Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. See, look, what did I say, WAR! Like I promised! I tried my best to follow the information available for the Gundams and Mobile suits to sound at least a little bit intelligent during this battle chapter so if you see anything that's not true or. . .doesn't exist. . .don't sue me or fuse or whatever. . .I'm just an overly-obsessed girl with too much time on one's hands. . Oh, and Lieutenant Gram is my original character as well, along with Ensign Chris, hehe.

Chapter 40

"Sir, 7 mobile suits just exited the cave ahead of us and are quickly advancing!" the cadet at the helm announced nervously.

"What! 7! But there should only be 6: 5 Gundams and one mobile suit, Tallgeese!" Caster shouted, rushing over to see the view screen of the attack wave heading their way. He frowned and said, pointing at Verein, "What is that? There's no data in the computers for that one, is it a gundam or just a very advanced looking mobile suit?"

"I'm not sure, sir, it looks similar to all the others, almost like bits of each one rolled into a single suit." The cadet mused. Caster narrowed his eyes at the soldier's fancying of the mysterious mobile suit and said, "Stop drooling over it and begin recording this fight, I'm sure it will please Treize very much to hear of this new model we've found."

"Yes, sir!" The cadet saluted and began programming the computer for surveillance of the battle to be. Caster took the command deck in two strides and shouted at an idle soldier, "You, cadet, run down to the storage bay and inform the soldiers that the battle is upon us!" The cadet jumped in surprise, quickly saying as he sloppily saluted with a handful of documents, "Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" He dumped his load into a nearby person's arms and dashed off toward the door, stumbling a bit as he exited the room. Caster frowned and turned to his second in command who had just walked up, saying, "Lieutenant Gram, what is that cadet's name?"

"Ensign, sir. His name is Chris, I believe."

"Chris. . .who hired him? He's the sloppiest recruit I've ever had the misfortune to work with!" Caster said in annoyance.

"He's your brother's cousin, sir." Gram whispered.

"Send him out with the other pilots, say he gave up his life to battle for OZ." Caster waved him off, walking away. Blinking, Gram said quietly to himself, "I'd hate to see what he'd do if his brother did anything to displease him. . ."

"Relena, are you alright over there?" Heero asked over the comlink.

Yes, so far. Is that the enemy up ahead? Relena asked, watching the plane flying in with its escort suits.

"Yes, try to stay away from the battle unless you have to get involved, we can handle this bunch without any problems."

Well, I'm not flying, Rachel is.

"Tell her to keep you out of this then."

Okay. . .be careful, Heero.

"I do this all the time, nothing to worry about. Heero out." Relena watched as Wing gundam flew out ahead of the group to lead the attack. With a sigh, Relena reached over to the comlink button.

Relena, do you wish to inform Rachel of this new command? Verein asked suddenly. Jumping a little, Relena settled down and said, "Oh, it's you. Yes, I want to pass on the request."

You can tell me who to call and I'll do it for you, if you wish.

"Oh, thank you. I would like to speak to Rachel." Relena smiled. A video screen popped up and Relena said, "Rachel, hello."

Relena, what is it? Rachel asked, surprised by the message.

"Heero asked if I could be left out of this battle, I don't think he likes the idea of me getting involved."

I guess I can agree with that. Alright, you just sit tight over there and I'll leave you behind. Rachel out. Verein slowed to a stop and hovered to the ground to wait in the forest for further commands as Heavyarms flew ahead to catch up to the group. Quickly, Tallgeese engaged the enemy and took out two of the leading Leos with its cannon, swiftly dodging incoming fire from the remaining suits.

"We're under attack, repeat, we're under-AUGH!" One of the Leos tried to shoot down Deathscythe as he warned the plane but flew in half after the green scythe blade slashed through its middle, causing a great explosion. The remaining Leos flew around in confusion and desperation, shooting at the smoke screen left by the explosion, sensing their imminent deaths. Suddenly like a bolt of lightning, a dragon's head whipped out and grabbed one of the Leos, crushing it in half and throwing the mangled metal into another suit erupting into another ball of fire.

