Chapter Seven – The Victor, the Messiah

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

The Rick Dias rattled a little as it was lifted into launch position. Cima had mentioned it the first time it happened in the limited training time they had and then ignored the issue. The Albion's flight deck was set up for Dagger-series mobile suits and while it could manage the Rick Dias it was pushing the limits of the mechanisms.

Hatches sealed and she checked her cameras, watching as blast shields moved into position to redirect the heat of her thrusters away from vital moving parts.

"Major Cima," Bright informed her from the command deck. "You're clear to take off."

"Understood." She ejected the cord supplying the mobile suit with power from the cruiser's reactor and the lights of the cockpit flickered as the suit's own Minovsky reactor took up the task. "Garahau Cima, Rick Dias, launching!"

The twin thrusters on the mobile suit's back roared to life, flinging her out into the void. A moment later the other Rick Dias joined her. Ahead in the distance the nearer of the two colonies was clearly visible. The second was no more than a sliver beyond it.

"Minovsky particles picking up," Ramius warned. "We may lose radio contact. The enemy appear to have dispersed to try to avoid being taken out by a single strike from the colony laser. Two ships are in sensor range, too far apart for mutual support."

Cima looked at her own display. Too far out still for the less capable sensors of her mobile suit. "Their classes, captain?"

"Papua-class." The captain knew she need say more. Unable to match Federation warship numbers, Zeon had converted large numbers of transports to carry mobile suits. The Papua-class's onboard squadron made them more than a match for Federation destroyers and older cruisers until they had started carrying mobile suits of their own, but the ships themselves were lightly armed and armoured. Even better, their sensors were second-rate – there was a good chance they hadn't seen the Albion yet.

"We strike first then."

"Correct," Ramius confirmed. Behind Cima the Albion shifted course slightly. "Take heading zero-one-seven to engage the further of the two. We will engage the nearer with a long-range bombardment."

Long range was relative – compared to the guided missiles that the Federation had preferred in the first weeks of the war, missiles that were utterly useless in heavy Minovsky particle conditions, the Albion would be engaging at point-blank range.

"Watch out for their mobile suits," Cima warned and brought her engines up to full power as she took the requested strike. It would be a gerbera strike, much like that on the Federation destroyers that had once guarded these two colonies.

Job Jones fell in on her flank, saying nothing. Cima chose not to break the silence, less out of concern for radio detection than out of respect. He had his own ghosts to wrestle with. They plunged together towards the enemy.

While the Rick Dias' sensors were less effective than those of a ship, they were also smaller and harder to detect. But there was no chance of reaching engagement range without being spotted, not even at this speed. It almost seemed that they had barely spotted the Papua before it was turning to face them, not so much to shoot as to mask the hatches on its side as mobile suits launched.

"Take the ship," Job said quietly. "I'll cover you."

"Fine," she said shortly, seeing the first mobile suit emerging. A Hizack, it lunged towards them, opening up with its machine gun. The Rick Dias had no shield to cover itself against the attack but the designers had fitted a pair of vulcan cannon rising up from behind the sensor head. Approaching like this, head on, the combined force of four 55mm guns ripped the Hizack apart mercilessly.

Cima ignored the next Hizack – and the third – as she brought out her beam rifle and focused in on the target. She fired once, the shot punching into the flank just behind the nose. It penetrated but did no damage. Adjusting her fire, she sent a second shot right into the bridge. Barely armoured, the compartment vented immediately.

Vaguely aware of explosions around her, she spun and decelerated as she went past the Papua, snapping off a shot that she wasn't even sure had hit and then, from behind the thrusters, she scored a hit on the fuel tanks with her fourth shot from the beam rifle. In the long term that was an operational kill but it wasn't enough now. She needed the ship dead.

A Hizack plunged after her, a rocket cannon in each hand. A moment before she had to break off to defend herself, Job's Rick Dias was on it, a beam sabre in each hand. The Federation pilot drove each sabre deep into the back of the Delaz fleet machine and then burst away.

Steadying her aim, Cima fired again, aiming for the reactor where it lay surrounded by the fuel tank. The result was everything she could have hoped for – the rear half of the Papua disappeared in a brilliant explosion. Twisting the Rick Dias to avoid shrapnel from the explosion, Cima looked for more enemies – a least one more Hizack had launched.

She saw one immediately, a limb-less wreck with a final lethal beam sabre penetration over the cockpit and looked for Job.

She found him facing a fourth Hizack, beam sabres at maximum extension, almost touching the sensor head as if about to cut it away like a pair of scissors. But he wasn't moving.

The Hizack fired a fraction of a second after Cima saw the hole in the Rick Dias' rear where one beam rifle shot had already punched right through the cockpit. The second shot must have hit the reactor for both mobile suits disappeared in an explosion.

With a banshee scream, Cima lunged into the fire, catching the Hizack reeling out of the explosion, half-blinded by the shattered state of its mono-eye. Docking her beam rifle, Cima took the shorter and handier beam pistol out and rammed its muzzle directly into the other mobile suit's cockpit hatch.

"Stop! Killing! My! People!" she shrieked and pulled the trigger once, twice, thrice… again and again until weapon stopped firing, its small capacitor needing to recharge from her suit.

With a gasp she lowered the weapon and looked around. No other mobile suits were nearby. Job was dead, but the Albion itself…

An explosion in the distance caught her eyes and she flew towards it.

To her relief as she closed the distance, the shape of the Albion came into view, the cruiser's mega-beam particle turrets turning briefly towards her until she was identified as no longer a threat. Four wrecked mobile suits drifted around the cruiser, smashed either by the particle beams or by the much smaller CIWS turrets that dotted the Albion's hull.

"Major Cima reporting," she told them. "Enemy destroyed. One casualty."

One more casualty.

One more ghost.

"Stick close, major," Ramius ordered. "They know we're here now."

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

The little girl stared at them imperiously, with hands on her hips. If she had more height to work with then it might have been intimidating. As it was Duo was tempted to snicker. Still, the kid could sound the alarm.

