Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
I wrote this a long time ago, and haven't have the time to look over it. If this is a really trashy fic, I apologize ahead of time. I'm going to revamp it sometime, maybe in the summer. Welcome to the wonderful world of laptops, right?
In the safety of his simple room complete with: a bed, a dresser, a hamper, and a desk; Wufei meditated over the events of the day. When you looked at it as an outsider, it seemed very confusing, but when it all came down to it. The scene in the main hall had been what it would've been like five years ago. Everyone was still playing their old roles. Quatre was the peacemaker, Duo was the noisemaker, Trowa was the withdrawn calculating one, and Heero was the one to enforce order. Wufei wondered where he fit in.
"Why has nothing changed?" he asked aloud. Five years had passed, and things were supposed to be different. Things were supposed to change and develop. But then there were things that never change, and that's when one is supposed to ask oneself whether he'd ever want it to change. If there was a system that worked, then it only made sense that it'd stay around for a very long time.
Wufei didn't bother to open his duffel bag, thinking about how stupid it would be when he'd more than likely be leaving the next day. A thought crossed his mind to check for bugging devices then he decided against it contradicting his instincts to just tear the room apart. He did not trust the Alliance and as the years dragged on, he began to put less and less faith in Relena Peacecraft. The system was not working.
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"It's as if he hasn't come back to us," Duo pouted picking at his dinner.
"You've forgotten that he never was 'with us,'" Trowa reminded him.
"Ah…that's right…" Duo exclaimed scratching his head with the revelation. "I guess you can't win them all." He'd never thought of it before, but now it made sense. The way that Wufei had always been reluctant to join them in anything finally clicked.
"He was…and still is with us," Quatre said drawing attention. "The war was not won with four pilots. And you've forgotten…that this is the way things were back then. The four of us would converge on one spot while Wufei would find someplace less suffocating, while he was perfectly willing to carry on a conversation or sit in silence with one of us. He's with us but not with us." Having brought his point to light, Quatre took a long sip of tea as if he hadn't said anything at all.
Heero sat at the far end of the table suppressing a smile. The clicks of computer keys were a background noise to what he was hearing and thinking.
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Wufei had spent a full day in his room alternating between meditating, exercising, and listening to his headphones. He felt safe alone. The choked sound of the comm. in his room interrupted his concentration during one of his meditation sessions. He stared at the object until a white strip of paper began flowing out. When it had finished, the cube just hung dormant with the paper protruding out like a tongue. Resigned, Wufei stalked over to the comm. and tugged the paper out careful not to rip any of the text.
He read it sniffing lightly. Pilot 05. Report to wing 54, room 446. Bring your belongings with you.
After gathering his things, he took a quick study of the map posted next to his door and then headed out.
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He found the room with little trouble. Next to the door was a small carved tag: Militant Affairs Conference Room 14. It was established now that perhaps, the Alliance wasn't as inclined to their pacifist policies after all. Switching his mind over to objective mode, he inserted his ID card into the comm. cube having learned to keep it in his hand and ready. The light flashed green and the door shot open.
All the other pilots had already gathered at the far end of the table flanked by various representatives from the colonies. And then at the head of the table was Relena Peacecraft. Wufei's lip curled a little upon seeing her but then his face smoothed out again into the businessman mask he was accustomed to wearing now a days.
He took the only empty seat between Quatre and Heero in respectful silence. The meeting began with introductions all around, a small briefing on the importance of the conference, and other little details, all the wonderful frills of the Alliance.
"There is a small colony in this section of our galaxy," Relena said standing up and poking the touch screen enlarging the image for everyone to see. "How they have survived, if they have, without help from the Alliance will be soon found out. And also, how they've managed to stay secret for so long. The gundam pilots are to establish contact with the colony and then to request and assist disarmament should the colony have any weaponry. Whether the colony chooses to accept or not, they are a part of the Alliance and as such must lay down their arms if they have any. If they refuse to comply, then the pilots' task shall be to take control by force. This mission should be simple for you."
"Why should we bother them? What if they're heavily armed? We won't be able to take them on in a carrier," Heero asked making Relena falter.
"Well…umm…that is…They are part of our space and therefore, fall under our rule. And we have reconstructed the gundams for your task with a new team of professors that will brief you on your individual weapons…The blueprints for the gundams were never destroyed and we've put them to use."
The rest of the meeting passed quickly as if everyone just wanted to chuck the gundam pilots into space as quickly as possible. At the conclusion of the meeting, the five pilots were escorted to a car in the front of the Alliance mansion where they'd be driven to a different portion of the grounds.
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"Something's up," Duo frowned. "They didn't tell us everything back there." He sat bent over picking at his braid.
"Nothing is ever as easy as they make it sound," Quatre agreed weaving his fingers in Trowa's. "That's why they make you accept a mission before you actually learn about it."
"And Relena, she's gone nuts! I thought we were peace promoters. We're not supposed to charge in guns a blazing and expect these people to comply."
"You're right…I wonder if she's doing alright…" Quatre sighed.
