Coalition Base
Trynity was getting ready for bed when the buzzer for her door sounded. She had said goodnight to her father earlier, but Dr. Stryfe seemed very distracted. Since his eyes kept shifting to his new best friend, his computer, she knew that he was eager to get to work and she was in the way. So she doubted her father was at the door.
With annoyance, she keyed in the code to unlock the door, then growled, "What do you want?"
"Is that any way to speak to your commanding officer?" Lars pushed passed her and stopped further in the room, then turned to watch her. He was appreciating her casual undress a bit too much for her comfort. She hadn't seen him since yesterday when he had made a fool of her, and that was just fine. Now wearing an old, oversized teeshirt that barely reached her knees, she wished she hadn't opened the door to him.
"Then I arrived just in time." His knowing smile made her want to kick him. He was lucky that he was across the room. From behind his back, he pulled a six-pack of cans. "Something to celebrate."
Trynity frowned as she realized he had brought beer. "I don't drink alcohol."
"Lighten up!" Words worthy of Duo Maxwell. He tossed her a can, then sat on the edge of her narrow bed, the one chair in the room already taken up with a pile of her clothing.
She looked at the can with annoyance and considered launching it at the annoying captain. He was already drinking from a can.
"So what are we supposed to be celebrating?" The can of beer in her hand was cold, and she realized that she was just a little bit thirsty. What harm could a little do?
Lars smiled as she tasted it. At first she winced from the bitterness, but the second mouthful went down easier. She could tolerate it.
"In answer to your question, I thought I did a damn good job today during trainng." He was rather smug about his progress.
"You missed a majority of your targets," she pointed out. When he drank from his beer, she did likewise.
"We can't all be perfect, Trynity Stryfe." He stretched out on her bed, one arm behind his head, the other raising the beer to his lips again. There was a challenge in his eyes.
Trynity was irked. She drank more. "Aren't you on duty?"
"I have to have a little rest and…" he grinned and patted the bed beside him, "recreation."
She raised her brow. "You must be delusional, Lars Nelson." When he drank, so did she and realized she was copying him. That strangely amused her.
Lars set aside his can and took another. He glanced at her. "Do you need more?"
Hers was only half empty. How did he finish before her? Apparently she needed to take longer swallows. Annoyed, she gulped the rest of hers, then crushed the can and threw it at his head.
Snickering, Lars ducked, then tossed her a full can. "I will take that as a warning, Lieutenant Stryfe."
"See that you do!" They opened their cans at the same time, eyes on each other. When he lifted his to his lips, so did she, and when he began to drink, she followed and did not stop drinking until he took the can from his mouth. Trynity felt a little breathless and woozy.
Lars patted the bed again.
Trynity glared, then heard someone giggle and realized it was her.
"It's warm in here," he commented, then tossed aside his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. Her attention was drawn to his chest as he reached for another beer. "Do you need one?"
The can in her hand was not empty, so she drained it. "I do now," she said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. It was awfully warm in here, but she couldn't very well take off her shirt. Could she?
Lars laughed as he tossed her another beer and she let her can fall to the floor. She fumbled the catch but managed to hang on with considerable effort. She blew a curl from her eyes and had difficulty focusing as she popped it open.
"So you were not impressed with my performance?" asked Lars.
Which performance? She thought about that kiss as she looked at his chest exposed by the parted shirt.
"I would like an honest evaluation from my teacher."
She blinked to bring herself back to the subject. "You aim too far to the right," she scolded before taking a drink. 'Or was it to the left?" She giggled. "Maybe it was too high."
Lars laughed and swung off her bed. "Maybe it was too low."
"Uh oh!" She squealed when he reached out for her, shutting the door she had left open with his other hand. She ducked, but then he swiped for her again and caught her around the waist.
"I think you need to get off your feet before you fall and hurt yourself," he said as he hauled her to the bed.
The telecom buzzed and he froze.
Trynity was laughing as she reached out to turn it on.
