Disclaimer: For the umpteenth time --- I. Don't. Own. Gundam. Wing.

If truth be told, all battles are miserable and sorrowful. For comments, suggestions, flames or reviews, you can email me at raizenheero@aol.com

The next day

A shuttle steadily approached Buena Park, only stopping when it reached the checkpoint. "You're presently in Buena Park's airspace. Please confirm your reservation before you can proceed," an electronic voice stated. The shuttle's pilot complied, typing what was asked of her. She knew that while she was doing so, Buena Park's security system was scanning the shuttle for anything that would prove dangerous. She felt somehow sorry for them, for even if her shuttle indeed carried something dangerous, they wouldn't be able to detect it.

"Welcome to Buena Park, Miss Thea Mannings. We hope that you'll enjoy your stay. Just go straight to docking bay 2. Thank you."

The pilot turned her head, her gray-green eyes focusing on her co-pilot. Her co-pilot nodded and stood up, heading towards the back of the shuttle. As the shuttle proceeded to the docking bay, a flash came out from behind it. But Buena Park's sensors didn't pick up anything, nor did the surveillance cameras. It was like the flash didn't happen at all.

Athena made a careful but quick scan of her hotel room upon entering, making sure that there were no bugs or camouflaged cameras. Satisfied, she took out the notebook PC from her backpack and sat down. Her notebook PC was state-of-the-art, the latest model in Heero's line of portable PC's. It was only 34 of an inch thick, very lightweight (only weighing 2 12 lbs), half the size of an ordinary laptop but thrice as powerful. She turned it on and started hacking into Buena Park's computer system. Thanks to Heero's hacking, they learned from the blueprints that though Buena Park was divided into two levels, it was basically run by the same computer system. The upper level was the one technically known to everyone as Buena Park, the famous resort and theme park while the lower level was the center of Raidon's operations. The Resource Satellite had many gates leading to Buena Park, having to cater to many clients, but there was only one gate leading to Raidon's underground base, placed underneath the satellite, hidden from prying eyes. But as expected, there was a way to go back and forth between the two levels --- through a private elevator that could only be used by Buena Park's employees who had a security card. That was why she was there right now. Going in from the bottom gate was too risky. She needed to infiltrate the base as quietly as possible.

With all this information, she and Heero were able to piece together how Raidon abducted the others. The free passes Raidon sent included a provision for the families to stay in the hotel's luxurious Penthouse Suite, occupying a whole floor. From there, the pilots and their families could have been drugged or attacked, then dragged to the private elevator without other people noticing.

Athena finished uploading the virus to the security system, making sure that the surveillance cameras outside her room leading to the private elevator were the first ones to get infected. She turned her notebook PC off, put it back in her backpack then took out a watch-like gadget and put it on her wrist. Grabbing her backpack, she went out of her room.

Athena was forced to stop at the corner when she saw 2 men emerged from the elevator. She waited until the coast was clear before proceeding. She stopped in front of the elevator, looked up and saw the surveillance camera aimed at her. But she wasn't worried. The virus she uploaded would recognize the pulse her watch was emitting, making it erase her image as it was being shown in the control room. Instead of capturing an auburn-haired girl in black denim cut-offs, tank top and boots going inside the private elevator, the camera would return an image of an empty corridor, sort-of like wearing white in a white-screened background, or being invisible. It really was ingenuous. It was one of her seek and destroy (or delete for that matter) viruses, her specialty.

She took out a skeleton card (sort-of like a skeleton key) from her pocket, one that could open any card-slot controlled door. She swiped it in the card slot and the door opened. She went inside and looked at the panel. She saw a button labeled U below the button labeled B, and guessing that 'U' stood for Underground, she pressed it. The door closed and the elevator started its descent.

When the elevator stopped moving, she took out her gun and carefully went out. There might be some guards patrolling the corridor or someone had to use the elevator to go up. Thankful that no one was around, she hurled herself up and entered a nearby airvent.

The HAVOC stealthily scouted the perimeter of Buena Park, even checking the few colonies near it. The HAVOC's black exterior blended well with the blackness of space, aiding it to proceed without getting detected, its hyperjammers also a great factor. Reina continued looking around, her head clear and all of her senses alert. A voice suddenly came from the commlink, penetrating her thoughts.

"I'm in," Athena said in her monotonous voice. "What's your status?"

