SHIN KIDOU SENKI GUNDAM WING

SAINAN NO KEKKA
ACT III, PART II

 
 
Scene V: Voices Which Speak Out of the Unknown

 
A007 was a planet-side colony, which meant it was built on the actual planet itself - in this case, a moon - instead of orbiting around it. Which was both a curse and a blessing for the strike force that was trying to set up camp.

The moon itself was not exactly the breadbasket of the universe, having very little in the way of vegetation. For a mining colony, that was to be expected, but the sun's glare reflecting off various sandy-colored shades of rock quickly made Dorothy's head ache. Dust storms were also common on the surface, as the reports had stated, and as they had found out soon enough the first night after they made planetfall. She could taste the dirt and grit in the food every time she took a bite.

They had landed according to the coordinates prescribed on the briefing report, and had spent the last day or so trying to figure out exactly where they were. Milliard had explained everything to her on the way, about the first strike team and the sudden cut in communication. It was almost certain that something had happened to Noin. Milliard was of the opinion that the choices were that she was either being held a prisoner of war or been killed in battle. He held to the first theory, while Dorothy had a strong inclination towards the second. But then again, she could be wrong. He was the more experienced, after all.

Then again, she wasn't the one in love with Noin.

He'd never admitted it, but the open concern in his eyes and the urgency in his voice when he spoke her name revealed it all to her. She hadn't been able to fall asleep that first night on the surface, staring at the night sky and listening to the wind echo through the rock canyons and wondering exactly what it was she was doing wrong. Why it was Noin instead of her.

She knew Milliard hadn't slept that night, because in between fits of light dozing and uncertain wakefulness she could see that the light in the weather shelter was still on. Towards dawn she saw him finally emerge from the shelter with a stack of printouts in his hand, looking haggard and tired.

All for Noin.

Right now he noticed her because he needed her, but if they found Noin - when they found Noin - she would be no more than another soldier. Maybe a praised one, for having been his second-in-command, but nothing more than that. There was nothing there between him and her.

She stared at the datapad in her hand, noting with idle distance the radar blips on the screen. There was no sign of the enemy, and Milliard's reports didn't tell them much about their foe. It was a colonial rebellion, and any colonist could be for them or against them. It was impossible to tell.

She wondered why such a remote colony would bother making such a big show out of a rebellion. Then again, the World Nation made a big deal out of everything, so it could just be blown out of proportion. She hoped it was.

But if it was, then why was Noin missing?

Dorothy slammed the datapad down on the ground in frustration and got to her feet, intent on finding Milliard and tell him that they should get moving. They would get nothing accomplished sitting around in camp all day. They had been here for four days now, Milliard's explanation being that they were "information gathering." She was of the opinion that they were about to become the information and the rebels the one who were gathering it.

He was where she expected him to be: in the makeshift briefing area, sketching images of the landscape. Situational awareness was a good thing to have, but not when the situation had all the danger sounds of a sleepy afternoon.

"Milliard?"

He didn't turn his head, kept on sketching. "Hello, Dorothy."

"When are we moving out?"

He didn't answer. The pencil moved back and forth on the paper.

"It's been four days," she said. "We've stayed in the same spot for four days. Don't you think that's a little conspicuous if we are fighting a dangerous enemy?"

"I'm trying to get the lay of the land," he said.

"Damn it, Milliard! We haven't got all the time in the world, you know!"

He sighed. "Dorothy."

She folded her arms over her chest and glared at his back. "What? What are you going to say? You're afraid of going anywhere? You're afraid we won't find Noin?"

He was silent for a long while, and for a moment she was afraid he would turn on her in one of his famous rages, tell her to get back on the ship and find her own way back home. But he didn't.

"Yes," he said. "I am."

She blinked.

"You're right...we need to move. But this is an excellent spot for reconnaissance and observation, and we need to wait for the recon teams to return before we move." He smiled wanly at her. "Don't worry...we're safe here. The rebels don't venture this far out into the scrub country where we are...they usually stick to the outlying villages around the capital and the mining facilities. There's not much else on A007."

"Recon teams?"

There was a confused pause. "Oh, that's right...you weren't there. I sent out recon teams when we first arrived here, in all different directions. Most of them returned yesterday but we're still waiting for one group."

"Oh," she said.

"I should have told you this earlier...I'm sorry. It slipped my mind." He picked up his pencil again and began sketching. Scratch. Scratch.

"Don't worry about it," she said, and left the tent, not knowing whether to be relieved or angry. Relieved because Milliard wasn't angry at her. Angry because everyone else in this camp knew what was going on except for her, and she was vice commander of this operation. Angry because she hadn't been perceptive enough to pick up on the current operation when it had begun.

