Numbers Amongst the Seeds by Thrawnma
A Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed Crossover Fanfiction

The small ship cruised silently, gliding across the backdrop of inky black space speckled with the bright, multi-colored motes of light called stars. Inside the craft, a small crew and single passenger rode in a relative silence, tension almost visible in the pressurized cabin.

The tension was due to a struggle between two of the of occupants, a match of skills, a wager of abilities. It was...

"Checkmate," Relena crowed in victory, as she moved her Queen into position to cut off any escape attempt that Duo's King might make.

"Aaaah... not again..." Duo whined while he scratched his head in confusion. He had been -sure- he had her for a moment then this happened...

Trowa chuckled under his breath as he returned his eyes to the cards in his hand. He and Quatre were idly playing hands of Rummy while Wufei and Heero took their turns at the helm. The eight-person cabin had six passenger seats, a pilot seat, copilot seat, and a hatch in the rear led to the small messhall and sleep quarters. For the moment, they were cruising along slowly, the five formed Gundam pilots reunited (again, as situations called for it) to ensure that Relena Darlian made it to a very important negotiation for disarmament with a recently formed Colony Group.

The craft they rode in was brand-new, Preventers-issue, and could be accurately described as something like an assault cruiser and a high-speed shuttle. It was armed well for something as small and fast as it was, and underneath its ordinary titanium hull plating was a solid layer of the tough Neo-Titanium armor that had once been used to create the Mariemaia Army's force of Serpents. Now it served to provide a protective barrier between any possible harmful forces and the precious cargo within.

The assault shuttle, as it were, was well-armed and had a variety of specialized devices designed to make its survival as high as possible. An ECM System, loosely based off of the concepts used to develop the Deathscythe's Hyper Jammers, was in place and active to distort the ship's sensor image at any distance. A high-speed one-time use particle drive booster, a very small and compact alternative to a large solid-fuel booster, could momentarily accelerate them to great speeds. In addition to this, a pair of beam cannons were hidden in retracting front-firing bays, a pair of 45mm machine gun turrets sat dorsally and ventrally, also hidden in retracting bays, and even a quartet of micromissile banks. Despite the ban on Mobile Suits, and the encouragement to disarm, the Preventers recognized that a strong, and able, defensive force was required to take on threats in forms beside that of a Mobile Suit.

Wufei yawned, slapped the control yoke, noting that he would have sent the sensitive ship careening had the autopilot not been engaged, and turned to Heero who was stoicly maintaining his position as copilot and sensors technician.

"There's nothing out there, Yuy."

Heero just smirked softly as he listened to his still-hotheaded friend's remark. It had been three years since Mariemaia's attempted coup, and even Heero would admit the relative peace following that had done them all a lot of good. Trowa was more apt to smile and laugh, though he was still rather quiet. Quatre was the most unchanged, but even he looked and acted more like his father than before. Wufei had become far less volatile in his nature, his fits of brooding replaced with more contemplative meditation. Duo was only a little more serious, but he had become a great mechanic, salesman, sweet-talker, and a lot of other things as a result of running his junkyard full-time. Heero, well, he was certainly more of a loner type, that was for sure, but he was willing to admit that the others were his friends, and he was more prone to crack a joke than he had been before, which sure didn't make it that common, he knew he had become more... "social."

Then Heero thought of Relena, and of how she had changed. She was more... mature, physically and mentally. Her body had become that of a woman, and she had become... beautiful. Her words, her voice, everything about her had become more beautiful and mature. She was a woman of quiet strength, but she spoke strongly and surely, and made sure everyone hear her when she did. She bore herself with regality, truly descended from royalty, but she felt... touchable. It was like anyone could speak to her, because they could. Kings, presidents, shop owns and shopper alike could all speak with her and be treated with equal respect, if not equal diplomacy. Occasionally Heero would even find himself staring at her and letting his mind drift off for a moment, then something would happen to shake him out of his daze before anyone would notice. It wouldn't do for one of the world's most symbolic leaders of peace to assosciate with a former pilot who slaughtered dozens of soldiers. Better to protect her now. Better for both of them.

