They'd lost him. Of course, he'd expected they'd lose Dr. Em as soon as he'd heard that the Gundam were involved. Treize Khushrenada leaned back in his chair. The leather on the arms was worn where he rested his elbows, but not enough for anyone to notice. He would have to replace it, but he didn't feel the urge. Instead he closed his eyes and tried to think.

He was commander of all the OZ troops; he was their general. It had been he who had orchestrated the coup d'etat against the Federation. He, who had been branded a hero by so many of his loyal troops. He, who everyone looked to for the start of a new peaceful future and yet, he did not feel he was worthy of this admiration or honor. It was not him who was fighting for a brighter future, but the Gundam pilots. True, they were the enemy. Sworn to destroy OZ and sent to Earth from the colonies from persons unknown. It didn't matter, Treize believed they held the key to the future and it was his destiny to fight them until one or the other emerged victorious.

No one understood this except maybe Zechs Merquis, his good friend. Treize remembered how much Zechs was looking forward to battling the Gundam pilots in the newly restored Tallgeese. The Tallgeese was the prototype for the Leos and Aries that OZ used as well as the Gundams. If anyone could take on the Gundams, it was Tallgeese. Treize was a bit envious of his friend and silently wished he had the opportunity to fight the pilot of 05 who had attacked his ship a month ago, accepted a personal challenge from him, leapt out of the Gundam to come and fight. Treize remembered the young man that had stood before him sword in hand. They had dueled and Treize had won. Although the boy left in disgrace, Treize knew he'd be back and that he'd be stronger. He looked forward to their next meeting with enthusiasm; he considered it an honor.

The door to his office opened and a woman stepped in. Brown hair pulled back into two braids coiled against her neck and large wire framed glasses, Lady Une walked towards the large oak desk. Treize opened one eye just enough that it looked to her as if he were still asleep. Her maroon uniform was clean and neat as usual, he noticed. Coming to a halt directly in front of his desk Lady Une stood at attention before she addressed him.

"Your Excellency, General Treize." She said.

"Yes, Lady Une?" he answered not bothering to open his eyes.

"There is a report that the Gundams were spotted in the desert southeast of Cairo. That was three days ago. None of our patrols have been able to find them."

"That is distressing." Treize said slowly opening blue eyes and bringing his head level to stare into her brown eyes. Lady Une stood rigidly waiting for him to continue. When he didn't she went on.

"Yes, it is Treize-sama. There are also conflicting reports of several eyewitnesses seeing two Gundams flying into the desert carrying three other Gundams. The command could not decipher which Gundams were carrying the others. One says it was 04 and 05, another says it was 03 and 02. They all agree though that the mobile suits were most definitely the Gundams though. They couldn't pick them up on radar and something was jamming all the communications in the area. It is believed though that they have joined forces."

Treize mulled over the information for a moment. Two Gundams were carrying three, odd. Not showing up on the radar was normal, but jamming the communications wasn't. Two Gundams carrying three, how in the world had they done that? There must have been an autopilot of some sort, perhaps like the Mobile Doll's system they were developing for the OZ units in space.

"One last thing Treize-sama," Lady Une added as he leaned forward and folded hands on his desk. "One eye witness claims that all five have been repainted."

"Repainted?"

"Yes. Repainted."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know. Probably an attempt to make us think there are more than just five."

"Maybe." Treize said, but he wasn't sure. "I think it's time we went ahead with our plan."

"Hai, Treize-sama." Lady Une turned about and left the room. Treize sighed and wished that the uneasy feeling would go away. She said they had repainted all five of them. Why would they do that? Unless those aren't the five that have been destroying OZ bases. That thought sent a shudder down his spine. Five new Gundams would be a very unpleasant surprise.

All Duo could make out from Wufei's babbling was something about "onna", "Nataku", and "middle of". Other than that, the Chinese pilot wasn't making any sense. He'd been like this since he woke up and the doctors had given him some painkillers. Unfortunately, the painkillers were making him slur all his words and he kept slipping into Chinese, so Duo couldn't understand him even if he tried.

"How strong was the stuff they gave him?" the pilot asked glancing over at Kelima who was sitting in a chair not far from Wufei's bed.

"The usual dosage I would assume." Kelima responded with a shrug. Despite the fact that his arm was bound and suspended in a sling, he still managed to move his shoulder freely. "I doubt he's having an allergic reaction." Kelima continued. "They would have noticed that." As if on cue, a man dressed in a white lab coat appeared at the doorway.

