Crossover Fan Fiction / Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Crossing Barriers ❯ Bold Moves and Bad Guys ( Chapter 5 )

Crossing Barriers

 

Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed are the sole property of their creators and distributing studios. I have no financial interest in either series. Nor am I receiving any financial gain from this fan fiction work. I do however own all plot elements not part of the original and all self-created characters. Thank you. Enjoy.

 

Special note: Yaoi (homosexual pairings) is a plot element of this story. There will be NO explicit material but there will be sections where it is reasonably clear that sex is happening or has happened.

 

Beta Reader: T'Amara

 

 

Bold Moves and Bad Guys

 

 

“This is stupid and you know it.” G snapped.

 

“We've done stupid things before.” J replied evenly. “We don't have a choice here. We have to have the tech. The Gundams are vulnerable over there without it.”

 

“Easy for you to say!”

 

“Yes, but we both know why it has to be you.”

 

“…….”

 

J shrugged. It wasn't like they had a choice. The translation program he'd had running ever since he'd found the alternate dimension had shown them a huge, potentially fatal flaw in their mobile suits. The odds against success without the tech were over eighty percent, totally unacceptable. They either fixed it or risked losing everything. Unfortunately, the only fix they could get fast enough to matter required them to steal existing equipment from the other side. He just couldn't move fast enough. That left G stuck being the thief.

 

“If we wait a few days we can have the boys do this themselves.” G grumbled.

 

“Do you really think we're going to have any time once they get here?”

 

G glared at him, then settled back in resignation. “No, no I don't. If those cryptic intercepts are to be trusted at all, we'll be lucky to have time to get them over there and ourselves out of here.”

 

“We may well have to start cutting steps out of their trip as it is.” J said quietly. “The risk that we might miss a tail is getting smaller than the risk that they might be identified and intercepted.”

 

“Our enemy is getting too close to identifying Chang.” G said bluntly. “Once they do, all bets are off. Wu Fei has kept mementos that will give them the names and faces of the others immediately.”

 

J shrugged. “What happens will happen. We can't control everything. But after we get this job done, we need to establish a safe and fast way to communicate with Une. We can't keep waiting for her to notice she has mail.”

 

G snorted but didn't refute it. “Haven't you got it set yet? I want to do this now!”

 

“A few more moments here. You do want it done right don't you?”

 

“Of course!” G snapped. “Just make sure I won't have to deal with any guards. I'm not Shinigami you know.”

 

J ignored that last remark as his console suddenly beeped softly at him. “Ha, I have energy match! Inserting the probe now.”

 

His hands flew across the boards inputting the codes to allow the probe to be slipped across the barrier and adjusting power and sensitivity settings as it began to pick up data from the other side. The small unit slid gracefully through the `gate' in the barrier to tumble a few inches to the warehouse floor. He smiled, the padding he'd encased it in made the fall almost soundless.

 

The next item across was the recovery unit. J adjusted the altitude of the `gate' before he allowed it to be pushed across. No amount of padding would make that quiet if it fell. Once it was over however, he pulled ever so slightly on the locator, moving the `gate' back from the spot where the unit now rested. He stopped when he had enough space for G to work in and once more made sure the `gate' was as close as possible to the warehouse floor.

 

J double checked the readouts; this was not a time for careless errors. “Probe indicates no intruders or active security in the area.”

 

“Now we hope its right.”

 

J grimaced. They had no other option but to bet their search tech against the security tech of the other side. Unfortunately, he'd never run any tests on this before and he had no way to be sure they could read - let alone counter - the alien tech. But then, that was the reason for doing this by the dead of local `night' and raiding the very back of the warehouse in the first place. He watched G take his equipment through the `gate'. Now all he could do was observe, hand hovering over the return controls, as his fellow conspirator went to work.

 

It was a nerve-wracking twenty three minutes. Still, G managed to load and secure both pallets faster than they'd initially planned. Some fortunate stacking on the part of the warehouse staff made things much simpler than they'd anticipated. Not one to look such gifts in the mouth, his partner had moved as quickly as he could and was suddenly signaling him to open the path home.

 

J tripped the return and the power flows reversed. G activated the lifter and cautiously shoved the first pallet across the `gate'. The lifter was the most powerful they had been able to get in that size but it was not all that strong. So there was little to be done to speed things up when J realized they had company just as G reached the `gate' with the second pallet.

 

Well, that answered one question! His detection probe was NOT good enough to spot the other's security devices, at least not until they rolled around the corner into plain view and the probe's alarm went off. He saw G look over his shoulder and throw his full weight against the lifter, trying to get as much speed out of it as he could.

