Disclaimer: See previous chapters
Chap. 56
Peacemillion"Something is approaching from behind."
On the bridge of the battlestation, Noin and Howard looked over as the crewman made the announcement.
"What?"
"It appears to be a shuttle of some sort." He then paused. "Wait...Make that two."
"The enemy?" Noin questioned.
Howard shook his head, "No, they would have opened fire by now?"
The crewman continued his radar scan. "I've ID'd the second shuttle. It's the one the Space Knights borrowed."
"Well that one's out of the way. Now for the other one."
Noin moved to the communication relay. "To the approaching shuttle, this is the Peacemillion. Please identify yourselves."
A female voice replied over the comm. "I thought you might be there, Noin."
"Sally Po!"
The scream lit up to show Sally's smiling face. "I brought some powerful allies with me. May I have permission to dock?"
Noin nodded in response. "Permission granted."
Minutes later, the two shuttles docked inside the Peacemillion and the two groups met together inside along with Quatre, Trowa and Duo. The gundam tekkamen were rejoined once again.
"Heero! Wufei!" Quatre greeted the two gundams as they entered in.
"It's amazing that you guys made it here without being shot down." Duo added.
"It appears that I'll have to inconvenience you here." Wufei spoke quietly.
"That's no problem." Quatre reassured. "I'm glad that you came. All of you."
At that point, the Space Knights, with the exception of D-Boy exited from the docking area and joined them in the bay. Quatre greeted them just as warmly.
"So I guess you found him after all." Duo smiled at the sight of David. His eyes wavered a bit through them. "Where's Dead End?"
This caused all of their faces to become downcast. "It's a long story." Anita whispered. A medical crew soon dashed out of the shuttle, wheeling Miyuki's unconscious body to the medical bay. D-Boy emerged behind them a moment later.
"Is she okay?" Yumi asked.
D answered simply. "She is unchanged."
Despite his answer, Noal felt a sense of pity for the man. He saw past D-Boy's response and demeanor and knew that the he was very much worried over his beloved sister.
"Who is she?" Duo asked.
"My sister, Miyuki. And the predecessor of you gundams."
This caused all of them, minus Heero and Trowa, to gasp in surprise. "What?" Duo pressed. "Our predecessor?"
"We have much to discuss."
D-Boy and Noal explained to them what they had discovered on the asteroid laboratory. The group was stunned by the revelation, but even more so when Sally informed them of the combined force of Sol-Tekka Dolls and Radham.
Great." Goliate sighed. "Just when things couldn't get any worse, they do."
Hayato frowned. "It doesn't make since. Why would the Dolls just join the Radham?"
"They must have been programmed to do that." Quatre answered. "That's the only logical explanation."
"If that is true, then it means the Radham are also using Doll technology." Noal spoke. "That in itself is a serious problem."
Howard decided to step in now. "Speaking of problems, the Libra is on the move. With such a weapon, the White Fang may become unstoppable."
"If we are to stop them, then somehow we'll have to take it down." Quatre responded.
"Hold on." Natasha said suddenly. "Don't you think we should do something about the Radham first?"
"There may not be time for it." Wufei argued. "If Libra is already on the move, they should be stopped immediately."
Noal held up his hand. "I think we should sort things out first. While it is true that the White Fang is presenting itself as a major threat, I don't think that the Radham attacks recently are random. Especially not with those tekkamen you guys have been talking about."
Silence overcame them as they saw the true problem they had now. The White Fang with Libra were already making moves against the Earth. But the Radham attack tactics would only get worse if they didn't do something about them now.
"It would appear that we have different enemies." Heero stated.
Space
Relena sat in silence in the passenger area of the shuttle. Her destination and mission was clear. She had to reach her brother and talk him out of fighting against the Earth. It didn't make sense as to why he would even do so. It probably would have made more sense if he were using his former alias, Zechs Marquise. But he was using his true name here; Milliardo Peacecraft. She turned toward the window and looked out at the drifting earth.
"Never forget how beautiful the Earth looks from afar."
'Father' Relena sighed. 'Is this how you felt, trying to stop meaningless violence and promote peace?' She turned her head away. She had to be ready for her confrontation with Milliardo. She had to talk him out of this…madness. But she didn't know if she could do it. She was only one person. She wasn't even the Queen of the Earth Sphere anymore. One person against an entire army. 'No. I must.' She had to do something about this regardless. She had to be strong.
