The System

Chapter Two

By Dustin

            The star field stretched out in front of her, seemingly forever, the white points of light dazzling her, making her dizzy. So much space. We’ll never be able to know it all, she mused. She glanced back at her instruments, then to the left of the wrap-around display. She could just make out the plume of exhausted plasma in the distance from the engines of her wingman and flight commander.

            Dominique LeShey sighed and stretched, then touched an icon on her screen. The star field shifted and she could see a gleaming white object ahead of them. They were still two thousand kilometers from New Siberia, but the massive structure could be seen with the naked eye through the vacuum. Their curving flight path would avoid the large debris field that still hovered a few kilometers from the colony from the battle with the Forgotten a month ago. It was slowly being herded into a smaller area and freighters were dragging pieces to various stations to be melted down and refined into usable materials again.

            The monotonous drone of her engines was interrupted by a soft beeping. Dominique pressed the flashing light on her screen and a window opened, displaying the striking features and distinctive platinum black hair of Lucrezia Noin. “Major?” she inquired.

            “Just wanted to see how you were doing,” Noin said with a smile.

            “I’m fine. Just admiring the view,” Dominique replied.

            Noin nodded. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” She glanced at her readings. “We’ll be able to analyze the debris field in a few minutes.”

            “Do you think it’s really like they say?”

            The major shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s hard to believe. Could be they’re just being paranoid, after what happened.”

            Dominique nodded. “And I wouldn’t blame them.”

            They passed a few minutes in silence as the colony steadily grew larger on their screens. Dominique could see the swarm of work pods still repairing the outer hull of the colony’s axis where it had been mutilated to install the Forgotten’s super-weapon.

            Noin’s voice came over her comm again. “We’ll bracket the field at the point they said the disturbance is evident. I’ll take port.”

            Dominique acknowledged, switched off her autopilot and maneuvered her sleek, black-painted Taurus to starboard. She could see the gleam of sunlight on metal sparkling ahead of her as the pieces of debris slowly turned in space. There was soft beep and Dominique glanced curiously down at her instruments. She was drifting off course. Berating herself slightly, she corrected her trajectory. A minute later, her instruments complained again. She frowned and looked more closely at her readings. Odd. She seemed to have a small amount of lateral momentum. She recalibrated her instruments, and corrected her flight path again, watching the displays closely. There it was. A definite pull to starboard. She scanned the area for gravity fields but found only the one exerted by the colony directly ahead of them. She opened a channel to Noin.

            “Um, Major? Something keeps pulling me off course.”

            “Yeah, I’m experiencing it to. Reduce speed to one thousand kph. Take a look at the debris field from this angle.”

            Dominique reversed her engines and rolled the Taurus so she could see the debris field. After a second, she spotted a thin, cone-shaped formation in the sparkling pattern, extruding from the main field like a river from a lake. As she neared the field and her speed slowed, she realized the river of metal was slowly drifting at an angle away from the colony.

            “How can that be happening? There isn’t another gravity field here.”

            “I don’t know,” Noin said. “I’m contacting the colony.”

            They were queried by the colony’s traffic control, and after a few minutes, Noin was patched through to the colony governor. Dominique would observe the conversation without him seeing her.

            The face that appeared was that of an older man, with a long face and silver hair. He nodded a greeting. “Major, thank you for coming. If we’d detected your approach, we would have warned you about the anomaly.”

            Noin nodded. “Yes, we’re experiencing it. Do you have any explanation for it?”

            The administrator shook his head. “None whatsoever. Our best scientists can’t figure out what the source is.” He paused and Dominique could clearly see the concern and fatigue etched into the lines of his face. “There’s more. We haven’t wanted to risk sending one of our ships out there, so we’re not certain, but we think that at a point six thousand kilometers from the colony, the debris is disappearing.”

            “Disappearing? How?”

            “We don’t know that either. But as of an hour ago, the colony itself is now being pulled towards this disturbance.”

<-- -->

            Calder apprehensively walked down the hallway of the Preventers’ London headquarters. His hair was now in its normal, slightly disheveled state and he wore a long, black trench coat over black pants and a black button-up shirt. They’d only arrived in London an hour ago and Calder alone had been summoned to Colonel Une’s office. He thought he knew what it was about.

