Project PHAETON 12 (Patreon)

Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs

Project PHAETON

Chapter 12

-VB-

Noctis made the decision.

The decision to field test his father’s new inventions. 

Instead of being in the bridge of his flagship, he now stood inside its bays where a third of it had been converted into these mobile suit bays. This unfortunately cut down on the number of drone fighters he could field.

But as far as tests went, Father assured him these “mobile weapons” would be up to par to fight any of Zeon’s mobile suits. But more importantly, the weapon being tested was less about the viability of a homegrown mobile suit (if Father made it and allowed him to field it, then it would work) and more about the pilot inside. 

“Ready to launch, lieutenant?” he asked over the comms. 

“Ready as I ever will be, general,” Xavier SevenStar replied back with a low drawl. 

Because instead of a regular pilot manually controlling the mobile suit and the huge modular weapons platform the mobile suit was attached to with joysticks, keyboards, and other analog options, the pilot in question currently had their brain directly hooked up to the mobile weapon’s computer system via a port at the base of their head. 

Father called it a Neural Port. 

Noctis knew that there were some Transhuman Machinists who, once they hear about it, will start worshipping Father for “opening the way to meld the man and machine.”

He glanced away from the bulky mobile weapon to the humanoid and slender mobile suit next to it. It was based mostly off of the Zaku but with House Caelum’s technologies incorporated into it. Unlike the mobile weapon, this one was specially made with a specific population group in mind. 

“Ready to launch, sergeant?” 

“Yes, sir!” the non-clone pilot, Sergeant Kori Mari, inside of the mobile suit responded. This was one of the rare non-clone Newtype soldiers in House Caelum’s roster. 

Unlike the mobile weapon which was made to not need a carrier and operate mostly independently, this “psycho suit” was meant to circumvent the Minovsky Particle’s interference by using the one type of people who could communicate with their fucking thought.

Father reasoned that Zeon would also have these “newtypes,” the very type of people that Zeon Zeikun had theorized would arise to “close the gaps and prevent misunderstandings.” 

Noctis didn’t see what Zeikun imagined. As far as he was concerned, Newtypes were regular people just like natural humans and clones. 

But their extrasensory ability allowed them to bypass the Minovsky interference, and that’s what the Psycho Suit was all about. It was still being refined, but sooner or later, Father would have a better version of it out for general military’s use, both the house guards and the wider League’s military.

In the meantime, it was time for the two suits to show off what they could do. 

But Noctis wondered if the Zeonites would bite on the bait, and if they did, then recognize that the bait itself was the trap.

He stepped out of the bay and into the observation deck where half a dozen officers, natural and clones alike, were busy at work. 

“Start the launch,” he told the officer in charge.

The officer nodded and turned to his consoles beneath the digital screens showing the interior of the bay.

“Pilots, prepare to launch.”

The bulky and orange painted mobile weapon, the Dagger-3S, walked up to the rail launcher and sat in it. In a rail launcher next to the one the Dagger sat in, the Psycho Suit walked up to it and sat in it as well. Once their positions were confirmed, the rail launchers closed its shells around their “riders.”

“Pilots, please confirm loading.”

“Confirmed.”

“Confirmed.”

The rails along the floor of the bay leading out of the bay lit up and then the bay doors opened into the space outside. They could see the curvature of the Earth on the “bottom,” forming a low “horizon.”

“Rail 1. Launching in 3… 2… 1… launch!” 

Dagger-3S shot into space. For a brief second, it was an orange blur. 

Noctis looked down at the screens and saw that the pilot’s vitals had spiked temporarily before calming down.

“Rail 2. Launching in 3… 2… 1… launch!” 

As the Psycho Suit fired off into the distance and quickly disappeared. It was now up to them to bait and hunt the Zeonites.

‘Which is an irony in and of itself,’ Noctis hummed thoughtfully. 

After all, Psycho Suit’s pilot was from the very Zeonite refugees he rescued.

A Zeonite in a Caelum-made machine hunting other Zeonites. 

-VB-

Kori took in a deep breath as she flew beside but slightly behind the much larger “mobile weapon” piloted by her superior, Lieutenant SevenStar. 

She almost giggled, but her overall desire to … do harm won over the giddiness. 

Because this was a serious mission and she needed to be serious, too. 

And her serious mission was simple: go as hard as she could on beating Zeonite ass and return alive and as whole as she could. 

Or in other words: go hurt the people who hurt her. 

She gritted her teeth as she was reminded once again why she felt giddy. Why she needed to be serious. 

She still remembered leaving everything behind. Watching her friend getting taken and shot behind the house by Zeon’s secret police. Watched her family die for the simple idea that they believed in something the Zabis didn’t. 

In her eyes, there was no such thing as a civilian Zeonite. They were all in on it. They all cheered when they saw her family run away. They all cheered for the Zabis. 

To her, the only good Zeonite was either those who fled already or dead. 

… children can be spared, though. They can be taught. Caelums made that very clear. 

Anyone legally an adult, though, will die by her hands. 

“You doing alright, lass?” 

“I’m alright, lieutenant,” she replied as evenly as she could manage it. “The nerves are getting to me.”

“You? Nerves? You mean you are so bloodthirsty that you can’t sit still. Like a dog.”