"Can you not see that we are dashing heroes?" he informed her cheerfully. Heero had told him he was in charge of talking them out of trouble, right. Blather mode on! "Fighters against evil! Protectors of the weak!" He shadow-boxed for a moment. "Rescuers of captured princesses!"

"Really?" She looked up at him. "But you're dressed like the scary lady's soldiers."

Duo reached back to his collar. "We're in disguise," he explained. Then he pulled out his braid. "Look, I have to hide my hair!"

The girl clapped appreciatively. "Are you here to rescue me?"

"Uhh, that… could be right. Let's check." He mimed taking out a notepad, glancing at Heero out of the corner of his eye. His buddy looked out of his depth. "Are you… a princess?"

"Momma said so." The girl sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "Papa said I could be a warrior princess when I grow up. That way I could be like both of them."

"Okay…" Duo said thoughtfully. "I think we can tick that box. Now, have you been kidnapped? Taken away from your family?" he added in case she didn't recognise the word.

A nod. "The scary lady brought me here. Grandfa' didn't want me to go but she had soldiers dressed like you."

"Kidnapped," Heero concurred.

They looked at each other. Dammit. The Bartons weren't just using the kids they had as test-subjects, they were taking more children.

"I'm Mariemaia!" the girl informed them. "Who are you?"

"As dashing heroes, we cannot disclose our real names," Duo told her quickly. "We use codenames. I am Brave and he is… Hero."

Heero gave him an exasperated look. "Mariemaia, do you know where the other children are?"

"There are other children?" she exclaimed. "No one told me! I could have had someone to play with!" She huffed angrily. "Let's go find them!"

Well it wasn't as if they were going to leave her for Barton to experiment on. "Welcome to the team." Duo stuck out his hand and she grabbed hold of him. "Can you guess where they might be?"

Mariemaia shook her head but then brightened. "There's a map," she offered. "Lots of soldiers don't know their way around yet. I saw it up on a wall."

"Okay, can you show us where that is?"

She tugged on Duo's hand. "This way!"

Duo let her pull him after her – although he was taking one step for every two of hers so there wasn't a lot of pulling involved. Leaving the arboretum through another door, Mariemaia led them to a locked door. "It's through here," she explained and tugged on the handle. "But I can't open it."

"Fortunately, I know a magic spell for that," he told her. "But it needs both hands. Can you hold Hero's for a moment?"

"There's no such thing as magic," the girl told him, but she let go. "I'm not a little kid."

Duo hid the probe he'd pulled out from her and tried the handle. "Oh really? Well it's locked now. So…" He turned to cover his other hand from Mariemaia's view as he reset the lock and typed in the code. "Open sesame!"

The door opened and Mariemaia giggled. "You're silly, Brave. You just knew the code!"

"Oh no, you saw right through me!" he told her and opened the door. The girl grabbed his hand again but didn't let go of Heero's, binding them into a group.

This corridor was busier and they got a couple of looks as they walked down it with Mariemaia between them. Duo made sure Mariemaia wasn't looking at him and mouthed 'babysitting duty' to one officer who looked particularly suspicious. The man's expression shifted to sympathy and he patted Duo on the shoulder before walking on.

"Here's the map!" Mariemaia announced, pointing at a wall.

Duo had expected something like a museum sign or a stylised diagram such as that seen on the underground passenger monorail that served his home colony. Instead it was an already slightly tatty poster held against the wall with magnets. Someone must have run it up in a hurry, he thought.

Heero examined the map thoughtfully. "We're here," he decided.

There wasn't a convenient 'You are here' label but Duo was willing to take his word for it. He lifted up Mariemaia onto his shoulder so she could see more clearly. "So that would be the arboretum?"

"Yes." Both young men looked at a blocked-out section marked as 'Testing Facility'. There wasn't anything marked as 'prison' or 'cells', but there was a second accommodation block marked, one accessible only through the testing facility and via an elevator 'up' to the kitchens and the other utilities.

"Time to split up then," Duo noted.

Mariemaia grabbed his ear. "You're not leaving me behind," she demanded fiercely.

He winced. "No, not you and me. Hero has to go do his part of the secret mission."

A young woman overheard that, gave him a sceptical look and then started giggling as she saw who he was talking to. She tried to hide it behind her hand and gave Duo an encouraging wave when he shot her a beset-upon expression.

"Do I have a part?"

"Yes, and hold steady or you'll fall off." He was using one hand to keep her safe but she was shifting around, still holding onto his ear. "You're helping me." More like hindering, but you don't go breaking a young maiden's heart by telling her such things.

Heero pointed out an airlock near the accommodation block and Duo nodded his understanding.

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

Cima saw no more of the Papua-class ships. Gato was no fool and knew that they had no business straying into range of the Albion's mega particle beam cannon.

As they closed in on the colony, Cima saw the clean lines of the cylinder were distorted by the thrusters. One of the mirrors had been broken somehow. Colonies weren't made to be moved – possibly it had hit some stray debris or a structural member had failed under acceleration the mirror was never designed for.

"We're picking up mobile suits," Bright warned her. "Eighteen of them."

Three full squadrons of Hizacks, Cima thought. The Albion had dealt with a single squadron well enough – this wasn't the start of the war when Federation crews had no idea how to fight against mobile suits and had to develop a whole new doctrine. But eighteen mobile suits…

"Is there any sign of the Gwazine?"

"Nothing."

"This could be her mobile suit complement or Gato might have her covering the other colony and these are from transports," she mused.

"You think he's waiting for us to engage the mobile suits before he outflanks us with the battleship?" asked Ramius.

Cima considered. "No. Delaz might, but Gato is a pilot through and through. He wouldn't rely on a battleship's guns if he could lead mobile suits at us."

"Then it doesn't make any difference," decided the captain. "We attack."

The Albion's engines lit up and Cima saw the main battery begin to move. There wasn't much chance of hitting the Hizacks at this range, she thought, but better some chance than no chance. She moved off to one side, not wanting the Rick Dias caught in a crossfire, and pushed ahead towards the colony. Every Hizack that came after her wasn't swarming the Albion, after all.

