GUNDAM WING: NEO G
Episode 1: "The Wizards of Space"
by J Weekley
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LEGAL STUFF: This story is copyright 2001 by J Weekley. Gundam Wing is the property of Sunrise, Sotsu Agency, and Bandai. Used without permission.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first story of what may end up being a pretty extensive series. I'm putting it as chapters since each story will be reletively short, and I didn't want to take up a lot of space. Most character and mecha information can be found on my site, which you can get to through my profile. Also, don't worry if you're a bit confused at first. I've made an extensive backstory to the series, which will be explained as time goes by. I should also note that this is my first attempt at writing anything relating to Gundam Wing, so please, be gentle. Oh, yeah. One more thing. This has not been inspired by any other GW "future" story, as I have made certain not to read them for fear of accidentally stealing ideas. All similarities are coincidental. Enjoy.
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TIMELINE: December 24-26, AC 219
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I
Space was calm. Far too calm, in fact. The Colonies had peacefully coexisted with the Earth for nearly twenty-two years, ever since that fateful Christmas of AC 197. Things had gotten quiet since then. Lives had gone on peacefully, happily. The prospect of war--indeed the very idea of war--had diminished to the point of practical non-existence in the peoples' minds. Everything went on as if nothing had happened, but all the time acknowledging that it did happen. The L3 Colony had revolted. The Barton family had come to power through Mariemaia. The Gundams had returned for one final battle. And then, in the blink of an eye, it was all over. Dekim Barton was dead, not even having the honor of death in battle with the Gundams, but shot by one of his own officers.
And the world that had developed since then...
Peaceful.
Always peaceful. Mobile Suits had been destroyed by the thousands. It was a robotic massacre in the eyes of a few. Even the Gundams and the Tallgeese had met their final fate of self-destruction.
Peace.
Commander Bruce Rokuju spat. The whole concept made him sick. Secretary of State Darlian--he would always think of her as Relena Peacecraft, the *bitch* who had ruined his career in OZ. He never wanted the war of AC 195 to end, but then *she* came along, and polluted Romefellor with her delusions and ideals, some of which she barely understood herself. To him, war was his life, it was everything he had wanted, lived for, breathed, ate, drank, slept. He writhed in the emotions aroused in him in the heat of battle. The orgasmic pleasure of taking a beam saber and reducing an enemy to ash was all he sought after; nothing more, nothing less.
Relena Peacecraft. She would be among the first to pay for what he had gone through. He would do everything imaginable to her, but keep her alive long enough to suffer. He reveled in what it would be like after he got his hands on her. But she would not be the very first. That pleasure was reserved for the one person in whom he could take vengeance in his disappointment of His Excellency. The one person remaining with so tight a connection that it would be the next best thing...
"Mariemaia Khushrenada."
Mariemaia had been dozing off again. The past several nights had been extremely sleepless since she had started preparing for this day. The sudden sound of the applause jumped her to alertness. She took some quick, nervous glances, wondering if any of the crowd had noticed. After determining that no one had seen her, she approached the podium that had been set up for this occasion. The date was December 24, AC 219--the twenty-fourth anniversary of the end of the White Fang, and the era of the Romefellor Foundation and OZ. Mariemaia had not particularly wanted to do a speech for this occasion, but President Winner had insisted, and there was no further argument that could change his mind. So, there was Mariemaia, left with a speech to write in two days, full of Christmas cheer, and hope for the future. How did she handle this little problem? The same way she did everything else like it that came up: BS the formalities, and move on to more important issues.
There had been more than enough on her mind in recent weeks that she just could not be bothered with some silly little speech that the diplomats wanted to hear. However, it was all too important to keep up appearances with times being like they were. Mariemaia needed to keep her department's funding coming in. She wished she could say where all the money was going to, but that would have to wait for a while longer. For the moment, it was all classified under "Research and Development." Mariemaia had no intention of the Wizards ending up like its predecessor, the Preventers.
After Lady Une's unexpected stroke, the department fell apart. Duo, Quatre, and many other of the original members had done all they could to keep it functional, but the Senate had voted to demolish the Preventers by ending all funding. Thankfully, Mariemaia's own Wizards, which were funded privately, were still going strong, and all former Preventers could now be a part of her once-exclusive team.
She had come a long way since the coup of '96. She had no intention of taking over the Earth, but she knew that there were still people out there who were thinking along those lines at that moment. People like this Bruce Rokuju that one of her informants had told her about. She would send someone to keep an eye on him, and take action when the time was right. Sounded like a perfect job for Zechs. He had been wanting to get back in action for a while now, so she may as well give him what he wanted. She would tell him first thing after she got out of here.
When she reached the podium, she took out her speech and cleared her throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by saying what an honor it is to stand before you tonight and celebrate the peace we have. There is an old Christmas saying, back when the holiday still had meaning, 'Peace on Earth, and good will toward men.' Twenty-four years ago, that became the goal of a long-fought war. Many people bravely and unselfishly gave their lives to attain this peace, including my own father. I am pleased to say that we can stand here so long afterwards and declare that the peace still lasts.
"But there are still those who threaten our peace. In this time of celebration I ask you to not become blinded by foolish pride and overconfidence. Individuals can be possessed by ideas of the way things should be, and those individuals can become leaders of men willing to fight to bring about those false ideals. The fires of rebellion must still be prevented, both on Earth and amongst the Colonies. Please, never forget that." She paused, and added almost as an afterthought, "Merry Christmas."
Mariemaia stepped away from the podium and off the stage. She did not notice President Quatre Winner following her. When she was almost to the exit, he spoke, "'What an honor it is to stand before you tonight and celebrate the peace we have.' Could you have thought of a less obvious lie?"
"I was pressed for time," she replied calmly. "I only made the speech two hours ago."
Quatre looked grim. "I know what you're trying to do, Mariemaia, but we both have to face the fact that the Preventers aren't coming back. Your Wizards are the only thing left to protect the Earth from its own complacency. Even I'm powerless to do anything about it. The Senate's the true ruling body, now. I've been reduced to little more than a figurehead."
"And you can accept this?" Mariemaia asked harshly.
