Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam.


Gundam Gemini

Episode Four

Wonderland Dreamers

Part B

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When Laura came back to her senses, the change in her surroundings was all too apparent. Everyone had disappeared and she was no longer tied-up in the Persephone's workshop; instead, she was alone in a black void. But that was not to say it was dark, because despite the lack of a visible light source she could see her arms perfectly and felt ground beneath her feet, in spite of the empty space.

"I'm VR diving… this is VR," Laura whispered aloud, marvelling at how lifelike it was.

The arms in front of the pilot were unmistakably hers, as was the voice from her mouth and the hair on her head – but they were not real, only imitations created by the VR relic. Likewise, she could breathe, smell, feel, touch, and blink, bolstering the mind-blowing illusion she was here in her own body. If Laura had no memory of the visor clasping itself around her head, she would have been hard pressed to convince herself that this was a false reality and gaped in awe of the relic's power.

But this was no time to be impressed – recalling her task, Laura shook her head and reached out with her technopathic abilities. Sure enough, she could sense electronic energy in the air and with some mental probing uncovered the stream of code flowing all around her. Searching it, the technopath finally found what she wanted and smiled, before a floating menu popped up out of nowhere.

"Got it!" she cried, fist-pumping, and read out the command on the bottom. "All VR simulations, shut down!"

Only to receive a loud error tone.

Error. Unable to execute command.

"What?!"

VR programs are still running. Unable to shut down.

The menu faded away and five doors appeared, surrounding the Gundam pilot. They were all different shapes and sizes, colours and materials, and each conveyed a unique personality. There were no prizes guessing where they led or what the VR relic wanted Laura to do.

"Manual override, huh?" the blonde sighed, and her purple gaze settled on the tiny, elegantly carved door painted sky blue, knowing exactly who it belonged to. "All right, down the rabbit hole we go… do your worst, Alice."

Kicking the door in, Laura hunched down and squeezed through the small entrance, emerging in a beautiful garden. Plots of red and white roses lined the vast obsidian-pebbled grounds, which were encircled by the immaculately trimmed hedges of a maze and through their green archways a majestic castle sat on a hill in the distance, basking under the bright rays of the sun while a flock of flamingos flew overhead. It took the wide-eyed technopath a moment to adjust, but even knowing this was a VR construct, the sight left her breathless – she could smell the roses, hear the birds, and feel the sun's warmth.

"Wonderland… it's not so bad after all," Laura remarked, nodding to herself, and a grassy lawn in the middle of the rose garden caught her eye.

There a long table had been set for a tea party and it was covered from end to end by a smorgasbord of mouth-watering dishes. Chocolate cakes, parmesan cookies, raspberry tarts, apple pies and sandwich platters of every kind, from cucumber mint tea to smoked turkey with arugula mayonnaise, were already laid out on the red and white chequered table cloth, freshly baked and served along with tall jugs of strawberry lemonade. Laura salivated at the very sight of the spread and the luscious aromas wafting under her nose were overpowering – in her head she knew the food was fake and she wasn't actually hungry, but the technopath couldn't stop her feet from wandering towards the feast in a heady daze.

As Laura approached the banquet, two brawny figures came into view from behind some bushes – and the blonde screamed. It wasn't the fact they were two men in a passionate embrace; she had expected at least that much when she stepped foot into Alice's dream. No, it was who they were that had the Gundam pilot in hysterics

"M-Milos? Chief?!" she stammered, ogling between them with bug-eyed horror. "Oh my god!"

The two men were staring into each other's eyes with smouldering gazes, hot enough to melt butter, and were wearing the most exotic of costumes. Milos had exchanged his captain's cap for a flared top hat and a brown coat with an oversized polka-dotted bowtie, while Superintendent Moses had a pair of white rabbit ears on his head… and not much else. Their faces closed in for another round and Laura covered her eyes, only to peek from between her fingers.

No matter how much she told herself they were only virtual constructs, the mental scarring the technopath received was instantaneous and lifelong. She twisted her body away from the stimulating scene before she went blind, only to block her flushed ears from the noises kindling her imagination instead. Shock quickly transformed into anger and Laura finally decided she had had enough of this nightmare.

