I'm getting a bit supernatural here, but it's really interesting. It's late and I need 2 get to bed sometime, so I'm not going to edit this chap all the way through. Expect an updated version sometime soon, kk?

AC 207: The Hands of Fate (Part IV)

Outbreak

Captain Ingraham came to a sharp military halt and saluted behind Admiral Beliv. Beliv had heard his footsteps behind him, but refused to acknowledge the man before he was finished with his business. He watched through the security camera and two rebelling officers were arrested on deck 12 of the battleship Gayla.

"Put them in security block A-18," he told the Lieutenant in charge.

"Yes, sir."

"Ah, yes, Captain? What news do you have for me?"

Ingraham's hand snapped down to his side. "Sir, forgive me, but our sister ship the Vice has captured a cargo vessel inbound from colony cluster L1. It was carrying explosives."

"What of the pilot and crew?"

"There was one aboard, sir. A woman who claims to be Darla Starhand."

"What should we do with her?" Beliv wondered aloud. Smuggling coupled with terrorism was punishable by death.

"Sir?"

"Ah, yes, bring her to me. I would like to meet a woman so bold as to bring that cargo into warring space with only one crew member." Perhaps she would not have to be executed . . . female pirates tend to be quite attractive.

"I'll see to it directly, sir."

Beliv nodded in approval and turned to look out into space. The Vice floated a mile or so away, barely visible against the backdrop of stars. It seemed odd, to have captured a ship in this area of space. It was a long stretch to the nearest colony, especially from cluster L1. Was it possible she had known the location of his ships?

She was led at gunpoint onto the bridge, smirking and causing some of the officers to cringe. She did not project the aura of one who knew she'd been captured, as if she didn't want to believe the truth. That was dangerous. Long, straight black hair swirled in the air currents on the bridge, across her tightly clad body and pale, tattooed, violet-eyed face. She was in quite good shape, and looked confident enough to try and take the bridge unarmed.

Beliv stood to receive her, smirk and all, with an amused expression. "Well, what have we here, little girl? Haven't you come a long way from home?"

She said nothing, only looked at him with an air of natural bravery.

From across the room, Beliv had thought for a moment that she had been someone in disguise. He would have called himself fooled if it wasn't that the shape of her face was so distinct. "How are you, Princess?"

She spit at him, in his eye, but said nothing. The rifles prodded her back deeper. "Hah!" She said, her voice, rough, deeper than Relena Darlian's normally would have been. "Princess? Oh, I wish, buddy. Maybe I could call in the army to blow you suckers to Hell. It's nice you think so, though. Damn fun, that would be. Nope, sorry to disappoint. Nobody here—" she thumped her chest with a hard fist— "but a restless woman with a vengeance under the authority of you bastard until I decide I can fight my way outta here. 'S only a matter of time, now, you baka. You'll wish you'd never been born."

"Idle threats," he assured her. It was Ms Darlian under that shell. She wasn't a bad actor, but the disguise wasn't quite complete. The tiger-stripe tattoos on her face didn't quite look real enough. "It looks like you had your baby, Ms. Darlin. Was it a boy or a girl?"

She huffed. "Yeah, Michael got ripped away from me by that Timothy-sonofabitch father of his. That was six years ago, Joe, for all the much that you care about my personal shit."

Beliv blinked. She hadn't even twitched at the accusation. "You think you're going to stop me, Princess?"

Although she was a good foot shorter, she still managed to look down her nose at him. "Bet on it, buster."

Beliv signaled for the guards to lower their rifles. Then he gestured slightly to Ingraham, behind her back, to raise his pistol. "Go ahead, take me. I'm sure the Captain would be happy to put a bullet in your head. Think of all the trouble that would cause on Earth, eh?"

She rolled her eyes. With a move faster than Beliv could see, she ducked, slide-rolled the three-meter distance between her and Ingraham and put her arm around his throat. The man made a choking noise and, panicking, looked towards his commander. "I could snap his neck. No more Captain, Beliv. Boo hoo. One down, nine hundred forty-nine to go plus your ugly face. How long will that take? Do you wanna find out?"

Beliv chuckled. "You've been training hard, I see. Unfortunately, Nine hundred and fifty-one slightly outnumbers you. At least a hundred officers have weapons on you right now. Do you want a body full of lead? Didn't think so. Take her to the cell block with the mutinous officers. She'll see how fruitless this facade really is."

