DISCLAIMER: I DON'T
OWN GUNDAM WING, OR ANY OTHER COPYRIGHTED/TRADEMARKED/PATENTED MATERIAL IN THIS
WORK, BUT I DO OWN THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS I AM GOING TO INTRODUCE. FEEL FREE
TO ARCHIVE THIS, IF YOU THINK IT'S ANY GOOD.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: THIS
IS MY FIRST REAL FANFIC, AND I'M NOT REALLY SURE WHERE IT'S GOING TO GO. PLEASE
BEAR WITH ME FOR THIS CHAPTER WHILE I INTRODUCE MY CHARACTERS AND SET UP THE
STORYLINE (OR AT LEAST PART OF IT). ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE IS THAT THE MOST OF THE
PROLOGUE DOES NOT TAKE PLACE IN THE GUNDAM WING
UNIVERSE, BUT IN AN ALTERNATE TIME-LINE, THE REST OF THE STORY TAKES PLACE IN THE GUNDAM WING
UNIVERSE.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: THIS
IS A VERY REVISED VERSION OF THE STORY I ORIGINALLY POSTED ABOUT A YEAR AGO.
Now that that's
said, let's begin...
Gundam Wing:
Columbia
Dramatis Personae
AN: I AM ONLY DOING
MINI-BIOS FOR THE NEW CHARACTERS, BUT I WILL MENTION ANYTHING DRASTIC FOR THE
OTHERS AS WELL.
PROJECT COLUMBIA Personnel:
CAPT Jason Miles, USN, age 30, was a product of
PROJECT DRAFT, an attempt to genetically-engineer a "perfect" human.
His learning and retention rates are almost ten times that of a normal human
being, because of this he was able to complete several graduate degrees during
his time at the Naval Academy. Among these are PhD's in Computer
Science, Nuclear Physics, Particle Physics and Aerodynamics. This, along with
the fact that the ability to command people was built into him at a genetic
level (and that he was an experiment and the navy deliberately pushed his promotions),
led to a meteoric rise through the ranks of the USN, reaching captain by the
age of 29, a mere nine years after his graduation from the USNA. Along the way
he became a naval aviator, commanded a submarine, and completed BUD/S, but
despite this his eventual destination was the Office of Naval Research. He is
the commanding officer of PROJECT COLUMBIA, and the Commander of the Columbia
Prototype.
Amy Hancock, Lockheed-Martin, age 29, is one
of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, designed the Columbia
Prototype's power plant and propulsion system. She, along with her twin sister Katherine,
worked at Lockheed's "Skunk Works" before she was hired to work on
PROJECT COLUMBIA. She serves as the Chief Engineer of the Columbia Prototype.
Katherine Hancock, Lockheed-Martin, age 29, is one
of the world's pioneering dimensional dynamacist, and
developed the theories on which PROJECT COLUMBIA was based. Prior to her
joining PROJECT COLUMBIA she worked at Lockheed's "Skunk Works." She
serves as the Science Officer and Navigator of the Columbia Prototype.
CDR Jack Alder, USN, age 35, is a well know
high-energy physicist, developed the weapons systems for the Columbia
Prototype. He is a quiet man and not much is know about his history, other than
that he served as a navy SEAL during the Hawaiian War before being assigned to
the ONR to develop new weapons and sensor systems. He is the Tactical Officer
of the Columbia Prototype.
LTCDR Alan
"Psycho" Gron, USN, age 27, is on of the best pilots in the navy, he participated
in the Hawaiian war from the USS Enterprise, earning the title of ace in one
engagement, a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in
the defense of Los Angeles, where his squadron was forced to engage incoming
ICBMs. He has a friendly rivalry with CAPT Miles. He is the Pilot of the
Columbia Prototype.
CDR Dr. Elizabeth Brown, USN, 32, is a very skilled
surgeon and medical researcher, she won the Nobel
Prize in medicine for her development of not only a vaccine, but a cure for
AIDS. She is the Medical Officer, Biologist and Executive officer of the
Columbia Prototype.
Sanc Kingdom:
Queen Relena Peacecraft, age 20, is the Foreign Minister
for the Alliance of Nations, in addition to her duties as ruler of the Sanc Kingdom.
Duke Milliardo
Peacecraft, age
24, runs the Sanc Kingdom on a day to day basis. He is the
former pilot of Epyon,
Colonel Lucretzia Noin, age 24, is the chief of the Sanc
Kingdom Imperial Guards, a position she does not take lightly.
Lady Dorothy Catalonia, age 20, is the head of Relena
Peacecraft's Guard detail. In a piece of poetic irony, her psychological
problems were fixed by the ZERO system, instead of amplified as they were with
so many others.
The Preventers:
Heero Yuy, age 20, is the former pilot of
the Gundam Wing-Zero.
Duo Maxwell, age 20, is the former pilot of
the Gundam Deathscythe Hell.
Wufei Chang, age 20, is the former pilot of
the Gundam Altron.
Hilde Schibecker, age 20, is a former OZ soldier
who often works with her partner and Fiancée, Duo Maxwell.
Sally Po, age 24, is the Preventers' Chief
Medical Officer, and one of Wufei's only confidants.