"Of course not," Quatre snapped. "I have a plan to gain back some of the power that I've lost. There's no way an overconfident legislature can continue to hold the nation in its palm and say, 'No, no. Rebellion bad.' We both know that it's only a matter of time."
Mariemaia sighed. "It's too bad the Senate doesn't see it that way."
As she turned and started walking out the door Quatre called, "Miss Mariemaia!" She glanced back at him. "Merry Christmas."
She paused for a second. "Merry Christmas, Mister President."
Shaina Maxwell knew she had seen something moving somewhere around here. She checked all the scanners on her MS. Nothing. Damn it, hiding was *her* specialty, not someone else's. Yet here she was, looking for someone who had disappeared into thin space. She meticulously maneuvered her MS, an old Taurus, around the area of space she had been observing. There was very little one could do in an area such as this to hide. Gas and dust were at a minimum, and there were no asteroids large enough to hide behind. The only way would be to turn off everything and just drift until she moved away, but the engines on whatever it was would still need time to cool off, and it was just too short a time for there to be nothing on her heat sensors. This was not good.
Just then, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She turned the Taurus around in time to see a Leo blast away. "Not this time, buddy!" Shaina yelled, and opened all engines to maximum. She would be on top of the Leo in no time. She opened a secret compartment on the Taurus' left arm and took out a beam saber. She activated and swung it at the Leo's head as she was catching up to it. At the last moment, the Leo faced her, and brought up its own beam saber to block hers. The energy beams sparked and crackled as the two MS tried to overpower each other. Shaina grunted as she pushed down on the arm controls. The pressure gauge was rising to critical; she would have to back off. She disengaged her attack, and blasted in reverse a few meters. Within seconds, the pressure had returned to normal, and she went for another attack. She thrust forward with the saber, and again it was blocked by the Leo. She flew over and tried to get it from behind, but the Leo was too fast, and was facing her before she could bring herself right-side-up. Too close; it was now or never. She pushed the beam saber into the Leo's chest as it cut through her. There was an orange glow as the Taurus exploded around her, and then...
...The white snow of static in the simulator screens. Shaina leaned forward in the harness, eyes closed and breathing slowly to calm down. "Damn it," she sighed.
One of the screens resolved into a tech in the control room fifty feet away. "Miss Maxwell, are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm dead. What do you think?" Shaina asked, none too thrilled.
"You aren't the only one, the Leo blew up, also. Congratulations, you tied. Again."
There was obvious sarcasm in the tech's voice, and Shaina cut the transmission. She undid the harness and opened the simulator's hatch. Stepping out into the brightly-lit simulator room, she wiped the sweat off her forehead, and jumped to the floor. She looked over at the Taurus simulator as the hatch opened and her prey stepped out. "Am I ever going to have a chance to kill you, Treize?" she asked the pilot.
Treize Merquise smiled at her, "Not if you keep up maneuvers like that. Was that one of your father's last-resort tactics?"
"Nope, made it up myself. It worked. Sort of."
"Another tie. So I guess we split dinner again?"
Shaina walked up close to him. "Tell you what: I'll buy dinner if you pay for the movie tickets, popcorn, soda, limo, and fancy hotel room."
"No limo. My car's fine."
Shaina got teary-eyed, "Ah, I want to travel in style."
"Think of the privacy we'll have. Those limo drivers talk, you know."
Shaina seemed to think about this, and then jumped on Treize, hugging him around the neck. "Okay, no limo. But we're going to the downtown theater."
Treize sweatdropped, "You're nuts! The tickets there are twenty bucks each, and that's *with* a discount!"
Shaina gave him a sad puppy face that was too cute for even Treize to resist. He sighed and said, "Okay, the downtown theater. God, the things I go through for you."
Shaina touched the end of his nose, "But just think of how appreciative I'll be afterwards."
They smiled and leaned toward each other. Just when their lips were about to make contact, an announcement came over the intercom, "Will officers Shaina Maxwell and Treize Merquise please report to briefing room C."
Treize looked at Shaina and sighed, "Back to duty."
They separated and walked to the briefing room.
Thirty feet above, Carrie Catalonia looked over at Mary, her twin sister, as she deactivated the intercom. "Why'd you do that?" she asked. "It was just getting interesting."
"Sorry to deprive you of your fun," Mary answered, "but we do have work to do here. We need to get the system reset for the next pair of pilots. Two newbies. It's their first time in the simulators, so expect a lot of damage to the program."
"Oh, god!" Carrie sighed. "Why do they have to train *here*?! Why can't they have their own system to wreck?"
"One word: money," a deep voice answered from behind them.
Mary and Carrie turned in their seats and looked back the young man standing in the doorway. He was tall and tanned, with his hair cut close to his scalp, and had thick muscles that were visible even under his trench coat. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes, and his mouth was slanted into an eternal smirk. Mary rolled her eyes as her sister was practically drooling over the man. "What do you want, Avery?" she asked.
Avery Maxwell took off his sunglasses, revealing his bright blue eyes. Carrie swooned as he looked at her. "Nothing, really. Just felt like being in the company of you two ladies. I hope there's nothing wrong with that."
"As a matter of fact, there is," Mary asked peevishly. "We've got to get the simulator set up, and your presence is not helping any."
Avery shook his head, "Mary, Mary, Mary. You're so serious all the time. You've got to learn to lighten up." He strolled over and began to rub her shoulders. "It's a tough job, but you still need to relax from time to time."
"If you're trying to get me to go out with you, it's not working."
"I'll go out with you," Carrie said giddily.
"No, you won't," Mary said. "Not tonight, anyway. We're having dinner with Mom and Dad. And if we're lucky, they might even decide to get married."
"Ah, so Quatre and Dorothy still haven't gotten married. Good, I thought I had missed something for a moment there," Avery commented.
"Will you please get out?" Mary demanded.
Avery held his hands up, "Okay, okay. I'll go." As he walked out the door, he turned back to them and said, "Merry Christmas, girls."
"Merry Christmas, Avery," Carrie said, starry-eyed.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Go." Mary said.
