Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Force ❯ GF - Turning Point ( Chapter 1 )

"Hey, Quatre," Duo greeted the older man, walking into the office. "Long time, ne?"

"Longer for me than for you, I dare say." Quatre replied.

"I heard about Trowa and your grandkids," Duo said. "I'm sorry."

"I miss them," Quatre acknowledged. "Trowa and I used to walk in the Memorial Park some nights; it was our project, to honor those who fell in the war…on both sides. I still go there sometimes to be close to him."

"WuFei and I are going to make sure that this war ends soon." Duo promised. "We'll make the Entente Amity pay for what they did to Heero and Relena and their family."

"Things aren't always what they seem, old friend. Are you sure of your place in this war?"

"What-?"

"I suggest you take a walk in the park sometime soon and think about things; the fountain in the center of the labyrinth is beautiful in the light of the full moon, you'll probably end up wanting to stay for a while," Quatre smiled. "I'm sorry we can't talk longer, my friend, but I have a meeting that I have to get ready for."

"Yeah, well, it was nice seeing you, Quatre." Duo said.

"It was nice seeing you, too, old friend. I will see you again soon"

~*~

"How was your talk with Quatre?" WuFei asked, as he looked up from his laptop.

"It was…strange." Duo replied. He frowned and went to the window. "There's a full moon tomorrow night, I think I'll take a walk in the Memorial Park then, do you want to come?"

"I suppose." WuFei turned back to the laptop.

"I have a feeling we should bring anything we don't want to get lost while we're gone." WuFei gave Duo a very strange look at that.

~*~

"We're lost."

"We are _not_ lost!"

"Yes we are; we've passed that bench three times already."

"So maybe there are more than one of them?"

"With `DS+ST' in a heart on all of them?"

"Well…let's go this way!"

"We've gone that way before."

"Well then, which way would _you_ suggest, WuFei?"

"This way."

"Fine, fine; I'll follow you," The braided boy grumbled. "Just don't blame _me_ if you get us even more lost."

A few minutes later…

"There's the fountain."

"Don't act so smug, I'd have gotten us here eventually."

"Of course you would have," WuFei said. "But I didn't want to be wandering around here, hauling this duffel bag that you insisted I pack, for the next week."

"Why you-!" Duo plopped his own duffel bag on the ground and made as if to tackle the other boy.

"Excuse me?" They both turned at the sound of the voice. A teenaged boy and an older girl were standing by the fountain. "Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Chang?"

"Um…" Duo shot WuFei a glance.

The boy and girl came closer and Duo's jaw dropped.

"I'm Deltan Winner, this is my sister, Trinity."

"Oh." Was all Duo could manage.

"Please come with us," The auburn haired boy said. "There are things you need to understand."

Seated comfortably in the nondescript van, Duo examined the younger boy sitting in the seat in front of him. He looked so much like Quatre, long ago, that it was disconcerting; the only real difference was the brown hair. The blonde girl, who looked for all the world like a female version of Trowa, was driving.

"We have one stop to make along the way," Deltan said. "Some friends of ours need a pickup."

The car stopped beside the fence surrounding the WEI factory Duo had met Quatre in, just a minute before it exploded.

"SHIT!!!" Duo shouted.

"I probably should have warned you," Deltan said, ruefully. He reached over and opened the side door; just as a small, silver-haired figure darted in and landed in his lap. "How was it?" Deltan asked the girl.

"Boooriiinggg!" She pouted, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I wanted my Stealth! Nii-san and Nee-san are a little behind me…here they come."

A girl in a leotard, leggings, and a half tank, with her long hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck entered; followed by Quatre and a boy in biker shorts and a tank.

"You work for the Entente Amity!?!" WuFei asked in disbelief. Suddenly the boy stuck a gun in his face; and they saw his face for the first time.

"That is not necessary, Heero," Quatre said. "These are old friends of mine."

"Ryoukai." The familiar voice intoned. The gun was put away.

