DISCLAIMER: Gundam Wing belonged to
Sunrise and co. I’m not making any profits out of this, so don’t sue. Oh, those
you think you’ve never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome,
people!☺
TIMELINE: The story mostly takes place after Endless Waltz. To be more precise, one year after Endless Waltz. That means two years after my very own Treize’s Revenge series.
By Arayelle Lynn.
Zechs was so occupied with Trec’na and his back up
Mican troopers that he barely noticed the bright white light coming at the
corner of his eyes. Instinctively, his body shuddered as the memory of a lost
battle not long time ago came into mind. That’s when he saw it. That’s when he
finally recognized it!
The particular bright white
light once belonged to the battleship Libra, his battleship. But the
battleship had fired its last beam on Earth before being destroyed. Even so, it
caused a lot of devastation that took years for Earth to recover. Now, the
same, destructive, white light was slicing through the universe like an arrow.
And they’re all right in its path!
Acting mostly on his reflexes,
Zechs rolled away from the path of the beam. He spared a glance at Kylie, who
was battling K’Rin and Con’trai. And obviously, they did not see the blast
coming. “Kylie! Get away,” Zechs found himself screaming on top of his lungs.
Hearing the fear in his voice,
Kylie instinctively spun away to safety, as did Con’trai. But K’Rin, who was so
engrossed in getting her revenge, did not see the blast until it hit her.
Still, she tried to escape the deadly white light but it was too late. In a
matter of seconds, she was drowned in the bright radiance. Then, there was
silence.
Zechs watched the now familiar
white light reached the mothership, tearing its hull. In horror, he watched
some of the Preventer’s mobile suits and slaveships fell into destruction being
in the path of the cannon’s target. In that one second, Zechs found himself
praying that his wife wasn’t one of them. And in that one second, he swore to
make somebody pay for this horrific display.
Shaken and shocked beyond words,
Kylie didn’t even see the shrapnel from K’Rin’s spear pierced into Nova’s armor
until it was too late. By then, she only heard the sickening sound of metals
grinding and broken glasses. When an excruciating pain tore into her, Kylie
could only scream.
>>>@@<<<
Trowa saw the white light coming
from MO V. A light he thought that he would never see again. He saw the light
destroying everything in its path, enemy and allies alike and disappeared into
space, heading towards where the mothership was. All that happened in just a
split second. But that split second caused too many lives.
For a moment, time seemed to
stop for all of them.
Then, he heard a scream.
“Kylie!” he heard Zechs
exclaimed, there’s a haunted tone in his voice.
No answer.
Trowa opened the channel. But
instead of the visual inside Nova, there was only static. “Kylie?” he enquired,
deeply concerned. Something must’ve happened to her. Could it be that she was
hit by the cannon blast as well?
When there was no answer, Trowa
heard another voice tried. “Kylie?” That was Duo.
Trowa was about to try again
when he heard her. But it was only on audio mode. “It’s okay,” said the girl,
her voice sounded shaky. “I’m fine.” But her voice failed to convince him and
so Trowa switched his screen to the visual Zechs was receiving and gasped.
A shrapnel was protruding
through Nova’s armor, right through the cockpit!
“I’m fine,” Kylie repeated, her
voice sounded more like herself now. “I was just shaken.”
That maybe right but Trowa
didn’t want to take any chances. Especially not with the girl Quatre cared
deeply for. “Give me your status,” he said, acting more and more like a leader
and a big brother now.
“Nova’s not badly damaged, aside
from the shrapnel. He can still fight.”
But he didn’t want to believe
it. And Trowa wanted to make sure of it now while the Telrhanis were still
spooked. “What happened to your visual?” he prompted, wondering why he couldn’t
see the inside state of the new Gundam.
“Busted. The shrapnel shattered
the screen,” Kylie responded. Then her voice became cold. “Look, don’t waste
your time on me. I wouldn’t be so concern about you if you were in my shoes,”
she snapped, as they heard the irritation in her voice. And so, Trowa decided
to drop the matter.
However, Zechs was the only one
who had seen how badly the impact had hit Nova. He wasn’t convinced by her
words. But as Zechs was about to check on her, something moved from his side.
“Killers! Is this what you humans interpret as honor?” Trec’na growled,
grieving for his lost commander, K’Rin.
Zechs, glancing at a screen,
realized that the war had resumed.
>>>@@<<<
When Kylie saw how bad her
situation was, she knew that she had to lie to the others. Not only did the
shrapnel pierced through her cockpit, it went through her flesh as well, just
below her heart and exited at the back of her seat, pinning her fast. Her
oxygen was leaking and Kylie estimated that she had about eighty minutes before
her air run out.
But that’s not the thing that
worried her. Even as she tried to suppress herself from being defeated by pain,
she could feel her mind going numb as shock was starting to creep upon her. All
these were the reasons why she had lied to Trowa. The reasons why she had told
him that her visual was broken, where else she had disconnected the visual
system before answering his hails. She cannot let them see how badly her wound
was.
Sensing that the war around her
had resumed, Kylie tried to remove the shrapnel so it won’t hinder her
movements. But as soon as Nova’s hand closed onto the shrapnel to yank it out,
a searing pain sent a shock through her body.
She didn’t even realized that
she had cried out until she heard Zechs’ voice. Gritting her teeth, she fought
back the darkness that seemed so welcoming at the moment. “Mind your own
business, Merquise!” she snapped, glancing at Epyon as it battled Trec’na. She
couldn’t afford to show her weakness to any of them right now. Especially
not right now.
