Lies - Between Friends and Lovers
Chapter 39

Wufei spent the remainder of the weekend safely ensconced within the Winner/Barton home. He spent a great many hours speaking with his former comrades, but also excused himself to retire to his room to meditate on his decision to join their clandestine humanitarian effort.

Before the artificial lights of the morning cycle began to glow on Monday morning, he and Trowa returned to the satellite with fresh food for Howard and the other two men and enough supplies to last several days. Having been warily greeted by those satellite-bound men and, after reassuring them all was well and that Wufei had joined them, he and Trowa set out in the stealth shuttle with Wufei's rented ultra shuttle in tow. Piloting in a pre-determined, roundabout way, designed to avoid the regular travel lanes, they selected a rather isolated spot and ditched the small, slightly tampered with ship just outside regular travel lanes before making their way back to the resource satellite once again.

By Tuesday evening Wufei found himself on the cloaked shuttle once again, but his time he was on his way back to Earth, accompanied by Howard and his crew, minus Trowa. The two burly men, obviously the muscle of the operation, remained nameless, mainly because they refused to acknowledge or even talk to the newest member of their crew. He guess he couldn't blame them for being cautious, seeing that he was a Preventer and had basically threatened their freedom only a few days ago. The purpose for this trip, or so he had been told, was to perform routine maintenance on the ship and refuel it. Evidently, they were also going to be restocking the supplies they'd need to survive the next couple of weeks.

Riding in the small passenger section of El Diablo, Wufei had little to do for several hours but look out the port window. The stealth system remained engaged after their entry into Earth's atmosphere, which caused a distorted view of the planet below. Though he could pick out blurred splotches of blue and brown, he couldn't determine with any accuracy what part of the planet they were flying over.

Wufei didn't like being kept in the dark, yet he understood the reason for his not being told everything. He was most likely being tested. After all, he was a turncoat, and no one in their right minds would trust a traitor until they proved beyond a doubt they could indeed be trusted. He'd been AWOL from Preventers radar for over three days now, and no doubt word of his disappearance had reached Une, Heero and anyone else who might be interested. The discovery of the ultra shuttle he'd rented on L4, currently drifting several hundred kilometers from L1, would confirm their fears that something untoward had happened to him. No doubt Preventers would act immediately and begin an investigation to his sudden and unexplained disappearance.

If he wasn't mistaken, his case surrounding disappearance would be assigned to Heero, adding yet one more mystery for him to solve. He regretted adding another burden to his sometimes partner, but hopefully it wouldn't be for long. For some reason, unbeknownst to him, Quatre and Trowa both believed that the blockade around L2 would be lifted within a few weeks. They refused to tell him why they believed that was true when the blockade had been in place for several years. Still, he believed them, and agreed to work with Howard and Trowa in order to keep supplying the colony with water, food and other essentials for as long as the blockade stood or until they were caught. He was working on blind faith that the latter of those two endings wouldn't come to fore, trusting his friends to continue eluding capture or discovery.

What they were engaged was legally wrong, as seen by the law, and because the marauders had been operating for several years now, Une was under pressure by colonial governments to do something. She was growing more anxious by the week to catch the marauders and try them as thieves and hijackers. The sentence, if they were indeed caught and convicted, would be stiff, possibly even life sentences, in spite of the fact that they were on a mission of mercy. He had no wish to spend the rest of his life in prison nor to send his friends there either. To avoid that end, he would follow Quatre's plans and hope for the best. Shortly after departing the satellite, Howard came back from the cockpit to give him a detailed description of their operations - information he'd already gleaned from the reports from the hijacked crews that he'd gone over more time than he could count. Howard decided to quiz him, trying to test him by changing scenarios of how the crews of the ships they boarded might react. The older man seemed pleased by his responses. He'd based his answers from having memorized their procedures and knowing their main objective was to get the goods needed off the waylaid ships, pay for them and leave without anyone getting hurt. The last point was paramount to their operation. While aiding L2 was their main purpose, not harming anyone in the process was deemed just as important.

It was dark when the shuttle touched down on a long runway in the middle of what appeared to be nowhere. Howard proved to be as good a pilot as he was a mechanical engineer when only a slight bump of the tires on the tarmac signaled the ship had touched down. It was the most polished landing Wufei had ever experienced. He recalled Heero telling him that Duo could land any flying vessel smoother than anyone he'd ever known. Wufei wondered if perhaps Howard had been the one to teach the former Deathscythe pilot how to fly.

