Chapter Text
“This is speech”
‘This is thought’
Former AEU Europe
As Louise walked through the strip mall, a news broadcast caught her eye. She saw the woman from the broadcast a few weeks ago, a representative of the government, standing behind a podium near the government headquarters. Behind her sat what she assumed was the representatives of the A-Laws on folding chairs. Louise had apparently missed the first part of the conference, but she got there in time to hear her say, “We are not sure if the current gundams are related to the ones from five years ago, but the A-Laws are dedicated to eliminating this group that threatens our peace.” The speaker continued on, talking about government policy on Katharon and the gundams, but Louise moved her attention away from the news.
Louise mulled over the words. ‘I know the gundams are a threat, but why are they back? We’ve had relative peace for five years.’ She remembered the broadcast from start of the gundams intervention, stating that they were here to stop war. ‘Is there something going on that we don’t know about? Does it have something to do with the A-Laws maybe?’
Something seemed a bit odd about them, but she couldn’t place exactly what bothered her about them. It must have been something from one of her classes from years ago, but nothing came to mind. It did bother her about what happened with Saji. ‘I hope Saji is ok. There is no way he’s a rebel. There has to be more to that story than they are saying.’ She had no proof of it, but her gut and experience with Saji told her that she was missing context.
She continued her shopping and made her way home. As she drove, she felt thankful for the help she had gotten over years. She had at least partially gotten over her nervous breakdowns when it came to the gundams. She would never forgive them, but she had to move forward.
She was conflicted about supporting the A-Laws still. They asked her for support as the holder of the Halevy estate, and she had turned them down under the pretense that she would think about it. As she pulled up the estate, she saw another car waiting near the gate, with a male member of the A-Laws, a soldier by the look of him, standing outside of the car near the gate. Louise pulled up to the gate and stopped, lowering the passenger window of her car.
The A-Laws soldier approached her the car door and put out his hand, which had some sort of invitation on it, “I have been sent to bring you this invitation to a A-Laws fundraising party. They would be very appreciative if you came to this party.”
Louise took the invitation from their hand reluctantly. She took a minute to read over it. The party would be in a week or so and apparently the leadership of the A-Laws would be there, along with some of the other benefactors of the organization. They must really want her support if they were inviting her to this. They had never invited her to something like this before. ‘This could be my chance to confirm some things about the organization. I want to be certain if they are telling the truth. And maybe find out about Saji.’ She gave the invitation one last scan then looked over at the soldier, “Tell them I will be showing up to the party. Thank you for inviting me.”
The soldier bowed and replied, “I will inform them. Command will certainly wish to talk to you there, so don’t be surprised.” Louise was surprised the soldier was being so honest. She watched them head back to their vehicle and drive off. Looking at the invitation one last time, she mentally prepared herself. ‘This party will be an exhausting evening.’
Katharon Base in the Middle East
The Arios and the Cheridum flew in front on the shuttle being piloted by Tieria and Setsuna as they travelled above the desert. They had met with Katharon forces after the battle with the trilobite and had been informed of the location of the Katharon base and had traveled with only two of the gundams just in case things got bad. Marina had been shocked to see that Shirin was among the leadership of Katharon. Shirin had promised to tell her more when they got back to the base.
The shuttle was currently carrying the two pilots, along with Sumeragi, Saji and Marina. The only notable thing that the pilots’ saw were large GN particles dispensers that dotted along the desert linked by a long winding cable. Tieria spoke up from the cockpit of the shuttle, “I’m surprised that the Federation hasn’t found the base.”
Lockon’s face popped up in the shuttles front window HUD, “The Federation scatters GN particles in the Middle East, which has a lot of nonmember nations. Officially its used to disrupt the networks of terrorist organizations, but it is actually there to paralyze the growth of middle eastern countries. Simply put, it’s the price you pay for not joining the Federation.” Marina gasped quietly as she overheard this. ‘Setsuna was right. Even if he joined me there was nothing I could do against the Federation. But I still have to help my country!’ Lyle took a breath and continued, “But thanks to the GN particles, the Katharon base has stayed hidden.”
Tieria responded with a teasing jab, “You sure know a lot about that.”
