Gundam Crux Crucis - Trial
A Gundam Wing fanfic by Stella Quetzacotl
First created: Jun 27, 2002
Last modified: Jun 27, 2002

~~~~~Legal Stuff~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes only.  All
Gundams, political entities, and suchlike are the sole properties of 
the creators of Gundam Wing, whose names frankly I can't find.  All 
characters appearing in this fic (unless otherwise noted) are the sole
property of the author.  Reading = good, suing = bad.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~Text Conventions~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[This is a character thought]
*This is emphasized text*
/This is a statement over a communication device/

Chapter 2
When Man Discovers Fire

After the Final War in After Colony 195-196, the Earth enjoyed a period
of unprecedented peace and stability.  Unmolested by international 
conflict, the people of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation grew prosperous
as they expanded their territory farther out into space.  However, the 
complacency of humankind bore insidious consequences, as the struggling
Preventers lost power in the government and were replaced by the 
autocratic Peacekeepers.  Committed to squelching dissent and rebellion
by any means necessary, the Peacekeepers resorted to dictatorial 
tactics in their quest for total peace.  In reaction, some citizens 
have resorted to terrorism, destruction and outright rebellion in 
defense of their rights.  The Unified Nation government is beginning to
fracture under the allegations of scandal, brutality, and oppression 
practiced by its members.

	"I'm tellin' ya, boy, we gotta get in touch with HQ.  There 
ain't nothin' t' find topside o' these mountains."
	The 'boy' in question shook his head stubbornly, sweat flying 
from his head of flaxen curls.  "My orders were to scout this area 
until nightfall.  I'm staying, Harper, and that's final."
	Harper hissed in frustration.  "Yer wastin' yer time," he 
snapped, "an' wastin' the Keepers' time to boot.  We got Target Alpha-
One right under our feet, and yer stampin' around *here* playin' king-
o-th-mountain!"  Harper was panting with the exertion of his rage.
	"Calm down, old man.  You're starting to drool."  The young man
didn't even look up.  "If you want to face Major Rebcowski, then go 
ahead - but leave me out of it."
	"Ya coward!" Harper shouted, wiping his spittle-flecked mouth 
on his sleeve.  "Gonna leave an old man t' brave th' mountains alone, 
what with wolves an' rebels and who knows what-all else - "
	"No one's forcing you to go anywhere, old man.  Target Alpha-
One isn't going to get up and walk away by nightfall."  Blonde Boy 
didn't even look up.
	"Aargh..."  Harper whirled away in disgust.  "Where's the 
girl - Julie?"
	"June.  She went that way."  Blonde Boy jerked a thumb in the 
general direction where he'd last seen her.
	"Feh.  Abandonin' me at a time like this.  There's no respect 
fer old folks anymore."

	Remembering her forester training, Ariel stepped softly over 
the leaves and schooled her focus on her vision and hearing.  She *saw*
sunlight-dappled leaf beds and wrinkled trunks and harsh gray boulders.
She *heard* squirrels and jays and -
	"THEY WERE RIGHT!"
	Ariel gasped and dropped to the ground, reflexively.  The shout
had been quite close, uncomfortably close - her ears were ringing 
slightly.  [Was that the - the girl I'm tracking?] she thought, her 
limbs hugging the dirt.  [Or someone else?  I think I would have seen 
if there was someone else around.]
	The ground there was steeped in shade, and just damp enough to 
be uncomfortable if one laid there too long.  Ariel did a pushup, 
glanced around, and saw her quarry's red shirt bobbing a comfortable 
distance away.  As she watched, the blonde girl ducked behind a boulder
easily half again as tall as she was.  Ariel counted to ten, and when 
the blonde didn't emerge she got to her feet and followed.  Her gun 
bounced against her ribs, and Ariel clamped her arm down over it.  It 
was hard to run with something whacking your body at every step.
	The boulder turned out to conceal a cave opening, lined in the 
same gray stone and small enough that Ariel had to crouch in order to 
get through.  Belatedly she realized that she had no flashlight, but 
then she saw she didn't need one - there was a light bobbing ahead of 
her, a small hand torch carried by the blonde girl she'd been 
following.  It was still dark enough that Ariel could make out no 
details of the other girl, but it was clear from her silhouette that 
she was tall and possessed a straight, boyish frame and hair to 
collarbone length.  Ariel glanced down at herself - her own body was 
small and her hips generous, although her chest remained undeveloped, 
and presented altogether a less intimidating profile.  Ariel suppressed
a snort and followed her quarry, keeping to the deep shadows created by
the blonde’s lantern.

