Chapter Text
“Regular speech”
‘Thought’
“Soma/Hallelujah speech”
Lagrange 3
Setsuna crouched on the outside of the suit, near the cockpit hatch. He was finishing up his system check to make sure the 00 was combat ready. He was distracted by what was happening on Earth. ‘Nothing has changed. And I haven’t even-‘ His thoughts were interrupted by Feldt’s voice over the PA system along with an alarm sound.
“Enemy machine detected on E-Sensors!”
Setsuna looked up to the source of the PA, “Enemy machine? Is it A-Laws?” Mileina, who was in the hangers coordinating repairs for the suits, replied to the bridge.
“The Arios and Seravee are still too damaged!”
Feldt once again spoke to the crew, “Enemy is closing at a rate of 78 kiloseconds!” Setsuna was shocked at that speed. ‘What type of A-Laws machine could have that speed. Not even Graham’s suit was that fast.’ Sumeragi’s voice spoke over the PA, “00 and Cheridum, prepare for emergency launch!” Getting in the 00, he opened up communications with the bridge, seeing Feldt’s face appear in front of him, “00, ready for launch.”
Feldt nodded at that, “Understood. Preparing the linear catapult for launch.” Setsuna felt the 00 get moved up and into position on the catapult and locked in place. Feldt spoke up again, “Launch controls are in your control.”
He nodded at that and launched himself into space, curious as to what type of machine would have that kind of speed. ‘Is it a new model?’ He turned to face the direction the enemy was coming from and got a good look at the new machine. It was a light purple color with dark purple highlights on the shoulders, legs and arms. It carried no visible weaponry and had a face type similar to other A-Laws units and it possessed a pseudo solar reactor. The suit also had something attached to its leg that gave it additional speed, but as soon as the 00 got close enough, it was detached from the suit, revealing the rest of the legs. He opened fire on it with his two blasters, but the machine seemed to dodge all of it effortlessly. ‘What maneuverability! It must be a new model.’ Setsuna continued to fire on it, but suddenly the machine stopped and a red barrier, like what the Seravee could do, surrounded the machine. Setsuna’s eyes widened, “It has a GN field?” ‘Looks like I’ll have to deal with him in melee.’
The machine dissipated the field and opened fire on Setsuna with a blaster that was part of its left arm. The 00 managed to dodge all but one hit, which impacted the small shield on its left arm, creating a field of debris as it was destroyed. The new machine charged in, five beams coming out of projectors on one of its hands. Setsuna met the blade, but when he tried to hold it off for a few seconds, the other machine brought the five beams together, cutting through Setsuna’s hybrid blaster/blade weapon. Setsuna attempted to swing his other blade at him, but the purple machine dodged out of the way effortlessly. ‘This pilot is good.’ The machine charged him again and Setsuna prepared to dodge out of the way, but pink energy beams came blasting at the machine, forcing it to pull away. Setsuna heard Lyle’s voice come over communications in a worried tone, “Setsuna, you alright?” The Cheridum kept fire up on the new model and the Ptolemy joined in. The new machine found no opening, so it turned around and left the battlefield. Setsuna looked at the sight of the machine leaving with shock, “It ran away?” Internally, he was beginning to doubt if the 00 would be enough. ‘I need something more powerful if we are to face suits like that or Ali al Saachez’s suit.’ He then heard Sumeragi’s voice in his suit.
“All gundams, return back to the ship.”
He acknowledged the order and flew back to the Ptolemy. As he was reaching the hanger, Lyle’s face appeared on his display, “What was that all about?”
Setsuna thought for a second than replied, “They must be toying with us. Telling us they can attack us out here.”
Lyle let out a deep sigh, “Well if we have to face machines like that, we gotta get some upgrades. Wonder what this place out here has for us?”
“I wish I knew.”
Celestial Being Base
As the crew rode up in the elevator after docking with the base at Lagrange 3, a number of the group- which included Lyle, Allelujah, Setsuna and Saji- was surprised at having a base out here for five years. Lyle in particular was impressed that Celestial Being had been able to stay secret for so long from the government and even the A-Laws.
