Space Fortress Libra

Zechs surveyed the damage that had been done to the Libra. He sighed, exasperated.

"Get the scientists up here."

"Yes, sir." One of the White Fang crewmembers practically ran out of the room, eager to escape the storm he could sense brewing there.

As soon as the crewmember left, Zechs turned on Dorothy. She stood in front of him, stoic, totally in control of her emotions.

Zechs seemed to be repressing an angry reprimand, but instead, his ice-blue eyes settled on Quinze, who was resting against one of the control consoles.

"Tell the scientists what needs to be repaired. I'll be in my quarters. I'm not to be disturbed."

"Yes, Commander Milliardo." Quinze straightened to his full height and nodded.

Zechs glared at Dorothy one more time, then turned on his heel and strode out of the room.

____________

Peacemillion

Arys sat at a table in the ship's lounge with the other Gundam pilots. She was exhausted and was tempted to just lay her head down on the table and leave it there. She had asked if she could help with any of the repairs on the Peacemillion but Sally and Noin had insisted that she get some rest. Arys was afraid that if she went to sleep she would never wake up. Since they were supposed to be on call in case the Peacemillion was attacked again, she had come to the lounge for a drink. She hadn't been surprised to find the other pilots there as well.

Heero sat across from her, staring at his glass blankly. However, Arys knew better. He was thinking, of what, she didn't know. Arys thought she probably looked the same way. She slowly sipped some of her drink and sighed tiredly.

Heero looked up, his eyes losing their blank stare.

"Are you all right?"

Arys nodded, twirling her glass around in little circles on the tabletop. Wufei was by himself over in one corner of the room. His eyes were closed and he looked very relaxed. Arys absently wondered how he managed to stay in that area while floating in zero-grav. Trowa was sitting on the floor up against the wall. His eyes were closed and his head was bowed. He looked like he was asleep. Quatre was nowhere in sight; he was probably on the bridge. Duo was sitting on the couch eating a bag of potato chips while watching TV. Arys craned her neck to see what he was watching. It looked like a show about a kid throwing red and white balls at innocent-looking, almost cute animals.

She gave up trying to figure out what it was on her own. "Hey, Duo! What are you watching?"

Duo turned to look at Arys. "I dunno. Some cartoon. It's kind of weird actually, but I like that cute mouse thing that follows the kid around."

Duo stood up and looked at his hand smeared with potato chip grease. He stared into the depths of the bag. "Ick, what kind of potato chips are these?"

Arys stifled a laugh in spite of her weariness. "The kind you eat, Duo."

Duo smirked at her and walked over to the soda machine.

"Well, if there's one thing you can't louse up, it's soda. No siree, sealed in a can, cut off from our dirty environment." Duo dropped some coins in the slot and made his selection. He looked expectantly at the chute at the bottom. He frowned. "That is, if you actually get it."

The machine made a whirring sound but no soda came out.

Arys laughed out loud this time. Heero turned to look at Duo.

"Need some help with the soda machine?"

"No, I got it." Duo smacked the machine a couple of times.

It whirred louder but did nothing else. Duo frowned at it and resorted to kicking the machine. The loud sound Duo's kicking made caused Wufei and Trowa to look up. Duo turned around.

"Sorry, folks, just trying to get a soda."

The two closed their eyes again. Heero got up and walked to the soda machine. Duo, giving up on his soda, went to retrieve his potato chips.

Heero scanned the body of the machine, tapped a couple of places, and smacked one spot with his fist. A solitary soda rolled down the chute. Heero picked it up. Duo ran over to Heero with snack in hand.

"How'd you do that?" Duo took the soda from Heero.

Heero merely shrugged and went back to the table.

"Well, thanks. Want some potato chips?"

Arys shook her head, laughing. Yes, all of them were certainly battle-weary, and all of them could have used a good night's rest. However, it was nice to know they could still laugh in spite of their grim situation. Unfortunately, the moment wore off as quickly as it had come. Arys laid her cheek against one clenched fist and closed her eyes, thinking to herself that she would just give her eyes a rest for a few minutes.

