Author: CleverYoungThief
Rating: R
Warnings: Shounen ai, het, fluff, angst, violence, language, gore
Pairings: 1+2, 3+4, 5+OC
Archive: Gundam Wing Addiction
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Don't sue. College kids are like L2 kids; we got nothin'.
Arabian Nights Part 1
"I think this is a great idea!" Duo enthused over his comlink with Quatre.
Quatre looked into the American's perpetually cheerful face and smiled wearily. Even Quatre's high capacity for optimism could be strained at three o'clock in the morning. He sighed.
"I can't believe you're disguising yourself as a missionary in Saudi Arabia, Duo," he admonished gently, speaking about the mission they were currently undertaking. "Why couldn't you just go incognito like the rest of us? I don't think disguising yourself as a Jesuit priest is a very good way to be inconspicious."
"Why not?" Duo chirped, slurping a Coke loudly over the comline as they traveled. "I might even get a chance to convert someone to Mother Church!" Quatre had no idea where in the hell he kept getting those stupid caffeinated drinks. His traveling bag was probably not packed with anything else. He also had no idea how the Deathscythe pilot kept from spilling the beverage all over his cockpit.
Quatre heard Wufei snort in disdain over one of the short transmission frequencies and grinned.
"I don't think that's very feasible, Duo."
"Fine!" Duo replied with an easy shrug. "My original goal on this trip was to convert the entire country of Saudi Arabia, but I think I'll just stick to bringing you into the fold, Quatre."
Wufei finally couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up, his voice a rough growl and still filled with sleep. "I wouldn't hold your breath."
Somewhere on the frequencies, Quatre was extremely surprised to hear two soft snickers of laughter from Heero and Trowa.
There was a short period of silence, so still Quatre could hear the humming of Sandrock's engines on autopilot beneath him. He hear that Duo couldn't be able to stand the silence for very long. The pilot of Deathscythe was able to understand that certain people-Heero and Trowa, for instance-could go for long periods without speaking. Quatre knew Duo didn't, however, understand how they did it without going perfectly insane.
Five... four... three... two...
"Hey guys, wanna play a car game or something?" Duo piped up, hopeful.
"Car game?" Heero.
"Maxwell, I certainly hope you did not refer to my Gundam as a car." Wufei.
"Why not?" Quatre was amazed to hear Trowa even deign to answer.
Quatre looked at Duo on the screen. "What do you suggest, Duo?"
"Hmmmmmmm... what about License Plate?"
"..."
"Punch Buggy?"
"Duo..." Quatre's voice was reproachful.
"Okay, okay, I was just kidding. Um, actually... I can't think of any car games you can play without a car."
"Why don't you tell us about Arabia, Quatre? You're the one who received the mission," Heero said, opening up a full comlink with Sandrock in order to be able to look at Quatre.
"Radical Arabs in the country have taken sides with OZ, and the country is currently occupied. The biggest thing is, OZ is using Saudi Arabia to build nuclear bombs from the supply of plutonium gathered there by terrorists."
"Is that possible?" Trowa asked. "Construction of the bombs, I mean. The Middle East has been at peace for at least a decade, hasn't it? How are the materials so easy to obtain?"
"It isn't that difficult, unfortunately," Quatre replied, sighing. "We could make them, if we had the materials. Thermonuclear weapons are much cleaner, anyway. And safer. OZ is using old methods in order to conserve funds, is my guess. It's mainly a major electronics job, and Khushrenada has plenty of access to people who can do the work. Kids younger than us have made nuclear bombs, they just didn't have the fission material to make them detonate."
"Treize does." Heero spoke up, his voice grim.
"Enough to make five hundred-kiloton bombs," Wufei muttered.
"Exactly. Which is why the mission of stopping this is even more important." A note of emotion came into Quatre's voice, and he brushed a strand of platinum hair back from his head. "Saudi Arabia has very few water sources. If they're polluted by nuclear warfare, it'll wipe out the population of the nation. I--we can't allow that to happen."
Duo whistled in awe as he imagined the devastation. There was silence for a few seconds.
Quatre took a deep breath, and continued. "We have two mercenary groups, coming in two contingents, for a total of eighty men, forty in each squadron. They're Maguanacs, and they're our backup. They're going to disperse their camps along the Yanbu al' Bahr River. Cold camps, no fires, in order to avoid detection. We're going to land near Khamis Mushayt, which is in the Rub' al Khali, the Empty Quarter. Then we'll regroup to attack the OZ base in As Sulayyil."
"Quatre, I'm never going to be able to pronounce those names," Duo groaned. Quatre laughed good-naturedly, then looked at Heero on the screen. "Speaking of Arabic, can anyone speak it but me?"
A long moment of silence, and then, firm, "I can." Heero looked at Quatre.
Quatre watched Duo's expression of astonishment. "Heero, you can speak Arabic? How many languages can you speak?"
"...English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Hindu, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Swahili."
Wufei's voice, disbelieving. "Why didn't you tell us that, Yuy?"
"...You never asked."
TBC...
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