DISCLAIMER: Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I’m not making any profits out of this, so don’t sue. Oh, those you think you’ve never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people!☺

TIMELINE: The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I’d say almost two years.

NOTE: To avoid confusion, I have italic-and-bold the clones’ name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who’s who.

SHATTERED MIRRORS XI: SECRETS.

By Arayelle Lynn.

              He waited patiently as the shuttle docked. A few minutes later, the pilot came over. “We’re secured, Your Excellency,” he informed. Duke Winteridge nodded in acknowledgement and rose from his seat. He took a moment to flex his stiff muscles, acquired from the long journey.

              “Looks like we have a grand welcoming committee,” his companion said, looking out the window.

              “Don’t tell me you’re feeling overwhelmed by the attention, my boy. I thought you rather enjoyed that when you’re playing the real Quatre Winner.”

              Quatre-clone snorted. “That was before my cover’s blown. Now, who knows what kind of people standing in the crowd? Who knows if the Preventers have sent their agent to eliminate us while we’re being unwittingly surrounded by the procession?”

              “Peace, my boy,” said the duke, putting a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “We cannot all be paranoid at this coming moment of our triumph.” He looked out the window as well. “In order to fully succeed, we must insert trust to those working for us. Else, we’ll all fall apart.”

              “Maybe you’re right,” said the clone, grudgingly. He was still dissatisfied.

              “Besides, this visit is strictly top secret,” Winteridge continued. “There’s no way the Preventers or the Gundams could’ve known that we’re here.”

              That managed to ease the clone a little. He nodded and took his place beside the aristocrat. Winteridge, in his part, smiled a little. It had taken him quite an argument with his loyal clones to let him leave their hideout, unprotected. They had all insisted to come along but he wanted to move fast and in small number. Aside that, he was confident that he would be safe.

              However his old friend, the trainer of the clones known as Instructor D, managed to convince him to bring along Quatre for the ride. Just in case.

              As he walked towards the exit, Winteridge smiled at his friend’s caution. But he’s a man of great intelligence so, he understood his friend’s and his children’s concerns very well. If the situation had been reversed, he would’ve advised the same thing. ‘Plus, it never hurts to be prepared. And the Gundam pilots are good at catching their foes unprepared,’ he thought.

>>>@@<<<

              “All in position,” the real Quatre Winner heard Noin’s voice over the comm. He acknowledged her report with a short answer. Now, silence shrouded over them as they waited for his command. Sitting nervously and yet comfortably, Quatre counted the seconds. This was his first comeback for action and he wanted to do it right. So, while waiting for the perfect time to strike, he mulled over the plan.

The plan was simple. The Gundams will launch an all-out assault on the outpost, providing Noin with enough distraction to board the secret base. This time, the pressure would be on the Preventers as they’re the ones who’ll have to penetrate and secure the outpost from the inside. Not being sure that the clones would be there, Quatre decided that the Gundams would be more useful out in space, so they could prevent Winteridge from escaping.

              And once they had him in custody, they would deal with the clones and end the conflict before another war broke and more lives lost. ‘And then we could finally concentrate on rescuing the Telrhani prisoners,’ he finished his thoughts.

              “Hey, you okay?” a familiar voice sounded, breaking his thoughts.

              “Fine, Duo,” he replied. He quickly put his whole attention on the coming battle.

              “Hey, don’t sweat it. The sooner we end this, the sooner you and Dorothy could get married,” said the ever-jovial Deathscythe pilot.

              Quatre blushed, remembering his fiancé, who’s given the duty to plan the wedding. Then shaking his away his embarrassment, he returned his gaze on the outpost. Suddenly, his instinct kicked in as he found himself saying, “Alright, guys. Let’s mount our attack.”

              “Yee… haaw…” Duo yelled over the comm.

>>>@@<<<

              “…let’s mount our attack,” she heard the leader of the Gundams said, over the channel that she tapped into. It was followed by a howl she identified as Duo Maxwell. As soon as the battle started, Sara found herself listening intently. Though unable to see the battle, she was keen to know what was transpiring up there in space.

              And as she listened on, her hand unconsciously strayed on Heero’s dog, which was barking his support. Glancing at him, she rubbed the silver fur. “Yes, I understand, boy. He’ll be fine. They’ll all be alright,” she said, reassuringly. However, she didn’t lose her grip on the dog’s collar as both of them waited in deep anticipation.

