Gundam Wing: Journey to a New Battlefield

by operation meteor

The war is won, yet he cannot find peace. When a mission gone wrong throws Heero into another world, how will he survive? And how will he react when he is confronted with his greatest challenge yet? For love can be trickier than any battlefield foe...

6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: Holy shit, this one was long! I did a count on Word, and it took up 58 pages! 58! Whew, glad that's done.

On another note, something I need to adress. I was doing some reading up, and i made a mistake regarding Heero. Prior to operation meteor, in addition to his training, there was some surgery performed on him by Doctor J in order to enhance his abilities. It's not to the extent of the Coordinators, but the fact remains that Heero is not an entirely natural human. Sorry, I really should have caught that at the start, my bad. Heero talks about it with Murrue later on in the chapter, so consider that part me correcting my mistake.

Well, enjoy!

Episode Six: The North Africa Campaign, Part Two: Reminiscence

"Well," said Lieutenant Natarle Badgiruel as she leaned against the wall, "didn't see that one coming."

She was in the officer's lounge with Lieutenant Commander Mu La Flaga. Both were currently off duty and taking a much needed coffee break. She looked over at the blond pilot, who was looking out the window at the passing sand dunes. The Archangel was moving southeast, following the Desert Dawn members as they led the ship to their hidden base.

Mu nodded. "Indeed, who would've thought that those two knew each other?"

"And to run into each other all the way out here," Natarle added, "Quite a trip from Heliopolis."

"Her pod must have been recovered by Orb rescue workers," said Mu. "Although, how she got all the way out here is beyond me."

"Do you think this will affect Ensign Yamato's performance?"

Mu shook his head. "I doubt it. Kira seemed to handle her alright, given the circumstances. She was probably just shocked to see him alive. Once that wears off, she'll probably be a bit more hospitable."

"You're probably right," said Natarle, "If she got onto a pod without knowing if Yamato had made it out alive that would probably eat at her for a while. I imagine this comes as a relief to her."

"Yeah," said Mu, "Although, I doubt either of them expected to run into each other in a place like this."

The two of them were quiet for a moment, lost in their own thoughts.

Then La Flaga stood up. "Well, I'm off to the briefing room. I want to go over some of the combat footage."

He smiled at Natarle. "Care to join me? I wouldn't mind some help reviewing it."

She blushed slightly. He wants my help? "Sure… no problem."

As they made their way out of the officer's lounge, she shook her head slightly. Get a hold of yourself, she thought, you're not some flighty school girl.

Still, it was nice to know that he thought highly enough of her to ask for her opinion on something like this.

….

Sitting in her chair on the bridge, Murrue looked up at Heero, who was standing to her right. "Well, we've thrown our dice now."

He nodded, and looked out the forward viewport at the group of rebel vehicles they were following. "Time to see where they land, and hope they don't come up snake eyes."

Murrue sighed. "Do you think I made a mistake? This could be a trap."

Heero shook his head. "I doubt it. If they wanted us dead, they could have just fired some rockets up the ship's engines, and then waited while Waltfeld brought in reinforcements to finish us off. And even if they wanted to capture the ship, it'd be a simple matter for you to lock it down, since you know all the command override codes."

She nodded. "You're right. Still, we should be careful."

"I agree," said Heero, "We should restrict the number of Desert Dawn members that can come aboard."

"Yes," replied Murrue, "if we limit them to just their leaders, that should help minimize any security risks."

She thought for a moment, and then turned to him again. "What do you think of them? The rebels, I mean."

"Not much to look at, really. It's true that we haven't seen all that they're capable of yet, nor have we seen all of their resources, but I'm not really impressed." He paused for a moment, looking out the window. "What I'm most worried about is the discipline of their forces. Some of them may be veteran fighters, but I'm willing to bet most of them are green."

"Are you sure about that?" said Murrue, "ZAFT's been here for almost a year, that's plenty of time to get combat experience."

"In a manner of speaking," replied Heero, "A small group like this fights primarily with ambushes and raids. Militarily speaking, those are quite simple, and even rookies can pull them off given only rudimentary training. The best way to sort the good fighters from the bad is with a prolonged engagement, and I have a feeling they haven't seen many, if any at all."

Murrue nodded. "You have a point there. It's one thing to fire a few rockets and then retreat. It's another to stick around on a battlefield where the enemy is actually able to fight back and isn't caught by surprise. I'm willing to bet that when we actually engage the Tiger again, it will indeed be a more conventional fight, and against far more forces than were brought to bear last time, or in any of the fights the rebels have experienced. They may prove to be more of a hindrance than a help in that situation."

"Still, they can be of some use to us," said Heero, "Since we'll be taking on the brunt of the actual fighting, that puts us in a position to negotiate supplies from them. A group like this has to have connections in the black market, otherwise they couldn't function for very long. If we can take advantage of that and get them to procure us the supplies we'll need for our trip to Alaska, then that would remove a big hurdle from our path."

"We'll have to discuss that with them once we arrive at their base," said Murrue, "Still, I think it will work. They themselves acknowledged that we would most likely end up doing the heavy lifting when it came time to actually fight. That gives us the leverage we need to make use of their supply sources."

She looked at Heero. "By the way, how's Wing Zero?"

"Fine," he said, "I just finished having the mechanics replenish the gatling ammo before coming up here. There was no actual damage to the machine."

"I see." She thought for a moment, and then continued. "During the battle… when I was able to observe you… you always seemed to be one step ahead of the Valkyrie and her subordinates. I've never seen anyone fight the way you do."

"Well, I had help," he said.

"You mean the Zero system," she replied. "I know you gave me a brief explanation of it when you arrived, but I'm still having trouble understanding it. It predicts the future?"

"Not in the sense most people would think of it," said Heero, "It shows the pilot all possible outcomes for a battle. However, the pilot must choose an outcome, and direct the system and the mobile suit towards achieving it."

She nodded. "I can understand that. But what gets me is how you said that the system directed you to come to our world during the Barge accident. That doesn't strike me as a combat situation, though I would certainly call it life-or-death."

"The Zero system's operations are not exclusive to combat," he replied, "The system goes online whenever Wing Zero is powered up. It is integral to the Gundam's operation. However, the system can be… extremely taxing… to use. When one uses the Wing Zero, it should be only for combat or another life-or-death situation. Otherwise, the system can overwhelm even the most skilled pilots. I need down time, a break from the system, in order to keep my sanity. If I were to stay in the cockpit, hoping to read the future, I could do so, but eventually the sheer sensory overload would be too much, even for me."

Murrue frowned. "It sounds incredibly dangerous."

Heero nodded. "It is. The first time someone actually piloted the Wing Zero… they destroyed an entire colony."

Murrue was stunned. Her eyes widened, and she gasped. "But that's…" Impossible, she thought, unable to finish her sentence aloud, no mobile suit has that kind of firepower! Unless…

She looked at Heero, a sense of dread swelling up within her. "Heero… how strong is the Twin Buster Rifle?"

He looked back, his expression dead-serious. "When fired at maximum power… it can destroy a space colony in a single shot."

She took a deep breath. "And… did you…"

He shook his head. "No, I wasn't the one that destroyed the colony. However, it was a friend of mine, a fellow Gundam pilot. He'd just lost his family, and his mental state had deteriorated. In despair, he found the plans for the Wing Zero, and using his considerable fortune, he constructed the mobile suit."

Murrue didn't know what to say. On the one hand, she was extremely relieved the Heero hadn't been the one to fire that shot. On the other, the fact that he wielded that much firepower was a lot to take in.

Then she realized something. "Wait a minute," she began, "you said it was a fellow Gundam pilot that built the Wing Zero. Then… it wasn't originally your machine?"

Heero nodded. "The Wing Zero was the first Gundam ever designed. However, the scientists that came up with the concept felt that they were creating a machine that would be too powerful, too complex, to ever be properly wielded. So they came up with the designs of the five Gundams that I and my fellow pilots would eventually use, all deliberately weakened variants of the Wing Zero."

He suddenly became quiet, and to Murrue he seemed to be lost in his memories, reflecting on his past. She also remembered that they were on the Archangel's bridge, and that the crew had become quiet as well, clearly listening in.

She hadn't heard Heero mention anything about his past since before the battle in orbit, and a brief mention of a friend after they had landed in North Africa. Murrue realized that she desperately wanted to know more about him, anything about him.

However, she knew that this wasn't the time or the place. I don't want to put pressure on him, especially in front of others. I'm lucky he was willing to reveal as much as he did. She decided that she would wait until they were alone before asking him about his past. I'm not going to force him to talk, she thought, in fact I doubt I could. However, I simply can't deny this feeling. There's so much about him that I want to know.

She looked at Heero, who still seemed to be lost in thought. Heero… I'm not going to pry in front of the others. When we get some time together, I'll ask you. You can tell me anything you want… whatever you feel comfortable talking about.

"Heero," she said, causing him to look up, slightly startled. "Are you alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Just… reminiscing."

She smiled. "There's nothing wrong with that. Although… Heero, I'm sorry if I was prying, I honestly did not mean to."

He gave her one of his small smiles in return. "It's alright, I won't hold it against you."

He took a breath, and then continued. "Murrue, I'll tell you about my past sometime… just not now, alright?"

She actually blushed slightly. "Is it really that obvious?"

He smiled again. "It's natural that you would want to know about me, considering I'm not from around here, not to mention the power that Wing Zero gives me. I don't mind your curiosity at all. I trust you, and I will tell you what you want to know. Just… give me some time to get everything sorted out, okay? To be honest… my mind's been drifting into the past lately, and it's not something I'm used to."

She nodded. "Alright, I will. Remember, you can come to me whenever you're ready."

"I will, and soon too, I just need to get a few things in order before then," he replied, "I know there's a lot you're curious about; I just need to figure out the best place to start."

She smiled. "Thank you… I appreciate your trust."

"Well," said Heero, "you've earned it."

….

"Man, what a fight," said Lan as she plopped down on the couch, clearly worn out. She, Priscilla, and Adaline were in the rec room at the Tobruk airbase. The technicians were going over their machines in the hangar, while Commander Rehema was in her office composing a report to send to both Field Marshall Waltfeld and the ZAFT Defense Council, which resided in Aprilius One.

She opened the magazine she was holding in her left hand, Aces Monthly. It was her favorite PLANT publication, devoted to military pilots and their machines, covering personnel not just from ZAFT but the Alliance and Orb as well. It was a special addition, with a leaked photograph of Omega One on the front-center, with the five Alliance prototypes spread out along the sides.

Priscilla was sitting next to her, watching the television. It was playing a recorded debate from the Supreme Council Chairmanship election campaign. Since the N-jammers made long range communications difficult, it was impossible for the broadcasting network to air the debate live to terrestrial viewers, and this piece was actually a few hours old. The blond girl stared intently at the TV, briefly looking down at the notebook she was holding to write down something.

Lan smiled. That's our Pris, she thought, doing the political analysis so we don't have to.

Meanwhile, Adaline was behind them at a table, a bottle of water and a laptop in front of her. Lan saw that she was on a video website, catching up on an episode of Discovery's Shark Week that she had missed. She's an angel of death on the battlefield, thought Lan, yet she's such a softy for marine life.

The red-head turned towards Lan and nodded. "You got that right. No one's ever been able to go up against all of us simultaneously. That pilot was something else."

Lan sighed as she flipped a page in the magazine. "I can't believe it; I haven't gotten knocked out of a fight since academy simulations."

"That goes for all of us," said Priscilla absently, not taking her eyes off the debate as Patrick Zala began attacking Chairman Clyne's policy of limited aggression on Earth, which he had been sticking to in the aftermath of Operation Uroboros.

"The enemy was even able to solo the Commander; when's the last time that's happened?" said Adaline.

"Never," said Lan as she started reading the feature article, which was on Omega One. "Though I gotta say, she didn't seem all that upset about it."

Adaline laughed. 'This is Shemei Rehema were talking about here, remember? To her, finding someone that can fight her one-on-one is cause for breaking out the champagne."

"You have a point there," replied Lan, "although, I have to admit that I'm kind of excited too."

Adaline smiled. "I know, right? That pilot… whoever it is, he's incredible. He was pulling moves that I've never seen before."

"How do you know it's a guy?" said Priscilla.

"Instinct, Pris, it's all instinct," the Australian replied.

"You sound like the Commander; she'd say the same thing," said Lan.

They were quiet for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts and individual activities, then Lan spoke up. "Hey, Pris, how's the Chairman doing?"

"Why don't you watch yourself?" Priscilla replied.

"I'm no good with politics, you know that. It bores me out of my mind most of the time, and when I actually pay attention it just becomes so damn depressing," said Lan.

"Well…" said Priscilla, frowning, "Chairman Clyne isn't doing so well. Patrick Zala's hard line stance regarding the war is quite popular these days, and he's playing it for all it's worth."

"The man's a fool," chimed in Adaline, "He doesn't seriously think we can conquer Earth, does he? We don't have the resources for that."

"Technically," said Priscilla, "Defense Chairman Zala hasn't advocated for the conquest of Earth, but more aggressive campaigns in order to hasten the end of the war."

"You don't seriously buy that though, do you Pris?" replied Adaline.

Priscilla shook her head. "No. If you read between the lines, Zala is, at minimum, a Coordinator Supremacist. He practically pioneered the doctrine of the radical faction, and believes that we're a newly evolved species, a higher race."

"And at worst?" said Lan.

She saw Priscilla's expression darken, and the girl seemed genuinely fearful. She turned to Lan. "An advocate of genocide," she said, and Lan shuddered.

"Do you really think he'd go that far?" asked Lan.

"It's entirely possible," said Adaline, "Don't forget, the man lost his wife in the Bloody Valentine Tragedy. His hatred of Naturals knows no bounds."

"But he's not the only one who's suffered," said Lan, "I've met plenty of people who lost family and friends in that attack, and very, very few of them have expressed such a loathing of Naturals as a result."

"I'm not excusing the man," said Adaline, "Personally, I think he needs to stop obsessing over the past and move on. I'm just trying to understand his motivations, his mindset."

"I agree," said a familiar voice, and the three of them turned towards the entrance, where Commander Rehema was standing, taking a sip from a water bottle.

Seeing that they were all about to jump to their feet, Shemei held out a hand and smiled. "As you were, ladies."

Lan could feel heat rushing to her face. "How long were you there, Commander?"

"Oh, I walked in about when you asked how Chairman Clyne was doing in the debate," replied Shemei, "You were having such an interesting conversation, and I didn't want to disrupt it."

The commander turned towards the TV, where Zala was making his closing arguments. She sighed. "Zala's on a roll. This doesn't bode well for… well, anyone really. The last thing the PLANT needs is an equivalent of the Blue Cosmos head in high office."

"Commander," said Adaline, "how come so few people are able to see Defense Chairman Zala for what he is; a man bent on revenge, and to hell with how many people have to die as a result?"

"Hard to say, Adaline," Shemei replied, "The best I can offer you is that his background as head of the military resonates with the people, and they see him as the one that can bring the war to a swift conclusion. To them, he represents security, a future without fear."

She looked again at the screen, her grey eyes narrowing. "If Supreme Council Chairman Clyne can't pull his campaign together and find a way to counter Zala… I fear the conflict will escalate beyond anything we've seen so far."

"Any particular worst-case scenarios running through your head, Commander?" asked Lan.

