Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter 88 ( Chapter 88 )

“Family Ties”

 

January 2007 ShenLong

 

Chapter 88

 

[Satellite XRB 23 - Control Room]

 

 

Barton and Zaheer watched the shuttles launch off on their journey towards earth and once they were fading from view, Barton turned to Craven and asked. “Have the suit pilots been dispatched?”

 

“Yes, sir. They are in the hangar and ready to go when you give the order.”

 

“Send them out. I want them to do a complete recon of the area, make sure there isn't anything at all out there.” Barton turned away. “I know I saw something,” he muttered to himself.

 

Craven turned to his console and contacted the hangar where the suits were currently kept. “Suit pilots, you may leave when ready. Do a complete recon of sector 586 through to sector 589. Report anything at all regardless of how insignificant it may seem.”

 

“Roger that, control. Any idea what it is we're looking for?”

 

“Errr... The boss thinks he saw something out there...”

 

“I didn't think, Craven. I did see something and I want it checked,” Barton snapped.

 

Craven swallowed. “Yes, sir.” He turned his attention back to the suits. “The boss saw something out there and we cannot pick it up on the cameras. We need a first hand scout of the area to confirm.”

 

“Okay, control. Will do as requested. Suits are ready to leave.”

 

“Then get going,” Barton hissed.

 

“Suits are leaving now.”

 

“We will follow your progress as best we can with the camera and the radar will track you at all times,” Craven informed.

 

“Roger that. Suits are on the move.”

 

The communication was cut as the suit pilots concentrated on maneuvering their mecha out of the hangar and into the void of space and satellite. Once they were clear of the domes, the thrusters were fully fired up and the six headed for the area coordinates they had been given to search.

 

Inside the control room. Craven manipulated the camera to follow the suits. The image was projected onto the larger screen and Barton watched with keen interest.

 

The view showed nothing but barren landscape, the gray dust of the satellite's surface stretching out ahead, dotted with the odd rock formation here and there.

 

Craven had his doubts and was seriously starting to question his boss's sanity. Anyone could see there was nothing at all out there. The conversations between the suit pilots was monitored and Craven was sure to keep the conversation passing through his head set only. It wouldn't pay for Barton to hear some of the comments. It seemed the suit pilots were of the same opinion as Craven - there was nothing out there and this was simply a wild goose chase.

 

Simons kept a close eye on the radar screen. The shuttles had completely disappeared from his radar range and were well on their way to the earth. The radar now showed six, small blips, each blip representing a mobile suit. “The suits are approaching the area where the unexplainable blip was recorded,” Simons informed Craven.

 

“Thank you.” Craven adjusted the small mic on his head set. “Suit pilots, you are entering the area where the,” Craven paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “Where the apparent object was sighted. Please scan around carefully.”

 

“Roger that,” replied the leader.

 

All six pilots watched their scanners and looked carefully out of their view ports. Nothing was showing up.

 

“I think this is a wild goose chase,” one pilot stated.

 

“I agree, but you know the boss.”

 

“Yeah. He won't be happy until we've checked the area out,” sighed another pilot.

 

“Any fool can see there's noth-” The pilot stopped in mid sentence and brought his suit to a stop.

 

“What is it?” asked another pilot.

 

The air in front of them seemed to shift and blur.

 

“Oh, fuck.”

 

All six suits came to a halt as their worst nightmare shimmered and appeared before them.

 

Craven was following the suits with the camera, Simons tracking them on radar when the suits all stopped and hovered in mid air.

 

“Sir? I'm getting something weird coming over the radar,” Simons announced as he struggled to make sense of the shape that was appearing, then disappearing on his radar screen.

 

Craven was about to move and see what had the tech so upset when the camera started to pick up on something. Ignoring the tech for the moment, Craven turned his attention back to the screen where the very air itself seemed to be moving.

 

Barton and Zaheer had also picked up on the unusual happenings and crowded around the view screen.

