Alternate Gundam Wing Universe:

Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter Five

***

One look outside the shuttle window, and Trowa knew they were going in the right direction. All around fine gray dust was swirling. This wasn't a natural occurence on the moon, which meant something must have stirred up the surface. And the lunar base was somewhere right ahead.

"Careful..." Quatre warned from the co-pilot's seat.

With a nod, Trowa pulled the shuttle higher. This wasn't to avoid detection, since he had no doubt anyone monitoring the area could probably see them already. But he couldn't see through the dust, and wanted to get over it so he could see whatever might come at them, rock or vehicle.

Soon an enormous crater became visible beneath them. It was so deep that the bottom was just a pit of blackness. The dust continued to swirl up from its depths. Quatre narrowed his eyes. "I think...that was the base! What happened to it?"

Trowa turned his eyes from the crater towards Quatre. "Heero probably happened to it."

"I hope they made it out. Let's go down and get a better look."

As soon as they landed, they spotted someone coming towards them from behind some rocks. Despite the dark reflective visor, they could see that it was Heero. And he was carrying Milliardo.

Before Trowa could turn around, Quatre was already running for the airlock. A few minutes later, he was helping Heero lift Milliardo onto a reclined seat and pulling his astrosuit off. Trowa joined them only after he was sure there were no other spacecraft in the area.

"Just what happened out there, Heero?" Trowa looked from Milliardo to Heero, who was only just now pulling off his own helmet.

"I'm not sure." Heero watched Quatre examine Milliardo. "When we got here the place was deserted...at least from what I could see. But someone was still around, and they blew up the entire base."

"An extreme move," Quatre thought aloud. "They must have been pretty desperate to cover up their operation."

"And him?" Trowa nodded towards Milliardo.

"He was attacked by whoever it was that blew up the base. By the time I got to him, he was like this." Heero scowled and ran a hand back through his messy brown hair. "Relena's going to kill me."

"I really doubt that, Heero." Quatre was strapping down Milliardo. He looked up at Heero. "She'll be grateful you're coming back alive." Lifting his hands away from Milliardo, he frowned. "I can't find any immediate injuries... But if he isn't responding, there must've been some kind of blow to the head or something. We'd better get him back to the lunar spaceport, they've got a medical facility there."

***

"Solo..." Zara's voice echoed softly through gundam Apocalypse's comm system. When there was no reply, the voice became more urgent and concerned. "Solo! Please respond...are you okay?"

Okay? Solo stared blankly out into the display. A colony, his home, had just exploded into stardust, and she was asking if he was okay? He took a deep breath and with visible effort, pushed himself forward in his harness. The Scorpio suits had destroyed an entire colony, and nearly scrapped the Apocalypse. Any notions he might have had of playing hero were wiped out. Even with Zara's help, he knew he wasn't going to be a match against Falkner's forces. But what could he possibly do now?

A small whisper within his mind gave him the answer. And he felt sick to his stomach. He reached for the gundam's control sticks with shaking hands.

"Solo!" Zara's voice cried out again. "We can't stay here! There's Preventer spacecraft approaching, and if they find us here...!"

With a heavy sigh, Solo switched on his comm. "Let them find us. Just don't give them any reason to attack us."

"What!?"

"Don't worry Zara, this isn't your fault. And I don't care what they do with me. But this may be the fastest way to get some real help."

There was a brief moment of silence. "I hope you know what you're doing," Zara finally sighed.

***

Heero stared through the thick pane of glass at the sterile room on the other side. Inside, Milliardo lay peacefully, connected by yards of cords to various medical diagostic equipment. He hadn't moved except to breathe since being brought to the lunar spaceport's medical facility a few hours earlier.

In a similar fashion, Heero himself had barely moved from his spot. He had yet to contact Relena, or anyone else concerning what had happened. He knew he couldn't put it off much longer. Eventually he'd have to tell her, and Lucrezia would have to be informed...

It was all his fault. Heero glared at his reflected image in the glass. Because of him, Duo was dead. And because of him, Duo's son Solo had grown up alone, nearly crazed with pain, and was now lost somewhere. And because of him, Milliardo was like this. Heero's muscles tightened, and he felt the gunshot wound on his shoulder rip a terrible pain through him. He didn't even flinch.

Feeling a light touch on his arm, however, did make Heero jump a bit. He turned with a frown. Quatre quickly removed his hand and tucked it into his pocket.

