Written by Jumper Prime
Disclaimer: The characters and events of Gundam Wing don't belong to me, I'm just using them. I am writing this story for my own enjoyment and to share my personal vision. I'm not making any money from this, so please don't sue me.
Prologue: Genesis
AC 192; L6 Colony Cluster, Colony H10425
"Vice Minister Darlian!" a functionary shouted as he ran in "Your daughter's slipped her bodyguard again!"
"Oh Relena," Vice Minister Darlian sighed "Only 12 years old and already rebellious. Always wanting to explore." he turned to the functionary "Start searching for her. That girl doesn't realize just how dangerous a space colony can be for a girl her age."
While a search was mobilized, the object of that search was walking down the street, taking in the fascinating view that resulted from the colony's shape, green hills and buildings high above her head, as well as reaching out directly towards her from far ahead in the distance. Relena was so absorbed by the view, that she didn't notice when another girl came out from behind a corner and walked right into her, sending both sprawling to the pavement.
"Ouch!" Relena yelped in pain then looked up at the girl she had knocked over "Sorry about that. I guess I wasn't watching where I was going."
"Next time be more careful." the other girl admonished her "Inattention can be deadly, under the wrong circumstances."
"I will. My name's Relena. What's yours?"
"I'm Amy."
Relena took stock of Amy as they both got to their feet. She was about the same height and age as Relena and had short blue hair.
"You wanna play together, Amy?" Relena asked innocently "I'm not from around here and don't know anyone on this colony. Dad wanted me to stay in the hotel room but I was so bored, I just had to get out of there."
"Wellll, I know this great... arcade, yeah, arcade. I was actually kinda on my way there when you bumped into me." Amy answered
"Cool! I love video games! Let's go!"
"OK, but you can't tell anyone, it's sorta a secret."
"I promise I won't tell anyone."
"OK, follow me!"
Amy led Relena down some back streets and alleys until they reached a steel door. Amy pulled aside a panel on the wall to reveal a keypad. She pressed some numbers and the door slid open. Amy replaced the panel over the keyboard and led Relena through the door, which slid closed behind them.
"Now you have to be quiet." Amy whispered "I'm not supposed to bring anybody else down here."
Relena nodded and the two girls crept down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, they silently passed a room with a number of adults bent over consoles. After a few minutes of creeping around, and a close call where they were nearly spotted, they arrived in a room with a control panel, a bank of monitors with a chair facing them, and a large square box that was big enough for an adult to fit inside.
"This is the arcade?" Relena whispered
"Yup." Amy answered "It's a really fun game. You're piloting a mobile suit and you gotta blast as many enemy mobile suits as you can."
"How do you play?"
"It's pretty simple. Lemme start it up and I'll show you."
Amy walked over to the control panel, hopped up on the chair so she could reach it, and pressed a few buttons. The monitors all lit up, one had a diagram of a mobile suit with a bunch of numbers on it, two more had different views of a control chair while the others had various views of what looked like a battlezone that contained a single white mobile suit with a crest of some sort on its head. Amy pressed another button and the side of the box opened up, revealing a chair, a pair of joysticks, and some screens.
"I'll go first so you can see how it's supposed to go." Amy said "When I say so, hit that button there and it'll start." Amy indicated a blue button marked START
"OK." Relena nodded and Amy dashed over to the box and sat down in the chair, grasping the joysticks and settling her feet on the foot pedals in the bottom.
"You'll be able to see what I'm doing on the monitors. Hit it!"
Relena jumped up on the chair and pressed the blue button. The box closed up and a number of mobile suits appeared on the monitors. The monitors that displayed the control chair showed Amy manipulating the joysticks as the white mobile suit fought. Relena watched for the next few minutes as Amy fought off a lot of enemy mobile suits. Eventually though, the damage to her own mobile suit, indicated by red areas on the diagram, built up and Amy's mobile suit exploded on the screen. The scene froze and the hatch opened up.
"That looked so cool!" Relena declared "Now show me how to play!"
"OK, it's really simple." Amy answered "You work the legs with the pedals and-" Amy quickly explained the controls and then it was Relena's turn.
