1: Gundams Rising
She sat in the cockpit of the Gundam, calmly watching the indicators as her suit fell through the atmosphere.
“First phase complete. Proceeding with second phase,” she said. Her hands tightened on the controls. This was it. Her first real battle, no more simulations, no more tests. She glanced down at the control boards where an old photograph was stuck next to the readouts. Most people saved everything to their computers and displayed photos in holo these days. She had been given this one by her parents. It showed her mother and father, arm in arm, standing next to what she guessed was the leg of some kind of mobile suit.
Slowly, she reached over and touched the photo lightly. A beeping from her console caused her to look up. A cluster of clouds parted on the screens, revealing her destination. A huge tower that soared from its mighty base, a few miles below, stretching into the sky for as far as she could see. The Africa Orbital Tower, part of the Solar Energy System. Mankind’s solution to the rapidly evolving energy crisis that had developed as the fossil fuels began to disappear. It had taken over 100 years to build this tower and it was even now still incomplete, but operational.
Her scanners beeped, locking onto the signal she had been sent here to rendezvous with. She glanced to the side and saw flashes of blue and pink light.
“Exia located. Phase 2: Start.”
Beams of pink light stabbed up from near the base of the tower and several explosions blossomed around the source of the flashes. She shoved the throttles forward and her mobile suit hurtled forward. She could clearly see her opponents now, AEU Hellion MS.
She glanced one more time at the picture of her parents and focused once more on the battle before her. One of the Mobile Suits had just turned to see her suit and raised its linear rifle.
“Eliminating the targets,” she said, thumbing a button on the control sticks. From the hellion pilot’s view, he saw a white and red mobile suit that looked like the first one they had intercepted, hurtling at him. He tried to lock on with his rifle but the mystery suit pulled out a beam saber that ignited at both ends! With a deft swipe, Feldt cleaved the Hellion clean in two and then fired her beam vulcans at another. A third Hellion tried to get the drop on her but in doing so he’d forgotten about his first opponent. An almost ridiculously large sword pierced the suit through the middle, causing it to detonate. The light of the explosion bathed her suit in a red-orange glow, highlighting the word GUNDAM stamped under the crest of her mobile suit, the Gundam Angelas.
“This phase is complete,” crackled Lockon’s voice from the Gundam Dynames below them, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Roger,” she replied and heard the pilot of the other Gundam, the Exia, reply.
The two of them flew off into the sky.
*****
Hours later, on the uncharted island, hiding the docking containers for their Gundams, the three pilots had gathered in the cabin of the Exia’s container. Lockon was very pleased with how the operation had gone.
“And Tieria and Allelujah?” asked Setsuna F. Seiei, the pilot of the Exia.
“Theirs went off without a hitch. The Pillar of Heaven station won’t be blowing up anytime soon.” Said Lockon, with a grin. She looked over at them from where she had been working on the computer with Haro, the orange, ball-shaped robot that assisted Lockon in his Gundam.
“The announcement is being made,” she said as she switched on of the monitors. It showed an image of a female newscaster but almost immediately switched over to the image of an immaculately dressed old man, bald but with a precisely trimmed brown beard and, most unusual of all, a monocle on his right eye.
“I will now deliver a message to the many people of the world,” he said, “We are Celestial Being. We are a private armed organization, which employ the mobile weapons, the Gundams. The purpose for which we, Celestial Being, exist is...to end all warfare on this planet.
We do not seek to fight for personal gain. In order to eliminate the strife of war on people's hearts, we stand. As I am doing presently, we shall announce our intentions to all mankind. Domination, religion, energy, no matter what your justification may be...we will go to any battle and quell it. In this way we hope to reform the world. No matter if it is a country, organization or company. If they support war, they will come to know us all too well. We are Celestial Being. We exist for the purpose of ending war, as a private military...”
“This’ll get people’s attention for sure,” Lockon chuckled.
“Isn’t that Aeolia Schenberg, Celestial Being’s founder?” she asked.
“Sure is Feldt!” replied Lockon, regarding the youngest of Celestial Being’s Gundam pilots with that grin of his.
“’Course you realize-with this, we’ve just picked a fight with the entire world,” he added.
“That’s fine,” said Setsuna, rising to his feet and almost glaring at both of them, “We… Lockon Stratos, Feldt Grace, Setsuna F. Seiei… are Celestial Being’s Gundam Meisters.”
“Mother, Father…” Feldt thought to herself, “I hope I’m doing something you can be proud of me for.”
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