            Reaching her door, he paused for a breath, then pressed the button to announce his presence. The door slid open and Calder walked in, doing his best to look casual. “Colonel,” he said in greeting.

            “Agent Slandovich, sit down,” Colonel Une said, indicating the chair in front of her desk. “Give me a moment to finish this report.”

            Calder sat, wondering if the formal use of his name was a bad sign. He studied the head of the Preventer organization. She had a calm, commanding presence and seemed much older than her twenty-three years. It was hard to believe that the majority of the Preventer leaders were under thirty and its leading agents all under twenty.

            I wouldn’t be here if that weren’t the case, Calder thought to himself.

            Colonel Une set the report aside and looked at Calder, her severe expression reminding Calder of her beginnings in Oz.

            “A gunshot wound, a broken nose, broken wrist, collapsed trachea, and Cappella has a broken knee, a dislocated shoulder, and a concussion,” she said. “I know I don’t have to tell you what’s wrong with those things.”

            Calder hesitated, torn between being diplomatic with saying what he really wanted to say. He compromised. “With all due respect, Colonel, I wasn’t in the best position to be polite.”

            Une tightened her lips. “You and the other pilots are, by your natures, prone to do things your own way, and I’ve always given you a lot of freedom in how you accomplish your objectives. But I know what you’re capable of and how you usually do things. This was sheer malice on your part.”

            The words stung, all the more so because he knew they were true. He wasn’t ready to give up yet though. “You knew about my history with Cappella,” he argued. “I restrained myself, didn’t I? I didn’t kill him.”

            “This isn’t about you and Cappella,” Une said. “It’s about you and the Preventers. If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been facing a lot of criticism for our actions against the Forgotten. A lot of people lost their lives. The last thing we need is reports of an unduly brutal arrest adding to this.”

            Calder had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “Wouldn’t people be a little more concerned about the slightly brutal nature of the murders Cappella committed?”

            Colonel Une sighed. “I could argue with you all day Calder, but I think you understand what I expect from you.”

            Well, that was it then. “Yeah, I understand,” he said with a sigh. “It won’t happen again.”

            Colonel Une gave him an appreciative smile. “I know it won’t. Thank you, Calder.”

            He stood and stepped out into the hallway and was nearly knocked over by Arys Walker. “Sorry, Calder,” she said. “Follow me, you should hear this too.”

            He followed her back into the office, where she set a folder on the desk. “Colonel,” she said, nodding a greeting. “These are the results of the data we got from Cappella. We’ve confirmed, beyond a doubt, that it is the Zero System.”

<-- -->

            He couldn’t remember when he’d felt this peaceful before. Not since he was a child. Fifteen years at least. He couldn’t remember. Even after he’d had no battles to fight, no objective to fulfill, he’d been dissatisfied. Besides, he’d spent nearly a year after the Eve War recovering from his extensive injuries. One couldn’t exactly call that relaxing.

            Zechs Merquise had been a soldier all his life, much like the Gundam pilots. It was hard for him to get used to the idea of peace. He’d felt lost and helpless in a world that he no longer understood how to belong in. Until recently. Noin had helped him form a new life on Mars, helping with the terra-forming station. Then, two months ago, she’d gone back to the Preventers. Zechs would have gone too, but she’d insisted he stay. She didn’t want him drawn back into the world’s problems. He was grateful. He just wished she’d come back soon.

            He sighed and breathed in the recycled air that was mixed with the thin, wonderful smelling Mars atmosphere. Just a few kilometers outside the transparent dome of his habitat Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the entire solar system, began to rise, though its peak was still beyond the too-close horizon. He supposed that’s why he felt so peaceful here. Anything on Earth was too familiar, and tainted by the presence of humans.

            He received regular communications from Noin, none mentioning the goings on of the Earthsphere Unified Nation, simply telling him she was fine, that she’d return as soon as she could. He thought she’d seemed especially frayed and tired in her last message. He’d tried asking what was going on, but she’d only shook her head and told him nothing he needed to worry about.

            Noin, someday you’re going to have let me back into the world, he'd said to her.

            I know. Just not today.

            He supposed he wasn’t in a hurry.

            He donned an EV suit and grabbed some tools to take measurements of the algae in the soil near the habitat. The dry ice that made up the south-pole of the planet was being carefully melted to create additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which, along with rising temperatures created by a colossal orbiting mirror that intensified the sun’s rays, would allow the algae to thrive, slowly increasing oxygen levels. As the atmosphere thickened, more flora and smaller forms of fauna would be introduced, hopefully leading to a Earth-like ecosystem.