 

“What the hell?” Craven said as his eyes focused on the shimmering air.

 

“Well, fuck me,” Zaheer stated, eyes riveted to the screen where a large, black object was starting to appear and take shape.

 

“Still say I'm seeing things?” Barton snarled. His eyes widened a moment later when the object came completely into view. “It's a fucking Gundam!”

 

Silence descended over the control room, all occupants completely focused on the screen and what was happening.

 

The six suits shot into action, each one attempting to take out the large mecha. Craven gasped as the green, thermal scythe cut through the suits as if they were butter. Barton gave a smirk that was short lived when one of the suits managed to get a shot to connect with the enemy.

 

“Where the fuck did that come from?” Zaheer asked, still unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

 

“I'd like to know that too,” Barton snapped. “If my memory serves me correct, that is the suit known as Deathscythe.”

 

“Deathscythe?” Zaheer questioned, his eyes still watching the carnage on screen.

 

“Yes, Deathscythe. It was operated by pilot 02. Zaheer, I think we have found your missing prisoner,” Barton stated, his voice angry.

 

“But...” Zaheer was clearly at a loss.

 

“It seems your prisoner did have assistance to escape,” Barton growled and turned to look at Craven. “What I want to know is who provided that assistance, how did they manage to get here and where the hell did that Gundam come from? There's been no approach to the satellite of any sort, or so I've been told.”

 

Craven looked at his boss. “I'm not aware of anything landing here on the satellite, sir. If something had approached, Simons would have picked it up on the radar.”

 

“Well, it obviously had to come from somewhere, it certainly wasn't here on this satellite before,” Barton replied, the sarcasm clear in his voice.

 

“Yes, sir, I realize...”

 

“Shit!”

 

Everyone's attention swiveled back to Zaheer and noted the man was staring intently at the screen. All eyes turned to the same screen. The black Gundam had disposed of the six suits, wreckage lay all around on the surface, some of the smaller pieces defying the minimal pull of gravity that the satellite had and floated off into space. But that wasn't what had caught Zaheer's attention.

 

Everyone watched in stunned silence as the Gundam moved off, landed and began to walk forward; then it completely disappeared.

 

“What the hell?” Barton said and blinked his eyes.

 

“Where the fuck did it go?” Zaheer questioned and reached for the camera controls to have the machine swing round and check the immediate area. Nothing.

 

“It can't have just vanished into thin air,” Barton muttered. “Simons, radar report, now!”

 

“Ummm, the radar isn't picking up on anything, sir. One minute the Gundam was there and the next... gone.”

 

“There's got to be an explanation for this,” growled Barton and looked to the techs around.

 

Everyone suddenly found their consoles very interesting. Professor Hawkins sat in the corner with his ever present guard and snickered softly to himself. He had a pretty good idea of what was going on. He'd done some work for the ESUN just after the war in relation to developing a cloaking device, but had abandoned it after a while when it became obvious the peace was there to stay and such a device wouldn't be needed. That was when he'd left the government department and gone out on his own; securing a job as a lecturer at the University and free to pursue his own interest; namely research into the Firecell theory.

 

Unfortunately for Hawkins, Barton heard the snicker and homed in on the professor.

 

Moving across the room with large strides, Barton stood in front of the professor, lowering his face until he was almost breathing directly onto Hawkins. For a moment there the professor was worried that Barton was going to kiss him, or give him mouth to mouth! Not that the professor had anything against gay people - he just wasn't into that scene himself.

 

He didn't think Barton was either.

 

“You know something,” Barton stated.

 

“I know lots of things,” came the reply.

 

“Don't get smart with me,” Barton snapped. “You forget I hold your life in my hands.”

 

“Not much of a life,” Hawkins muttered and then grunted as a blow landed to his cheek, forcing his head to the side and causing his teeth to draw blood on his bottom lip.

 

“You know something,” Barton repeated. “Tell me, how did that Gundam get here? How did it manage to just disappear?”

