Hello everyone, I'm finally back with the fifth installment. Sorry for the delay, but it took me quite a while to complete it since I was immersed in the povs of some characters and historical context and stuff. Anyway, here it is and I hope you enjoy it.
On reviews:
KingLuxion: I guess you're right since unlike the beam sabers, the GN sword has very little energy consumption, and seeing as how Setsuna uses it very often as his favorite weapon as well as Shinn with the Arondight beam sword, it is undoubtedly formidable as it is coated with a GN field capable of neutralizing another GN field.
KingdomWarrior125: I'm also a fan of Gundam SEED/Destiny in part, since Destiny made me doubt a lot because of the fucking canonical ending and I don't want to talk about it anymore. Anyway, 00 will always be at the top of my favorite mecha anime list. I also hope that with this crossover I can fix some holes that came out in the canon.
Vladblood234: I don't know what you're talking about exactly what to combine a PS armor with a GN Drive is "broken" since as you said it gives the Suit a unlimited supply of energy in addition to reinforcing the physical defense even more than both elements could have done separately. With both combined, the Gundams look like an impregnable fortress. Also, I discovered the idea of combining both elements while watching Gundam SEED Raiser.
Guest DCDGojira: Thank you.
Guest: At the moment our 3 protagonists will not know one another as in the canon and they will also be in conflict with each other either because they are on different factions or because of their different ideological points of view on how to end the war. Now as for the circumstances and place where the 3 are going to meet, I leave it to your imagination. It doesn't have much of a mystery.
Dontus -no Donut- Powerus: First of all, I want to thank you for giving me all this great information on how the different beam weaponry elements of each series work. I will keep them in mind in the future.
Secondly, the reason why you say that Setsuna as a Coordinator looked less skilled than his canonical self, surely because of your reaction when he fought against the Exus and its funnels, was because it was his first time, besides he didn't even have his GN Beam Daggers.
The same was with Shinn in canon who was apparently more experienced than Kira at the beginning of the plot. As we all know, Coordinators are exceptionally good fighters who adapt very well to every battle they come out with and adjust well to the conditions they are put under.
Which would mean that if there were a hypothetical second confrontation, Setsuna would probably have the battle dominated.
Another topic to address I agree that Kira and Lacus's points change since their role as Mary Sue team (the term I read from Real Personal Trooper Type-0) was what spoiled the main setting of Gundam SEED Destiny. Before you rant, you should know that I didn't really mean that I want Durandal to win and his Destiny Plan to succeed. Actually I meant that the leading role of both spoiled the final plot and stuff.
In any case, in my story their secondary role will be the same; Kira will take the Freedom, he will take Cagalli on the Archangel, he will face both the EA and ZAFT whenever a battle with Orb occurs, and yes, he will also face Celestial Being for the same reason earning the latter's enmity and from a certain blue Meister who hates fake Gundams. Likewise, Kira will have mixed feelings about this organization, but I won't say anything else for now.
Lastly, on the subject of Meer Campbell, as I said in my Author's Note, she will not appear in this story. Durandal won't have his own Lacus Clyne and her influence all to himself, and I don't think he needs it. In any case, I couldn't tell you if this hypothetical SetsunaxMeer relationship would be interesting as you say. It is true that both have something in common, but it is not a big deal regarding their respective beliefs and points of view. Honestly I highly doubt they would make a decent couple and even more so because of Meer's canon role as Durandal's puppet and to Fukuda's credit, he made her sacrifice herself to save the life of the real Lacus by getting shot in her place.
Oh, one more thing, polygon, really? I know that in Middle Eastern societies polygany is allowed in mainly Islamic countries and stuff, but I don't think that exists in Kurdish society, and I also don't think Setsuna is polygon unless you're hinting that he creates an accidental harem like Athrun's case. Anyway, I'm still broaching the subject of romance and believe me it's hard.
Williamcll: We'll see. I'll have to think about it first.
blazotony1: I'm not a huge fan of romance either, let alone when it comes to Gundam 00. Well, I actually like AllelujahxMarie who seems to be the number 1 couple in the cast. Anyway I also think that Setsuna should have her own partner, and without a doubt Feldt would be the one, but as I said before, I'm quite clumsy in these matters.
UltraFlanker: Yes, as long as PLANTs and Earth are under the influence of 2 impulsive leaders (Durandal and Djibril respectively), each with their own vision of the future of the world, both sides will be reluctant to cooperate with each other to deal with even one enemy in common.
But none of that will stop the Celestial Being or another faction in the shadows with their own stage.
Chapter 5: Celestial reformation
15/06/2023
Cosmic Era 76. The 18 month war between the Earth and the PLANTs finally came to an end at the battle of Jachin Due. Eventually a peace treaty was established, based on a mutual agreement reached at the ruins of Junius Seven, tragic place of the beginning of the war to reach a common understanding and an oath of peace. The world was on a path back to stability and harmony.
However, despite the outward appearance of the peace, there were people who did not want this reconciliation and continued with their political and military agendas. In this unstable racial conflict and hate, each nation armed itself to the teeth, following a new arms race that everyone could call a pre-war. On Earth, Blue Cosmos reasserted its power and now had a great influence on Earth's political elite, and fueled revanchism among the natural population and anti-Coordinator sympathizers to declare war again and preserve what they have always called "Their pure and blue world".
PLANTs, under the policies of Chairman Gilbert Durandal, who despite being a moderate politician, initiated a new military rearmament program of ZAFT by manufacturing new and improved Mobile Suits under the name of the New Millennium Project. Those reforms worried the nations of the Earth too much so they quickly initiated their own military reforms to keep up.
Yes, even at the beginning of the 24th century, and since the war ended, humanity had not changed at all, is still unable to live as one and continued with their political, racial and ideological agendas. However, a mysterious group appeared on the scene to defy this twisted world law and carry out its unification by force.
Equipped with their Mobile Suits, the Gundams, this small secret paramilitary organization calls itself Celestial Being. With the purpose of eradicating war from the men's heart, its pilots, who will promote the ambitions and ideals of Celestial Being, the Gundams Meisters, will carry out an international military campaign that will transcend race, nationality and religion.
Celestial Being is ushering in a reformation of the world...
Date: April 4, 76 CE
Location: Olofat City - Yalafth Island – Orb Union
"We are Celestial Being. We are a paramilitary organization, that possesses the mobile weapon Gundam!"
Sunset had arrived in one of the few largest and most prosperous metropolises in the South Pacific. Many people were circulating with normality around the streets of the capital of Orb doing their respective daily activities such as walking, returning home after a hard day's work, etc. All of them passed by and there completely ignoring the announcement that was being broadcast again on a large screen of a building that from the first moment captured the attention and curiosity of the whole world for its apparent statement and exaggerated intention, but now things were very different.
It had been 17 hours since the first broadcast published and over time it was repeated another 2 times. The second caught the attention of curious people again, but in a smaller number than the previous one, and now the third, almost nobody paid attention to the announcement and the people continued with theirs as if it were a complete waste of time.
It was normal that most people were no longer interested in hearing the words of a charlatan, not because they had heard him 3 times in the last 17 hours, but because of his apparent statement and purpose. Secret paramilitary organization? Eradicate wars? A small organization with hardly any resources and technology will face the whole world alone? All of that sounded like a complete fantasy without any meaning. There was no way there would be such foolish people with an equally foolish idealistic purpose as ending all the wars that are happening around the planet, especially by armed forces.
If that organization really existed, then they could have prevented the Bloody Valentine's War from breaking out or prevented the Union's invasion of Orb at most.
That's why most of those who were listening to the broadcast ignored the words of an idealistic charlatan and went on with their own thing as if it did not exist. However, in the midst of the vast majority of skeptics, a boy between 16 and 17 years old watched the announcement intensely with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. With a slim build, Saji Crossroad, is a mixed Japanese-American with brown hair and currently wears a school uniform. While it is true that Saji had already heard the announcement 3 times like most people, but he did not let out his skepticism, at least in part, and still harbored a lot of curiosity about this enigmatic paramilitary organization that calls itself "Celestial Being." Part from that, he also wondered if he was really serious about wanting to eradicate wars from the face of the Earth that simple. The problem was not that it simply seemed to be a completely impossible mission for a small group with barely any resources to take on everyone, but the fact that it was a huge burden for those who were willing to take on the world even if they were going to be against the opinion of many politicians like Blue Cosmos that was causing tensions with PLANTs. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of people would want to do something so big and difficult.
