Chapter 8
It was two days later and everyone in the Inazuma residence was sitting around an old wood table in the conference room of the house. Ara and Wufei had been at each other’s necks all morning. Their latest spat was about the way bounty hunters went about their business. Wufei believed that they were less than civil, where as Ara believed that they were at least more civilized than Preventers were. The assorted bounty hunters sat, head in hands, trying vainly to drown out the bickering.
“You have no sense of civility and honor!” Wufei shouted.
“You have no sense of humor!” Ara responded.
“How dare you!”
“You keep saying that. As if one of these times I’m actually going to stand up and say, ‘ Ya know what Wufei, you’re right. What the hell have I been thinking? Insulting a no talent, stick-up-his-ass, whiny, little shit like you, what was I thinking?” Ara and Wufei continued to scream at each other.
Duo casually looked at his watch and then over to Thea, who had called the meeting. She rolled her eyes in acknowledgement and proceeded to attempt to start for the third time. “ Hey guys.” She tried. No luck. She tried again. “Hey guys!”. Still, no luck. She looked at Blitz for help.
The blond haired bounty hunter stood, turned towards Ara and yelled, “Ara Malloy, if you don’t shut the hell up and sit down, I’ll tie you to a chair, force you to watch The Miracle of Life over and over, and feed you nothing but sauerkraut for the rest of your life.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Ara rounded on Blitz.
“Try me.” Blitz retorted. The bounty hunter promptly did as she was told. Wufei stood with a smug look etched into his features. “Don’t even make me start on you Chang.” He dropped the smile like a hot potato and sat down opposite Ara. “Much better. Thea, You may continue.”
“Thank you.” She said appreciatively to Blitz. Pressing a few buttons, a screen appeared out of the ceiling on the far end of the room. Projected onto the screen was a mobile doll store house. “Now, getting on to business. This is where, sources say, Noelani is housing her legion of Serpent Mobil dolls. The warehouse is located on the L3 colony in a secluded, out-of-the-way, area. Now, at the onset of the investigation, it was believed that there were only around 60 suits. Judging by the size and location of the site, I think it’s safe to assume that there will be more like 600 suits in the facility. What I propose, is a three day information gathering mission, and then an attack of one kind or another on the site.” The group, minus Wufei, shook their heads in agreement.
“What do you mean by ‘an attack of one kind or another on the base’?” He said gruffly.
“I mean, either an all out assault on the warehouse, using explosives,” Thea began.
“For which we will need backup.” Ara interrupted. Thea shook her head in the affirmative.
“Or, some kind of technical assault. The use of a computer virus, or physically rewiring the internal computer systems inside the dolls themselves, most likely.”
“The best plan of action wont be known until we actually stake out the sight and examine the possible risks of both attack plans.” Ara added to Thea’s explanation, which to Wufei’s annoyance.
“Onna! Can’t you let Thea explain it? You do not have the floor.” He sternly chastised an indifferent Ara.
“What? Are you my kindergarten teacher all of a sudden?” she responded, arching an eyebrow.
“If either of you two start up again, I’ll put you both in time out.” Hanna said.
“Yes mother.” Ara said, doing the best mock curtsey she could while remaining seated.
“What we have to do now, is spilt off into pairs, get to the colony, and begin the stake out.” Thea said, beginning to brace herself for the outburst that would inevitably take place at the end of the meeting. “Heero will go with me. Duo will go with Blitz, Hanna with Kincaid, and,” Thea took a deep breath, “Ara, you’re with Wufei.”
The Asian man immediately opened his mouth to protest, but Blitz cut him off. “Eat it short man! You’re going with Ara, end of discussion!” She rose from the table followed by Duo and then the rest of the gang. “I suggest everyone gets packed and prepared. We leave tomorrow at 06:00.” Everyone filled out of the conference room with the exception of Wufei, who continued to sit and seethe with hatred for the next few moments.
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06:00 hours came very early for Ara. It found her sitting in the Captain’s chair of the Gilgamesh, staring into the controls. There really hadn’t been much for her to pack, because most of her stuff was still aboard the ship where she had left it. {What are you doing Noelani?} She thought to herself over again for the millionth time. {What could you possibly have to do with Zechs, other than his military skills?} Sighing, Ara began to massage the bridge of her nose and lose herself in her thoughts.
She had a hunch right from the beginning that Noelani had ulterior motives for wanting Zechs in her sphere of control, but what for? It could be because she had been worried about him being her enemy, but that theory didn’t make very much sense. There were others more dangerous than Zechs that she wouldn’t want fighting against her. {Could it have been to get to me?} She thought. Again, another theory that didn’t make sense. She had Ara in the beginning. She wouldn’t have needed that card to keep her in line. Besides, she hadn’t been informed that she and Zechs were a couple, at least not until Zechs had left. And taking him away had the adverse effect. {So what is it?} Ara demanded of herself.
A third theory that didn’t make sense was that she was indeed, just using him because of his military back round. {But why? Zechs is too reserved to train troops.} Sure he can fight, but, he wasn’t exactly a people person. If she had wanted him purely for his strategic know-how, why not just make him a general and make someone else train her soldiers? {Surely Noin would have been a…} Ara’s eyes suddenly went wide. She had completely forgotten about the Preventer woman. Was she is on the plot? If so, what for? And why wasn’t she doing the dirty work?
Nothing was adding up. Ara’s hands moved to slowly massage her temples. Whatever Noelani was doing probably only made sense to her and a few close confidants. She was ready to scream in frustration. {What the hell is going on?!} Ara’s inner voice screamed. She abruptly rose from her seat and walked back into the bridge of the ship and began to pace. As she did, she came to a series of decisions; 1) Noin would have to be investigated, 2) Ara needed to find out if Noelani had been involved in anyway with the Preventer, and 3) Whatever Zechs had to do with the plot would have to wait until later. {I swear, when I see that woman again, I’ll rip her hair out…}
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