They had been traveling for several hours before Zechs told Wufie to stop. "It's here." Zechs said.
"What's here? Have your eyes gone bad Zechs. There's nothing here."
"The sensors say that what we're looking for is here."
"Do you even know how to read the thing?"
"Of course I do!" Zechs snapped. "Its more dependable than your eyes. Look the reading are too precise to be an error." Wufie leaned over to take a look, rudely checking the settings. He scowled.
"Believe me now?" Wufie was about the retort back when he was interrupted by a alarm quickly followed by a mighty jolt as the shuttle was hit. "Mobile suits closing in." Wufie jumped back into the pilot's seat quickly grabbing the piloting sticks. They were abruptly jolted forward again as they recieved another hit. "Its no good." Zechs announced. "They've grazed the fuel tank. If we get hit again, we'll explode."
"Then, I think its time that we go out and personally teach our opponents about honorable combat." Wufie said clearly annoyed at the enemies covert tactics. Zechs nodded as they got into their gundams and prepared for battle.
*************
"You want to stop this? Then give us back the assassin!" The Duke replied.
" I told you, we don't have him!" Dorothy said to the viewscreen.
"Of course not. Just like you no longer have any mobile suits. Really, Miss Catalonia this play at innocence is not convincing in the least."
"Innocent." She smiled "I'm not nor have I ever pretended to be that, unlike you Duke." "What better role for the Duke to play other than that of grieving father. Surely no one would question a man who is merely seeking justice for his only son. "At the Duke's frown she continued. "Oh come now. You don't think that I was ever fooled by you. I know an ambitious man when I see one. I grew up in a world surrounded by them. There was a time when I use to enjoy the exhileration of battle every bit as much as you." She paused. "The last two years, I have learned many things. One of them is that there is a better way to live. A better way for all of us to live together. " She looked at him her voice almost pleading. "It's never too late to change. Your son...."
"My son is dead!" The Duke shouted. "It is not something that can be changed or undone. It was your lies that turned him against me. My son was much too young to realize how the world truly works. He even believed that nonsense about peace that that princess of yours was spouting. If only he'd listened to me, this would not have happened." For a moment he seemed genuinely sad, then his face resumed its typically hard countenance.. "You have 48 hours to surrender. If you do not then I will have no choice, but to set out my army on you." With that he hit a button and the connection was abruptly severed.
Dorothy sat back in her chair and sighed.
*****************
"Watch out!" Zechs yelled to Wufie as one of the mobile suits that he had winged spun out of control right at his comrade. Wufie shifted at the last moment causing his opponent to get hit instead.
"Thanks for the warning, but I didn't need it." Zechs smiled. Some people never change, he thought. His smile turned into a curse a moment later as his screened beeped. "More mobile suits incoming."
"Damn, where are they all coming from?" He shot two more mobile suits. " Its like they're coming from mid-air."
****************
"I can't believe I 'm going along with this." Duo fretted for the hundredth time.
"Quiet!" Heero whispered harshly The three of them were hiding behind some thick bushes halfway across the factory grounds.
"They've helped us in the past. Why would they betray us now?" Quatre said trying to be reasonable.
"Why? Oh I don't know. Maybe because they're EVIL. Quatre, they call themselves the lords of plague. Doesn't that mean anything to you? They delight in chaos. You saw how they were before-OW!..."
"Quiet both of you." Heero whispered urgently. They all immediately quieted and hunched down closer to the ground.
After the guard passed, Duo rounded on Heero. "You could have just told us someone was coming. You didn't have to pull on my braid."
"It was the most efficient way." Heero shrugged. Quatre quickly hid a smile.
Duo scowled. "Which way Quatre?"
Quatre quickly referred back to his electronic map. "According the scientists' map. There's another way in over there." The three of them headed out towards the building keeping low. Quatre lead the way, while Heero covered their rear.
"Now what?" Duo asked when they reached the door.
"Give me a minute." Quatre replied as he hurriedly found and uploaded the passcode into the lock. "There." There was a slight beep followed by the sound of the lock releasing, then they were in.
The three stalked quietly through the long dark halls. "I don't like this." Duo whispered to Quatre. "This is way to easy.'
"Hey, where'd Heero go?" They were both suddenly startled at the sound of a muffled cry immediately followed by a hollow thump.
"You're right. It was too easy." Heero said matter-of-factly as he proceeded to strip the guard, that had unknown to them snuck up behind them. He quickly and efficently tied him up and shoved him into the nearest storage room.
"How did you ...oh never mind. I don't think I want to know."
They continued on without too much difficulty until they came to a huge room. Duo whistled at the vast size of it.
"Its huge!" Quatre gasped. Heero frowned.
"Uh guys. Anyone else notice something not quite right here?"
Quatre nodded as the realization hit him. "It's practically empty. Maybe...maybe the Doctors' information was wrong."
"No," Heero said his voice filled with a hard surety."We're too late. They're already in use."
"But Heero. There's nothing big enough that could have carried the number of suits that could have filled this place. We would have seen it."
*****************
Zechs ducked two more energy blasts. One of the suits got too close and he grabbed it using it as a shield against the other one. He shot the attacking suit down. Then he half turned throwing his prisoner away from him preparing to fire. He was surprised when the suit bounced off of something. "What the...Wufie, there's something over here." By that time the other pilot had recovered and shot back at him. Zechs ducked returning fire. The other suit was propelled back by the impact, the resulting explosion caused an outward arc of power that radiated up and out over some kind of energy shield briefly illuminating the invisible object as it continued the path. Both Zechs and Wufie watched as it arced further and further out. "Whatever it is it's huge!"
Finally, the pieces all fell into place and he blinked hardly able to believe what his eyes were telling him.After a moment, he was finally able to utter the words. "OMG, It's a battle ship just like Libra."
TBC.......
Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks all!
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