"Ugh…you're actually worried about her?" Duo said in surprise and distaste. "I'd say that she's just getting bored. Five years without war is bound to do something to her ego."
"How so?"
"When you've got nothing to preach, you lose power."
Heero typed on his laptop as if he was oblivious to their conversation. He was pulling up some interesting files.
Wufei listened to the conversation at the same time absorbed in his own thoughts. He wondered why the Alliance would want to tamper with a colony that hadn't been involved in any militant maneuvers for at least two decades. It didn't make sense.
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About thirty minutes away from the Alliance mansion, there was a warehouse- like structure that must have spanned over a five-mile radius. Bored from the ride, the pilots piled out of the car hurriedly with their luggage in hand into a large, well-lit garage. Everything was bright white and impeccably clean. The valet, instead of driving away, got out of the car and led the pilots down many corridors into a very large room. It contained very few pieces of equipment and there were a few doors at the far end with post-it notes stuck all over them. In the middle of the room, eight men dressed in white were bent over something with their backs to the door everyone had entered from.
The valet coughed loudly making a few of them turn. They looked to be in their early twenties. Some of their hair was blotched odd colors and sticking up in every possible direction. All of them looked Asian, the uniform for all of them. A long silence ensued as the pilots and the scientists sized each other up.
All too soon, the silence was broken. "These are the pilots. Great!" the shortest man, probably just below five feet tall, grinned flashing his pearly white fangs at everyone. His canines were incredibly sharp in appearance and drew attention. "Let's see," he continued looking over each youth with appraising eyes. "I'm supposed to tutor…you!" He locked eyes with Duo. "Hajimashite Shinigami-san. Sorry we have to be fast with all of this, no lengthy intros. Follow me this way." The short scientist motioned for him to follow. Duo barely registered himself moving to catch up with the scientist. He was fascinated with the other man's energy.
A small cough brought everyone back to earth recovering from the unexpected cheeriness the impish one in white had displayed. "That was Canine. He lives up to his name. I'm Fair," another man said. He had frost blue blots in his short hair that curled at the ends. The questioning looks he got made him sigh and amend his faulty wording. "My name is Fair. F-A-I-R. I'm supposed to explain a gundam to one of you…Trowa." The scientist's gray eyes fell upon the tallest pilot. "Follow me," he said shoving his hands in his pockets and stalking off. Trowa followed obediently.
"Heero," the next scientist said in a commanding tone. "This way." The two men disappeared down a latter, neither bothering with the rungs.
Wufei caught a glimpse of what the remaining scientists were leaning over. It was an owlish looking cat complete with wings. It was in a plastic tank that muted it's mewling. He was surprised to say the least.
A very feminine looking man turned his head, then he nudged the man closest to him and both turned around. Wufei knew immediately who was going to call for him and waited for Quatre to walk off with the wiry one. He had headphones on, and still managed to carry on a conversation with "pilot 04" as they walked away.
"You're last," the feminine man said in a very smooth male voice. Wufei stepped forward and walked next to the scientist careful to keep his pace so he was side to side with him.
-
Duo marveled at the craftsmanship gone into building his gundam. It was sleek and black with green bands outlining its joints and curves. Canine gave him a computer pad with particulars and statistics regarding the suit. He talked very animatedly about the adjustments he'd made while still keeping true to the original handling and design. "It's for more efficient and faster adjusting. It's all about familiarity. We were careful to tailor design to your individual capabilities." Canine flashed Duo a toothy grin and kicked the gundam's gigantic foot. Around the spot his shoe had struck, a box became illuminated in green light. "That is where you retrieve your remote self-destruct control, there's also one you can access through your main computer. It's mentioned in your booklet. We were told not to install these, but we couldn't resist. You see…the Alliance is all about money. We all figured we'd do this to piss 'em off," Canine proudly explained while Duo explored wiping an escapee tear of troublemaker's bliss as he did so. "So…what do you think?" he asked excitedly.
"Can I keep it?" Duo grinned.
Canine grinned back. "It's been so long since we've had visitors here!" he said after a pause. "I've missed it."
-
"This is wing zero with a few adjustments," the man indicated to a few key spots on the gundam to explaining the differences to Heero. He adjusted his glasses every now and then when he was explaining something crucial like handling differences. "This is the hardest suit to pilot. You adapt quickly, so…everyone figured we could give you some killer extras that we couldn't install on the other gundams. All the parts on wing are interchangeable with other gundams. If you feel that something would suit someone else better, just take it off and pass it on. Then we come to the point of self-destruct. Against direct orders from Relena Peacecraft, we have installed a self-destruct program. Knowing your kamikaze methods, we've also installed a program that hails all the salvageable parts back to you when you're revived. Then they put themselves back together. It's a smart program that can also be copied to other gundams. But when you copy it, you need to write it for that specific gundam you're giving it to." The scientist clutched his clipboard to his chest and knocked on the gundam's palm. A box illuminated with a red light appeared, "This is where you retrieve your detonation control."
