Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Revolution
Book Two: Part Eleven
Lt. Noin felt odd as the dark brown haired woman pulled on one of the flight suits the colony forces used, the simple black cloth garment hugging her body. The rank insignia of a Lieutenant was also on the collar, a courtesy given to her by her former captors. She felt certain they wouldn't let her actually command troops, not until she proved her loyalty to them.
"You look good," Sally Po told her, sitting on the bed in the quarters that they shared. Her usual twin braids fell to her full breasts, the clothes she wore a little worn. "Do you mind that I offered to work on the medical side?" she asked her former commander quietly.
"No," Noin shook her head as she told her honestly, "they could use the doctors right now." She smiled wryly as she added, "I will miss you watching my back."
"You'll have the Gundams watching it," Sally told her with a warm smile, "I think that'll more than make up for it."
After saying goodbye Noin headed off with a slight smile, the halls busy with people going on or off duty. The colony was constantly busy with the war on, and in the days since Noin had been freed she'd worked to master the complex inner layout. Now with the ease of a resident she made her way from residential to the military section, arriving at the briefing room right on time.
"Noin," Juri Arsiugawa gave her a neutral smile as she came in, the orange haired woman adding, "welcome aboard."
"Thank you," Noin smiled back politely even as she sat down and took a look at the pilots around the room. There was Arisugawa, Maxwell Duo and Trowa Barton, all sitting rather casually. Several more nervous colony pilots were sitting behind them, and Quatre Winner was standing up front, ready to give the morning briefing.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Lt. Noin," Quatre introduced her as the blond haired boy said, "formerly of OZ. Before any of you try to tar and feather her you should know that she had a clean record for a OZ soldier and had in several incidents reigned in her more extreme colleagues. We're lucky to have her, so treat her fairly."
Noin felt the others' questioning gazes on her but looked straight ahead. "Thank you, sir," she said respectfully to him.
"All right," Quatre moved on to the briefing, "the last sighting of Gundam Epyon was two days ago. It seems to have stopped hunting OZ mobile suits, but where it is now is unknown."
Juri tilted her head to the side, "Gundams have a good range on them, but they can't go on forever. Is she resupplying somewhere?"
"Where at, though?" Duo asked, adding sarcastically "Une blew up Fortress Barge and I really doubt Dorothy would resupply her."
Noin felt like a traitor, but she made herself say, "When OZ was planning to move against the colonies, we built small supply stations covertly." Everyone looked at her as she added, "Most common troopers didn't know, I'm not even sure Catalonia was informed. But Lady Une would have been high enough in OZ to find out...."
"Damn," Duo blinked.
Trowa looked over at her thoughtfully as the brown haired young man asked her, "Do you know where these stations are?"
"Roughly," Noin admitted, "I know where they were supposed to be from conversations with Zechs back when this was in the planning stage. I don't know for certain if they were moved after they were built, for instance."
Quatre nodded, "Either way, it's useful information. Can you pass the rough locations on to intelligence after the meeting? We might send some Leos to investigate."
"Will do," Noin said, firmly squelching her feeling of betraying her comrades. 'Dorothy tried to murder you,' she silently reminded herself, 'and OZ no longer stands for anything you want to be involved with.'
"Dorothy Catalonia's survivors from Fortress Barge are still holding L1-BO4467," Quatre said seriously, "but plans are underway to change that." He smiled impishly at Noin, "I understand you want a shot at Dorothy?"
"Please," Noin smiled ferally.
"You'll be involved in our ops plan once a go decision is reached," Quatre nodded. He sighed as he conceded, "It's going to be messy no matter what we do." He continued somewhat more briskly, "Standard patrols for flight crews, Trowa and Duo are our reserve."
"I hate being the reserve," Duo muttered under his breath, "it means sittin' still waiting to bolt in to help whoever needs it."
"Someone has to do it," Trowa shrugged philosophically.
"Heh," Quatre hid a smile at their reactions before he looked at Noin, "Howard wants to see you before you check out a Mobile Suit, see him after you check in with the Intelligence team."
"Yes sir," Noin nodded as the meeting broke up.
The meeting with Intelligence took longer than it should, the group of spooks grilling her on any space based OZ operations that she might know about. It took her nearly a half an hour to get free, and only then because she finally convinced them of her lack of further data. Behind schedule Noin made her way to the outer edge of the colony, eventually reaching the massive docking bays were the salvaged Mobile Suits were kept.
The colony pilots had been well aware of the tactical disadvantages they faced, especially the lack of Mobile Suits. As much as possible they had disabled rather than destroyed enemy Leos and captured them, towing them home either to be repaired or to be used as spare parts for other suits. The colonies were gradually building up a tidy little army, though admittedly still dwarfed by the size of the Earth's forces.
