Gundam Wing: War in A.C. 200
a Gundam Wing Fanfiction
by Torankusu Senshi
Chapter 8: And so it all Began
The battle for the L2 Colony Cluster was raging as hard as any other battle currently going on.
A half an hour ago, 400,000 Alien warships had descended upon the entire cluster, deploying their mobile suits. The E.S.U.N.AF. Forces had been lying in wait, and now that the enemy had arrived, the battle had began. There was not a single space in the thousands of miles of cluster unoccupied by the battle. Mobile suits clashed everywhere, it was a scene from the pits of hell. The calm starry backdrop, and the sereneness of space seemed somehow out of place with the War now being waged. The death of Human pilots was substantial, and it was only getting worse.
Two of the colonies had already been destroyed. The protective domes on four other had been cracked, and war now raged on the civilian streets. Taurus and Leo mobile suits pounded beam blast after beam blast ineffectively into the hordes of the enemy. It all seemed futile, for no matter how many they destroyed, more only arose to take their place.
Two Taurus suits had taken up a post in front of a War shelter in the D-24823Y Colony, almost at the center of the maelstrom. The shelter was housing many innocents, where they had fled to after the colony dome had been shattered by the beam attack of one of the warships. For almost twenty heartstopping minutes, the two brave Taurus suits did their best to protect the innocent people, despite orders from their squadron commander to abort their unassigned post and begin bombing runs on one of the warships. Their spirits, however, could not bring themselves to leave the people alone to die. So they fought.
Eventually, a squadron of Tentacle Suits descended upon the two insurbodinate suits, and they as well the millions of innocent people in the many mile long shelter died.
Even as Zecchs watched, a colony about a thousand kilometers to the side exploded brilliantly, sending shrapnel all over the battlefield and painting the black ofouter space red. A whole colony. 2 billion people, all of whom just lost their lives in an instant. Damned aliens.
Mobile Suit Tallgeese III lifted up it's mega cannon, and a massive beam of yellow hell sprang out from it. The beam speared one of the warships through the center, and a moment later, it exploded brilliantly. Before the explosion had even begun to settle, or Zecchs had had the time to celebrate his victory, an Angel mobile suit was on him. His hands flying over the cockpit controls, the Tallgeese's mighty left arm swung in an upward arc, bisecting the thing from shoulder to waist.
No time to think, before the suit even exploded, Tallgeese had used the full power of it's blue retro flames to leap above the explosion, and the two mobile suits behind to have to stop their supposedly surprise attack. The two Tentacles turned to look up at their ascended foe, but all they see was bright yellow, as if they were staring into the heart of a sun.
Before the aliens could wonder what happened, both suits exploded.
This had been going on for a half an hour. It was a constant test, his reflexes, and truthfully his entire system had been working at it's highest skill for that much time. He didn't know how much more of it he could take, especially since the enemy seemed not to be slowing down or diminishing in any way.
The only thing that fueled him was the thought that these bastards had taken Noin from him.
Turning his mobile suit to get a look around the field, what Zecchs saw was not good. Eveywhere near all the colonies, mobile suits were being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the enemy. And those damn warships weren't helping matters, contributed their massive firepower to the destruction of one colony after another. The Cluster was such a mess that the escape shuttles, of which there had been thousands, had been reduced to dozens, and from his statistic report, that number was falling.
This was hopeless. Men were dying for nothing.
Mobile Suit Tallgeese once again brought it's giant mega cannon up, it's white gloss gleaming with the distant light of the sun reflecting off it's titanium surface. Once again, the beam of yellow megadeath shot out from the muzzle, impaling and destroying another alien warship. He didn't even know how much charge the big gun had left, but he knew it must have been low after half an hour of constanf firings. Those warships were dangerous and well armed, true, but single shots from his mega cannon seemed to suffice.
After destroying another Tentacle with his beam saber, Zecchs came to a decision. It was hard, and he had not come to it lightly. He still wanted to meet Noin, but all that would be impossible if he died. Plus, he could not under good conscience keep this men in here, just to die.
With a quick flip of a switch, he had keyed his comm unit to wide range broadcast, and spoke up in his most commanding tone:
"All Earth Sphere United Nation Armed Forces, abort the battle. Repeat, the battle is lost. Get out of here."