There had been a staff meeting, she remembered dimly. The night they arrived on planetside...but she had gone to bed. She hadn't thought it was important. She had never gone to staff meetings when she had been Mobile Doll Controller aboard the Libra, and she had done just fine.

Maybe that was a sign that she should start attending.

There were voices and footsteps to her right and she looked around, trying to see what the fuss was about. Low, intense exchanges. The jangling of equipment and weapons. She jogged over to the tents where soldiers were gathering, wondering what the commotion was about.

"Make way for Lady Dorothy!"

She nodded absently at them as they parted for her. There was a team of soldiers there, dressed in the green and blue uniform of the Preventers. She recognized the silver badge on the left pocket. Reconnaissance.

So this was the team they had been waiting for. She glanced around for Milliard, but he was nowhere in sight. Still back in the trees sketching, probably.

Well, as second-in-command, she would handle this.

"You made it back safely," she said to the leader, a sweaty first lieutenant carrying a large rucksack on his back. He saluted her, and she saluted back. "Good work. What did you find?"

The soldier glanced warily at the troops crowding around, and she turned, waved a hand, made her voice sharp.

"Don't you all have things to do?"

The crowd dispersed with alternating grumbling and excited chatter, and she turned back to the lieutenant.

"Report, Lieutenant."

He dug in his pocket for a moment, pulling out a datapad. The other members of the team stayed standing respectfully back, and she could see from their faces they were exhausted. Taking the datapad from the lieutenant, she stepped to the right so the team could see her.

"You are dismissed," she said. "Go clean up."

The team filed past her and she turned back to the lieutenant, snapping on the datapad and trying to make sense of the bright green screen. "Give me your report."

"Yes, ma'am. As we expected, there were no enemy troops or civilians this far out from the mining centers. We did pick up one group of what might have been a batallion of troops moving east, but they disappeared from our radar two days ago. We ventured far enough to pick up radar signals from what we believe are either tank or mobile suit yards. Most likely they are mobile suit yards, as Major Noin mentioned enemy use of mobile suits in her last report."

"I see," Dorothy said, scrolling through the screens. Radar blips. More radar blips. "All these are mobile suit yards?"

"No, ma'am. Ones with the weaker signals are weather stations and mining runways and airstrips. Colonel Peacecraft says those are our secondary objectives...we need not worry about them for now."

"I see," she said again. It looked like she would need to have a word with Colonel Peacecraft about some of the military objectives they were hoping to accomplish here. "No enemy soldiers, you said."

"No, ma'am."

"Excellent. Thank you. The colonel might want to speak to you later, but until you receive notice, you are free to rest and pack. We will be moving out soon."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you, ma'am."

He saluted her and moved off, and she began retracing her steps through the trees, holding the datapad firmly. He was still sketching as she came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder gently.

"They returned," he said. "What did they find?"

She described to him the details, about the mobile suit yards and the weather stations and the lack of troops, and he nodded.

"That's what I thought." He turned his head and smiled at her. "Well, looks like you get your wish sooner than I thought. Tell the troops we'll be moving out in an hour."

"It'll be hot," she said. "It's almost noon."

"We can't afford to wait any longer," Milliard said. He put down his sketchpad. "You were right, Dorothy...we've stayed in one place too long already."

She sighed. "I told you-"

"I'm sorry. I should-"

"It's all right," she said softly. "You're worried about Noin. I understand."

"I-" he began, then swallowed the rest of what he was going to say. "Go get ready to move out."

She didn't even bother to salute, just turned and walked back to the camp, feeling very tired. Why did he bring her along, if he wasn't even interested in her opinion? It made no sense....

A sudden rustle of leaves was all the warning she had before the gunfire exploded between the rocks, echoing off the cliffs, and she dove to the ground, fumbling for her pistol. Soldiers all around her had taken cover as well, loading rifles and charging laser pistols. The gunfire spattered around them, and somewhere to her left, someone screamed.

She took aim and her finger closed on the trigger when suddenly the gunfire ceased.

Dorothy eased herself out from behind the low outcropping where she had taken cover and glanced around warily. Through the rising dust she could hear cries of those who had been wounded, but no sign of an enemy.

"Dorothy."

"Milliard," she gasped, keeping her pistol raised, scanning the horizon as he dropped down tensely beside her. "What's happening?"

He shook his head, was about to reply, when there was a shout. They turned their heads sharply at the same time towards it, and for a moment she could see nothing through the dust.

"Look," Milliard hissed, pointing towards the nearest low cliff. "What's that?"

There was a figure of a man standing on the rock, arm pointing upward. She squinted, trying to see through the haze. He looked very familiar...like she had seen him or someone like him before...

"Milliard!" she gasped. "He's wearing a White Fang uniform."

