By: Shadow Chaser
Author's Notes:
I'm using the Babylon 5's EarthForce ranking system for those in Space Force and a slightly altered version of the USAF's rankings for Preventers and Ground Force. Military cells usually have television and some basics, and I'm basing this off of Stargate SG-1's use of military cells (aka Col. Maybourne).
Chapter 6 – Infiltration of the Enemy BaseNeo listened to the sharp rapping of her shoes as they echoed in the spacious, but sparsely decorated halls of the Alexandria Base in Egypt. Though she had been here a few times both as a Gundam pilot and as a representative of Winner Corporation, she pretended to be wide-eyed and lost like a normal recruit would. She was wearing civilian garb and her duffle bag was packed with her old Romefeller uniform and a few changes of clothes that Rashid had acquired to fit her.
She headed towards the registration area where the new government had implemented their recruiting center. It disgusted her to see so many traitorous soldiers wandering around the captured Preventer Base. But still, it was a week after since the arrest of her parents and the impeachment of President Mariemaia, and so she didn't really expect anything to go smoothly. The new government, headed by someone named Daemon Hallsfield, whom she didn't really know as her mother never mentioned anything about her meetings in Geneva when she went there to represent Winner Corp., was at least efficient – she had to give him that bit of credit, however small. They had called themselves the New Unified Nations.
Soldiers armed with guns lined the area, stopping anybody who looked suspicious or was lurking around. They were also smiling at the other recruits who were going to the registration area like she was. Focus, Neo, focus, you're not a 'she' anymore right now, you're a he! You're Trent Wynn, Neo bashed the thought out of her head.
As she got into the line to sign up for their military force, aptly named National Army or the Nationals, she wondered if she was doing the right thing. She didn't see anyone that would recognize her off the bat and for that she was glad, but she had her doubts. So far it was very easy…
"Hey, you're signing up too?" a youngish voice behind her asked and she turned around to see a geeky looking kid, a mere teenager, with freckles and light brown hair smiling at her. Part of her wanted to laugh at the absurdity of this kid joining the military…but another part quashed it down as she knew that she didn't want to be making enemies in the first place – it wouldn't do her good for her mission in the long run.
What is my mission? The fleeting thought occurred to her, but she pushed it away and gave the kid a half smile.
"Yeah," she was grateful that her mother taught her different intonations of voice and now she was able to culture her voice to a deeper inflection, more like a boy who past puberty, but didn't really have a serious voice range drop. "I wanna get away from my home."
"Where are you from?" the kid asked.
"Colony L4," she replied, "the Winner Colony."
"Oh…damn man, I heard that the whole Winner family's been arrested, though they can't really find their eldest kid, that racer girl," the kid replied, scratching his head, "I thought all L4s are pacifists…"
"Hey, not all L4s are pacifists," Neo frowned and watched as the kid laughed nervously and backed up.
"Sorry, sorry…geez…you must really hate them. Me mum tells me that they're oppressive. You have to follow their orders of peace or else," the kid replied, "I'm from L2 by the way."
"Yeah…they're oppressive…" Neo agreed. "They make you learn about their history and the history of war and how it's all just stupid nonsense to fight, it sucks," she lied, trying to keep an awful feeling from rising up.
"I'm Andrew Faulkner, by the way," the kid held out his hand and Neo took it, shaking it.
"Trent Wynn," she said without a single hitch in her voice.
"Nice to meet you," Andrew replied.
"Next!" a sharp voice barked over to them and Neo realized that she was next. She hastily grabbed her bag and made her way towards a severe looking military official who had an imperialistic and smug look to him. She guessed that he was recently promoted and was probably just mere 2nd Lieutenant or Cadet before this fiasco happened.
"Name," Neo read his name tag to be "Conrad" and noted that he was a Captain, the same rank as Adler's father in the Space Force.
"Trent Wynn," she replied confidently.
"Birthplace and homeplace," Captain Conrad seemed a bit bored.
"LaGrange Point 4, Colony 4."
"Oh, the Winner Colony," Neo could sense that there was a sneer within his comment, but refused to let her anger loose.
"Yes sir," she replied as neutrally as possible.
"Birthdate," he didn't seem to hear her.
"November 22, AC 209," the year was correct, but Neo altered her birthdate to something later than her regular November 15th birthday.
"You're fifteen?!" now Captain Conrad was intrigued.
