By: Shadow Chaser
Author's Notes:
Okay, I lied. This chapter will feature the G-pilots' wives, Adler, and Neo's initial training at the Nationals. ^_^ I wanna save interrogation for later. Dude, writing Neo as a she disguised as a he is tough. Well, think of Neo's infiltration like Corran Horn's (Star Wars) infiltration of the Invids in "I, Jedi". Eep!
Chapter 10 – Training to Resist and Fight
Location: Alexandria Base
Alexandria, Egypt, Earth
The physicals were extensive and Neo was glad that she wasn't so out of shape. As a professional racer in her spare time from working for her father's corporation and going to school, she was required to lift weights and be at the peak of her physical capacity, especially since racing took a lot out on the muscles and stamina.
She couldn't say the same for her roommate, a young man by the name of Ryder Quinn who was originally from London. Ryder's parents were both military, Space Force officers who immediately signed their support for Hallsfield's change and enrolled their son to train as a National. Ryder was what Neo called a "bookie", and he seemed more suited for the tactical division of the Nationals, but still, each person who signed up with the Nationals was required to undergo physical training – or PT.
With his once long blonde hair, now cut military short, and metal-wired glasses that sort of magnified his green-hazel eyes, Ryder was flopped out on his bed like a starfish and gasping for air. Neo herself didn't seem that tired even though they had trained for over 12 hours straight with only a one-hour break. Her bandages though, were fast peeling from the sweat she had given off during the whole procedure. It seemed that Hallsfield wanted soldiers to be out in the battlefield quickly.
She had wrapped bandages around her chest to flatten her breasts even though they were small. It was an added comfort to her, but sometimes it hurt like hell. Before she even went to register, she had begun to take contraceptives/birth control pills to regulate her period so she didn't have to explain any unnecessary things to the doctor.
Thankfully though, the doctor they assigned to her was none other than Sally Po in disguise. Turned out that she was the relay for Neo to get her periodic messages back to her Uncle Rashid and Sally happened to be in the area when the whole fiasco happened. She had told Sally not to reveal to anyone else including the other Gundam pilots who escaped that she was undercover. She didn't want any of them risking their lives or accidentally expose her in her mission to bring down the Nationals from within.
The sticking issue for her role, as Trent Wynn was usage of the bathroom. Apparently the Nationals or whoever was the head of the new military group didn't really believe in mass public bathrooms and though they had specifically quartered off males from females, each room had their own bathroom. Even after a few days of sharing a room with her roommate as a male, she didn't have any problems so far. The only complaint she got from Ryder was the fact that she took too long in the shower.
"I'm beat…" Ryder groaned from his bed and Neo laughed.
"You're too soft Ryd," she shook her head and watched as he fumbled around for his books. Her roommate was also very messy and had a lot of pictures of his family, friends, and even a large picture of his girlfriend framed on his desk.
Neo however, didn't dare bring anything that would betray her guise as Trent Wynn. All she brought were a few doctored documents, a non-descript computer, and no pictures. When Ryder had asked her if she was gay she shook her head and said that she hadn't found the right girl yet.
"Hmph," was the indignant reply from Ryder and Neo rolled her eyes, "easy for you to say. You're lucky that you in such good shape. How did you come by that?"
"I told you," Neo sighed, "my family owns a repair shop. I'm required to be in shape to work on space Tauruses and Leos."
"Oh yeah…sorry, I forgot," Ryder replied.
"No worries," Neo shook her head and looked towards the door as it opened, revealing Andrew Faulkner who lived a few rooms down from hers. "Yo, Andy, sup?"
"Nothing," Andrew replied, "just wondering if you guys wanna get some chow. The dining hall closes in about fifteen minutes."
"Go on Trent. I'm gonna sleep," Ryder groaned from underneath a pillow and Neo sighed then got up.
She grabbed Ryder's hand and pulled him from his bed, "Ryd, you are going to get dinner with us whether you like it or not. Come on Andy, help me!" She glared at Andy as he chuckled before coming over and pulling on Ryder's other arm.
"Aww, bookie-Ryd is too pooped," Andy joked before Ryder got the message and shrugged both of them off.
"Fine, fine…I'm going," he groused as he straightened his rumpled BDUs. He marched out and waited for them. Neo followed Andy out and saw that the rest of their 'gang' a group of students who decided to attach themselves together, waiting.
They had unofficially nominated Trent as their leader even though he was the youngest of all, as he had the most experience in mobile suits and gave them a lot of pointers. In reality, Neo liked being the leader – it made it easier for her to do her mission and to subtly sway people that Hallsfield's methods were wrong.
As they made their way into the crowded dining hall, most of the recruits had the same idea, they made sure to save themselves a table. Already, Neo could see some of the women recruit making eyes at her and inwardly winced – if they only knew, but as Trent she waved at them, sending them into giggles.
"Hey, world-class flirt! You're gonna miss the food!" Andy's voice broke through her thoughts and she jogged over to take some food before sitting back down. She began to pick at a few pieces of chicken before the others plopped down too.
"So, when do you think we'll get to go on the land Leos?" Marin a dark skinned teen asked.
