46Mission Phase 2
Dialogues Across the Universes
As the security detail escorted Setsuna F. Seiei through the Archangel's corridors toward Captain Ramius' office, Kira and Mu picked up on the fact there was a heavy metallic echo following their group through the corridors. They could also, for lack of a better word, feel someone touching their minds.
"Mu-san," Kira began in a quiet tone, "Do you feel that?"
"Yeah I can. It was faint, but I could feel it for a while."
"Do you suppose it was Setsuna-san?" the young Coordinator asked.
"How's about we ask him when we get to the Captain's office."
When the group finally reached their destination, the security detail entered the small office. Murrue then motioned with her hand for the metallic Innovator to step in. The silver haired man nodded his head and crossed the threshold into the office followed by the captain and her second-in-command. Mu and then finally Kira floated through as well, the door closing automatically once everyone was situated in the office.
Taking her seat at the desk, the brunette introduced herself. "My name is Murrue Ramius, Lieutenant, captain of this ship, the Archangel. I would like to offer you a friendly welcome to both our ship and our world." She then motioned to the dark haired woman beside her. "This is my second-in-command, Natarle Badgiruel."
"Hello," the Ensign greet as she snapped off a quick and crisp salute.
"Jasper Drake, Chief Petty Officer!" the obvious leader of the security detail snapped off. Though they all wore BDUs, along with helmets obscuring their hair, the most obvious feature were his striking red eyes. He was also, from his appearance, North American in descent and by his dialect, likely from the South-West.
"William Francis, Petty Officer First Class." By the man's rank, it was a given that he was second-in-command for that squad. He was also taller than his commanding officer. Given the tone of his skin and thick accent, he was likely from an African family.
"Vladimir Oskar, Petty Officer Second Class!" He was obviously had Russian blood due to his accent and his name. He was shorter than Jasper, but taller than the last person, and had a well-trimmed red mustache.
"Astrid Mizuhara, Petty Officer Second Class!" the young woman introduced herself without stuttering despite the anxiety Setsuna could feel within her heart. Her name, a mix of German and Japanese hinted at the fact she was of mixed blood. Because of her Asian blood, she looked quite young, almost as young as the Gundam pilot he had just met.
"Lieutenant Mu La Flaga, nice to meetcha!" the charismatic blonde man greeted as he offered his hand forward in greeting. He blinked a little as he was left hanging by the metal man, who just stared at him with those eyes that flared like the sun. When he was just about to retract his hand, Setsuna surprised the Hawk of Endymion by slowly raising his own and grasping the man's hand in a gesture of greeting.
"You really are a metallic human," Mu blurted out loud without a second thought. Setsuna just raised an eyebrow benignly, not really letting the comment get to him since he hardly allowed anything said by others to affect him. Of course, there were a few trigger words that would set him off.
He would have cracked a joke, something along the lines of, "And you're a fleshy human," but he felt that this was not the right time to crack jokes, what with Lieutenant Ramius facepalming at Lieutenant La Flaga's comment. Best to keep up a serious attitude, something he was an expert at.
"Ah, sorry about that," the blonde man apologized sheepishly, relinquishing his grip of Setsuna's hand and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"No harm done," Setsuna began, lowering his arm to his side while reaching out with his Quantum Brainwaves to placate everyone around him, more specifically those who were on edge about the entire situation. "It's… It's quite a shock, I know; was one for me when it occurred." Everyone heaved a collective sigh, relieved that their first contact scenario with citizen of another universe did not turn into a catastrophic incident. This entire meeting could have gone to hell if their guest had been… less than understanding of the blonde man's outburst. If he had taken offense, then they were all surely doomed since he could not be killed by rifles.
"I'm Kira Yamato," the brunette beside Mu greeted as he extended his arm, shaking Setsuna's when he had raised it once more. "Sorry about," he gestured at the blonde beside him who gave a half-hearted glare in the teen's direction.
"As I said before, none taken." The Innovator once more reached out with his Quantum Brainwaves, projecting calm thoughts to everyone in the room. He hoped this would stop them from fidgeting around as if they were rabbits trapped in a cage with a lion.
"There it is again," the pilot of the Strike Gundam exclaimed once more. "Did you feel it too Mu-san?" he asked the Lieutenant beside him.
"Now that you mention it, I felt it once more right after Setsuna-san said it was fine." He then narrowed his eyes at the metallic man, scrutinizing the Innovator. "Was that you? I'm not trying to accuse of anything." Mu hesitated a bit before probing further. "But was that… your mind reaching out to my own?"
