Battlestar Andromeda Part 3
Duo stood there looking at Heero, breath caught in his chest. He kept hearing Heero's voice in his head, 'Didn't sign anything, still legally married, husband.' "Why?" he croaked.
"Why?" Heero asked incredulously, "You ask me why? I come home to an empty apartment and all of your things are gone. There is no note. No message left." Heero's voice was steadily rising as he continued. "And just when I start to get worried, thinking something has happened to you, there is a knock on the door and I am being handed divorce papers. Papers that you had already signed. So maybe I should be the one asking that question?" Taking a deep breath, Heero walked towards Duo. He stopped walking when he saw Duo step back. His shoulders slumped and he lowered his head as he asked quietly, "Why Duo? Why did you leave me? I thought we were happy together. I...I thought you loved me."
Duo looked at the bowed head struggling with the urge to go to him. He knew how hard it was for Heero to open up to his emotions. It was one of the things that made Duo fall in love with him. But then he remembered the reason why he left Heero and that stayed his feet.
"I thought we were happy too. But obviously you weren't." Duo said.
Heero raised his head, a frown forming on his face. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
Just as Duo was about to answer, the speaker on his desk pinged. Turning and walking the remaining steps to his desk, he pressed the button and said, "Yes."
"Commander Maxwell, we have been cleared by base command to leave Earth space." came Dorothy's voice over the speaker.
"Thank you XO*, I'm on my way." He turned once again towards Heero.
"I will leave you to your duties Duo, but rest assured this conversation is far from over. I will get my answers." He turned to leave the quarters, stopping before the door he added, "As for the divorce, you can forget about it. There won't be any. I refuse to sign the papers."
"You can't do this!" exclaimed Duo.
Heero looked over his shoulder, an odd gleam in his eyes, "Watch me," he said. Heero then continued out the door leaving Duo alone with his parting words.
Duo stood there staring at the door. 'Why is he doing this?' he asked himself. 'Why won't he sign the papers? Why drag this out?' A ping behind him brought Duo out of his thoughts.
"Commander?"
"On my way." said Duo. Pushing all thoughts of Heero and his parting words to the back of his mind, Duo left his quarters, he had a ship to command.
Pilots Quarters
Lt. Quatre Raberba Winner, leader of the gamma squadron, sat at the small desk in his room looking at the message that had been sent to him by one of his sisters. Iria Winner begged her brother to come home and help their father with the threat to the mining satellites in the Alpha 1 quadrant. She had even hinted that their father would forgive him for joining the military if he would come home and take his rightful place as their father's heir.
Quatre let out a snort. 'Yeah right.' He thought to himself. His father had made it well known to him that if he persisted with his plans on joining the military he would be disinherited. His family was one of the last of the great pacifist families and when he found out that Quatre wanted to join the space military as a fighter pilot, well suffice to say his father had expressed his feelings quite well. His father believed that maintaining his pacifist ways would stop the threat by the Dakarian's, however; Quatre knew that by joining the space military he could ensure that earth would be safe.
A knock at his door brought him out of his thoughts. Closing the message from his sister, he bade the person entry. Standing at his door was Lt. Trowa Barton, leader of the beta squadron, Quatre's wet dream personified. He'd had a crush on the tall pilot from the first moment he'd seen him. Trowa had a lanky build, and auburn hair that obscured one of a pair of startling emerald eyes. There was only one problem with his crush on Trowa and that was the fact that Trowa dated women, lots of women.
"Hey Trowa." said Quatre.
"Hey." replied Trowa, "Captain Marquise has called a meeting for all the squadron leaders at 1500 in the ready room. I was just on my way to the dining hall and wanted to know if you'd care to come along."
"Sure, sounds great." Quatre said and giving his screen one last look, followed Trowa out to the hall.
Guest Quarters
Heero sat at his desk deep in thought. His conversation with Duo had produced no clear answers. He still did not know why Duo had left. Turning to his vid phone Heero knew of one person he could get some answers from. His father. It was a few moments later that his father's face come on screen.
"Heero! Checking in already." Treize said.
"Hello father. Actually, I called to ask you a question."
"Ask away."
"Did you know that Duo was the commander of this ship?" Heero asked. The look on his fathers face however, gave him his answer.
"Damn it father! Why didn't you warn me!" Heero yelled.
