Disclaimer: I do not own or have any title, interest or right in either Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon. This fanfiction is not being used for commercial purposes. I own all other rights (to the extent legally permissible) in connection with this writing.

Chapter 3: RUMBLINGS OF WAR

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"They may speak when it does not come to them to speak -- this is called rashness. They may not speak when it comes to them to speak -- this is called concealment. They may speak without looking at the countenance of their superior -- this is called blindness." - Kung Tze (The Analects, 5th Century B.C.)

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Space Transport Vehicle: ST-31X; March 17; 1:50 am

Lieutenant Commander Wufei Chang was sitting quietly in his seat, studying the layout of Colony X18999. The young Chinese man ignored the humming of the transport vehicle's engines and the loud snoring from some of his troops.

Wufei was the commanding officer of the 5th SEAS Team for the L1 Colony Space Forces. The special operations team consisted of twelve members carefully handpicked because of their skill and daring. Unlike standard military forces, the special operations forces were expected to act alone and without military or logistical support from other units. In fact, it was quite common for the SEAS team to operate in the field for months on its own. Wufei was responsible for making sure that his team procured their own supplies, equipment and other necessities in enemy territory.

Lieutenant Trowa Barton quietly sat down next to Wufei.

"Did you review the tactical simulations?" Wufei asked his second-in- command.

Trowa nodded quietly.

"We'll be arriving there in five days, we need to be absolutely prepared," Wufei stated in a low voice. "All simulations and documents will need to be destroyed before then."

"Understood," replied the stoic young Lieutenant.

"Are you two still up?" came a voice from the cockpit. A petite girl with a cheerful grin spun around. "I can't get much sleep with you guys gabbing back there!"

"Lieutenant Hilde Schbeiker, shouldn't you be piloting, instead of sleeping?" Wufei snapped in a scathing voice.

Hilde shrugged. "I can pilot this thing with my eyes closed, Wufei! After all, this is the advanced ST-31X model, not that old ST-29B clunker. This ship handles smoothly, like the bottom of a baby's..."

"Ahem!" Wufei cleared his throat. "Why don't you go back to piloting this craft...quietly!?!"

Hilde tossed her short, dark hair, but obeyed the order. To amuse herself, she began to hack into the military flight schedules. Maybe there would be an interesting flight that she could eavesdrop on. She started scanning the classified lists until something caught her attention.

Hmmm...this should be entertaining, she thought. After sending a few quick commands, she reconfigured the communications link (comm link) on her selected target. She began to listen in carefully.

A decidedly masculine voice could be heard pleading through the static, ["Come on, babe, give it to me!"]

Hilde's eyes widened and she began to blush.

A feminine voice replied over the comm link, ["Hey! Don't touch..."]

* * * * *

Space Transport Vehicle: ST-29B; March 17; 1:52 am

"...my food!" cried Usagi, hugging the large bag of snacks protectively to her chest.

"Come on," begged Duo, looking hungrily at the bag of chips. "You know that's my favorite brand! You're being too cruel! Give me the bag, babe!"

Captain Lucrezia Noin was watching in stunned silence as the two fought rabidly over the young girl's bag of snacks. Captain Noin had never seen two people eat so much in a short amount of time. She was beginning to grow concerned that their food supplies would not last for the duration of the flight.

"This is my after-midnight snack," Usagi protested. "I packed it, I should eat it."

"You should share," Duo suggested. "Food should be shared among friends."

"When did we start being friends?" Usagi queried suspiciously, still clutching her bag of snacks.

Duo grinned. "Ever since that time on L2 when I accidentally walked in on you..."

"Here!" Usagi shoved some chips into his mouth. She unloaded half the bag on his lap and stalked over to the back of the transport vehicle. She stuck her tongue at him before curling up comfortably on a seat.

Duo munched happily on the chips in his mouth. After a moment, he gathered a handful of chips from his lap and offered them to Captain Noin.

"Uhhh...no thanks," Captain Noin politely declined, with some apprehension in her voice.

"So what's the deal with all this military build-up?" Duo asked, as he continued to consume his snack. "I mean, how serious are you guys?"

Captain Noin frowned "That decision is up to the policymakers. If we are given the orders, we will go in and remove the Barton Foundation."

"You make it sound like the military already has a plan to invade X18999," Duo smirked.

Captain Noin nodded. "Of course, we do. We wouldn't send in our troops otherwise."

"So how long did it take for the military to get this plan ready?" Duo inquired, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"That's classified information," Captain Noin responded curtly.

A look of amusement lit up Duo's face. "I'm willing to bet that the plan was ready even before the coup. Am I right?"

Captain Noin's eyes widened slightly. She quickly looked away. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Mr. Maxwell. Besides, all that information is classified."

"Your silence on the topic speaks volumes," Duo observed with a grin. He continued to munch on his food. He would occasionally cast her a gleeful look (with a mouth full of chips), like a child that learned something that he shouldn't have.

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Space Carrier: 1LSS Amuro Rey; 3rd Fleet of the L1 Colony; March 17; 7:50 am

"I hope we're not in trouble," Minako muttered, looking over at Heero.

"We're not," Heero responded in a level voice.

The two young pilots had been summoned to meet with their commanding officer. Minako was still in her flight suit and had not been given the opportunity to change. Heero was wearing a crisp, clean uniform and seemed unconcerned about the upcoming meeting with their superior officer.

"How do you know that we're not in trouble?" Minako pressed anxiously.

Heero barely glanced at her. "I haven't done anything that would get me in trouble."

"Well, neither did..." Minako began, and then paused. "At least I hope they weren't too upset over that..."

Eventually, they reached their destination. The commanding officer's steel door was closed.

"Should I knock, or did you want to have the honor?" Minako asked in a sweet voice.

