on them to record them.
"Did you see it!? The Gundams have appeared!" The reporter shouted in amazement.
Location: Marshall Islands - Indian Ocean
At the house in the middle of the beach, the young couple from before (the brown-haired boy and the pink-haired girl) were quietly watching the news about Taribia and saw the Gundams appear on the screen.
The brown-haired young man tensed up a little at the sight of those familiar Mobile Suits that brought back bitter memories from 5 years ago.
Space
Location: Minerva - Debris Belt - Earth Orbit
Shinn and his teammates watched the Gundams on television and were not surprised to see that they were the ones he had seen.
"From the looks of it, they are the green sniper and the other one is blue." The reporter continued. "At the moment, At the moment, the US military has not yet taken offensive measures, and letting the Gundams enter the city's airspace."
Earth
Location: Caracas - Taribia - Union
Prime Minister Mendoza saw the 3 trails of light in the sky approaching towards the capital and knew exactly what they were.
"So they have finally appeared."
For the moment everything was going as expected. Celestial Being had sent 3 of its celestial warriors to take matters into their own hands, but he still didn't let himself relax. He still had to see how they would proceed with their actions and whose side they would be on.
A group formed by Flags approached the group formed by Dynames and Kyrios a little to try to contact one of them.
"This is Blue Shark. Visual confirmation of two Gundam units. They're heading towards the capital. Prepare to intercept!"
The lieutenant couldn't finish when his communication was cut off, just as he noticed how his radar was failing.
"Communications are being jammed" The lieutenant growled inwardly. "The Gundams are behind this..."
Command Bridge
"The Gundams have split up." An officer pointed out to the captain as they looked at a large digital screen showing the map of Caracas. "We believe each will head for the three individual urbes."
The captain watched this cautiously, wondering what the Gundams would do in the capital. It seemed strange to him that they had not yet decided to attack as soon as they appeared, like in their previous interventions, since they always attacked without warning before showing themselves. At the moment they hadn't attacked his forces yet, and that intrigued him a bit. Maybe they had some kind of strategy or something? He didn't know for sure, but they should be prepared for the worst.
But what interested him knowing was why they were ignoring his forces and heading for the capital. Maybe they were going to attack the Taribian forces first and then the Union forces? Very soon they will know.
Space
Location: Minerva - Debris Belt - Earth Orbit
Even time itself seemed to stand still in space hundreds of kilometers from Earth, as the crew of the Minerva waited expectantly in their respective places as things would unfold. Among them, Cagalli and Athrun waited anxiously to see what Celestial Being would do and which side they would be on. Either of the two options could benefit one and harm the other, and no matter which one they chose, the result would have repercussions throughout the world.
If Celestial Being were to help the Taribian extremists emancipate themselves from the Union, it would not only mean the loss of America's right to lead the distribution of the solar energy, which would be the basis of its Achilles heel for its economy, but it would also incite the other members of the Union with an anti-American agenda to rebel against the American monopoly, threatening to dismember the Union and mark its end as a new age superpower. However, the most momentous of this would be the final nail in the coffin of the Earth Alliance, which from the perspective of some had already lost its raison d'être after the war and its main benefactors, Blue Cosmos, no longer held absolute power, plus the other two major members, the EUA and HRL, were increasingly distancing themselves from the Union to go their own way. Because what made the Union more important, besides being the first superpower, is that it is the de facto leader of the EA, having the most resources and armed forces available to initiate the war effort against PLANTs, which began with the nuclear bombing of Junius Seven. In summary, if the Union loses its dominant superpower position, the Earth Alliance would disintegrate and cease to exist.
The dissolution of the EA may sound like a very pleasant idea to those who have a strong aversion to it, such as some minorities of both the AEU and the HRL whose natural resources are being exploited for the war effort, and especially for the inhabitants of the PLANTs who would see with pure jubilation the disappearance of their main enemy that threatened their existence and cause of their hardships from the Bloody Valentine Tragedy to their attempt to destroy them with another nuclear attack during the Second Battle of Jachin Due, but for the couple, they were worried that this would provoke more conflicts as a result of the possible anarchy that the Union would suffer and God only knows how things would end...