Then, the controls in Nova’s
cockpit chimed as the side screen blinked, showing that the enemy was making a
beeline towards her. Ceasing her effort to free herself from the shrapnel, she
pulled the throttle and reentered the war, bleeding and very much in pain.
>>>@@<<<
Quatre almost got the upper hand
on the Warleader when the ship suddenly shook violently. Unable to control his
footing, Quatre stumbled backwards, hitting his head on the wall, hard. For a
moment, darkness swirled around him as the blow on the head caused him to lose
consciousness. Quatre fought back the darkness, only to realize that he was too
late.
The Warleader, who also had lost
his footing, stumbled in Quatre’s way. The tip of his blade ran into Quatre!
Quatre cried in pain as he felt
the blade cut into him. Then, came an earth-shattering explosion, which sent
both fighters sprawling on the floor. Instinctively, Varishk rolled back onto
his feet and looked away, his eyes narrowed as he pondered had happened. For a
moment, his moaning enemy was forgotten.
“Starhkis!” he called out to a
screen at the sidewall. But no one answered him. Frowning, he looked down at
the moaning human lying before him. “What have your people done?” he demanded,
as the ceiling started to fall on them. Varishk looked up, barely avoided a
rubble.
He looked at Quatre accusingly.
“What have you done to my ship?” he shouted, making his way towards the
cowering Gundam pilot, menacingly. But then there was another explosion and
Quatre saw the Warleader disappeared under a rubble.
Confused and helplessly in pain,
Quatre closed his eyes, praying for the end. Then, he felt a presence as a
shadow fell on top of him. Fighting back the beckoning sleep, Quatre opened his
eyes. A figure was crouching before him, Heero.
“Quatre, are you alright?” Heero
enquired, deeply concerned. It took Quatre a moment to comprehend what he said
and nodded.
“Never… better,” he rasped,
gritting his teeth as Heero helped him up. “You don’t look so well yourself,”
he commented, noticing Heero’s cuts and bruises all over his body. It was as if
Heero had just been in a fight and barely walked out of it. His hair was matted
with blood and a trail of blood trickled down his cheek.
“Got caught up with an old
friend,” Heero replied, looking around the room. “Where’s Varishk?”
Quatre nodded at the rubble in
which Varishk disappeared under. “He’s there. Most probably dead,” he gasped as
a shot of pain went through him. He took some slow breaths to repress it.
Heero stared at the rubble,
uninterested. “That’s good. Let’s get out of here. Wu Fei has the prisoners
safe and we need to get out as fast as we could. We don’t want to be caught in
the explosion again.”
They staggered out of the room and into the bright
hallway, with Heero mostly supporting Quatre. The blonde pilot then noticed
that the shakings and explosions seemed to have ceased after he passed out.
“What happened, really?” Quatre
croaked, feeling his chest burning like molten larva.
Heero glanced around them for
any signs of the aliens. But found none. “I don’t know,” he answered. “But if
you want a guess then I have one word for you. McGarth.” He looked at Quatre
with his steel Prussian blue eyes. “Which is the more reason why we should get
out of here.”
>>>@@<<<
Wu Fei waited until all the
prisoners were out of the detention hall. The two Telrhani women, Sira and
Mylin, continued to battle each other as if the world around them did not
exist. Wu Fei could almost bet that the two barely even noticed that the
prisoners were all gone and that aside from the two of them, Wu Fei was the
only one left.
Making his way out, Wu Fei
paused long enough to study Mylin for the last time. She looked like one who is
prepared to die. Her resolved face and the cold look in her eyes reminded him
of someone he had known a long time ago just before that someone died, Wu Fei
realized with a pang.
It was then Wu Fei realized,
with a start, that he was reluctant to
leave her like this. That he felt that he cannot let her die. Somehow, Mylin
must’ve sensed his thoughts because she spared a glance at him. “What are you
doing still standing around here for?” she snapped, wiping the blood that
trickled from her split lips as a result of Sira’s precise high kick. “Get
going!”
“Don’t die, Mylin,” said Wu Fei,
as Mylin blocked a blow from Sira. “You and I still need to deal with our
unfinished business,” he reminded her, hoping that would help her survive the
duel against Sira.
Mylin defended herself from
Sira’s vicious blows but spared a glance at Wu Fei again. “Just go, Chang Wu
Fei. Leave!” She yelled at the last word for emphasis as well as to mark her
coming assault on Sira. Seeing both were locked in a furious mortal combat, Wu
Fei left the hall, running.
Then, there was an earthquake
and an explosion and Wu Fei was knocked down. For a moment, there was only
darkness as the sky started to fall on him. After what seemed like lifetimes,
the earthquake stopped and the darkness began to dissipate.
Picking himself from the floor,
Wu Fei began to realize what had happened. He had witnessed this kind of
explosion before. It was… “Libra,” he voiced, feeling the shock wearing off. A
thought came to him. “McGarth!” His disgust over the cowardly man turned into
anger and hate. “He must be behind this!”
Then, that anger and hatred
turned to one of fear. He suddenly realized something. “Mylin!” he breathe,
remembering her and Sira who was in the hall he had just left. Turning, Wu Fei
saw that the way had been blocked when the ceiling collapsed. Fighting the urge
of digging through the debris to check on her, Wu Fei ran the other way. If the
Telrhani spy was killed, then she had her vengeance and her job was over. His
job now was to make sure the prisoners got to safety and the wormhole device
destroyed.
>>>@@<<<
When the great explosion
occurred, Mariemaia had been pretty scared. She wondered what was happening in
the world outside but Mylin had told her, specifically, to wait in the hangar
for the others. She did and soon, one by one, the other prisoners appeared.
