Standard disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters except Calder and his Gundam. Please do not sue me. :)

The Forgotten

A lone figure walked down the dirty streets of Oakland, on the Colony New Quebec. This was the first colony ever built, and when the Earth Sphere Unified Nations voted to give the colonies names instead of the long numbers, this one had been the first christened. Oakland was an old city, almost two-hundred years old. This neighborhood had been like this for almost as long. The streets were littered with glass and bullet shells, the walls were covered with graffiti. Even in this time of peace, neighborhoods like these had their own little wars.

The cloaked person pulled the hood over his head as the artificial weather systems started to pour rain down on the colony. The rain started, then stopped, dripped, then poured, before finally steadying on a medium level. The weather systems were a bit quirky on the colony. Most of the inhabitants had gotten used to it.

The figure spotted a group of teenagers, probably all just out of high school. They looked up at him as he passed.

The leader jerked his head.

"Sup, dude?"

The figure glanced up slightly and gave a little smile and a nod. The gang members laughed at this response.

Suddenly, a ringing sound was heard coming from under the persons cloak. He pulled out a cell phone and flipped it open.

"This is Calder."

A moment passed. Calder’s enhanced hearing detected the sound of multiple footsteps behind him.

"Colonel, I’m going to have to call you back." He flipped the phone closed before the voice on the other line could respond. The footsteps continued to close on him. He heard the distinct sound of a switch-blade opening.

"Hey!"

Calder stopped and looked over his shoulder. The gang closed to within a few feet of him.

"I’ll make this real clear," the leader said. "Empty your pockets, give us what we want, or will take it from you."

Calder watched the other gang members. They all looked very confident. It was six against one. They wouldn’t have any trouble with this guy.

Calder suddenly laughed. "It’s late. You guys ought to get to bed."

The leader looked surprised, then angry. "Didn’t you hear what I said, punk?"

"Yeah, I heard you." Calder turned away, just as someone rushed him from either side. He quickly dropped and swept one leg around, knocking the first guy off his feet. At the same time he raised an elbow into the second guy’s stomach and flipped him over his back and into another member of the group.

Three more switch blades opened and all four with knives rushed at him. He side-stepped the first and gave him a little more momentum with his elbow. He knocked the knife aside on the next guy and slammed the heel of his right hand into his jaw. The third guy came up behind him and swung the blunt end of the knife towards his head. Calder ducked and grabbed the guys arm, flipping him onto the ground. Last to attack was the leader, waiting for his chance. He slashed at Calder’s side and found himself flying though the air. He hit the ground and felt the cold of his knife at his throat. The rest of the gang had gotten up and were keeping their distance. Calder slowing pulled the knife back and looked at it. Closing it, he dropped it on the guy’s chest and got up.

"You kids shouldn’t play with those," he said and walked away. The gang didn’t follow and he pulled out his cell phone.

"Colonel? Yeah, ten o’clock is fine. All right. See you then."

_______________


The artificial lighting was already indicating mid-morning by the time Duo Maxwell crawled out of bed. He stretched and stumbled into the kitchen.

"About time you got up," the girl standing there said.

He groaned. "Don’t talk so loud Hilde," he grumbled and took a box of cereal from the cupboard

Hilde frowned. "Hey, I made eggs and hash browns."

He pulled out a bowl and poured the cereal. "You eat ’em. I’m having Cinnamon Toast Crunch."

Hilde shook her head. "You’re impossible Duo."

Duo glanced at the clock. He had thirty minutes till the meeting. He quickly finished his cereal and returned to his room. He dressed in his black jumpsuit and checked his gun before holstering it. He glanced at his open laptop with the picture of Calder Slandovich on it. He’d been looking for all the information he could find on him, and had only been able to find what the Preventers had wrote. He read it to himself again.

