Six hours after running into Neri, Heero returned to the Peace Million. "How did it go?" Quatre asked as he floated past.
"Mission accomplished," was his short reply.
"That's good," Quatre said, returning to tinkering with Sandrock in the docking bay.
Heero floated up to the walkway. Almost as an afterthought, he called down to the other pilot, "I saw Neri out there."
There was a loud clang as Quatre dropped his tools, surprised. "You did? How is she?"
"Her Gundam looked fine, though a bit battle-scarred."
"Did you guys talk at all?"
"Yes."
"What did you say?"
"I told her she should come back." There was a hiss and a thud as the door shut behind Heero.
Quatre smiled to himself. "He really is changing for the better, isn't he?"
The door hissed open again, and Duo came floating down to rest next to Quatre.
"Going out again, Duo?"
"Nah—just wanted to check up on old Deathscythe here. The left arm was a little sluggish in the last battle, so I'm going to tune him up a bit."
"Did you run into Heero?"
"Yeah—well, not literally. We just passed each other in the hallway, that's all. Why do you ask?"
"He saw Neri out there a few hours ago."
Duo's eyes opened wide in surprise. "He did? How is she? Did he say anything to her? Wait, it's Heero we're talking about." He rolled his eyes. "So he just saw her, eh?"
"He said her Gundam looked fine, and he told her she should come back."
Duo almost tripped as he jumped up toward his Gundam's left arm. "He actually told her that she should come back? That's not normal."
"I know. I just hope she'll take his advice."
"Me too, Quatre."
They each continued to work on their own mobile suits for about an hour, then Trowa floated into the bay. "Hey, Trowa," Quatre greeted him.
Trowa merely nodded in return and landed on his Gundam, Heavyarms. "Are either of you ready to head out right away? There's a large shipment of mobile dolls heading out from the lunar base. I'm going to intercept it."
"I'm game," Duo told him, already closing up the panel and heading for the spacesuit closet.
"I'll go too." Quatre said, also closing up his panel. He put his tools away, followed Duo up to the spacesuits, and put one on. Trowa was already in Heavyarms and disengaging from the dock, and Duo was suited up and headed for Deathscythe. Soon Quatre also was ready to go, and followed the other two pilots out the airlock toward the lunar base.
Neri's alarm went off. Sleepily she turned on a light and glanced over at the display. Mobile suits coming this way? Oh, no! She hurriedly got dressed and slipped on her spacesuit before throwing her belongings into her travel bag and heading for Novastar. A blast rocked the satellite. They must have followed me here! Damn them! I only got three hours of sleep!
Neri threw her bag into the storage compartment in Novastar as a third blast shook the floor beneath her feet. She glided up to the cockpit and sealed the hatch. The displays came alive as she activated the mobile suit's various systems, and she turned Novastar out toward the airlock. Neri took care to go through the airlock, rather than blast through a wall. Hey, I might actually be able to save this thing, she reminded herself.
Flying out to space, Neri headed up and over the satellite. At the top she came face to face with a sizable attack force, complete with mobile dolls. Let's see if they're after destroying me, the satellite, or both, she thought as she headed away from the resource satellite. Most of the suits followed her, but a few remained to batter away at the satellite. Damn it!
To vent her anger she drew both her beam sabers and sliced through two mobile dolls. Dodging a concerted energy attack by three dolls, she flew under a manned suit and sliced through its engines, causing it to explode. Seconds later she was confronted by two more dolls, who she disposed of after dodging their attacks. However, her Gundam was hit a few times in the process, leaving scorch marks and slowing the systems down slightly. But Neri ignored it and pressed on.
"What's going on over there?" Duo asked his fellow pilots as they flew toward the moon.
"Looks like a pretty fierce battle to me," Quatre replied as he glanced the way Duo had, over by the resource satellite.
"Is that satellite still in use?" Trowa inquired.
"I don't think so." Quatre frowned. "If it's no longer in use, then why is that battle going on around it?"
"Good question. Beats me," Duo answered.
"It seems like they're attacking a single mobile suit," Trowa noted aloud.
Duo looked closer. "You're right, Trowa. Let's see…Heero's on Peace Million, and Wufei is on one of the colonies…it must be Neri!"
Trowa did not comment. Instead he blasted his engines to maximum and headed for the battle. Duo and Quatre followed him close behind.
Neri continued to battle, but the constant weaving, dodging, and attacking was beginning to take its toll, and the attacks were coming on harder and faster now. She had already taken more hits as well. I don't know if I can keep this up, she thought wearily. Novastar, hold together!
A Leo suit swooped in behind her and nicked her right arm socket with his beam saber. Sparks flew, and the arm's response time and accuracy was cut in half. Kuso! Neri cursed as she retaliated by destroying the Leo suit. I don't have a place or the parts to repair this kind of damage. Now what? Grimly she battled on, but resolved herself to the fact that she was probably not going to survive this. At least I'll take a bunch of them with me!
