Note: The Gundam Wing material and characters obviously belong to Bandai. Arys Walker belongs to Starling. (Thanks for letting me use a great character!)

The Forgotten

Chapter 1

by Dustin

July A.C. 197

A lone figure walked down the dark, gritty streets of Oakland, on the Colony New Quebec. This was the first colony ever built, and when the Earth Sphere Unified Nations voted to give the colonies names instead of the long numbers, this one had been the first christened. Oakland was an old city, almost two-hundred years. This neighborhood had been like this for almost as long. The streets were littered with glass and bullet shells, the walls were covered with graffiti. Even in this time of peace, neighborhoods like these had their own little wars.

The person buttoned his trench coat tighter as the artificial weather systems started to pour rain down on the colony. The rain started, then stopped, dripped, then poured, before finally steadying on a medium level. The figure looked up in annoyance at the night sky. The weather systems were a bit quirky on the colony. Most of the inhabitants had gotten used to it.

The figure spotted a group of teenagers, probably all just out of high school. They looked up at him as he passed. The leader jerked his head.

“Sup, dude?”

The figure glanced up slightly and gave a little smile and a nod. Seeing his face now, it was clear he was no more than seventeen or eighteen. A ringing sound was heard coming from under the teenaged boy’s coat and the gang began moving quietly after him.

The kid pulled out a cell phone and flipped it open.

“This is Calder.”

A moment passed. Calder’s enhanced hearing detected the sound of multiple footsteps behind him.

“Colonel, I’m going to have to call you back.” He flipped the phone closed before the voice on the other end could respond. The footsteps continued to close on him.

“Hey!”

Calder stopped and looked over his shoulder. The gang closed to within a few feet of him, the leader stood six centimeters taller than Calder looked to weigh twice as much.

“I’ll make this real clear,” the leader said. “Empty your pockets, give us what we want, or we’ll take it from you.”

Calder watched the other gang members. They all looked very confident. It was six against one. They wouldn’t have any trouble with this guy.

Calder suddenly laughed. “It’s late. You guys should get to bed,” he said, a slight accent betraying his Russian origin.

The leader looked surprised, then angry. “Didn’t you hear what I said, punk?” He pulled a pistol from his waistband and pointed it at Calder’s face.

“Yeah, I heard you.” Calder continued to smile as he stared down the barrel of the gun. The gang leader glanced at his companions, who shrugged. The guy was crazy. He jerked his head and a gang member grabbed Calder from either side.

The younger boy quickly dropped and swept one leg around, knocking the first guy off his feet. At the same time he twisted his arm from the second guy’s grasp, grabbed his arm and flipped him over his back and into another member of the group. In the same motion, he knocked the leader’s gun aside and hit him twice, in the stomach and in the face. The larger boy dropped like a stone.

A quick check verified that the leader was the only one with a gun. But four switch-blades opened and their owners attacked. He side-stepped the first and gave him a little more momentum with his elbow. He knocked the knife aside on the next guy and slammed the heel of his right hand into his jaw. The third guy came up behind him and swung the blunt end of the knife towards his head. Calder ducked and grabbed the guy’s arm, flipping him onto the ground.

The fourth had waited for his chance. He slashed at Calder’s side and found himself flying though the air. He hit the ground with Calder crouched on top of him. In one smooth motion, Calder picked up the fallen pistol and drew his own sidearm from under his coat. He pressed the first into the forehead of the fallen thug and pointed the other at the rest of the gang, his blue eyes cold and emotionless. The whole fight had taken less than ten seconds.

The rest of the gang had gotten up and stood frozen. Calder slowly relaxed and stood, dropping both weapons so his side. He holstered his own, but held the other loosely in his hand.

“I’ll have to confiscate this,” Calder said, smiling again as he pulled the magazine and ejected and caught the loaded round.

The leader looked like he was trying to say something, but failing.

Calder just smiled and walked away. The gang didn’t follow and he pulled out his cell phone.

