[IC] Gundam OO - Celestial Intervention

[Renny]

Atalei transferred the video over to a handheld unit as he exited Kyrios. The video was a clear but contradictory declaration. One that had taken Atalei some weeks to come to terms with. Fighting war with war. He held tight to his sunburt helmet as he floated about the ship, only to halt in an empty passageway and finish Celestial Being's global announcement.

He hadn't noticed till it was too late how he shook. The excitement of the moment and coming battles were wracking his core. So tightly did he clenched his helmet, that his fingers felt numb for a second. "It all starts now..." he chuckled to himself. Then he stood up and made way for the others. He wasn't much of a soldier and despite his training, he still had his reservations about what his next actions should be.

"Guess I'll meet up with the others."

[Shandria]

As Viraa docked Virtue and left her seat, she didn't have much to say to anyone. The plan was in motion, the world knew they were here. From now on, it would be as simple as proving to the world that this was not a joke, and that they were to be taken seriously. Not that that was actually simple by any means.

She didn't bother staying to listen to the speech made by Aeolia Schenberg's pre-recorded message. She knew it already. She knew every word, beginning to end. She existed because of that man. She existed because of, and for his plan. No matter what, she would carry out this plan. Even if she had to do it alone someday. She would make it so.

She smiled to herself under her helmet. It was starting. At long last, her life was truly beginning.

[Shiyonichi]

EXIA: Micheal D. Cicero

Exia came down from it’s high altitude flight in preparation to meet up at the rendezvous point. Micheal confirmed Chad’s report as he met up with the sniper. Exia had sustained no hits and as an added bonus revealed no cards that couldn’t be visibly seen, it’s beam gun, beam saber, and other systems were still unknown to the rest of the world. While he didn’t enjoy combat, the first mission felt slightly disappointing. He had spent 6 years preparing for the moment and his heart had raced before it, only for it to be over with barely any effort. He shrugged off the disappointment. It being that easy was a good thing. Arthur shook his head and he listened to Aeolia Schenberg’s speech.

No doubt, every member of Celestial Being was also watching. Though the he had to wonder when Schenberg had recorded this speech. Did he predict that Celestial Being would take around three hundred years to become active? Well either way this would be the first act in Celestial Being’s mission of the Eradication of war. He only had one thing remind everyone.

”With this, there’s no going back.”

[Wernher]

"Now you've gone and done it, you old jew." Julia muttered to herself as she looked at the monitor placed in the hangar for the occasion with the mechanic crew. 'And what about you, you old hag?' Her consciousness asked back. She was now a terrorist, it was only a question of time until the military for which she had dedicated her life came after her.

But the goal was worth it. To be honest, Julia didn't really believe Celestial Being could win against the entire Earth, even after the incredible display of power made today. It was just a question of logistic, even if they only faced Flag mobile suits, the 3 nations had so much industrial power they could just come at them day and night, never leave a moment of rest until they didn't die in battle but of exhaustion first. Maybe Schenberg had an ace up his sleeve, but she'd be satisfied if they just managed to become a big enough threat that the 3 big ones got together to face them.

She was just to hold to hope for anything else.

Julia looked down on a case of cigars she kept on her. Two left. The last one she had smoked was when she had joined Celestial Being. Nah, this was just another phase of the plan, she'd smoke one when they won, if they even did. Leaving one for whatever special thing that may come up by surprise. She opted for a cigarette instead. Quickly she was brought back to reality by a mechanic. "Hey! Stop smoking that shit in here! The filters in your room are already clogged like a damn chimney!"

Julia only removed the smoke from her mouth for a moment to yell back. "If that clogs the fucking filter we'll all die if a hit makes it in the bay, so shove it Lieutenant! Atelai! Viraa!" She said, turning to the young pilots on the catwalk above (Where she wasn't since she had landed first, being away from the fight and all). "You've just beaten something more dangerous than 90% of what you'll encounter next! Military rookie pilots follow a manual and a training, makes them predictable, while the scum we faced today without real training could have done whatever stupid insane shit that would have gotten both them and you killed, so good for you. Now, debriefing in one hour and training tomorrow at 6! This whole thing has just begun!"

Having made herself a pain in the ass for the pilots, she turned herself toward a duo of mechanics enthusiastically talking about the speech and what came now to then shove one as to get their attention. "That means you too guys! You had the entire time we were gone to sit on your asses, where's my system diagnostic? Why aren't you doing maintenance? Someone could have tailed us and the entirety of the HRL's army could be on our asses any minute now, move, move!"