 

The unit that had swung around the left corner of the main corridor into their small aisle had a very large optical sensor mounted on the front but no visible weapons. J gave thanks for small favors. At least it didn't look like G was going to be stopped! But he knew with the `gate' open that whoever was monitoring what that thing saw was looking straight into the mobile suit hanger. They couldn't miss Heavyarms or Deathscythe Hell. They might even be able to see Wing Zero. And these people had mobile suits of their own. They'd know immediately why someone was stealing this tech. Which would tell them too much about the suits they saw. Damn! Damn! Damn!

 

Then G and the invaluable pallet were through the `gate'. A signal to the recovery set sent it into instant meltdown. The `gate' collapsed in a kaleidoscope of colors. He banged his good fist on his console once, then drew in a deep breath. When he let it out, he was fully under control.

 

“That wasn't good.” G said quietly, having come up beside him while he was getting his temper back in hand.

 

“We have the n-jammer cancellers for each suit and a spare in case one is defective. That's all we can allow to matter now. They aren't going to get anything but a heat-warped box.”

 

G gave him a steady look out from under his heavy hair. “And a nice, about forty second shot of the hanger and everything in it. In living color probably. The boys will have to stay out of sight and we'll have to show them our own security footage so they understand why. We aren't going to be able to just issue orders like we used to.”

 

J simply nodded. “Agreed. But they're all bright, we will be able to convince them with the evidence we have on hand. They aren't going to want to get into any trouble with the locals either.”

 

The Professor gave the pallets and their precious crates a jaundiced stare. “I hope the risk turns out to be worth it. I'm beginning to wish we'd found something besides nuclear reactors to power our Gundams right now.”

 

“I can understand that thought.” J replied drily. “But we can't change them now. And we took that risk to make sure if they did run into trouble over there that they wouldn't suddenly shut down on the boys in the middle of a battle. It's all a balancing act.”

 

“Yes, I know.”

 

J closed down the boards and turned off the power to the bell. All that was left was the spy tap he'd had up and running for months now. He set it to record whatever went on in that warehouse aisle for a while before it would shift back to tracking news reports. It was time for lunch. This would all look less formidable on a full stomach. He paused to eye the cluster of soldiers that now surrounded the nearly slagged wreckage of the recovery unit. At least that puzzle should keep them occupied over there for a while.

 

Both of them missed something. In the need to get G and the units home quickly, something had been over looked. They'd forgotten the probe had been left behind as well.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Field Lieutenant Juan Ramirez of Crimson Dawn shifted uneasily as he waited. The Sun had granted him an emergency audience based on the data he'd found when he'd broken into Chang's desk. He knew it would please the Sun. He also knew the man was going to be very, very irritated to learn he'd been sharing an office with one of the much sought Gundam pilots for three months and hadn't spotted the man for what he was.

 

“Cutlass, the Sun grants you audience.” The guard at the door wore the usual helm that concealed his face and robes with over-wide shoulders that hid his actual body shape.

 

Juan saluted the guard, who properly returned it, then opened the door for him. He stepped forward into the Sun's small, personal office. It was an austere room with no personal decorations at all. The handsome paneling and understated wallpaper were a complement to the fine antique walnut desk. The Sun himself wore the Solar mask and heavy gold brocade robes but not the formal set for public appearances. The lieutenant was surprised. This suggested favor. He stopped the correct four paces from the desk, snapped to attention and saluted his commander.

 

“Lieutenant,” the Sun's voice was deep, warm, and clearly artificial. “You've done well. We are quite pleased. To have all five names and faces in one discovery is greater than expected.”

 

Ramirez was startled. The anger he'd been dreading wasn't here. He did not let the moment of approval trick him into any lapse of respect though and remained at rigid attention and silent.

 

The Sun picked up a small pile of papers and sorted through them before he continued. “Gundam 01; known now as Heero Yuy. Handsome young man for one so dangerous, but then, they all are. Whereabouts unknown for the last two and a half years. He will be the most difficult one to settle.”

 

“Gundam 02; Duo Maxwell. We have already dispatched a disposal team to his salvage yard. I am expecting a report from them this evening.” The Sun tapped the next picture. “Gundam 03; Trowa Barton. There will be a team at the performance of his circus tonight. He will no longer be an issue.”

 

The golden mask tipped as the Sun studied the next pilot's picture. “Gundam 04; Quatre Rebarba Winner. He was completely unexpected. To think a young man of his social status would have fallen so low as to pilot one of those murderous machines.”

 

The Sun looked up at his Lieutenant. “We have sent three full teams to be sure we penetrate his security on the first attempt. The Winner residential defenses are not to be taken lightly. He is the one we may not succeed with tonight.”