            Only the youngest generation today would live to see the beginnings of society on Mars. Maybe some would even be able to walk on the surface without a suit. But it was a goal that Zechs was happy to set out on, possibly for the rest of his life.

            He stepped out of the airlock and felt the frigid air cut through the light material of his walker, which adjusted its heating element to compensate. He paused as he always did to admire the view of the deep, nearby canyon and the spectacular mountain range farther off that rose gradually from the flat Martian plain. A gentle breeze swirled the dusty red soil, giving the atmosphere a beautiful pink-tinted aura. He sighed. How he wished he could live to freely breath this pure atmosphere…

            As he started moving towards his land rover, he spotted a plume of dust on the horizon. He sheltered his eyes from the sun and studied it. Dust storms were common on Mars, and though the terra-forming station was sheltered by the mountains, they still had to be careful. But as he studied the horizon, he saw that the cloud was actually a trail spreading from a single point that appeared to be headed in his direction. He found a pair of binoculars in his tool box and zoomed in on the dust trail. It was another land rover, specially fitted for work on Mars. It was coming from the direction of the space port.

            Was it Noin? Zechs’ instincts warned him against this. Noin, or anyone he knew from the spaceport, would have let him know they were coming. This was a surprise visit. Though he didn’t expect anything to happen, years of engrained survival instinct told Zechs to be cautious. Grabbing his tools, he headed towards a rock formation thirty meters from the habitat. He settled himself behind a large boulder and watched the rover approach.

            With the crunch of tires on gravel, it rolled to a stop a couple meters from the airlock. A figure in an EV suit stepped out and glanced around. He approached the airlock and touched the intercom. The comm system on Zechs’ suit was tied into the habitat’s own system, so any communication with the habitat would be forwarded to him while he was out here. The comm beeped and he opened a channel.

            “Who is it?”

            Ignoring the speaker that Zechs’ voice came from, the figure turned and looked behind him, sunlight glinting off his face shield. “Zechs? You’re not in there, are you?”

            Zechs smiled as he recognized the voice. “Only a Gundam pilot would hear the difference in a wireless link,” he said. He picked up his toolbox and started heading back to the habitat.

            "The ambient radiation here makes it pretty easy," Heero Yuy said, waiting as Zechs approached. They stood facing each other for a few seconds, then Zechs stepped forward and extended his gloved hand.

            “How are you, Heero?”

            Heero grasped his hand. “I’ve been fine. I take it so have you?”

            Zechs gestured around him. “Noin has helped me build a new life here. I’m content.”

            Heero nodded. “Good. It’s what you deserve.”

            Zechs smiled as he led Heero through the airlock. Though they’d only briefly talked after the Barton Foundation incident eight months ago, Zechs could tell how much the boy had changed in the two years since he’d met him. They removed their suits once they were through the airlock and Zechs led Heero through the small, but almost normal looking living space to the small kitchen. He pulled two drinks from the refrigerator and handed one to Heero.

            “How is Arys?” he asked, nodding at the wedding band on Heero’s left hand.

            “She’s fine,” he responded, with a smile that looked out of place to Zechs. “We were married just a couple months ago.”

            “Congratulations,” Zechs said, thinking about the time he’d spent with the young woman. “You two are right for each other.”

            They sat in silence for a moment, sipping at their drinks. Heero finally spoke.

            “I talked to Noin before I came. She was hesitant about letting me see you,” he said, a slight smile in his voice.

            “Mm hmm,” Zechs said as he took a drink. “She’s been very protective of me.”

            “I figured you ought to know what’s been happening though,” Heero said. He set down his drink, an uncharacteristic uncertainty in his eyes. “The world isn’t quite the way you left it.”

            Zechs hesitated, wondering if he really wanted to know. Leaving the world at peace and living out his life likewise was what he wanted, wasn’t it? And yet, if there were going to be problems in the world again, he knew he couldn’t stand by.

            He leaned forward. “Tell me about it,” he said.