"Yes sir," she replied then handed him some papers, "these are my birth documents and my resume with requirements. I have been trained to work on mobile suits as my parents owned a repair shop. I am qualified to pilot Space Leos and Tauruses." She was grateful that Halid, one of the soldiers of the Maganac, an old softie really, was able to forge such convincing papers that held their own under the closest scrutiny.
"I have seen enough," the Captain rounded the table he was sitting at and approached Neo who stood ram-rod straight as she had seen Val and Cavan do at their military drills, "you are qualified to join the Nationals. Welcome, Cadet Trent Wynn." The Captain stuck out his hand and Neo took it. She shook hands with him and could feel the emotions within him. They were bursting of a sense of ambition…she had a feeling that he was going to use her character, Trent Wynn, to gain positions.
Let him gain his positions, she didn't care. She had ambitions of her own – to bring down the New Unified Nations from within.
* * *
Ione Winner paced around the ivory mantled fireplace of the huge spacious mansion she and the other women were placed in. Essentially they were under house arrest, but to Ione, it felt like confinement. The six other women with her sat around the fireplace, all of them with grim looks on their faces. Some peals of laughter could be heard in the other room as three children played, but there was no laughter here.
They had all been brought here within a week since Daemon Hallsfield declared that their husbands and anyone associated with them were traitorous to the Unified Earth and Nations. The gentle blaring of a flat-screened television set blared on about the news and Ione resisted the urge to flick it off. It was as simple as not to watch the horror unfolding, but she wanted to hope that there was something about her husband or her daughter Neo.
She had already seen footage of her husband's capture and by Allah, she was proud of him. He had held his head up high even though they abruptly stormed a meeting and took him out of there, much to the surprise of all who were in the meeting. The news footage then showed the person who would replace Quatre as head of Winner Corporation, before cutting to where they were putting him in handcuffs and sticking him in a police car. Still, Ione saw the proud and unwavering look her husband had given to the cameras.
God how she missed him so much. She wondered where he was at the moment…was he safe? Was he even alive anymore? Granted it was just a week since Hallsfield's coup, but she didn't know anything anymore. They had blindfolded her, Relena, and Mariemaia on their journey here and she didn't really know where they were. Windows outside over looked mountains and forests, but there wasn't anything familiar to her about the place.
"Recruitment for the Nationals has gone up, with those are willing to join the war against the Gundam Oppressors," the broadcaster suddenly blared and Ione plopped down onto a seat, glaring at the newscaster. They had replaced those at GNN (Global News Network) with someone from Hallsfield's side of the fence, and he was doing a fine job of spouting political nonsense.
"Turn it off," she growled to no one in particular.
"In other news, the clean up is still proceeding in the Space Academy-"
"Wait, leave it," she changed her mind, as she remembered Quatre telling her that their daughter was going to the Space Academy to discuss the de-armament process with Space Force officials.
"-with many students and faculty among the injured from the ruthless attack of Captain Trowa Barton and his compatriots who unfortunately fled the scene and was unable to be detained. Rumored to be among the attackers of the Space Academy was his son, Adler, and Cerelia Winner, eldest daughter of the head of Winner Corporation. Both young adults are unaccounted for. Due to her missing status, Winner's racing position, formerly in contention of the Championship, was removed from the Colony Circuit. If anyone has any information concerning the whereabouts of Adler Barton and Cerelia Winner, please inform the proper authorities – these children may be in grave danger."
"Yeah, grave danger from Hallsfield," Lucrezia Noin snorted quietly and very unlady-like from her chair. Ione glanced at the former Commander of Preventers with a mild expression. In all the years that she had gotten acquainted with Noin, she never knew the woman to be so feisty.
"At least we know the children are out there somewhere," Catherine Bloom commented softly. Ione could feel for the woman as she knew that Catherine was like a second mother to Adler and it had to be hard on her…but not so much as the two other women who sat next to her, Hilde Maxwell and Relena Peacecraft-Yuy.
Hilde had seen her life go up in literal flames when Sweepers Headquarters was blown up and she still had a few injuries from being manhandled roughly on her way here. Bandages still covered a part of her face, but Ione could see fire in her eyes. For Relena Peacecraft-Yuy, she saw more than fire, she saw an inferno.