Shemei nodded. "Yes… the bloodbath that played out on the Eastern European Front of the Second World War… a war of annihilation."

Lan shuddered. Like everyone in the room, she'd been forced to study past conflicts at the academy, and the struggle between the Soviet Union and the Third Reich had been the bloodiest theatre of war in all of human history. Nothing could compare to the savagery, the brutality unleashed by both sides, not just on enemy soldiers, but on civilians as well.

If the Commander is suggesting that the conflict could become that horrific, thought Lan, then we are in deep trouble.

As scenarios of prisoner massacres and burning cities played out in her head, Shemei spoke up, bringing Lan back to reality. "Well, I've submitted my report, and we have new orders."

"What are they?" asked Lan.

"Tomorrow morning at ten-hundred hours we're loading up our machines on transport planes, along with all our gear. We're transferring to Banadiya; we'll be operating under Field Marshall Waltfeld's direct command from here on out."

"What about the repairs?" asked Priscilla, "The DINNs aren't nearly battle ready yet."

"The techs at the airbase in Banadiya will finish fixing them up," replied the commander. She smiled. "So pack up later, and make sure you don't forget anything."

All three of them nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

….

Meanwhile, up in space, another political drama, this one behind the scenes, was unfolding. Commander Le Creuset sat on the padded bench along the wall of the Supreme Council chamber, watching with interest and amusement as the twelve members discussed matters of state, awaiting them to call him forward to commence the inquiry.

How comical, the masked man thought, Zala practically demagogues the Council Chairman out on the campaign scene, yet here the two of them are, more or less working together. An air of tension did indeed exist between Siegel Clyne and the Defense Chairman, but they were still able to discuss policy within the Council chamber with civility, although it was tinged with razor sharp barbs.

Creuset saw the Supreme Council Chairman look up at him. "The Council will now hear testimony from Commander Rau Le Creuset regarding the mobile weapon known as Omega One."

As the commander stepped forward, Defense Chairman Zala looked at him. "The purpose of this inquiry," he began, "is to ascertain the capabilities of this new threat. As you have had direct contact with Omega One and lived, Commander, your testimony is invaluable to the Council. Do you have all the evidence you require?"

Creuset nodded. "Yes, and I would like to thank the Defense Chairman for sending me the reports and combat recordings of Commander Shemei Rehema's encounter with Omega One as well; I will be presenting pieces of them as well as my own testimony."

Patrick Zala stood up and gave Creuset a remote, which he pointed at the large screen on the wall opposite of where he had been sitting. A still image of the menacing new mobile suit appeared.

"This machine," he began, "first appeared during our engagement with an Alliance task force. You may recall that in the aftermath of the battle we were able to recover Lacus Clyne. At the time, we were unaware that she was aboard the Alliance's new warship, which had arrived to assist the taskforce."

Creuset pushed a button on the remote, and video feed of that engagement began playing. The council members saw two GINNs close in on the legged ship's bridge, only to be destroyed by two yellow beams.

The Commander brought up the image of the machine's fighter form and paused the video. "Omega One first appeared to be a new model space fighter. The two cannons at the bow were what took out the two GINNs. However…"

The video began playing again, and the machine transformed into a mobile suit, and quickly proceeded to decimate the other GINNs that were attacking the Archangel. "The mobile suit appears to be armed with beam sabers, twin gatling cannons, and some kind of energy rifle," Creuset continued, "We do not know the full extent of the rifle's power. However…"

He cut to another section of video, and the Council looked on in awe as the mobile suit fired a large blast from the rifle that not only annihilated several GINNs, but an entire frigate as well.

Creuset then paused the image and turned to the council. "I cannot say for certain if that is the full firepower of that rifle. It is entirely possible that it possesses still greater strength than what we have seen."

"My god," said one of the council members.

"Not god… abomination," said another, a silver haired woman.

Patrick Zala cleared his throat. "Commander Le Creuset, you mentioned to me in your report regarding the orbital battle that you spoke with the pilot of Omega One. I'd like your opinion on them."

"Well," began Creuset, "it was only briefly. Beyond the fact that he seemed young, probably the age of your son, I could discern nothing else beyond his incredible skill. I will readily admit that he is better than me. Even if our machines were equal, I have no doubt that I would lose."

"However, may I perhaps offer the Defense Chairman another perspective?" With that he played the image of Commander Rehema's battle with Omega One, and the Council looked on as, one by one, her subordinates were forced to withdraw, until finally it was just Shemei and the young man fighting it out in spectacular fashion.

"Commander Rehema," began Creuset, "was clearly able to last longer than me in a one-on-one confrontation with this new enemy. However, it is what happened after she lost her suit's sword arm that is of greater interest to me."

He played the dialogue of Shemei and Omega One's pilot for the Council, and then turned the screen off.

"I see," said Chairman Clyne, "so its real name is Wing Zero, and the pilot is Heero Yuy."

Creuset nodded. "Chairman Clyne, if I may be so bold, I would like to ask that Miss Lacus be summoned before the Council."

Siegel's eyes widened. "My daughter? But why?"

"Because," said Creuset, "she was still on the Alliance's new warship at the time that this Heero Yuy first boarded it. She may have encountered him."

Clyne nodded slowly. "Yes, she did briefly mention something like that." He stood up. "Very well. I request that the Council recess for two hours. I will contact my daughter and ask her to come here."

"I see no problem with this," said Zala, a slight smirk on his face.

Clyne scowled, and Creuset had to work to suppress a laugh.

….

Wearing a simple white dress, Lacus Clyne sat in the lobby outside of the meeting chambers of the Supreme Council. Her pink hair was unrestrained, save for a golden-yellow hairclip at the front, and she looked around the room with great interest. Though she had been here before with her father, she was still fascinated by the paintings that adorned the walls. Some were pieces that dated as far back as the Renaissance, while others were more modern, many of them made by PLANT artists, and depicted scenes of life in the colonies.

Sighing, she looked down at her cell phone, and began browsing through the pictures saved on it. She stopped when she got to the one she was looking for. The image on her screen was that of none other than the young man she was supposed to give information on; Heero Yuy.

She'd taken the picture without his permission, and she had thought without his knowledge, but looking at it again, she thought she detected a knowing look in the corner of his eye. He was standing next to Miss Ramius, and at the time they had been discussing some feature of Heero's magnificent mobile suit. Lacus had used the opportunity to snap the picture in the belief that no one was looking. She hadn't taken it for hostile purposes, but because she was curious about him. After she had returned home, she had convinced her father to run the image through both PLANT and ZAFT databases, and no hits came up. While she had already believed Heero when he had said that he was from another world, she had still wanted a way to verify it, and the fact that the databases had come up empty was enough for her. She'd told her father what Heero had said, and while an understanding and indulging man, Lacus knew that her father had not believed her, and remained skeptical even after the image search.

Then again, she thought, I suppose I cannot blame him.

Looking up at the ceiling, she thought about the people on the Archangel. She sincerely wished that they were alright, even though they were nominally her enemies. Lacus held no ill will towards them, and had even become fond of a few of them. Especially Mister Yamato, she thought with a smile. She hoped that she would be able to see him again someday.

She heard a soft beeping at the receptionist's desk. Lacus saw the blond woman press a button and look at a small screen on her desk. She couldn't see who was on it, but apparently it was someone from the Council, for immediately afterwards the woman turned to Lacus and smiled. "They're ready for you, Miss Clyne. Please go right in."

The sixteen year old girl stood up, smiled, and calmly walked through the large mahogany doors next to the receptionist's desk. She wince slightly as she entered, the overhead lights reflecting off the shiny, almost sterile environment of the Council Chamber. It feels so lifeless, she thought, I'll never get used to it.

She moved towards the table around which the officials were seated. She smiled and nodded at her father to reassure him, and then took her place at the head of the room, all the Council members looking at her. Lacus noticed that Commander Le Creuset was there as well, standing behind Patrick Zala's chair, whispering in his ear. As if it weren't obvious enough where your own allegiances lay, Commander.

The masked man looked up at her and smiled, but there was little sincerity behind it. Lacus could only detect a mix of derision and a sick sense of amusement. What twisted pleasure does a man such as yourself derive from these proceedings?, she thought.

Then Siegel Clyne spoke up. "Lacus Clyne," he began, forced to remain distant, unable to act as her father in these proceedings, "do you understand why you have been called before the Council?"

She nodded. "Yes, to provide as much information as I can about the pilot of Wing Zero, Heero Yuy."

"Miss Clyne," said Zala, "please tell us everything that you know, and bear in mind that withholding information can have… consequences."

The Chairman glared daggers at Zala for his remarks, but the leader of the military just smirked. Lacus nodded. "Of course, Defense Chairman. I should hardly think that my integrity or support for the PLANTs need be called into question."

The Council member and Siegel's political rival seemed slightly put-off by her reply. That's right, Patrick Zala, she thought, I know how to play these games.

Regaining composure, the black-haired man nodded. "Then please, begin when you are ready."

She took a moment to put her thoughts in order. "I encountered Heero Yuy soon after the battle between the Alliance forces and our own ships. At the time, I was in the officer's lounge of the new warship with the Kira Yamato, the young man who was my caretaker for the period of my captivity."

"How is it that you came to be in the lounge?" said Zala, "I would hardly think that a prisoner of the Naturals would be allowed such free reign."

"I was not treated as a prisoner while aboard the ship," replied Lacus, "although as a PLANT civilian, naturally the areas of the vessel I was able to access were limited, and I had to stay with my escort. It was not troubling though; Kira is a very kind person."

"Yes, I'm sure," said Zala dismissively, "Now, about Yuy?"

"He entered the lounge with the commanding officer of the ship, Miss Ramius," she continued, "We all sat down at a table together, and I introduced myself. Heero was quite polite during this time. I believe he was about my age, perhaps a bit older. Miss Ramius asked him some questions while we were there."

"What sort of questions?" said Zala.

"Who he was working for, and how he had acquired the Wing Zero," said Lacus, "He claimed to be serving no master, and had simply taken the mobile suit."

"Hold on!" said another Council member, the silver haired Ezalia Joule, the mother of ZAFT pilot Yzak Joule, "Are you saying that he was not a member of the Earth Forces?"

Lacus nodded. "Yes, so far as I know."

"Did he mention where he had taken Wing Zero from?" inquired her father.

She shook her head. "No, he did not." She knew she was beginning to tread on dangerous ground. Lacus had no intention of revealing that Heero was in fact from another world, but she knew it could be tricky to answer the Council members' questions at this point, especially Zala's, without arousing suspicion that she was hiding something.

Fortunately, she was saved by Zala's own paranoia. "He must have been lying then," the man said, "After all, he's fought for the Naturals since his debut. Wing Zero must be another Earth Alliance prototype, built at a separate facility than the others."

"But if they could build a suit that powerful and have a Natural capable of piloting it so effectively," said the brown haired Eileen Canaver, a friend of Lacus's father and a member of the moderate faction, "then wouldn't they have begun mass production by now? It seems premature to jump to conclusions, considering that the Alliance has continued to field conventional weaponry since Heero arrived on the scene. It is possible that Wing Zero was built by a third party, and that its pilot has not given the Alliance the technical information necessary for them to create their own version."

"Who else would have such resources?" yelled Zala, "The only other group that comes close is Orb, and we all know that they are in collusion with the Alliance!"

"Heliopolis was an isolated event," replied Eileen, "We have seen no evidence of any other instances of collaboration on weapons development between the two nations."

"We hardly need further evidence!" roared Zala, "The new warship and mobile suits are obviously the fruits of their clandestine ventures. Soon they will be ready for mass production, and they'll be coming for the homeland!"

Lacus looked on in sorrow as the meeting deteriorated into a shouting match, her own presence clearly forgotten. She saw her father look at her and give a small nod; permission to leave. She returned the gesture, and walked out of the room as fast as she could.

Sighing as she exited the chamber, she made her way towards the front of the building. Have we really sunk so low?, she thought glumly, Is governance based upon mutual respect and understanding truly beyond us?

She left the building, and felt a cool breeze hit her face. It was artificial, of course, but she welcomed it nonetheless. As she signaled for a taxi to take her home, her thoughts began wondering towards two certain young men that she had met recently.

What would you make of this, I wonder? Kira Yamato… and Heero Yuy.

….

"Well, we've made it," said Murrue, breathing a sigh of relief.

Heero nodded. They'd been traveling nonstop for almost the entire day, and late afternoon would soon give way to dusk. Nevertheless, they had crossed into Egypt and were now at the rebel base, hidden in a ravine along the northwestern edge of the massive Qattara Depression. Not a bad place for a hideout, he thought, the ravine helps conceal the base from aerial recon, and the enemy won't pick us up on radar since we're so low.

Murrue turned to him and smiled. "Shall we go meet with the leaders? I've instructed Kira to use the Strike to set up the camouflage tarps on the ship just to be thorough, but I'm pretty sure we're secure here."

"That sounds fine to me," he replied, "Will it be just us two, or are we bringing anyone else along?"

"Lieutenant Commander La Flaga and Lieutenant Badgiruel will accompany us," she said, "Ensign Neumann will have the bridge until we return."

She stood up. "Well, let's go." They left the bridge and made their way down to the hangar, where Mu and Natarle were waiting for them.

The fighter pilot waved as Murrue and Heero made their way over to them. "You guys all set?"

They both nodded. Together, the four of them exited down the front loading ramp.

As they reached the bottom a young man, around fifteen years old, ran up to them. "I'm Ahmed," he said, "Sahib asked me to lead you all to the command center. Follow me."

They made their way through the camp, and Heero saw that it was larger than he had originally estimated. Jeeps, half-tracks, and other vehicles were scattered around, some with missile tubes mounted on them, but most were just open-topped automobiles, their firepower coming from whatever the passengers were carrying. There were crates everywhere, some with Alliance and ZAFT labels on them. Looks like my hunch about their black market connections just gained some traction, he thought.

There were tents scattered about as well, some closed up, but others with the sides removed, functioning as open air kitchens. People were milling about all over, and Heero noted that they weren't just resistance fighters, but there were plenty of civilians as well, including women and children. Camp followers?, he thought, What do they think this is, the Middle Ages? He could understand if the women served in supporting roles, like cooks or nurses, or if some were actually fighters, but most just seemed to be doing either menial work or minding the children, who Heero thought should be back at their home villages.

He saw some of the men eyeing the two female officers. Heero supposed it was natural, since the two women were quite attractive, but that didn't mean he had to like it. A simple narrowing of his eyes was enough to persuade the lechers that they had urgent business elsewhere.

Turning back towards Murrue, he saw her smiling at him. "I appreciate the concern, Heero."

He nodded, and smiled as well. "You're welcome, Murrue."

"Although," she said, "I don't think Natarle and I are the only ones with admirers." Following her gaze, Heero saw that indeed, several of the women in the camp were looking at him and La Flaga in much the same manner. He was wearing his green tank-top and blue-jeans, which meant that the ladies had a good view of his athletic figure, honed by intensive training and fierce battles.

He sighed. "I never was good with this sort of thing."

"Don't tell me you didn't have girls eyeing you where you're from," said Murrue, winking.

Heero laughed, remembering his days in the Sanc Kingdom at the school Relena had run until Romefeller's attack on the country. "I did, but I tended to just ignore them. I had more pressing things on my mind."

