Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Reprieve ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 15

Heero slammed the box down on the table and tipped it over, spilling parts across the dark grey surface. It was all useless; all had to go. The question was, could they afford to get rid of it? Not really caring, Heero just remembered J's impromptu email and got to work. He knew his Gundam had been compromised, and by its creator no less. He also knew that if Wing could be hacked all the other Gundam's were also at risk and after Deathscythe's performance it was essential they do something about it.

Sorting through what was left of Wing's systems, Heero put aside anything he thought he could use to create a duplicate of the system currently in Deathscythe, with a few alterations. He knew there was a way to make that system work for the pilot rather than against it. Whether he could get the others to agree after the fiasco on the moon base was yet to be seen, but he certainly intended to try. And try he was going to have to because was predominantly apparent the other four pilots had lost whatever small amount of trust they had in him. Not that Heero could see why; Duo looked perfectly healthy to him. The baka obviously couldn't even self-destruct properly.

Scowling as he put aside plans to re-build team relationships Heero wondered if there was any possible way to finish his task before the next battle. He doubted it, and that doubt made him furious. He was not trained to doubt. But then, he supposed he was not trained to disobey either. It seemed it was a time for not supposed to's.

An idea formed; a way to get the job done without involving Howard, the other pilots or the doctors. It was not the greatest idea he had ever had, but…surely it was better than failing. Deciding he really didn't have a choice, Heero made his way through the peacemillion's corridors to the bridge.

"Heero...you're back sooner than I expected. Any problems?" Howard had his shades on, making it difficult to read the man, but Heero could tell he was reasonably relaxed by the set of his shoulders, yet his tone of voice implied all was not well in paradise.

"I need to make a phone call."

"You can't use your Gundam?"

"No. It was hacked on the last mission…" Heero studied the screens on the bridge and finally realized the reason for Howard's small concern. "We are not alone."

"We're chasing the Oz ships that fled the moon base," Howard explained softly. "We just caught up and are trying to gouge their numbers."

Heero stepped forward to get a better look at the readings. More ships had gotten away than he had originally been led to believe. That, or that had met up with a second force. For all he knew it could be a combination of the two. Still, it was not hard to calculate the force those ships could hold, and it wasn't a pretty number. Heero calculated the two Gundams and four troops of mobile suits…there were also two small cargo ships he thought he recognized.

"Six troops, maybe more. Certainly more wherever they're headed," Heero said decisively, suddenly gaining the attention of every member of the bridge. It seemed, while wary of him, the Sweepers still trusted his abilities in the field because no one questioned him. They should have. Heero had a feeling those extra two troops didn't need pilots, just the system currently in Deathscythe, and he didn't doubt they had it, or a similar version. The question was why had the doctors allowed the enemy to get their hands on it.

"Can you make me a secure sweeper to sweeper line?"

That certainly got their attention. Howard quietly made the connection, apparently not willing to interrupt and maybe startle Heero into not making the call. Not that Heero was surprised after his incessant reluctance to have anything to do with the Sweeper organization here he was trying to make a phone call to a Sweeper ship. Or semi-Sweeper. Heero wasn`t even sure Hilde's ship was connected to the Sweeper network, but Howard's network really was unhackable from anywhere but their base on the Pacific. The Oz ships would have no way of getting in their lines.

"Which ship are we dialing?" Howard waited at the keyboard for a reply but Heero just reached over his shoulder and typed it in. There was a long pause then…

"Hilde Shubeiker, C8923!" Howard bellowed. "How the hell do you know a salvager from the L2 cluster?"

What did the cluster she came from have to do with it? That Heero knew a salvager from off Howard's ship at all should have been a surprise. Not that Heero had even known she was from the L2 cluster!

"Well, well, well, if it ain't the space junk mansion Peacemillion. Has been a while!"

Howard groaned as Hilde's face appeared on screen. Heero found himself with a strange smile on his face as he waved hello.

"Ah, Heero. I should have known the cream of Howard's fleet wouldn't deign to call. But, a Gundam pilot…well, let's just say I keep strange company shall we?"

Now Howard really was staring at Heero in shock, and Heero wanted nothing more than to throttle the girl. She was not implying what he thought she was! And yet, the reaction of the rest of the crew was certainly a sign she was. Hilde was dead…as soon as she helped him build the system.

"Hilde, I need you to dock with Peacemillion and help me make a new system for the Gundams."

"What you going to pay me?"

"Hilde Shubeiker! Sweepers don't charge Gundams, you know that!" Howard honestly looked appalled that she would ask. Gundams, after all, more than made up for whatever costs they incurred with the scrap they left behind. Apparently, Hilde didn't agree with Howard because she just sat there and waited.

