Mirage...

 I

 "What do you mean you are the courier?!" Wufei demanded, shouting.

 "I am Sylvia Noventa. I carry with me valuable information from the rebels," she stated as she stepped forward in the cockpit beside Wufei.

 The shuttle was tipped to the right as another warning shot was fired towards its left wing. Wufei maneuvered the plane to steady it while Sylvia held on to the pilots' seats to steady her self. Wufei cursed under his breath.

 "Here," Sylvia said, extending the disk towards Wufei. "I do not want any more bloodshed. Please," her round eyes pleading as she faced him, "turn me over."

 Wufei looked at her but not seeing her, as if he was assessing the situation. Then, he turned his head abruptly, muttering another silent curse as he slammed his fist on the control board. "Where is the requested back up, damn it!" he hissed out under his breath as he made another scrambled SOS towards the Preventer's headquarters.

 He turned on the open line to communicate with the attackers. "I repeat, this is a civilian aircraft. We do not have the courier you are talking about," he announced rather calmly.

 "Turn him over or all of you die," came the response.

 "Granting that one of the passengers is the courier, I need positive ID so we could apprehend the suspect," Wufei said.
 There was no immediate response from the enemy's end. Sylvia bent over so her surprised eyes were leveled with his.

 "What are you doing?" she whispered, demanding.

 "I am buying sometime for the help to get here."

 "But -"

 "But they do not know who their enemy is before they attacked. Foolish of them."

 "How do you---"

 "We have no positive ID of the courier," the masked soldier answered morosely over the communication link, cutting of Sylvia's question.

 Wufei raised his eyebrow towards Sylvia. "Then your attack is of no importance. Do you think that the courier would surrender that easily? There is no reason for any more bloodshed. You can strip-search this shuttle here if you want."
 Wufei only got a blank monitor for an answer. Then another shot was fired, this time, it was directed towards the rebels' aircraft.

 "We'll take over from here. Maneuver the shuttle to safety," said one of the Preventer fighters on the monitor of the shuttle, executed a salute and turned off the communication.

 Wufei did just that. He set course towards the L2 Colony. As soon as the shuttle was outside the firing range of the battle area, Sylvia expelled a deep breath and slid over the cockpit's wall to sit down. She felt her knees could not hold up much of the tension.

 "You have a lot of explaining to do," Wufei stated as he stood looming above her.

 II

 "… What's the status of the work?" Quatre asked over the monitor.

 "Master Quatre, it's still according to our schedule."

 "Good. Just make sure that the defense of the colony is at its highest. We don't want any untoward attacks happening,"
 Quatre said and after nodding off his farewell, turned off his laptop. He sat back on the couch and took a sip of his wine. He was wearing his bathrobe with his blond hair still damp from the shower. He heard the door behind him slid open. Without turning his head, he knew who entered which was the reason he smiled inwardly.

 "Let's get down with our business, shall we?" Dorothy said without preamble, sitting on the sofa right across Quatre.
 "And good evening to you, too," Quatre countered, putting down his glass of wine on the side table. "Care for a drink?"

 "No. Thank you."

 Quatre had his smile still pasted on his lips as he slid a quick look on Dorothy. Much to his disappointment, she still wore a business suit that she seemed to favor nowadays. "Why don't you give it a break for a while? It's hardly the time nor the place to discuss business," Quatre stated, giving emphasis on time and place. "It's almost midnight. Shouldn't you be sleeping already?"

 "You are here on business. That means daytime. There is no other time or place than here and now. I was not told that you'd be attending this conference otherwise, I would have requested for a re-schedule," Dorothy said smoothly, but inwardly, she was well aware of the man now in front of her, how he affected her. Noting what he was wearing did not do well either with her current state so she forced her eyes to stay glued to his. All she wanted was to conclude her assignment as quickly as possible so she may stay far away from him.

 "No need for that. You need a break, and so do I. This is the closest we can get from the so-called vacation," Quatre said as he stood up and went to the window behind her.

 "There was no need to drag me all the way here, you know."

 "The Federation, especially your father, should be whipped for sending you on a mission in such a dangerous time. Do you know that there is a war brewing?" Quatre said, displeasure evident in his voice.