Blazing pulses of energy shot out from the cannon and Cima surged after them, using them as a guide to where the Hizacks she couldn't yet see where.

An explosion marked where at least one shot had been luck and then she saw movement, the Hizacks thrusters lighting up the sky as they rushed in, trying to get close enough to use their own weapons against the Albion.

They didn't seem to even notice Cima until she opened fire. Her beam rifle gutted one of them and then took the leg off a second as it tried to evade. Six of them broke off towards her, leaving only nine for the Albion to handle – ten if the one missing a leg got back in the fight.

Six is fine, she thought. Job took down three so I can at least match that. The Rick Dias' vulcan cannon roared, spitting fire at the Hizacks to keep them busy as she stowed the beam rifle and drew a beam sabre.

Get in close, she thought. Force them to worry about hitting each other.

The 55mm rounds from her vulcans had only scored a couple of minor hits so she picked out one Hizack and dived after it. Cannon fire raked through space around her as the enemy pilot drew his own beam sabre. He raised the weapon in a parry but Cima twitched the controls and skipped past him, flicking her sabre out to slash through part of the thruster pack.

Reversing course, she saw two beam rifle shots slash through space where she'd been about to enter. The damaged Hizack was trying to turn but she crashed into it, shoulder first, and slashed away the arm holding its beam sabre.

Swapping the weapon for her beam rifle she gripped the Hizack by its remaining shoulder and used it as a shield while she picked off one of its comrades.

Her unwilling accomplice fired its thrusters, trying to get away, but only sent them into a wild spin. Releasing him, Cima finished the suit off with another shot from her beam rifle and surged out of the explosion at the next nearest Hizack.

It fired at her, twice, missing both times and then she was on it. Grabbing both wrists before it could line up another shot, she forced its arms apart. The Hizack struggled but the Rick Dias was far more powerful. Even her Gelgoog couldn't have done this.

A Hizack tried to come in behind her, avoiding its comrade, but it had forgotten her vulcans. They swivelled on their mount and raked the Hizack, shots tearing through its machinegun and perforating some of the exposed mechanisms around its waistline and in the sensor head.

It was out of action for now, Cima decided, and she used one leg of the Rick Dias to deliver a mighty kick to the Hizack she was holding, smashing the armoured skirt that protected the articulation of its own legs and forcing the smaller mobile suit away. Servos in the Hizack's arms parted and left the suit crippled – with no arms it couldn't use its weapons.

Two Hizacks destroyed, two crippled. The sky around the Albion was alive with tracer fire from its CIWS.

A rocket smashed against the Rick Dias' left arm, blowing the limb in half just below the elbow.

Drawing her beam rifle, Cima broke into evasive manoeuvres. Just two more, she thought.

For a moment light filled her cockpit. Was she dead?

A lance of light reached out from the distance and had engulfed the nearer of the two colonies. Then it was gone – the light and the colony, though the latter was replaced by tumbling wreckage.

"The laser," she realised. Spotting one of the Hizacks that had stopped manoeuvring in the pilot's surprise, she blew it apart with her rifle. Looking for the second she saw it spinning to bring its beam rifle around.

The two beam rifle shots missed each other by what looked like less than a metre. The Hizack's shot hit her rifle, forcing her to throw the damaged weapon away, but her own smashed through the suit's sensor head and down through the torso, setting off the reactor.

Alone, Cima drew the beam pistol and put the Rick Dias into flight towards the Albion. One of the colonies was gone, and whether it was the Gwazine or three Papuas that had been in the area the chances were good that they'd stayed back by the colony and were destroyed with it.

One down, but one still to go.

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

The colony's port was a wash, Duo decided. The station's functions being expanded meant that there were cargos coming in and being unloaded – everything from food and personal effects up to a shipload of life pods.

There were plenty of shuttles there that could be used to carry all the kids, but it was far too busy and far too well guarded. Capturing one would be almost impossible and then Heero would need to get twelve children onto it.

And then there was getting away from Shortbus. A shuttle wasn't going to be fast enough to get away from mobile suits, and there were four Daggers out there with flight packs mounted that would give them even faster acceleration in space.

"What's wrong, Brave?" asked Mariemaia, who was looking out of the window with him. He'd bluffed his way into an observation deck, claiming that the little girl wanted to see the shuttles. That was a kid thing to do, right? He'd certainly snuck off to look out at spacecraft when he was at the orphanage.

"Hero is counting on us for the daring escape," he told her. "I was thinking of using a shuttle but those mobile suits out there would be faster."

"Why can't you use a mobile suit?" she asked.

"I'm not sure how many captured princesses we can get into a mobile suit," he told her. Then he blinked. "Mind you… that gives me an idea. Good work, princess!"

Mariemaia beamed. "Is that my codename?"

"Yep!" He ruffled her hair and chuckled when she pouted and ran her hands through her hair to straighten it again.

Right, how to do this… the airlock was on the inside of the colony so he'd have to get there. Fortunately, there was a route through from the port to the hanger where the Gerbera Tetras had flown out of for practise.

He considered leaving Mariemaia behind and dismissed it. Within five minute she'd be bored and either get attention or get herself hurt somehow. Ports weren't safe for young children and anyone who saw her unattended would know she shouldn't be there. "Hey, Princess. Do you want to ride in a mobile worker?" he asked, pointing out the window at one of the machines carrying out the unloading.

A mobile suit would be better but stealing one of those would draw even more attention.

The mobile workers were stored where he expected and although most were at work, they were too small for their own reactors so several were currently recharging. Duo checked the battery status on them and selected one that had better than seventy percent charge.

He stripped off his jacket – his pilot suit wouldn't seem out of place here and hung it around Mariemaia, with the hem going past her knees. "Put your arms in the sleeves," he told her.

"It's too big," she protested.

"I know, but if anyone spots you then the adventure is over. Trust me, Princess." Once she'd obeyed, he picked her up and tucked her into the cockpit behind the operator's seat. With a bit of luck any casual observer would just think he'd slung his jacket behind the seat and miss that there was a child inside it.

