RED BANNER-CHAPTER 6
GUNDAM WORLD
The Global Assembly watched in silence as the new Prime Minister took the podium. Relena quietly sat in her chair in one of the minister's rows. The foreign ministers, despite several changes, always relinquished their seats in the parliament to her, always overawed by her presence. She was the picture of power and formality. Her intelligent mind and clear voice could silence the Earth Parliament on its rowdiest days. They would stop arguing and shouting, and then sit there staring at her, as if she had suddenly floated into the air and God's voice came out of her mouth. When she was done, they would applaud. She could have hurled curses at them and they would applaud.
I suppose that is what they call charisma.
The new Prime Minister's Social Democratic Party had won the majority of the votes and he now took his seat as head of government. Sadly, Earth's government had degenerated into the increasingly irritating "revolving-door" form, but Relena was as stationary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the marble in it.
She sighed and began doodling on a scrap of paper. She stopped when the Prime Minister delivered a bombshell.
"As I can see no enemies in our future, I have decided to abolish the Preventers Force and devote its resources to the Ministry of the Interior.
But just because we have no enemies in the time to come does not mean we should forgive the crimes of those past. Therefore, a War-crimes Tribunal shall be appointed to carry out the arrest, trial, and imprisonment of those who have terrorized our citizenry."
Relena looked up and stared with intensity at the new minister. Unwittingly, her gaze invited the members of the parliament and the State Council to glare at the new premier. He would not have lasted long…if the Red Army hadn't come along.
MILITARY RESEARCH CITY, URAL MOUNTAINS, U.S.S.R
Professor Alexei Bazorov, Director of the Physics Division of the prestigious military city that Malinsky himself had protected against Allied Forces, rubbed the bald spot on his head as his computer finished the final analysis for the new Mass Chrono System, or MCS. The incident of the 7th Fleet in France was almost six weeks old, but Malinsky had ordered his scientists to find the Allies. Bazorov had constructed a new Chronosphere, and programmed the data from the one found in America.
"How goes the planning, Comrade Director?"
Bazorov turned to Lieutenant Zofia, who had been dispatched from the Kremlin to see that everything went smoothly. Her old brown suit had been replaced with a black version. She waited patiently for his response.
"Da, Comrade Lieutenant. I have programmed in the altered transporting system completely. Where shall we send the Scout Drone, Comrade Lieutenant?"
She shrugged and answered, "Send it someplace in Belgium. The General Secretary has ordered three more delivered here. We can send them elsewhere if we need to."
"Very well, Comrade Lieutenant," he picked up a phone, "This is Professor Bazorov. Prepare the Scout Drone; and start up the Chronosphere."
OUTSIDE BRUSSELS, CAPITAL OF E.S.U.N
When the clouds of light that distorted its sensors vanished, the Drone's eye-unit could see that it had landed near a tree. It didn't matter. It's orders were to scout, and scout it would. The drone's legs made a crunching sound as they nervously propelled the main body toward the road. The drone's sensors detected that it was nighttime, and that it was summertime. A single antennae lifted into the air and analyzed the radio and television waves that it drew in. News reports. Some shock jock making a disgusting joke. Apparently, there was a calmer comedian in town who was drawing more attention. The drone scuttled toward the city.
It stopped beside a telephone line. A port opened and it lifted a small satellite dish. The electronic brain of the drone analyzed the electronic pulses going through the line. It sifted through the useless, civilian ones until it found a secure channel being used by two people.
"Lady Une, I want to go to bed, this is not the time to discuss this!"
"Mr. President, this is a very serious manner. Prime Minister Townsend is introducing policies that are a threat to our national security. The Preventers are necessary for the safety of our world…"
"Gregory has the right to deal with the State Council as he likes. As for me, I am going to bed. We can discuss this in the morning."
"Mr. President…"
"Goodnight, Lady Une!!"
The man hung up. The computer on the drone then made a decision: this Lady Une was obviously in charge of military affairs. Her computer would be an excellent source of information for the Soviet Union. It tracked the call, and set off for a mansion outside the city.
Lady Une slammed the phone down angrily. She stared down at her desk in her home office. Dressed in her pajamas and bathrobe, she quietly made her way to her bedroom. She slid Mariemeia's door open a little and peeked inside. The little would-be empress was sleeping like a babe. She shut the door again and began her walk to her room…and then slumped against the wall. She had to cover her eyes to keep herself from crying. Mr. Traize would have gotten past that old fool's barriers by now. Dragged him out of that pleasant daydream of eternal peace and showed him the harsh reality of life. But the great Colonel Traize Kushrenada was dead. And Une found herself as a mother to his child. But she had always wanted them to have their own children. But he was gone. Gone now, forever…
The drone was out in the garden. It stopped and lifted it's dish again, to be sure of it's location.
"What the hell?"
The electronic eye turned toward the sound. A man in a strange uniform stared at it, shocked. His hand was a blur as it whipped towards his mouth and he began talking into a walkie-talkie.
"This is Delancey in Southern Perimeter; I've got some sort of…"
But the drone scuttled forward and leaped onto the guard. It's design was based on the Terror Drone, and it's anti-tank tools swung out and burnt the guards entire chest after ripping it up. After the guard's mangled corpse stopped jerking, the drone quickly made its way toward the glass doors leading into the house. It broke through in half a second.