She nodded. "I'm sure you did." She turned her gaze forward again, and Heero followed suit, and saw that they were approaching a cave.

"Makes sense that they'd have their command center in a more fortified area," he said.

"Yes," said Murrue as they arrived at the entrance, "It seems well lit, too." Heero followed her gaze and saw rows of light bulbs on both walls, along with additional wiring running along them.

They made their way through the tunnel until it fanned out into a large chamber. At the center was a table with a large map spread out over it. Along the walls were desks with assorted equipment at them, including a few computers and a radar station, although thanks to the N-jammer interference it was limited in range. Sahib and Kisaka were standing at the table, while Cagalli was at one of the computers. The blond girl turned around as they walked in, her eyes narrowing at the sight of Heero.

Seems she's still suspicious of me, he mused. After her encounter with Kira, she had quickly turned on Heero, demanding to know who he was and who had built his mobile suit. He'd given her his name but nothing else, and she had been none too happy about it. Tough luck girl, he thought, but there's a very short list of people I trust, and you're not on it.

Cagalli stood up and moved to the table besides the other two leaders. She folded her arms but did nothing else, letting Sahib take the lead.

The bearded resistance fighter smiled. "Welcome to our base. I'll admit it's not much to look at, but looks can be deceiving."

"Indeed," said Mu La Flaga, "Gotta say, this is a pretty nice setup you have here, all things considered."

Sahib chuckled. "You're too kind. Anyway, to business. As I'm sure you can guess, since you have far more firepower than us, you'll wind up doing the heavy lifting when we fight the Tiger."

Murrue nodded. "Yes, we're aware of that. However, we have no intention of letting you just use us for your own benefit. We want something in return."

"I'm assuming the use of our supply contacts, correct? Considering you plan to journey to Alaska, you will need to replenish your stocks," he said, "not to mention you'll need additional ammo for your weapons before the fighting begins, since it will likely be a large engagement."

"Yes," said Murrue, "Can you deliver?"

"It will take time for us to contact our suppliers," said Kisaka, "but as soon as we are able to, we will arrange a meeting."

Murrue nodded. "Alright then. I'll have Lieutenant Badgiruel here give you a list of the materiel we need."

"Before we do that," said Cagalli, "there's something we want to know."

She looked at Heero. "Who the hell are you? I know the mobile suits that Orb helped the Alliance develop at Heliopolis, and yours wasn't one of them. Are you part of another collaboration project? The Alliance couldn't have built something like your unit on their own, or they would have begun producing more by now instead of relying on conventional weaponry."

"I told you before," he said, "That's none of your business."

"Like hell it isn't!" she snapped, "You were able to fight off the entire Valkyrie Team with that mobile suit, no pilot should have been able to do that. If a machine that powerful is in our territory, we have the right to know about it."

"If you think it was due to Wing Zero alone that I was able to beat them, then you're mistaken," Heero replied, "You couldn't begin to understand what it takes to pilot that mobile suit. Also, how do you come to the conclusion that just because we're here you have the 'right' to know about my machine?"

His eyes narrowed, and he saw that she was slightly shaken. "If I wanted to," he began, his voice ice cold, "I could burn this entire region to ashes with no effort whatsoever. Do not presume to hold authority over someone who possesses the power to destroy entire nations on a whim."

"Why you…" she growled, but Kisaka grabbed her arm and shook his head. She gave a "hmph" and turned her head away.

At the same time, Heero felt Murrue lay her hand on his shoulder. "Heero…" she said, and he knew she wanted him to back down.

He took a breath, looked at her, and nodded.

Sahib cleared his throat. "Well then, if you'll have your Lieutenant remain here, we can begin figuring out what we need to procure for you."

Murrue nodded, and turned to Mu. "Lieutenant Commander La Flaga, please assist Lieutenant Badgiruel."

"Yes ma'am," he said.

"Heero, shall we go?" she asked. He nodded, and the two of them made their way back towards the entrance of the cave.

"Murrue," he said, "I'm sorry about what happened in there; I was out of line."

"It's alright," she replied, "I was actually more worried about you than the meeting; La Flaga and Natarle will handle the details from here."

She looked at him. "Are you okay? I've never seen you like this."

He nodded as they stepped out of the cave. "I'm fine. I just wanted to make my point to her; she's in no position to be prying into myself or Wing Zero."

Heero looked at Murrue and smiled. "You're different. You've treated me with kindness and respect since we met, and I'm grateful for that. I'm glad… to have made a friend like you."

She smiled back. "Does this mean I'll be getting to learn about your past soon?"

He gave a small laugh. "Actually, yes. The trip over here was long enough for me to straighten a few things out; I think I know where to start. At least, where I feel comfortable starting, at any rate."

"That's all that matters to me," said Murrue, "As I told you earlier, you can tell me whatever you want, I promise not to judge you."

She put his hand on his shoulder again. "You can trust me, Heero. I swear I would never betray your confidence."

He nodded. "I know, Murrue." As they approached the Archangel, he saw that the sun had moved a bit lower on the horizon, and the sky was beginning to turn a mix of orange and red. He stared at it for a moment, and then spoke. "Murrue… let's eat outside tonight. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes," she said, "Though may I ask why?"

"One of my fellow Gundam pilots spent a lot of time in the desert," Heero said, "He told me there's no better place on Earth for viewing the stars." He turned to her. "I want to see it for myself, and I'd like you there with me. I'll tell you about my past then."

She nodded and smiled. "I'd like that." She turned towards the exit of the ravine, where there was the clearest view of the setting sun. "The stars should be out in a couple of hours. We'll grab something in the mess, and then head out towards the dunes with our meal. How's that sound?"

"Fine by me," he said with a smile.

….

Stepping outside the ship, Kira looked around the camp. He'd just finished setting up the ship's camouflage, and was feeling rather hungry. The smell of local cuisine was in the air, and he was curious as to what the people in this part of the world ate.

He glanced back at the Archangel. Several large brown tarps had been stretched over the ship. They appeared to be arranged haphazardly, but it was in fact a perfect pattern for fooling satellites and high altitude reconnaissance planes. Satisfied with a job well done, he began making his way into the camp.

He hadn't gone more than a few steps when a voice rang out. "Hey!"

He turned and saw the blond girl from earlier coming towards him. Kira felt a little apprehensive at first, but he soon saw that she didn't seem to be angry like earlier. Quite the opposite, in fact; she was quite calm.

"You're Cagalli, right?" he asked.

She nodded. "Kira Yamato, correct? I heard the captain say your name before you got out of the Strike."

He nodded. "Uhm… thanks for the help earlier. In the battle, I mean."

Oh, that?" she replied, "Don't mention it." She looked down at the ground for a moment, and then turned to him again. "I'm… sorry about earlier."

"Oh, it's okay, don't worry about it," said Kira.

Cagalli smiled. "You've been on my mind since Heliopolis. After you pushed me into that shelter and it was launched as a life boat, I was worried. I kept wondering if you were okay, if you had survived."

She held out her hand. "Thank you, Kira. I may well have died if it weren't for you."

He smiled in return and shook her hand. "No problem."

After she let go, she spoke. "Well, didn't think you'd end up piloting a mobile suit, that's for sure."

Kira sighed. "It's… a long story."

Cagalli smiled. "It's alright, I don't need to know the details. I'm glad you're on our side at least."

"All I want to do is protect my friends," he said, "That's the only reason I pilot that thing."

"Well, it's a good reason," she replied, "At least you're not out for conquest or personal glory. I can't stand people like that. They only make things worse for everyone who just wants the fighting to end."

They were quiet for a moment, then Cagalli spoke up again. "Say, do you know anything about the pilot of that other mobile suit?"

"You mean Heero?" said Kira. He was a little hesitant to answer, mainly because of what he had shown him, Lacus, and Captain Ramius when he had first come aboard. If I told her he was from another world, he thought, she'd think I was crazy. No way would she believe me. In the end, he decided to tell her a partial truth.

"I'm, uhm, afraid I don't know much about him," said Kira, "He doesn't talk about himself. At least, he hasn't in front of me. I don't know much about the Wing Zero either."

"Well that figures," she said. "Ugh, he's such a jerk! I ask him about it, and he just tells me it's none of my business. Then he gives me this death glare and says he can pretty much torch Egypt if he wants to."

"Well, he is secretive when it comes to the Wing Zero," said Kira, "He doesn't let the mechanics go near it unless he's there, and keeps the self-destruct armed in case anyone tries to tamper with it."

"Talk about trust issues," she said.

"Well, it's kind of understandable," he replied, "I've seen him wipe out entire warships with that rifle he has. The mobile suit in general is more advanced than anything else in existence, including the machines built at Heliopolis."

"Wait, an entire warship?" she asked, her eyes widening, "Wow! I thought he was just blowing smoke earlier, but he might actually have enough firepower to make good on that threat of his."

"I don't think it was a threat," said Kira, "He probably just wanted you to back off, and thought that telling you the destructive power he wields would accomplish that."

"Maybe…" she said, growing thoughtful, "Do you think… I should apologize to him? You think he'd tell me something then?"

"Probably not," said Kira, "To be honest, from what I've heard, the only person he really seems to trust is Captain Ramius. She's the only one he really talks to. Although, you should still apologize."

"I see…" said Cagalli. The two of them were quiet for a while, pondering the enigmatic young pilot who had come from seemingly out of nowhere to fight alongside them.

The sun was sinking lower on the horizon, and Kira was just about to ask Cagalli if she wanted to go grab some food when a voice rang out behind him. "Kira!"

He turned to see Flay coming out of the ship, running up to him. She grabbed his arm. "There you are! I've been looking for you."

"Oh," he said, blushing, "Sorry, I didn't know."

She turned to Cagalli, and her eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"I'm Cagalli. I'm a member of the resistance group," she replied.

"Oh," said Flay. The two girls stared at each other.

"Well," said Cagalli after a moment, "I should get going. See you later, Kira."

"Oh… alright," he said. He honestly didn't want her to go, but what could he do?

Flay turned to him and smiled. "Well, Kira, let's go inside. We need to get you something to eat; I don't trust the local food."

As she led him by the arm back towards the Archangel, a familiar voice rang out behind them. "Flay… Kira?"

They turned and saw Sai, along with Tolle and Miriallia. Flay's fiancé-or rather, former fiancé- looked stunned. "What… what's going on here?"

Kira swallowed nervously. He'd completely forgotten about Sai's relationship with Flay. She had come onto him so suddenly, he hadn't had time to think of the ramifications of the whole affair.

Flay saved him the trouble of answering. "Listen, Sai… it's over between us."

"What?" he replied, "What do you mean, Flay?"

"My father is dead," she said, "Our engagement is off. And… I spent last night… in Kira's room."

The implications of that sentence sank in instantly. "What?" said Sai. He turned to Kira. "Is this… true?"

He nodded. "How could you?" yelled Sai, and he rushed up to Kira, raising his fist. Kira caught it with ease, twisting Sai's arm behind his back with practically no effort. Having secured leverage, he quickly pushed Sai to the ground.

"Stop it Sai!" yelled Kira, "Do you honestly think you stand a chance against me?" As Kira's friend looked up at him, the young Coordinator spoke again. "Flay's the only one… the only one who understands how I feel when I have to fight. None of you ever tried to do that!"

He turned towards the ship, the red-head on his arm. "Just… leave us alone, Sai," he said. With that the two of them entered the ship, leaving Sai, Tolle, and Miriallia all in shock, unable to move.

….

Waltfeld leaned back in his chair and smiled. He was on the bridge of the Lesseps once again, Aisha right beside him. The land-battleship was making its way back east to Banadiya, the sun setting in the vessel's wake.

He turned to his lover. "Well, that was quite a productive morning we had."

Aisha nodded. "Indeed. I just got off the radio with Shemei a little while ago; I could still hear the excitement in her voice, even with the background static."

Waltfeld laughed. "I can imagine that. She's finally found someone who can take her in a head-to-head confrontation. Right now I bet all she can think of is getting back into the fray."

Aisha looked thoughtful. "Do you think they joined forces with those Desert Dawn fighters?"

"You mean the Earth Forces? Probably. They'll need all the help they can get when the time comes for their breakout attempt."

Aisha smiled. "And we know exactly what direction they'll take, too."

Waltfeld nodded. "East, towards the Red Sea." He turned to the man at the radio. "Inform the Petrie, Henry Carter, Tesla, Gagarin, and the Nuremberg, along with their support units, to abandon their current assignments and head for Alexandria. Once there they are to remain on standby until further instruction."

The radio operator nodded. "Yes sir." He turned to carry out his orders.

Aisha's eyes widened. "Four Petrie-class land-cruisers and another Lesseps-class battleship? Including their support forces, that's over half of Army Group East."

"I'd summon more," he replied, "but my soldiers are spread thin enough as is. Until reinforcements can come through either Gibraltar or the newly conquered Lake Victoria spaceport, this will be my strike force."

He gave a wicked smile, already envisioning the battle that would eventually unfold between his veteran warriors and the Alliance's new warship and mobile suits, along with the resistance fighters they had apparently made friends with.

Combined with Shemei's team and the soon-to-be-ready LaGOWE, it will be the most powerful force I've commanded since I took the Suez Canal. Yet even then, I'm actually not entirely sure of my chances of winning.

He recalled reading Shemei's report, and listening to the recorded conversation between her and the pilot of Omega One. Or rather, he thought, Wing Zero. The sheer power of that suit, combined with the skills of this Heero Yuy…

Who knows what could happen…

….

"Sorry," said Heero, "I'd hoped for better fare for our evening picnic."

He was exiting the ship with Murrue, the two of them holding trays with sandwiches, fruit, and chips on them, along with a bottle of water. The sun had gone down, and the two of them began making their way out of the well-lit camp, towards the mouth of the ravine.

Murrue turned to him and smiled. "It's hardly your fault. All things considered, the mess could have had worse things on the menu. Besides, I always thought sandwiches were good outdoors food."

He nodded, secretly relieved that she wasn't bothered. Heero had never actually done anything like this before. Strange, he thought, I'm actually kind of nervous. However, seeing her smile was reassuring. What am I worried about? This is Murrue I'm with. She's not the type to fuss over something like that. Besides, I'm doing this because I trust her, and more importantly, to show that I appreciate the trust she's shown me. Considering he'd come out of pretty much nowhere when they'd first met, Murrue had warmed up to him remarkably quickly, and Heero had, much to his own surprise, found himself doing the same.

He returned her smile, and the two of them walked in silence for a while, content merely with each other's company. Heero looked back at the camp, and hoped that nothing would happen while they were away. Lieutenant Badgiruel and Lieutanant Commander La Flaga are quite competent, he thought, I'm sure they can handle any trouble the rebels might cause.

He heard Murrue gasp, and realized that they had already reached the end of the ravine, the vast expanse of desert before them. He turned and saw the lovely woman at his side looking skywards. "Heero… look!"

Heero followed her gaze… and couldn't help letting his jaw drop. He'd heard Quatre describe it once, but…

Words cannot do this justice…

The sky was lit up by what seemed like a river of stars. They seemed to almost flow across it, sparkling like a mountain stream. Heero was a bit puzzled as to why so many of them seemed so close together, like a band, until he realized exactly what he was seeing; the Milky Way Galaxy itself, as one might view it from the side.

