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Interview with a Volunteer Coordinator
        ~ A Moment of Haven ~
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~~ Early June AC 196 ~~ 

	"Jack?  Those two new volunteers you've been expecting are here 
now."

	Mr. Callahan looked up from the paperwork adorning his desk.  
"Oh."  He grimaced briefly, glancing at the disorganization of his small 
office.  "Yeah, okay.  Thanks, Grace.  Can you send them in?"  With her 
nod and withdrawal, he tried in vain to straighten up the paperwork 
littering the surface of his desk.  He sighed.  He was only trying to 
rebuild a small town.  He didn't know why there had to be so much 
bureaucracy involved.  He tried to keep the red tape to himself, and ran 
the operation with as little formality as possible.  This was more than 
just a volunteer mission -- it was a community, and he treated it as 
such.

	Another quiet knock on his slightly ajar door, and he looked up 
again.  "Yes, come in, please."  He gave up on the hopeless effort of 
his desk, and studied the two young men who entered his office.  He was 
surprised.  They were unexpectedly young.  He gestured them into the two 
folding chairs before his desk, and they took their seats without 
ceremony.

	"You must be the Heero Yuy I've been in contact with."  The 
youth in question was dark and serious looking.  His face was neutral, 
the stern expression and deep eyes unsuited to his young, handsome face.  
Jack held his hand out to the boy.  "Jack.  Jack Callahan."

	The boy looked down at the hand for a moment, then took it in a 
firm, brief handshake, nodding once in acknowledgement.  From that short 
contact, Jack thought that the hand had been calloused, a good indicator 
that the boy wasn't unfamiliar with manual work.  He was obviously the 
quiet one of the pair.  Jack turned to the other boy.  The two made an 
odd pair, for this boy was bright and cheerful in his appearance, a 
sharp contrast to his silent companion.  His dark clothing was offset by 
the large, violet eyes, the friendly smile, and the terribly unorthodox, 
reddish-brown braid trailing over one shoulder.  What sort of mother 
would let her son grow his hair that long, no matter how neat he kept 
it?

	Jack held his hand out to him as well.  "And you must be our 
second volunteer."

	"Duo Maxwell, at your service, sir."  He, too, had a strong, 
confident handshake, the hand of one who used his hands often.  Neither 
boy seemed likely to have such strength, both seeming of slight build 
and delicate features.

	"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Maxwell," Jack greeted him.

	Duo chuckled lightly.  "I hardly rate a 'Mr. Maxwell', sir.  Duo 
will be just fine."

	"Then please, Duo, call me Jack."

	"Sure thing, Mr. Callahan."  The boy grinned impishly at the 
director, and before he knew it, Jack had been charmed by the easygoing 
charisma of the lad.  Nevertheless, he had a job to do, and some 
questions to ask of their newest possible recruits.  It was standard 
procedure to at least partially screen their applicants, but he had a 
feeling he would be asking them a few questions that he hadn't had to 
ask anyone else before.

	"So just how old are you boys?" he asked conversationally, 
trying to cover up the unhappy suspicion that shaded his mind.  From the 
maturity level of the correspondences that he had been exchanging with 
Heero, he had thought that they were older.  All of the other young 
people currently involved in the project were either there with their 
parents, or else they were a part of the original, now newly growing, 
community.  However, also from the correspondences, he had thought that 
these two could be valuable additions to their community.

	"Sixteen," Duo answered easily.  Either the boy was a wonderful 
liar, or he was telling the truth.  The number agreed with Jack's own 
private estimation, however, and he was glad.  He was pretty bad at 
lying himself, so he hated dealing with others who might be lying.  "Is 
that a problem?"

	"No," Jack replied hastily.  "Yes.  Well.  Maybe."  The dark 
one, Heero, silently raised an eyebrow.  "It's not a problem in and of 
itself.  We're not going to discriminate against anyone on the basis of 
their age or anything, but..."  For some reason, Jack felt like such a 
bad guy, giving the kids a hard time, but he had what he thought were 
some legitimate concerns.

	"Are you worried that we won't be able to pull our weight?" Duo 
asked helpfully.

	"No," Jack shook his head in denial.  "Not at all.  We have all 
sorts of people here, and everyone does what they can.  So long as they 
have a desire to help, we'll find something for them to do...."  The 
boys waited patiently as he chewed his lip in thought for a moment.  "I 
just need to know a few things," he decided.

	"Ask away," Duo answered invitingly.

	"Hmm... Are you two going to school?"  It wasn't precisely what 
he wanted to know, but it was a good start.

	"Graduated high school last month."  A little bit on the young 
side, but believable, Jack thought.  Though somehow, it struck Jack that 
Duo seemed amused by that statement for some reason.  His companion 
maintained a blank, but attentive, expression.

	"Okay.  Umm, are you..."  He couldn't think of a particularly 
tactful way of dancing around the topic, so he just plunged right into 
it.  "You boys aren't running away from anything, are you?  Running away 
from home?  In trouble with the law?  Pregnant girlfriends?"

