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"I think so. Since it's not a Gundam, it's a hell of a lot easier to work on. In two days time, I'm taking it out with Marie and the Misericordia. We're going to see what that thing's really capable of."

((I has no Dark Star, too poor to get one. D= ))

"Pacing, smaching. Doesn't do a bit of good, if you ask me." Adalwulf swayed a little dizzily as he finished the fourth bottle and reached for his fifth. He picked it up and stared at it hard for a moment. "It all comes down to experience and if you don't pass out..." He took the cap off and drank some.

"That jush means itch me vershus you." Jack drunkedly pointed at Adal. "I'm ghonna beat youuu." Jack was thoroughly drunk now.

Al had returned to his quarters and began to think. Things just didn't seem to add up anymore. It seemed to him that the longer this campaign went on the stronger Chris' blood lust became. At first he never even had any. Why might that be? Al decided to go see Chris and ask him about it. Al got up and walked a few hallways and corridors and came to Chris' room he was about to knock when he heard voices. One Chris' the other someone elses.

"Why can't you just stop this?" Said Chris.

"Because of what they had done to me. It's all because the Earth Forces deemed me and Censura a deadly threat and had me eradicated and Censura burried on Mars. It was only due to my genius that I survived. Now your going to do as I say when I say it until I have no further use of you. Got that!?" The other voiced yelled.

"Do I really have a choice? Anyway, what do you suggest we do next? If your such a genius. Though i think I already know the answer." Chris said.

"That you do my equally genius friend. We don't stop the attack. Kamon must die and his friends along with him. The Misericordia will be a real problem though. It's not undefeatable though. If we can get it alone we can destroy it. After all of them are destroyed. Then we shall get rid of your troublesome brother and his squad. He knows to much already and his friends are just as troublesome." The other voice spoke.

Al gasped but put his hand to his mouth and ran around a corner. He heard Chris' door open then close. Al hurried off to get into Unus. He had to find Kamon and he knew just where to look. Then he was stopped by Gerard and Shane.

"Hey where are you hurrying off to?" Gerard grabbed Al when he tried to pass.

"Yeah." Shane looked in Al's eyes. "What's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"There's no time to explain. Just come with me i'll tell you on the way." Al, Shane, and Gerard all jumpped into their suits and took off as Al explained to them his story.

((finally got some time fora decent post.... Okay, the next part will employ a lot of religious elements. If you're not religious, don't be offended. I'm not trying to convert you, I'm just making an interesting plot point. Oh, and we're wating on you in the other RP, Strider. Show us one of your "you're-not-getting-off-that-easy" moments! lol))

"Have you learned anything yet?" John asked his wife, as the two were lounging across Misericordia's open hand. She inhaled breifly, her eyes closed, and then spoke. "Just this." She placed a hand on the armor of the impressive machine. A small cloud of nanites emerged from under her shirt, travelling down her arm to form a human/machine interface at her palm. The white machine awakened, but did not move fast enough to throw John and Marie out of its hand. It lifted them up gently, so they were level with its eyes. The eyes flashed, and John's head was instantly filled with images and sounds, foreign to him. A voice, silent yet deafening, could be heard by all aboard the colony.

"I am the Spirit of Mercy. Because you have sought, you shall find."

John was shown the world as it was before the Great Flood, as it was told in countless religious myths and legends. Great monuments covered the Earth, showcasing surreal and non-euclidian architecture as well as very familiar modern-looking shapes. Ancient wonders such as the pyramid at Giza and Stonehenge were shown to be existing before the flood, the last remnants of this dead society. John saw Mars, too. The "face" could be clearly seen as an artificial construct.

"This is the world before its first destruction. Only eight people survived the flood---these men and women rebuilt the world from scratch. A great war waged, in this time. Two factions--Mercy, and Judgment, sought to destroy one another and rule. The machine you call Censura was created by Judgment, in a final effort to wipe out Mercy. Their leader, who was terrified at the thought of death, had become more machine than man. He became an inextricable part of the nearly indestructible Censura. He waged war on us with this machine, and it seemed that all hope would be lost. However, one of his most trusted advisors suffered a changed heart, and betrayed him to give Mercy the designs used by Judgment to construct Censura. With this knowlege, we built what you call the Misericordia. I am the Spirit of Mercy, and I am the Misericordia. I am not a human spirit, but a construct, created and versed in the ways of love and mercy. I can do no evil, as it is not in my design."

