Chapter 2 To Go or Not to Go?
The sun was poking out from above the horizon bathing the ocean in warm late summer sunlight as Heero Yuy stepped out of the house and into the three car garage. For the most part it seemed like the run of the mill garage not that different than any other. A normal four door red car near the door with a black SUV in the center spot and two motorcycles one black with silver highlights the other red with white sitting at the far end. The back wall had a tool bench with every tool in its proper place either hanging on the wall or in the tool box. The one item which stood out was a large metal cage located along the back wall behind the parked motorcycles. Inside the cages where different safes and locks and inside those safes where enough guns and weapons to supply a squad of Special Forces Orb Marines. Heero didn't think twice as he opened the garage door before getting onto his black and silver motorcycle. After checking to make sure that his backpack was safely secured he put on his helmet and took off down the driveway. His mind was else ware as he moved through the streets of the capital city of the ORB union on his way toward the main military base. The streets where just beginning to fill up with people heading to work and to school. He had woken up the moment the Zaft ship jumped back to this universe and sat by his computer just waiting for the information about his old universe to come in, the news wasn't good.
The ride gave him time to clear his head as the heads up display on his helmet's visor gave him up to the minute traffic information allowing him to plot multiple routes which would lead him into the base. He would always take a different path everyday this was just a habit of his years training as an assassin and as a gundam pilot. He would weave in and out of traffic as he moved down one of the highways which wrapped around the island nation. Finally he reached his exit as he moved down side streets past buildings which were still being repaired from the second invasion. Finally he reached the outskirts of the main military base by the harbor's edge before turning toward E gate before coming to a stop.
"Pass please." ordered an armed MP as he stood guard by the road while another MP stood post in the guard house which controlled the vehicle barrier built into the roadway itself. Without saying a word Heero raised his visor, at once the guard snapped to attention and saluted him as he pulled up ID badge from his wallet. "Admiral Yuy, I am sorry I had no idea it was you."
"That is ok Sergeant." stated Heero as the MP took the badge and slide it through a scanner.
"Your clear for entrees Sir." responded the MP as he handed the badge back and lowered the barrier letting Heero gain entrance into the massive base which was the heart of the Orb military. Heero drove past the hangers full of Murasame flight mobile suits and Astray ground mobile suits. Inside the hangers multiple teams of highly trained engineers where in the process of upgrading the mobile suits controls and weapon systems. The road was clogged with men and woman in uniform some of them running in formations while others stood outside hangers taking a break. He turned past a fixed defense position where a tank sat beside a bunker waiting for an attack that would hopefully never come. Finally he came to a stop beside the tallest and largest hanger on the base. At each corner of the hanger stood an AA gun station along with a tank and marine team ready to defend the mobile suits inside at all costs.
"Admiral Yuy, wonderful morning isn't it." greeted one of the marines as he saluted Heero who quickly returned it.
"Just wish I had better new this morning Sargent Schultz." greeted Heero to the young red haired sergeant "Is your daughter sleeping through the night now?"
"Yes, sir thank you for asking. I hope your day gets better sir." Thanked Sargent Schultz as Heero walked past him into the hanger before coming to a stop as he looked up at the sixty foot tall mobile suit which stood in one of the multiple mobile suit bays. The suit had the blue and white color pattern with highlights of red around the waist and chest with a large green orb located just above the cockpit door in the chest. Its green eyes flashed a bit as the improved Zero system the Angle system operating system recognized its pilot on the ground before him.
"Heero is something wrong?" asked a voice as Heero turned his gaze toward one of the few people he would trust with keeping the successor to Wing Zero, Wing Angel ready to fight the head researcher of the Morgenroate military corporation Erica Simmons. She was leaning over the edge of a catwalk with a clipboard in hand.