As the door slid open on the elevator, they saw the room in front of them. While mostly bare, shiny metal, it was impressively large and the room had a number of doors that led further into the base. In the middle of the room stood Ian and next to him was a light skinned woman in her early thirties with wavy blonde hair down below her shoulders, with a similar outfit to most of the crew, along with a pair of glasses. Her jacket color was a light pink and the color of her shirt was purple.
Behind the two of them stood another woman, younger than the other one, with somewhat messy purple hair going down below her shoulders, red eyes, with a red jacket and a shirt similar in design to the others that was blue.
Mileina immediately rushed towards the blonde woman, yelling excitedly, “Mom!” The blonde woman wrapped her in a quick hug and asked.
“How have you been, Mileina?” Mileina nodded happily. She released Mileina and looked crew of the Ptolemy, trying to put names to faces.
Allelujah looked at the scene curiously and commented to no one in particular, “She just said mom.” Setsuna replied evenly, “She did.” The group walked forward, Sumeragi and Feldt taking the lead.
As the group reached the middle of the room, Ian spoke up, “Oh right. For some of you this is the first time meeting her. This is my wife, Linda.”
Linda looked at the group with a kind smile, “Hi, I’m Linda Vashti. It’s nice to meet you all.”
Saji looked at Ian with surprise, “Wow, she’s young!” Allelujah added onto that with a smirk, “There ought to be a law.”
Ian scowled at Allelujah, “What is that supposed to mean?”
Sumeragi stepped forward, attempting to get the situation under control, though she was enjoying it a little, “Let’s put the joking aside for now.”
Ian spoke up again, still angry, “Why do you think this is a joke?”
Sumeragi responded urgently, unphased by his reaction, “How long to resupply Ptolemy and gundams?”
Ian was taken out of his anger, hearing the tone of her voice, “What happened out there?”
“The A-Laws are conducting reconnaissance in this area.”
Ian put a hand under his chin, realizing she was worried about their detection, “While I think our camouflage here is perfect, I understand your concern.” He was interrupted by a woman’s voice coming from behind him with an even tone.
“However, repair and resupply will take about five days.” All eyes in the room turned to this purple haired woman who had moved closer to the group. None of the crew recognized this woman.
Sumeragi responded, curious, “And who are you?”
Setsuna also responded, “I’ve never seen you before.”
The woman gave them a friendly smile, “It’s nice to meet you all. I was scouted when Celestial Being began operating again. My name is Anew Returner.”
Tieria spoke up next, “Who scouted you?” He was surprised they recruited after they started operating again.
Ian answered his question, voice full of energy, “Wang Liu Mei introduced her. Anew is simply amazing. She’s an expert in astrophysics, mobile suit engineering and regeneration treatments. She can navigate, cook, and to top it off she’s gorgeous! What do you think? She a keeper?” Anew rolled her eyes when Ian finished his speech but blushed slightly.
During Ian’s little speech, Feldt looked back at Setsuna, curious as to his reaction to her and an anxious look on her face. ‘Will he think she’s pretty? Will he like her more than me?’ As she watched Setsuna, she saw him turn his face towards her, an analytical look on his face. He then gave her a warm smile and they held their gazes for a second longer before she turned back to face forward, looking down at the ground as her cheeks burned with embarrassment and the butterflies in her stomach from Setsuna’s smile. ‘Was that jealousy? Oh. I think I really do like him. At least he only smiled at me.’ Setsuna looked at the back of her head, slightly confused and his smile dropped as he returned to look at Anew. ‘What was that about? And why is it only Feldt that brings out that reaction? Surely another attractive woman would bring out the same reaction.’ In the back of his mind, he was starting to put the pieces together, but something was holding it back. ‘Why her?’
Lyle, meanwhile, was also taking in the sight of this woman. She was attractive, smart, had a cute blush and, had probably no history with his brother? ‘All of a sudden Celestial Being was a little more appealing.’ Maybe he might have a shot with someone here, ‘Say what you will about it, it certainly has some attractive women.’ He made a mental note to get to know her better before they had to leave this place.
Anew casually responded to Ian’s complements, “I look forward to working with all of you.”
Linda coughed, bringing everyone’s attention to her, “We have two support units that we are ready to roll out for you guys, and we will need the 00 to test one of them. If you follow Anew, she will lead you to the test lab. Which one of you is leading the ship resupply?”
