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Gundam Wing: Lady Gundam
Written By: Jumper Prime
For Disclaimers see prologue
Chapter 3: The Victoria Nightmare
[Wufei, I am uncertain of this plan.] Shenlong Gundam spoke respectfully to its pilot
"My plan is perfect, Nataku." Wufei countered "It shall not fail."
[I have no doubt that your plan will succeed. My uncertainty is as to the rightness of the plan. It would be one thing to slay the new class of OZ pilots in battle, but you plan to murder them in their sleep with a series of explosions. I do not see the honor in that.]
"They are not worthy to meet us in battle. There is no need to waste your fuel in an unnecessary battle whose outcome is predetermined."
[They at least should have a chance to die aware of their fate, a weapon in their hands]
"They do not deserve a warrior's death! They would likely flee our attack like the mewling pups they most certainly are, anyway. You shall not question my decisions further, Nataku! As you have said before, I am the warrior, you are merely the suit of armor! Without me, you are a lifeless collection of metal!"
[I was merely giving counsel] Shenlong said in an apologetic tone
"And your counsel has been rejected. You will await me here until I return. Understood?"
[Of course, Wufei.]
"Good. Glad we settled that."
Wufei powered down Shenlong Gundam's systems and opened the hatch before getting out. He secured his satchel of explosives on his motorcycle and started riding down the mountain towards the Victoria base and an encounter with Lt. Noin. A few hours later, the hatch opened and Wufei jumped into the cockpit, quickly pressing controls to start up Shenlong Gundam.
"Nataku, awaken." Wufei ordered "I have been pursued."
[Then your pursuer shall perish momentarily.] Shenlong Gundam declared
"There will be no need to kill them. It's only a woman. Find their frequency so I can hear them talking."
[At once, Wufei.]
Shenlong Gundam stood up, becoming visible as it broke though treetops.
[Enemy frequency found.] Shenlong reported after a moment [Now on main speakers.]
"Target in sight." One OZ pilot reported
"FIRE!" the second ordered
"Don't shoot!" ordered the pilot of the green Aries that had pursued Wufei
"Lt. Noin, why not?"
"Cuz she's a woman." Wufei transmitted on the OZ frequency
[One who obviously has no business giving orders.] Shenlong agreed
Shenlong Gundam drew its beam glaive as it turned and shot towards the two Aries suits with the beam cannon, the exhaust from the thrusters on its back glowing bright. A single swing sliced both mobile suits in half.
"Damn you!" Noin snarled as she flew towards Shenlong Gundam, her chain rifle blazing. Shenlong Gundam leveled its Dragon Fang and the arm extended. The Dragon Fang struck the top left engine, breaking a piece of it off and caused the Aries to tumble through the air before crashing into the ground.
[Wufei, I am picking up control tower transmissions from the Victoria base.] Shenlong said [A transport aircraft is being cleared for takeoff.]
"They're panicking." Wufei smiled "Trying to get the new Taurus mobile suits off the base before we arrive. This is an unexpected bonus."
[I do not see how. We cannot fly high enough or fast enough to intercept the aircraft if they do not use a terrain-following flight path over our location, which they would be fools to do.]
"We don't need to intercept them, Nataku. We'll just use this little toy they brought us to shoot them down." Wufei had a hint of mirth in his voice as he directed Shenlong Gundam towards the dropped beam cannon.
[That is a beam cannon designed for use in outer space. Here on Earth, it will only be good for one shot before it overheats.]
"One shot is all I need."
Shenlong Gundam picked up the beam cannon and aimed it at the aircraft in the distant sky.
[Targeting calibrated.] Shenlong said and a set of crosshairs appeared on the main screen as it zoomed in on the fleeing aircraft. [Beam cannon at your command.]
Wufei carefully aimed the beam cannon, leading the target with a practiced eye, and fired. The beam struck the transport plane and it exploded in a huge fireball. Shenlong Gundam dropped the steaming hot beam cannon to the ground and turned towards the spot where Noin's green Aries had crashed.