On the other hand, if Celestial Being intervened by attacking both sides and even forced Taribia to resign because of their losses, emancipation would probably never happen and who knows. That's a lot of possibilities and the best they can do is wait patiently to see who shoot first.
As the the two of them pondered the possibilities, Durandal was the only one who kept a neutral expression on his face, as if the question of how they would proceed with their new intervention was the least of his worries. It was quite clear to the PLANTs Chairman how this organization would proceed with their mission, and he suddenly drawing an invisible smile as he imagened the expression on everyone's face as they witnessed Celestial Being carry out their mission.
While the world leaders (including the PLANTs Supreme Council) held their breath, impatiently waiting for Celestial Being to finally begin their intervention and decide which side to attack, they didn't have to wait too long, when at the Ptolemaios, the organization's chief strategist uttered the 2 long-awaited words to launch the attack that would change everything.
"Mission start..."
A beam of bright pink energy shot out from the horizon followed by another. The shots hit a group of Realdos. The remaining Mobile Suits scattered to avoid being hit.
"What the...!?" One of the Taribian pilots shouted in shock at the unexpected attack.
"A Union preemptive attack!?" Another asked by chance. Suddenly, warning sounds rang out in his cockpit, causing the pilot to look up in time to see more descending beams, and the pilot managed to react in time to avoid the gunfire.
He soon got his answer as to who was responsible for this unexpected attack when he saw their attacker rapidly descending towards them, and his face turned horrified as he recognized it.
"It's a Gundam!"
The Gundam Exia descended directly toward the location of the Taribian troops with clear hostile intentions toward them, and this perplexed and horrified the pilots who were not expecting it.
"W-why!? We haven't done anything yet!"
The Exia landed on a main street, a unit of 3 Realdos in front of it, and pointed its GN Sword at them. Setsuna looked at them coldly.
"Taribia has been considered been deemed a country that promotes war." The blue Meister declared. "Taking out targets!"
With that, the GN Sword lit up in a few moments before it charged at the group, shield in front of it to protect itself from the beams. The orange Realdos opened fire, but the Exia easily dodged the beams while the others blocked them with its shield as it approached its targets. Once in range, the Exia sliced through the first MS on the left and the other on the right.
Elsewhere, in the air, the Kyrios switched to Mobile Suit mode during a dive run and pointed its GN submachine gun at its target.
"Kyrios, commencing intervention mission!" Allelujah declared as his Gundam fired 2 shots, hitting 2 MS, while the third one dodged the first one and took to the air to continue firing. Then both Suits were knocked down by more pink shots.
The Dynames also dodged another hail of gunfire and this one readied its sniper rifle to engage. In the cockpit, the sniper rifle mount moved in front of Lockon's face and the monocle adjusted to his eye.
"Dynames, target and ready to fire!"
With that, the green Gundam fired 2 powerful beams at 2 Realdos and a third at another incoming one. After that, Lockon removed the sniper mount in front of him.
"This is what you get for trying using us for your own selfish ends!" Lockon scolded them with impunity.
The Kyrios did a flip in the air and destroyed two Realdos that shot at it as they moving along a freeway.
"However, this was just so one-sided..." Allelujah said solemnly.
Command Bridge - Aircraft Carrier
Commotion had taken over the command bridge when the captain and the rest of the crew were informed that the Gundams had begun attacking the Taribian forces. For a moment, they thought that the Taribians would be the first casualties before attacking the Union forces, but as time went on and there was no focus of the attack on the American forces who were staying out of the way of what was happening, it was determined, though still doubtful, that their target was the Taribian emancipating forces and not the Americans or both as they thought, causing more confusion.
The captain and the other officers just watched with a mixture of bewilderment and confusion through the hatches as a plume of smoke emerged from between the city buildings and the Gundams flew overhead moving and firing.
"What the hell are they doing?" Wilson asked, still not understanding the situation.
Outside, the news helicopter was flying over the coast of Caracas at a safe distance from the attack on the capital and the air force, but its passengers, mainly the repoter and cameraman, had a good view of the city and decided not to waste it to recording what was happening.
"Are you seeing this!?" The reporter stunned exclaimed.