Relena threw Ingraham to the floor and stalked out, swinging her hips, followed by slightly confused guards.

Ingraham rubbed his neck and stood up. "Sir . . ."

Beliv put up a hand. "She's a wild one, but she'll soon learn futility."

"Is she really Princess Relena Darlian, sir?"

"Indeed. She has the foolishness of a Peacecraft all around her. I'm surprised Milliardo Peacecraft's ghost isn't here yet." Belive tapped his fingers against a console. My, how entertaining that would be.

~~@[~*,~]@~~

Relena was shoved roughly against the metal wall of the cell. She listened for the guards' footsteps, then tapped a careful rhythm on the wall. She received the right response from her neighbor and leaned against the wall. The tapped Morse Code through the wall, a handy little thing from ancient times that Une taught all of her operatives. Everything as planned.

He knows it's you, Ms. Darlian?

The others aboard are reluctant to believe him, but the man's studied me enough.

Wonderful. How long do we have to wait?

I'm not sure. My husband wouldn't give me all the details. Might be here a while.

I guess we'll settle in. I'll tell Tovah.

Relena sighed and settled against the wall in case another message came. She was confident in Heero's plan now, since everything was going exactly how he'd thought. He'd judged her acting ability and Beliv's naivete precisely. There's so much I don't know about him, even after so long together, she thought.

She slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. It had been thin enough to slide into her pocket and be left undisturbed by a pat-search and metal-detector. She'd read the words a hundred times during her week alone in space, but she needed to see them again. Heero's familiar neat handwriting scrawled across what looked like a restaurant napkin. Only God knew where he'd been, with all the running around he'd been doing.

Saiai,

I'm sorry once again that I couldn't come and see you before you left, so I'm dropping by with this note to put in your jumpsuit. I just wanted to say again that I'm sorry to separate you so soon from Raina, but I know you understand. Thank you once more for saying you'd do this. I don't know exactly what Beliv will plan once he finds out his terrorist is the woman he tried to rape. I want you to know that whatever happens, I'll be thinking of you. You've no idea how much it hurts me to think of what I'm about to allow happen. I'm missing you already.

Your brother is angry for letting myself let you put yourself in jeopardy. He won't speak to me now, though he'll have to sooner or later if he's really that worried. When you get home I really would like you to have a talk with him.

I can't wait for this all to be over. When you get home I'm taking you out to dinner and that cabin again. I can get your brother and Noin to watch the kids. Noin is positively ecstatic about being partially in-charge of her almost-niece, I can tell you.

I hope you'll be okay, I really do. I'll be waiting for news. Peace go with you.

Relena sighed again and slipped the note down inside her jumpsuit, where it could be close to her heart. He meant well, but he came off sounding worried. Relena wondered how much anxiety she was causing him now. She slept, thoughts on her family back home.

~~@[~*,~]@~~

Mariemaia took five long breaths, trying to calm her nerves in the cockpit of the Kirin. Because her uncle had been able to persuade the military to test her, she'd been able to skip the training course she'd already taken anyway. This was the first trial of the mobile suit model, and Mariemaia couldn't think about anything but Dennis, crashing in the Slyph never before flown.

"Hey, Pilot 02, you okay in there?" Pilot 01 switched to her private channel. "You look real nervous. Don't worry, this equipment's trustworthy. I oversaw the construction myself—"

"I'm not worried," Mariemaia said abruptly. "I just have bad memories whenever I get into one of these things."

"Yeah, I know how you feel. Well, just do your best. It's only a test run, remember. You can always claim equipment malfunction."

Mariemaia smiled to herself. Pilot 01— his name was Ben— was probably a few years older than her and acted almost like a big brother. She'd only been at the base two days but he'd immediately taken to her. "You look like my little sister," he'd explained. Ben, too, had red hair, as well as an abundance of freckles. It made him look as young as she was.

"Targets up, open fire!" The Commander's voice came over on the open channel. Black targets with little flashing lights were launched out of the gigantic zero-gee chamber's walls. Mariemaia brought up her rifle and brought two, three down immediately. The dexterity and reaction time of the suit amazed her. This was definitely the best model for space.

