Author's Notes: Hello there! Well, I managed to get this one finished much more quickly than I did with the most recent update to Destiny's Call. It's not as long as that one was either, although that's only relatively speaking. If you're fans of Metal Gear Solid, particularly The Phantom Pain, then you'll probably like the field operation that Heero and Ryoko go on later in the chapter.

Enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen: No Need To Be A Hero!

It was well into the night by the time Heero managed to return to the countryside safe house that he and his extraterrestrial companions called home. All things considered, he'd actually made decent time, especially given the fact that he'd been delayed by Preventers medical staff providing him with proper post-action treatment. His wound was at no risk of getting infected, and he still had use of his left arm, but he had been advised to take it easy for a little while less he exacerbate his injury. Heero was fine with that, but he had to wonder if the girls would be so accommodating.

It's always hard to tell what the next day's going to bring around here, he mused, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing…

He was surprised to realize that he was much less nervous about returning to him companions now than he had been after his previous field mission. It was especially strange given that he had actually killed far more people in this operation than he had in the one against the Order of Holy Aryan Knights, and yet that mission had given him greater anxiety after the fact that this one. After a moment he chalked it up to the fact that the girls now had a much better idea of what it actually was that his missions usually entailed, and he could now approach them with a reasonable expectation of how they might react. Now he was less worried about their thoughts on the operation than he was about what they would do once they found out that he'd been wounded during the mission. Since it was already quite late, Heero hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with that until the following morning.

Unlocking the front door, he'd barely taken a step inside when he caught sight of Ryoko barreling down the hall. He barely had enough time to drop his bag and brace himself before she took him into a fierce embrace.

"You're back!" she cried as she held him tight, "Damn it, I was worried sick about you!"

"Sorry about that," he replied as he returned his embrace, "I didn't mean to cause you concern."

She pulled back after a moment, and Heero was surprised to see her eyes narrowed as they locked onto his left shoulder. The sharp look in them was all the clue Heero needed to realize something; she already knew that he'd been hit. That set off a quiet alarm in his head; how could she possibly know that when he hadn't contacted any of the girls about his mission after it had been completed?

"You idiot…" she said as she gingerly placed her hand just above his wound, "You reckless, stubborn idiot… what the hell were you thinking out there? Were you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Heero tried to come up with an answer, but Ryoko apparently didn't want to wait. Instead she grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him down the hallway. It only took a moment for him to realize that she was taking him to Washu's lab.

"Ryoko, what's going on?" he asked, his mind racing, "How do you know what happened on my mission?"

"Did you really think that Washu gave you that toy out of the goodness of her heart?" she replied, nodding at the ITECAMP clipped to his belt, "She was using it to keep an eye on you. Lucky for me, she felt like giving me a front-row seat."

The idea that Washu had been using her gifts to track him in the field wasn't exactly surprising, but the way Ryoko was wording it suggested that whatever surveillance systems had been imbedded in the ITECAMP were more sophisticated than he might otherwise have assumed. He now had even more questions than before, but he wasn't sure where to start.

"Come on," said Ryoko as she opened the door to Washu's lab, "We're getting your shoulder looked at. No offense to your organization, but I don't trust Preventers' doctors."

"None taken," said Heero as he looked around the hall before she pulled him inside, "By the way, where are the others?"

"Sleeping, except for Washu," Ryoko answered, "They all pretty much pulled an all-nighter since they were so worried about you. You should've called us as soon as your mission was done."

It was only now that Heero noticed the shadows beneath her eyes. From what she had told him, she'd at least had the luxury of knowing what was going on, but the others hadn't been so lucky. He could only imagine how stressed out they had been.

"Sorry," he said softly.

Ryoko shook her head. "Don't worry about that for now. They'll be happy to see you in the morning. We've got more important things to worry about right now."

"You're quite right about that," said a familiar female voice.

Up ahead he saw Washu sitting at her desk, her chair turned around so she could face the two of them. Just like Ryoko, her eyes immediately went to Heero's shoulder when she saw him.

He knew it wouldn't work, but he still tried to protest what was coming. "Look, there's no need for another medical inspection, Washu; I've already had my wound treated."

Washu rolled her eyes. "Right. As if your world's primitive medicinal practices qualify as 'treatment'. Nice try, Heero, but you're not weaseling your way out of this. I know it's late and you're probably bushed, but you don't get to go to bed until I'm through with you. Consider it doctor's orders."

"She's right, Heero," said Ryoko, and he was surprised by just how serious she was, "Don't even try to get out of it. I'm not letting you out of here until she's sure you're okay. Do it for me, okay?"

Heero nodded; he was way too tired to argue with her, and he appreciated her concern. "All right, then."

A soft smile appeared on Ryoko's face. "Thanks."

"Now, then," said Washu with a downright predatory grin, "off with that shirt, handsome! It's time for Doctor Washu to get to work!"

….

As much as she wanted for Heero to get the best possible care, Ryoko couldn't help but bristle as she watched Washu conduct her examination. The resident eccentric scientist was clearly enjoying herself, and some of her 'treatment' seemed to be much more hands-on than necessary. Then again, it wasn't as if Ryoko could blame her for admiring the view; shirtless Heero was some grade-A eye candy. The well-toned figure, the scattered scars… to say it was enticing would be a considerable understatement. At the very least, Ryoko could pride herself in the knowledge that, unlike Washu, she had gotten to experience the whole package instead of just settling for a good view.

While Washu was obviously using her examination as an excuse to cop a feel or two, at the same time she genuinely was treating Heero's wound much more effectively than Preventers' medics had. The disinfecting was much more thorough than anything Preventers could've accomplished with their comparatively primitive technology, and one of Washu's devices actually worked to rapidly accelerate the process of tissue regeneration. Ryoko didn't quite understand all of the medical science behind it, but some of the equipment Washu used did remind her of gear she had seen during her travels throughout the galaxy. Of course, Washu's equipment was much more sophisticated, and by the time she'd wrapped up Heero's shoulder had little more than a small scar on it.

"There," she said as she gave his shoulder a pat, "Much better. How's that feel?"

Heero nodded. "Good. There's hardly any pain at all."

Ryoko smiled. "That's great."

"You should still take it easy for a little while," said Washu, "and I do want you to swing by again in a few days for follow-up. Don't even think about trying to get out of it, you got that?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Heero deadpanned, "Can I put my shirt back on now?"

Washu gave an exaggerated sigh. "Well, if you must…"

As Heero did so Washu turned to one of her nearby consoles. Ryoko had no idea what she was looking at, but from the way her eyes narrowed in focus she could surmise that it was something important.

"What is it?" she asked.

Washu shook her head. "Nothing major. Just something I want to take a closer look at later. You two can run along."

Heero shook his head. "Not yet. Washu…"

Washu turned back to him. "Look, if this is about me rigging the ITECAMP so I can spy on you while you're in the field, I'm not apologizing. If your bosses insist on putting you in danger, then I want to know exactly what you're getting yourself mixed up so if you come back here wounded again I can make sure you heal as quickly as possible."

"I appreciate the sentiment," said Heero, "but my missions are rather sensitive. I can't have any information regarding them leak."

Washu smiled. "Don't worry, Heero; I keep all the data the ITECAMP gathers here in the lab. If any information regarding your assignments gets out to the public, I guarantee that it won't be from me. I may not like your superiors sending you out into the field, but I'm not going to stir things up just to get back at them for it."

Heero nodded. "Thanks. Still, when they find out what you've done…"

Washu smirked. "Do they have to find out? Heero, what exactly have you told them about my little gift?"

"Only the capabilities that you described to me, and that I'd be field testing it for a while," Heero replied.

Washu chuckled. "So, in other words, they don't know that I can use it to track you in the field. I know that you found the ITECAMP to be quite useful during your mission, but if your superiors found out about its eavesdropping capabilities I imagine they'd order you to cease utilizing it. That'd be a real shame, don't you think?"

Heero folded his arms. "So you want me to lie to my superiors, is that it?"

"Oh, come on, Heero, don't look at it like that!" Washu argued, "Think of it as simply compartmentalizing information. After all, you said yourself that they only know what I told you before you started your mission. Do they really need to know more than that?"

"Heero, please, keep it," said Ryoko, "I know you don't like it, but it's thanks to this thing that we knew what happened to you and were ready to help you when you got back. Do it for me, okay?"

After a moment, he nodded. "All right."

Washu smiled. "Good. Trust me, you won't regret it. Now, if you two will excuse me, I've got some data to review."

Ryoko was quite eager to get out of the lab, and she was pretty sure Heero felt the same way. It didn't take them long to do so, but before he could head upstairs she grabbed his arm; she wasn't done with him yet.

"Hold on," she said, "I know it's late, but… we need to talk, Heero."

She was afraid that he'd argue, but much to her relief he seemed more intrigued than anything else. "Okay. Outside?"

Ryoko smiled. "Sounds good. Don't want to wake the others, after all."

While she knew that Washu had the outside of the house under surveillance, she hoped that the resident mad scientist had better things to do at the moment than eavesdrop on her and Heero again. She did her best to put it out of her mind; the only thing she wanted to focus on right now was Heero.

"The lake again?" he said as they stepped out the door.

Ryoko nodded. "I'd like that."

The crisp evening breeze felt great on her skin, and the light snowfall helped make an already lovely night even more beautiful. Under other circumstances, Ryoko would've already kicked off a snowball fight with her companion, but she wasn't in the mood for that at the moment.

When they got to the water's edge, Ryoko turned to Heero. "Hold on tight."

She had the pleasure of seeing his eyes widen slightly in surprise as she grabbed him and used her powers to lift the two of them off the ground. He grabbed onto her shoulders, and together they floated out over the water. A few seconds later they were over the small island in the middle of the lake, and they touched down in front of the large tree that dominated it.

"There," she said, "That's more like it. Been a while since the two of us were out here."

Heero nodded as he looked up at the tree. "That it has."

Ryoko sighed. "I miss those days. Sure, we had some hectic times, but… at least you were here. At least you were safe."

"As safe as one can be when sharing a house with Washu, at any rate," Heero replied, and Ryoko was surprised to see a small smirk on his face.

She couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Good point. Still…"

"I know," he said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I hate making you and the others worry. You deserve better than that."

Ryoko shook her head. "No. You're the one that deserves better, Heero. Look, I know that Sally and your Director have done a lot for us, and I appreciate that, but I hate what they're doing to you now."

"They're simply having me fulfill my duties," Heero argued, "This is what I did before you arrived on this planet, Ryoko. As much as I might've preferred otherwise, I knew that the day would come where I would have to return to the field. I'm not doing anything now that I haven't done before."

"I get that," said Ryoko bitterly, "but… it's wrong, Heero! Not what you do, but Sally, the Director, Preventers, the government… they're just using you! You keep their world safe, but they don't care if you get hurt while doing so. It's not right!"

"I think you're misreading things," said Heero, "Sally and Director Une don't send me into the field lightly, especially now that I have you and the others to watch over."

"That's not the point!" Ryoko snapped, much harsher than she'd meant to, "Maybe Sally and your Director give a damn about you, but the rest of them don't! The people who rule this world don't give a shit about the fact that you risk your life so they can live in peace, and it makes me sick! They don't care about what you put yourself through out there! Hell, I bet most of them don't even know that you exist! It's not fair!"

Heero sighed. "I never said that this was an easy life, or a safe one, but it's necessary. Someone has to do what I do, Ryoko. I wish it were otherwise, but I'm good at this, and it's because I'm good at it that I can use my abilities to save lives… even if it means I also take lives in the process. That's a burden that I'm willing to shoulder because it means others won't have to."

"But they'd never do the same for you," Ryoko protested, "and you know I'm right, Heero! I may not know the people who rule this world, but I know how governments work. Maybe Sally and your Director care about you, but the rest of them just see you as a tool. As soon as they decide that you're no more use to them, they'll throw you aside. It doesn't matter what planet it's on; I've seen it all over the galaxy. I'm not going to let them do the same to you!"

She put both hands on his shoulders and gripped him tightly as she looked him dead in the eyes. "The next time you go out there, I'm going with you."

Heero immediately shook his head. "No. That can't happen. I'm sorry, Ryoko, but…"

"But nothing!" she cut him off, "Heero, I am done sitting on my ass out in the middle of nowhere while you go off on missions and put your life in danger. If I was out there with you before, there's no way that you would've gotten hit. You know what I can do, and so do your bosses. I'm going to help you, whether you like it or not!"

"Ryoko, you can't," Heero pressed, "I appreciate the concern, but this is bigger than my personal safety. If the rest of the world finds out about you…"

"I don't care!" Ryoko interrupted, "If the people of your world are so easily scared that the idea of life outside their planet terrifies them, then tough shit! I don't give a rat's ass about them; you are the only one that matters to me. I'm not going to let you get hurt again just because your world's government is afraid of people freaking out about me or the others. Besides, you usually go on missions that are out of the public eye, right? If the people aren't aware of them, then they won't be aware of me, either."

"It's more complicated than that," Heero argued, "Yes, my missions are usually kept out of the spotlight, but what happens when we engage the enemy? If my task is to take a target alive and they see what you're capable of, what do you think they'll do? They'll talk, Ryoko, and word will get out. This government isn't nearly as good at keeping secrets as people think it is; I'm frankly surprised that we've been able to keep you and the others hidden for as long as we have."

Ryoko folded her arms. "You go after scum, right? Terrorists, murderers, cultists, and that sort of trash? Would people really believe the word of assholes like that over Preventers?"

Heero sighed. "I admit, if the enemy saw you and what you can really do, their word wouldn't necessarily be seen as credible by most people. Still… it's a huge risk."

"It's one that I don't care about," said Ryoko firmly, "I know you want to protect me by keeping me in the shadows, but this isn't just about what you want. What about what I want, Heero? You always talk about keeping people safe, but who looks after you? I know you've got partners like that Wufei guy, but they can't protect you nearly as well as I can, and you know it."

"It's not that I don't know what you can do," Heero replied, "Your powers are far beyond anything I've ever seen before. I know that the gifts you have would be invaluable on the missions that I undertake, but the chance of exposing you to the world…"

"Look, if it means that much to you, then I'll be careful," she said, "My powers are good for more than just direct combat, after all; you know how sneaky I can be when I want to."

Heero nodded reluctantly. "That's true. If nothing else, your ability to phase through solid objects would be quite useful for infiltration and scouting. Still… I don't like this."

Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "You don't like it, or are you more worried about Sally and the Director?"

"Take your pick," Heero replied, "I know that you can take care of yourself in a fight, but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable putting your life at risk just to make my job easier. As for Sally and Director Une, I can already tell you how much they'd be opposed to something like this."

"They listen to you, though, right?" Ryoko pointed out, "I mean, isn't part of the reason we've been able to stick around for as long as we have is because you've convinced them that we're not a threat? Seems to me like they trust your judgment."

"They do," Heero conceded, "but there are limits to that. My keeping watch over you is one thing but bringing you into our internal affairs… that's another matter entirely. It's not something that they'd easily give their assent to, that's for sure."

Ryoko smirked. "Well, if you want, I can always fly out to the capital with Ryo-Ohki and threaten them. It's not like they could stop me, after all."

She was relieved to see Heero chuckle at that; as serious as the conversation was, a little bit of levity would go a long way. "No, but I'd like to handle this without you making a scene. I think we can be a little more tactful going forward."

"I'll leave that to you," said Ryoko, "Just make sure they know how serious I am about this. Next time you go out there, I'm going with you, whether they like it or not. If they play along, I'll at least try to keep a low-profile. Otherwise, all bets are off."

Heero nodded. "Duly noted."

She leaned close and caressed his cheek. "Thanks, Heero. I know it's not what you'd prefer, but I'm doing this for you. You know that, right?"

He gave her a small smile. "I know. To be honest, out of all of you girls, if I had to pick just one of you to work with in the field, it'd be you, Ryoko. Just don't be reckless, all right? I know you're powerful but try to follow my lead when we're out there."

Ryoko winked. "No promises. I'm a free-spirited woman, after all. You should know that by now."

"I can't argue with that," he replied.

Moving one hand to the back of his head, she pulled him in to a fierce and passionate kiss. She felt him relax and hold her close as he readily returned it, and she was pleased by how much more accepting of her affection he had become since that fateful night.

When they eventually broke for air she smiled. "Not bad, but I think you owe me more than that after making me worry so much over the past two days."

"I'm all for making it up to you," said Heero, "What did you have in mind?"

She glanced back at the house, her gaze lingering on his bedroom window. "Oh, I've got a few ideas…"

Heero chuckled. "I'm sure you do."

She grabbed him and took the two of them into the air. In just a few seconds they were floating right outside his room…

…and they phased through the wall a moment later.

….

January 2nd, A.C. 199

Heero smiled as he ran his fingers through Ryoko's wild hair. "I could get used to waking up like this."

The lovely pirate giggled before kissing him on the cheek. "That makes two of us."

Just like last time, the morning sun was shining through the window as the two of them lay together, a single sheet the only thing preserving their modesty. How tempting it was to simply lie there the rest of the day, and not for the first time Heero found himself wishing that Ryoko was the only alien guest that was under his watch.

It would make this whole situation a lot easier to manage, he mused, although… I suppose I would miss the others.

Propping herself up on one arm, Ryoko put the other over his chest. "So, how long do you think we can keep this up before the others find out?"

Heero sighed. "I'm not sure. Right now, I'm just shooting for as long as possible."

"Works for me, hotshot," she replied as she ran her fingers up from his chest to his cheek, "I bet your bosses would freak out if they knew what we were doing."

Heero chuckled. "Probably. Not as much as they will when they find out that you're coming with me next time I go into the field, though."

Ryoko nodded, a look of genuine regret in her eyes. "You're right. Look, I know that's going to cause trouble for you, and I'm sorry. It's just…"

Heero cut her off by pulling her down for a kiss. For once, he had the satisfaction of catching her off guard rather than the other way around.

"It's all right," he said softly as their lips parted, "I don't mind, really. Arguing with Sally and Director Une may not be my idea of a good time, but it's nothing I can't handle. Besides, at least this way we'll all be on the same page going forward; it's better that they hear it from me before a mission starts than find out halfway through the operation that you're out in the field with me."

Ryoko smiled. "Okay. If you want help with them, just ask. I can be pretty scary when I want to, you know."

"I'm sure," Heero replied, "but I don't think that'll be necessary this time around. To be honest, I'm actually more worried about the others now rather than my superiors. They're not going to be happy once they learn that I've carved out an exception to my rule about not taking you girls out on missions with me."

Ryoko smirked. "They're going to be so jealous. I can't wait to see the look on Ayeka's face!"

Heero couldn't resist rolling his eyes. "Try not to rub it in, all right? This is going to be a big enough headache without that."

Ryoko winked. "No promises. You know me."

Heero couldn't help but smile. "Indeed, I do."

And I wouldn't have you any other way…

….

Suffice to say that the whole household was thrilled to have Heero back, and none more so than Ayeka. She'd initially been ashamed at herself for having been asleep when he'd finally arrived, but as ever Heero made it clear that he didn't hold it against her in the slightest.

That's just like him, she thought, Sir Heero… by the grace of Tsunami, please, never change who you are.

Breakfast had been a warm but brief affair, with Kiyone and Mihoshi having to leave shortly afterwards for their scheduled patrol. As Sasami and Heero finished cleaning up in the kitchen, Ayeka watched the two of them from the couch with a smile. It was good to see him safely return, just as it was good to see her sister smiling as well, free of the worry that had been eating at her just as it had at everyone else.