"Three more to go, care to do the honors, Heero?" Duo grinned. In response, Wing zipped forward with its two beam sabers drawn and dove head long into one of the Leos, plunging the beam sabers into its core and slashing out with them, busting through the suit before it blew up. Wing did a summersault and shot up into the air, zigzagging back and forth avoiding the rain of ammunition being fired at him. Noin took this opportunity while the remaining two Leos were distracted to fly in and take them out. Sandrock drew its heat Shotels and swung them out to either side, quickly bring them forward and slashing through the suits as she flew between them. They exploded and Noin returned to the group, turning to face the lone plane turning desperately to retreat.

"We've lost our escort team, sir, should we abort the mission?" The cadet at the helm asked Caster.

"Are you crazy, of course not! We haven't seen that new suit in battle yet, send out a team of Leos to attack it, now!" Lieutenant Caster shouted in the poor cadet's ear.

"But sir, they won't make it past the group of Gundams, they'll be destroyed!"

"Then send out all the suits we have, I want to see that suit in action! Get those Aries in the air immediately!"

"Yes. . .sir." The cadet turned back to his station nervously and began to slowly go about his orders.

"And hurry up with it, they'll blow us to oblivion before you even get one command out!" Caster yelled. The cadet jumped and worked faster, beginning to sweat nervously. Caster stormed across the floor shouting orders to every free soldier aboard the command deck, saying, "Get to the mobile suit holding area, I want every able-bodied soldier out there fighting that gundam! What are you just standing there for? Do they pay you to stare into space like a twit! Get moving! I don't hear feet running to do as I command! Get to it, now!" choruses of "yes, sir"s echoed in the command room as all the unoccupied soldiers ran to their posts to do as they were commanded.

Such incompetent people, why must I be plagued with idiotic bums. . .Caster thought, shaking his head.

"Milliardo, to your left, more Leos!" Duo shouted, flying forward to help him fend them off. Just as he raised his scythe to strike down one of them, it dove under his suit and flew past him, quickly advancing to the cave.

"Huh? Where are they going, we're over here!" Chang said, looking annoyed as he reached out with his arm to bring down one of the passing suits. They all watched in confusion until Heero said suddenly, "Oh no, Relena's back there! RELENA!" Wing took off in a burst of rocket power as he tried desperately to catch up to them before they attacked Verein.

"What's going on? Why are they coming over here?" Relena blinked as she watched the group of 10 suits coming toward her. She suddenly realized that she was their target as they began to shoot at her.

Enemy fire; orders? Verein asked, noticing the attack. Relena grit her teeth, saying, "Um. . .fly up! Dodge the bullets!"

Affirmative. Verein took off, flying into the air and swerving back and forth to avoid getting shot.

"What is she doing?" Heero said to himself, watching Verein dance around wildly. Relena held on for her life, staring wide-eyed at the group of Leos drawing closer and closer, aiming for the kill.

"Verein, shoot that-" She paused for a moment, remembering what Rachel had told her, "Um. . .shoot down the Leo to the far right." In response, it turned its head toward the Leo and two red lasers locked onto the target, followed shortly by a bright white laser that shot clean through the suit, causing it to explode.

Target eliminated, awaiting further commands. Verein said. Relena blinked in surprise.

"Cool. Uh, shoot down the one that was next to it as well." Relena said, feeling like a real pilot giving commands. Obeying, Verein took out the other suit in the same matter, ending in another echoing blast that shook the valley below.

"Is Relena doing that?" Noin asked, blinking in surprise.

"The responses are slow; it must be." Milliardo replied, watching as well. Heero didn't hesitate to join in the destruction, swinging out one of the beam sabers to destroy a Leo as he proceeded to his next kill. He swung the leg around and kicked the Leo in the side, sending it flying into another. The two suits' frames wrapped around each other and the tangled mess fell to the ground where they blew up, sending flaming debris flying in every direction. Wing flew up to Verein and Heero contacted Relena quickly.