"The wires in these babies are superconductors at low temperatures. Out in space our freedom of movement should be limited only by the human running the suit. That's why these puppies are so rare— they cost a fortune with all that rare metal," Ben said to her, grunting to swivel around and blow up the target behind him. "But that's also makes them so wanted by pilots like us! Having fun yet, little sister?"

Mariemaia laughed at his upbeat attitude. "I'll be okay now."

Suddenly, red lights began to flash. "All mobile suits return to bay."

"What? Just when I was really having a good time out here?" Ben threw a raspberry at the computer. "Man, that's cruel . . ."

Pilot 03 laughed. "Shut up, you Yankee. I swear, you Americans have too much fun."

After they docked, disembarked and left the bay, Mariemaia felt Ben's arm around her shoulders. "So . . . what do you think of the new monsters we've got?"

"They're nice. I like it better than Heavyarms."

"Hea— no way! You've actually been inside the gundam Heavyarms??"

"Trowa Barton's my uncle."

"Oh, dude, no way. That's so unfair! Girl, you've got to take me to see your family some time. Hey, have you met the other gundam pilots?"

Mariemaia nodded and shushed him. Others were staring. "Can we talk about this sometime when it's not so crowded?"

"Okay, but promise you'll tell me!"

"Sure."

"Yippee! Ben, as energetic as a sixteen-year-old, bounced off toward the mess hall.

Sometimes I wonder if that guy lies about his age, Mariemaia thought.

Ben ran back into the corridor, suddenly looking a lot more sober. "Hey, sister, General Steinbeck is looking for you. He's in the hall, you'd better hurry."

Mariemaia nodded. She knew what this was about.

She approached the General and saluted. "Sir, you were inquiring about me?"

Steinbeck saluted back. "At ease, soldier. I was watching you test those mobile suits out there. You looked like you've been in one before."

"My uncle is the gundam pilot Trowa Barton, sir. He taught me a bit."

"Ah, yes. Well, Miss Mariemaia Kushrenada, I've come to extend an invitation to you. It seems your talents have been much talked about since you've been here, and the Specials want you as one of their talent. I've come to invite you to an elite unit that may well open up many doors to you."

"Yes sir, thank you sir. I'd be honored, sir." Mariemaia demonstrated her strict military discipline, and could tell the General was impressed. She wondered momentarily whose doing this promotion was, Heero's or Une's or no one's at all but her own hard work.

The General held out a folder, unmarked. "Go see your commanding officer and give him your new assignment," he instructed. "There's a paper in there for him, marked. You'll find it. Dismissed, Lieutenant."

Mariemaia saluted for the third time and headed away towards Commander Olgein's office, the new title ringing in her ears. Barely here a month and already a Lieutenant.

~~@[~*,~]@~~

"Colonel Une, is it true Relena Darlian's been kidnapped by Admiral Beliv of the Colony Alliance?" The reporter shouted, holding his hat in the high wind. Bright lights flashed against the gray backdrop of clouds. Heero eyed them sullenly.

Une nodded. "Ms. Darlian took independent action against the Colony Alliance and, using information entrusted to her by the Earth Sphere United Nations, attempted to bomb two Alliance battleships. She has been captured. At this time, there have been no further details of her capture. Rest assured we are trying very hard to get her back."

"Surely this is quite a strain on resources, Colonel? Could this be the spark that ignites the battle?"

"I have no comment to that," Une said. She pushed her way through the crowd with a purpose. Heero followed in her wake. The two of them got into the elevator.

The twenty-third story of the United Nations war building was packed with military officers running around. "Corporal, what's going on here?" Une demanded.

"Beliv's threatening to kill Ms. Darlian!" The officer said breathlessly, remembering briefly to salute before he rushed on.

Heero caught himself. "It's a bluff," he said. "He couldn't kill her if he tried. The bastard's feelings for her would interfere."

"So . . ." Une raised her eyebrows.

"Panic. This would be the perfect opportunity to get this war started. We can't let him know we're calling his bluff. It's up to you now. I can't call all the shots. I would, however, advise one of two things: One, send mobile suits. Two, dispatch a rescue mission. You're the military strategist."

Une nodded. "You don't have permission to be in here, Yuy," she said loudly. "Leave before I call security. I don't give a damn if her life's in danger. Casualties are a part of a war."

