Chapter 4: An Incident
"How could you lose an entire fleet of Rogues to 20 model 56's?" A tall short brown-haired man fumed as he sat down in a large leather chair.
"Sir there weren't strictly model 56's out there." The general stated subordinately. "We have these satellite images to prove that the Colonial Freedom Army has vastly superior mobile suits at their disposal." He said carefully setting an envelope down on the desk. "We think they might be Gundams Sir."
"Gundams really? Well you assume wrong. The Gundams were completely destroyed as was the main threat behind them." The leader said condescendingly.
"Mr. Mayarindra, with all due respect no one actually saw the Gundams be destroyed and no remnants of Heero Yuy's body were found." The general replied carefully. "They say he was indestructible."
"No man is indestructible on his own. Invincibility comes from the size of your army Mr. Jusyina. Now leave me to contemplate our next move. And see to it that the rebuilding process is under way as soon as possible." Mayarindra said waving a hand in dismissal.
"Yes Sir." Jusyina said bowing and leaving the room.
Mayarindra's ice blue eyes pierced the landscape outside his huge bay window. "An entire year or more of a setback. Now I have to start enrolling and training more pilots and build more Rogues. Perhaps some redesigning is needed in order to eliminate the Colonial Freedom Army. My family has to much time, money, and blood wrapped up in this vendetta to lose. And I will not fail like Oz. The Earth Unification Order will use the failures of the past to fight the future. Neo-Oz will succeed..." He said with a smirk as he got up and left his office.
"The press conference is ready Sir." A woman said smiling warmly and gesturing to the main hall.
"Good... Good... Mayarindra said smiling back.
"Well this should be interesting..." Duo said sitting down in the main room and watching the giant viewing screen.
"I'd like to start by saying thank-you to everyone who came out to this meeting. My name is Siezall Mayarindra. I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate attack on the colony today and I'm announcing my pledge to find out who and why it has happened. I'm putting not only the resources of my family but my company as well to build a mobile suit force to protect not only the colonies but nations here on Earth from whatever unnamed rebel force maybe behind this heinous attack." He said with a charismatic sort of tone that would make anyone entranced by his words. "I am recruiting pilots, technicians, scientists, and anyone else needed to undertake this endeavor. I'm also looking for financial backing as this is a huge undertaking. In conclusion I'd like to issue this warning to those responsible; your time is limited. The peace will be upheld and all humans will be united under one banner as such." He said then smiled and bowed before leaving the podium. Questions flew up from the spectators but an assistant volleyed them.
"Find the real threat to peace all right. I bet you are the threat." Duo said disgusted as he got up and left the room.
"In coming ship... In coming ship." The computer voice rang over the speaker. "Identified as friendly. Prepare for emergency landing and ship evacuation."
"Friendly?" Duo asked to no one in particular as he started running down to the loading bay. A ship with only half of one wing and one engine slowly slid to a stop in the bay and the doors closed behind it. Rescue workers in space suits rushed towards the ship and into the side door. Soon afterwards they pulled a long platinum blonde-haired man from the ship and carried him into the base. They rushed passed Duo as they carried him off the sick ward. "He is one lucky man." Duo said quietly. "To bad she didn't survive." He shook his head and followed behind the rescue workers.
Harea woke with a start and looked around. She had been moved to her bed at some point and Duo was now asleep in her desk chair. She held her head in her hands, which rested on her legs. All night long she had been plagued by dreams induced by the words in her mother's journal. She wasn't all together unlike her mother from a life occurrence perspective she thought as she shook away sleepiness. Then a thought finally crept into her head. "Why is Duo still in here?" She pondered as she threw off the blankets and got out of bed. She pulled the top blanket off and took it over and wrapped it around him gently.
She proceeded to go into her closet and pull some blue jeans and a tight short blue t-shirt to wear for a day of reading and research. As she was getting dressed still in her half closed closet, Duo woke up and looked around. He noticed her gone and a blanket around him. "Well she could have at least woke me up when she left." He said aloud as he stretched and got up.
"I didn't want to wake you I didn't know how long you'd been sleeping." She called from the closet.
"That's ok I've had less and lived. Are you getting dressed in there?" He probed with a squeak when a naked leg emerged from the open side of the closet.