"Hopefully soon, I overheard our instructor saying about probably within the next week or so – they're training us real quick, ya know," another of their group replied, whose name Neo couldn't really remember.
"They want us to be trained quick so we can hunt down those traitorous Space Force and Preventer people," Neo added her own two-cents in before Andy poked her and pointed at one of the many vid screens in the cafeteria.
"Look," he said and Neo looked up and nearly dropped her fork as she saw that the vid was showing a clip of Adler's Taliesin, fighting and defending what looked like the L3 Colony Cluster.
"This just in, it seems that the citizens of L3 have been harboring one of the traitorous Gundam pilots. Citizens of the New United Nations do not be afraid of the image you see. The Nationals are doing their best to suppress the revolt. We will give you updates as they come," the anchorman on the vid news blared and Neo could hear boos coming from various places in the cafeteria.
She looked towards Marin who said that he was from the L3 Cluster and noticed that he had an angry look on his face. "Those bastards! They've been holding a Gundam there?! They should be punished!"
Neo didn't say anything as she looked back up at the image of Taliesin. She hoped and prayed to Allah that Adler was all right… Be safe…Adler, she thought towards the image. She knew that she could have touched his mind as they shared a psychic connection that was unlike anything she had ever known or felt, but she didn't want risk exposing her empathic powers to anyone who might be like Xylon Riyet and was working for the Nationals.
* * *
Location: Space, L3 Colony ClusterAdler charged at another Serpent unit and decapitated its head. Serpents were old models and he wondered if they were just a decoy. He did a quick broad range scan of the vicinity of the L3 cluster and found that there were no mobile suits except the Serpents in front of him. That had to be the worst excuse to send out against him…but still as he thought about it, he realized that ever since the war with Locke had been over, Relena Peacecraft had been trying so hard to disarm the Colonies and Earth and perhaps this was why the new government had to send the Serpents…
But, he also noted that for whatever lack of firepower and old model the Nationals sent, they made up with sheer numbers. He had never seen this many Serpent units directed at him and they kept multiplying. There were no heat signatures of humans inside their cockpits so he concluded that they had to be using the mobile dolls system in order to have so many Serpents sent after him.
Checking his bullets and missiles in his arsenal, he noted sourly that he only had a few left. Barely enough to make a dent. He couldn't go hand-to-hand with the remaining one without succumbing to their overwhelming firepower. "Hawk," he keyed the comm. system as he flew back from two Serpents who came after him. He dispatched them with his beam trident. "Can we spare some of L3's mines? I'm running out of bullets here."
"I'll see what I can do," Hawk's reply came back.
Adler smiled grimly as he brought up his right arm and fired his gatling guns at the Serpents who charged at him. He aimed carefully as the Serpents were grouped together. One stupid fault of the mobile doll system was the tendency for the dolls to group together, making it easier to destroy them. Brilliant explosions littered space where the mobile dolls once were, but more came where they had exploded and he pressed the trigger once more, only to find that all of his bullets were used up.
Dropping the empty barrels, he activated the beacon on it so he could pick it up later and sped forward, drawing out his beam trident once more and activated it, its bright green color a reassurance. Slicing through two Serpents Adler backed away as a warning beep told him of missiles headed towards the Serpents.
He watched as half of the missiles that were protecting L3-28886 took out the remaining Serpents in the mobile doll task force that had been sent to deal with him. A small smile flitted across his face before Hawk's face popped up in the upper left corner of his main view screen.
"Adler. Check the GNN broadcast frequency. Halton Fowler, L3 leader is making a speech," she said before her face disappeared and Adler pressed a few buttons and brought up GNN on his left screen, leaving his middle screen free in case there were any Serpents that survived the missile barrage.
"—We of Colony Cluster L3 cannot fathom what L1 Colony representative Daemon Hallsfield has done to Earth and her fellow colonies and will not abide by his rules and disposition of President Mariemaia Kushrenada. We saw what happened to our sister colony cluster, L4, and is with the utmost reluctance that we announce this. We hereby declare our independence from the United Earth Sphere until this conflict can be resolved in the most reasonable fashion and President Kushrenada reinstated as the rightful leader of this government.
"If there is to be any attempt to take over this Colony Cluster we will use all of our available forces to repeal this attack. L3 will be a safe haven for those who are looking for refuge from this aggression," Halton Fowler was a middle aged Asiatic man with black hair that was graying white. However, his stern demeanor made his words more powerful, Adler suspected.
"That will be all. I will take no questions as of this moment," Fowler stepped off from whatever podium he had been occupying and Adler shut off the transmission before turning his Gundam around and headed back towards L3. It was a victory and Adler hoped that it would be the start of many.
* * *
Location: Alexandria Base
Alexandria, Egypt, Earth
Boos raged louder and louder in the cafeteria as they showed the Gundam Taliesin defeating all of the Serpents. Neo didn't say anything, but inside, she was glad that Adler was able to fend off all of those mobile suits. She cheered him on silently, but stayed quiet as the people around her, Marin especially, vocalized their anger at Taliesin winning…until…
"That Gundam deserved to win," Andrew said loudly, silencing just about everyone at their table and all stared at him, Neo included.
