"A Life's Time"

Written By: Zazu

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. Any characters outside of those you recognize from Gundam Wing are my own, especially Lily. If you know of anyone or anything that looks like an existing character, event, or idea, it is purely a coincidence.

Archive: Gundam Wing Diaries

Rating: M (Mature) Rated for language and citrus.

Pairings: 1=2, mention of 3+4

Notes: Beta-read by ShenLong Deb...thank you! This was written for Under The Bridge's 2006, the Colour and the Shape, a 1=2 Contest. The ideas within are completely fictional. An unbeta-ed version was submitted for the contest, thus if you read this on the Under The Bridge website, the contents (namely grammar) will be different.

/blah/ denotes thoughts

Warnings: This story involves mature themes, war, and death of a main protagonist.

Summary: After a mysterious disappearance for six and a half years, Heero Yuy finds Duo Maxwell on L2, bringing the news that they are needed at Preventers to stop an impending uprising. At Preventers, Duo finds not only Wufei, but another person, a child named Lily, who must now work with them in attempt to stop the faction from taking over the peace they had fought for over six years ago. Must sacrifices be made for every battle and every war?

Completed: July 1, 2006

"A Life's Time "

Chapter 13

The agents that were monitoring the battle were stationed in front of the designated computers in the control room. Lady Une stood at the center communications station and everyone was tense, awaiting the impending battle. The clock ticked fourteen hundred hours. She had made sure that the people were all wearing headsets that let them listen to whichever frequency was necessary, but it did not allow them to hear what was being said in the room. Lady Une's own headset was hooked only onto one ear, her other one open to hear the words and warnings of any other agent. One of the panels to her very left, but within easy reach, had pre-programmed frequencies that allowed her to switch over and tune in to any conversation, thus allowing her to communicate with virtually everyone. If someone were requesting her assistance, the red light would flash next to the frequency.

A few steps away from her control center, Lily sat at a desk with Heero close by. Her headset hung from one ear only as well, as did Heero's, enabling them to have virtually the same communication privileges as the Head Commander. Heero intended to hack into the fighters and try to cut the communication between fighters, if not between the base and all fighters. Lily's job was to tune into the various frequencies of the fighters, although mainly Duo's and Wufei's, to give them tips as to what was to be expected and what was necessary.

Lily shivered in her spot, taking her headset off after making sure that everything was ready and working. Her laptop was logged onto two screens; Rika and the AI scanners and one touch on the keyboard would allow her to switch easily between the two.

"Calm down." Heero took off his own headset. "You'll be all right."

She nodded shakily. "I need the bathroom," she whispered.

"Come on." He stood with her and walked her to the one of the two unisex bathrooms that was connected to the control room. "I'll wait for you here."

"Thanks." She offered a shaky smile and slipped in.

"Heero?" Lady Une approached him. "Everything all right?"

"She's shaky," Heero answered. "But I don't think there's anything we can do about it. Wish she didn't have to be here." He looked back around the room. The large screen overhead the front of the room offered a satellite feed of the battle and would switch periodically between the various angles unless controlled by Lady Une should she need to focus on a certain area of battle. "I'll try to keep her focused and not seeing the screen.

"At least it's a silent feed," Lady Une nodded.

"Commander!" An agent saluted. "Captain Chang is on the line."

"Very well." Lady Une returned to the control center. "Chang."

"Lady Une," Wufei nodded. "We are fully prepared for battle and waiting."

"Good," Lady Une nodded. "God speed."

"Ma'am," he nodded again and vanished.

Lily exited the bathroom and hugged Heero tightly. There were many questions, Heero knew, that a child her age should ask. How long would the battle take? Will they win? Would Duo, Wufei and Sally come back safely? Would she manage her job well? But he knew that Lily understood that no one had the answers to those questions and he simply touched her on the head to tell her that they would do her best. He knelt down when she released him.

"Lily, you see that screen there?" He pointed to the large one at the front of the room that was currently displaying the sea of the battle area.

"The satellite feed?"

"Yes," Heero nodded. "Try not to look at that too much."

Lily cocked her head in consideration, then nodded. "Okay."

"Come on." He stood. "We have to be ready at our stations."

