Chapter 361: 361 Gundam Seed 2
The broadcast had just ended when the Archangel’s Captain, Ramias, began to argue loudly in an agitated voice.
—"Do you even understand the situation right now?! If you do this, you’ll turn not just the Earth Federation but ZAFT into enemies too! Then there may be nowhere left for you on Earth. Is that really okay with you?! And we don’t even know how powerful Celestial Being is—do you honestly think this is possible?!"
I calmed her down first.
"Whoa, whoa... calm down, cute Captain."
—"You little brat, you’ve got a lot of nerve! I heard from Kira. You’re sixteen, right? I’m ten years older than you, you know!"
"So the Captain doesn’t like guys who remind her of her little brother?"
When I fired back without backing down, Captain Ramias got heated.
—"You little—!" "Captain, please calm down..." "Ah, damn... I got a bit worked up." "Captain’s age, twenty-six, confirmed..."
I heard them whispering among themselves over the comm and chuckled. As expected, the Archangel’s crew were capable, but still young, so they weren’t that stiff.
—"Ahem... anyway, what do you plan to do with us?"
Ramias was finally getting to the point.
"What else? We each go our own way. As I said in the broadcast, I won’t attack those who don’t wish to fight. If you want to join Celestial Being, let me know—I’ll fit you in."
—"I’d rather not join a suicide squad like that."
"Well, we’ll see about that. See you next time, cute Captain."
—"You, I swear—!" "Captain..." "I know."
Captain Ramias got quite angry because I teased her about being cute even though I was much younger. In fact, I’m many times older, though.
And so the Archangel slowly departed. If things continued like this, they would head toward Artemis, the Earth Forces’ Eurasian military fortress, and face great hardship. Because the Archangel and the Gundams were built in extreme secrecy, not even the entire Earth Federation knew of their existence. Moreover, there were various internal conflicts within the Earth Federation, so the Archangel’s crew and Kira would suffer greatly because of that.
And I too had gained something. Something very big. I hadn’t been teasing the Captain and talking to her for no reason. I had used teleportation to go out into space, copied the entire Archangel with my [Matter Copy] ability, and stored it in my inventory. It happened so quickly that no one noticed.
’If I have Gundams, I should have a ship to match. I’ll heavily modify this later.’
And I had learned something while operating the Gundams—as I expected, the G-force load in the Gundam SEED world was quite low. That was probably why Mobile Suits and Mobile Armors could develop so much. I figured other mecha worlds wouldn’t be much different.
I returned to the Odyssey, rested a bit, and turned on the TV to check the broadcasters’ reactions. A news program was airing where experts and a host were analyzing Celestial Being.
—"Is that true? The ghost of the Bloody Valentine?"
—"It’s unfortunate that we still lack information. But given that the military isn’t taking any particular action, it’s highly likely this is just a hacker’s prank. According to our investigation, the person called ’Jin’ from that Celestial Being group is only a sixteen-year-old student. Moreover, he’s not a Coordinator but a Natural."
—"Is that so? But with that appearance, it’s a bit hard to see him as a Natural."
—"Just because someone is a Natural doesn’t mean they have to be ugly."
—"Haha, that’s true..."
—"Anyway, most experts agree that this incident is very likely the work of a hacker."
Just as I thought—they didn’t believe it at all.
Now I decided to jump into a few battlefields as I had declared. I needed to make people realize that my declaration wasn’t a joke. There wasn’t any major war at the moment, but local battles were still happening, so there were plenty of places for me to join.
"Odyssey, immediately tap into all communications, gather intel, and locate places where local battles are occurring."
[Understood, Master.]
I left that to the Odyssey AI for the time being and began arming the Odyssey’s hull. Traditional projectile weapons weren’t really my style. I installed one Lohengrin positron blaster cannon (the Archangel’s main gun) and six twin high-energy beam cannons as secondary armament. Given the ship’s size, that seemed sufficient. I could add more, but it would require major internal modifications, so I decided to be satisfied with this.
