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Encounters

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"What do ya think you're doing?" The top mechanic yelled at one of his workers. "There's no time to sleep on the job while I'm on watch. Now finish the diagnostic for the mainframe engine on pod #2." The grumpy forty-year-old walked off to agitate another worker that was slacking off. Heero carefully watched over his shoulders to keep his identity from being revealed. He was uploading secret reports onto his mini portable laptop that was hidden in one of the pod's compartments. Lately, the chatter has been quiet around Graves. The newly elected president was fairing well in his plans. He eyed continuously at the rapid firewalls he was breaking, and he then came across a suspicious file. He dragged it into a virus-protected folder and he tried to decrypt the file. Behind him, he heard his boss coming towards him and he quickly sent his program into automatic decryption status. "Why are all these wires doing here?"

"I'm running a systems check in the hydraulics," he responded in his usual monotone voice.

"I thought this pod was already checked for that yesterday."

"Never hurts to be safe than sorry." He watched his temporary boss walk towards the main office. He clicked onto the folder and multiple files opened up. A hacker's dream was what he stumbled upon. The repeated sequences of 1's and 0's must mean something, but he didn't have the time to decipher them. He set a program up for automatic decryption, and figured his program will slowly crack at the code. Heero peaked through the windows of the pod, and saw his boss walking over towards him. He quickly switched his laptop screen over the hydraulics tests he was supposed to run. Before his boss could speak, "I'm still working on it."

"Alright, just checking." The veteran of the team walked out again, spotting another victim to terrorize.

Meanwhile, back in Relena's room, the ex-president had a sleepless night. She dreamt one of Andromeda's cylindrical colonies being attacked. In the midst of the chaos, she was trapped, but someone had pulled her to safety. The same feeling she felt before when Heero was there. The ominous dream lingered throughout her morning. She quickly snuck out of her room, and entered the bustle of the colony life. She didn't try to hide her appearance in public. Some people would have called it foolish, others admired her courage for it.

Relena walked through the streets, seeing how the colonists were faring in their new habitat. The broad daylight revealed the true sentiments of the colonists. Some gave disgusted looks to the former politician. The quiet night before was just a masquerade to everything. She continued to walk until she came across a small café. Inside, there were a small handful of customers, who were listening to the morning news.

"What would like miss?" The waitress asked without any hesitation. She knew the woman that sat before her.

"Coffee with cream and sugar please." Her blue eyes gazed into the monitors. The waitress filled a mug, and placed the condiments in the black liquid. Relena took the ceramic mug into her hands gingerly. "Thank you," she smiled. If Une or any of the Preventers were with her, they would have made sure that the establishment was safe for her to enter. The idea of someone testing her coffee even appeared in her mind, but she knew she wouldn't need any of their security measures. The warm vapor of the liquid crept to her face, and she enjoyed the moment fully. "I have one question for you, miss. Do you like it here?"

The waitress stood there dumbfounded for a moment. "Well to be quite honest, I think this whole scheme is a sham. I left most my belongings down on Earth, and starting a new life here is just totally outrageous. How does the government down there expect us to resume are lives up here? If you ask anyone here, they hate the government and the politicians that were involved. I would be careful of who you ask for help."

Relena nodded to the waitress's advice. "Here's the money for my tab." She rose from her seat, "I'm here to help all of you, if you would let me." Eyes shot up from their dead gazes of hopelessness. With that, she walked out the door, wondering if the word of mouth gets around that she's on their side. A few blocks down, Duo caught up with her, "Hey Princess."

"Hello, Duo." She kept walking on. "Have you and the others reached a resolution, yet?"

"Well about that," he tugged at his braid, "we're still debating about that."

"I need to know now, Maxwell. Colonists here need to know if they can trust us. If you just ask around, you can see it in their eyes. They hate Graves' plan. In truth, the ESUN has failed."

Duo looked around from where he stood. "I'm just saying there isn't enough proof to tell us anything. I don't want to be barging in on something and risk our lives for something that isn't there."

"When are you this cautious? I never knew you to be like this."

"Well you see…Hilde and I are having a baby." The words fell out from his mouth.

The news was unexpected to her, "Oh," she continued to walk, "congratulations then. When did you find out?"

"Just two days ago," he grinned. The pair continued to walk back to their quarters with nothing more to say between the two of them.

Une sat at a table and looked over several other files marked top secret. Relena will be shocked to see this. If there was one secret she didn't want to reveal, this would be the one. She had sworn to Relena that mass production of the mobile suits will cease in ESUN territory, but in essence, she ordered that three of them be kept in storage only known to her and one other person. The mobile suits were based upon data collected on the five original Gundams in a project known as Deliverance. With recent events surrounding Graves, Une knew it would only be a matter of time to activate these three mobile suits.

