By: Moonkitty Liafle

Disclaimer/Rating: I, Moonkitty Liafle, do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters of scenes. I am not making any profit from this fic or its posting. Red Blood on Red Dirt is rated PG-13 for violence and mature themes.

A/N: This new fic is a sci-fi thriller and the majority of it will take place on Mars. However, it will deal with most of the standard non-yaoi pairings.

CHAPTER I- Reminiscing

10.23.200 (new calendar)

A woman was walking to work. Her sandy hair was fanning out behind her in the gentle autumn breeze, her youthful countenance disguised by her business-like dress and her mature expression. She was passing many other people dressed similarly to her, their smiled all guarded, their hands distracted with briefcases or papers or even the occasional snack and drink.

She had no idea that in five minutes, her life would be turned upside down. She had no idea because she did not know what had happened precisely one year ago.

The end to all she had created was coming, and Relena Darlian had no idea.

But four people did, or perhaps eight, if you counted minds instead of bodies. Eight people were moving throughout the Earth and colonies like shadows. No one knew. No one could know. Death was invisible.

And it was all because of what had happened one year before.

10.23.199 (new calendar)

"Where am I?" she screamed.

She was pounding on the walls, her shoes tattered and her hands bloody.

'You know where you are,' Cheetah purred.

'It's our new home. They didn't like us,' Foil dared. 'They liked Relena though. She was too strong for you. You tried to manipulate her, but she rose up to meet you each time. But that is not what made them hate us.'

'It was because we ended up liking her and what she believed in,' Ice sighed. Ice didn't talk much, and whenever she spoke, her words had meaning.

'And because you wouldn't cry,' Mouse finished. Mouse and Ice were the quiet ones. They didn't like talking much. They preferred to stay in a corner of Dorothy's mind and cry.

Dorothy couldn't cry, so Mouse and Ice did so for her. They were her best friends.

'The world isn't good enough for there to be peace.' Cheetah said loudly.

'It should all just stop. It should all be nothing.' Foil agreed.

"Yes, yes, I see your point," Dorothy told them, but they had left her behind, talking about the idea and how it would work.

Dorothy concentrated on other things. She counted the buttons on the padding of the wall and remembered the feeling of sweat on her brow and the taste of victory on her tongue as she fought to eliminate her enemies.

'Yes, eliminate our enemies!' Cheetah hissed, picking up on her thoughts, 'We can do that!'

"You are forgetting that we'll need a way out of this place," Dorothy told them.

Her hand flew to her pocket, moved by Foil's will, 'Look what I picked up off of our feeder!' Dorothy eyed the lighter she drew out apprehensively. Foil was shaking her had disapprovingly, 'Smoking is a nasty habit, don't you think? It always requires a flame nearby. This is exactly what I mean, Dorothy. People are so stupid and selfish. I bet you that guard probably sacrifices his money for his habit, when he should be spending it on his children. We could fix all of that. I know we can.'

Dorothy sparked the flame as a chorus of laughter rose in her head.

Her inner demons were seeking release.

The hospital burned down that night...and a body was unaccounted for-

The body of Dorothy Catalonia.

But then, it really wasn't just Dorothy's body, but also the body of Cheetah, Foil, Ice, and Mouse.

The said group of people had other plans.

10.23.200 (new calendar)

Relena Darlian put down her purse and picked up the files on her desk. Her next appointment would be to regulate a meeting between the State of L1 and the people of the State of Central America. L1 had recently had a large increase in drug use, and were placing the blame for it from increased illegal shipments by the Central American drug organizations.

It would be long, messy, and involve several translators. The young woman was not looking forward to it.

Relena gathered up some papers and useful legislation and put it into a file. In fact, she was just about to leave for the meeting room when her secretary burst in.

"Relena, President Proveaux has called an emergency meeting for all ministers and priority staff members. You have to leave right now for the Presidential Office."

Relena sighed in relief. Anything was better than trying to stop two people from swearing at each other in different languages.

In another thirty minutes, she would have traded anything to go to that meeting instead of the one she attended instead.

"Could you call for a car, Ms. Quentin? The President probably needs golfing tips again."

How very wrong she was.

Which is why Relena Darlian was seating in the plush office of President Proveaux, the hub of the new Earth Sphere United Nation, the ESUN, the word that brought hope into people's eyes and peace throughout the many regions that man had conquered.