The day was set to be a rather slow one, but that was fine with Ayeka. With the two Galaxy Police officers already out the door and Washu having withdrawn to her lab, the crown princess of Jurai was left in the living room with only her guardians and Ryoko for company while Heero and Sasami completed their cleaning. The television was on and Ryoko currently had the remote, but there was nothing on today that Ayeka particularly felt like watching so there was little point in her contesting control with the space pirate. In fact, she had something much more important than idle entertainment on her mind at the moment.

Heero's time out in the field had not exactly been pleasant for Ayeka due to her constant fearing for his safety, but at the same time it had spurred serious consideration in her mind for the future of both her guardian and the world he called home. She was not just an incognito traveler enjoying a vacation on Earth, after all; she was heir to the throne of an interstellar empire. The power and influence inherent in her position were considerable, and it was about time that she started pondering ways to use them in relation to this planet and her host. Due to her internal deliberations there was now a matter that she was actually rather eager to discuss with Heero, but she felt it would be best to do so in a one-on-one setting.

Of course, getting that precious alone time with Sir Heero is much easier said than done around here, she thought, Mihoshi and Kiyone may be out of the house, but I still have plenty of competition for his attention.

She was distracted by the sound of her sister's voice. "There, all done! What do you say, Heero? Want to go outside and make some snowmen?"

"Meow!" cried Ryo-Ohki.

Sasami giggled. "Sounds like Ryo-Ohki wants to help!"

Heero nodded. "Why don't we do that a little later today? I want to run a few laps around the lake to get some exercise in first, all right?"

Sasami smiled. "Sure. Let me know when you're ready!"

Ayeka watched as Heero put on a jacket and went outside, her eyes narrowing. By rights, she ought to leave him to his physical training, but it was also an ideal opportunity. Looking around the living room, she saw that Ryoko was wrapped up in the television, and the pirate was soon joined by Sasami and Ryo-Ohki. If Ayeka wanted to slip away, now was her chance.

Do it, she told herself, You don't know when the next chance will come up, so take this one while it's here!

She made an effort to act as casually as possible as she got up and left the living room. After she was convinced that the others were paying no attention to her, she grabbed the winter coat that Heero had ordered for her a while back and snuck out the front door.

He had already made considerable progress on his first lap, so Ayeka decided to wait until he came back around. It didn't take him long; Heero was surprisingly swift, even in the snow.

She smiled as she approached him. "Sir Heero, pardon the intrusion, but do you have a moment?"

He nodded as he came to a stop before her. "Of course. Something on your mind, Ayeka?"

"Yes," she said, "Truthfully, it's something I really should've brought up some time ago. I didn't wish to impose upon you, though, especially after all that you've already done for my sister and me. However, recent events have given me cause for concern, so I feel that this matter can no longer be allowed to languish."

"By 'recent events', are you referring to my returning to the field?" he asked.

Ayeka nodded. "Yes. You could say that your new missions granted the matter an urgency it did not have before."

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "What's this all about, Ayeka?"

She sighed. "Sir Heero, while I recognize that you are an officer charged with maintaining peace for your world, that does not change my fears for your personal safety. In light of that, I believe that I must do what is within my power to aid the cause of public safety and security for the Earth Sphere. Through that, I can help ensure that you will be called upon less frequently to put your own life at risk in the name of defending the people and your government."

Heero shook his head. "Ayeka, I appreciate the sentiment, but the security of the Earth Sphere's an internal affair. Preventers is charged with maintaining the peace and order of this world, and while I know Sally and Director Une are always open to assistance, I believe that they'd draw the line at help from an interstellar government, or even the representative of one acting on her own."

"Perhaps, but they truly ought to reconsider," Ayeka argued, "Sir Heero, you… you truly are a dear friend of mine, but in this matter, I'm coming before you as more than just a member of your social circle; I'm acting in my capacity as the crown princess of the Empire of Jurai."

Heero regarded her carefully. "Ayeka, I respect your position, but you have to remember that you're not in the Empire now. I have no doubt that there's great political power that comes with your rank and title, but it doesn't mean much out here."

"Not as far as the governance of your world is concerned," Ayeka conceded, "but when it comes to serving as one of the diplomatic faces of the Empire, that is another matter entirely."

"What are you getting at, Ayeka?" he asked.

Ayeka took a deep breath to steady herself. "Sir Heero, I wish to formally open talks between the Earth Sphere Unified Nation and the Empire of Jurai, with myself serving as representative for the crown."

Heero took a small step back; she'd clearly caught him off guard. "Formal talks… do you have any idea what you're actually asking here? My superiors have been trying to keep our contact with you and your sister a state secret. Officially entering into negotiations would throw that right out the window."

"There is no reason for it to become public right away," Ayeka countered, "I would be more than satisfied with confining initial conversations to your immediate superiors and allowing them to determine who to bring in as events progress. It would also give me time to borrow the Yagami's communications array and relay my intentions to my father. With the official backing of the throne, my authority in subsequent negotiations would be greatly enhanced."

"You're missing the point, Ayeka," Heero argued, "If we go down this path it would eventually mean that the ESUN would have to publicly acknowledge the opening of diplomatic ties between it and the Empire of Jurai. Maybe it wouldn't come right away, but once this process starts it would be inevitable, and my government has been trying to keep your very existence concealed from the moment I intercepted you and Ryoko in low orbit."

Ayeka sighed. "Sir Heero, while I do recognize that what I am proposing would involve some short-term turmoil for your world, surely you can see the long-term potential. With the Empire of Jurai serving as the ESUN's initial point of contact with the broader galaxy, your government would be uniquely suited to benefit from our power. For starters, while the Outland Sector may be considered a galactic backwater, the portion of it that contains Earth isn't that far from the Empire's established borders. Truth be told, although we allow the Galaxy Police to hold sway out here, you're actually relatively close to the outer edges of our sphere of influence. You would also have a considerable advantage thanks to the outstanding hospitality that you have shown Sasami and I during our time here; surely you must know that I would describe you to my father in only the most admiring of terms! Family is highly valued in Juraian culture, and that importance takes on an even greater meaning when it comes to the Emperor. With such a favorable first impression from the throne, the Earth Sphere would be in an ideal position to benefit from the Empire's largesse!"

Heero folded his arms. "Benefit how, exactly?"

Ayeka smiled. "Well, for starters, simply recognition by the throne grants a level of prestige to a world. The galaxy would recognize that Earth is under the Empire's gaze, and that alone would serve as some measure of deterrence against marauders and pirates. You are a valiant warrior, Sir Heero, and thanks to our initial encounter in orbit I was able to witness your piloting skills firsthand, but you cannot possibly defend this entire planet by yourself. Earth and her colonies would be low-hanging fruit for interstellar criminals; the friendship of Jurai could be essential in keeping them safe."

Heero nodded. "I'll admit that you've got a point there. I know that Sally and Director Une have been trying to figure out countermeasures behind the scenes; the manner of your arrival in the Earth Sphere certainly highlighted the possible threats that could be posed to our colonies. The only real way for us to secure them would be a massive military buildup, and given the experience this world's had in the past with large armed forces I'm pretty sure the public would have decidedly mixed feelings about such a move at the very least."

Ayeka sensed an opportunity and rushed to seize it. "Precisely! If the ESUN were to enter into an official diplomatic relationship with the Empire, Jurai could lend invaluable security assistance that would lessen the need for a mass militarization program on the part of your government. Whether it be technological and military advisers or simply extending our patrols and those of the Galaxy Police, there are plenty of options available for us to help ensure that the space immediately surrounding Earth becomes less appetizing to the more unsavory elements that wander the stars. Of course, that's just scratching the surface of what the Empire could do for Earth when it comes to matters of security."

His eyes narrowed again. "What do you mean? What else did you have in mind?"

This was the part that Ayeka had been worried about. "With the resources at the disposal of the Empire, Jurai could do far more than simply provide support for the safety of Earth's orbital colonies. If a more comprehensive agreement were to be reached, the Empire could play a role in suppressing these terrorists that your superiors have called you into the field of late to deal with."

Of course, Heero was quick to see to the heart of the matter. "And what exactly would a more 'comprehensive' agreement entail?"

Ayeka sighed, trying to find the most delicate way to phrase it. "While the Empire long ago ceased overt expansion, it does still keep an eye out for worlds that require certain levels of… support. In exchange for favorable trade terms and travel arrangements, Earth could be given… protectorate status."

Heero was nothing if not blunt. "You mean we'd become a subordinate territory of the Empire. A colony, as it were."

Ayeka shook her head. "It wouldn't be like that! Earth would be allowed to maintain its current system of governance and to conduct its own internal administration. Your world could continue to elect its own leaders and engage in self-rule regarding most matters. It would only be in the realm of security that the Empire would take on a more… visible role."

"Visible in what manner?" asked Heero pointedly, "Military occupation? I can already tell you how poorly that would go over with the people of this world, and I'd be speaking from experience on that matter."

"It wouldn't be a full-on occupation," Ayeka countered, "Yes, there would be a military presence both in orbit and on the ground, but it would only be to the degree necessary to keep insurgents and terrorists at bay."

"Would we have any say in what qualifies as a 'necessary' military presence or would that be up to the Empire?" asked Heero.

Ayeka hesitated. "I… well… I'm sure some form of compromise could be reached regarding the matter."

"I think it'd be less of a 'compromise' and more a dictation of terms," said Heero, "After all, it's not like we'd be negotiating from a position of strength. I trust you, Ayeka, but the Empire of Jurai as a whole is another matter. If they don't like the terms we ask for, what's to stop them from simply sending in enough firepower to make our objections irrelevant? There's a difference between a simple security presence and an open threat to our self-rule, after all."

"I wouldn't let it come to that!" Ayeka protested, "I… I'd speak to my father on your behalf and ask that your concerns be given the utmost consideration!"

"I appreciate that," said Heero, "but what if he decides that our concerns don't warrant his consideration?"

"I would convince him that they most certainly do!" Ayeka argued, although it was more forcefully than she had intended.

Heero shook his head. "Ayeka, you're missing my point. What if he doesn't listen to you? Your father's the Emperor, so doesn't that make his word law in Jurai? If he decides to disregard your advocacy on our behalf, would you have any real power to force him to alter course?"

Not for the first time, Ayeka found herself struggling to come up with a good answer. That seemed to be a pattern with Heero whenever they discussed the Empire of Jurai; his intelligence and insights were such that he was able to swiftly pick apart its system of governance and locate key flaws. His analysis on such occasions forced her to confront some unpleasant ideas regarding the Empire and how it contrasted with the form of governance employed by the ESUN.

I was never confronted with any real form of internal debate about our form of governance back home, she thought, I never imagined that I'd find myself faced with someone so apt at dissecting a system like that of the Empire in the Outland Sector. Sir Heero… whether you realize it or not, you're a most formidable challenge to what I was raised to believe.

As staunch a defender of the Empire as she was, though, Ayeka was capable of recognizing when she was beaten. "No… I would not. If the Emperor's mind was truly set on disregarding my counsel and intervening in a more forceful manner, then I would have no recourse with meaningful political power behind it. I could always turn to the Noble Assembly, but to be frank I don't believe that they would give the matter much consideration. Even if that weren't the case, they're typically more concerned with the Empire's internal affairs. They would hardly pay much mind to a small world in the Outland Sector, and if they did they would have no real power to alter my father's decision. While they may have influence over domestic policy, foreign and security matters are the purview of the crown and military. In those spheres, at best the Noble Assembly acts as an advisory body… when it chooses to act at all."

Heero nodded. "I thought so."

Ayeka wasn't about to let go of the argument just yet. "Even so, I urge you to consider my proposal, Sir Heero! If the Empire of Jurai took Earth under its protection, it could do so much to help your world! In the realm of security alone, the possibilities are nearly limitless. With the backing of the Empire, Preventers' ability to police the Earth Sphere would reach unprecedented new heights! Imperial technology and personnel could revolutionize your peacekeeping capabilities. Even a token task force from Jurai could work marvels in cooperation with Preventers, and in doing so they could provide relief for field operatives such as yourself. Sir Heero, if your world accepted Imperial assistance, you wouldn't have to go on so many dangerous assignments. You would have more time to rest and would be given a chance to explore means of protecting the people of the Earth Sphere. Eventually, you might not have to fight at all!"

Heero closed his eyes for a moment. "That sounds nice, but it's not my call to make, Ayeka. Remember my role here; my job's simply to watch over you and the others. I don't have the authority to make such an important decision as what you're describing. Even Sally and Director Une have their limits; this would go to our highest levels of government."

"Is it not worthy of their consideration?" asked Ayeka.

"It is," he replied, "but whether they choose to act on such a proposal or not is something that I have no control over. Look, if it means that much to you, I'd be more than happy to pass it along to Sally. However, that's really all I can do in a matter like this. The rest would involve complicated policy and decision making the likes of which are far above what I have the authority to handle."

Ayeka nodded. "I understand. If you would be so kind as to inform Lady Sally, I would be most grateful. In fact, if at all possible I'd like to speak to her personally on the matter."

"That can be arranged," said Heero, "but it may be some time before her next check-in. After all, she does have other security concerns that require her attention; we're just the one that she gives a more personal touch to."

"Of course," Ayeka replied, "Still, Sir Heero, if I may be so bold… if it were within your power to bring Earth into protectorate status with the Empire of Jurai, would you do so?"

There was a significant pause before she got his response. "I'm… not sure. I won't deny that plenty of the benefits you mentioned are appealing, but still… it's not exactly a simple issue. The people of this world can be prideful and stubborn, Ayeka. Even if I wanted Earth to enter into a relationship with the Empire and accept its protection, how they would react to such an event is another matter entirely. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can give you a straight answer right now. I'd need some time to think it over."

Ayeka smiled. "It's all right. The fact that you're able to recognize the complexity of the matter and take so many different factors into account speaks very highly of you, Sir Heero. Your superiors may see you as an elite field operative, but I believe that your intellect makes you better suited to a role of much greater responsibility. Were you a member of the royal court, I could easily see my father relying on your wise counsel… and were I Empress, I would make you my most trusted advisor without a second thought."

At the very least, she mused, blushing at the fantasies that played out in her head, that would just be a start. As crown princess, I doubt anyone would fault me for seeking out an advisor that's as intelligent as he is handsome… although I suppose the proper term for what I desire might be more along the lines of 'paramour'…

She resisted the urge to slap herself. Just where was her mind going? It wasn't proper behavior for her to be having such immodest thoughts in front of the man that was the very subject of them! She dearly hoped that her face wasn't as red as it felt right now.

If Heero noticed her sudden embarrassment, he had the courtesy to avoid commenting on it. "I appreciate that, although you might be giving me too much credit there. Royal politics aren't exactly my strong suit."

"You may believe that," said Ayeka, "but you're selling yourself short, Sir Heero. I'm most confident that you would be a quick study in the matter."

Heero shrugged. "Well, I'll take your word on that. If it's all right with you, I'd like to get back to my exercise."

Ayeka nodded. "Of course. Please take some time to think about what I said, Sir Heero… and know that my only desire is to help you."

"I will," he replied, "and thank you."

Ayeka smiled. "You are most welcome, Sir Heero."

….

January 6th, A.C. 199

"Well," said Kiyone as the Yagami approached the Earth, "Another day, another patrol done."

Mihoshi yawned. "I hope Sasami and Heero have started making dinner. I wanna eat a nice warm meal and crawl in bed!"

Kiyone smiled. "That does sound nice."

It hadn't been an eventful patrol and Kiyone wasn't nearly as tired as her partner was, but at the same time she couldn't fault Mihoshi for yawning. After all, monitoring Earth's star system was about as dull work as one could find. The only thing about it that was vaguely challenging was making sure to keep the Yagami out of sight of the orbital colonies and satellites, and ever since Washu had modified the ship to help it keep a low profile the only real trick to it was simply timing the activation of the stealth systems properly.

Outland Sector patrols have never been my idea of a good time, she thought, although I suppose it could always be worse. After all, it's not like anyone's shooting at us out here. All in all, it's a pretty easy paycheck.

The only problem was that it was a paycheck given to an officer who had essentially hit a career dead-end.

Sure, on paper, the work was important; patrol the star system occupied by the crown princess of Jurai and her younger system to make sure that nothing threatened them. Royal escort duty would be a prestigious posting under normal circumstances, but given that this was simply watching over Ayeka and Sasami while they were essentially on holiday way out in the sticks of the galaxy meant that Kiyone and Mihoshi were really little more than a pair of glorified security guards. Sure, there had been a few moments of excitement, but nothing that would be earning her a promotion anytime soon.

Meanwhile, everyone else is climbing up the ladder, she mused, I almost don't want to go back to the core systems now, if only to avoid their smug looks when they see that I'm still stuck at Detective First Class…

As much as she might like Heero and the others, Kiyone knew that staying out here with them was only serving to stagnate her career. She was stuck in a rut, and she would have to get creative if she wanted to find a way out of it. This far out on the frontier, though, opportunities for distinguishing oneself weren't exactly easy to come by.

Unless she were to create one.

The idea that she'd been mulling over in the back of her head for the past few days had actually come from her partner, oddly enough. It had been another dull patrol much like the one today, and so the two of them had tried to kill the boredom through idle chatter just like the old days. Kiyone wasn't sure how it had happened, but eventually the topic had turned to the young man who was continuing to host them, and Mihoshi, in that casual and clueless manner that was oh-so-typical of her, had wondered out loud what kind of Galaxy Police officer Heero might make. At the time, Kiyone hadn't given the matter much thought, but it had somehow lingered in her head afterwards…

…and it had become the seed of a rather bold notion.

It wasn't Galaxy Police policy to recruit from worlds that hadn't experienced official first contact with the wider galactic community. However, Earth was in something of a legal gray area in that regard; the ESUN had not publicly acknowledged that it had made contact with intelligent life from beyond the boundaries of the Sol System, but the very highest levels of its government and security services had overseen several instances of unofficial first contact in the form of Heero Yuy and his encounters with the eccentric crowd that now resided with him. Public contact had not taken place, but official covert contact had, and the top operative of Preventers had been at the heart of it.

He's already the elite of the elite as far as this planet's concerned, she thought, and the kinds of missions he undertakes out here aren't really all that different from what we do in the Galaxy Police. We just work on a larger scale.

Recommending a promising new recruit to the Galaxy Police wasn't enough in and of itself to earn her much more than a commendation and maybe a small bonus in her next paycheck, but Kiyone knew that would change the moment her superiors saw just what Heero was really capable of. It wouldn't be easy, of course; he'd have to bring himself up to core systems' standards of education in a hurry, and the fact that he hailed from a backwater world in the Outland Sector would be taken as a mark against him by most of the other students, not to mention more than a few of the instructors. However, based on what she'd observed so far, Kiyone had no doubt that Heero'd shoot to the top of his class in record time. He might need time to acclimate himself to new circumstances, not to mention a chance to familiarize himself with sophisticated technology the likes of which the ESUN was still centuries at the very least from developing, but he would also have an invaluable advantage; prior combat experience.

Once he had a chance to demonstrate his skills, the whole game would change. He'd gain the prestige he deserved, as would Kiyone for recognizing such a talented individual and bringing him into the ranks of the Galaxy Police. Her star would rise along with his, and there was the distinct possibility that she could be assigned to work with him in a mentorship capacity.