Closing the cockpit, Duo marched – well, waddled – the mobile worker over to the airlock. Smaller than a mobile suit it only had short legs – most of its work was done in microgravity. The lock opened and he headed for the life pods he'd seen earlier.

Mariemaia made interested noises as he crossed the port. There were twelve life pods, all secured to a single pallet in three rows of four. They weren't much more than barrel-shaped rooms with six seats and enough life support to keep that many humans alive for a day or two. One end had a few limited burn thrusters to jet them away from their parent colony or vessel and between those was a tiny airlock, the pod's only entrance.

Reassuring himself that the pods could link up to a standard airlock, Duo used the mobile worker's tool arm to cut two free.

"What are we doing?" Mariemaia asked from behind him.

"You see these?"

"What are they?"

"Tiny little spaceships, Princess."

"Oooh." He heard her move around. "Could I take one to Grandfa'?"

"We'll need to find him first."

"We live in a big house," she told him seriously.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "I'll keep an eye out for it then. Was it on this colony?"

"Nooo?" she said uncertainly. "The scary lady brought me here on a shuttle."

"Well, we'll need a spaceship then."

No one seemed to find anything remotely unusual about a mobile worker picking up two life pods and heading into the inner workings of the colony. Then again, there were several others moving around and Duo had far from the strangest cargo.

The passage through towards the hanger was unlit, presumably to save power because there were multiple light panels along it that had been illuminated when Duo was last here. He switched on the mobile worker's cockpit rather than trying to talk port control into turning on the lights and opened and closed each of the safety barriers using the manual controls. Hopefully that wouldn't draw attention the way the powered controls would. A real colony would have sensors all along the passage, but if that was the case he'd have been spotted anyway. Power surges would definitely draw attention though.

"It's very dark," Mariemaia informed him seriously. "Is this a secret passage?"

"Something like that. Where do you think it ends?"

"Maybe where the other children are?"

"Good guess and very nearly right. We'll have a little further to go though."

Two doors further along he spotted the side passage into the hanger and turned into it. Getting through required activating an airlock and he saw from the indicators that the hanger was pressurised.

There was nothing for it but to risk it. He entered the lock and pressed the mobile worker sized controls to pressurise. Air hissed in and he watched the radio warily. Nothing. Had he got away with it?

Opening the door revealed the answer and it was a no. A po-faced man wielding a clipboard and a loudhailer stared up at him from the ground. "What is the meaning of this?" he shouted up from the floor. "Who sent you here?"

Duo activated his speakers. "Sorry, the main doors are locked and I need to get these outside. I'll be out of your way in five minutes, tops."

"Of course, they're locked, this is a secure area. Who told you to bring life pods here anyway?"

Feigning a sigh, he looked around the hanger. "It's on my work order. Give me a minute, I have it here somewhere…"

"What are you going to do?" Mariemaia asked as he cut the microphone.

Duo spotted what he was looking for, a box that had contained belts of 110mm cannon rounds for the Gerbera Tetras. Whatever they were working on now didn't seem to need them because it was open and obviously empty. "Improvise."

He lowered the life pods to the floor, exciting more anger from the man outside and then lunged forward suddenly with the manipulator arms.

Instead of running away, the man screeched and flung up his hands protectively. Closing the grips gently around the man, Duo picked him up and carried him over to the box. It was easily large enough and the lid was heavy and hinged. Dropping the man inside, clipboard and all, he closed the lid.

Someone would find him eventually, probably.

Mariemaia tugged on his collar. "What did you do?" she asked and Duo realised she couldn't see from behind the seat.

"I put him in the naughty corner," he said, looking around. He froze when he saw what was stood in one of the mobile suit cubicles.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope." He felt a broad grin on his face. "It's time to upgrade our ride!"

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

"I guess the colony laser did its job," Johnny Ridden concluded, looking at the one colony still on course for the Earth. A cloud of debris marked what had probably been the other one. Some of it might still reach the atmosphere but Athrun's hasty calculations suggested that the largest fragments would narrowly miss – a hazard to traffic for a week or two but after that they'd continue tumbling sunwards until eventually Sol devoured them.

"That's the good news." Athrun finished locking down his console and scrambled down out of the cockpit. "The bad news is that there's a ship escorting it, quite a large one."

"Could you ID it?"

"Not without risking getting spotted. The Shrinking Violet isn't really all that stealthy." He dropped out of view.

"Also unarmed but it's rude to dwell on a lady's shortcomings," Ridden added.

"Aiguille Delaz had a battleship," Zechs recalled. "The… Gwazine?"

"That's the one." Ridden scrambled down after Athrun and Zechs gave them a moment or two to clear the ladder before following.

"Do you think the laser will take another shot?" he called down.

"I doubt it!" Athrun shouted back. "We're less than a day from impact and for the last few hours of that, Earth would be backstopping the shot."

"Why isn't your buddy Treize out there?" asked Ridden. "He could have brought a fleet from low orbit or from one of the inner colony clusters."

"Your guess is as good as mine. What matters is, he's not here and we are."

They reached the cargo bay and paused. "So, we need to take out a battleship?"

"Shouldn't be too hard." Ridden jerked his thumb at Zechs. "Char here killed five on his own at Loum. I'm sure he can handle one more."

"Pre-war designs," pointed out Zechs. "They had two point-defence turrets each and no mobile suit escorts. This'll be a little harder."

"It's still more applicable than the rest of us," Athrun pointed out. "Johnny and I should fly cover for you while you take the enemy ship down. I'll try to bluff our way close enough but who knows if that'll work."

Stopping at the Blu Duel, Ridden started to climb up the side. "Agreed. As much as I hate to say it, you're the best man for this job, Aznable."

"Let's do it then."

They'd pre-flighted the three mobile suits extensively before arrival so all Zechs had to do was seal the hatch, strap in and then bring the reactor online. The Strike Noir's cockpit lit up immediately and he checked the tell-tales. All were green.

"I hope you live up to your record," he said to the suit. It was strange – he'd destroyed the previous iteration of the Strike, leaving it a battered and headless wreck on the exterior of A Baoa Qu even as he was forced to eject from the Zeong.

