Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Deuces Wild ❯ Chapter 3
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: natascha 
semi-AU, post EW. Ashe is officially a GOD! His muse-ness is my salvation. *bows down*
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Sci-fi / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.21.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 952 | Visits: 436 | Status: Completed
semi-AU, post EW. Ashe is officially a GOD! His muse-ness is my salvation. *bows down*
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Sci-fi / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.21.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 952 | Visits: 436 | Status: Completed
The three Preventer agents met again, this time to compare the fruits of their labors. For a moment, they sat silently, looking back and forth, before Heero spoke up first. "I struck out on trying to find the pirate's homebase. Whereever it is, it's too well hidden."
Trowa nodded as if that's what he'd expected. "I made a bit more progress with the manifests. When you look at them closely, you find inconsistencies." With unexpected good humor, Trowa paused until both Heero and Wufei looked ready to beat him for the rest of the information. "The kind of inconsistencies you find in smuggling rings. As far as I can tell, though the manifests might read for cargoes like medicine, infrastructure machinery, food supplies and the like, that's not what the shuttles were carrying. The shipping weights listed for the crates and the weights the shuttles actually lifted off with don't match."
"Heavier or lighter?" Wufei asked, immediately grasping the possibilities. "I mean, are we talking smuggled liquor and high credit items, or something else?"
"Heavier. I'm guessing there might have been typical smuggling involved, but it doesn't account for all the weight. There has to be something more going on."
"Probably was. Researching Hiram Grant, I found a flawless background." Wufei smirked.
"Too flawless?" Heero asked, a grin starting to spread.
"Exactly. Everything that should be there is there, but it's too pat and impossible to confirm. So I ran a search of his physical characteristics through all our databases. I came up with an interesting match. An Alliance officer who's been missing since about the time you..." Wufei trailed off with uncharacteristic tact.
"Took out the doves. You can say it." Heero's jaw tightened, but other than that, he seemed calm.
"Yes. Any rate, it was assumed he was on board the plane, however, it was never confirmed. If Hiram Grant is this Alliance officer, we could have a potential problem. His last pysch evaluation showed concern with the amount of his ambition and advised counselling for the potential megalomania." Wufei realized he'd hurried through his report and took a deep breath.
Trowa raised an eyebrow. "Clearly we have to investigate. Is Grant involved with the mystery cargoes? If so, is the pirate working for him or against him?"
"It would be a clever way to get illegal cargoes through customs and get insurance money for the 'loss'," Wufei mused, "But if the pirate was working for Grant, why would Grant set us on his trail?"
"Maybe the pirate has outlived his usefullness." Heero shrugged. "Or perhaps, it's a way to deflect his potential involvement."
"Or perhaps the pirate isn't working for him at all. A man like Grant, even without a hidden past, would develop enemies. If he's trying to grab power, it's entirely possible that the pirate is stealing cargoes to deny him the chance."
"Well, it would seem there's only one way to find out." Heero grinned and his partners leaned in to hear his plan.
~~~
Another day, another shuttle. If Duo wasn't careful, he'd get a little too casual about this. This one, at least, had a smarter pilot. When first ordered to stand to, the shuttle had done so. //Nice when they KNOW that it's useless to run.//
"Extend the docking arm. Boarding Party, you could do this in your sleep. Don't screw it up, okay?"
Duo grinned at the curses he got in response and settled back to wait. He knew this was one of Grant's shipments, but he was becoming more and more worried that he wasn't finding the mobile suit parts. He supposed he could be wrong, that Grant wasn't building a squadron, but everything in the intell pointed to it. //Now is not the time to doubt yourself, buddy. If you're wrong, you're not entirely wrong, since you have been intercepting arms and munitions.//
Musing on the intrigues, he didn't notice the passage of time until the boarding party signalled him. "Uh, Boss, we've got a problem."
~~~
Standing in the shuttle, Heero Yuy, in Preventer uniform and fully armed, stared at the boarding party from the pirate ship. They stared back, clearly shocked to find someone other than the pilot on board. The clear leader of the group had just sent a message to his ship. Heero noted the sophisticated comm device, which would allow for subvocalizations, though he could tell it was currently set to an external speaker tacked to the man's collar.
"Boarding party, talk to me."
Heero frowned slightly. That voice was familiar.
"We've got a Preventer standing in the way, Cap'n."
There was a long pause, then he could hear some creative cursing. "Make sure he's not a threat and then bring him aboard. Welcome to the Deuces Wild."