I've seen stars from space, of course, he thought, but when you look at them up there, in a space ship or mobile suit… they just seem lonely, isolated, and sterile. Like they're lost in an ocean of blackness, at the mercy of the Reaper. I've seen them from Earth as well, of course, but they seemed so dull from where I was at the time, and I hardly ever took the time to admire them in any case.

But viewing them like this, out in the desert with no artificial light to cloud the view, out away from civilization… the stars seemed to be reborn, revitalized. Heero smiled. Quatre, you were right. This is incredible.

"Heero," said Murrue. He turned to her, and her brown eyes seemed to light up. Her whole face was aglow with something he hadn't seen her express before; pure joy. His own eyes widened slightly. She's… beautiful. I mean, I already thought she was, but seeing her like this…

It was the most amazing sight he'd ever beheld, even more so than the ocean of stars in the sky above.

Entranced by the woman before him, he listened as she spoke. "This is amazing!" she said, positively beaming, "Your friend was right. Thank you so much for showing me this. I really needed it."

All he could do was smile in return, and he was pretty sure that it was the biggest, most genuine one he'd given in a long time. "You're very welcome, Murrue."

They were quiet for a moment, happy just looking at both the stars and each other. Then Murrue nodded at a small dune nearby. "Well," she said, "that looks like a good spot. Shall we grab a seat and dig in?"

"Yeah," he replied. Together they made their way up the gentle slope of the dune, and sat down once they reached top. Putting their trays on the ground before them, they proceeded to dig in, and Heero was surprised to find that he was actually quite hungry. More so than I expected, he thought, I wonder why? Nerves, maybe? He didn't think that was the case, however; just seeing Murrue smile had quelled the small doubts that had been nagging him in the back of his mind.

While they were eating, Heero used the opportunity to run through things one more time in his head. He had a pretty good idea of what he would tell her tonight, and where he would start. Still, he thought, can't hurt to go over it one more time.

After a few minutes, they had finished their sandwiches and had made a decent dent in the chips and fruit on their trays as well. Neither of them had spoken yet, but then again there had been no need to. They'd reached a point where words didn't need to be spoken, and both found the silence to be quite comforting; an invisible, inaudible bond between friends had already formed, though they'd known each other for hardly a week.

Still, he knew that he'd have to start soon. He took a deep breath and turned to face her. To his surprise, she was already looking at him, smiling again. "Nervous?" she asked.

How's she gotten so good at reading me already?, he thought. Heero nodded. "A little, yes. I've… never really done anything like this before."

Murrue reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. "It's okay, you can start whenever you're ready."

He smiled again. She's quite good at getting those out of me, he thought with some amusement. He took another deep breath, and pushed aside his tray and water bottle. "Alright then."

Heero looked up at the stars for a moment, and then began speaking. "With high expectations, human beings left Earth to begin a new life in space colonies. However, the United Earth Sphere Alliance gained great military power, and soon seized control over one colony after another, in the name of 'justice' and 'peace'."

He paused for a moment, and then turned to look at Murrue.

"The year was After Colony 195."

….

Murrue listened intently as Heero began speaking. I've been wanting so badly to hear this, she thought, no way am I missing a second of it!

"The Alliance ruled the colonies with an iron fist," he continued, "In a move to bring new weapons to the Earth and gain independence from the Alliance, rebel citizens built five mobile suits called Gundams. They were the most advanced weapons the world had ever seen. The mobile suits were called Gundams because they were built from Gundanium alloy, a material that is virtually indestructible in the face of all but the strongest forces. Creating it is extremely difficult and time-consuming, and it can only be done in a zero gravity environment."

"The one I piloted was the Wing Gundam. Of all five machines, it bore the most resemblance to Wing Zero, the template for which all our mobile suits were based off of. Our plan was called Operation Meteor. The Gundams were sent to Earth disguised as shooting stars. Just before launching, the scientist who designed Wing, Doctor J, gave me my codename for the mission; Heero Yuy, after the peace activist who was assassinated by the Alliance."

Murrue's eyes widened. "Wait a minute, so your real name isn't Heero?"

He looked down at the sand. "Well, the truth of the matter is… before then, I'd had no name at all, or at least none that I remembered. I don't know what my parents named me, and Lowe never gave me one either."

Murrue gasped. I know he said he didn't know his parents, but to think he didn't even have a name of his own… it's too tragic.

Heero looked up at her and smiled. "I never actually told anyone else that. To be honest, it just kind of stuck after a while, and I've considered it to be my name ever since. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that earlier though."

She shook her head. "It's alright, I understand."

He smiled. "Thank you, Murrue." Then she saw his expression darken, and he spoke again. "Murrue… there's something you should know… about what Operation Meteor was supposed to be."

Wait a second, what it was 'supposed to be'? She had a bad feeling about this. She grabbed Heero's hand, as much to calm herself as to support him. "What is it, Heero?"

"The original plan," he said, "was to drop an entire colony onto Earth."

That was not what she had expected. "You can't be serious! The immediate impact and the subsequent environmental devastation would have killed billions of innocent people!"

Heero nodded. "I know. The Gundams were originally to be deployed after the colony had been dropped. In the ensuing chaos on Earth, the pilots would use the new weapons to gain complete mastery."

Then he looked at her and smiled. "However, the scientists that built the Gundams, along with us pilots, could not accept the independence of the colonies at such a price. So we revised the plan. We hijacked the Gundams, and deliberately jumped the gun, thus rendering the original Operation Meteor useless; they couldn't drop the colony while the Gundams were already on Earth, after all. They would risk destroying the very weapons that they would be relying on to gain control of the planet in the aftermath of the impact."

Murrue was greatly relieved. Of course, I should have known better than to believe that Heero would have gone along with such a plan, she thought, though I've only known him a short time, I know for a fact that he is a kind and gentle individual, despite the emotional walls he's built up to protect himself. There's no way he could participate in something so monstrous.

She smiled at him. "So, what happened on the revised Operation Meteor?"

"The launches went ahead without incident," said Heero, "However, during my descent I encountered an Alliance transport. It launched three mobile suits, Leos, the standard unit of the Alliance forces. I took out the first two with the Buster Rifle, but the third had a more skilled pilot than the others. I was forced off course, and crash landed in the Pacific Ocean. I managed to get out, but the Wing Gundam sank."

"I fell unconscious and drifted ashore soon afterwards," he continued, "While I was out, a girl around my age found me on the beach. When I awoke, she was standing over me. I tried to shield my face, but I was sure she's seen it… which, according to my orders, meant that I would have to kill her."

"Did you?" inquired Murrue, a bit apprehensive.

Heero shook his head. "I fled the scene and hijacked an ambulance that had arrived there. However… that was far from my last encounter with Relena Darlian. It turned out that she was a student at the school I enrolled in as part of my cover."

He laughed. "Funny how things work out. She actually gave me an invitation to her upcoming birthday party; I guess she wanted to learn more about me. However, I ripped it in two and threatened to kill her."

"Well," said Murrue, "that seems a little much. Couldn't you have just said 'no thank you'?"

Heero smirked. "In hindsight, I probably could have handled things differently. However, I had more important things to worry about. I made my way down to the port, where I intended to launch enough torpedoes to destroy the Wing Gundam to prevent the Alliance from getting their hands on it. However, Relena followed me there, and I pointed my gun at her." He looked down. "Thinking back on that… I'm not sure if I actually could have pulled the trigger. Though she had seen my face on the beach, when I was still in my pilot's suit, the fact remained that she was an innocent bystander, and the last thing I wanted to do was kill civilians."

"Regardless," he continued, "I never had to make that decision. I was shot in the arm by Duo Maxwell, the second Gundam pilot. His unit was the Deathscythe, and he had already used it to find and salvage the Wing Gundam. When I launched the torpedoes, the combined mass of both machines- the Deathscythe was on autopilot and bringing Wing to the coast- was more than the warheads could destroy, and both mobile suits survived, thought they were damaged."

"Wait, your own comrade shot you?" she asked.

"At the time," said Heero, "we were actually unaware that there were other Gundam pilots besides ourselves. All of us thought that we were the only ones."

"Anyway," he continued, "I was captured and brought to an Alliance medical facility. Duo came and helped me break out, and together we made contact with his allies, a group of Sweepers- salvage workers, you might say. They had recovered both of our Gundams, and we went ahead with continuing Operation Meteor. We began launching attacks on Alliance military bases and weapons factories, in order to destroy their armed forces and make them come to the negotiating table with the colonial leadership."

"In that time," said Heero, "I became aware of the other three pilots. There was Trowa Barton, pilot of the Heavyarms Gundam. Another was Quatre Raberba Winner, pilot of the Gundam Sandrock; he's the friend I told you about, the one who was familiar with the desert. The last pilot was Chang Wufei, who wielded the Shenlong Gundam. The five of us proceeded to wreak havoc across the United Earth Sphere Alliance." He laughed. "Five fifteen year old boys against the military might of the entire world."

Murrue was stunned. They were all so young! How could they have possibly fought against those kinds of odds? Her amazement gave way to admiration as she realized the kind of strength those young men must have had. Our own deeds since Heliopolis seem so small in comparison, she thought.

"The UESA was not our only enemy," Heero continued, "Working behind the scenes was a group called OZ, or the Order of the Zodiac. At first glance they appeared to be a group of elite soldiers within the Alliance. They were known to the regular forces as the Specials, and were given greater privileges than the average soldier. However, in actuality they were the vanguard of the Romefeller Foundation, and one of the tools it used to manipulate and ultimately rule the Alliance from behind the scenes. I'll tell you more about the foundation later."

Heero looked at her. "It was believed that one of OZ's first acts after its formation was the assassination of the original Heero Yuy, though the UESA took the public blame for that incident. It was because of that, as well as the group's status within the Alliance, that the elimination of OZ was one of our primary objectives in conjunction with confronting the regular armed forces."

"Anyway," he continued, "OZ became more active as we attacked the Alliance. One of their acts was to assassinate Vice-Foreign Minister Darlian, the UESA's ambassador to space, and a man who advocated peace with the colonies. OZ heavily favored a militaristic approach to governing space, so the minister was an obstacle to them. His daughter, Relena, was with him at the time, but managed to survive the bomb-blast that killed her father. Later on, OZ tried to finish the job at her school on Earth with a mobile suit attack, but I intercepted them with the Wing Gundam."

Heero laughed. "How ironic. I had threatened to kill her almost immediately after we met, yet there I was, saving her life. I couldn't understand it, and it made me furious."

"You said it yourself," replied Murrue, smiling, "You didn't want civilians to die. I'm not at all surprised that you saved her."

He nodded. "You're right there. However, she had become drawn into the broader conflict between us and the Alliance regardless. I… could never have imagined the roll she would end up playing."

"What do you mean?" ask Murrue.

"You'll see later," he said, "Meanwhile, our campaign against the Alliance and OZ was heating up. After a little over a month of combat, we were presented with what seemed like an ideal opportunity to destroy OZ once and for all. There was supposed to be a meeting of top OZ leaders at the New Edwards base in California. All of us wound up attacking it, despite the fact that we hadn't had much communication between each other. It was the first time all five of us were on the same battlefield."

"The forces at the base," he continued, "crumbled before our advance. When I saw an executive shuttle with OZ markings taking off, I immediately moved in and destroyed it." Then his expression darkened. "However… I soon found out that I had made a terrible mistake."

"What happened?" said Murrue softly.

Heero took a breath. "Colonel Treize Khushrenada, the leader of OZ, had set us up. While he and his aid, Lady Une, were indeed at the meeting, the conference was comprised primarily of top Alliance officials. More importantly, most of them were people who were advocating peace and reconciliation with the colonies. Among them was Field Marshall Noventa, head of both the Alliance military and the peace faction… whose top members, including Noventa, were on that shuttle."

Heero looked her dead in the eyes, and Murrue saw that his own were haunted, and full of remorse. Worse, she could also see self-loathing within them.

"Murrue," he said, "I murdered the Alliance's pacifists. They were the best chance for a quick resolution to the conflict, and I cut them down with my beam saber like I would an enemy mobile suit. "

He looked down, unable to meet her gaze. "Treize had disseminated false information, knowing that we would attack if we were presented with a chance to wipe out OZ in one blow. We may have been manipulated, but that does not excuse what I did."

"Heero…" she said. She put her hand on his shoulder, and as he looked up at her she drew him into an embrace. Murrue could feel him briefly stiffen in surprise, but then he seemed to relax into it, and she could feel his head on her shoulder.

"It's alright," she whispered in his ear. "It was a mistake. You were acting under information that you did not realize was false."

"Still," he said as they separated, "that does not change the fact that I killed them, and doomed tens of thousands of people to die in the continuing conflict."

"No," she replied, "it does not. But Heero… you cannot keep carrying around the guilt from that event. It will only grow heavier and heavier, and you will be unable to bear it."

"Heero, look at me," she said, and he did so, "I'm your friend. I can see plain as day the pain that guilt is causing you. Please, let go of it; I know you will never forget what you did, but you must learn to forgive yourself."

Then she saw that he was smiling at her. "Murrue… I've been learning to do that for a while now. I can't say that I have, not yet. However… thank you. I truly appreciate your willingness to help me."

"You don't need to thank me for that," she said, returning his smile, "but you are very welcome all the same." Her expression became more serious. "Do you want to stop here for now? Believe me, I'll completely understand if you do."

Heero shook his head, "No, I want to keep going. You deserve to know, especially after all you've been willing to do for me."

"The attack on the Alliance leadership," he continued, "and the assassination of Noventa, gave Treize the cover he needed to launch Operation Daybreak. OZ forces around the world suddenly turned on the UESA in a massive coup de tat. The Alliance tried to fight back, but for the most part they were defeated quite quickly. OZ moved to assume direct control of the Earth Sphere, and in doing so paved the way for the Romefeller foundation to eventually move out of the shadows and take center stage."

"We continued our operations as before, only now OZ bases became our primary targets. At times we actually found ourselves being aided by members of the former Alliance. Everything came to a head in Siberia."

"What happened?" asked Murrue.

"We'd received intelligence that OZ was planning to move the Taurus, its new space mobile suit, through Siberia to a launch facility. While the move was indeed taking place, it was also intended as a trap for the Gundams. However, we managed to fight our way through all of the military forces that had been arrayed to stop us. Eventually I found myself in a duel with Zechs Merquise. He was actually the same pilot that had thrown my descent course off at the start of Operation Meteor. This time he was piloting a Tallgeese."

Heero took another breath before continuing. "The Tallgeese was the first combat mobile suit ever designed. However, it was actually considered too high spec to be used properly, as very few pilots could handle the sheer acceleration the machine was capable of. The only completed unit was placed in storage until Zechs brought it out in order to fight the Gundams. It's interesting to note that the same scientists who developed the Tallgeese would go on to design the Wing Zero, followed by the Gundams used in Operation Meteor."

"Zechs and I fought, but neither of us could gain the upper hand. Then Treize's aide, Lady Une, a Lieutenant Colonel, made an announcement. The colonies had been targeted by missile satellites in orbit. If we continued to fight, OZ would launch an all out attack on them."

"They took the colonies hostage?" gasped Murrue.

Heero nodded. "Une's ultimatum was simple; surrender the Gundams, or become accessories to mass-murder. However, something happened that no one had anticipated. Doctor J, the scientist behind the Wing Gundam, issued an open broadcast. He said that he would surrender, but that he would not give up the Gundams."

