Gundam Wing: Odyssey
Chapter 1: The Mission
By Clint Worthington
***********************************************************************
outside New York City
1-25-196
*********
Aidan had been running since he retrieved his energy in the alley. His fear and sadness kept him from stopping even once, not even to check the contents of the duffel bag that was his parents' last gift. He finally stopped running at the door of a seedy, dimly-lighted tavern.
Hesitantly, he entered the tavern, and slipped through the crowd of drunks and prostitutes towards a back booth.
There he sat down, and tried his best to be unseen. He slumped down into the chair, exhausted and afraid.
His whole world had changed in a split-second: a couple of days ago, he was a normal kid, playing sports with his friends, going to school-now he's a criminal for God-knows-why, catching his breath in a run-down bar.
Slowly, he unzipped the duffel bag and looked at its contents:
He pulled out several perishable food product containers, a flashlight, and several thousand dollars in travelers cheques. He gave himself a small smile under the dried tears. *My parents are taking care of me even after death...*
He stared in incredulity as, from the duffel bag, he pulled out a pistol and clip. He sighed as he thought, *Well, at least I have some protection until I find the Gundam pilots.*
Finally, he pulled out a laptop and a minidisk in its case, labeled, "For Aidan".
He looked around to see if anyone was coming back here. Cautiously, he inserted the minidisk into the disk drive and started the laptop. The autorun activated a media player and suddenly, the image of Susan Hall appeared on the screen.
"Hello, Aidan. If you're watching this, both your father and I are dead and you're the last hope we have. Before you go on to the next video file, you must find one of the Gundam pilots. I have the locations of each pilot on this disk, in video files.
"Yes son, this was what was keeping us busy the last few days: making these video files for you to use. We were hoping it wouldn't come to this, but it seems it has."
Aidan watched as the image of his mother switched to a digital map of Long Island. "Of all the Gundam pilots, I found that the one closest to you would be Duo Maxwell. You'll find him at a port on the beach near Long Island Sound under the name of Pete Taggart. Once you've found him, show him the file entitled 'briefing.avi'.
"That's all I can show you right now. But while with Duo, watch the file as well, so you can get an idea of what's going on. Goodbye, son."
The file stopped, and Aidan's shoulders suddenly felt heavier. *Only hope? What did that mean? Only hope for what?*
He started as he heard the CRASH! of someone being slammed against a wall. He heard a rough biker yell, "You owe me money for that run, woman!"
"I paid you already, pig," replied a strong, female voice.
"Nice try, but it ain't gonna work. Gimme the bat." The biker held out an arm, which was quickly filled with a steel baseball bat by one of his buddies.
Aidan watched in horror, then decided to do something. *But what do I do?* His thoughts trailed back to the pistol. He picked it up and held it in his hands. Heavy, but not too much. He walked out and raised the pistol at the biker. Everyone stopped. Aidan yelled, "Drop the bat and let her go!"
The biker tried to stay cool, but was rapidly failing. "Whoa, short stuff, let's chill here..."
"You'll be 'chilling' six feet under if you DON'T BACK OFF!" Aidan replied. He was surprised at himself for coming up with that line so quickly.
The biker quickly shuffled out of the bar, his buddies trailing not too far away.
Exhaling deeply, Aidan lowered the pistol.
The woman he had saved slowly walked up to him. "Thanks, kid. I owe you."
Aidan nodded to his gun. "It's okay. Not loaded."
The woman chuckled. "You've got guts, kid." She held out her hand. "Jen Hillard."
Aidan took the hand and shook it. "Aidan Hall."
"I gotta pay you back for saving my life, don't I? Is there anything I can do?"
Aidan hesitated before saying, "Well, I could use a lift somewhere."
"Sure, kid. Where you going?"
Aidan sighed. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to go through with whatever "quest" his parents had sent him on. But, he trusted them, and decided to go for it.
"I'm headed for Long Island Sound."
*********
Semi Truck
en route to Long Island Sound
1-26-00
*********
Aidan was mildly surprised when he saw that Jen drove an 18-wheeler. A few hours had passed since they had left the bar, and he was now riding along with Jen down a bumpy road. He had a phone book bouncing up and down on his lap, making it difficult to read it. "Ms. Hillard, ma'am, you think we could get a road a little less...bumpy?"
"Number one: call me Jen, kid. Number two: No, I can't. This is the shortest route to Long Island Sound. By the way, who're ya lookin' up, kid?"
Aidan hesitated, but he decided that he could give away a little. "Someone named Pete Taggart."
"What, do you know him?"
Aidan looked at Jen nervously. "No."
"Then how do you know this guy?"
"I can't tell you right now." He was finally able to get the phone book stable enough to track down Taggart's name. "Got him! Taggart Boating Services. Hold on, I'll get a map." He flipped open the glove compartment, and sifted through the various crumpled maps until he found a detailed map of Long Island. "Here we go."
