It's.... It's several Gundams?! [OPEN]

[a_mere_human]

Setsuna didn't stay long at the Meet n' Greet. He mostly milled about in the background, listening to a handful of conversations here and there. He wasn't sure what to make of the whole spiel about worlds having been destroyed, but he'd discover the truth about that in time. He had more important things to worry about.

Eventually, he managed to pick up several key words, being "Hangar" and "Suits", and he figured he'd find his Gundam there, or some clue about where they took it.

He rushed there, finding it open for anyone to access. He wandered through, looking around at the various vehicles, planes, and craft. He eventually spotted something that made his jaw drop, though.

Exia was there, fully repaired, but lacking a GN drive to power it. Not surprising, considering that the 00 Gundam was right next to it (which contained both Exia's and 0 Gundam's GN Drives), complete with the 0-Raiser already docked to it. But what was shocking was the number of similar yet different mobile suits surrounding both of his.

"...other... Gundams?"

For someone who practically worshiped his mobile suit, and knew there were only a mere handful even remotely like it, this was definitely a shock. Though, upon a slightly closer inspection, he noticed that none of the others had GN Drives of their own. Were these true Gundams from other worlds? Or were those mere knock offs of his own?

"How is this possible?"

Comments

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

The slight frown on his face deepened, not comfortable hearing Setsuna talk about things he was unfamiliar with. He was aware he did not age, though he did not recall ever discussing this with Setsuna F. Seiei.

"Innovades?" he growled. "Stop spouting nonsense."

[a_mere_human]

So Tieria didn't know, back then. That made this tricky to proceed. Celestial Being didn't have any protocols established for time-travel.

"I know everything about you, Tieria Erde." And he'd leave it at that.

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

Tieria, however, is not going to leave it at that. Having Setsuna say something like that to him is very out of the ordinary... Truthfully, a conversation between these two is not exactly what one would consider a common occurrence.

"That is impossible, Setsuna F. Seiei. You do not have level 7 clearance with Veda."

Even Tieria didn't know everything about Tieria. How was it possible that Setsuna F. Seiei did?

[a_mere_human]

He wasn't entirely sure about how to approach this subject, but subtlety was never one of Setsuna's specialties. Especially when it came to conversations.

"There were others like you. Innovades, they called themselves. They were created to serve Aeolia's plan." Yes, Setsuna knew about the not quite natural origins. "But some of them became twisted by greed, and tried to corrupt the plan, to rule the world themselves.

"They were the reason you started having trouble fully accessing Veda. They created the Thrones. And did far worse than that."

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

The more Setsuna spoke, the angrier the purple-haired meister became. He did not handle this sudden lack of knowledge well, always having been the one on the Ptolemaios who knew everything, who had the highest security clearance, who was able to connect with Veda. And now this? Now Setsuna is telling him all of these things that he has never heard before?

"Innovades?!" he said through clenched teeth. "I have never heard of such a thing! They were not in Veda's plan! That information was not there!"

His volume steadily rose, "And trouble accessing Veda?! Setsuna F. Seiei, do not feed me lies!!"

[a_mere_human]

Setsuna honestly felt bad. He knew Tieria had a ton of trouble adjusting to life without Veda. But Setsuna sucked at being comforting.

"I've never lied to you, Tieria Erde."

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

"Then what is this?!" he asked, the anger easily heard in his voice.

He removed the glasses from his face and closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Why was Setsuna F. Seiei saying these things? Trouble accessing Veda? Innovades?

"...None of this makes sense. There is no way that I would have trouble accessing Veda."

[jesus_is_gundam]

"Tieria..." Really, if Setsuna didn't avoid all physical contact like the plague, he might have offered a hug. Instead, he decided to focus on something else.

He looked over at his Gundams.

"That's my new Gundam, the 00 Raiser," he pointed out. "It uses two GN drives working in sync, which squares the GN particle output. The ones installed on it belonged Exia's and 0 Gundam's; those were the only two drives that had a similar enough variance in their topological defects to work together." Which would explain why Exia was lacking a GN Drive of its own. "Attached to its back is the 0 Raiser. By themselves, the twin-drives can only sync up to a compatibility of 85%, and can become unstable the more you push them. With the 0 Raiser's hardware monitors and adjusts the GN Drives, ensuring a synchronization rate of 100%, in addition to adding more storage for GN particles."

