Here's another chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.
Chapter 16
It didn't take long to get to the Interplanetary Ship that they would be using. Everyone quickly moved over to the ship, bringing anything they brought with them, onto the ship. Quatre practically didn't take his eyes off his sister during the transfer from the shuttle to the ship. It wasn't too much longer before they left the shuttle behind and took off in the ship.
"I'm so grateful to have you guys accompany me, Rashid." Quatre said, once they were on their way.
"Don't mention it, Master Quatre." Rashid said, brushing the thanks off, as if it were nothing.
"It's all my fault to begin with." Quatre said, putting all the blame on himself. "If I hadn't mentioned sending the Gundams into the sun, this wouldn't have happened."
"You couldn't have possible predicted this would happen." Rashid said, trying to reassure Quatre.
"No one could have." Serena agreed with Rashid, as she kneeled in her seat to see them. "When looking back into the past, it is easy to notice these kinds of things. But, the fact of the matter is the past is the past, there is no changing it now."
"That's right." Rashid agreed with Serena. "So, right now, let's just concentrate on the immediate problem."
"Yes, you're both quite right." Quatre agreed, realizing that there were more important matters at the moment than the place of blame.
"Master Quatre, do you still think we can still catch up to the Gundam disposal block?" Auda asked, turning a bit in his seat to look over at Quatre when he asked his question.
"The block is over fifty days away from the orbit of Venus." Quatre answered. "With this Interplanetary Transport Ship, we should barely be able to catch up to it."
"Don't worry; everything will work out just fine." Ahmad said, turning so he could look past his seat to see everyone, and trying to make sure everyone stayed calm.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to return to find out that there's no more Earth." Abdul said, agreeing with the idea that they should all stay calm to get the job done right, while he was kneeling in his seat and leaning against the back of it, the same thing Serena was doing, so he could see everyone.
"Earth will still be there when we get back." Serena commented, looking over her shoulder at Abdul. When Serena turned back, she noticed the rather determined look on her brother's face, and wondered what he could be thinking about at that very moment to produce that determined look.
Quatre seemed lost in his own thoughts for awhile, seeming to be thinking about something. After awhile, he finally snapped out of his thoughts, as he stood up and started to work on the consol before him, hitting buttons, as if he were working on something, which he probably was.
"At this rate it'll take us five more days before we rendezvous with the resources disposal satellite." Quatre said, still standing, as he continued to work on the consol before him, making it so the others could see what he was talking about, "However, we could reduce our time by up to eighty hours by taking this course."
"That's great, then, let's take that course!" Ahmad said, eager to take the quickest route.
"But, considering the fuel needed to accelerate now and decelerate at the rendezvous point, with that we'd be out of propelling power by the time we got there." Auda pointed out, turning in his seat, so he could look over at Quatre.
"But, then there's no way to get back, is there?" Ahmad commented, turning in his seat to look at those behind him.
"No, there is a way to get back." Quatre explained, still standing. "If we detonated the power furnace and used the explosion as our propelling force, then the ship can return to Earth in no time." Quatre was hitting a few more buttons on his consol, so he could show the others what he meant. "We fly the ship to Venus and use the catapult effect of its gravity to hurl us towards Earth."
"Our main problem is the time we have at the rendezvous point." Auda pointed out, as he went to the consol that was next to him, on his right, as he started to hit a few buttons, working on something. "Calculations indicate that this ship will run alongside the satellite for only five seconds!"
"The question is, how many can we get on in five seconds?" Rashid pondered, asking his question aloud.
"We can't avoid some danger." Quatre pointed out, still standing. "Since Duo's periodic message hasn't come, its likely things are becoming more serious back there."
"Ok, then it's decided." Rashid said, standing up. "The satellite team will consist of Abdul, myself, and…"
"No, I'll be going alone." Quatre announced, cutting Rashid off.
"But, Master Quatre!" Rashid said, facing Quatre, clearly not liking what Quatre had just said.
"But, please, take us with you, Master Quatre!" Abdul said, getting up from his seat and looked over at Quatre, it was obvious he didn't like the idea of Quatre going along, either.
"Rashid, start the booster one last time." Quatre calmly instructed, looking over at Rashid.
"Master Quatre, I want you to know that everyone of us is ready to give our lives up for you at anytime!" Ahmad said, as he too, stood up from his seat.