 "Yes," Dorothy stated, she released a sigh when Quatre moved from her line of vision. "That's the reason why the Federation sent me to investigate. My father has nothing to do with my decisions. I am old enough to make mine. And might I remind you that I can very well take care of myself."

 It was Quatre's turn to sigh. "Now why would they want me investigated? They're obviously barking at the wrong tree. I never started any war. For seven years the earth and my colony co-exist better than the other colonies. They knew that I mean business not war. Why the sudden change of heart?"

 "The war started because of the rumors that somebody is developing newer types of gundams. The recent attacks on earth had them speculating that it was the work from the colonies."

 "Those are only rumors. There is no basis for the validity of that heresy. Somebody is the operative word. How many colonies are there anyway? Why would they suspect me? I fought the battle before, remember, so I may offer you peace. There is no point for me to ruin what I worked hard for. And besides, don't you receive any news that the colonies also were being attacked and they believed that it was the doing of the people from earth?"

 "Then let me prove that the rumors are false," Dorothy sat back on the sofa and crossed her legs. "You have the money and the power. Naturally, you top the list."

 "And why did your father agreed that you be sent of all people?"

 Dorothy turned her head and glared at him. "Don't underestimate me, Quatre."

 "Believe me, that's the last thing you can accuse me of," he said. "No other lady could have handled the Epyon System like you did."

 Quatre did not miss her feature softening before she averted her gaze. "I'll take that as a compliment," she said.

 "It is," Quatre said and sat again on the couch he just vacated. "But you shouldn't be here."

 "What's done is done. Now, tell me, have you heard of Mirage?"

 Quatre's eyebrows rose. "Mirage?"

 "Yes. Somehow, the Federation has acquired this information from an intercepted encrypted message. They could not make out the whole report but apparently it has something to do with the development of the newer types of gundams."

 "The reason being?"

 Dorothy raised a shoulder. "Either to start or prevent a war."

 "They are not sure…" Quatre said in an undertone. He sat back on the sofa facing Dorothy. "Mmmm… yet the Federation is accusing me. Why?"

 Dorothy expelled a deep breath and looked out the glass wall on her right, averting the intense gaze of the man in front of her. "The message came from the sector of your colony," she whispered her answer in a deep voice.

 Quatre remained silent for several heartbeats. When he did not make any comments, Dorothy brought her gaze back to the man opposite her and found him intensely staring at her. "You believe them." It was a statement, not a question. Disappointment laced in his voice.

 "Tell me, are you really developing newer types of gundams?"

 "I would neither confirm nor deny," Quatre answered. "If I said yes, I would be condemned. If I said no, you would never believe me."

 There was another long pensive silence as both of them stared into each other's eyes. Still holding Quatre's gaze, Dorothy finally stood up and went directly in front of him. She leaned down, bracing her hands on the back of Quatre's seat, she leveled her eyes with his by bending down. "I never accused you of anything. My feelings here are beside the point. I am only doing what my superiors told me to do," she stated, in a deep whisper. "I always believe you wouldn't stop the peace you worked so hard to achieve. Frankly, I will not blame you for developing a whole new bunch of gundams…" she paused. She knew she was wearing her heart on her sleeves. But she cared no more. "…'cause I know you would use them accordingly."

 Quatre saw the sincerity in her eyes as she spoke. There was a rush of emotions between them. Then, he forgot himself as he cupped her face and brought it down for a passionate kiss. A kiss that would have been bestowed years ago. He welcomed the feeling she evoked from him. Like a drop of rain on a parched soil.

 He caressed her smooth skin as he worked on the kiss. Never pausing for breath. Afraid that if he did, the magic would fade.

 Dorothy was a stunned but did not make a move to stop him. Instead, she returned the favor by kissing him back. This was what she was afraid of, that nerve-wracking sensation Quatre would liberate.

 Then the door of his quarters slid open. Dorothy jumped back. Quatre swore under his breath for the disturbance.

 "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something," Trowa said, looking at the couple, still with his pensive reaction, then turned around. "I'll be at the bar. Don't hurry at my expense." The door slid close.

