Here I am back with a new chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
On reviews:
Vladblood234: Thank you. Technically speaking I don't think there will be much difference except for advanced technology, beam weapons and stuff, but it won't pose any difficulties for the Celestial Being Gundams. In any case, you will also see some canonical MS 00.
Oh, and as for the new chapter (this one in particular) I guess you'll like it since I'll talk a little about SEED's MS in 00.
Dontus -no Donut- Powerus: Again, I'm not interested in casting Meer in Celestial Being. Don't be offended, it's not that I don't like her character, nor do I hate her. I'm just not a fan of hers. Another thing I need to address as to why she could not join Setsuna, is that according to you, he could convincing her to defecting due to her role of being Durandal's puppet, right?
This sounds to me like something the Setsuna S2 who would be more open and a bit talkative would do, and I can't imagine that the S1 version of him would have a similar level of persuasion as Kira.
Also, if I put her in my story with the same canonical role, I don't think it makes much sense. True that her role in canon was as a deterrent tool to convince most of the citizens of PLANTs to support to Durandal and gain more influence as a good leader and lead his troops in their fight against LOGOS, but in this scenario, he is a member of the Observers and as I suppose most of you suspect, he will have a role similar to that of Alejandro Corner to use the armed interventions of the Celestial Being to unify the world and be the ruler of said world. So, in my opinion, I didn't think he needed to have his own Lacus Clyne in his possession.
Now, on the subject of ships, I agree that there aren't many options for our favorite Gundam nut. All due to his introverted, distant character, etc., which makes it very difficult for him to have any kind of relationship with any girl he meets.
Anyway, I'm not thinking of changing all that either, at least for the moment, but I think Setsuna deserves, just like Allelujah, to have a couple of him own with whom they establishes a good bond. Which is going to be a challenge since I'm also not an expert on Romance and stuff.
And if you ask which of the 3 or 2 candidates would be the one for Setsuna, I personally choose Feldt Grace, but that will be later when we get to the setting of the second season.
EXpertUS: Well, in a sense the second generation MS from Earth are comparable to ZAFT's MS and could put up a lot of a fight unlike original canon, but considering that ZAFT deployed their N-Jammers over the Earth's surface to provoke enormous interference in electromagnetic waves that affected the use of radio for communication and radar for observation, Earth forces had serious difficulty orienting themselves during a battle at least in the short term, and with the seizure of the Orbital Elevator of the AEU to control the energy supply to the AEU and forcing the latter to withdraw from the conflict, the Union and the HRL were practically alone in their fight against PLANTs.
In any case, the Earth MS that was used during the conflict are the predecessors of the current MS such as the YMS-01A Flag, the AEU-05/64 Hellion Medium and the current Tieren.
AXL999: Thank you because you liked my version. I've also seen some crossovers about this guy where sometimes Kira, Setsuna and Shinn come out as enemies (see Enigmatic Fate and Fates Crossed if you're interested), but none of them are finished. Anyway, wait to see how the story will change when the 3 protagonists of their respective factions meet.
Chapter 6: The Gundam Meisters
19/07/2023
After several minutes of being subjected to the relentless pressure of heat and the strong turbulences caused by the gravitational force while plummeting like meteorites at high speed, the 2 Gundams; Virtue and Kyrios managed to complete their re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere having passed through the 4 main layers reaching the stratosphere. It had not been an easy journey especially because of the gravitational force that engulfs any heavy object that comes into contact and drags it down until it crashes to the surface, not to mention the intense heat caused by the greenhouse effect that could scorch any object that has been swallowed during reentry.
However, thanks to the technology of deployment of GN particles, which, apart from serving as a byproduct for the abnormal propulsion of the Gundams, stealth purposes and base for beam armaments, also serve to cover the entire Suit with a torrent of particles that protects it from aerodynamic heating caused by adiabatic compression during the entry process, so they are able to have an entrance to the Earth's atmosphere safely.
"Virtue, switching from maximum GN particle emission to normal mode." Tieria ordered calmly as the Virtue's pods closed. As a result, the blanket of GN particles that covered the burly Gundam disappeared leaving it exposed to the terrestrial environment, however, it no longer mattered, since it was now in a totally stable environment and without danger of overheating. Not long after, he slowed down and continued to descend now at a moderate speed.
Not long after, the Kyrios behind the Virtue, did the same, and in its cockpit, Allelujah felt the strong vibrations of the cockpit and the tension in his body progressively diminish as he finished his entrance into the atmosphere. When he felt that everything was back to normal and the sense of danger faded, the orange Meister allowed himself to breathe a soft sigh of relief seeing that the turbulent atmospheric journey was finally over.
"This is my Kyrios." He said in gratitude to his Gundam (still in Mobile Armor mode) for having withstood all the atmospheric stress. Not many Mobile Suits were able to make an entrance or exit freely through the terrestrial atmosphere as the case of their Gundams no matter what era they are, either during the Bloody Valentine's War or the current ones.
Earth's forces still rely on their Mass Drivers or Orbital Elevators as a springboard to take them directly into space, while ZAFT is capable of carrying 4 of its Mobile Suits inside a descent capsule whose lightly armored material protects the Suits from rising temperatures until the capsule has safely entered the atmosphere. Of course, the Celestial Being's Gundams do not need to depend on such circumstances to enter and exit through the atmosphere since they have the only advanced technology with which the other factions will never have being the power that characterizes the Gundams and their creators, Celestial Being, would use it to change the world through the armed interventions that they will carry out at this time.
"Yes, I know. The mission begins now." Allelujah said to himself as if he were talking to an invisible person whom he knows of his existence and presence.
It's time to test the power of their Gundams and show the world what they're capable of.
Not far from the location of the 2 Gundams still descending from the sky, sailing or flying over the calm waters of the Indian Ocean, the Exia and the Dynames were moving at a moderate speed towards the encounter of their 2 companions. The pilot of the latter, Lockon, noticed the presence of the other 2 Gundams and immediately notified his companion next door.
"They're here, Setsuna!" Lockon told Setsuna as the image of the former's face appeared in the terminal of the Exia's cockpit. "Allelujah and Tieria!"
The blue Meister scanned his cockpit screen and immediately saw 2 descending patterns emitting GN particles.
"Confirmed. After assembling at rendezvous point, we will proceed on to First Phase."
With that said, both Gundams ascended further into the sky and changed course to reunite with their other 2 companions still descending to head the 4 together towards their destination where they will carry out their next mission.
Space
Location: Minerva Bridge - Lagrange 4 - Earth Orbit
"This is the only picture we have for now." Burt said while pressing a button on his console making a large digitized image captured by one of ZAFT's spy satellites appear over Earth orbit and after a brief scan and enlargement of the screen, the bridge had a view of the 4 Gundams flying over the waters at high speed.
The bridge watched with a mixture of expectation and curiosity to the 4 machines flying together. They saw that two of them were totally recognizable; blue and green, as they are the ones that infiltrated the Armory, while the burly saw it outside, and orange in a broadcast of the terrorist attack on the HRL Orbital Elevator.
Chairman Durandal also watched them with apparent interest. "So that's the Gundams of Celestial Being."
On either side, Athrun and Cagalli also dedicated themselves to scrutinizing the 4 Suits and looking for some kind of relationship with those they had already seen before. Because the image provided by the satellite was far above them, they could not observe their main frontal features, but they did not need to. The number of these machines were more or less similar to that of the 5 prototypes of Project G and their appearance and design also reminded a lot of the latter since the blue reminded him a little of the Strike or the Duel, the green to the Buster, while the orange (it is speculated that it must be a transformable type since before it came with the shape of a fighter and still they are seeing it in the screen) should be similar to the Aegis since it can also transform, in addition, it also has 2 large blades at the base of its feet that seem to serve as additional beam sabers. As for the bulky, they couldn't relate it to any of those they saw before.