It was at that moment that Quatre looked over at his sister. He was wondering why she wasn't voicing her complaints as well. But, once he saw her, he knew that she had complaints she wasn't voicing, he could see it in her eyes. She had that determined look again, the same one she had the last two times she said that she was going with them, so he knew exactly what she was thinking, so he shook his head "no" to her, silently saying that there was no way she was coming with him.
"There is nothing more precious than life in this universe." Quatre stated, a bit of a sad look on his face, as if being reminded of some kind of memory. "Sandrock made that point clear to me."
"You're right." Serena agreed, also getting a bit of a sad look, as if, she to, were remembering something. "Life is very precious."
With that said, the engines of the ship revved up, going to full, as they headed to get the Gundams back, going as fast as the ship could take them.
There was silence for awhile, as they continued on their way to catch up with the disposal satellite. No one really spoke. They were either busy with whatever they were doing, or were lost in their own thoughts. That is, until the silence was finally broken when someone spoke up.
"We found the resource disposal satellite." Abdul announced. "We've got about a hundred and eighty minutes before we reach it."
It was at that moment that Serena turned in her seat to look back at her brother. She noticed that he had this determined look on his face, but she also noticed that there seemed a bit of sadness hidden in there. Once again, she was left wondering what he could possibly be thinking about.
It didn't take too much longer for Quatre to get up out of his seat, looking as if he had come to a decision, and looked as if he were going to go and do something. So, Serena got up to follow him, wanting to know what he was up to.
"Where do you think you're going?" Quatre asked, when he noticed Serena was starting to follow him. He didn't even make it out the door, when he noticed.
"I can at least watch and see you off, right?" Serena asked. "I want to see with my own eyes weather you make it safely or not."
"You can do that here, with everyone else." Quatre said, not really wanting her being open to space itself, like he would have to be, to get ready for the transfer over to the disposal satellite.
"When I said 'see with my own eyes', I meant physically seeing with my own eyes, not seeing everything from a Vid-Screen."
Quatre didn't say anything to that for awhile, as the two of them seemed to almost be staring each other down. Not even Rashid tried to intervene this time. Then, after some time, Quatre finally spoke.
"Fine." Quatre said with a sigh, "But, as long as you stay on this ship."
"That's what I was going to do in the first place." Serena explained, as if her intentions were obvious from the start.
The two of them stared at each other for a little while longer after that. But, the staring stopped and Quatre turned to continue what he was going to do before, which was to get everything ready for him to transfer over to the disposal satellite, with Serena not too far behind him. And since his sister was going to follow him, he decided to let her help him get everything ready.
The few hours that they had to wait to catch up with the disposal satellite, didn't seem to take too long for the twins. It was probably because they were busy with getting everything ready, to notice the time pass by. But, Rashid announced when they were close, and for Quatre to be ready to fire the line over to the satellite when he gave the go-ahead to do so. And that's what the two did. Quatre stood at the controls for the machine that would fire the line, while Serena was standing next to it holding what Quatre would need to zip along the line once it was secure. All the two could do now was wait, as the ship was being worked into place, accelerating and slowing down, trying to get it to the exact speed the disposal satellite was travelling at.
"Master Quatre, we'll reach the resource disposal satellite in twenty seconds." Rashid announced, when they were almost ready, with Quatre and Serena hearing the announcement within their spacesuit's communications.
"Alright then." Quatre said, acknowledging that he had heard what Rashid said.
"If it appears too dangerous, I want the both of you to get back into the ship." Rashid said, his tone of voice made it sound like it was an order.
"Yeah, sure." Quatre said, though he didn't sound to reassuring.
"Right." Serena said, at the same time Quatre answered, but Serena sounded reassuring, unlike her brother did.
"It's here!" Quatre announced a few seconds later, when he spotted the disposal satellite.
It was at that moment, that the ship started to work on slowing down a bit, to try and find the right spot to hook onto with the line. And then sped back up a bit to match it's speed.
"Commencing countdown!" Rashid said, as Quatre got ready to fire the line, and Serena got ready to hand Quatre what he would need to quickly zip across the line. "Eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…zero!" And just as Rashid said 'zero', Quatre fired the line over to the satellite, and it hooked to the satellite without any problems.
The second the line was safely hooked to the satellite, Serena handed her brother what he would need as he quickly passed her, and attached it to the line, and quickly started to zip across the line. Serena stayed behind like she said she would, and simply watched her brother from where she was, hoping that he would make it over just fine. Unfortunately, Quatre got about halfway across when the engines of the ship had a slight problem and the ship started to go at a different speed than the satellite. This caused Serena to hold onto the machine that was used to shoot the line, that her brother had just used, because it was right next to her and within easy reach. Serena quickly looked up to see if her brother was alright. But, Serena didn't like what she saw. It would seem the sudden change in speed had thrown her brother off of his zip-line. He was heading for the satellite rather fast, but he was thrown out of control, as he was flipping towards the satellite.
