The Ninth Hour

by

The Wren

Prologue


A young man sat in the cockpit of a huge Mobile Suit. Some of its inner screens flickered with subtle golden light, and on others there appeared pictures of people and places from all over the Earth. Suddenly, one of the smaller screens flashed with bold, red letters: MISSION. His fingers flew across the controls with deft ease. Indeed, the controls of this machine were as much a part of him as his blood and bones were. The remained a frustrating combination of both a link to purpose, and a barrier from...something else. Something that was always right there in front of him and out of reach at the same time. As he entered the clearance code, more red letters flashed up onto the screen.

MISSION: INFILTRATE
GREENPLAINS CENBTER FOR EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
RETRIEVE X-SERUM # 7887
LOCTATION: SECURE SAFE ROOM #102
FLOOR B

"Mission accepted." He muttered, voice flat and emotionless.

The year was After Colony 199, and as he powered up his mobile suit, a simple Leo, (with a few...personal modifications) the young man, Heero Yuy, ran a hand through his unruly dark brown hair. The unfathomable twin oceans that were his eyes registered no emotion as the huge mobile suit rocketed toward its destination. All of the nineteen years of his life that he could recall had been spent on missions like this one. Since peace had taken a major hold upon the colonies and earth though, the amount of real missions had died down considerably, leaving only simple, mindless errands like this one for the mercenary Preventer he had become. Heero Yuy, the perfect soldier, one of the five pilots who had saved the world with the hands of his incredible Gundam, was reduced to chores. Perhaps things would have been different had he know some way. Another way of life. But he'd been born and raised for this life of endless tasks and military operations, no matter how small. This was all he knew. Fight. Survive. Mission. Accepted.