"Alice!" she screamed at the sky, knowing she was listening. "Alice, get the hell out here! Now!"

The blond angel appeared out of thin air like a Cheshire cat, lying on her side and floating as if on an invisible sofa. She had her head propped up with one arm while her long legs stretched out towards the other end and her amber eyes positively glowed with amusement. Laura was reminded of the time Alice had eaten a whole box of alcoholic chocolates by accident and her mischievous side had been unleashed – clearly, her own dreamworld was like a drug for her.

"Laura! I'm so glad you could join my tea party," she drawled, grinning much like the languid cat of fiction.

"Don't give me that crap!" the pilot snapped, seeing red. "You're supposed to be rescuing the Persephone's crew, not… not playing out your fantasies!"

"Oh, I meant to rescue them, but when I saw what could do here, I… I just could not resist," Alice spoke softly, like she was on cloud nine. "I mean, I always thought Mad Hatter and March Hare were meant to be… why? Didn't you like them?"

"Not when they're people we know!" Laura bellowed, and howled with exasperation. "That's it! Show's over! I'm shutting this dream down and sending you back!"

That finally got Alice's attention and she fell off her invisible sofa with a yelp.

"Y-You can't! This is my dream!" she cried, but Laura was already fiddling with the command console in the air.

"Well, I just made myself administrator and Wonderland is closed for business! Going under! Dead as a dodo!" she taunted the fallen angel and took some pleasure in seeing her slothful features finally twist with emotion.

"No! Please, Laura! I… I have so little!"

"Liar! We know you keep a stash of thin books under your bunk!"

The dream world began to break down as everything returned to code, from the roses to the tea party food and, to Laura's immense relief, the imitations of Milos and Chief. The sky went last, falling in a cascade of shimmering blocks until only the two technopaths were left in a dark void. Alice was on her knees, mourning the loss of her Wonderland, and Laura began inputting the commands that would drop the angel back to reality.

"I hope you're ready, because when you wake up Commander Gabriel is going to wipe the floor with you, Alice…"

"Ugh, how ironic… to go from my perfect dream to a waking nightmare," Alice lamented, before she traded her grimace for a sneer. "But I will have my vengeance! You might think you are immune, but this world has a way of sucking you in – very soon you'll be joining me in my nightmare, Laura!"

She cackled like an evil witch, only for Laura to ignore her and slammed the floating console with the final command, ejecting Alice from the VR world.

"What the hell is her problem?" the technopath grumbled, once her friend had completely disappeared. "I'm the one who's going to be left with nightmares!"

After that, Laura went on the warpath against the other dreamers, the Persephone's crew, one door at a time. She barged her way into their dreams and crushed their fantasies without mercy, ensuring they begged to be released from the relic rather than stay there with her.

The first door led to a medieval fantasy world, with swords, magic, demi-humans and monsters, where the dreamer had made himself the all-powerful hero of the story. Laura disabled his cheat-like skills and threw him into the demon castle of the last boss, letting the hero die repeatedly until he finally gave up.

"VR isn't so fun when the pain is real, is it?"

The second door led to a palace where the dreamer had created a harem of women to fawn over him. Laura adjusted the personalities of the women and watched with a bag of popcorn as they tied the Casanova up and whipped him into submission like a squealing pig.

"Party's over, lover-boy!"

The third door led to an opulent mansion where the dreamer had made herself disgustingly wealthy and surrounded herself with famous paintings, sports cars, the latest fashion, first-class meals, exotic pets, a gold bathroom, a swimming pool filled with dollar bills, and a retinue of handsome butlers who attended to her every need. Laura engineered a stock market crash, set fire to the pool of money, released the pets, fired the butlers, and had debt collectors remove everything from the mansion before demolishing it to make room for a highway, reducing the woman to tears.

"Money isn't everything, you know."

The final door led to a simple suburban home, where a little girl lived happily with her parents, and the scene finally gave Laura pause. She met eyes with the dreamer, who realised with a heavy heart the dream was over and said farewell to her parents, before transforming back into a grown woman and walked out of the dream with the technopath.

"That's all of them…" Laura sighed, after seeing the last member of the Persephone's crew off. "Now all that's left is for me to log out."