Heero raised an eyebrow, but did not offer any verbal response.

"Fine," grumbled Minako. She sharply rapped twice on the door.

The steel door slid open automatically to reveal a large office filled with paperwork. Their commanding officer, sitting behind a massive desk, was calmly flipping through some files. He was a tall, slender man with black hair and deep, blue eyes.

The two young officers stepped inside. Each pilot announced their arrival and saluted their commanding officer.

Captain Seiya Kou glanced up and offered them a casual salute.

"I suspect that both of you are aware of our deployment to X18999," Seiya remarked, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

Minako and Heero nodded affirmatively.

"Well, as part of a new 'open door' policy adopted by the Department of Defense, the 3rd Fleet has been asked to host two embedded reporters from SNN," Seiya informed them with a smile. "Admiral Noventa's staff wants one of the embedded reporters to be inserted in the 12th Marine Division. The other embedded reporter will be joining us, the 16th Battle Wing of the 3rd Fleet."

Minako raised her eyebrows. he was beginning to figure out the reason they had been summoned to meet with the commanding officer.

Seiya grinned cheerfully. "I want both of you to look after our guest. Give our reporter a tour of the ship and maybe even take our guest on a low- risk mission. Just make sure the reporter doesn't see any classified information. More importantly, I want you to keep our new 'embed' out of everyone's hair. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" Minako and Heero saluted.

"Good. I'll email you the new protocols on handling embedded reporters. You're dismissed," Seiya told them.

The two young pilots started to head for the door.

"Lieutenant Commander Aino, one more thing!" Seiya called out after her.

Minako froze and looked at him questioningly. "Yes, sir?"

"Don't let that incident with the coffee machine happen again, okay?"

Minako winced and she offered him a feeble nod. She quickly hurried out the door after Heero.

After a moment of reflection, Captain Seiya Kou turned to look at the two files that had been sent over from headquarters relating to the embedded reporters.

* * * * *

Colony: X18999 (Residential Block C-2); March 17; 6:30 pm

A frail looking young girl with short, black hair sat quietly by the window. Her violet eyes were gazing at the scenery outside. The streets were empty and an eerie silence had descended upon the residential district of X18999. Ever since the Barton Foundation had taken control, a nightly curfew had been imposed. Most of the residents had disappeared into their homes before the 7:00 pm curfew would become effective.

"Will you be all right by yourself, Hotaru?" a quiet voice asked.

Hotaru Tomoe turned away from the window to look at the speaker.

Dr. Setsuna Meiou was a tall woman with a gracefully slender figure. She had long, luxurious dark hair with dark green highlights. Setsuna's emerald eyes sadly regarded the young girl.

"I'll be fine, Aunt Setsuna," Hotaru answered with a smile. "Is it still busy?"

Setsuna nodded as she slipped on a medical coat. "The hospital is still overwhelmed with casualties from the coup. I'm sorry that I only had a chance to drop in for a quick meal. I'll try to take some more time off tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I understand," Hotaru said. "I only wish I could help."

"The best thing you can do is keep studying and get into a good medical school," Setsuna smiled.

Hotaru watched Aunt Setsuna walk out the door and toward the hospital. Setsuna was not an aunt by any blood relation, rather she was a close friend of Hotaru's adopted mother, Michiru Kaiou, and adopted "father", Haruka Ten'ou. Hotaru giggled at the thought, because Haruka-papa was actually a woman. But Haruka-papa took up her role as the overprotective father with relish, frightening off several young men that had courted Hotaru. Both Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa were still on earth and Hotaru missed them. Hotaru had only come to Colony X18999 to study at Mugen University, and Aunt Setsuna had been kind enough to offer room and board.

Hotaru stood up and smoothed the front of her lavender dress. She went to the couch and clicked on the television set. Most of the stations had been blacked out, except for the government owned Galaxy XCN-4 station.

["...and Colony X18999 has lodged a formal complaint to ESUN,"] the news anchorman reported. ["But this has not deterred the L1 Colony from sending a large battle group to attack Colony X18999. Our sources estimate that the battle group consists of one super space carrier, a space battleship, two battle-cruisers and over thirty support vessels."]

Hotaru's eyes widened in alarm.

["President Dekim Barton has issued a statement, assuring the colonists that he will defend Colony X18999 against the L1 Colony's unprovoked aggression. President Barton has the utmost confidence in our military's ability to repel this attack,"] the anchorman continued. ["In other news, all males, ages twelve to thirty-five are required to report in at the local divisional offices..."]

Hotaru shook her head in disbelief.

Was another bloody conflict truly inevitable?

* * * * *

Author's Notes: I decided to use Seiya Kou from the anime, rather than from the manga (I thought it would be more interesting this way).

Responses/Comments/Notes to Reviewers:

Sadie Joyce - Myst Lady - Thanks for the review. This will definitely have Quatre/Ami. I also put my email on my profile page (I'm not worried about stalkers...that only happens in anime, right?). By the way, I really love your stories and I'm confident you will overcome your writer's block. Feel free to drop me a line any time.

Venus of love - Thanks for the review and the "dance"! After that, I guess I have to make this a Heero/Minako fanfiction. I am still tempted to make it Heero/Minako/Trowa, but it will have to depend on whether I can smoothly drop this into the plot.

Serenity-Olus - Thanks for the review and adding me to your list. I am definitely going to make this a Heero/Minako fanfiction. I hope I can do the pairing justice (hmm...I almost sounded like Wufei for a moment).

Blue Eyed Canadian Authoress - I know, poor Hotaru (well, there's a plot- motivated reason for putting her in harm's way). I'm glad you like the story!

Jade Stellar - I will endeavor to make it Heero/Minako/Trowa. Thanks for your review of Chapter 1 (which inspired the idea).