 

“I haven't the foggiest idea of what you're talking about,” Hawkins replied, doing his best to stall for time. He knew the young man he'd spoken with a while back had something to do with this attack and the professor intended to give the youth as much time as he could.

 

“Zaheer, I think our friend here needs his memory jogging,” Barton snarled.

 

“Yes, boss.” Zaheer cracked his knuckles and approached the professor.

 

Hawkins swallowed, hard.

 

A few minutes later, Barton had his answer. Zaheer had `persuaded' the professor to talk, Hawkins only giving the minimal amount of information away.

 

“Cloaking device, hmmm?” Barton rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “If that's true, then there has to be some form of transport there as well for that Gundam to hide in.” Eyes glittered as his mind worked overtime. “Craven!?”

 

“Yes, sir?” The tech scrambled to face the boss.

 

“Get me the exact coordinates of where that Gundam began to fade from sight.”

 

“Yes, sir. Right away.” Craven, along with Simons, worked quickly to note down the exact coordinates.

 

“Zaheer?”

 

“Yes, sir?” The burly man appeared beside his boss, wiping the blood from his knuckles on his handkerchief.

 

“Have all the suit pilots into their suits and ready to fly. Once I have the coordinates from Craven, I want the entire fleet to head out there and blast those coordinates to kingdom come. There's no way a Gundam can possibly take on all my suits and survive.” Barton's lips turned up into a cruel smile.

 

“On to it now, sir.” Zaheer moved to another console to contact the suit hangar.

 

“I have the coordinates, sir,” Craven stated and passed them over to Barton.

 

“Thank you.” Barton in turn passed the coordinates to Zaheer. “Tell them these are the coordinates they are to fly to. Once there, they may deploy any and all weapons at their own discretion. I want that son of a bitch taking down; and whomever is helping him.”

 

Zaheer passed the information on and then joined his boss to watch the drama unfold on the screen.

 

* * *

 

[Preventer Transport Shuttle 221]

 

“Shit!” Duo cursed.

 

The pair turned and sprinted for the cargo bay and their Gundams, Heero glanced at his partner as they ran. “You're not off the hook Duo. I still have a question for you and I think you know what it is.”

 

Duo nodded in reply, shoving all thoughts of the possible life within to the back of his mind and fixed his attention on just getting back to Deathscythe.

 

They burst into the cargo bay, feet skidding on the metal scaffolding as they took the steps down to the the catwalk two at a time. Trowa, Quatre and Wufei were all settling themselves into their own Gundams.

 

“I take it you guys all heard Zechs?” Duo yelled out as he opened Deathscythe's hatch.

 

Three affirmatives came back at him.

 

Sliding into Wing's chair, Heero's hands flew over the console, his mind on auto pilot. The start up sequence was as familiar to him as eating dinner. The controls felt as if they had never left his hands. “Everyone copy?” he asked down the comm.

 

“Sandrock copies loud and clear.”

 

“Heavyarms here.”

 

“I hear you, Day.”

 

“Yeehaw! The god of death is ready to rock and roll!”

 

“Maxwell! Can you be serious for a moment?!” Wufei snapped.

 

“Not sure about that, I'll have to get back to you,” Duo snickered.

 

“Shuttle cockpit reads you loud and clear, Yuy,” Zechs said, breaking up what was shaping up to be an all out tormenting session if Duo had his way.

 

“Zechs, we will need you to monitor the domes and satellite surface for us. The Gundams will concentrate on eliminating as many of the suits as we can. Does the shuttle have any weapons of defense?” Heero asked as his Gundam powered up.

 

“Minimal,” came Zechs' reply. “Just a couple of beam rifles.”

 

“Be prepared to use them if necessary.”

 

“Roger that,” Zechs said. “How long until you're all ready to go?”

 

“Sandrock is fully operational,” Quatre informed.

 

“Heavyarms is almost fully charged.”