"Relena, are you alright? What are you doing in there, you could get yourself killed!" Heero said, sounding slightly flustered.

I'm sorry, they were attacking me, I didn't want to just sit there and let them destroy me and Rachel wasn't giving Verein any commands so I had to do something! Relena said nervously.

Heero, off your left port! Duo yelled. With a quick swing of its arm, Wing slashed with its saber through a Leo trying to sneak up on him.

"Relena, stay back, these guys are after the gundam you're in." Heero said, turning to face the attackers.

But Heero, I can-

"No, just stay back and let us handle this." Wing jumped forward and lashed out at a Leo coming in for the kill, destroying it. Relena frowned and sighed, sitting back in her seat and pouting as she said to herself, "this isn't fair, I want to fight them. I can't just sit here while they're risking their lives to protect me, I can't. . ."

Relena? Do you wish to attack? Verein asked, hearing her comments.

"I want to but Heero said not to." Relena replied.

I'm talking to a computer. . .what next? Fighting unmanned mobile suits? Yeah right. . .Relena thought to herself.

Probability of the Tallgeese mobile suit being destroyed is 67, suit in danger of destruction by approaching enemies. Verein pointed out, seeing the next wave of suits coming from the plane and heading straight for Tallgeese and moving fast.

"Woah, they're fast! What are those? They don't look like any model of mobile suit I've ever seen!" Relena commented.

Taurus, Doll model.

"Dolls? I've never heard of those."

Mobile suits remotely controlled, unmanned and capable of double the average speed. They lock onto a predefined target and attack relentlessly until they're destroyed.

"What! Unmanned! That's impossible, I thought you were the only kind like that! No, we have to save him, Verein!"

Affirmative, shall we engage the enemy?

"No, fly in front of the Tallgeese and shield him from attack while I warn him about the suits."

Affirmative, defending Tallgeese. Verein zipped across the battle field and stopped in front of the Tallgeese, facing it and whipping out its wings, enveloping the suit in the white wing shields.

"Relena, what are you doing!" Milliardo asked, looking surprised.

Don't move, Milliardo, those Taurus are trying to kill you! Relena shouted, the shots from the Dolls already echoing off Verein's armor.

"Relena, I can handle them, you don't have to protect me."

No, you don't understand, those aren't just ordinary Taurus suits, they're Dolls! They're unmanned and move faster than you can and they've locked onto you as a target!

"Dolls? Who told you this?"

Verein; please, let the others take care of them, I don't want to risk losing you!

"Relena. . ." Milliardo blinked in surprise, furrowing his brow and staring at the view of Verein's chest he had.

"Heero, everyone, attack the Dolls before they hit Tallgeese!" Relena shouted to all the others.

Dolls? Wait, I've seen these things before, but the ones I saw looked different. Duo commented as he tried to hunt one down, but it evaded his attack.

These aren't suppose to exist yet, what is going on! Rachel said in irritation, shooting wildly at the pesky Dolls buzzing around them like flies with guns.

I don't remember these, Treize never mentioned their production. Noin said, trying to take one out as it quickly dodged her attempts.

"It was Colonel Une's idea." Milliardo said quietly. Everyone seemed to stare at him after this comment, pausing to await a further explanation.

Wait, you know about this? Duo asked, taking a swing at a passing suit only to miss.

"Yes, Une was talking about their production back before you attacked. She was planning on bringing in mass amounts of Titanium alloy to start their construction but your interference delayed the manufacturing, so only a small few test suits were made as examples, to get the foundation's attention and possible support. These are probably the test suits. . .unless they've proceeded with the plans already."

But I don't see how that's possible, it's only been 9 days since they attacked! She couldn't have gotten production up and running in such a short amount of time, it's not possible. Noin said, sounding concerned and very serious.

"Noin, this is Colonel Une we're talking about, she can pull any strings she wants. She's relentless when it comes to Treize's wishes and if we don't get to the bottom of this, I'm afraid she'll have an army of endless warriors on his side."