After Avery closed the door, his effect on Carrie began to wear off. "Why are you so mean to him?" she asked Mary.
"Because I don't like guys who flirt. I prefer the direct approach. Meet, marry, screw, die."
"That's probably why you don't have much luck with guys," Carrie commented under her breath.
"I didn't ask for your opinion!"
"Sorry."
"Let's just get this over with so we can go home. I've had just about enough Christmas spirit for one day."
The twins went to work resetting the simulator system and finished just in time for the two trainees to arrive.
Within five minutes, the newbies had crashed the program.
Mariemaia had returned to her office. Not surprisingly, her informant was waiting there for her, leaning casually against the back wall, though well-enough concealed in the shadows to not be noticed by anyone not looking for him. He remained there while she put down her hat and coat on a sofa, and was silent until she spoke to him, "Find anything about Rokuju?"
"Nothing that isn't already known," he answered. "He was an MS pilot in both OZ and MA. Resents the end of the war. He was very skilled, and willing to do whatever it took to make sure the mission was completed." After a moment, he added, "Heero Yuy to the extreme."
"That bothers you?" Mariemaia asked.
"Yes. No one's been able to pinpoint this guy for years, and I'm afraid of what he may be capable of. The only leads we have are several orders for vernier rockets from about eighty different companies. We're investigating them, but so far, they're all legit."
Mariemaia walked over to a liquor cabinet and opened it, taking out a glass and bottle. While she poured herself some scotch, she said, "This guy's bound to screw up somewhere. They all do. I'm going to put Zechs on the case. He may have some luck following a vernier shipment."
"Sounds like something he would enjoy. He's been hoping for work again."
Mariemaia offered him a glass, but he declined. Putting it back, she said, "I'm surprised you haven't contacted him to work with you. He is dead, after all."
"He's too conspicuous. Everyone who doesn't know Zechs Merquise knows Milliardo Peacecraft. He's helping more than enough right now. I just wish he could know my gratitude."
Mariemaia looked out the window in silence, listening for her informant to leave. She never heard him open the door, but she knew he had to be gone by now. This business with Rokuju was serious, and there was no time or place in it for personal pleasure.
She put her hand against the glass and stared out into the snow-covered cityscape. People were running from store to store, getting in their last-minute shopping, content in the peace of the evening. It all felt so distant from her. Christmas was never the same since Lady Une was hospitalized three years ago. If only she could get a little closer...
The door to the roof of the Preventers Building opened, and Mariemaia stepped out into the night. She bundled up tight in her coat, protecting her from the freezing temperatures around her. It was a clean, clear night, with hundreds of stars visible, despite the city lights. She looked up at them, watching them twinkling. They never twinkled in space, because there was no atmosphere to bend the light, but here on Earth, they almost seemed alive, dancing about in the sky for all eternity. She looked at one star in particular, the star she had chosen for her father. She smiled as snowflakes touched down on her delicate face, and brushed them away gently with her gloved hand. "Merry Christmas, father," she said silently, and walked back inside.
II
Shaina laughed as she danced in the snow outside the theater. She did not care that some people were staring--to hell with them. All that mattered to her right now was Treize standing by her side, with his long silver hair waving in the gentle wind. He took her hand and they swayed in tune to one of the theme songs from the movie they had just seen. Treize held her close as he brushed the snowflakes from her long hair, chestnut colored and braided like her father's. He put her hat on her and led her back to the parking lot. He helped her into his car and then went around to the driver's side. Before he got in, he quickly checked his watch and smiled. Shaina decided not to mention it.
The ride back to his apartment went smoothly, with Christmas songs playing on the radio. After the set was done, the station switched to a live broadcast of President Winner reading THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS to a group of children from all over the Earth Sphere. Shaina and Treize laughed as Quatre changed his voice for the Santa Claus parts. Before long, they had arrived at his apartment on the outskirts of town.
When Treize opened the door for her, Shaina gasped. A tree in the far corner bathed the room a red glow, and presents were stacked underneath. Shaina threw her arms around Treize's neck and kissed him. "Merry Christmas," he said gently.
She looked at him starry-eyed, "Can I open them now?"
Treize waved his finger, "Nope, not `til Christmas morning."
"Ah..."
"Well, maybe one. But I get to choose which one."
"Okay."
They walked over to the tree, and Treize dug through the stack of gifts. He came up with a small box wrapped in golden paper. He handed it to Shaina, saying, "This one."
Shaina carefully undid the paper, and inside was a felt-covered box. She opened the box and gasped. Inside, nestled in a piece of felt board, was a small, gold ring with a single diamond in the center. Her hand shook as she stared in awe at the gift. Could this be...
She looked at Treize, who simply smiled. "Will you marry me?"
Shaina tried to answer, but she was too choked up. Tears began welling in her eyes, and all she could do was laugh as she jumped and embraced him again, tighter than ever before. "Yes," she finally managed to get out. "Yes," she said again as she leaned up to kiss him. They held each other for what seemed like an eternity, until Shaina leaned back down. Treize took the ring from its box and slipped it on her finger. "It's beautiful," she said. She ran her finger along his nose, "Well, I guess this means I need to let you unwrap a gift."
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm. But it's in the bedroom."
"I can't wait to see what it is."
Shaina and Treize laughed as they made their way to his bedroom, and shared the entire night in love.
Preventer Wind sat quietly in the torso cockpit of Tallgeese III. It had been two days since he had been contacted by Mariemaia to find a vernier shipment that was heading for an outpost on the dark side of the moon. The shipment was late. This was highly unusual for the carrier company being used. He wondered if he had somehow been spotted and they were biding their time outside of radar range. He opened his eyes and went over the consoles around him. No, the ship was nowhere to be found. A control panel glowed to life in front of him. He smiled and patted it soothingly. "Stay calm, old friend. They'll show. We have to be ready for them."
Tallgeese III continued its orbit for several hours more.
Rokuju was getting impatient. "What the hell is keeping them? They should've been here hours ago!" He stepped behind a tech and said, "You're certain there's nothing on radar?"
"Nothing, sir," the tech responded. "Maybe they're experiencing some kind of malfunction and they can't contact us."
