Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Like, literally, I really don't own anything other then the five year old laptop I'm writing this fic on.
Commander Lady Une heaved the heaviest sigh she had ever mustered since the end of both the First Eve Wars and the Barton Uprising. "Two steps forward, three step back," she muttered under a soft breathe. Indeed, that was how everything seemed to be going for her as of late.
A quick shuffle through the papers in her hands only confirmed her pessimistic view, though, this was going to be the greatest challenge of her life to date. She wondered if she would be able to get through it sanely.
As she neared the end of the hallway, she nearly dreaded having to enter the office there. WuFei and Trowa had been holed up in there for nearly two weeks now, searching for something. What it was exactly, they would not tell her. Duo had been part of the group up until three days ago when he abruptly left. From what she gathered, it had something to do with her. Or rather, something indirectly linked to her from her days as an O.Z. official.
She straightened, making sure she was presentable. She had allowed them all access to the most top secret files that she could get her hands on from the former Alliance and even some from O.Z. The terms of the agreement had been that as long as they helped to decrypt undecryptable files and give insight into potential terrorist cells, they were welcomed to use all the resources at her disposal.
She reached out to the door at the end of the hall and entered the small office in the Preventer's main offices in Brussels. Flicking the office lights on as she stepped in, a collective groan heralded her arrival. "You'll ruin your eyes if you work in the dark," she chided as she closed the door behind her. A quick glance around the room revealed a newcomer to the group. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise."
Heero did his best to glare at her. She could tell that his eyes were still adjusting to the lights, as were Trowa's.
"WuFei?" she looked around for her only official employee in the room.
Trowa threw a forlorn glance towards the corner of the office. Following the young man's gaze, Commander Une's eyes fell onto the couch squeezed behind the long fold-out table and a desk stacked high with Alliance and O.Z. marked boxes. The area was a messy array of disheveled papers all strewn and crumpled about with emptied boxes stacked even higher than those on the desk.
Lady Une approached the couch, her heels clicking steadily with each step taken. She reached down, picking up the 'Top Secret' marked folder resting atop her agent's face. "Your hard work will be duly noted," she looked down at the scowling face below. Releasing the folder, she allowed it to settle on the tired face once again before moving onto the desk. "What have you found?"
"Nothing," WuFei's muffled response reached her.
Picking through the few folders layered atop of the fold-out table, the tall brunette's face contorted in disappointment at that reply. "Well, you're not going to get much done just lying there," she retorted, leaning her weight against the table. She watched as the limber body rose from its place, tossing the folder that had been over his face aside. Her honey brown eyes shone with discord at the young man's actions.
"They're worthless," WuFei nearly snarled at her. "The files are almost all blacked out."
"What are you looking for?" she leafed through a file that hadn't been pulled out of the old Alliance stamped filing box yet. Just as WuFei had mentioned, nearly all of the sensitive parts of the document had been blacked out before being photocopied and filed away.
The room remained silent, her question unanswered. None of the young men even bothered to look her way. She straightened upset. She had gone well out of her way to get these files they had specifically requested.
"Well then," she sighed annoyed. She hoped her next hand would get them to talk. "I came here on an urgent matter that will galvanize all of you. As of this coming Friday, I will be placed under court martial for war crimes committed during the One Year War of A.C. 195 by order of the E.S.U.N. My trial will begin 11th of April of next year."
At this, the three young men finally took notice of her. Although their faces were mostly vacant of emotions, she had come to learn to read their subtle expressions and could see confusion, disbelief, and even a hint of fear in each of them.
"I will remain Commander of Preventers until January of A.C. 198. Until then, you will have free range over this office and any information you can get your hands on. I don't know who will take over my duties after that, nor can I guarantee your accessibility to any information thereafter."
Silence continued to reign while minds whirled in hast at the information disclosed.
"Why now?" WuFei was the first to speak up. As she appeared to not understand his line of question, he continued. "If anyone in the E.S.U.N. held a grudge against you for what you did while in O.Z., why not put you on trial right after the end of the war? Or even last year after Mariemaia's failed coup?"
The Commander considered the question, leaning back onto the desk. "I don't know," she answered honestly.
Again, the young men all went silent, eyeing one another with uncertainty.
"Well, now that that's out of the way, are you going to tell me what you're looking for so that I can help you better?"
"Files regarding the Colony Cold of L-2's main colony, A.C. 185," Heero relented.
It was Lady Une's turn to be dumbfounded. She tried to think back to the incident from so long ago, but could think of nothing noteworthy other than the number of deaths the disease had caused in its wake. She turned to look at all the boxes that occupied the desk beside her and the floor. "What's the connection?" she questioned, suspecting that there was much they weren't telling her.
