Crossover Fan Fiction / Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Crossing Barriers ❯ Murder and the Daring Move ( Chapter 12 )

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

 

 

 

Murder and theDaring Move

 

 

The Sun stalked into the meeting room and took his place at the head of the table. He was next to exhausted and very, very angry; characteristics he shared with most of the others here. The Solar Assembly was now in session. The Sun fully anticipated this being a both noisy and dangerously divisive meeting. But they were going to have to deal with the situation and they couldn't afford any more stupid moves. Someone was going to have to be taught not to make them.

 

For several moments the masked members of the ruling body of the Rational Revolution just glared at each other through the eyeholes in their disguising headgear. Very quickly, those glares began to center on one individual. That one was glaring back but had to divide it too many ways for it to be effective. The Sun laid a silent bet with himself as to who would start the ball rolling.

 

Seconds later, he won it as Venus sat up straighter than ever and asked poisonously, “What the hell happened today, Jupiter? I thought you had a grip on their leash. You know damn good and well that we weren't ready to move yet.”

 

“No shit!” Mars snarled. “We're a hundred mobile suits short of the lowest limit we set for action! And now you've committed us to a real war. The Preventers are strong enough to make a serious stand against what we have on hand. None of our forces are trained enough yet either! Most of the new ground control units were set up last week! Two thirds aren't even up to strength! What maggot ate your brain this time?”

 

“I'm not the one who sent Cushman the money and the weapons he's been demanding all at the same time!” Jupiter shouted. “I've told you and I've told you; do not let this idiot have what he wants! I warned you he'd go off on his own if you did! But did anyone listen to me? No! You send me notes to pull on the leash and then give the son-of-a-bitch the knife to cut it off at the same time! What the fuck were you expecting to have happen?”

 

“Who authorized those shipments?” The Sun brought the meeting up short with his icy question.

 

He looked down the table, staring hard at each of them in turn. The silence stretched. So, someone had known just what Cushman and his Free Colonial Party would do. Someone wanted this trouble. They wanted Jupiter off the Assembly, preferably shot for incompetence, and their own toady on. Someone had unseemly ambitions. Eyes gradually turned down the table, everyone looking in the same direction.

 

“Pluto?” The Sun asked with a lethal softness. “Is there something you would care to explain?”

 

He'd known the Romefeller fanatic was dangerous, they all knew it. But none of them had realized he was barking mad on top of it. It left them all unprepared when instead of wilting under the group's disapproval; the treacherous bastard yanked up a machine pistol and started shooting.

 

“This is OUR revolution!” He screamed. “The goals of Duke Dermal will be achieved now!”

 

The first shots were aimed at Jupiter. The chosen target took long enough to die to allow the Sun to roll out of his chair and punch the panic button he'd installed in this clumsy suit months ago. Now everything depended on how fast his people could eliminate Pluto's.

 

“We are the people born to rule! We will not be denied our heritage any longer by the crawling, incompetent masses who lack the education and the inspiration to be true leaders! The ability to command is bred into us and we will exercise it properly in the newly remade world of the Rational Revolution!” The words were punctuated by short bursts from the machine pistol and followed by the unmistakable sound of bodies dropping bonelessly to the floor.

 

The main doors crashed open and a battle spilled into the ornate Assembly room. The Sun had rolled under the table, tucked into a tight ball. A well placed kick earlier had dropped the massive chair he'd been sitting in over on its side to cover his back. He'd been a fool to come unarmed! Now there was nothing he could do but cower here until he either emerged victorious on the strength of others or was shot in the back by that vainglorious idiot!

 

The explosive cacophony of battle and death roared over his head for perhaps another sixty endless seconds. Then, shockingly, there was silence. It lasted perhaps ten more seconds before the first of the seriously wounded began to scream, a sound abruptly ended by a single shot.

 

“Your Excellency!” Major Trident was suddenly there, pulling the chair aside and helping the Sun back to his feet. “Are you injured?”

 

“Only in my pride,” The man admitted bitterly. “I should have seen this coming.”

 

A quick look told him Pluto was not going to be a problem any longer. Indeed, he'd been so severely and repeatedly shot that he was able to recognize the rebel only by the ruins of the robes he'd been wearing. Two more shots rang in the small room as his people administered their version of justice to the losers. He turned quickly.