"No change?" Quatre asked, not looking at Milliardo, but watching Heero with those deep blue eyes. Heero knew the blonde had been standing there for a while.

"None." Heero turned to look back into the room.

"The doctors can't find a thing wrong with him," Quatre said softly, looking in as well. "He's perfectly fine. Just...he won't wake up. They think it's some kind of coma." He glanced over at Heero. "You don't have any idea what happened to him?"

Heero shook his head. "We shouldn't have split up."

Quatre sighed. "Heero, you shouldn't..."

"I am responsible. But I can't allow anymore mistakes." Heero finally turned away from the glass and walked across the room. "There's something I haven't told any of you yet."

"Bad news?" Quatre asked warily, the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach confirming it for him.

"Yeah. When that base exploded, an entire fleet of mobile suits I've never seen before went flying out. They could be just about anywhere now." Heero stopped walking, and faced the far wall.

Quatre opened his mouth once, then closed it again. It was real. There really were mobile suits out there. The terrible possibilities played themselves out in Quatre's mind, and he shuddered.

Before either could say anything else, Trowa came walking into the room. If he had been walking any faster, he would've been jogging. Looking slightly pale, he glanced quickly between Heero and Quatre. "You guys had better get over here. An L2 colony's been destroyed, and we're getting an urgent message from a Preventer spacecraft heading out from the same area."

"A colony...?" Quatre choked on the rest of his words, and stared at Trowa, as if expecting him to deny it. Trowa only turned and headed back out, and Heero said nothing, keeping his eyes to the floor as he followed him. Quatre gave Milliardo's room behind him one more glance, swallowed, then hurried after the others.

They returned to Quatre's shuttle, where Trowa quickly brought up the Preventer message on a display. His eyes scanned the words and crossed his arms. "They captured two unidentified gundams and their pilots near the destroyed colony, but they haven't been able to get any information from them about what's happened." Trowa tilted his head and glanced over at Heero. "Except the one calling himself Solo Maxwell has said he'll only talk to Heero Yuy."

"Two gundams? Who's the other pilot?" Heero frowned.

Trowa glanced back at the screen, and his face flickered with a hint of surprise. "Zara Winner... One of your sisters, Quatre?"

Quatre looked shocked. "Well..." His eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I guess so... I don't know all my sisters that well, but the name just doesn't sound familiar at all..."

"At any rate, now there's two gundams, and an entire fleet of new mobile suits out there." Heero stated bluntly. "And that's just what we know about."

"A fleet?" Trowa muttered and directed his gaze at Heero.

"Yeah. That's all I know about all this." Heero looked away.

"Damn... If we're going to find out what's going on, you'd better go meet with that Preventer ship, Heero," Trowa watched as Heero stared down at the monitor. He could tell Heero was uneasy about meeting up with Solo again, despite how he had tried to search him out. 'No doubt,' Trowa thought to himself, 'Solo is dragging up all Heero's guilt over Duo's death. I hope he can hold himself together through this.'

"Heero?" Quatre stepped forward when Heero remained silent.

"Alright," Heero announced loudly. "Quatre, you and I are going to go meet up with that Preventer ship." He turned his steel eyes on Trowa. "Trowa, I want you to contact Wufei and tell him everything that's happened. It's highly likely that he's already been informed about the new gundams, but fill him in on the rest."

"Heero," Quatre interrupted, "are you sure we should get Wufei involved in this? He hasn't been in very good health lately, and this might stress..."

"He needs to know," Heero said firmly. "He's going to find out eventually, and if he can help in any way, we need it now. This situation is a timebomb waiting to take us all out."

Trowa nodded. "I'll keep in touch." He headed out towards the back the of the shuttle.

"Oh, and another thing," Heero added, in a softer voice. "Contact Relena and tell her everything's fine."

Quatre grimaced. "Heero..."

"I'll handle it all later...just keep them at ease for now. Trowa, can you do that for me?" Heero looked from Quatre to Trowa.

His lips tightened visibly, but Trowa just nodded. "Good luck, you two." As Heero headed for the shuttle cockpit, Trowa went over to Quatre and sealed his mouth to his for a brief kiss that communicated both the haste of their situation, and their feelings. For as long as he could, Quatre held the other to him as he returned the kiss, deepening it. Too soon he had to release him, and emerald and sapphire eyes met in a silent understanding as lovers became soldiers once more. Nothing left to be said, Trowa turned and left the shuttle.

