Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam R ❯ Above the Stars ( Chapter 1 )

After Colony: 338. In the years of peace under the Earth Sphere Unified Nation and the work of the Preventers, the Colonies have managed to spread in to Mercury and more recently out as far as Saturn. However, the further they are from Earth, the more radical the new cultures become. In the outer Colonies, though natural reproduction exists once more, there are many secret genetic testing facilities. Occasionally, one of their enhanced humans will escape, or be so radically unexpected that they are cast into orphanages. These and other rebellious teens have begun holding illegal races using vehicles they call Hoverbikes and Racesuits. These Racesuits bear a striking resemblance to unarmed renditions of the Mobile Suits that had been all destroyed by a hundred years earlier. All, but one.

"Well, that ought to just about do it…" Lynna Long said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, closing the hatch of a Hoverbike.

"Thank you… wow, they should make you a saint or something, with the miracles you pull off," Eri Koken, one of her regular customers, grinned.

"After I was back out of jail. Most these parts are banned and you're breaking half the League's rules with the 'extra features'."

"They're just as legal as the races, Ly. I'm not in the League; none of us are, remember? Every track they tried to build out here got hit by an asteroid or was torn apart by Jupiter's gravity."

"So you endanger the colony with your erratic wipeouts instead?" she smirked and pointed to a dent she'd attempted to remove many times before "Anyway, any baka with a wrench and a hammer could pull off half the repairs and installations you have me do," Ly sighed. "They're simply just not that hard."

"Well, that must make me a major baka, because I can't do anything with any vehicles except win races."

"You may be a baka… but at least you're my baka," Ly grinned as Eri kissed her, as if on cue. "You know… sometimes I think you only have me do these repairs so you can see me sweat…"

"No… but it makes a nice ulterior motive…"

"I think, I'm going, to be sick. How about you, Mayonaka?"

Ly took her attention away from her previous matters and glared at the girl who'd just wandered in. "Niban, what do you want?"

"Some new parts! And he's here… because he's here, I think," she replied, adjusting her glasses and smiling what could only be called insanely at the others.

"I'm here because I think I left my other hat here…" Mayonaka grumbled, his permanently icy glare falling upon Ly and Eri. He tilted his head up and sniffed the air lightly, then wandered off around the corner.

"Watch the HB over there! Sean just got a new paintjob on it!" Eri called after him.

"If my hat is near it then I don't honestly care what happens to his damned bike," came a snarled response.

"That's why I don't like you two using this as a garage. I can't afford it if another customer's HB gets damaged."

"I don't need to use this as a garage," Niban interrupted, still grinning, and fished a bag of ginger snaps out of one of her many pockets. "I have my own. Several. And a HB in each."

"Yes, yes, we know."

"Unlike us, you're rich."

Ruth "Niban" Winner was the last of her family line, and thus was just about the richest person in the solar system. She was also, however, a disgrace to her family line, as she had gained her nickname by never getting better than second place.

"Lynna!" the harsh voice of her father suddenly barked over the intercom. "Phone! It's that Zeus guy. Says it's urgent!" Ly sighed and hit the button on the vidphone located on the wall.

"Speak," she sighed.

Eri sighed and leaned against the wall beside the phone. "Sean… Everything's always 'urgent' with-" he was cut off by a look from Ly.

"Not you, him," she said, motioning toward the phone. A very bewildered Sean stared back at her for a moment, then started talking hastily.

"I just found this sweet race suit! It was hidden in the asteroid belt… miracle the things not beat up by now. I'm figuring, it must be Gundanium or something. Anyway, I need you to come out here and tow it in for me, want to see if you can fix it up."

"Make you a deal. You tow it; I fix it and not report that you've stolen a race suit, unless it appears on news as missing. You don't tell anyone who fixed it. Got it?"

"I DIDN'T STEAL IT! This thing's gotta be over a hundred years old… Eri's there, right? He'll believe me!"

"I believe you… I just don't know why you'd want a suit that old," he rolled his eyes, stepping into view of the phone.

"Oh, you'll see. I'll have it there by morning, 'kay? Out."

"Danged friendly rivals, they always expect you to stick up for them…"

"This is going to be interesting…" Ly mumbled, before the room grew eerily silent.

"So, um… you got the parts I need?"

"Oh, right. Follow me, Niban."

Niban nodded in response and followed close behind Ly, stuffing an empty bag of ginger snaps into one pocket and digging into another to search for more. Instead, she pulled out a black hat that she stared at blankly for a moment. Two and two met in her mind and she blinked quickly before calling out behind her, "Mayo-kun! This what you lost?"

Mayonaka quickly and glaringly appeared beside her, sniffed the hat, grabbed it from her and switched it as quickly as possible with the other one. Then he put the old hat into his overly baggy black pants. "Yes."

"I figured halfway through that it was. Want some??" she asked randomly, holding up her new bag of ginger snaps.

"Uh… no."

"Good, cause they're MINE!" she grinned, laughing evilly, then smiled, adjusted her glasses, and tightened the braid she had tied around her head.

"Interesting…" Ly said sarcastically, leaning against a large box. "Reminds me, Mayonaka, when was the last time you got your hair cut? I can't even see your ears…" he snarled at her, causing her to jump and open the box, glancing back cautiously. "On to other business! What are you after, Niban?"