Floating through the pressurized bay Noin quickly found the head of the colony's engineers, Howard. The bald headed man commanded things with a astonishing ease, directing the efforts of multiple teams arming one suit, repairing another and a third organizing supplies for the next job.
Drifting as close to the ball of chaos as she could Noin fired off a salute as she said, "Lt. Noin, reporting as ordered."
Howard turned, his bald head and sunglasses gleaming as the Hawaiian shirt clad man noted, "I figured you'd be here sooner."
"I was unavoidably detained by Intelligence," Noin said dryly.
"Intelligence?!" Howard scoffed, "They couldn't find their asses with both hands."
Noin had to bit back a smile as she said agreeably, "If you say so,."
Howard pushed off effortlessly from a wall as he said, "Follow me."
Noin followed him, the two of them drifting by various Leos, some in good shape, others damaged in battle. A few space configured Taurus' suits were there too, and Noin found herself wondering if she might be piloting one. "Where are we...?" she started to ask.
"Just ahead," Howard shushed her as they neared the end of the bay.
They drifted past another suit and Noin's eyes widened as she took in the familiar looking knightly figure that rested in the shadow of that last suit. The armor gleamed silver in the lights, unmarred by damage and looking like it just rolled off a assembly line.
"It's a Tallgeese," Noin breathed out.
Howard smiled smugly as he said, "It's your Tallgeese, actually." As Noin looked at him in surprise he shrugged casually, "Well, we recovered it mostly intact, after Dorothy sprung her little booby trap on you so it was easier to repair."
"Booby trap?" Noin echoed dangerously, not having head this before.
"No one told you?" Howard looked surprised. "When Dorothy fired on you she also triggered a device in your suit's electrical system. It gave your suit what effectively amounted to a stroke, I presume because she did not want to face you in a fair fight."
"That's just her style," Noin conceded. She knew she should be doubting him but she knew it was just the sort of thing Dorothy Catalonia would do.
"Anyway," Howard waved that off, "we captured her intact, and except for having to rip out a lot of the electrical system she didn't take much repairs. We swapped out systems where we had a better device available and purged the software to make sure there were no bombs hidden there. Other than that, she's good as new."
"And she's mine again?" Noin had to ask, not sure if she believed the good fortune.
"No," Howards lied, "I hauled you out here to just taunt you." He grinned as he slapped her back, nearly sending them both spinning in zero gravity, "She's yours if you want her."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Miliardo Peacecraft hovered in orbit of colony L1-BO4467, waiting as patiently as he could for his allies to arrive. They had launched from the colony headquarters a few days ago, but they had to be careful not to alert scouts sent out by OZ.
An alarm chimed and Miliardo smiled slightly as he murmured, "They're here."
The twenty or so suits weren't a large force, but for the colonies it was a impressive military commitment. Even more so was the Gundam that lead them, the Shen-Long piloted by Wu-Fei. The young Asian boy's face appeared on the screen as he smiled coldly and said, "Sorry we were late, Zechs. We ran into a bit of trouble."
"What happened?" Miliardo asked, concerned their operation might be spoiled. He wasn't worried about them so much, but for the colonists who would be killed.
"Don't worry," Wu-Fei actually grinned, "we intercepted some reinforcements bound for here, some of those damn remote control Mobile Suits OZ is working on. We destroyed them all."
"Good," Zechs smiled. The odds were going to be close even with his Tallgeese and the Gundam, they didn't need to add any more wild cards. "I'll signal our operatives within to get into position," Miliardo pressed a button on his control board sending out a seemingly random burst of static, "we'll move in when they signal they're ready."
"Understood," Wu-Fei signaled his men to spread out via a simple hand gesture. He looked at Miliardo thoughtfully, "You think this plan will actually work?:
"It will," Miliardo answered, "if we have to, we'll make it work. I refuse to leave these innocents in the hands of butchers any longer."
Wu-Fei gave him a look that could almost be called respectful, "You've changed, Zechs."
Miliardo shook his head, "No, I just never let people see this side of me before." He bared his teeth in what could be charitably called a smile, "And my name is Miliardo."
Wu-Fei nodded slightly, "Fair enough."
A soft chirp came from Miliardo's controls and he smiled much more naturally. "That's the signal," he said as he powered up his Tallgeese, "let's go!"
The Tallgeese rocketed off, instantly drawing the attention of the patroling enemy Leos, the undam and it's allies following behind. In moments battle was joined, weapons blazing as a furious dogfight broke out. The outside pilots frantically called for help, unaware that their comrades inside the colony had their own problems....
To be continued!
