Chapter 7
Cassandra shifted on her feet, turning her eyes away from Wufei. Someone had to break the tension and it might as well be her. She got a good look at the others and suppressed a sigh. She would never fit in with them because Wufei wouldn't allow it. They couldn't get along and probably never would because of what lay between them.
"Are you two always going to be like this?" Quatre asked quietly, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "You have to work together, you might as well try to get along,"
"I tried that once before, she doesn't deserve any kindness from me,"
"Oh, because you're just completely innocent!" Cassandra growled, turning on her heel and tossing herself through the door.
"Wufei," Zechs said softly. "Drop it. We need her here,"
"You, maybe. Not me," Wufei turned tail and stalked away back to his table to finish off another shot without saying another word to the group. Zechs hung his head and felt like shouting.
"It must be bad," Kat whispered from her spot against Duo who was now having to completely support her. "to have that kind of resentment between them,"
"It's bad," Zechs admitted, turning towards the door to see Cassandra leaving for the base again. "I just hope they can keep it at bay for a little while."
"We could always give them some gloves and let them go at it for a while," Duo offered, chuckling. No one else seemed to find this funny, so he wiped the smile off of his face, wrapped his arm more securely around Katarina's waist and tried to sound less strained. "I guess I should get Kat back to the base. See you all in the morning,"
"I guess we'll head back, too," Noin sighed dramatically. "What about you, Zechs?"
"Go on, I need to have a word with Wufei,"
"Don't get yourself killed. He's had a few drinks," Sally warned, glancing in the Chinese man's direction. "Tell him I'll leave the door unlocked for him,"
Zechs nodded and watched the group vacate the bar, then slowly moved to stand next to Wufei.
"Is there a problem?" Wufei asked without looking up from his drink.
"There is," Zechs confirmed flatly. "Cassandra is very important to this project, and unless you want to confront what happened in front of the entire Preventer population, I suggest you back off. She's doing her job so you just do yours."
"It's none of your business, Merquise,"
Zechs slammed his hands down onto the table and stared directly into Wufei's face. "I'm your superior officer who is also the officer who has to work in close quarters with Cassandra. Therefore I am making it my business. Do anything else to distress her while she's working and I'll personally see you kicked off the team,"
"And who else will you get to pilot my Gundam?"
"Oh, I'm sure I'll find someone," Zechs snarled, then turned on his heel and strode out of the door. Wufei glared after him, silently seething over the threat that had just been dealt to him. Once everyone realized what kind of a person Cassandra was, they wouldn't be so quick to defend her. It was only a matter of time before the bottom would fall out. And when it happened, he'd be there to put the bitch back in her place.
...
"You're up early,"
Cassandra ignored Zechs as he stepped down onto the cockpit platform and looked in on her. She looked horribly unpleasant, as she had for the past week. He had hoped that after a few days her mood would have lifted, but from what he could tell, Wufei wasn't doing much to allow for that. It had been a week since the incident at the bar, and she'd barely spoken a word to anyone since, save for Howard, but even those brief conversations were strained. From what he'd seen so far, Wufei had backed off only a tiny bit. He wasn't willing to make a public scene, but it didn't stop him from muttering insults every time he passed by or when Cassandra's name was brought up in conversation.
Zechs and Howard, as well as Lady Une, had all been keeping a sharp eye on both of them, knowing it wouldn't be too much longer before one or the other just snapped. So far, it seemed the only person ready to snap was Cassandra, and Wufei seemed to be doing everything he could to make sure that happened. He didn't want her here and that much was becoming painfully clear with each passing day.
"Cassandra, the crane is here,"
"What?"
"To lift the top of the head off for you,"
"Oh," Cassandra shook herself out of her stupor and sighed quietly. "Let's get her up then," Zechs moved aside to let her out and joined her back down on the platform while Quatre and a few members of the Maganac Corp. set up the crane and successfully lifted the topmost shielding of the Tallgeese's head from its foundation. The cockpit was now completely open, as well as the sophisticated brain network of the suit. Now that she had a better view of the entire thing, she'd be better able to work on the system. Making sure that the head was secured to the rafters, Quatre joined Cassie on the platform.