Heero looked appraisingly at his gundam, which was chrome colored being the last to be finished and nodded.
The scientist ran his fingers through the pale streaks in his unruly hair and sighed, "By the way, my name is Ryoukai."
-
"So…My gundam has a lot of strategic programs," Quatre nodded reading off the computer pad. "And more equipment designed for defense."
"You're the brains…so, yeah," the scientist said quietly adjusting the headset under his mop of feathery orange hair.
"I guess so…and then there's the self-destruct we already went over, maintenance, etcetera…so, that covers it, right, Sunshine?"
Sunshine grunted and affirmative making notes on his computer pad.
"Thank you," Quatre said smiling making Sunshine look up self-consciously. His bright green eyes studied the smile critically for a minute. Then he smiled back slowly.
"You have the smile of a child. It becomes you."
-
"You have a past similar to someone I once knew," Fair said as Trowa inspected his new gundam.
"Really?" Trowa replied nonchalantly.
"Yes, but instead of having reams of men beating him, it was one man, his father," Fair replied as if he were talking about the weather. "He never defended himself even though he could have killed the old man in seconds. I used to see him with the worst injuries. He'd just stand there like a rag doll and take it."
Trowa turned his emerald eyes to the scientist who was doing some last minute programming on the deck below him. The wire mesh was easy to see through, and it was just as easy to see the truth in Fair's face. "Why?" he asked quietly.
"Because he didn't believe in taking the risk," Fair replied simply tugging at a lock of blue hair while he thought. "…damn…" he muttered when the code came up red. "N.G."
-
"The way I designed Nataku is for hand to hand combat. The body is thinner and more flexible. There are serrated edges on the fingers of each hand," the feminine man explained lighting a cigarette and pointed to a few parts of the gundam. "You do have weapons for long range attack, though. Smart caps and the like."
"You've studied my file, right?" Wufei asked reading over the Nataku bio.
"No. I studied the war."
"How old are you?"
"Thirty-two," the man replied.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Ash. For obvious reasons."
"What's your real name?"
"Not telling. That'd spoil the fun," Ash replied seriously. "It doesn't matter anyway. You'd never be able to do anything with it. We're all ghosts." He dropped his cigarette to the ground and stepped on it exhaling a puff of translucent gray as he did so.
-
Everyone ate while being briefed on communication and simulator methods. It would take a week to reach the colony space. The week would be spent going through virtual simulators to get used to the controls and overall feel of the machinery. And sustenance would be fed from a tube into their bloodstream. No one was particularly keen on the idea but no one raised any objections either.
After all the scientists were through talking, Duo asked, "So, what happens now? Do we crash here for the night?"
Canine frowned, "Nope…unfortunately…tonight we pack you up and ship you off. Then tomorrow, we go home."
"Ah….But I didn't even savor my bed last night!" Duo cried.
Quatre bit his lip to keep himself from laughing as Duo ranted on, even throwing in the word justice in once of twice for good measure.
"Wuffie, help me out here! You know more about justice than I do!" the braided pilot whimpered.
Wufei shot him a death glare before going back to scrutinizing his gundam particulars.
"Heero?" Duo pleaded getting no response from his computer-absorbed lover. "Quatre?" The Arab shrugged helplessly as Duo crumpled hopelessly on the dinner table. A muffled and long drawn out "no" came from his still form followed by a few pathetic sniffles.
-
For how much he whined, Duo was quite animated by the time everyone was getting prepped to leave. He baited Wufei who was still reading and frowned when he got no response. Then he struck up conversation with Quatre before being dragged away by Canine. Heero watched them talk for a while before shrugging his shoulders and deciding that the scientist was no threat to him.
"I'm worried…" Quatre frowned cradling Trowa's hand in his. "I've got this feeling that something important is going to happen. I don't know if it's bad or not….I just…" He trailed off fumbling for words to describe his angst but found none.
"Don't worry, Quatre," Trowa said raising the Arab's hand to his lips. He kissed Quatre's knuckles comfortingly then leaned his pale lover onto his shoulder using the steady pressure of his fingers on the other man's shoulder to anchor him there. "If something is to happen, it would be better to see what it is before worrying."
Quatre leaned further into Trowa closing his eyes to breathe in his scent, memorizing it. A week without knowing this contact would be sheer torture.
Wufei looked up from his study material to see the couple lean into each other. The emotional intimacy of the moment made him want to punch something, an outlet for his hormonal distress. Instead, he got up and made a dash for the safety of the cockpit of his gundam.
An eternity later, everyone exchanged formal goodbyes and the gundams were launched into space.
-
Relena fought the bile that rose in her throat. She'd sent them on a war mission, her Heero and the others. Her Heero might die. Ands she'd made a complete mockery of herself during the meeting. A Peacecraft telling a group of people that they're going to go start a conflict as if she were talking about going on a picnic. For a few years, the Alliance had been the problem, and now she was joining them. She was going to be another slimy looking photo in the newspaper.
