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Chap. 25

Space Fortress Barge...

"So these are the five scientists that created the gundam tekkamen."

Lady Une was currently looking through the profiles of the gundam tekkamen scientists. The last one, Dr. J had just been recently captured and they were all brought to the fortress.

"Yes sir. They were each found colony L1 through L5."

'That would make sense. Those are some of the outermost colonies. The only one further was L7-Prague and that was destroyed.'

The scientists were entered into the room and Lady Une examined them. Like the gundams, they were a strangely diverse group. Professor G had a wide mop hair, sharp nose and a scar. Doctor S had a black nose that looked like it was strapped on. The third, Professor H was a short man with upwardly pointy mustache. Master D was the tallest, with a broad, shaved head and face. The one up front, Doctor J, had weird glasses and a cybernetic hand. He spoke first.

"So you're Lady Une. The ruthless soldier of OZ."

She recognized the voice, "And you're the one who told that gundam to self-destruct."

"I did no such thing. But that is his way of fighting you."

Lady Une turned to the side, "You and your tekkamen have cased us a great deal of trouble. I should in fact kill you all right here and now. However, I find that the knowledge you possess may be of some use to us. In fact, I've learned that you were responsible for the construction of the Tallgeese as well as your theories that lead to the use of disruptors."

Professor G responded, "We had not given the disruptor much thought. Perhaps we should have."

She continued, "In any case, you five may be a valuable assert so I will make a deal with you. We want you to improve the Sol-Tekka suits. I'm sure that with your skills and knowledge on tekkamen, it shouldn't be difficult."

"And why should we do a thing like that?"

A feral grin crossed her face, "In return, we won't kill this one we've captured." She activated the monitor to reveal Duo who was in one of the prison cells below.

"And when we get the others, they will be imprisoned just as well, but with no risk to their lives. I could always kill you all and salvage whatever I can from his dead body, but this might be much better, don't you agree?"

The scientists looked to one another and solemnly agreed, "Very well. But he must be brought with us. We may need his DNA to help us in our work."

"As you wish. But I want this made clear. If there is even the slightest hint that you are trying otherwise, I will execute you and the gundams. Understood?"

"Crystal."

As they were taken back to their cells, Une spoke to one of the soldiers, "Once their usefulness has gone, kill them immediately."

The soldier gave a salute.

---------

Space Knight HQ

The familiar sounds of the alarms rang throughout the base, signaling the Space Knights to the briefing room, where Aki awaited them.

"Another fleet of Radham has appeared near Jupiter's orbit."

"They sure don't waste time, do they?" David commented.

"Jupiter? That's pretty far out, isn't it?" Yumi asked.

Aki nodded, "Yes, it is. But the force is too large in size to be a diversion. My guess is they plan to try to overwhelm everything. We have to stop them before they can gain a foothold."

"Roger."

--------

Colony L3, circus.

Trowa was examining the images on the new OZ base that was constructed within the colony as he waited for his time to be on stage.

'The base is used for constructing Tauruses. It must be destroyed, but how? It would appear that it would take great sacrifices to stop OZ. And the base is well within the colony not to do any real damage.' He then looked out on the stage as the performers finished their acts and the crowds cheered.

"This will be my last performance." he whispered to himself.

Unfortunately, Catherine had come close enough to here his quiet voice

'Last performance?'

-----

"Ladies and gentleman. Our next performance is by Catherine Bloom, the knife-throwing wonder of the circus."

The lights shone on both Catherine and Trowa, who was wearing his clown suit and half mask. The two of them bowed to the cheering crowd before taking their places. Trowa stood on a circular board with his hands outstretched while Catherine stood on the opposite side, holding a couple of knives in her hands.

"Stand still, Trowa."

She tossed one and then another. Both projectiles hit the board, with only a few inches away from him. She then hurled two at once, coming even closer to his upper body. The crowd cheered louder at the spectacle and Catherine held up her last two knives.

"Come on, look a little scared." She whispered teasingly. "Or else how will I have any fun, my little doll?"

Trowa however, didn't react at all and simply stared blankly. Catherine noticed this strange behavior.

'What's this? He's not afraid of anything. No. It's...death. He's begging for his death.'

This realization was beginning to get to her and her hand trembled a bit. Recomposing herself, she repositioned her hand.

'I don't understand it. You want to die, Trowa?'

Finally, she reared back her hand and launched the final two. The knives flew straight at him and hit the board. Catherine gasped. Though it missed, the blades themselves were nearly touching his skin. Yet, he gave no reaction still. Trowa removed himself and bowed to the crowd and Catherine did the same, but was disturbed.