"I will ignore the implications of your greeting," Heero finally replied and was rewarded with Hilde's roar of laughter and the crew's shocked silence.

"Deal, Yuy. Coordinates?"

Heero patched them through and waited for a time frame to work with. It was useless having her catch up of she wasn't going to arrive before he could get the job done himself. However, Hilde's stumped face gave him the impression that wasn't going to be a problem.

"Err…sure…give me…um…I dunno…an hour…to finish up here and I'll come over."

"What do you mean finish up here? Where the hell are you?" Howard demanded, as confused by Hilde's wary look as Heero was. What was the girl up to?

Heero checked the communications line and realized Hilde was actually receiving the signal through a third device re-routed from her ship. Which basically meant she was in the cargo hold, or not on board. She had said an hour…to finish up…Heero noted how quietly Hilde had been talking, at least for Hilde. She couldn't be…

Heero groaned as Hilde waved a disk at them. He wasn't sure if he should be pleased or devastated.

"An hour," he agreed and cut the feed. Howard stood there staring at him in annoyance, waiting for an explanation. Heero just waved a hand in the direction of the Oz ships, pointing at the ship with the Gundam's on board. Howard stared at the ship for a full sixty seconds before he started swearing in a way Heero had always thought was natural only to Duo. Shaking his head, and wondering just what the hell Hilde had seen and retrieved, Heero headed back to the cargo bay. If he had to wait an hour he could spend the time working on the broken wing of his Gundam.

*

Hilde cursed as she grabbed the fifth disk from the system and ran for it. The data had not completed downloading, but she would rather get what she had to Heero and the others than nothing and lose her life in the process. Not that losing her life was not still on the table.

"Someone dealt me a chronic hand," Hilde muttered under her breath as she ducked down a side corridor and into the nearest room. She headed straight for the air duct and after ripping the cover off climbed in, not bothering to replace it. There was no time.

"Honestly, first I find a Gundam, complete with living psychotic pilot instead of a nice, dead piece of scrap metal. Then, psychotic pilot turns suicidal and runs off to blow up the moon, and while there sends Oz ships flying straight at me. Then I manage to get metal head off my case and let me go, only long enough for me to climb on board, steal the schematics on his Gundams and get caught! Today is not my day."

A bullet twanged against the duct under her hands and Hilde shut up, turning right and using the padding of her space suit to cushion the sound of her passing. There were no further shots, but she could hear orders being shouted and the sound of vent covers being removed followed by a low hiss.

"Gas. Well, it's a good thing I'm breathing my own air…Space, here I come."

Panting heavily as she arrived at the outer hull, Hilde did her suit up again and prepared for outer space. She cut a hole in the side of the ship with a hand-laser and floated out into open space, using a small jetpack to propel her in the direction of her ship, which was still floating, dead, beneath the Oz ship in stealth mode.

Grinning as she boarded, Hilde released the line that linked her to Oz manually and just waited as the Oz ships continued on their way and Peacemillion, following in their wake, caught up to her. When they were directly above she booted up her primary systems and dropped the stealth cloak, sending out her identification on the Sweeper channels. She was immediately granted permission to board, but was guided to a side dock. She guessed, correctly, that the Gundams were in the cargo bay.

She was met by the weirdest looking person she had ever seen. After scratching her head and chewing on her lip for a while yet receiving no response, Hilde decided she had to ask.

"You got another half a face under that hair or did someone crack your skull open with a screwdriver?"

The man blinked. Twice, then turned to the side with a quizzical look on his face. Hilde caught sight of Mickey and winked. The man just rolled his eyes.

"She's implying you must have been drunk or hungover when you did your hair," Mickey explained. "Hilde, this is Trowa Barton, also known as Pilot 03. Trowa, this is Hilde Shubeiker. Take some advice and run while you still can." And with that Mickey pushed past them both and boarded Hilde's ship to complete the docking procedure and see to any repairs that needed doing. Hilde didn't mind; the ship needed a workover and Mickey was the best in the business. Plus, since she was helping out a Gundam pilot she could probably scam any repairs off Howard for free.

"So, where is the sour puss?"

"I take it you mean Heero?"

Hilde replied with a `duh', as if this wasn't the most obvious thing ever! Trowa sighed heavily and started leading the way. Hilde let him lead; it seemed the Peacemillion had changed an awful lot since she had last been on board, which had been when she was about six ad her father had still been running the business. Then Peacemillion had disappeared and Howard had switched to an earth-bound ship. No one would say anything about it, then suddenly there're rumours all over the sweeper network about Howard having a Gundam and the nastiest pilot in the sky. Hilde hadn't bothered trying to get in contact. If there rumours were true the last thing they needed was her butting in and trying to interfere. Besides, she had never liked the old man Howard hung around with. That mushroom hair was just bad fashion sense.