"Are you listening woman?" Wufei asked over the OZ frequency "Huh? You saw I was a kid and you underestimated me. You're a weak soldier. I don't kill bleeding hearts or women."
Shenlong Gundam turned and walked away from Noin's downed Aries.
[Her heart is a silk pillow.] Shenlong commented [A true warrior's heart must be hard, like iron, so that they may kill the enemy without hesitation.]
"Precisely why women shouldn't fight, Nataku." Wufei agreed "They're too soft. I present this Lt. Noin we just trounced as my evidence. That beam cannon might have been able to pierce even your armor, but she thought that, because I was a kid, she could capture me without hurting me."
[An impossibility, to be sure.]
"Indeed, Nataku. She was willing to take any chance to avoid hurting her enemy, and her men paid with their lives."
Shenlong Gundam walked for several hours before Wufei stopped and made camp for the night. After making Shenlong Gundam lie down to minimize the chance of detection, he powered down its systems and got out. Wufei walked through the night on foot, coming to a halt in a clearing as he was surrounded by a pack of hyenas.
"Get out of my sight, you weaklings!" Wufei shouted and the hyenas scattered as though he had fired a gun. "Fighting a weak enemy leaves me feeling so empty afterwards..." Wufei then screamed at the moon louder than the hyenas could have.
On the floating platform that served as Duo Maxwell's base of operations, Wing Gundam and Gundam Deathscythe lay side by side in a hangar as Heero worked through the night to repair his Gundam. The next morning, Duo was walking towards the hangar when he heard a sound like a jet engine revving up, accompanied by a strong wind.
"What's going on?" Duo asked as he came out to investigate the noise and saw Wing Gundam, in bird mode, take off "Unreal! I don't believe it! The guy's incredible! He fixed his machine in one night!"
"Oh no!" A mechanic moaned from the hangar "We've been had! He took his parts from this suit!"
Duo ran into the hangar to see Gundam Deathscythe in multiple pieces, drawing forth a surge of anger.
"What?!" Duo snarled "I was just complimenting him. TRAITOR!" He got control of himself again and walked over to where his Gundam's head lay on the floor. Duo placed his hand on the large metal head and closed his eyes. "Don't worry, Deathscythe. I'll get you put back together as soon as I can."
Meanwhile, at Quatre's base in the desert, Quatre and Trowa were in a elegantly decorated room, Quatre standing in the middle of the room and Trowa leaning against the wall, discussing things of importance to Gundam pilots.
"I noticed that your Gundam seems to use the opposite design philosophy from mine." Quatre commented
"What do you mean?" Trowa asked
"Gundam Sandrock focuses on melee combat. The homing missiles in the shoulders were only included to allow for a way to bring down an enemy who fires from afar and refuses to allow me to close with them. Yours, on the other hand, seems to focus on long range combat, with the heat blade seeming like an afterthought."
"Gundam Heavyarms was designed to decimate large numbers of enemies at once. The best way to do that in the shortest amount of time is with multiple heavy weapons firing simultaneously. My Gundam's designer knew that running out of bullets in mid-battle could leave it defenseless, and included the army knife so that it would remain dangerous so long as it was functional."
"I see. Does it have an artificial intelligence system, like Sandrock?"
"Artificial intelligence? No."
"Sandrock sort of acts like an assistant during battle. He monitors enemy frequencies for transmissions I'd want to know about, often telling me before the Maganac's communications specialist can alert me to the same transmission. He's also my friend."
"Interesting."
"Do you like music?" Quatre asked
Before Trowa could answer, Quatre picked up a violin and began playing. After a few moments, Trowa walked over to a cabinet containing several musical instruments and took out a flute, which he began playing in harmony with Quatre's violin.
While Trowa and Quatre played music together, several members of the Maganac Corps were in the repair bay, working on Gundam Heavyarms's damaged elbow.