The blonde brought up the console and her hand hovered over the buttons, only to pause when she began to hear a buzzing sound. It grew louder, assaulting her ears with high-pitched notes that left the technopath confused, but not in pain. Laura thought she could make out familiar voices and sounds amongst the noises and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, the buzzing stopped and there was silence, and when Laura opened her eyes again the black void of the VR world had transformed again. She was now in the middle of a shimmering desert, surrounded by sand dunes as far as the eye could see and the blazing sun beat down on her from above. It was surreal, not only because Laura did not burn or sweat from the heat, but because she had no memory of this place.

"Is this my dream…?" she whispered, her brow furrowing, knowing no one else was connected to the VR relic but her.

Before the technopath could investigate any further, she felt a presence behind her and froze. She knew who it was without even looking – no matter how long it had been, she would never mistake this feeling. Slowly, Laura turned around and her heart caught in her throat when she saw a pair of green eyes.

"…Tully?"

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"Why isn't she waking up?"

Back in reality, the rescue of the Persephone's crew had a been a success and they had woken up one after the other to Jill's relief. Each time, Otto rebuked his people before sending them to the medical bay, although it seemed most only suffered from lingering nightmares and paled at the sight of Laura's face. That left only the Gundam pilot still asleep and Junko and Sofia monitored her condition with concern.

"Maybe she's studying the relic from the inside?" Freya answered Junko's query over the comm, but the mechanic still wore an unconvinced frown.

"It would appear my prophecy has come to fruition," Alice, who lurked from the corner of the room, began to chuckle. "Laura is paying the price for destroying my Wonderland…"

"I'll deal with you later, ensign – but for now, can it," Sofia silenced Alice with a red glare and sighed. "This is just what I feared. The relic is much too dangerous as it is… we'll just have to hope a technopath like Ensign Hartmann can eventually come to her senses."

The commander certainly prayed she would – Sofia did not want to be the one to tell the captain his daughter had turned into a vegetable. With any luck, the worst was over and there would be no more surprises today.

"Listen up everyone, we've got trouble," Otto announced over the ship's intercom. "A squadron of Wargs is approaching the Junker Fleet."

"God damn it," Sofia cursed, and brought her comm to her mouth. "Captain Hartmann?"

"We see them, commander," Milos replied, following the red dots on the Lionheart's radar. "It looks like they haven't noticed us yet – to their radar, we might just be another ship in the Junker Fleet."

"Do we engage? Ensign Carol is out, but Ensign Hartmann is still… occupied."

"I'm co-ordinating a defence with the junkers in case things get hairy, but put Ensign Carol in her Garm," Milos ordered, resisting the urge to groan. "Hopefully, they buy Captain Ryder's bluff and leave, but there's a LIRA stealth ship out there and I'd prefer it if the Orthrus' pilot wasn't taking a nap."

"Roger, captain, I'm on it," Sofia signed off and gestured to Alice. "Ensign, get in your Garm, you're on standby. Kodama, prepare the Orthrus for launch with the Persephone's crew – we need it ready to fly as soon as its pilot wakes up. In the meantime, I'll stay with sleeping beauty here."

"Yes, commander!" the orphans replied and leapt to their tasks, while Sofia stared at Laura's dreaming visage with concern.

"Come on, Laura…"

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"The Junker Fleet is in range of communications, Master Narick."

"Yes, I can see that, Cecil!" the nobleman bellowed, and his rigid gold hair almost ruffled out of place.

Not wanting to expose the Tybalt, Captain Dorian had reluctantly sent Narick to negotiate for the relic with Team Ambion, perhaps believing they would keep the major from acting rashly. Unfortunately, it would prove to be a futile effort.

"There they are… the craven thieves!" Narick snarled at the sight of the junkers on his monitor. "No one steals from House Ambion and lives! It's high time someone in LIRA taught these vultures what happens to those who dare to stand against us! Follow me!"

The Wargs charged in with their impulsive leader at the head, who pointed his rifle forward and began firing at the Junker Fleet. The beams were far from direct hits, but the hulking junker ships were not the hardest of targets either and were seared with burns.

"Fire!" Narick ordered, and his men continued the indiscriminate barrage. "Let them feel the fury of Team Ambion and the empire!"