Space
Location: Minerva - Debris Belt - Earth Orbit
"We don't know what's going on, but it's clear that the Gundams have already started with their attack, but instead of attacking the Union forces as previously thought, they're are attacking the Taribian forces, but most surprisingly, they don't seem to be paying much attention to the Union forces, as if they're are ignoring them! I repeat, the Gundams are only attacking the Taribian forces, not the Union's!"
This sent a great wave of shock through the majority of the onlookers who heard that last sentence about Celestial Being only attacking the Taribian emancipating forces except to the Union's.
"Are they attacking the Taribian forces?" Cagalli asked in disbelief. She couldn't believe that was happening on Earth. Most thought that perhaps this new intervention might be one-sided, and in that sense it seemed to be, but instead of attacking the aggressor Union forces, Celestial Being attacked the Taribian separatists.
Athrun was also equally astonished, as he had not expected such a thing to happen.
At the same time, Durandal kept his face neutral, though deep inside he was hiding that mysterious little smile.
Earth
Location: Caracas - Taribia - Union
Prime Minister Mendoza was sitting at his desk in a dejectly state of mind when he was informed that the Gundams had attacked his forces and not those of the Union. For a moment, he was completely baffled by this development, but after a moment of reflection, he discovered why it was decided to attack his nation. Celestial Being had determinated that Taribia had become the main instigator of this conflict, and that was true to a certain extent, but not all. If Taribia had had it way, this could have turned into a even bigger conflict, and from the looks of it, Celestial Being wanted to nip the root of it all, which was Taribia.
Mendoza growled inwardly. Perhaps he had seen this kind of scheme in the worst case scenario before, but he had banished those concerns, hoping that his ploy of using Celestial Being to gain his nation's independence would work, and so he had not considered them until it was too late. In the end, his bold gamble ended in a absoluted failure with the numerous casualties among of several Taribian pilots who engaged the Gundams.
At the moment, the rest of the remaining Taribian forces were regrouping to prepare a counterattack, but it would be useless considering they are facing powerful mechas, each of which had the power to take on an army by itself, and he also didn't want Caracas to become a widespread battlefield, causing great collateral damage and ending like Berlin at the end of World War II. He had to put an end to this disaster and get those damn Gundams out of his country as soon as possible, since that they were not the pretext he needed to win the emancipation of his nation without risking the lives of his soldiers. He had to ack quickly before they caused more destruction and more human loss. His options were very few, but he did not need to think and try to choose one to get out of this fiasco, beacuse there was only one way out, and it was something he already had in mind before making this risky bet.
With that in mind, Mendoza looked at his assistant. "Contact with the White House immediately." He ordered in a tired voice, still a bit distressed that his whole ploy had gone to shit.
The aide nodded before walking away, leaving the Taribian Prime Minister alone in his office. Cursing his luck once again, Mendoza was still very frustrated at how things had turned out because of his ploy, which as he saw was doomed to fail from the start. His only way out was to ask for help from the U.S military for help in getting the Gundams out of his country in exchange for him withdrawing his secession from the Union, which was going to be very difficult as it would be a severe blow to his ambitions and those of his compatriots who had followed him in his gamble to use Celestial Being to gain Taribian independence. The Taribian president sighed inwardly at these developments.
Maybe his plan have failed, but at least, in the aftermath of this attack, they might would succeed in undermining the anti-American sentiments of their countrymen and serve as a lesson to other nations in a similar situation to Taribia to refrain from making deals or using a terrorist organization for their own ends if they did not want to end up in a fiasco like this.
No less than 15 seconds later, he had the American president on the phone.
Location: Whasintong D.C. - United States - Union
"It seems Celestial Being has determined that your country is the source of this conflict, so they attacked your forces. " Stegmeyer spoke to the Taribian Prime Minister through his phone. "Personally, I believe they actions are regrettable."
Stegmeyer paused to listen to what his Taribian counterpart had to say on the other line.
"Of course. If you will reconsider your decision to secede from the Union, we will gladly to send troops to protect your country." He replied calmly. "I see. I understand."
The American president hangs up the phone before turning to his general.
"General, you may now send our troops to protect our ally nation, Taribia, and send a warning message to the Gundam Meisters to withdraw from the territory immediately."