"That should do it. It'll give you better access now," Quatre grinned at Cassandra's approving nod. "You know, everyone's getting very curious about this system you've set up. Rumor has it that Tallgeese originally had a positronic brain,"
"She did," Cassandra nodded, not volunteering any more information on the subject. Quatre glanced at Zechs who just shrugged indifferently and turned back to the computer before him.
"Well, anyway, I need to get going. The first of the Gundam skeletons should be arriving within the hour. Um, good luck with the suit,"
"Thanks," Cassandra sighed and rubbed her face.
"Well?"
"Well what?" She asked, glancing over at Zechs. "I've done everything I can. I can't do anything else until the parts I ordered start coming in. Still…I guess I could start clearing out that computer system,"
"Need help?"
"No, not really. Just going to rip it all out and toss it anyway,"
He just stared at her, ready to protest, but that little smile of hers made him stop. "You're sure this can work,"
"It has to," Cassandra whispered, then climbed back up into the cockpit and then into the newly opened computer brain platform. It was advanced beyond her expectations. Zechs had done quite a job on the suit, and some of the programming she'd be able to work with. The rest of it though, well…it would all just have to go. She got on her knees and got straight to work.
Zechs shook his head and stepped into Howard's office where the old man was arguing over the phone with one of the shipping companies and looking extremely agitated. Zechs sat, smiling, and just waited for Howard to finish his call.
"Sorry," Howard sighed as he slammed the phone down and glowered at it. "The first shipment is running late and Une is getting horribly pushy about getting the Tallgeese system updated. Ah, but it's just so hard to find the right quality and quantity parts required for such a system. It's the reason Cassandra only ever was able to make the one. These things take time and I know they're getting her riled up about it. She's very sensitive on the subject, as I'm sure you've noticed."
"I have faith in her. She'll get it done,"
"Yes, she will." Howard chuckled quietly. "And we'll never hear the end of it. But what she says is true. She actually did what she claims she can do. Let me tell you, it takes some getting used to talking to a mobile suit, too,"
"Yeah, I'm not too sure how I feel about that just yet."
"She's got something to prove, you know. Despite Wufei's attempts to discourage her, she's working at a faster and more efficient pace than I have ever seen her work before. When she first created the artificial intelligence for the original suit…ah man, you should have seen her, Zechs. She was so proud of everything she'd done and she wasn't afraid to interact with it, either. Once she got the system installed, she talked to that suit like it was a real person. After a while, you start to forget that it's just a mobile suit with a working brain. She's actually quite amusing when you meet her. But don't be surprised if she exhibits some of Cassie's qualities. She is just like her creator, as you can probably imagine,"
"Cassandra says she'll be able to interlink the Tallgeese's brain with the other Gundams through the computer and the Zero System."
"Yes. She's already shown me the programming and the schematics. We will, of course, have to send them through several simulations and tests before the system will be tested on the pilots, but I'm pretty confident it'll all work out. She knows what she's doing,"
Zechs nodded, glancing out through the window to see Cassandra unplugging everything to do with the mobile suit's functions. He flinched, looking away, and tried to ignore Howard's mirthful chuckle.
"Don't worry, Zechs. Tallgeese will still be Tallgeese when she's done with her,"
"Not worried," Yet he still refused to look back out into the hangar. Howard's phone suddenly rang and, exasperated, the older man answered it, allowing Zechs a few moments of silent contemplation. The more he heard Cassandra explaining the system to him, the more he believed it was possible, but he knew everyone was starting to get apprehensive about the whole thing. Rumor was spreading quickly about the system that would supposedly allow for the real time interaction between pilot and suit, as if two real people were interacting, instead of man and machine. It had never been done before, so of course everyone was a little nervous about it, but he'd seen the schematics and he'd seen the way Cassandra's eyes lit up when she talked about it.
