Fortress Barge hung in space, the massive construct built for war. At the time none of Earth's forces would have admitted it, of course, claiming the armor and reinforced design was simply for survivability, but everyone knew Fortress Barge was designed to survive almost anything. But whatever it was designed to survive, it had not been built to face this. Looking like a red devil the mysterious mobile suit tore into the picket force, one that was already horribly depleted by the attack on the colony military. With a single swipe of it's greenish tinted energy sword it killed two Leos, leaving behind explosive fireballs in it's wake. Trant Clark watched in a certain amount of awe and horror as the mystery suit slaughtered his men with hideous ease. "Lady Catalonia," he activated the radio again, "we've already lost much of the guard force." "Damn it," Dorothy loudly cursed and he could easily imagine the furious expression on the fiery blonde's face. "How far out are you ma'am?" Trant had to ask, a bit of desperation in his voice. "Over an hour," Dorothy answered flatly. Trant closed his eyes a moment, knowing that it would be much too long a time. "I'll activate the broadcast systems to send you as much sensor data as possible," he said briskly, "I hope that will be of some help." "Don't give up," Meuller said from his Leo's cockpit within one of the assault force's carriers internal bay, "you can still..." "Over and out," Trant cut his friend and comrade off, knowing what he was going to say, and also knowing it was pointless. The mystery Gundam slaughtered another suit with a single swipe of a claw-like arm, it's red-black shield easily blocking a shot before it zipped in to gut a Leo like a trout. Amid the flickering rubble it looked unearthly, deadly dangerous as it's optic port eyes flickered in the darkness of space. "Unknown Gundam," Trant tried to radio the mystery Gundam once again, "identify yourself and the colony that you represent! Attacking Fortress Barge is a act of war." He smiled to himself grimly as he thought, ‘Not that it really matters, since we've been in a state of all out war with the one colony alliance for months now. But they've never shown a suit with these capabilities before...' "I'm not with a colony," the cool, calm voice startled him out of his troubling thoughts. "Who are you?" Trant demanded, sudden hope filling him as he saw a monitor on his control panel flicker to life. The brown haired woman wore a modified flight suit, the helm entirely covering the upper half of her face. She looked attractive enough, though it was difficult to say much more than that with much of her face hidden away. She pressed a switch on the side of her helm and part of the cover slid back, revealing familiar eyes. "Lady UNE?" Trant looked at her, open mouthed in shock. The brown haired Lady Une met his eyes with a eerie, almost unearthly calm. "How many people do you have aboard?" she asked. "Over a hundred support staff," Trant answered reflexedly, "ma'am, what are you doing? You're on our side!" "Get them to the life pods," Une ordered with the ease of one well suited to command, "you have five minutes." "Wait..." Trant started but she cut him off. Thoughts racing he gave the evacuation order even as Trant tried to bring his only card into play. The chances of hitting the suit with Fortress Barge's main gun was a hundred to one, but it was the only thing he had left to try. Even as sirens wailed and he worked to bring the system on-line, he wondered how this had happened. ‘Did she snap after Catalonia betrayed her?' Trant silently wondered, ‘Or did she always have some sympathy with the colonies? Was she just a plant in our ranks all along?' He thought back to the loyalty that Une had always shown their leader Treize and shook his head, knowing it just wasn't possible. Nearly four minutes and twenty seconds later the last of the life boats zipped away from the base as the mysterious suit moved forward, igniting it's plasma blade once more. "Wait," Trant demanded even as his finger hovered over the firing button for the cannon, "at least tell me why you're doing this!" "For the future." With that the suit raced in even as Trant desperately jabbed down on the firing button. The energy discharge was immensely powerful, but the new suit saw it coming and weaved aside, zipping in right above the command center. Trant didn't even have a chance to scream as the energy blade destroyed him, then continued on to rip into the armored structure. As the survivors in the life boats looked on in awe and horror, Fortress Barge exploded in a flash of light against the blackness of space. "Une," Dorothy Catalonia repeated in disbelief as she went over the transmitted data from Trant's final moments. The office on board the carrier was a poor command center, but it was the best she had available. "It's confirmed, ma'am," Meuller met his commander's eyes, "both voice and visual data match up perfectly." "Why is she doing this?" Dorothy murmured as her vessels picked up the life pods, "What's her plan?" "Revenge?" Meuller offered boldly. A slight smile twisted Dorothy's lips, "No, she's too loyal for that. Or at least, that's what I thought until today." "Either way," Meuller answered her grimly, "this attack presents us with a whole new set of problems." "Where do we go now?" Dorothy agreed bleakly. Fortress Barge had been more than just a battle station to launch attacks on the colonies, it had also been their home and supply depot. Without it they were limited to supplies in the ships, carriers and life pods, all of which would only last them so long. Without a base of operations and resupply from Earth, they were going to die. Meuller said what both of them were thinking, "We'll have to take a colony over, then contact home." "Which will make the government so happy," Dorothy said dryly. She sighed, "Get the charts out, we need to determine which is closest and or most vulnerable." "I'll get right to it," Meuller saluted before leaving the cramped office. Dorothy sat back at her desk with a weary sigh, "I just wish I trusted him." She activated the communications system, "Helen?" Her assistant appeared on the screen, the black haired young woman looking more tired than average. "Yes, ma'am?" Helen respectfully asked. "Shiori was recovered all right?" Dorothy asked even as she reviewed data on the mysterious new suit. "She's fine ma'am," Helen replied a bit stiffly, "I was also able to get my medical teams out, thanks for asking." Dorothy looked up from her work to fix Helen with a dangerous look. "I'll excuse that snippiness because I assume you're under stress," she said with a dangerous calm, "don't presume to repeat it." Helen paled. "Yes, ma'am," she murmured. Dorothy sighed, knowing that she was tired too. "Sorry," she said in milder tones, "I was going to ask after your team next." "Ma'am," Helen nodded. A faint smile, "Some mixed news has arrived." "Oh?" Dorothy asked. "Shortly after you left we received the first Gemini suit," Helen revealed, "we've been testing out the pilot candidates on it." "It was removed before the Barge was destroyed?" Dorothy asked intently. "We got it out," Helen smiled. "YES!" Dorothy grinned, glad to hear at least one piece of good news. "Who's done the best so far?" she asked. "Casval Winner," Helen said, "one of the daughters of the Winner clan. She made contact with us covertly recently." "Is she loyal?" Dorothy sounded skeptical. "Miss Winner seems to resent Quatre for the troubles he's brought on his family," Helen revealed, "as well as blaming him for the recent death of their father." "Interesting," Dorothy murmured. Tapping a finger on her desk she said, "Forward what data you have on her to me." "Yes ma'am," Helen said as she pressed keys on her own work station. Dorothy read it over, her expression thoughtful. ‘It sounds good,' she silently admitted, then made up her mind. "Put her in the Gemini officially," Dorothy ordered, "we'll use her in our next major operation."
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