>>>@@<<<

              The sirens blared as Winteridge halted in midstep. He exchanged a glance with Governor Creston, the director of the station. “We’re under attack,” Quatre answered the unspoken question. He turned to the governor, accusingly. “I thought you said the location of the base is secured.”

              “B… but how,” he stuttered, taken completely by surprise.

              However, Duke Winteridge calmly studied his clone. “You have my permission to go,” he said, fully understand the look that the boy was giving him. Quatre nodded. Then, looking around the storage of newly developed mobile suits, he spotted the one he liked and leapt onto it.

              Winteridge watched his first and new mobile suit moved to enter its first battlefield. He found himself, surprisingly considering the situation, marveling at its design. And when his mobile suit joined in the battle, he found himself also marveling at the resourcefulness of the real Gundam pilots.

              ‘How could’ve they found me out?’

>>>@@<<<

              She was pacing in the common room when she first heard the running footsteps. When the door opened, she pounced on the messenger. “What happened?” she hissed, knowing that the dark feeling that had been consuming her the whole day must be conveying something.

              Behind her, the other restless clones gave their full attention to the disturbed communication officer. The young man was breathless for running the whole way. He shrunk under the hard stares of the clones but was relieved enough to see the mysterious Instructor D among them.

              He saluted at the person, he and his comrades considered as, the duke’s closest confidante. The man nudged his head. “What news you have for me?” he asked.

              “Outpost B Point T16 is under attack. His Excellency is in danger.”

              Even before he could finish his sentence, the clones rushed past him. Having escaped their hard stares, he calmed but not long enough. He saluted the man and requested for his return to his post, which the man generously granted.

>>>@@<<<

              The battle was going exactly as Quatre had planned. While they were keeping the outpost’s defense troops busy, Noin’s men were approaching the outpost undetected. Heero silently congratulated his blond friend. His plan to disguise this attack as one of the Gundams’ usual raid made the occupants unaware of the Preventers attacking from inside until it was too late.

              Suddenly, something moved swiftly from the corner of his screen. His instinct took over him as Heero yanked the throttle to his right as Wing Zero spun out of harms way. His mind racing, he turned towards the thing that attacked him and was started.

              Hovering just a few meters away from him was a mobile suit that he did not recognize. It was blue and its outer body was like the one of Tallgeese, though bulkier and more menacing. However, as the database in his cockpit was analyzing, he found that the new mobile suit was suited with high-speed engines that seemed almost impossible considering its head-to-toe firepower and thick armor.

              “By the God of Death, what is that?” he heard Duo curse, as startled as he was.

              The other pilots were too busy to acknowledge the newcomer so Heero heard zero comment from them. But what he was more concern about was who was piloting the new mobile suit?

              The pilot gave Heero the answer by revealing himself. Heero’s grip tightened at the sight of the familiar blond pilot before him. Chastising quietly to himself, he reminded himself that this person was not the same person that came into his mind.

              “You will not get through me,” said the pilot. Heero heard the real Quatre gasped through the comm. Out there, Sandrock narrowly missed a shot.

              Heero recognized a challenge when he saw one. “That remains to be seen.”

              They battled.

>>>@@<<<

              “Don’t look, Quatre,” he heard Trowa said as Heavyarms purposely put itself in Quatre’s view of the fight between Heero and the clone. The silent pilot knew that Quatre could not afford to be distracted at this crucial point of the battle.

              Nodding to himself, Quatre blocked the channel that connected him with Heero. He knew that he couldn’t handle hearing his voice, though not him saying it, throwing insults at one of his closest friends.

              “Thanks, Trowa.”

>>>@@<<<

              Sara leaned forward as soon as Heero engaged the clone. This was the first battle between Heero and the clones since the rescue of Quatre Winner and she wanted to know every detail of the fight. The last time the clones fought their team, the Gundam pilots had to hold back a little, not wanting to harm the colonists and Winner since they weren’t sure if he was safe.

              But now with no one that could be harmed in this fight, Sara was sure that Heero would not be holding back. And that made her wanting to experience the whole thing for herself.

>>>@@<<<

              Lady Une gripped the edge of the console until her knuckles turned white. The reports came and it was confirmed that a clone was engaged in a battle with Wing Zero. But this time, he was in an unidentified mobile suit.