 

“Hold!” The Sun snapped before one of the troopers could finish another rebel. “Take all the prisoners you can. I want to be sure we get the entire organization and the dead will not give us the names we need! Take just enough care to keep them alive until they answer all our questions. Be sure each one understands that talking will grant them a painless passing, and that silence will be given the treatment it deserves! Now, get this rabble out of here!”

 

Trident had his chair back on its feet and held it out until the Sun sat down. He then courteously pushed it in to the table until his master could reach everything that was set before his place easily. Rather amazingly, none of the documents had been disturbed. The Sun gave him a brief nod of thanks and then gave the ruins of the Solar Assembly a long, careful look.

 

Terra was being gently seated in her chair by two of his soldiers. Venus was just getting back to her feet but the hand gripping the left arm told him she hadn't gotten off unscathed. Mars was settling into his seat. And that was it. Mercury was unmistakably dead. Jupiter had been the first murdered. Uranus was draped across his chair, chest bloody and mask ruined. Neptune was being given first aid but it was unlikely he'd live long enough to reach surgery. Saturn might survive, she was a tough old creature and none of the wounds were in vital areas. Asteroids though, was gone, a single clean head shot had ended ambitions at least as great as Pluto's.

 

Well, well. Pluto's choices of whom to shoot first were interesting. It seemed he was as aware of some of the other Planet's ambitions as the Sun had been. At least he'd eliminated the three most dangerous to him quickly. Asteroids, Jupiter and Mercury all had significant followings inside the Crimson Dawn. Without them to lead, all three of those groups would be floundering for a bit as none of the three had felt confident enough in their control to have a recognized successor. It would be a good time to pull them apart and redirect their energy. Using Pluto's followers as the prey in a witch hunt should keep them all occupied enough to let him regain full command of the Revolution.

 

He glanced again at the shattered body of Uranus. That, that killing had been personal. Uranus was one of those `unwashed masses' Pluto had so despised. He'd resented his inclusion in the Assembly from the moment the man had been elected. But Uranus had been exceptionally popular with the rank and file. A careful leak of that last speech of Pluto's at just the right time could see the aristocrats who'd backed him in difficulties ranging from simple harassment to outright assassination.

 

That could be quite useful. Romefeller had supplied most of the money for the Revolution and was expecting a corresponding reward in terms of influence. It was a pity for them that the real Rational Revolution wasn't actually about putting those degenerate old families back in power. No, it was almost time to throw them to the wolves of popular opinion and just take their wealth for the Revolution. But, not quite yet. He'd have to time that leak carefully to get the most value from it.

 

What this did mean was he would be able to get al least two of the four he wanted onto the Assembly. The other factions were going to be too busy internally to rally quickly enough to stop him, and that was assuming a couple of them were smart enough to know they needed to. Unfortunately, it also meant the Revolution was going to run even slower now.

 

While he wouldn't morn the losses here for themselves or for the dangers they'd been, he would have to for the efficiency they would be losing moving new people into senior positions with the shooting already underway. The Preventers were going to be able to, at least temporarily; save assets they should not have had a hope in hell of saving. The fighting was going to take longer and the public was going to have too much of a chance to become disenchanted with Crimson Dawn.

 

The Sun glared at the shattered corpse of Pluto. The little hoity-toity bastard had died too quickly. Really, he should have been made to pay in pain for what he'd cost them today.

 

“Now what do we do?” Mars asked quietly.

 

“Now? Well now we will appoint new people to the robes of the Planets and we will prosecute our war,” The Sun told him bluntly. “We can't afford to do anything else. I will want your suggestions by this evening. We need to rebuild the Assembly as quickly as we can.”

 

“Our people are going to be shocked and deeply angered by this,” Terra warned.

 

“I know. We will have to make sure the right leaks come out about this. We do not want anyone to desert our cause because they think we don't care or can't lead.”

 

Terra nodded firmly. “I agree. Nor can we afford to slack off on our war effort. The Preventers are our only serious opposition. They have to be dealt with quickly!”

 

“And who do you want to put in charge of it?” Venus hissed as an orderly dressed her wounded arm. “Jupiter was our military commander. We don't have anyone else with his scope of experience or training.”

 

“The man had at least two able lieutenants,” Mars pointed out. “We give them a good look-over and stick the one who is the most competent with the job.”