	Not wanting to think, June let her feet take her where they 
wanted - the net result being that she had to double back a ways before
arriving at the particular cavern that she didn‘t want the Peacekeepers
to find.  This hole in the mountain was different from the rest of the 
cave system - where most of the caverns were rife with stalagmite-
stalactite formations, this one was merely a rough, open bubble in the
rock.  Where the other caves had formed over many years, virtually 
untouched by man, this one was obviously artificially made, and quite 
recently on a geological scale.  The walls were spiderwebbed with 
cracks, speaking to the strain on the rock present this far down.  In a
few more centuries, the room would probably collapse.
	But what made it so valuable - and such a mystery - was the 
great iron door set in the far wall.
	It probably wasn't iron, not really.  Though the thick layer of
dust and cobwebs slathered on the door spoke to its age, there was no 
hint of rust to be found anywhere on it, from the seam that split down 
its length to the grooves in the rock in which it rested to the 
dizzying three-story height to which the top soared.  It was a dark 
metal, probably an alloy of some sort - maybe even gundanium - but in 
her mind June had taken to calling it The Iron Door.  The name just fit
somehow.  This door was hard and cold, unyielding as iron was always 
supposed to be, so Iron it was.
	[But the Peacekeepers will find a way to make it yield,] June 
thought sadly, fingering the unlit and presumably unpowered control 
panel that sat alongside the Door.  [Whatever secret lies beyond this 
point, it will be theirs soon.  Theirs to use and exploit and probably 
dangle over our heads like a carrot.]  She grimaced.  [Or a whip.]
	June had, in the year or so since she'd first found the Iron 
Door, run the full gamut of imaginings as to what it could be guarding.
Clones, she'd thought of, or people in hibernation.  Vast stores of 
knowledge left behind by scientists for the people who would one day be
ready for their discoveries.  On her morbid days, some powerful 
superweapon that would make its holder the most feared power in the 
Sphere.  It was this last that June feared most now.  [The Peacekeepers
already have enough power,] June reflected sourly.  [They have 
everybody in my town too scared to peep.  What do they want more 
weapons for?]
	This line of thought was terminated when June heard a click and
felt the cold metal of a gun pressed to her skull.
	June had never experienced a gun to her head before.  She'd 
used the expression often enough - "Yeah, my teacher's got a gun to my 
head so I have to do well on this test... How am I supposed to learn 
this step with you holding a gun to my head?..."  It meant she was 
feeling pressured, too pressured to think clearly.
	The reality of a gun to her head - an actual gun, whose make 
and model June could only guess - put all those minor pressures to 
shame.  June resolved never to use the expression again unless it was 
truly warranted.
	Like now.  "So, now you've got a gun to my head," June began 
conversationally, after one surprised squeak and two slow, deep 
breaths.  "Now what?"
	"Get your hands up."  The voice was sullen, with a slight rasp 
and a definite Spanish accent.  It was also young and probably female.
[Great.  I'm being held up by a classmate,] June thought as she 
complied with the order.  "What are you doing here?" her captor 
continued.
	"Taking a walk.  Am I trespassing?"  June forced her voice to 
stay level.
	"I meant your group."  Now the Spanish-laced voice was 
something else - mildly annoyed.  "The Peacekeepers in Helena Valley."
	"They're not my 'group'," June snapped.
	"Liar."
	"I'm not lying.  I live in that valley."  June sighed.  "It's 
not like I like them, since you obviously don't.  They're all 
officious, uptight morons.  Can I turn around?"
	"No."  Now her captor's voice was almost amused.  Not amused 
enough to lower the gun, of course, but it was something.  "So what are
*they* doing in Helena Valley?"
	June turned her head to the side, fractionally, hoping to catch
a glimpse of the girl who held her hostage.  The gun-holder, however, 
shifted to the other side and so kept out of June's field of vision.  
"Why do you ask?" June said levelly.  "You with one of those rebel 
groups?"
	"I'm the one asking questions." The girl's grip on the gun 
shifted.
	June gulped.  "They didn't tell me what they're looking for.  
I'm just a gofer."  Hearing a snort of irritated skepticism, she added 
quickly, "It's classified - they didn't tell *anybody*.  Besides, they 
don't trust me - ask anybody in my town if you don't believe me.  