Red beams rained down on the junkers, but if the young scion was expecting a slaughter, he was left sorely disappointed. The junker ships were not as vulnerable as they appeared and responded in kind, firing back with concealed turrets on their hulls and scattering the Wargs with emerald hail. The green plasma whizzed by Narick and had him yelping with fear, but that was nothing compared to his cowardly expression when the Junker Fleet parted down the middle to reveal the RDF relic hunter ship sailing through, where it unleashed its beam cannon at LIRA.

"Amazing, Master Narick!" Cecil cried with awe, after his commander narrowly avoided the incoming plasma wave by a hair. "You made a pre-emptive strike because you saw through the ruse of the junkers and the RDF! As expected of the next head of House Ambion!"

"O-Of course!" Narick spluttered, regaining control of his Warg and retreating to the rear of the battle. "Nothing gets past these eyes of mine! Contact the Tybalt and we'll finish these pests off once and for all!"

However, warning alarms rattled the nobleman, interrupting his moment of glory, and the radar showed a fast-moving object hurtling towards their wing – a white mobile suit.

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"Eat plasma, LIRA!" Freya hollered, strafing the enemy's flank and firing her Garm's rifle. "I can't believe you scum would be so low as to fire on non-combatants! I won't need Laura to deal with cowards like you!"

Using the Lionheart's beam cannon as a distraction, she accelerated into range and smoked the closest Warg full of holes. In the wake of its explosion, two other Wargs confronted the lone attacker and Freya darted back as they gave chase. These LIRA pilots weren't as skilled as the Space Wolves, but the pink diva wasn't going underestimate them while she was outnumbered.

"Alice! Little help?" she called over the comm, dodging two sets of beam rifles as she led the Wargs back to the Persephone.

"I'm on my way, Freya!" Alice replied, only for another voice to butt in.

"Let me help!" Jack pleaded, his face appearing on Alice's monitor, and she saw he had followed her out on the Argos which had been armed to the teeth. "I've fended off space pirates with the Argos! I can fight too!"

"No! You'll only get in the way!" Freya yelled at the junker.

"Stay with the Persephone, Jack," said Alice, thrusting ahead. 'Trust us, this is what we do!"

Left floating above the Persephone, Jack watched in awe as Alice took down a Warg with a single shot, before Freya burst back and tore through the other with her beamsabre. Leaving two fireballs behind them, the orphans throttled back into the fray and at the same time the Lionheart launched several shells that covered the battlefield with blue smoke.

"The anti-beam smoke is up, captain!"

On the Lionheart's bridge, the operator's report came not a moment too soon as the crimson surge from a beam cannon was blasted at the battlecruiser. But as it passed through the blue smoke, the electromagnetic jacket holding the focused plasma together was stripped away, until it ruptured. The result was the beam dissipated into a less lethal form and bounced off the Lionheart's hull.

"Maintain anti-beam countermeasures! The safety of the Junker Fleet comes first!" Milos ordered, knowing that but for the Persephone the other ships could not hope to avoid a direct hit from the LIRA stealth cruiser hiding in the dark. For now, the Lionheart could draw its attention and help fight off the Wargs, but that left them on the defensive and unable to leave the Junker Fleet.

As the captain ordered a salvo of hellfire missiles to target the Wargs trying to escape the anti-beam cloud, his thoughts turned to the one person they could really use right now.

"Where are you, Laura…?"

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On the plains of a desert world, the shapes of two travellers trekked across the desolate landscape hand-in-hand. The wanderers knew not how long they had been walking for, but the trail of footprints left imprinted in the sands behind them stretched far into the distance, and despite the baking heat they showed no signs of exhaustion. In fact, the pair appeared to have no destination at all and were completely focused on each other's company – and one in particular could not stop talking.

"Oh, and guess what? You were awarded the Ivory Heart!" Laura recounted to her companion with excitement, having wholly forgotten her mission. "And you were promoted to lieutenant junior grade!"

"The Ivory Heart? My!" Tully cupped her open mouth, scarcely believing it. "And now I'm Lieutenant Junior Grade Tulip Smith? It all seems a bit much."

"No, it's what you deserve," Laura shook her head. "You saved my life."