And now Howard had just admitted to actually talking to the suit when it was first created! After a while, you start to forget that it's just a mobile suit with a working brain…
"Yes!" Howard hung up the phone and left his chair. "The first shipment has arrived,"
...
By the end of the first month of production, a small group had started to form around the Tallgeese. Cassandra familiarized herself with a small group of mechanics and engineers that would help her upgrade the weapons systems while integrating the same systems with the Tallgeese's positronic brain.
Zechs stared out at his Gundam through the window of Howard's office. Duo was beside him, admiring the progress taking place.
"That is one advanced piece of equipment," He muttered as he gazed at the huge half orb that Cassandra was currently standing in. "What's she doing now?"
"I have no idea," Zechs admitted, shaking his head. "But we're making progress. All of the systems are almost back online and synchronized with the new brain. All of the parts are in and she's already tested it a few times. We still have a few things we need to tweak, but I gather we'll be downloading the artificial intelligence into the brain by the end of the week,"
"That's good news," Duo turned to glance at Howard and the object sitting in front of him. "So this is what she's going to be using to link the Gundams together with the Tallgeese, huh? A headset? Seems simple enough,"
Howard shrugged. "Just for the testing phase. She wants to make sure they can all be linked successfully before she intalls the permanent interlink coms in the cockpits of the Gundams."
"Ok, just clarify this for me one more time,"
Howard sighed and glanced up at Duo, ignoring Zechs' amused chuckle. "How is this going to work again?"
"The Zero System in each Gundam is going to be linked with the Tallgeese's positronic brain via the interlink Cassandra is working on. It'll lessen the neural stress from Zero while you're all being trained. And it will allow for Tallgeese to take over your cockpit if something happens to hinder your ability to pilot your Gundam,"
"Ok, I think I get it,"
"Duo, the Tallgeese is the only suit here that will be able to act on its own should something happen to me in battle. In other words, she'll be aware of me just as I am aware of her. If I get hurt, she'll know and she'll be able to decide whether or not to leave the battle or to stay and fight," Zechs stated, staring out at the Tallgeese in a bit of reverence.
Duo nodded, finally understanding. "But our systems won't do that unless Tallgeese tells them to?"
"That's the theory," Howard offered. "But seeing as how we've never tried out a system like this before, we don't know if that will work or not. Which is why Cassandra wants the system linked through these headsets first. Since the Gundams won't be completed for another couple of months, she's going to try linking them through the simulation cockpits for the training. If they give positive results, she'll move on to integrating it with the Zero System permanently,"
"Ah," Duo nodded, then sat down behind another desk in the room. Zechs finally turned away from the window as Cassandra stepped down onto the catwalk to accept another shipment of materials. He spotted Katarina joining in on the project and smiled at Cassandra's enthusiasm towards the girl's offer of help. Those two were getting along well, meaning Cassandra had a friend. Well, several if you included Noin and Sally, but those two were too busy with the rest of the goings-on in the hangar that they weren't around much. And Sally seemed to be keeping Wufei so busy he never had much of a chance to venture down to this end of the platform, for which Zechs was grateful. The temporary peace awarded them for the lack of communication between Cassie and Wufei was very much enjoyed. Spirits were back up and things were going much smoother than normal.
"Duo, what are your plans for the Deathscythe?" Zechs asked as he took a seat in front of Howard's desk and accepted the bottle of water offered to him.
"I haven't really decided on too much. Since the skeleton is barely done, I haven't really thought too much about it. I did add onto Kat's blueprints before she sent them off to the factory. The moldings will be similar to the last version, but with several sharper improvements. I need a more aerodynamic suit. As for weapons? Well, we've added a few more holds for ammo than before and the beam scythe is getting quite the makeover. New power source, too. I was even thinking about adding some heat seeking missiles."
"Not bad," Zechs admitted, smiling a little. "I asked Heero about the Wing Zero earlier, but he's just as quiet about that as ever. I did, however, see the detailed order for the moldings of its wings. Very incredible design. It's a wonder we have the funding,"
"We don't," Howard admitted, sighing. "But apparently someone else does. I'm guessing it was the same people who sent us that shipment of Gundanium Alloy two months ago, and Cassie has her own funds,"
"The doctors?"