Relena got into the chair and Amy pressed the start button. It was obvious that Relena wasn't as good as Amy, but she was doing pretty good, considering it was her first time. Soon, Relena's mobile suit was destroyed and the hatch opened up again. The two girls took turns playing for a while before a tall, black-haired woman in a labcoat walked in while Relena was watching Amy blast mobile suits on the monitors.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the woman asked sternly, causing Relena to spin around in surprise
"Ah... I'm Relena... Amy's friend." Relena stammered out
"Amy doesn't have any friends. Now, what are you doing here?"
"I just met her today. We sorta just ran into each other."
"You just met her and she brought you down here?"
"Uh, yeah. Are you the one who made that great video game?"
"You might say that."
Just then, Amy's mobile suit on the screen exploded and the hatch opened up.
"OK Relena, your-" Amy got out and started to speak but stopped as she saw the woman glaring at her "Uh oh. Busted."
"Busted indeed, Amy." the woman said in a disappointed tone "Do you realize the magnitude of the security breach you have created. The risk to all of us? To all we're working toward?"
"I'm sorry, Dr. Z." Amy hung her head in contrition
"Now, as for you," Dr. Z turned to Relena "What's your full name?"
"Relena Darlian" Relena answered proudly
"The daughter of the Earth Sphere Alliance Vice Minister?"
"Yup."
"Oh Amy," Dr. Z sighed "A security breach big enough to pilot the Tallgeese through. How much did you show her?"
"Just the simulator, Dr. Z." Amy answered
"Well, at least you had that much sense. Relena, you and your father are staying at the Colony Arms Hotel, right?"
"Dad told me to stay at the hotel," Relena answered "But I wanted to explore."
"Well, now I'm taking you back there before a full-scale search is mobilized."
"Dr. Z, can I come too?" Amy asked in a pleading tone
"I suppose I shouldn't let you out of my sight, considering your actions so far today. Come on you two. Amy, you know the way to the vehicle garage. You go first, I'll stay behind you both so I can make sure you don't go wandering off."
"Yes, Dr. Z."
Amy led the way to the garage with Relena between her and Dr. Z. They all got into an ordinary car with Dr. Z driving and Relena and Amy in the back. As they drove towards the hotel, Amy was silent but Relena was quite talkative.
"That game was really great." the brown-haired girl bubbled "Lots better than any game in an arcade on Earth. I can't wait to come over again."
"You may have to wait a very long time." Dr. Z said in an even tone "Amy is likely to be grounded for a while after this."
"But when she's not grounded anymore, I can come over again, right?"
"From what I heard of the news, the negotiations your father is conducting are only scheduled to last a few more days, a week at most, and then you're going back to Earth."
"Yeah, but we'll be back. Dad comes up to the Colonies a lot and sometimes he takes me with him. He only takes me with him when I'm not going to have school, though."
"But there are a lot of space colonies, the odds of your next trip with him being back here, and not to some other Colony, are pretty thin."
"Dad told me he does a lot of his space work on this colony. Something about prox-im-ity." Relena sounded out the last word
"Makes sense. This Colony is the major hub for the L6 Colony Cluster, and L6 comes close to a lot of other Clusters during its orbit. That would make it ideal for a diplomatic delegation to let representatives from other Colonies come to them instead of running themselves ragged going to a number of other Colonies themselves... I should have thought of that."
Relena was left puzzling over Dr. Z's last sentence as the Colony Arms Hotel came into view, along with several Leo model Mobile Suits carrying machine guns. Relena could not see the slight look of nervousness on Dr. Z's face as she saw the Leos.
*Here we go.* Dr. Z thought as she drove up to the hotel "Here we are, Relena. Time to get out."
Relena obediently unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door, and stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk in front of the hotel entrance.
"Bye Relena!" Amy said as the other girl closed the car door "Hope I get to see you again soon!"
"Bye Amy! Me too." Relena answered as Dr. Z started to slowly drive away
"Hey! That's the Vice Minister's missing daughter!" An Earth Sphere Alliance soldier called out as he saw Relena getting out of the car "Stop that vehicle!"
A Leo immediately stepped into the path of Dr. Z's car and leveled its gun at it. Dr. Z immediately hit the brakes and stuck her head out the window.
"Is something wrong?" she asked in an annoyed tone as soldiers surrounded the car "I was just dropping off my daughter's friend."