"I finished surveying the whole area. There are several Sepent Suits within the vicinity. I also spotted some in the nearby colonies. All-in-all, 30 Suits," Reina reported. "I wanted to take care of them now, quickly and quietly, so that they wouldn't cause any trouble to you later on. But someone from the base might get suspicious if the patrol teams failed to report back."

"Hn. Nice call. I'll deal with them later," Athena told her.

"Since I'm done here, I better get going."

"Be careful, Reina," Athena said, her voice softening, but only for a second. "Goodluck."

"You too. See you later, Athena," Reina replied. HAVOC then flew away, in the direction of MO-II.

Athena peered through the airvent, seeing 5 armed guards accompanying a soldier pushing a cart, collecting the breakfast trays from the 2 rooms in the corridor. She took out her notebook PC, turned on the keypad light and started making adjustments to the security camera on top of each of the doors. Since both cameras were aimed at the door opposite them, anyone coming in and out could be seen. With her watch and the virus, she was as good as invisible but the doors opening and closing without anyone present in the corridor that could have caused such actions would arouse suspicions. So she waited until the soldiers were gone, captured the image of the empty corridor, uploaded it and made it loop for 10 minutes. Hopefully, no one in the control room would suspect anything and no other soldiers would visit the prisoners by that span of time. She put the notebook PC back inside her backpack, opened the airvent and jumped out. Judging by the number of trays she saw the soldier collected earlier, the 5 pilots were being held in the room at the left so she went there first. After overriding the electronic lock, the door opened and she stepped in. Five heads turned to look at her.

"Athena," Quatre said as a form of a greeting.

Duo flashed her his trademarked smile. "Well, it's about time, babe. Where's Heero?"

"I'll explain everything later. Come on, the clock is ticking," Athena answered.

The guys nodded then the 6 of them went outside, closing the door behind them. Athena went to the opposite room and started overriding the electronic lock. When the door opened, she let the guys enter first. Exclaims of surprise and joy were heard as each pilot was reunited with his respective family.

Lady Une was the first one who noticed. Then Catherine. Hilde, Dorothy, Sally and Noin looked over their husbands' shoulders and gasped. Midii didn't really know who she was but she was still surprised to see a woman standing by the door.

"Athena!" Lady Une, Catherine, Hilde, Dorothy, Sally and Noin yelled in unison, their eyes wide. The last time they saw Athena was 20 years ago but there was no mistaking the auburn-hair and gray-green eyes. It definitely was her.

"But--- you're---" Hilde stammered.

"Dead? It's a long story. The guys could tell you all about it later," Athena told them. The women looked accusingly at the 5 pilots. "Can someone guard the door? We can't close it because it could only be opened from the outside and we should watch out for the guards patrolling the base. This operation should be executed as quietly as possible."

Zechs and Wufei volunteered and walked over to the door. Athena rummaged through her backpack and tossed two guns with silencers to the two men. "Here's the plan. Since we couldn't just blow up Raidon's base, I have to disengage the main array to prevent it from firing at the colonies once the kids attack the Palace and Heero sneaks in to get Relena and Raidon. The 15 Sanc Kingdom guards who escaped will prevent the rest of Raidon's army stationed at the main Preventer base to send in back-up while Reina, in HAVOC, will prevent MO-II from sending in reinforcements. If you're wondering what Suits the other kids are piloting, the guys will also tell you about that later." The women looked at the guys accusingly again.

Athena took out another gun with a silencer and 2 watch-like gadgets from her backpack. She tossed one of the gadgets to Wufei, the rest she tossed to Trowa. "Trowa, Wufei, I need you to come with me to the control room. You know how those gadgets work, right? Most of the soldiers are stationed in the control room so it'll save time if we attack them together."

She turned to address the others. "The rest of you stay here. You can't go out yet. You'll be spotted by the surveillance cameras. If any soldier comes in here, fire at him, Zechs. We can't let them discover us just yet. Wufei will go back here to open the door once the control room is secured. He'll give you the guns of the fallen soldiers. Then, you can all go out. Trowa will remain with me to guard the control room as I work and to answer any incoming transmission so as not to arouse suspicions. Zechs, Duo, Quatre, Wufei, Lady Une, Noin and Hilde, search the base. Make sure that no soldier will be able to sound the alarm or warn Raidon. Then proceed to the hangar and get inside a Suit. Be ready to attack. Reina spotted 30 Serpents within Buena Park's vicinity and the nearby colonies. They might try to get in to regain control of the base or fix the main array, blow up the place, take the people in Buena Park hostage to stop the attack on the Palace or proceed to MO-II as reinforcement. We can't allow any of that to happen. Meanwhile, the rest of you head to the private elevator and go to docking bay 2. That's where I left my shuttle. Use this key to find it," Athena said, tossing a key to Sally. "Wait there. Trowa and I will join Duo and the rest in fending off the 30 MS Suits. After the battle, we'll get Reina and return to Earth. I'll get a Mobile Suit transport cargo from the hangar so we could bring the Serpent Suits to Earth and help the kids with the attack."