	Heero blinked several times, but that was about the extent of 
his reaction.  Duo, on the other hand, had to suppress some hearty 
guffaws that came out as a few muffled chuckles.  He cleared his throat, 
but the amused twinkle in his eyes remained.  "Umm, no."

	"Then just why are you here?" Jack asked almost plaintively.  
Young, intelligent men with bright futures didn't join post-war recovery 
efforts.  They just didn't.  They should have been out, dating, going to 
college, getting jobs.  "Pardon my asking," he appended as an 
afterthought.

	Once again, it was Duo that spoke for the both of them.  "We 
want to help," he replied simply.  Well, no idle boasting, no 
starry-eyed dreams, it was a good sign.  It didn't seem like they were 
here chasing some romantic ideal, either.  They'd gotten that sort 
before.  The kind that thought they could come, hammer in a nail or two, 
take a picture with the locals, and then go back home a hero, praised 
for their selflessness and goodness.

	There had also been those who hadn't considered the fact that 
they would be living for a while in a place not yet filled with all the 
touches of home, or a big city.  "Are you prepared to live without all 
the luxuries you might be accustomed to?"

	Heero snorted almost inaudibly.  "We survived the war, didn't 
we?" Duo asked, almost as if to himself.  There was something about the 
way he said it that made Jack realize he didn't have to doubt them 
anymore.  A slight shadow seemed to have fallen over the cheery youth.  
The war obviously meant something to them.  It would certainly explain 
their oddly mature airs, yet everyone had had to live through the war.  
It seemed to Jack that it meant a little more to them.

	He put all the facts together, the answers, the strangely 
incongruous and almost jaded behavior, the strength hidden by their 
deceptively pretty shells, and jumped to a conclusion.  "Did you fight 
in the war?" he ventured.  They were young to have done so, but he knew 
that many youths had enlisted, and most sides did not scruple to accept 
them.  It was usually the young that were filled with the idealism and 
enthusiasm to chase a cause.

	Two short nods were his answer.

	"Which side?"  Not that he meant to pry, but there were some 
people in the town that might feel strongly about the issue.  Most of 
them just wanted to put the war behind them, but all of them had been 
affected by the actions taken by all the factions in the war.  
"Federation?  OZ?  Colony?"

	The two exchanged an unreadable look.  Heero answered the 
question, the first time he had spoken during the entire interview.  
"Gundam."

	"Excuse me?"

	"Gundam," he repeated, not forcefully, or shamefully.  Just a 
quiet statement of fact.  "We fought on the Gundam side."

	No one could say that they fought on the Gundam side and be 
completely truthful.  They had come into some sort of conflict with 
almost every faction involved in the war.  The only ones who had stayed 
on their side the whole time had been the Gundam pilots themselves....

	Jack blinked suddenly in surprise.  He had heard that the pilots 
of the infamous Gundams had been young, but he hadn't quite imagined.  
Nor had he ever imagined that he would find two of them in his office 
one day.  Now that he knew who they were, he thought that they had even 
less of a reason to be here.  He, and most people he had ever heard 
speak of it, had assumed that the five rebel pilots had joined the 
military, ridden off into the sunset, or something similar to that.  
They shouldn't be these two unassuming young men before him right now.

	"What do you hope to accomplish here?" he inquired.

	Duo answered first.  "I just want a clean start," he began 
softly.  "And it doesn't make much sense to start where someone else 
started first, you know?"  He looked at the director with pensive eyes, 
convincing Jack that they weren't looking for some quick, positive 
press, or easy redemption.  Duo's voice regained a little of that life 
it had lost.  "Besides.  I grew up in a place ravaged by war.  It 
sucked.  Mostly because no one cared enough to help us out.  I... If I 
can lend a hand ... it'd mean a lot to me."

	Jack thought about that for a moment, before turning expectantly 
towards Heero.

	"I'm not looking for redemption," he said quietly, as if he had 
read Jack's mind.  He was still using the voice of a man who thought big 
thoughts, but usually kept them to himself.  "I don't believe in that.  
But I've destroyed a lot of things in my time.  It would be nice to have 
a chance to help create something for a change."

	They seemed honest in their desire to help.  And if the media 
hadn't known what they had been up to before, they probably wouldn't 
know that this was where they were now.  That was a definite plus.  The 
people here just wanted a little peace, and they wouldn't be able to get 
that with reporters hanging about.  And these two didn't seem as if they 
would go inviting them, either.  Jack rather thought they just wanted a 
little peace themselves, and who was he to deny them their chance at 
that?  Certainly they deserved the opportunity to try out what they had 
fought so hard to attain for everyone.  As long as they didn't cause any 
trouble, and he had the feeling they wouldn't.

	"Well, that's that, then."  He smiled warmly at them.  "We can 
provide you with on-site housing.  I hope you don't mind sharing?"

	Both of them shook their heads.  "Great."  He stood, and the 
others stood with him.  "We'll hammer out the rest of the arrangements 
later.  Welcome to Haven, boys."

_________________________________________
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The basis for this fic, i.e. Gundam Wing, 
Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property 
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http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html

last modified : 4/4/2001 00:15:58 PST