Milliardo, you were the closest to Treize, you should know how much he would be against Dolls.

What's she talking about, Zechs? Heero cut in, hearing all of their conversation.

"That's true. . .Treize always valued soldiers' lives. . .he believed that a true battle was fought man to man, that was the honorable way of fighting. If you take man out of that, you're left with two machines mindlessly destroying each other over and over while humans hide behind the controls."

That's a coward's way of fighting. Chang put in his two cents.

"Exactly, Treize wouldn't agree to this. Someone else must be backing the production of them behind his back and forcing Une to use them, but who would do that?" Milliardo frowned in thought, thinking of possible suspects.

Milliardo, what about the Barton Foundation? They've always been the backbone of OZ's funds, they could be responsible for this. Noin said suddenly.

"You're right. . . Dekim Barton is the head of the Barton Foundation, Treize and him never really got along. . .even though he married Dekim's daughter. . ."

What! Woah, way too many plot twists! Hold up, Treize is married to Dekim Barton's daughter and he works for Dekim as the leader of OZ? That's just crazy. . . Duo said, getting confused.

"When you can gain so much power you aren't concerned with who you have to work under, it's what you can manipulate out of that person that truly counts."

That's love for ya. . .

"Love is far from the battlefield; love, if involved in a war, will quickly be crushed or used against another. Love has no place in a war, it will just get in the way." Noin looked down at her lap, seeing how Milliardo truly felt about love. She looked back up with a blank stare, shifting Sandrock into reverse and turning away from the conversation.

"Noin, where are you going?" Rachel asked quietly. She didn't respond as she shut off the comlink to her cockpit, rocketing off toward a stand of Dolls calculating another point of attack to get to their programmed goal. Screaming fiercely as she swung back one of the heat Shotels, she brought it down hard on two of the Dolls, sending their metal carcasses flying to the ground. From there she kept moving, ramming a Doll into another and kicking them through the air, launching a missile at them that exploded on contact. Fire and burning metal rained down to the ground as Sandrock stood morbidly staring down at the destruction below, arms hanging at its side with heat Shotels clenched tightly in its fists. The Dolls switched their target to Sandrock, sensing the sudden danger to their mission, and began to attack her. Looking up slowly, she burned inside, raising the heat Shotels as they began to glow.

"Eat superheated metal, you mindless fools!" Noin yelled, throwing the Shotels at two of the Taurus suits, flying clean through their torsos. She turned to another Doll attacking her and screamed, firing the Vulcan Gun on Sandrock's head and shattering the mobile suit's head. With a swift kick, she sent its body flying into an incoming Doll, bringing forth a tremendous explosion of fire and smoke to cover her. She dove down into the forest to retrieve the heat Shotels, quickly returning to the air to slice through another Doll, loathing their creation.

"Crud, she's gone insane!" Duo said, staring wide eyed at Noin who was mercilessly destroying the Dolls without stopping.

"How's that, Chang! Do you still think I'm just a woman! Huh? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Noin yelled over the comlink as she slashed through another unsuspecting Doll. Chang blinked in surprise as he said, Of course you're a woman, what are you talking about? She stopped, facing Chang as she breathed heavily, panting for air with fire burning deep within her eyes.

"You fool, you can't bother to remember? You destroyed my base, my men, my LIFE! You took away all of the work I had been slaving over for so long, you stole my men's lives; they never had a chance to make me proud! THEY WERE SO YOUNG!" Noin screamed, tears coming to her eyes.

You. . .you were that female I battled briefly at the Victoria Base? Chang sounded surprised.

"Yes, I was that female. Are you happy with yourself? Huh? Well? Answer me! I lost everything that day because I loved my work, I was devoted to those poor soldiers and I had so much hope and belief in them that they were NEVER going to die in battle, but you took away their lives before they ever had a chance. You, who talk so much of honor, what honor is there in killing defenseless men? Unarmed men? TELL ME!" Chang stared blankly at the screen, his eyes wide.

What brought this up? She's lost her mind. . .Duo thought, watching and hearing the conversation.