Lily nodded, her hand reaching up to clutch Wufei's necklace and the jade pendant.

The clock ticked fourteen hundred hours and seventeen minutes.

*****

Duo stood next to Wufei as they waited for the battle to draw closer. They stared out at the open sky. Duo wondered briefly how much blood would be spilt today in this beautiful sky. Wufei wondered how red the sunset would be.

"Wufei?" Duo turned to his friend. "Be careful out there."

Wufei knew that those words came not only from the man next to him, but from others as well. "You too, Maxwell." For a lack of other things to say, he formed a question. "Any chance you want to join Preventers, given the opportunity?"

"Still thinking on it," Duo answered. They could feel the blood racing in their veins even though they appeared calm, but both of them knew that it was the adrenaline, much like the way things had been when they piloted Gundams. There, out in the open sky today, their lives, and the lives of many others would be placed between the gates of life and death.

"Got the time, Wufei?"

"Wearing a broken watch, Maxwell?" Wufei glanced at his watch. "Half an hour." He turned and faced his companion. "Let's go."

"Shinigami's raring for some action," Duo returned. His eyes, however, carried something other than the battle gleam that Wufei had seen many, many times back in the war. He knew that later on, those violet eyes would be dark, not with anger, but determination.

They both had much to fight for this time.

"First fleet, standby," Wufei called to the waiting, anxious agents.

"Sir!"

Duo stepped into his fighter and started it, setting it to standby. He lifted his wrist and stared at the watch. /We're with each other, Heero./ He did his pre-flight, pre-battle check and glanced at his watch again. His first task was to take down as many surprised fighters as possible, since apart from Wufei, the first fleet consisted of agents whom had not been in the first battle.

Wufei did his own pre-flight, pre-battle check. He touched the necklace, feeling the shape of the locket under his flight suit and pulled it out. Clasping it for a moment, he prayed again. /Nataku, help me keep my promise./

A flare flashed and exploded from afar. The clock ticked fourteen hundred hours and forty-three minutes. The battle was early.

"Fleet one take off, the prey is in the air," Duo's voice sounded through the communication just as Wufei pulled his helmet over his head. His fighter moved off standby and in formation, they took off and headed for second and final battle.

*****

"They're early!" an agent cried. Several scrambled to put their headsets on properly and Lily turned from Heero to her own laptop. Realizing there was nothing she could do at that moment, she turned to face the large monitor that now showed the enemy incoming on half the screen and the Preventers fighters on the other half.

"What did I tell you, Lily?" Heero paused in his typing to give her a look.

"I have to, Heero," she said helplessly. "I can't start until I see when they are close enough to give me a reading."

Heero nodded and turned back to his rapid typing. He had not wanted to start too early in case Red had intelligent hackers who would notice he was in their network. If he hacked during the battle, he counted on things being messy, thus giving him a chance to cause some confusion.

"They're in range." Lily turned back and began to scan the data of the enemy. The first wave of Preventers consisted of fifty fighters. There were also fifty of the enemy. Instinctively, Lily knew that Wufei would call for half of the second fleet in order to avoid letting the enemy take down the Preventers one-on-one.

"Twelve of the enemy down from the first wave!" someone called out the report, barely a minute into contact. Lily didn't speak yet as she focused on the fighters within close range of Duo and Wufei. They would follow formation and she didn't want to give any tactics to them unless she saw someone would be cutting it close. Having memorized the data of the remaining enemy from the first wave, she switched the screen over to Rika.

"Rika, give me a satellite feed of Duo, and Wufei."

"Affirmative, Lily." The screen blinked and showed the screen.

"Lily!" Heero snapped.

"Leave me be!" she returned, her eyes trained onto the screen. Part of the Preventers fleet, she saw, was moving in teams and formation. Others were following a set of tactics in some random order, containing both defensive and offensive moves. Lily saw that the enemy could not predict what was happening. No doubt the opposing AI would have given Red all of the data necessary to identify which of the Preventers fighters were doing what and the enemy now knew how to battle. She glanced at the screen at the front of the room, knowing that the explosion of three Preventers fighters could have been stopped by her words; but that would have risked many, many others. She said a silent apology and continued to watch from her laptop.