A sober-faced soldier appeared and then he blinked in amazement. "Is…is Captain Nelson there?"
Lars swung Trynity out f the way before she could respond. She felt like a sack of potatoes in his grasp. "What is it, corporal? I told you that I didn't want to be disturbed."
"We are picking up some abnormal readings coming from the Earth's surface. Dr. Stryfe thought you should know that it appears to be a battle of some sort over the Sahara."
"Keep me posted. It is probably nothing but a glitch."
"Keep me posted too!" Trynity hiccuped. She couldn't quite focus on anything now. She saw the floor moving past as she floated over it, then suddenly, she was on her back on the bed. The room started to spin, and if it weren't for her zero gravity training, she might have vomited.
"What is going on?" She tried to sit up, but he shoved her back down.
"Time for recreation, lieutenant," Lars said softly with a low laugh. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned toward her.
An inner alarm warned her of the danger, so she quickly rolled off the bed to the floor where she banged her forehead. Lars reached for her, but she scooted out from under his hand. Although she was sluggish, she managed to pull herself to her feet in time for him to grab her around the waist and pull her back to the bed. He tried to pin her, but Trynity hit him in the face with her head. Unfortunately, the blow stunned her as well, but she heard Lars swearing and saw him wipe blood from the corner of his mouth. Trynity laughed, then had the air knocked out of her when he fell on her. They wrestled for a moment as he tried to catch her hands. She was starting to find the activity strangely enjoyable and was about to give in to find out where it would lead when the telecom buzzed again.
"Damn it to hell," snarled Lars who left so quickly to answer it that Trynity fell off the bed. She peeked over the edge to watch and listen.
"Captain, sorry to disturb you, but Dr. Stryfe believes that Gundam 02 has cleared the Earth's atmosphere."
"Is it headed this direction?"
"Yes."
"Alone?" Lars' voice was incredulous.
"There doesn't appear to be any mobile forces accompanying it."
"Have the Artemis prepared as well as six Sagitariens. I will be there shortly." He pushed a button, then slammed down the screen to the communicator. He ran a hand through his long, dark hair, then turned to look at her.
Trynity crawled out from the other side of the bed. "I'll take the Shadowhawk."
Lars snorted as he looked down at her. "You are in no condition to go into battle. Besides, the Shadowhawk is undergoing refitting, and you, even when you are sober, aren't ready to battle that gundam." He pulled her up against him, and tilting her head back he looked down into her eyes. His face was somewhat blurred. "Why don't you just crawl into bed and wait for me. We'll continue when I get back from whipping 02's backside."
When he released her and walked out, she fell weakly back onto the bed. Who did he think he was talking to? She was the pilot of the Shadowhawk, not one of his silly female admirers! Trynity stumbled around the room gathering up her uniform. Gundam 02 was her prey, and even if Shadowhawk weren't ready, she had no intention of letting Lars Nelson near it.
*********
Duo could see by the light flashing on his control panel that Sally Po was trying to contact him, but he jammed out her signal just as the Deathscythe burst out of the atmosphere into space. "Just having a little look-see. No need to get too uptight," he muttered. "We can take care of ourselves, right buddy?"
Now, where would be a likely place to look for Trynity Stryfe? No question, L10, but he could hardly fly around in Deathscythe looking for that red-headed thistle-girl. Duo really hadn't thought this out very carefully, but he had no choice but to go ahead now. He accessed records and swallowed nervously when he noted that the trip to L10 was at least three weeks. Three weeks! That was two weeks further out than the furthest settled colony. What the hell was Stryfe doing way out there? Trynity grew up out there? His heart ached as he remembered her saying that Earth was just a pinpoint in the sky to her.
Well, there was only one thing to do, and that was to pay a visit to the Cinq Kingdom Space Defense port. There he could safely store his gundam while he took a shuttle to the nearest colony where he could find another shuttle to the next and so on until he came to the last. Since the research station was uninhabited, he doubted he would be able to get transportation there, but he would deal with that problem when it arose. He might miss a little school - hell, he was going to miss a lot of school, but Duo had no need for it and he couldn't imagine sitting in a classroom without Miss Stryfe to distract him.