Now he was piloting it into battle himself.

Don't be superstitious, he told himself as the hatch opened and the Strike Rouge exited the ship ahead of him. Less than fifty percent of the Strike was recycled for this one and much of that is the lunar titanium of the armour. It's not as if the White Devil is haunting the cockpit – he's not dead and he's even on our side!

Tucking the wing-like pack close he moved the Strike Noir out of the hatch and followed Athrun out towards the colony. Behind him, the Blu Duel followed him. Zechs tried to ignore the way the armoured suit's railgun tracked him for a moment.

"Nightmare," he heard Athrun transmit on the channel that Delaz's message had provided. "This is Zeus. Do you read me?"

"Zeus, Nightmare. I read you." The voice was grim. "I didn't think you were coming."

"We were delayed," Athrun replied. "If the Federation is using the colony laser, we may not be much help anyway."

"There's a Federation cruiser out there. We assume it's feeding targeting data back to the laser."

Zechs raised an eyebrow. Who would that be? One of the Specials? Maybe Treize was here after all.

"They don't have much of a window to fire the laser again."

"Very little," the Zeon commander – Gato, probably, the codename suggested it was Nightmare of Solomon agreed. "After that the only risk is of them getting onboard and planting charges. We're almost at the point of no return but if they have enough explosives then most of the colony could burn up on re-entry."

The battleship was in view now, twenty mobile suits holding formation around it. It was the Gwazine alright. Not even the Strike Noir's armour could take a hit from the main batteries, but the real threats came from the anti-mobile weapon turrets around its hull.

"One cruiser can only carry so much. Are you sure it's alone?"

"It was only carrying two mobile suits. We assume the rest of the hanger is packed with combat engineers and nuclear demolition charges."

"Only two?" Athrun's voice sounded surprised and Zechs couldn't blame him. Delaz should have had twice this many mobile suits and several Papua carrier/transports. "That's a very small escort."

Gato's voice hit a bitter note. "That's the thinking that cost us two ships and more than twenty mobile suits. Between that mistake and the colony laser, we're all that remains of the Delaz fleet."

"Contact!" another voice shrieked sharply and Zechs rolled his mobile suit reflexively, checking his sensors. "Out of the sun!" The formation around the Gwazine broke up as the mobile suits began their own defensive weaves.

"We won't get a better shot," Ridden snapped on their private channel. "Aznable!"

"On it." He opened the throttle wide, feeling his weight triple, pressing him into his seat as the Strike Noir streaked in towards the Gwazine, ignoring the Delaz mobile suits. Such power! No wonder the Strike had defeated everyone it ever faced!

The battleship itself was turning, guns at maximum elevation but not coming to bear on what Zechs guessed must be the inbound Federation cruiser.

Ridden opened fire with his railgun and the Blu Duel's twin short-barrelled beam rifles. The Crimson Lightning took out three of the enemy mobile suits before anyone realised what was going on.

"You treacherous scum!" Gato roared and dove after them, his suit faster and more agile than those of his cohorts.

For a moment Zechs thought he'd have to break off his attack run but then Athrun was there, the Strike Rouge crashing into Gato's suit – was that a Gelgoog? – shield first. The two suits spun away from each other and then flashed back into a furious engagement, Athrun's more advanced mobile suit barely off-setting Gato's greater skill and experience.

Mega particle beams hissed to life and Zechs jigged aside as Gwazine exchanged shots with the cruiser. Great glowing furrows drove into the battleship's armour but it was by no means a mortal wound. Warships, particularly battleships, carried far thicker armour than any mobile suit could.

That didn't make them invulnerable of course, it was just a matter of picking your spot.

Zechs ejected the wing-like vanes and seized them in each hand, beams of energy forming along the leading edge of each as the Strike Noir's hands locked onto the grips. Longer and far more intense than the similar beam sabres, the anti-shipping beam blades were deadly in the right hands.

His first cut severed one of the forward mega particle beam turrets just ahead of the turret glacis, instantly halving the battleship's forward firepower. Spinning to avoid fire from a secondary turret Zechs casually cut away a sensor mast and then brought the Strike Noir down to a crouch on the Gwazine's dorsal surface. Sparks flew as feet met armoured hull and he brought both blades down to his sides, carving deep into the ship from both sides. Air bled out of the great rents and he ripped them out again, pausing to take out a persistent turret with the 75mm CIWS in his sensor head.

Then he cut again, right where he'd been standing, linking the two cuts.

The Gwazine groaned. The ship was stressed from turning and as he had guessed, it had been years since it had last had dockyard maintenance. With structural members cut through, the great battleship actually began to bend, causing even more damage.

The engines cut out, but the battleship was dying and Gato could see it. The Gelgoog smashed its shield against the Strike Rouge's sensor head and broke away, beam rifle aiming towards Zechs.

He dived the Strike Noir aside, barely missing the first shot. Unlike a beam sabre, the anti-shipping beam swords took a moment to stow – time he didn't have. Zechs discarded them, snatching beam pistols from their mountings…

And then a large mobile suit ploughed out of nowhere and drove the Gelgoog into the side of the Gwazine. It took Zechs a moment to place the design. Wasn't it one of the ceremonial mobile suits he'd seen in broadcasts from Zeon? What was that doing here?

Gato tried to free his mobile suit but the other pilot seemed consumed by a fury, setting weapons aside and simply battering the Gelgoog back, literally embedding it in the hull and batting its arms away every time the ace pilot tried to ready a weapon.

Well. That took care of that. Since he had his beam pistols out anyway, Zechs blew away two more turrets before retrieving his blades.

The hull around the remaining forward turret erupted as a shot from the Federation cruiser smashed through the dedicated reactors that powered the weapon. He saw the Strike Rouge and Blu Duel above him, still engaging the remaining enemy mobile suits – such as remained.

Taking one blade, Zechs thrust it deep into the rent he'd carved in the battleship and then deliberately dragged it backwards, cutting the Gwazine open almost to the core. Life pods began to eject from the forward section as the crew yielded to reality.