However, the only feature that these machines differ from the previous ones is that strange propulsion of bright particles emanating from the rear. The couple still remembered seeing this phenomenon up close when they witnessed the blue Gundam battling 2 of the stolen MS in the Armory. Its abnormal and agile movements gave him the impression that this machine was defying the laws of physics by moving in such an unsurreal way as if it were in a gravitationally low 0 environment. They wondered if that kind of propulsion was the cause of all that.
"What is their current location?" Talia asked one of her operators after a brief silence.
"According to our data, they are about 20 kilometers off the southeast coast of Ceylon." The operator replied. "It won't take long for them to reach the island."
A new silence hung over the bridge as its occupants collected those words. They had not changed their route and every moment that passed, they were getting closer and closer towards their designated destination with the clear intention of breaking into the conflict that had been taking place there for centuries, and more considering that there are also additional forces of the EA (HRL) and ZAFT on each side respectively.
Needless to say, most of them watching this thought to themselves that what these people were doing in trying to intervene on both sides is very reckless, not to mention complete madness.
"Do they really intend to attack our and Alliance forces with as few as four Gundams?" Arthur asked in disbelief and uncertainty.
Everyone shared the same uncertainty of the deputy captain, especially the 2 young veterans of the war present here seeing the idea of intervening on both fronts a complete insane. Anyway, this reminded them of when they intervened in the heat of the Battle of Jachin Due, but they had the element of surprise since each enemy side was expectant when the Alliance launched its barrage of nuclear missiles towards PLANTs, and they loaded with a equipment that allowed them to intercept and destroy all incoming missiles which neither side expected to see this.
They wondered if this new Gundams team would make their own element of surprise on their enemies, but somehow doubted it. Their presence had been detected before and they would be notified to the fighting forces there so that they could prepare for their arrival. It was pretty clear that there won't be any surprise attacks from this new team.
Even so, they also didn't forget what the blue Gundam could do when he fought the 2 stolen Suits and crushed down a entire squad of GINNs alone. They still thought that this machine was nothing ordinary at all like most, and must have a certain resemblance to the Freedom and the Justice, not to mention how the pilot, whoever he was, handled it. They wondered if the other machines had the same quality and experienced pilots.
Anyway, whatever was going to happen on that island, they only had the feeling that this Gundams team is probably going to unleash a new hell on the conflict and they could not say if it was going to be the same or different from Jachin Due.
Earth
Location: Washington D.C - United States of America – Union
"Celestial Being's making its move?" Stegmayer asked surprised when his secretary David informed him about the current parallel of the organization and have decided to start its movement now. "Where are they now?"
"It apperas they're headed for Ceylon Island in Southern India, sir." David replied nodding.
Location: HRL Capitol - Beijing - China - Human Reform League
At the same time, President Decheng's secretary informed the Chinese president about the situation in which the enigmatic paramilitary organization was currently heading, and the latter nodded expectantly having anticipated that one of the first objectives of Celestial Being would be to interfere in the conflict that had been going on for centuries on that island that is located in the south of the subcontinent.
"Respond according to as planned." Decheng indicated to his secretary. The secretary nods and leaves, leaving the president alone to himself.
'If you're going to go there, then fine for me. This way we will have the opportunity to capture one of your machines and get your technology for our purposes.'
Location: Near the shores of Ceylon – South India - Human Reform League
The 4 Gundams already had in sight the coast of the island located in southern India, the territory where a conflict similar to that of the Naturals and Coordinators was developing, but unlike the latter, those of Ceylon have more to do with the territory than with genetic racism.
Setsuna recalled everything that had been explained to him about this particular conflict.
Flashback
"Right now, Ceylon is in a state of anarchy. This is due to an ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. This conflict has continued off and on since twentieth century." Sumeragi explained to the Meisters. She, Tieria and Allelujah were standing in a room of the Ptolemaios, while Setsuna and Lockon were listening to the broadcast on Earth.
"Currently the Alliance is supporting the Tamils to seize control of the Equatorial Union, effectively giving them control over the Indian Ocean, blocking all supply routes from Australaisia to North Africa, and vice versa, and preventing ZAFT only two territories from assisting each other. For that reason, PLANTs decided to support the Sinhalese by sending his forces there, to expel the Alliance. Celestial Being will perform an armed intervention in this ethnic conflict."
End of flashback
"Ethnic conflict..." Setsuna said coldly in a low voice as he pondered the kind of conflict they had to extinguish. Until now, the young Kurdish Meister had known or heard of a series of conflicts throughout his life being first of all the religious wars by his own experience, the Bloody Valentine's War that could be considered as the most modern conflict since it had implications of genetic racism, and among others.
This particular one was more or less similar to the war 5 years ago, but had more territorial than racial implications. Even if he didn't show it, Setsuna was surprised at how low humans had fallen for looking for any pretext, excuse or justification to provoke a homicidal conflict without taking into account the number of human casualties that were happening, all for their own selfish motives. And to top it off, this conflict was going on for 300 years with no view to ever ending since they did not find any solution to end their disputes, and probably never will, so the bloodbath that would be plaguing the island will never end.
That was the world he knew in his childhood and stay in his old home Krugis. The same world so chaotic and twisted that he despised so much with all his being and longed to destroy it. That was why he had decided to become a Gundam Meister, pilot the Exia to end this cycle of blood and violence once and for all.
He and his Gundam will be the destroyers of this conflict.
Many miles from the location of the Meisters, a Union transport plane, carrying Graham and Billy, the 2 were discussing the news of the Gundams and their destination.
"The old Sri Lanka Island, huh?" Billy said sitting down drinking a cup of coffee. "As I recall, the Human Reform League has been assisting the Tamils since about ten years ago."
Graham was standing, looking out of the hangar window at his Mobile Suit. "Yeah. Under the pretext of a peaceful resolution to the ethnic conflict. But that's not true. Their real goal is to ensure the safety of its underwater solar power pipeline on the east coast of Ceylon Island. But the conflict was further intensified due to the presence of ZAFT in North Africa so both the Human Reform League and the Union created an embargo throughout the Indian Ocean to persuade them to leave the northern territories and the Earth, and in response, ZAFT established part of its forces on the island, siding with the Sinhalese to break the embargo."
After this historical explanation, Graham activated the intercom of a wall, where the image of the coopilot appeared.
"How may I help you?" The coopilot asked through the terminal.
"Go tell the Captain to change course." Graham requested immediately. "Also, prep my Flag to launch."
"Yes, sir!" The obedient coopilot replied before closing the communication. Billy heard this and couldn't help but look at his partner in shock upon discovering what he intended to do.
"A-are you serious? You're being reckless!" He exclaimed in incredulity and worried. However, Graham just stared at him with a confident smile on his lips.
"I know perfectly well." He replied calmly.
The skyline in Ceylon Island was thick with black smoke, the sound of explosions and gunfire filling the air, as a fierce battle was waged on the ground below.
These scenes were commonplace in Ceylon for almost 300 years, making it one of the most perpetually troubled places on the planet. It had all begun during the British mandate over the island for 152 years (1796 to 1948) when British officials sent about a million Tamils from India to work on plantations that were being established for commercial purposes on the island, where products such as coffee, rubber and tea were grown. With the arrival of the Tamil population, the colonial administration established Tamil-language schools in the north of the island and appointed Tamils preferentially to administrative posts, which caused outrage and unrest for the native Sinhalese population.