"Heero…"
Circus, Colony L3
Katherine sat near the lion cage, petting the huge cat as she waited for her turn to perform. The big cat growled softly as she stroked it mane.
"There, there now." she whispered. "With Trowa gone, you must be lonely." In truth, she was the one that missed her brother since his departure with Quatre. He barely came back to her last time and when he did, he had lost his memories. Now he was gone, to fight once again. And that made it harder for her because there was a good chance that he wouldn't come back.
"Katherine!"
Hearing the ringmaster's call, Katherine stood up as he approached from the inner tent.
"Yes?"
"About this next event…" he started. But before he could continue with what he wanted to say, the lion had jumped up against the cage, roaring aloud. Katherine backed away and soon all the animals when crazy.
"Boss. What…?"
Her unfinished question was soon answered when sounds of rocket fire roared from the outside. The two of them went outside to look and found themselves cornered in by a group of Taurus Sol-Tekkas.
"Don't try anything!" a voice came out from one of the Sol-Tekka. "We, the space arms of OZ are now occupying this colony."
Since the destruction of the space fortress Barge and the takeover of the lunar base, the remaining OZ forces in space were scattered across. Cornered in by both the White Fang and unexpected attacks from Radham, the soldiers became desperate. So desperate that they resorted to capturing a colony with the use of the Dolls.
"What? How dare they..."
A transmission soon announced from the lead soldier, the one who had spoke to Katherine earlier. "To the White Fang. We, the OZ space forces, now occupy L-3's C421 Colony. We demand that you return that what you took from us by force - the Libra." The cannon slowly rose up to the circus tent. "If you refuse, we cannot guarantee the safety of these colonists."
Unknown
Within the deep abyss of the unknown, Slayer and Dead walked through the path littered with flashing lights and pulsating blobs. There were also areas in it that appeared to be rejuvenating and healing from some sort of massive damage. Shirken, Shrapnel and Sliver followed them from further behind while Dead followed close to his dark sister from behind.
"What is this place?"
Slayer didn't stop walking as she answered him. "This is our home for the time being. When Earth becomes ours, that will become our home."
Dead remained silent after that, taking in her words. He knew what she meant. It would be what was almost accomplished during the First Radham War. The Radham would turn everyone on Earth into tekkamen. Slayer soon stopped before a massive column-like wall and Dead ceased in his movement as well. He heard the steps of the other tekkamen stop from behind and soon Slayer knelt down. As Dead looked at her in confusion, a towering image flashed before them.
"Welcome back, my children."
"Master. This is the one I informed you about." Slayer spoke. She stood up, keeping her head lowered and she motioned to Dead. "My brother, Tekkaman Dead."
The figure shifted slightly, indicating that it was now looking at him. "Welcome, Tekkaman Dead."
Dead was simply in awe at the sight of the figure and remained still. Slayer looked over at him and chuckled.
"It's okay, Dead. No need to be getting shy now."
Dead looked over at her and then back. The giant figure continued to gaze down at him awhile longer and then looked back over to Slayer.
"Are you sure about him? Can he really be one of us?"
Slayer turned to her master, "Yes, he can. He has fought the Space Knights once already and nearly crippled them. He even bested Tekkaman Blade."
"Nevertheless, he was defeated and then he joined the Space Knights. How can I trust one who loyalties change?"
"But master…"
The creature suddenly boomed. "Silence!"
Slayer lowered her head, much to Dead's surprise. Whoever this creature was, he was definitely not shy about showing who was the boss. Nevertheless, he continued, in a lower tone.
"He must prove himself, no?"
Slayer nodded from her lowered position. "Yes, master."
The creature returned his attention to Dead. "A warrior of your power and skill would add nicely to our ranks. But loyalty is vital, don't you think Dead?"
Dead nodded slowly and the creature continued. "Then you will carry out an assignment to prove your worth. You are to go and destroy the Space Knight Command Center. It has recently suffered damage thanks to Sliver, but it must be complete. Do this and you will be one of us."
Dead remained silent. 'Attack the Command Center?' This was obviously a test to prove his loyalty; that was clear from the start. But could he really go back there and destroy the place and the people that took him in? His fist clenched for a moment, but when he looked over at Slayer, he saw her nod to him reassuringly. His hand unclenched and then he knelt down and bowed to the figure.
"As you wish…master."
Libra
"Damn you OZ! How cowardly can you get?"