 

He laid out the last photo. “Gundam 05; Chang Wu Fei. This was a significant find Captain. This young man is not only one of the Gundam pilots; he is also heir to the off-colony assets of the Long Clan. One wonders what those old fools were thinking by making their Clan Heir into one of those monsters! However, once he is gone the next in line is one of our own. Eliminating this pilot will expand our financial resources appreciably. Unfortunately, he has dropped from sight for the moment. But one as distinctive as Chang will not be hard for our people to find. We should have him in a week or so.”

 

The Sun leaned back. “You have done well, very well. It is unfortunate that Chang was skilled enough to slip under your review but that is not unusual in these vicious young beasts. He was not noticed by any others we had searching the Preventer ranks either.”

 

“Your Excellency is most generous.” Juan replied with a formal bow, never letting himself break from the most ceremonial of standards even here in this private interview.

 

“Pragmatic.” The Sun replied bluntly. “We have been hunting these animals for almost two years. If they were easy to find, it would have happened long ago. It became clear to us some time ago that we would only find them with hard work or an act of serendipity. We are very please that you have given us our breakthrough. Your accomplishment is noted in your file.”

 

“I am deeply grateful Excellency!” A note in his file from the Sun himself! Ramirez held himself still only by an exercise of steely will. Those were the bricks in the road to rapid promotion!

 

“You have earned this.”

 

It was the end of the interview. He was dismissed with a polite nod, one much deeper than a simple field Lieutenant deserved. Ramirez left the well hidden headquarters building happily, sliding the uniform of Captain Ramirez of the Preventers back on as he went. His job there wasn't done yet.

 

* * * * * * *

 

General Une sat back in her chair, waiting for Colonel Po to finish absorbing the data. Sally had been her first choice of those who were going to have to be in the know. Not only has she been Wu Fei's first partner in the Preventers, she'd been a guerilla leader during the Eve Wars herself. If she had any single individual suited to clandestinely siphoning off and hiding both supplies and personnel for a covert war, Po was it.

 

“Well,” Sally looked up, clearly both shocked and angered, “that was quite a revelation. Too bad there is so little hard data here. It's going to be difficult to know what to plan for.”

 

“Agreed. But we have what we have and we will have to do our best with it.” Une replied grimly.

 

“Do you have anyone digging into this?” Sally asked, focusing on the needs of the moment.

 

Une shook her head regretfully. “No. I don't know who is and who isn't compromised. And now we've lost all hope of help from Yuy too. I wish I knew how to reach that treacherous old goat J. I'd offer him amnesty for the Eve Wars if it would give us a continued data flow now.”

 

“Uhm.” Po muttered thoughtfully, drumming her fingers on the desk. “Don't make him any offers when he does get hold of you. Just promise him you won't let it get out that he and G are still alive. Hold the other in reserve just in case we really do need to genuinely bribe him.”

 

“You sound like you expect him to contact us.”

 

The one time resistance leader grinned rather viciously at her. “Oh, I do. He's going to a lot of effort to round up the boys and get them out of sight. If they can't fight, we're the only ones he has to turn to until he's ready to turn the Gundams loose again. And that won't be possible until there is an open enemy to fight with and public opinion is at least starting to swing away from these Crimson Dawn people. No, J will be getting hold of us all right. He needs us too badly not to call in.”

 

“You make a good point.” The General replied thoughtfully. “I'll take that under advisement. Putting it aside for the moment though, I'd like your thoughts, just what flies off the top of your head here, regarding who to slip away and where we should slip supplies off to.”

 

“Oh, that's easy. Start with Wu Fei's team.” Sally said decisively. “Chen Ly is a very able officer in his own right and he's been trained by Chang. He isn't a Gundam pilot but he's learned to think a lot like one. Since we're going to have to trust at least some people with this, let's start with the ones least likely to be contaminated.”

 

“That's a good first idea.” Une agreed. “Got any more?”

 

Sally had several. They included supply depots and hiding places Oz had never found in the Eve Wars. Nor did she get too specific on locations even now. That was fine with Une. She wasn't going to be able to disappear until there was a full out revolution. This would leave her vulnerable to either an assassin or a surprise capture. There were things it would be just as well that she not know under those circumstances.

 

She tapped a long finger on her desk. “That should be a good start on securing supplies. Now, what about personnel? We'll need far more than Chang's team.”

 

Sally hesitated, then spoke slowly. “About that, we can sort out troops using truth drugs to weed out Crimson Dawn's moles if we have to. It's finding enough officers that's going to be the real issue. One of our biggest problems is too many of our people think like cops. Nothing wrong with cops but if we get a revolution, we're going to need soldiers. Not the same thing as cops.”

