Cosmos Base, Near Earth orbit
1130 Hrs, Tokyo Time
A shuttle was on approach to the base.
“This is Cosmos Shuttle 01, Cosmos Base come in. Cosmos Base come in.”
Captain Louis Roux, looked out the viewports of the operations Center of Cosmos Base. He was in his early 40’s, a man with strong angular features, brown hair and blue eyes. He wore the duty uniform of cosmos base, which was a blue jumpsuit with yellow and white trim.
“You’re 10 minutes late. Slacking off again as always”, Captain Roux responded with grin.
“Is that you Lou? 10 minutes is not really late in space”, replied the shuttle pilot.
“I’ll forgive you if you have someone young and cute aboard that ship.”
“Hey, now don’t get me into trouble again!” squawked the pilot. The operations crew fought to smother down their smirks at the banter between their base commander and the shuttle pilot. The captain gave a chuckle.
“Uncle Hal? Is that you?” asked the youngest member of the operations crew. Louisa Roux, called Lu by her father and the rest of the crew. She inherited the best traits of her parents, her father’s eyes and her late mother’s silver hair and face. She was considered a prodigy the crew at the age of 12, being developed both in mind and body well ahead of her peers on Earth. She wore the same uniform as her father and secured hair waist long hair in a pink bow tie tied at the nape of her neck.
“Is that you Lu-chan? It’s been a while. I’m arriving with 15 personnel to relieve your crew. Please guide us in.”
“Roger.” Lu began bringing up the docking program.
“Father has been waiting for this moment for a long time. He been wanting to teach me how to scuba dive once we get back to Earth.” Chirped Lu as she began the process of guiding the shuttle.
“I envy your relationship with him. With me, it’s “Dad! You suck!”, complained Hal with a trace of wistfulness.
“Hey, you’re being a bad influence on Lu!”, admonished the Captain.
“Oh, sorry.” Everyone laughed.
“I’m lighting up the guides.” Lu continued working her console for the final approach.
“Your operation has gotten quite reliable now, Lu-chan.”
Any further comment was disrupted by single massive ball of blaster fire that came from the station. It struck the approaching shuttle on the nose and cleanly bisected it. The operations crew gasped at the unexpected event. Bodies started floating out of the decompressuiruzed compartments. The fuel tanks then exploded and the shuttle vanished in a bright ball of flame and acitinic light.
"NOOOOOO!"
Lu screamed as her uncle died, along with his crew and passengers. In the ensuing chaos, no one notice their instruments detected a massive burst of light and energy coming from their aft sector or the metallic humanoid figure that appeared.
Wing Zero has arrived.
________________________________________________________________________________
“Uhhmm….”
Heero muzzily woke up. The last thing he remembered was being enveloped in light then..nothing. Acting on automatic response, he instructed the computer to determine system status. The results were as he expected, some of which was grave news.
Shoulder cannons…15% magazine capacity
Head cannon…20 % magazine capacity
Beam sabers: Nominal
Twin Buster rifle: Nominal
Structural Integrity: Nominal
Warning: Main power buss compromised. Full power not recommended. 20% power recommended for safe Mobile Suit operation.
Heero proceeded to scan his surroundings. There was no debris that one would expect from a major space battle. The only metallic mass he can observe was a space station to his front view. Which was in the middle of an evacuation. Lifepods were shooting out of the structure in waves and were heading for a rendouvouz point. Pinpricks of light and metallic debris were coming out of the station. Heero decided to scan the comm channels.
“This is the last wave!”
“Section L’s pods are taking off!”
“Turn on your IFF signals!”
Heero decided to maneuver Wing Zero toward the base. He knew the dangers of living in space. The survivors would need help.
There was a flash of light and a humanoid figure rose from a hole in the station. He surveyed the figure. It was a mobile suit of approximately Wing Zero’s height but less massive and armed. What looked liked a shuttle was attached to the back. Heero was surprised when the shuttle detached and headed back to Earth. His computer intercepted the comm chatter and relayed the audio to him.
“Why?! I don’t want this!? Why Father, why!” A young girl’s voice carried from the speaker, with the sounds of controls being frantically worked in the background.
“You’re a bright girl, Lu. You understand, don’t you? I have a duty to protect Cosmo Base and its crew as much as protecting you.”
It was at that point that the creature appeared. It was a cross between a bloated ant and caterpillar. Only caterpillars don’t have metallic skin, mass at least 10 tons and carry appendages that spout blaster fire.
“Then let me stay! I’ll fight too!”
“Sorry. Wait for me Lu on earth, where your mother was laid to rest. I’ll come back. I promise.”
“Father! No, please! Come with me!”
Lu pleaded as her craft receeded into the distance. The robot turned away and began engaging the monster.
Heero turned off the comm channel. There was a risk that he and Wing Zero might not survive this battle. But he was not about to stand back and watch someone die for those he had sworn to protect and love. He engaged the Zero system and full power, straight into the fight. He’ll just have to see that the pilot keeps his promise.
“Mission accepted”
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(Posted Thu, 19 Feb 2004 20:01)
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