Chapter 5: Control

Odessa awoke and found herself inside a metallic room. She recognized it as a storage room inside a starship. Looking around she saw Maria 5 unconscious and Dean Warlic. As she wondered where she was the door opened and a man stood there.

“Who are you?” Odessa managed to say, despite her weakened state.

“You always were very resilient Odessa.”

“That voice....” she said thinking. “You were on LOS-7....you piloted one of the SDF Warriors...”

“Is that all I am? Think.” he said.

Odessa turned around again and when she saw Dean Warlic, she knew the truth. “Artix. What are you doing?” she said gaining strength and she stood up.

“Come with me, let me show you this vessel. It is quite special.” he said
reaching his hand out and helping her stand. Walking out into the main bridge she saw the surface of a planet down below. However this was not Loreon.

“Where is that?” she asked.

“It is a planet called Westion. It houses the fuel of Gundams. Crytallized Dragon’s Breath or CDB for short.”

“Wait...how would you know that? You left LOS-7 long before we discovered the Dragonguard Gundams...”

“Do not worry about details like that. I am still an enemy of the Shadowscythe.” he said guiding her to the bridge.

“Tell me, why did you bring us here? And in such a rude manner. I would have come willingly.”

“Maria 5 is a person of interest to my employer. I am bringing her back home. Dean Warlic, my father, needs to see for himself where he has gone wrong, and you are here because I want you on my side.”

Odessa looked confused, so he explained. “We both want to eradicate the Shadowscythe but we have different methods. You seem to think people like the Kingadent are expendable.”

“He was a traitor!” Odessa defended.

“Yes he was. But look at the state of chaos Loreon is in now! The Kingadent is dead and a new leader must be chosen. The people are not smart enough to choose a new leader, and now we have to intervene.”

“Tell me who you are talking about.”

“EbilCorp.”

“EbilCorp? What are you planning to do?”

“We are going to place in our own Kingadent and take control of Loreon. With our own agent in place we can guide Loreon to destroying the Shadowscythe.”
“You call me wrong for killing a corrupt ruler, but you want to bypass the government and insert your own leader?”

“It is necessary Odessa. Please tell me you can see that.”

“Right now I am at your mercy. I am not saying anything more while we are out here in space, in a place I know nothing about. So go on and tell me about this ‘special vessel’. It appears to be a normal starship albeit a few differences.” she said semi-angrily.

He directed her to a map of the exterior of the ship which showed a new design of a starship. It was not as round and oval-like as a normal starship. This one had more rectangular parts.

“This is The Paladin, the very first transforming starship. Would you like to see it’s transformation?”

Odessa was stunned. “This ship can transform....please do show me.”

Artix sat in the pilot’s seat and entered a code into the console. The ship began to speak. “Now entering Cleansing Paladin mode. Moving legs into place.” Outside the ship two long pieces of the ship moved downwards.

“Removing gravity for transformation of bridge.” Odessa and Artix began to float and the entire bridge moved downards and was now facing downards.

“Extending parts.” The bridge continued downards until it moved into place acting as a chest. The two ‘legs’ also moved into place and the rest of the ship remained in its normal state.

“Finishing transformation.” The back section of the ship moved around as a gigantic ‘arm’ moved out and was perpendicular to the body. From the back a large head also appeared.

“Now let us move to the command room for the Cleansing mode.” Artix said smiling. This ship was truly impressive and exactly what he needed to cleanse the world of evil.

The two floated to the main section of the ship where gravity was still non-existent. A new hatch was present in the main area near the door outside the ship and they climbed up into the helm of the ship. A large visor showed an amazing view of Westion.

“This is amazing...EbilCorp provided you with this kind of power?”

“Yes, they did.” Artix said still smiling. “The cannon you see is part of the Exorcist System. It can be used to cleanse an entire planet of undead.”

“Undead?”

“Yes. The Shadowscythe are actually undead creatures. They are more than darkness they are unnatural and beastly creatures.”

“Wouldn’t firing the cannon harm living creatures too?”

“Yes, which is why it is only to be used when a planet is lost to the Shadowscythe. I have been shown planets completely covered by the beasts and they deserve to be destroyed. Do you see that small moon there?”

Odessa looked at it and saw it was covered in a black ooze. “Yes, are you going to demonstrate the system on that moon?”

Artix smiled as he took control and charged the energy of the cannon. A large orb of white light energy gathered and he fired. It rocketed towards the moon and upon impact adhered to the surface. Instead of exploding, it spread out and covered the moon and as it disappeared, Odessa saw only rock remaining. She was stunned.

“So are you on my side?” Artix asked looking at her.

---

The firing of the cannon caused the ship to shake slightly. This motion caused Warlic and Maria to awake. “Where...are we?” Maria asked.

“This is my son’s new starship.” the Dean said.

“Your son?”

“Yes...he has captured you and I. He barged into my office and demanded I turn you over to him, but I refused. He is setting up a plan that will lead Loreon under the control of evil.”

“Please tell me more. Why would he want me?”

“He wants to bring you to EbilCorp. But you escaped that evil place...and I refused to let him take you back. He drugged me, and set up a hologram of my dead body. The hologram is part of new EbilCorp technology. It can not be told apart from a normal human.”

“Why would he do that?” she asked concerned.

“Because he is causing a distraction. Soon the hologram will be used to become the new Kingadent. EbilCorp will control our planet.”

“We can’t let that happen! We need to escape!”

Warlic chuckled. “Do not worry my dear. I will not let any harm come to us. Now can you work on opening the door while I search for another way out?”

“Yes, sir!” Maria said as she floated towards the door and began to examine it. Warlic turned around and moved to the corner of the room where he could be hidden. His eyes turned a dark red, and his eyes became reptilian, the eyes of a demon.

Using this vision he watched his son in the command room. Odessa was there with him, and he was going to try and recruit her. He turned around to make sure Maria wasn’t watching.

When this was confirmed he touched the wall and walked through it and moved outside the room. He noticed his hands were becoming claws and his teeth sharper. He was entering a more demonic form, a side effect of using his powers. He shut off his vision and slowly returned to normal. He spoke softly to test his voice, and when he confirmed it was human he spoke to Maria.

“Maria, I’m outside.”

“Dean Warlic, how did you get out there?”

“I found a hatch and crawled through, but it locked behind me. The door is also locked from the outside. But do not worry, I am working on opening it!” he lied.

Then he moved up through the hatch towards the command room where Odessa and Artix were. “Odessa, Artix.” he said.

They both turned around stunned. He smiled. “Odessa, if you don’t mind, I would like to talk with my son alone.”

Odessa nodded and left through the hatch. Warlic turned around and locked it and then faced Artix. “Now let us talk about where you went wrong.”

Next Time in Gundam: Shadow....Execution. The plans that have been set in motion are about to be executed. While a dangerous battle occurs on the Paladin. A father and son finally confront each other.