He looked back at Tieria. "You helped Celestial Being build it."

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

Tieria's eyes drifted toward the 00 Raiser and the twin GN drives, momentarily impressed at what Setsuna said was his work. The construction was exceptional and he was curious as to how the 00 Raiser would perform in battle, despite the fact that he still believed Setsuna F. Seiei unfit to be a Gundam meister.

"I would like to see it in battle," he said flatly. "I would also like to see how you handle it alongside me."

He turned back to Setsuna, frowning slightly, the previous topics still fresh in his mind. He couldn't just let his colleague drop the topic, especially when it involved Veda, something so important to Tieria.

[a_mere_human]

There was a nod from Setsuna. If they were both brough here to fight, then odds are Tieria would get his wish sooner rather than later.

"There's more." This time, he looked over at Virtue. He knew Tieria was not going to like what he had to say next. Not that Tieria ever seemed to like it whenever Setsuna opened up his mouth, but this would be a bit different.

"Next time you start up virtue, you'll probably have a new system option; Trans-Am." Not that it sounds like a bad thing, but each of the Meisters prided themselves on knowing their own Gundam better than anyone else. Tieria especially. Setsuna knowing something about Virtue that Tieria didn't? That wasn't going to go over well.

Still, out with it.

"It was a... gift, from Aeolia Schenberg himself. If Veda was ever compromised, or if someone managed to derail his plan, Trans-Am was to be his trump card, a hidden feature placed only in the true GN drives. The Thrones didn't have it.

"Trans-Am pushes the GN drive to its maximum output, while simultaneously releasing all condensed particles stored in your Gundam. As a result, your suit will have unparalleled performance, but only for a few minutes. Once Trans-Am runs out, your particles will be low, so you'll be vulnerable until the drive can replenish them."

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

The more Setsuna said, the angrier Tieria became. All of this information... He had never seen it or heard any of it before; this information wasn't in Veda. He had a level 7 clearance, higher than anybody else on board the Ptolemaios, yet Setsuna F. Seiei knew about this system and he did not.

His hands tightened into fists at his side and his red eyes bored holes into the man standing opposite him.

"I-- I would have known about this, Setsuna F. Seiei! Veda would not have kept this information from me!"

[jesus_is_gundam]

He was expecting Tieria to hit him. If not now, then soon. And in an odd way, he wouldn't have minded. He would prefer being hit, rather than tell Tieria that Veda kept a lot of things from him. If it would bring Tieria some measure of comfort, Setsuna would be a punching bag.

"What was Aeolia Shenberg's true plan?"

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

"The complete eradication of armed conflict."

Tieria did want to punch Setsuna, but he was refraining from doing so as he thought such actions would result in Setsuna no longer talking. He needed to know why Setsuna was saying the things he was saying.

[a_mere_human]

"That's part of it. But his true goal went beyond that. He wanted to prepare humanity for the dialogues that are to come."

Which probably didn't make any sense to Tieria, so he continued.

"Our armed interventions, even if they were full of contradictions, were meant to unite the world. Even if that meant we were to be taken by the wrath of the unified world. This was to prevent mankind from exploring space with conflict in their hearts. If humanity didn't change, they'd never be able to create a future. To be prepared for the dialogues with others we meet out there... for that, we needed to understand each other first."

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

Tieria stood silently for several moments, trying to process all of the information Setsuna had given him, wishing he could go to Veda and search for this information. But he couldn't. There was no way he could access Veda from this ship, and this was an extremely distressing realization.

He couldn't believe he had never heard any of this before, he didn't want to believe that Veda had been keeping information from him.

He looked up at Setsuna, "What else has Veda been keeping from me?! What more do you have to tell me that I am not aware of?"

