The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for they must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

-G. K. Chesterton, 18th-century journalist.

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Heero leaned his body to make the turn onto a discreet side road, the ride got bumpy where it unceremoniously became unpaved. He snaked his motorbike around a series of high berms and bramble-covered old fences, coming to a stop at the edge of a wide pasture. Dismounted, he pushed the bike across the paddocks toward a picturesque red barn, alfalfa bobbed around him. One of the barn doors was half open, looked like he wasn't the first to arrive at the rendezvous.

"They're planning a hit piece on the Princess, too." Trowa greeted him, jumping down from the high beam and opened the door wider for Heero to come in with his bike.

"We'll be losing our only advocate in the public sphere." Heero kicked the stand and hung his helmet on the handlebar. "She was the logical next target."

"I could take down their servers, but the Preventers would look even more guilty."

Heero clenched his right hand, "How many media corporations?"

"All the ones that matter."

"Any outliers?"

"Several feeds out of the Bantu Confederation, and a handful of state mouthpieces from the Eastern Mediterranean region are questioning the narrative, but they have their own motives in local politics." Trowa punched his access code into a keypad hidden behind an electric panel. There was a click in the floor as a slab of concrete sunk to reveal a staircase.

Heero followed the taller man down the steps, the air dry and warm as they descended. Trowa's voice echoed off the walls in the dark.

"There have been police reports of targeted bombings against unionist organizations in Southern Kurdistan, Urumqi, and Colombia." The bottom of the stairwell had an arched ceiling, with loading dock stairs further in that led up to an old-school vault door a meter or so off the floor.

"Has anyone claimed responsibility?"

"It'll be assumed that the separatists committed the attacks, and that's all the incitement the unionists need to retaliate in kind." Trowa opened the vault and switched on the power, a bullpen that mirrored the Preventers HQ flickered into view. "None of these activities are covered by the media, this is going to psychologically isolate both sides." He claimed a console and turned on the unit.

Following suit, Heero powered up the adjacent machine. "Global unrest would legitimize militarizing the ESUN."

"I can't see the colonies swallowing this without a fight."

"No, but most third-generation colonists are weak-minded, they were easily tricked by OZ, it won't take much to persuade them into subjugation this time, either." The console screen lit up, Heero typed in his I.D. and passcode. "I'll put some feelers out in the public forums."

"By the way," Trowa paused typing and glanced over, "I have the forensic photos from the chemical attack, should we release them into the wild?"

Heero hesitated a breath, "Do what you must."

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"Following the decision of the ESUN Parliament, we shall comply with the will of the assembly. The Preventers organization is dissolved, effective immediately." Lady Une stood against the blinding camera flashes and spoke without flinching. "I have relinquished jurisdiction of the Preventers headquarters to the Bureau of Public Inquiry, including all documents and data collected during the tenure of our service."

The room erupted as journalists shouted over each other, all pretense of orderly conduct evaporated.

"Commander Une! Does this mark the end of the militaristic legacy of OZ?"

"Will you give up the Gundam pilot to be tried in the International Court?"

"Are you grooming Treize's daughter to carry out her father's ambitions? Lady Une!"

She spun around with an icy glare, they dare bring her child into this farce. Une put on her best diplomatic smile, "Mister Treize loved the human spirit, and I've worked every day with the Preventers to achieve peace in honour of his memory."

They weren't going to get another word out of her for their rags, she decided, no more questions.

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"You have a family back in Sanc, go home and lay low." Agent Yuy said while Relena hugged Simeon farewell.

"Let me stay and help," Simeon said earnestly.

"You can help by finding out if your people will rally behind Relena." Heero commanded.

A wave of longing swelled up in Simeon's chest, he pushed it back down and gazed wistfully at Relena, "Will you return to us? Shall our homeland be a sovereign kingdom once again?"

Relena looked at Heero sharply, she had no plans to return to the Sanc Kingdom, what was he doing?

"It's just reconnaissance, Agent Creveld, don't stir up trouble," Heero answered briskly and walked away without a second glance, pulling Relena after him.

