Chapter 8

An Encounter with Power

'Hey!! When I go and get take out, it never looks like that!!' Bit squealed, staring at an advertisement in a magazine.

'Bit, why did you insist on bring something to read anyway??' Brad asked, spinning around in his chair at the front to look at him.

'I'd get bored'

'With that?' Jamie pointed out, as the ship left the atmosphere of Earth, and headed into orbit.

They all stared out at the vastness of space in front of them. Brad sighed with amazement.

'It's beautiful'

Bit snorted a laugh behind him.

'Very nice, Miss. Prissy, who's only saying things like that to impress Kiano'

Brad waved his hand and shook his head.

'You're a liar. I'm always like this'

Bit leant over the arm of his chair to Jamie.

'Yeah, on crack'

Kiano had heard what Bit said and laughed slightly.

As the ship flew through space, Brad and Jamie leant forward, still in shock. Kiano being the one driving, she knew where she was going.

'First I'll show you the colony. Where I grew up'

The vessel edged to the right to head in that direction. Bit relaxed back in his chair, the magazine now once more covering his face.

'How long is it going to take to get there?' He mumbled.

'You be the judge' Kiano replied, and Bit ripped the magazine away from his face.

There in front of them was a giant colony. It looked a lot like a spacestation that you see in science fiction movies, or that's what Jamie insisted as they drew nearer. It was smaller than the Earth, and about the size of North America, quite large when you thought about it. In the centre of the colony there was a large vertical toros shape and through this centre two long straight ends poked out. Kiano flew towards the centre as Brad, Bit and Jamie leant over to look at it go by.

'It may not look like much on the outside, but on the inside there are millions of people. People that hate people like me and Duo. Gundam followers'

The view from the ship was clearer now. The only problem was that there were no windows to see inside. Bit snapped his fingers.

'How come there aren't any windows??'

'Windows? On a space ship? There are a few, but too small to get close to'

'They built it beautifully' Brad insisted, and Kiano smiled.

'I wish they'd let me back'

'It's huge!!' Jamie said.

'You ain't seen nothin' yet' Kiano told him seriously.

Brad looked to Kiano.

'What do you mean?'

'The Space Military Commission is about fifteen times the size of this'

'FIFTEEN!' Bit cried, and she nodded.

The colony passed their view, and continued on into space. They were turning in another direction.

'Where is it?' Brad asked curiously.

Kiano pointed into no where, when they spotted it. There was a small sphere in their perspective.

'It's tiny!' Bit cried, 'Even a fly could break into that!!'

'Bit! We're about ten million kilometres away from it! Of course it looks small back here!'

'Yeah….right' Bit grumbled, and sat back in his chair.

Kiano pushed in on the controls as the ship picked up speed. The sphere in front of the, they began to see now was mammoth. The closer they got, it looked as if it would grow five times bigger. When it was finally in their full view, Kiano looked back to Bit.

'There you go. The Space Military Commission'

The looks on Bit, Brad, and Jamie's faces were priceless. They all looked like they'd just had second thoughts about trying to help her.

The Space Military Commission was much bigger than they had expected, and from where they were, it looked exactly the size of three Earth sized planets. It was entirely black, with only a few red and white lights protruding from tiny windows in the sphere in the centre. The black solid sphere in the centre was surrounded in what looked like a large netting. It was very thick and as they approached it further, noticed that at each crosspoint was a giant laser cannon. Every now and then there would be a strange purple light, like the netting created an invisible shield. It would flicker, as if to give the feeling of protection.

'I think you're on your own' Bit trembled, not looking away from the giant station in front of him.

'Oh, no, you guys said you'd help me, and I specifically said that the Gyrosnipe would have just enough power to destroy the SMC….remember? Three Earth sized planets?' She explained, and sighed, 'I don't feel so good'

She was looking at a certain spot on the outside shield, thinking about Duo.

Brad gulped, and reached over to put his hand on Kiano's shoulder before the ship shuddered violently.

They held onto their seats, as Kiano let go of the controls.

'What's going on??' Jamie asked worriedly.

'They've recognised this ship as one of the Commission. They're auto docking it'

'Won't we get in trouble?' Brad whispered.

'Not, if we don't caught. We really need uniforms'

Brad scratched his chin and looked around at the other three.

'Don't worry, I've got a plan'

The ship was drawn through the shield and it approached the centre sphere. Bit and Jamie began to get nervous, so they both started whistling at the same time to the same tune. Kiano put her finger to her mouth to tell them to be quiet. A docking bay door slid open in the sphere's side, and the ship floated towards it. Kiano dropped to the floor, telling the others to do the same thing or otherwise they would be seen through the screen. It passed an almost invisible air barrier, and the ship came in to land. When the ship stopped hissing, Brad looked to Kiano.

'Stay here'

He crawled along the ground, grabbing Bit by the sleeve as he went.

'Hey!' Bit snapped, and Brad shushed him.

'Shut up' He whispered, 'I need you to do this with me. You're a strong guy'

Bit blushed.