"What-?" Duo asked.

"May I present Heero and Relena Catalonia; the younger girl is Elleve Knight. I see you've met my grand-children."

"A pleasure to meet you," Relena said, without turning. She ejected the spent clip from her pistol and snapped in a fresh one.

"We're meeting the others at the hanger," Deltan informed. "After that we take a shuttle back to the station."

"I didn't know we were this close to launch," Relena said. "Are you sure you want those two?"

"They're the best choices, and I couldn't leave them with the Peacecraft Alliance," Quatre said. "They don't even know what's going on."

"And what about Heero and Relena?" Duo asked, in a low voice. "I thought they were your friends."

"They were," Quatre replied. "I promise I will explain more when we get to our destination. Bear with me, my friends; you will understand soon enough."

~*~

The van pulled into the parking lot of an abandoned spaceport belonging to WEI. Quatre and Trinity led the others to the hanger, and Quatre unlocked the door.

"Tavia, is the fuel tank ready to have an accident?" Relena asked the red haired girl who was waiting inside.

"Yup," She said. "And Essien's just waiting for the signal to land."

"Send it," Trinity said.

"Yes sir, ma'am." Tavia grinned, and pulled out her handheld Communication Unit. "06, land the bird. Over."

"Roger, 08," A male voice replied. "ETA, three minutes. Over"

"Roger that," Tavia replied. "Over and out."

They watched through the window as the private shuttle landed; then they left the building.

A gold-haired boy was the first to disembark.

"Hey, babe!" He called down to Relena. "You gonna introduce the new hotties?"

"Darcy, could you please think with your other head for a while?" The light-brown haired girl who followed him commented.

"Not if you keep calling me Darcy." He replied. "Hey, Unca Q; what's up? Unca T's waiting for you."

"D.C., we need to refuel," A tall man with long, black hair said, coming out behind a younger boy with short hair the same color. "We can save the introductions for the flight."

"Now, aren't you glad I told you to pack, Wu-chan?" Duo asked.

~*~

As the hanger exploded in the distance, introductions began.

"You've met Heero Yuy, Relena Peacecraft, Elleve Knight, Tavia Bloom, and Trinity and Deltan Winner already," The tall, black haired man said. "I'm Essien Merquise, my younger brother is Nove, the young lady is Natalie Quinn and the brash young man over there is Darcy Vincent, Mr. Winner's great nephew."

"And if you call me Darcy again I'll have to take drastic action." The blonde boy said. "Everyone who matters calls me D.C., unless I'm in trouble."

"Which is all the time," Natalie said. "At least I don't have a gene in common with you, you nymphomaniac troublemaker. The fact that I have a brother like you is a perfect example of Nature over Nurture." [1]

"Our fearless leader is already at the base, overseeing the final stages of preparation." Relena said. "Tretton's a bit obsessive…"

"A bit?" D.C. snorted. "That's like saying the Stealth is a bit smaller than your average Gundam."

"Hey!" Elleve shouted, hands on hips in a cute imitation of sternness. "Don't make fun of My Stealth, Dar-cy!"

"I wasn't making fun!"

"Can you blame Tretton, after Lake Victoria and 2GP?" Natalie asked; everyone shut up. Trinity suddenly left her seat and went into the cockpit. Deltan looked like he wanted to go after his sister, but stayed put as Natalie continued. "It's not like he was ever expecting full command, much less over a bunch of amateur kids."

"Whoa, what's this about Lake Victoria?" Duo asked. "Actually, I don't have any idea what this is all about."

"This isn't really the place to go into great detail," Quatre said. "The Entente Amity built thirteen Gundams after the assassination of Minister Peacecraft took place, the team of pilots was called the 2ndgeneration Gundam Pilots or 2GP; Tretton was the second in command, Trinity and Essien were also part of that team. However, they were attacked at Lake Victoria, where they were undergoing some special training. Within twenty-four hours nearly half of the 2GP was dead; of the other four survivors two were irreparably injured, the commander left from a combination of post traumatic stress and the need to take care of his wife, who was one of the injured members. The other survivor was executed for treason a week after their arrival at base."