[vancexentan]

"Hey is everything alright in here? I came to check on you all see how you're doing." Nea said as she floated out of the hall with her haros behind her. She was the one in charge of making sure the haro units didn't do anything. "Hey Miss Richards the gundams should be fine they just need maintenance I checked before they docked." Nea said looking down towards the ship's mechanic who nodded and said it would be a quick one and they should be able to join the group in Earth's Atmosphere soon. "Uh Miss Prigent is everything alright you looked a bit stressed? I didn't see anything wrong with the operations while I was at them monitor did something happen? Also please remember to keep smoking to the designated areas of the ship that are meant for it." commented Nea as she went along the catwalks.

===

The island base that Celestial Being had picked for them was a nice tropical one. It was undiscovered which meant short of a cast-away victim they should be fine considering it was next to impossible to track their suits. Chad grumbled as he rubbed his head and stepped out of the ship pulling off his helmet, and dismounting out of Dynames. He was met with Nick Barker who was the head of maintaining the gear down here. He was a sort of operator who made sure upgrades were working well. A mechanic to help when the mothership was out of reach. "Things went well?" commented Nick as he wandered up to the machine. He looked it over before nodding silently. "No damage detected. But that will change soon we'll be getting in actual combat sorties that aren't completely out of left field. People will be expecting us now. We're terrorists who just declared against the world after all. Personally prefer the term 'peace maker' though." joked Chad as Nick nodded going over to look at Exia. "Looks like nothing major either..." Nick stated aloud as Chad shrugged, "He's not some noob pilot either. He can take care of his suit."

[Renny]

Julia's aged voice straightened him. That old lady had earned his respect more than once during his initial training, she worked with him despite his obvious advantages, even taught him not to be cocky due to his genetic enhancement. Experience was difficult to counter and she had plenty of it. He could still remember being flipped three times in a row and destroyed during simulation battles. She was incredibly strong but thanks to her, the new Meisters had become even more dangerous.

He strolled over to see her below him. "Unpredictability beats practice and skill I guess," he shrugged, turning to Vira and smiling faintly.

"Anyway, roger that Gretchen. See ya in a hour."

Thankful for the guidance, Atalei caught up to Viraa and kept pace with her. He wanted to say something to spark a conversation but honestly, she seemed lost in her own head. He switched his helmet over to his other hand before finally saying, "You good? Up top I mean. I'm still trying to get use to this... You acting like you don't care about much... me trying to make friends. Figured this'll be a good start." His voice echoed the calm exterior he typically carried though his insides were awkward and jumbled.

@Wernher@Shandria

[Shandria]

Viraa still had her own helmet on, and the vizor was one way, ensuring that she could see out of it easily, but from the outside, it seemed to be nothing but solid black glass. When Atalei finally spoke, she stopped walking, and turned her head to him. There was a long moment of silence before she said anything in response to him.

"You mistake my silence and focus on the mission for not caring. When we are on a Mission, we are not friends, we are allies with a common goal. Pieces of a Puzzle, with a duty to carry out. When we leave on a mission, I am no longer a single person. I am that which Virtue requires to do its job. Without me, Virtue cannot save the world from itself. When we are on a mission, I am Virtue, because that is what Celestial Being requires of me. Without our Gundams, we cannot destroy war. Without us, our Gundams cannot either."

If Atalei was attempting to be calm and collected, he might find how excessively calm Viraa was about all this a little off-putting. A little, unnatural even. It was like there was no emotion in her voice, save for just the slightest, barely noticeable hint of happiness. Not that it made what she said next any less creepy probably.

"We are chosen to rid the world of War, something that has plagued it for its entire history. And by the Grace of Veda, and the Wisdom of Aeolia Schenberg, we will make it so."

The icing on the cake of her little statement however, was her lifting her hands, as if she were a Priestess speaking of Veda and its creator like they were some sort of Immortal Deities.

[Shiyonichi]

EXIA: Micheal D. Cicero

”I don’t intend on damaging the Gundam anytime soon.”

Micheal stepped out of the Exia and walked over to head of maintenance and his fellow Gundam pilot, taking off his helmet and putting it under his arm. While the island was great for a hidden base, Micheal couldn’t say he was fond of it. He didn’t really enjoy high humidity areas, but he wasn’t going to voice his complaints pver something so minor. Mostly because there were quite a few people that had doubts due to his age and he wasn’t going to add fuel to that fire. He turned to the head maintenance and asked.