The radio crackled to life. "Whoever you are," Gato gasped, voice triumphant. "You're too late. The point of no return… we've reached it. Whatever happens, the colony will reach the Earth now. Sieg Z-"

His voice died along with him as the other mobile suit blew the Gelgoog apart.

"Fuck Zeon," someone said bitterly. A woman, Zeon accent.

"I don't know who you are," Athrun said urgently, the Strike Rouge coming down to join her. "But we brought explosive charges. There may be time."

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

"Duo!" Heero's voice was sharp, but the simple fact he was transmitting sent a jolt through Duo. The only reason to break radio silence was dire emergency, there was no way it could be missed by security. "Where's our exit!"

"Who's Duo?" asked Mariemaia. He'd found a space suit and coaxed her into it even though she was far too small and could barely see out of the helmet.

Firing his thrusters, he flew up the inside of the colony, the airlock in view. "Give me sixty seconds."

Beside suiting up the Mariemaia, he'd also needed to ensure the life pods were ready to use and their controls slaved to his new mobile suit. Fortunately, standard practise was to ship them pre-loaded with everything they would need.

The little girl squealed as the sudden acceleration pulled her down and then she was thrown against her straps as he slowed. "Sorry," he apologised, lifting one of the life pods to the lock. "Heero's in trouble."

"Oh-kay?" she gasped.

He couldn't rush this part. Getting it wrong would be a disaster. Lining up the first life pod carefully he matched its lock to the one in the colony. It looked good and he triggered the airlock, watching the tell-tales repeated on his auxiliary screen. It looked okay.

"Princess," he ordered, "see that screen?" he jabbed it with one finger. "Tell me if anything goes red. Heero, open the lock!"

There was no immediate reply and for a heart-stopping moment he thought he was too late.

Then: "Get in," he heard Heero. "Duo, there's not enough room…"

"I have another!"

"Okay." Muffled noises. "You, you. No, you wait."

"Brave?" Mariemaia asked meekly. "It's not red, but there's a yellow."

He nodded. "Okay. Good for telling me, yellow isn't bad." I hope.

"Close it!" Heero called. There was the crack of gunfire. Sharp retorts from a pistol and the slightly muted blat-blat-blat of a small calibre submachinegun. "Duo! Do it!"

Duo closed the hatch and undocked the life pod, letting it drift away for the moment while he fetched another. "Princess, watch the screen below. Same thing."

He fumbled and barely stopped the life pod before it rammed the wall. Stopped, took a deep breath and tried again, praying to God.

It linked correctly and he opened the door. "Go!"

"In!" There was the sound of feet. More gunfire. "Duo! Close in five and get us clear. One, two…"

"…three, four, five." He stabbed his button on the controls. The doors of the life pod snapped shut and he yanked it away.

The airlock behind it hadn't been closed and air rushed out. So did papers, other oddments and a horrified looking man wearing the uniform of the Specials.

The latter tried to cling to the hatch but there was an explosion and he was flung away, screaming silently as he tumbled towards the colony floor.

"Brave, it's all green."

Oh thank god, I don't think she saw. "Great work, Princess." He grabbed the other life pod, one in each hand and turned the mobile suit around. "Let's go." Opening the throttle, he rushed for the far end of the colony. "Heero, is anyone hurt?"

"Two," the other man said flatly and Duo felt his heart stop for an instant. "Nothing serious, the first aid kit should be enough."

"Don't scare me like that."

"Who is Duo?" Mariemaia asked again.

"That's me, Princess. Heero must have forgotten my codename."

"Oh." She sniffled. "Are we safe now?"

"Not quite." He looked at the sensors. There were heat sources behind him, someone must have reacted promptly and mobilised the mobile suits in port. "Soon."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"And we'll find Grandfa'?"

"I can't promise soon for that, but we'll do that, yeah." He flipped the switches for the weapon system. This probably wouldn't work the way it had for the Queen Mansa back at the Murasame Institute, but if he could just get them pointed the right way then they didn't…

"That feels funny," the girl behind him squeaked.

Duo shook his head, trying to dispel the double vision he was seeing. I don't think it's how it's supposed to work.

What's that behind us?

Light flashing at them but it fell short.

He could feel the confusion of the pilots behind them.

The far end of the colony was approaching. Slowing down would mean getting caught.

They cried out and a blaze of light tore through the wall ahead of them.

"Duo! What are you doing?"

That was Heero. What was he saying?

Four hands reached out and they flung themselves out and into space.

Turning they watched the Daggers following them out of the hole.

Bad men/specials/enemy.

Their wings spread and feathers brushed the two mobile suits away, bursting into fireballs as multiple particle beams devoured them.

Is this like being an angel?

An angel of death, perhaps.

My/our mothers are angels now.

Dead. Angels. I don't want to leave!

"DUO!"

Small hands flipped the weapon selection switches off and Duo gasped in shock at the transition. Beside him, her hands still on the weapon controls, Mariemaia burst into tears.

"I… I'm here." His hands were locked around the throttle and the thruster controls.

Heero exhaled, audible even on radio. "What is that thing? Another Queen Mansa?"

"They called it the Nocturne." Duo adjusted course. They'd need to find the shuttle they'd come on where they'd left it drifting. The life pods wouldn't last until they got home.

"Duo?" Mariemaia looked up at him, eyes red, face stained with snot and tears. "I don't wanna adventure. I want my grandfa'."

"I'll do my best, kid," he promised bleakly. What did this thing do to her? Why didn't I put her in one of the pods? "Sorry for the scare."

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

The engines of the Albion were at full burn as they dragged the cruiser away from the colony's terminal descent.

Scattered around the command deck in whatever seats they could claim, the pilots joined the ship's officers in watching the colony hit the atmosphere, only the ships helmswoman sparing a display screen for the Albion's actual trajectory – and even then, her attention was divided in a way that would have been unforgiveable for any lesser reason.

