Elyndys 
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Disclaimer: If I owned GW, I would be happy. I am happy. But to draw
the conclusion that I own GW from those statements would be to affirm the
consequent, and would therefore be an invalid argument.
See?
Pairing: 1+2+1/1x2x1; reference to past 1xR, R+1.
Warnings:
Part 16 has no warnings. For all other warnings see part 1 and individual
parts. This is an AU fic.
Notes: Thanks to Nitid and DC for their
hacking help! But in the end, it was a little complicated for me - so I
decided to make something up. Well, I reasoned, if we envisage a bright
future… one without Microsoft… lol. Mind you, we know some bastard child
of Intel survives in the year AC 195 - watch ep 8 and behold… Lol. Anyone
gets that, then you're as big an otaku as me. Congratulations!
^_^)
Special dedication goes to Diana and Wuffie, heheh. Told you
he'd get in here… ^_~ But I think Duo is peeved, because he doesn't get a
look in. Patience, patience… ^^
Escaping Part 16
Heero thought. `If I were planning a revolution… I would want to know
exactly what was going on.' He smiled darkly to himself. He knew just how
he would go about doing that: had done it himself on numerous occasions.
And now he planned to do it again, to see how easy it was, and how much he
could find out.
`Clearly they are interested in finding out what's
going on at the summit. The cameras show us that. But how far are they
prepared to go?' He almost hesitated as he began to sort through an old
forgotten box of discs in search of what he needed; he hadn't used the
things in so long, and felt a momentary pang that he had to resort to this
again. He steeled himself. He needed to do it.
He took out his own
laptop from its case beside his desk; he thought it would probably be
wisest to not let anyone know what he was doing, so opted to not use his
own system, connected to the police network: he smirked a little to
himself as he imagined the look on his superiors' faces if they knew what
he was about to do.
He had found what he needed, and inserted the
disc into his laptop; as he started up the program he was a little
surprised at the tingle of forgotten excitement that spiralled through him
- he smiled wryly. It seemed so illicit; but he was blatantly going to go
ahead with it anyway, in the full knowledge that his colleagues were just
a few metres away.
He had the necessary programs running now. He
had designed them himself to run automatically: he could get on with his
work, and then look at the results in a short while. As an experiment, he
decided to simultaneously run another, more common, program to compare
results: anyone trying to do what Heero was would probably be using that
or a similar method, so the results would be interesting.
Everything was set up. Heero typed a few commands and watched text
scroll up the screen for a moment before setting the laptop under the
desk. He steeled his expression as he went back to his formal work on the
main monitor before him. `Let's see, then, just how difficult it is to
hack into the network of an international diplomatic convention.'
"Sir, the Preventers have sent someone over. I'm just
going down to meet them."
"OK. Bring them straight in here." Heero
heard Trowa leave but didn't look up from his consideration of the data on
the screen of the laptop now balanced on his knee. He frowned. It had been
maybe three quarters of an hour since he had sent Trowa to call the
Preventers' office; during that time he had simply left the hack programs
running. Both had included software designed to crack passwords: if that
hadn't worked, Heero would have been prepared to use more sophisticated
technology that tricked the network into letting him access it; but it
seemed that that was not necessary. He continued to scowl at the screen,
looking up as he heard Trowa return.
"Heero." The man accompanying
Trowa nodded in greeting.
Heero got to his feet, placing the
laptop on the desk. "Wufei!"
The Preventer smiled a little.
"Seeing as it was you who asked, I thought it had better be me who came."
Heero nodded. Like Trowa, Wufei had met Heero during the war.
Although they had not always got on, Heero knew that he and Wufei
understood each other: over the years they had built up a trust that had
proved valuable to several important investigations. When the police saw
fit to call in Preventer assistance, Heero always hoped to have Wufei's
input. However, that didn't happen often - the police, Heero had found,
had a running resentment towards the Preventers which he found
frustrating. He had long known that efforts were far more productive when
people who were after the same results worked together; but this message
had not seemed to get through to either side. The police resented the
generous funding and special status afforded to the Preventers; the
Preventers looked down on the police, seeing them largely as the people
who did their legwork for them before calling on their help in cases they
couldn't deal with on their own. Heero knew from his own experience that
there was no reason for this animosity; for his own part, his time in both
the Preventers and the police made him less than popular with either: but
Heero really couldn't make himself care what people thought of him. He
missed the excitement and immediacy of Preventer work; but the summit
investigation had presented to him the possibility that the `legwork' so
disparaged by the Preventers could actually be just as rewarding.