She felt him freeze beside her. "You're right," he said, a harsh undercurrent in his voice.

Before she could say anything else, he was leaping out from behind the rock, pistol raised, pointing at the lone figure on the rock, and his voice echoed off the cliffs.

"Show yourself!"

"Who are you?" the man returned, keeping his own weapon raised. She watched with bated breath. One shot, and it would be over.

"My name is Colonel Milliard Peacecraft. I am the commander of this operation."

A stunned silence, then the other's pistol clattered to the rocks. She saw the small skidding of pebbles where it skittered down the cliff.

"Zechs Merquise!"

"Milliard Peacecraft," Milliard repeated harshly. "Who are you?"

"Forgive me...I had no idea..."

Milliard sighed, but Dorothy could see the tension leave his shoulders, and she sagged down behind the rock.

"Why don't you come down, and we can talk properly?"

She peered over the rock again, watching the man make his way down, watching the soldiers one by one emerge from their shelters, holding weapons warily. She supposed she should be a good vice commander and go join the commander in the center of the camp.

The man was of medium height and build, with a shock of red hair and bright green eyes. He had the haggard look of a man who had been fighting a losing battle, and for a moment, she pitied him. He saluted Milliard, and Milliard saluted back, though she could tell he was still wary.

"I am sorry for the attack...we thought you were troops from the capital that we had tracked in this direction a few days ago...I ceased fire as soon as I realized you were not the troops we'd been looking for."

Milliard waved a hand. "Apologies later. First tell me who you are."

"I am Commander Evon Gustavson," the man began. "I was a member of White Fang during the war, under your command, sir...I now lead the western colonial militia of A007. We-"

"Western colonial militia?" Milliard interrupted.

"Yes, sir." Gustavson smiled slightly. "I suppose you could say we are the 'rebels' from the rebels."

Milliard shook his head. "You mean to say you're resisting the government here, on the colony."

"Yes, sir."

"Are there many these groups?"

"About three groups, sir. We are the third group, patrolling the western perimeter. We were looking for mobile suits, since they have quite a few yards out here."

"I see." Milliard pursed his lips. "About how many of you are there?"

"I have about two hundred under my command, sir. All milita, all mining colonists."

Dorothy looked at him and caught the glint in his eye. This operation suddenly had acquired the potential to become much easier than expected. Then he looked back at her, and she could tell they were both thinking the same thing.

"I'm interested in hearing what you have to say," Milliard said at last. "If you wouldn't mind staying for a while and answering my questions..."

Gustavson looked wary. "You are..."

"We are the Preventers troops sent here to put down the rebel government."

"Ah." The weathered face brightened. "Preventers. There was another, smaller, strike force here a few months ago...we lent them some weapons and supplies..." There was a question in his voice.

Milliard's face hardened. "That is another matter."

Gustavson remained wisely silent.

"Dorothy?"

She nodded. "I'm as interested in hearing this as you are."

"Let me return to my men and tell them what to do," Gustavson said. "I will meet you back here in half an hour, if that's all right with you."

"Fine." Milliard made a dismissive gesture, and the man saluted again, then did a smart about face and disappeared behind the rocks.

"You trust him?" she said.

"I don't know."

She noticed he still had his pistol cocked and ready to fire at any sign of enemy gunfire, as did the soldiers all around them. "It's no good just standing here. If he's going to attack, he'll attack."

Milliard nodded. "You're right. Post double guards, just in case. We'll continue with our normal duties until something happens."

"Yes, sir."

He lowered his pistol. "Though if my instincts prove me right, we're about to acquire a new ally."

"Have your instincts ever been wrong?"

He looked thoughtful, then smiled at her. The smile was not pleasant. "Yes. When I predicted that OZ would win the war..."

 
Scene VI: Tied By the Red Thread of Fate

 
When Hilde heard the news about the Gundam pilots, she was out to dinner with Howard, taking him up on the invitation he had extended six weeks ago. She had chosen a restaurant that was mid-range for price, but served five-star quality food. She was happily eating a wonderful prime rib, amused by the fact that Howard had ordered a cheeseburger.

She inadvertently overheard someone seated directly behind her talking as Howard munch away silently on his food. "...Gundam pilots... scandalous... society is becoming dysfunctional..." It caught her attention, and she turned her head to see who was speaking.

Two old women that looked like they were part of the upper middle class were chatting together, their faces pinched with disapproval, and Hilde felt her curiosity peak. She turned around in her chair and smiled charmingly, tilting her head so she looked like a young urchin. "Excuse me," she said sweetly, doing her best attempt at "cute", "but I couldn't help overhearing. What's the news?" she asked.

The ladies looked surprised. Didn't you hear?" the first asked, clenching and unclenching her hands.

Hilde shook her head. "What's going on?"

