Chapter 16: The Replacements
Six teenaged males stared out the windows of the shuttle as the Earth began to shrink. "This is the first time I've been off of the Earth…" The Australian candidate said more to himself than to the others.
"Yeah, but those others went back and forth so often. I wonder how many trips it takes before the novelty wears off…" The American candidate said. Whether it was some accidental design, or a purposeful mirroring, the American pilot closely resembled Andrew Waltfeld in the C.E. universe.
"You know… they were never as great as they seemed to be." The European candidate said with a sneer.
"You sound pretty confident in that opinion." The African candidate growled.
"Of course he is. Caden claims to know what really happened to them." The Asian candidate said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh really? This I have to hear." The South American candidate said mockingly to Caden.
Caden ignored his mocking tone as the American candidate motioned for him to go ahead.
"I enjoy hearing other people's theories. It makes the truth seem more interesting."
"Obviously Andrew's a geek for these conspiracy theories." The Asian candidate said.
Andrew chose to ignore the Asian's comments as Caden frowned at them.
"They were about our age during the events of the Eve Wars, right?"
The others nodded.
"Let's face it: it's an undeniable fact that as you get older, your reflexes begin to slow and it becomes harder to fight. Their Gundams were technological monsters that required a pilot in top physical condition. They've been out of battle for four years. The simple fact of the matter is they got too old and too rusty. They were forcibly retired, but since they knew too much… they were more than likely taken care of and the whole 'disappeared mysteriously' leak is a cover up so the ESUN didn't have to explain to those they were close to why they weren't coming back."
Andrew smirked thoughtfully as he listened to Caden's theory, then hid a laugh behind a cough once he had finished.
"Your theory could hold weight… if it weren't for the overwhelming evidence against it." The Asian candidate snapped.
"Yamato, shut up."
"Make me, Kareem."
"All of you, shut up!" The stern voice of Milliardo snapped from the doorway separating the candidates from the rest of the shuttle.
The pilots jumped; none of them had heard him enter.
"Yes sir!" A quiver of fear entered their voices as they acknowledged the Commander's order. They had figured he would be forced to restrain himself against them because of their status, but he quickly proved them wrong, so in turn, they quickly learned to fear him.
"This had better stop soon. You'll be working together, so I expect you all to get along. Is that clear?"
The candidates nodded before the door was shut and relieved sighs were heard.
"Well, at least we have one thing in common: we're all terrified of Milliardo Peacecraft." Andrew said with a slight hint of sarcasm. The others remained silent as the shuttle made its way towards the L2 cluster.
The shuttle was docked and the candidates had been escorted to their quarters where they would be staying until they returned to the Earth.
Relena and the others were finally able to relax, to a certain extent, now that they no longer had to worry about the candidates.
"So which of us is lucky enough to have to deal with the scientists?" Sally asked worriedly as they sat in a conference room.
"Unfortunately, I have to deal with them personally." Relena said sadly.
The others tried to hide the relief from their faces, but from the frown appearing on Relena's face, it was apparent that they had failed.
"Anyways, is there any word from the colonies about their representatives?" Noin asked.
Une could only shake her head. "They guarantee me that they will have decided by the end of tomorrow though."
"By the end of tomorrow? Hmph. How many times have we heard a guarantee like that?" Milliardo said in disdain.
"Those guys must be really getting to you…" Noin noted worriedly.
"They are. They can't seem to stop arguing with each other, and they think because they were selected that they can do whatever they want." Milliardo growled in irritation.
"Don't worry, once they're all gathered and they've begun their training, they won't have time to argue and they'll quickly lose their cocky attitudes." Une said calmly.
"It'll be that rough?" Relena asked with a hint of worry in her tone.
Une nodded as she passed a booklet to Relena, who looked at it curiously. "Currently, their level of piloting practically none… we're planning on trying to get them within the range of skill that Heero and the others possessed, so yes, they will be going through very rough training." Une said almost boredly as Relena read over the planned training regime.
"I just hope once their training is complete that they don't rebel on us…" Milliardo said gravely.
The others nodded in agreement as they moved onto other matters, trying to ignore the weight of the fear that had begun to grow because of Milliardo's words.
Finally, all of the candidates had been assembled and Relena was now faced with the daunting task of dealing with the Gundam scientists.
The scientists were to be given psychological profiles of each candidate and would be instructed to design the new Gundams based on the results of each candidate's profile.