"Yes it was." Setsuna made no move when the security detail in the office raised their rifles at him. He understood that as soldiers that they had a prerogative to be on guard. Any member of the military would feel they had the right to defend themselves if someone was poking around in their heads.
"Setsuna-san, could you please explain what you mean by that?" Murrue asked diplomatically, trying her best to be objective in this situation since she could see that Natarle was on edge and would have loved to give the marines a reason to fire on the man since he could compromise everyone, even if it were a futile act.
"I am an Innovator," Setsuna said as he moved to one of the chairs in the office, seating himself down for the long explanation. "Or rather, I am a hybrid Innovator infused with the DNA of an ELS, Extraterrestrial Living-metal Shape-shifter. Innovators are human beings that have been exposed to concentrated high grade GN Particles for extended periods of time, the particles that are generated by my Gundam. These particles speed up the psychological evolution of a human, allowing them to open their hearts and minds to the vastness of space. This gives them the ability to communicate feelings and simple thoughts with humans. Between Innovators… well I've never communicated with another Innovator since I am the first in human history." He closed his eyes for a second before opening them again, his irises blazing even more brightly than before. Everyone took a step back when they saw the intensity in his eyes. Murrue was brought out of her shock when the intercom pinged. She then made her way to it and turned it on, accepting the emergency call from the hanger bay.
"This is the Captain, what's the situation down there Murdoch?" the brunette officer asked while glancing back at the Innovator.
"Captain!" Petty Officer First Class Murdoch shouted over the intercom. "The Gundam that just came on board it's… it's activated by itself! Those green particles you reported when this thing popped up are being dispersed into the air! And there are a ton of them!" There was pause as if he were hearing something, but then something unexpected happened. "Oi! Who was the jackass who ate my stash of chocolate?!"
"What?" Murrue blinked rapidly, staring at the intercom as if what she just heard was not meant to be heard. "I'll have to have a discussion with Murdoch later about holding out on a senior officer. Maybe see if I can't get a little something out of it."
"I heard that Captain!" Natarle shouted in shock while the others in the room stared at their captain with wide eyes. Setsuna's own were just quirked, as if he did not know how to react in this situation. "We are members of the Atlantic Federation and as such, are above extortion," she told her superior in an admonishing tone. "Even if it concerns chocolate," the raven haired woman tacked on as an afterthought in her head.
"And I heard that Ensign!" Murrue shot back with a smirk. She felt a little bit happy that her executive officer had something in common with her and that it would at least break the ice between the two of them and hopefully open up a path toward friendship. The brunette officer shook her head, while absentmindedly noting the floating green particles, before turning to Innovator and addressing him. "What in the world is going on?"
Instead of hearing words being spoken from his mouth and heard by their ears, everyone in the room, including everyone across the ship, heard his thoughts reach their own minds. Everywhere across the ship, the Atlantic Federation personnel and the refugees of Heliopolis stopped what they were doing and listened to the words of this alien being that was talking to them through their minds.
"What you see floating before you are called GN Particles, specifically concentrated high grade GN Particles." The captive audience stared at the floating green lights, with some of them attempting to poke the fairy like orbs. "Not only do they speed up the psychological evolution of humans, elevating them to Innovators, but they allow average humans the ability to communicate with one another through their thoughts and hear one another's thoughts."
"So that's how the Ensign heard me and how I heard her!" Murrue exclaimed out loud. Setsuna merely nodded his head, grinning a small grin that seemed a little off on his face. Both woman blushed a little as they felt the eyes of everyone in Murrue's office settle on them.
"Oi! Is that how I was able to catch the bastard who stole my stash of chocolate?!" Murdoch shouted in his mind, glaring daggers at the other engineers in the hanger bay. He winced when he heard numerous voices cry in indignation about someone hoarding chocolate on board and not sharing it. "I'll get you whoever stole my chocolate!"
"I'm sorry chief!"
Not wanting to hear any more about this man named 'Murdoch' mutilate some poor person for stealing his chocolate, Setsuna once more closed his eyes and reached out for his Gundam. Feeling it power down for the time being, the Innovator exhaled slowly as to calm a small headache due to feeling so many other presences. It was not like it was taxing like communicating with the hive-mind of the ELS. Rather, it was frustrating dealing with so many emotions and thoughts not his own that taxed his mind. A machine's thoughts after all were less complex compared to a humans.
