Prologue

You know, I knew I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning. Okay, I probably would’ve been hauled out of bed had I stayed, but still, disregarding that . . . couldn’t find my hairbrush, all my clothes were dirty, breakfast was watered-down oatmeal, and now, to top it all off, Pestilence has informed me that my job is to blow up the earth.

Way to go, Duo.

I’ve decided I take exception to this.

The Earth is being evil and oppressing us, so our logical decision and only plan is to . . . be more evil? Blow them up? Isn’t that kind of like cutting off your nose to spite your face?

Pestilence didn’t agree. He also got rather irritated when I told him that, with a nose his size, he ought to appreciate the expression. I mean, where would his face be without his nose, other than about five pounds lighter?

His hair bounces when he talks. He got mad when I pointed that out, too. Like some sort of deranged mushroom.

ANYway, I’m rambling. I can tell. Our plan is to blow up the Earth.

Let me rephrase: White Fang’s plan is to blow up the Earth.

So I tried to be all macho and blow up Deathscythe and kill everyone here, except Pestilence found out and took all the screws out of my explosives. I think his nose is psychic or something.

What a waste of perfectly good explosives.

Anyway, he seemed to take exception to the fact that I was going to kill him. Then he made some cryptic speech about ‘outwitting’ him and ‘stealing’ Deathscythe. As if I could get out of here with Deathscythe without him wanting me too. I think he thinks that I’m psychic. I sure as hell don’t know what he’s talking about.

Maybe my hair has talents I don’t yet know about. I hope it’s psychic. I could use the help.

****

This morning I found myself presented with a singularly odd situation. Actually I’m not sure ‘odd’ is the correct word. Perhaps ‘disturbing’ would be better. Or ‘unacceptable.’

I don’t know where White Fang got the idea to destroy the Earth, but I must state for the record that I don’t agree. And if they think they can force me to comply, they’re going to be sadly disillusioned.

After all . . . it’s my Gundam.

Fortunately, nobody noticed that I was having second thoughts. I accepted everything with nods and noncommittal phrases, and was left to my own thoughts and devices. Left pondering what to do about this.

Obviously, working for White Fang is no longer an option. However, OZ still needs to be dealt with.

Perhaps if I took Heavyarms and left, I could deal with OZ on my own, and then simply disappear before White Fang caught up with me.

The plan has merit, but it’s very risky and certainly not guaranteed to succeed, not that any plan of mine ever has been. The chances that I could deal with OZ single-handedly are slim at best. Also, if I cut ties with White Fang, I would have no one to service my Gundam and - more importantly - no one to provide ammunition.

Though having that many guns is useful, I will admit that I use up bullets at a phenomenal speed.

The third problem with this plan is that it’s not likely I could escape from White Fang. A Gundam is hard enough to hide from people who know where to look for it, and if I’m using my Gundam against OZ, they will be able to keep track of my general location.

However, even given all these problems, I’m not sure I have any other option. If I remain, they will either force me to go along with their plan, or kill me and let someone else have Heavyarms. Neither of these options are acceptable.

Therefore I’ll have to take my chances.

****

Before I left I decided to look through the Doctor’s computer. Apparently he either underestimates my hacking skills, or overestimates my sense of honor. While I do have one, he himself trained me to do whatever is necessary when I have a goal.

And I certainly have one now.

However, the big blue eyes are good for something. While looking innocent all the time can be a distinct nuisance, sometimes it comes in particularly handy.

It has been five hours since the Doctor informed me of White Fang’s plan. I don’t think I was able to hide my distress from him, though I did my level best. He gave me that weird grin of his and wandered off. I immediately began packing. While I wasn’t allowed to bring much with me, what I did bring with me is important to me.

All right, so I’m sentimental. I could still kick your ass, so let’s not hear any comments.

But I digress.

I packed my small number of possessions and, before I went, decided to hack into the computer files. I didn’t have time to read everything, but I copied most of it to a selection of disks.

Some of the things I found were most . . . fascinating.

Among other things, I found the plans for a new Gundam. They were encrypted, but I’m sure with some time I can crack the code. There were some other interesting tidbits, but the most interesting has to be this:

I am not the only Gundam pilot.

S always made me feel as though I was, as if the war’s fate rested on my shoulders and mine alone. Now that I think about it, I was an idiot for never questioning that. Though a Gundam is a powerful weapon, one alone cannot stand against OZ.

