DISCLAIMER – I do not own Gundam Wing.
Chapter Fifteen
At dinner the next day, Relena made the announcement, "The Executive counsel has decided how to approach the threat of the new OZ base that we are all familiar with." Everyone looked up from their small conversations to the head of the table where Relena was awaiting their attention. "We've decided to take military action against the base…" Sighs of relief were heard around the table. "…only after they've shown aggression against the United Alliance government."
The usually passive Quatre stood up in anger, slamming his hands down on the table. He'd had enough of Relena's bullshit. "What do you mean after they've shown aggression? Does kidnapping a hero of war and blowing up the palace of the President while an Executive meeting was being held NOT COUNT as aggression?!"
Relena stood firm. "In the eyes of the Executive Counsel, it does not."
"But you're the head of the Counsel," Trowa interjected. "You should have some sway over them."
"I do," she replied, her voice calm. "I am the one that persuaded the Counsel not to pursue military action against the base."
Mouths dropped in shock.
"You told them not to attack the base," Heero repeated, unable to fathom why Relena would do such a thing.
"You told them not to attack the base?" Duo repeated, still in shock.
"What are you - the obvious brothers?" Relena retorted sarcastically. "Of course I told them not to attack the base. I am a firm believer in total pacifism and will not allow this little incident to cause me to contradict my former statements against methods of war."
"Now is not the time for idealism," Heero growled, his voice conveying about ten percent of the anger he felt brewing up inside of him.
Wufei entered the conversation. "We need to retaliate against the wrongs they've already committed against the President and her close friends. Surely even you can understand the importance of remaining strong in the eyes of the enemy, Relena."
"Do not bother me with your talk of justice and strength, Wufei. I've heard it quite enough over the years," Relena turned her attention away from Wufei and toward Quatre who had started to shake.
"How can you do this to your friends, Relena?" he asked between breath intakes.
"My friends, as you so sentimentally put it," Relena said, "are irrelevant in the grand scheme of the future of the United Alliance. I have the weight of more than just my friends on my shoulders. The Earth and Colonies are depending on me to make the correct decisions. And waltzing into war with a remnant of some OZ base does not seem to be in the best interest of the Alliance." She ended her little speech by sitting down delicately in her chair and picking up her fork to resume dinner.
Quatre left the table, knocking his chair over in the process and scaring a poor servant who only wanted to refill his tea. Catherine got up and quickly followed him. Sally was the next to leave, with Trowa, Hilde, and Wufei following close behind. Duo shook his head sadly at Relena, as if her decision were somehow a product of circumstances she didn't understand, as if she were a three-year-old child. He walked out of the room, following the previously departed entourage. Heero and Jinx were left alone at the table with Relena.
Be nice, Jinx's voice warned Heero. I think killing her is a severe governmental infraction, punishable by death.
I can handle myself, he said back. "Relena, you realize that you've just insulted about half the people that used to sit at this table," Heero stated calmly. "Duo was kidnapped, Jinx and I were nearly blown up, Catherine was almost crushed under the rubble, and everyone else would have been extremely upset by the loss of a sister or good friend. You've dug yourself into one deep hole here."
"I haven't dug myself anywhere," Relena insisted, pouting a little. She hadn't expected the news to go so badly. "And I made the correct decision to order the destruction of those mobile suits as soon as a demolition crew, loyal to the Alliance, arrives tomorrow morning."
"What?" Jinx exclaimed, talking directly to Relena for about the first time since they'd met. "Why are you doing that?"
"To keep those horrible suits from mutilating the peace we fought so hard to build. But you wouldn't know about that, would you Plague? I'm sure you were on the wrong side of the line in the sand back then, weren't you?"
"Relena," Heero warned.
"Don't worry, Heero," Jinx said, smiling a little to herself. "During the Eve Wars, I worked for many different factions, and I don't deny my occasional involvement with the wrong side. But I admit my past mistakes, Relena. You still make yours."
"What are you talking about, wench?" Relena scowled.
Jinx's smile got even bigger, peaking Heero's interest in what she was going to say next. "You said so yourself, "the peace we fought so hard to build." Isn't that a little contradictory to your firm belief in total pacifism?"