"Yes." answered Heero as he looked at the team tasked with keeping not only his suit but the other gundams in this hanger including Luna's Impulse, Athrun's Infinite Justice and Mu La Flaga's Akatsuki gundam ready to fight at moment's notice. Normally at least two of the gundams would be inside the Archangel in case they had to launch. However the legendary ship was in the middle of a major upgrade and overall so all four of the Orb Union gundams where resting in the hanger. "I need all the gundams and any units under the command of Angel squadron ready for possible deployment within 24 hours. I am putting Angel squadron on Alert."
"What we just pulled the seventh engine, it will take at least 30 hours to replace the rest and that isn't even counting the time we need to calibrate them. We need at least two days." stated a member of the team as Erica turned toward the person.
"Then we will just have to set a speed record now get to work." snapped Erica before turning back to Heero who was walking away from her "Care to tell me what is going on?"
"My past has come back to haunt me." replied Heero as he headed toward back toward his bike knowing he had only half an hour to get to his office change into his white Admiral's uniform before going to brief Cagalli about the situation at hand.
In another universe in a different version of Earth it was nearly midnight in the Northern European nation of Sanc Kingdom a young woman with long brunette hair rested on the top balcony of the large hill side palace. Even though the palace had been rebuilt multiple times it had been in her family for decades. She sat with a glass of red wine in her hands looking up at the sky as five shooting stars blazing across the night sky.
"I wonder if they are real shooting stars or the remains of some old mobile suit from the battle?" asked Relena Peacecraft to herself as two more shooting stars crossed the sky above her peaceful kingdom. It had been almost a decade since she met Heero when he washed ashore on the beach. Then in the craziest year of her life she lost her adopted father, had mobile suits attack her birthday party, found out she was one of two surviving children of the royal family to the pacifist kingdom and not to mention being brought into a massive war. Then when hope all that had finally ended with the explosion of Libra but Heero never came out of the blast and then only later did she learn that he was sent to another universe when a strange mobile suit just appeared on day in space. It was from its pilot that the world learned what had become of their missing believed dead gundam pilot, he had gone to another universe and had fought in a war between humanity and artificially created humans called coordinators. Heero had fought and likely died destroying a beam canon which would have destroyed the Earth. Her thoughts turned toward the brown haired boy eyed 16 year old boy who still held onto her heart after so many years. He had been declared MIA believed dead but she knew better.
The sound of the nearby church bells chiming caused her thoughts to change as a new day began in the Sanc Kingdom marking the eve of the deadline for Yzak and his coordinator followers to surrender or be forced into submission.
"One more week Yzak and this all ends. Your coordinators made Heero's life hell in your own world by being the source of the war." stated Relena as she finished her win before standing up starching a bit as she prepared to go to bed "I will make sure this world is clean of them when he returns to me."
While Relena was retiring to bed the man who would be in her dreams was walking down a long corridor filled with people dressed in either formal business or military uniforms. Most paid him no mind others stopped and looked as one of the legendary three gundam pilots. As he was walked down the marble corridor he was suddenly joined by another person. Like him she was dressed in a white Orb uniform only with the three bar rank insignia of a Vice Admiral compared to the four bar rank insignia of his Admiral Rank.
"You left early this morning." said his wife as the two of them walked down the corridor.
"I know and I am sorry but I need…" started Heero as Luna stopped him.
"Heero, I know you well enough to know how you clear your head and personally I don't blame you for needing to clear your head a bit." explained Luna as Heero laughed a bit as he smiled at her "Also it is better than your normal way of clearing your head by shooting something."
The two Yuy's simply looked at each other for a moment before an aid walked up to them.
"Admiral, Vice Admiral the meeting is about to begin." Reported the aid as Heero nodded his head as they two of them walked down the hall a little bit more before entering the large conference room. The room was dominated by a long hardwood table along with multiple chairs on each side and one at the head. The wall opposite of the head chair was covered with multiple different TV screens. Slowly one by one multiple different department heads of the Orb union walked in all dressed in the traditional maroon pants and vest with a light blue undershirt. Everyone stood up as a navy blue haired man dressed in the same white Orb admiral uniform as himself, moments later a blonde hair woman dressed just like the other leaders of the Orb union walked in. Quickly she moved to the head of the table before sitting down. The moment she sat down everyone followed suit.