"The girl you just dropped off is Vice Minister Darlian's daughter, who has been missing for hours." The Lieutenant said "Get out of the car slowly and come with us."
"Am I under arrest? If so, for what?"
"Yes, and the charge is kidnapping the daughter of an official of the Earth Sphere Alliance."
"I guess we should get this cleared up as soon as possible." Dr. Z opened her door and slowly stepped out "C'mon Amy, we'd better go with these men." she slowly opened Amy's door
"OK, Mom." the young girl said
Dr. Z soon found herself in an interrogation room and faced with an Alliance investigator.
"Let's start with your name." the investigator spoke as soon as the door was closed
"Zelda Zolinsky." Dr. Z answered calmly "Y'know, I hope this event doesn't traumatize my daughter."
"Speaking of daughters, what was the Vice Minister's daughter doing in your car?"
"Getting dropped off after she and my daughter played for a while. Does the Alliance military regularly accost parents dropping off their children's friends?"
"I'm asking the questions here. I say you kidnapped the girl."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Why would anyone kidnap a girl, hold her for a few hours, not ask for any ransom, then calmly drop her off at the hotel where she's staying, and not try to avoid the Mobile Suit that blocks her escape route? Amy met Relena walking down the street, and they went to play video games together. When they were done playing, I drove Relena back to her hotel, where some rather Gestapo-like soldiers detained myself and my daughter."
"That's a very convenient story. But the Vice Minister is talking to his daughter right now and she'll tell him what really happened." Just then, the door opened out in came a well-dressed man with a beard. "Vice Minister Darlian! I'm not sure it's prudent for you to be in the same room as the suspect."
"What could be dangerous about a mother who was dropping off her daughter's friend?" the Vice Minister asked "What she just said matches what Relena told me, and I believe my daughter."
"But Vice Minister-"
"Holding a woman for no reason will only further damage the Alliance's image in the eyes of the citizens of the Colonies. Let her and her daughter go."
"Yes sir."
Amy and Dr. Z were quickly released with apologies and were driving home shortly afterwards.
"You know that they'll probably do a background check on me." Dr. Z said "I just hope the false identity I assembled holds up to the scrutiny. What possessed you to bring a total stranger into the facility?"
"I just wanted someone to play with. You don't let me have any friends." Amy answered
"You don't have the time to waste playing with other children. As it is, you waste too much time sneaking out, goofing off, and pulling pranks." The car pulled into the garage and both got out. "Now, down to the shooting gallery and practice your marksmanship."
"Yes Dr. Z."
Amy headed to the indoor firing range while Dr. Z went to her office. The scientist turned on her terminal and brought up Amy's scores from the simulator. Something seemed a bit odd about her biodata on some of the runs for that day, so she brought up the recorded video of the interior of the simulator for the first of the runs with odd biodata. Dr. Z was astonished to see Relena's face instead of Amy's. A quick examination of the video from the remainder of the simulator runs showed that Amy and Relena had taken turns using the simulator.
*The biodata readings seem off because they're from Relena and not Amy.* Dr. Z realized *Relena's scores appear to be comparable to Amy's. That would indicate she has a good deal of natural talent. If only she were from the Colonies and not Earth. But she is from Earth, so it would be implausible for her to fulfill the missions that will be required of the pilot.*
Dr. Z looked up from her terminal as she heard her door creak open and Amy walked in, a determined look on her face.
"Dr. Z," she said "I want to see Relena again."
"Not a chance." Dr. Z answered coldly "If you ever see her again you are to immediately walk the other way and make no attempt at contact whatsoever."
"Dr. Z, all I want is one friend. Someone I can share stuff with. Someone my own age. If you just let me be Relena's friend, I'll do whatever else you ask. I'll buckle down with my lessons, I won't sneak out anymore, I'll stop pulling pranks, I'll follow any order you give me without question. Just let me have one friend, please." Amy's voice had a pleading sound in it.
"I'll... have to think about this. But you know that Relena's from Earth. She wouldn't understand why we're doing what we're doing here."
"But she's my friend. She won't tell. She didn't tell about us, that's why they let us go, right?"
"That's true, and I will factor it into my decision."
"Thank you, Dr. Z."