Nove's expression darkened and his fists clenched. "Jared Connor." He snarled. Essien placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"While Lake Victoria was being attacked, the Gundam Base was also attacked," Quatre said. "However, due to the quick, though unauthorized, actions of these young people, we not only were able to evacuate the base safely and save all but one of the Gundams, but we rescued the survivors at Lake Victoria as well. We were set back two years, but we're almost ready for launch."

"You didn't explain the reason for the assassination."

"We assume that martyrs were needed, plus it got the major obstacles out of the way."

Duo's jaw dropped open. "You…"

"INJUCTICE!!!" WuFei shouted. "For THIS, Yuy died!?!

"It's only a guess though."

"What?" Duo looked puzzled.

"I told you that you don't know what's going on. The Entente Amity had nothing to do with the assassination." Quatre looked sadly at Duo. "You know us. Most of the leaders of the Entente Amity are or were people you know from the war. Hilde, Mariemaia, Sally, Noin, Zechs; he died five years ago of a heart attack, Trowa and I, and Heero and Relena. That was the original Triumvirate. And then Admiral Une and the Preventers are allied with us."

"I thought a Triumvirate was only three people."

"In this case, three groups of three." Deltan said. "One Triad for Space, one Triad for Mars, and one Triad for Earth."

"Who was in what?" Duo asked, out of curiosity.

"Heero, Trowa and I are the Space Triad," Quatre said. "Zechs, Noin, and Hilde were the Mars Triad, and Relena, Sally, and Mariemaia were the Earth Triad. We've replaced the members who died though. Natalie's uncle replaced Zechs in the Mars Triad, and a man named Paul Brooks has Relena's slot in the Earth Triad. Then there's the Chairman who heads up the Space Triad and the Triumvirate."

"All of the new Gundam Pilots are related to one of the Triumvirate Members, aren't they?" WuFei asked.

"Yes," Quatre said. "With the exception of Elleve. That wasn't entirely intentional, though. We did want a few of the pilots to be related, to show that we don't consider the pilots expendable, and also to show how much we are willing to sacrifice, if necessary. But the current group wasn't planned, it was…"

"Fate," Deltan finished. "I felt it."

"That's what I think too," Quatre said. He turned to Duo and WuFei. "There's more, but I'm not the best person to inform you; remember, I've been spying on the Alliance for the last few years."

~*~

Essien made his way into the cockpit, to check the instruments and make sure that the autopilot was functioning properly. Trinity was leaning up against the wall holding her left arm against her chest.

"Again?" Essien asked, wearily; there was no annoyance in his voice, just sympathy and a spirit-exhaustion. "You should let D.C. look at it."

"If D.C. looks at it," Trinity said coldly. "Natalie will find out about it and report it."

"You need to come up with a better way to deal with what happened then getting emotional and punching the nearest wall," Essien commented taking her injured hand and checking it over. "You can't pilot with broken fingers or a broken wrist."

"I've done several of the simulations like that."

"No matter how good the sims are, real battle is going to be more complicated," Essien said. "Well, nothing seems to be broken this time, thank God. Tretton and I are keeping a close eye on you, you know; if it looks like you're cracking up to the point you might post a danger to the team we will report you. Tretton and I are the only ones here who know; you never even told your brother, did you? Not talking about it won't make it better."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Trinity asked lowly. "I know it better than anyone else. Dead and Gone, Forever."

"That isn't what I meant," Essien sighed. "Just don't forget your _living_ partner, Trin," He said. "Your brother desperately wants your approval."

~*~

After several hours of space flight, they docked at a space station.

"Here we are," Tavia said, opening the hatch. "Home sweet home."

