Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and am making no money off of this fic.

########

Engage by luvsanime02

########

Chapter 1

~~Five Years Later~~

Relena calls up Governor Reckon. This is a deliberate choice, of course. Very much so. Although she has no proof, and has no plans to confront him over the matter, Relena knows for a fact that he was the one behind that kidnapping attempt on her all those years ago. In a calculated bid to put someone else in her seat of Vice Foreign Minister, he manipulated Senator Hittun and the others, and arranged the whole fiasco from behind the scenes.

Well, since Relena ended up quitting her position afterwards, Governor Reckon got what he wanted in the end, didn't he?

Now, so will she. Yes, Relena is about to get a lot of satisfaction out of this meeting.

"Miss Peacecraft," Governor Reckon says when he answers her call, "it's a pleasure to hear from you again."

He looks older, of course. They all are. But while Relena's been traveling and making friends, and building up her influence, Governor Reckon and the rest have been slowly watching as all of their power has been snatched away from them. While Relena looks relaxed, Governor Reckon looks haggard, his hair receding and mostly grey.

And to think, he's only been worrying about her growing authority for two years. It took Earth's parliament members almost four years before they finally noticed what Relena and Heero have been up to, the businesses and contacts they've been establishing and consolidating, and the powerful people all around the Earth Sphere who are now indebted to them. By then, it was far too late to stop Relena anymore.

"Thank you," she answers. "I know you're a busy man, so I'll make this brief." He's anything except busy these days, but it's a nice excuse to hurry this conversation along. Besides, the look of anger that flashes across his face at Relena's dismissive tone amuses her. Good. Let Governor Reckon be angry. She's waited years to say this.

"What can I do for you, Miss Peacecraft?" He's using that name on purpose in order to needle her, she knows, but Relena refuses to rise to the bait.

She smiles instead. "I'd like to issue an announcement to the parliament, and also broadcast the meeting to our fellow governments in space. Do you think that you could arrange a conference where everyone is present?"

It's not a question, not really, and they both know it. After all, if Governor Reckon refuses, Relena can always ask one of the other parliament members to arrange everything instead. More than three-quarters of the current members of parliament are indebted to her now, for one reason or another.

No, Relena's specifically speaking to Governor Reckon because, while it may be petty, she wants him to understand how powerless he is against her right now. She wants him forced to agree to her demand, even though it's the last thing that he wants to do, because he knows that refusing would be the worse option.

Yes, Relena's absolutely being petty against the man who had once arranged for her to be kidnapped. Heero had simply called it karma when Relena told her about the idea. She has a point.

Sure enough, Governor Reckon nods his head agreeably, despite the disapproval of her that's plain to read in his eyes. "Of course. I'd be delighted to help." He's a gracious loser, at least. "Everyone will be very interested in hearing what you have to say."

What an understatement. Though the parliament knows now that Relena has been amassing power and influence over the years, they still have no idea why. Very few people know what Relena's planning to say at the upcoming conference, and those who do are friends that she trusts with her life. Even more importantly, she's trusting them with the future of the human race.

"Wonderful," Relena says, as though there was ever any doubt about Governor Reckon agreeing to help her. "I'm free next week, Tuesday morning."

The date will not be lost on him, and indeed, Relena watches Governor Reckon's eyes narrow in response. Tuesday morning will coincide with the ten-year anniversary of Mars's government being established. Relena's brother will be attending this conference, is what she's just implicitly informed Governor Reckon of, and he clearly doesn't like the implications of Mars being included one bit.

"Very well," is what he says, though.

"Then I'll see you next week." With that, Relena ends the call and leans back in her chair, letting out a sigh. She looks out the window beside her. The sky's clear right now, but there are storm clouds forming in the distance.

Relena only has to wait one more week.

~~Next Tuesday~~

When Relena walks into the conference room at nine in the morning, the full parliament has already gathered and almost all of them are still standing around, clustered into small groups and no doubt debating with each other about what the outcome of this meeting will entail.

Behind Relena enters Heero and Frank. They're both wearing suits, and have visible weapons on their persons. Relena's not sure that she approves, but Heero has already argued with her about that. After Relena's announcement, someone might be stupid enough to try and attack her. If so, Heero and Frank are there to make sure that they don't succeed.

Relena also knows that neither of them will shoot to kill, and that just their presence is likely more than enough to deter anyone from acting foolishly, so she reluctantly agrees with them being armed. It still makes Relena uneasy to finally announce her plans to everyone while there are weapons on clear display around her, but she supposes that it's preferable to being caught unawares.