Right now, they were all looking
at her. Fear and confusion were clearly written in their eyes, reflected on
their faces. They looked at her for a hope that she would have the answer but
how would she when she herself was asking the same question? What happened in
the war?
For the thousandth times,
Mariemaia glanced back at the entrance, hoping that the Telrhani spy would
appear any moment. But she didn’t. Mariemaia didn’t really know what role Mylin
had in all this. Didn’t know why she was helping them out. But Mariemaia was
very glad to have her as a friend. Seeing the Telrhani fought her own kind told
the little girl enough that she would never want her to be an enemy.
That thought brought back the
previous horror when Mylin was rescuing her. Mariemaia had thought that they
would die when the guards appeared, training their weapons on them. But as the
guards were shooting to kill, Mylin had pulled herself and Mariemaia back into
the dark cell. Then, she single-handedly killed all the guards within seconds.
Mariemaia had never seen someone with such skills and speed before. Mylin could
be as good as the Gundam pilots, or perhaps even better!
Suddenly, her head perked up
when she heard something. Running footsteps. “Mylin?” she was about to say when
a familiar figure appeared. “Wu Fei!” she said with profound relief as he made
his way towards the bewildered prisoners.
He checked their condition and
was satisfied that none of them were badly hurt. Even the little girl,
Mariemaia was scratch less. Then, remembering where they were, he shouted.
“What are you people standing around here for? Get on the shuttles. We’re
leaving,”
That seemed to bring the
prisoners awake. Quickly, they boarded the shuttles that he had prepared. Those
who knew how to fly entered the cockpit as the Gundam pilot made his way
towards his awaiting Gundam Altron.
“Wu Fei,” said Mariemaia,
stopping him. He looked back at her, quizzically. “Mylin?” she asked, biting
her lips.
Something battled inside the
Gundam pilot then. But it quickly disappeared. “She has something else to take
care of,” he answered. Then he nodded at one of the shuttle. “Quickly, get
aboard the shuttle,” he ordered. “Or Kylie would never forgive me if she heard
we left you behind.” Mariemaia was surprised to hear his voice softened at the
last statement. But before she could contemplate about it any further, Wu Fei
was already in his Gundam.
>>>@@<<<
When the shock finally subsided,
everyone was glaring at McGarth. Two of the Preventer agents were holding onto
him before he could push the button the second time. For a moment there was
silence in the control room. McGarth looked at all of them, defiantly.
Then the door flew open and a
flash of bright gold burst in. Her face was red in anger. “What just
happened?” she demanded.
Instead of answering Dorothy’s
question, they all turned to look at McGarth for an explanation. The man looked
at Lady Une’s pale face and snickered. “You didn’t know, did you?” he asked,
glad to have the advantage over her. “Of course you don’t. MO V’s complete
blueprint was never showed to you.”
He was satisfied to see the
surprise look on Lady Une’s face. “When the ESUN council decided to build a
permanent base for the Preventers, they’ve added a secret weapon.” He paused,
seeing the realization on their faces. “Yes, they installed a beam cannon. The
same one that was destroyed on Libra.”
“Why?” asked Relena Darlian,
shocked to find herself standing near the destructive weapon. “I thought you’re
against all sorts of weapon. You’re the one who wanted to get rid of the
Gundams so much so we could all have a world without weapons.”
McGarth snorted. “That was the
whole idea, Vice Foreign Minister. Originally, the cannon was built as Earth’s
defense against the Gundams.” Seeing the shock on their faces, he
continued. “We know that a time will come when the Gundams would be our enemy.
And so, we devised the only thing that could destroy a Gundam.”
“You were planning to execute
them?” Vincent voiced, disbelief. He was shocked at how heartless McGarth
sounded.
McGarth shrugged. “But then, who
could’ve thought that it would be useful against the aliens,” he said. There
was a sick pleasure in his voice. “The cannon worked perfectly. The aliens
never expected that blow.” He smiled hungrily at the memory of the cannon
destructive power.
But nobody was smiling with him.
Instead, they stared at him with profound hatred.
Her face getting even angrier,
Lady Une strode over to him and grabbed the front portion of his uniform in her
hand. Her other hand coiled back, preparing for a punch. “What gives you the right
to build that accursed thing? In my base above all?!”
“I have every right,” said
McGarth, pushing her hand off him. “It was the council’s decision, remember?”
He then nudged his head defiantly. “Anyway, you should be grateful. We surely
showed the aliens what we’re made off.”
“Those were my men you just vaporized. And yours as well,” Lady Une argued, her control over her anger was forgotten. “Why did you sacrifice them needlessly? Who gave you the right to decide to use the weapon against the Telrhani fleet?”
His face red, McGarth glared
back at her. “This is war, Colonel Une,” he said, reminding her of her former
rank. Her subordination. “There are bound to be casualties. All I have done was
using any necessary means to ensure our victory, even sacrificing our men.” He
shrugged. “Besides, the ones who were actually in danger were the Gundam
pilots.”
“You were actually aiming
to destroy the mothership?” Relena voiced, piecing together what he had just
told them. “With Heero, Wu Fei and Quatre on it? And Mariemaia and the
prisoners?”
McGarth shrugged. “And the two
new Gundams fighting near Uranus.” Seeing the stricken look on everyone’s face,
he frowned, irritably. “Come now, I have my orders as you have yours. And my
orders were to use any means necessary to destroy the aliens.” He
glared at the two confused Preventer agents. “Step aside, I’m going for the
second shot.”