Feldt spoke up, the blushing having disappeared, though she was still a bit embarrassed, “I am.”
“While everyone else heads to the labs, I want to talk with you about the resupply. I’ll join the rest of you in a bit.” The group nodded and followed Anew and Ian, with Setsuna giving her a look over before joining the rest of them. As the crew, with the exception of Saji, Marie and Feldt, left through the hallways to head to the test lab, Linda looked at Feldt with a teasing look on her face, “What was that just then with Mr. Seiei?”
Feldt looked up, her face becoming red again, “What do you mean?” She tried to pretend she wasn’t hiding something, but her body language betrayed her.
Linda spoke kindly to her, “It’s alright Feldt. I was your age once. I know what a crush feels like. I don’t think I’ve heard of Mr. Seiei giving people smiles like that.”
Feldt’s shoulders slumped, defeated. This was one of the people who helped raise her when she was younger, someone she connected with. Of course she could see right through her. Looking the blonde woman in the eyes, Feldt said, “Yes, I like him. And I think I was feeling jealous with Anew there.”
Linda spoke in a teasing tone, “Well he certainly is handsome. If I was younger and single, you might have had competition.”
Feldt gave her a slight glare, “Mrs. Vashti! You’re married!”
Linda laughed, “Like I said, if I was younger and single. And besides, based on what just happened, I don’t think he has eyes for anyone but you. He didn’t give that look to Anew. What do you like about him?”
The pink-haired girl stood there for a second, then answered, “Well he’s handsome, brave, kind, supportive…”
“What do you mean by supportive?”
Feldt could feel the emotions for him being there for her rush in and could feel the happiness flooding her system, “I had an emotional moment and he let me cry into his shoulder. He even held me close. It felt so nice and at the time I didn’t want to let go.”
Linda could see her eyes light up and could hear the happiness radiating from her voice, “He sounds like a keeper.”
Confusion seeped into Feldt’s voice, “He is. I just don’t know what to do. I never have had an opportunity like this happen before. What do I do? What if he doesn’t like me like that?”
Linda gave her sympathetic smile, “It’s alright if you don’t know what to do. No one does. Just let your feelings guide you. My recommendation is after this test, talk to him and get to know him. You don’t need to tell him your full feelings if you don’t want to, though with our line of work it might be a sooner rather than later situation. Build a relationship. I’m certain he will return your feelings at one point.”
Feldt mulled over her suggestions and then gave her an appreciative smile, “Thank you Ms. Vashti. I’ll follow your advice. And on an unrelated note, here is our supply list.” She pulled out a flash drive and held it in front of the blonde woman.
Linda nodded at this, taking the drive and saying, “Thank you for the list. And whatever happens, I am rooting for you.” Feldt gave Linda a short hug and began to walk back to the elevator, looking back to see Linda heading to the door towards the lab. ‘I’ll tell him after the test. I won’t wait around, like with Neil.’
Testing Lab
The four pilots, Mileina, Ian, and Linda stood in a darkened control room, looking down onto a hanger from a viewing window. Anew was sat down, operating a console. In that hanger was two machines. One was a white jet like vehicle with blue highlights on the wings and chassis. The other machine was a red jet like vehicle with red wings and cockpit, with gray making up the rest of the center of the machine. Setsuna looked over the white machine, “So that is the 0 Raiser?”
Linda nodded, “This machine incorporates special functions that can help you control the twin drive system, and it amplifies the trans-am. It can function as just a support machine for the 00, but with a pilot it has a few special features.”
Setsuna looked at her curiously, “Like what?”
Linda responded, “It can unleash a large beam of energy, though that would heavily drain the energy supply of both the 00 and 0 Raiser. However, that system needs more testing before it can be used.” Setsuna nodded at that. ‘That feature sounds useful, but I wonder who would be willing to pilot that?’
Lyle spoke up, eyeing the red machine, “And that one?”
The blonde woman answered him, “That is a support unit for the Arios called the Gun Archer.”
Allelujah spoke quietly to himself, “The Gun Archer.”
Ian, seeing that enough time had been wasted and curious what the effect of the 0 Raiser would be, jumped in, “Let’s get to testing it Setsuna.”