Not wanting to hear the replies of the sure to be angry soldiers, he turned off wide broadcast and back to normal comm mode.
All mobile suits began to pull away from their respective battles, wearily. The battle had taken it's toll.
However, before Zecchs even had the chance to began pulling out himself, more beams of light entered the fray. Within seconds, he saw hundreds of alien mobile suits explode brightly, and many warships become holed with the beams.
He spun his suit around, wondering what the hell could be happening at the moment. And was greeted by the arrival of more suits.
The Magonac Corps had arrived on the battlefield.
Rasid's voice came over the comm, strong and commanding: "No need to give up yet, Zecchs. We fight until it's over."
Without even waiting to hear a response from their commander, thousands of voices yelled their approval. They would not give up their home without a fight.
And so the battle for the L2 Colony Cluster began anew. With a tight smile, Zecchs nodded to the image of Rasid.
And the Mobile Suit Tallgeese III launched itself back into the fray.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Relena Peacecraft stood, once again, as much as she might hate it, in th E.S.U.N.A.F. War Room. The Room, large as it was, was almost overflowing with people. Technicians, aids, messengers, and the newly appointed Admirals all filled the place, all working to the war effort. Another War Room was in construction, but that one was on the other hemisphere, and the things did take a while to build. So, for the moment, the entire War effort was concentrated in here.
She stood off by the corner, dressed in simple, black garments. She had witnessed this same scene countless times before, during the Eve War. She had never enjoyed it then, and it infuriated her even more now to know she was one of those who had brought this about. Relena knew this was necessary, knew nothing else could be done, but she despised it, anyway.
With a mix of horror and fury, she listened to the messengers screaming up to the second war reports to each other:
"Magonac Corps have arrived on the battlefield of the L2 Cluster! All remaining Earth Sphere Forces now engaging Alien Force. Situation Critical!"
"L5 Cluster is under attack. Human Forces en route. ETA approximately 5 minutes. Damage until the arrival of E.S.U.N.A.F, estimated to be the loss of 2 colonies."
"Human forces at the L3 Colony Cluster are being pushed back. 9 colonies have been destroyed, another 7 are currently under attack. Human forces are using the last colonies as their stand point."
"War Time: 7 hours, 26 minutes. Human Losses: 16 colonies, 750,000 estimated mobile suit casualties. Total loss of human life..."
Relena didn't want to hear the next one, but could hardly just turn away. It was as if she had to listen, to somehow honor the deaths of those that had died.
"Total loss of human life during 7 hours of warfare expectd to be 34 billion, and rising."
She felt sick. She could vaguely feel herself sliding down the wall, and grasping her stomach. But she could only think about that. 34 billion lives, wasted, for nothing but another war.....
"Sir! Alien Flagship has departed from all other fleets and is heading directly for Colony X-18999!"
Relena almost threw up. That was where the Gundam pilots where, even the injured Trowa.
"Sir, the Wing Zero is leading the mobile suit forces of the flaghsip!"
She couldn't take anymore. She didn't want to hear this. They were all doomed, and that was that. Even now, only seven hours into the War, they had practically lost all colony clusters besides the ones at the Event Horizon. So many people had died, so many. And now, her friends at X-18999 would face Heero.....and that fifteen mile long flagship.
She stormed out of the War Room, much to the chagrin of the officers nearby, and ran.
She ran, and she ran. She ran until she reached a section of corridor that was empty, and thereby was devoid of witnesses. She leaned her back against the cold metal wall, and prepared herself for the onslaught of tears that was sure to come.
"Ms. Relena, are you okay?"
Slowly, Relena turned her head up to face the intruder of her personal thoughts. And who would stand there, but Dorothy Catalonia, dressed in the simple brown clothes that had earned her reknown during the Eve Wars, as the second in command of her brother, Zecchs Merquise. With a quick wiping off her unformed tears from her eyes by her shirtcuff, she stood a bit straightet to come eye to eye with the taller woman.
"No, Dorothy. The Gundam Pilots are all going to die. Heero and that mothership are heading for them, at colony X-18999."
She had no idea what made her say that. Perhaps it was just the fact tha Dorothy, for all her faults, seemed trustworthy enough, especially since she had adopted Marameiya Khushrenada. But Relena had never been able to get over the girl's old love of warfare, even though Dorothy seemed over that now, it had made enough of a longlasting impression on her to think twice about anything.