*********
Taggart Boating Services
near Long Island Sound
1-26-00
*********
The semi groaned to a stop a short distance away from the beach--and the docked Sweeper ship that belonged to Peter Taggart.
Aidan hefted his duffel bag and got out of the semi. He looked back to see Jen following him. "Listen, Jen, thank you for your help. But I've got to be going now. Good-bye."
"Whatever, kid." Jen said, feigning indifference. However, Jen was curious about Aidan's relationship with this Taggart. *Another thing, why isn't this kid with his parents?* Everything about him seemed suspicious.
Aidan didn't look back as he walked away from Jen and the semi, toward the Sweeper ship. *I wonder how I'm going to get on...* It was then that he noticed the stacks of crates that were being loaded onto the ship by an automated conveyor belt. An idea flashed into his mind, and he ran up to a crate about to move up into the ship, managed to pry open the top, and unload enough...(groan) fish...to get in. He rode inside the crate until he was in the ship.
*********
Horizon Corporation Headquarters
New York City
1-26-00
*********
CEO Joseph Dravin was sitting at his chair when his security chief, Santiago Arnavisca, strode in. An ex-military man, Arnavisca had fought for OZ during the revolution. During a skirmish with former Alliance forces, he had lost his left eye. But, with former R & D chief Kevin Hall's help, he was able to have an enhanced mechanical eye, attached to the skin by several barbs.
"So?"
The dark-green dot in the center of Arnavisca's robotic eye flickered as he said, "We've torched the Hall residence. Hall and his wife are confirmed dead."
"And the boy?"
"We found no dental records of his in the remains of the house, sir. There is a possibility that he could be alive."
Enraged, Dravin pounded his fist on the desk and yelled, "Well, find him and kill him! We can't afford to take any chances, not when we're this far."
"Yes sir." Arnavisca exited the room, leaving a frustrated Dravin to his work.
*********
Sweeper Ship
Long Island Sound
1-26-00
*********
Aidan waited until he felt the ship move, then pushed open the top and peered out.
He was in the cargo bay, surrounded by dozens of other crates. He climbed out and dropped to the floor, watching for other people. He kept to the shadows as best he could, and after a few moments reached the door. He tapped the control panel next to it and the door slid open with a soft 'swoosh'.
He looked down the corridor, then began walking down, keeping his footsteps silent.
He rounded a corner--
--And bumped right into a passing Sweeper! *So much for the 'sneaking in' plan*, he thought, as the angry Sweeper pick him up by the collar and growled, "What're you doing here, kid?"
Aidan stammered, "Uh--um--Take Your Son to Work Day?" He nervously smiled.
"Yer headed straight for the brig, midget," the Sweeper said.
"Stop." A distant voice commanded.
The Sweeper froze, his eyes growing wide. A figure appeared from a nearby corridor. Aidan looked over the Sweeper's shoulder and saw a teenage boy, probably 15, walk up. Strangely enough, He wore a unique priest uniform/jumpsuit, and his long brown hair was pulled back in a yard-long braided ponytail. "Let him go, Ellis."
Ellis suddenly looked ashamed. "Sorry, boss. Just, this kid snuck on the ship--" He took a big whiff of Aidan, then added, "Probably in one of the fish crates. I was gettin' ready to take him to the brig..."
"No, Ellis. I'll take him. Go back to your duties," the teenager said. Hesitantly, Ellis walked away.
The braided man gestured for Aidan to follow him, and they walked down the corridors of the ship. The man turned to Aidan and asked, "Lemme guess. Ran away from home, huh? Wanna be a pirate, kid?" The braided man said, with a touch of sarcasm.
Aidan looked at him angrily for being mocked. The braided boy sighed and smiled at him. "I'm kidding, kid! Lighten up! Listen, what made you sneak aboard this ship anyway?"
Aidan finally got up the energy to talk, and replied, "Well, I've got to find your captain, Mr. Taggart."
"Well, kid, you're lookin' at him." Taggart smiled at the boy's surprised expression. "Guess we don't have to go far, do we? So, whaddya want, kid? What's your name?"
"Uh, Aidan. Aidan Hall, sir."
As they entered Taggart's quarters, Taggart said to Aidan, "You can just call me Pete, Aidan."
As the door closed, Aidan decided to make his move. "How about I call you Duo, Mr. Maxwell?"
Taggart froze. Aidan thought to himself, *Gotcha*.
Aidan added, "That IS your name, right?"
Taggart, with his back to Aidan, slowly walked over to his desk. "I think you've get me confused, Aidan. You're thinkin' of that kid that helped win the war. I just captain a boat."
"I don't think I'm confused, Mr. Maxwell. But we need your--"
Aidan stopped as Duo spun around with a pistol in hand.
"--help."
"Stop right there! Who do you work for? OZ?"
"I don't work for OZ--"
"Who is it then? White Fang? World Nation?"