The next day, Dr. Z was waiting when Amy finished a simulator run, having dismissed the technician who normally ran the simulator.
"Amy," the scientist said "I've made my decision. I've decided to allow you to see Relena."
"Thank you Dr. Z! Thank you!" Amy hugged her mentor with tears of joy streaming down her face
"Now, we still need to work out just how-" Dr. Z was interrupted by a blaring klaxon "The Intruder Alarm!" she dashed over to an intercom on the wall and picked up the handset "This is Dr. Z, what's the situation? What? You're kidding me! No, I'll come there myself, but have the guards check for Alliance forces inside and out. It could be some sort of distraction or she may have been followed."
"What's wrong, Dr. Z?" Amy asked as Dr. Z hung up the phone and the klaxon stopped
"It appears Relena has somehow gotten in on her own. You didn't tell her the code, did you?"
"Of course not! I didn't say a single digit out loud. You taught me to never give out info like that."
"Well, we'll see how she got in, soon enough."
Dr. Z and Amy walked through the corridors until they reached a room with a large viewing screen. Within were several guards and Relena.
"Hi Relena!" Amy greeted her friend, but before the other girl could respond, Dr. Z broke in with her question
"How did you get inside, this time?" the scientist asked
"When Amy brought me inside yesterday, I saw her putting in the code to open the door. I remembered it and got in the first try."
"Incredible."
"Dr. Z, the viewer was running when we found her here." one of the guards reported
"What was running?"
"Some really horrible stuff." Relena was the one who answered "Soldiers killing people and wrecking things. Was it real or just a movie?"
"I would say it was real." Dr. Z answered after checking the small screen attached to the playback unit "According to this, what you were watching was a tape of atrocities committed by Earth Sphere Alliance troops here in the Colonies."
"What're atros.. atrosc..." Relena stumbled over the word "What does it mean?"
"It means very bad things. Things that people shouldn't do."
"The soldiers were punished, right?"
"No. The government never punished any of those men, even though they knew exactly what happened."
"Why not?"
"Because some of the men who make the decisions are bad men. The worst are members of a secret society called OZ. We're doing work here to eventually stop those bad men and bring peace to the Earth Sphere."
"We can tell my Dad about these bad OZ men! He can tell his bosses, and they'll arrest them and there'll be peace!"
"No, Relena. You mustn't tell your father anything about this."
"Why not? He's a real important guy in the Alliance. They'll believe him and arrest the bad men."
"The members of OZ are ruthless. They think nothing of killing a person in cold blood. If they find out he knows about them, they'll kill him. Then they'll kill you and the rest of your family to make sure their secret remains secret." This statement made Relena gasp in horror.
"Then how're you gonna fight them?"
"Relena, I'm going to put all my cards on the table. I hope you will keep what I'm about to tell you secret. I'm training Amy to eventually fight OZ as a covert operative. The 'video game' is actually a simulator to allow her to practice and refine her mobile suit piloting skills."
"She'll be fighting them with a mobile suit? Just her against an army?"
"Not just any mobile suit. A very powerful kind of mobile suit called a Gundam."
"I wanna learn to fight OZ too! To stop those bad people, just like Amy!"
"I don't know if that's feasible. You don't live here on the Colony like Amy does. Even if you come back up here every time your father does, it'd be extremely difficult for you to keep up with Amy. I don't know if you'd want to waste your time doing something halfway."
"Well, I wanna learn as much as I can, so when I grow up, I can help stop the bad people."
"Hmmm." Dr. Z pursed her lips "Maybe... But before we do anything, we'd better call your father so he doesn't mobilize another search for you."
Dr. Z dismissed the guards and then she and the girls walked down the hall to Dr. Z's office where the scientist dialed a number on her videophone.
"Please connect me to Vice Minister Darlian. It's about his daughter." she told the secretary who answered the phone and the Vice Minister's face appeared a few seconds later
"You know something about where my daughter is?" he asked
"Yes, Vice Minister. You remember me? Zelda Zolinsky. I dropped off your daughter at your hotel yesterday after she met my daughter. Relena made her way to my house a short time ago, I guess she wanted to see Amy again, and I figured I should let you know that Relena was OK before you mobilized another search for her."