Since I just copied the weapons from the Archangel via [Matter Copy], it didn’t take much time, and I optimized their performance to boost it a bit.
The reason I armed the Odyssey was because other people might also ride aboard. I wasn’t too worried because I had energy shields—technology that wasn’t yet available in the Gundam SEED world due to insufficient technical development—but just in case, I decided to arm the ship properly when I had the time.
While I was busy optimizing weapons and organizing wiring with the help of drones, the Odyssey informed me of a local battle.
[Currently, no local battles are occurring in space. However, after synthesizing various information, it is predicted that in two days, the Earth Alliance will launch a surprise attack on ZAFT transport ships in the South Atlantic near the African continent.]
"I see. Got it."
I quickly finished arming the Odyssey and hurried preparations. There was quite a lot to do. I myself could survive in space, but for the sake of potential passengers, I needed to replenish the oxygen I had drained while installing weapons and also restock various supplies. Fortunately, because I had installed a hyperdrive on the Gundam, traveling to Earth wouldn’t take much time.
Once preparations were complete, I stored the Odyssey in my inventory, boarded the Double O Quanta Full Saber Gundam, and used hyperspace to move to Earth.
"I’m a little late."
When I arrived in the South Atlantic, I saw Earth Alliance battleships and Mobile Armors attacking three ZAFT transport ships. There were quite a few. The ZAFT Mobile Suit ’GINN’s escorting them couldn’t hold them back and were being destroyed, and the transport ships had taken many hits, with smoke pouring from various parts of their hulls.
I immediately deployed my GN Sword Bits and began shooting down the Earth Alliance Mobile Armors.
Pfew pfew pfew pfew!!!
In an instant, numerous Mobile Armors fell. The Earth Alliance stopped their attack and turned their attention toward me. So I sent an open broadcast to them.
"This is Celestial Being. Cease all hostile actions immediately and withdraw."
But there was no way they would listen. The Earth Alliance immediately began firing a hail of beam cannons, bullets, and missiles at me. That was fine by me. It gave me a chance to make an example.
Dudu du du—!!! Zing—!! Boom boom—!!!
I maneuvered quickly, dodging all their attacks, and began rapidly shooting down the surrounding Mobile Armors with my GN Sword Bits and GN Sword V. Then I flew to one of the Earth Alliance battleships and destroyed all the weapons on its upper deck. After that, I aimed the GN Sword V at the bridge and sent another transmission.
"Final warning. Turn back."
But as if seized by some madness, the other battleships fired on the one I had been threatening, trying to blow it up along with me.
KABOOOOOM!!!
"These guys are really insane."
But I had already foreseen this with Kenbunshoku (Color of Observation) and moved out of the way, taking no damage. If they were going to act like this, there was no need to hold back any longer. I combined the GN Sword Bits into a Buster Rifle form and fired at the Earth Alliance ships.
Zzzzing—!!! KABOOOOOM—!!!
With irritation rising in me and being my first time using the Buster Rifle, I didn’t care about control and just pulled the trigger. In an instant, a beam cannon of enormous diameter exploded forth as if tearing through the sky, instantly vaporizing not only the target ship but also the ships and Mobile Armors around it, leaving no trace. Then the sea, as if swallowed by a massive flame, boiled and evaporated in an instant. Thick salt vapor covered the battlefield, creating a hellish scene.
’Huh... wasn’t this the kind of firepower you only got by using Trans-Am? Synchronizing an additional solar reactor brought about such results... I’ll need to be more careful from now on.’
Even I was shocked after firing. I hadn’t imagined it would produce such power. I’d have to control it better next time.
The surviving Earth Alliance fleets, having witnessed this spectacle, turned their prows sharply and began a hasty retreat. Then a transmission came in from the ZAFT side.
—"Thank you. We owe you our lives. I have a mountain of questions about that unbelievable machine of yours, but I suppose I should be content just to have been saved."
They expressed their gratitude to me, but I replied succinctly.
"Leave."
At my words, the ZAFT transport ships began to depart.