WuFei cleared his throat, making sure to capture the Commander's full attention. "The year before the One Year War, L-5's A0206 Colony was host to a failed simulation between the Alliance and O.Z."
Lady Une thought back to the timeframe, recalling the incident her subordinate was referring to. "Yes," she confirmed, her eyes locked onto the young man as he seemed to sneer at her. "The Alliance trainees were attacked by colonist rebels and there were whispers of a new mobile suit on the battlefield. A gundam," she tensed.
"They were not trainees," WuFei clarified in a deadly, low tone. "Those were well trained pilots who knew how to work their machines. They were sent there to annihilate the inhabitants of that colony. My home colony," he emphasized.
Lady Une swallowed hard. He had been present during that simulation, she had feared as much. Yet, she did not dare to flinch away from his angry words. "I know it doesn't mean much, but I apologize for what happen-."
"What was in that cylinder?" WuFei's voice dipped dangerously.
For the first time in years, Lady Une took a step back in pure fear. She watched him coil up all his pent up anger. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the other two former pilots shift in their seats, ready to jump to her assistance if WuFei did insist to move on her. "C-c-cylinder..?" she stuttered.
"The one being attached to the colony's wall. Directly above the air filtration system. That cylinder."
"I don't think O.Z. had anything to do with that," Trowa finally spoke up. "None of my research suggests as much."
WuFei shot his ally a formidable glare. Both Trowa and Heero seemed to be convinced that O.Z. had not had a hand in the mystery disease. But that seemed to be a naïve thought, seeing as how Traize Krushrenada and Lady Une had their hands in just about every conspiracy anyone could think of from back then.
"There was no cylinder," Lady Une finally found her voice again, straightening herself to full height. "The Alliance requested a few mobile suits for a simulation and O.Z. acquiesced."
"Why?" Heero questioned. There was more to the compliance than was being said.
The Commander bit down on her lip, ultimately relenting. "We had word that there were rebels involved in something big there. We gave the Alliance the mobile suits in hopes of fishing out those rebels and having an excuse to move in ourselves." She locked eyes with WuFei once more as she took in a sharp breath and continued. "Indeed, something big was there. But the Alliance covered up their floundering and refused O.Z.'s assistance in containing the situation. The Alliance denied anything of interest from happening and actively strived to keep O.Z. out of the L-5 region. Traize and I had nothing to do with that."
The room grew silent, everyone lost in their own thoughts.
"What's the connection?" Commander Une tried again.
Trowa and Heero looked to WuFei, as if waiting for a sign. When the Asian man looked away, Trowa began filling in the blanks for the commander.
"That's so…" Lady Une snapped her fingers trying to find the right word. "Farfetched," she settled for that.
"Not necessarily. Things are connecting." Heero finally spoke up as he reached for a notebook next to his laptop. "There have been several similar incidents stretching as far back as A.C. 178. Nearly all of them have been considered to be of little significance."
"Overshadowed by political upheavals of the time," Trowa clarified.
Commander Une reached out, taking the notebook from the young man. She blinked back surprised. Heero had written down nearly four pages of dates and incidents, many of them, however, had been crossed out. He was also marking the incidents with different colored inks in the margins, organizing them to in some way in his mind. "Why do you think these are all connected?" she barely whispered looking the list over. Many of the colonies that the incidents had occurred on had long since been destroyed.
"The symptoms are similar," Heero responded matter-of-factly glancing over at WuFei.
"Hard proof?" Lady Une looked up, still unbelieving.
The boys remained silent. "Contradicting, probably doctored files mostly from L-2 and speculation at the moment. It's hard to find old medical records from dead colonies," Trowa supplied.
Lady Une looked around. Her honey eyes landing on a file box labeled as 'Alliance' sitting next to Heero and Trowa. She speculated it was the only misconstrued evidence they could find thus far. She shook her head, still having a hard time wrapping her head around it all. "Alright," she breathed softly making up her mind. "Let me see what I can do about finding you guys some hard evidence."
Commander Une headed for the door, her head swimming with the information that the former gundam pilots had dropped on her. Was this what they had been working on during their free time? Was Duo also involved? He was originally from the L-2 colony, if she recalled correctly. Most likely he would be.
"Biological warfare?" she finally dared to say as she reached for the door, looking back at them.
"Seems like it," the WuFei scowled looking down at the boxes sitting next to him.
Commander Une finally left the room quietly. Her heels clicked softly with each step taken, hands clutching the folder she had walked into the room with. She looked down at the issued court martial folder and smiled weakly. "Three steps backs," she huffed shakily.
A/N: DUNDUNDUNDUUUNNNNN! The plot thickens. Considerably.
Also, thank you all for your kind reviews. They warm my heart and keep me writing. And of course, once again, I apologize for the incredibly long time it takes to update/write.