'Nothing at all. Why does he want to die? What did he mean by his last performance?'

Later...

After the show ended, Catherine sat atop one of the large crates. She spotted Trowa making his way to the exit.

"Leaving again, Trowa?"

Trowa didn't answer her as he strode by, but that didn't stop her. She jumped off the top of the crate and stood before him.

"What did you mean by your 'last performance'?"

The deep, silent eye stared right at her, "I won't be around much longer."

"What does that mean?"

Trowa continued on walking.

"Why do you want to die?"

Trowa stopped at the exit of the tent and turned his head slightly to her.

"Goodbye, Catherine."

The tent-cloth closed behind him as a shocked Catherine rushed toward him. However, he was nowhere in sight. But then she heard a slight sound and looked upward. There, in a stream of light was the Tekkaman Heavyarms.

'He's...a tekkaman? I think he's one of those gund…' It wasn't long before she pieced together the clues. 'Oh my god! Trowa, no!'

With that, she grabbed a jeep and drove after him.

------

Martian Orbit

The Blue Earth's extra boosters allowed it to swoop through space at a rapid rate. But even so, it still took an hour and a half to reach the targeted area. The Radham had moved from Jupiter and had just exited the asteroid belt, heading toward Mars.

"Yumi, David, Natasha. You three will fight first. Dead, you have to stay behind for backup."

Dead shrugged, "Sure. I can deal with that."

David tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey don't worry. We'll leave some for ya, Dead."

Dead gave a slight grin, but it disappeared quickly on seeing Natasha's glare. Dead simply stared back as Natasha went into the docking port. Aki, noticing this, decided to speak.

"Dead, watch them in battle. If you study them enough, you will learn how to fight in a team battle more rapidly."

Dead looked at her briefly, almost insulted, but watching anyways. The three ships separated into space and the Space Knights went into action.

"Tek-setta!"

"Tekkaman Hiver!"

"Tekkaman Vesna!"

"Tekkaman Sommer!"

Immediately, the tekkamen went to work, hacking away at the Radham aliens while their carriers gave them cover fire. Despite being a small group, the Knights were performing flawlessly. Their experience in the previous battles allowed them to work as one solid unit, swiftly dissecting through the Radham like a needle through thread. But the Radham had the numbers on their side and continued coming.

"Dead, are you ready?"

Dead simply stood up and pulled out his knife...

"Tek-setta!"

The purple-black beam shot out of the Bue Earth and rematerialized into...

"Tekkaman Dead!"

Dead entered the fray and shot right through the Space Knights and into the Radham. Shreds of Radham trailed behind him as he continued his assault. Vesna growled at this.

"What is he doing?"

The Space Knights were now forced to follow Dead's lead. Surprisingly enough, it was more effectively and more of the Radham were being wiped out. However, they couldn't keep up with his type of speed and had to stay back a bit.

Vesna snapped, "Dead!"

Sommer called her attention, "Forget it. Let's just do our part." His attention then diverted away elsewhere.

"Looks like we have company."

The others turned to see several warships approaching them. They were OZ carriers and they launched a group of Taurus Sol-Tekkas. The Sol-Tekka units joined the battle and were quick in destroying the Radham. However, their presence also had a negative effect.

Sommer landed back on his carrier and knelt down a bit.

"David, what's wrong?" Anita asked from inside.

"I feel...weaker."

The same thing was happening to the others and they found fighting was becoming harder to bear. Even Aki felt the effects of the disruptor crystals from inside the Blue Earth

'Those Sol-Tekkas.' She suddenly shouted, "Space Knights, disengage immediately!

"We're still...ahhhhhhh!!!!"

Sommer was rammed by one of the aliens. Struggling, he stabbed the creature in the eyes and managed to escape out of it. Vesna flew to him.

"David, are you alright?"

"Yeah, but we've got to get out of here now."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Yumi!"

Turning quickly, they saw Hiver get blasted by a Radham Voltekka. The Radham tekkaman was about to attack again when it was blasted by a Taurus. As the Taurus moved on to its next target, the others went to Hiver, who wasn't moving.

"Yumi, answer me. Come on, wake up."

Sommer began to feel the strain from the disruptors more, but at the moment he didn't care.

"Damn it. Damn them all! Rahhhhhhhh!!!!"

Sommer suddenly leaped up in anger and began to fly back into the battlefield.