”If there is no issues I’m going to cook dinner. It’s a special occasion and I doubt anyone does delivery out here. Micheal turned to Wesker. ”Since you’re the other meister and the mission well, have anything to request?” Notably he seemed to have blocked out Nick during the second part of that conversation, Micheal had a sneaking suspicion that the Head of Maintenance was one of those people who had doubts and just because he was far more capable than you’re average teenager that one doesn’t mean he wasn’t one or couldn’t be just as petty.

[vancexentan]

"Help yourself I guess we just got supplied a bit extra just in case things lasted long. We got a lot of canned food but that's just about it." Nick stated as he pointed to the small mobile office with its own generator. It wasn't anything fancy but it was just there to allow the pilots, or the mechanic to relax. "Just some macaroni, and cheese will be fine. I'm not in the mood for anything fancy thanks for the offer though." Chad responded as Haro jumped up, "Make it quick! Make it quick! Missions begin as soon as Virtue, and the others arrive!" Haro commented quickly. Chad sighed and sat down on Dynames's foot and wondered just how many people wanted to test their power before dying this week. Unlikely anyone had a brain enough to not mess with the giant advanced death robots.

[Renny]

Atalei nodded his head, see the point of Viraa's words while at the same time feeling distant from her extolment of the powers above them. Veda and Aeolia, two beings that seemed less plausible and more deific to him. Viraa obviously thought highly of them, so much in fact that she raised her hands in prayer

"Mhmm. I think we will accomplish our goals," he told her smiling.

Her monotony was familiar, it reminded him of how he was during his stay at HOME. The torture of the experiments and the expectations and drag had weighed on him heavy, made him a robot. He got that feeling from Viraa, like she wasn't human. Just a shell of something. Which is something he hadn't always felt... just occasionally.

"Our goals are huge, literally global. But we still have to focus on ourselves. It's not like we were born to do this, we were chosen but our lives are multi-faceted... I think." Atalei sighed and shuffled his hair. "It's just freaky to hear you talk like that. Your life is more than just your Gundam."

He said those words but even he had a hard time seeing himself without Kyrios.

@Shandria

[Shandria]

Viraa dropped her hands, and once more looked over at Atalei. "You were chosen. Others were as well. If something were to go wrong, there would be alternatives. Second options. You were the first choice, take pride in that. But me, yes, I was born for this. This is what I exist for. You could have said no, you could have had a normal life, or however normal one such as yourself can be." She said this, hinting at her knowledge about his past, then looked forward.

"I could not say no. This is my calling. My life, belongs to Veda, to Celestial Being. Not because I chose it, but because that is why I exist in this world. And I gladly accept that role. Do not look down on the idea of being one with your Gundam. The facts remain, that you were chosen, and you accepted. For these reasons alone, you are Kyrios. There is no other, who will pilot that Gundam. It may be a metal machine, but we inside it are their hearts, their souls. We give what is nothing more than an image of a person, a voice and a purpose. That is our part in changing this world. Perhaps you do not understand... you were chosen from this. I am different, someday, perhaps, you will understand. By time we are through with this, you will all understand... what it means to be a Gundam."

She seemed to always have her helmet on. During training, during meetings and briefings/debriefings. Even when she had recruited the Meisters, her face was mostly shrouded, typically picking clothing that suited the area she was traveling to that covered as much of her face as possible for, mostly unknown reasons. And during free time, she was barely seen, tending to stick to her room, or somehow managing to always be one step ahead of everyone else, and disappearing from any location just before anyone else arrived.

Yet in this moment, in the completion of their first mission that was the jumpstart to their whole Crusade against war, she reached up, and there was a click, and a hiss from her helmet like it was locked in place. She pulled it up from her head, freeing hair that seemed like there was no way it fit in that helmet in the first place. She simply gave Atalei a quick look, saying "We are expected for debriefing soon. It won't be long before we will need to display our full power. Humanity will fight back, and we need to be ready for what comes next." And with that, she kicked herself off, floating forward through the Zero-Gravity atmosphere of the ship.

Surely they were to be expected soon, they couldn't leave the other two Gundams on the surface alone. Who knew what the next mission would require. Well okay... Veda likely already had a good idea, but still.

[vancexentan]

"Pilots I'm not sure if you're done your heart to heart yet but I've got a detailed schedule to keep up of murder, and terrorism. If you want to actually see Veda's plan done I recommend getting in your gundams, or getting what you need before proceeding into them." grumbled the Captain over the intercom of the ship. Nea whistled to get attention on her, "Miss Richards says Virtue, and Kyrios are good to go. Please get in whenever you're ready." Nea said as she walked out of the hanger the brigade of haros behind her.