 

Une grimaced. She couldn't refute that. One of the problems with the rigid limits the politicians had been steadily hemming the Preventers in with was the dwindling useful personnel pool it created. The criteria for consideration were quite high to begin with. Every restriction reduced the number of qualified people who were willing to consider applying for the job. And the military mindset was one the current government was openly hostile to and regulated against. It wasn't all that friendly to the police mindset either for that matter!

 

Po bit her lip and added very quietly, “I don't know if you'll like this but I'd like to put Wind and Fire into the loop.”

 

General Une could only stare at her. “Preventers Wind and Fire? But they're on Mars!”

 

Sally looked up at the ceiling and just shook her head. “They're not, they're here. I saw them both day before yesterday. They were very well disguised but, yes, it was them. They're both still officially in the Reserves, it isn't like I was suggesting outsiders.”

 

Wind and Fire were on Earth? What had brought that pair back here? Wind especially had very significant reasons never to return. Something was very wrong.

 

“Why are they here?”

 

“Because Crimson Dawn seems to have a very long reach.” Sally replied, eyes grim. “Someone has tried for Wind three times, Fire twice. There have been at least two incidents at the small Preventer base that Wind firmly believes were sabotage intended to destroy it. The base commander reported them as accidents. Oh, both of them have picked up the name Crimson Dawn by the way. They mentioned it to me as a possible new terrorist group.”

 

“I see.” Une considered the suggestion carefully. Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin were a formidable team. But Zechs in his other incarnation of Milliardo Peacecraft came with several shiploads of political baggage as well. Still, this would be very much under cover work. It wasn't as though she was going to have to employ him openly.

 

She nodded firmly. “Find out if they'll be willing to be formally reinstated. They'll need to be official, if covert, to do a lot of the requisitioning that'll be needed or to have their orders accepted without lengthy delays.”

 

“I'll ask them.” Sally promised. “I have another meeting set up in the morning.”

 

“That will do just fine.” She turned to the next topic. “I believe Wu Fei sent you at least one of those messages, Yuy's at a guess considering how quickly you scanned it here. Consider yourself as having official permission to share it with both Wind and Fire. If we are bringing them in, I want them informed. Wind especially goes off on his own tangents when deprived of necessary data.”

 

Po looked like she wanted to argue that but wisely didn't. They both knew Zechs too well to try to pretend he didn't make up his plans on the fly when he had to. At least he seemed to be fully recovered from his exposure to the Zero System now. The tangents he was likely to find to explore these days were going to be considerably less drastic than those of the last days of the Eve Wars. Yuy's too come to think of it. Une found herself hoping those two idiot scientists weren't foolish enough to restore the Zero System when they rebuilt the Wing Gundam.

 

The unexpected buzz of the secure line from the Residence in Sanq startled them both. Une's hand shot out, snatching up the receiver and holding it tight to her ear. This would not be good. It never was when this phone rang without warning.

 

“Une here.” The General snapped.

 

She could feel her eyes widening as a familiar but long unheard voice snarled in her ear. “I think you should know that Fire and I just thwarted an assassination attempt on Dorothy inside the Residence itself. You have five dead, four wounded and no surviving prisoners. The two we did capture managed to suicide. Fire and three of yours are with my sister, Dorothy, and Pagan in the panic room. None of them are hurt. Now, get me some reinforcements!”

 

“Colonel Po and a full response team will be on their way to your location in five minutes.” Une reached for the alert as she spoke. “Is the site otherwise secure?”

 

“I believe so.”

 

“Expect aid in ten minutes.”

 

“I'll be counting.”

 

She dropped the phone back on its cradle and turned to Sally, who was already on her feet. “That was Zechs. Someone just tried to murder Dorothy Catalonia. They got inside the Residence. We have casualties but no prisoners. Neither Dorothy nor Relena is hurt. Take the response team and find out what the hell is going on!”

 

Sally only looked at her calmly. “One guess.”

 

“I don't want guesses Po. I want facts.”

 

“We won't have any more facts than we already have. No prisoners, remember?” Sally shook her head angrily. “You better start planning a way to get Mariemaia to safety too.”

 

General Une stared wrathfully at Colonel Po's back as the woman ran from the office. How dare she be so practical? How dare she bring up Mariemaia?

 

No, she realized, it was really how dare she not? If the Catalonia girl was a target, how much more would the child be one? She'd already been used once in an attempt to seize control of the world after all.

 

Anne Une's eyes closed as despair washed briefly over her. Where was she going to hide the girl? She couldn't send her with the Gundam pilots. Yuy, for one, was far too likely to solve the problem she represented by breaking her neck, promise to Relena or no. She hadn't missed the very pure hatred in that last look she'd seen him give her nearly three years ago, just before he'd disappeared. She couldn't chance that his opinion hadn't changed. The general settled in for a long night of data acquisition and survival planning; plans that had just become a great deal more urgent.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Lacus stared at the screen. A rather unattractive elderly man with a very long nose and bushy gray hair that made him resemble an oversized mushroom was looking over his shoulder and pushing a pallet loaded with stolen n-jammer cancellers through what could only be described as a hole in reality. She could see another such pallet just beyond the edges of the hole.