"It's almost fixed." Auda reported
"They're similar mechs so it was very easy." Abdul, the man next to him wearing sunglasses, commented
"They're so similar it's kinda freaky. Don't you think so, boss?"
"Yeah. That's why Quatre is so concerned." Rasid answered from the catwalk above. He stood there, lost in thought for a minute or two, and then spoke again. "Don't forget that even when you're finished repairing that Gundam, the job won't be done. Master Quatre also promised we'd reload the ammunition in its weapons."
"The vulcans and shoulder missiles shouldn't be much of a problem." Auda said "They're identical to the ones in Master Quatre's Gundam. I dunno about the rest though."
"I think we can scrounge up some stuff for it." Abdul declared "I think we've got rifle ammo that's the right caliber to fit in the machine cannons, and the ammo we use for the Olifants' gatling guns should also fit in this suit's beam gatling and chest-mounted gatlings. I dunno what we're gonna do about micromissiles for the missile pods in its legs, though."
"Omar's mobile suit uses similar micromissiles." Rasid commented "We'll have to check, but I suspect they'll fit in this suit's launchers."
A few days later, in the Darlian home, Mr. Darlian made an announcement.
"I'm being sent up to the Colonies to make inquiries about some unusual events relating to the Colonies." He told his family
"What kind of unusual events?" Relena asked, already knowing what events her father was talking about
"I'm afraid it's classified, but don't worry. I doubt if they'll effect any of you at all."
"Top secret, huh Dad?" Renee noted
"I'm afraid so. Relena, you can come along, if you like."
*I've never turned down a chance to go into space with father.* Relena thought *If I turn him down, it'll seem strange, and Renee's already suspicious of me.* "I'd love to, father."
"Can I come too?" Renee asked, causing the eyes of all present to widen in surprise
"You've never wanted to come up to space with me before, Renee." Mr. Darlian said "Why the change now?"
"Well, Relena's always telling me how nice the Colonies are. If things go badly between Earth and the Colonies, they might become not so nice anymore. I'd like to see them just once with my own eyes the way Relena sees them."
"I'll be glad to have you with me. Now, both of you go pack, we're leaving tomorrow morning."
Relena and Renee smiled and went up to their respective rooms to pack what they would need for the trip. Before she started packing, Relena typed up a message on her computer. She used her encryption program to hide it inside a picture file, and attached the file to an E-mail addressed to Amy. She typed some inconsequential lines of text in the E-mail's body, then sent it.
Not long afterwards, on colony H10425, Dr. Z was scrolling through some intelligence reports, trying to decide on Relena's next target, when her computer chimed to alert her to an incoming E-mail. Dr. Z decrypted the attached file and read Relena's message.
{Travelling with father to the Colonies to maintain appearance of normality. Will be unable to fulfill missions for several days. Will advise immediately following return.}
"Of course." Dr. Z muttered to herself "The Alliance knows the Gundams came from the Colonies and they're sending up the only man who has a rapport with Colony leaders. But who made the others? Could my old colleagues have also been approached by the same man as I? The number of Gundams matches up perfectly. What're the odds of that?"
Back on Earth, in the dead of night, Relena snuck out of the house and made her way to the male dorms at her school. She stealthily creeped through the hall until she came to the room that school records indicated belonged to Heero Yuy. After making sure that the room was unoccupied, she picked the lock and went inside. Noting the spartan state of the room, Relena took out the disk she had stolen from the Alliance Decryption Center and placed it on the bed before exiting and relocking the door from the outside.
*I wish I could've cracked the decryption on that disk and found out what was on it,* she thought as she withdrew *But it's past time that I returned it to Heero.*
Relena then left the dorm building as silently as she entered and returned home, barely missing Heero, who was returning from checking his Gundam's hiding place, as he did every night, to ensure that the mobile suit remained undiscovered. When Heero entered the room, his eyes widened as he saw the disk on his bed.