"Yeah and I'm having problems..." She said sounding embarrassed.
"Problems?" Duo asked sure he didn't want to know.
"I'm stuck!" She said with a laugh. "These jeans must have shrunk or something!" She said still laughing until she accidentally kicked the other door opened. Duo turned 10 shades of red and looked away as Harea quickly snapped up a shirt to cover herself up with. She had been sitting on the floor in nothing but a bra and panties with one leg seemingly poured into a pant leg. She slung the shirt off then awkwardly spun around and closed the door. After a few minutes and several bangs into the door Harea gave up.
"That's it I'm never coming out of my closet!" She screeched.
"Aahhh... I'd help but that would just be weird..." Duo said walking towards the door.
"Well umm maybe if you closed your eyes and just pulled?" Harea said awkward and embarrassed. "I don't want anyone else to know I got stuck in a pair of pants..."
"I... I... I guess I could... Give it a tried." Duo said embarrassed and feeling a feverish heat come to his cheeks. He walked over next to the door and got now on his knees. He closed his eyes and stuck his arms out. "Here I come." He said before scooting around to the opening. Harea took his hands and guided them down to the end of the leg.
"Pull!" She instructed as she got set to push from the top. He did and slowly the pants slid off until finally they flew off taking Duo with them. He smacked his head on her desk and slumped over groggily. "Duo? Duo? Duo are you ok?!" She asked as she scampered over to him on all fours. She took him up in her arms and held his head on her shoulder. "Duo! Come on wake up Duo! Don't do this to me now! I can't lose you too!" She said over and over again becoming more distraught by the second.
"I'm... I'm ok..." He mumbled bringing a hand up and rubbing the back of his head. A huge knot had formed where he impacted the desk. When he came to fully he opened his eyes and realized he was being cuddled by a half naked and near crying Harea. He jumped out f her arms and backed up a bit looking away the whole time.
"Duo... Duo look at me." He slowly and nervously turned his gaze towards her. To his relief she had wrapped up in the blanket he left on the desk chair. "Are you sure your ok?" She said then sniffed. He nodded knowing he was desperately red in the face again. "Well it's just well... You left a dent..." She said pointing to the metal desk.
"I'm fine." He choked out then swallowed hard.
"Ok." Harea nodded and stood up. She went back into her closet and pulled out a pair of pants that actually fit.
"There's someone in the sick bay that I think you might want to see." Duo called getting up off the floor.
"Really who?" Harea called back as she came out and went into the tiny bathroom next to the closet.
"Oh you'll see." Duo said trying to avoid looking at her. She was zipping around the room so much it was hard.
"Well let's go." She said after what seemed like an eternity. Duo turned towards the door and reached for the open button. Harea stopped him before he could press it. "What happened just now, we're ok still... Aren't we?" She asked with a serious face. Something about the look she was giving him hearkened back to old feelings he'd long tried to forget. Feelings that were always there but buried by years of pain. After several tense moments of staring into that gaze, he leaned down as if a magnet dragged him in and kissed her on the lips softly but passionately. He pulled away and gazed at her a few more seconds as she looked at him stunned.
"You really shouldn't wear colored contacts... I bet your real color is much prettier." He commented quietly before opening the door and walking out and down the hall. Harea shoved off the incident to the back of her mind and put on a concerned expression.
"What was that all about?" She wondered as she followed him up to the sick bay. "Could he like me as something more... The way that I like him? Nah it could never work he's more than twice my age. It was a fluke; a slip; something... but not that no... I'd better just shove that childish notion out of my head now and let it go." She thought then shook her head to clear it out. She shifted her attention to who might be in the sick ward. That sent her mind racing again in a whole new direction.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING!" Duo screamed in his mind. "She must think I'm some perverted, lonely old guy... Gah... She couldn't possibly like me could she? I mean the thing in the diningroom... NO! That was mistake. A Big mistake! But why couldn't I stop myself? She reminded me so much of..."
"Duo isn't the sick ward down that way." Harea said interrupting his chain of thought. He spun around and noticed he had walked right passed the turn.
"Yeah." He said then laughed nervously. "I guess I'm got a lot on my mind and wasn't paying attention." He walked back and turned down the hall. "If she didn't think I was weird before she probably does now." He thought holding back the urge to smack himself on the forehead.
