The year is After Colony 200. Three years of peace have followed the conclusion of the Eve Wars. But even now, in this time of prosperity, there are those who would destroy everything the five Gundam pilots had worked to achieve.

It was just another quiet morning in the Sanq Kingdom as Relena Dorlian prepared to leave for another meeting of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation's representatives. As usual, her mind was preoccupied with two things: maintaining world peace and Heero, not necessarily in that order.

"Relena, if you don't hurry up, you're going to be late," Pagan called as he went out the door, "I'll be waiting in the limo, so come out as soon as you're ready." He didn't expect to receive a reply. She's one hell of a politician, but she takes forever to get out of the bathroom in the morning, Pagan thought to himself, Women!

Twenty minutes later, Relena still had not come out. Pagan was starting to get worried, so he went back into the house to check on her. He made his way up the stairs and over to Relena's private bathroom and knocked on the door. After receiving no reply, Pagan opened the door and looked inside, hoping not to catch Relena naked. He could hardly believe what he saw. The bathroom window was broken and there where obvious signs of a struggle. Pagan quickly ran downstairs and dialed the phone. "Hello, Mr. Milliardo, Relena's been kidnapped!

***

Milliardo Peacecraft's face became very pale. "What?!" He could hardly believe his ears. This must be a joke, Milliardo thought, but Pagan isn't exactly the joking type.

"Mr. Milliardo, we must do something!"

"Just stay there, Pagan. Thank you for telling us, but there's nothing more you can do. I'll take care of it from here. Goodbye." Milliardo hung up the phone and headed out the door. "Noin, try and get a hold of the Gundam pilots. I'm going to Earth to see what I can do," he told his wife as he walked out the door.

"Oh, Zechs," was the only thing Lucrezia Noin said in reply.

***

Quatre Raberba Winner wondered why he and the other Gundam pilots had been called by Noin to come out to Mars immediately. "Does anyone have any idea why we're here?" he asked his fellow Gundam pilots.

"Hn," came Heero's reply.

"I dunno, but I bet we'll find out soon." Duo said, with only half his usual perk. It was never a good sign when Zechs and Noin told them to do something without giving an explanation.

Trowa was silent.

"Why don't you go ask Noin. Here she comes," Wufei had just a hint of arrogance in his voice. Being a Preventer, he already knew part of the story but was not authorized to tell anyone.

Noin ran up to the five young men. "I'm glad you guys could all make it on such short notice." She looked tired, as if she hadn't had much sleep in days. "If you'll come inside with me, I'll explain everything. I know this environment isn't too hospitable, despite how well the terraforming project has gone." Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei walked into Zechs and Noin's Martian home, and found the TV on, the volume low.

Duo couldn't hold it in any longer. "Why are we here?" he blurted out.

Noin's reply was immediate. "Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian has been kidnapped."

"WHAT!" all five pilots cried in unison.

"She's been kidnapped. Zechs is on Earth now, investigating. He says that it was a very messy operation. It's almost as if someone wanted us to know she had been kidnapped," Lucrezia clarified.

Suddenly, the TV broadcast was interrupted as a tall, thin, gray-haired man appeared on the screen. "I am Gihren Zabi, supreme commander of the former L2 Colony Cluster's Revolutionary Army. As of this moment, the L2 Cluster declares it's independence from the Earth Sphere Unified Nation as the Principality of Zeon. We also declare war on the Earth and anyone who supports it. As our first act of war, we have taken Vice Foreign Minister Darlian as our prisoner. If she is to be seen alive again, the Gundam pilot known as Heero Yuy will come to our colony, alone and unarmed. If you make one false move, Gundam pilot, we will kill the Vice Foreign Minister. That is all." The TV screen went blank.

***

As Heero's shuttle approached the L2 Colony Cluster, he began to wonder why he was doing this. It wasn't like him to walk into an obvious trap without some sort of escape plan. Except he couldn't have an escape plan, not without sentencing Relena to death. Why do I care if she lives or dies, he wondered, she's already brought about world peace, so she's not really necessary. Heero couldn't understand. He had been trained by the Barton Foundation to live without emotion. So I can't love her. Can I?

The shuttle docked with Colony X18966. Several armed men were waiting at the docking bay. They escorted Heero out of the shuttle and into a small dark room. Heero immediately saw Relena in one corner, tied up and gagged. Before he could even think about rescuing her, a mysterious voice called out.

"Well, I see you finally made it. My name is Gihren Zabi, but I'm sure you don't want me to bore you with fancy introductions, so let's get down to business. You're here because you saw my announcement on television. And you came to save your precious Vice Foreign Minister from being executed. So here are my terms. If you do everything I say, I'll keep the girl alive. If not… well I'm sure you can figure that out. Heero's hand twitched to reach for a gun that wasn't there. "Don't even think about trying to rescue her," Gihren warned. Only then did Heero notice the guard standing behind Relena with a gun pointed at her head. "So Gundam pilot, what is your decision?

"I'll do it," came Heero's reply, and he gave Gihren Zabi a look of pure hatred.

***

"Excellent, I knew you'd see things our way," Gihren Zabi couldn't be happier. "Your first assignment is to assassinate the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. After that, you and your Gundam will join our assault on the Preventer headquarters."

Heero's glare was as intense as ever. "When do we commence operations?"

"You'll need to be in position to assassinate the president at 2300 hours. Precisely five minutes after that, open fire. Then come immediately to Luxembourg to join the attack."

"What if I don't show up?"

"You know what happens…"