Because my parents were..."  She trailed off in a mumble.
	"What?"
	"*Nothing.*"
	A pause.  "Then what are you doing *here* - in this cave?"  
Another pause, then the question June had dreaded.  "What's behind that
door?"
	"I - I don't know."  June tensed.
	Her captor hesitated, then ordered, "Don't move and don't drop 
your arms."  The gun's muzzle receded and soft footsteps sounded from 
the floor, and a diminutive redheaded girl walked around from behind 
June to stare her in the face.
	The blonde girl leaned back.  Besides the fact that her captor 
still had a gun trained on her, there was something in the manner of 
this petite rebel that intimidated her.  It was strange because she 
looked so out of place, drowning in too-big fatigues, a green army cap 
failing to hide dark red hair that curled and crinkled as if in protest
of unfair treatment.  Her body and face were both fine-boned, marred 
only by the occasional small scar, and her left arm was in a sling.  
Her eyes were set deeply into a cinnamon-toned face, dark gray-blue and
too wide to really fit with the rest of her features.
	It was the way she stood, June decided - legs apart, torso 
slightly inclined, weight balanced as if she expected to be hit at any 
time - and her face, carrying more years than a girl her age had a 
right to carry, which said that she would most definitely hit back.
	"The Peaceniks don't know about this cave, do they?" she 
demanded.
	"If by 'Peaceniks' you mean the Peacekeeper survey team," June 
said slowly, "then no - not yet."
	"Are you the only one who does?"
	"As far as I know."
	The redhead's eyes shifted from June's face.  She seemed to be 
debating something - and June could only hope it wasn't whether or not 
to kill her.
	Finally the rebel sighed and nodded.  "Fine, then.  You and I 
are going to open that door and find out what's inside."
	"Me?" June squeaked.
	"That's right," the redhead snapped.  "*I* am going to open 
that door and *you* are going to help me.  You got a problem with 
that?"
	June didn't.

	"Okay.  Let's see if this works."  Ariel's gun had long since 
been discarded - she needed both hands, or at least the use of her 
right, to hotwire the door's control panel.
	"Ready?" June called.  She was holding two batteries, scavenged
from her flashlight - she'd balked at their sacrifice until Ariel had 
lit a fire using a sleeve off her jacket - and two wires trailing from 
the gutted control panel.  The batteries supplied enough power to light
the panel, the girls had found, but so far the doors had remained 
resolutely shut.
	"Okay," Ariel nodded, "punch it."
	June held the wire ends to the battery leads.  The control 
panel remained dark.
	"Switch the leads," Ariel advised.
	"Oh.  Oops."  June obeyed hastily.  Slowly, lights on the panel
flickered to life.  The occasional spark issued from the wires Ariel 
had had to tear loose - June flinched, but didn't remove the leads.  
Ariel inspected the panel closely, then poked a few buttons.
	A low whirring sounded from the doors, but beyond that and some
vibration, there was no movement.  Ariel scowled and kicked at the base
of the door closest to her.
	Groaning complainingly, the Iron Door began to open.
	June stood, eyes wide in reverence, her damp hands clamped 
around the battery and its leads - not that they were needed anymore, 
since the panel had already done its duty in telling the door to open. 
Ariel retrieved her gun and held it loosely in her right hand.  Her 
left hand hung at her side, its injury momentarily forgotten.  The 
doors gaped open about a foot, halted, whined, and jerked into motion 
again, and June and Ariel moved forward for a glimpse of what lay 
inside - which was when the fire Ariel had lit went out, plunging them 
into darkness.
	As June dropped to the floor and scrabbled for her flashlight, 
Ariel went stock-still and closed her eyes.  The only sounds in the 
room were the overpowering groans and creaks of the door, and the 
softer shuffling of cloth on rock that was June crawling about for her 
flashlight.  It was easy to track the goings-on in the chamber - for 
now.  But any manner of things might be coming through that doorway. 
So she listened, and listened hard, for any other noises in the total 
darkness.
	There weren't any.  Besides her heart thudding like an 
automatic rifle.
	The doors halted again with a long-suffering moan, and made no 
attempt to move again.  A series of soft metallic pops began to break 
the silence at intervals.  The darkness behind Ariel's eyelids 
lightened, but she didn't open them until she heard June's long indrawn
breath.