I watched them for a moment, then returned to space. After showing this much impact, neither side would be able to dismiss this as just a hacker’s prank. Or rather, though unintended, that firepower might actually cause them to become extremely wary.
I went out into space, summoned the Odyssey, and gathered various information. But there was no news about Celestial Being. Despite all that chaos. That meant they were taking the matter seriously and controlling the information.
Then the Odyssey AI brought me news.
[There is an 80% probability of battle at Artemis, an asteroid-based Earth Forces facility. ZAFT warships are approaching near Artemis.]
"Ignore that. Instead, hurry up with the space map."
[Understood, Master.]
I decided to skip the Artemis episode. Through that incident, Kira would come to realize just how deep the rift between Coordinators and Naturals ran. And as a result, he would begin to struggle even more seriously and heavily with his own identity.
Instead, I was thinking of going to find a love interest in the Gundam SEED world, so I had rushed the space map production. Meanwhile, I checked and inspected the Odyssey to see if there were any parts I had hastily left unfinished.
Fortunately, only minor fixes were needed, so I handled them quickly, then sat in the living room, resting and watching the news. On screen, they were reporting that PLANT was forming a delegation to commemorate the first anniversary of the Junius Seven incident.
—"Next, Chairman Siegel Clyne of the Supreme Council has issued a statement in remembrance of the first anniversary of the Junius Seven incident."
—"That tragic incident is a deep grief we can never forget. This delegation will..."
The Junius Seven incident refers to the tragedy in which Junius Seven, PLANT’s agricultural colony, was struck by a nuclear attack from the Earth Alliance’s Atlantic Federation. As a result, 243,721 residents lost their lives, and the conflict between Earth and PLANT escalated beyond simple disputes into all-out war. Coincidentally, the incident occurred on Valentine’s Day, leading people to call it the ’Bloody Valentine.’
However, it was not the intention of the entire Earth Federation. It was an atrocity committed unilaterally by radical anti-Coordinator and discriminationist officers from Blue Cosmos. The Earth Federation, upon learning of the incident, was horrified and immediately withdrew its forces, but by then the situation had spiraled out of control, leading to full-scale conflict.
Now, one year after that event, PLANT was sending a delegation to commemorate the destroyed Junius Seven. The important thing here was that the delegation’s representative was Siegel Clyne’s daughter, Lacus Clyne. Unfortunately, the Earth Federation looked unfavorably upon the memorial event and would attack the all-civilian delegation.
As a result, Lacus Clyne would barely survive, escaping in a life pod and drifting among the debris of Junius Seven. The Archangel, needing supplies, happened to be scavenging among the debris and would find her by luck. That moment would mark the fateful first meeting between the protagonist Kira and Lacus.
But I decided to rescue her first. Sorry to Kira, but I had already set my sights on Lacus. There was one problem, though: my [Jack Sparrow’s Compass] ability didn’t work at all in space. That’s why I couldn’t find her immediately and had asked the AI to hurry up with the space map.
[Master, the solar system map showing areas where humanity is primarily active is now complete.]
"Really? Glad it finished quickly. Then move to the Junius Seven area in the debris belt."
[Understood, Master.]
Space was indeed vast. Even though Junius Seven was near Earth, it took quite a while to get there. But that was by no means because the Odyssey was slow. The Odyssey’s output was nearly three times that of the Archangel.
The Arc Reactor engine from Marvel was no trivial technology. It required no fuel, making it almost semi-permanent, and unlike the Gundam Double O’s solar reactors, it could be built in various sizes. The reason it still took time was simply because space was that vast. In the original story, it was glossed over quickly, but reality was different.
’Maybe I should just install a hyperspace function... This is a waste of time.’
This is where my Korean nature showed through. I liked things fast too.
After traveling for a long time, I finally arrived at Junius Seven. The place was completely wrecked. The colony was shattered, with various debris floating in space. There were also human corpses there. They didn’t look decayed, as if they had died only recently, but nearly a year had already passed since the colony was destroyed.
This was the biggest weakness of space colonies designed for human habitation. Once the internal structure began to collapse under strong impact, the pressure difference with the outside caused the entire thing to break apart in an instant.
