Aboard the Peacemillion

Arys eyed the brown-haired pilot kneeling on the catwalk in front of the Sandrock. She was watching him install the Zero System into the mobile suit from her leaning position against the railing of the catwalk.

"Heero, are you sure this is a good idea? You know how much Quatre hates using the Zero System." Arys walked forward and knelt down beside him.

Heero stopped his work for a few moments to glance at her. "You can help him, Arys."

Arys stood up, sat down on the open cockpit hatch, and studied him curiously. She propped her chin in her hands and smiled at him. "Are you giving me permission to enter the Sandrock's Zero System, Heero Yuy?"

Heero slid a disc into the Sandrock's new Zero System. "If you're needed, Arys, and only if you're needed." He looked up at her. "You remember what happened when you entered the Zero System in the Epyon?"

Arys nodded, a frown touching her delicate features. "How could I forget?"

"Don't use your ability unless it's necessary, Arys."

"I understand."

"Heero, what are you doing?" Quatre came up behind Heero and frowned slightly.

Arys took that as her cue to leave and stood to her feet. She bent down and put a hand on Heero's shoulder. He looked up at her, the distant look on his face vanishing when he saw the teasing in her eyes. She winked at him.

"Good luck," She whispered. She turned to Quatre with a bright smile. "Hi, Quatre."

"Hello, Arys." Quatre returned her smile but it was only half-hearted.

Arys walked away, heading toward the Archangel.

"What were you and Arys talking about?" Quatre watched her leave, many thoughts running through his mind.

Heero finished his work quickly and stood to his feet. "I just installed the Zero System into the Sandrock, Quatre."

"What?"

"I won't be able to join you in the battle, Quatre. I have another battle to fight."

"But.."

Heero took Quatre's shoulders and looked into his gentle blue eyes. "Quatre, I'm leaving you in charge. The Zero System can help you fight if you let it." Heero glanced in the direction Arys had left, seeing her standing on her open cockpit hatch, her gaze on him and Quatre. "And Arys can help you when you need it. She's helped me before."

Quatre shook his head. "I can't do it, Heero. I'm too weak."

Heero's eyes softened and he smiled slightly. Quatre's face filled with surprise. Heero had never smiled at him before.

"Quatre, you're stronger than you think, and I trust you." Heero let go of Quatre's shoulders.

Quatre walked into his cockpit and Heero followed him, leaning on the edge of the door.

"All right, Heero. I'll do it."

Heero pushed off and drifted backwards. "To activate the system, type in Z-E-R-O." There was confidence in Heero's eyes, confidence in Quatre and no one else.

Quatre closed the cockpit hatch and sighed. Even though the thought of using the Zero System scared him, Quatre took a deep breath and steeled himself for the impending battle. "Sandrock, let's do it."

___________

Near the Space Fortress Libra

Arys performed some quick system checks as the six Gundams put in a course heading straight for the Libra.

"This is it..." Arys whispered to herself.

Mobile dolls began pouring out of the Libra in precise formations. Arys swallowed, hard. Following behind the mass-produced dolls, Arys could see the Epyon hovering, waiting. She knew who he was waiting for.

"Heero..."

Almost as if he had heard her, Heero's face appeared on the comm screen. Arys thumbed her comm on so that she could respond.

"Zechs is waiting for me. You all know what to do." Heero's eyes settled on Arys' face. Apparently, he was looking at her image on his viewscreen. "Arys, remember what I told you. The battle is given to those who are ready."

Arys nodded.

Without another word, the Zero drifted out of formation with the other Gundams and blasted away, straight toward the Epyon. As soon as he left, the mobile dolls seemed to surround them on every side. "What are you waiting for?" Duo dove into the fray with reckless abandon, swinging his scythe around like a baseball bat. Everywhere he swung, there seemed to be a mobile doll. Wufei followed him.

"Wait, Duo, Wufei! We should fall back, give them room!" Quatre tried to call his fellow pilots back, but Duo and Wufei were already too far gone. Explosions blossomed in the general direction of the two. "Why won't they listen to me?"

Duo and Wufei were instantly converged on by literally dozens of mobile dolls. There were so many dolls, Quatre couldn't see his friends' Gundams anymore.

"Quatre, use the Zero System." Arys' quiet voice pierced the cockpit and her face appeared on the viewscreen.