Even now, as the woman across from her seemed to digest the new information, her eyes were a mystery. They seemed to be deep pools, containg some important knowledge. But of what, Relena had no idea.
"Then that is where we must go, Ms. Relena."
Relena's eyes widened. "What?"
The woman seemed to scowl in impatience. "We don't have time for this, Ms. Relena. You are needed at the battlefield, you know this. You shouldn't be sitting here in this War Room, where you can do nothing. Out there, we can help."
Relena stared at the girl for a few tense moments. Then, she answered, simply:
"Okay.Let's go."
____________________________________________________________________________________
Lucrezia Noin leaned against the cold bulkhead, sighing. It had been days since she had awoke in this place, this prison. It lacked bars, maybe, but the nearly empty room was just as bad, posessing only a cold metal shelf, and a giant viewport. All too often during the course of the past few days she had looked at that viewport, at the Alien Force before them. Over the past few days, that force had broken up, and headed to the barely visible colony clusters in the distance. She could still see the distant points and spears of light that made up the distant battles, but unfortunately, she couldn't tell simply by the fireworks sho was winning. She hoped it was Zecchs.
"Impressive, isn't it?"
She turned reluctantly from the viewport to look at her only comrade in here, Private Akira Tomino. The boy was just that, young and slim looking. He did, in fact, remind her very much of a young Heero, around five years ago, the last time she had seen him.
The young man posessed that same quiet air. She had gathered some of his past, and couldn't blame him. After all, the boy had been forced to watch as the only home he had ever known be destroyed, and had been subsequently captured by the aliens. If she were him, she wasn't sure what she would do. But, then again, she has lost Zecchs, she might never see him again.......that thought made her feel even colder than the metal behind her.
"Liuetenant? Are you there?" Akira eyed the woman curiously. She was beautiful, that was sure, without a doubt. She seemed constantly preoccupied with something, though. It had gotten in his way of trying to befriend her. Over the course of the past few days, he had shared maybe 6 conversations with her. What little he had managed to gather was that the Preventers had been destroyed, and she knew the Lightning Baron extremely well. Which was a disconcerting fact in and of itself.
She answered, a little distracted tone to her voice. "Yeah, a million warships destroying our Home is wonderful." There was no mistaking the sarcastic edge in her voice.
Ouch. Akira guessed he deserved that, it had been a stupid question.
Score: Akira zip, Zecchs one.
Which he knew was dumb. There was know way an out of Sphere kid like him could possibly measure up to the noble and great Zecchs Merquise. But she was beautiful, and he'd be damned if he didn't try....
Of course, if Zecchs felt the same way about her, there was the little matter of the Lightning Baron coming after him in that Tallgeese. Which might not go too well......
At that moment, the small metal shelf rang.
The both sprung up and ran to it quickly. A portion of the shelf flipped open to reveal dinner. They were fed twice a day, as well as they could figure.
The stuff was the same every day, a greenish badge goop that looked about as good for them as Ebola.
They took their respective bowls and walked to their own corners, intent on eating while watching the battles as best they could. As soon as the two had settled themselves into the metal floor, as best as possible, they were interupted.
By the massive form of the Gundam Wing Zero flying righy by the viewport.
So maybe interupted had been a bad way to describe it. The both of them almost dropped their food, and turned to stare at each other, quietly.
Noin said it, in a somewhat personal way that again made Akira wonder: "Heero?"
And they ate quicker than they ever had before. Neither wanted to voice it, but both were certain that something was about to happen. And they wanted to be damn ready for it, when it happened.
Liuetenant Lucrezia Noin and Private Akira Tomino. Prisoners aboard an Alien vessel. Comrades in arms. Despite the rough start, they would get closer.Circumstances would force it.
And one would die for the other.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The IV units flatlined. From her position in the hospital's remote room, the nurse gasped. Within the minute, she had run up to the room where the machines had flatlined, only stopping to call for help on the way. The nurse reached the room, and was shocked at what lay before her eyes:
Trowa Barton stood tall, his slim but cut muscles clearly defined against the small hospital gown. He was finishing undoing the straps of his wrists, and turned to look at the nurse. She almost flinched, that gaze was so dead, and at the same time, so intense, that it almost hurt to have it turned on her. The enigmatic man spoke.