-
The simulation programs that the pilots went through seemed almost inhumane but sharpened long forgotten skills and tactics through the sheer intensity of each fake battle. The interesting part of the training was in the design of the battles. After the initial adjusting programs done alone, the other gundam pilots were incorporated as part of the same simulation. No one ever won battles by themselves, so, it was therefore not prudent to learn to fight alone.
On the sixth day of traveling and training, everyone was jolted awake by a loud beeping. It had a pattern: high, low, high, high, low. Then there'd be a pause followed by the same string of beeps.
"I think we're being hailed," Quatre's voice came crisply over the intercom.
"What do we do about it?" Duo replied tiredly wiping the sleep from his eyes. "'Hi, we're here to tell you that you're part of out government. Surrender your weapons. Resistance is futile'?"
"I don't think they'd take kindly to that, Maxwell," Wufei said annoyed.
"Do you want to lie?" Duo smirked.
"Shove it," Wufei growled.
"I think we're supposed to have a password," Trowa said pointedly to Quatre.
"We don't have a password…"
"We're going to fight," Heero stated leaving no room for questions.
His words proved true when the steady chorus of beeps flattened out to a long sour note. And out of the darkness of space, a mobile suit materialized. It looked similar to Nataku but of a lighter build and a more angular anatomy. Its coloring was dark red, like wine. The fact that it was alone was cause for confusion. The pilots quickly scanned for other suits and found none. Was this suit an escort?
That was soon decided when the red suit drew a long staff and eased itself into a defensive position. Heero, not being one to pass up such an obvious challenge, was the first to fly forward drawing his light sword as he did so. The red suit struck first, faster than any of the pilots could register before Heero struck back. The duel was very impressive, but there was an unsaid feeling that all the pilots got. The red suit was holding back. It had not used any guns, or light blades, etcetera and it seemed to be defending against pilot 01's assault way too easily.
Wufei flew forward to alleviate his curiosity. He wanted to bring out the power in the red suit. After he began attacking, it didn't really surprise him at all when the red suit simply changed tactics. No matter how many times he struck out, the red suit would evade the attack and defend against Heero. The pilots in the red and the green suits were holding back.
"This is my fight Wufei," Heero said as he narrowly avoided a blow.
"I'm not here to help you," Wufei snapped.
Both pilots were silent after that. Wing Zero got dealt a crippling hit by the red suit, but instead of being finished off, Heero was just ignored and no longer part of the problem. Duo panicked and flew forward to join the fight not completely sure about the safety of pilot 01. Quatre followed after trying to get Duo to come back to no avail, and Trowa flew in to protect pilot 04.
It was awkward to be ganging up on one mobile suit, but there was little else to do. And the red suit proved to be more than capable of taking care of itself. A few scratches marred its glossy red exterior, the only proof that it had been fighting. The gundam pilots may as well have been flies, easily swatted out of the way.
By an amazing stroke of luck, the enemy sustained good damage to its arm. Quatre fired at the red suit sending it back into Wufei who dealt it a serious blow to the right arm with a swift kick. The suit faltered a little before retaliating going head to head with Nataku. It fended off the other suits while going on the offensive to deal with 05. It was horrifying how quickly the battle was finished after that. The gundams were collected and lead away from the battle scene by the victorious red mobile suit.
-
The pilots sat through a grueling six hours wondering where they were going and why they hadn't been finished off yet. And they also wondered who in the galaxy was piloting the red mobile suit, definitely a very formidable fighter that had gone out of his way to preserve the gundams. The only gundam with any serious damage was Nataku that had suffered the red suit's offensive assault. And still, both pilots had been holding back.
No one talked for the longest time until a beeping pattern shook them back into the real world. There was a pause and then an answering pattern of beeps.
Quatre pulled up windows on his vid screen and caught a glimpse of something. It was almost liquid like and reflected the image of space. You could barely tell that it was a structure, save for the dimension of it. "Can you see it?" he asked over the comm. to the other pilots.
"What is it?" Duo asked in return a little surprised at having his friend's face pop up on his screen. "I don't see anything."
Tiredly, Quatre put his face in his hands, "Now we know how they stayed secret for so long."
"They reflect space like a giant mirror," Trowa explained finally getting some images on his screen.
Duo pulled up some more images and began to make out the glassy lines of a very large craft. "Oh…I see. So, Is the colony like some sort of a humungous battle ship or something?"
"We'll have to find that out later," Quatre frowned. "I'd really like to know how that pilot beat us if there is a pilot in that suit at all."
"I feel bad for Heero," Duo said pulling up a screen of Wing Zero. "I think his power was cut off. He would have self-destructed by now if he could."
"Is that something to be sorry about?" Quatre grinned a little.
"Not at all, but I bet he's feeling sorry," Duo grinned wearily. "I think we're all a little rusty on our fighting. These gundams are awesome, but we're not."
"Yeah," Trowa agreed eyeing his console. "But we don't have to worry about that for the moment, do we?"
"Nope, we're all dogs on a leash for now," Duo replied cheerily.