With the country's independence in 1948, the Sinhalese majority came to dominate the institutions of the new state, passing laws that discriminated against Tamils. Sinhalese was declared the exclusive official language throughout the country, resulting in the expulsion of Tamils from state administration. Finally, the Citizenship Act passed that same year stripped citizenship from all Tamils on the island, rendering the 700,000 Tamils residing in Ceylon stateless. This new situation produced major unrest in the following years and led to the formation of an insurgent group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or the Tamil Tigers and by 1983 the civil wars broke out.
So far there have been waves of civil wars between the 2 ethnic residents of the island that were only temporarily interrupted by a ceasefire, but they did not reach any peaceful solution to end hostilities once and for all, so over time they resumed again and again. Not even the new world energy change with the establishment of the Solar Power System stopped things as there were external factions that wanted to take advantage of the situation for their own purposes like the HRL who sent their troops there under the pretext of backing the Tamil Tigers when in fact they were acting to protect their own interests from their Orbital Elevator and worsen the conflict.
From the beginning the main armaments of the conflict were the tanks that destroyed with their firepower anything that stood in the way such as entire towns and villages and many lives, not to mention several strategic flight attacks that had a higher destructive level. However, with the new era in force and after having consolidated its new source of energy in perpetuity, it led to the creation of the first Mobile Suits that immediately replaced the obsolete tanks and did not take long to deploy them in the conflict intensifying more and more the mortality and destruction they caused. This had worsened further with the entry of ZAFT into the war game due to their permanence in the northern territories of Africa, so the HRL launched an embargo throughout the Indian to force them to leave Earth and consequently ZAFT had sent a detachment of their forces to the island to counter the influence of the HRL and decided to support the Sinhalese in their fight against the coalition HRL-Tamil.
The Mobile Suits sent to the battle theater are mostly relics of the Bloody Valentine's War that were still in use today despite advances in crafting new mass production models, although HRL forces are ahead of the curve for shipping their newest Mobile Suits.
The conflict zone was a plateau overlooking a large clearing, on top of the plateau stood several GAT-01D1 Duel Daggers equipped with "Fortrestra" assault shrouds, and in the clearing below, were several TFA-2 ZuOOTs advancing towards the plateau, their red armour having been hastily repainted a light tan colour. The double cannon mounted on the left arm of the ZuOOT fired shell after shell towards the Duel Daggers above, unfortunately the "Fortresta" armor was tested to direct shell attacks so at the end of the explosion of the impact, the Mobile Suit was completely unharmed and immediately its pilot began to prepare his retaliation.
The attacking ZuOOT tried to get out of the attack path of the Duel Daggers as fast as it could, but due to its large volume and armor that gave him an impression of a Mobile Armor, the ZuOOT was moving like a land turtle so it did not have time to avoid a sneak attack when it was shot down by a projectile throwing into the distance.
The downed Suit exploded a few seconds later, kicking up a cloud of smoke and dust. Its attacker was on another plateau 3 km away being 4 MSJ-06II-A Tieren Ground Type who were providing artillery support. The Tierens were the standard HRL Mobile Suits and were in service for more than a decade before the Bloody Valentine's War. The Tieren was the successor to the MSJ Fanton that was powered by fossil fuels which became obsolete and they had the need to create a more advanced Mobile Suit, and from that idea was born the Tieren that worked with batteries. With a height of 18 meters and with an appearance that was quite reminiscent of that of an armored automaton, the Tieren was always a Mobile Suit with a slightly intimidating appearance, in addition to possessing excellent performance, features and high versatility since it is also usable in space.
However, it possessed low mobility due to its immense weight and volume, but in return, it has a high defensive capability thanks to the thick E-Carbon armor and can equip super heavy weaponry. In addition, its technology is highly reliable and the machine can be easily maintained. Undoubtedly, the Tieren was the national pride of the HRL and the pinnacle of its armed forces, however, its time of glory came to an end with the outbreak of the war against PLANTs, who the latter had deployed his own mobile weapons being the GINN who tested the power of the MS of the HRL against the new era. Technically speaking, both the Tieren and the GINN are basically identical machines without many technological differences since they are composed of the same E-Carbon armor, possess an E-Sensor and more or less the same armaments. The only key differences are that the GINN had more mobility and maneuverability because its armor is more stylized which gave it an advantageous freedom of movement not to mention the performance that was driven by its Coordinator pilots that although at that time most were novices, they fought like real aces due to their ability to adapt quickly to environments such as a battlefield so most of the times they had some advantage against their Earth enemies throughout the war.
However, it was not because of that that the Tierens began to be seen as outdated machines due to the technological superiority of the Coordinators, but because of the fact that the Union had released its new mobile weapon being the Dagger series who had quickly turned the tide of the battle due not only to their new maneuverability, new more lethal and advantageous armaments such as a beam rifle and a pair of beam sabers were also present, which was quite revolutionary and the HRL quickly realized that it was not only losing ground to PLANTs but also to the Union. Taking advantage of the fact that they were still allies, the HRL had requested the acquisition of much of the Dagger's technology, but the Union government had steadfastly refused to deliver such novel technologies to a nation that in the past were bitter economic rivals.
It was only after the war and with the beginning of the rearmament of ZAFT in the New Millennium Project that the Union finally gave in to the requests of the HRL and gave away part of the technology of elaboration of these Mobile Suits by which they were launched to create similar copies. Of course, due to this factor, the Tierens ceased to have relevance in this new realm and most were discarded like their predecessor in almost all military sectors of the HRL, except for a very few like those used by the Tamil Tigers right now.
The Dagger L fired its twin cannons again, and the Tieren also fired its linear cannon towards the target. The Tieren's shot missed except for the Dagger L, who managed to shoot down and destroy another ZuOOT. The explosion caused a large jet cloud and from that cloud emerged the remaining ZuOOT. The remaining ZuOOT kept running through a rain of ray rifle fire, ignoring the gunfire. The pilot of the ZuOOT turned right and fired a round of his arm cannon at three Duel Daggers advancing towards him, only to be destroyed by two shots from the main shoulder gun of the Duel Dagger.
"We've destroyed thirty percent of the enemy forces! At this rate we'll charge until we wipe them all out!" The unit leader exclaimed happily to his subordinates.
"Captain, an emergency message from HQ." He reported one of his subordinates to the right through the other line.
"What is it?" The leader asked impatiently.
"It seems that Celestial Being is on its way here!" He answered urgently. The captain just nodded in response.
"Is that so. They're coming here. Notify all squads!" He ordered immediately as they continued their avance. Another ZuOOT exploded in the wake of their onslaught.
The Gundams continued their course for Ceylon Island, the 4 units flying a diamond formation, with Lockon giving the other meisters a last minute briefing before they headed into battle.
"We'll respond individually according to Sumeragi Lee Noriega's combat forecast. I hope you give it all with the whole, good luck." The green Meister encouraged towards his companions.
"That depends on each one." Allelujah said, smiling cynically.
"I will carry out a thorough job." Tieria replied monotonously sounding professional. Lockon laughed a little at that.
"As you wish."
Then the green Meister's smile disappeared when he noticed that his companion, the youngest of the Meisters, hadn't said anything yet as if he was absent for some reason. He knew that among the 4 he was the quietest and Lockon could tolerate that, but that did not mean that he remained eternally silent while making a conversation with everyone and he ignored him.