"I'm leaving."
And she knew there as nothing she could do to stop him. She could only nod.
And so it came that Trowa Barton would enter the fight.
And his choice was mere hours away.
A choice that would shake the very destiny of Humanity, or destroy it.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Liuetenant Slade stared out over the mobile suit Hangar of the E.S.U.N.A.F. Base. It was cavernous, and housed thousands of mobile suits, all in various stages of construction or reconstruction. Technicians buzzed around from each to each, resembling nothing more than some demented insect colony. Nothing brought out the efficiency and dedication of Humanity moreso than War, or so Slade believed.
However, the technicians at work on the giant Mobile Suits were not his concern. The mobile suit directly across from the viewing platform was.
It stood 17 meters tall, and gleamed of whit and black armor titanium armor. It's menacing form was bristling with all sorts of weaponry. Beam sabers on the inside of each forearm, two beam rifles holstered to the waist like some kind of gunman, and on the wrists small gatling beam guns, newly invented. It had a somewhat spikey form, as if it was more of a suit of armor than a mobile suit. The head was outfitted with the latesy in sensors, and the visage resembled a suit from the past, the Epyon. It was all white,w ith exception of the black arms and legs. On the back rested a giant Mega Beam Cannon, one whose output rivaled, if not exceeded, the one found on the Tallgeese III.
A small technician came up to Slade, obviously proud of himself.
"There she is, sir. The Mobile Suit Zeus. I dare say that she's a match, if not better, than the Gundams."
Slade nodded. "How long?"
"Give her another ten minutes to prep, and she'll be ready to go. Take care of this one, sir, it's the last Gundam-class suit the United Nation can afford, or have the resources for."
Slade begin walking away. "Have the carrier ready to bring me to X-18999."
And, thinking of the Zeus, Slade smiled.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Thus events descended upon Colony X-18999. Many things would occur, things upon which Humanity would live on or be broken.
A love would be remade.
A choice was to be decided.
A Great Warrior would die, and another would be born.
Colony X-18999. Not the final battle of the Alien War, but in some ways, the most significant.
_________________________________________________________________________________
a Gundam Wing Fanfiction
by Torankusu Senshi
Chapter 8: And so it all Began
The battle for the L2 Colony Cluster was raging as hard as any other battle currently going on.
A half an hour ago, 400,000 Alien warships had descended upon the entire cluster, deploying their mobile suits. The E.S.U.N.AF. Forces had been lying in wait, and now that the enemy had arrived, the battle had began. There was not a single space in the thousands of miles of cluster unoccupied by the battle. Mobile suits clashed everywhere, it was a scene from the pits of hell. The calm starry backdrop, and the sereneness of space seemed somehow out of place with the War now being waged. The death of Human pilots was substantial, and it was only getting worse.
Two of the colonies had already been destroyed. The protective domes on four other had been cracked, and war now raged on the civilian streets. Taurus and Leo mobile suits pounded beam blast after beam blast ineffectively into the hordes of the enemy. It all seemed futile, for no matter how many they destroyed, more only arose to take their place.
Two Taurus suits had taken up a post in front of a War shelter in the D-24823Y Colony, almost at the center of the maelstrom. The shelter was housing many innocents, where they had fled to after the colony dome had been shattered by the beam attack of one of the warships. For almost twenty heartstopping minutes, the two brave Taurus suits did their best to protect the innocent people, despite orders from their squadron commander to abort their unassigned post and begin bombing runs on one of the warships. Their spirits, however, could not bring themselves to leave the people alone to die. So they fought.
Eventually, a squadron of Tentacle Suits descended upon the two insurbodinate suits, and they as well the millions of innocent people in the many mile long shelter died.
Even as Zecchs watched, a colony about a thousand kilometers to the side exploded brilliantly, sending shrapnel all over the battlefield and painting the black ofouter space red. A whole colony. 2 billion people, all of whom just lost their lives in an instant. Damned aliens.
Mobile Suit Tallgeese III lifted up it's mega cannon, and a massive beam of yellow hell sprang out from it. The beam speared one of the warships through the center, and a moment later, it exploded brilliantly. Before the explosion had even begun to settle, or Zecchs had had the time to celebrate his victory, an Angel mobile suit was on him. His hands flying over the cockpit controls, the Tallgeese's mighty left arm swung in an upward arc, bisecting the thing from shoulder to waist.