"Thank you all for coming this morning." greeted the Chief Representative and Queen of Orb Cagalli Yula Athha, standing right behind her with his arms behind his back was one of the other two legendary three gundam pilots Athrun Athha. Originally his name was Athrun Zala but when he married Cagalli instead of having her adopt his last name he took hers.
"Not a problem at all Lady Cagalli." greeted one of the other representatives
"We are going to wait for a minute, the plants and the Alliance are going to be joining us." reported Cagalli as the TV screen located along the back wall light up as Lacus Yamato appeared on the screen with her husband the pilot of the Strike Freedom Kira Yamato stood behind her in his white and black Zaft commander uniform. Moments later an older male face appeared on the other screen, the man had a round face with a large brown bread.
"I thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting." Greeted Cagalli as she looked at Lacus and the representative of the Earth Alliance Mr. Brown.
"It is quite already we got the message from Admiral Yuy that Angel squadron his moving to a standby alert for a possible action so we are all concerned here in Washington about what is going on." Stated Mr. Brown as Cagalli looked at Heero.
"I was unaware that Heero had given that order." stated Cagalli slightly offended that he would put military unites on alert without informing her. Even if Angel squadron was under Heero's control not her she was still his ruler. When it came to Angel Squadron Heero had almost total control over it to a certain point, while he couldn't order an attack on his own he could put the forces on standby while he waited for orders to come in.
"I am sorry Lady Cagalli but I believe it is needed." defended Heero
"Heero is wise to put everyone on standby the threat we are facing is very real." confirmed Lacus "I have order the Zaft military to prepare for possible mobilization as well."
"So you know what is going on?" inquired Mr. Brown as Lacus nodded her head.
"Yesterday we carried out a test of our new special fold drive and an accident happened, instead of launching the ship forward in space it stayed in the same spot and was flung into another universe." Explained Lacus as everyone's apart from Heero's and Luna's eyes widened at the news "From what we have been able to confirm this is universe same that Admiral Yuy is from."
"So you have made contact with another universe?" inquired Mr. Brown as Heero nodded his head.
"And the news from there isn't good which is why I ordered the mobilization of Angel squad." Explained Heero as he took center stage in the discussion. "From the information taken from the Zaft ship and the probe they launched into the universe we were able to patch together a general ideal of what is going on there."
"Go on Admiral." ordered Cagalli as Heero took a deep breath.
"I will keep this short and simple, it would seem that their world is at the edge of another war which is partly our fault." explained Heero as he walked over to a small podium located in the side of the room. With a few quick movements he brought the file online as an image of an older Yzak appeared on the central monitor.
"Yzak?" asked Athrun "I thought he was dead? Killed in the explosion at the end of the first war."
"He didn't only live through the explosion at the final battle of the first war but he was sent to my old universe." explained Heero "In time he formed his own group and he started creating coordinator."
"I can already see where this is going." Stated Mr. Brown sadly "Let me guess they have a Blue Cosmos or Logos origination in charge of the government pulling the strings from behind the scenes."
"No, it is the government and add that religion plays a major role in the world and all the religions have spoken out saying Coordinators are a crime against God." stated Heero knowing that Religion extremist in this version of Earth had died down a lot when the major religions originations couldn't explain the alien life with the fossil called the winged whale "Those who follow Yzak are now trapped in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta surrounded by the military forces of the world. They have one week before an all-out attack is launched on them."
"What do you recommend Admiral?" asked Cagalli as her friend looked down for a moment, it wasn't often that Heero showed sign of weakness and indecision but in this case it was understandable.
"I have two lines of thought about this current situation, first this is a war which all we provided was the idea of coordinators nothing more we have no reasonability to get involves and that they need to solve their own problem. In fact it wouldn't even much of a war unless we get involve." stated Admiral Yuy as he stood up "However that line of thinking has led to multiple crimes in human history and while we only provided the spark for war the blood of the dead will be on our hands if we don't act to prevent it or at least defend those who can't defend themselves."