But as he was set on course to the defense post, an approaching force set off Deathscythe's warning systems. Was Nelson sending an escort? Duo ran a scan, but it was suddenly jammed from another location. Now he was a little worried as he visually surveyed the approaching mobile suits. There seemed to be seven in all. One suit was larger than the others, so he guessed it was the commander. When Duo saw the bow mounted on its back, he knew he was screwed. The six suits following the one in the lead appeared to have weapons resembling crossbows he had seen in pictures in his history book. He imagined that the bolts they would fire from the weapons mounted on their arms would not be pleasant.
So they were going to play games! He hadn't been in a good fight since the battle against the Barton Foundation. His little jaunt to the desert with Noin was amusing, but it wasn't true battle. Now he could have some real fun with Deathscythe. Then he checked his energy levels and he didn't like what he saw. "This is not good, buddy. Not good at all." Had he known he would be seeing action in space, he might not have spent so much time goofing around with the Valkyrie. Now what was he going to do?
Memories of his debacle with the Shadowhawk came flooding back, and he scrutinized space looking for the gundam. Of course, he wouldn't be able to see it, so he checked the scope installed to search for the cloaking beams, but he did not see the Shadowhawk's form there either. Well, at least that was one good sign. But while the lead mobile suit was not a gundam, its titanium armor was going to be a problem. Then he saw the mobile suit draw a bow similar to the one he had seen on the Shadowhawk, and as it nocked a pulsing arrow, Duo quickly re-routed what energy he had to maneuvering, but the arrow missed even before he moved.
"Nice shot," Duo laughed with nervous relief. He then detected communication transmissions between the suits, and he caught one faintly.
"Too far right, captain!" Then he heard a giggle. The transmission was fuzzy with static, but he did hear the leader respond.
"Lieutenant, what are you doing out here?"
Duo watched as one of the smaller mobile suits left formation, do a few flips as if out of control, then he found himself staring at two glowing bolts flying straight and true towards him. He quickly raised his shield and felt it jolt with the energy released. His hair seemed to stand on end.
"I am the ranking pilot," the leader said, "and I order you to return to base."
"You're not keeping me out of this!"
"Get back now!"
"Make me!"
Duo was snickering about the little spat, but then he had to turn his attention to concentrate on the other suits that suddenly came at him. Bolts rained down from several directions, and despite the attack, he managed to sweep the scythe to take out three. Through the explosion, he saw the lead suit aiming the deadly arrow at him. He was too close! He wouldn't be able to get his gundam out of the way. Duo cringed and braced himself, then closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the end.
"Lower!" The insubordinate pilot's voice came over the communicator.
"Shut up!"
"To the right!"
"You bitch! Keep your damn mouth shut!"
"Up a notch!"
Duo cracked open an eye to see the lead suit turn and fire the arrow intend for him at the other suit. The smaller suit flipped out of the way, and the arrow slammed into another, causing it to explode.
"Look what you made me do!"
"Were you shooting at me? Hah! As if you could hit me!" Crossbolts flew toward the mobile suit.
It maneuvered out of the way and two more of the suits were hit. Would one term that friendly fire? Duo started to laugh. This was more entertaining than watching Trynity Stryfe humiliate Chang Wufei! That reminded him of his original mission and wondered where Nelson's defense troops were. Is this how he defended the space above the Cinq Kingdom?
The lead suit drew a beam saber that flashed outward from both ends. Duo sat up to watch, then had to turn his attention briefly to the remaining suit that tried to attack. He blasted it with his vulcan guns, then waited for the debris to clear to watch the fight.
The smaller weapon also pulled the nasty looking double-sided beam saber.
