Last Resistance to Peace
Chapter 9: August, A.C. 204

by Scarlet Eve

A/N: You've waited patiently, so here they are.

A.C. 204

August

Heero Yuy, pilot of the Wing Gundam, sat by himself on the carrier plane, away from the other pilots. He didn't quite understand why Commander Treize wanted all five of them working together. It seemed like a waste. Heero could easily be out conquering countries on his own, or at the very least, with Trowa Barton, the other pilot who had little to say.

Several rows ahead, Duo Maxwell was purposely antagonizing Wufei Chang. Everyone knew that Wufei had a strange obsession with justice, so naturally, Duo latched onto that and would use it to rile up Wufei at every available chance. Duo was the only one of their group who found any humor in their tasks. Heero would hate him for that, if Duo wasn't such a good pilot; Heero would dislike all of the other Gundam pilots if they weren't so talented at their jobs.

Of course, they would not be working as Gundam pilots if they weren't the best.

Heero glanced out the plane window, but all he could see was water. According to Colonel Une, there was a hold-out country in the middle east, something to do with a wealthy man and his immense influence over this particular country. He was a peaceful-minded man, but there were some rumors that he was involved with the Colony Alliance. The Gundams were being sent to enforce OZ's rule.

And most likely, it would be a dull task. Whoever controlled the government would most likely wave their white flag of surrender as soon as the Gundams landed.

"Hey Yuy!" Duo called from the front of the plane. "What're ya doing back there? Moping?"

Heero ignored Duo and continued to watch the water pass by under the plane.

"Leave him be," Quatre Winner said.

"Why? Yuy should be more of a team player," Duo commented, planting his hands on his hips. Heero shifted his gaze to Duo.

"I'm here, aren't I?"' he asked.

"He speaks!" Duo shouted. Wufei glared at Duo.

"Shut up, Maxwell," Wufei said. "You're not going to make Heero like you by harassing him."

"Oh, I don't care about that," Duo said, waving a hand at Wufei. "He's supposed to be our leader, but he won't even talk to us."

"Come on, Duo," Quatre said. "We all have our own style. You can't make Heero conform to what you want." Duo rolled his eyes and pointed across the plane to Heero.

"That attitude of yours will get you in trouble one of these days," Duo said. "Mark my words."

"Gundam Pilots. We will be landing in five minutes. Please prepare for departure."

Duo spun away from Heero and sat back down in his seat, still grumbling to himself. Heero crossed his arms over his chest and dropped his chin. It was true that Heero was supposed to be their de facto leader, but all the orders came down from Colonel Une. When she wasn't around barking orders, Heero was the leader, as he had a more innate sense of battle and strategy than the others. With maybe the exception of Trowa, the others allowed their emotions to control too many of their own actions, and it usually worked against them.

Heero and the other four pilots sat in their Gundams, spread out along the outer edges of a city in the middle of the desert. According to intel, this city was the true location of the country's governing body; the government building in the largest city in the country was a fake. So far, Heero had not seen any movement within the city. The lack of activity was grating on his nerves; this task should be an easy one to complete. This country was not known for its military defenses.

"This city is way too quiet," Quatre commented over their internal communication line.

"Nothing is moving," Duo added.

"We can't leave until they surrender to OZ," Heero said, his own eyes scanning the image relays. A few minutes prior, he had received a message that the Leos would be arriving soon, and would stay behind to ensure compliance after the Gundams left.

Silence fell on the line as the five pilots waited.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Wufei commented over the line, breaking the silence for a moment. Heero frowned.

Heero felt the hit before he heard the sound. His Gundam's balance faltered as a blast smashed into the back side, shaking the entire mobile suit. Heero growled in his throat and punched a button on his console, switching to a rear camera.

"What was that?" one of the pilots shouted over the line. Heero grabbed the controls and turned his Gundam around, searching the horizon for what hit him. Not far away, he could see something huddled against the sand.

