Episode 10: The Death of Peace

The year is After Colony 205. Mars has destroyed the Preventer cruiser fleet, drastically altering the balance of power. On Earth, the Preventer Corps scrambles to produce a sufficient number of MS for defense. War seems inevitable, and hopes for peace are all but gone…

Mariemaia and Zhacque crept into the simulator chamber and activated two Taurus II sim units. Climbing into the cockpits, they each inserted their respective copies of the Zero system software.

"Zhacque," Mariemaia said, "I wanna see if I can handle this system."

"Ditto," Zhacque agreed. "Should we fight computer opponents or each other?"

"Well," she said, "I think I forgot to specify computer opponents, so we'll have to fight each other. At least it will be more of a challenge," she continued, entering ZERO on her pad even as Zhacque did the same.

"Let's dance," Zhacque said.

"Roger that," Mariemaia replied as her cockpit filled with yellow light. "Mission: Destruction of the other Taurus II."

"Mission: Destroy the enemy mobile suit," Zhacque said in his cockpit. "Enemy: Taurus II."

Mariemaia whipped up her beam rifle and fired. Zhacque dodged and boosted towards her, firing his own rifle. Mariemaia jetted out of the way and drew her beam sabre, discarding her rifle.

"Mariemaia, you're my enemy!" Zhacque, too, drew his sabre, and the two blades crackled as they clashed.

Mariemaia grimaced as she parried Zhacque's slashes, trying to spot an opening for a counterattack. There!

"Two Medusas pursuing us, Master Quatre," Abdul said.

"As soon as we break atmosphere, Auda and I will launch our suits," Rasid said. "Head for Earth while we hold them off. We'll catch up."

"But-" Quatre began to object, but Rasid cut him off.

"No buts, Master Quatre. You need to get back to Earth. We're not as important."

"Alright, but be careful," Quatre reluctantly conceded, stressing the last two words.

"As always, Master Quatre," Rasid replied.

"But Uncle Mikol-" Julia Esroni protested.

"No, Julia. Two Medusas are more than enough to capture an unarmed shuttle, even if it does carry a warmongering Gundam pilot," Mikol Esroni repeated. "Oni Gundam would be overkill."

"Rrrr," Julia growled.

"Launching now," Rasid said.

"Two Medusas, incoming," Auda said. The Martian MS opened fire on the two Maguanacs, who easily dodged the beams.

"They haven't deployed their defensors," Auda observed as he fired his beam rifle at one.

"Deploying them limits their mobility," Rasid told him. "They probably think they don't need the protection against outdated suits like ours."

"Hah!" Auda said, charging one of the Medusas and bashing it with his suit's Gundanium claw. "They didn't count on our modifications!"

"See, Uncle? The Medusas need help," Julia pointed out unnecessarily.

"Yes, I see," the governor of Mars conceded. "Very well, you may launch on Oni."

"Thanks, Uncle Mikol!" Julia ran out of the room, hair billowing behind her.

"There, that's done with," Rasid said, finishing off the remaining Medusa with a blast from his beam rifle. "Let's catch up with Master Quatre."

The two MS zoomed off just in time to miss meeting Oni Gundam. In her cockpit, Julia cursed, "Damn it! I was too late."

Zhacque sidestepped to avoid Mariemaia's thrust and chopped her suit's left arm off. She retaliated by taking a swing at his midsection, but Zhacque blocked it and she saw in slow motion his thrust to her cockpit. She disappeared in the blinding green light.

Then, abruptly, she was back, and she saw Zhacque's Taurus II's overhead slash coming down. She raised her sabre to parry, but Zhacque suddenly deactivated his blade just as the two beams were about to collide. The shuddering impact that occurred whenever beam projections came into contact, the vibrations that Mariemaia had anticipated and braced herself for, never came, and she was thrown off balance.

Zhacque's suit landed in a crouch at Mariemaia's Taurus II's feet. Re-igniting his beam sabre, Zhacque thrust upward.

"Simulation Terminated," said a cool feminine-neutral voice. Zhacque and Mariemaia sat in their respective cockpits, breathing hard.

"That… was something," Mariemaia said.

"… Yeah. Kind of exhilarating, terrifying, and inspiring," Zhacque replied, "all at the same time."

"Yeah. Should we try it again tomorrow?" Mariemaia asked. "I'm determined to master this thing."

"How 'bout the day after tomorrow?" Zhacque suggested.