"Why are you still looking at that?" A female voice made the boy wake up from his thoughts and diverted his gaze to his companion who was standing next to him looking at him curiously.
Unlike the boy, she appeared to be Western because of her complexion, blond hair and long. She had a pretty and attractive face next to her good breasts. She was dressed in a pink outfit with a navy blue miniskirt and wore leather boots.
The boy stared at the girl for a moment being a little unsure how to talk to her about the ad before turning his attention to the big screen.
"Lousie, do you think Celestial Being really exists?"
Lousie Halevy tilted her head slightly without understanding her partner's question.
"Do you think there are people who'll take action even if they won't benefit from it?"
His question was not misplaced. He was right to question whether there really were those kinds of people who would be willing to make an enormous effort such as intervening in the world's wars even at the risk of losing their lives and without getting anything in return that compensated for their efforts and dedication like most of all. It was clear that this was not a group of mercenaries who yearned to end all wars since mercenaries made a living participating in all kinds of conflicts, nor did they seem to be pacifists since the latter were against violence and the man who claimed to be the leader announced that he would use violence to end wars. In fact, its purpose seemed too idealistic to be real.
"They're probably an amazing group of volunteers." Lousie replied with a radiant smile on her face.
However, at that answer, Saji rolls his eyes as he lets out a small sigh before resuming his march when he see that his friend was not taking his question seriously. He also didn't believe much that it was a group of volunteers. Again, what Celestial Being was doing seemed to go further for a simple group of volunteers to go and give their lives without getting anything in return. There was no way that there would be people like mercenaries, pacifists or volunteers who carried a huge weight without benefiting except by making many enemies around the world.
"Hey, wait." Lousie protested in surprise to see Saji walking away from her without saying anything to her for some reason. Immediately, he began to follow behind. "Saji!"
Location: Beijing – China – Human Reform League
Sitting rigidly at his desk in the middle of his traditionally decorated personal office, HRL Chairman Jiang Decheng watched and listened intently with a piercing gaze to the replay of the announcement by the man who carried out the intervention in the Pillar of Heaven terrorist attack. For the next 17 hours after the first broadcast, the Chinese Chairman couldn't help but be a little intrigued by the statement by this apparent paramilitary organization that its purpose was to eradicate wars and reshape the world.
Just by hearing those last 2 terms anyone could take it as a funny joke and laugh, even Decheng would agree with it. That was nothing more than the vision of a naïve idealist to create a kind of utopia without wars or anything like that, but leaving that aside, the Chinese Chairman was only focused on one thing.
Once he decided he had heard enough of the announcement, Decheng turned off the holographic screen on his desk and turned to his secretary in front. "So, are they the organization that intervened in the terrorist attack on Tianzhu?"
"We believe that's highly possible, sir. In this declaration is a claim that Celestial Being has mobile weapons called Gundams." The secretary answered before approaching the desk and stopped in front. Then he press a few buttons and the digital image of the Kyrios appears in front of the Chairman.
"Please take a look... this is an image of the unidentified Mobile Suit recorded by our space forces." He zoomed in on the image of the Kyrios four times until he was looking into the chest cavity where a word written in English could be observed. Despite being in a foreign script, the Chinese Chairman was able to identify it.
"Gundam..."
Space
Location: Supreme Council Building – Aprilius One – PLANT – Lagrange 5
Images of battles between the Exia and the Chaos and Abyss flashed in the middle of the dark room of the PLANT government building. The images were recorded thanks to a good number of cameras that were able to capture everything that happened in the attack of Armería One. The attention of the spectators, being all members of the Supreme Council was only focused on the enigmatic blue Gundam whose model, origin and provenance were considered as an 'unknown', facing the stolen Mobile Suits, then fighting against a squad of GINNs until eliminating them all implying that it was also a 'hostile' unit.
Then the footage changed scenery, this time in the air where the green Gundam was shown emerging from the trees that attacked another ZAFT squad earlier to prevent them from intervening in combat. Like the blue, this one showed a strange propellant in a conical shape that gave off a strange mantle of bright particles so it could be on the same side. Finally the images changed again to be shown in the middle of space to the 2 Gundams with a third, except that this one looked bulkier than its brothers, but shared the same characteristics.
During the following hours after the attack on the Armory the Supreme Council had launched an arduous investigation to find out who were the perpetrators who attacked the Armory and took 3 of its newest models of Mobile Suits. On the other hand, they also initiated efforts (not as much as the case of the perpetrators) to find out who were that mysterious team of Mobile Suits that broke into the attack to take down the assailants, but not in favor of ZAFT and which faction to they belong. All attempts to find out their whereabouts were unsuccessful until the news of the attack on the HRL Orbital Elevator and the subsequent broadcast of the announcement of the alleged team leader revealing their identity and purpose. From now on everything started to make sense.
"So that's where those machines that broke into the attack came from." Orson White, chairman of the Administrative Committee, commented as the image (provided by the Minerva) of the 3 Gundams in space froze. "Now we know who they are."
"However, I am surprised that a small group can have such advanced Mobile Suits in their possession, let alone their beam armaments." Said Eduardo Lee, a member of the National Defense Committee with uncertainty looking at the image.
"True. The G-Weapons are the culmination of years of research to manufacture advanced Mobile Suits that exceed standards such as the case of the Union's Project G." Alan Clarzec, a member of the Legislative Committee, nodded. Everyone fell silent as they reflected on everything related to Project G and its involvement during the war.
Initially it was a project done in secret carried out by the Union in collaboration with Morgenroete Inc of the Union of Orb, elaborated in 69, a year before the Valentine's Day Tragedy, consequently, the rearmament of the military power of ZAFT that worried in many factors of the Union army. ZAFT's first Mobile Suits, being the standard ZGMF-1017 GINN had proven to be formidable machines that could match or surpass Union Mobile Suits such as the SVMS-01 Union Flag and the TS-MA2 Moebius Mobile Armors.
For the 71 the first 5 prototypes of Mobile Suits of the Alliance were deployed in the space colony of Heliopolis controlled by Orb, however, despite their efforts to hide it from the eyes of their enemies, it did not go unnoticed by the PLANTs spies so a small squadron of ZAFT commanded by Commander Rau Le Creuset was sent, one of the most loyal followers of the late Chairman Patrick Zala, who stormed the colony in a surprise attack and managed to seize 4 of the units at the expense of much of the squadron and with the destruction of the colony. From the beginning the attack on Heliopolis was seen as a controversy over the attack on a neutral colony and they called the leader of the operation to appear before the council about his justification for carrying out the attack.
It was only because of the revelation of one of those involved in the attack, Athrun Zala, son of Patrick, whom the enigmatic masked man had taken as an escort before the Council to expose everything he knew about the 4 units they had captured and the danger he represented if he remained in the hands of the EA that made much of the Council change their mind about the attack. There was no doubt for the first councilors who witnessed the capabilities of these new machines that represented a serious danger and as rumored those machines were indeed the trump card that the Naturals had to eliminate the advantage that the MS of ZAFT had due to their innovations of armament never before seen until now; compact beam weapons in the form of Beam Rifles for long range attacks and Beam Sabers for close combat. For defense, a new type of MS armor was invented to grant enhanced protection against physical attacks: Phase Shift Armor.
That had proved to be a major drawback for his forces, which at the time only used mainly projectile or projectile weapons, and physical weapons with blades.
Realizing the danger it posed and how far the Naturals were trying to go, ZAFT soon manufactured new and improved mass-production MS developed based on the reverse engineering technology of the captured units being the ZGMF-X10A Freedom and the ZGMF-X09A Justice, both Mobile Suits at the top of the Mobile Suits weapons scale because both were powered by a reactor nuclear thanks to the Neutron Jammer Canceller.