"Someone's been in here." He said quietly to himself
Heero made a thorough examination of his room, checking for bugs and other surprises, but found nothing. He inserted the disk into his computer and tried to read the disk. He got the same response as he would expect to get from the disk that he had recently lost. Heero took the disk out and shut down the computer before opening up the casing. He carefully examined each component for a device that would transmit data from his computer to whoever had broken in, but found nothing. Satisfied that it was safe to do so, Heero closed his computer back up, turned it on, and inserted the disk once it was booted up. He rapidly tapped in the commands that would unlock his disk and was surprised to find that the data was exactly as he remembered it.
"I had this disk on me when I left to destroy my Gundam, and lost it when I was captured. So how did it wind up back here?" he wondered
Heero didn't like unanswered questions. They indicated a lack of information, which could threaten his mission. Whoever returned his disk might be an ally, or an enemy taunting him. He needed to know who they were and which they were, and he needed to find out before the time came to relocate.
The next morning, Relena, Renee, and their father were boarding a shuttle that would take them into space.
"Relena, when we get up there, do you think you could introduce me to your friend Amy?" Renee asked
"Well" Relena started to reply but was interrupted by her father
"Relena's friend lives on colony H10425 in the L6 Colony Cluster." he said "We're heading for the main colony in the L1 cluster."
"So I won't get to meet Amy, after all?" Renee sounded disappointed
"I'm afraid not."
"Why isn't the meeting on H10425?" Relena asked
"Some of the representatives of other Colonies were starting to think that L6 was getting preferential treatment, since its representatives usually had the least distance to travel for talks. L1 was a compromise."
"Vice Minister Darlian, ladies." A female military officer greeted them. She wore glasses and had her brown hair in a sophisticated braid that kept it above her collar. Her uniform denoted her as an officer of the Special Mobile Suit corps. "I'm Lady Une, I'll be in charge of the security detail during your trip."
"I find it odd that the Specials would be placed in charge of my security detail, rather than the regular army."
"I don't see why, Vice Minister. The problem you are going up to the Colonies to address involves mobile suits. No one in the Alliance military knows mobile suits better than the Specials, and our expertise is not limited to mobile suit combat."
"I see." Vice Minister Darlian didn't seem convinced but let the issue drop anyway.
*The Specials. Meaning OZ.* Relena thought as she and Renee sat down in their seats *Something smells funny here. It can't be a coincidence that OZ soldiers will make up father's security detail for the first time. Maybe they're planning to use the talks as a smokescreen while they get information through non-legitimate means. Or perhaps something worse... Perhaps these OZ officers will strike out at the citizens of the Colonies in an attempt to get at the ones who sent the Gundams.*
"Wow, I'm actually going into space." Renee smiled as she sat down in her seat "I hear the stars are even prettier when you're among them."
"Don't lean forward, Renee." Relena warned her sister "When we take off, the acceleration will be intense, and you don't want to hurt your head on your headrest."
"Right." Renee nodded as she and Relena fastened their seatbelts.
It took only a minute or two for all the adults to take their seats and then the shuttle was towed into takeoff position. Relena and Renee leaned back in her seats and the shuttle began to vibrate as its engines prepared to fire. Then they were pushed hard into their seats by the acceleration as the shuttle shot up the takeoff ramp and into the sky, neither girl knowing of the date with destiny that had been arranged for them in the skies above.
End of chapter 3
First, let me apologize to everyone who recently tried to post an anonymous review and was rebuffed. I had some problems with the new way of setting the options on the Settings menu and got confused. What did Xing find wrong with the Yes/No radial buttons that used to be there, huh? Anonymous reviews are again possible, sorry for the inconvenience.
As you can tell, I'm not simply copying the episodes. Not all the scenes from the anime will make it into this story, balanced out by my adding my own stuff, some of which is things I think we should have seen, like what happened immediately after Quatre and Trowa called their truce(as seen in the previous chapter) as well as Relena's adventures as a Gundam pilot.
I'm very encouraged by all the positive reviews which have basically been telling me that I'm a brilliant writer J so I will continue on as I have been doing. Thank you for your support.