"That would be my guess," Howard shrugged, stretching. "Well, at any rate, things are getting done. The skeletons are almost complete and the first set of moldings should start arriving within the day. I've also heard from engineering this morning and am happy to say that the first three vernier engines for the Wing Zero, Deathscythe and Heavyarms Gundams will be arriving within the next two weeks."
"Excellent," Duo grinned, but a sudden explosion made all three men leap out of their seats and race back out into the hangar.
"Cassie! Are you all right?"
"I'm fine!" The woman snapped, shoving one of the mechanics out of her way. "Damn! It overloaded…"
"Is that going to be hard to fix?" Katarina asked, watching the smoke billowing in small grey puffs from the inside of the positronic brain.
"God, I hope not," She looked at Howard and shrugged. "See why I ordered extra parts? That fuse I used isn't strong enough to handle all the weapons systems at once. I had a feeling that would happen,"
"How far back does that set us?" Zechs asked as he came to stand next to her, watching the smoke as it drifted into the air.
"Pfft, a week?" Cassandra groaned. "Guess I should go see what can be done. Hopefully it didn't damage the hub too much. I really don't want to have to redo all that, too,"
"Didn't this happen the last time?" Howard asked, grinning stupidly.
"Yeah, except the last time it happened, you did it,"
"HA! Now we're even,"
Cassandra laughed, shaking her head. "Don't get too excited about it, Howie! If I remember correctly, you nearly destroyed it. A fuse just blew for me,"
"Yeah, yeah. Hang on a sec and I'll get you a better one,"
"Thanks,"
"Here, boost," Zechs offered as she moved to climb back inside and retrieve the ruined fuse. Howard returned a second later with what definitely looked better equipped to handle the charge it was going to undergo. Duo relaxed beside him, but it seemed the explosion had caught many people's attention. Out of the corner of his eye, Zechs could swear he saw a smirk on Wufei's face, but forced himself to ignore it. The man was getting insufferable.
"Is that better?" Howard called, watching as Cassandra worked in the new fuse and got everything rewired.
"It should be…Zechs, trying moving the arm!"
Zechs turned to the computer behind him and did as asked, then frowned. "No response!"
"Damn, damn, and double damn!" Cassandra growled, standing up and glaring down at it. "I guess it was more than just the fuse that blew." She knelt down again and tweaked a few things, examining it for a moment before nodding. "Try it again!"
This time, the arm responded to Zechs' inputted command and it did it with ease. Nothing negative happened this time, which made Cassandra relax tremendously. It meant the new power source had been successfully integrated with the positronic brain.
"Are we still on schedule then?"
"Yup!" Cassandra called down, giving Howard a thumbs up before she rejoined them on the catwalk. "See? Aren't you glad I do things the way I do?"
"Depends on what level of heart attack you're trying to put me through," Howard muttered, waving his arm dismissively. "So, only a week until you download her into the brain, eh?"
"Hopefully," Cassandra murmured, turning to look back up at the suit. "If all goes well. I'm still waiting on a few parts that I hope to get by tomorrow and then it's on to the programming. Once I get all of the bugs out of the system, we'll be ready to turn her on and see what happens,"
"I have faith in you,"
"Someone has to," Cassandra chuckled. She suddenly seemed to notice the group gathering around them at the same time Katarina did.
"GET BACK TO WORK!" Both women shouted, causing them to chuckle at themselves. Those gathered around scrambled away to get back to their stations, leaving the Tallgeese's team behind. Kat glanced at Cassandra and smiled softly.
"So by the end of this week we'll be able to tell Tallgeese to grab hold of Wufei and wave him around for a while?"