"David, wait!" Vesna cried. But Sommer was too blinded by rage to listen or to even care. He wanted to destroy all of them. The Radham and the Sol-Tekkas. But his attack was halted when a form appeared before him. The Scarlet Tekkaman.

"David, stop."

"But Chief, look at what happened? If they weren't here..."

"I understand, but there's nothing we can do about it except get Yumi some medical attention. There's nothing we can do here."

Sommer clenched his fists harder and for a moment, he thought about going through the Scarlet Tekkaman. But reason and his decreased energy eventually caused him to calm down and return back. Dead joined up with them a moment later.

"What about the Radham?"

Aki didn't even turn back, "It's their problem now."

As the defeated Knights returned to Earth, Yumi was put in the medical bay on the ship on life-support. David looked down at her and shut his eyes in frustration while Dead looks from afar, anger in his own eyes.

'Doesn't even matter if it's the Alliance or OZ. The military still brings pain and misery wherever they go.'

------

L3 colony.

The new base was perfectly situated within the colony in order so that no one could see its construction. Truthfully, it was there in order to hide its weapons, which were great in quantity. It was enough to hide its true forces from anyone.

Except a gundam...

The attack was immediate. By the time troops were launched, much of the base was demolished.

"Keep your guard up. If it is a gundam, we have to wait until the disruptors reduce its energy."

As the Sol-Tekkas moved through the rubble, shards of energy beam flew out of the wreckage and blasted them. As they exploded, Tekkaman Heavyarms moved out of the smoke and targeted the next set.

'They possess the ability to weaken a tekkaman with those crystals, but they can't do any actual damage until they get close. Strategically speaking, long-range combat is the only way to effectively destroy them.'

This proved true as the incoming unit were being wiped out by Heavyarms continual fire. However, the crystals on the Sol-Tekkas were still affecting him even from the distance and beginning to weaken his shots. With no other option, Heavyarms opened his Voltekka cells.

"Voltekka!"

The swarms of energy spread throughout the entire base, destroying everything in their path. Sol-Tekkas and building structures alike exploded in flashes of light and the entire base was completely destroyed. Heavyarms walked around a bit, but stumbled when he realized that his power was still fading. 'That means that backup forces are approaching. It's time.'

Heavyarms body began to flash in light rapidly and he moved into the center of the base.

"No, Trowa. Don't do it!"

Turning his head, he saw Catherine enter through the rubble and run toward him. The flashing of light on his body though, continued to increase.

"Trowa, stop it now!"

Without thinking, she suddenly struck out and punched the armored tekkaman in the face. His head didn't move, but he did nothing else as he watched her. It was then that he noticed.

'Tears? She sheds tears...for me?'

"Don't be foolish." she half garbled before breaking out fully and crying on him. Heavyarms merely looked down on her and stopped flashing. The armor vanished away and Trowa embraced the weeping woman.

"It's alright Catherine. It's alright. Your tears...stopped me."

She looked up at his, tears still streaming down. Trowa simply looked back before his head snapped upward. She looked at him, confused. "Trowa?"

She turned to the same direction to see another squad of Tauruses coming straight at them from afar. Trowa released her and stood up to face them.

"It would be best if I surrendered."

Catherine stood up as well, "But Trowa...Huh?"

Trowa was a bit surprised as well, although his face didn't show it, as the Sol-Tekkas suddenly changed course and headed to one of the docking ports leading outside the colony.

"Where are they going?" Catherine wondered out loud.

Trowa continued looking and suddenly, his tekka-set crystal shimmered on his forehead.

'Wufei. He's out there.'

He then turned to her, "I will have to leave again. My place would appear to be the battlefield."

"Trowa..." She then nodded, "Okay. But you better come back, okay?"

Trowa simply nodded and Catherine suddenly gasped now realizing that the boy had virtually no clothes on at all.

"Oop. I better get you some clothes before someone notices you. That's the last thing we need right now."

Unbeknownst to her, Trowa gave her a faint smile.

---------------

Yumi is recovering in the medical bay after the last battle. Unfortunately, this arouses heated tensions between the team.  Meanwhile, Wufei battles alone and is captured along with Duo and transported to the Lunar Base were the scientists beginning construction of a new powerful Sol-Tekka. Seeing that his involvement with OZ has caused conflicting emotions, Zechs decides to leave, but not before he is attacked by swarms of the new Sol-Tekka Doll system. Heero also hears of the scientists capture and plans on destroying them along with the entire Lunar Base. Finally, Trieze Khusrenada receives an unexpected guest. Next on Gundam Tekkaman: The Lunar Base Infiltration.