Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Outlaw Star, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Readers Note: This contains some spoilers for Outlaw Star, so if you haven't seen the whole series I wouldn't recommend reading this.
Gundam Wing
&
Outlaw Star
Gundam Outlaw
Chapter 2: The Strangers
Q
Meanwhile, an hour earlier, in the universe Hotana had broken into, the Office of Preventer were simply going about their daily routine. However, the office of Preventer was missing one person. That person was Id the Lion. He simply left for personal reasons. At least that's what he told his co-workers.
This as well as a different matter was what Johan and his wife Haruka was discussing in the mobile suit bay of the newly fitted and redesigned ship, Tabris.
Tabris had been remade on itself to make it a little bit smaller than it is original version. Not only that but its gun turrets had been removed as well as several of its decks. It had shrunk from its 1000 foot length to 500 feet long as well as from its original 200 feet high down to a 150 foot height, giving it only 15 decks. Now, the ship that was the enormous heavy battle carrier named Exodus was now the Preventer Starship/mobile suit carrier Tabris.
In the mobile suit bay, Johan worked on his Gundam inside the cockpit. He overviewed the different parts to see if the Gundam itself was completely in tact. Each part seemed to be working just as Johan had hoped.
His attention was drawn away from his Gundam to the open cockpit door. He saw his wife Haruka sitting cross-legged on the cockpit platform. She was smiling at him.
Johan took his hands away from the controls and set them on his lap, "What is it, Haruka?" He asked
Haruka's eyes wandered like a child nervously asking her parent for something. Her eyes came back to Johan and she asked, "I'd like to be a pilot again."
This statement slightly stunned Johan, it had nearly been a year or maybe two since Haruka had the Gundam Nemesis. Does she really want to do this?
"Are you sure that you want to be a pilot again?" Johan asked
Haruka climbed into the cockpit with Johan, she threw her arms around him and brought her face close to his.
"I know, you said you didn't want to loose me again," she reminded Johan, "But I've piloted mobile suits for a long time and I want to take back the controls and feel that raw power all around me."
Johan smiled and joked, "You mean you want to feel the power between your legs?"
Haruka smiled again, "No, I get plenty of that from you."
"Haruka," Johan spoke seriously but still kept his smile, "It's alright with me."
Haruka kissed Johan, "Thank you, love."
"Thank me later on tonight."
"But the question is, do you still have the plans for Nemesis?"
Johan nodded, "We can even use the Gundam Fire and make it into the Gundam Nemesis."
Haruka winked, "Let's go talk to Lady Une."
Q
"On-Call pilot?" Haruka asked loudly
Johan and Haruka stood in front of Lady Une's desk that was within the bulkheads of Tabris, yet the room did have its windows out into the depths of space. The windows were behind Lady Une's desk, she sat in front of those windows looking at the couple and hearing their request. The request to make Haruka Tenou Rodriguez a new Gundam pilot for Preventer. However Lady Une's decision was less than what Haruka had expected.
"Haruka," Lady Une began, "You're skills at mobile suit repair is essential here. To loose you in battle would be too great to risk. That is why I'm only assigning you to an On-Call pilot, you'll serve as a back up if one of our mobile suits is damaged or one of the pilots are injured."
Haruka felt this kind of disappointment before; she felt it in the days of Oz when she couldn't be in the infantry because of the whole policy of women in combat. So she had to settle for the women's mobile suit infantry units. This was history repeating itself and she was as powerless as before, she had to comply.
"I understand." She said
Hearing that tone in her voice Johan laid his gentle hand on her shoulder. The two looked into each other's eyes. Johan had the look in his eyes that said, "it's alright, Haruka. You'll be alright."
"You'll need a code name if you're going to be a pilot." Lady Une explained, "Have you chosen one?"
Haruka snapped her attention back to the part about the code name. She already thought of one, it was the literal translation of her name. She cleared her throat when she looked across the room to Lady Une behind her large Oak desk.
"I have, Lady Une." She said, "I choose the code name, Preventer Sky King."
Lady Une raised her eyes brows, "That's not exactly politically correct for a woman to assume the name of king, is it? Why not, Sky Queen?"
"Sky King, is the English translation of my name, Lady Une. And just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of out, doesn't mean I can't take half of what the others can."
"She proves that conclusively, Lady Une." Johan spoke for his wife
Lady Une nodded with a smile creeping across her face, "Alright. I'll input the data, in the meantime, I'm assigning you to the Gundam Vindicator until we can build the Gundam Nemesis."
"Thank you, Ma'am." Haruka smiled as she walked out with Johan's arms wrapping around her waist.