Lyle looked away slightly and deflected in a casual tone, “Oh, you think so? I thought it was just common sense.” He was surprised Tieria was so casual. Comments like that were his job.
Their conversation was interrupted by a male voice on the radio, “This is Katharon. We have detected your mobile suits and are opening the hatch.” The pilots all saw what looked like a metal structure covered by tan tarps suddenly open a good distance away. The pilots guided the shuttle and the two gundams into the base, landing near the entrance. The members of Celestial Being looked around the wide-open hanger that contained around twelve older model mobile suits painted blue, a catwalk high up for suit access and repairs. It was weird to see some of the mobile suits that put up a good fight against them five years ago. There were also doors on the lower levels that looked like they led further into the base.
As the gundam pilots, as well as the rest crew existed their vehicles, they saw a large crowd of Katharon members gathered around them, saying how happy they were to see the gundams. One of the men came up to Lockon and asked, “Aren’t you going to show us your faces?”
Lyle replied to that, “Oh right, my fault.”
He began to remove his helmet, but was interrupted by Tieria, “Our identities are secret.”
Lyle rolled his eyes as he finished taking off his helmet, “Don’t be such a stickler for rules. They helped us out, didn’t they?” Tieria grunted in reluctant agreement and pressed a button on the side of his helmet, removing the tint from his helmet, allowing the men to see his face. Allelujah followed suit.
One of the men from the crowd walked up to the members of Celestial Being, stating, “Our leaders want to meet you. Any of you interested, follow me.” Wordlessly, Saji, Marina, Setsuna and Sumergai followed him, leaving the other three pilots to watch over the gundams and the shuttle, as well as answer any questions the rebels had.
Katharon Base Meeting Room
Saji, Setsuna, Sumeragi and Marina stood next to each other on one side of a table that was located in a command center of the base. Across from them stood four members of the leadership of Katharon. Two of them that stood out the most from this group were a man and a woman in the center. The man had light brown, closely cut hair, a red jacket and blue shirt and European features. To his left was a woman that Marina recognized, Shirin Bakhtiar. She had long dark brown hair that went to her lower back, currently in a ponytail and had on a black T-shirt along with cargo pants. The man spoke up first, bowing slightly, “We’re grateful you agreed to meet with us. I’m Klaus Grad, of the Katharon Middle Eastern branch.”
Sumeragi returned the bow, “We represent Celestial Being. That’s all we can say.”
Klaus replied, “That’s fine. We understand your situation.” Shirin spoke next, also bowing slightly, “We are grateful that you saved Princess Marina from the detention center. We’ll take care of her from now on.” Marina looked on at her in confusion. She was still trying to understand why her friend and advisor had become a rebel, “Shirin-“.
“Would you rather stay with Celestial Being?”
“Why did you join up with a group of dissidents?”
Shirin responded sharply, “Is there something wrong with that?” Marina, not able to come up with a reply, lowered her head, feeling conflicted. ‘Could Setsuna be right? Maybe I’m the one not fully understanding everything.’ Seeing that that conversation had come to an end, Setsuna stated, “There is one other person we would like to leave with you.” He pointed to Saji, “This is Saji Crossroad. He was a civilian and is accused of being a member of Katharon, even though he is completely innocent.”
Klaus gave Saji a sympathetic look and assured him, “I’m really sorry to hear about that. I’m not sure this would help his case, but I don’t have a problem with that. You can rest assured that we will take good care of him.”
Saji aggresively turned to face Setsuna, “Hold on! Don’t I get a say?”
Sumeragi jumped in, “It’s the best option for all of us.” Saji sighed and accepted it, realizing this could be to his advantage. ‘I haven’t made one real decision since I got rescued. But I can get a ride out of here and make my way home or find Louise.’
Klaus coughed to get everyone’s attention, “Now for the issue at hand. In order for Katharon to overthrow the current federation government- “
Sumeragi interrupted him, “I’m sorry, but unlike your group, our actions are not based on some political ideology.”
Klaus responded, confused by the statement, “But I thought you were taking a position against the Federation?”
Setsuna spoke up, “That’s not so. Our enemy is the A-Laws, not the Federation.”
Shirin replied to him, “That’s what you say. But doesn’t your goal of fighting an autonomous force coincide with our goals?”