Undoubtedly the G Weapons or colloquially "Gundams", are really versatile machines that demonstrated their potential during the war and overwhelmed any enemy that stood in their way as a fleet or a small army of ordinary Mobile Suits as the case of the destruction of the eighth space fleet in Earth orbit or as the fifth unit, the only one that had not been stolen, the GAT-X105 Strike that gave ZAFT so much trouble until its destruction. They were complex machines to build and equip them with all the weaponry and potential that represented them so their number was always scarce in contrast to the standard Mobile Suits, and of course very few nations have the resources and advanced technology to build such Mobile Suits.
"It's possible that it was the Union or Orb who created those machines." Added Parnel Jesek, a member of the Judiciary Committee who was seated on the left. "Let's not forget that it was those two countries in particular that created the original 5 prototypes."
"Impossible, both the Union and the rest of the nations of Earth do not possess specific information about that group and their Mobile Suits." Ail Kasim, chairman of the Legislative Committee, argued.
"Anyway, what we should be discussing now is who exactly that organization is and its apparent intentions." Lousie Leither, a member of the Legislative Committee, raised her voice strongly. "Besides, doesn't all this sound like something we've already seen in Jachin Due?"
All the members were silent again as they reflected on that topic. One of the things they knew at least about them was their apparent purpose of "eradicating wars" or something like that, which many took as a rather ridiculous joke, but the part that caught some attention was the methods they would employ to carry out their objective being "armed interventions on both fronts". being as Lousie mentioned before, a certain rebel group that broke into the last battle of the war and whose parallel remains unknown today.
"You mean the Clyne Faction?" Ail asked in reference to the aforementioned underground rebel faction composed of deserting ZAFT soldiers, to fight against Patrick Zala's extremist genocidal policies towards the Naturals.
"Yes, remember that they themselves broke out the war against both sides in order to stop that battle once and for all. I think their methods are similar in some ways, and I wonder if they are related to each other."
Some thought that might be that possibility. The enigmatic Clyne Faction made its entrance in the heat of the last battle when the Union space fleet launched its barrage of nuclear missiles in order to destroy PLANTs once and for all, only to be intercepted by the forces of that faction consisting of only Freedom and Justice, 2 of the aforementioned machines and which were no longer in the hands of ZAFT, destroying all missiles before they touched the colonies.
Later they also fought against ZAFT due to the latter's use of the superweapon capable of destroying Earth, the GENESIS. In the end, with the superweapon destroyed and the battle over, the Clyne Faction disappeared and nothing was heard from it anymore.
The fact that this new faction (Celestial Being) will faced 2 opposing sides regardless of the number with Mobile Suits similar to those used by the previous faction made some wonder if there was some kind of connection between both factions.
"Somehow I doubt it very much." Tokao Schreible, chairman of the Committee of the National Defense Committee, replied a little later, causing some eyes to be fixed on him. "We don't know much about this new faction and I don't think the two are interrelated in any way since as we already know, the Clyne Faction was founded in order to stop hostilities in the last battle and seems to be composed of more moderate members in line with Chairman Clyne's pacifist ideology. On the other hand, Celestial Being, although we still have much to learn from them, seems to be taking more radical and extreme methods such as declaring war on everyone since in the announcement of their apparent leader mentioned that no matter who their enemies or difficulties will be, they will do whatever it takes to put an end to it."
Most of the members agreed with the last line recalling everything heard by the announcement of their leader, ruining the comparison between the Clyne Faction and the new faction in terms of methods and ideological. While both factions appeared to be independent pacifist groups that would not hesitate to call on armed forces to stop conflicts, there was a clear difference between them as to how it was to be carried out; the Clyne Faction would do anything to stop all violence, but without the need to destroy everything (if that were possible, of course) while Celestial Being seemed to employ more extreme methods such as "destroying" anything that supports the war even no matter how public opinion sees it.
Now there was no doubt in the minds of all the councillors present here (except the Chairman) that this enigmatic terrorist organization could give them more problems than the previous one.
Earth
Location: White House - Whashintong D.C. - United States of America – Union
Standing looking the window the nighttime views of the U.S. capital from the Oval Office, President Brian Stegmeyer was reflecting on everything he had heard about that enigmatic organization through the announcement. While the announcement and purpose of this organization left many world leaders, especially Stegmeyer, baffled and incredulous by its apparent purpose of "eradicating wars with armed forces", but the old American president also felt some curiosity and intrigue for this particular organization and the fact that his intentions are only to eliminate any act of war in the world brought him solemn memories about the political position of his nation before these new dark times that they were going through now.
Stegmeyer couldn't help but smile with some irony at how times change lately whenever something big happens in the world.
"So eradicating wars through armed forces, huh?" Stegmeyer spoke after a brief silence. "It seems that these gentlemen want to take our place."
The president's secretary, David Thomson, simply shook his head a little incredulously at how the president has taken seriously the statement of this presumptuous unknown group and their intentions that needless to say are really exaggerated.
"Excuse me, sir, but are they really serious about ending wars by intervening in every conflict in the world?"
Stegmeyer turned his body to look at his secretary. "Well, I'm not entirely sure. I was just thinking about how ideal it was in these times when the world needs guardians to ensure the security of the world as in our case after World War II."
A smile slipped on David's lips. "Either way, I have no doubt that their true intentions will be revealed, and when the time comes, it will be up to us to judge them properly."
"I guess so." Stegmeyer nodded in agreement before turning to the window to take in the night view of Whashintong D.C. His face darkened as he recalled the darker events that have taken place recently.
"Five years have passed since the end of that horrific war that almost cost the world millions of human lives. Our economy finally stabilized and now this has to happen." He said melancholically.
Location: Desert island – somewhere in the Indian Ocean
It was morning time in the middle of the vast ocean that bathed the coasts of East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Australia. Made up of its 43 islands, some of them uninhabited from all human presence, and also had some atolls.
Among the small uninhabited islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean was one in particular that served as a secret base for a certain organization that had just announced its existence to mankind and declared its intentions to reform the world by eradicating wars. Due to its strategic location in some remote point of the planet in which almost no one freight forwarder in these times became an ideal place to establish a point of contact and support of Celestial Being on Earth and had hangars to maintain their Gundams.
Finally, to ensure safety and that no one from the outside discovered the existence of the island keeping it away from prying eyes, 2 huge blue containers were installed hidden among the trees that emitted streams of GN particles in the air. The effect produced caused a huge network of interference around the island that prevented any satellite or sonar systems or radars from detecting it as if it were non-existent for the world.
Thanks to this security system, the residents of the base did not have to worry about being discovered and would save them many problems of always being alert at all times to be watching the place and thus relax as long as they wanted until it was time to work, which is their task as Gundam Meisters.
Lockon Stratos let out a big yawn as he stretched his arms up after getting out of his compartment and breathing in the morning air.
"What a good day it is." Lockon said before flexing his arms forward and neck back and forth. He was dressed in casual attire consisting of a light green short-sleeved shirt, a brown split wool vest, blue jeans, and black shoes and gloves of the same color.
"It's a good day! It's a good day!" Haro exclaimed happily as he fluttered beside him.
The brown man let out a few laughs when he saw his little robotic pet moving as euphoricly as ever. "Well, I think it's time to start the day."
Thus both begin to walk towards the interior of the island that was almost covered by the lush subtropical vegetation. Not long after they arrive at a small clearing where the first thing they saw was a young man sitting on the shore looking at nothing in particular except the clearing itself.
That young man was younger than Lockon, between 16 and 17 years old. His slightly tanned skin showed that his facial features were not Western like those of the green Meister, but Eastern, more specifically Middle Eastern. He had dark, long, disheveled hair at various ends with bangs that almost covered his forehead between his eyes. His clothing consisted of a white shirt that extended to below the waist so he has the belt in the middle. He has a red scarf, dark pants and equally dark shoes.