"I WORK FOR MY MURDERED PARENTS, ALL RIGHT?!"
That shouted statement from Aidan stopped Duo cold. His eyes began to flicker with an unhappy memory surfacing in his mind. Duo slowly lowered his pistol. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know--"
Aidan tried to force the image of his mother's murder out of his head, and it took several seconds to do it. He was able to force out, "I need to show you something."
Aidan fumbled around in his duffel bag before pulling out the laptop, the minidisk still in it. He said to Duo, "My parents made these videos in case something happened to them before they could do something, to have me carry it out instead. I still don't know what's going on."
Aidan activated the laptop, opened the disk drive folder, and double-clicked on 'briefing.avi'.
After a few seconds, Susan Hall appeared on the screen. "Hello, Mr. Maxwell, sir. I realize this is a bit sudden, but we desperately need your help.
"First off, if you're wondering how I got your location, I work for the IID, whose job is to find people's whereabouts. After a little detective work, I was able to locate you and the other pilots and save their locations to this disk. If my son Aidan isn't there, he needs to see this. I'll have my husband Kevin take it over, to tell you what is going on and what you can do."
The camera turned to show Kevin's smiling face. "Okay, um, I work-well, WORKED-for Horizon Corporation, a weapons manufacturing company. I was the head of R & D. My team and I were working on a special project, the Scorpio Mobile Suit."
The image changed to a blueprint and a spinning wireframe model of the new Mobile Suit. Kevin's voice still went on. "It was designed for heavy land battles, virtually unstoppable. We threw out many components we deemed unnecessary, such as jet propulsion, guide wire for the cockpit, etc., to make room for the shield generator.
"What's special about this generator is the power source for the shield is anti-matter, which makes the shield impenetrable by any weapon. It's basically a walking god."
Kevin continued, the image changing to his face again. "A few days ago, I learned that the project deadline had been moved up to the end of the week. The chairman's excuse was a new product coming out from our competitor. However, I investigated, and Orion wasn't coming out with any new projects.
"I dug a little deeper, and this is what I found: If the Scorpio's design was done by next week, the actual Mobile Suit would be produced by the end of the month. The only reason to change it to the end of the month would be so that they could use the Scorpio for something at that time, right? Well, the day after production is slated to be complete, Vice-Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft is issuing an order to demilitarize the World Nation. They're going to have a heavy guard, an entire battalion of Mobile Suits.
"I put 2 and 2 together. They're planning to get the Scorpio out in time to assassinate Peacecraft! I went to the CEO about this, and he fired me for knowing too much.
"I don't know how much work my team will get done without me until the deadline comes, but one thing's for sure: They'll never fix the only weakness the Scorpio has in time to get it in: water.
"Y'see, both Gundanium and titanium have problems with the shield, some sort of molecular repulsion. Every one we tried ended up melting the alloy. So we could only make the Mobile Suit with regular steel. Even so, water is the only thing that can get through the shield. If you get a Scorpio completely submerged, the water will pass harmlessly through the shield, and reach the sensitive electronic equipment inside the Suit, short it out, and you have one helpless Mobile Suit. I'll take it back to Susan."
The camera spun back to Susan. "So, we think you could find the other pilots with my coordinates, get the Gundams together, and find the Scorpios and stop them before they kill Minister Peacecraft. Good luck."
The video ended. Duo and Aidan looked at each other. "Well, it looks like I've got a job to do."
Aidan said to him, "Wait a minute, YOU? Don't you mean, 'we'? I'm going with you."
"No way, Aidan." Duo looked at him sympathetically and put his hands on Aidan's shoulders. "Listen, I know you're a brave kid, but it's too dangerous."
Aidan sighed. "I guess you're right."
Duo stood and said, "Listen, why don't you hit the sack? It looks like you've had a long trip. Take a shower, change clothes, go to sleep. Feel free to make this your home until I get back."
As Duo exited the room, Aidan found his way to the bathroom, where he showered and changed into olive cargo pants, a white T-shirt, and an unbuttoned camo dress shirt. Well, it was comfortable, anyway.
Aidan laid down on the bed, relaxing for the first time in a long while. His thoughts strayed to the memories of his late parents, and he cried himself to sleep.
*********
Long Island Sound
1-27-00
*********
It was midnight. The moon cast an ominous glow over the flat ocean.
One mile from the Sweeper ship, a small, jet-black assault boat sped along Long Island Sound.
Inside, Arnavisca and 6 other soldiers readied their automatics and put on their armor. Arnavisca's artificial eye was switched to night-vision mode, allowing for nocturnal eyesight.
He said to his followers, "Kill anything that moves. These people are probably in league with the boy as well."
Slowly, the boat came up beside the Sweeper ship, and matched speed with it as it departed from Long Island Sound into the Atlantic Ocean.
Using grappling guns, the Arnavisca and the 6 mercenaries scaled the side of the ship, and entered the ship.