I wrote this a long time ago, and haven't have the time to look over it. If this is a really trashy fic, I apologize ahead of time. I'm going to revamp it sometime, maybe in the summer. Welcome to the wonderful world of laptops, right?
In the safety of his simple room complete with: a bed, a dresser, a hamper, and a desk; Wufei meditated over the events of the day. When you looked at it as an outsider, it seemed very confusing, but when it all came down to it. The scene in the main hall had been what it would've been like five years ago. Everyone was still playing their old roles. Quatre was the peacemaker, Duo was the noisemaker, Trowa was the withdrawn calculating one, and Heero was the one to enforce order. Wufei wondered where he fit in.
"Why has nothing changed?" he asked aloud. Five years had passed, and things were supposed to be different. Things were supposed to change and develop. But then there were things that never change, and that's when one is supposed to ask oneself whether he'd ever want it to change. If there was a system that worked, then it only made sense that it'd stay around for a very long time.
Wufei didn't bother to open his duffel bag, thinking about how stupid it would be when he'd more than likely be leaving the next day. A thought crossed his mind to check for bugging devices then he decided against it contradicting his instincts to just tear the room apart. He did not trust the Alliance and as the years dragged on, he began to put less and less faith in Relena Peacecraft. The system was not working.
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"It's as if he hasn't come back to us," Duo pouted picking at his dinner.
"You've forgotten that he never was 'with us,'" Trowa reminded him.
"Ah…that's right…" Duo exclaimed scratching his head with the revelation. "I guess you can't win them all." He'd never thought of it before, but now it made sense. The way that Wufei had always been reluctant to join them in anything finally clicked.
"He was…and still is with us," Quatre said drawing attention. "The war was not won with four pilots. And you've forgotten…that this is the way things were back then. The four of us would converge on one spot while Wufei would find someplace less suffocating, while he was perfectly willing to carry on a conversation or sit in silence with one of us. He's with us but not with us." Having brought his point to light, Quatre took a long sip of tea as if he hadn't said anything at all.
Heero sat at the far end of the table suppressing a smile. The clicks of computer keys were a background noise to what he was hearing and thinking.
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Wufei had spent a full day in his room alternating between meditating, exercising, and listening to his headphones. He felt safe alone. The choked sound of the comm. in his room interrupted his concentration during one of his meditation sessions. He stared at the object until a white strip of paper began flowing out. When it had finished, the cube just hung dormant with the paper protruding out like a tongue. Resigned, Wufei stalked over to the comm. and tugged the paper out careful not to rip any of the text.
He read it sniffing lightly. Pilot 05. Report to wing 54, room 446. Bring your belongings with you.
After gathering his things, he took a quick study of the map posted next to his door and then headed out.
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He found the room with little trouble. Next to the door was a small carved tag: Militant Affairs Conference Room 14. It was established now that perhaps, the Alliance wasn't as inclined to their pacifist policies after all. Switching his mind over to objective mode, he inserted his ID card into the comm. cube having learned to keep it in his hand and ready. The light flashed green and the door shot open.
All the other pilots had already gathered at the far end of the table flanked by various representatives from the colonies. And then at the head of the table was Relena Peacecraft. Wufei's lip curled a little upon seeing her but then his face smoothed out again into the businessman mask he was accustomed to wearing now a days.
He took the only empty seat between Quatre and Heero in respectful silence. The meeting began with introductions all around, a small briefing on the importance of the conference, and other little details, all the wonderful frills of the Alliance.
"There is a small colony in this section of our galaxy," Relena said standing up and poking the touch screen enlarging the image for everyone to see. "How they have survived, if they have, without help from the Alliance will be soon found out. And also, how they've managed to stay secret for so long. The gundam pilots are to establish contact with the colony and then to request and assist disarmament should the colony have any weaponry. Whether the colony chooses to accept or not, they are a part of the Alliance and as such must lay down their arms if they have any. If they refuse to comply, then the pilots' task shall be to take control by force. This mission should be simple for you."
"Why should we bother them? What if they're heavily armed? We won't be able to take them on in a carrier," Heero asked making Relena falter.
"Well…umm…that is…They are part of our space and therefore, fall under our rule. And we have reconstructed the gundams for your task with a new team of professors that will brief you on your individual weapons…The blueprints for the gundams were never destroyed and we've put them to use."
The rest of the meeting passed quickly as if everyone just wanted to chuck the gundam pilots into space as quickly as possible. At the conclusion of the meeting, the five pilots were escorted to a car in the front of the Alliance mansion where they'd be driven to a different portion of the grounds.
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"Something's up," Duo frowned. "They didn't tell us everything back there." He sat bent over picking at his braid.
"Nothing is ever as easy as they make it sound," Quatre agreed weaving his fingers in Trowa's. "That's why they make you accept a mission before you actually learn about it."
"And Relena, she's gone nuts! I thought we were peace promoters. We're not supposed to charge in guns a blazing and expect these people to comply."
"You're right…I wonder if she's doing alright…" Quatre sighed.
