Gundam Wars Part 3
It was unusual for Darth Treize to take an interest in a simple ship seizure.
Men hastened out of his way, though, as he swooped in with a flare of black. He was intrigued. What he was feeling... was impossible. Or at least, it should have been, but who was he to question the power of the Force?
But Howie-Wan Kenobi... He clenched his fists at the very thought of having to face his old master again. Struggling to contain his nervousness, Treize walked straight to the officer in charge of the search proceedings. "What was aboard this ship, Lieutenant?"
The man looked up and gulped, his face blanching at the very thought of speaking directly to the Sith lord. "N-nothing, Lord Treize. According to the ship's log, the crew abandoned ship shortly after take-off."
He looked back up at the shuttle- it looked shabby enough, but still... "Have every inch of the ship checked. I... sense something. He is here, I know it."
"He, my Lord?"
Treize turned his mask back to the Lieutenant. "Nothing you need to know. I expect a report."
"Of course, sir!" the man snapped him a salute, and he nodded in reply before turning away. As much as he would have liked to stay, he had other business to attend to.
~*~
Heero waved for Howard and Quatre to join him at his perch on his Gundam's hatch. He waved to the screen. "The tractor beam is controlled and powered from this work station in the Delta Zulu quadrant. It will be tough getting in there."
Quatre merely stared at him with wide eyes, but Howard nodded sagely. "So it will- I will be going alone, in that case."
The blond looked up at that. "But Howard, I want to come along..."
The old man shook his head, smiling down at his protégé. "No, young Quatre, your job is to stay here. Look after the droids!" He stood and moved to the doorway, where Trowa was standing guard, but he stopped before ghosting out into the corridor and spared Quatre one last smile. "Remember- the Force will be with you always."
With that said, he disappeared.
Trowa's growl sounded annoyed, but Quatre could not as yet decipher the Wookie's speech. Heero, however, rolled his eyes in agreement. "You said it, Trowa. Kid, where did you pick up that old fossil?"
Quatre bristled at that. "He's a great guy once you get past his wardrobe."
"Sure, great at getting us in trouble."
The blond tossed his hands in the air. "You're the Gundam pilot here! Why didn't you have some brilliant suggestion, then?"
Heero didn't bother to answer such an obviously stupid question, and Quatre bowed his head. Everyone was calling him 'kid.' He deserved it if he couldn't start acting his age! He looked up again. "Hey, I'm sorry. This isn't your fault."
"Hn."
~*~
Treize swept into the room and was not surprised to find that Zechs was waiting for him, clutching a sheaf of papers. He approached the other man quickly. "And?"
Zechs' eyes flashed angrily. "Our scouts reached Tatooine and found the remnants of a base, but said it had been deserted for at least five months. He lied to us!"
Despite himself, Treize found that he admired the young Prince's spirit, but he was jerked back to reality as Zechs slammed a fist on a nearby console. "Damn him! I wan answers, and I'm getting them my way!"
~*~
Ignoring the droids, Quatre scooted closer to Heero, who had settled into his pilot's seat. "Hey, so... How did you become a pilot? I mean, to be a Gundam pilot... that's really something, isn't it?"
Heero grunted. "There are five of them. I was selected to pilot 01, and Trowa was the pilot of 03. 04 was never assigned, and I don't know who is assigned to the two others. The project was top secret until Tsubarov the Hutt managed to steal a suit. The Empire has been hunting us since then. It has not been easy to hide."
"You must be pretty good, then," Quatre mused. "God, I'd love to be a pilot..."
"You never know," was Heero's only comment, and they lapsed into silence.
BEEP. BEEP.
Quatre was up in a flash and at Relena's side. "What is it?"
She pointed down to the R2 unit, who was beeping away and rocking back and forth like a toddler on a sugar high. "I don't know, sir. He keeps repeating 'I found him,' and I can't get a logical word out of him."
"Found who?" Quatre asked the small droid.
R2 beeped excitedly again, and Relena translated, "Prince Duo, sir."
"What, here?!" Quatre nearly squeaked. "Where? What is he doing on this station?"