"Our own orders were clear; the Gundams were not to fall into the hands of OZ," said Heero, "So I opened the cockpit, stepped out onto the hatch… and self-detonated."

If Murrue had been surprised before, she was completely shocked by this announcement.

Heero looked at her. "To be honest, I have no idea how I survived." He paused for a moment, then shook his head. "No, that's… not entirely accurate. In addition to the training I received prior to Operation Meteor, Doctor J performed some genetic and biological enhancements on me. My skeletal structure was reinforced for increased survivability, and other subtle alterations were made in order to improve my reflexes and physical durability. It wasn't to the extent that the Coordinators of this world were altered, but the fact remains that I am not an entirely natural human." He laughed. "Which means I lied to that pilot I dueled in the orbital battle, as well as to your crew."

"Hold on," said Murrue, "Why didn't our medical scanners pick up the alterations in the blood sample you gave us?"

"Because Doctor J and his colleagues who worked on me injected a masking agent, so that the alterations would not stand out on Alliance scanners. The work that was done on me was considered nearly as important as the creation of the Wing Gundam itself. And like I said, it was subtle, and not to the extent that the genes of Coordinators are altered. Even without the masking agent, it would have been very difficult for even the most advanced blood scanners to pick up."

"Murrue," said Heero, turning to her as he did so, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you this when I first came aboard. After reading about the tensions caused by genetic engineering in this world, I wasn't sure how you guys would react if I gave you that information when we first met."

She shook her head. "That's quite alright. I understand your reasons for doing so. Believe me, I'm not upset about it." She sighed. "I was more worried about your self-detonating the Gundam. Even with your enhanced body, it's a miracle you survived!"

"I hadn't intended to," replied Heero, "After the explosion, Zechs allowed the other pilots to withdraw. I was picked up by Trowa in the Heavyarms and taken away for medical attention."

"When I regained consciousness," he continued, "I found myself with the circus that Trowa had been traveling with as cover. I'd been out for nearly a month. Trowa told me that Treize had issued orders for Une to stand down, and in the confusion the other Gundams had been able to retreat. However, due to the threat of a direct attack on the colonies, no subsequent missions had been launched in the time I was unconscious."

"I can imagine," said Murrue, "that with the colonies still being used as a shield, it would be difficult for your fellow pilots to act."

Heero nodded. "I travelled around with Trowa for a while, since I had nowhere else to go. In that time, I visited the families of each of the Alliance leaders that I had killed in the New Edwards attack… and gave them each the chance to avenge the deaths of their loved ones."

Murrue's heart went out to the young man. I can't imagine the guilt he must have been feeling. To go so far as to give his victims' families the chance to kill him…

Then she remembered what he had said earlier, about how he was learning to let go of his guilt over that tragic mistake. Obviously none of the families took him up on his offer, or he wouldn't be here. I can only guess that it was in the time between that and his coming to this world that he began his own healing process.

She put her hand on his shoulder again. "Well, I'm certainly glad that none of them decided to accept your offer. I never would have met you otherwise."

He looked at her and gave a small smile. "Yeah… same here."

After a brief moment of silence, Heero continued his tale. "After a while, a woman by the name of Lucrezia Noin found us. She was Zech's lieutenant, and had come with a message from him. Apparently, he had retrieved the remains of the Wing Gundam, and combined with a cache of Gundanium alloy he'd stolen from under OZ's nose, rebuilt the machine. He wanted to settle our unfinished duel from Siberia at a base in Antarctica, where no one would interfere. I accepted, but upon our arrival I refused to accept his charity, and instead used Trowa's Heavyarms Gundam."

"We fought, but my wounds from Siberia hadn't completely healed, and I was forced on the defensive. Before the battle could progress much further though, we were interrupted by Relena of all people. Somehow she had tracked me down. It was then that I learned that not only was her real name Relena Peacecraft, but Zechs was in fact her brother, Milliardo. They were both the last surviving members of the Peacecraft Monarchy, who had ruled the Sanc Kingdom in northern Europe. The kingdom had been destroyed by the Alliance, and the royal family presumed wiped out. Zechs had in fact joined OZ in order to eventually strike at those personally responsible for the collapse of the Sanc Kingdom."

"I've never heard of such a nation," said Murrue.

"It was probably never established in the Cosmic Era," replied Heero. He turned to her and smiled. "Yet another difference between our worlds."

"One of many," she said, "So, I take it you didn't settle things with Zechs, at least not in Antarctica?"

Heero nodded. "Apparently, Zechs' efforts to rebuild the Wing Gundam and have me brought to Antarctica did not go unnoticed. A large OZ strike force, including over a hundred mobile suits, was moving in on Antarctica. In order to buy us time to escape, Zechs took them all on in the Tallgeese." He turned to Murrue and smiled. "He wiped the floor with them. Over a hundred to one odds… there's a reason I considered him to be one of the best pilots of all time."

"Amazing," Murrue said, "I've never heard of anyone taking on that many mobile suits in a single battle!"

"It was something else, that's for sure," said Heero, "Anyway, after we escaped from Antarctica, we went our separate ways. I found out that OZ was moving on the colonies, attempting to win them over through diplomacy. I went back to space to investigate, but I had to leave Wing Gundam behind; the original five Gundams were built for battle on Earth, and performed poorly in outer space. It turned out that the diplomacy was a front, and OZ was applying military pressure on the colonies from behind the scenes. The colonies were initially friendly to OZ and saw them as liberators from the Alliance, but they soon found out that their new masters were no different than the old. However, that took some time, and in the meantime OZ had managed to turn the colonies against the Gundams." He looked at Murrue. "The very people we were fighting for had turned against us."

How awful, she thought, and after all Heero and his fellow pilots had been through on their behalf! "Heero… I am so sorry… it must have been terrible."

Heero sighed. "It took some getting used to, that's for sure. However, our mission remained the same; liberate the colonies from outside control, only now we had to fight an enemy that had tricked our own people into making us outcasts. It went… badly."

"What happened, Heero?" she asked softly.

"One by one," he said, "OZ began neutralizing us. Duo and Wufei had gone back into space as well, but their Gundams had been badly damaged, unable to cope with OZ's new weapon: the Mobile Dolls. I also found out that Quatre had been forced to self-destruct the Sandrock Gundam, but beyond that I was unable to find out much information on him. Quite frankly, the Mobile Dolls were the more pressing concern at the moment."

"Mobile Dolls? What are those?" said Murrue.

"Unmanned mobile suits," said Heero, "OZ, with the backing of the military-industrial organization known as the Romefeller Foundation- I mentioned them earlier- had developed AIs that could pilot mobile suits. The system had first been tested on Leos, and after the initial demonstration, mass production began, with OZ's space mobile suit, the Taurus, being converted for use as Mobile Dolls. The AIs could react faster than most human pilots, and with the original Gundams being designed for combat on Earth, we were no match for them. Duo and Wufei were captured and brought to OZ's lunar base. I went there in an attempt to break Duo out- Wufei actually arrived a little after I did- and got myself captured as well. I found out then that Trowa had joined OZ."

"What? He betrayed you?" cried Murrue, "How could he?"

"It wasn't that simple," said Heero, "He'd found out that OZ had captured all five of the Gundam scientists, and decided to join the organization in order to spy on them and potentially gain access to the scientists. The old men were working on two new machines for OZ, made from Gundanium alloy; the Mercurius and the Vayeate. New Gundams, if you will. Trowa had gotten himself selected as the test pilot for the Vayeate, and I was forced to pilot the Mercurius- Trowa had control of the mobile suit's self-detonation device."

"However," Heero said, a smirk appearing on his face, "the capture of the scientists and most of us Gundam pilots, along with the creation of the Mobile Dolls, had consequences that OZ and Romefeller had not anticipated."

"How so?" said Murrue.

"I'll start with the Mobile Dolls. They were the brainchild of Colonel Tsubarov, one of OZ's chief weapons developers as well as a friend of Duke Dermail, head of the Romefeller Foundation. During the test I mentioned earlier, Tsubarov's AI controlled Leos were able to destroy several tanks and mobile suits, but they soon came under attack by none other than Treize Khushrenada."

"Wait, you mean the leader of OZ?" said Murrue, taken aback by this development, "Why would he do that?"

Heero chuckled. "Treize was an… interesting figure. An aristocrat- the nephew of Duke Dermail, in fact- he was a cultured and well-educated man, as well as a charismatic soldier. However, much to the consternation of the Romefeller Foundation, he had his own unique code of chivalry and honor. He could be a ruthless and pragmatic commander when he wanted to- his setting us up to murder the Alliance's pacifists being a perfect example of that- but at the same time he was somewhat of a romantic. He felt that battles, though tragic, are given meaning by the people who risk their lives in them. Removing the human element from war simply turned it into a game for anyone who could afford to buy armies of Mobile Dolls. It removed the decision to kill from human hands, since the AI simply acted according to pre-programmed instructions. While the Romefeller Foundation saw MD as a means to eradicate war, the machines actually made wars easier to start, because the group who controlled them now didn't have to worry about the well being of their own soldiers and the possibility of massive casualties. The only deaths would be those fighting against the Mobile Dolls."

"Treize," Heero continued, "could not accept that. In response to the introduction and mass production of MD, he split from Romefeller and OZ, and took a great deal of soldiers with him when he did. OZ plunged into civil war. The men and women who followed him became known as the Treize Faction. Treize himself was actually soon captured and put under house arrest, but the Treize Faction had attracted a large amount of personnel, ensuring that the new conflict would not be over quickly."

"As bad as a new war breaking out must have been," said Murrue, "I'm certainly glad Treize went rogue. It must have helped your situation."

"Yes, though not immediately," replied Heero, smiling, "Remember, at the time the two groups initiated hostilities, I was in the slammer on the lunar base, along with Duo and Wufei."

"Obviously a jailbreak was in order," Murrue said with a smile.

Heero nodded. "Yes, but I wasn't the one breaking out, at least not yet. In addition to working on the Mercurius and the Vayeate, the scientists had also rebuilt the Deathscythe and the Shenlong in secret. The two Gundams were also heavily upgraded, and became the Deathscythe Hell and the Altron, respectively. The Gundams were only seventy percent complete at the time, but it was more than enough for Duo and Wufei to thrash OZ's forces at the base and make their escape. They would finish the remaining work on their new Gundams later on, and would remain in space fighting OZ on their own until the rest of us joined them for the final campaign."

"Shortly thereafter," he continued, "Quatre lost his father, and one of his sisters. In his despair, he found the designs for the Wing Zero, and had it built. He then decided to use it to wipe out not only OZ, but everyone in outer space. His father and sister had died in part due to the colonists accepting OZ rule, and in his twisted state of mind, he let loose his wrath on both parties."

He looked at Murrue. "It was Quatre that destroyed the space colony I told you about earlier. When OZ learned of what happened, both Trowa and I were scrambled to stop him. In our battle, we managed to capture the Wing Zero, but not before Quatre destroyed the Vayeate. Trowa went missing, presumed dead. It wasn't until much later that I learned he had survived, and had made it to a nearby colony."

"Around the time of that engagement," said Heero, "OZ had begun mass-producing the Virgo, the first machine designed specifically as an MD. It incorporated aspects of both the Mercurius and the Vayeate, and was well balanced in both offense and defense, though it was bulky and lacked close range weaponry. The Virgo MD's also had speed issues, particularly in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, it was still superior to anything else in the Earth Sphere at the time, save for the Gundams, and even then, only with a great deal of effort, or after being upgraded, like the Deathscythe Hell and the Altron."

"After the Wing Zero was captured, we were eventually taken by members of the Treize Faction. However, Romefeller loyalists soon overcame the lunar base, though they didn't execute the members of the Treize Faction or us. Rather, they used us in order to test the Wing Zero and its system, which had helped drive Quatre's rampage before we had stopped him. He managed to recover psychologically during this time, and was deeply remorseful over what he had done."

"Eventually, I was able to hijack the Wing Zero. I trashed the Virgo's that had been stationed at the base, but then Quatre confronted me in the Mercurius." He looked up at Murrue. "It was my first encounter with the Zero system. I… began to lose myself to it, just like Quatre had."

"Oh my god…" Murrue whispered. She'd assumed up until now that, although he'd stressed how difficult the system was to wield, that he'd had no serious problems with it. She shuddered at the thought of Heero going on a rampage, backed by the most powerful mobile suit ever built.

She was comforted to see him smile at her. "Fortunately, Quatre was able to snap me out of it, though it took some doing. We fled the base in a shuttle, leaving Wing Zero behind. We made our way to Earth, though we had no idea exactly what we were going to do once we got there."

"In the meantime, the Romefeller Foundation moved to seize direct control of the Earth. They launched Operation Nova, and sent hundreds of the newly completed Virgos to Earth to confront not only the Treize Faction, but to bring dissident nations to heel. In the midst of this, a bounty was put out on the heads of the Gundam pilots. Quatre and I travelled around Europe for awhile, and I eventually joined up with a group of Treize Faction soldiers as a mercenary. The fact that I was a Gundam pilot made it easy for me to get in, as my skills were highly valued, even without an actual Gundam at my disposal."

"I can imagine that," said Murrue, "I've never seen anyone with piloting abilities like yours. You'd be deadly even in a normal mobile suit."

Heero nodded. "Indeed. During our initial clash with Romefeller forces, we did quite well. However, once the MD's entered the picture, the Leo I was using was simply too obsolete for me to face them in. Fortunately, Quatre and Noin showed up, and Noin dropped the Buster Rifle, which Quatre then fired with an Aeries mobile he had taken suit to destroy the Virgos. It turned out that Noin had found the Wing Gundam and retrieved it. Then she asked me and Quatre to join her in defending the revived Sanc Kingdom."

"The Sanc Kingdom was restored?" said Murrue, "Who was leading it?"

"None other than Relena," said Heero, "Apparently, Noin had helped her rebuild the nation in the time I spent unconscious and in space. However, Relena continued to advocate the Peacecraft family philosophy of total pacifism, which meant that the nation would be vulnerable to outside attack. Noin was working to build a defense force for the kingdom in secret. Since we had nowhere else to go, Quatre and I decided to help her and Relena."

"Noin informed Relena that we were coming," he continued, "and she welcomed us with open arms. I'm sure she suspected that Noin had her own reasons for bringing us to Sanc, but she didn't press for details, and even enrolled us in the new school she had established. Members of the ruling elite from across the world had sent their daughters to it in order to learn about the Peacecraft ideals, and how to apply them in their own countries. The student make up was primarily of girls from nations who wanted to resist Romefeller but were too weak to do so. Quatre and I were the first male students on campus."

"You two must have been quite popular," said Murrue with a knowing smile.

Heero laughed. "We certainly drew attention, though in my case it turned into a bit of trouble."

"How so?" asked Murrue.

"One of the new arrivals," he said, "was Dorothy Catalonia, the granddaughter of Duke Dermail. She was sent to spy on Relena, and she knew who Quatre and I really were. Dorothy confronted me in a fencing match. She spoke in a somewhat cryptic manner so the other students wouldn't catch on, but I knew that she was telling me that she knew I was one of the Gundam pilots. Soon after her arrival, a group of Mobile Doll entered the kingdom in pursuit of a transport used by the Treize Faction. They shot it down, and it would have crashed on top of the car Relena and Dorothy were in had I not destroyed it with the Wing Gundam. Quatre and Noin showed up in Tauruses to fend off the MDs, and thus our secret defense force was revealed."

