"Reminiscing"
Chapter 8: Reasons
Hi everyone...as promised here's chapter 8!!! Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.
Flashback - Somewhere in space
"Target locked on." A hand hovered over a glass-covered button. "On my mark, three...two...." Zechs peered ahead of him, eyeing a small cargo ship. For weeks, he had spied on the ship, noting it's origin of departure and it's destination.
"Alexis, we have a rogue mobile suit targeting us at ten o'clock." An officer peered up from his screen.
"What...doesn't that pilot know we just have supplies for the colonies!! Get me a secured communications line. Pronto!"
The officer quickly punched in codes and within in minutes, a line was connected to the unknown pilot.
"What the hell do you think you're doing...targeting this spacecraft? My ship just has supplies for the colonies." A woman with blue eyes and light brown shoulder length hair appeared on the screen.
"Is that so?" He looked questioningly at her. "You've been flying to a space station that is in reaches of L1."
"Look mister...my job is to drop off these supplies that I have here on my ship. I have some vital medical supplies here." The woman was getting more agitated than ever.
"Are you sure about that?" He looked coldly into the vid link. "You're space station has ties with earth."
"Who are you?"
"Zechs Marquise." Right then, the transmission was cut off.
She had a perplexed look on her face and wondered why a mobile suit would go after them. For all she knew, she was carrying supplies back to the station. She thought to herself, "I wonder if [He's] hiding something behind my back. Wait 'til I get back to the station, I'll show [him] a piece of my mind." A voice then brought her back to the immediate situation.
"He's targeting us still...a missile is heading our way."
"Evasive maneuvers now. Brace yourself, this is going to be a bumpy ride." She immediately took hold of the ship, trying to evade the heat-seeking missile. "Launch a counter missile now." She quickly moved the joystick to the left and the officer complied. In a minute, an explosion was seen in the rear right window of the ship. "That was too close."
"Ma'am."
"What now, Casey?"
"He's still after us."
"Just great, this is just not my day for flying. Casey, I want you to man the guns and shoot only when he's in range. I know about the ammunitions...we're running low on them." She looked at the fuel gauge, which didn't look too promising either. "We're also low on fuel...I don't know how long we can outlast him. We're still forty minutes away. All this maneuvering will empty the tanks even further."
Casey immediately went to the rear of the ship and hopped into the targeting compartment. Within seconds, a green transparent screen was up and running, as he was trying to snag Zechs into his firing range. "Come on...damn you." He continued to mutter curses under his breath. "This pilot is way too fast." He then fired a shot in hopes of damaging the mobile suit, but his shot didn't even make a dent in its white metallic armor.
"Come on, Casey, I'm counting on you...just give me at least fifteen minutes." She felt a jolt come from the left side of the ship; one of the engines finally gave away. "Damn him." She switched all of the power to the remaining two engines. She then called out to Casey, "How are we doing back there?"
"We still have at least 20 shells left."
"Okay, make them count." She continued to look ahead of her, and talked to herself to relief some of the anxiety she was feeling, "Of all ships, why this one. Come on baby, please make it." She then setup a communications link to the station, "We're under fire from an unknown mobile suit piloted by Zechs Marquise. We need assistance immediately. Please hurry." She noticed that the signal was fading fast, "We have low fuel and ammunitions, we only have 20 shells left...all of our missiles are gone."
At the station, the central command heard of Alexis's plight, the commander immediately ordered units to the ship's last coordinates. He tried to send a signal to the ship in peril, but instead received static. He knew that an electromagnetic storm was interfering with communications as usual. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of his officers leaving the bridge, "Lieutenant, where do you think you're going, you are to remain here on the bridge. That's an order."
"I can't watch this. I need to help Alexis, she's in danger."
"Lieutenant!!" The commander's voice trailed behind him.
The lieutenant quickly went down to the hangar and hopped into a small rescue ship. "Hold on Lexi, I'm coming." He fired the engines and was on his way to the last coordinates.
"Casey brace yourself, he's fired another barrage of missiles again. I'm going through another set of evasive maneuvers."
"Roger that."
Her hands were starting to feel numb from the intensity of controlling the joystick. "Where is help when you need it," she gritted her teeth. "How much shells do we have left?"
"Eight. I've been using them as counter attacks. This guy is way too fast for me. I've never seen this mobile suit anywhere until now. I don't know what it is."
"Just hang in there."
"I'll try, but there's no guarantees." He felt the ship veer off to a sharp left. "Damn it Lexi, what are you trying to do...kill us first," he shouted into his consult.
"Sorry Case...just trying to make it back in one piece." She continued to pilot the spacecraft, but it was useless, the master alarm then went off. "Great, we just lost engine three. This is not too good now, I'm going to overheat the second engine." She tried to establish another connection to the station, but there was only static, she knew that an electromagnetic storm was forecasted for their flight. "There always seems to be great timing for everything."
Casey continued to monitor the screen for sudden movements. He noticed that the other pilot hadn't fired a single shot within the past two minutes. "Something's not right here, Alexis."
"Tell me about, it's way too quiet." She then felt a jolt coming from the rear. "Casey," she screamed out to him. She noticed that the rear of the ship was badly damaged through a vid cam that was installed outside onto the ship, but she couldn't tell if the side panel was blown out or not. Right then, the warning for an air leak went on.
"Casey!"
She put the ship on autopilot and quickly zipped up a space suit on. She quickly floated to the back to find Casey's body and noticed that the rear panel was barely intact. She turned on her flashlight and found him hovering over his seat. He was unconscious and she quickly brought him back to the main cabin and secured him in a seat. With that, she then sealed the rear compartment to shut off the air leak and resumed flying the ship. Before long, she noticed a trail of debris resonating behind the ship with parts of the panel floating about. "Phew, that was too close to comfort."