"There's mobile suits out there," Heero called out to the others. From the hill in the sand, another blast fired, this one hitting Deathscythe square in the chest, almost knocking the suit backwards off its feet. Duo regained control and pushed his Gundam forward, the large laser scythe appearing in the Gundam's hands.

"How many are there?" Wufei asked.

"Can't tell yet," Heero replied. He activated the beam cannon on the arm of Wing and waited for it to power up. "Don't fire at them yet until they reveal their position."

Silence fell once more, and along the horizon, nothing moved. Heero continued to scan with his eyes while Wing scanned with motion sensors.

"There!" Quatre shouted, but before anyone could react, a barrage of blasts sped over the ground, crashing into the Gundams. Heero gripped the controls, trying to keep his Gundam from falling backwards. Wing beeped at him, alerting him to the appearance of several mobile suits, appearing from underneath the sand. Heero didn't recognize the suits, they weren't OZ, and weren't anything like the pictures he'd seen of the Colony Alliance mobile suits.

"Destroy them," Heero said to the others. He fired his beam cannon across the expanse of land and hit one of the suits, and the blast expanded out to consume three more before the light faded away. Deathscythe flew forward across the sand, the back panels extended out like bat wings, the beam scythe gripped in the Gundam's hands. Duo slashed at two suits, which exploded apart.

Quatre and Sandrock cut down mobile suits with twin shotels, which melted the suits as they were sliced through the middle. =Heavyarms blasted down suits with heavy artillery guns, while Wufei and Altron sliced and stabbed suits with their beam trident.

From inside the Wing cockpit, the sounds of destruction were muffled, barely registering to Heero as he attacked wave after wave of sand-colored mobile suits, which continued to appear from the sand, guns blazing.

"Who are these people?" Duo asked while he repositioned Deathscythe.

"I've been sending footage and stills back to HQ for analysis," Quatre said. "So far, they haven't come back with an answer."

"Ah, back there!" Wufei cried, Altron spinning around to the south. A hangar door had opened in the sand, and several shuttles were flying out into the air, taking advantage of the distraction caused by the mobile suits.

"Duo." Heero said, turning Wing around. "The rest of you, stay here."

Deathscythe appeared at Wing's side and together they flew forward across the sand, their thrusters working overtime to push them off the ground enough to reach the shuttles.

Before they could attack the escaping shuttles, several more mobile suits appeared, these ones different than the ones they had been fighting. The first thing Heero noticed was the numbers painted on the shoulder of the suits. He stared down numbers 23 and 45, while 2, 6, and 12 waited behind.

The momentary pause was their failing. The five new suits attacked, completely knocking Heero and Duo off guard. Wing screamed at Heero, the damage sensors flashing at him. The shuttles continued to ascend into the air, gaining speed as they grew closer and closer to the atmosphere. Heero grabbed a lever and pulled, intent on converting Wing into its flight mode, but errors flashed at him from all sides. Something was damaged. He couldn't fly.

"Damn it!" Heero shouted. He slammed his fist on the console. The shuttles were too far away now, and the numbered mobile suits were retreating. Behind them, Quatre, Wufei, and Trowa continued to fight against the barrage of suits popping out from the sand. Heero could feel their blasts hitting the back of his Gundam.

"We need to get out of here," Quatre said. "I've called for the carriers. We just need to stay up until they get here."

"I'm almost out of ammunition," Trowa said. With a thud, he dropped his gatling gun off Heavyarms, revealing the oversized army knife. He began to slash at suits, to keep them at bay.

"How did they build so many, damn it?" Duo cried out, still trying to keep the suits back with his scythe. No one answered.

Wing's motion sensor beeped. The carriers had arrived. The mobile suits turned their attention to the carriers, firing at them.

"Don't let them destroy the carriers!" Quatre shouted, slicing down another suit that attempted to fire a rocket at the carriers. With enormous luck, the Gundams were able to grab hold of the carriers and get away. The attacking suits stopped firing once the Gundams were off the ground.

Heero closed his eyes. This was their first defeat.

-SE