A/N: Okay, real plot now! I apologise if this isn't quite up to scratch, I'm not very good at writing action. Either way, on with the plot!
Dot: Thank you! Most of the answers to your questions should be found in this next chapter. Cliffhangers? You ain't seen nothin' yet!
Chapter 9
Treize surveyed the darkening night with apprehension. Thunderheads loomed on the horizon, their shadows casting clawed fingers onto the land below. Dying, the sunset flared blood-red behind the black of the clouds, until it faded, giving way to black night. Preparations still carried on behind him, the prone bodies of Duo and Trowa, after having been doped, were brought out on stretchers by the ground team. The jeeps were parked, and stationed with a few men, assigned to guard them. A sudden metallic whirr distracted Treize from his reverie. The mobile suits were deployed from their carry lorry.
"So." He muttered, his stomach still tight. "Showtime."
"Red section, this is Zechs, repeat, this is Zechs. Call in."
"Red two, repeat, this is red two. All ready!"
"Red three, red three, ready to go."
"Red four, repeat, red four, all's good."
"Yellow section, this is Treize. Call in."
"Yellow two, repeat, yellow two, right here."
"Yellow three, Yellow three, right behind ya!"
"Yellow four, repeat, yellow four. Ready to rock and roll!"
"Yellow one, this is Blue one. Do you read?"
"Got you loud and clear, Noin."
"Everyone's here. Blue section ready to go."
"Thank you Noin."
"Une here. Ground team ready."
"Thanks."
"Yellow One, yellow one, this is Pink one."
"How's it going Relena?"
"Great. Pink Section ready to go. Why'd I get pink?"
"Consider it a perk of your first control."
"Oh, shut up, Kushrenada. Out."
The radio fizzled for a final time, as the clock neared thirty seconds of ops start, and he heard Dororthy, all the way back at base, calling.
"Yellow leader, this is base. Report on situation."
"Everything's in order down here, base."
"Okay! All sections are a-go in five, four, three, two, one...go, go, go!" With that, sixteen Aries slid smoothly off the ground and into the cloudy night sky. Fifteen people ran silently through the grass below them, all towards the scantily lit power station in front of them. The URA's war had officially begun.
"HAAH!" Zechs dealt with the last of the customary guard. There had only been three MS on patrol, allowing for a quick access to the main computer for the ground team. A volley of gunfire provided the only resistance from the Alliance ground staff at the generator compound, and he sighed a little as his team got safely in. The radio sizzled, and Treize's voice came in for a customary call in.
"East side secure. Ground leaders, report."
"Blue one. West side of compound secure."
"Pink one. North side secure. No casualties." Zechs breathed out, without even realising he had been holding it. He had been terrified of something happening to his sister. True, this wasn't expected to be a dangerous job, and she was a promising new section leader, but...
"Jeez, I can't help it, she's my baby sister!"
"Yo, Zechsy. Come in. See anything?" It was a moment before Zechs remembered that he hadn't reported back to Treize.
"No, South side secure." he said quickly. "Red section okay." They waited a while longer, Zechs growing more and more disconcerted at the silence. Surely there must be more resistance? There must be something else! Why wasn't the ground team reporting back? They must have reached the computer room by now! They knew they had to disable the alarm quickly, so as not to raise suspicions, or at least throw up doubt with any Alliance members receiving it. It was only then that the MS teams could set about destroying the main generator. For what seemed like an age, he sat there, all these questions and more running through his mind, until finally:
"Ground team here. Computer room is secure, Duo and Trowa dropped off. Go ahead, MS team."" Exhaling again as Treize thanked Une, who was heading the ground team.
"All sections, proceed to the East side Generator. All is clea - what the - I - Ohh, fuck..."
"Treize?" Zechs leaned to his radio, suddenly anxious again. "What's up?" Getting no reply, Zechs sped over to the east side of the building. As he cleared the wall, and looked over the tarmac towards the generator, he saw Treize's Aries, standing stock-still. And then, as lightning flashed behind him, and rain began, like the insistent drum of an executioner, he saw what was wrong. Row after row of Alliance mobile suits stood on that stretch of tarmac. The final row was just coming into vision, and then Zechs suddenly made sense of it. They were coming through the tarmac. The MS hangar for this base must be below ground. All of which meant there were now thirty machines between the rebels and the generator. It was two-to one. But how - why -what...? Like spidery fingers creeping down his back, the frosty thought revealed itself to Zechs, just as Treize said it.