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. "He was brought here only yesterday, sir, and is apparently scheduled to be executed."
Quatre's eyes went wide. "No!" He turned back to Heero, who was watching everything with an arched eyebrow. "We've got to help him!"
Heero shook his head. "Howard told you to stay here."
"But he didn't know the Prince was here! They're going to execute him!"
Heero rolled his eyes. "Better him than me."
Quatre felt angrier than he had in a very long time, and was shocked by the coldness of his own voice as he said, "Some Gundam pilot you are! Well, I won't let him die! I'm going, with or without your help!"
Heero was ready with a retort when he heard the most unexpected thing- Trowa was supporting the blond?! Against him?
He couldn't believe it, but he'd taken the time to learn the Wookie's language, and sure enough-
"He's right, Heero, and I will go with him if you won't."
Heero Yuy glared darkly at the other two, but it was to no avail. Grumbling, he moved closer as Quatre's eyes lit and he outlined a quick plan.
~*~
A guardsman looked up in surprise as the door to the main prisoner cell block headquarters beeped and swung open, and his eyes widened further as two stormtroopers escorted in a... he had no idea what it was!
His superior was fortunately there immediately. "Where are you taking this... thing?"
While the stormtrooper on the left made sure the prisoner's restraints were open, the one to the right responded. "Prisoner transfer from cell block X-18999."
"I wasn't notified," the man announced stupidly. "My men will take it from here."
Heero and Quatre backed off as two guards came forward to take possession of Trowa, standing back to give the Wookie space...
With a roar, Trowa attacked.
Heero immediately had a gun in either hand, firing with pinpoint accuracy, and he didn't even have the time to be surprised at the blond boy's skill as men rushed him from all directions.
Quatre drew and sighted on the security cameras, relying on Heero and Trowa to take care of the guards as he ran to the computer console and quickly pulled up a map of the complex. As the gunfire subsided, he looked up and shouted, his ears still ringing, "He's in cell 125, dead center of the compound!"
Heero pulled off his helmet as he moved to the console, himself. "Alright, get going. Trowa and I will hold them here."
As the blond took off down the corridor, the radio crackled to life at Heero's side, and a bodiless voice requested a status report.
Gulping, Heero grabbed the transmitter. "Situation is under control, sir."
"What happened?"
The pilot glared at the instrument in his hands, wondering for a split second what would happen if he told the truth. He settled for, "We had a... slight weapons malfunction, but everything's under control now."
He cringed as Trowa shot him an incredulous look from across the room.
"We're sending a patrol down to you..."
"Negative!" Heero yelled. "Negative- you shouldn't do that. We've... radiation leakage! Very bad- very dangerous!"
"Who is this? What's you're operating number?"
Growling in frustration, Heero pointed his blaster at the console and fired once. He turned back to Trowa. "And that is why I have never, ever been given a diplomatic mission."
He turned back to the long corridor and bellowed. "Quatre, we're gonna have company!"
~*~
Prince Duo Maxwell looked up gloomily as the door to his cell opened- was it already time for his execution? At least the plans will get out- I won't have failed ultimately... His thoughts died, though, as a single stormtrooper walked into the cell and stopped respectfully at the door.
He eyed the soldier critically. "Now, you are definitely too short to be a stormtrooper!"
"What do you want from an eighteen year old..." a voice came from behind the helmet and stopped sharply as the soldier reached up and pulled at his helmet-
Duo's eyes widened as the helmet came off and he found himself looking into a pair of sea blue eyes in a pale, determined face, surrounded by a mop of blond hair. The boy spoke. "I'm Quatre Winner, I'm here to rescue you."
He arched an eyebrow, even as he gracefully came to his feet and stretched. "Who?"
"I'm Quatre Winner- I got your droids- I'm here with Howard Kenobi!"
"Howard Kenobi..." Duo's face broadened into a smile, but his eyes glittered with something Quatre was immediately wary of. "Where is he?"
"Follow me!" The cell was empty only seconds later.
