Title: ESO
Author: bonnejeanne (bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) and vonceia (vonceia@yahoo.com)
Archive: GW Addiction
Category: yaoi, AU? Epic Saga...
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, ?

E.S.O. - by bonnejeanne and vonceia -

Part Ten: Explosions...

Leaving Quatre's room, with Trowa behind him, Wufei made his way through the station hallways in search of Master O. As he went, he remembered many things from his time with the Master. O had always been flawlessly controlled. Though his hulking body implied violence, the man had always been quite cool. Wufei had appreciated him for his intellect and at times thought of them as being somewhat alike.

When the plans for Operation Meteor had been explained to him, however, his feelings towards the Gundam maker had changed.

Now it seemed there were too many things he did not know abut the enigmatic man. But he intended to find out some of those things. If O were somehow trying to stop this mission, then Wufei would stop O.

They found him in the hangar. He was back in the area of the Gundams, approaching the one recognizable as the Deathscythe Alpha.

"Master O!" Wufei's voice rang out, stopping the man in his tracks. The tall scientist turned, and his expression showed no emotion.

"Yes, Chang Wufei?"

"We are here to have answers to questions, old man," Wufei said, sternly.

"What questions?" the scientist asked.

"What were you doing outside the station, before? And what were you doing in the control room, when no one else was there? And why did you send a signal from Tallgeese? And who did you send it to?" Wufei reeled off the list one by one. "And who do you work for - who is trying to stop this mission?"

The large man listened to the recital with no change of expression.

"You are as much of a fool and a coward as you ever were, Chang Wufei," Master O said coolly. "Always, you listen only to women. You follow the guidance of the weak."

Wufei's eyebrows drew together, but the words did not draw from him the storm of anger that they once would have. "I follow the guidance of my heart, old man. If that is weak then I am weak. However, if you do not answer my questions immediately, you will find out just how weak I am."

"I have nothing to say to you," Master O replied. "I am not threatened by your supposed skills, little man." Trowa watched the exchange between Master O and Wufei. He moved around quietly until he was standing in back of the tall man observing and making note of Master O's build as his mind quickly ticked off pressure points on his body.

Master O looked around, spotting Trowa behind him. "No name," he said. "I might have expected you to stay out of this foolishness. It seems you are lacking more than just a name. You are lacking a will of your own, following the lead of this weak fool."

"Can you offer me a reason not to do so?" Trowa asked. "So far, everything seems to be pretty straight forward. What is all of this, then?"

"This..." Master O gestured to the hangar, "This is a pathetic attempt to stop what is due. What has been due for more than centuries... for millennium. The Pure Ones are coming. Mankind will be judged. This planet and its space will be purified."

Wufei scowled. "Fanatics," he spat.

Trowa raised his hand "You are not the only one who understands this, are you?" Trowa said. "If I had a chance to join those who understand, how would I?"

Master O shook his head. "Your ploy is transparent, No Name. You cannot join. We have been waiting and planning for this day for a long time. Almost, the human race came to cleanse itself, through war. But you cheated fate with this peace. The peace works in turn - cast out your weapons, that you may be judged. I need not bandy words with you. You will never succeed."

Trowa lifted his chin. "You have misjudged me, Master O. I have never belonged to the human race. I have never had a name. Cast out weapons. Perhaps, I will. What have 'I' got to lose?" he said, with a sigh.

The hulking scientist showed no signs of believing Trowa's words. "Inconsequential," he said. "There will be no last-minute quislings or joiners. It is already too late. By the time you leave for the rim, the Pure Ones will be before you."

"Enough talk," Wufei said. "Let's see how you go out, old man. Spouting fanatical doctrine?"

Master O narrowed his eyes. He hefted a large tool in his ham-sized fist and turned to aim it for Wufei's head.

Dodging nimbly, Wufei ducked and came up into the air, firing a series of kicks at the master's head. O staggered back, but swung again, with more speed than his size promised. Wufei narrowly missed having his brains splattered. Cutting under the big man's reach, Wufei landed a solid kick to his midsection. The man bent double, but stood back up. Without pausing, Wufei twirled, kicking one of the man's legs from beneath him. He stumbled to one knee.