*********
Captain Taggart's Quarters
Sweeper Ship, Atlantic Ocean
1-27-00
*********
Aidan Hall awoke to a silent, dark room. Suddenly, a black hand covered his mouth. He looked to his extreme left, he caught a glimpse of a green dot in the air. "Listen, kid, and I'll make this as painless as possible."
Aidan replied by simply elbowing the face that held the green eye. As Arnavisca cried out, Aidan wrested himself from his grasp and yelled at the top of his lungs, "DUO! HELP!"
Before he could move another step, Arnavisca was up, submachine gun in hand and aimed at Aidan. "That's it!"
Suddenly, the door opened, hitting Arnavisca in the back, slamming him against the wall. Dropping the gun, Arnavisca spun around-
--to find the wooden butt of a rifle catch him in the nose! He was down in an instant.
Aidan, relieved, look up to see...
Not Duo, but Jen Hillard, bolt-action rifle in hand, her beautiful face smiling. "Need a hand, kid?"
Aidan blurted in surprise, "Jen! But how did..."
"Same way you did. Fish crate. Although I waited a little longer to get out than you did."
She hefted her rifle. "C'mon, let's go before Mr. Nice Guy over there wakes up." Aidan snatched his bag and slung it over his shoulder, and followed Jen out of the room.
Aidan and Jen ran down the corridors of the ship. The bloodied bodies of Sweepers were everywhere, and a great many things had caught on fire. Passing the dead body of Ellis, they rounded a corner to catch a few Sweepers in a fierce gunfight with a trio of the intruders along a corridor.
Among the Sweepers was Duo Maxwell, pistol in hand, occasionally stepping out of a doorway in the hall for a moment to fire a few rounds at the mercs, then duck back in.
Jen immediately joined the fight, blasting out a round, cocking the bolt, firing again, and repeating the process.
Duo looked back at her. "Who the hell are you?"
"Call me Jen. (cock BLAM!) Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Duo finally saw that the last of his men were overcome by the deadly skill of the mercs, and began making his way toward Aidan and Jen. "Run! Run!" He yelled as he reached them. The trio sprinted along the corridors.
They finally made it to the deck of the ship. Duo looked back to see the rest of the ship in flames. "Oh crap! My ship!"
Aidan yelled, "Screw the ship, Duo! We gotta get out of here!"
"Right, uh..." Duo said, scratching his head.
Jen asked, "You do have lifeboats, right?"
Duo smiled innocently.
Jen raised her hands in despair. "Great! No lifeboat!"
"Well, I'm sorry, lady, but I couldn't afford them."
"Maybe if you--"
As Jen and Duo argued, Aidan spun around, desperate for a way to escape. He looked over the side, seriously considering jumping, when he saw the black assault boat the mercs had left there.
Aidan turned back to Jen and Duo, trying to get their attention, but to no avail. Frustrated, he shouted, "HEY GUYS!"
That stopped them. Aidan pointed to the side. "I found a way to get off the boat."
Duo said, "Jumping? You're crazy, kid! You have no life jacket! You'd drown 10 seconds after you reached the water-Oh," He said as he finally saw the assault boat.
"C'mon, let's go!" Jen yelled, climbing over the edge and descending the ship wall with the grapple wire left there.
Aidan and Duo exchanged nervous glances, but an explosion behind them convinced them fully. They scaled down two other tether ropes onto the assault boat.
As they sped away, several bullets bounced against the bulletproof canopy of the boat. Aidan, Jen and Duo looked back to see the now-conscious Arnavisca and the remaining mercs firing on them.
They continued watching as Arnavisca, desperate, jumped into the water as the mercs were engulfed in flame by an explosion. The boat slowly sank into the water.
Arnavisca pulled a cord on his armor, and it inflated into a life jacket. He floated along the ocean surface, safe.
Duo whispered to himself, "My ship, my crew...MY FISH!"
Jen, tired of his whining, spat, "Oh shut up, you wuss."
Aidan, ignoring Jen, said to Duo, "What do we do now?"
Duo thought for a minute, then sighed and said, "I guess I drop you and the girl off at the nearest part and look for the other pilots."
"No," Aidan replied. "I'm in this for the long haul. Jen can go, but I have to stay. I have to be in on this. For my mom and dad."
"Fine. But Lara Croft here goes," Duo said, thrusting a thumb in Jen's direction.
"Hey, no way. I want to know what I've gotten into. Plus, when that one soldier gets back to his boss, all three of us are gonna be in deep shit. So I suggest we all stay together and watch each other's asses."
Aidan and Duo looked at each other, then shrugged.
Duo broke the silence. "So, where does that magic laptop of yours tell us to go now?"
Aidan pulled it out, opened the disk file, and pulled up the next pilot's location.
After reading it, Aidan turned off the laptop and looked at Duo.