And from there, the odds of them becoming partners were not inconsequential.

Working with Mihoshi's been… interesting, she thought as she glanced at her current partner, but working with Heero? Now that would be something to look forward to.

Of course, the trick was to get him to agree to her proposal in the first place. It was clear that he took his duty to his world seriously, but Kiyone still felt that she had a chance to persuade him. Heero was clearly a man who wanted to make a difference and protect people, and he'd get a chance to do that on a far larger scale with the Galaxy Police than he would if he remained out here. He wouldn't have to be some black ops agent to do so, either; he could protect and serve openly with the Galaxy Police, and he'd be properly recognized and rewarded for his abilities.

And Kiyone would have a chance to guide him the whole way…

…and get closer to him in the process.

Her heart fluttered, and she hoped that the heat she was feeling in her face wasn't visible. Yes, she would be doing this primarily as a means to advance her career, but...

…was it wrong that there was also a more personal desire motivating her as well?

….

Idly cleaning up the living room, Heero allowed himself a small smile of contentment as his companions called it a night. He wasn't quite sure how they'd all wound up agreeing on the movie they'd just finished watching but given how hard it could be to get any form of consensus with this particular group he'd take whatever small wins he could get.

If I'd known those old 'Lord of the Rings' movies would win them over before I would've introduced them to the series a long time ago, he mused, I guess I know which one we'll be watching tomorrow night, then.

As he gathered up the empty popcorn bowls he couldn't help but notice a straggler. The others were making their way upstairs, but Kiyone was still there. At first Heero thought she was simply waiting for her fellow houseguests to clear out of the bathroom to give her some space to brush her teeth, but he had to dismiss that after a few more minutes had passed. Her eyes were lingering on him, although she was trying to be low-key about it.

"I hope you're not expecting me to start up the next one tonight," he said, "The Two Towers is longer than The Fellowship of the Ring, so unless you're up for a really late night you might want to hold off."

Kiyone smiled. "It's a pity we've got patrol duty again tomorrow because I'm kind of tempted. I don't really consider myself a big entertainment buff, but that movie… well, if that wasn't a work of art, then I don't know what would be. You said the series is based off of a book?"

Heero nodded. "Yes, although you can choose to read it either as one book or three; it comes in both formats. It's actually a sequel to the author's earlier work, The Hobbit, and the director of the film we just watched also did a film adaptation of that as well."

"I don't suppose you've got copies lying around here?" she asked.

Heero nodded. "No, but just say the word and I can place an order online. I doubt Sally or Director Une would mind if I spent a little bit of our budget on offering you some exposure to Earth's classic literature."

"I might take you up on that," she replied, "I never made much time for reading before, but since my posting out here's relatively quiet I suppose I could change that."

"Well, just let me know if you want me to get you something," he said as he continued his cleanup.

Kiyone nodded. "Thanks. You didn't have to offer that, you know."

Heero shrugged. "I don't mind. Besides, you said it yourself; Earth's way out in the galactic backwoods. Since you're our guest, it'd be rude not provide some entertainment."

"Your world's not that dull," said Kiyone, "In fact, I'd say it's got plenty of excitement down on the surface or up in the colonies. It's just the space surrounding it that's the boring part, although for you guys that's a good thing; I'd hate to see what some of the pirates we chase could do out here."

"Good point," Heero replied, "I suppose we've gotten pretty lucky up until now."

"You don't really have much out here that most galactic criminals would want," Kiyone pointed out, "Well, I guess slavers might find Earth an appealing target, but we've cracked down pretty hard on the ones operating in the Outland Sector over the past few years."

Heero raised an eyebrow as he joined her on the couch. "Slavery's still an issue in the galaxy?"

Kiyone sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. It's completely outlawed in regions under the control of the Empire of Jurai and the Galaxy Police, but we don't have complete dominion over the stars. The practice thrives in the lawless outer regions, and even within more civilized space there's still the black market to deal with."

Heero nodded. "I understand. Our situation out here's not so different, really. The ESUN may rule Earth and the colonies, and slavery is outlawed, but human trafficking is still a persistent problem."

"Does it fall under your jurisdiction?" asked Kiyone.

"Most of the time it's a matter for civilian law enforcement to deal with rather than Preventers," Heero replied, "However, some of the groups we track occasionally engage in the practice as a means of revenue generation, so there can be some overlap."

"I see," said Kiyone softly, "How awful…"

Heero nodded grimly. "Agreed. Have you ever had to deal with slavery cases in your line of work?"

"I haven't been assigned any directly," said Kiyone, "However, a few ships that I stopped in the past for routine violations did wind up being involved in large-scale sentient trafficking operations, so I wound up getting dragged into efforts to apprehend the ringleaders. Mihoshi and I tended to be put in a scouting role when that happened; we were never part of the strike teams that actually busted the slavers. Still, I'd like to think that our contributions, however modest they might've been, helped bring them down and save their victims."

"I'm sure that they did," said Heero, "Even a humble patrol officer can play a role in bringing down the greatest of evils. With your skills, I'm sure your contributions were more than you give yourself credit for."

Kiyone smiled, and Heero could've sworn he caught a hint of red in her face. "Thanks… that means a lot, coming from you."

Heero shook his head. "I think you've got the wrong idea about me. I'm no saint, Kiyone."

"Maybe," she said, "but you're no devil, either. I know that your job requires you to dirty your hands, and I've seen some people with the Galaxy Police who let that kind of brutality and power go to their heads, but you're not like them. You've got principles, a code, even if you don't see it as such. Preventers is lucky to have someone like you in their ranks, Heero."

"I think it might be the other way around," Heero replied, "Preventers gives me a means to channel my abilities and use them for the safety of the Earth Sphere. Without that… well, I think I'd be lost."

There was a long pause, and Heero couldn't help but note a subtle nervousness in Kiyone's demeanor. Clearly there was something she wanted to bring up, but she was unusually hesitant about doing so.

"What if… what if I told you that I knew another way?" she said after a moment, "What if I could show you a path that you could take where your skills could help people on a much larger scale than what you do now?"

Heero slowly nodded. "I'm listening."

Kiyone took a deep breath. "The Galaxy Police has several regulations regarding how we're supposed to act whenever we come to a system that's remote and unconnected with what we consider to be 'civilized space'. No offense, but the region Earth's in is… well, everyone back at HQ would call it uncivilized."

"None taken," said Heero, "What are you getting at?"

"We're not supposed to interfere in the local affairs of worlds like this one," Kiyone continued, "Mihoshi and I being assigned to protect Ayeka and Sasami and patrol this system at the same time is about as close to that as our superiors are willing to get. However, every once in a while, extraordinary circumstances can prompt more direct action… or, in this case, extraordinary people."

"I'm afraid I don't quite follow," said Heero, though privately he had a rough idea as to where this might be going.

"Look," she said, "most of the officers in the Galaxy Police, especially the ones from the core systems, wouldn't expect much from the people who work for Preventers simply because Earth is so far out in the middle of nowhere. They've got these stupid and outdated notions in their head that just because they're from the heart of galactic civilization they're better than anyone from the Outland Sector in every conceivable way. From what I've seen out here, though, I think that you've got what it takes to prove them wrong."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence," said Heero, "but, like you said, we're way out in the middle of nowhere. Any chances I have of meeting some of these 'core systems' officers and proving them wrong are slim to nonexistent."

Kiyone's eyes narrowed. "Not necessarily. Not if you're willing to step outside your comfort zone… way outside."

Heero raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Kiyone closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "Heero… I want you to join the Galaxy Police."

He'd suspected that she'd been building towards this, but it was another thing to actually hear her say it. Despite his hunch, Heero still found himself caught a bit flatfooted by the proposal, and he wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

"Really?" he said after a moment.

Kiyone nodded. "Yes. I know it'd be a big step, but I think you could do it. Your combat skills are top-notch, and most of the abilities you've picked up as a Preventers operative would easily translate into the role of a Galaxy Police officer. You've got some real gifts, Heero; it'd be a shame to keep them confined to Earth when you could do so much more with them."

"How would I even join?" he asked, "I mean, it's not like your organization has a recruiting office way out here, right?"

"I could sponsor you," Kiyone replied, "The Galaxy Police has a referral program, and it'd be easy for me to take you to the Academy. They'd naturally be wary about accepting someone from a world that hasn't had official first contact with either the Galaxy Police or the Empire of Jurai, but I can vouch for you. You've got what it takes to ace the physical exam, and it wouldn't be hard for me to get you up to speed on our technology on the way to the Academy. The training itself is difficult, but I doubt you'd have any trouble with the courses. The hardest part for you would probably just be putting up with the stuck-up brats from the core systems."

"Because I'm from the Outland Sector, right?" said Heero.

Kiyone sighed. "Yes. I won't lie; you'd be the odd man out there, and I'm sure they'd try to make your life hell for no better reason than because of where you're from. It would get even worse once you start showing them up in training, but with your skills you'd at least win over the instructors quickly enough. Hell, you'd probably get fast-tracked into the advanced-placement curriculum once they see what you can really do. You'd get an accelerated education schedule and would be out of the Academy before you know it. Then…"

It wasn't hard to pick up on the nervousness in her voice. "Then what, Kiyone?"

She almost appeared embarrassed at what she told him next. "Well… once you graduate… you could enter the mentorship program… under me. Every new officer gets a probationary mentorship period once they're out of the Academy; learning the ropes on the job, as it were. Since I'd be the one to refer you to the Galaxy Police in the first place, it'd only be natural for them to assign me as your mentoring officer. You'd go on patrols with me and Mihoshi. It wouldn't exactly be glamorous at first, but with you on our side I know that our mission performance would improve, and HQ would have to take notice sooner or later."

Heero's eyes narrowed. "And it'd help set you up for a promotion, right?"

She looked down for a moment, her discomfort clear. "I… I don't want to sound like I'm using you, but… yes. The truth is, your success within the Academy would reflect well on me since I'd be the source of your referral. My career prospects ever since Mihoshi and I started working together as partners have stalled, to put it mildly. I need a boost to get myself climbing back up the rank ladder again, and you'd be my best shot. Even so, I'm not bringing this up just because I want you to be my means of promotion. There's so much good that someone with your abilities could do in the galaxy, Heero. I know that might sound like a cheap platitude given what I've just admitted, but I promise you it's the truth."

"It's all right," Heero replied, "I appreciate your honesty, Kiyone."

She gave him a hopeful smile. "Enough to consider my offer?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, weighing his response carefully. "That's a little more… complicated."

"Because of your current duties?" asked Kiyone, "I disagree. I mean, it's not like everyone here couldn't just leave tomorrow. Ryoko could head out with Ryo-Ohki whenever she wants, and Washu could either hitch a ride with her or build her own ship from scratch. As for Ayeka, Sasami and their guardians, Mihoshi and I could take them back to the Empire as soon as they request it."

"Even without everyone here, I still have my responsibilities," Heero replied, "As a Preventers field agent, I'm on call whenever they need me. This world may be well removed from the heart of galactic civilization, but that doesn't mean that there's not work for me to do here."

Kiyone shook her head. "Preventers can find someone else, and I think you know that. Between the population of Earth itself and that of the colonies, I doubt they're suffering from a shortage of recruits. Maybe they'd be reluctant to let go of someone as talented as yourself, but if you tendered your resignation they couldn't legally stop you, right?"

Heero had never tested that and hadn't done much research on it before, although he had given it some though in recent days, especially given his new relationship with Ryoko. "Perhaps, but still… it's not as simple as just walking away from it all."

"Look, if you're worried about potential legal repercussions, all you'd have to do is just ride on out of here on the Yagami with me," Kiyone argued, "After all, it's not like Preventers jurisdiction extends beyond the Earth Sphere, and they hardly have the resources or technology to enforce it if it did. You may not realize it, Heero, but there's literally a galaxy of opportunity before you. All you have to do is ask, and Mihoshi and I will have you at Galaxy Police HQ before your superiors can say otherwise."

There was a certain appeal to her offer, especially the notion of seeing the galaxy beyond the Earth Sphere. However, there was something that held him back from accepting. Getting out to see the universe was all well and good, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he wasn't looking to do so as a law enforcement officer.

He wanted something more.

Freedom.

Kiyone's offer was a good one, but despite the noble intentions behind it Heero could already see the catch; he'd be trading his duty to Preventers for duty to the Galaxy Police. It was a similar dilemma to Ayeka's desire to bring him to Jurai and turn him into one of her advisors in the royal court. Both women meant well but going along with either of them meant taking on new obligations. Heero fully understood the importance of accepting one's responsibilities, but the time he'd spent with the girls ever since Ryoko and Ayeka had first arrived in the Sol System had begun to open his eyes to what he was missing out on by continuing to serve Preventers.

The burden of duty had always weighed heavily upon him, but it was only recently that he had begun to ponder if there was a way to get out from under it. He knew that Ayeka and Kiyone meant well, but he had a feeling that they couldn't offer him just what he truly sought.

But he had a hunch he knew who could.

Ryoko…

Even as the lovely pirate flashed through his mind, he knew that he couldn't leave Kiyone hanging. "I appreciate the offer. It certainly opens up some intriguing possibilities. However… I'm not sure if it's really the right course for me."

Kiyone sighed but still managed to smile. "I know it's asking a lot. I don't expect you to decide right away… and even if you ultimately say no, I'll respect your decision. Still, don't dismiss it out of hand, all right? Take some time and think it over… please?"

Heero nodded; she deserved that much, at the very least. "I'll do so."

"Thanks," she said, "I can't ask more than that. No matter what you decide, though, I want you to know that I've enjoyed the time I've spent with you on your world. I know I brought this whole thing up in part because I was hoping to snag a promotion off your success down the line, but even so that doesn't change the fact that I want what's best for you. We may belong to different organizations, but we're ultimately still in the same line of work, so I consider you to be a colleague… and a friend."

Heero gave her a small smile in return. "As do I, Kiyone. I've learned a great deal about the galaxy beyond our star system from you, and even were that not the case, I've enjoyed your company. You're a kind and intelligent woman, Kiyone, and I'm happy to call someone like you a friend."

"Thank you, Heero," she replied.

….

January 9th, A.C. 199

Ayeka grinned in triumph as Ryoko landed on yet another one of her properties. "If I'm not mistaken, I believe that's the end of the line for you. You are officially insolvent, Ryoko!"

Ryoko's response was to flip the gameboard over, scattering pieces and cards everywhere. "Fuck this game! You cheated!"

I should've known that introducing them to Monopoly would be a bad idea, Heero thought, I'm surprised we managed to get this far into the game without one of them doing this already…

"Aw, but I wasn't done yet!" pouted Mihoshi, "I still had some money left!"

Kiyone rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like ten bucks. Face it, Mihoshi; Ayeka would've cleaned us all out eventually."

"I suppose this means that it's all right for us to declare Princess Ayeka the winner, then," said Azaka.

"Yes, although it is a pity that we couldn't watch the game play out to its proper conclusion," said Kamidake.

Washu wasn't a direct participant, but she had been observing them from the sidelines over the past few hours. "Interesting… the predatory acquisitions aspect of this game seems to encourage some of the more dangerous and unstable elements of capitalism. To think that children learn to play this game… how intriguing."

Heero raised an eyebrow. "I thought you hated the social sciences. Is this where we get your input on your preferred system of economics?"

Washu chuckled. "Oh, no; I have no intention of boring you half to death before the night's over."

"Maybe we should play another game," said Sasami cautiously, "How about that one with the dice from last night?"

Ryoko quickly perked up. "Oh, yeah! I liked that one! Heero, what was that one called again?"

"Yahtzee," he answered as he stood up, "I'll go grab it. The rest of you clean up the mess, and that includes you, Ryoko; you're the one that made it, after all."

Ryoko folded her arms. "Oh, fine."

"Meow!" cried Ryo-Ohki.

Washu smiled. "I think I might join in on this one. Probability games are always fun!"

He was digging through the closet to find the game when his phone rang. Checking the caller ID, he saw that it was Sally.

That's odd, he thought, she just checked in yesterday. Usually she's not so frequent about this…

"Didn't think I'd be hearing from you again so soon," he said as he answered.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything," Sally replied.

"Nothing big," said Heero, "It's just game night over here."

Sally laughed. "I never thought I'd here a phrase like that come from you! Those girls have really changed you, haven't they?"

Heero rolled his eyes. "That's neither here nor there. Besides, something tells me that this isn't just a friendly checkup."

Sally sighed. "Unfortunately, you're right. Something's come up, and we need you on this one."

Heero looked over his shoulder to check if any of the girls were eavesdropping on him. "What's going on?"

"One of our humanitarian relief centers in Kabul was just hit," said Sally, "Heavy civilian casualties, although we won't know the exact numbers for some time. It was a well-coordinated attack; two truck-bombs, followed by gunmen. They knew what they were doing."

"A suicide attack?" Heero asked, "That's not uncommon in that part of the world."

"Actually, we think the trucks were remotely detonated," said Sally, "A security camera on an adjacent building managed to catch one of them, and it looked empty right before it blew. Local security forces responded, but the gunmen didn't stick around for a firefight; they simply killed as many staffers at the relief center as they could and then took off."

Heero nodded grimly. "I see. Do we have a name?"

"I can't pronounce the Arabic version of it for the life of me," said Sally, "The best English translation we've got for it is the 'Mighty Arm of the Prophet'."

Heero's eyes narrowed. "I've heard that name before. They've pulled off similar attacks in the past in the same region, right?"

"Yup," Sally replied, "They're one of the bigger players in the world of Muslim extremists these days. Attacking humanitarian centers is one of their favorite methods; they claim that they're just tools for 'spreading infidel culture', or some bullshit along those lines."

"So what do you want me to do about them?" asked Heero, "Last I'd heard, we were still combing the combined Af-Pak region for their network of hideouts. Do we actually have a target to strike now?"

"Sort of," said Sally, "We managed to narrow things down to a region we believe that they're using as a major staging area of theirs about a week or so ago, but we're still trying to pinpoint their exact location. It's in a remote bit of land to the north of Kabul. The terrain out that way's about as rugged as you can get. Mountains, ravines, caves; plenty of places for them to hide. We're stepping up our efforts to comb the area and track them down, and we want you on the ground out there."

"So it's a hunt, then," said Heero.

"You'll get a full briefing on the region while you're on the way there," said Sally, "Once you pick up their trail, I have no doubt that you'll be able to track them back to whatever little hidey-hole they're calling home these days. You won't have to take them all down; we've got a few select targets that we want you to eliminate."

Heero closed his eyes for a moment. The mission was straightforward enough, but there'd be a complication that Sally was completely unaware of.

Ryoko.

His conversation with her regarding his field missions was still fresh in his mind. Heero could perfectly recall her determination to accompany him the next time he went out, and he knew that there'd be no dissuading her. One way or another, she'd be out there with him.

The only problem was going to be convincing Sally and Director Une to play along.

Here goes nothing…

"All right, then," he said, "However… there's someone that I'll be bringing along for the ride."

….

Lady Une shook her head emphatically. "No. Absolutely not!"

Sally had expected as much. After all, that had initially been her reaction when Heero had told her of his intention to bring Ryoko along on the mission. The young man had taken a great deal of effort to convince her of the inevitability of the matter, and while Sally had ultimately relented she hadn't been happy about it. Now the task fell to her to bring the Director of Preventers on board.