Even if it was uneasy work. He sat back down in his chair and
turned the laptop to face Wufei. "Less than an hour ago I set this to
break into the summit network. Both programs succeeded entirely.
Considering the lengths we went to to obtain physical security, I don't
think this should have happened."
Wufei's expression mirrored
Heero's own. He remained silent as he looked closely at the data on the
screen.
Heero continued. "I was able to find out the whereabouts
of all the people involved in the summit, the plans for each meeting, and
most importantly the results of all the previous ones. We already knew
that someone is trying to find out what's going on there - someone took a
lot of trouble to get those cameras in there. We still don't know how. But
in light of that, it should have been seen to that no-one would be able to
find out this information. It should have been seen to *before* we knew
someone was trying to get hold of the information." He paused a moment,
thinking. "Wufei, I asked the Preventers to get involved now because I
thought they would have played a large part in the security measures put
in place, am I right?"
"Yes. We were involved in a lot of the
internal security planning, but I wasn't personally."
Heero
nodded; he hadn't expected so. Wufei was more suited to the fieldwork,
where he was near the action, danger even. Heero knew that, if he had have
been in charge of the summit security. And, he knew, he would have been
far more thorough about it. "Presumably there is a record somewhere of any
hack attempts to the network."
"Yes. But I can't access it
remotely." Wufei had the decency to sound at least slightly sheepish. "I
can contact them and ask for it."
Heero stood up from his seat,
and gestured for Wufei to take it so he could contact Preventer HQ through
Heero's system. While he did so, hero took a moment to speak to Trowa. "I
need you to get hold of the most effective data protection you can." There
was a hint of disbelief in his tone, as he continued, that he knew Trowa
would be able to detect. "The Preventers clearly didn't think it would be
necessary to use the same level of security for the summit as we do for
our own systems." His tone was neutral, but Wufei was listening.
"I believe they were mainly concerned about the press - they
wanted to prevent any leaks to the media, but I don't know anything beyond
that. I can make enquiries." He clicked a few keys. "Here's the hack log."
Heero returned to look at the screen. His eyes narrowed: he felt a
flash of anger again, like he had done before when the cameras had been
discovered. "This shows a lot of attempts. Most were unsuccessful, I admit
that - but there are several successful attempts, culminating in these two
here - mine." He perused the bare text on the screen for a few more
moments. "The data protection measures taken by the Preventers were out of
date." He spoke like he was making a report, tone and words as neutral as
he could make them. "Although this may have been adequate for the purposes
they had in mind, those involved in the electronic security of the summit
failed to take into account the new situation we've found ourselves in."
He paused again, took a breath. "Leading to a potentially significant leak
in as-yet confidential information. What information, we can't tell." He
clenched his hand into a fist. So much he didn't know. So hard to know
where to begin. Now-familiar feelings.
Wufei's voice sounded too
loud in the tense room. "Why would they want to find out what's happening
at the summit? What could they hope to achieve?"
Heero turned
abruptly, paced the length of the small office. He didn't answer for a few
minutes, leaning back against the wall and staring at the carpet. "I've
given that matter some thought, ever since we found the cameras. I know
there's a lot of frustration and bad feeling in the colonies. I think
someone is trying to use that to their advantage.
Trowa nodded.
"To stir up a rebellion."
Heero winced a little inside. "Yeah."
Wufei persisted. "But how? All the decisions made at the summit
will become common knowledge soon enough anyway. They aren't sensitive
information."
Heero looked up at him. "*We* know that. But the
people of the colonies don't necessarily know. There's so much mistrust I
don't think it would take a lot to take advantage of that paranoia.
Whoever's behind this wants to expose the Earth government in their
supposed discrimination against the colonies. I have no doubt that whoever
wants the information would have no trouble twisting it to show exactly
what they wanted."
Wufei sat back in the chair. "So… they would
use it to incite hatred against the Earth?"
Heero looked away
again. "That's the best guess I can come up with at the moment."
There was silence again as the three officials considered. Heero
knew their thoughts were identical, though: after a few minutes, the words
spilled out. "Who, though? Who is it who is doing this?"
Elyndys
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