***

Sitting there in the darkness, cold metal against his back, Solo listened. He could feel more than hear the vibrating humm that sang through the ship. Other than that, he could hear nothing.

Before being put there, his mind had been buzzing as well, overwhelmed by everything that was happening to him. His life, which he used to think he had a grip on was spinning wildly out of control. But some time after he'd been separated from Zara, his mind had finally shut down. He'd drifted in and out of restless sleep so many times, he wasn't sure how much time had passed. Minutes? Hours? Days? Now he wondered why he was sitting in the dark again. Was he a caged animal? And if so, did he have whiskers?

Rubbing his hand across his jaw, he felt smooth skin. Damn. His stomach rumbled a curse as well. He was starving. "Don't they feed prisoners in this place?" Solo grumbled under his breath. He tucked his fabric worn knees up beneath his chin. "Oh well. I'll probably die of thirst first."

Solo bent his head down and folded his hands around the back of his neck with a sigh. If Zara was there with him, he knew she probably wouldn't want him to be such a pessimist.

"Mmm... At least I don't have to go to the bathroom."

Arctic blue eyes flickered towards where he remembered the door to be. He could hear something different now. A steady sound. Footsteps. Someone was finally coming for him. The sound grew louder, until it was lost in the relative roar of the doors sliding open. Light poured in on him, and he squinted in discomfort.

"Finally come to kill me?" Solo grumbled.

Heero stepped away from the Preventer guards flanking him, and into the cell. He had arrived aboard the ship only a few minutes ago, and had demanded to see Solo immediately. Quatre had gone down to the ship's old mobilesuit hangar to get a look at the captured gundams. Both of them felt as though they were racing against time, though they still had no idea who or what the enemy was. Heero was silent as Solo slowly pushed to his feet, sliding up against the back of the wall. There was a grim smirk on the boy's face. Then Heero watched recognition seep into his features, melting the smirk away. Solo's lips parted slightly, his face now reflecting something that Heero decided was something between anger and dread. Heero had a strong deja vu feeling.

"Heero."

"We need to talk." Heero's eyes turned to look over his shoulder. "Alone."

The two Preventer guards behind him looked uneasy with the idea, but then one gave the other a look and jerked his head back. The other blinked, then nodded. They both gave Heero one more look. "Watch yourself." Then they turned and left, closing the door behind them.

Heero turned back to look at Solo. The boy now had his eyes stuck to the floor. There in the dark, Heero felt once more that he was faced with a ghost from the past, and a troubled one at that. The silence was deafening. Heero realized he was waiting for Solo to speak. There had been a time when this boy's father would have driven him nearly homocidal trying to get a word out of him with his constant chattering. But despite the disturbing resemblance, this Maxwell was keeping his silence around him. Ironically, now Heero would have to get Duo's son to open up to him.

"Solo. What happened out there?"

Slowly, Solo lifted his head, rolled it up, and looked over at the corner of the ceiling. He now remembered asking the Preventers for Heero Yuy, but now that he was here, Solo felt very uncomfortable. Heero could provide the help that Zara needed, but his feelings concerning the man were still twisted up inside him. He tapped his fingers on the flat wall behind him as he pushed the words forth. "The colony exploded. People died."

"Did you kill them?"

Solo was silent again. Then he looked down, clutching something at his chest. "I'm not sure." He didn't move his head, but his eyes turned to glare up at Heero. "The only person I ever really wanted to kill was you."

Heero's face was hidden in the shadows cast by the hair hanging over his eyes. "Really. You've killed a lot of people, Solo. I don't know if you were responsible for that colony. But everyone at that military base back on Earth was killed. Including civilians and children."

With an audible gulp, Solo slid back against the wall and stopped when he landed on his knees. One hand remained hanging onto his shirt. "I..." His voice shook. He closed his eyes. "How's Duo?" He asked in a steadier tone.

At this, Heero's face rose into visibility, and he gave Solo a slightly curious look. "Duo's fine. Just a little banged up."

"Mmm. He's a good kid...asks too many damn questions though." He tilted his head at Heero with an almost amused expression. "I wonder where he gets it from."

"Hn. I'm afraid I have even more questions." He tucked his hands into his pockets. "Solo...I'm not going to judge you for what you've done. Of all people, I haven't the right. I'll leave that to the Preventers and yourself. But you asked to talk to me, and I'm here." Heero knelt to his eyelevel and gave him a steady stare.