"We're headed to France."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Chapter 1: The Mission
By Clint Worthington
***********************************************************************
outside New York City
1-25-196
*********
Aidan had been running since he retrieved his energy in the alley. His fear and sadness kept him from stopping even once, not even to check the contents of the duffel bag that was his parents' last gift. He finally stopped running at the door of a seedy, dimly-lighted tavern.
Hesitantly, he entered the tavern, and slipped through the crowd of drunks and prostitutes towards a back booth.
There he sat down, and tried his best to be unseen. He slumped down into the chair, exhausted and afraid.
His whole world had changed in a split-second: a couple of days ago, he was a normal kid, playing sports with his friends, going to school-now he's a criminal for God-knows-why, catching his breath in a run-down bar.
Slowly, he unzipped the duffel bag and looked at its contents:
He pulled out several perishable food product containers, a flashlight, and several thousand dollars in travelers cheques. He gave himself a small smile under the dried tears. *My parents are taking care of me even after death...*
He stared in incredulity as, from the duffel bag, he pulled out a pistol and clip. He sighed as he thought, *Well, at least I have some protection until I find the Gundam pilots.*
Finally, he pulled out a laptop and a minidisk in its case, labeled, "For Aidan".
He looked around to see if anyone was coming back here. Cautiously, he inserted the minidisk into the disk drive and started the laptop. The autorun activated a media player and suddenly, the image of Susan Hall appeared on the screen.
"Hello, Aidan. If you're watching this, both your father and I are dead and you're the last hope we have. Before you go on to the next video file, you must find one of the Gundam pilots. I have the locations of each pilot on this disk, in video files.
"Yes son, this was what was keeping us busy the last few days: making these video files for you to use. We were hoping it wouldn't come to this, but it seems it has."
Aidan watched as the image of his mother switched to a digital map of Long Island. "Of all the Gundam pilots, I found that the one closest to you would be Duo Maxwell. You'll find him at a port on the beach near Long Island Sound under the name of Pete Taggart. Once you've found him, show him the file entitled 'briefing.avi'.
"That's all I can show you right now. But while with Duo, watch the file as well, so you can get an idea of what's going on. Goodbye, son."
The file stopped, and Aidan's shoulders suddenly felt heavier. *Only hope? What did that mean? Only hope for what?*
He started as he heard the CRASH! of someone being slammed against a wall. He heard a rough biker yell, "You owe me money for that run, woman!"
"I paid you already, pig," replied a strong, female voice.
"Nice try, but it ain't gonna work. Gimme the bat." The biker held out an arm, which was quickly filled with a steel baseball bat by one of his buddies.
Aidan watched in horror, then decided to do something. *But what do I do?* His thoughts trailed back to the pistol. He picked it up and held it in his hands. Heavy, but not too much. He walked out and raised the pistol at the biker. Everyone stopped. Aidan yelled, "Drop the bat and let her go!"
The biker tried to stay cool, but was rapidly failing. "Whoa, short stuff, let's chill here..."
"You'll be 'chilling' six feet under if you DON'T BACK OFF!" Aidan replied. He was surprised at himself for coming up with that line so quickly.
The biker quickly shuffled out of the bar, his buddies trailing not too far away.
Exhaling deeply, Aidan lowered the pistol.
The woman he had saved slowly walked up to him. "Thanks, kid. I owe you."
Aidan nodded to his gun. "It's okay. Not loaded."
The woman chuckled. "You've got guts, kid." She held out her hand. "Jen Hillard."
Aidan took the hand and shook it. "Aidan Hall."
"I gotta pay you back for saving my life, don't I? Is there anything I can do?"
Aidan hesitated before saying, "Well, I could use a lift somewhere."
"Sure, kid. Where you going?"
Aidan sighed. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to go through with whatever "quest" his parents had sent him on. But, he trusted them, and decided to go for it.
"I'm headed for Long Island Sound."
*********
Semi Truck
en route to Long Island Sound
1-26-00
*********
Aidan was mildly surprised when he saw that Jen drove an 18-wheeler. A few hours had passed since they had left the bar, and he was now riding along with Jen down a bumpy road. He had a phone book bouncing up and down on his lap, making it difficult to read it. "Ms. Hillard, ma'am, you think we could get a road a little less...bumpy?"
"Number one: call me Jen, kid. Number two: No, I can't. This is the shortest route to Long Island Sound. By the way, who're ya lookin' up, kid?"
Aidan hesitated, but he decided that he could give away a little. "Someone named Pete Taggart."
"What, do you know him?"
Aidan looked at Jen nervously. "No."
"Then how do you know this guy?"
"I can't tell you right now." He was finally able to get the phone book stable enough to track down Taggart's name. "Got him! Taggart Boating Services. Hold on, I'll get a map." He flipped open the glove compartment, and sifted through the various crumpled maps until he found a detailed map of Long Island. "Here we go."