 

“And the title of Jupiter?” Terra asked quietly.

 

“Yes,” The Sun said decisively. “We can not afford for the soldiers to think we do not value them enough. So whoever we select will have to be the next Jupiter. Our troops must believe they are fighting for those who respect them. They've had too much disrespect shown them by Dorlian and her party; they will not serve where they are not appreciated.”

 

“You make a telling point,” Venus nodded. “Very well, the next commander is the next Jupiter.”

 

Terra and Mars both joined her. Very good! And he knew how to slant the data to favor the man who was in his pocket too. That would give him a secure ally on the Assembly and a solid grip on their armed forces.

 

“What about our hunts for the Gundam Pilots, Dorlian herself, and the Khushrenada child?” Venus asked slowly. “What progress is being made there?”

 

“The search group has narrowed the targets down. We will be following up on all of them. It may not go as quickly as before, we've just been bogged down in active combat, but I have significant confidence in where and how the hunters are looking.” The Sun made himself nod to Venus politely, seriously wishing Pluto had been on target just one last time. “We are still awaiting an analysis of the spaceports from the last three days. There have been a number of reports of groups that might be the ones we're seeking. Unfortunately, none of them match in exact numbers or genders. However, it is possible for gender to be disguised and we'll know more in a few days.”

 

“That's too long,” Venus snapped.

 

“Its what we're stuck with since Pluto managed to force our hand here and get us tied up in open fighting,” Terra said coldly. “If we weren't engaged in battle, we'd have the resources available to do the analysis by tonight. But we don't dare divert them from tracking where the Preventers are slipping off to and what equipment they are getting away with.”

 

“They'll get away!” Venus snarled.

 

“Maybe,” Mars agreed wearily. “But where do you expect them to get away to? They're either still on the planet, admittedly a big area to search, or they've come out to space, an even bigger area but with far, far fewer points that will support them in hiding. No, we'll get them eventually.”

 

“Eventually could be too long.” The woman would not give it up.

 

“I'm open to suggestions here,” The Sun said calmly, knowing if he took any of them and they didn't work out it would be considered the suggester's fault, not his.

 

That earned him silence. None of the other three were unaware of the consequences of being wrong here. No, if there were any suggestions, they would come only after serious thought on the suggester's part.

 

When there had been a good two minutes of uneasy silence he simply nodded. “Very well, bring them to the Assembly when you've had a chance to review the resources we can afford to divert. Now, I would like some recommendations for the new Planets.”

 

He had the meeting in hand now. It would be possible to direct the selections if he was clever, and he intended to be very clever. Soon, soon his orders would go unquestioned anywhere in the Dawn. And then he would be in a position to repay some people and places for past transgressions. He settled back to listen closely as the opening gauntlets were thrown.

 

* * * * * * *

 

She'd only met him once but it was very clear J had changed. At least physically. The oculars were new, oval where the old ones had been round and slightly larger than the first set. The leg brace was gone, indicating he'd lost the old one and been forced to replace it with a modern prosthetic, a very good one by the way the man moved. Then there was the arm. The strange, almost unnerving three-pad `hand' had been replaced by something much more like a real hand and arm. All in all, it made him feel considerably more human than he'd been before.

 

Inasmuch as it was her first time to meet Professor G, she couldn't say if he'd changed or not. But he did still meet Duo's description of a mushroom of gray hair punctuated by a spike of a nose. There was a very uncomfortably crafty look in his eye as well.

 

They were all gathered in what seemed to be the kitchen/lounge space the two old men had been using. A motley array of chairs had been gathered, somewhat crowding the space but allowing everyone a place to sit. Heero was standing in the furthest corner he could from J, arms folded and face perfectly still. Duo was beside him. But everyone else had agreed to at least hear them out. No one was very happy though and the suspicion was heavy enough to serve on toast. Relena herself was trying to be as neutral as possible going into this.

 

“How long to fix the Gundams?” Duo apparently had had all of the silence he was willing to take.

 

G looked up. “Don't know. Its going to depend on how seriously they patrol this area. If they don't do much more than the Preventers did, I'd estimate probably seven to ten weeks. The more they snoop, the more careful we have to be and the slower we'll be going.”

