Well, this day's turned into another fun-filled crap shoot," said Duo, not even trying to hide the sarcasm that dripped from his voice.
"Cut the chatter and focus on the mission at hand, Baka," came Heero's response over Duo's headset.
Duo rolled his eyes and said, "How could I forget? Saving her rump is what we do best these days. I actually think we've gotten better since the wars."
There were several snickers that came over the comm frequency, the voices low and slightly frayed, but in good humor considering their situation. Duo just had to join them as he thought back to exactly what the past had taught them all.
The One Year War and the Eve's War had done a very good job of training the Gundam pilots to handle just about any situation an enemy could throw at them. The Gundam pilots were teenage terrorists, trained by the colonies and sent to Earth to destroy their defenses and assassinate key leaders so that the colonies could stave off being swallowed up by the Earth Sphere Alliance, who was going from colony to colony, conquering each in turn.
Each pilot was initially trained seperate from the next and was only known by their numerical designation; Heero Yuy was 01, pilot of Wing Gundam. Heero started out as a war orphan on colony L1, and was found and taken in by an assassin named Odin Lowe. Odin taught him everything he could about survival and being an assassin. When Odin was double-crossed and killed, Heero was left to fend for himself. Fearless and mission-centric, Heero didn't know the meanings of 'give up' or 'lose'.
Duo Maxwell was 02, pilot of the Deathscythe. A self proclaimed 'street-rat', Duo grew up on the worst of the colonies, L2, and had learned many of life's lessons in an orphanage ran by a Catholic priest and nun. After their deaths, Duo became known as Shinigami, as it's the only god he believes in. After all, everything dies.
Trowa Barton was 03, pilot of Heavy Arms. Quiet and subdued, Trowa was a war orphan from colony L3, found and trained by a mercenary band after his parents vehicle ran over a landmine, blowing up and leaving only him and his sister alive. It took many years for the siblings to find each other again, at a circus where his sister performs. Trowa is close friends with Quatre, and stays with him when he's not visiting the circus.
Quatre Raberba Winner was 04, pilot of Sandrock. The only boy born to the wealthy-elite Winner family, Quatre was doted on by his twenty-nine sisters and father. Tragically, his mother died during childbirth. Quatre was groomed to take over the Arab family business and is highly intelligent. He is also highly empathic, knowing other people's feelings and having a greater understanding of what makes people tick.
WuFei Chang was 05, pilot of Shen Long. WuFei came from the illustrious Chang family dynasty of colony L5. He was raised and trained as both a scholar and martial artist. He initially wanted no part of the war and his pre-arranged wife, Mei Lan, was the first pilot of Shen Long, lasting only long enough to be killed during an attack on L5 by the Earth Sphere military. She had called herself 'Nataku', which WuFei adopted as his personal name for Shen Long after taking up where his wife left off. Extremely proud and honor-bound, WuFei fought for Justice even above Peace.
At the time of the One Year War's start, most of the pilots were a ripe fifteen years old, with Trowa being the oldest at sixteen. The pilots slowly decided to fight for what felt right and what would bring peace to the Earth and the colonies both. Unfortunately, that meant they had no side willing to claim them and very few allies to turn to. One of the few was a young lady named Relena Peacecraft, the daughter of a dead pacifist monarch, a princess diplomat, trying to turn the tide of war through words instead of bloodshed. She and Heero have a rocky semi-relationship, mostly due to the fact that Heero believes he has too much blood on his hands to deserve someone as pure as Relena.
Another ally is Hilde Schbeiker, an ex-Oz operative that Duo talked into joining the pilots' side. Hilde is idealistic and brave, believing that truth and justice will win out in the end so long as there are people willing to fight for those beliefs. She's fast friends with Duo, who she credits with showing her the true path to fight for during the war and opening her eyes to the injustices Oz was commiting right under her nose. She's well trained in military protocol, has a quick wit, and has proven herself resourceful and a steady ally.
After both wars' ends, the Gundam pilots traded in their mobile suits for Preventer's uniforms to work behind the scenes and make sure no other military power threatens the peace they worked so hard to build. As Preventers, the ex-pilots often act as body guards to Relena, who is the Vice Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere United Nations (ESUN), to make sure terrorists don't try anything stupid. Unfortuantely, some people just don't learn...
