A Life's Time Part 8
"Heero?"
"Hm?"
Duo tugged at the blanket around his waist, pulling it higher onto his chest as he organized his thoughts.
"What's the matter?" Heero asked when Duo didn't speak.
"Remember when I took Lily out with me to test the scanner against you?"
"Yes."
"When we got back to base, you spoke to Wufei and you were talking about how right they were, the AI that is."
"Yes." Heero nodded, his hand playing with Duo's braid.
"But Wufei was so firm in his orders that he didn't want us to be giving orders on battle tactics."
Heero knew what Duo was thinking. "Lily's only managed to make one other scanner because we don't have the parts. And you know that with only two scanners, and no way of knowing what kind of scanner or what number of scanners the faction has, we can't risk letting them know we have the AI on our side too, at least not yet. All Wufei wants Lily to do is to use the AI and figure out what sorts of AI plans they have."
Three light beeps rang through the room and Duo moved so Heero could pull his arm out from under his head. The Japanese man turned and glanced at the clock and alarm by his headboard.
"Heero, Lily is requesting entry," Rika's voice was clear, although not too loud.
"She's got Rika programmed really well." Duo chuckled as he sat up.
"Rika, let her in." Heero pulled back the blanket and stood.
"Affirmative," Dim lights turned on in the room and the door slid open, allowing Lily to step in. She looked adorable and like a lost child, wrapped in her blanket.
"Why aren't you asleep?" Heero asked as he walked closer and guided the girl into the room. The door slid shut behind her.
"Had a nightmare," she said, looking up at him. "Stupid huh? But Sally and Wufei aren't here." She tugged at the blanket that was dragging on the ground behind her. "Hi Duo." Lily offered a small smile almost unsuccessfully. "Rika told me you were in here."
"What?" Duo sputtered. "Don't tell me you have cameras in the rooms."
"No." Lily shook her head. "I went to bed after Wufei and Sally left for the submarine, so I had to check Rika's logs to see if you were in your room yet, but the last time you used the retinal scanner was earlier, before dinner. I didn't want to look all over the logs for the record of where you last scanned in so I tried Heero's room, and the log told me that Heero scanned a while ago; I just assumed that you would be with him since it's so late at night."
"You're right, it's late at night." Heero touched her shoulder. "And little girls should be asleep."
"But I don't want to be alone, and..." She trailed off, looking forlorn with the blanket wrapped around her small body. "And I'm scared for Wufei." She looked down at the ground.
Duo looked up at Heero, wondering if the Japanese man would have a problem with keeping Lily with them. It was almost two am, and they would have to be up at six anyway. Heero understood his silent question and answered by lifting the dragging portion of Lily's blanket in one hand and lifting the girl with his other. He set the girl down on the bed.
"You can stay," he said.
"Thanks Heero, Duo." She allowed Duo to help her het untangled from the blanket, then he lifted her over himself to settle her by the wall.
"Gonna be a tight fit, Lilykins," Duo warned. "Don't knock your head against the wall."
"Okay." She pulled her blanket up, forming a barrier between her head and the wall, but she sat up again. "Duo?"
"Yes?" Duo combed his fingers lightly through her hair.
"Will people die tomorrow?"
Duo sighed. "I don't know Lily," he answered honestly.
"But if I don't tell Wufei what the people are going to do, then they will know what he will be doing, just like we knew what Heero was going to do."
Heero slid into the bed and pulled the blankets up. "Wufei doesn't want to let them know we have the AI yet, just like he can't let them know that I'm still alive, even if it means some people will get hurt."
"To save many others in the next battle," Lily said. "Right?"
"Guess so," Duo murmured. "But let's just see what happens tomorrow, okay? There's no point in thinking about it now Lily. No wonder you had a nightmare."
"How'd you know that I had a nightmare about this?"
"Just a thought," Duo offered a small smile. "You all right sleeping in the dark, or should we leave these dim lights on?"