Heero watched as Arys began to nod with sleep as she sat at the table. Every so often she would jerk back up and open her eyes to see him watching her, and then promptly fall back asleep again. He smiled and walked around the table to her. He put a hand on her shoulder. She responded with a soft moan, but her eyes opened sleepily.

"Hmm? What is it, Heero?"

"Come on, Arys."

He took her arm and slowly pulled her to her feet. She stumbled after him over to the couch and he sat down, pulling her down beside him. Heero put his arm around her, so that she could pillow her head on his shoulder. She moved closer to Heero, sighing in blissful contentment. Soon, she was again fast asleep, with a slight smile curving her lips. Heero gently ran a finger across her cheek and through her hair, then rested his head against hers, breathing lightly so he wouldn't disturb her.

The tender moment was abruptly ruined by Duo's voice.

"Hey! I was sitting there!"

___________

"Quatre, we've got a problem," Noin said as soon as Quatre walked onto the bridge.

"What is it?" Quatre looked around, wondering where the rest of the pilots were. He had been working on his Gundam, removing the Zero System from its computer system.

"Actually, we've got more than one problem." Sally pointed to a radar screen that monitored the area of space around the Earth. "First problem is that the World Nation forces have begun gathering at the resource satellite MO-II."

Quatre studied the screen thoughtfully. "Looks like Treize is preparing for an all-out assault on the Libra."

"It's a perfect time to prepare. The Libra is still incapacitated."

"If only we knew how long the repairs would take." Noin walked over to where Quatre and Sally were standing.

"You said there was another problem," Quatre said.

"Right." Sally touched a button on the console. "The mobile dolls around the Libra have shifted positions. It's hard to tell, but they seem to be gathering for an attack also."

"Who are they going to assault? Us or the World Nation?" Quatre asked.

"We're the closest threat." Noin shook her head. "Zechs will want to get rid of us first before attacking the World Nation."

Quatre glanced around the room. "Where is everybody anyway?"

"Down in the lounge. I suggest you go down there, Quatre. We'll call as soon as the White Fang attack."

"And that should be in only a few minutes..." Sally pointed to the radar screen. "There are two mobile dolls heading this way. They're built differently than... wait a sec..." She toggled through the enemy identification numbers. "Those two mobile dolls are the Vayeate and the Mercurius!"

"Quatre, could you...?" Noin turned around to find that the blond pilot had already disappeared out the door.

___________

"Hey!" Quatre burst into the lounge with a shout. He glanced around the room, his blue eyes frantic. "We've got trouble coming!"

Duo barely looked up from his position on the couch. He was watching TV. Arys and Heero still slept on the other end of the couch. "Tell me something I don't know, Quatre."

Quatre spoke again, still out of breath. "Two modified mobile dolls. The Vayeate and the Mercurius models."

Duo jumped up, his cobalt blue eyes flashing. "Did you say the Vayeate and Mercurius? Sounds like they're right up my alley! Finally, something that's not a Virgo. Wake up the rest of the guys, Quatre! I'll get out there first!" Duo sprinted out of the lounge.

"Wake up!" Quatre shouted in the middle of the lounge. Several pilots stirred but did not wake up. Quatre unholstered his pistol and shot into the air. There was a single hole in the ceiling, but Quatre didn't care as long as his friends woke up.

The remaining four pilots jerked to their feet. Arys rubbed sleep from her eyes. Heero drew his gun and pointed it in Quatre's direction. Wufei was instantly alert and on his feet. Trowa's eyes snapped open and he surveyed Quatre calmly.

"What did you do that for?" Heero asked as he put his gun away.

"White Fang is attacking! We've got to get to our Gundams!"

Without another word spoken, the five pilots left the lounge, running down the hallway to the cargo bay.

___________

Somewhere between Libra and Peacemillion

The Deathscythe whirled its weapon around in a circle of green fire. It slammed the weapon down on top of the Mercurius' shield generated by its planetary defensors. The Mercurius jetted backwards, keeping the shield from weakening totally.

"Boy, these guys are good." Duo muttered. "Their fighting style seems familiar."

The Vayeate rammed into him from behind, and Duo jerked forward in his harness.

