“So... the gundam is with you?” Quatre frowned as he glanced at the new arrivals to the Australia safe house. Heero, Duo, Trowa, Wufei and Sally Po were scattered around the small kitchen area.

Sally nodded. “Do you have space in the hangar? If Lady Une were to find out that we have something as powerfull as 01...”

“I understand,” Quatre nodded, turned to the hangar, then turned back. “I almost forgot! This is Ni-su Yuy.”

Ni-Su got up from the table and bowed slightly. “Nice to meet all of you.”

Duo grinned. “Hey, you are kinda cu-”

“Nice to meet you,” said Trowa, trying to save Duo from looking stupid. he thought it was obvious Quatre liked the girl.

Ni-Su blinked. “Oh really... umm... Duo Maxwell and Trowa Barton right?”

“That's me!”

Trowa nodded.

“And you two are Wufei Chang, and Heero Yuy?”

Both nodded.

Ni-Su smiled triumphantly. “I still have a sharp memory. Like I said before, it's nice to meet all of you.”

“Ni-su?”

“Yeah?” she smiled at Quatre.

“I was wondering... about your last name.”

“Niku- oh, you mean Yuy. Yes, Heero Yuy was my Uncle.”

“What were you about to say?”

Ni-su took a deep breath. “My real name is Ni-Su Nikumu, but because of my father and because they didn't have me on record at the hospital seven years ago, I changed my last name to Yuy, which is my mother's side of the family.”

Quatre leaned back against the hangar wall as Ni-su picked up a blowtorch and turned to her gundam. “You’ve been through so much...”

Her blowtorch was turned on, she couldn’t hear him. In among the claws on the arm of her suit, she looked tiny.

Completing her task, she turned of the blowtorch, then turned suddenly. “i hear something...” She closed her eyes and listened more carefully. At once the sound ceased and a few moments later a figure appeared at the door of the hangar.

“So this is where you're hiding!”

Ni-Su raised an eyebrow. The girl in the door stepped sideways so light was no longer at her back. She gave a half-smile.

“Faita!”

“So, you lived! I was starting to wonder if I outlived you after all.”

“Oh come on Faita, you know I'm the ultimate death cheater! So where have you been, and how the heck did you find this place? ...Or do I leave that obvious a trail?”

“Don't forget I can track the Starstorm's signal.”

“But the tracker was hit...” she looked thoughtfully for a moment, then scrambled up the arm of her gundam and behind it, reappearing momentarily. “Guess not. The debris missed it.”

Faita laughed. “But down to business. Have you heard of a group called Crimson Sky?”

“A little bit. Why do you ask?’

“According to R-3 protocol I have to personally notify you, my partner, that I’ve joined a specific organisation.”

“Since when do you follow protocol?”

“Since I figured I’d check on you, see if you’d lost your other eye.” she gave a taunting smile.

“Ha ha, very funny. Well, you’ll join Crimson Sky and I'm going to see about joining the Preventers if it's okay with the others. There's no sense in both of us being in the same organisation if we're found out. Better if we split up and fight smart.”

“Right. I'll be heading back into space in less than a month.”

“And of course I'll stay on Earth. Besides it's been seven years since I was on Earth and I want to enjoy my time here.”

“Enjoy a false vacation if you like. I’ll be seeing you around, I can guarantee that.

Barely noticed in the crowed street, a stretch limo purred up in front of the Foreign Affairs building on the L4X2893 colony. A tall, slim woman with long blonde hair pulled into a bun stepped out.

The limo driver glanced at her. “Colonel Naraku, are you sure about this?”

“Shut up. You’re a limo driver. You have no authority in this area. You are not even entitled to an opinion here.” Her expression did not change. Her sharp green-blue eyes flickered some unknown hatred as she glided into the building.

Striding out of the elevator, she quickly located the office she sought. 11th floor, room 112. Without knocking she strode in.

“Vice Foreign Minister Peacecraft? Or do you prefer to be called Princess Relena?” Another sinister smirk.

Relena glanced up, startled. “I prefer Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, thank you. How can I help you Miss...?

“Naraku. Mirai Naraku,” she spoke with the faintest of a German accent. “I'm here to leave you a message from my organisation.”

“Which organisation is this may I ask?”

“The Eternal Rose Alliance. We seek certain terms with the Earth sphere united nation.”

“Terms?” Relena raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong person Miss Naraku. I’m the Foreign Minister, not the President.”

“We decided someone with a history like your own would convey the message better to the people of the nation.”

“Oh?”

“All military forces are to be surrendered to the eternal Rose within forty-eight hours of this announcement. And I can assure you, this is no simple terrorist attack.”

Relena stood up. “What are you saying? This is an act of war you’re trying to carry out! How dare you so much as suggest such a thing in this time of peace!”

“Peace?” she laughed, the first expression she had shown. “This isn’t peace, this is a pause between war and another revolution. We would like the Earth sphere united nation to know that we have gundams on our side and unless you surrender within forty-eight hours we will attack your fragile planet.”