The ladies' eyes lit up, eager to spread the gossip. "Well, the second one said in a nasal voice, "they released some news on who the Gundam pilots were- such a tragedy. It seems they were only children- can you imagine? In my day, we'd never DREAM of doing such a cruel thing. I mean, who in their right mind would give a child a weapon like a Gundam? They probably had no idea what they were doing!" The women tittered nervously, then started to criticize the very idea of mobile suits and the Preventers themselves.

Howard dropped his hamburger, and Hilde set her fork down. "I suddenly lost my appetite, Howard," she said. "Can we leave?" she begged.

He nodded. "I don't feel like eating anymore myself." They exchanged glances. It was in neither of their natures to remain passive; they would have to do something.

They walked out onto the sidewalk in silence together, and Howard looked at her thoughtfully "What are you going to do?" he asked her.

"I-I'm not sure yet," she confessed, "but I have to do something." Her mind was racing a mile a minute.

"You still love him, don't you," Howard said, rather then asked.

A weak smile found its way onto her lips. "It's impossible to fall out of love with Duo Maxwell." Suddenly what she had to do hit her. An epiphany. "Howard, I'm going to sell you my scrap yard."

The engineer blinked in confusion. "What?"

She caught onto his arms, pleading with her eyes. "Howard, I have to go to Duo. I need to be by him. I can help him, I know I can, but I can't be tied down to a business. Please, I'll take whatever you can give me, because I don't have much in the way of savings."

"Shh, girl. It's not safe here. We'll talk about this aboard the Peacemillion." He caught her arm and steered her onto a side street that led to the space docks, Hilde chewing on her lip. Where is Duo? she wondered. He probably is still in the States, but where?

Peacemillion was parked in orbit around L2, turned into a business center for Howard's Sweepers and their space cleanup effort. The ship had been stripped of its weapons after the war - Howard's and Sally's idea, done under the Preventers supervision - and was now manned by a skeleton crew, most of the hallways sealed off, and the enormous mobile suit hangars filled with spare parts. By the time Howard escorted her off the small shuttlecraft, she was almost ready to strangle him for making her wait out the hour-long trip out to the ship. She popped the seal on her helmet, taking a deep breath of Peacemillion's canned air, then turned impatient eyes on her friend. "All right, we're here. What's on your mind?" she demanded.

"Now, you can't go running after Duo helter-skelter. You won't be doing Duo any favors if you get yourself of him in trouble," Howard told her.

She gave him a look that could have seared metal. "Don't you dare try to keep me from him. If you lured me here to get me out of the way, you're sadly mistaken. I may not be a Gundam Pilot, but I can raise some serious hell if I decide to."

"Calm down, girl. I'm going to help you, but you have to think things through. I can give you a fair price for the yard, but that isn't the important thing. Come with me." He took her elbow and led her to his office.

She coughed as she entered the room, the sickly sweet scent of pipe tobacco catching in her lungs. Howard ignored it, pulling out the pipe. "First things first- we have to find Duo," he said.

"We?" she said.

He nodded. "I lost track of him after you kicked him out."

"I didn't kick him out!" she declared, feeling horribly guilty.

Howard stared at her, and she squirmed inside. "If it makes you happy to think that way, go ahead. Anyway, you have to locate Duo, and I'm prepared to offer you the Sweeper's resources to do so."

Her eyes went wide. That would speed things up considerably. "Thank you," she whispered, wrapping the older man into a hug. "Thank you so much."

Howard patted her awkwardly on the back. "He's the closest thing to a son I'll ever have," the man said candidly, "and I would do anything to help him. Now, you just have to promise to wait till I'm able to find something definite."

In the next three days, Hilde signed the papers that would transfer over ownership of the shipyard to him. He gave her a fair price, settling on what the price would have been before the news had been released. The economy was booming, and if another war happened, the scrap yard's value could triple.

Hilde had too much time to muse over possible consequences of her rash decision. Duo was worth it, she swore, but what would she do if he didn't want her there? What if he had found someone else? She hadn't seen him in a year; she had no idea what his life was like now. Still, her nail biting was rewarded when Howard produced Duo's latest whereabouts within five days.

Howard handed her a file, several phony identification cards made for both herself and Duo, and a checkbook inside a wallet filled with bills of all denominations. "I've found him. He used his real name; he was probably planning on keeping this identity."

She nodded. "I'm leaving. Do you have a shuttle I can use?"

"I'll take you down myself."

She nodded gratefully, and went to gather the bag she hadn't even bothered unpacking.

When they arrived at the spaceport, she gave Howard another brief hug. "See you later!" she said cheerfully, even though both knew that they might never meet again.