Location: Caracas - Taribia - Union
Having already received the green light for start the operation, the U.S. army, composed mainly of the air fleet, mobilized towards Caracas, except that this time the troops received new instructions on how to proceed with the operation, since instead of attacking the Taribian forces as originally planned, now the new enemy was now the Gundams, wich were officially declared as the real aggressors.
The Meisters stopped their attack when they saw the American air force was approaching the capital's airspace, which could only mean one thing; Taribia had made concessions with the American government to send American troops to support them up and drive out the Gundams in exchange for the Taribian government reconsidering their section of the Union.
Not long after, a Dagger L (which appeared to be the squadron leader) came a little closer to the Gundams and its pilot activated the PA system to communicate with them.
"THIS IS A WARNING TO YOU GUNDAM MEISTERS!" The Dagger pilot spoke over the loudspeaker "BY DIRECT ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO LEAVE THIS SITE AND LET US OCCUPIER IT! IF YOU DO NOT OBEY, WE WILL NOT HESITATE TO OPEN FIRE ON YOU!"
The Meisters got the message, and not a few seconds later, the Gundams began to disperse and leave the city. The air squadron began to penetrate further and further over the city where the Gundams had previously attacked the Taribian forces. From the beaches, several landing craft carrying infantry troops and marines disembarked, and many soldiers headed toward the city.
Space
Location: Ptolemaios - Lagrange 1 - Earth Orbit
"The Union has issued a warning to the Meisters and has begun to deploy its forces towards Caracas." Christina reported, looking at her screen.
"I see." Sumeragi nodded, a little surprised by the bold decision of the American forces to occupy the Taribian capital without fighting the Gundams and instead sending a warning signal to withdraw immediately.
"In accordance with the mission plan, each Gundam will begin withdrawal and retreat to a safe zone. Feldt said as he continued to inspect her monitor.
At the same time, the only Meister not involved in the mission was casually floating around with his arms crossed and eyes closed as he compiled information on the outcome of the mission. "What a farce." Tieria commented sarcastically in a dismissive tone.
One of the reasons why the Virtue's pilot did not participate in the mission was not only for the simple fact that no more than 3 Gundams were needed to deal with the separatist forces of Taribia. He also did not want to go anyway, because he was one since he was one of the few who knew that in reality this whole emancipationist conflict was really just a ploy to invite the Gundam Meisters to step in and attack any separatist forces that incited a conflict, in this case Taribia, and thus prevent other nations with similar tendencies from committing the same stupidity.
In his opinion, they were being used equally by both sides, and even if they would have preferred not to play their game, they had to maintain their firm stance to intervene in any conflict that happened in the world, including those countries that promoted war either for dominance or independence as stated, as Aeolia Schenberg had stated in his announcement, and Tieria had no objection to that.
However, he still thought this was a waste of time.
Suddenly, an alarm sound on Christina's monitor caught the purple Meister's attention.
"Wait a minute! There's a signal closing in on the Exia!" Christina warned urgently. "It's a Flag from the American military."
"American?" Sumeragi asked puzzled looking at the monitor. "What does this mean?"
"It's more than twice as fast as its specs and it's heading for the Exia!"
Earth
Location: Caracas - Taribia - Union
As Christina said, over the sea, the Flag piloted by Graham, the Custom Flag, pursued its chosen prey, the Exia. Although the Union forces were ordered not to attack the Gundams unless they made an aggression towards them, Graham decided to ignore the orders of his superiors and hunt the Gundam with his Flag, compensating his superiors with a part of the Gundam or upgrades to his machine.
The Flag moved with an impressive speed that gave make any pilot of a normal Flag's a run for their money to acquire this new Flag, and it gradually got closer to the blue Gundam, a fact that did not go unnoticed by its pilot.
"That Flag..." Setsuna muttered, puzzled by the abnormal speed with which that Flag he had a few meters behind him was moving. He wondered if it was an upgraded model, since as far as he knew, he had never seen a Flag with a different color, wich in its case was black, while the rest (including the one he had encountered in the Indico) were a loose blue color. But color aside, he wondered what kind of mechanism he had to almost catch it at that speed.
In the cockpit of the Custom Flag, Graham smiled mischievously to see that Professor Eifman's hard work in creating this modified Flag had finally paid off after a week at Graham's own request. In addition to improved performance, the Custom Flag also incorporates the Union's latest aerodynamic technology, while it also has a new High-Speed Flight mode.