Name: Nicalder Leachim Slandovich

Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia

Nationality: Russian

Age: Approximately 16

Height: 166 centimeters

Weight: 42 kilograms

Eye color: Blue

Hair Color: Brown

Lived on Earth till he was approximately six, then moved to Colony L-31169 (New California). Recruited for Project Meteor, but disappeared in A.C. 194. Lived as a mercenary until Romefeller Foundation took over OZ, then joined the Treize Faction. His Gundam was found at the end of the Eve War and taken to a secure Preventer hanger. The Gundam was almost immediately stolen from the hanger and tracked to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Calder was found there in his own small base. The Preventers contracted his help as a mercenary. Became a Preventer agent in March of A.C. 197.

Current Status: Active Duty, Colony New Quebec

Duo finished reading and shook his head. Why had this guy just disappeared before Project Meteor had begun? And he’d taken his Gundam, but never used it to their knowledge. Maybe they’d get some answers from the guy today.

"Duo? Didn’t you have a meeting today?" Hilde said from the doorway.

"Yep. I’m on my way now," he replied, closing the laptop.

Hilde grinned. "You finally got the Colonel to move back the meeting time?"

"Yeah. It was hard, but there is nothing consistent whining cannot accomplish."

She laughed and shook her head. "You really crack me up, Maxwell."

"I know. You wouldn’t stick around otherwise, huh?"

"No way."

He turned to the door. "See ya later, Hilde."

___________


Calder sat in the conference room, sipping some hot chocolate. He’d gotten there ten minutes early so he would have time to watch all of the pilots as they came in. Chang Wufei was the first to arrive. Calder met the older boy’s eyes. If he was surprised to see him there, he didn’t show it. He just sat down and watched the newcomer carefully. Next, Lucrezia Noin came through the door. She greeted Wufei, who just nodded without looking up. Then she looked at Calder. She gave a smile and stuck her hand out. "You must be Nicalder. I’m Lucrezia Noin. Just call me Noin."

Calder took her hand and shook it firmly. "Nice to meet you. Call me Calder."

She sat down in another chair opposite him and glanced at Wufei. He still stared straight ahead.

"Ow, ow, ow, sheesh, woman, I didn’t mean it!" This came from the hallway, and seconds later Duo Maxwell became visible, trying to fend off a finger that was jabbing at his ribs. He quickly ran into the room, followed by Arys Walker.

Duo smiled when he saw Calder. He came around the table and sat next to him, sticking out his hand. "Hey Nicalder, Duo Maxwell. You may call me ’Your Highness’.

Calder wasn’t surprised at this, but couldn’t help but grin. "I’ve heard a lot about you," he replied, shaking the pilot’s hand. "Call me Calder."

"You got it Calder," Duo said, liking him at once. "That weirdo who calls herself a pilot over there is Arys Walker. Don’t sit by her, she bites."

Arys gave a slight smile as she sat down, but watched him intently. Calder expected this and stared right back.

"And the sulking guy is Wufei. Don’t try and talk to him or he’ll chop off your arm with his katana."

Wufei didn’t respond.

"So, Calder, we’re all kind of wondering, and I don’t mean to be rude, but where the heck did you come from?" Duo asked.

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway. "Calder will explain when everyone arrives," Colonel Une said as she took her seat at the head of the table.

Duo gave a salute. "Yes ma’am."

The other three pilots entered one by one. Each greeted him as expected. Quatre Raberba Winner was very friendly and enthusiastic. He was the only pilot that would trust him right away. Trowa Barton didn’t say anything when he came in. Last to arrive was Heero Yuy. Heero was the only one Calder was nervous about meeting. He’d always been in awe of the pilot called ’The Perfect Soldier’, but was determined not to show it. Heero met his eyes and stared long and hard. Calder felt himself get a little smaller, but held the older boy’s gaze.

"All right, now that everyone is here, we’ll get to it. Due to some requests..." Colonel Une looked pointedly at Duo, who put up an innocent face. "...the meetings have been moved back to ten o’clock from now on"

"Early bird gets the worm Dou," Quatre said teasingly.

"Not true. I stayed up all night once trying to find any worms, and there were none. So I’m not getting up early any more."

"In your report folders today, you have..."