Klaus added onto that in a hopeful voice, “Yes, that’s right! In order to stop the evil deeds of the A-Laws, both our groups should join forces!”
Sumeragi looked at him sadly, “Unfortunately the suits you have here cannot compete against suits with GN drives.”
Klaus stood tall and maintained his hopeful tone, “Even so, we want to help your cause! If that just means maintenance and supplies, we would be willing to assist you.”
Sumeragi sighed and with some resignation in her voice, responded, “We might be able to agree on those terms. Setsuna, head back to the hanger. I will stay here and come to an agreement with Katharon.” Setsuna nodded and left the room. Saji followed behind him. Marina looked up and tried to speak to Shirin, but she just shook her head in reaction to that. Marina realized she wasn’t going to get to talk to her and quickly followed Setsuna as well.
As Setsuna, Saji and Marina headed back to the hanger, Setsuna noticed a strange room to his left as he walked by. Inside he noticed a group of young children playing in a room that was colorful and looked like it had been decorated by them. ‘At least they aren’t turning these children into soldiers.’ He clenched his fist. ‘This is the world we created. Created more orphans.’ He paused a second, Marina and Saji getting ahead of him, but stopped when they noticed what he was looking at.
Marina looked in the room, seeing the children playing. ‘Oh Setsuna. You didn’t get to grow up like this, did you? This must be a reason you fight’. She looked at him with sympathy in her eyes, getting a more complete understanding of the man. ‘How can a peaceful word stop what happened to these children? Can they?’
Saji walked up to Setsuna with anger in his voice, “These children are your victims too. Victims of the world that you guys changed.”
Setsuna nodded his head, “I know.” Marina took a few steps back, not wanting to get into the middle of whatever this argument was about. It was clear there was a history between these two men.
Saji’s anger continued, glaring at Setsuna, “Doesn’t this make you feel anything?”
“Yes, I do. I’m not meant to live like them.” Setsuna heard Marina’s words in his head as he finished saying that. ‘Finding a dream, love or even just a group of people to care about is something worth doing! Could I find happiness? Beyond fighting?’
Ignorant of Setsuna’s thoughts, Saji asked, “Then why do you keep fighting if you know what you cause?”
Setsuna walked pass Saji, replying, “So those children don’t become people like me.” Setsuna continued walking, Marina following him to the hanger.
Saji stood there in the hallway, conflicted. He was still angry at Setsuna’s refusal to stop fighting, but that last comment caught him off guard. ‘Did this have to do with his past? Did it have to do with the fighting in Krugis?’
Setsuna heard only one step of footsteps behind him and turned around, spotting Marina, “Aren’t you staying here?”
She took a breath, “Setsuna, I want to go back to Azadistan. I’m not asking you to come with me, but I need you to drop me off.”
“Are you sure?” She nodded at that. Setsuna looked at her then said, “We’ll talk to Sumeragi when she gets back.”
A-Laws Carrier
Soma stood on the catwalk that snaked around the side of the carrier. Sergei’s face was on the other side of the call, wearing the Federation uniform. Soma looked surprised seeing this, “You were mobilized Colonel?”
Sergei replied, frustrated, “I have been assigned to hunt down gundams. To think that the Federation forces are being used as errand boys for the A-Laws.”
Soma replied curiously, “Is that so?”
Sergei let some of the tension and frustration leave his face, “By the way, how is he holding up?”
Soma looked up to see Andrei talking with a member of the ship’s crew. “Lieutenant Andrei? He’s always devoted to his duties.”
Sergei visibly sighed, “Andrei’s sending me a message. He and I don’t have a great relationship.”
Soma chimed in, “Sir?”
“I was a diligent soldier, but never a great parent to him. Holly was better at that than me.” Soma remembered Holly, at least by name. Sergei never talked about her, but she saw picture of her in the house. Whenever she asked about her, Sergei clammed up. ‘It must be something deeply damaging to him’.
Not wanting to press on this topic anymore, she said to Sergei in a quieter voice, “Remember that offer you gave me before, about the adoption?”
Sergei nodded, “Yes. Did you think about it?”
Soma gave him a smile, “I did, and I would love to become your daughter. We can go over the details next time we meet.”