Part of rebuilding after a war means putting military advances to work for the common people. One of the projects researched and started shortly after the Eve's War was faster than light space travel. The scientists had worked steadily on this project for two years, picking up where the military left off, and finally had a prototype ship ready for inspection. It was a long-range colony ship, capable of faster than light speeds and sustaining a crew long enough to explore and terraform planets inside the solar system, theorhetically. When Relena was asked to attend an unveiling of the project and tour the facility, she eagerly agreed. While Relena had seen no point in taking allof the ex-pilots as her bodyguards, Lady Une, the Preventer's commander, had insisted. So, Relena, all five of the guys and Hilde (acting as Relena's personal assistant) had ended up aboard the ESUN NUHRZN-1, affectionately known as the New Horizon. At first, the unveiling hadn't been too bad. There were way too many people for Heero's liking, and the guys had taken up a constant vigil around Relena until she put her foot down and told them to back off a little and let her breathe. In the interest of keeping 'her Highness' happy, the guys had decided to mingle with the other guests and try to weed out any problems from the inside out. Fifteen minutes into mingling was when the shooting started.
When people are left alone, to do as they please, and given the time to think actions through, they can be quite intelligent and reasonable. Put a hundred people in a ballroom sized area with a madman spraying the ceiling with bullets, and they become panicky animals who won't stop as they trample everything in their path to find cover and safety. As soon as the people started screaming and running, all five guys knew their first priority was to get to Relena. They had left Hilde at her side, which was a good choice since Hilde also acted as an undercover bodyguard for Relena, but Heero was fast to bark orders for everyone to converge on Relena's position. However, when they got to the front of the room where Relena had been talking with the scientists, they found two of the elderly men bent over their other three compatriots, tending to some nasty looking lumps and in one case, a shot to the leg. One of the scientists, a man with cybernetic eyes and a metal hand adressed the Preventers.
"There were five of them, Heero. They were posing as one of the news crews. They knocked out Hilde and carried her out, using her as leverage for Relena." He pointed out a side door that was slightly ajar. "They took them that way."
"Only five?" asked WuFei. "I thought there were six in each of the news teams."
"Then we're missing one," said Duo.
Quatre was leaning over the man who was shot, checking the tourniquet that had been applied. He looked at the two standing scientist's saying, "He'll live. Can you get them up and to the hanger, Dr. Jerome?"
The man with the metal hand nodded. "Yeah, we'll get them moving."
"Good," Quatre nodded.
Heero was already slipping through the door to scout the hallway. He ducked his head back through the door and asked, "What's down this hallway?"
Trowa answered as he joined Heero at the doorway, "Bridge left, engines right."
Heero nodded. "Duo, 'Fei and I will head aft. Quatre, Trowa, forward. Stay sharp."
Everyone nodded and the two teams split and went their seperate ways.
From here, things went from bad to worse. The team that took the engine room had found Relena and Hilde had been tied to the support beam that came up straight through the middle of engineering. The two guards that had been posted laid presumably dead at the girls' feet. The terrorists had left the door cracked enough for the Preventers to see inside the room and to realize that any shots they took would run the risk of hitting Relena, Hilde, or some of the very delicate equipment inside. The group that took the bridge found that the terrorists had rigged the colony ship to head on a collison course with Earth. Worse yet, they had destroyed the control panel for setting the destinations. Heero had asked Quatre for a situational report and gave the same.
"There are two guards in here, both dead, and one dead terrorist. I guess I found number six. I'm not sure yet if the guards killed him or not. I don't see any gun wounds," Quatre was looking the men over, making sure they were actually dead.
"Q, find a way to take the control of the ship back. Trowa, see what you can find out from the dead terrorist," came Heero's reply.
Heero and WuFei had split up to take positions at the other two entrances to Engineering. Duo had stayed at the ajar door to snipe anyone that came into view with a clean shot. Sitting there, Duo couldn't help the smartass in himself.
"Well, this day's turned into another fun-filled crap shoot," said Duo, not even trying to hide the sarcasm that dripped from his voice.
"Cut the chatter and focus on the mission at hand, Baka," came Heero's response over Duo's headset.