<-- -->

            “No, the response by the Preventers was completely uncalled for,” the colony senator on the television said heatedly. “They’ve admitted that little or no attempts at negotiation were made, and they put the colony in tremendous and completely unnecessary danger by taking such a large military action, which was without the approval of the senate, and included weapons they’re not even supposed to have, including Gundam-class mobile suits.”

            His opponent, a representative from the North American region of Earth, responded with equal passion. “It was made very clear that there wasn’t time for either negotiation or waiting for the approval of the senate. And the fact is, Senator, they prevented the collapse of this nation and the dominance of a single group. Are you saying they should not have done this?”

            “Exactly!” Duo said as he sat leaned forward on the couch, watching the debate.

            “I’m saying they should have done more beforehand. Isn’t it their job to keep anyone from gaining as much military strength as the Forgotten had? What about the creation of this “sun-killer” weapon? How did they miss that? If you ask me, it’s time we seriously evaluated the leadership of the Preventers. If they think that they can solve problems through force rather than proper communication with their government, then they’re no better…”

            Duo angrily shut off the TV. “Man, this is just like them, isn’t it? They don’t understand how hard it is to do what we do.”

            “We should pay attention what they’re saying though,” Trowa said. He was leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets. “They have a point, in a way. It was bad intelligence on our part.”

            “But doing what they think we should’ve done would’ve condemned the Earthsphere,” Duo replied. “We were lucky we knew enough to act when we did. Like he said, there was no time for anything else. If they’d hit the sun with that beam, it would’ve been all over.”

            “You’re right. People are just shocked that such a large battle occurred so soon after they were assured that conflict in the nation was over. They’re afraid of repeating history. And I can’t say I blame them,” Trowa said.

            “It’s not like have anything to fear from us,” Duo said darkly, talking a swig from his soda. “Not after that battle wiped out so many of our forces.”

            “Which is part of the problem. Because so many people lost their sons and daughters,” Trowa said softly.

            The two pilots were alone in one of the small lounges of the London headquarters, taking a break and waiting for the analysis of the data they’d gotten from Cappella.

            Duo glanced at his watch. “The colonel must really be working Calder over. He’s been gone for almost forty minutes.”

            Trowa frowned. “I wonder what kind of history he and Meela had with Cappella.”

            “I don’t know. But did you see what Calder did to him?” Duo said with a smirk. “Must not have been a very happy history.”

            Trowa nodded, but didn’t smile. “That’s undoubtedly why Colonel Une wanted to talk to him.”

            “Yeah,” Duo said, his smile fading. “I hope he doesn’t get into too much trouble.”

            “He won’t,” said another voice.

            Duo glanced up as Meela walked into the room. “Hey, Meela. What are you up to?”

            She shrugged. “Same thing you guys are. Waiting.”

            “We were just watching this guy trash the Preventers,” Duo said. “Can you believe how they’re making us out?”

            Meela raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, they’re not lying.”

            “Jeez, does everyone have to see things the logical way?” Duo groaned. “Why can’t someone just have fun bashing them with me?”

            Meela smiled. “If they do keep this up though, we’ll be made out to be just like the Alliance was in its early days. That we just want to use military force to control dissidents, rather than work to stop any conflicts.”

            “Yeah, and it’s not like that at all,” Duo said.

            “Still, we have to ask ourselves why the Preventers did build up such a large force. After the Barton Foundation conflict, it seemed unnecessary,” Trowa added. “We were ready to destroy the Gundams before Colonel Une convinced us not to.”

            Duo nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. It did surprise me that she wanted us to keep them. Not that I didn’t want to.”

            Meela stood quietly, looking thoughtful.

            Duo was just about to check with Arys when the lounge door opened again and Arys, Calder, and Colonel Une walked in the door.

            “Good, you’re all here,” Une said without preamble. “We’ve finally got a positive hit.”

            Trowa stood up straight and took his hands out of his pockets. “It was the Zero System?”

            They took seats around the table. “Definitely,” Arys said. “Cappella’s records don’t say who he got it from, but they do say where. Dunedin, New Zealand.”

            Meela’s head jerked up. “Dunedin? You’re sure?”

            Arys nodded. “Most of the information about the computer that originally had the system was erased, but we found a global positioning stamp still embedded.” She glanced at Calder, who was looking at Meela concernedly. “Why?”

            Meela didn’t say anything. After a second, Calder spoke up. “It’s where Marie Slogan used the system on Meela,” he said softly.

<-- -->