Chapter 3

The Second Letter and Preparations for War

The ding that sounded after Relena finished her speech made everyone on White Fang jump. Heero was the first to get to the computer. He opened the mail program on the desktop, and clicked on the singular letter that inhabited it.

Dear Relena,

I'm very disappointed in you. I thought that you would've known to take something like this a little more seriously after what happened just two years ago. You're attack on my Torus suits has enraged me, and your little speech right now just added gas to the fire. Now you will have to take the repercussions of your recent actions. A Friend.

Heero turned the screen around to show everyone the letter. After reading it, the Gundam pilots all went to the docking bay, where they would be in case anything happened. Miliardo and Noin went out on the fighters Pices (the name of an underwater mobile suit) and Oz (the organization that the Gundam pilots were sent to Earth to stop) in order to stop anything that might leave to colony. Sally went to the helm of White Fang in order to give orders to the Preventors when things happened. Relena went to her quarters, got on the phone will her staff, and talked about negotiations and diplomatic solutions.

Problems started right away. Everyday there would be a new threat of some sort. Sometimes Torus suits would come from the colony, four at a time. The Gundam pilots had no problem destroying them, and they even let the recruits try some real fighting. There was one time, though, that had everyone scared. Five missiles came from the colony, and the White Fang didn't pick up their radar signal. The only reason that White Fang survived that attack was because Miliardo had been in Oz, and he had been right by where the missiles came from, and he was able to shoot them down before impact.

Throughout this time, the Preventors tried to get as many weapons as they could. Unfortunately, there were hardly any weapons or mobile suits left, except for those that had been put into a museum. Most museums were a little reluctant about giving up what little they had, but in the end, Relena stepped in and they gave up their exhibits. By the end of the first month, the Preventors had roughly 30 mobile suits, ranging from Space Leos to some Torus' of their own. Plus they had a few rockets, about 20 guns (for humans, not suits) and 3 lasers which they put on White Fang. It wasn't an amazing assortment, but it was something, and it gave the Preventors a little glimmer of hope.

That glimmer didn't last for too long, because after the Preventors obtained all those things, the first real battle broke out.

It had been early in the morning when the alarms went off. Most of the people were still in bed, and they jumped with alarm as the red lights flashed on and off. Many were confused, and had no idea what to do. Then the loud speakers crackled to life.

"Attention!" blared Sally's voice from the helm. "We are under attack! All Leo pilots report to the dock for immediate arming and dispatching! I repeat! All Leo pilots report to the dock immediately for arming and dispatching!"

They all got the point, and within minutes, people were swarming into their respective areas. All the pilots headed for the dock, the Gundam pilots included. Other people went to the gun towers to man the lasers. Most went to either the dock, in case they were needed, or the helm, where they could help wherever they could. No-one really knew what was going on until the Leos got outside. There were about 20 Torus suits coming towards them, and they were all coming from X-15432. There were about 13 Space Leos in all, and so the people aboard White Fang got a little worried seeing that their force was out numbered.

The fight was a hard one. The Gundam pilots did the best that they could, but Leos were nothing like the Gundams that they had once used. Many of their Leos were blown up, but with every Leo they destroyed, they took two Torus suits with them. The pilots training had paid off. When the battle was mostly over, and when the Leos were moping up what little resistance was left, there came a new threat. Duo and Trowa were closest to the colony when their radars picked up multiple signals coming from the right side of the colony. They went to that side to check out what was going on. There, they saw that the multiple signals were missiles that were aimed at White Fang. Duo and Trowa called White Fang, reporting what they saw, and then they opened fire on the on-coming missiles. Trowa never stopped marveling at how graceful Duo always was. They were able to destroy the majority of the missiles, but there were some that came too fast for them to hit. Fortunately, because they had been warned, White Fang used its new lasers to destroy the remaining targets.