The Deathscythe turned to attempt a counterattack with his scythe, but the Vayeate leaped back, pulling out its beam rifle. The large weapon fit neatly under the mobile suit's right arm. As it powered up, Duo pulled back on his flightsticks. He backed into the Mercurius and felt himself jerk forward again as the planetary defensors bounced off the Deathscythe's hull. The Vayeate fired its beam rifle at Duo, and the ball of energy crashed right into the Deathscythe's arm. Luckily, the Vayeate was not using full power. Duo had the choice of being disintegrated by a beam rifle or being bounced around by planetary defensors. He chose neither.

Duo gritted his teeth, trying to keep control of his anger and his Gundam. He aimed his attack scissors at the Vayeate's pistol arm.

"Dodge this!" He shouted as he triggered the attack scissors.

The pronged weapon flew forward and sliced through the Vayeate's left arm, clipping it off neatly along with the pistol in its left hand. With the Vayeate temporarily disabled, Duo went after the Mercurius with a vengeance, raising the Deathscythe's bladed weapon high as he flew toward the mobile doll.

As Duo approached the Mercurius, he realized that he recognized the dolls' style of fighting. Somehow, the dolls had been programmed to fight like Heero and Trowa.

"Trowa! Heero!" Duo exclaimed. He ducked his head with a knowing grin. "Now that I know who I'm fighting, I can defeat you!"

Duo dove toward the Mercurius, his scythe coming down hard on the shield. The flash was blinding, but Duo squinted his eyes to see. The Mercurius drew its saber shield and activated it. The doll swung down and missed Deathscythe by a scant inch.

"Whew, that was too close!" Duo pushed off the suit opposite himself and reassessed the situation.

____________

Near the Libra

Hilde piloted a shuttle toward the Libra, managing to avoid the mobile dolls heading for the Gundams she could see fighting near the Peacemillion.

"Duo's going to kill me, but I don't care. I need to help, and this is the only way I can."

She punched in a code to open a cargo bay on the far side of the Libra.

"I'm coming in." Hilde slid the shuttle expertly into her chosen cargo bay. She popped open the shuttle's cockpit hatch and leaped out, drifting slightly in the low gravity.

Hilde headed for a uniform dressing room near the bay. It was time to blend in with the natives.

Five minutes later, Hilde stepped out of the room, wearing a White Fang uniform. She purposefully walked down the hallway, smiling at a few White Fang members who passed her in the hallway. They smiled back but the smiles were obviously forced. Apparently, there was something big going on and Hilde meant to find out what it was. She sneaked into a room labeled "Mainframe."

The two crewmembers inside looked up from their work at their consoles.

"Hey!"

Hilde took out a silenced pistol. With precise aim, she pulled the trigger. Both men crumpled to the floor. Hilde walked over to them and looked down at their faces sadly. She had not wanted to kill them, but she had no choice. She slid into a chair in front of one of the main consoles.

Hilde swiped a hand across her forehead, brushing back short midnight-black hair as she did so. She tapped the console, her fingers flying across it expertly. The computer beeped softly at her, and Hilde stood to her feet. With a flick of her finger, she ejected a disk from the drive and flipped it into her chest pocket.

"Gotcha."

Hilde walked out of the computer room, leaving behind two White Fang members dead on the floor. She slipped her pistol into its holster.

"Now to find an escape route." Hilde smiled to herself. "A shuttle bay would work fine."

Hilde scanned a map on the wall beside her. "Hmm..." Her finger traced a path to a rather large shuttle bay down the hall.

"There we go."

Hilde sauntered down the hall. She heard quite a few conversations as she did so.

"That Dorothy is nuts! First, she burns out the main cannon, now she's trying to defeat those Gundams!" One crewman stated in exasperation.

"Well, word has it that Zechs had that Zero System control room built for Arys Walker, but when she defected, he had to resort to letting Dorothy use it. Arys would have been able to handle it better. I heard that she trained for five years using the Zero System. Poor Zechs. Too bad she decided to leave before he could use her for his secret weapon."

"I wonder what made Arys leave?"

"She didn't agree with Zechs' goals."

"Ouch."