Written By: Jumper Prime
For Disclaimers see prologue
Chapter 3: The Victoria Nightmare
[Wufei, I am uncertain of this plan.] Shenlong Gundam spoke respectfully to its pilot
"My plan is perfect, Nataku." Wufei countered "It shall not fail."
[I have no doubt that your plan will succeed. My uncertainty is as to the rightness of the plan. It would be one thing to slay the new class of OZ pilots in battle, but you plan to murder them in their sleep with a series of explosions. I do not see the honor in that.]
"They are not worthy to meet us in battle. There is no need to waste your fuel in an unnecessary battle whose outcome is predetermined."
[They at least should have a chance to die aware of their fate, a weapon in their hands]
"They do not deserve a warrior's death! They would likely flee our attack like the mewling pups they most certainly are, anyway. You shall not question my decisions further, Nataku! As you have said before, I am the warrior, you are merely the suit of armor! Without me, you are a lifeless collection of metal!"
[I was merely giving counsel] Shenlong said in an apologetic tone
"And your counsel has been rejected. You will await me here until I return. Understood?"
[Of course, Wufei.]
"Good. Glad we settled that."
Wufei powered down Shenlong Gundam's systems and opened the hatch before getting out. He secured his satchel of explosives on his motorcycle and started riding down the mountain towards the Victoria base and an encounter with Lt. Noin. A few hours later, the hatch opened and Wufei jumped into the cockpit, quickly pressing controls to start up Shenlong Gundam.
"Nataku, awaken." Wufei ordered "I have been pursued."
[Then your pursuer shall perish momentarily.] Shenlong Gundam declared
"There will be no need to kill them. It's only a woman. Find their frequency so I can hear them talking."
[At once, Wufei.]
Shenlong Gundam stood up, becoming visible as it broke though treetops.
[Enemy frequency found.] Shenlong reported after a moment [Now on main speakers.]
"Target in sight." One OZ pilot reported
"FIRE!" the second ordered
"Don't shoot!" ordered the pilot of the green Aries that had pursued Wufei
"Lt. Noin, why not?"
"Cuz she's a woman." Wufei transmitted on the OZ frequency
[One who obviously has no business giving orders.] Shenlong agreed
Shenlong Gundam drew its beam glaive as it turned and shot towards the two Aries suits with the beam cannon, the exhaust from the thrusters on its back glowing bright. A single swing sliced both mobile suits in half.
"Damn you!" Noin snarled as she flew towards Shenlong Gundam, her chain rifle blazing. Shenlong Gundam leveled its Dragon Fang and the arm extended. The Dragon Fang struck the top left engine, breaking a piece of it off and caused the Aries to tumble through the air before crashing into the ground.
[Wufei, I am picking up control tower transmissions from the Victoria base.] Shenlong said [A transport aircraft is being cleared for takeoff.]
"They're panicking." Wufei smiled "Trying to get the new Taurus mobile suits off the base before we arrive. This is an unexpected bonus."
[I do not see how. We cannot fly high enough or fast enough to intercept the aircraft if they do not use a terrain-following flight path over our location, which they would be fools to do.]
"We don't need to intercept them, Nataku. We'll just use this little toy they brought us to shoot them down." Wufei had a hint of mirth in his voice as he directed Shenlong Gundam towards the dropped beam cannon.
[That is a beam cannon designed for use in outer space. Here on Earth, it will only be good for one shot before it overheats.]
"One shot is all I need."
Shenlong Gundam picked up the beam cannon and aimed it at the aircraft in the distant sky.
[Targeting calibrated.] Shenlong said and a set of crosshairs appeared on the main screen as it zoomed in on the fleeing aircraft. [Beam cannon at your command.]
Wufei carefully aimed the beam cannon, leading the target with a practiced eye, and fired. The beam struck the transport plane and it exploded in a huge fireball. Shenlong Gundam dropped the steaming hot beam cannon to the ground and turned towards the spot where Noin's green Aries had crashed.