Sergei smiled back, “That sounds good.” Soma ended the call, feeling happiness wash over her. ‘I am a lucky woman.’
Back at the Katharon Base
Marina, Sumeragi and the pilots, sans Lockon were all sitting in the passenger area of the shuttle. Sumeragi, Tieria and Allelujah were surprised to see Marina there with her. They had all assumed she would want to stay here. Allelujah spoke up first, “Is the meeting over?”
Sumeragi nodded, “Katharon is willing to help us with supplies and repairs if we are in areas where they operate.”
Tieria nodded at that and Allelujah sighed in relief, “At least someone is going to assist us.”
Setsuna spoke up, “There is one more thing I have to do.” All the members of Celestial Being looked at him curiously, “I’ll be escorting Marina Ismail back to Azadistan.”
Sumeragi gave a questioning look at Marina, “Is this truly what you want? Your country’s problems are being caused by the Federation and you may not be safe. The Federation might take you prisoner again.” Sumeragi was worried about Marina. ‘This woman could barely control her country last time and it was in much better shape. How could she do it now?’
Marina nodded at that, and with an apologetic voice, stated, “I’m sorry for all the trouble I am causing. I need to get back there and see what I can do. I owe it to my country.”
The tactical forecaster sighed at her comment. ‘I can’t stop her, but this is a bad move.’ Sumeragi then thought for a second. Taking a gundam to there would be dangerous, but maybe they could do something else. She turned her head to face Setsuna, “Bringing a gundam to Azadistan could potentially bring harm to the country.”
Setsuna replied, “Then let me use this craft. You can take the gundams.”
Sumeragi stood up and said, “That’ll work.”
Tieria, sounding a bit like his old self, said, “Oh, and Setsuna, don’t feel you have to come back.”
Setsuna said resolute tone, “That’s absurd.” ‘Was he telling a joke? If it is, then that’s new.’ He watched as the rest of the crew left the shuttle, moving down the stairs that lead to the boarding ramp. He turned to face Marina and was surprised to see a smile on her face. It reminded him of his mother’s smile before he joined the KPSA. He frowned slightly thinking of that memory.
“Thank you Setsuna. Azadistan owes you a debt twice over.”
Setsuna nodded at that and asked, “No problem. Are you ready to go?” She stood up and began to head to the cockpit, signaling that she was. Setsuna followed her, preparing himself to head back to that area that haunted his past.
Outside the Katharon Base
After looking around for a while, Saji had located an exit to the base. As he walked down the tunnel leading out, he reflected angrily. ‘I’m tired of the fighting that these groups cause. I have to leave here. It’s not fair that I get dragged into the fighting.’ He saw the door that led to the outside world and gave it a good shove, causing it to open. All he could see in the distance for miles was sand dune after sand dune. He could also feel the intense heat, even in the shaded area that was in front of the entrance. ‘Maybe they have a vehicle I could use?’ He walked out a few feet from the door when he heard a slightly aggressive voice from behind him, “Hey, what are you doing there?”
Saji turned around, seeing one of the Katharon soldiers holding a rifle. Nervous about getting caught, his voice cracked a little, “Well you see I was-“
The man interrupted him, but Saji saw the man’s face relax and give him a casual smile, “Oh you’re with Celestial Being, right?”
Saji relaxed, realizing he wasn’t in trouble. Coming up with a quick excuse, he told the man, “Yeah. I just had some comrades in town I wanted to check up on.”
He saw the man pull something out of his pocket and say, “Well the closest town is a while from here. Take a vehicle.” The man tossed him car keys.
The Japanese man nodded at him, and sighed in relief, “Thank you.” ‘I can’t believe that actually worked!’ The soldier he was talking to returned to his duty and Saji found a vehicle depot after a few minutes of looking around the base perimeter. He used the same story on the men guarding the depot and was quickly on his way traveling through the desert. ‘I’ll try to find someone in town that can help me. I just need to find a way to get to Japan or Louise, and I can just go back to the way life was.’
However, a small thought in the back of his mind wouldn’t leave him alone. ‘After all that’s happened, how can I pretend the world is ok?’ He shook the thought off. ‘No, everything would go back to normal, and I won’t have to worry about anything other than his personal issues.’