The two girls continued their stroll across the desert plains, taking no notice of the harsh environment either by wilful ignorance or bewitched by some spell, and gossiped under the blinding sun like old times. Keeping a tight grip on Tully's hand and maintaining eye contact with her inquisitive green orbs, Laura recollected everything she had missed. The technopath told her how Freya, Alice and Junko were faring, about their new top secret assignment as relic hunters aboard the Lionheart, how Milos was their captain, how their XO Commander Gabriel was also known as the Demon Commander, about Superintendent Moses and his maintenance unit, and everyone else in the crew.

Tully listened patiently, smiling and laughing as Laura continued her tale non-stop, which only reminded the blonde how much she had missed her best friend and egged her on. When she came to Lenos and the discovery of the Gundam, the smaller girl hung on with bated breath and gasped as Laura described the duel with the Fenrir. Coming to the ambush inside the asteroid facility, Tully's eyes grew into emerald saucers when she learned of the Orthrus' Mode Change ability and the technopath could not help but boast.

"The next thing I knew everything went dark – until a purple beam shot out of the Orthrus' chest!"

"A chest cannon?!" Tully exclaimed. "Was it always there?"

"Apparently. According to Junko, the Lemurians really thought ahead," Laura rubbed her nose and puffed out her chest. "Anyway, it shattered the asteroid in half and had LIRA running away with their tails between their legs! I'm pretty sure the Fenrir got away, but I bet Vega Aurelia and her space puppies are dreading the rematch."

"Space puppies?" Tully giggled, and gazed upon the other girl with tender eyes. "The Orthrus sounds so strong… you've become so strong, Laura."

"No… I'm not strong enough," for the first time in a thousand steps, their journey halted when the Gundam pilot stopped in her tracks. "Not until I can beat Vega Aurelia. I swear I will, Tully. I'll kill her and then you can… you can…"

The technopath bit her lip, unable to finish the sentence.

"Laura…" Tully whispered, watching her with concern.

"Laura...! Laura Hartmann!" a disembodied voiced suddenly spoke from heavens. "Wake up, Laura!"

"Sofia?!" Laura cried, swivelling her head to and thro at the sky.

"Laura," Tully squeezed her hand and brought the confused technopath's attention back to earth. "I think it's time for you to go."

The girl stared into the brunette's melancholy eyes for a moment, unable to comprehend her words, until her own purple eyes welled with soul-shattering tears.

"No… I don't want to go!" Laura cried, and leapt into Tully's embrace where she wept into the girl's shoulder. "I missed you so much… and I still have so much I want to say, that I couldn't say before!"

Tully held the girl in her arms until the sobbing subsided, stroking her blonde locks with motherly affection, before pulling her back and taking both of Laura's hands in her own.

"You can tell me anytime you want…" she whispered and put another hand on Laura's chest, on top of her throbbing heart. "…I'll always be with you."

"Tully…" Laura's quivering red eyes threatened to burst with tears again, but she could not look away from Tully's gentle gaze and held on.

"But right now, there are people who need your help and I know you will help them," the brunette went on and gave her brightest smile. "Because that's the Laura I love."

Laura let the words sink in along with the image of Tully's smile, before turning away and rubbing her eyes dry. When she faced her best friend again, the pilot made sure she was wearing her cockiest grin.

"Well… I better skedaddle. Freya is probably screaming my name somewhere…"

"Some things never change…" Tully beamed. "Please give everyone my regards."

"I will…" said Laura, and clutched at Tully's hands until the last moment, gathering the strength to say what she could not say before. "…Goodbye, Tully."

"Goodbye, Laura."

As their hands slipped away, their green and purple orbs lingered warmly on each other, gazing unblinkingly until the world went white.

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"Laura!"

When the blonde finally stirred from her slumber, Sofia pounced, ripped off the loosened black visor and shook the sleeping beauty awake.

"Tully…?" the girl mumbled, still half-asleep.

The sound of a smack wiped the drool from her face and Laura' stunned purple eyes popped open.

"Wake up, Laura!" Sofia screamed, getting ready to backhand her other unreddened cheek.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" Laura cried, sitting up and clutching her burnt cheek. "What's going on?!"