She heard the door slide open, and found Duo and Relena walking in. She immediately closed her laptop, and resumed the debate that she had started from last night. "Well, where do we stand today?"

Duo still ran the argument in his head, "I'm behind you on this one, Une. But, this will be my last assignment."

"Fair enough," the commander folded her arms across her chest, and focused on Relena. Duo took that as a cue to leave the room. "And where were you this morning, Ms. Peacecraft?" The tone of her voice showed a cause for concern.

"I needed to get my head cleared."

"Next time you do that, you need to be with one of us. You never know what Graves has planned here. He could have hired a hit man to kill you. You're still a threat to him. And beyond that, any colonists here might want to kill you for your failure in preventing this," her voice rose.

"I know that," the former president spoke back. "It's a chance I'm willing to take." She paced back and forth, "From what I can tell you, if you want to start a mutiny against Graves, by all means go right ahead. It'll will save a little of my own time and energy."

The commander went back to her laptop, and pulled more news on Graves' movements. "For now, we have to wait and see what he does next."

"Is there any chance I can take a flight out to view the colony?" The request took their conversation in the opposite direction. Her voice was firm, and it was a tone that no one dared to challenge.

"I can make arrangements for you then," Une continued to type away on her laptop.

Relena noticed that she was preoccupied with something else. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just nothing."

Duo found Quatre staring out in blank space. "Hey buddy, what's up with you?"

The blond continued to stare without any response to his friend's question. A few more seconds of silence came between the two, and then Quatre snapped out of his vision. The vision took the energy out of him.

"What's wrong?"

"Something stirs around this colony. There was an attack, and it sets everything into motion. We're all in danger." Quatre's voice shook, "It's going to happen soon."

Duo's violet eyes widened, "It's cryptic, but are there any faces you can make out?"

"No." He tried to recall the vision in his mind. "We have to keep our eyes open to anything."

"There you two are," Une stepped out the room with Relena by her side. "We're going on a mini flight around the colony."

"Now?" Quatre felt a tinge of his vision coming true for a moment.

"Are you all right, Quatre?" Relena looked over towards him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he tried to pull off a smile. "I just had one of my visions."

"I thought they stopped quite a while ago," Une looked worried this time.

"That's what I thought," the pilot of Sandrock concluded. "I guess I was wrong." His eyes scanned the empty vastness. "You should have several reconnaissance teams search the area before your flight."

"The scheduled flight won't be until tomorrow," Une pulled up a translucent screen from her handheld palm pilot, and punched in an order to send three teams of Preventers to scan the area. "Duo and Quatre, I want the both of you to man the hangar tomorrow from any possible security breaches." The two Preventers nodded in accepting their mission. "Let's just keep an eye out tomorrow."

ooooo

"Sector Four secured," a young male voice came through the receiver.

"Acknowledged," Une responded back in the transmitter. Her eyes scanned over the continuous feed coming from the three dispatched teams. There was no abnormal signal being revealed. "How is the security at the hangar?" She spoke into the transmitter again.

"Everything checks out here," Maxwell chirped into his microphone. "The top mechanic has informed me that the pod is ready."

"Relena will be there in five minutes then. Make sure the area is secured, Maxwell."

"Quatre and I will do another security sweep." He cut the transmission short and told his partner about Une's orders. Again, the two went around the large area and checked to see that everyone was stationed at their respective spots.

Duo entered the cockpit of Relena's transport, "Let me see your I.D. badge."

The pilot followed his orders and flashed the plastic card in front of the Preventer. "You're not the one I saw earlier just twenty minutes ago. What happened to…?

"Williams had an emergency to attend to," the new pilot didn't look back at his questioner. "My credentials are still in order."

Duo scanned the card into his mini computer, and the screen pulled up the new pilot's background info. "Everything checks out." He handed the card back to the pilot. "Carry on then."

Heero heard the cockpit door close behind him. He pulled out his laptop again, and noticed that the file was almost completely decrypted. He carried out the final systems check on the shuttle, and everything was cleared. A small alarm rang out from his laptop. The file was finally in its bare bones form, revealing detailed plans of Graves' true nature. There wasn't anytime to fully grasp the information, and Heero pulled a small disk from his pocket and inserted it into the laptop. In seconds, the disk popped back out, but then a female voice came from behind the cockpit's door.

"Ms. Peacecraft has boarded the shuttle. You'll be given orders from the main command center."

"Acknowledged," Heero started the shuttle's engines.

Une returned to where Relena sat, "Are you sure you don't want me here?"

"I'm sure, Une." The former politician remained firm in her decision.

"Very well, I'll fly one of the other pods and follow you."