"Hey, Setsuna, are you listening? Answer me." There was no response... "Setsuna! Setsuna!"
Apart from the constant shouts of his companion through the radio of his cockpit, Setsuna remained in complete silence without even registering what his companion was saying or if he was speaking as if the radio had broken down leaving the interior of the cockpit in perpetual absolute silence as if the pilot was the only person existing now.
Instead of fixating on the image of the green Meister's face on the main monitor, the blue Meister's attention was only fixed on another particular one that showed the battle that was taking place on its designated target. Mobile Suits attacking each other. The image of the ZuOOTs brought back memories of a traumatic past of certain identical Mobile Suits that caused the destruction of his hometown and the death of his former guerrilla comrades. Suddenly his mind traveled back to the days of his childhood as a guerrilla boy, running through the devastated streets of his hometown.
One of the Azadian Mobile Suits, the Anf had seen him and cornered him like a helpless rat. The Anf aimed its guns to end his life, but was suddenly hit by a ray of pink light that fell from the sky decimating him. The next thing he remembered was to look up at the sky to see his savior being a huge humanoid being wrapped in extensive wings of bright light.
Setsuna would never forget that day when her life was about to come to an end, when she had lost all hope of continuing to live and nothing mattered to her anymore. However, that changed when he was saved by a being who gave him a reason to continue existing, to continue fighting against this chaotic and twisted world that he hates so much with all his heart. Yes. The light that illuminated his murky soul had guided him to where he was now and would continue his legacy as an exterminating angel of those bent on continuing indiscriminate conflict and killing.
He will purge this world of everything that promotes and incites hatred and wars from the hearts of men along with his Gundam. He will promote the eradication of this vicious cycle of violence from the face of the Earth.
After all he is a Gundam Meister.
"Setsuna! Answer me, Setsuna!"
But more than that he is a...
"Gundam…"
"Huh? What did you say?"
Setsuna raised his head to look straight ahead with a blank expression. "I'm a Gundam..." He replied calmly and with conviction.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Instead of responding, Setsuna pressed one of the control sticks in his cockpit without warning causing his Gundam to accelerate its march to the surprise of his companions watching as the Exia suddenly overtook them.
"H-hey, Setsuna!" Lockon shouted surprised by the strange behavior of the younger Meister.
"We will leave the kid in your charge." Allelujah said before breaking formation causing Lockon to let out a surprised and undignified "Huh!?" in response.
"Commencing operation maneuvers." Tieria said with a monotonous tone also breaking the formation. Lockon couldn't believe what was happening as he watched his companions moving away from him in different directions.
"H-hey! You guys!" Lockon shouted in confusion and anger as he frantically watched as the 2 Gundams moved further away, leaving him completely alone.
"Bad luck! Bad luck!" Haro mocked the situation of the green Meister.
"I know that." Lockon said in exasperation before regaining focus. "I'm gonna concentrate on shooting. I'll leave evasive maneuvers to you, Haro!"
A Dagger is disabled by 2 ZuOOTs. A Duel Dagger rushed towards its enemy to avenge its fallen companion, with a beam saber in its hand to attack. However, a pink beam shot appeared out of nowhere and tore the Dagger's arm at elbow height. Everyone looked in the direction the shot came from, to see the Exia in the air, descending as it came in to land.
"They've arrived... Celestial Being." The leader of the ZAFT unit said, his voice dripping with scorn. The blue MS landed gently on the ground several meters from the ZuOOT, its large GN Sword deployed ready in combat position.
"Exia, conflict confirmed." Setsuna declared coldly. "Eliminating."
The Exia moved in the air (its feet several inches off the ground) at incredible speed and quickly zooming around one ZuOOT before slicing it in half at the waist from behind like butter. The upper half falls to the ground, while the lower half explodes. The Exia then rises into the air like a feather before landing on the second ZuOOT, disabling it with the force of the impact.
The blue Gundam rose again and began to descend towards the third ZuOOT. The ZuOOT fired its beams of its cannons mounted on its left forearm, but the Exia defended itself with its shield by blocking one of the green beams. When they disappeared, the Exia quickly descended in front of ZAFT's mecha and quickly sliced off its left arm. The pilot swung its remaining fist at the Gundam, only to dodge it by turning in a semicircle position until stopping behind it and with a fleeting movement, cut the waist of the mecha and finished as the first.
The ZuOOTs were formidable looking machines as their sturdy armor made them look almost like an unsurpassed mobile fortress not to mention their main armaments a pair of twin cannons on its shoulders, a pair of twin secondary cannons on its left forearm, a handheld heavy assault machine gun, and four chest-mounted small caliber Vulcan cannons for close-range defense.
However, given their enormous volume and armed with heavy weaponry, these machines had not been designed to have such mobility in the field and for close combat with other Mobile Suits so the best they could do was defend themselves with their firepower and withstand the attack of enemy fire relying on the thick armor to protect them from damage, but little or nothing they could do against the fleeting and devastating attack of the Gundams like the Exia who wiped out 3 of them in an instant.
When he finished, he suddenly heard the whistle of an incoming shell approaching his position. He lifted the shield fixed on his left arm and moments later the blue Gundam was pushed back by the force of the impact of the missile that crashed into the shield. His attacker, a Dagger L had fired his recoil cannon unexpectedly having managed to catch the Gundam by surprise. Now its pilot waited for the effects of its sneak attack once the smoke covering its prey dissipated.
"Did I get him?" The pilot asked eager to know if he managed to shoot down the enemy.
However, his hopes were shattered when an instant later, the smoke dissipated into the air revealing the Gundam completely unharmed, without even a mark on the shield where the missile had hit. The enemy pilot looked with horror and disbelief at the state of the other machine.
"I-it's undamaged!?" He exclaimed in dismay for the survival of the enemy Suit despite having hit the target with a powerful volley. "How is that possible... AAARGH!" He never finished the sentence when he felt a strong tremor in the cockpit before everything exploded around him along with the Dagger L. The rest of his companions accompanied him when they were struck and destroyed by a series of pink beams descending from the air and hitting every target on the ground.
Above them in the air, was their attacker, the Dynames, with its GN sniper rifle ready.
"Dynames, sniping the targets!" Lockon announced as one of the surviving Daggers was going to fire his cannon at the green Gundam, only to be shot down earlier by the latter.
The remaining 2 fired their barrages, but the Dynames managed to easily dodge them gracefully as if their enemies were rookies who had not yet done target practice. Soon after, the Dynames fired its sniper rifle at the remaining 3 destroying them. Suddenly, he heard the alarm sound from his cockpit and made his Gundam dodge a strong incoming red beam that was lost in mid-air without hitting its target.
Lockon turned left and saw his assailant being the Launcher Dagger 3 kilometers away.
"It seems that this guy needs to practice his marksmanship more." Lockon said with a smile.
"Let's teach him a lesson! Let's teach him a lesson!"
The Dynames headed towards the Launcher who prepared to fire his Agni Himperipulse Cannon again, but again the green Gundam dodged the attack as it continued to move towards the target. The Dynames fired its sniper rifle and the Launcher never stood a chance when it was hit and exploded in mid-air.
Lockon let out a sigh when he saw that his first opponents were dealt with, but he knew better than anyone that it is only the beginning. There were still more enemies to deal with here. Before continuing, Lockon kept an eye on the Exia to see how his young companion was doing in battle. Giving him some credit, he saw how the Exia recklessly charged against a group of Tierens who were no doubt being piloted by members of the Tamil Tigers and managed to annihilate a bunch of them who put themselves in its way as a god of death.
