Chapter 5
The Longest Hours


" Hey, Heero. Heero!" the voice was loud. It was annoying him, but he opened his eyes anyway to face the chestnut colored boy with the long pony tail swaying from his movements.
" What, Duo?" his monotone voice quavered abit from his being awaken from sleep.
" Did you feel anything just now? Like a, I don't know, "presence?" He looked puzzled, staring around the dim room in the early hours of the morning.
" Now that you mention it, no." And with that sharp reply he turned over and went back to a restless sleep. Duo shrugging and then falling back to sleep on his side of the room.

Corran Horn's eyes snapped open just as Duo was dreaming about Deathscythe tearing into an unarmed Leo. More, he thought, more of these Force sensitive people on Earth? He sat up in bed, sweating, seeing a glimpse into the future. As he slept, he had dreamed of a boy with chestnut hair and a long pony tail, then came a blonde haired boy with a kind voice, and finally another boy with half his face covered by a smiling clown mask, the other, his real mouth, turned down, making an odd contrast.
" What is it darling?" He looked down and smiled at his beautiful wife.
" Nothing, Mirax, I just had a bad dream thats all."
" Honey, when you have bad dreams, that normally means you've had another revelation through the Force. Now what is it?" The light to their small suite clicked on, her eyes fixed on his.
" I just had another vision, that boy, Wufei, he isn't the only one." She looked shocked upon hearing this.
" More? Did you get a look at them through your vision?"
" Yes, they were all young. Probably at least Jacen or Jaina Solo's age, which is what 16 or 17 right?"
" Yeah." Mirax stood up and grabbed the telephone, the thing that the Earthlings used for communication. " Hmm, now what did Lady Une say to do when you picked up the receiver?"
" Just hit the zero button love."
" Oh yeah, thanks Corran." The desk man answered.
" Um, this is Mirax Terrik, room thirty two, I'm trying to reach Gavin Darklighter, could you please page him for me?"
" Yes Miss Terrik, one second please." A buzzing, then ringing, a sleepy voice answering.
" Gavin Darklighter."
" Gavin, it's Mirax, you might want to get to room thirty two now. Corran has some startling information."
The sound of Mirax voice had Gavin up and pulling on trousers in the dim light. "I'll be right there."
Trowa Barton, the name he had assumed what seemed like years ago, watched the shining dagger as it sailed past him and -pock- into the table he was strapped to. The woman throwing them, Catherine, was really good at what she was doing. So far Trowa had only had one accident during the knife throwing bit in the circus's long career. The knife had grazed his side once, nearly penetrating. But other than that, she and he had been a spectacular pair. After the ninth dagger was sticking into the wood, two of the performers unstrapped him, and he bowed to the audience. And as he was bowing, a strange sensation made him lean over a bit to far and land on his face. The audience, oblivious to this sensation, was in an uproar, but Catherine and the performers gathered around him and helped him up. He shook the feeling away, what he could at least, and smiled at the audience and turned to head for the exit. The new sensation still lingered, he went to a water hose and washed his face, the coolness not helping him any.
" Trowa? What's wrong?" Catherine stood behind him, worry lined in her pretty face.
" Uh? Oh nothing, Catherine. Just got dizzy, thats all." He lied. The sensation felt like a fiery presence within his heart and head. It resisted him when he tried to forget about it, and came back strong. He felt as if someone had picked his brain, and it was causing him to become disoriented. " Uh, Catherine, I need to lie down for a bit."
She swept off the animal fur from the floor, laid a blanket down and Trowa was napping shortly thereafter. She stayed with him the rest of the day.

Quatre Winner knocked at the door to Trowa's trailer. He knocked again and there was still no answer. Sighing, he turned around and was heading down the two step incline, when the door opened slightly. Trowa stood there, soaking in sweat and pale.
" Trowa!" Quatre exclaimed and Trowa smiled weakly.
" Come in." His voice was more meaker and more timid than ever and that worried the Arabian boy.
" Trowa, what's the matter? You look really sick."
" I- this may be hard to explain- but I feel this fiery presence inside of me. It's causing me to feel disoriented. It feels like-"
" A very powerful force?"
" Yes, but how did you know?" But the answer hit him before Quatre could explain. " You must have gone through the same thing that I'm going through now."
" Yes, it's very odd. And that's why I came to see you. I've already called the others, but so far I could only manage to get ahold of Duo. And he said the same thing."
" What about Heero?" Trowa was lying on the small trailers only couch. " Did he feel anything?"
" No, Duo said Heero's just as shut up and rude as ever. And he said that he never felt a thing."