"Sure."

That evening, Governor of Mars Mikol Esroni issued a statement: "In light of recent actions perpetrated by the so-called 'peace ambassador' from Earth Quatre Raberba Winner and his henchmen, I, with the consent of the Martian Forum, declare war on the Earth. The actions I speak of are the murders of Foreign Minister Trivel and several Martian law enforcement officials attempting to bring him to justice.

"These actions show me that the peoples of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, or at least, Winner and Darlian, do not desire peace. I include Darlian because she, if she did not order Winner to commit these acts, lacked the ability to perceive that he would commit them, and is therefore as guilty of warmongering as Winner himself. People of Earth and its colonies, I implore you; if you truly desire peace, discard Darlian and her false words of peaceful reconciliation. She is unworthy of the name Peacecraft.

"You have been warned. Please do what you can to bring Darlian and Winner to justice."

"No," Quatre said through tears of frustration. "It wasn't our fault."

Duo and Hilde stared dumbfounded at their now-blank TV screen. "Well, Duo, I s'pose you'd better get ready to fight again," Hilde said finally.

"… Yeah, I s'pose I'd better. Damnit," Duo said, "we shouldn't be needed anymore."

"They do not need to be brought to justice," Wufei said to the television, "but YOU DO!" He kicked the TV to pieces.

Trowa and Catherine sat. Catherine had a spoonful of soup halfway to her mouth. Trowa pushed back his chair and stood up, snapping Catherine out of her shocked reverie.

"Trowa! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to pack. I'll be needed soon." He looked back over his shoulder. "Don't worry; I won't be fighting for a little while yet."

Mariemaia glowered at Esroni's image. I'm gonna work twice as hard to master the Zero system now, she thought. Take that, Governor Esroni!

Heero calmly stood up from where he and Relena had watched the evening news, drew his pistol, and shot the TV. "Come on, Relena. You need to issue a counterstatement soon, so you'd better start composing one."

"Right. Yes, you're right," Relena blinked back tears and composed herself.

Zechs picked up his phone. "Lady Une? How close to finished is the construction on Tallgeese III and the Gundams?"

Roche's hands shook with rage as he grabbed the remote. "Damn you Martian bastards," he gritted out through clenched teeth. "You'll pay for this."

Zhacque continued with his kenjutsu kata as Esroni's words washed over him. "Congratulations, Esroni. You just pissed off your most dangerous enemies," he said absently. His eyes narrowed, and he performed the final movement much more fiercely than he intended. "RRAAAAAH!"

On Mars, Minister Trivel's former aide smiled and whispered, "Though I failed in my assigned mission to eliminate Quatre Raberba Winner, I managed to prevent Earth and Mars from negotiating a false peace. The war begins providing a perfect cover for our mission of true peace."

"Indeed. You have done well," a voice issued from the speaker of the comm, below the completely black screen. "Out of curiosity, how was it that you gave peace to Minister Trivel?"

"I emptied an entire clip into his chest, Lord Hades. He will have eternal peace."

"Good. If we have further need of you, we will contact you. Farewell."

"Until next we speak, My Lord."

The next day at noon, Relena held a press conference. Holding up a hand to forestall the barrage of questions, she said, "Yesterday evening, on July 17th, After Colony 205, Mikol Esroni, Governor of the Free Planet Mars, issued a declaration of war against the Earth. In making this declaration, he not only shattered beyond hope of repair the peace we have enjoyed for the past eight years, but also leveled against my person accusations of a desire for war. I deny these accusations. When have I striven for anything but peace? I defy the citizens of Earth and its colonies to remember such a time.

"In response to this hostility from Mars, what will we of the World Nation do? I have not the power to declare war without the approval of the Senate. However, I can say that the Earth will not simply roll over and admit defeat. If we are attacked, the Preventer Corps has authorization to engage the attackers. Tomorrow, I will meet with the Senate, and we will decide whether or not to go to war. You will be informed of our decision." As she stepped off of the podium, Heero materialized at her side just before the reporters clustered around them, asking questions.

"Ms. President, what will you be doing for the rest of today? Why can't you go to meet the Senate right now?"

As she walked outside, Relena answered, "I will be in a conference with Commander Une of the Preventers. She contacted me this morning saying she needed to speak with me."

Relena's limousine pulled up, and the door opened. Relena got in, followed by Heero, and the car pulled away.