Duo rolled his eyes and said, "How could I forget? Saving her rump is what we do best these days. I actually think we've gotten better since the wars."
After a moment, Heero came back over the headsets, "Alright, 'Fei and I head in on my mark. Duo, be ready to clip them if they run your way or if they make any threatening move on the girls."
"Gotcha." "Affirmative." came Duo and WuFei's replys.
"3..2.."
"What the..?" came Duo's interruption.
"What's wrong, Maxwell?" queried WuFei.
"Guys, you won't believe this, but I think they all just died," Duo's voice sounded odd, like he was watching a magic trick he couldn't figure out.
Heero's voice was next. "Fei, Duo, we're heading in together...Now." With that, the three Preventers all came through their respective doors, heading for the post the women were tied to, just to stop short at the scene in front of them. All five terrorists had fallen down next to the guards at Relena's feet. A quick check by WuFei said they were all dead. Heero nodded as he and Duo released the two ladies.
"Are you all right, 'Lena?" asked Heero as he made a quick inspection of her to make sure there wasn't any blood or bulletholes, as Duo was doing the same with Hilde.
Relena shook her head, "No, but I'll be fine. What happened to them?" she asked, nodding with her head at the terrorists littering the floor like old newspapers.
WuFei answered her as he stood up, "I think it was poison. They either had something and swallowed it, or took something before they made their move. Either way, we won't be getting any info out of them now."
"Does anyone else hear a low pitched whining sound?" asked Duo. All three guys moved to inspect the engineering equipment. "Found it," said Duo. He shook his head as the other two joined him in front of a massive piece of machinery. "It doesn't look good guys. This is the FTL Drive, and it looks like they've set it to overload. It will most likely explode."
"How long?" asked Heero.
Duo shook his head again, "I can't tell for sure."
Quatre's voice came over the headsets, "Guys, I can't get full control back of the ship, but I have manuevering thrusters on-line and I think I can get this thing turned around. If they haven't goofed up the main engines, we might get this thing out past the colonies before it explodes."
"Do it," said Heero, "and call a complete evacuation of the ship for anyone who didn't get the memo." He turned to Duo. "Take Relena and Hilde and get back to the shuttle. Get it rigged for lift-off. We're going to come in hot and need to take off fast."
Duo nodded, "Gotcha." He turned to the two young women. "Ladies, if you would kindly follow me." He took one each in hand and took off for the docking bay.
The next ten minutes flew by rapidly. Heero and WuFei worked to make sure the engines were stable and tried to slow down the power output that was quickly reaching critical levels in the FTL drive. Quatre and Trowa quickly got the ship turned around to face a deep space heading and got the main thrusters set on a ten minute timer. On Heero's mark, Quatre started the timer and both teams sped out of their respective stations and towards the landing bay. For the first time, Heero was actually glad they were in Relena's luxury shuttle. On top of all the other bells and whistles, it had an amazing engine, making it a sports car among shuttles. As he raced up the hallway, he noticed Duo standing just inside the seating compartment, frowning at him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Duo pointed up the long line of G-chairs to where Relena was sitting in the pilot's chair. "We're hot and ready, but Relena took my spot and won't move. She insists she can fly this thing as well as I can." Duo ended that sentance on a snort.
Heero moved up the walkway with Duo fast on his heels, saying, "Everyone, buckle in." He stopped next to Relena's chair and swiveled her to look at him. "Relena, I need you to move. I need Duo as the pilot." His voice was even and calm, something that most people knew was not a good thing.
Relena looked up at Heero with a determined look on her face as her sky blue eyes met his stormy blue ones. "This is my ship, Heero. I know how to fly her just well as anyone else. There's no reason I can't pilot my own ship."
Heero closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. "We don't have time for this," he muttered. He opened his eyes, reached down to take Relena by the shoulders, and drug her up out of the chair and against him for a kiss. Relena was so shocked, she didn't even fight when he turned her and Duo slid into the pilot's seat. Heero pulled back from the kiss and pushed her back against another chair. "Someone get her buckled in. We're leaving."
Heero slipped into the co-pilot's seat and heard Duo snicker.