Even in normal Flight mode, the Custom Flag's cruising speed was measured to be twice that of regular Flag's. To achieve this speed, the hydrogen fuel payload for its plasma jet engines is reduced, lightweight armor materials are utilized, and its flight units are switched to a large, high-output type that is difficult to control and thus not adopted by regular Flag.
All in all, this Mobile Suit is the result of the best that Iris Corporation could do to give Graham Aker the best weapon to fight the Gundams, and he would finally see his chance to prove it.
"We meet again, blue Gundam Meister." Graham said before getting ready. "Let's see how you measure up to my Custom Flag!"
With that, the blond pilot accelerated his Flag forward and fired 5 shots from his fuselage-mounted beam rifle. The green beams flew past the Exia, with the Flag closing in on it and finally managing to fly past it surprising Setsuna even more.
"It's fast!" Setsuna exclaimed in shock at the maneuverability of this new Flag. However, he could no longer think about it when the Flag turned around having it now facing him and flew straight towards him. Setsuna fired 2 shots from him own beam rifle, but to his surprise, the Flag dodged the shots with great ease, only managing to move it slightly.
'That evasive move looks a bit like that Flag I faced in the Indico.' Setsuna reflected as he remembered his fateful encounter with that Flag that showed similar movements. 'Could it be the same pilot?'
Flag switched from plane mode to Mobile Suit mode, and quickly swooped down on the Exia while drawing its beam saber. Setsuna narrowed his eyes as he remembered that this was the same attack tactic used by the previous Flag in their encounter in the Indian Ocean, confirming once and for all that this must be the same pilot. Without wasting any time, Setsuna brought the GN Sword up to meet Flag's saber, and so both sabers collided, causing a powerful flash of sparks and particles.
"What did you think?" Graham asked mockingly. "You won't be able to suddenly attack with that beam saber of yours."
Setsuna grunted in frustration as he realized that this was definitely not the same Flag she had fought before and that one was brand new.
The Exia's "eyes" momentarily lit up before its GN Sword aplied pressure to the beam saber and finally managed to break contact by forcibly pushing Flag away from the Exia, again surprising Graham. Taking advantage of this, the Exia fired several shots from its GN Rifle at the Flag, but the latter covered its body with its left forearm, where it carries its spinning Rod of Defense, and as before, easily deflected the beam shots easily.
"Nice try, but you should know-
He couldn't finish the sentence when he realized that the Exia was quickly charging at him with its beam saber in hand, and that the shots from its rifle from before were just a distraction for him to let his guard down a bit while defending himself.
"Not bad!" Graham growled as he managed to raise his beam saber at the last second before the Gundam could cut through Flag's body. Both beam sabers were stuck together. "But I won't fall for the same trick again!"
Both Suits stayed stuck together for a few moments until Setsuna decided to break the stalemate by pushing Flag away from him again. Graham drew his beam rifle and quickly fired 3 quick low-power shots that the Exia managed to dodge with ease, but those shots only served to distract and disorient the Gundam a bit. As calculating where the Gundam would end up once it dodged the 3 beams, Graham increased the power and accuracy of the rifle and quickly fired the fourth shot at the Gundam, giving it no respite to dodge.
The Exia covered itself with its shield and the high-powered beam hit it, knocking it down. The Exia was thrown several meters away by the force of the impact, but the shield was not damaged.
"Got you!" Graham shouted triumphantly as he chased after the Exia. He continued to fire at the Gundam, which dodget the beams by moving moving from side to side as it tried to run away from the Flag, but the veteran pilot wasn't going to let it go that easily. "You can run, but you won't get away from me."
He was pleased with the mobility and performance of his new Flag, and even if it was still wasn't enough to match or surpass the Gundam, it was enough for him to fight on more or less equal terms, and so he wasn't going to let it get away from him so easily. Suddenly, he saw how the Gundam was descending backwards towards the sea, which intrigued him a bit, wondering what exactly it was going to do. He could only think of one possibility, although it sounded rather absurd considering the type of Mobile Suit it was.