Lockon smiled at the sight of the person sitting and decided to approach him to keep him company.
"Yo, Setsuna. As early bird as ever." Lockon greeted stopping a few inches from his partner Meister Setsuna F. Seiei, the latter did not return the greeting and simply stared at the clearing. Of course this behavior did not bother the Dynames's pilot at all.
Setsuna was well known for being a serious, taciturn and introverted young man who doesn't say many words unless asked or affirmed something like a disciplined soldier. Although of course, from time to time, he can be somewhat rebellious on certain occasions and can take things on his own without the consent of others to the annoyance of some. Still, despite his stoic and antisocial behavior, he has no problem getting close to or getting along with Lockon, who is the complete opposite of the blue Meister, cheerful, good-humored, friendly, social, etc. In fact, this pair of almost polar personalities form a slightly peculiar couple in the eyes of others.
"You know, I just saw that all the news networks around the world including PLANTs are talking about us. "A mysterious armed force makes a declaration to the entire world that it will eliminate war."
He let out a little sarcastic laugh before continuing.
"Of course, a great majority of them don't seem to believe us. "
"Then, let's make them believe." A female voice spoke that caught the attention of the Meisters. Both Meisters moved their heads to the side and saw a young Chinese man with an impassive expression dressed in a traditional costume standing on top of a puddle while holding above the knee in his arms in bridal style a young girl with 2 big pigtails dressed in a safari suit.
"Celestial Being's ideals can only be demonstrated through actions, after all." She spoke with a smile.
"Wang Liu Mei." Setsuna whispered the girl's name quietly in recognition.
"You got here quickly." Lockon greeted smiling.
Wang Lui Mei, the secret agent of Celestial Being widened her smile a little more. "It's time for the second mission!"
Location: Near AEU Orbital Elevator – Uganda – Union of South Africa
On the other side of the world, in Africa specifically, night had fallen several hours ago. In the member country of the Union of South Africa, a few kilometers west of Lake Victoria, was one of the 3 most grandiose and incredible mega constructions that man had ever created until just over a century ago, before the establishment of the Cosmic Age calendar; the Orbital Elevator.
With an imposing and monstrous height of 50 thousand kilometers that connects the earth with space and connected to the other 2 Orbital Elevators through 2 large geostationary rings, these mega structures were not only the architectural and structural creations never conceived by man on the face of the Earth long before the construction of the space colonies and a center of tourism worldwide that would pale with the other centers public and architectural of the planet, were also those who led humanity to 2 phases of its history that would determine its future.
The primary purpose of the construction of the Orbital Elevators was due to the great need to find new energy sources of supply after the depletion of terrestrial reserves of fossil fuels so humanity had tried to find a new alternative, and the best option was the Solar Energy System. The 2 geostationary rings that orbit around the equator are covered by thousands of photovoltaic arrays responsible for absorbing sunlight from space and transmitting it to the surface of the Earth through the towers supplying the planet with such an almost perpetual source of energy which led humanity to depend more on solar energy for the supply of its household appliances either for civil use and military.
Another consequence with the arrival of the Age of Solar Energy was that it brought humanity into the Cosmic Age because the Elevators also served as a springboard for the ongoing international search for space colonization leading the world into a new era of space exploration, started by the first Coordinator George Glenn who intensified the industry with the construction of the space exploration ship, the Tsiolkovsky, with which he traveled to one of the moons of Jupiter where he discovered the extraterrestrial fossil "Evidence 01" that would be remembered as the only time in the history of mankind as the discovery that once existed life outside the terrestrial sphere. He was also in charge of building a new type of space colony, envisioning an entire colony group that would focus on research and technological advancement that would later be the homeland of all Coordinators, PLANTs. In the end the new space age was completely stalled due to tensions between Earth and PLANTs because the latter began to rearm its own armed forces with new Mobile Suits and freighters converted into combat spaceships that eventually led to the tragic Bloody Valentine's War.
The Orbital Elevators had their mixed repercussions in the world giving humanity a new form of self-sufficient energy and opened a new space age, but it also had its drawbacks being that because this led to a series of conflicts that would be known as the Solar Wars because not many countries recognized the use of this new form of energy as a main supply as in the case of the nations of The Middle East, whose economic wealth depended heavily on trading its vast oil reserves, so the UN had currently imposed a global boycott of fossil fuels to better monopolize the energy distribution market. It was because of this that conflicts broke out being carried out by people harmed by this new energy system and their goal is to ruin the whole system.
The 3 main powers of the world reinforced the defenses of their respective Elevators with collective military forces that would later lead to the creation of the first Mobile Suits whose power supply is supplied by wireless energy of the rings through microwave transmissions so these machines are totally dependent on the energy supply provided by the Elevators.
This particular Elevator, La Tour, the only Elevator that is still to this day incomplete, because it was in a territory that does not belong to the AEU its military defense was not so strictly iron compared to those of the other 2 superpowers, was the main focus of several attempts of mostly repelled enemy attacks, but not much could be said during the Bloody Valentine's War where they suffered their first major and shameful defeat against a relatively new army.
On April 25, 70 CE PLANTs during the second phase of Operation Uroboros, a detachment of ZAFT Special Forces soldiers launched a rapid attack on the African territory of the AEU by orbital drop with new ground-use Mobile Suits that took the defending forces by surprise. The defending forces could hardly do much in the face of the overwhelming invading force so they were giving ground until they finally surrendered and ZAFT was able to take control of the Orbital Elevator, and with it, all the energy supply that the AEU depended for its supply.
The capture of La Tour was remembered as one of the worst and disastrous defeats suffered by the AEU and was soon effectively eliminated from the war on Earth due to ZAFT now controlling and holding hostage the supply of power to the AEU. It was not until just 2 months later, on June 25, that the Alliance would manage to recapture the AEU Elevator along with the Mass Conductor Habilis from the hands of the Union forces thanks to the new Mobile Suits of mass-reproduction, the Strike Dagger that managed to overwhelm the occupation forces of ZAFT until annihilating them.
After the war ended, the AEU army had begun a military reform plan to solidify the defenses of its Elevator and ensure that any enemy faction would set foot on it and seize it as in the case of ZAFT. Alas, despite such caution, the AEU forces were unable to prevent a new enemy faction from getting close enough and suddenly breaking into a military proving ground at the foot of the Elevator.
Several hours had now passed since that incident. Right at the foot, a few kilometers from the Elevator, there was a car whose occupants were military members, but not of the AEU, but of the Union who came here in the first place to observe and study the technological development of the AEU with the demonstration of its new Mobile Suit. In the end everything became a fiasco due to the irruption of an unidentified unit that destroyed the AEU Mobile Suit. It was soon concluded that that mystery Suit was one of those Gundams sent by that mysterious organization known as Celestial Being sent to disrupt the military expansionism of the AEU and who knows. Either way, one of the drivers of the car was only thinking about the combat capabilities of the Gundam when he saw it in action dismembering the AEU's MS in an instant. Several hours had passed since the incident and he still kept thinking about it as if it interested him more than anything else.
"Don't you have to get back to the military?" Asked Billy Katagiri technical advisor to the MSWAS as he typed his laptop located on a folding table that was attached to the back of the driver's seat. "They're likely in a panic right now."
Instead, leaning back in the front seat, Major Graham Aker, Union Ace pilot and veteran of the Bloody Valentine's War, took little thought of the matter and his mind only focused on the incident, especially the combat skills of that machine called Gundam.
"I want to learn about the Gundam's abilities." He said before slightly squinting as his mind began to plunge into the memory. "That unit is something else."
Flashback
It had all started like an ordinary day at a military proving ground at the foot of La Tour where a rather important event was taking place regarding the preparations of the AEU in its arms race to catch up with its political rivals being the Union, the HRL and especially PLANT whose military development worried many on Earth.