"Hi Dad!" Relena chirped as she jumped to momentarily get her head in the videophone's camera view
"I can drive her back to your hotel whenever you like."
"Awww, I wanna play with Amy some more!"
"There's no rush, Ms. Zolinsky." Vice Minister Darlian said "I'm going to be behind closed doors for several hours and if you bring Relena back to get locked in a hotel room, she'd probably go stir crazy."
"Your rather trusting of a woman who you only met yesterday, and then for only a brief time." Dr. Z spoke calmly
"I must admit we ran a background check on you. You checked out, no affiliations with any anti-Alliance rebel groups, no criminal record, and this call plus your actions yesterday would indicate that you're not out to hold Relena hostage. Add the fact that she seems to have formed a fast friendship with your daughter, and I don't think she could be in better hands."
"That's high praise, Vice Minister. Thank you."
"Just have Relena back to the hotel by, oh, 1800 hours, please."
"At 1800 hours she'll be standing on the sidewalk in front of the hotel doors."
"Good. Now you behave yourself while you're in Ms. Zolinsky's house, Relena."
"OK dad!" Relena jumped to get her face in view of the camera again right before her father hung up
"Well now, there's one worry dealt with. My false background held up."
"Why do you have a false background? Don't you have a real one?"
"I assembled a false identity for myself to better hide from OZ. They almost got me once and are probably still on the lookout for me."
"Oh. Can you start teaching me now?"
"My, you're persistent. Alright, we'll see how it goes."
"Yay! Amy, we get to learn to fight OZ together!" Relena cheered and Amy smiled
"The first thing you'll have to learn is self-restraint. And don't forget you can't tell anyone about what's really happening here. Not even your father."
"I know, Dr. Z."
"We've wasted enough time here. Lessons start immediately."
And so Relena began her training to fight OZ. Relena quickly picked up the basics and when the time came to stop for the day, she voiced a wish to keep going but was overridden by Dr. Z.
"I promised your father I would have you back at your hotel by 1800 hours." Dr. Z reminded her "We have barely enough time to get there on time. If I don't get you back there on time, there is much less of a chance of your father allowing you to come without a bodyguard, which would put a definite crimp in your lessons."
"OK, Dr. Z." Relena sighed in defeat
Dr. Z drove Relena back to the hotel and, true to her word, Relena's feet touched the concrete sidewalk in front of the hotel at precisely 1800 hours. Relena's father was there to meet them.
"Did you have a good time, Relena?" he asked
"Yeah! Can I go see Amy and her mom tomorrow, too?" Relena asked
"Ms. Zolinsky, did she behave herself?"
"Yes she did, Vice Minister." Dr. Z answered politely "I'd be happy to have her over again. Amy has so few friends. She's a bit of a social outcast."
"Then I think we have a mutually beneficial situation. If Relena is playing with your daughter, she won't be climbing the walls of our hotel room or sneaking out and giving the security staff fits, and your daughter gets someone to play with as well."
"Yes, it is at that. Tomorrow morning then?"
"Yes, 0900 would be fine."
"I'll be here to pick her up right on the dot."
Dr. Z drove away and headed back to the secret facility where she and Amy lived. The next morning she arrived in front of the hotel to pick up Relena, under the watchful eye of Vice Minister Darlian and the ever-present Leos, and drove her back to the facility where Relena's lessons began again. A few days later, Relena said a tearful farewell to Amy as she left for the docking area with her father to board a shuttle to take them back to Earth. But Relena's return to Earth was not by any means the end of her lessons. Prior to their temporarily parting ways, Dr. Z had given Relena a disk containing a few encrypted files and another disk containing a decryption program. Upon returning home and unpacking, Relena booted up the computer in her bedroom and installed the decryption program. Next, she put in the other disk, copied the files to a hidden directory on her hard drive, and decrypted them.
The files contained lessons assembled by Dr. Z so Relena could continue her training while on Earth. The lessons included things like assembling a false identity and traveling covertly, as well as other things a secret agent should know. Relena sharpened her mobile suit piloting and hand weaponry skills often at the local arcade. No one, not her parents, not her friends, noticed any difference since Relena had already been an avid game player and saw nothing odd in her playing light gun games and games such as Mobile Suit Commander where the player piloted a variety of mobile suits. The only deficiency Relena saw in this method was that none of the mobile suits available in the games were Gundams, but this was not a real impediment to her practice. She also was able to get her parents to enroll her in a martial-arts class, knowing that a secret agent would need to be able to defend herself.
