Intruder - Part Seventeen
Sandrock Sabotage...
On reaching the Hangar bay, they all made a beeline for 04 - Sandrock. Quatre in particular was pretty eager to find out the truth. He went straight for his Gundam, and was almost ready to jump up to the armor plate, when he remembered Heero's plan. Trowa was to go up for him, as there was still a possibility that he could black out again, and fall. ~ supposedly, anyway. ~ Then he had an idea.
"Hey, Heero! What if we lower the gravity in here to almost zero, then both Trowa and I can take a look. What do you think?"
Heero frowned, and was about to deny him, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
'How would you react in his place?' It was Wufei. 'He is fine now.'
Heero thought about this for a moment. "Fine. Duo? Get the-"
"Already on it!" replied the American, with a grin. He vaulted, if somewhat cautiously over the platform's rails, and reprogrammed the Hangar's gravity down to zero point five. This was only possible as they were in space, where there was none anyway. What they had as 'gravity' were merely boosters outside, constantly spinning, to simulate the force which was naturally present on the Earth. It was an adjustment that the engineers had planned for, and although they had never tried it, it would also be possible to increase the gravity. ~ Why we'd wanna I don't know. ~ The whole hangar rocked slightly, as the system over-rode the usual commands.
"Ok! All set." Duo would have jumped over the bars again, but with little gravity, there really was no need. He felt the pressure release him, and he pushed gently off. He flew smoothly through the air, to land next to Heero and Hilde. Looking around showed that Quatre was already halfway up Sandrock, inspecting the Intruder's handiwork. Trowa wasn't far behind, and Chang was sitting, or rather floating in Altron's cockpit.
Quatre had leapt up as soon as Heero had agreed, without waiting for the gravity to drop. Searching for the place he had seen was easy, it was just under the Gundam's 'skirt'. With the relaxed air of someone who'd done the same thing so many times, he slid up to the replaced sheet. Trowa came up along side.
"I've found the bad panel, here." Showing him the false piece, he shoved it. It moved.
"It's loose? Will it come off?" Trowa asked. His companion nodded.
"Too easily. All we have to do is simulate the force of a hit, and-" He moved out of the way as the acrobat glided past him, and went up above him.
~ When there is no gravity, the only force against me is air resistance...simple. ~
Quatre and the others watched as the star of the circus reached the roof.
Trowa touched the ceiling and grabbed the rail. Then, spinning over the bars, he held on upside down, and pushed off, aiming himself directly at Quatre. The blonde below jumped up out of his friend's way, as he came shooting past, and did a few somersaults to get himself lined up properly, and, feet first, he came crashing down onto the loose cover.
*BANG *
The noise rang through the room as he collided with the Gundam's upper leg. He bounced off, up towards its head, as the sheet floated to the ground. He caught the chest plate, and pushed himself back to the ground, landing on top of the piece of metal. He bowed, just like when he was at 'work'.
Hilde's hands, which had first been in her pockets, then over her mouth, were now clapping. Her face was the picture of impressed.
"Now THAT was what I call a FLYING kick!" Duo beamed, going over to slap him on the back. Quatre floated in from above, and smiled at his friend. "That seemed to do the job"
Heero still stood where he had been, and nodded. Wufei was sitting in his Gundam, apparently oblivious, but when Trowa glanced up at him, he winked.
"How did you do that?" Quatre asked in wonder.
Duo sighed to himself, he knew what was coming now, and Quatre had set him off.
"In space, there is no gravity or air resistance. In here there is very little gravity, but still air resistance. In space any object moving in a direction will continue to move in the same direction at the same speed, until interrupted, by either gravitational pull from a planet, or a collision. Using this information, I used myself as the potential force, and hit the panel with similar velocity to that of a collision. This caused the plate to fall."
Quatre looked slightly puzzled yet nodded in understanding.
Hilde however was completely lost in the science of it all. She looked at Duo.
He smiled and shrugged. "Oh, simple then really." He said.