Lockon rolled his eyes at the sight of such tenacity on the part of his companion.
"You're getting too worked up, Setsuna." He said before flying to where the carnage was taking place to provide cover fire in case he needed it.
Meanwhile, in HRL territory, an occupied airbase was on high alert because its operators had detected the intrusion of an unidentified unit and was heading towards its location. At first it was thought that it could be a premeditated attack by ZAFT, but in the end it was confirmed that it was a unit of Celestial Being. The air raid siren echoed throughout the place as soldiers ran hastily to get missile trucks and linear tanks out of their hangars ready to intercept the attacker.
Unfortunately, they failed to mount the defense in time when the Kyrios made its appearance on base.
"Kyrios, bombing the target."
A large number of holes opened automatically at the base of the black container of the Kyrios, and from there emerged a large number of cluster missiles that instantly launched into the air began to plummet over much of the base area.
Many soldiers within range of the missiles drop ran in panic in a desperate attempt to get out of the trajectory of the impact site, but to no avail. The explosion resulting from the denotation of the missiles on the base was devastating and spectacular causing huge and grotesque columns of fire that enveloped everything around them whether hangars, mobile artillery and several surviving soldiers who were burned alive due to the napalm contained in the missiles of the Kyrios.
After this, the Kyrios flew away over the base catching fire with its pilot pondering a little distressed by what he had just done.
"With this I've become a mass murderer..." He said with regret for the countless victims who had just died horribly from his sudden attack.
He knew that what he had just done was appalling and he would have wished to grant those poor wretches a quick and merciful death, but given the situation of the attack, he could not afford such morality. To his consternation, he knew that this would not be the last time he had to make such attacks on enemy positions when the situation called for it, and if he were at least a believer, he would pray to any god that existed that he would not be forced to carry out such killings so often.
Allelujah may not have been a full-fledged soldier, but he had the will and nerves of steel to fire a gun and kill someone either in self-defense or protecting his comrades. Of course, this didn't mean that he was a psychopathic madman who reveled in bloodshed or enjoyed killing people indiscriminately just because he could, unlike his other self.
"However...!" He said how he soon regained his composure, clearing his mind of doubts and regrets for what he did.
However horrible and cruel the kind of carnage he had just caused, it was very necessary for his mission. They needed to increase the number of enemy casualties to decimate their forces and end this battle once and for all for the sake of this mission. It may be that after this battle, the conflict would still be far from over, but at least it would be a small step towards its main objectives.
The Kyrios ejected its now completely empty missile container, sweeping low amongst the trees, as it immerged, it had changed from its plane form to a Mobile Suit, surprising the soldiers.
The newly transformed Kyrios began firing its beam submachine gun at the L-Daggers who were not ready to start. He had annihilated much of them, including those inside the hangars. Then few remaining L Daggers arrived and fired fire at the orange Gundam. The Kyrios managed to dodge the shots with ease and then proceeded to return fire at them. The pink-beams managed to pierce and damage the armor of the Daggers so they exploded. The last one collapsed before exploding.
This was a battlefield. Here there was no mercy and the rules were very simple; Kill or let yourself be killed by the enemy. Allelujah knew this better than anyone even before he jumped on the Kyrios and got into an international campaign that would transcend race, nationality and religion, and thus fulfill the main objectives of his organization. The role entrusted to him and his companions as pilots of the Gundam mobile weapons was fundamental to carry out the eradication of the wars of this world so the pilots must suppress their emotions and regrets when they are on the battlefield just as a certain purple Meister would.
After all...
"That's was Celestial Being is!" Allelujah shouted with determination before proceeding with his mission and searching for more targets.
On an HRL dock, the Virtue was perched standing on a almost sunken naval carrier (which it shot down) pointing its bazooka at another to several meters away in front of him. Two Daggers was perched on the starboard side of the ship firing their Mk39 low-recoil cannons in a desperate attempt to shoot down the burly Gundam. Although most of the shots managed to hit the designated target, none could even damage or remove the Virtue's thick armor because the hits were absorbed by the almost impregnable Phase Shift and reinforced by the thin GN field.
"Virtue, proceeding to eliminate additional targets." Tieria ordered, making it sound like a surgical operation. The Bazooka began to charge up, while the Virtue ignoring the shots that slammed against it like they were flies. A few seconds later, Tieria saw his timer; the GN Bazooka was charged. Squinting at his targets, he fired a powerful burst of GN Beam, vaporizing both Dagger L's and splitting the carrier in half. Tieria just watched impassively as the two halves quickly sunk into the ocean.
The Exia and Dynames were attacking a ZAFT garrison. A GINN tried to counterattack with its Heavy Blade, but the arm with which it was holding the weapon separated when the Exia sliced the arm with its GN Sword. The Exia then pointed its GN Rifle and fired several rounds into the torso destroying the enemy Mobile Suit cockpit and subsequently the GINN exploded.
2 remaining GINNs were behind whose pilots watched shocked as their partner exploded. The Exia wasted no more time and pounced on its next prey. The 2 GINNs responded by firing their respective Assault Machine Gun, but the blue Gundam managed to dodge the bullets with incredible agility until it reached its targets, and with a quick and fleeting movement, dismembered both MS with its beam saber.
Suddenly a BuCUE tried to pounce from behind like a puma (typical, since that's the way this MS embodies) and made a good jump towards the Exia. However, Setsuna saw that, and quickly swings one of his beam sabers towards the BuCUE's legs by slicing the front ones. The feline-type MS rushed to the ground and fell like a dying animal. The Exia wasted no time in finishing it off when it fired its submachine gun over the cockpit.
The Dynames fired its sniper rifle into a row of GINNs who were about to take off, but Lockon didn't give them time when he wiped out almost all of them. The last achievement rises only to be intercepted and blown up by a few shots from the green Gundam.
Lockon gave a soft sigh inside the cockpit upon seeing his job done only to be interrupted by an alert alarm. He turned to the monitor to see a squad of DINNs approaching. The squad was firing their rifles at the same time, but Lockon didn't bother to dodge them and just stayed right in the trajectory. Then both plates mounted on the sides of both shoulders of the Dynames moved until they almost covered the frontal area of the Gundam giving it the impression of a coffin or something, and when the beams came into contact with the plates, they suddenly drifted in opposite directions. More beams were deflected in different directions as the enemy pilots continued firing to no avail.
"What the hell!?" A shocked DINN's pilot shouted. Suddenly the pilot saw how the Gundam deploys the plates on both sides of its body as if they were "wings", giving the Gundam an angel appearance. However, what caught his attention was that at the moment of removing the plates, he also revealed a pair of beam pistols that soon unleashed a rain of gunfire on the unsuspecting incoming squad.
Several DINNs were hit by the gunfire, but some managed to dodge them to move forward, only to be hit by the Exia who moved over the ground like a skating rink shooting at the remaining MS. Both the Dynames and the Exia wiped out almost the entire squadron when some withdrew.
On the other hand, the Virtue had just destroyed the stationed second fleet and was heading towards the last base. It did not take him any moment to get there when he was already flying over it. The Virtue loaded its bazooka and began to charge.
People nearby consisting of engineers and other soldiers, knowing what was going to happen, began to flee far away so as not to be hit by the explosion. Finally, the Virtue fires its powerful weapon and destroys 3 hangars along with everything that dwelt in it (already being Mobile Suits).