A green light appeared on the shuttle's control panel, and Heero started the main thrusters. In the back of his mind, he knew he was on an important mission…a mission to still protect Relena. In the com link established with the main center, "Pilot, you are go for launch."

Heero navigated his way to the outer barrier of the hangar, and nudged the small-sized craft into the runway. Before long, they were in space. Andromeda rotated her spindles in the steady sunlight. "How can this one colony spark a huge debate?" She watched it rotate a few more times. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a part of the colony that was sealed off from the rest. She punched on a button and called up to the pilot, "Can you take me up closer to the far northern end of the colony?"

There was no response coming from the cabin, but she felt the shuttle pitched towards the direction she asked for. To her amazement, the area wasn't in use. It looked identical to the southern end from where she had departed a few minutes ago. This was something that she could use. "Perfect."

"Is there something wrong?" Une called from the short-wave radio that Relena was also using.

"No," she looked out the window. "Can you send someone to check the northern area of the colony? It looks like there's a hangar not in use."

The commander focused her attention to the area, "It may be possible."

The two women continued their conversation for a few more seconds, until a jagged static interruption occurred on the line. "What was that?" Relena looked out her window and thought she saw a spark come from behind the colony.

"Relena? Can you hear me?" Une didn't see any blip show up on the radar. Her brown eyes scanned the horizon line, but there was no one there. "Quatre, is there anything strange happening on the main radar?"

"Not as of the moment, but we're getting electronic jamming signals," his voice cracked over the com link. Before long, Une wasn't receiving any signals at all. "Damn it," she punched the transmitter, "Relena, get out of there now!" She tried to send out an emergency signal to scramble her other Preventers to assist the colony and the spacecraft."

Relena felt the shuttle pitch left and right, and she quickly unbuckled her seat belt. "What's going on up there?" She slammed her fists against the cockpit door.

"We're being attacked. Get back to your seat now."

The eerie voice sounded like Heero's, and thoughts swarmed in her head. She shoved the door open, and her eyes fell on her supposedly dead friend. "How?" She whispered.

Heero looked back and saw the shock on her face. He immediately grabbed her and placed her in the seat beside him. "There's no time to explain. We need to head back to the colony." He set the plane on autopilot and opened the small closet. He then tossed a space suit to Relena. "Put this on," and she complied. Memories from their encounter on Libra were released from the obscurity of her mind. Her eyes remained steady on him for a moment.

A jolt came from the back, and sparks emitted from the control panel. Heero released the plane from autopilot, and he targeted the rogue machine that taunted them. "You see the laptop on the floor."

"Yes," her voice was trying to regain her composure.

"I need you to take the disk out of it, there's something that the others need to know." His eyes never focused on her, but he could hear her fumbling the small circular disk out of his laptop.

A golden light emitted from one of the cannons coming from the nose of the craft. Relena tried to establish communication with the main colony. "It's no use." The master alarm went off, and Heero knew they had little time left. He grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her to the back. She felt her veins constricted by the sure force of his tight hold.

"What are you doing?" Her eyes were frantic and she felt him shove her into the tiny life pod. "You can't do this! I won't lose you again." It was too late, his fingers went over to her lips and he tapped on her helmet case. The shield came over her face, and she could feel the air humming through her suit. The steady stream blew through several loose strands of her hair. Before long, the doors to her life pod were closing and she could barely see him through the small window. "Heero!" She cried out, and she pounded against the cold metal door.

His eyes gazed on the floating pod, and he looked back to the cockpit. The metallic Gundam stared at him with a saber beam in his hands. A brilliant white flash resonated from the area, and Relena looked on in horror to see it shred the plane with Heero in it. "Heero!" To the colonists, the explosion flashed throughout the colony's translucent shield, and they looked on in shock. Above them, several shooting stars of hot flaming metal tried to penetrate their defenses. Sirens blared out, signaling for the residents to seek shelter.

Through the cockpit window, Une helplessly looked on. The tiny pod floated without any regard to the explosion that was taking place right beside it. The arching red orange flames engulfed the defenseless craft, not realizing what precious cargo it held. She tried to get a com link established, but the static interference jammed the line.

The former queen looked on in horror as a second wave of particles smashed into her small shelter. The searing heat was becoming unbearable. She looked around for the control switch, but nothing worked. She figured pieces of debris and flames penetrated the protective walls leading to the booster rockets. Her cerulean eyes looked back to the thick glass window. Tiny cracks had appeared. They ran rampant up and down the one foot by one foot window. "Oh no," she breathed in. Out of the corner of the window, the flaming metal debris rotating ever so slightly. It's jagged edges sent shivers up and down her spine. They were both on a collision course. Shards panged off the thick glass, and the little cracks increased in size. The massive metal gleamed in front of her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, bracing for the impact.

TBC