Duo couldn't help but laugh as he watched them fight. "My money is on the chick," he said as she whacked the bigger suit on the side of the head, but he counted with a thrust to the belly of the smaller suit, that made it double over and tumble backwards. When the first suit turned back toward him, Duo realized he had overstayed his welcome. In the distance, he saw more suits approaching, and he couldn't count on the dueling enemies to keep up the distraction. So with great regret, he turned back towards Earth, leaving behind the Coalition forces.
By the time he arrived at Seaside, the sun was rising and he was exhausted. The door opened for him, and as he went down the cable from the cockpit, his thoughts stayed on coming up with a plan for what he would say to explain his behavior. He still didn't have a plan when his feet were finally on the floor and he was facing a ring of scientists.
Dr. J spoke first. "Why did you do that to my desk?" he demanded.
Professor G stood with Sam staring at Deathscythe. Poor Sam's eyes were bulging. "What have you done?" he finally demanded in horror.
Duo turned around and cringed as he saw the burn marks where the crossbolts tried to fry the gundanium. "Nothing a little touch of paint won't cure."
Sam didn't appreciate his grin. "You idiot!" He charged at him, but the two scientists grabbed his arms and Sally Po's voice stopped his struggle.
"What is going on? Duo!" She stomped across the hanger to confront him. "Duo Maxwell, where have you been?"
"A little joy-ride," he said with his grin, although he realized how ridiculous he looked standing before his battered gundam. "Well, at least it was a joy-ride for Noin."
Sally glared at him.
"Okay, okay! So I pulled a few strings and went to look for Trynity." She didn't seem sympathetic. "Hey! I was shot at in space! I was attacked on the way to the Cinq Kingdom Space Defense post."
Almost immediately the hanger erupted, from technicians scurrying to find any serious damage to the gundam, to programmers downloading information about the attack. Sally escorted Duo up to the main level of Seaside where he had breakfast. As he ate, he told Sally all about the fight in the desert, but she guessed most of what happened because Quatre had been controlling the mobile dolls from the lab. Then Duo recounted the space attack for Sally, and after she left Heero, Quatre, Trowa and Wufei joined him and he retold the story. But when they started to discuss it, Duo left and took the elevator up. He had intended to go to his own room to get some sleep, but he went to Trynity's room instead. She had locked it tight when she left, so he had to work on the circuits for three and half minutes before he finally broke in.
"Not bad, Miss Stryfe, but you can't keep out the god of death." He stepped in and sighed as he looked around the room. "Where are you Trynity Stryfe?" He walked to her dressing table and saw that her hairbrush was lying amongst a pile of hair accessory debris. He picked up the brush, and as he picked out the red and orange strands, he felt his heart aching as he thought of her danger in space. Duo had no doubt there would be fighting again, and soon if he was any judge. The Coalition was no longer a phantom collection of complainers, but an organized group with an army to back its ideals. When would the fighting ever end? Duo had been against staying in the Cinq Kingdom at the whim of Zechs Merquise, but now he understood why Miliardo Peacecraft believed that the gundams were essential to maintaining peace. There would always be someone unhappy with the way things were, someone who had no problem with sacrificing the lives of innocent people to further their own agendas. There would always be a need for the gundams.
"Get up, Duo!" Wufei was standing over him, and Duo blinked several times, then sat up. He must have fallen asleep in Trynity's room.
"What is going on?"
"They are planning an attack on the Coalition."
Duo rubbed his hands together as he stood up from the bed. "I am ready for some action."
"Sally wants us to meet in the conference room."
After showering and changing in his own room, he went directly to the conference room where he joined his fellow gundams pilots. They stood out of sight of the viewing screen. Their secret identity was essential, especially now when they were unsure of who was friend or foe.
Relena Peacecraft's face appeared on the screen. Standing behind her were Colonels Nelson and Benton. Duo couldn't help but dislike the Space Operations commander, but he couldn't put his finger on the exact reason.
"Relena, where is your brother?" asked Sally.
"I don't know! Colonel Benton told me I was in charge and that is that." Relena primped her hair. "Is Heero Yuy around?"
Heero grunted but did not respond.