She rolled her eyes, and slowly shook her head. He smiled again, and came over to her. Resting his arm on her shoulder, he whispered; 'like he said, 'in space-' he paused, looking straight into those soft blue gray eyes. 'No-one, can hear you-'
~ Scream ~ she thought. ~ he'll say scream. ~
"Laugh!!" he yelled, as he verbally pounced, tickling her vigorously.
"No-no-Duooooooooooooooooooooooo!" she howled, and burst out laughing.
Now it was Heero's turn to stare at the ceiling, as she started to fall over, and Duo pushed her up into the air. Their laughter echoed around the six silent MS.
The Japanese boy had a fleeting thought about resetting the gravity while they where floating around in mid-air. He smiled, visualizing it, then turned to Quatre and Trowa. "Let's check this panel then."
Wufei sat, watching them through his eyelashes. Maxwell was playing the fool again. It was his shield to hide behind, possibly comparable with his silence. He probably knew the most about his 'lively' friend, but that was precious little. He knew that he had chosen his name himself, as he hadn't had one before that he knew of.
~ Duo. Two. ~ He had called himself that, so he would never be alone. But with an adopted personality as friendly and fun as his, he barely was anyway.
~ Nataku. Must we all hide our past? Is it always to be this way? ~
He sighed. ~ So many secrets, and secrets shall they stay, for now, at least. ~
He shut his eyes and buried himself in the blackness of his mind where he was safe from his own tragic past.
~ Nataku, you were strong. I will fight for justice, for you. ~ a single drop of water rolled so slowly down his face. He moved backwards, and it floated away.
Meanwhile, Quatre, Trowa and Heero were each examining the sabotaged Gundam. Trowa, having knocked the panel off, had noticed that it had black marks on. Normally this would be ignored, they got hit by lasers, or explosion burns quite often. However, it was not often found on the inside of the armor.
~ So how did it get there? There must have been an explosive charge inside the shielding. This was no accident. ~ Quatre frowned, angered by the knowledge of this.
He could have died. All those battles, all those fights, and close calls, to be destroyed in a sneak attack. A trap. When he found the person behind all of this, he knew he would not hold himself back.
"So the Intruder must have planted an explosive detonator inside the covering."
"And switched from Gundanium to steel to make it easier to activate."
"If it was a properly rigged pressure sensitive device, Gundanium or steel would make no difference, so why waste time replacing it?"
"Wasted resources. Maybe he, or they, need more Gundanium, and the easiest way to get it is by stealing it from us."
"Easy?! Doesn't the ruined Alliance base have Gundanium stored, originally for Epyon? And what about Tallgeese? That was Gundanium too, wasn't it?"
"hmm...perhaps they already have the remaining stock from there. We should check it."
"Now? But Sandrock has-"
"You shouldn't go anyway, Quatre, it could be danger-"
"It's always dangerous. That's why we're here."
*Humph * ~ He knows he's right. ~ "Ok, you can come, but you'll have to fix Sandrock first. There's extra-"
Quatre had already gone, jumped off of Sandrock, and up to the walkway at the Gundam's chest height. He then opened the airlock doors, and ran off down the hall.
"Trowa, you can either come with me now, or wait and I'll go with Wufei."
Trowa was going to say he'd wait, but he noticed Wufei had moved, and signaled that he'd wait for Winner.
"Ok, where to first?"
Hilde and Duo got into their respective MS, as Heero and Trowa blasted off. After they had gone, Duo was about to get out of Deathscythe, when Hilde came up on screen.
"Hey, Duo, where are they off to in such a rush?"
"Dunno, but I still haven't got to show my appreciation to the guy on the news, and I wanna say thanks 'cause hey, I'm a 'real live wire'. The reason he don't see me much is cause of Deathscythe's Active cloak stealth, I usually have it on, cause I like a lil' hide an' seek, but now, I think I'm in the mood for a little seek an' destroy! Y' commin' babe?"
"Course I'm commin'" She smiled briefly, but then it faded as she remembered.
