Chapter 26 Setting the Stage
The hours seamed to tick by as Heero, Lacus, Yzak and the rest of Angle Squadron had gathered on the Archangel to go over the final plan.
"I never thought I would be on this ship," cursed Yzak as he looked around at the ship he had tried to destroy multiple times while he was a red uniform pilot in Zaft.
"Let it go, Yzak." ordered Athrun even though he was now a member of Orb instead of Zaft like the one he used to be.
"So what do you think of this plan?" inquired Heero
"It is risky it all comes down to you getting Zechs to come to you, if he doesn't then we could all be in trouble." noted Kira
"He will come, I killed his sister and above everything Zechs is a protector he will want to get revenge for me killing the person he is supposed to protect," explained Heero "Also the threat of me destroying the world will get him to come."
"And if he doesn't then we will get to kill him ourselves," stated Yzak
"You will not be in this fight Yzak, your be onboard the Peacecraft." ordered Heero, all of them knew that the main reason why the Preventers had not attacked was that Malta was home to their half built mass driver and first large ship capable of operations on Earth and in Space. The ship was not even half finished and with the help of the teams from the Archangel and Minerva it was coming along. It would never pass any of the safety checks required back in their world but it was good enough for their needs.
"I am a gundam pilot; I need to be out there defending my people." Snapped Yzak
"And a leader has to be with their people." Countered Lacus "We don't have a gundam for you to pilot and you know what is going to happen to all your mobile suits in the end."
Yzak glared at his old friends and enemies, which had come together as a sort of family. It would have been unthinkable that Zaft and Orb officers to be friends and to make things stranger there was a red uniform natural in Zaft, this blonde hair woman Stella. He could have accepted that maybe but Stella was his home universe version of the woman who was the most diehard anti-coordinator here.
"Fine." cursed Yzak "Now go over this insane part again?"
"Which part this is all kind of insane." countered Dearka with a small laugh.
"Basically Kira and Athrun will hold off the four gundams native to this world and while the rest of Angle Squadron holds off the rest of the forces while we make our escape." restated Luna "Heero will draw Zechs away and then once we are clear the final operation will begin."
"And how big is the force we are going up against?" inquired Yzak
"At least three divisions' maybe four." confirmed Heero "A mobile suit division with 300 suits will lead the attack with the support of an armored ground division and at least one maybe two infantry divisions."
"That is almost the entire Preventer force left in Europe." exclaimed Yzak "And we have only five gundams not counting Kira and Athrun."
"It is the only way and we only have to buy a short amount of time." stated Kira "The armored and infantry forces shouldn't play much a role in the fighting, if all goes to plan we will be long gone before they can land."
"Also three hundred suits between the five of us that is only sixty suits each we have to take down." Confirmed the cocky Zaft pilot and brother in law to Heero Shinn.
"Don't get too cocky Shinn, these suits are not the same as back home." stated Heero "Ours are faster and with better technology but they are heavier armed and armored. There scorpion suits will be able to keep up heavy fire at distance for example."
"Well we will just have to get close to them then." countered Shinn as Heero decided to let it go like many of the things with his brother-in-law.
Across the small strip of water on Sicily, the leaders of the Preventers those who were still left alive where gathered.
"So we have three fleets each loaded with mobile suits and ground troops," reported Wufie as they looked down at the map. "We will strike from three points and split the fire of the two warships they have. Once they are separated, we will overwhelm them before landing our ground troops. They will carry out a sweep of the island and take all those Coordinators into custody."
"Where did you get all these forces so fast?" inquired Trowa
"We pulled them from military unites across Europe and North Africa." explained Wufie "We have just over 300 mobile suits and the transports to carry them to Malta. Once they clear the way our ground forces will move in and finish the job."
In the past some had predicted that mobile suits would replace all other military units beside transport forces but mobile suits couldn't sweep a house.
"Why don't we just let them go." Inquired Quatre as the other pilots looked at him "There is no reason why we need to carry out this operation. They are leaving and once they are gone they just want to be left alone."
"Quatra I agree in principle but Heero killed Relena, the people will not let that go." explained Trowa "They want revenge."
"Heero said he will watch the world burn." Added Duo "I would like nothing more than to do as you said but he will carry out the attack and we will have to stop him."
"Then we should strike at Heero with Zechs not attacking Malta." countered Quatre
"And what happens if Zechs loses to Heero, we need some hostages maybe Heero's wife to stop him from destroying our world." added Wufie
"Maybe the fact that we don't attack will be enough to stop Heero from doing whatever he is planning to do," offered Quatra
"We can't take that risk," snapped Wufie
"Do we even know what that is?" inquired Duo
"Could be almost anything but more than likely it has something to do with these N-Jammers that shut down nuclear power," offered Wufie. "The orders have already gone out to prepare for massive blackouts if the power should fail."
Quatra was shaking his head, this is not what he had hoped would happen.
"I will not do this," stated Quatre
"You are an officer in the Preventer Military and if you don't do this you will be charged for refusing a lawful order." stated Wufie "And don't even think about destroying your gundam or the crimes may affect your entire family."
Quatre lowered his head in defeat.
"Now Quatre if you can bring the Maganac Corps to this point in two hours they can join the attack." Said Wufie
"The Maganac Corps is no longer on Earth." Stated Quatre as Wufie and the other pilots blinked "They along with Dorothy and my sisters are all off world heading to our colony. They are going to protect them if the worst should happen."
"I can't say I blame you, Hilde is on her way to space as well and I believe Mariemaia is off world with Sally Po as her protector," admitted Duo
"Catherine and the circus is off world as well but that was already scheduled." confirmed Trowa as Wufie looked at all the gundam pilots with disapproving eyes.