"You seem to have developed a habit of saving Relena's life," said Murrue, an amused smile on her face.

Heero nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that. Considering how our first meeting had gone, the irony wasn't lost on me. Anyway, Relena actually approved of the new defense force, so we avoided a confrontation on that end. She asked me to promise her that I would remain in the kingdom and not go looking for battles. I said yes, but I kept myself ready to leave at any time; another habit I had, though this one had been with me for years."

"I can see that," said Murrue, "Considering what you told me about your early life before the orbital battle, I imagine you must have travelled quite a bit."

"Yeah," said Heero, "Although, as you probably figured out, I left a great deal out."

She nodded. "I figured that. Since you said that you were fifteen earlier, I know that what you're telling me only happened within the last year of your life. I can't imagine what your childhood must have been like."

Heero looked down for a moment. "Murrue, the reason I started with Operation Meteor is because I considered that mission and the subsequent conflict to be the most important events of my life. I can tell you about my earlier years some other time, if you want."

Murrue smiled. "It's alright, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I know you had your reasons for starting where you did. I'd imagine that this war helped shape you into the young man that's sitting with me right now. I have no problem with you starting from there, instead of giving me a more traditional life story."

Heero smiled as well. "The war impacted all of us who took part in it. I had other experiences before it that influenced my beliefs and way of life, but the war was by far the biggest, and the most relevant as to how I wound up here."

"I bet," she said. "Heero… please continue. I don't need to hear about your early years tonight, but I'd really like to know what happened to you in the Sanc Kingdom."

Heero nodded. "Don't worry, I wasn't intending to stop for the night. I'll go until the end of the war. That was actually little more than a month before I came to the Cosmic Era."

He took a breath, then continued. "Eventually, I found out that Treize was under house arrest in a mansion in Luxembourg, and that Romefeller was planning to attack the nearby base, which had recently been taken over by troops loyal to Treize. They were sending a large force of Virgos, and the defenders would have no chance of beating them. I broke my word to Relena, and scrambled the Wing Gundam."

Heero sighed. "Looking back on things, in going to fight at Luxembourg… I believe I was looking for a place to die. The amount of Virgos that Romefeller had deployed was overwhelming, even with the Wing Gundam at my disposal. I managed to take out several of them, but sheer numbers began to take their toll."

"Heero…" said Murrue. Once again she could feel herself nearly overcome with pity for him. She had heard her share of tragic tales over the course of the current war, naturally, but this was beyond anything she could have ever imagined. And he was so young, she thought, far too young to have to go through all that he did! Yet he took it all so stoically, with a strength she could only marvel at. It's impossible to see him as just another teenager caught up in all this, she realized, his innocence was shattered long ago. He became an adult far earlier than anyone should have had to. Even after what he had told her in orbit, she had still seen him somewhat as a sixteen year old boy. An incredibly talented one to be sure, but still just another teenage pilot.

But now… after hearing all that she had, and knowing that there was still more to come in his tale… He truly is a man. He probably crossed that threshold even before Operation Meteor. I was a fool, not realizing it sooner. The way he acted from the moment we met should have made things abundantly clear; he's one of us. A true soldier, trying to survive, and perhaps make some sort of difference in a war-torn world. Kira and his friends have still managed to keep some sense of innocence, of naiveté, but Heero's is long gone.

Heero began speaking again, and once again Murrue gave him her full attention. "Eventually, the Wing Gundam was hit one too many times by enemy fire, and I lost my mobility. I was about to trigger the self-detonation device when I received a message from Treize. He was telling me not to die, that I still had much to do. Curious to see what he wanted, I abandoned the Wing Gundam and made my way towards his mansion, the battle still raging around me."

"My encounter with him was not what I had expected. We talked for quite a while, debating the nature of war and the human desire to fight, along with a host of other topics. Afterward, he revealed something that too me completely by surprise. It turned out that he had studied not only the five Gundams used in Operation Meteor, but the designs for Wing Zero as well, and had built a new Gundam in secret; the Epyon. It was designed as a dueling mobile suit, with its only weapons being a Beam Sword and a whip-like device called a Heat Rod. It had Gundanium alloy, of course, and was incredibly fast and maneuverable, but what truly made it fearsome was the inclusion of the Zero system in its construction."

"Hold on," said Murrue, "you mean that Wing Zero was not the only Gundam with that system?"

Heero nodded, then looked her in the eye. "Of all the other mobile suits built in the After Colony timeline, the Epyon was the only one that was considered to be equal to the Wing Zero. The fact that both machines had the Zero system made them amongst the deadliest weapons in the entire Earth Sphere. However, I did not know that Treize had included the system until after I entered the cockpit and powered up the mobile suit. With the help of the system, I made short work of the remaining Virgos, but I also wound up attacking the Treize Faction soldiers as well. In the end, I wiped out both sides, and collapsed soon after the battle. I still hadn't gained mastery over the Zero system, as you can tell. Also, Treize seems to have modified it to some degree. I could sense a slight difference between this system and the one in place on Wing Zero, though it's hard to describe exactly what it was. No doubt it was influenced by Treize's own ideals. He had warned me, though, not to think of 'winning' while using it. Rather, the fight itself was what the Epyon's Zero system seems to have been geared towards."

"You mean it was meant to make the pilot fight only for the sake of fighting?" asked Murrue.

"I suppose that's one way to look at it," Heero replied, "though that might be a bit too simplistic. It was deeper than that, but I think that only someone who really understood Treize would be able to put it into words."

"That system," he continued, "would play a major part in my actions to come. Soon after the attack on Luxembourg, Relena allowed a group of wounded Treize Faction soldiers to enter the Sanc Kingdom as refugees. Unfortunately, this had been exactly what Romefeller had been waiting for, and they used it as justification for an all-out invasion of the Sanc Kingdom. Noin, Quatre, and several former Alliance and OZ soldiers that had joined us fought in defense of the kingdom, and I fought as well in the Epyon. However, the Epyon's Zero system drove me into something akin to a berserker frenzy, and I wound up moving away from the beaches, where the most important fighting was occurring. I simply rampaged across the kingdom, destroying Virgos as I came across them, without regard to the overall strategic situation."

"Eventually, Duke Dermail persuaded Relena to surrender, and the Sanc Kingdom was formally dissolved. I later learned that Dermail planned to install her as the puppet Queen of a new World Nation, and use her popularity with the people to help him rule Earth. At the time, however, I was still caught up in the grasp of the Epyon's system, and kept fighting even after everyone else had stopped. I continued until late in the evening, when someone I hadn't expected arrived on the scene."

"Who was it?" said Murrue.

"Zechs," he said, "and even more surprising was that he was piloting the Wing Zero. Somehow he had acquired it in the time since our interrupted duel in Antarctica. We fought, but both of us were having trouble with our suits' systems, and the battle ended when we both got out of our machines and ultimately collapsed. Afterwards, we talked for awhile, and we eventually decided to swap mobile suits. I had a feeling that he would be able to use the Epyon better than I could, since he had been Treize's best friend. I took the Wing Zero, and found that I was able to adapt better to the original Zero system. I guess my time with the Epyon had helped prepare me to better control the system. I took Wing Zero and attacked Romefeller's invasion fleet, then withdrew. Zechs went off on his own."

"What did he hope to accomplish?" Murrue asked.

"You'll see soon enough," replied Heero, "In the meanwhile, I heard about Dermail's plans to make Relena the symbolic head of Romefeller and the new Queen of the World Nation. I was unwilling to allow her to be used in that fashion, so I made my way towards the Foundation's main headquarters in Europe where her coronation ceremony would be… to kill her, though I was much more reluctant to go through with it this time around.

"However," he said, smiling, "Relena surprised me, and the Romefeller Foundation as well. She declared that, since Romefeller now presided over the new World Nation, it must set an example and disarm. Duke Dermail tried to protest, but Relena's words won over the majority of the ruling elite. And all the while, she knew I was standing in the wings, aiming a gun at her. I couldn't help but admire the strength of her convictions, and her ability to persuade other members of Romefeller to come around to her ideals. Dermail was embarrassed, and his power base within the Foundation began to crumble. He'd clearly underestimated his would-be puppet."

"She sounds like an amazing young woman," said Murrue, looking carefully to see how Heero would react.

He nodded. "Yeah. Fighting was all I knew how to do, but that didn't mean I couldn't respect her own principles and how she struggled in her own way to change the world. Her will seemed to be unbreakable, yet she was at the same time the most compassionate person I'd ever met. I was… greatly relieved… to not have to kill her."

"Heero," said Murrue, meeting his gaze, "did you love her?"

He gave a small laugh, and shook his head. "No. For awhile I thought I did, but I came to realize that the feelings I had for her- and hers for me- were not quite love, at least not in the romantic sense."

"Relena," he said with a smile, "was my first true friend. I think it was the same for her as well. Though she had been popular at school before meeting me, I think people only saw her as the daughter of an Alliance government official. Someone with access to power and wealth. I think one of the reasons she followed me in those early days was because I hadn't seen her as such, and that kindled her own interest in me, although the whole mysteriously washing up on the beach thing probably helped too. Over time, we came to understand each other in a way that no one else did, and it was that respect and admiration that created the bond between us. It wasn't romantic, but it didn't have to be. For us, that friendship was more than enough. In the end, I think it was all we ever really wanted."

"She must miss you," said Murrue softly.

He looked down. "I bet so. I miss her too, and I know she'll start worrying about me, if she hasn't already. That's the last thing I want to put her through; she doesn't deserve it."

"Heero…" she whispered. She gently grabbed his hand, and they sat there in silence for awhile.

He looked at her, and while she saw a hint of sadness in his eyes, she also saw gratitude, and perhaps a bit of hope. "Thank you, Murrue," he said softly.

She nodded and smiled. "You're welcome, Heero. Do you still want to continue?"

He nodded and returned her smile. "Yes."

Heero took a moment to collect his thoughts, and then spoke. "Unfortunately, it turned out not everyone was willing to embrace Relena's pacifist ideals, and I'm not just referring to Duke Dermail. White Fang, a group of militant colonists, staged what became known as the Artemis Revolution. They seized several facilities in outer space, including the lunar base in charge of the production of the Virgo Mobile Dolls, along with Romefeller's secret weapon, the nearly completed space-battleship Libra. Colonel Tsubarov, the man in charge of the MD program, was killed in the uprising, by the very machines that he had so championed. A fitting end if there ever was one."

"The rebels made a speech, and what was thought to be their leader, a man named Quinz, spoke of repaying OZ and the Earth for all of the injustices committed against the colonies, and restated the desire for independence. However, it was soon revealed that the true leader behind the group was none other than Zechs Merquise. He spoke of how the Earth was the source of all conflict, and that the space colonists, with their daily struggles just to survive, could live without war were it not for the Earth. So he declared war on the Earth Nation."

"Now, I imagine you're wondering if we intended to join the White Fang. One of their stated goals was the independence of the colonies after all, which had been ours at the outset of Operation Meteor."

Murrue nodded. "The thought had crossed my mind."

"Had the Earth not just declared its intent to disarm," said Heero, "we may well have joined them. However, it was immediately apparent that White Fang was an obstacle to reaching a true peace between the Earth and the colonies. In addition, with the capture of the moon base, it became obvious that their intention was to amass a large force of Mobile Dolls of their own, we could not side with anyone who used those machines instead of fighting their battles themselves. Also, Zechs had announced the group's intention to eliminate the Earth all together, or at least make it unfit for human habitation, forcing mankind to live entirely in space. There was no way in hell that we could go along with a plan like that; it was all too similar to the original Operation Meteor. I quickly realized that I would have to go to space; the final campaign would no doubt unfold there."

"I wasn't the only one who was preparing to head for space. Duke Dermail personally led a force of MDs in an attempt to wipe out the rebellion and at the same time shore up his support base. However, he underestimated the strength of White Fang, and died in the engagement. The force was defeated, and the rebels became emboldened, and prepared for their next move."

"Meanwhile," he continued, "the Maganac Corps, allies of Quatre's, had salvaged and rebuilt the Sandrock Gundam. Also, Sally Po, a former Alliance officer, contacted me with news that she had recovered the Heavyarms Gundam, although at the time there was still no sign of Trowa. Quatre took the Sandrock into space, while Sally and I took the Wing Zero and the Heavyarms. The stage was set for the Eve Wars, the culmination of everything that had been set into motion by our revised Operation Meteor."

"When the shuttle Sally and I were on made it into space, we encountered Wufei. He had tried to attack the Libra by himself, and had to withdraw. The Altron had taken damage, and we let him come aboard our ship as we made our way towards the Peacemillion, a carrier that was operated by Howard. He had been the head of the group of salvage workers that had helped Duo on Earth. I later learned that he had also been one of the scientists who had worked on the original Tallgeese project. I'm not sure how he came by the carrier, but it made for a great base of operations. Howard had also upgraded the Sandrock for combat in space, and would be able to do the same for the Heavyarms Gundam as well. Before we could make it to the Peacemillion, we were attacked by a large group of Virgo IIs, upgraded forms of the original Virgo MD, operated by White Fang. I told Wufei to sortie in the Wing Zero. The Zero system helped him see who his real enemies were, White Fang and Treize, whom he had an old score to settle with, and it convinced him to join up with us."

"In the meanwhile," he said, "before we made it to the carrier, White Fang launched an assault on OZ's space fortress Barge. Duo, Quatre, Noin, and Trowa, whom they had recently recovered, though he was suffering from amnesia, intervened in an attempt to stop the fighting. There were several colonies in the area, and if Barge fired its main cannon and accidently hit one of them, the blast would wipe it out."

"As it turned out, Barge got one shot off with that cannon. It wiped out a large amount of Virgo IIs, but it also grazed a colony, though it didn't destroy it. Before it could fire another blast, Zechs, who had been leading the assault in the Epyon, single handedly destroyed Barge, though as you know, its primary reactor survived the space fortress's destruction, and lead to me coming to the Cosmic Era."

"It seems I owe Zechs my thanks," said Murrue, "Otherwise I would never have met you."

Heero chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I owe him one for that."

"After the battle," he continued, "all of us wound up aboard the Peacemillion. While we were trying to figure out what our next move would be, a group of Treize Faction soldiers took over a colony, and took its citizens hostage. Treize disowned them, but it did little to help the situation. The colony was the one that Trowa had been recovered at, and his friends from the circus he had been traveling with were still there. I let him take the Wing Zero to intervene, mainly because I thought that the Zero system might be able to reawaken his memories. Duo, Quatre, and Noin went along as well, and the hostages were rescued. Trowa did in fact regain his memories, and he returned to the carrier. By then, the Heavyarms was ready for use in space combat, so he was able to return to his old machine, though it had been upgraded with additional weapons as well as the space flight modifications."

"In the meanwhile, major developments were taking place on Earth. Treize relieved Relena of her position as head of the Romefeller Foundation and sovereign of the World Nation. Personally, I think he did it so that she would not be forced to fight her own brother. Regardless, the man essentially seized control of the entire world in about five minutes."

Murrue was stunned. He makes it sound so easy! It's hard to imagine that someone could have pulled that off. Yet, despite how incredulous it sounded, she realized that she had absolute faith in Heero, not a shred of doubt that he was telling the truth.