"What?! You support that Gundam?" Marin looked very angry.
"It deserved to win," Andrew shrugged as if it was something common, "those were mobile dolls it was fighting against. Mobile dolls are nothing more than meaningless things to be thrown as fodder in battle. Me mum says that. She used to fight for Romefeller back during Treize Kushrenada's battles and said that Kushrenada hated mobile dolls and she agreed with his policy."
"Good point…" a few of the others around them agreed, but Marin just glared at Andrew before turning his eyes back to the vid-screen.
Neo tilted her head slightly, seeing Andrew in a new light. Perhaps not all wanna-be Nationals were pig-headed…maybe she would be able to convert a few like Andrew to support the Gundams and support her cause…
"Oh my God! I can't believe it! Those traitors!!" Marin suddenly shouted and lifted a fist in anger at the vid-screen. "L3 just declared independence!"
"What?!" Ryder, sitting next to Neo spilled some of his soup onto his tray as he looked up. Neo followed suit and saw that indeed, L3's leader, Halton Fowler, was declaring the colony cluster's independence.
She had met Fowler a few times when she went with her father to his meetings or traveling with him. Fowler was probably one of the most reasonable men to be a colony leader besides her father, she thought, and now she was elated for the Asian man to declare L3's independence. That would mean Adler would have a safe haven, or maybe even the others would be able to rendezvous to there for their safe haven.
However, another side of her reasoned that they probably would just spread out instead of bunching in one place, because L3 was still recovering and wouldn't be able to have adequate defenses to house all of the Gundams. Even if they were all there, repair parts would be sparse because they were trying to rebuild some of L3's Colonies, either destroyed over 25 years ago or just in the recent months following Locke's war.
But with L3's first step in rebelling against the new authority, the war just got a little easier for Neo.
* * *
Location: Countryside, Northern EuropeThere was no cheering in the mansion where the wives and influential women of the Gundam pilots were placed, but there was hope. And right now, hope was one of the few things they had left.
Catherine was glad that L3 declared their independence. That meant her boss, Weaver would be able to roam around free and possibly send information out to those who rebelled against the illegal authority of Hallsfield. She silently cheered Adler on as his battle with the Serpent units was broadcast live, but inwardly she felt so crushed that it had to take something like this to bring them all back to the war.
She hated war. She hated the fact that whenever there was war, Trowa would leave her and fight with his Gundam. She was glad that they had decided to destroy the original Gundams after the first war with Locke, but then, when Locke came back months ago, she knew that war had to start up again…but this time it was with her nephew…her dear nephew who inherited the qualities of both his father and mother, but had a kinder and gentler soul who took on the burdens of war.
And now…with this new coup, it drove her brother to hiding and Adler to fight for his home colony cluster.
"Mother…is that Adler's Gundam?" Dumas' young voice, suddenly spoke from the edge of the room and all of the women turned to see the ten-year-old boy standing at the farthest edge, afraid to come in, but curious enough to stop playing with his little sister Jade and Setsuna Yuy.
"Yes it is Dumas," Ione replied in a soft voice and Catherine glanced quickly at the Maganac before watching her pick up her middle child into her lap. "Adler is fighting so you can be safe."
Catherine didn't know what Ione or Quatre was teaching their children, but from what she could tell of her brief infrequent exposure to the Winner children over the years Quatre and his family came to visit them, Dumas was the most peaceful of all the children and didn't inherit his father's or older sister's empathic abilities. No…Dumas was actually more mature than she would have guessed for a child of his age.
In ways, he reminded her of a younger version of Quatre, but without the burdens the Gundam pilot had to endure at such a young age. There was something timeless about Dumas…and it made her feel very comforted. She realized that if Hallsfield knew of the middle child of the Winner's abilities, then it would spell doom for Winner Corp and perhaps the fate of the Colonies.
"Will there be bloodshed?" Dumas asked.
"There will be, little one," Relena suddenly spoke up and Catherine looked at her. Relena looked so old…not the vibrant young lady she was 25 years ago. No…she didn't look defeated; she just looked tired, worn out. It had to be the Hallsfield thing and this whole fiasco, but somehow, Catherine thought that there was something more personal at stake with Relena Peacecraft-Yuy. Her eyes flickered to see Relena twisted her wedding band.
Was there something going on between her and her husband? Was there some inner conflict that she wasn't aware? All of the women in the room, including Lady Une and Mariemaia were close friends, bonded together through not only the Gundam pilots, but through their love of peace and the hope that it will survive no matter what.
"Bloodshed is something that cannot be avoided in war, Dumas," Relena continued, "but if we strive to keep the peace away from war, then we can minimize that bloodshed. There will always be those that fight for that peace so they don't have to fight anymore. Adler is fighting for it…as are the others…" Relena's eyes seemed to loose focus slightly before she turned back to watch the vid-screen.
After all, there was still hope. And with hope, came the Gundams.
* * *
Author's Notes:
Next chapter focusing on the captured G-pilots and probably Reyna and Julian. I'm in a weird mood, so I don't know when the next chapter is coming up. The holiday season always does funky stuff to me.