You're going to owe me one for this, Heero, she thought, I should've made you speak to the Director yourself…

"It's hardly ideal, but we don't really have much of a choice in the matter," she said, "I mean, don't you remember who we're dealing with here?"

Lady Une folded her arms. "Are you referring to Heero or Ryoko?"

"Both," Sally admitted.

Lady Une scowled. "Heero should know better. His primary mission has been to keep his guests off the radar. If even one of them heads out into the field with him, that throws everything we've done up until now completely out the window!"

"Not necessarily," Sally argued, "Heero's reports regarding Ryoko's powers indicate that she's actually well-suited to covert operations. This could work in our favor."

"Only her ability to phase through solid objects would be useful here," said Lady Une, "The rest of her powers are far more visible in comparison, and those are just the ones that we know about! What's to stop her from cutting loose once she's out there? This is a search-and-eliminate mission, not a damn air strike! Subtlety and a low-profile are what's needed here, and Ryoko's ill-disposed to either qualities. Her psyche profile's clear; she's a thrill seeker and a loose cannon."

"Maybe," Sally conceded, "but she's also shown a considerable degree of respect towards Heero in her own way. If he's with her, then he can keep her from going overboard with her abilities."

Lady Une sighed. "You're putting an awful lot of faith in her regard for him. She's not from the Earth Sphere, Sally; she has no reason to care about our internal affairs or what kind of havoc the revelation of her true nature would wreak upon the world. Thanks to Ryo-Ohki, she can bug out of here anytime she wants without having to faces meaningful consequences for her actions."

Sally nodded. "That's true, but I think that if she was going to cut and run she would've done it long ago. She's intent on staying, Director, and I think we both know why."

Lady Une looked out the window, exasperation clear in her features. "Heero… half the women in our organization want him, and he goes and makes a group of aliens fall for him. A pirate, two royals, a scientist with questionable ethics, and two intergalactic law enforcement officers… it boggles the mind. What makes it even worse is that he seems to be completely unaware of the magnetism that he possesses when it comes to the fairer sex."

Sally couldn't help but smile. "I won't argue with you there. Still, we can at least use it to our advantage. He's got pull with these girls, so he's our best bet for keeping them in line."

"Not in line enough to the point that they'll all stay at the safehouse while he goes out on field operations, though," Lady Une pointed out dryly.

Sally folded her arms. "Look at it this way; at least we know in advance and can somewhat control the situation. According to Heero, Ryoko would've followed him into the field this time with or without his approval. Since she'll be going along with him from the get-go instead of popping in out of the blue, at least here he'll still be able to exert a restraining influence on her. She'll still be a variable, but at least we'll be aware of her and can make appropriate contingencies just in case something goes wrong. We can still keep this under wraps and prevent word from leaking if we play things carefully."

"Very carefully," said Lady Une, "If she's exposed in the field and it gets to the public, we'll have far more than just a few terrorists in mountain caves to worry about here."

Sally nodded. "I'm sure Heero's well aware of the stakes involved here."

Lady Une's eyes narrowed. "He'd better be. He may be invaluable to keeping the peace in the Earth Sphere, but there's only so much that I can allow him to get away with. If this goes sideways… he may need to be restrained."

"I'm sure he'd accept any measures we might deem necessary for the sake of security," said Sally, "Of course, those girls are another matter; it's not like we can do a whole lot to restrain them if they don't feel like playing along."

Lady Une sighed. "I know. For better or worse, Heero's the only card we have to play with them. I just hope his influence over them is strong enough for him to remain our ace in the hole."

Sally smiled. "So, am I free to tell him that he's got the green light?"

Lady Une nodded. "Yes, but make damn sure that he's aware of my reservations. I know that will hardly intimidate him, but I at least want him to be on notice."

Sally saluted her. "Yes, ma'am!"

….

January 11th, A.C. 199

Looking herself over in the mirror, Ryoko smiled as she put her hands on her hips. "I don't mean to brag, but I make this look good!"

She had the satisfaction of seeing a small smile appear on Heero's face over her shoulder. "That, you do."

It wasn't an outfit that Ryoko had ever pictured herself wearing in the past, but that just went to show just how much her life had changed since she'd met Heero. In order for her to come along with Heero on this mission, he'd insisted that she'd at least have to look the part and had accordingly provided her with a Preventers combat jumpsuit. The outfit was a series of varying shades of tans, designed to blend in with what Heero had told her would be an arid and rocky environment. It wasn't exactly sexy, but it was comfortable enough, and she had to admit that all the pockets were definitely handy.

"So, when do we head out?" she asked.

"They're fueling up the chopper right now," Heero replied, "They should be done in a few minutes."

The two of them were in the ready-room of the local Preventers base in Kabul. They'd flown in the night before, with Heero doing everything he could to give Ryoko a crash-course in how a field operation like this was supposed to go and what would be expected of her. Having already seen him in action courtesy of Washu's surveillance system imbedded into the ITECAMP she had an idea as to what she should expect, and it wasn't like her powers wouldn't help her keep a low-profile. She knew that he was well aware of that, but he had still insisted on working to make sure she blended in as much as possible.

She patted the pistol holstered at her hips. "You do remember that this thing's completely pointless with me, right? It's basically a pea-shooter compared to what I can unleash."

"I know," said Heero, "but it'll at least help make your getup more convincing. Besides, you never know when you might need it. Just make sure you remember…"

"Safety's here, clip ejection switch is there, use the damn sights when I'm aiming," Ryoko finished for him as her fingers tapped the appropriate points on the weapon, "Believe it or not, I really was paying attention when you went over this with me."

Heero nodded. "Good."

She went over and sat down next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you doing okay? You seem a little on edge."

He sighed. "There's a lot that can go wrong here. You know that, right?"

Ryoko smiled; she was touched that he was worried about her, but his fears were misguided. "Hey, it's me you're talking about here, remember? The thugs in your world don't have anything that can touch me."

"Anything can happen in the field, Ryoko," Heero countered, "I know what you're capable of, but still… don't let your guard down."

Ryoko nodded. "I won't. Same goes for you, though, you got that? I know you've done this plenty in the past, but you don't get to take foolish risks on my watch. The whole reason I'm coming along is to make sure you make it back home, so don't go making my job harder than it has to be."

She was relieved to see a small smirk appear on his face; at this point, she'd take any sign of a lighter mood from him that she could get. "Don't make your job harder? I think it should be the other way around."

"Hey, don't worry," Ryoko replied, "I told you that I'd keep a low profile, and I meant it. I'll only use my powers for stealth and to protect you. If all goes well, these bastards won't know what hit them."

Heero nodded. "Right."

He turned his attention to the rifle that he'd propped up on the chair on the other side of him. Ryoko watched as he gave the weapon another look-over; it was the third one he'd done since they'd arrived at the base.

He's nothing if not thorough, she thought, I guess he really has no choice given how dangerous his line of work is…

"How do you think the others are doing?" he asked her after a moment.

Ryoko raised an eyebrow; she hadn't expected that. "Well, they should be fine. I mean, I know they weren't happy about you going out into the field again, but they should be getting used to it by now."

"Maybe," said Heero, "but this is the first time I've taken one of you with me. It was hard enough getting them to accept that you were the only one I could bring along; the longer we're gone, the more time they'll have to start getting… ideas."

Ryoko gave him a sly grin. "Oh? What kind of 'ideas' are you afraid that they'll get?"

"The kind that'll convince them to throw caution to the wind and chase us out here," Heero answered, "The only reason we can make this work is because some of your powers are handy for infiltration and reconnaissance, and there will only be two of us out there; the odds of detection go up exponentially when more people are involved."

"Would that really matter?" asked Ryoko, "I mean, I'm strong enough as it is, but if the others show up too then the enemy won't know what hit them.'

Heero shook his head. "That's not the point. We want to keep a low-profile, remember? Eliminating our targets mean nothing if your secrets are exposed to the world in the process. Given the state that the others were in when we left, we can't afford to rule anything out."

She supposed he did have a point there. It had been bad enough for the others to learn that Heero was going on another mission, but for him to be taking Ryoko and no one else had really struck a nerve, especially with Ayeka. Ryoko could still see the glare the Juraian crown princess had given her when she and Heero had set off, and while Heero had been able to talk her and the others down the pirate was sure that their nerves were still a little raw over the whole thing.

Washu knew what I was going to do, so it's not like she was surprised or anything, she thought, Sasami's powers haven't really developed yet, so I know that she's not really able to do anything out in the field either. The others, though… Ayeka of course was steamed, but Kiyone and Mihoshi were pretty upset too. I guess it's only natural for Heero to worry about what they might do in his absence after setting them off like that.

"Look," said Ryoko, "if they do show up, then we'll deal with it then. Right now, there's no point in stressing yourself out over something like that. You need to focus on your mission, you got that? I'm here to watch your back, but if you're distracted then there's only so much that I can do."

After a moment Heero nodded. "You're right. Thanks."

Ryoko smiled. "Anytime."

It was at that moment that a red-headed young lady in a Preventers uniform poked her head into the ready-room. "Zero, Cutlass? Pequod report's the chopper's ready for takeoff."

Ryoko couldn't help but smirk at the codename she'd been given for the operation. Heero had told her that cutlasses were considered iconic swords for seafaring pirates of a bygone age, so she felt it was quite fitting. She didn't know what kind of name 'Pequod' was, and when she'd asked Heero he'd just told her it was an obscure reference that she'd never get.

"Roger that," said Heero as he stood up and grabbed his rifle before turning to Ryoko, "You ready, Cutlass?"

Ryoko nodded. "Lead the way, Zero."

The late morning sun beamed brightly in the sky as the two of them made their way across the tarmac. The black combat chopper's rotors were already whirling, and Ryoko could see the silhouette of the pilot in the window. The aircraft was armed to the teeth, but Heero had told her that calling it in for active fire support was a last-resort measure.

"How long will this bucket of bolts take to get us to the operation zone?" she yelled as they approached the chopper.

"No more than a half an hour or so," Heero replied as he opened the side door, "It'll be a ground game once we're on scene; there's a good chance that the guys we're hunting are in possession of portable anti-air weapons."

Ryoko nodded as she climbed in. "Right."

Heero followed her in and slammed the door shut behind him before turning towards the pilot. "We're ready when you are."

Pequod nodded, and Ryoko hated how his helmet visor obscured his face; she would've at least liked a hint at what the man made of her tagging along for the ride. "Copy that. We've already got clearance from Control. Commencing liftoff!"

The two of them settled in as the chopper ascended. Ryoko saw Heero gaze out the window, his eyes narrowing as he looked beyond the airfield and in the direction of where their operation would be taking place.

This is it, she thought as she watched him, I wanted to get out in the field with him, and it's finally happening. Heero, I know you want me to keep a low-profile, but if anyone out there tries to hurt you…

…I'm going to rip them apart.

….

Making one last check over the survival gear that had been packed into the chopper for them prior to take off, Heero made sure that he and Ryoko had everything they would need to survive in the field over the next few days. If their mission went on longer than that he knew that the chopper was capable of making supply runs, but each time it did so would increase their risk of detection by the enemy. While there were other teams searching for the enemy's base of operations, Heero knew that Sally and Lady Une were counting on him and Ryoko to actually find and eliminate their leaders. The stakes were high, all the more so than usual considering who was along for the ride with him.

A successful operation with her help will make it that much easier to convince them to let me take Ryoko along in the future, he thought, I just hope we're able to pick up the enemy's trail quickly enough to track them down before they move on…

"We've entered the area of operations," Pequod announced, "Where do you want me to drop you off?"

Taking out the ITECAMP, Heero pulled up the map function. The area of operations had already been programmed in, and despite it being the zone where only he and Ryoko would be conducting their mission it was still a relatively large region. The helicopter showed up on the display as a moving green circle, and Heero's eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out the best landing zone to start their mission from.

He heard Ryoko whistle as she looked over his shoulder. "That's a lot of ground to cover."

Heero nodded as he settled on a location. "It is. We'll start in the southwest and sweep from there."

He went up to the cockpit and showed the pilot the position he wanted. The chopper altered course while Heero made sure his weapons and gear were secure. Once he knew that everything was in order, he went to the left side of the chopper and slid the door open.

The cold wind was a sharp contrast to the sandy and rocky terrain below. Someone with less travel experience might've expected such a region to be warm given the superficial similarities between the terrain here and that of deserts elsewhere, but Heero knew better. Winter in Afghanistan still had plenty of bite to it, even if there was currently no snow in the area of operations. A few trees dotted the landscape, but for the most part the only real vegetation came in the form of patches of brush, bushes and grass.

The chopper descended towards a series of low-lying dunes. When it was about three meters off the ground Heero jumped out, with Ryoko following right behind him.

"Be careful down there!" called the pilot, "Pequod, heading out!"

Heero and Ryoko shielded their eyes as the chopper ascended, kicking up plenty of sand in the process. Within a few moments the dust began to fade, with the chopper soon becoming little more than a black pinprick on the horizon before disappearing entirely.

The wind picked up again, rustling Ryoko's already wild hair. Heero actually found the sight to be rather enchanting; for some reason he couldn't quite explain, it made her look like she belonged out here.

She smiled when she caught him staring. "See something you like?"

You have no idea…

Now was hardly the time to get distracted, though; they had a lot of work to do, and the longer it took them to do so the colder the enemy's trail would get. The clock was ticking, and as much as he might like to take the scenic route with Ryoko, he knew that they needed to get to their first search location immediately.

Fortunately, it wasn't too far from where they had landed. Just over the dunes where they'd touched down was a large mud-brick building surrounded by several smaller structures made from the same material. A worn but sturdy looking bridge over a dried-up riverbed allowed for vehicles to get into the compound, and in the area immediately surrounding the buildings were what looked like dried out remnants of plants. From all appearances it seemed to have once been a small farm, but it had clearly seen better days. Smoke was rising from the middle of the settlement, but it seemed too thick to be a cooking fire.

Ryoko raised her head and sniffed the air, and Heero saw her nose wrinkle in disgust. "Ugh… I'd know that smell anywhere in the galaxy."

Heero took a whiff and caught it too; the smell of burning flesh. It was coming from the settlement up ahead, and he had a grim feeling he knew what they would find there. Still, it wouldn't pay to rush in without conducting proper reconnaissance.

"Circle around and check the outlying structures," said Heero, "Don't engage, just find out if anyone's occupying them. Can you do that without being spotted?"

Ryoko nodded. "Leave it to me. What are you going to do?"

He pointed at a particularly large rocky mound that was jutting out of the landscape and overlooking the settlement. "I'm going to get an overview of the settlement. I won't be able to see anyone inside the main building, but I should be able to get a good look at most of the area. Meet me up there once you finish your sweep of the outer buildings, all right?"

"You got it," Ryoko replied, "See you there!"

"Be careful, all right?" said Heero, "This isn't a game."

Ryoko smiled. "I know. Don't worry; I'll have this wrapped up before you know it."

"Good," said Heero, "I'd better get into position."

It only took him a few minutes to ascend to the top of the outcropping. Laying flat on his stomach, he pulled out his binoculars and began surveying the area. There were no signs of human life in the area, although he couldn't help but notice several vultures circling overhead. He spotted Ryoko moving swiftly along the perimeter of the settlement before he lost sight of her behind one of the outer buildings.

I hope she picks a good spot to phase in, he thought, I guess if anyone sees her I'll know soon enough.

The distinct lack of screams or gunfire coming from Ryoko's direction as the minutes went by was definitely a good sign. With his confidence in the pirate's ability to follow his orders and keep a low-profile growing, Heero returned his attention to the heart of the settlement. The main structure was mostly a single story save for what appeared to be a lookout post jutting up from the northwest corner of it. No one was in it or on the roof, and the courtyard appeared clear…

…apart from the pile of burning corpses, anyway.

A few minutes later he caught sight of Ryoko again, zipping across the sand and rocks as she made her way towards him. It only took her a few seconds to fly up to where he was perched, and he was relieved to see that there wasn't so much as a mark on her.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

Ryoko shook her head. "There weren't any people in the buildings. I saw some large bags; looked like they were full of seeds or animal feed. There were some goats wandering around behind one of the buildings, but that was it as far as life around here goes."

Heero nodded. "Did you notice anything strange about the buildings?"

Ryoko shrugged. "Apart from the fact that they're as old as dirt? Not really. There were a few marks on the inside that looked like they might've come from the guns your world uses, but that was about it."

"I see," Heero replied, his mind working to connect Ryoko's information with what he had already deduced himself from observing the settlement.

"I think this place is deserted, Heero," said Ryoko, "The only place we haven't checked yet is the main building."

"I know," said Heero as he rose up to a kneeling position, "Let's get in there and check it out. I'll come in from the ground floor. You take the roof and check the lookout post. We'll meet in the courtyard once we're done."

"And if you find anyone inside?" asked Ryoko.

"If they're hostile, I'll take them out," he said, "Let's move."

Thanks to her ability to fly, his companion had a head start. By the time Heero had climbed down from the large rocky outcropping Ryoko had already reached the roof of the settlement's central building. He crouched and moved forward, doing his best to find a middle ground with his need for both a low-profile and quick movement. He came up on the south side of the building and noticed an open window. Pressing his back against the wall, he cautiously leaned over and peered inside.

Communal sleeping quarters, he thought, noting six proper beds and several unfolded bedrolls on the ground, Either multiple families or a single large one called this place home not too long ago…

Carefully scanning the room, Heero couldn't see any signs of occupants. Deciding to gamble, he climbed in through the open window. He swept the room again as soon as he was in, but his efforts only confirmed his suspicion; it was empty.

It didn't take long to clear the rest of the ground floor; it consisted of little more than a small kitchen, a humble storage closet and a bathroom. Noting the doors forced from their hinges and a few blood smears on the walls and floor, he slowly began to piece together what had transpired here before his arrival.

He moved out into the courtyard, and it only took a single sweep to confirm that it was clear apart from the pile of burning bodies. Turning back towards the house, he saw Ryoko standing on the roof.

"Interior's clear," he told her.

Ryoko nodded. "Same up here. Found a few blood smears, but that's about it."

"I see," said Heero, "Stay up there for now and keep lookout, all right? I need a few minutes to study the courtyard."

"Not much to study past the burning corpses," Ryoko deadpanned.

"Humor me," said Heero, "If my hunch is right, what happened here is connected to our prey."

Heading towards the fire while keeping track of exactly where his footsteps fell, Heero leaned forward to study the remains. They hadn't been burning very long, and whoever had set the fire had done a poor job of it; not much in the way of accelerant had been used, and even though the bodies were blackened and charred they still retained enough features for Heero to make crucial observations.

"As I suspected," he said, talking more to himself than Ryoko, "They're all men."

"What's that?" Ryoko called from the rooftop.

Heero turned back to her. "All the victims here are male."

Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "Really? I can't tell who's who in that mess."

"I've seen more than my share of burned corpses," said Heero grimly, "The signs are there when you know what to look for."

Shifting his gaze from the corpses to the courtyard itself, he crouched and carefully began to examine the ground. His own footprints were easy enough to account for, and fortunately Ryoko hadn't stepped in this area; he had a clean scene to work with. It didn't take long for more pieces of the puzzle to fall into place.

It wasn't hard to separate the footprints that had been here before from his own. Combing the courtyard, he was able to make out several distinct patterns, and when those were combined with the pile of male-only bodies burning behind him and the blood smears inside the dwelling it was enough for him to put together a reasonable framework regarding what had transpired before. Several discarded shell in key places casings only added to evidence and further backed his theory.