As he continued driving, he heard a strange rumbling sound coming from over a sand dune. Driving to the top of the dune, he spotted something he really didn’t want to see. It looked like a flying battleship of some kind with Federation markings on it. He was about to move when he saw a mobile suit painted in the Federation blue come flying out of the ship. Saji had been spotted and there was nothing he could do. He turned off the car and waited to get taken prisoner. ‘This day couldn’t get any worse!’
Federation Ship Interrogation Room
Saji had been taken to what looked like some sort of meeting or interrogation room, which was plain and bare besides from a table and two chairs. One of the soldiers on the ship had been yelling at him for the past couple minutes about why he was out in the desert. Saji had been telling him he just wanted to get to the next town, but the man didn’t believe him. The door opened up and two men stood at the door. One looked like another lower ranking soldier and the other was an older man with a trident like scar over his left eye. The soldier spoke up, “We got a hit on his biometrics. This man is a member of Katharon!”
Saji replied desperately, “I am not! I’ve never been a member of that group!” The soldier across from him got up and walked around the table to stand in front of him and grabbed Saji by his shirt collar, punching his across his left cheek. Saji grunted from the hit, glaring at the soldier.
Sergei raised his voice, “Enough! There is no need to rough him up. I want to hear his story.” The two soldiers saluted him and left the room, the door closing behind them.
Sergei sat down and Saji felt a little more comfortable with him in the room. ‘Maybe he’ll believe my story.’ Sergei gave him a piercing look and asked, “You aren’t really a soldier, are you?” Saji was caught off guard by that question. Was it that obvious? Sergei then answered his question without Saji needing to ask, “I’m an old soldier. I could tell. You don’t have the eyes of someone who has seen combat. You clearly aren’t a member of Katharon. So, what have you been up to?”
Saji looked at him with hope and filled him in on what he had gone on the past few weeks, leaving out some of the personal details he had learned about the crew as well as the identities of the crew. ‘Setsuna did save my life and the crew treated me decently.’
Sergei took it all in and looked Saji straight in the eyes, “You don’t seem like a liar to me. It looks like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” In his head, Sergei knew who was behind this. ‘The A-Laws. Does attacking innocent civilians in the name of peace justify your acts? And you even left a civilian to become a criminal because they might be suspicious? I hope you can avoid the worst of it Soma.’
Saji asked desperately, “Can you clear my name? I just want to go back to my normal life.”
Sergei sighed, “I’ll do what I can. It unfair to have a civilian punished for a crime they didn’t commit. I will need you to stay on this ship till I can try to clear this up.” Saji nodded at that and Sergei got up and left the room.
“By the way son, what’s your name?”
“My name is Saji Crossroads.”
“You can call me Colonel Sergei Smirnov.”
Little did both of them know, but one of the soldiers Sergei sent away had heard that entire conversation through eavesdropping and rushed off to inform the A-Laws.
A-Laws Carrier
Soma looked over the orders for the operation as she stood in the hanger of the carrier. Apparently, the regular forces had found a Katharon member and found out the location of a Katharon Base. ‘Search and destroy.’ The phrase left a bad taste in her mouth. They were even loading Automatons onto one of the Aheads for use in the operation. She spoke in a quiet tone to herself, “No wonder the Colonel was wary of me joining the A-Laws.”
She then heard Andrei’s voice come to her left, in a bitter voice, “You got it wrong. He never told you this to make him seem like a good person, but he’s not. That man would abandon his family to fulfill his precious duty.”
Soma asked, confused, “What do you mean, abandon his family?” Did this have to do with his wife?
“He allowed my mother to die.” The bitterness in his voice had only increased. Some looked at Andrei, conflicted and confused. Obviously, the Colonel had not mentioned this to her, which meant it was something very personal to him. ‘But why was Andrei so bitter? There must be more going on. I’ll ask the Colonel next time I speak with him. I am curious why Andrei feels this way.’
Grasping at straws, she asked, “Surely there’s more to the story than that?”
Andrei responded in an icy tone, “We need to get to our mobile suits.” Soma thought to herself, ‘Looks like Andrei isn’t going to answer my questions. Guess I definitely have to talk to the Colonel.’ She headed to her mobile suit, the question of what happened in the back of her mind.
