Lies Between Friends and Lovers
Dyna Dee
Chapter 28

Relena

Sitting in the corner of the shared bedroom, wrapped in a previously-used but much appreciated blanket, Relena once again contemplated her roommates, sleeping noisily while she remained awake and unable to find even the most necessary of escapes. She thought it must be the lack of exercise and so little mental stimulation that kept her from sleeping. Having been confined to the apartment with nothing to do was the worst form of punishment for someone like herself, used to a lot of activity and interaction with others.

She curled in on herself as her stomach grumbled loudly. Good lord but she was hungry. Even though she'd tried her best to stretch her reduced number of tasteless rations, she was hungry all the time and felt almost hollow. If it wasn't for her roommates giving her several spoonfuls of their own precious rations each meal time, she would be suffering far more than she was presently. Of course the other four didn't have to share their rations with her, which was why their kindness in her hour of need touched Relena all the more deeply. This new level of food depravation, matched by her roommates' kindness, had changed her opinion of the other four, and indeed her views about the other people on L2. She no longer judged those she associated with by their appearances alone, nor for their lack of manners. Instead, she now regarded them with understanding and a deep sense of gratitude for their charitable behavior towards her, as ironic as that seemed.

Being a person born to a privileged life, Relena never knew what depravation was, having taken for granted a bottomless bank account, a loyal staff of servants, a large beautiful home to live in, a wardrobe most women could only dream of as well as a say in the political arena. And look at her now, housed with four strangers whose only valuable belongings were a coveted week's worth of food packs and water and the ragged clothing on their backs. Their common goals, which Relena now shared, was looking forward to their next meal as well as struggling from day to day to survive. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined herself living on L2 and on the brink of starvation with these poor and lowly people who were showing charity to her by sharing a portion of their sustenance. Each mouthful of food they gave her was one less for them, and a precious gift. Their sacrifice for her benefit touched Relena deeply and she would never, ever forget it.

In an effort to deal with endless hours spent with nothing to do but think of her constant hunger, she had engaged her roommates in conversation. It was amazing, she thought, how much one could learn about a person after asking a few questions. All four adults seemed wary when she first began to question them about their lives, but it didn't take long before they accepted that her curiosity and concern were genuine, then all hesitance passed and they opened up, eager to share with her the tales of their pasts. She'd learned quite a lot about those she lived with during the past week, including their tragic pasts, their hopes and the dreams they'd once harbored. Between the four, they had a wealth of stories to tell, about their own lives as well as others they'd known. She was coming to care very much about these forgotten people, to worry about their survival and future, that is if any of them had a future. Blaming hunger or inactivity for keeping her awake at night was really only a small part of the reason sleep eluded her. In truth, it was her fears for the people of L2 that kept her awake hours after her roommates had fallen to sleep.

A large snore suddenly erupted from one of the men. Havoc Reel, she decided. The older man with the deep lines etched in his face looked very much like a scarecrow to her, with his long, lanky arms and legs and a hat on his head when he went out of the apartment. When asked about his life, the older man told her that after being a Sweeper for twenty years he'd been employed on L2 as an environment-maintenance specialist, a job he continued to labor at despite a lack of pay or parts for the ever-breaking machinery that kept the colony from letting the vacuum of space into the dilapidated tin can and killing all the inhabitants.

Havoc was a widower, his wife having passed away in 185 AC. They'd had no children. With no other family, Havoc stayed on L2, believing his job was important enough to tolerate the corrupt government and lawlessness. Even now, with the deteriorating conditions the colony lived in, he continued to patch up any malfunctioning part or machinery, hoping to keep them all alive in the event that those in charge on Earth would come to their senses and save the stout-hearted people of L2. Relena contemplated the older man and couldn't help but admire him for the tenacious spirit of hope he carried in his heart, believing that a day of deliverance for L2's citizens would come, eventually.

Within the faint light of the room, coming from the crack in the blanket that was tacked up over the window, she saw Kirk roll over and away from the man sharing his mattress. No doubt his slumber had been disturbed by Havoc's snoring.

Kirk was a surprisingly warm and accommodating individual, his brown eyes often reflected his feelings. He had a kind way about him that Relena felt was quite remarkable, considering the circumstances. Like all of the men on the colony, Kirk was very thin, his face gaunt despite the unkempt beard. When she'd questioned him about his past, Kirk admitted to having been a postal worker, delivering mail and packages to those few on the colony who were privileged enough to be on the receiving end of a delivery. It had been a good job, he'd told her. But his occupation had come to an end when the violence and lawlessness on the colony had escalated to a more dangerous level, and then the embargo had been set in place. He now spent his days walking the vehicle-empty streets, trying to maintain his strength while waiting for liberation in any form to come.