              Around her, agents ran about, some delivering new orders and some running from a database to another. But their objective was the same. Find out what you can on the new mobile suit.

              It now occurred to her that Winteridge’s had used the outpost as his factory to manufacture new mobile suits. Which was why its operation had been made unknown until now. And which was why he was giving the outpost a personal visit. This marked something as great importance.

              It meant that Winteridge was going to war. Seriously speaking.

              Silently thanking Heero’s mysterious informer, Lady Une watched the whole battle. But she was interrupted when the agent sitting before her swiveled around. “Ma’am, I think you should see this.”

              Concerned and mostly curious, the head Preventers stepped up. “What is it?”

              The agent didn’t answer. Instead, he moved a little to let his commander view his screen. After a few seconds, he heard her gasp. “This explains everything!”

              “What?” asked Sally, who was watching the whole thing.

              Lady Une turned to her assistant. “The new mobile suit is made from gundanium alloy!”

>>>@@<<<

              Heero knew a gundanium alloy-made mobile suit when he saw one. And he knew, from his first reading on the suit, that he’s battling one right about then. But that wasn’t his main concern. No, what makes a Gundam dangerous would be the competence of its pilot. That could determine the supremacy of the Gundam, along with the power of the MS that the pilot is piloting. If any lesser pilot, namely not as trained as he and his friends, piloted a Gundam, the attack would not have made a difference. But if a Gundam is piloted by a competent pilot, as he and his friends were, that would make a whole world of difference.

              And Heero found that his opponent was one of those people.

              Battling this clone was like battling the Telrhani warriors all over again. Although their mobile suits were equally matched, Heero found himself straining to attack and defend. The clone was quick and his attacks were strategically well planned, despite of the massive size of his mobile suit. But that wasn’t the only thing that got Heero worried.

              ‘Are the other clones as well-trained as this one?’ He found himself wondering. ‘Or are they even better?’ He was aware that in his own team, Quatre was the weakest pilot of all of them. That the blond pilot’s specialty had been that his strategic and well-thought tactics were the ones that put him on top of things. It wasn’t that Quatre was less trained, it’s just that his reluctance to kill or hurt his opponents made him held himself back. And even more after his insanity episode years ago. That’s why Quatre had always refrained himself from training to kill.

              But this, Heero found himself fighting the Quatre that held nothing back! His skills seemed flawless and he was even more dangerous since he had great talents in tactics. ‘If this Quatre is the weaker one in the clones’ team, I wonder how dangerous the skills of my clone.’

              ‘Get a grip, Heero,’ he furiously chastised himself. He knew that that was no time to be worrying about who’s the better pilot. His mission was already set and that was…

              “I’ll destroy you.”

>>>@@<<<

               “Move! Move!” Noin ordered her men as soon as the hatch was open. The Preventer agents poured out like the specially trained soldiers they were. Once the shuttle was clear, Noin stepped out to join the others.

              Outside, the firing exchange continued but luckily, it was tipping to their advantage. Firing one of her own hail of bullets, Noin dove behind a crate, next to her second-in-command. “How are we doing?” she asked him, an Agent Fuller.

              “Better than we’ve planned,” he answered, flashing her one of his infamous devil-may-care smile. He gestured at the lone figure, who was disarming the guards at an unbelievable speed. “Glad we decided to bring the alien along. She’s really handy.”

              Noin spared a glance at Mylin and was impressed. She grudgingly admitted that it had been wrong for her to protest Mylin’s involvement in this mission. Right then, she saw the merit of Lady Une’s argument as well as, surprisingly, Wu Fei’s recommendation.

              As Mylin finished the remaining guard with a spinning kick, Noin jumped from her cover. “Mylin, you and Fuller’s team find Duke Winteridge. The rest of you are with me.” But before she could even finish her sentence, Mylin was already disappearing into the hallway. Agent Fuller whistled, startled by the energy that the alien displayed.

              “Move!” Noin barked, dismayed by his hesitation. Her head stored away a wild guess who will be Fuller’s latest chase from that day on. When she was done, she turned to her own team. “Let’s find out what Winteridge’s holding here that’s precious enough to warrant his personal attention.”