"Ugh…you're actually worried about her?" Duo said in surprise and distaste. "I'd say that she's just getting bored. Five years without war is bound to do something to her ego."
"How so?"
"When you've got nothing to preach, you lose power."
Heero typed on his laptop as if he was oblivious to their conversation. He was pulling up some interesting files.
Wufei listened to the conversation at the same time absorbed in his own thoughts. He wondered why the Alliance would want to tamper with a colony that hadn't been involved in any militant maneuvers for at least two decades. It didn't make sense.
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About thirty minutes away from the Alliance mansion, there was a warehouse- like structure that must have spanned over a five-mile radius. Bored from the ride, the pilots piled out of the car hurriedly with their luggage in hand into a large, well-lit garage. Everything was bright white and impeccably clean. The valet, instead of driving away, got out of the car and led the pilots down many corridors into a very large room. It contained very few pieces of equipment and there were a few doors at the far end with post-it notes stuck all over them. In the middle of the room, eight men dressed in white were bent over something with their backs to the door everyone had entered from.
The valet coughed loudly making a few of them turn. They looked to be in their early twenties. Some of their hair was blotched odd colors and sticking up in every possible direction. All of them looked Asian, the uniform for all of them. A long silence ensued as the pilots and the scientists sized each other up.
All too soon, the silence was broken. "These are the pilots. Great!" the shortest man, probably just below five feet tall, grinned flashing his pearly white fangs at everyone. His canines were incredibly sharp in appearance and drew attention. "Let's see," he continued looking over each youth with appraising eyes. "I'm supposed to tutor…you!" He locked eyes with Duo. "Hajimashite Shinigami-san. Sorry we have to be fast with all of this, no lengthy intros. Follow me this way." The short scientist motioned for him to follow. Duo barely registered himself moving to catch up with the scientist. He was fascinated with the other man's energy.
A small cough brought everyone back to earth recovering from the unexpected cheeriness the impish one in white had displayed. "That was Canine. He lives up to his name. I'm Fair," another man said. He had frost blue blots in his short hair that curled at the ends. The questioning looks he got made him sigh and amend his faulty wording. "My name is Fair. F-A-I-R. I'm supposed to explain a gundam to one of you…Trowa." The scientist's gray eyes fell upon the tallest pilot. "Follow me," he said shoving his hands in his pockets and stalking off. Trowa followed obediently.
"Heero," the next scientist said in a commanding tone. "This way." The two men disappeared down a latter, neither bothering with the rungs.
Wufei caught a glimpse of what the remaining scientists were leaning over. It was an owlish looking cat complete with wings. It was in a plastic tank that muted it's mewling. He was surprised to say the least.
A very feminine looking man turned his head, then he nudged the man closest to him and both turned around. Wufei knew immediately who was going to call for him and waited for Quatre to walk off with the wiry one. He had headphones on, and still managed to carry on a conversation with "pilot 04" as they walked away.
"You're last," the feminine man said in a very smooth male voice. Wufei stepped forward and walked next to the scientist careful to keep his pace so he was side to side with him.
-
Duo marveled at the craftsmanship gone into building his gundam. It was sleek and black with green bands outlining its joints and curves. Canine gave him a computer pad with particulars and statistics regarding the suit. He talked very animatedly about the adjustments he'd made while still keeping true to the original handling and design. "It's for more efficient and faster adjusting. It's all about familiarity. We were careful to tailor design to your individual capabilities." Canine flashed Duo a toothy grin and kicked the gundam's gigantic foot. Around the spot his shoe had struck, a box became illuminated in green light. "That is where you retrieve your remote self-destruct control, there's also one you can access through your main computer. It's mentioned in your booklet. We were told not to install these, but we couldn't resist. You see…the Alliance is all about money. We all figured we'd do this to piss 'em off," Canine proudly explained while Duo explored wiping an escapee tear of troublemaker's bliss as he did so. "So…what do you think?" he asked excitedly.
"Can I keep it?" Duo grinned.
Canine grinned back. "It's been so long since we've had visitors here!" he said after a pause. "I've missed it."
-
"This is wing zero with a few adjustments," the man indicated to a few key spots on the gundam to explaining the differences to Heero. He adjusted his glasses every now and then when he was explaining something crucial like handling differences. "This is the hardest suit to pilot. You adapt quickly, so…everyone figured we could give you some killer extras that we couldn't install on the other gundams. All the parts on wing are interchangeable with other gundams. If you feel that something would suit someone else better, just take it off and pass it on. Then we come to the point of self-destruct. Against direct orders from Relena Peacecraft, we have installed a self-destruct program. Knowing your kamikaze methods, we've also installed a program that hails all the salvageable parts back to you when you're revived. Then they put themselves back together. It's a smart program that can also be copied to other gundams. But when you copy it, you need to write it for that specific gundam you're giving it to." The scientist clutched his clipboard to his chest and knocked on the gundam's palm. A box illuminated with a red light appeared, "This is where you retrieve your detonation control."
