Author: bonnejeanne (bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) and vonceia (vonceia@yahoo.com)
Archive: GW Addiction (eventually)
Category: yaoi, AU? Epic Saga...
Rating: PG-13 for language but no guarantees on later installments
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, ?

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

Part Four: Wufei spies, Duo sneaks... Mission breifing... Unexpected company...

Quatre sat on the bed, watching Trowa close the door behind him. He looked up expectantly. "I think you want to talk, ... is that right?"

Trowa smiled then sat down beside Quatre. "Yes," he answered and then became thoughtful as he crossed his arms over his chest. "So what exactly will be we be fighting?" he asked.

Quatre took a deep breath. "I... don't know. I 'm not even sure Alfa knows. What she told me was about something called the Prometheus Project. It was started by some Colony scientists, who were trying to send signals into deep space, to see if there were other life forms out in the universe. They detonated nuclear devices on the far side of Pluto. It happened almost a hundred years ago, and according to Alfa, an answering signal was received twenty years ago. It seems to have been connected in some way with the original mobile suits project. That's all I know. She said she would tell us everything when we got here."

Trowa nodded. "She is quite a remarkable woman," filing the information away for later. "So, how do you feel about being here now?" he asked.

Quatre thought for a minute before answering. "I think we are in the right place. I want to find out more. I'm not afraid of Alfa. I was at first, but the more I'm around her, the more I feel as if I understand who she is. I don't think she has any intention of forcing us to do something we don't want to do. If we find out the rest and it seems wrong... we just leave."

"Hn. She's a lot *like* us," Trowa said. "She seems to have some help, but there are gaps in security here. " Moving back on the bed, Trowa leaned his back against the wall.

Quatre nodded. "She seems to want to keep this a secret... but I agree with you, they don't seem to have some very much to prevent infiltration. Perhaps she feels that there are no real enemies here. She seems pretty focused on the... the ESO."

"Exactly," Trowa agreed, and then inclined his head towards Quatre. "That is the first thing I noticed. After the eyes and the hair, her focus and concentration remind me a lot of Heero. I think we might keep our eyes opened to places where her concentration is not. "

Quatre nodded earnestly. "That is an excellent idea," he said. "Until we find out what the truth is, we should be prepared to defend this. And we should be prepared to give it up."

Trowa nodded again. "I agree." he said. Then he looked at Quatre and stretched out on the bed in front of him. "What do you think about Heero not being invited?" he asked.

Titling his head to enjoy the view of Trowa all stretched out, Quatre said, "I think it's a bad idea, strategically. And a good one for her spirit. But I think... it may be too late for her to change her mind now. This has been in motion for a long time. I'm a little worried to find out *how* long."

"How long do you think?" Trowa asked.

"I don't know... but Trowa, she when we first spoke, she said something very odd. She said... she had known me since *before* I was born." Quatre said slowly.

Trowa thought for a moment. "I have an idea," he said. "It's not a very comfortable one, but it is plausible. I was just thinking about what Heero will do when he discovers we 're gone," he said rolling on to his back on the bed.

Quatre's eyes widened. "You really think he'll notice that quick?" Then he shook his head. "What was I thinking -- of course he will!"

"He's a part of all of this. And aside from that, he is her son," Trowa added. "Which brings me to my next disturbing theory. Wanna hear it?"

Quatre nodded vigorously.

Trowa took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly. He looked up at Quatre. "How could Alfa have known you, us, whatever, 'before' we were born? Well, I was thinking that there were at most, nine months to do this. What would a scientist want with two, possibly five boy children? When she was preparing for the coming of an alien life force to wipe out existence as we know it? It would be more reasonable to assume that she was too busy to worry about kids." Rolling over onto his stomach, Trowa continued. "There is a possibility, though a slim one that you, and Heero and maybe even Wufei, Duo and I were in her plans from the start. "