"Quatre…" Serena worriedly whispered, not really knowing what to do at the moment.
"Master Quatre!" Rashid yelled out, when he noticed what had happened.
Hearing Rashid yell out to her brother seemed to snap Serena out of whatever daze she was thrown into when the ship started to go at a different speed than the satellite. Serena looked out at her brother again, taking notice that he was still flipping out of control. Making a quick decision, Serena started to run out of the ship, kicking off of the ship as hard as she could, and heading for her brother, hoping to help him out.
"Lady Serena!" Rashid yelled out, yet again, when he saw that Serena had left the ship. The next second, Rashid and the other Maganac's had to turn away from looking at Serena, for she was suddenly surrounded by a sudden flash of light. It didn't take long for the light to disappear, and all four on the ship softly gasped at what they saw. It was someone that looked like Serena, but she was dressed in a long, flowing, white dress, and seemed rather regal. But, what surprised them most was the fact that this person was out in space without a spacesuit, as if she belonged out there like that.
Serena had subconsciously transformed into Princess Serenity in her quick haste and need to reach her brother faster. Serena didn't even notice the change either; she was too focused on trying to reach Quatre. By the time Serena was almost able to touch Quatre, he had finally righted himself, so he wasn't flipping around anymore, by using the small thrusters attached to the pack that was a part of his spacesuit, but he was still heading for the satellite way to fast. It was at that moment that Serena reached out and pulled Quatre to her, holding on tight, as Serena subconsciously formed a small shield around them. It was just in time too, for if she was a couple of seconds to late, Quatre would've hit his back on the satellite. But, it didn't prevent them from hitting the satellite, it just softened the blow. And, good thing too, for Serena made it so she was the one to hit the satellite, instead of her brother. The softer impact made it so they didn't bounce back off the satellite as bad as it probably would have been and made it easier for Quatre to reach out and grab onto a part of the satellite to stop them from moving any further, as he held onto…whoever it was that had tried to help him. Everything was happening so fast, he hadn't had the time to see who it was.
"I'm…" Quatre started to say, to tell Rashid and the others that he was fine, until he took a look at who was with him. It was someone who looked an awful lot like his sister.
"Master Quatre, Lady Serena!" Rashid said with worry, wondering if the two of them were alright, especially after they started to hear Quatre say something, and then just stopped talking for some reason.
That's when it hit Quatre, after having Rashid call out to both him and his sister, that's when Quatre realized that this girl that looked a lot like his sister, actually was his sister! "Serena?" Quatre asked, wanting to make sure he was guessing right, that this really was his sister.
"Hi, Quatre." Serena answered back, confirming that Quatre was right, that his sister really was right there with him.
"We're ok." Quatre said back to Rashid, so they didn't start to panic from them not answering back for the time they had. All four back on the ship practically sighed in relief when they heard that. "We've arrived safely on the satellite." With that announcement from Quatre, the four on the ship literally did sigh in relief, as they all sat back down in their seats, the excitement over with. Quatre then turned his attention back to his sister. "We'll talk about this later." Quatre didn't sound too pleased by the fact that his sister had followed him again. All Serena gave in return was an understanding look.
"Master Quatre, it is time for us to part ways." Rashid announced, gaining Quatre's attention, and at the same time, reminding Quatre that there really wasn't much time to linger.
"Right, take care, everyone." Quatre acknowledged, as the ship started to leave the satellite, "Say 'hi' to the Goddess of Venus."
"Don't bother." Serena said, just as the ship was leaving, leaving the two on their own, Quatre also looked curious as to what she meant by that comment. "She's back on Earth." That just seemed to confuse Quatre even more, but he didn't dwell on it, for he had other things that needed to be done first.
"Come on." Quatre said, leading the way inside, showing his sister the way in.
It didn't take very long for the two to make it inside. Going through some of the hallways before they finally found themselves in the big room that held the Gundams, as they floated down towards them. At some point, Serena had changed back, once again wearing her spacesuit, no longer transformed as Princess Serenity.
"The air remaining on the ship has kept the increase of temperatures to a minimum." Quatre said, as they floated there, in front of the Gundams, Serena watched as Quatre was working on trying to get the helmet of his spacesuit off. "But, it's still hotter than a desert in here." Once Quatre got the helmet off, Serena couldn't help the giggle that came out as she watched her brother take in a rather big breath of air, and Serena giggled again as he released that breath of air in an almost similar way to a sigh of relief.