"It's possible, but they would have sent a shuttle or something."
"Maybe they were attacked."
"By who?" Rokuju laughed. "We're the only ones capable of something like that, and we wouldn't attack our own shipment. Not when we're so close to victory."
An alarm sounded from one of the consoles. The tech there said, "Sir, I'm getting a reading of metal. It's large enough to be the ship, but it's coming in at a completely different vector."
"What?" Rokuju asked, confused.
"The ship is hailing us, sir," another tech announced.
"Put them through," Rokuju ordered.
An image of an old man appeared on the main screen. "Commander Rokuju?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Sorry for the delay," the old man said, "we had some problems just before take-off, and the comm systems are still a bit on the fritz. But I got yer vernier shipment right here. Just designate a landing platform, and we'll get the paperwork all taken care of."
"We'll have to adjust our landing plan to your new vector. If you don't mind waiting a few minutes."
"Not at all. Sorry about that, I thought you knew. With the kinda business we run, we never take the planned route in case of outside interference."
"Understandable. We'll transmit the new landing procedure to you shortly. Rokuju out."
Zechs tapped the beeping display command on his main console. "They're coming in at a different vector? Damn it. There's no way to catch up without being detected."
He clenched his teeth as he put in a call to Mariemaia.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
Shaina rubbed her ear and put the phone back up to her head. "Wow! That's some breath control, Dad."
On the other end of the line, Duo made some incomprehensible noises, and Shaina guessed that he was probably twitching an eye right about now. Hilde was taking it much better. "Well, I think it's wonderful, honey. Treize is such a great young man, and you two are so cute together."
"Thanks, Mom," Shaina said, blushing.
By that time, Duo was getting himself back together. "No! No! No! You're too young!"
"Oh, hush, Duo! You know damn well we got married at nineteen."
"You're not helping, Hilde."
"Your father just wants to hold on to his baby girl for as long as possible, that's all," Hilde said to Shaina.
"I know, Mom. But, I'd say that twenty-one years is long enough, wouldn't you?"
"No!" Duo answered.
Shaina heard her mother sigh and then say, "I wish you the best of luck, dear. I'm going to go inject some morphine into your father. See if I can't get him to calm down."
"Okay, Mom. Love you. Bye, Dad."
"Shain--" was all Duo could get out before Shaina hung up the phone. She faced Treize, who was leaning against the wall. "How'd they take it?" he asked.
"Better than expected, actually."
Shaina grabbed her Wizards jacket from the coat rack and followed Treize out to his car. The snow crunched under their feet as they walked. They had celebrated Christmas together, but now, it was time to get back to work. They got in the car, and Shaina played with her engagement ring while Treize turned on the ignition. They sat for a few minutes while the heater warmed up the cabin, and the snow and ice were melted from the windshields. When the temperature was up to summer norms, Treize put the car in gear and they rode off to what was to be another day at work.
"Shit," Mariemaia mumbled over the video feed. "We should've seen this coming."
"We'll know if he ever uses the same carrier again, but I doubt he'll make that sort of mistake," Zechs responded. "The ship looks like it's getting ready to take off. Do you want me to follow them back to their port to see if I can get some answers?"
"Negative," Mariemaia answered. "Rokuju's got his verniers. His next move will be some kind of MS attack. There's no telling how big that shipment was, but should expect the attack to come within the next month."
"Agreed. They'll take a while to install, especially if they're the newer models. The only MS they're really compatible with are Virgos."
"Unless he's developed a new model."
"That's also a possibility. So, what's our next move?"
"R and D's done with its latest project. I think it's time we get our candidates trained."
Shaina and Treize slid their ID cards through the sensor and waited as the doors of the elevator opened. Just as they were about to step in, a voice called out to them, "Officer Merquise! Officer Maxwell!"
They turned around and saw Mary Catalonia running up to them. "You're needed down in R and D," she said.
"We haven't punched in yet," Treize said.
"Doesn't matter. This is a bit more important. Mariemaia's waiting for you down there."
"Mariemaia?" Shaina asked.
"Just go," Mary said.
Shaina and Treize stepped away from the elevators and walked out of the main hall and out over a bridge that would take them to Research and Development. R and D was an expansion on the original building, and almost twice its size, but only ten of its thirty stories were above ground. Shaina and Treize slid their cards through the scanner, and the doors hissed open. Waiting for them on the other side was Mariemaia Khushrenada.
Mariemaia immediately noticed the engagement ring on Shaina's left hand. "Good Christmas?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am, it was," Shaina said, blushing.
Mariemaia smiled. "Congratulations." She began walking down a hallway, "Follow me, please."
Shaina and Treize fell into step behind Mariemaia and listened as she explained what was going on. "I've called you here today because you two are the best MS pilots we have. There's a threat to the ESUN in the form a certain Commander Bruce Rokuju, I don't think you've heard of him. Regardless, he's started collecting armaments, and just this morning, he received what could be a *very* large supply of vernier rockets. All evidence suggests that he's setting up some kind of revolution."
The three reached the end of the hallway and stopped at an elevator. Mariemaia pushed a button, and the doors opened. They stepped inside and began traveling down. Mariemaia continued, "In order to combat this threat, we'll need to fight him Suit to Suit. However, he may be using a new type of MS that we don't know about, and our own forces may not be enough to stop him. Therefore, we've been building some new models of our own for the past few months. They were built especially with you in mind."
"New Mobile Suits?" Shaina asked.
"Not just any Mobile Suits," Mariemaia responded. The elevator stopped, and they stepped out. They were in a dimly-lit corridor with a single door at the end. Mariemaia stood to one side to let Shaina and Treize go in first. They passed through the door...
..And immediately froze in their tracks.
Along the far wall were two giant Mobile Suits, bigger than anything they had ever seen before. One was built thickly, and painted blue and white. The other was slender, almost skeletal, and purple and black. Gracing the forehead of each Suit was a golden crest.
"They're..." Treize started.
"Gundams," Mariemaia finished proudly. "Allow me to introduce the Gundams Neo Tallgeese and Neo Deathscythe."