She immediately rented a car to start the long drive to Vermont. If she pressed the speed limits, she could make it in ten hours. The newsies still hadn't gotten the names, and she was racing against time. Duo might have already left, and if he had, she doubted she'd be able to find him. He would be so far undercover that God himself couldn't find him. A God Duo didn't believe in, and Hilde herself was starting to doubt in as well. Hadn't Duo been through enough in his short life?

The drive was long, but she didn't bother to stop. Time was of the utmost importance- if she hesitated, she might never see Duo again.

As she drove, she realized that she had always been counting on him coming back to her. Isn't that odd? she wondered. Howard isn't far wrong when he says that I kicked Duo out- I practically shoved him out the door, after all. Why would he ever come back to me?

She squashed down those petty thoughts, remembering the dire strait they were in. Their world was erupting, and Duo was about to be caught right in the middle of it.

When she finally pulled onto campus, she sensed that something was wrong.

Putting the car onto park, she stepped out, and the aura on the campus caused shivers to dance around her spine. Wrong, wrong, wrong.... she thought, wondering what had happened. She had been a soldier, and she knew when to get the hell out of a place.

Hilde ignored her desire to backtrack, focusing on Duo. Maybe they had already found him... from what she knew of this school, that would not be a good thing. Too many former soldiers had gone here; too many people who had watched friends die because of the Gundams. If... if... if...

Where the hell was he? she wondered. Asking for him wouldn't be a good idea, especially if they discovered him.

Shutting her eyes, she almost wept out of frustration. The campus was large, and by the time she finished searching it, he could be long gone.

Hilde shut her eyes, praying for luck. Six buildings. Duo was most likely in there, if he was still around. If he wasn't perhaps she could overhear what the hell made the atmosphere of the campus feel like a funeral. Oppressive. That was the word.

She walked into the first building, racing through the hallways as quickly as she dared. Students were strangely absent, and she was even more concerned- wasn't this school inhabited?

From a distance, she heard a voice that started out low, but grew louder and louder as it continued. "...been fifteen during the war..."

Hilde felt her heart leap as the feminine voice continued.

"...and you fought during it..."

She took off towards it, her very being knowing who was being yelled at.

"...you act like a soldier, but you aren't, you have no discipline..."

Yes, that's my Duo! she thought, not convinced. Still getting yelled at!

"You freaked when you heard the ages of the pilots had been released... my God. You bastard!"

Hilde threw the door open just in time to watched Duo relax, preparing to accept whatever punishment the girl was going to deal out.

The girl was a petite thing who weighed maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet. Long purple hair was twisted into pigtails (a current fashion that was extremely popular since Relena Darlian Peacecraft had worn them for an orphanage opening), but the girl's face was twisted with an incredible amount of hatred. She meant to hurt Duo severely.

Moving a speed she hadn't realized she was capable of, Hilde raced forward and slapped the girl in the face. The girl cried out and went reeling backwards, landing on the floor in an ungainly heap.

Duo opened his beautiful eyes, surprise etched on his face.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on him, you bitch," she said, her eyes and gun trained on the girl she had just hit.

The girl looked up at her in shock. She sat on the floor staring at the unfamiliar person who had just attacked her. "He's a Gundam pilot! Kill him!" she begged.

She watched Duo flinch, and wondered who the purple-haired stranger was to him. A girlfriend? She wondered, then chided herself for such petty thoughts. She had already made her decision; she would be whatever Duo would let her, whether it was lover, friend, or comrade.

"I know that, you idiot," she replied quite calmly. "I owe him a lot for that."

She would have liked to see his reaction to that, but she didn't dare remove her attention from the third person in the room. "WHAT?!" the girl said, her voice rising into a shriek.

"Hilde, be kind," Duo said, and then he was there, pushing her gun down to her side. "She's distraught; there was just a shooting on campus."

So that was what the chaos had been about, she reasoned. "Still, Duo, she has no right to attack you!"

She heard him sigh. "She's a friend. If she decides that there's reason, I'm not going to disbelieve her."

"Duo," she sighed, relieved. He hadn't changed- still so overwhelmingly devoted to those who cared about. He let few people inside but when he did, he gave them his life.

It was too bad he had made a mistake this time.

"What are we going to do with her?"

"Do?" he asked. He still looked shell-shocked.

"You're getting out of here," she told him. "Your cover has been blown, and this little chit is determined to see you dead- hate to tell you, but there's enough people here with military training that not even Shinigami can survive if he's caught in the mess."

The girl blinked, and Hilde realized she had made a mistake speaking in front of her- she had as good as given her the idea. The purple haired girl took off running for the door, screaming at the top of her lungs. Hilde reacted by tackling her, and pinning her to the ground. She placed the gun against the girl's temple. "Shut up, or I'll shoot."