"They knew we were coming..."
So they stood, as the storm began to break around them, the rebel side quailing, feeling their advantage slipping away, the Alliance gaining confidence, knowing they had upset the rebel's plans. But yet it stood, even as the wind picked up, neither side daring to make the first move. Each second lasted ten thousand years, and their heartbeats were the very pulse of the earth, but yet none moved. Until suddenly, a burst of gunfire came from the control building behind the rebels.
"Oh SHIT!" Une's voice sounded frantic even through the tinny distortion of the radio. "Ground team, Pull out, pull out!"
"Une!" Treize exclaimed, his involuntary twist backwards causing his suit to move as well. At the first hint of movement, every other suit on the field jumped into action as well, throwing each of the sixteen rebels suits into a hugely outnumbered hell.
The shriek of metal wrenching made Zechs flinch, and the alliance suit in front of him crashed to the ground, in pieces. About three Alliance suits had fallen, compared with at least four of the rebels. One of his own men had gone down, but had crawled out and run like hell for the building, and another of Pink section went down in flames. With guilty relief, he noticed it didn't bear the pennant of leader. Relena was safe.
Yet his relief was short-lived, as another Alliance suit launched at him, its beam sabre raised. Immediately, Zechs raised his own sabre and made to counter it, but the sheer force of the blow shocked him. Staggering, Zechs threw off the other pilot, barely managing to keep it together. Again, the other pilot attacked with frightening speed and agility, but Zechs was ready this time. He countered neatly, slashing at the other pilot in reply. He missed, but as he passed by, he saw a painting on the left arm of the suit - "01". This was the elusive Heero Yuy.
"Relena. Une is going to need some air support." Take what's left of Pink section and help her out." Zechs spoke calmly into the radio, not willing to express the worry he felt so keenly.
"But Zechs!" Relena pulled away from a struggle, surprised. "You need everyone you can here!"
"Just split, okay!" Zechs yelled, hoarsely. "GO!" It was with relief that he saw her finish the battle she had started and fly off, two other suits in tow, towards the building. And it was with his own lightning fury that he threw himself into the battle once more. Heero Yuy or no Heero Yuy, he wasn't going down without a fight.
"Going somewhere, rebel?" Treize's attention snapped back to the carnage on the tarmac. Six Rebel machines had gone down in all, one from Pink, one from blue, and two each from his and Zechs's sections. He had turned to see the departure of Pink section, his internal emotions pulling him towards following. With Une's last scream through the radio ringing in his ears, he turned back to the Alliance suit in front of him. It bore the colours of Colonel. The big guns, huh? He thought fleetingly as they launched into battle. The pilot of the other machine, while not the most skillful adversary he'd ever fought, had to be up there in his count of the most vicious. Every move was aimed to kill, every thrust had the pilot's whole power behind it, and between this and his own exertions trying to beat them, Treize soon broke a sweat. In and out, they dodged, weaving and well matched, but gradually, the rebel leader got the upper hand, attacking more frequently, defending with ease, until finally, luck or skill came to Treize's aid, and he sliced the sabre arm from the Alliance Aries.
"Step down!" He called. "You're disabled." However sensible his words, the Alliance colonel seemed very unwilling to listen. The MS planted its feet squarely, and Treize was sure the pilot would have yelled something defiant if another voice hadn't stepped in.
"Do as he says, Sally." The voice was cultured, soft spoken, and, when it continued, infinitely contemptuous. "I suppose you must be the illustrious Treize Kushrenada." Over the flaming remains of an Alliance suit, Treize saw the suit from which this comment had issued. It then bowed mockingly, and introduced itself. But Treize wasn't listening. He already knew who was in that suit, for, on the crest of the MS suit, was a red and gold pennant that depicted a Chinese dragon. Facing him was the one man in the world Treize wanted dead.
Facing him was General Chang Wufei.