Setsuna nodded at that, “Roger that.”
Entrance of Lagrange 3 base
Marie stood at one of the windows of the entrance, looking out onto the Ptolemy. Feldt had just passed by her heading down the elevator back to the ship and Marie had heard bits and pieces of her conversation with Linda. ‘I’m happy you realized your feelings, Feldt. I wish you luck.’ The other thing on her mind was the fact that there was such a large base out this far. She heard Soma’s voice in her head, “No wonder the government couldn’t find them. No one would have suspected some asteroids so far out to hide something this size.” Marie nodded in agreement, “It’s probably good we didn’t find it before, or we would never have gotten here.” She didn’t hear a reply so she focused her attention on the rest of the room, spotting Saji deep in thought resting against one of the pillars in the room. She approached him curiously, “Is there something wrong?”
Saji looked at her in surprise, her interruption having broken his train of thought, “I’m kind of at a loss for what to do. I made a mistake that got people killed. I have to make up for that, but I can’t bring myself to kill anyone. What do I do?”
Marie gave him a sympathetic smile, “It’s only natural that you can’t kill someone.”
Saji replied in a desperate voice, “But I have to help somehow! There must be something I can do!”
Marie thought for a second, then responded, “Even people on the frontline need support people. Engineers and people who operate systems on the bridge have an important role. Without them, people like the gundam meisters, wouldn’t be as effective.”
Saji clenched his fists, “It just feels like-“
“Talk to Ms. Sumeragi about what you can do. I’m sure she could give you something important to do, seeing the size of the crew. And you wouldn’t need to fight people.”
Saji reflected on her words for a second, frowning, “I’ll think about it. Thank you. I do have a question for you.”
Marie gave him a curious look, “Sure. What is it?”
“Do you intend to stay with Celestial Being?”
She gave him a thoughtful look, “Yes. As long as Allelujah is here, I am staying.”
He took a slight step forward, “Even if that means you might have to fight?”
The white-haired woman looked out the window, “I was a soldier once, so I’ve made my peace with that. Besides, I’ve made my choice. I’ll never leave Allelujah again.”
Saji gave her a sad smile, “I envy you. There’s someone that I feel the same way about. After all this is over, I hope she would be willing to take me back.” Marie walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. Saji let out a deep sigh then steeled his voice, “But until then, I’m here.”
“I’m certain the people here will appreciate whatever help you are willing to give.” Saji gave her a look of thanks and moved to the window, thoughts focused on Louise. ‘I hope you are safe.’
Innovator Base
Ali al Saachez had been looking around the base for around fifteen minutes or so, looking for an apparent rat in their base. Ribbons had been insistent that something was up so he had sent the red maned mercenary to look for this intruder. It felt beneath him to do such simple tasks, but he was getting paid, so he wouldn’t complain for now.
He entered one of the control rooms, casually scanning the area, spotting a woman sitting in front of one of the terminals. ‘And there we have the rat.’ He walked casually up to her, not trying to hide his presence. The yellow eyed, red-haired woman, who had on a purple and white space suit, had seemingly heard him and rapidly got out of her seat and turned to face him, a shocked expression on her face. ‘Do I know her? Must have done something to get that reaction.’
Nena spoke with anger at him, “It’s you! You’re the one who…the one who killed my brothers!”
Ali smiled at that. ‘Ah, she was one of those throne pilots.’ With an exaggeratedly excited tone, he responded, “Get out of here! I thought I recognized you. You were that little girl. Now what is someone like you doing back here? Following your mistress’s orders?”
Nena glared at him, a fire in her eyes, “And why should I tell you?”
The red-haired man kept a friendly tone, “Because I could report you now and have them see what you were doing, or you could tell me and I may let you go.”
Nena weighed her options. If she got caught now, her plans would be ruined. And realistically, she couldn’t take on the mercenary at this point. ‘Some honesty it is then.’ She kept her glare at him for a few more seconds, then she sighed, anger still flowing through her, “I’m just digging for some information on the world’s situation. And not on my mistress’s orders.” Those last words came out like she was spitting poison.