The bridge crew on the Libra had just been informed of the OZ takeover of the colony. At this, Quinze erupted with anger at the act done by the soldiers.
"We can't abandon them!" one of the crewmembers stated.
A second crewman chimed in. "But we can't just hand over this ship either."
A burst of laughter suddenly interrupts them. Turning to the source, they found that it was Dorothy, who was chuckling aloud.
"It means we're one step closer to victory. Right, Mr. Milliardo?"
Quinze blinked at the young girl. "What do you mean, Miss Dorothy?"
Dorothy ceased her laughter, but continued to smile. "They chose to act foolishly and take hostages. The colonists will surely direct their anger towards OZ now."
Milliardo, who had silent throughout the entire exchange, ordered. "Direct the Libra towards C421. We'll be firing in addition to the course change. Notify all those involved."
The crewman was shocked by the order, but nevertheless. "Roger..."
Shocked as well, Quinze wheeled on the commander. "Commander Milliardo! If we use the array on OZ, we'll annihilate the colony as well!"
"This is war." Dorothy responded to his outburst. "You must be prepared to sacrifice anything for victory."
Quinze looked back at Milliardo and saw that he said nothing in protest, which only meant that he agreed with Dorothy. They were going to the colony. And they were going to use their most destructive weapon.
Peacemillion
The group was all listening to the announcement made by the OZ soldiers about the capture of the colony. Needless to say, that just made things worse at that moment.
"They've gotten indiscriminate." Duo muttered.
Quatre nodded in agreement. "Without anywhere to run, they've been cornered by the White Fang."
Wufei folded his arms. "That's no surprise. That's the only thing weaklings who rely on mobile dolls can manage."
"What's going to happen now?" Yumi wondered aloud.
"Zechs won't bend to their will." Heero answered simply. "The colony will be abandoned."
Anita turned to him. "But...the colonists..."
"Will be left behind as well."
"Zechs..." Noin whispered to herself. This just didn't make sense to her. Everything that Zechs was doing now was so different than from what she knew him to be. 'How could he have changed so much? There...must be a reason...' Suddenly, one of the crewmen called up from his station.
"Hey. Libra's heading toward the colony now."
Heero turned his head to the screen, which showed the Libra's flight path. "Only changed its course? They must be planning to used their main array."
"Are they going to destroy the colony as well?" Duo exclaimed.
"That's insane!" Hayato added.
Noin shook her head. "That can't be. Zechs isn't like that."
Quatre turned to her and softly said. "I can understand your desire to believe in him, but he IS the leader of the White Fang."
Suddenly, Trowa, who had been silent throughout the entire exchange, walked away from where had been sitting and exited toward the docking bay. The others watched him in surprise until Quatre looked where he at where he had been sitting. It was a recording of the OZ soldier's earlier demands. But what Quatre saw were some of the hostages that were being behind them and one person caught his attention just as it did Trowa's.
Katherine...
"He's going to save Katherine."
Duo looked over at him and after a minute of thought, he grinned. "I guess that means we're going too, eh?"
"There's no point in intervening." Wufei replied.
Quatre blinked at the response, but moved for the exit. "Well, I'm going anyway."
As Duo and Quatre walked out after their comrade, Yumi got up from her seat as well. "I'll go too."
"Hold it Yumi." Noal called. "Wufei is right. There's no reason in going."
Yumi frowned slightly. "But they may need our help. I'm going." With that, Yumi stopped out after the other, with Hayato following her as usual.
"Aren't you worried about them?" Sally asked Noal.
Noal shrugged. "They may be kids, but they can handle themselves. Probably better than we can."
"What if Libra chooses to fire?"
"We aren't going to be the ones to stop it." Heero answered.
Space Knight Command Center
Around the base, work was being done to repair the center from the damage of the earlier Radham attack. Fortunately, the construction crews were already ready before hand and the repairs were nearly complete. In the command room, Honda had entered in to deliver the reports on the repairs to Aki while Milla sat at one of the computer terminals, doing her own work.
"I've got to say." Honda spoke out after the delivery. "I didn't expect things to be this easy."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, Trieze actually leaving us be."
Aki tilted her head a bit. "Trieze has his own problems to deal with. Paranoia just isn't one of them.
"Heh, I see your point." He looked up at the main screen. "So what now?"
Aki's gaze mirrored his toward the screen. "We have to find the others and tell them it's safe to come back now."
"That's going to be difficult." Milla called out. "They're all scattered around space. And I don't think we have the resources to find them all."
