Title: ESO
Author: bonnejeanne (bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) and vonceia (vonceia@yahoo.com)
Archive: GW Addiction
Category: yaoi, AU? Epic Saga...
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, ?

E.S.O. - by bonnejeanne and vonceia -

Part Eleven: Earth...

When Preventer Wind, Milliardo Peacecraft, or Zech Merquise, as some still called him, arrived at Preventer Headquarters, he was asked to meet with Lady Une in one of the attaché's offices.

Preventer Wind walked into the office as instructed. "Lady Une," he said as he moved into the room.

Standing up, she looked at him closely. "Thank you for returning," she said, and gestured to a chair at the large conference table.

Wind sat down and looked up at the Lady, waiting for her questions.

"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?" she said softly. "Very well... my first question is, why did you come back without Tallgeese, and where is the mobile suit?"

"For what I need to tell you, I think you might want to sit down. I left the Tallgeese to fight a battle it was meant to fight. Lady Une, we do not have a great deal of time. I have been given information and proof to my satisfaction that the peace we have obtained has left us in a much more vulnerable position than we could have ever imagined," he said, watching her closely.

Lady Une listened. She watched him with an expression that did not indicate any surprise. "You've been with Shiva," she said.

"I have been with Shiva and the pilots," he said. "Do you know her, personally?" he asked.

Lady Une shook her head. "I know *of* her, from my extensive knowledge of Romefeller intelligence files. Milliardo... if I had known she was even alive, do you know what I would have been obliged to do? Send you to kill her."

Milliardo nodded. "And it would have been the wrong action to take." he added. "For many reasons, we just don't have that right." Leaning forward a little, he took a deep breath. "Lady Une. I know that you have been told things by your source, so I will tell you what I have observed and concluded. The threat is a serious one. She is not mad and she has the Gundam pilots to back her up. Also, if she wanted to kill me and destroy the Tallgeese, she could have done so. It almost happened."

Lady Une took a deep breath. "And my source... is wrong, that's what you are saying?"

Ice blue eyes looked into Lady Une's. "Yes," he said, "Through disarmament, the human race has played into the hands of your source. We are now defenseless from an attack that will happen very shortly."

"How can you... *you* say such a thing?" Une gasped. "Disarmament was the only way to save millions of people - victims of war!"

Milliardo nodded. "Yes, that is true." he said, "But it also left those millions of people, those victims of war vulnerable to attack from something that the human race has never seen or dealt with before." He shook his head. "Lady," he said. "The time is long past that we must now broaden our view. With the universe being as vast as it appears to be, why is it such a ridiculous notion to assume that human beings are the only dominate forms of life that exist in it?"

"You know the history of that as well as I," Une said. "After searching extensively, no real, scientific sign of other life has ever been found. It does not exist. Those who believe so are unbalanced minds. And if such a thing were possible, why would it necessarily be hostile to us? You say you have observed things... what things?"

"I have been on the base. She has somehow rescued the five scientists who built the original Gundams. They have built five new Gundams. They are faster and stronger. They are monitoring a signal from the outer rim. That is how they know that something is coming." Milliardo said, then leaned back a little. "I have spoken with this woman, Lady Une. She has told me that the true purpose for the mobile suits were to do the task that she is now engaged in. She also said that the military and all who stood to gain from her work, discredited, and hunted her."

Une watched him for a moment. "Tell me about the pilots... how are they involved in all this?"

Milliardo chuckled, unable to help himself. "The woman once known as Shiva is Heero Yuy's mother." he said. "Her field is genetics. She has kept herself alive and ... young for all of these years to accomplish this one goal. She also once took refuge at my Father's house in the Sank Kingdom." He took a breath and looked down. "There is a reason I am able to handle the Tallgeese and Zero System." Milliardo watched Lady Une. He felt as though she was looking for a reason to believe him.

Her eyebrows shot up. "Genetic... manipulation...?" she whispered. "That's.... abominable!"

"That is the exact word my Father used to describe war," he said. "And I have been a fool. I have used the killing of innocent people to define me as a person. I have used vengeance as an excuse. And now, I have found that I have not understood half of what my Father did."