The moment the stealth shuttle came to a complete stop, the cockpit door slid open and Howard popped out and quickly opened the outer hatch and quickly ushered Wufei through it. The two brawny crewmen followed close behind. The taller of the two had impressively large shoulders, a swarthy complexion and a dark heavy eyebrow that hovered over distrustful eyes that seemed to constantly be in motion. The second man was shorter by a few inches, however his brawn lacked nothing when compared to his counterpart. He wore his brown hair closely cut to his scalp, which accentuated his broad face that bore a long ragged scar down his left cheek. Howard glanced over his shoulder and frowned at the two, which Wufei could only interrupt was a silent reprimand for their stubborn refusal to speak to their newest crew member. Howard stopped their descent down the ramp to introduce them as Buck and Stu and explained that they were the muscle of the operation, taking care of loading and unloading the cargo they appropriated from the ships they stopped.

With introductions done, the four men continued to the end of the ramp. Once he was back on solid ground, Wufei followed Howard's instructions to stand off to the side while he and his men set about preparing the ship for their return to space. Actually, he was quite happy to do as Howard asked because it felt incredibly good to stretch his back and legs after being shuttle bound for several days.

He watched as the three competently performed the maintenance on the shuttle, with the help of several men, who seemed to have walked out of the dark to help. Their surprise was aided by their dark clothing and the masks that covered the entire head, most likely in an attempt to keep their identities from him. Several large crates were transferred to the cargo area with practiced efficiency, and a fresh supply of food and water were carried on board for the crews use. Forty-five minutes the maintenance was complete and the ground crew waved them off and the four men re-entered the shuttle to begin preparations for take off.

Once again Howard and Buck retreated into the cockpit, leaving Wufei standing in the small passenger cabin while the last crew member entered behind them. The man immediately turned to close the hatch. Wufei took the seat he'd been assigned to when they'd left the satellite, and after assuring the hatch was sealed, Stu, the shorter of the two Sweepers, strapped himself into the seat next to him. Once the shuttle began to taxi to the top of the runway, Stu turned to look across the short distance that separated them to address the Wufei for the first time.

"Preventer, huh?"

Wufei turned to the man, surprised that he was finally speaking to him. "Yes."

"I don't trust you." Which, going by the look on the man's face, was a true statement.

"Quatre and Trowa do."

"And that's the only reason why you're sittin' there and not doing the dead man's float out in space."

Wufei studied the man, trying to judge whether or not he would have to defend himself. Stu dismissed that concern when he continued speaking, obviously having been given the task of outlining what would be happening in the next couple of hours. "Howard said he'd given you the basics of what we do, but I'm gonna tell ya again. We have approximately four hours until we catch up with the target. It's comin' from a satellite that's used as a warehouse for goods sent from Earth to L3. We'll be in stealth mode for the entire trip and when we get in range, several warning shots will be fired to get the Eclipse's attention. Buck will issue a prerecorded warning and state our intentions to board the shuttle. They have the choice of opening the cargo hatch or we'll use a lazer to cut through the door, leaving a patch that will be expensive to repair. So far, no one has refused to open the door and let us in."

Wufei nodded that he understood and Stu continued. "We carry only stun guns, and though it's better not to have to use them, we set them off at the least sign of provocation. Some guys just can't help trying to be a hero when there's no need. Howard does all the talking while Buck and I haul out the goods we need form their cargo hold, and you're our backup. Buck and I can watch each other's backs; we're depending on you to watch Howard's. I don't have to tell you what will happen if he gets hurt, do I?" The threat in the man's brown eyes spoke clearly of the mayhem he intended if that unfortunate event came to pass.

"I understand."

"Buck and I have done this enough times that we can be in and out of there with the goods in twenty minutes, tops. The whole operation takes roughly forty minutes from the time we fire over their bow, barring any arguing by the captain and crew. The bag full of money usually shuts them up fast enough.

"Once we have the cargo transferred to our ship, you'll be the last to leave, again watching our backs. The moment we sever the connecting tube linking the two ships, we're out of there and on our way to L2. After that you can return to L4 or come stay at the satellite with me, Buck and Howard to await our next assignment."

"I suppose it depends on where Heero Yuy is," Wufei said thoughtfully.