Relena's eyes narrowed as she glared at the girl who slept in Heero's arms last night. In Heero's arms and between him and Duo, Relena noticed when she went in to check on them and saw them all cuddled on the floor together. Exclaiming a loud hmph, the President got up from the table and walked to her relocated private quarters.
* * * * * * *
Jinx and Heero joined the others in the billiards room, which had been converted to a mass bedroom since the west wing of the palace contained most of the spare bedrooms and the west wing was no longer – well, the west wing was just no longer.
Catherine was holding Quatre's head to her chest, trying to comfort the fiery blonde. Trowa and Duo were sitting on the pool table, legs dangling over the sides. Trowa's feet rested on the floor while Duo's swung back and forth a few inches above the ground. Sally, Hilde, and Wufei were crammed together on the couch, with Wufei in the middle. All attention was turned to the couple that walked in the door.
"Stop talking telepathically and include the rest of us in your conversation," Duo teased, noticing that Heero and Jinx were staring at each other as they walked in.
"Sorry," Heero said, his thoughts weighing heavily on his mind and everyone could tell. "I guess we should tell you what's going on." He looked at Jinx for support.
"It's like this guys," Jinx said, taking initiative. "Relena's a bitch and has already ordered that the suits we worked so hard building yesterday and practicing with today are to be destroyed at soon as possible." Trowa gripped the edge of the pool table, causing it to creak. "That means tomorrow morning."
Quatre was about to stand up and start speaking forcefully again, but Catherine held his head against her, unwilling to let him get more angry. "How can she do that?" he asked, his voice muffled by Catherine's shirt.
Duo's legs started swinging faster under the pool table. "That only leaves one option then," he said, looking like the Shinigami again.
"What's that?" Sally asked, knowing the answer but hoping against all odds that it wasn't what she thought it was.
"Take the suits now and attack the base against orders," Wufei said, stating the obvious answer that every pilot in the room had concluded immediately after hearing Relena's dumb decision.
"I was afraid of that," Sally said, taking Wufei's hand into her own. For once, he didn't object to the public display. He'd be leaving her before daylight, and no one knew if he'd ever be able to come back to her. It was ok to make exceptions under these circumstances.
"Oh no," Catherine breathed, looking first at her brother sitting above her on the pool table and then down to the blonde hair against her chest. "Not both of you."
"We all should go. It gives us the best chance of all returning if there are more people to watch our backs," Heero said, trying to comfort her.
"I know."
A heavy silence hung over the room as each pilot contemplated his own death and the death of his comrades. They thought of leaving their loved ones and never returning, dreading that their loved ones might have to continue life without them. They thought of living their own lives, separated from the men they'd come to know as brothers. How empty it would seem.
"We should go," Jinx stated, riveting them from their contemplations. "Relena may be dense, but even she might figure us out and try to stop us before we can carry out this plan."
"What plan?" Trowa asked.
"Right now," Heero said truthfully, "our only plan is to leave."
Quatre's face reappeared as he pulled away from Catherine. "Mission Accepted," he said, standing.
* * * * * * *
Quatre stared at Catherine's beautiful face as the pilots settled themselves in the shuttle. The suits were loaded, and it was time to leave. Tears were in her eyes as she gazed back at him from the monitor. Trowa came up behind Quatre, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Be careful, both of you," she said, her voice shaking as she tried to control her tears. "I love you," she managed to say before breaking into a fit of sobs. She left the screen in a hurry. Trowa and Quatre looked at each other a moment, trying to decide if Catherine had meant she loved Trowa or she loved Quatre.
"Both," Jinx said from behind, reaching between them to cut off the transmission. "She meant that she loves both of you." Everyone had said their goodbyes and it was time to focus on the mission now.
"And who do you love, Jinx?" Duo teased from the pilot's chair.
"Each and every one of you," she replied, looking directly at Heero. He didn't avert his eyes from the monitors in front of him, but he smiled, feeling that she was looking at him.
"Hey, copilot," Duo called to Heero, "give me a countdown."