John's mind was reeling at this information. He was not sure how much more he could take. He turned to look at his wife. She appeared strong, resolute. John steeled his nerves, and willed himself to accept the gift Mercy was giving him. As if waiting for him, the voice then continued:

"The Spirit of Judgment and I did battle. The world was plunged into chaos, and only one man saw the light. Together with his family, he built a great wooden ship to withstand the coming storm, as he knew my final purpose. I led Censura into space, where humans could not be harmed. We fought for decades, to a standstill, and it seemed the cycle would never end. However, I held the trump card. I activated my final function. I separated both the Censura and myself from our power sources, hurling them into space, where they became caught in the asteroid belt. Censura's was discovered by pure accident. Once the battle was over, and we twins were immobilized, the Wise Man and his family journeyed to our location in space. We were built in such a way that we cannot be dismantled or destroyed by human means, so were were hidden instead. The Censura was buried on Mars, in the place you call Cydonia, under the Face. The machine-man was buried with it, completely immobile without its power source. Mars cannot support human life, so there would be no danger of discovery. Only monuments left by our architects still stand there. I was left to drift in this star system's orbit, so small and so far away that I could not be discovered but by tracing the energy of my lost power source. The Wise Man activated my final funtion before leaving me to drift. I released a great surge of energy onto the planet, destroying all of the remnants of our technology, and causing cataclysmic siesmic activity and flooding, according to the will of the Wise Man's master, the Creator, who wished to cleanse the Earth of the evil that had spread there. The Wise Man returned to Earth, to ride the storm until it was finished. Once the churning water settled, he was able to rebuild."

"What was his name?" Marie asked the voice. The voice created a strange psionic wave. When it reached Marie and John's brains, they realized that it was laughter.

"His name was Noah, servant of the one Creator."

John was stunned. He was a somewhat religious person, but he never imagined that a survivor of Biblical times would be standing in front of him, telling him that the story of Genesis actually happened, exactly as written.

"Now history is about to repeat itself--the fallible nature of man will once again cause his destruction. I have nothing human about me, so I am able to see the true merit of the world, without the bias of evil. Since I am the artificial embodiment of the Creator's sense of mercy, I do not wish to see the world destroyed again. Please, do not think too harshly of Christopher and his ilk within the Backdraft Union. They are capable of great evil, like any humans, but the Creator also desires to show them mercy. I have emitted a signal, to Christopher's doubting allies. They will soon be here. I have read their hearts--they bear us no ill will. Christpher is possessed, and has not been himself for some time. Please listen carefully: I know how he and the world can be saved. I shall now reveal to you the secret to destroying Censura."

Byrd was asleep in a chair at Epyon's repair console when the colony shook, waking him. He immediately ran to the Sub-Room C air lock, where the tremor had started, near the living quarters. He saw Unus, and ran back and boarded Epyon. "Koza! Get to the Tallgeese! NOW!"

Koza woke just in time to hear Byrd yell at him over the radio. Byrd wouldn't joke about things like this, and followed the order. Byrd and Koza, fully armed and suits reapaired, flew out to meet the intruders. "Why are you here?"

"More aptly, why are you not shooting?"

"We came because we need to talk with all of you. We now feel we are unwanted at Backdraft. You'll understand once we tell you what happened. So if you would, please allow us to explain in person." Al was practically pleading.

Chris stopped and turned to Demyan holding him in a cold unfriendly look. "When may I ask was it appropriate to speak with me with such a casual tone? Or am I mistaken in the fact that I out rank you? Now I believe what I plan is none of your concern right now. When you are required to know, you shall. Untill then the next time we speak salute and wait for me to allow you to speak." Chris turned and walked away.

Adalwulf glanced up as Byrd and Koza came into the room with a few other pilots he certainly didn't recognize. They must've gotten the signal and decided to team up with them, he figured. He set the empty bottle down on the ground and grabbed another full one, about his 6th. "John und Marie are over zhere, if you're vundering." He jabbed his thumb over to where the Misericordia was. "Ze thing moved...Must be anozzer AI, or somezhing ozzer like zat. Gott, I vant one of zhose." He tipped the bottle back, this time rubbing at his eye patch instead of his remaining eye. He was remembering when he'd lost it, about a good few years ago.

Demyan glared angrily at Chris walking away, clenching his fists where he would otherwise punch him in the face. He threw a loose salute while calling out to him in the near most sarcastic tone he could manage without being demoted. "I'll try to keep that in mind next time, sir, if you try to keep your head from going too far up your a** first. It might get stuck there permanently, sir." He pivoted around smartly, stalked off, and pushed his unfinished cigarette from before out of the carton, taking his lighter and lighting it. To him, it seemed like Chris was becoming more single minded. Before, he would have probably joked around, but now...He shook his head and took a puff.