She giggled at that. “You got me, lieu. I’m very eager.” But a dog, huh? Did that make her a bitch? 

… yeah, she liked the sound of that. A bitch. She was going to make the Zeonites fear her. They’ll call her the League’s Psycho Bitch, and the Psycho Bitch better kill as many Zeonites as she could, right? 

“... Alright, OpFor marked. Two thousand clicks out.”

Her grip on her controls tightened while her brain woke up her suit. Her “Psycho Suit” revved up to her mental commands, and she grinned at the eagerness it seemed to mirror from her. 

Yes. 

Her Psycho Suit was as eager as she was. 

“Two thousand? We’ll cross that in no time as we are.”

“Yes. The Saloren’s new fighter launchers are great.”

She hummed. It hadn’t been her first time getting shot out of the rail launcher in a fighter, armor, or suit. But as always, she survived something that should have killed her. Something about Caelum technology made sure she lived where she should have died from the stunt. 

Because, right now, she was traveling at nearly a kilometer per minute, and achieved that speed within seconds of being fired from the launcher. She wasn’t good at math, but that still meant she experienced something upwards to twenty to fifty times Earth’s G force. 

Again, that should have killed her. 

But like all things, something about her suit kept her alive, and she didn’t even feel a quarter of the G force she should have felt. 

And now, she was going to have to do it again, this time to bring her speed down, so that she could personally shoot the Zeonites. 

“Remember the plan, sergeant. We do not shoot first. And that means visibly slowing down far away from them so they don’t get the excuse of ‘oh, you surprised us!’”

She let out a devastating sigh.

And, of course, politics determined when she would get to shoot. 

Something about “self-defense” and “deniability” and other bullshit like that. As far as she was concerned, House Caelum just wanted to dot the i’s and cross the t’s so that no one would be able to blame them for ruining Zeon’s days. Mostly to deflect criticism from within the League. 

Which she found odd. 

House Caelum was undoubtedly the big dog of the Phaeton League. But instead of taking control of everything like the Zabi family did, the current head and founder, Zeyus Caelum, was more than happy to let everyone be. And even profit from his inventions. 

‘Well, I’m here profiting from his inventions, too,’ she thought as she matched her commander’s deceleration. ‘Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here to get my revenge against Zeon.’

Then her radio crackled.

“... is a military operation theater of the Principality of Zeon! You are ordered to leave the Earth Sphere!”

Her commander was quick to respond.

“Lieutenant SevenStar of House Caelum. Unfortunately, I have my orders to protect the convoy preparing humanitarian aid.”

“You will leave this place or be fired upon!”

“Unfortunately, I will have to stay. I have my orders. Do what you must but know that we will defend ourselves to keep you away from the convoy.”

She readied herself to be struck by whatever they fired. 

… But then they didn’t attack. 

As she and her commander drew closer to the Zeon squadron, they continued to hold fire. 

“Lieutenant…?”

“It seems like they learned something from the last time they tried intimidation,” he drawled, annoyed. “Let me contact the general and see what he wants us to do.”

She huffed and waited. 

As they crossed the three-quarter threshold, she got her answer.

“General wants us to goad them into attacking.”

“How exactly?”

“By revealing who you are publicly.”

Her eyes widened. 

And instead of distrust at the general for wanting to use her status, she only felt … freedom. 

She didn’t need to hide herself for politics.

“Seriously?”

“As serious as I can be.”

She laughed. “So what do I do? Just blast it on open channels?”

“If that’s how you want to do it.”

Kori grinned. 

So she did the most blasephemous thing possible to a Zeonite.

She bastardized the crystallization of Zeon Zeikun’s desire.

She took a deep breath in.

And sang Zeon’s anthem. With a twist. On open radio channels on top of her “Newtype” shit that she had to deal with. Fucking psychically blasting it into everyone’s head in a thousand kilometer radius with the help of her Psycho Suit. 

“Oh Dear Zeon…” she whispered out in her soprano voice. “Dear Flag of Zeon…!”

Curl up and fall! 

Oh dear flag of Zeon…

Curl up and fall! 

Your color is a mockery! 

What lays before me is a cancer

It is the final hours of Zeon’s strength.

You’ll never be free~! 

I know deep, deep down inside

I know you are in the wrong. 

You will lose this war

And be damned like the rest!

You don’t even know what you want!

All serving a corrupt dynasty!

The stars that you call home

Will be the grave for your souls!

Oh dear flag of Zeon

How tattered you are in the solar winds

The colors red will fade away… Forevermore…! 

For a moment, there was silence on the radio waves. 

And then her commander laughed. 

“Hear that, Zeon and Earth? That’s what your own people think! I mean, why wouldn’t they, after Zeon goes around killing their own people for shits and giggles?!” she cackled. “I am Kori Mori, a survivor of the political purges carried out by the Zabis! The true patriots of Zeon live on, and we reject this bastardized version of Zeon Zeikun’s dreams!”

Seconds later, the radios crackled and a beam burned through space heading straight for her Psycho Suit. 

-VB-

A/N: bastardized anthem by me, based on the anthem created by JeffreyRebowlski on Deviantart, sang to the tunes of Our Prayer from Neo-Zeon Anthem(?).