Last Resistance to Peace
Chapter 10
A.C. 204
Late August
Treize sat in a conference room in the Romefeller headquarters, along with Colonel Une and Duke Dermail. Dorothy was there as well, discussing her stay at the Sanc Kingdom.
"I found no signs that the kingdom is hiding anything. Obviously, her highness Queen Relena kept me watched during my entire stay. I cannot blame her for that," Dorothy said. "Her guards are well trained, but they are not soldiers."
"Did she take you into confidence?" Duke Dermail asked.
"No. The Queen does not much like me," Dorothy said. Treize found it amusing that she was unaffected by this. He had a feeling that Dorothy enjoyed it when people didn't like her. Though to be honest, it was a trait they shared as distant cousins.
"And her feelings about Romefeller remain the same?" Dermail asked.
"Yes. Her dislike of the organization runs deep."
Treize leaned forward over the table. "I think we can agree that none of this is new information," he said. "Queen Relena Peacecraft is a stubborn, headstrong young woman, who is unlikely to be easily swayed from her beliefs. She will cause us problems in the future, but my prediction is that her troublemaking will come in the form of politics, not war."
Dermail and Colonel Une didn't look convinced. Dorothy merely looked bored.
"You know her brother," Dermail said. "Don't you think he'd convince her to arm the country?" Treize shrugged.
"Possibly. He might have tried anyway. If he hadn't renounced his claim to the throne, I believe the country would be armed. But not Relena. From what Zechs told me about her, she's always fully believed in pacifism."
Silence fell. He knew Colonel Une hated Relena, and Dermail was afraid of the young woman. Treize always found her interesting, the few times he met her in the past. He had been hoping for a chance to talk with her about her ideals, but so far, the opportunity had not presented itself. He doubted he'd get the chance any time soon.
"Queen Relena will continue to deny mining permits as well," Dorothy added, breaking the momentary silence. Dermail exclaimed intelligible words.
"That's not a surprise," Treize commented. He glanced to Dermail. "You'll have to increase your mining in space."
"I believe that's your job," Dermail countered. Treize shrugged his shoulders. "I will send her an executive order to allow the mining operations to take place. She can't hoard that chromite to herself."
Treize smiled, and Dorothy clucked her tongue in disagreement but said nothing.
A.C. 204
September
Heero Yuy sat in the cockpit of his Gundam, occasionally glancing out at the activity in the hangar. A large contingency of OZ soldiers was preparing to leave Earth for space, to bring their military control to the colonies. Heero had asked permission to be sent along, but was denied with no explanation. He looked back at his laptop and continued to scan the operating code of Wing. He'd noticed a few irregularities during the last battle. He wanted to fix them before the Gundams were sent out again.
The cable hanging beside his Gundam began to move, recoiling back up. Heero let out a sigh. Someone was coming to interrupt his work. A moment later, Duo's head appeared. He released the handle and dropped onto the cockpit landing.
"What?" Heero asked.
"That's a nice 'hello,'" Duo said, planting his hands on his hips. Heero didn't bother looking up from his laptop. "What're you up to?" Heero ignored him, but Duo persisted. "Come on, man! Quatre, Wufei, and Trowa are in a meeting with Une, and I'm bored."
Finally, something interesting from Duo. Heero glanced up. "What meeting?" Duo shrugged.
"I don't know. I was explicitly not invited to the meeting, and neither were you, obviously."
"Hn."
Duo made himself comfortable on the edge of the cockpit landing, his feet dangling over the floor. "Can you believe they're not letting us go into space?" Duo asked, watching the activity below. "I don't know why they're so concerned about some pacifist nation in Europe. We could crush them, easily."
"What are you talking about?"
"Weren't you paying attention earlier in that meeting?" Duo asked. Heero gave him a blank stare. "Guess not. That's why we're stuck here. For some reason, Romefeller is worried about this little country. So we stay here to keep them under control."
Heero returned his gaze to his laptop screen. "Ridiculous."
Duo shrugged. "Anyway, I'm hungry. I'm going down to the mess hall." He grabbed the handle of the retraction cable and stepped off the cockpit landing.
"You're always hungry," Heero muttered to himself, shutting down the OS of Wing and searching for information on pacifist nations in Europe.
A/N: I know, short chapter. I continue to appreciate and love your comments and reviews. :-)
-SE