"Yo, Hilde! Nice to see you!"

Hilde waved at Harry as they passed. He was standing by a med-bay door with a name Hilde didn't recognize so she didn't go over to talk to him. He was also dressed in an Alliance military uniform, which made Hilde uneasy. Since when was Harry in the army? It seemed more things had changed than she had originally thought.

Even the cargo bay, which was easily four times its original size and housed five Gundams, all crawling with mechanics trying to mend the damage inflicted on the machines on the moon base.

"Heero!"

Hilde had not thought Trowa yelled that loudly, but a moment later Heero emerged from the cockpit of Wing, smothered in grease with his hair sticking straight up. Hilde thought he looked like a raccoon, but decided it really wasn't the time to tell him so. She settled for waving hello instead.

"What the hell were you doing on an Oz ship?" hero demanded as soon as he reached the floor, striding over with the darkest scowl on his face Hilde had ever seen. Apparently she had touched a nerve.

"Sheesh, you try to do a guy a favour and look at the thanks you get!" Still, it was nice to know she had somehow made it under that elusive umbrella of protection that seemed reserved for such an elite few. Like Vice Minister Dorlian. Wondering where that thought had come from, Hilde fished the pack of disks from her pocket and held them out.

"What are they?" Heero asked carefully as he took them and headed for a computer set into the wall on the far side of the room.

"Schematics. For a space fortress called Barge, for the Gundam Tallgeese and for the Gundam Epyon."

Heero and Trowa both stopped dead still in the middle of the hanger, sharing a look.

"The Gundam…Epyon?" Heero asked, expression curiously blank.

"Yeah…I had to sit around for a full three hours until the pilot crawled out and went to get some food, so be grateful!"

"You saw the pilot?" Trowa, at least, appeared interested. Hilde thought Heero just looked scary. Like a robot or something.

"Yeah. It's that woman; the one always on the news. You know, one minute she's all nice and diplomatic, the next she's blowing something up?" Hilde couldn't remember her name, but the woman was damn scary at times. Maybe she and Heero would make a good couple. Hilde pushed that thought aside as soon as it came up. Scary was an understatement there.

"Trowa, take these to Howard and get them working on it right away," Heero passed the disks to Trowa and turned to Hilde. His face was deadly serious as he lead her over to a long table smothered in circuitry and wiring.

"I need you to help me make a full-system network out of that." Heero pointed to what was left of a network that Hilde guessed was from one of the Gundams. It was the most complex mass of nonsense she had ever seen, and judging by what she was looking at she didn't think she would like what it did. Still, while it was a large job, she couldn't see any hassles. Her head was already supplying some interesting ideas to extend the single-mech board into a network that would link all the material…

"Heero…you're my new best friend…"

"Don't make me regret this," Heero nearly groaned.

*

"How bad is it?" Quatre asked quietly as he studied the Epyon's schematics.

"Not as bad as we feared," Howard replied. "The updates we were planning for Wing will match the Epyon easily enough. It's the system I'm worried about. This is too similar to what we witnessed in Deathscythe for my liking."

"I wouldn't worry," Quatre smiled. "Heero's working on that as we speak. He'll get it working for us and teach us to use it. There will not be a repeat of the moon base."

"How can you be so sure? They could hack any of your Gundams at any time and ruin everything…" Mickey pointed out, still haunted by the quavering voices of the pilots as they were locked out of the network. He was not sure they could keep the doctor's at bay. They had never figured out a way to keep G away from Duo.

"Wing was hacked. Heero tore out the entire system this morning," Trowa replied. "He won't put anything in this time that he can't control."

"Pedantic prick, ain't he," Howard noted.

"You have no idea," Trowa and Quatre replied in unison.

At that moment Duo emerged on the bridge, looking tired by generally alright. He looked at them once, then turned aside to a free coms unit, linking an incoming call none of the others had even noticed.

"When did that get there?" Howard demanded. Duo just shrugged.

"Dunno. Saw it out the window."

Howard gaped, Mickey spluttered. Duo just demanded identification off the ship.

"This is Relena Peacecraft! I demand you let me dock!"

"Funny, you look a lot like Dorlian to me," Duo replied, leaning back in his seat and pretending to file his nails with an imaginary file. Relena's face turned an odd shade of red.

"Duo Maxwell, you let me board this instant or I'll have you arrested!"

Duo laughed at that; so hard he had to give over the coms unit to Quatre while he got himself under control.

"Miss Peacecraft. To what do we owe this honour?"

"I must see Heero Yuy this instant!"

"Whatever," Trowa mumbled, making Duo laugh harder as Quatre regretfully gave Relena's ship permission to board, unknowingly in the same bay as Hilde's ship.