Quatre's eyes opened wide. "Trowa... did I ever tell you what I found out about my birth, about my mother? You know that I thought I was a clone for most of my life. After the war, when I went home for a while, I spent time going through all Father's papers and things. My sisters had kept them for me. They told me that it was something I had to do, as his heir. It really didn't seem fair, you know, they're all older than I am. He should have chosen one or all of them over me." Quatre rubbed his cheek absently. "I found a letter he had left for me. It explained that I was a natural-born. He said he had not wanted to tell me, because he was afraid that I would blame myself, because my mother died giving birth to me. But in the letter, which he wrote before I came back the last time, he said he believed it was time for me to know. He never gave me that letter," Quatre said sadly. "But there were birth records and other things. I looked at them closely -- the truth is, I had a hard time for a while adapting to the change in what I had believed for so long. In the records there were notes written by a "Doctor A". This person had been some kind of specialist that my mother had gone to, to help her with having a child..."

Trowa smiled chuckled. "Then I would say that circumstantially, anyway, you were born to be a Gundam pilot, Quatre… maybe all of us. She worked on herself, why not start on the genetic level with us? Of course, it's all a theory," he said.

Quatre shook his head in amazement. "It's... I don't know what to think about it. Or feel. But Trowa... if ... if you really think you might be... that would mean that... wouldn´t it mean she knew your parents too?"

Trowa's eyes widened for an instant, and he smiled. "Well... yeah." he said. "It never occurred to me... " Finally, he took another deep breath and shook his head as the implications sank into his mind.

Quatre felt a bit stunned himself. Unable to speculate any further at that moment, he stretched out beside Trowa and reached his arms around the other boy´s waist, resting his head on the pillow beside him. Then he blinked guiltily. "I almost forgot, we were supposed to attend a briefing in.... an hour? It must be close to that now."

"Right," Trowa said reluctantly. "Guess we'd better go then." He sat up, then took Quatre's hand and pulled him against his chest. "I'm glad I came," he said, hugging Quatre against him.

Quatre simply hugged the tall boy tightly. "Me too," he whispered.

Wufei ducked back into the doorway behind him. He watched the large, familiar figure go down the hall, recognizing Master O instantly. First thought he was supposed to be dead, along with the other scientists. Wufei took a breath. Here was one of the unrevealed secrets. But why was the man coming out of the control room… and why did he look left and right, as if trying to avoid detection? Wufei´s lip curled. He had never felt right about the man who was Nataku´s creator. This man had agreed to the original Operation Meteor, to drop the L5 colony on Earth. Unlike the other four, he had not assisted in his pilot´s rebellion. Wufei´s refusal to obey, and his blatant rejection of the orders had stood between them from the beginning. As long as Nataku could do what he needed, Wufei had not cared. He´d trusted in Meiran´s spirit, not the metal. He decided he would make a special point of watching the enigmatic scientist. He felt in his bones that something was very, very wrong.

It wasn´t difficult for Duo Maxwell to get together what he needed, steal a small ship and rig it for stealth mode. Why steal? Habit maybe. Covering his tracks… perhaps knowing in his heart of hearts that Heero might try to follow him… but that wasn´t an idea he let into the forefront of his mind. There were too many other things there.

Getting to the station was easy, she had given him the coordinates and told him about the false warn-off messages. Duo came in on full stealth and landed the ship outside the base, then snuck in. He felt a bit affronted that they hadn´t even made it hard. There were few or no security precautions aside from very basic perimeter sensors, which he jammed almost without thinking about it. Once inside, he did a full recon. The results were disturbing. The only place where there was anything to look at was the suit hanger. Duo spent some time there, finding the new Gundam mobile suits easily, since he was looking for them. He had to duck once when someone came through… from the massive outline, Duo recognized the back of Master O. He shivered, remembering the beating he´d taken at the guy´s hands. He´d agreed to it, but it had been brutal. Perhaps more brutal than it had to be. So it was true, anyway. The old guys were still alive, not dead in an explosion on the Peacemillion. He remembered clearly how they´d persuaded him that they were sincere in their desire to atone for the wrongs they had done, their contributions to the war. Seems nothing was what it was supposed to have been. It made his skin crawl.