They'd waited until the last minute to depart, Albion firing its mega particle beams into the sides of the colony and through the great mirrors that jutted out from its sides to allow sunlight in. Under Athrun Zala's direction the salvaged Minovsky reactors had been used to blast holes in the leading end of the colony and then they'd gone back and done it all over again with every scrap of military high explosives the three had brought from Hatte and that Captain Ramius had been able to find aboard the Albion.

Garahau Cima sat silently beside the captain, hollow eyed. It was almost forty-eight hours since she'd last slept and she dreaded the moment when she gave in.

"The trajectory is holding for North America," Bright noted grimly. "Not far west of Chicago."

"Best estimates for damage?"

"Besides another Great Lake?" The lieutenant's flippancy might have drawn criticism but his hands were white as he gripped his chair. "Tens of millions dead. Secondary impacts on one of the most productive agricultural regions on Earth, possibly as far east as the Rustbelt and as far west as some of the Canadian oil fields."

"Food shortages, fuel shortages."

"And Chicago is a hub for transportation," Ramius added. "Who was it who said civilisation was three missed meals from barbarism?"

The leading edge of the colony was beginning to glow. So was the interior as air rushed through the holes they'd made.

"We still have our last shot," Athrun reminded her. "With your permission, captain?"

"Do it."

Turning to the station he'd commandeered, Athrun flipped up a cover and hit the button underneath it. Albion's most powerful radio transmitter surged to life, blasting out the pre-set signal with force that would have blanketed half the Earth if it weren't for the Minovsky particles.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen and then a point of light appeared right at the lower edge of the colony cylinder.

"Aspect change. One degree, two…"

"Two more. Two more," the young pilot pleaded.

"Three degrees," Bright continued. "Still three. No, here it goes -"

The pressure inside the cylinder, despite air leaking out through the expanding rents in the sides of the colony, finally exceeded structural limits and the trailing end blew off.

Simultaneously, the engines of the Shrinking Violet, wedged into the leading edge, blew up. The little ship had never been intended for such temperatures, much less for running its engines at 150% of their design tolerances.

The explosion was enough to finally exceed the tolerances of the leading edge and it broke up as well. Within seconds the walls were splitting and what had once been a single massive object shattered.

"Update that trajectory," Ramius snapped while Johnny Ridden and Char Aznable, direct witnesses of the first colony drop leant forwards hopefully.

"The bulk is still going down – smaller sections." Bright typed frantically, correlating the data from the ship's optical sensors. "Impact site further north, I don't know how much less force…"

"What about the rear end?" Athrun asked. "It's just possible that the air pressure was enough…"

Bright shook his head. "No. It's still coming down."

"Damn! I hoped…"

"It's coming down on the polar ice," the lieutenant told him. "Bad, but direct casualties will be minimal. You've saved millions of lives."

Cima watched the debris raining down, a rain of fire as smaller fragments burned up but even comparatively small sections of the colony were far too large to be destroyed in that fashion.

The first impacts weren't far north of the Great Lakes and they marched north and west as the planet spun, clouds erupting up from each of them, then mushrooming out over central Canada. Green and brown were replaced by black smoke, laced with fiery orange.

The violation of the planet below stretched up north into the pristine ice.

And then, finally, the aft section hit. A triangle of ice north of the Bering Straits vaporised as the red-hot metal came down, white steam obliterating their view of a region that entire countries could have been lost within.

"That much dirt and water vapour in the air, it'll mean clouds across most of the Northern hemisphere for weeks, perhaps months" Bright told them with resignation. "Rain, storms. No sun for crops to ripen. It's better than it could have been… but it's going to touch everyone on Earth."

"And they'll demand retribution." Johnny Ridden's face was painted in reflected light from the monitors. "They'll vent their hatred on the colonies… and they have the colony laser to enforce their demands, whatever they may be."

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

The shuttle was a badly needed refuge, at least for Heero, who more or less passed out on a seat once all the kids and a computer memory core were aboard.

That, of course, was when Duo found out that his friend was one of the two wounded and while one of them was Four having skinned her knee somehow – bloody but superficial – Heero had a bullet in the fleshy part of his calf.

"Is he going to die?" Mariemaia asked fearfully, setting off a ripple of whispering and wide-eyed stares from the other children. In a way he'd have preferred tears, at least it would have been more ordinary.

"Not tonight."

The shuttle wasn't under power – he'd simply grabbed it with the Nocturne and pushed them both into a ballistic trajectory towards Sol-Earth Two. There was enough traffic – and for that matter, an entire colony – between them and Shortbus that he thought there was a good chance no one had spotted them. They wouldn't get anywhere all that fast, except out of the area, but further action could wait until there were two pilots to work with.

Rubbing his forehead, Duo looked around. "Okay, kids. All of you head down at the far end of the cabin. You don't have to sleep but be quiet for the sake of those who do. Princess, you go with them."

The girl seemed about to protest so he gave her a lopsided smile. "If no one's taken it away, one of them has a harmonica."

"What's a harmonica?"

Four produced the instrument in question and the demonstration was completely against the spirit of his earlier instruction to 'be quiet', but he'd never had much hope for that one.

Stripping Heero out of his pilot suit meant taking off the temporary bandage he'd applied over it. The wound was still bleeding, which didn't surprise Duo very much. In the absence of knowing if Heero had administered an anaesthetic, he didn't dare use more so he rolled up some gauze and jammed it between his friend's teeth before probing the wound with some forceps.

Five excruciating minutes later he'd removed the bullet. Dropping it in one of the plastic bags from the medical kit – although there was no good reason he could think of that they might need the thing - he looked up and saw Heero's eyes open. One had lost its contact lens, leaving him an unsettling heterochromatic gaze.

"Did we run out of painkillers?" he asked bluntly.

"I didn't know if you'd taken anything already."

"Only an idiot self-medicates."

"Only an idiot wouldn't tell me straight away that he was one of the people who'd been hurt. That was not 'nothing serious', Heero."

"There wasn't anything either of us could do, until now." He paused. "Also, thanks."

"You're welcome." Duo found one of the pre-loaded injectors and jabbed it into Heero's leg, as near to the wound as he could. After a moment his friend relaxed and Duo removed the needle and started rebandaging the wound. "What did you bring the computer for?"

