Greetings…
General stuff; Gundam Wing is not mine, but I enjoy playing around with it
some. I don't pretend to be good at this writing stuff, so read enjoy, hate,
or whatever. Anyways thanks for your time. General time is AC 200. EW takes
place.
Thanks for all that read chapter one and left comments. Much appreciated! Here we go again.
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Chapter 2 "Proposal."
"Ladies and Gentlemen from the
flight deck we will be docking at L2 within the next thirty minutes. Please help
us prepare the cabin for arrival by placing your…"
Heero's eyes fluttered
slightly waking from his sleep, he barely caught the announcement. At one point
his senses were keen to any movement or sound around him even on the level he
once considered sleep. 'Am I getting loose, or comfortable?' He asked
himself.
"You got to admit Heero,
traveling in first class is much nicer than flying our own shuttle." Duo
grinned pulling a blanket over himself.
Duo always had a way with words.
No problems expressing reservations, feelings, or concerns over anything. No
problem talking at all. 'Who am I to question Heero Yuy?' Those words rang
in Heero's head again. Duo meant well 'But so do I.' He told himself.
"You're right. I don't
have to worry about us crashing with you out of the cockpit. That in itself does
make this flight much more." Pausing for a moment, "Comfortable." Heero returned to Duo with a cool face.
"Hey!"
Duo protested.
Heero let a smile come to
his face. "Just pushing your buttons."
"Well what'd you know? You
do have a sense of humor." Duo chuckled.
"Heero about Relena, I'm
sorry if I got you upset I'm sure you have your reasons. I would just hate to
see, well something bad happen between the two of you."
Heero's face kept its smile as
warm thoughts of her flooded his mind. Her face and the smell of her perfume
penetrated his soul. Slowly she faded, now his mission took her place. The
brutal smell of a solider. The heart of a warrior. The warm thoughts of a lover.
Did Duo know of his internal struggle? He lost his smile.
"I would too Duo. Some things
can't be helped. I will stop Campbell."
"Um, don't you mean we will
stop Campbell?"
Heero nodded.
"Minister Darlian. What a
pleasure to see you again." A tall and middle-aged John Campbell welcomed
Relena with a broad sweeping smile and a light handshake.
"The pleasure is
mine." Relena returned his smile and moved to Congresswoman Kate Mitchell
greeting her amongst three other members of Congress and several colony
delegates.
The group moved into the grand
hall where the colony delegates met for business and began a day of debating
various issues ranging from waste management between Earth and the Colonies; to
expansion of the frontier and what role the Colonies would par take.
While
Relena loved her job, some days like these marathon meetings grew tiresome fast
and two days worth would be pure torture if Campbell had anything to do with it.
The man loved to hog the spotlight and would do damn near anything to get his
narrow-minded points across. Him and Relena had crossed paths on more than one
occasion, it was no secret they didn't care for each other. Rather than fight
him directly on some initiatives she decided to take a more round about approach
and work the Congress from behind lambasting him. Dirty tactics she figured but
he did the same and the world of politics held its own fangs. Still, they both
maintained a regal front each other.
"Speaking
of the front," Relena rolled her eyes slightly as Campbell started to speak.
'Here it comes,' She thought.
"I'd like to talk about
Mars. The colony on Mars is still not an official member of this Government, yet
this Government funds several large initiatives on that planet. Specifically
I'm speaking of our costs. We need full control over future production on Mars
to insure our investment is sound.
"I beg to differ Congressman.
Mars as noted in its charter is exempt from Governmental control and leadership
until the colony finishes its third phase of construction. The colony of Mars
has been open to standard regulatory control and has provided all the necessary
requirements to this Government. Therefore, meeting its obligations to us."
Relena wasted no time protesting his notion. After all, she had a personal steak
in Mars.
"Minister, they are six months
behind on the third phase. Are you saying we should not step in and see where
our funding is going? Mars blatant misuses of ESUN funding is costing all of us
and they give no guarantees of productivity from the planet back into the Earth
Sphere to cover their initial costs. I propose a special delegation be placed on
Mars for ESUN representation."
"May I remind you Congressman,
Mars is the largest Terraforming project of its kind in history. The closest
colony is three days away from Mars making initial material transport timely and
expensive. I assure you our resources are not being wasted and the Mars colony
will become a member of the ESUN. The colony will contribute ten fold in mineral
resources back into the Earth Sphere.
"Your assurance aren't
enough Minister, my delegation will put representatives in place today. We will
give Mars a voice."
"Last I checked the Earth
Sphere Unified Nation Constitution prohibits this government from blatantly
assigning a colony its own representatives. Per the constitution once the colony
is complete a delegation will be elected from its members to represent it
within the Earth Sphere. Do you plan on breaking the fundamental principals that
this government were created on?" She hit her stride and the words danced in
the air as they left her mouth.
"She's good." Duo said to
Heero.
Heero allowed a small smile to
make it's way to his face. "This is what I call her solider mode."
Duo laughed." And here all
this time I thought you were the one to watch out for."
Heero turned his eyes to
Campbell and studied the man. Brooding voice, tall, mid-size frame, dark bushy
eyebrows, arrogance flowed through him like river. Yet he has careful never to
play his full hand in public, Relena though had got him good. Heero noticed him
shift more than a few times, fidget with his hands and watched his face change
expressions several times publicly displaying his disagreement with Relena. She
kept cool and calculated.
Relena and Campbell continued
their exchange through another hour until a fifteen-minute recess was finally
called.