"Are you listening woman?" Wufei asked over the OZ frequency "Huh? You saw I was a kid and you underestimated me. You're a weak soldier. I don't kill bleeding hearts or women."
Shenlong Gundam turned and walked away from Noin's downed Aries.
[Her heart is a silk pillow.] Shenlong commented [A true warrior's heart must be hard, like iron, so that they may kill the enemy without hesitation.]
"Precisely why women shouldn't fight, Nataku." Wufei agreed "They're too soft. I present this Lt. Noin we just trounced as my evidence. That beam cannon might have been able to pierce even your armor, but she thought that, because I was a kid, she could capture me without hurting me."
[An impossibility, to be sure.]
"Indeed, Nataku. She was willing to take any chance to avoid hurting her enemy, and her men paid with their lives."
Shenlong Gundam walked for several hours before Wufei stopped and made camp for the night. After making Shenlong Gundam lie down to minimize the chance of detection, he powered down its systems and got out. Wufei walked through the night on foot, coming to a halt in a clearing as he was surrounded by a pack of hyenas.
"Get out of my sight, you weaklings!" Wufei shouted and the hyenas scattered as though he had fired a gun. "Fighting a weak enemy leaves me feeling so empty afterwards..." Wufei then screamed at the moon louder than the hyenas could have.
On the floating platform that served as Duo Maxwell's base of operations, Wing Gundam and Gundam Deathscythe lay side by side in a hangar as Heero worked through the night to repair his Gundam. The next morning, Duo was walking towards the hangar when he heard a sound like a jet engine revving up, accompanied by a strong wind.
"What's going on?" Duo asked as he came out to investigate the noise and saw Wing Gundam, in bird mode, take off "Unreal! I don't believe it! The guy's incredible! He fixed his machine in one night!"
"Oh no!" A mechanic moaned from the hangar "We've been had! He took his parts from this suit!"
Duo ran into the hangar to see Gundam Deathscythe in multiple pieces, drawing forth a surge of anger.
"What?!" Duo snarled "I was just complimenting him. TRAITOR!" He got control of himself again and walked over to where his Gundam's head lay on the floor. Duo placed his hand on the large metal head and closed his eyes. "Don't worry, Deathscythe. I'll get you put back together as soon as I can."
Meanwhile, at Quatre's base in the desert, Quatre and Trowa were in a elegantly decorated room, Quatre standing in the middle of the room and Trowa leaning against the wall, discussing things of importance to Gundam pilots.
"I noticed that your Gundam seems to use the opposite design philosophy from mine." Quatre commented
"What do you mean?" Trowa asked
"Gundam Sandrock focuses on melee combat. The homing missiles in the shoulders were only included to allow for a way to bring down an enemy who fires from afar and refuses to allow me to close with them. Yours, on the other hand, seems to focus on long range combat, with the heat blade seeming like an afterthought."
"Gundam Heavyarms was designed to decimate large numbers of enemies at once. The best way to do that in the shortest amount of time is with multiple heavy weapons firing simultaneously. My Gundam's designer knew that running out of bullets in mid-battle could leave it defenseless, and included the army knife so that it would remain dangerous so long as it was functional."
"I see. Does it have an artificial intelligence system, like Sandrock?"
"Artificial intelligence? No."
"Sandrock sort of acts like an assistant during battle. He monitors enemy frequencies for transmissions I'd want to know about, often telling me before the Maganac's communications specialist can alert me to the same transmission. He's also my friend."
"Interesting."
"Do you like music?" Quatre asked
Before Trowa could answer, Quatre picked up a violin and began playing. After a few moments, Trowa walked over to a cabinet containing several musical instruments and took out a flute, which he began playing in harmony with Quatre's violin.
While Trowa and Quatre played music together, several members of the Maganac Corps were in the repair bay, working on Gundam Heavyarms's damaged elbow.