As to whether or not he had a family, Kirk had answered that it was something he didn't want to talk about. The ensuing silence that followed had prompted Relena to end that more personal line of questioning.

"Mama." Gian mumbled the word with such longing that it made Relena's heart ache for the pregnant young woman. Gian Dupont's story was sad, though not unusual for a female living on L2. She was a child of the streets, raised by a single mother after her father had been killed while being mugged on his way home from work. Her mother had done her best to gain employment in order to support herself and daughter, but the part-time job at a food outlet didn't pay enough to make the rent and they soon found themselves living on the streets, carrying with them only what they needed to survive the cold, harsh world they had been forced into.

Gian's mother died of an untreated illness, leaving her teenage daughter unprotected and alone. Gian had learned alongside her mother how to stay out of the way and remain unseen as much as possible, but it was impossible to avoid any detection, especially by gangs and those men and women preying on the poor unfortunates.

Gian reluctantly spoken of a woman who approached her one day and had offered her a job. Believing she was going to improve her circumstances, Gian followed the woman to her business with the understanding that she would be waiting tables in exchange for room and board. Less than two months had passed when she had been forced into prostitution. The woman who hired her was, unknown to Gian, a ruthless madam.

She remained at the whore house until one of the colony's gangs tried to extort a large protection fee from her employer. When the woman refused to pay, the establishment was burned to the ground and she was once again out of a job and home.

Reverting to her old ways, Gian hid from everyone, stealing by slight of hand during the day and huddling in dark shadows by night. That was until the blockade and the hard times really began. Several years ago, she'd been rousted from her nest of rags by the Guardians and brought to this very apartment and given a meal tag. Even as the colony struggled to live, Gian had been given a life better than the one she'd previously known.

One evening, several months earlier, she'd failed to make it back to the building before the lights went out, and a nameless dark shadow pounced upon her, dragging her into an alley where an unidentified man ruthlessly took what he wanted and left her with an added burden.

Relena couldn't help but compare her own life with Gian's. While her royal birth parents had perished during the attack on Sanq when she was but a baby, Relena had somehow escaped their fate and had been taken in by the Dorlians, a rich and politically influential family. She had been given everything a spoiled, upper-class child could want, and though she hoped she had been grateful for what she'd received by doting, adopted parents, she now felt more than a little guilty in light of all the trials and deprivations this other girl, similar in age to herself, had endured.

At first she thought it odd that Gian didn't appear to resent carrying a child of rape in her womb. Instead the girl seemed content and actually looked forward to having the baby. Considering their circumstances, Relena asked the mother-to-be if she feared bringing a baby into an world of hunger and uncertainty. Gian smiled as she lowered her gaze to her round belly. With a hand gently stroking the large swell, she answered, "This babe is a blessin'." And then with a small, sweet smile she added, "Now I won't be alone anymore."

A snort drew Relena's thoughts away from Gian to Rida Darbro. The older woman was hard on the eyes and her sometimes unintelligible mumbling was difficult to comprehend, but Relena found her to be a simple and gentle soul. Rida loved stories, and because there was rarely anything else to do she had read out loud to eager listener. The older woman's face would more often than not go slack and her eyes would close while she listened to each and every word being read. Relena could only think that Rida, her life and experiences limited to L2, was trying to imagine the scenes being read, equating what she knew into the stories often depicting life on a planet that she'd never visited, other than in written word.

Rida didn't talk about her life before the embargo. The woman seemed to live each day as it came and consigned her yesterdays to the past, not to be revisited or discussed. It was something Relena found hard to accept, but after seeing a look of contentment in the older woman's eyes as she read to her, she began to think that Rida's lapse of memory was a coping mechanism, a way to deal with a very unpleasant reality. Having come to that conclusion, Relena left off asking the others about their pasts, realizing that the recollection was probably painful to them.

Yes, her view of her roommates had certainly changed since her arrival on L2. During those first few days she'd been unable to comprehend how a group of people could allow themselves to sink so low as to live like they did. But after listening to the other four speak of their lives, of how they had been shaped by this colony's political and social climate, she began to understand that circumstances had a lot to do with how people lived rather than it being the result of being weak and unwilling to make things better. Her own naivete and former ignorance of the situation here had blinded Relena to the suffering of L2. But no more. She now had faces and names that went with the words starvation and depravation, and she was almost certain that she would never be the same for the experiences she'd had on this seemingly forgotten colony. Reluctantly, she admitted to herself that she would not have had this unusual and harsh education had she not been kidnaped and forced to live as just another unfortunate citizen of L2. For whatever reason she'd been brought here, to live and suffer and starve with everyone else, Relena hoped she would be able to strong enough to endure whatever was to come with the same grace, kindness and fortitude her roommates displayed on a daily basis. With any luck and a bit of effort, she might come out of this experience not only alive, but a better, stronger person.