	The doors opened into a chamber far larger than the one the two
girls were in, its ceiling at least ten stories high and strung with
fluorescent lights.  Its walls were lined here and there with machinery
and computer consoles, and in the center lay a huge, long bumpy 
*something* draped in an expanse of canvas.
	Ariel glanced back over her shoulder.  June was sitting on her
knees, clutching her flashlight and battery, eyes wide and jaw slack.  
"Come on," Ariel ordered. The blonde jerked, glanced up at Ariel with 
confusion in her eyes, then nodded.  Ariel waited until June had gotten
to her feet before she moved forward into the new chamber.  June 
steeled herself and followed.

	"Group seven reporting, sir," the Grecian Peacekeeper said, 
arm snapping up in a salute.  He was, of course, wearing a shirt now - 
one did not come before Major Rebcowski half-naked.
	Rebcowski, a heavyset, broad-shouldered man with a full 
chestnut mustache, goatee, and comb-over consisting of perhaps five 
hairs total, didn't even look up.  "Go ahead."
	"Sir, we scouted sector delta-thirteen as ordered.  Our search 
patterns revealed nothing of interest.  The geological survey detail 
assigned to our unit discovered a possible cavern system underneath the
surface of the mountain, but we did not pursue this further, sir."
	Now Rebcowski looked up, to fix his subordinate with a cool 
brown-eyed stare.  "Why not, Lieutenant?"
	"Sir, we had not yet discharged our other duties, sir."
	The older man's lip curled in a snarl.  "Recite your duties, 
Lieutenant Lyle."
	Lieutenant Lyle's body went ramrod-straight.  "Sir, our duty is
to scout the assigned area for signs of Target Alpha-One or its 
location, and report all findings.  Sir."
	"And you didn't think the discovery of a *cavern* system was a 
*sign* of Target's *location*!?" Rebcowski yelled, at once standing and
hurling his pen at Lyle.
	He didn't flinch, even when the writing utensil hit him in the 
forehead.  "Sir, no sir.  The cavern system may be too extensive to be 
able to pinpoint Target's location in a timely fashion.  Sir."
	"Hmph."  Rebcowski's mustache twitched.  "Call your geological 
survey man in here.  Then get out of my sight."
	Lieutenant Lyle gratefully escaped, to be replaced by Harper.  
As the two men passed each other, Harper muttered, "Didn't I tell ye?"
	"Shut up, old man."

	"Okay, on three.  One, two - three!"
	Ariel and June pulled at the canvas with all their strength.  
It resisted at first, but then came away so quickly that the girls 
stumbled with the extra effort.  Ariel willed herself not to look at 
the unveiled object until the canvas was completely gone.
	Which was a good thing.  For if Ariel had looked, the sight 
would have taken her breath away, rendering her unable to pull the rest
of the canvas off.  She and June pulled, hand over hand, until they 
felt no more resistance, then they looked.
	And gasped.  And stared, and very nearly forgot to breathe. 
	"I don't believe it," June whispered, eyes as white and round 
as eggs.  "I just don't believe it."
	It was a mobile suit.  No, not exactly - it was bigger, with 
more humanlike proportions, and its exterior shone with whites and reds
and blues and golds.  Its head was fashioned after a samurai's helmet, 
and one arm held an oblong shield.  It was, to be precise - 
	"A Gundam," the two girls chorused.
	"They're just supposed to be a legend," June breathed, taking a
toddling step forward.  "I grew up listening to stories about the 
Gundams."
	Ariel gave her a surprised glance.  "Me too."
	June didn't catch the glance, didn't seem to hear the other 
girl.  "Uncle Sean never talked about 'em - said there wasn't need for
them or even their memory, so it wasn't good to remember 'em.  But 
there were always people interested in the stories about the Last War, 
how the Gundams were created by the colonies, to fight for their 
independence, then ended up fighting to end war for good."
	"Ultimately powerful," Ariel added, "they could cut down mobile
suits and mobile dolls like they were no more than chaff.  They were 
built by the colonies in a secret base up in orbit, of Gundanium 
alloy - the strongest metal known to man."
	"There were only a handful built," June continued.  "Most of 
'em belonged to the team of five pilots who fought first for the 
colonies, then for the end of war itself.  One of their enemies had a 
mobile suit, too, but it was destroyed in the last battle of the Last 
War, by one of the Gundam pilots."
	"After the War, and Marimaya's insurrection, they were supposed
to be destroyed, so that no one would be tempted to use them again."  
June frowned.  "But why is this one here?"