[Renny]

Atalei was flabbergasted, first from her beauty. Viraa, the girl that always hid her face for one reason or another, was actually not disfigured. He wondered if she was burned, ugly, or just tortured in some way. As she kicked off, her hair veiling her slender form. Then by his confusion. Atalei started after her.

"W-Wait what are you saying? Is Aeolia your granddad or something?"

But then the Captain's voice stayed him. It was time to for another mission already. His questions would have to wait, at least until he could get Viraa alone again. He fitted on his helmet and kicked off for the hangar. In zero-gravity, his body floated over the rails and swam through the air towards Kyrios. He saluted towards Nea half-heartedly, "Thanks for the help, Nea. We couldn't do this without you guys."

He entered his Gundam and readied the suit for departure.

"Lumen and Kyrios is ready for take off."

@Shandria@vancexentan

[Wernher]

'The core of the problem.' Julia thought as she listened to Viraa and ignored Nea's instruction to stop smoking, all the while she argued with the mechanics without much point. It was her job to be a hardass and increase combat readiness. Viraa had an... eloquent way to put it, but it all sounded so cultish. This whole endeavor being religious in its zeal and almost a suicide pact in how dangerous it was. In a way this explained the youth of the crew, you had to had a pretty damn severe lack of wisdom to just embark on such a thing and simply... go along.

At this moment, Julia felt her hair stand up on her neck, as if she had reason to fear her predicament. She knew this speech well, as a right wing Catholic during her youth, she heard many charismatic preachers speak of Jesus, the Pope and God the way Viraa spoke of Aeolia, Veda and this ideal. Julia was here in case there was the slightest chance of this to work for if it didn't, thinkgs would continue as they always did, not ideal, but at the same time it could be worst. If Celestial Beings did manage their objective somehow, things would change, radically. Celestial Being would stand, alone, above the world. Such enormous power... She'd refer to the words of Aeolia, that men could easily be corrupted and become wicked. This old man was no exception, which was why he needed at least some skeptics within his ranks.

"What?! Without a debrief?" Julia answered with surprise. In normal military operations, a sortie per day was an intensive operation, more than one reeked of despair. But this wasn't the army. "We'll see if your engineering holds up, everyone back in and get ready to deploy! Godspeed soldiers." Julia said before kissing a small silver crucifix she always had at her neck and doing the cross sign before entering her Gundam.

[Shiyonichi]

EXIA: Micheal D. Cicero

”I understand it’s efficient to get a bunch of canned food, but it eventually going to end up killing us, faster than enemy fire if we keep eating that kind of stuff.”

Micheal stated, sounding oddly like a parent in contrast to his age, it would appear that being around Julia for so long he picked up a bits of the older pilot’s personality. Though the irony of an advanced military organization like Celestial Being would use such a low tech solution like canned food to supply it’s operatives than something like the MRE most militaries use. It would appear that the world military has something that exceeds Celestial Being’s.

”One more thing, if you prefer peacekeepers over terrorists, than don’t use the word, terrorists to describe us, we aren’t scum like them.” Micheal gave a glare that would cut deeper than the Exia’s GN sword before leaving.

[Shandria]

It seemed time to leave just as quickly as they had gotten back. As such, the helmet that had just come off, was almost immediately back on, and before long Viraa was inside Virtue once more. With a short "GN-005 Virtue, Launching" Virtue flew from the ship and was on its way, awaiting instructions on where it would be going.

Viraa's only question in her mind that she was awaiting the answer to, was simply... who will die next. Who will stand in the way of Celestial Being, and be crushed? Who would offer themselves up as a display of power, so the world could see this was not a joke, and that War would be eradicated from the world.

"GN-005 Virtue, awaiting mission details."

[vancexentan]

Sometime later that night - Africa

"Alright everyone we're going to make it clear we're not just going after the big boys but also their lackeys. There is a paramilitary organization known as The Diamond Angels who operate in this area. Veda tells us that they're responsible for the Union's resource monopoly in this particular area. The AEU however has also been profiting from them as well by having them fight local governments preventing HRL officials from gaining any traction. They themselves are known war profiteers. They have seen action in the assault of the former Krugis Republic, and many other smaller nations." the voice of Captain Goren repeated over the communications link to all the gundams from his place in the ship. "They have numerous mobile suits ranging from Hellions, and heavy tanks to outdated mobile suits. They also have planes, and other assault craft. They're a veritable army on their own. However the gundams should still have the advantage." Nea stated as she kept track of each individual position on the gundams. "They've got their main forces currently held up at a refurbished military base. Roughly eight hangers in total, an air field, and numerous other small builds. It's basically a fortress. Though the information is not particularly relevant they have mines, and a wall surrounding the perimeter. Armed intervention is being declared based on their promoting war by violently strangle holding resources, and war crimes in the local area." Hans stated calmly and quickly as he made note of the current locations of active suits. The majority weren't scrambled there was a five man hellion patrol in the air, two MSER-04 Anf near the front gate, and various small tanks, and a flag squad drilling nearby but not at the base. Other small squads ran about doing their businesses. "Plan is simple. Kyrios kills them from above, Exia assists Virtue in destroying the hangers. Dynames kills anything that tries to leave."