"It's a long story," Solo clasped his hands in his lap. He then took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Heero everything that had happened to him at the lunar base, about the Scorpios, Prof. Falkner, Zara, the gundams, the destruction of the colony, and of course, the alien colonists.

Heero remained completely deadpan all while Solo was speaking. Though an single eyebrow arched high and disappeared into the shadows cast by his hair when Solo began talking about aliens.

***

An uneasy feeling churned within Quatre as he looked up at the two gundams being held there in the Preventer ship. He recognized the black hulk that was the Apocalypse, though he had only seen it in fleeting glimpses when it had knocked his car off the road back on Earth. He shuddered at the memory. Giving it a more technical eye, the gundam reminded him of the Deathscythe, though it was almost twice the size, and didn't look nearly as streamlined. This machine had clearly been built as a no nonsense device of destruction, with no thought to aesthetics.

The smaller violet gundam beside it was another matter. It was dwarfed in size next to the Apocalypse, smaller even than any of the original gundams. It was unlike any gundam Quatre had seen before, closer in design to the Vayeate or the Mercurius. It had a definite feminine quality to it.

'There's two of them now,' Quatre thought to himself. 'And if there's two, could there be more out there somewhere?' Feeling an intense pang of nervousness, Quatre turned his head to see two men in Preventer jackets towards the far end of the hangar looking at the gundams and whispering. They didn't look any different than any of the others about their business around him, but they radiated trouble to Quatre.

***

Pacing in the darkness, Zara waited anxiously. The tiny cell was smothering her. All her life she'd lived in little spaces, tucked into the extremes are dark and light. Even in the vastness space, she was confined in the tight cockpit of a mobile suit. She thought of the Earth, that small blue sphere that promised wide reaching shadows. Since learning of it, she'd wanted to go there. Big and blue...like Solo's eyes.

Wondering what the Preventers had done with Solo, she stuck her fingers back into her brown hair as her face scrunched up in irritation. Part of her debated escaping and leaving Solo behind. He'd gotten them caught on purpose, and seemed to be too emotionally distraught to be any help to her or anyone. It was no wonder Solo had fallen out of Falkner's control.

Dropping her arms to her sides, Zara swayed back and forth slightly on her heels. 'Falkner was a fool for training Solo. Solo was a fool for letting us get captured by the Preventers, which limits our freedom and makes us easy targets for anyone, including Falkner's agents. And I'm a fool for trusting Solo.' She stood still. 'I wish I knew what he's up to...'

Zara paced around the cell. "I have to get us out of here," she muttered.

The cell door opened, and Zara spun around in shock. She quickly composed herself and looked away. It was two men in Preventer jackets. For a moment, she'd been afraid it was Falkner's agents come to take her away. These Preventers, she could ignore. She had already made it clear that she wouldn't tell them anything. The only reason they'd gotten her name was because it had been labeled in her astrosuit, which had been checked for hidden weapons. She wanted to talk to Solo first, and they had kept them separated since being captured.

"You're Zara Winner, right?" One of them asked gruffly.

Zara nodded curtly. "Can I see Solo now?"

"Sorry," the other man reached into his pocket. "It's time for you take a little nap." He pulled a syringe out of his pocket and slid the cap off the needle.

"What!?" Not needles! Zara's green eyes widened in fear, and she backed away. She absolutely hated needles. Growing up in a lab, most of her first memories involved needles and pain. Always labeled syringes, just like the one in his hand... "You're not Preventers..."

"We've come to take you home."

The one without the syringe reached out and grabbed her arm. Zara struggled, everything she knew about self-defense suddenly leaving her in her panic. She tried to scream as she was pinned against the wall, but his hand crushed against her mouth. Finally, she pulled back her knee and kicked the one restraining her as hard as she could in the groin.

He yelped went down, but at the same instant, Zara felt a stab in her arm. She turned to swipe at the other man, but she was already weak, and he easily caught her striking arm. "Enough of that," he told her firmly as he removed the needle. He quickly caught her as she completely passed out and fell forward.

His partner shakily pulled himself in anger. "Damn freak... If she wasn't worth so much to Falkner, I'd teach her a thing or two."

"Just help me carry her. We have to get out of here before anybody finds out she's missing." As he started dragging her, a shadow fell across the doorway. The two men looked up at the rather unintimidating figure in their way.