Tieria took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, though it did little good. "You tell me that I am an Innovade, that I lose my access to Veda, that I do not know the extent of Aeolia Schenberg's plan, and that the last thing I recall happened five years ago... Do not keep information from me, Setsuna F. Seiei!"

[a_mere_human]

"Ribbons Almark." A name that probably meant nothing to Tieria. "He was the test pilot for the 0 Gundam.

"In the year 2301, using the 0 Gundam, he performed an armed intervention in the Republic of Krugis as a test for the 0 Gundam's capabilities.

"...that was the first time I ever saw a Gundam." Which, if Tieria could do the math, would mean that Setsuna would have been around a ten. Just a kid caught up in the conflict raging in his country. "He should have killed me back then, to keep the Gundams a secret." And if he were being honest, Setsuna believed that he deserved to die in that hell hole for the things he had done. "But he chose not to." Which might go a long to explaining why Setsuna idolized his Gundam the way he did.

"Ribbons was like you, an Innovade, capable of linking with Veda using quantum brainwaves. He used it to have Veda recommend me for Celestial Being. He also eventually used his connection with Veda to sever yours. He was likely the reason why Veda had information you couldn't access until we finally took it back from him."

[whatwouldvedado.livejournal.com]

"I had level 7 access! I would have been aware of that name!!"

He turned from Setsuna, holding his head in his hand. He was aware of Setsuna's past, he knew that he had been involved in the armed interventions in the Republic of Krugis. He didn't, however, know that there had been a Gundam involved in this conflict... and that should have been included in Setsuna F. Seiei's background information.

The fact that somebody else was capable of using quantum brainwaves to link with Veda upset Tieria. But to know that this person, Ribbons Almark, used this connection to sever his own was devastating.

"Continue speaking."

[a_mere_human]

"Not long after our fight with the Thones, Ribbons made his move..."

He on went to recount what happened over the last five years. His past, Tieria's future, and how unpleasant those years had been. He wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, but not telling him was probably not much of an option at this point. Besides, he owed Tieria the truth.

So he told him... about how Ribbons had pushed the world towards unification, and offered up the Gundams and Ptolemy as sacrificial lambs. How he gave the Union, AEU, and Human Reform League thirty of the pseudo-GN drives, and suits to use them in, which brought the three blocs into forming the Earth Sphere Alliance. How he then had Veda completely cut off all support to Celestial Being.

It was nearly the end of them. It was the end for some of them. Christina, Litchty, Dr. Morano, Lockon... So many years later, and that one still hurt like hell to talk about. Allelujah was taken prisoner, and both himself and Tieria were left adrift in space. The latter was picked up by what remained of Celestial Being, while the former spent four years alone, on the run.

They had succeeded uniting the world, only for Ribbons to come in and twist it all into a mess for the sake of his own ego. Four years of running, hiding, mourning, suffering, and rebuilding. Four years of watching as the Earth Sphere Alliance and their military arm, the A-Laws became more brutal and ruthless towards every nation that refused to bow down to them.

And Ribbons Almark was behind the scenes, controlling it all. Using Veda to manipulate the ESA into doing his bidding.

But after four years, they finally found each other again. Tieria and Celestial Being found him. He found Miss Sumeragi and Lyle Dylandy, Lockon's brother, who was handed the name of Lockon Stratos and then earned the right to keep it. Together they found Allelujah. And with the band back together, they picked a fight with the world once more.

Setsuna pointed out that it was during that time that they began to discover the truth behind Ribbons and the Innovators. So its not like he knew all of this from the beginning either. But after a year of fighting, they were finally able to locate Veda. They took the fight to Ribbons, and Setsuna informed his... comrade, that Tieria was able to completely link his consciousness with Veda, and used the Trial system to save them all. (He neglected to mention the whole getting shot in the head thing, though...)

They took down Ribbons, and they changed the world, finally putting it on the path to a true, lasting peace. And Celestial Being was still around, watching over the world to help it stay on that path...

His entire report was delivered in his usual monotone, with the only real show of any kind of emotion being a pause as he mentioned Lockon's passing. But, otherwise, he may as well had been reading off a mission briefing, which was more or less what he was doing.