Hilde briefly wondered who this Arys Walker was and where she had defected to. Hilde passed another group of crewmen.

"Have you heard? Relena Peacecraft is aboard."

"What is she doing here?"

"No one knows. You know, she is Commander Milliardo's sister. That probably has something to do with it."

Hilde's violet eyes narrowed slightly.

Hilde reached her destination just as the door opened to reveal Relena herself standing in the middle of the cargo bay.

Relena was talking to a few White Fang members. Hilde heard her mention something about the Gundams. As soon as the White Fang crewmen left, Hilde came up behind Relena and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You know about the Gundam pilots?"

Relena started a little and turned around to look at Hilde curiously. "I... I..."

Hilde smiled at her. "It's okay, Relena. You can trust me."

Relena swallowed, then nodded.

Hilde patted her chest pocket. "I have something here for a certain Duo Maxwell."

Relena's eyes brightened. "Do you know Heero Yuy? Do you know where he is?"

Hilde shook her head. "No. But I'm sure Duo does. I'm going to the Peacemillion right now." Her gaze traveled up to settle on one of the shuttles sitting a few yards behind Relena. "Did you want me to take a message to this Heero Yuy?"

Relena frowned slightly, almost as if she were remembering something. Then, she shook her head. "No."

Hilde studied her thoughtfully. "Why don't you come with me, Relena?"

"I can't. I still have to try to convince Zechs to turn from his ways."

Hilde put a hand on Relena's shoulder again. "That will be difficult."

"But I have to try."

"Do or do not, there is no try."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

______________

Near the Peacemillion

"Arys, let's try a new tactic."

Arys looked down at Heero's image on her viewscreen. "What did you have in mind?"

"Linking our Zero Systems."

Arys jerked forward in her harness as a mobile doll fired a beam of energy at her. The beam hit the Archangel's arm. Heero's suggestion had broken her concentration. Arys pulled back on her flightsticks and brought her double beam sabers down in an arc that ended on the doll's head. The Virgo drifted off, completely disabled.

"How, Heero?" She had never tried linking two Zero System pilots together before. Simply because two Zero Systems hadn't been available before for her to experiment on.

"Use your mind, Arys. Like you did before."

"I... I don't know how, Heero. I've never done this before. And we've never even tried linking in a simulation."

"We have to try, Arys."

Arys sighed. "All right. Cover me while I establish the link."

"Understood."

Arys leaned back as she reached for the Zero System activation button. She hoped this worked, and that it would work right. Otherwise, she and Heero would probably both go insane at the same time.

Arys felt the familiar draining of her emotions and quickly reached out to the Zero. She found the connection to Heero's Zero System and not knowing what else to do, she called his name. It was like she was in a black chamber. Her voice echoed in the dark room.

"Heero?"

"I'm here, Arys." A figure walked toward her.

"What do we do now?"

"Can you fight? Cover me while I try to link with you?" His voice echoed back to her.

A part of her mind responded to his request. And suddenly, Arys was seeing two images. The dark room was superimposed over the viewscreens in her Gundam's cockpit. Arys reached for the flightsticks and began firing her Shiv rifle at the enemies surrounding her. Her precise hits destroyed them with one shot.

"I got it." Heero's voice came to her, but not over the comm. It was a strange feeling.

Arys jerked back in surprise as a waterfall of data streamed into her mind, giving her information from both Gundams. She was now fighting the enemy from two different viewpoints, hers and Heero's. She could see things happening that Heero couldn't, and her mind relayed that information to him. Data would come flooding back to her, telling her where to go, what to do, who to attack.

A squad of about 20 mobile dolls jetted toward the pair. Arys saw the formation of the dolls.

A standard straight line charge. Within a millisecond, Arys had calculated the angles of attack she and Heero would have to use.

Heero, go to these coordinates and fire your buster rifle at half power on my mark. I'll line up on the other end. Arys got into position. She looked out her starboard viewport to see Heero doing the same. The dolls were lined up in 2 rows with 10 in each row.

I'm in position. Heero raised his buster rifle. Archangel and Zero formed up.