 

“Their systems are down now,” Heero pointed out coldly. “And we are all here to help. There are six of us who understand the systems of the Gundams and have skills at maintenance and repair.”

 

“You can't stay here,” J told him bluntly. “We've been shutting our systems down to a bare survival level for two. The place doesn't have working life support for this many for any length of time. All of you must go into hiding immediately. They're going to be suspicious enough of the Chariot of Fire and this base. We can't afford to have emissions that would validate those suspicions. I appreciate the offer, believe it or not, but our plans can't afford the risk.”

 

“We need those Gundams,” Zechs said quietly. “They're the only mobile suits going that stand a reasonable chance of facing these new Crimson Dawn Sagittarius suits.”

 

“You need Gundams,” G agreed. “And we've been working on that.”

 

“You also have to go someplace where you genuinely can not be found,” J said grimly. “We've found that too. I won't lie to you, this is very chancy. Everything has worked perfectly so far but we all know that things never work perfectly forever. There is a real risk here. But if you give it honest consideration, I think you'll agree it is probably a smaller one than staying anywhere here would be.”

 

“I don't like the way you two are saying this,” Duo growled. “I know you both and when you get like this you've got something real shaky up your sleeves.”

 

“Oh it's shaky all right,” G agreed with a grin. “But tell me Duo, what kind of chance would you take to have Deathscythe back?”

 

Seated slightly to the side and having angled her chair to let her watch them all, Relena saw all the pilots go tight with fury. Even Zechs and Lucrezia were openly angry. Dorothy was frowning and Mariemaia had an expression of the most profound distrust on her face.

 

“That was unkind of you,” Relena said gently.

 

“Not at all. It was a very honest question. Because we've rebuilt the Gundams, our five that is, and four of them are already in the new hideout. Which means Duo, Quatre, Trowa and Wu Fei will have to be willing to take the risk of going there to get them. But what we really need to have happen is for Heero there to walk his Wing Zero over to join the rest and for all of you to stay there with them for a while,” J told her calmly.

 

“What the hell?!” Duo shouted.

 

“I do not believe you!” Wu Fei snapped, jumping to his feet.

 

“Show me!” Heero's sharp order dominated the others as Trowa and Quatre just stared at the two old men.

 

J simply stood up and headed out a hatchway. Heero moved so quickly he was the one immediately behind the old man when they entered the hallway even though he'd been in the furthest corner. Duo was right behind him. The rest of them followed in a cluster, caught between anticipation and anger.

 

Relena darted forward until she'd caught up with Heero and Duo. She needed to be with her friend and protector when he reclaimed his Gundam, she knew it. Only she could release him from the promise he'd made to her, and to himself.

 

How presumptuous that thought had been! But it was true. She knew it was because she'd caught Heero twice staring off into nowhere mumbling about it. If she said nothing, it would hold him back. He would die in battle then and it would be her fault.

 

She looked at Duo, moving with his usual swift grace beside Heero. She should be jealous of him, really. He had what she'd always wanted. Instead she'd discovered over the last two days that what she actually felt was an odd but very profound sorrow for them all. Their bonds went so very deep but this, this was something they'd had no choice in; and still didn't. They could be happy or angry or sad or embarrassed about the situation and it would make no difference. Nor was she sure it would be a good thing to even talk about it with these two strange old men right now.

 

“Hee-chan, `Ro, calm down,” Duo spoke softly. “He's messing with your head. Our Gundams are gone! They're blown to bits. I don't know what kinda line he's feeding us here but they're gone!”

 

Relena considered a top secret report that had come in a bit over two years ago now and wasn't so sure. Despite an exceptionally discrete search, there had never been any hints found of who had stolen the scraps of the five Gundams. Of all the possibilities for the thieves though, one of the supposedly dead Gundam scientists had never occurred to her. The dead, after all, wouldn't have had any use for them. She made a note to herself to make sure there really were bodies found and securely identified by at least three different forensic methods before she ever believed any serious enemy, or friend, was dead again!

 

They left the human-scale hallway to find themselves in a vast passageway. The hatchway J turned toward was unmistakably scaled for mobile suits. Relena looked the other way and saw the people-size hatch beside a matching suit-scaled one that they'd all come through when they'd entered the base after unloading the supplies and both ruined Gundams. So, she knew where she was at least.