"What about us who don't know how to pilot Mobile Suits? We want to help too," Catherine asked.

"Midii, Toby and I can pilot an armed shuttle," Sally voiced out.

"Quatre had been teaching me how to operate an armed shuttle," Dorothy informed them.

"And I've been teaching Cathy too, in exchange for knife throwing lessons," Midii added.

"In that case, I'll also load up two armed shuttles for Sally and Dorothy, Midii and Catherine in the transport cargo," Athena stated. She turned to Toby. "You'll be in charge of flying Marie, Ardy and the rest of the kids to safety while we battle." Toby nodded his assent.

Duo grinned. "It's funny how we're planning to use Raidon's own weapons against him. Tsk, tsk, the irony of life."

"He used the Gundams against us so we're just even," Zechs replied.

Athena handed the notebook PC to Quatre. "Study the map of the base so you'll know where you're headed."

"We will. Thanks," Quatre told her.

Athena looked at her watch. "We only have 15 minutes remaining. Let's go," she said to Wufei and Trowa.

Wufei hugged Sally while Trowa kissed Midii then hugged Catherine before following Athena out of the room. With a slight nod to Zechs, Athena closed the door.

On Earth

Three shadowy figures infiltrated the former main Preventer base in the Sanc Kingdom. One of them hacked into the computer system, getting the manual override codes for the doors leading to the hangar where the MS were kept while the other 2 planted explosives in different sectors of the base. They weren't planning on blowing up the whole base. On the contrary, they wanted to save the base and the Serpent Suits inside in preparation for the day they would start rebuilding the Preventers Organization. They didn't know if it was because of that lady who talked to them, or if it was the thought of Heero Yuy planning this whole operation, but they were certain that this operation would be a success. With their tasks done, they returned to their comrades a few miles away, hidden by the cloaking net and security system Jiiro used in their shuttle, waiting for the attack to commence.

Raidon permitted a small smile to form on his lips as he watched his 6 'sons' inside the President's office. Miles and Ren were playing chess by the fireplace, Dean watching their game. Opposite them, Colin sat on the couch by the bookshelf, reading a book. Beside him, Qintaro was tinkering with his laptop, Sean looking over his shoulder. Sometimes, he had a hard time adjusting to the fact that they were all so grown-up now. He was proud of them, proud of what they had become --- strong and skillful soldiers. He had trained them well.

"It's nice that you decided to spend time with me and not run to the hangar immediately after breakfast to play with your Gundams," Raidon remarked from behind his desk.

The 6 kids turned their attention to him. "Sorry if we've neglected our duties to you, General," Miles said.

"That's alright. I can understand why you're all so enamored with the Gundams. They really are something else, aren't they? Besides, you were trained for the sole purpose of piloting them. I'm pleased that you're putting your training to good use," Raidon told them.

"All these years, we were trained to pilot the Gundams through Stygma's simulation. And though Stygma's simulation is very realistic, piloting the real thing is quite a different experience," Ren voiced out.

"Very exhilarating," Colin added. "And addicting. It seems like you just can't get enough of it."

"It's too bad we only got to pilot them once," Dean commented.

"Only once in battle. But many times in joyrides," Sean remarked with a grin.

"You are all well aware that I allow you to go on joyrides as long as only 2 of you leave at the same time. Don't forget that Heero Yuy is still out there and we don't know when he's going to strike. You must always be ready to fight him and fend off the 'army' he'll be bringing," Raidon told them. "Though I wonder where he'll get the necessary firepower that will stand against my vast armada, more importantly, soldiers who are willing to fight beside him."

Qintaro, Miles, Ren, Dean, Colin and Sean looked at each other. They knew 7 people who would be willing to fight beside Heero Yuy.