"It was definitely the group we're after," he said, "The MO fits past settlement attacks that Preventers has documented."

"What do you mean?" asked Ryoko.

Heero first gestured to the sets of footprints against the wall, along with the corresponding blood smears and the spent shell casings a few meters away from them. "After they stormed the place they lined up whatever men survived the initial attack and executed them. They didn't police their brass, but that's not surprising; groups like this tend to gloss over details like that."

Ryoko nodded. "Okay. What about the women and children? I mean, there had to have been some here, right?"

"There were," said Heero as he pointed to another grouping of footsteps, "They were herded over here while the men were killed. The prints here are tightly clustered, but the individual imprints are lighter, which sets them apart from the heavier prints of the men who rounded them up. We're probably looking at about a dozen or so women and young girls; the boys were likely killed with the men."

Ryoko's brow furrowed. "What kind of sick bastards are we dealing with?"

"The same ones that attacked the aid center in Kabul," said Heero, "The Mighty Arm of the Prophet. In addition to their more high-profile terrorist attacks, they're also involved in human trafficking. Raiding settlements like this for women and young girls is essentially their business model."

Ryoko scowled. "Okay, now I really want to find these guys so we can kill them all."

"That makes two of us," said Heero, "and we've got just the means to track them down."

"How?" asked Ryoko.

"Here," said Heero, moving towards the edge of the courtyard and gesturing at another patch of ground, "The prints from the group of prisoners stop here; tire tracks take their place. Based on the width, they were probably loaded into a truck. The smaller tire tracks flanking it are from motorbikes, and there are some hoofprints here too; riders on horseback."

Ryoko looked puzzled. "Horseback riders? You've got to be kidding."

Heero shook his head. "Not at all. The rough terrain in these parts can be difficult to traverse with motorized vehicles. Animals are often better suited to the pathways you'll find in the mountains. Horses and donkeys are quite popular with militants for those reasons."

Ryoko nodded. "Well, if you say so. Can you tell where they're going?"

"Well, the truck with the prisoners will be limited to the roads at lower elevations," said Heero, "That'll make things easier for us; all the roads out here are basically a mix of dirt and gravel. They'll leave clear tracks for us to follow."

"Is it really the truck that we want to track down, though?" asked Ryoko, "Don't get me wrong; I'm all for finding those girls and saving them from these bastards. It's just that I thought our mission was to track down and kill this group's leaders."

"It is," said Heero, "However, if my hunch is right, they're all going to the same place; their main base of operations in this area. They've got a head start on us, but the trail's not cold yet."

Ryoko smiled as she hopped down from her perch on the roof. "All right, then. I'll follow your lead, Heero."

Heero nodded. "Thanks. The road the truck started on heads northeast, so let's follow it and see what we find."

"Want me to scout ahead?" she asked.

"If you can do it without being spotted, yes," he replied, "Just make sure to keep in touch, all right?"

Ryoko held up the custom communications device Washu had made for her; it was synched with the ITECAMP, and the mad scientist had bragged about how it was powerful enough to cut through almost any form of interference. "You got it!"

"All right," said Heero, "Be careful, okay? If you find anyone up ahead, just observe from a distance and report back to me; don't approach them."

Ryoko leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Only because you were nice enough to bring me along, hotshot."

"If I recall correctly, you didn't exactly give me much of a choice in the matter," Heero deadpanned.

Ryoko winked as she started to gain altitude. "Well, you could've done it the easy way or the hard way, and you picked the easy way. Catch you later!"

She was out of sight a few seconds later, leaving Heero to wonder if he'd really made the right call here. Her abilities were already proving to be useful on this mission, but it felt like she was treating this way too casually. He could only hope that she would listen to his orders. In the meanwhile, he had work to do.

This trail's not going to track itself, he thought, Time to move out.

….

Ryoko had never really considered herself to be fond of deserts, but she had to admit that the one that she and Heero were operating in now did have a certain amount of charm to it. Maybe that was because the environment was more of a mix, with dunes in the southwest while more rocky terrain dominated the east. It was a rough land, but also rather pretty once she took the time to look around. The patches of vegetation that dotted the area were nice, there was at least one river running through the region, and she'd caught sight of some of the local wildlife as well; a few wolves were wandering about, and she'd done a doubletake when she'd come upon a bear. It was fortunate for her that she could fly, otherwise the creature might've tried to make a meal out of her.

Ryoko wasn't out here to admire the scenery, though; she was there to help Heero track down some sick sons of bitches and take them down. Unfortunately, she didn't feel like she was accomplishing a whole lot. All she was really doing at the moment was flying ahead to scout for threats as Heero tracked their prey from the ground. Her companion didn't seem to be all that concerned which meant that they were probably on the right track, but Ryoko was growing frustrated.

I don't mind waiting a few days to pull off a good heist, she thought, but tracking down people like this isn't exactly what I'm good at. I guess I could learn a thing or two from Heero there…

While she might be bothered by the seemingly slow pace of the hunt, she couldn't deny that it was fascinating to be able to watch him in the field. The holographic chamber in Washu's lab had been one thing, but to actually be out there with him was definitely the way to go. She'd known since the moment she'd met him that he was something special, and he was continuing to prove it as their mission went on.

It really did feel like a waste for him to be out on some backwater planet like Earth.

Now I'm starting to sound like Washu, she mused, although I guess she does have a point this time… not that I'll ever tell her that.

It was true, though. Heero's talents were the real deal. Ryoko and Washu hadn't been the only ones to notice this; she couldn't help but remember what Nagi's impression of the young man had been during her visit to Earth. If a renowned mad scientist, a notorious space pirate and the most proficient bounty hunter in the galaxy could all recognize that there was something special about Heero, then it was all the more frustrating to Ryoko that the Preventers operative seemingly failed to find that same quality in himself.

"Damn it," she muttered as she looked around, "What am I going to do with him?"

As much as she loved staying with him, she knew that this couldn't be kept up indefinitely. She was a free-spirit, and right now the only thing keeping her on Earth was Heero. Her feelings for the young man were genuine, but at the same time she was well aware that her sense of adventure and mischief wouldn't allow her to stay on Earth forever. She didn't plan on leaving anytime soon, yet she knew that eventually she would have to.

And when that day came, she wanted Heero to come with her.

It would be so easy to spirit him away from the world that only saw him as a weapon. What would they do together out in the wide galaxy? Ryoko had no idea, but she knew that it would be better than him staying here. She couldn't see him becoming a galactic outlaw right off the bat, but she was sure that there was something out there for the two of them. The freedom to go where she wanted and when she wanted was at the core of her being, and she wanted to share that with Heero. He was already an amazing individual, but he could become something more if he were given the opportunity to do so.

She had gotten so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice that there was activity up ahead. She had to blink a few times before she realized that there was noise coming from further up the road. Altering her flight path to skim low over the nearby cliffs to reduce her profile, she slowed down as she grew nearer to the commotion. It sounded like a mixture of an engine, words in a language she didn't recognize, and even animal noises.

Wait a minute…

Coming to a stop a few moments later, Ryoko pressed herself flat against the ground and carefully peered out over the cliffside. Down on the road below there was a large olive-drab truck, beaten up but still in working order if the black smoke puffing from its exhaust pipe was any indication. At least a dozen men surrounded it. Seven were on what looked like motorized dirt bikes, while the other five were on horseback.

"Holy shit," she hissed, "Heero really wasn't kidding…"

The group was currently stopped at a fork in the road, with one path leading west towards more open hills while the other went northeast into a crevice that looked just barely wide enough for the truck. Two men came out from the crevice a moment later on dirt bikes to meet the group with the truck, and Ryoko's heartbeat picked up as she realized where they'd likely come from. She scrambled to grab the communicator that Washu had provided her for the mission.

"Hey, Heero," she said, "Can you hear me?"

"What did I tell you before, Cutlass?" he replied, "Codenames only when we're talking over the radio."

"Oh, lighten up," said Ryoko, "Washu encrypted these things, remember? I doubt the guys we're chasing have what it takes to listen in."

"That doesn't matter," Heero shot back, "Maintain discipline while you're in the field, Cutlass, and that includes even minor details like callsigns. Understood?"

Ryoko rolled her eyes before relenting. "Oh, fine, have it your way… Zero."

"Thank you," he said, "What's your status?"

"Three klicks ahead of you to the northeast, and I think I just hit pay-dirt," said Ryoko, "I've got a truck, some dirt bikes and horse riders below me, and they just met up with some guys that came out of a ravine. Seeing as how I'm a betting girl, I'm gonna give us good odds on these guys being the pricks we're after."

"You're probably right," said Heero, "Hold position. I've got your locator beacon up on the map. Which fork in the road are they taking?"

"They're holding right now," said Ryoko as she leaned forward, "Wait a sec… they just started moving again. They're taking the northeast fork into the ravine."

"I thought so," said Heero.

Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "Do you know something that I don't?"

"It was a hunch," Heero answered, "The terrain out there's probably the best in the area to set up a hidden base of operations. According to the intel we got on this region, there are some ancient structures carved into the far end of the ravine. Data from an old archaeological survey suggested that they were a combination of a settlement and temple of some sort. The man-made portions merge with a series of caves; it's the perfect hideaway."

Ryoko nodded. "Gotcha. We'll, they're heading into the crevice, so if the ravine's got such a sweet hidey-hole back there then they'll be able to slip inside soon. Want me to follow them?"

"Negative," said Heero, "Hold position, Cutlass. Once I catch up we'll make our next move."

"Understood," Ryoko replied, "Get here soon, Zero. Cutlass, out."

Run back to your little hideout while you can, she thought as she watched her prey vanish into the crevice up ahead, Heero and I are coming for you, and we're going to make you pay for what you've done.

….

"Where are we going?" asked Ryoko, "The bad guys went back that way!"

Heero nodded. "Believe me, I'm well aware of that. The crevice they went through is an easily defensible position; it'd be all to easy for them to spot us and pin us down if we went that way, especially while there's still daylight."

Ryoko folded her arms. "That's what you've got me for, remember? I can go up front and put up an energy barrier to block anything they fire at us, no sweat!"

"If we we're going a front assault, I might take you up ono that," said Heero, "However, at this point stealth is still the name of the game. Besides, why go through the front door when you can sneak through the back? As a thief, I though you might appreciate that."

Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "The back? I thought there was only one way to get in there, and it was through the crevice."

"That's the way for groups like the one we're chasing to get in," said Heero as he held up the ITECAMP, "but according to the map on this thing, there's another. We should be coming up on it… ah, I think this is it."

The two of them had been working their way along the ridge overlooking the main road in order to avoid detection. It was mostly rocks and dry brush that they had to deal with, but just up ahead Heero caught sight of what he'd been looking for; a very faint dirt path that led away from the main road and back towards the same ravine their prey had disappeared into.

"Perfect," he said as he knelt down and studied the ground, "No recent human foot traffic; the only prints here are from wild goats and wolves by the look of things."

Ryoko smiled. "I'll be damned… I had no idea this was back here."

"Neither does the enemy if the lack of human foot prints is any indication," said Heero, "Still, we should be cautious; they could've swept up any prints to lull people like us into a false sense of security."

"Want me to go on ahead and take a peek?" she asked.

Heero shook his head. "No. This time, we go together. We'll take it nice and slow; this should be the only other way into the ravine, so unless our enemies have changed their minds in a hurry they're likely still back there."

Heero's biggest concern was mines; there were plenty still leftover from the countless wars that had ravaged the region in the past, not to mention the fact that it would've been all too easy for the enemy to find more on the black market. However, as they carefully proceeded up the trail he was relived to see that the enemy had not taken steps to boobytrap it. Eventually the two of them found themselves laying flat on their stomachs at the edge of a small ledge that overlooked the entire ravine.

"Watch my back," said Heero as he pulled out his binoculars, "I'm going to take a look around."

Ryoko nodded. "You got it."

Rusted hulks of abandoned military equipment littered the area. Taking inventory, Heero noted a mix of trashed anti-air guns that had clearly once been set up in an anti-infantry defensive role, while the burned and corroded corpses of at least three armored vehicles could be found as well. After a moment of study, Heero surmised that they were likely relics of the old occupying force from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. None of these artifacts of bygone battles appeared anywhere close to serviceable, which was definite a good sign; a terrorist group with access to heavy armor and artillery, no matter how antiquated, was not something even an experienced operative like Heero wanted to take on in the field without significant backup. Then again, he had a hard time imagining that Cold War-era weapons could do much against his partner.

Of much greater importance to his current mission than the relics of a long-forgotten conflict were a series of tents set up at the far end of the ravine. They appeared to be surplus from the old armed forces of the United Earth Sphere Alliance; easy enough to acquire, whether on the black market or otherwise. Those in and of themselves didn't tell him much, but the collection of men milling around outside them were another story. Their garb was fairly typical of both local tribesmen and guerilla fighters, but the assault rifles they carried were distinctively modern, which matched the target group's profile; The Mighty Arm of the Prophet was known to have connections to several notorious gunrunning groups, not to mention the fact that they had also attacked local security forces in the past and had stolen their weapons in the aftermath of those ambushes.

So far, so good, Heero thought as he took it all in, making sure to tag every sentry he could find with the target designator built into the binoculars, I'm not seeing any sign of the leadership, though. Wait a minute…

Shifting his gaze to the ancient dwellings that had been carved into the walls at the rear of the ravine, he caught sight of a large truck. There were only a couple sentries standing guard by it, and he had a good enough view of the rear to tell that the vehicle was empty. However, even from this distance Heero felt confident that it was the same vehicle that had left the tracks back at the settlement; its size and tire distribution were about right, and he had a hunch that closer investigation would confirm his suspicions.

Of course, that hunch became a certainty once he spotted a group of women and young girls being herded by several armed men up the steps and into the cliffside dwellings.

"It's them all right," said Heero as he quickly tagged everyone he could before the group made it inside, "but this complicates things."

"What do you mean?" asked Ryoko, "We found the bastards, right? That was our mission."

"Our mission is search and eliminate," Heero corrected her, "Technically we still haven't even accomplished the first part; I've yet to visually confirm that the two main leaders of the group are actually down there. Even if we're able to do so, though, the two of us are really here for assassination. A hostage rescue operation would require significantly more resources."

"So call Sally and let her know what's going on," said Ryoko, "She can get us some backup, right?"

Heero shook his head. "It's not that simple. Yes, this is likely the main base of The Mighty Arm of the Prophet, which means our forces do need to converge here, but coordinating them will take time. The leaders we're after may very well be in the tents or the caves right now, but we have no guarantee of how long they'll stick around. More importantly, the girls definitely won't be kept here for long; they wouldn't have been kidnapped if these guys didn't already have at least one major buyer lined up for them."

Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "You sound pretty sure of that."

Heero nodded grimly. "I've had enough experience dealing with groups like this to know how they operate. That settlement raid back there may have been opportunistic, but guys like these always have someone in mind that they can offload their slaves on in a hurry. I wouldn't be surprised if they've already got a deal in the works. Those girls have maybe 24 to 48 hours tops before they get shipped off to some twisted underground pleasure den, and it doesn't take long for the buyers to force them into narcotics dependency. From there, they'll be slaves until they're either killed by a particularly sadistic client or die from an overdose. The forces Preventers has available in this region won't be able to converge here quickly enough… which means their fates are in our hands whether we're up for it or not."

Ryoko folded her arms. "We are going to rescue them, right?"

Despite the gravity of the situation, Heero almost smiled. Here was a woman that the galaxy knew only as a notorious pirate ready to attack a bunch of terrorists to save victims of their human trafficking side-business. The energy blazing in her amber eyes was extraordinary, and Heero realized that she was actually holding herself back from charging right into the camp to attack the enemy head-on. She wasn't about to let them be dragged off to a fate worse than death.

Neither was Heero.

"We are," he said firmly, "but not without a plan."

Ryoko smiled. "What do you have in mind?"

Heero pointed at the sun as it creeped lower and lower in the sky. "By my guess, we've got about an hour or so of daylight left at the most. We'll use that time to observe the enemy encampment from here; it's possible that additional fighters might emerge from the tents or the caves to the rear, and I want to tag as many as possible. Come sundown, we'll make our move."

Ryoko nodded. "Got it. What do you need from me?"

"Keep watching my back for now," he said as he turned his gaze back to his binoculars, "I'll let you know when it's time to move in."

….

There were a handful of sentries patrolling, flashlights lazily sweeping the ground around them. None of them were expecting an intruder; they were all just going through the motions of guard duty, doubtlessly looking forward to the end of their shift and some shuteye.

They would get it soon enough, and it would be sleep eternal.

Ryoko didn't pity them in the slightest. On Earth or out in the wider galaxy, it didn't matter; sentient traffickers were amongst the worst scum in her eyes. Skimming mere centimeters over the ground, she took full advantage of both her powers and the cover of darkness to silently work her way towards the entrance of the large dwelling built into the far wall of the ravine. She couldn't see Heero, but she knew that he was proceeding forward as well, although his destination was the cluster of tents rather than the caves.

The plan was simple; they would infiltrate the enemy encampment, kill the two leaders Preventers had designated as their targets, and save the prisoners. Heero had told her that he expected their targets to be in the caves, but he had still wanted to check out the tents first. Ryoko therefore got the first shot at the caves, with the condition that she not engage unless she had no other choice. Under other circumstances that would've been easy enough, but privately Ryoko was looking forward to putting the men before her into the ground.

Sorry, Heero, she thought with a devious smirk as she silently snuck up behind a sentry, but this guy's in my way. He's not leaving me any choice…

Simply blasting him was out of the question, and the same went for impaling him with an energy sword; both would attract far too much attention. Fortunately, Ryoko didn't need her flashier powers to kill. Being able to phase through solid objects was a very nifty ability, and it could be applied to more than just walls.

As she proved by reaching out her right hand, phasing it through her target's back…

…before grabbing his heart and crushing it inside his ribcage.

There was a gasp before her victim went limp; Ryoko doubted he'd felt more than a moment of pain. It was too clean a death for scum like him, but her focus right now was on efficiency and stealth. She felt that Heero would approve.

She grabbed her victim's body and hastily shoved it behind one of the rusted-out anti-air guns that dotted the area. Were it still daylight she imagined that it wouldn't take the enemy too long to discovery the corpse, but the cover of darkness gave her an extended window of opportunity. Confident that the body was relatively concealed for the time being, Ryoko resumed her advance.

The main entrance beckoned, but it was illuminated by overlapping flashlights. Ryoko knew that even her powers wouldn't keep her concealed there, but thankfully that was not the only way into the cliffside dwelling; Heero had spotted a small side entrance during his earlier observations of the valley. Unlike the main entrance, this one only had a single guard posted at it. Ryoko had no way of knowing whether or not the passage behind him proceeded all the way back into the enemy's hideout or if it was an unrelated juncture, but if the terrorists though it important enough to at least have one sentry watching it she was willing to wager that it was worth checking out.

Altering her course, she skimmed along the western wall of the ravine as she approached the entrance. Coming to a stop just a few meters away, she knelt down and grabbed a small rock. Taking a moment to judge the distance, she then threw the rock at the stone wall just to the right of the guard.

The trick worked like a charm; as the rock bounced off the wall and hit the floor, the sentry's gaze was drawn to it. As he investigated his back was now turned to Ryoko, and she immediately rushed in. A few seconds later, the man was dead, his heart crushed just like that of Ryoko's previous victim.

