*Disclaimer* I don't own the name Gundam, Bandai does along with the characters from the show.

Chapter Seven- Time between valley walls

Date: 13, 2, AC-198

Location: Preventor Base- L4H1-38457 Colony

Room 212 Conference Room

Lady Une had called a meeting with the Administrators of the Preventors to discuss recent and future events. She knew that there would bitter opposition to what she wanted to say, and had to make a quick and clear statement to stop any doubt. Lady Une raised her left hand and partially coughed into it; she then began to speak.

"As you all know, there was an attack on the colony L3T-99012 a few days ago. Our forces managed to repel the attack, though there were casualties."

"We do know about that," one of the administrators said as he stood up. "But wasn't that new volunteer among the casualties?"

"That is correct."

"So he was over-rated in his ability?" the man sat back down and leaned on his right arm.

"He wasn't over-rated," Lady Une states. "He was over-powered. It could have happened to anyone."

"And, what about this yellow mobile suit?" another administrator asked.

"From the data taken from the gundam Sandrock, it would seem that this mobile suit is a power support type, though we believe that it could easy fight hand-to-hand combat." Lady Une had a picture of the Toteis projected onto a wall that had been taken from Sandrock. " This is why I called you all here today. We have to assume that there is a power at work here with possibly enough fire power to take out our military ability plus some."

"What?! How could this be?"

"They might have been building up their forces for some time now, but it is only an assumption that they have that kind of strength."

"What do you propose to solve this problem?"

"I recommend that we build our military for the possibility of war. If not, then we might not stand a chance." Lady Une paused for a moment, "I'm calling for the authorization to increase arms in the case of possible war."

"The people don't want war," a person in the far back says. "Especially those on earth."

"I know that, so we'll have to keep it from their eyes. To keep it secret," Lady Une replies.

Several days after this meeting, the administrative board asked for military increase and was approved on the conditions that it kept under wraps. The primary force would be stationed in the colonies, but some on earth as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Date: 16, 2, AC-198

Time: 11:00AM

Location: L2Y-89432 Colony, Bob's Boxing Emporium

Duo gave a hard right hook to the sandbag in front of him, and then a hard left hook. Each punch zapped more of his strength as he desperately tried not to shed a tear. It had been a week since Alex had killed by the nameless yellow mobile suit, and there was simply nothing he could do about it. It was almost like Solo and the Maxwell Church all over again, almost, but he was upset with himself for not going with Quatre and Alex when he had the chance to. Now Alex was just another memory added to his past. He pounded the sandbag as hard as he could again, but this time he heard door slam shut behind him. He glanced at the door and saw a familiar boy that wore a green tank top along with brown shorts.

"Well Heero. What brings you around here?" Duo turned his attention back to the sandbag and punched it again.

Heero didn't say a thing as he walked up, and went onto the other side of the sandbag; he still could look Duo in the eyes, but not so close as to get hit by the sandbag from a light gab.

"Are you going to answer my question?"

Heero gave his usual stare at Duo, while Duo continued to punch the sandbag. Duo knew exactly why Heero was there, but he wanted the answer said aloud from Heero. Heero was here to take him off to be prepared, if there was another attack.

"You should stop wasting your energy."

"I wouldn't consider punching a sandbag being a waste of energy."

"I'm not referring to that. It's your anger that is wasting your energy."

"What anger?" Duo gave another blow to the sandbag even harder than the rest. Duo stopped as he pulled his hand back. "Ok, there might be some anger involved."

"It wasn't your fault, or Quatre's. Alex rushed into battle not knowing what was going on." Heero still hadn't let go of the stare. "He paid the price for his actions."

"That's cold, even for you!" Duo exclaimed as he left hooked the sandbag and sent the sandbag into a pendulum motion with an arc of five feet.

"Being angry with me won't bring the guy back." Heero grabbed the sandbag and brought it to a halt.

"Nothing else will either."

"True, but, if you are so bent on being angry, put it into the battle against that yellow mobile suit."

"You think we'll be fighting it?"

Heero nodded his head slowly at what Duo said.

"You mean that the attacks so far are just a prelude to what might happen in the future?"

"I would say something more of a warning."

"So why didn't they kill Quatre while they were at it?" Duo punched the sandbag again, but lighter than most of his punches.

"No idea."

"Let's get going then." Duo reluctantly took off his boxing gloves and noticed some burnt marks. "I was hoping to keep these clean." Duo let out a heavy sigh as he walked away from the sandbag.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten months had passed since Icedig was destroyed on the L3T-99012 Colony, but no attacks of any sort came. The new enemy seemed to have up and vanished from sight, or at least the Preventors thought so. The gundam pilots knew that this enemy could strike at any time.

Date: 10, 12, AC-198

Time: 9:00PM

Location: L2Y-89432 Colony, Hilde and Duo's junkyard

Hilde walked out of the garage, and carried a paper bag of parts. She had been doing the entire business of the junkyard for the most part for almost ten months now. Duo stopped in once and awhile, but that was few and far between. Right after Alex had gotten killed, she thought she saw Duo had developed some depression, but didn't like to show it. Hilde didn't mind this though for every time he came back from a training session Duo was a little bit happier. One thing did bug her though was the fact that Duo had gotten happier without her, though he was used to the battlefield and the guys he was training with. At that moment something caught her eye, the light in Duo's office was on. Hilde never turned on that light herself, and neither Duo nor her would forget to turn off the light before they closed shop. Was Duo back for a short while again? But, she hadn't seen or heard him come in. The thought of an intruder in junkyard crossed her mind, and she wasn't going to back down from the intruder. Whatever it was, she wanted to turn off the light before she left. Hilde walked over to Duo's office, where his paperwork was typically strewn about his desk, and found the place to be the same. No one forced an entry into the place, or there was no visible signs of it. There was only one thing out of order, Duo's chair. It faced away from the door she had entered, but Duo never left it that way.

"Alright, get out of here at once, or else I'll force you out myself." Hilde said, and knew full well that being an ex-soldier allowed her to back up the claim.

"I only came to find the gundam pilot, but since he isn't here. You'll be the next best thing to him." A voice spoke from the other side of the chair. It sounded very familiar to her, but couldn't put a finger on it.

"What do you mean? Who are you?"

Hilde dropped her bag of parts onto the floor and walked over to confront the owner of the voice. She spun around the chair and saw the man in the chair. He had piercing aqua blue eyes, brown hair, had a height of 6'2" and wore a strange black uniform, and the moment Hilde saw the man she gasped and backed off from him.

"It can't be." "You're dead." These thoughts raced through her mind as she continued to back away from him. The expression of shock was on her face as well.

She backed up another step and felt her elbow had hit someone behind her. A muscluar arm reached over her face and forced a wet cloth over her mouth and nose. The other arm of this man restrained Hilde's arms while she breathed in the fumes of the cloth. Her last vision before she passed out was a blurred view of Alex getting up and walking toward her.