"Hey. I have something on radar." Milla said suddenly. The two of them looked over at her as she brought the image up on radar. From the far side of the base, a single figure was making a slow stride straight toward them. Milla zoomed in on the figure until they were able to identify it.
"It's Dead End."
Honda let out a sigh. "Well that's one down."
Aki however, kept her eyes glued to the screen. "Wait. Something's wrong. Why is he in his tekka-mode?"
Dead continued his walk toward the base. When he reached a certain distance though, he raised his clawed-armored hand and a slew of energy beam shot out and hit the command center. Newly repaired formations now crashed to the ground as fresh debris. The three knights looked on in surprise.
"What? He's attacking us?" Milla exclaimed.
"That's not all." The older man muttered. "Look."
From behind Dead, new, larger figures emerged behind him and stomped toward the base, shrieking and roaring as they charged in to attack.
"Radham?" Milla cried out. "He's joined the Radham?"
Aki soon went into full commander mode and hit the intercom. "All crews report to their battlestations immediately." Turning to Honda, she stood out of her seat. "Honda, is Pegasus ready?"
"Not yet. The power regulator in it is still in flux. It'll take a day for it to sort out."
Aki frowned briefly before she lifted her hand, summoning her ruby crystal. "Then I'll have to make this quick then."
Milla jumped up. "Aki, no. Last time you also didn't make it back."
Aki gazed up at the screen and the attacking Radham. "I just need to hold myself together long enough to stop them."
"But…Dead…"
"There's no other choice." she replied. Focusing herself onto the task at hand, she lifted the crystal high in the air. The crystal unfolded into its triangular shape and shone as she summoned its power.
"Tek-Setta!"
Romefeller
"Rejoice, your Excellency. We will recover the Libra. And then we'll dispatch-"
The transmission soon cut off and Trieze moved away. The OZ soldiers had informed him of the takeover but Trieze was less than pleased with them. Moving toward the window, he gazed out into the sky.
"Is it all right to leave it like that?" an aide asked him from behind.
Trieze lowered his head slightly. "I'm away for just a short while and OZ changes like this?"
The aide repeats his action, only lowers his head more. "Yes, sir."
Turning inside, Trieze looked back at the communication terminal. "I do not give them permission to use the name of OZ, this time." His eyes narrowed. "Tell them thusly."
Colony L3
"Excommunicated! What do you mean?"
The soldier informed his commander of the decision made by Trieze. Unfortunately, it wasn't what they expected. They had just been cut off and were now declared rebels.
"We're doing this for his Excellency!" he raved. "Why? Why won't he accept what we're doing? Does he mean to let the White Fangs gain control of space?"
Suddenly, another soldier rushed over to them. "Sir, we have trouble. Our dolls are being attacked. There appears to be gundam involved."
"A...gundam!"
True to those words, outside the colony, the Sol-Tekka Dolls were locked in a fierce battle with Tekkaman Sandrock, Tekkaman Hiver and Trowa, who was using a Taurus Sol-Tekka. Though Sandrock and Hiver did most of the fighting, they only backed up Trowa, who was in the thick of the fighting. Sandrock allowed Trowa to fight, but made sure that no harm to his comrade. However, that was proving to be difficult with the number of Dolls that were attacking them not to mention the number of disrupter crystals that were actively weakening him. Also, they were working hard to keep the fight from getting closer to the colony.
As the fight raged on, Trowa used his piloting skills to blast away the dolls with the energy cannon. Yet he found himself in question. He still felt the blank in his mind that came when he fought in the Sol-Tekka. Not as to where he developed the skills for it, but why he was even piloting it at all. He felt...slow, and sluggish. Blasting away the dolls as he was felt normal, but there was something amiss. As if he could do so much more.
Inside the colony, the colonists were being herded together by the soldiers inside. With the gundam battling outside, they were forced to rethink their strategy in the case that it didn't go their way.
"Get in line!" One of the soldiers barked. "Keep the line straight!"
Another explosion was heard from outside, causing him to look upward. "That's going on outside?"
"I hear that a gundam is fighting the dolls out there." the soldier next to him commented.
From the line, Katherine overheard their conversation. "A gundam?"
Fron in front of her, the ringmaster turned his head. "What about them?"
"I don't know. But I'm getting tired of this." Frustrated, Katherine stepped out and confronted the soldiers. "We just want to live in peace."