Humans sure are fragile, she thought as she dragged the body back into some dry brush, I guess that works in my favor tonight, but I don't like thinking about what that means for Heero. He's tough, but he's not me.

She shook her head; now wasn't the time to worry about him. He had his job, she had hers, and they both needed to focus if they wanted to find the prisoners and save them.

It was still strange to find herself playing the role of the hero. Sure, she had never been a fan of slavers and had messed up their operations a few times in the past, but that wasn't out of any real desire to do good; she'd simply been venting her disgust at them while robbing them of whatever she needed to survive another day. This time was different, though. Her overall goal might still be to protect Heero, but she was also genuinely committed to saving the victims of the terrorists' disgusting side-business.

It was an entirely new sensation…

… one that she found she actually rather liked.

….

I hope she's all right, thought Heero as he peered out from behind the rusted-out shell of a Soviet tank, Ryoko… don't do anything reckless.

He really shouldn't have been worried about her given the scope of her powers, but he was just the same. Intellectually, he knew that nothing the enemy had in their arsenal could hurt her, yet his concern remained. It was an anxiety that was relatively new to him, one that he had a feeling was due in no small part to their new relationship… if that really was the right word to use for it.

There was no denying it; he cared for her far more than he had for any other woman before. Her feelings weren't exactly a secret, but on the rare occasions Heero had ever given so much as a moment's worth of thought to the prospect of romance in his life, this wasn't exactly what had come to mind. Was, as Ryoko put it, 'friends with benefits' really the place that he wanted the two of them to be at right now? He certainly wasn't complaining about the 'benefits' portion, but something about it still felt strange. Then again, given that he'd never been in anything approaching a relationship like this before, that was perfectly natural. After all, this was all brand-new territory for him…

…and was a mission really the best time to be thinking about something like that?

He shook his head. Ryoko could take care of herself. She was impulsive, but she was also smarter than she often let on. She knew how important their mission was and wouldn't do anything foolish. Besides, she was far stronger than him, so if anything, Heero should've been more concerned with himself than with her.

Checking the ITECAMP, Heero studied the positions of all the hostile contacts that he'd been able to tag before night had fallen. Many of them were now in either the tents or the caves in stationary positions, which Heero took to mean that they were either sleeping or about to call it a night. Others remained outside on patrol, and Heero had managed to tag a few more over the course of his advance as they'd taken over watch duty for their comrades. There were still plenty of unknown variables at play, though, including the most important one of all; where his two primary targets were.

The caves are the most likely place, but I still can't completely rule out the tents, he thought as he carefully began to advance, I need confirmation one way or the other, and I've never shied away from getting my hands dirty.

The terrorists didn't have tents nearly as tightly guarded as the main entrance to the dwellings in the cliff, so he was able to pick up his pace. He did have to momentarily pause behind the decrepit shell of an anti-aircraft gun while a sentry walked by, but he was moving forward again in a matter of seconds. Each step was carefully measured to minimize noise, and he kept himself low to the ground. He was using no night-vision goggles, but his eyes had been honed by such extensive training and experience that the darkness here was hardly an obstacle. More to the point, he still had the flashlights from the sentries along with the moonlight as means to keep himself oriented, so it wasn't like he was operating in complete darkness.

One sentry went off to take a leak in some bushes along the eastern wall of the ravine, creating a gap in the perimeter. Heero swiftly exploited it, darting forward and reaching the front of the first tent. Cautiously slipping his head inside, it only took a cursory scan of the snoring occupants to confirm that neither of his targets were in this one.

The second tent yielded the same results, as did the third. Each time he slipped in and out he had to remind himself to be mindful of the sentries, and even with his guard up he still had one close call. Fortunately, the man that had nearly stumbled upon him had been distracted by the howl of a wolf somewhere just beyond the perimeter and went to chase it off. That gave Heero the opening he needed to infiltrate the final tent. This one only had a single occupant…

…but it was one of his targets.

Crouching as he crept forward, Heero slung his rifle over his shoulder and drew his knife. While a part of him found killing a man in his sleep to be distasteful, he had his mission, and his target had more than earned the bloody fate that was about to befall him. Taking a moment to center himself, Heero then plunged the knife into his target's throat with surgical precision. The man's eyes snapped open in fear and agony, but Heero's free hand went to his mouth and clamped over it like a steel vice before the man could scream. It only took a few seconds for the life to drain from his body.

One down, he thought, and one more to go.

He took a few minutes to reposition the body and the blankets to conceal the blood. It wouldn't hold up under close scrutiny, but if anyone poked their head in for a cursory check Heero felt the façade would pass muster.

Now he just had to find his second target…

…and hope that Ryoko hadn't run into trouble.

….

Great, thought Ryoko as she looked around the passage she found herself in, I think I'm lost…

She'd had no idea where to start looking for the mission targets or the prisoners, so she'd simply decided to go as deep into the hideout as possible. Moving around actually hadn't been that hard; most of the terrorists were actually asleep, and it was easy enough to avoid the few that had been assigned to interior guard duty. The real problem was navigation. Ryoko didn't like to admit it, but she knew that her sense of direction could use some work even at the best of times. Combine that with the fact that she was in hostile and unfamiliar territory, and it was frankly a miracle that she'd only managed to get lost now and not earlier.

"This sucks," she whispered to herself as she crept through the shadows, "Where the hell am I supposed to go now?"

It was dark, but her surroundings weren't entirely devoid of illumination. There were gaps in the rocks where flickers of light and sound filtered in from above, and the terrorists had even set up a series of lanterns spaced throughout the caverns. Since Ryoko was still periodically encountering them she assumed that she was in a part of the cave system that the enemy still used. However, she had no way of knowing if she was on the right track towards her mission objectives or not.

I hope Heero's doing all right, she thought, I bet he wouldn't get himself lost down here.

There was really no use in worrying about it at the moment. She'd come this far, so she figured she might as well keep going and see what she found. Eventually she'd have to try to backtrack, and she could only hope that more of the terrorists would doze off as the night wore on and make it easier for her to find her way around without being detected.

Her ears perked up as she heard faint voices coming from further down the passage. She didn't recognize the language, but it sounded like a mixture of both male and female voices. Her thoughts immediately jumped to the prisoners, and while she had no way to know for sure if they were down that way she really had nothing to lose by checking it out.

Moving cautiously through the cavern, she could hear the voices gradually grow louder as she progressed. There was also fresh light filtering from up ahead; she was at least heading towards an area that the enemy considered important enough to keep reasonably well illuminated, which was certainly a positive sign.

Keeping low and crouching behind a large rock, she took stock of her surroundings. The passage she was in had led her to a broad chamber of some sort. It was a mix of natural erosion and human stonework, and there were enough gaps up above that Ryoko could actually catch glimpses of moonlight filtering down into the cave. Puddles of water were scattered about the area, and the walls were dotted with multiple passageways. The wall opposite of where Ryoko was hiding was no longer in its natural form, though; a rectangular entry way had been carved into it, along with a small window.

What really drew Ryoko's attention, though, were the group of men standing in the middle of the chamber. There were five of them in all, and her eyes narrowed as she recognized the face of one of them. He had dark hair that was beginning to grey, along with a rather prominent beard; he was a perfect match for one of the photos Heero had shown her on the chopper ride out here.

She'd found one of their targets.

And not a moment too soon.

The man and his fellow thugs were standing over three women. Although Ryoko wasn't very good at estimating the ages of humans, from the look of things they appeared to be just a few years older than Heero. They'd been pushed down onto the cavern floor and were looking up at their captors with fear. From the way the men were leering at them, Ryoko had a sickening feeling that she knew what they were planning.

And there was no way in hell that she would allow it to happen.

Sorry, Heero, she thought, but I'm going to have to make a scene here. I'm sure you'd understand…

Throwing subtlety completely out the window, she rushed in. Igniting a lance of crimson energy in her right hand, it only took her a moment to line up her targets before taking a swing. The five men had just enough time for their eyes to widen in shock and horror before her strike removed their heads from their shoulders in a single fluid motion. With the extreme heat of her energy blade immediately cauterizing the points of impact, there was hardly even any blood. The five corpses hit the floor as one, while their heads bounced and scattered across the cavern.

Deactivating her crimson blade, she then turned to the trio of women that she'd just saved. All three were gaping at her, completely frozen in awe and fear. Ryoko knew that this wasn't all of the women that the terrorists had kidnapped, and she would have to find the rest quickly.

"Hey," she said, "I don't know if you three can understand me, but if you can, where are the others?"

The three women were terrified, and despite their dark complexion Ryoko could've sworn that they were growing paler by the second. She really wished that Heero was with her right now; calming people down seemed to be a gift of his. She'd just have to improvise and hope that he caught up with her soon.

She held out her hands palm open, hoping that would convey that she meant them no harm. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'm going to get you all out of here, but I need your help."

The tension between the three of them seemed to ease up a little bit, but they were still wary of her. Ryoko supposed that was natural; she had just decapitated five people in front of them, after all.

Looking around to make sure the cost was clear, she then pulled out her communicator. "Zero, it's Cutlass. I took out one of the targets, and I've got three of the prisoners with me. Where are you?"

Silence greeted her, and it made her nervous. "Zero? Hey, you there? Talk to me, damn it!"

A few more moments passed before she finally got a reply. "This is Zero. Good work, Cutlass. I just entered the caves a few minutes ago. Where are you?"

Ryoko sighed with relief. "Pretty far down. Not really sure if I can guide you; I think I got lost on the way down here."

"Don't worry about it," said Heero, "I've got you on the map, so hold position and I'll come to you."

Ryoko smiled. "Right. We'll be waiting right here. Be careful."

"Roger that," Heero replied.

Ryoko motioned for the three women to follow her as she went towards one of the walls of the chamber. It wasn't exactly an improvement in the way of cover, but it was still better than just sitting out in the middle waiting for someone other than Heero to stumble upon them. To her relief, the three of them seemed able to understand her and were willing to trust her. If anything, they seemed more curious about her now than scared.

Ryoko's eyes constantly darted around the chamber and the numerous passages that dotted the walls. She had no way to know which one Heero would take, and there was no guarantee that he would find them first. If the enemy arrived before him, Ryoko would have to make a choice; offense or defense. The barrier she could generate was more than powerful enough to deflect human firearms, but it was limited in scope; it could defend her and a few people as long as they remained very close to her, but no more than that. She'd been planning to use it to protect Heero, not a group of prisoners.

Come on, Heero, hurry up, she thought, I want to get out of here!

Her eyes narrowed as she caught a glimpse of something moving in the shadows of one of the passages. She held out her right hand and a crimson sphere of energy formed. She was about to let fly when a very familiar face appeared out of the darkness.

"I hope that's not for me," said Heero dryly.

Ryoko smiled as she allowed the energy to dissipate. "Sorry about that. Guess I'm getting a little jumpy down here."

"It's all right," Heero replied as he approached, "Sorry it took me so long to get down here; I had to deal with a few guards first."

He then surveyed the chamber, and it didn't take long at all for him to catch sight of the severed head of one of there targets. Ryoko saw him kneel down next to the head for a moment before turning to her.

"Nice, clean cut," he said, "I took out the other one a little bit ago, so that's both our targets accounted for. Good work."

Ryoko nodded. "Thanks. I don't think we're out of the woods just yet, though."

"Right," said Heero as he turned to the three women standing behind her, "We've still got the tricky part ahead of us."

He came forward and slung his rifle over his shoulder before kneeling in front of the women. Ryoko's eyes widened slightly as she heard him speak words she could not understand but recognized from the men she'd killed earlier.

"I'll be damned," she said softly, "Why didn't you tell me earlier that you speak their language?"

"I don't," Heero replied as he looked over his shoulder, "Not proficiently, anyway. I just have a few phrases memorized for missions like this."

Ryoko smirked. "Well, that's still more than what I know."

The women seemed calmed by whatever he'd told them, and one of them pointed at the carved doorway in the far wall Ryoko had seen earlier. Heero studied it for a moment before turning to Ryoko.

"You mind staying with these three?" he asked, "This shouldn't take long."

Ryoko nodded, not knowing what else to do. "Sure. Just don't ask me to keep them entertained; can't do much of that if I can't talk to them."

"Fair enough," said Heero.

Placing herself between the women and the other entrances to the chamber, Ryoko prepared herself to erect a barrier at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, she saw Heero slip inside the carved doorway on the other side; he was so quiet that she couldn't even hear his footsteps.

It's honestly a little creepy how he can move like that, she thought, I mean, I can fly, so it's easy to not make noise if I'm feeling sneaky. Heero, though… he's really something else.

After a few moments she heard several female voices coming from the chamber Heero had just entered. They hushed after a few seconds, and a little bit later Heero reappeared with a dozen or so women and young girls. They looked incredibly nervous and kept casting wary looks at Heero, but to Ryoko's relief they seemed unharmed. The three women Ryoko was protecting ran past her and embraced the others, and even though she couldn't understand their language it wasn't hard for her to tell how relieved they were at each other's safety.

She smiled as Heero approached her. "Is this all of them?"

Heero nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, this was the easy part. Getting them all out of here is another thing entirely."

Ryoko sighed. "You're right. Damn it! How the hell are we going to do this?"

"I'd prefer stealth, but with a group this size I don't think that's possible," he said, "How far can you make your barriers stretch?"

Ryoko shook her head. "Not as far as I think you'd need me to. Ayeka would be able to do it. Sorry, Heero; I can protect myself and maybe a couple people if they stay really close to me, but any more than that and I can't cover them."

"I thought as much," said Heero grimly, "It was still worth a shot."

"We could try moving them out of here in smaller groups," Ryoko suggested.

"I don't think that's viable," replied, "The likelihood of the enemy discovering the ones we don't move during the first attempt is high, plus there's the fact that between the two of us we've killed their top two leaders; those deaths won't stay hidden for long."

Ryoko's eyes narrowed in thought. "So, speed's the name of the game, but none of these girls are in any shape to fight if we're discovered… which is pretty damn likely. Crap! What other options do we have?"

Heero's brow furrowed. "I've got one idea that might work. It's risky, but out of all our possible moves I think it's the one with the best chance of success."

"I'm all ears," said Ryoko, "What do you have in mind?"

"A diversion," said Heero, "I've got enough firepower to make a nice distraction, and the fact that it's night works in our favor. If you stay with the hostages, I'll move outside and engage the sentries. That'll draw most of their fighters out as well, which means few will be monitoring things inside the hideout. Once I've got them all focused on me, I'll signal you to get the girls out; your best bet would be the side passage rather than the front entrance."

It was a good plan, but it had a problem; Heero would be the enemy's target. He was good, but he was only human. Between the two of them, Ryoko knew who was best suited to play the role of live-fire decoy, and it wasn't him.

"No," she said firmly, "You'll be the one to get the girls out; I'll be the diversion."

"Ryoko…" Heero began, "This isn't…"

"Don't even go there," she interrupted, "Don't even think about saying that this isn't my fight. The moment your bosses sent you out here, it became my fight, and I'm damn well going to finish it!"

"I wasn't going to say that," Heero replied, "I was going to say that since I'm the one in charge of the mission, this should be on me. It's my responsibility to make sure that you and the prisoners get out of here safely."

"And I'm not about to let you get yourself killed just so the rest of us can escape!" Ryoko countered, "Look, I know you're damn good in a fight, but you're going to have way too many guys shooting at you here! We've been playing this mission your way so far, and it's worked out pretty well, but now that subtlety's out the window we should play this my way."

Heero shook his head. "No. There's got to be another way to pull this off."

Ryoko folded her arms. "Oh, yeah? I thought a diversion was the only workable plan you had."

"There might be something else…" said Heero, although he didn't sound all that confident of it.

Ryoko gave him a scowl. "You're stalling, Heero; you can't hide it from me. You know that I'm right about this. Why can't you just admit it?"

"Because it's still my job to look after you," he shot back, "Just because we're out in the field now doesn't mean that my primary mission has changed."

Ryoko smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "And I appreciate that, but you need to remember why I came out here in the first place; to look after you. Look, you don't have to prove anything to me. You might not have any powers like me, but you're plenty damn strong in my book. However, your abilities and strengths aren't the best match for this situation. Mine are. Come on, Heero; you know I'm right."

There was a moment of hesitation, but she could see in his eyes the moment he relented. "You are. I don't like it, but that doesn't change the situation. All right, then; we'll do it your way."

Ryoko grinned. "Trust me; you won't regret this!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Heero replied, "Ryoko, if you're going to do this… then you need to be thorough."

The emphasis placed on that last word caught her off guard. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that once you commit to this, you have to see it through to the bitter end," he said grimly, "Sally and Director Une were clear; the outside world is not to learn of your very existence, let alone your abilities. When you saved those three hostages, I'm assuming they caught sight of your powers. Am I wrong?"

Ryoko shook her head. "No. I was quick, but… well, the kills were still flashy."

Heero nodded. "I thought so. Since we're saving them, I'm sure Preventers will be able to impress upon them the importance of keeping silent regarding your powers. They might still talk about it afterwards, but people will likely just write it off as hallucinations born of trauma from captivity. The enemy is a different matter, though; any of them that witness your powers will spread word through the criminal underworld, and from there it'll only be a matter of time before the broader public catches wind. We have to avoid that at all costs, which means that you're playing for keeps here."

His eyes narrowed, and Ryoko almost shuddered at the chill that crept into his tone. "If you're going to do this, then you need to understand one thing; none of the enemy can witness your powers and be allowed to live. You won't just be a diversion here, Ryoko. You'll be an executioner. Can you live with that?"

Ryoko nodded. It was dark, but it made perfect sense. Besides, she wasn't exactly feeling charitable given what the scum that made up The Mighty Arm of the Prophet had been planning to do with the women she'd rescued. Heero's world would be better off without them. Not only that, but while the two of them were in the field the terrorists would automatically be a threat to Heero, and she'd already told herself that she would stop at nothing to protect him.

If that meant wiping out a bunch of thugs to the last man, then so be it.

"I can," she said firmly, "If it means that you and I can leave here together, then they're all as good as dead already."

After a moment of silence, Heero nodded. "Very well, then. I'll hole up with the girls in the chamber I found them in; there's only one way in or out, so it'll be pretty straightforward to defend them until things quiet down. Slip outside and initiate your attack from beyond the enemy perimeter. If they think it's an attack coming from outside rather than within their base it should work to keep them from suspecting what's happened down here, at least for a little while. Signal me once you're finished."

"You got it," said Ryoko.

He then reached out and took her hand. "Ryoko… be careful, all right? I know you're powerful, but still…"

She smiled. "Hey, don't worry about me. I'll watch my back, so you do your job and keep the girls safe. This'll all be for nothing if we don't get them out of here."

Heero shook his head. "That's not enough. We're all getting out of here alive. I won't accept anything less."

She grinned before leaning forward to kiss him. "Neither will I."

….

For the various fighters that made up the cannon fodder of The Mighty Arm of the Prophet, it was already shaping up to be a bad night. Several sentries had been found dead, and one of their leaders had been discovered in his tent with his throat slashed. The rest of the fighters had been roused and were combing the area, all on edge and with their rifles at the ready. They were jumping at shadows, several times coming close to firing on members of their own group. They thought they were up against a group of government assassins, and thus they were searching high and low for snipers and infiltrators.