Federation Interrogation Room
About 10 minutes after Sergei left, Saji saw Sergei run into the room in, looking like he’s in a rush. Saji asked curiously, “Colonel Smirnov, what’s wrong?”
In a commanding voice, Sergei said, “Mr. Crossroad, we have to get you out of here right now.”
“What happened?”
“Someone leaked your presence to the A-Laws. Now that they know you are here, I can’t protect you. I don’t have enough authority.” Saji felt a growing fear. ‘The Federation forces are outranked by the A-Laws? Were the Celestial Being members right?’
Saji stood up from his seat, “You really can’t do anything?”
Sergei looked at him sadly, “Unfortunately no. Now follow me.” Saji followed him to the hanger, where they were keeping his vehicle. As he got in and the ramp lowered, Sergei said, “Most likely the A-Laws are headed to where you came from. I wouldn’t recommend you go back, but if you do, be careful.”
Saji nodded at him and said gratefully, “Thank you Colonel. I owe you for saving my life.”
Sergei gave him a salute, “Just doing my job as a good soldier. I hate to see innocent people suffer when they don’t have to.”
The vehicle drove off into the desert, leaving a dust cloud behind it. Saji’s thoughts were full of worry. ‘I’m such an idiot! There were children at that base! Along with a lot of other people! I didn’t want to join the fighting, but I didn’t want them to suffer. For once, I want the gundams to show up. I need them to. Those people don’t deserve to die for my mistake!’
Airspace around Katharon Base
As the formation of A-Laws forces headed to the Katharon base, Soma took a look over at the container attached the Ahead that contained the Automatons. ‘Weapons like this shouldn’t be needed. The Colonel would never have approved of something like them being used. Maybe the Colonel was right for me to not join.’
Andrei, on the other hand, was prepared to do his duty. ‘These rebels stood in the way of peace and happiness in the world. If that peace had to be secured through less-than-ideal means, then I will be happy to use those means.’ No one would have to suffer the loss of a parent like he did. ‘It would be even better if the gundams showed up. Then it would eliminate two threats.’ He still had a bone to pick with the pilot who killed his squad mate at Proud.
Both Soma and Andrei heard a call over comms. “Structure spotted. Most likely the enemy base. Permission to engage.” The two of them saw what looked like a metal structure covered by tents and tarps, with what looked like a hanger door that was currently closed. Andrei took aim at the structure with his lance and opened fire. The red energy blast punched through the structure, opening a wide hole in the base, leaving a large amount of debris surrounding the area of the blast. Several outdated mobile suits came out of the entrance of the base, opening fire on the A-Laws. Andrei, Soma and the rest of the A-Laws forces dodged out of the way easily, picking them off one by one.
Soma was not enjoying the sight of this one-sided battle. ‘This isn’t right. This is like shooting at fish in a barrel. They aren’t a threat to us.’ Over comms she heard the order to drop the Automatons. ‘They wouldn’t! It’s already easy! They should ask them to surrender.’ She watched as the suit dropped the box shaped robots onto the ground. She yelled over comms, “Wait a minute!” But her objection was seemingly ignored.
Andrei watched with an even face. He didn’t like that they had to use these weapons, but knew they were a necessary evil. At least he wasn’t getting his hands dirty. Though he wasn’t personally killing the people in the base, which calmed his nerves a little. But his thoughts were interrupted.
Out of nowhere, a purple energy blast came flying at the A-Laws formation, causing them to scatter. The Seravee, Cheridum and Arios flew into the battlefield. Andrei yelled over the comms, “It’s the gundams!”
In the cockpit of the Seravee, Tieria spoke up, “We’re too late!”
Allelujah, looking at the Katharon base, asked, “What about the base?”
Lockon’s voice was more intense than usual, “I’ll handle the base. You two deal with the mobile suits.” Allelujah and Tieria moved towards the formation rapidly as the Cheridum moved to the open hole in the base.
The Cheridum descended down to the base and noticed the custom ahead was following him, but seemingly not opening fire. As he got closer to the base, he noticed the Automatons steadily making their way through the hanger, leaving bodies in their wake. Red hot anger flowed through his blood. ‘Damn you A-Laws bastards!” He pulled out his two sidearms on the gundam and targeted the robots, dwindling their numbers. He had to keep them from reaching the inner part of the base.