>>>@@<<<

While the battle continued above, Sara was already busy downloading as much information as she can gather from the outpost’s computer system. Since the occupants had been busy with the battle, none of them was taking any notice of an intruder in their system. And seeing that she no longer had to watch where she was poking around in the cyber-world, Sara happily hacked into every classified files they had on their operation.

Plus, it gave her something to do besides worrying.

Beside her, Adin sensed her excitement for the dog never tore his gaze away from her. But Sara was too busy to acknowledge him. Her mind was preoccupied with finding out what Winteridge was hiding in that place. And of course, to detect any surprise that he might install for them. Like explosive devices.

Suddenly, the screen next to her beeped. Frowning, Sara looked at the image where Heero was battling Winner’s clone. Nothing there. She looked again, carefully this time, but found nothing. She was about to turn her attention away when suddenly something caught her attention.

Eyes widened, Sara picked up her head gear. “Heero…”

>>>@@<<<

              “… look out!” Two voices exclaimed at the same time. Heero veered quickly enough to narrowly miss a blast intended for him. Regaining his bearings once more, he looked at the thing that attacked him.

              “Heero, are you alright?” a concerned Quatre asked.

              Heero kept his eyes on his attackers. “I’m fine. Thanks for the warning, Quatre,” he said, then silently thanking the other person for warning him too. For a moment, the battle seemed to halt. Each pilot was marveling at the three identical new mobile suits before them.

              “Impressive, aren’t they?” asked the voice of Trowa. From Heavyarms’ comm. channel, Heero heard Trowa growled silently. But Heero wasn’t about to concern himself with the identity of the pilots. Instead, he was dying to find out what they can do.

              “Speechless?” said the voice of Kylie. Heero’s knuckles whitened as he heard Quatre drew a surprise breath. “Don’t worry, there’s more where they came from. All you have to do is sign up.” The mobile suit on the left turned to Sandrock “Quatre?”

              “Never,” he answered, his voice shook a little. Both Heavyarms and Deathscythe flanked Sandrock protectively.

              “Too bad,” said Quatre-clone. “I was looking forward to have a brother.” Then his voice turned chill. “Oh, wait a minute. I changed my mind. There could only be one of us in the winning side.” As one, the three began to move.

>>>@@<<<

              The two Trowas circled each other. “Nice seeing you again. How’s your truck?” asked the clone as a greeting.

              Startled, Trowa nearly missed his right arm. “It was you!” he growled, blocking another blow.

              “Naturally. I wouldn’t let any other do it. I prefer to destroy you myself.” He came for another attack in which Trowa deflected expertly. “It must’ve taken you quite a lot to bounce back after that blast.”

              Gritting his teeth, Trowa fired his missiles at him. None connected because the clone moved away in time. “Is that the best you can do? I’m disappointed,” the clone taunted him, hurtling some explosive bolts at Trowa.

              Ignoring him, Trowa avoided the bolts. But that proved to be a ruse. The clone timed his attack perfectly as Trowa spun and then went behind Heavyarms. Caught by surprise, Trowa could only see as the clone slammed into his left side.

              Trowa bit back a cry as pain shot up through his left arm. He shook his head to clear the haze only to find that he had lost his gun. Turning to face his clone, Trowa whipped his blade out. “You’ll pay for everything that you’ve done to me.”

              “Bring it on, brother.”

>>>@@<<<

              “I really missed having you there, Quatre,” said the clone. “Thing aren’t the same with you not around. You know, to torture.”

              Suddenly, Deathscythe appeared between her and Sandrock. “No one’s going to torture my buddy again, you hear. I’m going to make sure of that,” he said, using his best imitation of what he termed as the voice of the God of Death.

              Kylie-clone yawned. “Empty threat, Death boy. I can whip your butt from where I’m standing.”

              Not used of having someone to challenge him, especially someone he never even liked, be it the original or a copy, Duo bristled. “I’ll show you what I can do. The God of Death always delivers his sentence.”

              “Boring,” she exchanged. “As it stands, Death boy, I was talking to the Golden boy here,” she said, throwing Deathscythe a small black ball. Duo cringed back, expecting an explosion but nothing happen.

              “That the best you can do? Throwing duds? I hope you keep the receipt because you seriously need to send that junk back to the manufacture.” As he said that, the black ball let out a small explosion and something green enveloped Deathscythe. “What?” was the only thing Duo could say when his Gundam stopped functioning.

              “Duo!” Quatre cried, moving to assist his friend but the clone’s mobile suit cut his way.