None of them realized that they were about to come under a much more direct form of attack.

For Ryoko, slipping outside the hideout and back through the patrolling sentries hadn't been very hard. As soon as she'd made it to the exit of the side passage that she'd initially used to infiltrate the hideout she'd simply flown up along the cliff wall, and it only took her a few moments to make it beyond the terrorists' perimeter. Coming back down to the ground and crouching in a group of prickly bushes, she took a moment to survey the area and plan out her assault.

I usually don't put this much thought into things like this, she mused, I'm more of a smash-and-grab or charge in and attack head-on kind of girl. Heero, I think you're starting to rub off on me…

The cluster of tents where Heero had eliminated one of the terrorist group's leaders seemed like a promising place to start. The amount of guards patrolling around it had dramatically increased as they enemy scoured the area for clues regarding the demise of their top dog. That was good as far as Ryoko was concerned; it meant more targets in one place. A predatory smile appeared on her face as she rose from the bushes.

It was time to introduce herself.

Raising her right hand above her head, she concentrated her power there. The air around her began to crackle with crimson energy, and she knew the enemy would spot her. It didn't matter.

After all, they were about to die.

The first startled cries were only just beginning to ring out from the patrolling sentries when Ryoko let fly with her opening salvo. A string of blood red energy balls flew forth from her hand, ripping into tents and guards alike. The fabric that made up the temporary field shelters immediately burst into flames, while the humans who took her attacks directly disintegrated in the blink of an eye.

They were the lucky ones.

The ones caught at the edge of the blasts did not die nearly as quickly. Ryoko's energy strikes gouged into the earth, sending chucks of superheated rock flying like shrapnel. These projectiles ripped through human flesh and bone like hot knives through butter, severing limbs, piercing guts, and inflicting utter agony upon their victims. The screams of the wounded and dying men echoed into the night, but the prayers they whimpered in their native tongue would find no answer from the god that they were meant for.

Her opening salvo complete, Ryoko charged in. The energy coursing through her right hand solidified into a crimson blade, while her left hand was ready to project a barrier the moment she came under fire. She descended upon her foes like a wolf running down wounded deer, and energy blade served as a suitable substitute for fangs sinking into the throats of her prey. Heero had told her to leave no survivors, and she didn't intend to disappoint him.

As she finished off her first batch of victims, gunfire roared as reinforcements poured out of the caves. An energy barrier was already enveloping Ryoko, sending the rounds fired at her into the dirt, rocks, or occasionally back at the shooter. She caught sight of a few heavier weapons being brought to bear on her; old machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortars. None of it concerned her. After all, she could shrug off energy blasts from the heavy artillery of Jurai and the Galaxy Police. Primitive projectiles and explosives were no threat to her.

The same could not be said for what her attacks did to the enemy. Maintaining her barrier with her left hand, she gained altitude before raining down a barrage of crimson blasts upon the terrorists. Fresh cries of agony and terror pierced the night, and this time her attacks were amplified by the unfired mortars and rockets that were detonated by the energy balls. The entire ravine was bathed in a sinister orange-red glow as she spread death and devastation across it.

As the enemy scattered and panicked, she dived in to engage them up close and personal. Her blood-red energy sword sprang to life in her right hand again, and she wasted no time in putting it to use. A broad swipe decapitated two men before they even knew what hit them, and that was swiftly followed up by a thrust straight through a third's heart. A few drew knives and lunged at her, but they accomplished no more than simply turning themselves into her next victims. The shaft of energy she wielded ripped through them all like their flesh was just tissue paper, with the heat of her weapon cauterizing wounds so that despite the carnage she was inflicting upon the enemy there was actually very little in the way of blood spray.

A few threw down their weapons and fell to their knees, and Ryoko didn't need to understand the language to recognize a gesture of surrender. Too bad for her victims that begging would do them no good; Heero had been very clear in what needed to be done, and Ryoko simply took the opportunity to dispatch them all with a single energy blast.

Once the rest of them saw that she was taking no prisoners, they redoubled their efforts to take her down. Ryoko was more than willing to repay them in kind. Intensifying her assault, she mowed down her foes with withering barrages of energy blasts, tanking any return fire with her barrier and dispatching the few that managed to get too close to her with sweeps of her crimson blade.

She was nothing less than an angel of death, and she would not rest this night until she had harvested every last condemned soul in her sights.

….

Even as far down in the caves as he was, Heero could still feel the occasional tremor from the battle outside. He could only imagine the kind of power Ryoko was throwing around to shake the ground in such a manner… and what it must've been like to be on the receiving end.

I don't like using her in this manner, he thought grimly, I should be the only one here spilling blood. This isn't her fight.

He shook his head. The two of them had already had this argument; Ryoko knew full well at this point what she was getting herself into and had accepted that she would be required to not just kill a few targets but slaughter all the hostiles in the area. She had volunteered for this mission, and Heero had made every effort to make her understand the dangers involved and the harsh choices that could be required of them. She was his partner on this mission, and he'd done all he could to treat her as such.

So why did he feel like he was treating her as a weapon rather than a living being?

Perhaps it was because he still felt that the mission was his responsibility. She wasn't supposed to be out here in the field, even if he had ultimately relented and brought her along. It may also have been because she wasn't from Earth; the planet's internal security problems should not have been hers to address. As a Preventers operative, it was Heero's duty to fight enemies like this, not pass the duty off to an outsider.

Even an outsider as beautiful and deadly as Ryoko.

He sighed. Ryoko had insisted on accompanying him in the field from now on, so he would have to get used to it. It wasn't like he was ordering her to do things that he wasn't willing to do himself. He'd been more than willing to take on the role of diversion and have her protect the prisoners; she had been the one arguing to switch things up. More importantly, her argument had been completely valid. Of the two of them, she was infinitely better suited to play the role of diversion and frontal attacker precisely because of her abilities. They had both recognized her strengths; she had just been the one most willing to make use of them.

She was far more powerful than he'd ever be, yet Heero still wanted to protect her. It was a very odd dynamic, one that he thought he would've gotten used to by now. He wondered if he ever would.

He pulled out the ITECAMP and checked the map display. Ryoko's icon was still quite active, but the amount of red hostile markers had dropped dramatically. There were only a few left now, although Heero knew that that didn't necessarily mean that the enemy was nearly defeated. After all, he doubted that he had managed to tag every member of the terrorist group before he and Ryoko had started their infiltration. Still, it was very promising, and the fact that no one had come down to where Heero and the prisoners were located was a strong indication that the assault and diversion were going as planned.

He wanted to contact her for a status update but refrained from doing so. She didn't need him distracting her, and it wasn't like Heero couldn't monitor her progress on the map display. That didn't change the fact that he wanted to hear her tell him herself that she was okay rather than simply rely on a projection.

"Ryoko," he whispered, "be careful…"

A few seconds later, the last of the crimson hostile markers disappeared. Ryoko's green icon was still moving about rapidly, though, indicating that she was still in combat. Heero had to force himself to look away from the display; he still had to keep an eye on his immediate surroundings, after all. Raising his rifle, he looked out at the chamber beyond the room he and the prisoners were hiding it, but there was still no sign of the enemy.

Behind him, he could hear the women and girls whispering frantically to each other. His grasp of Arabic was rudimentary at best, but he could at least make out a few words. There was that familiar mix of fear and excitement that Heero had encountered before in hostages during rescue operations; some things crossed cultures easily enough regardless of language barriers. They occasionally stole glances at him, and Heero was struck with an odd sense of déjà vu; they reminded him of the looks he'd get from the girls back at the countryside safehouse from time to time.

Focus, he admonished himself, Ryoko should be close to finished up out there, but don't let your guard down.

He had plenty to worry about, though. Even after the area was secured and assuming they managed to extract all of the prisoners, there was still the looming debriefing that was cause for concern. Heero had sold Sally and Lady Une on the idea of Ryoko coming along in large part due to the stealth applications of her abilities. That had played out more or less as planned during the first part of the mission, but this diversion and frontal assault threw that completely out the window. Even if Ryoko managed to kill all the terrorists Heero was sure that his superiors would not be pleased by her openly using her powers. There would be repercussions for this, and Heero could only hope that there would be a way to blunt the worst of them.

A few seconds later a familiar voice came over the ITECAMP. "This is Cutlass. You there, Zero?"

Heero immediately responded. "Read you loud and clear, Cutlass. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she said, "You can bring them up now. It's all clear here."

Heero nodded. "Understood. Hold position. We'll be there soon."

Putting the ITECAMP away, he looked over his shoulder and motioned for the girls to follow him. Raising his rifle, he cautiously led the way through the caves and up towards the surface. The passages were eerily silent apart from the footsteps and mutterings of his companions; all the terrorists had been drawn outside by Ryoko's attack, exactly as planned.

Heero could only imagine what might await them when they got out of the hideout.

He found out a few moments later when he and the others finally made it to the exit. What he beheld was a sight as eerily beautiful as it was devastating. Corpses were strewn all over the place, and many of them were not in one piece. The ravine was bathed in flickering orange light from the fires that dotted the area. The ground looked like it had been subjected to a saturation bombardment, there were so many impact craters. No set of artillery made by man had done this, though.

It was the woman standing in the middle of it all that had wrought such destruction.

The light of the fire danced in her eyes, accentuating her already wild nature. She hadn't even broken a sweat, and she did not have so much as a mark on her. Surrounded by death and ruin, Heero could not help but marvel at her raw power.

She was unfathomably deadly.

And in his eyes, she was all the more beautiful for it.

She smiled when she caught sight of him, and the genuine cheer and relief in the gesture was a stark contrast to the devastation surrounding her. "See? What did I tell you? Nothing to worry about. You doing all right?"

Heero nodded as he approached her. "Yeah… thanks to you. I owe you one."

Ryoko smirked. "Oh, really? Well, I can think of a few ways you can pay me back when we get home."

The fact that she could flirt after wiping out an entire terrorist cell should not have been a turn-on, yet Heero couldn't deny that the heat rushing to his face now was from far more than just the nearby flames. "I'm… sure we'll work something out."

She stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Count on it. So, what's next? How're we getting them all out of here? There's no way that they'll all fit on the chopper."

"I'll notify Sally," said Heero, "She should be able to round up a larger helicopter for transport. We'll just need to hold position here until it arrives."

Ryoko nodded before gesturing behind him. "They're not going to panic and run, right?"

Heero looked over his shoulders at the rescued prisoners. They were surveying the aftermath of what had no doubt been one brutal fight with awe and fear. Heero could hardly blame them.

He shook his head. "We'll keep an eye on them. I think freeing them from captivity should've bought us at least some good will with them. They should listen to us."

Ryoko smiled. "Good. I'm glad we were able to help them."

Heero nodded, a small smile appearing on his face as well. "Yeah… me too."

….

About damn time, thought Ryoko as her ears picked up the distant thrum of helicopter rotors, I was starting to wonder if they were going to leave us out here all night…

In truth, it had only been about twenty minutes or so from when Heero had signaled for the airlift. Ryoko was just impatient; she wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. It wasn't because of the death and destruction that surrounded her, though, but simply her desire to get Heero out of the field so she'd know for sure that he was safe.

She caught him glancing her way several times while they'd been waiting for pickup. Although his expression remained as calm and collected as ever, his eyes had told a different story; the light within them had been a mixture of what seemed like awe and regret. Ryoko didn't mind the first part, but it was the second that bothered her. She was pretty sure she knew what it was from, just like she knew that it was wrong for Heero to feel that way.

She didn't regret for a second the completely one-sided slaughter that had been her fight with the terrorists. She'd already been determined to wipe them out simply because if she didn't they'd have a chance to hurt or kill Heero, but there was also the fact that she had no sympathy when it came to slavers. After Heero had told her the likely fate of the women they had kidnapped, Ryoko had been ready and willing to take out every last one of them, and she would do it again without hesitation.

She was totally fine with it, but since Heero seemed to have mixed thoughts she decided to lighten the mood. "See something you like, hotshot?"

She didn't know if it was a trick of the light, but she thought she caught just a hint of red in his face. "Well…"

Ryoko grinned and put her arm around him. "Come on, Heero, no need to be shy. After all, we know each other very well by now. Don't you agree?"

"I suppose so," he said, looking almost bashful.

It was such an adorable contrast to the cold operative he'd played during their mission that Ryoko just had to pounce on it. Pulling him close, she kissed him full on the mouth as the women they'd rescued looked on. If Heero was embarrassed by having an audience, that was too bad.

I'm not going to keep this thing of ours a secret forever, she mused, so you'd better prepare yourself, Heero.

When their lips parted, she was relieved to see a small smile appear on his face. "There, that's more like it. That's the Heero I want to see right now!"

His eyes widened slightly. "Ryoko…"

"Look, I know what you're thinking," she said, "You're still feeling bad about using me as the diversion, right? Well, I've got news for you; I don't feel bad about it all. Same with the fight; those thugs deserved everything I gave them. They're not worth any remorse from me, and not from you either. You got that?"

Heero nodded, although he seemed a bit hesitant. "Well, if you're sure…"

"I am," Ryoko finished for him, "and I have no regrets. If you ever need me to bust some heads again, just say the word."

There was a brief pause before he responded. "All right."

They had to end their conversation there due to the steadily increasing volume of the approaching helicopters. Ryoko recognized the one that had dropped Heero and her off in the area of operations earlier, but it was accompanied by another aircraft. This one was larger and had two primary rotors, one up front and one towards the back. It was coming in slower than the first one, and it was making a great deal more noise as well.

"What's that?" she yelled as the two aircraft descended.

"Heavy transport chopper," Heero replied, "The prisoners we rescued will go in that one. We'll be on point with Pequod."

Their smaller helicopter descended first, and Heero motioned for Ryoko to climb aboard. After she did so she turned around and saw Heero hop in behind her. He then knelt down in the open doorway and made a gesture at the pilot. Ryoko didn't know what it meant but got a pretty good answer a moment later when one of the aircraft's swivel-mounted rotary guns rotated back until Heero could grab a hold of it.

Not letting his guard down even though I already killed all the bad guys, she thought with a smile, I guess I should've expected that.

Deciding it couldn't hurt to emulate him, Ryoko went to the other side of the chopper and opened the door. The pilot looked back at her, but Ryoko shook her head; she didn't need the helicopter's weapons when she could easily outgun it with her own power. Glancing back over her shoulder out the open door on the opposite side, she saw the larger transport chopper set down and open its rear door. A fireteam of four men in black tactical gear came out and quickly shepherded the rescued women and girls onto the aircraft.

Pequod turned around and yelled at Heero and Ryoko over his shoulder. "Ready to lift off on your orders!"

Heero nodded. "Get us out of here."

"Roger that," the pilot replied, "Taking off!"

Ryoko had to steady herself as the chopper swiftly ascended. Scanning the area, she detected no signs of hostile activity, not that she'd been expecting any. Down below, she saw the transport helicopter begin to gain altitude as well, although it was slower to rise than Ryoko and Heero's aircraft.

Once the two aircraft were at a sufficiently safe altitude, Heero closed the door on his side of the chopper. Ryoko did the same. She then joined him as he sat down at the back of the helicopter, and for the first time she caught a glimpse of how tired he was. He laid down his rifle and leaned back in the chair, looking just about ready to pass out.

He put in plenty of work on this mission, she thought, Heero, you've earned a break.

She reached over and put her arm around him before gently pulling his head down towards her shoulder. He resisted for a moment, but it was out of surprise more than anything else.

"Ryoko…" he said.

She hushed him with a finger to his lips. "Don't fight it. Take a load off, Heero."

With that, he relented and allowed her to pull him to her shoulder. Adjusting herself so that he'd be more comfortable, she smiled as she saw him close his eyes. It wouldn't be a very long flight to get back to base, but she still wanted him to take this chance to rest. She'd take care of herself once they returned.

"Sleep, Heero," she said softly, "I'll watch over you."

Always.

….

Many light-years away from Earth…

Walking up to the entrance of the night club, Nagi smirkedas would-be patrons stared at her. She'd swapped out her body-suit for a strapless dark blue dress, and she knew that she looked damn good in it. It was a pity that she'd come to the club on a job; she wouldn't have minded the chance to let her hair down and mingle a bit.

Business before pleasure, she thought, although if my target proves to be more skilled than expected, there's no reason why the two can't become one and the same.

She had her doubts, though. It had been quite some time since a target had offered a decent challenge, and her research thus far had indicated this one would be no different. It was a shame, but a bounty hunter had to eat just like anyone else so she'd take an easy meal-ticket this time, not to mention that this particular hunter also had to feed a hungry Ken-Ohki.

Coming up to the entrance, she saw one of the club bouncers approach, a scanning rod held in his hand. "Miss, if you'll please stand still and hold out your arms."

Nagi shrugged. "Of course."

Another bouncer came up as well. "Your purse."

She handed it over to him. "Here."

She was armed, but she wasn't worried. There was nothing in the purse that would raise concerns from the guards, and she had no concerns with regards to her weapons, either. She'd done her homework prior to coming here, and she knew that the scanning rods the bouncers used here were designed to detect sources of energy. The weapons she had on her weren't like the plasma pistols and shock sticks that were common in parts like these; they were of a more antiquated vintage, or at least they were by the standards of the civilized galaxy.

Downright archaic, really, she mused with a small smile, but they'll suit my needs just fine. Perhaps I should track down that young man and give him my thanks once this job's over. I never imagined I'd get so much use out of the trophies I took from him…

After waving his scanning rod in front of her, the bouncer nodded. "All right, you're clean. Word to the wise; pick a fight and we'll toss you out. Someone attacks you, it's okay if you defend yourself."

"Good," Nagi replied as she retrieved her purse from the second bouncer and strode inside.

She was immediately assaulted by the thrumming base and a kaleidoscope of lights. The club was on the higher-end side, which meant she was neither over-nor-underdressed for her environment. She was tempted to stop by the bar for something hard to knock back, but she was on the clock; refreshments would have to wait.

"Where is he?" she muttered as she scanned the club.

She immediately ruled out the dance floor; her target wasn't exactly known for exuberance and grace when it came to the night life. Instead, she focused on the numerous side-booths that lined the club. It only took a few minutes for her to lock onto her target; a rather corpulent dark-haired man dressed in a business suit, flanked by two scantily clad women that Nagi instantly tagged as prostitutes, and covered by four goons who clearly had more brawn than brains since they still hadn't noticed that she was scoping the place out. The bulges in their evening jackets were a dead giveaway that they were armed, and Nagi was certain that included energy weapons; her target had connections with this club, and even if he didn't it would've been a simple manner for someone like him to bribe the proprietor or the bouncers.

All too easy, she thought as she planned her approach, I guess it's time to earn my pay.

She confidently strode across the night club, well aware of the male and female gazes that she was attracting. Let the petty hedonists and riffraff stare; none of them were worth her time. Looks were all well and good, but all it took was a glance for her to know that none of the individuals ogling her had what she really found attractive; skill in combat. It was times like this that she rather wistfully recalled her recent misadventure on Earth. Sure, she'd been defeated by her target, but at least she'd gotten a chance to test herself… and not just against Ryoko.

As fun as that little skirmish with a certain young man back on Earth had been, though Nagi knew that now wasn't the time to reminisce about it. She was on the job; nostalgia would have to wait. Working her way through the crowd with the grace of a panther on the hunt, it didn't take long for her make it to her target.