"We're under attack by LIRA!" Sofia informed her, skipping the niceties. "There's a stealth cruiser out there, but the Lionheart is pinned down protecting the Junker Fleet! You need to launch the Gundam and help your team – now, ensign!"

"Y-Yes, ma-am!"

Laura saluted and threw herself towards the door at the same time, before making her way back to the hangar bay and the Orthrus with haste. The dream with Tully was still fresh in her mind, but she put it aside for the waking nightmare she found herself in. This time, the technopath slapped her own cheeks until she was wide awake and focused on her anger – LIRA was going to pay for interrupting her nap.

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With the wall of anti-beam smoke neutralising the plasma weapons of both sides alike, the Wargs hung back and waited for it to disperse while making the occasional incursion around the blue haze. Freya and Alice fended them off each time, but Milos feared they were merely distractions until the stealth cruiser could sneak itself to a better vantage point.

"Give us the order, Milos," Freya pressed the captain during a lull in the battle. "When the smoke disappears, Alice and I can storm those Wargs and hit them before they know it! We don't need Laura's help."

Milos bit his lip and seriously considered the option, until a familiar voice joined the comm.

"Wait, I'm here!" Laura shouted, and her father sighed with relief when he saw the white Orthrus flying on screen. "Don't leave me out of it!"

"Glad you could make it, Laura," Alice grinned. "Did you have a nice nap?"

"Come to steal the glory, have you?" Freya pouted, but sounded equally relieved. "Well, just go ahead and try, sleepyhead!"

"Captain!" said Laura, and Milos nodded.

"Take out those Wargs, Team Orthrus! The Lionheart has your backs!"

"Roger!" the three pilots responded and flew towards the smoke in formation.

On the other side of the cloud, Narick was inspecting his teeth on the monitor, when Cecil interrupted him.

"Master Narick, it's appeared!" the beady-eyed man shouted. "It's the White Hellhound!"

Narick switched his monitor back to the battle and the Lemurian relic was indeed passing through the haze and flying straight towards Team Ambion with incredible velocity.

"What did I tell you, Cecil – wait and they will come to you!" he said, smirking at his own genius. "Get ready, Team Ambion! Do exactly as I told you!"

The Orthrus cleaved through the anti-beam smoke and the Wargs concentrated their fire on the speeding mobile suit. The red beams dispersed when they met the blue cloud and bounced off the Gundam's white armour. Forewarned that she was being targeted by the enemy, Laura switched to Solar Mode the moment she left the smoke – just as Narick planned.

"Now! Fire!"

The Wargs in the backline discarded their rifles for the missile launchers concealed behind their backs and rushed forward, firing off a cluster of scorching rockets. The Gundam's weakness to kinetic weapons in its gold form had been well explained to Narick, in addition to its greatly reduced agility, and he made sure to take full advantage of it. Soon the scion of House Ambion would finally get one over Vega and the people would be singing his praises instead of hers.

But when the shining Orthrus burst through the blue clouds like the rising sun, Laura took one look at the incoming projectiles and grinned. With practiced reflexes, she veered out of their paths just before they struck, and one after the other the missiles flew past and exploded behind the Gundam. Solar Mode may be slow, but no one said Laura couldn't build up speed before the Mode Change and rely on inertia.

"What?!" Narick's jaw dropped and he slammed his controls. "What was that?! They told me it moved like a tortoise!"

"I believe the pilot is using its gathered momentum to maintain its speed, Master Narick," Cecil enlightened his leader, which only elicited even more screams of rage.

"Shut up and give me that!"

Narick tore the launcher from Cecil's Warg and unloaded its missiles on the approaching Gundam until it was empty. This time, Laura swerved up and discarded her shield, before shooting at it with a barrage of accurate beams. Not only did this knock the shield into the path of the missiles, it superheated its materials and caused the heat seekers to switch targets.

They collided and lit up the surrounding space with a a spectacular series of explosions – and suddenly the golden figure of the Gundam erupted through the smoke with its rifle at the ready. Shooting Solar Beams, Laura combusted two Wargs with purple fire and another two were melted down by Freya and Alice, who flanked the enemy as planned while the Orthrus had distracted them. Upon witnessing his squad transformed into burnt-out husks as they screamed around him and seeing the White Hellhound gunning for his Warg next, Narick did the only sensible thing he could.