*********
Taggart Boating Services
near Long Island Sound
1-26-00
*********
The semi groaned to a stop a short distance away from the beach--and the docked Sweeper ship that belonged to Peter Taggart.
Aidan hefted his duffel bag and got out of the semi. He looked back to see Jen following him. "Listen, Jen, thank you for your help. But I've got to be going now. Good-bye."
"Whatever, kid." Jen said, feigning indifference. However, Jen was curious about Aidan's relationship with this Taggart. *Another thing, why isn't this kid with his parents?* Everything about him seemed suspicious.
Aidan didn't look back as he walked away from Jen and the semi, toward the Sweeper ship. *I wonder how I'm going to get on...* It was then that he noticed the stacks of crates that were being loaded onto the ship by an automated conveyor belt. An idea flashed into his mind, and he ran up to a crate about to move up into the ship, managed to pry open the top, and unload enough...(groan) fish...to get in. He rode inside the crate until he was in the ship.
*********
Horizon Corporation Headquarters
New York City
1-26-00
*********
CEO Joseph Dravin was sitting at his chair when his security chief, Santiago Arnavisca, strode in. An ex-military man, Arnavisca had fought for OZ during the revolution. During a skirmish with former Alliance forces, he had lost his left eye. But, with former R & D chief Kevin Hall's help, he was able to have an enhanced mechanical eye, attached to the skin by several barbs.
"So?"
The dark-green dot in the center of Arnavisca's robotic eye flickered as he said, "We've torched the Hall residence. Hall and his wife are confirmed dead."
"And the boy?"
"We found no dental records of his in the remains of the house, sir. There is a possibility that he could be alive."
Enraged, Dravin pounded his fist on the desk and yelled, "Well, find him and kill him! We can't afford to take any chances, not when we're this far."
"Yes sir." Arnavisca exited the room, leaving a frustrated Dravin to his work.
*********
Sweeper Ship
Long Island Sound
1-26-00
*********
Aidan waited until he felt the ship move, then pushed open the top and peered out.
He was in the cargo bay, surrounded by dozens of other crates. He climbed out and dropped to the floor, watching for other people. He kept to the shadows as best he could, and after a few moments reached the door. He tapped the control panel next to it and the door slid open with a soft 'swoosh'.
He looked down the corridor, then began walking down, keeping his footsteps silent.
He rounded a corner--
--And bumped right into a passing Sweeper! *So much for the 'sneaking in' plan*, he thought, as the angry Sweeper pick him up by the collar and growled, "What're you doing here, kid?"
Aidan stammered, "Uh--um--Take Your Son to Work Day?" He nervously smiled.
"Yer headed straight for the brig, midget," the Sweeper said.
"Stop." A distant voice commanded.
The Sweeper froze, his eyes growing wide. A figure appeared from a nearby corridor. Aidan looked over the Sweeper's shoulder and saw a teenage boy, probably 15, walk up. Strangely enough, He wore a unique priest uniform/jumpsuit, and his long brown hair was pulled back in a yard-long braided ponytail. "Let him go, Ellis."
Ellis suddenly looked ashamed. "Sorry, boss. Just, this kid snuck on the ship--" He took a big whiff of Aidan, then added, "Probably in one of the fish crates. I was gettin' ready to take him to the brig..."
"No, Ellis. I'll take him. Go back to your duties," the teenager said. Hesitantly, Ellis walked away.
The braided man gestured for Aidan to follow him, and they walked down the corridors of the ship. The man turned to Aidan and asked, "Lemme guess. Ran away from home, huh? Wanna be a pirate, kid?" The braided man said, with a touch of sarcasm.
Aidan looked at him angrily for being mocked. The braided boy sighed and smiled at him. "I'm kidding, kid! Lighten up! Listen, what made you sneak aboard this ship anyway?"
Aidan finally got up the energy to talk, and replied, "Well, I've got to find your captain, Mr. Taggart."
"Well, kid, you're lookin' at him." Taggart smiled at the boy's surprised expression. "Guess we don't have to go far, do we? So, whaddya want, kid? What's your name?"
"Uh, Aidan. Aidan Hall, sir."
As they entered Taggart's quarters, Taggart said to Aidan, "You can just call me Pete, Aidan."
As the door closed, Aidan decided to make his move. "How about I call you Duo, Mr. Maxwell?"
Taggart froze. Aidan thought to himself, *Gotcha*.
Aidan added, "That IS your name, right?"
Taggart, with his back to Aidan, slowly walked over to his desk. "I think you've get me confused, Aidan. You're thinkin' of that kid that helped win the war. I just captain a boat."
"I don't think I'm confused, Mr. Maxwell. But we need your--"
Aidan stopped as Duo spun around with a pistol in hand.
"--help."
"Stop right there! Who do you work for? OZ?"
"I don't work for OZ--"
"Who is it then? White Fang? World Nation?"