As Soma followed the gundam, she got a horrifying glimpse of what was going on. She saw the bodies left by the Automatons, the machines not even stopping. ‘Is this what a soldier is supposed to do? Let massacres like this happen?’ She floated there, paralyzed by the sight in front of her. ‘This is what the Colonel protected me from. He made sure that I didn’t have to do this. Oh Colonel.”
She was broken out of her thoughts by energy blasts from the Cheridum and heard the pilot yell, “I’ll never forgive you for this!” She pulled back, raising up her shield to block the shots, which destroyed the shield. ‘I wouldn’t be mad if you didn’t forgive us. I’m just as guilty of this as any of us.’
On another part of the battlefield, the Arios charged into the formation, still in jet mode, grabbing one of the GN-X’s with the front claw. He yelled out angrily as he cut the suit in half, “Just because you don’t pull the trigger yourself doesn’t mean you are guilty for the crime!” He heard the suit explode behind him and he transformed into mobile suit mode. ‘I’m feeling a little less rusty now.’ He opened fire on two of the mobile suits, missing but drawing them into a dogfight. Allelujah did notice one of the custom Aheads was staying out of the fight. ‘What’s up with that?’
As Allelujah was engaging those mobile suits, Tieria brought his bazooka forward, charging a large purple ball in front it. He released the energy, nearly hitting Andrei’s mobile suit as he barely dodged out of the way. ‘This was the mobile suit that saved the other gundam at Proud. Now’s my chance.’ As Andrei was about to charge, he heard orders of the comms, “We have achieved our objective. Withdraw at once.” ‘I’ll get you next time gundam. I promise that.’ The A-Laws suits pulled back, with Soma pulling up the rear as she retreated from the attacks from the Cheridum.
As Soma flew away, she had one thought running through her head. ‘I don’t deserve the happiness I’ve been granted. I’m sorry Colonel!’ Unknown to her, a presence in the back of her mind felt like their prison had been weakened. ‘Soon, Allelujah.’
Airspace of Azadistan
As Setsuna flew the shuttle, he noticed they were nearing Azadistan airspace. He took a glance over at Marina and saw she was noticeably happier. ‘Azadistan is that important to her apparently. While I do agree with Sumeragi, maybe Marina could make a difference.’ He spoke up, “We are almost there. Ready to return back to your country?”
Marina gave an enthusiastic nod, “It’s good to be back.”
Her smile became a face of shock immediately became a look of horror as the shuttle flew out of a cloud bank. Both of them saw could only see red and orange as fires raged across Azadistan. The colors were highlighted by the darkness of the nights, making smaller fires that much more obvious. From their vantage point, they could see the lights of emergency vehicles trying in vain to restore order. Some mobile suit units were trying to maintain order, but based on the level of destruction, it was most likely in vain.
Setsuna saw some tears coming from Marina as she was shocked by the sight. He was shocked as well. Even in his time, he had never seen destruction on this scale all at once. The silence in the shuttle was broken by Marina, “Azadistan is-“
Setsuna finished her sentence, “Burning.”
“But why is Azadistan burning?”
Setsuna tried to come up with an idea of what happened. ‘It’s too large scale for terrorism. You need a lot of firepower to do this much damage. It must be a- ‘. His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted a red gundam floating over the ruins of the city. The suit was very angular, with a large sword attached right arm and a silver shield on its left. Its head was very different from the gundams of Celestial Being, lacking the samurai helmet look. ‘It looks like a throne, but improved. And that color. Could it be Ali al Saachez? I thought the bastard died five years ago.’ The gundam turned to face the shuttle, flashing a familiar looking tattoo on its faceplate. The gundam then took off, almost taunting them with how casual the destruction it managed to cause was to it. ‘It was him. Only a man like him would go so far to do this.’
Setsuna did a pass over the city, seeing if they could do anything. Marina was unable to respond, only taking in the destruction. Seeing as there was nothing they could do, Setsuna flew back to the Ptolemaios, needing to report what happened as well as the fact that the man that murdered Neil was still alive.