Everyone in the office however was staring at Setsuna wide eyed, having come to the realization that he was even more powerful than they had originally imagined. The Innovator had been able to activate his Gundam from such a far distance, and with his mind no less. From what little he had told them of Innovators, it meant that he would have to have heightened reflexes to be able to react quickly to hostile thoughts. Not only that, but he would more than likely be able to tell where those hostile intention would be coming from. Now that they thought of it, he seemed awfully like a Coordinator.
Except the part where he could communicate with another human being using only his thoughts as opposed to using words and that he was naturally evolved as opposed to being genetically enhanced during the embryonic stage… or as naturally evolved as one could be when involving an unknown power source.
Before Murrue or anyone else could question him further, Setsuna stood up quickly and stared off into space, his eyes blazing more brightly than ever. Once more, everyone stared at him, wondering what was going on through his mind.
"Someone's coming," he muttered quietly before making his way to the door and physically forcing it open with his bare hands. The man had no time to wait, someone, scratch that, several people were making their way toward the Archangel in mobile suits, and they had ill intent. He had promised to of course protect everyone here to the best of his ability, so long as he did not take a life.
The intercom buzzed once more just as everyone stared at the wreckage of the doorway, and in a daze Murrue answered it.
"This is the Captain, are we under attack?" she asked in a confused tone, trying her best to believe what she had just seen and heard. Anyone would be questioning whether or not they could believe something such as an Innovator.
"Y-Yes!" Sai stuttered, shocked that the Captain knew what was going on despite not being on the bridge at the moment but rather in her office. "We have five contacts off the stern at Blue-fifteen Orange-twelve. Their heat signatures and models identify them as GINNs."
"Very well then, we'll be on the bridge in a bit." She nodded to Natarle who motioned for the security detail to follow her, heading to the CIC so that she could command the defenses. "Lieutenant La Flaga, I want you and Kira-kun to sortie and provide support for Setsuna-san." The beautiful Lieutenant locked eyes with Kira. "Can I ask that of you Kira-kun?"
"Of course!" the brunette told her with a passionate voice. "My friends are all here, as well as you guys. I'll do my best to protect all of you."
"That's all I ask of." Murrue then walked over to them and kissed the teen on the forehead. He was a stuttering, blushing mess because of that, but calmed down a little when the captain of the Archangel giggled. "You really are a gentle child."
"M-Ma'am," Kira then excused himself and headed to get suited up so he could sortie to assist Setsuna. Mu just blinked at the door before turning back to his commanding officer and grinning roguishly.
"Do I get one?" he asked cheekily, grin plastered to his face. The busty brunette just sighed and crossed her arms under her chest.
"He's a civilian, there is nothing in regulation against that," Murrue explained to Mu as if it were the most obvious thing.
"Darn. Well, no harm in trying," the Hawk said in good humor. When he turned to the door to leave, he was quickly spun around and in was quickly pecked on the cheek. Touching the kissed spot, he stared wide eyed at the lightly blushing woman before him.
"However, I can make an exception this once… Just this once." She then brushed past him and made her way to the bridge so that she could assume control of the situation. Mu once more stared at the doorway before shaking his head and making his way rather speedily to the locker room to get dressed for his sortie, grinning all the while.
"Mu La Flaga, Moebius Zero, launching!" the Hawk of Endymion shouted as he was launched in his Moebius Zero Mobile Armor from the port hanger bay after getting the all clear from the bridge to launch.
"Kira Yamato, Strike Gundam, launching!" the young Coordinator shouted right behind him, launching in the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam Mobile Suit equipped with the Aile Pack from the starboard hanger bay. On the bridge, both Murrue and Natarle were wondering where Setsuna's mobile suit was, when all of the sudden green lights began to form at a single point a few hundred meters in front of the Archangel.
When the GN Particles finally coalesced into a form, the angelic form of the 00 Quanta took shape before the Archangel. The Mobius Zero and Aile Strike soon formed up behind the 00 Quanta, bringing the odds of three-to-one down to two-to-one.
"Setsuna F. Seiei, 00 Quanta." Mu and Kira looked in the 00 Quanta's direction, wondering what it was that they were feeling that was going on right at that moment. When a shimmering blade made out of GN Particles formed in the 00 Quanta's hands, their eyes bugged out at the feat in and of itself.
"Slashing open a way to the future."
So long since I had posted this last. And the history lessons will come later when I feel that they'll have more of a casual, well, as casual as can be considering they are in a warzone, moment in time to sit down and discuss this. And where are they currently. Well, as you could tell, since the previous chapter, since no one said the Blitz out loud, that should kinda give it away. But if you need any info, this occurs a little bit before Artemis.
How much longer to a new chapter? I don't know that answer myself. I'll do my best to do what I can however.