Suddenly without warning, Relena
hurled a chair at the console, where the control of the cannon was. The panel
crackled and then died on impact as they all stared at Relena, surprised. “You
are not going to use that cannon again,” said Relena, her voice was
dangerously calm but all could see the quiet rage in her eyes. “As long as the
cannon is functional, you’re endangering the lives of those who fight out there
for the survival of humanity. Not only that, you’re endangering the colonies as
well.”
Then, she stood eye-to-eye with McGarth. “I don’t know how deep your hatred is for the Gundams but I can assure you that you will pay for what you have done to those who were killed by the beam cannon.”
“Well said, Relena,” said a new
voice. They all turned to see the President entering the room.
“Mr. President, what are you
doing here?” asked Vincent in astonishment. “I thought that…”
He waved off Vincent’s concern.
“I was on my way to Earth when we got caught in the battle.” He glanced
at the screen where the war had resumed. “The Maganacs were kind enough to make
sure my shuttle stays intact. Good people, they are,” he said. Then, his face
darkened. “But when I saw that beam killed our brave men, I had to return.”
He strode over McGarth. “You’re
finished, McGarth. You and those people who support your cause. You made me see
that the Gundams are not to be feared but people like you are.” He glared at
McGarth. “Compare to you, McGarth, those boys are like guardian angels. They’re
protecting the peace that they believe in. But you, you are the devil that once
given power could end up destroying the world within seconds.”
He nodded at the two Preventer
agents. “Take him away.”
Silence followed as McGarth was
‘escorted’ out. But it didn’t last long when an agent spoke up. “Ma’am,” she
said, her forehead creasing. “There’s something here that I think you should
see.” And image appeared, showing the wormhole.
“What is it?” the President
asked, seeing the strange look on Lady Une’s face.
“Something’s coming from within
the wormhole,” the agent reported.
It was Lady Une who made the
revelation. “It’s the Telrhani’s reinforcements.”
Those in the control room
gasped, staring at the screen. Sure enough, they could see something was coming
out of the wormhole. Something that could thwart the progress the Earth forces
were making. If they do not do anything right now, they might as well kiss
their freedom good bye.
But what can they do?
Suddenly Sally spun around her
seat. She called out to Lady Une. “What is it?” the head Preventer enquired,
concern.
“I found something in my scans,”
Sally reported as Lady Une stared at the screen. “When that beam cannon hit the
mothership, it revealed this.” A small space station of alien design could be
clearly seen just on the other side of the mothership. From the readouts, it
seemed as if there’s a huge amount of power coming from it. Immediately, Lady
Une reached the same conclusion as Sally.
The mothership hadn’t move
because it was protecting something.
“The wormhole device!” She
exchanged glances with Sally. “So, the device isn’t on the mothership at all.
It had been outside the ship this whole time.”
Sally nodded. “The mothership
sends out false signals to disrupt our sensors, just like the jammers in
Deathscythe. And the ship’s body protects it from our raw vision.”
Lady Une bit her lips, thinking.
“We must contact the Gundams about this. One of them must destroy the device
before the Terhani’s reinforcement get here.” She turned to the agent at the
communication panel. “Patch me through Wing Zero.” She glanced at Relena.
“Heero would know what to do.”
She glanced around the faces in
the room. All of them reflected the hopeful look back at her. ‘Yes, Heero will
succeed,’ she thought.
“I can’t get through him,” the
agent reported, punching a few buttons. “And 04 and 05 as well. The mothership
must be disrupting their signals too.” She turned to look at her leader,
uncertainly.
Lady Une came over. “Then, patch
me through the Gundam which is nearest to the mothership.”
“That would be Gundam Nova,” the
agent replied, reluctantly.
‘Kylie,’ Lady Une thought. Does
she dare send the girl to such a dangerous and important task? ‘Yes, Kylie can
do it,’ she decided, shaking away the doubts and fears that were overwhelming
her.
“Patch me through.”
>>>@@<<<
The pain was excruciating. Every
movement she made left her weakened, every twitch of her nerves left her
gasping. The only thing that made her stay conscious was the Zero system. And the
fact that Quatre and Heero needed her. That’s what made her fought on, by
making the pain as part of her.
Somehow, Zechs must’ve figured
out that she was wounded because he was taking on most of the Mican troopers
around them. At first, Kylie was tempted to coldly refuse his assistance. But
now, she was beginning to feel thankful for his presence. His efforts made her
able to battle Con’trai and his supporting troopers.
Since both of their commanders were down, the Micans
had been executing unorganized attacks. It seemed as though they couldn’t
really fight well when it came to single, unstrategized battle. And that proved
to be an advantage to the Gundams since all of them are used to fighting alone,
as well as in a team.
However, as she fought, her thoughts were mostly on Heero, Quatre and Mariemaia. The blast from the beam cannon had destroyed almost half the mothership. She was mainly concern if the three survived the blast and was relieved that the beam cannon hadn’t spouted its deadly blast anymore.
Suddenly, something slammed
against Nova, as she cried out. Gripping hard on the thin thread of
consciousness, she swung the twin beam sabers, destroying the Mican trooper
that had slammed into her as a distraction and the one who was closing in on
her.
“Heero, Quatre, please hurry
up,” she prayed, knowing she couldn’t take the pain any longer. From the corner
of her eyes, she saw some of the Mican troopers left the battle to defend the
mothership from Noin’s troops.
“No!” she found herself choke.
They would complicate the rescue mission. A glance at Zechs told her that he
was too far away to catch up with them and far too busy compared to her. But a
look at her wound told her that she had not the strength to make such a
perilous journey. Especially since there was something coming out from the
wormhole, she noticed with a start.
But that’s when fate told her
it’s time to go, permanently.
Her comm. chimed.