"It's almost fixed." Auda reported
"They're similar mechs so it was very easy." Abdul, the man next to him wearing sunglasses, commented
"They're so similar it's kinda freaky. Don't you think so, boss?"
"Yeah. That's why Quatre is so concerned." Rasid answered from the catwalk above. He stood there, lost in thought for a minute or two, and then spoke again. "Don't forget that even when you're finished repairing that Gundam, the job won't be done. Master Quatre also promised we'd reload the ammunition in its weapons."
"The vulcans and shoulder missiles shouldn't be much of a problem." Auda said "They're identical to the ones in Master Quatre's Gundam. I dunno about the rest though."
"I think we can scrounge up some stuff for it." Abdul declared "I think we've got rifle ammo that's the right caliber to fit in the machine cannons, and the ammo we use for the Olifants' gatling guns should also fit in this suit's beam gatling and chest-mounted gatlings. I dunno what we're gonna do about micromissiles for the missile pods in its legs, though."
"Omar's mobile suit uses similar micromissiles." Rasid commented "We'll have to check, but I suspect they'll fit in this suit's launchers."
A few days later, in the Darlian home, Mr. Darlian made an announcement.
"I'm being sent up to the Colonies to make inquiries about some unusual events relating to the Colonies." He told his family
"What kind of unusual events?" Relena asked, already knowing what events her father was talking about
"I'm afraid it's classified, but don't worry. I doubt if they'll effect any of you at all."
"Top secret, huh Dad?" Renee noted
"I'm afraid so. Relena, you can come along, if you like."
*I've never turned down a chance to go into space with father.* Relena thought *If I turn him down, it'll seem strange, and Renee's already suspicious of me.* "I'd love to, father."
"Can I come too?" Renee asked, causing the eyes of all present to widen in surprise
"You've never wanted to come up to space with me before, Renee." Mr. Darlian said "Why the change now?"
"Well, Relena's always telling me how nice the Colonies are. If things go badly between Earth and the Colonies, they might become not so nice anymore. I'd like to see them just once with my own eyes the way Relena sees them."
"I'll be glad to have you with me. Now, both of you go pack, we're leaving tomorrow morning."
Relena and Renee smiled and went up to their respective rooms to pack what they would need for the trip. Before she started packing, Relena typed up a message on her computer. She used her encryption program to hide it inside a picture file, and attached the file to an E-mail addressed to Amy. She typed some inconsequential lines of text in the E-mail's body, then sent it.
Not long afterwards, on colony H10425, Dr. Z was scrolling through some intelligence reports, trying to decide on Relena's next target, when her computer chimed to alert her to an incoming E-mail. Dr. Z decrypted the attached file and read Relena's message.
{Travelling with father to the Colonies to maintain appearance of normality. Will be unable to fulfill missions for several days. Will advise immediately following return.}
"Of course." Dr. Z muttered to herself "The Alliance knows the Gundams came from the Colonies and they're sending up the only man who has a rapport with Colony leaders. But who made the others? Could my old colleagues have also been approached by the same man as I? The number of Gundams matches up perfectly. What're the odds of that?"
Back on Earth, in the dead of night, Relena snuck out of the house and made her way to the male dorms at her school. She stealthily creeped through the hall until she came to the room that school records indicated belonged to Heero Yuy. After making sure that the room was unoccupied, she picked the lock and went inside. Noting the spartan state of the room, Relena took out the disk she had stolen from the Alliance Decryption Center and placed it on the bed before exiting and relocking the door from the outside.
*I wish I could've cracked the decryption on that disk and found out what was on it,* she thought as she withdrew *But it's past time that I returned it to Heero.*
Relena then left the dorm building as silently as she entered and returned home, barely missing Heero, who was returning from checking his Gundam's hiding place, as he did every night, to ensure that the mobile suit remained undiscovered. When Heero entered the room, his eyes widened as he saw the disk on his bed.