"Excuse me Colonel, but I think we’d all like to cut to the chase," Arys interrupted, looking at Calder.

Une smiled. "Very well. Calder."

Calder took a deep breath. "My name is Nicalder Slandovich, as you probably know. You can call me Calder. You’ve all read the report on my basic history, so I’ll get to what you don’t know. I left Project Meteor because I was sort of a double agent for none other than my parents. They were working on a project to enhance the human brain. They heard about the Zero system, and made sure the Barton Foundation would notice and recruit me. I gave them the scematics for the system, and after my Gundam was complete, I took it to my parents, who had modified the system. They installed the upgraded version into the Gundam and tested me on it." He smiled ironically. "They pushed me to the extreme, and that was when my eyes were opened to the fact that their research was more important than me. I left without further delay. Last I’d heard, my parents were killed in an OZ attack. I kept my Gundam hidden and lived as a mercenary and fought with the Treize Faction and later for the Earth against White Fang. When I heard my Gundam had been found, I immediately went and got it, but didn’t realized it had been tagged. So Colonel Une found me and asked if I would help out the Preventers."

There was silence, then Quatre spoke up. "I’m so sorry that your parents did that to you," he said, remembering his experiences with the Zero system. Calder looked surprised.

"Don’t be," he said.

More silence. "Any questions?" Calder said lightly.

"How good a pilot are you?" Wufei asked.

Calder smiled. "Good question. I don’t know that myself. I’m nowhere near as experienced as you guys are, but I think I can hold my own in a fight."

Wufei was satisfied with that answer. He’d have to fight him later on, to test him. He studied the younger boy’s wiry frame. He wouldn’t be especially strong, but he’d be very fast in hand to hand combat.

"Now, if you all don’t mind, we’ll move on with the report," Colonel Une said. "As you know, the terrorists who call themselves the Forgotten have been rallying support from several groups on Earth and the colonies. We’re still not clear who supports them, but we just got some disturbing news. We picked up a lot of theta radiation from this sector of the asteroid belt. When we sent a probe into the area, we saw a beam turret defense perimeter and picked up a lot of hyper-jammer activity going to and from the area. We tracked one of the cloaks and ended up at this colony. It was a freighter, which entered the colony seemingly through a solid wall. We believe it is the Forgotten using some kind of hologram to cover a secret docking bay. They perhaps have an entire facility hidden in this colony."

"Freighters going to and from the asteroid belt and a high level of theta radiation? Sounds a lot like they’re mining gundanium alloy," Trowa remarked.

"We believe so. Calder has been looking for this facility and we believe he has found something. Calder?"

"Yes. I found a slight, but noticeable increase in theta radiation, as well as some kind of reading that could indicate a hologram in Oakland. I mapped out the perimeter of the radiation reading and drew this outline of where I believe the facility is," Calder reported. He activated the screen on one of the walls and it showed a rough layout with the Oakland city layout superimposed on it. "As you can see, it’s nearly as big as the city itself."

"Analyzing the freighter traffic, we estimate they are bringing in and refining almost a half-ton of gundanium a week," Une said.

"So what’s the plan?" Duo asked.

"We can’t find anyway into the facility, and there is no way of destroying it short of destroying the whole colony. So, for now, we’re going after the mining operation. We have a commando team ready to get inside the facility and shut down the defense perimeter, but we need all of you to attack, because we’re not sure how many suits they have there, or what they are made of," the colonel said. "If they are mining gundanium, then the suits they have there will likely be armored with it."

Duo whistled. "We’ve never fought gundanium armored suits in large numbers before," he said, stating what everyone was thinking.

"We’re still waiting for the commando team to report. When we have an idea of when they will be able to get the perimeter down, we’ll attack. In the mean time, be ready to go at a moments notice. Dismissed."

Everyone stood up. Wufei left without a word, followed be Trowa. To Calder’s surprise, Heero left hand in hand with Arys. He must have looked surprised, because Quatre spoke up.

"I know. You never would have though either of those two were capable of that kind of affection," he said.