 

She could also see three unmistakable mobile suits in what was equally unmistakably a maintenance hanger where those pallets were ending up. One was largely a muted forest green with lighter yellowish green stripes on the panels and what looked in the light to be pale gray limbs, one mostly a very dark gray with only slightly lighter gray legs and some kind of black armor shroud over it that resembled nothing so much as bat wings, each with a long red spike at the top of the main `joint', and the last, a blue, white and red machine, looked for all the world like it had feathered wings, although she could only see about half of it. While neither the green and pale gray or black and gray units had readily visible weapons, there was a double barreled rifle of some kind racked beside the winged unit. The size of the weapon suggested serious power.

 

“Gundams,” Kira's voice whispered in shock. “Those are Gundams!”

 

“We don't know that Kira.” Lacus told him quietly. “But I do admit they look like they could be.”

 

“What's a Gundam?” Yzak snapped, eyes glued to the images now slowly being played over and over in the forty-three second film loop.

 

“Well, originally, it was the Strike.” Kira replied. “I named it after the first letters of the title of the operating system. It sounded better than just calling it a G-weapon all the time. Now I kind of use it to describe any of the unique, new generation machines that won't be going into mass production but are assigned to individual pilots. Like Strike-Freedom or Impulse or Destiny, units of that caliber. They tend to have somewhat similar lines really, and the style of the heads for some reason seems to have what can be called a `family resemblance' too. I mean, look at them Joule, don't they remind you of the Duel and the Buster?”

 

“That green and light gray one does.” He admitted slowly. “The two-tone gray one with the strange armor shroud is another story and those white wings are nothing like any I've ever seen on a mobile suit before.”

 

“No,” Kira agreed, “but look past the armor and ignore the wings and what do you see?”

 

Yzak opened his mouth, then shut it gradually. He stared at the units, eyes taking in every detail he could. Finally he nodded.

 

“Yes, they do. But there's something different about them too. I can't put my finger on it but they're, well, almost alien.”

 

“That goes well with holes in the air people are walking through.” Kira noted. “Lacus, has anyone who's seen this come up with an explanation for just what it is we're looking at? Besides a pretty brazen theft that is.”

 

“Not yet.” She replied wearily. “And the preliminary report on the unit projecting the field that created the `hole' says it's pretty much a melted pile of scrap. They haven't found a single identifiable item in it, not even a wire. However, they do say some of the materials are absolutely unique. The box itself appears to be made out of something incredibly durable as it didn't melt in the heat. It just deformed a bit.”

 

Yzak gave a small snort and she turned to him. He gave her a very dark look and a shrug. She arched an eyebrow at him. He scowled, lips in a thin line, then gave a small, decisive nod.

 

“I probably shouldn't say this out loud since I know there are recording devices in the room but what the hell. Lacus, impossible as it sounds, this looks like what they've always theorized either some kind of a tesserect or a passage into another space-time would.”

 

Kira turned nervous eyes on him. “You're correct; you shouldn't say things like that out loud. Even if you are right.”

 

She sighed. “Well, that makes three of us who can see the possibility then.”

 

“Oh, there're more than the three of you who see it.” Andrew Waltfeld told her. “When the security team brought this to me, I took it to the Science Institute. It just looked too impossible to believe. They tore it apart making sure it wasn't some kind of amazingly elaborate hoax. Then I hear there was a lot of yelling and screaming about how unattainable it was once they decided it was real.”

 

He rolled his good eye. “Unattainable; good word. Problem is, someone's gone and attained it. And it doesn't look like it was anyone from our neighborhood. That's really the verdict I got from Dean Koudelka. The limited evidence on hand strongly suggests a breach in a space-time barrier and it was done by the people on the other side. So, Yzak, you're in good company with your guess.”

 

“Does the Dean have any idea how they did it?” Lacus asked, bright curiosity getting the better of her.

 

“Not that she was willing to share with me, no.” Waltfeld admitted.

 

“How about any idea why they did it?” Yzak asked grimly as he stared at the stranger's mobile suits.

 

“Nothing that makes any sense from the Science Institute.” Andy said dryly. “The security team had a few thoughts that seem more reasonable but then, we really don't have the smallest idea how those people think now do we?”