"But—"

"OUT!" Warlord Une raised an angry hand.

Heero scuttled away, trying to act hurt. Passing soldiers gave him odd glances. Perfect publicity.

Inside the war room, Une demanded, "What's our situation?"

"Beliv has Ms. Darlian. He's threatening to kill her. What else is there?"

Une drew back her hand and slapped the smart-mouth messenger boy across the face. "Don't sass me, boy! We have a situation. A foreign minister's life is on the line!"

A black-bearded face appeared across the screens. "Oh, why even try, Une? You've lost already."

"Have I? Do I look scared, Beliv?" Une thrust her face toward him.

"But you do."

"Is that a challenge? Une grinned wickedly. At last, an excuse. "We'll just see who's more confident when we're through. Battle coordinator, scramble troops from asteroid G-28583."

"Ma'am."

Beliv acquired a confused look. He turned and shouted something at his technician, and looked back at her in surprise. "You bitch! How the hell could you have been hiding an entire army right under our noses? Red alert!"

"Did I look scared?" Une reached forward and cut him off. The communication screens went dark.

"Specials Kirin unit, Hall's formation!" She barked. "All regular troops net strategy . . ."

~~@[~*,~]@~~

Mariemaia drew her beam saber with a quick, solid movement. She'd met her squadron mates only yesterday. They were all older, more hardened warriors, so to speak (although they'd never seen anything more than civil unrest). One of them had harassed the "little girlie" until another, Melafia, had punched him good and solid in the jaw. "Don't let those boys give ya crap," the leggy black had told her, flashing her a pitying smile. "I think they just jealous they never made it heres that young."

Mariemaia had been a little intimidated. She knew she was a good fighter, but she had never actually fought anything with a living pilot inside. The respect she had for life was screaming at her to back away, as it had been ever since Heero had advised her to join the Space Force, but Mariemaia couldn't.

She gripped the control tightly. I'll show them being the daughter of Treize Kushrenada is worth more than a name and a stupid, untruthful reputation. I'm not a spoiled little brat! With a grunt, Mariemaia swung the gigantic light-sword, the feeling of adrenalin in her veins exciting her. The rush of the battlefield had found her.

Mobile suits, Karkadann mainly but some Kirins scattered throughout formed a protective circle around the few dozen specials that had arrived at the asteroid base only hours ago. Mariemaia was completely confident that she didn't need it. With a cry no one could hear, she struck down her first real target.

The explosion echoed inside her skull as the shock wave hit, and it hooked her. Her sensors beeped at her, she swivelled, and her beam saber clashed with the other pilot's. Her opponent, however, was too used to being on the ground. He struggled with the concept of two mobile suits not being on the same plane. There was most likely a scream as she stabbed through his cockpit, though he might not have had time to realize he was going to die.

It was like a feeding frenzy. While zero-gee training in the ocean her squad had run into one. There were about a hundred gigantic sharks assaulting some kind of whale— it was too bloody and ripped apart to tell what kind. It was the circle of nature, to take what you had and do everything you could do to it. The death yells of her comrades didn't wrench her heart. They had been bullies, braggarts, prejudiced. Dennis Ender? The sad kid who'd had to choose his own name? Hah! Mariemaia's eyes went red. No longer did she hear the pain, see the hopelessness and the futility of war. She was invincible, even with Beliv's superior armor. She would live true to her father. She would win this.

"Yo, little sister! Mariemaia!" A Kirin brought his beam saber against hers. "Wake up! Snap out of it! Look at yourself!"

It was as if something ghostly cold had slapped her in the face. Mariemaia blinked and her vision cleared. Her panels were smoking. Her forehead was bleeding. Her palms had marks from her fingernails. There was no one in space but her side and the scraps of metal and flesh floating amongst the survivors.

"They're running. Did you think you were going to chase them deep into their own territory?"

Mariemaia, panting, hung her head. "I was just . . . chasing them . . ."

"That's no excuse!" The Specials commander said harshly. "Recall with your unit, Kushrenada. That's an order."

Shamed, Mariemaia pushed her forward thrusters and caught up with the rest of her unit. Out of ten, there were eight left. Two plus Specials lost. There were gaps in the surrounding sphere of mobile suits. The victory had not been without its casualties to sullen the occasion.