"Are you sure you're ok? I mean, we can't have ya leakin' all over space now can we?"
"Hey, like I said, I do what I want, and as long as that's ok with you, there's no problem."
Just then Wufei came up on screen.
"01 and 03 have gone to check the Gundanium at the old Alliance base. You do not need to go with them, but I will not stop you from leaving." He thought for a moment.
"They do not need your help. However, if you should like to accompany me to Sector D13, Quatre and I have some unfinished business to attend."
He reached forwards to cut the vidlink, and added. "That is also where the prototype satellite camera is, and is quite close to L6."
He smiled faintly, and shut off the link. Duo grinned. ~ He knows me too well. ~
"We'll wait for 04, he might want to come with, 'k?"
"No problem." Hilde answered, in spite of the fact that she was eager to start, she understood that Quatre should come, it would help.
The pilot in question was clambering over a heap of spares, looking for a suitable panel. He'd found one possible, but it was caught underneath a somewhat larger piece, and he couldn't move it alone. ~ But I could if one of the others were here. ~
He looked up as the hatch opened, revealing Duo and Hilde standing in the entrance.
"We thought you could use some help."
"Oh, Thanks."
Duo looked around. He noticed the before mentioned part.
"How 'bout that one?"
Winner looked at it again, wondering how Duo could help without causing further injury.
"Ok, um, if I hold up this bit," he kicked the larger piece, "Then you can pull it out. 'k?"
Duo made a face, he knew Quatre had shortchanged him, but he agreed anyway.
"What should I do?" Hilde asked, still standing by the door.
"You can help Quatre lift that, if y' like." Duo proposed, satisfied that he'd got him back.
She walked over and the blonde shifted to one side, to give her room for a good grip.
"On 3?"
Quatre nodded.
"3" said Duo.
The part was tipped up, and he pulled out the substitute panel. The other two replaced the larger piece with a clang.
"Ok! Let's go fix up Sandrock. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish-"
"...and the sooner we're outta here."
Quatre didn't agree with Duo piloting while injured, but they'd all done it before at some point, so he didn't argue with him. They went through the double lock doors, and back into the main hangar bay. Wufei was still there, waiting patiently for them to return.
One hour later...
"Aw, c'mon, they'll be back soon an' Heero'll try 'n' stop me leavin'."
"It's ok, you two check your suits, and I'll finish up here." Quatre suggested, fixing the last edge in. Duo and Hilde jumped off in opposite directions, to get to their respective transport. The corner wasn't going very flat, but that could be easily rectified. Gently, he tapped it with the wrench, to no avail. So, using the easiest method going, he stomped it.
The resulting screech was gratifying to the apprentice mechanic, and he sealed it down strongly. Glancing across at Deathscythe, he saw its eyes light, and the hatch close. Duo was eager to get started, he loved his Gundam, and flying it was one of his favorite pass times. Turning to Altron and Taurus across the room, he saw Altron echo the Deathscythe's actions, and the Taurus's hatch was already shut, reactor on, and ready to go. ~ They're waiting for me. ~ He checked back at his work, then confident that it was complete, leapt upwards to the hatch. He spun over and grabbed the open ledge with his hand. He then used this leverage to swing over, and inside the cockpit. The door rose behind him. As he sat down and bucked in, Duo appeared in front of him.
"Been watchin' too much Trowa, Cat?"
He smiled and turned on his vid-com. (video communicator ~ Sam ^_^)
"Maybe I just did it by myself. Ready for go?"
"02, all systems go."
"05, go."
"Um, Hilde, go."
"No worries babe, you're now officially part of this group, you can be 06. Let's hear that one again, confirm, 06?"
"06, all systems go"
"So what're we waitin' for? Let's play!"
The hatch in the roof was now open, and the four of them flew straight through it, out into the darkness of space.
~ Duo's playground ~ thought Hilde, still with an enormous grin.
~ 'officially part of this group'...06! ~ How long had she waited to hear him say that! Still smiling, she flew after the Gundams towards D13.