Raidon leaned backwards on his chair. "Hmm, things are getting dull around here. The last excitement we had was during the coup." He stopped, then chuckled when a thought came into his head. "Dean, get Miss Relena. If hearing her speak about her ideals wouldn't liven things up a bit here, nothing can."

Dean was about to obey the order when Qintaro suddenly stood up and said, "I'll go get her." And before anyone could react, Qintaro was out of the room.

Raidon cocked an eyebrow at the kids, his question evident in his eyes. It didn't escape his attention that since the attack, Qintaro was the one who was bringing in Relena's meals. But it was a trivial matter so he just let it slipped. What Qintaro did in his free time was of no concern of his as long as he was not jeopardizing anything. But curiosity was getting the better of him. Besides, Qintaro was his son, his true son, so he should know if Qintaro was falling for their prisoner who was way older than him. Relena was old enough to be his mother and more importantly, she was already married. And if he gathered it correctly, Relena had children who were as old as Qintaro.

"She reminds him of someone," Colin answered quietly.

"Who?"

The 5 kids tried to conceal their nervousness. "A close friend of ours," Sean replied.

And that made Raidon think.

In her room, Relena stood by the window, lost in thought. Those poor kids, she said to herself as she remembered what transpired last night.

Relena's eyes suddenly fluttered open the second she heard the door of her room opened, then closed. She heard some shuffling noises and hushed whispering a few feet away from her bed. She remained still, glad that her back was turned against the door, and listened to the voices.

"Look, she's already asleep. We better leave."

"We shouldn't have come this late."

"We shouldn't have come period."

"Yeah. Qintaro and the General will be mad once they find out we sneaked in to her room."

"But we need to talk to her. We need to hear it for ourselves."

Realizing that her midnight visitors didn't mean her any harm, Relena turned over then sat up, facing them. Sean, Miles, Ren, Dean and Colin were surprised with the suddenness of her actions. The soft moonlight coming from the window illuminated her features as she tried to see their faces. She stood up and turned on the light. She saw 5 kids in soldiers' uniform staring back at her. She remembered them now. They were Qintaro's friends, the other Gundam pilots. She hadn't seen them since the day of the attack. Well, Qintaro was the only one who visited her.

"What can I do for you?" she asked them softly.

The 5 kids blinked, as if seeing someone else. They stared at her for a moment before Miles answered, "Umm, sorry if we woke you up, Miss Relena. By the way, I'm Miles. That's Sean, Dean, Colin and Ren." The other kids nodded at her. "We're here to, uhh, confirm some things."

Relena smiled at them. They couldn't resist smiling back, seeing her similarity with Reina. Even their voices sounded the same. "What do you want me to confirm?"

"You're husband is Heero Yuy, Gundam pilot 01, right?" Colin asked. Relena nodded. "And Jiiro and Reina are your kids?"

Relena smiled at them again. "Yes. Here's the proof," she answered, unclasping her necklace and handing it to them. The kids opened the locket and saw the Yuy family picture. "So you know them too, huh?"

"Yeah. Jiiro, Reina, Deity, Trion, Kai, Lee, Rhys, Qintaro and the 5 of us --- we all hang out together at school," Ren said.

"Trion and the rest, they're the kids of the other Gundam pilots too, aren't they? And they're all family friends of yours?" Dean asked, handing the locket back to her.

"Yes. All of us met during the war and became good friends ever since," Relena replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Since we discovered that our friends are the original Gundam pilots' kids, we want to know if there's any chance of us fighting them," Sean earnestly informed her. "We thought that you might be able to help us. Don't think that we're here to pry information from you, Miss Relena. Everything that you'll tell us will be completely off the record, as they would say. We didn't even tell the General that there are still some children of the Gundam pilots on the loose. We just want to know if there's even a remote possibility of us facing each other in battle."

"You see, Rhys is my bestfriend, Kai si Ren's bestfriend, Trion is Dean's bestfriend, Lee is Colin's bestfriend, Jiiro is Qintaro's bestfriend and he likes Reina while Sean likes Deity," Miles explained. "It's very disturbing to think that we might have to fight them. Obviously, we don't want to fight our own bestfriends. But we will if we have to."

"And we want to prepare ourselves and not be surprised if ever the time comes," Ren added. "We know it sounds crazy, that it sounds like we don't have wills of our own. But we are indebted to the General. He took us in and took good care of us. He's our father. And we'll obey anything he'll ask of us. Even fight our bestfriends."