 Dorothy was glued on the spot, averting her eyes from Quatre. Her fist was balled at her sides.

 Quatre stood up in front of her. He again cupped her face and forced her to look up at him. He caressed her cheek with his thumb as he gazed at her kiss-swollen lips. Desire fired within him once more. "Now I know where I stand in your eyes. I am grateful."

 Dorothy looked in his eyes and gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. "As I said before, my feelings here are beside the point. I still have an assignment to accomplish. What happened here will not influence anything." With that she walked towards the door, facing away from him.

 "I expected nothing less from you. Don't worry. Nothing personal. I understand."
 Dorothy bowed her head as she faced the door, which slid opened. "I'm sorry," she murmured then went out, the door slid closed.

 Quatre grinned. He felt giddy, like a teenage boy who had his first kiss. But he did not care. Not that moment when he could still taste her sweetness. "Long time, Dorothy," he said, with that, an unspoken promise.

 III

 "What?!" the circus manager shouted in disbelief. "You're charging me for this amount?! You must be crazy! We only got ten crates. Five for the animals, the rest for the equipment."

 "Well, you are mistaken. You got twenty five," the dispatcher said.

 "Twenty five?!"

 "Yeah, says here. See?" he said pointing at the paper. "Signed by Bloom."

 The circus manager snatched the papers from the dispatcher and scanned the contents. He grumbled as his eyes widened in disbelief. He handed the papers again to the dispatcher, then turned around and mumbled some more.
 From a distance, two figures were looking in the shadows of one of the crates.

 "They would not suspect a thing. They'll be blaming the earth people for the chaos that would befall upon them," one of the figures said.

 "Is everything according to plan?"

 "To the last detail."

 "Good," the other figure said and looked at his wristwatch. "This time tomorrow, we'll look at the mirage."
 Five children ran by shouting as they were playing their games. Little did they know of their fate the next day.

 IV

 Two sets of footsteps reverberated across the hall of the mansion where Heero lived.

 "I'm so excited! I should've seen her when she arrived," Hilde said, whispering delightedly. She was walking with her arms tucked in his husband's arm. "The way they met after all these years. The way Heero was rendered speechless."

 "Shh! Don't get over excited. Lower down your voice, honey," Duo said as he held open the door towards the blue room for his wife to enter first then bent down close to her ears. "Now, don't make it obvious that you are cupid at work, okey?" He whispered and gave a kiss on her cheek.

 "I won't, I promise."

 Before Duo could enter the room, Trowa had intercepted him and asked that they be excused for awhile. Hilde nodded and entered the room to find Heero at the far end by the window, arms crossed and his mind elsewhere.

 "How are you, Heero?" Hilde asked, smiling broadly, breaking his line of thought.

 Heero turned and found his friend's wife striding towards him, one of those few people he considered close. He pasted an "almost" but sincere smile on his face then welcomed Hilde into his arms and gave her a customary peck on the chee.

 On the act of kissing Hilde, Relena entered the room. She halted from the doorway as a faint gasp escaped from her lips. She quickly recovered when Hilde turned towards her.

 Hilde inwardly smiled and did not let go of Heero yet. A plan spurred, she would make Relena jealous so she would realize her true feelings towards Heero. Hilde gaze at Heero and found him passively holding Relena's gaze.

 "Relena, long time no see," Hilde said, breaking the silence and Heero's embrace as she strode towards where Relena was standing. She kissed Relena's cheeks as a customary greeting and led her to a settee. "I am sorry I wasn't there to welcome you."

 "It's alright," Relena said softly, recovering from what she saw. She gave Hilde a smile, then glanced at Heero at the far end of the room and found him still staring at her. "So, how's everything?"

 "I am doing great. And so is Heero," Hilde look at Heero then back at Relena. "I tried to make him stay away from working too much. But you know how stubborn he is."

 Relena blinked a few times trying to digest what Hilde had said. Does this mean that Hilde and Heero are…? she tried to cut off her train of thoughts.

 Heero walked towards the counter near the settee. "Would you like anything to drink?" he asked Relena, his tone passive.

 She needed a drink. "Sherry, please," she responded, trying hard to cloud her initial shock.

