Chapter 1

Space. It stretched out endlessly, leaving me adrift in a sea of glimmering stars. It was cold and unfathomable. Suddenly I snorted. Huh, that sounded poetic even for me.

"Status, 02?" The hard, flat voice of my mission partner issued from the system in front of me, making me jump. Oh, drat. I left my comm on again?

"Nothing, 01," I called back, rolling my eyes. I was thankful that my screen and his were blank – god forbid the Perfect Soldier realised I was having fun at his expense. He might have a brain aneurysm or something.

There was silence. I grimaced. Oh man, it did not sound like he was in a good mood. Great. I was stuck floating in space attached to the side of an asteroid with a guy whose very soul seemed made out of Gundanium, waiting to ambush a carrier that might not even come near our hideout, and we'd already been here for two days. A guy can get tired of his own company pretty quick out here.

My speakers suddenly hissed with static.

"02?" Ooh. Conversation! And not with Heero!

"Yeah?" I would have smacked myself in the head then if I hadn't been so damn cold (we'd turned off most vital systems to stay better hidden). Way to go genius, a live conversation and you start like that?!

"This is 04," the tinny voice that came through my speakers confirmed. I grinned.

"Woohoo! Way to go, 04!" I chuckled, suddenly starting to warm up through sheer excitement. I began flexing my fingers to try and loosen up, though it was almost a pointless exercise – my gloves were so cold the leather was stiff.

"02, 01 and 03 are listening to this update as well," Quatre continued. I could hear the slight warning in his tone. I shrugged. They couldn't see me, who the hell cared? I was just glad that Quatre had accomplished his part of the mission; now maybe ours would get underway.

"Status?" I sighed as Heero finally entered the conversation, typically cold and focused. Then I brightened. Soon we'd finish what we came out here to do and I could go somewhere warm!

"Mission complete." Huh. So Trowa was with Quatre. I almost laughed – Heero was finally having a conversation with someone who could match him for abruptness. If we left them too long they'd probably start communicating in grunts!

"-2? 02? Come in, 02." Oops. From the sound of his voice, Quatre had been trying to get my attention for a little while.

"Here, captain," I hedged, then grinned as I heard a stifled giggle. In Wing, Heero growled.

"Can we get on with it?" he snarled, and I sighed. Apparently he was still not a happy camper. Though with Heero, it was hard to tell if he ever WAS happy – nothing seemed to affect him except to make him surlier.

"Aye aye," I muttered, flicking several switches in the cockpit. As the huge machine powered up I smiled, feeling suddenly more alert that I had in days. A little rebellious, I also turned off comms. I knew what my part in the plan was and if Heero really needed me that bad he could force a connection from his end.

"Time to go to work, old buddy," I whispered to Deathscythe. I knew he couldn't hear me but he had been the only constant in my life for awhile now, so I talked to him. Sue me.

I felt more than saw Wing getting ready beside me. I knew Heero was itching almost as bad as I was to get this mission completed, even if it was for different reasons. I wanted to get back to someplace warm and sunny; he wanted to get away from me. Oh well. Whatever works, I guess.

Wing suddenly launched off the asteroid, wings out and battle ready. I followed, instinctively switching to stealth mode. Heero would know where I was but it was much better bait for him to be on his own, at least visually. OZ troops wouldn't hesitate to attack a lone Gundam but make it a pair and they'd be running scared. For some reason, none of these soldiers ever realised that even just one of us was deadly all on his own.

While we were moving I wondered briefly how the others were doing. Quatre had sounded fine, and Trowa had been with him so I assumed he was okay too. I wondered if those two had realised why they spent so much time together yet. It was sweet, in an awkward kind of way. I was sure that Quatre at least would be leaning towards saying something; he seemed much more in touch with his feelings. And if I could do it with nothing more than intuition, he should be able to detect Trowa's feelings with that space heart of his.

Wu Fei was another story entirely. There was a kid shut down so tight all he could feel was rage. It seriously creeped me out even just being on the same planet as him. I mean, God, what if he just went crazy and started blowing stuff up for no reason? Of all of us, he was the most likely one to snap. Mind you, I hadn't seen him in about four months so I guess I'd been a bit slack in catching up with him. Who knows? He might have changed.

I shook my head at myself. Nah, no way. Wu Fei was rage; there was no way of separating the two, just as you couldn't separate Heero from his mission. I puzzled over that for a minute or two. Heero was a strange guy, there was no getting around that. So utterly focused, unfeeling and harsh. I knew there'd been some strife in his childhood, that he'd been raised to be a soldier, but the actual events that had shaped him into who he now was were beyond me. Probably for the best though.

"Target confirmed," Heero's voice echoed through my speakers and I sighed.

"Time to meet your makers, boys," I said, ignoring Heero's irritated grunt. Deathscythe was eager for battle, I could feel it in the way he hummed. We hadn't been in a real fight for close to three months now; it had all been ambushes, feints, or escapes. It was almost a relief to get some combat, as weird as that sounds – after all, what else is a Gundam made for but battle?

"Hang back," Heero's curt voice instructed, and I gaped at the console for a minute.

"What? Why?!" I would have cursed at him but unfortunately he seems to be immune to threats. His face on the viewer never changed expression.

"Better tactical advantage," he stated, then switched off visuals. I fumed, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Advantage, huh?" I muttered to myself, watching through the panels at the front of the cockpit. I was furious about being shunted out of the way once again, but I held myself back. Even if he begged, there was no way I was going to save him. Then I had to grin ruefully at myself. Heero would beg me to save him only in my most bizarre fantasies; there was no way in hell the Perfect Soldier could be that human.

"Jerk," I mumbled quietly before shutting up and waiting for my chance to join the fight.