Almost half an hour later, the Exia and Dynames just broke up another skirmish between a Tamil Tiger detachment and a ZAFT Mobile Suits battalion. Prior to the intervention of the Gundams, the Tamil Tigers had been overwhelmed by the superiority of ZAFT's Mobile Suits being specifically ZuOOTs, and their numbers progressively decreased until the intervention of the Gundams and the tables turned. It did not take them long to make the ZAFT camp suffer the same losses as their previous opponents.
Silence reigned in what a few hours ago was a battlefield between part of the forces of the Tamil Tigers and a squadron of ZAFT, which for the perspective of the former was a massacre until the intervention of the Gundams and now the massacre was thrown on those of ZAFT for the great losses they suffered. The Exia stood motionless amid scattered rubble of its dismembered victims looking almost like a victorious war god.
2 surviving ZuOOTs were at a considerable distance from the blue mecha that caused this massacre and their pilots were already terrified. Even despite outnumbering him, this monster had managed to butcher many of his companions to pieces in an instant as if he were child's play with his huge saber folded from his left arm. It was as if it was the same grim reaper incarnate.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
The remaining 2 Mobile Suits turned around and ran off as fast as their thick armors could afford them so they could escape certain death that was still motionless inspecting its fallen victims. It didn't take him too long to notice that the remaining 2 Mobile Suits started to flee with their tails between their legs so it turned its head to see them, its eyes flickered vehemently as if reflecting its pilot's desire to continue his frenzy to destroy more lives, but he still didn't move a finger.
Meanwhile, on top of a slope was the Dynames observing the work of the Exia. Lockon had also finished his job of intercepting anyone who attacked his companion's rear, although there was not much, so he had left the rest to his young companion, but he decided to keep an eye on anything that happened to provide more cover fire, but in the end it was not necessary.
Now the green Meister found himself watching a little shocked and uneasy by the work done by the young Meister. They knew they had made no mistake at all in entrusting a machine as versatile and efficient in hand-to-hand combat as the Exia to someone like Setsuna F. Seiei. Undoubtedly the youngest of the Meisters is an Ace and had exceeded their expectations about the handling of the unit with such impressive precision that it almost seemed that the machine was copying the physical movements of the pilot almost perfectly.
He knew that the young man was something abnormal, and not because he was simply a Coordinator and therefore drew his enhanced strength and incredible piloting skills, but because before being recruited, the young man already possessed some kind of military training, but he could not know it exactly since one of the strict rules of the organization to which they belong forbade to snoop on the past of the organization itself and that of its members so it was forbidden to reveal the personal background of the members including that of the Meisters. Therefore, all members had code names to hide their original names and their original backgrounds before joining the organization.
Therefore, he did not know where Setsuna was before joining Celestial Being, but the training he received must have been hard to make him a good hand-to-hand combatant, and was only improved after joining the organization in which he followed another intensive training process apart from piloting the Exia in which he had become quite efficient. In these 2 years before the interventions began, the young Meister had wasted no time in continuing to train and improve his physical and piloting skills as if it were a persistent disease and he was still surprised at how fast he was improving in piloting practices to the point of surpassing his other teammates in such a short time. Only Allelujah could merely match him on some occasions despite claiming to be a Natural.
But the most outstanding was the fact that Setsuna managed to visualize his combat movements with those of the Exia forming an almost perfect synchronization between the movements of man and machine, which was not surprising considering that the Exia was designed to imitate human movements because it is the only Gundam specialized in hand-to-hand combat. In fact, every time he watched the Exia fight ZAFT's Mobile Suits with astonishing speed and impressive accuracy, the Dynames' pilot felt like both the pilot and the Gundam itself became one and formed a combination that was both lethal and devastating.
There was no doubt in Lockon Stratos' mind that Veda made no mistake in recruiting the blue Meister because of his incredible skills capable of polishing them in the Exia almost perfectly. It certainly seemed to be a combat-ready machine capable of unleashing hell on anyone who stood in its way. And that scared him a lot.
"That's it. That's it, Setsuna." Lockon said in the hope that the other Meister would not attack anymore.
While the young Meister was doing his job as a Gundam Meister very well and was not wasting the potential of his Gundam such as hesitation, blind shooting or foolishly being attacked by the enemy, quite the opposite, as expected of someone who had been entrusted with such a responsibility of spearheading the objectives of Celestial Being to eradicate wars through armed interventions on whatever battlefield was taking place around the world, but that didn't mean going that far.
He knew that the main regime of the Gundam Meisters was to be individuals of cold character, nerves of steel and that they lacked some human morals such as remorse and scruples mainly with their enemies since that are an interference with their main objectives. In short, Gundam Meisters tend to behave like fully disciplined soldiers ready to pull the trigger and eliminate any enemies that cross over and pose an obstacle. Another summary, they tended to resemble robots.
However, Lockon was not a machine. As much as the Dynames's pilot respected this practice and would be willing to play along, he also did not want to part with his own humanity and the best of himself to be reduced to a simple killing machine. And he hoped the Exia's pilot himself wouldn't either.
The seconds flew silently as I continued to watch a little restlessly as the Exia remained motionless like a large gleaming iron statue without lifting a finger to chase the remaining Mobile Suits who kept fleeing as fast as they could, although for the Gundams they were going at a snail's pace. It was after other moments of tension and silence that Lockon allowed himself to breathe a small sigh of relief. Setsuna did not decide to attack them. In the end he still had a sane head and did not act like a bloodthirsty berserker.
"We appreciate your assistance!" An unknown voice echoed outside, but was well heard inside the cockpit of the Dynames by Lockon awakening him from his thoughts. To his surprise and dismay he saw 2 Tierens who survived the Gundam attack and seemed to be walking towards the Exia.
"The enemy has crumbled! Now's our chance to pay them back!" Upon hearing that, the green Meister realized that their target was not the blue Gundam, but the faction they were previously fighting now in retreat, and the Exia was in the middle.
"You idiots!" Lockon exclaimed exasperated as he took the sniper rifle and aimed at the 2 moving Tierens to intercept them.
The Tierens continued their march carefree towards the Exia, and despite being only a few meters away, its pilot remained motionless without taking any action. Lockong growled in frustration and worry as he watched things unfold. One part of him was worried that those 2 dumbass pilots would be headed towards certain death if they continued to advance towards the Exia even though today they had finished with the slaughter of both factions, while the other was worried that Setsuna would let them pass smoothly to wipe out what was left of the other enemy faction. The latter would be a violation of the principles of Celestial Being.
If this were the latter case, then he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands. However, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't shoot while Setsuna was on the way. As good as he was at sniping, Lockon didn't want to risk a friendly fire incident, so he was forced to watch helplessly as the 2 Suits continued their charge.
It was then that when the both Tierens almost barreled past the Exia on both flanks, suddenly the blue Gundam spun around in a circle, its right arm out stretched, slicing both Suits in half simultaneously. The Tierens crashed to the ground before exploding.
Lockon held his breath at the unexpected action of his partner Meister and not long after drew a small relieved smile.
"Setsuna…"
The Exia straightened up at its full height once the task was finished with its pilot looking stoically at the environment.
"This is what it means to be a Gundam Meister..."
Half an hour later
"Are they done yet?" Talia asked sitting in her personal seat as she looked at the face of a black uniformed officer through a digitized screen at the end of the bridge.
There was no way for those in space to know what was happening on Earth and what the outcome was. Therefore, a reconnaissance submarine that was hidden near the scene of the events was observing the events that occurred since the Gundams appeared. The officer with whom he was contacting the Minerva was the commander of said submarine and his gaze seemed a little tense as if he wanted to hide his shock.