Cassandra laughed heartily. "Honey, we won't have to tell her or ask her to do that. She'll probably do it on her own,"
"Excellent!" Katarina grinned. "He's getting on my nerves with all this bullshit about women being in charge of the Gundams,"
"He's just jealous our balls are bigger," Noin declared as she stepped between them carrying a box of tools. Those standing around howled in laughter as the other woman trotted off to help Quatre with whatever he was doing.
Zechs, Howard and Duo all just shook their heads and returned to Howard's office but only had a few moments of peace before Lady Une was calling for an immediate meeting.
Work wasn't completely abandoned. Several mechanics remained behind to continue while the main officers headed upstairs to the conference room where Lady Une and one of the Joint Chiefs were already waiting. They waited a few moments to allow everyone to pile into the room before they began their grim report.
"Intelligence has come back to us from several strategically placed spies within Orion's ranks," Une turned towards the TV screen behind her, hit a button on the remote she had and turned back to the group. "This is the first physical bit of proof that we have that confirms that Orion is building mobile suits. From what we've been able to gather, and from what you can see from these pictures, there are two skeletons so far. We haven't been able to get hold of any kind of plans, but we do know that their basic design stems from that of the Tallgeese. We are confident that there are only two new Gundams being built,"
"Excuse me, Ma'am, but just two?" Quatre asked, not entirely impressed.
"That's all they need," The Joint Chief at the front of the table said grimly. "Show them,"
Lady Une sighed and then hit another button. What the group saw on the screen was completely shocking.
"That's ridiculous!" Duo shouted, staring. "How can they have built that many mobile suits without our knowing?!"
"Wouldn't someone have noticed all of that Neo Titanium being shipped back and forth?"
"You would think," Lady Une sighed quietly. "So far, we haven't been able to trace a single ounce of the stuff to anyone. Whomever Orion is getting the Neo Titanium from isn't an official vender. None of their supplies are on record. We can't trace it,"
"This is bad," Trowa murmured. "Mariemeia had these kinds of resources, but even she didn't know where it had all come from. Apparently Treize had had those suits built before he'd even died. But we hadn't been able to trace them back to him directly. Everything was under the Barton Foundation,"
"This is true, but we've looked into what was left of the Barton Foundation and found absolutely nothing. All of their suits were destroyed. We have no way of knowing where any of these suits came from, nor do we know if they're manned or dolls,"
Several groans issued from the crowd in the room. So much for high spirits.
"Matthews, what's the progress on the Tallgeese?" Lady Une suddenly asked.
"We should be able to download her intelligence into the positronic brain by the end of this week. But she won't be ready for combat for a few weeks still. Zechs is going to have to undergo some heavy training before it's ready for battle,"
"How long?"
"A month, maybe more,"
"We may have that kind of time still," Lady Une looked to Zechs. "Are you confident that you'll be able to handle the suit?"
"Yes, ma'am,"
"Good," Lady Une looked back to Cassandra who was nodding her thanks to Zechs and then noticed the barely contained emotion in Wufei's face.
"Officer Chang, is there a problem?"
"I was wondering if Cassandra realized that we don't have months available to train every pilot here to deal with that system. In fact, I'm not entirely convinced that the system will even work. I've seen the suit in action, and quite frankly, I wasn't that impressed by it,"
Cassandra looked like she'd just been slapped across the face. Some of those in the room shifted uncomfortably as the tension escalated.
"As everyone here well knows, the suit was destroyed in its very first battle. I don't see that as very good odds in our favor, even with Zechs as the pilot. I don't see why we should be putting so much faith in her and her supposed intelligent system when we haven't seen any evidence that it is even possible,"
Cassandra stared at Wufei as all eyes fell upon her form. They wanted answers and they wanted them badly. Already, she could see the doubt on their faces about this system. None of them had faith in her anymore, if they ever had. Only Katarina, Zechs and Howard seemed unaffected by Wufei's argument.
"Why don't you tell everyone why the Tallgeese's system failed the first time? Why don't you explain to everyone why you allowed her original pilot to take her into battle, knowing the suit was not ready, resulting in the pilot's death?"
"Wufei," Howard said sharply, but he wasn't listening to anyone.