Relena often exchanged E-mails with Amy, usually receiving picture files from Amy or attaching her own picture files to her E-mails to Amy. What no Alliance counterintelligence monitor knew was that the seemingly innocuous E-mails between two young girls were actually conveying lessons in espionage encrypted into the attached picture files and decrypted by the program Dr. Z had given Relena. The messages in the bodies of the E-mails were simply camouflage, all the real conversation was contained in the encrypted files.
This went on for years, with Relena returning to the Colony with her father several times a year. During those visits, Relena would get in some time on the Gundam simulator, receive lessons in person, and Dr. Z would evaluate her skills and compare them to Amy's. To the scientist's amazement, Relena managed to stay relatively even with Amy, despite her general lack of personal tutoring. Finally, on April 5 of AC 195, Relena had arrived on the Colony with her father. The next day, Relena made her way to the facility and entered to find it a hive of activity with technicians running all over the place. Upon being informed that Dr. Z was in the construction bay, Relena went there and was awed by the sight she saw.
On several of her previous visits, she had seen it taking shape, but now it was complete. A majestic Gundam mobile suit stood amidst a maze of catwalks. It was painted in the colors blue and white and had a gold crest on the forehead of its humanoid face. Attached to each forearm was a grey object almost as long as the forearm assembly itself with a circular hole on the front. Finally, this Gundam had a decidedly female look, with a pair of small, rounded protrusions on the chest.
"She's beautiful." Relena breathed
"Yes, Lady Gundam is quite impressive, isn't she?" Dr. Z said as she came up next to Relena "Even more so than the last time you saw her."
"What's with all the rushing around? With Lady Gundam finished, shouldn't everyone be relaxing?"
"No. The time you and Amy have been training for is at hand. We're less than 24 hours away from launching Operation Meteor."
"You're getting set to send her to Earth to fight OZ. Have you made the decision yet?"
"To be honest, there was really only one option, Relena. Skills aside, she must be piloted by Amy."
"What? Why?"
"Relena, think. You're duly logged as having come aboard the Colony. If you suddenly appear on Earth in a day or two with no record of your having been on any passenger transport, even if your father didn't notice you missing, which he would, the mission could be seriously compromised, and we can't just send Lady Gundam down with the capsule set on automatic pilot. There's just too much risk of something going wrong or of her being captured."
"I understand. I guess I always knew I wouldn't have a chance of piloting her."
"Don't feel bad. I would have had a hard decision to make if that little detail hadn't cropped up."
"So, where's Amy?"
"Getting something to eat. I practically had to order her to go eat, she's hardly left the bay since the word came down."
"Dr. Z!" A technician called "There's a problem with the coded uplink! All the packets are coming in garbled!"
"Dammit. Without a properly functioning uplink, we won't be able to send Amy the data on her missions and I still need to run a systems check on the Buster Gauntlets."
"Can I try to get it working?" Relena asked Dr. Z "I want to do something to help."
"Sure. That part's right up your alley, isn't it? Take your best shot."
Relena smiled at Dr. Z and started climbing the gantry to Lady Gundam's cockpit hatch. Looking in, Relena saw a set of legs sticking out from under a console.
"What've we got?" she asked
"I've checked almost every component," came a muffled voice from inside the console "But I still haven't found the problem."
"Maybe it's a software problem. Let me have a go." Once the technician was out of the console, Relena sat down in the control chair and started tapping the keys, staring at the main screen. "Hmmm." she hummed after a minute or so "It's definitely a software problem... Aha! The encrypt/decrypt protocols have gotten corrupted. There's no way to fix them, we'll have to erase them and reload from the original software."
"Only Dr. Z has access to the disks we loaded the software from. I'll put this panel back on while you get the disk from her."
Relena nodded and exited the cockpit while the technician set to work putting the access panel back in place. She soon found Dr. Z working on the grey object attached to the right forearm and told her of the software problem.