 

“Shenlong is ready to leave, trident power currently at seventy-five percent and climbing rapidly. Estimate it will be fully functional in another sixty seconds.” Wufei checked the console again, noting the power building in the thermal trident.

 

“Wing is ready to go; buster rifle at full power.”

 

“I am ready to go reap me some souls!”

 

“Maxwell!”

 

“Let me rephrase that. Deathscythe is completely functional, the thermal scythe is running at maximum power and the hyperjammers only need to be engaged. Fuel cells are full, life support systems all okay and the coffee machine is in fine form.”

 

Wufei resisted the urge to bang his head on the console. He didn't know which was worse; Maxwell being a complete idiot or Maxwell reeling off all the stats in a calm, boring tone.

 

“When did you get a coffee machine installed in `Scythe?” Quatre asked.

 

“Winner!”

 

“What, Wufei?”

 

“Don't encourage him.”

 

“But I only wanted to know...” Quatre stopped as the realization hit him. “Ah, I guess that's what you call sarcasm.”

 

Duo could be heard snickering madly.

 

“I'll explain it all later, Quatre,” Trowa's calm voice stated.

 

“Gentlemen, I suggest you forget about the espresso's, we have a swarm of express suits coming in at ten o'clock,” Zechs informed them.

 

“Roger that. Open cargo bay doors as soon as you can, Zechs.” Heero had opted to ignore the bantering and concentrate on the job at hand. He was already well aware of Duo's penchant for making jokes to cover up his distress at having to fight. None of them had ever wanted to be soldiers, but the sad fact was, they had been and still were.

 

Unfortunately, they were too skilled at what they did to be left alone to enjoy the peace they had fought so hard for.

 

“Opening bay doors now. Good luck everyone. God speed and stay safe.” Zechs punched the button on the console.

 

The five suits waited patiently as the large bay doors began to open, forming a ramp for them to walk down. All pilots were well aware that as soon as they stepped off the ramp they would become visible to their enemy. All except Deathscythe of course. Duo was more than ready to engage the hyperjammers and have a little `fun' with the enemy.

 

“These suits, didn't you say they were a hybrid, Duo?” Trowa asked as they waited for the ramp to settle on the surface.

 

“Yes, they are. They can operate in pilot or doll mode,” Duo replied. “When I programmed them, I inserted a code into the data banks, a code that will hopefully have been released into the suits when Barton released the Firecell.”

 

“What will the code do?” Trowa questioned.

 

“In theory, once Barton released his Firecell, the code should be activated and take out the doll side of the suit leaving them relying on the pilot only to fly and fight.”

 

“Has it worked?” Heero asked.

 

“Don't know,” came Duo's reply. “Those six suits I took out before weren't around long enough for the pilots to try and switch to doll mode. I guess we're about to find out though.”

 

The ramp was fully down and the pilots could see the incoming suits.

 

“There's a fucking load of them,” Wufei exclaimed.

 

“No shit. We did estimate there would be roughly three hundred based on the information we had,” Quatre stated.

 

“Make that two hundred and ninety four now, Quat!” Duo snickered.

 

“Is everyone ready?” Heero cut in.

 

“Ready and raring to go,” Duo replied on everyone's behalf.

 

“Good luck to each of us. See you all back here soon.” Heero took a deep breath and walked Wing down the ramp, firing up the thrusters as soon as he was on the satellite surface.

 

Trowa followed with Heavyarms, Quatre right behind him, shotels at the ready. Wufei was next, the trident glowing slightly with the contained, thermal power.

 

Duo fired up his scythe, engaged the hyperjammers and followed his fellow pilots into the lion's den.

 

* * *

 

[Preventer Headquarters]

 

“Are you okay, Commander? Sky asked. Once the call had been terminated, the Commander had slumped in her seat, her face pale, eyes haunted.

 

Une raised her head and did her best to pull herself together. She could collapse later, once this was all over - if it ever ended. “I'll be fine, Sky.” Taking a deep breath, Une sorted through her mind, all the information swirling around and not in any logical order. “Have you managed to contact any of the agents out in the field we can utilize to protect the senators?” she asked Forrest.