"Ignite engines in 5…4…3…"
* * * * * * *
Relena sat up in bed, feeling the ground shake lightly beneath her as the rumbling sound of her dream blasted suddenly loud and clear in real life. She looked over at the chronometer, barely registering that it was 01:38. What the hell was going on? Rolling out of bed, she made her way to the window, expecting to see signs of an earthquake. Earthquake? She hurried faster around the bed and to the window. There were no earthquakes here…
"What are you idiots doing?" she yelled into the windowpane, banging her forehead against it. The carrier took off from her back yard, angling high into the night sky and disappearing from view within a few seconds.
"Argh!" she screamed, running through the hallway to the girls' room. Even though she'd designated a girls' room in the study and a boys' room in the billiards room, Jinx had refused to follow the rules and slept in the billiards room instead of with the other girls. Relena had to grab the doorframe of the study to slow herself down and swing around into the open room. "What are they doing?" she screamed.
Then she noticed the girls in the room. Sally and Hilde had tears in their eyes, and they were sitting on either side of Catherine, who was shaking from her sobs.
* * * * * * *
"I hope she's not crying," Quatre said softly, breaking the silence that had permeated the carrier since liftoff. Space was now wide open before them.
"I'm sure she is," Trowa answered, not helping the situation any. "But she's strong, and as long as we promise to return to her, then she'll be ok."
Quatre smiled, holding his right hand out to Trowa. "Promise me you'll take care of her," he said. Trowa grasped his hand firmly.
"Promise me you'll take care of her," Trowa repeated back to Quatre.
"Promise," they both said in unison, their grips tightening before they released hands.
"Oh, the brotherly love is going to smother and kill us all," Duo screamed in mock terror, dragging a smile from everyone in the carrier. He proceeded to put his hands to his neck, mimicking choking. Duo coughed, fell out of the pilot's seat, sputtered, and died.
Laugher erupted from everyone, even the 'dead' Duo.
"Come on," Heero urged to Duo. "Get your ass off the floor. We need to figure out what we want to do next."
"Exactly," Wufei chimed in, "What is the course of our next action?"
Duo grabbed a hold of his pilot's chair and dragged himself up into it. He swiveled around to face the majority of the group. Trowa and Quatre were sitting side by side at the navigator's station. Wufei and Jinx were positioned in front of the weapons consol. Heero was next to him as copilot. "I guess we head toward the base," he said with a shrug. "Nothing like a good ol' preemptive strike to get this party started."
"I agree," Trowa said, nodding his head slightly.
Nods emanated from the rest of the pilots as well. There was no other logical plan of action to take.
* * * * * * *
Relena swore at herself for being so naïve as to leave the ex-Gundam pilots to their own devices for a few hours. They'd succeeded in stealing the suits she'd meant to destroy, caused an alarm to go off as they blasted off into the night, initiated an emergency Counsel meeting, and discredited the President of the United Alliance because she had ever even known them.
She sighed heavily, unsure of what to do. Locked out of the Counsel meeting, she could only hope that the members inside believed her when she said she'd told the pilots not to strike out against the base. She could only hope they'd give her testimony the benefit of the doubt and decide not to vote her out of office on account of this current problem.
Sally walked up to Relena, sitting next to her on the padded bench. "You brought this upon yourself, you know," Sally said, not helping Relena's foul mood.
"I know, I know," she hissed back at the doctor. "I'm fully aware of what an idiot I am." Relena stood up quickly from the bench, crossed her arms in front of her, and proceeded to pace up and down the narrow hallway. Her future was being decided in that room, and here Sally was placing more blame on her.
* * * * * * *
"Colonel Noin?" Duo asked, not believing the woman's words. "Do you mean to tell us it's acceptable for us to dock on your Preventor craft, which goes against Ms. Peacecraft's recent decree of not attacking the base?"
"That's right, boys," she replied with a cocky attitude. "Come on over and stay a while."
Duo glanced over to Heero, who had a look of 'why not?' on his face. Ok then, Duo thought. "We'll be docking in…" he checked the chronometer, "…3 minutes and 39 seconds, Noin. See you shortly."