The whole area consisted of something resembling a stadium, but on a large scale whose stands were occupied by several politicians and military dignitaries of the AEU, among them were Graham and Billy as special guests of the Union to observe the event that would dispel the negative image of the AEU being inferior to the other 2 superpowers. At one end of the field sad 15 balloons with targets printed on them, being tied to an equal number of gattling pistols, their worn blackened barrels dully reflecting the sunlight. On the other side, the star of the show emerged and that would be the first modern Mobile Suit of the AEU; the CAT1-XG Hyperion G, a ground combat variant of the cancelled CAT1-X Hyperion series. Like the original Hyperion, the new series was built in collaboration with Actaeon Industries and was completed for this special day in presentation to the public at a demonstration event held on the same day as the Human Reform League's tenth anniversary for its Orbital Elevator.
As soon as it appeared in the field, the motion sensors conected to the weapons kicked in and they opened fire on the source of the movement. The machine took off and sped into the volley of fire, its pilot deftly dodgin and weaving through the barrage of shells without any of them managing to reach it. It then unleashed several shots from its 8-millimeter GAU-52MS machine gun well aimed at the balloons, popping a dozen of them.
It came to a stop several paces away from one of the gattling gun, as it opened fire, a bulge located on the right side of the backpack folder flipped over its shoulder and emitted a strange greenish energy that manifested in a kind of semi-spherical barrier around the right side. The barrier known as "Armure Lumiere" blocked and deflected all incoming bullets leaving the audience astonished. Once the barrage was over, the Hyperion G launched into the air, it quickly did a 180 and fired another volley, except this time of its submachine gun Zastava Stigmate, exploding all the balloons at an impressive speed. Then the Hyperion G made other aerial maneuvers that once impressed the public.
"The GAT1-XG Hyperion G, successor to the original Hyperion. A pretty impressive machine if you ask me." Billy commented as he continued to watch the spectacle.
"I can see that the AEU have finally gotten their act together to try to get ahead of us in the production of new Mobile Suits and catch up with ZAFT's New Millennium Project." Graham also commented while sitting next to Billy. "Although I think they still have a long way to go."
Both understood the need for the AEU to rearm its armed forces as best and quickly as possible in these difficult times. The Orbital Elevator of the AEU is the only one of the 3 that was not completed so the economic development of the European power was quite slowed compared to that of the Union and the HRL, but they managed to enact their military development in record time with the deployment of their first Mobile Suits, the AEU-05 Hellion series. However, with the advent of the Bloody Valentine's War and the deployment of the overwhelming ZAFT war machine, it did not take long for the reputation of the AEU's military might to be compromised with each crushing defeat in the face of the military technological superiority of the Coordinators until the capture of La Tour and the Habilis Mass Driver which was a heavy blow to the morale of the AEU.
Following this traumatic defeat, the AEU put a lot of effort into reforming their war machine by building new models of Mobile Suits initially using the Daggers borrowed from the Union to create derivations of their own, but they also wanted more.
"Well, at least they're on the right track." Billy replied rhetorically. "The AEU may not have enough funds to manufacture a wide variety of new Mobile Suits, but I guess this could be a first step."
"Speaking of new models, what do you think of this particular one?" Graham asked, pointing to the Hyperion G still maneuvering. "So much does it look like the original Hyperion?"
"Well, apart from the external appearance, not much has changed from the original, except that it only has an Armure Lumiere shield emitter as you have surely seen." Billy replied. "Anyway, in my humble opinion, it's just a cheap copy of the original, except for the design, of course."
"YOU, THERE! I HEAR YOU!"
Everyone was startled when a indignantly voice amplified by the speakers filled the air causing the audience to notice the source of the sound being the Hyperion G. The cockpit located in the torso of the Suit opened automatically allowing the pilot to emerge from inside in the typical AEU flight suit and turned towards the crowd.
"What did you just say!?" Ensign Patrick Colassour shouted, hot-blooded soldier, braggart, a hoarder of glory and a womanizer, is the AEU Ace pilot winner of more than 2,000 simulated battles, so unlike Graham Aker, he is not a veteran of the great war.
"Well? Come on!"
For a moment the 2 were taken aback by the simple fact that the pilot overheard the conversation despite the distance and the fact that he was inside the cockpit. Even so, Graham couldn't help but let out a small laugh at this humorous atmosphere.
"At least his hearing sensors are top-notch." He commented amusingly.
While the show continued without any interruption, suddenly everything ended when Graham noticed something strange in the sky so he looked up and not long after he could see a strange silhouette descending through the pillar.
"What's that?"
This also caught the attention of Billy, as well as much of the public who were the next to notice an object descending at high speed towards his location. Not long after, as it approached, its shape began to lighten for the eye being in all respects a Mobile Suit, but with a completely different design.
"A Mobile Suit?" Billy asked in amazement as he continued to look at the blue Mobile Suit descending. "Incredible. I didn't expect them to have another new model."
"I don't think so." Graham said uncertainly without taking his eyes off the strange Suit releasing a strange veil of light down his back. "That light... could it be..."
The new arrival smoothly slid its feet onto the ground as it landed, before turning to face the Hyperion G. Everyone held their breath as they took in its appearance, especially Graham and Billy who had the feeling of having seen him before. The unit looked more or less the same as the Hyperion G, but was sleeke and wider with vivid navy blue colors that dye the entire armor while the rest is metallic gray. The unit had ornate celestial "eyes" on the face instead of a visor like the Hyperion plus and finally a characteristic V-shaped fin on the forehead. There was no doubt for the Union engineer which unit it was.
"Is that a G Weapon?" Billy asked puzzled.
Graham, who heard his companion say that out loud, turned his attention to the newly arrived machine and looked at it more intensely when he discovered what it was.
So, is that one of those Gundams of Celestial Being?
Meanwhile, one of the commanders present pulled out his phone in an attempt to contact the pilot of the Hyperion G.
"Hyperion! Can you receive me, Hyperion? Patrick!" However, the only thing he received was a static signal. He tried to contact again, but the same static signal came out until he gave up.
"Shit! I can't get through." The officer growled in frustration. "What's going on?"
Several people tried to make the same example to check if their mobiles also had the same problem. After a moment the people around began to have the same results of the static sounds on their mobiles, especially Billy's.
"Will there be wireless interruptions?" Graham asked when he saw the problem.
"That can't be." Billy replied incredulously, looking at his partner. "There hasn't been any interference since Earth's N-Jammers were neutralized five years ago."
"Is it be...?" Graham speculated to no one in particular by taking another look at the blue machine. He couldn't think any longer when a security officer came down the stairs to speak to the audience.
"Everyone, we've been advised to evacuate!"
With that people began to get up from their seats ready to leave and not be involved in an accident.
"Then that thing is not one of them?" Billy deduced surprised to realize that the newly arrived machine was not part of this nation. "Where does it come from then?"
"Doesn't it seem obvious to you?" Graham asked strangely calmly as he got up from his seat. "That could be a Gundam of Celestial Being."
Patrick, who was not shocked by the sudden arrival of the blue Suit, immediately returned to the cockpit of his unit and began the Suit startup process.
"Hey, hey, who the hell are you, and who do you work for?" Patrick asked inside the booth with a sneer and confident smile. "Are you from UNION, PLANTs, or are you one of those Celestial Being guys I saw on the news yesterday? Well, either way, you stormed in here uninvited."
"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!"
Patrick had started to analyze the blue Suit with enthusiasm and his confidence increased when he saw that it was poorly armed so he saw it as an easy challenge. "Hey you... Do you have any idea who I am? I'm AEU's Patrick Colasour! The specialist who has never lost a mock battle!"
With its left arm, the Hyperion G took out a Romteknica beam knife and activated it, the greenish energy emerged from the hilt taking the form of a small, thin blade.
Wasting no time, the Hyperion charged at the unknown Suit, its Romteknica knife pointed towards the torso with the intention of stabbing the cockpit.
"HUH!? HEY!" Patrick shouted somewhat annoyed, he didn't like to be ignored by his opponent while the other Suit just stood there.
Then...
"Exia, eliminate the target." Setsuna pronounced stoically.