Stu nodded his head, and there was a look of apprehension on his face as he said, "I've been told all about him."

"I suspect he'll be the one assigned to find out what happened to me. If he uses Quatre and Trowa's home as base, that will be the last place I should go."

"Then I guess you'll be staying with us and we're gonna to get to know each other real well over the next couple of weeks." The grin on Stu's face was less than reassuring.

"Yes, I guess we will."

_______________

Wufei had heard the term beginner's luck before, but he wondered in his case if it shouldn't have been beginner's bad luck.

They reached the Eclipse on schedule and everything went as planned, to the point of entering the shuttle, dressed all in black and with ski masks covering their heads almost completely to keep them from being identified. To his displeasure, Howard found himself faced with not the captain, as requested, but with his first mate and several other grim looking crew members.

"I will deal only with your captain," Howard said in an intentionally low, gruff and commanding voice.

"So what are you gonna do about it, leave?" the burly man with the brown messy hair and untrimmed beard asked sarcastically. Howard immediately raised his stun rifle and blasted the man into unconsciousness. The five men surrounding him didn't look like they appreciate Howard's answer. Arguing ensued, which resulted with all five being laid out unconscious on the floor.

Using the intercom, Howard demanded the captain's presence. He waited two minutes before another man appeared, by himself, as originally requested. One look at the sight of five of his crew on the floor and the new comer's face displayed how furious he was. The man was about Wufei's height and dressed like the rest of the crew, in a faded blue flight suit. The only difference was the well-wore cap with the dingy white letters spelling out Captain above the bill.

Not trusting the cap to identify the man, Howard asked, "You're the captain of this ship?"

The white haired, middle-aged man's thin-lipped scowl looked permanently etched on his craggy face as he answered. "That's right."

"Why didn't you come as requested, instead of sending your men?"

"It was their idea."

Howard paused to considered that for a moment. While it was feasible that the crew was only trying to protect their captain, Wufei wondered what else this man's crew had up their sleeves.

"We need a portion of your cargo, for which we will compensate you in credits."

"What if we don't want to go along with this?" the man replied with a sneer of disgust.

"Then we take what we want and you'll get nothing."

"Like hell you will!" the captain shouted. It was either his volume or the words he spouted that triggered an immediate reaction from his crew. For no more than a heartbeat after spouting his challenge, a dozen men jump out from doorways lining the metal corridor, armed and ready to defend their cargo and captain.

Reacting immediately, Wufei pulled Howard behind the solid door of the open hatch, just as the first bullet pinged above the door. "These idiots are going to compromise the ship's integrity," he hissed in anger while the older man in front of him began to fire his stun gun.

The next few minutes were filled with the sounds of weapons firing and stun rifles igniting. Wufei decided that if anyone was going to survive the stupidity of these men, recklessly shooting bullets inside a space craft, he needed to do something and quickly. When a brief pause in the firing came, he threw himself forward, towards the nearest man. In less than three leaps he successfully tackled the ship's captain to the floor, knocking the gun out the man's cursing man's hand at the same time. Though the ship's captain was older, he was in excellent physical condition and was eager to fight, hand to hand. He soon learned, however, that he was no match for the dark-eyed marauder. In the end the crew was quickly immobilized once their captain had been captured and used at hostage Everyone member of Eclipse's crew threw down their guns as ordered and raised their hands to surrender. In order to secure the ship without any more mishaps, the entire crew was rendered unconscious by use of their stun guns. Wufei stood guard over the bodies on the deck while Howard rushed off with Buck and Stu to take what they needed from the cargo hold.

Alert to every sound and movement around him, Wufei waited impatiently for three marauders to return. It seemed the passage of time was defying the law of physics with it's slowness while he remained alert to ever sound and movement, his stun gun ready to fire. Fifteen minutes passed before the three men returned, though it seemed much longer to him. Their approach was surprising quiet, even with a large shipping container that had been secured by anti-gravity braces which helped Stu and Buck move the bulky box forward almost effortlessly into the connecting tube to El Diablo.

"We found what we needed, but we're running a bit behind schedule," Howard stated grimly. "I'm going to check out their cockpit to see if they managed to get off any messages before we blocked their signals. I doubt it, but I think I should check." He then turned and quickly disappeared down the ship's corridor.