"You will never...get off this station!" Master O panted, hurling the tool at Wufei's head.

The Chinese fighter dodged it. "What have you done?" he thundered, punctuating it with a kick that hit O squarely in the jaw, crunching bone and spinning his head around.

Trowa looked up suddenly. "The transport ship," he said, moving. "Let Alfa know. I'm going to check it!"

"Don't get yourself blown up!" Wufei called. He looked down at the unconscious master. "What do I do with you now?" He wondered aloud.

From behind him, Professor G said, "We'll take care of him." Wufei turned and saw the remaining 4 Gundam builders, looking down at their fallen fellow with expressions of dislike and disgust.

"Hai," he said simply, and ran out of the hangar.

Trowa moved quickly, climbing into the pilot's chair of the HeavyArms Alpha. A few moments later, he took off heading to the transport.

Trowa saw the transport, which was resting some distance from the station itself. He got within 100 yards, and suddenly felt as if something were very wrong. Instinct made him reverse his movement. At that moment, a huge explosion went off and the transport ship disappeared in a blossom of flame and debris.

Trowa was thrown back in Heavyarms, buffeted by the blast. He found himself resting against the side of the station, and realized the Gundam had not taken any damage from the shake up. He also realized they now had no way to get the Gundams into space.

Trowa scowled as he felt the familiar rage flare inside of him. His fists clenched on the controls. 'That was stupid,' he thought. 'You waited too long. Too much talk.' Dropping his head, he took a deep breath and then moved the Gundam back inside. Once he had the machine docked in its place, Trowa slammed his hand down on the edge of the chair. The sudden pain flared up his arm, making him shudder. He closed his eyes, then opened them again, feeling the icy calm soothe his emotions.

He then left the cockpit and floated down to the hangar floor.

Wufei ran out of the hangar, muttering a brief request to Nataku to watch over Trowa Barton, and headed for Alfa's room.

He didn't quite make it. He heard a distant crash somewhere, as of something being thrown against a wall, and Alfa's door opened and she came running out, with Heero and Duo on her heels.

Seeing Wufei, she did not stop, simply ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders.

"What is it?" she asked harshly, but Wufei could tell it wasn't directed at him.

"Master O - we think he sabotaged the shuttle," Wufei answered quickly. Alfa let out a sound, half growl, half scream.

"And the echo monitor," she spat. "They are already past the rim! In twelve hours they'll be at Earth orbit."

"Where's Trowa?" Heero asked.

"He went to check it," Wufei said. "Now I've told you, I'm going also," and with that he turned and ran back to the hangar, climbing into the Golden Dragon. However, he did not have time to get the machine in motion.

The others followed him into the hangar, and suddenly the whole station shook with the force of the explosion that destroyed the transport ship.

Heero looked up, growling as he pushed himself up off the floor. He looked around and saw Duo and Alfa beginning to stand as well.

"Trowa!" Alfa said.

Wufei hit his Gundam's stabilizers and was about to launch, when the alarm sounded, and Alfa pulled Heero and Duo into the control room, as the hangar depressurized. The giant doors opened and Heavyarms entered, scuffed with dirt but intact. The suit came to its position and Alfa repressurized the hangar.

Wufei came out of the cockpit as Trowa emerged from Heavyarms and dropped to the floor. Alfa, Heero and Duo ran out of the control room.

"You all right?" Alfa said, scanning Trowa visually.

"I'm fine!" Trowa replied with a little more force than he meant. Looking up at Alfa, he said, "I'm sorry. I blew it. The suit is good."

Alfa felt a surge of relief. Talking with Heero and Duo had brought back to her the memories of the time she'd spent with May. She did not want to see the gentle woman's son loose his life in something so pointless as a saboteur's bomb.