"And about time, too," a commanding male voice said, as they began to descend the stairs. He stood at the front of the group in the hanger, dressed in jeans and a neatly pressed, white, button up shirt; his red-brown hair was loose around his aristocratic face, almost touching his shoulders and emphasizing his electric blue eyes and forked eyebrows.

Duo suppressed an `eep' when he got a good look at the man, and WuFei's hand flew to his sword.

"This is Tretton Khushrenada," Quatre said. "The commander of the Gundam Force. He's Mariemaia's son." Quatre's gaze turned to the back of the group, where a tall, slender figure was making his way to the front.

"The Chairman wants to see them after they've had a look at the Gundams," The man, with gray-streaked brown hair held out of his green eyes by a ponytail, said; as he came to a stop in front of the warmly smiling Quatre.

"Trowa," Quatre said, softly; embracing his spouse. "I'm so glad to see you, finally."

"Get a room!" D.C. shouted from the back of the group that had disembarked from the shuttle.

Natalie elbowed him in the gut. "Show some respect to your elders."

"And let them start necking in the middle of the hanger?"

"Like you've never necked anyone in a public place," Relena retorted. "Like you and Essien in the middle of the cafeteria three months ago, or the time that you and I-"

"Yeah, but, they're OLD!" This earned him another elbow in the gut from his foster sister.

Elleve bounced down the steps. "Do we get to see the Gundams yet? Are they all painted now?"

"Why are you so exited, Elf?" Essien asked. "Yours was finished years ago."

"Yeah, but I want to see all of them all finished!" The silver-haired girl enthused.

"We can see them in a minute, Little Lady." Tretton said. "But I think there's someone here who wants to see you first."

Elleve looked at the small group behind Tretton, and then squeaked, darted past him, and glomped an imposing-looking, white-haired woman with a cry of: "Auntie Une!!!" Heero and Relena followed their hyperactive `imouto' and engaged in conversation with Une.

"It's really weird," Duo said to WuFei, as they watched the others socialize with the welcoming committee. "These kids; it's like we know them, but at the same time we don't. And the people we do know are so much older."

"You knew this was a possibility," WuFei said. "That we'd be awakened while some of them were still alive."

"Actually, I was hoping we wouldn't be awakened at all."

"You thought the peace would last?" WuFei said, almost incredulously; there had never been a doubt in his mind that there would be another war, he just hadn't expected it for a couple of centuries.

"I had hoped."

"I'm going to go change!" Elleve announced to everyone present. "When I get back we can go see the Gundams!"

"We aren't going to be piloting, you know!" D.C. yelled after her.

"I want to do a systems check!" She shouted back.

~*~

The group walked down the corridor toward the other hanger. Elleve now wore a white sweater over a black and silver bodysuit, and she was almost dancing with excitement. The hanger door slid open, and the pilots stared in awe at the finished Gundams.

"Wow!" Elleve said. "They're all done!" Then she giggled and bounced over to an all black suit that was a little more than half the size of the others. "My STEALTH!!!" She squealed. The cockpit opened, seemingly of it's own accord. "I missed you!!!" She exclaimed, clambering up into the cockpit. "Tell mommy how they've been treating you." She stripped off her sweater and started hooking the wires in the cockpit into the ports on her body; finishing with a thick cable that hooked into a port at the base of her scull. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Elleve's a cyborg." Tretton said, beside Duo. "She and the Stealth Gundam were designed for each other. The Triumvirate didn't authorize the project, so Admiral Une and her Preventers confiscated Elleve and the Stealth. Actually, her designation is Eleven, she was the eleventh of twelve cyborgs, and the only one who survived; Heero gave her the name Elleve."

Duo's attention was taken by another Gundam; a very familiar one. "Deathscythe."