"Yes. We received the report that those Mobile Suits left half an hour ago." The Black Uniform commander replied. "According to the report there are a total of four units, and it seems that the four were divided into two teams."
The bridge listened carefully to the commander's report on what had happened there, and the truth is that it was not necessary to hear that there were 4 units since they already knew it.
"Apparently, two of those Gundams, presumably those that appeared in Armoury One, intervened in a skirmish near our territory being carried out by a of our squads formed by twenty-five Mobile Suits and another of the Human Reform League being twice as larger. Apparently those Gundams appeared out of nowhere and attacked both sides. We still don't know the details, but surprisingly it left our forces and those of the Human Reform decimated with huge casualties."
The entire bridge was shocked upon hearing that they had decimated an ZAFT squadron and another of the HRL at the same time.
"You mean, they wiped out both sides at the same time?" Talia asked in disbelief.
"That's what we've been told." The commander replied trying to hide his discomfort. "We also received reports that after that they attacked one of our nearby bases and almost destroyed it."
Arthur couldn't help but let out a little gasped of shock while Talia only had a tense look without saying a word. The Chairman showed a stoic expression on his face without saying a word as well, while Athrun and Cagalli also looked visibly surprised.
The atmosphere of the bridge seemed to have been reduced to about 50G upon hearing the news as no one could believe that much of the ZAFT forces stationed on the island were defeated so easily, and above by 2 Mobile Suits.
"Did they really destroy a base?" Arthur asked, still not believing it.
"They only attacked the hangars and the parked Mobile Suits, and also the communication towers surely to isolate us." The commander continued to explain. "We sent reinforcements from the two northern bases, but they couldn't arrive in time when those Gundams left."
"And tell me, what is the state of the Human Reform League forces?" Durandal asked almost casually. The commander almost regained his composure before answering.
"We also received the report that Reform League territory was also attacked by two such Gundams, presumably the ones that stopped the terrorist attack on the Orbital Elevator. We don't have too much information, but we think they also had the same overwhelming casualties that we."
Another silence gripped the bridge as each member listened to the new information with bewilderment. Those Gundams wiped out all 2 sides at the same time. Durandal nodded a little before speaking again.
"I understand..." He said quietly before looking straight at the officer. "I want you to send a rescue team to search for any survivors and gather them to the bases, and I also want you to contact the HRL to negotiate a ceasefire."
A round of surprised gasps was heard on the bridge as each eye fell on the Chairman whose expression remained unperturbed. They just couldn't believe what he had said so suddenly.
"Mr. Chairman, what are you-
"But, sir, if we try to negotiate with the Alliance I don't think they-
"It's fine." Durandal interrupted smoothly. "If what you say is true the Human Reform League forces will be just as overwhelmed, I doubt very much that they will respond and I guess they will think the same."
Many doubted what the president said and did not believe that the HRL will not do something like that.
"For the time being, welcome the wounded and survivors and I also want you to study in detail the state of the HRL. In the meantime I will try to convince the Supreme Council to contact the Human Reform League government and negotiate a ceasefire."
The commander was silent for an instant collecting what the Chairman had said until he nodded.
"Understood. I will see what I can do."
"Good. You can do it now." Durandal said before the screen cut out showing a black background. Durandal got up from his seat and turned around to leave the bridge, but not without Talia's intervention.
"Excuse me, sir, but I think you should insist on asking whether it is right to order the withdrawal of our forces like this suddenly."
"I know I'm rushing my decision and I don't want to look weak either, but I don't want to risk it either." The Chairman replied without looking at her.
"I don't understand." Talia added a little confused. At that, the Chairman turned to look at the captain.
"If it is true that what they say they intend to eradicate wars through their armed interventions, then perhaps today's attack must be a warning for us to abandon this conflict or else they will return." Durandal argued before continuing to walk off the bridge without saying another word.
Athrun and Cagalli walked alone through the corridors of the Minerva after leaving the bridge thinking about everything they had seen and happened on Earth. Just as they thought and feared, this organization managed to achieve what they set out to do with their armed intervention in Ceylon, but in such a brutal way that they did not expect. The actions they took are similar to what they did in Jachin Due, but in a more radical way since they not only attacked the forces of both sides in the middle of a battle, they also attacked the garrisons taking advantage of the fact that they were barely provided with defense forces to destroy them and leave almost nothing for the additional forces to settle in.
The power of those Gundams were quite overwhelming the moment they saw the blue one in the Armory. Even individually he had an overwhelming power capable of facing 2 machines of equal in appearances and armaments and even crush a squad of Mobile Suits by himself in a similar way to Freedom and its pilot, except that the pilot of that Gundam, obviously was not their friend. Anyway, that spectacle of seeing a single Gundam fight alone and destroy multiple Mobile Suits was nothing compared to 4 of those machines fighting together and unleashing hell on the battlefield.
"They wiped out both sides in less than two hours, can you believe it?" Cagalli asked, reflecting on what he had heard about the outcome of those Gundams' intervention in Ceylon.
Athrun nodded a cool head as he also reflected on the nature of their armed intervention to stop the conflict as opposed to what they did 5 years ago. The actions of the Clyne Faction were less radical and violent than those of Celestial Being since the only thing they tried to do was to stop the war without much bloodshed and unnecessary destruction however unrealistic it sounded since they had more pacifist tendencies due to their main ideology; peace and understanding.
"What worries me most is how far they have gone just to break into the conflict." Athrun said keeping his expression neutral.
He was right when he said that. While the Clyne Faction only wished to stop conflicts at all costs without much violence, its polar opposite, Celestial Being only does so by force, with more violence causing an unnecessary bloodbath if only mostly of fighters on both sides. If at least 2 of their friends, who are currently on Earth, were here and commented on this, they would surely say that there was no peace that could be achieved through violence, and what that new organization are doing contradicted themselves. Nothing they were doing to "eradicate wars" would change much and they would only generate more hatred, violence and tragedies than they had.
"I know. I've thought about it too." Cagalli replied with a trembling tone as she continued to ponder the matter. "The only thing they will achieve is to spread much more hatred. Celestial Being... what in the world are they thinking!?"
The news of Celestial Being's intervention spread like wildfire, in an hour after it occurred. The world was completely shocked to discover the result of the premeditated attack as they could not believe that a small group of Mobile Suits could cause such damage to 2 factions simultaneously that outnumbered and outgunned them in just an hour and a half.
Celestial Being which from the beginning was thought to be just a bunch of amateurs who just spit out meaningless things like "eradicating wars through armed interventions" and stuff, most people in the world took it as a kind of joke and ignored their statements as if it were a waste of time. However, right now, the actions taken in Ceylon caused most skeptics to swallow their own words upon seeing the result and begin to take their actions very seriously. From this point on, there was no one who hadn't heard of the Ceylon Island's intervention
Starting today, the world will be aware of its movements.
In Wang Liu Mei's mansion, the agent of the organization was sitting drinking a cup of tea while watching a panel discussion on Celestial Being's actions.
"This is ridiculous... do they really think they can put an end an ethnic conflict that has lasted 300 years with a single intervention?" One of the panelists asked in disbelief.
She turns off the TV before smiling as if to answer the panelist's question. "Not just once... We'll intervene as many times as is necessary until all conflicts have vanished from the face of the Earth and their hatred is directed at us."
She then takes another sip of her tea before uttering again, "That's is Celestial Being. We are the pain needed to create the change."