"How could you lose an entire fleet of Rogues to 20 model 56's?" A tall short brown-haired man fumed as he sat down in a large leather chair.
"Sir there weren't strictly model 56's out there." The general stated subordinately. "We have these satellite images to prove that the Colonial Freedom Army has vastly superior mobile suits at their disposal." He said carefully setting an envelope down on the desk. "We think they might be Gundams Sir."
"Gundams really? Well you assume wrong. The Gundams were completely destroyed as was the main threat behind them." The leader said condescendingly.
"Mr. Mayarindra, with all due respect no one actually saw the Gundams be destroyed and no remnants of Heero Yuy's body were found." The general replied carefully. "They say he was indestructible."
"No man is indestructible on his own. Invincibility comes from the size of your army Mr. Jusyina. Now leave me to contemplate our next move. And see to it that the rebuilding process is under way as soon as possible." Mayarindra said waving a hand in dismissal.
"Yes Sir." Jusyina said bowing and leaving the room.
Mayarindra's ice blue eyes pierced the landscape outside his huge bay window. "An entire year or more of a setback. Now I have to start enrolling and training more pilots and build more Rogues. Perhaps some redesigning is needed in order to eliminate the Colonial Freedom Army. My family has to much time, money, and blood wrapped up in this vendetta to lose. And I will not fail like Oz. The Earth Unification Order will use the failures of the past to fight the future. Neo-Oz will succeed..." He said with a smirk as he got up and left his office.
"The press conference is ready Sir." A woman said smiling warmly and gesturing to the main hall.
"Good... Good... Mayarindra said smiling back.
"Well this should be interesting..." Duo said sitting down in the main room and watching the giant viewing screen.
"I'd like to start by saying thank-you to everyone who came out to this meeting. My name is Siezall Mayarindra. I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate attack on the colony today and I'm announcing my pledge to find out who and why it has happened. I'm putting not only the resources of my family but my company as well to build a mobile suit force to protect not only the colonies but nations here on Earth from whatever unnamed rebel force maybe behind this heinous attack." He said with a charismatic sort of tone that would make anyone entranced by his words. "I am recruiting pilots, technicians, scientists, and anyone else needed to undertake this endeavor. I'm also looking for financial backing as this is a huge undertaking. In conclusion I'd like to issue this warning to those responsible; your time is limited. The peace will be upheld and all humans will be united under one banner as such." He said then smiled and bowed before leaving the podium. Questions flew up from the spectators but an assistant volleyed them.
"Find the real threat to peace all right. I bet you are the threat." Duo said disgusted as he got up and left the room.
"In coming ship... In coming ship." The computer voice rang over the speaker. "Identified as friendly. Prepare for emergency landing and ship evacuation."
"Friendly?" Duo asked to no one in particular as he started running down to the loading bay. A ship with only half of one wing and one engine slowly slid to a stop in the bay and the doors closed behind it. Rescue workers in space suits rushed towards the ship and into the side door. Soon afterwards they pulled a long platinum blonde-haired man from the ship and carried him into the base. They rushed passed Duo as they carried him off the sick ward. "He is one lucky man." Duo said quietly. "To bad she didn't survive." He shook his head and followed behind the rescue workers.
Harea woke with a start and looked around. She had been moved to her bed at some point and Duo was now asleep in her desk chair. She held her head in her hands, which rested on her legs. All night long she had been plagued by dreams induced by the words in her mother's journal. She wasn't all together unlike her mother from a life occurrence perspective she thought as she shook away sleepiness. Then a thought finally crept into her head. "Why is Duo still in here?" She pondered as she threw off the blankets and got out of bed. She pulled the top blanket off and took it over and wrapped it around him gently.
She proceeded to go into her closet and pull some blue jeans and a tight short blue t-shirt to wear for a day of reading and research. As she was getting dressed still in her half closed closet, Duo woke up and looked around. He noticed her gone and a blanket around him. "Well she could have at least woke me up when she left." He said aloud as he stretched and got up.
"I didn't want to wake you I didn't know how long you'd been sleeping." She called from the closet.
"That's ok I've had less and lived. Are you getting dressed in there?" He probed with a squeak when a naked leg emerged from the open side of the closet.
"Yeah and I'm having problems..." She said sounding embarrassed.