“Colonel? Yeah, ten o’clock is fine. All right. See you then.”

Preventer Facility

Olympus Mons Terra-forming Station

Mars

The artificial lighting snapped on and Duo Maxwell groaned. It was still too early. He crawled out of bed, stretched and stumbled into the small kitchen.

“About time you got up,” the girl standing there said.

He groaned. “Don’t talk so loud Hilde,” he grumbled and took a box of cereal from the cupboard

Hilde frowned. “Hey, I made eggs and hash browns.”

He pulled out a bowl and poured the cereal. “You eat ‘em. I’m having Cinnamon Toast Crunch.”

Hilde shook her head. “You’re impossible, Duo.”

Duo glanced at the clock. He had fifteen minutes till the meeting. He quickly finished his cereal and returned to his room. He dressed in his black jumpsuit and checked his gun before holstering it. He glanced at his open laptop with the picture of Calder Slandovich on it. He’d been looking for all the information he could find on him, and had only been able to find what the Preventers had known. He read it to himself again.

Name: Nicalder Leachim Slandovich

Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia

Nationality: Russian

Age: Approximately 17

Height: 176 centimeters

Weight: 60 kilograms

Eye color: Blue

Hair Color: Brown

Lived on Earth till he was approximately six, then moved to Colony L-31169 (New California). Gundam pilot trained for Operation Meteor, but disappeared in A.C. 194. Lived as a mercenary until Romefeller Foundation took over OZ, then joined the Treize Faction. His Gundam was found at the end of the Barton Conflict and taken to a secure Preventer hanger. The Gundam was almost immediately stolen from the hanger and tracked to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Calder was found there in his own small facility. The Preventers contracted his help as a mercenary. Became a Preventer agent in March of A.C. 197.

Current Status: Active Duty, Colony New Quebec

Duo finished reading and shook his head. Why had this guy just disappeared before Operation Meteor had begun? And he’d taken his Gundam, but never used it to their knowledge. Maybe they’d get some answers from the guy today.

“Duo? Didn’t you have a meeting today?” Hilde asked from the doorway.

“Yep. I’m on my way now,” he replied, closing the laptop.

Hilde grinned. “You finally got the colonel to move back the meeting time?”

“Yeah. It was hard, but there is nothing consistent wining cannot accomplish.”

She laughed and shook her head. “You really crack me up, Maxwell.”

“I know. You wouldn’t stick around otherwise, huh?”

“No way.”

He turned to the door. “See ya later Hilde.”

Calder sat in the conference room, sipping some tea. He’d arrived on Mars only three hours before and hadn’t slept. His training allowed him to maintain full operational capacity on only three hours of sleep a day and he could go almost two weeks without sleeping at all. He did note a two point five percent decrease in sensory input quality, but it may have just been the adjustment to the facility’s atmospheric content and pressure.

Recent breakthroughs in graviton field research allowed the Preventer’s Mars facility to be kept at near Earth normal gravity without having to apply spin, as was done on the colonies. It kept the agents and technicians stationed there from experiencing any muscle relapse from long period exposure to low gravity. If a lot of people started living on Mars though, it would be very difficult for them to go back to Earth.

Calder thought idly about a book he’d read a long time ago, about society on the moon. It hadn’t been so bad. They’d just had to spend their time on Earth in a wheelchair. And Mars’ gravity wasn’t as light as the moon’s…

Calder pulled his thoughts back to the present and took a deep breath. His mind was buzzing because he was nervous. The other Gundam pilots would be entering the room any moment. He’d gotten there ten minutes early so he would have time to watch all of the pilots as they came in. Chang Wufei was the first to arrive. Calder met the older boy’s eyes. If he was surprised to see him there, he didn’t show it. He just sat down and watched the newcomer carefully. Next, Lucrezia Noin came through the door. She greeted Wufei, who just nodded without looking up. Then she looked at Calder. She gave a smile and extended her hand. “Agent Slandovich, nice to finally meet you in person. I’m Lucrezia Noin. I’ve been impressed with what I’ve been hearing about your work.”