Inside the limo, Heero looked sideways at Relena and said, "I thought your appointment with Lady Une wasn't until three."

"It wasn't," Relena replied, "but we moved it up after yesterday." She leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I hope I don't fall asleep in the middle of the meeting," she murmured sleepily. "I stayed up half the night working on that speech."

"I know, Relena."

"Mmmm," Relena said, closing her eyes. "Of course you do…"

Heero watched Relena's sleeping form for a moment, then tapped the little radio-type thing in his ear. "Get me Lady Une," he whispered into the mike at his wrist, then waited a moment for the call to connect. "Yes, Lady Une, this is Heero," he said quietly. "I'm afraid your meeting with Relena will have to wait until three after all."

"Colonel Marnel, we've been spotted!"

"I can see that," Tanith Marnel shouted back as she returned the fire of the Martian troopers guarding the hangar, "but keep on firing! We must capture the Medusas if we're going to hold out against them!"

"Understood!"

"Colonel, this is Lieutenant Zelazny! I've reached the control room. I'm going to try to set up a Doll program in the Medusas to attack the guards. When I give you the word, clear out. That should prevent the Dolls from firing on you by mistake."

"Roger that, Lieutenant Awaiting notification."

A few minutes later, one of the Medusas activated. "Colonel, I've done it! Get out of there now!"

"Retreat!" Marnel bawled above the noise of submachine gun fire.

"Poor bastards," Marnel said, shaking her head, when she and her Preventer squad reentered the room. Then she ordered her troops, "Get into the Medusas! We're returning to base!"

"So there are still loyal Preventers on Mars fighting against Esroni," Relena said after Lady Une explained the situation to her. "Is there any way we could get support to them?"

"Captain Roche Nattono has been asking permission to lead an attack on Mars for weeks," Lady Une said, "but there isn't much point. No matter how much of a relief force we send, the Aresian Military Service would eventually defeat our troops on Mars, whether by sheer weight of numbers, or by their Gundam."

"Colonel Marnel!" Lieutenant Zelazny said as Oni Gundam landed in front of the small force of Medusas.

"I see it, Zelazny," Marnel replied. "Deploy your defensors and prepare for battle."

"Just one?" Heero frowned. "When we escaped, they seemed to be rebuilding the five originals, plus Zero."

Julia said pityingly, "Poor fools. Do you really think those will save you?" She activated her beam bracer's sword function.

"Yes, I know, but our intelligence indicates that they had in fact already stopped production on them by the time of your escape. Using the parts from the incomplete other five to build a unique Gundam and manufacturing a mass-produced model MS must have seemed a better plan to them," Lady Une said.

"Fire! Don't let up!" Marnel shouted as Oni Gundam charged her squad.

"Engage PX!" Julia said. The beam sword emanating from the beam bracer burned bright silver.

"It's impossibly fast!" one of the Preventers said as Oni dodged his shots effortlessly before slicing him in two with the beam sword. "AAAAAGH!"

"Die, Earth scum!" Julia shouted, lashing the nearest suit with her heat rod.

"The Martian Gundam's pilot seems to be the niece of the Governor, and from what we can gather, the suit is equipped with a cockpit system that increases its combat potential," Lady Une continued.

"Like the Zero system, you mean?" Relena asked.

"Colonel Marnel, that Gundam's coming this way! I'll buy time for you to get away!"

"No, Zelazny! You can't possibly-," Marnel was cut off by the explosion. "No! You fool!" she choked.

"Not quite," Lady Une answered. "Whereas the Zero system inputs possible courses of action directly into the pilot's mind, the PX system simply speeds up human reaction time, possibly by utilizing excess processing capacity to accelerate mental processes."

"DAMN YOU!" Marnel yelled at Oni. "I'm all that's left of my squad… come and get me, you monster!" Marnel stood her ground and emptied her missile tubes and beam bayonet as Oni charged.

"PX?" Heero inquired.

"We're not sure what the letters stand for, if anything," Lady Une responded. "But the system was apparently developed on MO-V during the Eve Wars."

"Not exactly a monster," Julia said to Marnel as Oni Gundam's heat rod wrapped around the Medusa's midsection. The heat rod cut through the neo-titanium armor, resulting in a satisfactory explosion.

"Not a monster," Julia told the smoking crater that had been a Medusa. "More like a demon," she said to herself.

Continued in Episode 11: The Home Front