"You found the problem quick." Dr. Z praised Relena "I'll be back in a minute with the disk you need to reload the protocols and then I can finish checking this Buster Gauntlet. While you're waiting for me, you can start erasing the corrupted protocols."
Relena did as Dr. Z said and soon the software was reloaded from the disk Dr. Z brought. As Relena came out of Lady Gundam's cockpit, she saw Amy approaching and Amy saw her at the same time.
"Relena, you made it!" Amy cried out in joy as the two girls hugged "I was starting to think your Dad decided not to let you come with him on his trip up here."
"I've been coming to the Colonies with him for years," Relena answered "Since he doesn't know a thing about Operation Meteor, why would he think there's anything different about this trip? I would've been here yesterday, but Dad promised he'd spend some time with me yesterday. Problem is, he's been too busy with the summit to follow through."
"I'm just glad I got to see you one more time before I went to Earth with Lady Gundam."
"Hey, there is a possibility we'll see each other on Earth, I do live there, you know."
"Amy," Dr. Z said in a business-like tone "I need you to make sure the beam sabers are secure while I check the Buster Gauntlets."
"You got it Dr. Z!" Amy replied enthusiastically and dashed off to climb the gantry to where the beam sabers were positioned
"Relena, I'd like you to check to make sure Lady Gundam doesn't have any more corrupted files in her operating system. A single glitch could prove deadly for Amy."
"You can count on me." Relena replied
Relena helped in the checks of Lady Gundam's systems for several hours before she had to return to the hotel she and her father were staying at, lest her father notice something unusual.
"Will you be here to see me off tomorrow?" Amy asked her as she prepared to leave
"I doubt it, Amy." Relena replied glumly "Dad said that the summit he's here for wouldn't last very long. We're scheduled to go back to Earth on the shuttle tomorrow."
"Well, if you see a shooting star flying alongside the shuttle, wave to it. Who knows, it might just be me on my way in."
"I'll do that. Good luck with your mission."
"Thanks, but with Lady Gundam, I probably won't need luck."
Relena exited the facility to return to her hotel while work continued on Lady Gundam. That night, Lady Gundam was loaded into a space capsule for transport to Earth and Amy got some much needed rest. The next day, Amy awoke and dressed. After eating a hearty meal, she walked to the launch bay and donned her spacesuit before heading for the space capsule containing Lady Gundam.
"Safe journey, Amy." Dr. Z greeted the teenager at the hatch
"Thank you, Dr. Z." Amy replied
"Make me proud."
"With pleasure."
Amy climbed into the space capsule and the hatch was closed. Dr. Z exited the launch bay and the inner doors closed. All the air was pumped out of the bay and then the launch doors opened. The capsule's engines ignited and it flew out into space and headed for Earth. Amy and Lady Gundam were on their way. The trip was uneventful until moments after the capsule was through reentry. That's when all hell broke loose.
"MALFUNCTION. MALFUNCTION." the computer warned "LANDING COMPUTER MALFUNCTION."
"Uh oh." Amy muttered "We checked Lady Gundam from top to bottom, but apparently whoever was in charge of this hunk of junk fouled up. Landing computer's totally fried. Gonna have to try to land this thing manually." Amy frantically manipulated the controls, trying to avoid a crash. It wasn't easy since all spacecraft of this design were ungainly things, dependent on the now useless computer to maintain stability and give the illusion that the human pilot was in charge. Amy felt she was losing the battle to keep the capsule stable in flight. "I guess I shoulda accepted that luck Relena tried to give me." was all she had time to say before the capsule plowed into the ground.
End of Prologue
Don't worry, the capsule didn't explode on impact. Chapter 1 will tell how Relena takes possession of Lady Gundam and some events before and after. For those of you who are wondering, yes, I will be staying relatively faithful to the Gundam Wing plotline, with my own embellishments, of course, to detail the changes resultant with Relena in command of a Gundam. For those of you who are wondering how I'm gonna keep Relena in a Gundam without seriously shredding the plot in later episodes when she becomes this big peacenik, don't worry, I've got it all taken care of and my method should be obvious by the end of Chapter 1. For now, let's just say that Relena Peacecraft will not be an obstacle to my literary ambitions. MUWAHAHA! (sorry, need to practice my villainous dialogue for when I have to write for Lady Une somewhere down the road)