The president was smoking a cigar. The various officials that were crowded in the room were doing their best to ignore the stench. Relena Darlian, the newly promoted Foreign Minister, smoothed her hands on her gray skirt, staring up at the white-haired gentleman that had brought the ESUN to where it was. He was almost halfway through his second term, and the stress that had been piled onto his shoulders was quite evident in the way he carried himself.

Proveaux turned away from the people looking at him to stare out of the large bay windows that brought light into his office.

However, the sky was gray today. It looked like rain.

"What a horrible thing for a president to confront," he said softly in the aged tones of someone who has seen terrible things only to be confronted with far worse. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are facing what could perhaps be the greatest blow our administration -no, our new government- has yet confronted."

The Minister of Defense, an American, stood up, "What do you mean, Mr. President sir?

"Yesterday, a foreign substance was detected in the air filters of four colonies. You know our purification processes are perfect, so I had a team investigate it. The results are, for lack of a better word, frightening," The President turned back to the people and pressed a button on his desk that unveiled a vidscreen from behind a wood panel. A metallic dot spun among red blood cells in the plasma fluid of a human blood vessel. He pressed more buttons and magnified the object until in filled the screen, "A robotic virus that is lying dormant in millions of human hosts. We believe it came in food shipments to several colonies and Earth states," he paused, waiting for the gasps of shock and terror to die down, "We tracked it down. It was a project funded by OZ, a back up plan in case they could no convince the colonies to allow them to have control."

"A back up plan?" one of the more military-minded people interrupted, "Why, if they had control of a vaccine, it would be the perfect way to get complete control!"

The president bowed his head, "That's exactly it. OZ never could develop the vaccine. That's why it was never used."

The man who had spoken was the picture of shock, "So..."

"The person in control of the virus only has to flip a switch, and the virus activates, targeting the cells of the walls of your blood vessels. You die of internal bleeding in a matter of days. That would be easy to crush and keep in one location, but there are different strains of the virus that activate at random intervals. A carrier shows no sign of the disease until the virus activates, and it is only identifiable through blood tests. It is transmitted through any and all forms of sharing bodily fluids."

The president clicked off the display, "We are not yet infected. In a few minutes I'll be calling for a quarantine. However, until we find and restrain the captor, the entire human race is at risk.

"Chances of surviving this virus don't exist. No medicine will fight it and there is no way to save a victim."

Relena's soft sea-blue eyes were wide with surprise. She could never have imagined...

"Relena."

Someone had placed a hand on her hand. She jerked her head up. The president was leaning over her, and there was no one else in the room.

"They've all left, Relena."

The girl stared at him for a moment and then gave a nervous start. She leaned over and began searching for her purse, "Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. President-"

"It's okay," he said, almost laughing, "I needed to talk to you anyway. The data we received about this was emailed to us by a reliable source for the Preventers named Heero Yuy. He's been an information gatherer for our enforcers for quite some time. this time, however, he mentioned that he had known you, Relena, and made what seems to me to be a very inviting suggestion."

If it was possible, Relena had grown more surprised, "I knew him during the war."

Proveaux leaned on the edge of his desk, "Mr. Yuy wants to form a group of people and send them to Mars. You are the head of the Mars Terraformation Project, and you know the project better than any politician in the ESUN. Think f it as a Noah's Arc. If we can't defeat this thing, we may be looking at the extinction of the human race."

Relena narrowed her eyes, "I don't respond well to melodramatics, Mr. President."

"I'm not being melodramatic." Proveaux reached for a file on his desk, "This is an outline of the plan we came up with last night. If we want this to work, we need the people on the mission to be completely devoted to the cause. They'll need an inspiring leader with common sense and good leadership skills. That person is you, Relena."

"Mr. President, I will not leave-"

He shook his head, "What future do you have here, Relena? Most foreign ministers ply for vice presidency after their term ends, and then head for the big P.O." (1) he gripped his hands together, "You cannot apply for these things. No one will forget that you were once Queen of the World- not a good former job on the resume for someone who wants to lead a republic.

"This is the best career move for-"

The president was regarding her as a power-hungry politician- something that Relena was definitely not.

She stood up, her eyes dashed with tears of passionate anger, "I don't care about my career! I care about my world! I care about everyone! If my world falls, I'm going with it!"

She left the room with a snort of disgust. She would stay until the end!

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) for her, however, Heero Yuy had vastly different plans.

(1) P.O. is 'Presidential Office' NOT 'Pissed Off'....even if it would be funnier that way...:P