Tsuzuku...
Episode 1: "The Wizards of Space"
by J Weekley
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LEGAL STUFF: This story is copyright 2001 by J Weekley. Gundam Wing is the property of Sunrise, Sotsu Agency, and Bandai. Used without permission.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first story of what may end up being a pretty extensive series. I'm putting it as chapters since each story will be reletively short, and I didn't want to take up a lot of space. Most character and mecha information can be found on my site, which you can get to through my profile. Also, don't worry if you're a bit confused at first. I've made an extensive backstory to the series, which will be explained as time goes by. I should also note that this is my first attempt at writing anything relating to Gundam Wing, so please, be gentle. Oh, yeah. One more thing. This has not been inspired by any other GW "future" story, as I have made certain not to read them for fear of accidentally stealing ideas. All similarities are coincidental. Enjoy.
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TIMELINE: December 24-26, AC 219
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I
Space was calm. Far too calm, in fact. The Colonies had peacefully coexisted with the Earth for nearly twenty-two years, ever since that fateful Christmas of AC 197. Things had gotten quiet since then. Lives had gone on peacefully, happily. The prospect of war--indeed the very idea of war--had diminished to the point of practical non-existence in the peoples' minds. Everything went on as if nothing had happened, but all the time acknowledging that it did happen. The L3 Colony had revolted. The Barton family had come to power through Mariemaia. The Gundams had returned for one final battle. And then, in the blink of an eye, it was all over. Dekim Barton was dead, not even having the honor of death in battle with the Gundams, but shot by one of his own officers.
And the world that had developed since then...
Peaceful.
Always peaceful. Mobile Suits had been destroyed by the thousands. It was a robotic massacre in the eyes of a few. Even the Gundams and the Tallgeese had met their final fate of self-destruction.
Peace.
Commander Bruce Rokuju spat. The whole concept made him sick. Secretary of State Darlian--he would always think of her as Relena Peacecraft, the *bitch* who had ruined his career in OZ. He never wanted the war of AC 195 to end, but then *she* came along, and polluted Romefellor with her delusions and ideals, some of which she barely understood herself. To him, war was his life, it was everything he had wanted, lived for, breathed, ate, drank, slept. He writhed in the emotions aroused in him in the heat of battle. The orgasmic pleasure of taking a beam saber and reducing an enemy to ash was all he sought after; nothing more, nothing less.
Relena Peacecraft. She would be among the first to pay for what he had gone through. He would do everything imaginable to her, but keep her alive long enough to suffer. He reveled in what it would be like after he got his hands on her. But she would not be the very first. That pleasure was reserved for the one person in whom he could take vengeance in his disappointment of His Excellency. The one person remaining with so tight a connection that it would be the next best thing...
"Mariemaia Khushrenada."
Mariemaia had been dozing off again. The past several nights had been extremely sleepless since she had started preparing for this day. The sudden sound of the applause jumped her to alertness. She took some quick, nervous glances, wondering if any of the crowd had noticed. After determining that no one had seen her, she approached the podium that had been set up for this occasion. The date was December 24, AC 219--the twenty-fourth anniversary of the end of the White Fang, and the era of the Romefellor Foundation and OZ. Mariemaia had not particularly wanted to do a speech for this occasion, but President Winner had insisted, and there was no further argument that could change his mind. So, there was Mariemaia, left with a speech to write in two days, full of Christmas cheer, and hope for the future. How did she handle this little problem? The same way she did everything else like it that came up: BS the formalities, and move on to more important issues.
There had been more than enough on her mind in recent weeks that she just could not be bothered with some silly little speech that the diplomats wanted to hear. However, it was all too important to keep up appearances with times being like they were. Mariemaia needed to keep her department's funding coming in. She wished she could say where all the money was going to, but that would have to wait for a while longer. For the moment, it was all classified under "Research and Development." Mariemaia had no intention of the Wizards ending up like its predecessor, the Preventers.
After Lady Une's unexpected stroke, the department fell apart. Duo, Quatre, and many other of the original members had done all they could to keep it functional, but the Senate had voted to demolish the Preventers by ending all funding. Thankfully, Mariemaia's own Wizards, which were funded privately, were still going strong, and all former Preventers could now be a part of her once-exclusive team.
She had come a long way since the coup of '96. She had no intention of taking over the Earth, but she knew that there were still people out there who were thinking along those lines at that moment. People like this Bruce Rokuju that one of her informants had told her about. She would send someone to keep an eye on him, and take action when the time was right. Sounded like a perfect job for Zechs. He had been wanting to get back in action for a while now, so she may as well give him what he wanted. She would tell him first thing after she got out of here.
When she reached the podium, she took out her speech and cleared her throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by saying what an honor it is to stand before you tonight and celebrate the peace we have. There is an old Christmas saying, back when the holiday still had meaning, 'Peace on Earth, and good will toward men.' Twenty-four years ago, that became the goal of a long-fought war. Many people bravely and unselfishly gave their lives to attain this peace, including my own father. I am pleased to say that we can stand here so long afterwards and declare that the peace still lasts.
"But there are still those who threaten our peace. In this time of celebration I ask you to not become blinded by foolish pride and overconfidence. Individuals can be possessed by ideas of the way things should be, and those individuals can become leaders of men willing to fight to bring about those false ideals. The fires of rebellion must still be prevented, both on Earth and amongst the Colonies. Please, never forget that." She paused, and added almost as an afterthought, "Merry Christmas."
Mariemaia stepped away from the podium and off the stage. She did not notice President Quatre Winner following her. When she was almost to the exit, he spoke, "'What an honor it is to stand before you tonight and celebrate the peace we have.' Could you have thought of a less obvious lie?"
"I was pressed for time," she replied calmly. "I only made the speech two hours ago."
Quatre looked grim. "I know what you're trying to do, Mariemaia, but we both have to face the fact that the Preventers aren't coming back. Your Wizards are the only thing left to protect the Earth from its own complacency. Even I'm powerless to do anything about it. The Senate's the true ruling body, now. I've been reduced to little more than a figurehead."
"And you can accept this?" Mariemaia asked harshly.