Lady Une had only begun dozing off before she was jarred awake by the sound of glass shattering. Quickly, she tapped a hidden button on the side of her bedpost. A picture of Traize that hung above her bed slid upwards, revealing an Uzi submachine gun. Though the weapon was a few centuries old, it was still very capable. She quickly dove into the hallway, her gun ready. She now heard a mechanical skittering sound coming up the stairs. She ran over to the grand staircase and looked down to see a quickly approaching…thing. It resembled a mechanical spider with four legs. As it advanced up the stairs, she could see something little drops coming off of a rather nasty looking tool on its bottom. Blood. She quickly withdrew and ran to Mariemeia's room. If need be, they'd evacuate the house.
The Drone felt the magnetic field that this Lady Une's computer had created when it was turned on. It's heat-sensor saw a human at the top of the stairs. It then ran off. No matter. It was not the Scout Drone's job to kill humans. It went after the computer.
The little redhead yawned when Lady Une woke her. "Mother? What's going on?" She grabbed the child and they quickly went back into the hallway. Lady Une heard the strange machine in her office. She held a finger to her lips, signaled for Mariemeia to stay where she was, and went over to the office.
The computer was a strange one. Its monitor was connected to a phone line, and had some sort of communication program unfamiliar to the drone. But it inserted its plug anyway, and began downloading and transmitting. Everything about the Preventer Force was being drawn in: budget, equipment, base locations, unit strength, uniforms, and other things. The last files to be downloaded were supposed to be one on strange machines called Mobile Suits…
Lady Une peered around the corner and saw the thing at her desk. The Preventer's Commander noticed images rapidly appearing on the screen. A spy?
It was then that she noted a thin strip going around the drone's body near the top. The electronic eye was mounted in the strip, sliding to see something. She stepped inside and, with the boldest voice she could muster, said "Hey, C-3PO!" The eye turned toward her.
She let out a burst from her Uzi into the eye. The machine shook, and it's plug pulled out as it collapsed. Lady Une advanced on it. Suddenly, an accented voice emerged from the drone. "Unit damaged. Initiating destruction mode. Farewell, capitalist dog."
She backed out of the room, fearing an explosion. Nothing. Except for a muffled sizzling sound. She went back in and looked for an opening into the device. Finding one, she opened it…to be greeted by the sickening smell of the acid destroying the electronics within the Drone.
THE KREMLIN, U.S.S.R
Lieutenant Zofia stepped into General Secretary Malinsky's massive office. The Soviet President sat at the stood, his left side to her, at the conference table. She could see various models on the table, all of them under her leader's gaze.
"Come in, Comrade Lieutenant," he said softly. She walked over to him, his eyes never coming off the models.
"Do you remember the Urals, Comrade Lieutenant?"
"Of course, Comrade General Secretary."
"The Americans…they came at us with jets and rocketeers. The only thing we could fight them with was flak troops, flak cannons, and our anti-aircraft trucks. No striking abilities. Barely enough tanks. The only time we were able to send our forces out was when we sent that Terror Drone to take care of that damned Carville's truck. We had to wait until they were too exhausted to send any more men after us. In our own homeland I couldn't even have proper air assets to fight the Americans."
Malinsky's hand reached out and began stroking a model of something that looked like a Kirov bomber.
"And even when I had plenty of Kirovs at my command, they were almost completely helpless and defenseless against those Patriot missiles of the Allies; well, helpless except for the fact that they could bomb the crap out of them.
"But this…this will change all that!" he tapped the small model. She noticed that this model was somewhat sleeker than a usual Kirov. "Notice, Comrade Lieutenant, this apparatus below the cabin? One of the latest developments of our Tesla technology: the Tesla Cannon. It's range is equal to that of a Tesla Coil with four attending Tesla Troopers. With it, this 'Sky Fortress' as I call it can defend itself against ground attack, and, when equipped with a special radar, even hit aircraft."
He moved to a model of a jet fighter. "The Red Air Force has been on my back for months on this one, but it is finally ready for mass production: the Red Eagle. It has canards at the front here and swept-forward wings; it surpasses the ability of the Harrier."
Zofia stared at the assorted models. Among them were new designs for an aircraft carrier. President Malinsky had admired his foe's abilities and had told her that he would make the Soviet Union go light years ahead of the Allies, but this was amazing progress.
"I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant, the report?" President Malinsky's hand shot out towards her. She stammered a little at the sudden action, but then handed him the report. He opened it and began calmly walking toward his desk.
"As you can see, Comrade General Secretary, the new world's government is completely unaware of the Allies' presence. The Scout Drone managed to download a good portion of this Lady Une's files before it was forced to self-destruct."
"I see," grumbled Malinsky. He was silent for a moment. "These files are incomplete."
"Da, Comrade General Secretary, I'm afraid that the Drone was destroyed before it could make a full download. However, I believe we can assume that their weaponry is no match for ours."
Malinsky looked at his assistant. She was right. These soldier's training and weaponry carried very little technology unfamiliar to him. He had the base locations. He had the flaws in their system. He also had the advanced technology to make this new world's military collapse like a deck of cards. All the Red Army, Navy, and Air Force needed was his order and they were ready to go.
"Excellent work, Comrade Lieutenant. Make it happen."