Lady Une, age 24 is the commander of the
Preventers.
Others:
Quatre Rebarba Winner, age 20 is the former pilot of the
Gundam Sandroc, and is now the head of the Winner Corporation.
Trowa Barton, age 20, is the former pilot of
the Gundam Heavyarms, works as a clown in a circus.
Catherine Bloom, age 22, is Trowa's older sister
and the star of the circus they perform in.
Prologue
As
the sleek black shape of the Columbia Prototype lifted off of the ground, under
its own power for the first time, Jason Miles felt the relief and joy come
crashing through the room. They had actually developed a craft that moved using
dimensional friction! He knew that they still had a long way to go before they
could even let a rumor of their success out, because the main goal of PROJECT
COLUMBIA was not to develop a dimensional drive, that was simply a means to the
end of developing a working "Faster Than
Light" propulsion system. Even if we fail, he thought, we had
accomplished a great deal, we had built a working cold fusion reactor, and
developed the dimensional drive and inertial compensator necessary to make a
trip beyond the speed of light both possible and safe.
Suddenly
he was yanked out of his thoughts by Katherine, who was cheering, except it
sounded as if she were using a megaphone to do it, she had jumped up and hugged
him. Why is she so emotional all of the time? While I understand that she is
excited, can't she at least show a little dignity? As he glanced at
Katherine's twin sister, he thought, Amy isn't that emotional, she's always so
calm and collected.
FOUR MONTHS LATER
"Well,
is everybody ready?" Jason asked, gazing around at the crew of the newly
commissioned USS Columbia. After their initial tests and the trial run to
super-luminal speed, it had been decided to declassify PROJECT COLUMBIA. The consensus
among the team members was that it had something to do with the fact that this
was an election year, a conclusion that he agreed with, privately.
"God,
I don't want to have to give another lecture to the reporters today!" Amy exclaimed.
"Well,
maybe you should use words that they can understand," Dr. Brown quipped,
"but I admit it's hard to explain something this complicated in words of
only one syllable."
OUTSIDE THE HANGER
Suddenly
there was a crack as the doors of the hanger began to open, and just as
suddenly, the cameras all shifted to look at the craft, and the six people that
were about to emerge. The six people were dressed in matte-black versions of
the naval flight suit, so that it was impossible to determine who was who.
Almost a full minute after the doors began to open; a vehicle similar to those
used at commercial airports to move planes around pulled a sleek black shape
out of the hanger, roughly the size of a 747, but the shape of an Air Force
B-1. It stopped and the six figures climbed in.
INSIDE THE COLUMBIA
"Let's
see if everything can go that smoothly, shall we?" Captain Miles muttered
to himself, and then called out, "Amy, how does the reactor look?"
"Great,"
she responded, "we're ready for full power at your command."
"Alan,
start the engines when we're on the runway, standby only, and don't bring up
the subspace field, we have to leave the atmosphere on reaction drive.
Remember?
"Sure
Jay." From his expression Alan had forgotten about that order, and was not
happy to be reminded.
OUTSIDE
Everyone
watched as the massive scramjets attached to the spacecraft came to life, and
one person pressed a button on his cell-phone, activating a small explosive
device in the energy dissipater. The explosion only weakened the components, so
that they would stand up to internal diagnostics.
IN THE COLUMBIA
With
a massive roar, the spacecraft leapt off of the runway and was well on its way
to space.
"These
scrams sure are powerful," Jack Alder yelled from his seat behind Alan,
"I wish we could put the compensator online."
"You
know there's nowhere near enough power in the batteries for that, Jack!" Amy
yelled from the seat to his right.
"I
can dream, can't I?" He bellowed
Just
as suddenly as they had started the scramjets shut down, letting inertia carry
the Columbia the rest of the way into space.
"Jettisoning
boost pack," Alan said as the entire ship lurched. "Booster Pack
away!"
"OK,
Amy can you start up the reactor and bring the drives online?" Jason
asked.
"Sure
thing boss," she said as she performed the requested tasks.
"Katherine,
are we in the right orbit?"
"Yup,
and on the right vector, we're ready to rock and roll," responded Katherine.
"OK,
I'm bringing the drives online now." Amy announced
"Jump
in five seconds... MARK!" called Captain Miles.
The
ship began to hum.
"...Four..."
"...Three..."
"...Two..."
Space
around them seemed to warp, and become distorted.
"...One..."
The
hull of the ship began to glow.
"JUMP!"
The
ship disappeared from view.
"Holy
Shit!" screamed Amy, "The dissipater just failed! We have to much
dimensional energy!"
"I'm
reading the same!" added Katherine.
"I'm
aborting! Energy dump... NOW!"
Jason bellowed.
Quickly,
the Columbia reappeared, then, in a flash that
lit up the entire Earth, disappeared again.
ON EARTH, BUT A
DIFFERENT EARTH, IN THE SANC KINGDOM
There
was a sudden flash in the sky, followed by what looked like a shooting star.
"I wonder what that was all about?" Relena
Peacecraft asked herself. I'll call Noin tomorrow, she'll know, she
thought.