Simeon sat in the idling car and watched Yuy and Miss Relena disappear into the roadside foliage. If that man truly was the pilot of 01, then she was in good hands. If even half the rumours about him were true, the ability and loyalty of that man were fearsome indeed.

Just reconnaissance? Yeah right. Simeon tightened his grip on the steering wheel and stepped hard on the gas, heart pounding. When the Princess finally came home, he'd make sure the people were primed to receive her.

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Relena sighed and wiped away the day's makeup, the stillness of being underground contrasted violently with the past days' events. The silence pressed on her eardrums, it always felt like this in a subterranean structure. Her own apartment was inaccessible due to the press encampment around it. No doubt they were ready to pounce with questions meant to defame her.

Outside the small lavatory, the door to her assigned quarters opened and clicked shut softly.

"There's been no sighting of Zechs in the colonies' surveillance, I'll check resource satellites next but communication with them is on a delay." Heero plugged an ether cable to his handheld, they were to use no wireless tech at the base. "The sub-web chatter was a dead end, too." He sat at the foot of one of the two cots and unfolded a keyboard. "But Zechs and Noin are logged for leisure leave for the week, according to the latest roster from Mars."

She stood by the bathroom door and studied Heero, he appeared fatigued, his mouth pressed into a thin line, left hand idly massaging the base of his right thumb. Spasms intermittently seized that right hand, and the muscles at his jaw would tighten. She thought back to their conversation in her office suite in Moldova, when he had touched her on the shoulder with his left hand. Then earlier today, when he grabbed her wrist in the garage, also with his non-dominant hand.

"This is probably the next line of personal attack..." He trailed off and eyed her wearily as Relena crossed the room and knelt beside him. With choreographed intent, as if to not startle a stray animal, she slowly reached for his clenched fist and pulled it into her lap. Her hands massaged his until the tightly coiled digits relented and opened, revealing his calloused palm, scrubbed an angry red and hot to the touch.

Heero yanked his hand out of her grasp, never meeting her eyes, his short-cropped hair left him exposed, it was easier when he had bangs to hide behind.

"Were you hurt?"

"Hurt? No." Heero said with a bitter twist of his lips and tucked his hand away as if he was ashamed, as if he was...dirty.

Memories of the press hall evacuation rushed back into her mind, figures in neon-yellow plastic suits whisking her away, faces obscured by reflective helmets. She looked back, hoping to catch a glimpse of Heero again before they sealed off the room, if only to reassure herself. The bio-haz team bustled around him, a respirator was being strapped over his nose and mouth. There amidst the chaos, Heero knelt unmoving, hand still pressed tightly over the dead man's face.

"Oh Heero..." She hadn't seen him like this since the war. Suddenly she was angry, angry that he had to bear the guilt of another death, angry at the people who put that self-loathing, cynical expression on Heero's face. Sensing the change in her, he looked up in alarm.

"No more." Relena stood, "I'm done reacting."

"What do you have in mind?"

"First, I'm calling in a favour," She started for the exit, "from Dorothy Catalonia."

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"Can we really live in peace and safety when those mass murderers are on the lose?" One of the hosts asked in feigned horror, a glossy, manicured hand clutched at her necklace.

Another host beside her nodded his head enthusiastically, fidgeting with his thick-rimmed glasses, he piped in, "You know Bev, I think you're absolutely right, absolutely right! We all want peace, but no one can be safe until these killers are behind bars."

"They think they're above the law, but we'll bring them to justice." A third, austere woman spoke up, her tight curls pulled into a no-nonsense bun, "The Gundam pilots should stand trial for their war crimes."

"But the colonies are clearly harbouring these terrorists, we don't even know their identities, how can they be apprehended?"

"If the Colonies truly want peace, they'll deliver the killers-."

"Oh for Pete's sake turn that trash off Duo!" Hilde stood between him and the screen.

"Have a little sympathy for a wanted man." Duo groaned, "They're targeting the Colonies again, you could almost hear their threats."

