Lady Une opened her eyes. Her head throbbed, and the battle came flooding back.
Slowly, her muscles aching, she sat up. "Uhhhh." She put her hand to her head, wincing as she
touched a bandage. She looked around. This wasn't her room. It was white, and the lights were fluorescent, but there was no mirror and table in the corner, and no dresser with all of four outfits in it, most of which Une never wore. This room had a window, and sunlight was streaming in. The bedside table was a light colored wood, with a pitcher of water on it in a ceramic bowl.
"Where. . .?" Her question was answered almost instantly. A young, blond doctor entered the
room.
"Ah, you're awake." His voice was smooth and rather carefree.
"Who are you?" Une said slowly, still rubbing her head.
"I am Doctor Reingold. You are in the Nestren Hospital, on L1."
"But. . .but I was at Nuova Base!" Une began looking around frantically, as if she could
find the base somewhere in the room.
"Of course you were. But last night you were brought here by shuttle so that you could
recuperate in the proper surroundings."
"Recuperate?" Une said, picking up her glasses from the side table and putting them on.
"Why, I feel fine."
"Comfortable, in bed, and with a painkiller already in your system, naturally you would
feel fine. But up on Nuova Base, with work to do and no painkiller, you might not be feeling so
great." He walked over to the foot of her bed and picked up a chart hanging on the frame.
Taking a pencil from his white jacket pocket, he began to write on the chart.
"What happened to the battle at Nuova?" Une propped herself up against the head of the
bed with her pillows.
"It was all over the news that your soldiers drove back Rommefellar's surprise attack.
Naturally the whole colony was happy to hear that. There was a small bit about your injury, and
how it was part of your brave attempt to kill Rommefellar's lead pilot... But surely you could get much better information from the officers at Nuova, rather than a poorly-informed colony
resident." He chuckled. "Would you be up to contacting them now?"
"How am I supposed to do that?" she said, rather gloomily.
"Right there. Every room in this hospital is equipped with a communication console." He pointed to a gray panel in the wall. He took a remote from his pocket and pointed it at the
panel. He hit a button and it slid to the side, revealing a communication console. Une shot out
of her bed, stumbling a little, and walked over to the console. She entered a few codes on the
keypad and waited for it to contact the base. While static snaked across the screen, she remembered that Doctor Reingold was still in the room. She turned to look at him.
"Oh! Don't mind me." he got the message and left the room. Just then the call got through. A Lieutenant whom Une did not know appeared on the screen. "Is this Nuova base?" Une asked.
"Yes." the Lieutenant seemed slightly bewildered.
"Get me Lieutenant Aknon. Tell him it's Colonel Une."
"Yes ma'am." the young man disappeared from the screen. A few moments later Aknon
stepped into the picture.
"Colonel Une, I am so glad to see you are well."
"Lieutenant Aknon, I demand a full report of the outcome of the battle yesterday." Aknon was slightly taken aback by how fast she had jumped to her question.
"I take it you know that Rommefellar was defeated-"
"Details, Aknon, details!" Une was thoroughly anxious to find out what had happened.
"Yes of course. In total, we lost two hundred fifty four suits, and destroyed all of Rommefellar's suits. We did capture the leader, thanks to you. It was none other than Treize
Kushrenada. He is being held here at the base."
"Held prisoner?!" Une gaped at Aknon for a moment. Quickly regaining her composure, she asked levelly, "has he told you anything concerning the rest of the planned attacks?"
"No. Should we press for information?" 'Torture, you mean.' Une was silent, but a
battle raged in her head. 'You've got to stop get them to release Treize... no! Then they'll
suspect treachery! Well, at least make them spare him from torture.'
"Well, if Rommefellar does have attacks planned," Une cringed inwardly at what she had
to say next, "he won't give you any information. He's too loyal to Rommefellar. Treize would
die before betray them."
"You have a point." Changing his tone, Aknon said, "how are you feeling?"
"Disoriented, thanks to you." Une was condescending.
"My apologies, Colonel Une. Lieutenant Royan and I both thought the surroundings would do you some good."
"That I am yet to determine. But I don't intend to be here long. I will be leaving tomorrow, and coming back to the base." Lieutenant Aknon bristled at her statement, as if preparing to say something daring.
"Colonel Une, I cannot allow you to do that. Lieutenant Royan and I have made arrangements for you to stay at one of OZ's estates on L1. You may go there tomorrow. But you may not return to Nuova. For your own good." Une was getting mad.
"I have no intention of doing any such thing!"
"Colonel Une! For your own good! Stay on L1." Aknon sounded desperate but firm. Une was beaten.
"Very well. I will stay. But I will not be doing so of my own will." Disgusted, she ended the call. She sat down on her bed, and reviewed the conversation she'd just had in her mind. The part about Treize's execution floated back to her. She began to shake uncontrollably.
"Why, Treize?" she whispered. "Why?" She lay back under her covers, taking comfort in the
warmth. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep, and soon began to dream.
*
She was remembering something... a meeting somewhere... or was she remembering a dream? It was hard to tell, for the whole scene was like smoke... shifting endlessly, never solid enough to
get a good hold on.
"Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep." 'Someone stop that sound...' Une thought. 'And turn on the
lights. It's too dark...' Then, somehow breaking through both the sound and the darkness, a
voice. A voice she knew and loved. 'Treize!' she screamed, but only in her head. She wanted
to run to him, but couldn't move... confined in her own body...
"Lady, you never left my heart for a moment..." His words entered Une's heart, warmed
her. 'Speak again Treize, please.' she thought. 'Let me hear your voice.' As if hearing her
thoughts, he spoke again, this time about things Une couldn't comprehend. But she basked in
the sound of his voice. Then all too soon, his voice began to fade. 'No! Treize! Don't leave me!' But she was spiraling further and further away, into an abyss of endless darkness... The rhythmic beeping blocking out all else...
"No!" Une's eyes shot open in the dark. "What?" She looked around. "Ohhhh." She
grabbed her head. Red swam in front of her eyes. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the pain
stopped, leaving only one thought left in her mind: 'He was there. He was there when I needed
him. And I'm sure he needs me now.' She stood up, throwing the bedcovers off to the side.
She began looking around for her uniform. Fortunately, the doctors had left it on a chair in the
corner. She slipped out of the aqua-green hospital robe she was wearing, and put on the
uniform, omitting the heavy red outer jacket. As she dressed, she planned her escape. "The main problem is how to get off this wretched colony. L1 has the least OZ-supplied mobile suits of any of the colonies." Then she remembered. There was one OZ facility on the colony, where all the mobile suits were kept. Une knew where it was almost as well as she knew her own name. She had been there when she first found out that Treize was reported to be dead. Not a happy memory. "Two hundred Leos at that base, and all of them almost completely unguarded. Hah." She closed the last button on her gray blouse, straightened the black bow at her neck, drew her pistol and headed out the door of her room.