"What are you doing here?" Quatre demanded. Not only did the situation feel wrong to him, but he didn't like the way they were handling the girl. If these men were Preventers, he would have words with their superior officer. However, he doubted it would be so simple. His blue eyes flashed as he saw the one not carrying the girl reach for something that glinted silver...

***

Now sitting on his heels on the floor, Heero watched Solo closely from behind where he rested his chin in his hand, hiding his face from the nose down. "Tell me more about the girl."

"Zara?" Solo had been fooling around with the end of his braid, but dropped it when he noticed what he was doing. "I'm not sure. She says she was one of Falkner's lab rats, being trained as a mobile suit pilot. She helped me escape, but beyond that, I don't really know anything."

"Hmm." Heero frowned. "Do you trust her?"

Solo's eyes turned into saucers, surprising Heero. He'd seen a similar expression on Duo's face enough times to be familiar with it, but it looked strangely out of place on Solo's usually subdued facade.

"I don't know," Solo finally mumbled, hooding his eyes into obscurity. "She saved my life..."

A corner of Heero's mouth quirked up. "Guess I'll have to talk to her myself. Now, about that other gundam..."

A shot blasted down the corridor, echoing loudly. Heero immediately jumped to his feet and rushed to the door.

"What the hell was that!?" Solo yelled, jumping to his feet as well, stumbling forward a few steps.

"Sounds like trouble. And the door is locked," Heero answered gravely.

***

Quatre threw himself out of the way before the bullet was even fired. Now he was inside the cell with them. With a startling cry, he knocked into the man with the gun, and ended up struggling with him for control of the weapon.

"Damn, it's Winner," the other snapped. "Of all the... Don't shoot him!" He pushed Zara aside and reached into his pocket for the syringe again. "I hope there's enough...we're just going to have to take him too. Let Falkner decide how to handle this."

Hearing the approach behind him, Quatre's strained face whipped around, as did his leg. In a fast, hard sweep, Quatre's kick found its mark in the man's midsection. The syringe went flying across the room and the glass shattered on the hard floor. The man who had been holding it slammed back on the same hard floor, and the impact to his head knocked him out cold.

The armed man took advantage of Quatre's sudden distraction by punching him hard in the gut. The blonde man doubled over with a rasp. Still, his grip on the gun remained as firm as before. Seeing the guard's fist coming for his face this time, Quatre reached out and grabbed it before it could find its mark. But his legs were starting to slide and give under the guard's greater weight.

"You're in over your pretty head," the guard growled. "Give up before I'm forced to kill you."

"Don't call me pretty," Quatre grunted. Moving faster than the larger man could react, he shifted his body to the side and kicked out at his knees. In seconds, Quatre had smashed him into the floor, with his knee on his chest. The gun went clattering out of their grasp. The guard only had time to cry out in pain and shock before Quatre's hand darted to his throat, sending him into darkness.

With a disgusted sigh, Quatre removed his hand when he was certain the other man was unconscious. Then he lifted his knee up and pushed off of him, picking up the dropped gun as he went. Brushing his blonde hair away from his face, he knelt next to Zara with a worried look. He touched her face to make sure she was still breathing.

Zara stirred slightly at his touch, but did not awaken. Setting the gun aside, Quatre cradled her gently. He stared at her face, a mild confusion settling over him. She was evoking emotions within him, but he couldn't identify what they were. The light from the doorway lay across her features and highlighted her auburn hair in a way that when he looked at her, Quatre found himself thinking of Trowa. He quickly dismissed the thought and the strange feelings, moving to lift her up.

"Who are you?" Quatre whispered. "You're only a girl, too young to be one of my sisters..."

A loud metallic screech ripped through Quatre's thoughts, and he looked up. Down the corridor, Heero was pulling the formerly locked cell door open with his bare hands. Solo just stood behind him and stared in disbelief as Heero crushed the metal on either side of his hands, pretty much destroying the doors in the process of forcing it open. Solo was suddenly glad he had never attempted to take on Heero in hand to hand combat. When Heero ran down the corridor, Solo followed close behind.

"Looks like someone wanted her kidnapped," Quatre called to them, carrying Zara out into the corridor.

"Zara!?" Seeing Zara limp in Quatre's arms, Solo rushed ahead of Heero. He came to a reluctant halt about a foot away. "What happened to her?"