"And how would you know if it's 'hotter than a desert in here'?" Serena playfully asked, also taking off the helmet of her spacesuit.
Quatre gave his sister a playful look that said, "How do you think?" The only thing he got in return was an amused/innocent smile from his sister. Which was a hint to the fact that she was probably teasing him again. With a slight amused shack of his head, Quatre turned his attention back to the Gundams below.
"Hi." Quatre said, with a bit of a smile on his face as he looked down at his Gundam. "So, we meet again."
"So, that's them?" Serena asked, taking in the sight of the Gundams below her.
"Yeah." Quatre answered, still looking at his Gundam. The two of them stayed like that for a little while longer, until Quatre decided to get down to business again. "Come on." Quatre indicated for Serena to follow him, and the two made their way to the disposal satellite's control room, with Quatre leading the way again. Once they got there, both of them went into the room, Quatre heading straight for the controls, while Serena decided to hang back a bit in the room, with the idea to give her brother all the room he needed to work. So, she stayed about in the middle of the room, and out of Quatre's way.
"The temperature in here is above eighty degrees." Quatre said, more to himself than to his sister, as he continued to push buttons on the consol. "I'll just think of it as a bit sauna." Quatre stopped for a moment to wipe some sweet off of his face, with a bit of a sigh. Then he continued to work on the consol.
"Eighty doesn't sound like it would be 'hotter than a desert'." Serena commented, still teasing him about it.
All Quatre did was give his sister a look that said, "Ha ha, very funny." He then turned back to the consol to hit one last button. "Let's go!" Quatre said, as he headed for the door, Serena quickly following behind him as he left the control room. The two of them quickly headed down the hallway, floating the whole way. They headed a bit of the way down the hallway, before Quatre stopped behind a bit of wall that indicated that there was a door there. Quatre quickly grabbed Serena's hand to swing her around, so she was next to him. Once Serena was passed it the door closed. After the door closed, and his sister next to him, Quatre leaned against the wall, Serena quickly following her brother in this movement, as Quatre reached for a button that was on the left arm of his spacesuit, which opened a small compartment that was attached to his spacesuit, right next to the button he just pushed.
"This had better work." Quatre said, as he reached for another button that was in that small compartment on his spacesuit.
"And, what if it doesn't work?" Serena asked, looking at her brother. All she got for an answer was a look that said, "Don't even think that."
A second after Quatre gave his sister that look; he pressed the button he was going for in that little compartment. Not too long after he pressed the button, an explosion rocked the disposal satellite. The explosion did what it was suppose to, as the satellite started to turn. After the explosion, Serena continued to watch her brother, as he closed the small compartment that was on the right arm of his spacesuit, as he reached for another button that was on his left wrist. Serena noticed there seemed to be a rather small screen just above the button, that Quatre was ready to press when it was time. The small screen was showing the angle of the disposal satellite as it turned, and Quatre was waiting for the angle he wanted.
"Five…four…three…two…one…" Quatre counted down, once it was almost at the angle he wanted, then he hit the button, instead of saying zero, as another explosion went off. This explosion made it so the disposal satellite would start heading back to Earth, as well as propelling it faster in the direction that Quatre wanted it to go in. "This angle should take it straight in Earth's direction." Quatre said that for his sister's benefit.
"Should?" Serena questioned, teasing her brother a bit in the process.
"It will." Quatre corrected, realizing that his sister was trying to lighten up the mood a bit. "Well, it should get a little bit cooler now."
"I'll take that as a good thing." Serena commented, as she followed after Quatre, as the two of them moved back to the control room.
Once back in the control room, Quatre ended up going straight for the controls again, as Serena, once again, stayed in the middle of the room and out of her brother's way. Quatre worked at the controls for a little while longer until he finally spoke up, Serena finally realized what he had been doing.
"Duo's periodic message still hasn't come." Quatre said, more to himself. Then, Quatre turned to his sister. "Serena, try not to make too much noise for a little while, I'm going to send Duo a message."
"Ok." Serena agreed to the request. It's not like she was making much noise to begin with, but if her brother needed the silence, she would continue the silence for as long as he needed it.
Meanwhile, Duo and Heero were working on trying to stop the newest of the L3 colonies from dropping on Earth. While trying to do that, they bumped into Trowa, who was trying to do the same thing the two of them were trying to do. And, together, the three of them succeeded in saving the colony. But, even if they saved the colony, they were still a little late on completely stopping Dekim Barton, as he was able to get away.