'Thanks'

The door slid open, Bit and Brad leaping to their feet and hid on either side of the door.

Brad held up his hand for him to wait. Two guards came up to the ship. They stepped into the doorway as Bit and Brad leapt out at the same time. Brad struck the man closest to him on his neck, and Bit kneed the other in the stomach. They leapt out and kept low, as Jamie and Kiano scrambled to their feet to tend to the soldiers. Spotting two soldiers beside the doorway exit, Brad stood up and whistled.

The two soldiers looked around to see no one when Brad jumped out from behind a crate and kicked one them in the stomach, Bit ran out and punched the other severely in the head, and dragged them back to the ship.

Brad, Kiano, Jamie and Bit emerged dressed in the soldiers uniforms, and carrying guns over their shoulders.

Kiano pulled her black cap down over her face and sighed.

'Alright. That was easy'

Bit waved his fist and nursed it.

'Yeah, for you!'

Jamie and Kiano snorted a laugh and they all headed towards the closest door into the corridors.

They formed a line, and marched out of the hangar, the rifles over each shoulder. Brad signalled them to follow as they marched down the corridors. Every now and then they would pass random doorways, where inside were either giant rooms covered from top to bottom with large machinery or what seemed to be classrooms filled with more soldiers. Kiano's eyes began pacing the hallways nervously, as other soldiers turned to look at them. She reached out and put her hand on Brad's shoulder and they stopped.

'I don't think that we're convincing enough. They getting suspicious'

'Then keep quiet' Brad insisted, and they pursued walking.

Bit began whistling a tune that he heard coming from a chamber they just passed, and the others started to follow. They didn't know what it was but they just did it to try and blend along with the other soldiers around them.

Suddenly, Brad stopped abruptly and the others stopped in their place. Bit was now the only one still whistling the song, and Jamie turned to slap him in the head.

'Quit it!' Bit snapped, nursing himself.

'Shut up!' Brad ordered and they all fell silent.

At the end of the corridor there was the sound of footsteps. They stood very still and watched as from around the corner walked Jack Sisco. He was followed by his assistant, Eli, who was treading carefully in Jack's wake.

Kiano gasped slightly and Brad shushed her quickly. He could tell by her obvious reaction that Jack was the leader. He put his hand to his forehead to salute him, and the rest of them followed, even though Bit and Jamie didn't understand why. Jack approached them, clicking his fingers.

'Soldiers!' He snapped, 'What are you doing wandering around here? Do you wish to stumble upon my gun?'

'No sir!' Brad replied.

'I was talking to all of you'

They glanced at each other quickly.

'No Sir!' They all said in unison.

'Then if you're not on a job, I'll get you to go down to section 24 a b g and order the factory to cease the operations' He ordered quite quickly.

'Yes sir!' Brad, Jamie and Kiano barked, but Bit was looking at Jack strangely.

'What?' He said.

Jack's eyes moved over Bit, and Eli had a look on his face as if it was a bad idea to back talk to him.

'I said go to section 24 a b g and tell….'

'Where the hell is that??!' Bit laughed, trying to be funny.

Jack reached inside his jacket and pulled out a laser gun to point it at him.

'Repeat that' He ordered through clenched teeth, pointing the gun directly at his head.

'Leave him alone!' Kiano burst out suddenly.

Jack lowered the gun and looked over to her.

'Soldier! I think that you should refrain from speaking to me like that. You seem to be a young one' He began, lifting her head up with the end of the gun barrel, 'Not yet matured'

Alex sneered at him, as Jack stared at her further.

'Yes sir' She replied, forgetting to cover her feminine voice.

'A girl? I don't ever remember a…girl being allowed to enrol in the special forces here. I believe it was to be men ONLY!' He snapped, taking one of his hands and ripping the cap from her head. Alex and Brad gasped, as Jack grinned at her,

'Your hair looks familiar, and your eyes….' He said, rubbing his chin. Eli leant over and whispered in Jack's ear.

'Ahhh, yes… Kiano Maxwell'

'Jack Sisco…' Kiano replied angrily.

'So….you're the popular Gundam girl'

Now looking very mad, Kiano lowered her head.

'What are you talking about?' She growled.

'You seem to be in high demand for that group of… losers' He sneered back.

'And that's meant to mean what exactly?'

Jack placed his gun back into his inside jacket pocket and took out the crumpled picture that he was keeping.

'Look familiar?' He asked her, holding it out for them to see.

Kiano stared at it in utter shock.

'How did you get that??!'

'It was on the floor in the vault. Nice try'

'But wait….that's not mine'

Jack snuffed a small laugh.

'Then what other kind of a person would keep such a….nice picture like this?'

'YOU!' Bit barked, and Jack growled at him.

'It's not mine!!' Kiano yelled, and began to search her own jacket.

'How can you be so sure?'

She stopped rummaging and pulled out another photo from her jacket.

'Because this one is mine. I'm in that one, and not in this'

She showed it to him. It was exactly identical to the other, yet in the one that Jack had, Kiano was perched in front of the group of Gundam pilots.

'What!!? That's impossible!!'