The casualties were great among the Preventors little army. Out of the 13 Leos that were sent out, only 6 returned. The four Gundam pilots survived and then two other soldiers. Besides for having lost a big amount of soldiers, the number of mobile suits that were in the possession of the Preventors were cut roughly in half. From 30, they were down to 23, which didn't sound like a lot, but it was a serious blow to the Preventors.

After the battle, Sally began taking more precautious moves. She made plans to send Relena to the nearest colony, X-15433. She also repositioned White Fang, so that it was a little further away from X-15432, so that in case of another missile attack, they would have more time to shoot them down. She also began positioning mobile suits around White Fang in shifts. She radioed Oz and Pices, giving them strict orders to orbit closer to the colony. She put out a call for some more guns and soldiers, which was denied. Sally also started fueling what little amount of carriers she had, so that they could begin a ground invasion on the colony.

There were no more battles for a while, and that gave the Preventors time to regroup. Sally was able, with the help of Relena, to get more guns, and a few more mobile suits. She also received a few more carriers. Everything was almost set for a total invasion of the colony. The only problem was that they still didn't know who the person behind these attacks was.

It was two months after the major attack when the Preventors were finally ready to begin a ground invasion. They were sure that they would be able to find the leader once there were troops inside the colony. All the carriers were loaded and fueled. They were sending down about 30 mobile suits (they had received many more within those two months) and about 250 ground soldiers. There would be about 25 mobile suits still about White Fang, along with a crew of close to 300. Sally was confident that they would be able to maintain control of space, and that the colony would soon fall by this new army that she was sending.

Everything started out well the day of the invasion. All personnel that were to head for the colony were briefed and then they were moved to the ships. These people included the four Gundam pilots. This was also the day when Relena would leave for Colony X-15433. Heero and Relena spent the night together, for they weren't sure when they would see each other again. The other pilots spent the night trying to get their nerves together. Quatre spent the night talking with a select few people from the Maganac Corps, giving them instructions on what to do if anything were to happen. Trowa and Duo spent the night, talking about memories they had from the old days. It had been a while since any of them had been in a war, and they were a little on the edge.

When the time came for everyone to leave, tension was very high. Relena left first, her shuttle departed around 7:00. It was 7:45 when the carriers were ready to leave. The Gundam pilots said their good-byes to Sally, who was to stay behind and command the operation from space. The carriers left the dock at 8:00, and started heading in the direction of the colony. They were about half way there when alarms started going off.

"What's going on?" asked Heero who went into the cockpit when the red lights started flashing.

"I have no idea. Oz and Pices are going to figure that out. It looks like missiles, but they're too small. We're not sure which direction that they're headed in either."

"Well keep me informed."

"Roger that!"

Heero didn't like what was going on, so he went and sat right by a window, facing White Fang. After a few minutes, he got called into the cockpit.

"What's going on?" asked Heero.

"Miliardo in Oz says that he can't make out what the things are. He says that they look like debris that's coming from the colony."

"It has to be something else. There's no reason for them to be launching debris at us unless that's all they have left. Put Miliardo on the main screen."

"What is it Heero?" asked Miliardo.

"What is it that you're seeing right now? What's coming from the colony and where is it going?"

"I can't tell what it is or where it's going. I'm alerting Sally right now, and Noin is on her way over here. Until then, just hang tight, the operation still goes."

Heero had no choice but to go back to his seat. The alarms had long since gone off, and everyone thought that the worst was over. Then, without warning, the alarms went screeching back on. Sally called into the carriers to see what was happening.

"What is it? What's going on over there?"

"We're not sure ma'Am." said the pilot. "There are unidentified objects heading in this direction. Oz is trying to make out what it is before firing."

"Send me the data, I'll take a look and see what I can find."

It was only two minutes before Sally's face appeared back on the screen. Her eyes showed fear and her brow was covered in sweat.

"Tell Miliardo to fire! Tell Miliardo to fire! Those things are........." The screen went dead as the missiles hit White Fang, which then erupted in a brilliant flash of light. When the smoke cleared, there was a huge pile of floating rubble where the mother ship of the Preventors once orbited.