Chapter 29

Wufei

Wufei Chang sat stiffly in the leather chair facing the Preventors' Director. He concentrated on projecting the picture of stoic patience while his boss once again read over his scathing and detailed report on L2, written after his and Agent Barton's brief stay on that colony. Taking the moment to observe Lady Une, he thought her similar to himself and his former comrades in one respect; she seemed older and by far wiser than other men and women of a similar age. At thirty, Director Une was a disciplined, organized task master, who was steadfastly determined to carry out the UEC's goals of maintaining peace. He noted the slight wrinkle forming between her narrowed eyes as she flipped over yet another page and continued reading, obviously not pleased by the report's contents. Spread across her desk were the original color photographs he'd handed to her moments ago, each one revealing the atrocious conditions within L2, truly saying more visually than the lengthy report she was now reading.

Ten minutes passed with only the turning of pages interruped the silence. Finally, after the last line had been read, the brunet woman closed the folder and set it down on her desk. Another full minute passed before her eyes rose to meet the steady gaze of the agent sitting across her desk. She was now ready to address the report.

"This reads more like a condemnation of the UEC than your normal cut and dry statement of evidence and conclusions, Agent Chang."

"I believe it is," he answered cooly, his gaze never wavering.

"It is interesting, however," she began, picking up one of the pictures. Wufei caught a glimpse of the photo and determined it to be the one showing the food distribution center and the line of starving people lined up in front of it. "That this lawless colony seems to have found some order during their time of crisis."

"That order was born out of necessity because of the desperate state of affairs our government has caused those suffering people," Wufei said with a frown. "There is no excuse for what the UEC is subjecting those men, women and children to. You can see for yourself in the pictures Agent Barton took of the deplorable living conditions they are forced to live in. As a group, the colony has sidestepped starvation by creating a system of food and water distribution as well as order, and they continue to survive by hanging onto the hope that their nightmare will soon end."

"And it's your opinion that these marauders, who have been attacking supply shuttles for the past couple of years, have been giving their stolen goods to the colony?"

"The colonists we spoke to became hesitant about speaking with us when the topic of their food supply came up, other than their caustic condemnation of the UEC for the embargo. Even if they had any knowledge about where the food was coming from or who delivered it, which I'm not certain the majority of them do, they're grateful enough to their benefactors to remain silent, protecting them and thereby ensuring the continuation of the much needed supplies. I have no physical proof that the marauders are doing this, but I strongly suspect that is exactly what's going on. The goods they've taken have not shown up on any other colony. But without proof, my theory remains conjecture only. Yet I would ask you who else but these marauders, with their cloaked ship, could sneak past the UEC's barricade that is set up around L2?"

The director clasped her hands together, her index fingers forming a steeple upon which she rested her chin as she contemplated the subject further. "You've had no luck in finding the marauders' base?"

"No," Wufei replied with a frown. "Heero and I have discussed certain possibilities, and he's trying to locate the original engineer of the stealth system used in Deathscythe during the wars."

"Howard."

"Yes, but he's having little to no luck finding the man." Wufei then explained further. "The Sweepers are a close, tight-lipped society, and we're having little success in getting anything out of them."

"You've contacted Duo Maxwell about this?"

"Of course, but he and Howard have had little to do with each other since the war ended. A falling out seems to have occurred after Duo blew up his gundam, which was engineered by Howard."

Lowering her hands to her desk, the director looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking again. "You commend the marauders in your report."

"Yes."

"You do realize that you're compromising your position here in the Preventers by making such a statement?"

"Perhaps. I am a Preventer, but first and foremost I'm a man with a conscience. How can I condemn in words the actions of men willing to risk their lives and freedom for a group of people who cannot defend or provide for themselves? My former comrades and I stood up for our otherwise defenseless colonies each and every time we climbed inside our gundams and fought to free them from the Federation and then the Alliance's tyranny. I would prove myself a hypocrite if I should now condemn the same actions of other men."

"Your duty then conflicts with your conscience."

There was a long pause as Wufei considered his reply. To agree with her statement could mean his removal from not only the case, but also from his position. "After seeing the suffering taking place on L2, I find myself questioning of the validity of the embargo. Why is it in place? With the evidence I've gathered it's clear that order had been established on L2 and that the supplies being sent there are woefully inadequate. Why is that the case? Thousands have died because of the embargo alone. How many more will die before someone takes a stand and does something? I submit to you, Director Une, that the marauders are doing just that. They are helping those who have no one else to turn to and no means available for them to tell anyone of their plight."