Kiano stared at him, waiting for what might come next and shoved her photo back into her pants pocket

Jack began to glare at the one in his hand and he grabbed his head in complete shock.

'Then where on earth did that one come from??' Jamie finally said.

Kiano thought for a minute or two.

'Well, that day that we got the photos back I thought I looked stupid in it, so Duo said that he'd keep one and I took myself out…'

'THE GUNDAM!!' Jack cried, 'THE GUNDAM WAS IN THE VAULT!! BUT HOW!!? HE WAS EXECUTED!! I SPECIFICALLY CHECKED THE VAULT AFTER HIS EXECUTION!! NO, DAMN IT!! IT CAN'T BE!!'

'Calm down dude' Bit insisted, as Kiano stared off into deep thought on what he'd just said.

Jack leapt forward and snatched the rifle out of Kiano's hands and pointed it once more at Bit.

'SAY IT AGAIN!!' He snapped, and Bit fell awfully silent.

He leant forward and grabbed Kiano by her sleeve to drag her into the nearest empty room. Eli turned and ran down the corridor when he realised how angry he sounded. He slammed Kiano up against the hard steel wall and shook her.

'WHERE IS THE GYROSNIPE!!?' He screamed, as she covered her face.

'Let her go!' Brad jumped in, but Jack turned and pointed the rifle at his forehead.

'TAKE ONE MORE STEP, HUNTER, AND I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!'

'This guy's insane……' Bit whispered to Jamie.

Kiano tried to make a break for it, but Jack gripped her neck severely, his fingers digging into her throat.

She started coughing from loss of breath. He turned back to look at her.

'Either you have the device or your dead husband has it!! Tell me where it is!! You were a witness both times!!'

'She had nothing to do with it!!!' Brad screamed, feeling very scared for Kiano's safety. He wanted to jump forward and attack him, but being held at gun point kept him back.

'Do you have it or not?!' Jack continued, and Kiano kept silent, 'FINE!'

He shoved her against the wall once more, and let go of her throat. He began to body search her for the device. Brad became furious as he watched him reach under her clothes.

'You fu**ing asshole!!' He barked, forcing himself from stepping forward.

'Shut your bloody mouth! Unless you all want to be a coroner's delight!!'

Brad started becoming more and more enraged at Jack's behaviour.

'KIANO!!' He cried, and she looked up quickly.

'BRAD!' She replied, and Jack slapped her in the face.

'You're a pussy!!' She screamed at him, and kicked him hard in the leg then kneed him in the crotch.

She ran back over to Brad, now puffing and panting, and Brad turned his body away to shield her. Jack slowly and painfully got to his feet.

'You bitch!!' He growled, slowly walking towards him, 'Are you going to answer my question?!'

The room was silent for a few seconds before Brad reached into his own jacket and pulled out the Gyrosnipe.

'I knew you'd be after Kiano. Do you really think it would be a good idea for her to have it on her?? I took it to keep her from being hunted'

Bit reluctantly began to chuckle, Jack, Jamie and Brad turned to look at him.

'What?' Jack asked, a change of tone in his voice.

'That sounded stupid….what Brad said….' He giggled and the rolled their eyes.

Jack grinned mischievously and raised the rifle to Bit again.

'Hey, funny man!! This ain't your stand up comedy act!! Give me it!!'

Bit held up his hands in front of him in a nervous defensive mode.

'Leave him alone! It's not him you care about!!' Kiano screamed, and Bit looked over to her.

She let go of Brad and stepped forward towards Jack.

'No, stay here' Brad insisted.

She stopped directly before the gun barrel pointing at her and placed her hand over it.

'Who do you think you are?' She asked slowly, and Jack glared at her.

'I am the leader of the greatest empire in the galaxy!'

'No' She said calmly, 'You are someone who is over run by power. You've got to stop. People don't want to live in space. We've adapted to the Earth so much that we are reluctant to leave'

'Bullshit! It's their own personal decision to make that change in their lives!'

'No! You're brainwashing them. They can't think for themselves because they run with the crowd, but deep down we never truly wanted to move from our place of birth'

'Shut up!' Jack snapped, looking through the gun's sights at her.

'Can't you just leave us alone?'

'No!'

'KIANO!' Brad cried, and she grabbed the barrel of the gun.

'You're so rude!!' She began, 'But you know what? Did I happen to mention …DON'T MESS WITH A GUNDAM GIRL!!' She yelled, pulling the rifle out of his hands and swinging it around at the hilt and smacking him in the head. She then swiftly swung it around towards her and slammed the hilt of the rifle into his stomach, then flipping it up vertically and shooting him in the crotch as he fell directly to the floor. Spinning the rifle backwards on her finger craftily, she pushed it up onto her shoulder and turned around.

'Oh well…I tried…' She explained, Jamie, Brad and Bit gawking at her in astonishment.

With the Gyrosnipe still in his hand, Brad took the rifle from her as she approached them.

'Those Gundams must have been awesome!!' Bit squealed, wide eyed, as they turned to walk away from the scene, Brad now looking at Kiano adoringly.