"Someone's been in here." He said quietly to himself
Heero made a thorough examination of his room, checking for bugs and other surprises, but found nothing. He inserted the disk into his computer and tried to read the disk. He got the same response as he would expect to get from the disk that he had recently lost. Heero took the disk out and shut down the computer before opening up the casing. He carefully examined each component for a device that would transmit data from his computer to whoever had broken in, but found nothing. Satisfied that it was safe to do so, Heero closed his computer back up, turned it on, and inserted the disk once it was booted up. He rapidly tapped in the commands that would unlock his disk and was surprised to find that the data was exactly as he remembered it.
"I had this disk on me when I left to destroy my Gundam, and lost it when I was captured. So how did it wind up back here?" he wondered
Heero didn't like unanswered questions. They indicated a lack of information, which could threaten his mission. Whoever returned his disk might be an ally, or an enemy taunting him. He needed to know who they were and which they were, and he needed to find out before the time came to relocate.
The next morning, Relena, Renee, and their father were boarding a shuttle that would take them into space.
"Relena, when we get up there, do you think you could introduce me to your friend Amy?" Renee asked
"Well" Relena started to reply but was interrupted by her father
"Relena's friend lives on colony H10425 in the L6 Colony Cluster." he said "We're heading for the main colony in the L1 cluster."
"So I won't get to meet Amy, after all?" Renee sounded disappointed
"I'm afraid not."
"Why isn't the meeting on H10425?" Relena asked
"Some of the representatives of other Colonies were starting to think that L6 was getting preferential treatment, since its representatives usually had the least distance to travel for talks. L1 was a compromise."
"Vice Minister Darlian, ladies." A female military officer greeted them. She wore glasses and had her brown hair in a sophisticated braid that kept it above her collar. Her uniform denoted her as an officer of the Special Mobile Suit corps. "I'm Lady Une, I'll be in charge of the security detail during your trip."
"I find it odd that the Specials would be placed in charge of my security detail, rather than the regular army."
"I don't see why, Vice Minister. The problem you are going up to the Colonies to address involves mobile suits. No one in the Alliance military knows mobile suits better than the Specials, and our expertise is not limited to mobile suit combat."
"I see." Vice Minister Darlian didn't seem convinced but let the issue drop anyway.
*The Specials. Meaning OZ.* Relena thought as she and Renee sat down in their seats *Something smells funny here. It can't be a coincidence that OZ soldiers will make up father's security detail for the first time. Maybe they're planning to use the talks as a smokescreen while they get information through non-legitimate means. Or perhaps something worse... Perhaps these OZ officers will strike out at the citizens of the Colonies in an attempt to get at the ones who sent the Gundams.*
"Wow, I'm actually going into space." Renee smiled as she sat down in her seat "I hear the stars are even prettier when you're among them."
"Don't lean forward, Renee." Relena warned her sister "When we take off, the acceleration will be intense, and you don't want to hurt your head on your headrest."
"Right." Renee nodded as she and Relena fastened their seatbelts.
It took only a minute or two for all the adults to take their seats and then the shuttle was towed into takeoff position. Relena and Renee leaned back in her seats and the shuttle began to vibrate as its engines prepared to fire. Then they were pushed hard into their seats by the acceleration as the shuttle shot up the takeoff ramp and into the sky, neither girl knowing of the date with destiny that had been arranged for them in the skies above.
End of chapter 3
First, let me apologize to everyone who recently tried to post an anonymous review and was rebuffed. I had some problems with the new way of setting the options on the Settings menu and got confused. What did Xing find wrong with the Yes/No radial buttons that used to be there, huh? Anonymous reviews are again possible, sorry for the inconvenience.
As you can tell, I'm not simply copying the episodes. Not all the scenes from the anime will make it into this story, balanced out by my adding my own stuff, some of which is things I think we should have seen, like what happened immediately after Quatre and Trowa called their truce(as seen in the previous chapter) as well as Relena's adventures as a Gundam pilot.
I'm very encouraged by all the positive reviews which have basically been telling me that I'm a brilliant writer J so I will continue on as I have been doing. Thank you for your support.