The two were already out in the hallway when Johan had to strike up the first words.
"That went well." He smiled
Q
At the controls was the ship navigator, Al. He was the Tabris AICGH, Artificial Intelligence Computer Generated Hologram. In other words Al was hooked up to all systems onboard the Tabris. For now his course was set to the coordinates of Colony L-9 to re-supply. Not only that but to give the Preventer Gundams and Desbats a chance to relax. Since L-9 is famous for its tourist attractions, a sort of Space Las Vegas.
Beep!
Al detected something from the sensors. It was ships and two of them. According to the sensors they just appeared out of no where. The computer couldn't figure out what happened and neither could Al. All al could do is call the others.
"Lady Une!" He called, "get to the bridge, we've got company."
Al didn't know where these ships came from but the computer tried to identify them. The analysis of the ships registry, type and propulsion came back unknown.
"Unknown?" Al asked himself
Lady Une came through the doors and sat in the captains' chair, "What is it, Al?" She asked
Al brought up the two unknown ships onto the screen.
"These two," He introduced, "Computer identifies them as unknown and they appeared out of nowhere."
Lady Une gazed at the two ships, one red and the other deep green. Neither one looked familiar to her. There were no other secret Oz experiments for ships like these. They were more concerned with mobile suits.
The ships came out of nowhere, Lady Une thought, it must be another tear.
"Open a channel." Lady Une ordered
But her order came too late, she watched as the two chips sprouted arms. Yes, mechanized arms that were connected to each ship. The two "armed" ships began to fight each other using these arms. Lady Une watched thinking about what kind of Universe these ships came from. What use for those arms there were other than fighting?
"Lady Une." Al announced, "we have a call coming from the red ship, audio only."
"Put it through." Lady Une ordered concerned about what she'll hear.
The audio came through; it was crackling with the voices of people grunting as if being tossed around in a car without seatbelts.
"This is the Outlaw Star." A voice came through, "I'm asking for assistance."
Lady Une replied, "Outlaw Star, we're dispatching a team right now."
She dashed to the onboard microphone next to Al's station. She pressed the talk button.
"Attention Preventer Gundams! Scramble! I repeat, Scramble, get to your Gundams. The target is a dark green ship. Try to stop it at all costs."
Q
Johan and Haruka who were in the mobile suit bay heard the message. Johan had already finished work on his Gundam. Haruka on the other hand had it easy, the only task she need to do was to enter her voice print into Vindicator.
The call was heard, both Haruka and Johan got suited up for space combat. While the other Gundams dashed in one after the other, Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Duo and Alexandria. All got to their Gundams and prepared to launch.
"Haruka." Johan called as Ryu started up
"Yes, Johan." She answered
"Be careful out there."
"Hey, you know me."
"That's what worries me." Johan thought to himself.
Q
Back on the Outlaw Star, events have turned to surreal. First they were after a big bounty but now they were in a grappler fight with an enormous ship only a short distance away.
Gene fought fiercely against the Ki but the fight was coming out even between the two of them. The only thing that was lost between the two of them was ammunition. They brought the fight down to a mechanical version of a boxing match. They had their grappler arms out and they made punches against each other against their hulls, scratching the pain and making dents.
"Gene." Jim called, "Are you sure it was wise to ask for assistance like that? We don't know who these people are."
"If you have a better idea, I'd like to hear it."
Melphina called to Gene, "8 objects are closing in at 1800 feet to starboard."
Gene looked to his right to see what was coming. He could only see 8 get streams coming toward this battlefield. He tried to strain his eyes but Gilliam magnified the oncoming objects. Now Gene saw them, he saw robots, at the sight of them a million ideas of what these robots are as well as their function. Just as Gene regained his place the cockpit began beeping.
"Incoming message on audio." Gilliam stated
"Put it through." Gene ordered as he restarted his fight with the Ki.
A voice came through, it sounded young yet serious.
"Outlaw Star." The voice said, "We're here to assist you. So, let's rock and roll!"
That last part of let's rock and roll sounded pleasing to Gene, he felt that these people would be friends in catching this bounty head.
Q
Johan and Heero lead the Preventer Gundams to the Ki. Before any of them attacked it a recap of the mission was made. Quatre who was always the sensible one even on the battlefield called out to the others.
"All of you know what to do." He reiterated, "Disable the green ship but leave the red ship alone."
"Understood." All of the Gundams complied in unison.