Several small conversations
started up at the recess. "Minister." Relena turned around to find Campbell
before her. "A nice spirited debate." He paused for a moment; "I don't want you thinking ill of me perhaps we could continue this
conversation later over dinner." The last thing she wanted was dinner with
this man but she thought better of it. "I'd welcome that."
"Wonderful, I'll have my
assistant contact yours." She forced a smile, "Thank you." And made her
way out to the hallway to get some fresh air.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It was getting heated in
there." She knew that voice. That voice she loved. "I dare to say that is Heero Yuy behind me."
"You would be guessing
right!" He spun her around and their lips met. She gave him a large hug and
felt his muscles relax. "What are you doing here?" "A little business same as you. "
"Business?" She inquired.
"It's nothing serious, some
branch work here, and well the chance to come spend some time with the perfect
girl also motivated me to come."
"Good answer, you're getting
too good at this stuff."
"What stuff?"
"The telling me what I want to
hear stuff. Seriously why are you here?" She kept a playful smile.
"Relena." Heero's
voice pleaded. He fought hard to keep any mask or wall up around her. Things
felt so natural.
"I know! I've heard your
speech a thousand times. Preventer business cannot be shared." She let out
sighing; "Still, I'm happy you're here."
"So am I." He said barely
above a whisper.
"So what are your plans?"
She asked.
"I have some late afternoon
business to take care of. Think you would be free for dinner?"
She let out a sigh and her body
position changed as if she was now carrying a hundred pounds on her shoulders.
"I just made plans with Congressman John Campbell for dinner. He wants to
discuss, or I should say fight over Mars some more." Heero showed no
expression on his face.
"I will cancel though." She
said, perking up a bit.
"No, that's okay. Mars is
important to you. You should go, but I'll meet you later in our room."
"Our room!" Sounds like fun,
she grinned and gave him a kiss. "And don't think I'm letting up on your
business here."
He shook his head.
Heero noticed the colony
delegates flooding back into the hall. "I've got to get back."
"Knock them dead Relena." He
gave her one of his full rare smiles and his eyes backed up the admiration he
held for her.
Relena winked, "I'll kill
them with common sense." she turned back to the conference room.
"Heero."
"Yes?"
"Be careful." She said
lovingly.
He lowered his head to her
softly and watched her slip back into the door.
~~
Heero met up with Duo in the
foyer of the building, the pair moved out to their car and Duo proceeded to feed
Heero some information he had gathered. "Good news, he'll be out for dinner
tonight."
"Yeah, Relena is having dinner with him tonight."
"Lucky her. What are they
having dinner over?"
"Mars." Heero answered
"Mars? Ugh, thank god I'm
not in politics. She's pretty swift with those words of hers."
"He's going to move on us
through Relena."
"You think he would be that
bold? Surely he has to know of Relena's connection with us." Duo asked.
Heero looked him straight in the
eyes. "If I was Campbell it would be my first objective."
Duo had known Heero long enough
to know to trust his partner on these things. While not perfect, Heero had a
knack for getting into their objectives head. "Guess we play wait and see now."
"Yeah. Buts let plan to move
ahead with our plan late this evening." Heero started up the car and pulled
out of the garage they were parked in.
Duo's stomach growled,
"Sounds good but can we get something to eat first I'm starving?"
~~~~
"Ah Ms. Darlian, I'm pleased
to see you could make it." Campbell stood and greeted Relena kissing her hand
lightly.
"Thank you Congressman."
Relena sat down at a small private table in one of L2's finest restaurants.
Campbell following Relena's queue did the same.
A waiter came and poured a
glass of wine for Relena. "I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of
picking out the wine."
"No not at all, thank you."
She gave the man a very weak smile and turned back to the menu sitting before
her. The wine was a very expensive bottle of Chers' davoi, AC 180. To
Campbell's disappointment she didn't seem impressed. He studied Relena
keenly. She was quite an attractive woman and it was hard for anyone not to
notice. Once you cut through her beauty a strong willed and independent lady she
was. 'The Dove of peace? Perhaps.' Campbell thought wryly.
"Minister, I won't mince
words with you. We have not, shall I say, seen eye to eye on many issues
relating to the Earth Sphere. I have recently reassessed many stances I have
taken before and was hoping perhaps we could work together on some issues,"
Campbell began his show.
"Specifically?" She asked.
Campbell grinned. "The current
Defense Oversight Committee of ESUN."
Relena maintained her composure
and showed slight interest with her face by nodding her head.
Campbell continued, "To put it
simply Minister, I have the votes necessary to stop Mars dead in its tracks and
you know I do. I have a long-standing history in defense and I would welcome the
opportunity to be placed on the Defense oversight committee. You can help vote
me in and in turn I'll give you all the leeway you want with Mars."
Her stomach turned sour and she
shook her head. She was expecting something like this 'Fight fire with
fire.' She thought. "Interesting but I'm afraid Congressman, I have no
intentions of using my vote to add you to the committee and as you well know
without me you have no chance of making the committee." Her face stayed cool
and calm.
Campbell let out a heavy sigh
and his voice echoed slight irritation. "I
was hoping we might have some ground to work on here. Alas I was wrong, I'll
just have to go around you Minister."
"Go ahead and try Congressman.
I won't be another pawn in your pocket." She stood up. "I'm sorry I'll
be leaving you to dine by yourself. Good day."
Campbell grabbed her hand before
she could walk away. Her head whipped around to find his eyes devoid of
sentiment and his voice cold.
"Minister, don't make the
same mistakes your father did."
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End Chapter 2 – If you're
still with me. Things will start to heat up now. Just want to lay the groundwork
for what's to come. Thanks for your thoughts and comments.
* ESUN – Earth Sphere
Unified Nation
