What a tangled web we weave

What a tangled web we weave.... The plot thickens!

What happened between books I and II:

Duo escaped and returned to L2, but never retrieved the Deathscythe--it was finally shot down by Trowa in a move to infiltrate Oz. Trowa is now an officer on Barge, though Lt. Nichol and several others still don't trust him. Heero, Duo and Wufei have all been captured, and Trowa and Heero have brought Zechs--as Milliardo Peacecraft--back to Barge in the Vayeate and Mercurius. Now there are reports of a new Gundam attacking the colonies, and they will be sent out to deal with it. Elsewhere, Relena has taken over the reigns of the Sanq Kingdom and tries to lead the world toward pacifism, and the colonies one by one begin to accept Oz' rule.

Toy Soldiers

by Ashura Nagisa

disclaimer: I don't own GW. Surprise, surprise.

pairings: subject to change, but so far: 13x5, 11+13, 2x11, 3+4

warnings/notes: AU, because playing fast and loose with the timeline and actual events. Yaoi, het, drama, angst, violence, sap--um, how about just "everything"?

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Book II: The Star Moves Not But In His Sphere

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Chapter 1

"As unpreditable as rain clouds,

striking like thunder and lightning."

--Sun Tzu (The Art of War)

Officer Trowa Barton of Oz had been given direct and explicit orders by one Lieutenant Nichol. Unless his presence was specifically requested, he was to leave Colonel Une alone.

Naturally, this meant Trowa spent a good portion of his time keeping a discreet eye on her.

Une herself did not seem aware of Nichol's orders. She, unlike her lieutenant, at least gave the appearance of trusting her new young officer. She'd already selected him as the pilot of the Vayeate, a new experimental mobile suit built by the same engineers who had designed the original Gundams. Trowa wondered if that was the real cause of Nichol's animosity toward him--it was clear the lieutenant had been accustomed to being Une's favourite, and now he was being supplanted by an upstart pilot.

"Officer Barton." The greeting was low and warm and a little pained, and he turned to see the Lady of Fortress Barge sagging against the cool metal wall of the bulkhead. "Looking after me again?"

Trowa, as always in control of his impulses, did not show his surprise that she had been aware he was monitoring her. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right," he temporised.

She grimaced, her fingers pressed against her belly. "A diet of space rations getting the better of me at last. Nothing fatal, I'm afraid, just miserable." She forced a wry smile through the wince of pain. "If you're so concerned for my welfare, you could be useful and help me back to my quarters."

"Of course." Trowa, knowing an opportunity when one bit him on the nose, slipped an arm around her shoulders and let her lean against him. They were the same height, something he had not realised before but noticed now as he supported her. She was ill, that much was certain; several times she doubled over in pain, and they had to wait before she could walk again.

She punched in the code to unlock her quarters and the door slid open. Trowa helped her inside and eased her onto the bed, taking advantage of her distraction to memorise the layout and details of the room. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" he offered, stalling. "Perhaps call for Dr. Blythe?"

Une shook her head, shrugging out of her jacket and taking a long, silent moment to let her queasy stomach settle. "That's not necessary," she said at last. "But stay here. I've been meaning to talk to you alone for some time, Officer Barton. This is as good an opportunity as any."

Trowa stiffened, though the motion was barely visible. "What did you want to discuss?"

"Your mission," she answered, and just as imperceptibly he relaxed. Of course. There had been reports of a new Gundam, and Trowa was to take the Vayeate, with Heero in the Mercurius and a squad of mobile dolls, to eliminate the problem. Trowa's intuition, and every instinct he had, told him Quatre was the pilot of the new Gundam, and he had been planning accordingly.

But when Une gazed up at him with an uncanny and disconcerting expectance in her eyes, she did not speak of mission profiles and plans for adaptation.

"A boy falls from the sky," she said softly, "and into my hands. No-one has ever seen him before. He has no training...and yet he pilots a mobile suit better than anyone since Lieutenant Noin. All this is odd enough. And yet, the strangest piece of this puzzle: he bears the name, but not the face, of a man I know to be dead--a man whose memory I would give anything to be rid of."

It was only honed instinct at that moment that kept Trowa's brain whirling through the possibilities for escape. //Did she know the real Trowa Barton?// It was one possibility the pilot of Gundam Heavyarms had never considered, though in retrospect he realised he should have. But if she had known all along that he was not who he claimed, why had she not arrested him already? Why was she not doing so now? It was that thought that kept him from drawing his weapon and shooting her at once; a curiousity about her purposes in revealing this knowledge to him now.

She seemed aware of his turmoil, though she made no note of it. "Were you truly Trowa Barton," she continued simply, "I would never have allowed you onto Fortress Barge. So I believe what Lieutenant Nichol only suspects--that you are one of the Gundam pilots. Zero-three, I think."

"And yet you kept me here," Trowa observed, his questioning barely an inflection in his soft monotone.

She nodded. "I did. Don't worry, Gundam pilot. We will use each other as well as we can, you and I, and then we will part ways. For now our goals are the same, and there is no reason for fighting."

"My mission is to destroy Oz," Trowa reminded her.

"Is it?" Une challenged, standing. "Or is it to protect the colonies? Treize says you Gundam pilots are honourable--he says that without knowing what I do, without knowing what Operation Meteor was supposed to be. With all that I know, and with all I have seen you do, I think he is right."

"If our battles before this had been tests," she continued, her voice dropping to barely above a whisper, "you would have passed them all. I know you will do what is right. But the colonies have accepted Oz now--they do not want the Gundams, or need them. There will be peace, so how can you believe you have not won?"