Calder took her hand and shook it firmly. “Thanks. You can call me Calder.”

She sat down in another chair opposite him and glanced at Wufei. He still stared straight ahead.

“Ow, ow, ow, sheesh woman, I didn’t mean it!” This came from the hallway, and seconds later Duo Maxwell became visible, trying to fend off a finger that was jabbing at his ribs. He quickly ran into the room, followed by Arys Walker.

Duo smiled when he saw Calder. He came around the table and sat next to him, sticking out his hand. “Hey Nicalder, Duo Maxwell. You may call me ’Your Highness’.

Calder wasn’t surprised at this and couldn’t help but grin. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” he replied, shaking the pilot’s hand. “Call me Calder.”

“You got it Calder,” Duo said, liking him at once. “That weirdo who calls herself a pilot over there is Arys Walker. Don’t sit by her, she bites.”

Arys gave a slight smile as she sat down, but watched him intently. Calder expected this and met her gaze evenly.

“And the sulking guy is Wufei. Don’t try and talk to him or he’ll chop off your arm with his katana.”

Wufei didn’t respond.

“So, Calder, we’re all kind of wondering, and I don’t mean to be rude, but where the heck did you come from?” Duo asked.

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway. “Agent Slandovich will explain when everyone arrives,” Colonel Une said as she took her seat at the head of the table.

Duo gave a salute. “Yes ma’am.”

The other three pilots entered one by one. Each greeted him as expected. Quatre Raberba Winner was very friendly and enthusiastic. He was the only pilot that would show any semblance of trust right away. Trowa Barton didn’t say anything when he came in, just gave Calder a thoughtful glance. Last to arrive was Heero Yuy. Heero was the one Calder was most nervous about meeting. He’d seen him before on two separate occasions, once at a Treize faction camp, walking up to the command tent, and once at the end of the Barton Foundation’s attempted Christmas Eve coup. He’d always been in awe of the pilot called ’The Perfect Soldier’, but was determined not to show it. Heero met his eyes and stared long and hard. Calder felt himself get a little smaller, but held the other boy’s gaze.

“All right, now that everyone is here, we’ll get to it. Due to some requests...“ Colonel Une looked pointedly at Duo, who put up an innocent face. “...the meetings have been moved back to ten o’clock from now on”

“Early bird gets the worm, Duo,” Quatre said teasingly.

“Not true. I stayed up all night once trying to find worms, and there were none. I was very disappointed Quatre, and I’ve decided not to speak with you for a week.”

“And as wise man says, ‘Early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese’,” Arys added with a smirk.

Colonel Une continued as though this commentary were a normal event. “In your report folders today, you have...”

“Excuse me Colonel, but I think we’d all like to cut to the chase,” Arys interrupted, looking at Calder.

Une smiled. “Very well. Mr. Slandovich?”

Calder took a deep breath. “My name is Nicalder Slandovich, as you know. You can call me Calder. You’ve all read the report on my basic history, so I’ll get to what you don’t know. I left Operation Meteor because I was sort of a double agent for none other than my parents. They were working on a project to enhance the human brain. They heard about the Zero system, and made sure the Barton Foundation would notice and recruit me. I spend six years training for Operation Meteor, and when I had the opportunity, I gave them the schematics for the system. After my Gundam was complete, I took it to my parents, who had modified the system. They installed the upgraded version into the Gundam and tested it on me.” He smiled ironically. “They pushed me to the extreme, and that was when my eyes were opened to the fact that I was expendable to their research. I left without further delay. Last I’d heard, my parents were killed in an OZ attack. I kept my Gundam hidden and lived as a mercenary and fought with the Treize Faction, then later for the Earth against White Fang. When I heard my Gundam had been found, I immediately went and got it, but didn’t realized it had been tagged. So Colonel Une found me and asked if I would help out the Preventers.”

There was silence, then Quatre spoke up. “I’m so sorry that your parents did that to you,” he said, remembering his experiences with the Zero system. Calder looked surprised.