Hilde tilted her head, "Come with me."

They wove through service roads toward the commercial block, a faint commotion grew louder as they approached. Duo peered out from a narrow alleyway, a large crowd filled the city square, kettled-in by police barricades.

"They're protesting the ESUN militarization," Hilde said from behind him.

"How did I not hear about this?" Duo ducked back behind the building.

She gave him a long-suffering head shake, "If you spared a moment from your network news binge, and check the L2 forums instead..."

"Liars! Go back to earth!" Someone shouted and the crowd erupted in jeers, Duo poked his head out again. A small group of business-clad news anchors and pundits emerged from the diplomatic hotel, they scuttled off to a spaceport limo, their path fenced off from the protesters.

"Get off our colony!"

"Neo-Alliance pigs!"

"We love the Gundams!"

"Can't fool us twice you dirty windbags!"

A grown man mustn't cry, Duo wiped his eyes. Hilde gave him a few sympathetic pats, "You won't have to fight alone this time." She showed him her handheld screen. "People are speaking up on every habitat in the L2 cluster."

"We have to keep these protests peaceful, or the networks will use it against the Colonies." Duo took one last look at the scene, the limousine drove away as the crowd cheered. He grinned and kissed Hilde squarely on the lips, "I gotta go see an old friend."

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"With her connections in Romefeller, Dorothy can give us some insights on who's stirring the pot and for what purpose." Trowa observed mildly from his console, seemingly pleased with Relena's idea.

"But precisely because of these connections, we also don't know where her loyalties lie." Heero wasn't as convinced, was Trowa withholding something? He chewed on his field ration and peered curiously at the other man from the corner of his eye.

"I don't trust that woman." Wufei was reassembling his sidearm, its components laid out neatly on the ready-table.

"You don't trust any woman." Sally casually leaned on his shoulder.

"I trust you." He pouted and took a bite out of the MRE she offered.

"Quit flirting, the line's open." Une motioned for them to gather around.

Relena waited for the video feed to stabilize. "Hello, Dorothy. Is this call secure?"

"Of course, Miss Relena, This is my personal encrypted line." The familiar, perennially smug face of Dorothy Catalonia lit up the screen. "What took you so long?"

Relena frowned, "This is only a two-day old situation."

"On the contrary, it's been over a month since your Parliament bought off the so-called watchdogs."

"Bill 2073." Une sat back and shook her head, Independent Media Act, ostensibly to guarantee the viability of media companies by bailing them out with ESUN grants, several networks were on the brink of bankruptcy due to diminished viewership.

"He who pays the piper calls the tune. I hoped you'd be on your guard sooner, Miss Relena."

"I'm ashamed to admit that the secessionist movements had me thoroughly distracted." Relena sighed, Dorothy was right.

"Yes, you thought you could charm them back into the ESUN, so you went on a merry little world tour."

"That's not helping, Catalonia." Even Wufei thought that was unfair, this woman grated on his nerves something fierce.

"I do wish you'd have warned us," Relena said reasonably, everyone in this hideout was on edge and Dorothy was fuel to the fire. "But as it stands, we need a way out of this mess without things escalating to war."

"If I warned you, you'll rely on me." Dorothy turned serious. "You need to be strong to lead the world to peace, and to be strong you must be tempered."

"Tempered? This isn't some game-"

"All great heroes are tested and tried." Dorothy recited as if from an ancient creed. "I am going to help you, but you must grow wiser, also. This is a cold war before real combat, we must win it to avoid bloodshed."

"That's my wish as well, people have been put through enough hardship by the Eve Wars, another generation shouldn't have to grow up as we did."

"Then take a stand for those you wish to protect."

"That's what I've been doing for the past seven years." Relena was exasperated, even her patience had limits.

"You've been protecting a faceless abstraction, that's hardly going to arrest the imaginations of your adoring fans."

"Playing politics at a time like this..."