"Problems?" Duo asked sure he didn't want to know.
"I'm stuck!" She said with a laugh. "These jeans must have shrunk or something!" She said still laughing until she accidentally kicked the other door opened. Duo turned 10 shades of red and looked away as Harea quickly snapped up a shirt to cover herself up with. She had been sitting on the floor in nothing but a bra and panties with one leg seemingly poured into a pant leg. She slung the shirt off then awkwardly spun around and closed the door. After a few minutes and several bangs into the door Harea gave up.
"That's it I'm never coming out of my closet!" She screeched.
"Aahhh... I'd help but that would just be weird..." Duo said walking towards the door.
"Well umm maybe if you closed your eyes and just pulled?" Harea said awkward and embarrassed. "I don't want anyone else to know I got stuck in a pair of pants..."
"I... I... I guess I could... Give it a tried." Duo said embarrassed and feeling a feverish heat come to his cheeks. He walked over next to the door and got now on his knees. He closed his eyes and stuck his arms out. "Here I come." He said before scooting around to the opening. Harea took his hands and guided them down to the end of the leg.
"Pull!" She instructed as she got set to push from the top. He did and slowly the pants slid off until finally they flew off taking Duo with them. He smacked his head on her desk and slumped over groggily. "Duo? Duo? Duo are you ok?!" She asked as she scampered over to him on all fours. She took him up in her arms and held his head on her shoulder. "Duo! Come on wake up Duo! Don't do this to me now! I can't lose you too!" She said over and over again becoming more distraught by the second.
"I'm... I'm ok..." He mumbled bringing a hand up and rubbing the back of his head. A huge knot had formed where he impacted the desk. When he came to fully he opened his eyes and realized he was being cuddled by a half naked and near crying Harea. He jumped out f her arms and backed up a bit looking away the whole time.
"Duo... Duo look at me." He slowly and nervously turned his gaze towards her. To his relief she had wrapped up in the blanket he left on the desk chair. "Are you sure your ok?" She said then sniffed. He nodded knowing he was desperately red in the face again. "Well it's just well... You left a dent..." She said pointing to the metal desk.
"I'm fine." He choked out then swallowed hard.
"Ok." Harea nodded and stood up. She went back into her closet and pulled out a pair of pants that actually fit.
"There's someone in the sick bay that I think you might want to see." Duo called getting up off the floor.
"Really who?" Harea called back as she came out and went into the tiny bathroom next to the closet.
"Oh you'll see." Duo said trying to avoid looking at her. She was zipping around the room so much it was hard.
"Well let's go." She said after what seemed like an eternity. Duo turned towards the door and reached for the open button. Harea stopped him before he could press it. "What happened just now, we're ok still... Aren't we?" She asked with a serious face. Something about the look she was giving him hearkened back to old feelings he'd long tried to forget. Feelings that were always there but buried by years of pain. After several tense moments of staring into that gaze, he leaned down as if a magnet dragged him in and kissed her on the lips softly but passionately. He pulled away and gazed at her a few more seconds as she looked at him stunned.
"You really shouldn't wear colored contacts... I bet your real color is much prettier." He commented quietly before opening the door and walking out and down the hall. Harea shoved off the incident to the back of her mind and put on a concerned expression.
"What was that all about?" She wondered as she followed him up to the sick bay. "Could he like me as something more... The way that I like him? Nah it could never work he's more than twice my age. It was a fluke; a slip; something... but not that no... I'd better just shove that childish notion out of my head now and let it go." She thought then shook her head to clear it out. She shifted her attention to who might be in the sick ward. That sent her mind racing again in a whole new direction.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING!" Duo screamed in his mind. "She must think I'm some perverted, lonely old guy... Gah... She couldn't possibly like me could she? I mean the thing in the diningroom... NO! That was mistake. A Big mistake! But why couldn't I stop myself? She reminded me so much of..."
"Duo isn't the sick ward down that way." Harea said interrupting his chain of thought. He spun around and noticed he had walked right passed the turn.
"Yeah." He said then laughed nervously. "I guess I'm got a lot on my mind and wasn't paying attention." He walked back and turned down the hall. "If she didn't think I was weird before she probably does now." He thought holding back the urge to smack himself on the forehead.