“Don’t be,” he said.

More silence. “Any questions?” Calder said lightly.

“How good a pilot are you?” Wufei asked.

Calder smiled. “Good question. I don’t know that myself. I’m nowhere near as experienced as you guys are, but I think I can hold my own in a fight.”

Wufei was satisfied with that answer. He wondered if he’d have the opportunity to fight him later on, to test him. He studied the younger boy’s wiry frame. He wouldn’t be especially strong, but he’d be very fast in hand to hand combat.

“Now, if you all don’t mind, we’ll move on with the report,” Colonel Une said. The lights dimmed and holographic representation of a star field appeared on the table. “As you know, the terrorists who call themselves the Forgotten have been rallying support from several groups on Earth and the colonies. We’re still not clear who supports them, but Calder and Noin have made a disturbing discovery. Noin,” she said with a nod.

Noin stood and touched a control and the hologram zoomed in, passed Mars, and centered on a section of the asteroid belt. “Recently, patrols picked up a lot of theta radiation from this sector of the asteroid belt. When we sent a probe into the area, we found beam turret defense platforms in the asteroids and picked up a lot of hyper-jammer activity going to and from the area. We tracked one of the cloaks and ended up at the New Quebec colony. It was a freighter, which entered the colony seemingly through a solid wall. We believe it is the Forgotten using some kind of hologram to cover a secret docking bay. They perhaps have an entire facility hidden in this colony.”

“Freighters going to and from the asteroid belt and a high level of theta radiation? Sounds a lot like they’re mining gundanium alloy,” Trowa remarked.

“We believe so,” Une said. “Calder has been looking for this facility and we believe he has found something. Calder?”

Calder touched his own console and a diagram of the colony replaced the star field. He leaned back in his chair. “New Quebec was the first city colony ever built. It was constructed by separatists, fleeing a totalitarian government in 2090 A.D. calendar, and is the farthest from Earth, not part of any cluster. Later, colonies were built closer in for convenience of commerce. Therefore, it is very isolated, lacking a lot of modern technology as well as any police force. This, along with its proximity to the asteroid field, makes it an ideal spot to hide a refining facility.

“I found a slight, but noticeable increase in theta radiation, as well as readings that could indicate a hologram, in Oakland. I mapped out the perimeter of the radiation reading and drew this outline of where I believe the facility is,” Calder reported. He adjusted the image to show the city’s layout with a rough outline superimposed on it. “As you can see, it’s nearly as big as the city itself.”

“Analyzing the freighter traffic, we estimate they are bringing in and refining almost a half-ton of gundanium a week,” Noin said.

“So what’s the plan?” Duo asked.

“We can’t find any way into the facility, and there is no way of destroying it short of destroying the whole colony,” Colonel Une said. “So, for now, we’re going after the mining operation. It’s well defended by a perimeter of heavy beam cannon platforms hidden in the asteroids and at least thirty mobile dolls. We have a commando team ready to get inside the facility and shut down the defense perimeter, but we need all of you to attack, because we’re not sure how many suits they have there, or what they are made of,” the colonel said. “If they are mining gundanium, then the suits they have there will likely be armored with it.”

Duo whistled. “We’ve never fought gundanium armored suits in large numbers before,” he said, stating what everyone was thinking.

“We’re still waiting for the commando team to report. When we have an idea of when they will be able to get the perimeter down, we’ll attack. In the mean time, be ready to go at a moments notice. Dismissed.”

Everyone stood up. Wufei left without a word, followed by Trowa. To Calder’s surprise, Heero engaged Arys in conversation with a subtle touch to her back and a small smile. Calder must have looked surprised, because Quatre spoke up.

“I know. You never would have though either of those two were capable of that kind of affection,” he said.

He nodded. “Everything in there files said they were both loners.”

“Yeah, none of us thought Heero would ever love anyone,” Duo remarked. He and Quatre had stayed behind. “We’re gonna get some food before we head to the hanger. Care to join us?”