"Has your time in the bureaucracy made you so timid?" Dorothy propped her chin on folded wrists and squinted in a feline fashion. "The Relena Peacecraft I knew would've publicly defended her paladin the moment his honour was sullied."

Relena swallowed and looked back at Heero, who closed his eyes but said nothing. Had she really changed for the worse? The thought of herself becoming someone as spineless as Yacovitch made her sick in the stomach.

"Well, that seemed to do the trick." Dorothy leaned in close to her device, her face looming over the whole screen. "I may betray allies with sweet talk, but you are a friend, and deserve the bitter truth."

"Thank you, Dorothy, I always appreciate your honesty."

"Glad to be of service," Dorothy bowed her head in a mock curtsy. "I'll leave you with one rule: never, ever talk to the media."

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"The ESUN press core was forced to evacuate from the L2 Colony Cluster due to threats to their personal safety, our team on the ground received unprecedented levels of xenophobic abuse from the colonists. Many have taken to the streets in violent mobs, one reporter described the scene as 'terrifying.'"

"They're lyin' through their teeth," Duo slammed his fist on the cushioned arm of his chair, "The protest had nothing to do with xenophobia."

"Network media has lost all credibility in the colonies." Quatre mused much more calmly, stroking his neatly trimmed beard, he looked every bit the respectable businessman. "The public forums are buzzing with colonists who are angry about the misrepresentation, especially on the anonymous boards."

Duo stood and walked to the floor-length windows that made up an entire wall in Quatre's office lounge, it offered a breathtaking night view of the colony from this height. "The media still holds sway on Earth though, this is gonna cause a rift between Earth and Space all over again."

"You underestimate the people of Earth, Duo." Quatre poured a steaming cup of tea and offered it to his friend, "Sorry it's only tea, I'm getting too old for coffee after eight P.M.."

"Underestimate? I love ya man, but this sounds like your Mister Optimist side talkin'."

"Many of the miners I employ are from Earth, do you think they don't tell their families back home what's really going on up here?" Quatre blew on his own cup of hot tea to cool it. "The Earth and the Colonies were never truly isolated from each other, there are many stories of OZ soldiers who defected from Romefeller because they have families in the Colonies."

"Yeah but that still didn't stop the takeover-"

"Quatre!" A redheaded girl burst into the office, panting as she stumbled the last few steps toward them, "The Earth is posturing to invade...I sent you the brief." She pointed to his tablet and gulped air.

"You're not supposed to be up late, and you know how I feel about hyperboles." Quatre chided her and switched on the device, reading the contents while he ran a hand through his sandy hair. He wrinkled his brows, handing it over to Duo. "We were always going to be a liability to the Colonies."

Duo quickly scanned the page, and paced away from the window to plop down on the wingback chair, "Extraditions?" He drummed an agitated rhythm on the tablet. "Ugh this is such a hassle, let's just turn ourselves in."

"Absolutely not." The girl spoke up, "You are symbols of freedom for Outer Space. If you give up, the Colonies will give up, too. All before the fight has even begun."

Duo squinted at her, shoulder-length ginger hair, the confident and defiant way she carried herself. "...Mariemaia?"

"Who else?" She brushed him off impatiently, "Right now the ESUN can only issue empty threats, it'll take them a while to gather enough public support, and even longer to actually mobilize."

Duo blinked at her, looked over to Quatre and back, "What are you doing out here on MO-VI?"

"My foster mother sent me to study diplomacy under Quatre."

"Diplomacy. Right." It took Duo a few seconds to adjust his mental image of the little girl to this young woman in front of him.

Mariemaia snapped her fingers at him, "Focus, will you? The ESUN plan on using you as an excuse to send an occupying force to space!"

"Well it's not like we can just suit up and fight like we used to," Duo shrugged helplessly, "The Colonies are defenceless against military advances."

"Not necessarily," Quatre interjected, "We don't have any armaments per se, but the industrial colonies possess enough heavy-duty exoskeletons to fend off any conventional invasion." His countenance darkened, "And any ESUN official worth his salt should be wary of the original Operation Meteor."

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Tbc...