 

The air here was much colder than it had been in the kitchen/lounge or the hallway leading this way. Apparently this was one of the ways the old men were conserving energy. She wasn't at all sorry that the distance to the human hatchway was quite short! None of them were dressed for this. Then she was stepping through the hatch into a much warmer space.

 

It was a mobile suit maintenance bay. She'd been in several. The ones she'd seen though had been dedicated to disassembly of the discards of war. This one had a completely different feel to it. There was none of the sadness that accompanied destruction here. No, this space was dedicated to creation. She could feel the fierce energy of the vast room like a warm fire on her face.

 

“Oh fucking shit!” The shocked exclamation ripped out of Duo.

 

Relena turned to see what had so rocked the pilot. White, blue, touches of gold and red, the spectacular `feather' wings. Wing Zero stood brilliantly illuminated against the far wall, massive twin buster rifle racked beside it.

 

It was incredibly beautiful, she thought. As beautiful, and as deadly, as the young man who had been born to fly it. Had she been wrong, back then, to insist they destroy their machines? Could she have found a role for them in the new world of peace instead? Would their simple presence have deterred the Crimson Dawn from even forming? She sighed softly, knowing the questions could never be answered now.

 

“'Ro?”

 

Relena turned from machine to pilot. The conflict in him was now plain on Heero's face. She understood the deep concern in Duo's voice immediately. A quick check of the others told her everything was going to depend on Heero. The others would fight without him if they had to but even the blind could see they would be crippled if they did. They were a team, and he was their unwavering combat leader. Without him, they were not whole.

 

Quatre was their heart, Duo their soul, Wu Fei their burning passion, and Trowa their vital balance. But without Heero and his unswerving drive, they would falter, possibly critically. That couldn't be allowed to happen. It was her job to support Heero. That had always been her role. He enabled her to be strong. She enabled him to go forward into a life he was still trying to understand.

 

So she stepped up beside him and let her arm go around his too-slim waist. “You really made it into something beautiful, you know? The world looked to you and the others for protection and they got that and beauty too. I don't know how you did it.”

 

She could feel his eyes boring into her but she focused on the Gundam, keeping a gentle smile on her face. “Do you know, the times I've felt safest have always been when you and your Gundam were near? I've missed that, since they were destroyed. I think perhaps the whole world has missed it.”

 

“They're weapons,” Heero said quietly.

 

“Yes,” She agreed. “But I've wondered these last few years if perhaps I couldn't have found a better use for these weapons than smashing them to bits. You don't always have to actually use the weapon destructively to use it effectively. They have such tremendous symbolic significance, these Gundams. And I could only see one way of exploiting it then. I've questioned that decision ever since.”

 

“What do you want me to do?”

 

“What are you willing to do Heero?” Relena turned and met his gaze seriously. “I could order you to fly the Wing Zero again but if that was not what you were willing to do, sooner or later it would be the death of you and probably the rest of the team. I will not give you orders. I can not. All I can do is tell you that the promise you made to both me and yourself is one circumstances may not let you keep. And that I will not think anything less of you if you chose to fly again.”

 

She sighed softly. “I believe with all my heart in the concept of total pacifism. But I've also been a working government official for several years now and I've learned that it is not as simple to achieve as I once believed. I honestly thought if we removed the weapons, war would end. It was a naive dream. We must meet the needs of all our people before we will even come close to that as a reality. And we must provide real and honest alternatives to war for people to settle their differences as well. We are a long way from that goal.”

 

“It's a good goal,” Heero said quietly.

 

“Gonna take a while to get there though,” Duo noted.

 

“Yes, I'm afraid you're right,” Relena agreed sadly. “I had such hopes at the end of the Mariemaia Incident. And I acted on those hopes. But I can see now that I didn't always act in the most practical ways. So, we have another war on our hands.”

 

“You are not to blame for this,” Wu Fei noted evenly. “You are only one person and one person, no matter how influential, does not control everything in a political body the size of the ESUN. Too many others around you and below you are corrupt. It is their work that has led to this.”

 

“What do you wish me to do?” Heero, focused as always, asked again, silencing everyone else with the question.