“Kylie, are you there?” Lady
Une’s voice was loud and clear. “Why can’t I see you?”
“The visual is down,” she
answered, irritably. “Look, I’m busy. What do you want?”
“We’ve found the wormhole
device. We couldn’t get through to Heero and the others to inform them of this.
And you’re the only Gundam close enough,” her voice trailed off.
Right there and then, Kylie knew
what she must do. The answer was made clear to her now. And all doubts and
hopes shattered at that moment. The vision Zero had showed her earlier on told
her the decisions she must make. The dream of her past had already decide her
fate before she was even aware of it. There had been one reason why she was the
one badly injured. And she accepted it calmly, as one who was returning into
the arms of God.
“Are you listening to me?” she
heard Lady Une said. “The Telrhani’s reinforcements are coming through the
wormhole. You must destroy it before they get here.”
Her eyes lit with new fire,
Kylie gripped the throttle tightly. A new strength radiated throughout her body
as she destroyed all the enemies around her. She didn’t even realized that she
had destroyed Con’trai in the process too. Her thoughts were only on her goal
and her final mission.
Glancing at the screen where
Lady Une should have appeared if she had switch on the visual, she nodded. The
old, raging, cold fire burning inside her replenished her weakened body.
“Mission accepted,” she said, not hearing the gasps in the background at
hearing how similar she sounded like Heero.
And Nova left towards the depth
of space. To its final destination.
>>>@@<<<
After getting the prisoners out
from the mothership, Wu Fei found that his job was far from over. Now, he,
Heero and Quatre had to make sure the prisoners got away safely from the
Telrhani fighters that had converged their attacks on them. The three fought hard
to shield the prisoners from the fighters and to provide them with enough
opportunity to escape to safety.
Wu Fei bit back rude words as
his beam trident winked off. Throwing the useless trident against an incoming
Telrhani, he used the only weapons that he had left. The dragon fangs and the
Vulcan cannons.
As he fought, he spared a few glances at his two
comrades. Heero’s twin buster rifle had been discarded long time ago, having
drained dry. He’s now using his beam saber but that’s also seemed to be nearing
its power limit as Heero now had started using his Vulcan cannons to preserve
the power of the beam saber.
As for Quatre, his main weapons
now were the Crusher Shield and the Vulcan cannons. His Energy Sickles were in
pieces, having drained of power. And Wu Fei saw that Heero had purposely
stationed Quatre near the prisoners’ shuttles just to spare the injured pilot
from the full force of the battle. But Wu Fei knew it won’t be enough. Even
with Noin troops fighting with them, it won’t be long before they all run out
of firepower. And what’s worse, they couldn’t call for assistance because
something was jamming their long-range frequency.
And the worst thing was,
something was coming through the wormhole. Something that spelled trouble.
Suddenly, Wu Fei heard a series
of explosion. He turned to look and saw a tiny star making its way towards
them. A tiny star that look a lot like… “Kylie!” he heard Quatre Winner
exclaimed.
>>>@@<<<
“Kylie!” Quatre exclaimed, the
pleasure in his voice was apparent. He then saw her destroying everything in
her path as she made her way towards them. She was still too far away to help
them. However, her presence was just the thing they needed to motivate their
efforts to escape.
“… status,” he heard his comm.
crackled. A transmission was coming through from Nova.
“We’re low on firepower but
we’re holding on,” he answered. Then, to his dismay, his Vulcan cannons clicked
empty. Next to him, he saw Heero’s beam saber sputtered off and Wu Fei tossed
away his empty Vulcan cannons. “We’re really low,” he muttered under his
breath.
Kylie must’ve seen their
predicament. “Then, you three will have to use all you have left to shield the
prisoners and get out of the way,” she advised but coming from her, it sounded
like an order. “I’ll cover your escape.”
There was silence and it was
Heero who spoke first. “Roger that,” he said, there’s a hint of reluctance in
his voice. But he knew that the civilians must be evacuated first to minimize
casualty. And right now, the fate of the prisoners and Noin’s troops
rested on his shoulders.
“We will use our Gundams to
shield them from harm,” he said, more like a statement than a suggestion.
Reluctantly, the other two Gundams positioned themselves around the prisoners’
ships. Nova continued to fire on the fighters from afar and as soon as there
was an opening, the three Gundams led the prisoners’ ships away from the
Telrhani fleet, towards the incoming new Gundam.
Quatre gritted his teeth against
pain as the Telrhani continued to fire on them. Though he used his Crusher
Shield to deflect the incoming fires, there were still shots that hit home,
making his pain from his injuries even harder to endure. He wondered about
Heero, wondering if his own injuries were giving him as much pain as Quatre’s
own. And wondering if it was the reason why he agreed to Kylie’s suggestion and
let her handle the firework.
‘No, that’s not it,’ he thought
to himself. ‘Heero feel that it is his responsibility to get the prisoners and
Noin’s troops out of danger. And myself too, unless I have my say to it.’ He
clutched his bleeding side. ‘But once we’re behind Nova, he would hold position
with Kylie and help her obliterate the rest of the fighters following us. He
would order Wu Fei and I to lead the others to safety.’
Quatre then watched the tiny
Nova grew in size as it made its way towards them in maximum speed. And the
more he watched it coming, the greater his hopes were. Hope that they will get
out of this mess alive and hope that they will all survive the war.
A few minutes later, Nova had
grown to its normal size as they were just a few meters away from each other.
But something startled Quatre then. Nova hadn’t reduce its speed to hold its
position. Instead, it accelerated and flew passed them!
“What are you doing?” he heard
Heero asked. He too was taken by surprise.