"What are your recommendations Admiral?" asked Lacus knowing that Heero's words carried a lot of weight not only in this room but with the people across the world. He was one of the Legendary Three gundam pilots and he was a natural pilot who was better than almost any coordinator. He had the ear of two of the three major world leaders and had the arguably the largest intelligence network in the world.
"I admit that I am torn." admitted Heero "Part of me wishes this had never happened and we wouldn't have to make this call but I have to make a recommendation.
For a moment the room went quiet as they waited for Heero to make up his mind.
"We go." recommended Heero knowing full well that an action like this against another nation required the approval of all three nation leaders not just his own but also with the knowledge that they had never disagreed with his actions.
"Do we even have a way to get to this universe in any real force?" inquired Mr. Brown "The way I understood it this ship is a one man ship with a limited storage space in the back. I would rather avoid any fighting is there someone in that universe we can talk to, maybe get a peace deal?"
"Yes, Relena Peacecraft she is the current Secretary of State of the World Nation and a shoe in to become president when she becomes as age. She has more political power than anyone else and her brother is the head mobile suit pilot in their military peace force." explained Heero as he pulled up the image of a brown haired woman dressed in a blue business suit. "This image was a screen shot taken from a Sunday morning talk show broadcast they had captured, she is the woman we need to convince because if she changes course the others will follow. She is also for the lack of better term my former love interest."
"Well that will be an interesting conversation when she meets your wife." laughed a member of the Orb Council only to get a glare from both Yuys which instantly shut him up.
"This was supposed to be the last test jump before we move on to a full size ship." added Lacus as everyone turned their attention toward her "With that in mind I have already ordered the Minerva to be outfitted with a jump drive, we are pushing it but she should be ready in nine days."
"The deadline for Yzak to surrender before going to war is in seven days." reported Luna "On noon of the seventh day they attack and the Coordinators will be overran within three hours according to my calculations."
"Which is two before the Minerva can be ready." added Kira Yamato as he entered the conversation.
"And we don't have a way to get anything there that could stop them there do we?" inquired Kira
"Yes." reported Heero as everyone looked at him "The current ship they are using isn't large enough to transport a strike force but it is just large enough for me to place Wing Angel inside it. I will jump back into my old universe and start gathering more detail information as well as start hit and run attacks on key military targets."
"You want to go in by yourself with no backup?" inquired Mr. Brown
"I will have back up." rebutted Heero "The Minerva when it arrives will back me up, I have lasted years alone in the field I can last a few days."
"He will not be going alone." stated Luna as Heero blinked as he looked at the woman he loves slightly confused at where Luna was going. "If we break up the impulse into only its key parts we can fit it inside the transport."
Luna turned toward Heero only to see a warm loving smile had appeared on his face.
"Alright if we do it this Luna and I will go ahead of the Minerva and by you more time." Offered up Heero "And who knows maybe with some luck we can force them off the path they are currently on."
"So do we go or not?" asked Cagalli as she looked at the different world leaders.
"Zaft cannot sit back and watch coordinators be slaughtered but I hope Heero is able to talk some sense into them." Explained Lacus as Cagalli turned to Mr. Brown.
"We have been responsible for so much bloodshed and this is partly our fault we need to end this." Explained Mr. Brown as Cagalli nodded her head before turning her gaze toward Heero.
"You have a green light for an intervention, Admiral." Stated Cagalli as Heero nodded his head before looking toward Lacus
"Thank you but you have to know given the time needed to get the Minerva ready and our deadline, we are likely going to have to engage them in at least one battle against them." Reported Heero as the world leaders looked at each other for a moment before nodding their heads.
"We understand Admiral, prepare your plans for an intervention." ordered Cagalli.
Sorry for the wait but I have literally worked every day for the past two weeks on top of conducting a job search so I can actually do what I went to school for. Now I hope you liked this chapter and until next time I would ask that, you keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.