Sandrock Sabotage...
On reaching the Hangar bay, they all made a beeline for 04 - Sandrock. Quatre in particular was pretty eager to find out the truth. He went straight for his Gundam, and was almost ready to jump up to the armor plate, when he remembered Heero's plan. Trowa was to go up for him, as there was still a possibility that he could black out again, and fall. ~ supposedly, anyway. ~ Then he had an idea.
"Hey, Heero! What if we lower the gravity in here to almost zero, then both Trowa and I can take a look. What do you think?"
Heero frowned, and was about to deny him, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
'How would you react in his place?' It was Wufei. 'He is fine now.'
Heero thought about this for a moment. "Fine. Duo? Get the-"
"Already on it!" replied the American, with a grin. He vaulted, if somewhat cautiously over the platform's rails, and reprogrammed the Hangar's gravity down to zero point five. This was only possible as they were in space, where there was none anyway. What they had as 'gravity' were merely boosters outside, constantly spinning, to simulate the force which was naturally present on the Earth. It was an adjustment that the engineers had planned for, and although they had never tried it, it would also be possible to increase the gravity. ~ Why we'd wanna I don't know. ~ The whole hangar rocked slightly, as the system over-rode the usual commands.
"Ok! All set." Duo would have jumped over the bars again, but with little gravity, there really was no need. He felt the pressure release him, and he pushed gently off. He flew smoothly through the air, to land next to Heero and Hilde. Looking around showed that Quatre was already halfway up Sandrock, inspecting the Intruder's handiwork. Trowa wasn't far behind, and Chang was sitting, or rather floating in Altron's cockpit.
Quatre had leapt up as soon as Heero had agreed, without waiting for the gravity to drop. Searching for the place he had seen was easy, it was just under the Gundam's 'skirt'. With the relaxed air of someone who'd done the same thing so many times, he slid up to the replaced sheet. Trowa came up along side.
"I've found the bad panel, here." Showing him the false piece, he shoved it. It moved.
"It's loose? Will it come off?" Trowa asked. His companion nodded.
"Too easily. All we have to do is simulate the force of a hit, and-" He moved out of the way as the acrobat glided past him, and went up above him.
~ When there is no gravity, the only force against me is air resistance...simple. ~
Quatre and the others watched as the star of the circus reached the roof.
Trowa touched the ceiling and grabbed the rail. Then, spinning over the bars, he held on upside down, and pushed off, aiming himself directly at Quatre. The blonde below jumped up out of his friend's way, as he came shooting past, and did a few somersaults to get himself lined up properly, and, feet first, he came crashing down onto the loose cover.
*BANG *
The noise rang through the room as he collided with the Gundam's upper leg. He bounced off, up towards its head, as the sheet floated to the ground. He caught the chest plate, and pushed himself back to the ground, landing on top of the piece of metal. He bowed, just like when he was at 'work'.
Hilde's hands, which had first been in her pockets, then over her mouth, were now clapping. Her face was the picture of impressed.
"Now THAT was what I call a FLYING kick!" Duo beamed, going over to slap him on the back. Quatre floated in from above, and smiled at his friend. "That seemed to do the job"
Heero still stood where he had been, and nodded. Wufei was sitting in his Gundam, apparently oblivious, but when Trowa glanced up at him, he winked.
"How did you do that?" Quatre asked in wonder.
Duo sighed to himself, he knew what was coming now, and Quatre had set him off.
"In space, there is no gravity or air resistance. In here there is very little gravity, but still air resistance. In space any object moving in a direction will continue to move in the same direction at the same speed, until interrupted, by either gravitational pull from a planet, or a collision. Using this information, I used myself as the potential force, and hit the panel with similar velocity to that of a collision. This caused the plate to fall."
Quatre looked slightly puzzled yet nodded in understanding.
Hilde however was completely lost in the science of it all. She looked at Duo.
He smiled and shrugged. "Oh, simple then really." He said.