Ione wished that she had told Relena about sending Neo to the Space Academy to discuss disarmament negotiations, but there hadn't been time. She wanted to say something, anything, to place the blame on herself for all she cared, she just didn't want to see the pain in Relena's eyes as they all watched what they had tried to attain at such a young age fall apart in the matter of a few days.
Relena was the core of them. Not even Lady Une or Mariemaia Khushrenada was the sticking factor. No, Relena held them up with her ideals and her charisma. She was the one to pass on her ideals to Mariemaia, and to all of them. And now…to see her like this…
As Ione glanced back at the television screen, she hoped to Allah that her child and those who were the second generation of Gundam pilots, right things again. It was retaliation for the three beats of rebellion, war, and peace. The peace was over and now a rebellion had to start.
War was about to begin again.
* * *
For Duo Maxwell, the war had begun. It had begun long ago. It had begun when Locke Dabnerba and her psycho offspring Lealya killed his son Tarrant. This was only the second stage of that war. Even though a new opponent had stepped up onto the battlefield, it was still a war to Duo.
Though he was confined to a military cell, he knew that he could still fight his war. He knew that Severn Cawley and Daemon Hallsfield, whoever the guy was, would torture them for information – what information he didn't know, but didn't care – and he would fight them tooth and nail.
Besides, the incompetent fools didn't manage to capture Trowa or Wufei. He snickered softly at the thought. He had been watching the twisted news, watching how Hallsfield distorted everything, but still Trowa and Wufei eluded them. He felt cheered at the thought that two of their team of six had disappeared, but still didn't count the fact that they had brought in Zechs in horrible shape.
The man looked like hell, in Duo's opinion. They had brought him in bloodied, bruised, and battered and dumped him in his cell. A doctor had come and tended to Zechs' wounds and gave medication, but otherwise, he didn't stir one bit. In a twisted sense, Duo was pretty glad that Zechs looked like that. It meant that the former Colonel of Preventers had put of a huge fight without giving an inch until they took him down.
Even though he and Heero had put up a fight before Severn's men knocked them unconscious, Duo felt a sense of regret for not going all out. But he couldn't, not with his wife's life at stake. He had to protect her…he couldn't loose another member of his family like he lost Tarrant. He knew that Heero's son, Val, would protect Reyna with his life (even though he didn't like the prospect of the two of them together), so he had to do the same with Hilde. It was his duty, no it wasn't a duty, it was his life to protect all those he loved and cared for.
But right now he felt empty and a sense of dread filled him. They had taken Hilde away, where he didn't know, and it gnawed at him. He fervently hoped that she was all right and was protected, but even he had his doubts. If anyone laid a hand on her…God wouldn't be able to help them…Shinigami would take his revenge when he got out of here.
A sudden shift in moment caught Duo's eyes and he glanced up from lying on his bed to see Heero flexing his injured hand, the one Severn shot.
"Heero, buddy, you shouldn't do that," Duo warned and received a death glare from his friend. "All right, all right, I get the point…sheesh…" He fidgeted slightly…he hated the quiet that was in here. Even the usual talkative Quatre, who was in the cell next to him on his left, was quiet.
They all had attempted to bust out of here the second they were locked up, but that resulted in a few burns and some electric tingles running through them. Their cells were electrified all day and they delivered a good jolt if one was to touch them. Duo knew…his hands were still red and sore from his last attempt.
Flopping back on his bed, Duo sighed and stared up at the grey ceiling. He let his thoughts wander to his daughter…who was fighting a war of her own…on her own…without her brother at her side. God how he missed his son…he missed Tarrant so much…and especially with Sweepers-
No! He wouldn't think of Sweepers…he couldn't. He had to be strong; he had to be strong for his wife and daughter. His wife whom he didn't know where she was, and his daughter, alone in the world.
No…she wasn't alone, she had Val. Vailo Yuy…
For the first time since meeting Val, Duo came to a sense of peace that Val would do whatever necessary, to protect his daughter. And that comforted him.
* * *
Author's Notes:
Sorry it's at an abrupt end. I wanted to write more, but I want to dedicate the next chapter to Adler, Val, Cavan, Anima, and those in space. ^_^ Also a bit of stuff on Reyna and Tani! Maybe some evil baddies too. Dunno though, maybe Haldir will usher them to cooperate. Heh!
Military Ranks:
Space Force/Nationals Space:
General, Colonel, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant, Officer, Cadet
Preventers/Nationals Ground Force:
General, Colonel, Commander, Major, Captain, Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenant, Cadet