The other man shrugged. "They had a terminal plugged into it and some of the data was marked as Hibiki's. It seemed worth a chance."

"Ah." He patted Heero on the shoulder. "Good luck with that. Now get some sleep. We'll need another pilot sooner or later so I'd rather you recover your strength quickly."

After making sure his friend was comfortable, Duo went forward past the children and checked the shuttle's situation. Everything seemed stable – they were away from any regular lines and as far as he could tell, no one was coming after them with every weapon at the disposals of the Specials.

Much to his surprise, some of the kids were drifting off when he got back, harmonica efforts or otherwise. Mariemaia was one of them, mumbling "Brave," and then screwing her eyes closed and burrowing under the blanket he tucked around her. Fortunately, he'd thought ahead and added extra bunks to the already cramped living quarters during their frantic preparations for the mission. The kids were sometimes three to a bed, but they all had somewhere to sleep.

Four looked at him seriously – too seriously – as he straightened up. "Is she like us?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe." He sat down facing her, cross-legged on the floor. "Did they ever put you in that mobile suit?"

"The Queen Mansa?" She nodded solemnly.

"I meant the new one, but I guess it might be the same?"

Four blinked. "New one?"

"The one I… you never saw it, right. I stole a mobile suit from them. It looked a lot of the Queen Mansa. Had lots of little flying things with beam weapons, drones of some kind…"

"Funnels."

"Is that what they're called? When we were flying out of here, I tried activating the weapon systems. I think we used them to destroy to Daggers. I… it's hazy. I'm not sure I was in my right mind."

Four leant forwards and tried to give him a comforting hug. The sentiment came across, even if the size differential clearly wasn't what she was used to. "The doctors said we were out of our minds," she explained less than clearly. "That it took time to get back inside."

"Out of your minds." He rubbed his head. "That… I think Mariemaia – Princess – was controlling them with me."

The girl facing him paled. "They tried putting two of us in the Queen Mansa once," she said. "They didn't come back and the doctors were very angry."

Duo flinched. "Ah. I… suppose we were very lucky then."

She nodded again.

"Anyway, get some sleep. We'll be out here a few days."

Four found another blanket and a corner to curl up in while Duo headed back to where Heero was snoring softly. He'd have loved to take his own advice but someone responsible had to stay awake and right now that meant him.

Oh god, he was the responsible one. They were all doomed.

In an effort to stave off sleep he pulled out his laptop and plugged it into the memory core. "May as well try to get an idea what's on here," he muttered. "At least I can save Heero some time."

{MSG AC/CE/UC}

Relena knocked on the door to the governor's office and almost walked in without waiting for a response. That had been her custom for years, since there wouldn't be a governor within to invite her in. She caught herself this time – the room wasn't Artesia Som Deikun's anymore.

"Come in," she heard and on pushing the door open she saw Dorothy Catalonia stood at the desk, wearing a pilot suit. "Ah, Lieutenant Mass, you almost missed me."

"You're taking a mobile suit out?" she asked.

"Yes, General Khrushrenada has arrived along with a number of the new Calamity suits. I'll be able to get an hour or two of practise every day." The young captain smiled with some excitement. "Have you ever tried piloting a mobile suit, lieutenant?"

"Once, aptitude testing during the War. I didn't have any, so that was it."

"Unfortunate for you. It's… invigorating to have such power answering to your commands." Dorothy's smile was almost… inappropriately excited. "But you came here on business. Not more paperwork."

"An update from Earth," Relena said. "The water levels are still rising. The Senate are discussing relocating from Dakar, given its coastal location."

"Have they decided on where?"

"Not so far, ma'am."

Dorothy shrugged, her hair shaking behind her. "Perhaps when the water is ankle deep, they'll be motivated to come to an agreement on that matter."

"The Federation Agricultural ministry is shifting their offices to the Zahn colonies, however. They apparently had a waterfront location." Moving the offices would be disruptive, right when Earth's agricultural sector was in chaos.

"That's going to be an important department for the next year or so. Which colony will be housing them?"

"Apparently they're taking over parts of Babylon Station." The Federation's use for diplomats was on the decline, Relena thought sadly. "Jaburo was also offered but apparently General Jamitov's vicinity is more appealing than that of the military high command."

Dorothy gave her a look and then laughed serenely. "Perhaps appointing a new Marshal will raise the regular armed forces' status," she suggested. "Or some victories. Speaking of the regular military…"

"Ma'am?"

Dorothy stretched. "You and Captain Ramius are on good terms, I believe?"

"Yes. We served together and meet when her duties bring her here."

"I'm sorry to inform you that the Albion is overdue to arrive at Luna."

Relena swallowed. "Have there been any signals? Or any news from other ships?"

"Not at all. It's quite concerning. A cruiser going missing may seem like a small thing but combined with recent events... Well, perhaps it's just a minor deviation from schedule. Did Captain Ramius mention any engine problems or similar."

"No, ma'am. She's very proud of the Albion."

Dorothy nodded her head. "I'm sure the facts will come to light soon. Have you given any thought to joining the Specials, by the way? Now that the governor is no longer here, she hardly needs a military attaché but you've more than justified your presence. It would just be more… regular if we were in the same chain of command."

"I can understand that, captain."

"If it's any inducement, there'd almost certainly be a promotion in the future for you. A medical career is all very well but you're making a real difference here for the security of the Federation. General Khrushrenada advised me I can expect to be a major in the next week or two as our presence here in Zeon increases."

"You make a good point," Relena agreed, forcing a smile on her face. "And military discharges have been frozen for the duration of the crisis so it's not as if I can go back to school right now."

"Give it some thought," Dorothy ordered her and headed for the door. "Now I have a few weeks of rust to knock off my skills."

"I'll be sure to do that." She followed the Specials captain out, mind racing. There were already investigations going on about Artesia's associates, which would reach her sooner or later. If someone started looking at people about Captain Ramius then her name would have come up a second time.

Once Federation intelligence start poking into my past then my cover won't hold forever, she realised. My time's up – the only question is how to best get out of here.