Common Grace
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. Ambrose Bierce
"No Senator Lodge," Lady Une calmly explained. "There was no way that we could have possibly known that Dekim Barton still lived or what he was planning."
"Well my information here says otherwise," Senator Lodge looked down at her over his glasses that were perched upon his long thin nose.
"I can assure there was nothing we could have done," Lady Une said again.
"We'll see about that," Senator Lodge declared haughtily. "I'll be speaking with the other members of the Council about this."
"Very well Senator," Lady Une acknowledged.
He severed the vid-phone connection.
She was sick of all the inquiries made about the Barton incident, ones that had already been covered but were gone over again and again instead of attending to the business that should have been handled by the Council. Lady Une was tempted to call Relena and see if the girl could use some of her influence to get them to back off but this was just part of the job that she had signed on to take and no one would remove her so long as Relena remained visible in the eye of the public.
Perhaps every person in the Earth's Sphere could name three Councilors and one of those would be Relena Darlian Peacecraft. She was too visible for the other members to try and replace or overrule any of her decisions that were strongly supported by the people. It would cause tot much of an uproar and they would need Relena to rebuild the peace for the future.
Une wanted to deal with Dorothy's trail, not a possible inquiry into the Preventers usefulness for the future. She knew that they would be needed and it worried her that people like the good Senator Lodge could barely see beyond their own office walls. She had not the time or energy to deal with political problems.
"Commander," Chang Wufei appeared in her doorway, moving silently into her office and closing the door behind him. "I am willing to go public with my identity if that will in any way help you. Lt. Anders told me about the Senator calling you and I have an idea of what it was about."
"I can take care of it Chang," Une said.
"If they decide to question your usefulness as Commander of the Preventers it's always good to have a former Gundam Pilot on your side," Wufei pointed out. "And I can always threaten to leave the Preventers if they try and appoint an idiot to the post which they probably would."
"It's a nice gesture Chang," Une gave a brief smile. "But I don't want you to do that. And that is an order."
"Very well ma'am," Wufei nodded.
"Its enough for you to be a Preventer and support Dorothy out in the open," Une added. "That's more than enough for me Chang. Just help her get off and then it doesn't matter anymore what they try to do."
Wufei nodded and left her again. Lady Une stared at the wall for several long minutes.
She opened her top desk drawer on pulled out a silver frame. Her picture of Treize smirked knowingly up at her. She missed him at times like these. His smooth attitude and words were such an inspiration. At times Une wondered how she measured up to him as a leader, how well she really was doing in charge of the Preventers. Sometimes she felt so insignificant compared to Treize, but she was not commanding troops into battle, she was guarding the peace now. And that was a major difference.
Lady Une carefully placed it back in the drawer. She did not want it out to remind her of those days in the past, she did not need Treize to feel in charge of her life. She was in charge now and a dead man could not give words of advice, only memories and echoes of dreams could do that.
She looked at the blinking light on her private comm. She almost did not answer it but she found herself hitting the button, almost like a reflex.
"Commander Une," She said.
"Hello Commander," Relena's smiling face appeared on the screen. "Senator Rochambeau and I had an interesting conversation I think you should know about."
"Then by all means,' Une made a gesture for her to continue.
"He told me that Dodd was holding his affair from two years ago with a young girl over his head to get him to sign the warrant for Dorothy's arrest," Relena smiled gleefully. "He thinks that Dodd did the same thing with the other two people who he got to sign the warrant. Rochambeau says that Dodd knows too many intimate things about some of the other Senators so they don't dare cross him when he says so."
"Interesting," Une commented. "Obviously Dodd is smarter than I ever gave him credit for."
"I'm not sure if it's smart exactly," Relena tucked some of her honey hair back over her shoulder. "More like malicious and cruel."
"Dodd is rather malicious," Une agreed. "Be careful around him Relena. You're treading close to him and he's bound to notice and take interest in you. And I would not drag Rochambeau's name through the media. I've met his wife and she would be heartbroken by his brief moment of weakness."
"You're really too soft-hearted sometimes Commander," Relena joked. "And I won't drag Rochambeau before the media. I want Dodd but I plan to get him my own way. I won't need Rochambeau when I'm ready to bring Dodd down."
"Just be careful Princess," Une warned her.
"I am careful," Relena protested lightly. "Quatre is helping me out as well. We've also gotten some help from other people as well. Trowa is on Earth now, staying with Quatre and he's helping us. Sylvia is as well. We'll see Dorothy acquitted Une. Don't worry about that."
"Then I won't worry," Une gave a partial smile, making her look less harsh. "But I will worry about your safety. Dodd can be a dangerous man. Keep that in mind and keep your distance for a while until he gets comfortable. You're bound to have stirred him up by talking to Rochambeau or anyone else."
Relena nodded. She understood and Une was glad that Relena was not the way she had been during the first war. She remembered the idealistic little girl. And it was not that Relena was no longer idealistic, merely that her ideals were more realistic and easier to accomplish than what she had first been spouting off. Otherwise Une was sure that she would hate the blond girl or at least find her extremely annoying and difficult to work with.
"Next week I'm hosting a ball at the Palace," Relena said to Une. "It would mean a lot if you and a few other Preventers attended. It's going to have several speakers for support of Dorothy."
"I'll be there," Une promised. "Although don't expect me in a gown."
"Oh but you must Une," Relena smiled. "I'll be over tomorrow evening with several samples and my fitter."
"Relena how do you know I don't already own a gown?" Une asked with a raised brow.
"Just a guess," Relena said.
"If it pleases you," Une sighed. "Are there any Preventers in particular who you wish to attend? Perhaps Zechs and Chang Wufei should come?"
"I think that's a lovely idea Lady," Relena laughed. "I sent both of them an invite a few days ago but haven't gotten a response as of yet. See if you can get them to wear tuxes or at least a nice dress uniform of some kind."
"If I have to wear a gown you can bet they'll have to suffer in some way," Une promised the young woman. "I'll see you next week Relena; call me if you need anything else."
"I will," Relena gave a tiny smile and hung up the connection.
Une sat back in her chair with an amused smile on her face. She had been talked into attending a ball to support Dorothy Catalonia. For some reason it was rather amusing in a morbid sense. Dorothy would find it amusing as well if she ever heard about it.
Lady Une went back to her paperwork, signing off on reports and checking over a few applications for new recruits. She finally took one stack and marched out of her office to Anders desk. She set the papers down with force and smiled at him when he looked up at her.
"Give these to General Po," Lady Une said. "She can do these as well as I can. The ones she can't finish can be given back to me."
"Sure thing Une," Anders smiled. "It's good to see you finally taking a little bit of a lighter duty."
Une merely rolled her eyes. Anders was right however. She was too young to be burned out, too young to not fight for her beliefs and for the protection of the Earth Sphere United Nation. She felt damn proud of it too.