"I WORK FOR MY MURDERED PARENTS, ALL RIGHT?!"
That shouted statement from Aidan stopped Duo cold. His eyes began to flicker with an unhappy memory surfacing in his mind. Duo slowly lowered his pistol. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know--"
Aidan tried to force the image of his mother's murder out of his head, and it took several seconds to do it. He was able to force out, "I need to show you something."
Aidan fumbled around in his duffel bag before pulling out the laptop, the minidisk still in it. He said to Duo, "My parents made these videos in case something happened to them before they could do something, to have me carry it out instead. I still don't know what's going on."
Aidan activated the laptop, opened the disk drive folder, and double-clicked on 'briefing.avi'.
After a few seconds, Susan Hall appeared on the screen. "Hello, Mr. Maxwell, sir. I realize this is a bit sudden, but we desperately need your help.
"First off, if you're wondering how I got your location, I work for the IID, whose job is to find people's whereabouts. After a little detective work, I was able to locate you and the other pilots and save their locations to this disk. If my son Aidan isn't there, he needs to see this. I'll have my husband Kevin take it over, to tell you what is going on and what you can do."
The camera turned to show Kevin's smiling face. "Okay, um, I work-well, WORKED-for Horizon Corporation, a weapons manufacturing company. I was the head of R & D. My team and I were working on a special project, the Scorpio Mobile Suit."
The image changed to a blueprint and a spinning wireframe model of the new Mobile Suit. Kevin's voice still went on. "It was designed for heavy land battles, virtually unstoppable. We threw out many components we deemed unnecessary, such as jet propulsion, guide wire for the cockpit, etc., to make room for the shield generator.
"What's special about this generator is the power source for the shield is anti-matter, which makes the shield impenetrable by any weapon. It's basically a walking god."
Kevin continued, the image changing to his face again. "A few days ago, I learned that the project deadline had been moved up to the end of the week. The chairman's excuse was a new product coming out from our competitor. However, I investigated, and Orion wasn't coming out with any new projects.
"I dug a little deeper, and this is what I found: If the Scorpio's design was done by next week, the actual Mobile Suit would be produced by the end of the month. The only reason to change it to the end of the month would be so that they could use the Scorpio for something at that time, right? Well, the day after production is slated to be complete, Vice-Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft is issuing an order to demilitarize the World Nation. They're going to have a heavy guard, an entire battalion of Mobile Suits.
"I put 2 and 2 together. They're planning to get the Scorpio out in time to assassinate Peacecraft! I went to the CEO about this, and he fired me for knowing too much.
"I don't know how much work my team will get done without me until the deadline comes, but one thing's for sure: They'll never fix the only weakness the Scorpio has in time to get it in: water.
"Y'see, both Gundanium and titanium have problems with the shield, some sort of molecular repulsion. Every one we tried ended up melting the alloy. So we could only make the Mobile Suit with regular steel. Even so, water is the only thing that can get through the shield. If you get a Scorpio completely submerged, the water will pass harmlessly through the shield, and reach the sensitive electronic equipment inside the Suit, short it out, and you have one helpless Mobile Suit. I'll take it back to Susan."
The camera spun back to Susan. "So, we think you could find the other pilots with my coordinates, get the Gundams together, and find the Scorpios and stop them before they kill Minister Peacecraft. Good luck."
The video ended. Duo and Aidan looked at each other. "Well, it looks like I've got a job to do."
Aidan said to him, "Wait a minute, YOU? Don't you mean, 'we'? I'm going with you."
"No way, Aidan." Duo looked at him sympathetically and put his hands on Aidan's shoulders. "Listen, I know you're a brave kid, but it's too dangerous."
Aidan sighed. "I guess you're right."
Duo stood and said, "Listen, why don't you hit the sack? It looks like you've had a long trip. Take a shower, change clothes, go to sleep. Feel free to make this your home until I get back."
As Duo exited the room, Aidan found his way to the bathroom, where he showered and changed into olive cargo pants, a white T-shirt, and an unbuttoned camo dress shirt. Well, it was comfortable, anyway.
Aidan laid down on the bed, relaxing for the first time in a long while. His thoughts strayed to the memories of his late parents, and he cried himself to sleep.
*********
Long Island Sound
1-27-00
*********
It was midnight. The moon cast an ominous glow over the flat ocean.
One mile from the Sweeper ship, a small, jet-black assault boat sped along Long Island Sound.
Inside, Arnavisca and 6 other soldiers readied their automatics and put on their armor. Arnavisca's artificial eye was switched to night-vision mode, allowing for nocturnal eyesight.
He said to his followers, "Kill anything that moves. These people are probably in league with the boy as well."
Slowly, the boat came up beside the Sweeper ship, and matched speed with it as it departed from Long Island Sound into the Atlantic Ocean.
Using grappling guns, the Arnavisca and the 6 mercenaries scaled the side of the ship, and entered the ship.