She rolled her eyes, and slowly shook her head. He smiled again, and came over to her. Resting his arm on her shoulder, he whispered; 'like he said, 'in space-' he paused, looking straight into those soft blue gray eyes. 'No-one, can hear you-'
~ Scream ~ she thought. ~ he'll say scream. ~
"Laugh!!" he yelled, as he verbally pounced, tickling her vigorously.
"No-no-Duooooooooooooooooooooooo!" she howled, and burst out laughing.
Now it was Heero's turn to stare at the ceiling, as she started to fall over, and Duo pushed her up into the air. Their laughter echoed around the six silent MS.
The Japanese boy had a fleeting thought about resetting the gravity while they where floating around in mid-air. He smiled, visualizing it, then turned to Quatre and Trowa. "Let's check this panel then."
Wufei sat, watching them through his eyelashes. Maxwell was playing the fool again. It was his shield to hide behind, possibly comparable with his silence. He probably knew the most about his 'lively' friend, but that was precious little. He knew that he had chosen his name himself, as he hadn't had one before that he knew of.
~ Duo. Two. ~ He had called himself that, so he would never be alone. But with an adopted personality as friendly and fun as his, he barely was anyway.
~ Nataku. Must we all hide our past? Is it always to be this way? ~
He sighed. ~ So many secrets, and secrets shall they stay, for now, at least. ~
He shut his eyes and buried himself in the blackness of his mind where he was safe from his own tragic past.
~ Nataku, you were strong. I will fight for justice, for you. ~ a single drop of water rolled so slowly down his face. He moved backwards, and it floated away.
Meanwhile, Quatre, Trowa and Heero were each examining the sabotaged Gundam. Trowa, having knocked the panel off, had noticed that it had black marks on. Normally this would be ignored, they got hit by lasers, or explosion burns quite often. However, it was not often found on the inside of the armor.
~ So how did it get there? There must have been an explosive charge inside the shielding. This was no accident. ~ Quatre frowned, angered by the knowledge of this.
He could have died. All those battles, all those fights, and close calls, to be destroyed in a sneak attack. A trap. When he found the person behind all of this, he knew he would not hold himself back.
"So the Intruder must have planted an explosive detonator inside the covering."
"And switched from Gundanium to steel to make it easier to activate."
"If it was a properly rigged pressure sensitive device, Gundanium or steel would make no difference, so why waste time replacing it?"
"Wasted resources. Maybe he, or they, need more Gundanium, and the easiest way to get it is by stealing it from us."
"Easy?! Doesn't the ruined Alliance base have Gundanium stored, originally for Epyon? And what about Tallgeese? That was Gundanium too, wasn't it?"
"hmm...perhaps they already have the remaining stock from there. We should check it."
"Now? But Sandrock has-"
"You shouldn't go anyway, Quatre, it could be danger-"
"It's always dangerous. That's why we're here."
*Humph * ~ He knows he's right. ~ "Ok, you can come, but you'll have to fix Sandrock first. There's extra-"
Quatre had already gone, jumped off of Sandrock, and up to the walkway at the Gundam's chest height. He then opened the airlock doors, and ran off down the hall.
"Trowa, you can either come with me now, or wait and I'll go with Wufei."
Trowa was going to say he'd wait, but he noticed Wufei had moved, and signaled that he'd wait for Winner.
"Ok, where to first?"
Hilde and Duo got into their respective MS, as Heero and Trowa blasted off. After they had gone, Duo was about to get out of Deathscythe, when Hilde came up on screen.
"Hey, Duo, where are they off to in such a rush?"
"Dunno, but I still haven't got to show my appreciation to the guy on the news, and I wanna say thanks 'cause hey, I'm a 'real live wire'. The reason he don't see me much is cause of Deathscythe's Active cloak stealth, I usually have it on, cause I like a lil' hide an' seek, but now, I think I'm in the mood for a little seek an' destroy! Y' commin' babe?"
"Course I'm commin'" She smiled briefly, but then it faded as she remembered.