"I honestly didn't see the problem." Treize replied smoothly. "Need I remind you that it has been three years?"
"That may be, but if I had known I would have been a little more prepared."
"Prepared for what? Will this situation become a problem with your mission?"
"Of course not father, you know I always finish my missions."
"I know you do son." Treize said, pride evident in his voice. "I do want to tell you that I had no say in this mission. The Council overruled all of my objections and left me with no recourse but to abide by their wishes."
Heero sat there for a moment to think of what his father had just said. 'There's something he is not telling me.' he thought to himself. Looking at his father closely he could see the lines of tension in his face. This prompted him to ask, "What is going on father? The Council has very seldom overruled you."
After a moments hesitation Treize replied, "This mission is vital to the safety of Earth. We must have these treaties signed by the other planets if we are to stop the Dakarian's from taking over this and any other planet in their path. Many on the Council have been getting nervous ever since the Dakarian's took over the mining satellites in Alpha 1. Some felt that we did not do enough to ensure the safety of the satellites and have even gone as far as to wanting the Council to declare war against the Dakarian's."
"But those satellites are owned by WEI. What has he said about this talk of war?" asked Heero.
"He is trying to push for a more peaceful solution to the problem however; the Council will not even listen to him. He and I are working together trying to keep the Council on our side and to give this mission a chance."
"Who is the one pushing for us to go to war?"
"Right now the major dissention seems to be coming from the Dermail camp. He has been meeting with many of the Council members on the side trying to garner more votes. For the most part I still have just enough votes on my side to keep the talk of war from coming to a vote. However, should anything else happen....."
Heero understood the words that were left unsaid. If the Dakarian's were to attack any more mining satellites then the votes could shift in favor of war. He knew his father would fight that with all he had but if the Council ruled in favor of war- there would be nothing his father could do but to abide by their wishes.
"Do not worry father. I will get those treaties signed, I will not fail." Heero said.
"I trust you son. I know you will succeed. If I'd had any doubts I would not have sent you. Oh, one last thing, on board the ship is none other than Winner's son. It might be prudent for you to meet him and see if you can get his help. His skills as the heir to WEI might prove invaluable."
"Winner's son is on board? How did this happen?"
"It seems that his son Quatre went against his father's wishes and joined the military as a fighter pilot. Winner tried everything he could to get his son to leave but so far to no success."
"I see. I will take care of it."
"Fine. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"
"No father. That was all. I will call again as soon as we reach our first destination."
After his father had said goodbye Heero disconnected the call and sat back to think over everything his father had told him. He now understood what was on the line as far as the treaties were concerned. He knew there was no way he could fail in this mission.
Opening the file that sat in front of him, he started reading the information he was given on his first destination, the planet of Aloria. The file was quite thick so he settled into his chair and began reading. He still planned on talking to Duo again, but he would wait a few days, he had plenty of time during this mission to get Duo to talk to him he just had to be patient and that he had plenty of.
Commanders Quarters
Duo had spent the entire day on the bridge, keeping as busy as possible. Deep down he knew that staying on the bridge made it seem like he was hiding from Heero but he couldn't stop himself. By the end of the day he dragged himself to his quarters, exhausted both mentally and physically. Heading straight to his bedroom he stripped off his clothes and burrowing under his covers fell fast asleep. However, even exhaustion did not keep the dreams at bay.
TBC...
Author's Note: I thought at this time I would comment on a few things that may cause some questions. For the purpose of this story the space military is a cross between the U.S. Navy and Air Force. While in the U.S. Navy a commander usually commands smaller ships, such as a frigate, destroyer, submarine, or aviation squadron. For a ship the size of Andromeda it would be a captain who would command the ship as they are higher than a commander. However, for this story I thought Commander Maxwell had a nice ring to it. Since this is set in the future I thought I would play with military as I wish. *grins*
* A Lt. Commander is right under the commander and is called the XO which stands for Executive Officer. This is easier to say than Lt. Commander so I decided to use this when anyone speaks to Dorothy. In a more formal setting she would be called Lt. Commander.
For the character of Zechs Marquise I have made him a captain, which is for my story would make him higher than a Lt. Whenever anyone designates a time while on the ship, they will use military time. However, for Heero and company they will use regular time.
If anyone has any questions please ask, I will happily explain.
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