No time to think, before the suit even exploded, Tallgeese had used the full power of it's blue retro flames to leap above the explosion, and the two mobile suits behind to have to stop their supposedly surprise attack. The two Tentacles turned to look up at their ascended foe, but all they see was bright yellow, as if they were staring into the heart of a sun.
Before the aliens could wonder what happened, both suits exploded.
This had been going on for a half an hour. It was a constant test, his reflexes, and truthfully his entire system had been working at it's highest skill for that much time. He didn't know how much more of it he could take, especially since the enemy seemed not to be slowing down or diminishing in any way.
The only thing that fueled him was the thought that these bastards had taken Noin from him.
Turning his mobile suit to get a look around the field, what Zecchs saw was not good. Eveywhere near all the colonies, mobile suits were being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the enemy. And those damn warships weren't helping matters, contributed their massive firepower to the destruction of one colony after another. The Cluster was such a mess that the escape shuttles, of which there had been thousands, had been reduced to dozens, and from his statistic report, that number was falling.
This was hopeless. Men were dying for nothing.
Mobile Suit Tallgeese once again brought it's giant mega cannon up, it's white gloss gleaming with the distant light of the sun reflecting off it's titanium surface. Once again, the beam of yellow megadeath shot out from the muzzle, impaling and destroying another alien warship. He didn't even know how much charge the big gun had left, but he knew it must have been low after half an hour of constanf firings. Those warships were dangerous and well armed, true, but single shots from his mega cannon seemed to suffice.
After destroying another Tentacle with his beam saber, Zecchs came to a decision. It was hard, and he had not come to it lightly. He still wanted to meet Noin, but all that would be impossible if he died. Plus, he could not under good conscience keep this men in here, just to die.
With a quick flip of a switch, he had keyed his comm unit to wide range broadcast, and spoke up in his most commanding tone:
"All Earth Sphere United Nation Armed Forces, abort the battle. Repeat, the battle is lost. Get out of here."
Not wanting to hear the replies of the sure to be angry soldiers, he turned off wide broadcast and back to normal comm mode.
All mobile suits began to pull away from their respective battles, wearily. The battle had taken it's toll.
However, before Zecchs even had the chance to began pulling out himself, more beams of light entered the fray. Within seconds, he saw hundreds of alien mobile suits explode brightly, and many warships become holed with the beams.
He spun his suit around, wondering what the hell could be happening at the moment. And was greeted by the arrival of more suits.
The Magonac Corps had arrived on the battlefield.
Rasid's voice came over the comm, strong and commanding: "No need to give up yet, Zecchs. We fight until it's over."
Without even waiting to hear a response from their commander, thousands of voices yelled their approval. They would not give up their home without a fight.
And so the battle for the L2 Colony Cluster began anew. With a tight smile, Zecchs nodded to the image of Rasid.
And the Mobile Suit Tallgeese III launched itself back into the fray.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Relena Peacecraft stood, once again, as much as she might hate it, in th E.S.U.N.A.F. War Room. The Room, large as it was, was almost overflowing with people. Technicians, aids, messengers, and the newly appointed Admirals all filled the place, all working to the war effort. Another War Room was in construction, but that one was on the other hemisphere, and the things did take a while to build. So, for the moment, the entire War effort was concentrated in here.
She stood off by the corner, dressed in simple, black garments. She had witnessed this same scene countless times before, during the Eve War. She had never enjoyed it then, and it infuriated her even more now to know she was one of those who had brought this about. Relena knew this was necessary, knew nothing else could be done, but she despised it, anyway.
With a mix of horror and fury, she listened to the messengers screaming up to the second war reports to each other:
"Magonac Corps have arrived on the battlefield of the L2 Cluster! All remaining Earth Sphere Forces now engaging Alien Force. Situation Critical!"
"L5 Cluster is under attack. Human Forces en route. ETA approximately 5 minutes. Damage until the arrival of E.S.U.N.A.F, estimated to be the loss of 2 colonies."
"Human forces at the L3 Colony Cluster are being pushed back. 9 colonies have been destroyed, another 7 are currently under attack. Human forces are using the last colonies as their stand point."