Unfortunately, his suspicion proved to be correct as the back of the Gundam touched the waters and it began to submerge rapidly until it completely disappeared under the waves, whereupon the chase ended with Graham watching in bewilderment as to where the Gundam had disappeared to.
Not a moment later, came the other 2 Flags came up behind the Major.
"Excellent, Major." Howard praised over the radio.
"He got away..." Graham replied with disappointment. "I just confronted him with my Custom Flag... But, who would have thought they could even dive underwater. Those Gundams are so damn versatile!"
Space
Location: Minerva - Debris Belt - Earth Orbit
Images of the Gundams disappearing into the sky and the subsequent occupation of the Taribian capital by the Union forces flickered on the screen as the three spectators watched with mixed reactions. Durandal still maintained his neutral expression while Cagalli and Athrun were still stunned by what had just happened a while ago. It was completely unexpected for them that Celestial Being decided to only attack the Taribian forces and then leave when the Union army moved in to occupy the capital.
"I still can't believe that Celestial Being only attacked the Taribian forces." Cagalli said in an exhausted tone, still not understanding this line of events.
Athrun was also speechless at these events as well, but although he could not express it openly, something told him that was somehow to be expected. And the mere thought of what the Taribian government was asking for, and the repercussions that would follow Taribia's complete emancipation, supported his theory. Fortunately, there was someone here who had no problem putting it into words.
"I suppose it was meant to be." Durandal said rhetorically, catching the couple's attention. "It was just like he said."
The couple looked at the PLANTs Chairman without understanding the meaning of his words.
"What do you mean?" Cagalli asked.
Durandal turned to them. "Do you remember during the announcement of Celestial Being's supposed founder, Aeolia Schenberg, in which Schenberg himself mentioned that they would intervene in every country and corner of the world regardless of the circumstances, including, independence or emancipation? This is exactly what has just happened in Taribia." He added, turning his eyes back to the screen and pausing for a moment to let the information settle on the couple.
"But it wasn't just because of that. As you have pondered before, if Taribia had achieved its de facto independence along with the acquisition of the Orbital Elevator and the absolute ownership of its precious solar energy distribution, the balance of power would have shifted radically and this would have led to further emancipations that would have led to the disintegration of the Union, and the rest is history. Apparently, Celestial Being saw this the same way you did and therefore considered these events as the greatest of evils."
In that he was right. They had forgotten that among the circumstances under which Celestial Being would intervene in any existing conflict also included the emancipation of a state or country, but what really puzzled them was the fact that this time this organization attacked before either of the opposing sides fired the first shot and the ensuing battle began. The previous interventions had been in conflicts that had been going on for some time, and this time it was the first time they had intervened in one before it officially began, which was quite unusual.
"On the other hand, I believe that other nations will have benefited from this intervention, just as they predicted." Durandal spoke again, catching the pair's attention. "As you can see, Taribia was attacked by Celestial Being and their military was severely damaged, Taribia was willing to borrow help from the U.S. military. Now that Celestial Being is no longer the hope the radical separatists so desperately needed to throw off the yoke of the Union, the anti-Celestial Being resentment will begin to flourish there while the anti-American resentment will begin to wane."
Durandal pauses so that Cagalli and Athrun can digest the information, who slowly begin to get the point, but they immediately noticed that there was something here that didn't make sense.
"Taribia's current government will receive assistance from America and will secure their power base. Therefore, to avoid Taribia's fate, other countries will think twice before engaging in overt anti-U.S. action. "
Now the gears in Cagalli's mind began to grind as she discovered what the Chairman meant about the true nature of this chain of events that was the attempted emancipation of Taribia, and just as she thought, it made no sense at all. There was no way...
"Every time I think about it, I wonder which country will have benefited from this chain of events."
"Wait a minute, Chairman!" Cagalli exclaimed suddenly. "Are you insinuating that everything that's happened has been some sort of elaborate ploy by I don't know who to prevent any country from trying to do anything like what Taribia did?"
The room fell silent as this shocking revelation was blurted out. Athrun was also stunned by the fact that everything that had happened was some kind of farce to use Taribia as a perfect example for the other countries with national ideas and to be able to use Celestial Being for their own benefit. He found the whole thing quite surreal and hard to believe, and hoped that Cagalli had misunderstood or was wrong what the PLANTs chairman meant.