There are five of us. I have already memorized their names. S had no photographs. I can’t help wondering what they’re like. Do they fight for the same reasons as me? What do they look like? Are they all the same age as I am? Would we be able to work together to beat both OZ and White Fang?

And why does one of them share a name with a famous diplomat and peace advocate?

Apparently someone has a sense of irony.

So my immediate mission is to escape. My longterm mission is to defeat OZ without getting forced into White Fang’s plan. I know there must be another way.

In the middle there somewhere, I plan on finding my companions. Of course, I have no idea if they feel the same way about White Fang’s proposal. They might all still be working away with their respective doctors, getting ready to cause destruction.

Somehow, I don’t think so.

I have to find them. Alone, each of us will just get ourselves killed. Together, we stand a chance. A small one, but still a chance.

****

Earth doesn’t seem like such a nice place. I can understand why it and the Colonies aren’t getting along. Although I think blowing them up is a bit much. Overkill, really.

I landed on Earth right around midnight and immediately began pondering the most important question: Where could I hide an eighteen meter robot of mass destruction. Of course, I had received lessons in that exact problem. They failed to point out, however, that these locations are nearly impossible to find. It took me almost two hours to find a secure place for Nataku, then another hour to satisfy myself that no one would find him.

Now I find myself twiddling my thumbs.

This irritates me.

Of course, I did manage to destroy a few OZ carriers and bases on my way in. Good stress relief. So everyone’s been alerted to my presence. I’ve spent the evening so far hiding in the forest. I never did like camping. Thank Nataku for batteries and cordless laptops, that’s all I can say.

I’ve been watching the news.

Either I did a lot more damage than I thought, or I am not the only one with a Gundam.

No less that eight bases were attacked, all of them completely destroyed. I can’t have visited more than three. Which means that, in all probability, there are at least two - and perhaps three - other Gundams. This intrigues me. Master O certainly never mentioned any companions. Do they all have the same mission as I do? And if so, did they all defect upon hearing of White Fang’s ridiculous excuse for a plan?

It seems likely, if they have any brains at all. And to be a Gundam pilot, they must.

A small part of me thinks I should attempt to seek them out, but it’s a passing thought. They’re obviously doing fine on their own. We can all continue our separate work to deal with OZ. Fighting White Fang, however, may require a considerably larger amount of planning. Maybe when we get to that, I’ll attempt to track my fellow pilots down.

Until then, I have work to do.

****

I find that I am not dead. This could be construed as a good or a bad thing. Good that I’m breathing. But this woman - girl - whatever - is staring at me with far too much interest. It makes me think of a child poking at a fish that’s washed to shore.

Mission: escape.

As soon as possible.

She’s babbling something about how I ‘shouldn’t move.’ Right. As if I could just sit here, with Wing crashed and some strange girl staring at my face, which no one was supposed to see. Particularly not in connection with a Gundam.

Unfortunately, the self-destruct on my spacesuit seems to be malfunctioning. The water probably short-circuited.

And here’s the ambulance. Why must everything be so difficult?

I ignored the shocked and horrified cries of the girl and make a break for it. An ambulance is as good a mode of transportation as any, although it admittedly attracts attention. As I speed away, I find myself wondering who on earth that girl was, and whether or not I’ll have to . . . remove her. Call me cold-hearted if you will, but she did see my face.

Shoving this aside, I concentrate on a far more important problems: how to get my Gundam back. Since it was seen by OZ troops, they will undoubtedly send in a team to recover it. I have to either recover it first, or destroy it before they can.

Preferably the first, but as I have no undersea equipment, that may be impossible.

And given what White Fang apparently has planned for us, this might not be a bad thing. Although I wasn’t surprised as the ‘plan,’ I will admit that I have no intention of going along with it. I have no problem destroying OZ and military installments, I don’t like the idea of killing citizens. Especially not an entire planet of them.

Therefore destroying Wing might not be a bad idea, but without it I can’t fight OZ. So I’m not sure what to do. Not that I think I can single-handedly defeat OZ anyway. I could certainly make them miserable. However, according to this interesting report on the ambulance radio, I may not be the only one with a Gundam . . . eight bases were destroyed today.

How . . . intriguing.

****

Part One
GW Fics