The four hired goons finally caught sight of her and moved between her and her prey. Nagi was prepared to take them all down, but she knew that she wouldn't have to; her target would neutralize them for her. She'd done her homework, so she'd dressed in a manner that she knew her prey would find damn near impossible to resist.

Sure enough, she caught the fat bastard leering at her from the both. She winked and made a show of stretching her arms, feigning weariness from cavorting on the dance floor.

"Sorry to bother you boys," she said with a smile, "I was hoping I could take a break over here. I hear that your boss is excellent company."

One of the thugs looked over his shoulder. "Sir, want us to get rid of her?"

Getting rid of her was clearly the last thing on the corpulent fool's mind, judging by the hungry look in his eyes. It made Nagi's skin crawl, but she kept her disgust hidden; after all, she was a professional.

"No, not at all!" he said as he waved her over, "Let her through. I'm sure that we'll get along just fine!"

Nagi smiled as she slipped past the goons and sidled up next to him, casually shoving aside one of his whores. "Mmm, I just knew you were a man with good tastes. Want to have some fun, big boy?"

The grin he gave her was as lecherous as it was ignorant; he was blissfully ignorant of who he was really dealing with here. "What kind of fun did you have in mind, my dear?"

"The kind that involves some privacy," she replied as she ran one hand along his thigh, "Think you could arrange that?"

He eagerly nodded. "Oh, yes. You; get out of here!"

The remaining prostitute shot Nagi a glare before leaving the booth; no doubt the bounty hunter had just robbed her of a decent night's pay. Nagi idly wondered how long it would take for the woman to realize that she'd done her a favor; her target was notorious for his depravity.

Just one more reason why what was to come would be so satisfying.

The man waved his goons away before flipping a switch on the underside of the table. A black privacy screen slid into place, blocking both sight and sound. Now it was just her and her prey, and Nagi was primed to strike.

"Now," said the slug of a man, "Do I get to sample the goods?"

Nagi made a show of reaching between her legs and up her dress. "Of course."

She played as if she was going to pull off her panties, but in fact she was actually reaching for one of the two weapons that she had strapped to her upper thigh. Her party-girl mask was still on, but if her target had any ounce of sense or sobriety he would've noticed the subtle shift in her gaze.

The shift that signaled the viper coiling and preparing to sink its fangs into him.

In a single fluid motion, while her target was ogling her rack she drew the knife and sunk it right into his neck. His eyes damn near bulged out of their sockets in shock, and as he made to scream Nagi covered his mouth with her free hand.

"Too bad for you these goods have teeth," she whispered in his ear as she twisted the blade, "and too bad that your bounty's the same price dead or alive."

He squirmed as he frantically tried to free himself, but Nagi's grip was tighter than a steel vice. The light was already dimming in his eyes, and the strength to fight was rapidly leaving him. After a few more seconds he went limp, but Nagi didn't let go; she'd seen prey try to fake passing out only to strike when the hunter's back was turned, and she wasn't about to make that rookie mistake.

Once she was sure that her target was dead, she quickly got to work. After withdrawing the knife and putting it away she reached inside her purse, pulled out a small communications/imaging device and took a photo. She immediately transmitted the image to her client; it would prove to be more than sufficient evidence that the target was dead. Then she reached back up her dress again and drew the second weapon she'd snuck inside the club; a pistol.

The same one that she'd taken from Heero Yuy.

The same went for the knife as well. At first, she'd simply considered them as nothing more than mementos from a surprisingly enjoyable skirmish, but after studying them out of curiosity she'd realized that they actually had practical applications as far as her work as a galactic bounty hunter was concerned. They were both primitive as far her typical standards of technology went, but their craftsmanship was sound and they could fulfill certain niche roles.

Especially when she had to sneak into places that made a habit of scanning for energy weapons.

The pistol wasn't in its original form; Nagi had taken considerable pains to find a gunsmith that actually knew how to make silencers for weapons as archaic as the one she'd stolen from Heero, and one was attached to the gun now. It hadn't been cheap, but in the bounty hunter's opinion it had been well worth the expense.

As she flipped the switch that rolled back the privacy screen, she knew that she was about to get her money's worth. After all, there was no way to get out of the booth without going through the four guards her target had positioned out there. Fortunately, given the blaring music and glaring lights of the club, dispatching them without being noticed would not be difficult.

The first musclebound goon went down with a bullet through the back of his head before he'd even known what hit him. The silencer turned what was usually a very loud and distinctive 'bang' into little more than a 'chirp', meaning that it might as well have made no sound at all given just how raucous the nightclub was. The other three guards caught sight of their colleague go down, but Nagi was still able to put a round through the head of the second one before they realized just where they were being shot at from.

By then, of course, it was far too late for the remaining two to do anything about it. The third man went down as a bullet went through his right eye and into his brain, while the last one had barely managed to draw his weapon before Nagi put a round through his throat. It had all happened so fast that no one had noticed, although Nagi knew that would change soon enough. She slipped the gun back into its leg holster beneath her dress and once again strode confidently through the club like she owned the place. A few minutes later, she was out the door without incident.

Just another day in the life of the galaxy's deadliest bounty hunter.

….

January 14th, A.C. 199

Still many light-years away from Earth…

Clad in her familiar bodysuit and cloak once again, Ken-Ohki perched on her shoulder, Nagi strode through a stretch of what was considered one of the seedier parts of the spaceport metropolis that she was currently basing her hunts out of. All manner of local toughs and two-bit hustlers loitered about, but none of them made so much as a hostile glance towards her; they all knew exactly who she was and the price they would pay for messing with her.

Scanning the rows upon rows of hole-in-the-wall shops, a few legit but most about as far from it as one could get, she eventually came to a stop in front of the one she'd been looking for. The entrance was dimly lit, and it didn't even have a sign for advertising, but Nagi knew that was be design; only a select clientele was allowed in here.

Stepping up to the door, she pressed her hand to what looked like nothing more than a section of concrete wall. However, a moment later the surface slid down, revealing a handprint scanner that briefly flashed green as it input her biometric data before it was covered up again.

A moment later a gravelly voice came from a nearby speaker. "Hey, Nagi! Didn't think I'd see you back here so soon!"

Nagi chuckled. "Come on, Zeg; who're you trying to fool here?I know that you keep tabs on my jobs, so you shouldn't be surprised that I'm back to top off some munitions."

The proprietor laughed. "Can't put anything past you, as always! Is Ken-Ohki with you?"

"Meow!" her furry companion replied.

"Did you catch that?" she asked.

"Loud and clear!" he said, "How's my favorite little fuzzball doing?"

"He's hoping you'll spoil him rotten again," said Nagi with a smirk, "Mind if we come in?"

"Sure thing," said Zeg, "Just give me a sec and I'll get the door for you."

A few moments later, Nagi heard a familiar series of clicks as Zeg undid the multiple locks. The arms dealer and repairer was a very careful individual when it came to security, with both analogue and more advanced electronic locks equipped on the premises. Nagi had already mapped them all out and knew that she could work her way through them if need be, but that would take time. It wasn't like she'd ever need to break in since her and Zeg had a good business relationship, but it was part of her philosophy; always have contingencies just in case something went wrong. It had saved her life more than once in a profession that had a particularly high turnover rate.

"Come on in!" Zeg called as the front door finally slid open.

Nagi did so, acutely aware of the hidden scanners that were built into the doorway cataloguing the various weapons and gear she always had on her. She didn't particularly mind; Zeg never asked her to give up her weapons when she entered the premises. The interior was dimly lit, but Nagi knew the place well enough that she could practically navigate it blindfolded.

Zeg stepped forward and held out a clawed hand. "Good to see you again! Always nice when my repeat customers come back alive from a job."

Nagi chuckled as she accepted the hand, careful to avoid cutting herself on the tips of his claws. "The feelings mutual."

Zegaron Rourkus, or 'Zeg' for short, was a Saurulin. A bipedal feathered reptilian race, their homeworld was in the core systems, although they had multiple colonies under protectorate status from the Empire of Jurai and had spread out quite far amongst the stars. They typically got to be around two or three meters tall, although Zeg was closer to three and a half. Relatively long-lived by the standards of most sentient species, they could typically last around seven or eight hundred years before old age finally got the better of them. Nagi didn't know Zeg's exact age but based on the greying his scales and neck-feathers were undergoing she'd pegged him as probably somewhere in the middle of his sixth century.

A former bounty hunter himself, Zeg had gotten out of the game once he'd realized that he could make a steadier and safer living selling and repairing weapons and gear for his colleagues rather than continuing to hunt himself. Since he had a few centuries worth of field experience under his belt he was actually Nagi's preferred weapons vendor; he knew better than most gun sellers and fixers the kind of modifications and equipment hunters typically required in order to excel at their craft. Despite his advancing age, his yellow-eyes were as sharp as ever when it came to analyzing a weapon and tinkering with it to ensure top performance. As always, his jumpsuit was stained with various oils and greases; Zeg had never been much for caring about how dirty he got when he was working. It was results that mattered to him, not appearances.

He then turned from her to the furry companion perched on her shoulder. "Hey, there's the cutest little fuzzball in the galaxy! Good to see you too, Ken-Ohki!"

"Meow!" cried the pale-furred cat-rabbit.

Zeg motioned over his shoulder. "Why don't you two come to the back of the shop? I should have a treat or two for him. Then we can talk business."

Nagi nodded. "Sounds good."

After he led them into slightly better illuminated room lined with work benches, tools and containers, he disappeared into a side-room for a moment before coming back in with a can of diced vegetables. He opened it up on the table and Ken-Ohki wasted no time digging in.

The grizzled reptile chuckled as he watched the living starship chow down. "Ah, that never gets old. Eat up, fuzzball."

He then turned to Nagi. "So, how'd your most recent gig go?"

"Easiest fifty grand I've earned in a while," she replied, "Security was a joke and the target couldn't fight worth a damn. Pretty disappointing, really."

"If he was so easy to take down then why didn't you bring him in alive?" asked Zeg, "You usually go for live capture more often than not, after all."

Nagi shrugged. "I know, but this one was a real piece of scum. Leaving him alive would've left a bad taste in my mouth. Besides, the bounty was the same either way, and it was a hell of a lot easier to just kill him than it would've been to escort him out of the club."

Zeg nodded. "I got you. So, what can I get for you?"

She pulled out the pistol she'd stolen and passed it to him. "I'm looking to top off this thing's ammo."

Zeg rolled his eyes. "I still can't believe you actually use this thing. Sure, the craftsmanship is sound, but this thing's so old fashioned it might as well be a relic. More of a museum piece than a tool of the trade, really."

"Perhaps," said Nagi, "but it's actually served me pretty well. It really came in handy on the last job."

Zeg nodded. "Well, if you say so. You know, you're lucky you and I go way back, otherwise I wouldn't take the time to craft the rounds this thing uses for you."

Nagi smiled. "That's what professional friends are for, right? Plus, you know I'm always good for it."

Zeg gave her a very toothy grin. "Damn right you are! All right, make yourself comfortable. I'll give this thing a lookover and get you some rounds put together. Shouldn't take me too long; I stockpiled the stuff needed for this antique's bullets after the last time you brought it over."

"I've always appreciated the level of individual service you provide to your customers," said Nagi with a wink.

Zeg chuckled. "Well, when I've got a clientele like you, I can afford it. It's nice having the name recognition and contacts to set up a quality arms business like this."

"Speaking of quality," said Nagi, "any new toys in stock?"

"I've got a few pieces on back order," said Zeg, "Most of them are already reserved for specific buyers though, sorry."

Nagi shrugged. "No worries. I'll just browse your inventory catalogue and see if anything catches my eye."

Zeg nodded as he headed over to one of the work benches. "If you want to order something, just let me know. I'm gonna get started over here."

As he ejected the magazine and pulled out the remaining bullets to inspect, Nagi idly grabbed a tablet that he'd left sitting on the table and started browsing. Zeg's wares were always in high demand, and in addition to custom weapons he was also willing to act as a middleman between bounty hunters and the mainstream premier arms manufacturers. His fees could be steep but given the quality of the goods he could send her way Nagi had never argued with him.

She was only after bullets today to replace the ones she'd used in the previous job, but she did make a mental note of a few items that she might need in the future. Nagi typically favored gear that was sleek and easy to conceal, although occasionally a job would call for a more brute force approach.

A few minutes passed before a mechanical voice came over a speaker mounted on the far wall. "Potential customer approaching."

Zeg looked up from his work. "Another one? Who we got?"

There was a screen close to the speaker that came to life, showing the front doorway where Nagi and Ken-Ohki had stood earlier. Instead of another person, though, what the monitor showed was a floating disc-shaped robot that was about the width of two dinner-plates and twice as thick. A holo-projector was mounted on the front edge of the disk, and there were also a series of slots where data drives and other attachments could be affixed if necessary.

Nagi raised an eyebrow. "A Poscant Communications Industry Mark IV Messenger Droid? Haven't seen one of those in a while."

"Try a few millennia," said Zeg, "Those things were antiques before I was so much as an egg."

During the bygone era of frontier expansion, it was common for ships heading out from the inner systems transporting supplies to new colonies to include a batch of messenger drones in their cargo holds. Upon arrival, each drone would then depart the ship and seek out its intended recipient. However, in an age where messages, including real-time conversations, could be transmitted across the galaxy through a network of communications buoys maintained by the Empire of Jurai and the Galaxy Police, drones like the Mark IV had fallen by the wayside. Apart from models that were kept in museums or the vaults of eccentric collectors, the only places they saw much use nowadays were on backwater worlds with poor connections to the galactic network, extreme weather or magnetic forces that inhibited local signals, or at the hands of those who wished to maintain strict signal silence to avoid their communications being intercepted and decrypted.

Nagi had a feeling that it was the latter capacity that this particular drone was being employed in.

Zeg went over to the monitor and tapped a key on the nearby console. "Who ya here for? I got my own comms set, so I'm not accepting any charges!"

"This drone has been dispatched to convey a message to the bounty hunter Nagi," the floating robot replied, "All charges have already been paid. The bounty hunter Nagi has been tracked to these premises. Will she accept the message?"

Zeg looked over his shoulder at her. "You were tailed?"

Nagi's eyes narrowed. "I didn't sense anyone… or anything."

"That's not like you," said Zeg as he turned back to the screen, "Want me to fry this thing?"

"Scan it first," said Nagi, "Let's see if it really is what it appears to be."

Zeg nodded. "Gotcha. Just a sec…"

The myriad of hidden sensors that had been aimed at Nagi just minutes ago now went to work on the drone. They swept the machine for even the slightest signs of explosives, hidden weapons, gas or biological agents; Zeg spared no expenses when it came to security. After a few moments the screen flashed green and the reptilian arms dealer turned back to the bounty hunter.

"It's clean," he said, "I still don't like this."

"I can take the message outside if you want," said Nagi.

Zeg shook his head. "Nah, I'll let it in, but only because you and I are good business partners."

He opened the door, and a few seconds later the drone floated into the workshop. Ken-Ohki looked up from his food and hissed at the drone. Nagi patted him on the head, and her furry companion calmed down.

"You want some privacy?" asked Zeg.

Nagi shook her head. "No, it's fine."

A green light flashed on the blue and white drone. "Vocal recognition confirmed; recipient verified as bounty hunter Nagi. Would you like the message to play now?"

Nagi shrugged. "Go for it."

White light flooded the room as the holo-projector mounted on the front of the drone blazed to life. Once the glare resolved itself into a coherent image, Nagi's eyes actually widened slightly in response to what she was seeing.

The hologram itself was not full-color; old drones like the Mark IV weren't capable of such detail in their images. Nagi didn't need that to know who she was looking at, though. The man was well-groomed, with his long hair neatly arranged so that what wasn't tied back in a long tail fell cleanly to both sides of his face, just down a little past his shoulders. The high-end robe he wore had a great cloak over it, and the man's face was adorned with a very small pair of black spectacles, more as a personal affectation than anything practical. Still, they did serve to accentuate the natural cunning edge the man's face had, and although the hologram didn't show the real color of his eyes Nagi had no trouble at all spotting the devious light in them.

"To the esteemed bounty hunter Nagi," the figure began, "I would like to begin by expressing my sincerest admiration for the work you do. I've had a casual interest in your career for quite some time, and I must say that your record excels even when compared to the rest of the elite hunters in your field. You truly do stand head-and-shoulders above your competition."

In the background, Zeg snorted. "Wise-guy's really laying on the flattery."

"No kidding," Nagi dryly quipped.

"My confidence in your skills is such that I would like to make an exclusive offer," he continued, "Please arrive at the coordinates this drone will provide after my message in two weeks' time. You will be paid one hundred thousand Imperial Juraian credits up front in exchange for your willingness to enter into a private meeting to discuss a certain job. Rest assured that the payout for said job will be significantly greater than the previously mentioned sum."

Zeg hissed. "A hundred grand up front just for an intro? This guy must literally swim in money!"

You have no idea, thought Nagi, her eyes narrowing as she continued to listen to the message.

"I'm counting on your sterling reputation for discretion and professionalism," the man concluded, "It is my great hope that this will be just the start of a grand and mutually beneficial business relationship. With high regards…"

"Kagato Kiryuin Jurai."

Preview for next time!

Ryoko: Man, that was fun! Hey, Heero, can we go out and fry some more bad guys soon?

Heero: I think we're benched for a while; Sally and Director Une think we went a little overboard with that frontal assault at the end there.

Quatre: If that's the case, you up for some company in your downtime?

Ayeka: Lord Quatre! How wonderful of you to stop by!

Sasami: Good to see you again!

Ryo-Ohki: Meow!

Katsuhito: Would you mind if I join you as well?

Mihoshi: Hey, it's that old priest guy!

Kiyone: Mihoshi, show a little respect! He's practically our neighbor our here.

Washu: Finally decided to come down for a visit, eh old man?

Katsuhito: Indeed… although I fear we have some uninvited guests at our door as well.

Nagi: Hello, Ryoko. Nice to see you too, Heero.

Ken-Ohki: Meow!

Ryoko: Nagi!

Heero: So much for a relaxing afternoon.

Kiyone: Next time, in Chapter Fifteen: No Need For An Incursion!

Washu: So, it's finally time, huh?

Kagato Kiryuin Jurai: Indeed. Let the games begin, my old mentor!

Author's Notes: And with that, Heero's time on Earth is about to come to a close. The next chapter officially kicks off the Space Arc, something I've been very excited for ever since I started writing this fic. If you all thought Heero's life was crazy up to this point, you ain't seen nothing yet!

For the Afghanistan portions of this chapter, I actually did some 'location scouting' in the form of free roaming in MGSV's Northern Kabul section. If you've played the game then you can probably figure out which sections of the map I used in the story. Of course, since the Red Army was occupying the area, I had to rack up a bit of a body count in the process. God, I love Quiet; best support partner in the game and a damn sexy sniper!

If you're fans of the original Tenchi Muyo! OVA or the Universe continuity, you probably noticed that I made a few changes with regards to Kagato's name. Also, if you're fans of a particular series produced by Studio Trigger, then you probably raised an eyebrow at that middle name I gave him. All I'll say is this; this particular incarnation of Kagato will have elements of both the OVA and Universe character, but he'll also have enough personal touches to in effect be his own character. He'll also have a sister, and her previous incarnation in a certain Studio Trigger series is where that middle name comes from. I've been planning this for a very long time, and I'm looking forward to finally bringing the two of them onto the stage!

Until next time! Please review!