 

She turned to him, as focused now as he was. She had to get this right on the first try. Heero had never been good at dealing with conflicting or contradictory instructions. Those just left him open to the manipulation of the Zero System. And this time, she wanted him to manipulate it instead. So she ignored, indeed shut out all awareness, of everyone else around them to concentrate everything on the young man she'd loved beside her.

 

“Heero, I need to know if you agree that this war will endanger honestly innocent people.”

 

“Yes it will,” He replied unhesitatingly. “Everything I've learned about Crimson Dawn indicates they are very sure of themselves, their goals, and their right to rule. Moreover, they are inflexible and intolerant of other opinions. Collateral damages in battle aside, they believe in killing their enemies by entire families to prevent their resurgence. It does not matter who a child's parents are, the child is innocent. They will kill the child anyway.”

 

“The ESUN is deeply flawed, I can see that now that I'm older and a bit wiser. But do you think it should be replaced by Crimson Dawn?”

 

“No!”

 

“Then I would like to suggest a thought to you. You could think of this as a modification of the promise. That you will only fight, and act as each battle demands, to defend yourself, your friends, and the concepts of life that you believe in. It's a very loose kind of promise, I know, but at the same time, I know you. You have no wish to kill any longer. And I don't believe you will even injure anyone you don't truly have to. This would allow you to act though while the promise we shared will not.”

 

She bit her lip as his face went very still. It had taken her two days and largely sleepless nights to formulate that simplistic sounding suggestion. She had to give him permission to act and at the same time, give him a sense of limits. This was the best she'd been able to come up with, and it was so inadequate!

 

For several long minutes he stared up at the restored Gundam, no hint of what was going through his mind showing on his face. The rest of the team waited patiently, far too used to this to question the need. Her brother, Noin and Mariemaia on the other hand were openly studying the hanger itself. She split her attentions between them all until J gave a surprisingly gentle snort that grabbed Heero's attention instantly.

 

“I wish I could give you the time you need for this but we just don't have it. The supplies have to be moved, the Wing Zero must go over, and all of you must go with it. And thanks to your new contribution, we have a pair of wrecks to get in here as well. The local Preventer net has not come back on yet but that is simply a matter of time and something we have no control over. I'm sorry boy, but we must begin to take action now.”

 

“Understood,” Heero nodded. “Where are we going?”

 

“Ah, now that one will be a bit of a surprise,” G told him. “Come this way. We have some recordings for you all to watch. It will take some time, which is why we can't spare it for you to stand here thinking.”

 

Some four hours later Relena was sitting, almost in shock, as the lights came up at last and the screen went dark. Just the idea that someone had penetrated the space-time continuum between two different universes had been jarring enough. But they were so similar to the people she knew all around her! And J and G planned to send them there! To an abandoned colony no less! And G had BEEN there! More than once!

 

“You're shittin' me! You outta your fuckin' mind Pestilence? What the hell makes you think I'm going there?” Duo yelled.

 

“Because that's where Deathscythe Hell is waiting for you,” G replied calmly.

 

“You put my buddy . . . . . , that's low, even for you!” Duo spat furiously.

 

“Sandrock?” Quatre asked nervously.

 

“With Deathscythe and the others,” J replied neutrally.

 

“You have sent my NATAKU to some strange dimension?!?” Wu Fei screamed, hand clawing at his waist for a sword that, fortunately, wasn't there.

 

“Wu Fei, Duo,” Heero's deep voice suddenly cut through the shouting. “Where would you recommend we secure the Gundams?”

 

“Well, not in some Godforsaken alien dimension!” Duo snarled.

 

“Not an answer,” Heero snapped back. “Give me an answer or shut up.”

 

Instant silence was his reply. Everyone stared at him. Heero for his part was glaring at the snarl of cabling and modules that surrounded H's strange bell mouthed structure.

 

“'Ro? You buying this shit?” Duo faltered.

 

“I have no better idea to suggest,” Heero replied coldly. “Crimson Dawn has too many eyes in too many places. They have proven that already. But I will listen to any reasonable suggestion that would keep us here. I can not say I like the thought of going there.”

 

He turned to them. “I understand the dangers. This facility is the only one of its kind. If Crimson Dawn finds and destroys it, we will be trapped there. That idea is very disturbing. But we can't move yet. I've been living on the bottom of the underworld. I know how popular anyone who brings down the ESUN is going to be at first. No one who stands with the Preventers will have much popular support with a solid half of Earth's people until Crimson Dawn shows its true face. Once it does that though, and what they really are sinks in, we will be welcome with open arms again. However, that could take as much as six months to develop. We must not be found until we are ready to move. And I say again, I have no better idea for a secure hiding place for five to seven Gundams.”