"Of course not," Quatre snapped. "I have a plan to gain back some of the power that I've lost. There's no way an overconfident legislature can continue to hold the nation in its palm and say, 'No, no. Rebellion bad.' We both know that it's only a matter of time."
Mariemaia sighed. "It's too bad the Senate doesn't see it that way."
As she turned and started walking out the door Quatre called, "Miss Mariemaia!" She glanced back at him. "Merry Christmas."
She paused for a second. "Merry Christmas, Mister President."
Shaina Maxwell knew she had seen something moving somewhere around here. She checked all the scanners on her MS. Nothing. Damn it, hiding was *her* specialty, not someone else's. Yet here she was, looking for someone who had disappeared into thin space. She meticulously maneuvered her MS, an old Taurus, around the area of space she had been observing. There was very little one could do in an area such as this to hide. Gas and dust were at a minimum, and there were no asteroids large enough to hide behind. The only way would be to turn off everything and just drift until she moved away, but the engines on whatever it was would still need time to cool off, and it was just too short a time for there to be nothing on her heat sensors. This was not good.
Just then, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She turned the Taurus around in time to see a Leo blast away. "Not this time, buddy!" Shaina yelled, and opened all engines to maximum. She would be on top of the Leo in no time. She opened a secret compartment on the Taurus' left arm and took out a beam saber. She activated and swung it at the Leo's head as she was catching up to it. At the last moment, the Leo faced her, and brought up its own beam saber to block hers. The energy beams sparked and crackled as the two MS tried to overpower each other. Shaina grunted as she pushed down on the arm controls. The pressure gauge was rising to critical; she would have to back off. She disengaged her attack, and blasted in reverse a few meters. Within seconds, the pressure had returned to normal, and she went for another attack. She thrust forward with the saber, and again it was blocked by the Leo. She flew over and tried to get it from behind, but the Leo was too fast, and was facing her before she could bring herself right-side-up. Too close; it was now or never. She pushed the beam saber into the Leo's chest as it cut through her. There was an orange glow as the Taurus exploded around her, and then...
...The white snow of static in the simulator screens. Shaina leaned forward in the harness, eyes closed and breathing slowly to calm down. "Damn it," she sighed.
One of the screens resolved into a tech in the control room fifty feet away. "Miss Maxwell, are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm dead. What do you think?" Shaina asked, none too thrilled.
"You aren't the only one, the Leo blew up, also. Congratulations, you tied. Again."
There was obvious sarcasm in the tech's voice, and Shaina cut the transmission. She undid the harness and opened the simulator's hatch. Stepping out into the brightly-lit simulator room, she wiped the sweat off her forehead, and jumped to the floor. She looked over at the Taurus simulator as the hatch opened and her prey stepped out. "Am I ever going to have a chance to kill you, Treize?" she asked the pilot.
Treize Merquise smiled at her, "Not if you keep up maneuvers like that. Was that one of your father's last-resort tactics?"
"Nope, made it up myself. It worked. Sort of."
"Another tie. So I guess we split dinner again?"
Shaina walked up close to him. "Tell you what: I'll buy dinner if you pay for the movie tickets, popcorn, soda, limo, and fancy hotel room."
"No limo. My car's fine."
Shaina got teary-eyed, "Ah, I want to travel in style."
"Think of the privacy we'll have. Those limo drivers talk, you know."
Shaina seemed to think about this, and then jumped on Treize, hugging him around the neck. "Okay, no limo. But we're going to the downtown theater."
Treize sweatdropped, "You're nuts! The tickets there are twenty bucks each, and that's *with* a discount!"
Shaina gave him a sad puppy face that was too cute for even Treize to resist. He sighed and said, "Okay, the downtown theater. God, the things I go through for you."
Shaina touched the end of his nose, "But just think of how appreciative I'll be afterwards."
They smiled and leaned toward each other. Just when their lips were about to make contact, an announcement came over the intercom, "Will officers Shaina Maxwell and Treize Merquise please report to briefing room C."
Treize looked at Shaina and sighed, "Back to duty."
They separated and walked to the briefing room.
Thirty feet above, Carrie Catalonia looked over at Mary, her twin sister, as she deactivated the intercom. "Why'd you do that?" she asked. "It was just getting interesting."
"Sorry to deprive you of your fun," Mary answered, "but we do have work to do here. We need to get the system reset for the next pair of pilots. Two newbies. It's their first time in the simulators, so expect a lot of damage to the program."
"Oh, god!" Carrie sighed. "Why do they have to train *here*?! Why can't they have their own system to wreck?"
"One word: money," a deep voice answered from behind them.
Mary and Carrie turned in their seats and looked back the young man standing in the doorway. He was tall and tanned, with his hair cut close to his scalp, and had thick muscles that were visible even under his trench coat. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes, and his mouth was slanted into an eternal smirk. Mary rolled her eyes as her sister was practically drooling over the man. "What do you want, Avery?" she asked.
Avery Maxwell took off his sunglasses, revealing his bright blue eyes. Carrie swooned as he looked at her. "Nothing, really. Just felt like being in the company of you two ladies. I hope there's nothing wrong with that."
"As a matter of fact, there is," Mary asked peevishly. "We've got to get the simulator set up, and your presence is not helping any."
Avery shook his head, "Mary, Mary, Mary. You're so serious all the time. You've got to learn to lighten up." He strolled over and began to rub her shoulders. "It's a tough job, but you still need to relax from time to time."
"If you're trying to get me to go out with you, it's not working."
"I'll go out with you," Carrie said giddily.
"No, you won't," Mary said. "Not tonight, anyway. We're having dinner with Mom and Dad. And if we're lucky, they might even decide to get married."
"Ah, so Quatre and Dorothy still haven't gotten married. Good, I thought I had missed something for a moment there," Avery commented.
"Will you please get out?" Mary demanded.
Avery held his hands up, "Okay, okay. I'll go." As he walked out the door, he turned back to them and said, "Merry Christmas, girls."
"Merry Christmas, Avery," Carrie said, starry-eyed.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Go." Mary said.
