"Wow I can't believe that the war has escalated so far that Zechs would destroy the Earth," said Quatre.
He, Duo and Trowa were sitting in the Café on the space ship Peace Million. The boys had just come from the control room of the massive ship and were taking a much-needed break.
"Well I guess that goes to show you that you can never predict how extreme the extremists will go," said Quatre as he gazed down at his hands.
"I think that's why they call them extremists, Quatre," said Duo as he took a slurp of soda and leaned back in his chair.
Trowa remained silent. Still suffering from amnesia, he didn't know what they were talking about.
Quatre fell silent as well and remained staring into the floor in deep thought.
How can we stop them if they have a weapon powerful enough to destroy the world? he shrugged his shoulders and looked up to Duo. "I guess we'll just have to fight through what we can't predict."
"You've got that right," answered Duo, still lounging in his chair.
All three paused for a moment.
"I'm going to get something to eat," said Quatre as he rose and walked to the counter.
As he walked over he started to hear a faint rapid tapping. It seemed to have a rhythm to it but he didn't her music coming from any of the speakers in the ceiling. So he stopped and looked around the room.
The room was about one hundred feet by forty feet, it had a variety of tables and chairs scattered about, along with a couple of couches and a large screened TV at one end. The food counter was situated in the middle of a long section on the wall. And other then the two guys he came in with, the only other person in the room was sitting only a few tables away from him.
Quatre continued to the food counter, assuming that the tapping was coming from her, he ordered a sandwich.
While he waited for his sandwich, Quatre watched the girl, she seemed offly familiar, but he couldn't seem to place where he had met her. Sprawled on the table in front of her were star maps and blueprints of different colonies along with a tall sliver and black cup, CD player, notebook and about twelve different colored pencils. None of this information rang a bell as to whether he knew her or not.
Forgetting why he was waiting, he walked over to her and found that the tapping was nothing but the sound of music escaping from her headphones. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she was wearing a white collared shirt and black pants. She was really into her music; it seemed to drive the speed in which she worked.
Nervously, Quatre reached out a hand an tapped her shoulder. At the first sense of being touched the girl whipped around with an exact-o knife in her hand and aimed it a Quatre's throat. Quatre froze, he wasn't expecting an attack. The girl relaxed as she realized who he was. She drew her weapon back and removed her headphones.
"So…what do you want?" asked the girl slightly agitated at being interrupted.
Quatre swallowed a couple times then answered. "Excuse me, miss. But could I have your name?" he asked very politely.
"Lt. Katja Kizer. Why?" answered Katja.
Quatre's eyes grew wide. He knew where he had seen her. She was the same girl from the school in the Canq Kingdom.
"Is there something wrong, Quatre?" she asked in a mildly cocky tone.
Quatre shook his head and relaxed a little more.
"No, I just didn't recognize you, that's all," he answered.
Katja nodded and went back to work. Quatre walked away, got his sandwich and went to sit down with Duo and Trowa, still a little stunned.
"Who was that?" asked Duo.
"Just a girl I know," answered Quatre nonchalantly, secretly enjoying Duo's curiosity.
"Well, what's her name?" inquired Duo, edging closer to the edge of his chair in inquiry.
"Katja Kizer," answered Quatre after taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"What?" said Duo, startled.
Without waiting for Quatre to repeat himself, Duo jumped out of his chair, strode over to where Katja was sitting and tapped her shoulder.
Katja gave a sigh.
"What do you want now, Quatre?" she said as she turned and removed her headphones.
She lifted her eyes to look up past what Quatre's height would have been and found Duo's smiling face.
"So what took you so long?" asked Katja in half jest with a lopsided grin.
Duo leaned his hip on the table and answered.
"You know how those customs guys are. They just like to make ya wait,"
Both of them chuckled.
"Do you want to join us?" asked Duo.
"Sure, if you don't mind," replied Katja.
"Not at all," answered Duo, with a smile that seemed as bright as the sun.
Katja walked over with Duo and sat down next to him at the table.
They had a patchy conversation, jumping from one subject to another, when finally there was no more to say.
"Well…"started Duo.
"Hey Duo! We've got some people we want you to meet up here on the bridge. Bring Quatre, Trowa and Katja, too," interrupted Howard's voice over the speaker.
"Be right up, Howard!" called Duo.
All four of them rose and walked to the bridge.
When they got there they found Heero and Wufei sitting in a pair of chairs.
"…Zero, Altron and Heavyarms will be ship shape in no time," said Howard in the background.
Duo immediately stepped in to bug them.
"Well it's good to see that you two finally caught up with us. We were beginning to think that you had given up," said Duo in a really cocky jest.
The three of them chuckled, while Heero and Wufei both grumbled and walked past.
The six of them went back to the Café and sat down.
"So when will your Gundam be fixed, Wufei?" inquired Quatre.
"Howard said it should be ready for battle by tomorrow," replied Wufei shortly
Katja didn't take any notice of the five of them and walked back to the table with all of her maps and started to study them again. No one seemed to notice for a while, then Heero glanced in her direction, got up and walked over.
"Still studying I see," he said as he leaned up against the table.
Katja wasn't wearing her headphones, and she didn't turn to face him, either.
"Trust me, it's just a habit," she replied, looking up at him on her last word. "Left over from before I met you."
Heero nodded and looked to what she was studying, then looked back at her.
"Are you fighting?" he asked bluntly. He knew that answer, it was obvious.
"Are you?" she answered with a question and looked at him with a light smirk.
Heero looked at her, knowing that his answer would be her own. She like to answer things in riddles, but didn't do it often. Mainly because people wouldn't catch them. Their minds worked alike. When they were children they would have fun just creating conversations using questions. Even back then she would always stump him. The inter-workings of her mind were far more complex then his own. She would always be a step ahead. Just like Zero.
He nodded, got up and left her studying. Shaking his head as he went.
Studying, studying, always studying. Her father instilled good habits. Thought Heero as he turned to look back at her, head bent at her work. Whether fighting or on the bridge, she'll help, a lot! He turned back to the other pilots and sat with them until late into the night.