He ran away at top-speed, bawling like a baby.

"M-Master Narick! Wait for me!" Cecil called after the pride of House Ambion and dashed after him, firing a few parting shots that kept Freya and Alice at bay.

Laura shrugged the beams off with her Solar Armour and chased the survivors, driving her thrusters until they burst with amethyst flames. But the gold Orthrus had lost most of its momentum dodging the missiles and the Wargs were soon far ahead – the one in the lead was especially good at running away, the technopath had to say as her beams continued to miss. She was about to revert to the Gundam's default mode when something caught her eye in the distance, right about where the Wargs were headed.

When she realised what it was, Laura's pink lips curled like the Cheshire Cat.

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When Colonel Dorian heard Narick Ambion and his squadron would be joining his crew, it was both the most fortunate and misfortunate moment of his life. House Ambion was one of the most powerful families on Lux with connections everywhere, from LIRA, the Intelligence Division, trading companies, the media, to the Imperial Household itself. The Tybalt's entry into the relic hunt was no doubt due to Lord Ambion's influence, seeing as his son was aboard, and if Dorian played his cards right the future looked very bright.

But that meant nothing if the Ambion heir, one of the most vain, spoiled, and arrogant brats he had ever commanded, got them all killed first. Competent pilot though Narick may be, he was more concerned with his appearance and luxuries than his military duties or obeying orders and, as the rumours went, had tested the patience of half-a-dozen ships before he arrived on the Tybalt. The result was Dorian felt he was babysitting Narick and cleaning up his messes most of the time – including his attack on the Junker Fleet, whom he had expressly ordered the major to negotiate with.

Now, they were engaged in combat with the RDF relic hunter ship, which included the dreaded White Hellhound in its ranks, who had both taken down the Scarlet Wolf and the Lunar Fox. Thankfully, mentioning the Scarlet Wolf's rival at least seemed to focus the young Ambion and the Tybalt currently had the advantage thanks to its stealth. As long as a certain moron followed orders, the battle was a shoo-in and there was enough glory to go around for everyone.

"Colonel, Major Ambion is on the comm."

Dorian groaned.

"What does that idiot want now? I expressly told him to maintain radio silence!" the colonel barked, before relenting. "…On-screen."

"Heeelp! Help meeeee!"

The image of the handsome Ambion, who took extreme pride in his appearance, blubbering with drool and snot as he screamed for his life would have been comical, if not for the alarming red dot following his Warg on the radar.

"Narick, you imbecile!" Colonel Dorian finally released everything he had been bottling up with a furious, red-faced roar. "You've led them right to us!"

The hysterical nobleman never even heard him and flew right past the Tybalt with Cecil, leaving the colonel to bark out countermeasures, but it was too late. In the distance, the Gundam opened its arms and its chest glowed with purple radiance, flooding the bridge with light from its monitor before engulfing the ship itself a second later. Solar Flare ripped through the Tybalt's hall, vaporising it and everyone from the inside out and the vessel detonated violently, becoming a brief supernova amongst the stars.

From his safe vantage point far away, Narick watched the explosion with muted terror and wiped the snot from his nose – but trembling not from the loss of his comrades or the White Hellhound's power, which had left him stranded in space. No, the young scion feared the wrath of his father, Lord Ambion, when he learnt of what had transpired here.

"…Cecil, if anyone asks, the Tybalt went down despite my valiant efforts to defend it."

"Yes, Master Narick… very good, Master Narick," Cecil replied, the only survivor alongside his master, and they hurriedly escaped the scene of carnage.

The pair then made the arduous journey back to LIRA controlled territory, hailing for a rescue ship along the way, during which Narick embellished his heroic loss even more. By the time they were rescued, he had fought off the entire RDF fleet and Colonel Dorian had been like a brother to him.

.


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The destruction of the enemy ship marked the end of the battle and the Junker Fleet managed to get away with only minor damage thanks to the efforts of the Lionheart and Team Orthrus. That only left the issue of the VR relic and Laura and Alice boarded the Persephone again to inspect it one last time. The technopaths learned the dream program had been deactivated properly as arranged by Laura during her dive, making it safe for use, and it was handed over to the RDF as agreed.