"We need to fight together, Arys! Without my having to use the Zero System!"

"They won't listen unless they know that you know what you're talking about."

Quatre shook his head. "I... I can't use it, Arys."

"All right, Quatre. I can't make you do what you don't want to do." Arys' face flickered off the viewscreen and her Gundam moved off to take on seven dolls in a nearby sector. She raised the Archangel's hands and began firing her beam emitters in sporadic bursts that took out one doll with each shot.

"Arys, where are you going?"

"Leave her be, Quatre. She has her own way of fighting," Trowa said as he fired off his twin gatling gun at three mobile dolls. They exploded beneath the hail of armor-piercing bullets.

Quatre pulled out his sickles and savagely sliced them through a mobile doll. It fell backwards, cleaved into four pieces. "There's too many of them, Trowa! There are hundreds of them, and only six of us!"

"These dolls move too quickly. They don't move like dolls. They move like they're being piloted by humans!" Duo's excited voice came over the comm.

"Duo's right! I'm having trouble over here!" Wufei had gotten separated from Duo and was now handling at least ten mobile dolls on his own.

Quatre took a final stab at uniting the pilots on his own. "Everyone listen to me! They're trying to cut us off from each other. It's a divide and... An alarm interrupted Quatre's speech. Several beams of deadly lasers flew by Sandrock. One beam nicked Sandrock's arm as he whirled his Gundam about to see five dolls coming down on him at once.

Quatre whipped out his sickles and braced himself. Anger welled up in him. With a cry of rage, Quatre rocketed toward them. As he did, he pointed his weapons at the nearest mobile doll. Quatre swung as hard as he could at it and missed completely. As the mobile doll flew past him, Quatre spun with his sickle pointed behind him. Quatre felt the satisfying thud as the mobile doll lost its head. Quatre's small victory was put to an end as lasers slammed into Sandrock's back. Quatre grunted as he flew forward.

Man! I need time to think! This battle will not be won by each of us fighting alone! I can't let Heero down!

Quatre spun around and unleashed a volley of vulcan rounds more out of anger than anything else. Suprisingly, he disabled two of them in the process. Quatre reared back his arms and launched his two sickles at the remaining mobile dolls. They flew straight and true and punctured the dolls where the pilots would have been sitting. The mobile suits exploded taking the disabled dolls with them. Quatre took a deep breath and realized he was sweating.

Quatre suddenly knew that no matter how hard they fought they were losing, badly. But he didn't have the courage to use the Zero System. The memories from using it before were still too painful and he didn't want to risk his sanity again.

Arys showed up again beside him. "Quatre, if you don't use the Zero System, I will."

"Then, why don't you..?"

"Because Heero told you to, Quatre. He trusted you enough to leave you in charge. You have to learn to trust yourself. If you can't learn that trust, then I will use my system, but until you tell me so, I refuse to use it." Arys' face was serious. "If it helps any, Quatre, I trust you." Her eyes were pleading, hopeful, and trusting.

Quatre had to look away from her eyes, but he made his decision. "I can't let my own fear get in the way of winning this battle."

Arys gave him an encouraging smile. "Thank you, Quatre."

Quatre reached for the console with trembling hands and typed in the code. Quatre leaned back as the viewscreens around him glowed yellow. He shivered as the emotions drained from him, leaving him feeling empty inside. But only for a moment. Then, data on the enemies began streaming through his mind and he somehow managed to process it in a millisecond.

"Arys, take the mobile doll unit at these coordinates." Quatre touched a button on the console. Quatre's voice was void of emotion but there was no icy edge in his speech. "Use your beam emitters at high power. They're all clumped together."

"Right." Arys flew off, ready to take on at least seven mobile dolls by herself, but with Quatre's information she would be able to defeat them easily.

Arys charged up her beam emitters as she brought Archangel's hands together. With her wings spread for stabilization and leaning back slightly, the Archangel was a majestic as well as menacing sight. Regardless of what the Gundam looked like, the dolls charged at full power. Arys waited until the right moment and released the deadly energy in her Gundam's hands. The beam washed over the bunched up mobile dolls disintegrating them one by one. What was left was not significant.

"Trowa, the mobile doll unit to your right is performing a generic box-in maneuver. Take them out any way you see fit. Do a sweep from top to bottom."