Lady Une shook her head, trying to grasp what had become the subject of the conversation. What would Treize have thought of this? Would the idea of pitting genetically enhanced soldiers against each other have fit in his peculiar sense of ethics?

Sitting down finally, she looked over at the blond warrior. "I don't know what to think about this," she admitted. "My source... is unimpeachable. Your father might even have thought so..."

Milliardo looked at Lady Une. "If your source is not my father or Heero Yuy, the martyr, then any source can very well be impeachable. Hell, I don't even claim to be unimpeachable. Who is your source, Lady Une?" he asked.

Knowing she should not give him this information, she said softly, "Marquise Weridge."

"Romefeller," Milliardo said, shaking his head. There was a small, sad smile on his face. "Treize lives. " he said and then looked up at Lady Une. "History is about to repeat itself, Lady Une. Only this time we do not have the military might to defend ourselves. Marquise Weridge does not appear to be a bad man. But if he is not, then why hunt one pregnant woman down after destroying her career, declaring her insane and then stealing her work for profit? At this rate, I give us two years at most, before we are at each other's throats again. However, I do not think we have that much time left. I choose to put my life in the hands of the pilots. They have a better track record."

Une looked at him intently - her eyes fairly magnetized to his. "You've spoken with her," she said. "You've... looked into her eyes...?"

Milliardo looked back evenly. "I have been through hell with that woman," he said. "She fought with me in space and on the base. She... took .. my... mobile...suit. She also was extremely displeased, which is putting it mildly, at me for being a... gentleman warrior. I, Lady Une, have had to answer for the entire military machine... both sides, all sides! The Gundams were not meant for us to fight each other in war. Added to all of this, is the fact that there are human beings, people, who would rather see the entire race perish at the hands of some phenomenon from space, than to survive." Milliardo said. Then he frowned and closed his eyes briefly as his hand covered his face, like a mask. "Oh Father," he said softly. "These people would need someone influential like Weridge to carry this through. Someone who could persuade our leaders into believing that this was a delusion."

Slowly Une got up, turning to look out the wide window that made one wall of the room. After a moment she walked back, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"So you don't believe she is mad," she said softly. "All right. I suppose that I, of all people should allow for the extremities of necessity. Will you come with me? I have no choice, I must go to Weridge. The Preventers may have a new leader by tomorrow."

Milliardo stood and placed his arms around Lady Une, pulling her against him tightly. "Thank you," he said, softly. "I will come with you and don't worry about the Preventers. Like all organizations, they get the leaders they deserve." Milliardo could feel the tension in his body release.

In his study, Weridge waited for the visitors. It was late, but he'd expected Lady Une to contact him. The fact that she was coming here now, and according to his reports, with Milliardo Peacecraft, meant only one thing to the old aristocrat.

Carefully and methodically, he erased all information from his files, formatting his computer's drives. Then he took an envelope with a sheet of thick stationary folded inside it and placed it on his desk. His retainer buzzed through on the comm, announcing the arrival of Lady Une and her escort.

"You may admit them in sixty seconds," he said.

Then Marquise Weridge placed his silver plated revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Outside, Milliardo and Lady Une heard the single shot.

He moved through the door quickly gaining information of the whereabouts of Weridge from the retainer. When he came to the office, Milliardo opened the door carefully and looked inside.

There sat the old man with the back of his head blown off, and the silver revolver clutched in a nerveless hand.

"He is here," he said, then walked into the room. Lowering his head for a moment, Milliardo confirmed that Weridge was dead. "I have a feeling that this is only the beginning," he said. Looking down at the desk, he saw the envelope and opened it. "Here is something," he said to Lady Une.

Lady Une had entered behind him. She wasn't squeamish - she'd seen death a million times. Frowning she took the single sheet of thick stationary Milliardo handed her and unfolded it.

There, in the Marquise's elegant hand, was a single sentence.

"The only true Peace is Purity."

By morning, 100,000 individuals would be dead in a plague of suicides that outdid anything in the last two centuries.

Next... Preparations....

Comments eagerly welcomed!

bonne & von

Comments? Email bonnejeanne@yahoo.com or vonceia@yahoo.com

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