"Thank you again, commander," Captain Otto said to Sofia, as the relic was loaded on to the transport shuttle in the hangar bay, where they were all saying their goodbyes. "Not only did you save my crew from the relic, you saved the our entire fleet from LIRA. I've already said this to Captain Hartmann, but not many would go out of their way for a bunch of junkers, so you can bet we won't forget it."

"Think nothing of it, captain. In space, it is only right we help those in distress – especially when a civilian ship is fired upon," Sofia replied, narrowing her red eyes for a moment before going back to business mode. "Now, moving on to the matter of your payment…"

"Are you sure? You've already done so much for us."

"On the contrary, I must insist, Captain Ryder. The RDF wouldn't want to be known as an organisation of misers who don't pay for the relics discovered by junkers or other third parties," the woman countered and opened the briefcase at her side to reveal stacks of green Rem dollar notes filling it to the brim and the sight caused Otto to swallow loudly. "Also, consider it a little incentive for you and your crew not to divulge too much of what you saw or learnt about the Lionheart and its crew. Now, do we have a deal?"

The large man accepted at the speed of light and they shook on it. Meanwhile, Team Orthrus and the Ryder siblings were saying their farewells nearby.

"I'm so sad you're already leaving – and just when we became friends," Jill lamented and fought back tears as she hugged the orphans in turn. "I'll miss you!"

"And we'll miss you," said Alice, embracing the redhead last.

"I'm sure we'll meet again," Laura assured her with a smile. "We definitely won't forget you!"

"If you're ever on Rem, try giving us a shout," Junko grinned, inputting their numbers into Jill's PDA with lightning-quick fingers. "If we're not on deployment, we'll have a girl's day out!"

"It's a promise!" cried Jill, clutching the device to her chest and beaming through her tears. "When we do, I'll finally get to see what Freya looks like!"

"Look forward to it! I'm so stunning, you can't miss me," Freya boasted with a haughty chuckle from Junko's comm. "I'll show you the best boutiques and cafes, Jill!"

As the girls laughed and discussed their future plans, a figure who had been skulking in the corner approached them.

"Um, hey…" Jack began, uncharacteristically timid as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm really sorry for how I acted when we first met… I thought you came to look down on us junkers, but I was wrong. You girls are actually really amazing. The way you fought off LIRA… you saved us. Thank you…"

The girls gave each other blank looks before smiling and Jill put her arm around the boy, who was beet-red.

"...Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

"S-Shut up!" Jack shouted, crossing his arms and tossing his head, much like Freya would. "T-That's all I came to say! I mean, you've got your relic, so get the hell out of here already!"

"Hey, Jack…"

Laura cut in just as Jill was about to smack her unsuspecting brother and put out her hand. Jack stared at the outstretched appendage like it was a foreign object before he grinned and grasped it with his own.

As Team Orthrus escorted the transport shuttle back to the Lionheart with the relic, leaving their newfound friends behind, Junko recalled the one question she had forgotten to ask.

"So, Laura, happened in the VR relic?" she asked the Gundam pilot on their shared comm and the others show up one by one.

"Yeah, what took you so long?" Freya complained, quickly adding, "N-Not that I needed your help or anything!"

"I would like to hear the answer too," said Alice, watching the technopath with interest. "It's not fair you got to see my fantasises…"

The image of Tully's smiling face flashed in Laura's mind and her lips curved with bittersweet affection.

"I had a dream…" she began.

.

END OF EPISODE FOUR


Next Episode Preview

VEGA: Failure. Loss. Disappointment. The fragile nature of human beings means they are either crushed by these experiences… or they rise to the challenge. Would you care to wager which camp the Scarlet Wolf belongs to? (laughs)

Next time, on Gundam Gemini:

Fenrir Howling.

Setbacks are merely opportunities in disguise, Fenrir – you must crush them between your jaws, lest they crush you.


There you go, that's what happened in Episode Four. I introduced some new characters, which I set up as if they had their own spin-off, but I'm not sure if they'll appear again, at least in any future episodes I plan to write. On that note, hitting the ground running with Episode Six, I pray it's shorter than this one...

Hope you enjoyed this episode and see you next time!