Examining the new Gundams also made his ‘spider sense´ start itching. He found the new Deathscythe immediately. Climbing in, heedless of the dark, he examined the systems minutely, and finally sat back, both impressed and chilled. These were machines even more adept than their predecessors. What could such things be used for, aside from war?

Duo managed to get out of the suit and into a corner when lights at the far end of the bay began coming on. He heard voices and saw people entering, from the concealment of the shadows. The briefing was about to start.

Oma walked into the small room she shared with Alfa. "You ready?" she said softly. The other woman opened her eyes and nodded shortly.

"I'm ready," she said steadily. So much depended on what happened next. Alfa knew she was not lacking in persuasive skills, but it had been twenty years since she'd put that part of her aside to prepare for what was coming. Heero, she thought silently, but the image in her mind was not a blue-eyed boy. For the millionth time, why did you have to get yourself killed, and leave me with this?

Of course it didn't matter any more. It was far too late to question what she was doing. Time to go... time to lay it all on the table and pray that this once, this one time, someone believed her.

By the time Alfa got to the hanger, most everyone else was there - the three pilots, the small group of technicians, and back in the shadows, the five scientists. She saw Jacob's lenses gleam in the darkness, wondering if he supported her, or hated her. Like everything else, it didn't matter at all.

Everyone loosely grouped around, some standing, some seated on benches or the floor. She walked to the middle of the open floor, her shoulders squared and her head up. She looked around, then began.

"Some of you already know what I am about to tell you, so I'm going to make this brief. As of twenty-two twenty yesterday, we are still getting echoes from an object or group of objects approaching the edge of our solar system, in a direct line from Draconis Major. As far as we know, no one else, in the Colonies or on Earth, is aware of it. At this point, if they were, there could be any number of catastrophic actions, from panic to celebrations. So we have not alerted anyone else to what we know. We have been preparing a special long distance shuttle over the past few months, and that ship, parked on the far side of this satellite, will make the journey to the rim. We estimate that we can get there in time to meet whatever is coming between the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. If it turns out to be an astral body, it may still be a menace - such a large object would displace planetary orbits and cause potential destruction we can hardly imagine."

Picking up a glass of water provided by Oma, she took a drink, then continued. "If it is not an astral body or group of them, we will have to assess the situation, and take whatever action we deem appropriate."

Looking around, she waited to see if everyone in the room was getting it.

For the most part, there seemed to be a consensus in the gathering that the plan was clear. Trowa folded his arms across his chest, bowing his head a little as he listened. His eyes swept the room, taking in and noting each face. Once done, he got that unnamed feeling again. It was the one that told him that someone was coming or something was going to happen. He looked down at Quatre and then back to Alfa.

Wufei found himself breathing slowly and evenly. The simple plan spoke volumes to him. It explained everything. For once, he felt that he was finally able to see clearly what was right. This was a thing that needed to be done.

Quatre listened closely, and found himself nodding. He understood what was being asked of them. Whether the approaching menace was sentient or inanimate, it would need to be dealt with.

Then he turned at looked at Trowa, suddenly aware that the green-eyed boy seemed to be listening for something else, something outside the room.

Then a figure emerged from the shadows at the back of the hanger.

"That can't possibly be all there is to it," Duo said, his voice thick with skepticism.

Alfa turned, and actually smiled, a very slight, rather challenging smile. "Maxwell," she said. "So you decided to join us. Good. Now sit down and shut up."

"Not until you tell me the rest of what ever it is you are hiding here," Duo said, facing her down, or attempting to. It was harder than he'd thought. Staring into those cold indigo eyes made his skin crawl and put a slight lump in his throat. If only she didn't look so much like...

Suddenly the comm on the wall began to emit an alarm.

"There is a powered object approaching at speed, it will violate the perimeter in two minutes," a mechanical voice announced.

Alfa whirled. "What? Status!"