"Heero, we were too late." Trowa said, referring to the fact that they couldn't completely stop Operation Meteor. Trowa seemed a bit disappointed by this.
"Don't worry about it." Heero said, seeming to brush off what Trowa said aside, as if it were nothing. "At least we were able to save the colony."
"We have you completely surrounded." Someone shouted through the locked door to the room the three were in. The shout made Heero and Trowa look over at the door. "Come out with your hands up."
"It's over." Trowa stated, thinking there was nothing else they could do.
"Not necessarily." Duo said, turning in his seat, over by the control consol he was sitting at, so he could look over at both Heero and Trowa. "I've got some mail from Quatre." Not too long after he said that, he started up the video message that he got from Quatre. And once he opened it, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It couldn't be who he thought it was standing in the background, over by the door, behind Quatre. "Why did Quatre bring Serena with him?" Duo pondered aloud, as the video message actually started, making Duo listen to what Quatre had to say.
"Hello, this is Quatre." Quatre's message started, gaining the attention of all three in the room, though Duo was the only one actually watching it, as Heero and Trowa stayed where they were and just listened. "We have just redirected the resources disposal satellite towards the Earth. It should reach the Earth's orbit within the next twenty-four hours." And, that was the end of the message, as the video ended.
"Why would Quatre have Serena with him?" Trowa wondered. "I thought he wanted to keep her away from things like this."
"That's what I'd like to know." Duo answered, turning to look over at Trowa. "I guess we're just going to have to ask them about it the next time we see them."
"Hey, Duo." Heero said, getting Duo to look over at him. "Send Quatre a message. Tell him to send Wing Zero in the HES-88 direction."
"You kidding?!" Duo said, surprised by the request.
"I'll pick up Wing Zero in space." Heero reasoned. "It'll save time that way."
"Open the door! Open it now!" The same person shouted from the other side of the door again, sounding to be a bit frustrated now. But, the three in the room continued to ignore those that were on the other side of the door. Duo was taking this moment to send Quatre Heero's message.
"Heero, why don't you take the shuttle in the fourth hanger." Trowa suggested.
"Duo, I have another favor to ask you." Heero said, turning his attention back to Duo, just as Duo started to walk over to them, now that he was finished sending the message to Quatre.
"What's the matter?" Duo asked, crossing his arms over his chest, looking rather smug since Heero keeps asking him to do stuff for him. "This isn't like you. You're suddenly asking me all these favors."
"Hit me, now!" Heero calmly commanded.
"What?!" Duo said, once again, surprised by the request. "Have you gone crazy?!"
"Never mind!" The same person shouted from the other side of the door. This put the three of them, in the room, on edge, though, Duo was the only one to show it, the other two simply looked back at the door. "Tear down the door!"
"Hurry up!" Heero calmly commanded, causing Duo to look from the door to look back over at Heero.
"Well, you asked for it." Duo said, as if he didn't have much choice in the matter, and started to crack his knuckles a bit, getting ready for what he had to do, "I'll give you my best punch!" A second after Duo finished saying that, he punched Heero square in the face. But, Heero seemed to brush the punch right off, as if it were nothing, and he followed up Duo's punch with a punch of his own, right to Duo's gut, which completely surprised Duo. "Why…why…why in the…?"
"For your own good." Heero explained, as if it were the most obvious thing. "That's one for one." Not too long after Heero said that, Duo passed out from the force of the blow. Once Duo passed out, Heero handed Duo to Trowa, "He's all yours now." Right after Heero gave Duo to Trowa, Heero proceeded to lie down on the floor, pretending to be knocked out.
"Right." Trowa agreed, as Heero went to lie down on the floor, as Trowa proceeded with hanging Duo over his left shoulder. Not too long after that, the soldiers that have been shouting on the other side of the door came running in, since they had finally got the door open. "Don't worry." Trowa said, as the soldiers came rushing in. "I've already taken care of them." Trowa then handed Duo to the first soldier that came over to him. "But, they've prevented the colony's instability."
Just a couple of seconds after Trowa finished talking, Heero quickly got up off the floor, and bolted out the door, confusing some of the soldiers in the room, while some of them followed after Heero, trying to stop him, leaving Trowa behind, with a slight smile on his face.
Hmm…no one tried to guess what I was diving into, oh well; too late to guess now, this chapter is a dead giveaway as to what I'm diving into.