"We won, but we lost," Ben said on their private channel. "We defeated them, but they ran before we could get to Miss Darlian. We almost had it, thanks to you, kid. That was some amazing fight, let me tell you."

"Thanks, I think."

"Let's talk when we get back, okay?"

"Yeah . . ."

Her brain fuzzy, Mariemaia docked inside the asteroid-base. The other specials were looking weary of her. Two of them actually walked out of their way to avoid getting in her path, although she wasn't angry. In the halls, she heard her name whispered.

"She's really daughter of Treize Kushrenada?"

"No doubt, she looks like him."

"Man, I've got a bad feeling about this."

They're afraid of me, Mariemaia thought, saddened. She trudged down the hall, the whispers and stares penetrating like lasers through paper. She went to the mess hall and got herself a cup of coffee. It didn't seem to help the betrayal she was feeling. She'd never have any friends here . . .

Ben's warm hands dropped on her shoulders. He squeezed them gently. "You look down, Marie. You can tell me what's up, right?

Mariemaia leaned back against him, sitting on the hard bench. He welcomed her.

"It's hard, the first battle," he told her gently. "And you've already got a reputation to work against you."

"Why . . . is everyone afraid?"

Ben sat down beside her, leaned over and studied her face. He touched it with his free hand. "They're not afraid so much as impressed, little sister. A rookie got the most kills of the battle? Your name makes people uneasy, because you are Mariemaia Kushrenada, it makes people remember Treize Kushrenada and that little brat terror of his—"

"Don't you think I know that??" she exploded. She pushed his arm off her shoulders, seething. "You think I chose this? You think I want any of this power, the way I lost control out there? My father influences, my former influences should no longer be relevant. My father's dead. Chang Wufei killed him. Mariemaia the child who thought she was an adult is dead. Heero Yuy killed her. I've met Chang. I've met Heero. They're decent people. They've forgiven me for what I did. Why is it so hard for others to do the same?"

Ben stared. "It's— It's really you? It's true? How much? Hell, are you insane, girl? All these celebrities you claim to know . . ."

"It's damn true, and you better believe it!" She shouted, making other's stare. "I'm really his daughter. Trowa Barton is my mother's brother! I really went berserk out there! Why the hell doesn't anyone believe me?"

Ben grabbed her shoulders, more roughly this time. "Calm down. I believe you . . . I do, I promise. It's just kind of shocking. I mean, to the whole world, Mariemaia Kushrenada was dead.

Mariemaia mentally slapped herself. She felt herself go weak, and collapsed against the table once again. "When my uncle adopted me, he said 'get rid of your old self. Take back the name of the child you once were.' Mariemaia Barton was only a little girl with a little political influence through her family. When my grandfather revealed to me who my father was, a secret my mother had intrusted to him, I was no longer the same person. I feel different now, in the month I've had my name changed once again. I'm angrier, colder and yet more passionate toward my father's idealism. This war really snuck up on me, even with all the attention I pay to politics. Now, I've playing with Fate. I don't think I'm in control most of the time now, Ben!"

Ben had a strong belief in destiny. He's one of those people that believed everything had a purpose— because he'd led an easy, well-supported life. He was such a contrast from Dennis, the boy who tried to hard to control his life and yet still got fed scraps. Mariemaia had never believed much of either Ben's or Dennis's "everything is up to Him/you" attitude. She did all she could. But now, she was swept up in Heero's plan and the rapid promotions.

"Marie, God has a plan," Ben said.

"Goddamn, I don't want a plan," she snarled, suddenly angry again. "I'm sick of plans, especially ones where they won't tell me what the hell's going on! I want some control!" She slammed her fists down onto the table and stood up. "Don't give that bullshit again, Ben, or I swear I'm not going to be able to not disembowel you. I don't believe in God. Not after what I've seen. God would never have such a heartless way of dealing with people." She stalked off, followed by fearful stares.

Ben watched her go, his heart torn. And she could have been so much.