 

“At this stage we have only managed to engage three agents, Commander. We are still trying to get two other agents to the remaining two senators, but they are having trouble getting through the rioting crowds,” Forrest replied.

 

“What about the senators on the colonies?”

 

“All are confirmed safe at this point.”

 

“Good. Forrest, keep trying to get those remaining agents to the senators,” Une ordered and then turned to Sky. “I want you to try and make contact with those agents currently guarding the senators, Check on their safety and how they are coping. We need to try and get them all to a safe, secure location.”

 

“Yes, ma'am,” Sky replied.

 

Forrest shook his head, there was no way in hell they would be able to move the senators without the public discovering it and given the current state of affairs, the public were out for blood; specifically the ESUN”s blood.

 

“I'm heading for the planning room to see what we can work out in regards to moving these senators. Sun, contact any agents that are in the planning section and have them meet me there. Keep me updated on the rest of your progress, gentlemen. And like before, should the shuttles 121 or 221 call in again, I want you to fetch me immediately.”

 

All four agents nodded in the affirmative and then turned back to their tasks.

 

Une made her way through the building to the planning room, her head fit to burst with all the thoughts swirling through it.

 

* * *

 

[Satellite XRB 23 Control Room]

 

Barton sat back and rubbed his hands together, his eyes remaining locked on the view screen. His mouth curled into a smirk as he watched the army of suits leaving the dome hangar. He held no doubts that the suits would be able to take out that bastard Maxwell; and the hidden help he'd had.

 

“Suits are approaching the coordinates now, sir,” Craven relayed.

 

“In just a few moments we should get to see exactly who and what has managed to get in here and assist that son of a bitch,” Barton muttered. “Then blow them all to kingdom come.”

 

Zaheer was also watching intently. He was still coming to terms with the fact that someone or something had not only managed to arrive on the satellite, but infiltrate the dome without being detected. At least the suits would take down Maxwell and that would be one thorn out of Zaheer's side. Zaheer would have preferred to have taken Maxwell down himself, the long haired man had seriously gotten under his skin and taking him apart would have been a fitting reward for the big set man. Unfortunately it wasn't to be.

 

At least he could watch the demise of his enemy though, and that was some small comfort.

 

On the view screen the cameras followed the many suits as they flew across the surface towards the spot where Deathscythe had disappeared.

 

The communications system crackled into life. “Red squadron, this is red leader. Form up and be ready to attack on my command.”

 

The people in the control room all fell silent, listening to the conversations of the pilots as they formed up into their groups and readied themselves to unleash their power at the coordinates they were given.

 

The pilots all thought it was a bit of a joke. There was nothing but air at the spot they had been ordered to open fire on and destroy. Not about to question their orders though, the squadrons began to position themselves.

 

Suddenly the air before them began to shimmer.

 

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph...”

 

* * *

 

[Inside Duo's Abdomen]

 

The small and helpless fetus floated in the protective amniotic fluid, completely oblivious to what was taking place outside its mother's body.

 

Like its brother before it, the fetus was content to move around a little in the confines of its watery world. It had all it needed to sustain its growing life so there was nothing for it to do but grow and develop.

 

The cells had multiplied and divided many times over, segregating off and developing the various body parts and organs as the DNA demanded. The fetus was recognizable as a tiny human but still had a while to go before it was fully developed.

 

Shifting slightly, the fetus felt a subtle change in its world. It could hear loud noises penetrate through its mother - and it didn't like them. It jumped from time to time as a sudden noise frightened it and it tried to curl up into a smaller ball. Fear began to lodge in its gut, although the fetus didn't know it was fear, it was simply reacting to the surge of adrenaline that coursed through its mother's blood stream and consequently crossed the barrier into its own.

 

A tiny thumb sought the mouth and took comfort in the sucking motion.

 

~ * ~

 

tbc...