“You’re insane!”

“Quite on the contrary. This world needs another war.”

Relena reached for a button on her desk.

“I wouldn’t call your guards. There are several seemingly harmless aeroplanes in the vicinity with their weapons trained on this building. Until I leave the building safely, your very existence is in my own hands.”

Relena sat down wordlessly, shock and hatred covering her face.

Naraku gave a confident, evil smile as she left the building and climbed into her limo.

People swarmed at different booths in the square, seeking groceries and trinkets. No one noticed the dark shape approaching the quiet Mediterranean town. Suddenly the ground began to rumble.

A heavy set merchant grabed some of his merchandise before it fell to the ground. “Another earthquake?”

The dark form drew nearer. suddenly it bacame clear: it was the Sandrock gundam, and it was attacking the town!

“I hope Relena's news isn't bad, Sally.” Quatre frowned.

“I’m under the impression it is, Quatre.” Sally looked worried, too.

“What news?” Ni-su poked her head into the room where Quatre sat next to the laptop computer Sally had called on.

“Relena called Sally to her office for some important news... she didn't sound happy.”

“There’s other news, too.” Ni-Su frowned and flashed a newspaper before Quatre’s eyes. An enormous photograph of the Sandrock was shown destroying civilian houses mercilessly.

Quatre slowly shook his head. “Oh no... No...”

“This is bad. Altron's the only Gundam we haven’t seen used yet.” she droped the paper onto the table and sat down heavily.

“Then chances are it's around too...” Quatre sighed, “If we could somehow get into the society...”

“A spy!”

Quatre blinked. “Maybe... Actually Trowa would be perfect, but I wouldn't want to put him in such a situation...”

“What about Wufei? This is his gundam after all, right?”

Quatre nodded. “The thing is, Wufei hates indirect approaches like that.”

“But he’ll be getting his gundam back! Besides, he won’t need to be in long.”

“I’ll go find him then. By the way, you need to fill these out to join the preventers.”

“Thanks.” She smiled and started filling them out.

“Winner, you know I dispise such hidden methods!”

“Isn’t it worth it to get your gundam back?”

Wufei frowned. “That’s just it, Winner, you’re right for once. I’ll go.”

Quatre blinked. That had been so... easy!

Sally knocked on the office door. “Miss Relena?”

“Come in Sally,” Relena sighed.

Sally walked in and sat in the chair beforew the desk. “Why did you want to see me?”

Lady Naraku came into the office yesterday,” Relena rubbed her temples, showing fatigue, “Eternal Rose has declared war against the United Nation.”

“War?! Are they insane?!” Sally leaned forward in her seat.

Relena closed her eyes sadly. “How many people are going to die before people just stop all this?”

Sally shook her head. “Perhaps then, it's a good time to tell you that we do have the fire power to win... at the cost of lives.”

“How? They have the gundams.” Her eyes flashed hate for a moment.

“They have... some.” She bit her lip.

She didn’t seem to hear. “All five of the gundams in existence... We don't stand a chance, not even with the Preventers.”

Sally took a deep breath. “Relena, I know you won't aprove of this, but Heero has recovered the reconstruction of the Wing Zero, and the two mystery gundams seem to be on our side...”

“What?!” she jumped out of her chair, looking both surprised and releived. “Thank goodness...”

“But... your ideals for peace...” Sally looked puzzled.

“This way it’s less likely that as many people will die, and most will be those aware that they’re putting their life at risk of their own choice. Besides, you forgot... I gave up total pacifism during the Mariemaia wars. I sitll believe in peace, but now I believe that sometimes peace must come through battles. The gundam pilots taught me that,” she smiled.

Sally nodded mutely, astounded.

“Tell Heero to fight hard,” she continued, “And I want to meet at least one of the new pilots. These men will be a great help in the battles to come.”

“They're... young girls, about your age.” Sally gave a ruethful smile when Relena frowned.

“I thought women couldn't pilot gundams though... at least that's the impression I got...”

Sally laughed. “You've been talking to Wufei again... Do you remember, during the eve wars? Lady Une controled the Wing Gundam for a while, in order to save Treize.”

Relena smiled. “I guess I’m just being old-fashioned. They must have different ideas where these two girls came from. Where are they from anyway?”

“The R-3 colony.”

“R-3? The colony that was destroyed? How awful! Sally, I would very much like to meet these pilots.”

“I'll see what I can do. It could be hard tracking down one of them, but the other has joined our Preventer unit.”

“She's a Preventer now? So you have Heero's Gundam and this other one. Okay. I'm going to go back with you if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine. I leave in a few hours, you’re welcome to join me.”

Tsuzuku

Laura (A.K.A. Faita) @: Cyber_eight@hotmail.com
Holly (A.K.A. Ceaira) @: Emerald_strife@hotmail.com