"Oz is manipulating the colonies, Lady," Trowa said stiffly, "and so are you. I've watched you charm them, but one oppressor is not a good replacement for another."

"How are we oppressing them?" Une snapped. It surprised Trowa, but her pique seemed genuine. "Communication is now not only permitted between colonies and earth, but encouraged. The Sanq kingdom leads the rest of the world toward pacifism. The enemy now is the Romafeller Foundation and the mobile dolls, it is not Oz or Mister Treize."

She sighed, stepping closer as Trowa tried to sort out his thoughts. "One more thing," she said, leaning close. "It is important. I know what you are thinking. I know you believe you are riding out to meet a comrade tomorrow, that the pilot of this new Gundam is your old friend zero-four. You think that you will join forces and the three of you will return to destroy Oz."

"Is that what you would do?" Trowa asked acidly.

She ignored his question. "Things will not work out the way you've planned," she informed him. "I think I know what influences him, what has made him attack the colonies--I, more than anyone, recognise the signs. It is a system that warps the mind--it feeds on sorrow and pain until it has driven its pilot far past controlling. You will serve the colonies better if you destroy the new Gundam--do whatever you will with the pilot."

"You sound like a fortune-teller, not a military commander," Trowa accused.

Une smiled bitterly. "In that case, you should listen even more carefully--for a long time, it was those whose minds were not quite whole who had that kind of gift. But if it puts you more at ease, I will tell you this is not divination. It is only my past, coming back to haunt me, and I will do what good I can with it."

Trowa shook his head, wondering. "You know all this, yet you're still going to send me out in the Vayeate tomorrow."

She nodded. "I told you, we are not necessarily working at cross-purposes now. As for the new Gundam...you'll see soon enough what I mean, and you will do what is right."

"I will do what must be done," Trowa affirmed stiffly.

"I know." She pressed the button to slide open the door. It was a dismissal. "One last thing, Officer Barton--perhaps you should go down to holding and check on the prisoners, before you return to duty."

If anyone had been present who was familiar with the imperceptible changes in Trowa's expression, they would have noticed him scarcely able to contain his disbelief.

****

"We're leaving as scheduled," Trowa told 'the prisoners,' his expression vague. "Colonel Une believes the new Gundam is piloted by zero-four, but that the Gundam itself may be out of control."

"But why would Qu--zero-four be attacking colonies?" Duo countered. "We just don't do that kind of thing!" He was sprawled on his back on the floor in the middle of the holding cell.

Trowa shrugged. "Does it matter? We'll...deal with the target."

"Trowa..." Heero said softly. He recognised, if no-one else did, the strain in his companion's voice when he spoke of eliminating /this/ target.

"I said we'd deal with it." Trowa snapped, his voice cold.

"Wish you'd take me along instead of him," Duo grumbled, rolling to his feet. "I'm a better pilot that zero-one over there any day! And," he added meaningfully, "I've got my Deathscythe to avenge."

"Which is why you're not going anywhere," Trowa said dryly. Duo rolled his eyes.

"Nobody around here can take a joke, you know? Hey--" Without warning, he grabbed Trowa by the shoulder and hauled him close.

Trowa's fist landed solidly in Duo's gut, and the longhaired pilot doubled over, clutching at his stomach. "Shit! What, you thought I was attacking you or something? Jesus /Christ/--" He subsided into aggravated mumbling, huddled on the floor as he tried to catch his breath.

Trowa locked eyes with Heero. "Tomorrow morning," he repeated, striding out the door and locking it behind him.

Duo forced open one eye. "I was just givin' him some friendly advice...this place is bad for my health."

Wufei spoke up softly from where he sat cross-legged in the corner. "Was there a point to all that, or should we assume that he's no longer on our side?"

Duo snorted. "Him? Naw, that's a guy we /can/ trust. After all, he left us a present." Straightening, he held up a palm-sized projector unit, twirling it between his fingers. "Shall we take a look?"

As the pilots crowded around their makeshift screen, Trowa shot a last glance inside the cell. Their course of action had seemed so clear this morning; now he wasn't sure how things were going to unfold.

He walked away with Duo's hasty words echoing in his mind, whispered when their faces had been close enough to hide.

//Don't be too hard on her, Trowa. She's a better person than you think.//

//And get me the hell out of here soon, would ya?//

*****

Left alone in her quarters at last, Une sank into the stiff-backed chair at her desk. She still felt sick, but only in flashes. It would be all right, she was visiting another colony soon--solid ground beneath her feet and a genuine meal would do wonders, she was certain.

Not that it could all be blamed on a diet of space rations. She had a feeling part of her supposed illness was anxiety, and that was what kept her from calling Nathan. She didn't want to discuss this with anyone, not even him. The new Trowa Barton was as close as Une wanted to get to her past this day.

Treize had once told her that time moved in cycles, that the civilisations of men were doomed to repeat the same mistakes of their predecessors. She wondered if it worked on a smaller scale, as well--if the world could come full-circle in her lifetime alone.

She had read the reports of the new Gundam's attacks, and recognised the signs.

She had noticed the reluctant softening of her officer-pilot's eyes when they had discussed zero-four.

And she knew, deep in her gut, past the part where all her own secrets were kept safe, that this battle would not go as any of them had planned.

//Please, be strong.// A prayer, borne on the wings of thought, to an enemy she had never met. //Be stronger than I was. //

//Don't let it all fall apart now.//

*****

Next time: More on Une's connection to the Zero system, Project Meteor, and the original Trowa Barton. Duo and Wufei trade some interesting secrets.