As if the Gundam obeyed the voice of its pilot, its eyes lit up, then its great GN Sword folded in all its glory and with a quick and fleeting movement, it raised the edge of the blade and cut the Hyperion's arm on the wrist that held the knife sending him flying.
"WHAT THE...!?" Graham exclaimed in shock at what he saw, as well as the rest of the audience who witnessed the fleeting movement of the Gundam.
Not long after, the Hyperion's hand landed on the side with a heavy bang, the beam knife went out due to lack of power supply. The entire audience fell into a stunned silence as they continued to observed at the scene, while Patrick gasped in shocked while his eye trembled. Soon his shock gave way to anger.
"You bastard!" Patrick growled angrily. "You don't get it yet!?"
As the blue Gundam straightened up, the Hyperion G pulled out its Zastava Stigmate beam submachine gun and fired a shot.
The Gundam stepped to one side and did a spin, allowing the bolt of green energy flying past harmlessly. It quickly sheathed its beam saber and with another fleeting movement, sliced off the Hyperion's right arm.
"I AM...!"
Another lollipop of the Gundam made him change armament being again its GN Sword that sliced what was left of the left arm just as quickly.
"THE SPECIALIST...!"
Wielding its beam saber upwards, the Gundam riped off the Hyperion's head and sends it flying.
"I'VE DONE TWO THOUSAND OF THESE...!"
Once incapacitated by removing both his arms and head, the Gundam quickly puts away its weapons and wet back to its ready stance like nothing had happened.
"...MOCK BATTLES!" Patrick screamed as the Hyperion staggered backwards due to the last blow that ripped off its head and fell sharply on its back towards the ground in a thud sound.
An intense silence took over the entire stadium as all the eyes of the public were on the mysterious machine that so spectacularly and precisely beat their newest Mobile Suit in less than 30 seconds. Among them, Graham was more expectant about the versatility and potential of that machine called Gundam. Until now he had never seen such attack potential in a Mobile Suit. Hell, even a Coordinator would have had trouble dealing with such a thing.
Not long after, a loud noise filled the air, and a small stream of blue green particles emerged from the cone-shaped thruster on its back. Then, as if defying the laws of physics, the Gundam rose from the ground floating in the air effortlessly before turning and ascending higher and higher into the sky leaving that trail of particles behind it and a still absorbed audience.
This incident occurred at least one day after the first broadcast of the Celestial Being announcement to the world. The world held its breath as it heard the entire announcement of the so-called man named Aeolia Schenberg. Of course, not everyone heeded his statement and considered the man who made the announcement an imposter and charlatan so they ignored the warning and continued with their business. Among them, of course, the AEU itself also ignored the announcement and continued with the preparation for the debut of the Hyperion G today.
A mistake on their part that they ended up paying for with the near destruction of their Mobile Suit that was supposed to be the mainstay of mass reproduction of their armed forces in an almost ridiculous and humiliating way.
As for Graham, he would never forget that day. So that's the famous Gundams of Celestial Being that man from the broadcast a day ago mentioned. These machines were, according to him, the tools that will carry out the eradication of wars and with it, the reformation of the world. From the beginning, the veteran of the great war did not know what to say about this statement except to laugh and mock the methods that this organization would use to carry out its long-awaited objective with "war against war". However, that aside, the veteran's mind was only focused on his machines.
There was no doubt that the potential of its Gundams was something otherworldly. It defeated a modern Mobile Suit with astonishing elegance and precision and until Graham's experience reached out, he never saw anything like it.
This day marked the birth of an obsession. A fire began to burn in the warrior spirit that had been extinguished for some time since the end of the war. For him the warrior Graham had been reborn.
End of flashback
"Its combat performance is one thing... but when that thing appeared, radar, communicators and electronic devices were disrupted. " Graham reflected when recalling how the arrival of that Gundam caused all kinds of electronic interference and could only deduce one answer. "That light caused it all."
He still did not know what exactly was that mysterious phenomenon in the form of bright dust that gave off the reactor in a conical shape, but he suspected that it was some propulsion mechanism and therefore had a lot to do with the mobilization and performance of the machine. The most striking thing about this is that its effects are similar to those of N-Jammers.
Graham couldn't help but wonder what exactly that was and for hours, his friend has been trying to study and figure out anything about the phenomenon.
"As of now, all I can say is that it's a special particle of some kind. " Billy replied before taking a sip of coffee from his cup. "That light probably caused by a photonic decay phenomenon."
"A special particle..." Graham whispered to himself intriguedly.
Then they heard another car approaching them whose spotlights illuminated the interior a little. This car stopped a few meters in front of them, and immediately Graham and Billy got out of theirs to meet the other driver (they already knew who it was).
"It's not just the particles." Billy continued as they got out of the car. "I think there are more secrets to that unit."
There was no need for his partner to tell him that since he also had the same feeling about it. Undoubtedly, these machines are an enigma along with their enigmatic propulsion system. But for the veteran he was not really interested in finding out his secrets, but in testing his strength. He wanted to discover in his flesh and blood how powerful those machines called Gundams are compared to the ZAFT Mobile Suits he fought in the past.
"I guess I like them." Graham muttered with an anxious smile.
Billy gave a look a little confused by his partner's attitude, but didn't have time to ask when a man got out of the other car and walked towards it until standing in front of them with a military salute.
"Major Graham Aker, Technical Advisor Billy Katagiri. Orders from MSWAD to return to base." The man reported to the 2. Graham waved in response knowing what the man meant.
"Message received and understood."
Space
Location: Ptolemaios - Lagrange 1 - Earth Orbit
"Second mission will begin at 3300!" The voice of the tactical operator echoed through the ship through the intercom system. "I repeat... Second mission will begin at 3300!"
Allelujah Haptism let out a tired sigh as his body floated through the corridors of the Ptolemaios while being propelled by the handle of the travel rail. His second mission and he had to check the fuselage of his Gundam in an undisguised mission.
"Testing a model in combat? Give me a break." Allelujah murmured sarcastically.
Of course, his partner in the back, Tieria Erde, the most stoic and strict of the Meisters, refrained from rolling his eyes while keeping his face impassive by the complaints of his orange companion and decided to rectify him so that he would take the maintenance of his machine seriously.
"We need to know everything about the Gundams to prepare for future battles." He replied stoically.
Allelujah turned half a head towards Tieria. "In that you are right, but..."
"Forgive me for interrupting."
Allelujah turns forward to see the ship's tactical strategist, Sumeragi Lee Noriega, heading towards them with a smile.
"Sumeragi-san." Allelujah said by way of greeting.
"It's not a problem." Tieria stated neutrally as he passed her. "We knew what were getting ourselves into."
She stopped when both young men had passed by to look at them with a smile. "You're so tough." She responded encouragingly like a mother to her children.
"I never wished to be weak." Tieria replied without playing along before climbing through the empty deck of an elevator toward the hangar.
"We're going." Allelujah said with a small smile before following Tieria leaving the adult woman alone.
"That's what youth is." Sumeragi said to herself.
An external section on the deck of the ship opens on the port side being one of the 2 linear catapults to launch and dock their Mobile Suits.
"Ptolemaios, container fastened in the fixed position." The other operator announced in a monotonous tone. "Kyrios, proceed to catapult deck with C-gear."
In the hangar, the Kyrios in fighter mode climbed by the elevator to the catapult deck, a large black container attached to the rear of the Gundam. At the same time on the bridge, the 2 operators continued with their work.
"Switching Ptolemy over to catapult mode." Christina stated as two large rails forward from their sored position on either side of the ship's prow, several flaps opening up as it did so. "Kyrios stabilized with linear field."
"Launch preparations complete." Feldt said below as her face was seen through a touchscreen in the cockpit of the Kyrios. "Transferring timing control to Kyrios."
"I have control. Kyrios, Allelujah Haptism, commencing the intervention." Allelujah declared as the Kyrios slid across the catwalk and took off into space at incredible speed.
Not long after, it was Virtue's turn for its launch sequence with the operators monitoring its departure.