So they tried to build them as robustly as possible, but the Gundam world was constantly embroiled in war. No matter how strong you made them, it was impossible to completely prevent terrorism and attacks. In the end, all that remained was the desperate plea: "This is where civilians live, so please don’t attack." With the factions divided into Earth and Space, the colonies were like balloons just begging to be targeted.
Anyway, I began searching the area. But finding a single life pod among all this debris was not easy.
"Did I come too early?"
I was about to stop searching, thinking I might have gotten the timing wrong, when I finally spotted a civilian ship that looked like it had been attacked recently. I moved closer and searched some more, and finally found one square life pod.
I took the Gundam out, brought the life pod back to the Odyssey, then gently set it down and began hacking it open.
’Feels like opening a gift box.’
The life pod’s door opened, and a round, pink, ball-like robot fluttered out first.
"Haro~ Haro~ Lacus."
"Thank you. You worked hard."
Next, a girl with pink hair, blue eyes, her distinctive golden hairpin, and an innocent-looking appearance stepped out. She seemed to be Lacus.
"Oh? Oh my? This is... not a ZAFT ship."
She looked around once and immediately realized it wasn’t a ZAFT ship.
"Right. This is Celestial Being’s ship."
"Celestial Being... that group that’s been stirring up the world. Then you must be the one who said you would stop war through force? I believe you were called ’Jin’?"
Lacus was indeed polite and princess-like.
"Yeah, that’s right."
"What an incredible coincidence. To meet you while drifting like this... I’ve wanted to see you, so this is good fortune."
Lacus suddenly brightened and grabbed my hand enthusiastically. I wondered what she was doing. She didn’t even know what kind of person I was yet, yet she acted this way. She seemed completely unaware of how the world worked.
"So why were you drifting in a place like this? And who are you?"
"Ah, how rude of me. My name is Lacus Clyne."
The round robot beside her fluttered again and said,
"Lacus Haro~ Haro~ Lacus."
"This is my friend Haro."
"Haro haro~ Hello to you too."
"Yeah, nice to meet you too."
When I greeted Haro, Clyne smiled and said to me,
"You’re a good person. Hardly anyone ever greets Haro."
"Really? Something that cute—it’d be a shame not to greet it."
"I suppose so. Anyway, thank you for picking up the pod. I came to do a preliminary survey for the Junius Seven memorial ceremony. But on the way, my ship encountered Earth Forces ships. They wanted to detain me. I explained the situation, but the Earth Forces didn’t like the purpose of our ship, so a small argument escalated greatly... When that happened, the people around me forced me into an escape pod."
"I see. Should I consider you lucky? Lucky to have been found by me. If the Earth Forces had found you, you’d probably be treated as a prisoner."
"That’s probably true."
If she had been found by other Earth Forces instead of by me or the Archangel, she might have been treated very badly. She was the daughter of the PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Siegel Clyne, and she was pretty. Surprisingly, the Gundam SEED world had a lot of depraved people.
"I’ll show you somewhere to rest. Like it or not, we’ll be staying together for a while."
"Understood."
I guided Lacus to a room. It had an attached shower and toilet, so she could rest comfortably.
"This ship is quite luxuriously made. Most ships aren’t like this... The furniture looks high-quality, and there’s a lot of marble."
Lacus looked around the room I had shown her and said that. She was right. Most ships try to minimize interior decoration to reduce even a little weight. Ships decorated like this are almost nonexistent. But I didn’t need to worry about that, so I had decorated everything with top-grade interiors.
"Well, I suppose it reflects my tastes. Anyway, the only forbidden areas are my room and the hangar where the weapons are. So if you get bored, feel free to look around."
At that, Lacus smiled and said,
"I thought you would lock me up, but you’re not. You really are a good person."
"I wonder... you’ll find out in time."
With that conversation over, I departed on the Odyssey. I couldn’t stay here forever. Soon ZAFT reconnaissance would come, and the Archangel would also come to resupply.