"Understood." Trowa rocketed toward the unit with his shield raised to deflect any enemy fire. When he got into position, Trowa decelerated and brought his weapon to bear on the highest doll in his line of sight. Just to be sure he destroyed all of them, Trowa popped open his Gundam's chest cannons. As the dolls came into range, he let fly every available round he could. As the explosions blossomed in front of him, Trowa waited for them to clear. Two dolls had survived the assault, and Trowa flicked open the steel blade on his arm as he dropped his twin guns. He charged into the fray. A doll fired at him as he flew toward it, and Trowa dodged the lasers easily. Trowa rammed into it with his knife and it exploded into scrap metal. The second doll seemed to be retreating.

"Never turn your back on me!" Trowa pushed his thrusters to the max as he chased down the mobile doll. He grabbed the doll from behind and jammed his knee into the back of it. Trowa flicked the missile switch on his flightstick. He let fly a single missile. The doll launched forward with a gaping hole in its back. It did not explode.

Quatre continued giving out orders, trying to stay one step ahead of his enemy. Duo and Wufei careened away, teamed together to flank two approaching mobile doll units. As Duo confused the dolls with his hyperjammer, Wufei dispatched them quickly with his double dragon arms. Quatre proceeded to battle with the unit right in front of him. With the help of the Zero System, Quatre was able to slice through them in a few seconds using his sickles.

Who is my enemy?

Quatre could tell that some outside force controlled these mobile dolls. How though? He had never heard of mobile dolls being controlled by a human located somewhere else.

"Who are you?" He asked his unseen enemy.

_______________

Dorothy Catalonia moved her hands across the half-sphere on the console in front of her. On her head, she wore a helmet connected to a modified Zero System. The connection allowed her to control hundreds of mobile dolls with a thought. It was an exhilirating experience. She frowned as a unit she had sent to battle the Archangel was wiped out in a few seconds. Gradually, she was losing her advantage in the battle.

"What's happening?" She whispered as units began disappearing off the viewscreens around her.

She couldn't see the viewscreens physically, but she could see them in her mind.

"No..." She had been able to hold back the Gundams for only fifteen minutes. They had begun to advance forward.

She realized that one of the pilots somehow knew every move she thought to the system and managed to counterattack before the system could implement it in her battle plan.

Dorothy struggled to regain her control of the system, but she found that the problem wasn't that she was losing control, it was simply that the enemy was staying one step ahead of her.

Dorothy raised her head, her eyes narrowed beneath the virtual-reality helmet. "Who are you?"

She slowly began to search for a Zero System signature. It was coming from the Sandrock. Her mind zeroed in on its position. It was fighting on the frontlines and the other Gundams were fanned out behind it in formation. Dorothy smiled grimly.

"Quatre Raberba Winner."

______________

Quatre jerked back in his seat as he felt something brush his mind. The enemy was on the Libra. And he knew who it was. She was controlling the mobile dolls using the Zero System.

"Dorothy Catalonia."

_____________

Near the Libra

The two warriors had waited a long time for this. Heero parried the Epyon's beamsword with a quick flick from his beam saber. He wanted it to be a fair fight and the Eypon had no guns, so they had both resorted to using their close-range weapons. They had long-ago begun fighting in outer space instead of on the Libra's hull. It was time they ended it.

Both pilots were evenly matched in ability so neither had the upper hand at the moment. Heero went on the offense, swiping his beam saber toward the Epyon's torso. Zechs blocked it with a quick jab forward from his broadsword and a leap backwards. Both pilots paused to assess the situation. The sight of the two Gundams facing each other was magnificent.

"Are you frightened of me, Zechs?" Heero's voice was taunting.

"Far from that, Heero Yuy." The Eypon pulled out its whip and experimentally flicked a few times in the Zero's direction. The whip flew past Zero its motion making a sound like a screaming demon. "Who do you think will survive this battle?"

Heero replied with a leap backwards and a wave of his beam saber that teased Zechs to come toward him.

"I won't fall for any of your tricks." Zechs flew forwards slowly.

"I didn't think you would." The Zero blasted forwards, ramming straight past the Epyon's beamsword and into the Gundam's chest. The two Gundams flew backwards, the Eypon struggling to disengage itself from the Zero. The scraping metal made an awful sound audible to both of them.