As the boarding party leader grinned at him, realization dawned. Duo... that voice belonged to Duo. Now why did it feel very much like a sucker punch?
~End Part 3~
I know I'm rushing the investigation, but that's not the part of this idea that interested me. It was Heero realizing Duo was the pirate that I was interested in. ^_^
Trowa nodded as if that's what he'd expected. "I made a bit more progress with the manifests. When you look at them closely, you find inconsistencies." With unexpected good humor, Trowa paused until both Heero and Wufei looked ready to beat him for the rest of the information. "The kind of inconsistencies you find in smuggling rings. As far as I can tell, though the manifests might read for cargoes like medicine, infrastructure machinery, food supplies and the like, that's not what the shuttles were carrying. The shipping weights listed for the crates and the weights the shuttles actually lifted off with don't match."
"Heavier or lighter?" Wufei asked, immediately grasping the possibilities. "I mean, are we talking smuggled liquor and high credit items, or something else?"
"Heavier. I'm guessing there might have been typical smuggling involved, but it doesn't account for all the weight. There has to be something more going on."
"Probably was. Researching Hiram Grant, I found a flawless background." Wufei smirked.
"Too flawless?" Heero asked, a grin starting to spread.
"Exactly. Everything that should be there is there, but it's too pat and impossible to confirm. So I ran a search of his physical characteristics through all our databases. I came up with an interesting match. An Alliance officer who's been missing since about the time you..." Wufei trailed off with uncharacteristic tact.
"Took out the doves. You can say it." Heero's jaw tightened, but other than that, he seemed calm.
"Yes. Any rate, it was assumed he was on board the plane, however, it was never confirmed. If Hiram Grant is this Alliance officer, we could have a potential problem. His last pysch evaluation showed concern with the amount of his ambition and advised counselling for the potential megalomania." Wufei realized he'd hurried through his report and took a deep breath.
Trowa raised an eyebrow. "Clearly we have to investigate. Is Grant involved with the mystery cargoes? If so, is the pirate working for him or against him?"
"It would be a clever way to get illegal cargoes through customs and get insurance money for the 'loss'," Wufei mused, "But if the pirate was working for Grant, why would Grant set us on his trail?"
"Maybe the pirate has outlived his usefullness." Heero shrugged. "Or perhaps, it's a way to deflect his potential involvement."
"Or perhaps the pirate isn't working for him at all. A man like Grant, even without a hidden past, would develop enemies. If he's trying to grab power, it's entirely possible that the pirate is stealing cargoes to deny him the chance."
"Well, it would seem there's only one way to find out." Heero grinned and his partners leaned in to hear his plan.
~~~
Another day, another shuttle. If Duo wasn't careful, he'd get a little too casual about this. This one, at least, had a smarter pilot. When first ordered to stand to, the shuttle had done so. //Nice when they KNOW that it's useless to run.//
"Extend the docking arm. Boarding Party, you could do this in your sleep. Don't screw it up, okay?"
Duo grinned at the curses he got in response and settled back to wait. He knew this was one of Grant's shipments, but he was becoming more and more worried that he wasn't finding the mobile suit parts. He supposed he could be wrong, that Grant wasn't building a squadron, but everything in the intell pointed to it. //Now is not the time to doubt yourself, buddy. If you're wrong, you're not entirely wrong, since you have been intercepting arms and munitions.//
Musing on the intrigues, he didn't notice the passage of time until the boarding party signalled him. "Uh, Boss, we've got a problem."
~~~
Standing in the shuttle, Heero Yuy, in Preventer uniform and fully armed, stared at the boarding party from the pirate ship. They stared back, clearly shocked to find someone other than the pilot on board. The clear leader of the group had just sent a message to his ship. Heero noted the sophisticated comm device, which would allow for subvocalizations, though he could tell it was currently set to an external speaker tacked to the man's collar.
"Boarding party, talk to me."
Heero frowned slightly. That voice was familiar.
"We've got a Preventer standing in the way, Cap'n."
There was a long pause, then he could hear some creative cursing. "Make sure he's not a threat and then bring him aboard. Welcome to the Deuces Wild."
As the boarding party leader grinned at him, realization dawned. Duo... that voice belonged to Duo. Now why did it feel very much like a sucker punch?
~End Part 3~
I know I'm rushing the investigation, but that's not the part of this idea that interested me. It was Heero realizing Duo was the pirate that I was interested in. ^_^