"They injected her with something," Quatre glanced back at the dark cell behind him as Heero closed and locked it. "I'm taking her to sickbay," he called back as he started at a careful run away from the cellblock.

"I'm coming too!" Solo started to run after them, but Heero quickly caught his arm.

"Until I can get all of this explained, you stay right by me," Heero told him sternly. "We'll both go with them." He looked up as four officers came running up with their weapons drawn. "Everything's under control here." Heero pointed towards the locked cell. "Keep that locked. The men inside just tried to kidnap the girl, and I want to question them when they wake up. I'm keeping the pilot prisoners under my watch until the security around here is to my satisfaction."

"Sir, you can't...!" One of the senior officers began to protest.

Heero turned and glared at him. "Take it up with Sally Chang. Or would you rather just take it up with me right now?"

Solo tucked his hands behind his head and turned away slightly. He did turn his head to look back, and gave the senior officer a swift shake of the head and a nervous warning expression. Solo just hoped the guy had sense.

"I...I'll inform Commander Chang," the officer stuttered. He needed no warning glances with Heero's reputation.

***

Only a few minutes later, Heero was standing in the sickbay with Quatre listening to the ship's doctor. Solo just sat quietly at Zara's bedside, looking at nothing in particular. The girl was still asleep.

"If there's any problems, just call, I'll be nearby," the doctor told them, placing her hand on the door. Then she left the room, briefly revealing guards standing outside before the door closed again.

Hearing Quatre and Heero approach, Solo looked up. "What's wrong with Zara? Is she going to die?" He looked as if he expected it.

"No," Quatre shook his head and smiled. "She's just been injected with a tranquilizer. The doctor says it should wear off in about a few hours." He blinked and furrowed his brows slightly noticing Solo staring at him. "...Ummm?"

"It's just..." Solo looked from Quatre to Zara uncertainly. Now he remembered where he'd heard Zara's last name before. Quatre Raberba Winner had been one of the five gundam pilots from the Eve Wars. 'Are they related?' He thought to himself.

Heero was looking at Zara as well. "I see what he's saying. She looks a lot like you, Quatre. But she's just a teenager. Too young to be one of your sisters, but there's definitely a family resemblance there."

"Yeah, I know." Quatre gave Zara a quizzical glance, then looked back up at Heero. "I'm not sure, but I think she could be one of my nieces. I'm going to be making a lot of calls, see if any of my sisters can shed some light on this."

"You do that," Heero agreed. "I'll make sure these two don't get into anymore trouble in here."

After Quatre left sickbay to make the calls in his private quarters, Heero's gaze turned to the nearby monitor. He wondered how Relena and Duo were doing back on Earth. Had Trowa called them? He didn't look forward to facing his wife about Milliardo's condition, but he was beginning to give in to the idea of a short call... Then he noticed the red light blinking near the screen. As expected, a shrill buzzer soon followed the blinking light.

"Sickbay here," Heero almost sighed, after switching on the monitor. Only a voice responded.

"Sir, we're picking up a transmission from the moon, from Trowa Barton. Something is interfering with the signal, but it looks urgent."

"Send it through."

Solo was half listening from where he sat. But mostly he was now staring over at Zara's still form with sleepy eyes. Although he'd been sleeping on and off in his cell, he still felt exhausted. And now he was afraid to sleep. Hearing the screen crackle to life behind him, Solo continued to keep watch on Zara, feeling beneath his shirt, the small shape of a cross.

"Heero...Quat...ere...distu..." Trowa's image appeared on the scrambled screen, occasionally reaching out of view with a slight grimace. However, the transmission was almost impossible to hear through the static, and the fizzling picture flipped in a dizzy way. Heero could barely make out part of what Trowa was trying to say. "...sight ...Rele... first... Mill..ardo... will...Mars... check as...meet...." Then the transmission broke off into a faint whitish glow on the pitch black screen.

Heero inclined his head slightly in deep thought. Then he turned around and leaned back against the screen. His eyes wandered to the thick black braid that hung down the side of Solo's chair and frowned.

"Solo, what do you know about Mars?"

*****

(Author's Notes: I can't believe I FINALLY got this chapter written. O_O Believe it or not, this is goin' somewheres...well, kinda. ^_^; No, honest! And BIG thank you to those of you still reading this series. You're so kind! And not in the Dorothy way! *sob sob* ^_^; )