~*~
The sounds of gunfire chased Heero and Trowa down the hallway.
Quatre skidded to a halt, Duo at his side, as the human and the Wookie rounded a corner at top speed ahead, firing behind them all the while. Heero yelled, "We're blocked in from this end!"
"But that's the only way out," Quatre muttered under his breath.
Duo's eyes turned incredulously from person to person. "I thought you'd at least have a plan for getting out of here!"
"Well, sorry to disappoint, your Highness," Heero sneered, clearly annoyed with himself for their situation.
Duo's eyes narrowed as yet more soldiers rounded the corner, firing on them in ever increasing numbers. He suddenly grabbed Quatre's blaster from surprised hands and turned it on the wall just behind Heero and Trowa, blasting a hole straight through.
Heero turned on him, blue eyes flashing in anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Someone has to save our skins!" Duo retorted. "Everyone out!" He yelled, turning his attention back to the soldiers ahead of them. His face fading to an emotionless mask, he began firing.
Trowa didn't stop to think twice- he simply followed orders, ducking into the hole and quickly disappearing and, under the cover of Duo's surprisingly accurate fire, Quatre dove right after him.
Duo stopped to press something into Heero's hands before he dove right after the blond.
Heero looked down and was surprised to see a small block of explosives in his hand- hadn't Quatre been carrying the explosives?
Quickly setting the charge to go off almost immediately, Heero couldn't help a small smile as he dove through the hole. I'm not sure if I want to shoot him, or I'm beginning to like him!
~*~
Upon reaching the bottom of the chute he'd fallen into, Heero had decided on the former.
The good news was that OZ had no way of knowing where they were.
The bad news was that he didn't have a clue, either. "And now what?!" he asked angrily. "I had everything under control until you sent us down here..."
Quatre rolled his eyes. "Is getting gunned down upstairs really preferable to this, Heero?"
"Shut it, Winner..."
Duo stepped neatly into Heero's personal space, and time seemed to stop as an angry young prince glared into the pilot's eyes. "Look, I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but we're getting out of here, and we're doing it my way, is that clear?"
Heero bristled as the other boy turned his back on him pointedly and began walking. "And just where do you think you're going?"
"Somewhere that isn't here," came the droll reply. Trowbacca shrugged and turned to follow. Sharing a shrug, Heero and Quatre followed, as well.
~*~
Howard sighed to himself- it had almost been too easy, slipping past the guards and deactivating the tractor beam. Almost as if...
As if someone wanted it to happen. He had no doubts as to who that someone would be. He felt vaguely guilty as he reached for the light saber hidden at his side- Quatre would have to understand. It had to be this way.
He could hear the electronic buzz of another saber somewhere ahead of him. Howard threw off his concealing robe, no longer bothering to camouflage his trademark Hawaiian shirt, and pulled his sunglasses from his breast pocket. If he had to do this, he was going to do it right.
There was a blue flash as he activated the saber and stepped forward.
Darth Treize was waiting for him, calmly leaning against the corridor wall, the red flare of his light sabre casting a sickly glow around him. "At last we meet again, Howie-Wan Kenobi."
The old man managed a smile. "I wish I could say it's a pleasure, Darth."
"It was unwise of you to come here," Treize continued, pushing off from the wall and walking forward to meet him. "And I'd swear that's the same shirt you wore when I last fought you."
Howard chuckled under his breath. "You mean the day you became a monster? The day you were relegated to that suit?"
Treize gave him an obvious once-over. "The day I became the master."
"You're only a master of evil, Darth," Howard responded.
And the duel began.
~*~
Even Heero had to admit that there was something about the Prince that... Well, that didn't quite seem right. The young man looked as though he would be one of the most spoiled, pampered, helpless creatures in the galaxy, what with that long hair and smirking face, but how he was acting...
As Duo flitted ahead of him, moving from shadow to shadow like a trained soldier, Heero shook his head. There was far more to Duo Maxwell, it would seem, than met the eye.
He stepped forward and pushed past the young man moodily. If there was one thing Heero Yuy hated, it was being wrong.
