The year is After Colony 197 and the Gundam pilots have been leading a pretty much normal life. Duo's re-joined the Sweepers, Qautre's running the Winner resource satellites, Trowa's working at the circus again, and Heero and Wufei have been taking any job that they can find. But today's different...
<><><><><><>
"So, you were a Gundam pilot?" asks the boss of
Comet shuttle transport.
"Yeah." answers Heero.
"I already have faith in you. Welcome to Comet
shuttle transport."
Heero nods and leaves the stuffy office. As he begins to walk to his apartment, he stumbles into some one dressed all in black.
"Watch where you're goin' buddy!" The person looks
up and gives Heero a familiar grin.
"Heero, it's been a while."
"Yeah..."
"Same old Heero." laughs Duo
"Yeah, you haven't changed either." Heero continues
walking towards his apartment again.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Duo runs
to catch up to Heero
"Heero, I've heard a rebel group called Dragon
Force has started rebelling not far from here. They're beginning to gain
great military force here in space." Heero stops.
"Are you certain?"
"Quite."
"Follow me then." Heero, again, starts walking
towards his apartment and Duo follows silently.
<><><><><><>
"Mister Winner," says a man in a brown suit, "
here are the reports on the rebel group, Dragon Force, that you asked for."
He passes a small stack of papers to a ,platinum blonde, young man.
"Thank you." He starts reading through the papers
with a look of despair on his face. "Garithe, please get Sand Rock
ready for combat immediately."
"Yes sir."
<><><><><><>
Heero unlocks his apartment door and walks in, throwing his denim jacket on the couch. Duo follows, amazed by the neatness of the place. Heero enters his bedroom and replaces his green tank for a black T-shirt.
"So, Dragon Force is it?" asks Heero from his
bedroom as the sound of typing begins. Duo walks into Heero's room
and looks over his shoulder at his computer's screen.
"Yeah, that's it"
A large number of statistics appear on the screen,
providing information on the organization.
"Their base is battleship Dracon, an almost exact
copy of Libra." Heero states plainly,"
"We better stop it fast." Heero shuts off the
computer and walks into the living room, picking up his jacket as he heads
towards the door. Duo rushes after him and exits the apartment just as
Heero's about ready to lock it.
"Where are you going?" asks Duo.
"I'm going to get Wing Zero."
"W... Wing Zero?!!"
"Yeah. You better get your Gundam as well. it's
probably in the same storage area as Zero is."
Duo shudders at the name Wing Zero but has to
agree with Heero on this one. "All right. You have a point. Look
out everybody, the God of Death's back in action!"
"You like talking to yourself?" Duo looks up
and realizes Heero's about fifteen feet away from him.
"Hey wait up!"
<><><><><><>
"Looks like the Gundams are needed again."
"Please ,Trowa, don't leave again."
"I'm sorry, Catherine, but I have to fight."
Catherine's eyes fill with tears.
"Don't cry. I'll make sure that I come back safely
to you." Trowa wipes the tears from her eyes and heads towards the same
place Heero and Duo are bound for, a place called The Shed.
"Trowa!" Catherine falls to her knees and starts
crying. She then looks up to see that
Trowa's gone. "I'll support you, Trowa, even
if I'm killed doing it."
<><><><><><>
"Master Qautre!" Garithe runs to catch up to Qautre.
"You forgot these." He hands Qautre a coat and a space suit. "Thanks
Garithe." Qautre continues walking towards The Shed.
"Remember, we all support you!"
<><><><><><>
"Hmmm. Dragon Force. Sounds like a copy of White Fang. They must be stopped before that war re-occurs." Wufei decides to skip work and start fighting Dragon Force. Much like the others, he's heading towards The Shed. Unknown to him and the other pilots though, this war is not going to be like the great war in A.C. 195. This war would cause greater despair and death. New weapons, enemies, and allies would emerge. To be short, this war won't be pretty.
<><><><><><>
"Hey, Heero! Look!" Heero turns to look where
Duo's looking to see the three other pilots heading in their direction.
"So?"
"Heero! With our COMBINED power we can definitely
defeat Dragon Force."
"Just as long as you guys don get in my way."
"Man, you're like a rock, hard and secluded."
"Hmmm..."
"Duo!"
"Hey Qautre!" Duo runs up to Qautre.
"What you been up to?" they both turn at Trowa's
voice.
"Trowa!"
"Dragon Force is powerful, you guys sure you
can handle it?"