*****

Duo's battle cry sparked the cries of many other agents from the portion of the fleet marked to use the surprise element as much as possible. Logically, Red would have figured out as many of their battle tactics as Wufei offered, but he would need time to figure out which fighter was doing what tactic. He grinned darkly as he took down one fighter at a charge and not too far away, Wufei was doing the same thing. He swerved, twisting his fighter into a series of turns, making it act almost like a drill as he fired towards an enemy fighter trying to move away. The enemy's last thought was that he never realized someone could undertake the g-force of that sort of maneuver , as his fighter burst into flames.

Wufei locked onto his target and fired at the second fighter. He swerved as it reacted on the offense and something caught his eye, startling him as it knocked against his helmet's front. Lily's locket; he had neglected to tuck it back into his flight suit. Spinning his fighter around he shot down the fighter that was slower in turning, then reached up, looking away from his screens for a moment as he tilted his head back and slid the pendant down the collar of his flight suit, the action made possible when he tilted his helmet out of the way. Feeling it press snugly between his collarbones, he turned his fighter back to the enemy, his thoughts only on his next move.

Red smiled lazily as he waited for his AI to give him the proper readings. Sacrifices would have to be made for the greater good, he reasoned, and the men died good deaths, worthy deaths. As the AI began to give its readings, Red leaned forward and switched on his communication.

"Men at the ready." He smiled at the clash of fighters on the designated battle space. "Fox squadron, the team of three to the outside of your left is ready to descend and come behind you."

"Red!" The three fighters deemed and fox squadron reacted immediately, flying towards the three Preventers fighters and looping up before gunning the fighters down before they had a chance to turn. The trio exploded into flames. From the predicted battle plans, Red had carefully instructed his men to act in certain ways to take down the fighters. The better fighters he left to take down the ones who would not be in formation. He knew though, that the second wave would include individual or paired agents each with their own battle plans, some that he knew, others that he didn't. Those, he left to his trained men, the ones he deemed ready for the challenge. He would comment when it was necessary; after all, it would be an insult to his men if he taught them every single defensive and offensive act in order to win this battle.

"Sir!" A voice sounded as a screen flickered on, showing one of the three men he had left to monitor the battle at the base. "Someone is attempting to hack into our communications unit, as you predicted."

"Preventers, so predictable." Red turned a lazy grin to the man. "You can send a virus to counter this spy?"

"Yes sir!"

"Then do it." The line disconnected and Red turned back to the battle screen, watching the explosions as one would watch fireworks.

*****

Heero smirked as the hacker caught onto his trail. If his memory served him correctly, the hacker on the other side had been trained by him personally. He had neglected to mention some easy to trigger, but hard to see traps when moving against another hacker. He reached the mainframe as the other hacker began to set the trails for a virus, unaware that he had triggered a trap that automatically rewired the virus to his own computer. The other hacker would probably unlock the virus into the network in hopes of trapping and locking the entire network before spreading automatically through the hacker's own IP and spreading to any system it could reach.

The virus, Heero knew, would effectively lock down that communications port for good; it couldn't be fixed without a direct wash of the computer. His mirror trap was actually one of Duo's, but it wasn't without its risks. Heero would have to sever the proper channels and back out before the virus was set and the network was locked completely. His fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard and he backed out of the network with moments to spare.

*****

"Sir!" The same man appeared on the screen, this time looking afraid. Red scowled.

"What is it?"

"The virus I set, sir, it appears to have set in and locked our secondary network. You are no longer communicating with the first fleet, sir, neither with the pilots nor their scanners," the man reported apprehensively.

"You idiot!" Red tapped a couple of buttons. "Second fleet!" he roared. "Get out there!"

"Sir!" one of the commanding officers answered.

"And send someone to do a scan of their base!" he roared.

"Hawk squadron is on it," another voice replied. Red watched as his first fleet faltered noticeably, unsure of why they were no longer in contact with their commander. They began to move sporadically and it was clear that several of the more experienced fighters on the Preventers side knew this. These were the few that were not following formation, but following a number of tactics in random order as they saw fit, and as if they suddenly realized the swerving of the fighters indicated something was wrong, they moved in a series of offensive moves that had been planned, but not used earlier in the battle.

Red sat back with a leer. That battlement was going to die, he knew. But he would simply treat it as giving the Preventers a small taste of victory.