"I'm taking position now manage to get into a snug spot near the mountains have a good spot on the whole base." Chad responded quickly as he looked down at the base. It was square in shape, and very large. Numerous large concrete walls, and steel gates. Barbed wire, and spot lights with some watch towers. Normally a frightening sight...not anymore these gundams dwarfted anything these cowards had. Besides that the forested area nearby hid the base from view of anyone who didn't know the area. "Think this is a bit overkill. I get this is a large base but is it necessary for all four gundams to work in tandem?" questioned Chad as Nea shrugged, and answered hesitantly, "Veda says we can use this as way to show how overwhelming our power is by crushing a skilled military company right at their biggest base in the middle of the operation zone. Attacking anything bigger would require us to go after the actual armies inside the nations. And they're technically not promoting war just yet." Nea's responsible didn't change much for Chad it was time to kill some mercs...not that he had an issue with this it was just run of the mill. "Roger that."

[Renny]

Atalei laughed in the comms. "Well you're not wrong about that, Arden. With the firepower I have on me right now, I could probably decimate the whole base by myself" Though he jested, it wasn't by much. With his flight unit attached, he had way more than enough to get the job done, hell, he had enough to instill terror in anyone who witnessed the attack. He wasn't too sure if he was okay with that inwardly but he knew that it needed to be done.

"Kyrios on standby. Just give the order when ready."

The sunburnt Gundam hid in a wooded area overlooking the base, ready to pounce at any moment. While he waited, his conversation with Viraa seemed to loop in his mind. What exactly had she meant? It seemed so serious now that he really focused on her words. On how she said every syllable, on how she revealed her face to him. Those things meant something, he was sure. But what?

@Shiyonichi@Shandria@vancexentan

[Shandria]

It wasn't long after they arrived that Viraa dropped straight down from the sky above the base. She assumed that any of the Mobile Suits that attempted to pursue her would be taken care of by the other Meisters. She, after all, was the only Mobile Suit specifically designed for this type of mission. At least, in some ways. It was true, any one of them could likely take on the whole base. It might be a challenge, but they could do it. Her Bazooka was meant for larger targets than simple hangars, but it would still show just what she could do.

As she landed, she spoke simply as usual, however this time she added on a more, prophetical statement. "GN-005 engaging the enemy. All who revel in war shall burn in the avenging light of Celestial Being."

With that, she raised her Bazooka and locked it in place on Virtue's chest. Within second the weapon charged, and the large beam fired out, punching through one hangar, the next, and then another. Three Hangars in total, as they were all in a row, were decimated in an instant, with all Mobile Suits inside falling prey to the following explosions of anything from fuel to weapons being detonated from the sheer heat of the weapon they were being hit with. Three down, five to go. They weren't difficult targets, but she had to display the power of Virtue... without necessarily ACTUALLY displaying its power. Blasting their base to pieces was a good start at least.

[Shiyonichi]

EXIA: Micheal D. Cicero

A squadron of mobile suits assembled to deliver a counterattack the Virtue, quickly getting into a spread out formation, preparing their guns to fire upon the heavily armored Gundam. While it was doubtful that the inferior suits could even put a scratch on the Gundam, they couldn’t let them delay the plan and possibly escape with enough resources to rebuild. While it was cold the only way to deal with weeds is to pull them out by the roots.

”Cicero, Gundam Exia, engaging the enemy.”

From the skies the Exia descended, flipping it’s large GN sword out and slashed through a Hellion on the way down. The Exia’s eyes flashed as it dashed forwards, spinning around and cleaving through two Hellion ground types, before using the momentum to bring the GN blade upwards and then drop the blade through the left side of a third Hellion, cleaving everything from the shoulder to the waist joint, sending fragments of E-carbon flying in all directions. While the Exia wasn’t made for wide scale destruction like the Virtue, it was more than enough to keep mobile suits away from the Virtue.