A/n To anyone following this story, sorry, I thought I had already posted this chapter.
Frozen past, The rescue, and secretes revealed.
--
There were no sounds to be heard. The engines were cut, the shuttle was slowly drifting into position. The men were silent, each a professional they honed there focus on the mission. There was a job to be done, a job that must be done, there were no room for mistakes, or failure.
Clank, the shuttle was in position now, five men departed the shuttle, two headed to secure the armory, one for the control center, one to the holding cells. In timing synced to the tenths of a second, each group arrived and fulfilled their task. The weapons of
the armory were put out of commission, the control center was secured to prevent any alarms being raised. And the rescue of prisoners was completed without fail.
From the control center, all systems were shut down, preventing any interference in the escape. The five returned to the shuttle, took there positions, and the shuttle departed. The signal was also given to the preventer team to move in and secure the base. In the
sleeping area of the shuttle, minor wounds on the rescued prisoners were being healed, while the rest of the team was debriefing on the bridge, except for one other member.
Heero Yuy was at a window staring at the stars. To an observer he would almost appear lost, but in his own mind, he was gathering himself, preparing for the inevitable conversation. And constantly he turned the thought over and over in his head, just how much had she changed in 25 years? A question that wouldn't be answered until he saw her again, which led to him wondering what she would be like, and again his thoughts had traveled full circle.
---
a/n Just to be clear, Heero secured the command center. Two reasons why: 1)It's the most dangerous job, and he certainly was the most qualified to do it. 2)It was the most critical point of the rescue plan, by shutting down the base, they rendered the enemy incapable of perusing the shuttle. Also, I know this would have been better with an actual rescue scene, but that's well beyond my meager writing skills.
---
He sat in the lounge of the shuttle, nursing a cup of coffee while watching the stars pass by. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering back to that topic, but he was grateful for the distraction the stars provided, if even for just a few seconds.
He was aware of the footfalls outside of the door, he always was, but he didn't react. It was his experience people were more at ease around him when they didn't know he was in constant threat analysis mode. The footfalls belonged to a male, tall, one of the preventer officers who had come on the mission with him. As the door opened Heero caught the reflection of Weldon.
"Sir, I have communicated our success to preventer headquarters, Deputy Director Barton sends his congratulations on a successful mission."
"Hn."
"Sir... permission to speak freely."
Heero simply nodded, preferring not to break his silence of words.
"You look lost, is everything alright?"
"That Mr. Weldon, is far more loaded question then you could imagine. How are our guests doing?"
"Minor injuries, just what you would expect. We already had the president send a message to the cabinet so they don't allow him to be removed under the 25th amendment. ..."
"And?"
"Well sir, I don't know what to do about the foreign minister."
"What's the problem?"
"It's just- how do you tell a women her husband was killed?"
The only sound that filled the room was the shattering of a coffee mug.
"Sir? Weren't you aware her husband had been killed in the kidnapping?"
"... I was not..." Married?
---
The door to the room slowly opened, Relena was standing, looking out at the stars as the shuttle glided it's way through space. She had told the preventers to leave her be for the remainder of the flight, she thought for a moment of turning around and dismissing them, but then something came over her... something familiar, correction, very familiar.
"Something about you, even though you drop off the face of the earth, the moment you are back something seems to tell me when you are around. What brings you back Heero? It takes a crises before you can bring yourself to be around me?"
"...It's not like that." How do I even begin this conversation?
"You don't show yourself for over twenty years-"
"I wasn't my choice-" I have to tell her, I have to convince her.
"Then who's exactly was it? The Heero I remember didn't like anyone making choices for him, You wouldn't touch one thing my chief ever made if you didn't have a say in what it was."
"Relena... Please turn around." Just one look, that's all I need.
"No."
"Wh-" She has to, she has to...
"I said no. There isn't anything more to say." Yes there is! Look at me! Listen to me! Please give me some hope!
"I'm not even worth the time for you to look once?"
She was silent.
"please."
Nothing.
No sounds disturbed the silence of the room until Heero turned and left. Relena then let out the breath she had been holding.
---
If you saw Heero Yuy, you wouldn't really notice a change in his deminor, indeed there were only slight changes from his normal behavior. But there were just the slightest tell tale signs, his hand was gripping a cup of coffee harder then normal which was applynig abnormal stress to it. But one thing that never changed about Heero Yuy was his awareness of what was happening around him, such as the rookie preventer that had been standing at the room's entry way for the past 3.2 minutes.
"Mr. Weldon, are you actively seeking to annoy me?"
"N-no sir, it's just I have a report."
"Then report it." Get this over with, get this whole lousy mission over with.
"Y-yes sir. Our ETA is 20 minutes, and commander Barton wants you to report immediately upon arrival, and to give our guest their privacy until we arrive."
"Hm. " Oh you'll see me all right Barton, count on it.
"Sir?" He's still here?
"Go about your duties."
"And the orders sir?"
"Follow them, be sure our 'guests' are not disturbed." He knows even if that order got here on time I would ignore it.
"Aye sir."
"What else?"
"Permission to speak freely sir?"
A slow, begrudging nod was given. I know I'll regret this...
"It's just, well I can't figure you out."
" 'figure me out?' " What's the point of trying, I can't even figure out anything right now.
"Yes sir, I mean it's like you've got years of experience even though you aren't much older then me, the deputy commander of the preventers has some measure of fear about you, and all the experienced officers of the preventers were passed over for this assignment to bring in someone that no one seems to know anything about. It puts me a little off when I don't know anything about the commander I'm working under."
"Hn." What's the point of any of it? Secretes, lies, there's been enough of it for one day.
"Sir?"
"What I'm about to tell you is classified, at least I assume it is." If not the preventers are run even worse then I thought.
"Classified sir?"
"I was a solider during the last war."
"But-"
"I was frozen in cryogenic stasis to keep me from aging."
"I thought that stuff was was just for sci-fi novels." Weldon who had been generally curious was now thoroughly confused.
"It has several theoretical complications that I don't know how the scientists got around." I'd love to ask J about that, after I broke his legs for doing it in the first place.
"but- what happens now, I mean do they just freeze you again?"
"I haven't been released before now."
Weldon's look of confusion quickly switched to one of shock. "You mean for 2-"
"Yes."
"But-"
"That's all for today, return to your post."
With a look of disappointment, Weldon saluted, "Aye aye sir."
---
Next time, Heero has it out with Trowa. The end is in site. Only one more chapter to go.