"Yes, the first five were designed after the original five Gundams, then the sixth was designed after Tallgeese, and the last one, mine, was designed after Epyon. The others are all new designs. 07 is the Starlight," He gestured to the gold, silver, and white Gundam. "It has a flash rifle and missiles as the main weapons. 08 is the Rainsong," it was gray, green, and white. "The primary weapon is a hydro gun, and it can also generate a fog. 09 is the Wavebreaker," Blue, black, and white. "The primary weapon is the trident, and also torpedoes. 10 is the Lightningstrike," Gold, electric blue, and silver. "EM spikes, EM pulses, and a large hammer. All of our Gundams are able to withstand the EM pulses. 12 is the Banshee," Royal purple and gray. "Sonic blade and sonic pulse. All of the Gundams are equipped with a laser gauntlet as an auxiliary weapon; and there is also extra equipment designed for certain circumstances."

"Who's piloting Deathscythe and Shenlong?" WuFei asked. Duo nodded in agreement to the question.

"They're yours; if you want them." Everyone present turned to the source of the voice.

He walked with a slight limp, as his left leg was bionic, and had an ornate cane in his left hand, which was missing two fingers. The most prominent feature of the white-haired Japanese man was the heavy scarring on the left side of his face with the left eye socket covered by a patch, the second most noticeable feature was the one piercing, cobalt blue eye.

"Heero," Duo whispered.

"Who better to pilot Deathscythe and Shenlong, then the men who piloted the Gundams they were modeled after?" Chairman Heero Yuy of the Triumvirate smiled slightly. "Duo Maxwell, Chang WuFei; will you join us?"

"It depends on what we'd be fighting for," WuFei replied. "We still don't know everything that's going on."

"Come with me." Chairman Yuy said.

~*~

WuFei and Duo sat in the chairs facing The Chairman's desk. The old man stood behind the desk, looking commanding framed by the huge window that looked out into space.

"I'm sure you're wondering why no one knew who you were when you were awakened," Heero started.

"It did occur to us to wonder about that," Duo said.

"After the war, we decided to keep the identities of the Gundam Pilots, with the exception of myself, classified. Quatre and Trowa certainly didn't mind the privacy, and the two of you had decided to go into chryosleep. We were certain that we wouldn't see war again in our lifetimes, but we were wrong."

"With the next generation unrest grew. These children, who had never seen war, chafed under the reigns of absolute pacifism; they believed that they would have no say because all the power rested in the hands of the government and their enforcers, the Preventers. Those of us who had lived through one war saw the signs of another brewing, and the Entente Amity was born. The Entente kept track of the rebels' attempts at organization; but since few who had had experience with war would help to birth another, it seemed that it would take quite a while for them to become a threat.

"When my oldest daughter, Hoshiko, married Adrian Catalonia I had my doubts; but they were quickly allayed, as he seemed to be the exact opposite of his late mother, Dorothy. Zechs and Lucrezia, in the meantime, decided to devote all their attention to the Entente Amity and they took their family and went underground; Mariemaia, Hilde, and Sally followed their example.

"My son, Dorlian, was killed in AC 236, and Hoshiko became the Heir to the throne of Sank. That was when my suspicions about Adrian began to voice themselves again; but it wasn't until after the assassination…" He closed his eye. "It wasn't until then that I found out how much Adrian had deceived and manipulated us. He'd fooled all of us into thinking that he was little more than a perfect trophy husband for the future Queen of Sank, instead he controlled Hoshiko completely through subtle manipulation.

"I heard about the kidnapping of Hoshiko's twins once I woke up from my coma; I didn't know what had happened to them until two years ago. Une took them and trained them to be soldiers, like I was.

"When Adrian and Hoshiko formed the Peacecraft Alliance and declared war against the Entente Amity; they thought that they had the upper hand, that the Preventers would follow them because they were in power and had us firmly painted as the aggressors, but Admiral Une had assisted us in the formation of the Entente and she and her followers renounced Alliance and allied themselves with us.

"Quatre pretended to sympathize with the Alliance, while he kept us one step ahead of them. When a few of his sisters as well as his and Trowa's son and daughter-in-law died and all signs pointed to the Entente Amity as the responsible party Trowa took Trinity and Deltan, faked their deaths, and went underground while Quatre made arrangements to hide any of his sisters and their families who wanted protection.