"We have to contact your brother, Relena. There was an attack on the Deathscythe by the Coalition." But Relena wasn't listening. She was trying to look beyond Sally. Although he was well out of camera range, Heero moved behind Trowa. Duo almost laughed.
Colonel Nelson stepped forward. "Major Po, when did this attack take place."
"Two nights ago," she said. Duo had slept that long? "Deathscythe was training and flew out of the atmosphere. Approaching your post, it was attacked by several mobile suits of an unfamiliar design. I am transmitting data to you now as well as the visual replay of the battle."
Duo watched as Nelson and Benton watched a screen mounted on the wall. Relena was fidgeting and not paying any attention. Then she said, "I am the ruling princess now, so I can command anything."
"I'm going to put a gun to my own head," muttered Heero.
"If she rules the Cinq Kingdom, we may as well all do it," remarked Wufei.
"Do you have enough bullets?" asked Duo with a chuckle.
To his surprise, Heero pulled a gun from behind, flipped open the clip and checked. "Damn, I didn't reload after Miss Stryfe's supper escapade. There aren't enough for all of us. Someone will have to stay behind."
They looked at each other.
Sally glared at them as they did rock, paper scissors. Duo was the first one out, having handily beaten them all with the valuable information Miss Trynity Stryfe had given him. It had come in useful on more than one occasion. "One of those bullets has my name on it."
They all laughed.
"I command that Heero Yuy have tea with me this afternoon," announced Relena.
Nelson turned from the images on the screen he had been viewing of the two mobile suits fighting with their beam sabers. He was quite obviously furious.
"I don't know how that could have happened!" Nelson spoke with tight-lipped anger. "I have sufficient manpower on my post to have stopped such an attack."
"I'm beginning to wonder if Nelson could stop a turtle on its back," whispered Trowa.
"Prince Miliardo should not have such faith in him," agreed Wufei.
"Nor Noin," added Heero.
Sally put her hands on her hips and glared them into silence. Then she turned back to Relena who was openly pouting. "Relena, where could your brother have gone?"
"I don't know!" She turned to look at Benton. "Where is he?"
The young man shrugged. "I wasn't given that particular detail."
Heero snorted. "Benton knows. Benton knows everything about Miliardo Peacecraft."
Wufei looked at Duo. "You saw them last."
"Hey! Don't remind me! That is a sight I want to forget!" Duo rubbed his eyes.
"Well, then " said Sally. "in the absence of your brother, you are going to have to make some difficult decisions, Relena."
Relena started to open her mouth, but Colonel Nelson stepped toward her, laying a hand on her shoulder. "She is capable of playing a public role, but not of this type of decision-making. I am the ranking officer here. I shall plan a retaliatory strike. With the gundams, we should be able to rout the rebels and put an end to the Shadowhawk and the Coalition. We shall discuss this tomorrow when I will have a detailed strategy."
Before the transmission ended, they heard Relena trying to order Heero to take tea with her that afternoon.
Sally stared at the blank screen for a moment, then slowly turned to them. "What do you make of it?"
"There is nothing improper in Colonel Nelson taking command," remarked Trowa. "In this situation, it is the prudent course of action."
"I am ready to fight the Shadowhawk again," stated Heero. Then he added, "I am not taking tea."
"Hey, its not like you will be fighting the Zorbon Knight," laughed Duo. "Those guys weren't playing around."
"When have our opponents ever been playing around?" asked Wufei with annoyance.
Sally folded her arms over her chest. "I have tried, but I can't trust Lionel Nelson."
"I thought it was just me!" blurted Quatre. "He gives me the creeps!"
"Reminds me of Dorothy Catalonia," remarked Trowa.
Quatre opened his mouth to defend her, but he suddenly raised a brow in thought, then closed it. Seemed he saw the resemblance himself.
"Noin told me to trust him," Heero said. "And Miliardo Peacecraft trusted him enough to give him great power in space."
"That is something that worries me." Sally's words silence them all. "We need Zechs Merquise now."