Taking a deep breath, Alfa sat down on the hangar floor. "No transport and we've lost our chance to intercept them at the rim," she said softly, almost to herself. "You're not the only one who blew it, Trowa."

Wufei frowned, understanding the graveness of the situation, but refusing to give up without even trying to find alternatives.

Oma came running into the hangar, with Quatre beside her.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"Master O blew the transport ship," Heero answered. "And the ESO are already inside the rim." Heero looked down, thinking.

Quatre said, "How far inside?"

Alfa gave her estimate of their location, watching the blond.

"They'll slow down passing Saturn's orbit," Quatre said. "In eight hours they'll be passing Jupiter. We can meet then in the asteroid belt beyond Mars. The asteroid field will provide us with cover. It's not perfect but it's better than waiting until they get here, and engaging in a battle that could endanger the Earth and the Colonies. If we can only solve the transport problem."

Alfa listened intently, realizing that this was an extremely good saving plan. But it also meant they would have to leave in four hours or less themselves, with no ship.

Duo looked around at the faces of everyone in the room, noticing that there were scientists also watching from the door near the control room.

Getting to his feet, Duo dusted himself off. "I need to make a phone call," he said. "Maybe Howard will let us use the Mantasail."

"What's a mantasail?" Heero asked.

"It's a ship, that Howard has been building. He was due to have a maiden voyage sometime soon." Duo said, sighing. "Maybe he'd like to see the scenic asteroid belt."

Turning to Alfa, he offered her a hand up. Looking at him, she accepted. "Thank you," she said simply.

"Thank me when he says yes," Duo said. "Where's a comm?"

Professor G beckoned him and pointed to the control room. Duo went off to make the call.

"Where's Okun?" Alfa said.

"Who?" Wufei asked.

"Master O."

"The scientists have him," Wufei answered.

Heero watched Duo disappear into the control room. "I say we send Master O out into space before we go." he muttered.

"No!" Trowa said clearly, looking down. "He gets to watch."

Wufei smiled.

Alfa looked at Quatre. "It's a good plan," she said.

Quatre nodded. Then he looked at his friends. "Oma had some suggestions for me that I think will help," he said clearly, looking at Trowa, then the others.

"Good," Heero said. "Now we won't have to hose you down."

Quatre laughed. "Please, no."

Duo came back. "Howard's on his way. He'll be here in two hours. That should give us enough time to get there. He said he'd really juiced her up... with Howard that could mean anything."

Alfa nodded, looking around the room at each of them. Her eyes held an emotion that was intense, yet somehow softer than they had seen. "You've done it," she said quietly. "You are making it work." She did not say the rest but her thought communicated itself anyway. She seemed to be thinking, for the first time, about hope.

Duo wiped his eyes, pretending to have something in one of them. "Ya, well if I'm supposed to playing trick or treat with some aliens from beyond, I think I need a test run in this new mobile suit I'm supposed to use," he said, and walked off to examine the Deathscythe Alpha.

"It's stronger and quicker. It can take a lot more as well," Trowa said.

"I want to check out the new Sandrock," Quatre said, following Duo.

"I've already had a test run," Wufei said smugly, "But I'll come out to give you someone to spar with." He climbed back up into the Golden Dragon.

"I'm in," Heero said, moving towards the WingAlpha.

Trowa walked over to Oma. "Excuse me," he said. "I would like to make a personal file. Where can I do that?"

Oma smiled. "How about my lab," she said, leading the way.

Alfa watched as the pilots began checking out their new Gundams. Doctor J came up and stood behind her.

"You seem to have made peace with some things," he said.

Glancing at him, she simply frowned, and looked back at the boys. "Shut up, old man," she said. Then she turned and trotted over to the Tallgeese. "Clear the bay," she said. "I'm going out with the others. "Let's see what they can do."

"Jock," Doctor J said, walking back to the control room to clear the hangar for launch.

Next... Earth....

Comments eagerly welcomed!

bonne & von

Comments? Email bonnejeanne@yahoo.com or vonceia@yahoo.com

Back to the Bonne-Von Project page