After Avery closed the door, his effect on Carrie began to wear off. "Why are you so mean to him?" she asked Mary.
"Because I don't like guys who flirt. I prefer the direct approach. Meet, marry, screw, die."
"That's probably why you don't have much luck with guys," Carrie commented under her breath.
"I didn't ask for your opinion!"
"Sorry."
"Let's just get this over with so we can go home. I've had just about enough Christmas spirit for one day."
The twins went to work resetting the simulator system and finished just in time for the two trainees to arrive.
Within five minutes, the newbies had crashed the program.
Mariemaia had returned to her office. Not surprisingly, her informant was waiting there for her, leaning casually against the back wall, though well-enough concealed in the shadows to not be noticed by anyone not looking for him. He remained there while she put down her hat and coat on a sofa, and was silent until she spoke to him, "Find anything about Rokuju?"
"Nothing that isn't already known," he answered. "He was an MS pilot in both OZ and MA. Resents the end of the war. He was very skilled, and willing to do whatever it took to make sure the mission was completed." After a moment, he added, "Heero Yuy to the extreme."
"That bothers you?" Mariemaia asked.
"Yes. No one's been able to pinpoint this guy for years, and I'm afraid of what he may be capable of. The only leads we have are several orders for vernier rockets from about eighty different companies. We're investigating them, but so far, they're all legit."
Mariemaia walked over to a liquor cabinet and opened it, taking out a glass and bottle. While she poured herself some scotch, she said, "This guy's bound to screw up somewhere. They all do. I'm going to put Zechs on the case. He may have some luck following a vernier shipment."
"Sounds like something he would enjoy. He's been hoping for work again."
Mariemaia offered him a glass, but he declined. Putting it back, she said, "I'm surprised you haven't contacted him to work with you. He is dead, after all."
"He's too conspicuous. Everyone who doesn't know Zechs Merquise knows Milliardo Peacecraft. He's helping more than enough right now. I just wish he could know my gratitude."
Mariemaia looked out the window in silence, listening for her informant to leave. She never heard him open the door, but she knew he had to be gone by now. This business with Rokuju was serious, and there was no time or place in it for personal pleasure.
She put her hand against the glass and stared out into the snow-covered cityscape. People were running from store to store, getting in their last-minute shopping, content in the peace of the evening. It all felt so distant from her. Christmas was never the same since Lady Une was hospitalized three years ago. If only she could get a little closer...
The door to the roof of the Preventers Building opened, and Mariemaia stepped out into the night. She bundled up tight in her coat, protecting her from the freezing temperatures around her. It was a clean, clear night, with hundreds of stars visible, despite the city lights. She looked up at them, watching them twinkling. They never twinkled in space, because there was no atmosphere to bend the light, but here on Earth, they almost seemed alive, dancing about in the sky for all eternity. She looked at one star in particular, the star she had chosen for her father. She smiled as snowflakes touched down on her delicate face, and brushed them away gently with her gloved hand. "Merry Christmas, father," she said silently, and walked back inside.
II
Shaina laughed as she danced in the snow outside the theater. She did not care that some people were staring--to hell with them. All that mattered to her right now was Treize standing by her side, with his long silver hair waving in the gentle wind. He took her hand and they swayed in tune to one of the theme songs from the movie they had just seen. Treize held her close as he brushed the snowflakes from her long hair, chestnut colored and braided like her father's. He put her hat on her and led her back to the parking lot. He helped her into his car and then went around to the driver's side. Before he got in, he quickly checked his watch and smiled. Shaina decided not to mention it.
The ride back to his apartment went smoothly, with Christmas songs playing on the radio. After the set was done, the station switched to a live broadcast of President Winner reading THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS to a group of children from all over the Earth Sphere. Shaina and Treize laughed as Quatre changed his voice for the Santa Claus parts. Before long, they had arrived at his apartment on the outskirts of town.
When Treize opened the door for her, Shaina gasped. A tree in the far corner bathed the room a red glow, and presents were stacked underneath. Shaina threw her arms around Treize's neck and kissed him. "Merry Christmas," he said gently.
She looked at him starry-eyed, "Can I open them now?"
Treize waved his finger, "Nope, not `til Christmas morning."
"Ah..."
"Well, maybe one. But I get to choose which one."
"Okay."
They walked over to the tree, and Treize dug through the stack of gifts. He came up with a small box wrapped in golden paper. He handed it to Shaina, saying, "This one."
Shaina carefully undid the paper, and inside was a felt-covered box. She opened the box and gasped. Inside, nestled in a piece of felt board, was a small, gold ring with a single diamond in the center. Her hand shook as she stared in awe at the gift. Could this be...
She looked at Treize, who simply smiled. "Will you marry me?"
Shaina tried to answer, but she was too choked up. Tears began welling in her eyes, and all she could do was laugh as she jumped and embraced him again, tighter than ever before. "Yes," she finally managed to get out. "Yes," she said again as she leaned up to kiss him. They held each other for what seemed like an eternity, until Shaina leaned back down. Treize took the ring from its box and slipped it on her finger. "It's beautiful," she said. She ran her finger along his nose, "Well, I guess this means I need to let you unwrap a gift."
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm. But it's in the bedroom."
"I can't wait to see what it is."
Shaina and Treize laughed as they made their way to his bedroom, and shared the entire night in love.
Preventer Wind sat quietly in the torso cockpit of Tallgeese III. It had been two days since he had been contacted by Mariemaia to find a vernier shipment that was heading for an outpost on the dark side of the moon. The shipment was late. This was highly unusual for the carrier company being used. He wondered if he had somehow been spotted and they were biding their time outside of radar range. He opened his eyes and went over the consoles around him. No, the ship was nowhere to be found. A control panel glowed to life in front of him. He smiled and patted it soothingly. "Stay calm, old friend. They'll show. We have to be ready for them."
Tallgeese III continued its orbit for several hours more.
Rokuju was getting impatient. "What the hell is keeping them? They should've been here hours ago!" He stepped behind a tech and said, "You're certain there's nothing on radar?"
"Nothing, sir," the tech responded. "Maybe they're experiencing some kind of malfunction and they can't contact us."