Their only taste of victory in this battle.

*****

"They're out of communication," Lady Une stated with the nod from Heero. "Free fighters, move onto your planned offensive tactics!" Immediately, the fighters changed, still following the planned moves, but using ones that they had kept for when the enemy number had diminished significantly, or when they tried to play hero.

"Incoming!" Lily suddenly cried as her screen automatically switched from watching Duo and Wufei's fighters to Rika's alarm. "Three fighters, coming from a few miles away!"

"I'll go!" Heero was out of his seat in a moment. "There's no more hacking I can do, other than bringing down one significant network, but they have four, so I assume they have four fleets of fighters." With that, he vanished from the room, heading for the hangar where back up fighters were ready to defend the base. Other agents manned the stationary weapons on the roof, but he knew Red would not expect him to be there. Three fighters; he would use the surprise element before they could scan him and they would take them down.

"Three miles," Lily informed Heero as he neared his fighter.

"Roger." He knew the four fighters, two on each side of his, were waiting for him to take off. Immediately, he scaled the machine and took off after doing a quick flight check and strapping himself in. "Eagles defending nest now," he spoke into his communicator.

"Rika, satellite Heero," Lily commanded.

"Affirmative." The screen switched to show Wufei and Duo's fighters again as they took down the remaining first fleet and the screens shrank to accommodate Heero's fighter. It took only moments for Heero and the four Preventers agents to take down the three incoming fighters, but they stayed, circling the base, awaiting the signal for any other impending attacks.

The second half of the second fleet had joined the first of the Preventers and they numbered sixty at the moment.

"We're too slow," Lily murmured.

"What's wrong Lily?" Lady Une's sharp hearing picked up the girl's words.

"We're too slow," Lily spoke into the secure channel that was linked between herself, Heero and Lady Une. "We're about to beat their first fleet, but that means it will take time to re-scan their second fleet."

"What can we do?" Lady Une asked. "Ideas, Eagle one?" she asked Heero.

"Wait, I have one." Lily jumped to her feet. "I need to leave the room for a few minutes, Lady Une. They should hold out." She ran out before the woman could protest. "Eagle One, where's the door that Shinigami picked out of the thing?" she asked. The link should be secure, but one can never be too sure.

It took a moment for Heero to understand what she meant by 'door' and 'thing'. They would have to work on her wording. The microchip from the enemy scanner Duo had salvaged. "My first drawer. Intention?"

"Walk through it," she said simply. "Rika, emergency access to all dorms."

"Affirmative, Lily." The girl waved her pass in front of Heero's door and it opened. She pulled the drawer open and picked up the microchip, then hurried back to the control room. Lady Une watched over her shoulder as she inserted the chip into the correct slot of her laptop, then watched to make sure Duo and Wufei were both okay.

"Second fleet arriving!" an agent in the room called out.

"Oh no." Lily reached over and grabbed Heero's laptop. She grabbed a wire and hooked up the two in a swift motion. "Rika, give me the video feed on the secondary laptop.

"Affirmative, Lily." The screen switched over in a moment.

"Commander, I need another laptop."

"Get me another laptop and boot it up, now!" Lady Une snapped at one of the four soldiers standing at the ready, watching the battle and waiting to run errands should the need arise. The one closest to the door immediately jumped to attention and left the room.

Lily began to type rapidly.

"Baby girl, come in." Heero's eyes were tracking between the radar and his visual screens as he continued to circle the base.

"Picking the lock to the door." Lily was glad that she had read up many, many methods of hacking and not only decoding in her earlier days at Preventers. Now, they would be put to use.

"Intention?" Lady Une asked.

"Tripping the entrants meant for the door." She hoped that what she said made sense to Heero and Lady Une and that what she had in mind would work. The agent hurried back in and put down the laptop on Lily's right since Heero's laptop occupied her left.

"Shoot. Commander, please log onto the satellite on this one," she said as she pointed. "Sorry for giving you an order," she apologized quickly. Lady Une swiftly did as she was told and in moments, the satellite images were projected on both screens on either side of Lily.

"Rika, give me the three screens I need on this laptop." She clicked a few keys and the screens appeared. "Open the scanner port on this one." She tapped several keys on Heero's laptop.