~~@[~*,~]@~~

A tall redheaded whirlwind of fierce emotion passed by Quatre and he looked after Mariemaia, puzzled. What an incredible warrior she'd been an hour ago. She'd gotten more kills than any other pilot, yet no one seemed to have been impressed. Quatre had finally come to the conclusion that she had so much potential power that the others feared her. In fact, it would have been a pretty typical mental response. Quatre had taken quite a few psychology courses when he'd gone to college in New Delhi, and claimed to know about these things. He couldn't see any other reason why the lonely young woman would be so upset.

The battle had gone well. So well, in fact, that he almost suspected a treachery in there somewhere. By all means, they should have been able to keep Beliv's two ships from escaping. In fact, they had even formed a blockade until an internal order that Quatre hadn't heard had told them the main forces needed backup, which wasn't true with all the help they'd been getting from Mariemaia. Quatre shook his head. What is Heero planning?

"Yo, Quatre, what did you do to the circuits on Sandrock?" An engineer came running.

"They looked fine when I did a diagnostic on him earlier. What happened?" He frowned. Sandrock should have been fine.

"You'd better go look."

Quatre nodded, all of a sudden worried.

"What the hell?" Wufei was yelling as Quatre entered the docking bay where the gundams— the two of theirs— were being stored, separate from the other mobile suits.

"What's wrong, Wuffie?" came the answer.

"My circuitry—!" Wufei crawled out of his pilot seat and scuttled crab-like across Shenlong's midsection. "It's gone nuts! It was fine a minute ago!"

"Sandrock's been having the same problems," Quatre called to the hysterical Chinese pilot. "I'm going to check it out."

A familiar fact poked out around from behind Shenlong's head. "The brain systems are going haywire. I wonder what the matter is. No, it shouldn't be affecting anything. The electrical activity has just increased dramatically." Phailin wiped oily hands on her mechanic's outfit.

There was a mutter from Wufei, hidden but close by, and Phailin snorted at what was obviously a crack of some kind. Quatre glanced at them again once he was at his controls and quickly looked away again. Wufei generally tried to restrain himself around the others, but right now . . .

"Ah, well," he sighed, reminding himself that he wished Trowa was with them. Quatre and Wufei were the only ones that were here, trying to rescue Relena. Trowa had some business on Earth, Duo was taking time off to help with the new arrival, and Heero seemed to have vanished in front of their eyes (again).

The diagnostics came up on the screen in front of him then, shaking his mind away from what were probably unfair accusations about Heero's integrity. Wufei was right; the NERV (NEural Readout Variform) circuits were going haywire. "Sandrock, what's going on?" Quatre said absently.

The gundams had always been built with electronic brains - a sort of artificial intelligence that could generally be overridden by the pilot. Tallgeese, the very first form of gundam, had been the prototype for this type of computer and generally had not cared as much about the pilot as the pilot's objective. That is what made Tallgeese so dangerous to the later gundam models— that suicidal attitude. Never in Quatre's experience had Sandrock's NERV system (the acronym referred also to the likeness of the circuitry to the human nerve system) been so active. Quatre wasn't sure what that meant.

Suddenly the lights went. The screen with all the diagnostic information blanked out, and the monitors' power lights went dark. Three green words wrote themselves against the dead frontal screen, forming themselves from a complicated sequence of ones and zeros that was still the base code for all computer language. WE ARE UNHAPPY.

Quatre gasped. "What?" he demanded, confused. Someone had hacked into the hardware. It had to be some kind of outer interference.

The buzzing in Quatre's ears became louder as the noises of Sandrock's machinery and electronics were shut down. Behind him, though, there was a humming.

The words disappeared. The next set formed faster than the original ones, as if they were more confident they were making sense. WE DO NOT LIKE KILLING OUR OWN.

Quatre's brow furrowed in confusion. "Sandrock, what's happened here?" He demanded out of the sleeping gundam. "Whoever this is, what do you want??"

************************************************

See, spooky. Well, I gotta keep you hounding for more, don't I? Next chapter, things heat up a little more as Mariemaia continues her identity crisis. Where has Heero gone? Why is Phailin in space even though Wufei practically tied her to a chair back home? What's gone up with those NERV circuits? Why do I sound like a cheesy suspense novel writer? The next chapter of AC 207: The Hands of Fate (Part V): Awakening. It may answer all those questions (except the part about the cheesy novel writer).

OR WILL IT??

Sorry, got a little carried away, there . . .

-Itsumo