"War Time: 7 hours, 26 minutes. Human Losses: 16 colonies, 750,000 estimated mobile suit casualties. Total loss of human life..."
Relena didn't want to hear the next one, but could hardly just turn away. It was as if she had to listen, to somehow honor the deaths of those that had died.
"Total loss of human life during 7 hours of warfare expectd to be 34 billion, and rising."
She felt sick. She could vaguely feel herself sliding down the wall, and grasping her stomach. But she could only think about that. 34 billion lives, wasted, for nothing but another war.....
"Sir! Alien Flagship has departed from all other fleets and is heading directly for Colony X-18999!"
Relena almost threw up. That was where the Gundam pilots where, even the injured Trowa.
"Sir, the Wing Zero is leading the mobile suit forces of the flaghsip!"
She couldn't take anymore. She didn't want to hear this. They were all doomed, and that was that. Even now, only seven hours into the War, they had practically lost all colony clusters besides the ones at the Event Horizon. So many people had died, so many. And now, her friends at X-18999 would face Heero.....and that fifteen mile long flagship.
She stormed out of the War Room, much to the chagrin of the officers nearby, and ran.
She ran, and she ran. She ran until she reached a section of corridor that was empty, and thereby was devoid of witnesses. She leaned her back against the cold metal wall, and prepared herself for the onslaught of tears that was sure to come.
"Ms. Relena, are you okay?"
Slowly, Relena turned her head up to face the intruder of her personal thoughts. And who would stand there, but Dorothy Catalonia, dressed in the simple brown clothes that had earned her reknown during the Eve Wars, as the second in command of her brother, Zecchs Merquise. With a quick wiping off her unformed tears from her eyes by her shirtcuff, she stood a bit straightet to come eye to eye with the taller woman.
"No, Dorothy. The Gundam Pilots are all going to die. Heero and that mothership are heading for them, at colony X-18999."
She had no idea what made her say that. Perhaps it was just the fact tha Dorothy, for all her faults, seemed trustworthy enough, especially since she had adopted Marameiya Khushrenada. But Relena had never been able to get over the girl's old love of warfare, even though Dorothy seemed over that now, it had made enough of a longlasting impression on her to think twice about anything.
Even now, as the woman across from her seemed to digest the new information, her eyes were a mystery. They seemed to be deep pools, containg some important knowledge. But of what, Relena had no idea.
"Then that is where we must go, Ms. Relena."
Relena's eyes widened. "What?"
The woman seemed to scowl in impatience. "We don't have time for this, Ms. Relena. You are needed at the battlefield, you know this. You shouldn't be sitting here in this War Room, where you can do nothing. Out there, we can help."
Relena stared at the girl for a few tense moments. Then, she answered, simply:
"Okay.Let's go."
____________________________________________________________________________________
Lucrezia Noin leaned against the cold bulkhead, sighing. It had been days since she had awoke in this place, this prison. It lacked bars, maybe, but the nearly empty room was just as bad, posessing only a cold metal shelf, and a giant viewport. All too often during the course of the past few days she had looked at that viewport, at the Alien Force before them. Over the past few days, that force had broken up, and headed to the barely visible colony clusters in the distance. She could still see the distant points and spears of light that made up the distant battles, but unfortunately, she couldn't tell simply by the fireworks sho was winning. She hoped it was Zecchs.
"Impressive, isn't it?"
She turned reluctantly from the viewport to look at her only comrade in here, Private Akira Tomino. The boy was just that, young and slim looking. He did, in fact, remind her very much of a young Heero, around five years ago, the last time she had seen him.
The young man posessed that same quiet air. She had gathered some of his past, and couldn't blame him. After all, the boy had been forced to watch as the only home he had ever known be destroyed, and had been subsequently captured by the aliens. If she were him, she wasn't sure what she would do. But, then again, she has lost Zecchs, she might never see him again.......that thought made her feel even colder than the metal behind her.
"Liuetenant? Are you there?" Akira eyed the woman curiously. She was beautiful, that was sure, without a doubt. She seemed constantly preoccupied with something, though. It had gotten in his way of trying to befriend her. Over the course of the past few days, he had shared maybe 6 conversations with her. What little he had managed to gather was that the Preventers had been destroyed, and she knew the Lightning Baron extremely well. Which was a disconcerting fact in and of itself.