“Sally found the wormhole
device. I’m here to destroy it,” she answered, making a beeline towards the
mothership. “I leave the prisoners and the rest of the fighters to you, Heero.”
With that, she cut off their connection. Hearing what she was going to do,
Heero saw that some of the alien fighters broke pursuit to stop her. But he
knew even the light weight fighters couldn’t match the incredible speed of
Gundam Nova.
As the exchange between Heero
and Kylie transpired, Quatre was thinking about another discovery. When Nova
had flew passed him, he discovered that a shrapnel was protruding through
Nova’s armor, right into the cockpit. And finally, he remembered that he had
received no visual from Nova’s cockpit when Kylie contacted him.
‘Something’s wrong,’ he decided,
fearfully.
>>>@@<<<
‘What is she planning to do?’
Heero wondered, furiously. He tried to read his twin’s mind to predict what she
was thinking but his own mind was still clouded by surprise and pain. And the
alien fighters were not helping him in the matter either.
Firing his Vulcan cannons, Heero
forced himself to remain calm. It was then a thought came into mind. A thought
that sprouted when he recalled something peculiar Kylie had done before
entering the battlefield.
Apparently, Quatre reached the
same conclusion too when he suddenly exclaimed, “No! She cannot be thinking of
that.”
“Yes she is,” Heero confirmed. “She’s going to ram
the space station and use the self detonation switch in Nova to destroy the
wormhole device and the Telrhani mothership!” His jaw was set as he hit the
annoying alien fighters. “She’s planning to take them all down with her.”
>>>@@<<<
“What!” Trowa found himself
gasped. He heard Duo echoed the same thing too. Both of them had kept their
channel open and so they heard what the others had said. Including the part
where Heero said Kylie was planning to ram the wormhole device.
“What’s with this girl and
ramming spaceships, anyway?” he heard Duo growled. “Does she have some sort of
a death wish?” He snorted. “Or is she just plain crazy, thinking that her thick
head could ram into anything.”
Trowa shook his head. “I don’t
think that’s it, Duo.” He looked around. The enemy had been completely
destroyed, safe a few determined and desperate alien fighters that were being
handled by the Maganacs and the Earth forces. The flagships and Mican Warrior
Keil’n were also destroyed, after a furious battle with the two Gundams. Now,
there’s no need for their presence there. “The place is secured, Duo. Let’s
help Heero and the others.”
With that, Gundam Heavyarms and
Deathscythe soared towards deep space.
>>>@@<<<
Captain Stharhkis struggled to
regain control. After the deadly white light hit the ship, everything was
thrown into a state of chaos. Nearly half the people on the bridge lay dead,
being buried by rubbles that fell on top of them when the mothership was hit.
Then, he started to hear reports from the battlefield, indicating that they
were losing, which’s still unacceptable to Stharhkis.
For a thousandth times,
Stharhkis cursed the humans for their barbaric beam cannon. He had heard about
its power but he had also heard that such cannon didn’t exist anymore. And
again he cursed the humans. He had always thought that they were a dishonorable
race.
From the damage reports he had received, the blast had caused the ship to lose its engine, rendered them motionless. The internal communication was partly down and they lost almost half the ship. About the only thing that was still functioning was the weapon system and Stharhkis was determined to use that to protect the mothership and the precious prize on the other side of the ship.
As the crew busied themselves,
Stharhkis wondered about the Warleader. He had tried to contact him but he
didn’t get any answer. And he was beginning to think the worse. The Warleader
and his bodyguard/lover, Sira were in the below decks where the blast hit the
most and Stharhkis was beginning to think that they had perished.
‘No, not the Warleader,’ he
thought. He knew the Warleader to be someone of many lives. Varishk had faced
many deadly situations that almost end his life, situations even more peril
than this, and he always came out alive. ‘No, the Warleader is alive,’ he
thought, fists clenching. ‘And he will make the humans pay.’
“Captain!” a voice jarred him to
their present predicament. He turned to regard the young officer at the helm.
The young Telrhani looked back at him, his face bore a terrible news. “The
humans have discovered the location of the wormhole device. The one called
Gundam Nova is making its way towards it.”
“What about the reinforcements
from the motherworld?”
“They’re on their way. Estimated
time of arrival ten minutes.”
Stharhkis slammed a fist on the
console. “! Anything could happen in 10 minutes time. It would only take
less than 5 minutes for a Gundam to destroy their target.” He gritted his
teeth. “ the humans and their Gundams.”
He turned to the soldier on the
tactic console. “Fire the cannons. I want that Gundam destroyed!” The soldier
obeyed his command as Stharhkis turned his attention to the new threat. He
balled his fists. ‘Warleader Varishk, where are you?”
>>>@@<<<
Sira stirred. Everything around
her was dark as if she had been thrown into the abyss. Remembering the traitor
Mylin, Sira rose quickly, only to fall back to the floor gasping in pain. She
coughed and felt blood trailing down her lips. Her chest and lungs felt like
fire as she realized how painful every movements she made.
Her eyes searched the area,
until it rested on the pile of rubble where Mylin had been standing. Satisfied
at the thought of the dead Emperor’s Eye, she started to close her eyes to
rest, permanently.
That’s when she heard a noise.
Startled, Sira’s eyes flew open.
She stared at the approaching dark figure. Unable to move any longer, Sira let
the figure approached her but instead of feeling the finishing blow, she felt
herself being lifted by a pair of strong arms. “Sira.” A soft husky voice
pierced through her ears.
She looked up to the face of her
lover. “Warleader?” She smiled, wishing she had enough strength to touch his
face. “You’re alive, my lord.” Her voice sounded surprisingly weak. Then, her
eyes hardened. “I was right, my lord. Mylin is a traitor. Or was…” she trailed
off, nodding at the rubble a few meters away.