"Stabilized with linear field. Launch preparations complete." Feldt said, when the elevator carrying the bulky Gundam stopped at the exit of the catapult
"Transferring time control to Virtue." Christina declared.
"Roger. Virtue, Tiera Erde, launching." Tieria said before the Virtue came out of the starboard catapult and entered the space to catch up with the Kyrios. Both Gundams moved away from the ship leaving a trail of GN particles like the tail of a comet.
Earth
Location: Desert island - somewhere in the Indian Ocean
Setsuna and Lockon finished making preparations to put on their pilot suits; blue and green respectively, and they were running (Lockon with his Haro in his hand) inside the hangar to board their respective Gundams.
"Just in time! Just as planned!" Haro announced shortly before the 2 Meisters jumped over the cockpits of their respective Gundams; Exia and Dynames. Once inside, the belts were fastened while the cockpits hatches closed automatically.
Once inside the square cavity of their cockpits, both pilots turned on the activation systems in the cockpits by causing the main monitor screen to light up illuminating the interior and then inscriptions appear that read "Individual information attestation system START UP." Not long after, a red optical laser passed over their eyes being a biometric scan.
Once the scan was finished, Setsuna proceeded to the next phase.
"Disengaging GN System Repause. Priority to Setsuna F. Seiei." Setsuna stated in a monotonously tone as the other Exia's systems in the cockpit activated.
Lockon placed his Haro into the cockpit docking station. "All right now. Let's go, partner." Lockon said with a smile towards his pet-companion.
The containers opened as Haro's voice came over the outer speakers "Hatch open, hatch open!" It announced.
Once the hatches were completely open, the Gundams were raised from prone to a standing position. "Exia, Dynames, ready for deployment! Ready for deployment!"
When the Gundams were completely vertical, the dark green convex surfaces on them flashed a bright teal colour, the eyes doing the same as the Suits went online. Then the Exia began to stride forward while the Dynames grabbed it's sniper rifle from the container and mounted it on it's right shoulder, before moving into position next to Exia.
"GN particles initiating dispersal, initiating dispersal!" Haro chirped through Lockon's and Setsuna's channels at the same time the GN particles began to emanate from the conical thrusters of the Gundams ready to take off.
Setsuna grabbed the controls in his cockpit before saying the following. "Exia, Setsuna F. Seiei, executing second mission."
Lockon smiled. "Dynames, Lockon Stratos, taking off." The 2 Gundams began to float as their feet separated from the ground as if gravity had been shut off for the 2 Suits as they flew off at high speed with the Exia in the lead and the Dynames following behind.
Both Suits released a trail of GN particles from their backs.
Wang Liu Mei and his servant Hong Long stared engrossed as the 2 big mechas took off into the sky heading for the next mission.
"The Gundams of Celestial Being." Hong said with a solemn tone.
"Yes, those are the units that deserve to be called the 'true Gundams' as they fulfill the ideals of Celestial Being." Liu Mei commented proudly as she watched the Gundams drift away across the horizon.
Space
Location: Captain's stateroom - Minerva - Lagrange 4 - Earth Orbit
Cagalli had had several diplomatic meetings with the leaders or ambassadors of other nations such as the Union, AEU and HRL, the first of which was the most difficult to deal with since their representatives accused her government of illegally providing military aid to PLANTs. Those tensions had begun when PLANTs Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal, a politician who belonged to the same party as the late Siegel Clyne and had publicly promised to uphold the late president's ideals, had initiated a review of ZAFT under the name of the New Millennium Project by manufacturing new state-of-the-art Mobile Suit models and a warship that is on par with the Archangel or the Eternal and this had troubled many nations on Earth and especially her.
From the beginning Cagalli thought that Durandal was a moderate and pacifist politician convinced as the first and former Chairman of PLANTs, someone who did not hold a grudge against Naturals like Patrick Zala and would not take homicidal measures like the latter, but that did not prevent him from initiating an ambitious rearmament program that could violate the agreements of the Treaty of Junius and lead to another Earth-PLANTs war. The very thought had frightened her and her personal bodyguard that the tragedy of 6 years ago would repeat itself again and so she had initiated a great effort to request a diplomatic meeting with the new Chairman of PLANTs to try to dissuade him from stopping the rearmament of his forces at the expense of the technology provided by the migrant workers of his nation. But the Chairman proved to be a firm man in his resolve to continue with his project arguing that "power is necessary, because otherwise, there will never cease to be conflicts."
She never understood the position of the new Chairman on his ideology and that worried haner more since that would mean that she would be far from wanting to persuade him and allow him to get away with it without seeing the consequences that would happen. And it ended up happening instantly when out of nowhere a mysterious group of terrorists managed to infiltrate one of the hangars and they took three of the Mobile Suits models belonging to the Second Stage of the project, all G Weapons, and began to unleash chaos destroying the other hangars and Mobile Suits without anyone being able to stop them. All this reminded her and her bodyguard of the day ZAFT attacked Heliopolis for the same reason. Not long after a second unknown faction appeared that surprisingly attacked the two firsts and the highlight was that they also possessed Gundams in their possession, but of an unknown model and an equally unknown source of propulsion.
For the next few hours after the attack and having boarded the Minerva to ask Chairman Durandal (who was also on board) for asylum, they heard nothing about this new faction with Gundams attacking both the assailants and ZAFT forces until the whereabouts of the mysterious organization known as Celestial Being was announced and its founder, being one of the most brilliant minds on the planet of the 21st century, Aeolia Schenberg, and its purpose of eliminating the wars and conflicts from the world. All this took the young Representative with surprise and disbelief at the fact that that group with Gundams that intervened in the battle were a secret organization without any military affiliation or anything, and yet they possessed in their possession machines with such terrifying power that she knew very much of their potential from those she witnessed in the war (Strike, Aegis, Duel, Buster, Blitz, Freedom and Justice), but the one she witnessed had nothing to do with it and that worried her.
However, apart from that, what most intrigued and worried her was the supposed purpose for which this organization was going to use the power of those Gundams for an unclear and yet quite surreal end. What on earth exactly did he mean by "eradicating wars or reforming the world" through armed interventions? None of this made sense since just thinking about it seemed to be a rather absurd joke, but nothing funny.
Even the Chairman of PLANTs himself, who had invited her and Athrun to his (the captain's) stateroom to discuss the matter, seemed to be unable to help but let out his curiosity in the matter and ask questions about the mysterious origin of the Gundams.
"Forgive me if I upset you at a time like this because of what you went through before, but I think we should talk about what just happened." Durandal said sitting opposite her with an apologetic tone. Cagalli nods modestly giving the Chairman permission to speak. "Well, to begin with, a few hours ago I contacted the Supreme Council who demanded answers for what happened in Armoury One. They also wanted to know about those mysterious Mobile Suits that infiltrated and attacked the assailants and our forces, but obviously, I could not give answers, not until the answer finally came in that message that was not only transmitted on Earth, but also in PLANTs."
Cagalli didn't say anything since he already knew that part and she also knew that the real conversation didn't start.
"Even after hearing the message and knowing something about the Mobile Suits' faction that came in and thwarted the terrorist attack on the HRL's Orbital Elevator, this only created more confusion than there is now."
Cagalli totally agreed with that as she was also quite confused by the revelation of such an organization and its purpose.
"I wonder what exactly Celestial Being is?" Durandal asked suddenly getting the attention of the blonde Representative. "And what will be their real intentions about 'Reforming the world' through what they call the 'eradication of war?'
Then he looked at Cagalli's face directly with a smile on his face. "I guess you're asking yourself the same question too."
Cagalli frowned a little uncomfortably at the question while Athrun standing next to her looked a little tense, but the former did not want to deny the question. Like most, she also wanted to know more about the whereabouts of that organization and about its true intentions behind what they call "the eradication of wars" and the "reformation of the world," and even more about the man who made it all known, that supposed Aeolia Schenberg.
"I was wondering if you as a Representative of the nation that invented the five G prototypes, maybe you know something about it. I know you weren't involved in Project G, but I guess you'll have all the information about it, don't you?"