 

“Sure we do.” Kira said quietly. “They are a lot like us. If they weren't they wouldn't have mobile suits and they wouldn't be stealing n-jammer cancellers. We've only seen the one sample, and honest, I hope he isn't typical of what they look like, but you have to admit he looks pretty human from what we can see. And since they have gone to the trouble to develop mobile suits and weapons like that rifle for them, they have wars too. Which means they live in social groups and they don't always get along. We can look into that hanger and a lot of what we see makes sense to us. The tools, the suits, the physical structure of the place, even the chair in the corner! It looks spooky normal, doesn't it?”

 

“Yes.” Yzak agreed shortly. “But at the same time everything is just somehow `off'. The designs are similar but the finishing touches are just not anything like the way any culture I know of would do it. Look at the suits themselves! They really resemble ours but when you study them closely there are small items all over them that we'd never use, methods of solving the mechanical problems of simply making something the size and complexity of a mobile suit that show they came up with slightly different engineering answers than we did. That green and gray suit has surfaces on the shoulders and chest that look like they open, I think they're weapons bays. If there's a hand carried weapon similar to the one for the winged suit, that thing will put out a devastating amount of firepower until it runs out of ammunition. I can't even begin to guess what that overlay shroud on the two-tone one does but it sits out from the body of the suit so it obviously opens up to allow the suit to fight. Whatever weapons it has must be hidden behind it. And I can't imagine why one would want feathered wings on a mobile suit at all, let alone see a use for them. But there has to be one. No one would put something like that on a war machine of that caliber if it wasn't useful, very useful.”

 

“But why would someone from another dimension want to steal an n-jammer canceller in the first place?” Lacus wondered. “Have they invented a kind of n-jammer on their own?”

 

Kira stared at the repeating film loop. There was something here if he could just get it to come into focus and it wasn't anything to do with the quality of the images. It was something he should be seeing. The whole thing was trying to tell him something, something important. And he was sitting here acting like a blind man! Sometimes he really could knock his skull on the table.

 

“Maybe they have.” Waltfeld said quietly. “But there is another possibility and I really don't like it.”

 

“You think they could get their `hole' open wide enough to let those mobile suits cross?” Yzak asked, staring hard at the bat winged unit.

 

“It's the only reason I can think of that they would need n-jammer cancellers.” Andy agreed unhappily.

 

“And that says they're nuclear powered. For that's the only power source for a mobile suit that would need a canceller to protect it.” Lacus said thoughtfully. “Which means it is very likely they are exceptionally powerful suits. And that is a second reason to consider them probable Gundams.”

 

“Damn it!” Yzak snarled. “We don't need some kind of future fiction nightmare right now!”

 

“I don't think anyone plans to ask us about it.” Kira replied absently, trying to make his mind cough up whatever it was that was running around in there and giving him such fits.

 

“Probably not.” Waltfeld agreed. “But I could wish we could see more. There isn't a lot to go on here. Those suits are just standing in the racks and there's not much else to see. Whoever they are, they keep an unfortunately neat maintenance shop. There's a real shortage of clues available.”

 

Kira's attention fastened on the older man's words. A neat shop. He stared hard at what he could see and had to agree. It was a very neat shop in fact. In some ways, it reminded him of the hanger deck of the Archangel in those first desperate weeks after the attack on Heliopolis. His head snapped up and his eyes went wide.

 

“The hanger of the Archangel! That's what it looks like!”

 

“Kira?” Lacus asked, surprise in her eyes.

 

He turned to the group. “We may have this all wrong. Take another look. Think of every mobile suit repair facility you've ever seen, then scan this one again. What's wrong here?”

 

“You mean besides being too neat?” Yzak asked irritably.

 

“What does that too neat tell you Yzak?”

 

“Ah! Yes,” Andy's eye narrowed and he was leaning forward in intent study. “I think I see what you mean. It isn't what is there, it's what isn't.”

 

“What is missing?” Lacus asked, not seeing anything obvious to her.

 

“Just about everything.” Yzak replied slowly as he let his own eyes study the stranger's space inch by inch. “There are too few tools and materials out. I only see that one lifter the man has his hands on. The walls look to be almost bare behind those suits. The support lines and power cables are just about all I can see. There aren't any tool carts or stored parts on hand for the suits.”

 

“Kira, what connection does this have to the Archangel?” Lacus was beginning to grasp that this was not normal but that was as far as she had managed to get, mobile suit maintenance was not something she was really familiar with in detail.

 

“When we had to leave Heliopolis, when it fell apart around us, the Archangel was badly undersupplied in just about all areas. She was built to carry the Strike and the others but none of the materials for upkeep had been loaded yet and we didn't manage to get our hands on a whole lot before the colony was destroyed. So our hanger deck looked a lot like this one, very neat, very clean, and very empty of basic supplies.”

 

He shook his head slowly. “I wonder if we've got some kind of rebel faction here. One with a real genius in the ranks who's managed to find them a whole new kind of secret edge.”