 

“He has a point,” Trowa said unhappily.

 

“Tro!” Duo yelled.

 

Barton shrugged. “Can't change reality Maxwell.”

 

“No we can't,” Zechs agreed heavily. “How much more of this data do you have for us to review?”

 

“We've put together a six hour program covering their history for the last three thousand years. It is little more than a timeline and mention of cultures for most of that but it will give you a fairly good background for the last hundred years and a solid grip on the most recent four, including their two wars,” G replied.

 

“How do you have this planned?” The Preventer asked, knowing they would have a program laid out.

 

“Well, before we knew we'd be dealing with two more damaged Gundams, we were hoping to get the supplies over today, have you all get a nights sleep either here or there and then watch the history presentation. The idea of moving the supplies was to familiarize you with the safety of making the crossing.”

 

“Of course,” Zechs agreed drily.

 

“You aren't going along with this nutso idea too?” Duo stared at the former Oz officer, aghast.

 

“Duo,” Quatre suddenly put in, “think of this as the greatest adventure you'll ever have. We're going to be the first from our universe to cross to another and live there for a while.”

 

“Besides,” He added offhandedly. “Do you want Pestilence to be able to say he did something the God of Death wouldn't?”

 

Duo stared at the blond with narrowed eyes. “That's plain sneaky Quat.”

 

“But true, eh?”

 

The American turned to find G grinning evilly at him.

 

“Yeah, he would,” Duo admitted heavily.

 

“So, are you coming with us?” Quatre asked.

 

“I guess I don't have much choice.”

 

“Then I suggest we suit up and get to work while we still can use the tows from the Chariot. This will go a lot faster with top of the line equipment to use,” Zechs pointed out. “They're officially set to be on `docking maneuvers' for another twenty hours. We need to be done by then.”

 

The men went off to suit up. Relena, Noin, Dorothy and Mariemaia on the other hand went to see how the barrier was opened. And when J offered them the chance to cross, Relena fearlessly took it, the other three right behind her.

 

The first thing that struck her about this new place was a feeling of desertion. These rooms had been abandoned for a long time and she didn't think they had been heavily used even when this colony had been active. The tang in the air was mildly unpleasant at first but it faded out of notice over time. Yet it too indicated long neglect.

 

But G had been truthful about the condition of the area. The rooms were in excellent shape, the water worked, the lights and the heat worked and the bedding and linens were in good condition. She did not trust the cleaners or anything else she found though and was shortly working with Noin to round this material up and get it out of the rooms they'd marked out for use.

 

This area had four short corridors with four rooms each. Given the reality of the situation, she and Noin were setting up the closest corridor for the pilots while Dorothy and Mariemaia worked on the farthest for the rest of them. The doors and walls here did not appear to have the same quality of soundproofing as the facilities of Quatre's ship, and it would only be civil to offer some privacy if they could. She'd have set things up the other way around but that would have put them that much further from the mobile suit bay and that somehow didn't seem a good idea.

 

By the time they had the beds made and towels in all the baths, the guys were coming over with pallet loads of supplies. G was there as well, directing them. So she and Noin detoured into the kitchen facilities.

 

These proved similar enough to what they had at home to ensure they would be able to prepare meals. There were a couple of devices though that looked like ovens but had no means of heating that either of them could find. Rather than risk explosions, they just tied them closed with a note on them indicating they weren't to be experimented with until they could be researched. A refrigeration unit and a freezer unit were found, both set on standby. Not sure what the local temperature settings meant, they settled for just below medium on both units and left them to chill down for a while.

 

Quatre brought them a small pallet that turned out to be a variety of foods. So they stocked the generous pantry spaces with enough to keep their relatively small party fed for better than a month. They had already learned that while Duo still had a healthy appetite, he no longer ate everything that didn't eat him first. Apparently he'd started tapering off once he'd turned eighteen. Heero's metabolism was still high and always would be to fuel his augmented strength. The reason he was so badly underweight was because he'd been unable to find enough high calorie and protein foods to accommodate the demands of his enhanced system. That at least would be no issue here. Finished with the kitchen and having checked to be sure the refrigeration units were both cooling properly, Relena and Noin went to see what else was happening.