"Are you sure you're ok? I mean, we can't have ya leakin' all over space now can we?"
"Hey, like I said, I do what I want, and as long as that's ok with you, there's no problem."
Just then Wufei came up on screen.
"01 and 03 have gone to check the Gundanium at the old Alliance base. You do not need to go with them, but I will not stop you from leaving." He thought for a moment.
"They do not need your help. However, if you should like to accompany me to Sector D13, Quatre and I have some unfinished business to attend."
He reached forwards to cut the vidlink, and added. "That is also where the prototype satellite camera is, and is quite close to L6."
He smiled faintly, and shut off the link. Duo grinned. ~ He knows me too well. ~
"We'll wait for 04, he might want to come with, 'k?"
"No problem." Hilde answered, in spite of the fact that she was eager to start, she understood that Quatre should come, it would help.
The pilot in question was clambering over a heap of spares, looking for a suitable panel. He'd found one possible, but it was caught underneath a somewhat larger piece, and he couldn't move it alone. ~ But I could if one of the others were here. ~
He looked up as the hatch opened, revealing Duo and Hilde standing in the entrance.
"We thought you could use some help."
"Oh, Thanks."
Duo looked around. He noticed the before mentioned part.
"How 'bout that one?"
Winner looked at it again, wondering how Duo could help without causing further injury.
"Ok, um, if I hold up this bit," he kicked the larger piece, "Then you can pull it out. 'k?"
Duo made a face, he knew Quatre had shortchanged him, but he agreed anyway.
"What should I do?" Hilde asked, still standing by the door.
"You can help Quatre lift that, if y' like." Duo proposed, satisfied that he'd got him back.
She walked over and the blonde shifted to one side, to give her room for a good grip.
"On 3?"
Quatre nodded.
"3" said Duo.
The part was tipped up, and he pulled out the substitute panel. The other two replaced the larger piece with a clang.
"Ok! Let's go fix up Sandrock. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish-"
"...and the sooner we're outta here."
Quatre didn't agree with Duo piloting while injured, but they'd all done it before at some point, so he didn't argue with him. They went through the double lock doors, and back into the main hangar bay. Wufei was still there, waiting patiently for them to return.
One hour later...
"Aw, c'mon, they'll be back soon an' Heero'll try 'n' stop me leavin'."
"It's ok, you two check your suits, and I'll finish up here." Quatre suggested, fixing the last edge in. Duo and Hilde jumped off in opposite directions, to get to their respective transport. The corner wasn't going very flat, but that could be easily rectified. Gently, he tapped it with the wrench, to no avail. So, using the easiest method going, he stomped it.
The resulting screech was gratifying to the apprentice mechanic, and he sealed it down strongly. Glancing across at Deathscythe, he saw its eyes light, and the hatch close. Duo was eager to get started, he loved his Gundam, and flying it was one of his favorite pass times. Turning to Altron and Taurus across the room, he saw Altron echo the Deathscythe's actions, and the Taurus's hatch was already shut, reactor on, and ready to go. ~ They're waiting for me. ~ He checked back at his work, then confident that it was complete, leapt upwards to the hatch. He spun over and grabbed the open ledge with his hand. He then used this leverage to swing over, and inside the cockpit. The door rose behind him. As he sat down and bucked in, Duo appeared in front of him.
"Been watchin' too much Trowa, Cat?"
He smiled and turned on his vid-com. (video communicator ~ Sam ^_^)
"Maybe I just did it by myself. Ready for go?"
"02, all systems go."
"05, go."
"Um, Hilde, go."
"No worries babe, you're now officially part of this group, you can be 06. Let's hear that one again, confirm, 06?"
"06, all systems go"
"So what're we waitin' for? Let's play!"
The hatch in the roof was now open, and the four of them flew straight through it, out into the darkness of space.
~ Duo's playground ~ thought Hilde, still with an enormous grin.
~ 'officially part of this group'...06! ~ How long had she waited to hear him say that! Still smiling, she flew after the Gundams towards D13.