Varishk nodded. Then her body
shook as painful spasm hit her again. More blood dripped down her lips. “Hold
on, Sira. I’ll take you to the healer,” he said, beginning to move towards the
exit. But to his surprise, Sira shook her head.
“No, my lord. You must leave
this place right now before the Gundams launch their final assault.” She
coughed. “The mission is a failure but you must return to the Regent and plan
another mission. Bringing me along would only slow you down.”
The Warleader shook his head.
“No. I am not going to leave you behind nor am I going back to the Regent. I am
defeated by a lower race and that would only bring shame upon me and my family
if I return.” He smiled at her. “If you’re planning to die here, so am I.”
“No,” said Sira, tears were
starting to roll down her cheek. She stared at the handsome, battered face
before her. The past sorrow that they endured, the sorrow that originated from
the forbidden union between a master and his servant hit her again. Not being
able to be his legally, Sira had always contented with being with him as a
lover. That alone brought happiness to her life. And his as well.
“You must leave. You must
convince the Regent that you have fought a very worthy opponent. Not the humans
in general but the Gundam pilots. You must be the one who warn him what they’re
capable of. You shall be the only one who understand them enough to ensure that
the Regent do not underestimate them as we already did.”
Then somehow, her hand found some shred of strength to touch his face again. And she cried in joy for that.
“I just wish that I could be there with you so I could cut off the tongue of
those who’ll try to bring shame upon your name.” Her hand dropped again,
exhausted. “I really want to stay by your side forever, my lord. My love.”
>>>@@<<<
The minute that Kylie approached
the mothership, she was quickly being fired on. Although the mothership looked
battered and seemingly helpless, its cannons could still blow Nova to space
dust. And though Kylie had proven her piloting skills by dodging deadly
asteroids near Mars, there were still shots that hit Nova.
Personally, Kylie thought that the black dots that were
floating before her eyes were blocking some of the incoming shots. And every
time she was hit, she was a hairline from passing out. So, Kylie bit her tongue
to use the pain to keep herself awake. She knew that she couldn’t afford to
fail now. Not if she wants to stop the vision Zero showed her from happening.
And somehow in that hazy chaotic
state of things, Nova chimed, showing Kylie’s target on the screen. She had
just passed the mothership’s furious cannons and now there was nothing between
her and the space station, where the
wormhole was. Though the mothership was still firing at her, Kylie barely felt
the impact as if the cannons were just annoying fire ants biting her back. The
only thing in her mind was the wormhole device and the endless darkness it
offered.
Tightening her hold on the
throttle, she pushed Nova to its maximum speed towards the space station.
As she plunged head on, she
never heard Quatre’s pleading cries.
>>>@@<<<
Heero and Quatre watched
helplessly as Nova flew towards the space station, dodging the shots coming
from the mothership. By then, Trowa, Duo and Zechs had already joined them,
battling the remaining alien fighters and Mican troopers. Zechs was still
battling Trec’na who was trying to break away from the battle to stop Nova’s
attempt. But between keeping the enemy off the prisoners and covering Nova’s
back, the Gundams had their hands full. And the aliens seemed more than
determined now to stop the bright gold Gundam from destroying the wormhole
device.
As for the pilot inside Nova’s
cockpit, no one seemed to be able to get through to her. They knew that the
channel was still open, hearing Kylie’s painful cry every time she was hit, but
she was not answering their calls. It was as if she had shut off the world around
her mentally. And that only made Heero even more than desperate to go after his
twin sister.
Then he heard Quatre gasped as
Nova made it through. Now, there was nothing between her and the space station.
Heero then saw Nova picked up speed and headed straight for the space station
in a collision maneuver.
“No,” he heard Quatre cried,
desperately. “Kylie, eject! Eject!”
But it was useless. If Kylie
hadn’t acknowledge their calls before why would she start now? Watching
helplessly, the Gundam pilots saw Gundam Nova plunged deep into the space
station.
>>>@@<<<
Kylie didn’t know how long she
passed out. Not a single part of her body that didn’t feel pain. Everything was
like a blur to her and for a moment there, she felt like surrendering herself
into the excruciating pain. But the sound of someone’s voice reminded her that
her job wasn’t finished. Not yet.
She opened her eyes slowly,
gritting her teeth against the poundings in her head. Reaching up, she pulled
off her cracked helmet. “Quatre?” she gasped, assessing her condition and
finding it as hopeless as before.
“Kylie, are you alright? Can you
hear me?” came Quatre’s desperate cries.
Groaning, Kylie’s hand closed in
on the shrapnel that had pierced through her. Hoping that she could somehow
escape from the imminent death, she tried to break free. But only to give up
when pain shot through her. Looking down, she realized that she could no longer
feel her legs. Chuckling bitterly at her rotten luck, Kylie made the
distinction that she won’t be able to go anywhere even if she manage to pull
herself free.
And so, casting away the bitter
disappointment on her face, she did the only thing that she was able to do.
Telling the others her hopeless predicament. Just so that they would understand
why it had to happen. And accept it.
She switched on her visual.
>>>@@<<<
When their screens blinked,
showing the inner state of Nova’s cockpit, the visual shocked them speechless.
Slumped on the seat was Kylie and protruding through her was a shrapnel that
once looked like a spear! A great deal of blood pooled on the floor, indicating
the amount of blood that she had lost. Her wound was so serious that they
wondered what had kept her alive!
They got their answer a second
later.