 

They met Wu Fei, back in his Preventer uniform, carrying several bags toward the pilot's sleeping quarters.

 

“Ah, there you are. Zechs was asking for you both. Yuy is going to bring Wing Zero over in a few minutes. You might want to go to the mobile suit bay to watch.”

 

“Oh, thank you! That could be something amazing to watch.”

 

Relena smiled happily and darted for the heavy hatchway. Noin followed her at a more controlled pace. It was Relena's first visit to the bay and while she'd expected it to be large, she hadn't expected it to be so well lit. Nor was she expecting to find all the extra service insets. This had room for another five Gundams! There would be plenty of space for the Wing and Epyon when they were repaired.

 

Actually, the place was enormous. One came out onto the second level service walkway when you entered from the living area, giving you a panoramic view down the bay. The five service insets that lined both sides were augmented by a pair of horizontal cradles that sat at the top of the vast space. Given the size of the hatch at the far end, this was designed to take in a small shuttle as well.

 

She realized everyone else was waiting by the closest of the suit bays. The one directly across from it was empty. The other four on that side held the other Gundams. They all looked to be in brand new condition. Relena found her eyes wanting to cloud on her. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed these war machines herself until she saw them standing here, so beautifully restored.

 

Then Quatre was beside her, arm around her shoulder supportively. “It is good to have them back, isn't it?”

 

“Yes, Quatre, yes it is.”

 

Duo leaned happily into her from the other side. “Doesn't `Scythe look great?”

 

There were tears in those violet eyes, and tracks on his face where others had already fallen.

 

“Yes, yes, he looks wonderful Duo.”

 

“I'm not gonna blow him up again Princess.”

 

“No, Duo, I'm not going to make the mistake of asking you to do that again,” Relena promised softly. “They are our heritage, our pride and perhaps our burden. But they are something we should never be allowed to forget or deny again.”

 

“Thank you,” Trowa said quietly. “It would be very difficult to let go of Heavyarms a third time.”

 

“I thank you as well,” Wu Fei said very gently. “My Nataku was never happy with nothing more than the single blade I had made from the remnant of Altron. She will be forever at home now that Altron has been returned to her.”

 

It struck her suddenly that everyone had spoken of these young men as `the Gundam Pilots' for the last three years even though their Gundams were gone. It simply had not been possible in the public mind to separate pilot and machine. But until today, they hadn't really been `the Gundam Pilots' at all. They had been five young men struggling to find themselves in a strange world of peace they'd helped to make but did not understand well. They'd managed better than most would have guessed but they hadn't been themselves, their real soul-deep selves, doing it. Was it really a tragedy that they were somehow tied to these machines? That they weren't truly fully alive unless they knew they had them somewhere to hand? She didn't know the answer and wasn't sure she wanted to.

 

Then there was a strange shudder in the air at the far end of the vast bay. A tall `doorway' suddenly stabilized there. She was looking into the suit bay of the old Oz base.

 

Wing Zero stood there, buster rifle in hand. And suddenly she was back on the Peacemillion, trying to talk Heero out of going out onto a battlefield she was sure he would not come back from. But instead of going away from her, this time Wing Zero walked toward her. And as the mobile suit came forward, Relena Peacecraft Dorlian suddenly just knew things, all things, would work out somehow. A weight she'd barely understood she'd been carrying dropped from her shoulders.

 

* * * * * * *

 

“Hero?”

 

Lacus sat up abruptly, jarred out of one of the strangest coherent dreams she'd ever had. Her hand rose slowly to the side of her head but she realized nothing really hurt. She had been standing in a mobile suit repair bay. And the winged suit from the other space-time was walking toward her. Why would that make her feel so amazingly safe? It had been as though it was Strike-Freedom coming for her! And who was Hero?

 

She yawned suddenly, eyes very heavy. Whatever the strange dream was, it lacked the power to keep her awake. She settled back down. But just before she drifted under a last image surfaced of the winged suit standing in front of her, hatch open, and a slender young man with very long brown hair and amazing deep blue eyes sitting at the controls. `Hero' she realized as she sank back into slumber.