 "Hilde?" Heero asked still looking at Relena.

 "Nothing for me, thank you." Hilde moved her gaze from the woman sitting on right to the man standing beside the counter on her left. Then she released a deep breath when the two still locked their gazes with each other. "I wonder what happened to Dorothy and Quatre. I thought they would join us for luncheon. Well," she stood up, "I better check what's happening to the menu for today." She headed towards the door, and gave Heero a meaningful smile when she passed him.

 Relena broke her stare by looking over the library, taking note of the exquisite state and design of the mansion. "You got a nice house," she said after completing the circuit of her eyes through the library and settling once again with Heero.

 Heero merely gave a slight nod. He watched Relena from the brim of the glass he was holding.

 "I never expected this from you," Relena said softly.

 "I never expected this from me either," Heero replied. He crossed towards Relena to give her the sherry, then went to the window and looked out. "How is your accommodation?" he asked, changing the subject.

 "Very comfortable, I should say. Are we the only ones here in your house?" Relena asked. "I am not worry or anything but---"

 "No," he said simply. "Although you are the only one staying at the east wing."

 "Good," Relena said, then nodded.

 Silence. Neither is daring to break it. Both are summing up each other. Until, Relena moaned and looked down to her hands holding the glass tightly. "This is really difficult for me," Relena admitted in a soft voice. "You. Me. Here. After how many years."

 Heero just stood there, looking out the window, and listening intently at her admittance.

 "Actually, I am really happy for you. You have decided on what you want with your life. You've changed a lot."

 Heero's eyes sharpened. "I am still the soldier who killed-"

 "Heero," Relena cut him off. She turned and looked at him. "Past is past. Let's leave it at that. What you were made you the person you are now." Relena stood up and went where he stood. She placed a hand on his arm. "And I am proud of you," she said softly and gave a sincere smile.

 Heero looked at her, deeply moved at her smile. How much he hated to admit it but Duo was right, the woman before him was the reason for what he was now. He wanted to prove to her that he could be a better man. He wanted to be the man for her.

 The man she would be proud of.

 His heartbeat quickened, unusual for someone who could control his own emotion. But he could not help it. She did say she was proud of him.

 And for the first time in seven years, he smiled back at her. A real smile. "Domo arigato," he said in his native language, in deep voice.

 "You are welcome," Relena acknowledged. She was moved by his actions. Unexpectedly, his head slowly descended towards hers. She could hear the beating of her heart as she anticipated what he was about to do. After seven years of wondering, reality was here. Heero held her eyes.

 But when their faces were only an inch away, the door of the library flew open. Relena stepped back in surprised and reddened. Heero was glued to the spot, maintaining a cool mien.

 Duo looked from one to another in utter shock but quickly recovered, nodding once to Relena and raised an eyebrow to Heero. "We got a problem." He turned to Relena, "If you would excuse us for awhile, Relena."

 "Sure," she said.

 Heero was certain that he was ready to commit a crime for the interruption right there but due to pressing business he decided otherwise. He looked at Relena, and when she nodded, went out with Duo closing the door behind him.

 Relena released a deep breath. And grinned. She felt lightheaded.

 Unbeknown to her, Dorothy and Hilde were smiling knowingly at the other room, the one overlooking the library.

 V

 "This is what we found at the northern sector of the C324 Colony," Trowa said as he displayed in a hologram the map of the colonies. "It was an encrypted message the Federation had intercepted a while ago."

 "The Mirage," Quatre stated.

 All four of them sat around a table where the holographic imaging of the colonies where projected. Wufei, being at the L2 Colony, joined the meeting via the large monitor behind them.

 Trowa turned towards Quatre, quite surprised. "I guess you know of that already. Dorothy?"

 Quatre smiled, then nodded. "I am being investigated."

 Duo snorted. "That's the Federation, alright."

 "I am not sure that the message came from your colony," Wufei said from the monitor. "I heard when I was in X6542 Colony that someone was operating from the L2." Trowa suddenly snapped his head up hearing the name of the colony. Catherine was in there. "Since it was aligned with yours, naturally, they made it looked like your colony is the perpetuator."