              “As I was telling the Death boy, I am talking to you, Winner.”

              Quatre regarded his enemy. His heart ached at the prospect of fighting her despite of what she had done to him. His heart ached even more when the voice, which had once spoken to him with care and gentleness, was now talking to him with deep hatred and disgust.

              “Listen, if you’re any like the real Kylie, if you’re truly a copy of her, there must be something good within you. I know Kylie. She was full of hate and anger but deep down she was really caring and sympathetic. She fought with her life to maintain this peace and if you’ve her heart, you could see why all these battles are meaningless.” He looked at her, pleadingly. “Please stop this.”

              “Boring,” she said, feigning a yawn. “Let’s play tag, shall we?”

>>>@@<<<

              “Oh, don’t worry so much about your friends. They’re surely going to be destroyed,” said Quatre-clone.

              But that wasn’t exactly the thing in his mind. Heero was sure that they could all take care of themselves. What had him worried was the location of the other three absent clones. He had a feeling that they were up to no good.

>>>@@<<<

              The moment Noin stepped into the dark room, she knew that she was in the right place. The enemy had been relentless in keeping them away from this place and Noin would like to know why. She barked a command to get the lights on while ordering some of her agents to keep guard. Though, the place was reported secure, Noin weren’t about to take any chances.

              “Fuller?” she said, over the comm.

              “Here. A bit busy, ma’am.” From the background, Noin could hear the sound of gunshots.

              “Making any progress?”

              “Ahh… no,” answered the agent, rather embarrassedly. “We’ve seemed to… uh… lost the alien.”

              “What!” As soon as she said that, the lights went on. A collective gasp of wonders echoed throughout the room. “God!”

              There weren’t exactly standing in a room. Instead, they were standing in what it seemed to be a big storage room, with a hundred or so new model of mobile suits!

              “Look at these suits!” said the youngest of Noin’s team, Neville. He was looking at them as a young man look at a brand new car.

              A sound a few feet away drew their attention. Swinging their rifles upward, they saw a figure dropped from the shaft on a wall. It landed on the floor gracefully. “Mylin!” Noin breathed in relief. They lowered their guns. “Aren’t you supposed to find Winteridge?”

              Mylin’s eyes scanned the storage room. “I am. I tracked him here.”

              “And you’ve found me,” said a voice. All of them turned around, guns whipped at the object of their hunt. Winteridge raised his arms, exposing no armament. “I must congratulate all of you. You’ve found one of my secrets rather sooner than I expected,” he said, calmly.

              “My only question is, how did you do it?”

              Mylin stepped forward. “None of your business, scum. You’re going down.”

              He raised his right eyebrow, impressed. “A Telrhani. I never thought that the Preventers would stoop any lower as to recruit an enemy into its rank. My decision to retaliate is indeed the correct one.”

              “And here it will end,” said Noin, nodding to her agents to secure the man.

              As Neville and Rhonda Crane moved to apprehend their capture, Winteridge put his arms to halt them. “Not so fast, Agent Noin. You may have found out about my mobile suits but what are you willing to sacrifice to keep that secret?”

              “What?” Neville and Crane looked at each other uncertainly. Then they looked at Noin who was studying Winteridge carefully. “What did you do?”

>>>@@<<<

              “Lady Une, a group of mobile suits are heading towards LaGrange Point 4.” The agent turned, her face paled. “It’s the new mobile suits!”

              Lady Une rushed to her side. “Report!”

              “Preliminary readings showed that all of them are mobile dolls except for three!”

              Lady Une frowned.

              June turned to her. “And they’re arming for a full-fledge attack.”

>>>@@<<<

              “Dang it!” Wu Fei swore.

              “Winteridge,” Zechs growled the name hatefully.

              Heero frowned as the location of the other three missing clones finally dawned on him. Quatre paled. “My sisters! Dorothy!”

              “Rats!” Duo slammed his fist on the controls. He was still unable to free himself from the energy web that Kylie-clone threw at him.

              Of all, only Trowa remained silent, though his heart skipped a beat. He was studying his opponent intently. “As you can see, brother. Our employer has already planned his escape. You’ll never get him.”

              “Really? I’m not sure how being surrounded by the Preventers could be called an escape. We already have him.”