"Well, I should be going." Duo commented standing. He'd been sitting on the edge of Wufei's bed for at least ten minutes listing to him rant, rave, and cuss in English, Japanese, and Chinese. Duo was glad for the chance to escape. It meant he could go check on his Gundam.

Kelima and Duo left Wufei to the doctor and proceeded to the hanger. With all the twists and turns to the subterranean base, Duo wondered how the people kept from getting lost. Thank goodness Kelima knew his way around otherwise Duo would have ended up in Bulgaria before he found the hanger.

Upon entering the bay Duo froze. Oh, God no! He thought as he took in the sight before him. There were people running all over the place. They carried various manners of equipment and parts. It wasn't this that disturbed him; it was the fact that there were five Gundams in different phases of reconstruction.

"Death Scythe…." He squeaked as his eyes lay upon his Gundam. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" he bellowed launching forward at the nearest technician. Kelima grabbed him.

"Wait, it's okay. Really, please calm down. Shouting won't help any."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WON'T HELP ANY? THEY FUCK'N TOOK DEATH SCYTHE APART!"

All heads turned to stare at the two pilots. Kelima maintained his death grip on Duo's arm as the braided pilot continued to rant. This probably was what Wufei had been talking about, he thought angrily. "Onna", he'd said. So the one who took the Gundam apart was a woman.

"Is there a problem?" Seyth asked appearing at last. Duo was livid.

"YEAH! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE …mmmmmrpppphhh!" A hand firmly covered Duo's mouth to prevent him from saying anything more.

"No, no problem Seyth. Just wondering when the upgrades will be done on the Gundams." Kelima lied.

"Gundams? Oh, is that what they're calling them? Well that does make sense; they're made from Gundamium. Um, the repairs should be done by tomorrow afternoon at the latest." She was smiling broadly, which Kelima took as a bad sign. If she smiled with her eyes scrunched up and plastered a huge cheesy grin on her face, oh God, just run.

"Well, keep up the good work. I'll make sure none of the pilots disturb you. Okay?" Seyth nodded, while Duo struggled. Kelima forcefully dragged the other pilot away from the hanger.

"Just be quiet and she won't kill us." He whispered in Duo's ear as they headed for the door.

Quatre and Veir were sitting in the cafeteria drinking tea when Duo barged in followed by Kelima. From the look on Duo's face, Veir could guess where they'd been. He waited until the two had flopped down in chairs next to them before speaking.

"I take it you saw Seyth's newest project?" he asked tentatively. Kelima nodded.

"That bitch has all our Gundams in pieces! What the fuck'n hell does she think she's doing?" Duo demanded, his husky voice sounding thin and strained.

"That 'bitch' happens to be one of the best mechanics the Mars Primary military has ever known." Veir stated. "She's been taking care of our mobile suits for a long time and doing a good job, I might add. What she is doing with yours is upgrading it. Faster computers, stronger armor in places, better joints, more power, excreta, excreta." Duo stared hard at Veir.

"Are you sure?"

"Seyth doesn't take things apart just for the fun of it." Veir replied picking up his mug of herbal tea. Suddenly he wondered if he should switch to coffee as these new pilots were beginning to give him a headache. Quatre wasn't too bad, as was Trowa. Heero was so stern, that he reminded Veir of San without a sense of humor. Wufei was stubborn and Duo currently needed his mouth taped shut. Yes, something stronger was necessary.

Resting his injured arm on the table, Kelima sighed.

"Drugs wearing off?" Veir asked. Kelima shook his head.

"Nope. I just hate wearing this stupid thing." He said referring to the sling. "It isn't necessary after the bullet is removed, it's just a precaution." Quatre smiled and set down his teacup.

"I'm awfully sorry Trowa shot you."

"It's all right, we were all trying to kill one another. Hell, Segundo shot Wufei twice." Quatre nodded. Suddenly a voice came over the loud speaker.

"Will Jeden Windborne, Segundo Segovitch, San Valais, Veir Berné, Kelima Hastings and guests please come to the conference room on the third floor. Dr. Roku Wakusei would like to see you."

"Looks like we need to go." Kelima said standing. "Come on."

