Chapter 152: Relena's Secret (Part 1)
While Duo was fast asleep that night, Heero took the chance to dismantle the Deathscythe Gundam, stealing its components outright to repair his own Wing Gundam.
Tolle couldn't help but sigh at Heero's knack for screwing over his teammates — the guy was a natural. His "robbing Peter to pay Paul" skills were downright top-tier.
After finishing the repairs, Heero left without saying a word, swiftly piloting the Wing Gundam away from the salvage ship.
When Duo was awakened by the roar of the Wing Gundam's engine in the middle of the night, he saw his Deathscythe Gundam completely stripped apart.
He howled in anguish, cursing Heero as a shameless thief, bastard, and ungrateful wretch — saying he should've never saved him in the first place.
Elsewhere, after the group reached Quatre's secret base, Tolle declined their offer for resupply, claiming that his unit only used beam weaponry and didn't need replenishment.
He then handed over the beam rifle's control password to Duo, fulfilling his earlier promise.
As Quatre and Duo talked, the two of them somehow ended up playing music together — Quatre on the violin, Duo on the saxophone.
Ange, Coco, and Miranda were completely entranced by the melody. Tolle, however, lacked any musical sense, and his mind was clearly elsewhere.
After searching the base, he didn't find any trace of Quatre's sisters — likely they were still on the colony satellites. He felt a twinge of disappointment.
Thinking back, he realized that he'd been so focused on tracking down the five Gundams that he hadn't accomplished anything else. It felt like he'd forgotten something important… but since it slipped his mind, it probably wasn't that important anyway.
In the end, he used the excuse that Ange's mother, Sophia, was home alone and couldn't be left by herself — someone had to keep her company.
After exchanging contact information with Duo and Quatre, he left the secret base early.
Meanwhile, within the military, Relena's father, Foreign Affairs Officer Darlian — a man who had long advocated for peace — was being politically marginalized.
The OZ Special Forces officers of the Earth Unified Army planned to lure officials sympathetic toward the satellite colonies — like Darlian — up to the colonies, gather them together, and then wipe out the entire pacifist faction in one go.
Relena, however, was completely unaware of all this, or of her father's dangerous situation. She was already deeply, hopelessly in love with Heero.
Whenever she had free time, she would go to the seaside, stare at the ocean, and cry out helplessly: "Heero, please hurry and come… hurry and kill me!"
When her father received new transfer orders, Relena was once again to head for the space colonies. Before leaving for space, she specially stopped by the hotel to say goodbye to Coco and Miranda.
Tolle knew that Relena's father — or rather, her adoptive father — was about to be assassinated by OZ. Should he step in to save him?
Maybe he could ask Relena to bring him along. If she agreed, he could step in to help — consider it repayment for those few days of lodging.
So, Tolle approached the soon-to-depart Relena and said: "Miss Relena, we also have some business to attend to on the space colonies. Could you ask your father to make arrangements for us?
It'd be best if we could take the same shuttle as you."
Relena looked at the eager faces of Coco and Miranda and nodded. "No problem. Leave it to me."
Tolle sighed inwardly — Relena really was the classic Saint-type girl, always easy to persuade. Still, if that was the case, he had no choice but to save her father now.
He wondered if doing so would alter her future path — but then again, her personality probably wouldn't change. After all, in her heart, her father was nowhere near as important as Heero.
Aboard the shuttle to space, Tolle spotted the female ace pilot from Gundam Wing — Lady Une.
Even though she wore glasses and had her hair neatly tied up — which took away from her looks — she was still undeniably a stunningly beautiful and commanding woman.
A woman like her could be quite an asset if she were loyal… though Tolle quickly decided she was better left alone — unless he outright brainwashed her.
After all, Lady Une was OZ's military commander Treize Khushrenada's deputy and most loyal confidante. She was the type who allowed no compromise in tactics and would do absolutely anything for victory — a cold, calculating woman through and through.
This particular assassination mission against the pacifist faction was entirely her plan — and she was personally overseeing its execution. A ruthless, cold-blooded femme fatale if there ever was one.
What puzzled Tolle most was that she somehow "redeemed" herself later in Endless Waltz. How did that even make sense? Was she suffering from dual personalities? Or maybe that was Treize's final order — to let her "become a good person"?
Once the shuttle broke through the Earth's atmosphere, Lady Une left her seat and deliberately walked up to Darlian.
"Foreign Affairs Officer Darlian," she said coolly, "I wish you a very pleasant and comfortable journey."
When Darlian ignored her, she continued haughtily, "Don't you have even basic manners? You could at least be polite."
"I'm sorry," Darlian replied curtly. "But I have nothing to say to an officer of the OZ Special Forces."
When he still didn't respond, Lady Une smiled thinly and said bluntly, "You're being rather unfriendly. I'm only here under orders to keep an eye on you. There's no need to be so hostile toward me personally — isn't that a bit childish?"
Darlian kept ignoring her, turning instead to Relena beside him.
"Relena, look carefully. Only by viewing Earth from space will you truly understand how precious it is…"
Lady Une leaned back in her seat, muttering under her breath, "Darlian… you won't ever get another chance to see it again."
Tolle couldn't help but think this woman was utterly ruthless. Still, maybe someone like her was exactly the kind of tactical mind he'd need on his own team someday.
After all, he was planning to form his own army eventually — he'd need all sorts of capable people to handle different missions. Perhaps he should test the waters.
And if that also gave him the chance to approach Treize — all the better. It was a shame that man died.
Treize Khushrenada, OZ's supreme commander, had withdrawn from the Earth Federation's factional struggle, secretly manipulating events behind the scenes — using the Gundams as tools to eliminate the Federation's pacifists, seize control, and realize his dream of unifying the Earth Sphere through force to achieve lasting peace.
In truth, he wasn't wrong — peace obtained by completely abandoning the use of force was nothing but a fantasy.
As long as humans existed, so would conflict. If even those maintaining public order laid down their weapons, then the moment some power-hungry opportunists stirred up rebellion, society would crumble overnight.
In the end, Treize had defeated Chang Wufei in a sword duel but was later killed in battle, piloting the Tallgeese II against Wufei's Altron Gundam (Upgrade of Shenlong) — deliberately letting himself lose.
His political conviction ran deep — a man willing to sacrifice himself for the unification and peace of the Earth Sphere. Truly a respectable figure.
Tolle mused that Treize was much like Lelouch — if only the two could meet someday.
Maybe he could even bring Treize into his own faction. With brainwashing and control, there'd be no risk of betrayal.
He could have Treize help manage his organization — as an employee, perhaps. After all, Tolle couldn't stay a "king of many consorts" forever… having too many women was exhausting, after all.
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