Relena remained silent as she pondered things. She didn't want to say anything that could compromise the kids and whatever Heero was planning but she didn't want to lie to these poor souls either. She could see the pain in their eyes. It was really hard to know that you had to fight a friend and it would help if you were ready when you finally face them. It was always good to know one's enemy. And knowing Heero, Jiiro and rest of the kids must have known by now who their enemies were. Finally, she decided to tell them what she knew.

"Heero and the other pilots trained our respective firstborns bit by bit while they were growing up, grooming them to become their successors in preparation for the time that the Gundams will be needed once again. The kids had no idea that they were being trained though, thinking that their fathers just wanted them to stay fit and strong. And even when they were young, their fathers thought it wise to tell them the real story behind the Gundams, instilling in them the value of duty, peace and justice. So to answer your question, they indeed have the necessary skills and motivation, knowing that with their fathers missing, they are the only ones who can bring the ESUN back to its proper order but they don't have the means to attack, now that you have all the Gundams except for Wing Zero." Though knowing her husband, he might have stashed away some MS somewhere. Still, in order to be successful, they needed Mobile Suits that could defeat the Gundams and Raidon's whole army.

The 5 kids understood what she meant. If ever Jiiro and the others got the means to attack then they would have to fight each other.

"Thanks, Miss Relena. We'll leave you to rest now," Dean told her.

"And, umm, can we ask you to keep this 'visit' our little secret? We don't want Qintaro and the General to know," Colin asked.

"Sure. But I think I'm not the one you should be worried about. The guards outside saw you, didn't they? They might tell Qintaro or Raidon," Relena said.

Sean grinned. "Oh, we already took care of that. Let's just say that we gave them 'magic' coffees. And when they wake up and realized that they slept during their shifts, they'll be so ashamed and scared that the General will find out, they'll try not to mention anything that happened this night."

Relena smiled. She genuinely liked these kids. She could see why her kids (all seven of them) were friends with them. "I wish that we have met in a happier circumstance," she told them wistfully.

Ren smiled sadly at her. "We do too. Goodnight, Miss Relena."

"Goodnight."

Relena's reverie was interrupted when she heard the door to her room opened. She whirled around and saw Qintaro framed by her doorway. This was the first time she saw him since he walked out of her room last night, after discovering that Jiiro and Reina were her kids. Another soldier had brought her breakfast this morning. "Hi, Qintaro. Long time no see," she said in a pleasant voice.

Qintaro remained stone-faced. "The General wants to see you in his office."

Relena nodded and walked towards him. The two then went out of the room.

Upon entering the office, Relena saw the 5 kids staring at her. They exchanged silent greetings through their eyes, and some sort of assurance that their secret was safe with her, just like her secret was safe with them. She walked over to the desk where Raidon was waiting for her. Qintaro returned to his earlier position on the couch.

"Good morning, Miss Relena. Please take a seat." He waited until Relena was seated before continuing. " I asked you here so you can enlighten my kids with regards to your ide---" Raidon was interrupted by the vidphone ringing.

He reached out to answer the call. "What is it?" he growled.

"General, sir, we are under attack," Capt. Torres informed him from the security room of the Palace.

"WHAT?!" Raidon yelled. Qintaro, Sean, Miles, Ren, Dean and Colin jumped to their feet while Relena's face grew sad. This is it, she thought as she looked at the 6 kids. She saw the shock in their eyes was replaced by sadness, then it changed to strong-willed resolution.

"Six Gundams appeared out of nowhere and are currently attacking the first checkpoint perimeter. They already destroyed 100 Suits, sir." Capt Torres stopped, looked at his control panel then corrected his earlier report. "No, they destroyed 110 Suits... 120... 130..." He looked back at the monitor to face Raidon, his eyes holding back the fear. "And counting."

"Gundams!" Raidon growled again, looking at Relena first before barking, "GO!" to the kids. They nodded at him. They caught Relena's gaze, gave her a pensive look before running out to the hangar.

Raidon looked back at the screen. "Leave the Gundams to Qintaro and the others. Once they arrive at the 1st checkpoint perimeter, order the remaining Suits to fall back and prepare to defend the Palace."

"Yes, sir." Raidon then terminated the call and dialed the number of the Dais Rogue HQ in the Sanc Kingdom.

"The Palace is under attack. Send reinforcements ASAP," he ordered Capt. Myers.

"Yes, General."