The soldiers turned to her. "You! We told you no talking!"
But Katherine didn't back down. "Your bluff's not working!"
Enraged, the soldier snapped his arm up and swung, but before the blow could hit, the ringmaster stepped in the way and was floored by the blow. Katherine gasped and knelt down to him.
"Boss!"
That's enough Katherine." he beckoned as he came up from the floor. "Just do as they say."
Katherine seemed to concede and the soldier moved away disgruntled. However, she wasn't finished speaking.
"But...This is wrong! Trying to achieve everything through force!"
He nodded. "You're absolutely right. But no one will set things right. People want to live, regardless of it." His eyes rose to the colony sky. "But Trowa...Trowa is risking his life to find what is right. That is why he fights, regardless of the danger."
"Trowa..."
Back outside, the battle was intensifying between the Dolls, Sandrock and Trowa. Unfortunately for them though, the battle had come right over the colony and the two fighters were now more cautious in attacks, both theirs and the Dolls. Trowa stationed himself on the colony, firing defensively at the enemy while Sandrock flew through the thick of the swarm, slicing them up before they could turn their attention to Trowa. Within one of the manned Sol-Tekka's…
"Why has a gundam appeared here? And a Space Knight too? Have they joined with the White Fang?" Seeing this outraged the pilot and he pointed his gun at the colony.
"Then they've abandoned the colony. Their deaths are on your heads!"
The gun was suddenly sliced away and the soldier turned to see Hiver diving right at him, ready to impale him. The soldier let out a cry and Hiver suddenly paused. 'This one…isn't a doll.' Hiver noticed with surprise. It hadn't occurred to her that she might have been fighting manned units as well. 'What…' Thought of possible deaths entered her mind now. It wasn't like with the Radham. These were human beings. Also, she saw that Trowa and Sandrock were fighting without such a restraint. 'Could they not be aware? Or…are they…and they don't care?' Stunned, Hiver floated away and then flew off leaving the OZ soldier surprised that he was still alive.
"What?"
Meanwhile Trowa was doing well on his own, but the Dolls were beginning to overwhelm him. Thanks to his unconscious skill, he was able to skip across and dodge the energy beams that came at him, but all it did was hammer in on the colony. Acting fast, Trowa fired a salvo of beams with his cannon, taking out four of them consecutively. But he still felt…something was of. He was moving far slower than he remembered. 'Than I…remember…' He began to struggle with his mind briefly before he cleared his thoughts. However, it proved a little late as a beam hit him from the side.
"Trowa!"
Hiver shot over to Trowa to see if he was okay. Fortunately he was, but the blast had damaged his boosters, leaving him without the ability to fly and grounded to the colony. The two of them looked up to see the remained horde of Dolls descending upon them and firing, hitting the colony in the process.
"Go on." Trowa told her. "I'll be okay here."
Hiver turned to him in question, but let it go and flew back off into the fight to join Sandrock. Trowa frowned to himself as he realized that he had been distracted by something. He began to fire back when his 'distraction' floated right up in front of him. Blinking, Trowa released the control and grabbed it.
"My…crystal…."
Sandrock overheard the light call of his friend through his tekka-set and realized that Trowa recalled his crystal. 'Does he remember?' But even if he did, Trowa wouldn't be able to transform. The disrupters on the Dolls would prevent him from doing so and may even shatter the crystal itself. Flaring his boosters, Sandrock shot through the attacking Dolls and closed in on his comrade. A group of Dolls cut off his approach and fired at the incoming tekkaman.
"Stand aside now!"
Sandrock suddenly burst into a flare of golden energy and shot straight through them, turning them into debris with his crystal hawk. Sandrock continued to soar toward the colony, seemingly about to hit it. But in a flash, his crystal hawk ceased and Sandrock made a sharp turn straight at Trowa. Trowa turned in surprise as Sandrock suddenly grabbed hold of him and propelled him off the side of the colony. Hiver, who had changed from attacking to diverting the attacks, looked at Sandrock in shock at his act, but then Sandrock turned back to the attacking Dolls and gripped his lancers. The curved weapon shimmered and soon glowed in burning red. Then with a cry, Sandrock hurled the lancer and they sliced right through every Doll they came in contact with. Turning back to the drifting Trowa, Sandrock cried out.
"Trowa, Tek-Set now!"