Wufei sighed as he watched Heero lose himself in his thoughts. It seemed he did that more often. Especially so, Wufei thought, when Heero's attention was focused on a particular somebody, noting the particular angle of Heero's head and eyes happened to be in line with Relena as she was preoccupying herself with another game of chess with Duo.

rowa got up from his game and went into the back to get himself something to eat when a warning alarm blared on the console. Slapping it to quieten it Wufei turned off the autopilot while Heero snapped back to reality and began to study the console in front of him which displayed sensor readings on the space surrounding them.

"Whats going on?" Wufei asked sharply, wanting to say something more barbed about Heero zoning out but he knew it was unwarranted.

Heero was silent for a moment, a silence which was only broken as chess pieces were hurriedly put away and the sounds of metal buckles fastening down unsecured passengers and the whoosh of the hatch as Trowa came back into the cabin, still sipping on his drink, and taking his seat.

"Attack force," Heero was quiet and succinct, his brow furrowed as he spoke. He was worried. Not a good sign at all in Wufei's eyes.

"Heero..." Relena spoke softly, and Heero seemed to come alive as a result.

"Its an attack force from that militant colony. No communications, IFF transponders, and coasting along with no thrusters and minimal power useage. Its an ambush. And I think they're coming for us." Heero peered closer at the readouts.

"Correction: They're definitely coming for us. I just read simultaneous powerplant increases and weapons activation. Numbers coming in... Five assault craft of medium size and twelve smaller fighter-type weapons."

Ever since the ban on Mobile Suits had been passed throughout the Earth Sphere, militant factions had been attempting to match the destructive power of the humanoid machines by other means. On earth this usually meant heavily armed and armored treaded vehicles, not quite tanks, land behemoths that could roll over conventional defenses and crush less-prepared foes. Still nothing to a Mobile Suit though. And in space it was coming to mean ships of increasingly larger size, speed, and manevuerability. Unknown to all, the age of the space battleship was approaching, but this topic was of unimportance, at the moment.

Wufei set his face determinedly, unwilling to let the anxiety creep into his mind. As a Gundam pilot he had only to worry about himself and his own life, but three years with the Preventers had given him a sense of responsibility to protect those he was entrusted with, and as far as he was concerned everyone in the shuttle would die after him, if he had anything to say about it. He wouldn't admit it to himself, but spending three years with Sally Po had done much to improve his maturity, among other things.

"We have no chance in a straight up fight, we're too outnumbered for that," Trowa began to rattle off his analysis as he checked a display next to him that showed the information relayed from Heero's console.

"That was obvious!" Wufei bit back tightly as he moved the ship and began to maneuver away from the rapidly closing combat group. Ranging shots from the enemy's beam weapons whizzed harmlessly past the ship, but the dazzling lights did nothing to allay anyone's anxiety.

"What about the booster!" Someone yelled, Wufei absently recognized the voice as being Duo's, even as he toggled the key that activated the small engine. Of course, the tachyon booster! It would get them away in an instant and give them a lead that the enemy simply could not catch up with.

"Right, here we go, brace yourselves!" Wufei yelled, flipping the protective cover over the booster activation button and slamming his open palm on it. The ship began to shudder a bit and a high-pitched whining filled the cabin as the booster deployed and began to power up, the required three seconds ticking down like minutes in the minds of those inside the ship.

Then the ship began lurch forward, as the booster ignited and a high-speed stream of tachyons thrust them forward with incredible speed. But, as the booster had begun to fire, a stray beam rifle shot had come into contact with the tachyons immediately as they exited the booster. This created a wash of tachyons that surrounded the ship with a swirling multi-colored light that blinded everyone inside, causing them to wince in pain as they were subjected to strange forces. Something odd and decidedly unexpected had happened, and one by one they all blacked out. Heero was last, and as his eyes closed involuntarily, he took a last look at Relena, her head limp, and he cried out.

"Relena!"

Then darkness took him.