"Wufei!"
"Hey Duo, where's Heero?" asks Qautre
"He's back there some where."
"So, he hasn't changed a bit."
"Nope."
"I'll be the one who decides if I've changed
or not." all head turn to where Heero is standing, in plain view.
"Oh...Uh.. Hi... Heero..."
"Wufei's right, plus, if we don't stop them now
This coming war will cause the destruction of Earth and I think I know
who's leading Dragon Force." "Huh? Who Heero?" wonders Qautre.
"Zechs."
"Zechs!?" they all yell.
"I thought he died in the explosion!" shouts
Duo.
"He couldn't have died that easy." Heero walks
over to the Wing Zero loading ladder.
"You guys commin' or not?"
"I'm in." says Qautre. "What about you guys?"
"I'm in. If Zechs isn't dead then that's one
purpose to fight again."
"I'm with Wufei."
"Same here."
"Than let's go." Heero yells down from the Wing
Zero cockpit.
They all nod and rush into their Gundams.
"Heero, should we go to Earth or stay in space?"
asks Qautre.
"Let's head to Earth, that way Dragon Force won't
have any back-up troops in space."
"I have to agree with ya on this one, Heero."
"You guys better find shuttles for your Gundams."
"Why aren't you getting one, Heero?"
"Because Zero can handle entering the atmosphere.
I work for Comet so I may be able to either borrow or steal some shuttles
from them. Wait for me in space."
"Right."
Heero gets out of Wing Zero and walks to his job.
it's now 11:00 PM Colony A standard time and Heero enters the dark building
of Comet that contains transport shuttles of all kinds. Heero looks up
at a large, mobile suit shuttle.
"This size is perfect. Best to steal four to
set up decoys." Heero steals four and they automatically launch towards
the others and stop infront of them.
"Looks like Heero kept his promise. Let's get
these suits loaded."
"Use two for decoys, one of these shuttles can
hold two of our suits."
"Right."
Heero finds his way back to The Shed and flies out of the colony in the transformed Wing Zero. He spots the others and flies ahead of them seeing the decoy setup easily.
"You guys are almost perfect at setting a decoy."
"Well, we're on our way to Earth."
"I'll watch out for enemies." "
"Good luck Heero."
Heero flies slightly behind the other pilots
as shooting is heard.
"The decoys worked, they're attacking them."
"That's good."
Heero enters the atmosphere and flies at full
speed in front of the others. "You're such a show off, Heero."
"No, there's and attack force heading our way."
Wing Zero transforms and starts shooting at the
offending troops. Heero estimates fifty Virgoes and twenty Aires. The Aires
are destroyed easily but the Virgoes proove to be quite a challenge.
"You guys manuever around the battle and I'll
back you up."
"But Heero..."
"Just do it!"
The other pilots do as Heero says and maneuver
around the battle successfully. They land on Earth and look up at the astonishing
battle.
"Man! look at him go!"
"Huh?" Qautre sees the form of Heero falling
to Earth. "Everybody! In your Gundams, quick!"
They don't bother to argue and pilot their Gundams
away from the falling Heero except for one, Qautre.
"Qautre! Are you nuts?!"
"I'm gonna try and slow his decent, his life
is more important than mine right now."
"QAUTRE!!!!!"
"You can't stop me."
Heero uses most of his Verniay engine fuel to
slow down and he does, mostly. Heero collides with Qautre and they both
hit the ground, neither exploding or severally damaged.
"Qautre, next time you do something that that,
I'm gonna kill ya personally!!!!"
"Sounds like something you'd say, Duo"
"Why'd you do it Qautre? If I hadn't used my
Verniays you'd be nothing more than bits of stuff here and there."
"Heero, you're to important to this team to die."
"So are you Qautre." Qautre's stunned by Heero's
words as Wing Zero stands. Heero sighs. "You see, Qautre, you're probably
more important than I am right now. This team needs a good leader and you're
the best we got."
"Heero.. I..."
"Where're we headed, Heero?" Duo breaks the silence.
"Base Tarmin. It's a manufacturing plant in northern
Eurasia."
"Right."
Heero, in Wing Zero, helps Qautre's Gundam up
so they can head towards... towards ...
"Heero, has it ever occurred to you that we're
already at our destination?" sarcastically wonders Wufei.
"I already knew that. When did you figure it
out?"
Everybody chuckles and Wufei, unknown to anybody
else, turns red in the face.