"The rest you know."

"Except two things," Duo said. "How did the Alliance get a hold of us, and why weren't we awakened earlier?"

"shortly after the war started, the Alliance attacked the Preventers' headquarters; they didn't find the lower levels, where you were hidden, for seven years; it took them nearly three more to crack the codes to open the cryogenic tanks. We didn't think to awaken you earlier because we weren't sure that we would need you until it was too late."

WuFei frowned. "But what's the point of this war?"

"We're not entirely sure what Adrian's goals are; however, the things he has done to achieve them give us no reason to believe that he will be a benevolent leader."

"What has he done?" WuFei asked.

"Have you heard of a drug called Breaker?" Chairman Yuy asked.

"Should we have?" Duo asked.

"Breaker was originally developed as a truth agent, it takes an hour and a half to activate, and works in its intended function for half an hour; however, in order to do this, it starts a chain reaction which breaks down the chemistry of the brain. Five hours after it has stopped working as a truth agent the person who is injected with it goes into a uncontrollable rage, which doesn't end until they start to feel the effects of the drug on the pain centers of their brain. Two days after being injected, the person dies, in agony. Breaker has a one hundred percent fatality rate."

Duo and WuFei were both quite pale by now.

"This is what the Alliance uses to interrogate prisoners," Chairman Yuy said. "Every member of the Entente is expected to carry a cyanide capsule on their person at all times; if they're captured, they're expected to use it, or some other means, to kill themselves before the drug takes effect. No one has ever voiced an argument against this policy.

"The Alliance doesn't hesitate to use the desire for vengeance to keep their people loyal, either; killing a member of an ally's family and making it look like the Entente did it is a very good way to keep them from switching sides.

"Also they aren't above a little genetic engineering. Heero, Relena and their sister, Dorothy, have had extensive genetic manipulation, on top of the fact that they are practically clones of their namesakes; and I've seen the results of some of the Alliance's more extreme projects as well."

"And what will you do to balance the scales once the war is over?" WuFei asked.

"Once we've gotten rid of the Peacecraft Alliance, we will sit down with those who are dissatisfied and discuss a solution to make things more agreeable for everyone."

"I'm in," Duo said. "Unless this proves to be worse then the Alliance, I'm in."

"WuFei?"

"Your cause appears to be just."

"Very good." Chairman Yuy said. "I'm sure you'll want to get acquainted with your Gundams now." The other two stood to leave, as the Chairman turned to look out at the stars. "Duo, may I have a word with you first?"

"Go on ahead, Wu," Duo said.

After the door shut behind WuFei, there was an uncomfortable silence in the room.

"I'm sorry about your wife," Duo said, finally; coming to stand at the window, next to the old man who had been his best friend. "I know you loved her."

"I always will." Heero Yuy said. He turned to face the young man, who, by all rights, should be as old as he was. "Duo, I know why you went with WuFei; I'm sorry."

"I didn't want to die with anything left unsaid," Duo told him, looking at him, then back out at the stars. "I didn't really believe that you would return my feelings. I didn't. Not even for a minute."

"I know, but I could have reacted better then I did," Heero said. "I shouldn't have hit you. I wish you had stayed around long enough for me to apologize."

"Hey, you didn't need to; we were both stressed out, I understood that," Duo replied. "You know, you're a lot different now then you were then."

"It comes from being the husband of a world leader." Heero smiled slightly.

"Were you happy with her?"

"Idyllically."

"I'm glad," Duo said. "I'm just sorry that it had to end like this for the two of you." A resolute expression crossed Duo's face and he turned to face the Chairman; coming into intimate closeness. "Heero, I swear that you will see peace again in your lifetime. I swear it on my own life." He gently kissed Heero's scarred cheek; then whispered in his ear. "You deserve nothing less." Finally, Duo turned and left the office.