After their presences are noticed, all chatter around the room slowly dies down. Relena almost walks up to her old seat, but of course, she can't. She's not here as a member of parliament. Besides, that seat is already occupied, she sees. Instead, Relena walks calmly over to the podium and stands there, waiting. Heero and Frank take up positions slightly behind and to either side of her, somehow managing to be unobtrusive yet impossible to ignore at the same time.

The message that all three of them together present is loud and clear. Relena is here to talk, not to listen. She's not approached by anyone. When none of them try to pull her aside and persuade her not to speak at the last minute, her shoulders relax just slightly and Relena lets out the breath that she's been holding. She's really going to do this.

There's another ten minutes of waiting before the vid connections to L1 and L4 are established. Relena's not surprised to see Quatre sitting casually beside the governor of L4, and she smiles at him. Yes, she rather thought that he'd want a front row seat during this. Another couple of minutes later, L5 connects, with L3 warily following. The L3 government has always been a little hands-off with Relena ever since Mariemaia's failed rebellion. Unnecessarily so, since she's never held L3 any ill will over the whole incident. Only towards Dekim Barton, and he's been dead for years.

Mars connects then, and Relena has to force herself not to betray any emotion when her brother's face appears on the screen. She'd called Milliardo last month and asked him to attend this conference. His own expression shows that he's very curious about what she's been up to. If there are any regrets Relena has about not confiding in him before now, it's that she hates the way Milliardo's eyes suddenly frost over when he takes in Heero and Frank standing behind her as bodyguards, clearly armed.

He doesn't say anything, though. Not yet. Relena's very grateful that he's willing to wait for her to speak first, because her older brother trying to reprimand Relena before her speech would definitely ruin the untouchable aura that she's trying to project.

Relena wonders if Milliardo has noticed that she's modeling her poise based on what she remembers of Treize Khushrenada. Judging from Milliardo's wary expression, she'd bet on yes.

L2 finally connects a few minutes later. Relena would have been worried, but she knows that the wait is deliberate. The governor of L2 is a tyrant, and dislikes obeying the orders of others, even his supposed peers. Relena knows that he's also hated among the general L2 populace, and she honestly doesn't know why he hasn't been assassinated yet. He's refused to work with Relena at every turn, and she expects now will be no different.

It's a good thing that Relena's not relying on him.

Enough waiting. Relena straightens her shoulders but keeps her back relaxed, and begins. "Gentlemen, thank you for agreeing to hear me out this morning."

Some of those in the conference room with Relena look as though they want to reply, but they're all too curious to actually interrupt just yet.

"Humanity has a long and fractured history of warring with itself," Relena continues, keeping her voice steady by force of will. "This propensity for war has unfortunately only increased ever since we've journeyed into space and established settlements away from our home planet. The colonies fight against each other, Earth fights against the colonies-" Relena takes a quiet breath, and forces herself not to turn away from her brother's gaze "-and Mars is likely to be the next to war with the rest of us if things continue on as they currently are."

If anyone is going to interrupt her, it will be now. But Milliardo remains silent. He's carefully studying her face, but he's waiting to hear her point. Relena thinks she loves him for that.

"I will not let that happen," she continues more firmly. "Action must be taken now in order to prevent another war, to prevent any future wars amongst humanity. We are all the same people, and it's time that we were properly united."

Relena pauses, and gives her brother a significant look. Milliardo raises an eyebrow in response, but does what she's silently asking him to do. "And how exactly do you plan on accomplishing this, Relena?" he asks.

That he's using her first name is deliberate, reminding everyone else here of their familial relationship. Relena smiles at Milliardo warmly, because while she still does not know him very well, she'd known that she could count on him for at least this much.

"It's simple, really," she answers. A lie, but a well-meant one. She's been working towards this moment for almost six years now, and everything's only going to become even more complicated from here on out. "The time for separate governments, each with its own constitution and laws, is at an end. From now on, there must be only one government. This is the only way for humanity to become truly united as one people."

The stunned silence that follows her statement is only to be expected. After all, Relena's just told all of them that their jobs, their status as leaders of their governments, are now obsolete.

"When there is only one nation, one people, we won't fight against each other any longer." Not without great personal cost for everyone involved, anyway, and Relena will have people working along with her to make sure it never comes to that. "There will finally be peace," she says, and then Relena takes one full step back from the microphone to convey that she's finished, opening the podium up to anyone else who wants to speak next.

The room she occupies is still absolutely silent. None of Earth's representatives are protesting; they have no power to do so. Relena almost wishes that one of them would speak up anyways, but although they're all giving her hard stares, none of them says any word of protest. Relena has complete control over them right now. She's positive that she'll be hearing a formal refusal from the parliament later, though, after she's left the room and they've had time to discuss her speech.

What Relena's really waiting for is the reactions of the various colony governors. And, of course, her brother's.