"One more thing," said Heero, his expression becoming grim, "during the hostage situation, Zechs had begun moving the Libra in preparation to fire its main cannon, a weapon more powerful than Barge or the Twin Buster Rifle. Everyone else thought that he was preparing to fire on the colony itself, sacrificing the hostages just to make a point. When he fired, the blast actually missed the colony, but I had already predicted what his main target would be, and my conclusion was proven to be all too accurate."

"Where did the shot hit?" said Murrue, trepidation clear in her voice.

"Earth," said Heero, "The blast hit an island and completely annihilated it; a clear demonstration of power if there ever was one. This served to underline the threat posed by White Fang. Fortunately, the main cannon could not fire consecutively. The five Gundam scientists, who had been forced to work on the Libra, introduced a design flaw that would cause the weapon to break down after each shot, requiring extensive and time-consuming repairs before it could fire again.

"Treize, in the meanwhile," he continued, "proceeded to amass the entire strength of OZ for battle with White Fang. Thousands of mobile suits began gathering in space at the resource satellite MO-II, which Treize had chosen as a frontline command post and staging point for an eventual assault on the Libra."

"While OZ was preparing for battle, White Fang turned its attention towards us. Deciding that since we were not with them, we were against them, they launched several waves of MDs at us, and we had to fight several back-to-back battles. I eventually realized that Zechs had someone using the Zero system to coordinate the Virgo II's, and so I worked up a version of the system for Quatre to use to lead the other pilots more effectively against them."

"Why didn't you do it yourself?" said Murrue, "Surely you would have been the better choice since you had mastered the system by then."

"Because," Heero replied, "I knew that eventually Zechs would take the field in the Epyon, and I would need to focus on fighting him. Quatre had a certain knack for leadership that the other pilots did not, so I felt that he was the best choice. Indeed, in the next battle he was able to get the others to coordinate their moves, quite a feat considering that we had been so used to fighting alone before then. Also, in that battle Zechs did indeed come out himself, and we fought yet another duel. During our fight I tried to figure out his intentions, but he made it clear that he was dead serious on using the Libra against the Earth. He even tried to persuade me to join him, declaring that, as a soldier of the colonies, I should be fighting on his side. However, I could never have lived with myself if I had joined them and thereby helped to murder countless civilians. My decision was simple; I would oppose him, and I would stop him no matter what."

Murrue smiled. "I would expect nothing less from you, Heero."

"Thanks, Murrue. I appreciate that," he said.

"Awhile later, we received some help from an unexpected source," he continued, "Hilde Schubeicher, a friend of Duo's, had somehow snuck aboard the Libra disguised as a White Fang soldier. She managed to get a copy of the battleship's schematics, but during her escape she was discovered and pursued by rebuilt, MD versions of the Mercurius and Vayeate, each programmed with a more sophisticated AI than normal. The one aboard the Mercurius was based off of data took from me when I was forced to pilot it by OZ, while the Vayeate had Trowa's data. Duo scrambled the Deathscythe Hell to save Hilde, and managed to destroy both machines in the process."

"That's impressive," said Murrue, "especially considering that he was essentially up against two Gundam pilots, or at least copies."

"Copies, Murrue," Heero said with a smirk, "Nowhere near close to the real-deal."

"Of course," said Murrue, laughing slightly.

"Anyway, after we recovered Hilde, I found out that in addition to the battleship's schematics, the girl had also found out that Relena was being held aboard the Libra. Apparently, after Treize had relieved her of her duties, she had journeyed to space in an effort to convince Zechs to abandon his campaign. At the same time, Dorothy Catalonia had gone there as well, although in her case it was to join Zechs and White Fang. It was her that had been using the Zero system to command White Fang's MD fleet. At this time Zechs had begun going by his real name, Milliardo Peacecraft, signifying that he had cut ties with OZ once and for all. He confined Relena to one of the officer's quarters, and had Dorothy keep an eye on her."

"I knew that eventually Treize would launch a massive assault on the Libra," he continued, "and I didn't want Relena to get caught in the crossfire. I took a shuttle and managed to infiltrate the battleship. Eventually I found Relena, but she wanted to speak to her brother one more time before I got her out of there. We found him, but it turned out it was only a hologram. He had been speaking to us from the bridge of the Libra. The final battle soon began, with Treize challenging Zechs to a duel. Zechs refused, and fired the main cannon at Treize, who had taken the field himself in the Tallgeese II. Treize was actually willing to take the blast, in order to show the world that, in the end, there was no chivalry in war, but at the last moment Lady Une, who had taken the Wing Gundam, which had been repaired by OZ at Luxembourg, and knocked him out of the way. The lower half of the Wing Gundam was disintegrated, but both Treize and Une survived. Lady Une withdrew to MO-II to support Treize in a command and control capacity, and the entire might of Earth and space finally engaged each other. Thousands of mobile suits and MD's went at it, the largest battle in the history of the Earth Sphere."

"Meanwhile, the rest of the Gundam pilots launched their machines. In theory, we were against both sides, but in practice my fellow pilots focused their attacks on White Fang's Virgo IIs. Howard and the crew of the Peacemillion crashed the carrier into the Libra's main cannon, disabling it. Relena and I were still on the battleship, and I covered her to protect her from injury. I was grazed by some debris, but nothing serious. I was able to get Relena over to the Peacemillion, and after I was sure she would be safe, I launched the Wing Zero. It didn't take me long to find Zechs, and we began our own final battle."

"Incredible…" whispered Murrue. What else could she say? What Heero was describing was a battle beyond anything she had previously heard of, anything she could have imagined.

"While Zechs and I dueled, Treize met Wufei on the battlefield," he said, "Ultimately, Treize allowed himself to be killed by Wufei. I think that he respected us Gundam pilots more than anyone else because of our willingness to fight against impossible odds, and that he wanted to die at the hands of someone he held in such high regard. While that was happening, Duo retrieved the five Gundam scientists from within the Libra, and transferred them to the Peacemillion so they could detonate the carrier's engines while Howard and the crew evacuated, destroying both vessels. At the same time, Quinz had begun to move the battleship towards Earth in an attempt to recreate the original Operation Meteor."

"What? How could he do something like that?" said Murrue, "Surely he knew by then that he had lost."

"Because," Heero said grimly, "Quinz was one of the masterminds behind the original plan, and his hatred of the people of Earth knew no bounds. He was determined to go through with the operation, regardless of the current situation."

"Quatre," he continued, "had boarded the battleship in an attempt to stop Quinz. However, he was confronted by Dorothy, and in the midst of such a high tech battle, the two of them fought a duel with fencing blades. Quatre was wounded, but Trowa arrived to help him escape, and Dorothy managed to flee the Libra as well. By this time, both OZ and White Fang had suffered such massive casualties that the battle was essentially over. Nevertheless, Quinz made his way over to the Peacemillion's engine block, and attempted to stop the five scientists from detonating it. He failed, and the old men who had been so instrumental to our own Operation Meteor went out in a final blaze of glory, destroying both Peacemillion and most of the Libra as well."

"I suppose that would be a fitting end for them," Murrue said softly. To be honest, she had mixed feelings about those old men. On the one hand, they had built the machines that Heero and his friends had wound up piloting at such a young age. On the other, Heero had not said that they had been forced to do so, and she realized that all of the boys no doubt had valid reasons of their own for wanting to fight. Not to mention, she thought, were it not for their creations, I would never have had the chance to meet Heero. I know it's selfish of me, especially considering all he went through following Operation Meteor, but… he's such an amazing young man. I've only known him for about a week, but I've already found myself wondering how I've gone so long without having him in my life.

She turned to him and smiled. Heero… you're truly someone special. I consider myself to be incredibly fortunate to have met you, and I want to continue to get to know you, to learn more about you. And she was sure that he would let her. He'd been so willing to trust her, and she would not let that faith go to waste. She would do all she could to help him, in any way she could. Even if all she could do was provide a shoulder for him to lay his head on, someone to confide in, she was determined to make sure that he knew she cared about him, that she truly did consider him a friend.

"So that just left you and Zechs to finish your duel then, correct?" she said.

Heero shook his head. "Not quite. A large section of Libra had broken off during the explosion, and it continued to fall towards the Earth. It provided the stage for our final confrontation, but at the same time its size could prove devastating if it impacted the planet. I knew that we were on a time limit for our fight, and I gave it everything I had. Eventually I cut off the Epyon's left arm, the one with the Heat Rod, and beat Zechs. However, during the duel, I had dropped the Twin Buster Rifle, which was what I would ultimately need to destroy the falling block. I made my way into the heart of the section, where its own reactor was, but my gatlings were out of ammo, and my beam saber's charge had finally run out."

He sighed. "I prepared to self-detonate the Wing Zero. I tried to convince myself that it was right that I should die here, saving innocent lives in the process of my final act. However, Zechs intervened. He said that it was someone like me who was needed for the new era to come, and that I couldn't die here. Zechs impaled the reactor with his Beam Saber and disappeared in the subsequent explosion, but not before declaring that he would return. His actions greatly reduced the mass of the block, but enough remained to cause serious harm on Earth should it impact."

"In the meanwhile, the other pilots had made it to the block, and were doing all they could to break it apart. Finally, Wufei managed to retrieve the Twin Buster Rifle, and he got it to me not a moment too soon. When the others heard the news, they immediately disengaged and got out of there, while I made my way into the atmosphere ahead of the block, preparing to fire."

Heero smiled. "Maybe it was what Zechs had said to me, or what Relena had told me before I took off in Wing Zero, but I felt different than before. I was starring death in the face yet again, but instead of embracing the possibility that it might all end there, I was determined to survive no matter what happened. I fired the Twin Buster Rifle at maximum power, and destroyed the block. The explosion was massive, but I flew right through it and emerged unscathed. I felt… free. Like a great weight had finally been removed from my shoulders. Our war was finally over."

"The colonies and Earth both declared their intent to reconcile, and the Earth Sphere Unified Nation was born." Heero gave a small laugh. "In the end, Treize and Zechs won."

Now Murrue was confused. "I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"The final battle," said Heero, "was deliberately set up by both of them to involve the maximum amount of military force possible. Almost all of the Mobile Dolls and space capable mobile suits were involved, and the casualties were massive."

He turned to look at Murrue. "Zechs and Treize gave humanity a war so horrendous, so devastating, with the added potential for annihilation of both the colonies and life on Earth, that humanity lost all taste for battle. We Gundam pilots in the end only acted to protect innocents from getting caught up in the middle. The vast majority of the arsenals mankind had built up were destroyed in that conflict, and the rest would be easy enough to dismantle. Treize and Zechs managed to give humanity a chance to rid itself of war altogether."

Heero sighed. "Of course, whether or not they embrace it is ultimately up to them. When I destroyed the Barge reactor and came to the Cosmic Era, it had been a little over a month since the final battle. At the time, it seemed that a lasting peace had been achieved, but who can say how events will play out. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that perhaps, for the first time, mankind in my world can break the cycle of violence that has so long plagued us."

He looked at her again and smiled. "From the Barge incident onwards… I think you know the rest."

She nodded, but there was something that was still bothering her. "Heero, when we first met, you said that you were trying to find your purpose for being in our world. When peace was achieved in your own… did you feel like you had lost your sense of purpose as a result?"

He laughed. "You know, you really have gotten good at reading me. Yes, you're right. I tried to take jobs for the new government, keep tabs on groups attempting rearmament, but it just wasn't enough. Fighting was all I had ever known, and I was having difficulty getting used to peace, much more than my friends were. Coming here… was actually kind of a relief, in a way. It's not that I enjoy battle, far from it. But fighting for you guys once again gave me a sense of fulfillment, something that I think I lost at the end of the Eve Wars."

"Well," said Murrue, "as glad as I am to know that we can give you that much, I wish we could do so without having you fight. It's… too sad. Fighting shouldn't be what makes you feel whole, alive. There's so much more to life than war. I know you say it's all you've known, and we are at war now, but I don't believe we always will be."

She looked at him and grabbed his hand. "Peace will come in this world too, eventually. I want to help you be ready for that, so that you won't feel so lost and won't need to fight in order to have a purpose."

"Murrue…"he said, his eyes widening slightly. He was quiet for a moment, and then smiled. "Thank you. I really appreciate that."

She surprised him, and herself, by moving in to embrace him again. This time he got over it a bit quicker, and gently held her as well. "We're friends, Heero," she whispered in his ear, "I'll do whatever I can to help you. I know you said you would defend us while trying to find your purpose, but you don't have to search for it alone."

She could feel his grip on her tighten slightly in response, but she didn't mind in the least. "In return," he said, "I swear I'll protect you, no matter what happens."

They slowly parted, and she realized that they were both smiling. She grabbed her tray, stood up, and offered him her hand. "Well, shall we head back?"

He nodded, grabbed his own tray, and took her hand. As she pulled him up, he laughed. "Yeah, they're probably worried about us by now. I've kept you out here long enough."

"Nevertheless," she said as they made their way back towards the ship, "I enjoyed every minute of it."

….

Aboard the Lesseps, Waltfeld stood looking over a map of the region. "Are you sure this information is accurate, DaCosta?" he said.

The Field Marshall's aide nodded. "According to our sources, Tassil has been supplying the resistance fighters with both food and new recruits." He pointed to a red dot on the map symbolizing the town, which wasn't too far from the ship's current location.

"Are any of our units in the area other than us?" asked Waltfeld.

"Yes, sir," DaCosta replied, "A patrol from the Seventh Armored Division. They have four BuCues at their disposal, which is fortunate since our remaining two are undergoing repairs at the moment, and we won't be able to take on new ones to replace those lost until we return to Banadiya."

"I see," he said, then turned to the helmsman, "Set course for Banadiya. Comm. officer, radio Seventh Armor's nearest patrol and have them rendezvous with us west of Tassil."

As the two men got to work, Waltfeld turned to DaCosta. "At our current pace, what's our ETA?"

"About an hour," he replied, "close to midnight, I believe. Seventh Armor's patrol will most likely beat us there by a few minutes."

"Good," said the Field Marshall. Glancing down at the town on the map, he added, "We need to show the denizens of Tassil the consequences of aiding the Desert Dawn."

….

Murrue and Heero were both about to enter their separate quarters when Natarle's voice came over the intercom. "Captain Ramius, please come to the bridge!"

"Sounds urgent," said Heero.

Murrue nodded. "You go get some rest; I'll go see what's up."

Heero shook his head. "I won't be able to get any sleep if I think there's trouble. I'll come with you and see what's up."

When they got to the bridge, Murrue could see clouds of dust billowing up around them. Looking carefully, she saw that the dust was being kicked up by several vehicles racing past the Archangel towards the mouth of the ravine.

"What's happening, Lieutenant?" she asked.

"They just got a message from a nearby town called Tassil," Natarle replied, "It's an ally of theirs, a source of food, water, and the home of many of their fighters. Apparently, it was just attacked by ZAFT."

"A retaliatory strike?" said Murrue.

Rather than wait for Natarle to respond, she turned to Heero. The young man nodded. "Waltfeld no doubt knows that it was members of Desert Dawn that helped us during the battle. His intelligence sources probably pinpointed that town as an ally of theirs. This is a punitive raid, a warning to others who may be thinking of aiding Desert Dawn, and us by extension."

"What should we do?" said Natarle, "The Tiger may find out that the rebel base is here; Tassil isn't too far away from this ravine. It would be easy for him to retrace the rebels' steps."