 "Whew! Pretty clever of them. But what of this Mirage? And who is the real perpetuator?" Duo asked.

 "As far as the Federation could come up, it was another of those groups starting another war. We don't know for sure if it is pro-earth or pro-colonies. But as far as we can tell, it is neither, with all the uprisings happening on earth and here at the colonies," Trowa said. "Mirialdo of the Sank Kingdom has arranged a defensive and an offensive tactics for the Federation to counter whatever attacks on earth."

 "We are also doing the same on our colony," Quatre stated, hinting a meaning in his words. "One has to be ready somehow."

 Wufei gave a throaty laugh. "I expected nothing less from the sheik."

 "I knew that something like this would happen. Again. That was why I have instructed to bring back Nataku, Heavy Arms and Sandrock," Quatre stated, and both Trowa and Wufei looked at him, this time their shock was evident. "I have not told you 'cause I'm not sure you would approve. I have initiated any repairs and . If you decide to use them then so be it." He then turned towards Duo and Heero. "I trust you two are working on your own machines. Three was hard to hide as it is. And I am sure you are working with Deathscythe and Wing Zero."

 Duo raised his shoulders. "Like what you said, one has to be ready somehow." Duo noticed that Heero was quietly doing something with his laptop. "I, say, Heero, what is that you're doing?"

 They all turned to him. Heero was still concentrated typing. Then finally, he hit a key and turned the laptop for them to see on top of the table, creating a gap on the holographic image.

 "This is what I have decoded from that message," Heero stated in deep tones.

 "You are the man," Duo said, shaking his head and whistled.

   "06/30/297 AD. All concerned. Mission: Initiate Release Advanced Gundam Enhanced.Wait for deployment. 500 Gundams already transported to appointed places. Final notice in three days." Quatre read what Heero had decoded.

 "They have finally developed robotics using gundanium alloys successfully," Wufei said. "I thought… Wait a minute. There was somebody claiming to be a courier of something. I think the disc contains valuable informations. I'll let let you know."

 Heero nodded and stood up. "See what else we could come up. If what I have decoded is true then we only have two days left. We will pool information up in twelve hours time to expedite our plan for interception." The rest nodded. "Everything should be taken into consideration. This is a mirage, it is not what it seems to be. Meeting adjourned." The monitor went blank and the three in the room exited.

 "I'll check on the progress first of our gundams before anything else," Duo told Heero before exiting.

 Heero made sure that everybody was out then dialed something on his laptop.

 "Heero, long time," Mirialdo said over the screed.

 "Czechs," Heero acknowledged.

 Mirialdo smiled. "I haven't heard that name, say, for seven years? But I am not complaining."

 "Explain why you approved of a peace conference when you knew of the brewing war? You have put Relena's life in danger," Heero said in his dangerous tones.

 This time, Mirialdo gave a throaty laugh. "I have put Relena's life in safe hands," he said. "I know you would take care of her more than I could. There was no place safer for her than there. I guess that was what Dorothy's father did also."

 "You have any idea of MIRAGE?" Heero asked, changing the subject.

 "We have decoded some of it. But the context was vague."

 "A group was starting a new war. One involving gundams, hundreds of them. Somehow, this group has figured out how the technology works and made an army out of it. And somehow they found supplies for the gundanium alloy to make a whole army of it. As far as I have decoded that they planned to deploy their troops in three days time."

 "This is very serious. Although we are ready here on Earth, we are still not sure at what magnitude they would attack. Now that you said they are gundams, then we have to re-plan everything so we may counter their attack. I trust you are getting ready on your end?"

 Heero gave a brief nod.

 "Good," Mirialdo said. "I'll keep you posted on what development we could gather." Mirialdo signed off.

 Heero stared at the blank monitor for several seconds. Contemplating on his next step.

 Wing Zero.

 VI

 "Soon, I will have both worlds on the palm of my hands," Odin Lowe said and gave a dangerous laugh.

 "You're right, boss," said his right-hand man by the name of Draco.

 "For years I have waited. I will finally control the gundams. Operation: Meteor was mine to start with. They stole it. They left me with nothing. Now they will pay the price," Odin Lowe stated angrily, crushing the wine-glass with his bare hands.

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