"Sometimes, Duo," Heero said to the empty room. "You make me truly sorry that I couldn't love you the way you wanted me to."

~*~

After a couple of days of accustoming themselves to the Gundams, when the pilots were about ready to leave the hanger for the showers, Tretton made an announcement.

"I was told by the Triumvirate to give you a heads up; we will be leaving the base within the month and with almost no warning at all. Make sure you have money, a change of clothes, personal arms, and a week's field rations in your Gundam.

"Additionally, we will be having a formal dinner tonight with the Triumvirate, so wear your military dress; it's in your quarters already.

"And D.C., if you show up in a woman's dress, not only will I take pictures and show them to everyone at all of the social functions we attend from now until the day one of us dies, I will also assign you to waste disposal for as long as I am your superior officer. The Chairman has suggested that this threat be applied to Duo Maxwell as well.

"That is all."

"Yeah, right." D.C. said, as he came up beside Duo.

"You don't think he'd do it?" Duo asked.

"Maybe for a week or two, but he'd give in eventually," D.C. replied. "I'm too good in bed."

"I thought the military had a non-fraternization policy." Duo said.

"Oh, it does," Relena said. "But we aren't exactly military; we have an entirely different set of rules when it comes to where we go for…well… pretty much everything."

"We're actually expected to fraternize," D.C. said. "Besides receiving missions, we aren't going to have much contact with the rest of the Entente; we have to be completely self-reliant. With the 2GP they were going to do the whole non-frat thing, but with this group it won't do any good because we all grew up together, so we're already very attached anyway. Actually, we aren't even allowed to go outside of the group for sex; we've all been cleared for STDs and each of the girls have a sub-dermal contraceptive patch."

Relena smacked him upside the head. "Teach you to always think with your dick." She growled, before turning back to Duo.

"We have to trust and rely on each other exclusively," Relena said. "At this juncture, if something slipped out to the wrong person the war could be lost. Our priorities are to the mission first, the team second, the civilians third, and nothing else matters."

"Of course we don't wantonly discount the civilians," Nove said. "But we can't let them compromise the mission or the integrity of the team."

"The team," Duo mused. "That's the big difference between this group and the one I was part of. We were an unofficial team, but we all knew that one of us could terminate the others, whether under orders or as a self-appointed mission; it kind of limited trust, though we did end up trusting each other by the end of the war. OZ captured me once and Heero came and rescued me, but I know that he originally intended to kill me. Omae o korosu, and all that."

"Not much different than my brother," Relena said. "I've even heard him use that line before, on missions."

"I still can't believe we have two of the original Gundam Pilots on the team," D.C. said. "You're living legends."

"Is it also legendary how badly we got our asses kicked in the beginning?" Duo asked.

"You're kidding, right?" D.C. asked.

"Nope," Duo said. "We had to escape Earth, and then we were all captured by OZ; except Quatre, but what happened to him was worse. We made a whole bunch of misjudgments too. Not to mention the number of times Heero tried to self-destruct; we all tried that at one time or another. Sometimes I think it was pure luck that we won that war and all of us lived to tell about it."

"Anyway, we should probably go get changed for dinner," Nove said.

"Yeah," Relena agreed. "If we're late, Tretton will have kittens."

"Now that I'd love to see!" Duo said, as the group started out of the hanger. "Man, he looks so much like Treize it's scary!"

"Does he?" Relena asked. "We were never told much about Treize."

"Oh yeah, almost exactly," Duo said. "Except Tretton's hair's redder, and it's longer; also he's a couple years younger then Treize was back then. But he's got the same attitude; and those eyebrows. I don't know how well Wu-chan's gonna take this though."

"I saw him going for his sword," D.C. said. "What was up with that?"

"Don't you know your history?" Duo asked.

"Well…" D.C. said; the other three looked a little sheepish.

"They didn't really glorify the war, Duo." Nove said.