**********

"So this is the suit you were in such a hubbub over?"

"It looks like it would be fast, you have to admit that Ly."

"I will admit that, Eri, but it's also a very confusing item. I mean, what's with the wings? It looks like it can transform into a plane, and I don't know if that's allowed. That there is *clearly* a sword and we're not supposed to have weapons on the Racers anyway, let alone obvious ones," she said, raising her voice on the last part such that Sean grinned innocently knowing she was referring to him.

"I saw the error in my ways! I haven't attacked another racer since!"

"Since we paid your parole…" Ly corrected.

"With my prize money… may I remind you that even with cheating you still didn't win that one?" Eri added. They all went silent and continued inspecting the surprisingly low damaged suit.

"Hmm… I'm going to call Mayonaka… this control system could use some tinkering… I only do engineer work, not computer programming, remember that."

"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed…" Sean complained. "Not that we're even sure it was her bed…" Two icy glares met their accuser swiftly. "Hey, you both are pissed off. Ok. I'm being quiet now."

**********

A short time later, Mayonaka was hard at work, typing on some number of keyboards with many wires tangled around him. The other four were staring over his shoulder when they could, in between replacing parts and cleaning worn out joints. Suddenly the constant racket of typing stopped, leaving a strange silence in the room. "I think there's something you all should see…" he said finally, the other rushing over as he started the sentence. "This was no Racesuit. It was a tool of war… a Mobile suit, known as a Gundam," he said, scanning his finger down the monitor to point out the information. "What's more…" he tapped a button and detailed blueprints appeared on the screen. A chorus of 'wow's echoed behind him.

"That'll make the repairs a lot simpler…"

"But look at this…" he pressed the button again, and another page of blue prints appeared… but there were variations in the second design. A third, fourth, and fifth design were displayed. "Five of them. All with different weapons, different capabilities… but all capable of destroying a good-sized Colony. It says they were all ordered to be destroyed," he displayed the original page again, "but the pilot of this one hid his instead of destroying it."

"Who was it, anyone we'd have heard of?"

Mayonaka held up a finger in a wait motion, and typed a bit. "Gundam Wing Zero. Pilot 'Heero Yuy'."

"The Heero Yuy? Who was King, and who's great grandson and latest successor just went missing?"

"It doesn't say."

"…We'll build them," Ly whispered. "I've always wanted a challenge like this… I'll rebuild them, without the weapons, and make them faster. They'll be the best Racesuits around!"

"Yeah!"

"But… how will we afford it?"

"This one's mine!" Sean said suddenly. "I found it, its mine!"

"Cheapskate… I'll pay for what I can of one with prize money… if I can have that one?"

"I can pay for all remaining expenses. I am the richest girl in the solar system, after all," Ni smiled. "But only if it's only the 5 of us. Only the best for my friends, and nothing for anyone else that can beat me in a race."

The others stared, shocked for a moment, then nodded. "It's settled then. Mayonaka, get us some hardcopies of those blueprints. Tomorrow, we start building!"

"YEAH!!!"

"Wait. Tomorrow's the biggest race of the year."

"Oh. Right. Wednesday then!!"

**********

"What do you mean Jack's not here? We need the commentator!"

Even illegal races broadcasted from undisclosed locations need commentators. Jack Pistachio, beloved Hoverbike race announcer whose face and real identity were not known, had been arrested the previous day. Luckily, no one knew the location of any given race until they could just make it there on time, or about two hours beforehand, so with any luck today's festivities would not be… "interrupted".

"He got caught last night… but we need someone to take over announcements then," 'Arachnid', of the competitors, complained.

"Someone who's not doing anything," Sean complained, glaring at Ly and Ni as he did so.

Ly snarled at him. "Excuse me mister, I'm the pit crew!!"

"I'll do it!" Niban chirped happily, popping a ginger snap into her mouth. The others stared dumbfounded for a moment, then sighed as they realized she was the only available person; the 8 competitors and their respective pit crews were the only others present to reduce likelihood of discovery… Niban was supposedly the pit crew for Sean, since Ly worked for both him and Eri, and it was the only way to sneak her in. Everyone of course knew she never did much of anything, but they also knew she was very unlikely to get caught and that she had no reason to turn them in.

"Fine, but you'll need some voice scrambling or something, you've got a famous and recognizable voice and we don't need you getting caught by voice recognition software like Jack was," Ly suggested.

"We don't?" Sean said, earning himself a thwack.

"I'm not THAT annoying. Well, most the time," Niban pouted. "I got just the thing though. Karibi!!" she giggled, pulling the little black ball from her pocket. "Hi Linty!" The strange little thing suddenly had eyes appear on it, and it squeaked happily.

"What exactly is that?"

An electronic voice responded "Karibi. Electronic pet designed and programmed by Midnight. Name: Linty. Owner: name undisclosed for privacy. Status: happy, tired, ready to serve."

"Riiiiiiiight."

Niban grinned. "Linty, I need you to act as a voice changer for me so I can do this broadcast."

"Righteo!"

"Insanity over with, can we start the race?"