Get ready, Heero! Fire! Archangel and Zero fired their weapons. The beams formed a perfect X across the mobile doll formation. The first row was destroyed immediately, but the second row responded and broke formation.

Heero, the second row is breaking up. You break right and I'll destroy the dolls following you.

Not all the dolls are going to follow me, Arys.

I know. When I get rid of those tailing you, decelerate fast.

Right. Here they come. Heero broke right with 3 dolls in tow. Arys held her position until Heero was far enough. An alarm sounded warning her that the remaining dolls were targeting her. She pushed her thrusters to the max toward Heero.

Heero was dodging the blasts from the Virgo suits easily. Arys locked on the nearest doll and let fly a small burst from her beam emitters. She did so with the remaining dolls. They were disabled quickly.

Why didn't you destroy them, Arys?

Obstacles, Heero. As if to prove her statement, a few dolls ran into the disabled Virgos. It made a magnificent explosion. Both Gundams were still flying at full speed.

There's a few left.

OK. Decelerate now!

The Zero slowed drastically and the Archangel flew past with a large group of dolls behind. They seemed to be unaware of Zero's change in speed. The doll's backs were completely open to attack.

Heero! Clear shot!

Heero leveled his weapon at the retreating backs of the Virgos. A golden beam of light flew with great speed toward Arys and the dolls. Arys decelerated and banked down and left. She hoped she was out of the beam's path. Her fears subsided when she saw that the dolls following her had disappeared.

Nice shot.

The Zero and the Archangel fought in perfect sync with each other. While one attacked, the other would defend. Sometimes, both would attack, or both would defend, depending on where the Zero System found a weakness or a strength. Their maneuvers were flawless, as flawless as those of the mobile dolls. It was like an intricate waltz with both Gundams dancing around each other, both using their beam rifles to defeat the enemy.

Quatre watched in amazement as Heero and Arys took out the remaining mobile dolls with one last blast from their rifles. The two Gundams stopped in their tracks, lowering their weapons. The Zero's eyes flashed green as the Archangel's flashed silver.

Arys and Heero appeared on the other pilots' viewscreens. Both pilots had haunted expressions on their faces. Apparently, they each had seen a lot more than just the mobile dolls during the battle.

"You defeated them," Wufei flatly stated.

"It was a dangerous move, Heero," Arys said softly.

"It worked." Heero sounded almost defensive.

"But what are the consequences?" Arys asked sadly. "I saw everything, Heero. Everything..." Her voice trailed off.

"What did you do?" Trowa's face was curious.

Heero's eyes narrowed. "We linked our Zero Systems. Everything I could see, she could see. And vice versa. That's why were able to destroy those mobile dolls so effectively. We were fighting the battle from two different perspectives and as a result, we could see where the weaknesses and the strengths in the enemy formation were."

Arys looked up, her gray eyes filled with pain. "And we lived each other's memories. So much has happened to you that I never knew, Heero." Her voice was raspy, sorrowful.

Heero remained impassive. "It was the right time, Arys. Now, you know everything about me."

Arys choked back some tears. "Yes, I guess I do..." Her face flickered off the viewscreen.

"It'll take some time for her to get used to having my memories." Heero's strong facade broke down slightly. "I'm not proud of many of them."

"Do you have her memories now, Heero?" Quatre asked, curious in spite of himself.

Heero nodded. "Yes... even the ones she doesn't remember." His gaze settled on his viewscreen where he could see the Archangel slowly flying off toward the Peacemillion.

______________

Near the Libra

Duo's clash with the Vayeate and Mercurius had not gotten any easier. The fact that the Vayeate had no left arm gave Duo a slight advantage. Because of this, the two enemy mobile dolls adopted a different strategy. It was almost as if they became a single fighting entity. The Vayeate attacked while the Mercurius defended.

That's probably what Heero and Trowa would do. Duo grimaced as he was hit by another blast of pistol fire. As long as the Vayeate doesn't use its beam rifle too much, I should be all right.

The two mobile suits stayed close together. The Mercurius made sure it widened the field to compensate for the expanded area that was required to shield two suits.

Think, Maxwell! You need an edge in this fight. Duo noticed the way the Mercurius' shield was spread.