I nodded. "Everything in their files said they were both loners."

"Yeah, none of us thought Heero would ever love anyone," Duo remarked. He and Quatre had stayed behind.

"We’re gonna get some food before we head to the hanger. Care to join us?"

Calder started to automatically say no, but changed his mind. His Gundam wouldn‘t get here for another hour or so anyway. "Why not?" he said and followed them out.


After lunch, the three went to the hanger to prep their Gundams. Quatre was surprised at Calder. The first impression he’d gotten of him was that he was going to be more like Trowa. But he and Duo had immediately started trading jokes and schemes. Quatre smiled to himself. The others would not be happy that Duo had found himself a partner in crime.

Upon entering the hanger, Duo rushed to a closed alcove. "May I present to you, the great and glorious... Deathscythe!" he said opening the alcove door and revealing the dark, menacing Gundam.

Calder looked at for a moment and laughed. "Okay dude, where’s the real one?"

Duo made a choking sound. "Excuse me?"

"Where’s the real one?" Calder said, looking puzzled. "Oh you mean... oh I’m sorry dude." He burst out laughing as Duo started jabbing at his stomach.

"Okay come on, now I have to insult yours," Duo said. They proceeded to the middle of the hanger where Calder’s Gundam now occupied an alcove. Calder opened the door and waited for Duo’s reaction.

Duo scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well it’s uh, um... it’s fat!" Calder laughed and came up beside Duo.
"I mean seriously, that thing can’t possibly get off the ground!"

Quatre looked up. Duo was almost right. Calder’s Gundam was massive. I stood at least two meters taller than any other one and had wide, hawk-like wings. The dark green almost black coloring made it an impressive sight all together.

"There is a reason it’s fat, as you so delicately put it. You could batter it all day and you would barely scratch the paint," Calder retorted.

"Yeah, that had better be the case. Considering it couldn’t even move."

The other pilots had come up, wanting to study the new Gundam. "What are it’s capabilities?" Heero asked.

"Glad you asked," Calder said. Wraith, deploy all weapons.

The Gundam immediately opened several compartments. A Vulcan cannon was revealed on each shoulder, the chest armor opened to reveal two chest gatlings, a gatling gun popped out on each side of the left forearm, missile launchers opened up on each shoulder, and a beam saber and some kind of gun appeared on each wrist.

"You have an interface with it," Arys remarked.

"Yeah. It’s my own version of the Zero system. After I had the Gundam to myself, I replaced the system with this interface. I have a computer chip in my head which connects to Wraith’s computer. Wraith is the name of it, sorry."

"Which is better, it or the Zero system?" Heero asked.

"I honestly don’t know. I use the interface so I can switch weapons rapidly in combat and get tactical data faster. I just didn’t want to use the system anymore."

Heero nodded.

"Anyway," Calder continued. "It has two Vulcan cannons on the head, two at the shoulders, two chest gatlings, a double gatling on the left forearm, forty homing missiles, double beam sabers and double plasma guns. And there is a heat whip coiled behind the shield."

"It’s armed to the teeth," Quatre remarked.

"Even Heavy Arms doesn’t have that much." This came from Trowa.

"Yes, but it would be incredibly slow at close range," Wufei said. It was the first time Calder had heard him speak. Wufei found it curious that the Gundam was almost the opposite of Calder. Calder would be fast, but not strong in combat. Wraith would be slow, but powerful.

"What are the plasma guns?" Arys asked.

"They fire a partically charged plasma blast, fairly powerful at medium range, less powerful the farther the shot is," Calder replied.

"You must have upgraded the thruster system so it could be effective at close range," Heero said.

"Yes. There are about thirty more thrusters on it. It’s still slower than anyone else’s though."

The others left to go back to work on their own Gundams. Duo stayed just long enough to make one last remark.

"Deathscythe could kick it’s but," he said.

"I’d like to see you try, monkey-boy," Calder replied.

_______


Note: I’d just like to say that I did not copy the idea of having an interface with the Gundam from Starling.