"I can sleep in the dark." She lay down, turning her back to the wall, and took a fistful of Duo's loose t-shirt. "You're here, so I can sleep in the dark."
Duo smiled. Other than seeing Lily demand dessert, or when she had been excited to ride in the fighter with him, this was the third time that he had seen the girl act her age.
"Goodnight Lily," he said softly.
"Goodnight Duo. Goodnight Heero."
"Goodnight Lily." Heero tucked his elbow under his head, facing towards the girl. Duo glanced at Heero, then smiled.
"I know you want to," he whispered before taking Heero's hand and placing it lightly on top of Lily's at his waist. He glanced at the girl, who smiled slightly. The corners of Heero's mouth lifted slightly too as he felt Lily release two of her fingers from Duo's shirt and entangle them with his own fingers. He looked at Duo, who offered a smile before leaning his forehead against Heero's chin.
"Rika, lights out please," Heero murmured.
"Goodnight, Heero, Duo, Lily." The lights dimmed into darkness.
~*~
Wufei was properly suited up when he headed for his fighter, his helmet tucked under his arm as he made his way to the front of the assembled pilots awaiting his final orders and words. Two screens showed the assembly of agents on other submarines. He faced the crowd and cleared his throat before he spoke.
"Today, we have our first battle with the faction whose intent is to overthrow our government. Our hard-earned peace cannot be destroyed by them. Every man here has sworn the oath to protect what many of us fought for in the very last war. Now, we will face those who wish to tear apart the peace we try to keep, and we will do so honorably."
"Yes sir!" The group in front of him and the two on the screens chorused together.
"We have three armed submarines at the ready and battlements of thirty fighters on each of them. Lady Une has assumed that first contact will not be a full-blown battle and as previously discussed, we will send the Alpha battlement led by me for the first wave. If there is a need, we will call for the Bravo battlement, and finally, Charlie. Should these three battlements fail, we will retreat on order. No agent will disobey the orders to retreat and no agent will act recklessly."
"Yes sir!"
"We have prepared to the best of our abilities for this battle. Now, agents, I wish you all, God speed." He turned and entered his fighter. He had barely started the engine before a communications request was shown. Sparing just a moment, he switched it on.
"Wufei, be careful." Lily appeared on the screen.
His mind was in battle mode, yet his eyes softened marginally at the girl's words. "I will, Lily. I'll open communications again with Duo and Heero later on and you will be watching the AI to tell me if you can see anything, but speak to me through Duo and Heero because they know how to communicate without allowing anyone else understand our conversation." In truth, by having communication open between Duo, Heero and himself, while not letting Lily listen in kept her from hearing the battle.
"I will. See you soon Wufei." Her voice held no room for argument, but her eyes held fear, much like the way she'd looked at him the few times he had left base, armed, for a serious mission. He nodded and the connection was severed.
Several minutes later, Wufei and his fleet were airborne and he stopped the fleet at their starting point. The alarms on the panel in front of him alerted him to twenty five fighters nearing them from ahead.
"Agents, incoming twenty five," he spoke. "Stay in your formations." No one replied and he knew the agents were set to battle. An unknown source tried to communicate and he instinctively knew it was the enemy. He allowed the communication to come through.
"Chang Wufei, Pilot 05." A man appeared on the screen, a red bandanna around his forehead.
br>"And you are?" Wufei asked.
"We are the New Intelligence," the man said. "My orders are to stay in battle for forty five minutes or until the Preventer fleet has been defeated; whichever comes first."
"You sound mighty confident," Wufei snorted.
The man's eyes narrowed and a glance at his screens told Wufei that the enemy was almost at the one mile mark. "Don't play with me, kid," he snarled. "I helped kill the almighty Perfect Soldier and whoever is in our way, we will kill."
Wufei's eyes hardened to what the man thought to be anger for his friend's death. The Chinese man was relieved that Heero had lived, but considerably angry that this man had inflicted harm on the Japanese man.