"I'm afraid not." Cagalli replied immediately. "After I became a Representative, I decided to cancel everything related to Project G so that no one could ever manufacture those units again." She answered before lowering her gaze a little, and her hands were intertwined. "I'm also very intrigued by this whole issue of how an independent organization can have these machines in its possession and even more so with that kind of weaponry and propulsion never seen before." She said grimly that last part as she recalled the blue Gundam's fight against the Chaos and the Abyss demonstrating its incredible capabilities before raising her head and looking straight at the Chairman. "Honestly I don't know what kind of technology they use, but I assure you that Mongenrete doesn't have the funds and technological capabilities to manufacture such things."
Durandal absorbed all the information until he was satisfied with what he heard. "I understand. Thank you for answering." He said with a smile before changing the subject. "Now, going back to before, what is your opinion about their goal of eradicating wars through their armed interventions? How would you interpret this?" He asked before taking a sip from his teacup.
Cagalli looked at him questioningly wondering why he was asking her that.
"I ask you since you yourself witnessed firsthand the calamities of the previous war and the experience you must have endured back then. I'm sure you'll know all too well what the tragedy was like."
Cagalli's mind was immersed in the conflicts she witnessed in front of her eyes such as the attack on Heliopolis, the fighting of Desert Dawn, the violent invasion of Orb by the Union navy and finally the climax of the war, the Second Battle of Jachin Due. She had experienced and witnessed well the harsh reality of combat and the countless lives and loved ones she lost throughout her adventure such as her Desert Dawn partner, Ahmed el Hosn, her friend or brother Kira Yamato (she actually believed him dead for a few days), her father, Uzumi Nara Attha and some Orb soldiers in Jachin Due.
All those experiences were engraved in fire in the mind of the young rebel and the one that affected her most was the death of her father, and since the war ended, while Orb was rebuilding, she had sworn herself and in the memorial of her late father that she would do everything in her power to maintain her ideals and preserve the peace of her nation and not let her the tragedy would repeat itself again.
"What does that have to do with them?" She asked almost aloud trying to control her anger at having opened old wounds on her.
As expected, the Chairman remained unperturbed by the mood of the young blonde and simply gave her a slightly mysterious smile.
"Well, we still don't know a lot of their pilots, the ones they call Gundam Meisters, or who push them to do these things for no benefit except the eradication of wars, and that makes me think they must probably have a vision more or less similar to yours, don't they?"
That took the young Representative and her bodyguard almost by surprise when they realized that they had not thought that before. What was it that drove these people to do something that most people would consider impossible or fanciful? Like them 5 years ago they thought more or less the same about the current state of the world being hit by an endless chain of hatred and had the need to stop all that at all costs? If that were the case, then-
Suddenly they couldn't think any longer when the cabin door opened automatically revealing a soldier in green uniform.
"Excuse me for the interruption, Mr. Chairman." The soldier said bowing. "But they have warned us that they have found the parallel of those Gundams. They were seen by one of our Earth and HRL satellites."
The stateroom fell silent as Cagalli and Athrun absorbed the information in surprise and bewilderment while Durandal kept a neutral expression.
Above the stratosphere
The Virtue and the Kyrios reached the outer layer of Earth's atmosphere, intending to make atmospheric reentry. Large pods attached to the Virtue's lower legs and upper back opened, spreading out GN particles.
"GN particles, maximum dispersion." Tieria said calmly before pushing forward, the condensation particles in front of the Gundam. "Expansion to frontal region." The Kyrios stayed behind for a bit before doing the same.
"Even though I've done this several times in the simulator..." Allelujah muttered worried about himself in contrast to his companion.
"Descent point reached." Tieria's voice came through the communicator making Allelujah blink a little surprised. "Commencing atmospheric entry. " The Virtue descended into the atmosphere at high speed with the GN particles acting as a barrier.
The orange Meister was surprised at how daredevil his purple companion was even in these kinds of situations. No doubt he seemed to be a veteran despite this his first time that made an authentic descent through the earth's atmosphere.
"Tieria... you really have nerves of steel." Allelujah smiled wryly to himself. He didn't know where he got that tenacity of looking like a tough and indifferent guy in this kind of situation, but he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed for not following his example and doing a good job as a pilot. After all, they are like soldiers who were about to enter real combat and there was going to be no turning back.
With that in mind, Allelujah swallowed his anxiety and made the Kyrios accelerate and follow the Virtue into the atmosphere diving directly to the surface.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to both Meisters, the heat generated by the particles' re-entry was collected by HRL's Geosynchronous Orbital Station.
Alarms sounded inside Heavens Pillar's command center as the men scrambled "Captain, detecting something on the E sensor. It looks like they're the Gundams of Celestial Being, and they're traversing the atmosphere."
"What!?" Exclaimed the commanding officer. "I want to see them. Where are they?"
The operators typed in their monitors until an image of 2 bright red objects and atmospheric violations, with green particles wrapped around them like a cocoon.
The captain had been stunned and surprised to see those objects pierce the atmosphere wrapped in that strange cocoon of light.
Location: Minerva bridge - Lagrange 4 - Earth Orbit
"Gundams..." Cagalli muttered upon seeing the Gundams.
Durandal stared at the monitor screen of the Minerva bridge to the 2 Gundams piercing the atmosphere. To his left sat Cagalli and his right Athrun. In front of him was Talia in her personal seat while the operators and Arthur Trine were seated at their posts.
"Those units ... are passing through the atmosphere on their own..." Arthur said puzzled. The bridge was also amazed to see how they passed through the atmosphere with ease and that strange white light that surrounds them was surprising to them too. Durandal thought it was a layer generated from these strange combustion particles. Cagalli also observed them, also surprised by the strange light that surrounds them without being affected by the heat as they pass through the atmosphere.
"Is there a ship nearby?" Talia asked Burt.
"No, ma'am." The operator replied. "We did not detect any indication of a backup ship."
The Chairman and the captain nodded knowing that they do not carry any backrest to cross the atmosphere, since it is totally impossible for a Mobile Suit to survive those conditions unless they travel at a high speed. Athrun and Cagalli recalled the technology of making the latest ZAFT Mobile Suits more advanced as the Freedom and the Justice could traverse the entire atmosphere as they were powered by a nuclear reactor.
"What's their descent route?" Colonel Sergei Smirnov asked one of his operators.
"Based on the current trajectory, stimated descend point is..."
"They are going to South India, the Island of Ceylon." Burt replied almost immediately.
This caused a shockwave throughout the room to hear that the point they are heading at is one of the disputed territories between ZAFT and the EA.
"That's our territory, Colonel!" The commanding officer protested in disbelief towards his superior.
A feeling of restlessness and uncertainty ran through the old veteran's mind as he came to the conclusion about what these people were planning to do in one of the most chaotic places in the world.
"They... do they really intend to intervene there?" He asked in disbelief.
That was all for today. I really stayed long and that, and I hope the next chapter shortens it a bit since we will only see the intervention of Celestial Being in the ethnic conflict of Ceylon until the encounter of our favorite Gundam nut with our favorite Flag nut.
Now I will put some context on this chapter with respect to the original canon. As you may have seen, most of it remained faithful, except for some elements of SEED Destiny introduced such as the replacement of the already obsolete Flag, Hellion and Tieren by the Dagger class as the standard MS of the Union, AEU and the HRL (Earth Alliance), although in some sectors these old Suits are still used since in no way Graham and his Flag Over team would replace their beloved Flags with more machines modern.
Speaking of modern machines. As you may have noticed, I replace Patrick's Enact by the Hyperion G, the variant of the original Hyperion. I have not yet seen the manga where this particular Suit appears, but from what I have read, it must be a formidable machine, almost on par with a Gundam, I imagine. But that depends on who piloted it, and this is what happens when they put an impulsive Patrick in the cockpit of one of these without experience in real combat and ends up lying on the ground without arms and legs. By the way, this happened a day after the announcement so Graham had already suspected that this could happen and that's why he went to see it.
Well, I hope you enjoyed it.
Ja ne!