Zero pushed off of Epyon slighty and raised its arm to attack. The beam saber glowed brightly washing the Zero's face in a green hue. Heero swung his saber at Epyons head. Zechs easily blocked the blow with his huge beamsword. The weapons met with a flash of sparks.

"You are not fighting with all your might." Zechs' voice sounded offended.

Heero's lips pulled into a feral smile. "I want to give you a chance, Zechs." The Zero and Epyon dislodged themselves from each other and swung around. They charged once again. From far away, the two warring Gundams looked like comets flying towards each other.

_____________

Aboard the Libra

"Fire the main cannon!" Dorothy shouted into the comm unit in her helmet.

"But we're moving at top speed!"

"The Peacemillion is within range. We can destroy it in one shot and this battle will be over!" Dorothy tried to keep her mind focused on the enemy and speaking into the comm unit at the same time.

"We have to slow to a safe speed. Firing the cannon now would do serious damage to..."

"I don't care. Fire that cannon!"

_____________

Peacemillion

"The Libra's going to fire its main array!" Sally called out over her shoulder.

"What?!" Noin sprinted over to Sally's station and peered at the screen. "Is Zechs crazy? The Libra's going too fast for it to fire the main cannon without sustaining structural damage."

"Get us out of here!" Sally yelled to the helmsman. "Pump up the output in engines one, two, and three!"

"Yes, ma'am." The helmsman immediately began moving the Peacemillion out of harm's way.

Sally turned to look up at Noin. "Zechs is out battling in the Eypon. Dorothy Catalonia's the one who ordered the Libra to fire."

Noin shook her head in disbelief. "Can we get out of the way in time?"

"Barely." Sally whirled back to the console and typed frantically. She looked up at the viewscreen. "It'll fire in 3... 2... 1..."

Sally grabbed hold of the console for dear life, while Noin gripped the back of Sally's chair until her knuckles went white.

___________

Outer space, near the Libra

"The Libra's about to fire its main cannon!" Arys yelled into the comm.

Duo's voice sounded incredulous. "They're going to fire it again?"

"Arys, Duo, you two are closest. See if you can get to it in time." Quatre's voice came over the comm system.

"I don't think we'll be able to do much, but it can't hurt to try." Arys turned her Gundam toward the Libra's main cannon.

"Just stay out of the way of that beam!" Duo exclaimed as he followed Arys toward the Libra.

Duo and Arys desperately tried to fight their way to the Libra, but it was no use. There were too many mobile dolls. The pair destroyed many of them but to no avail. The energy sphere building up in the main array reached its highest level before they could get there. With a blast, the destructive beam shot from the array, heading straight for the Peacemillion.

"No!" Arys screamed as she watched the glowing blue streak of energy fly by her Gundam, missing her completely.

The beam brushed the port side of the Peacemillion, knocking the Peacemillion away from the beam relatively unhurt except for a minor hull breach. The Libra, however, was another story. The main cannon fizzled with raw energy and then flickered out. The space fortress slowed to a complete stop.

Arys tapped her console, getting a reading on the Libra's main array. "The main cannon's shorted out!"

"Well, that buys us some time, doesn't it?" Duo stated with his trademark cocky grin.

The remaining mobile dolls began retreating back to the crippled Libra, leaving the Gundams behind.

Quatre scanned the faces on the viewscreen in front of him. All of them were haggard with weariness. They needed a rest badly. Hopefully, the Libra's current situation would allow them to get that rest.

As usual, Duo had to plug in a witty comment. Duo put his hands up in a "time-out" sign. "Halftime! Anybody want some Gatorade?"

The other pilots groaned.

___________

Near the Libra

"What does that girl think she's doing?" Zechs shouted. He had witnessed the firing of the main cannon, horrified that Dorothy would do such a thing.

Heero watched as the Libra creaked to a stop in the middle of outer space. He smiled.

"Has the Eypon shown you what the Zero's just shown me - that you have no future?"

The comm remained silent, and Zechs flew off, heading back to the Libra. Heero stayed where he was, still holding his beam saber in an attack position. Heero let go of the controls and watched as the Eypon flew away. After a few minutes, he took the controls again and turned the Gundam around, on course for the Peacemillion.