"Tell them, Cassandra! Tell them how you killed-"
"I didn't kill her!" Cassandra shouted, leaping to her feet. The room fell into a stunned silence. "I didn't…I tried to stop her from taking the suit! I told her that Tallgeese wasn't ready and I fought her! I physically fought her to stop her but she wouldn't listen to me!"
"So you downloaded the artificial intelligence into that memory card before Meiran even had a chance!"
"She wasn't interacting with the suit! She'd refused to listen-"
"Right, because a suit is more important than human life,"
"I didn't kill her!"
"You might as well have!" Wufei shouted back at her, absolutely outraged. "She didn't deserve what you did to her!"
Cassandra shuddered, her face going completely pale. Everyone in the room just stared, horrified at the event taking place. "I didn't…I…"
"It's because of you that she's dead. You encouraged her to become a pilot and it got her killed!"
Cassandra suddenly seemed to come to attention. "You weren't there, Wufei. You don't know what happened between us when she stole the suit. You didn't hear what she said to me,"
"What does any of it matter? You could have saved her but you chose that damned machine over the woman who was supposed to be your friend! She trusted you! I trusted you!"
"She said, 'I will make him proud to have me as his wife'."
"What did you say?" Wufei stared at her, stunned.
"That's the last thing my best friend ever said to me, Wufei. You were never there for her. She loved you but you were never there for her. She wanted you to have a wife you could be proud of. That's why she went through all of the training. That's why she became a pilot. She wanted you to be proud of her. So when Treize attacked the colony, she took the Tallgeese to defend it, knowing that it would make you see that you'd married someone worthy of you. Nothing I did could have stopped her. Nothing I did could have saved her. I didn't kill your wife, Wufei. You did,"
She was at the door before anyone knew it, but before she walked out, she turned to look back at Wufei, half muttering under her breath that, "Meiran wasn't Tallgeese's original pilot," then she turned and left the room, tears streaming steadily down her face. Wufei, stunned, just stood still, trying to comprehend what had just taken place in the room. A second after he looked up in Sally's face, Zechs was slipping out of the room after Cassandra, knowing she was hurting, knowing she now doubted herself.
"Well, I hope you're happy!" Katarina suddenly bellowed. "God, you are such an asshole!" Then Katarina was gone from the room as well, Noin and Sally not far behind.
"Dismissed," Une said quickly, quite shaken by what had just taken place.
...
"Hey! Cassie!" Zechs finally caught up to her in the hangar and grabbed her arm, turning her around to face him.
"Let me go!"
"Cass, it's all right," He insisted, pulling her against his chest despite her fierce struggling. But she gave up at last and fell against him, sobbing so hard that it was amazing she could draw breath. "It's all right," He soothed, holding her against him, rocking her gently. She pulled back from him, regaining her breath and trying to calm down. She looked up at him, tears still streaming from her eyes, and leaned into him, momentarily surprised that he met her halfway. Their lips locked and they kissed softly. Zechs' hold on her tightened as the kiss deepened, but the momentary bliss, that feeling of right was short lived. Cassandra tore away from him, shaking her head, looking apologetic.
"No, no. I can't…I'm sorry!"
"Cass-"
"I'm sorry!" And she turned tail and ran from him, intent on locking herself up in her room. Zechs closed his eyes and breathed deeply for moment, slightly disappointed. Until now he hadn't realized… He shook his head and leaned against the wall, rubbing his face irritably. How could he have been so stupid, throwing himself on her like that? She was upset and hurt, he had no right to take advantage of that. But he hadn't, had he? She'd kissed him just as hard as he'd kissed her.
Something in him roused and twisted in his chest, purring softly at the prospect of being with her; of being the only person in the world she would ever really need. He could make things right for her, he could make her happy and she could make him happy.
So why was she running away?
"Zechs?" Katarina was suddenly standing beside him. "Where's Cassandra?"
"She went to her room," Zechs murmured, looking still slightly wounded. "I kissed her,"
...
End Chapter.