Dr. Roku stood at the head of a long table. On one side sat the five Martian Gundam pilots, as they had started calling themselves. On the other were the Terran Gundam pilots. He took a deep breath before starting. Please let them not kill each other, he thought.

"Our country has agreed to help the rebels of the Earth Secondary colonies. We do understand that most of the colonists do not share the same goal as the rebels, but as far as our government is concerned we'll help. It is in our best interest that OZ doesn't win.

"There have been some rumors floating about that OZ is working on an engine that will allow for long distance space travel. No doubt they will look for new resources and planets to conquer. If they had the map that Dr. Em and I have translated, then they would most likely attack Earth Primary, as it is still a technological primitive planet. This comes into direct conflict with Mar Primary interests. Our goal is to protect Earth Primary until such a time that it can stand on its own two feet as it were and fly amongst the stars with us.

"Your mission is as follows. I have been in contact with the one of the five scientists that made your Gundams." Dr. Roku said nodding towards the five males sitting at his right. "Dr. J understands our objective and accepts our help. The other four we could not find, so we are going to have to accept the agreeance of one. If we could find G, O, H, and S we would talk to them as well."

"How much persuasive talking did you have to do to get him to agree?" Kelima asked raising his had as if he were still in school.

"I will not discuss the contents of our conversation, let's just leave it at that." Dr. Roku told him.

"Okay. Doc." Dr. Roku glared, but continued.

"Because we do not have further information on this engine, we will not pursue it for now. In the mean time, I believe it be best that we go about the original objective of the Gundams. Destroy OZ installations. To this extent, the Martian Primus military has stated that our five pilots join you. Ten make light work, that and it will give the OZ commanding officers a heart-attack to see ten instead of just five."

"Heh, heh. No kidding," Duo laughed. "I can just see their faces."

"Anyway. You all will be receiving missions from Dr. J. Any extra intelligence will be provided by the Martian Primus military. You may use any of the three bases, as you need them. I suggest that you all attempt to work together on this. It will make things go smoother. From here on out, the Martian Primus military is loaning the rebels five trained, mech…"

"Gundam." Segundo interrupted.

"Gundam," Dr. Roku amended. "Pilots. They are now also terrorists and are to carry out missions as such. Is this understood?"

"I guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?" asked Duo.

"No. I suggest you make the best of it."

"So who is with who?" asked Quatre.

"I haven't made the assignments yet. I'll let you know in twenty-four hours. By that time, hopefully our chief mechanic, Seyth MacClain, will have your Gundams ready."

"She took Nataku apart." Wufei growled.

"She took them all apart." San replied dryly.

Heero glared across the table at the wall. He sat in the cafeteria with Wufei on one side and Trowa on the other. Quatre sat across from Wufei and Duo was just now sitting down next to him.

"I can't believe were going to be stuck with these people." Duo said. "We hardly know anything about them."

"We don't exactly know much about each other." Quatre reminded him. The five Gundam pilots had only within the past month met and engaged in battle. Wufei was still gnawing at his defeat from Treize Khushrenada, the leader of OZ. Quatre felt lucky that Wufei was fighting with them at all after his defeat. The Chinese pilot had taken it hard, according to Trowa.

"Yeah, but these guys are Martians." Duo snapped.

"According to them our ancestors were Martians." Trowa said calmly. "If that is true then we are, in a way, kin to them."

"I don't want to work with that woman." Wufei stated. He rubbed his still sore thighs.

"You won't have to." A by now familiar voice said. Jeden appeared holding a clipboard. "Dr. Wakusei has made the assignments. You're with Veir." Wufei turned so he could face Jeden. The blue eyed boy was wearing his leather jacket over a dark purple tank top. His hair fell loosely down his back. On his hands was a pair of leather biker gloves.

"Quatre is with Kelima, Heero is with San, I'm with Trowa and Duo is with Segundo." Duo smiled.

"She's pretty cool. We seem to be getting along well."

"That's good. Oh, and just as a warning, don't touch Baby and Sugar without her permission, she gets testy."

"I noticed." Growled Wufei. Jeden tried to hide a smile.

"Seyth says the Gundams won't be ready until tomorrow and then she wants you to test them out before leaving."

"Hai." They all said in unison, except for Trowa who simply nodded. Jeden prayed that this would go well. He had a bad feeling though about these pilots.

"I think I'd rather take my chances with a group of space pirates." He told himself on the way to his quarters.