"Then it is you whom I must kill to seek revenge for Heero!" Wufei severed the connection and sent his fighter towards the incoming enemy.
The battle began.
"Dragon, do you read Shinigami?" Duo's voice sounded through his helmet.
"Read you, Shinigami," Wufei replied as he spun his fighter around. "Ready to take revenge for 01."
"You found who hur...killed 01?" Duo quickly amended his words.
"Do you read?" Wufei stuck to his strategy, using his methods of meditation to separate his mind into two strands, one to stay with battle strategy, the other to communicate with base and try not to let on that he was scanning the men with his own AI system. He had worked two nights with Lily trying to thwart the AI by sticking to one battle plan; and Duo, Heero, Quatre and Trowa had taken his battle tactics and used Lily and her ability to understand the AI to turn things around such that Wufei was able to use one strategy and within it, avoid several possible streams of attack thought up by the four other Gundam Pilots. It was a hard task, trying to do so many things at once, but Wufei knew he had to manage it, or he would not live.
So far, the agents were holding their own and had managed to take down five of the fighters, leaving twenty enemies.
"Presumed interpretation is not yet complete," Duo said. Wufei understood that it meant they had attacked quick enough to avoid readings on his men. But this relief did not last long. The enemy battalion turned force and changed into another formation.
"Bravo half!" he called, switching on the communications to the Bravo submarine, indicating that half of the Bravo Team would come to their aid.
Wufei had not done more than strategic missions in the past six and a half years, and now, as explosions rang out, lights flaring, his fighter's sensors flashing at him, he was reminded of the days he'd fought as a Gundam Pilot. An enemy fighter was chasing him down and Wufei knew it was the one piloted by the man he had spoken to, the apparent leader of this battalion of twenty five.
Only ten minutes had passed and ten of his fleet were gone while they had only managed to lower the number of the enemy to nineteen.
"Dragon," Duo's voice was hard and firm. "Follow strategy."
"Roger." Wufei wondered why Duo was ordering him to do what he was already doing.
"Sir?" Three small screens appeared at the bottom of his main window, the agents looking confused.
"Strategy," Wufei reminded them, wondering why the three of the agents situated closest to him were suddenly hooked to his communications.
"Break left to a vertical and fire six missiles from each side NOW!" Duo ordered.
"Sir-" Two of the agents were confused.
"Do it!" Wufei's tone left no room for argument and almost as one the four fighters, including Wufei's, broke left, turning the fighters vertical to slide between fighters and fired twelve missiles each.
Three of the enemy fighters went down in an explosion as the rest of Wufei's battalion followed their strategy and fired while flipping neatly under the incoming enemy.
"Formation!" Wufei urged the three agents to comply. Immediately, they turned and fell back in line. Wufei concentrated on keeping strategy, not wanting any of his human bio symbols to alert the enemy AI that he was doing anything but following strategy. "Preventers, break into second formation!"
The remaining agents did as told, separating into three teams before the teams swerved as one towards the enemy.
Half of the team furthest from Wufei exploded, the other half swerving dangerously to avoid being taken down by shrapnel and debris. Wufei cursed. They were only twenty minutes into battle. There had been thirty three Preventer fighters before he called for second formation and now, twenty seven remained against the sixteen enemy fighters. Wufei didn't want to call on the rest of Bravo or Charlie teams until their numbers had decreased to be almost even with the enemy; there was no need to risk more lives. The fighters from the halved third team split themselves up immediately to join the other two teams.
Wufei knew his men were aware of why their battle tactics seemed offensive, but were really defensive. They were flying quickly around the enemy, who were firing more than they were, but he knew soon, they would know how they were being defensive in their offensive moves, and would know exactly how to take them down.
/Nataku, let their bullheadedness show through,/ he thought as he caught sight of the leading enemy fighter once more. Making up his mind, he broke away from formation, trusting his agents to stick to the plan.
