Chapter Seventeen:

"What do you think you're doing?" Heero demanded as he saw Milliardo's men harassing his. "Who gave you the authority of MY ship?" The men began to shrink in fear. "Answer me!" No one said anything. "Take me to your Captain!" he ordered.

"Uh, right this way Captain Yuy," one of the men said as he lead him to their ship and walked up to another crew member. He asked him a question and got his answer by the other guy nodding and pointing to what Heero guessed was where Milliardo was. The man began to walk once again. He stopped in front of the door and knocked.

"Come in," came a reply. The man walked off leaving Heero there alone. So he walked in. "Ah, Captain Yuy. Please have a seat." Heero sat down. "What can I do for you Captain Yuy?"

"I want your men off my ship."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that."

"Why's that?"

"How do we know that you won't try to take off?"

"How do you know we won't try to take off with your men and feed them to the sharks?"

"True, but wouldn't you have done so by now?"

"Listen, your men will be off my ship whether by your orders or not. They are harassing my men, acting as if they own MY ship, and sticking their noses where they don't belong."

"Alright. I'll write them a message." Milliardo took out a piece of paper and a quill pen and began to write the message for his men. After he was done he handed it to Heero. "I apologize for my men's actions. They will be punished for their behavior." Heero took the letter and began to leave. "Captain." Heero turned around and looked at him. "How is Relena?"

"She's depressed. Why do you care?"

"She is my sister. I may not have been around for many years, but that doesn't mean I don't care about my little sister."

"Right. Good day Captain. I must be on my way then. I have a ship to run."

"Good day to you too Captain."

Heero exited the room and was escorted back to his ship. When he arrived he called Chuck, the messenger boy over. "Chuck, I want you to go around the ship and have whoever is from Zech's ship read this message understood?" The boy nodded. "Dismissed." With that the boy took off to complete his new order.

"Hey Heero!" yelled Duo.

"That's Captain to you."

Duo rolled his eyes. "So Cap where were you? These men have been a pain to put up with."

"I know. I went to Zechs and told him of our problem. He wrote a message to his crew on board our ship. I gave it to Chuck and told him to have all of Merquises men read it, so they should be leaving shortly."

"Already ahead of us I see."

"That's part of my job," Heero said as they stood off at a distance watching the men leave one by one.

"Shall we find the ladies?" Duo asked.

"Why not? Let's go." They found the girls in their room chatting away.

Knock, Knock, Knock "Coming!" Hilde yelled. She opened the door and was greeted by Duo and Heero.

"Mind if we join you ladies?" Duo asked with a smile and bowed.

"Not at all! Come in!" she stepped aside so they could enter and closed the door behind them.

"To what do we owe this honor?" Relena said teasingly.

"Well, we just thought that you might be lonely, so we came to check on you," Duo replied. Hilde walked over and stood beside Duo. "Hey Hilde," He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. Hilde in turn blushed a bright red.

Relena trying not to laugh turned her attention to Heero. "Heero would you like to sit down?" she said while standing up and flashing him a smile. He nodded with a smile of his own. Relena quickly grabbed a couple chairs and motioned for Heero to sit down. He sat down, but grabbed her hand and she fell into the seat next to his. She looked over at him and he kissed her. Relena's smile grew bigger.

"So…" Hilde began and started the beginning of their conversation. The four of them talked until the wee hours of the morning. All of them avoiding the topic of the girls departure. Heero and Duo eventually bid the girls goodnight, and went on their way. The girls changed into their nightgowns, hopped into bed, and quickly fell asleep.