"Unlike you Wufie we have families and love ones which we care about." countered Duo
"No matter, let's just end this once and for all." grumbled Wufie
The small twin-engine private jet was just west of Moscow on its way toward Rome, it had taken longer than she would have liked to get out of Seoul but now this world's version of Stella was heading to Rome for the funeral of Relena Peacecraft. Her mind was still focus on what that Phantom had told her at gunpoint. She was Heero's Yuy sister and while she had no solid proof that she was in fact the biological sister of one of the gundam pilots but still if she was not why did the Phantom save her life.
"Ma'am one of sources inside the Preventer command says Heero and Zechs are going to have a duel on the coast of the Sanc Kingdom," said the copilot
Stella lifted her head up and looked at the pilot.
"Do we have a time for this duel?" inquired Stella as a plan started to form in her mind.
"Yes, Ma'am." confirmed the copilot
"Can we get there before the duel?" inquired Stella again, if Heero was her brother she had to convince. Maybe the bond of a family member would make him see the world the way she did. If not it may let her get close enough to end his life.
"Yes, Ma'am," confirmed the copilot "With time to spare."
"Then do it," ordered Stella as the pilot and copilot changed the flight path of the aircraft.
Unknown that his sister was heading toward the battlefield Heero Yuy was dressed in his flight suit and was getting ready to leave Malta. He zipped up the black flight suit; it was a reproduction of the suit he wore all those years ago when he fought Zechs on Christmas Eve. Even the helmet was in the same style the only difference was the Orb Union flag on his arm and the Angle Squadron patch below it.
"Wing Angle is ready." Said a voice behind him as Heero turned to see his wife in her white uniform. Heero did not say a word as he walked up to her.
"Luna." Said Heero as gently and loving placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her close, the two of them shared a small private moment. "I want you to be careful."
"I should be telling you that." Stated Luna as she wrapped her arms around her husband and pulled him close. "You're the one going into battle against what you have always told me was you rival. The best pilot you ever seen."
Heero looked down and closed his eyes, Luna had never seen her husband cry or show much in the way of outly emotional however through their time together she learned how to read the small hints that showed his true feelings. She could tell how her husband was feeling from things as small as angle of his head or how fast he was blinking. To her it was clear that this was the most painful state she had ever seen him in, even after the time he tried to work with a 106-degree fever and almost passed out in his mobile suit.
"Heero, you don't have to go you can stay here and we can rework the plan." Offered Luna "You don't have to face him alone."
"No, I have too it's the only way you will all be safe." Explained Heero "It isn't leaving that worries me is what will happen after I leave. I fought to protect this world and now to save my new home I will have to burn this one to the ground. I wish that stupid Zaft drive hadn't malfunctioned and we never found the ability to jump between universes."
Luna understood, the man she loves knew that he had long given up on finding a way back to this version of Earth and it was just destiny that brought him to her. That bridge to the past had been destroyed by fate and he welcomed it and choice her and his new family over his past. Now he stood in his old universe about to leave it forever and he would be the one who threw the torch to burn that link to the past.
"Heero no matter what happens; make sure you come back to me," ordered Luna "Remember your part in the plan; you don't even have to fight."
She never gave Heero a chance to respond instead she planted a kiss on his lips and for a brief moment, nothing else mattered to either one of them. When they finally pulled away from each other, Luna looked into her husband's eyes.
"I will come back to you, don't worry." Confirmed Heero
"Admiral, Vice Admiral it is time for the operation to begin." Said a Zaft officer
"We will be right there," said Luna as she kissed her husband again. "Duty calls again."
"Once this is all over, I think we need a vacation," said Heero "No work at all just us."
"Heero Yuy and no work, I never thought I would see the day." Joked Luna as both of them laughed a bit before Heero headed toward Wing Angle.
It appeared as a blur on Preventer radar screens as Wing Angle flew toward the Sanc Kingdom leaving the other gundams behind.
"Preventer Wind, Wing Angle and Heero Yuy are on their way toward the Sanc Kingdom," reported a Preventer radar operator over his radio.
"Good, then I will be leaving at once," confirmed Zechs as he stood on the runway beside the Tallgeese Mark III. Unlike Wing Angel, which would be flying itself to the battle site, the Tallgeese was loaded into a military transport.
"Zechs are you sure you want to do this?" inquired Neon as she stood beside her husband on the runway.
"Heero is controlling whatever is going to make the world burn as he said, I have to stop him." explained Zechs, Neon could tell that her husband was not telling the truth at least not fully.
"Promise me you will come back to me," ordered Neon
"I will." confirmed Zechs "I survived the Christmas eve battle I will make it through this."
With that, the two of them shared a brief kiss before Zechs boarded the plane, Neon watched as the aircraft took off into the sky heading toward the battle with Heero.
Neon was not the only one watching the aircraft take off, from the hotel suit the President of the World Nation could see not only the military base but also the harbor full of warships. She watched the first transport take off and head North East, moments after that transport lifted off the others lined up to take off. All the transports where loaded with mobile suits and hundreds of other mobile suits sat on transport ships which were leaving the harbor below.
"Madam President, is something wrong?" Said an aid as she looked out over the bay, the multiple warships were heading out to sea. It wouldn't take them long to get into the combat area and then
"No, please leave," ordered President Une as the aid turned and walked out of the room leaving the President looking out the window.
"So the actors are about to take the stage." said Lady Une to herself as she remembered what Treize had told her all those years ago when OZ took down the Alliance. "It is time to raise the curtain, only this time I fear we will not like the ending."
Well I hope you liked this chapter, until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75