The automated sentry monitor rattled off dimensions, power type and speed.

"Tallgeese," Trowa said, looking at each of other Gundam pilots in turn.

The comm squawked again, "Incoming transmission relay..."

  Zechs looked down at his panel and read the report. There was what appeared to be a large craft hidden behind a satellite, possibly a carrier. Additionally, a large amount of Gundanium alloy and some type of base was dead ahead as well. He sent a message to contact them. Once again, he felt the icy cold chill his emotions and the calm soldier took over.

"This is Preventer Wind of the Earth Sphere United Nation and you are in direct violation of ESUN Universal Peace Treaty of AC 195. You have two minutes to abandon this base and comply with standard Preventer handover procedures or you will be fired upon. Comply." Zechs transmitted. His fingers flexed on the controls.

At the station, the room was silenced by shock, but Alfa simply snarled and turned almost as if she had expected such an occurrence. "GET EVERYONE OUT OF THE HANGER!" she yelled with surprising vocal power. "And NO ONE leaves the station! Jacob! Launch controls!"

As she was yelling, she ran for the back of the hanger. Someone hit the floodlights, illuminating the entire huge enclosure. The five Gundams were suddenly revealed as if a curtain had lifted. Alfa didn't spare a moment, she simply ran for the one at the near end, and jumped from the floor to a scaffold and then to the open cockpit. "Get your butts out of here, Wing Alpha is launching in one minute!"

Out of the corner of Trowa's eye, he caught the sudden movement of Duo Maxwell. Moving fast, he stepped in front of the American and placed a hand on his chest. Looking into Duo's eyes, he shook his head. "It's her fight," he said simply and then moved to a safe spot away from the huge Gundam.

Duo gaped at Trowa, as if the hand on his chest had grown out of it suddenly. "You thought I was going to *help* her?" he said incredulously. Feeling completely out of balance, Duo gave up for the moment and ran out of the hanger with the others. Oma was in the hall, directing people. She caught the eye of the pilots and yelled, "Control room - it's the best place to monitor this." The technicians and scientists were scattering to all areas.

Duo found Wufei behind him, silent but definitely there. "I'm going, I'm going!" he said, not liking the way things were turning out one little bit.

In less than a minute, Zechs saw something coming straight for him from the station. It looked eerily familiar and yet somehow...

His comm crackled with an incoming transmission, from the other pilot.

"Now, Merquise," the voice said. "*You* have one minute to clear my space or prepare to meet Shiva!"

A deep frown creased Zechs' face. 'A woman?' he thought. "And you are?" he replied, preparing for battle.

The approaching suit could now be seen clearly and the design was all too familiar. It was a modified version of Wing Zero. "Oz didn´t teach you damn kids anything, did they?" the voice said. "I'm not here to educate you. Thirty seconds."

In the back of Zech's mind, something tickled at him. The name, Shiva... from the history classes... hadn't there been... a legend about the first mobile suit test pilot....?

Zech's eyes widened. He didn't have leisure to think, but had to act. He moved the Tallgeese towards the approaching mobile suit and fired.

She dodged as if his shot had been a rubber band. In seconds she was on him like a storm, showing neither hesitation nor restraint. Her combat moves were flawless - so smooth and instinctive it was as if she had practiced them for decades...

Zech's countered and managed to keep the Tallgeese in action. He fired off another volley at the demon mobile suit and headed for the primary target... the base.

His opponent deflected the blast with her shield arm and grabbed the arm of the Tallgeese, swinging him around by using her jets. A face appeared in his monitor. It was a woman, perhaps Treize's age or so, with piercing deep blue eyes that chilled his soul. "You don't get the station until you kill me... Peacecraft."

"Who *are* you?" Zechs asked. Everything within him told him to fire and take them both out. There was a good chance that the blast from the two Gundams would take out the base as well. He cursed his weakness.

Alfa didn't give a damn about honor at this point. "There are four Gundam pilots on that station," she said. "So after you kill me, you can blow them up. Sound like fun?" Opening her jets again she pushed him back from the station.