She answered, a little distracted tone to her voice. "Yeah, a million warships destroying our Home is wonderful." There was no mistaking the sarcastic edge in her voice.
Ouch. Akira guessed he deserved that, it had been a stupid question.
Score: Akira zip, Zecchs one.
Which he knew was dumb. There was know way an out of Sphere kid like him could possibly measure up to the noble and great Zecchs Merquise. But she was beautiful, and he'd be damned if he didn't try....
Of course, if Zecchs felt the same way about her, there was the little matter of the Lightning Baron coming after him in that Tallgeese. Which might not go too well......
At that moment, the small metal shelf rang.
The both sprung up and ran to it quickly. A portion of the shelf flipped open to reveal dinner. They were fed twice a day, as well as they could figure.
The stuff was the same every day, a greenish badge goop that looked about as good for them as Ebola.
They took their respective bowls and walked to their own corners, intent on eating while watching the battles as best they could. As soon as the two had settled themselves into the metal floor, as best as possible, they were interupted.
By the massive form of the Gundam Wing Zero flying righy by the viewport.
So maybe interupted had been a bad way to describe it. The both of them almost dropped their food, and turned to stare at each other, quietly.
Noin said it, in a somewhat personal way that again made Akira wonder: "Heero?"
And they ate quicker than they ever had before. Neither wanted to voice it, but both were certain that something was about to happen. And they wanted to be damn ready for it, when it happened.
Liuetenant Lucrezia Noin and Private Akira Tomino. Prisoners aboard an Alien vessel. Comrades in arms. Despite the rough start, they would get closer.Circumstances would force it.
And one would die for the other.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The IV units flatlined. From her position in the hospital's remote room, the nurse gasped. Within the minute, she had run up to the room where the machines had flatlined, only stopping to call for help on the way. The nurse reached the room, and was shocked at what lay before her eyes:
Trowa Barton stood tall, his slim but cut muscles clearly defined against the small hospital gown. He was finishing undoing the straps of his wrists, and turned to look at the nurse. She almost flinched, that gaze was so dead, and at the same time, so intense, that it almost hurt to have it turned on her. The enigmatic man spoke.
"I'm leaving."
And she knew there as nothing she could do to stop him. She could only nod.
And so it came that Trowa Barton would enter the fight.
And his choice was mere hours away.
A choice that would shake the very destiny of Humanity, or destroy it.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Liuetenant Slade stared out over the mobile suit Hangar of the E.S.U.N.A.F. Base. It was cavernous, and housed thousands of mobile suits, all in various stages of construction or reconstruction. Technicians buzzed around from each to each, resembling nothing more than some demented insect colony. Nothing brought out the efficiency and dedication of Humanity moreso than War, or so Slade believed.
However, the technicians at work on the giant Mobile Suits were not his concern. The mobile suit directly across from the viewing platform was.
It stood 17 meters tall, and gleamed of whit and black armor titanium armor. It's menacing form was bristling with all sorts of weaponry. Beam sabers on the inside of each forearm, two beam rifles holstered to the waist like some kind of gunman, and on the wrists small gatling beam guns, newly invented. It had a somewhat spikey form, as if it was more of a suit of armor than a mobile suit. The head was outfitted with the latesy in sensors, and the visage resembled a suit from the past, the Epyon. It was all white,w ith exception of the black arms and legs. On the back rested a giant Mega Beam Cannon, one whose output rivaled, if not exceeded, the one found on the Tallgeese III.
A small technician came up to Slade, obviously proud of himself.
"There she is, sir. The Mobile Suit Zeus. I dare say that she's a match, if not better, than the Gundams."
Slade nodded. "How long?"
"Give her another ten minutes to prep, and she'll be ready to go. Take care of this one, sir, it's the last Gundam-class suit the United Nation can afford, or have the resources for."
Slade begin walking away. "Have the carrier ready to bring me to X-18999."
And, thinking of the Zeus, Slade smiled.
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Thus events descended upon Colony X-18999. Many things would occur, things upon which Humanity would live on or be broken.
A love would be remade.
A choice was to be decided.
A Great Warrior would die, and another would be born.
Colony X-18999. Not the final battle of the Alien War, but in some ways, the most significant.
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