Suddenly a suit she had not touched exploded near her. What the… Neri wondered to herself, startled, when a Gundam flew past her in a blur, slicing two suits neatly in half on the way and dodging the attacks of a third. Quatre! she exclaimed silently as she recognized Sandrock.
"Looked like you needed some help here, lady," Duo said over the comm unit.
"I sure did," she replied with a note of relief in her voice, glad to know there were two other Gundams out there as well. "Novastar's right arm is damaged, and I've been fighting like this for the last half-hour or so."
"I'm glad to know you're all right," Quatre told her.
"Thanks, Quatre." Two mobile suits flew up to her blind spot and began pummeling her with energy attacks.
Neri winced as the force of the assault knocked her around her cockpit, awarding her with a cut over her left eye and bruises on her shoulders and elbows. As soon as the attack had begun, it stopped with two explosions as the offending suits were vented to space by a barrage of bullets. Trowa! Neri cried silently as she recognized Heavyarms' attack style.
With the four Gundams working together—although Neri and Trowa had yet to say anything to each other—they quickly dispensed of the attacking force. Finally it was over. All that remained was a lot of floating debris, and Novastar's arm continued to spark and crackle at the injured joint.
"What were you doing out here, Neri? And how did you end up in such a pitched battle?" Duo queried after things had settled down.
"See that satellite? That's where I've been living these past few days. I guess from my last battle someone spotted me coming here, and sent out an attack force to take me and the satellite out. Thankfully it looks like it's still in one piece. Thanks for helping me out here, you guys." Neri turned her Gundam toward the satellite and began to head back to it.
"Wait," Trowa spoke up for the first time. "Why don't you come back?"
There was silence for a moment. "Why would you want a murderer to come back?" she replied icily.
"Because Catherine's death was the fault of an enemy mobile suit."
"What?"
"Quatre has the footage to prove it."
Neri was silent again. "So…you actually…you want me to come back?"
"Yes, we do," Quatre interrupted quietly.
"Yes," Duo echoed him.
A third time Neri was silent, but this time it was due to the lump in her throat.
"C'mon, Neri, let's go back to the Peace Million," Quatre invited.
"All right."
"What about the shipment?" Duo interrupted.
"You and I will go take care of it," Trowa said. "Quatre, you take Neri back to the Peace Million. I think Duo and I can handle this."
"Be careful," Neri blurted out.
"Hey, it's me," Duo teased, covering up for her.
"That's what I'm afraid of," she teased him back.
"Nice to have you back, Neri."
"Yeah. It's nice to be back," she said, smiling faintly.
Heavyarms and Deathscythe returned to their original path toward the moon. Neri's eyes lingered on Trowa's Gundam for a moment, then she turned away and faced Sandrock. "Let's go back, Neri," Quatre said softly.
"Yes." Turning her back to the satellite, the two Gundams headed out toward the Peace Million.
* * *
Back at the ship, those on board warmly greeted Neri. Even Heero welcomed her back. "I see you took my advice," he said when they were alone, his face expressionless as he leaned back against a wall.
"I did," she replied, her face as impassive as his own.
He turned to face her fully. "You're just going to hurt yourself."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You're intelligent, but you're acting stupid right now."
Neri chuckled. "I can turn your advice back on you, you know."
His expression was startled. "What?"
"You know what I mean. Don't go out of your way to avoid it, that's all. I know you aren't the man of ice you profess to be." She left him standing there with that to chew on.
A few hours later Duo and Trowa returned. "Hey, Neri," Duo greeted her with a grin.
"Hey, yourself, you goose. How are you doing?"
He buffed his nails on his suit in a self-satisfied way and then blew on them. "Good—had a nice little battle out there with some machines, but it was easy."
She laughed and pushed him away. "Why do we put up with you?"
"Face it—you like me."
"Uh…huh."
He laughed and gave her a hug. "Great to see you back here."
"Nice to see you too." He walked away, whistling.
Trowa walked up. "Neri," he began.
She turned around slowly. "Yes?"
"I want you to know that I'm not mad at you because of Catherine. It wasn't your fault." He walked away before she could reply. Consternated, Neri returned to her old quarters and collapsed on the bed, exhausted.
* * *
Less than a week later, outer space began to stir with the makings of the largest war in history, between the World Nation and the White Fang – the supposed representatives of the space colonies. Battleship Libra was the main cause of this war – its main cannon could kill millions if fired on the earth. All the Gundam pilots prepped for battle.
Near the end of the preparations Quatre approached Neri, who was going over some last-minute data from the gathering forces. "You're sure you're ready for this?" he asked, concerned.