"Smooth, 'Ro. Very smooth," Duo whispered. Heero just shook his head as Duo made one last check of the gauges. "Ok everyone, here we go!" Duo expertly pulled the shuttle up and swung it to vector straight for the doors.
"Hurry, Duo," said Quatre. "We only have 30 seconds before the main engines kick in."
Duo mearly nodded as he concentrated on manuevering the shuttle through the bay and out the doors. Everyone breathed a small sigh of relief to be outside the ship and racing toward Earth, but it was short lived. No sooner than Duo had pointed them toward home, every emergency indicator started going off. A quick scan of the sensors showed the FTL drive was going critical faster than expected. "Q, what'll happen if that FTL drive explodes too close to Earth?"
"I can't say for certain. It might just explode. It might rip a hole in the space/time continuum. Who knows? It's an experimental system," said Quatre.
"Well, Shit."
Five seconds later, the New Horizon's faster than light drive core went critical and exploded. The shuttle rocked and bucked as it was caught in the energy wash from the explosion. Everyone held onto their chairs for dear life as the distortions got harder and it felt like the ship would be ripped apart. Suddenly there was a flash so bright it blocked the view of space from every window. There was another jerk of the shuttle that felt like something had gotten a hook in everyone's stomach and lurched them forward. Time seemed to slow to a crawl and it seemed like the shuttle was turning in a flat spin, as the weird distortions got harder and pressed in on the crew of the shuttle. Just as suddenly, everything snapped back into focus as everyone's bearings seemed to face forward again and the shuttle's windows showed a view of space with the Earth in the distance.
Heero blinked several times and gritted his teeth against the roiling feeling in his stomach. He grimaced when he heard someone behind him lose that particular battle and belatedly hoped they had found one of the air sickness bags. After a minute, Heero looked over the controls and asked, "Status?"
WuFei answered first. "Good."
Trowa followed that with, "Clear."
Quatre said, "I'm good."
Hilde chuckled and said, "If dizzy and nausous counts, I'm fine. Though it might be a few minutes before Relena can speak. I think I'll help her to the bathroom."
Heero nodded and said, "Good. Keep an eye on her and make it quick." After the women had left the compartment, Heero said, "We need a systems diagnostic ran of every system and a damage report."
"I'm already on it, Heero, though you're not gonna like what I'm finding," said Quatre.
"What?"
Quatre swiveled the seat to look at Heero. "I'm not certain, but the outer hull has some microfissures in it. If they're too big, we won't be able to make re-entry."
"Then we head for one of the colonies," said WuFei.
Duo nodded, but Quatre shook his head from the Comm station. "I think we lost communications. I can't raise anyone and I'm not getting any chatter over the frequencies."
"Maybe that's because there isn't anyone out there," said Trowa quietly. Everyone turned to look at him, and then to look through the main viewport to where he was looking. The shuttle had stabilized facing Earth, but farther out from the planet than they had originally been. As they got closer, it was painfully obvious that this wasn't the Earth they were used to.
First of all, there were no colonies. There was a ring of debris around the planet, some asteroids and other metal-looking things, that had taken up the orbits that had previously held the colonies. The thing that made them all stare speechlessly was the fact that the land masses were all wrong. Large portions of the Americas and Africa were missing, and Europe looked like half of it had sank. While long range sensors and communications were out, it was obvious by looking at the planet that the previous levels of pollution were nearly non-existant. The guys were all clustered around the front viewport, still staring out the window, when the girls returned to the cabin and Relena asked, "So, how are we doing?"
Quatre turned to look at her and Hilde and said, "Um, I don't kow how to say this..." so he motioned them forward to join the guys in their perusal of the planet.
When they got close enough to see what all the fuss was over, Relena gasped and Hilde said, "Oh my..."
"We're not in Kansas anymore," murmered Duo.
"Are we even in the Sol system anymore?" asked Quatre.
"I don't know, " said Heero, "but we're about to find out. I'll see if short-range scanners work and look for anything that looks like a viable place to make repairs. Quatre, see if short wave comms work and see what you can find. I want to know if there's anyone out here that can hear us or help us." Heero swiveled to look at Trowa and WuFei. "I need you to catalogue the ship and see what kind of supplies we're looking at." Both of them nodded and Heero turned back to the sensors.