Twilight
By Marie
((AC198))
~~~
Chapter 1
"This is Preventer Cruiser 002, Water reporting," The woman, Sally Po, spoke casually into the cruiser's radio. At the same time she squinted out the main view screen of the squat little ship, wincing slightly at the sight she saw there. The clouds in front of the cruiser were dark and menacing, laced with flashing lightening that lit the cockpit. It was way too dangerous to attempt to land the cruiser in the torrential jungle below... she glanced at her partner, getting a slight nod of assent.
"Aborting mission," she sighed. 'Damn it,' she added mentally. It was the first time in a while that anything truly interesting had come up at the place where she and her young partner, Wufei Chang, worked... the Preventer HeadQuarters. The Preventers were an organization formed to help stop a world and space war like the one back in AC195 from ever happening again. Recently it seemed like the Preventers were a successful organization as well... nothing had happened in mouths which even came close to indicating terrorism was afoot and terrorist activity hadn't been reported anywhere. No mobile suits were being made at a secret base somewhere. No Gundamanium was being shipped about in the Earth Sphere illegally. Nothing had been happening-- which made work for them very boring.
That was why she and Chang Wufei were so excited when the report of some sort of unknown pirate signal was being broadcast from somewhere in the south-western hemisphere. A pirate signal meant Work. And maybe rebels. Perhaps an uprising to boot. And that was also the reason why it was so darn frustrating now. To be turned back because of a simple tropical storm...
"It's too dangerous to go in there, Air. Investigation of pirate signal will continue tomorrow. Bringing ship about. See you in space." She dropped the handset, turning to "voice" her displeasure by scowling slightly at her partner, Chang Wufei.
Wufei was oblivious. "Bringing cruiser about," he reported dryly, his fingers making short work of the controls.
Sally fastened her safety harness tightly, turning her glower towards the ever-menacing clouds. "Damn you!" She told them.
Wufei afforded her a slight glance and a smile. "There will be another day." He told her evenly before returning his attention to the controls. Sally grinned and nodded.
The cruiser banked then began to climb under Wufei's expert piloting. Their position caused the view screen to rotate to show the amazingly clear sky above them, complete with the sparkling lights of many stars and the closer pinpoints of light that were the colonies. Sally smiled. And then stopped.
Even as the cruiser continued to climb and gain altitude, a sudden darkness seemed to pass in front of the ship, the lights from the colonies and stars blinking out one by one. She frowned. That... that wasn't normal... even the storm couldn't move that fast... could it...?
"Wufei?" She questioned, turning her attention back to her partner. Wufei was frowning as well, glancing quickly between his controls and the view screen. His sensors on the control panel, though very limited due to the present electricity in the air outside, were flashing brightly, indicating that *something*...
"Hang on!!" He shouted suddenly, gripping the console in front of them. Sally gasped as an instant later she was thrown abruptly against her safety straps, the cruiser banking sharply as a large crashing sounded came from outside of the cockpit. The cruiser's engines screeched with displeasure and all the lights in the cabin flickered. Sally turned wide eyes to Wufei, noting that the boy was out of his seat and standing, his face taunt as he rapidly hammered at the controls.
"What was that??" She demanded to know.
"I don't know!" He shot back, pounding some more against the controls. "But we've been hit!"
Sally lurched against the safety straps again as the ship rocked erratically. "By WHAT??!"
"I don't know..." his voice trailed off, his fingers dancing. A look of relief flooded his Asian features as the engines whined more and the cruiser began to turn about. Then the ship banked again. And stopped moving.
There was complete and utter silence. There were no lights on in the cockpit at all any longer. Wufei's control panel was dead, the bright sensor lights dark and dull. No lights meant... No power, Sally realized, her blood running cold. No power meant... No engines...
Lighting crashed against the main screen. In that instant the cockpit was illuminated, and time froze. The picture it formed was one that Sally was sure would be embedded in her mind for years to come... Wufei stood rigid, utter disbelief and partial fear on his face evident as he stood staring at his controls...
... As their craft hovered precariously in mid-air...
And then Sally felt her heart leap into her throat as they began to drop.
"DAMN!!" Wufei shouted, diving forwards. He beat his hands against the controls, only to find that to be futile. Finally in desperation he smashed the glass to grab the manual control lever and yanked on it with all of his might, throwing himself back.
The effort produced little effect beyond perhaps tilting the cruiser at something a little less than a completely vertical drop. Sally returned her horrified gaze to the view screen. Darkness was rushing by them at an incredibly *fast* rate... "We're going down!" she shouted unnecessarily. She was at her own controls instantly, trying to get the ship to respond to her co-pilot commands. No power, she had to remind herself. No power meant no control...
She glanced at the radio that she had so recently held in her hands. It was dead. No power meant...
"WUFEI!!" She screamed in desperation.
"Radio for help woman!" he snapped back. The lever was still clenched in his hands, and he was still futilely straining against it for all of the little good it was doing them.
Sally yanked the useless headset from the wall. "IT'S DEAD!!" She screamed again.
Wufei stared at her for what seemed to be forever, his face blank as his mind refused to process that. No radio, no help, no power...
No solutions came to mind. He opened his mouth and closed it again, shaking his head slightly. If at all possible Sally's eyes became ever larger in the darkened cockpit, desperation on her face as she turned her gaze back to the view screen, mouth opening to shout a curse... or something...
Another crash sounded from outside of the cruiser, loud and commanding in his ears. A flash of light lit the cockpit. For a moment all he heard was the wrenching screech of medal against medal and then he realized that Sally was moving away from him even as she rocked violently against her seat's halter.
And then he realized that it wasn't Sally that was moving away from him... he was moving away from Sally. Very rapidly. She looked up at him and shouted something which the thunderous noise about him drowned out... a hand futilely reaching out...
It was the last thing he remembered before loud darkness and driving pelts of wet enclosed his face -- body -- and then his whole entire world went blank.
~~~