Raidon disconnected the call and turned his head to regard Relena. "I see that Heero Yuy would rather sacrifice the colonies just to get you back. Maybe he thought that I was bluffing. I'll teach him not to mess with me."

He then sent a transmission to his base, audio only. For security purposes, the transmission to and from the base was always audio only, that way it would be harder to track its location. That was the reason why Qintaro and Sean had to check the base personally.

"Control room here," a voice from the base said.

Relena tried to hide her surprise. She knew that voice very well, even if he didn't talk that much.

"Ready the main array. Once it's fully charged, fire at the nearby colony. Continue charging it up and blasting one colony after another until I order you to stop. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. Over and out."

Raidon furrowed his forehead. Strange, he didn't recognize that soldier's voice. But he hastily shrugged the thought away. There were more pressing matters that he must attend to. He punched some keys again, this time sending a transmission to MO-II. Capt. Jackson's face appeared on the screen.

"We are under attack. Send back-up troops here immediately," Raidon told him.

"Consider it done, General," Capt. Jackson replied. Afterwhich, his image disappeared from the screen.

Dais Rogue HQ (formerly Preventers main base)

"Red-alert. Red-alert. All men get in your Suits and prepare to defend the Presidential Palace," Capt. Myers ordered in the audio system.

All soldiers ran towards the hangar. They tried to open the doors but the controls weren't responding. They tried the manual override but the doors still wouldn't open. All of sudden, explosions rocked the whole building. Everyone made a stampede out of the building, only to find themselves surrounded by 15 Serpent Suits.

"Surrender and we promise that we won't harm you," the leader, Capt. Richardson, told them from inside his Suit.

Seeing that they didn't have any other options, the soldiers raised their hands in surrender. They rounded up every single soldier that survived the explosion.

"Who's in-charge here?" Capt. Richardson asked.

"I am," Capt. Myers replied.

"Escort Capt. Myers inside," Capt. Richardson told one of the pilots. Lt. Marquez went out of his Suit and waved his gun to urge the Capt. to start walking.

After a few minutes, Capt. Richardson reported to his commlink, "Main Preventer base secured."

"Hn," came the reply.

In the hangar of Raidon's Base

Zechs looked at his watch. "It's time," he said to the commlink.

Seven Serpent Suits emerged from the bottom gate of Buena Park and blasted off. Immediately after, they were engaged in a fight.

"This is not Sandrock but it'll do," Quatre commented, firing his missiles.

Wufei blasted his enemies with his beam cannon. "I don't need Nataku to defeat 30 weak Suits."

"I agree with Wu. With or without Deatscythe, I'm still the God of Death." And as if proving his point, he destroyed 3 Serpents in one shot of his bazooka.

Lady Une, Noin and Hilde shook their heads as they continued battling. After all these years, those guys hadn't changed a bit.

After a few minutes, they managed to destroy all the Suits guarding the base. But there were still about 20 lurking around.

"It surely was a long time since we last fought inside a Suit," Noin remarked.

"It was even a longer time for me," Hilde said. "Hope my piloting skills are not that rusty."

"You did just fine there, babe. Besides, this fight is going to be a piece of cake," Duo told her.

"Don't be too cocky, Duo. We're still outnumbered," Lady Une said.

"We may not be in our Gundams but you know that when two Suits of the same strength fight each other, the outcome will depend on the skills of the pilots," Quatre stated.

"The more skillful pilot is the one who'll emerge victorious," Wufei finished.

"And I'm not being cocky when I say that though outnumbered, we stand a better chance of winning against them. Whether we like it or not, we are veterans in fighting," Zechs said.

"Hope you're all right coz here they come!" Hilde suddenly said, interrupting their conversation. And the battle began once more.

Athena slid out under the main control panel. "All done." She stood up and walked towards Trowa, careful not to step on the bodies of the dead soldiers littered on the floor. "Nobody could ever make that main array work again, even how hard he tries."

"Hn. I also disengaged the self-destruct mechanism of this Resource Satellite, just to be on the safe side," Trowa told her. Then they heard an incoming transmission.

"Control room here," Trowa answered.

"Ready the main array. Once it's fully charged, fire at the nearby colony. Continue charging it up and blasting one colony after another until I order you to stop. Understood?" Raidon ordered.

"Yes, sir. Over and out," Trowa replied. He turned to Athena. "We have to go. The others must be engaged in battle as we speak and it'll only be a matter of time before Raidon discovers that something is wrong."