Smiling weakly, Kylie wiped her
sweaty pale forehead. “I’m sorry, Quatre. I’m afraid I’ve bought a one-way
ticket here. I don’t think I can escape even if I wanted to,” she said, staring
at the shocked expression of the blond pilot she cared so much.
“No! There must be a way,”
Quatre protested, finally gotten over the shock.
Kylie shook her head, trying to
lift the fog off her head. “No, there’s no way. The spear is pinning me to the
seat. I can’t remove it at all.” She looked at him, helplessness was clearly
showing in her eyes. “I can’t even move my legs.”
She closed her eyes. “No, it seems that I must go
down with Nova in this.” With that, she raised her hand and pushed the
self-detonation button, before anyone could stop her. Warning alarms blared in
the cockpit as the countdown began.
15 seconds…
“There, it’s set,” Kylie said,
her voice sounded surprisingly calm. It was as if she had already made a pact
with death. As if she had accepted her eventual fate. “Don’t worry. Nova’s
detonation device would be enough to destroy this space station and the
mothership. And then, the war would be over.” She spoke the last word softly.
14 seconds…
“No!” they heard someone said.
Suddenly, Wing Zero broke away, heading straight towards the space station at a
speed that they never thought possible. “Heero!” Quatre called out but Heero
had already switched off his comm.
“Stay back, Heero!” Kylie warned
him. She almost bolted from the seat, only to gasp in pain and sank back down.
She closed her eyes and breathe slowly, trying to extinguish the pain in her
body. “There’s nothing you can do for me.”
But Heero didn’t say a thing.
And Wing Zero continued its descend.
11…
“If Heero’s going, then I’m
going too,” said Quatre, determination flashed in his eyes.
Kylie’s eyes flew open. “No!”
she gasped, hoarsely. “Trowa, stop him!”
It took both Trowa and Duo to
hold Sandrock. Quatre struggled against their hold, trying to break away and
pleading them to allow him to help Kylie. Though their grips were firm and
fast, Quatre’s determination slowly winning over the struggle. It was then
Altron ceased its fire on the alien fighters and slammed its fist into
Sandrock’s torso.
“Stop it, Winner!” came Wu Fei’s voice. “You won’t
be helping anyone if you’re there. You’re too weak and too emotional and you
might end up getting yourself killed in the process,” he spoke, harshly. He
shook his head, a longing look could be clearly seen when he turned to where
Heero was. “No, the only person who could help her now is Heero. He’s the only one
who could do it.”
Hearing what Wu Fei said and realizing the truth in
it, Quatre was forced to give in.
He stared at the pale face on
the screen and moaned. “Kylie, please try to escape,” he pleaded. But
Kylie had already used up all her energy in the battlefield. She had only
little to keep herself awake. She shook her head as tears of pain and anguish
were threatening to roll down.
8…
She looked at them, too tired to
smile. “Thank you all. You’ve saved my soul years ago when I thought that it was
not worth saving. You Gundam pilots have shown me the value of living a life as
a fulfilled soldier.”
Then she stared at Quatre. After
a struggle, she managed to raise her hand and touched the screen, where his
face was displayed. Quatre in turn raised his own bloody hand to meet hers.
“Thank you for teaching me how to care, Quatre. I know you don’t understand why
I’m doing this but know that it’s because I finally learned how to care.”
She winced as the pain grew. The
seconds ticked by. “Tell Mariemaia that I’m sorry. Sorry that I couldn’t be
with her as I’ve promised.”
5…
Then, her strength finally gave
out. Her arm dropped limply but she held her gaze at Quatre. “I’m cold,
Quatre,” she whispered softly, feeling the chill creeping through her body. She
no longer felt the pain. It was a distance away, just as Quatre’s face suddenly
was. She tried to grasp at it, to touch it again but her arms wouldn’t move.
“You’re so far away,” she mumbled, darkness swirling around her. She couldn’t
even see the tears on his face anymore.
4…
“Farewell, Quatre. You’ll always
be in my heart.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Nova. We’re only partners for
a very short while.” Then, the darkness claimed her, drowning everything around
her. Kylie’s last thought was of her and Treize, walking along the garden of
roses behind Treize’s mansion…
>>>@@<<<
“No, Kylie!” Quatre cried out.
They had lost the visual of Nova’s cockpit just as Kylie lost consciousness.
Frantically, he tried to regain their connection but it was fruitless. He tried
to break free from Trowa, Duo and Wu Fei’s hold, to just somehow rescue Kylie
before it was too late, but failed. Drowning in his own desperation, he didn’t
even hear Zechs telling Heero to turn back.
“Heero! You’ll never make it,”
Zechs stated, feeling the need to at least spare another Gundam pilot from
total destruction. “Turn around before Nova explode.”
3…
But Wing Zero didn’t slow down.
“If I can’t save her then I will die with her,” came Heero’s response, shocking
all of them.
Relena nearly dropped to her
knees when she heard that. Heero’s tone was unmistakable. He was
planning to die with Kylie. ‘Could it be that Heero’s in love with Kylie?’ she
thought, dreadfully, still unaware of the real Heero-Kylie relationship, like
everybody else. Too weak to stand on her own, Relena let Vincent supported her.
2…
“No, it can’t be,” she
whispered. She lunged forward, her arms outstretched. “Heero!”
1…
Even her scream couldn’t drown
Quatre’s own cry of anguish as a white light exploded from the Telrhani space
station, tearing through the wormhole device and destroying the mothership in
pieces. Then, the whole universe was swallowed in a blinding white brilliance.
A few seconds later everything,
the space station, the alien mothership, the wormhole, Gundam Wing Zero and
Gundam Nova were gone without a trace.
