Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Gundam Wing. Though I doubt any of you thought I did.

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter back there. I just felt like it was the right time to leave Noin alone. I'll try to make this one longer.

Chapter 7

Intuition and Over-bearing Women

The former Colonel Une leaned back from her desk and stretched. It was getting late and she had no real reason to still be at Preventer's HQ. No international disasters had occurred recently. No minor altercations anywhere. The world was sitting in what she assumed to be the eye of some upcoming storm. Nothing was ever this quiet. Her secretary made the point that she should take advantage and start getting some decent rest.

General Une knew she should, but something told her not to leave her office. She didn't believe in superstitions, and the fact that today was Friday the 13th held no true meaning for her like it did the majority of the base. Yet she felt the unease just the same. Maybe she should step out and head down to the officer' mess.

The feeling of foreboding she'd been trying to ignore increased at the thought. What was her intuition trying to tell her? And why did it want her to stay put? The day before had been the day she received the call on Zechs, so that wasn't it. Something was going to happen soon, and she needed to be here for it.

She called her secretary to get her a cup of coffee, then paced around her room. She sorted through the cloud that seemed to hover around her mind. Had she forgotten to do something? Was that it? She let something slip from her routine and now it came back to haunt her. What did she NOT do today?

After drinking her coffee and not coming forward with a conclusion, she resorted to sitting at her desk and staring at its polished top. What the hell was bothering her? She should just go home and come back tomorrow. Whatever was lingering after her attention would be here waiting for her.

She stood up and marched toward the door, determined not to let her intuition change her mind. She was too tired to handle playing mind games with herself. Her hand had just touch the knob when her comm. unit beeped.

Damn.

She sighed and headed back to her desk. She sat down in her chair and composed herself, then turned the comm. on.

"What is it?"

On the screen was a very nervous looking lieutenant. Une was aware of the reputation she had around the base, and wasn't surprised when the lieutenant paused before responding.

"General Po asked me to contact you since she is in surgery," the lieutenant strained to say.

Une took in the fact that the lieutenant didn't present his name, but overlooked it. Hadn't she placed Sally into a command position far away from medical duties? Of course she had. She still remembered the blazing argument that had ensued. Sally had not been thrilled that her skill as a doctor was being ignored.

"And why is General Po in surgery when she is not one of the medical personnel, lieutenant?" she asked calmly.

The lieutenant seemed to nervously ponder that a moment before stating, "To put it bluntly, ma'am, she kicked half the surgical team out of the ward."

Une raised an eyebrow. Sally was not known for such rash things, there had to be a reason.

"Lieutenant, you aren't being entirely informative. Why would the general do such a thing?"

"Cause of the patient, ma'am," the lieutenant stuttered out, "She wouldn't let anyone else near him."

"WHO IS THE PATIENT!" Une said, letting frustration out.

The lieutenant nearly ran from the comm. unit, "A Major Chang, ma'am."

It only took a moment to process how many Chang's there were in the Preventer's corps, and less than that to determine which one of those would force Sally to take action.

"I'm on my way."

She closed the comm. and headed out the door. She noticed that the feeling of foreboding shifted from leaving her office to staying in it. She silently cursed who ever blessed her with such a strong woman's intuition as she boarded the elevator.

Soon enough she was in the infirmary and staring through a glass partition beside the angered chief surgeon. She ignored the man's frustrated tirade as she watched Sally work. Upon the table was the suspected Chang Wufei. She could not see what was wrong with him from where she stood, but didn't doubt that it was a tad bit serious. Sally's brow was covered with sweat as she worked with accuracy and speed. The nurses assisting looked even more nervous than Sally. Another surgeon was also there aiding Sally, but he seemed to know better than his superior officer who continued to rant about his infirmary being invaded by upstarts. Une pondered whether to merely tell him to quiet down or to deck him.

"Do you know what happened?" Une said, her calm forced.

"No," the chief sighed, looking suddenly drained, "All know is that there's a chest wound. A bullet caused it, as far as I can tell for the whole four seconds I stood over him."

"When?"

"Not too long ago," the doctor said, "She's only been at it for ten minutes."

Une severely doubted the Wufei would have been on some kind of mission. If it had been true, he would be in the nearest hospital closest to the mission site. She also knew Wufei was on leave. Apparently he had been near the building when the incident occurred.

Une sighed and turned away from the wall, knowing the only two people who could answer her questions were on the other side. She would have to wait. Or assume.

She could tell by looking at Wufei's face that there had been a struggle. There was a small wound at the temple the Sally was neglecting, so she assumed it wasn't serious. Sally had messily prepped Wufei for surgery; his clothes were still on, having been torn open for her to operate. Sally was busy around the chest wound, which looked very close to the heart.

God, Treize, what now?