Zechs leaned back in his seat. He thought of the possibilities of his actions and what they would bring about.

"...assuming you *can* kill me, of course," she added, and released her hold on him. Suddenly her beam sabre activated and caught him with a stunning blow across Tallgeese's left side.

Zechs reacted without thinking. He felt the mobile suit shake with the impact of the beam and then moved it back. Within seconds, he activated the Tallgeese's beam sabre and attacked. Even he stopped speculating on how this would end.

Grimly, Alfa smiled. She got him to abandon the damn mega cannon. If worst came to worst, the mission could continue without her. Oma would see to that. Protecting the station was her single thought.

In the control room, the battle was being displayed on a wide screen beyond the main console. Watching, Wufei felt as if he could read every thought in her head. He recognized the goal of her actions. Ferocious though her style was, she was ultimately protecting what was behind her. In time Zechs would figure it out and exploit it.

His heart beating in his chest, Wufei suddenly made a decision and slipped out of the control room, running back to the hangar. He recognized the new version of his old Gundam, and headed for it. Before he made it, a voice caught up to him.

"Wufei!" It was Master O.

"I'm going. You can help or try and stop me," Wufei growled, without stopping.

Master O nodded. "Very well." Secretly he smiled to himself. Quickly he set the launch sequence.

Doctor J, whose attention had been riveted on the battle on his own monitors, turned suddenly. "O, What are you doing?!"

The new Gundam was painted gold, so Wufei mentally christened it "gold dragon". He launched and headed for the place where the two mobile suits were locked in combat.

Zechs was the first to see the newcomer approaching.

"Damn," he muttered. He moved the Tallgeese to a position where he could keep both suits in sight. Raising the beam sabre, he moved to strike.

Wufei dove into the fight, driving his beam trident at Tallgeese. "This is not Preventer business!" he yelled. "Leave now!"

Zechs moved back and to a neutral point once again. "These suits are in direct violation of the peace agreement, Chang Wufei. How is this not Preventer business?" he called back.

Any reply Wufei might have made was interrupted by the Wing Alpha, which suddenly dove in between the two, presenting her unprotected back to the Tallgeese. Locking eyes with Wufei over the comm, Alfa said in a low intense voice, "No. Wufei. No. Leave this to me."

"But..."

"You were never supposed to fight humans!" she yelled tightly, the pain in her voice all the more evident for the terribly controlled tone. "I don't matter - get back to the station!"

Zechs listened to the transmissions from the two mobile suits in front of him. Raising the sabre, he took a deep breath and moved the Tallgeese a short distance away. Cutting the sabre power, he hovered and watched. His fingers touched the comm. "Madame," he said, suddenly feeling a million years old. "I don't know what it is you are doing out here, but I do know that as a fellow human being... you matter."

Wufei's eyes widened. He backed up and lowered the trident.

The Wing Alpha spun around. Alfa disengaged the beam sabre. "Merquise," she said evenly. "Give me one minute. What if I swear that the mobile suits here will be gone from the vicinity of the Earth Sphere in two days, maybe less? You can stay and monitor if you wish. That is the best I can do. I will *not* let you stop this mission. I won't let anyone or anything stop it."

Zechs closed his eyes for a moment as his fingers covered half his face in an old unconscious gesture. "I have heard such words before, Lady." he said, quietly feeling sudden moisture gather in his blue eyes. Opening them, he barely noticed as the drops of water dispersed in the cockpit of the Tallgeese. "I will stay and monitor and not because I don't believe you." he said.

Alfa took a deep breath. "Accepted. You can land. If you do anything at all besides observe, I will kill you." *omae o korosu*

Turning, she took off for the station, and Wufei followed immediately.

Zech's moved the Tallgeese to follow Wufei. "Now where have I heard that one before," Zechs muttered as he saw the station rise before them.

Next... Heero...

Comments eagerly welcomed!

bonne & von

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

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