Leaning forward in his chair, Wufei looked directly into his superior's eyes. "Why is it that there has been no official reporting or follow-up on L2? While insufficient humanitarian aid is being sent by the UEC, apparently no official ferret out have been delivered in regards to the deteriorating population or improved, non-violent conditions within the colony. Again, I ask you why? And I'd also like to know the reasons for the UEC's disregard and brutal treatment of L2, which is not only atrocious and goes against reason, but it's also immoral."

"Ours is not to question why, Agent Chang," the director replied with a grave expression. "We are the protectors of peace and answerable to the UEC government."

"As a citizen of the UEC I have the right to question the actions of our leaders, especially when they prove detrimental to other citizens, such as those trapped on L2. How can anyone justify starving of old women and men, of mothers carrying babies and especially the little children? It's not right, and after what I've seen I cannot sit idly by and do nothing."

"Of course you can't," the director said as she rubbed her red-shot eyes. "But regardless of your feelings about this matter, I must remind you that you are a Preventer and have a job to perform."

Wufei tried to hide how startled he was by her last statement. He had been prepared to have her ask for his resignation after she'd read his report. "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

"I want you to return to space and continue your assignment, to ferret out and arrest these marauders." She held up her hand after sensing he was about to protest. "Whether or not this group of bandits are modern-day Robin Hoods, they are still breaking the law and must be brought to justice."

Seeing his frown, she continued. "Consider this, Wufei. If your hunch is true, that these thieves are supplying L2 with the stolen goods, then once the marauders are brought to trial every atrocity on L2 will become a matter of public record. As Director, I'm bound by orders and guidelines for how to operate and maintain this organization. My orders come from persons higher up in the government chain. Like you, I am bound by duty and my hands are tied to an extent in investigating and exposing the government's reasoning behind the embargo, despite my own concerns. I cannot allow your report nor your condemnation of the UEC to be used to sway public opinion. But a trial, conducted openly in court and reported on by the press here and throughout the colonies, will not only bring to light what has been going on, but will no doubt initiate an official investigation as to what is behind the embargo and the sorry lack of supplies to a distressed colony. I can't think of a more effective way to bring this matter out in the open than finding the marauders and putting them on trial for all the UEC's citizens to view, and more importantly, hear."

Wufei contemplated her suggestion for several minutes. He really hadn't thought Director Une would call a press conference and relay an account of his report. That would be political suicide for her job and perhaps for the Preventer organization as well. But a well-televised trial would certainly bring out the motive behind the marauder's charitable acts. The only alternative would be to take a copy of his findings and the images captured by Trowa and give them to a reputable news agency and hope for the best. Losing his job was an acceptable loss in return for the sympathy and aid such actions might bring to the hungry people on L2, but the suspicious shadow his actions might cast on the Preventer organization was not something he could take lightly.

"I'll return to space... for now," he stated. If he didn't uncover any leads on the elusive bandits, then he'd fall back to his secondary plan of giving his report and pictures to a news agency.

He watched as the woman behind the desk picked up another of the many pictures spread out before her. The one in her hand now showed one of the children who had braved entering the building where he and Trowa had camped in order to get some extra food. His wide smile showed a lack of dental care and his eyes were devoid of the light and happiness most children bore. The gaunt face was that of a malnourished child. "It breaks your heart, doesn't it?" Une whispered, not unaffected by the plight of the children at least.

"It does," he replied. "But it also furthers my resolve to do something about this." He reached out his hand for the photo and after a moment, she handed it to him. "I'll keep this with me in order to remind me why haste is necessary. This child, and others like him, won't last much longer, even with the added supplies given to the colony by the marauders."

"I'll see what I can do on my end, speak to my superiors about your report," the director said, her eyes still fixed on the many faces of L2 strewn across her desk.

Wufei stood from his chair, but as a second thought came to him he asked, "Are there any new leads on Relena's case?"

"None."

Suddenly, as if he'd put on glasses that fine-tuned his vision, Wufei could see the slight slump in the young woman's shoulders, the look of fatigue and weariness on her face. No doubt she was being pressured on all sides to have both Relena's case and that of the marauders brought to a satisfactory conclusion. He felt sympathy for his boss, and a bit guilty that he was glad not to be sitting in her place.

"I'll keep in touch," was all he could think come up with in reply. Turning about, he left her and began to mentally prepare for his departure from Earth once again.

TBC