 

“It would make sense.” Andy agreed. “And it is one possible answer. I just wouldn't adopt it as my only possible choice yet. We don't know enough for that. But it would explain what we're seeing.”

 

Lacus sat back. “Then we need to have this studied as well as we can manage. It is a very small bit of data. We must be quite careful what kind of assumptions we let ourselves make from it.”

 

She eyed the mobile suits one last time. “However, I do feel it safe to say that whoever those people are, they are unhappily familiar with war. We need to see if we can determine any way of detecting them in the future. We have our own problems, we do not need theirs too.”

 

But they would have them, Kira realized. That was what the hole was all about. Someone needed a place to run where no one could find them. And they'd decided to come here, to the time and place where he had so much to protect. He had no idea why he was so certain about this but he was. He stared at the three mobile suits he could see, suddenly sure they weren't the only ones in that hanger. The thief had taken six canceller units after all.

 

He could feel his mouth tightening and hoped no one else was watching him at the moment. He didn't want to discuss this with anyone. There wasn't anything to say yet and he really didn't want to have to deal with the looks he knew he'd get if he tried to tell them it was going to happen because he just `knew it'. Oh, yeah, that'd go over real well coming from the new Deputy Commander of FAITH!

 

So he set himself to studying all the details he could pick out through the `hole'. It was time to both look and be busy analyzing the situation. With a small shake of his head, Kira decided he was going to have to go over there and have a look around the warehouse for himself before he let any thought imbed itself too firmly in his mind. He knew he was missing something, something he was sure he could bring into focus if he could only stand where this impossibility had happened. Maybe then he'd be able to analyze his way to a believable explanation of why he was so sure he was going to get to see those mobile suits up close and personally some day.

 

* * * * * * *

 

“Commander Hannam?” The voice was nervous, which didn't surprise the man being addressed.

 

“Yes Sergeant?” He replied quietly, not needing his subordinate in any greater panic than he already was. “I take it the data `Longbranch' sent us is not up to standards?”

 

Albert Hannam already knew it wasn't. He'd hacked his own people's systems to see it raw. Thanks to that ass Djbril, his survivors tried to keep all raw data away from their commander until they could massage it into a form that wouldn't bring them blame. The stupid bastard had suffered from an idiot's tendency to blame the messenger whenever someone told him something he didn't want to hear. Well, that had gotten him the reward he deserved in the end when ZAFT finally managed to catch up with him.

 

But it had also left the new leader of what remained of Blue Cosmos with a staff that automatically lied to him to keep themselves from harm. Teaching them not to do that was eating precious time he could ill afford to spend on it. Unfortunately, he was going to be in a very dangerously information-deprived state until he drove that lesson home. It wasn't always possible to take yet more time to do his own hacking to keep himself completely informed. So he never raised his voice to anyone who brought the messages. Nor did he do their careers any harm, even if they'd been stupid in their own analysis. Honest punishments for stupidity would have to wait until they were confident enough to be honest with him first.

 

“Sergeant?” Commander Hannam asked gently.

 

“That, that is correct sir.” The man admitted unhappily. “He really didn't supply us with anything we didn't get from the PLANTs own broadcasts.”

 

“I see. Well, leave the report. I'll go over it before the meeting. Make sure everyone else has a copy and see to it that they know I will be discussing it then.”

 

“Yes sir!” The heavyset non-com put the report disc on the desk, saluted, and fled.

 

Hannam let him go; deliberately dropping his own head after he returned the man's salute to allow him to scamper out without feeling like his Commander was aware of what he was doing. The report he picked up, which he did intend to study carefully, was the real data `Longbranch' had turned in. He scowled at it.

 

The damn Coordinators were going to revive FAITH. He'd hoped the late Chairman Dullindal's misuse of the group would have killed it. The concept of a fast response team, beholden to no one in the political structure of the PLANTs, had no appeal. This newly restructured group was going to be dangerous. Yzak Joule alone was a major problem. The damned young Commander had matured into someone who could use his ferocious temper instead of being used by it. But it was an unexpected stroke of genius on the silver bastard's part to have him select Yamato for a second in command.

 

Albert stared savagely at the inoffensive photo of Commander Kira Yamato. This was a potential disaster for their organization. Yamato was respected and feared, despite his well-documented reluctance to kill. In fact, it was that reluctance that made him so damn dangerous. Everyone knew what it took to push him that far. And there wasn't a government on the planet or out in space any more that wanted him that angry. Not after he'd demonstrated just how impossible it was to either kill or stop him all the way through the last war. Worse, he was becoming something of a legend to the general public. A frightening number of people would look twice at anything Yamato opposed; and they wouldn't be doing it with friendly eyes.