She flashed him a smile. "Of course. It's what we Gundam pilots were trained for, remember?"
"Yeah, I know. Just be careful out there, please?"
"Sure. I'll be fine," she reassured him, noting the worry creasing his face. "You'll see."
Hours later they launched toward Libra. Trowa, Quatre, and Duo went out after the mobile dolls. Heero went after Zechs, and Chang Wufei went after Treise. Neri dashed out to battle another wing swooping in on the others battling the mobile dolls.
"Watch your backs, you guys," she warned.
"These pieces of junk getting me? Be serious," Duo joked, making light of the situation. His eyes widened as a mobile doll appeared right next to him. Suddenly there was a violet-colored flash of light, and the doll exploded. Duo glanced to that side to see Neri dash off to take on another two. I need to be careful of my blind spots, he told himself. Keying the communicator, he told Neri, "Thanks for saving my bacon."
"No problem. Just stay frosty." She flashed him a grim smile, then clicked off the comm and dashed into the fray.
Later, Quatre noticed a distinct strategy to the dolls' attacks, as if they were being controlled by a single something-or rather, someone. He used the Wing Zero technology Heero had installed prior to the battle to coordinate the attacks of the three of them. Where's Neri? he wondered. Then a proximity alarm sounded, and he turned his attention to the battle in front of him.
Meanwhile, Neri was battling her way toward Libra, to make sure that the main cannon was out of commission. Finding that it was, she battled all dolls that got in her way as she explored the battleship's surface for possible weak points. I need to blow this thing up somehow. Now that its main cannon has been destroyed, they're going to ram it into the Earth. I can't let them do that! It would destroy the earth as we know it!
The other three pilots had soon defeated the dolls and went to Libra, docking on the opposite side from where Neri was. Each fought their own battles inside the great ship, in and out of their Gundams. Quatre was injured in a duel with Dorothy Cadelonia, and was rescued by Trowa.
Back on the other side of Libra, after Heero had successfully evaded Zechs' attacks and disabled one of his weapons, Neri saw a terrific explosion from inside the ship. Unfortunately, there was a piece of debris as large as her Gundam hurtling toward her. Since it was in her blind spot, Neri did not know it was there until it had rammed into Novastar and sent her tumbling. The collision knocked her senseless, and she drifted aimlessly through space.
With a brave action, Heero destroyed the last piece of Libra hurtling toward the Earth, and thereby saved it. Everyone cheered for him, and they prepared to head down to Earth. Then Quatre remembered something. Neri! Where is she? "Hey, you guys, have any of you seen Neri around?"
"No's" came in from all of the pilots.
"Let's split up and look for her," Duo suggested. He did not voice the nagging doubt in all their minds: What if she took this chance to split and leave?
Suddenly a glint of sunlight off a piece of debris caught Trowa's attention. He moved toward it, and to his dismay saw that it was a mangled mobile suit – Novastar. "I've found her," he told the others in a voice suddenly raspy with unnoticed emotion. "It's bad."
Slipping behind her, Trowa maneuvered his Gundam so that he was in a position to grab underneath Novastar's arms and keep it in a safely locked position. I can't afford to let go, he thought grimly, if I'm to take her safely through the atmosphere to Earth. Carefully calculating his entering point and angle, Trowa told the others that he would take her down, and began to descend into the atmosphere. Friction began to heat up both Gundams. They started shaking as the forces beat on them. A few minutes later they had safely broken through, Trowa breathing a sigh of relief. A moment after that Quatre asked him, "You two okay?"
"Yeah." He flew her over to a secluded spot they had used before to hide their Gundams, and set her down to have a better look. Trowa then wished he had not. The right side was a mangled mess. Novastar's arm would have to be replaced, as well as the bent machine guns and twisted energy blade handle. Trowa got out of his Gundam and carefully climbed up onto Novastar, making his way to the cockpit. Pressing the emergency lever, he opened up the hatch and winced at Neri's condition. That had to have hurt a lot.
Blood matted her hair from a wound on the back of her head, and a cut over her right eye had dripped blood all over that side of her face. There also were scratches on her face and arms from material that had been jarred loose in the collision. Gingerly Trowa unbuckled her protective gear and lifted her out of the pilot's seat.
By this time their other ship, the Meteor, had landed nearby, along with some of the other Gundams and their pilots. Miss Noin rushed over to see Neri, and with her were Sally Po and Quatre. They gasped when they saw her. Immediately Noin called for a medical bed and supplies. She quickly loaded Neri onto it and bandaged her wounds, with Sally's help.
Quatre and Trowa stood to one side, helplessly, as Neri was taken care of and wheeled off. Quatre noticed that the other pilot had been badly shaken by the sight. I wonder what he feels for Neri…