The Preventer Leo pilot squinted at his monitor. Another unknown spacecraft was inbound, four pinpoints of light behind it. " This is Preventer Leo X91 to incoming craft, identify yourself."
" This is Millardo Peacecraft, Preventer Leo." The pilot went pale, sweat formed on his brow.
" Uh, uh, your free to pass, uh, just uh, uh, follow me in." The Leo was slow in turning, slow in getting Zech's back to the MO2 resource satellite. Zech's waited impatiently in the tight cockpit, the journey leaving him tired.
" Zech's Marquise, what a surprise." The voice was familiar, the voice was a ghost from the past. Lady Une still had her quiet but forceful voice.
" Lady Une, I'd prefer to be refered as 'Wind' for the time being. I know there are still people on Earth that want me dead."
" Of course 'Wind.' Follow these coordinates, the deligation from the New Republic has just arrived."
" Deligation?"
" Yes, a Jedi Master that goes by the name of Luke Skywalker. His powers are amazing." Lady Une's tone carried a sense of awe with it.
Then silence, except for the tweetling of Gate and the roaring of four sublight engines.

" Master Skywalker, I'm surprised to see you here." Gavin gave a formal bow to the powerful Jedi Master.
" Hello, Gavin." Luke's tone was warm and gentle. " Where is Corran and Mirax, I thought they would be here to greet me."
" My apologies, they went off to watch a sunset, at least thats what I've been told it's called." The Rogue pilot looked towards the lowering sun. " This planet is so beautiful. Master, Corran also wanted to tell you that-"
The Jedi Master interrupted him. " Yes, I know, I sense it now. There are more, more than just Wufei Chang. I knew the moment I was in the boundaries of this galaxy."
A tweetling, and a young female in pilot garb trailed by two astromechs came up behind them. " Uncle?" Jaina was looking puzzled. " I feel a prescence nearby, could it be-?"
" Yes, Jaina, there are more." Skywalker looked at Jaina Solo with intense eyes searching her face for a reaction. " We might have the chance to teach them, to reveal those powers to them, I think they will make wonderful Jedi trainees."
" As do I, Uncle. Commander Darklighter, how pleasant to see you, sir." She stood at attention as she turned to him, giving him a crisp salute. He returned it.
" Hello, Jaina. And it's just Gavin for the time being, until we're back on Coruscant."
" Yes, sir. Er-Gavin." She smiled, then once again turned to her uncle. " Uncle, I'm going to go explore for a bit. Will you be needing me?"
" No, I have Gavin and the astromechs. Go on, and be mindful of this planet, young Jaina." She nodded, then turned and headed off towards the hangar to grab her gear.

Wufei sat up in his bed, the sweat stinging his eyes. " Hnn, another one? This one's more, hnnn, more powerful." He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, tried to take a step, and fell over, the sensation's overwhelming. Wufei Chang blacked out.

Quatre and Trowa looked at each other, without saying a word their eyes met. Both could feel the presence, both knew that a stronger being was on Earth.
" We should probably get the others." was all Quatre had to say. Trowa nodded, then both stood and headed out the trailer door.

Duo Maxwell was lying on the floor. He couldn't remember what had happend, all he knew was one minute, he was working jabs on a punching bag, the next, he was lying on the floor rubbing his head.
" What the-?" He was feeling strange, feeling like he wasn't alone, feeling an odd sensation that made him dizzy. " Hey, Heero, hey, I'm not feeling to good pal. Hee-" his sentence unfinished, Duo felt the darkness at the corners of his eyes, he tried to resist it, tried to get up, but he couldn't. He passed out on the padded floor.

Zech's looked out across Earth. Never have I thought I would return to this place, he thought. He stood looking across the New York harbor, watching the sun go down. He wondered why he had come back at all. He wondered what had drawn him back.
" Zech's, you shouldn't have just left me, I'm coming to Earth." Noin looked worried and had been saddened that he had just left Coruscant without so much as a goodbye to her. " I'll be there in a few days, Zech's, why Zech's?"
" I don't know Noin, something drew me back here. Bring some of our belongings, for reasons unknown to me now, I think we might be staying here for a long time."