Heero looked appraisingly at his gundam, which was chrome colored being the last to be finished and nodded.
The scientist ran his fingers through the pale streaks in his unruly hair and sighed, "By the way, my name is Ryoukai."
-
"So…My gundam has a lot of strategic programs," Quatre nodded reading off the computer pad. "And more equipment designed for defense."
"You're the brains…so, yeah," the scientist said quietly adjusting the headset under his mop of feathery orange hair.
"I guess so…and then there's the self-destruct we already went over, maintenance, etcetera…so, that covers it, right, Sunshine?"
Sunshine grunted and affirmative making notes on his computer pad.
"Thank you," Quatre said smiling making Sunshine look up self-consciously. His bright green eyes studied the smile critically for a minute. Then he smiled back slowly.
"You have the smile of a child. It becomes you."
-
"You have a past similar to someone I once knew," Fair said as Trowa inspected his new gundam.
"Really?" Trowa replied nonchalantly.
"Yes, but instead of having reams of men beating him, it was one man, his father," Fair replied as if he were talking about the weather. "He never defended himself even though he could have killed the old man in seconds. I used to see him with the worst injuries. He'd just stand there like a rag doll and take it."
Trowa turned his emerald eyes to the scientist who was doing some last minute programming on the deck below him. The wire mesh was easy to see through, and it was just as easy to see the truth in Fair's face. "Why?" he asked quietly.
"Because he didn't believe in taking the risk," Fair replied simply tugging at a lock of blue hair while he thought. "…damn…" he muttered when the code came up red. "N.G."
-
"The way I designed Nataku is for hand to hand combat. The body is thinner and more flexible. There are serrated edges on the fingers of each hand," the feminine man explained lighting a cigarette and pointed to a few parts of the gundam. "You do have weapons for long range attack, though. Smart caps and the like."
"You've studied my file, right?" Wufei asked reading over the Nataku bio.
"No. I studied the war."
"How old are you?"
"Thirty-two," the man replied.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Ash. For obvious reasons."
"What's your real name?"
"Not telling. That'd spoil the fun," Ash replied seriously. "It doesn't matter anyway. You'd never be able to do anything with it. We're all ghosts." He dropped his cigarette to the ground and stepped on it exhaling a puff of translucent gray as he did so.
-
Everyone ate while being briefed on communication and simulator methods. It would take a week to reach the colony space. The week would be spent going through virtual simulators to get used to the controls and overall feel of the machinery. And sustenance would be fed from a tube into their bloodstream. No one was particularly keen on the idea but no one raised any objections either.
After all the scientists were through talking, Duo asked, "So, what happens now? Do we crash here for the night?"
Canine frowned, "Nope…unfortunately…tonight we pack you up and ship you off. Then tomorrow, we go home."
"Ah….But I didn't even savor my bed last night!" Duo cried.
Quatre bit his lip to keep himself from laughing as Duo ranted on, even throwing in the word justice in once of twice for good measure.
"Wuffie, help me out here! You know more about justice than I do!" the braided pilot whimpered.
Wufei shot him a death glare before going back to scrutinizing his gundam particulars.
"Heero?" Duo pleaded getting no response from his computer-absorbed lover. "Quatre?" The Arab shrugged helplessly as Duo crumpled hopelessly on the dinner table. A muffled and long drawn out "no" came from his still form followed by a few pathetic sniffles.
-
For how much he whined, Duo was quite animated by the time everyone was getting prepped to leave. He baited Wufei who was still reading and frowned when he got no response. Then he struck up conversation with Quatre before being dragged away by Canine. Heero watched them talk for a while before shrugging his shoulders and deciding that the scientist was no threat to him.
"I'm worried…" Quatre frowned cradling Trowa's hand in his. "I've got this feeling that something important is going to happen. I don't know if it's bad or not….I just…" He trailed off fumbling for words to describe his angst but found none.
"Don't worry, Quatre," Trowa said raising the Arab's hand to his lips. He kissed Quatre's knuckles comfortingly then leaned his pale lover onto his shoulder using the steady pressure of his fingers on the other man's shoulder to anchor him there. "If something is to happen, it would be better to see what it is before worrying."
Quatre leaned further into Trowa closing his eyes to breathe in his scent, memorizing it. A week without knowing this contact would be sheer torture.
Wufei looked up from his study material to see the couple lean into each other. The emotional intimacy of the moment made him want to punch something, an outlet for his hormonal distress. Instead, he got up and made a dash for the safety of the cockpit of his gundam.
An eternity later, everyone exchanged formal goodbyes and the gundams were launched into space.
-
Relena fought the bile that rose in her throat. She'd sent them on a war mission, her Heero and the others. Her Heero might die. Ands she'd made a complete mockery of herself during the meeting. A Peacecraft telling a group of people that they're going to go start a conflict as if she were talking about going on a picnic. For a few years, the Alliance had been the problem, and now she was joining them. She was going to be another slimy looking photo in the newspaper.