She hesitated outside of the hangar they were using to plan and design the new suits in. She knew they were still far from pleased about what had happened to the original five they had created, and she knew avoiding them had only allowed their animosity with the Council and her to grow. She steeled herself for the barrage of complaints as she walked into the hangar.
The scientists were pouring over a large sheet of blueprint paper, muttering amongst themselves when she came in. They looked up at her with varying expressions of irritation before going back to muttering to each other.
I guess business is more important than grudges…
She sighed in relief before walking over to them. "Here are the psychological profiles. Once you've finished the plans for each Gundam, the mechanics are on standby ready to begin construction. We'll need those suits up and running as soon as possible."
"Can we place our trust in these pilots?" A woman asked as she looked up from the empty blueprint sheet.
"Honestly? I don't know. I put more faith in the odds that Heero and the others will return than I do in these new candidates' skills."
The scientists scowled at her as she hit their sore spot.
"I guess we have no choice. They were selected by the ambassadors." A man said stiffly as he took the folders from her.
"We'll get on these right away."
She nodded. "Thank you." She quickly left before they could say anything about the original pilots.
Noin was waiting for her outside. "It's time to meet the candidates."
Relena rolled her eyes. "So today is going to be one of those days, huh?" She asked as she followed Noin, who chucked in amusement.
"Yes it is. How was it?" She questioned curiously.
"Surprisingly fine… I think they're too mad to care anymore."
Noin nodded in understanding as she paused outside a conference room. "You and Milliardo are on your own. Good luck in there." She said as she put a comforting hand on Relena's shoulder before leaving to attend to her other duties.
Relena sighed as she composed herself and entered.
Some of the candidates looked at her with varying degrees of disinterest, while others seemed nervous to be in the presence of the woman in charge of the entire Earth Sphere.
Milliardo nodded to her before offering her the seat at the head of the table. He stood behind her as she looked around at the candidates.
"Welcome into the employ of the ESUN. I hope you will be able to stay with us, although that means there will be high expectations of you." She said while making sure the warning was clear in her tone.
Their expressions meant they understood her: if they screwed up, even once, they were gone.
"Now, since you've gotten here, you've been brought up to speed on everything we've managed to keep from the media about your predecessors. You've got a pretty big gap to fill, so you will be going through some intensive training over the next several weeks. If you can't take it, you will be sent home. Do you have any questions?" She asked sternly, causing even those who had disinterested expressions become nervous.
Andrew raised his hand and quickly lowered it nervously when Relena's gaze turned to him. "I was just wondering what would happen to us if those other pilots returned."
"You will provide backup for them in situations that call for it." She said casually.
Caden scoffed as he looked across the table at Andrew. "Honestly, what makes you believe they will be back?"
Andrew frowned at Caden. "You were looking at the same information I was, weren't you?" He asked in irritation.
Caden and the others nodded. "All that happened was they simply vanished with an unidentified anomaly. We don't know anything besides that. They could still be alive and could return at any time. We should at least know what to expect if they do."
Caden rolled his eyes as Relena nodded in agreement.
"We have contingency plans for every possible scenario, so you don't have to worry about it. Is that all?" She asked as she glanced around to the others.
They glanced at each other before nodding.
"Good. You're dismissed. We will inform you when the Gundams are functional."
They nodded and left the room.
Relena sighed as she stood. "I really hope that Caden boy doesn't give us any trouble…"
Milliardo nodded as they began going separate ways.
"Where are you going?" She questioned. "I have some things to do before the next meeting. I'll meet you there." He said, glancing back at her.
She simply nodded and walked away.
Milliardo found his way to a hangar that had been deemed off-limits. He slipped inside and nodded to Noin.
"Are you sure you want to do this behind her back?" She questioned.
He nodded. "It would be best to have an experienced fighter aiding them…" He said as he stared up at the newly rebuilt Tallgeese III…
Author's Note: Look who's back! Huzzah! My dad has a computer that I'm bumming off him every Monday to upload. Hopefully. Things will still be erratic when moving time comes, but for now... enjoy the newest chapter of Gundam! And for those of you impatient with these chapters, rejoice! Chapter 17 will return action to the Gundam Seed universe!
Author's Reply: I am already aware of some of the flaws of this story, and will go back to try to correct them once I've gotten everything uploaded, if it's possible to correct them without screwing things up. Thanks for continuing to review even though things have been at a standstill for such a long time!