Ali could instantly tell that she was covering up her true intentions, but she wasn’t half bad at lying. He could also hear the contempt in her voice about her mistress. ‘Another person who doesn’t like their master, huh? Well, I’ll let her go for now. She might provide some entertainment later.’ He pretended to think for a few more seconds to have her sweat a little, then he casually waved one of his hands in the air, “See, was that so hard? If it was just info like that then you seem to be doing nothing wrong. Just finish gathering whatever you wanted to gather. I recommend you find somewhere less suspicious to be. My client is a rather paranoid man.”
Nena felt relief. ‘He had fallen for it’ Keeping a façade of anger continuing, she replied, “Once I’m done I’ll be out of here. Only needed a minute or two anyway.”
He gave her a deceptive smile, “Good. Wouldn’t want to have to hurt a woman like you. Have fun. I’m going to keep searching for this rat my boss is looking for. Hope to talk to you again!” He walked out of the room casually, a smirk crossing his features. ‘What can a little chaos hurt? I can’t wait to see how this plays out.’
Nena watched as the mercenary floated away out of the room. Her anger spiked. ‘They will all pay. The ones who killed my brothers, who use me a tool. And Celestial Being will be a tool of my vengeance.’
Test Chamber of Lagrange 3 Base
Setsuna sat in the 00, the 0 Raiser attached to his machine. He could feel the increased power coming from it, but in this environment, he couldn’t know what it would feel like in combat. “Hopefully I get to test it soon.’ He could hear the tech people talking about things going on in the control room through communications, but he tuned them out. He was just waiting to hear the signal to start the test. If this worked, then he could use trans-am without any issues. ‘If I had had it before, I could have eliminated some of those suits, like Ali al Saachez’s or Graham’s suit.’ With this machine, he could help create a better, more just world. His musings were broken by Ian talking to him, “Alright Setsuna, we are going to test the 0 Raiser’s control system. Activate the trans-am.”
Setsuna replied evenly, “Roger that.” He waited as they counted down to one and then he activated the trans-am. The 00 began to glow bright red and GN particles began to come off the machine and spread throughout the room, expanding more and more. Setsuna could feel the machine humming and vibrating with power. ‘Is this the true power of the 00?’ As the power bar began to rise and go above 300%, he started feeling strange. He could almost sense emotion around him. None of it was clear and it all blended together, but it was there. ‘Why am I feeling that sensation? What is the twin drive system? Is this it’s true power?’ As Setsuna pondered about what was going on, the particles began to spread around the base. With most people, it was a strange calming effect, but others reacted more strongly.
As Marie stood near the window once again, she suddenly felt a large rush of quantum waves hit her brain, giving her and Soma a vision. Both of them could see a beam from the sky hit the ground, then a large wave of sand and debris rushing towards a large military carrier that both of them realized was the one Sergei was in. Marie was too confused to fight Soma as she took control. Soma ran to the glass, yelling in anguish, “Get away from there Colonel! Run!” Saji looked at her in confusion. ‘What was going on? Why is she yelling about some Colonel?’
As Tieria was showering, he felt that same wave hit him. He leaned against the wall of the shower, one hand on the wall while the other was holding his head. ‘What is this sensation? It feels like connecting to Veda or when Regene talked to me in my mind, but how? Who has access to quantum brainwaves? Unfortunately for him, the feeling was overwhelming, however it was not malicious. It felt familiar, but he couldn’t place it.
Sitting at her console, Anew saw a vision appear in her mind. In front of her she could see a group of shadowy individuals, but one stood out among the group. All she could make out was green hair and purple eyes. She felt a current of fear as she looked up to this individual, but at the same time a sense of belonging, of familiarity. As she felt the vision fading, she could see that same being with green hair give her a malicious smile as she came back to reality, confused as to what that meant.
As Allelujah scanned around the Gun Archer, taking it in, he felt a rush of quantum waves hit him, causing him to grab his head in pain. Inside his mind, Hallelujah felt that same rush and absorbing the energy, rushing forward into reality. Allelujah felt felt a familiar presence in his mind. ‘Hallelujah?’ Instead of hearing nothing, he got a response, “It’s good to be back!” Allelujah physically stumbled for a second. ‘What just happened?’ He got an annoyed response, “Could you quiet your thoughts? It feels like I have a hangover.” Allelujah realized he wasn’t imagining it. He was back.