"It was kind of; the Earth Sphere Alliance tyrannically controlled Colonies; the Colonies sent the Gundam Pilots; OZ rose up, destroyed the Alliance, and took control; then there was White Fang; the Gundam Pilots defeated OZ and White Fang; Pacifism Reigned, and all was good. Then there was that little spat a year later."

"Boy, they really glossed things over." Duo said. "I mean, nearly having a colony dropped on Earth doesn't exactly qualify as `a little spat'. So you don't know who defeated Treize Khushrenada?"

"No." The other three said in concert.

"Well, it was WuFei," Duo said. "That kind of messed him up for some reason; I'll never pretend to understand his relationship with Khushrenada."

"Maybe they were lovers," Relena said.

D.C. snorted. "If that were the case, WuFei would have reached for his other sword."

"But I wonder if he'll take being Tretton's subordinate well," Duo said. "Or if he'll fight it tooth and nail."

~*~

Duo pulled his uniform out of his closet, took one look at it, and grinned widely.

"Hell, yeah!"

The colors of each Gundam Pilot's uniform matched their Gundam.

Heero: White slacks, red vest, blue and white overcoat with gold trimming, black boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

Duo: Black slacks, red vest, black overcoat with gold trimming, black boots, black gloves, white dress shirt.

Trinity: White slacks, red vest, white and orange overcoat with gold trimming, white boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

Deltan: White slacks, black vest, white and red overcoat with gold trimming, black boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

WuFei: White slacks, white vest, blue and red overcoat with gold trimming, white boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

Essien: White slacks, black vest, red and black overcoat with gold trimming, black boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

Relena: White slacks, gold vest, silver and white overcoat with gold trimming, white boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

Tavia: Gray slacks, green vest, gray and white overcoat with gold trimming, gray boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

Nove: Black slacks, white vest, dark blue and black overcoat with gold trimming, black boots, black gloves, white dress shirt.

D.C : White slacks, gold vest, silver and electric blue overcoat with gold trimming, white boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

Elleve: Black slacks, gray vest, black and gray overcoat with silver trimming, black boots, black gloves, white dress shirt.

Natalie: Gray slacks, gray vest, royal purple and white overcoat with gold trimming, gray boots, white gloves, white dress shirt.

Tretton: Black slacks, black vest, burgundy and black overcoat with silver trimming, black boots, black gloves, black dress shirt.

"Nove, what are you doing?" Essien asked when Nove stepped into the now-crowded hall outside of his room. "You're supposed to be in dress uniform."

"It's the traitor's uniform," Nove said. "I won't wear it."

"Nove." Tretton said. "No one would associate you with Jared because he wore the same uniform and piloted the same Gundam."

"When did you see Jared in uniform, Nove?" Trinity asked. "He only wore it to one function, which you children did not attend."

"I saw him just afterwards," Nove said. "We talked, just like always. It doesn't matter, I'm not wearing his uniform."

"It wasn't his uniform, Merquise," WuFei said. "It belongs to Wavebreaker. This Jared tainted Wavebreaker's honor with his treachery, it now falls to you to wear that uniform and restore it."

Nove bowed his head. "I understand," he whispered. "I'll change right now." He went back into his room and when he emerged again, he was in uniform.

"Let's go," Relena said.

~*~

When the dinner had almost wound to a close, and the only people remaining in the room were the Gundam Pilots and the Triumvirate, Chairman Yuy stood from his seat and addressed the pilots.

"In five hours you will depart this base. The reason for your sudden departure is that we need you to intercept and confiscate if possible, destroy if necessary, a massive shipment of Gundanium to Earth. You will attack together and then separate into your individual missions. Your current mission specifications and your destinations have been uploaded to your Gundams; I trust that you are sufficiently oriented. You have five hours to finish any necessary preparations and get some sleep before you leave. Any further questions will be directed to Shiva. Farewell."

Tretton stood and bowed to Chairman Yuy, then turned to his team. "I would suggest that we all return to our quarters immediately and get as much sleep as possible. The real war has begun."