Trowa blinked, but soon realized what Sandrock had done. By pushing him away, he moved Trowa out of the way of the disrupter crystals. At the same time, Sandrock kept them occupied on him in order to give him time. 'Time for what?' Trowa looked back at his crystal. He didn't remember how he had even called it forth, but something deep in him told him to do something. Something that was a part of him. Looking at the colony, he realized he had to act now if he was to save it and Katherine.
"Tek…Tek-Setta!"
The crystal flashed to life and the Sol-Tekka exploded in a orange-red light. The light streaked across the sky back toward the colony, where Trowa was endowed once again with his gundamium armor, quantum energy weapons, and superhuman power, transforming him in the gundam tekkaman Heavyarm. The eyes of the tekkaman shimmered and he raised his key weapon; an energy gatling gun. Heavyarm wasted no time in firing upon the Dolls, tearing them to shreds with his weapon. With the combined efforts of the tekkamen, the Dolls were soon destroyed.
"Trowa." Sandrock called to him. "Are you alright?"
Heavyarm seemed to remain still for a moment and then looked over at Sandrock.
"Return to the kind person that you once were. Please..."
"You've returned to the kind person you were, Quatre."
Within his armor, Quatre blinked in surprise. "Trowa. Your memories…they've returned."
Heavyarm nodded. "Let's go. Katherine is waiting for us."
Inside the colony…
"What? The Taurus units have been completely destroyed?" When the soldier verified this, the commander frowned. "Then we'll use the colonists as hostages until we get out. Use extreme caution while moving the Taurus's to the outer hatch."
Suddenly, a heavy thud was heard from outside. The commander and the soldier exited out to see a pile of smoke in the distance where the Sol-Tekka guards once stood. One of them escaped the smoke, firing in it, but it was suddenly sliced apart by an unseen force
"What the hell…!"
"Hell is a good choice of words." a voice came up from within. From before the fallen Sol-Tekka, a dark figure materialized from out of nowhere, bearing a wicked scythe lancer and armored wings. The figure was all too familiar to them. Gundam Tekkaman Hellscythe.
"Sorry for sneaking in like this, but it just happens to be my specialty." Hellscythe joked shortly. His voice soon changed angrily and he menacingly approached them with his scythe. "You won't harm the colonies anymore."
The soldiers, now weaponless, raised their hands and immediately surrendered. Hiver and Sandrock joined him moments later and the OZ soldiers were all subdued. The colonists were now free and Katherine came over to see Trowa. Heavyarm simply looked over at her and nodded, to which she nodded back. However…
"Yumi, can you hear me?" Hayato called through the communication line.
Hiver answered back. "Yeah. What's wrong?"
"Libra's still coming!"
Tekkaman Dead stood in his place outside the command center, letting the Radham do most of the attacking. He knew that the others weren't there, but expected more resistance. After all, the Space Knights seemed to excel in that category. It was one of the things he learned… Dead lowered his head, trying to dismiss the thoughts of companionship that he had developed here. Although his best friend was David, he still had one or two fond thoughts of the others. Even Natasha, who he believed he could never forgive at one time for what her father did. But what her father did had nothing to do with her.
'Stop it!' he growled to himself. He was doing this to be with his sister. She was his family and that was that. Her enemies were his. As his thoughts were locked in this struggle, an explosion soon caught his attention. Realizing that it was a Radham that had exploded, he saw that he was right about the power of the Space Knights. Lift his head, he saw her. A sole crimson tekkaman that was ripping right through the horde of Radham and tearing them to pieces, without a trace of mercy.
'Red Devil…'That name… It was what he had called her long ago and given the way she fought, that name was more than justified. He remembered the anger and hatred he felt for the Space Knights then and he began to use that to dispel the nagging thoughts that had been stopping him. Clenching his sword-lancer, his boosters opened and flared to life.
'Time to give the devil…her due!'
Yet as he propelled himself into the fight, he was unaware of the single human figure that was watching the battle from afar. A large, burly man watched the oncoming battle with interest. 'Dead is fighting as he said he would. And as long as he does, he won't have to worry about me.' The figure grinned, all the while holding his own tekka-set crystal.
Libra
The massive battlestation moved into position, seemingly eclipsing the colony before it. On the bridge, the crews went to work on their assignments until finally…
"Main array charge is complete. We can fire at any time."
Milliardo kept his gaze on the screen, showing the colony in sight. Just then, another crewman called out.
"Wait! There's a civilian shuttle at 1 o'clock!"
Quinze blinked in surprise. "What!"