	"Does it matter?"  Ariel approached the Gundam, clambered up 
its prone hand to straddle its wrist.  "It's here, probably waiting for
someone to come back and use it."  She bared her teeth.  "Now you know 
what the Peaceniks were looking for."
	June sank to the floor, knees suddenly too weak to hold her up.
"Now I know," she said dazedly.  "They wanted a Gundam.  A weapon like 
that - no one would ever challenge them again."
	"They'd raze the mountains.  They'd mow El Redencion down like 
bugs, along with every other living thing in the area."  Ariel's voice 
was fierce.  "They'd kill anyone who'd ever raised their voice against 
them.  This Gundam is the ultimate power."  She was shaking, both hands
gripping the Gundam's wrist where she sat. 
	June looked up, but didn't move from her spot on the floor.  
“I don‘t want to live in that kind of world,” she said miserably, 
softly.  "But - what can we do?  We can't just let the Peacekeepers 
have the Gundam - but how can we hide this thing from them?"
	"Hide?" Ariel looked up, scorn marking her face and voice.  
"There is no hiding.  I'm going to take him and fly him away."  She 
nodded, her resolve fixed.
	A heavy silence fell, filled only by the humming of the 
fluorescent lights.
	"Back to your rebel group?"  Ariel didn't notice, but June had 
gone stock-still, rigid with the fear that came from being trapped 
between two evils.  With a Gundam, a militant rebel group could cause 
as much death as the Peacekeepers.  Either way, June would bear 
responsibility for it.
	"No."  Ariel's voice was quiet and forceful.  "Not to El 
Redencion.  Not to anybody.  I'll fly him far away, into space or into 
the ocean.  Someplace where he won't be found."
	June relaxed, then looked at her watch.  "Shoot - I'm supposed 
to be home by now."  She glanced at Ariel, worried that her captor 
might try to stop her.  The red-haired girl made no sign she'd heard.  
She sat hunched on the Gundam's wrist, brow furrowed in deep thought.  
"Hey," June hazarded.
	"Mm?"  Ariel didn't look up.
	"I should go home now.  They'll be looking for me.  I'll try to
be back later, all right?"
	"Sure."  Ariel nodded.  "I might still be here."  Now she 
looked up, her face suddenly young as her body said she was.  "Bring 
some food if you can?"
	"I'll try," June promised.  "Um - can I ask you something, 
before I go?"
	Her eyes hardened - she was back as the hardened soldier.  
"Depends on the question."
	"Don't answer if you don't want to."  June held out her hands. 
"Why don't you want to take the Gundam back to your group?"
	Ariel glared daggers past her.  "See for yourself."  She 
reached a hand into her shirt.  "My orders were to scout this area, and
to enter through the southern pass."  Her fist came out filled with a 
crumpled sheet of paper.  On it was drawn a crude map.
	June spread it out and looked at it.  It was a rough 
representation of Helena Valley, complete with June's village at the
western end.  Blue triangles marked the valley at odd intervals, mostly
concentrated at the south and west.
	June frowned at the map.  "Those triangles - they're..."
	"Peacekeeper sightings," Ariel said dully.
	June looked again, really looked.  That the Peacekeepers had 
been spotted in and near her town, at the western end of the valley, 
was no surprise - the place had been crawling with them for months.  
The scattered marks about the valley were probably survey teams.  The 
twin squiggles that denoted Helena Valley's south pass, however, were 
lined with the marks, and a cluster of them blocked off the entrance to
the valley.
	"They - *ordered* you into that - that nest?  But - "
	Ariel pulled another scowl.  "Aren't you supposed to be home by
now?"
	June could take a hint.  She nodded and offered the map back to
Ariel.  When the smaller girl shook her head, June tucked the paper 
into her back pocket, retrieved her flashlight, and left.
	Ariel stared down at the Gundam's arm, gathering herself.  [El 
Redencion would have told me to kill her,] she thought.  [She's a 
liability.  She knows too much about me, about the group.]
	[What do I care?  I'm not El Redencion anymore.  Let her blab 
if she wants.  But *after* I fly this boy outta here.]  On that note, 
Ariel stood and clambered up toward the Gundam's chest.   If she was 
going to figure out how to fly the Gundam by the time the Peaceniks got
there, she had a lot of work to do.

Next chapter...
The Peacekeepers are almost ready to make their move, and Ariel must
find a way to fly the Gundam out of its hidden cave before they 
discover her.