Quicker than he thought possible, Buck and Stu came running out of the connecter tube, each carrying a grav brace under their arms. They disappeared in the direction of the cargo hold and, surprisingly, returned five minutes later with yet another large container. And so the process continued for three additional trips to and from the cargo hold.

Howard returned with a nod of satisfaction that told Wufei that no message had been sent. After giving him a pat on the shoulder, the older man disappeared into their own ship, probably tightening down the newly acquired cargo.

After the fourth crate disappeared through the hatch, Stu announced over his shoulder, "Last one. Just give us a minute to secure this in the hold and then we're out of here."

Wufei remained at his post though he was anxious to leave. This obviously was not the routine Howard was used to. Never, in all the reports he'd read, had a crew fought back before.

"You okay?"

Wufei turned as Howard came out of the hatch and watched as the older man began picking up the discarded weapons lying on the floor. "No use leaving these things lying around. It's obvious these guys like to cause trouble." Then, when it appeared he had picked up every last one, the older man straightened and looked at Wufei with a smile. "What do you say to us getting out of here?"

Wufei couldn't shake the feeling that they were forgetting something. Something was missing from the pattern the marauders usually followed. And then it came to him what was different. "You're not leaving the credits?"

The older man shook his head. "I warned the man."

"Then this would be stealing. That could be used against you in a court of law."

Rolling his eyes, the older man said, "That's the least of my worries." Then with a sigh he added, "But you're right. "I'll be right back."

Wufei sighed, letting out some of his pent up tension. Thus far the marauders had prided themselves on paying for what they'd taken, maybe escaping the worst of the theft charges if they were caught. Of course, hijacking was still the worst of all charges that would be leveled against them and the sentence for that, if convicted in a court of law, was something he didn't want to think about.

Howard returned and threw a nondescript canvas bag on the floor, next to the unmoving captain's body. "Let's get going."

Wufei turned to lead the way back into their ship when out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a movement. He paused to investigate, and at that very moment the first mate raise his head from the floor and his whipped his hand out from beneath him to point a familiar object at Howard. Damn, Howard had missed one of the man guns that might have been on him or possibly beneath his body.

"Move!" He shouted while throwing himself in front of Howard, and in that instant the report of a gun firing filled the air. Searing pain burst through his upper arm. The low hum and pfft of a nearby stun gun sounded as he fell against Howard's chest, the older man's arms wrapping around him to keep him from falling to the floor.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Howard ordered. Even as Wufei struggled to get his feet to work under him, he was dragged out of the Eclipse and back into El Diablo. Once secured within their ship he was eased down onto the floor and only then did the supporting arms let go.

"Dammit. It wasn't supposed to go down like this!" Howard said, roughly pulling off the mask covering his head. His expression seemed to be torn between anger and worry as his hands began to roam the injured man's body, looking for additional wounds.

"Just my arm. Take off this mask."

Still frowning, Howard pulled off the face mask then unzipped the black flight suit. Without pausing he ripped off the bloody t-shirt beneath it then gently eased Wufei onto his side. "No exit wound. Looks like we're going to have to do some digging to get that out."

Knowing that all gunshot wounds had to be reported to the authorities, Wufei knew that he couldn't go to a hospital or doctor. He looked up to meet the older man's eyes. "Have you done this before?"

Howard offered him a slight smile. "Many times, unfortunately."

With a defeated sigh, the Chinese man resigned himself to the upcoming procedure. "You've got antibiotics, right?"

"Wouldn't leave Earth without them." The man was much too cheerful, Wufei groused.

After the connecting tube was retracted, the shuttle door was closed and secured by Buck. "You okay to take us out of here?" Howard asked over his shoulder.

The tall man moved towards them, his stun rifle in hand and his eyes focused on Wufei's injured arm.

Wufei's attention turned from what Howard was doing to address Buck. "Thanks for stopping him from taking a second shot."

"No thanks necessary," the tall, man replied just before pulling the cap off his head. "That shot was aimed at Howard's heart. If you hadn't moved to block him..." His voice trailed off. The idea of what had almost happened seemed too difficult for the man to continue. Clearing his throat, he said. "You're one of us now."

Wufei looked to Howard for his reaction. The older man simply smiled at him, then glanced back to the other man. "Get us out of here, Buck. Have Stu bring the first aid kit. I'm going to need him to help me dig a bullet out of newest crew member's arm."

Evidently, his actions had won the other men over. Wufei was now, apparently, officially, a marauder.

TBC