When he had used his Gundam, there were a series of moves that Wufei had liked to use for close-range battle. He wasn't using a Gundam at the moment, but the moves could be applied, and Wufei knew them like the back of his hand. He began the first, the second moves, and guessed that the enemy could predict what was coming. Then, he swerved, breaking into the fifth maneuver and into the seventh half way before going back to the first one and taking down the lead fighter.
The enemy had the AI, but Chang Wufei had a faster reaction time than most soldiers. Coupled with the series of maneuver that he had used so often and knew so well, his manipulations were flawless. He didn't dare to second guess how quick the AI was working; Lily had demonstrated that the AI interpretations were no more than a thought. But he dared to risk that while the AI had an inhuman reaction time, whoever was giving instructions, and whoever was receiving instructions, would not be able to process the material quick enough before he made for the kill.
Nataku answered his prayers, for the moment the leading enemy fighter burst into a ball of flame, the remaining enemy fighters broke out of formation, trying to take down as many other fighters as possible.
Lily had said that the enemy's AI may be able to do more readings from whatever kind of scanner they had while they were only able to do them one at a time. But the AI offered readings through one port and someone had to be there to take the AI's information and give orders regarding the battle technique.
"Keep the second formation, split into three!" Wufei cried. The Preventer pilots quickly divided themselves into three teams and they methodically tried to take down the enemy fighters.
"Shinigami sees death!" Duo's voice cried angrily. The next moment, one of the Preventer teams went up in a burst of explosion and flames. Wufei knew, that Shinigami did not see death, but the AI had seen that the enemy would out-maneuver that team.
"Bravo team!" he called for the second half. "Shinigami!" he tried to get instruction from Duo.
"Break formation, break formation!" Duo urged. "Act as your own!"
"What?" Wufei swerved his fighter, Duo's words were static as his fighter took a laser to the tail, just grazing slightly but sending the alarm claxons ringing in the cockpit. "I didn't hear that!"
"Hey!" Duo's voice cried. Immediately, Lily's voice came over.
"Wufei, their AI is like ours. Several of the enemy fighters have the scanner, but they do a wide scan and their AI has interpreted the moves of your formations. Let the agents act on their own and while the AI will now know you are doing that, the person behind the port can't give orders fast enough if you go for the kill! Break formation!"
"Roger!" Wufei switched on his open communications. "Break formation!" he ordered.
The formations broke and Wufei selected a fighter to target. The enemy was no longer in teamwork and while Wufei had asked for the formation to break, some of the Preventers broke off in pairs, their fighters dancing around the single fighters and leaving almost no room for them to retaliate.
In a few minutes a collective cheer went up as the last fighter was taken down.
Back at the base, Duo sighed with relief, along with Lily.
"What happened there?" he asked the girl who had climbed onto him and snatched the communication headset.
"I AI-ed the AI. Does that make sense?" she asked, turning to look at him.
"So what did you find out?"
"Their scanner does a wide range scan and not just a single person like ours," Lily answered. "According to our AI and the few fighters that Wufei scanned, the men had waited for our formations to be scanned, then tried their battle tactics against ours. When they succeeded, groups of our fighters died, not just one at a time." She looked away at the thought of people dying. "The AI was made to interpret and offer a solution through the port and from there, someone else is giving the instructions to the fighters. I...I'll try to make the wide scanner too."
An unknown connection tried to connect to Wufe, and he switched off the open one to have a private conversation.
"Chang Wufei." Another man, also wearing a red bandanna, appeared on the screen. "You only need to know me as the New Intelligence Leader; Red." He tapped his forehead. "Red for the blood your Preventers will shed, just like the blood of Heero Yuy."
Wufei's eyes narrowed.
"Two weeks," Red said. "Two weeks, same place and that will be our final battle."
The connection was severed.
TBC...
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