-
The simulation programs that the pilots went through seemed almost inhumane but sharpened long forgotten skills and tactics through the sheer intensity of each fake battle. The interesting part of the training was in the design of the battles. After the initial adjusting programs done alone, the other gundam pilots were incorporated as part of the same simulation. No one ever won battles by themselves, so, it was therefore not prudent to learn to fight alone.
On the sixth day of traveling and training, everyone was jolted awake by a loud beeping. It had a pattern: high, low, high, high, low. Then there'd be a pause followed by the same string of beeps.
"I think we're being hailed," Quatre's voice came crisply over the intercom.
"What do we do about it?" Duo replied tiredly wiping the sleep from his eyes. "'Hi, we're here to tell you that you're part of out government. Surrender your weapons. Resistance is futile'?"
"I don't think they'd take kindly to that, Maxwell," Wufei said annoyed.
"Do you want to lie?" Duo smirked.
"Shove it," Wufei growled.
"I think we're supposed to have a password," Trowa said pointedly to Quatre.
"We don't have a password…"
"We're going to fight," Heero stated leaving no room for questions.
His words proved true when the steady chorus of beeps flattened out to a long sour note. And out of the darkness of space, a mobile suit materialized. It looked similar to Nataku but of a lighter build and a more angular anatomy. Its coloring was dark red, like wine. The fact that it was alone was cause for confusion. The pilots quickly scanned for other suits and found none. Was this suit an escort?
That was soon decided when the red suit drew a long staff and eased itself into a defensive position. Heero, not being one to pass up such an obvious challenge, was the first to fly forward drawing his light sword as he did so. The red suit struck first, faster than any of the pilots could register before Heero struck back. The duel was very impressive, but there was an unsaid feeling that all the pilots got. The red suit was holding back. It had not used any guns, or light blades, etcetera and it seemed to be defending against pilot 01's assault way too easily.
Wufei flew forward to alleviate his curiosity. He wanted to bring out the power in the red suit. After he began attacking, it didn't really surprise him at all when the red suit simply changed tactics. No matter how many times he struck out, the red suit would evade the attack and defend against Heero. The pilots in the red and the green suits were holding back.
"This is my fight Wufei," Heero said as he narrowly avoided a blow.
"I'm not here to help you," Wufei snapped.
Both pilots were silent after that. Wing Zero got dealt a crippling hit by the red suit, but instead of being finished off, Heero was just ignored and no longer part of the problem. Duo panicked and flew forward to join the fight not completely sure about the safety of pilot 01. Quatre followed after trying to get Duo to come back to no avail, and Trowa flew in to protect pilot 04.
It was awkward to be ganging up on one mobile suit, but there was little else to do. And the red suit proved to be more than capable of taking care of itself. A few scratches marred its glossy red exterior, the only proof that it had been fighting. The gundam pilots may as well have been flies, easily swatted out of the way.
By an amazing stroke of luck, the enemy sustained good damage to its arm. Quatre fired at the red suit sending it back into Wufei who dealt it a serious blow to the right arm with a swift kick. The suit faltered a little before retaliating going head to head with Nataku. It fended off the other suits while going on the offensive to deal with 05. It was horrifying how quickly the battle was finished after that. The gundams were collected and lead away from the battle scene by the victorious red mobile suit.
-
The pilots sat through a grueling six hours wondering where they were going and why they hadn't been finished off yet. And they also wondered who in the galaxy was piloting the red mobile suit, definitely a very formidable fighter that had gone out of his way to preserve the gundams. The only gundam with any serious damage was Nataku that had suffered the red suit's offensive assault. And still, both pilots had been holding back.
No one talked for the longest time until a beeping pattern shook them back into the real world. There was a pause and then an answering pattern of beeps.
Quatre pulled up windows on his vid screen and caught a glimpse of something. It was almost liquid like and reflected the image of space. You could barely tell that it was a structure, save for the dimension of it. "Can you see it?" he asked over the comm. to the other pilots.
"What is it?" Duo asked in return a little surprised at having his friend's face pop up on his screen. "I don't see anything."
Tiredly, Quatre put his face in his hands, "Now we know how they stayed secret for so long."
"They reflect space like a giant mirror," Trowa explained finally getting some images on his screen.
Duo pulled up some more images and began to make out the glassy lines of a very large craft. "Oh…I see. So, Is the colony like some sort of a humungous battle ship or something?"
"We'll have to find that out later," Quatre frowned. "I'd really like to know how that pilot beat us if there is a pilot in that suit at all."
"I feel bad for Heero," Duo said pulling up a screen of Wing Zero. "I think his power was cut off. He would have self-destructed by now if he could."
"Is that something to be sorry about?" Quatre grinned a little.
"Not at all, but I bet he's feeling sorry," Duo grinned wearily. "I think we're all a little rusty on our fighting. These gundams are awesome, but we're not."
"Yeah," Trowa agreed eyeing his console. "But we don't have to worry about that for the moment, do we?"
"Nope, we're all dogs on a leash for now," Duo replied cheerily.