"It's possible, but they would have sent a shuttle or something."
"Maybe they were attacked."
"By who?" Rokuju laughed. "We're the only ones capable of something like that, and we wouldn't attack our own shipment. Not when we're so close to victory."
An alarm sounded from one of the consoles. The tech there said, "Sir, I'm getting a reading of metal. It's large enough to be the ship, but it's coming in at a completely different vector."
"What?" Rokuju asked, confused.
"The ship is hailing us, sir," another tech announced.
"Put them through," Rokuju ordered.
An image of an old man appeared on the main screen. "Commander Rokuju?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Sorry for the delay," the old man said, "we had some problems just before take-off, and the comm systems are still a bit on the fritz. But I got yer vernier shipment right here. Just designate a landing platform, and we'll get the paperwork all taken care of."
"We'll have to adjust our landing plan to your new vector. If you don't mind waiting a few minutes."
"Not at all. Sorry about that, I thought you knew. With the kinda business we run, we never take the planned route in case of outside interference."
"Understandable. We'll transmit the new landing procedure to you shortly. Rokuju out."
Zechs tapped the beeping display command on his main console. "They're coming in at a different vector? Damn it. There's no way to catch up without being detected."
He clenched his teeth as he put in a call to Mariemaia.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
Shaina rubbed her ear and put the phone back up to her head. "Wow! That's some breath control, Dad."
On the other end of the line, Duo made some incomprehensible noises, and Shaina guessed that he was probably twitching an eye right about now. Hilde was taking it much better. "Well, I think it's wonderful, honey. Treize is such a great young man, and you two are so cute together."
"Thanks, Mom," Shaina said, blushing.
By that time, Duo was getting himself back together. "No! No! No! You're too young!"
"Oh, hush, Duo! You know damn well we got married at nineteen."
"You're not helping, Hilde."
"Your father just wants to hold on to his baby girl for as long as possible, that's all," Hilde said to Shaina.
"I know, Mom. But, I'd say that twenty-one years is long enough, wouldn't you?"
"No!" Duo answered.
Shaina heard her mother sigh and then say, "I wish you the best of luck, dear. I'm going to go inject some morphine into your father. See if I can't get him to calm down."
"Okay, Mom. Love you. Bye, Dad."
"Shain--" was all Duo could get out before Shaina hung up the phone. She faced Treize, who was leaning against the wall. "How'd they take it?" he asked.
"Better than expected, actually."
Shaina grabbed her Wizards jacket from the coat rack and followed Treize out to his car. The snow crunched under their feet as they walked. They had celebrated Christmas together, but now, it was time to get back to work. They got in the car, and Shaina played with her engagement ring while Treize turned on the ignition. They sat for a few minutes while the heater warmed up the cabin, and the snow and ice were melted from the windshields. When the temperature was up to summer norms, Treize put the car in gear and they rode off to what was to be another day at work.
"Shit," Mariemaia mumbled over the video feed. "We should've seen this coming."
"We'll know if he ever uses the same carrier again, but I doubt he'll make that sort of mistake," Zechs responded. "The ship looks like it's getting ready to take off. Do you want me to follow them back to their port to see if I can get some answers?"
"Negative," Mariemaia answered. "Rokuju's got his verniers. His next move will be some kind of MS attack. There's no telling how big that shipment was, but should expect the attack to come within the next month."
"Agreed. They'll take a while to install, especially if they're the newer models. The only MS they're really compatible with are Virgos."
"Unless he's developed a new model."
"That's also a possibility. So, what's our next move?"
"R and D's done with its latest project. I think it's time we get our candidates trained."
Shaina and Treize slid their ID cards through the sensor and waited as the doors of the elevator opened. Just as they were about to step in, a voice called out to them, "Officer Merquise! Officer Maxwell!"
They turned around and saw Mary Catalonia running up to them. "You're needed down in R and D," she said.
"We haven't punched in yet," Treize said.
"Doesn't matter. This is a bit more important. Mariemaia's waiting for you down there."
"Mariemaia?" Shaina asked.
"Just go," Mary said.
Shaina and Treize stepped away from the elevators and walked out of the main hall and out over a bridge that would take them to Research and Development. R and D was an expansion on the original building, and almost twice its size, but only ten of its thirty stories were above ground. Shaina and Treize slid their cards through the scanner, and the doors hissed open. Waiting for them on the other side was Mariemaia Khushrenada.
Mariemaia immediately noticed the engagement ring on Shaina's left hand. "Good Christmas?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am, it was," Shaina said, blushing.
Mariemaia smiled. "Congratulations." She began walking down a hallway, "Follow me, please."
Shaina and Treize fell into step behind Mariemaia and listened as she explained what was going on. "I've called you here today because you two are the best MS pilots we have. There's a threat to the ESUN in the form a certain Commander Bruce Rokuju, I don't think you've heard of him. Regardless, he's started collecting armaments, and just this morning, he received what could be a *very* large supply of vernier rockets. All evidence suggests that he's setting up some kind of revolution."
The three reached the end of the hallway and stopped at an elevator. Mariemaia pushed a button, and the doors opened. They stepped inside and began traveling down. Mariemaia continued, "In order to combat this threat, we'll need to fight him Suit to Suit. However, he may be using a new type of MS that we don't know about, and our own forces may not be enough to stop him. Therefore, we've been building some new models of our own for the past few months. They were built especially with you in mind."
"New Mobile Suits?" Shaina asked.
"Not just any Mobile Suits," Mariemaia responded. The elevator stopped, and they stepped out. They were in a dimly-lit corridor with a single door at the end. Mariemaia stood to one side to let Shaina and Treize go in first. They passed through the door...
..And immediately froze in their tracks.
Along the far wall were two giant Mobile Suits, bigger than anything they had ever seen before. One was built thickly, and painted blue and white. The other was slender, almost skeletal, and purple and black. Gracing the forehead of each Suit was a golden crest.
"They're..." Treize started.
"Gundams," Mariemaia finished proudly. "Allow me to introduce the Gundams Neo Tallgeese and Neo Deathscythe."
Tsuzuku...