The attack began on the Ki from all fronts, from the Gundams and the Outlaw Star. The Gundams with their beam weapons out and ready to slice anything that came their way. The Outlaw Star had it's arms out with it's weapons of an Uzi-like Gun in one hand and a battle-axe in the other.
The first one to make an attack on the Ki was Haruka in the Vindicator. She came over the Ki like a man playing leapfrog.
She came over the ships cockpit with the Vindicator's beam sword in hand and her head completely clear to her objective. She knew that the Ki had to be disabled and the best way to do that was to cut off the arms leaving it unarmed. The path was clear, she could see the grappler arms. All she had to do was cut them off in one swift move.
She watched the grappler arms move with inhuman speed and the next sensation she felt as being held. She moved the controls but nothing moved. She looked and saw the grappler arms held the Vindicator in its grasp.
Haruka looked around and saw the inner white lights of the cockpit began to blare red, on and off. On and off the red lights came. She watched this from behind the plastic view of her helmet and wondered what was going on.
"Warning." Midas called, "Warning, detecting bombs attaching to hull, please advise to remove them immediately."
"Bombs?" Haruka asked, "Where?"
Q
The Gundams and the Outlaws watched as the helpless Vindicator was being held in the grasp of the most dangerous pirate known within the Towards Star System. They saw the Ki holding the Vindicator above it's hull and watched as several objects moved out of the Ki and attach themselves to the Vindicator. The helpless mobile suit could only sit there and wait for whatever was going to happen.
"What's going on, Gene?" Jim asked
Gene smirked, "It's obvious that he wants to kill our newly made allies."
"So, what are you going to do?" Asia asked from the back
"I'm going to blow him to hell."
Gene took the controls and aimed at the grappler arms. But he didn't want to hit the robot. He aimed right at the joints of the arms. The target center was green only for a few seconds and then it became red when he squeezed the trigger.
The bullets flew out of the gun at the right grappler arm. The bullets flew out and severed both grappler arms like legs off a crab.
Gene didn't know that it was already too late. The bombs were on their final countdown.
Q
On the Vindicator, time was growing shorter for Haruka. As quickly as she could, she strapped on her helmet and began to breathe the concentrated air from the oxygen tank.
"I'm sorry, Midas. I'm going to have to leave you." She apologized
"If I had emotions." Midas stated coldly, "Then I would feel sorry too."
Haruka reached down for the handle, the black and yellow handle. This was the trigger for the ejection system for the Gundam Vindicator. All she had to do was sit strapped into the chair and pull the lever. But she had to be quick; she only had 10 seconds left. Only 10 seconds until the bombs that the Ki had strapped to the Vindicators hull would go off.
10…
She pulled the lever and felt the chair rocket itself forward. At first it felt like an elephant was pushing her back into the seat. The sensation of going forward soon became a tumbling sensation as if rolling down a hill with no sense of direction or being.
9…
8…
7…
Haruka held her eyes shut, she didn't want to look at the blast that was soon to come from the bombs. She knew that the time was close. Yet she didn't see the escaping grappler ship. The Ki was escaping with the Outlaw Star chasing it.
6…
5…
4…
Johan had watched the whole event unfold before his eyes. History was repeating itself and this time he would witness it. All the bad memories flooded back into Johan's mind. That day he came home to find Haruka dead. Only this time he knew that there was no guarantee of her coming back.
3…
Johan pushed the engines of the Gundam Ryu forward making them burn red hot. He saw the cockpit eject but he didn't' know how much time was left.
2…
The Gundam Ryu outstretched its hand and grabbed the ejected seat.
1…
The Outlaw Star was closing in on the Ki. Just as it's nose was closing in on the Ki it vanished. It was as if the ship known as the Ki and the man known as Hotana were all an illusion. This whole bounty chase across space and a different universe was just a mirage. Or was it?
0.
The Gundam Vindicator flashed a white light and the blast was enough to feel the shock within a good distance. Every pilot and even the crew of the Outlaw Star was far enough away to avoid the blast. It seemed unnaturally large, like someone had stuffed enough explosives into the Vindicator to increase its explosive power at least 3 fold. The Outlaw Star itself had its back turned to the explosion but the blast had reached them and shook them in their seats.
Meanwhile, Johan had already suited himself up for space and breathed in the concentrated air from the oxygen tank. He stepped out into the coldness of space; he climbed down into the Gundams hand and looked into the ejector seat. There he saw his wife strapped into the seat and not moving. He looked past the plastic of her helmet and to her young face that looked so peaceful as if she were asleep. If this weren't space Johan would have kissed her.