Murrue nodded. "Dispatch Lieutenant Commander La Flaga on Skygrasper One. Have him head for the town and try to get a sense of the situation. Meanwhile, see what we can afford to give as relief aid to the civilians, and have crewmembers load our trucks and have them make for Tassil. Put Ensign Yamato on standby; if Waltfeld is still in the area, then the rebels may be walking into a trap. We'll launch the Strike in Aile configuration to bail them out if need be."

"But we'd be putting our own resources in needless danger!" argued Natarle.

"If the rebels are wiped out, then we lose access to their supply sources!" snapped Murrue, "How do you propose we make it to Alaska then, Lieutenant Badgiruel?"

Natarle grimaced. "Understood, Captain."

Murrue then turned to Heero. "I want you to go remain with the ship. If this is a diversion and Waltfeld has actually found the camp and plans to strike us here, then I want you in reserve to cover that possibility."

"Good thinking," he replied, "I'll head down to the Wing Zero. I'm going to patch into the ship's radar and communications from there so I can monitor the situation."

"Alright," she said. Heero nodded and quickly left the bridge.

….

It wasn't hard to spot Tassil, or rather, what was left of it. "Man," said Mu La Flaga as he flew over the flaming ruins, "the Tiger did a real number on this place." Decreasing his altitude, he saw what appeared to be a large group of people standing on the outskirts of the town. So some people did get out.

As he came in for a landing, he realized that the group was much larger than it should have been for a scene of such devastation. Putting two and two together, he realized what had happened. He got on the radio with the Archangel.

"Well," he said, "I've got some good news. It looks like the entire population survived."

"How is that possible?" said Captain Ramius.

"I have a theory, but I need to find out for sure," he replied, "I'll go talk to the residents, then I'll call you guys. La Flaga out."

The Skygrasper had Vertical Take Off and Landing, or VTOL, capability, so he was able to set down near the crowd without too much trouble. Climbing out of the cockpit, he soon found himself surrounded by people. "Who's in charge here?" he asked.

An elderly man stepped forward. "I am."

Mu nodded. "How many people did you lose?"

"None," the elder said, "The ZAFT soldiers came, gave us a warning and fifteen minutes to clear out of the town, and then started firing. They not only destroyed the buildings, but they also sent missiles into the caves where we were hiding supplies."

So the Tiger knew where they were hiding provisions, thought La Flaga, he's got some sharp intelligence sources.

Just then he heard the rumbling of engines, and the vehicles of the resistance fighters pulled up alongside the civilians. Mu saw that the leaders had come out, including the blond girl, along with several fighters. They were all armed with shoulder-fired rockets and heavy machine guns.

Mu watched as their facial expressions shifted from shock at the destruction, to relief that the civilians were alright, and then finally to rage. Only Sahib and Kisaka managed to maintain some semblance of calm. Not good, he thought.

Cagalli was the first to speak up. "Damn that Tiger!" she yelled, "What kind of monster torches an entire town?"

"Pretty merciful for a monster," said Mu, and everyone turned towards him.

Cagalli stomped up to him. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Simple," he replied, "Waltfeld gave the people time to evacuate before he started his attack. If he had wanted to, he could have leveled the place with everyone still in their beds."

"Grrr, of course a jerk like you would say that!" she snarled, clearly unwilling to listen to reason.

Mu was about to reply when he heard additional vehicles approaching. He saw two of the Archangel's loader trucks approaching, Natarle driving the lead one.

She waved to him as she stopped and stepped out of her vehicle. "We brought blankets, some rations, and some other relief aid," she said, "Unfortunately, it's all we could spare from the ship; we can't afford to give away any more until the rebel's own supply sources come through for us."

"It'll still help," said Mu, "I'll help you guys unload everything."

Suddenly there was a commotion, and Mu saw Cagalli leap into one of the jeeps, with her friend Ahmed in the driver's seat. Several other fighters were getting into their vehicles as well, despite Sahib and Kisaka's best efforts to dissuade them. Shit, thought Mu, they're too riled up. If they go out and attack Waltfeld head on, they'll get slaughtered!

He didn't bother trying to talk them out of it thought; it was clear that they would have none of it. As Ahmed revved up his and Cagalli's jeep and the others followed suit, Mu went to his fighter and turned on the radio. "Captain," he said, "the Desert Dawn guys are all riled up. They're already leaving to go pick a fight."

"That's suicide!" Murrue replied, "They can't take a force like Waltfeld's in a head-to-head fight."

"I know," he groaned, "I think you better scramble the Strike. If Kira uses the Aile configuration, he should be able to catch up to them before they're completely wiped out. I'll send you their heading."

"Alright," she replied, "I want you to stay with Lieutenant Badgiruel and help distribute the relief supplies; Kira will have to handle this on his own."

"Roger that, ma'am," he said.

….

Riding in a jeep at the head of the formation, Waltfeld sat in the passenger seat looking contemplative. The smoldering ruins of Tassil were still visible in the background, and dawn was but a few hours away. The Lesseps was coming up on the horizon, having conducted a long-range carpet bombardment earlier to supplement the more precise fire of the BuCues in their punitive raid. "DaCosta," he said.

"Yes, sir?" replied his aid, who was driving the vehicle.

"Do you suppose people mean it when they say 'I would rather die' than allow something or another to happen?"

"Not sure, sir," the young man replied, "Never really gave it much thought. Why do you ask?"

"Because," Waltfeld said while looking over his shoulder, "I believe the Desert Dawn fighters approaching behind us may have a word or two to say on that topic."

Startled, DaCosta looked in his rearview mirror and saw a cloud of dust billowing up behind the four BuCues and singe jeep. The ZAFT formation was moving at a more leisurely pace, and the aid realized that they would soon be overtaken.

He looked at his commanding officer, one eyebrow raised. Did he plan this? Was the real objective of the Tassil raid to lure out the rebels? Even though there were about a dozen enemy vehicles to ZAFT's five, DaCosta knew that any battle would still be a slaughter in the Tiger's favor.

"Have Alex pull up alongside us," said Waltfeld, referring to one of the BuCue pilots, "I want to get some action. Won't be much of a fight, but I need to stay sharp for when we fight the Strike and Wing Zero again."

DaCosta nodded. As he radioed the unit that the Field Marshall would soon be piloting, the other three BuCues turned around and raced to meet the rebels head on.

….

Rage and adrenaline pumping through her veins, Cagalli paid little heed to the massive land-battleship on the horizon. All she cared about were the wolf-like BuCues in front of her. The girl saw three of them turn to face her and her comrades, while the fourth seemed to be slowing down and standing off next to a jeep. Mechanical problems?, she thought, So much the better! You will pay for your barbarism, Desert Tiger!

She stood up in her seat, hoisting a rocket launcher on her shoulder. "Let's get them!" she yelled, "For Tassil!"

The roars of her comrades echoed in her ears, and she smiled as they approached the enemy. The rebels let loose a volley of rockets, but the BuCues either dodged them or simply shrugged them off, leaving dents and scorch marks on their armor but causing no real damage.

"Damn!" she snarled, and reached down for a reload. As she did so, the BuCues opened fire, two with twin-rail guns, and the third with a multi-missile launcher. The rebel vehicles attempted to scatter, but the more conventional trucks and jeeps were not as maneuverable as their enemy counterparts were, and two of them were torn to shreds by the incoming rounds.

Then the enemy machines were amongst the rebels, and were able to use their legs to swat at them, like they were mere insects. As Ahmed maneuvered the jeep beneath one, Cagalli took careful aim and let loose a rocket at the mobile-suit. The warhead hit the belly of the mechanical beast, but rather than keel over like she had hoped, the machine simply slowed a bit and allowed the jeep to pass out in front of it, moving into the pilot's line of fire.

Ahmed swerved sharply to get out of the way. The move succeeded, but Cagalli, who had still been standing after firing her weapon, was thrown out of the jeep.

"Ahh!" she screamed. Fortunately, the terrain was all sand dunes, so her impact was softened somewhat. Nevertheless, she was still winded, and lay on her back in a daze, struggling to reorient herself.

As she sat up, she saw that the fourth BuCue, the one that had been hanging back earlier, was approaching the battle. Moving quickly, zigzagging back and forth to avoid rebel rocket fire, it launched a volley of missiles from the racks on its back. To Cagalli's horror, the shots were devastatingly accurate. Three more Desert Dawn vehicles were consumed by explosions.

"Cagalli!" She turned see Ahmed waving at her as he drove towards her. However, he had focused all his attention on her, and failed to spot the newcomer who, almost lazily, launched a single missile his way.

Her eyes widened in horror. "Look out!" she screamed.

But it was too late. Her friend hardly even had time to turn his head to see the incoming warhead before it impacted the jeep dead-center, reducing it to fragments of smoldering metal. The fifteen year old boy was killed instantly, his body shredded to bloody ribbons in the blast.

"No…" she said weakly, unable to even move, "Ahmed…."

Suddenly, an emerald beam lanced down from above. It missed the BuCue, but succeeded in catching the pilot's attention. Cagalli looked up, surprised to see the Strike landing on the ground in front of her.

….

The Strike was not capable of atmospheric flight, regardless of configuration. However, while equipping the Aile pack, it could use its boosters to jump higher than in its other forms. Kira had used this capability to quickly traverse the distance between the Archangel and the battle that was unfolding before him. Firing a volley with his beam rifle, he forced the BuCue to back-off. However, the other three units disengaged from the rebels and joined the fourth, and soon they were swarming around the Strike.

Kira activated a beam saber and swiftly moved in on one of the BuCues with the missile racks. The enemy tried to side-slip, but the Strike moved to quickly, and the violet blade sliced into the side of the machine. Something inside detonated, and the mobile suit exploded.

Two of the other suits, the ones armed with rail cannons, suddenly backed off. Kira only had time to be puzzled for a second before he saw a volley of missiles coming at him. He raised his rifle and shot most of them out of the sky, and took the rest on his shield. The unit that fired them swiftly moved pass him, and turned around to start another pass. Meanwhile, the other two machines seemed to be taking potshots at the rebels, as if trying to keep them separate from the duel unfolding between Kira and his foe, who seemed to possess a greater degree of skill than the others.

He fired again with the beam rifle, but the BuCue dodged with relative ease. The enemy launched several more missiles. Rather than back off and try to shoot them down or dodge them, Kira instead charged straight forward. Leading with his shield, he took the warheads head on, and in one fluid motion he drew his beam saber and managed to cut the missile launcher off the back of the BuCue as it passed him.

Disarmed of its primary weapon, the enemy made the only reasonable move; to withdraw. The other two machines followed suit. Kira didn't pursue, and instead turned his attention to his supposed allies.

The rebels had taken a beating. In addition to the six vehicles and their occupants that had been lost, several others were damaged, and many of the resistance fighters were wounded. He noticed Cagalli running up to the Strike. Without thinking, he opened his cockpit and climbed down to meet her.

The girl stood in front of him, but couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence. "I… I…"

Acting purely on the adrenaline that was still pumping through him, he slapped her across the face. "What the hell were you thinking?" he yelled, "Do you have a death-wish or something?"

"I just… I wanted to…" said Cagalli, her eyes wide in shock, "I wanted to fight back…" She looked over at the smoldering crater that had been her jeep… along with her friend.

Kira followed her gaze and sighed. How many more… how many more people have to die in this rotten war?

….

"Heero," said Murrue as her face appeared on the Wing Zero's cockpit screen.

"I take it the fight's over?" he said.

Murrue nodded. "Yes. The rebels took heavy casualties, though Kira was able to intervene before things got any worse. The enemy only lost one BuCue."

"I hate to sound cold," said Heero, "but the only thing that matters is if the rebel leadership remains alive. They're the key to our resupply efforts."

"I know," she replied, "From what I've heard from La Flaga and Kira, it seems that none of the leaders were killed. Their losses were low level fighters and some vehicles. Waltfeld is withdrawing north east; I think it's safe to say that he's making for Banadiya."

"Do you think he knows where the base is?" he asked.

"Hard to say," said Murrue, "he may not have, but on the other hand, the forces he had with him were too light for an assault on a location he had to suspect we might have been at. It's possible that his only intention was to lure out the rebel's with the attack on Tassil, and that he's now going to focus on gathering strength for the coming battle with us."

"I think that's exactly what he intends to do," said Heero, "In the meantime, we need to convince the rebel leadership to speed up the arrangements to meet with their suppliers."

"I agree," said Murrue, "We'll have to speak with them once they finish sorting through the aftermath of the engagement, not to mention make some arrangements for the Tassil refugees."

Heero nodded. "Murrue, you should get some rest. The other bridge officers can handle things for awhile."

"I will," she said, and gave him a weary smile, "You should get some shut-eye as well, you've been up as long as I have."

That's right, he thought, neither of us have slept since the engagement with the Tiger and the Valkyrie. "I will," he replied, "Heero out." With that he cut the connection.

He sighed as he exited the Gundam. It's one thing to act on one's emotions, thought Heero, but it's another entirely to let them rule you, especially during a war. Clearly these Desert Dawn fighters haven't learned that distinction, and today it cost them.

He thought about the force Field Marshall Waltfeld had surely begun assembling for their next battle. I have no doubt that the Valkyrie and her subordinates will be among them. If we can't trust our allies on the ground to keep their tempers in check, then that will only make things even more difficult.

As he made his way towards his quarters, he took some measure of reassurance from the fact that Kira had been able to handle things by himself, a sign of his improving skill level. The Coordinator still did not yet have the discipline of a soldier, nor the mindset, but his piloting abilities were definitely improving. We'll need all the skill we can muster to triumph in the next fight. Even with the Zero system, there's only so much I can do against an army if I'm trying to protect the Archangel at the same time.

As he approached his quarters, he saw Murrue making her way down the other end of the hall towards her own room. She smiled at him, and he gave one of his own.

Regardless of the forces against us, he thought, or the reliability of our allies, I can say this with certainty; I swore to protect Murrue. And to that end…

I'll slaughter legions if I have to.

Preview for next time!

During a trip to gather supplies, Kira, Cagalli, and Heero have a chance encouter with none other than Andrew Waltfeld. The ZAFT Field Marshall seems to defy expectations, and causes Kira to wonder about the true nature of the conflict. Meanwhile, the forces of the Tiger are massing, and the Archangel and the Desert Dawn rebels pull out all the stops in preparation for the decisive battle. With the Valkyrie in the skies, and overwhelming firepower on the ground, will even the might of Wing Zero be enough to achieve victory? Next time, on "Journey to a New Battlefield," Episode Seven: The North Africa Campaign, Part Three: Fangs of the Tiger.

Author's Notes: Alright, we're approaching the climax of the North Africa campaign. About Heero's retelling of the events of Gundam Wing to Murrue, it seved as more than just one giant flashback. I wrote it the way I did so that it would provide a setting for the bond between Heero and Murrue to grow in. Him telling her as much as he does helps to show just how much he's come to trust her, and at the same time it gives her a much greater understanding of Heero as well. Also, since it was told from Heero's perspective, naturally some events received less attention than others. As the audience for the actual show, we of course had a better view of all the events playing out than Heero did. His retelling focuses on himself because it's the best way for him to relay the events to Murrue in a manner that he feels is accurate and honest, to the best of his abilities.

Anyway, hope you guys and girls enjoyed that. As always, please review!

Until next time!