*********
Captain Taggart's Quarters
Sweeper Ship, Atlantic Ocean
1-27-00
*********
Aidan Hall awoke to a silent, dark room. Suddenly, a black hand covered his mouth. He looked to his extreme left, he caught a glimpse of a green dot in the air. "Listen, kid, and I'll make this as painless as possible."
Aidan replied by simply elbowing the face that held the green eye. As Arnavisca cried out, Aidan wrested himself from his grasp and yelled at the top of his lungs, "DUO! HELP!"
Before he could move another step, Arnavisca was up, submachine gun in hand and aimed at Aidan. "That's it!"
Suddenly, the door opened, hitting Arnavisca in the back, slamming him against the wall. Dropping the gun, Arnavisca spun around-
--to find the wooden butt of a rifle catch him in the nose! He was down in an instant.
Aidan, relieved, look up to see...
Not Duo, but Jen Hillard, bolt-action rifle in hand, her beautiful face smiling. "Need a hand, kid?"
Aidan blurted in surprise, "Jen! But how did..."
"Same way you did. Fish crate. Although I waited a little longer to get out than you did."
She hefted her rifle. "C'mon, let's go before Mr. Nice Guy over there wakes up." Aidan snatched his bag and slung it over his shoulder, and followed Jen out of the room.
Aidan and Jen ran down the corridors of the ship. The bloodied bodies of Sweepers were everywhere, and a great many things had caught on fire. Passing the dead body of Ellis, they rounded a corner to catch a few Sweepers in a fierce gunfight with a trio of the intruders along a corridor.
Among the Sweepers was Duo Maxwell, pistol in hand, occasionally stepping out of a doorway in the hall for a moment to fire a few rounds at the mercs, then duck back in.
Jen immediately joined the fight, blasting out a round, cocking the bolt, firing again, and repeating the process.
Duo looked back at her. "Who the hell are you?"
"Call me Jen. (cock BLAM!) Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Duo finally saw that the last of his men were overcome by the deadly skill of the mercs, and began making his way toward Aidan and Jen. "Run! Run!" He yelled as he reached them. The trio sprinted along the corridors.
They finally made it to the deck of the ship. Duo looked back to see the rest of the ship in flames. "Oh crap! My ship!"
Aidan yelled, "Screw the ship, Duo! We gotta get out of here!"
"Right, uh..." Duo said, scratching his head.
Jen asked, "You do have lifeboats, right?"
Duo smiled innocently.
Jen raised her hands in despair. "Great! No lifeboat!"
"Well, I'm sorry, lady, but I couldn't afford them."
"Maybe if you--"
As Jen and Duo argued, Aidan spun around, desperate for a way to escape. He looked over the side, seriously considering jumping, when he saw the black assault boat the mercs had left there.
Aidan turned back to Jen and Duo, trying to get their attention, but to no avail. Frustrated, he shouted, "HEY GUYS!"
That stopped them. Aidan pointed to the side. "I found a way to get off the boat."
Duo said, "Jumping? You're crazy, kid! You have no life jacket! You'd drown 10 seconds after you reached the water-Oh," He said as he finally saw the assault boat.
"C'mon, let's go!" Jen yelled, climbing over the edge and descending the ship wall with the grapple wire left there.
Aidan and Duo exchanged nervous glances, but an explosion behind them convinced them fully. They scaled down two other tether ropes onto the assault boat.
As they sped away, several bullets bounced against the bulletproof canopy of the boat. Aidan, Jen and Duo looked back to see the now-conscious Arnavisca and the remaining mercs firing on them.
They continued watching as Arnavisca, desperate, jumped into the water as the mercs were engulfed in flame by an explosion. The boat slowly sank into the water.
Arnavisca pulled a cord on his armor, and it inflated into a life jacket. He floated along the ocean surface, safe.
Duo whispered to himself, "My ship, my crew...MY FISH!"
Jen, tired of his whining, spat, "Oh shut up, you wuss."
Aidan, ignoring Jen, said to Duo, "What do we do now?"
Duo thought for a minute, then sighed and said, "I guess I drop you and the girl off at the nearest part and look for the other pilots."
"No," Aidan replied. "I'm in this for the long haul. Jen can go, but I have to stay. I have to be in on this. For my mom and dad."
"Fine. But Lara Croft here goes," Duo said, thrusting a thumb in Jen's direction.
"Hey, no way. I want to know what I've gotten into. Plus, when that one soldier gets back to his boss, all three of us are gonna be in deep shit. So I suggest we all stay together and watch each other's asses."
Aidan and Duo looked at each other, then shrugged.
Duo broke the silence. "So, where does that magic laptop of yours tell us to go now?"
Aidan pulled it out, opened the disk file, and pulled up the next pilot's location.
After reading it, Aidan turned off the laptop and looked at Duo.
"We're headed to France."
TO BE CONTINUED...