The screen switched over to the side of the colony, where the Earth was clearly seen in the background. Indeed, a small shuttle was flying right toward the battlestation. The screen soon flickered and the face of Relena came up.
"Brother... this is Relena."
Dorothy couldn't help but grin broadly. 'Just as I'd thought. You've finally come, Miss Relena. But you're too late.' Millardo simply stared at the screen at his sister.
"What you're doing is wrong." she stated simply.
'Right to the point' Milliardo thought. However, he didn't have time for this right now. Staring coolly at her, he warned. "Pull back, Relena."
The young woman returned the gaze equally. "No, I won't"
"Your shuttle is no obstacle for the main array." Milliardo spoke back. "Your death will be in vain."
"I don't care." Relena shot back. "But let me say this. Using all this force to conquer people... Aren't you ashamed to use the Peacecraft name?"
Milliardo was silent for a moment and then sighed. "Is that all you have to say?"
"Brother!"
Cutting her off, the silver-haired commander ordered. "Fire the array. Begin the countdown. "
Peacemillion
"We've liberated the colony!" Hellscythe called back from the colony. "Tell the White Fang to stop their attack!"
Nearby, Wufei answered him. "No need to. What you did was a waste of time."
"What?"
Heero added on to Wufei's comment. "Libra was never targeting the colony."
The disbelief was clear in the dark tekkaman's voice. "Then...where...? What the heck…?"
Libra
"Ten seconds remaining."
Relena began to plea to him. "Brother! Why are you attacking the colonies! Stop this please! Open your eyes!"
"My eyes are open."
"3... 2... 1... 0!"
The center of the battlestation began to shimmer and sparkle with energy. The core glowed in a blue-white light, shining off the entire front of the station.
"Brother!"
"Fire."
A massive beam erupted out and flew straight. Relena's eyes widened as the beam closed in… and missed her completely. The beam continued onward, passing the colony as well and heading straight for Earth. The beam just barely nicked the Space Ring and smashed down onto a remote area of the Earth, exploding with tremendous force.
"They missed?" Sally said in disbelief.
Noin was equally confused. "Was that a warning shot?"
No.…Nothing like that." Heero said.
Wufei nodded. "The Libra targeted the earth."
From behind, Noal looked down and sighed. "Is this truly what it has come down to? Fighting the Radham and the White Fang?"
"It's troubling." Anita added. "To fight against the Radham and humans."
Unknown to them all, D-Boy had also been watching from behind. Things were more than what they seemed and he hoped that they would be able to sort it out before it was too late. But the gundam are dead set in fight against the White Fang and after Milliardo display of power with the Libra, they were justified in doing so. But the Radham were moving in the shadows now, indicating that something big was on the horizon and it may threaten all of them.
"Different enemies…"
Within the colony, the tekkamen too were stunned by the display of the Libra and its target as well.
"Now they've done it." Hellscythe muttered.
"Are we truly powerless?" Sandrock added with despair.
"Perhaps."
Nearby, Katherine simply gazed at Heavyarm, who made the aforementioned comment. 'I believe in you.' She thought, placing her hands together. 'Don't let this miserable war continue any longer. And somehow... create a world of peace for us.'
Aboard the Libra, Dorothy gloated at the Libra's sheer power.
"Incredible! People must now tremble at the sight of this power we possess. The test of the main array was a great success!
Milliardo however, kept his voice neutral. "That was not a test. It's a challenge…issued to Treize."
Dorothy reigned in on her enthusiasm a notch and nodded to him. "Yes, of course."
Quinze turned in from the terminal. "The main array's regulator circuit appears to have overloaded. We're currently compensating for it now."
Milliardo turned to him. "Make it quick. The enemy will come soon."
"The enemy?" Quinze questioned. "And who would that be?"
Turning his head back to the screen, Milliardo answered him. "The gundams."
From outside, Relena's shuttle continued to approach the Libra, with Relena having every intent in persuading her brother from stopping this madness before it went too far. But even she couldn't help the fact…that it already has.
Dead End battles Aki, but his indecision puts him in the target path of Tekkaman Shrapnel. Relena, now a captive aboard the Libra, continues to try to persuade her brother to stop fighting, but Milliardo is dead set in fighting against the earth. The Space Knight and gundam realize that their own hesitations and reasons for fighting may put them at odds and to settle it, a duel is initiated between Heero and D-Boy. Next on Gundam Tekkaman: Odds and Evens