"Slow down, Yuy! Moving that fast is gonna..."
He didn't bother to turn. "Get one thing straight, your Worship, I take orders from just one person. Me."
"It's a miracle you're still alive," was Duo's caustic reply. "Now slow down! There could be..."
Gunfire erupted around them, and Quatre reacted without thinking, throwing himself in front of the liberated prince and knocking both to the ground.
"Get him out of here!" Heero yelled to him over his shoulder before he fired back at the squadron of soldiers ahead of them, yelling as he gunned them down and then took off in pursuit, Trowbacca hot on his heels.
Duo sighed sharply as he allowed Quatre to pull him up from the ground. "He has courage, I'll give him that."
"What good will it do him if he gets himself killed?" the blond asked in reply. He grabbed Duo's hand and turned in the opposite direction. "Come on!"
~*~
Back in the storage hangar, Relena P-O was pacing in a remarkably human fashion for a robot, while R2 D2 diligently scanned through the OZ computer network. "They left us here to be caught, R2! And in the meantime, Master Quatre could be killed..."
Beep. Beep. "Unlikely- he's a survivor."
"And that dishy Captain, too! Hmmm... Heero Yuy..."
Beep. BEEP! "I don't think he'd like you, Relena."
"You're not programmed to understand humans, R2. I am, so there," Relena responded, whacking the smaller droid.
She yelped a second later when a small compartment opened and R2 dealt her a powerful electric shock. "Why you little beast! I hope someone dumps you in the recycling bin!"
Beep. Beep. Beep. "I hope your batteries run out."
R2 turned her out, though, as he continued to sweep the computer network. I'm certain the humans will be interested in this!
~*~
Howard sagged back against a wall as Darth Treize circled around him, but smiled up into the forbidding mask that covered his one-time pupil's face. "You can't win, Darth. Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you could ever imagine."
Treize could feel the old man's interfering in his mind- his mentor was still strong, after all these years, but he knew he was stronger... "Your tricks won't work on me, old fool. If death is what you seek, than death is what you receive!"
Howard parried frantically as Treize attacked again. He had always been an exceptional fighter, but now... He was truly magnificent, and the older man was forced to give ground.
Howard smirked- It is all as I have seen it. And if my death will save those young souls... So be it. I have lived my life. Oh, Treize, I can't believe you don't see that I am using you...
Turning slightly, he began backing slowly in the direction of the captured plane's hangar.
~*~
"Aw, shit!" Quatre cursed as he looked ahead. He could see the plane's hangar ahead...
And a chasm between himself and Duo and safety.
The braided prince turned back to fire at their pursuers. "God, they're catching up!" He sighted again and fired.
Quatre looked around frantically- there had to be a way...
There! "Your Highness, just hold them off a little longer!" The blond boy was pulling something from his utility belt, drawing loose a long cord and a grappling hook he was carrying for some strange reason...
Duo's eyes went wide as he watched Quatre throw the hook until it caught on a beam towards the center of the chasm. He caught on quickly- firing off a few last shots, Duo strapped the gun over his shoulder and wrapped his arms around Quatre's waist. He gave the blond boy a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good luck."
With a tight hold around Duo, Quatre jumped and swung across.
"Oh, yeah!" Duo smiled brightly and high-fived Quatre before taking off at a run once more.
~*~
Heero glared at them as they ran up. "What took you so long?"
Quatre shrugged. "Bad luck- is she okay?"
Heero stared at the ship. "As long as the old man got the tractor beam out of commission."
Quatre moved closer and looked out- all he saw, though, was that all the guards seemed to be distracted, looking at something...
His eyes followed them, and he gasped, stepping out from cover foolishly. "Howard?"
~*~
It is time. Despite the situation, Howard felt a sense of calm coming over him as he turned to the man he had once called friend and smiled.
He closed his eyes and raised his sabre, point to the ceiling-
He didn't feel it as Treize struck him one last time.
~*~
All Quatre could see was a figure in black, and a telltale Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses falling to the ground as Howard was struck-
"NOOOOOOOO!"
TBC...
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