"Affirmative, Lily," Rika stated.

Lady Une watched as the girl scanned the three screens in front of her and nodded with what seemed like satisfaction. She reached forward for a bottle of water and took a quick swig, then poised her hands. They were still for a moment.

"Rika, open network," she commanded softly.

"Affirmative, Lily."

Lady Une's eyes widened as she heard the words. Lily was opening her network to the microchip, to wherever it was made to connect to.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, pulling off her headset and doing the same to the girl so no one could hear them and so that any being listening to their supposedly secure frequency would not hear their words. "Where is that microchip routed to? You've just opened the port to your AI!"

"I know." Lily's hands were flying across the laptop. Lady Une watched as Lily hacked into the port. "This microchip is from one of the scanners Shinigami salvaged from the attack," she informed Lady Une. "It leads to the enemy AI."

"And what do you think you are doing? If you open that port, it will see our AI port too!"

"The microchip is not linked to the scanner anymore." Lily explained. "We destroyed the other scanners. This will open the port to their AI."

"What will you do then?"

Lily glanced at Duo and Wufei's fighters. "Do what I do best," she said softly. "Read fast, and type fast."

A score of variables, scrolling much too quickly for Une's eyes, appeared on Lily's laptop. She hooked her headset back into place and began to study the scrolling. She reached for the frequency changer and opened her communication to Duo and Wufei.

*****

/Why are Lily's orders not coming through?/ Duo wondered briefly. The second battlement of fifty fighters were in place and they were slowly overpowering the Preventers. Just as he had that thought and dipped his fighter dangerously to avoid the enemy, the voice came.

"Shinigami and Dragon as one," Lily's voice came and they offered no protest, seeking each other out and moving their fighters into closer range. Her hand reached to the other laptop where the satellite images were pulled up. "Rika, connect."

"Affirmative." She began to type onto Heero's computer as her eyes continued to remain trained on the scrolling text. Frustrated that it was awkward, she lifted the laptop up and sat back, placing it on her lap so she could type in a better way.

"Baby girl connected," Duo's voice answered although his and Wufei's fighters continued to move in random order of the planned battle tactics, both offensive and defensive.

"Shini and Dragon, line four."

Both Wufei and Duo noticed the text typing on their communication screen connected to Lily. In front of each sentence was a number and they all contained battle tactics.

"Roger," the two answered in unison and immediately complied, allowing them to take down the two fighters dancing around them.

"Dragon two, left. Shinigami, six, top."

Immediately, they followed the instructions and took out the fighters that Lily pinpointed.

"What's going on?" Heero asked, unable to see, but able to hear.

"Genius," Lady Une breathed as she watched the girl in action. She returned to her own station to type the proceedings to Heero, knowing that the connection was much safer than through talking.

Heero's eyes widened as he read the message. Lily was now clear on the pre-planned battle tactics that the enemy had been taught to use in order to counter the predicted planned moves of the Preventers agents. She was typing up a list of commands for Duo and Wufei to follow in order to counter the pre-planned, countering moves. That completed, she simply called out the numbers as she watched the battle screen. But Lady Une still had no idea why the girl had opened the port between the two AI's.

*****

Red was getting angry. Two of the fighters were slowly but surely picking off his men. Had they figured out the countering moves that they had planned? His radar showed that half of a third fleet of Preventers fighters were joining the battleground. Seeing his second fleet cut down to just under half, he slammed his fist against his chair's armrest.

"Fleet three out! And get those two fighters!"

"Red!" the commander replied. Fleet three was on its way.

"I want the remaining ten Hawk squadron to go to the base. Now! And I want a scan of that place!"

"Red!" the voice of the Hawk squadron commander acknowledged the command.

Heero knew the moment a missile came and he fired to make it explode a safe distance away from his fighter, that the Eagles were about to be engaged in battle once again. His radar showed ten fighters and he instinctively knew they were attempting to scan the base. Red must have realized that someone in the base, someone he had not scanned before, was giving out orders for those out in battle.

"Eagle one, incoming ten," Lily's voice belatedly informed him of the impending attack.

Red was about to find out that Heero Yuy was alive.

~ * ~

Chapter 14

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