 

He had to die. If Blue Cosmos was ever going to lead the people, and the dream of freeing humanity from the domination of those lab-created abominations was ever going to become reality, they had to get rid of the supposedly invincible Yamato. It was all a question of finding the right combination of circumstances that would allow them to take him down. If they did it right, they'd get Joule with him and maybe the Clyne bitch too.

 

Hannam heard the door to his private suite open behind him and light footsteps came up by his right shoulder. “Ah, the little Yamato monster. I saw the broadcast. He'll be an obstacle.”

 

“We have to kill him.” Albert said simply.

 

His sister snorted delicately. “Easier said than done! He has more lives than any five cats.”

 

“Yes,” Hannam agreed quietly. “But we must find a way. He's a figurehead we can't afford.”

 

“He's more than just a figurehead, brother mine. He's quite capable of defending himself.”

 

“Only in a mobile suit. There is no record at all of his having any ability at all without one.”

 

She snorted again. “Yes, I suppose so but how do you plan to get him out of his mobile suit eh? He isn't going to visit Earth without it these days and I hear he doesn't even travel between those wretched PLANTs without it.”

 

Albert looked up, meeting dark blue eyes that were a match for his own in his twin's face. “I don't know yet. I'm seeking inspiration at the moment. But we need to find it fairly quickly or he'll be too entrenched in the public's mind. They lean toward him and his fool's generosity now. Give him enough time and he'll become an icon. If it gets that far, not even death will rid us of his influence.”

 

“You just need to get him alone for a short while.” She said indifferently. “Not even Yamato can survive if enough enemies come for him at the same time. Napci and his people want a shot at him. So does Ruhde and Boothe. That's three full fleets and their mobile suits. Pirates are notorious for their inefficiency but in this case, with them all having so many mobile suits they've recovered and repaired since that last battle over the Moon, they should have the manpower to destroy even the Strike-Freedom. And if they fail, what have we lost? They're getting too demanding anyway. Even if they succeed, Yamato will cut them down to size for us before they can kill him.”

 

Hannam gave that idea a thoughtful once-over. Crystal had a point. The three pirate leaders were beginning to get very arrogant and uncomfortably demanding. Blue Cosmos had lost all but a few small ships of it's own; with Phantom Pain gone, they had to depend on hiring outsiders to do things they'd done for themselves only months ago. The outsiders understood their current advantage. They understood it was likely to be temporary too. They intended to bleed their `partners' of every cent and spare part they could before they were tossed aside and they weren't bothering to be subtle about it.

 

“The idea has merit.” He said slowly. “But we'll need a near-perfect situation or they won't go for it.”

 

The woman smiled, an expression she never let anyone but her brother see. The greed and megalomania in it would not have pleased the people who'd once fondly thought they ran the twin's lives. But LOGOS was as dead as dead could be now. They had no masters to report to any longer. They made the rules and the rewards would stop on their plates. She intended to see to it that those plates were piled high indeed; he knew that and he knew her intelligence. So when she wore that look, he waited patiently to hear what her ideas were. They were always interesting. They could almost always be either used or adapted to advance their plans as well.

 

“Joel Pearson will be going to the PLANTs for that stupid treaty meeting in a few weeks.” She said slowly. “The Foreign Minister is an ass and a fool but he thinks he's a genius. Marcia has managed to worm her way into his bed far enough to be recognized as his mistress. You know Pearson wants those L-4 colonies back in Alliance control. He's been promising people he'll reestablish the true human race's place in space for years now. I can have Marcia start suggesting he make a push for their control at the meeting. And that he demand a `suitable' escort from the ZAFT to assure his safety when he does a fly-by on his way home.”

 

Albert looked up with a smile that would have done justice to a starving T-Rex. “There are any number of good ambush possibilities in and around those wrecks, it would be a shame if someone were careless enough to go too deeply into the cluster.”

 

“Very careless if it were to cost them the Foreign Minister and ZAFT's most famous pilot.” She grinned back. “And wouldn't that be a black eye for the PLANTs if such a senior Alliance official were to die while under their `protection'? Especially when he was up there to discuss the peace.”

 

The Commander nodded slowly, a frighteningly happy look on his face. “I will leave it to you to work out the program with Marcia to get that idea lodged firmly in the fool's empty head. I'll speak to our `allies' and see if we can't get them to do this job for free. After all, Boothe has publicly offered to kill Yamato at no charge for anyone who wants him dead several times.”

 

“And if you aren't paying one, you certainly can't pay the other two.” She laughed. “George Napci has made the same offer a time or two himself. If you can force their hands, Ruhde won't have a leg to stand on.”

 

He tossed the report into his in-basket, he knew what he was going to tell the others at the meeting now. “Looks like we have the outline of a plan.”

 

 

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