"Right." The two then ran out towards the hangar.

In MO-II

Reina saw that MO-II's gate was opening, ready to deploy its troops. "Oh, no, you won't," she muttered, flying towards the gate. She stretched forth her 2 dragon fangs, then fired her 4 flamethrowers and vulcans simultaneously. Her enemies never knew what hit them.

"Capt. Jackson, the Suits deployed from the 1st gate were all destroyed, sir," a soldier reported.

"What?! How did that happen?! Nothing shows on the radar," Capt. Jackson said. Then they saw an image of a black Gundam on the screen.

"A Gundam! I can't believe it!" Capt. Jackson exclaimed. "Send out troops to attack the Gundam now! Then use the other gate to send back-up troops to Earth."

"Sir, the pilot is hailing us."

"On screen."

Reina's image appeared. "I promise not to hurt you if you stop sending troops to Earth and surrender."

Capt. Jackson smirked. "I don't think so, little girl. Do you think that your idle threat fazes me?"

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you," Reina stated flatly. The transmission was disconnected.

Reina saw that more Suits were emerging from MO-II, heading towards her. Oh well, at least they were attacking her and not sending reinforcements to Earth. She flew towards them, firing her machine cannons. Then she took out her beam saber and sliced every Suit she came into contact with, her 10 planetary defensors protecting her from the Serpents' blasts. I have to finish this quickly. They need me on Earth. She continued destroying the Suits.

After a couple of minutes, she saw something at the corner of her eye that made the adrenaline rushed in her body. "NO!" she yelled, flying towards the 2 transport cargos carrying the back-up troops being deployed towards Earth from the other gate at the far side of the resource satellite. Reina narrowed her eyes. They fooled her. "Oh, you'll pay for this," she remarked coldly. She separated her twin buster rifle and fired simultaneously at the transport cargos before they reached the Earth's atmosphere and the Suits that were pursuing her. Still, more transport cargos were deployed and more Suits kept on coming after her. She was beginning to tire out. Deflecting blasts took more energy than firing or fighting.

Always remember that you and the HAVOC are one and the same. Your strength is his strength, his pain is your pain.

Little by little, she could feel the blasts breaking through her planetary defensors. She put back the buster rifles together, kept them and lunged both her dragon fangs and fired her flamethrowers. She fired her vulcans and machine cannons too. Then she sent some of her planetary defensors to electrocute the other Suits. She didn't have the time to 'play' with them. She got to finish this, fast.

Do what you feel is the right thing to do, Reina. Even if ordered otherwise.

At this rate, she would soon tire out and fail in her mission. Her brother and her friends couldn't possibly deal with more enemies. She had to come up with a plan, and there was only one thing she could think of. Coming to a decision, she fired her twin buster rifle. MO-II exploded like a ball of fire, destroying all the MS in its vicinity.

When the glare was gone, all that was left was bits and pieces of scrap metal floating around. Sighing, she muttered, "Mission complete."

Suddenly, she sensed something approaching from behind. She turned around and aimed her twin buster rifle at the 8 Serpent Suits accompanying a shuttle and a transport cargo headed towards her.

"Hey, Princess, don't get too trigger-happy. It's just us," Duo said in the commlink.

"We came here to lend you a hand. I guess we're too late seeing that you already took care of everything," Zechs added.

Reina smiled and lowered her weapon. "Thanks anyways." Then her voice grew sad. "Lady Une, Athena, I'm sorry if I destroyed MO-II. I wasn't ordered to destroy it but it's the only thing I could think of at the moment to stop them from sending troops to Earth."

"Don't worry about a thing, Reina. You did what you had to do. The Preventers can always find another space outpost," Lady Une told her.

"I could donate one of my resource satellites to the Preventers to be their new space outpost," Quatre interjected.

"Thanks, Quatre. See, Reina, there's no problem," Lady Une said.

From the transport cargo, Athena said, "You did well, Reina. Now, come aboard the shuttle so you can rest for a while. I know you're tired. And you're cousins are waiting for you inside."

Reina complied. Toby opened the door to the shuttle's docking bay and the HAVOC went in. Zechs, Trowa, Wufei, Quatre, Duo, Lady Une, Hilde and Noin, on the other hand went aboard the transport cargo where Sally, Midii, Cathy and Dorothy were waiting for them. Before blasting off, Athena said, "Get some rest and be ready. We'll be arriving on Earth shortly."