The girl glared at her defiantly. "Go ahead," she spat. "You're going to kill me anyway."

"Hilde, Ilene- please," Duo begged, but both girls turned iron-like glowers on him.

There was no telling what would have happened if at that moment if three frightened teens hadn't walked into the room. "Duo! Ilene!" a girl with a golden haired ponytail said, "we heard you had gone here from the riot and-" she stopped, startled to see her friend with a gun to her head.

The two boys who had followed her into the room, and took in the scene; Ilene with a gun to her head, Duo with a weapon he had gotten God knew where, and a strange female with whom Duo was pleading.

"Don't worry about me!" Ilene insisted. "Whatever you do, don't let him get away!"

"Him?" one of the boys said, taking a cautious step towards the two girls.

"Duo's a Gundam pilot! He's going to escape! He's going to kill again! He's going to-" but her words were lost to the sobs that were escaping from her lips. "Shit," Hilde murmured. "NOW what do we do? I don't want to kill them," she said softly.

Everyone in the room froze, but that seemed to awaken Duo. "No one is killing anyone!" he said. "Hilde, put the gun down- everyone else, come on in, and lock the fucking door!" His eyes were flashing and everyone meekly did as he said, though Hilde hissed a warning at Ilene before complying. "Now, we're going to talk about this logically, and now you're all going to listen to each other."

For some reason, Hilde doubted him. From the look in Ilene's eyes, she would never forgive this betrayal.

 
Scene VII: Somehow Here Again

 
The air conditioning broke during the night, and Noin woke in a sweat.

She had heard the beeping signalling that something was wrong with the system as through a haze, in the middle of the night. At first she thought she had been dreaming, but the unnatural temperature in the room alerted her to the fact that something was wrong. The sun was glittering through the windows, and the temperature was rising rapidly.

That was the problem with mining colonies. They were fine as long as all systems were functional, but lose one system and the operation would begin experiencing failure.

To think of it, that was the way the military worked, too.

She sighed and got out of bed, pulling her sticky shirt away from her body. It was hot...it was very hot. And it was only early morning. There were clouds on the horizon, moving this way, but they did not look like they were moving very fast.

She had it in mind to take a shower, but quickly discarded that idea when it became clear that the cooling system for the water was not working either. She didn't want a hot shower in this heat, so she went back into the bedroom and turned on the ceiling fan, trying to get the air moving in the room.

The landscape outside was the same as always...bright, barren, blinding. There was the occasional tree, but those were mostly dried up by the heat.

She'd had an assignment like this once, as a test pilot way out in the middle of nowhere on a test colony. The sun's radiation was intense and there was no atmospheric cover to block out the blinding light and heat of the day side of the colony, and then the icy cold of the night side. It was usual for temperatures there to climb into the 30's Celcius and then drop below freezing, and the first few weeks there were hell.

It wasn't so bad, once she had gotten used to it.

Zechs had joined her a few weeks afterwards, sent on a patrol assignment as commander, by none other than Treize Khushrenada himself. She had once been jealous of Treize's attention towards Zechs, while she, the better pilot and the better cadet, had been delegated to the background. Then again, she wasn't the lost prince of the Cinq Kingdom.

"How do you live here?" Zechs had complained after a night of long mobile suit exercises.

"You get used to it," she said quietly.

He had looked at her a long time in the darkness while she sat quietly, breathing in the relative cool of the dark side of the colony, waiting for the temperatures to drop.

"Do you enjoy this, Zechs?"

He didn't ask her what she meant. "Sometimes."

"You're here, in OZ, for a purpose...I don't have a purpose. I'm just here."

"You must enjoy it," he said. "You're good enough."

"That doesn't mean anything. I'm good at a lot of things." Not boasting, simply stating the fact. He knew it as well as she did.

"I know."

She waited for him to say something else, but he didn't. Finally she rose. "I'm going to get some sleep before we have to wake up for patrol. I'll see you in the hangar."

"Good night," he said quietly.

The days were days of blinking lights and weapons controls and the whine of engines around her, and the nights were quiet and still. Zechs did not talk much, though he never had, but he was the only friend she had on the station, and she was lonely. The other test pilots were years older than her, having served in Federation forces for years, battle-hardened and distant. She felt like an intruder in their presence, though every so often they would grace her with a war story or two.

There was one day that had started out like any other, with the routine machine checks and the test exercises. They were testing the new Taurus suit, just out of development and in the beta phase. It was a curiously shaped suit, and she eyed it dubiously as Zechs came up beside her, fitting on his gloves.

"It looks funny," she said.

He laughed. It was rare when he laughed, and she had never heard him laugh when anyone else was present besides her. She supposed it should make her feel proud, but she wished he would be more sociable. He was the type of man who could have had all the friends in the world if he chose to, but Zechs didn't care for companionship.

