Chapter 2
Alexander Dayone sighed, flipping open his briefcase and tapping into his data bank again. It seemed like all of the former Gundam Pilots had vanished from the universe. Even the notable Quatre Winner was proving nearly impossible to get in touch with. He was sure that the pilots were still in contact but hadn't found anyone who could confirm his suspicions.
"Relena Peacecraft hadn't seen or heard from any of them for the past three months." He muttered to himself while scanning his list for the third time that evening, nibbling on a piece of toast as he considered the name in front of him. "That's the most recent sighting but it still isn't good enough. Knowing what I do about this boy, I'm sure he's not the type to stick around an area for very long." He sighed and continued to type. "Hilde Schbeiker, last seen in the L-3 colony cluster. It looks like the two of them were close at one point during the wars. At least in the OZ documents, they seemed worried about him being a bad influence on her and her dischange seemed to be directly tied to her connection with him. I wonder..." He tapped the table with a pen and bit on his lower lip before making a mark. "The only other place I can go to look is the Preventer Headquarters. They keep records on all the soldiers who have contacted with them in the past so if he's done work there I may find my lucky break."
He sighed and placed everything back in his bag except for his cell phone which he used to book himself a place on the next transport to L-3. "The Preventers have a base on L1. I can email an inquiry over to them and leave to track down Miss Hilde." He decided picking up his bag and walking over to the road where he hailed a taxi to the spaceport.
"Duo!" Hilde shouted as a shower of rusty mobile suit parts rained down around her "You haven't found them yet?"
"Nope. If I had, you wouldn't have to ask me." The boy stood up and tossed her a broad grin.
"We're falling behind on these repairs." She reminded him.
"They'll wait. There isn't anywhere else for them to go." He shrugged it off and began to sift through the next pile.
"Duo, sometimes you can be so..." Her voice trailed off as she searched for a word to complete her sentence.
"Desirable? Logical? Adorable? Intelligent?" Duo tossed out a few more parts and then held up two of them triumphantly.
"Irritating is what I was going for." Hilde shook her head and took them from him. "Here's the list from Sally. One of the Preventer shuttles went on the fritz and they need a replacement engine for the right wing propeller. I think I saw one in the back last week."
"Time to go swimming again." He said cheerfully while wiping his hands off on his black pants and walking off. "This may take awhile so why don't you go see about that suit?"
"Will do." She nodded and walked back to the job she had abandoned minutes before. "At least one contract is finished on time." Hilde muttered about an hour later, wiping off her hands on a spare rag and walking back into the office where a very distracted man stood waiting. "Can I help you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't look like the type to own a mobile suit but you could never know for sure.
"I'm hoping you can. You're one of my last hopes." He pulled out the picture of Duo that he had kept in his pocket. "Have you seen this young man recently?"
"Who are you?" She demanded, narrowing her eyes. "Even if I have, what do you want with him?"
"I'm Professor Alexander Dayone." He pulled out a business card and handed it to her. "I investigate the genealogy of war heros for the University on Colony L-1. Recently, I've been working on the genealogy of the Gundam Pilots. I heard that three out of the five of them had no familial history so I began to trace back their history. I discovered something rather interesting about Mr. Maxwell that I'm sure he would like to hear for himself."
"What would I want to hear?" Duo came in the back door, carrying a large engine. "We don't have an engine specifically for the right wing but with a few alterations we could adjust this one." He folded his arms over his chest and eyed Alexander suspiciously. "What do I want to hear?"
Alexander sighed and gave his background once again. "Basically, Mr. Maxwell, since Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton proved to be more difficult then I anticipated, I've been concentrating on you for a few months now and I found something." He pulled out the printout of data and handed it to the young man. "Your real name is Jarek Hoverton and you're the son of Mrs Delia Hoverton, a young woman who passed away when you were just a toddler and your younger sister was still an infant."
Duo's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" He finally asked.
"Quite sure. In fact, I met your sister a few weeks ago." He took out a photo of Jana from her file at the home and handed it to him. "I'm sure you're able to see the resemblance between the two of you. She was named Jardine at birth but like you, she few memories of your parents. She was adopted out after your parents expired and she's been in a children's home ever since her adoptive family passed away. She was renamed Jana by her adoptive family and kept their surname after their passing and her entry into the system."
"Let me see that." Hilde demanded, taking the photo from Duo and studying it closely. "She does look like you." She admitted. "How were you able to find all of this?"
"Some documents from the hospital where they were born survived the war. There were a few boxes of random folders that I found in what would have been the basement of the hospital you were born at. Your birth records were damaged, most of the files were. I'm still working on locating your father's name but I don't have that for you yet. I've handed the rest of the files over to my department at the university to aid the rest of the war orphans. With those papers and their birth names, I was able to get into the universal DNA records and match them up. It was pure luck that I found the records at all."
Hilde glanced at Duo and then back at the papers. "Why was she adopted and he wasn't?"
"All I can go on is pure speculation. I found some information on her adoptive family that she was able to confirm for me. They had a baby girl that died young. Jana was the right age so they took her, likely to fill a void."
"I got left behind, go figure. I remember that first shelter they put me in, I ran away from it as soon as I could."
"Would it have made your life any easier if she had been with you?"
"Would've made it worse." Duo admitted. "I saw plenty of families on the streets but it's hard enough taking care of one person. There's safety in numbers but food is hard to stretch when there isn't any."
"Duo." Hilde touched his arm.
He shook her off. "So you're telling me, after all these years of being alone, after all the times that I was picked on for being the dirty orphan, that I actually have a family?"
"You have a sister." Alexander replied. "Your father passed away shortly after your mother. I tried to find grandparents or aunts or uncles but haven't find any leads."
"I have a sister." Duo muttered taking the photo back to gaze at it again. "I can't believe it."
"Appearance wise, you two are quite a bit alike. I think that's where the similarities end, your personalities are extremely different. She's a very quiet and reserved girl. She's intelligent, judging from the institution reports, and very thoughtful. There have been some concerns about her introverted nature and she's been analyzed several times but there's never been any follow up. The woman who runs the home is hopeful that once you two are reunited that she'll come out of her shell."
"When can I meet her?" Duo demanded.
"It's up to you." Alex smiled. "If you want, I planned on going back to see her once I found you. It would be a pleasant surprise if I brought you back with me."
"I'm there. Let me pack." Duo decided. "Hilde, I'll be back in a few days. I'll call from wherever I'm going and let you know exactly when. Is that okay?"
"Duo, how could I say no to something like this? Go and find your family."
He grinned again and hugged her tightly. "Thanks Hilde. You're the greatest."
She smiled and returned his embrace. "Just make sure you do come back." She said, giving him a small push towards the door.