"That's ridiculous!" Cagalli retorted. "There's no way this whole thing was worked out in advance to get to this point."
As usual, the Chairman was unfazed by the Representative's temperament and decided to correct himself a bit. "Well, I'm not really sure what I'm saying either. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions or theories, but I also can't help but think that this might also benefit the other nations with anti-American tendencies and spare them from being attacked."
"And what about those who lost their lives today because of this intervention?" Cagalli asked rhetorically, referring to the Taribian pilots who perished at the hands of those Gundams.
Durandal could only give her a small smile of understanding. "I suppose it was a tragedy that they lost their lives in a conflict they had not yet entered, but at least they would serve as an example to the other nations who would not want to lose their own fighters."
Cagalli could only gnash her teeth, obviously not pleased with the Chairman's apparent response and the fact that those fighters had thrown away their lives away for a stupid ploy to serve as an example to other nations with similar tendencies. To her, it was yet another way to spread hatred among the people, for while it might alleviate some of the anti-American resentment, it would leave only the anti-Celestial Being resentment to some extent, and something told her that the latter was probably in the plans of those involved in this farce.
Regardless of whether what the Chairmna said was true or a complete exaggeration, what was certain was that several lives had been lost today as cannon fodder in this officially undeclared conflict. She may have spent her life among politicians like her father and learned to some extent how the world of politics worked, but she never imagined this twisted side of profit by sacrifices. It almost reminded her of when the Union used HRL and some of the AEU forces stationed at JOSH-A as a decoy during the ZAFT invasion (Operation Spitbreak) of the Earth Alliance headquarters in Alaska, where in the heat of battle, when the EA forces were severely overmatched (due to the unavailability of Mobile Suits and their main forces), EA's upper echelon, had secretly escaped, leaving the fighting forces consisting mainly of HRL troops, AEU, and other forces they considered expendable, such as the Archangel-class space battleship, the Archangel, to their fate, luring the enemy forces into a death trap which was the weapon of mass destruction, the Cyclops System, located in the basement of the base.
Once the ZAFT forces penetrated more unconsciously into the trap, the Earth Alliance's upper echelon, which had escaped, activated the Cyclops System remotely, eliminating most of the attacking ZAFT forces, including the base and the defense units left behind as decoys. Of course, no one knew exactly what had happened, the Union government apparently announced that this was due to the use of a new type of weapon of mass destruction by enemy forces, and so no one knew the truth except for the few survivors now living in hiding.
For Cagalli it was one of the many things she detested about the Union using their allies as cannon fodder for their own ends, though she couldn't tell if this time, Taribia was also one of those involved this time. Either way, it disgusted her to see how this twisted world worked.
Athrun was also unhappy about what had happened, and although it seemed somewhat plausible to him that as a result of this intervention they would undermine the anti-American sentiments of other nations and focus their hatred from now on towards Celestial Being from now on, he found it quite hard to believe that this whole chain of events had been planned in advance by both the Union and Taribia to accomplish such a purpose and also safeguard the other nations with similar tendencies.
He really didn't know how the world of politics worked, but if what happened today was really true, then it was quite clear that the world of politics could sometimes have a rather twisted side.
Location: Olofat City - Onogoro Island - Orb Union
It was nightfall in the capital of Orb, when, Saji saw the news of the attack on Taribia by the Gundam Meisters in the room of his apartment.
He was quite confused by what had happened, as he, like most, was still unaware of the true nature of the conflict, and did not understand why Celestial Being would attack a nation they had not yet begun to attack anyone.
"Hey, what does all this mean, neesan? Celestial Being attacked the Taribian army. But that country hadn't started a fight or anything." Saji said, looking at his sister who was checking her laptop.
"You're right." She replied absentmindedly as she continued to stare at her computer.
"They said they're gonna stop the fighting, but they're starting it. That's just wrong!"
Kinue let out a tired sigh when she saw that her brother, who despite being a good student, was still a bit naive about how the political circumstances of this world and its complexities worked. At that, she turned to him with a smile.
"The world doesn't work that way... The world isn't that simple."
On the other side of the room, Setsuna was asleep on his bed asleep after participating in this exhausting mission, and just like the previous ones, he knew that this too was only the beginning.
Ja ne!