"Since when did you start judging the caliber of mobile suits by their appearance, Noin?"

"I don't!" she said defensively. "I was just saying."

The comm clicked on. "Beta testing beginning in 10.5 minutes. All pilots to craft."

He nodded at her. "I'll see you up there."

"Up there" was a curious mixture of flaming sun and cold pricklings of stars, and from the time she adjusted the throttle to match speeds with Zech's craft, she could feel the difference in the handling. The Taurus was much smoother than the Leo or even the Aries, and it felt like she was floating, barely adjusting the controls.

Zechs' voice crackled into her ears. "This is Beta Leader. All systems normal."

"This is Beta Two. All systems normal," she reported through the comm, her voice sounding tinny in her ears. "Speed 90 klicks and climbing."

"Roger."

Zechs banked off to his right and she followed. The voice of the controller came through the open channel.

"Commence combat procedure testing. Maneuver and zero-g performance beginning now."

"Follow me," Zechs said. "Shields forward and aft, power adjustments norm."

"Roger."

Where the Leo required stomach wrenching-turns and the Aries something slightly less, she barely felt the Taurus as it rolled effortlessly through space, following Zechs' lead.

"Zero-g normal. All systems normal."

"Maneuver testing complete. Weapons testing commencing."

Her heads-up-display blinked and she zoomed in on the console, watching the minefield as it appeared on her screen as a mass of green dots and then gradually separated into individual lethal spheres, waiting.

"Speed 120 klicks and climbing."

"Increase throttle to 200 klicks."

She blinked, then grinned. Technically, the Taurus could reach speeds of up to 250, but 200 was cutting it close. "Taking it daringly, aren't we?"

"Follow your orders, Beta Two," Zechs said, but there was a wry note in his voice. She held her laughter in and increased the throttle, listening to the whine of the engines around her change pitch. 130. 140. The Leo would have started feeling the strain, but there was no sign of that on the Taurus. Excellent.

150. 160. Some of the closer mines had sensed the engine heat and fired seemingly random shots towards them, missing them by far. She knew better. Tracking shots.

"Shields at fifty percent and recharging. Engines at ninety percent and recharging."

170.180. The Taurus shuddered slightly, then resumed normal control. She was impressed.

"Engage!" Zechs commanded over the comm and veered off to starboard. She banked off to port, dodging a blast as she plunged head-on into the minefield.

It was like a dance. Mines, if engaged in the right manner, were a combat of sheer beauty and elegance, the explosions highlighting space with flares of color. She liked mines. Mines were not alive. They felt nothing as they died, and that was the best way.

It was over all too quickly, with the only damage sustained being a laser scar on the right leg of Zechs' Taurus and a sharp cut on the upper left arm of hers. The comm crackled again.

"Excellent work, Beta Team. That is all for today's beta testing. Return to hangar."

"That's all?" she wondered.

"They are taking it in stages," he said, as they reduced speed to a comfortable pace and headed towards the floating chunk of metal that was the colony. "Tomorrow's pilots are going to test systems...we were only needed for the combat part."

They were halfway to the station when she heard something clank to her right, and she glanced over her system dials quickly. Nothing. She narrowed her eyes.

"Zechs...wait."

"What is it?"

"There's something wrong with my Taurus," she said. "Do you see anything? Anything out of place?"

A silence as he changed positions from one wing to another, checking her mobile suit. "No. It seems fine."

The clanking noise came again, and her Taurus shook.

"Noin! Are you all right?"

"I-" she managed. The controls seemed have gone haywire and she couldn't steer straight. "The suit isn't responding!"

"Hold on," he said tersely. The dials had gone blank and she fought to keep manual control as the craft veered erratically to one side and then another.

"Beta Two!" The colonyside control. "This is Control. Come in, Beta Two!"

"This is Beta Two."

"Beta Two, you are not showing up on our target screens."

"Beta Two to Control. Malfunction in navigation and radar systems."

"Noin!" Zechs again. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes." The heat was intense, coming from the sun, and one wrong move would send the craft plummeting towards the fiery core of the star. "Zechs! What are you doing?"

"Control to Beta Leader."

"This is Beta Leader," Zechs said, his voice strained.

"You are in danger of being pulled in by the sun's magnetic field. Pull up!"

"I am going after Beta Two," he said. "Emergency override."

She could feel her craft shuddering both from the system failure and the increasing pull of the star's graviational field. She flipped the dial from automatic to manual control, but the system was dead. It was useless.

"Zechs!"

"Pull up, Beta Leader!"

"Noin, I'm going to grab your craft. Release your slave line."

"Slave line?"

"All Tauruses come equipped with slave and master lines. Release your slave. I'm going to try and capture it with my master and pull you up. Do you understand me?"