"Haruka." He called
Haruka didn't move or answer
"Haruka!" Johan called again and hugged her, he hoped to God that she wasn't dead. The very thought of loosing her was too much for him to even swallow.
"Johan to Preventer Ship Tabris." He called through the COM system in his suit, "I need a medical team out here and quick! My wife isn't responding."
Q
In the aftermath of the attack by the Ki, open talks were made between the Presenters and the Outlaws. In the meeting room of the Preventer ship Tabris, the Outlaws had come aboard.
The Outlaws sat at one end of the conference table while the Preventer officers sat at the other end. Though the only one who was absent from this meeting was Johan and Haruka. Those two were in sick bay, at least Haruka was, and Johan on the other hand was just there at his wife's side.
Introductions were made starting with the Outlaws.
"My name is Gene Starwind." Gene smiled
"I'm James Hawking," Jim introduced, "Jim to my friends."
"I'm Sazuka." Sazuka bowed.
"My name is Asia Clan-Clan." Asia winked
"How do you do?" Melphina asked, "My name is Melphina."
Lady Une too the initiative, "It is good to meet all of you, I'm Representative Une, but I'm called Lady Une here. These gathered around me are the officers of Preventer, you may introduce yourselves."
Heero stared blankly, "My name is Heero Yuy, it's a pleasure."
Duo smiled, "I'm Duo Maxwell"
Trowa closed his eyes, or eye from what the visitors could see, "My name is Trowa, Trowa Barton."
Quatre smiled at the new ones across the table, "My name is Quatre Raberba Winner."
Wufei looked at them with calm, plotting eyes, "My name is Wufei Chang."
"My name is Zechs Marquise." Miliardo stared
"Me name is Alexandria DeLarge." Alex winked
"I'm Kazuki Peacecraft." Kazuki smiled looking at the Outlaws with his good eye
"My name is Rashim."
"I'm Howard, nice to meet you."
Jim did notice something about the officers of Preventer; he wanted to know the names of the two who were taken away when they docked.
"Who were the others?" Jim asked
"Those," Lady Une explained, "Were Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez and his wife Haruka Tenou Rodriguez."
Jim turned slightly to Gene, "A guy that young is married?" He whispered
Gene only shrugged.
"Let's get to it." Duo stated, "How did you guys get here?"
Jim explained as best as he could since he was unfamiliar with the technology that Hotana had used.
"We came here though a gate that someone had constructed." He said, "We're after this pirate named Hotana, who was attacking us in that green ship. We're after him because of the price on his head."
"A pirate?" Kazuki narrowed his good eye.
"Right," Sazuka agreed, "He's considered by many to be a very dangerous man. And now he has access to a different technology there's no telling what he'll do."
"So," Lady Une inserted, "your after this man named Hotana because of a bounty?"
Jim stood up from his end of the table, "It's not just any bounty, it's the biggest one we've come across in a very long time."
Quatre looked at the Outlaws from the Preventer end of the table. He thought out a plan, "We'll help track down this man with you."
"That'll be the tough part." Gene shrugged, "He's as much new to this place as we are. So we'll have no idea of where to look."
It is true they didn't know if Hotana had come to this Universe before or if this was his first time. If this was his first time then this universe must be overwhelming or it could be like taking a trip back in time to the time when people lived in caves to him. That would be realized once they go up against him.
"We can't start looking for him now." Trowa asserted, "Our supplies are low and we need to build that Gundam that Johan had planned. We also need to try and heal Haruka if we will go up against this man again."
"Trowa's right." Duo nodded, "We have to be over 100 percent in our fighting."
The Outlaws looked at each other and couldn't refuse. Trying to refuse the help or the aid of these people could be considered an insult. None among the Outlaws were the kind to turn down anything especially if it was in the aide of getting more money. This especially applied to Gene above all else.
Lady Une looked towards Howard, "How long until we reach Colony L-9?"
"About…" Howard Calculated in his mind how long it would take, "About 9 hours."
"Good, so this is our task officers of Preventer, we aid these Outlaws in apprehending this man, return him to his own space, heal Haruka and build her a Gundam. Understood?"
"Understood." The Presenters' said in unison.
"Mission accepted." Heero said calmly.
To be continued . . .
Author's Notes: I figured that I should make Johan's wife a Gundam Pilot again, I mean she was a pilot once so she should have that privilege again. Even though Johan is scared to death to loose her on the battlefield he has to realize that she too is a person who wants something out of life like he does. Though this latest incident with his wife being attacked by the Kei Pirate named Hotana, Johan is now being put the test of the possibility of loosing his beloved again.
Come back soon for more chapters of Gundam Outlaw