Calder started to automatically say no, but changed his mind. “Why not?” he said and followed them out.

After lunch, the three went to the hanger to prep their Gundams. Quatre was surprised at Calder. The first impression he’d gotten of him was that he was going to be more like Trowa. But he’d quickly warmed up to Duo, responding naturally and enthusiastically, maybe even openly. Quatre smiled to himself. But who really knew with these Gundam pilots?

Upon entering the hanger, Duo rushed to a closed alcove. “May I present to you, the great and glorious... Deathscythe!” he said opening the alcove door and revealing the dark, menacing Gundam.

Calder looked at for a moment and scratched his head as though puzzled. ”What’s with the wings?” he asked.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s like Batman. Did you ever read comic books?”

“Batman?” Duo said, looking incredulous. “Batman?”

“Well, it’s sentimental, but its kinda dorky, you know.”

Duo glared with mock severity. “Never insult the mighty Deathscythe.”

Calder laughed.

“Okay come on, now I have to insult yours,” Duo said. They proceeded to the middle of the hanger where Calder’s Gundam now occupied an alcove. Calder opened the door and waited for Duo’s reaction.

Duo scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Well… hmm… it’s um... fat.” Calder laughed and came up beside Duo.

“I mean seriously, that thing can’t possibly get off the ground.”

Quatre looked up. Duo was almost right. Calder’s Gundam was massive. I stood at least a meter taller than any other one and had wide, hawk-like wings. The dark green, almost black coloring made it an impressive sight all together.

“There is a reason it’s fat, as you so delicately put it. You could batter it all day and you would barely scratch the paint,” Calder retorted.

“Yeah, that had better be the case. Considering it couldn’t even move.”

The other pilots had come up, wanting to study the new Gundam. “What are it’s capabilities?” Heero asked.

“Glad you asked,” Calder said, allowing himself a slight, proud smile. Wraith, deploy all weapons.

The Gundam immediately opened several compartments. A Vulcan cannon was revealed on each shoulder, the chest armor opened to reveal two gatlings, a gatling gun popped out on each side of the left forearm, missile launchers opened up on each shoulder, and a beam saber and some kind of gun appeared on each wrist.

“You have an interface with it,” Arys remarked.

“Yeah. After I had the Gundam to myself, I replaced the Zero System with this interface. I have a computer chip in my head which connects to Wraith’s computer. Wraith is the name of it, sorry.”

“Which is better, it or the Zero System?” Heero asked.

“I honestly don’t know. I use the interface so I can switch weapons rapidly in combat and get tactical data faster. I just didn’t want to use the system anymore.”

Heero nodded.

“Anyway,” Calder continued. “It has two Vulcan cannons on the head, two at the shoulders, two chest gatlings, a double gatling on the left forearm, forty homing missiles, double beam sabers and double plasma guns. And there is an energy whip coiled behind the shield.”

“It’s armed to the teeth,” Quatre remarked.

“Even Heavy Arms doesn’t have that much.” This came from Trowa.

“Yes, but it would be slow at close range,” Wufei said. He found it curious that the Gundam was almost the opposite of Calder. Calder would be fast, but not strong in combat. Wraith would be slow, but powerful.

“What are the plasma guns?” Arys asked.

“They fire a plasma blast encased in a particle field, very powerful at medium range, but the farther the shot is, the more the field degrades and the plasma disperses.” Calder replied.

“It must have an upgraded thruster system so it can be effective at close range,” Heero said.

“Yes. There are about thirty more thrusters on it. It’s still slower than anyone else’s though.”

The others left to go back to work on their own Gundams. Duo stayed just long enough to make one last remark.

“Deathscythe could kick it’s butt,” he said.

“I’d like to see you try, bat-boy,” Calder replied.

Matters of interest: 176 centimeters is about 5’9”

60 kilograms is about 132 pounds

Assuming the first colony was built in 2090 as stated here, the year After Colony 197 is 2287 AD.