She remembered now. Top left control, two dials to the left, push the button.

"It's not working!"

"Push the emergency release!"

She jammed the red button in, and there was a whir of gears. Zechs' Taurus passed close to her with a shuddering of engines and gravitational pull, and then there was a clank. The green light next to the slave line indicator flickered on.

"Slave to master, connect!"

"Beta Leader, this is Control. Pull up NOW! Repeat, pull up NOW!"

"Roger that. Gravitational control off. Throttle increasing to 250 maximum. All power to engines."

"ZECHS!"

"I've got you! Hold on!" The bone-rattling jarring doubled and she could see Zechs' Taurus shaking, glowing red-hot. The sun's flames leapt large outside the cockpit, and she held onto the stick, hoping somehow, someway, the emergency nav systems would turn on.

The dials were climbing too rapidly. Eight g's. Nine. Ten.

The environmental systems overload light blinked on and a beeping noise filled the cockpit. Her vision was going black around the edges, and she could hear Zechs' harsh breathing in her ears.

Then the world exploded in a bright flash of light and she remembered nothing else.

She woke groggily in an unfamiliar bed, the white walls and the smell of cleaning solution fuzzing her brain. She tried to sit up, but fell back on the bed. Her head was spinning.

"She's awake," came a distant voice, and a kindly face peered into hers. "Sit back. There you go."

Something cool was applied to her forehead, and then the slightly wrinkled face was back. "Do you remember your name?"

She swallowed. Why were they asking her? What had happened?

"Lucrezia Noin...OZ Special Forces second lieutenant. Serial number 15822. Date of birth January 25, 176."

"Good." The voice sounded relieved.

She blinked, and then suddenly it all came rushing back to her. She sat up again, not caring how dizzy it made her, looking out the window. It was dark.

"I-we made it?"

"It was a genius of piloting," the doctor said, standing. "You have been unconscious for four days."

"Zechs-"

"How are you feeling, Noin?"

He was in the doorway, helmet under his arm, blond hair falling over the shoulder of his pilot suit. He had a bandage on his cheek, but other than that looked fine. The doctor politely excused himself as Zechs entered, coming to stand beside the bed.

"I've been better," she breathed. "You-what happened? Why did my-"

"There was a bolt loose in your mobile suit," he said. "It damaged the nav and radar systems entirely, and partially affected your shield system...good thing it was a beta suit."

She laughed shakily. "Wonderful. No more Tauruses for me."

"Well, you wouldn't want such a funny-looking mobile suit anyway, right?"

She stared at him for a moment, and then began to laugh out loud.

"Why Zechs...I never knew you had a sense of humor!"

He didn't answer her, simply stared out the window. "It's night," he said.

She followed his gaze, then snapped her eyes back to him. Dressed in a flight suit, helmet in hand...

"You're leaving, aren't you?"

He didn't look at her. "Treize has called me back to Earth. I'm sorry. You were still unconscious when the call came in."

"It's all right," she murmured, though it wasn't all right. She wasn't sure why, but the thought of him leaving was suddenly almost unbearable. But she didn't say that.

"I didn't-" he began, then stopped.

"It's all right, Zechs. I'm sure I'll see you soon."

"Yes," he murmured, then looked thoughtful. "Actually, Treize did say something to me about an instructor position for you...at the Academy. If you want it. I can put in a word for you if you want."

The Academy.

"That would be nice," she said.

"Well." He shifted the helmet under his arm. "I have to go."

"Take care," she said softly, then started as gloved fingers tilted her chin up to meet his eyes, his face so close to hers...

Then he released her abruptly, bowing formally. "Goodbye, Lieutenant Noin."

And then he was gone.

It wasn't the memory that bothered her as much as what had been left unsaid all those years ago, what had still never been said when Zechs had met Heero Yuy in combat over the earth, and it had ended. She didn't regret Zechs' decision, or Heero's, but the ghosts were still there.

It was always Zechs saving her, but she didn't mind.

With a start, she realized it had grown cooler, but it wasn't the cool of air conditioning. Glancing out the window, she saw the clouds rolling over the horizon, watched the sky darken and the rumble of thunder fill the air, but it did not rain.

If it had rained, it would have been like a release, but as with everything, there was no release.

Not for her.

She stood by the window and watched the clouds build, thunderheads in the sky with the bright white lighting leaping out between the dark, and wondered if they had forgotten about her. Perhaps this would be the one time where there was no rescue, where they would not come for her, and she would be left to die alone.

Because Zechs had always been there for her, but Zechs was dead, and there was no one else.

 
Go to Noin's Commander's Log #3

 
Act III Part I | Act III Part III | Back to Sainan no Kekka