The sunset had already reached this point of the planet whose last rays bathed the immense and calm waters of the Indian Ocean dyeing them almost orange. Flying over the waters 3 Gundams (the Kyrios in Mobile Armor mode) traveled at a moderate speed almost in formation. It had been almost half an hour since they left the island after finishing their mission there, and as soon as they finished, they immediately left the place before more reinforcements came to cause problems for the exhausted pilots who spent enough time fighting until they were almost exhausted.
Now they only needed to leave enemy territory and take shelter in their respective secret bases to wait for the next mission.
Not a moment later, Allelujah noticed that a Gundam was missing between them.
"What happened to the Exia?" The orange Meister asked, opening a channel of communication with Lockon. Suddenly he could only think the worst. "Don't tell me he has been shot down."
"Of course not, boy. That kid is not as weak as you think." Lockon replied nonchalantly. "He went back ahead of us. It's his first intervention. He will need some time to think like us, don't we?"
Allelujah nodded solemnly at his companion's reasoning. He also needed to reflect on what he did half an hour ago. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he still felt some remorse for the brutality of his actions, but he did very well to hide it especially from his purple companion. He had just segregated countless lives in a single instant, all in order to stop violence with violence. Even though those people he killed were soldiers, people who were willing to take lives on the battlefield and be ready to die when the time came, they were still human beings not unlike most who only thought about surviving to see a new day, they could also have been fathers or mothers who would never see their children and relatives again which caused him some grief.
Even so, it was natural to see many soldiers perish on one battlefield when killed by another, but that did not mean that it was pleasant to contemplate in the eyes of the vast majority, especially him. It was because of his distaste for wars and violence one of the main reasons why he decided to become a Gundam Meister and participate in this campaign to end all wars at once despite using the same methods that he despised and contradictory so surely for the majority of public opinion they saw them as hypocrites or something.
However, they did not care at all that people saw this kind of contradiction badly, since it was necessary to initiate the change so necessary to eradicate wars and reform the world. That would not be easy to overcome, but this will only be the first step. He could not say if Lockon would think the same as him, but he should, and as for Tieria... well, there was no need to ask or reflect since everyone knows that the stoic purple Meister is completely dedicated body and soul to the cause of Celestial Being and will faithfully follow the guidelines imposed on him to carry it out to the letter. In fact, his devoted dedication to the organization sometimes scared Allelujah a little.
"I don't understand. Why is that boy a Gundam Meister?" Tieria asked no one in particular with his typical stoic tone, but with a slight edge of annoyance and aversion he felt towards the younger member of the Meisters.
Several hundred kilometers ahead of the other Gundams, the Exia flew alone. Setsuna had the visor of his helmet raised, silently reflecting on the previous battle. Unlike Allelujah he did not feel any remorse for the countless lives his Gundam segregated before since he was already used to doing this kind of thing since he could remember when he was a child belonging to the Krugis infantry guerrilla. The hard and tortuous training, the hardships he had to endure to survive had marked him to forcibly turn him into an adult even during his childhood and a cold-blooded warrior.
Anyway, he wasn't thinking about that, since the only thing he was in the head of the Kurdish Meister is what will happen from this armed intervention. With all the uproar in Ceylon the world would no longer ignore their presence and would reconsider their view of them as a possible threat to their order and security as if they were a terrorist organization. Now they had caught the attention of both Earth and PLANTs so both factions will set their sights on them and try to stop them and prevent them from provoking another of their armed interventions again.
Now they are the enemy of the world and there will be no turning back. However, Setsuna and his companions didn't care at all. They will be prepared to bear the weight of the world and everything thrown at them. After all, this will be the first important step in changing the world according to the perspectives of Celestial Being and his Gundams possess the power to effect the change.
Then a warning sound from the cockpit along with a pop-up window pulled him out of his thoughts and looked at the screen. He saw that it was some kind of shuttle approaching his location. For a moment he thought it might be the HRL air force, but upon quick inspection, he saw that it was not.
"A Union transport?" Setsuna exclaimed in surprise when he identified the shuttle before making the visor on his hull cover the rest of the hull. "In this airspace?"
It was very strange that a USAF shuttle prowled HRL territory. While the Union was allied with the HRL to create the embargo on ZAFT's territories in North Africa, but due to the moderate policies of the Union president, it did not send military aid or its own troops to its allies in the conflict in Ceylon. He wondered if that shuttle was traveling by pure chance or was simply sent to try to study or intercept a Gundam. No matter.
If that Union detachment intends to attack him, he will confront them.
Not long after, he saw the shuttle open the tailgate and an object resembling a black jet flew out of there. However, it was not just any jet.
"It's a Flag!"
SVMS-01 Union Flag, a mass-produced Union Mobile Suit transformable similar to the Kyrios as it can automatically adopt the humanoid form of a Mobile Suit and a fighter jet-like Flight. Like its HRL counterpart the Tieren, the Flag was also the Union's standard Mobile Suit and the pinnacle of the USAF's main force because the primary purpose of Flight mode is not to travel within Union territories, but for deployment anywhere in the world as part of the Union's self-declared duty to be the "world's policeman". Like the Tieren runs on solar power as the main fuel source as it has built-in antennas to receive solar power from the Union Orbital Elevator via microwaves, and this theoretically meant it would never run out of power.
Setsuna was a bit surprised to see these types of relics these days since like the Tieren, the Flag model had been practically retired from military service by being replaced by the Dagger Serie. It is probably from a minor military faction within the Union such as mercenaries or some kind of paramilitary organization.
'Either way, I'll shoot him down in an instant.' Setsuna thought confidently seeing that he didn't have to worry about a retired Mobile Suit. With that, he charged the Exia towards meeting the Union machine while deploying his GN Sword ready to ram it.
Suddenly the Flag transformed from airplane mode to Mobile Suit mode and quickly drew its Sonic Blade (Plasma Sword) and charged at an incredible speed that surprised Setsuna. Not long after the inevitable collision happened when both Suits collided their respective sabers with each other causing a strong flash of sparks and electricity accompanied by a shrill shriek by the collision of the metal of the Exia's sword reinforced by the GN particles and the plasma sword of the Flag.
"NICE TO MEET YOU, GUNDAM!" Graham shouted happily to his rival. There was a certain gleam of madness in his eyes. In fact, his behavior was similar to that of a little kid meeting Santa Claus for the first time.
Instead, Setsuna didn't seem to be taking well to his enemy's sudden 'greeting' and instead growled in annoyance.
"Who are you!?"
"I'm Graham Aker." The Flag's pilot was introduced. "A MAN WHOSE HEART WAS STOLEN BY YOUR EXISTENCE!"
Wow, I'm finally done. Let's talk a little bit about what we've seen here. As you have seen, the intervention in Ceylon took place as in the canon, except for the presence of Mobile Suits from the Cosmic Age (EA and ZAFT respectively) and some 00 MS. The 00 MS were practically withdrawn and were replaced by new ones models like the Dagger and the Windam, although some minor factions still keep the old ones.
If some of you have seen Gundam SEED: The Solar War by blind-dead-mcjones, I'm sure the setting will be very familiar to you.
Oh, and if anyone asks what that Dynames' defense system was that replaced the canonical GN Full Shield, it's a very similar system to the Forbidden's Geschmeidig Panzer.
One last thing, I've also put some contrast between the Celestial Being and the Clyne Faction, although I guess I don't need to add that since everyone knows the big ideological difference between the 2 organizations. Anyway, I just wanted to add that this could be the prelude to the enmity between the two organizations since in the near future they would come into conflict (rather with the faction of the Archangel and with a certain Ultimate Coordinator).
That's all for today.
Ja ne!