Duo charged toward the enemy. He lifted his scythe as far as he could. With a battle cry, he brought it down hard. The beam scythe met the shield with a flash of sparks. Duo could feel that the shield was indeed weaker. The Mercurius seemed to realize the same and backed away. The Vayeate had nearly depleted the energy in its beam rifle, and only shot at Duo when necessary. The cold vacuum of space was silent for a few moments.

They look like they're scared of me. That makes me feel a little better.

Duo smiled slightly as an idea popped in to his head. Duo positioned himself in front of the sun and spread his bat wings as far as they could. The two enemy mobile suits turned a darker color when the shadow of the Deathscythe fell upon them. Duo stared at the suits directly in front of him. This would be his final charge.

Duo transfered all available energy to his thrusters and made a last check. He had never done this before. He swallowed hard as he glanced out his viewport to make sure the enemy wasn't active.

If this doesn't work...

Duo pushed his thrusters to the limit and the Deathscythe flew forward at incredible speed . Alarms went off everywhere. Duo ignored them, partly because he was smashed into his seat. He struggled to look straight ahead at the Mercurius. The Vayeate fired again and again. Some weapons fire hit Duo and he grunted as he tried to stay on course. Duo brought his attack scissors to bear on the exact middle of the Mercurius. He completely ignored the Vayeate. Time seemed to slow down. The Mercurius grew darker and darker as the Deathscythe closed in. They collided.

"Die! You stupid machine!" Duo yelled as loud as he could.

The speed of the Deathscythe, plus the force of the collision caused the Mercurius' planetary defensors to short out and explode. The Deathscythe continued its path straight through the Mercurius. It exploded on contact with the Deathscythe's attack scissors. The explosion rocked Duo in his harness, but he was giving a victory cheer as he flew through what was left of the Mercurius.

"What a rush!" Duo yelled as he came about to target the Vayeate.

The Vayeate had used all the energy in its beam rifle. It dropped its useless weapon and jetted toward the Libra. Duo stared at its retreating back and smirked at the sight of the sparks coming from the arm socket.

Duo's smirk disappeared. His face darkened. He followed at full speed and when he was in range pulled out his beam scythe. He reared back his arm and launched the scythe at the Vayeate. The weapon spun with great velocity until it imbedded itself in the mobile suit's back. The Vayeate exploded so brightly that Duo had to shield his face. When the debris cleared, Deathscythe lifted up his hand. Duo pushed a button to turn on his magnetic retrieval device. The scythe came spinning back to the Deathscythe hand, and it put it on its back.

Duo's face melted into a smile. "Yahoo!" Duo jetted back to base.

As Duo was en route back to the Peacemillion, he noticed something odd on his radar. A group of mobile suits was coming toward him. The group seemed to be chasing a single mobile suit.

"That's not a mobile doll!" Duo scanned the area of space in front of him. A mobile suit was heading straight for him.

Hilde's face came up on his viewscreen.

"Hilde! What are you doing here?" Duo leaned forward, noting that her suit was being chased by dozens of mobile dolls. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I had to do this, Duo. I did it for you."

"Why, Hilde?" Duo looked ready to blow up at her in a rage.

"I knew you wouldn't understand, Duo." Hilde smiled at him as her mobile suit continued to get bombarded by enemy fire. She held up a disk. "You guys need this."

"You're going to get yourself killed to give us a disk?" Duo throttled forward, trying to get to Hilde's suit before the dolls blew it away.

"Yes..." Hilde slammed forward into her harness as the cockpit began to fall apart around her.

Duo watched in horror as she gripped her arm, no longer attempting to control her suit. There was so much blood! He couldn't believe that she had survived this long.

"You fool!" Duo yelled as Hilde lost consciousness and he reached her just in time to prevent the mobile dolls from blowing up her mobile suit.

Blinded by rage at seeing Hilde injured, he dispatched the mobile dolls with a swiftness he didn't know he had.

"Hilde?" Duo shouted into his comm. The black-haired pilot did not reply. Her head rolled to the side, and as it did so, Duo saw that there was a large gash on the side of her head. A sigh escaped her lips.

"Hilde! No!"