Chapter 16

"What do you mean, you got caught?!" Thomas sputtered, staring. "Our mission went
without a hitch!"

Giselle glared at Thomas as she wiped her brow. "Look, your mission was no where as difficult as
ours, so you can just shut up! We got out alive, didn't we?"

"And you both did very well," Lady Une smiled as she looked up from perusing the contents
of the disks. "Thomas and Geoffry, well done on the supply ship schedules. And Aelis and
Giselle, good job on the weapon inventory as well as the destruction on the station."

"WHAT?! You guys ended up fighting?!" Thomas stared.

"Of course we did you idiot! We got CAUGHT, didn't we?! What else were we supposed to
do?!" snapped Aelis irately.

"Whoa, chill Aelis! I didn't mean it like that!" Thomas frowned.

Geoffry also frowned. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Me? I'm just great! So just, back off, okay?"

"...Aelis?" Giselle whispered uncertainly as the two girls walked off, leaving behind
two confused male pilots.

"...I'm...I'm sorry, Giselle. But...I just thought of something..."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Well, did you make sure to keep your face covered?"

Giselle blinked. "Well, yeah. Isn't that what we were supposed to do? What do you...Oh, no..."
she finished, eyes widening. "Don't tell me..."

Aelis nodded miserably. "When the guards caught us, you know, when you did that amazing flip
and leaped over them? Well, when I was busy barging through them, I think the camera caught my
face..."

"Um, well, we don't know, right? I mean, it was only a second; the camera might now have
been at the angle you were at!" Giselle said hopefully, praying that she was right.

"Yeah...maybe you're right..." Aelis murmured, trying not to worry. "Well, I guess I'm
going to go take a shower then. Meet you in the lounge later?"

"Sounds great. See you."

later...

"So how'd it go? Tell tell!" Eva said cheerfully, bouncing around her brother. "I heard
that it was great!"

Thomas grinned at his hyperactive sister and picked her up, threw her in the air, then caught her
again as she came down giggling. "Yeah, it was all cool," he said laughing. "They never even
saw us."

"How 'bout Giselle and Aelis?"

"Um, not so smooth. They had a small scuffle, but they're okay. They're not hurt, and
they got to take out some of the Neo-Rommefeller too," he finished as they headed down to the
lounge. "Hey minna!" he called out as they descended down the stairs. "What'd we miss?"

"Hey Lil Bro! Congrats on a job well done!" Jerry said, raising a glass. Thomas eyed
the glass warily. "Jerry..."

"What? This? Hey what do you think this is?! Geez, it's just soda! Hmph," he
grumbled as everyone else laughed.

Riko giggled as she took a sip. "Yeah, you boys had BETTER had learned your lesson! What were
you all thinking anyway?"

"Oh, stop rubbing it in," he muttered good-naturedly. "Come on, even I'M not that
stupid!"

"Right..." Geoffry laughed, in a good mood himself. The mission's success had
energized him, and he was indulging in the revelry like everyone else. Then he frowned as his
gaze shifted over to the side of the room.

Reena and Aelis were sitting on the couch stiffly. Reena was nervously fiddling with her glass
and gazing uneasily at Aelis, while Aelis was staring off into space. "That's odd," Geoffry
murmured, but then his thought was interrupted by Jerry.

"Reena! Hey, join the party!" he called cheerfully as he went over and kissed her on the
cheek. "Aren't you happy that your little brother to be just had a great first mission?"

"Yeah...great..." Reena said weakly, trying to smile. Raising her glass, she stuttered,
"Um...great job Thomas!" and she took a small sip.

"Yeah, ditto," Aelis said tonelessly, saluting him also. "You too, Geoffry."

"Thanks...You too, Aelis. And Giselle," he said, acknowledging them both.

"You too! Great job!" Giselle said happily, leaning against Rayan, but then her gaze
slid over the Aelis. "Aelis...what's wrong? What didn't you tell me?" she thought uneasily.

that evening...

"So what did they find?" Wufei asked.

"A complete weapons inventory of the Middle East base, as well as partial inventories for
others in the area, and the food supply ship schedules for the bases on that colony," Heero
summarized. "Not bad, for a first mission."

"Did they find out who the leaders of the Neo-Rommefeller were?" Quatre asked.

"No, which is why they're going again tomorrow morning."

"What?!" Duo exclaimed. "So soon? Why?"

"They have to move quickly. The sooner we find out what we need, the sooner this thing
ends."

"But who goes this time?"

"They'll all go. Wuten and Wuli can attack a cargo shipment, but Aelis and Giselle can
infiltrate another base while Jerry and Geoffry cover for them. Rayan and Thomas can attack
another weapons shipment as well."

"If we're going to take such an aggressive approach, we'll need backup here as well,"
Trowa reminded him. "So who will that be?"

Heero's face remained blank. "That has been taken care of," he said neutrally. "Mariemaia will
be arriving tonight; she can pilot a Taurus mobile suit well enough."

"And? One person won't be enough. I mean, I suppose WE could help, but really, how much
can we still do?" Duo asked. "Sure, we're all healthy enough, but that's still not much."

"Like I said, it's already been taken care of," Heero stated. "We'll be fine."

Wufei glanced at Heero. "I have a pretty good idea of WHO you're talking about to back
Mariemaia up, and I don't like it," he said flatly. "You're talking about YOUR child now,
aren't you?"

"NANI?! RIKO?! You're sending out Riko to defend Headquarters?! WHY?!" Duo sputtered,
shocked. "What experience in MS piloting does she have?"

"Enough," Heero responded. "Relena obviously doesn't know, but I've spent a lot of time
working with her. Riko is quite capable of MS suit piloting."

Duo groaned and turned around. "Heero...Relena is going to kill you. Didn't you two AGREE on
the fact that Riko would have no exposure to weapons whatsoever?"

"I changed my mind."

"Well, THAT much is obvious!"

"Heero, just how much does Riko know?" Wufei asked.

"She can pilot Tauruses, Leos, Virgos, and Serpents well enough, and she has some
knowledge of small arms. Contrary to popular belief," Heero continued dryly, "she DOES know one
end of a gun from the other."

"Does anyone know about her skills?" Quatre asked. "Besides, of course, herself and
you?"

"No."

Duo sighed. "Like I said, Ojousan is going to KILL you..." he muttered. Then his eyes
widened. "Wait, what about Zechs? Does he know?"

"To some extent. He was actually quite supportive of the idea, and allowed us access to
Preventer arms. That's how we obtained access to the suits."

"Well, that's just great..."

"So back to the mission. All eight pilots will leave tomorrow at five in the morning.
Wuten and Wuli will target the satellite supply ship; Thomas and Rayan the arms transport
train in the US; and the other four the base on colony X2447."

"Isn't that supposedly one of the main bases?" Trowa frowned. "Remember, they DID get
caught today-"

"-which is why both Jerry and Geoffry will be out there covering for them. Now, let's
go inform them on their next mission."