              “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”

>>>@@<<<

              “Call off the attack, now,” said Mylin, threateningly.

              Winteridge spread his arms. “I can’t do that. My boys are hungry for blood.”

              With a lightning move, Mylin whipped up a knife. “Call them off before I start to skin you alive.”

              Under any circumstances, Noin would’ve put an arm to restrain the angry alien. But now, she found herself looking forward to it. Winteridge snorted. “Do you think that you can hurt me? Maybe I should’ve told you that I’ve rigged this whole place to blow, you know, to protect my secrets.”

              The Preventers looked around them nervously. One of them noticed a blinking red light at the far end of the storage. “My god, he’s telling the truth!”

              “Would I lie?”

              Mylin came over to him, menacingly. “Give it up, Winteridge. We already have you.”

              “Really?” Suddenly Winteridge began to fade. “Think again.”

              Howling angrily, Mylin threw the knife which stuck into the wall. Noin bit back an insult. “It’s a hologram!” stated one of the stunned agents.

              “Agent Noin?” said Crane, glancing nervously at the timer.

              Suppressing her frustration, Noin forced herself to look at her men. “Order the retreat to Fuller. Let’s get out of here before the whole place blows.”

>>>@@<<<

              The atmosphere was sullen when the assault team finally docked. All of them were forced to watch as the outpost exploded, with Winteridge’s valuable secrets with it. The Gundam pilots could barely restrain themselves as they watched the clones took their leave. But none of them dared to move, fearing that Winteridge would order the attack on the colony. And only after an hour later, did Lady Une sounded the all-clear.

              Howard watched as the boys exited their Gundams with keen oversight. Wu Fei was in his usual mood, never good. But this time, his foul mood was clearly duplicated by an angry Telrhani. Both stalked away, rather simultaneously. Trowa followed them a little later. He seemed to be favoring his left arm, though Howard wasn’t so sure why.

              Duo was wearing a scowl on his face. He was still swearing at having to be towed by Heero back to base. Looking at Deathscythe, Howard planned to give it his immediate attention. Then there was Quatre, who was unusually quiet. Howard didn’t know what was playing in his mind, having his entire family and his future bride threatened by a copy of someone he once loved and a copy of himself!

              Zechs was already making his way towards his wife. Probably wanting to offer her some comfort over the failed mission. The engineer was glad that the two was finally showing their affection openly. It seemed that they all need a little romance around here.

              As his gaze strayed on Wing Zero, he discovered that Heero was still in there. The boy’s mood was an enigma these days. Nobody knew what to make of Heero’s attitude ever since he came back from the dead. Especially since he was withholding something from them, namely his source. But Howard had to remind himself that Heero had always been a mystery. And thinking that Heero needed some time alone, Howard turned his attention to more pressing matters.

>>>@@<<<

              “See? What did we tell you? We must’ve a spy in our camp. The Gundam pilots couldn’t have known that you’d be there without some help, Your Excellency,” said Kylie-clone, as soon as all of them reconvened in duke’s study room.

              When Winteridge found out that the other clones were making their way to save him, he had quickly concocted a plan of holding a colony hostage to cover his escape. In reality, he was already leaving the colony when the Preventer agents docked. And he had cleverly stalled the unsuspecting agents by creating an image of himself and luring them to the storage bay.

              Though the lost of the outpost was regretted, it was still minimal. Winteridge still had plenty of secret factories, which were still making more mobile suits. And spy or no spy, he knew that the Gundams could never destroy all of them in time before he launched his war.

              “Besides, only the eight of us and the governor knew of your visit,” Duo-clone pointed out. “There must’ve been a leak somewhere between us and the governor’s.”

              Winteridge sighed, knowing that their logics connected. He regarded the concern faces of his men. “Alright, you have my permission to pursue this.” Then he looked at Duo, Wu Fei, Trowa and Quatre. “But only Heero and Kylie would be handling this.” He raised his hand as the boys started to protest. “I need you to supervise the other factories. All things must be prepared for the day when we launch our attack on the Earth Sphere.”

              Grudgingly, they accepted their mission. Waving them out of the room, he leaned back and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was surprised to find Trowa still there. “Yes, Trowa?” he enquired.

              Trowa regarded him carefully. “Your Excellency, there is something I want to do before we go to war.”

              “And that is?”

              “I’d like to finish the job.”

TO BE CONTINUED…