She looked ahead of her and put the radars on full to find the renegade pilot. She saw the green line circle back and forth, not a blip was on it. "Where are you? I know you're out there somewhere." She cautiously guided her ship to its final destination and she felt the minutes that passed by were endless tortures to her psych and to her piloting skills.
"Are we there yet?" Casey slowly stirred in his seat, rubbing his forehead that throbbed of a headache.
"We still have a long way to go. He hasn't been seen yet...the radar didn't pick up anything."
"Interesting." He tried to get out his seat, but found that Alexis had strapped him securely and that he couldn't undo the straps.
"You shouldn't get up...it's for your own good."
"You ruin everything, you know that." With a defeated tone in his voice, he succumbed to her wish.
"Hah, just keep your eyes open and see if he pops up anywhere."
"Whatever you say, boss."
The lieutenant continued to fly on the flight path that would lead him to the ship's last known coordinates. He couldn't help but ponder on the last time he talked to Alexis...it was just two days ago.
"What the hell are you trying to pull here?" An angered Alexis entered his quarters. She threw a couple of letters that she had picked up from his mailbox that was outside his room. "The commander told me that I was pulled from the next flight. I know this had to be of your doing...it has your name written all over it."
"I'm just worried that it could get a little tricky from here in..." He was about to say something else, but held back.
"Are you insinuating that I'm not good enough for this station?" She looked at him with her angered blue eyes. She was determined to win this fight, whether he liked it or not. "Look...I've been flying for five years now and nothing has happened yet. I'm putting myself back onto that flight and you can't change my mind."
"Alexis, hear me out!" He got up from his chair and went over to her. He held something in his hand, but didn't dare to reveal what it was. "Alexis, the war between the colonies and the earth is intensifying and I don't want you to be caught in the crossfire."
"Is that all you have to say? It's a risk that I'm willing to take and you can't stop me." She headed out the automatic door and used her own voice recognition to freeze the system, since she already knew how to from previous arguments. She heard a sound behind her back...it was Norfolk stuck in between the automatic door and the left wall.
"Come on, Lexi...unfreeze this door now." He reached out with his right arm and tried to pry himself out of the trap.
"It serves you right for butting into my career of flying." She continued her way into the circular corridor and she called back to him, "I'll see you in two days. It'll be enough time for you to cool your hothead."
"Damn that woman...I just hope she knows what she's getting into," he continued to struggle and then remembered earlier in the day about seeing a memo that was on the commander's desk. He quickly read it and imprinted the black lines of print into his memory...it was the list of medical supplies that Alexis would have to pick up in an undisclosed location. He read further into the memo, but saw a line stating that the supplies were actually explosives destined to quell the rebellions of certain colonies that were fighting against the earth.
An alarm brought him out of his memory. He saw something ahead of him, but couldn't tell if it was her ship or not. He opened a direct link to the ship, "Lexi, I'm coming." He sent his signature signal to the ship, but all he received was an endless noise of static that emitted from his radio. He decided to bring the engines to maximum power and flew closer to the site.
His flight to the area seemed forever, but then there was the unthinkable. He saw the "mobile suit" ahead of them holding a laser blade in his hands. He heard the signal to Lexi was becoming stronger and heard her voice, but the signal crackled for a few minutes.
Meanwhile on Lexi's ship, the two saw what lay ahead of them and knew the situation was not in their favor. "Oh no," she whispered under her breath. She saw an incoming transmission and opened it.
"Lexi, I'm coming, just hang in there."
"Lucas, he's coming towards the ship." Right then, Zechs charged at the spacecraft and struck it at its side. "We've been hit. Oh no...I..."
"Lexi!!!!" He cried in horror as he lost the line, but he couldn't do anything. He arrived just when the ship had exploded into a bright yellow explosion with a wave of white light emitted from the center. In the corner of his peripheral view, he saw the unknown mobile suit fly away in the distance. The site before him burned in his memory, creating a lasting impression. He returned to the station grief stricken for the lost of Alexis and for his friend that he knew from training. He vowed to himself that one day, he will make Zechs pay for all of this.
End of flashback
General Norfolk awoke from his nightmare. He had noticed that he had fallen asleep at his desk. A picture of a woman with blue eyes and light brown hair peered at him. Next to the photograph, a black box was situated on the desk. Inside of it, was a ring that he would never use in his lifetime. "I should have told her everything." He looked at the photograph once more and resumed writing on a pad of paper.
"General Norfolk sir...Officer Jenkins reporting." A slight tap on his door was heard.
"Come in Jenkins," he called from his desk. He watched the slender soldier walk quickly to his desk and saluted him. "At ease, Jenkins."
"Yes sir. Our sources say that Relena Peacecraft is alive at Neumann General Hospital."
"I see...he didn't complete his mission after all." He looked towards the photo of Alexis.
"Travis Donal is still in Preventer custody. Should we send out one of our rogue agents that's already active in the field?"
"You've read my mind...I'm off on my own little reconnaissance mission. Tell the others I won't be in for some time."
"Understood." Jenkins gave him one more salute and left the office with his own orders.
Norfolk turned on his television and saw a picture of Zechs on it, but he didn't pay attention to what the reporter was saying. A small wine glass was by his side still and he raised it to Zechs's picture on the screen. "There will be a time and place that we will eventually meet. Mark my words."
He got up from his seat and went over to his closet. He pulled out his civilian clothes and disguised his true identity under a navy blue baseball cap. With everything set, he ventured out of the base and into the city.
Well, how was that for chapter eight? Please review and thank you.